Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Kansas City, Missouri (CNN) -- The General Services Administration, already under investigation for lavish spending, allowed an employee to telecommute from Hawaii even though he is based at the GSA's Kansas City, Missouri, office, a CNN investigation has found.

It cost more than $24,000 for the business development specialist to travel to and from the mainland United States over the past year.

He is among several hundred GSA "virtual" workers who also travel to various conferences and their home offices, costing the agency millions of dollars over the past three years.

Under the program, employees work from home and may live in another state from the region in which they're actually assigned.

The Kansas City employee, who started his job in January 2011, is paid $84,440 and works from his home in Honolulu, a GSA representative confirmed.

In the past year, according to GSA travel records, the employee has flown back to the mainland nine times for conferences and meetings. Four of those trips were to St. Louis; four were to Washington, with a side trip to Cincinnati; and one was to San Diego. The total cost to taxpayers was $24,221.

Jason Klumb, the GSA's regional administrator for Kansas City, defended the hire.

"The cost of that travel was included in the consideration of his candidacy as an employee as compared with the other applicants," Klumb said. "And when factoring all of those in, it was determined that he was the best candidate, even in light of the cost that would be incurred."

Klumb called the GSA's teleworking program "a successful program that's going to lead to cost savings for taxpayers."

But a GSA spokeswoman said, "We are not going to defend this type of travel."

And a GSA employee in Kansas City, who requested anonymity, said that hiring someone in Hawaii to work for the Kansas City region was ludicrous.

"It doesn't make sense," the employee said. "When you consider everything you need when you hire someone, it would have been better to look for someone in the Kansas City area. It would have reduced the cost of travel by at least 70 percent when you look at just the airfare of what it takes to from Honolulu to Washington, D.C., where a lot of business is done."

Dan Tangherlini, who was appointed acting GSA administrator this year, said the agency was examining the cost of the entire teleworking program.

"I think the most important part for the GSA to think about is make sure we open ourselves up, avail ourselves to all the smart people in the country, but then also make sure we have a clear business case," he said. "If we have someone who is working in Nebraska but reporting to Boston, there has to be a clear explanation for what value they're providing, and you've got to give me the business case. You've got to explain to me why that's a cost-effective move for the American people, and that's a new standard that we're asking everyone at GSA to adhere to."

The GSA "virtual employee" program is different from telework programs offered by many private companies including CNN's parent company, Turner Broadcasting, in which some employees are encouraged to work from home some days of the week, partially to reduce traffic congestion.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform requested details about the GSA's teleworking program in June. That followed disclosures that 95 virtual employees, including 12 in supervisory positions, spent nearly $750,000 in travel costs between October 2010 and June 2011.

"The American people have a right to know that federal bureaucrats who enjoy the benefits of virtual work are eligible and responsible stewards of the taxpayer dollars that support the program," according to a letter from committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California, to the GSA.

The details requested by Issa about the GSA program have not been provided to the committee. CNN also requested the information more than two months ago through the federal Freedom of Information Act but has been repeatedly told by the GSA that FOIA staff members have not finished compiling the material.

The General Services Administration, which has more than 12,600 employees and a $26.3 billion budget, is a relatively obscure federal agency that handles government real estate and other non-military procurement. Congress launched an investigation into the GSA after a scathing inspector general's report issued this year showed lavish spending -- $823,000 -- at the agency's Western Regions Conference in Las Vegas in October 2010.

The controversy became politically toxic after reports and video clips of the lavish conference were released. The revelation prompted taxpayer indignation, embarrassed the administration and put a spotlight on wasteful spending by the GSA.

Jeff Neely, the GSA official who organized the conference, resigned, as did the agency's administrator, Martha Johnson. Two of Johnson's deputies were fired, and eight other employees left the agency. Tangherlini, a former Treasury Department official, took over as acting GSA administrator.

In addition to the Las Vegas conference, the GSA apparently spent $330,000 to relocate an employee from Denver to Hawaii and probably millions more on other employees over a two-year period, according to a transcript of an interview with a GSA event planner. And 84 GSA employees, most of them supervisors or other senior staff -- all subjects of inspector general investigations -- are still collecting their bonuses, totaling more than $1 million in taxpayer money.

In July, a CNN investigation revealed that the GSA's Kansas City office spent more than $20,000 to send employees to cooking classes to build team spirit. While the classes do not amount to a significant sum of money in the world of trillion-dollar government budgets, insiders said it was part of the free-spending culture that went on for years at the GSA's Kansas City regional headquarters.

GSA spokeswoman Betsaida Alcantara said in a statement this year that all the agency's practices are under a top-down review.

CNN's Sara Anwar, Elizabeth M. Nunez and Tom Cohen contributed to this report.

Watch Erin Burnett weekdays 7pm ET. For the latest from Erin Burnett click here.

Response: The employee in agency's Kansas City office is among hundreds of "virtual" workers. The employee's travel to and from the mainland U.S. last year cost more than $24,000. The telecommuting program, like all GSA practices, is under review.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Like a stereotypical beauty pageant, it looks like thin will be in at the world's largest annual gadget convention next week in Las Vegas.

At the 2012 International Consumer Electronics Show, computer makers will be pushing a new breed of ultra-thin, ultra-light laptops amid a sea of razor-thin smartphones and tablets.

Last year, 140,000 people in the technology industry convened at the Las Vegas Convention Center to mingle and gawk at cutting-edge hardware. The organizers expect to welcome at least that many people next week.

Electronics makers use CES as a platform to show the types of products they plan to release in the coming year. The compact disc player, high-definition television and Blu-ray each debuted at past conventions. Decades since its formation, the yearly six-day event is a spectacle.

But with some of the largest players in today's consumer electronics industry shunning CES, the trade show's impact may be waning.

Apple, the world's most valuable technology company, and Amazon, an upstart in tablets and the leader in e-readers, do not participate. Google's operating systems can be found in partners' booths, running on phones, tablets and TVs, but the software giant does not run a booth.

And Microsoft, which will deliver its 14th CES presentation Monday, announced recently it will not have a booth or participate in the keynotes after this year's event.

"Are we doing something because it's the right thing to do, or because 'it's the way we've always done it?' " a Microsoft spokesman asked rhetorically in a statement.

The big product categories that will dominate the CES show floor next week, according to manufacturers and analysts, are not revolutionary. They are expected to be thinner, lighter and more refined versions of gadgets that have already gained a toehold with consumers.

Tablets

Electronics makers have been chasing after Apple's iPad for two years, and the racetrack is expected to get more crowded next week.

Google and Samsung last month released the first phone running Android 4.0, which is Google's first system that's designed to work consistently on either a phone or a tablet. At CES, tech companies will showcase plenty of phones with that software, but the touchscreen tablets with Android 4 will be prevalent.

Not to get left out of the party it started about a decade ago, Microsoft is stepping up its tablet efforts. The next major version of Windows will have a revamped interface for tablet computers, which will present programs as tiles that can be touched to fill the screen.

Analysts expect to see a bevy of Windows 8 tablets at CES.

With so many options, bargain hunters may get to pick something besides Amazon's Kindle Fire, which lit up holiday sales last month. (The Fire actually has quite a bit of Android code under the hood. Sorry, Microsoft.)

Ultrabooks

Windows won't be just for tablets, of course. A new breed of computers called Ultrabooks will launch at CES from several PC manufacturers.

If the tablet wars are a response to the iPad, then Ultrabooks follow in the footsteps of Apple's MacBook Air. They are thinner and lighter than the average laptop because they typically do not have disc drives, and instead of hard drives, use flash memory, which is faster but more expensive.

Microsoft will enable this anti-disc computer with the application store in Windows 8. But the Ultrabook initiative is being driven by Intel, which makes the processor that runs them.

"You have Intel pushing heavily on this very thin but relatively traditional clamshell form factor without a lot of emphasis on touch," NPD Group analyst Ross Rubin said in a phone interview. "And then you've got Microsoft pushing the touchscreen tablet experience."

Netbooks appear to be on their way out. That's a bad sign for Google, whose Chromebooks have struggled to challenge Microsoft in PC operating systems.

Internet TVs that also do 3-D

TVs have long been the centerpiece of CES and of the consumer electronics industry as a whole. For the last few years, the big push has been in three-dimensional viewing technology, but demand has been small.

Meanwhile, Internet services are also working their way onto television sets. Netflix and Pandora have seen tremendous growth on TV platforms.

For the 3-D optimists, app-friendly TVs, which also happen to work with 3-D glasses, could allow for more 3-D video from independent filmmakers who distribute over the Web, Rubin noted.

CES is expected to provide a launchpad for TVs that are smarter about how they let watchers access Web content, analysts say. Google has reportedly invested more in its TV platform, which should be evident at CES.

The electronics giants do not want to get beaten to another big opportunity by Apple, which is rumored to be working on a TV set of its own. Don't expect Apple to show up at CES with a big screen though. Or to show up at all.

Connected cars

As the automotive industry strives for a rebound, car makers are looking for high tech to be their guide.

Several car companies have lined up CES presentations. They are expected to announce partnerships with popular Internet software companies and unveil technical wonders available at the touch of a button on the steering wheel. Dieter Zetsche, the head of Mercedes-Benz Cars, will present a keynote speech Tuesday.

MOG, the music-streaming service, plans to announce integration with a line of cars Tuesday. And since last CES, Pandora has more than doubled the number of cars that tap into its streaming radio service, Pandora founder Tim Westergren said in a phone interview.

"These companies see the car as a software platform," Westergren said. "It's the computer on four wheels."

Apps

Sure, CES is about gadgets, but the programs that run on them have become a key selling point.

Many electronics makers have apparently decided that each new phone, tablet, car or refrigerator should allow owners to update their Facebook statuses.

"Software has simply become so critical to the overall customer experience," said Rubin, the NPD Group analyst. "It's no longer an optional part of the business."

Software makers are eager to exploit this reality. Many say they will tout their wares at partners' booths and in private meetings. For example, online video provider Vimeo plans to make a major announcement Monday to coincide with the start of CES.

Vimeo CEO Dae Mellencamp said in an interview at the company's New York headquarters that CES has emerged as an important venue for her company and others like it. "It's the only trade show I attend all year," she said.

Response: The Consumer Electronics Show brings a slew of new gadgets. Tablets running Google's Android and Microsoft's Windows 8 will debut. Ultrabooks, a new type of thinner laptop, are expected to make a splash. But some of the largest players in the consumer electronics industry are shunning CES.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Criminals who file fraudulent tax returns by stealing people's identities could rake in an estimated $26 billion over the next five years because the IRS cannot keep up with the amount of the fraud, Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George said Tuesday.

"Our analysis found that, although the IRS detects and prevents a large number of fraudulent refunds based on false income documents, there is much fraud that it does not detect," said George's prepared testimony before a joint hearing of the House Ways and Means Subcommittees on Oversight and Social Security.

George's report is the first detailed analysis of the tax refund fraud problem, which could affect any legitimate taxpayer. His projection of $26 billion is larger than any other estimate of identity theft tax fraud.

In a statement issued following George's testimony, the IRS said it "believes that the five-year estimate is far too high."

"The estimate was based on 2010 figures, which took place before the IRS instituted major changes with the way it handles identity theft cases," the IRS statement read. "Our expanded screening on issues such as W-2 matching, Schedule C information, interest income and Social Security income have had a major impact on our ability to reduce identity theft fraud."

Those efforts, according to the IRS, have lead to "stopping more refund fraud than ever before" and "are not reflected in the five-year projection" by the Treasury inspector general.

Last year, according to the Treasury Inspector General's Office, the IRS reported that of the 2.2 million tax returns it found to be fraudulent, about 940,000 returns totaling $6.5 billion were related to identity theft. In its investigation, George said, auditors found another 1.5 million undetected tax returns with more than $5.2 billion in fraud.

"The primary characteristic of these cases is that the identity thief reports false income and withholding to generate a fraudulent tax return," George said. "Without the falsely reported income, many of the deductions and/or credits used to inflate the fraudulent tax refund could not be claimed on the tax return. The individuals whose identities were stolen may not even be aware that their identities were used to file a fraudulent tax return."

Making the problem worse, George said, the IRS is hampered by limited resources.

"Even with improved identification of these returns, the next step of verifying whether the returns are fraudulent will require resources," he said. "The IRS has faced budget cuts, a hiring freeze and staffing reductions during the same time it has encountered a significant surge in identity theft refund fraud. Without the necessary resources, it is unlikely that the IRS will be able to work the entire inventory of potentially fraudulent returns it identifies. The IRS will only select those tax returns that it can verify based on its resources."

The scope of the problem is illustrated by what George said his auditors found for tax year 2010, in which 48,357 Social Security numbers were used multiple times as a primary taxpayer identification number.

"When the identity thief files the fraudulent tax return, the IRS does not yet know that the individual's identity will be used more than once," George said. "As a result, the tax return is processed, and the fraudulent refund is issued. These instances result in the greatest burden to the legitimate taxpayer."

As of last month, the IRS reported that it had stopped the issuance of $1.3 billion in potentially fraudulent tax returns. The IRS says it determined these returns were potentially fraudulent through a sampling of returns, and it does not believe any legitimate returns were included.

George said more should be done to ensure that fraudulent tax returns are not deposited into bank accounts. In addition, thieves commonly get the refunds put on debit cards.

"Direct deposits should not be made to debit cards issued by financial institutions and debit card administration companies that do not take sufficient steps to authenticate individuals' identities," George said.

To make matters worse, the IRS is not effectively helping the victims of identity theft, George said, adding that it can take more than a year to resolve these cases.

"The IRS acknowledges that it does not know the exact number of identity theft incidents or the number of taxpayers affected by identity theft," George said. "It also has not been able to quantify the amount of improper payments resulting from identity theft."

In an investigation into tax refund fraud, CNN reported in March that criminals have purchased luxury cars, jewelry and plastic surgery with the money.

First, thieves obtain Social Security numbers and other personal information from insiders at hospitals, doctor's offices, car dealerships or anywhere the information is stored. Then, they file an online tax return using the real taxpayer's name and a fictitious income. In most cases, the criminals buy a debit card so the IRS can issue the refund on that card, although some thieves have also gotten their returns on actual Treasury checks.

The thieves know that the IRS does not verify the employer W-2s sent with the return until after the refund is issued.

The IRS maintains it has certain filters in place at the start of the tax filing season to prevent and detect identity theft and fraud, and it says it has recently trained additional employees across the country to deal with the problem. It has also issued special personal identification numbers, or PINs, to identity theft victims when they are filing future returns.

But in testimony before Congress last year, National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson said those filters "inevitably block large numbers of proper refund claims" since there "is no easy way to distinguish proper claims from improper ones."

In testimony prepared for Tuesday's hearing, Deputy IRS Commissioner Steven Miller said the agency cannot stop all identity theft.

"However, we have improved, and we are committed to continuing to improve our programs. We can and will continue to work to prevent the issuance of fraudulent refunds, and we can and will continue to work with innocent taxpayers to clear their accounts and/or get them money faster in a courteous and professional manner."

At the same time, Miller said, there is a "delicate balance" in the "need to make payments in a timely manner with the need to ensure that claims are proper and taxpayer rights are protected."

In the past four years, he said, the IRS has identified more than 490,000 taxpayers who are the victims of identity theft.

"Various new identity theft filters are in place to improve our ability to spot false returns before they are processed and before a refund is issued," Miller said.

The IRS has issued special identification numbers to taxpayers whose identities have been stolen and clamped down on abuses in filing returns under deceased taxpayers' identities and prisoners. The agency also started a pilot program in April to help local law enforcement in obtaining tax return information related to ongoing criminal investigations.

"I cannot tell you that we will beat this problem in one year," Miller said. "I can tell you that we have committed our talents and resources to prevent the issuance of fraudulent returns and have developed processes to minimize the pain felt by those who have been victimized."

Response: The Treasury's estimate is the first detailed analysis of the ongoing problem. With budget cuts, the IRS cannot deal with the fraud, according to inspector general. IRS says it stopped the issuance of $1.3 billion in potentially fraudulent tax returns.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Rip it up and start again.

As a 20-year-old, Ana Ivanovic claimed the French Open on Roland Garros' clay courts. All the portents suggested great things were ahead of the Serbian.

Here was a tennis player with an impressive forehand and serve, with the added bonus of being incredibly marketable.

But six years on, much like the characters Vladimir and Estragon in Samuel Beckett's play "Waiting for Godot" -- a drama about the passing of time -- the wait for a second grand slam shows no sign of ending.

Since that win in Paris in 2008, Ivanovic has suffered from big-match nerves, serving woes and a series of injury problems.

It is arguable she has also endured something of an identity crisis, chopping and changing coaching teams along the way.

Her continuing search to help solve this problem and allow her to feel comfortable in her own skin has led her to appointing a support network who speak the same language.

"I've been working really hard," Ivanovic told retired grand slam champion Kim Clijsters in an interview for CNN's Open Court show. "I have a new team with me since Wimbledon and it's a Serbian team for me for the first time."

Ivanovic's new team includes coach and hitting partner Nemanja Kontic -- who represented Montenegro in the Davis Cup -- fitness coach Zlatko Novkovic and physio Branko Penic.

They have all been part of her entourage since her split with British coach Nigel Sears in July, following a second-round exit at Wimbledon.

Her career is littered with coaches who have come and gone as she has searched for a winning formula to challenge consistently for grand slams.

Since parting company with her early mentor Zoltan Kuharsky in 2006, she has employed David Taylor, Craig Kardon, Heinz Gunthardt, Antonio van Grichen and Sears. A number of others have also helped her temporarily as part of the Adidas Player Development program.

It's not just coaches that have come and gone. It's also true of fitness trainers.

Such constant chopping and changing suggests a player stuck in a rut, desperately searching for a way out of it.

Her desire to follow up that 2008 French Open win has also led Ivanovic to ponder why she picked up a racket at the age of five in the first place -- for the enjoyment.

"We are also having more fun and a lot of laughs on the court as well to make it interesting, because the year gets very long," she said of her team.

In Kontic, Ivanovic may not have a wise professor on her hands as she did with Sears, yet the 32-year-old, ranked 1,635th in men's doubles, is able to offer her something that respect within the game cannot always buy -- a shared cultural identity.

"I'm really enjoying someone who speaks the same language and can understand you," Ivanovic said.

Employing a coaching team made up of her compatriots could be key to Ivanovic performing consistently, according to a former grand slam champion turned coach.

"She's hooked up with someone she has trust in and she's finding herself," Jo Durie, who won mixed doubles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, told CNN.

"It's about confidence with Ana. Her sense of trust in herself is what she needs.

"A lot of players on tour jump around with coaches, I can never understand that. You need to get to know someone."

Ivanovic's solitary grand slam win helped the baseliner become the world No. 1, for 12 weeks in total.

Now ranked 14th, she has been outside of the top 10 since June 2009, partly explained by her inability to reach the final four of a grand slam since that 2008 win over Dinara Safina in Paris.

Wrist, shoulder, foot, abdominal and hip injuries all took their toll as Ivanovic fell to No. 65 in the rankings. Although she acknowledges that there have been improvements in the demands of the WTA Tour calendar, parts of the worldwide schedule are still difficult for the players.

"Especially at the end of the year when from America we mostly go back to Europe for a week and then we go to Asia for quite a few weeks, so that's kind of tiring and hard," she said.

"I know it's difficult to fit it all around it, but Asia at the end of the year really gets a lot of players."

While her playing fortunes might have fluctuated, Ivanovic's marketability has never been dented.

According to Forbes, she was the ninth highest-paid female athlete in 2013 with total earnings of $7 million -- brought in largely thanks to lucrative sponsorship deals including Adidas, Yonex, Juice Plux and Dubai Duty Free.

Ivanovic has had a number of high-profile boyfriends -- including Masters-winning golfer Adam Scott and fellow tennis player Fernando Verdasco -- but as Caroline Wozniacki has discovered, it is tough combining consistency on court with such a relationship.

Her latest campaign, though, does not look like being clouded by such distraction or, just as importantly, injury.

Kicking off the 2014 season in Auckland, New Zealand, she ground out a victory against fellow former No. 1 Venus Williams to end a more than two-year title drought. It was the ideal preparation for next week's Australian Open.

Despite Ivanovic's obvious talent, Durie doubts whether her game has the consistency required to win a grand slam.

"I think she'll find it difficult," added Durie. "She can beat the top players, but to win a grand slam you have to win seven matches.

"She's capable of big wins, she can certainly beat players like Serena Williams. But can she beat Petra Kvitova and Serena in a row?"

Clijsters retired for a second time in 2012, having won four grand slams, as she decided to focus on her family -- and has since had a second child.

Ivanovic, now 26, admitted that she too has started thinking about life after tennis.

"I still feel like there is so much I can achieve and so many tournaments I can win," she told the Belgian.

"I don't want to put a date to it because I think you feel it when the time is right. Family is a big part of my life and I want to have lots of kids of my own one day.

"Tennis is a big part of my life, but it's not my whole life. So definitely I want to achieve what I can on the court and then focus."

Response: Ana Ivanovic has a new all-Serbian team behind her for the first time. The 26-year-old has parted company with a number of coaches in the past. The Serbian's last grand slam success came at the French Open in 2008. She is feeling confident about new season after finishing 2013 ranked 16th.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- An argument before the Supreme Court on October 1 in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum will have enormous significance. The case concerns the torture of Ogoni leaders in Nigeria, but at stake is the future of the law under which this case was brought, the Alien Tort Statute.

The United States stands at a crossroads. At its best, our nation has played a crucial role in championing human rights throughout the world and pioneering human rights law. At its worst, it has abandoned its lofty ideals in the name of realpolitik and supported dictators and policies that were responsible for horrible abuses.

Passed in 1789, the Alien Tort Statute was a prescient piece of legislation. It allows foreign victims of human rights abuses in foreign nations to seek civil remedies in U.S. courts, and its animating idea -- that people anywhere should have recourse for violations of the "law of nations" -- was the foundation of our modern understanding of human rights.

In the 1990s, Royal Dutch Petroleum (Shell) had extensive oil drilling operations in the Niger Delta in Nigeria, a region long plagued with poverty, human rights violations and environmental disaster. A popular movement of the Ogoni people resisting what they saw as reckless oil development in the region was violently suppressed by Nigeria's military dictatorship.

In the suit, the plaintiffs accuse Royal Dutch Shell of helping the former dictatorship in the arrests on false charges and torture of 12 members of the Ogoni tribe, who sought to peacefully disrupt Shell's operations because of the devastating health and environmental effects of unregulated drilling. All the plaintiffs were themselves tortured except Esther Kiobel, who brought her claims on behalf of her late husband, Barinem Kiobel. Kiobel was executed through a sham trial process in which the plaintiffs believe Shell played a central role.

The Supreme Court court accepted Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum last fall after a federal appeals court ruled that the statute could not be used to sue corporations. The justices indicated in February that they might question not just the application of the statute to corporations but whether and under what circumstances it applies to any human rights violations, even by individuals, that take place outside the United States. They ordered the case to be re-argued on exactly that question.

The case has been brought in the United States because of our nation's historical role in promoting the idea of universal rights and in the development of international human rights law.

From Franklin D. Roosevelt's Four Freedoms speech and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that Eleanor Roosevelt tirelessly worked for, to the stirring oratory of Robert Jackson at the Nuremberg Tribunal, mid-century Americans gave voice and visibility to the idea that all people, everywhere, were entitled to certain fundamental rights. Since 1977, the State Department has annually produced Country Reports on Human Rights Practices.

The international leadership of the past century is a long way from where we find ourselves now. Our own era is defined by a different legacy: one of waterboarding and "torture memos," extraordinary renditions, indefinite detention at Guantánamo Bay and targeted killings in countries with which we are not at war. "The United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights," Jimmy Carter wrote bluntly in The New York Times in June.

Shell Oil must aid Nigeria workers who were tortured, abused

On this grim and morally and legally compromised horizon, the Alien Tort Statute is still one bright spot for human rights advocacy. In a groundbreaking case in 1980, the family of a 17-year-old Paraguayan, Joelito Filártiga, who had been tortured and killed by a henchman of Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, brought and won a civil case against his murderer, Americo Peña-Irala. The young man had been tortured to death because his father opposed the government.

The ruling established that the statute could be used to hold modern torturers accountable for their actions, wherever they are committed. In the wake of the case, Filártiga v. Peña-Irala, the Alien Tort Statute developed into a new tool in human rights law. Successful cases were brought against government officials, against non-state actors like Radovan Karadžić in Bosnia-Herzegovina and against multinational corporations before the Second Circuit ruling in Kiobel that disallowed that.

It is this legacy that is at stake in the Kiobel case before the Supreme Court.

The immediate questions before the court on October 1 concern the reach of the Alien Tort Statute and whether it will continue to be possible for people like the Filártigas and the Kiobels to pursue their tormentors and hold them accountable for their heinous acts, and whether corporations can be held to account.

But the larger question is: Does the U.S. want to be a leader or a laggard in upholding international human rights? If the statute is narrowed and its promise of universal accountability curtailed, it will rightly be perceived as yet another step by the U.S. away from its once leading advocacy for human rights.

If, on the other hand, the Supreme Court upholds the Alien Tort Statute, it will signal to the world that we do still believe that people everywhere are entitled to certain fundamental rights and that we will help enforce those rights.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Vincent Warren.

Response: Vince Warren: At its best, U.S. has been key in championing universal human rights. Warren: A longstanding law lets foreign victims of human rights abuse find justice in U.S. courts. Supreme Court to rule in international human rights case whether law will stand, he says. Warren: If court upholds the law, the world will see U.S. still supports human rights for all.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN)President Barack Obama took part in a roundtable discussion this week on climate change, refocusing on the issue from a public health vantage point.

After the event at Washington's Howard University on Tuesday, Obama sat down with me for a one-on-one interview. I asked him about the science behind climate change and public health and the message he wants the average American to take away, as well as how enforceable his action plan is.

Here are five things I learned:

The President enrolled at Occidental College in Los Angeles in 1979 (he transferred to Columbia University his junior year). While in L.A., he said, the air was so bad that it prevented him from running outside. He remembers the air quality alerts and how people with respiratory problems had to stay inside.

He credits the Clean Air Act with making Americans "a lot" healthier, in addition to being able to "see the mountains in the background because they aren't covered in smog."

Obama also said the instances of asthma and other respiratory diseases went down after these measures were taken.

Peer-reviewed Environmental Protection Agency studies say that the Clean Air Act and subsequent amendments have reduced early deaths associated with exposure to ambient fine particle pollution and ozone, and reduced illnesses such as chronic bronchitis and acute myocardial infarction. The EPA estimates that, between 1970 and 2010, the act and its amendments prevented 365,000 early deaths from particulate matter alone.

"No challenge poses more of a public threat than climate change," the President told me.

When I asked about the strength of the science supporting the direct relationship between climate change and public health, he said, "We know as temperatures rise, insect-borne diseases potentially start shifting up. We know, in a very straight-forward fashion, that heatstroke and other heat-related illnesses and deaths potentially increase, and so what we're doing here is to make sure that in addition to public awareness around the potential for big storms like Hurricane Sandy or big wildfires or droughts, that people recognize there's a very personal, potential impact in climate change, and the good news is we can do something about it."

In many ways, Obama is attempting to reframe the discussion around climate change as a public health issue that affects all of us, while conceding that we don't fully understand the magnitude of the correlation between rising temperatures and impact on human health.

When asked what the average American can do about all this, the President encouraged ordinary citizens, doctors and nurses to start putting some pressure on elected officials "to try and make something happen to reduce the impacts of climate change." He also issued a presidential proclamation declaring April 6-12 as National Public Health Week "to better understand, communicate and reduce the health impacts of climate change on our communities."

The average American can also do their part to reduce their own carbon footprint, including:

• Change your incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent lights. One CFL can reduce up to 1,300 pounds of carbon dioxide pollution during its lifetime. If every house in the U.S. switched its bulbs, we could reduce the electricity spent on lighting by half.

• Unplug your gadgets and chargers when not in use. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, this practice can save $100 a year on your energy bill.

• Use a laptop instead of a desktop. Laptops are designed to be energy-efficient, because battery life is a major factor in their design. According to Energy Star, a laptop can be up to 80% more energy-efficient than a desktop.

• Filter your own water. Beyond the environmental toll of plastic waste, consider just how far your water was transported before you bought it at the grocery store.

• Adjust your curtains and thermostats. If you keep your house 2 degrees warmer in the summer and 2 degrees colder in the winter, you can save big bucks on your energy bill. The Department of Energy estimates you can save up to 15% on your bill by turning off your thermostat when you're not at home.

Obama did not appear particularly concerned about the current Supreme Court challenge to the Affordable Care Act. He  said he believes the statute is "clear and straightforward." He said, "I am not anticipating the Supreme Court would make such a bad decision."

At issue is the 32 states that did not set up their own health care exchanges and left it to the federal government to do so.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit contend that the language of the Affordable Care Act does not allow for tax subsidies in those states (without state-based exchanges), possibly creating a situation, for example, in which people in Massachusetts would receive a tax credit, but people living in Texas would not.

Obama did tell me that if the Supreme Court challenge is upheld, however, there is no Plan B.

"Millions of people would lose their health insurance. They would no longer be able to afford the health insurance that's being provided out there."

Obama went on to say, "I think this is the last gasp of folks who have been fighting against [the Affordable Care Act] for ideological reasons."

He told me that he "gets letters every day from people who say, 'you know what, the Affordable Care Act saved my life or saved my kid's life because I got insurance.' 'I thought I was healthy; turns out I had a tumor, but because I went and got a checkup, it was removed in time, and I'm now cancer-free.' "

He added, "I think stories like that will be factored in when the Supreme Court takes a look at this case."

CNN's Ben Tinker contributed to this report.

Response: "No challenge poses more of a public threat than climate change," the President says. He credits the Clean Air Act with making Americans "a lot" healthier.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Why in the world would Scott Brown, a former half-term Senator from Mitt Romney's Massachusetts, put himself in the mix for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination?

The real question is: Why not?

When Brown told the Des Moines Register over the weekend that he was heading to the Iowa State Fair "to determine whether there's an interest in my brand of leadership and Republicanism," the news was met with some amusement by political insiders.

After all, Brown has already floated bids for New Hampshire senator and Massachusetts governor, and he doesn't seem likely to pursue either.

2016 Watch: Scott Brown makes a stop in Iowa

Brown was thumped by Elizabeth Warren in his 2012 re-election bid, and he became something of a punch line earlier this year after he unleashed a volley of questionable late night tweets at some online critics.

But so what?

The truth is that in today's media environment, there's almost no downside for a long-shot "candidate" like Brown to tell people he's mulling a White House run. For someone with no real perch other than a paid gig at Fox News, it actually makes a lot of sense.

Just by going to the Iowa State Fair, a must-do for any ambitious pol, Brown will be rewarded with the only currency that matters in modern campaign politics (other than hard fundraising dollars): Buzz.

"Funnel cake and free name ID. What's not to love?" asked Will Ritter, a Boston-based GOP operative and former Mitt Romney adviser. "How many stories got posted about Ed Markey's legislative agenda yesterday? It's fun. Senator Brown's a skilled retail politician and this gives him a platform to talk about a brand of Republicanism we could use more of."

For obsessive political watchers, Brown's shamelessness about the whole enterprise is kind of refreshing.

"I do admire the audacity to just go to the state fair and tweet about it," said Jeff Smith, a professor at the New School and regular contributor to the Washington Twitter conversation.

Brown knows exactly what he's doing.

Scott Brown stirs speculation with New Hampshire visit

It's the same reason Iowa Rep. Steve King and New York Rep. Peter King (no relation; not even close) are "refusing to rule out" a 2016 bid.

Will either of them be taking the oath of office one day? Nope. But with so many news platforms to fill -- on television, on the web, on the radio -- a presidential trial balloon or a trip to Iowa is almost guaranteed to get you at least a crumb of media exposure, a boost in stature, and maybe even a few campaign contributions down the road.

Just look at this month's Family Leadership Summit, a gathering of social conservatives in Iowa that drew potential 2016 presidential contenders Ted Cruz and Rick Santorum to the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

Both men seem likely to run for the Republican nomination, and both will be returning to Iowa over and over and over again in the coming years. But even if they don't, the two conservatives proved how keeping one's name in the 2016 conversation is its own reward.

In their speeches, Cruz and Santorum issued a series of anti-Obama bromides and boosted their profiles with the grassroots activists who attended the Iowa summit. Neither Republican did a single thing to advance the news cycle other than board an airplane to Des Moines.

Yet there they were, trailed at every turn by reporters from the Washington Post, Des Moines Register, Associated Press, New York Times, Dallas Morning News, Wall Street Journal, NBC News, ABC News and Fox News.

Another Cruz trip to Iowa stokes 2016 speculation

"The focus on the 2016 presidential contest is completely ridiculous, and everybody knows it," wrote David Weigel of Slate after witnessing the cattle call.

Well, not completely. In our atomized media ecosystem, there's certainly a market for niche political coverage, in the same way there's a market for micro-reporting on the status of Robert Griffin III's return from knee surgery.

More importantly, the presidential cycle is starting earlier than it ever has, with advisers to likely candidates working behind the scenes to assemble campaign infrastructure and peddle dirt on their potential opponents.

On the Republican side, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are driving national discussions about ideology and governance.

Still, there's a difference between running for president and "running" for president, even though it's sometimes difficult to tell the difference.

Running for president requires hard work, an ungodly amount of fundraising effort, a professional team of advisers, polling, a paid media strategy, a voter contact operation and ballot access. See: Romney, Mitt.

"Running" for president means doing a lot of interviews and delivering some well-timed lines in debates. See: Cain, Herman.

Which category does Scott Brown fall under? For the moment, it would seem the latter.

Looking at the 2016 GOP field, Christie probably has the Northeastern Republican lane all to himself, a prospect that would make it difficult for Brown to raise money. Before his Iowa trip, Brown met privately with Christie at the Republican National Committee's summer conference in Boston, a meeting first reported by the New York Times.

Christie raised money for Brown several times during his Senate tenure, and, according to one Christie insider, the two are "very friendly."

Then there's the fact that Brown, who supports some abortion rights, isn't exactly a hardliner on social issues that matter to so many Republican caucus-goers in Iowa.

Even some of his former advisers aren't sure what he's up to. Eric Fehrnstrom, the media strategist who crafted Brown's truck-driving, regular-guy image during his stunning 2010 Senate upset, is not currently advising him, Republican sources told CNN.

Asked by text message if he's serious about a presidential bid, one Republican who talks to Brown often responded: "Who knows. You should call him and ask."

"He's acting on his own, as far as I can tell," another onetime adviser said in an e-mail.

But what if Brown takes off? What if he gains a toehold in New Hampshire, rises to high single digits in the polls sometime in 2015, and gets invited to some Republican primary debates? What if he rattles off a few good lines, has his moment in the sun, and then fades? He will have lost absolutely nothing -- but gained a spot on some vice presidential short lists along with a hike in his post-campaign speaking fees.

Another Republican who has spoken with Brown recently isn't surprised by the sudden interest in the presidential spotlight.

Brown, this person said, is a relentlessly enthusiastic guy who still takes great pride in capturing Ted Kennedy's old Senate seat.

"The fact that he is in Iowa doesn't surprise me," the Republican told CNN. "In '16, it's not a bad idea to put your name out there and see where it takes you. He was enthusiastic about getting back in the national conversation. I could definitely anticipate this."

Response: There's a difference between running for president and "running" for president. Scott Brown served part of one term in the Senate before losing his re-election bid. There's almost no downside in a politician saying he's considering a presidential run. Even some of his former advisers say they don't know what Brown is up to.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN)New York may be a paradise of Zagat-rated, Michelin-starred restaurants, but some of its best food can be found on the streets.

Hundreds of mobile eateries hawking gourmet global cuisine occupy corners across the city, alongside traditional hotdog vendors and halal carts.

King of Falafel & Shawarma

Halal carts slinging styrofoam plates piled high with falafel, shawarma and rice are ubiquitous in New York, but you'll recognize "the King" by the seemingly endless line crowding the sidewalk beside it.

Originally a Queens staple, the cart dominated the corner of 30th Street and Broadway in Astoria for almost a decade before it won the Vendy Award for New York's Best Street Food in 2010.

Now, its second cart in Midtown Manhattan peddles its famous falafel and shawarma to the masses, in addition to meaty plates like the Freddy's Junior: chicken, kefta and basmati rice topped with chopped onion and doused liberally in tahini and chile sauce.

King of Falafel & Shawarma; 53rd Street and Park Avenue; +1 718 838 8029

Milk Truck

Bessie, Milk Truck's sunshine-yellow food truck, is a welcome sight for hungry New Yorkers during lunch hour.

Every day, the truck's perpetually cheerful staff hawk classic American comfort foods like mac and cheese and turkey chili.

The most popular item by far is the grilled cheese sandwich.

There are three variations: the classic, the classic with onion and mustard, and a hearty three-cheese version with apple.

Despite not having a regular location -- Bessie's daily whereabouts must be tracked online -- Milk Truck has become a fixture in the New York street food scene thanks to its fiercely loyal following.

Milk Truck; locations vary; +1 646 233 3838

Red Hook Lobster Pound food truck

New Yorkers don't need to go to New England for a good lobster roll.

Thanks to Big Red, Red Hook Lobster Pound's lobster shack on wheels, they only need to walk to the curb.

Rolls come Maine-style, served cold with mayo, or Connecticut-style, served warm with butter and lemon, each stuffed with a quarter pound of fresh Maine lobster.

Despite a price tag high that's high for the streets -- $16 per roll at the time of writing -- the truck still sells between 300-400 rolls every two hours.

Red Hook Lobster Pound Food Truck; locations vary; +1 718 858 7650

Lumpia Shack

Though Lumpia Shack has recently upgraded to its own brick-and-mortar, its original location at Brooklyn's Smorgasburg street food market still remains.

Lines form before the tiny street stall as early as 11 a.m. each Saturday for lumpia, crispy, Filipino-inspired spring rolls.

Each roll is made using locally sourced ground pork, roasted duck or truffled adobo mushrooms, hand-rolled and then deep-fried.

Unlike regular street food, Lumpia Shack's plating is restaurant quality: the lumpia are arranged artfully on a tray, drizzled with homemade sauce and garnished with pea shoots and pickled vegetables.

Lumpia Shack; Smorgasburg at Kent Avenue and Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn; +1 917 475 1621

Dirty water dogs

Sometimes it feels like almost every other Manhattan street corner is dressed with the ubiquitous blue and yellow striped Sabrett umbrella, under which you'll find New York's most iconic street food: the dirty water dog.

Named after the warm, salty water it's soaked in, the hot frank is served in a soft bun (which sops up residual water) and then topped with ketchup, mustard, onions, relish and sauerkraut.

It's neither sophisticated nor gourmet, but it's the quintessential New York food experience.

Various locations

Solber Pupusas

Culinary heavyweights Anthony Bourdain, Marcus Samuelsson and Martha Stewart are all said to be fans of Vendy-winning Solber Pupusas, and it's no wonder.

Husband and wife owners Rafael and Reina Soler-Bermudez ("Solber" is a portmanteau of their last names) have been making the stuffed Salvadoran corn tortillas in their tiny mobile pupuseria for more than 15 years, selling more than 600 on a regular day.

The signature platter comes loaded with two pupusas, tangy curtido, pickled jalapenos, tomato sauce and sour cream.

Served on banana leaves with a tangy slaw, the Salvadoran tamales are also crowd favorites.

Solber Pupusas; Brooklyn Flea Market at Lafayette Avenue and Vanderbilt Avenue, Brooklyn; +1 516 965 0214

Calexico

Unlike California, New York isn't renowned for its Mexican food, but the city has stepped up its game in recent years, thanks in large part to Calexico.

What started out as a lone taco cart in SoHo in 2006 -- one of New York's first -- has since grown into a fleet of carts across the city and a handful of brick-and-mortar locations.

Its original SoHo cart remains its most popular location, still slinging soft corn tacos cradling slow-cooked chipotle pork, hearty bowls of jalapeno cheddar grits and burritos packed with beer-battered fish, beans, rice and Monterey Jack cheese.

Calexico; Prince Street and Wooster Street; +1 646 590 4172

Bolivian Llama Party

Traditional Bolivian street food staples can now be enjoyed on the streets of Brooklyn thanks to this popular Smorgasburg stall.

Though saltenas -- crusty, empanada-like pastries filled with meat and vegetables --are easily its best-selling item, the chola slider is the real star here.

The modern take on the humble sanduiche de chola comes stuffed with either pork or beef brisket and topped with hibiscus-pickled onions, carrots, kolla cheese and parsley.

Bolivian Llama Party; Smorgasburg at Kent Avenue and Wythe Avenue, Brooklyn; +1 347 395 5481

Breakfast cart bagels

New York boasts many terrific brick-and-mortar bagel shops, but you won't get a cheaper or more authentic breakfast than a bagel and coffee from a street cart.

Every morning, locals file out of the subway and make a beeline for the nearest silver breakfast cart, whose narrow shelves are stocked high with bagels and pastries of every kind.

Many pre-prepare their bagels for convenience, but most carts will make your bagel to order.

Coffee, usually deli-quality, is served in small blue-and-white Anthora cups that have become as characteristic of New York as yellow cabs and dirty water dogs.

Various locations

Response: You don't have to sit down to get great food in New York. Opened in 2006 in SoHo, a lone taco cart called Calexico has expanded into a mini-empire. New Yorkers don't need to go to New England for a good lobster roll, thanks to Red Hook Lobster Pound. Lines form early for Lumpia Shack's Philippines-inspired food.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- The U.S. relationship with President Hosni Mubarak's Egypt is full of contradictions and tensions, according to recently published U.S. diplomatic cables, but is also underpinned by similar basic interests in a rough and unpredictable part of the world.

A CNN analysis of secret and confidential cables published by WikiLeaks and its media partners reveals U.S. frustration with Mubarak's lack of succession planning, concerns over stuttering economic reform and private criticism of the Mubarak government's hard line toward domestic opponents.

But the cables also show that Washington sees Egypt as an important and -- until now -- stable ally on issues, including Iran's nuclear program, promoting negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority and making life difficult for Hamas in Gaza.

And above all, Egypt is regarded as a moderate bulwark against Iranian-sponsored Islamist fundamentalism.

The cables show that Mubarak has taken a persistently hard line toward Iran, telling U.S. diplomats in 2008 that he had warned Tehran "not to provoke the Americans" on the nuclear issue and insisting Egypt could never accept a nuclear-armed Iran.

Mubarak has also repeatedly warned of Iran's influence with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, and in a cable from February last year, was quoted as describing "Tehran's hand moving with ease throughout the region, from the Gulf to Morocco."

A 2009 cable noted that with "the discovery of a Hezbollah cell in Egypt, the Egyptians appear more willing to confront the Iranian surrogates and to work closely with Israel." To that end, the cables describe the Mubarak government as a helpful partner in stopping smuggling into Gaza from Egypt. A cable from 2008 quoted a senior Egyptian military figure as stating that Egypt had spent approximately $40 million to purchase the steel for an underground wall on the Gaza border, "and Egypt was paying the cost of this wall in terms of public opinion both within Egypt and the region."

There is no guarantee that any "successor" to the Mubarak government would take such a hard line with Hamas.

For the U.S., the alliance between Egypt and Saudi Arabia has also been an important counterweight to growing Iranian influence on the "Arab street" and among states such as Syria and Qatar.

Egyptian officials, from Mubarak down, have also repeatedly impressed upon visiting Americans -- military, diplomatic and Congressional -- that it alone among Arab states can play a mediating role between Israel and the Palestinians. [Egypt signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, and Mubarak has resisted popular opposition to it.]

Ahead of Mubarak's visit to Washington in May 2009, Ambassador Margaret Scobey wrote from Cairo that "the Egyptians want the visit to demonstrate that Egypt remains America's indispensable "Arab ally."

Scobey continued that Mubarak was "a tried and true realist, innately cautious and conservative, and has little time for idealistic goals."

He viewed himself as "someone who is tough but fair, who ensures the basic needs of his people."

At the same time, the Mubarak government has been very sensitive to any perceived slight from Washington. It has complained about cuts in U.S. economic aid and a stagnant level of military aid "because it shows our diminished view of the value of our relationship" according to one cable.

On pressure to improve human rights, according to one cable from Scobey in 2009, "Mubarak takes this issue personally, and it makes him seethe when we raise it, particularly in public."

In a later cable, she said that Mubarak "harkens back to the Shah of Iran: the U.S. encouraged him to accept reforms, only to watch the country fall into the hands of revolutionary religious extremists."

The Egyptian president relied on his interior minister and intelligence service to "keep the domestic beasts at bay, and Mubarak is not one to lose sleep over their tactics."

The U.S. cables display frustration with Mubarak's reluctance to address human rights issues, with one in 2008 saying: "While Egypt has made some limited gains over the last several years, such as on freedom of the press, progress overall has been slow."

In a later cable, Scobey suggested the new U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton "may wish to lay down a marker for a future discussion on democratization and human rights concerns." But given Mubarak's sensitivities, the U.S. has trodden carefully in pressing the Egyptian government on human rights. A cable from 2009 said the United States now avoided "the public confrontations that had become routine over the past several years" over human rights.

Over the past five years, the cables reveal a growing unease with the lack of a succession plan, and apprehension about the prospect of Mubarak's younger son, Gamal, taking over from his father. As far back as April 2006, one cable observed that Mubarak's wife, Suzanne, was their son's "most ardent booster" but added: "The possibility that Gamal might succeed his father remains deeply unpopular on the street."

It adds that "unlike his father, (Gamal) cannot take the military's support for granted," having never served as an officer. But the same cable laments the lack of obvious contenders to succeed the aging Mubarak -- a situation that appears to hold today.

Scobey wrote in apparent frustration two years ago that Mubarak "seems to be trusting to God and the ubiquitous military and civilian security services to ensure an orderly transition."

Recent events may have eroded that confidence, but one cable in 2007 pointed out that Egypt's internal security apparatus, "an estimated 1.4 million strong, is at least twice the size it was under Sadat ... and makes any kind of violent change of leader unlikely."

That perspective is now being challenged -- and the role of the military may be critical in deciding the outcome. A cable from 2008 cites Egyptian experts as describing a "disgruntled mid-level officer corps" with military salaries falling far behind the civilian sector and the top brass averse to Gamal succeeding his father.

Egyptian commentators also noted that many officers were frustrated that loyalty to the regime trumped competence, and that the best military talent was sidelined in case it should pose a threat to the government. Even so, one cable concludes: "The military still remains a potent political and economic force."

After discussing whether the military might step in to prevent Mubarak from passing the baton to his son, the cable concludes: "In a messier succession scenario, however, it becomes more difficult to predict the military's actions."

Response: A CNN analysis of secret cables published by WikiLeaks reveals U.S. frustration. U.S. has concerns over economic reform, Mubarak's lack of succession planning. Cables also reveal Washington sees Egypt as an important and -- until now -- stable ally.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Editor's note: Ben Chavis is the co-author with Carey Blakely of "Crazy Like A Fox: One Principal's Triumph in the Inner City." Chavis received his doctorate in education and philosophy from the University of Arizona and served as principal of American Indian Public Charter School for seven years. Chavis has also worked as a real estate investor. Currently, he is replicating the model he established at American Indian Public Charter School in various schools throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Educator Ben Chavis says money isn't enough to improve schools run by incompetent administrators.

(CNN) -- Teachers unions and politicians are constantly claiming that K-12 public schools need more money in order to produce good academic results. But does the data support the argument that our schools need more money to succeed?

The Oakland Unified School District had a budget of $602 million for the 2008-2009 school year, according to Katy Murphy, an education reporter with the Oakland Tribune. That budget, which includes $77 million spent on consultants, means that the district spends an average of $16,270 per student!

What have we, the public taxpayers, received for our exceptionally generous financial support of the Oakland public schools? According to the California Department of Education, the district's reported 2008 California Standardized Test scores show:

1. Of 707 eighth- and ninth-graders who took the California Standard test for general math: 1 percent tested advanced, 5 percent tested proficient and 94 percent failed by testing below grade level.  See details about K-12 schools, teachers »

2. Of 2,506 ninth- and 10th-grade students who took the California Standards test in algebra: 0 percent tested advanced, 3 percent tested proficient and 97 percent failed the test.

How is it possible for a public school system to so liberally spend more than half a billion dollars and still fail to educate 94 percent or more students of all racial backgrounds? Does anyone believe providing more money to these public school systems will enhance these students' academic performance in mathematics?

During my principalship at American Indian Public Charter School, we spent less than $8,000 per student, proving that schools did not need more money. We served a student population that is on average 98 percent minority, with 97 percent receiving free or reduced-price lunch and many who are non-English speakers and from single-parent families. AIPCS students spend three to four hours a day working on mathematics and English-language arts.

In 2009, they excelled in academics, physical fitness and any standardized test that they were given. The hard work of these students and staff has paid off with virtually all of our eighth-graders testing advanced in algebra, including 100 percent of our eighth-grade black students, Mexican-American students and American Indian students.

Before I became its principal, people called American Indian Public Charter School the zoo. The neighbors hated it. They couldn't stand the behavior of the students, who, with little supervision or control, wreaked havoc in the area.

Unfortunately, the students who decided to attend the school did not receive the academics and structure they so direly needed. The school was in many ways a failure, a joke, a sham.

When I took over as principal in 2000, it was the worst middle school in Oakland. I told the board I would take the job only if they let me go my own way and do what I thought was best. I implemented a golden rule at American Indian Public Charter School for staff, students and families: If you act like a winner, you'll be treated like a winner. If you act like a fool, you'll be treated like a fool. The charter school is now one of the top-scoring schools in the state and is nationally recognized.

The United States spends more money on public education than any other country in the world. Yet, we still have a secondary public education system that ranks with Third World countries in preparing our children in English-language arts, mathematics, science and social studies.

Washington, D.C.; Detroit, Michigan; Los Angeles, California; Kansas City, Missouri; and numerous other cities throughout the United States are producing the same poor academic results at an extraordinary cost to the taxpayer and a tremendous academic loss to our students and country.

I believe all the money in the world would not be enough to improve schools run by incompetent public school administrators. We need proven leaders who can prepare our children to be competitive members in a free-market society.

The American public has been conned into believing that public schools need more money. Have you ever met a public school administrator who said they have enough money?

President Obama is moving in the "right" direction by reforming public schools to be held responsible to the American public in return for more money. It's very clear that most Americans want to ensure that accountability be attached to the stimulus money that is being awarded to all institutions, including public schools.

Next time you hear school officials or politicians begging for more money, ask them how large the district's budget is and how many students are enrolled in their district. Then you do the math. After all, it's your money they want to take.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ben Chavis.

Response: Chavis: "All the money in the world" isn't enough to help poorly run schools. Author: I turned "worst middle school in Oakland" into a top-scoring school. D.C., Detroit, L.A. produce poor results at extraordinary taxpayer cost, Chavis says. Obama is right to require accountability in return for reform money, Chavis says.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- In January 2010, a hardcore "Transformers" fan going by "gaastra" on a message board for Shout! Factory (a DVD and CD company "for the discerning pop culture geek") asked the simple question, "What would it take to get the Takara shows a release in America?"

Before long, Shout! Factory DVD producer Brian Ward was asking fans how much interest they would have in such a release and what they would like to see on it.

18 months later, the first of the "Takara shows," known as "Transformers: Headmasters," was officially released Tuesday for the first time in the United States.

Such is the relationship that geek-friendly companies like Shout! have with fans that this release has seen the light of day.

"I'm really excited about it," said Michael Albert of Bear, Delaware, moderator of Seibertron.com, a "Transformers" community site that boasts as many as 300,000 page views per day (mostly by fans whose interest in "Robots in Disguise" goes well beyond one of the biggest box office successes of the year, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," and its predecessors). "This is the first time we've gotten a legitimate release of this Japanese series. You would have to get recordings of them burned onto DVDs, or import them from Australia or Europe, or find a laser-disc player from the 1980s to watch this."

Albert and others from Seibertron.com -- one of many fan sites like tfarchive.com, tformers.com and tfw2005.com -- said that these releases were one of the most sought-after items by fans over the years.

The Transformers first became a pop cultural phenomenon in the U.S. in the mid-'80s, based on a pair of toy lines from Japan's Takara company, Microman and Diaclone. When interest in the characters faded after a very short-lived fourth season of the original "G1" animated series, it came full circle with the Japanese producing "Headmasters," the first in a series of anime which took the characters in a wild new direction, involving new characters who were able to detach their heads, which were entirely separate characters (the U.S. series only touched on this concept briefly before it ended).

"It really is interesting to see just how the Japanese and their culture played into a series that for most of us we've only known as straightforward Autobots vs Decepticons," said Ward, a "Transformers" fan himself who has produced all of the Shout! Factory releases of other series, such as "G1" and the 1990s "Transformers: Beast Wars."

"[The Takara anime series] really bends towards a lot of things that Japanese children want to see," said Albert. "After 'Headmasters' is over, the Transformers are not so much sentient robots but having human drivers. From what I understand, Japanese children prefer having human drivers."

Ward pointed out other, more subtle culture differences. "Where the G1 characters would call Optimus Prime 'optimus' -- they were pretty casual with their leader -- the Japanese approach it very differently. Optimus Prime will be referred in more of a formal manner, he'll be 'Commander' or something among those lines."

"The Autobots and Decepticons [in these series] are, no pun intended a well ordered machine," he said. "It's interesting to watch those characters change culturally."

"Some major characters die early on," said Matt Brown of Canton, Michigan, a podcaster at Seibertron.com. "Later in the series, another major character bites the dust. They don't mess around."

As with any anime import, there is the eternal debate of "subbed versus dubbed." There are some fans who simply do not want to watch subtitles.

Kim Manning, head programmer for Adult Swim (which is owned by Time Warner, also owner of CNN), and one of the top people responsible for what anime series are seen in the United States, said that every effort is made to get dubbed versions.

"I think they're more likely to reach a more mainstream audience, and we're always hoping to get a larger audience excited about anime," she said. "I think hearing it in your native language allows you to get more absorbed in the action, and to pay more attention to the animation, which is often just gorgeous."

In the case of "Headmasters" however, the episodes are not dubbed, but have brand-new subtitles.

"We saw the releases that had come out in the U.K. and Australia and saw that the subtitles there weren't entirely accurate, and in some cases didn't make sense," said Ward. "It was clear that the folks who had translated did not use English as their first language. We gave it to a really good captioning and subtitling house in L.A. and they did a brilliant job of accurately translating the dialogue and understanding what was being said. We got those scripts approved by Hasbro (owners of 'Transformers'), and we're really happy with the outcome. The translation is about as close as one can get to an accurate translation of what's being said in Japanese."

Dubbed versions of the series are out there, however, including one for Malaysian and Singapore television. "When we heard them, it really got to a point where it was comical," Ward explaned. "The voices were awful. Names would change. Soundwave disappears and is simply replaced by 'New Soundwave.' It was almost the equivalent of watching a Saturday afternoon martial arts movie dub, and that's certainly not something we wanted to do with a property as beloved as 'Transformers,' so we opted out of original dubs and went for brand new subtitles."

Early fan reaction to this was not entirely positive. "There was a small bit of disappointment that the project couldn't secure enough funding to do a brand-new English dub," said Seibertron.com podcaster Bob King of Ashley, Pennsylvania. "I kind of share that feeling, but I also know that this isn't going to be a very mainstream release, and for them to spend that much money would be kind of a gamble. I appreciate that they're staying cautious."

"People who have not seen it before might be disappointed in the subtitles, but rest assured [that the existing dubs] are that horrible," said Seibertron.com founder Ryan Yzquierdo, from Chicago, Illinois. "You can't actually sit there and watch the dubs, unless you like drinking while watching 'Transformers.'"

Albert said that the Takara series' legacy extends beyond a mere curiosity: "The themes are non-Western compared to what Hasbro does now but some of the design aesthetics do play into what we see today."

The other Takara series will be released in the near future as "The Japanese Collection," though a production delay has postponed its release for several weeks.

Despite those delays and some early hesitation from the subtitle-phobic, Yzquierdo said that most fans are just excited to check the shows out: "This is something that I never thought I would see released in the States."

Indeed, this is just the latest example of fans communicating directly with companies to make a difference in what material is released to the public. Manning has communicated often with a "vibrant" community of fans on the Adult Swim message boards.

"We definitely look at what people are talking about online, what people are watching and buying online, too. From that, we're always looking for shows that we think will appeal to our audience, and then we pass it around the office -- several of us are anime fans, as well, so we make our own focus group."

As for the importance of the release of "Headmasters" specifically, Ward said, "It gives [fans] something definitive, something approved by Hasbro. Casual fans who just love Transformers will be really surprised by the quality of the show. These were things that were almost, for lack of a better word, lost to American audiences."

Response: Japan's "Transformers: Headmasters" released in U.S. for the first time. It's the latest example of fans influencing what material is seen by the public. Japan took U.S. "Transformers" cartoon in wild new directions. The release reignited the anime "subbed vs. dubbed" debate in some circles.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Manchester United's hopes of winning a treble this season ended on Saturday with a 1-0 defeat to arch-rivals Manchester City in the semifinals of the English FA Cup at Wembley Stadium.

Alex Ferguson's team are on course for a record-breaking 19th English league title and have also reached the semifinals of the European Champions League, but Yaya Toure's second-half winner gave City the chance of winning a first trophy in 35 years.

The Ivory Coast midfielder pounced after consecutive errors by veteran goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar and midfielder Michael Carrick allowed him the chance to drill in a low shot seven minutes after halftime.

United's bid to reach the final of the 140-year-old knockout competition for a record 19th time was then sabotaged by a moment of madness from 36-year-old midfielder Paul Scholes.

The former England international, the only player of the two squads actually born in Manchester, was sent off with 18 minutes left for a reckless high lunge into the thigh of City's Argentine defender Pablo Zabaleta.

Ferguson casts doubt over Hargreaves future

City last won the tournament in 1969, and most recently reached the final in 1981 -- one of the modern classics which was won in a replay by Tottenham.

Roberto Mancini's team will face either Bolton or Stoke in the final on May 14, with the two Premier League teams meeting in Sunday's second semifinal also at England's national stadium.

The Italian urged his team not to get carried away, with the club still battling to qualify for next season's Champions League.

"We have everything in our hands. If we have the same spirit we had today, we have the fourth spot," he said, having molded City into contenders since taking charge December 2009 after being handed a lavish transfer kitty by billionaire owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

"Manchester City was a small team until three, four, five years ago. It's important to start to win the first trophies."

United should have taken an early lead after dominating the first half-hour, with Dimitar Berbatov guilty of two bad misses in quick succession.

The Bulgarian, starting in place of suspended England striker Wayne Rooney, was first denied by quick-thinking goalkeeper Joe Hart and then belied the form that has seen him become the Premier League's top scorer this season by inexplicably scooping the ball over the bar from close range after being found by Nani's inviting low cross.

City, missing injured captain and top scorer Carlos Tevez, capitalized on some slack United defending after the interval as the 40-year-old Van der Sar -- who retires at the end of this season -- made a poor clearance and then Carrick gave the ball away to Toure.

Hart did well to tip a 65th-minute freekick from Nani onto the crossbar before Scholes' red card forced a reshuffle with Berbatov replaced by midfielder Anderson.

Man of the match Toure was denied by Van der Sar in the final minute and City survived five minutes of time added on to reach the club's second final since winning the English League Cup in 1976.

The match ended in ugly scenes as United defender Rio Ferdinand had to be restrained after Anderson reacted to City striker Mario Balotelli's unwise celebrations in front of opposition fans.

Ancelotti in troubled waters at the Bridge

In Saturday's Premier League action, third-placed defending champions Chelsea moved five points clear of City with a 3-1 victory at mid-table West Brom.

The London club bounced back from the midweek Champions League exit at the hands of United as striker Didier Drogba leveled the scoring after this time being given the chance to start instead of $80 million signing Fernando Torres.

West Brom had led through Nigeria striker peter Odemwingie, but Salomon Kalou put Chelsea ahead in the 26th minute and Frank Lampard sealed victory just before halftime.

The result eased any fears that Chelsea will not qualify for next season's top European competition, moving Carlo Ancelotti's team eight points clear of fifth-placed Tottenham -- who host United's main title rivals Arsenal on Wednesday.

Arsenal can reduce United's lead to four points by beating sixth-placed Liverpool on Sunday in a match that Kenny Dalglish's team also need to win in order to beat Tottenham to the sole Europa League spot.

Everton consolidated seventh place with a 2-0 victory at home to Blackburn thanks to second-half goals by midfielder Leon Osman and defender Leighton Baines, the latter a penalty.

Aston Villa moved up to ninth with a last-gasp 2-1 victory at second-bottom West Ham as substitute striker Gabriel Agbonlahor headed an injury-time winner after teammate Darren Bent canceled out Robbie Keane's early opener.

Sunderland, European hopefuls earlier this season, slumped to an eighth defeat in nine games as the 2-0 loss at Birmingham left both clubs in a group of four teams on 38 points -- five clear of the relegation zone.

Wigan moved out of the bottom three with a 3-1 win at Blackpool that dropped the promoted home team into the danger area for the first time this season.

Response: Manchester City through to English FA Cup final for the first time since 1981. Yaya Toure's 52nd-minute winner ends United's hopes of winning three trophies this season. Roberto Mancini's team will face either Stoke or Bolton in the final on May 14. Third-placed Chelsea move five points clear of City with a 3-1 win at West Brom.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:Washington (CNN) -- New disclosures that the Internal Revenue Service targeted liberals as well as conservatives in assessing applications for tax-exempt status have reshaped perceptions of the scandal, shifting the focus away from Republican claims of political villainy.

IRS targeting included liberal groups

Investigations by the FBI, congressional committees, the Treasury inspector general's office and the IRS continue, but Monday's revelations bolstered assertions by agency officials and Democrats that the problem was egregious mismanagement instead of intentional misconduct by the Obama administration.

Shifting polls contradict key deposition

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California told CNN on Tuesday that the priority now should be to ensure that laws and regulations prohibiting political groups from getting tax-exempt status are properly enforced, regardless of whether organizations are on left or right.

"These groups are in some ways giving the appearance that their primary purpose is the common good, the common welfare ... when they are actively engaged in political activity, for which they shouldn't be getting a tax deduction," Pelosi said.

However, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin argued too many questions remain unanswered to stop investigating whether politics played a role in the controversy.

"What we still don't know is who ordered this kind of targeting, why did it take so long for them to clean it up?" Ryan, the 2012 GOP vice presidential nominee, told CBS.

Asked if the claim of political motivation now seemed less valid, he responded: "I don't know the answer to that, so we're going to let the facts take us where they take us."

In particular, Ryan said he wanted more details on why conservative-oriented groups had their tax-exempt applications stalled and experienced harassing behavior by the IRS, such as having to answer inappropriate questions about the beliefs and activities of members.

At the same time, he sounded like Pelosi in saying the bigger question involved the practice of targeting, rather than who specifically got targeted.

CNN Poll: Did White House order IRS targeting?

"We know that the IRS did target people based upon their political beliefs," Ryan said. "Who cares whether they're right or left? ... The fact that they're targeting people for harassment based upon their political beliefs should be cause enough alone for outrage."

That's a big change from inferences by GOP leaders in recent weeks that the Obama administration was likely behind the targeting that started in 2010 in an effort to subdue political rivals.

With no evidence to date of any such connection, it was unclear how hard congressional committees would continue pushing the issue.

The GOP-led House Ways and Means Committee has scheduled a hearing on Thursday on an initial review of the IRS targeting by the agency's temporary leader, Daniel Werfel.

President Barack Obama appointed Werfel to clean up the IRS mess last month after an inspector general's audit uncovered targeting of applications that contained conservative-themed words such as "tea party."

The audit by Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George only cited the targeting of conservative groups, which it said ended in May 2012.

Read IRS watchdog's report

In his first substantive report on the agency, Werfel said Monday that its tax-exempt unit used multiple lists of inappropriate criteria in assessing tax-exempt applications until earlier this month, more than a year later than previously revealed.

The "Be on the Lookout" or BOLO lists included liberal-themed words such as "progressives" and other politically oriented terms such as "occupy" and "medical marijuana" in alerting IRS workers to check for unacceptable political activities, according to copies made available by Democratic Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan.

Werfel said he has suspended the use of BOLO lists in considering tax-exempt applications for now.

A statement by Levin questioned why George's audit focused only on BOLO lists that contained conservative labels.

The inspector general's report "served as the basis and impetus for a wide range of congressional investigations, and this new information shows that the foundation of those investigations is flawed in a fundamental way," Levin's statement said.

A spokesperson for George later responded that the report focused only on BOLO criteria used to refer cases for extra scrutiny of potential political activity that would make groups ineligible for tax-exempt status.

Republicans have claimed the controversy amounted to political retribution against enemies of the administration, an accusation denied by the White House and the IRS.

McConnell: Obama administration a 'culture of intimidation'

In response to Levin's statement, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Dave Camp, R-Michigan, said the inclusion of "progressives" on a BOLO list did not prove that liberal groups underwent the same extra scrutiny of conservative groups cited in the inspector general's report.

The release of George's audit last month ignited a political firestorm in Washington while fueling conservative mistrust of Obama's administration as an example of big government gone wild.

Werfel noted Monday that his internal investigation, while still incomplete, found no evidence so far of intentional wrongdoing by IRS personnel or involvement by anyone outside the IRS. He also said no evidence had emerged that in appropriate targeting extended into other areas of the agency.

Five IRS managers have been replaced, from the previous acting commissioner whom Werfel succeeded to the head of the unit based in Cincinnati that handles tax-exempt applications.

In addition, Werfel created an Accountability Review Board to recommend within 60 days "any additional personnel actions necessary to hold accountable those responsible" for the targeting disclosed by the inspector general's report.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that Obama believes Werfel's report "is an important step in ensuring accountability for any staff that acted inappropriately, identifies the failures in their systems that allowed the misconduct to happen, and takes a forward-looking systemic view at the agency's management."

In his audit that disclosed the misconduct, George said there was no evidence of a political motive. However, he is continuing to investigate the matter, along with the FBI and the congressional committees.

As part of his review, Werfel said 80 groups awaiting IRS action on their applications for tax exempt status for more than 120 days could self-register with the agency as long as they certified under penalty of perjury that they would comply with applicable laws and regulations.

At the heart of the matter is what kind of organization can qualify for tax-exempt status. Regulations limit such status to groups primarily involved in social welfare activities, while political groups are considered ineligible.

Confusion over defining what constitutes political activity versus social welfare activity contributed to the targeting by the IRS, Werfel said.

An IRS statement on Monday said the "safe-harbor" option for self-certification would apply to groups that "certify they devote 60% or more of both their spending and time on activities that promote social welfare."

"At the same time, they must certify that political campaign intervention involves 40% or less of both their spending and time," the statement said. Applicants meeting those thresholds would get approval within two weeks of seeking self-certification, it said.

Earlier: What's a 501(c)(4)?

Werfel said the IRS would continue checking on tax-exempt groups to ensure they were following the law.

Separately, the House Oversight Committee, which has been aggressively investigating the IRS matter, plans to meet on Friday to consider a resolution aimed at resolving questions about whether a key agency official must testify.

Lois Lerner was the director of exempt organizations when the agency filtered applications for tax exempt status. She appeared before the committee in May and said she had broken no laws or regulations and then invoked her constitutional right not to answer questions.

Lerner pleads the 5th

Several committee Republicans questioned whether she waived that right by making her opening statement, and Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa said she could be called back at a later date if that were the case.

CNN's Dana Bash and Deirdre Walsh contributed to this report.

Response: Liberal and conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status got targeted. Pelosi: The priority is stopping political groups from getting tax breaks. Ryan: Unanswered questions require further questions. A House committee holds the next hearing on the issue Thursday.


Prompt:
Explain the text in one sentence.
 Text:(CNN) -- Getting hired or promoted in today's competitive environment is no easy feat. But, then again, neither was our pitch for MasterCard.

The rules of the game were made clear: whichever advertising campaign had the best consumer test score would be declared the winner and awarded the MasterCard account. Yet, despite the fact that our now famous "Priceless" campaign did not fare well in testing, we won the business, and the rest is history. Fifteen years later, "Priceless" remains one of the most recognizable ad campaigns in recent history.

So why did we win the business, defying set rules and what early testing said would be a failure? According to MasterCard's CMO Larry Flanagan, it was because of our "core" -- we were a fighting and a cohesive team of competitors, who believed with every ounce of our beings that this campaign would crush their long-standing competitor, Visa. In other words, we had tapped their "hidden agenda."

The hidden agenda is the unspoken, visceral, emotional motivation that is behind every decision. Whether deciding who wins the billion dollar deal ... or the job, the hidden agenda is always at work. Your mission is to connect to it, and here's how:

Do your hidden-agenda homework

It's not enough to know factoids about the company. That's table stakes. Do your homework about the emotional state of the company. Are they on a high, yet searching for the next big thing? Are they in crisis and in need of a turnaround? Are they guided by a value system that drives the decisions they make?

It turns out that every decision stems from a hidden agenda, which can be found in three forms:

â€¢ Wants are about people viewing their circumstances through the lens of ambition and confidence.

â€¢ Needs are about viewing circumstances through the lens of fear or concern.

â€¢ Values are about people viewing the world entirely through the lens of their belief systems.

In addition to understanding the company's hidden agenda, study the person who will be interviewing you to determine their hidden agenda.

Connect with your real ambition

I had breakfast a few weeks ago with a very compelling young man. This electrifying fellow was exuberant, quirky bordering on eccentric, and without pretense. He spoke of what he hoped to create in his life, and I hired him on the spot.

Your real ambition is a deep desire to create something special that doesn't yet exist. It's bigger than mere ambition because it's noble. When the person you are trying to reach is touched by your real ambition and makes common cause, they'll hire you.

Try this: Think about what you want to accomplish, but precede with the words "I will ..." Make sure it is seemingly impossible, devoid of practicality and utterly fantastic. You can create a shared bond with your interviewer, because they see you both share a common vision.

See also: Is happiness the secret of success?

Bond with your credo

A company is many things, but it is a community first. Each community has a set of values that bind them; I call it a credo, Latin for "I believe." Dig deeply and look behind the facts and figures. What does the company you're applying to believe? If you want to be part of it, know it and connect yourself to it.

Try this: Take out a sheet of paper, and write "I believe that ..." What words would you select? What values would you express that would make you proud for others to see? Connections are made because of the beliefs you share. You'll be hired, because your interviewer will see that your credo syncs perfectly with theirs.

Ignite with your core

Your core is what makes you stand out from the pack. While many people have similar traits, your core is comprised of a set of skills, abilities, and strengths that, together, are completely unique to you. And as was the case with MasterCard, your core will be seen as something the company needs -- the "answer to their prayers" and a means by which you can help them.

See also: Is workplace boredom 'the new stress?'

Critical to your core is authenticity. As a wonderful mentor once told me when I was presenting what I thought was a perfect version of myself and thinking that the real me was no road to glory: the person you are is the person they want to see. They are hiring you, not a manufactured version of something or someone else.

Try this: Ask five people who know you well and support you to write down the key characteristics they associate with you. Not only will you be staggered by what you'll get, but you will also feel proud and affirmed. You mobilize people to hire you, because their vital needs are satisfied by the authenticity and sincerity of your core.

Your pursuit for the promotion or job of your dreams is not a fact and figures game -- it is a human game. When you make a profound connection with the emotional desire of your boss or interviewer, the facts and figures will take the backseat, every time.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Kevin Allen.

Response: Every company has an emotional motivation, or hidden agenda, says Kevin Allen. He believes tapping into the hidden agenda is key to getting your dream job. Share your 'real ambition' to connect with potential employers. When applying for a job, show that you connect with the company's core beliefs.