Question:
On Thursday morning, Bernie Sanders took to twitter to share a clip of Joe Rogan seemingly endorsing him in the Democratic primary. The Vermont senator posted a clip of Rogan from one of his recent podcasts with New York Times op-ed columnist Bari Weiss, where the comedian stated he would probably support Sanders in the upcoming election.

”I think I’ll probably vote for Bernie. Him as a human being when I was hanging out with him, I believe in him. I like him, I like him a lot,”, Rogan said before dismissing the recent controversy between Sanders and fellow candidate Elizabeth Warren. “Look, you could dig up dirt on every single human being that’s ever existed if you catch them in their worst moment. That said, you can’t find very many with Bernie. He’s been insanely consistent his entire life. He’s basically been saying the same thing, been for the same thing his whole life. And that in and of itself is a very powerful structure to operate from.”

The endorsement, followed by Sander’s amplification of Rogan’s support, has sparked newfound controversy and debate surrounding the campaign and has divided the senator’s supporters on social media.

Rogan is a well known comedian, former Fear Factor host and beloved UFC commentator with an exceptionally successful podcast called The Joe Rogan Experience, which has over seven million YouTube subscribers and is downloaded tens of millions of times each month. However, Rogan is almost as controversial as he is popular due to the selection of questionable guests he has hosted on his show over the past few years, including far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, disgraced far-right political commentator Milo Yiannopoulos, and conservative commentator (and homophobe) Steven Crowder.

While there is much for the Sanders campaign to gain from Rogan’s endorsement, it has also created a schism between the senator’s supporters, especially among those who do not approve of Rogan’s world view or approach to his podcast. This article will attempt to lay out the various pros and cons from Rogan’s endorsement while determining its significance on the upcoming election.

The Good

Over the past decade, Joe Rogan has managed to build a podcasting empire. His show, The Joe Rogan Experience, is one of the most popular podcasts available on the internet, and was the second most downloaded podcast on Apple’s network in 2017 and 2018. The podcast also receives tens of millions of views on YouTube each month, mainly from the highly coveted young male demographic who are drawn to the relatable, laid back nature of the podcast.

Over the last couple of years, Rogan’s podcast has also become politically significant. In 2019, the comedian hosted three 2020 Democratic presidential candidates: Andrew Yang, Tulsi Gabbard, and Bernie Sanders. Rogan later claimed that other Democratic candidates like Joe Biden, and Elizabeth Warren requested to appear on the show but were not accepted as guests.

Yang was the first 2020 presidential candidate to appear on the show. A fringe candidate with a loyal base of young supporters, Yang’s campaign later reported a significant spike in campaign donations stemming from his appearance on the show. “Everything is up and to the right since the Joe Rogan podcast,” Yang’s campaign manager told the Daily Beast. “That was the key. That was the moment.”

Then in August 2019, Rogan hosted Sanders on his podcast, where the two discussed health care, gun laws, and — naturally — aliens. The hour-long appearance was important for several reasons. Firstly, it showed that Sanders was communicating left-wing values on platforms that did not represent his ideological stance. By appearing on the show, Sanders not only promoted his own policies, but successfully exposed Rogan’s audience to left-wing ideas in a favourable and persuasive manner.

Secondly, it was arguably a better platform for Sanders to deliver his policies than mainstream media has proven to be since the Democratic primaries began. While Sanders has not gotten a fair shake from outlets such as MSNBC, CNN, and the New York Times, he was allowed the time to reach non-traditional constituencies while on Rogan’s podcast without being interrupted or written off. He managed to persuade a portion of Rogan’s audience while still delivering his pro-working class message.

Sander’s appearance on Rogan’s show clearly left a positive mark on the host, as Rogan has since admitted that he would “probably” vote for the Vermont senator, even going so far as to say that “when I was hanging out with him, I believe in him.” If that is how Sander’s impacted Rogan after a single podcast appearance, imagine the effect it had on the millions of impressionable young minds that listen to Rogan’s show. The opportunity to win back some of the voters that mainstream Democrats have alienated is something that Sanders should continue to do and proves that he would be a formidable challenger for Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.

The Bad

While Joe Rogan is an exceptionally popular podcast host with a cult-like following, he has also proven to be a controversial figure with a willingness to push the boundaries when it comes to acceptable guests on his shows.

Over the past decade, Rogan has hosted a wide range of characters that fall across the entire political spectrum, including liberals, conservatives, reactionaries, innocuous weirdos, conspiracy theorists, and snake oil salesmen. His list of guests include the likes of Edward Snowden, Richard Dawkins, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Jesse Ventura, Mel Gibson, Robert Downey Jr., Elon Musk, Bob Lazar, Roseanne Barr, Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson, and Mike Tyson. There is no common denominator between the aforementioned guests except for their status as well-known figures.

However, Rogan has hosted several figures who should not have been offered such expansive platforms. These include Alex Jones, who promotes conspiracy theories on his InfoWars network such as white genocide, vaccines, and climate change denial. Some of his most despicable actions include claiming that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 and the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in 2018 were false flag operations, which led to parents of victims and survivors being harassed and threatened.

Despite Jones’ reputation, Rogan still referred to him as the “most misunderstood guy on the planet” in 2019. By normalizing people like Jones as a loveable lunatic and harmless weirdo, Rogan is inadvertently exposing his audience to hateful and xenophobic rhetoric and contributing to their potential radicalization.

Rogan has also been guilty of transphobic comments over the past few years, most notably when discussing trans MMA fighter Fallon Fox in 2013, whom he referred to as a “f***ing man.”

“She calls herself a woman but... I tend to disagree,” Rogan said on his podcast in 2013 (h/t Bleacher Report). “And, uh, she, um... she used to be a man but now she has had, she’s a transgender which is (the) official term that means you’ve gone through it, right? And she wants to be able to fight women in MMA. I say no f***ing way. I say if you had a dick at one point in time, you also have all the bone structure that comes with having a dick. You have bigger hands, you have bigger shoulder joints. You’re a f***ing man. That’s a man, OK? You can’t have... that’s... I don’t care if you don’t have a dick any more…”

Fox, a natal male who transitioned in 2006, had served in the Navy as a operations specialist 2nd class for the U.S.S. Enterprise to support her daughter. She was also forced to quit college and to work as a trucker in order to save money for gender reassignment surgery. Yet despite the fact that she had transitioned seven years earlier, she was still made the target of Rogan’s bullying campaign.

“Look, [Fox is] huge! She’s not just huge, she’s got a f***ing man’s face,”Rogan continued. “I mean, you can wear all the lipstick you want. You want to be a woman and you want to take female hormones, you want to get a boob job, that’s all fine. I support your life to live, your right to live as a woman. Fight guys, yes. She has to fight guys. First of all, she’s not really a she. She’s a transgender, post-op person. The operation doesn’t shave down your bone density. It doesn’t change. You look at a man’s hands and you look at a women’s hands and they’re built different. They’re just thicker, they’re stronger, your wrists are thicker, your elbows are thicker, your joints are thicker. Just the mechanical function of punching, a man can do it much harder than a woman can, period.”

While Rogan promotes himself as a free thinker who is happy to discuss topics with both sides of the political spectrum, he has also allowed his podcast — and its substantial audience — to be hijacked by charlatans, conspiracy theorists, and bad faith actors who end up influencing his impressionable audience. However, while Rogan’s support for Sanders is controversial given Rogan’s past mistakes, it should be placed in relative contrast with the countless controversial characters who have previously endorsed Democratic candidates and were not met with the same level of scrutiny.

The Political

While Sanders’s willingness to amplify Rogan’s endorsement is problematic given Rogan’s questionable perspective on several topics, it is hardly the most controversial endorsement that a Democratic candidate has received.

In 2016, Bernie Sanders criticized Hillary Clinton’s ties to Henry Kissinger during one of the Democratic debates, admitting he found it “rather amazing” that she was proud of her relationship with Kissinger. He added that Kissinger — whose legacy includes much of the Vietnam War and the genocidal bombing of Cambodia — was “one of the most destructive secretaries of state in the modern history of this country.”

”I’m proud to say that Henry Kissinger is not my friend,” Sanders added during the debate. “I will not take advice from Henry Kissinger.”

Instead of referring to Kissinger as the war criminal he is for helping orchestrate the carpet-bombing of Cambodia which killed between 150,000 to 500,000 citizens among other crimes, Clinton referred to him as a “friend.” And while her comments were criticized by the media, it highlighted the hypocrisy of establishment democrats and their willingness to put aside controversial differences in the pursuit of self-interest. In the end, Clinton’s comments about Kissinger had little effect on her winning the Democratic nomination. She continued to rack up endorsements, this time from celebrities like Beyoncé and Jay Z, Lena Dunham, Bruce Springsteen and Kate Perry. The Kissinger comments became a thing of the past.

Sanders has proven that he can communicate through American pop culture after endorsements from Jack White, rapper T.I, Norah Jones and Brandi Carlile, as well as interviews with the likes of Cardi B and Killer Mike. And while Sanders did not need to amplify Rogan’s endorsement to reap its benefits, it highlights his willingness to take advantage of opportunities to capture a voter base that is generally skeptical of Democrats and their policies.

Rogan’s fan base does not have a primary political allegiance — their allegiance is to Rogan, who has taught them to question everything. Winning them over is a coup because many are potentially undecided voters. It could also open the door for other progressive voices to be featured on Rogan’s show, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib among others.

In response to the criticism, Sanders spokeswoman Briahna Joy Gray released a statement saying that “the goal of our campaign is to build a multi-racial, multi-generational movement that is large enough to defeat Donald Trump and the powerful special interests whose greed and corruption is the root cause of the outrageous inequality in America. Sharing a big tent requires including those who do not share every one of our beliefs, while always making clear that we will never compromise our values.”

While Rogan’s transphobia and questionable guests should be criticized, it is understandable why Sanders would use Rogan’s platform and support at such a crucial stage of the presidential campaign.

It is strictly political.

Joe Rogan is one of the most popular talk show hosts in the world, a hero to politically disenchanted men across America in particular. The Joe Rogan Experience covers an eclectic range of topics, from sports to science to politics, and has millions of dedicated followers on YouTube alone. Rogan has described himself as “left on everything” politically, and said on Tuesday that he would likely vote for Sen. Bernie Sanders in the Democratic presidential primary.

It’s the kind of endorsement that strengthens Sanders’s electability argument: that he can reach out to audiences beyond progressive activists.

But when the Sanders campaign made a short video trumpeting Rogan’s announcement on Thursday, it immediately kicked off a controversy over whether the campaign should have trumpeted the endorsement so publicly. Rogan, despite his claims to be left-wing, also has a very long history of offensive commentary, especially about trans people. He’s had friendly interviews with right-wing extremists like Milo Yiannopoulos, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones — and even voiced some support for 9/11 conspiracy theories.

The progressive world immediately split into competing camps. Some are arguing that Sanders was right to trumpet Rogan’s support because beating Donald Trump will require alliances with people who you disagree with on some issues. Others argue that Rogan’s views on transgender people — in a 2013 show, he referred to a trans woman as “a fucking man,” saying, “I don’t care if you don’t have a dick anymore” — should place him beyond the pale, just as an endorsement from a prominent racist would.

This Twitter exchange between two prominent left-leaning Washington, DC, journalists — the Justice Collaborative’s Chris Geidner, a longtime reporter on law and LGBT issues; and the Intercept’s Ryan Grim, who covers Democratic Party politics — cuts to the core of the disagreement:

Everyone on the left has correctly expended so much energy over the past years condemning Trump for his association with and support from white supremacists, but when it’s Sanders and an anti-trans, anti-gay bigot it’s “he’s a part of our politics, what can we do?” What bullshit. https://t.co/kpa3t4YxAa — Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) January 24, 2020

This is one of the most revealing spats in the 2020 primary so far. It touches on a core moral question about politics: What views should render someone unacceptable in polite discourse? It’s also a dispute about how to win in 2020. Should Democrats water down some of their commitments to win over potential Trump voters and, if so, which views?

And it’s also yet another piece of ammunition in the war over Sanders among progressives, a sign that the 2016-era fight over how much he can be trusted on issues other than economic inequality still hasn’t been settled.

Why you should care about Joe Rogan’s endorsement

For about 10 years, Rogan has been the host of The Joe Rogan Experience, an internet talk show that’s become astonishingly popular both in podcast and video form on YouTube. It’s been the No. 1 or 2 show in the world on Apple Podcasts for the past few years; its YouTube channel, PowerfulJRE, has over 7 million subscribers.

It’s given a new relevancy to the 52-year-old media veteran. He started his career as a standup comedian, starred in the ’90s sitcom NewsRadio, and then worked as the host of the gross-out reality show Fear Factor from 2001 to 2006. He’s also a passionate mixed martial arts fan who has worked as an announcer at MMA fights.

Rogan’s show is a meandering interview series with a very strange panel of guests that reflect the host’s personal interests, ranging from MMA fighters to comedians to evolutionary biologists to Dr. Phil. His most famous episode is a 2018 interview with tech mogul Elon Musk, in which Musk smoked a blunt with Rogan and floated a proposal to sell his company stock at $420 (get it?). The interview kicked off a panic in the business world about Musk’s mental competency.

Rogan is an engaging host, one who lets conversations float freely on a range of diverse and often quite interesting topics. When you watch some of Rogan’s more thoughtful interviews, it’s easy to understand why he has such a big cult following.

But the show’s treatment of politics, a common topic in the interviews, is something else entirely. While Rogan claims to be left-wing, the show’s principal political enemy appears to be liberal identity politics. He’s a leading light of the “Intellectual Dark Web,” the loose confederation of anti-PC thinkers including Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson and right-wing gadfly Ben Shapiro. In fact, the question that led to his Sanders endorsement came from one of the IDW’s chief popularizers, New York Times columnist Bari Weiss.

Rogan’s contempt for political correctness comes through throughout the show. In a 2013 episode, for example, he “joked” that seeing a screening of Planet of the Apes in a mostly black neighborhood was “walk[ing] in to Planet of the Apes.” He described the experience of finding out that his comedy hero Richard Pryor had sex with men as “a spike to the heart.”

He has a particular distaste for the trans rights movement. In a 2017 JRE episode with Shapiro, he describes his radicalization on the issue as stemming from anger at Fallon Fox, a trans woman who competed in women’s MMA fights:

I didn’t have a dog in this fight. I was completely open and liberal about it — until there was a case where a man who had been a man for 30 years became a woman for a little less than two years and then started MMA fighting women. Beating the fuck out of these women, and then not proclaiming that he or she used to be a man ... if you ever watch the fights, she wasn’t winning because she was skillful. She was fucking manhandling these women, it was ugly.

This very short paragraph contains all the classic tropes of transphobia: a denial of the authenticity of trans people’s identity, an insinuation that they’re a threat to cis folks, and a claim that they’re using their gender identity to somehow get ahead in life. It is, to quote Rogan, ugly, and one of many such examples when it comes to trans issues.

Trying to understand the nature of The Joe Rogan Experience, what connections there are between its often-offensive content and immense popularity, is a kind of tricky question. One plausible conclusion, exemplified by this piece by Slate’s Justin Phillips, is that they’re deeply intertwined — that the show succeeds because it’s a kind of dangerous faux-intellectualism for shallow bigots:

By routinely disparaging the credibility and intentions of traditional centers of learning while giving idiots hours on end to profess their theories, Rogan allows his guests to establish themselves as the real fonts of mind-expanding knowledge. Many of his listeners are buying in. ‘My generation has hit the jackpot with this new way of learning. If you don’t watch or trust television and school feels like it has failed you, there is still hope to claim back your humanity, this show is the answer. … You’re welcome,’ wrote one podcast reviewer at the iTunes Store. Another: ‘Great Show please have Richard Spencer on.’

A second and opposing view, embodied in an Atlantic feature by Devin Gordon, is to understand Rogan as a way to reach a unique and underserved audience of men. “Most of Rogan’s critics don’t really grasp the breadth and depth of the community he has built, and they act as though trying is pointless,” he writes:

The bedrock issue, though, is Rogan’s courting of a middle-bro audience that the cultural elite hold in particular contempt—guys who get barbed-wire tattoos and fill their fridge with Monster energy drinks and preordered their tickets to see Hobbs & Shaw. Joe loves these guys, and his affection has none of the condescension and ironic distance many people fall back on in order to get comfortable with them. He shares their passions and enthusiasms at a moment when the public dialogue has branded them childish or problematic or a slippery slope to Trumpism. Like many of these men, Joe grumbles a lot about “political correctness.” He knows that he is privileged by virtue of his gender and his skin color, but in his heart he is sick of being reminded about it. Like lots of other white men in America, he is grappling with a growing sense that the term white man has become an epithet. And like lots of other men in America, not just the white ones, he’s reckoning out loud with a fear that the word masculinity has become, by definition, toxic.

It is the gulf between these two ways of seeing of Rogan and the subculture he speaks to that defines the debate over how Sanders should have handled Rogan’s endorsement.

Joe Rogan, Bernie Sanders, and the big debates about 2020

After Rogan said he’d likely vote for Sanders on Tuesday’s Joe Rogan Experience episode, Sanders’s team released an edited version of Rogan’s comments, tweeting them out on the senator’s heavily followed personal account Thursday afternoon:

“I think I'll probably vote for Bernie... He’s been insanely consistent his entire life. He’s basically been saying the same thing, been for the same thing his whole life. And that in and of itself is a very powerful structure to operate from.” -Joe Rogan pic.twitter.com/fuQP0KwGGI — Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) January 23, 2020

The online backlash started more or less immediately on Twitter, with numerous high-profile users accusing the campaign of promoting a transphobe. Via email, Sanders campaign spokesperson Briahna Joy Gray argued that these criticisms were largely off-base.

“Sharing a big tent requires including those who do not share every one of our beliefs, while always making clear that we will never compromise our values,” she writes. “The truth is that by standing together in solidarity, we share the values of love and respect that will move us in the direction of a more humane, more equal world.”

There’s a lot implied in both the initial arguments against releasing the video and Gray’s response. Broadly speaking, the issues under debate deal with three different issues: one moral, one tactical, and one about the identity of the Sanders campaign itself.

Let’s start with the moral dispute: whether someone with Rogan’s views should be outside the realm of acceptable political discourse.

On the one hand, politics inevitably requires a degree of compromise and coalition-building. You simply can’t win elections and pass laws without appealing to a broad group of people who disagree internally, and in a country like the United States that will likely include some people with social views progressives find odious.

At the same time, though, there has been an idea that some people’s views are so odious that they can never be acceptable political partners. In 2008, for example, Nation of Islam leader and notorious anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan endorsed Barack Obama for president. Obama denounced Farrakhan’s bigoted comments but faced criticism for not saying more explicitly that he rejected the endorsement itself. Virtually everyone called on Donald Trump to reject former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke’s endorsement in 2016; the fact that he didn’t really do it kicked off a major political firestorm.

The question, then, is where Joe Rogan falls on this spectrum. Is his history of offensive comments, especially about transgender people, so odious that the Sanders campaign shouldn’t ethically promote him, or maybe even should denounce him? Or is it a case where trumpeting Rogan’s support is worth it for the greater good of beating Trump?

The idea that Rogan’s endorsement is helpful to the Sanders campaign also depends on a particular theory of victory: the idea that winning the White House requires appealing to both disaffected non-voters and working-class, non-college whites who populate the Rust Belt states. You hear this sort of argument a lot from the Sanders campaign and its media surrogates, particularly at the flagship socialist publication Jacobin. In this view, Rogan’s audience is a uniquely persuadable subset of these people, which helps explain why Sanders actually appeared on Rogan’s show last August.

A competing vision, though, is that focusing on winning over these demographics — which include a healthy number of Trump supporters — is a huge mistake because they’re animated primarily by their resentment of marginalized groups, and winning them over would require selling out the Democratic base: racial minorities and women and LGBTQ voters. Any gains, in this view, would be offset by depressed turnout in the base.

There’s a lot of room for nuance here. It can be true that, broadly speaking, the second view is correct, but also that the Sanders campaign rejecting the endorsement would still ultimately do more harm than good because Rogan’s fans are obsessive, while most non-fans don’t care all that much. It’s possible the smartest move politically would have been to say nothing about Rogan’s comments, letting it reach his hardcore fans without trumpeting it to a more mainstream audience (and kicking off a controversy).

But broadly speaking, the differences in big-picture strategic assessment help explain why Sanders and his allies are at odds with other people in the progressive camp.

And this brings us to the last question: How much has Sanders learned from his last presidential run?

Throughout the 2016 campaign, Sanders was dogged by accusations of disinterest in identity issues — of having a monomaniacal socialist focus on economic inequality and class that led him to sideline other vectors of oppression. The Sanders campaign has worked to address this concern in 2020, building a strong base of support in minority communities (particularly among young voters) and putting forward highly progressive plans on issues like criminal justice and immigration.

But the scars from 2016 aren’t entirely healed over. Trumpeting Joe Rogan’s support plays right into this axis of conflict. Rogan isn’t particularly offensive to the left on class issues; his worst excesses all come on other identity-based concerns. Deciding to highlight his support so prominently will play to stereotypes, justified or not, about what Sanders really cares about.

The fight over Bernie Sanders and Joe Rogan is, in short, not really a fight about Joe Rogan. It’s a fight over the direction and identity of the Democratic Party at a moment when Sanders is rocketing up in the polls — a debate over who he is, and whether he has the right values and judgment to lead the party.

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A Northern Ireland man has found himself at the receiving end of a bit of Matt Lucas humour after giving the Les Mis actor a bum review by accident, after seeing the West End show.

Ciaran Campbell, 32, has seen the world-famous production a number of times and said he is quite a fan of the Little Britain star's portrayal of Thernadiér.

"It's very him... lots of new one liners in it for him," he said.

But when Ciaran took to Twitter to share his praise of the show, a missed word gave quite the opposite impression.

He wrote "stunning performances from all at today's @lesmieserables performance at #Sondheim Theatre... Big wow wee to @BradleyJaden as #Javert and once again @RealMattLucas fails to entertain!"

Ciaran was on his way back to Belfast from London when, completely unaware of his slip, he noticed his tweet about the West End show was getting quite a bit of traction online.

Matt Lucas had retweeted the post saying: "I really really hope he missed a word out by mistake."

Ciaran told Belfast Live: "I was on the airport flying back to Belfast when I noticed quite a few comments, I wondered how and it was because he quoted and shared it.

"I immediately re-wrote the tweet and apologized.

"It was all in good humour and taste - all of it! He knows I'm a fan of his Thernadiér."

The Dungannon, Co Tyrone man has since corrected the error with a new tweet saying what he meant to in the first place.

For more of today's top stories in Belfast and beyond, click here.

Keep up-to-date with all the very latest news, what's on, sport and everything else in Belfast and beyond with the Belfast Live app.

Only select news that interests you by picking the topics you want to display on the app's homepage. Plus, our enhanced user experience includes live blogs, video, interactive maps and slick picture galleries. Download it now and get involved.

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Packers corner Kevin King feeling comfortable, confident entering playoffs

Show Caption Hide Caption 5 Questions with LeRoy Butler: Should coaches be honest with the players? LeRoy stresses that coaches have to be honest when it comes to correcting all the mistakes made in the Detroit game and not be afraid to point out anything they might see that caused QB Aaron Rodgers to miss some throws. Bill Schulz, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

GREEN BAY - Players can often disagree with outside perceptions and observations about performance or statistics. With film clips, they’ll point out nuances of calls, techniques and how they fit into the larger design of a particular play

But there is one number no one can quibble with: availability.

Either someone plays, or they don’t.

Kevin King did not shy away from that at the end of 2018, his second straight campaign that concluded on injured reserve. He didn’t hide from it personally, internally on the team or publicly with the media.

“One of his goals, like everybody else writing down their goals, his goal was to play,” Packers secondary coach Jason Simmons said. “He wanted to play all 16 and then what happens after that.”

A career-high 15 games later — the exact number King played his previous two years combined — and with the playoffs looming, the 24-year-old cornerback and the Packers can say that ownership he took in the offseason and throughout the regular season returned a high yield.

“It definitely had paid off just in terms of that, in terms of being healthy throughout the year, being available for my team in that aspect,” King said. “With that being said, I still have a ways to go. Still have things in your routine that you try to refine each and every year. You just gotta stay on it. Sometimes when you see a result people tend to say OK, that’s it. Just gotta keep adding to it, keep building.”

Teammate Jaire Alexander trained with King in the offseason, seeing first hand the foundational work King put into a body that had been beaten up in 685 defensive snaps over 2017 and 2018.

This year? King played 805, according to the Pro Football Focus analytics service .

“Kev has been real focused, real determined to go out there and make a name for himself,” Alexander said. “I think he’s done a real good job, for real. Just to see his availability last year, the year before, and for him to come out and play as much as he did and making a big impact for our defense and our secondary, that’s exciting to see. But he put in a lot of work.”

The work translated to game days, during which he had a career-high five interceptions. That total tied him (with eight other players) for fourth in the NFL, one shy of the league lead (shared by three players). He also finished with 56 tackles and a team-high 15 pass breakups (tied for ninth in the league).

“The Kevin King kid, he’s a good player,” said an opposing offensive coach who game-planned for the Packers in 2019. “He’s not someone we were scared of or anything like that, but we definitely had respect for him. He’s a good, high-level corner in the league.”

Pro Football Focus graded King out essentially in the middle of all cornerbacks in 2019, his 62.5 rating checking at No. 68 of 125 graded players at his position. The grade was a career-high, however, and his completion percentage allowed and quarterback rating in his direction compared favorably with Alexander's.

But, King and Simmons were quick to acknowledge it wasn’t the steadiest of seasons.

“I think it showed flashes,” King said of his play. “I definitely showed flashes. Now I gotta be more consistent.”

According to PFF, King’s coverage had its peaks and valleys with just a handful of steady games in-between.

His highest grades were:

Philadelphia (90.3)

Minnesota in Week 16 (83.7)

Oakland (82.7)

Los Angeles Chargers (75.7)

Minnesota in Week 2 (74.5)

Carolina (70.2)

His lowest were:

Detroit in Week 6 (27.9)

San Francisco (36.3)

Denver (37.7)

Kansas City (43.4)

Dallas (45.3)

That's to be expected to a degree, considering how infrequently King played his first two years.

“He’s got some ups, he’s got some downs, but the deal is though, we’re a better football team when Kevin King dresses,” Simmons said. “So we’re happy to see it.”

After injuring his right hamstring in early August, King essentially missed a month before returning to practice a few days before the opener in Chicago on Sept. 5.

Since then he has been listed with hamstring, chest, groin, knee and shoulder injuries and an illness. He missed only three practices, however, and was limited only 16 times. In four weeks he did not appear on the injury report at all. He was doubtful with a groin injury before the game in Dallas but played and was held out of the Washington game for precautionary reasons.

Now, as he prepares for his first playoff game in the NFC divisional round Jan. 12 — and the most football he has played in one season in his life — he feels like the start of 2020 will be his best to date.

“Yes, sir. Yes, sir. I definitely feel good,” King said. “I feel I’m healthy. No major issues. And got time to take care of the minor things. But yeah, I feel good. The past few weeks I’ve felt very comfortable and that’s huge going into this playoff run. Just that mental stability. That’s a big part of playing corner, is confidence and just believing in yourself. Even if a guy beats you one time, just sticking to your technique. Things like that are huge. The mentality is huge.”

Sienna Santer is a second-year Harvard student and a YouTube influencer with 302,000 subscribers.

Her channel took off after she uploaded a video of herself moving into her dorm room. The video now has 4.8 million views.

A year later, Santer supports herself financially with the money she earns online.

She shared how she makes money as a college influencer and how much she made from YouTube ads in 2019.

In 2019, she earned just over $44,000 from ads in her YouTube videos, according to a screenshot viewed by Business Insider.

Sign up for Business Insider's influencer newsletter, Influencer Dashboard, to get more stories like this in your inbox.

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Sienna Santer is a second-year Harvard student and a popular YouTube influencer with 302,000 subscribers.

She shares videos on topics like how she got into the prestigious university and what a day in her life is like.

Santer's influencer career started with friends and family members asking her how she got accepted into Harvard. After a video of her Harvard dorm-room tour got 4.8 million views, Santer treats her YouTube channel and Instagram page like a part-time job.

"I had so many people asking how I got in and if I could give them advice," she told Business Insider. "Instead of writing back and forth, I decided to put everything into a video and send that to them."

Now she earns money from ads in her videos placed by Google and by promoting brands like Audible and the vitamin company Care/of on her channel.

In 2019, she earned just over $44,000 through Google's AdSense program, which places ads in her YouTube videos, according to a screenshot viewed by Business Insider. (She said she'd have to pay about 25% of that in taxes.)

How YouTube creators like Santer earn money online

Creators with 1,000 subscribers and 4,000 watch hours are eligible for YouTube's Partner Program, through which they can earn money off their channels by placing ads in videos.

Santer averages about $3,000 a month from AdSense, she said.

"My channel has helped me deal with things a lot earlier than some of my friends and helped me a lot with money-management skills," she said. "I have checks for AdSense coming in the mail that I have put aside for taxes, retirement, savings."

How much an influencer earns from Google's AdSense program on a YouTube video depends on a number of factors, from the place in the video where viewers normally drop off to the type of advertisers the video gets. Some top creators have ad-placement strategies for earning the most money possible. Generally, how much money is earned varies based on a video's watch time, length, and viewer demographic.

Some videos that contain swearing or copyrighted music can be flagged by YouTube and demonetized, earning hardly any money for the creator (or none at all).

Santer previously told Business Insider that she usually adds two to three ads to a video that is over 10 minutes long and follows certain techniques to optimize her video's performance.

Santer is part of a rising trend of YouTubers that are gaining audiences by sharing their college experiences — especially their move-in videos, which can rack up millions of views (and in Santer's case, thousands of dollars). Margot Lee, a Syracuse student with 425,000 YouTube subscribers, teaches an informal pop-up class on becoming a professional influencer to her classmates (and shared her slides with Business Insider).

Read more on Santer's YouTube business here:

Placement is the much-needed talent agent for jobseekers “We’re giving away money to strangers on the internet” is a pretty cavalier pitch for a new startup. But the more I learned about Placement, the smarter it sounded. In exchange for 1

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How painting cabinet veneer can Save You Time, Stress, and Money.

How painting cabinet veneer can Save You Time, Stress, and Money.

Blog Article

Also, bear in mind that goof off also can make a PAINT STRIPPER which is not similar to the oopsie remover–the paint stripper is amazingly caustic and burns similar to a Reside coal if it will get on your skin, and will not immediately prevent burning even when h2o is applied to your skin!!!

LED lighting has experienced a very fantastic operate as homeowners adjust above from traditional incandescent bulbs. It provides good lighting for actions, comes in a variety of colors plus the bulbs past for a really long time. This has made it a favorite selection for beneath-cabinet lighting. Less than cabinet LED lights appear in various varieties including pucks, strips, and bars. When mounted beneath the wall cabinetry, they help include mild for the Operating place along with Enhance the General ambiance.

In its place, paint the hook 1st, then proceed to the rest of the door. Then go back to the hook region, and operate the artist brush in excess of the pooled paint. Use that paint to go more than the hook once again.

You mean, you happen to be acquiring stains get into the finish on the paint instead of come off? I’ve by no means had a difficulty with that utilizing latex or sealing chalk paint with the polycrylic. I do think The real key is acquiring sufficient paint on plus a tough paint which often can withstand scrubbing.

Paint the cabinet bins, drawers and doors with the oil-primarily based primer utilizing a nylon/polyester brush. I love to do the backs with the doors and drawers initially. Enable them dry, then convert them more than and prime the fronts. Make sure to paint during the direction in the grain of the wood.

Centered on performance, currently’s kitchens are increasingly being made with big single bowl sinks or with various sinks. Considering the fact that handwashing dishes isn’t a regular event in homes nowadays, the necessity for a double bowl sink is less important. In part, the farmhouse style has grown to be extremely well-known. Farmhouse sinks are well-liked mostly for their significant deep sizes, that enables For additional comfy use, and magnificence. If your apron entrance sink doesn’t in shape into your design, then opt for only one bowl undermount sink in the exact same width to be a double bowl.

Open shelves seem attractive inside the Journals, but not essentially a “have to-have” for many homeowners. Lets encounter it, You will need to have a matching set of dinnerware or specialty items you need on display. But with good Corporation and the appropriate type of shelves, you can produce a definitely browse this site unique cutting edge model for your kitchen. Open kitchen shelves as an alternative to wall cabinetry has started to become a fair hotter development for 2018. Whilst you could obtain it challenging to go without your beloved shut door wall cabinetry, open shelving has loads of Gains.

Wonderful enable complete data below. Could you make use of your process of refinishing home furnishings and use the Benjamin Moore Advance paint for your kitchen cabinets as well? thanks!

That is so helpful and also the timing is ideal—I’ve been pondering more and more about painting our oak cabinets white. My one dilemma is: for those who ended up to get it done again (heaven forbid!), which process would you utilize?

Seems wonderful! My daughter is going to be painting her cabinets shortly, I'll make sure to share your submit with her. Thank you!

So it was out the window with The 1st step, and on to step two: deglossing. I just applied some rubber gloves as well as a rag to use the deglosser after which let all the things dry just a little so it wasn’t soaking moist right before shifting onto action a few: implementing 1 thin coat of spray primer.

Hold the doors and drawers flat and amount until They may be dry into the touch. Then hold them to dry wholly.

Thanks for this type of very well considered out and handy put up! I’m so impressed by how detail-oriented and thorough you are.

I’ll should explore that! I realize it would need to generally be greatly thinned down, but Possibly I’d use less of it in that situation.

Instruction: Retrieve semantically similar text.


Question:
Queen makes Christmas pudding with Prince George

royal alerts including a daily special Jubilee edition SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up forincluding a daily special Jubilee edition We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you've consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info

Prince George looked all grown-up standing next to Prince Charles wearing a blue and green tartan pair of trousers. Traditionally royal boys have been dressed in shorts, even in winter, and Prince George’s outfits in the past have been no exception.

However William and Kate’s eldest has now reached the age where he can wear trousers at official royal events and photos. The young royal made his Sandringham Christmas debut as he joined the royals for their traditional Christmas Day church service in public with his sister Princess Charlotte. Prince George donned trousers, while his sister looked adorable in a festive green coat. Kate and William released a black and white photo on Christmas, after their Christmas card photo was leaked online.

Prince George stands with the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William

The Queen and three future kings Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince George

In the photo, William, Charlotte and young Louis are picture all bundled up in coats and jumpers, while Prince George wears shorts and a fleece jacket. The photo was taken by Kate at their place in Norfolk and so the Duchess of Cambridge did not feature in the snap. For Cambridge family’s Christmas photo in 2018, George was pictured wearing jeans like his dad William. The family picture to mark the beginning of the 2020 decade is only the second time such a portrait of just the Queen and her heirs has been issued. READ MORE: The ONE thing Kate Middleton wants for her children

Prince George wearing shorts during the Cambridge family’s tour of Canada in October 2016

Prince George wearing shorts aged 3 in Canada

The first was released in April 2016 to celebrate Her Majesty's 90th birthday and featured a three-year-old Prince George in shorts. The photo released on Friday night by photographer Ranald Mackechnie was taken on December 18, the same day as the Christmas pudding photos – which were released before Christmas – and the Royal Family’s annual Christmas lunch, hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace. The Queen, Charles, William and George made Christmas puddings in Buckingham Palace in front of a Christmas tree adorned with regal corgi and crown decorations. DON'T MISS

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A photo released of the Queen, Charles, William and George to mark her 90th birthday in 2016

Trending

In footage shared on the Royal Family’s social media accounts as well as being played during the Queen's Christmas message, George was seen battling with the thick pudding mixture with a wooden spoon, making his grandfather chuckle. The video was shared on Twitter with the caption: “The Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince George came together to make Christmas puddings at Buckingham Palace as part of a Royal British Legion initiative.” The Queen is patron of the Royal British Legion and the puddings will be served at Christmas gatherings of the Armed Forces community in late 2020. However, it was young Prince George who stole the show as royal fans flocked to comment on the post.

Prince George is third in line to the British throne

Prince George looks so grown up as he poses for new photo with the Queen, Prince Charles and Prince William The photo was taken on the day of the Queen's Christmas lunch

Buckingham Palace has released a new portrait of the Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince George, to mark the start of a new decade.

The 93-year-old monarch, wearing a white dress and sapphire brooch, poses for a photo with her three heirs in the Throne Room at Buckingham Palace. Her son Prince Charles, 71, stands on her right with his arm around his six-year-old grandson Prince George. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's eldest child looks smart in a blue-trimmed white shirt from Amaiakids, a pair of blue and green tartan trousers and a sweet pair of shoes, also by Amaiakids, as he smiles for the camera. The Queen's grandson, Prince William, 37, who is second-in-line to the throne, stands on her left, dressed in a navy-blue suit.

READ: Prince William teams up with Strictly's Alex Scott and other football stars for important cause

The new portrait of the Queen, Charles, William and George. Credit: Ranald Mackechnie

This is only the second time a portrait has been issued of the Queen, Charles, William and George; the first was released in April 2016 to mark Her Majesty's 90th birthday. The youngest royal's elevated position in the new picture is reminiscent of the 2016 photo, when then-two-year-old George stood next to his great-grandmother on a blue and black step, holding the hand of his father, William.

The latest photo of the four generations of the royal family was taken by the same photographer, Ranald Mackechnie, on Wednesday 18 December 2019 – the day of the Queen's Christmas lunch for her family. William and George arrived at the festive bash a little earlier than Kate, Charlotte and Louis, so they could make Christmas puddings with the Queen and Prince Charles.

WATCH: Go behind the scenes at HELLO! as we reveal the royal highlights of 2019

The first photo of the Queen and her three heirs in 2016. Credit: Ranald Mackechnie

Buckingham Palace released a series of adorable photos and a video of the Queen, Charles, William and George stirring the mixture to make the festive treat, as part of a Royal British Legion project. The Together at Christmas initiative aims to provide extra support to the Armed Forces community at annual festive "get-togethers" across the charity's network, both at home and abroad. The royals placed commemorative sixpences into the mixture, ready to be found by those attending the gatherings next year.

George and his sister Princess Charlotte, four, made their public debut at the annual Christmas Day church service in December. The Prince looked smart in a navy blazer, jumper and trousers, while his sibling wore a dark green double-breasted coat from Amaia Kids.

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MILLERSBURG — Lucas Mast was looking for a good workout.

He found it in mixed martial arts.

Mast, a barber in Berlin, will make his professional MMA fighting debut Jan. 11 as part of an Honor Fighting Championship 11-bout card at the Harvest Ridge Event Center in Millersburg.

"I always wanted to wrestle but I never got the chance to," said Mast, a 2014 graduate of Hiland where he played basketball for the Hawks. "When I started this barber business in Berlin, my (eventual) coach stopped in looking for a job. I was looking to get into something that would give me a good workout, and once I got into MMA, I realized I really like it. And once I started fighting, I realized I was pretty good. I kept going and fell in love with the sport."

He is coached by Jose Burgos, who has been training fighters part time for nearly six years. He has a training facility (Common Grounds Grappling Club) in Nashville, Ohio. Triway graduate Eddie Flinner is another fighter with local roots, fighting out of club.

"Lucas is an all-around mixed martial artists," Burgos said. "He is good everywhere the fight goes. One area he is particularly slick is with his hands. He has good movement and footwork, and because of that he can really sit down on his punches."

Mast is 7-1 in his young career, but the event at Harvest Ridge marks his professional debut.

Burgos and Mast came together sort of by accident.

"I came into his barbershop in Berlin looking for a job as a barber," Burgos said. "He found out that I fight and was a teacher, and I found out he wanted to fight."

That’s how things started.

"He asked if I thought he’d be any good, and I told him if he trains hard and does what I tell him to do, I can get him to a certain point," Burgos said. "He’s done that."

The Honor Fighting Championship was founded in 2017. Event promoter Jeremy Caudill and Melanie Lockard, who lost a battle with cancer in October, were introduced to Michelle Kring and Scott Corbin, who have been in the MMA world for over 10 years. They came up with Honor Fighting Championship, a platform for fighters to showcase their skills.

"Lucas is a fighter I have personally watched closely because he has heart and what it takes to take him all the way," Caudill said. "He is a business man; very smart. He is young and he knows what he wants and goes and gets it."

Caudill said he wanted to have a military theme with Honor Fighting Championship to honor all military people past, present and future.

"We have signed with Vet Tix to give vets free tickets to our show," he said. "Honor Fighting Championship quickly became a big deal in the MMA world in Ohio."

Caudill brought showman skills to the show, adding lights, music and a certain element that made Honor the place to fight.

"Within our first year of business we were already planning on doing a big show at Cleveland Nautica's Jacobs Pavilion," he said. "That show was a big success. Honor did a show in Millersburg last May, and that show was a great turnout. The town welcomed us with open arms."

He is looking forward to a triumphant return.

The Honor Fighting Championship event at Harvest Ridge Event Center, 8880 state Route 39, gets under way at 5:30 p.m.

Ring of Honor seats are $80. Circle of Honor are $60. General admission tickets are $30. To order tickets, go to the website at https://honorfightingchampionship.com.

Just minutes into New Year’s Day, a teenage boy was shot and wounded in the leg on the North Side of St. Louis. A few minutes later, four people where shot in a different neighborhood, three fatally. By morning, the police were investigating 10 shootings, including five deaths, across the city.

And the year wasn’t even a day old. Nor was the violence limited to St. Louis, which in 2017 had the nation’s highest murder rate.

In a country that has become accustomed to gun violence in all its forms, 2020 was off to a typical start. Gunfire echoed across the country in shootings from St. Louis to Philadelphia, and from Michigan to Texas.

In Cleveland, a man who news reports said was firing off rounds to celebrate the new year accidentally killed his girlfriend. In Florida, near Orlando, two men were killed in a shooting inside a nightclub. And in Baltimore, which closed 2019 with the city’s second-highest number of homicides on record, the police were investigating two killings that happened a few hours before midnight.

Weather in northwest Orange County for Tuesday, December 31, 2019:

Today:

Sunny, with a high near 68. Calm wind becoming southwest around 5 mph in the afternoon.

Tonight:

Clear, with a low around 44. East wind around 5 mph becoming calm after midnight.

Temperatures are expected to remain in the mid to upper 60s, dipping into the low 70s, with mostly sunny skies.

Courtesy of HistoryNet:

Barcelona: Arthur Melo out for month of January

By Colin Millar

Barcelona will continue to be without their midfielder Arthur Melo for the month of January, according to Diario AS.

The Brazilian international has not featured for the Blaugrana since the victory at Atletico Madrid at the start of December, when he was substituted off in the 73rd minute.

The central midfielder has been diagnosed with a thigh injury but it had been thought that he would return to the Catalan derby at the RCDE Stadium on 4 January, but now he will be sidelined for several more weeks.

The player is said to be working double training sessions - both with his teammates and at home - while both he and the club have both avoided going down the route of surgery.

Arthur has spent Christmas at his hometown Goiania where he was accompanied by a physiotherapist and a Catalan physical trainer, to ensure he returns to full fitness, but he has suffered a fresh setback.

Barcelona have a busy schedule for January with the Spanish Supercopa commencing on 9 January.

VK Vijayakumar

During the last 27 years (1992-2019) India has been the second-fastest-growing large economy in the world with a GDP growth rate of 7 percent. But, during this long-term growth phase, the growth rate has been punctuated with temporary slowdowns in 1997, 2001-03, 2008, 2013 and now we are going through a sharp slowdown with Q2FY2020 hitting a 26 quarter low of 4.5 percent.

We are likely to end FY20 with a growth rate of around 5 percent. This sharp deceleration has become an issue of major concern since the usual policy responses to slowdowns – fiscal and monetary stimulus – are becoming increasingly ineffective.

To stimulate the slowing economy, the RBI cut interest rates five times in 2019 - a cumulative cut of 135 basis points. But the transmission has been poor due to rigidities in the financial system. There is no room for more fiscal stimulus since the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement (PSBR) is close to 9 percent.

The fiscal deficit of the Centre at around 3.4 percent conceals more than what it reveals. If the off-budget borrowing by the FCI, NHAI etc are added to the Centre’s fiscal deficit, the number would rise above 5 percent. This, along with the deficits of the states, raises the PSBR to 9 percent of GDP, which is equivalent to the entire household savings in the entire economy. Therefore, if the fiscal deficit is allowed to rise further it will end up crowding-out private investment. It can also contribute to higher inflation, perhaps even trigger stagflation.

Therefore, the focus has to be on monetary policy and measures to improve transmission. The RBI has only signalled a pause in easing, waiting for clarity on government's deficit numbers. There is room for the central bank to cut rates by another 50 bps in 2020 since core inflation is under control. But the focus has to be on effective transmission. The major constraint in transmission is the rigidity in banks' cost of funds since deposit rates have not declined commensurate with the cut in policy rates. Banks, mainly PSU banks reeling under huge NPAs, are wary of cutting deposit rates due to fear of losing deposits to small savings which command a much higher interest rate. For instance, PPF and 5-year NSCs carry interest rate of 7.9 percent.

Therefore, if the monetary transmission is to be effective, the interest rates on small savings with high-interest rates have to be reduced. Presently, the government follows a policy of setting interest rates on small savings every quarter. The government may think of deviating from this policy temporarily and announce a bigger cut in interest on small savings like PPF and NSCs.

Yet another factor constraining monetary transmission is the reluctance of the banks to lend. PSU banks have been gripped by a fear psychosis following the investigations into lending by the 3 Cs (CBI, CVC and CAG). The government has to assure the bankers that genuine lending will not invite investigation. Restoring business confidence is crucial in stimulating growth.

(The author is Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.)

: The views and investment tips expressed by investment expert on moneycontrol.com are his own and not that of the website or its management. Moneycontrol.com advises users to check with certified experts before taking any investment decisions.

Download your money calendar for 2022-23 here and keep your dates with your moneybox, investments, taxes

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Question:
Windows 10 users, yes it has been a rocky spell, but you need to be on high alert yet again. Here’s everything you need to know.

Windows 10 updates continue to cause problems STEVE KOTECKI

MORE FROM FORBES How To Upgrade To Windows 10 For 'Free' In 2020 [Updated]

Picked up by both BleepingComputer and Windows Latest, the early problems with Microsoft’s new KB4535996 Windows 10 update are now spiraling out of control. Here are the main issues you need to be aware of.

03/09 Update: Microsoft has confirmed Windows 10 has run into more trouble. The company has published a support page explaining that a new bug in Windows 10 can prevent users from manually installing drivers on their PCs. Users will receive the error message: "A driver can't load on this device" and it can break installations even after they appear to complete successfully. Microsoft states "If you choose to continue using your device without addressing the driver problem, you might discover that the functionality the driver supports does not work any longer, which could have consequences ranging from negligible to severe." Third party drivers can be essential, particularly for legacy devices, so Microsoft has offered a workaround which (perhaps surprisingly) involves turning off a Windows 10 security setting that guards memory integrity to allow the driver installation to complete:

Go to the Core isolation page in Windows Security. Turn the Memory integrity setting Off if it isn’t already. You'll need to restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Microsoft offers no timeline for a proper fix to this issue but, given the level of inconvenience and potential problems, surely it will be a priority.

03/10 Update: the problems associated with KB4535996 are still increasing. The always diligent BetaNews, reports that some Windows 10 users who have installed the update are discovering that sleep no longer works correctly on their computers and Microsoft's KB4535996 community page is filled complaints including broken search, trouble opening apps and a growing number of users reporting their PCs will not boot after updating. Remarkably, three days on from these troubles beginning, Microsoft still states on its KB4535996 update page that it is "not currently aware of any issues with this update". Ignore this. If you haven't already, get the Windows Update troubleshooter and proactively block KB4535996. Until more is known, this is an update you need to avoid.

Boot Problems And Crashes

The former appears to be widespread among users who have installed KB4535996, with significant delays in PCs starting after installing the update and occasionally showing a disconcerting black screen partway through the elongated boot process. My own PC is exhibiting this problem.

That said, if you have this issue you are lucky because for others their PCs will not boot at all:

“I just had this update on my PC and now it will not boot. Fails the BIOS POST test with a series of beeps, completely blank screen. I bought it only 5 days ago, have tried re-seating the RAM and GPU. Hard to decipher the beeps as the screen is blank and I don’t know what MB make it is. (8 regular slow beeps. Then a repeat of two slow low tone beeps, two fast high tone beeps - if that means anything to anyone!) I did have some important work to do, but I guess not, thanks Microsoft :( I presume there is no way to fix this and the PC is now dead, as it won’t ever boot up again now, to receive a Windows update fix ... to fix this ‘update fix’?” - source

Blue Screen Of Death

The infamous BSOD is also hitting users with KB4535996 installed with the blue screen appearing as Windows loads the login screen. This appears to be less widespread, but when it does hit it can hit hard. Bleeping Computer highlights the plight of one company in particular:

“Seeing this issue with about 200 machines. Uninstalling the update doesn’t come off cleanly and still gets lock ups on initial boot.”

Slowdowns

Windows 10 stutters, dropped frame rates (primarily in games), high disk usage and thrashing have also all been reported.

“It's not extreme, but I say my framerate in games has gone down 10 frames or so and stuttering occurs once in a while,” wrote one user on Reddit. “After uninstalling the cumulative update, everything was fine. Weird.”

“Can confirm. Ramped up my CPU usage and caused stuttering even on the easiest games to run,” - source

“After I installed the update the disk usage in task manager is 100% all the time, and my pc is slow af now!” - source

Audio Problems

Installing KB4535996 has resulted in reports of broken audio in Windows 10 too:

“Thanks to the recent update I no longer have any sound on my computer, I’ve tried everything and nothing will fix it besides rolling the update back, point is [I] shouldn't have to. Microsoft needs to get their **** together.” - source

“The latest Microsoft update has caused my audio to stop working.” - source

“I updated on the 1st March I have nothing but troubles now intermittent shutting down sound issues video issues I cannot uninstall this even after a reset” - source

Microsoft Visual Studio Impacted

The Visual Studio code-signing tool signtool.exe appears widely broken for many users. Coder Rafael Rivera appears to have found the root of it warning: “If you're having trouble with signtool.exe, check if you have KB4535996 (optional 2020-02 CU) installed. Looks like WTLogConfigCiScriptEvent got removed from wldp.dll without sufficient testing.”

Microsoft has also issued a warning about this stating: “We’re aware of issues with signtool.exe after installing the latest optional update for Windows 10, version 1903 or Windows 10, version 1909 (KB4535996). If you are encountering issues or receiving errors related to signtool.exe, you can uninstall the optional update KB4535996. We are working on a resolution and estimate a solution will be available in mid-March."

And yet here’s the crazy part: go to the KB4535996 page and Microsoft still writes “Microsoft is not currently aware of any issues with this update”. The company regularly fails to update the warnings on troubled Windows 10 updates (1,2,3,4,5,6,7) but this time it’s particularly poor.

While some users have experienced problems trying to uninstall KB4535996, these are the steps you need to follow:

In Windows Desktop Search type ‘update history’ then click ‘View your Update history’

Select ‘Uninstall Updates’

On the Installed Updates dialog window, find and select KB4535996, click the Uninstall button

Restart

You can also download Windows Update troubleshooter, which will enable you to block KB4535996 proactively / stop it from reinstalling.

All these problems come just weeks after a Windows 10 update started deleting user data while another was pulled days earlier for causing system crashes. Microsoft has recently rolled out Windows 10 optional update improvements first announced in September but the quality of updates themselves still leave a lot to be desired.

Microsoft, it's time to do better.

___

Follow Gordon on Facebook

More On Forbes

How To Upgrade To Windows 10 For ‘Free’ In 2020

Windows 10 Alert: This Is The Default Setting You Must Change To Stay Safe

New Windows 10 Update Is Deleting Data For Some Users

Since the release of the Windows 10 KB4535996 cumulative update, Windows users have been reporting numerous problems including boot issues, crashes, performance problems, audio issues, and developer tools no longer working.

The optional Windows 10 KB4535996 cumulative update was released on February 27th, 2020 and while it resolved some Windows Search issues, it also introduced other issues for users who installed the update.

Unfortunately with Windows 10 installed on over 900 million PCs, there are always going to be problems for some users when installing a new update such as Windows not booting, the screen flickers, Cortana is broken, or they can no longer launch programs.

For some, these issues can be resolved by updating to newer drivers or software installed on the computer.

Below are the most common issues Windows 10 users are encountering after installing the KB4535996 option update released on February 27th.

Boot issues and hangs

On two machines that BleepingComputer has installed the KB4535996 update there is a noticeable slowdown before we are shown the login screen after restarting Windows 10.

Before the update, the booting of Windows 10 was quick and would go right into the lock screen. Now there is a few seconds delay during which Windows 10 shows a black screen before displaying the login prompt.

I am lucky, though, as others have reported worse issues [1, 2, 3] such as Windows 10 not starting at all after installing the update.

"On the initial download and install my PC hung at 100% for 5 - 10 mins. Afterwards it hung on the welcome screen after restarts. I recovered the PC by running startup recovery in WinRE, it removed the update. I tried again to install it with the same result. I ran sfc/scannow after both attempts, it found and repaired a few things."

Blue screen crashes at login

One enterprise user reported on the Microsoft forums that after installing the KB4535996 cumulative update almost 200 PCs in their organization would crash with blue screens at the login screen.

"Seeing this issue with about 200 machines. Uninstalling the update doesnt come off cleanly and still gets lock ups on initial boot. "

It should be noted that this may be an outlier or something related to software installed in their organization as I am not seeing many reports like this elsewhere.

Performance issues

One of our readers submitted a tip this week stating that after installing the KB4535996 update, their system has been having performance issues and once they uninstalled the update it worked properly again.

"March 2020 - Installed Microsoft cumulative update KB4535996 on Windows 10 Home 64 bit - caused severe machine slowdown, application and website loading delays. Uninstalled update and problem went away."

Others have also reported similar performance issues [1, 2, 3] where Windows 'stutters', frame rates in games have gone down, and reports of high disk usage or thrashing.

Sound and audio hardware issues

After installing the KB4535996 update, users are reporting [1, 2, 3] that the sound in Windows 10 no longer works.

One user stated that their problem was related to their Sound Blaster USB device no longer being detected by Windows 10.

"After this update my Sound Blaster USB Audio cards stopped working, They would not even show up in the Device Manager yet they were properly connected and worked prior to the update."

Microsoft Visual Studio signtool.exe stops working

Since KB4535996 was released, we have had numerous reports about the Visual Studio code-signing tool signtool.exe no longer working.

Signtool.exe is a program that allows you to digitally sign an executable with a code-signing certificate to indicate that the program comes from a specific publisher and has not been tampered with.

After installing KB4535996, users are reporting that when they use the tool it generates an error code -1073741502.

According to Windows developer Rafael Rivera, this bug is being caused by WTLogConfigCiScriptEvent being removed from wldp.dll.

Microsoft has stated that they are aware of the issue and are working on a resolution for release in mid-March.

"We’re aware of issues with signtool.exe after installing the latest optional update for Windows 10, version 1903 or Windows 10, version 1909 (KB4535996). If you are encountering issues or receiving errors related to signtool.exe, you can uninstall the optional update KB4535996. We are working on a resolution and estimate a solution will be available in mid-March."

Maureen Esisi, the estranged wife of Nollywood actor, Blossom Chukwujekwu has announced she is single following the end of their three-year-old marriage.

She took to Instagram to announce that she is ‘Single’ in a post which she also wrote: ‘#NoManners2020.’

Also Read: He Has No Idea How Much I Pray For Him – Maureen Esisi Says Months After Split From Blossom Chukwujekwu

Maureen Esisi and Blossom Chukwujekwu, who both got married in 2016 have since gone their separate ways.

However, months ago, runours of trouble in their marriage hit the social media.

See her post below:

James Martin/CNET

This story is part of CNET's coverage of Apple Arcade, including exclusive first looks we got at some of the service's high-profile new games.

In 2019, Apple took steps beyond premium device hardware and software and firmly established itself as a services powerhouse -- particularly when it comes to gaming. The tech giant came out swinging in September with its dedicated gaming subscription service, Apple Arcade. With a $4.99 (£4.99, AU$7.99) monthly subscription, users get access to over 100 games that are playable on iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch and Apple TV. Some games have started rolling out for Mac as well.

Here's the video of the reveal from Apple's spring event in case you missed it:

Now playing: Watch this: Apple reveals Apple Arcade, a new subscription gaming...

Apple Arcade so far

Apple's first foray into subscription gaming has been well-received: From the start, it marketed itself as an accessible gaming platform. It was released in September alongside iOS 13's public beta with multiple games ready to play.

By November, the Apple Arcade catalog had grown to more than 100 games, with more released every week. All games are exclusive to Apple Arcade on on iOS -- you can't get them on the wider App Store, though some are on other platforms -- and they're all free of ads or in-app purchases. They include Noodlecake's The Enchanted World, Snowman's Where Cards Fall and Annapurna Interactive's Sayonara Wild Hearts (which was named Apple Arcade Game of the Year).

Apple's growing catalog includes something for everyone with genres for puzzle games, family games, mystery games, nostalgic games and more. Just this week it dropped the arcade sports mashup Ultimate Rivals: The Rink, announced at The Game Awards in a sign that Apple is trying to appeal to core gamers. Three of the five nominees for Best Mobile Game at the glitzy awards show are on Apple Arcade, too: Sayonara Wild Hearts, Grindstone and What the Golf?

Read more: Apple Arcade review: Mobile gaming gets a massive upgrade for $5 a month

CNET got exclusive looks at some of the games like The Enchanted World, Where Cards Fall and Shinsekai into the Depths.

Now playing: Watch this: Apple Arcade exclusive preview: Shinsekai Into the Depths

Some games we're still looking forward to include The Pathless, also from Annapurna Interactive, Revolution Software's Beyond a Steel Sky and Little Orpheus from The Chinese Room.

Apple Arcade vs. Google Stadia: No comparison

Apple Arcade looked like it was going to give Stadia, Google's new cloud-gaming platform, a run for its money, but when examined closer, it doesn't make sense to compare the two services. Whether you chose Apple Arcade or Google Stadia depends on what type of gamer you are.

Stadia is geared toward serious gamers who are invested in major series like Destiny, Assassin's Creed, Wolfenstein or Final Fantasy. (And even they should probably hold off, at least for a while.) But if you're looking for something for you or your family to play on a weekend, Apple Arcade is probably the better option. While Stadia still has games to add, Apple Arcade has established itself as a lifestyle gaming service from Day 1.

There's also the price benefit: For a casual gamer, or someone with kids who impatiently jump from game to game, Arcade costs $60 a year, while many new games for Stadia and other platforms cost $60 each. On the downside, you won't see popular, "AAA" games on Arcade like those released on Stadia. But if you're looking for fun, inventive mobile games with a lot of variety, you likely won't miss those major titles anyway.

Sarah Tew/CNET

What Arcade means for Apple

A dedicated gaming service is new territory for Apple, but the subscription aspect isn't entirely surprising. The tech giant has been slowly laying the building blocks when it comes to services: This year it launched its Apple Card credit card, Apple TV Plus subscription streaming service and Apple News Plus news subscription service. Among all of these, Apple Arcade stands as the most polished service that offers the clearest value, CNET noted in its review.

Apple also likely knows that mobile games and casual games are where most of the growth is in gaming, and planting the flag with Arcade will give it a bigger piece of that pie moving forward.

Apple isn't a perfect company, but its executives have always appeared to plan, thoughtfully and unrushed, a few steps ahead. It's likely that we will see more subscriptions and services become available in 2020 from Apple and its competitors, as Apple Arcade's catalog of games continues to grow.

Coronavirus forcing parents to skip kids’ vaccinations: Unicef

KABUL: The novel coronavirus pandemic that has forced billions of people across the globe to stay home is making parents skip routine immunisations for their kids, the United Nations children´s agency Unicef warned Thursday.

The phenomenon is being aggravated by overburdened health services where medical workers are being diverted from giving vaccines to focus on the COVID-19 response.

Some governments might even have to postpone mass immunisation campaigns as a way of slowing the disease´s spread, Unicef said.

The agency's executive director Henrietta Fore said the requirement for people to stay home and observe social distancing was leading parents to "make the difficult decision to defer routine immunisation".

Of particular concern are impoverished and war-torn countries battling measles, cholera or polio outbreaks, such as Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, the Philippines, Syria and South Sudan.

"At a time like this, these countries can ill-afford to face additional outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases," Fore said in a statement.

"Medical goods are in short supply and supply chains are under historic strain due to transport disruptions. Flight cancellations and trade restrictions by countries have severely constrained access to essential medicines, including vaccines."

Governments may in future need to postpone preventive mass vaccination campaigns -- where people group together to receive inoculations -- to ensure these do not contribute to the spread of COVID-19, Fore said.

YouTube artist Jeffree Star donates $20,000 for Michigan man's funeral

YouTuber and makeup artist Jeffree Star donated $20,000 toward funeral services for Kevin Bacon, the 25-year-old Michigan man who was found dead Saturday in Shiawassee County.

A GoFundMe page was set up by Bacon's sister to help with his funeral expenses.

Star found out about Bacon after a woman known as Chels on Twitter tagged him in a post stating, "This man was found murdered after a Grindr meet up in Michigan on Christmas Eve. I saw it on Facebook and noticed he had several #jeffreestar tattoos. I wanted you to see this and all of us can keep his friends and family in our thoughts."

Star shared the GoFundMe page on his Twitter account saying he was "devastated to hear of the passing of someone from Michigan who lived their life fearlessly and was taken too soon."

RIP KEVIN 😥 I’m devastated to hear of the passing of someone from Michigan who lived their life fearlessly and was taken too soon 💔 Please help his family in this horrible time: https://t.co/4sRUjumxtl #StarFamily https://t.co/FjVAxaaJgj — Jeffree Star (@JeffreeStar) December 29, 2019

Fans pointed out that Star didn't just share the page, but donated $20,000 toward the funeral expenses with the comment, "I love you. Rest in peace angel."

Bacon went missing on Christmas Eve after he went to meet a man he met on Grindr, a dating app, according to MLive.

Bacon's body was found Saturday at a home in Bennington Township. The homeowner is a 50-year-old man in custody at Shiawassee County Jail suspected of open murder, said Lt. David Kaiser of Michigan State Police.

The case is still under investigation.

More news on freep.com:

Missing 25-year-old Michigan man found dead in Shiawassee County

Gold coins worth $1,500 each dropped into Salvation Army kettles

Contact Bisma Parvez: 313-222-6420 or bparvez@gannett.com Follow her on Twitter @bismapar

We are still in the early stages of dealing with COVID-19. Yet, it is already clear that this new will have long-lasting effects on the global economy, how we deal with pandemics, and perhaps even the architecture of international aid. This is because the COVID-19 pandemic is putting the spotlight on one of the less-noticed distortions of the international aid system: It does exactly the opposite of what the evidence requires.

To understand why, we need to distinguish between two kinds of aid. Traditional country lending seeks to improve outcomes in individual developing countries, while financing of global public goods (GPGs) aims to improve global welfare. The latter includes the development of technologies to promote agricultural productivity, actions to prevent climate change and mitigate its impact, knowledge creation, information provision, and, of course, preventing and dealing with pandemics.

Donors, therefore, need to decide how to allocate their funds between these two types of aid. Clearly, this decision should be informed by research regarding the relative effectiveness of country lending and financing of GPGs.

The evidence concerning country lending is highly contested, with diehard aid sceptics in the tradition of Lord Peter Bauer, Milton Friedman, Angus Deaton, and Bill Easterly opposed by equally strong advocates such as Jeffrey D Sachs, Bill Gates, and Bono. A fair reading of the evidence would be that even if aid scepticism is overdone, it is hard to find compelling evidence that country lending has substantial long-term benefits. (This is also the conclusion that Raghuram G Rajan and I reached in a series of papers on the impact of aid).

On the other hand, financing GPGs is incontrovertibly beneficial. For example, the activities that led to the Green Revolution — not only the initial discoveries but also their subsequent adaptation by a network of publicly funded agricultural research institutes around the world — yielded substantial global returns. So did the eradication of smallpox. The financing of advance market commitments that guarantee returns for pharmaceutical companies making important medical discoveries — an idea associated with the Nobel laureate economist Michael Kremer — is another example of an invaluable GPG.

But despite the clear balance of evidence, an overwhelming proportion of aid is devoted to country lending, with only a fraction allocated to financing GPGs. Although there are no definitive estimates, Scott Morris at the Center for Global Development says that only 15-25 per cent of the World Bank’s overall lending portfolio is devoted to GPGs. And even on a generous interpretation of what constitutes a GPG, that share would rise to only 35 per cent. Moreover, this proportion is even smaller in the case of the world’s poorest countries: The International Development Association, the World Bank’s concessional-lending arm, directs only 11 per cent of its funding to regional and global public goods.

What about other major donors? We do not know the share of funding that private philanthropies such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which have become important international players, allocate to GPGs. But we do know that the most significant recent entrant to the aid-giving club — China — is devoting almost all its resources under the Belt and Road initiative to financing infrastructure in borrowing countries, and not to GPGs.

It is not difficult to understand why the allocation of international aid is so skewed in favour of country lending. This is a conspiracy in which there are perpetrators but no apparent crime.

For starters, donors love to wield the power that comes with lending directly to developing countries and dictating priorities aligned with their own preferences. And recipient governments are equally complicit; after all, more cheap financing means more spending, which is always helpful to political incumbents.

By contrast, the gains from financing GPGs are nebulous, distant, and not clearly traceable to donor actions. For borrowing governments, too, the choice between cheap cash today and uncertain benefits down the line is a no-brainer.

These distortions have always been a problem. But as the COVID-19 pandemic has made abundantly clear, the need for GPGs is proliferating, and private markets will by definition not finance them. To get a sense of the magnitude of resources required, consider the recent estimate by Princeton University’s Ashoka Mody that Italy will need about $600-800 billion in external assistance to help it respond to its calamity. And this is just the amount needed to combat one global public “bad” at one point in time in one relatively rich country.

In a world of infinite resources and unbridled goodwill and generosity, donors could always ramp up financing of GPGs without reducing country lending. But in the real world, the envelope for giving is shrinking — meaning that distorted allocation incentives will have serious consequences.

The message for the international donor community — not just traditional lenders such as the World Bank, but also emerging actors such as private foundations and China — is clear. The aid architecture needs a radical revamp so that massive amounts of money, possibly hundreds of billions of dollars annually, can be devoted to global public goods. And some of this will have to be financed by reducing existing country lending.

By bringing practice into line with the evidence, the world could start addressing the massive challenges of the future in a serious way. Like today’s COVID-19 pandemic, these challenges will be devastatingly contemptuous of national borders and nativist governments.

©Project Syndicate, 2020

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