<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/593b1da7bf76bb25008b4e61-1024/gettyimages-622170392.jpg" alt="Lloyd Blankfein" data-mce-source="Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The New York Times" data-mce-caption="Goldman Sachs Group chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein." /><p class="source"><span>Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for The New York Times</span></p><p class="caption">Goldman Sachs Group chairman and CEO Lloyd Blankfein.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><section><article><div><div><section data-share-hash=""><div>Goldman Sachs just announed a new class of managing directors.</div><div></div><div>Here's the statement:</div></section></div><p>NEW YORK, November 8, 2017 -- The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE: GS) today announced that it has selected a new class of Managing Directors, effective from January 1, 2018, the start of the firm's next fiscal year.</p><p>"Our new Managing Directors have demonstrated an outstanding commitment to our people, clients and culture during their tenures at the firm, and we wish them continued success as they take this important next step in their careers," said Lloyd C. Blankfein, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Goldman Sachs.</p><p>The following individuals have been promoted to Managing Director:</p><p><br />Gregg Abramson<br />Sanjay Acharya<br />Khalid Albdah<br />Amal Alibair<br />Karthikeyan Anbalagan<br />Rolf Andersson<br />Volker Anger<br />Jonathan Armstrong<br />Ken Ashley<br />Lavanya Ashok<br />Sebastian Ayton<br />Jonathan Babkow<br />Julio Badi<br />Amitayush Bahri<br />Soren Balzer<br />Robert Barlick Jr.<br />Philip Barreca<br />Santiago Bau<br />David Bauer<br />Oksana Beard<br />Lee Becker<br />Virender Bedi<br />Stuart Beer<br />Christian Beerli<br />Amanda Beisel<br />Yumiko Bekku<br />David Bell<br />Pierre Benichou<br />Andrew Benito<br />Marco Bensi<br />Laura Benson<br />Stephen Bergin<br />Daniel Berglund<br />Greg Berry<br />Shital Bhatt<br />Dipanjan Bhattacharjee<br />Anu Bhavnani<br />Carissa Biggie<br />Vineet Birman<br />Daniel Bitel<br />Anne Black<br />Richard Blore<br />Emmanuel Bodenstein<br />Timothy Braude<br />Sean Brenan<br />Hugh Briscoe<br />Nathaniel Bristol<br />Leo Brito<br />Troy Broderick<br />Levee Brooks<br />Eric Brothers<br />Robert Bruns III<br />Anthony Bunnell<br />Meg Burke<br />Susan Burt<br />Sean Butkus<br />Russell Byrne<br />Edward Byun<br />Adam Cahill<br />Alessandro Calace<br />Cristiano Camargo<br />Ken Cawley<br />Swapan Chaddha<br />Patrick Chamberlain<br />Richard Chambers<br />Daphne Chan<br />Lily Chan<br />Ben Chance<br />Ginger Chang<br />Vikram Chavali<br />Alex Cheek<br />Jae Joon Choi<br />Ken Choi<br />Paul Choi<br />David Clark<br />Denis Cleary<br />Daniel Cleland-James<br />Ayanna Clunis<br />Pamela Codo-Lotti<br />Jesse Cohen<br />Paul Coles<br />Simon Coombes<br />Jenny Cosco<br />Philip Coureau<br />Nathan Cowen<br />Matthew Cox (Securities)<br />Shaun Cullinan<br />Christine D'Agostino<br />Emile Daher<br />Hiren Dasani<br />Russell Day<br />Pierre De Belen<br />Merche del Valle<br />Caitlin DeSantis<br />Jack Devaney<br />Thomas 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Silverzweig<br />Jasdeep Singh<br />Gabriella Skirnick<br />Michael Sklow<br />Maxine Sleeper<br />Michael Slomienski<br />Michael Sloyer<br />Nicholas Smith (IBD)<br />Ruth Smithson<br />Christine Smyth<br />Ben Snider<br />Stacy Sonnenberg<br />Cleaver Sower<br />Ro Spaziani<br />Brian Steele<br />Johannes Steffens<br />Duncan Stewart<br />Stephen Stites<br />Laurent Storoni<br />Caroline Styant<br />Joel Sulkes<br />Mancy Sun<br />Winnie Tam<br />Nachiket Tamhane<br />Ken Tang<br />MK Tang<br />Amish Tanna<br />Melissa Teng<br />Ross Tennenbaum<br />Greg Thompson<br />Fiona Thomson<br />Justin Tobe<br />Jason Tofsky<br />Brad Tuthill<br />Masahiro Uchiyama<br />Nehal Udeshi<br />Saad Usmani<br />Meg Vaden<br />Pramod Vaidyanathan<br />Adam Van de Berghe<br />Fred van der Wyck<br />Suzanne van Staveren<br />Andrew Vass<br />Mahesh Vellanki<br />Kadambari Verma<br />Christopher Vilburn<br />Iva Vukina<br />Heng Vuong<br />Ketan Vyas<br />Joe Wall<br />Jeffrey Wang<br />Jiantao Wang<br />Joshua Wang<br />Lily Wang (Technology)<br />Sherry Wang<br />Victoria Ward (Compliance)<br />Jeff Warren<br />Noriko Watanabe<br />Ramey Watkins<br />Sam Watkins<br />Heiko Weber<br />Niki Webster<br />Scott Weinstein<br />Ryan Westmacott<br />James Westwood<br />Keith Wetzel<br />Mark Wetzel<br />James Whittingham<br />Sabine Wick<br />Robert Wieser<br />Devin Wilde<br />David Wilkins<br />John Wilkinson<br />Andrew Williams<br />Ed Wong (IBD Technology)<br />Eric Wong (Internal Audit)<br />Kate Wood<br />Amanda Wu<br />Douglas Wu<br />Joanne Xu<br />Liang Xu**<br />Rupam Yadav<br />Kazushi Yamaguchi<br />Hubert Yang<br />Lisa Yang<br />Basak Yavuz<br />Zeynep Yenel<br />David Yu<br />Brian Zakrocki<br />Thomas Zeppetella<br />Yi Zhang*<br />Adib Zouein<br />Patrik Zumstein<br />Piotr Zurawski<br />Jonathan Zwart</p><p>*<em>Employee of Goldman Sachs Gao Hua Securities Company Limited</em><br />**<em>Employee of Beijing Gao Hua Securities Company Limited</em></p></div></article></section><p class="tagline">Get the latest Goldman Sachs stock price<a href="http://markets.businessinsider.com/stock/GS-Quote"> here.</a></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/interview-with-kristina-hooper-chief-investment-strategist-at-invesco-2017-11">We talked to the chief investment strategist at $920 billion fund giant Invesco about where you should invest right now</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/EpDpiRHy-xjRU7l6Z.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Goldman Sachs' new managing director list is out

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/55743ce25afbd3f97f8b4567-450-300/deutsche-bank-co-ceos-have-offered-to-resignsource-2015-6.jpg" border="0" alt="Anshu Jain (L) and Juergen Fitschen, co-CEOs of Deutsche Bank, attend the bank's annual general meeting in Frankfurt, Germany, May 21, 2015. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach"><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Jain and Fitschen, co-CEOs of Deutsche Bank, attend the bank's annual general meeting in Frankfurt</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Deutsche Bank said Sunday that its co-CEOs <a href="https://www.db.com/medien/en/content/5060_5197.htm">are resigning from their positions early</a> and that it has picked<span style="line-height: 1.5em;"> John Cryan, the former UBS AG finance chief, to be their successor.</span></p><p><span>Current co-CEO Anshu Jain </span>will step down on June 30, but co-CEO <span>Juergen </span>Fitschen will remain as co-CEO with Cryan until May 2016 to ensure a "smooth transition," the bank said. </p><p>After Fitschen leaves, Cryan will be the only CEO. The bank noted that it chose Cryan at an "extraordinary meeting" on Sunday.</p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The news comes just over two weeks after the bank gave Jain more power in a move criticized by some of his own staff. </span><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The bank has struggled to restore an image tarnished by a raft of regulatory and legal problems which include probes into manipulation of benchmark interest rates, mis-selling of derivatives, tax evasion and money laundering.</span></p><p>In a last ditch effort to restore confidence in its leadership, the German lender presented a radical management shakeup on May 21, only to face calls for Jain to resign from staff situated in its own headquarters in Frankfurt.</p><p>To make matters worse, <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/deutsche-bank-co-ceos-to-announce-resignations-1433674815">the Wall Street Journal pointed out</a>, Fitschen is on trial in Germany on charges that he gave misleading testimony in a civil lawsuit involving the Kirch media empire. </p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">A press release from Deutsche Bank quoted Jain at length but did not include comments from Fitschen. Here's the statement from Jain:</span></p><p style="padding-left: 30px;"><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><span>It has been 20 years this month since I came to work at Deutsche Bank and it has been an extraordinary time. Over the past three years, I have been afforded the privilege and honour to lead this great institution together with Jürgen. In our time as the bank's leaders, we have boosted capital, reduced exposures and risk and invested significantly in technology, control and compliance capabilities. Most significantly, we have kept our clients happy and our revenues growing while reshaping and strengthening the bank."</span><br><br><span>I believe that with Strategy 2020 in place, which puts the bank's future on a strong track, it is right for the bank and for me to have new leadership at this time. I will be forever honored to have served here, and I am convinced that the future of the bank is bright and in very good hands.</span></br></br></span></p><p><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">(Reuters reporting by Thomas Atkins and Edward Taylor; Reuters writing by Edward Taylor; Reuters editing by Philipa Fletcher)</span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/merriam-websters-most-looked-up-word-pragmatic-2015-4">Here's the most looked-up word in the Merriam-Webster dictionary</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="ZrNGNvdDqFUZGpifnFLELrtncNElhlUX" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'ZrNGNvdDqFUZGpifnFLELrtncNElhlUX',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Deutsche Bank picks new CEO at emergency meeting after 2 co-CEOs quit

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5683f893c08a801b008b5dce-1202-901/ethan couch affluenza mexico.jpg" alt="Ethan Couch Affluenza Mexico" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Fiscalia General del Estado de Jalisco/Handout via Reuters" data-mce-caption="U.S. national Ethan Couch is pictured in this undated handout photograph made available to Reuters on December 29, 2015 by the Jalisco state prosecutor office." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Fiscalia General del Estado de Jalisco/Handout via Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">U.S. national Ethan Couch is pictured in this undated handout photograph made available to Reuters on December 29, 2015 by the Jalisco state prosecutor office.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Ethan Couch, the Texas teenager who fled to Mexico to escape jail time for a drunken-driving crash that killed four people has become famous for claiming he's so rich and famous that he can't tell right from wrong, earning him the nickname "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/texas-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-dyed-hair-black-2015-12">affluenza teen</a>."</p><p>After a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/us/teenagers-sentence-in-fatal-drunken-driving-case-stirs-affluenza-debate.html">psychologist used the term</a> in Couch's defense during his trial, a judge sentenced the teen to <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-affluenza-idUSKBN0UC07420151230">10 years drug-and-alcohol-free probation</a> for intoxication manslaughter, which critics say was too lenient.</p><p>The term "affluenza" combines affluence and influenza, and <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2001-04-10/features/0104100032_1_new-world-college-dictionary-dictionary-editors-term/2">its first use</a> traces back to about 1954, when<strong> </strong>Fred Whitman, a member of one of San Francisco's prominent founding families, used it to describe the supposed psychological and social effects of wealth, including feelings of guilt, lack of motivation, isolation, and extreme materialism rich people suffer from.</p><p>The term <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/30/us/use-of-affluenza-didnt-begin-with-ethan-couch-case.html">was later popularized</a> in <span>the late 1990s by the book "The Golden Ghetto" and by a </span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/kcts/affluenza/">PBS special</a> of the same name. Now, it even <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/affluenza">appears</a> in t<span>he Merriam-Webster </span>Unabridged Dictionary.</p><p>Not surprisingly, experts say it's not a real illness.</p><h2>A made-up illness?</h2><p>"As a doctor I can assure you that, no, Affluenza is not a real affliction," Michelle London, a Johns Hopkins-trained neuropsychologist and President of the Chicago NeuroRehabilitation Center, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/16/no-affluenza-is-not-a-real-thing.html">wrote in the Daily Beast</a> back in 2013.</p><p>"It is a constructed excuse for behavior that gives a privileged teen an out because his father is a millionaire and his defense team is of the Gucci variety," London added.</p><p>There is no mention of affluenza in the latest edition of the <a href="http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx">Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders</a>, the handbook used by health care professionals. And a search for the term "affluenza" in PubMed Central, a major database of medical research, turned up <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=affluenza">just four results</a>, only one of which seems to be a serious investigation of the condition. Even that one refers to it as "a metaphorical illness."</p><p>"It's a cute idea in the public's imagination, but there's no diagnostic criteria that says people have affluenza," Thomas Plante, a psychologist at Santa Clara University, <a href="http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/is-affluenza-a-real-condition-131213.htm">told Discovery News</a> in 2013.</p><p>That said, Plante and other psychologists say that they have noticed this kind of troublesome behavior in rich kids whose parents don't discipline or pay attention to them.</p><h2>Rich kids, lax parents?</h2><p>Arizona State University psychologist Suniya Luthar has <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1948879/">studied the mattter</a>, and her findings led her to suggest that upper-class kids run a risk of falling into subtance abuse, anxiety and depression because of pressure or isolation from their parents.</p><p>"There are families where very, very few limits are set at a time when they should be," Luthar <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/12/health/affluenza-youth/">told CNN</a> in 2013. But by the time a child is 16, "The horse is out of the barn," she added.</p><p>But as far as psychology is concerned, being rich and having lax parents is not enough to define a mental illness, and definitely isn't an excuse for killing someone.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ethan-couch-orders-pizza-gets-caught-dominos-mexico-affluenza-teen-2015-12">Texas 'affluenza' teen and his mom were tracked after ordering Domino's Pizza</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="1tbnB2eTpMevU01LW2xXfJpLnvwGu1Or" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', '1tbnB2eTpMevU01LW2xXfJpLnvwGu1Or',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

The 'affluenza' teen's condition is totally bogus

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5683f893c08a801b008b5dce-1202-901/ethan couch affluenza mexico.jpg" alt="Ethan Couch Affluenza Mexico" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Fiscalia General del Estado de Jalisco/Handout via Reuters" data-mce-caption="U.S. national Ethan Couch is pictured in this undated handout photograph made available to Reuters on December 29, 2015 by the Jalisco state prosecutor office." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Fiscalia General del Estado de Jalisco/Handout via Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">U.S. national Ethan Couch is pictured in this undated handout photograph made available to Reuters on December 29, 2015 by the Jalisco state prosecutor office.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Ethan Couch, the Texas teenager who fled to Mexico to escape jail time for a drunken-driving crash that killed four people, <span class="s1">is no longer fighting his deportation back to the US</span>, <a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-drops-appeal-returning-u-s-n505036">NBC News reports</a>.</p><p>Couch appealed Mexico's original decision to deport him, and he has been held in a detention center in the outskirts of Mexico City since then, <a href="http://news.yahoo.com/affluenza-teen-drops-mexico-appeal-returns-1-2-183732234.html">according to Yahoo! News</a>.</p><p>Couch earned the nickname "<a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/texas-affluenza-teen-ethan-couch-dyed-hair-black-2015-12">affluenza teen</a>" after claiming he was so rich and famous that he couldn't tell right from wrong.</p><p>After a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/14/us/teenagers-sentence-in-fatal-drunken-driving-case-stirs-affluenza-debate.html">psychologist used the term</a> in Couch's defense during his trial, a judge sentenced the teen to <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-texas-affluenza-idUSKBN0UC07420151230">10 years drug-and-alcohol-free probation</a> for intoxication manslaughter, which critics say was too lenient.</p><p>The term "affluenza" combines affluence and influenza, and <a href="http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2001-04-10/features/0104100032_1_new-world-college-dictionary-dictionary-editors-term/2">its first use</a> traces back to about 1954, when<strong> </strong>Fred Whitman, a member of one of San Francisco's prominent founding families, used it to describe the supposed psychological and social effects of wealth, including feelings of guilt, lack of motivation, isolation, and extreme materialism rich people suffer from.</p><p>The term <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/30/us/use-of-affluenza-didnt-begin-with-ethan-couch-case.html">was later popularized</a> in <span>the late 1990s by the book "The Golden Ghetto" and by a </span><a href="http://www.pbs.org/kcts/affluenza/">PBS special</a> of the same name. Now, it even <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/affluenza">appears</a> in t<span>he Merriam-Webster </span>Unabridged Dictionary.</p><p>Not surprisingly, experts say it's not a real illness.</p><h2>A made-up illness?</h2><p>"As a doctor I can assure you that, no, Affluenza is not a real affliction," Michelle London, a Johns Hopkins-trained neuropsychologist and President of the Chicago NeuroRehabilitation Center, <a href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/16/no-affluenza-is-not-a-real-thing.html">wrote in the Daily Beast</a> back in 2013.</p><p>"It is a constructed excuse for behavior that gives a privileged teen an out because his father is a millionaire and his defense team is of the Gucci variety," London added.</p><p>There is no mention of affluenza in the latest edition of the <a href="http://www.dsm5.org/Pages/Default.aspx">Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders</a>, the handbook used by health care professionals. And a search for the term "affluenza" in PubMed Central, a major database of medical research, turned up <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/?term=affluenza">just four results</a>, only one of which seems to be a serious investigation of the condition. Even that one refers to it as "a metaphorical illness."</p><p>"It's a cute idea in the public's imagination, but there's no diagnostic criteria that says people have affluenza," Thomas Plante, a psychologist at Santa Clara University, <a href="http://news.discovery.com/human/psychology/is-affluenza-a-real-condition-131213.htm">told Discovery News</a> in 2013.</p><p>That said, Plante and other psychologists say that they have noticed this kind of troublesome behavior in rich kids whose parents don't discipline or pay attention to them.</p><h2>Rich kids, lax parents?</h2><p>Arizona State University psychologist Suniya Luthar has <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1948879/">studied the mattter</a>, and her findings led her to suggest that upper-class kids run a risk of falling into subtance abuse, anxiety and depression because of pressure or isolation from their parents.</p><p>"There are families where very, very few limits are set at a time when they should be," Luthar <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/12/health/affluenza-youth/">told CNN</a> in 2013. But by the time a child is 16, "The horse is out of the barn," she added.</p><p>But as far as psychology is concerned, being rich and having lax parents is not enough to define a mental illness, and definitely isn't an excuse for killing someone.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/ethan-couch-orders-pizza-gets-caught-dominos-mexico-affluenza-teen-2015-12">Texas 'affluenza' teen and his mom were tracked after ordering Domino's Pizza</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="1tbnB2eTpMevU01LW2xXfJpLnvwGu1Or" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', '1tbnB2eTpMevU01LW2xXfJpLnvwGu1Or',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

The 'affluenza' teen has dropped his appeal - here's why his condition is totally bogus

<p>In the days after LeBron James returned to Cleveland, <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/2alt5w/what_the_nba_would_look_like_if_every_star_went/">NBA fans</a> and <a href="http://elitedaily.com/sports/this-what-nba-would-look-like-if-every-star-went-home-like-lebron-james-photos/663531/">basketball writers</a> have been conducting an interesting thought experiment: What would happen if every NBA player signed with his hometown team?</p>
<p>Using <a href="http://deadspin.com/infographics-where-do-pro-basketball-players-come-from-513261549">a fantastic database of NBA player hometowns</a> compiled by Deadspin's Reuben Fischer-Baum last summer, we went through <a href="http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2014_advanced.html">all 482 players</a> who played at least one minute in the NBA in 2013-14 and made "hometown rosters" for all 30 teams.</p>
<p>We used "hometown," not "birthplace" to determine team affiliation. Kevin Love was born in Los Angeles but he grew up in Oregon, so he goes on the Portland Trail Blazers, not the Los Angeles Lakers, for example.</p>
<p>Here are all 30 teams. We ranked them from best to worst (check out more on our methodology below):</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53c9873b69bedd4c630c92a7-1200-4000/bi_graphics_nbahometownroster.png" border="0" alt="nba hometowns" /><p class="source"><span>Skye Gould/Business Insider</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Some notes:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>We gave smaller markets that don't produce a ton of NBA players more leeway than big markets.</strong> We allowed players from most of Ohio to play for the Cavaliers, for example. A lot of small markets would have trouble fielding a team, so we had to be generous. In general, a two-hour drive was the maximum limit, though.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>How we sorted out the New York:</strong> The Brooklyn Net got all players from Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island. The New York Knicks got all players from Manhattan, the Bronx, and northern New Jersey.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>How we sorted out Los Angeles:</strong> The Lakers got all the players whose hometowns were listed as simply "Los Angeles" or "Compton." The Clippers got all players from other neighborhoods.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">After some deliberation, we decided that players from Baltimore (like Carmelo Anthony) can be on the Washington Wizards.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Charlotte didn't get players from Raleigh. We're sorry, Charlotte, the two cities are just too far away. But if we did give them Raleigh, they'd have John Wall.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">We gave the Lopez brothers to Sacramento even though they grew up in Fresno. It's probably the biggest reach on the entire list, but it helps them fill out the roster.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The biggest surprise: Indianapolis! We knew the Hoosier state was a high school basketball hot bed, but we didn't realize just how good they'd be. They're above Philly, Brooklyn, Houston, and Miami.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The biggest disappointment: Miami. What the heck, Miami? How is Udonis Haslem your best big man?</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Observation: The NBA would be much worse in this dream scenario because all the foreign players wouldn't have teams.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Poor Seattle. They have have had Jamal Crawford, Isaiah Thomas, Martell Webster, Avery Bradley, and Marvin Williams.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Team St. Louis would be pretty good: Ben McLemore, Bradley Beal, Anthony Tolliver, Alec Burks, and David Lee.</span></li>
</ul>

What The NBA Would Look Like If Every Player Played For His Hometown Team

<p>In aftermath of LeBron James returning to Cleveland, <a href="http://www.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/2alt5w/what_the_nba_would_look_like_if_every_star_went/">NBA fans</a> and <a href="http://elitedaily.com/sports/this-what-nba-would-look-like-if-every-star-went-home-like-lebron-james-photos/663531/">basketball writers</a> conducted an interesting thought experiment: What would happen if every NBA player signed with his hometown team?</p>
<p>Using <a href="http://deadspin.com/infographics-where-do-pro-basketball-players-come-from-513261549">a fantastic database of NBA player hometowns</a> compiled by Deadspin's Reuben Fischer-Baum last summer, we went through <a href="http://www.basketball-reference.com/leagues/NBA_2014_advanced.html">all 482 players</a> who played at least one minute in the NBA in 2013-14 and made "hometown rosters" for all 30 teams.</p>
<p>We used "hometown," not "birthplace" to determine team affiliation. Kevin Love was born in Los Angeles but he grew up in Oregon, so he goes on the Portland Trail Blazers, not the Los Angeles Lakers, for example.</p>
<p>With the NBA world <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/kevin-durant-tweet-just-wait-on-it-2014-10">already in a frenzy over the possibility Kevin Durant returning to Washington D.C. in 2016</a>, now is as good a time as any to see what the league would look like if there was a mass movement home.</p>
<p>Here are all 30 teams. We ranked them from best to worst (check out more on our methodology below):</p>
<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table no-rightrail"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/53c9873b69bedd4c630c92a7-1200-4000/bi_graphics_nbahometownroster.png" border="0" alt="nba hometowns"><p class="source"><span>Skye Gould/Business Insider</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p>
<p>Some notes:</p>
<ul>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>We gave smaller markets that don't produce a ton of NBA players more leeway than big markets.</strong> We allowed players from most of Ohio to play for the Cavaliers, for example. A lot of small markets would have trouble fielding a team, so we had to be generous. In general, a two-hour drive was the maximum limit, though.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>How we sorted out the New York:</strong> The Brooklyn Net got all players from Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island, and Long Island. The New York Knicks got all players from Manhattan, the Bronx, and northern New Jersey.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;"><strong>How we sorted out Los Angeles:</strong> The Lakers got all the players whose hometowns were listed as simply "Los Angeles" or "Compton." The Clippers got all players from other neighborhoods. Arbitrary? Yes.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">After some deliberation, we decided that players from Baltimore (like Carmelo Anthony) can be on the Washington Wizards.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Charlotte didn't get players from Raleigh. We're sorry, Charlotte, the two cities are just too far away. But if we did give them Raleigh, they'd have John Wall.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">We gave the Lopez brothers to Sacramento even though they grew up in Fresno. It's probably the biggest reach on the entire list, but it helps them fill out the roster.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The biggest surprise: Indianapolis! We knew the Hoosier state was a high school basketball hot bed, but we didn't realize just how good they'd be. They're above Philly, Brooklyn, Houston, and Miami.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">The biggest disappointment: Miami. What the heck, Miami? How is Udonis Haslem your best big man?</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Observation: The NBA would be much worse in this dream scenario because all the foreign players wouldn't have teams.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Poor Seattle. They could have had Jamal Crawford, Isaiah Thomas, Martell Webster, Avery Bradley, and Marvin Williams.</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 1.5em;">Team St. Louis would be pretty good: Ben McLemore, Bradley Beal, Anthony Tolliver, Alec Burks, and David Lee.</span></li>
</ul>

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5627f8e7bd86eff45b8b89cc-4269-3202/ap_633443657871.jpg" alt="Paul Ryan" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="Paul Ryan."><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">Paul Ryan.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div>Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) gave a list of demands Tuesday to a group of people used to dishing them out but seemingly not accustomed to being told what to do.<p>Conservatives began to revolt Wednesday at the prospect of Ryan as speaker, a position he said Tuesday night he was willing to serve <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/paul-ryan-running-for-speaker-freedom-caucus-2015-10" target="_blank">if certain conditions were met</a>.</p><p>Among those conditions: Ryan said he believed there needed to be a change to the process to remove a speaker form his post,&#xa0;which House conservatives used as a weapon against outgoing House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). A spokesman for Ryan said he thinks that whoever is speaker, they "<span>cannot be successful with this weapon pointed at them all the time."</span></p><p>The conditions also included a healthy work-family balance - a must for Ryan, a father of three young children - and the endorsement of every major caucus in the Republican conference.</p><p>Those demands came under intense scrutiny Wednesday, and it threw into doubt whether Ryan would, in the end, run for speaker.</p><p>Some conservatives brushed aside the notion of the work-family balance. Others, especially the influential hard-line House Freedom Caucus, indicated they weren't ready to back his bid quite yet.</p><p>The most prescient&#xa0;concern for the House Freedom Caucus members: The proposed change to the "motion to vacate the chair," which allows any member to offer a resolution to oust the speaker. That resolution would only require majority support from the conference to succeed. Conservatives had threatened Boehner with it, and it likely helped expedite his <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/john-boehner-press-conference-resigning-resignation-2015-9" target="_blank">decision to resign from his post</a>.</p><p><span>"I thought if it was good enough for Thomas Jefferson, it was probably good enough for the US House today," Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kansas), a House Freedom Caucus member,&#xa0;<a href="http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/house-freedom-caucus-skeptical-paul-ryan-terms/?dcz=" target="_blank">told Roll Call's Matt Fuller</a>.</span></p><p>Some influential conservative groups and talk-show hosts, meanwhile, signaled they weren't yet behind Ryan's potential candidacy. FreedomWorks, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-kevin-mccarthy-speaker-reversal-means-for-gop-paul-ryan-2015-10" target="_blank">one of the groups that claimed victory</a> when heir-apparent House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-California) unexpectedly pulled his name out of the running for the speaker post.</p><p>Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham took jabs at Ryan's positions on everything from the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement to immigration reform, dinging him at "possibly the worst speaker choice":<br><div><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>EMPEROR RYAN: How many co's wd choose the employee who issued demands abt personal time then said "take it or leave it."</p>- Laura Ingraham  (@IngrahamAngle) <a href="https://twitter.com/mims/statuses/656780960927739904">October 21, 2015</a></blockquote><script async="" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script></div></br></p><p class="embed-spacer"><span>"I actually am surprised the conservatives did not fold quickly. But I think Ryan made conditions he knew they could not agree to," Erick Erickson, the editor-in-chief of the conservative site <a href="redstate.com">RedState</a>, told Business Insider.</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5627fac19dd7cc02308b8646-599-268/paul%20ryan%20drudge.png" alt="paul ryan drudge" data-mce-source="DrudgeReport.com"><p class="source"><span>DrudgeReport.com</span></p></img></div><p></p></div></div>And the influential conservative news site <a href="http://drudgereport.com/">Drudge Report </a>came down hard against Ryan's demands Tuesday night, running some tough headlines ripping into his potential speakership.</span></p><p><span>"KING PAUL: PLEDGE YOUR ALLEGIANCE," its splash banner blared. "OBAMA'S NEW PARTNER."&#xa0;</span></p><p class="embed-spacer">Rep. Mick Mulvaney (R-South Carolina), another member of the Freedom Caucus, <a href="https://twitter.com/frankthorpNBC/status/656908253411069953" target="_blank">told NBC's Frank Thorp</a> that the caucus was "sticking with" its endorsement of Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Florida) in his bid for speaker. Moreover, under the caucus' rules, it would take 80% of Freedom Caucus members to support Ryan for him to receive the Freedom Caucus' endorsement.</p><p class="embed-spacer">Of course, Ryan could simply decide he doesn't need the endorsement of all of the conference's groups. Or the numerous gripes that run&#xa0;against his demands could push him to decide not to run. He emphasized Tuesday night that he is perfectly happy to continue serving as the chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee.</p><p class="embed-spacer">One thing is clear: If Ryan opts out of running, there's no current Plan B. When asked about a backup plan on Wednesday if Ryan backed out, Boehner simply shrugged.</p><p class="embed-spacer">"Don't know," he said.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/damage-control-president-irrational-pass-out-2015-10">This US president would become 'irrational' and 'pass out' after one or two drinks </a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="VzMGdheDrQEL1n_pwNTHlAHSLeCoI3Vv" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'VzMGdheDrQEL1n_pwNTHlAHSLeCoI3Vv',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

The latest conservative revolt is throwing the House Republican conference into even more chaos

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5511a81f6bb3f77627cb70b2-1200-858/458299628.jpg?maxX=600" border="0" alt="Chris Borland San Francisco 49ers" width="600"><p class="source"><span>Ezra Shaw/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Chris Borland takes down Tre Mason of the St. Louis Rams. Borland retired from football this year at age 24, citing concerns about brain injuries.</p></img></div><p></p></div>We don't know exactly what kind of damage football is doing to players' brains, despite the fact that <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0117338">millions of people who play contact sports</a> have been slamming their heads into each other thousands of times a year for decades.</p><p>But we know that some have suffered from brain injuries as a result of those batterings, and we know that concerns about those brain injuries are growing to the point that many are starting to question the safety of playing the sport at all.</p><p>Earlier in March, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chris-borland-retires-2015-3">we found out</a> that San Francisco 49ers linebacker Chris Borland retired from the sport at the age of 24, citing concerns about head injuries.</p><p>"I just want to live a long healthy life, and I don't want to have any neurological diseases or die younger than I would otherwise," he said.</p><p>Borland has legitimate reasons to be concerned. He cited the cases of Mike Webster, Dave Duerson, and Ray Easterling, players famously diagnosed after their death with a condition that causes a breakdown in the brain known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. The repeated blows to the head those men suffered throughout their careers is what medical professionals say is most likely responsible for the brain condition that caused them intense suffering to the point of breakdown and - in at least in two of the three cases - ended in suicide.</p><p>But we don't know nearly enough about CTE right now, and that needs to change, according to an editorial published by researchers Chad Asplund and Thomas Best in the <a href="http://www.bmj.com/lookup/doi/10.1136/bmj.1381">medical journal BMJ</a> on March 24.</p><p>Long term studies into what exactly is happening to players' brains are needed so we can find out "if brain damage is an inevitable consequence or an avoidable risk in American football," they write. There haven't been any of those long term studies of CTE so far.</p><p>If brain damage in an inevitable consequence, that's something that people who play the sport should know. And if there's a way to avoid or minimize the risk of brain damage and we ignore that because we don't study it, that's just unacceptable.</p><p>Until very recently, the researchers note, the NFL denied any possible link between football and brain injuries or CTE - last year <a href="http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap2000000363672/article/federal-judge-approves-nfl-concussion-settlement">they finally reversed course</a> and settled a lawsuit by former NFL players who attribute their neurological problems to their time in the league for more than $765 million, though details are <a href="http://www.law360.com/articles/626169/nfl-players-won-t-take-a-knee-on-revised-765m-settlement">still being worked out</a>.</p><p>And while that money may help some of those players it won't do anything for players who played throughout their youth and through college but didn't make it into the NFL. Non-professionals can still suffer from the symptoms associated with CTE. The New York Times <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/sports/ncaafootball/ryan-hoffman-a-unc-football-player-two-decades-ago-is-now-homeless.html?_r=0">profiles one such player, Ryan Hoffman</a>, a former UNC lineman who is now homeless and struggles with depression, substance abuse, and short-term memory problems.</p><p>When looking at a case like Hoffman's, it makes you wonder whether football should be played at all - and I write that as a football fan who's very conflicted about this.</p><p>At this point no one can even say if Hoffman has CTE, but his symptoms are consistent. It currently can't be diagnosed until after death, something that doesn't help that former player who now has impulse-control problems, aggression issues, and can't hold a job.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5511e20e6bb3f7ba2c8b4569-1200-900/chris-borland-49ers-3.jpg" border="0" alt="chris borland 49ers"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/49ers-Raiders-Football/ccc6339e8cb344ed940c2de51340ba45/9/0">AP</a></span></p><p class="caption">Chris Borland.</p></img></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>The researchers write that autopsies have only confirmed 63 cases of CTE in football players, a tiny fraction of all those that have played the game - though other cases and neurological problems could easily have gone undiagnosed. (More recent estimates put the number of CTE cases in football players at <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sports/concussion-watch/76-of-79-deceased-nfl-players-found-to-have-brain-disease/">more than 70</a>.)</p><p>And while some <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/03/23/so-long-nfl-san-francisco-4ers-chris-borland-is-no-hero/">argue that</a> the small number of cases means that football's risks are overblown, CTE is a real thing and it seems to have been caused by playing football.</p><p>Researchers say that factors like substance abuse, genetic risk, and other biological factors are not the cause of the brain condition. Not even all the players shown to have had CTE had a history of concussion - the only factor they all had in common was "a history of repetitive blows to the head." The question that needs to be answered is just how dangerous those blows to the head are.</p><p>But even now, the NFL is slow to study head injuries. They <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/20/sports/football/nfl-suspends-use-of-helmet-sensors.html?ref=topics">suspended a pilot program</a> this year that would use helmet sensors to assess the impacts of blows to the head during games, citing concerns about accuracy and privacy.</p><p>There are complications in judging football based on numbers. As <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2014/09/nfl_players_life_spans_and_domestic_violence_rates_could_pro_football_actually.single.html">Dan Engber of Slate points out</a>, we may know that more than one in four football players will suffer from cognitive decline or brain diseases like Alzheimer's, but players also tend to live longer than the average person, which might explain the fact that large numbers eventually suffer from those diseases.</p><p>Still, we should learn more about the effects of playing football, the most watched sport in the US.</p><p>As Asplund and Best point out in their BMJ editorial, it's time to better understand those repetitive blows to the head that players endure. It's time for a long term study. If brain injury is avoidable, we should know how to make that happen. And if it's inevitable, players deserve to know that too.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/drunk-driving-checkpoint-regulation-hack-2015-2">A lawyer in Florida has come up with an ingenious way for drivers to evade drunken-driving checkpoints</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="EwZXE5czqobpJLXsPUCBDsxSm8XxaRw0" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'EwZXE5czqobpJLXsPUCBDsxSm8XxaRw0',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

We need to figure out what kind of damage football is doing to players' brains

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/589e3f243149a12d008b672b-928/20161216baltimoreklane091.jpg" alt="mulu bahre" data-mce-source="International Rescue Committee/Kevin Lane" data-mce-caption="Mulu Bahre" /><p class="source"><span><keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">International</keyword> Rescue Committee/Kevin Lane</span></p><p class="caption">Mulu Bahre.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Mulu Bahre had been sitting across from a US refugee officer for hours, answering a series of detailed questions about his life before he fled Eritrea with his mother and sister nearly five years earlier. But there was one question that stumped him.</p><p>"What month did your father die?" the officer asked. He knew the answer was either late March or April of 2002, but he was a child at the time and could not remember with certainty.</p><p>Bahre knew the officer might grow suspicious if his answer was different from that given by his mother, who was being asked the same question by a different refugee officer on the other side of the wall.</p><p>"It's very scary and very stressful," Bahre told Business Insider. "My mom knows that I may not know, and these things can be seen as discrepancies in our cases. So we all have that fear. We don't know if all the things are going to match up."</p><p>Bahre and his family had left Eritrea when he was 12. They were trying to escape the country's authoritarian regime, where citizens are forced into indefinite military service and dealt heavy fines if their family members don't comply. They wound up in an Ethiopian refugee camp, where in 2007 his mother applied for resettlement. She didn't care where they were sent - as long as it was peaceful and there was work available.</p><p>The office of UN High Commissioner for Refugees assigned the family to the US and started a process that would take years and eventually lead Bahre, now 24, to Baltimore, where he has become a US citizen and works as an anesthesia critical-care technician.</p><p>But before all that came the questions, seemingly endless and exhausting questions. At points the officer would try to confuse Bahre, asking him to confirm details they both knew were incorrect.</p><p>"It's not complicated, we know our story. But they try to trick you," Bahre said.</p><p>Thankfully, Bahre made it through that round of the interview, and another one, for which he was taken to another city for a full week. Refugee officers asked him many of the same questions, checking to make sure all his answers matched what he told them the first time.</p><p>Shortly after taking office last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order temporarily barring entry to refugees and travelers from seven majority-Muslim nations. He cited security concerns, and said he wants to enact what he calls "extreme vetting." The order is on hold, following an appeals-court decision. </p><p>But those closest to the refugee-vetting process say the current system is already as extreme as it gets. Like Bahre's family, refugees undergo years of screening filled with intensive interviews, detailed background checks, medical tests, and constant waiting for <keyword id="6355005" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="News">news</keyword>.</p><p>"I don't know how much harder it can get from that," Bahre said. "That process is very sensitive and very stressful, and I don't know how else they would increase that from what it is currently."</p><h2>Getting in</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5744c6df52bcd020008c4d55-2400" alt="dadaab kenya" data-mce-source="Reuters/Thomas Mukoya" data-mce-caption="An aerial view shows makeshift shelters at the Dagahaley camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border in Garissa County, Kenya." /><p class="source"><span>Reuters/Thomas Mukoya</span></p><p class="caption">An aerial view shows makeshift shelters at the Dagahaley camp in Dadaab, near the Kenya-Somalia border in Garissa County, Kenya.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Of the 20 million refugees worldwide, only 1% (200,000) are resettled. Many are staying put in camps, hoping things stabilize in their home countries.</p><p>But for those who want to seek safety in another country, the first stop on the path is to register with the UNHCR, which fills out paperwork, handles preliminary questioning, and scans the refugees' eyes to enter into a database. Then the UNHCR, a country's embassy, or a humanitarian group might refer the refugees to a specific country willing to take them in.</p><p>For those refugees who are assigned to the US, the UNHCR passes their stories and information to the US government, triggering a <a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/11/20/infographic-screening-process-refugee-entry-united-states">multiagency effort</a> that involved the departments of State, Homeland Security, Health and Human Services, and Defense, as well as the FBI and other parts of the US Intelligence Community, many testing their biographic and biometric information against multiple databases repeatedly throughout the process.</p><p>And amid all the screening come those interviews - many, many interviews that can last three or four hours each and consist of detailed and repeated questions, according to Tammy Lin, a San Diego-based immigration lawyer who worked at a refugee-resettlement agency for nine years.</p><p>The State Department says the whole process should take between 18 and 24 months. But Lin said that estimate is "laughable." It took four to eight years for most of the refugees she's met.</p><p>Lin said she can only assume people like Trump are ignorant of the process when they call for "extreme vetting" and tighter security measures due to the threat posed by refugees.</p><p>"They're the most heavily vetted immigrants that end up coming to the US," Lin said. "I feel like it's scapegoating to put this on them."</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/588f4285713ba11c008b5578-1024" alt="donald trump" data-mce-source="Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="President Donald Trump signs the executive order halting immigrants from some Muslim-majority countries from entering the US." /><p class="source"><span>Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">Trump with the executive order that bars immigrants from some predominantly Muslim countries.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>'The inclination is not to say yes'</h2><p>American refugee officers look for reasons to deny entry. US officials accept barely <a href="http://time.com/4116619/syrian-refugees-screening-process/">50%</a> of refugees who start the vetting process, according to the UNHCR.</p><p>Bryan Scott Hicks, an Ohio-based immigration lawyer who works with resettled refugee families, said he has seen cases where refugees were denied resettlement simply because they may have once offered food to someone considered a terrorist. Refugee officers consider that providing "material support" to terrorism and immediately deny them entry.</p><p>Hicks said many resettled Syrian families have told him that the officers in charge of vetting them would interview each family member separately - including young children - and ask incredibly detailed questions, and then bring each of them back for a second, third, or fourth round to try to catch discrepancies in their stories.</p><p>"The thing that people don't realize is how cautious they are," Hicks told Business Insider. "The inclination is not to say yes. The default is no. So if you have an officer who catches the remotest whiff of a problem, the answer is no."</p><p>And a problem can be not having the right documents. Refugees, often fleeing war and terror, might not have the time or foresight to pack a passport or birth certificate. Bahre's family had no documentation other than the UN-issued refugee card with an identification number.</p><p>In these cases, officers have to get creative, seeking details from informants, affidavits from family members, or consulting third parties who knew the refugees from their home countries and can corroborate information.</p><p>"It's a long process, it's a hard process, it's an emotional process, and it does take a long time," Robin Dunn Marcos, the senior director of processing and resettlement at the International Rescue Committee, told Business Insider. "It's a roller coaster under the best of conditions."</p><p>Despite the multiple interviews, the majority of the screening happens behind the scenes, leaving many refugees unsure of their status and why the process is taking so long.</p><h2>Americans' fear of refugees</h2><p>Like Bahre's family, many refugees who want to be resettled are not particularly picky about where they land. The US is often not their top choice, preferring places like Sweden, or other European countries known for their history of accepting refugees and generosity with social payments, according to Lin, the lawyer from San Diego.</p><p>The notion that refugees will commit terrorist attacks on American soil appears to be a similarly unfounded fear. A recent <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-the-risk-of-being-killed-by-a-foreign-terrorist-trump-ban2017-1">Cato Institute study</a> found that the odds of being killed by a refugee committing a terrorist act on US soil is one in 3.6 billion per year. It's far more likely for terrorists to find another way to enter the country due to the rigorous vetting process for refugees, Hicks said.</p><p>"It's a rigorous system, it's working, and if you're going to demand 100% certainty, that's impossible," Hicks said. "I don't know a government program that works better than that."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/merriam-webster-twitter-trump-white-house-administration-2017-2">Merriam-Webster can't stop trolling the Trump administration on Twitter</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="03aWFrOTE62IFNMnDkUhGzABVKBGuGJS" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', '03aWFrOTE62IFNMnDkUhGzABVKBGuGJS',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

'I don't know how much harder it can get': What it takes to go from refugee to American

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58ae1b2501fe5816378b46ae-2400/undefined" alt="tom perez jaime harrison" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Joshua Roberts" data-mce-caption="Tom Perez speaks to Jaime Harrison and Jehmu Greene during a Democratic National Committee forum." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Joshua Roberts</span></p><p class="caption">Tom Perez speaks to Jaime Harrison and Jehmu Greene during a Democratic National Committee forum.</p></div><p></p></div></div>Democrats vying to become the next chair of the Democratic National Committee are set to face off for the final time before the organization's election on Saturday.</p><p>At 10 p.m. ET on Wednesday, CNN is set to broadcast a debate between eight candidates for the position. It's the last of a number of lower-profile debates and forums during which candidates have attempted to make their case to the 447 voting DNC members about how to bring the Democratic party out of the electoral wilderness.</p><p>The next chair needs a majority of the 447 votes to win.</p><p>Though the candidates themselves went to lengths to maintain civility in the months since President Donald Trump's victory - a pact was created not to campaign negatively - the race has been viewed as a battle between the embattled establishment wing of the party and the emboldened progressive left.</p><p>While almost every candidate has emphasized strengthening state parties and broadening the vision beyond winning the presidency, former Labor Secretary Tom Perez has garnered praise and support from some former establishment-type figures, including his former colleagues serving under President Barack Obama.</p><p>Meanwhile, Rep. Keith Ellison's longtime leftist activism and vocal support during the 2016 Democratic primary for Sen. Bernie Sanders has helped the Minnesota congressman rally grassroots support.</p><p>The race appears fluid, as the campaigns have not released public lists of supporters and multiple media outlets have reported wildly different vote counts.</p><p>The Hill interviewed dozens of voting members and <a href="http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/320553-ellison-holds-edge-in-dnc-race">reported</a> Wednesday morning that Ellison had 105 supporters to Perez's 57, while The Associated Press spoke to an independent third-party strategist who reported that Perez had 205 committed voters to Ellison's 153.</p><p>The AP reported that South Carolina Democratic party chair Jaime Harrison had 27 committed supporters, while South Bend Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg had eight, and Idaho Democratic Party chair Sally Boynton Brown had 10. The remaining candidates had no support in the AP's report.</p><p>Here are the main contenders for the chair.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5887694ff10a9a99348b8df7-2400/ap16343169101551.jpg" alt="keith ellison" data-mce-source="AP Photo/David Zalubowski" data-mce-caption="Rep. Keith Ellison in Denver during a forum about the future of the Democratic party." /><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/David Zalubowski</span></p><p class="caption">Rep. Keith Ellison in Denver during a forum about the future of the Democratic party.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Rep. Keith Ellison</h2><p>Even before Hillary Clinton's upset loss in the 2016 presidential election, the Minnesota congressman <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/ellison-announces-for-dnc-chair-231335">was eyeing</a> the chair post, formally announcing his bid in mid-November with the backing of major party figures.</p><p>Ellison scooped up endorsements from some high-profile labor groups, as well as progressive leaders including Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. He also locked down vocal Clinton-backers like Sens. Chuck Schumer, Amy Klobuchar, and Chris Murphy, as well as former Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid.</p><p>Ellison has continued to shore up his progressive bona fides throughout the race, <a href="http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2017/1/5/14176068/dnc-chair-lobbyists">pledging</a> to reinstate a ban on lobbyist contributions to the DNC.</p><p>But his bid has faced some roadblocks.</p><p>Critics assailed the congressman over his <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/12/01/politics/kfile-keith-ellison-nation-of-islam/">previous statements</a> supporting the Nation of Islam and its anti-Semitic leader. Ellison previously renounced his ties, but <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/wp/2017/01/05/keith-ellison-votes-against-gops-israel-resolution/?utm_term=.8c7936a1c102">nonetheless drew harsh condemnation</a> from prominent Jewish Democrats.</p><p>An aide told Business Insider on Thursday that Ellison feels "incredibly confident" about his chances, given a slew of new notable endorsements, including New Hampshire Democratic Party chair Raymond Buckley, who dropped out of the chair race himself and backed Ellison. </p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58ade15501fe5877368b5c2e-2000/ap177867325802.jpg" alt="tom perez" data-mce-source="Associated Press/Molly Riley" data-mce-caption="Labor Secretary Thomas Perez speaks at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Hiring Our Heroes program and the George W. Bush Institute's Military Service Initiative national summit, Wednesday, June 24, 2015, at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington." /><p class="source"><span>Associated Press/Molly Riley</span></p><p class="caption">Labor Secretary Thomas Perez speaks at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Hiring Our Heroes program and the George W. Bush Institute's Military Service Initiative national summit, Wednesday, June 24, 2015, at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Washington.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Former Labor Secretary Tom Perez</h2><p>A former labor secretary and deputy attorney general for civil rights, Perez is hoping his executive experience, connection with left-leaning labor and civil-rights groups, and commitment to "making house calls" and fighting voter suppression laws can woo DNC voters.</p><p>But Perez has been cast as the establishment pick, partially because of his support from high profile former administration officials, including former Vice President Joe Biden and former Attorney General Eric Holder.</p><p>Such support has proved to be a double-edged sword, as he's also been forced to explain his previous support for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the controversial multinational trade pact that drew strong opposition from some labor communities. </p><p>Though Ellison's high-profile endorsements gave the appearance of early momentum, Perez also appears to have strong support. </p><p>Perez announced last week that he had 180 DNC members supporting his bid, and a campaign staffer told Business Insider on Thursday that he's gained additional supporters in the past week.</p><p>"Going into Atlanta, I'm proud of the broad support we've received from every corner of the country. I have spent this past week in one-on-one conversations with DNC members and in larger meetings with state parties discussing how we bring Democrats together, turn our party around, and work together to defeat Donald Trump's dangerous agenda," Perez said in a statement Thursday.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58addf3a549057bc008b633f-2400/undefined" alt="pete buttigieg" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Joshua Roberts" data-mce-caption="Pete Buttigieg speaks during a Democratic National Committee forum in Baltimore." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Joshua Roberts</span></p><p class="caption">Pete Buttigieg speaks during a Democratic National Committee forum in Baltimore.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg</h2><p>Buttigieg has perhaps the most interesting resume of any candidate seeking the chair's position.</p><p>A 35-year-old, Harvard-educated, gay Naval reserve officer who can claim the title Afghanistan veteran and Rhode Scholar, Buttigieg announced his candidacy in January, casting himself as a third option for Democrats hoping to move past the fight between the left and the establishment. </p><p>"The proxy characterization - I think it's a little unfair to some of the candidates, but I do think that it's there, and I think it's bad for business. We can't be seen as trapped in that kind of fight," Buttigieg told Business Insider in January.</p><p>He added: "Everyone in this race is progressive, everyone wants to be chair, and wants to be chair in order to defend progressive values. And so we've got a way to transcend that divide. We're always going to be a party just like the other side with people with some diversity of opinion. But we've got to keep it together."</p><p>Beyond his appeals to empowering local parties, Buttigieg also highlighted his success at winning elections in the Rust Belt among voters who abandoned the Democratic party for Trump.</p><p>The former mayor has racked up a few prominent endorsements, including former chairs Howard Dean and Steve Grossman and former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley. He has also announced support from a host of mayors.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58ade242549057413c8b5d7c-2400/undefined" alt="jaime harrison" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Joshua Roberts" data-mce-caption="South Carolina Democratic Party chair Jaime Harrison." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Joshua Roberts</span></p><p class="caption">South Carolina Democratic Party chair Jaime Harrison.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>South Carolina Democratic Party Chair Jaime Harrison</h2><p>A longtime Democratic staffer in the House of Representatives, Harrison is also hoping to emerge as an option in later rounds of voting if Perez and Ellison do not consolidate their leads early on.</p><p>The former lobbyist has touted experience as a state party leader, saying he understands how state organizations were neglected in the 2016 race. He told NPR that the Democratic Party became complacent during Obama's administration and forgot to compete in states like his own.</p><p>Harrison has a handful of prominent public supporters, including Rep. Tim Ryan and Rep. James Clyburn, Harrison's former boss on Capitol Hill.</p><h2>Idaho Democratic Party Chair Sally Boynton Brown</h2><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/58ae114901fe5816378b4688-2400/undefined" alt="sally boyton brown" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Joshua Roberts" data-mce-caption="Sally Boyton Brown at a DNC forum." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Joshua Roberts</span></p><p class="caption">Sally Boyton Brown at a DNC forum.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>A long-shot candidate, Boynton Brown has similarly highlighted the loss of connection between the national organization and state parties.</p><p>"I really think that we have lost focus as a party. I don't think we have any overarching identity message. We've let the Republicans frame the debate and frame our party for a really long time. And, frankly, I will say that in losing the amount of statehouses that we've lost, we've also allowed them to legislate," she <a href="http://www.npr.org/2017/01/16/510047676/democrats-have-lost-focus-a-candidate-to-lead-the-dnc-says">told</a> NPR in January.</p><p>Brown <a href="http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2017/01/24/dnc_chair_candidate_my_job_is_to_tell_white_people_when_to_shut_their_mouths.html">raised eyebrows</a> in conservative media outlets when she said that her "job is to tell white people when to shut their mouths" when speaking insensitively about race. </p>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/merriam-webster-twitter-trump-white-house-administration-2017-2">Merriam-Webster can't stop trolling the Trump administration on Twitter</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="03aWFrOTE62IFNMnDkUhGzABVKBGuGJS" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', '03aWFrOTE62IFNMnDkUhGzABVKBGuGJS',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

The fight for the future of the Democratic Party is about to reach a critical point

WHIP COUNT: Here's which members of the House voted for and against impeaching Trump

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56142d6ddd08954f098b46db-2667-2000/gettyimages-490321206.jpg" alt="Devonta Freeman" data-mce-source="Tom Pennington/Getty Images" data-mce-caption="Devonta Freeman #24 of the Atlanta Falcons is pursued by Brandon Carr #39 of the Dallas Cowboys in the second quarter at AT&amp;T Stadium on September 27, 2015 in Arlington, Texas." /><p class="source"><span>Tom Pennington/Getty Images</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>Daily fantasy sports (DFS) games - run by companies like FanDuel and DraftKings, the two leaders in that industry - are <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/fantasy-football-scandal-2015-10">legally classified as games of skill</a> rather than online gambling.</p><p>That's why they're allowed to operate, even though online gambling is not legal in the US.</p><p>But as the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/06/sports/fanduel-draftkings-fantasy-employees-bet-rivals.html">New York Times reported</a> Monday, that world is now being rocked by <strong>"what amounted to allegations of insider trading, that employees [of the main companies] were placing bets on information not available to the public."</strong></p><p>This scandal raises many ethical and legal issues. One that's on our mind is why people gamble, and whether they play DFS for the same reasons as, say, playing a poker game or blackjack.</p><p>Despite not being legally regulated as gambling, DFS seems to fit the literal definition: "to play a game in which you can win or lose money or possessions," <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gamble">according Merriam-Webster.</a></p><p>In DFS you can't just rely on already known stars (otherwise everyone would have the same team). Instead, you have to pick real-world players you think the rest of the pool might undervalue. If your picks play better than your pool expected, you get greater "value" from them and are more likely to win money. In short: You're betting both that the players you chose will do well and that your rivals won't see this coming.</p><p>The scandal centers around an employee of an industry-leading DFS company. That employee reportedly won $350,000 playing on a rival DFS site after accidentally releasing data early about how other people playing that day had valued their players. (<a href="http://www.techinsider.io/what-the-fantasy-football-employee-is-accused-of-and-why-its-a-huge-deal-2015-10">For more on the scandal and why that insider info would make such a difference, read this Tech Insider post</a>.)</p><p class="p1"><span class="s1">Your chances of winning at DFS aren't high and this scandal, if true, wouldn't help. About 70% of players <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/fantasy-football-favors-the-sharks-heavily-over-the-fish-2015-9">report losing money</a> every month, and <a href="http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2015/07/27/Opinion/From-the-Field-of-Fantasy-Sports.aspx">one study found</a> that the top 1.3% can take in 91% of the winnings.</span></p><p><strong>But why do people bet on sports or gamble in general, even when the odds are clearly against them?</strong></p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56142d6ddd08954f098b46dc-2000-1333/las vegas casino gambling.jpg" alt="Las Vegas Casino Gambling" data-mce-source="Flickr / Thomas Hawk" data-link="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/5659767510/in/photolist-9C8MGs-n86Erx-5eMRFq-bAXumh-6T6ejg-6fTqdN-7KGg8H-bNLvZD-rjvKU7-aqapUo-F889t-4wNNAL-rcUL3v-8nzuCU-bCpSx9-881cxD-F885u-6p4uij-4Ccizp-49Q6MH-bt3kHe-4CbLCV-ayfNw6-2Ej1r3-4t36G1-aURgGr-ruqaSs-ayibcf-7yhuE8-9vbC6n-5tLSYA-7T8jPc-8WM7Ds-29kBQt-4F8amS-Pypkb-jDYxfy-mpx8NZ-4L4AK-8zt7v-6T9TXg-8zt7t-qTjyNY-6Tey69-6TexFW-dBnQUw-6SMMVw-oaFSTs-547sfp-6Tax5Z" /><p class="source"><span><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/thomashawk/5659767510/in/photolist-9C8MGs-n86Erx-5eMRFq-bAXumh-6T6ejg-6fTqdN-7KGg8H-bNLvZD-rjvKU7-aqapUo-F889t-4wNNAL-rcUL3v-8nzuCU-bCpSx9-881cxD-F885u-6p4uij-4Ccizp-49Q6MH-bt3kHe-4CbLCV-ayfNw6-2Ej1r3-4t36G1-aURgGr-ruqaSs-ayibcf-7yhuE8-9vbC6n-5tLSYA-7T8jPc-8WM7Ds-29kBQt-4F8amS-Pypkb-jDYxfy-mpx8NZ-4L4AK-8zt7v-6T9TXg-8zt7t-qTjyNY-6Tey69-6TexFW-dBnQUw-6SMMVw-oaFSTs-547sfp-6Tax5Z">Flickr / Thomas Hawk</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>Neuroscience, psychology, and various social science studies have some answers for us. That research can also help us differentiate between casual or "fun" gambling and problematic gambling.</p><p>For anyone who finds <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/the-best-online-personality-test-thats-scientifically-accurate-2015-10">some psychological appeal in "risk,"</a> the draw of gambling may seem pretty clear, even if others find it incomprehensible: Gambling, betting on games, and playing fantasy sports is <em>fun</em>.</p><p>Whether you are throwing money down for a <a href="http://www.si.com/nfl/2015/01/18/super-bowl-squares-2015-template-rules">Super Bowl Squares pool</a> or playing blackjack in a casino, the chance to win some cash provides a spike of excitement, <em>even when you know you are not likely to win</em>. Rationally, and if you are only betting what you are prepared to lose, you could consider that bet essentially a payment for entertainment, for the added excitement that comes with a slim chance of winning.</p><p>Gambling = entertainment. The question is: Why?</p><p><a href="http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/the-psychology-of-gambling">Brain imaging studies show</a> that any kind of gambling win activates the reward-circuit in the brain, releases dopamine, and makes us feel good. This isn't surprising, as almost any activity that could be thought of as "rewarding," including sex, a good meal, exercise, or drugs, has this effect.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56142d6ddd08954f098b46dd-3294-2160/ap171464133364.jpg" alt="lottery scratch tickets" data-mce-source="AP Images" /><p class="source"><span>AP Images</span></p><p class="caption">Always a bad bet.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>More intriguingly, <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2658737/">research shows that near-misses have the same effect</a>. So even when gamblers lose money, it still feels good. And not only that, but these misses can increase someone's desire to bet again.</p><p>Most people can control these impulses, and about <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-brain-gets-addicted-to-gambling/">80% of Americans have gambled</a> at some point in their lives. But some number of people (one medical review notes <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3361844/">between 0.2% and 5%</a>) display some form of addictive behavior related to gambling, <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-brain-gets-addicted-to-gambling/">a claim now recognized</a> by the American Psychological Association.</p><p>Researchers think <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-the-brain-gets-addicted-to-gambling/?page=2">problematic gamblers crave</a> stronger and stronger "hits" from wins, which can send them into a downward spiral. So while betting can be "fun" for most people, for some it can be problematic or even devastating.</p><p>How do fantasy sports - especially daily games in the scandal - fit into the picture?</p><p>For most people, normal and non-daily fantasy leagues probably fit into the "fun" category. This is fairly simple to justify. I play in a fantasy league knowing I'm not likely to beat out my more knowledgeable friends, but throwing $20 down at the start of the season makes watching any game more exciting. That added element gives me something extra to root for.</p><p>Still, it's quite possible that anyone with a gambling addiction could end up in a problematic situation as the result of playing normal fantasy sports.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/56142d6ddd08954f098b46de-1920-1080/fantasy_teamroster.jpg" alt="NFL Fantasy Team Roster" data-mce-source="Microsoft/NFL" /><p class="source"><span>Microsoft/NFL</span></p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>DFS games likely play on the same aspects of psychology as any other sort of gambling, making them fun for some and potentially disastrous for others.</p><p>Aggressive TV ads during football games tout the promise of winning thousands or even a million dollars, while really, the vast majority of players lose money. Those ads may have an effect. A study by Stanford Business School found that <a href="https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/insights/most-gamblers-are-just-out-fun">advertising increases the amount of money spent on casino gambling.</a> So it's possible the relentless barrage of ads for DFS might have a similar effect.</p><p>Yet you have to be really good - "already a pro with Excel," as <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/fantasy-football-favors-the-sharks-heavily-over-the-fish-2015-9">Tech Insider's Drake Baer puts it</a> - to win these games. As <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2015/09/draftkings_and_fanduel_the_moral_panic_over_fantasy_sports_betting_is_misguided.single.html">a look into DFS at Slate notes</a>, one notable fantasy "shark" who sees serious success studied math and economics, plus spends 15 hours a day using a spreadsheet to put together an optimal fantasy team.</p><p>Most everyone else, meanwhile, loses money playing DFS. <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2015/09/draftkings_and_fanduel_the_moral_panic_over_fantasy_sports_betting_is_misguided.single.html">Slate's Seth Stevenson points out</a> that 80% of players lose less than $10 for each month they play. For them, that's probably a justifiable expense. But 5% of players - perhaps the same fraction of the population susceptible to gambling problems, though this is a correlation - is <a href="http://www.techinsider.io/fantasy-football-favors-the-sharks-heavily-over-the-fish-2015-9">responsible for 75% of the money lost in DFS</a>. This adds up a lot in an industry projected to be worth $14.4 billion by 2020.</p><p>The odds are against you in gambling, no matter what, and the same is true of daily fantasy sports games. Some people may find the betting fun, all the same. Others may be driven by near-misses to spend more money than they can afford.</p><p>But if the games aren't fair in the first place, as recent news implies, more may be going on than just a system that favors the sharks over the fish. If that's the case, these games may be unfair at their core - whether people find them fun or not.</p><p><em><a href="http://www.techinsider.io/draftkings-football-scandal-statement-2015-10">DraftKings told Tech Insider that the employee in question did not have access to information</a> about players' lineups until after his lineup in the other league would have already been set. Still, they say they've decided to prohibit their employees from participating in online fantasy sports for now.</em></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/stay-awake-without-caffeine-2015-8">4 ways to stay awake without caffeine </a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/3fa6999d63a34b9fbcf1cbbb67046fe6"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="RmNTg3dzonu2P1u3a24l5B_zTMg7k3zE" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'RmNTg3dzonu2P1u3a24l5B_zTMg7k3zE',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Why we bet on things like fantasy sports when the odds are against us

<p><strong><span class="smallcaps"><div class="image-container float_right" style="width:400px"><div class="image"><img src="http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/51794ea36bb3f7122e000002-590-442/supreme-court-8.jpg?maxX=400&amp;maxY=300" border="0" alt="Supreme Court" width="400" height="300" /></div><p class="source">Alex Wong/Getty Images</p></div>Q: What's the most important <keyword id="6354977" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Supreme-Court">Supreme Court</keyword> case no one's ever heard of?</span></strong></p>
<p><strong>Alan M. Dershowitz, professor, Harvard Law School</strong></p>
<p>The 1919 <strong><em>Schenck v. United States</em></strong> decision contains the most famous sentence ever penned by a Supreme Court justice—and one of the most dangerous. Affirming the conviction of socialists who urged draftees to resist fighting in World War I, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. wrote: “The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic.” This was a flawed analogy—shouting “Fire!” in a theater incites action, whereas circulating ideas and arguments incites thought that might then lead to action—but one that has since been used as a justification for all manner of censorship.</p>
<p><strong>Alex Kozinski, chief judge, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals</strong></p>
<p>The Court’s interpretation of the Commerce Clause in <strong><em>Wickard v. Filburn</em></strong>—a 1942 case about a farmer who grew more wheat than the law allowed—led to a vast expansion of federal power, and was heavily relied on by those arguing last year that the Affordable Care Act was constitutional.</p>
<p><strong>Linda Greenhouse, former <em>New York Times</em> Supreme Court correspondent</strong></p>
<p><strong><em>First National Bank of Boston v. Bellotti</em></strong> (1978) was the first case to officially grant corporations the First Amendment right to spend money in politics. Thirty-two years later, the majority ruling in <em>Citizens United </em>cited this case as precedent for the right of corporations to spend unlimited amounts on behalf of candidates, not just issues.</p>
<p><strong>Scott Turow, attorney, author</strong></p>
<p><strong><em>Buckley v. Valeo</em></strong> (1976) struck down limits on campaign expenditures, which Congress had set in the wake of Watergate. The Court reasoned that campaign spending is not expressive conduct that can be regulated (like burning a draft card), but free speech protected by the First Amendment. <em>Buckley </em>created a permanent advantage for rich candidates, who could now spend all they wanted on their campaigns. Far more important, by treating expenditures as free speech, it set us on course to the justly lamented <em>Citizens United </em>decision of 2010.</p>
<p><strong>Harold Hongju Koh, professor, Yale Law School</strong></p>
<p>The Supreme Court turns away thousands of cases every year, but letting these decisions stand means they could continue to generate bad precedent. In 1950’s <strong><em>United States v. Munsingwear</em></strong> (a?k?a “the underwear case”), the Court articulated its power to strike lower-court decisions if they have become moot by the time they reach the justices’ desks—a means of supervising and cleaning up our legal system.</p>
<p><strong>Elizabeth Wurtzel, J.D., memoirist</strong></p>
<p>The 1989 case <strong><em>Michael H. v. Gerald D. </em></strong>tells us what would happen if Justice Antonin Scalia wrote a Harlequin romance. We have a California model, her New York City husband, her boyfriend next door, her boyfriend down the road—and the daughter they all love. Scalia led the majority in siding with California law, which generally presumes a woman’s husband to be the father of her children, regardless of anyone else’s claims—because having a stable family matters more than biology.</p>
<p><strong>Theodore B. Olson, former solicitor general</strong></p>
<p>I’d go with a case the Supreme Court <em>didn’t</em> take. In 1793, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson asked the Court for an advisory opinion on whether the French minister could commission privateers in the U.S., despite President Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality. Chief Justice John Jay declined to issue one, on separation-of-powers grounds. This established the still-followed precedent for the judiciary to render decisions only on actual cases.</p>
<p><strong>Kathleen M. Sullivan, former dean, Stanford Law School</strong></p>
<p>Everyone has heard of <em>Brown v. Board of Education</em>, which held that segregation violates the Fourteenth Amendment. But that applies only to the states. It was <strong><em>Bolling v. Sharpe</em></strong> (1954), about segregation in D.C. schools, that found discrimination by the federal government to be a violation of the Bill of Rights. Any federal discrimination suit—for example, this year’s case about the Defense of Marriage Act—descends from <em>Bolling</em>.</p>
<p><strong>Andrew Cohen, <em>Atlantic</em> contributing editor</strong></p>
<p><span>Decided in 1984, </span><strong><em>Strickland v. Washington</em></strong><span> created a procedural rule that makes it virtually impossible for a criminal defendant to successfully argue that he or she has been denied the “effective assistance” of counsel—and thus the Sixth Amendment right to a fair trial. The ruling is directly responsible for thousands of Americans’ incarceration after trials in which their lawyers drank, or were using drugs, or were sleeping, or were otherwise clearly incompetent.</span></p>
<p><strong>Diane P. Wood, judge, Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals</strong></p>
<p>Americans who believe that their rights have been violated are entitled to turn to the <keyword id="6357311" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="courts">courts</keyword> for relief, aren’t they? Not necessarily, according to the 1923 Supreme Court decision in <strong><em>Frothingham v. Mellon</em></strong>. This case launched the rule that requires taxpayers to show “particularized” injury, traceable to a legal violation that can be redressed. <em>Frothingham</em> has closed courthouse doors to people with complaints about government-supported religion, unconstitutional state tax subsidies, unlawful expenditures by the CIA, and a variety of environmental and other public-interest issues.</p>
<p><strong>Lincoln Caplan, <em>The New York Times</em> editorial board</strong></p>
<p>In 1819’s <strong><em>Dartmouth College v. Woodward</em></strong>, Daniel Webster famously said in oral argument, "It is, Sir, as I have said, a small college. And yet there are those who love it!" Much less famously, the Supreme Court ruled that Dartmouth’s establishment as a corporation was a contract with New Hampshire, so the state could not meddle with that charter and turn the private college into a public university. In writing that a “corporation is an artificial being” and “possesses only those properties which the charter of creation confers upon it,” Chief Justice John Marshall anticipated a major controversy of our day—and indicated why the Roberts Court’s treatment of corporations as equal to citizens is such a stretch.</p>
<p><strong>Garrett Epps, novelist, legal scholar</strong></p>
<p><em>Plessy v. Ferguson</em> didn’t say segregation must be “separate but equal”—only “reasonable.” It was 1914’s <strong><em>McCabe v. Atchison, Topeka &amp; Santa Fe Railway Co. </em></strong>that brought “equal” into the mix.  Black plaintiffs challenged a statute requiring separate railroad cars but permitting railroads to omit sleeper cars for blacks. Though the Court dodged the case on procedural grounds, it noted in passing, “If facilities are provided, substantial equality of treatment of persons traveling under like conditions cannot be refused.” Without <em>McCabe</em>, the road to <em>Brown v. Board of Education </em>would have been harder.</p>
<p><strong>Gerald Torres, professor, University of Texas School of Law</strong></p>
<p>In 1879, John Elk renounced his allegiance to his American Indian tribe to go live among the citizens of Omaha. But when he tried to register to vote, the registrar claimed that he was not a citizen. No one disputed that Elk was born within the territorial limits of the United States, but in 1884’s <strong><em>Elk v. Wilkins</em></strong>, the Court ruled that the citizenship clause of the Fourteenth Amendment did not apply to Elk or others like him. The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 changed this, but the case remains relevant to today’s birthright debate. Some suggest that the children of undocumented immigrants have no more claim to citizenship than Elk did. They are wrong.</p>
<hr />
<p><em>This is an expanded version of May 2013’s Big Question. Submit your own answer—or suggest a future question—by e-mailing </em><a href="mailto:bigquestion@theatlantic.com">bigquestion@theatlantic.com</a><em>.</em></p>
<p><strong>More from The Atlantic:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/who-is-defending-austerity-now/275200/">Who Is Defending Austerity Now?</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/yes-its-time-for-an-internet-sales-tax/275185/">Yes, It's Time For An Internet Sales Tax</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/04/forget-excel-this-was-reinhart-and-rogoffs-biggest-mistake/275088/">Forget Excel: This Was Reinhart And Rogoff's Biggest Mistake</a></li>
</ul>
<p><em>Click <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/follow-the-atlantic/" target="_blank">here</a> to follow The Atlantic</em></p>
<p class="tagline">From <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/?pid=BI">The Atlantic</a> - shaping the national debate on the most critical issues of our times, from politics, business, and the economy, to technology, arts, and culture.</p>

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