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Session Index (Topics)
CHAPTER 92--S.F.No. 514
relating to elections; making policy, technical, and conforming changes to various provisions related to elections and elections administration including provisions related to special elections, registration, voting, voters, election judges, voting systems, data, and elected officials; providing uniform election dates; authorizing the appointment of certain county offices; requiring reports;
amending Minnesota Statutes 2016, sections 3.088, subdivisions 1, 2, 3; 13.15, subdivision 4; 13.6905, subdivision 33; 13.841, subdivision 3; 13.851, subdivision 10; 103B.545, subdivision 2; 123A.46, subdivision 12; 123A.48, subdivision 14; 123B.09, subdivision 5b; 123B.63, subdivision 3; 126C.17, subdivision 11; 128D.05, subdivision 2; 200.02, subdivision 4, by adding a subdivision; 201.121, subdivisions 1, 3; 204B.09, subdivision 3; 204B.16, subdivisions 1, 1a; 204B.21; 204B.31, subdivision 2; 204C.10; 204C.12, subdivision 1; 204C.32, subdivision 2; 204C.33, subdivision 3; 205.065, subdivision 5; 205.07, subdivisions 1, 3; 205.10, subdivision 4, by adding a subdivision; 205A.05, subdivisions 1, 2, by adding a subdivision; 205A.11, subdivision 2; 206.805, subdivision 1; 208.04, subdivision 1; 211B.11, subdivision 1; 216B.46; 241.065, subdivision 2; 365A.06, subdivision 2; 367.33, subdivision 1; 375.101, subdivision 1; 375B.07, subdivision 2; 375B.10; 383B.031, subdivision 1; 383E.24, subdivision 7; 410.10, subdivision 1; 447.32, subdivision 2; 475.59; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapters 201; 204B; repealing Minnesota Statutes 2016, sections 201.15; 201.155; 201.157; 201.158; 205.10, subdivision 3.
ELECTION ADMINISTRATION
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 3.088, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Leave of absence without pay.
Subject to this section, any appointed officer or employee of a political subdivision, municipal corporation, or school district of the state or an institution of learning maintained by the state who serves as a legislator or is elected to a full-time city or county office or to an Indian tribal council in Minnesota is entitled to a leave of absence from the public office or to employment without pay when on the business of the office, with right of reinstatement as provided in this section.
Subd. 2.
Reinstatement.
Except as provided in this section, upon the completion of the last legislative day in each calendar year, or, in the case of an elected city or, county, or tribal council official, on the completion of the final day of the term to which the official was elected, the officer or employee shall be reinstated in the public position held at the time of entry into the legislature or taking city or, county, or tribal council office, or be placed in a public position of like seniority, status, and pay if it is available at the same salary which would have been received if the leave had not been taken, upon the following conditions:
(1) that the position has not been abolished or that its term, if limited, has not expired;
(2) that the legislator makes a written application for reinstatement to the appointing authority within 30 days after the last legislative day in a calendar year or, in the case of an elected city or, county, or tribal council official, within 30 days after the expiration of the elected term; and
(3) that the request for reinstatement is made not later than ten years after the granting of the leave.
Upon reinstatement, the officer or employee shall have the same rights with respect to accrued and future seniority status, efficiency rating, vacation, insurance benefits, sick leave, and other benefits as if actually employed during the time of the leave. No public employer is required to compensate a reinstated employee or officer for time spent by that employee or officer away from work for the employer and on the business of the state legislature during the period between the first and last legislative day in each calendar year or on the business of an elected city or, county, or tribal council office. No officer or employee reinstated shall be removed or discharged within one year after reinstatement except for cause and after notice and hearing, but this does not extend a term of service limited by law.
Pension and retirement rights.
A public officer or employee who receives leave of absence under this section or is elected as a state constitutional officer and has rights in a state, municipal, or other public pension, retirement, or relief system shall retain all the rights accrued up to the time of taking leave. Time spent by the employee as a member of the legislature or as an elected city or, county, or tribal council official or state constitutional officer shall be calculated in the same manner as if the employee had spent that time in the service of the public employer for the purpose of determining vesting of the employee's rights in the employer's pension, retirement, or relief system. Under no circumstances shall two governmental units pay the employee's share of pension contributions when the employee is on leave of absence to serve in the legislature or as an elected city or, county, or tribal council official.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 13.15, subdivision 4, is amended to read:
Use of electronic access data.
Electronic access data may be disseminated:
(1) to the commissioner for the purpose of evaluating electronic government services;
(2) to another government entity or a federal law enforcement agency to prevent or report unlawful intrusions into government electronic systems; or
(3) as otherwise provided by law.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 13.6905, subdivision 33, is amended to read:
Subd. 33.
Citizenship data; voter registration.
The use of citizenship data reported to the secretary of state is governed by section 201.158 201.145.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 13.841, subdivision 3, is amended to read:
Felony conviction data; voter registration.
Felony conviction data reported to the secretary of state is governed by section 201.155 201.145.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 13.851, subdivision 10, is amended to read:
Felony offender data; voter registration.
The use of felony offender data made available to the secretary of state is governed by section 201.157 201.145.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 123B.09, subdivision 5b, is amended to read:
Subd. 5b.
Appointments to fill vacancies; special elections.
(a) Any vacancy on the board, other than a vacancy described in subdivision 4, must be filled by board appointment at a regular or special meeting. The appointment shall be evidenced by a resolution entered in the minutes and shall be effective 30 days following adoption of the resolution, subject to paragraph (b). If the appointment becomes effective, it shall continue until an election is held under this subdivision. All elections to fill vacancies shall be for the unexpired term. A special election to fill the vacancy must be held no later than the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November following the vacancy. If the vacancy occurs less than 90 days prior to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in the year in which the vacancy occurs, the special election must be held no later than the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of the following calendar year. If the vacancy occurs less than 90 days prior to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in the third year of the term, no special election is required. If the vacancy is filled by a special election, the person elected at that election for the ensuing term shall take office immediately after receiving the certificate of election, filing the bond, and taking the oath of office.
(b) An appointment made under paragraph (a) shall not be effective if a petition to reject the appointee is filed with the school district clerk. To be valid, a petition to reject an appointee must be signed by a number of eligible voters residing in the district equal to at least five percent of the total number of voters voting in the district at the most recent state general election, and must be filed within 30 days of the board's adoption of the resolution making the appointment. If a valid petition is filed according to the requirements of this paragraph, the appointment by the school board is ineffective and the board must name a new appointee as provided in paragraph (a).
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 200.02, is amended by adding a subdivision to read:
Original signature.
"Original signature" does not include an electronic signature.
Sec. 10.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 201.121, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Entry of registration information.
(a) At the time a voter registration application is properly completed, submitted, and received in accordance with sections 201.061 and 201.071, the county auditor shall enter the information contained on it into the statewide registration system. Voter registration applications completed before election day must be entered into the statewide registration system within ten days after they have been submitted to the county auditor. Voter registration applications completed on election day must be entered into the statewide registration system within 42 days after the election, unless the county auditor notifies the secretary of state before the 42-day deadline has expired that the deadline will not be met. Upon receipt of a notification under this paragraph, the secretary of state must extend the deadline for that county auditor by an additional 28 days. The secretary of state may waive a county's obligations under this paragraph if, on good cause shown, the county demonstrates its permanent inability to comply.
The secretary of state must post data on each county's compliance with this paragraph on the secretary of state's Web site including, as applicable, the date each county fully complied or the deadline by which a county's compliance must be complete.
(b) Upon receiving a completed voter registration application, the secretary of state may electronically transmit the information on the application to the appropriate county auditor as soon as possible for review by the county auditor before final entry into the statewide registration system. The secretary of state may mail the voter registration application to the county auditor.
(c) Within ten days after the county auditor has entered information from a voter registration application into the statewide registration system, the secretary of state shall compare the voter's name, date of birth, and driver's license number, state identification number, or the last four digits of the Social Security number with the same information contained in the Department of Public Safety database.
(d) The secretary of state shall provide a report to the county auditor on a weekly basis that includes a list of voters whose name, date of birth, or identification number have been compared with the same information in the Department of Public Safety database and cannot be verified as provided in this subdivision. The report must list separately those voters who have submitted a voter registration application by mail and have not voted in a federal election in this state.
(e) The county auditor shall compile a list of voters for whom the county auditor and the secretary of state are unable to conclude that information on the voter registration application and the corresponding information in the Department of Public Safety database relate to the same person.
(f) The county auditor shall send a notice of incomplete registration to any voter whose name appears on the list and change the voter's status to "incomplete." A voter who receives a notice of incomplete registration from the county auditor may either provide the information required to complete the registration at least 21 days before the next election or at the polling place on election day.
Postelection sampling.
(a) Within ten days after an election, the county auditor shall send the notice required by subdivision 2 to a random sampling of the individuals registered on election day. The random sampling shall be determined in accordance with the rules of the secretary of state. As soon as practicable after the election, the county auditor shall mail the notice required by subdivision 2 to all other individuals registered on election day. If a notice is returned as not deliverable, the county auditor shall attempt to determine the reason for the return. A county auditor who does not receive or obtain satisfactory proof of an individual's eligibility to vote shall immediately notify the county attorney of all of the relevant information and the secretary of state of the numbers by precinct. The county auditor must notify the secretary of state of the following information by each precinct:
(1) the total number of all notices that were returned as nondeliverable;
(2) the total number of nondeliverable notices that the county auditor was able to determine the reason for the return along with the reason for each return; and
(3) the total number of individuals for whom the county auditor does not receive or obtain satisfactory proof of an individual's eligibility to vote.
(b) By March 1 of every odd-numbered year, the secretary of state shall report to the chair and ranking minority members of the legislative committees with jurisdiction over elections the number of notices reported under this subdivision to the secretary of state for the previous state general election by county and precinct. following information by each precinct and each county:
(2) the total number of nondeliverable notices that a county auditor was able to determine the reason for the return along with the reason for each return; and
[201.145] REPORTS ON GUARDIANSHIPS, LEGAL INCOMPETENCE, FELONY CONVICTIONS, AND CITIZENSHIP; STATUS CHANGES.
Report requirements.
Reports required by this section must be submitted to the secretary of state as provided in this section. Reports from the state court administrator that are required under this section must be made on a daily basis, excluding weekends and holidays. Reports from the commissioner of corrections and the commissioner of public safety that are required under this section must be made to the secretary of state at least monthly. Reports must be submitted by electronic means. Reports from the commissioner of corrections and the commissioner of public safety must include a complete list of each individual under the reporting entity's jurisdiction and must not provide only the changes since the last report.
State court administrator report.
(a) The state court administrator must report on individuals 17 years of age or older who are under a guardianship in which a court order revokes the ward's right to vote or where the court has found the individual to be legally incompetent to vote.
(b) The state court administrator must report on individuals transferred to the jurisdiction of the court who meet a condition specified in paragraph (a).
(c) Each report required under this subdivision must include the following information for each individual in the report: name, address, date of birth, and, if available, last four digits of the Social Security number and driver's license or state identification card number.
(d) No later than seven calendar days after receiving a report under this subdivision, the secretary of state must determine if a person identified under paragraphs (a) and (b) is registered to vote and must prepare a list of those registrants for the county auditor. No later than seven calendar days after receiving the list from the secretary of state, the county auditor must challenge the status on the record in the statewide voter registration system of each individual named in the list.
Commissioner of corrections report; state court administrator report.
(a) The state court administrator must report on individuals 17 years of age or older who have been convicted of a felony.
(b) The commissioner of corrections must report on individuals 17 years of age or older who are currently:
(1) serving felony sentences under the commissioner's jurisdiction; or
(2) on probation for felony offenses that resulted in the loss of civil rights, as indicated by the statewide supervision system established under section 241.065.
(c) Each report under this subdivision must include the following information for each individual: name, address or last known residential address that is not a correctional facility, and date of birth. If available, each report must also include the individual's: corrections' state identification number, last four digits of the Social Security number, driver's license or state identification card number, date of sentence, effective date of the sentence, county in which the conviction occurred, and date of discharge.
(d) No later than seven calendar days after receiving a report under this subdivision, the secretary of state must determine if a person identified under paragraph (a) is registered to vote and must prepare a list of those registrants for the county auditor. No later than seven calendar days after receiving a report under this subdivision, the secretary of state must determine if any data newly indicates that a person identified under paragraph (b) is registered to vote and must prepare a list of those registrants for the county auditor. No later than seven calendar days after receiving the list from the secretary of state, the county auditor must challenge the status on the record in the statewide voter registration system of each individual named in the list.
(e) The county auditor must identify an individual who registered to vote or voted while serving a felony sentence under the commissioner's jurisdiction or while on probation for a felony offense that resulted in the loss of civil rights during a period when the individual's civil rights were revoked. The county auditor must immediately send notice to the county attorney. The notice must include the name of the individual and any other identifying information as well as the evidence that shows the individual registered to vote or voted during the period when the individual's civil rights were revoked.
Reports; restoration of right to vote.
(a) The state court administrator must report on each individual whose guardianship was modified to restore the ward's right to vote or whose guardianship was terminated by order of the court under section 524.5-317 after being ineligible to vote for any of the reasons specified in subdivision 2, paragraph (a).
(b) The state court administrator must report on individuals previously convicted of a felony whose civil rights have been restored.
(c) The commissioner of corrections must report on individuals who were serving a felony sentence under the commissioner's jurisdiction or who were on probation for a felony offense under the commissioner's jurisdiction that resulted in the loss of civil rights but who have been discharged from the sentence.
(d) Each report under this subdivision must include the following information for each individual: name, address, date of birth, and, if available, the last four digits of the Social Security number. For reports required by paragraphs (b) and (c), each report must also include the individual's, if available: corrections' state identification number, driver's license or state identification card number, date of sentence, effective date of the sentence, county in which the conviction occurred, and date of discharge.
(e) No later than seven calendar days after receiving a report under this subdivision, the secretary of state must determine if a person identified under paragraph (a) or (b) is registered to vote and must prepare a list of those registrants for the county auditor. No later than seven calendar days after receiving a report under this subdivision, the secretary of state must determine if any data newly indicates that a person identified under paragraph (c) is registered to vote and must prepare a list of those registrants for the county auditor. No later than seven calendar days after receiving the list from the secretary of state, the county auditor must remove the challenge status on the record in the statewide voter registration system of each individual named in the list.
Commissioner of public safety report.
(a) The commissioner of public safety must report on individuals identified by department data as having temporary lawful status in the United States.
(b) The report under this section must include the following information for each individual: name, address, date of birth, driver's license or state identification card number, and, if available, last four digits of the Social Security number.
(c) No later than seven calendar days after receiving a report under this subdivision, the secretary of state must determine if any data newly indicates that a person identified under paragraph (a) is registered to vote and prepare a list of those voters for the county auditor. Within seven calendar days of receiving the list from the secretary of state, the county auditor must challenge the status on the record in the statewide voter registration system of each individual named in the list.
(d) The county auditor must also immediately send notice to the county attorney of each individual identified in paragraph (c). The notice must include the name of the individual and any other identifying information as well as the evidence that shows the individual registered to vote or voted and is not a citizen.
EFFECTIVE DATE.
This section is effective July 1, 2017, and applies to reports received by the secretary of state on or after that date.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 204B.09, subdivision 3, is amended to read:
Write-in candidates.
(a) A candidate for county, state, or federal office who wants write-in votes for the candidate to be counted must file a written request with the filing office for the office sought not more than 84 days before the primary and no later than the seventh day before the general election. The filing officer shall provide copies of the form to make the request. No written request shall be accepted later than 5:00 p.m. on the last day for filing a written request.
(b) A candidate for president of the United States who files a request under this subdivision must include the name of a candidate for vice-president of the United States. The request must also include the name of at least one candidate for presidential elector. The total number of names of candidates for presidential elector on the request may not exceed the total number of electoral votes to be cast by Minnesota in the presidential election.
(c) A candidate for governor who files a request under this subdivision must include the name of a candidate for lieutenant governor.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 204B.16, subdivision 1a, is amended to read:
Subd. 1a.
Notice to voters.
If the location of a polling place has been changed, the governing body establishing the polling place shall send to every affected household with at least one registered voter in the precinct a nonforwardable mailed notice stating the location of the new polling place at least 25 days before the next election. The secretary of state shall prepare a sample of this notice. A notice that is returned as undeliverable must be forwarded immediately to the county auditor. This subdivision does not apply to a polling place location that is changed on election day under section 204B.17 204B.175.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 204B.21, is amended to read:
204B.21 APPOINTMENT OF ELECTION JUDGES.
Appointment lists; duties of political parties and secretary of state.
On May 1 in a year in which there is an election for a partisan political office, each major political party shall prepare a list of eligible voters to act as election judges in each election precinct. The list provided by the party must indicate which eligible voters are willing to travel to a precinct outside of their home jurisdiction to act as an election judge, and the jurisdictions to which each eligible voter is willing to travel for that purpose. The political parties shall furnish the lists electronically to the secretary of state, in a format specified by the secretary of state. The secretary of state must combine the data received from each political party under this subdivision and must process the data to locate the precinct in which the address provided for each potential election judge is located. If the data submitted by a political party is insufficient for the secretary of state to locate the proper precinct, the associated name must not appear in any list forwarded to an appointing authority under this subdivision. The secretary of state shall notify political parties of any proposed election judges with addresses that could not be located in a precinct.
By May 15, the secretary of state shall furnish electronically to the county auditor a list of the appropriate names for each election precinct in the jurisdiction of the appointing authority, and a list of the names of individuals residing outside of the jurisdiction who indicated a willingness to travel to that jurisdiction to act as an election judge, noting the political party affiliation of each individual on the list. The county auditor must promptly forward the appropriate names to the appropriate municipal clerk.
Appointing authority; powers and duties.
Election judges for precincts in a municipality shall be appointed by the governing body of the municipality. Election judges for precincts in unorganized territory and for performing election-related duties assigned by the county auditor shall be appointed by the county board. Election judges for a precinct composed of two or more municipalities must be appointed by the governing body of the municipality or municipalities responsible for appointing election judges as provided in the agreement to combine for election purposes. Except as otherwise provided in this section, appointments shall be made from lists the list of voters who reside in each precinct, furnished pursuant to subdivision 1, subject to the eligibility requirements and other qualifications established or authorized under section 204B.19. At least two election judges in each precinct must be affiliated with different major political parties. If no lists have been furnished or if additional election judges are required after all listed names in that municipality have been exhausted, the appointing authority may appoint other individuals who meet the qualifications to serve as an election judge, including persons on the list furnished pursuant to subdivision 1 who indicated a willingness to travel to the municipality, and persons who are not affiliated with a major political party. An individual who is appointed from a source other than the list furnished pursuant to subdivision 1 must provide to the appointing authority the individual's major political party affiliation or a statement that the individual does not affiliate with any major political party. An individual who refuses to provide the individual's major political party affiliation or a statement that the individual does not affiliate with a major political party must not be appointed as an election judge. The appointments shall be made at least 25 days before the election at which the election judges will serve, except that the appointing authority may pass a resolution authorizing the appointment of additional election judges within the 25 days before the election if the appointing authority determines that additional election judges will be required.
Access to election judge party affiliation.
Notwithstanding section 13.43, the major political party affiliation of an election judge or a statement that the judge does not affiliate with a major political party may be shared with other election judges assigned to the precinct at the same election, to verify compliance with party balance requirements. This data may not be disclosed or used by the election judges for any other purpose.
Volunteer service; election judge travel.
(a) Any person appointed to serve as an election judge may elect to serve without payment by submitting a written statement to the appropriate governing body no later than ten days before the election.
(b) Subdivision 1 does not require the payment of mileage or other travel expenses to an election judge residing in another jurisdiction, if the election judge's name was included on the list of individuals who indicated a willingness to travel to another jurisdiction provided under section 204B.21, subdivision 1.
[204B.49] "I VOTED" STICKERS.
The secretary of state, county auditor, municipal clerk, school district clerk, or an election judge may provide a sticker containing the words "I VOTED," and nothing more, to an individual who:
(1) has successfully deposited a ballot into a ballot box, under section 203B.081, subdivision 3, or 204C.13, subdivision 5;
(2) is provided an absentee ballot under section 203B.07, subdivision 1, or 203B.21, subdivision 2; or
(3) is provided a ballot by mail under section 204B.45 or 204B.46.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 204C.10, is amended to read:
204C.10 PERMANENT REGISTRATION; VERIFICATION OF REGISTRATION.
(a) An individual seeking to vote shall sign a polling place roster or voter signature certificate which states that the individual is at least 18 years of age, a citizen of the United States, has resided in Minnesota for 20 days immediately preceding the election, maintains residence at the address shown, is not under a guardianship in which the court order revokes the individual's right to vote, has not been found by a court of law to be legally incompetent to vote or has the right to vote because, if the individual was convicted of a felony, the felony sentence has expired or been completed or the individual has been discharged from the sentence, is registered and has not already voted in the election. The roster must also state: "I understand that deliberately providing false information is a felony punishable by not more than five years imprisonment and a fine of not more than $10,000, or both."
(b) At the presidential nomination primary, the polling place roster must also state: "I am in general agreement with the principles of the party for whose candidate I intend to vote, and I understand that my choice of a party's ballot will be public information." This statement must appear separately from the statements required in paragraph (a). The felony penalty provided for in paragraph (a) does not apply to this paragraph.
(c) A judge may, before the applicant signs the roster or voter signature certificate, confirm the applicant's name, address, and date of birth.
(d) After the applicant signs the roster or voter signature certificate, the judge shall give the applicant a voter's receipt. The voter shall deliver the voter's receipt to the judge in charge of ballots as proof of the voter's right to vote, and thereupon the judge shall hand to the voter the ballot. The voters' receipts must be maintained during the time for notice of filing an election contest.
(e) Whenever a challenged status appears on the polling place roster, an election judge must ensure that the challenge is concealed or hidden from the view of any voter other than the voter whose status is challenged.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 204C.12, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Manner of challenging.
An election judge shall, and an authorized challenger or other voter may, challenge an individual whom the person knows or reasonably believes based on personal knowledge that the individual is not an eligible voter.
State canvass.
The State Canvassing Board shall meet at the secretary of state's office at a public meeting space located in the Capitol complex area seven days after the state primary to canvass the certified copies of the county canvassing board reports received from the county auditors. Immediately after the canvassing board declares the results, the secretary of state shall certify the names of the nominees to the county auditors. The secretary of state shall mail to each nominee a notice of nomination.
The State Canvassing Board shall meet at the secretary of state's office at a public meeting space located in the Capitol complex area on the third Tuesday following the state general election to canvass the certified copies of the county canvassing board reports received from the county auditors and shall prepare a report that states:
(a) (1) the number of individuals voting in the state and in each county;
(b) (2) the number of votes received by each of the candidates, specifying the counties in which they were cast; and
(c) (3) the number of votes counted for and against each constitutional amendment, specifying the counties in which they were cast.
All members of the State Canvassing Board shall sign the report and certify its correctness. The State Canvassing Board shall declare the result within three days after completing the canvass.
(a) The municipal primary shall be conducted and the returns made in the manner provided for the state primary so far as practicable. If the primary is conducted:
(1) only within that municipality, a The canvass may be conducted on either the second or third day after the primary; or
(2) in conjunction with the state primary, the canvass must be conducted on the third day after the primary, except as otherwise provided in paragraph (b).
The governing body of the municipality shall canvass the returns, and the two candidates for each office who receive the highest number of votes, or a number of candidates equal to twice the number of individuals to be elected to the office, who receive the highest number of votes, shall be the nominees for the office named. Their names shall be certified to the municipal clerk who shall place them on the municipal general election ballot without partisan designation and without payment of an additional fee.
(b) Following a municipal primary as described in paragraph (a), clause (2), a canvass may be conducted on the second day after the primary if the county auditor of each county in which the municipality is located agrees to administratively review the municipality's primary voting statistics for accuracy and completeness within a time that permits the canvass to be conducted on that day.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 205.07, subdivision 1, is amended to read:
Date of election.
The municipal general election in each city shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in every even-numbered year. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary and subject to the provisions of this section, the governing body of a city may, by ordinance passed at a regular meeting held before June 1 of any year, elect to at least 180 calendar days before the first day to file for candidacy in the next municipal election, decide to hold the election on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each either an even- or odd-numbered year. A city may hold elections in either the even-numbered year or the odd-numbered year, but not both. When a city changes its elections from one year to another, and does not provide for the expiration of terms by ordinance, the term of an incumbent expiring at a time when no municipal election is held in the months immediately prior to expiration is extended until the date for taking office following the next scheduled municipal election. If the change results in having three council members to be elected at a succeeding election, the two individuals receiving the highest vote shall serve for terms of four years and the individual receiving the third highest number of votes shall serve for a term of two years. To provide an orderly transition to the odd or even year election plan, the governing body of the city may adopt supplementary ordinances regulating initial elections and officers to be chosen at the elections and shortening or lengthening the terms of incumbents and those elected at the initial election. The term of office for the mayor may be either two or four years. The term of office of council members is four years. Whenever the time of the municipal election is changed, the city clerk immediately shall notify in writing the county auditor and secretary of state of the change of date. Thereafter the municipal general election shall be held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November in each odd-numbered or even-numbered year until the ordinance is revoked and notification of the change is made. A municipal general election scheduled to be held in an odd-numbered year may be postponed for inclement weather as provided in section 205.105.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 205A.05, subdivision 2, is amended to read:
Vacancies in school district offices.
Special elections to fill vacancies in elective school district offices shall be held in school districts pursuant to section 123B.095 123B.09, subdivision 5b. When more than one vacancy exists in an office elected at-large, voters must be instructed to vote for up to the number of vacancies to be filled.
Contracts required.
(a) The secretary of state, with the assistance of the commissioner of administration, shall must establish one or more state voting systems contracts. The contracts should, if practical, include provisions for maintenance of the equipment purchased. The voting systems contracts must address precinct-based optical scan voting equipment, and ballot marking equipment for persons with disabilities and other voters assistive voting technology, automatic tabulating equipment, and electronic roster equipment. The contracts must give the state a perpetual license to use and modify the software. The contracts must include provisions to escrow the software source code, as provided in subdivision 2. Bids for voting systems and related election services must be solicited from each vendor selling or leasing voting systems that have been certified for use by the secretary of state. Bids for electronic roster equipment, software, and related services must be solicited from each vendor selling or leasing electronic roster equipment that meets the requirements of section 201.225, subdivision 2. The contracts must be renewed from time to time.
(b) Counties and municipalities may purchase or lease voting systems and obtain related election services from the state contracts. All counties and municipalities are members of the cooperative purchasing venture of the Department of Administration for the purpose of this section. For the purpose of township elections, counties must aggregate orders under contracts negotiated under this section for products and services and may apportion the costs of those products and services proportionally among the townships receiving the products and services. The county is not liable for the timely or accurate delivery of those products or services.
Form of presidential ballots.
When presidential electors and alternates are to be voted for, a vote cast for the party candidates for president and vice president shall be deemed a vote for that party's electors and alternates as filed with the secretary of state. The secretary of state shall certify the names of all duly nominated presidential and vice presidential candidates to the county auditors of the counties of the state. Each county auditor, subject to the rules of the secretary of state, shall cause the names of the candidates of each major political party and the candidates nominated by petition to be printed in capital letters, set in type of the same size and style as for candidates on the state general election ballot, before the party designation. To the left of, and on the same line with the names of the candidates for president and vice president, near the margin, shall be placed a square or box an oval or similar target shape, in which the voters may indicate their choice by marking an "X.".
The form for the presidential ballot and the relative position of the several candidates shall be determined by the rules applicable to other state officers. The state ballot, with the required heading, shall be printed on the same piece of paper and shall be below the presidential ballot with a blank space between one inch in width.
Soliciting near polling places.
A person may not display campaign material, post signs, ask, solicit, or in any manner try to induce or persuade a voter within a polling place or within 100 feet of the building in which a polling place is situated, or anywhere on the public property on which a polling place is situated, on primary or election day to vote for or refrain from voting for a candidate or ballot question. A person may not provide political badges, political buttons, or other political insignia to be worn at or about the polling place on the day of a primary or election. A political badge, political button, or other political insignia may not be worn at or about the polling place on primary or election day. This section applies to areas established by the county auditor or municipal clerk for absentee voting as provided in chapter 203B.
The secretary of state, county auditor, municipal clerk, or school district clerk may provide stickers which contain the words "I VOTED" and nothing more. Election judges may offer a sticker of this type to each voter who has signed the polling place roster or voter signature certificate Nothing in this subdivision prohibits the distribution of "I VOTED" stickers as provided in section 204B.49.
Establishment.
The Department of Corrections shall administer and maintain a computerized data system for the purpose of assisting criminal justice agencies in monitoring and enforcing the conditions of conditional release imposed on criminal offenders by a sentencing court or the commissioner of corrections. The adult data and juvenile data as defined in section 260B.171 in the statewide supervision system are private data as defined in section 13.02, subdivision 12, but are accessible to criminal justice agencies as defined in section 13.02, subdivision 3a, to the Minnesota sex offender program as provided in section 246B.04, subdivision 3, to public defenders as provided in section 611.272, to all trial courts and appellate courts, and to criminal justice agencies in other states in the conduct of their official duties. Adult data in the statewide supervision system are accessible to the secretary of state for the purposes described in section 201.157 201.145.
REPEALER.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, sections 201.15; 201.155; 201.157; and 201.158, are repealed.
This article is effective July 1, 2017.
UNIFORM ELECTION DATES
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 103B.545, subdivision 2, is amended to read:
The county board or joint county authority shall conduct a special election in July or August after receiving the referendum petition on a date authorized in section 205.10, subdivision 3a. The special election must be held within the proposed lake improvement district. The county auditor shall administer the special election.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 123A.46, subdivision 12, is amended to read:
Election date.
If an election is required under subdivision 11, then before the expiration of a 45 day period after the date of the order for dissolution and attachment, the auditor shall set a date and call the election by filing a written order for the election and serving a copy of the order personally or by mail on the clerk of the district in which the election is to be held. The date shall be not less than 15 nor more than 30 days after the date of the order, upon which date a special election shall be held in the district proposed for dissolution and must be held on a date authorized in section 205A.05, subdivision 1a. The auditor shall post and publish notice of the election according to law. Upon receipt of the notice, the board shall conduct the election.
The board shall determine the date of the election as authorized by section 205A.05, subdivision 1a, the number of boundaries of voting precincts, and the location of the polling places where voting shall be conducted, and the hours the polls will be open. The board shall also provide official ballots which must be used exclusively and shall be in the following form: "Shall the (name of school district) and the (name of school district) be consolidated as proposed? Yes .... No ...."
The board must appoint election judges who shall act as clerks of election. The ballots and results must be certified to the board who shall canvass and tabulate the total vote cast for and against the proposal.
Capital project levy referendum.
(a) A district may levy the local tax rate approved by a majority of the electors voting on the question to provide funds for an approved project. The election must take place no more than five years before the estimated date of commencement of the project. The referendum must be held on a date set by the board authorized by section 205A.05, subdivision 1a. A district must meet the requirements of section 123B.71 for projects funded under this section. If a review and comment is required under section 123B.71, subdivision 8, a referendum for a project not receiving a positive review and comment by the commissioner must be approved by at least 60 percent of the voters at the election.
(b) The referendum may be called by the school board and may be held:
(1) separately, before an election for the issuance of obligations for the project under chapter 475; or
(2) in conjunction with an election for the issuance of obligations for the project under chapter 475; or
(3) notwithstanding section 475.59, as a conjunctive question authorizing both the capital project levy and the issuance of obligations for the project under chapter 475. Any obligations authorized for a project may be issued within five years of the date of the election.
(c) The ballot must provide a general description of the proposed project, state the estimated total cost of the project, state whether the project has received a positive or negative review and comment from the commissioner, state the maximum amount of the capital project levy as a percentage of net tax capacity, state the amount that will be raised by that local tax rate in the first year it is to be levied, and state the maximum number of years that the levy authorization will apply.
The ballot must contain a textual portion with the information required in this section and a question stating substantially the following:
"Shall the capital project levy proposed by the board of .......... School District No. .......... be approved?"
If approved, the amount provided by the approved local tax rate applied to the net tax capacity for the year preceding the year the levy is certified may be certified for the number of years, not to exceed ten, approved.
(d) If the district proposes a new capital project to begin at the time the existing capital project expires and at the same maximum tax rate, the general description on the ballot may state that the capital project levy is being renewed and that the tax rate is not being increased from the previous year's rate. An election to renew authority under this paragraph may be called at any time that is otherwise authorized by this subdivision. The ballot notice required under section 275.60 may be modified to read:
"BY VOTING YES ON THIS BALLOT QUESTION, YOU ARE VOTING TO RENEW AN EXISTING CAPITAL PROJECTS REFERENDUM THAT IS SCHEDULED TO EXPIRE."
(e) In the event a conjunctive question proposes to authorize both the capital project levy and the issuance of obligations for the project, appropriate language authorizing the issuance of obligations must also be included in the question.
(f) The district must notify the commissioner of the results of the referendum.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 126C.17, subdivision 11, is amended to read:
Referendum date.
(a) Except for a referendum held under paragraph (b), any referendum under this section held on a day other than the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November must be conducted by mail in accordance with section 204B.46. Notwithstanding subdivision 9, paragraph (b), to the contrary, in the case of a referendum conducted by mail under this paragraph, the notice required by subdivision 9, paragraph (b), must be prepared and delivered by first-class mail at least 20 days before the referendum.
(b) In addition to the referenda allowed in subdivision 9, clause paragraph (a), the commissioner may grant authority to a district to hold a referendum on a different day if the district is in statutory operating debt and has an approved plan or has received an extension from the department to file a plan to eliminate the statutory operating debt.
(c) The commissioner must approve, deny, or modify each district's request for a referendum levy on a different day within 60 days of receiving the request from a district.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 128D.05, subdivision 2, is amended to read:
Time of change.
A proposed change in election years adopted under subdivision 1 is effective 240 days after passage and publication or at a later date fixed in the proposal. Within 180 days after passage and publication of the proposal, a petition requesting a referendum on the proposal may be filed with the school district clerk. The petition must be signed by eligible voters equal in number to five percent of the total number of votes cast in the city of Minneapolis at the most recent state general election. If the requisite petition is filed within the prescribed period, the proposal does not become effective until it is approved by a majority of the voters voting on the question at a general or special election held at least 60 days after submission of the petition on a date authorized by section 205A.05, subdivision 1a. If the petition is filed, the governing body may reconsider its action in adopting the proposal.
Special election.
"Special election" means:
(a) (1) an election held at any time to fill vacancies in public state or federal offices; or
(b) (2) an election held by a subdivision of the state for a special purpose held by a subdivision of the state on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a, or 205A.05, subdivision 1a.
Authority; location.
By December 31 of each year, the governing body of each municipality and of each county with precincts in unorganized territory shall must designate by ordinance or resolution a polling place for each election precinct. The polling places designated in the ordinance or resolution are the polling places for the following calendar year, unless a change is made:
(1) pursuant to section 204B.175;
(2) because a polling place has become unavailable; or
(3) because a township designates one location for all state and federal elections and one location for all township only elections.
Polling places must be designated and ballots must be distributed so that no one is required to go to more than one polling place to vote in a school district and municipal election held on the same day. The polling place for a precinct in a city or in a school district located in whole or in part in the metropolitan area defined by section 200.02, subdivision 24, shall be located within the boundaries of the precinct or within one mile of one of those boundaries unless a single polling place is designated for a city pursuant to section 204B.14, subdivision 2, or a school district pursuant to section 205A.11. The polling place for a precinct in unorganized territory may be located outside the precinct at a place which is convenient to the voters of the precinct. If no suitable place is available within a town or within a school district located outside the metropolitan area defined by section 200.02, subdivision 24, then the polling place for a town or school district may be located outside the town or school district within five miles of one of the boundaries of the town or school district.
Effect of ordinance; referendum.
An ordinance changing the year of the municipal election is effective 240 days after passage and publication or at a later date fixed in the ordinance. Within 180 days after passage and publication of the ordinance, a petition requesting a referendum on the ordinance may be filed with the city clerk. The petition shall be signed by eligible voters equal in number to ten percent of the total number of votes cast in the city at the last municipal general election. If the requisite petition is filed within the prescribed period, the ordinance shall not become effective until it is approved by a majority of the voters voting on the question at a general or special election held at least 60 days after submission of the petition on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a. If the petition is filed, the governing body may reconsider its action in adopting the ordinance.
Uniform election dates.
(a) Except as allowed in paragraph (b) and subdivision 4, a special election held in a city or town must be held on one of the following dates: the second Tuesday in February, the second Tuesday in April, the second Tuesday in May, the second Tuesday in August, or the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. A home rule charter city must not designate additional dates in its charter.
(b) A special election may be held on a date other than those designated in paragraph (a) if the special election is held in response to an emergency or disaster. "Emergency" means an unforeseen combination of circumstances that calls for immediate action to prevent a disaster from developing or occurring. "Disaster" means a situation that creates an actual or imminent serious threat to the health and safety of persons or a situation that has resulted or is likely to result in catastrophic loss to property or the environment.
Vacancies in town offices.
Special elections must be held with the town general election to fill vacancies in town offices as provided in section 367.03, subdivision 6, must be held with the town general election or on a date authorized by subdivision 3a.
(a) Special elections must be held for a school district on a question on which the voters are authorized by law to pass judgment. The school board may on its own motion call a special election to vote on any matter requiring approval of the voters of a district. Upon petition filed with the school board of 50 or more voters of the school district or five percent of the number of voters voting at the preceding school district general election, whichever is greater, the school board shall by resolution call a special election to vote on any matter requiring approval of the voters of a district. A question is carried only with the majority in its favor required by law. The election officials for a special election are the same as for the most recent school district general election unless changed according to law. Otherwise, special elections must be conducted and the returns made in the manner provided for the school district general election.
(b) A special election may not be held:
(1) during the 56 days before and the 56 days after a regularly scheduled primary or general election conducted wholly or partially within the school district;
(2) on the date of a regularly scheduled town election or annual meeting in March conducted wholly or partially within the school district; or
(3) during the 30 days before or the 30 days after a regularly scheduled town election in March conducted wholly or partially within the school district.
(c) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, the time period in which a special election must be conducted under any other law may be extended by the school board to conform with the requirements of this subdivision.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 205A.05, is amended by adding a subdivision to read:
(a) Except as allowed in paragraph (b), a special election held in a school district must be held on one of the following dates: the second Tuesday in February, the second Tuesday in April, the second Tuesday in May, the second Tuesday in August, or the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
Combined polling place.
(a) When no other election is being held in two or more precincts on the day of a school district election, the school board may designate one or more combined polling places at which the voters in those precincts may vote in the school district election.
(b) By December 31 of each year, the school board must designate, by resolution, combined polling places. The combined polling places designated in the resolution are the polling places for the following calendar year, unless a change is made:
(1) pursuant to section 204B.175; or
(2) because a polling place has become unavailable.
(c) If the school board designates combined polling places pursuant to this subdivision, polling places must be designated throughout the district, taking into account both geographical distribution and population distribution. A combined polling place must be at a location designated for use as a polling place by a county or municipality.
(d) In school districts that have organized into separate board member election districts under section 205A.12, a combined polling place for a school general election must be arranged so that it does not include more than one board member election district.
216B.46 MUNICIPAL ACQUISITION PROCEDURES; NOTICE; ELECTION.
Any municipality which desires to acquire the property of a public utility as authorized under the provisions of section 216B.45 may determine to do so by resolution of the governing body of the municipality taken after a public hearing of which at least 30 days' published notice shall be given as determined by the governing body. The determination shall become effective when ratified by a majority of the qualified electors voting on the question at a special election to be held for that purpose, not less than 60 nor more than 120 days after the resolution of the governing body of the municipality on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a.
The town board shall hold a special election within the boundaries of the proposed district not less than 30 nor more than 90 days after receipt of the petition on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a. The question submitted and voted upon by the property owners within the territory of the proposed district must be phrased substantially as follows:
"Shall a subordinate service district be established to provide (service or services to be provided) financed by (revenue sources)?"
If a majority of those voting on the question favor creation of the district, the district shall begin upon certification of the vote by the town clerk. The town clerk shall administer the election.
Election at annual election or special election.
Following the adoption of option A in a town, except a town exercising the powers of a statutory city, the town board may call a special town election to be held not less than 30 nor more than 60 days after the annual town election at which the option is adopted on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a, to elect two additional members to the board of supervisors. In lieu of a special election, the town board may determine to elect the additional members at the next annual town election.
If the town is exercising the powers of a statutory city under section 368.01 or a special law granting substantially similar powers, the town board shall call a special election to be held not less than 30 nor more than 60 days after the annual election on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a, at which option A is adopted to elect the two additional supervisors.
Option for filling vacancies; special election.
(a) Except as provided in subdivision 3, a vacancy in the office of county commissioner may be filled as provided in this subdivision and subdivision 2, or as provided in subdivision 4. If the vacancy is to be filled under this subdivision and subdivision 2, it must be filled at a special election. The county board may by resolution call for a special election to be held according to the earliest of the following time schedules:
(1) not less than 120 days following the date the vacancy is declared, but no later than 12 weeks prior to the date of the next regularly scheduled primary election;
(2) concurrently with the next regularly scheduled primary election and general election; or
(3) no sooner than 120 days following the next regularly scheduled general election on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a.
(b) The person elected at the special election shall take office immediately after receipt of the certificate of election and upon filing the bond and taking the oath of office and shall serve the remainder of the unexpired term. If the county has been reapportioned since the commencement of the term of the vacant office, the election shall be based on the district as reapportioned.
The county board shall make arrangements for the holding of a special election not less than 30 nor more than 90 days after receipt of the petition on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a, within the boundaries of the proposed district. The question to be submitted and voted upon by the qualified voters within the territory of the proposed district shall be phrased substantially as follows:
"Shall a subordinate service district be established in order to provide (service or services to be provided) financed by (revenue sources)?"
If a majority of those voting on the question favor creation of the proposed district, the district shall be deemed created upon certification of the vote by the county auditor. The county auditor shall administer the election.
375B.10 WITHDRAWAL; ELECTION.
Upon receipt of a petition signed by ten percent of the qualified voters within the territory of the subordinate service district requesting the removal of the district, or pursuant to its own resolution, the county board shall make arrangements for the holding of a special election within the boundaries of the service district not less than 30 nor more than 90 days after the resolution or receipt of the petition on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a. The question to be submitted and voted upon by the qualified voters within the territory of the district shall be phrased substantially as follows:
"Shall the subordinate service district presently established be removed and the service or services of the county as provided for the service district be discontinued?"
If a majority of those voting on the question favor the removal and discontinuance of the services, the service district shall be removed and the services shall be discontinued upon certification of the vote by the county auditor. The county auditor shall administer the election.
More than six months; special election.
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 375.101, if a vacancy occurs in a seat on the Board of County Commissioners of Hennepin County more than six months before the general election in which a commissioner will next be selected to occupy such seat the county auditor shall, within seven days after the vacancy occurs, call a special election within the affected district to fill such vacancy. The auditor shall specify a date for the election which shall be between 56 and 77 days after the vacancy occurred to be held on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a. Candidates shall file with the county auditor prior to the 35th day before the election. The primary election shall be held 14 days before the election. If no more than two candidates file for the office, the primary election shall be canceled and the date of the general election advanced 14 days.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 383E.24, subdivision 7, is amended to read:
Referendum.
(a) Upon receipt of a petition signed by five percent of the qualified voters within the territory of the proposed service district prior to the effective date of its creation as specified in subdivision 6, the creation shall be held in abeyance pending a referendum vote of all qualified electors residing within the boundaries of the proposed service district.
(b) The county board shall make arrangements for the holding of a special election not less than 30 or more than 90 days after receipt of such petition on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a, and within the boundaries of the proposed taxing district. The question to be submitted and voted upon by the qualified voters within the territory of the proposed service district shall be phrased substantially as follows:
(c) If a majority of those voting on the question favor creation of the proposed subordinate service district, the district shall be deemed created upon certification of the vote by the county auditor. The county auditor shall administer the election.
Timing; procedure; recall.
Upon delivery of such draft, the council or other governing body of the city shall cause the proposed charter to be submitted at the next general election thereafter occurring in the city within six months after the delivery of such draft, and if there is no general city election occurring in the city within six months after the delivery of such draft, then the council or other governing body of the city shall cause the proposed charter to be submitted at a special election to be held within 90 days after the delivery of such draft on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a. The council or other governing body may call a special election for that purpose only at any time. If the election is held at the same time with the general election, the voting places and election officers shall be the same for both elections. At any time before the council has fixed the date of the election upon the proposed charter, the charter commission may recall it for further action; and the council may authorize recall of the charter by the commission at any later date prior to the first publication of the proposed charter.
Elections.
Except as provided in this chapter, the Minnesota Election Law applies to hospital district elections, as far as practicable. Regular elections must be held in each hospital district at the same time, in the same election precincts, and at the same polling places as general elections of state and county officers. It may establish the whole district as a single election precinct or establish two or more different election precincts and polling places for the elections. If there is more than one precinct, the boundaries of the election precincts and the locations of the polling places must be defined in the notice of election, either in full or by reference to a description or map on file in the office of the clerk.
Special elections may be called by the hospital board to vote on any matter required by law to be submitted to the voters. A special election may not be conducted either during the 56 days before or the 56 days after a regularly scheduled primary or general election, conducted wholly or partially within the hospital district must be held on a date authorized by section 205.10, subdivision 3a. Special elections must be held within the election precinct or precincts and at the polling place or places designated by the board. In the case of the first election of officers of a new district, precincts and polling places must be set by the governing body of the most populous city or town included in the district.
Advisory ballots may be submitted by the hospital board on any question it wishes, concerning the affairs of the district, but only at a regular election or at a special election required for another purpose.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 475.59, is amended to read:
475.59 MANNER OF SUBMISSION; NOTICE.
Generally; notice.
When the governing body of a municipality resolves to issue bonds for any purpose requiring the approval of the electors, it shall provide for submission of the proposition of their issuance at a general or special election or town or school district meeting. Notice of such election or meeting shall be given in the manner required by law and shall state the maximum amount and the purpose of the proposed issue. In any school district, the school board or board of education may, according to its judgment and discretion, submit as a single ballot question or as two or more separate questions in the notice of election and ballots the proposition of their issuance for any one or more of the following, stated conjunctively or in the alternative: acquisition or enlargement of sites, acquisition, betterment, erection, furnishing, equipping of one or more new schoolhouses, remodeling, repairing, improving, adding to, betterment, furnishing, equipping of one or more existing schoolhouses. In any city, town, or county, the governing body may, according to its judgment and discretion, submit as a single ballot question or as two or more separate questions in the notice of election and ballots the proposition of their issuance, stated conjunctively or in the alternative, for the acquisition, construction, or improvement of any facilities at one or more locations.
An election to approve issuance of bonds under this section held by a municipality or school district must be held on a date authorized in section 205.10, subdivision 3a, or 205A.05, subdivision 1a.
Minnesota Statutes 2016, section 205.10, subdivision 3, is repealed.
This article is effective January 1, 2018, and applies to any special election held on or after that date.
MORRISON COUNTY RECORDER MAY BE APPOINTED.
Authorization to make office appointive.
Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 382.01, upon adoption of a resolution by the Morrison County Board of Commissioners, the office of county recorder is not elective but must be filled by appointment by the county board as provided in the resolution.
Board controls; may change as long as duties done.
Upon adoption of a resolution by the county board of commissioners, and subject to subdivisions 3 and 4, the duties of an elected official required by statute whose office is made appointive as authorized by this section must be discharged by the county board of commissioners acting through a department head appointed by the board for that purpose. Reorganization, reallocation, delegation, or other administrative change or transfer does not diminish, prohibit, or avoid the discharge of duties required by statute.
Incumbents to complete term.
The person elected at the last general election to an office made appointive under this section must serve in that capacity and perform the duties, functions, and responsibilities required by statute until the completion of the term of office to which the person was elected or until a vacancy occurs in the office, whichever occurs earlier.
Publishing resolution; petition; referendum.
(a) Before the adoption of a resolution to provide for the appointment of the county recorder, the county board must publish a proposed resolution notifying the public of its intent to consider the issue once each week for two consecutive weeks in the official publication of the county and in the official publication of each city located wholly or partly in the county. Following publication and prior to formally adopting the resolution, the county board shall provide an opportunity at two separate meetings for public comment relating to the issue. One meeting must be held between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and the other meeting must be held between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. The meetings may be regular or special meetings. After the public comment opportunity at the second meeting, at the same meeting or a subsequent meeting, the county board of commissioners may adopt a resolution that provides for the appointment of the county recorder as permitted in this section. The resolution must be approved by at least 80 percent of the members of the county board. The resolution may take effect 60 days after it is adopted, or at a later date stated in the resolution, unless a petition is filed as provided in paragraph (b).
(b) Within 60 days after the county board adopts the resolution, a petition requesting a referendum may be filed with the county auditor-treasurer. The petition must be signed by at least ten percent of the registered voters of the county. The petition must meet the requirements of the secretary of state, as provided in Minnesota Statutes, section 204B.071, and any rules adopted to implement that section. If the petition is sufficient, the question of appointing the county recorder must be placed on the ballot at a regular or special election. If a majority of the voters of the county voting on the question vote in favor of appointment, the resolution may be implemented.
Reverting to elected offices.
(a) The county board may adopt a resolution to provide for the election of an office made an appointed position under this section, but not until at least three years after the office was made an appointed position. The county board must publish a proposed resolution notifying the public of its intent to consider the issue once each week for two consecutive weeks in the official publication of the county. Following publication and before formally adopting the resolution, the county board must provide an opportunity at its next regular meeting for public comment relating to the issue. After the public comment hearing, the county board may adopt the resolution. The resolution must be approved by at least 60 percent of the members of the county board and is effective August 1 following adoption of the resolution.
(b) The question of whether an office made an appointed position under this section must be made an elected office must be placed on the ballot at the next general election if:
(1) the position has been an appointed position for at least three years;
(2) a petition signed by at least five percent of the registered voters of the county is filed with the office of the county auditor-treasurer by August 1 of the year in which the general election is held; and
(3) the petition meets the requirements of the secretary of state, as provided in Minnesota Statutes, section 204B.071, and any rules adopted to implement that section. If a majority of the voters of the county voting on the question vote in favor of making the office an elected position, the election for the office must be held at the next regular or special election.
This section is effective the day after the Morrison County Board of Commissioners and its chief clerical officer timely complete their compliance with Minnesota Statutes, section 645.021, subdivisions 2 and 3.
BENTON COUNTY RECORDER MAY BE APPOINTED.
Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 382.01, upon adoption of a resolution by the Benton County Board of Commissioners, the office of county recorder is not elective but must be filled by appointment by the county board as provided in the resolution.
This section is effective the day after the Benton County Board of Commissioners and its chief clerical officer timely complete their compliance with Minnesota Statutes, section 645.021, subdivisions 2 and 3.
PINE COUNTY AUDITOR-TREASURER MAY BE APPOINTED.
Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 382.01, upon adoption of a resolution by the Pine County Board of Commissioners, the office of county auditor-treasurer is not elective but must be filled by appointment by the county board as provided in the resolution.
Upon adoption of a resolution by the county board of commissioners and subject to subdivisions 3 and 4, the duties of an elected official required by statute whose office is made appointive as authorized by this section must be discharged by the county board of commissioners acting through a department head appointed by the board for that purpose. Reorganization, reallocation, delegation, or other administrative change or transfer does not diminish, prohibit, or avoid the discharge of duties required by statute.
Incumbent to complete term.
(a) Before the adoption of a resolution to provide for the appointment of the county auditor-treasurer, the county board must publish a proposed resolution notifying the public of its intent to consider the issue once each week for two consecutive weeks in the official publication of the county and in the official publication of each city located wholly or partly in the county. Following publication and prior to formally adopting the resolution, the county board shall provide an opportunity at two separate meetings for public comment relating to the issue. One meeting must be held between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and the other meeting must be held between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. The meetings may be regular or special meetings. After the public comment opportunity at the second meeting, at the same meeting or a subsequent meeting, the county board of commissioners may adopt a resolution that provides for the appointment of the county auditor-treasurer as permitted in this section. The resolution must be approved by at least 80 percent of the members of the county board. The resolution may take effect 60 days after it is adopted, or at a later date stated in the resolution, unless a petition is filed as provided in paragraph (b).
(b) Within 60 days after the county board adopts the resolution, a petition requesting a referendum may be filed with the county auditor-treasurer. The petition must be signed by at least ten percent of the registered voters of the county. The petition must meet the requirements of the secretary of state, as provided in Minnesota Statutes, section 204B.071, and any rules adopted to implement that section. If the petition is sufficient, the question of appointing the county auditor-treasurer must be placed on the ballot at a regular or special election. If a majority of the voters of the county voting on the question vote in favor of appointment, the resolution may be implemented.
This section is effective the day after the Pine County Board of Commissioners and its chief clerical officer timely complete their compliance with Minnesota Statutes, section 645.021, subdivisions 2 and 3.
STEARNS COUNTY RECORDER MAY BE APPOINTED.
Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 382.01, upon adoption of a resolution by the Stearns County Board of Commissioners, the office of county recorder is not elective but must be filled by appointment by the county board as provided in the resolution.
This section is effective the day after the Stearns County Board of Commissioners and its chief clerical officer timely complete their compliance with Minnesota Statutes, section 645.021, subdivisions 2 and 3.
MARSHALL COUNTY RECORDER MAY BE APPOINTED.
Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 382.01, upon adoption of a resolution by the Marshall County Board of Commissioners, the office of county recorder is not elective but must be filled by appointment by the county board as provided in the resolution.
This section is effective the day after the Marshall County Board of Commissioners and its chief clerical officer timely complete their compliance with Minnesota Statutes, section 645.021, subdivisions 2 and 3.
RICE COUNTY AUDITOR-TREASURER AND RECORDER MAY BE APPOINTED.
Notwithstanding Minnesota Statutes, section 382.01, upon adoption of a resolution by the Rice County Board of Commissioners, the offices of county auditor-treasurer and county recorder are not elective but must be filled by appointment by the county board as provided in the resolution.
The person elected at the last general election to an office made appointive under this section must serve in that elected capacity and perform the duties, functions, and responsibilities required by statute until the completion of the term of office to which the person was elected or until a vacancy occurs in the office, whichever occurs earlier.
(a) Before the adoption of a resolution to provide for the appointment of the county auditor-treasurer and county recorder, the county board must publish a proposed resolution notifying the public of its intent to consider the issue once each week for two consecutive weeks in the official publication of the county and in the official publication of each city located wholly or partly in the county. Following publication and prior to formally adopting the resolution, the county board shall provide an opportunity at two separate meetings for public comment relating to the issue. One meeting must be held between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. and the other meeting must be held between the hours of 5:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. The meetings may be regular or special meetings. After the public comment opportunity at the second meeting, at the same meeting or a subsequent meeting, the county board of commissioners may adopt a resolution that provides for the appointment of the county auditor-treasurer and county recorder as permitted in this section. The resolution must be approved by at least 80 percent of the members of the county board. The resolution may take effect 60 days after it is adopted, or at a later date stated in the resolution, unless a petition is filed as provided in paragraph (b).
(b) Within 60 days after the county board adopts the resolution, a petition requesting a referendum may be filed with the county auditor-treasurer. The petition must be signed by at least ten percent of the registered voters of the county. The petition must meet the requirements of the secretary of state, as provided in Minnesota Statutes, section 204B.071, and any rules adopted to implement that section. If the petition is sufficient, the question of appointing the county auditor-treasurer and county recorder must be placed on the ballot at a regular or special election. If a majority of the voters of the county voting on the question vote in favor of appointment, the resolution may be implemented.
(a) The county board may adopt a resolution to provide for the election of an office made an appointed position under this section, but not until at least three years after the office was made an appointed position. The county board must publish a proposed resolution notifying the public of its intent to consider the issue once each week or two consecutive weeks in the official publication of the county. Following publication and before formally adopting the resolution, the county board must provide an opportunity at its next regular meeting for public comment relating to the issue. After the public comment hearing, the county board may adopt the resolution. The resolution must be approved by at least 60 percent of the members of the county board and is effective August 1 following adoption of the resolution.
This section is effective the day after the Rice County Board of Commissioners and its chief clerical officer timely complete their compliance with Minnesota Statutes, section 645.021, subdivisions 2 and 3.
Presented to the governor May 26, 2017
Signed by the governor May 30, 2017, 6:13 p.m.
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PUBLIC WELFARE AND RELATED ACTIVITIES
Children in need of protection or services
Criminal sexual conduct
Foreign states
Juvenile courts
Medical neglect
Residential treatment programs
Shelter care facilities
Supervised living facilities
2019 Subd. 22a New 2019 c 9 art 1 s 24
2018 Subd. 6 Amended 2018 c 170 s 11
2017 Subd. 6 Revisor Instruction 2017 c 40 art 1 s 121
2015 Subd. 26b New 2015 c 78 art 1 s 27
2015 Subd. 27 Amended 2015 c 78 art 1 s 28
2013 Subd. 6 Amended 2013 c 125 art 1 s 55
2013 Subd. 19 Amended 2013 c 116 art 3 s 31
2012 Subd. 4 Amended 2012 c 216 art 4 s 3
2012 Subd. 26a New 2012 c 216 art 4 s 4
2012 Subd. 32 New 2012 c 216 art 4 s 6
2011 Subd. 6 Amended 2011 c 1 art 4 s 3
2011 Subd. 11 Amended 2011 c 1 art 4 s 4
2011 Subd. 31 New 2011 c 1 art 4 s 5
2010 Subd. 6 Amended 2010 c 281 s 1
2010 Subd. 25 Amended 2010 c 269 art 4 s 1
2008 Subd. 18 Amended 2008 c 370 s 1
2003 Subd. 5 Amended 2003 c 2 art 1 s 26
2001 Subd. 2a New 2001 c 178 art 1 s 5
2001 Subd. 25 Amended 2001 c 73 s 1
2001 Subd. 27 New 2001 c 178 art 1 s 10
2000 Subd. 19 Amended 2000 c 260 s 34
1999 260C.007 New 1999 c 139 art 3 s 2
260C.007 DEFINITIONS.
Subdivision 1.Scope.
As used in this chapter, the terms defined in this section have the same meanings given to them.
Subd. 2.Agency.
"Agency" means the responsible social services agency or a licensed child-placing agency.
Subd. 3.Case plan.
"Case plan" means any plan for the delivery of services to a child and parent or guardian, or, when reunification is not required, the child alone, that is developed according to the requirements of section 245.4871, subdivision 19 or 21; 245.492, subdivision 16; 256B.092; 260C.212, subdivision 1; or 626.556, subdivision 10.
Subd. 4.Child.
"Child" means an individual under 18 years of age. For purposes of this chapter and chapter 260D, child also includes individuals under age 21 who are in foster care pursuant to section 260C.451.
Subd. 5.Child abuse.
"Child abuse" means an act that involves a minor victim that constitutes a violation of section 609.221, 609.222, 609.223, 609.224, 609.2242, 609.322, 609.324, 609.342, 609.343, 609.344, 609.345, 609.377, 609.378, 617.246, or that is physical or sexual abuse as defined in section 626.556, subdivision 2, or an act committed in another state that involves a minor victim and would constitute a violation of one of these sections if committed in this state.
Subd. 6.Child in need of protection or services.
"Child in need of protection or services" means a child who is in need of protection or services because the child:
(1) is abandoned or without parent, guardian, or custodian;
(2)(i) has been a victim of physical or sexual abuse as defined in section 626.556, subdivision 2, (ii) resides with or has resided with a victim of child abuse as defined in subdivision 5 or domestic child abuse as defined in subdivision 13, (iii) resides with or would reside with a perpetrator of domestic child abuse as defined in subdivision 13 or child abuse as defined in subdivision 5 or 13, or (iv) is a victim of emotional maltreatment as defined in subdivision 15;
(3) is without necessary food, clothing, shelter, education, or other required care for the child's physical or mental health or morals because the child's parent, guardian, or custodian is unable or unwilling to provide that care;
(4) is without the special care made necessary by a physical, mental, or emotional condition because the child's parent, guardian, or custodian is unable or unwilling to provide that care;
(5) is medically neglected, which includes, but is not limited to, the withholding of medically indicated treatment from a disabled infant with a life-threatening condition. The term "withholding of medically indicated treatment" means the failure to respond to the infant's life-threatening conditions by providing treatment, including appropriate nutrition, hydration, and medication which, in the treating physician's or physicians' reasonable medical judgment, will be most likely to be effective in ameliorating or correcting all conditions, except that the term does not include the failure to provide treatment other than appropriate nutrition, hydration, or medication to an infant when, in the treating physician's or physicians' reasonable medical judgment:
(i) the infant is chronically and irreversibly comatose;
(ii) the provision of the treatment would merely prolong dying, not be effective in ameliorating or correcting all of the infant's life-threatening conditions, or otherwise be futile in terms of the survival of the infant; or
(iii) the provision of the treatment would be virtually futile in terms of the survival of the infant and the treatment itself under the circumstances would be inhumane;
(6) is one whose parent, guardian, or other custodian for good cause desires to be relieved of the child's care and custody, including a child who entered foster care under a voluntary placement agreement between the parent and the responsible social services agency under section 260C.227;
(7) has been placed for adoption or care in violation of law;
(8) is without proper parental care because of the emotional, mental, or physical disability, or state of immaturity of the child's parent, guardian, or other custodian;
(9) is one whose behavior, condition, or environment is such as to be injurious or dangerous to the child or others. An injurious or dangerous environment may include, but is not limited to, the exposure of a child to criminal activity in the child's home;
(10) is experiencing growth delays, which may be referred to as failure to thrive, that have been diagnosed by a physician and are due to parental neglect;
(11) is a sexually exploited youth;
(12) has committed a delinquent act or a juvenile petty offense before becoming ten years old;
(13) is a runaway;
(14) is a habitual truant;
(15) has been found incompetent to proceed or has been found not guilty by reason of mental illness or mental deficiency in connection with a delinquency proceeding, a certification under section 260B.125, an extended jurisdiction juvenile prosecution, or a proceeding involving a juvenile petty offense; or
(16) has a parent whose parental rights to one or more other children were involuntarily terminated or whose custodial rights to another child have been involuntarily transferred to a relative and there is a case plan prepared by the responsible social services agency documenting a compelling reason why filing the termination of parental rights petition under section 260C.503, subdivision 2, is not in the best interests of the child.
Subd. 7.Child-placing agency.
"Child-placing agency" means anyone licensed under sections 245A.01 to 245A.16 and 252.28, subdivision 2.
Subd. 8.Compelling reasons.
"Compelling reasons" means an individualized determination by the responsible social services agency, which is approved by the court, related to a request by the agency not to initiate proceedings to terminate parental rights or transfer permanent legal and physical custody of a child to the child's relative or former noncustodial parent under section 260C.503, subdivision 2.
Subd. 9.Court.
"Court" means juvenile court unless otherwise specified in this section.
Subd. 10.Custodian.
"Custodian" means any person who is under a legal obligation to provide care and support for a minor or who is in fact providing care and support for a minor. This subdivision does not impose upon persons who are not otherwise legally responsible for providing a child with necessary food, clothing, shelter, education, or medical care a duty to provide that care. For an Indian child, custodian means any Indian person who has legal custody of an Indian child under tribal law or custom or under state law or to whom temporary physical care, custody, and control has been transferred by the parent of the child, as provided in section 260.755, subdivision 10.
Subd. 11.Delinquent child.
"Delinquent child" has the meaning given in section 260B.007, subdivision 6.
Subd. 12.Developmental disability.
"Developmental disability" means developmental disability as defined in United States Code, title 42, section 6001(8).
Subd. 13.Domestic child abuse.
"Domestic child abuse" means:
(1) any physical injury to a minor family or household member inflicted by an adult family or household member other than by accidental means;
(2) subjection of a minor family or household member by an adult family or household member to any act which constitutes a violation of sections 609.321 to 609.324, 609.342, 609.343, 609.344, 609.345, or 617.246; or
(3) physical or sexual abuse as defined in section 626.556, subdivision 2.
Subd. 14.Egregious harm.
"Egregious harm" means the infliction of bodily harm to a child or neglect of a child which demonstrates a grossly inadequate ability to provide minimally adequate parental care. The egregious harm need not have occurred in the state or in the county where a termination of parental rights action is otherwise properly venued. Egregious harm includes, but is not limited to:
(1) conduct towards a child that constitutes a violation of sections 609.185 to 609.2114, 609.222, subdivision 2, 609.223, or any other similar law of any other state;
(2) the infliction of "substantial bodily harm" to a child, as defined in section 609.02, subdivision 7a;
(3) conduct towards a child that constitutes felony malicious punishment of a child under section 609.377;
(4) conduct towards a child that constitutes felony unreasonable restraint of a child under section 609.255, subdivision 3;
(5) conduct towards a child that constitutes felony neglect or endangerment of a child under section 609.378;
(6) conduct towards a child that constitutes assault under section 609.221, 609.222, or 609.223;
(7) conduct towards a child that constitutes solicitation, inducement, or promotion of, or receiving profit derived from prostitution under section 609.322;
(8) conduct towards a child that constitutes murder or voluntary manslaughter as defined by United States Code, title 18, section 1111(a) or 1112(a);
(9) conduct towards a child that constitutes aiding or abetting, attempting, conspiring, or soliciting to commit a murder or voluntary manslaughter that constitutes a violation of United States Code, title 18, section 1111(a) or 1112(a); or
(10) conduct toward a child that constitutes criminal sexual conduct under sections 609.342 to 609.345.
Subd. 15.Emotional maltreatment.
"Emotional maltreatment" means the consistent, deliberate infliction of mental harm on a child by a person responsible for the child's care, that has an observable, sustained, and adverse effect on the child's physical, mental, or emotional development. "Emotional maltreatment" does not include reasonable training or discipline administered by the person responsible for the child's care or the reasonable exercise of authority by that person.
Subd. 16.Emotionally disturbed.
"Emotionally disturbed" means emotional disturbance as described in section 245.4871, subdivision 15.
Subd. 17.Family or household members.
"Family or household members" means spouses, former spouses, parents and children, persons related by blood, and persons who are presently residing together or who have resided together in the past, and persons who have a child in common regardless of whether they have been married or have lived together at any time.
Subd. 18.Foster care.
"Foster care" means 24 hour substitute care for children placed away from their parents or guardian and for whom a responsible social services agency has placement and care responsibility. "Foster care" includes, but is not limited to, placement in foster family homes, foster homes of relatives, group homes, emergency shelters, residential facilities not excluded in this subdivision, child care institutions, and preadoptive homes. A child is in foster care under this definition regardless of whether the facility is licensed and payments are made for the cost of care. Nothing in this definition creates any authority to place a child in a home or facility that is required to be licensed which is not licensed. "Foster care" does not include placement in any of the following facilities: hospitals, inpatient chemical dependency treatment facilities, facilities that are primarily for delinquent children, any corrections facility or program within a particular correction's facility not meeting requirements for title IV-E facilities as determined by the commissioner, facilities to which a child is committed under the provision of chapter 253B, forestry camps, or jails. Foster care is intended to provide for a child's safety or to access treatment. Foster care must not be used as a punishment or consequence for a child's behavior.
Subd. 19.Habitual truant.
"Habitual truant" means a child under the age of 17 years who is absent from attendance at school without lawful excuse for seven school days per school year if the child is in elementary school or for one or more class periods on seven school days per school year if the child is in middle school, junior high school, or high school or a child who is 17 years of age who is absent from attendance at school without lawful excuse for one or more class periods on seven school days per school year and who has not lawfully withdrawn from school under section 120A.22, subdivision 8.
Subd. 20.Indian.
"Indian," consistent with section 260.755, subdivision 7, means a person who is a member of an Indian tribe or who is an Alaskan native and a member of a regional corporation as defined in section 7 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, United States Code, title 43, section 1606.
Subd. 21.Indian child.
"Indian child," consistent with section 260.755, subdivision 8, means an unmarried person who is under age 18 and is:
(1) a member of an Indian tribe; or
(2) eligible for membership in an Indian tribe.
Subd. 22.Legal custody.
"Legal custody" means the right to the care, custody, and control of a child who has been taken from a parent by the court in accordance with the provisions of section 260C.201 or 260C.317. The expenses of legal custody are paid in accordance with the provisions of section 260C.331.
Subd. 23.Minor.
"Minor" means an individual under 18 years of age.
Subd. 24.Neglected and in foster care.
"Neglected and in foster care" means a child:
(1) who has been placed in foster care by court order; and
(2) whose parents' circumstances, condition, or conduct are such that the child cannot be returned to them; and
(3) whose parents, despite the availability of needed rehabilitative services, have failed to make reasonable efforts to adjust their circumstances, condition or conduct, or have willfully failed to meet reasonable expectations with regard to visiting the child or providing financial support for the child.
Subd. 25.Parent.
(a) "Parent" means a person who has a legal parent and child relationship with a child which confers or imposes on the person legal rights, privileges, duties, and obligations consistent with sections 257.51 to 257.74 or 257.75. It includes the mother and child relationship and the father and child relationship. For matters governed by the Indian Child Welfare Act, parent includes any Indian person who has adopted a child by tribal law or custom, as provided in section 260.755, subdivision 14, and does not include the unwed father where paternity has not been acknowledged or established.
(b) A legally recognized parent and child relationship is established for purposes of this chapter between:
(1) a child and a biological mother, by proof of her having given birth to the child, or under sections 257.51 to 257.74 or 257.75;
(2) a child and father when:
(i) there is a presumption of paternity under section 257.55, subdivision 1, paragraph (a), (b), or (c), and no action has been taken to declare the nonexistence of the father and child relationship;
(ii) there is a presumption of paternity under section 257.55, subdivision 1, paragraph (d), and there is an adjudication of paternity under sections 257.51 to 257.74, or the father and mother have signed a recognition of parentage having the effect of an adjudication under section 257.75;
(iii) there is a presumption of paternity under section 257.55, subdivision 1, paragraph (e), (f), (g), or (h), and there is an adjudication of paternity under sections 257.51 to 257.74;
(iv) there is no presumption of paternity under section 257.55, but the father has been adjudicated by court order under sections 257.51 to 257.74;
(v) there is no presumption of paternity under section 257.55, but the father and mother have signed a recognition of parentage having the effect of adjudication under section 257.75;
(vi) there is a positive test result under section 257.62, subdivision 5, and the father is adjudicated as the father of the child either by court order under sections 257.51 to 257.74, or because the father and the child's mother have signed a recognition of parentage having the effect of adjudication under section 257.75; or
(vii) the parent and child relationship is established under section 260.755, subdivision 14; or
(3) a child and an adoptive parent by proof of adoption.
Subd. 26.Person.
"Person" includes any individual, association, corporation, partnership, and the state or any of its political subdivisions, departments, or agencies.
Subd. 26a.Putative father.
"Putative father" has the meaning given in section 259.21, subdivision 12.
Subd. 26b.Relative of an Indian child.
"Relative of an Indian child" means a person who is a member of the Indian child's family as defined in the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, United States Code, title 25, section 1903, paragraphs (2), (6), and (9).
Subd. 27.Relative.
"Relative" means a person related to the child by blood, marriage, or adoption; the legal parent, guardian, or custodian of the child's siblings; or an individual who is an important friend with whom the child has resided or had significant contact.
Subd. 27a.Responsible social services agency.
"Responsible social services agency" means the county social services agency that has responsibility for public child welfare and child protection services and includes the provision of adoption services as an agent of the commissioner of human services.
Subd. 28.Runaway.
"Runaway" means an unmarried child under the age of 18 years who is absent from the home of a parent or other lawful placement without the consent of the parent, guardian, or lawful custodian.
Subd. 29.Secure detention facility.
"Secure detention facility" means a physically restricting facility, including but not limited to a jail, a hospital, a state institution, a residential treatment center, or a detention home used for the temporary care of a child pending court action.
Subd. 30.Shelter care facility.
"Shelter care facility" means a physically unrestricting facility, such as but not limited to, a hospital, a group home or a licensed facility for foster care, used for the temporary care of a child pending court action.
Subd. 31.Sexually exploited youth.
"Sexually exploited youth" means an individual who:
(1) is alleged to have engaged in conduct which would, if committed by an adult, violate any federal, state, or local law relating to being hired, offering to be hired, or agreeing to be hired by another individual to engage in sexual penetration or sexual conduct;
(2) is a victim of a crime described in section 609.342, 609.343, 609.344, 609.345, 609.3451, 609.3453, 609.352, 617.246, or 617.247;
(3) is a victim of a crime described in United States Code, title 18, section 2260; 2421; 2422; 2423; 2425; 2425A; or 2256; or
(4) is a sex trafficking victim as defined in section 609.321, subdivision 7b.
Subd. 32.Sibling.
"Sibling" means one of two or more individuals who have one or both parents in common through blood, marriage, or adoption. This includes siblings as defined by the child's tribal code or custom. Sibling also includes an individual who would have been considered a sibling but for a termination of parental rights of one or both parents, suspension of parental rights under tribal code, or other disruption of parental rights such as the death of a parent.
1999 c 139 art 3 s 2; art 4 s 2; 1999 c 245 art 8 s 43-45; 2000 c 260 s 34; 2001 c 73 s 1; 2001 c 178 art 1 s 5-10,44; 2003 c 2 art 1 s 26; 1Sp2003 c 14 art 11 s 11; 2004 c 288 art 3 s 28; 2005 c 159 art 2 s 13; 2006 c 212 art 1 s 13; 2008 c 277 art 1 s 53; 2008 c 361 art 6 s 25-27; 2008 c 370 s 1; 2009 c 163 art 2 s 17,18; 2010 c 269 art 3 s 1; art 4 s 1; 2010 c 281 s 1; 2010 c 301 art 3 s 5; 1Sp2011 c 1 art 4 s 3-5; 2012 c 216 art 4 s 3-6; art 6 s 13; 2013 c 108 art 3 s 39,40; 2013 c 116 art 3 s 31; 2013 c 125 art 1 s 55,56; 2014 c 180 s 9; 2015 c 71 art 1 s 55,56; 2015 c 78 art 1 s 27,28
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Countdown to BIM
Adrian Malleson
With less than a year to go before all government projects demand BIM collaboration, where have architects got to?
Just over 50% of architects have used BIM on at least one project in the last year. This is the encouraging and perhaps predictable finding of the fifth annual NBS National BIM Survey.
This year’s survey takes a look a BIM adoption and attitudes right across the UK construction sector. Architects make up over a half of the respondents, so the data allows us to get a detailed understanding of their views. Consultants’ take up of the technology is a bellwether for the rest of the construction industry which will often come onto the project later in the process. This year we find that the rest of the industry is just behind at 46%.
Rates of awareness and experience of BIM among architects.
BIM is now a normal way of going about the design process. It is much less a niche, or cutting edge, methodology, as it was five years ago. That said, in previous years we have seen significant year on year growth in adoption, with overall adoption rising from 13% in 2010, to over 50% in 2013, but this year not. The number of those telling us they have used BIM has remained broadly the same. What should we make of this? Well, it may just be a predictable new technologies adoption curve, with the innovators, early adopters and early majority now using BIM, and the late majority waiting in the wings to see how useful (and profitable) BIM proves to be.
Expectations about future BIM adoption suggest this is a slowdown, not the end, of BIM adoption. Almost an additional third of architects expect to adopt BIM in 2016, and 92% expect to be using it by 2018.
Projections of awareness of BIM.
This anticipated rate of adoption ties in with government requirements as set out in Construction 2025. This year, 2015, is the last that those who to wish work on central government funded projects have a choice about BIM. By 2016, as a part of the wider construction strategy, the UK government will require ‘fully collaborative 3D BIM’ on centrally procured projects. Those who want to take on this type of work, will need to get take it on with BIM.
So in the latest survey we wanted to take a look at how the architectural community views the government’s BIM requirement, and how it fits within the wider construction strategy.
We found that most architects (81%) think the government will go through with its BIM requirement, and that this will take the form of collaborative 3D BIM (70%). Two thirds are willing to say the government is on the right track with BIM; many of those who have yet to adopt it feel that the government is right to require it. We also asked if people agree with the claim that the UK is ‘the world leader in BIM’ – the government’s stated ambition: 54% agree that it is.
Arcitects' expectations of BIM.
BIM's perceived contribution to industry issues.
So, in general, the UK architectural community is supportive of the government’s approach to BIM. This is not, of course, universal, with a small number of architects predicting that BIM will fall short of expectation, in one way or another. But overall, the government’s policy is supported.
Of course, BIM primarily has a place in government strategy because it is there to help meet the broader targets the government has set. These are: a one-third reduction in capital and whole life costs, a 50% faster construction process, a 50% reduction in greenhouse gasses and a 50% improved trade balance for UK construction products. These are ambitious. We wanted to get a sense of whether architects felt that an adoption of BIM would help us reach them. For all these targets, at least, BIM was not felt to hinder their achievement (though nearly 10% did feel that BIM would hinder the speedy delivery of ‘assets’). For cost reduction, 56% felt BIM would help. On delivery time, 45% felt BIM would improve matters, while the same number felt it would make no difference. Fewer thought BIM would help when it comes to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (only a third, 35%) or a reduction in the trade gap of construction products (a fifth, 21%).
So the findings this year suggest that BIM adoption is reaching maturity and that there is broad support for the government’s strategy, which, in turn, will help the broader construction strategy. There is much else the survey uncovered, and you can read the full findings at theNBS.com.
Adrian Malleson is head of research at NBS
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A mix of clouds and sun during the morning will give way to cloudy skies this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 94F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..
Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low 72F. Winds W at 5 to 10 mph.
Roanoke.com: Obituaries published Jul. 10, 2019
WEBB, Kurt
July 6, 2019 Kurt Webb (KW FRESH), 50, of Pulaski, Va., passed away Saturday, July 6, 2019. A celebration of his life will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. on Friday, July, 12, 2019 at the First Baptist Church Magazine Street, Pulaski, Va. Arrangements by Serenity Funeral Home and Cremation Service.
CRAWFORD, Albert Wesley
July 8, 2019 Albert Wesley Crawford, 92, formerly of Blacksburg, Va., passed away on Monday, July 8, 2019. Visitation will be held from 6 until 8 p.m. on Friday, July 12, 2019, at Oakey's South Chapel. A memorial service will be held at a later date in Blacksburg. Online condolences may be made at www.oakeys.com.
SMITH, Carlton Lee
SMITH Carlton Lee August 27, 1963 July 7, 2019 Carlton Lee Smith, of Rocky Mount, Va., passed away on Sunday, July 7, 2019. He was born on August 27, 1963 to Evelyn Smith Edwards and the late Melvin T. Smith. Visitation will be held on Thursday, July 11, 2019 from 6 until 7:30 p.m. in the Stanfield Mortuary Service Chapel. Funeral services will be private.
WILLIAMS, Joseph E.
WILLIAMS Joseph E. June 5, 1938 July 5, 2019 Joseph E. Williams, 81, Smith Mountain Lake, Va., passed away Friday, July 5, 2019. Joe was born June 5, 1938 in Kane, Pa., to the late Sarah E. Williams and William H. Williams. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his wife and mother of children, Shirley Jean Williams; sisters, Mary Elizabeth Anger, Frances Jane Perfetto; and brother, William E. Williams (Shirley). Mr. Williams is survived by his wife, Betsy Lynne Applegate-Williams of Moneta, Va.; son, Joseph Earl Williams Jr. (Mary); and grandson, Parker of Fairfax, Va.; daughter, Sara Jean Goodrich (Adam) of Tekoa, Wash.; sister, Sarah Pauline Adelsberger (Charles) of Tonawanda, N.Y.; stepdaughter, Krista Lynne Dowdy and her daughter, Krisha Nicole; stepson, Michael Applegate; and numerous nephews and nieces. Mr. Williams completed his engineering degree at Pennsylvania State University and afterwards served in the United States Army. Upon completing his military commitment, he moved to Martinsville, Va. in 1963 and was employed in the furniture manufacturing industry until his retirement. Since retirement, Joe enjoyed living on Smith Mountain Lake and traveling with his wife. When not traveling Joe stayed busy with multiple on-going projects which were always "over engineered", spending time with his family and watching his grandson, Parker, grow into a fine "young lad". At the families request services will be private. Valley Funeral Home & Cremation Services entrusted with arrangements. In lieu of flowers the family respectfully request that you plant a tree in memory of a loved one.
KEATON, Rosa Lee Butler
KEATON Rosa Lee Butler March 13, 1938 July 8, 2019 Rosa Lee Butler Keaton, 81, of Pipestem, W. Va., died early Monday morning, July 8, 2019 at Princeton Community Hospital with her loving family by her side. Born March 13, 1938, in Summers County, W.Va., she was the daughter of the late Curtis and Ina Kincaid Butler. Rosa was a loving wife, daughter, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother, sister, aunt, friend, and to all her extended family. Rosa loved the Lord and was a faithful member of the Lerona United Methodist Church. Rosa worked at the Maidenform in Princeton before raising her family when they moved to Blacksburg in 1959. Rosa and Clyde had three children, Eddie Keaton, Jo Lynn Price and Deena Keaton Sexton. She worked for Corning Glassworks for 19 years making many long lasting and loyal friends, Eleanor Stevens, Rocky and Barbara Capozzi and Brownie Miller to mention a few. Rosa's father-in-law fell ill and she cared for him in their home in Blacksburg for 2 years after working at Hubble Lighting for a short time. Rosa went to work at Poly Scientific and worked there before leaving to join Clyde in retirement to Pipestem, W.Va. Rosa would create a new chapter in her life after Clyde passed with Charles W. Keaton of Speedway, W.Va. Together they formed a special bond and happy life in Pipestem. Rosa and Charles were married on November 30, 2013 with a church so packed with loved ones and friends and also, standing guests! Rosa and Charles were active in their church, Lerona United Methodist, by singing in the choir and attending every month the 3rd Friday night jam sessions and enjoyed their new life on the farm, with their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She loved her farm work and especially working with her John Deere tractor. In the evenings, she enjoyed learning to play the keyboard. Rosa fell ill in 2015 and by 2017 began dialysis. Charles performed the dialysis for her until her daughter, Jo Lynn and granddaughter, Debra took over hemo dialysis in the fall of 2018. We would like to thank the home dialysis nurses for all their expert training and leadership skills. They did more than that, they loved our family and we loved them. Rosa and the family would like to sincerely thank the nurses in the CCU at Princeton Community Hospital for all their compassion and true loving acts during Moma's stay there. Never before before have we had such an experience working with top professional in every aspect of her care. Drs, Sakkair and Eter have been no less than wonderful to have cared for our loved one. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her 1st husband of 55 years, Clyde Arl Keaton; great-granddaughter, Brianna Speaks; and a sister, Neva Reed. Left to cherish her memory are her loving and devoted husband, Charles W. Keaton; three loving children, Eddie L. Keaton of Blacksburg, Va, Jo Lynn Keaton Price and husband Daniel of Blacksburg, Va., Deena Keaton Sexton and husband Bobby of Blacksburg, Va.; special daughter-in-law, Tammy Epperly. They shared grandchildren, Christi King (Wallace), Debra Snider (Carl), Lori Bostwick (Samuel) Bobby Joe (Nikki), Nikki Patsel (Chris), Olivia Keaton, Mitchell Keaton and Danny Price; great-grandchildren, Ethan Gray, Trysten King, Kolton Openshaw, Kynleigh Rose Openshaw, Justice Openshaw, Hayleigh Sexton, Cooper Bostwick, Carson Bostwick, Mazzy Price, Garth Boles (Abby), Lexie Speaks, Karly Speaks, Tyler Speaks, Britny Speak, Tori Jackson and Aiden Brown; great-great-grandchildren, Dixon Boles, Tinsley Boles, Akira Harrell and Milo Jackson; loving brother and sister, Willie Butler and Mary Ann McManaway both of Pipestem; brother-in laws, Steven Keaton and wife Betty, of Lerona, W.Va., Kenny Keaton and wife Delores (Dee) of Pipestem; sister-in-law, Janet Kennedy and husband, Jess of Rocky Gap, Va.; specific nephew, Bo Keaton; several loving nieces, nephews, cousins, friends and her church family. Funeral services to celebrate the life of Rosa Lee Butler Keaton will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, July 11, 2019, from the Burns Wornal Chapel of the Memorial Funeral Directory on the Athens Road in Princeton with Pastor David White officiating. Burial will follow in Roselawn Memorial Gardens in Princeton. Friends may visit with the family Wednesday (today) from 5 until 8 p.m. at the funeral home. Moma loved flowers, but at many family events, of which there was many and always well attended, we would have a money tree for collections to the National Kidney Foundation. So in lieu of flowers, please make donations in Rosa's memory to: The National Kidney Foundation of Maryland, 1301 York Road, Suite 209, Lutherville, MD 21093. Please be sure and write on the memo line in memory of Rosa Keaton. Online condolences may be shared with the family via www.memorialfd.com. Serving as pallbearers will be Bobby Jo Sexton, Bo Keaton, Sam Bostwick, Carl Openshaw, Chris Patsel, Tyler Speaks, Wallace King, Wayne Mann, Carson Bostwick, Cooper Bostwick, Kolton Openshaw, Aiden Brown and Ethan Gray. The Keaton family is being served by the Memorial Funeral Directory and Cremation Center on the Athens Road in Princeton.
BOOTH, Joe Douglas
BOOTH Joe Douglas April 24, 1929 July 7, 2019 Joe Douglas Booth, 90, of Vinton, passed away Sunday, July 7, 2019. He was born April 24, 1929, to the late Claud B. and Marie McGhee Booth. He is survived by his wife, Rebecca Dooley Booth; daughter and son-in-law, Trina and Eddie Williams; son and daughter-in-law, Jeff and Linda Booth; four granddaughters; and eight great-grandchildren. Graveside services will be held 11 a.m. Thursday July 11, 2019 in MT. View Cemetery of Vinton, Virginia. Valley Funeral Home and Cremation Services entrusted with arrangements.
GORDON, James Edward
GORDON James Edward July 7, 2019 James Edward (Ed) Gordon, 95, of Salem, passed away on Sunday, July 7, 2019. A celebration of his life will be conducted at 11 a.m., Friday, July 12, 2019 at West Salem Baptist Church, 500 Turner Rd., Salem. Friends may visit with the family from 2 to 4 p.m. and 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, July 11, 2019 at West Salem Baptist Church. Online condolence may be sent to www.lotzfuneralhome.com.
HAUSER, Theodore Harmon
HAUSER Theodore Harmon July 8, 2019 Theodore (Sonny) Harmon Hauser, 84, of Salem, Va., went to be with our Lord on July 8, 2019 after battling with diabetes and renal failure. He was preceded in death by his parents and daughter. He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Betty A Hauser; son, Gregory L Hauser; grandson, Christopher L Hauser; and future granddaughter-in-law, Taylor Pike. The family will receive friends on Wednesday, July 10, 2019 from 6 until 8 p.m. at Lotz Funeral Home in Salem. A graveside service will be held at Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens on Thursday, July 11, 2019 at 11 a.m.
HUFFMAN, Lucy Jean Caldwell
HUFFMAN Lucy Jean Caldwell July 8, 2019 Lucy Jean Caldwell Huffman, 74, of Salem, Va. passed away on Monday, July 8, 2019. For online condolences go to info@johnmoakey.com.
CRUMLEY, Martha H.
July 8, 2019 Martha H. (Susie) Crumley of Roanoke, Va., passed away on Monday, July 8, 2019. A memorial service will be held at a later date. Online condolences may be made at www.oakeys.com.
OLIN,, Linda Horne
OLIN, Linda Horne May 3, 1949 - June 23, 2019 Linda (Lin) Horne Olin, completed her passage through her earthly life on Sunday, June 23, 2019 in the company and loving arms of her family. She was born on May 3, 1949 in Lynchburg, Va. Canterbury Episcopal Church in Tuscaloosa, Ala. will host a memorial ceremony at 2 p.m. on Friday, July 12, 2019. Officiating will be Pastor Marc Brunette. Her family will receive friends afterwards. Lin was preceded in death by her parents, Nile and Minnie Horne. They raised Lin in Roanoke, Va. Her family includes her husband, Robert Olin; daughters, Ashley Scruggs, Lindsay Culver and Susan Olin; son, Kristopher Olin; son-in-laws, Mick Prozinski, Josh Culver and Matt Sherman; and daughter-in-law, April Olin. Lin completed her undergraduate degree at Mary Washington University and two masters degrees from Duke and The University of North Carolina. She was ABD at Virginia Tech and the University of North Carolina. She compassionately taught in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Alabama for many years. Amongst her numerous passions were cooking and loving her pets, friends and family. Bob and Lin greatly enjoyed traveling together. Lin was always awe struck by the universe and cosmos. Recognition of her joyous life may be made to the Lin Olin Endowed Scholarship in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Alabama.
LEVESY SR., Johnny Richard
September 10, 1947 July 7, 2019 Johnny Richard Levesy Sr., 71, of Roanoke, Va., passed away on Sunday, July 7, 2019. Funeral services will be held 2 p.m. Friday, July 12, 2019, in the Hamlar-Curtis Chapel. The family will receive friends 30 minutes prior to the service. Friends may call on Thursday afternoon for viewing at Hamlar-Curtis Funeral Home. Condolences may be sent to www.Hamlar-Curtis.com.
STARK, Doris Fainter
STARK Doris Fainter June 20, 1941 July 8, 2019 Doris Fainter Stark, 78, of Lexington, died Monday, July 8, 2019 at UVA Medical Center, Charlottesville. Born June 20, 1941 in Natural Bridge Station, a daughter of the late Alexander Haden Fainter and Mary Smith Fainter. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by a sister, Mary F. Vines; and brothers, Haden Fainter, and Harlan Fainter. Doris was a member of the Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church. She was a proud nurse and enjoyed gardening. Surviving are her husband, Glen Herbert Stark; sons, Neil Alan Stark, of Columbus, Ohio, and Craig Alex Stark, of Los Altos Hills, Calif.; siblings, Dewey M. Fainter, Catherine F. Renz, Sophie F. Camden, all of Buena Vista, Caroline F. Claytor, of Natural Bridge Station, and Joyce F. Hambrick, of Lexington; one grandson, Connor Alexander Stark; and many nieces and nephews. A memorial service will be 2 p.m. Friday, July 12, 2019 at Harrison Funeral Chapel with Dr. Mark Schroeder officiating. There will be no visitation at the Funeral Home. Arrangements by Harrison Funeral Home & Crematory, Lexington, VA.
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Robotics Industry Insights
»More Industry Insights
This industry insights is filed under:
Robot Manufacturing
Trades Embrace Robotics on Construction Sites
by Tanya M. Anandan, Contributing Editor
Welcome to boomtown. Where the hum of heavy equipment permeates the air. Cranes tower above skyscrapers. Scaffolding wraps buildings and bridges. Where suburbia gives rise to new neighborhoods and strip malls at every turn. Orange cones and barricades line our routes to work and play. Sound familiar?
Construction is booming from one U.S. coast to another and in metropolitan cities around the globe. But the construction industry has a big problem. There’s more demand than supply.
Workers are in short supply. The cost of building is rising as materials and labor become scarce. The need for infrastructure repairs and reconstruction is omnipresent. Technology is lagging behind other industries. The construction industry is lacking the sea change it needs, the disruptive innovation it requires to do more with less. But not for long.
The global construction market for robotics is expected to more than double to $166 million by 2023, according to a report by Markets and Markets. Innovations in semi- and fully autonomous equipment will help the construction industry build more with fewer resources. Robotic devices will help laborers work safer and more efficiently, for longer. Technology that empowers workers will help attract a new generation of construction industry workers eager to master these new, groundbreaking tools of the trade.
Continuous Track to Autonomy
When Benjamin Holt first attached wooden planks around the wheels of his steam-powered tractor to create a “continuous track” to prevent the half-ton machine from sinking in the soft earth of the early 1900s farmland, he could not have envisioned the variety of earthmoving equipment that would one day be the flagship of the Caterpillar lineup. Neither could C. L. Best, whose tractor company would merge with Holt Caterpillar to form the Caterpillar Tractor Company in 1925. Peoria, Illinois, would serve as the company’s home base for over 90 years.
Line-of-sight remote control technology for automated dozing helps keep machine operators safer in potentially hazardous environments. (Courtesy of Caterpillar Inc.)
Today, Caterpillar Inc. is headquartered in Deerfield, Illinois, and is a world-leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines, industrial turbines and diesel-electric locomotives. With its trademark “Caterpillar Yellow” equipment, this Fortune 500’s machines are recognized the world over, with 59 percent of its $54.7 billion sales coming from outside the United States. Behind the iron are more than 100,000 employees at about 150 primary facilities around the world that support a global dealer network over 160 strong.
Both Holt and Best would be astounded by Caterpillar’s progress in autonomous vehicle solutions, a feat that would have been considered “magic” in the pre-Depression era. Now the unimaginable is here. A $2 million prize helped sweeten the pot.
From Mining to Construction
Mining is one of the leading industries for adoption of autonomous machines. Ten years ago, mining companies operating in remote areas, especially Australia, experienced a significant shortage of machine operators. Around the same time, the DARPA Grand Challenges demonstrated that autonomous vehicles were becoming a reality. Watch how the DARPA races propelled the self-driving vehicle industry. (Caterpillar was a major sponsor of the $2 million-winning team in the 2007 DARPA Urban Challenge.)
As a result, Caterpillar began working with mining companies to develop its Cat® Command portfolio of autonomous trucks, drills and track-type tractors, and its underground Load-Haul-Dump (LHD) loaders. Watch them on the job. The productivity improvements range from 20 to 30 percent or more, while creating significant enhancements in mine site safety, according to Caterpillar. Autonomy allows miners to reduce process variability in their operations as they journey towards a fully autonomous mine.
Many of the challenges faced by the mining industry over the past 10 years are now impacting the construction industry. Site safety, talent pipeline, efficiency improvements, linking silos of information together, and digital construction site evolutions are all current construction industry priorities. But that’s where the similarities end. Variability is a major factor on construction sites.
On-Site Variability and Mixed Autonomy
Compared to the mining world, construction sites are less structured and less controlled environments with far more variability in day-to-day operations. People and machines work in close proximity on varying construction tasks. Caterpillar believes this variability will influence the level of autonomy we can expect to see on construction sites.
While mining tends to be a repeatable process, construction contractors rarely have two jobsites that look the same. Autonomous technology solutions must be more modular and flexible to accommodate variability from jobsite to jobsite.
Whereas mines have long horizons of operation, some spanning decades, and can support autonomous fleets with economies of scale, construction site machinery typically comprises owned, rented and subcontracted machines. Users are unlikely to re-fleet for a single job. Autonomous vehicles are introduced over time. For a while, both autonomous and manned machinery are expected to coexist on construction sites.
Because a mine remains stationary over time, it’s possible to invest in infrastructure such as Wi-Fi to support autonomy. But construction jobsites can span as little as a few hours. Autonomous solutions need to minimize their dependence on fixed infrastructure. Caterpillar is developing solutions that leverage new technologies, such as 5G private networks and perception systems, to allow machines to communicate and locate themselves.
Perception a Key Enabler
Much of Caterpillar’s early work in autonomous mining technology originated with a long-standing collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) and its National Robotics Engineering Center (NREC) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The Steel City turned Roboburgh is a great pipeline for top talent and CMU’s Robotics Institute is one of the Dream Labs of Future Robotics we covered last fall.
Located in the heart of the Pittsburgh robotics community, Caterpillar’s Pittsburgh Automation Center (PAC) partnered with NREC to develop Autonomous Haulage Systems for large mining trucks. They also tapped into the world-class talent pipeline, hiring CMU’s graduates in computer science, robotics and computer vision.
“A key enabling technology for autonomy and automation products is the ability for a machine to ‘see’ the environment around it by using electronic components and software,” says Narayana Nadukuru, Electronic Engineering Manager at the Pittsburgh Automation Center. “This technology is often referred to as ‘perception’ and much of our perception development is done at the PAC.”
The engineering team at PAC delivers software algorithms for data processing from components such as cameras and LIDAR sensors, then creates useful information about the surrounding environment for higher-level applications such as autonomy, safety and operator-assist features. Features that are a part of Command, one of six Cat Connect Technologies and Services that can be mixed and matched to suit the unique needs of Caterpillar’s customers.
An equipment operator uses an over-the-shoulder remote console for line-of-sight control of an autonomous bulldozer up to a quarter mile away. (Courtesy of Caterpillar Inc.)
Jobsite Safety and Productivity
Cat Command for Dozing increases operator safety and productivity when maneuvering steep slopes or unstable surfaces, handling hazardous materials, or experiencing prolonged exposure to noise, dust and vibration. Remote operation is achieved either with the over-the-shoulder operator console for line-of-sight remote control operation from up to a quarter mile away, or via a remote operator station that offers both line-of-sight and non-line-of-sight remote control operation.
Watch this video to see automated dozing at work. At 48 seconds into the footage, check out the non-line-of-sight Remote Control Station in action. Located in a remote center potentially many miles away, this technology allows operators to work for long periods of time while seated in a safe, comfortable “virtual cab.”
Already proven in mining applications, Command technology includes remote control systems available on Cat dozers, wheel loaders and skid steer loaders used on construction sites. Remote control is just the first step in automated construction equipment. Cat Command is paving the way for tomorrow’s semi- and fully autonomous equipment systems for the construction industry.
Disrupting the Construction Ecosystem
According to Caterpillar, autonomy could have profound ramifications for the construction ecosystem. The adoption of autonomy on a jobsite could provide a quantum leap in differentiation for Caterpillar customers. Early adopters have the opportunity to disrupt the industry by delivering a step change in efficiency, quality and safety. Everything – from the size of the equipment deployed, to the role of dealers and OEMs, to the definition of laborer versus that of subcontractor – may be disrupted.
Caterpillar provides an example. Today’s traditional fleet of 50 machines requires a contractor to have about 10 mechanics and 50 operators, all of whom require either a travel allowance or room and board. On an autonomous jobsite, a fleet of 50 machines might be operated by 15 local mechanics to maintain and stage the machines, and 10 more remote operators to provide oversight of the autonomous operations and remote control when needed. They liken this to the operation of military drones, where local mechanics tend to the drone’s mechanical needs and prepare them for takeoff, but the missions are conducted by remote pilots in containers halfway around the world.
“This may sound far-fetched, but it’s already a reality for our customers who are using the Cat Non-Line-of-Sight Remote Stations for Dozing,” says Fred Rio, Product Manager, Construction Digital & Technology at Caterpillar. “A single operator can run up to five machines simultaneously!”
Caterpillar’s remote control technology also enables new or less-skilled operators to be more productive using autonomy and operator-assist features. These features also improve consistency of machine productivity and tracking.
(Special thanks to Narayana Nadukuru, Fred Rio and the entire Caterpillar team for their article contributions.)
Rather than try to break into a market already dominated by world-renowned players, Built Robotics Inc. offers retrofit kits that turn existing construction equipment into self-driving vehicles. The company integrates off-the-shelf sensors and writes software to enable a machine, such as a dozer, excavator or skid steer, to autonomously map and navigate its surroundings. Watch the technology in action.
While innovators work to bring more autonomy to construction sites, other semi-automated equipment continues to clear the way for progress.
Remote-controlled demolition robot works in confined spaces while enhancing efficiency and jobsite safety. (Credit: Brokk)
Demolition Robots
The first remote-controlled demolition robot was conceived in the mid-1970s and has been commercially available since the ‘80s. Demolition robots promote jobsite safety by keeping workers a safe distance away from falling debris, dust and other hazards. These robots tend to pack a lot of power in a compact package, allowing for more precise work in tight spaces.
Demolition robots are used in the construction of buildings, bridges, roads and tunnels, among other hazardous applications in metal processing, nuclear, mining, and defense and rescue missions. Watch a pair of demolition robots tear in to this shopping mall renovation.
Demolition robots may break it down. Bricklaying robots transform construction sites one brick at a time. This robotic bricklayer from Australia builds on a grand scale. No mortar, just a specialty adhesive and a really long arm. Check out HadrianX.
Robotic Bricklaying
Any mason will tell you that bricklaying and masonry is an art, a carefully honed craft requiring years of experience. But the actual brick-and-mortar application for your typical stretch of wall is a grueling job. Repetitive arm and shoulder movements, the backbreaking task of lifting and positioning brick after brick, eventually takes its toll on the body. And that’s if you can find bodies.
Bricklayers are in short supply around the country and more experienced masons are aging out of the industry. Even though wages are rising, younger generations are looking for work that is less labor-intensive.
One company is looking to lend a helping hand to masons. Located in Victor, New York, just south of Rochester, Construction Robotics designs and builds a bricklaying robot called SAM, for Semi-Automated Mason. Cofounders Nathan Podkaminer and Scott Peters established the company in 2007 and received a boost in their R&D efforts with grants funded by the National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.
Robotic bricklaying system applies mortar and precisely positions bricks on the wall according to a digital blueprint. (Courtesy of Construction Robotics)
“We looked at all different aspects of bringing robotics to the construction industry and after an in-depth effort and analysis, we settled on the bricklaying trade and masonry because of the challenges from a labor standpoint,” says Peters. “It is a very physically demanding trade. It’s very repetitive. You have motion injuries, you’re carrying a lot of weight, so it’s a good opportunity to incorporate robotics and automation.”
Podkaminer is a registered architect and construction industry veteran with 50-plus years in institutional, industrial and residential building. Peters comes from the manufacturing world. With a bachelor’s and master’s in chemical engineering, he worked as a process engineer for Intel and General Motors, and most recently, as a manufacturing engineer for RIA member Progressive Machine & Design (PMD).
Lighten Your Load, Boost Productivity
With help from the SBIR program, Construction Robotics built its first prototype in 2013 and PMD was the first commercial test site.
“PMD’s new building in Victor was probably the first building in the world to have a robot lay bricks on site,” says Peters. “It was one of our early prototypes that was run by a bunch of engineers. We ran the machine for a few weeks and learned a lot. We proved we were able to apply mortar to the bricks and it would stick and that our technology was good. We also proved that we could get the bricks where they needed to go using our sensor system and dynamic robot stabilization. Those were two huge milestones for us.”
They also learned that in order for the technology to be useful and effective on a construction site, the system would need to be easy to set up, use and operate by a mason. So the team went back to the shop, and in late 2014, they were on their first commercial jobsite with a totally redesigned, new version of SAM.
“We were down in Virginia on a job and ran SAM with significantly improved speeds, quality and productivity. Yet we still learned a lot about what it takes to bring robots to the jobsite. We spent a couple more years just running demos of the machine in various jobs throughout the country. In 2017, we launched SAM commercially with a rental program and started bringing on distributors. We’ve continued to grow and add more units to the fleet over the last couple of years.”
The robot installed bricks on the University of Nevada Reno Arts Building, the Poff Federal Building in Roanoke, Virginia, and the University of Michigan Brighton Center for Specialty Care, among other masonry projects around the country. See what union bricklayers are saying about working with a robot.
SAM is capable of laying 350-380 bricks an hour on average, according to Peters. The system combines a Stäubli Robotics arm with machine vision, along with feeding systems for bricks and mortar, a propane generator for power, and a sophisticated sensor package for safety and dynamic stabilization.
Here’s a brief introduction. Watch SAM work.
Peters says they chose this particular robot for its load-to-weight ratio and software integration. “We wanted a high payload but didn’t want to deal with a heavy robot and controller package. We also wanted to have a robot that was sealed from dust and weather. This robotic package also had software capabilities that allowed us to have deeper control for speed and motion.
“Not every robot package allowed for real-time adjustments as you were moving to place the brick,” he continues. “You can imagine being up on that scaffold and it’s moving around with the wind. You have general movement and then you have guys moving quickly on the scaffold or jumping down from above. All that creates very quick, dynamic movement. Stäubli’s package allowed for a deeper integration from a software standpoint and then we were able to build in all of our software customization around the sensing system.”
The robot itself has six axes, but the system has seven. The carriage that holds the robot, feeding system, propane generator and tanks, plus all of the controls and user interface is the seventh axis. It autonomously moves along the wall as bricks are laid.
“In reality, there’s an eighth axis that we don’t control at all, which is the manually controlled scaffolding system,” says Peters. “After the robot builds within its (vertical) workspace of roughly three feet, it runs out of reach, so then you have to raise the scaffolding.”
Adjusting On the Fly and Sticking It
Extensive development went into Construction Robotics’ real-time operating system to manage the overall safety aspects of SAM, as well as the material feed and human interface. They leveraged off-the-shelf components wherever possible, but when there was no existing solution that fit, they built their own.
“If it was a straightforward solution, we would have gone to an integrator and said hey, build me a robot that lays bricks,” says Peters. “But when we really peeled back the onion and analyzed the challenges, there are really three simple technology challenges that are incredibly complex.”
1. How do you lay all your bricks on the wall and deal with on-site variations?
Construction Robotics developed a system that adjusts for variations on the fly. “As we set up our mapping system in our software, there’s a step in the process where you set your story poles, then you take measurements just by walking through a measurement process, and then the system automatically adjusts the spacing of all the bricks. Now you know the real location of where the bricks are supposed to go relative to the actual dimensions of the wall, and of the windows, the doors and the corners of the building. So you have that automatic correction. That was one huge problem we had to solve.”
2. How do you put the brick right where it’s supposed to go in space, especially in a dynamic environment?
Peters likens it to being on a boat that is constantly moving and trying to adjust for those movements in real time. They developed custom software that when integrated with the Stäubli robot’s control software accounts for dynamic stabilization.
3. How do you get mortar to stick to the brick?
When masons lay bricks, they typically spread the mortar on the brick wall before placing the next brick. Rather than have multiple robot arms doing different tasks, Construction Robotics simplified the process by applying the mortar to the brick.
“We ended up having to develop our own mortaring system,” says Peters. “Commercially available systems either didn’t provide the right pressures, or if they did, they would get clogged easily and were too hard to clean. Ours is very easy to clean, easy to manage and maintain. We’re able to apply the right amount of pressure with the right amount of control, which allows us to manage a very wide range of mortars, apply that to the brick and get it to stick.”
The proper volume of mortar to apply to different sizes of brick and what parts of the brick to mortar are built into the control system.
“The spec is not that tight on a brick,” explains Peters. “You’re basically dealing with dirt that is compressed and heated. There’s a level of deviation that we need to account for in our ability to grip the brick, measure it, and then use those measurements to change how we mortar the brick so that it doesn’t crash into the nozzle and so we get good adhesion.”
The entire system is patented, with additional patents on aspects of the laser sensing and mortaring systems, both built from scratch. The laser system is mounted on the story poles.
“Masons typically use two story poles and pull a string between the poles to define the course of brick they are going to lay. Because that was a very familiar process to the mason, we basically mimicked that, in a sense, by allowing them to hang a pole on the building and set their coursing (vertical course adjustment of the brick). The robot goes to the wall, and using its camera, it looks at that string line and then we correct for multiple degrees of freedom (by communicating with the laser system) and place the brick right where it’s supposed to go.”
Lift More, Sweat Less
SAM handles bricks ranging in size from 4 inch cut brick up to 12 inch brick. For laying large blocks, SAM has a sidekick.
Construction Robotics offers a lift-assist device called the MULE, for Material Unit Lift Enhancer. It reduces some of the strain on bricklayers working with 50 pound blocks. Whether this device falls under the category of robotics, however, depends on your definition of a robot. What constitutes a robot in the manufacturing world is often different for professional service robots like SAM and many other semi-autonomous machines in the construction industry.
“We typically do not call the MULE a robot. It’s a smart lift-assist device,” says Peters. “There is definitely some automated motion in it. We have some control algorithms, sophisticated software and sensing. It has a single axis of motion that is controlled.”
Decide for yourself whether MULE is a robot. Watch it work.
Now take a newcomer to the construction industry offering exoskeletons to the trades. These are non-powered mechanical devices, but often considered robotic. The upper-body bionic skeletons reduce workers’ strain and fatigue during long periods of overhead work.
“For a lot of what we’ve learned and what we do in the construction industry, it’s about helping and enabling workers to be more efficient,” says Peters. “Because it’s such an uncontrolled and dynamic environment, the worker is unbelievably critical.”
Human-robot collaboration is a critical component of many of the robots and robotic devices in the construction space. When asked why SAM is called a “semi-automated” mason, Peters echoes other’s comments.
Robotic bricklaying system includes brick manipulation and feeding, mortar system, controls, power and safety all self-contained for easy portability on site. (Courtesy of Construction Robotics)
“The worker is very much in the loop. They have to set up SAM. They have to do the mapping, the layout, and then during its operation they are not only feeding the machine, but they also have to strike the joints (remove excess mortar), put the wall ties in, the installation in – a lot of the process still needs to be managed and operated by the workers.”
Typically you have a three-person crew including two masons and a laborer working with SAM. The masons handle the setup and are striking joints and managing wall quality. The laborer keeps SAM fed with bricks and mortar throughout the process, similar to the tasks of a traditional bricklaying tender.
“SAM is just another tool of the trade. It’s a way to get your job done. It’s there to work alongside the worker and assist them. We’ve never seen SAM replace a worker, per se, but it allows contractors to do more with their crew.”
Do More With Your Crew
In addition to increased productivity, less heavy lifting and enhanced ergonomics, robotic bricklaying has other benefits. It allows for parallel processing of tasks. While the robot is laying bricks, a mason can be simultaneously striking joints on another part of the wall where the bricks are already installed. A mason can also be examining blueprints, installing installation or wall ties, working on a corner, or doing some other aspect of the job.
SAM can also do complex patterns with different brick colors, sizes and configurations. To the robot, bricks are just pixels on a screen. It’s all digital, the machine’s language.
“That aspect of SAM is really enabling future architects to think about building their buildings differently,” says Peters. “It can do in and outs (offset brick placement for 3D design effects). It can do soldier courses, where the brick is set on end. It can do logos and intricate designs with different colored bricks. We did a sample wall in our shop that was designed by an architect, where every brick was on a different plane at very fine increments so the entire wall created a wave pattern. That’s one of the things robotics brings to the table.”
Robotic bricklaying is helping drive digital design, and drive more brick jobs and opportunities in the construction industry. Another benefit is the digital data collected by the robot as it’s working.
“SAM pushes real-time data to the cloud and you get updates on how your SAM(s) are doing throughout the day. All of that information is available to you in real time, so as a foreman or as an owner of a mason company, you can make better, educated decisions about your jobsite productivity.”
Just like real-time data from robots and automation is helping manufacturers improve how they monitor and maintain their factory equipment and make operational decisions, automated masonry can have the same effect for the construction industry. Digital fabrication is the future.
Robotic Digital Fabrication
While digital fabrication on construction sites is an emerging technology still in its infancy, few are denying its potential. Digital fab uses computer-controlled technologies to create structures and buildings in nontraditional configurations that typically streamline the design and utility of the structures, while inspiring new forms of architectural expression. With digital fabrication, building design and construction is more precise and efficient. It also makes better use of building materials, requires fewer labor-intensive processes, and boosts overall productivity and sustainability.
Today’s construction sites still pose challenging working conditions with ergonomic, safety and job-satisfaction issues that make them less than compelling to new generations of workers. This could be overcome with digital fabrication and open the construction industry to a whole new talent pool, one that uses its brain more than its brawn.
Researchers in Switzerland are leading the charge for digital fabrication on construction sites, with the first-ever habitable building designed, planned and built using predominantly digital construction technologies, namely industrial robots and 3D printers.
The three-story DFAB HOUSE was erected atop the NEST research building of Empa and Eawag in Dübendorf. It officially opened its doors in February. Watch the DFAB HOUSE’s digital rise.
On-site construction began with robotic fabrication of a mesh mould wall using the in situ Fabricator (IF), an autonomous mobile manipulator developed to work in dynamic on-site construction environments. The steel-wire mesh mould wall serves as both formwork and reinforcement for concrete. Watch the IF robot on the job at the DFAB build site, as it bends, cuts and spot welds the steel wire, fabricating the mesh mould wall one vertical section at a time until complete.
Mobile construction robot used in digital fabrication on a construction site autonomously builds a steel-wire mesh mould in an intricate wave pattern for a concrete wall. (Credit: Roman Keller/NCCR Digital Fabrication)
The result is a graceful double-curved, load-bearing concrete wall that characterizes the modern architecture of the living room. A unique concrete ceiling reminiscent of a set from the movie “Alien” was cast in 3D-printed formwork and the massive panels were assembled on site. The two upper-level residential floors have exposed wooden frames in complex geometries, which were prefabricated off-site by two inverted gantry-mounted robots using a new method for digital timber construction called Spatial Timber Assemblies.
For the first time, several digital fabrication technologies emerged from the lab to transform a blank slate into a one-of-a-kind smart home. But development was not a walk in the park.
Unique Vision, Multidisciplinary Collaboration
The in situ Fabricator robot has come a long way from its first iteration. The unfortunately named “dimRob” required far more human intervention. The DFAB HOUSE project would need more robotic autonomy and a multidisciplinary approach. That spawned a collaboration between several professorships and their labs at ETH Zurich, the nearly 165-year-old Swiss university of science and technology, the alma mater of Albert Einstein and many other Nobel Prize winners.
Gramazio Kohler Research, the Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication at ETH and former professor Jonas Buchli’s now defunct Agile & Dexterous Robotics Lab (ADRL) joined with other research labs and industry partners to bring architecture, robotics, control systems engineering, materials science, computer science, and structural design together in an ambitious partnership to establish digital technology as an essential part of future building processes. Initiated in 2014, the multidisciplinary consortium became the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
“Our primary goal is to develop tools that allow us to build things we couldn’t build before,” says Timothy Sandy, a post-doc researcher and NCCR member at ETH Zurich’s Institute for Robotics and Intelligent Systems. Sandy worked closely with Dr. Buchli (now with DeepMind Technologies) on robotic fabrication of complex structures on construction sites.
“It’s a very different motivation than a commercial view where you’re trying to automate current processes,” continues Sandy. “We want to look to the next step in development and have these smart machines on the construction site build what we can’t even imagine now. Not just interesting architecture, but also more functional buildings, where you integrate the different functions of a room into a single unit, so that buildings are simpler and more materially efficient.”
Mobility, Accuracy and Autonomy
The primary challenges of robotic manipulation for on-site building are mobility, accuracy and autonomy, the subject of Sandy’s 2018 doctoral thesis. The ADRL team developed localization, sensor fusion and motion control strategies that enabled mobile manipulation systems to achieve high-accuracy end effector positioning throughout large workspaces and over long periods of time. The in situ Fabricator integrates a standard industrial robot arm made by ABB Robotics mounted on a base equipped with hydraulically driven tracks.
Because construction sites have a high level of variability and an uncontrolled environment, the IF robot was designed to be a completely self-contained machine with fully integrated, onboard control, sensing and power systems. The research team also wanted to avoid dependence on external reference systems, so extensive setup and tedious calibration routines would not be required. But robotic digital fabrication on a construction site is very different from in the lab.
A mobile construction robot equipped with sophisticated end-of-arm tooling autonomously bends, cuts and spot welds a steel-wire concrete mould. (Credit: Roman Keller/NCCR Digital Fabrication)
“Once we took the robot out of the lab and to the construction site of the DFAB HOUSE, and began building the mesh mould wall, we were surprised at how much more challenging it was than we expected,” says Sandy. “For example, the ground in the lab is always flat and level. The ground at the house where we had to build was angled one to two degrees for drainage reasons. That completely changes your dynamics and the way the robot moves as you maneuver the arm,” which he acknowledges required some on-site software tweaks to compensate.
While autonomy may be the Holy Grail, the researchers learned that you have to choose the level of autonomy in an efficient way, both for development and execution. As the team experimented with more realistic environments and building tasks, they realized that it wasn’t efficiently feasible for the robot to be completely autonomous, especially when humans were already a necessary part of the building process.
In the mesh mould build, the robot was repositioned about a dozen times. Repositioning was done manually, which involved driving the robot with a joystick console. The team choose to focus the autonomy on the robot building the mesh mould and making sure it can do that process on its own.
“The robot has to regulate the feeding of the wire and monitor how accurate it’s building,” says Sandy. “It would be nearly impossible for a person to build the structure with comparable accuracy to the robotic system.”
The IF robot localizes itself by detecting the markers on the wall foundation. Before the build, a faceplate was installed. Then the markers were installed arbitrarily on the plate. The robot takes one measurement with a drive along the length of the wall to build a map of those markers’ locations, which it can always reference to know where it is in the space. The robot builds a section, then you drive it manually to the next area. It goes through a quick localization routine, and then continues building that section.
One of the benefits of the robot building on site is that you have this continuous loop from the robot building a portion of the structure, then comparing where it’s supposed to be positioned to where it actually is, and then adapting the build. As it’s building the wire mesh, the robot is doing that comparison and adjusting as it goes, a process not possible with prefab.
A Smarter, Lighter, More Accurate Future
With the DFAB HOUSE complete and the first residents about to move in, and the ADRL lab shut down, Sandy is now leading a small group of ETH researchers still focused on robotic construction, but within the Robotic Systems Lab (RSL) headed by Prof. Marco Hutter. RSL might sound familiar. You may have seen the ANYmal on the prowl, a quadrupedal robot co-developed with spinoff ANYbotics.
RSL is also working on an autonomous excavator robot. Meet HEAP.
With these types of influences, it’s no surprise that the next-generation construction robot will look a bit different. Sandy’s research group is trying to make the robot smarter, more accurate and lighter.
“One of the limiting characteristics is that it’s so heavy that it is difficult to transport and needs to operate very slowly to be safe,” says Sandy, noting that the IF robot is 1-1/2 metric tons. “It gets to the point where some buildings can’t support it. There needs to be a step change in the actuation technology to allow such robots to be twice as light, but just as strong.”
Sandy says the new generation of collaborative robots are moving in the direction they need for building construction. They just need them three times bigger. His group is now working with a smaller prototype robot using a Kinova collaborative robot arm. He says they are also working toward autonomous navigation and obstacle avoidance for a construction robot that can safely but still efficiently work among its human coworkers.
Originally published by RIA via www.robotics.org on 04/29/2019
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Service Robots on the World Stage03/23/2018
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Read Next 'The Farewell': Lulu Wang's Truth, Lies, and the Long Goodbye Send Us a Tip Subscribe
ICE Used Fake University to Conduct Sting Operations
The University of Farmington appeared to be a front to offer immigrants an easy way to remain in the States — but it turns out the Feds were running the scam
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The University of Farmington did not have a campus, nor did it actually offer classes.
Courtesy of the University of Farmington
A fake university was helping immigrants stay in the U.S. on student visas — until it was revealed to be an elaborate sting operation run by undercover ICE agents.
The website for the University of Farmington has been taken down and replaced with an official notice stating “The University of Farmington has been closed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement,” but until Wednesday, according to the Washington Post, it looked like any other university website, advertising “an innovative STEM curriculum” and boasting photos of students studying on a quad and in a library.
“Located in the heart of the automotive and advanced manufacturing center of Southeast Michigan, the University of Farmington provides students from throughout the world a unique educational experience,” the site reportedly said.
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But it was all a front — there was no University of Farmington campus, no innovative STEM curriculum, or any classes of any kind. The University of Farmington was presented privately to recent immigrants as a way around immigration laws, where in exchange for their “tuition fees,” immigrants got false documentation of their student status. After obtaining a student visa, a person must remain enrolled and make progress toward a degree, or else leave the country within 60 days. The University of Farmington allowed people to appear to meet these requirements, without having to actually go to class or study. The program was set up in 2015, and reportedly helped at least 600 people stay in the country under false pretenses.
It sounded like a daring, ingenious if brazen way to circumvent immigration laws for those who could afford it. Until federal prosecutors revealed on Wednesday that the fake university was actually run by ICE, as an elaborate sting operation to catch people who were willing to break the law to stay here, and recruiters who were willing to falsify documents to help them do so.
The Detroit News reported that federal agents have arrested University of Farmington “students” across the country, as well as eight recruiters who facilitated the fraud. The recruiters allegedly falsified various records, including the transcripts students used to verify their progress and keep their visas. They allegedly accepted more than $250,000, collectively, for this work.
“These suspects aided hundreds of foreign nationals to remain in the United States illegally by helping to portray them as students, which they most certainly were not,” Special Agent in Charge Steve Francis, who heads the Detroit office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), told the Detroit Free Press. “HSI remains vigilant to ensure the integrity of U.S. immigration laws and will continue to investigate this and other transnational crimes.”
ICE did not immediately respond to Rolling Stone’s request for comment on how many former “students” are facing deportation as a result of the sting.
This is not the first time federal agents have used fake universities as dragnets to catch people trying to subvert immigration law. In 2016, the University of Northern New Jersey was revealed as a similar sting operation, resulting in the arrest of 22 people who arranged “students’” enrollment. There’s no way to know how many other operations like this exist, but this week’s big reveal is a good reminder that deals that sound too good to be true, usually are.
In This Article: ICE, Immigration
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How To Register For The March For Our Lives & Help Support The Movement
By Alana Romain
It's been a little over a week since a gunman shot and killed 17 people at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and in that time the brave survivors have been speaking out, and emerging at the forefront of a powerful — and incredibly necessary — political movement. On March 24, students and supporters from around the country will come together for improved gun safety legislation in order to prevent further shootings, and if you want to help, here's how to register for the March For Our Lives. Supporting the march is easy to do, yet it has the potential to make a huge impact.
There is nothing at all simple about organizing a nationwide network of rallies and political marches — particularly when you're also appearing on national television to speak out against the National Rifle Association and the politicians who support it, while also trying to recover from the trauma of being involved the ninth deadliest single-day mass shooting in United States history, according to CNN. But the students behind the march are doing an incredible job mobilizing the country's outrage and directing it toward something that could actually, finally, make a difference.
Right now, the best place to get information about the march is at the official website, MarchForOurLives.com. In the past few days alone, the site has provided a great deal of updated information, including a link to the official Facebook event page for the main March For Our Lives event in Washington, D.C., links to donate to the cause or buy fundraising merchandise, as well as links to the group's official social media accounts.
While there are still many more details to be worked out, the March For Our Lives website is also where anyone interested in joining can register. On the site's "March With Us," page, there is a form that will allow supporters to sign up to receive updates, and for those not able to attend the march in Washington, there is also a link to a list of Facebook event pages for sister marches around the country.
If there isn't yet a march planned in your community, March For Our Lives organizers are encouraging anyone interested in leading a sister march to absolutely go ahead and do so. For now, the best starting point appears to be creating a Facebook event page or an Instagram account to spread the word about the community march, though March For Our Lives organizers have indicated that more information for community marches, including permitting details, toolkits, and merchandise will be coming soon. And if you do start a page for a local march? Be sure to leave the details on the main March For Our Lives event page, so that it can be added to the list of sister marches for others to find and join.
According to the March For Our Lives mission statement, the organizers' goal is pretty straightforward: as they march in Washington and throughout the country, students and supporters will be "[demanding] that a comprehensive and effective bill be immediately brought before Congress to address these gun issues," so that they can finally stop fearing that they could die in yet another mass shooting. And although that might be an issue specific to the United States, marches are already popping up in other countries in solidarity. So far, there will be a march in London at the U.S. Embassy, and there is another planned in Toronto, Canada, at the U.S. Consulate.
Celebrities have also come forward to contribute to the cause, making sizeable financial donations that will no doubt make a big difference. Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Jeffrey and Marilyn Katzenberg, and Oprah Winfrey have all announced donations of $500,000, according to Variety. George and Amal Clooney have also donated $500,000 in the names of their infant twins, Ella and Alexander, and have pledged to attend the main march in Washington. Coupled with the incredibly impressive fundraising effort the students have raised in their GoFundMe campaign — currently more than $2.1 million — that now means the Parkland organizers have raised more than $4 million for the cause.
As tragic and outrageous as the shooting was, and as much as much of the nation is still mourning, the effort put forth by the Parkland survivors to ensure that lawmakers are finally held accountable for their lack of action is beyond inspirational. And judging by the momentum and the incredible amount of support being sent their way, it seems that the March For Our Lives could be an absolute game-changer that can at long last provide students — and all Americans — with the protection from gun violence they so desperately deserve.
Check out Romper's new video series, Romper's Doula Diaries:
Watch full episodes of Romper's Doula Diaries on Facebook Watch.
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SFA chairman awarded MBE in New Year Honours list
Chairman of Shetland Fishermen’s Association Leslie Tait has been awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours list for services to the industry.
Mr Tait, 63, from Trondra, spent 34 years at sea and has been chairman of the SFA for the past eight years. Prior to that he had been the chairman of the Shetland Fish Producers’ Organisation for a period of eight years.
He said: “It was a huge surprise to me to learn I would be receiving an MBE. I regard it as an honour for the industry in Shetland generally rather than for me personally.
“As chair of the SFA I am a figurehead, and somebody has to take on that role. But in the background, and far more important than me, are the fishermen themselves who over the years have sacrificed a great deal to ensure that the industry in Shetland has a future.
“That’s important, not just for the economy but for the wellbeing of smaller communities around the islands which without fishing might well wither and die.”
Brian Isbister, chief executive of the SFPO, said: “I’m delighted to hear of the MBE for Leslie, who has been a stalwart of the Shetland fishing industry for many, many years.
“A highly respected and able fisherman, he has taken his knowledge and understanding of the industry into the corridors of power in Europe, the UK and Scotland to Shetland’s great benefit.
“He has an immense passion for the industry in Shetland and in his quiet-spoken way has been a powerful advocate for it.”
Mr Tait was skipper of the 75ft whitefish boat Harmony (LK 63), which he bought in 1983 and decommissioned in 2002.
After decommissioning, he attended the NAFC in order to upgrade his qualifications with the intention of returning to sea.
Upon attending the NAFC Marine Centre in Scalloway he was offered a post as lecturer in navigation and seamanship, a post he still holds.
“I hadn’t intended to come ashore, but due to the opportunity offered by NAFC and family reasons, and the fact that I was able to keep in contact with the industry, with young men coming through and learning the ropes, it seemed the right move to make.
“Those were hard times at the fishing. However, much progress has been made and it’s good to have some positive news about the industry after so many years in the doldrums.
“We have major challenges ahead, especially with the discard ban, but I think some of the powers that be in Europe who set this legislation are now starting to realise that it is ill-founded in its present form.
“So rather than dismiss Europe, we need to get in there and convince them that there are other ways of doing things, especially for a small community like Shetland which is so dependent on fishing and has a proud history of seafaring.”
Fishing industry calls for rapid resolution of HNP dispute
Double record for Shetland whitefish landings
LK 1011 - Wexfordian
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Reaching Out to Muslim Neighbours
Following the tragic murders at the mosques in Christchurch New Zealand, a message of solidarity and condolence was developed and signed by parishioners at the services on Sunday 17 March. The message stated:
"We are members of St. Catherine's Anglican Church in Edgemont Village. We are shocked and deeply saddened by the dreadful attacks on the mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand at a time of Friday prayers. Each of us is committed to working for a society where followers of Islam and Christianity can live together in peace, and work together for a better world.
We send our condolences and we will keep the memory of the New Zealand victims and their families in our prayers."
Copies were made and placed in a green file and we made an appointment and presented this with flowers to the Imam at the Masjid Ar-Rahman mosque in Norgate on March 23rd.
At the same time, we reached out in a similar fashion to the Ismaili Jamatkhana on Gladwin Drive, west of Gloria Dei Evangelical Lutheran Church. This resulted in an invitation from the Mukhi, Dr. Haneef Alibhai to join him and others in his faith community at a reception at the Jamatkhana on Saturday 13 April at 3 pm.
Reverend Sharon lead a group of parishioners and spoke at the reception, which included representatives from number of faith communities on the North Shore including Rabbi Gibbs from Har El Synagogue in West Vancouver, Rev. Will Sparks from Highlands United, Jim Berger from Gloria Dei Lutheran, Andres Rebane, Chaplain at LGH, and Marian Edwards from St. Clement's Anglican in Lynn Valley. Following the reception, the group heard a presentation about the work of the Jamatkhana and were given a tour of the beautiful building.
A great sense of the importance of continued dialogue emerged from our meetings and a desire to learn more and to understand more deeply the similarities and differences of our faiths.
We hope that such ecumenical gatherings can be fostered and continued regularly in our region.
1 Group assembling for introductions and words of solidarity
2 The Mukhi (head of the community) - Dr Haneef Alibhai
3 Andres Rebane
Contemplative Service
8:00 am Service at Amica
The Way of Peace
Election of a new Primate
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Salesforce Announces Record First Quarter Fiscal 2019 Results
Raises FY19 Revenue Guidance to $13.075 Billion to $13.125 Billion
• First Quarter Revenue of $3.01 Billion, up 25% Year-Over-Year, 22% in Constant Currency
• Unearned Revenue of $6.20 Billion, up 25% Year-Over-Year, 23% in Constant Currency
• Remaining Transaction Price of Approximately $20.4 Billion, up 36% Year-Over-Year
• First Quarter Operating Cash Flow of $1.47 Billion, up 19% Year-Over-Year
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – May 29, 2018 – Salesforce (NYSE: CRM), the global leader in CRM, today announced results for its fiscal first quarter ended April 30, 2018. The company adopted ASC 606 [1], ASC 340-40 [2] and ASU 2016-01 [3] in the first quarter, and these results reflect the impact of these standards. The company also provided re-casted financial results under ASC 606 and ASC 340-40.
“Salesforce delivered more than $3 billion in revenue in the first quarter, surpassing a $12 billion annual revenue run rate,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, Salesforce. “Our relentless focus on customer success is yielding incredible results, including delivering nearly two billion AI predictions per day with Einstein.”
Salesforce delivered the following results for its fiscal first quarter:
Revenue: Total first quarter revenue was $3.01 billion, an increase of 25% year-over-year, and 22% in constant currency. Subscription and support revenues were $2.81 billion, an increase of 27% year-over-year. Professional services and other revenues were $196 million, an increase of 4% year-over-year.
Earnings per Share: First quarter GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.46, and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share was $0.74. Mark-to-market accounting of the company’s strategic investments, required by ASU 2016-01, benefitted GAAP diluted earnings per share by $0.25 and non-GAAP diluted earnings per share by $0.22.
Cash: Cash generated from operations for the first quarter was $1.47 billion, an increase of 19% year-over-year. Total cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities finished the first quarter at $7.16 billion.
Unearned Revenue: Unearned revenue, representing ASC 605 deferred revenue less the cumulative timing differences of recognized revenue from ASC 606 adoption, on the balance sheet as of April 30, 2018 was $6.20 billion, an increase of 25% year-over-year, and 23% in constant currency.
Remaining Transaction Price: Remaining transaction price, representing future revenues that are under contract but have not yet been recognized, ended the first quarter at approximately $20.4 billion, an increase of 36% year-over-year. Current remaining transaction price, which represents the future revenues under contract expected to be recognized over the next 12 months, ended the first quarter at approximately $9.6 billion, an increase of 26% year-over-year.
As of May 29, 2018, the company is initiating revenue, earnings per share, and unearned revenue guidance for its second quarter of fiscal year 2019. In addition, the company is raising its full fiscal year 2019 revenue guidance and non-GAAP earnings per share guidance, and updating its GAAP earnings per share guidance and operating cash flow guidance for its full fiscal year 2019, previously provided on April 2, 2018. The guidance below does not reflect the future impact of ASU 2016-01 and is based on estimated GAAP tax rates that reflect the company’s currently available information, including the anticipated impact of the new Tax Act and interpretations thereof, as well as other factors and assumptions. The GAAP tax rates may fluctuate due to recent acquisitions.
The following is a per share reconciliation of GAAP earnings per share to non-GAAP diluted earnings per share guidance for the next quarter and the full year:
For additional information regarding non-GAAP financial measures see the reconciliation of results and related explanations below.
[1]Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 606 “Revenue from Contracts with Customers”
[2] ASC 340-40 “Other Assets and Deferred Costs – Contracts with Customers”
[3] Accounting Standards Update 2016-01 “Financial Instruments”
Quarterly Conference Call
Salesforce will host a conference call at 2:00 p.m. (PT) / 5:00 p.m. (ET) today to discuss its financial results with the investment community. A live web broadcast of the event will be available on the Salesforce Investor Relations website at www.salesforce.com/investor. A live dial-in is available domestically at 866-901-SFDC or 866-901-7332 and internationally at 706-902-1764, passcode 9492699. A replay will be available at (800) 585-8367 or (855) 859-2056 until midnight (ET) June 28, 2018.
Salesforce, the global leader in CRM, empowers companies to connect with their customers in a whole new way. Salesforce has headquarters in San Francisco, with offices in Europe and Asia, and trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol \"CRM.\" For more information about Salesforce, visit: www.salesforce.com.
"Safe harbor" statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements about our financial results, which may include expected GAAP and non-GAAP financial and other operating and non-operating results, including revenue, net income, diluted earnings per share, operating cash flow growth, operating margin improvement, unearned revenue (previously referred to as deferred revenue) growth, expected revenue growth, expected tax rates, stock-based compensation expenses, amortization of purchased intangibles, amortization of debt discount and shares outstanding. The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involves risks, uncertainties and assumptions. If any such risks or uncertainties materialize or if any of the assumptions prove incorrect, the company’s results could differ materially from the results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements we make.
The risks and uncertainties referred to above include -- but are not limited to -- risks associated with the effect of general economic and market conditions; the impact of foreign currency exchange rate and interest rate fluctuations on our results; our business strategy and our plan to build our business, including our strategy to be the leading provider of enterprise cloud computing applications and platforms; the pace of change and innovation in enterprise cloud computing services; the competitive nature of the market in which we participate; our international expansion strategy; our service performance and security, including the resources and costs required to prevent, detect and remediate potential security breaches; the expenses associated with new data centers and third-party infrastructure providers; additional data center capacity; real estate and office facilities space; our operating results and cash flows; new services and product features; our strategy of acquiring or making investments in complementary businesses, joint ventures, services, technologies and intellectual property rights; the performance and fair value of our investments in complementary businesses through our strategic investment portfolio; our ability to realize the benefits from strategic partnerships and investments; our ability to successfully integrate acquired businesses and technologies, including the operations of MuleSoft, Inc.; our ability to continue to grow and maintain unearned revenue and remaining transaction price (previously referred to as deferred revenue and unbilled deferred revenue); our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; our ability to develop our brands; our reliance on third-party hardware, software and platform providers; our dependency on the development and maintenance of the infrastructure of the Internet; the effect of evolving domestic and foreign government regulations, including those related to the provision of services on the Internet, those related to accessing the Internet, and those addressing data privacy and import and export controls; the valuation of our deferred tax assets; the potential availability of additional tax assets in the future; the impact of new accounting pronouncements and tax laws, including the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and interpretations thereof; uncertainties affecting our ability to estimate our non-GAAP tax rate; the impact of expensing stock options and other equity awards; the sufficiency of our capital resources; factors related to our outstanding debt, revolving credit facility, term loan and loan associated with 50 Fremont; compliance with our debt covenants and capital lease obligations; current and potential litigation involving us; and the impact of climate change.
Further information on these and other factors that could affect the company’s financial results is included in the reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K and in other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. These documents are available on the SEC Filings section of the Investor Information section of the company’s website at www.salesforce.com/investor.
Salesforce.com, inc. assumes no obligation and does not intend to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.
© 2018 salesforce.com, inc. All rights reserved. Salesforce and other marks are trademarks of salesforce.com, inc. Other brands featured herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures: This press release includes information about non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, non-GAAP tax rates, non-GAAP free cash flow, and constant currency revenue and constant currency unearned revenue growth rates (collectively the “non-GAAP financial measures”). These non-GAAP financial measures are measurements of financial performance that are not prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles and computational methods may differ from those used by other companies. Non-GAAP financial measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP measures and should be read only in conjunction with the company’s consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. Management uses both GAAP and non-GAAP measures when planning, monitoring, and evaluating the company’s performance.
The primary purpose of using non-GAAP measures is to provide supplemental information that may prove useful to investors and to enable investors to evaluate the company’s results in the same way management does. Management believes that supplementing GAAP disclosure with non-GAAP disclosure provides investors with a more complete view of the company’s operational performance and allows for meaningful period-to-period comparisons and analysis of trends in the company’s business. Further, to the extent that other companies use similar methods in calculating non-GAAP measures, the provision of supplemental non-GAAP information can allow for a comparison of the company’s relative performance against other companies that also report non-GAAP operating results.
Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share excludes, to the extent applicable, the impact of the following items: stock-based compensation, amortization of acquisition-related intangibles, and the net amortization of debt discount on the company’s convertible senior notes, as well as income tax adjustments. These items are excluded because the decisions that give rise to them are not made to increase revenue in a particular period, but instead for the company’s long-term benefit over multiple periods.
Specifically, management is excluding the following items from its non-GAAP earnings per share, as applicable, for the periods presented in the Q1 FY19 financial statements and for its non-GAAP estimates for Q2 and FY19:
• Stock-Based Expenses: The company’s compensation strategy includes the use of stock-based compensation to attract and retain employees and executives. It is principally aimed at aligning their interests with those of our stockholders and at long-term employee retention, rather than to motivate or reward operational performance for any particular period. Thus, stock-based compensation expense varies for reasons that are generally unrelated to operational decisions and performance in any particular period.
• Amortization of Purchased Intangibles and Acquired Leases: The company views amortization of acquisition- and building-related intangible assets, such as the amortization of the cost associated with an acquired company’s research and development efforts, trade names, customer lists and customer relationships, and acquired lease intangibles, as items arising from pre-acquisition activities determined at the time of an acquisition. While these intangible assets are continually evaluated for impairment, amortization of the cost of purchased intangibles is a static expense, one that is not typically affected by operations during any particular period.
• Amortization of Debt Discount: Under GAAP, certain convertible debt instruments that may be settled in cash (or other assets) on conversion are required to be separately accounted for as liability (debt) and equity (conversion option) components of the instrument in a manner that reflects the issuer’s non-convertible debt borrowing rate. Accordingly, for GAAP purposes we are required to recognize imputed interest expense on the company’s $1.15 billion of convertible senior notes due in April 2018 that were issued in a private placement in March 2013. The imputed interest rate was approximately 2.5% for the convertible notes due 2018, while the actual coupon interest rate of the notes was 0.25%. The difference between the imputed interest expense and the coupon interest expense, net of the interest amount capitalized, is excluded from management’s assessment of the company’s operating performance because management believes that this non-cash expense is not indicative of ongoing operating performance.
• Gains on Strategic Investments, net: Upon adoption of 2016-01, the company is required to record all fair value adjustments to its equity securities held within the strategic investment portfolio through the statement of operations. As a result of potential and unknown market volatility, the company excludes any potential future gains or losses on its strategic investment portfolio from its GAAP and non-GAAP estimates for future periods.
• Income Tax Effects and Adjustments: The company utilizes a fixed long-term projected non-GAAP tax rate in order to provide better consistency across the interim reporting periods by eliminating the effects of items such as changes in the tax valuation allowance and tax effects of acquisitions-related costs, since each of these can vary in size and frequency. When projecting this long-term rate, the company evaluated a three-year financial projection that excludes the direct impact of the following non-cash items: stock-based expenses, amortization of purchased intangibles, and amortization of debt discount. The projected rate also assumes no new acquisitions in the three-year period, and considers other factors including the company’s expected tax structure, its tax positions in various jurisdictions and key legislation in major jurisdictions where the company operates. For fiscal 2019, the company uses a projected non-GAAP tax rate of 21.5 percent, which reflects currently available information, including the anticipated impact of the Tax Act and interpretations thereof, as well as other factors and assumptions. The non-GAAP tax rate could be subject to change for a variety of reasons, including the company’s ongoing analysis of the Tax Act over the measurement period, the rapidly evolving global tax environment, significant changes in the company’s geographic earnings mix including due to acquisition activity, or other changes to the company’s strategy or business operations. The company will re-evaluate its long-term rate as appropriate.
The company defines the non-GAAP measure free cash flow as GAAP net cash provided by operating activities, less capital expenditures. For this purpose, capital expenditures does not include our strategic investments, nor does it include any costs or activities related to our purchase of 50 Fremont land and building, and building - leased facilities.
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Getting conservationists and fishers on the same page
May 31, 2018 — Historically, fisheries and the conservation community have struggled to find common ground. The tension between one’s desire to turn a profit and the other’s to preserve endangered or protected marine species that can be killed as bycatch has made it difficult to find solutions that satisfy both. Now, a new online tool developed by researchers at San Diego State University in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and other universities could win support from both groups. EcoCast, developed with funding from the NASA Applied Sciences Ecological Forecasting Program, provides computer-generated maps to help fishermen target productive fishing spots while alerting them to areas likely to harbor protected species.
“This is a really different way of approaching fisheries management,” said Rebecca Lewison, a lead scientist on the project from San Diego State University and senior author of the new paper. “EcoCast pioneers a way of evaluating both conservation objectives and economic profitability. Instead of trying to shut down U.S. fisheries, EcoCast is trying to help U.S. fishermen fish smarter, allowing them to meet their set quota of target catch and avoid unwanted bycatch.”
Current protection zones for species are static, meaning authorities declare a zone off-limits to fishermen for some duration of time. But weather and oceanic conditions are ever-shifting, with species constantly moving in and out of protected areas. When protection zones are out of sync with the animals they’re designed to protect, both fisheries and conservation lose.
Read the full story at PHYS
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Scotland internationalist Colin Jackson passes away
The Scottish FA wishes to send its condolences to the family of the former Scotland internationalist, Colin Jackson, who died aged 68 from cancer.
Colin played eight times for Scotland, scoring once in a 2-2 draw against Wales in 1975.
Campbell Ogilvie, Scottish FA President: “I’ve had the pleasure of knowing Colin for 50 years, since when he played in the reserves at Rangers, where my father was team doctor.
“He was a terrific player and servant to the club but above all he was a gentleman. On behalf of the Scottish FA I would like to send my condolences to his family.”
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VetsNow announced as official partner of Scottish FA
Scotland Supporters Club members will receive more than £1.5m of vet care as part of an exciting new partnership with Vets Now.
Vets Now are today confirmed the official partner of the Scotland Supporters Club and vet care partner of the Scottish FA.
To celebrate the partnership, they will provide each of the 35,000 SSC members with a £50 voucher to help pay for pet bills at any Vets Now clinic, including the Vets Now Referral hospital in Glasgow.
Vets Now is the leading provider of accident and emergency veterinary care for small animals in the UK.
Its founder and chairman, Richard Dixon, is a lifelong Scotland fan and believes the partnership will ensure an even greater Hampden Roar against Poland.
Richard said: “Football has a real positive impact on our culture, improving the fitness and wellbeing of young children, whilst teaching them teamwork and improving self-esteem.
“As a national business founded in Scotland, our partnership represents a great fit for Vets Now and we are extremely proud to be supporting the national team.”
He added: “Scotland is renowned for having the best football fans in the world and the partnership offers the opportunity to engage with the national team fanbase and expand our reach to pet owners across the country.”
With hospitals in Glasgow and Swindon and 53 emergency clinics across the country, Vets Now is committed to delivering a dedicated out-of-hours and accident and emergency service for cats, dogs and other small animals.
Donald Young, Scottish FA New Business Manager: “Vets Now have been an integral part of our Business Club and I am delighted to see the relationship evolve into a Scottish FA category sponsorship, which will be of great benefit to all Scotland Supporters Club members and supporters in general.”
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22 Thoughts on the Power of Context
Context is everything—knowledge of it can give deeper meaning to your reality and insight into what’s coming next.
I became acutely aware of the importance of context as a student of history and architecture. When you learn to make sense of the environment in which events take place and can see the factors that can influence your work, you have the ability to shape how the future unfolds.
The Oxford English Dictionary defines contexts as “the circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood.”
As an architect and designer, I view context as the physical, social, economic, and technological forces that affect the form of our built environment and the interactions between people.
From a leadership perspective, when people have a sense of how their actions can have an impact on their organization, no matter where they are working, they are more inclined to step forward and take initiative. Context is especially helpful when employees are expected to be self-motivated and relatively independent in their decision-making.
Understanding context means that you will have a better sense of the opportunities they face, they will be empowered to offer new ideas, and they will work together better because they sense how others perceive the group’s issues and challenges.
Below are 22 thoughts on the concept of context from authors, scientists, filmmakers, and artists. Whether you are working to design, disrupt, innovate, or lead, their words will broaden your view and help you see your work differently.
{*} “In archaeology, context is everything. Objects allow us to reconstruct the past. Taking artifacts from a temple or an ancient private house is like emptying out a time capsule.” — Sarah Parcak
{*} “Reality is not a function of the event as event, but of the relationship of that event to past, and future, events.” — Robert Penn Warren, All the King’s Men
{*} “For me context is the key – from that comes the understanding of everything.” — Kenneth Noland
{*} “You judge people in the context of their time, not in the context of ours.” — Dennis Prager
{*} “Making mental connections is our most crucial learning tool, the essence of human intelligence; to forge links; to go beyond the given; to see patterns, relationships, context.” — Marilyn Ferguson
{*} “Meals make the society, hold the fabric together in lots of ways that were charming and interesting and intoxicating to me. The perfect meal, or the best meals, occur in a context that frequently has very little to do with the food itself.” — Anthony Bourdain
{*} “Swing is extreme coordination. It’s a maintaining balance, equilibrium. It’s about executing very difficult rhythms with a panache and a feeling in the context of very strict time. So, everything about the swing is about some guideline and some grid and the elegant way that you negotiate your way through that grid.” — Wynton Marsalis
{*} “There comes a point in your life when you realize how quickly time goes by, and how quickly it has gone. Then it really speeds up exponentially. With that, I think you start to put a lot of things into context; you start to see how huge the world is, and really, the universe.” — Michael Keaton
{*} “Taken out of context I must seem so strange.” — Ani Difranco
{*} “Sometimes your greatest strength can emerge as a weakness if the context changes.” — Harsha Bhogle
{*} “Before recording technology existed, you could not separate music from its social context.” — David Byrne
{*} “Critics have a responsibility to put things in a cultural and sociological or political context. That is important.” — Annette Bening
{*} “There are certain sounds that I’ve found work well in nearly any context. Their function is not so much musical as spatial: they define the edges of the territory of the music.” — Brian Eno
{*} “A dinosaur out of context is like a character without a story. Worse than that, the character suffers from amnesia.” — Jack Horner
{*} “The world isn’t fast-paced, it’s frenetic. People have to be managers of themselves. Time has been managing itself for 15 billion years; we have to manage ourselves in the context of time.” — Tony Buzan
{*} “I think you always have to find where the boundary is in relation to the context in order to be able to kind of articulate how you want the space to interact with the viewer.” — Richard Serra
{*} “The better we understand how identities and power work together from one context to another, the less likely our movements for change are to fracture.” — Kimberle Williams Crenshaw
{*} “We are in a tech-heavy society, plunging headlong into an unknown future. Science fiction is what allows you to stand back and analyze the impact of that and put it in context of how it affects people.” — J. Michael Straczynski
{*} “Life’s the adventure. You don’t have to drop your bundle and go bush. It’s about being brave within the context that you’re in.” — Robyn Davidson
{*} “If there were a science of human beings it would be anthropology that aims at understanding the totality of experience through structural context.” — William Dilthey
{*} “I think young people are the most creative and the coolest – people that we should be learning from. Even when I’m at a party, I’m analyzing it and thinking about it in the context of how I would write about it. That side of me never switches off.” — Lorde
{*} “We are searching for some kind of harmony between two intangibles: a form which we have not yet designed and a context which we cannot properly describe.” — Christopher Alexander
Tags:Business, Creativity, Culture, Design, Entrepreneurs, Growth, History, Innovation, Leadership, Patterns, Trends
Your most important work is directly in front of you
Deep Context (or 13 Questions to Ask Before You Give a Speech)
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Difference between revisions of "2018 Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship"
From NASPAWiki
CM000003 (talk | contribs)
(→Venue: guest room available)
(→News: guest room availability)
; 2018-04-23
: I will be incommunicado while travelling to Malta beginning at about 16:00 ET on 2018-04-25; I estimate now that the final player roster will be ready on the evening of 2018-04-26, as long as I can get a report about what arrived in my mail on 2018-04-25 and who made entry fee payments at the Toronto Scrabble Club that night.
: We still do not have a room block available at the hotel, but I have updated the accommodation section to list a player in Mississuaga who has a guest room available at their house.
== Player Roster ==
The 2018 Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship (CNSC), the tenth such event since its inception in 1996, is tentatively planned to take place in Toronto in June.
1 Web Coverage
3 Player Roster
5 How to Compete
5.1 Refunds
6 Format of 2018 CNSC Finals
7 Spectators
9.1 Parking
10 Dining
11 Staff
12 Equipment
13 Further Information
Web Coverage
The championship will receive major event web coverage typical of recent national and international championships, including photography and commentary and live annotated games from Board 1.
When the event begins, please take a look at the live webcast site.
While no contracts have yet been signed, we are looking at holding the championship on June 15-18 at the Bond Place Hotel. We are not looking at any other candidate dates or venues, and if negotiations proceed as smoothly as usual, we should have a formal announcement ready by the end of February.
Contracts remain unsigned, but approvals are expected soon. The Canadian Committee has finished deliberating about proposals to change the format of the event, which will be published shortly.
Draft qualification system posted. Registration opened.
We have budgetary approval and are waiting for contracts to be reviewed.
Contracts have been approved with minor changes, and are awaiting signatures.
All contracts have been signed, the event is confirmed. Email will go out this weekend to all Canadian players, regardless of registration status.
I’ve followed up with my hotel contact asking about the status of a guest room block, and expect to hear back in a day or two. I have queued up email to go out to all Canadian NASPA members announcing the tournament.
I will be incommunicado while travelling to Malta beginning at about 16:00 ET on 2018-04-25; I estimate now that the final player roster will be ready on the evening of 2018-04-26, as long as I can get a report about what arrived in my mail on 2018-04-25 and who made entry fee payments at the Toronto Scrabble Club that night.
We still do not have a room block available at the hotel, but I have updated the accommodation section to list a player in Mississuaga who has a guest room available at their house.
You can follow the registration and qualification process in the qualification standings chart. Players marked with a ‘y’ are paid registrants; those with a dollar sign have informed us that their payment is en route, but will not be considered registered until payment is received and cleared.
Here is an overview of what happens when. Please also see the more detailed full schedule.
Warmup 2018 Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship Early Bird (optional)
Rounds 1–3
Rounds 4–11
Rounds 12–18
Finals (best-of-five between top two finalists)
Please note that everyone is welcome to attend the regular weekly meeting of the Mississauga SCRABBLE® Club on the evening of Thursday, May 14th.
The CNSC is an invitational event for the top 52 players who qualify according to a qualification system (QS) developed in consultation with the NASPA Canadian Committee. As described in the QS, competitors must play a minimum number of games during a qualification period (QP), be Canadian citizens or permanent residents and be members in good standing of NASPA.
One place goes to defending champion Adam Logan, the next 51 places are awarded based on a combination of peak ratings and geographical allocations.
Regardless of how you wish to qualify, you must register by making sure that John Chew receives your $75 entry fee together with your T-shirt size no later than April 25, 2018. You may pay by cash, cheque or INTERAC e-Transfer, but not PayPal or credit card. Cash and cheque payments may be made by mail (9 Fulton Avenue, Toronto ON M4K 1X6) or in person at the Toronto SCRABBLE Club. If you are not sure whether or not you will qualify, please pay by cheque, so that your cheque can be destroyed or returned if you do not qualify.
As usual, to participate in the CNSC, you must comply with the CNSC rules, which set out in legal terms the agreement that you are entering into as a participant in the event.
The CNSC is an invitational tournament of fixed size, so holding a place and then withdrawing can lead to a situation where the player who should have replaced you cannot make travel arrangements in time. You should therefore only register to play if you are sure that you can compete.
Format of 2018 CNSC Finals
The top two finishers in the preliminary round will earn berths in the best-of-five CNSC finals which will be held on Monday, June 18. The first player to win three games will be declared the CNSC champion for 2018.
The player who finishes first in the preliminary round will go first in games 1, 3, and 5 of the finals. The player who finishes second in the preliminary round will go first in games 2 and 4.
Any tie games will be considered, as is usual in NASPA tournament competition, a half game won and a half game lost for both players. If each player has 2.5 wins after five games, the player who has the superior point spread in the finals will be declared the winner. If both players have identical points spreads, a sixth game will be played with the player who went first in games 2 and 4 also going first in game 6.
A scheduled lunch break will take place after the third game.
Spectators are invited to attend the finals on Monday, where the best-of-five match will be relayed play by play onto a projection screen. Admission is free.
Spectators are also welcome to take a look at the preliminary rounds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, but space is extremely limited. They should introduce themselves to tournament officials on arrival, and take care not to disturb games in progress.
The $12,150 prize pool donated by Hasbro Canada will be awarded according to the same distribution as at the 2013 CNSC.
Possession of the trophy
High Play
$25 (daily)
Best Daily Record
Exterior photo showing Bond Place Hotel at left, east end of Yonge-Dundas Square at right
The Bond Place Hotel is located in downtown Toronto, one block east of Yonge-Dundas Square, the “Heart of the City”, in a popular neighbourhood known for shopping, dining and entertainment. Within a 200-metre radius are such other Toronto landmarks as the Eaton Centre (the largest mall in the region), Massey Hall (a century-old performing arts theatre), St. Michael’s Hospital and Ryerson University.
A limited number of rooms will be available at a discounted rate of TBA, per room per night, based on single or double occupancy, not including 16% tax. This rate is available until TBA by calling the hotel at 1-800-268-9390 and giving the group name Canadian National SCRABBLE Championship.
A player in Mississauga has a guest room available for out-of-town players, especially those who have room for a passenger in their car.
The hotel’s guest parking is located catercorner to the hotel on the northeast corner of Bond and Dundas (enter off Bond). It is not cheap, but hotel guests are entitled to 24-hour rates with in/out privileges.
In general, parking rates in the area vary according to the day of the week, and whether or not there is a special event (such as a theatre production, or public event at Yonge-Dundas Square) nearby. Most lots have separate maximum rates for day and night parking, but they differ as to when the night rates begin. Some lots are cash only; most accept Visa and Mastercard. It would not be unusual to be charged $35-$40 to park for 24 hours in this area.
There are websites that let you calculate how much parking rates are at different times in different lots, that can save you quite a lot of money. As of mid-April, the best rate for parking from 9:00 A.M. to 11:00 P.M. on Friday, June 15th is $22 in the hotel garage; on the weekend, IMPARK at 209 Victoria Street offers an unbelievable $8 rate for 12 hours of parking.
There is a parking lot on the southeast corner of Bond and Dundas which may be convenient to players who are running late on arrival, but is one of the more expensive lots in the area.
If you park on-street, make sure you pay careful attention to the signage, and are aware of a remote possibility of being ticketed under an unposted time limit of three hours’ parking on city streets unless otherwise signed. You can conveniently pay for on-street parking using the Green P app, which will let you renew/extend parking sessions for exactly the duration that you need without having to return to your car. On-street parking costs between $2.25 and $4.00 per hour, depending on how close you are to Yonge Street.
If you’re driving in from the suburbs, please carefully consider the possibility of parking at a suburban subway station and taking public transit to Dundas subway station.
Dining area outside the playing room, lower level, Bond Place Hotel
During the main event, breakfast and lunch will be provided to contestants in the lounge. For both the early bird and main event, coffee and tea breaks will be served in the morning and afternoon.
The nearest food courts are in the malls on the other three (NE, NW and SW) corners of Yonge and Dundas.
Marisa Pedatella, Melanie Grant
& Web Designer
John Chew
Mad Palazzo
If you are interested in working at this event, please contact John Chew.
Players should take careful note of what equipment they will be provided, and what equipment they should bring.
Players must bring their own boards, but may if travelling from outside of the greater Toronto area arrange to borrow a local player’s board. If neither player in a scheduled game has a board, both may forfeit their game.
Racks will be provided at this event; players may choose to use their own racks instead.
All players will be given a set of 2018 CNSC Protiles at registration. Please check their distribution carefully before playing your first game; as per NASPA rules, no changes may be made once a game has begun. Games must be played using CNSC Protiles, but players may bring and play with Protiles from past CNSC events if they wish (and are encouraged to do so to avoid having to play with two sets of the same colour at the same table).
Tile Bags
NASPA tile bags will be available; players may use these or their own. If using their own, the provided tile bag should stay at its table.
Players are requested to bring their own digital game timers. A limited number of timers will be available on a first-come basis; if neither player in a game can find a clock, both may forfeit the game.
Scoresheets
A limited number of standard NASPA scoresheets will be available for player use, as well as plentiful supplies of blank paper.
A limited number of writing implements will be available for player use, but we strongly recommend that players bring their own.
If you have questions about the 2018 CNSC that are not answered on this website, please contact CNSC Director John Chew.
Retrieved from "http://www.scrabbleplayers.org/wiki/index.php?title=2018_Canadian_National_SCRABBLE_Championship&oldid=13383"
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About SCRAP
The SCRAP Committee
UNSG’s Agenda
SCRAP Proposal
A Realistic Prospect
From START to SCRAP
Developing a Strategy on Conventional Arms
40 Acts to Save the World : Secretary-General’s Agenda for Disarmament
Ban Ki Moon’s, UN Secretary General, message to SCRAP
Combat Drones: The Brave New World of the Conventionalization of Unmanned Warfare
Dr Dan Plesch invited to the Civil Society Forum on the Conference on Disarmament
Dr. Dan Plesch speaks about SCRAP at the UN in New York
Hiroshima and Nagasaki : The Legacy of Nuclear Weapons and Disarmament
How can we reinvigorate General and Complete Disarmament? – Expert Panel at GCSP
Prospects for Arms Control in North-East Asia
Reconciling National Security with General and Complete Disarmament
Reflections on the General Debate of the First Committee, General Assembly of the United Nations
Reflections on US involvement in the Saudi-Yemen War: America and the ATT
The SCRAP Treaty
The long-standing legal commitment to general disarmament embodied in the NPT is in sight. Just as the acronym START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) denotes the nuclear-arms talks leading to the treaties of 1991 and 1993, and New START in 2010, today’s equivalent could be SCRAP – a Strategic Concept for Removal of Arms and Proliferation.
In 1989, NATO and the Warsaw Pact began talks on arms reductions. Within two years, they had signed a treaty that saw 52,000 tanks, warplanes, artillery guns and helicopters destroyed. Similarly, Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev reached agreements that dismantled 20,000 nuclear warheads, leaving some 30,000 intact.
In this same period, near-universal agreement banned the test-firing of nuclear weapons; as a result, whereas previously both the U.S. and Soviet Union had been test-firing hundreds of nuclear weapons a year, global test-firings since 1996 have been reduced to almost zero.
We have also had other successes. IN 1975, the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) came into force in 1975, becoming the first multilateral disarmament treaty to ban the production of an entire category of weapons. While the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) came into force in 1997, prohibiting the development, production, stockpiling and transfer of chemical weapons. In 2017, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons announced it had verified the elimination of 67,851 metric tonnes of Category I chemical weapons, which is equal to 96 per cent of the world’s declared chemical weapons.
The continuation of the Nunn-Lugar programme and recent initiatives to revive the Fissile Materials Cut-off Treaty (FMCT) talks, including U.S. President Trump’s administration’s statements that it will support negotiation of an FMCT at the 2018 NPT Preparatory Committee are positive signs. Useful innovations in practical – including non-violent – methods of controlling dangerous commodities including nuclear materials, for example in transport and logistics, have come gradually as the disarmament and arms control mainstream has both dwindled and split.
The novel legislative approach embodied in UNSCR 1540 (2004), which is aimed at preventing non-state actors from acquiring nuclear, biological and chemical weapons, their means of delivery and related materials, is certainly a step in the right direction in the battle against illicit WMD transfers, but it has suffered problems of implementation at the state level.
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (Ban Treaty) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 7 July 2017. Signatories to the treaty agree never to develop, test, produce, manufacture, otherwise acquire, possess, or stockpile nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices. The text was passed with 122 votes in favour, 1 against (Netherlands) and 1 abstention (Singapore). Sixty-nine countries did not vote, including all of the NATO members except the Netherlands and all of the nuclear weapon states.
With respect to conventional arms, the ATT entered into force on 24 December 2014. It has been ratified by 94 states and a further 41 states have signed but not ratified it, and reflects an increased will to regulate the trade of weapons in order to contribute to peace and reduce human suffering. However, to achieve these ends, this concern needs to also be directed at initiatives to reduce holdings of major weapons systems, ordnance stocks and production, and not only to the control of the conventional weapons trade.
Moreover, the parallel surge of interest by the international donor community, reflected in the OECD Development Assistance Committee, in using such standards to measure the success of security sector reforms requires the development of an integrated, risk-based approach to equipment and weaponry, and hence to disarmament, in the re-shaping of military, security and policing institutions – one without the other will not deliver sustained security.
What is needed is not to set aside the useful aspects of the new, piecemeal approach towards proliferation but to reunite them with a renewed ‘classical’ process based on strategies towards disarmament and the use of treaty and rule of law methods – with the associated principles of equity, objectivity, universality and transparency.
This new combination could achieve a more rational division of labour and subsidiarity. Such an approach should fill dangerous gaps in the pattern of coverage and effort, and minimise the double-think and double standards that are rife in current policies and practices.
How can you become involved in SCRAP?
Facebook-f Twitter Linkedin
SCRAP proposes timetables and a draft treaty for consideration at the United Nations General Assembly, which takes place in September every year. Support our efforts to have SCRAP introduced at the UN General Assembly by sending a letter of support to your government.
If you are a student organisation or individual interested in working for SCRAP, please send us an email at dp27@soas.ac.uk.
SOAS University of London 10 Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG | Phone: 020-7898-4322 | Email: scrap.weapons@soas.ac.uk
Copyright © 2019 SCRAP Weapons
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Dear Unforgettable Brother A personal glimpse into the lives of two brothers: one who emigrated and one who stayed https://www.sdhspress.com/books/dear-unforgettable-brother-the-stavig-letters-from-norway-america-1881a1937 https://www.sdhspress.com/@@site-logo/sdshp-logo.jpg
Dear Unforgettable Brother
The Stavig Letters from Norway & America, 1881–1937
A personal glimpse into the lives of two brothers: one who emigrated and one who stayed
148 pages | black-and-white photographs
$19.95, Paperback
"This is an excellent book if you want to learn more about the Norwegian settlement in America."—Bill Markley, Roundup Magazine
"Extensive annotations, and index, and brief supplementary essays round out this welcome addition to South Dakota state history shelves."—The Midwest Book Review
"Dear Unforgettable Brother: The Stavig Letters from Norway and America is an extraordinary story documenting the lives of Lars Stavig and Knut Stavig, but it is also a testament to the persistence of their heirs in preserving the letters and sharing their story. This book is so much more than correspondence; it's the story of every immigrant family, the heritage of settlement on the Great Plains, and the importance of family and community. South Dakota Public Broadcasting was pleased to have had the opportunity to add a small part to the amazing work accomplished by the Rasmussen family, Dr. Wayne Knutson, and now the South Dakota State Historical Society Press."—Larry Rohrer
Pursuing a brighter future in the United States, Lars Stavig leaves his family in Norway and journeys to the prairies of Dakota Territory. Though their paths never cross again, he and his brother continue to write, sharing their experiences across the sea.
Over 130 years have passed since Lars Stavig first wrote home to Knut Stavig. Like the lives their authors lived, their letters reflect the challenges faced by families in both Norway and America.
Covering the Span of five decades, these letters gained popularity through an award-winning South Dakota Public Broadcasting Corporation film. The communication among the Stavig relatives gives readers personal insight into the lives of those who emigrated and those who stayed behind. This annotated book is the first time the letters have appeared in print.
Jane Torness Rasmussen, the great-granddaughter of Lars Stavig, introduces readers to the Stavig family letters. John S. Rasmussen, president of the Heritage Museums of Roberts County, provides annotations that set the brothers' words into greater context. Edvard Hoem, a Norwegian novelist and poet, explores life and culture in Norway at the time Lars Stavig emigrated. Betty A. Bergland, a professor of history at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, examines the history of Norwegian immigrants in the United States.
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History of Law Enforcement Torch Run
The Torch Run program began in 1981, when Wichita, Kansas Chief of Police Richard LaMunyon saw an urgent need to raise funds for and increase awareness of Special Olympics. The idea was simple: provide local law enforcement with opportunities to volunteer with Special Olympics in communities where the officers lived and worked.
The Law Enforcement Torch Run is a series of intra-state/intra-nation runs that take place in the spring and summer in the United States and around the world. Throughout the course of the Torch Run, participants collect contributions from individuals and businesses, asking to help raise support for incredible Special Olympics athletes. The Torch Run is much more than just a run; it is a year-round campaign to raise awareness and funds for Special Olympics Arizona. The Law Enforcement Torch Run puts on statewide events such as tip-a-cop, cop on top of doughnut shops, golf tournaments, polar plunges, and inmate fundraising—just to name a few!
100% of all money raised for the Law Enforcement Torch Run goes directly to support Special Olympics athletes in Arizona and their supporting programs. 95% of all money that is given to Special Olympics Arizona goes directly to support Special Olympics programs and athletes.
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Taking the Kids
A Guide for Families on the Field
By Joyce Bowers
Editor's Note: For tips on finding a family-friendly mission group, see Family Mission Trips.
Soon after we arrived in Liberia, my three-year-old daughter asked for a story at bedtime. She often asked for stories, but on this night, I was too tired to think of a plot. Feeling uncreative, I began, “I know a little girl who eats Cheerios…” and described a day in the life she’d just left in America. She squealed with delight and jumped to correct me. “Cornflakes!” she said.
Afterward, my daughter asked for more installments of the story. As time went on, I talked about life in Liberia, and included her Ghanaian, Liberian, and German playmates in the story.
It took a lot of time to help our daughter adjust to life overseas. That’s one reason relatively few families with children undertake short-term assignments. Uprooting, moving and adjusting to a different culture and lifestyle take huge investments of time and energy for a family. Assignments that last less than one year may be too short. Service overseas costs a lot, but it pays off, too. The rewards of family enrichment last a lifetime.
If you have children older than eight or nine, the whole family should make the decision to go. It’s unwise to burden a very young child with an adult decision, but it’s a recipe for disaster to forcefully uproot a child, especially a teenager, against his or her will. If the process of information gathering along with your own growing enthusiasm doesn’t engage the interest and willingness of a child, it may be better to alter plans. On the other hand, an excited, informed, and prepared child may receive lifelong benefits from the cross-cultural experience.
If there’s one thing that spells the difference between a successful adjustment to overseas living and a family disaster, it’s preparation. Make it a family project to learn about the history and geography of the country, and about the customs of the people with whom you’ll share your life.
Finding out the specifics of your living arrangements is more critical for families with children than for adults without children. What kind of house might you live in? What variety of food can you buy? How do you shop for it? Can you drink the water? How will you wash and dry diapers? How about medical care? Is public transportation available? What kind? Are there telephones? Do they work? Is mail service reliable? What should you bring and what should you purchase locally?
In some places, whether or not to hire a household helper is an important concern. Shopping can take half the day, and cooking the other half. But having a helper who speaks a language you don’t share and who finds your way of doing things incomprehensible may bring as much bane as blessing. On the other hand, “inheriting” well-trained household help or baby sitters from other expatriates can lead to increased comfort with the local situation as well as, in many cases, warm and strong friendships with your worker and his or her family.
If your children will attend school, be sure to investigate what education is available. Like long-term missionaries, you may have to decide among local, international, or missionary schools; home teaching; and other alternatives. Don’t assume that because a school is there it will accept your child, especially midyear; some schools have waiting lists. Also, find out how your child will get to and from school, and whether you need to bring supplemental books from home.
Another vital element in preparation is developing cross-cultural awareness and skills. Children easily learn cross-cultural sensitivities, but if they’re living in a mono-cultural context, they must be taught. Look for specific family activities designed to prepare children for cross-cultural living. An excellent resource for anyone considering or preparing for service in another culture is Ted Ward’s Living Overseas: A Book of Preparations. Ward gives advice on developing the kind of insight that makes for a successful experience, including such nitty-gritty issues as how to handle bargaining and beggars, and lists excellent resources for further information.
As you leave your family’s familiar surroundings, anticipate a process of grief. To a child, even six months away seems like forever. Talk about this as a family. Involve children in decisions about which of their possessions go with you and which stay home. Good-bye parties and rituals give a sense of closure.
While in transition, preserve as much routine and predictability as possible. Conduct a daily orientation session, perhaps at breakfast. Go over the events of the day in the context of where you have come from and where you are going. Even if the child is too young to understand the details, he or she will have the comfort and security of knowing that things are happening with some degree of predictability.
Young children enjoy bedtime conversations. You might keep handy a small photo album of familiar people and surroundings to provide comfort, along with favorite security blankets, toys, or other cherished objects. And the more you can relax and enjoy the adventure, the easier the transition will be for your children.
Living in a New Setting
Overseas, your family time will probably increase. Enjoy it. Maintain family traditions. Invite neighbors to join you for a game night, an unheard-of pleasure in our overscheduled society. As you begin to settle down, and as the magnitude of the change sinks in, expect young children to regress temporarily, possibly wetting the bed, having problems sleeping, getting sick more often, or being cranky or irritable more often. As an antidote, spend time giving “TLC,” cuddling, stroking (physically and psychologically), and talking about what was left behind and what is facing them now. It takes an enormous investment of time and energy in the first four to six months to enable a family to adjust to a new culture.
Children don’t need to be protected from contact with nationals. In fact, children can become one of the best bridges to relationships in your new setting. On the other hand, respect a child’s own personality and individual pace. Older children can learn to use public transit, bargain with peddlers, and become quite independent and well-integrated into the host culture. They often adapt more easily than parents if given the chance.
Expect the needs of the children and the home to consume all the time of an adult, especially in the first six months. In most countries, you’ll need to expend a great deal of effort on the essentials of living. If both parents expect to share the ministry, then both must share the responsibility for the home and family.
If one of you has a specific assignment such as teaching, and the other bears most of the responsibility for logistics and parenting, anticipate that the “unemployed “ one may have the hardest job and the most difficult time adjusting. The “employed” spouse has a ready-made structure, social context, and a support group of colleagues. The at-home spouse has to cope with the child’s adjustments; repairs; procuring goods and services; and dealing with vendors, beggars, or others who come to the door. This spouse may have an undefined role and no clear sense of purpose. Again, communicate. That may provide the key to making it in your radically different setting.
The more deeply your family becomes involved in the host culture and the more emotionally significant the experience, the more readjusting you’ll have to do when you return. Children may find a shrunken circle of friends that doesn’t appreciate new global perspectives. When reentering, put into use the same kinds of skills and activities that prepared your family for the separation, loss, and cultural change of going overseas.
You’ll probably bring back more than you realize: a wealth of family experiences, new friendships, a broadened world view, and an appreciation and acceptance of differences.
Back in America, teachers often remarked on how creative my children were, a remark often made about missionary kids who grow up where amusements such as impromptu stories aren’t a thing of the past. My eldest daughter, now an English literature major, carries those bedtime stories and Liberian friendships with her still.
Reprinted with permission from Stepping Out: A Guide to Short-Term Missions. Copyright 1992, 2010 by Short-Term Missions Advocates, Inc. Updated and expanded edition in 2010. Published by YWAM Publishing.
Joyce Bowers and her husband, Louis, spent eleven years as educational missionaries to Liberia, West Africa, where their two daughters were born and spent their childhood.
See also, from our Go Serve Love blog, 8 ways to help family flourish overseas.
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Peter Silas Pasqua: Ode to College World Series champions
Peter Silas Pasqua
The LSU Tigers are clearly, without a doubt, the best baseball team in the land after claiming the school’s sixth national championship Wednesday. It's now safe to talk Tiger baseball without worrying about jinxing them.
I haven’t written much about the Louisiana State University?baseball team this year. I?followed them throughout the year and knew how good they were, so I guess I didn’t want to jinx them.
Well, the season is over. The Tigers are clearly, without a doubt, the best baseball team in the land after claiming the school’s sixth national championship Wednesday. It's now safe to talk Tiger baseball.
I had the fortunate luck of being able to watch all three games of the College World Series this week because it seemed like everyone else was watching them, too. Baseball games throughout Louisiana were either rescheduled are canceled because LSU was playing for the crown against Texas, a program with six national titles.
Well, Texas, say hello to LSU. The Tigers move into a tie for second with the Longhorns as the school with the most national championships. USC has 12 titles, but it is LSU’s six in less than 20 years that makes a statement.
I vividly remember LSU’s first crown in 1991. That team set a precedent that every national champion that followed upheld. As LSU football and basketball spiraled up and down through the years, the team that brought the university’s first title in baseball started something that became routine. Chad Ogea, Gary Hymel, Lyle Mouton, Rick Greene, Tookie Johnson, Johnny Tellechea, Armando Rios and Andy Sheets will always be remembered as the first team of LSU baseball.
Over the next nine years, the Tigers captured four more crowns with players like Todd Walker, Russ Johnson, Warren Morris, Jason Williams, Eddy Furniss, Brett Laxton, Mike Sirotka, Adrian Antonini, Mike Fontenot, Ryan Theriot, Brad Cresse and Brad Hawpe, to name a few. They became household names throughout Louisiana. Sometimes it took late-game heroics by the likes of Morris and Cresse, but one thing remained the same: The Tigers always thought they could win.
It would take the program another nine years to again reach the pinnacle of college baseball, and like those before them, Louis Coleman, Jared Mitchell, Mikie Mahtook, Ryan Schimpf, DJ LeMahieu, Anthony Ranaudo, Derek Helenihi, Austin?Nola, Micah Gibbs, Sean Ochinko and Matty Ott have become household names because they, too, always believed they could win.
Although these Tigers didn’t break a barrier like LSU’s first national champion did, it is hard not to place them on the same podium because it had been so long since LSU won their last championship.
And I think that is why this year’s series was so special. It was the first title for head coach Paul Mainieri after Skip Bertman produced the first five, and the first for the the Tigers in the new three-game format.
Not only did these Tigers believe they could win, they proved they could win it all and that they are simply the most complete and talented team in the land.
Weekly Citizen (Gonzales, La.)
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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Seeking NBA Ownership Role
by SLAM Staff March 04, 2014
The great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and former Milwaukee Bucks center has met the team owner Herb Kohl, but hasn’t discussed the potential of taking on an ownership role with the Bucks. Kareem is interested in doing so with an NBA team, however. Per the Milwaukee Business Journal:
“Being involved in the business of basketball is something I wouldn’t shy away from,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “But it would have to be a good situation for me. It would depend totally on what the situation was.”
So what kind of situation would meet the all-time NBA scoring leader’s goals? Financial upside would be necessary, he said.
“Something where I had some equity in the team, so that what I would get an opportunity to benefit from it,” he said.
If Abdul-Jabbar does invest in an NBA team, he said he would want to play a role in setting a team’s direction.
“Oh yeah, I’d have to have some say,” he told me. “I wouldn’t have to have all of it.”
“The whole thing about success in professional sports has a lot to do with luck, but you’ve got to put yourself in a position to get lucky,” Abdul-Jabbar said.
The reason the Lakers were successful for decades was the masterful management of Jerry West and Bill Sharman, Abdul-Jabbar said.
“The Lakers traded Gail Goodrich to the Jazz for a draft pick, who ended up being Magic (Johnson),” Abdul-Jabbar said. “The Lakers put themselves in a position to get lucky. You have to know the players, understand who can help you and do your best to get them. You’ve got to sign the right guys.”
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Milwaukee Bucks
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Bucks Agree To Deal With Veteran Wing Wesley Matthews
Robin Lopez Agrees To Deal With Milwaukee Bucks
George Hill, Milwaukee Bucks Agree To Three-Year Deal
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'Deeply troubling': Now Scotland hits out over Macquarie Bank deal
By Latika Bourke
Updated December 28, 2016 — 2.48pm first published at 5.07am
The Scottish government has added to concerns being voiced about Macquarie Bank potentially "asset stripping" Britain's prized Green Investment Bank if the Australian investment bank is successful in acquiring the bank, possibly as early as next month.
The Scottish government's Cabinet Secretary for Economy Jobs and Fair Work Keith Brown has written to the UK government, warning that privatising the bank "may result in an asset stripping exercise."
Macquarie Bank is causing alarm in Britain over its proposed takeover of the UK's Green Investment Bank. Credit:Grant Turner
His concerns mean serving and former MPs from five political parties have sounded alarm at the prospect of the so-called "Millionaires Factory" taking over the Green Bank.
Although Mr Brown's statement does not mention Macquarie Bank by name, it is the only serious contender to buy up the £2 billion ($3.4 billion) bank.
Keith Brown. Credit:Getty Images
"I have been made aware of some concerning reports that the privatisation has become more of a fragmentation or asset stripping process which runs counter to the previous commitments made to the Scottish Government," Mr Brown said.
"This is deeply troubling considering the vital role that the bank serves in our green economy."
"The veiled manner in which privatisation is taking place offers no reassurance that the future of the Green Investment Bank is being modelled in line with the reassurances offered to the Scottish Government in 2015, which state that the original purpose of the bank would be maintained."
'Financial asset stripper'
The term "asset stripping" means breaking up a company and selling off its most profitable parts, even if that is not in the company's long-term interests. Critics of the sale fear Macquarie Bank will break up the Green Bank in this way and rob it of its ability to act with an environmental mission.
Macquarie Bank has been hit with the unflattering "asset stripping" tag for more than a decade, when the board of the London Stock Exchange deemed the bank unfit for a takeover. Britain's Telegraph cited a source close to the LSE describing Macquarie Bank as "purely a financial asset stripper."
The SNP's intervention is significant as it has previously suggested the British government might have to formally seek Scotland's approval for any privatisation deal. The Green Investment Bank was created in 2012 to finance infrastructure green energy projects would otherwise struggle to find. In 2015 it began turning a profit. Its headquarters are located in Edinburgh.
Mr Brown's statement adds to concerns raised in the past few weeks by MPs from a range of political parties, including the former Tory and Liberal Democrat Ministers who helped create the bank, the Labour opposition and the Greens. Former Tory Minister Gregory Barker called for the sale to be halted immediately and the former Lib-Dem Secretary Vince Cable last week told Fairfax Media that Macquarie Bank was the "worst kind of company" to be acquiring a bank set up to solely finance environmental projects.
Former Liberal Democrat MP and secretary of state for business Sir Vince Cable.
Bloomberg has reported the British government could be ready to sign off on a deal with Macquarie as early as January.
The Tory government first proposed privatising the bank when it was led by David Cameron. The then Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced the bank and a total £5 billion worth of assets would be put up for sale as a way of reducing Britain's debt.
But the process of privatising the bank, which was supposed to have been completed by 2016, has already been delayed. That has sparked hopes amongst sources opposing the privatisation that under Prime Minister Theresa May the government may no longer be as politically committed to the GIB's sale.
Former prime minister David Cameron with the then chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne earlier in 2016. Credit:Getty Images
Prime Minister May has already shelved George Osborne's goal of eliminating the budget deficit by 2020. And in September, the government quietly postponed another of George Osborne's privatisation plans – the sale of the Land Registry.
Macquarie Bank says it will not be commenting on the issue.
Follow Latika Bourke on Facebook
Latika Bourke
Latika Bourke is a journalist for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based in London.
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Museum Day Art Books Design Food Music & Film Video Newsletter
(Robert Brooks/Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art)
(Garth Clark Gallery)
An irrepressible eccentric, the hugely talented Ohr died in obscurity. "When I am gone," he once said, "my work will be praised, honored and cherished." (Robert Brooks/Ohr-O'Keefe Museum of Art)
The Mad Potter of Biloxi
George E. Ohr’s wild, wonderful pots gathered dust in a garage for half a century. Now architect Frank Gehry is designing a museum dedicated to the artist
By Bruce Watson
Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe
Riding the train south through the deep pine woods of Mississippi in the early 1880s, tourists to the Gulf Coast came to Biloxi for sunshine and surf. Along with its beaches, the little town had its own opera house, white streets paved with crushed oyster shells, and fine seafood. Yet back in those years, there were no casinos as there are now, and not a lot to do besides swim, stroll and eat shrimp. Then, in the 1890s, the town boasted a new tourist attraction, one based on genius or madness, depending on one’s point of view.
Just a few blocks from shore, a five-story wooden “pagoda” labeled “BILOXI ARTPOTTERY” towered above the train tracks that ran across Delauney Street. Approaching it, a visitor saw hand-lettered signs. One read: “Get a Biloxi Souvenir, Before the Potter Dies, or Gets a Reputation.” Another proclaimed: “Unequaled unrivaled—undisputed— GREATEST ARTPOTTERON THE EARTH.” Stepping inside, a curious tourist found a studio overflowing with pots. But they were not your garden variety. These pots featured rims that had been crumpled like the edges of a burlap bag. Alongside them were pitchers that seemed deliberately twisted and vases warped as if melted in the kiln. And colors! In contrast to the boring beiges of Victorian ceramics, these works exploded with color—vivid reds juxtaposed with gunmetal grays; olive greens splattered across bright oranges; royal blues mottled on mustard yellows. The entire studio seemed like some mad potter’s hallucination, and standing in the middle of it all was the mad potter himself.
Viewed from a distance across his cluttered shop, George Ohr didn’t look mad. With his huge arms folded across his dirty apron, he looked more blacksmith than potter. But as they got a bit closer, customers could glimpse the 18-inch mustache he had wrapped around his cheeks and tied behind his head. And there was something in Ohr’s eyes—dark, piercing and wild—that suggested, at the very least, advanced eccentricity. If the pots and the man’s appearance did not prove lunacy, his prices did. He wanted $25—the equivalent of about $500 today—for a crumpled pot with wacky handles. “No two alike,” he boasted, but to most customers each looked as weird as the next. No wonder that as the new century began, thousands of the colorful, misshapen works collected dust on Ohr’s shelves, leaving the potter mad, indeed, at a world that failed to appreciate him. “I have a notion . . . that I am a mistake,” he said in an interview in 1901. Yet he predicted, “When I am gone, my work will be praised, honored, and cherished. It will come.”
Some 85 years after his death, the self-styled “Mad Potter of Biloxi” will be praised and honored as he predicted. Two years from now, Ohr’s startling ceramics will be showcased in a new $25 million Biloxi arts center designed by architect Frank O. Gehry, whose swirling silver Guggenheim Museum put Bilbao, Spain, on the cultural map. The Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, a Smithsonian Affiliate, is named in honor of former Biloxi mayor Jeremiah O’Keefe and his late wife, Annette. Their family’s $1 million gift helped establish the museum, now housed in a small building downtown, in 1998. The new facility, scheduled to be completed in January 2006, will be nestled in a four-acre grove of live oaks overlooking the Gulf. As America’s first museum dedicated to a single potter, the complex will call attention to an art more often seen as craft. And if yet another story of “an artist ahead of his time” sounds clichéd, the resurgence of George Ohr will cap one of the art world’s most remarkable comebacks. For although his work is now in such museums as New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, until the late 1970s, the only place to see an Ohr pot was in a garage behind a Biloxi auto shop—in a crate.
some are born eccentric, some achieve eccentricity and some, including certain rock stars and artists, have it thrust upon them. Evidence suggests that Ohr’s “madness” was a mix of all three. Born in Biloxi in 1857, he was the second of five children—“3 hens, 1 rooster and a duck,” he later wrote in a two-page autobiography published in a ceramics and glass journal in 1901.
Ohr considered himself the duck, a mischievous oddball who was, as he once put it, always in “hot aqua.” After elementary school, he spent a single season at a German school in New Orleans before dropping out in his early teens. He apprenticed as a file cutter, a tinker and as an assistant in his father’s blacksmith shop, then put out to sea. After one voyage, however, he decided that a sailor’s life was not for him. Finally, at 22, he chanced upon his life’s work when a friend invited him to New Orleans to learn to be a potter. “When I found the potter’s wheel I felt it all over like a wild duck in water,” he remembered. After learning how to “boss a little piece of clay into a gallon jug,” Ohr set out on his own to see what other potters were doing. In the early 1880s, he traveled through 16 states, dropping in on ceramics studios, shows and museums. By the time he got back to Biloxi in 1883, he had absorbed the essence of America’s burgeoning art-pottery movement. In Cincinnati’s Rookwood studio and a few others, potters were decorating their wares based on Japanese or French ceramics, adding animals, birds and bright floral designs. Ohr returned home determined to make art, not pots. But first he had to make a living.
While still staying with his parents, Ohr built a pottery shop next door to his father’s house, even crafting his own wheel and kiln, all for $26.80. Then he went looking for clay. Heading up the muddy TchoutacabouffaRiver, Ohr spent days digging the red clay along its banks, loading it onto a barge and floating it all back home. To this day, admirers suspect there was something in that clay that enabled Ohr to create wafer-thin pots with a delicacy no one else has ever equaled. Yet at first, there was nothing special about Ohr’s pottery. Working in his small shop, he supported his wife, Josephine, and their ten children by churning out chimney flues, planters and ordinary pitchers. He amused some customers with pots in anatomical shapes and clay coins imprinted with lewd picture puzzles. In his spare time, he experimented with pieces he called his “mud babies.” Brooding over them, he wrote, “with the same tenderness a mortal child awakens in its parents,” he created fantastic shapes glazed with wild colors. When he took his mud babies to exhibitions in New Orleans and Chicago, they sold poorly. Back home in Biloxi, his humorous signs promoting his “Pot-Ohr-E” gave Ohr a reputation as an eccentric whose shop was worth a visit mainly for a laugh.
Potters say that fire adds devilish details to their work. No matter how carefully one throws a piece of ceramics, a kiln’s inferno causes chemical glazes to erupt in surprising colors. For Ohr, fire was a further catalyst for his creativity. At 2 a.m. on October 12, 1894, an alarm was sounded; Biloxi’s Bijou Oyster Saloon had caught fire. The blaze spread quickly through downtown. It raged through the Opera House, several cottages belonging to Ohr’s father and the grocery run by Ohr’s mother. Finally, it gutted the Pot-Ohr-E. Later that day, Ohr picked through the ashes to dig out the charred remains of his “killed babies.” He kept most of them for the rest of his life. When asked why, he replied, “Did you ever hear of a mother so inhuman that she would cast off her deformed child?” Aloan enabled him to rebuild his shop, adding its telltale “pagoda,” and like a glaze that turns an astonishing magenta when fired, Ohr emerged from the tragedy determined to make pottery as distinctive as he was. “I am the apostle of individuality,” he once said, “the brother of the human race, but I must be myself and I want every vase of mine to be itself.”
in both museum and private collections, nearly every Ohr pot is dated to the same short period: 1895-1905. During this decade, Ohr labored at a feverish pace, turning out thousands of amazing, outrageous, wonderful pots. Just as Cézanne was breaking up the plane of the painter’s canvas, Ohr was shattering the conventions of ceramics. He made pitchers whose open tops resembled yawning mouths. He threw slim, multitiered vases with serpentine handles. He lovingly shaped bowls into symmetrical forms, then crumpled them as if to thumb his nose at the art world. He fired his works into kaleidoscopic colors that only a few years later would be called fauve—for the “wild” hues of Matisse and other Fauvists. And almost a decade before the Cubists added print to their canvases, Ohr scrawled on his ceramics with a pin. On an umbrella stand he created for the Smithsonian circa 1900, Ohr etched a rambling letter, adding an equally rambling salutation that concluded: “Mary had a little lamb / Pot-Ohr-E-George has (HAD) a / little POTTERY ‘Now’ where is the Boy / that stood in the Burning Deck. / ‘This Pot is here,’ and I am the / Potter Who was / G. E Ohr.”
Ohr also stepped up his self-promotion. Crafting his own image, he billed himself as Biloxi’s “Ohrmer Khayam,” and George Ohr, M.D. (The M.D., he explained, stood for “Mud Dauber.”) Signs he took with him to exhibitions and fairs unabashedly proclaimed “ ‘GREATEST’ ARTPOTTERON EARTH, ‘YOU’ PROVE THE CONTRARY.” As unconventional in private as in public, Ohr papered the parlor of his home in gaudy patchwork patterns. He had married 17-year-old Josephine Gehring, a blue-eyed New Orleans belle, in 1886, when he was 29. He and his “darling Josie” named their first two children Ella and Asa. Both died in infancy. Then, noting that his own initials—G.E.O.—were the first three letters of his name, Ohr saddled his next eight kids with the same gimmick, naming them Leo, Clo, Lio, Oto, Flo, Zio, Ojo and Geo. He often was up late playing with rhymes, and in a local photography studio, he twisted his mustache and face to produce some of the wackiest portraits ever taken.
Locals were not amused, and many considered their native mud dauber certifiably insane. More likely, Ohr was just ahead of his time, in promoting his work as well as crafting it. Decades before Salvador Dali began his self-aggrandizing antics, Ohr asked a reporter, “You think I am crazy don’t you?” Assuming a sober demeanor, the “mad” potter confided, “I found out a long time ago that it paid me to act this way.” It did not pay well, however. Ohr was a notoriously bad businessman. He put shockingly high prices on his favorite pots because he simply could not bear to part with them. On those rare occasions when customers paid the asking price, Ohr would chase them down Delauney Street, trying to talk them out of the purchase. Ohr didn’t seem to care that he made so little money. “Every genius is in debt,” he said.
By the turn of the century, Ohr had begun to get a little respect if not much success. Asurvey of ceramics published in 1901 called his body of work “in some respects, one of the most interesting in the United States.” Although Ohr exhibited his pots around the country and in Paris, the prizes always went to more traditional pottery. Ohr’s only medal, a silver for general work, came at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Centennial Exhibition in St. Louis. Still, he did not sell a single piece there. Even his few admirers misunderstood him.
Some critics said Ohr’s “deliberately distorted” works displayed an utter lack “of good proportion, of grace, and of dignity.” When praise did come, it was more for his colors (which Ohr considered an accident enhanced by fire) than for his shapes. “Colors and Quality—counts nothing in my creations,” he fumed. “God, put no color or quality in souls.” Determined to demonstrate his forte, he began making unglazed pots with even stranger contours.
Looking to the future for acceptance, Ohr announced he would no longer sell his works piece by piece but would “dispose of the whole collection to one creature or one country.” If few collectors were interested in Ohr’s single pots, however, no one was interested in thousands of them, making him only more angry and determined. When a New Orleans museum accepted a mere dozen of the 50 unsolicited pieces he’d sent them, he told the curator to “send it all back immediately.” Once, in a fit of despair, he gathered a shovel, lantern and bag of pots, then hiked deep into the woods to bury his treasure like a pirate. If he left a map, it was probably burned by his son Leo, who, one evening after Ohr’s death, torched all of his father’s papers, including the secret recipes to his lovely glazes. Ohr’s buried treasure is believed to be still in the Back Bay section of town—somewhere.
In 1909, claiming he hadn’t sold one of his mud babies in more than 25 years, Ohr closed his shop. Though just 52, he never threw another pot. Having inherited a comfortable sum when his parents died, he devoted the rest of his life to enhancing his reputation as a loon. He let his beard grow long, and donning a flowing robe for Biloxi’s Mardi Gras, he roamed the streets as Father Time. In his final years, he could be seen racing a motorcycle on the beach, white hair and beard flying. He often spoke and wrote in a disjointed stream of consciousness: “We are living in an Age of Wheels—more wheels, and wheels within Wheels—And MACHINE ART Works—is A fake and Fraud of the deepest die.” Still confident that the time would come when his work would be recognized, Ohr died of throat cancer at age 60 in 1918. His pottery, some 7,000 pieces in crates, remained in the garage of his sons’ auto-repair shop. Every now and then, a few kids carrying BB guns would sneak in and take some pots out for target practice.
Ahalf-century after Ohr’s death, James Carpenter, an antiques dealer from New Jersey, was making his annual winter tour of the GulfCoast. Carpenter wasn’t looking for pottery; he was shopping for old car parts. One sweltering afternoon in 1968, he stopped at the Ohr Boys Auto Repair in Biloxi. While he was browsing, Ojo Ohr, then himself in his 60s, approached Carpenter’s wife. In his slow Mississippi drawl, Ojo asked, “Would y’all like to see some of my daddy’s pottery?” Carpenter rolled his eyes as if to suggest they had to be going, but his wife, whose curiosity was apparently aroused, said, “Sure.” Back at the cinder block garage, Ojo opened the doors to reveal the most amazing collection of pottery in the history of American ceramics. Several pieces were set out on tables; the rest filled crates stacked to the 12-foot ceiling. A few had been cleaned of their greasy film. Catching the sunlight, they sparkled like the day Ohr had given them life.
Carpenter had never heard of Ohr. Few outside Biloxi had. Yet he recognized the beauty of the work, as did Ohr’s son. When Carpenter reached to pick up a pot, “Ojo chewed me all out,” he later recalled. “ ‘Nobody touches Daddy’s pottery!’ Ojo said.” But he relented, and Carpenter, wondering if he might be able to sell them, was allowed to examine a few pots as Ojo held them up for inspection. Finally, Carpenter decided to take a gamble. He offered $15,000—about two bucks a pot—for the entire lot. Ojo left to consult with his brother and came back shaking his head no. It took several more years for the brothers to decide to part with their legacy and agree on an asking price. In the end they settled on a sum that back then, says Carpenter, “would have bought a very desirable house”—in the range of $50,000. But according to one Ohr scholar, by the time Carpenter returned with the money, Ojo had upped the price to $1.5 million. After three more summers of negotiations, for a price rumored to be closer to the lower figure, Carpenter moved Ohr’s treasures to New Jersey, where they began trickling onto the marketplace.
Meanwhile, the art world had begun catching up to Ohr. During the 1950s, a school of Abstract Expressionist ceramics had flowered, creating free-form works that looked more like sculpture than pottery. Artists, including Jasper Johns and Andy Warhol, bought Ohr’s pots, as did several collectors, though the curator of ceramics at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History protested Ohr’s inclusion in a show in 1978, calling him “just plain hokey.” Only in 1984, when Ohr pots appeared in paintings by Johns at New York’s Leo Castelli Gallery, did praise and critical esteem begin to flow. After a series of one-man shows of Ohr’s work, collectors such as Steven Spielberg and Jack Nicholson purchased pieces and drove prices up. Today, the same pots scorned a century ago sell from $20,000 to $60,000 each. Back in 1900, when his pots were barely selling at all, exasperated exhibition organizers would ask Ohr to put a value on his works. “Worth their weight in gold,” he would answer. In retrospect, he sold himself short.
Today, Ohr is hailed as a “clay prophet” and “the Picasso of art pottery.” His resurrection proves that madness, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. But then, he always knew that, and so did visitors to his shop, at least those who were trained in the classics and paid strictest attention. On their way out of the cluttered, crowded studio, they would pass yet another hand-lettered sign, this one inscribed with a Latin phrase: Magnus opus, nulli secundus / optimus cognito, ergo sum! Translated it read: “Amasterpiece, second to none, The best; Therefore, I am!”
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Federal government grants Harvey-affected Texas schools $89.4 million
Julie Chang @JulieChang1
Apr 30, 2018 at 12:01 AM Sep 22, 2018 at 2:07 AM
The U.S. Department of Education will give Texas school districts and private schools ravaged by Hurricane Harvey $89.4 million.
The Texas Education Agency will disburse the money to help schools recover from the storm’s damage. The money comes from Congress’ $2.5 billion appropriation to help students affected by various natural disasters last year including the California wildfires and Hurricane Irma.
"As communities get back on their feet in disaster affected regions, we continue to support them in every way we can," Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said in a news release. "This additional funding will ensure students, teachers and staff have ongoing access to the services they need to fully recover and rebuild."
California’s eduation department has been awarded $14.4 million and Puerto Rico’s agency has been given $589.2 million.
READ: Students in 47 counties will get STAAR reprieve because of Harvey
About 1.9 million Texas students attend public school within the 60 counties affected by Harvey — 155 school districts have reported $907 million in damages to the TEA. The Federal Emergency Management Agency will cover up to 90 percent of costs that are not covered by school districts’ insurance.
Loss in property tax revenue and students, which are the basis of how schools are funded, are additional costs that affected school districts will face.
READ: In South Texas, students await return to hurricane-ravaged schools
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The Winchester Mystery House – Don’t Let It Happen To You!
From the experts | Posted on November 5, 2012 by Lesley Morris
Recently Stephen Speirs from Cisco wrote a blog post about The Winchester House, as an analogy to explain how IT often evolves in unplanned ways.
I’d like to extend Stephen’s analogy a little further by using the Winchester House as an example of what can happen when organizations over time continually enhance and upgrade their infrastructure without proper planning and foresight.
But first, what is the Winchester House? The Winchester Mystery House, located in San Jose, California, was the residence of Sarah Winchester, the widow of gun maker William Winchester. Sarah was obsessed with building out the house and so arranged for construction around the clock, from 1884 until her death in 1922. Construction costs were estimated at about US $5.5 million in 1922; equivalent to over $75 million today.
The house’s real claim to fame however, isn’t the construction; it’s the complete lack of any master building plan. The house has 160 rooms, 24,000 square feet, 10,000 windows, 2,000 doors, 6 kitchens, 40 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, and 47 fireplaces. Sixty-five of the house’s doors lead to blank walls, 13 staircases lead nowhere, 24 skylights are covered by floors.
So how does this relate to IT?
Many organizations build their networks in a logical, orderly fashion. But, with the arrival of new technologies, new priorities, and new business initiatives, networks over time evolve. Unified communications, remote access and virtualization all add new devices and functionalities to networks, resulting in multiple interconnects and complexities, that in time turns into a “network sprawl”.
On top of that, there’s now rapidly increasing social changes impacting business and technology environments, altering the way we all interact, share and collaborate. These changes, labeled “mega-trends,” are affecting every aspect of business and adding more complexity to the infrastructures.
What are the Mega-Trends?
Social: Probably most of your staff already has a page on Facebook and communicates across various social platforms. In a recent Cisco Connected World Technology study, 1 out of 3 young employees surveyed reported they would trade salary for social freedom at work. If organizations hope to attract top young talent, they must ensure that social networks are available to staff.
Visual: Visual has been the primary and preferred method of communication throughout history. Now these visual needs, enabled by technology’s pervasiveness and affordability are having a profound impact on our internal networks. More and more customers expect to be able to interact with businesses in a visual way. Softchoice already uses video very successfully with our clients, in our Keystone Technical Support Center, leveraging HD Video Conferencing and streaming video for training purposes.
Mobility: There are approximately 7 billion people on the planet and approximately 6 billion mobile phones. In just 5 years, more people will be connected through mobile devices than traditional desktops.
Virtual: Gartner predicts 60% of server workloads will be virtualized by 2014. But, virtual is much bigger than that. Approximately one-third of young workers report, that the internet is more important to them than food and water. The lesson for IT is that consumers expect our services to be available to them, whenever they want, from wherever they want.
How the mega-trends impact you
Many customers look for ways to manage the layers of complexity and excess equipment that have accumulated across their environments. Having a clear understanding of the existing infrastructure is the first step in preparing for the impact and management of mega-trends.
But, there’s a problem. Recently Softchoice analyzed the network devices of 78 small and mid-market companies across North America. Key findings included:
36% of devices have no maintenance coverage, so that in the event of failure, the company must fix or replace the device themselves, a potentially time-consuming and lengthy process
An average of $23,000 per organization was being spent on routers and switches that may not exist or are no longer in use
23% of devices are at or near the end of support which means technical, onsite support is no longer available from the manufacturer
An average of 44 configuration errors were found in each organization
As the age of mobility and cloud advances, organizations need to apply the same rigor to the network that they do to other corporate assets, so they aren’t creating the IT version of the Winchester House.
We believe technology evolves, and so should you…
After years of working with customers to design, implement and support hundreds of networks, we’ve developed an in-depth understanding of the pitfalls and issues that network sprawl can generate, and how it can obstruct adoption of new technologies. It’s hard to take advantage of mega-trends when most of your time is spent on maintaining an existing complex environment.
That’s why we’ve developed an integrated technical support, maintenance and mentorship offering called Keystone Essential Services . It’s designed to help manage and simplify network sprawl and liberate customers from day-to-day infrastructure issues, so they can manage more strategic tasks, projects and technologies.
To learn more about Keystone Essential Services, be sure to register for our upcoming webinar Nov 15th. Wil Klement, Solutions Advisor, Softchoice will review more information about mega-trends and how to optimize your infrastructure to take advantage of them. Feel free to contact me as well if you have any questions about Keystone Essential Services at keystone@softchoice.com.
Take The Guesswork Out of Your Mobile Network Depending on your organization, BYOD means a lot of different things. BYOD can be a welcome change (employee retention, talent acquisition, employee satisfaction, producti...
Data security: How to send hackers packing In December 2006, TJX – the company that owns retailers TJMaxx, Marshalls in US, and Winners and HomeSense in Canada – found suspicious software on its computer systems. Three...
3 Barriers to Innovation: Are you a Sustainer or an Innovator? Technology continues to become more complex as siloed projects create new layers and inter-dependencies within infrastructures. That’s not to say companies don’t want to simpl...
More from Lesley Morris
RECO Gains Peace of Mind with Cloud-Ready Storage
Your Network is Talking to You – Are You Listening?
Mastering the BYOD Balancing Act: The Softchoice Journey
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On-site collector testing: new standard in development
Submitted by Baerbel Epp on May 17, 2018
Once a large solar field is set up at its designated location, what tests can be conducted to show that it performs as expected? Soon, the IEA Solar Heating & Cooling Programme may have an answer to this question, as it is working on internationalising Denmark’s testing procedure. No decision has been made on whether the procedure will become part of a full-fledged standard or be turned into a technical specification.
Photo: Riccardo Battisti
Two tasks of the IEA Solar Heating & Cooling Programme have been involved in drafting a proposal for a new ISO standard to cover solar energy, collector fields and performance testing: Task 55, Towards the Integration of Large SHC Systems into District Heating and Cooling Networks, and Task 57, Solar Standards and Certification.
Jan Erik Nielsen, who works at PlanEnergi, a Danish consultancy, and has his own firm called SolarKey, has been in charge of exploring the possibility of designing a new standard, mainly based on three sources:
The collector test methods described in the recently published ISO 9806:2017.
Performance guarantee – Collector field power output, a fact sheet created by Task 45, Large Systems: Large Solar Heating/Cooling Systems, Seasonal Storage, Heat Pumps.
Yield data from the long-term operation of large solar thermal fields in Denmark (see http://www.solvarmedata.dk).
The fact sheet outlines the usual procedure that manufacturers use to test the on-site performance of large solar arrays in Denmark. It has been included in the solar district heating guidelines developed during SDHplus.
Is a new standard coming?
Last October and December, basic ideas for a new standard were presented during ISO and CEN technical committee meetings. The CEN committee’s subsequent vote on a rough draft showed that the proposal should not be viewed as a guarantee but rather a performance test and that it will be turned into a technical specification and not a full-blown standard. In regard to ISO, it has yet to be made clear whether it will become a technical specification or a standard. The ISO committee is awaiting a new draft and will come to a decision at its next meeting in September.
Exporting Danish expertise
The general idea is to benefit from the long-used Danish procedure for testing large solar district heating plants and comparing real-world yield data to a manufacturer’s guarantee. This on-site test is usually performed after a system has been fine-tuned post-commissioning, which means a couple of months after a plant has been put into operation.
The testing procedure may now be approved and implemented at international level via inclusion in a standard. Of course, it will also need to comply with collector standard ISO 9806.
Likewise, the test methods will need to be changed to accommodate concentrating solar collectors, as even Denmark’s climate has allowed some plant operators to use them while more may be added soon.
In principle, the proposed standard would require a simple examination of a solar field’s maximum performance based on certain criteria. First, solar irradiance levels need to be between 600 and 800 W/m². Second, performance has to be measured at less than 30° incidence to calculate the angle modifier, typically one of the most important unknown variables, and eliminate its impact on the total yield measured during the test.
Additionally, the collectors must not be at risk of solar shading or frost damage. The latter means that the test has to be carried out at temperatures above 5 °C. Last, during the one-hour test cycle, the collector needs to show a stable temperature that is always less than 5 K from the mean.
Some typical equations should then be used to calculate expected output and compare it to the test results. The standard will not prescribe how much those two values can differ from each other. Instead, manufacturers or plant operators can specify a percentage themselves, be it 2 %, 3 % or 5 %.
The reason for this freedom to choose is the substantial dependence of measuring instruments on factors such as quality. The new standard will therefore include some non-mandatory recommendations on how to select the best measuring set.
The article was written by Riccardo Battisti, a solar thermal consultant and market researcher working at Ambiente Italia (Rome, Italy).
IEA SHC Task 57: http://task57.iea-shc.org
PlanEnergi: http://planenergi.eu
IEA SHC Task 45
SDHplus
Ambiente Italia
Planenergi
SolarKey
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Somerset town committee chairmen give their opinions on primary
George Austin Editor
SOMERSET — The first day of school for students at Somerset Berkley Regional High School was delayed for a day so that the traffic and activity around the school would not conflict with the state primaries since voting is done in the SBRHS cafeteria, although primaries do not tend to draw larger voter turnouts.
The polls will be open for the state primaries at Somerset Berkley Regional High School from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Sept. 4. Town Clerk Dolores Berge said she does not think there will be a large voter turnout, but thinks the Democratic and Republican town committees in Somerset will get some people to the polls to vote on the ballots. There are currently 4,338 registered Democrats in Somerset, 1,347 registered Republicans, 50 registered Libertarians and 34 other registered voters who are registered with a political designation rather than a party. Berge said that registered voters in Somerset also can vote by absentee ballot in her office at the Town Office Building up until 5 p.m. on Aug. 31. The office is also open from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. today, Aug. 29, and tomorrow for absentee ballot voting.
Local state Rep. Patricia Haddad (D-Somerset) is not being challenged in the primary and won't be by a Republican candidate in the general election. But there are some races on both the ballots for the Democratic Party and Republican Party for the primaries. There are no candidates on the Libertarian ballot.
Wreaths Across America will be holding a bake sale at the polls in the SBRHS cafeteria to raise money to pay for wreaths to put on the graves of veterans in Somerset cemeteries in December.
The two Democratic candidates for governor on the ballot include Jay M. Gonzalez, of Norton, and Bob Massie, of Somerville.
The Somerset Democratic Town Committee has not voted to endorse any candidates in the primary, but James Pimental, the chairman of the committee, said he is supporting Massie in the primary. He likes Massie's background in business with his degree from Harvard University and his experience with the formation of international non-profit organizations. He said Massie would be able to go toe to toe with Baker on debates about business issues, but at the same time, Pimental said Massie has democratic values on morals and issued related to labor unions and climate change.
"I iust think that Bob Massie has a better story," Pimental said. "He's got a bold vision for the state. He's a fiery speaker and he's passionate."
Pimental said Massie has a very diverse background and has overcome some physical challenges in his life.
"He's a real fighter," Pimental said.
Pimental, who attended the Democratic State Convention this year, said he will support whichever candidate wins the Democratic nomination for governor. He said Gonzalez worked in the Massachusetts state government during the administration of Gov. Deval Patrick.
"There won't be a great learning curve if he gets in," Pimental said.
In the Republican primary, incumbent Gov. Charles Baker, of Swampscott, is being challenged by Scott Lively, of Springfield.
Thomas Ouellette, the chairman of the Somerset Republican Town Committee, said he is supporting Lively for governor.
"I believe Scott Lively better represents the Republican platform than Baker," Ouellette said.
Ouellette said he has been disappointed in Gov. Baker who he said has not been fiscally responsible. He also said Gov. Baker has been in lock step with Attorney General Maura Healey on the second amendment to bear arms. Ouellette said Lively has a better take on the second amendment during a time when there is concern for protecting students and teachers in schools. He said legal gun owners who have not committed a crime should not be penalized for having guns that fire too many bullets or have attachments, like bump stocks, that help them to defend themselves.
There are also two Democratic candidates for lieutenant governor trying to get their party's nomination in the primary to face Republican incumbent Karyn Polito of Shrewsbury. They include Quentin Palfrey, of Weston, and Jimmy Tingle, of Cambridge.
On the Democratic Party's ballot, there is a race between longtime incumbent Secretary of State William Francis Galvin, of Boston, and Josh Zakim, of Boston. There has been a lot of television advertising in that race.
Pimental said he is supporting Galvin. He said he has met Galvin several times, had brief conversations with him, has heard Galvin make speeches and likes his record in office. He said he has not liked Zakim's negative television advertisements. Pimental said he didn't like that Zakim would not take the "people's pledge" and not accept outside money for his campaign.
Pimental said that Galvin implemented early voting in Massachusetts and automatic voter registration.
"Voter registration has become more progressive," Pimental said. "He's helped it to be easier for people to vote."
For Bristol County county commissioner on the Democratic ballot, incumbent John Thomas Saunders, of New Bedford, is being challenged by Frank Durant, of Norton. Pimental said he supporting Durant in the primary because he wants there to be more balance on the commission. Historically, he said there have been representatives fo New Bedford, Fall River and Taunton on the commission, but lately he said New Bedford has had more control of the commission. Durant spoke to the Somerset Democratic Town Committee at one of its meetings this year and Pimental said he liked his ideas and energy.
Bristol County commissioners oversee properties owned by the county, including the courts, Registry of Deeds and Bristol County Agricultural School.
For U.S. representative, incumbent Joseph Kennedy III, of Newton, is being challenged by Gary J. Rucinski, of Newton. Pimental said he is a big supporter of Kennedy.
Other candidates on the Democratic ballot who are going unopposed in the primary include Governor's Councillor Joseph Ferreira, of Somerset, state Sen. Michael Rodrigues, of Westport, U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, of Cambridge, Attorney General Healey, State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg, of Brookline, Auditor Suzanne Bump, of Easton, District Attorney Thomas Quinn III, of Fall River, Clerk of Courts Marc Santos, of Fairhaven, and Fall River District Register of Deeds Bernard McDonald III, of Fall River.
While those candidates may not face competition in the primary, some of them will be challenged by Republican candidates in the general election in November and there are a few races in the Republican Party primary to see who will go up against them.
There are three candidates on the Republican ballot seeking their party's nomination to run against Sen. Warren. They include Geoff Diehl, of Whitman, John Kingston, of Winchester, and Beth Joyce Lindstrom, of Groton.
Ouellette said he is supporting Diehl, a state representative, for U.S. Senator. He said Diehl was an instrumental player in the tank the gas tax initiative when the state Legislature "was in the wrong."
"Geoff Diehl has a proven record," Ouellette said. "He is loyal to the party and to the taxpayers. He is a tax stalwart. He would be a great senator in the U.S. Senate. He, in my opinion, would do a far superior job to Scott Brown every day of the week."
Republican candidates James McMahon, III, of Bourne, and Daniel Shores, of Hingham, are facing off in the primary for the right to run against Attorney General Healey. Ouellette said he is supporting McMahon in that race because he is the best of the two candidates and has a stronger stance on second amendment rights. He said McMahon has been given a 100 percent rating by the Gun Owners Action League of Massachusetts and the National Association for Gun Rights.
Ouellette said gun rights are an important issue to him because he is a United States Air Force veteran and he thinks veterans should be able to continue to defend the country when they come out of the military.
Incumbent Lieutenant Gov. Polito is running unopposed in the Republican primary.
Republican candidates who are running unopposed in the primary and will challenge Democratic incumbents in the general election include Anthony Amore, of Swampscott, for secretary of state, Keiko Orrall, of Lakeville, for state treasurer, Helen Brady, of Concord, for auditor, Thomas Keyes, of Sandwich, for governor's councillor. D. Rosa, of Dighton, is running unopposed on the Republican ballot for county commissioner.
Somerset resident John DeJesus is running as an independent in the election for clerk of courts. Because he is running as an independent, he will bypass the primary in order to challenge Santos in the general election.
Assistant Town Clerk Kathleen Maiato said she has had trouble keeping up with all of the voter registration in the office during the past couple of years. There have been a lot of people in Somerset registering to vote, but also a lot of voters from Someset that move to other towns where they register to vote that causes a lot of work. Berge said she thinks that people registering to vote at the Registry of Motor Vehicles when they go to get their REAL identifications has increased registration, although she said some of those have been duplicates. The amount of registered voters in Somerset actually has gone down from 13,238 in March to 13,213 in August.
© Copyright 2006-2019 GateHouse Media, LLC. All rights reserved • GateHouse Special
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Celtics just never connected during the 2018-19 season
A year that began with such high expectations ended in the second round of the playoffs as so many things went wrong along the way.
BOSTON – They seemed to be in an enviable position when the 2017-18 season came to an end a year ago this month.
The Celtics had just taken LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals while playing without Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, and the future was looking bright.
Not only were Irving and Hayward going to return from injuries to join youngsters Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown plus veteran Al Horford, but James’ days in Cleveland were obviously numbered.
A solid run as the team to be in the Eastern Conference seemed to be in store for the Celtics as they went their separate ways last May.
Fast-forward one year later, and those good vibes are nowhere to be found.
An up-and-down regular season that was followed by an embarrassing second-round performance has left the Celtics no longer in an enviable position.
The high expectations that were on the backs of the Celtics when the season got going in October were never lived up to.
A lack of cohesiveness was obvious as the Celtics struggled with issue after issue and couldn’t even make it to 50 wins before bowing out to the top-seeded Milwaukee Bucks in five games.
It was a mess of a season that came to an end Wednesday night with a blowout Game 5 loss, and now the blame game begins.
Fingers are being pointing in every direction, a lot of them going toward Irving because of his strange leadership style that alienated young players. Irving’s brutal showing in the four losses to the Bucks when he went 25 for 83 with some bad shot selection did not help his cause.
So as the Celtics gathered at the Auerbach Center on Thursday for exit meetings with management, it was time to look back and wonder where it all went so very wrong the last seven months.
“I don’t think anybody was prepared for this year in terms of what the circus was going to be like, the media and everything, expectations and balancing all that and rotations,’’ said Jaylen Brown. “We didn’t know what it was going to be like.
“I’ve learned a lot and my approach will be different from here on out. I don’t think anybody was prepared for what this season brought.’’
There were players not happy with their roles. There were younger players like Brown, Jayson Tatum and Terry Rozier who were keys to the playoff success a year ago now asked to take reduced roles with Irving and Hayward in the picture again.
Hayward was clearly not the same player he was before suffering a gruesome injury in October 2017, one of the reasons why the Celtics took an unexpected step back.
Nothing ever seemed to mesh from the start of the preseason all the way through the series with the Bucks.
“It’s really disappointing,’’ said Marcus Smart. “We live and we learn. It’s a lesson and we just move on.
“You ask anybody on the team we wish we could do it over, just wipe this out of our minds. But it’s good for us all, some adversity. Adversity is good for you. It builds character. It’s going to help everybody.’’
Asked what he would like to change if he had the chance for a do-over, Smart said, “Everything probably. Just switch it up. I just feel like we didn’t give ourselves the right opportunity to do something great. We all locked in, we’re all on the same page. We wanted to do it.
“We just couldn’t find a way to do it. It’s nobody’s fault. It happens. It won’t be the last time you see a team like this go through this.’’
The Celtics were the team that went through it this season, and after being the preseason favorite to win the Eastern Conference, failed to get out of the second round for the first time since 2016.
They were a team that became difficult to watch with all the one-on-one play and the lack of chemistry, and a team that became unlikable, unlike the last two seasons when overachieving Celtics squads got to the conference finals.
“What happened? We just didn’t play well as a team,’’ said Aron Baynes. “That’s what it comes down to at the end of the day. We had a lot of talent, but it was just a matter of we didn’t find a rhythm as a team.
“We were also incorporating people and just trying to find the right roles within that. That ended up being a lot tougher than I think most of us thought it was going to be.
“It was unfulfilled, for sure, this season. Disappointing, unfulfilled is definitely what I’m feeling right now.’’
Now the attention turns to the future and whether Irving will re-sign with the Celtics or leave to one of the New York or Los Angeles teams, leaving the Celtics with a huge void.
There are less than eight weeks before Irving has to decide where he’ll be playing in the 2019-20 season.
Before that happens, the Celtics are left shaking their heads at an opportunity they had with loads of talent that didn’t work out.
“We wish we could start over from the beginning and do things differently,’’ said Smart. “I want another crack at it. If that’s in the plans for us then we will.’’
Jim Fenton may be reached at jfenton@enterprisenews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JFenton_ent.
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(514) 731-2296 info@tav.ca
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True North Strong… and Free?
Author: Julianne Cairns
With over a month since the CAQ was elected into majority government, Quebecers have come together to express their concerns over the party’s plans to ban religious symbols for public servants.
The idea of banning religious symbols in Quebec is not a new one. In 2013, the Parti Quebecois introduced Bill 60, otherwise known as the Charter of Quebec Values. Had the bill been passed, public employees would be prohibited from wearing “conspicuous” religious symbols on the job. On the Charter of Quebec Values website, which is no longer available, the party classed turbans, hijabs, burkas, kippahs and certain crosses as conspicuous religious symbols to be included in the ban. Adding insult to injury, the website also presented less obvious alternatives to these religious symbols, including a Star of David ring, a pair of star and crescent moon earrings, and a small cross necklace. The ban eventually died on paper in 2014, but has reemerged in 2018 under the Francois Legault’s administration.
Similar to Bill 60, the CAQ’s proposed law would target public employees holding a position of authority in Quebec. Legault has expressed his confidence in the law by communicating his willingness to use the notwithstanding clause if necessary, against the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “Notwithstanding” is a clause clearly laid out in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, section 33, available to all on the Government of Canada’s website. Section 33 states,
“Parliament or the legislature of a province may expressly declare in an Act of Parliament or of the legislature, as the case may be, that the Act or a provision thereof shall operate notwithstanding a provision included in section 2 or sections 7 to 15 of this Charter.”
This essentially gives provincial legislature the power to ignore the section of the Charter aimed at protecting Canadians’ fundamental freedoms, such as section 2. This would allow the Quebec government to enforce the law, regardless if it respects the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, or not.
The ban of religious symbols could directly threaten the fundamental freedoms of Canadians, namely the freedom of religion and expression. In an interesting turn last month, premier Legault explained to reporters at the Francophonie summit, held in Armenia, why the crucifix in the legislature would not be included in the ban. A quote from the CBC regarding his reasoning on this issue included, “In our past we had Protestants and Catholics. They built the values we have in Quebec. We have to recognize that and not mix that with religious signs.” The premier made no mention and gave no credit to non-Christian groups for the building of Quebec values, completely ignoring the contribution of indigenous peoples, and countless other cohorts of immigrants of various ethnic backgrounds who have contributed greatly to Quebecois culture over the course of the province’s history. We mustn’t forget that it was a large majority of immigrant workers who were responsible for building our first transcontinental railway in 1881, among many other things in this province. However, this blatant disregard for the contributions of minority groups is certainly nothing new to Quebecers with the proposition made by Pauline Marois just a few years ago, yet it is no less disheartening.
Should this ban proceed, teachers, nurses, doctors, police officers, firefighters and many other public servants may have to choose between their careers and aspects of their faith – a tough choice for Canadians accustomed to having their freedoms and rights respected and protected.
Protecting the fundamental freedom of expression and religion is in itself preserving Canadian values. To limit Canadians’ abilities to express themselves and exercise their rights to freedom of religion is to throw away a part of what makes us Canadians – tolerance.
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Record Labels' Bankruptcy Hurts Artists Again and Again
by Tamera H. Bennett My good buddy attorney Craig Barker is hard at work in Austin supporting the rights of recording artists. Craig has worked tirelessly to secure royalty payments for the Don Walser family on masters Mr. Walser recorded under contract with Watermelon Records.
Here is a very brief history of the Watermelon Records bankruptcy debacle with some links out to fill in the blanks.
1989 - Watermelon Records founded in Austin, Texas 1994 - Don Walser enters into an exclusive recording agreement with Watermelon. 1996 - Watermelon begins having financial difficulty. Gets a large cash infusion from Sire/Warner by entering into a distribution agreement with Sire/Warner in 1997 that includes uplifting 2 artists – Don Walser and the Derailers – into the Warner system 1998 - Watermelon files for bankruptcy because their distribution deal with Sire went south. 2001 - Texas Clef, Inc. acquires Watermelon's assets out of bankruptcy and assigns the assets to Texas Music Group, Inc.. The rub for many is that one of the owners of Texas Clef/Texas Music Group, Inc. was also an owner of Watermelon. 2004 - Walser sues on breach of contract and breach of fiduciary duty because he received nominal accountings and royalty payments. 2006 - Walser passes away. 2008 - Walser's wife passes away and their son takes over as plaintiff in the lawsuit. November 2008 - case is set for depositions with trial to start in December 2008. November 18, 2008 - Texas Music Group, Inc., Texas Clef, Inc. and Antone's Records file bankruptcy which stays Walser's lawsuit.
Here is a great article from 2000 in the Austin Chronicle setting out the history of Watermelon Records and its ownership.
This is what Austin360 has to say currently.
Pasted below is the press release issued by attorney Craig Barker.
PRESS RELEASE Corporate defendants Antone’s Records, Inc, Texas Music Group, Inc., and Texas Clef Entertainment Group, Inc., file for bankruptcy
Last night (Nov. 18, 2008), facing depositions of two of its principals’ depositions today and trial in 13 days (on Dec. 1) for charges of fraud, breach of fiduciary duty, and breach of contract, and exposure to punitive damages and return of the masters to the heirs and the Estate of Don Walser, the three corporate defendants filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, staying the proceedings in state court. The three individuals sued, Randolph W. Clendenen, Heinz Geissler, and James W. Heldt, have not filed for bankruptcy protection at this time. A central component of the plaintiffs’ allegations is the piercing of the veils of the three corporations. The Walser heirs are saddened by this turn of events where the individuals behind the corporate shells continue to exploit their fathers’ work for financial gain -- and that of the many other legendary Austin and Texas artists -- while avoiding paying the artists monies they are owed by hiding behind the undercapitalized corporate forms. While it is too soon to tell at this point, the Walser family hopes that the lawsuit against the non-corporate individual defendants can quickly be severed away from the bankrupt entities, as it has been the family’s contention from the inception of the lawsuit that the individuals are at fault and using the corporate shells to avoid responsibility. The Walser family extends its sympathies to the other artists and songwriters and their families who have likewise not received the contractually required accounting statements nor monies owed them by the defendants in this case. The Walsers and their attorneys vow to fight on until justice is done.
The Walsers are represented by Broadus A. Spivey and Craig Barker. Spivey is a past president of the State Bar of Texas, Texas Trial Lawyers Association, and the International Academy of Trial Lawyers, and he is a fan of great country musicians like Don Walser. Barker is the immediate past chair of the Entertainment and Sports Law Section of the State Bar of Texas, an adjunct professor of entertainment law, and a local music lawyer. Spivey can be reached at 474-6061 and bas at spivey-law dot com. Barker can be reached at 494-0777 and craig at craigbarkerlaw dot com .
The debtor corporations are represented in bankruptcy by Stephen W. Sather of Barron & Newburger, P.C. in Austin.
Defendants Clendenen, Heldt, Texas Music Group, Inc., and Antone’s Records, Inc., are represented in the Walser lawsuit by William Davidson of Chamberlain McHaney in Austin. Defendant Texas Clef Entertainment Group, Inc., is represented in the lawsuit by Wade Porter of Allensworth and Porter in Austin. Mr. Porter also corepresents Defendant Heldt in the lawsuit.
Tagged: Dallas/Fort Worth Texas, Entertainment lawsuit, Music, Music Business, recording agreements
Newer PostChange.gov: Creative Commons Is Not A Copyright
Older PostAlltop Selects Current Trends In Copyright, Trademark & Entertainment Law Blog
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Beyoncé Cancels Coachella 2017 Performance
Instead, she'll headline in 2018.
Neha Prakash
Larry Busacca/Getty Images for NARAS
Beyhive, please remove your flower crowns and take a moment of silence for Thursday’s devastating news: Beyoncé is no longer scheduled to make an appearance at Coachella 2017.
Parkwood Entertainment and festival producer Goldenvoice announced Thursday in a statement to The Associated Press that the singer was canceling her performance due to doctor’s orders. "Following the advice of her doctors to keep a less rigorous schedule in the coming months, Beyonce has made the decision to forgo performing at the 2017 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival,” the Associated Press reports.
Even though Beyoncé put on an awe-inspiring performance just weeks ago at the Grammys, her doctors are recommending she take on less activity in the near future. The announcement confirmed weeks of speculation that her pregnancy (with twins) would force her to back out. The singer's reps did confirm that the singer would instead headline next year’s festival.
Coachella has not yet announced who will take Beyoncé’s place on April 15 and 22. Radiohead and Kendrick Lamar are still scheduled to appear as the festival’s other main acts. Other performers include the xx, Gucci Mane, Tove Lo, Father John Misty, Lorde, and Future.
The singer would have been the first female performer in 10 years — and the first woman of color — to headline the festival. (Bjork headlined there in 2007.) The singer spectacularly announced her pregnancy in early February on Instagram, causing fans to question whether she would actually perform at Coachella — though initially, at least, it seemed that she would not let her coming twins stop her from taking the Coachella stage. Here's to seeing the whole gang, twins, Jay Z, Blue Ivy and even Solange Knowles, in 2018.
Related: Beyoncé Just Dropped Photos From Her Grammys After-Party and They’re EVERYTHING
Beyoncé Fired Me As Her Assistant Because I Let Her Go Swimming
What Fans Think Beyoncé and Meghan Markle Said When They Met
Bianca Betancourt
From The Lion King Premiere to the Women's Soccer Team, This Week Was FULL of Good Celeb Looks
Billie Eilish's Throwback Photo With a Bunch of Justin Bieber Posters Is One Big Mood
Sara Delgado
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Home Design Q&A: Scott Mosby
Q&A: Scott Mosby
Scott Mosby catalogs the atrocities committed in the name of rehab.
by Jeannette Cooperman
Photography by Kevin A. Roberts
If I ever meet the woman who painted all the wood trim in our 99-year-old house with thick layers of oil-based taupe—yes, even the pocket doors—I won’t be accountable for my actions. Scott Mosby runs into such operatic tragedies daily, as his company, Mosby Building Arts (645 Leffingwell, 314-909-1800, mosbybuildingarts.com), restores old houses’ hidden or stripped-away beauty.
How else do eager homeowners destroy beautiful old houses?
By covering up the hardwood with carpeting. In the ’50s, carpet was the upscale trend, and everybody wanted to be current and stylish…so there were a lot of beautiful floors covered with carpeting that became problematic later. We never realized how good we had it! Also, a lot of people have painted solid mahogany raised paneling because it’s “so dark.” I’ve pulled down 1 ½–inch solid mahogany raised paneling that had coats of oil paint and then coats of latex on top of that—which didn’t stick to the oil.
There have to be better options, if you want to lighten a room.
Of course there are: the pickling, the whitewash, the semitransparent stains that can wash that wood with color and change the hue and brighten the surface without blotting out the character and personality. However, the real answer is probably not in the wood at all. It may be a lighting problem, not the darkness of the paneling. The simple, direct answer is not always the best one. Look at Monticello! There’s a lot of bright white paint, but also some phenomenal dark woodwork. It’s a balance.
What mistakes do people make with exteriors?
Those narrow, plasticky, nailed-in-place shutters come to mind. Invariably, the mistake is taking the easy way out. There is no such thing as maintenance-free. There is less maintenance. The original shutters on those houses were functional shutters that were half the width of the windows. They closed for storms, and in earlier days defense, as a barrier to arrows and other projectiles. Louvered shutters were for ventilation in humid places, like New Orleans…and sometimes here. So when you’re replacing something, remember its roots.
Do green materials like bamboo and cork work in a turn-of-the-previous-century house?
For us, Missouri oak is more green than bamboo. Bamboo’s fine in Asia, but by the time you ship it halfway around the world, you’ve lost the sustainability. When you’re choosing wood, go back to the roots of the house. Go back to its birth. And go back to the palette.
Why are kitchens getting so big?
That’s actually not new. The whole house used to be the kitchen. We muddled it up in the last 200 years. It’s the same with open communal living—that’s not new. We segmented houses into smaller rooms so we could get the room count up and make the house seem more valuable. We also got obsessed with square footage. When spaces were smaller, there were some very creative solutions: little shelves, niches, alcoves, sliding drawers. We got lost on “more space is better.”
Have you seen any creative uses for old-fashioned parlors and dining rooms?
No. If you don’t deal with them, they stay orphaned most of the year. People tend to use spaces as they were designed to be used. So the first thing we do, when people call us to do a room addition, is try to get rid of the walls. About 35 percent of the time we don’t even end up needing to add space; we just get rid of barriers. What’s great about dining rooms is that the room is already in the right place, close to the kitchen.
What do you think of all this new pre-finished hardwood?
It’s a lot like fiber cement siding, which is a wood knockoff. Wood gets painted, so for maintenance reasons, they prefinish the siding. But when you have a perfect finish, 1. humans can’t install it without scuffing it up, and 2. was wood ever intended to have a perfect factory finish? It looks fake. It looks like vinyl. So they’ve had to make the surface rougher, so it’s not so perfect. With prefinished hardwood, you don’t need to sand it or stink up the house. But now you have this perfect finish that looks like plastic. And you have paid a premium for it. Homes where you feel at home generally have some flaws and some texture.
What should you make sure to save if you’ve bought an old house?
The paneling—even if you’re taking it down, hang onto it. Pocket doors, windows, woodwork around the windows, mortise hardware on doors…
Is there any advice you can provide to those seeking to reuse those elements?
Don’t try to make a duck into a goose. If it’s a nice piece of ornate wrought iron, it may not belong in somebody’s Formica bar. Don’t change the spirit and character of the object. Don’t paint it and try to make it something it’s not. That falseness, that pretentiousness, comes through.
What’s your favorite detail in an old house?
Plinth blocks—I love plinth blocks. They’re those little blocks at the base of the doorframe, and there’s usually a bullet block at the top. The purpose of a plinth is to intersect dissimilar materials, like 8-inch baseboard and 4-inch casing. The easy way out is to not have them, but then there’s not so much charm, because you haven’t taken as much care.
Why are we so charmed by the results of somebody having sweated over their labor?
It’s artwork. It’s gratifying. Humans inherently recognize the care, craftsmanship, and love that go into that work. And if it’s an enduring material like wood or stone, that value tends to continue and outlive the craftspeople.
St Louis AT HOME Spring 2014
Jeannette Cooperman
St. Louis Magazine's staff writer, Cooperman is intrigued by people's lives, ideas, relationships, and struggles.
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A collection of articles, essays, poems, and reviews related to the world of stories.
CHRIS REVIEWS: Japanese Breakfast, at Islington Assembly Hall (May 2018)
June 11, 2018 / Storyological Podcast
Hello, readers. Every once in a while, we publish a selection from a monthly newsletter Chris writes for Storyological patrons called, CHRIS REVIEWS EVERYTHING. If you'd like to receive this newsletter, and support Storyological in the process, visit our Patreon page to sign up.
a gif from the video for "road head"
"Sometimes she leapt from speaker to speaker. Sometimes she sat on the front of the stage. This one time she looked at me and smiled and I died."
Your voice in the night / Sing me to sleep / Soothe this insomnia / Haunted dreams, stages of grief / Repressed memories / Anger and bargaining / Your embrace, healing my wounds / Teach me to breathe / Teach me to move / PTSD, anxiety / Genetic disease / Thanatophobia
- Lyrics from "Til Death", a song from Soft Sounds from Another Planet
Japanese Breakfast. The name of a band and of a girl. Michelle Zauner’s mother got diagnosed with cancer a few years ago, and in going home and tending to the gradual and complete loss of her mother, Michelle transformed herself. She dropped out of her band at the time and adopted the name Japanese Breakfast, a pleasingly ridiculous combination of asian fetish and true-blue americana. Her first album, Psychopomp, in its title song, features a recording of Michelle’s mother on the phone, after receiving her terminal diagnosis, repeating to her daughter the same word. “Gwenchana," she says. "Gwenchana.” This is Korean for, more or less, don’t worry, everything’s going to be okay.
Japanese Breakfast released a new album not very long ago called Soft Sounds from Another Planet. Michelle described it as an album steeped in the aftermath of the aftermath of grief. She had spent the previous year, she said, dissociated from her experience in a way that felt like floating in space. She has also described the album as at one time wanting to be a sci-fi musical. On it there are songs about the death of celebrities, the victories of cruel men, and the etiquette of giving road head. There is, in a song called “Machinist,” an extended Blade Runner style prologue and an extended, exceedingly sexy, saxophone solo. She sings, for the most part, in the style of Thom Yorke, of Radiohead—which is to say that she uses her voice more as an instrument of meaning than a vehicle of understandable speech. After a few listens, though, and a few studies of her lyrics, you’ll get the hang of it. In the album's final song, “This House,” she channels Karen O in a softly strum acoustic number about music and family and time and loss. You won't have any trouble understanding her here. Perhaps because Michelle has found her way back to herself. Here, at the end, there is no longer any sense of floating in space or dancing with robots. There is only her voice and that guitar and it is everything you need.
Last night, Japanese Breakfast performed in London, at Islington Assembly Hall. She wore an embroidered jacket—its floral patterns perhaps inspired by the sort of drapes preferred by Marie Antoinette—along with terribly short shorts and the kind of tennis shoes that glow with each step. She sang songs about trauma and family and falling in love with a robot. She sang songs about death and guitars. Sometimes she leapt from speaker to speaker. Sometimes she sat on the front of the stage. This one time she looked at me and smiled and I died.
This one other time she put down her guitar and said, “This is the part of the show where I have to make sure my shorts are zipped up. Okay. Good. This next song is about marriage and what it means to have someone stay with you through the darkest of times.”
It is rare to encounter someone quite so buoyant and serious and playful and sweet and dedicated to an honest reckoning with the joy and pain and absurdity of love and loss and I have come, across time and space, to appreciate each encounter with such people all the more.
Somewhere someone once said, “You don't love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.”
I can't improve on that.
June 11, 2018 / Storyological Podcast/
chris reviews everything, music, japanese breakfast
Storyological Podcast
CHRIS REVIEWS: Ferris Bueller's Day ...
CHRIS REVIEWS: Risky Business (dir. ...
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Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg
The roots of the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg reach back to the year 1402. It was the sixth university to be founded in the German-speaking world. In addition to the four classical faculties of Medicine, Theology, Philosophy and Law there are many innovative degree programmes, for example, in Functional Materials Technology, Human Factors and Computing Systems, or Media Communications.
Some 25,000 students study and perform research at the University of Würzburg, some in historical surroundings, many in state-of-the-art buildings. Lectures may take place in the baroque Residence, which is a UNESCO world heritage site, or in the traditional teacher training seminary at Wittelsbacherplatz. Other buildings have only been in operation for a few years, for instance those that house the Pharmacy and Computer Science departments.
As part of its aim to support the careers of young scientists, the University of Würzburg awards doctoral degrees in all subject areas. Supervision by leading scientists, intense tutoring and the availability of interdisciplinary courses offer the best environment for successful research. University of Würzburg Graduate Schools have been established for students who wish to enrol in a structured doctoral programme. The Graduate School of Life Sciences is supported by funds from the German Universities Excellence Initiative.
Academic rankings continue to confirm the top position of our university. With respect to life and natural sciences, Julius Maximilian University is among the top 100 universities in the world and among the top 15 universities in Germany: This is indicated by the Academic Ranking of World Universities.
Close links exist between the university and several applied research institutions, for example the Bavarian Center for Applied Energy Research (ZAE Bayern) and the Fraunhofer – Institut für Silicatforschung (Fraunhofer ISC) which develops innovative non-metallic materials for tomorrow's products.
Many famous scientists, among them 14 Nobel laureates, have worked here during different stages of their careers, including Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who discovered the X-rays in Würzburg in 1895.
Excellent medical care and top-level research to the benefit of patients: This is the trade mark of the University Hospital. Science and the treatment of patients are closely related here, permitting patients to profit from the latest standards in medical therapy.
International students are very welcome at the University of Würzburg! They can study for a full-time degree or spend one or two semesters in Würzburg as part of an organised exchange program. The university offers many different services for international students, helping them to feel right at home.
Arts (History, Modern Languages, Culture and Geography)
Faculty of Human Sciences
Chemistry and Pharmacy
Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
View full list of degree courses at the University of Würzburg (in German)
The University of Würzburg also offers a number of international degree courses in English:
Degree programmes in English
Courses taught in English for exchange students
Contact Address and Useful Links
Julius-Maximilians University of Würzburg
International Students Office
Josef-Martin-Weg 54/2
international(at)uni-wuerzburg.de
www.uni-wuerzburg.de
International Office at University of Würzburg
Career Service at University of Würzburg
Accommodation in Würzburg
On the banks of the River Main
Attractive and green, Würzburg is home to three universities and 40,000 students. With a population of just under 150,000, the city is not so big as to be impersonal yet international in character and boasting a varied cultural life.
Overlooked by Marienberg castle, Würzburg is located amidst vineyards on the scenic banks of the river Main. A sprawling network of cycle paths connects the city to the romantic villages in the surrounding rural areas, villages that regularly host wine fests where you can enjoy both good wine and good music. And if you love the great outdoors, the hill ranges of Spessart, Steigerwald, and Rhön are just around the corner.
Its easily accessible geographic location in the heart of Germany makes Würzburg an ideal base for trips to cities all across the country: Berlin, Frankfurt, Heidelberg, Cologne, and Munich - to name just a few.
Whether you enjoy the theater and live music, sports, or a night at the pub, you won’t be disappointed. Throughout the year, Würzburg hosts a variety of events, ranging from the Mozart Festival through to the Hafensommer series of concerts. The Africa Festival and the Würzburg street music festival are the biggest events of their kind in Europe.
High quality of life meets low cost of living. Numerous student residences offer accommodation at affordable prices in a city that is characterised by its laid-back atmosphere. Würzburg - a good place to live and a good place to study!
Video: Science for Society
Impressions of the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU)
Terrace of the university restaurant
Inclusion at JMU
University campus Hubland
Burse, the university restaurant
Studying an JMU
Sculpture at Nanolab
Students of JMU
Kranenkai, banks of the river Main
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Getting Even: The Truth about Workplace Revenge--and How to Stop It by Thomas M. Tripp, Robert J. Bies
Praise for Getting Even "Getting Even isn't just the most useful and engaging book ever written on r...
Store Home > Getting Even: The Truth about Workplace Revenge--and How to Stop It by Thomas M. Tripp, Robert J. Bies
Praise for Getting Even "Getting Even isn't just the most useful and engaging book ever written on revenge in the workplace. It is the best book I've ever read about the root causes of destructive workplace behaviors and how to stop the vicious circles that hurt so many people and organizations." -Robert Sutton, professor, Stanford University and author, The No Asshole Rule "Getting Even helps the reader address thorny organizational problems caused by the human desire for revenge. Leaders and managers in all organizations will benefit from the insights and practical recommendations for preventing or limiting the problems of revenge. Thus, Getting Even will help its readers manage the most common, if not only, cause of destructive conflict in organizations." -David E. Morrison, MD, management consultant, Morrison Associates, Ltd. "Getting Even provides managers with the ability to see acts of revenge as signals about what ails their organization. Tripp and Bies provide an insightful framework that explains why ordinary employees engage in extraordinary acts of revenge. They convincingly document that revenge is typically not the act of the irrational few, but is the situationally-created behavior of normal human beings." -Max H. Bazerman, Straus Professor, Harvard University and coauthor, Negotiation Genius "I've used the valuable insights revealed in this book to counsel and advise all manner of clients including managers, small-business owners, human resources professionals, labor professionals, and employees. Understanding and implementing these concepts will undoubtedly improve every employment relationship. This book is a must-read!" -Janet E. Taylor, attorney at law, focusing on employment and labor "Let's face it, we've all been there. Someone took the promotion that you deserved, put their name on the report that you did, belittled someone to the point of tears, or worse yet, drove you to tears. When these situations hit, you're usually less worried about getting ahead and more interested in getting even. But does revenge really solve anything? Thomas Tripp and Robert Bies have provided a practical guide for managers and individuals to understand the many causes of revenge, who is most likely to commit an act of revenge, and how to spot and defuse it before it happens." -Jon V. Peters, president, The Institute for Management Studies
Thomas M. Tripp, Rob
Robert J. Bies is a professor of management and founder of the Executive Master's in Leadership Program at the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University. Bies's current research focuses on leadership and the delivery of bad news, organizational justice, and revenge and forgiveness in the workplace. He has published extensively on these topics and related issues in academic journals.He currently serves on the editorial boards of Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Journal of Management, International Journal of Conflict Management, and Negotiation and Conflict Management Research. Bies has received several teaching awards, including the Best Teacher award at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. At Georgetown, he has twice received the Joseph Le Moine Award for Undergraduate and Graduate Teaching Excellence at the McDonough School of Business, and he received the Outstanding Professor of the International Executive MBA Program (IEMBA-2) at the McDonough School of Business. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University in organizational behavior, and a B.A. in business administration and an M.B.A. from the University of Washington. Thomas M. Tripp is a professor of management and operations at Washington State University. Professor Tripp has published dozens of research articles in scientific journals on the subject of workplace conflict and organizational justice. Currently, he is chair of the Conflict Management Division of the Academy of Management, the professional association of nearly twenty thousand management professors. He also serves on the editorial boards of Negotiations and Conflict Management Research, International Journal of Conflict Management, Journal of Organizational Behavior, and the Journal of Management. Tripp has taught courses in leadership skills and in negotiation skills. He has twice received the award for Outstanding Faculty Teaching from WSU's College of Business. He also won the Students'Award for Teaching Excellence from theWSU Vancouver campus students. Finally, he was inducted into WSU's Teaching Academy as one of twelve inaugural members, and served as its vice chair. He received a Ph.D. in organizational behavior from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, and a B.S. in psychology from the University of Washington. Born and raised in Seattle, he continues to live in the Pacific Northwest.
Preface. 1. An Introduction to Revenge in the Workplace. 2. Peering into the Soul of Discontent: The Phenomenon of Revenge. 3. Three Triggers of Revenge: Why People Try to Get Even. 4. You Started It! The Mind Game Inside the Blame Game. 5. "I'm as Mad as Hell and I'm not Going to Take It Anymore!": Understanding the Motivating Power of Righteous Anger. 6. You Started It-But I'll Finish It! How People Get Even. 7. Preventing Revenge Before It Happens: Practical Advice for Managers-And Would-Be Avengers. 8. Moving Beyond Revenge: Don't Get Mad, Don't Get Even-Get Ahead. Bibliography. Notes. About the Authors. Index.
Being successful is about acquiring all that you desired to have. It's finding that you have obtained your aspirations or attained your strategies and it's rousing up in the morning feeling victorious rather than feeling defeated.The emotions and thoughts success produces will make you stroll happily in the roadways with your head up high while being happy and fulfilled. In contrast to prevalent beliefs, there are no successful or failed men and women but on the other hand there are individuals who have the potentiality to become successful and who do things that helps them understand this potential and there are people today with the same possibilities who will not do those things.The only thing you need to have to do to succeed is to do exactly what successful men and women did. When you go through all of the insight you will acquire the thinking of a successful person and this will help you get to success. If you really want to be successful then you should have a secure understanding of specific aspects that can minimize your possibilities and that can make you unsuccessful. If you don't have ambitions or plans then you are really going to be a portion of other some people's preparations. If you dont organize to be the boss at your work then somebody else in your team will do so and if you do not prepare to get that high status position then somebody else who organized and strived for it will take it from you. If you don't plan you will get overtaken by the men and women who do. The earliest thing that occurs to many people with questions is that they start off to notice their problems as constraints to their success. The moment you decide to perceive your predicaments as stumbling blocks, you start off to have additional problems because tension sets in, terror takes hold, and these are other sorts of massive concerns on their own. The nitty-gritty is, the fashion you see your problems decides the ways they will change you.
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Mine Disaster Triggers Riots In Turkey
Chickens come home to roost for corrupt mine owners, Erdogan
By Kareem Fahim and Sebnem Arsu
SOMA, Turkey —
Rescue workers removed the last remaining bodies from a stricken mine here on Saturday afternoon as the death toll in Turkey’s worst mining accident rose to 301 people, according to the prime minister’s office.
Hundreds died in preventable disaster
The final recovery efforts were hampered by a fire that broke out underground Saturday morning, as well as the leakage of methane gas, according to the energy minister, Taner Yildiz. Some of the 17 bodies removed overnight were so badly burned that DNA testing will be required to identify them, he said.
Smoke could be seen rising near an entrance to the mine on Saturday. For the first time since the accident four days ago, there were no relatives of victims seen waiting.
Some of the families moved to a nearby state hospital, to await the results of the DNA tests.
With so many dead, the tragedy rippled for miles around the coal mine, affecting towns and tiny villages in a region where thousands of men work in the industry. Public anger was focused on the facility’s owners, who were accused of shirking safety measures to make the mine more profitable, and on Turkey’s prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose abrasive response to the accident during a visit here last week infuriated a region in mourning.
During protests of Mr. Erdogan’s visit, an aide to Mr. Erdogan was photographed kicking a demonstrator who was being held on the ground by military police officers. Mr. Erdogan himself responded to the heckling by defiantly taunting protesters.
Prosecutors are investigating the accident, which occurred when a fire tore through the mine.
The mine owners, who have denied any negligence, have speculated that unexplained “warming” in the mine started the fire, without providing further details. They conceded that there were no safe rooms in the mine where workers could take shelter, but asserted that they were not required by Turkish law.
Congress Dances Around VA Scandal, Officials "Motivated By All The Wrong Incentives"
Forget resignation, Shinseki needs to be charged with murder along with his subordinates; FBI needs to take over investigation as it is now in the criminal realm with at least 40 murders of Veterans, crosses State lines; refusal to resign syndrome began with Senators Larry Craig, David Vitter and has expanded to permeate every segment of American society
By Matthew Daly - AP
WASHINGTON —
The Obama administration and Congress are moving quickly to respond to a growing political firestorm over allegations of treatment delays and falsified records at veterans hospitals nationwide.
Disgusting hypocrites: Obama tries to protect Shinseki
The top official for veterans’ health care resigned Friday, and House Republicans scheduled a vote for Wednesday on legislation that would give Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki greater authority to fire or demote senior executives and administrators at the agency and its 152 medical centers.
The actions came as federal investigators visited a VA hospital in suburban Chicago to look into an allegation that secret lists were used to conceal long patient wait times for appointments.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., meanwhile, called for an investigation into reports that schedulers at a VA medical center in Albuquerque were ordered to falsify patient appointment records.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said the Veterans Affairs Department is suffering from “a systemic, cultural problem” that cannot be solved with piecemeal responses, such as the resignation of a top official.
“What’s needed is a total refocusing of the VA on its core mission of serving veterans - stretching from its top political leadership all the way through to its career civil servants,” McCain said Saturday in the weekly Republican radio and Internet address.
News reports that VA managers received performance bonuses even as internal audits revealed lengthy wait times for health care, McCain said top VA officials too often have been “motivated by all the wrong incentives and rewards.”
U.S. Navy Veteran Thomas Breed died waiting for care
McCain, a Vietnam veteran, said Congress must give VA administrators greater ability to hire and fire those charged with caring for veterans, as well as give veterans greater flexibility in how they get quality care in a timely manner.
Reports of long waits for appointments and processing benefit applications have plagued the VA for years.
Officials have shortened benefits backlogs, but allegations of preventable deaths that may be linked to delays at the Phoenix VA hospital have triggered an election-year uproar. A former clinic director said up to 40 veterans died while awaiting treatment at the Phoenix VA hospital, even as hospital staff kept a secret appointment list to mask the delays.
A VA nurse in Cheyenne, Wyoming, was put on leave for allegedly telling employees to falsify appointment records. A VA investigation in December found that staffers at a Fort Collins, Colorado, clinic were trained to make it appear as if veterans got appointments within 14 days, as VA guidelines suggest.
Problems also have been reported in Pennsylvania, Georgia and Missouri.
Amid a growing outcry, the administration and Congress took steps to reassure the public that problems are being addressed.
Robert Petzel, the VA’s undersecretary for health care, had been scheduled to retire this year but instead stepped down Friday. Petzel had said he would remain until the Senate confirmed a replacement, but a department official said Shinseki asked Petzel to leave immediately.
Republicans denounced the move as a hollow gesture. Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., chairman of the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee, called the announcement “the pinnacle of disingenuous political doublespeak.” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Shinseki’s “reticence to hold fellow bureaucrats at the VA accountable is exactly why we need new leadership that is willing to take swift action to ensure we are living up to our promises to our nation’s heroes.”
Cornyn is among a handful of Republicans who have called for Shinseki to resign. The American Legion, one of the nation’s largest veterans groups, also has called for Shinseki to resign and called Petzel’s departure “a continuation of business as usual.”
The White House said President Barack Obama supports Shinseki’s decision to remove Petzel and that Obama is “committed to doing all we can to ensure our veterans have access to timely, quality health care.”
Petzel’s resignation came a day after he and Shinseki were grilled at a four-hour hearing of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, where lawmakers and veteran groups expressed exasperation at long-standing problems.
In his position, Petzel oversaw what officials say is the largest health care delivery system in the U.S. The VA operates 1,700 hospitals, clinics and other facilities around the country, serving about 6.5 million veterans and other beneficiaries each year.
Miller, who wrote the legislation that the House will take up next week, said Congress must act, because the VA is “apparently unwilling to take substantive actions to hold any of its leaders accountable.”
Shinseki on Thursday told senators he was “mad as hell” about allegations of severe problems and that he was looking for quick results from a nationwide audit. He has rejected calls for him to resign.
U.S. Intelligence Terrorizes Venezuela
Engulfed in scandals, madman Obama and his murdering CIA continue to incite rebellion in sovereign countries in order to hold on to power
By Nil Nikandrov
After the victory of Hugo Chavez' successor Nicolas Maduro in the 2013 presidential election, the CIA tried to use a modernized version of the Chilean scenario to overthrow him. Forty years ago that scenario worked: in September 1973 the government of Salvador Allende was literally destroyed. A repressive fascist dictatorship took hold in Chile for many years, and Allende's supporters became their victims. Tens of thousands of Chileans passed through torture centers and concentration camps. Many were forced to emigrate, but even abroad they did not feel safe. Pinochet's secret police hunted down significant figures in the resistance and used poison and explosives to eliminate them.
In Venezuela the Chilean scenario did not work. The conspirators, following the instructions of their overseers from the CIA, planned to provoke mass discontent. They tried everything: an artificial shortage of staple commodities, sabotage on public transportation, attacks on government agencies, and barricading of major highways and roads to residential areas. Everywhere over the cities - as an alarming sign of instability - there hung black smoke from burning tires (an eloquent echo of the Kiev Maidan).
All of this was synchronized and well organized. Nicolas Maduro and the Bolivarian government stood fast. And President Obama, who has suffered defeat on practically all fronts in the fight for U.S. hegemony, has authorized the toughening of operations for influencing the Bolivarian regime…
In the city of San Cristobal, Venezuela, U.S. citizen T.М. Leininger was arrested. He had seriously wounded a Venezuelan whom he suspected of working for Bolivarian security agencies; he tried to hide, but was detained by the police. When Leininger's apartment was searched, they found a secret cache of firearms: three rifles (one with a telescopic sight and a silencer), two pistols, a sizeable ammunition stockpile and several suits of camouflage. The American was suspected of planning terrorist acts. An investigation is now in progress, and the facts of the use of these weapons by militant groups of the radical opposition are being established.
At the direction of the CIA, a media campaign was launched in defense of the failed agent. Supposedly he came to Venezuela for humanitarian reasons; he brought food to poverty-stricken relatives. They say that Leininger is by nature not inclined to violence and risky undertakings, to say nothing of using weapons. If something of the sort did take place, it was only because Leininger is «not completely well and has a persecution mania». This last theory, which supposedly came from his mother, is meant to explain why weapons were found in the American's possession.
It is telling that in recent times Venezuelan security agencies have detained at least 60 foreigners with weapons and, as a rule, in the regions of the country which are being considered by the CIA as promising areas for the creation of hot spots. According to investigators, the CIA recruits terrorists from around the world to work in Venezuela. Venezuelan security agencies have been receiving information about the activities of CIA stations in Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and several other countries in transferring «controlled» fighters from drug cartels to Venezuela. It is sufficient to mention that some of the barricades in the period of the most intense uprisings of the radical opposition were controlled by Colombian narcotraficantes who are wanted by Interpol. Photographs of the criminals among the Venezuelan opposition activists made their way onto the Internet. However, in such situations CIA agents have immunity in spite of the authority of Interpol and the norms of international law.
In practically all large cities in Venezuela, including the capital, shots were heard frequently during the months of anti-government demonstrations. Most of those killed were ordinary citizens. In the first stage of the terrorist operations for overthrowing the regime, the CIA mercenaries deliberately and consistently chose victims on both sides of the barricades (just as on the Kiev Maidan). Their goal was to exacerbate the confrontation between supporters of the government and the opposition. In the practice of American intelligence, «slaughter statistics» are an important aspect of the sabotage war against the country selected for destabilization... In the CIA propaganda campaign, the following thesis prevails: an upward trend in violent deaths is proof of chaos and the inability of the Venezuelan government to normalize the situation and rein in criminal elements. Venezuelans are especially indignant about the killings of people in art, theater and cinema and the stars of television series.
Obama, CIA responsible for each and every death in Venezuela
In April and early May the statistics of attacks on functionaries of the ruling PSUV party and military and law enforcement officers rose abruptly. Firearms were used in practically all these cases. Venezuelan Minister of Internal Affairs Miguel Rodriguez Torres has stated that in the new stage of sabotage operations the CIA has focused on «selective killings». And targets are selected whose violent deaths will have maximal political repercussions: «Without a doubt, they are trying to implement a secret plan to destabilize the country and overthrow President Nicolas Maduro and the government. For this reason the enemies have resorted to selective killings.»
Among the victims was prominent Bolivarian politician Eliezer Otaiza. In the early years of Hugo Chavez' administration he headed DISIP, the counterintelligence service (now Sebin). Otaiza, who did not use security guards, was ambushed by paramilitares on a deserted road, tortured and then killed by shots in the back. In the opinion of a number of Latin American analysts, Otaiza was secretly organizing resistance groups in Venezuela in case of armed aggression from the U.S.
Several military counterintelligence (DIM) officers in various states throughout the country have been the targets of «selective shootings». DIM agents identify and neutralize enemy agents in military divisions and protect strategically important sites in the country from sabotage. Thanks to the efficient operation of DIM, a group of air force generals who were planning an armed uprising against the government was recently uncovered. The generals were at one time trained in the U.S., and after the victory of the Bolivarian revolution they maintained secret ties with employees of the military attaché office in the American embassy in Caracas. DIM received signals about the activities of the conspiring generals from young officers. Attempts had been made to recruit them for anti-government activities, including organizing the escape of one of the pilots on a Russian-built SU airplane.
Bolivarian law enforcement's countermeasures against conspirators and terrorists led by the CIA are gradually becoming more and more effective. Sebin employees were able to identify the leadership structure of the conspiracy, record the content of conversations between the Venezuelan conspirators and their overseers from the CIA, and ascertain channels for importing weapons and explosives into the country and sources of financing. In some confiscated laptops they found lists of Chavists slated for elimination. Sebin has cleared opposition tent camps in Caracas which, according to CIA plans, were to be transformed into Venezuelan Maidans. During the operation, large amounts of money, weapons, Molotov cocktails and drugs were found in the tents.
One great success of Sebin was the operation that unmasked an employee on President Maduro's staff who was linked with the CIA station. She was passing confidential information about the activities and movements of the president and his entourage to the U.S. embassy through a relative. According to Venezuelan political scientists, the CIA could have used this data to prepare an attempt on Nicolas Maduro.
Ukraine Crisis Goes Nuclear
Obama, CIA despite defeats continue to insanely finance, incite fascists in doomed incursion into Ukraine
By Tony Catalucci
Reports allege that some 20 members from the armed Neo-Nazi front, Right Sector, attempted to storm the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, in Energodar city, Zaporizhia province. The Voice of Russia reported in an article titled, “Right Sector attempts to seize largest NPP in Ukraine,” that:
Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
Policemen of the city of Energodar have detained 20 activists of the Right Sector, who tried to seize the Zaporozhye NPP. According to the leader of the Zaporozhye branch of the organization, the militants were afraid that the city would fall in the hands of supporters of federalization.
Right Sector, along with other Neo-Nazi militant fronts, spearheaded violence that led to the overthrow of the elected government of Ukraine in late 2013 and early 2014 in what was called the “Euromaiden” protests.
Right Sector has since been used as a paramilitary organization by Kiev in an attempt to assert control over the rest of the country. Its mounting list of atrocities has led Kiev and its NATO backers to increasingly deny ties to the extremist front – however, it is clear that the group is operating nationally and in tandem with security forces loyal to Kiev.
Zaporizhia province neighbors Donetsk, which along with Luhansk province, recently held referendums leading to greater autonomy from Kiev and closer ties to neighboring Russia. Zaporizhia, laying between Donetsk and now Russian Crimea, could potentially be the next province to escape out from under the unelected regime currently occupying Kiev.
NATO’s “Nuclear Option”
The storming of Zaporizhia nuclear power plant by Neo-Nazis may appear to be an act of extreme irresponsibility carried out by witless, dangerous thugs, but the operation may have a much more sinister purpose.
A May 7 Reuters article titled, “NATO experts advise Ukraine on nuclear plant safety,” stated:
NATO experts have visited Ukraine to advise authorities there on improving the safety of nuclear power plants, gas pipelines and other critical infrastructure amid growing violence and fears of conflict with Russia, officials said on Wednesday.
NATO's nuclear option: A Europe that looks like the aftermath of Hiroshima, total destruction of EU, UK
The article would continue by stating:
Asked if the study was carried out because of Kiev’s fears of Russian intervention in Ukraine, Dolhov said one reason was “possible destabilisation” in an area where strategic infrastructure was located.
Ukraine told the U.N. atomic watchdog in March it was reinforcing the protection of its nuclear power plants because of “a grave threat to the security” of the country posed by the Russian military.
A rebellion in the east has raised the prospect that Ukraine, a country of around 45 million people the size of France, could be carved up or even descend into civil war.
And perhaps the most telling statement of all claimed:
Ukraine is not a member of NATO and the alliance has said it will not get involved militarily in Ukraine. But Ukraine and NATO have increased cooperation and Ukraine has asked NATO members for non-lethal equipment such as uniforms.
Indeed, Ukraine is not a NATO member, and it is almost inconceivable under what circumstances NATO troops could enter Ukrainian territory – almost inconceivable. But a threat to one or more of Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors might give NATO the pretext necessary to deploy troops into Ukraine, particularly in the east where Kiev is unable to assert control. While NATO cannot justify intervening in Ukraine’s internal political crisis directly, it may attempt to make a case that a nuclear catastrophe directly threatens NATO members.
Chernobyl’s disaster effected much of Europe & western Russia
Ukraine is the sight of the worst nuclear accident in human history when in 1986, just north of Kiev, a reactor at the Chernobyl power plant exploded, exposing millions to radioactive contamination across Ukraine itself, Russia, and Europe. The reactor still poses a threat to human health and the environment even today.
With this catastrophe in mind, NATO may believe that by provoking a security risk to Ukraine’s remaining reactors, particularly the facility in Zaporizhia – Europe’s largest – it can create enough fear and support for a possible intervention in Zaporizhia province, preventing anti-Kiev forces from peeling the region away from Kiev as they have in Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea.
NATO’s Dangerous Game Threatens All of Humanity
Whether NATO is in fact attempting to intentionally create threats to Ukraine’s nuclear power plants as a pretext to intervene more directly in Ukraine or not is irrelevant. It is directly supporting the regime in Kiev that had organized and continues to perpetuate Right Sector who is currently creating such threats. However, with NATO being behind the chemical attack in Damascus, Syria in August of 2013 - the idea of NATO fabricating a similar pretext in Ukraine is not beyond the realm of possibilities.
NATO’s inability to condemn and cut ties with the regime in Kiev, allows the menace of Right Sector to persist. The solution, likewise, is not more NATO intervention across the rest of Ukraine, but rather the undoing of the unelected regime it has put into power in Kiev in the first place.
The disaster in Chernobyl involved a single reactor. Zaporizhia has six reactors. Threatening the security and safe operation of the facility in Zaporizhia either directly as a ploy to intervene, or indirectly by propping up the regime that created and continues to use Right Sector to augment its struggling security forces, puts the entire world in danger. The fallout from Zaporizhia in the event of a catastrophe could effect millions across Europe, Russia, and Eurasia.
Should Ukraine’s Zaporizhia facility continue to be put in danger, it is far more realistic and justifiable for Russia, not NATO, to mobilize and deploy, or support within Zaporizhia province, security forces to provide ample protection. For NATO, if a pretext to intervene is their goal, it will require time and may never materialize at all, considering their failures in Syria and the lack of trust or legitimacy they now command. In the meantime, Russia and its allies in eastern Ukraine can continue working to move Zaporizhia away from the dangerous regime in Kiev and its equally dangerous and irresponsible backers in NATO – just as has been done with Crimea, Donetsk, and Luhansk.
Tony Cartalucci, Bangkok-based geopolitical researcher and writer, especially for the online magazine “New Eastern Outlook”.
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UL softball earns No. 6 overall seed
The UL Ragin' Cajuns softball team was given a No. 6 overall seed and will begin play in the NCAA's Lafayette Regional at 6 p.m. Friday against Texas Southern at Lamson Park. The other two teams in the four-team regional are Texas and Mississippi State.
UL softball earns No. 6 overall seed The UL Ragin' Cajuns softball team was given a No. 6 overall seed and will begin play in the NCAA's Lafayette Regional at 6 p.m. Friday against Texas Southern at Lamson Park. The other two teams in the four-team regional are Texas and Mississippi State. Check out this story on theadvertiser.com: https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/sports/college/ul/2014/05/11/cajuns-no-6-overall-hosting-texas-mississippi-state-texas-southern/8985181/
LafayetteLA Published 10:02 p.m. CT May 11, 2014 | Updated 10:55 p.m. CT May 11, 2014
UL softball players and fans react as they find out that UL will host a regional NCAA softball Sunday night during the ESPNU NCAA Selection Show. The tournament will begin this Friday at Lamson Park in Lafayette.(Photo: Leslie Westbrook, The Advertiser)Buy Photo
After traveling to Tempe, Ariz. and Ann Arbor, Mich., over the past two seasons in Super Regional play, the UL Ragin' Cajuns found out Sunday during the NCAA Selection Show that no such trips will be necessary this time around.
If the Cajuns can keep winning, the only destination outside of Lamson Park will be Oklahoma City, Okla.
The Cajuns were awarded the No. 6 overall national seed on Sunday as the Sun Belt regular season and tournament champions and will begin play in Friday's NCAA Lafayette Regional against Texas Southern at 6 p.m.
The Lafayette Regional also includes Texas and Mississippi State.
Going a bit farther into the bracket, the Lafayette Regional winner would meet the Phoenix Regional winner, which most would expect to be Arizona or LSU.
"I look at some of those regionals and some of the teams got cakewalks," Lotief said. "We did not get a cakewalk. Our road is going to be tough. If we're going to do this, it's going to take the 'A' game from everybody involved."
UL will meet Texas Southern at 6 p.m. Friday on ESPN3, after the 2 p.m. contest between Texas (33-21) and Mississippi State. This will be the second trip to Lamson Park this season for Texas, which defeated the Cajuns 10-7 and 7-3 in the season-opening Louisiana Classics.
"We played Texas twice and they beat us twice, so go no further," Lotief said. "It's going to be tough.
"But we are very excited to be playing at home and for our fans to be here."
This will be Texas Southern's first trip to NCAA Regional play after defeating Mississippi Valley State 6-3 in the SWAC finals in Decator, Ala., on Sunday afternoon.
Mississippi State (38-19), meanwhile, is one of 11 teams from the SEC in the regional field. The Bulldogs were eliminated in the opening round of the SEC Tournament 4-3 in 9 innings by Kentucky.
UL senior leftfielder Shelbi Redfearn said he had no preconceived notions on which teams would be sent to Lafayette.
"I really didn't keep up with the predictions, so I really didn't have an idea," Redfearn said. "I just love the fact that we're the No. 6 seed and that we're playing at home."
True to form of a senior leader, Redfearn wasn't very interesting in discussing Texas or Mississippi State.
"All of our focus right now is on Texas Southern," Redfear"n said. "None of that other stuff matters to me right now."
Likewise, senior second baseman Natalie Fernandez didn't begin the evening with any big preductions.
"I had a few ideas, but you never really know at this point," Fernandez said. "We just have to stay confident and continue getting better.
"We have to trust in our preparation and keep trusting in the process. Our focus needs to be on Texas Southern on Friday."
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James Waguespack's death stuns Acadiana area
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Vale Vera Rubin, the greatest astronomer you never heard of
By Andrew P Street
Updated December 27, 2016 — 4.24pm first published at 2.14pm
Over the last few years I started and abandoned many, many emails to the late, great Vera Rubin, mainly because they all seemed to simply be love letters to a pioneer of astrophysics.
I always wanted to interview her but could never quite pitch the story in a way that interested a publication: sciencey ones thought it too political, mainstream ones thought it too sciencey. But here's the story I always wanted to tell:
In this image taken in the 1970s and provided by the Carnegie Institution of Washington, Vera Rubin uses a measuring engine. Credit:AP
Vera Rubin did exactly what so many female scientists did throughout history: she was just straight up better at her job than her male colleagues. And, like so many female scientists, it generally wasn't enough.
Her love was astronomy, although she ended up having to move into the field sideways via physics at Cornell University, since women simply weren't eligible to apply for postgraduate astronomy courses.
She had the support of her husband, Robert, who was also a distinguished academic and scientist, but in the 1950s and 1960s there was only so much she could do. She published several controversial papers and slowly built a name for herself, but her career stalled because she essentially had to progress by stealth, getting teaching and professorial positions that helped her gain qualifications and experience while raising her four children (all of whom became significant scientists in their own right).
In 1965, Rubin became the first woman to get viewing time at the Palomar Observatory – an honour denied to women, including Rubin, in many observatories, up until that point. And sure, it looked like pure sexism – but as they argued at the time, there were no female-specific toilets, and obviously those lady scientists couldn't possibly use the toilets for the men.
Rubin had done some important early work on the newly discovered field of pulsars, but when it became the sexy subject for ambitious (male) astronomers determined to make their mark, Rubin was effectively squeezed out. By this point she'd tired of having every paper and presentation aggressively picked over by male colleagues certain that this uppity dame mustn't know what she was talking about.
As she later explained: "I decided to pick a problem that I could go observing and make headway on – hopefully, a problem that people would be interested in, but not so interested in that anyone would bother me before I was done."
Specifically, she looked at how many stars were contained in galaxies – literally counting the things from plates of astronomical observations – and in so doing discovered something that no-one else had noticed, because she was a goddamn genius: that there weren't nearly enough stars in galaxies for them to hold together under their own gravity, given the speed at which galaxies rotate.
She was well poised to make that connection, mind. Along with colleague Kent Ford, Rubin had previously determined that the stars in the outer arms of spiral galaxies rotate at the same speed as those closer to the centre, which was very, very weird. (It's not what happens in the solar system, where, for example, far off planets like Uranus and Neptune take decades to circle the sun, while Mercury, closest to the sun, zips around in a mere 88 days.)
If galaxies were only made of stars, she realised, those stars should all have been flung out into the cosmos aeons ago. Something else had to be there holding galaxies together; something with a hell of a lot of mass, greater than the normal matter making up the bright stars. In fact, by her calculations, the stuff we can see must only be between 10 and 15 per cent of the total matter in the universe.
In other words, she discovered the existence of dark matter, thanks to a job her male colleagues thought too boring and menial to bother with.
She wasn't the first to come up with the idea, but she was the first to spend years painstakingly collecting the data to support it, which involved mapping over 200 galaxies.
Despite making what is probably the single most significant advance in cosmology in the late 20th Century, she never won a Nobel Prize.
She also kept teaching until her death, as best I can tell, and was a tireless advocate for women in science.
She was one of my heroes, she illuminated the unseen universe, and she died on Christmas Day at the age of 88.
Rest well, Dr Rubin. You earned it.
Andrew P Street
Andrew P Street is a columnist for Fairfax Media.
Most Viewed in Lifestyle
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ISIS Is Poised to Make a Comeback in Syria
Religious extremists will try to inherit the energy of the all-but-defeated rebellion, just as they did in Iraq after the surge.
Hassan Hassan
Co-author of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror
A boy rides on a bicycle in the town of Kafr Batna, in eastern Ghouta, Syria on September 5, 2018.Omar Sanadiki / Reuters
On the surface, the Syrian civil war appears to be nearing its final stage. Bashar al-Assad's regime and its Russian and Iranian backers won the battle that mattered the most for them in July, when they drove the moderate rebels out of their last bastion in the southern Syrian city of Deraa. With that military victory, any hopes of a moderate takeover must be laid to rest. But while the rebels have been defeated, their grievances remain. Hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, mostly by government and government-allied forces; millions have been displaced; whole towns have been bombed out of existence. Now the situation is poised to worsen as the regime is readying its forces to attack Idlib, home to Turkish-backed rebels, jihadis, and countless civilians.
The demise of the rebellion has set the stage for jihadis allied with Islamic State and al-Qaeda to pick up the pieces. If history is a guide, they will exploit the volatile situation; they will co-opt the resistance against Assad, the surviving symbol of repression, use it to fill their ranks, and establish a permanent post in the region. The Trump administration has just one last chance to get peace talks back on track and curb extremist influence.
For years after the invasion of Iraq in 2003, dozens of armed groups of various ideological backgrounds sustained a deadly resistance against American troops. At one point, the United States seemed like it was losing the war as jihadis and others forced American troops into fortified barracks. The situation began to shift in 2007 and 2008, thanks to a counterinsurgency strategy led by General David Petraeus.
Drafting off a troop “surge,” Petraeus did not defeat the insurgency so much as transform it, converting former foes fighting an occupation into allies against the specific threat of jihadis within the broader conflict. For a time, many Sunnis saw the Americans as partners who would enable them to control their areas independently; no longer would they have to answer to the Shia-dominated government in Baghdad. Together they turned Iraq into a much safer place.
Why Donald Trump needs David Patraeus
But the U.S. did not resolve the underlying problems that had fueled the fight against American soldiers and the government in Baghdad. The U.S. did not push for the true integration of Sunni forces into the Iraqi state or secure them any real semblance of self-government. On the contrary, the U.S. stood by as Baghdad clamped down on Sunni communities to avoid a perceived threat to Shia hegemony.
Jihadis preyed on Sunni disillusionment and, to coin a phrase, rose from the ashes of the surge. By the summer of 2014, al-Qaeda in Iraq, which became the Islamic State, was able to set itself up as the only true militant opposition to the government in Baghdad; all other rebel forces had been vanquished. ISIS took over one third of Iraq, and seemingly overnight it morphed into a transnational organization operating across the region.
ISIS could not have come to control such vast areas by virtue of its military strength alone. It grew so quickly because the U.S. occupying force had only deflected the insurgents’ energy, without ever resolving their complaints. ISIS effectively tapped into what one might call the insurgency’s latent energy.
In Syria, a similar process may be playing out.
How ISIS spread in the Middle East—and how to stop it
In the early months of 2015, it seemed as though Assad and Iran might lose to the Syrian rebels—just as it seemed the U.S. would lose to the insurgents in Iraq prior to 2007. The rebels controlled most of the country, and were marching into Assad’s strongholds in western Syria. But then Russian President Vladimir Putin intervened. The Russians waged a relentless air campaign, and, on the ground, directly engaged local forces opposed to the regime as well as their regional backers. Turkey, once the rebels’ most committed sponsor, started working closely with Moscow to redraw the military and political map in Syria.
With time, the Syrian rebellion degenerated from a mass movement animated by revolutionary zeal into a confused mess beholden to foreign interests. Instead of waging all-out war against the regime, it focused primarily on de-escalating the conflict through local ceasefires guaranteed by Russia, Turkey, and Iran. The Russians succeeded in fragmenting the rebels and threw their ranks into disarray. Thus in Deraa two months ago, even though the rebels were heavily armed and boasted large numbers, they surrendered to the Russians without much of a fight. They had already crumbled from within thanks to a combination of Russian military force and diplomacy.
Often, as the Iraq example demonstrates, the demise of an insurgency helps its most extreme elements. After the superficially successful surge, ISIS gained a monopoly over political violence in Sunni Iraq; it no longer had to compete for influence and recruitment with its erstwhile violent rivals.
There are signs that jihadis associated with both ISIS and al-Qaeda in Syria are similarly well positioned. Granted, local alternatives to these extremist groups still exist, but they no longer present a coherent message of resistance.
For example, Adham Akrad, a moderate rebel commander from Deraa with the Free Syrian Army, appeared in a video recently urging the government to release individuals previously given guarantees of safety by Russia. Unlike jihadis who strongly reject any reconciliation with the regime, Akrad seemed to acknowledge that he was negotiating with a dominant power.
Other rebel groups that once dominated the militant landscape in Syria —Jaish al-Islam, Suqour al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham — have been weakened to the point of irrelevance. Some of these forces were also rivals to ISIS and al-Qaeda. Their disappearance is a net gain for the jihadis.
Despite wishful thinking, the conflict in Syria is not over yet. One third of Syria is still outside of the regime’s control, under Turkish influence in the northwest and American protection in the east. As in Iraq, moreover, the regime’s military gains could prove temporary.
There is a vast arc of vulnerable areas that Damascus probably cannot secure: a rough terrain of deserts and river valleys extending from the Israeli borders in the southeast to Iraq in the east and then to Turkey in the northwest.
Already the two main jihadi groups, al Qaeda and ISIS, are becoming the last men standing in these rural and remote areas. It will not be difficult for them to tap into a pool of human and material resources to fight against a vicious, deeply unpopular dictatorship controlled by an Iranian-backed minority sect. To win recruits, jihadis may not even need to win hearts and minds—they need only convince the disaffected that they represent the only viable opposition left against the government. Having inherited the Syrian uprising and its energy, they could become permanent fixtures of the Syrian scene.
Again, unless grievances are resolved, insurgencies do not simply go away. They can lie dormant for years or even decades, only to re-emerge later. Indeed, the Syrian conflict over the past few years could be traced in part to the Islamist insurgency of the 1970s and 1980s waged against the current president’s father, Hafez. That rebellion was seemingly crushed after the government launched a deadly campaign in Hama, killing between 10,000 and 30,000 people. The government also embarked on a systematic and educational campaign to uproot Islamism from Syrian society. Yet many individuals who lived in exile after 1982, or their descendants, have gone on to fight Hafez’s son. And many groups integral to the current uprising, including Jabhat al-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham, Nour ad-Din Zinki, and Faylaq al-Sham, could be considered the direct ideological heirs of the old Islamist insurgency.
To date, the U.S. has made serious military and diplomatic mistakes that could help the jihadists inherit the insurgency.
The Trump administration has limited its operations to eastern Syria. It has allowed northwest Syria to fall completely off its radar and given over the south to Russia. Already, the northwest has become a stronghold for two of the most dangerous al-Qaeda franchises, one focused on global jihad and another on local battles. And ISIS has its eyes on the south.
In order to win against extremists in the short and long term, the U.S. must expand its aperture, not narrow it, even as it recognizes that a military victory by Assad will make it impossible to resolve the tensions that could fuel new conflicts. Luckily, the U.S. has an important card to play: its presence in the east. From this base, the U.S. could help create a truly representative governing body that—in the future, once peace finally arrives—will have some autonomy from Damascus. The U.S. should agree to leave Syria only after it achieves a meaningful political settlement that recognizes local authority. To realize this goal, the U.S. should work with its European allies to revitalize the Geneva process.
The U.S. is suffering from serious Middle East fatigue, but an apparent victory isn’t good enough. Its choice is clear: Root out the problems that drive violent radicalism now, or fight the jihadists again in the future.
Hassan Hassan is a contributing writer at The Atlantic and the co-author of ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror.
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The Problem With Vows to 'Defeat' the Islamic State
What happens after Raqqa falls?
Stephen BiddleJacob Shapiro
Smoke rises after an U.S.-led air strike in Kobani, SyriaMurad Sezer / Reuters
In recent weeks, ISIS has suffered territorial losses on multiple fronts, including in Iraq, Libya, and Syria. The organization may look nearer to defeat than at any time in the past two years, but there is still a great deal of fighting to be done before the group is destroyed, or more likely beaten back to an underground terrorist organization as it was in 2009. In a previous post, we argued that truly defeating the ISIS threat would be more expensive than most now recognize, and beyond what most Americans would be willing to pay, leaving containment as the only viable option. Ambassador James Jeffrey disagrees.
In particular, he argues that the United States and its allies should reinforce today’s U.S. force of roughly 5,000 soldiers with another 10,000 troops, order them to lead a conventional ground offensive against ISIS, and loosen the rules of engagement for ground fighting and air strikes to tolerate more civilian casualties. With these policies, Jeffrey argues, ISIS can be defeated promptly. Once Raqqa falls, the real U.S. mission is complete in his view. He doesn’t say what those 15,000 soldiers should do then, but he’s opposed to a costly stabilization mission and implies that U.S. troops should instead go home and avoid further commitment.
We agree that stabilization is too expensive. But we disagree with Jeffrey on the merits of a smash-and-leave conventional offensive. In our view, such a policy actually secures none of the interests that nominally motivate it.
Jeffrey’s argument is a variation on a theme that is increasingly prominent among analysts frustrated with the long U.S. counterinsurgencies in Afghanistan and Iraq: The United States should adopt a policy of waging decisive conventional warfare against states without worrying overmuch about what happens afterwards when the target regime is toppled. But this position isn’t actually new—it represents a return to the de facto policy the United States adopted in Iraq in 2003 and Afghanistan in 2001. A decade later we know quite a bit about the likely consequences, and they aren’t pretty.
If all we’re going to get is the kind of chaos that typically follows regime change without stabilization, such as the kind of warlord governance that we now see in Libya, for example, then the real payoff to smash-and-leave conventional warfare of this type is very limited. Reasonable people can differ on whether the limited payoff and ugly aftermath of U.S. conventional warfare against ISIS is worse than the limited payoff and ugly interim of containment—this is ultimately a value judgment on balancing current against future costs, and different people will have different time preferences on costs. But this is not a simple choice between decisive victory against ISIS as opposed to chronic terrorism with containment. The real difference is much narrower, and we’re going to be living with some version of containment against most of the threat for a long time either way. The greater cost of proposals such as Jeffrey’s thus needs to be weighed against a properly modest understanding of their real benefits.
Jeffrey’s proposal raises at least two important, related, issues for public debate: Is it really wise to topple regimes then leave, and how do we draw the line between threats we must actually defeat and those we will instead contain?
What’s Left Behind by “Smash and Leave”?
As for the first, the smash-and-leave approach fell into disfavor after 2003, when post-Saddam Iraq fell into chaos after the United States failed to stabilize the leaderless country. As early as 2004, Rumsfeldian willingness to dismiss the messiness of freedom in the aftermath of U.S.-imposed regime change was widely criticized as short-sighted. This critique became something like conventional wisdom after the growing Iraqi insurgency drove Rumsfeld from office and led to the surge of some 30,000 additional troops into Iraq in 2007-2008.
Yet the smash-and-leave thesis is now making a comeback. Recent books by retired General Daniel Bolger, retired Colonel Gian Gentile, and by the Reagan administration official Bing West critique nation-building as a military mission and advocate conventional warfighting to destroy hostile armies instead. Israeli analysts bemoan the indecisiveness of occupation and stabilization, and seek a return to the “battlefield decision” of the conventional wars Israel fought in 1956, 1967, or 1973. Many would like some alternative to the Hobson’s choice between mere containment and the long, grinding commitment of stabilization. Conventional invasion followed by quick departure looks to some like an answer.
There is now plenty of evidence on such policies’ outcomes, however. If Iraq weren’t enough, there are Libya, Yemen, Afghanistan, and Somalia, among other examples, to show that the chaos following regime change often creates exactly the kind of terrorist havens, humanitarian crises, and refugee threats that motivate today’s U.S. concern with ISIS. Indeed it was precisely the U.S. policy of regime change without real stabilization in Iraq that created ISIS itself, a lineal descendant of the Iraqi al-Qaeda affiliate that arose in the turmoil of post-Saddam Iraq.
Conventional conquest is often faster and cheaper than stabilization and counterinsurgency, but warfare is a means to political ends—if the military means don’t actually secure any of the political ends, then the fighting is just a waste of lives and dollars, whether the United States declares victory after an early advance or not. The U.S. interests at stake in Syria and Iraq are a combination of homeland security against terrorism, humanitarian concerns for civilian suffering and refugee outflows, and the stability of a region with unusual importance for global energy markets. Defeat of ISIS per se is just a means to these ends—it is not an end in itself. If a U.S.-led offensive pulls down the ISIS black flag over Raqqa, but ISIS is then replaced by al-Qaeda’s former affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, or another militant group, which then claims vanguard status in global jihad against the West, and if that group then uses this to consolidate control over its current Syrian territory and to destabilize weak U.S. clients in Raqqa or Mosul, then how much real progress will have been made toward the actual interests that motivate the campaign in the first place? In fact there is evidence that Jabhat al-Nusra’s new incarnation, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, is already planning just such a transition in anticipation of ISIS’s decline. To replace ISIS with another al-Qaeda offshoot may be an improvement even so, but a modest one at best.
Nor is the alternative to smash-and-leave an acceptance of a future ISIS caliphate. The point of containment is that a contained ISIS will eventually collapse from its own internal contradictions. ISIS’s governing model is not viable, and eventually its inability to produce economic growth, deliver services, or tolerate political participation will reach the breaking point under even gradual military pressure, and the ISIS regime will fall. We can already see the early indications of this in ISIS’s recent cuts in fighter salaries, attempts by civilians under ISIS control to flee, harsh repression by ISIS to prevent this, internal disciplinary challenges, and the willingness of some ISIS foreign fighter recruits to return home even at the cost of imprisonment in their countries of origin. With or without a smash-and-leave offensive, there will not be an ISIS caliphate stretching across the Mideast in 2030.
Given this, what a smash-and-leave offensive actually accomplishes is to hasten an ISIS collapse that will eventually happen anyway even without such an offensive (and to accept some degree of perceived U.S. political responsibility for the aftermath). And the outcome being accelerated here is not the replacement of a terrorist proto-state with stability in Syria—it is the replacement of ISIS with chaos, continued humanitarian crisis, continued risks of the war spilling over to other parts of the Persian Gulf, and continued use of Syrian territory as havens for Islamist terrorism by other Islamist militant groups. Yes, chaos without ISIS is better at the margin than ISIS—but by how much? A real end to these underlying threats will require exhaustion by the Sunni and Shiite international coalitions that are now waging the war, and/or the emergence of a new governing model to resolve the region’s post-Arab-Spring crisis of the state. Neither of these developments are likely any time soon, with or without a U.S. ground offensive, and with or without ISIS.
To achieve such limited gains will increase U.S. costs. Some of these costs are financial: Tripling the troop count would probably add something like $10 billion a year to the bill for Operation Inherent Resolve, which has to date burned over $8 billion since August 2014. The more important cost is in casualties. The current “non-combat” mission has produced three U.S. combat fatalities to date; an explicit shift to a primary ground combat role on the leading edge of an offensive that must conquer multiple large, heavily populated, fortified urban areas would be higher. Then there are the costs of hunting down ISIS units that go to ground and continue to wage a terrorist campaign, as many of the group’s current leaders successfully did in Iraq from 2009-2013. That said, ISIS is not the Wehrmacht, and a multi-brigade U.S. ground assault with modern air support could well eject them at a toll not radically higher than that of, say, Fallujah in 2004, when 71 U.S. soldiers were killed in urban warfare against Sunni insurgents. If ISIS morale breaks under the pressure, then the toll could be lower; if it doesn’t, then the equivalent of multiple Fallujahs could cost more. But none of these costs are trivial, and none address the fact that this organization has proven its ability to survive massive losses. And they must be weighed against the limited return to real U.S. interests they would produce.
Where to Draw the Line on Containment?
This raises the second important question embodied in Jeffrey’s proposal: How should decision makers draw the line on threats they must destroy as opposed to those they will merely contain? Almost no one now favors a true global U.S. war to destroy all terrorists everywhere; some will surely be contained. In fact Jeffrey himself is not actually opposed to containment per se—his proposal implies that he would contain all other Islamist militants in Syria while defeating only ISIS. Why draw the line there?
Jeffrey argues that ISIS’s “state” status makes it a unique threat whose severity warrants American destruction even without stabilization. Certainly terrorists benefit from control of contiguous territory that can be used to plan attacks, train recruits, and tax locals. But many terror groups enjoy de facto territorial control even without ISIS’s nominal state status, and they use that territory to support terrorism: Al-Qaeda and its allies do this in parts of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas; al-Qaeda and ISIS affiliates have exercised such control in parts of Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Mali, Nigeria, and elsewhere. None have yet declared themselves a state in these territories, but the declaration is less important than the underlying real capability that territorial control conveys, and this is hardly unique to ISIS. In fact many analysts now see a major terror threat emanating from ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates without statehood in chaotic Libya or Yemen that rivals or even exceeds that from ISIS’s nominal state territory in Syria and Iraq. In his Worldwide Threat Assessment in February, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper argued that homegrown extremists in the United States operating without direct planning guidance from ISIS in Raqqa actually pose a greater threat than ISIS can produce from its own territory. (And of course the United States has long lived with the terrorist threats sponsored by true states of much larger territory or population than ISIS, in the form of Iran and North Korea.)
What about the branding, inspirational, and recruiting advantages ISIS is said to enjoy from its declared state status? The homegrown extremist threat in the U.S. is often said to be inspired by ISIS and its vanguard status, which is reinforced by the group’s claim to statehood. But essentially the same arguments were made about al-Qaeda long before ISIS or its claiming of statehood: When al-Qaeda was the apparent vanguard of anti-Western militancy this leadership status was widely held to be a major recruitment advantage. Now that ISIS enjoys vanguard status this advantage belongs to them. With ISIS’s expansion halted and, increasingly, reversed in the face of containment (even without the reinforcements Jeffrey and others favor), many now believe their recruiting advantage is waning. But this effect attaches largely to leadership status rather than ostensible statehood per se. If ISIS is destroyed as a state this will hardly destroy Islamist militancy—either in the Levant or elsewhere—and the next group in the queue to claim vanguard status will then inherit the associated recruiting benefits. Perhaps ISIS’s self-proclaimed statehood is superior to this, but is the difference enough to warrant waging war against one but containing the other?
That said, ISIS is still a bigger threat than Syria’s other Islamist militants, at least for now. It makes sense at the moment to rank them higher in the priority list than, say, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham.
But it’s far from clear that there’s a bright line dividing ISIS and other militants—this is a difference of degree, not kind. And it’s very likely that if the U.S. does topple ISIS, then today’s debate will simply repeat itself shortly thereafter, when the next militant group with an abhorrent ideology and an intent to target Americans steps up and threatens the ground won from ISIS. And when that happens, as it probably would if the U.S. removes ISIS and then disengages, then the debate we are having now will begin once again.
In our view, U.S. politics overreacts to terrorism—an important problem but not an existential threat to the American way of life unless Americans’ own reactions make it so. But whatever one’s view on the terrorism threat, the world presents a host of terrorist groups with varying prospective lethality. It’s always going to be possible to escalate American efforts and weaken the next-biggest threat in the queue, but the same can always be said for the next one after that. This is especially problematic if American responses are smash-and-leave missions that leave chaos in their wake—how much does net U.S. security improve when decision makers move on to the next threat in line? After all, each escalation increases costs in exchange for modest improvements in net security. Like the proverbial frog in a pot of slowly heating water, who could jump out but never does because the temperature only seemed to go up a little in each succeeding time step, Americans can wind up boiled to death in the end: Each step of escalation seems small and therefore tolerable, but they add up. The process needs to be seen in a larger, end-game context lest America finds itself overcommitted without having solved the problem. In that larger context, it’s a mistake to view ISIS as some kind of unique peril whose destruction would somehow secure the real interests at stake. The reality is a continuum of threats with only marginal benefits to the marginal increase in cost that comes from waging war against the next one in line.
A line has to be drawn somewhere, somehow, but facing a continuum of relative distinctions rather than an easy bright line makes this a value judgment at least as much as it is an analytical exercise. For us, the judgment call on where to draw it comes down differently than Jeffrey’s preference: We would contain all the current Syrian/Iraqi militant groups, whereas Jeffrey would contain all but ISIS. Reasonable people with complete information on costs and benefits can make different value judgments on where to draw a line along this continuum of threats. (In fact, one of us drew this line to advocate defeat rather than containment for the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2009.)
But no one can draw this line rationally without a clear picture of both the costs and the benefits. And we believe that the benefits of destroying ISIS are smaller than Jeffrey implies, and the costs higher. Smash-and-leave only looks like an escape from the Hobson’s choices of the post-9/11 world if we ignore the famous Petraeus question of 2003 in Iraq and do not ask how this ends. Regime change in situations like Syria and Iraq leaves chaos in its wake absent large, sustained investments in stabilization that few Americans are now willing to incur. If Americans are not willing to incur those costs, then the real benefits of a conventional offensive to conquer Raqqa are a lot smaller than they might look. Containment of some kind, ugly as it is, is an inherent feature of any line anyone will draw in the conflict against terrorism—and in a complete accounting, drawing that line to contain ISIS, rather than smashing it and leaving, has more going for it than many suppose.
Stephen Biddle is a professor of political science and international relations at George Washington University and an adjunct senior fellow for defense policy at the Council on Foreign Relations. He is the author of Military Power: Explaining Victory and Defeat in Modern Battle.
Jacob Shapiro is an associate professor of politics and international affairs at Princeton University and co-directs the Empirical Studies of Conflict Project. He is the author of The Terrorist’s Dilemma: Managing Violent Covert Organizations.
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LDS and Civil Rights
So Mitt Romney cited the civil rights movement as an example of the sort of common faith-based moral causes that bring people of all faiths together. Maybe he needs to re-read about church history. Here's the April 13, 1959 Time:
Whatever they may do or leave undone about their Negro brethren, most U.S. churches hold that all men are equal before God. One notable exception: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The Book of Mormon teaches that the colored races are descendants of the evil children of Laman and Lemuel, who impiously warred against the good children of Nephi and received their pigmented skin as punishment. Last week a Utah State Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights drew on this Mormon scripture in a scathing report on the state of the tiny nonwhite minority in Utah.
Now, obviously, they've jettisoned that these days and that's not what Mitt Romney believes. But it highlights out vacuous this notion of an all-encompassing universal faith-and-goodness is. Most major religions do espouse a mostly-admirable moral creed. But old-style Mormon teaching on "the evil children of Laman and Lemuel" isn't admirable. Arresting people for naming a teddy bear "Mohammed" isn't admirable. Settlers who believe the entire West Bank is God's gift to the Jewish people aren't admirable.
Matthew Yglesias is a former writer and editor at The Atlantic.
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Headline: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1971
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1971
Rainer Werner Fassbinder - filmmaker
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (actor, film director, author, producer) 04/03/1971
Headline: Rainer Werner Faßbinder, 1973
Rainer Werner Faßbinder, 1973
Rainer Werner Faßbinder (1945-1982), deutscher Regisseur, Schauspieler und Drehbuchautor.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945-1982), a German director, actor and screenwriter. The photo was taken during the shooting of the film "Despair". (director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany 1978)
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945-1982), deutscher Regisseur, bei Dreharbeiten.
Headline: Rainer Werner Fassbinder Grafitti, 2010
Rainer Werner Fassbinder Grafitti, 2010
Gärtnerplatzviertel im Wandel: Aufgesprühtes Portrait von Rainer Werner Fassbinder mit der Aufschrift 'Du fehlst' am ehemaligen Cafe King an der Müllerstraße.
'Lola'-heroine Barbara Sukowa with director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, theater and film director.
Headline: Dirk Bogarde, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Andraa Ferreol, 1977
Dirk Bogarde, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Andraa Ferreol, 1977
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (center) gives direction to the actors Dirk Bogarde and Andrea Ferreol. The photo was taken during shooting of the film "Despair" (director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany 1978).
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945-1982), a German director, actor and screenwriter.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1945-1982), a German director, actor and screenwriter. The photo was taken during shooting of the film "Despair" (director: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Germany 1978).
Headline: Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Headline: Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Hanna Schygulla, Ulli Lommel, Ingrid Caven, 1971
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Hanna Schygulla, Ulli Lommel, Ingrid Caven, 1971
Rainer Werner Fassbinder (center seated) - actor, film director, author, producer - and actor of his anti-theater. Kneeling: Hanna Schygulla, standing right behind him, off Ulli Lommel, right: Ingrid Caven. The theater has performed in Cologne on 04.03.1971 with 'blood on the neck of the cat'.
Headline: Rainer Werner Fassbinder in Munich
Rainer Werner Fassbinder in Munich
The director Rainer Werner Fassbinder with guests of a carnival party. The picture was taken in the seventies.
Margarethe von Trotta
Headline: Mourners at the funeral of Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Mourners at the funeral of Rainer Werner Fassbinder
The film architect Rolf Zehetbauer (right) expresses his condolences to Fassbinder's mother Liselotte Eder. On the left next to her in the mortuary chapel of the Bogenhausen Cemetery, the actress Rosel Zech, on the right Juliane Lorenz, the second wife of the director.
Rainer Werner Fassbinder, film director, actor, writer, Germany
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2016 Summit High School football, rugby and fall sports schedule
Sports | August 30, 2016
Photos by Louie Traub
Special to the Daily
Runners break from the starting line at Crown Mountain Park in the annual Longhorn Stampede high school cros- country race in 2015. The Summit High School cross-country team has no home meets this season, but will compete several times in neighboring counties and onto the Front Range.
Jeremy Wallace / The Aspen Times |
Summit and Eagle Valley line up before a play during the first half of the Tigers homecoming football game last season. The first home game of the 2016 season is Sept. 9 against Niwot at 7 p.m.
Louie Traub / Special to the Daily |
Summit's Dekota Rhodes (49) drops back for a pass during the first half of the Tiger's 6-49 loss to Palisade Friday. This season brings a new format to the 3A Western Slope football league, which dropped from 10 teams to 6 teams: Summit, Battle Mountain, Eagle Valley, Glenwood Springs, Rifle and Palisade. The first Tigers home game of the 2016 season is Sept. 9 against Niwot at 7 p.m.
Summit High School's Keegan Cancelosi takes a shot from the fairway during the 2015 Keystone Ranch Invitational, hosted on The Ranch Course, one of two full courses at the 36-hole club. The tournament returns to the Keystone golf club on Sept. 8.
The Summit High School rugby team celebrates their 64-7 win over Chaparral at Infinity Park in Denver to claim their eighth straight state championship Saturday. The first home game of the 2016 girl's rugby season is Sept. 10 (time TBD).
Former senior McKenna Ramsay (second from front) trains with teammates on the Tigers cross-country team before the fourth meet of the 2015 season. The Summit High School cross-country team has no home meets this season, but will compete several times in neighboring counties and onto the Front Range.
Phil Lindeman / plindeman@summitdaily.com |
Summit's Cassidy Bargell breaks through the Chaparral defense to score a try during the first half of the Tiger's 64-7 win at Infinity Park in Denver Saturday to claim their eighth straight state title. The first home game of the fall girl's rugby season is Sept. 10 (time TBD).
Summit's Autumn Ward (15) and Sage Kent (1) celebrate after scoring a point during their homecoming match against Steamboat Springs last season. The second home match of the 2016 fall season is Sept. 6 against league opponents Rifle, with varsity taking the court at 6:30 p.m.
The 2015 Tigers volleyball team before a game last season. The second home match of the 2016 fall season is Sept. 6 against league opponents Rifle, with varsity taking the court at 6:30 p.m.
Summit High School's Graham Gaspard places a tiger headcover on his driver after teeing off on the first hole at the Keystone Ranch Invitational in 2015. The tournament returns to the Keystone golf club on Sept. 8.
Eagle Valley's Juan Garduño, left, clears the ball ahead of Summit's Salvador Zambrano (12) during a rivalry game last season. The first home match of the 2016 boy's soccer season is Sept. 1 against Conifer at 6 p.m.
Summit High's Omar Espinoza (7) drills the ball past Palisade goalkeeper Cooper Bryan during the second half a varsity soccer game in Summit last season. The first home match of the 2016 boy's soccer season is Sept. 1 against Conifer at 6 p.m.
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It’s nearly September and we all know what that means: Fall high school sports season is nearly here. We take a look at home schedules for the big four team sports — volleyball, football, boys soccer and the state championship girls rugby team — before the thick of the season arrives.
For complete schedules, including away games and JV matches, see the Summit High School athletics site at http://www.summit.k12.co.us.
Friday, Sept. 9 — Summit vs. Niwot High School, 7 p.m. at Tiger Stadium
Friday, Sept. 23 — Summit vs. Clear Creek High School, 6 p.m. at Tiger Stadium (homecoming)
Friday, Oct. 7 — Summit vs. Eagle Valley High School, 7 p.m. at Tiger Stadium
Friday, Oct. 14 — Summit vs. Rifle High School, 7 p.m. at Tiger Stadium
Friday, Oct. 28 — Summit vs. Palisade High School, 7 p.m. at Tiger Stadium (senior night)
Varsity boys soccer
Thursday, Sept. 1 — Summit vs. Conifer High School, 6 p.m. at Tiger Stadium
Thursday, Sept. 22 — Summit vs. Steamboat Springs High School, 6 p.m. at Tiger Stadium
Tuesday, Sept. 27 — Summit vs. Eagle Valley High School, 6 p.m. at Tiger Stadium
Tuesday, Oct. 4 — Summit vs. Battle Mountain High School, 6 p.m. at Tiger Stadium
Saturday, Oct. 8 — Summit vs. Palisade High School, 11 a.m. at Tiger Stadium
Tuesday, Oct. 11 — Summit vs. Glenwood Springs High School, 6 p.m. at Tiger Stadium
Thursday, Oct. 20 — Summit vs. Rifle High School, 6 p.m. at Tiger Stadium (senior night)
Varsity girls volleyball
Tuesday, Sept. 6 — Summit vs. Rifle High School, 6:30 p.m. at Summit High gymnasium
Thursday, Sept. 8 — Summit vs. Glenwood Springs High School, 6:30 p.m. at Summit High gymnasium
Tuesday, Sept. 20 — Summit vs. West Grand High School, 6:30 p.m. at Summit High Gymnasium
Thursday, Sept. 29 — Summit vs. Eagle Valley High School, 6:30 p.m. at Summit High Gymnasium
Saturday, Oct. 8 — Summit vs. Palisade High School, 1 p.m. at Summit High Gymnasium
Thursday, Oct. 20 — Summit vs. Steamboat Springs High School, 6:30 p.m. at Summit High Gymnasium
Tuesday, Oct. 25 — Summit vs. Battle Mountain High School, 6:30 p.m. at Summit High Gymnasium (senior night)
Varsity girls rugby
Saturday, Sept. 10 — Summit vs. TBD, time TBD at Tiger Stadium
Saturday, Sept. 17 — Summit vs. Aspen, time TBD at Tiger Stadium
Saturday, Sept. 24 — Summit vs. TBD, time TBD at Tiger Stadium (homecoming)
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Home » How a Traveling Vinegar Salesman Innovated the Global Sushi Industry
How a Traveling Vinegar Salesman Innovated the Global Sushi Industry
Kunihiko Tanaka was peddling vinegar to sushi restaurants in western Japan when he spotted the opportunity that would change his life.
It was the 1970s, and the sushi industry was set to boom. But Tanaka thought it was seriously flawed in how it operated. Artisan chefs presided over restaurants with poor quality control. They charged different prices to different people for the same meal, and bills weren’t affordable to the average person, except for special occasions.
Tanaka decided to establish his own sushi restaurant. But he would do it differently. And so, with about $26,000 that he’d borrowed, he opened his first restaurant in 1977, setting out on a path that would eventually lead to the founding of Kura Corp. in 1995. The firm embraced a range of modern technologies, aiming to bring sushi to the masses. Kura is now Japan’s second-largest chain of kaiten sushi restaurants, where the food is delivered on revolving conveyor belts. It has a market value of $1.2bn and hundreds of outlets nationwide.
“I believed kaiten sushi would keep the sushi legacy going,” Tanaka said in an interview at the company’s headquarters in rural Osaka, about 3 1/2 hours west of Tokyo by train. “And I was right.”
Kura’s restaurants are about as far away as it’s possible to get from the notion of sushi-making as a lifelong artisan craft. The chain uses robots in the kitchen for some tasks instead of expensive and sometimes erratic sushi chefs handling the food with their bare hands, and an express delivery order lane above the revolving conveyor belt that speeds dishes to customers’ tables.
Kura is also different from other firms in that it refuses to use additives or preservatives in its food. In a typical sushi restaurant, those would be in the vinegar for the sushi rice and the soy sauce and wasabi mustard used to flavor the sushi, but in Kura’s restaurants, they’re all custom-made to avoid this, according to Tanaka. He says he eats many meals at his company’s restaurants.
And the sushi dishes are cheap, mostly at 108 yen (95 cents), a price that has barely changed for three decades, even as many of its rivals gradually raise prices.
Tanaka says he keeps the prices low through tight cost control, which goes as far as automating the cleanup process. Finished plates are dropped by customers into a slot at their table, from which they’re transported automatically to the dishwasher and counted to calculate a customer’s bill. This means the company doesn’t need to hire as many waiters or waitresses.
Kura owns 31 patents for inventions it made in developing the restaurants’ unique system. The most-prized one is called Sendo-kun, or Mr. Fresh, which is a transparent dome-shaped cover placed on top of each plate of sushi. It flips open when you slightly lift the plate. That way, customers or chefs never need to touch the cap, reducing the risk of germ transmission. Not only that, it contains an embedded chip that lets Kura’s monitoring center keep track of how long a plate has been doing the rounds.
U.S. Listing
Kura currently has more than 420 outlets across Japan, with 19 restaurants in the U.S. and 15 in Taiwan. The stock has risen more than fourfold since the start of 2014, hitting a record in May before tailing off with the broader market.
Tanaka said he wanted to “dream big” when he was growing up in western Japan. With the country reeling from postwar damages, his parents sold goods in the markets to support the family. Tanaka had no interest in pursuing academic goals, so he joined a vinegar company after college. Vinegar is a key ingredient in the rice used as the bed for sushi.
He remembers nervously borrowing about 3 million yen to start the business after his rounds of sushi restaurants convinced him that the model had to change. He recalls being served raw squid in one restaurant and breaking out in a severe rash, finding out later that the squid had been meant for fried dishes, not for serving raw. He couldn’t believe how careless the restaurant had been.
Supply Control
Today, Kura employs 25 people at a monitoring center who work solely on regulating the flow of sushi across its restaurants, using a points system where customers who’ve just arrived get the highest points while those who have been there an hour get zero. "If it’s 100 points in total, we’d offer a certain amount," Tanaka said. "This is how we control it."
Kura commands a 20 percent share of Japan’s kaiten sushi market, according to CLSA Ltd. That puts it second after Sushiro Global Holdings Ltd., which has a share of 26 percent, the brokerage says. But while the domestic industry has grown rapidly, commentators say that it’s becoming increasingly mature, creating challenges for firms such as Kura.
“You’re reaching a point where it’s not a saturated market but it may get that way in a couple of years,” said Robert Purcell, an analyst at CLSA in Japan, who rates Kura a buy. “So, will they acquire someone else? You need other growth opportunities.”
Tanaka has said that Kura isn’t looking at domestic M&A. Instead, he’s focusing on overseas growth, betting that Kura’s additive-free food will take off globally amid an increasing consumer trend toward healthy food. The company hopes to add at least 10 restaurants each in the U.S. and Taiwan every year, and to go public in the U.S. as early as 2020. He anticipates bringing Kura to Europe one day, and to also listing shares in Taiwan.
Time will tell whether he succeeds in these plans, but whatever happens, Tanaka has come a long way since his days as a traveling vinegar salesman. At current prices, his family’s stake in Kura is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. But he isn’t content with his success to date.
“I’m not there yet, far from it,” he said, when he’s asked if he feels like he’s realized his dream. “The real show starts now.”
Asia Pacific Technology Forecasting & Demand Planning Global Supply Chain Management Business Strategy Alignment Supply Chain Visibility Inventory Planning/ Optimization SC Planning & Optimization Sales & Operations Planning Sourcing/Procurement/SRM Consumer Packaged Goods Food & Beverage
KEYWORDS Asia Pacific Business Strategy Alignment consumer packaged goods Food and Beverage Forecasting & Demand Planning Global Supply Chain Management Inventory Planning/ Optimization Sales & Operations Planning SC Planning & Optimization Sourcing/Procurement/SCM Supply Chain Visibility Technology
Why Annual Planning Should be a Significant Non-Event; Tapping the power of Integrated Business Planning
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Going Global: Building a Sustainable Logistics Model in the Age of Globalization
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Home » First Japan-Built Airliner in 50 Years Takes on Boeing, Airbus
First Japan-Built Airliner in 50 Years Takes on Boeing, Airbus
A new, long-delayed 88-passenger jet from Japan may finally be the right plane at the right time.
More cities in Asia and Europe are seeking to link up with each other and the global air travel network. The Mitsubishi Regional Jet, the first airliner built in Japan since the 1960s, began certification flights last month in Moses Lake, Washington, to satisfy that demand.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd.’s new airliner is testing the skies just as rivals are moving to sell off their manufacturing operations for jets with up to 160 seats. Boeing Co. is set to buy 80 percent of the Embraer SA’s commercial operations in a joint venture, while Bombardier Inc. last year sold control of its C Series airliner project to Airbus SE and is exploring “ strategic options” for its regional-jet operations. At stake, particularly in the market for jets with fewer seats, is $135bn in sales in the two decades through 2037, according to industry group Japan Aircraft Development Corp.
“Bombardier’s moves do indeed create opportunities for the MRJ,’’ said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst at Teal Group. “It’s the biggest single factor in the MRJ’s favor.’’
With few seats and smaller fuselages, regional jets are a different class of aircraft from larger narrow-body planes such as Boeing’s 737 or Airbus’s A320. The MRJ has a range of about 2,000 miles, while a smaller variant can haul up to 76 people for about the same distance.
A longtime supplier of aircraft components to Boeing, Mitsubishi Heavy is developing the MRJ to emerge from its customer’s shadow. After spending at least $2bn over more than a decade, the manufacturer is looking to get its jet certified and start deliveries to launch partner ANA Holdings Inc.
Mitsubishi initially planned test flights in 2012 but blew past that deadline because of production difficulties. Now the company, which makes ships, nuclear power plants and aerospace components, expects to have the plane ready for customers next year, a timetable that will test the company, said Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. President Hisakazu Mizutani.
“This coming year is extremely important for us,” Mizutani said at a media event on April 16 in the central Japanese city of Nagoya.
A lot now hinges on Mitsubishi’s ability to get the jets ready on schedule, said Sho Fukuhara, an analyst at Jefferies Japan Ltd. who said the company’s current 407 MRJ orders aren’t enough to make the program profitable.
“Longer term, there should be an opportunity but right now they have to deliver the very first plane,” Fukuhara said. “Potential buyers are looking at how they proceed with their schedule.”
The company announced in October it was pumping an extra 170 billion yen in capital to its aircraft unit’s existing capital of 100 billion yen; Mitsubishi also canceled 50 billion yen of the debt owed by the aircraft division.
Also adding to Mitsubishi Heavy’s challenges is a lawsuit filed by Bombardier in Seattle last October, accusing the Japanese company of acquiring secret information and causing Bombardier “to suffer irreparable financial loss.” Mitsubishi counter-sued, denying the Montreal-based company’s accusations and saying that it violated antitrust laws through “a multifaceted scheme to expand its power within the regional jet market by impeding the entrance of a new competing aircraft.”
Bombardier denies the allegations and will vigorously defend itself, spokesman Simon Letendre said in an emailed statement.
“Our views are completely different, and so we’re looking to get a clear determination in a public forum,” Mizutani said.
Mitsubishi Heavy isn’t the only Asian manufacturer betting that it can build aircraft cheaper and more efficiently. Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China Ltd., also known as Comac, has a new regional jet in service, while Korea Aerospace Industries Ltd. is studying whether to develop a 100-passenger aircraft.
“The aviation market in Asia is expected to grow further in the coming years and there will be demand for these aircraft,” said Lee Dong-heon, an analyst at Daishin Securities Co. in Seoul. “The shift in the regional aviation segment we have seen over the last year or so has opened opportunities.”
In order to compete, Mitsubishi can’t just rely on its home market. The biggest customers therefore could be in the U.S., where large airlines try to cut costs by outsourcing short flights to smaller carriers that fly regional jets. Trans States Airlines Inc., which operates flights for United Airlines under the name United Express, ordered 50 of the planes, with options for 50 more, in 2010. Trans World didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The weight and capacity of the MRJ now in testing are too large for many regional carriers, according to Bloomberg Intelligence analyst George Ferguson, although the company plans to introduce the smaller version in 2021.
As part of its preparations to ramp up deliveries and support operations, Mitsubishi’s aircraft unit separated its sales and marketing divisions this month, created a customer support unit and moved its U.S. headquarters to Renton, Washington, the Seattle suburb where Boeing assembles its 737 jets.
“The need for regional jets isn’t going down,” Mizutani said “The MRJ is fully capable of competing in the market.”
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News: Adam Yates loses GC by 1 Second
It was heartbreak for Adam Yates as he lost the leader’s jersey by less than a single second to Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) after a brave effort in the final stage time trial at Tirreno-Adriatico.
Adam Yates narrowly misses out on the title by less than a second at Tirreno-Adriatico
The Brit began the 10.05km course with a buffer of 25 seconds over his nearest rival, but the advantage proved not to be enough to fend off time trial specialist Roglic, despite reducing the gap between the pair to 26 seconds, down from 36 in 2018.
The final stage result means that Yates finishes the seven-stage race second overall after Mitchelton-SCOTT held the jersey all week, having won the opening team time trial.
One for the specialists
Former race leader Michael Hepburn was the first off the start ramp for Mitchelton-SCOTT and the Australian set the third fastest time of the early runners as he crossed the line.
The TT was the first opportunity for Luke Durbridge to show off his Australian champion’s skinsuit and the 27-year-old set the eighth fastest time across the line, eventually finishing 13th on the stage.
All eyes then turned to the top two in the overall classification, with Roglic setting off two minutes ahead of Yates knowing he needed to claw back 25 seconds on the race leader. The Mitchelton-SCOTT man was seven seconds down on his rival at the first time split and as he passed under the flamme rouge it was clear it was going to be tight at the finish.
But unfortunately it wasn’t enough despite a valiant effort from Yates to fend off Roglic, with the racing ending with a second place overall after four stages in the leader’s jersey.
Adam Yates: “It was a hard TT, I’ve done this TT many times and I always lose a chunk of time and it was close, but it wasn’t enough, that’s how it goes, that’s bike racing. I did the best I could, I said yesterday that 25 seconds isn’t really enough. But I did a good TT, I’ll have to look back but I think the power was good and I held my position for as long as I could.”
“There wasn’t much more I could do, the strongest man won, but for sure next year I’ll be back and hopefully I can comeback stronger. This is the first big goal of the season, and I got pretty close, next up I’ve got some more big races, I’ve got Catalunya and Basque Country next, so the form is good, the condition is good and a few days to recover now before Catalunya.”
Matt White (Sports Director): “Adam has done a great time trial to finish off, he’s not a time trial specialists and to only lose that amount of time on some of the best guys in the world, it’s a solid ride.”
“No one likes to lose by that margin, but it is what it is and there’s a lot of positives that we can take from this week. One is obviously the team time trial, the way we won that and beat the best teams in the world there, secondly the way the boys have ridden in support of Adam and the way Adam has ridden as a leader in a race that didn’t suit his characteristics.”
“The team in general have had a great work load this week and it certainly bodes well for what’s coming up, with Milan San-Remo, the first part of the Belgian classics and for Adam and Brent going to Catalunya.”
Tirreno-Adriatico stage seven results:
1. Victor Campenaerts (Lotto Soudal) 11:23
2. Alberto Bettiol (EF Education First) +0:03
3. Jos van Emden (Team Jumbo-Visma) +0:04
13. Luke Durbridge (Mitchelton-SCOTT) +0:15
Tirreno-Adriatico General Classifcation:
1. Primoz Roglic (Team Jumbo-Visma) 25:28:00
2. Adam Yates (Mitchelton-SCOTT) +0:01
3. Jakob Fuglsang (Astana Pro Team) +0:30
Result: Ford CC Dunton Series 6
Result: Norwich ABC 10m TT
Result: Barnesbury CC 10m TT
Result: A3crg Summer Ten TT
Result: CC Breckland 15m TT
← News: Team for CiCLE Classic Revealed
Team News: Campenaerts wins Tirreno-Adriatico TT →
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New York jury convicts man who starved, branded women in sex cult
Brendan Pierson
Published: Jun 19 at 10:09 a.m.
Updated: Jun 19 at 8:11 p.m.
By Brendan Pierson
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Keith Raniere, a New York man accused of running a cult-like group in which women were kept on starvation diets, branded with his initials and ordered to have sex with him, was found guilty of all charges against him by a New York jury on Wednesday.
Raniere, 58, was charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, possession of child pornography and other crimes. He faces a possible sentence of life in prison.
The jury in federal court in Brooklyn reached its verdict after just four hours of deliberation, capping off a trial that lasted more than six weeks. Raniere's sentencing is set for Sept. 25.
His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, told reporters outside the courthouse that the verdict will be appealed. He said he believed a fair sentence would be less than life.
Agnifilo also expressed sympathy for Raniere's victims.
"I hope that people find peace and solace in the verdict," he said. "That's my genuine feeling from the heart, having nothing to do with being anyone's lawyer."
Raniere is the founder of Nxivm, a purported self-improvement organization based in upstate New York.
Prosecutors said that he created a secret sorority within Nxivm called DOS in which female "slaves" turned over compromising materials, such as nude photos, that could be used for blackmail. They were told that the material would be released if they disobeyed orders or tried to leave, according to a former member and other witnesses.
DOS was sold to recruits as an all-female organization, when in fact it was controlled by Raniere, according to former members who testified at the trial.
'IT'S OVER'
Outside of the courthouse, after the verdict was read, a group of former Nxivm members gave the prosecution team a round of applause.
Catherine Oxenberg, an actress who wrote a book called "Captive" about her efforts to rescue her daughter from Nxivm, called her daughter to tell her the verdict.
"She's in shock," Oxenberg was heard saying of her daughter. "I'm in shock as well. It's over. It's done."
Raniere was the "grandmaster" of an inner circle of slaves, who in turn recruited slaves of their own. Some of those recruits were coerced into having sex with Raniere, and some were branded with his initials, according to former members.
"The trial has revealed that Raniere, who portrayed himself as a savant and a genius, was in fact a master manipulator, a con man and the crime boss of a cult-like organization involving sex trafficking, child pornography, extortion, compelled abortion, branding, degradation and humiliation," Richard Donoghue, the U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn, told reporters outside of the courthouse.
"His crime, and the crimes of his coconspirators, ruined marriages, careers, fortunes and lives."
Prosecutors also said that, years before creating DOS, Raniere began a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl. The child pornography charges stem from explicit pictures he took of the girl, who went on to become one of his inner circle of DOS slaves.
Agnifilo, had told jurors in his closing arguments on Monday that no women were ever forced to do anything against their will.
Other members of Nxivm, which is pronounced "nexium," were charged alongside Raniere, and have all pleaded guilty. They include Nxivm president Nancy Salzman; her daughter, Lauren Salzman, who testified as the prosecution's star witness; actress Allison Mack; and Seagram liquor heiress Claire Bronfman.
The group first became known for its "Executive Success Program" courses, which purported to give students the ability to achieve their life goals by overcoming mental blocks. Witnesses testified that leaders of the organization psychologically manipulated and abused its members and demanded total obedience.
(Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Bill Berkrot)
Published just now
Gas line blast levels house in California, kills one and injures 15
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Music Friday: Neil Young Is a Miner for a ‘Heart of Gold’ in the 1971 Classic
( View All Posts )
Welcome to Music Friday when we bring you classic songs with jewelry, gemstones or precious metals in the title or lyrics. Today, the incomparable Neil Young searches for a soulmate in his 1971 chart-topping classic, “Heart of Gold.”
Penned by Young, this song is about a man who has been unlucky in love. The protagonist of the story wonders if he’s ever going to find someone who will cherish him unconditionally.
He sings, “I want to live, I want to give / I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold / It’s these expressions I never give / That keep me searching for a heart of gold and I’m getting old.”
Ranked #297 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs, “Heart of Gold” remains Canadian Neil Young’s only #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. The song also reached #1 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles list.
Interestingly, this ubiquitous song was a result of a couple of serendipitous events:
Young had suffered a back injury and, unable to stand for long periods to play his electric guitar, returned to his acoustic guitar and harmonica. “Heart of Gold” was one song that came out of those sessions. Second, Linda Ronstadt and James Taylor happened to be in Nashville for a television appearance while Young was recording Harvest, the album on which “Heart of Gold” appears. The album’s producer arranged for the high-profile artists to sing backup on Young’s track.
“Heart of Gold” has been covered by more than 30 artists, including Dave Matthews, Jimmy Buffett, Johnny Cash, Tori Amos and Willie Nelson. Canada’s CBC radio named it the third best Canadian song of all time and it was included in the Eat, Pray, Love movie soundtrack.
Born in Toronto in 1945 to a sportswriter dad and quiz show panelist mom, Young contracted polio as a five year old. The disease damaged the left side of his body and led to seizures he would experience throughout his life.
Young idolized Elvis Presley and listened to rock ‘n roll, rockabilly, doo-wop, R&B and country and western music on the radio. Young taught himself to play a plastic ukulele, and he would soon step up to a banjo ukulele and baritone ukulele. Young formed his first band, the Jades, while attending middle school and eventually played with several rock bands in high school. Music dominated his world, so he decided to drop out of school to pursue a musical career.
He formed the influential band Buffalo Springfield with Stephen Stills in 1966 and toured with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, starting in 1968.
Young is one of the few artists who had been inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was first honored as a solo artist in 1995 and then as a member of Buffalo Springfield in 1997. In 2000, Rolling Stone named Young the 34th greatest rock ‘n roll artist.
Please check out the video of Young’s live performance of “Heart of Gold.” The clip is taken from his 1971 appearance on the British TV show BBC In Concert.
Written and performed by Neil Young.
I want to live, I want to give
I’ve been a miner for a heart of gold
It’s these expressions I never give
That keep me searching for a heart of gold and I’m getting old
Keep me searching for a heart of gold and I’m getting old
I’ve been to Hollywood, I’ve been to Redwood
I crossed the ocean for a heart of gold
I’ve been in my mind, it’s such a fine line
That keeps me searching for a heart of gold and I’m getting old
Keeps me searching for a heart of gold and I’m getting old
Keep me searching for a heart of gold
You keep me searching and I’m growing old
Credit: Screen capture via YouTube.com.
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Military contracting: our new era of corporate mercenaries
Arjun Sethi
A niche business has become a huge industry – but murky as ever: privatising conflict means bypassing democratic oversight
@arjunsethi81
Wed 23 Jan 2013 09.00 EST First published on Wed 23 Jan 2013 09.00 EST
Private military contracting has ballooned into an industry worth more than $100bn a year. Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters
In early 1995, Sierra Leone was on the brink of collapse. A violent civil war had ravaged the country, leaving thousands dead and countless others wounded. The insurgent rebels, infamous for recruiting child soldiers, were just weeks from the beleaguered capital, Freetown, and appeared unassailable.
Several months later, however, the tide had turned: the government's authority was strengthened, rebel forces were repelled, and control over the country's major economic assets was restored. Executive Outcomes, a private military contractor armed with helicopters and state of the art artillery, helped change the course of the war.
Nearly every tool necessary to wage war can now be purchased: combat support, including the ability to conduct large-scale operations and surgical strikes; operational support, like training and intelligence gathering; and general support, like transportation services and paramedical assistance. The demand for these services, in turn, has ballooned: the gross revenue for the private military contractor industry is now in excess of $100bn a year.
The privatization of conflict is no longer a trend. It's the norm.
The United States relied so heavily on contractors during the recent Iraq war that no one knows with certainty how many were on the ground. In late 2010, the United Arab Emirates, fearful that the Arab uprisings might spread to the Gulf, paid Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater Worldwide, $529m to create an elite force to safeguard the emirate. And today, Russia is openly considering forming a cadre of private military contractors to further its interests abroad.
Yet, the laws that govern this industry tell a different story. Instead of a transnational system with meaningful collaboration, we have a patchwork of state laws that allow companies to forum-shop and circumvent regulations. Contractors can likewise relocate, as they typically rent the equipment necessary to complete their contracts; their primary source of capital is human, not physical.
In addition to closing loopholes, states must monitor contractors, and prosecute them when they commit crimes. To this day, not a single contractor has been successfully prosecuted for its role in the Abu Ghraib prison atrocities or the Nisour Square massacre, in which 17 Iraqi civilians were killed.
Contractors claim that their services are market- and self-regulated. They contend that wanton violence would stop governments from seeking their assistance. Yet, the theatre of war often obscures their activities.
In its final report to the US Congress, the Commission on Wartime Contracting found that the US government lost more than $30bn to contractor waste and fraud in Afghanistan and Iraq. Also, corporations can rename and rebrand, thereby mitigating reputational harm. Consider Blackwater USA, which changed its name to Xe Services LLC, and then to Academi – all in the last four years.
The UN working group on the use of mercenaries has suggested that certain military functions, like combat services and interrogation, not be outsourced to private contractors. Its guidelines should be followed. Outsourcing foreign policy goals undermines democratic oversight because contractor activities, including casualties, typically escape public scrutiny. It can also allow states to evade legislative oversight.
The greatest check against war is the horror of war itself. Yet, as the physical distance between warring states grows, so does the temptation to loosen our moral compass. Violence that lacks immediacy is easier to ignore. Permitting third parties to wage war for profit risks a world in which war is not the last resort but an economic transaction in which the victims are faceless and nameless.
And so, we return to Sierra Leone. Although the intervention by Executive Outcomes is sometimes touted as illustrating the viability of military contractors, history suggests otherwise. The contractor was later accused of interfering in domestic politics to pursue financial gain, and an associated firm received payment through diamond mine concessions, which compromised the country's economic future.
Moreover, violence resumed after Executive Outcomes left Sierra Leone. It became clear that the government had over-relied on the contractor and undercut its own institutions.
The fog of war is hazy enough. We don't need additional, unregulated cloud cover.
• Editor's note: this article was updated and amended at the request of the author at 11am on 23 January 2013
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Who wants to be a milliner?
Jess Cartner-Morley meets Philip Treacy, the designer whose hats are almost as famous as the stars who wear them
Jess Cartner-Morley
@JessC_M
Tue 16 Apr 2002 06.24 EDT First published on Tue 16 Apr 2002 06.24 EDT
The hats in the window of the Philip Treacy shop are, as usual, stopping Knightsbridge pavement traffic with their archly angled brims and quivering silk arrows. But today they are all in black, soaking up the spring sunshine that is bouncing off walls decorated with the rich, crackled gold of chocolate wrappers. It is, after all, the day after the funeral of the woman Treacy reverently describes as "the greatest hat-wearer in the country".
An Irish avant garde fashion designer might seem an unlikely royalist, but then Treacy credits the royal family with "keeping hat-wearing alive". Treacy, in turn, has made hats sexy again. His hats are worn by everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Mick Jagger to Sam Taylor-Wood. He has created hats to accompany the catwalk collections of Alexander McQueen and Valentino, has been named British Accessory Designer of the Year five times, and was the first milliner in 80 years to be invited by French fashion's governing body, the Chambre Syndicale, to take part in the Parisian haute couture shows.
Everyone in Treacy's shop and studio seems to be small with an enormous personality. Isabella Blow, Treacy's muse and an eccentric fashion stylist, is petite with a gash of red lipstick, vertiginous heels and (as always) a Philip Treacy hat - today it is black, to match the window display, with loops at each ear that are part bullfighter, part Princess Leia. She sweeps in, launching into a complicated story involving Sophie Dahl and a breakfast-time tantrum in Claridges.
Mr Pig, a Jack Russell with a rottweiler complex, barks incessantly and is staggeringly bad-tempered, biting everyone from motorcycle couriers to supermodels. Treacy adores him: on Tuesday, Mr Pig will - after lengthy negotiations - be the first dog ever allowed into the Victoria and Albert Museum; the occasion is a gala dinner to mark the Moët & Chandon Fashion Tribute that Treacy has been awarded. The milliner's pet is "one of the family", and to have left him at home would have been unthinkable. Mr Pig himself seems to be taking the historic news in his stride; but then this is a dog with a VIP pass in his own name for the Design Museum.
Treacy is calm and still, with an unwavering gaze, a lullaby Galway accent, and hands that seldom fidget except to extract another Marlboro Light or rake back the silver-streaked strawberry-blond hair that falls over his eyes. The still centre of the storm. But I thought only extroverts liked hats? "It's not true. Interesting people like hats. There's an idea that you need a lot of confidence to wear hats, but it's the other way around. Hats give you confidence."
Treacy's catwalks are filled with sculptural pieces in the shape of crescent moons or rouged lips, but he knows damn well that this is not what the average mother of the bride has in mind, so the shop also boasts more demure creations. "People have this idea that if they come here, I'm going to insist they walk out with a 17th-century sailing ship on their head," he says with some exasperation. "It's not like that. I want to find the hat that makes them look great, and feel great. Humour is a part of hats, but no one wants to look silly."
Treacy is evangelical on the subject of hat-wearing. But lots of people, I point out, are adamant that hats just don't suit them. "Rubbish! Complete rubbish! They just haven't found the right hat." Perhaps they should try harder: Treacy's hats, after all, are famous not just for their imaginative and fantastical designs, but for being extraordinarily flattering. He likens them to cosmetic surgery. "The line of the brim changes the proportions of the face. I remember, as a child, trying to figure out why my mother would spend ages arranging her hats in front of the mirror. Now I understand: you use the hat to make your face look better. When a client comes in, we get her to try on lots of different hats, and every one will make her look different. We find the one that really flatters." And, says Treacy, "men love women in hats. They don't really think it through like that, but there's definitely something about a woman in a hat that intrigues them."
When Treacy started out in millinery, there was an idea that hats were something worn by posh people and old people. Somehow, the fact that they were on the wane made radical reinvention possible. Ten years ago, aged 24, Treacy began staging fashion shows "mainly because I thought it was important to promote the image of hats on young, beautiful women," and has done more than anyone else to revive the hat. "Twenty years ago hats were about conforming; now they're about rebelling." He adores the pomp and pageantry of millinery - having paid his last respects to the Queen Mother, he raves about the rakishly low set of the bearskins worn by the Irish Guards - but is adamant that a love of hats is not about elitism. "I come from a rural family in the west of Ireland. I couldn't care less about any of that."
Certainly, Treacy was not born into the world of tantrums and tiaras. He grew up in Ahascragh, a village of 500 people in Galway; it was a bucolic childhood, and "fashion and design just didn't really come into it". There was not a great deal of money and the family was virtually self-sufficient, so making things was a way of life. "I was always good with my hands. And I often ended up making things with feathers because we kept chickens, so I'd be given feathers to play with."
Across the road was the village church, and Treacy adored weddings. "I thought they were just wonderful, that the brides looked so fantastic. Looking back, they were probably Pronuptia jalopies, but to me they were out of this world."
His only sister is a housewife; his seven brothers include policemen and an alcohol counsellor. But it was clear from an early age that Treacy would take a different route. He remembers a neighbour baiting his father about him, saying it was a bit weird, this boy sewing all the time. "My father said, 'Whatever makes him happy,' which was a pretty radical point of view, considering where and when this was." He is proud of what he sees as an Irish trait of "being tolerant and charming about idiosyncrasies and eccentricities." Treacy clearly worships Blow, a character if ever there was one. She has been his mentor, introducing him as a student to Karl Lagerfeld, who promptly offered him a job at Chanel. She is, he says, the greatest ambassador for his hats, "because I love the way Isabella can wear the most extraordinary hat as if she's not wearing a hat at all".
His job has taken Treacy into the orbit of some of the world's most recognisable faces. "Talking to Oprah, that was something. She'll go, 'Philip, I like a brim. I don't want any feathers,' and it's hard to argue with Oprah. She likes really labour-intensive hats, hats that look really special. She orders about 20 a year. At the moment we're making her a safari hat for a trip to Africa." Having celebrities wear his hats is, he knows, great PR, but not something to get too dizzy about. "I just make them a hat; it's not like I'm their best friend."
Not everyone who wears Treacy's hats is famous. "Our clients range from a friend of Valentino's who flies in for fittings on a private jet, to a lady who's saved up £200 for a hat for her daughter's wedding. The thing is, it's not that different. They both want to look like a million dollars. It's just a different hat."
For the past year, he has been designing hats for Autograph, the Marks & Spencer designer range: "I don't come from a moneyed family, and it's important to me to make hats that people can afford. I like to think my mum could have bought a hat there."
Men make up an increasingly important chunk of Treacy's clientele. "The men wearing hats now - David Beckham, Guy Ritchie, Vinnie Jones - they're not exactly effete. That's having an effect on other men, which is great." He himself, however, is only an occasional hat-wearer; and no, he won't be wearing one at the V&A. Why? "There'll be enough hats around, I think. And I do enough to promote hats; there's something a bit forced about me wearing one up on the podium." He is also, one suspects, feeling vaguely anxious at the prospect of being the centre of so much attention. And his hats, after all, are hardly the type that one can hide beneath.
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BBC launches World Service ad to promote value to British public
Corporation releases promo in bid to address misconception World Service is solely for overseas audiences
Mark Sweney
@marksweney
Wed 6 Apr 2016 07.43 EDT Last modified on Sat 19 Aug 2017 02.45 EDT
The BBC has championed the World Service as a beacon for democratic, unbiased news and current affairs in many countries to counter big state-sponsored media rivals. Photograph: Jonathan Brady/PA
The BBC World Service has launched its first ad campaign in seven years, in a seemingly counterintuitive move to promote the international service to the British public.
The BBC said the decision to promote the World Service at home – it is synonymous with being a popular and trusted news source in foreign countries – was to address the misconception that it is solely for overseas audiences.
The BBC has championed the World Service, which has over 133 million listeners globally, as a beacon for democratic, unbiased news and current affairs in many countries to counter big state-sponsored media rivals.
“With a wealth of content ranging from news, current affairs and global stories to science, music and arts, we want to make sure licence fee-payers in the UK know they can listen to our unique offering and get a deeper understanding of the world,” said Mary Hockaday, controller of BBC World Service English.
The decision to launch a promotional drive to alert licence fee-payers to what they are paying for follows the BBC taking on the £245m annual cost of the World Service, which had been funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in 2014. The BBC says the World Service has a loyal following of about 2.2 million listeners in the UK.
The ad campaign, which has been developed by ad agency RKCR/Y&R, will run across BBC TV channels, radio stations and online for a month.
“The World Service is what the BBC is all about,” said Mark Roalfe, founder and chairman of WPP-owned RKCR/Y&R. “Bringing an amazing range of programming from around the world, in a way that no one else could do. This campaign really looks to celebrate these core values, using real World Service content to do so.”
In September, BBC director general Tony Hall announced proposals for a significant expansion of the World Service potentially including a YouTube TV service for Russian speakers and a daily radio news programme for North Korea.
In November, the government agreed to give the BBC £289m over the next five years to invest in expanding the World Service as part of its strategy to strengthen the UK’s “soft power”.
Radio industry
BBC World service gains millions - but look what we could lose
Peter Preston
Tony Hall said extra funding for BBC around the world was ‘fantastic’, but the loss of £750m for the elderly’s licence fees certainly isn’t
The Guardian view on the BBC: a contract with the people, not the government
Editorial: A stronger connection with its viewers, more effective regulation and longer charter periods are essential in the fight to protect the BBC against unscrupulous government interference
BBC World Service to receive £289m from government
Cash injection over next five years will allow expansion of service in regions including North Korea, Ethiopia and Russia
BBC risks excluding viewers by prioritising online content
BBC3 move to online-only, fears over future of traditional broadcasting and corporation being too ‘overtly political’ among public’s concerns, study finds
BBC’s Carrie Gracie: ‘China is difficult – a giant piece of history rising’
BBC World Service boosts arts coverage with presenters including Cerys Matthews
Challenging times for the BBC World Service
BBC has no plans to close BBC4, says strategy chief
Published: 7 Sep 2015
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This article is more than 6 months old
Lords must reduce number of 'passengers', says Lord Speaker
Thatcher-era cabinet minister Norman Fowler is at centre of efforts to slim down chamber
Peter Walker Political correspondent
@peterwalker99
Tue 1 Jan 2019 08.38 EST Last modified on Tue 1 Jan 2019 14.45 EST
Norman Fowler says new peers should be told what the role entails. Photograph: Sarah Lee/Guardian
The House of Lords needs to reduce the number of “passengers” who contribute little to the upper house, an issue caused in part by the mass creation of life peers under Tony Blair and David Cameron, the Lord Speaker, Norman Fowler has said.
The Thatcher-era cabinet minister who has been Speaker for the past two years is at the centre of efforts to slim down what he believes is a bloated chamber, from its current near-800 to a planned ceiling of 600.
In an interview with the Guardian, Fowler said that while the majority of peers contributed significantly to the chamber, factors such as a lack of screening for political appointees meant some new arrivals had little idea of what their role entailed.
“You do have extraordinary cases where people have come in and after a few days they’ve come to the conclusion that, actually they’re in the wrong place doing the wrong thing – or rather not doing the wrong thing,” he said. “And the last thing we want in the House of Lords is passengers.”
Blair created 374 life peers during his premiership, while Cameron ennobled 260 people – as against fewer than 40 each by Gordon Brown and, so far, Theresa May.
Asked if such an influx diluted the quality of the Lords, Fowler said: “It’s partly unfair, because there were some good people who came in. What I think is fair to say is that on that, as with other appointments, there was no process in which they came before a commission and it was explained to a prospective new peer what was involved in the job.”
Peers' attendance records
Michelle Mone
The lingerie millionaire, made a Conservative life peer by David Cameron in 2015, has faced calls to step down after it emerged she missed almost 90% of sittings in the last parliamentary year. Lords records show she has spoken in the chamber three times in three years, and she is not a member of any committee.
Digby Jones
The former CBI chief is a vocal supporter of Brexit – but does rather less in terms of shaping the nation in the Lords. Elevated in 2007 by Gordon Brown so he could be a junior business minister, Jones was initially busy in the Lords. But since 2014 he has spoken just six times.
Peter Truscott
The former MEP and Labour junior minister became something of a poster child for Lords reform after it emerged he had claimed nearly £57,000 in allowances and expenses in a year, during which he spoke in the chamber just three times. In 2009 he was suspended from the Lords for six months for offering to amend a bill in exchange for money.
Paul Hanningfield
A former Conservative council leader who was made a peer in 1998, he was jailed for nine months in 2011 for claiming almost £14,000 for overnight stays in London when he was not in the capital. Since then, he has spoken in the Lords five times, the last being in January 2016.
Michael Heseltine
Some argue that the patchy record of the Tory former minister – who spoke three times in 2018 – shows attendance is not everything. Lord Fowler notes that while Heseltine rarely contributed, when he did, “he made an extraordinarily good speech”, such as in recent Brexit debates.
Photograph: Anita Russo/REX Shutterstock/Rex Features
As Speaker, Fowler has led efforts to reduce numbers. The process, undertaken by consensus, involves encouraging peers to retire and limiting the number of new arrivals, and is already exceeding its targets.
“I do think it is completely crazy that we have a system at the moment where the size of the House of Lords is totally open-ended,” Fowler said. “I know of no assembly in the western world, or any other world for that matter, where there isn’t a limit on the numbers. It isn’t a revolutionary thing to say.”
After a Christmas break, the Lords will be braced for another potential round of to-ing and fro-ing over Brexit legislation, as amendments shuttle between the houses.
In June this process resulted in the government making concessions on the power of MPs to shape Brexit, after a series of defeats in the upper house. However, Fowler downplayed the possible influence of the Lords: “It’s important that people don’t get over-excited about an amendment, because by the process of ping-pong it goes back, obviously, to the House of Commons.
“Last time we were told we were destroying the legislation – we didn’t destroy it at all. All that the Lords did was say: ‘Will you think again on this particular question?’ The Commons did and came to the same conclusion.
“It may be famous last words but I don’t think that it’s going to change the whole process itself. That process has got to be decided in the Commons.”
Fowler was speaking from his large corner office in the Lords, formerly used by the lord chancellor, with double-height panelled walls and views directly on to the river Thames.
It was, he said, something of a contrast to his debut as an MP in 1970. “It’s taken something like 50 years to get to an office like this. The first office I ever had, I shared it with Ken Clarke on one side, John Prescott on the other and Cyril Smith at the end. It was over Boots, the chemist. I’ve steadily come up the scale.”
Leaning in the fireplace was a poster bearing the slogan “Aids: don’t die of ignorance”, a legacy of Fowler’s tenure as heath secretary, when the HIV crisis first gained prominence.
Fowler, who has since become a celebrated champion of LGBT rights, briefly broke his political neutrality to say that equal marriage should be extended to Northern Ireland: “I think it should be a United Kingdom process. It shouldn’t be a matter of debate any more.”
For all the advances on Aids – last month the Labour MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle announced to the Commons that he was HIV positive but could live an entirely unaffected life – Fowler said it was a “total scandal” that almost a million people a year still died from the disease, mainly in poorer counties.
“When I have finished with this job, it is one of the things that I intend to return to, for the years that are left, to campaign on that,” he said.
Fowler also said some attitudes on HIV remained stuck in the past. “There has been a substantial change,” he said. “It hasn’t been total. I had the other day a peer who came up to me after a series of question before World Aids Day, and said: ‘You know, in my view it’s just all self-inflicted’. And you think: ‘Really?’”
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Simon Amstell: 'I thought: ‘I’ll never be happy'
A decade on from Popworld, the comic has faced his demons, found love and made a mock doc about veganism. He explains why fame couldn’t fix him
Nosheen Iqbal
@nosheeniqbal
Sat 11 Mar 2017 02.00 EST Last modified on Fri 14 Jun 2019 04.33 EDT
Dreaming big: Simon Amstell. Photograph: Harry Carr
Fame, says Simon Amstell, was supposed to fix his loneliness. Being on TV, taking the piss out of pop stars first on Popworld, then Never Mind The Buzzcocks, being loved by enough people, was supposed to make him feel safe. “But when it didn’t, when I still felt lonely and unsafe, it was: ‘Well, now what? What do I do now? Experience actual love? Well, that’s going to be tricky. How am I going to find actual love?’”
Amstell is now 37 but still looks, as he has always done, a decade younger. His hair’s longer, the glasses aren’t as thickly framed, but he’s still slight and boyish, shrouded under a thick grey marl sweatshirt. We meet in the cafe at the BFI where his new BBC film Carnage – a mockumentary about veganism that he’s written and directed – will be screened in a couple of weeks.
From the outside at least, it seems he’s had something of a career hiatus. It’s been five years since the final episode of Grandma’s House, the BBC2 sitcom loosely based on his family, and almost two since his last standup tour. In which time he directed a short film for one of the Klaxons, did voice work for a video game – and found love. “Yes, I’m in a stable, non-deranged relationship,” he says with slow, deliberate emphasis, “so, that’s handy.” It seems that “actual love”, coupled with his self-searching trip to Peru – where, he says, drinking the psychedelic brew ayahuasca “cured my depression” – have flipped things for him.
‘If I don’t meditate that despair will return’: Simon Amstell.
It’s probably unsurprising that the height of Amstell’s fame – when he was, arguably, the funniest presenter on TV – collided with the height of his angst. “I used to feel my neutral state was despair,” he says. “Now my neutral state is one of peace and contentment. However, it is a constant practice to clean up the mud that could get in the way of such joy.” He giggles, as punctuation to deflate the loftiness of therapy-speak. “I’m happy, but if I don’t meditate, if I don’t jump around in the morning, do a bit of yoga, that despair will return.”
He physically cringes when asked whether he might return to TV presenting. It’s 10 years – to the day according to a story in the Metro that very morning – since Buzzcocks’ most famous moment, when Amstell, with a nerve and guile easier in your 20s, goaded Preston from the Ordinary Boys until he walked off the show. But just the mention of it now makes him clam up, lips sealed under a cartoon headshake, until I laugh and move on.
“Ruby Wax, who I basically stole from in every interview I ever did, said the problem is we live so long we keep having to come up with new things to do.” Leaning forward, Amstell’s arms waggle over the table to make his point. “If you made a film about my life, the biggest arc would be growing up in Essex and getting into television – that’s the journey. Really, the credits roll when I’m 21 years old. But I didn’t die and so I keep having to come up with new things to do because the horror of being at a party and that question.” What question? “‘What are you up to at the moment?’ If we didn’t have that question, we wouldn’t do anything! That question! ‘What do you do?!” He yelps.
Pop quiz: Amstell (centre) with team captains Phill Jupitus and Bill Bailey on Never Mind The Buzzcocks. Photograph: Brian Ritchie/Talkback Thames
Three years ago, it seemed clear that Amstell was on the verge of breaking the US. His shows in New York sold out, he did well on the late-night talkshow circuit; the next step might feasibly have been Hollywood or a HBO show. His manager sent him for auditions, which Amstell invariably found uncomfortable and eventually put a stop to. “What I discovered about myself is that I really like being in charge,” he says. “Much more than wanting to be cast as the skinny Jew in something, I’d rather be the guy who is directing the thing he has written that there is a connection to.” The plan now, he says, is to write and perform a standup show every couple of years and alternate that with writing and directing films.
“It took a while to figure out why to continue what I was doing,” he explains. “Because the ability to do standup comedy began as a defence mechanism about an inability to experience intimacy with one person at a time. So to now allow myself to be vulnerable enough to experience love … ” He breaks off, to think about how his sentence will work in print. “Suddenly, there is an energy missing,” he starts again. “There was a driving force in me before that needed a lot of applause quite often. It wasn’t there any more and I really had to reconfigure myself.”
Being prone to both acute self-awareness and control freakery has served him well, though. Amstell always seems to have to cut loose from a project far earlier than his audience are ready for and so never really outstays his welcome or risks over-exposure. The main reason, he reckons, is boredom. “Once I know how a format works, it’s very difficult for me to stay within that format,” he says. Standup remains the exception but everything else becomes unnecessary noise unless it’s original and makes him laugh: “If something is inauthentic or not funny, I feel a bit sick.” Plus, as he’s now in the comfortable position to point out: “I don’t have to think of a TV project that doesn’t mean anything to me. I can wait till something bubbles up.”
Give ’em enough OAP: Amstell with the cast of Grandma’s House. Photograph: BBC
Simon Amstell webchat – as it happened
In the case of Carnage, the BBC came to him asking if he had any ideas – “and I had an idea! I had one in my pocket!” – and gave him relative freedom and control to do what he liked. So he arrived at a future utopia in 2067, where depression is defeated by intimacy, violence is destroyed by compassion – and everyone is vegan. Made as a spoofy documentary with turns from Linda Bassett (Grandma from Grandma’s House), Martin Freeman, Joanna Lumley and grime rapper JME, Carnage makes tonal nods to Chris Morris and Louis Theroux; real archival footage of, say, vegans from the 70s being interviewed about their diet is cut alongside clips of Jamie Oliver moaning about “thick-as-shit parents”. The Best in Show-style scripted set-ups are awkwardly funny, satirising “the time people got upset when their pets died – and when other animals died, they ate them”. And there are relentless jokes at the expense of veganism, a surprise if only because Amstell himself is a committed vegan. “That sounds horrific, though,” he says, looking appalled. “A committed vegan!” He honks. “I’m just a … I think it’s best if we go for: ‘Brilliant, funny person who unfortunately happens to be vegan.’ Ha ha ha ha!”
As it is, he says he’s spent the last nine months sequestered making Carnage and now there is a new tour – What Is This? – coming up. He says that standup is the best way for him to reveal all the worst, most embarrassing parts of himself and feel freer, lighter. “I’m telling the truth each time. That’s what it will always be about and if that’s worth anything, I think I’ll have a career that keeps going.” It’s why, for instance, he says Grandma’s House did its run of two series and stopped. “I felt like I’d told the story and … nobody disagreed. What I could have done is make a very entertaining third series that, for me, wouldn’t have done anything. I feel like I wouldn’t have revealed anything more, there was no more healing to be done in that subject area.”
So, is being funny alone never enough? Does his comedy still need to act as a form of therapy? “The things I loved growing up, like Roseanne, actually said something about actual human beings,” he says. “I really loved her for speaking to people that didn’t have much of a voice. That excites me. Although I’m very excited by comedy, obviously, because it’s sort of what I do.” He giggles: “Although it depends who you ask.”
Children of the Quorn: Myles Sembi, Alex Lawther and Will Rastall in Carnage. Photograph: BBC
He talks about being excited rather than daunted by doing his live show in the US this time around. He wants to take what he calls the Eddie Izzard route: perform in a small theatre in New York every night for a couple of months until people notice. Last time he tried it he was still riddled with anxiety and his ego’s need “to get somewhere off the back of doing shows”. He forgot that performing had been his original ambition. “Somebody told me [back then]: ‘You’re doing your own show in New York every night. If you’re not happy now, you’ll never be happy.’ And I thought: ‘I’ll never be happy.’”
Except now he is. And it’s a lovely, if quieter thing – the more relaxed Amstell, liberated from the neediness of ego, competitiveness and insecurity. “I’m not interested in doing a thing just for the sake of making my name and face well known,” he says.
Having spent a portion of his very early career chasing fame, Amstell’s relationship with it now is significantly more laidback, a natural consequence of the realisation that it couldn’t “fix” him. “It’s a very sweet spot for me now,” he says. “I can be anonymous enough to be in a restaurant and have a delightful time with the person I’m with, but not so anonymous that somebody in that restaurant won’t tell me something I’ve done is brilliant.” He knows it sounds ridiculous, but it’s also his honest truth.
Carnage is available from 19 Mar, 9pm, BBC iPlayer
Simon Amstell
TV comedy
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From his long process, after coming out, of self-acceptance to his newfound romantic happiness, this is classic, neurotic, angst-ridden Amstell
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Simon Amstell: 'Dad says our relationship has been good material, which is hard to argue with'
The comedian on his tricky relationship with his father – and why he doesn’t come to his shows
Help by Simon Amstell; Recovery: Freedom from Our Addictions by Russell Brand – review
How Quorn makes the filling for Greggs' vegan sausage rolls
‘Veggie discs’ to replace veggie burgers in EU crackdown on food labels
Burger King launches plant-based Whopper: 'Nobody can tell the difference'
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Johnson & Johnson faces multibillion opioids lawsuit that could upend big pharma
Oklahoma is holding the drug giant with the family-friendly image responsible for its addiction epidemic
Chris McGreal in Kansas City
Sun 23 Jun 2019 02.00 EDT Last modified on Sun 23 Jun 2019 02.02 EDT
The state of Oklahoma is suing Johnson & Johnson in a multibillion-dollar lawsuit. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters
Day after day, the memos flashing across screens in an Oklahoma courtroom have jarred with the family-friendly public image of Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical giant best known for baby powder and Band-Aid.
In one missive, a sales representative dismissed a doctor’s fears that patients might become addicted to the company’s opioid painkillers by telling him those who didn’t die probably wouldn’t get hooked. Another proposes targeting sales of the powerfully addictive drugs at those most at risk: men under 40.
As the state of Oklahoma’s multibillion-dollar lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson has unfolded over the past month, the company has struggled to explain marketing strategies its accusers say dangerously misrepresented the risk of opioid addiction to doctors, manipulated medical research, and helped drive an epidemic that has claimed 400,000 lives over the past two decades.
Johnson & Johnson profited further as demand for opioids surged by buying poppy growing companies in Australia to supply the raw narcotic for its own medicines and other American drug makers.
One expert witness at the forefront of combatting the epidemic, Dr Andrew Kolodny, told the court he had little idea about Johnson & Johnson’s role until he saw the evidence in the case.
“I think it’s fair to characterize Johnson & Johnson as a kingpin in our opioid crisis,” he said.
Oklahoma’s attorney general, Mike Hunter, is suing Johnson & Johnson for billions of dollars for its alleged part in driving addiction and overdoses in his state in the first full trial of a drug maker over the opioid epidemic.
But Hunter’s lawsuit has put the wider industry in the dock, too, by laying out how opioid manufacturers worked together to drive up sales by using their huge resources to influence medical policy and doctor prescribing. Hunter said the strategy was motivated by the industry’s “greed” as profits surged.
The case is being closely watched by a host of opioid makers, drug distributors and pharmacy chains facing more than 2,000 other lawsuits by communities across the country to see if a court is prepared to hold a pharmaceutical firm responsible for the worst drug epidemic in American history.
Hunter accuses Johnson & Johnson of joining with other companies to create a false narrative of an epidemic of untreated pain in the US to which opioids were the solution, in part by funding front organizations such as the American Pain Society. The strategy helped drive a surge in opioid prescribing as narcotic painkillers ballooned into a multibillion-dollar-a-year market.
Purdue Pharma kickstarted the epidemic with its high-strength, long-lasting opioid, OxyContin, in the mid-1990s. The court heard how Johnson & Johnson quickly realized the potential and set about competing.
Its drug division, Janssen, was founded by Paul Janssen, a Belgian who invented an artificial opioid, fentanyl, in 1960. In the early 1990s, Janssen Pharmaceuticals was selling a fentanyl patch, Duragesic, to treat severe pain in people with cancer. But with the arrival of OxyContin, the company aggressively widened the market for Duragesic by falsely claiming there was a very low risk of addiction to the drug, according to Hunter.
Hunter brought to court 35 boxes containing thousands of subpoenaed “call notes” – sales reps reports on their meetings with doctors – that he claimed showed Johnson & Johnson was more interested in increasing demand for its drug than seeing it properly prescribed.
Johnson & Johnson hired the consultants McKinsey & Company to identify opportunities to sell more. McKinsey recommended sales reps focus on doctors already prescribing large amounts of OxyContin. McKinsey also proposed a strategy to keep patients on Duragesic even if they had an “adverse event”. The broader push was to get as many patients as possible off of lower strength opioids and on to Johnson & Johnson’s more powerful drugs.
As the company ramped up its drive, sales of Duragesic surged past $1bn a year. A senior Johnson & Johnson marketing executive, Kimberly Deem-Eshleman, defended the sales strategy as reps “educating” doctors.
Johnson & Johnson, which is already facing compensation payments of several billion dollars after asbestos in its baby powder caused cancer, strongly denies that it bears responsibility for the opioid epidemic.
At the core of its defense is the claim that the company was distributing drugs approved by federal agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration, and that it sold a relatively small amount of opioids in Oklahoma that cannot be tied to any specific overdoses.
Hunter is painting his case on a much broader canvas by characterizing the company as working in coordination with its rivals to change the narrative around opioids to drive up prescribing across the country so that they all benefitted from a bigger market.
Some of the most damning testimony has come from Dr Russell Portenoy, a pain specialist and influential early cheerleader for the wide prescribing of opioids who was a paid adviser to Johnson & Johnson, Purdue and other drug makers.
Portenoy told the court that painkiller manufacturers “understated the risks of opioids, particularly the risk of abuse, addiction and overdose” to boost sales. He accused the drug makers of distorting his research and that of other specialists by selectively quoting the results, including omitting information about the dangers of narcotics.
“Those messages about risk were neglected and de-emphasised,” he said in recorded video testimony shown in court. “I think the purpose of doing that was to improve the sales of their products. ”
Portenoy was among a group of doctors hired by Johnson & Johnson and Purdue as speakers to promote opioids to other physicians. He said the talks “generally favored the drugs created by the drug companies” even though they were ostensibly offering independent advice.
The court was shown Janssen’s 2012 business plan which said that “speaker programs often trigger first use” of Duragesic.
The Oklahoma case is closely watched by other drug firms being sued by towns, cities and counties in nearly 2,000 lawsuits combined in a single action in federal court in Ohio, known as the Multi District Litigation (MDL).
Last week, lawyers for the plaintiffs in the MDL proposed that any compensation settlement cover every municipality and county in the US in order to deal with all potential lawsuits at once. The lawyers believe this will be an incentive for the drug firms to settle because an agreement will shield them from further claims, although it would not deal with actions by state attorney generals such as the one underway in Oklahoma.
Paul Farrell, one of the lead lawyers on the MDL, said he was hesitant to put too much weight on any one trial. But he said that if Johnson & Johnson lose the Oklahoma case it would be a blow to the other drug companies pursuing similar lines of defence.
“If the judge decides to rule that Johnson & Johnson is not liable in Oklahoma because of the facts in Oklahoma, then I think they’re going to have to replicate that result in 49 other states and in at least 1,900 other governmental entity cases. If, on the other hand, the judge does find liability against Johnson & Johnson, despite the fact that they claim their market share was so small, you would think that that would have reverberations across the industry,” he said.
Chris McGreal is the author of American Overdose, The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts
Opioids crisis
Pharmaceuticals industry
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Religious right launches fresh assault on US abortion rights
Catholics and evangelicals join forces to put abortion at centre of Senate debate on healthcare reform
Chris McGreal in Washington
Mon 30 Nov 2009 10.03 EST First published on Mon 30 Nov 2009 10.03 EST
Anti-abortion activists protest in May at Notre Dame University in Indiana against the college's decision to invite Barack Obama to address students and to award him an honorary degree. Photograph: Scott Olson/Getty Images
Catholic bishops and Protestant evangelists in the US have unleashed an intense lobbying campaign to force fresh limitations on access to abortion into healthcare legislation under debate in the Senate this week.
Pro-choice groups have described the attack on proposed health reforms mounted by the religious right – which last month pressured the House of Representatives to effectively block women from using medical insurance to pay for abortions – as one of the most serious threats to abortion rights in recent years.
The campaign has thrust the divisive issue back to the forefront of US politics, pitting the White House and its allies against religious leaders, who have accused Barack Obama's administration of being part of a "culture of death".
Ten days ago more than 150 bishops and other religious leaders issued a declaration denouncing Obama's position on abortion and threatening civil disobedience against new laws affecting that and other social issues, such as gay marriage.
Anti-abortion activists were reinvigorated ahead of the opening of the healthcare legislation debate in the Senate today by their success in garnering support in the House of Representatives over an issue that was widely regarded as having lost its political potency with the election of a pro-choice president.
At the core of the strategy by the Catholic church and Christian evangelists is a campaign to rally churchgoing voters to pressure members of Congress to ensure that new healthcare laws bar government funds from paying for abortions.
The measure's supporters say it merely extends existing policy. But Naral Pro-Choice America, one of the country's largest abortion rights groups, says the effect of such legislation would be to prevent insurance companies that presently pay for abortions from covering terminations. This, they say, is because government funds would be used to run a new insurance exchange designed to make the market more competitive and to subsidise coverage for low-income families.
Naral's director of communications, Ted Miller, called the inclusion of the amendment "a wake-up call for America's pro-choice majority".
"It's clear that the election of a pro-choice president and the perception of a pro-choice majority in Congress led many Americans to believe that they could be complacent about a woman's right to choose," he said.
"It goes far beyond the status quo. The amendment would make it nearly impossible for private insurance plans to cover abortion.
"The status quo is that about 85% of private insurance plans currently cover abortion services. It really prevents women from being able to use their own money to purchase an insurance plan that includes abortion coverage.
"That's far, far out of step with the current private insurance market."
Pro-choice advocates had thought the anti-abortion camp was in retreat after recent political gains, including Obama's election victory and seven failed attempts to curb abortion rights by public ballot in four states since 2005. Opinion polls showed younger voters were less passionate about the issue than their elders.
But there were flickerings of the old fire when abortion emerged as a central issue in a New York state congressional race last month.
Sarah Palin joined other prominent rightwingers in rejecting the Republican candidate, Dede Scozzafava, because she was pro-choice and supported same-sex marriage. They threw their weight behind a hard right independent candidate who eventually lost to a Democrat after Scozzafava withdrew from the race.
Last month more than 150 Christian leaders and activists,led by conservative evangelicals and Catholics, issued a long declaration denouncing abortion, along with gay marriage and liberal social policies, and threatening to break laws that compromised their beliefs.
The Manhattan Declaration: A Call of Christian Conscience says Obama's stated aim of reducing the need for abortion is a "commendable goal". But it alleges that his policies will have the effect of increasing the number of terminations, while accusing the government of being part of "a culture of death".
"The present administration is led and staffed by those who want to make abortions legal at any stage of foetal development and who want to provide abortions at taxpayer expense," the declaration says. "Majorities in both houses of Congress hold pro-abortion views."
Among the signatories are 15 Catholic bishops and leading evangelical Christians such as James Dobson, the founder of Focus on the Family.
The declaration says supporters will be "united and untiring in our efforts to roll back the licence to kill that began with the abandonment of the unborn to abortion". Measures would include defiance of the law if laws protecting individuals from having to act against their conscience were changed, for example, if religiously affiliated hospitals were obliged to assist in abortions or research involving the destruction of embryos.
"Through the centuries Christianity has taught that civil disobedience is not only permitted, but sometimes required," the declaration says. "We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's."
While a resurgent opposition to abortion has brought various religious interests together, they are divided about the broader healthcare reform legislation.
Catholic leaders strongly favour ensuring that undocumented immigrants are covered, and a recent opinion poll of Catholic voters showed 73% in favour of a government-run health insurance plan. The evangelical right is passionately against both measures.
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Russia blocks Antarctica marine sanctuary plan
Commercial fishing interests blamed for preventing the creation of two huge Marine Protected Areas off the Antarctic coast
Karl Mathiesen
@karlmathiesen
Tue 16 Jul 2013 12.06 EDT First published on Tue 16 Jul 2013 12.06 EDT
Adelie and emperor penguins, Bay of Whales, Ross Sea, Antarctica
Russia has blocked the creation of the world's largest ocean reserves off the coast of Antarctica, in what campaigners called a "bad faith stalling tactic.".
The Russian delegation to the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR), whose 25 members have been meeting in Germany, questioned the organisation's legal mandate to create two huge Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) off the coastline of Antarctica. If adopted, the proposals would more than double the current area of protected ocean on the planet.
Delegates to the meeting said that, while a Russian delaying tactic had been expected, the legal argument was "completely wrong".
Steve Campbell, campaign director of the Antarctic Ocean Alliance (AOA), said there was both procedure and precedent for the proposals: "It's a very odd objection, because CCAMLR clearly has the legal authority to establish MPAs".
Campbell said that Russia had previously agreed to the adoption of a measure establishing the commission's procedure for the designation of such reserves. "But not only does it have the procedure," said Campbell. "CCAMLR has already designated a large-scale MPA in the South Orkney Islands in 2009."
The commission requires unanimous agreement from all of its 25 member states to create reserves. The proposals, initially put forward by the US, New Zealand, France, Australia and the EU, would create non-fishing zones covering 3.2m sqkm of ocean in the Ross Sea and off the East Antarctic coastline. Many countries have Patagonian toothfish and krill fisheries in the region.
Pew Charitable Trust Southern Ocean sanctuaries director Andrea Kavanagh said Russia's actions called into question the country's commitment to Antarctic marine conservation.
"Russia now seems to have forgotten that the mandate of CCAMLR is actually the conservation of Antarctic marine living resources, not the over-exploitation of resources," said Kavanagh.
The proposals will be considered again at the annual meeting of the commission in Hobart, Australia in November. But a senior delegate said the move had cast doubt over the commission's ability to create marine reserves.
"There is a question as to whether it can successfully create MPAs in the short term. Until Russia have a change of heart, it's not going to happen."
Kavanagh said the legal objection had caught the meeting by surprise and that it amounted to "bad faith stalling tactics" on the part of the Russians. She speculated that it was Russia's intention to keep fishing grounds open for the next Antarctic summer (December-February). Russia would "continue to fish as much as they can, while they can," said Kavanagh.
The commission's annual meeting in November 2012, failed to arrive at a consensus over the two MPAs, with concerns being raised by China, Russia and Ukraine, among others, over the scientific basis for the proposals. This led delegations, including Russia, to arrange this week's extraordinary meeting in the German port city of Bremerhaven.
The scientific committee began meeting on Thursday, with discussions reportedly continuing until 5.30am on Sunday. A source at the meeting said that China, South Korea and Japan, all traditionally reticent over marine reserve proposals, had been notably more constructive during the course of the talks.
The Russian delegation was unavailable for comment.
Russia and Ukraine likely to block huge Antarctic marine reserve
Conservation body meets to discuss protection of area 13 times the size of the UK, which would require unanimous agreement
Plan to create massive Antarctic ocean sanctuaries blocked by surprise challenge from Russia and Ukraine
Could the world's biggest marine sanctuary be declared in the Antarctic?
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HomeGOVERNMENTMacron offers “great national debate” as trap for French yellow vest protesters
Macron offers “great national debate” as trap for French yellow vest protesters
January 23, 2019 TLB Staff GOVERNMENT, Tyranny, WORLD 0
ANTHONY TORRES
Last week, on the eve of the 10th Saturday of the yellow vest protests, French President Emmanuel Macron launched his “great national debate” on the yellow vest movement. After initiating the so-called debate with an insulting letter to the French people insisting he would not modify his policies, Macron attended a
discussion with 600 mayors in the town of Bourgtheroulde (pictured), which was transformed into a fortified camp by the security services. The event confirmed that masses of yellow vests and tens of millions of workers are right to dismiss Macron’s “debate” as a political fraud.
As the World Socialist Web Site and the Parti de l’égalité socialiste insisted since before the beginning of the yellow vest movement, there is nothing to negotiate with Macron. The question posed to the movement, and the broader class struggle across Europe, is the transfer of power to the working class. This requires the formation of workers’ organs of struggle independent of the unions and the mobilization of the working class internationally for the expropriation of the financial aristocracy.
As he launched the “great debate” at Bourgtheroulde, Macron turned the town of 3,700 people in Normandy into a fortress to protect him from the French population, with which he claims he is debating. He mobilized 10 squadrons of the mobile gendarmerie, seven companies of CRS riot police and 300 gendarmes of the territorial force. While he spoke for seven hours to a hand-picked group of mayors, who loudly applauded him, he met neither the yellow vests nor the town’s inhabitants.
His intervention in Bourgtheroulde only confirmed that the “great debate” will take as a given the policies of austerity and militarism he laid out in his letter to the French people. He will give the protesters nothing and seek to crush all opposition with police repression.
In his letter, Macron rejected any modification of his tax cut for the rich. His supposed debate on
budget policy and efficiency in the public services devolved into an initiative to protect the riches of the financial aristocracy by stepping up anti-worker austerity. “We will not go back on the measures we have taken to encourage investment and make work more rewarding,” he wrote. “They were just voted on and are only beginning to yield their effects. We cannot in any case continue tax cuts without reducing the overall level of our public spending.”
Macron then offered the population a choice of which essential services to slash to the bone: “Public services have a cost, but they are vital: schools, police, the army, hospitals, the courts are indispensable to our social cohesion. Are there too many administrative echelons or levels of local government? Should we reinforce decentralization and give more power of decision and action to those closer to the citizens, at what level and for what services?”
This parasitic ex-banker cannot help but display his contempt for workers, whom he dismisses as lazy. Shortly before the ninth Saturday protest, as he was receiving bakers’ apprentices at the Elysée presidential palace, he lectured the population for lacking a “sense of effort.” He added, “The disturbances our society is experiencing are sometimes also due or connected to the fact that far too many of our fellow citizens think you can get things without making that effort.”
Yellow vests, who have a hard time making it to the end of the month—be they small businessmen, farmers or workers—are, in fact, making an enormous effort in the face of exploitation by the financial aristocracy represented by Macron.
Economist Thomas Piketty has calculated that French workers create three times as much wealth as they did in 1970 despite the fact that the official work week has been reduced, overcoming the advantage the United States had in productivity at that time due to large-scale investment during the post-World War II period. Over the first nine months of 2018, workers in firms with more than 15 employees worked an average 31.5 hours overtime. The average work week for full-time workers is 39.1 hours, and 23.7 hours for part-time workers, among the highest in Europe.
As Macron lectures the population, workers are worn down by the strain of their labor. According to Social
Security statistics, 16 percent of work stoppages are due to muscular-skeletal disorders, and 10 percent are due to excess fatigue or psychological stress. The worst-hit industries are construction, manufacturing and health care.
The National Statistics Institute just published a report on work accidents. In 2013, 26 percent of those polled said they had suffered a workplace accident in their career. This rises to 40 percent for workers and 32 percent for farmers, young as well as old.
It is the financial aristocrats represented by Macron who lack “a sense of effort.” The Challenges paper sheds some light on the “French social model,” wrongly presented as egalitarian. The size of the 500 greatest fortunes as measured by Challenges has been multiplied by 7 and that of the top ten by 12 since 1996. Yet over the same period France’s GDP has barely doubled and the real median salary has not increased in 20 years.
Since the 2008 crash, the 500 wealthiest Frenchmen have tripled the portion of the economy they personally hold. From 2009 to 2018, their collective wealth grew from 10 to 30 percent of the gross domestic product, reaching an unprecedented level of €650 billion. The pillaging of the working class by the financial aristocracy has only accelerated during the last two presidencies—those of Macron and his predecessor, the Socialist Party’s François Hollande.
The anger of the working class against social inequality is entirely legitimate. It is not the responsibility of the workers to finance tax cuts for the super-rich, who should be expropriated in France and around the world.
In his letter, Macron sought to divert social anger into the repugnant channel of anti-immigrant xenophobia, turning in a more neo-fascist direction. He wrote that in France, “tradition today is disturbed by tensions and doubts connected to immigration and failures of our system of integration.” Under cover of “secularism,” which he claimed was “the subject of important debates”—such as reactionary bans on certain types of clothing worn by some Muslim women—he demanded that “all respect the reciprocal comprehension and intangible values of the Republic.”
An essential precondition for the mobilization and unification of workers in struggle is the rejection of the xenophobic agitation of this representative of the banks.
ER recommends other articles by WSWS
Published to The Liberty Beacon from EuropeReloaded.com
The Liberty Beacon Project is now expanding at a near exponential rate, and for this we are grateful and excited! But we must also be practical. For 7 years we have not asked for any donations, and have built this project with our own funds as we grew. We are now experiencing ever increasing growing pains due to the large number of websites and projects we represent. So we have just installed donation buttons on our main websites and ask that you consider this when you visit them. Nothing is too small. We thank you for all your support and your considerations … TLB
A Very European Spring
Suicide Rate Doubles In France Among Police as Pressures Mount
Emmanuel Macron takes on the unions to cut rail workers’ rights
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The view from Billinudgel
Unrepresentative still
The senate voting reforms should be welcomed by all parties
Democracy, said Winston Churchill, is the worst system of government – except for all the other ones.
And he was right: democracy can be slow, inefficient and infuriating to the point where even the best-intentioned can be tempted to try something else. But as history has shown, any attempt at replacement invariably ends in tears.
So democracy has to be sustained, nurtured and at times improved, which is precisely what the proposed amendments to the senate voting system will do. To any objective observer they are simply a no-brainer: by allowing, or even compelling, preferential voting above the line, the changes will let voters make an informed choice, rather than the present system in which the party groupings are tailored and manipulated for their own advantage.
The party tickets are, in theory, public; but they are not all that easy to find and are all but impossible for a layman (or indeed an expert) to decipher. This has resulted in the gaming of the system, in which the election of tiny minorities can win office in what is essentially a lottery, designed by those who have an interest in exploiting whatever loopholes they can locate.
To let the voters more easily express what they actually intend when they mark the ballot paper can only be a step forward – perhaps a small one, but nonetheless one to be applauded.
The minority senators themselves, of course, are screaming foul; they, after all, are the ones who may lose their sinecures. Some of them have, against the odds, been at least partially successful, but to be elected again they will now have to earn it, rather than draw it out of a hat.
And absurdly and shamefully the ALP, which should be championing the cause of democracy, is muttering about a dirty deal between the Liberals and the Greens and intends to oppose the measure. Sam Dastyari, the former apparatchik whose commitment to democracy is not exactly obsessive, is worried that the change might give some advantage to the conservative parties – well, so what? These things happen; if the conservatives gain, they will do so because the public wants them to. There may be an element of self interest in the bills before the parliament, and there is certainly a touch of opportunism in that they are being pushed through to clear the decks for a possible double dissolution. But whatever self interest there may be, the public interest in improving the senate – and in improving the democratic system in the process – is overwhelming.
There are those who feel that it is just not worth the effort, and who yearn for a more decisive, less compromising form of government. They should remember the warnings of the Greeks: the system of tyranny is only as good as the worst man who can become a tyrant. Or, in the words of WH Auden, in ‘Epitaph on a Tyrant’:
Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand
And was greatly interested in armies and in fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter;
And when he cried the little children died in the streets.
Get it, Senator Dastyari?
Mungo MacCallum
Mungo MacCallum is a political journalist and commentator. His books include Run Johnny Run, Poll Dancing, and Punch and Judy. Visit his blog, The View from Billinudgel.
The party tickets are, in theory, public; but they are not all that easy to find and are...
By Mungo MacCallum
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Lawyer: Home of former ricin suspect wrecked
NewsNational & World
PUBLISHED: April 28, 2013 at 11:01 pm | UPDATED: November 7, 2015 at 1:42 pm
Nation & World briefing
OXFORD, Miss. — A Mississippi man’s house is uninhabitable after investigators searched it but failed to find evidence of the deadly poison ricin, a lawyer said Monday, April 29, arguing that the government should repair the home.
Kevin Curtis was once charged in the mailing of poisoned letters to President Barack Obama, U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker and a Mississippi judge, but the charges were later dropped. The investigation shifted last week to another man who had a falling out with Curtis, and that suspect, James Everett Dutschke, appeared in court Monday on a charge of making ricin.
Curtis’ lawyer has sent a letter to U.S. Attorney Felicia Adams demanding that Curtis be provided temporary housing and that the government repair his Corinth, Miss., home and possessions. She also wants the government to pay his legal bills.
Plane part came from wing of 767
NEW YORK — The rusted metal aircraft part believed to be from one of the hijacked jetliners that slammed into the World Trade Center in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks came from a wing, not landing gear, police said Monday.
The 5-foot piece is a trailing edge flap support structure, police said. It is located closer to the body of the plane and helps secure wing flaps that move in and out and aid in regulating plane speed. Investigators initially thought it was part of the landing gear because the two pieces have similar-looking hydraulics.
Boeing officials told police the part came from one of its 767 airliners, but it isn’t possible to determine which flight. Both hijacked planes that struck the towers, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were Boeing 767s. American and United had no comment.
Somalia famine toll estimate: 260,000
NAIROBI, Kenya — The 2011 Somali famine killed an estimated 260,000 people, half of them age 5 and under, according to a new report to be published this week that more than doubles previous death toll estimates, officials said.
The aid community believes that tens of thousands of people died needlessly because the international community was slow to respond to early signs of approaching hunger in East Africa in late 2010 and early 2011.
The toll was also exacerbated by extremist militants from al-Shabaab who banned food aid deliveries to the areas of south-central Somalia that they controlled. Those same militants have also made the task of figuring out an accurate death toll extremely difficult.
The report will be made public Thursday by FEWSNET, a famine early warning system funded by the U.S. government’s aid arm USAID and by the Food Security and Nutrition Analysis Unit-Somalia, which is funded by the U.S. and Britain.
Fargo might avoid significant flooding
FARGO, N.D. — Preparations for a major Red River flood may be all for naught.
The National Weather Service on Monday lowered the expected crest forecast in Fargo and Moorhead, Minn., to 35.5 feet on Wednesday. That’s down from the 37-foot prediction issued Sunday.
A 35.5-foot crest would be the ninth-highest, but would cause little damage after recent efforts to build permanent levees and buy out homes in low-lying areas.
Residents have spent the past week building clay levees and sandbag dikes to protect Fargo to 40 feet after an earlier weather service prediction took into account the possibility of rapid snowmelt and steady precipitation. Forecasters now say the conditions are ideal for a gradual melt.
Christie: Obama has kept promises
HIGHLANDS, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie said Monday that President Barack Obama “has kept every promise he’s made” about helping the state recover from superstorm Sandy.
Hours later, Obama’s housing secretary approved New Jersey’s plans to spend $1.83 billion in federal money to help the state rebuild and recover from the storm.
Speaking on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” program six months after the deadly storm, the Republican governor said presidential politics were the last thing on his mind as he toured storm- devastated areas with Obama in the fall.
When it comes to helping New Jersey rebuild from the storm, “the president has kept every promise he’s made,” said Christie, widely considered a potential candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. “I think he’s done a good job. He kept his word.”
Netherlands’ queen hands son scepter
AMSTERDAM — The Netherlands’ Queen Beatrix thanked her people Monday and urged them to support her son, Crown Prince Willem-Alexander, in a final address before she abdicates and he takes over as king.
Beatrix, 75, is to sign the papers enacting the once-in-a-generation change of royal titles Tuesday morning, the central moment in several days of festivities that are already underway.
“Now that my oldest son is to take over this fine and responsible job tomorrow, it is my deep wish that the new royal couple will feel themselves supported by your loving trust,” the popular monarch said in a nationally televised address. Willem-Alexander’s Argentine-born wife, Princess Maxima, will be queen.
Court won’t revive immigration law
MONTGOMERY, Ala. — An attorney for the Montgomery-based Southern Poverty Law Center said he’s not surprised the U.S. Supreme Court has turned down a request to revive portions of Alabama’s immigration law.
The Supreme Court justices on Monday upheld a federal appeals court ruling that blocked parts of the law. SPLC attorney Sam Brooke said lower courts have already said immigration reform is a function of the federal government and not the states.
Brooke says he hopes the ruling will motivate Congress to seek a meaningful overhaul.
Only Justice Antonin Scalia voted to hear the appeal.
Video of Mandela belies optimism
JOHANNESBURG — South African President Jacob Zuma said he found Nelson Mandela “in good shape and in good spirits” Monday, but a video of his encounter with the ailing anti-apartheid icon belies those cheery words, showing him with a vacant look on his face.
It’s been more than three weeks since Mandela, 94, was released after a 10-day stay in the hospital, the third time in five months that he was hospitalized for a recurring lung infection.
“We saw him, he’s looking very good, he’s in good shape,” Zuma told the South African Broadcasting Corp. on the doorstep of Mandela’s Johannesburg home.
But the South African Broadcasting Corp. video shows Mandela in an armchair, his head propped up by a pillow, his legs on a footrest and covered by a blanket, looking gray-skinned and unsmiling with his cheeks showing what appear to be marks from a recently removed oxygen mask.
Likely gas explosion injures 35 in Prague
PRAGUE — A powerful blast believed to be a gas explosion ripped open an office building Monday in the center of Prague, injuring at least 35 people and sending shock waves through the Old Town tourist district.
The blast shattered windows in the scenic area of charming streets and postcard-pretty buildings, sending glass flying. Authorities closed a wide area around the site, and some tourists were stranded on street corners with baggage-loaded trolleys, unable to get into their hotels.
Authorities said two or three people were still believed to be missing, but sniffer dogs searching the rubble had not indicated that anyone was buried and the prime minister said it appeared no one had died.
— Associated Press
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A blueprint to beat cancer
Prof Lam reveals World Cancer Research Fund's landmark new Diet and Cancer Report
Professor Tai Hing Lam is one of World Cancer Research Fund’s (WCRF) Hong Kong ambassadors. He is also Chair Professor of Community Medicine and Sir Robert Kotewall Professor in Public Health at the University of Hong Kong.
I am very honoured and excited to announce the launch of WCRF’s Third Expert Report, Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer: a Global Perspective.
WCRF is a leading authority on the links between diet, weight and physical activity, and cancer prevention and survival. The launch of our Third Expert Report brings together the very latest research in this area. Building on our landmark First and Second Expert Reports in 1997 and 2007, our panel of international scientists has now completed a review of all the latest evidence in this area from the past decade. This new report has brought together their conclusions and used them to develop the most reliable cancer prevention advice currently available. They are summarised in our updated Cancer Prevention Recommendations.
The aim of these Recommendations is to help people make healthy choices in their daily lives to reduce their risk of cancer. They provide a blueprint to beat cancer that people can trust, because they are based on evidence that has now proved consistent for decades.
Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and the number of new cancer cases and cancer survivors is increasing. Yet around 40% of cancer cases are preventable. The Diet, Nutrition, Physical Activity and Cancer: a Global Perspective report will provide everyone, from policymakers to health professionals to individual members of the public, with access to the most up-to-date and trustworthy information on how to reduce the risk of developing a preventable cancer.
As one of WCRF’s Hong Kong ambassadors, I had the privilege of presenting findings from the report at the annual International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity conference in Hong Kong on 3–6 June 2018.
Translating parts of the Third Expert Report into Mandarin is an important process; it opens up the research on cancer prevention and survival to a new audience, making it accessible to people all over the world. We hope the translation will encourage more international collaboration between cancer researchers, leading to more evidence about how diet, nutrition and physical activity affect cancer risk and survival.
Read the report here or download a summary of the report in Mandarin here. You can also download our Recommendations in Mandarin.
Access the most up-to-date cancer prevention science available
Summary report now available in Mandarin
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W O R L D
‘Sharif delayed return due to US pressure’
Islamabad, October 21
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has bowed to pressure from Saudi Arabia and the USA to defer his return to Pakistan from exile till November 7, a media report said today. Sharif, who was deported to Saudi Arabia barely hours after he flew into Islamabad after seven years in exile on September 10.
9 detained in Pak blast case
Nine persons were today detained in connection with yesterday's blast that claimed seven lives in Pakistan's Balochistan province and a cache of arms and ammunitions were recovered from them, the police said.
MMA chief feels betrayed by JUI
Islamabad October 21
Amid widening schism within the religious grouping, the Muttahida Majlise Amal (MMA), Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamiat-ulema-Islam (JUI) and secretary-general of the alliance has said he is very unhappy with the conduct of MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed.
US acknowledges India’s firm stand on
N-deal
Faced with the prospect of losing the support of its Communist Party allies over a civilian nuclear deal it struck with the United States, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government has received a pat on the back from Washington for its “firm” stand.
"The Kite Runner".
Hearing against family on Nov 8
Toll in Karachi blasts mounts to 139
Swiss judge wraps up Bhutto’s probe
N-deal: Burns talks to Indian officials
Putin in Iran despite assassination threats
American trio wins Nobel for economics
MMA on verge of split
Musharraf has no problem with my return: Benazir
US House hopeful of agreement
Bhutto to be back in Pak as planned: PPP
Trust raises £2,50,000 for charity in India
London, October 21
The Loomba Trust, set up a decade ago, for the welfare of children of widows in India, has raised a staggering £2,50,000 at its Diwali dinner at Mansion House here. Legendary Bollywood actor-producer Dev Anand was the special guest while Sir Ian Blair, chief of the metropolitan police, was the guest of honour at the glittering ceremony attended by over 250 guests.
Sonia to meet Chinese leaders
Beijing, October 21
Congress President Sonia Gandhi is set to be the first foreign political party leader to meet the new leadership of the ruling Communist Party of China, which will be revealed to the world tomorrow, signalling the importance Beijing is placing on strategic ties with India.
Dev turned author to do justice to his experiences
New York, October 21
Evergreen Bollywood film star Dev Anand decided to write autobiography as he was convinced that no biographer could do justice to the varied experiences he had had during his journey from being a struggling film star to heartthrob to producer. Speaking at the release of autobiography ‘Romancing With Life’ in the United States, he said a lot of people had approached him to write his biography. But he had one question “how could they portray the depth of his life and experiences when they knew him only superficially”.
Veteran actor Dev Anand at the release of his autobiography, "Romancing with Life", at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan in New York on Saturday. — PTI photo
Countering Depression
Dalai Lama, experts discuss meditation’s effect
Atlanta, October 21
The Dalai Lama and some of the United States’ top experts on depression have met to discuss how Buddhist practices can affect the disease. Buddhist meditation can play a big part in treating patients with depression, the researchers said.
‘Diana was in love with Charles’
As the Diana inquest enters its fourth week, one of her closest confidantes has claimed that neither the Princess of Wales was planning to marry Dodi Al-Fayed nor she was pregnant with his child at the time of the couple’s deaths in a Paris car crash 10 years back.
Nepal King visits temples on Dussehra
Kathmandu, October 21
Breaking a long spell of isolation following the popular uprising of 2006, King Gyanendra for the first time shook hands with the ordinary people during his visit to a famous Hindu temple on here on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami.
North Korean Ryu Sung-ok (left) hugs her South Korean father Ryu Hyung-ryul during their three-day temporary family reunion at Samilpo near the Mount Kumgang resort in North Korea on Sunday. Hundreds of South Koreans travelled to communist North Korea for temporary reunions with their North Korean family members they have not seen or talked to since the 1950-53 Korean War. — Reuters
Soyuz goes off-course, but returns safely
Arkalyk, October 21
Malaysia’s first space traveller and two Russian cosmonauts survived a rough descent Sunday after a technical glitch sent their Soyuz spacecraft on a steeper-than-normal path during their return to Earth, officials said.
Iran insists no nuclear shift after Larijani
Tehran, October 21
Iran insisted today that its policy in the nuclear crisis with the West would not change after the sudden resignation of chief negotiator Ali Larijani, amid fears his successor would take an even tougher line.
New York welcomes ladybugs as pest killers
Ladybugs, 720,000 of them, have been released in the middle of New York City to help protect one of the city’s biggest apartment complexes from pests.
Pentagon chief to seek troops for Afghanistan
Kiev, October 21
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates will ask Ukraine and other eastern European countries this week to send troops to Afghanistan to cover a shortfall in trainers for the Afghan army, a senior US defence official said.
Myanmar still in fear as curfew lifted
Yangon, October 21
Residents in Yangon today welcomed the end of a curfew imposed on the eve of Myanmar’s bloody crackdown on peaceful protests, but again voiced fears in private over the country’s iron-fisted junta.
Mouth sewn shut in protest
Bogota, October 21
An unemployed Colombian man has sewn shut his mouth and locked himself behind an iron mask to demand the government attend to his family’s desperate economic plight. Luis Miguel Aldana (52) told The Associated Press yesterday that he started the peculiar protest five days ago, after being locked out of his apartment in Bogota.
Postcard reaches friend after 64 years
Tokyo, October 21
A postcard mailed by a Japanese soldier from a World War II battlefield in Burma reached his friend 64 years after it was sent, thanks to a Japanese exchange student and the family of a former US soldier who kept the card.
Woman survives 19 hours afloat in Pacific
Ukumehame, October 21
A 49-year-old woman stayed afloat for 19 hours in the Pacific Ocean, clutching a water container, until she was rescued, she said. Lillian Ruth Simpson said her canoe flipped in strong winds about 1.6 km off the Hawaiian coast. She could not restore the canoe, and tried to swim to shore and failed.
Two Indian labourers killed in Dubai
Dubai, October 21
Two Indian labourers were crushed to death under a heavy beam at an under construction building near Dubai creek in Deira. The deceased identified as Ram Babu and Venkat Rao were clearing the debris of the demolished building when the beam collapsed.
4 Globalstar satellites put into orbit
Paris, October 21
Four Globalstar telecommunications satellites blasted off today from the Baikonur space centre in Kazakhstan atop a Russian Soyuz rocket and were successfully placed into orbit, an Arianespace spokesman said.
Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has bowed to pressure from Saudi Arabia and the USA to defer his return to Pakistan from exile till November 7, a media report said today.
Sharif, who was deported to Saudi Arabia barely hours after he flew into Islamabad after seven years in exile on September 10, has given his word that he will not leave Saudi Arabia till November 7 and asked Pakistani and Saudi officials not to compel him to defer his homecoming any longer, The News reported.
The daily said Saad Hariri, the son of assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia, convinced Sharif in Jeddah on October 17 to put off his return to Pakistan.
It quoted sources in the Pakistan High Commission in London as saying that Sharif “had no option” but to bow to pressure from Saudi Arabia and the USA, mounted on behalf of President Pervez Musharraf.
Pakistan’s Supreme Court, which had said that Sharif is free to return to the country, is currently hearing a contempt petition filed by his PML-N party after he was deported to Saudi Arabia last month.
Hariri played a “key role” in finalising an understanding between the Sharif family and Pakistan’s military regime in 2000 and is believed to be close to Musharraf, the report said.
While visiting Sharif in Jeddah on Tuesday, he was accompanied by Prince Bandar, the former Saudi ambassador to the USA. They asked Sharif to postpone his plan to leave Saudi Arabia for two to three weeks. — PTI
The arrested persons include the three accused who were wanted by the police in many cases of sabotage, they said adding that an AK-47 rifle, a 9 mm pistol, a 12 bore rifle and a revolver were seized from them.
Residents of Dera Bugti, where the blast took place, have submitted an application in which they blamed 10 terrorists, including Brhamdagh, the grandson of late Nawab Akbar Bugti, responsible for the killings, the police said.
The condition of two of the more than 20 people injured in yesterday's attack, carried out with a bomb hidden in a van, are critical and were shifted to a hospital in Rahim Yar Khan from Sui.
The rest of the injured were out of danger and being treated in hospitals in Dera Bugti, Sui and Rahim Yar Khan, the police said.
Security has been beefed up across Dera Bugti district and a meeting of local officials decided that no vehicle would be allowed to enter the main bazaars in the town. — PTI
Afzal Khan writes from Islamabad
Talking to reporters in his home town Dera Ismail Khan, Fazl said he would take up his differences with Qazi in the meeting of the MMA’s supreme council. The meeting was scheduled for Monday but has been postponed due to the illness of Qazi Hussain Ahmed. A fresh date is likely to be announced soon.
Fazl said his party was also reviewing its presence in the All Parties Democratic Movement (APDM). Some leaders of its components, including Imran Khan criticised Fazl on suspicion that he deliberately delayed the dissolution of the NWFP assembly before the Presidential election. Fazl blamed the speaker of the Assembly who belongs to Qazi’s Jamaat-i-Islami, for thwarting attempts to dissolve the Assembly.
Meanwhile talking to Dawn, Fazl condemned what he called media trial of his party and categorically denied any secret deal or negotiations with Musharraf.
Fazl said he had serious differences with Jamaat-i-Islami which had betrayed him during the presidential election on the resignation issue.
He, however, said the two parties would contest the general election from the MMA platform. He said he was opposed to Gen. Musharraf’s phony election and that the APDM decision of resignations before and even after the presidential election was not a correct move that has now been proved.
US acknowledges India’s firm stand on N-deal
By Ashish Kumar Sen writes from Washington
“Despite the objections voiced by the Communist Party of India in August of this year, the Indian government has stood firm and is meeting its commitments under the agreement,” the administration’s point person on the nuclear deal, undersecretary of state R. Nicholas Burns writes in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs magazine.
He said the deal had become “the symbolic centerpiece” of the new US-India friendship and “is wildly popular among millions of Indians who see it as a mark of US respect for India.”
Burns revealed that secretary of state Condoleezza Rice laid the cornerstone for the transformed relationship on a visit to India in March of 2005. Rice told the Prime Minister that the United States would “break with long-standing nonproliferation orthodoxy and work to establish full civil nuclear cooperation with energy-starved India,” Burns said.
“At the start of President Bush’s second term, we knew that the nuclear issue was the proverbial elephant in the room in the U.S. relationship with India,” said Burns. The Bush administration understood that resolving this would go a long way in developing an “ambitious partnership” with India.
When Singh visited Washington in July 2005, Bush proposed that after 30 years, the United States was prepared to offer India the benefits of full civil nuclear energy cooperation.
Noting the complexities of two years of the “diplomatic marathon of negotiations” that followed, Burns said, “My Indian counterparts and I worked more closely and intensively than we ever had before.”
“We were sometimes forced to dig deep into our reserves of creativity and tenacity. But the outcome demonstrates that Americans and Indians can work together to achieve important goals on the most vital international issues — something once thought impossible,” he wrote.
Burns noted the benefits of this deal were very real for the United States. “For the first time in three decades, India will submit its entire civil nuclear program to international inspection by permanently placing 14 of its 22 nuclear power plants and all of its future civil reactors under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Within a generation, nearly 90 percent of India’s reactors will likely be covered by the agreement. Without the arrangement, India’s nuclear power program would have remained a black box. With it, India will be brought into the international nuclear nonproliferation mainstream,” he contended.
Acknowledging critics of the deal who, among other things, opposed the decision to grant India consent rights to reprocess spent nuclear fuel, Burns noted the United States had granted reprocessing consent before to Japan and the European Atomic Energy Community. “Moreover, these rights will come into effect only once India builds a state-of-the-art reprocessing facility fully monitored by the IAEA and we agree on the specific arrangements and procedures for it.”
He also assured critics that the agreement with India will not assist the country’s nuclear weapons program in any way. And should India decide to conduct a nuclear test in the future, then the United States would have the right under US law to seek the return of all nuclear fuel and technology shipped by them.
The Loomba Trust, set up a decade ago, for the welfare of children of widows in India, has raised a staggering £2,50,000 at its Diwali dinner at Mansion House here.
Legendary Bollywood actor-producer Dev Anand was the special guest while Sir Ian Blair, chief of the metropolitan police, was the guest of honour at the glittering ceremony attended by over 250 guests.
Speaking on the occasion, Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London and Patron of the Trust, lauded the achievements of NRIs in UK and particularly in London and said “You (Indians) should think London as your second home.”
Livingstone said he would be going to India next month to further strengthen the ties between India and the UK.
Referring the rapid progress India was making, the Mayor said by 2020 India would be one of three most important powers in the world, the other two being the USA and China. He said he was happy that India has emerged as the second biggest investor in the UK.
Raj Loomba, who set up the trust 10 years ago in memory of his mother Pushpa Wati Loomba to draw the world’s attention to the terrible plight of poor widows and their children in India said said the Trust has extended its reach of work in various ways.
Former Lord Mayor of London Alderman Sir David Brewer, welcoming the guests to the Mansion House, said the Loomba Trust was now educating more than 3,600 children of poor widows in India, developing new programmes in five other countries and achieving growing international recognition for its flagship International Widows Day initiative.
“The Loomba Trust gives voice to a very worthy and important cause, which all of us gathered here tonight are happy to support,” he said.
Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is president of the trust and former Prime Minister of India Atal Bihari Vajpayee inaugurated the Indian branch of the trust in March 1999.
The trust was set up to educate at least 100 children in each of India’s 29 states, which was exceeded last year.
“Today, the trust educates over 3,600 children of poor widows across India, providing each with a scholarship to fund their education for a period of at least five years,” Raj Loomba said.
“We are working partnership with Virgin Unite to support HIV and AIDS affected children in South Africa, and we help to create opportunities for young widows and youths in Kenya, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in partnership with Youth Business International, a charity of Prince Charles,” he said. — PTI
Congress President Sonia Gandhi is set to be the first foreign political party leader to meet the new leadership of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC), which will be revealed to the world tomorrow, signalling the importance Beijing is placing on strategic ties with India.
Gandhi, also the Chairperson of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), has been invited by the Chinese President and incumbent CPC general-secretary, Hu Jintao, for a visit aimed at strengthening Sino-Indian strategic ties as well as party-to-party relations.
She is expected to arrive here on October 25 for a visit that is likely to last till October 30, meeting Hu and other senior Chinese leaders and visiting Beijing and probably two other Chinese cities, sources said. — PTI
Evergreen Bollywood film star Dev Anand decided to write autobiography as he was convinced that no biographer could do justice to the varied experiences he had had during his journey from being a struggling film star to heartthrob to producer.
Speaking at the release of autobiography ‘Romancing With Life’ in the United States, he said a lot of people had approached him to write his biography. But he had one question “how could they portray the depth of his life and experiences when they knew him only superficially”.
“The book is only about me, my career and experiences. It was written by me in my own hand in ink,” the 84-year hero of yesteryears told the audience which comprised a substantial number of his fans who were teenagers at a time when he was at the pinnacle of his acting career.
Releasing the book at the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan here last night, counsel-general Neelam Deo described Dev Anand as “living treasure”.
The strength of his creations, she said, lay in depiction of strong women characters and dealing with controversial subjects in a sensitive manner that not only brought the point home but also made the movies box office hits.
In this context, she recalled that in ‘Hare Krishna, Hare Rama’, he had focused on the issue of drugs and the struggle of young people to find their niche in life at time when the subject was not being openly discussed.
In ‘Guide’, he openly discussed the subject of infidelity in a way that it did not offend the moviegoers, most of whom would not touch the subject.
The function was attended, among others, by Indian-born filmmaker Mira Nair and Founder of Jet Airways Naresh Goyal.
In his remarks, Dev Anand said the success of Hindi version of ‘Guide’ was a few changes made in the novel of the same name by R K Narayan. The English version which stuck to the novel was not so successful.
Asked what was his finest hour, Dev Anand said, “this moment,” explaining that he lives in the present and not in the past and that is his strength.
Questioned as to how he feels when despite all his efforts, his movie fails, he replied amidst laughter that “the audience is foolish.” But then he explained seriously that from the reaction of audiences one learns a lot.
However, no one can pinpoint one particular reason as to why a movies succeeds or fails it could due to acting, story, direction, treatment of the subject, songs or music and a whole lot of other factors.
Walking the audience through his career spanning six decades, Dev Anand said he left his home with Rs 30 for Bombay travelling in “third class compartment of third class” and struggled for two and a half years before his career took off ‘Hum Ek Hain’ and went to play the romantic lead in more than 110 movies before turning to producing his films.
Replying to question about difference between movies of yesteryear and today, he said it was all the same with romance, dances, songs etc. but the only difference that in olden days, “hero took a lot more time to get the girl” than his modern version.
Dev Anand is scheduled to appear at several book-signing functions in the United States over next few days. — PTI
The Dalai Lama and some of the United States’ top experts on depression have met to discuss how Buddhist practices can affect the disease.
Buddhist meditation can play a big part in treating patients with depression, the researchers said.
Each case is unique, and often non-traditional therapies like meditation training are helpful when used with other treatments, they said.
“With other diseases, we can measure things and predict what treatment we should use,” said Dr Charles Nemeroff, head of the Emory School of Medicine’s department of psychiatry and behavioural sciences yesterday.
“But in the disease state of depression, it could be mindfulness, cognitive behaviour therapy or medicine.”
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader praised a study being done by Emory University researchers Dr Chuck Raison and Geshe Lobsang Negi on how compassion meditation affects students’ mental health.
He said the study’s results will have wide application in preventing depression.
“I think in our life, it is very important to have compassion,” he said in English.
The daylong conference is part of a weekend of events at Emory with the Dalai Lama, who has accepted a distinguished professorship at the private college.
On Friday, he was presented with a science curriculum designed by Emory faculty and translated into Tibetan. — AP
Instead, South African-born Lana Marks has said that it was Prince Charles who remained Diana’s one true love, despite the infidelities that tore their relationship apart, the ‘Daily Mail’ reported here today.
“The bottomline was that the person she really loved deep down was Charles. She said this early on and throughout our friendship. He was the love of her life. We did talk about several men in her life...
“Just because Diana had a good relationship with somebody who she permitted to enter her life, that didn’t mean they were going to get married. She said it without using words directly, but in her language she indicated to me very clearly that she was not going to marry him,” Marks said.
When asked about the supposed engagement ring Dodi gave the Princess, she said, “Diana was overwhelmed with gifts every day of her life-just mountains of extremely valuable gifts-and the ring could have been one of those. Any gift from Dodi doesn’t stand out because many male companions gave her gifts. It was often jewellery of great value.
“I would categorically say she wasn’t (pregnant). She confided in me in great depth about everything going on in her life at that time. If there had been any pregnancy she would have told me. I would have known.”
Marks, who gave her first statement to Scotland Yard detectives, has not yet been called to give evidence at the current inquest. — PTI
The King was shown visiting the famous Hindu temple Hanumandhoka temple by a TV channel yesterday where some people raised slogans in his favour. The King spent about 15 minutes worshipping in the temple, according to the television channel.
On Dashain the King visited a number of Hindu temples, including Bhadrakali Temple. During his visit to the temple, the authorities locked the main gate of the temple for four hours, forcing visitors return back without worshipping.
The palace also performed Pancha Bali (sacrifice of five animals) at Hanumandhoka and other temples on the occasion of the ten-day festival. Such sacrificial offerings are made to gain power.
A day before the King’s visit at Hanumandhoka, 34 buffaloes and 34 goats were sacrificed at Kot area in the temple premises as per the tradition.
King’s visit to Hanumandhoka temple was disrupted by Maoists’ protest outside the premises while his supporters recited pro-King slogans inside the complex.
King also wished the people of Nepal. “I wished for peace, happiness and prosperity of all the Nepalese and Hindu people residing within the country and abroad on this great Dashain festival that promotes human values such as mutual goodwill, affection and unity among all the people, the King said. — PTI
Malaysia’s first space traveller and two Russian cosmonauts survived a rough descent Sunday after a technical glitch sent their Soyuz spacecraft on a steeper-than-normal path during their return to Earth, officials said. The Russian spacecraft landed safely and all three were feeling fine, officials said.
The landing capsule carrying Russians Fyodor Yurchikhin and Oleg Kotov, and Malaysian Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, landed short of the designated landing site at 4.06 pm, Russia’s Mission Control spokesman Valery Lyndin said.
The spacecraft deviated from the intended path because of a computer glitch that sent the spacecraft on a steeper-than-usual descent trajectory, the so-called ballistic descent, Lyndin said.
“That meant that the crew were subjected to higher than normal gravity load on their descent,” Lyndin told said.
Russian search and rescue teams quickly located the craft, which landed just under 340 kilometres west of the designated landing site near Arkalyk in north-central Kazakhstan, NASA reported on its web site. — AP
Larijani, who was seen as having a moderating influence on nuclear policy, stepped down following a prolonged disagreement with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the handling of Iran’s position in the stand-off.
His successor, deputy foreign minister Saeed Jalili, is a hardliner and a close confidant of the president, and is believed by analysts to share Ahmadinejad’s unrelenting refusal of offering any concession to the West.
But foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini insisted the change in personnel did not herald any switch in policy.
“The resignation of Larijani was agreed by the President but the policies and strategies of the Islamic republic on the nuclear issue are unchangeable goals,” he said. — AFP
In the next days and weeks, they will crawl into plants, flowers and shrubs in the Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village complex in search of insects whose smell attracts them-soft-bodied, leaf-sucking aphids and mites.
Buying the bugs-at $16.50 for 2,000 -- means the complex’s owner, Tishman Speyer, can avoid using chemical insecticides. “In most cases, we reach for a can of pesticide- and we kill not only the ‘bad guys,’ but the ‘good guys,’” said Eric Vinje, owner of Planet Natural, which supplied the pest-killers.
“All we’re doing here is putting more of the ‘good guys’ to tip the scale, to get some kind of pest population control.” He said a ladybug can eat up to 50 pests a day, plus insect eggs. — AP
Gates, who landed in Kiev today to meet Ukraine’s government and attend the Southeast Europe Defence Ministerial, has grown increasingly frustrated by the failure of NATO allies to fulfil promises made to Afghanistan, his aides say.
A senior defence official travelling with the Pentagon chief said one of Gates’s main goals was to press members of the Southeast Europe Defense Ministerial to send troops to Afghanistan.
The 11-member group sent a 100-troop brigade, called Southeast Europe Brigade or SEEBRIG, to the war zone in 2006. “It’s to have a discussion about SEEBRIG and how SEEBRIG can potentially help in Afghanistan again possibly by undertaking a training mission,” the official said when asked about Gates’s priorities in Kiev.
“Given the need for trainers in Afghanistan, could SEEBRIG undertake or consider doing such a mission there?” the official said. After meetings in Kiev, the secretary stops in Prague on his way to a meeting of NATO defence ministers in the Netherlands. — Reuters
The government ended the curfew yesterday in Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, where authorities violently put down pro-democracy protests, led by Buddhist monks, in late September, killing at least 13 persons and jailing about 3,000.
Residents in Yangon said they were relieved to see the end of the nightly curfew, which lasted from 11 pm to 3 am, but confided that they did not yet feel that life had returned to normal.
“People are very happy about the end of the curfew. We are free now,” said one company official in his 30s, who declined to be named.
“But people, including myself, continue to worry about the situation because of what happened in Yangon last month,” he said.
The end of the curfew came as military-run Myanmar was put under more international pressure over the deadly clampdown on dissent, with the United States Friday stepping up sanctions against the top generals including junta leader General Than Shwe.
A 55-year-old housewife said she was glad that the government lifted the curfew, but added she would stay away from Yangon’s golden Shwedagon Pagoda, a rallying point for protesters. — AFP
An unemployed Colombian man has sewn shut his mouth and locked himself behind an iron mask to demand the government attend to his family’s desperate economic plight.
Luis Miguel Aldana (52) told The Associated Press yesterday that he started the peculiar protest five days ago, after being locked out of his apartment in Bogota. Instead of paying two months of rent, Aldana says he bought shoes for his three children.
Now he is demanding the government provide a loan to jump-start a cottage textile business and pay health care bills for his wife and children. Without the loan, he says his family will end up living on the streets.
“I’m doing this to get attention because people have a heart of iron and also a face of iron-they don’t listen to anybody and think this is a joke,” said Aldana, speaking out of the corner of his mouth that is not sewn shut.
Aldana currently is living in a neighbor’s house, where he sits in bed with his hands and legs shackled in chains. — AP
The card travelled from Burma, Nagasaki, Arizona and Hawaii before finding Shizuo Nagano (80) in southern Kochi prefecture, according to Mukogawa Womens University.
The postcard was written by Nobuchika Yamashita. He used to work with Nagano at their neighbourhood store before Yamashita was drafted.
The postcard was handed to Nagano by a 20-year-old student of the university last week, it said in a statement recently.
The student, Yuko Kojima, gave it to Nagano after staying as an exchange student in Hawaii. — AFP
A 49-year-old woman stayed afloat for 19 hours in the Pacific Ocean, clutching a water container, until she was rescued, she said.
Lillian Ruth Simpson said her canoe flipped in strong winds about 1.6 km off the Hawaiian coast. She could not restore the canoe, and tried to swim to shore and failed.
“The times I thought, ‘I’m going to die, I’m going to die,’ I would say, ‘No, I have three kids and you’re not taking me anywhere,” she told the Maui News.
She spent a long night dozing off, accidentally swallowing sea water, throwing up and trying to keep warm by wrapping her bathing suit top around her head.
By the time Joseph Carvalho Jr, captain of the boat Strike Zone, found Simpson on Friday, she could not remember her name.
“She told me that she kept telling herself, ‘At least the water’s warm,’” Carvalho said. — AP
Two Indian labourers were crushed to death under a heavy beam at an under construction building near Dubai creek in Deira.
The deceased identified as Ram Babu and Venkat Rao were clearing the debris of the demolished building when the beam collapsed.
“The bodies of the victims have been kept at the forensic laboratory and an investigation has been initiated into the incident,” the Khaleej Times quoted a Dubai police official as saying.
Both the labourers hailed from the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. — UNI
The first generation of these satellites was launched in 1999 by Starsem, the Russian-European subsidiary of Arianespace from Baikonur. Four more satellites were put in orbit in May this year. — AFP
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Legal Article: Contracts in Indonesia
Author: Jacqueline Tan
Source: UK P&I Club - Legal Team
Contracts in Indonesia – on 31st August 2015, in the case of PT Bangun Karya Pratama Lestari v Nine AM Ltd, the Indonesian Supreme Court handed down a decision that a contract not drafted in the Indonesian language is null and void.
Although this decision was issued a couple of years ago, the issues therein remain very relevant for our Members entering into contracts such as LNG Terminals’ Conditions of Use, charterparties or contracts of carriage with Indonesian entities.
For several years, Indonesian law (Article 31, Law Number 24 of 2009 on National Flag, Language, Emblem and Anthem, known as “the Language Law") has required that memoranda of understanding, contracts or agreements which involve Indonesian government institutions, Indonesian private entities or Indonesian citizens shall be in Bahasa Indonesia, i.e. the Indonesian language ("Bahasa"). Article 31 (2) of Law 24/2009 explicitly allows execution of an agreement in more than one language. Whilst this law seeks to regulate the use of Bahasa, in practice it means that any contract with any governing law, as long as it involves an Indonesian party, must be drafted in Bahasa, in addition to the foreign language.
Law 24/2009 further provides that the implementation of the law will be further stipulated by an implementing regulation, which will be issued within two years after the release of Law 24/ 2009. We understand that, to date, this implementing regulation has not been released.
On 28 December 2009, the Minister of Law and Human Rights issued a Clarification to Law Firms, where the Minister opined that Article 31(1) of Law 24/2009 did not apply to private commercial agreements and that accordingly, these could continue to be drafted in English in accordance with parties’ intentions. The Minister was also of the view that the actual implementation of Article 31(1) would have to await the issuance of a Presidential Regulation, as mandated by Article 40. Until such time as the Presidential Regulation was issued, the language requirement under Article 31(1) would essentially be unenforceable.
Despite the Clarification to Law Firms issued by the Minister, in June 2013, the West Jakarta District Court held a loan agreement between an Indonesian borrower and a foreign lender unenforceable for failure to comply with the Language Law. The loan agreement concerned was drafted in English only.
The Court determined that Article 31 of Law 24/2009 required every contract involving an Indonesian party, whether public or private, to be made in Bahasa. In the absence of a Bahasa translation, the loan agreement violated Article 31 of Law 24/2009, which resulted in the contract having an illicit cause. Although Law 24/2009 does not expressly set out the consequences if it is not complied with, the Court relied on Article 1335 read with Article 1337 of the Indonesian Civil Code to find that the loan agreement was null and void. Article 1335 provides, amongst other things, that a contract concluded pursuant to an illicit cause is invalid. Article 1337 further states that a cause is illicit if it is prohibited by law or if it violates morality or public order.
The Court ordered the parties to be reinstated to the same position they would have been in had the agreement not been entered into.
Although the West Jakarta District Court’s reasoning in that decision is open to criticism, it was affirmed by the Jakarta High Court and subsequently by the Indonesian Supreme Court in Judgment No. 48/Pdt/2014/PT.DKI dated 7th May 2014 and Judgement No. 601 K/Pdt/2015 dated 31st August 2015 respectively.
The Supreme Court’s Decision - Issues
The contract between the Indonesian borrower and the foreign lender was governed by Indonesian law and subject to Indonesian jurisdiction. It is an open question whether a similar outcome would result for contracts subject to other laws or jurisdictions. Nevertheless, it seems likely that, as long as an Indonesian is party to the contract, regardless of jurisdiction, failure by the parties to execute a Bahasa version may provide grounds for nullification.
In the context of shipping, the vast majority of contracts for the international carriage of goods between foreign and Indonesian entities will not be subject to Indonesian law and jurisdiction. However, the provisions of Law 24/2009 cannot be ignored if contracting with an Indonesian counterparty. If a dispute were to arise under such a contract and it were to be arbitrated, for example in London and subject to English Law, it may nevertheless be necessary in due course to enforce that award in Indonesia against the Indonesian entity. The provisions of Law 24/2009 may be an issue at the enforcement stage.
Recommendations to Members
The decision of the Supreme Court highlights the potential risks faced by Members who have contracts with Indonesian entities, which are not also written in Bahasa.
Whilst Indonesia is a civil law jurisdiction and the courts are not bound by previous case law, in light of the Supreme Court's decision, Members are advised to make, prepare and execute bilingual versions of all commercial contracts involving an Indonesian party, regardless of the governing law. Members may also wish to obtain legal advice on whether it is necessary to have documents notarised and translated into Bahasa
If Members have already entered into contracts with Indonesian entities without a Bahasa translation, Members may wish to consider executing Bahasa translations of such contracts, in particular if they are high value contracts.
Note also that although Law 24/2009 requires the use of Bahasa, the law does not require Bahasa to be the governing language. The parties may execute the agreement that sets a foreign language as the prevailing language in the agreement as long as there is a Bahasa translation set out in the agreement. That said, in the absence of clear regulatory provision, it is difficult to predict the Indonesian court’s position on the issue of the governing language.
Whilst having an accurate translation may be an expensive exercise, it is worth bearing in mind that not being able to enforce the contract may turn out to be far more expensive.
We would also recommend that Members, who know that cargo is destined for Indonesian ports, have a binding law and arbitration clause in their bills of lading. If, for example, a non-Indonesian shipowner is obliged to defend a claim brought in the Indonesian Courts, the Indonesian Courts may accept jurisdiction and apply Indonesian law if the bill of lading is silent on law and jurisdiction. If so, the lack of a binding law and arbitration clause may be a double-edged sword. It would be open to either party to argue that the bill of lading was void as it was not translated into Bahasa.
In addition, if the Master believes that it is necessary to clause the bills of lading in relation to, for example, the condition of the cargo upon loading, it is recommended that the clause or remarks are written in English and Bahasa.
If Members have any questions on the above, their usual contacts at the UK Club will be pleased to assist them.
Employers' Liability - Europe
Employers' Liability - London
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Michael Jackson To Unveil 'World Premiere Experience' At Billboard Music Awards
May 8, 2014 - 4:40 pm by Camille Augustin TWITTER
Get ready to see the late King of Pop like you've never seen him before.
At this year's Billboard Music Awards, Michael Jackson's estate will be unveiling a "world premiere experience," showing the legendary artist "like you've never seen him before," Billboard reports. The special presentation will come after MJ's second posthumous album, Xscape, drops May 13.
There's no word on what exactly will air during the broadcast since details are under "lock-and-key," but viewers will have to tune in on May 18 on ABC at 8pm.
Billboard Music Awards,
Michael Jackson,
Nipsey Hussle Was Reportedly Being Investigated For Gang Ties Prior To His Death
According to reports, Nipsey Hussle was reportedly under investigation due to gang ties prior to his fatal death in late-March.
Per The New York Times, there was an open investigation being conducted by the LAPD and the city attorney’s office, which is reportedly still ongoing. The Victory Lap rapper’s property– including his clothing store The Marathon– are being looked into, in an effort to prove that the strip mall that Nip owned was subject to gang activity and violence.
“As part of the investigation, the city pressured Hussle’s former landlords to evict the rapper and his associates,” the report reads. “Instead, the landlords sold the property earlier this year to Hussle and a group of investors for $2.5 million, according to public records.”
Despite the efforts, the Los Angeles community and the music world continue to mourn the death of the 33-year-old Grammy nominee. However, his memory and voice lives on both on wax and in the real world.
“Everybody knows that Nipsey was pretty much the founder of the idea to bring everyone together who, you know, may individually be able to do great things and make a significant impact on their own in their communities,” T.I. said of his fallen friend. “But for us to come together, we can impact so, so many more communities and spread our efforts so much wider.”
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El Chapo's Reportedly Deceived Suppliers To Buy Meth Ingredients
December 18, 2018 - 3:13 pm by Khaaliq Crowder FACEBOOK TWITTER
Shiesty!
More tea is being spilled in the trial of pseudo-famous Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera. On Monday (Dec. 17), it was revealed in court that El Chapo went to the sister of a Colombian drug trafficker to cop methamphetamine for his Sinaloa drug cartel.
According to the New York Daily News, Jorge Milton Cifuentes Villa was one of the witnesses called to the stand during the 61-year-old's criminal preceding in the States. Chapo is being hit with a laundry list of charges including money laundering, conspiracy, firearms and international distribution of cocaine, meth, heroin, and marijuana.
Cifuentes confessed Chapo went behind his back and made a deal with his siblings who are also involved in their illegal activities to be a source for methamphetamine so that he can turn a profit in his business.
Cifuentes said that Chapo neglected the fact that meth is extremely addictive and can damage the physical and mental state of young people who consume it and purchased from his sister and brother, the drug's precursor ephedrine.
“Don Joaquín knows I (didn’t) like to f**k around with ephedrine,” Cifuentes said in the courtroom.
It wasn't until after a plane that carried Colombian-imported cocaine crashed on it's trip to Mexican that Cifuentes' siblings came clean and admitted they took a deal with Chapo as it the ephedrine was also in the cargo of the aircraft.
Cifuentes escaped to Venezuela in 2010 around the time these incidents were going down and changed his mind regarding meth out of desperation for money, saying that “Hunger made me change my mind."
Chapo faces life in prison if convicted of all charges.
READ MORE: A Man Claiming To Be El Chapo's Nephew Threatens To Have Tekashi Mother Deported
A Texas Woman Lived With Her Mother's Dead Body For Three Years
A Texas woman is facing two to 20 years in prison for living with her dead mother's body for three years.
According to CNN, Delissa Navonne Crayton's 71-year-old mother's corpse was found inside a room, while Crayton and her daughter dwelled in another room inside the home.
Investigators said Crayton's mother fell, hit her head and died a few days later. It appears as if the fall was accidental, however, Crayton's refusal to have her be seen by a doctor, assisted in her mother's death. A coroner's report
"From 2016 until July 7, 2019, approximately 3 years, Delissa Crayton resided in the residence with her daughter who was at the time under the age of 15," the Seguin Police Department said.
Crayton was arrested and charged with "Injury to a Child under the age of 15 through recklessly, by omission, causing to a child, serious mental deficiency, impairment or injury."
The second-degree felony also carries a $10,000 fine.
"This is an ongoing and active investigation being conducted by Seguin Police Department, the Texas Rangers, and the Guadalupe County Attorney's Office," the department said.
Police are expecting to level more charges against Crayton within the week.
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Justice Home > Victims Services > About us
22/11/2018 - NSW Police have launched their ADVO Compliance Check CSA. This was shown on Channel 9 news and is on NSW Police’s Facebook page.
22/11/2018 - As part of the forensic mental health reforms, NSW Parliament recently passed the Mental Health (Forensic Provisions) Amendment (Victims) Bill 2018. A new Specialist Victims Support Service (SVSS) will be established in Victims Services, Department of Justice. The new service will establish and operate the Specialist Victims Register for victims of forensic patients found unfit at a special hearing or not guilty by reason of mental illness. There will be a period of transition moving from the existing Forensic Patient Victims Register run by the Mental Health Review Tribunal to the Specialist Victims Register. During this time the Mental Health Review Tribunal will still be the main contact for registered victims. SVSS will contact registered victims in early 2019. For more information on how the forensic mental health reforms will improve victims experiences and increase their engagement with the legal process please refer to the NSW Department of Justice website.
19/11/2018 - The Law Reform Commission has released a Consultation Paper 21 - consent in relation to sexual offences. The closing date for submissions addressing this Consultation Paper is Friday, 1 February 2019. The Law Reform Commission website also contains further information on the use of submissions and confidentiality. Instead of a formal submission, you may prefer to complete abrief survey that covers the main issues raised in the Consultation Paper. Further information on the review may be found on the Law Reform Commission website.
18/11/2018 - The Child Sexual Offence Evidence Pilot Final Outcome Evaluation Report completed by the Social Policy Research Centre and the Institute of Criminology, Sydney Law School, outlines the findings of the evaluation and presents an assessment of the impact and effectiveness of the special measures introduced by the Pilot. The report also makes recommendations for future development. The full report can be viewed here.
24/09/2018 - The 2017/18 Victims Services Data profiles are now available.
24/09/2018 - Redress Support Services Funding Round - The Australian Government is inviting applications to apply to deliver services under the Families and Communities Program – Families and Children Activity – Redress Scheme – Redress Support Services across Australia from 1 March 2019 to 30 June 2021.
24/09/2018 - National Apology for Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse - On 22 October 2018, Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon. Scott Morrison MP, will issue a National Apology to Victims and Survivors of Institutional Child Sexual Abuse at Parliament House in Canberra. The Apology will also be televised live throughout Australia.
13/09/2018 - Victims Services will be closed on Friday 14 September 2019 from 1pm to allow staff to attend an all staff event. We will be open again on Monday morning at 8.00am. You can leave messages and calls will be returned on Monday as soon as possible.
07/09/2018 - Filmed by the ABC in conjunction with Wattle Place and Relationships Australia NSW, The Survivors tells the stories of three most incredible people; Trish Charter, Wayne Isles and Ray Leary. The Survivors will screen on ABC Compass, Channel 2, 6:00pm Saturday 8 September 2018. You can watch a trailer to The Survivors here.
20/07/2018 - Due to a system upgrade, the Victims Access Line and Aboriginal Contact Line will close early at 5.30pm today, Friday 20 July 2018. Normal hours of 8am to 6pm will resume on Monday 23 July 2018.
01/07/2018 - The National Redress Scheme commenced on 1 July 2018 and will provide people who experienced institutional child sexual abuse with a monetary payment, counselling and direct personal responses from institutions. For more information about the National Redress Scheme, visit www.nationalredress.gov.au or call the National Redress Scheme Information Line on 1800 737 377.
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Tampa flag football team traveling to LA to compete for national championship
by: Gabrielle Shirley
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – “Every single round, don’t go 75 percent, that helps nobody. It doesn’t help you. It doesn’t help your team. It doesn’t help the quarterback. It doesn’t help anybody. (Go) 110 percent.”
Chad Cozzens, the head coach of the Miami Dolphins Under the Lights Flag Football team in South Tampa, shared those words of wisdom with his players.
“These kids have been working hard,” Cozzens told 8 On Your Side’s Gabrielle Shirley. “They come together. They have great chemistry. They are fast. They are smart. I just love coaching them.”
The athletes are a mix of third graders and fourth graders. Cozzens’ son and daughter are both on the team.
Cozzens has been the head coach for the past four years and he has had the pleasure of seeing some of the same faces again and again.
“When these kids get on the field, they are brothers and sisters and that is what they are. That is why they do so well together,” he said.
The Dolphins actually won a championship over Memorial Day weekend. They had to keep their opponent from scoring on the final play to win it and they managed to do it.
“That was intense,” said Julian Hirsch, who plays receiver and safety for the Dolphins.
Alec Sergi reenacted his reaction on that final play by swinging his arms across his chest.
“I am doing this to the ref,” he said. “I am like, ‘No!’ and it ended up being a no catch so we won the championship!”
“Everyone on our team was running on the field and saying, ‘We won! We won!’” said quarterback Marino Cozzens.
You could be correct if you are wondering if Marino is named after Dan Marino, the legendary NFL quarterback who only played for the Miami Dolphins. Ding! Ding! Ding!
“We started dumping water on each other,” said Collin Nguyen, who is also a member of this championship team. “And we started tackling each other.”
The sweet victory was made sweeter by an intense hunger. These athletes played in multiple games to get to that championship game.
“Everyone was really tired going into the championship. We were also really hungry,” Nguyen said.
Gabrielle Shirley decided to ask him for a clarification.
“Were you hungry for a win or were you hungry for a sandwich?” she asked.
“We were hungry like hungry, hungry. We were hungry for food,” he said with a smile. “It was like 10 o’clock and we had not eaten anything!”
A celebratory meal added to the excitement of the win. Now, these players and their families have a trip to Los Angeles, California circled on their calendars.
“Speechless, I did not know what to think,” said the younger Cozzens.
“I just went outside and all the neighbors were staring at me because I was screaming and yelling and I was like, ‘We are going to LA!’” said Sergi.
This team will compete for a national championship on the campus of UCLA in August and, thankfully, the head coach is feeling confident.
“Everyone on our team is super smart. I do not care how fast they are, how tall they are, if they can catch, I will find the ability that they have and we will use it,” said Cozzens.
If you would like to help the Dolphins with their travel expenses, they are hosting three fundraising events:
Saturday, June 22:
10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Tampa Sports Academy: 4539 S Dale Mabry Highway in Tampa
Saturday, July 13:
Fundraiser Party with Raffle
The Patio: 421 S MacDill Avenue in Tampa
Thursday, July 18:
Spirit Night
4 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Beef ‘O’ Brady’s: 2819 S MacDill Avenue in Tampa
You can also donate to their GoFundMe page.
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Lack of financial protection puts households at risk
May 24, 2018 | Savings
Many UK households are under-protected in the event of serious illness, research from Scottish Widows shows.
A survey of 5,022 UK adults found that more than a fifth (21%) of households wouldn't survive financially if they unexpectedly lost their main income.
Only 9% of people have a critical illness policy to protect their household should they or their partner be unable to work due to long-term illness, while the number of individuals taking out life insurance fell 7 percentage points compared with 2017.
More than two-fifths (43%) say that if faced with this situation, they would solely rely on their savings.
However, for 35% of people, those savings would last no more than 3 months, and for 54% they would last no longer than a year.
Gary Burchett, protection director at Scottish Widows, said:
"On a societal level, we increasingly think in the short term, caring more about tangible things in our day-to-day lives.
"On a more fundamental level, we're programmed not to think about the worst happening.
"Together, these are dangerous inclinations as people aren't thinking about insuring their health or life until it's too late."
Talk to us about planning your personal finances.
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Analysis - Why did RWE decide to drop Atlantic Array?
23 December 2013 by James Quilter
UK: RWE killed off its involvement in the 1.2GW Atlantic Array offshore wind farm in the Bristol Channel, western England, on 26 November after spending five years and an estimated £13 million (EUR 15.6 million).
The German utility said it made the decision after recognising the "significant technical challenges specific to the zone" and comparing it with the viability of its other UK offshore projects. In short, the company is working on other projects that are easier to complete and do not require technology beyond the current crop of turbines and foundations being tested.
However, the decision to drop Atlantic Array, one of the largest UK offshore projects to have been exited, comes amid a climate of uncertainty for UK offshore developers and problems in RWE's home market.
Redundancies
RWE's move also comes against a backdrop of issues in the German company's home market, including job cuts and a comment from CEO Peter Terium that the company was passing through a "vale of tears" while promising to make cuts to its operations. RWE reported a EUR 73 million loss in the third quarter of 2013. Job cuts are planned as well. In the UK alone - a day after the Atlantic Array announcement - RWE made 1,400 redundancies to its UK operations, albeit in the name of subsidiary Npower.
Scrapping offshore wind farms could be easier than cutting jobs. Out of RWE's four UK offshore projects - Dogger Bank, Gwynt y Mor, Triton Knoll, and Atlantic Array - Atlantic Array was one of only two the company was not locked into with other firms. The other one, Triton Knoll, has been under development for longer and is arguably better suited to development with its deep sand seabed. An investment has also already been made in an expensive radar system for the local air force base.
Although a planning application was filed in June, there is no doubt Atlantic Array had struggled through the development process. At the start of 2013 RWE aimed to install 417 turbines in the Bristol Channel. In May it reduced this figure by 139, following environmental concerns and local feedback, while it still hoped to limit any reduction in capacity by using larger turbines. RWE said this is unrelated to the project cancellation.
Outlining the reasons behind its decision, RWE said the wind farm faced substantial technical challenges. These include bedrock, a water depth of 45 metres, difficult currents and challenging seabed conditions.
Incidentally, shortly after this, Scottish Power cited similar reasons for postponing Argyll Array in western Scotland.
Asked why it did not spot the potential problems with Atlantic Array earlier, given that the Bristol Channel is a known quantity, RWE said it needed to make a proper study of the area.
However, according to those familiar with the project, the environment at Atlantic Array has been known for a number of years. Peter Crone, director of Zero Carbon Marine, said it was no more challenging than others being developed. "If you believe (RWE's reasoning) you believe that zones 1 and 2 are doomed. Navitus Bay (offshore wind farm) has a huge overlay of sands and gravel."
Zero Carbon Marine will continue its association with the project, he said: "We're going to ask the Crown Estate what their intentions are and are looking at taking it further, at least until it's consented." The Crown Estate, however, was adamant the site could not be developed commercially.
Missing anemometer
There may be life for Atlantic Array beyond being a test bed for floating turbines. One surprising aspect of RWE's development process is that it did not install an anemometer in the area, so the wind capability is unknown. It is therefore questionable how RWE's cost analysis stacks up. Based on studies in the land area around the Bristol Channel it looks like the area, helped by the fact it faces onto the open Atlantic, could deliver average wind speeds of around 10m/s.
If so, this, coupled with the fact it is so close to land, may make it a more cost-effective site than RWE has allowed.
Project announcement
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How the (Pacific North)west Was Won
Growers in the Pacific Northwest continue to adapt to the evolving region, offering innovation in the produce sector. By Lindsey Wojcik on Jun. 28, 2016
Warm days and cool nights. A weather forecast like that would likely produce a very enjoyable vacation no matter what the destination. In the Pacific Northwest, this climate is the norm, and it is one of the many attributes that make the region—which includes Washington, Oregon, Eastern Idaho, and British Columbia, Canada—the ideal locale for growing produce.
“The climate is just about perfect for growing apples, cherries and pears,” says Dan Wohlford, national marketing representative for Oneonta Starr Ranch Growers, based in Wenatchee, Wash. “We get a lot of sunshine, and we get cool nights. Sunshine helps the fruit and the trees grow very well. Those cool nights bring on the fantastic color that we get in our apples and cherries.”
Industry observers say that while the climate is a huge boon to growing fresh produce, the region’s volcanic ash soil along with the people devoted to the land and sustainable farming also give the Pacific Northwest an advantage.
“An important part of our growing region is the soil, the water and the mountainous regions,” says Kathy Stephenson, marketing communications director for USA Pears, which is branded by the Pear Bureau Northwest and based in Portland, Ore. “Our soil in the growing regions of the Northwest is nutrient-rich from volcanic ash deposits. The soil has been deposited across the Northwest from volcanoes and distributed by ancient flooding during the ice age.”
The mountainous regions also offer a unique source of moisture, observers add. Orchards and farms, particularly in Washington, do not experience the same coastal weather patterns that Seattle is known for, so they rely heavily on the rivers and streams for moisture. “Over on the eastern side [of the state], for all intents and purposes, we’re a desert,” says Wohlford. “There’s just not a lot of moisture coming from the sky for us, which is why we rely so much on the Columbia River and the Cascade Mountains for moisture.”
While the temperate weather, rich soil, water and mountains provide nearly perfect growing conditions for the region, observers say that the farmers, growers and ranchers have the expertise—and history—to contribute to the growth of the industry. “They keep themselves up-to-date on growing techniques and are constantly making themselves better by trying to figure out how to grow the fruit more efficiently and in more sustainable ways,” Wohlford says.
In addition to implementing more efficient growing practices and sustainable farming, growers with storied pasts in the Pacific Northwest have been adapting to and keeping up with the evolution and challenges of the area. An early frost and climate change, which has effected when and how long the seasons last, for example, can be threatening.
“While in a sense we have the warm days and cool nights, we sometimes have a frost in June, which will freeze the potatoes,” says Kevin Stanger, president of marketing for Wada Farms, based in Idaho Falls, Idaho. “We can also have an early frost at harvest, so we generally try to be done by Oct. 10. It doesn’t happen a lot but sometimes, we’ll have a cold September night where temperatures drop, and it risks the potatoes freezing in the ground. Those kind of things can definitely give us concern.”
While an early frost can potentially wreak havoc on a crop, longer growing seasons also present challenges, says Kimberlee Chambers, sustainability manager for Organically Grown Co., an employee- and grower-owned organic produce distributor, based in Portland, Ore. “Growers are working a lot more on season extension and on winter varieties. We’re seeing a lot more production throughout the year,” Chambers says. “In some cases, we’re seeing some items come in a month earlier, and then later on as well.”
An earlier or later season means more labor is needed, and growers can struggle to find the best solution. Organically Grown Co. is exploring ways to support growers and understand the critically important farm labor issue, Chambers says. “When you have compressed seasons, for example in the Holdover Valley with pear harvesters, as the season progressed, they would work their way to high elevation, but now the season is super short, and everything is coming off at the same time,” she says. “For organic and fresh market products, it’s a lot more labor intensive.”
Ship(ping) Shape
Logistics can be another obstacle that growers in the Pacific Northwest must work to overcome. The cost of freighting a product to heavily populated areas in the country can pose a problem. “The major challenge is being so far from the large population centers in the Eastern U.S.,” says Grant Kitamura, president of Murakami Produce Co., an Ontario, Ore.-based company that grows and packs onions. “Being in the Northwest corner of the U.S., we are sometimes far from our customers. We select the best varieties for shelf-life or storability in order for our product to make the trip across the country and provide high quality onions for our customers.”
Shipping costs are not something The Idaho Potato Commission (IPC) takes lightly. For 79 years the Eagle, Idaho-based association has been working with Idaho shippers and growers to assist their efforts in all areas, says Seth Pemsler, vice president of retail/international for the IPC. “We know we have to add and create value in our offerings to offset transportation costs from our area,” Pemsler says. “Our success shows that we continue to do so. For example, our biggest market is New York. While it is the furthest and most expensive market from a freight perspective, they know a difference and require Idaho.”
Observers note that items made in the Northwest are important to people across the U.S., especially as supporting more local companies continues to grow. Litehouse, the Sandpoint, Idaho-based maker of refrigerated dressings and dips, has manufacturing plants in Michigan and Utah to help its supply chain and ability to ship to customers throughout the U.S.
“Litehouse products are consistent with those who live in the Northwest, or to those who live far away,” says Stacey Miller, director of business development for Litehouse. “We offer quality products that provide fresh taste and enhance the eating experience of the consumer. We have a great marketing team that is able to tailor messaging across the different regions in the U.S.”
Steeped in Community
Despite the challenges, observers say the Pacific Northwest community is often willing to help each other out if another is in a bind. “There is so much farming experience in this area that you always have a source to help with problem solving and someone to bounce ideas off of should the need arise,” says Lori Hickey, marketing manager for HBF International, based in McMinnville, Ore. “Success only improves our region and makes the area strong and helps our communities we all live in.”
Innovation has contributed to the continued success of the region, says Steve Lutz, vice president of marketing for CMI, based in Wenatchee, Wash. “The industry is incredibly innovative,” Lutz says. “When you look at the product mix that’s coming out of the Northwest, and CMI specifically, we’re selling a huge number of apples that weren’t available 10 years ago. The product line and mix is being reinvented as we go.”
This year, CMI will be joining the Oppenheimer Group and Rainier in the co-marketing of the Jazz, Envy and Pacific Rose apple varieties. CMI’s lineup also includes the exclusive rights to Kiku brand apples, the popular Ambrosia variety and Kanzi. “That’s an incredible line up,” Lutz says. “Those are probably the six strongest varietals apples available.”
Domex Superfresh Growers will market its proprietary apple variety called the Autumn Glory, which will be available this October through spring, says Howard Nager vice president of marketing for the Yakima, Wash.-based company. “The apple has a crisp, firm flesh, hints of cinnamon and caramel, and will remind consumers that they can ‘experience autumn all year.’”
As some growers work to innovate their product offerings, others are utilizing new packaging to make their items more convenient for consumers. “We work with our packaging people closely in developing and building the packaging needs that the consumers want,” says Stanger, noting that Wada Farms was one of the first growers to unveil packaging that enables consumers to microwave potatoes in a bag. “We’re always looking at different things so we can be ahead of the curve and make potatoes a more convenient item for the consumer.”
Useful training and marketing tools for retailers is also important for Pacific Northwest growers to expand their reach to a broader audience. For example, the Pear Bureau Northwest has tools that retailers and produce merchandisers can use to tell the region’s story and share important tips with consumers, says Stephenson.
While new product innovations, merchandising and marketing tools serve as ways for growers to reach consumers, observers say it is the partnership between retailers and growers that is essential. “We really support customers, and we try to specialize our accounts with what they need,” says Chambers. “We do a lot of engagement, interaction, bring opportunities to them, ask them what they want to address, and how we can collaborate and how we can move this forward. They are really treated like partners.”
Pacific Northwest Meat Up
Produce is not the only fresh product that thrives in the Pacific Northwest. The region’s climate and water sources prove to be optimal for raising cattle and farming rainbow trout. In fact, when most consumers think of premium quality beef, Midwest corn-fed beef is first to mind, says Jay Theiler, executive director of marketing for Agri Beef Co., based in Boise, Idaho.
“The Northwest provides a very comfortable environment for raising cattle. The mild climate, abundant resources and access to a variety of sustainable feed ingredients such as wheat, potatoes, corn and hay all contribute to the exceptional quality of Northwest grain-fed beef,” Theiler says. “As a region, we are producing more prime and choice grade beef now than ever before. The focused efforts of producers throughout the Northwest, including our own Double R Ranch in Loomis, Wash., have resulted in vast improvements in cattle health and quality.”
The Pacific Northwest is an ideal locale for farming rainbow trout as well, says Kurt Myers, vice president of sales and marketing for Clear Springs Food, based in Buhl, Idaho. The company, which will celebrate its 50th anniversary in September, has been farming rainbow trout along the Snake River since its inception.
“It is the best place to grow rainbow trout due to the water from the East Snake River Plane Aquifer,” Myers says. “The water recharges every year from the snow pack in the north of Idaho, the volcanic rock acts as a natural filter, and the pure, clean water is routed through cement raceways, which delivers a consistently clean flavor of rainbow trout.”
Myers notes that domestic production of seafood is very rare as more than 80 percent of seafood is imported. “In seafood, the key consumer question is country of origin,” he says. “Rainbow trout is mild tasting and therefore, very versatile from a culinary perspective. Once a consumers try it, they realize how good it tastes, and as a lean protein, it is very nutritious.”
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The National Enquirer is being sold for $100 million to James Cohen, CEO of Hudson News
American Media Inc. will sell the National Enquirer to the CEO of Hudson News. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
By Sarah Ellison
Reporter covering media and its intersection with politics and technology
American Media Inc. is selling the National Enquirer for $100 million to James Cohen, CEO of Hudson News, ending an association between a longtime friend of President Trump and the tabloid that illegally attempted to bury embarrassing news about Trump during the 2016 campaign.
The supermarket tabloid, along with two sister publications, is set to be purchased by the head of the travel retailer known for its airport newsstands.
The decision to sell came after Anthony Melchiorre, the hedge-fund manager whose firm controls AMI, became disillusioned with the reporting tactics of the Enquirer and the legal and political pressure that resulted from them, according to people familiar with the deliberations.
The Enquirer is overseen by AMI President and CEO David Pecker, Trump’s confidant dating back many years, whose efforts to tilt the 2016 presidential election have been the subject of news stories for much of Trump’s presidency.
Pecker and his supermarket tabloid have also been embroiled in recent months in an unusually public feud with Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post.
The sale of AMI’s tabloid business, which includes the National Examiner and the Globe, is expected to reduce AMI’s debt to $355 million, the company said.
AMI faced financial difficulty as it sought to refinance more than $400 million in debt and the Enquirer’s circulation continued to decline. The paper sold an average of 516,000 copies per issue as recently as 2014, but that number fell to 218,000 in December, according to data compiled by the Alliance for Audited Media.
The sale price of $100 million is a stunning figure for a scandal-ridden tabloid. The New York Times Co. sold the Boston Globe for $70 million in 2013. Bezos paid $250 million for The Post that same year.
The sale to Cohen, whose father founded Hudson News, also includes a service contract under which AMI will provide publishing, financial and distribution assistance to the tabloids included in the purchase. Employees of the publication were told Thursday that they were not moving from their current downtown Manhattan office location, according to people familiar with the discussions.
Dylan Howard, the chief content officer of AMI, will remain at the company, those people said.
In addition to its shaky finances, AMI faced significant legal risk owing to the efforts of Pecker and Howard and their “catch-and-kill” actions during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Pecker and Howard entered into non-prosecution agreements with federal investigators to avoid indictments for their role in buying and then burying the story of a former Playboy model who alleged having an affair with Trump.
In August, just as the two men were finalizing those agreements, the company’s board of directors started looking for ways to unload the tabloid business “because they didn’t want to deal with hassles like this anymore,” said a person familiar with the board’s deliberations.
As part of that agreement, the company admitted to making the hush-money payments to “influence the election.” Also as part of the arrangement, the company said it would not commit any crime for three years. Doing so could result in “prosecution for any federal criminal violation of which this office has knowledge,” according to the agreement.
The Enquirer’s reporting on Bezos’s extramarital affair led to Bezos accusing the Enquirer of an attempt to extort him. Prosecutors are now investigating those claims, which put the Enquirer and its top officers in a position of potentially violating their agreements.
“The sale of these brands shows their vitality in today’s newsstand marketplace where they continue to generate nearly $30 million in profit annually,” Pecker said in a statement. “James and his team at Hudson have a proven history in publishing and have the market-based knowledge and long-term vision needed to ensure the growth of these brands.”
In announcing the deal, Cohen said he planned to utilize the Enquirer’s archive in documentaries and podcasts.
Sarah Ellison Sarah Ellison is a staff writer based in New York for The Washington Post. Previously, she wrote for Vanity Fair, the Wall Street Journal and Newsweek, where she started as a news assistant in Paris. Follow
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UPDATE: ICE immigration raids delayed by President Trump
UPDATE: President Donald Trump on Saturday delayed a nationwide immigration sweep to deport people living the United States illegally, including families, saying he would give lawmakers two weeks to work out solutions for the southern border.
(WCMH) – Immigrant advocates and sympathizers are warning about arrests around the country as early as Sunday.
The anticipated sweep is expected to be similar to operations that authorities have regularly done since 2003. They often produce hundreds of arrests.
This one is different because President Donald Trump announced Monday on Twitter that it would be the start of an effort to deport millions of people in the country illegally, a near-impossibility given limited resources of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which makes the arrests and carries out deportation orders.
It’s also slightly unusual to target families — as opposed to immigrants with criminal histories — but not unprecedented. The Obama and Trump administrations have targeted families in previous operations.
Here are some questions and answers about how ICE operates:
WHAT THEY CAN DO
Immigration and Customs Enforcement is in charge of arresting and deporting immigrants who lack legal status.
One common method of finding and arresting people who are known to be in the country illegally is agreements between ICE and local jails around the country to hold people arrested on crimes past their release date so that ICE can look into their status. These are known as “detainers,” but they’ve become increasingly unpopular among local governments, many who say they risk legal action and that they shouldn’t be doing the work of federal authorities.
The agency also arrests people the old-fashioned way, by tracking people down and showing up at their homes or workplaces.
But the amount of resources and staff limit their ability to make multiple large-scale arrests at a time.
WHAT HAVE THEY DONE
Last fiscal year, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations unit arrested over 158,500 immigrants in the country illegally, an 11% increase over the prior year and the highest number since 2014. The agency says 66% of those arrested are convicted criminals.
Last month, ICE officers arrested 900 people during a three-week sting in California.
The agency announced last week that it arrested 140 people, including 45 in Illinois, during a sting in the Midwest that lasted five days.
Although ICE arrests people a variety of ways, it’s the larger enforcement operations such as a workplace sting that draw the most attention.
In Texas, ICE’S Homeland Security Investigations unit, which enforces immigration laws at workplaces, arrested 280 employees at a company in Allen, Texas, in April, saying it was their biggest worksite operation in a decade.
“I think what people forget is these operations go on on a regular basis,” said Art Acevedo, the police chief in Houston, one of the cities believed to be targeted in an upcoming sweep.
Authorities typically have a list of people they are targeting in any operation. They visit a targeted person’s known addresses, usually a home or workplace, and seek to detain that person. They may ask family members, neighbors, co-workers, or managers about the whereabouts of the person they want to arrest.
Authorities typically obtain an administrative warrant giving them permission to detain a person for violating immigration law.
ICE agents can arrest people they discover to be in the U.S. illegally while searching for people on their target list. People who answer ICE agents’ questions about someone else sometimes end up arrested themselves. In one case in Houston last year, a young father of five was arrested in the parking lot of his apartment building after ICE agents asked him about people who lived nearby, then demanded his identification and eventually detained him.
These “collateral” arrests can comprise a large portion of the arrests in any operation. In one December 2017 operation in northern Kentucky, just five of the 22 arrests ICE made were of people it originally targeted, according to agency documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.
WHAT WE’RE EXPECTING NEXT
The Washington Post and Miami Herald reported that 10 cities are expected to be targeted in raids starting Sunday. The Herald reported those cities are Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New Orleans, New York, and San Francisco.
ICE officials said this week that they had sent about 2,000 letters in February to people in “family units” who had already received final orders to leave the country. The people who received those letters may be the targets of the enforcement operation.
Acevedo, the Houston chief, said ICE officials this week declined to provide him with any information about the expected weekend operation besides saying they had ongoing enforcement operations. He criticized President Donald Trump’s tweets Monday saying that agents would begin removing “millions of illegal aliens.”
“It instills fear,” Acevedo said. “We rely on the cooperation of that population to keep all Americans safe, all residents safe, and all members of society safe. … When you say you’re going to go arrest millions of people, that has a chilling effect on the cooperation.”
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US Braces For Chinese Retaliation: Scrambles To Find Alternative Rare-Earth Suppliers
With Beijing making louder noise by the day about using rare earth metals as a "nuclear" retaliation option in trade war with the US, Washington is not sitting on its thumbs waiting for the day China pulls the plug, and as Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said today, the U.S. will take steps to ensure it doesn’t get cut off from the supply of rare earths.
As reported previously both in the Chinese and US press, Beijing has prepared a plan to restrict exports of rare earths to the U.S. if the trade war between the two nations deepens, and on Tuesday the Commerce Department released a report requested by President Donald Trump in December 2017, when he asked officials to look into U.S. access to so-called rare earths, a group of 17 elements including lanthanum and terbium, which are used in everything from the production of computer screens to missile systems and mobile phones.
“These critical minerals are often overlooked but modern life without them would be impossible,” Ross said in a statement. “Through the recommendations detailed in this report, the federal government will take unprecedented action to ensure that the United States will not be cut off from these vital materials.”
While some have minimized the consequences of a potential rare earth boycott of the US by China, the report acknowledged the potential danger to the U.S. of being shut out of foreign supplies of rare earths.
“The United States is heavily dependent on critical mineral imports,” according to the report. “If China or Russia were to stop exports to the United States and its allies for a prolonged period -- similar to China’s rare earths embargo in 2010 -- an extended supply disruption could cause significant shocks throughout U.S. and foreign critical mineral supply chains.”
China accounts for more than 70% of global output of rare earths. Ironically, the U.S. was the leading global producer of rare earths from the 1960s to the 80s, when production began shifting off shore.
According to Bloomberg, the Commerce Dept report recommended a number of steps, including improving the government’s understanding of domestic sources of rare earths and expediting approvals of mining permits.
And here another irony emerges: the U.S. has 1.4 million metric tons in rare earth mine reserves, 93 times the nation’s output last year, according to data from the U.S. Geological Service website; it should be relatively simple to restart mothballed facilities. And yet, it isn't: the only US producer, MP Materials, has been shipping all its output from the Mountain Pass mine in California to China because there is currently no refining capacity available to handle its output anywhere else in the world, its biggest shareholder said.
“As with our energy security, the Trump administration is dedicated to ensuring that we are never held hostage to foreign powers for the natural resources critical to our national security and economic growth,” Interior Secretary David Bernhardt said in a separate statement. “The department will work expeditiously to implement the president’s strategy from streamlining the permitting process to locating domestic supplies of minerals.”
Of course, whether or not the US finds alternative supply chains is of secondary importance: what matters is for China to believe the US is no longer a hostage to weaponized Chinese rare earth metals. That in itself should be enough to eliminate the leverage. Then again, the only way China can ascertain this is by testing out US supply chains. Which is why the moment Beijing does pull the plug on these exports, is the moment trade war between the two superpowers will have crossed the rubicon, and no amount of dovish jawboning by Powell will be able to offset the coming risk rout.
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Tesco statement puts jobs in doubt
UNCERTAINTY surrounds scores of York jobs after supermarket chain Tesco announced plans to close 43 unprofitable stores.
The retail giant said it would not reveal which stores will face the axe until consultation processes are underway with all the affected staff, but said more than half of those closing will be Express shops - Tesco's convenience brand.
There are five Tesco Express stores in York in Low Ousegate, Piccadilly, Huntington Road, Acomb and Strensall, as well as larger Tesco Extra stores in Tadcaster Road and Clifton Moor.
The announcement came as the supermarket chain, which has more than 3,300 stores in the UK, revealed sales over the Christmas period were down 0.3 per cent on the year before, with comparable sales for the three months to the beginning of January down by 2.9 per cent.
In the previous three months, sales had dropped by 5.4 per cent.
As a result Tesco said it was also shelving plans to open 49 new "very large" stores, while making cuts of £250 million and reducing overheads by 30 per cent.ped on the news that it was to lose its boss to Tesco.
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← Wake Up Gunners
Arsenal 2 – 0 Manchester City →
Manchest City Preview
Arsenal look to avenge their last league defeat with the help of our returning captain
It was back in December and yet it seems so recent. Arsenal were trounced by the Citizens 3-0. That day, it was a makeshift lineup in midfield and in defense with several first team regulars missing. Since that time, we’ve suffered some crushing injuries but nary a league defeat. Manchester City should be in for a very different challenge at the Emirates this time around.
The big story is the triumphant return of our captain and creative spark, Cesc Fabregas. It felt like this day would never come, especially during the international break, but now we get to bask in some Arsenal and Fabregas action without it revolving around Joan Laporte and his diarrhea filled mouth. The vast majority of the blogosphere surmise that Cesc will start. I have stood by my belief that he will not. Arsene Wenger reiterated in his pre-match press conference that keeping the team fresh in advance of the Villareal match will be relevant to his team selection for Saturday. As such, Arshavin will definitely start despite playing 180 minutes during the miserable, tedious break. (After all, it was against Azerbaijan and Lichtenstein for goodness sake.)
Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner are available in attack, and Theo Walcott appears set for a return to the midfield. But let’s not forget that this team has performed well lately with players like Eboue, Song and Denilson deputising in midfield. Wenger surely will be tempted to keep Walcott, Fabregas and Adebayor fresh enough to have a full impact in midweek. Their contributions will be even more important if Van Persie, Eduardo, Diaby and Nasri do not recover in time for the quarter-final first leg. So it’s a delicate balancing act. Three points are crucial, but a full team will be needed in Spain.
Manchester City will likely be without Craig Bellamy, which is fine with me. Robinho looks like he will be available to the Citizens, although the way he has played in their away matches, it might be better to see him starting. Wenger has been talking up Stephen Ireland. There’s no question he’s a resourceful player and makes the most of his chances, but he’s also a player we should be able to contain. Considering that we’ll be seeing Rossi, Rooney, Drogba and Torres in coming weeks (unless there’s a miraculous spate of injuries) I don’t think we should be fainting at the sight of Stephen Ireland.
I did a little previewing of this match yesterday and it really is astounding how terrible Citeh have been in their away matches. Hopefully, they continue that trend at the Emirates. With the number of players they have on the brink of returning from injury there’s no telling what the lineup will look like, but they don’t play a lot of defense and there should be plenty of opportunities for Adebayor and Bendtner, if not Arshavin, Walcott, Fabregas etc. (I just got a very inappropriate tingle at the thought of Cesc scoring. If Eduardo can do it in his first game back, why not Cesc?)
Arsene Wenger has talked a lot this season about eleven captains on the pitch. It’s a nice concept, but there’s no substitute for one real captain on the pitch. I really don’t think it matters when Cesc comes on the pitch against Citeh, his presence in the Arsenal shirt, and eventually wearing the armband, should be enough to inspire the team. I’m particularly excited to see his partnership with Arshavin. Andrei has already shown a great awareness of where other players are on the pitch. His movement is fantastic and with a pass-master like Cesc on the pitch, the possibilities are dizzying.
But enough mental masturbation. There’s still work to be done. Cesc may walk on a well-watered pitch, but he doesn’t walk on water. (The studs on his boots break the surface tension.) It will still take a concerted effort and professional approach to win this match. Most of our players had a busy week with their national teams and there was little time for team preparation. That can be a recipe for disaster. So here’s hoping that Cesc’s return is enough to keep the team laser focused.
It’s no small matter that Adebayor and Walcott are back. Bendtner has been wonderfully dangerous and I feel for him that his finishing has been poor lately, but Adebayor has that extra burst of pace and close control that could be the difference in the final third. And I won’t bore you again with my thoughts on how much fear Walcott strikes in the hearts of opposing defenders. Enough said. If Adebayor and Bendtner both start, it will be interesting to see how that relationship has developed considering some of their past difficulties. But if Toure and Gallas can figure it out, why not Bendtner and Adebayor?
This may be the hardest starting eleven to predict. Arsene will certainly be tempted to start all three returning players but Villareal will be in his mind as he fills out his team sheet. Let’s take a stab at this:
Adebayor, Bendtner, Arshavin, Song, Denilson, Walcott, Clichy, Toure, Gallas, Sagna, Almunia.
Obviously Cesc would then come off the bench on the hour mark. Walcott and Adebayor would probably give way to Eboue and Vela if he’s available. In that scenario I actually think Vela would play on the left and Arshavin would move in behind Bendtner. Let me make this clear, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Cesc start. I realize that everyone believes that he will start. But consider Cesc’s own statement:
“I feel good and I’m available for selection, although I don’t know what the
extent of my involvement will be yet. During the past week I’ve felt really
sharp – I don’t know if I can cope with 90 minutes in my first game because I
haven’t played competitively yet. But whether I start or I am on the bench, the
good thing is that we cannot say I am injured any more. I’ll be very happy
because I will feel like a footballer again.”
He was always a footballer in my book, but it doesn’t sound like he’s playing 90 minutes against Citeh. And tactically, wouldn’t you rather have the lift of seeing him come onto the pitch for the final 30 minutes rather than leaving the pitch at a critical juncture in the match? I realize it gives him less time to have an impact, but as Wenger pointed out, he’s not going to be a his best just yet. His influence as a leader may be more crucial than his actual performance. And he can have that influence just by wearing the uniform.
Whatever the starting XI against the Citizens, we have the players to boss the match. We have the momentum, assuming it hasn’t been sapped by this miserable two week yawn-fest. I don’t like seeing Denilson and Song line up together in the middle of the pitch, but they’re capable, especially with weapons like Walcott, Arshavin, Adebayor and Bendtner surrounding them. Maybe my belief that Cesc won’t start is fueled by my terror at the thought of him being unavailable in midweek due to some stupid “setback.” I find myself getting more and more hopeful of a special Champions League run, and it can’t happen without the captain.
There’s nothing more dangerous as a football fan than excitement. Nothing more scary than optimism. Because football loves to destroy hope and crush dreams. I’m really horrified by how much excitement I’ve allowed myself to feel about this upcoming week of Arsenal football. It makes me vulnerable to desperate disappointment. I’ll be counting on the players to save me from the throes of depression tomorrow by turning in a five-star performance to match my level of anticipation. Fingers crossed.
The one other really positive sign from Wenger’s press conference, is that it doesn’t sound like any of our new injuries will be long term. I had that feeling, but it’s nice to hear Arsene confirm it. Unfortunately, it sounds like Rosicky has had another little setback in his rehabilitation. It continues to be a soul-crushing story for this talented player. I can only hope that the story has a happy ending before too long.
On a bizarre tangent, for some reason I’m terrified that Wenger will be tempted to start Silvestre in some match soon. Hoepfully it’s an irrational fear. Like my fear of being caught between Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini wrestling naked, covered in pudding. Either way, let’s just hope it doesn’t happen.
This preview has been a bit of a rambling, disorganized stream of consciousness. It doesn’t help that I’m writing it at 3am and used some of my best preview material yesterday. But I’m running on Arsenal powered adrenaline right now, let’s just hope it’s still coursing through my veins this time tomorrow.
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← Arsenal 4-1 Portsmouth
Champions League Playoff, Second Leg Preview →
It’s quiet…too quiet
That’s what they say in the movies just before something dramatic happens. And while we’re in the midst of a big week for the early stages of a season, there’s very little afoot. Celtic visit tomorrow and then it’s off to Old Trafford for the first of two consecutive games against teams from Manchester. Unfortunately, there’s a huge, horrible hole between those games known as the international break.
Considering the importance of the games this week, it’s really rather quiet. There’s little transfer news, little team news and the one piece of injury news we’re waiting for has yet to surface. There are a variety of interchangeable parts at Arsenal, but Cesc Fabregas is not one of them. We may not need him to survive the home leg of our Champions League playoff thanks to our two away goals, but we certainly want him on the pitch when we visit United. We’ll have something to prove to them and the rest of the league that day and it’d be a shame to be without our captain and talisman.
It’s really amazing how international breaks always come at the worst possible times. The first one this season is truly obnoxious. The players will leave for their respective national teams following the United game, and return broken and tired just in time for the Citeh game. It makes the game at Old Trafford even more important because it would be dreadful to go into the break on a sour note after such a positive start to the campaign.
The most important thing happening to Arsenal at the moment appears to be taking place on Merseyside. Liverpool are in a bit of disarray, much to my delight. They’ve already lost as many games this season as they did last season after their miserable 3-1 defeat by Aston Villa. The fact that the game was played at Anfield, where Liverpool didn’t lose once last season is even more meaningful. Villa weren’t great, but Liverpool were dreadful. Considering that Liverpool have played just three games, the fact that they’ve looked woeful in two of them is encouraging. Benitez is a chump and his feud with the owners only serves to destabilise the club as a whole. If rumors are true, then Liverpool don’t have the funds to bring in any big players this summer, so it’s an early crisis for the Reds.
Arsenal were the chic preseason pick for the team most likely to fall out of the top four. But with Liverpool struggling, and no reinforcements on the way, perhaps the pressure will start to build for them. That team is a Gerrard or Torres injury away from being average at best. I won’t going into any further hypothesising this early in the season, and this is an Arsenal blog after all, but the Liverpool’s struggles can only mean good things for the Gunners.
All the quotes coming from Arsenal at the moment are relatively predictable and benign. Wenger has encouraged the team to push on against Celtic and guard against complacency. Seems reasonable enough. Song has credited the new formation with contributing to the team’s fast start, while Arshavin has said that he isn’t worrying about the weight of expectations after what some are calling a slow start. Arshavin’s performance and the new formation probably go hand in hand. I think the forwards, more than any other position, have the most adapting to do in the 4-3-3. Ultimately, I’m sure that they’ll be banging in the goals just like the rest of the team, but I don’t think it’s fair to say that Arshavin has started slowly. Although he hasn’t been mesmerizing, Andrey has helped create goals, delivered key passes and free kicks, and gotten into dangerous positions. Soon enough he’ll be finishing his opportunities the way we saw last season.
The Celtic game is tomorrow so I’ll leave the preview for the next post, but it’s a fixture that we can’t afford to overlook. While it’s hard to see the Hoops overturning a 2-0 away result, an early Celtic goal would make for a tense night at the Emirates. We should know the extent of Cesc’s hamstring injury by tomorrow, but it’s doubtful that he’ll be risked for the Celtic game. Even without him, there’s enough talent at Wenger’s disposal to progress into the group stage provided that the team remains focused. We saw some brief moments of complacency against Pompey that were reminiscent of our struggles last season. We can’t afford to see that again this week.
Finally, Sylvinho has joined Citeh to bolster their defense. Someone should tell them that they can sign all the former Arsenal players they want but it won’t bring them our support. They’re stuck with the fans they have. As for Sylvinho, I have a hard time begrudging anyone their right to take a wad of Citeh’s cash. But you have to admire Patrick Viera admitting that he could never join Sp*rs because of his years of service for Arsenal. He’s a class act that Paddy.
That’s just about all there is to share at the moment. We are being linked with Blaise Matuidi again, but it seems to me that Wenger has everyone flummoxed over his transfer plans and this is just another shot in the dark by the media. It’s become impossible to guess what he’ll do, but I still have a funny feeling about Chamakh. Don’t be surprised if there’s a signing or two waiting to be made after we overcome Celtic and secure our Champions League money.
Fingers crossed for Cesc’s hamstring.
Aaaaaaaaaand I’m crying again twitter.com/goalitalia/sta… 11 hours ago
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HomeMediaConcert PhotosDropkick Murphys Perform The Coca Cola Roxy in Atlanta
Dropkick Murphys Perform The Coca Cola Roxy in Atlanta
March 7, 2018 - The Coca Cola Roxy, Atlanta, GA
March 13, 2018 Leslie Elder Rogers
Dropkick Murphys Perform The Coca Cola Roxy in Atlanta – After forming in 1996, Celtic punk rockers, Dropkick Murphys have been entertaining huge audiences around the globe without fail. The band consists of vocalist – Al Barr, bassist – Ken Casey, guitarists – James Lynch, Jeff DaRosa, Tim Brennan and drummer – Matt Kelly. Jeff DaRosa and Tim Brennan also bring talent of playing the bagpipes, mandolin, bouzouki, harmonica, and other instruments to the table. This is a group of heavily gifted musicians in many ways. As fun as their recorded music is to just listen to, they are also undeniably engaging live. Their shows, from start to finish, provide a collection of songs that lift spirits, both symbolically and factually. They just make you feel good all the way around, providing liveliness and bounce in every step on stage, catapulting the fans into a whirlwind of ecstasy.
Like every other DKM concert I’d been to, this one was also a packed house. The venue, The Coca Cola Roxy, is a an amazing venue that offers a plethora of space, a grand stage with plenty of room for the antics of the band, wonderful food choices and of course, your choice of just about any tasty beverage you might desire. DKM acknowledged their fans in Atlanta as they applauded their commitment and loyalty to the band since 1996. They thanked Agnostic Front, who has been like family to the band. Over 20 years ago, Agnostic Front took them on tour through Europe and America for about 25 weeks straight. They also hyped up the premier of Agnostic Fronts’ documentary ‘The Godfathers of Hardcore’, which is a film by Ian McFarland. In addition, they talked about the foundations and charities that DKM are a part of, the suffering that caused them to create or become a part of them and the good that they have done. DKM are a band that truly has heart and compassion and they give back whenever they can. They are a special breed of musicians whose hearts are always in the right place.
As usual, they taunted the fans with a prelude before they hit the stage. This time it was an Irish Medley, “The Foggy Dew”, which immediately got everyone’s throttle racing. All around people grasped their beers tightly as they hoisted their hands high in the air in approval, waiting for the impending arrival of DKM on stage. This is a band that never disappoints and whose following is die-hard. They kicked off the set with “The State of Massachusetts and The Boys Are Back”. The crowd was dancing in place, screaming, drinking and singing along loudly. Their vigorous movements across the stage, as Barr jumped on and off, won over the crowd as they watched and welcomed his interaction with them. Each song followed the last without skipping a beat. The music was full of bounce as Barr seduced and entranced everyone with his gritty vocals. Bassist, Ken Casey, continued to pump up the crowd in between songs with short bits of appreciative enthusiasm, never-failing to be humble to the fans that got them where they are today.
In the crowd, kilts were visible everywhere being worn by men and women who were all enthusiastic about the background of the music being played. Behind the band, a screen displayed constantly changing visual interpretations and symbolic images of the songs being played. This always gives a little more oomph to a song, giving each one a little more personality and background, creating more meaning. Barr continued to command the stage as crowd surfing fans were constantly and rapidly thrust toward the stage. As I watched security, they had their hands full as bodies came, one after the other, with no gaps in between giving them no time to catch a breath.
The band continued, providing a massive collection of their most popular songs, both old and new. “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya” and “First Class Loser” rang loud and proud through the venue. From their newest album release, ’11 Short Stories of Pain and Glory’, they performed “Rebels with a Cause”, “Blood”, and “Paying My Way”, among others. About half way through fans were asked if they’d like to hear an oldie compilation or one of more current songs. Though I’m unsure if age for the majority of the crowd on this evening played a part or not, oldies but goodies was the vote of choice. That choice led us to a trifecta of brilliance with “Barroom Hero”, “Boys on the Docks” and “Caught in a Jar”, all from their 1998 album release of ‘Do or Die’. This album sparked the beginning for DKM and there has been no stopping them since. Casey also requested fan input when deciding whether to play a cover of a Johnny Cash song or a cover of a song by the Clash. He emphasized that neither was a wrong choice but that the strength of the applause usually goes extremely one way or extremely the other. This time, it was the Clash that won so we were provided with an amazing version of “I Fought the Law”. Whether it is a real term or not, I’d say their version was completely “Dropkick Murphied” to perfection; obviously not their song, but clearly flawless in their interpretation of it.
As the night came closer to an end, the energy was still going strong on stage and in the audience. The played an extended version of “Rose Tattoo” off of their 2013 album, ‘Signed and Sealed in Blood’. This song is my personal all-time favorite. The album title was derived from some of the lyrics and fan tattoos of the new album logo was used in CD and vinyl packaging for the album. “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” was played before the night ended. This is yet another song that had a hellacious background. Over the years, it has been featured in multiple TV shows and movies, used as the walk-up song for multiple baseball players, used heavily in the NHL for various reasons and is even part of the downloadable content for video games likes Guitar Hero. It’s a massive hit for the boys.
The band ended the night with “Until the Next Time”. It is a popularly used closing song for them. Just as they always do, fans were pulled up on stage during the song and continued crowding the stage until it was running over with happy, exuberant faces, all swaying back and forth, partaking in the concert experience in the most sentimental way possible. During the song, surfers were still surfing to get that last joyous moment in before it was over. The crowd was so excited that one female surfer was pushed so hard and fast that she hit a massive speaker head first before she landed. The band took her backstage and made sure she was alright. Just another reason these guys rock.
Follow Dropkick Murphys:
Website: http://www.dropkickmurphys.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DropkickMurphys
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DropkickMurphys
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dropkickmurphys
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/dropkickmurphys
Spotify: https://play.spotify.com/artist/7w9jdhcgHNdiPeNPUoFSlx
See more live reviews here.
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APP Frontpage
Has the First Amendment been abolished?
Exclusive: Chuck Norris reminds people we should agree to disagree agreeably
Philly’s Inquirer Daily News reported that Jaelene Hinkle’s soccer talents on the field “are beyond question. She has been arguably the best left back in the [National Women’s Soccer League] this year and plays for the league’s best team.”
But that’s where the compliments stop and the controversy begins.
In June 2017, Hinkle was called up to play for America in an international competition. She was thrilled until she learned that the team was planning to wear rainbow-colored jersey numbers in honor of Pride Month, which she respectfully refused to do on religious grounds.
She explained to CBN, “I just felt so convicted in my spirit that it wasn’t my job to wear this jersey.” She said she was proud to wear the American flag and didn’t want to give up her dream of playing in the nationals, but she had to follow what she felt God was calling her to do. Watch her explain her heart and faith in this CBN interview.
The backlash was fast and fierce, from social media to sports broadcasts and mainstream media. And bizarrely, a week ago and one year after her controversial jersey decision, Hinkle was called up by the U.S. Women’s National Team, only to be booted in the same week just three days before the final roster for the Tournament of Nations.
Is it fair that Colin Kaepernick can start a movement that offends millions of patriotic Americans by taking a knee during the national anthem – then was hailed as a finalist in Time’s Person of the Year (2017), yet when Hinkle respectfully refuses to wear a rainbow jersey because of her First Amendment rights, people implode and she gets booted from the nationals?
Instead of the First Amendment securing our freedom of speech and religion in America, popular culture, social media, political correctness and expediency have. That’s why America is experiencing increased polarizations and divisions. That is also why we’ve wrongly created the new wave and criteria (laws) for so-called “hate speech.” It is also why the White House wrongly banned certain press personnel from an event for merely asking tough questions they didn’t like.
We must return to be a nation where we agree to disagree agreeably, and even at times not agreeably. Where no one is penalized for having a different point of view, no matter how much we disagree with them. If the First Amendment isn’t protecting the most extreme differences, what is it protecting? Only what we perceive to be good, right and loving speech and religious practice?
Could the First Amendment be any clearer or stated more succinctly?
It reads: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
In June 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the Constitution guarantees a nationwide right to same-sex marriage.
In June 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled with a Colorado baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple.
Odds are you agree and disagree with one of those two rulings, and it’s your freedom to do so. What’s not right to do, however, is to suppress the freedoms and rights of those who disagree with you, whether under the guise of others’ hate speech or what you believe to be right or wrong.
That’s not just my opinion, but the opinion of likely the greatest living scholar today on the First Amendment, Floyd Abrams.
Abrams is a Yale-educated adjunct law professor at New York Law School, 15 years the visiting professor of First Amendment law at the Columbia School of Journalism, and senior counsel to the New York City law firm Cahill, Gordon & Reindel where he’s practice law for over 50 years.
His must-read book, “The Soul of the First Amendment: Why Freedom of Speech Matters,” is genius not only for its explanation of the origin and original intent of the First Amendment but also how it compares the First Amendment with the laws and practices in other countries in order to explain its uniqueness. Especially important is understanding Americans’ right to exercise free speech and religious choice in the face of opposition and oppression from which the Framers and the 13 colonies originated in England.
It seems part of Abram’s underlying case is that America is turning the First Amendment on its head. Hence, we’re returning to a culture of oppression and suppression based upon the whims and likes of a presiding audience or faction, rather than the freedoms the First Amendment secures for all of us.
In a Washington Times review of Abram’s book, it identifies two of the polar misconceptions and misuses of the First Amendment: “For example, many Americans think hate speech is prohibited by the First Amendment, but as a unanimous U. S. Supreme Court just reminded us (in Matal v. Tam, the so-called ‘Slants’ case) it is not, nor can an employee of a private company who gets canned because of an offensive Tweet cry ‘the First Amendment has my back.’ So this little volume – 137 pages of text plus an eight-page index – by America’s best known First Amendment lawyer could hardly be more timely.”
The fact is, America needs to relearn why our founders felt compelled to amend the U.S. Constitution with our Bill of Rights, and particularly our First Amendment.
Abrams wrote in his book, “In the end, those who believed that without a bill of rights the newly empowered federal government might well overstep its bounds into areas of personal liberty carried the day, and would eventually be viewed, as historian Joseph Ellis put it, as the nation’s ‘secular version of the Ten Commandments.'”
The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution has been buried today in the barrage of popular interpretations and a culture of political correctness. But it is one of many national treasures that needs to be unearthed and rediscovered in its original intent if we are truly to make America great again.
For those interested to learn more, I highly recommend Abrams’ “The Soul of the First Amendment: Why Freedom of Speech Matters” and my New York Times bestseller, “Black Belt Patriotism.” Here’s also a great C-SPAN interview with Abrams as well as FOX & Friends Brian Meade’s interview with Floyd Abrams.
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Alliance Theatre
Founded in 1968, the Alliance Theatre is the leading producing theater in the Southeast, reaching more than 165,000 patrons annually. The Alliance delivers powerful programming that challenges adult and youth audiences to think critically and care deeply. Under the leadership of Susan V. Booth, Jennings Hertz Artistic Director, the Alliance Theatre received the Regional Theatre Tony Award ® in recognition of sustained excellence in programming, education, and community engagement.
Known for its high artistic standards and national role in creating significant theatrical works, the Alliance has premiered more than 100 original productions including Tony Award® winners The Color Purple, by Alice Walker, Aida, by Elton John and Tim Rice, and Alfred Uhry’s The Last Night of Ballyhoo.
The Alliance has developed and premiered important American musicals with a strong track record of Broadway, touring, and subsequent productions, including the world premieres of Sister Act: The Musical, Twyla Tharp’s Come Fly Away, Bring It On: The Musical, Stephen King and John Mellencamp’s Ghost Brothers of Darkland County, Harmony – A New Musical by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman, and most recently the world premiere of the new musical Tuck Everlasting. The Alliance also creates and nurtures the careers of artists through the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition, producing the world premiere for the competition winner as part of the regular season, and the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab, providing developmental support and production resources for three performing arts projects each year.
The Alliance’s dedication to providing access to the arts is reflected in its commitment to creating new work for all ages, and to bringing that work into classrooms and communities across Atlanta and throughout the region. More than 50,000 students each year experience age-specific professional performances and participate in acting classes, drama camps, and in-school initiatives through the Alliance Theatre Acting Program and Education Department. The Alliance’s groundbreaking Kathy and Ken Bernhardt Theatre for the Very Young performances offer professionally-produced, fully interactive theater for infants and toddlers; the Palefsky Collision Project invites high school artists to create and perform new civic-minded theater based on a classic text; and community acting classes and skill-building workshops engage professional artists, young actors, business leaders, and curious learners of all ages. Twice recognized by the U.S. Department of Education for leadership in arts education, the Alliance Arts for Learning Institute equips classroom teachers with theatrical techniques that link directly to school curriculum and have been empirically proven to improve student learning. These programs include Georgia Wolf Trap Early Learning Through the Arts and Dramaturgy K–12, in which students create research material that informs Alliance productions and prepares peer audiences.
The work produced by the Alliance allows locally based artists the chance to create on a nationally watched stage, building and sustaining Atlanta’s artistic community. The vision of the Alliance Theatre is to be a beacon of leadership for the national field, while remaining deeply rooted in and reflective of our local Atlanta community.
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mesmerism love
mesmerism
noun A strong or spellbinding appeal; fascination.
noun Hypnotic induction believed to involve animal magnetism.
noun Hypnotism.
from The Century Dictionary.
noun The doctrine that-one person can exercise influence over the will and nervous system of another, and produce certain phenomena by virtue of a supposed emanation, called animal magnetism, proceeding from him, or simply by the domination of his will over that of the person operated on.
noun The influence itself; animal magnetism.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
noun An earlier name for hypnosis or hypnotism, the art of inducing an extraordinary or abnormal state of the nervous system, in which the actor claims to control the actions, and communicate directly with the mind, of the recipient. It is believed to be a state between sleep and wakefulness, in which a person is more susceptible to suggestion than when awake. See Animal magnetism, under magnetism.
noun The method or power of gaining control over someone's personality or actions, as in hypnosis or suggestion.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun the act of inducing hypnosis
[After Franz Mesmer.]
From French mesmérisme; so called after Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815), a German physician who developed the animal magnetism theory.
It were impossible, in a space like ours, to give even an outline of the different species of waren and their strange practices, part of which would seem to be akin to what we call mesmerism and clairvoyance, with the addition of spells and sacrifices.
Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 457 Volume 18, New Series, October 2, 1852
That this power, which we call mesmerism, was also known to the priests of ancient Egypt, is supposed to be proved by carvings on the temples of priests making the passes with their hands, opposite other figures, to produce the sleep; a circumstance which has been recounted as proving a connection between the ancient religion in Egypt, and some unknown faith formerly prevalent in India, at the time the temples of Elephanta, Kennery, and others were built.
As Tatar has observed, it was no accident, given the roots of psychoanalysis in mesmerism and hypnosis, that Freud should so often have had recourse to the vocabulary of hydraulics and electromagnetism in formulating his metapsychology (43-44).
Re-collecting Spontaneous Overflows
No. What is commonly called mesmerism could not do this; but there may be a power akin to mesmerism, and superior to itthe power that in the old days was called Magic.
The Haunted and the Haunters: Or the House and the Brain
No. What is commonly called mesmerism could not do this; but there may be a power akin to mesmerism, and superior to it, -- the power that in the old days was called Magic.
The Lock and Key Library Classic Mystery and Detective Stories: Old Time English
No. What is commonly called mesmerism could not do this; but there may be a power akin to mesmerism, and superior to it -- the power that in the old days was called Magic.
Pausanias, the Spartan The Haunted and the Haunters, an Unfinished Historical Romance
Haunted and the Haunters
There and then he deliberately set himself to resist mesmerism, which is the East's chief weapon.
In The Time Of Light
In the first instance it was called mesmerism, then animal magnetism, while to-day, when it has forced its way through incredulity, distrust, and opposition of all sorts, and come to the front in very truth, it faces us as a power which bids fair to be more and more with us as time goes on under the name of Hypnotism.
Memoir and Letters of Francis W. Newman
King of the Khyber Rifles
hypernyms (1)
Words that are more generic or abstract
alchymy
craniology
necromancy
precognition
spiritism
table-turning
wizardry
mesmeric
mesmerist
cross-references (2)
somnolism
abigail commented on the word mesmerism
Franz Anton Mesmer first practiced mesmerism in France in the 1770s, where it was quite popular for a while. In the 1830s, England experienced a revival of the fad, which moved to American in the late 1830s and early 1840s.
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Study finds children from Christian homes have lower suicide rates
A study which examined the history of depression among three generations of people found that children living in Christian homes are less likely to commit suicide.
Researchers from Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute compiled the study based on 30 years of data on families over three generations – grandparents, parents and children.
Participants in the study, which focused on 214 children ages 6 to 18 whose parents were majority Christian – 59 percent Catholic and 26 percent Protestant – were asked how often they attended religious services and the importance of religion in their lives.
Parents who placed higher importance on religion were associated with a 40 percent decrease in the risk of suicidal behavior in their children, the study found.
Compared with parents who indicated religion wasn’t important, parents who said it was “highly important” were associated with an 80 percent decrease in risk of suicidal behavior among their children, the study said.
“Previous research has examined a number of risk factors of child and adolescent suicide, but one that has received little attention is religious/spiritual belief. This is surprising given that religious beliefs and practices have been associated with lower rates of suicide,” said the study, which was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry (JAMA).
In 2016, 45,000 people died by suicide, placing suicide among the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). More than half of those didn’t have a known mental health condition, the CDC said.
Suicide is the leading cause of death for teenage girls.
“Our findings suggest a parent’s religiosity may be associated with lower suicide ideation and attempts in offspring independent of the offspring’s religiosity and other risk factors,” the researchers wrote. “Our data suggest there may be alternative and additional ways to help children and adolescents at highest risk for suicidal behavior.”
G. Eric Jarvis, associate professor of psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal and director of cultural consultation service at Jewish General Hospital, told The Washington Times that he was “very pleased to see a study like this come out in JAMA. … Overall, it’s still a neglected field in psychiatry and mental health – the role of religion and religious factors in solidifying mental health in all generations.”
“I think this study would benefit greatly from a more in-depth analysis of a subpopulation, maybe open-ended interviews with some of these participants to have a better understanding of what they believe about their parents and about their religious background,” Jarvis said. “That might be a very helpful way to give direction for future research and hypothesis testing.”
Rob Whitley, an associate professor of psychiatry at McGill University, told The Washington Times that the practice of psychotherapy and psychiatry has been moving away from social dynamics and focusing on biology.
“A discussion like this has been missing in the field,” he said of the study.
CDC, Columbia University, JAMA, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Study finds children from Christian homes have lower suicide rates, suicidal behavior, WorldTribune.com
Study finds children from Christian homes have lower suicide rates added by World Tribune on October 4, 2018
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Wowza Media Systems Adds Uvault CDN to its Elite List of Streaming Partners
EVERGREEN, Colo. — March 13, 2012 — Wowza Media Systems, Inc., the "Any Screen Done Right™" media server software company, today named Uvault® as a Wowza Streaming Partner, a designation reserved for those that have achieved high levels of deployment, expertise, and customer satisfaction with Wowza-based products. Uvault uses Wowza Media Server® 3 to power its cloud-based hosting service for streaming live video from one to many, or for playback of recorded media files through its content delivery network (CDN).
"Using Wowza Media Server software to power our CDN means we can reliably deliver content for our customers, regardless of the format, to any device through any browser without restrictions on the number of connections or peak bandwidth," said Eyal Menin, president at Uvision, Inc. "Wowza software enables our customers to reach a wide audience cost-effectively and efficiently, which is a real competitive advantage for us."
"As a Wowza Streaming Partner, Uvault uses its infrastructure and expertise to bring the power of Wowza Media Server software to its customers," said Dave Stubenvoll, Wowza Media Systems CEO and co-founder. "That combination means Uvault customers can distribute content to a wide variety of players and devices in the most economical and dependable way."
Wowza Media Server 3 is an industrial-strength, high-performance software that simultaneously streams live and on-demand media to any screen, including Adobe® Flash® players; Microsoft® Silverlight®; iPhone®, iPad®, Android™, and other smartphones and tablets; smart TVs; and IPTV/OTT set-top boxes. It provides a single extensible platform for a variety of high-value features, including live transcoding for adaptive bitrate (ABR) streaming; any-screen, time-shifted playback; and premium content delivery with multiplatform digital rights management (DRM).
Wowza Media Server 3 was recently recognized by its users in the Streaming Media European Readers' Choice Awards as the best server software and best streaming innovation of 2011. Additionally, for the second year in a row, Wowza Media Server software won the 2011 Worship Facilities Conference & Expo (WFX) New Product Technology Award for Best Podcasting, Webcasting, and Website Streaming Media Solution.
Since 2003 Uvault® Hosting has offered shared and dedicated managed solutions that cater to both the "non-techie" and "technically savvy" customer, helping businesses reach new profits, markets, and success through their websites. Starting at low-cost plans and going up to redundant clustered servers with extensive security and monitoring, Uvault services cover a wide range of hosting platforms. Uvault has a large fleet of servers strategically distributed in data centers in Hong Kong, San Jose, Calif., Newark, N.J., and London. Uvault is the hosting arm of Uvision Incorporated.
Wowza Media Systems is the "Any Screen Done Right™" media server software company delivering an industrial-strength infrastructure for streaming live video, video-on-demand, live recording, and video chat. Wowza® has a singular focus on delivering high-performance media server software to service providers, media properties, enterprises, and other organizations serious about delivering video to any digital screen — computer, mobile phone, or home TV. More than 100,000 global licensees in entertainment, social media, advertising, enterprise, education, government, and Internet commerce have deployed Wowza Media Server® to date. Wowza Media Systems is privately held with headquarters in Evergreen, Colo. More information is available at www.wowza.com.
Uvault is a registered trademark or trademark of Uvision, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Wowza and related marks are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Wowza Media Systems Inc. Third-party product names and related marks are either registered trademarks or trademarks of such third parties.
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The Writer's Almanac with Garrison Keillor
0:00/ 0:00
Linguini
by Diane Lockward
It was always linguini between us.
Linguini with white sauce, or
red sauce, sauce with basil snatched from
the garden, oregano rubbed between
our palms, a single bay leaf adrift amidst
plum tomatoes. Linguini with meatballs,
sausage, a side of brascioli. Like lovers
trying positions, we enjoyed it every way
we could-artichokes, mushrooms, little
neck clams, mussels, and calamari-linguini
twining and braiding us each to each.
Linguini knew of the kisses, the smooches,
the molti baci. It was never spaghetti
between us, not cappellini, nor farfalle,
vermicelli, pappardelle, fettucini, perciatelli,
or even tagliarini. Linguini we stabbed, pitched,
and twirled on forks, spun round and round
on silver spoons. Long, smooth, and always
al dente. In dark trattorias, we broke crusty panera,
toasted each other—La dolce vita!—and sipped
Amarone, wrapped ourselves in linguini,
briskly boiled, lightly oiled, salted, and lavished
with sauce. Bellissimo, paradisio, belle gente!
Linguini witnessed our slurping, pulling, and
sucking, our unraveling and raveling, chins
glistening, napkins tucked like bibs in collars,
linguini stuck to lips, hips, and bellies, cheeks
flecked with formaggio—parmesan, romano,
and shaved pecorino—strands of linguini flung
around our necks like two fine silk scarves.
“Linguini” by Diane Lockward from What Feeds Us. © Wind Publications, 2006. Reprinted with permission. (buy now)
On this this day in 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed into law the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, popularly known as the GI Bill of Rights.
Economists in the ’40s were predicting a postwar depression, and politicians were terrified of the idea of 9 million unemployed veterans wandering the country. So they wrote the GI Bill to guarantee unemployment benefits for a year. A congressional committee threw in the idea that veterans should get money to go to college, although even the supporters of the bill didn’t think that many GIs would really want to go — but about a million veterans applied for the money within the first year after the war. Professors at the time said the veterans were the most serious students they’d ever seen.
Prior to World War II, only 530,000 Americans held college degrees. By 1947, veterans accounted for half of the nation’s college enrollment, which swelled to 500,000 by 1950.
It’s the birthday of German novelist Erich Maria Remarque (books by this author), whose first novel, All Quiet on the Western Front, was published in 1929 to international acclaim. He had been drafted into the army at 18. He suffered severe injuries while fighting on the Western Front, which inspired him to begin a novel about the horrors of trench warfare. Remarque said: “This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession [...] It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they may have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war.”
All Quiet on the Western Front was translated into 22 languages, banned and burned by the Nazi regime, and made into a popular Hollywood film. Remarque went on to write nine more novels, including the best-sellers Arch of Triumph (1945) and The Night in Lisbon (1961).
It’s the birthday of Billy Wilder, born in Austria (1906). He came to the United States in the 1930s and got a job writing scripts for Fox Film Corporation. He worked his way up the ladder and ended up producing and directing many classics of Hollywood’s Golden Age, including Double Indemnity (1944), The Seven Year Itch (1955), Some Like It Hot (1959), and The Apartment (1960).
Billy Wilder said: “An actor entering through the door, you’ve got nothing. But if he enters through the window, you’ve got a situation.”
It’s the birthday of the woman Time magazine called “The Sheriff of Wall Street,” Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren (books by this author), born in Oklahoma City (1949). Her mother worked in the catalog-order department at Sears, and her father was a janitor. When she was 12, he suffered a massive heart attack. The family lost their car and Warren had to wait tables at her aunt’s Mexican restaurant to make ends meet. She graduated high school at 16, winning a full debate scholarship to George Washington University, but left after two years to marry her high school sweetheart, a NASA engineer. They moved to Texas, where she finished her degree in speech pathology, becoming the first member of her family to graduate college. The day her second child turned two, she enrolled in law school at Rutgers, practicing law from her living room after passing the bar in 1976. She became interested in the economic pressures facing the American middle class, specifically focusing on bankruptcy laws and how they disproportionately targeted women, the elderly, and the working poor. Warren became the advisor for the National Bankruptcy Review Commission, testifying against congressional efforts to limit consumer’s ability to file for bankruptcy. Under her leadership, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau was created.
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.®
“Writers end up writing stories—or rather, stories’ shadows—and they’re grateful if they can, but it is not enough. Nothing the writer can do is ever enough” —Joy Williams
“I think writing is, by definition, an optimistic act.” —Michael Cunningham
“Writing is a combination of intangible creative fantasy and appallingly hard work.” —Anthony Powell
“Writing is my dharma.” —Raja Rao
“Writing is…that oddest of anomalies: an intimate letter to a stranger.” —Pico Iyer
“The less conscious one is of being ‘a writer,’ the better the writing.” —Pico Iyer
“Writing is like getting married. One should never commit oneself until one is amazed at one’s luck.” —Iris Murdoch
“I think all writing is a disease. You can’t stop it.” —William Carlos Williams
“Writing is very hard work and knowing what you’re doing the whole time.” —Shelby Foote
“Writing is a failure. Writing is not only useless, it’s spoiled paper.” —Padget Powell
“Writing is 90 percent procrastination: reading magazines, eating cereal out of the box, watching infomercials.” —Paul Rudnick
“A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.” —Thomas Mann
“Let’s face it, writing is hell.” —William Styron
“Writing is like driving at night in the fog. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.” —E.L. Doctorow
“Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.” —E.L. Doctorow
“In certain ways writing is a form of prayer.” —Denise Levertov
“Good writing is always about things that are important to you, things that are scary to you, things that eat you up.” —John Edgar Wideman
“All good writing is swimming under water and holding your breath.” —F. Scott Fitzgerald
“Writing is a performance, like singing an aria or dancing a jig” —Stephen Greenblatt
“I want to live other lives. I’ve never quite believed that one chance is all I get. Writing is my way of making other chances.” —Anne Tyler
The Writer’s Almanac Bookshelf
Read highlighted interviews of poets heard on the show.
Dorianne Laux’s fifth collection, The Book of Men, was awarded the Paterson Prize. Her fourth book of poems, Facts About the Moon, won the Oregon Book Award and was short-listed for the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize. Laux is also the author of Awake; What We Carry, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award; Smoke; as well as a fine small press edition, The Book of Women.
Read our interview
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Income Inequality Leads Millennials to Start Families Before Marriage
Written by Jill Rosen Jill Rosen
Baltimore, Maryland - Rising income inequality, and the resulting scarcity of certain types of jobs, is a key reason a growing number of young Americans are having babies before getting married.
A study led by Johns Hopkins University sociologist Andrew J. Cherlin is the first to trace how the income gap, a large-scale societal trend, is affecting individual people’s personal choices about starting a family. The greater the income inequality in an area, the less likely young men and women are to marry before having a first child, concluded the study, which will be published online July 14 and will appear in the August issue of the American Sociological Review.
“Does income inequality affect a young adult’s decision about getting married and starting a family?” asked Cherlin, the Benjamin H. Griswold III Professor of Public Policy in the Krieger School of Arts and Science. “We think the answer is yes for those who don’t graduate from college. Places with higher income inequality have fewer good jobs for those young adults. They don’t foresee ever having the kinds of well-paying careers that could support a marriage and a family. But they are unwilling to forgo having children. So with good jobs in limited supply and successful marriage looking unlikely, young women and men without college degrees may go ahead and have a child without marrying first.”
Cherlin and his fellow authors found that areas with high levels of income inequality have a shortage of jobs available in the middle of the job market. These are jobs available to those without college degrees that pay wages that would keep a family out of poverty — like office clerks, factory workers and security guards.
Without access to this sort of work, young men can’t make an adequate living. They don’t see themselves as good marriage material, and their partners agree. Couples like this might live together and have a child, but they are reluctant to make the long-term commitment to marriage, according to Cherlin.
The team studied 9,000 young people of the generation known as millennials, from 1997 when they were 12 to 16 years old, until 2011, when they were 26 to 31. By the end of the study, 53 percent of the women and 41 percent of the men reported having had at least one child — and 59 percent of those births occurred outside of marriage. Most of the first children born outside of marriage were to women and men who didn’t graduate from college.
The researchers then matched that information about birth and marriage with census data on income and employment. They found that childless unmarried men and women who lived in counties with greater household income inequality and fewer middle market jobs available were less likely to marry before having a child. In fact, women who lived in an area with high inequality had 15 to 27 percent lower odds of marrying before having a first child than did women who lived in an area with low inequality.
“For many young adults, having a child is still one of the most satisfying experiences they can imagine. And if there’s nothing else for a young person to look forward to, at least they can do that,” Cherlin said. “They believe that being married is optional. But having a child is mandatory.”
Cherlin’s co-authors included David Ribar, a professorial research fellow at the University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, and Suzumi Yasutake, a senior research data analyst at Johns Hopkins.
Support for the research was provided by the Russell Sage Foundation grant 85-12-08.
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Securing Peace
Government Involvement with Science And Art
[ A+ ] / [ A- ]
Posted in: Education | Comments Off on Government Involvement with Science And Art
As a graduate student at Penn State, I had made it almost a requirement to read at least three or four Noam Chomsky books a year. If you read enough Chomsky, you start wondering, “What is his outlook on my line of work?” Over the years I had been doing music interviews with bands, but I wanted to try a different sort of interview about the U.S government’s involvement with science and the arts. I met with Chomsky in mid-February at MIT.
MIKSE: What is your perspective on science and its role in the development of human progress and the human mind?
CHOMSKY: It’s right at the core. If you mean professional science, for a long time it didn’t make much of a direct contribution in getting things done. The point at which true science began to really influence practice is pretty recent. Take MIT. When I got here almost 60 years ago, it was an engineering school. People learned how to make things—build a bridge, make an electrical circuit. It was mostly craft. You learned things the way a good carpenter learns things. There were science courses and math courses, but they were pretty much service courses, techniques for engineers. Within 20 years, if you wanted to build things or make things, you didn’t go to MIT, you went to Northeastern or Wentworth Institute or some place like that. This has become a science university.
The reason was because of the change that took place. Science had something to say to the practical arts and there was a huge explosion of technology: computers, software, IT, satellites, microelectronics. A lot of these massive changes came out of fundamental science. Furthermore, technology started to change much faster. If you wanted to train engineers of the future, there’s not much point training them in the technology of today. It’s going to be much different 20 years from now, so you study fundamental science.
The same thing took place in medicine. Until, say, a century ago, there was a real question studied by the historians of medicine. If you went to a doctor, your chances of improvement would be no better than 50 percent because it’s mostly intuition and craft. I remember doctors in my childhood who would do things such as leeches, which was supposed to bring out the blood. That changed a lot with the development of the first sulfur drugs, antibiotics, and so on—and also advanced surgical techniques. But these were all consequences of the contributions of real science, such as biology, to the practice of medicine. It’s not the first time. Like the early industrial revolution, the physical principals are not the most sophisticated ones.
By now, not only the world, but the survival of the species depends on sophisticated science. We’re not going to get out of the environmental crisis unless there are significant scientific innovations, figuring out some way to harness solar power. That’s not going to happen by itself. Unfortunately, a lot of science tradition throughout the years has been going into developing better means of destruction.
The early agricultural revolution 10,000 years ago was based on the science of the day; that is, figuring out how to grow crops more effectively. It was pretty sophisticated. One of the things that’s been discovered that surprised contemporary scientists and anthropologists is that, quite commonly when the West goes into some cultures like Liberia and proposes scientific agriculture, its yields decline. What’s happened is that there’s a tremendous amount of technical lore that isn’t written down and is usually passed from mother to daughter. Agriculture was usually women’s work, but very complex lore—you should plant this seed under this rock because the sun hits it at a certain hour and so on and so forth. That lore wasn’t known by most men in the community, let alone anyone else. When scientific agriculture comes in, it destroys it and brings in Western concepts of agriculture: high use of fertilizer, other inputs, to deal with a decline in yields. So science isn’t simply what we do in an MIT laboratory.
What is the general public’s outlook on science and the arts? Do they consider it a worthwhile part of their education? Is it even possible to measure?
You can take polls, but they give you strange results. The United States is a strange country. It’s off the spectrum on many of these issues. I don’t think there’s any other industrial country or part of the modern world where you get half the population thinking the world was created 10,000 years ago. That’s a pretty unique U.S. phenomenon.
Listen to talk radio sometimes, which I do a lot when I’m driving. It’s a segment of popular opinion. I happened to catch Rush Limbaugh interviewing Sarah Palin. For anybody who cares about possible survival, it’s pretty frightening. It was all leading questions, “Sarah, what do you think of global warming?” “Oh, that’s just made up by elitist liberals who are taking our jobs who don’t care about us poor people. It’s nothing like that. Look out the window, do you see any palm trees? Well, that takes care of global warming.”
It’s not just talk radio. You can read it in the front page of the New York Times. There was an article a couple of days ago asking if global warming is science or snake oil? They presented two views to balance it. One was the view of 99 percent of people who know anything about the topic. The other was the view of Senator James Inhofe who says it’s all fake and a couple others, or maybe Rush Limbaugh. Those are the two views. You don’t say that about the flat earth hypothesis or did the holocaust happen? You don’t balance two views like that.
To get back to your question, if you look at popular attitudes, they’re dangerous and they’re affected very significantly by massive propaganda. If you want to get to the core of irrationality, the deepest level has to be market systems. In a market system—we have only a partial market system—but markets have inherent what they call “inefficiencies,” really lethal inefficiencies. We’re living through one right now: the financial crisis. It’s an inherent part of markets that if you make a transaction, then you look out for yourself not other people. That’s called in economics an externality. If you’re, say, a Goldman Sachs executive and you make a loan or investment or something, if you’re functioning “properly” you cover your own risk. But you don’t cover what’s called systemic risk—the risk to society and the system in general.
When you look at most of the business world—particularly the energy corporations, but also the business world in general—for them the survival of the species is an externality. When you’re making decisions you cannot take that into account. They’re legally obligated not to take it into account. If you’re a CEO of a corporation you are legally obligated to maximize profit and market share, not to pay attention to consequences. If you did you’d be out of a job because someone else would come in who is interested in profit. That’s inherent to markets. You can find ways to counter them with large-scale regulation and other stuff, but in a market system what you have is the business community committed to destroying everything they own and making it impossible for their grandchildren to survive. It’s not that they’re bad people. If you ask them, do they care about their grandchildren, they say sure, they’d do anything for them.
Meanwhile, in their institutions, they have to disregard it. So there’s massive business propaganda trying to convince people that humans have no effect on global warming because that doesn’t increase short-term profit. If they knock down energy legislation, they’ll do better in the next quarter. Those are very profound irrationalities. One of the consequences is that there’s a very destructive belief system.
In your book Failed States, one of the points you bring up is how government policy is very frequently the opposite of what people want. Is it the same when it comes to science, research, and the arts?
The way public opinion is portrayed is incredibly misleading. For example, take welfare state policies, social policies, aid for the poor, Social Security. What you read in the headlines is that the public is against them. If you take a look at social attitudes, they’re entirely different. Even among people who identify themselves in polls, there’s still considerable majorities and support for education and health, the government, for the poor and so on. There are only two exceptions that are striking. One exception is blacks. People who call themselves conservative or “anti-government” think we’re giving too much to blacks. Take a look at the black population: it’s a deep depression for them right now. But we’re giving too much away to them. That’s an example of old-fashioned American racism.
The other exception is welfare. People say they’re opposed to welfare. That’s a Reaganite contribution. If welfare means some rich black woman driving up in her limousine to get your hard-earned money at the welfare office, people say they’re against it. On the other hand, if you ask the same people, “Are you in favor of more government aid to, say, women who have low income with children?” They say they’re in favor of that, but they’re not in favor of “welfare.”
You get the same answer to foreign aid. A large majority say we give too much away to those “undeserving” people out there. Then when you ask the same people what they think foreign aid should be, it turns out it’s far higher than what it actually is. You have to be really careful in studying what attitudes really are.
Another thing that’s surprising is that a considerable majority thinks the U.S. shouldn’t take the lead in international crises. It should rely on the United Nations. In fact, the majority of the population thinks we should give up the veto in the Security Council. Take Iran. I don’t know what the attitudes are now because there’s been a tremendous propaganda campaign over the last two years. But two years ago, a very large majority of the population thought Iran should have the right to enrich uranium as a signer of the non-proliferation treaty, but of course not have nuclear weapons. Over time this propaganda does change attitudes, though. If the polls were taken now, they’d say that Iran is a major threat. So, propaganda works. But still there’s a substantial split between public attitudes and public policies.
Same on health care. If you read the headlines, they tell you that the public is turning against Obama’s health-care program, which is true. They say it’s because we want to get the government off our backs. But you take a look at the polls that those headlines are based on and they show that you have people against it because it doesn’t go far enough, that they gave everything away, like the public option, the Medicare buy-in, and so on.
A strong focus of the previous and current Administration is on safety of the public. As such, money is being cut from science and the National Institute of Health and shifted more towards militarization….
If I may interrupt, the safety of the public is a low priority for governments. In the Bush administration, for example, terror was quite a low priority and it’s very clear. Take invading Iraq. The invasion of Iraq was undertaken with the assumption that it would increase terror and, in fact, it did, significantly. Their data showed that it went up a factor of seven the year after the invasion.
Take after 9/11. If there had been any concern for reducing terror, there was a policy that could have been pursued. The jihadi movement is a big movement and it bitterly condemned al-Qaida. It condemned the 9/11 attacks as non-Islamic. There were also sharp condemnations from universities and from radical clerics. Suppose you were interested in reducing terror, what could have been done was to exploit the fact that the jihadi movement, let alone the general population, was appalled by this. You try to isolate al-Qaida and break them off from their constituencies and supporters. Instead, the government decided to do the opposite. It decided to weld the jihadi movement back together and create massive new recruiting for al-Qaida. That’s what the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq did.
Would it be more precise to say that funding has been cut from the NIH and shifted more towards militarization?
Under the Bush administration, there were significant cuts. It was a very anti-science administration. But let’s take Obama, who’s supposed to be progressive. You read every day about the deficit. The headlines are concerned that the debt’s been misplaced. In fact, if you want to reduce the deficit, most economists will tell you—even conservative economists—the way to do it is to spend more government money. With a bigger stimulus it will get people back to working. That will increase economic growth, it will increase taxes. It’s pretty much the consensus among economists and it’s pretty straightforward.
Let’s take a look at the deficit. Where is it coming from? Almost half of next year’s deficit is coming from the military budget. Obama has submitted the biggest military budget of any president since World War II. And it’s close to half the deficit. Are they talking about reducing the military budget? No. What they’re talking about is reducing Social Security, services for the population. If you’re an executive in the business roundtable, or business lobbies, it’s just what you want. Their power is extraordinary.
One of the issues that was discussed in the movie The Corporationis that the genetic code is slowly being owned by corporations as they copyright different genes for their profit. What do you think the ethical merits are of this and is the idea of life at risk of being property?
Sure, and it’s not just there. One of the main issues of the World Trade Organization was called “trade and services.” What are services? “Services” are usually anything a person cares about, like education, health, environment. So what are trade and services? Well, to the WTO, et al., They mean that anything people care about is put into the hands of unaccountable private tyrannies. That’s a tremendous attack on democracy. It means you can have formal democratic institutions, but there’s nothing for them to do because everything is in the in the hands of private tyrannies—corporations.
Switching topics a little bit, Harold Varmus and other intellectuals have been appointed as chairs of the Presidential Counsel of Advisors for Science and Technology for the Obama administration. What role does this counsel essentially play and have they influenced legislation in the past at all?
Take a look at modern science and technology, like computers, the Internet, satellites, lasers, buying things at Wal-Mart—which comes from trade which comes from containers. Anywhere you look, you’ll find major contributions of the state sector to the advanced economy. That came from scientists in the early post-war period who persuaded the government to pour a lot of money into developing fundamental science. You could argue that maybe it’s right, maybe it’s wrong, but what was interesting about it was that it was done in a way that demonstrated their fear and hatred of democracy. They didn’t come to the public and say, “Look, you guys should pay more taxes so maybe your grandchildren will have a PC.” What they said was, “The Russians are coming and we’ve got to defend ourselves so we need a huge military budget.” You can see it at MIT. This is one of the main places where it happened. In the 1950s and 1960s, MIT was maybe 90 percent funded by the Pentagon. But it wasn’t doing military work, it was developing the advanced economy of the future.
If you look at the years since, Pentagon funding has declined. It hasn’t disappeared, but it’s declined and funding from the National Institute of Health and health-related funding has gone up. Why? Because the cutting edge of the economy of the future is biology-based, not electronic based. So the public is being ripped off in a different fashion.
Take a walk around the area near MIT. What you see are startup firms in genetic engineering, bioengineering, biotechnology, and the big guys like Novartis who feed off the public trough. They want the public to pay the cost of research and development while they get the benefits. If you look back 50 years ago, what you found were small startup and electronic firms feeding off of funded technology.
That’s the way the economy works, but it was initiated by far-sighted scientists and I suppose the advisors today are doing the same thing. They have an interest in science—a lot of them are real scientists and want serious scientific work going on—but they’ve got to have the same concerns as Obama. If the investment community doesn’t like what you’re doing, you’re out of business because they’re the guys who own and dictate policy, so you’ve got to have an eye on that.
Is that one of reasons why recently in England David Nutt, who was the government advisor on drugs and marijuana, was fired? Because he didn’t agree with government policy?
It certainly looked like that. Actually, the marijuana case is very interesting. Why is marijuana criminalized? It’s comparably less dangerous than alcohol and massively less dangerous than tobacco. If you look at deaths from substances, way out in the lead is tobacco with millions of deaths all over the place. Tobacco not only harms the user, it harms everyone else, so deaths from passive smoking and being around people who smoke are way higher than deaths from hard drugs.
The next most lethal substance is alcohol in terms of deaths, but also alcohol harms other people. Alcohol makes people violent. A lot of domestic abuses are from alcohol. Drunk driving kills people. So, alcohol is not only extremely harmful for the user, but for everyone else, too. But it’s not criminalized. When you get down to marijuana, it’s probably not good for you, but coffee is not good for you either.
I don’t think there’s been a single overdose of marijuana recorded in how many millions of users, but that’s the one that’s criminalized. The reasons for it go back to racism. Look at the history of marijuana criminalization. It started early in the last century—Mexicans were using it. Most prohibitions have been geared towards the “dangerous classes,” poor working people and so on. When prohibition ended, there was a big government bureaucracy left and they had to have something to do, so they started to call Senate hearings on marijuana. The American Medical Association testified and said there’s nothing wrong with it, but they were disregarded. There were a few scare stories that it makes people insane and makes people criminals, so then comes the big marijuana scare.
In 1971—there have been studies of this—not only the government, but the whole elite sector from right to left had two big problems. One was that young people were getting out of control; they weren’t disciplined. There were studies from the liberal sector saying we have to do something about these institutions responsible for the indoctrination of the young. They’re not doing their job. Kids are thinking too much, they’re too free, they’re out of control, so there was a “law and order” campaign. There was another problem. By around 1970, criticism of the Vietnam War was getting beyond legitimate bounds.
For liberal educated America, you cannot say the United States did anything wrong. Maybe some individuals did, but they can’t do anything wrong by definition. The U.S. can make mistakes, but they can’t be criminals. That’s a deep element of the intellectual culture across the spectrum. In 1971, a lot of people were saying the war was criminal. A majority of the American population was saying the war was fundamentally wrong and immoral, not a mistake, and that’s dangerous. So you have to do something about that. They had to turn us into the victims and that was done by concocting the myth of an addicted army.
If you listened to Walter Cronkite, he would say that the “commies” are not only attacking our boys with rifles, they’re attacking them with drugs. They’re going to come back and start a criminal rampage in the country and they’re going to destroy us. That was across the spectrum. Actually, there are studies and it turns out that drug addiction among soldiers was kind of at the level of the youth culture—pretty much what you’d expect. There was addiction, it was alcohol, but that’s not considered addiction.
So what you have is this mythology that was used by the law and order side as the reason the youth were going crazy, and they won’t listen to us because they’re all high on pot. So you declare a war on drugs. And it worked.
By 1977, Jimmy Carter was able to give a press conference in which he was asked, “Do we owe anything to the Vietnamese?” He answered by saying no we don’t because the destruction was mutual.
Around the same time the economy was being financialized. There was a reduction of productive industry, which means no jobs for working class people who happened to be black, so you have to do something with the superfluous population. What are you going to do with them? Toss them in jail. It was around that time—from Reagan until now—that the incarceration rate went from the norm for industrial countries to way beyond any country that has statistics. Look who’s there. A very high percentage are blacks and now Hispanics who are there on drug charges. So it was a way to get rid of the superfluous population. It was a way of turning us into the good guys in Vietnam. It was a way of imposing law and order. And abroad it’s just a cover for counterinsurgency. You want to, say, carry out chemical warfare in Colombia to clear the land for multinationals to drive the population away? You call it a drug war.
It’s quite interesting because study after study shows that the drug war has no effect on drug use or even drug prices. The price of cocaine in New York stayed about the same, despite the huge amount of money that went into it.
Why do you think that in this modern time when science is more embraced than it’s ever been, people still cling onto the idea of intelligent design regardless of the evidence present for evolution. Do you think it’s scientists failing to communicate the idea efficiently?
It’s partly that. But remember, it’s mostly a U.S. phenomenon. In part it’s due to strains in the culture that go back to the early colonists. Remember this country was settled by religious fanatics. Take a look at the colonists who came over from England. There’s a streak of providentialism, meaning carrying out God’s will, which is very strong in American culture, including the leading figures.
There was an article last year in Seed magazine called “The Essential Parallel between Science and Democracy” and it talks about U.S. policy favoring an alliance between science and business. Do you feel that an alliance like this is ideal if we are to expect the maximum benefits of the scientific community?
Let’s take everything we talked about. Do you use a computer? That’s science contributing to business. Is it a good thing to do? Maybe, but if you go back to the 1950s, suppose people were given a choice, an honest choice, “Look, do you want your grandchildren to have an iPod or do you want better health and education?” Maybe they would have said, “I want my grandson to have an iPod.” But they weren’t given that choice. These are real decisions that have to be made. Should we have solar energy? Yeah, I think we should. Should it be an honest choice among the population or should it be overwhelmed by business propaganda, which says it’s all a liberal farce?
But there’s no general comment to make about science and the public good. I mean it all depends on social and economic conditions, on power relations, on commitment to democracy.
Ollie Mikse is a graduate student at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center and a freelance journalist for Punknews. org, Ground Control Magazine, Ghetto Blaster, and, on occasion, Razorcake. My thanks go to Lydia Sargent, Bev Stohl, Emily Yoder, and Liz Laribee for making this interview happen.
Chomsky's:
Trump Is Consolidating Far-Right Power Globally
Choosing Hope
Still Manufacturing Consent
Trump’s “Economic Boom” Is a Sham
We Must Stop War with Iran Before It’s Too Late
The Green New Deal Is Exactly the Right Idea
Confronting “Ultranationalist, Reactionary” Movements Across Globe
Chomsky & Nader
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Bolivarian Revolution wins the battle, but is it losing the war?
Source: Green Left Weekly
Posted in: Venezuela | 1 comment
Even before Venezuela’s May 20 presidential vote had taken place, the United States —headed by a president who lost the popular vote in an electoral system that systematically disenfranchises millions of poor and non-white voters — rejected the elections as “neither free nor fair”.
The Lima Group, a coalition of 13 right-wing Latin American countries plus Canada, also refused to recognise the results. Among its members are:
* Brazil, whose unelected president was installed in an unconstitutional parliamentary coup;
* Honduras, which after a 2009 coup had its president re-elected last year, despite the constitution only allowing for single terms, in elections deemed so fraudulent that no head of state dared attend his inauguration;
* Mexico, where close to 100 candidates, party officials or their relatives have been assassinated during the current presidential election campaign; and
* Colombia, where the murder of political activists is an almost daily occurrence and candidates have had to pull out of the upcoming election due to death threats.
Canada, after denying Venezuelans their right to participate in these elections at the Venezuelan Embassy and consulates, said the vote was “anti-democratic”.
The corporate media simply echoed this message, without the slightest attempt to back up its claims of fraud.
They all refused to accept a basic, undeniable fact: that in the face of everything thrown at them — sanctions, threats of military intervention and boycott campaigns, to list just a few — more than 6.2 million Venezuelans voted for incumbent president Nicolas Maduro, thereby ensuring his victory with 67.8% of votes cast.
Legitimate criticisms can be made about some of the circumstances surrounding the elections — for example, the banning of certain candidates and parties and the misuse of state resources (criticisms that can be made about just about any elections, certainly in Latin America). However, no evidence has been presented to show the final vote count was fraudulent.
Even Maduro’s two main rivals, while criticising the overall process, have not questioned the final vote tally.
What’s more, a strong case can be made that had the main opposition parties decided not to boycott the elections and supported a single candidate, they would most likely have won. Even Maduro accepted as much in his election night victory speech.
But such an orderly transition is not what Venezuela’s opposition, starting with Washington, has its sights set on.
As talk of “military options”, coups and transitional governments become ever more public, it is clear that Venezuela’s enemies have no interest in democracy.
What’s more, they have no qualms in actively worsening an already dire situation to achieve their anti-democratic goal, as evidenced by the new round of sanctions imposed on Venezuela.
British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson admitted as much, saying of the new sanctions, “It’s very sad because obviously the downside of sanctions is that they can affect the population that you don’t want to suffer,” before adding, “things have got to get worse before they get better — and we may have to tighten the economic screw on Venezuela.”
What Maduro’s opponents seek is a scenario where they can eliminate all traces of the Bolivarian Revolution, the political project of Venezuela’s popular classes that has sought to empower the people and take the country in an anti-capitalist direction.
This would require more than just an electoral victory: it would require a thorough purge of the Venezuelan state and the denial of political rights to a large section of society that supports the revolutionary project, which remains the largest single force in politics.
In this sense, the attempts to delegitimise democratic elections are simply part of paving the way for an undemocratic, and almost certainly bloody, outcome.
Against this, the 6.2 million plus votes for Maduro shows that the Bolivarian Revolution continues to count upon an important social base of support. This social base was strong enough to win this electoral battle — but it is seemingly weakening in the face of the ongoing economic war being waged against it.
Maduro’s vote was not only down from Chavez’s 2012 vote of more than 8 million, it also represents a decline of almost 1.5 million votes from his own 2013 result. This decline is greater still if we consider that there are 1.6 million more enrolled voters today than in 2013. That is, the pro-revolution vote has fallen from 43.4% of the voting population to 30% in the past six years.
Furthermore, there is evidence to suggest that many who voted for Maduro this time around may not be willing to do so again if the government doesn’t tackle the dire situation it has attributed to the economic war.
Venezuelan intellectual Luis Britto Garcia, in an interview with LaIguana.TV on May 21, noted that Maduro had obtained an important victory. He said it dispelled the argument that the Bolivarian Revolution is simply a clientalist movement, given that despite all the hardships Venezuelans are facing they had voted for the revolution for a fourth time in a row in less than a year.
He added that the government now had “no excuses”, as these electoral victories had handed it control of a majority of governorships, mayoralties, the presidency and the National Constituent Assembly, which is entrusted with reforming the country’s constitution.
“So this is the moment for all these powers to implement the indispensable measures to confront the economic war that has caused so much damage to the Venezuelan people,” he said. The leaders of the Bolivarian Revolution “have in their hands an accumulation of power that obliges them to take urgent measures because the people cannot take it anymore”.
José González, a young supporter of the Bolivarian Revolution speaking to BBC Mundo before the elections put it more succinctly: “We will give [Maduro] a vote of confidence. If this doesn’t work, that is it … if the country does not improve the people will come out onto the streets”.
Michael May 28, 2018 1:30 pm Log in to Reply
Federico Fuentes’ comment: “it is clear that Venezuela’s enemies have no interest in democracy.” The word democracy is used everywhere, it is like the sign of the cross in Christianity. It tell little or nothing about the real nature of a person’s motives and acts.
Democracy is supposed to be about people participation in freely elected governments, seldom is this the case. Even in the U.S., which claims nearly sole possession of democracy, it has little real meaning in practice.
What a travesty. Well, now we have a president who was not elected by the people, this is the U.S. system. It is a money game, nothing more, and the rich elite seek and maintain control, working solely in their own interests, the hell with the 99%.
That the U.S. does its utmost to undermine anything it does not want, and has done so in its relations with Venezuela, is just what it does in the world and within its own borders.
Venezuela is in a deeply troubled situation, and the U.S. government and elites are doing everything it can to make the people of Venezuela suffer. So shameful.
Fuentes's:
Amid crisis and sanctions, LGBTI activists continue to demand change
Marta Harnecker, presente!
Venezuela: Why the US coup is failing
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Venezuelans: ‘We want to resolve our problems by ourselves’
Brazil: left ‘more united than ever’
Venezuela needs our solidarity
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Germans Appalled by Threat From Trump’s Ambassador
By Robert Mackey
Source: The Intercept
Posted in: Electoral Politics, Europe, Germany, Racism, US | No comments
The German government demanded a formal explanation from the United States on Monday of what, exactly, the new U.S. ambassador in Berlin, Richard Grenell, meant when he promised to use his office to help far-right nationalists inspired by Donald Trump take power across Europe.
In an interview with Breitbart News, published on Sunday, Grenell said he was “excited” by the rise of far-right parties on the continent and wanted “to empower other conservatives throughout Europe, other leaders.”
Grenell was apparently not asked if that group includes the far-right Alternative for Germany — known by its German initials AfD — the largest opposition party in the German parliament, but he did praise Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, a center-right politician who is in coalition with the Freedom Party, which was formed in the 1950s by a former Nazi officer.
A spokesperson for the German foreign ministry told reporters that Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government had “asked the U.S. side for clarification” as to whether the remarks “were made as reported.”
Grenell, a former Fox News pundit whose abrasive Twitter style had already alienated many Germans, tweeted on Monday that it was “ridiculous” to suggest that he would endorse candidates or parties, but stood by his claim to Breitbart that Europe, like America, was “experiencing an awakening from the silent majority — those who reject the elites and their bubble. Led by Trump.”
Leaving aside that Trump was, in fact, elected by a hypervocal minority of American voters, his envoy’s apparent willingness to cast off diplomatic neutrality and meddle in the internal affairs of European countries caused an uproar.
Sevim Dagdelen, a member of the left-wing German opposition party Die Linke, suggested that Grenell had revealed himself to be Trump’s “regime change envoy.”
The leaders of Germany’s Social Democratic Party, the junior coalition partner in Merkel’s government, were similarly unstinting in their condemnation. “Europe’s citizens cannot be told how to vote by a Trump vassal,” the party’s vice chair, Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel, wrote on Twitter. “A U.S. ambassador who meddles in democratic contests is simply out of place,” he added, perhaps hinting that the ambassador could be asked to go home.
Martin Schulz, the former leader of the Social Democrats, accused Grenell of behaving less like a diplomat than “an extreme-right colonial officer.”
Omid Nouripour, the foreign policy spokesman for Germany’s Green party, told Der Spiegel that “the American people should be able to expect partisan neutrality from their representative in Germany, because he represents all Americans, not just Breitbart and Fox News.”
Guy Verhofstadt, a former prime minister of Belgium who now leads the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, a free-market group in the European Parliament, tweeted: “We have to defend Europe against Trump. It’s not up to his ambassador to influence our elections and steer our society. We respect the sovereignty of the U.S., they have to respect ours.” Verhofstadt added the hashtag #GrenellRaus — “Grenell Out” — to his tweet.
There was, however, one political leader in Berlin on Monday who demonstrated his support for the embattled American ambassador. Israel’s far-right prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced at a news conference with Merkel that he had agreed to a brief meeting with Grenell, at the ambassador’s request, before leaving the German capital.
Before he was confirmed by the Senate, Grenell — a hyperpartisan Republican activist whose farewell party in New York was attended by Donald Trump Jr., Bill O’Reilly, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Wayne Newton, and a half-dozen Fox News personalities — had promised to stay out of German politics.
What was perhaps most stunning about Grenell’s stated aim to intervene in European politics on behalf of far-right leaders is how closely it mirrored, and inverted, the behavior of American diplomats in Eastern Europe during the Cold War, when those states were part of the Soviet bloc. Before the fall of the Berlin Wall, U.S. ambassadors did make a point of supporting antigovernment dissidents, but in those cases, the stated aim was to promote democracy in authoritarian states.
By making it his goal to empower Trump-like nationalists in Germany and other European nations, Grenell seems to be treating democratic U.S. allies like authoritarian Cold War enemies.
Mackey's:
“Staged” Tour of Migrant Detention Facilities
Israelis Vote for Never-Ending Military Rule of Palestinians
Julian Assange Arrested in London After Ecuador Withdraws Asylum
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White Supremacist Won’t Talk About His White Supremacist Views
Unlocking Brexit Talks
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Hopeful Change in El Salvador?
For the moment at least, El Salvador's mood is celebratory after the Supreme Electoral Tribunal announced the results with over 90% of votes counted - 51.27% for the FMLN v. 48.73% for ARENA, so for the first time in 20 years, Salvadoran politics shifts a little to the left.
Like other Latin American nations, El Salvador has had a long and troubled history, ruled from one decade to the next by successive military dictatorships, then since 1989 by the right wing National Republican Alliance or ARENA Party.
Long-suffering Salvadorans recall the 1980s struggles when the Farabudo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) failed to end what the civil-military Junta leader, Jose Napoleon Duarte, told New York Times reporter Raymond Bonner in 1980:
"Fifty years of lies, fifty years of injustice, fifty years of frustration. (El Salvador's) history (is pockmarked by) people starving to death, living in misery. For fifty years, the same people had all the power, all the money, all the jobs, all the education, all the opportunities." Finally they rebelled but failed.
Throughout the decade, billions in US aid poured in, including weapons, munitions, training, and US advisors, troops, and CIA operatives on the ground supporting the government against resistance fighters in a struggle they had little chance of winning.
Roberto D' Aubuisson founded ARENA in 1981 and was notorious for organizing and leading many of the right-wing death squads that still operate in El Salvador as "hired guns" or criminally embedded elements in the National Civilian Police (PNC), fully supported by Washington and the country's business elites.
They tortured, disappeared, disabled, and murdered tens of thousands of Salvadorans, including Archbishop Oscar Romero in 1980 for his outspoken Liberation Theology, compassion for the poor and oppressed, and denunciation of the "war of extermination and genocide against a defenseless civilian population." It's now down-shifted to a lower gear but very much an ongoing enterprise.
ARENA took power in 1989 and held it for the past 20 years until March 15 when The New York Times headlined the next day: "Leftist Party Wins Salvadoran Vote" with Mauricio Funes the new president of a country troubled by crime, an epidemic of violence, corruption, deep poverty (between 60 - 70% of the population), and the specter of Washington in the wings. It's why 500 - 700 undocumented Salvadorans come to America daily to earn money to send home to their families.
The FMLN won a plurality and will share power with a right wing National Assembly majority ARENA - PCN (National Conciliation Party) coalition.
It was a dirty campaign, replete with scare tactics, very similar to most others in the region with Washington calling the shots. Funes was called a communist, a foreign agent, and a Hugo Chavez/Castro tool. Bitter vitriol accused them of funding his campaign and plotting a dictatorship with his election.
Around 46 Republicans asked Obama to punish 260,000 undocumented Salvadorans in America, end their Temporary Protected Status (TPS), order them deported, and halt the $3 - 4 billion in annual remittances they send home to their families if Funes wins.
On March 11, Republican Dana Rohrabacher called the FMLN "pro terrorist," and accused them of being "an ally of Al-Qaeda and Iran" for celebrating the 9/11 attack and burning the American flag in response. He cited a "new world reality of terrorism (and) the global offensive waged by terror groups against the United States and free world." He said it's "imperative to review our policies to protect the national security" in light of a possible FMLN victory.
He reflects the worst of American politics determined to deny Funes a moment's peace and subversively plot against him unless he surrenders his government's sovereignty to Washington. More on that below.
For the moment at least, El Salvador's mood was celebratory after the Supreme Electoral Tribunal (TSE) announced the results with over 90% of votes counted - 51.27% for the FMLN v. 48.73% for ARENA, so for the first time in 20 years, Salvadoran politics shifts left, but hardly enough to matter.
Funes promised change, a fresh start, and offered "a new accord on peace and reconciliation." He congratulated ARENA, said they'll now be the opposition, but "in that capacity, rest assured that the party will be respected and heard." He invited social and political groups to improve welfare for the people (with no specifics) and "appeal(ed) to other political forces to work for unity." He promised to make El Salvador "the most dynamic economy in Central America....to be the president of social change and reconstruction (and) leave behind the revenges of the past."
He also assured Washington and El Salvador's elite that he'll "build a dynamic, efficient and competitive economy and promote the creation of a broad business base." He promised to respect "private property (and work for) macroeconomic stability and a responsible fiscal policy." He told the Washington Post that he'll "work to strengthen the relationship with the United Stats, to make the US more of a partner, and I think we will work well together." His economy is closely tied to America, accounting for 60% of its exports with the dollar as its reserve currency.
He promised not to alter US - Salvadoran trade practices under DR-CAFTA or join Venezuela's ALBA (the Bolivarian Alternative of the Americas). He likens himself to Brazil's Lula, not Hugo Chavez or Ecuador's Rafael Correa, and intends to be very friendly to business. Perhaps too much, so it's hard imagining that Salvadorans will benefit from him any more than Americans do under Obama or Brazilians from Lula.
During his campaign, he had right wing support, including from a group called "Amigos de Mauricio Funes," whose members come from El Salvador's ruling elite, and who apparently decided two decades of ARENA were enough and the country needed change, or at least its appearance given the extreme privation and fear it could boil over. For now it's quieted.
Washington agreed, and it showed in a State Department Robert Wood statement "specifically congratulat(ing) Mauricio Funes as the winner of the presidential election....we look forward to working with the new government of El Salvador on our bilateral agenda." US Charge d'Affaires in San Salvador, Robert Blau, added: "We have said many times that our intention is to continue with the good relations with El Salvador from government to government, and from people to people." It's clear Washington is comfortable with Funes, and that should be cause for worry.
In 1992, the party ended its armed struggle, signed a peace accord with ARENA, became the loyal opposition politically, and agreed to a law granting amnesty to its officials and death squad killers. During his campaign, Funes said he'll honor it if elected and (sounding much like Obama) told Tecnovision news that "We have to look to the future; not more to the past. We cannot change the past of hatred, clashes and confrontation. But the future we can build in a different way." That despite last fall others in FLMN demanding that amnesty be repealed so that murderers and torturers will be punished.
No longer in a direct affront to his supporters. Instead he assured business and the ruling elite he's reliable while the message to Salvadorans is that promised change was just talk, not policy once he's in office.
Funes is a political outsider, a new face, a moderate so he says, a former TV host and CNN reporter who gained prominence from his 1980 - 1992 civil war coverage. He's young (age 49), intelligent, articulate and much like Obama in those respects. Last September 28, the FLMN nominated him to run against ARENA's Rodrigo Avila, an establishment figure and former National Police director.
From most early signs, the power structure rests easy knowing Funes represents continuity; business as usual, not hoped for change; so Salvadorans, like Americans, soon enough will know they were fooled again. And if they need more convincing, the painful global economic collapse will be the clincher.
Stephen Lendman is a Research Associate of the Centre for Research on Globalization. He lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Global Research News Hour on RepublicBroadcasting.org Mondays from 11AM to 1PM US Central time for cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on world and national topics. All programs are archived for easy listening.
Mr. Lendman's stories are republished in the Baltimore Chronicle with permission of the author.
This story was published on March 19, 2009.
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[ July 15, 2019 ] Former BC Cornerback Kamrin Moore Charged With Third-Degree Assault, Suspended by New York Giants Football
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Podcasts from The Heights
‘The Bald Win’
A new sports podcast from The Heights. Keeping you updated with all the stats you need to know about BC varsity athletics and more.
Episode One- September 21, 2018: Hear about what to look out for in the game verses Purdue, volleyball, soccer, and the hit songs this week in 2008.
Episode Two- September 28, 2018: In the wake of losing to Purdue looking toward Parent’s Weekend game against Temple, wins in volleyball, the women’s soccer team’s first loss of the season and getting stuck in trash cans in the Mods.
‘Eagle-Eyed’
Observe clearly, report accurately.
This is Eagle-Eyed, a new podcast from The Heights.
We’re living at a time with so much happening around us, both in and out of the BC Bubble. There’s more news, more entertainment, more dog Instagrams, more Steve Addazio clips, more excessively long videos our friends posted from five different Walsh parties last night. And it’s all coming at us faster than we can swipe on to the next thing.
We’re here to sort through all of that, and provide you with the stories you need to hear most. As part of our transition to a once-a-week print publication this fall, our entire editorial staff is committed to redoubling our efforts to report stories in a prompt, engaging, and truthful manner. It’s our foremost goal to observe clearly, and report accurately — that’s where we’re taking the name for this show.
Episode #11: April 19, 2018 — After a busy weekend at Boston College with ALC’s annual Showdown competition and the Boston marathon, arts editor Jacob Schick and associate features editor Brooke Kaiserman to discuss their coverage of the events.
Episode #10: April 5, 2018 — The Jacks discuss the effects of the Never Again movement here on BC’s campus, as well as the currently undefeated women’s lacrosse team.
Episode #9: March 22, 2018 — After a month off, The Jacks return to do a quick run through the important news items that have come across their theoretical desks, discussing the tuition and financial aid increases, recap the important moments in BC athletics, and briefly return to the Graduate Student Union.
Episode #8: February 22, 2018 — The second episode of 2018: The Jacks discuss election results, impeachment and resignation of UGBC senators, the Students for Sexual Health referendum, and an update on the Graduate Student Union.
Episode #7: February 12, 2018 — The first episode of 2018, hosted by Jack Miller and Jack Goldman, describing the upcoming UGBC election, and each campaign’s platforms. Jack and Jack also delve into the current issue of whether or not the Graduate Student Union at BC will continue to exist.
Episode #6: Nov. 20, 2017 — After the ‘Silence Is Still Violence’ march, UGBC president Akosua Achampong and Dean of Students Thomas Mogan talk about how they’re trying to promote change.
Episode #5: Nov. 7, 2017 — Voters in Boston take to the polls today to decide between Marty Walsh and Tito Jackson for will serve as their mayor next term. What each candidate has stood for, and the main issues that have shaped their campaigns.
Episode #4, Oct. 27, 2017 — Two weeks ago, multiple incidences of racism occurred at Boston College. How students are working to make the week a movement, rather than a moment.
Episode #3: Sept. 28, 2017 — For nearly three years, graduate student employees at Boston College have been trying form a union. Here are the steps of that journey and the outlook for the future.
Episode #2: Sept. 8, 2017 — On this episode of Eagle-Eyed, the commemoration of the new “Pete Frates Day” in Boston, and BC’s often-quiet president condemns white supremacists.
Episode #1: Aug. 31, 2017 — On the first episode of Eagle-Eyed, a look at Boston’s ‘Free Speech Rally,’ and a BC student taking action against fascism.
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Foreign Bodies in the Ear, Nose and Throat: An Experience in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Central Nepal
Parajuli R. Foreign Bodies in the Ear, Nose and Throat: An Experience in a Tertiary Care Hospital in Central Nepal. Int. Arch. Otorhinolaryngol. 2015;19(2):121-123
Ramesh Parajuli
foreign body - ear - nose - throat - endoscopy
Introduction: A foreign body (FB) is an object or substance foreign to the location where it is found. FBs in the ear, nose, and throat are a common problem frequently encountered in both children and adults.
Objective:To analyze FBs in terms of type, site, age, and gender distribution and method of removal.
Methods: A retrospective study was performed in a tertiary care hospital in the central part of Nepal. The study period was from June 2013 to May 2014. The information was obtained from hospital record books.
Results: A total of 134 patients had FBs in the ear, nose, or throat; 94 were males and 40 were females. Of the 134 patients, 70 (52.23%) had FB in the ear, 28 (20.89%) in the nose, and 36 (26.86%) in the throat. The FB was animate (living) in 28 (40%) patients with FB in the ear and 1 (3.5%) patient with FB in the nose, but the FB was inanimate (nonliving) in any patient with FB in the throat, in 42 (60%) patients with FB in the ear FB, and in 27 (96.4%) patients with FB of the nose. The FB was removed with or without local anaesthesia (LA) in 98 (73.13%) patients, and only 36 patients (26.86%) required general anaesthesia (GA). The most common age group affected was <10 years.
Conclusion: FBs in the ear and nose were found more frequently in children, and the throat was the most common site of FB in adults and elderly people. Most of the FBs can be easily removed in emergency room or outpatient department.
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How We Got Here, Where We’re Going
The distinctive Italian Renaissance-style building at the corner of 9th and Guadalupe streets is a fitting home to the Austin History Center. The building, and the property it sits on, is steeped in Austin history.
In 1839, When Edwin Waller laid out his plans for the city of Austin, he designated a church be placed on the present Austin History Center site. A total of three churches were located there until 1913, when Mayor A.P. Wooldridge petitioned the state legislature to repurpose the lot for public library use. In 1928, Austin voters approved bonds for a permanent building on the property and enlisted the architectural design services of Hugo Franz Kuehne, a native Austinite and founder of the school of architecture at the University of Texas. Construction of Kuehne’s library building design began in 1932. Before it’s completion in 1933, other Austin craftsmen would leave their indelible mark on the building – iron work by Fortunat Wiegl, wood carvings by Peter Mansbendel, and fresco paintings by Harold “Bubi” Jessen to name a few. The regal structure would serve as Austin’s Central Library for more than 45 years.
By the 1970’s, the Central Library had outgrown the distinctive building at 9th and Guadalupe, and in 1979 moved next door into the newly constructed John Henry Faulk Central Library building. With an eye toward creating a home for the expanding Austin-Travis County Collection, Austinite Sue Brandt McBee led fundraising by the Heritage Society of Austin, the Junior League of Austin and local individuals for a renovation of the former Central Library building. The refurbished building opened in 1983 as the Austin History Center, headquarters for the local history division of the Austin Public Library.
Now, as the Central Library looks to its new “library in the future” at 710 W. Cesar Chavez Street in Seaholm District, the Austin History Center plans to expand into the vacated Faulk facility. More than one million documents of Austin history will be transferred, dating from before the city’s founding in 1839, to present. Items include 12,500 biographies on residents who influenced the community, and more than 1 million historic photographs. Whether you are considering membership, or remain a valued member on our roster, we encourage you to support saving Austin’s history by joining the Austin History Center Association as a member or purchasing from online store.
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Tuesday’s Video Pick | Stanley Kubrick
by Meg Onli | Mar 9, 2010 | Blog
For this week’s pick we bring you Stanley Kubrick’s 1951 documentary “Day Of The Fight”.
Not Coming to a Theater Near You has a great article about Kubrick’s early docs including today’s pick.
Meg Onli
Meg Onli is a visual artist and blogger born and raised in Los Angeles, California. Meg moved to Chicago, Illinois in 2005 where she received a Bachelor in Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has been with the Chicago-based art and culture podcast/blog Bad at Sports since 2006 where she is currently the Associate Producer. She has an unfathomable apatite for documentary films, 60s & 70s performance art, and cute cats. Meg has exhibited work in Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York City. Currently, she is working on a project that documents her steps in recording Motwon’s first girl group sensation, the Marvelettes, version of “Where did Our Love Go?â€
Latest posts by Meg Onli (see all)
The Woodmans - February 14, 2011
Taiwanese CGI| California Pot Legalization - October 13, 2010
Video | Surprise Attack - October 6, 2010
Tuesday’s Video Pick | Kota Ezawa
Tuesday’s Video Pick | Gil Scott-Heron
Tuesday’s Video Pick | Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
Tuesday’s Video Pick | Andy Bruntel
Tuesday’s Video Pick | Wednesday Edition
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ATT Swings Back at Verizon, Showing How Its iPhone Is Great for Procrastinators
February 4, 2011 at 3:28 pm PT
The arrival of the Verizon iPhone has provided a much-needed boost to the industry.
No, not the tech industry. The ad industry.
Verizon is attacking AT&T, AT&T is attacking Verizon, and T-Mobile is attacking both of them. Only Sprint is staying out of the fray, taking its mother’s advice that if it doesn’t have anything nice to say, it should perhaps just say nothing at all.
Among the more recent attack ads was one from Verizon touting the sound quality of its iPhone. Now, AT&T is firing back at Verizon with an ad touting the benefits of talking and surfing the Web at the same time, which is apparently very important for procrastinators. (That said, Mobilized is a huge procrastinator and rarely ever talks and surfs at the same time.)
The ad comes on the heels of Verizon’s announcement earlier Friday that it had sold out of the iPhones it had available for pre-order on Thursday. The iPhone goes on sale for all customers, including would-be switchers, next Thursday.
In any case, here’s the ad:
Tagged with: ads, advertising, announcement, AT&T, attack, iPhone, marketing feature, pre-orders, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, Verizon iPhone
I think the NSA has a job to do and we need the NSA. But as (physicist) Robert Oppenheimer said, “When you see something that is technically sweet, you go ahead and do it and argue about what to do about it only after you’ve had your technical success. That is the way it was with the atomic bomb.”
— Phil Zimmerman, PGP inventor and Silent Circle co-founder, in an interview with Om Malik
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EATING ANIMALS
2017, IFC Films, 94 min, Dir: Christopher Dillon Quinn
Based on the best-selling book by Jonathan Safran Foer and narrated by co-producer Natalie Portman, this documentary is an urgent, eye-opening look at the environmental, economic and public health consequences of factory farming. Tracing the history of food production in the United States, the film charts how farming has gone from local and sustainable to a corporate Frankenstein’s monster that offers cheap eggs, meat and dairy at a steep cost: the exploitation of animals; the risky use of antibiotics and hormones; and the pollution of our air, soil and water. Spotlighting farmers who have pushed back against industrial agriculture with more humane practices, EATING ANIMALS offers attainable, common-sense solutions to a growing crisis while making the case that ethical farming is not only an animal-rights issue but one that affects every aspect of our lives.
Christopher Dillon Quinn
Jonathan Safran Foer
W. Mott Hupfel III
HORROR NOIRE: A HISTORY OF BLACK HORROR
2019, Shudder, 83 min, USA, Dir: Xavier Burgin
Based on the acclaimed book by Dr. Robin R. Means Coleman, Shudder TV’s first original documentary feature takes a critical look at a century of genre films that by turns utilized, caricatured, exploited, sidelined and embraced both black filmmakers and black audiences. Beginning with the silent film era, HORROR NOIRE explores the often overlooked and downplayed history of black Americans in Hollywood: the emergence of black leading men in genre cinema in the late 1960s with NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD and into the ‘70s with BLACULA and films of the blaxploitation era; CANDYMAN and the growing popularity of urban horror in the 1990s; up to the genre’s recent resurgence with movies like the Oscar-winning, critical and commercial hit GET OUT. Clips and in-depth interviews with filmmakers and scholars showcase a who’s who of black horror cinema and underline the power of representation and how horror can become a visceral way to fight racial trauma.
Ashlee Blackwell
Danielle Burrows
Mario Ricardo Rodriguez
Xavier Burgin
THE IMAGE BOOK
LE LIVRE D'IMAGE
2018, Kino Lorber, 84 min, Switzerland/France, Dir: Jean-Luc Godard
The legendary Jean-Luc Godard adds to his influential, iconoclastic legacy with this provocative collage film essay, a vast ontological inquiry into the history of the moving image and a commentary on the contemporary world. Displaying an encyclopedic grasp of cinema and its history, Godard pieces together fragments from some of the greatest films of the past, then digitally alters, bleaches and washes them, all in the service of reflecting on what he sees in front of him and what he makes of the dissonance that surrounds him. He uses his own voice, reminiscent of Leonard Cohen or Bob Dylan in the twilight of their careers, to guide us through the fascinating labyrinth of his mind. As always with Godard, the key issues he raises have to do with the legacy of the last century and its horrors: the incomprehension of Hiroshima and Auschwitz, events that coincided with cinema but have somehow eluded its gaze. And, movingly, he also reflects on orientalism and the Arab world, grounding the new film very much in the present. Winner of the first Special Palme d'Or to be awarded in the history of the Cannes Film Festival, THE IMAGE BOOK is another extraordinary addition to the French master's vast filmography. - Piers Handling, Toronto International Film Festival.
Dimitri Basil
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1982, Universal, 129 min, USA, Dir: John Milius
Before he was the Terminator, before he was the governor, he was the Barbarian, seeking vengeance against the sorcerer who massacred his village. Arnold Schwarzenegger stars in the film adaptation of the Robert E. Howard novels. Writer-director John Milius’ intelligent and visceral sword-and-sorcery film features Ron Cobb and William Stoudt’s beautiful production design and an inspiring score by Basil Poledouris. Co-starring James Earl Jones and Max Von Sydow.
Buzz Feitshans
Raffaella De Laurentiis
Duke Callaghan
Basil Poledouris
1941 (EXTENDED EDITION)
1979, Universal/Columbia, 146 min, USA, Dir: Steven Spielberg
In the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack, wayward Japanese submarines, unidentified aircraft and accidental explosions put Los Angeles into a state of panic in director Steven Spielberg’s first feature comedy, co-written by Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale (BACK TO THE FUTURE) and inspired by actual events. As Captain Wild Bill Kelso, John Belushi leads an all-star cast including Dan Aykroyd, Ned Beatty, John Candy, Christopher Lee, Toshirō Mifune, Robert Stack and many more. The restored Extended Edition adds 28 minutes to this cult favorite along with a full 5.1 Dolby Surround sound mix.
William A. Fraker
Toshirô Mifune
Treat Williams
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Filter: The Man in the Iron Mask
QUESTION: The Three Musketeers are Athos, Aramis, and…?
A) D'Artagnan
B) Porthos
C) Pathos
D) Pierre
Alexandre Dumas is one of the best-loved and prolific authors of the nineteenth century. French by birth, his novels tapped into a love of adventure that inspired translations into almost one hundred different languages. Eventually, two hundred interpretations of his films would also be created over the years. Of course, Dumas' most famous characters are the Three Musketeers, colorful characters who created waves during the reign of Louis XIV. He serialized their stories during the day, including one loosely based on the true story of The Man in the Iron Mask. The "real" man in the iron mask was a prisoner of the king from right around 1670 until his death in 1703. One of the great mysteries of history is who the man was. Dumas contended that he was the twin brother of the king.
Around a dozen interpretations of the story of The Man in the Iron Mask have been made since its first interpretation in 1909, but the one displayed in the Music Room here at the American Treasure Tour is from 1998. Its international cast includes Leonardo diCaprio, Jeremy Irons, Gabriel Byrne, John Malkovich, and even a Frenchman - Gerard Depardieu! The storyline only nominally follows the inspiration of Dumas, with the greatest differences being the character of the king versus that of his imprisoned brother. In Dumas' original, some of the Musketeers actually consider Louis XIV to be a better option as leader than his brother, while in the 1998 film written, directed and produced by Randall Wallace, Louis XIV was presented as evil and dangerous. A financially successful film, The Man in the Iron Mask was crititcally panned. DiCaprio even 'won' a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screen Couple, due to a lack of chemistry between his Louis XIV and his identical twin brother Phillippe. C'est la vie.
ANSWER: B) Porthos. D'Artagnan would have been the fourth Musketeer if there was such a thing.
Tagged: The Man in the Iron Mask, Alexander Dumas, Randall Wallace, Gabriel Byrne, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeremy Irons, Gerard Depardieu, John Malkovich, Golden Raspberry
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Home Movie Review Ready 2 Die (2014) Directed by John Azpilicueta
Ready 2 Die (2014) Directed by John Azpilicueta
Welcome to amateur hour with John Azpilicueta!
This may look and sound like a pretty decent and professional movie to you but it actually really isn't! The movie is absolutely terrible, not just due to the story or its low budget but more due to the fact that it's an inaptly made one. Nothing about this movie works or fits together very well and it's basically one long, painfully bad, amateur project, that never becomes an exciting or engaging movie to watch.
Thing I just don't get about these type of movies is that they feature a bunch of lying, backstabbing, stealing and even murdering characters in it but yet the movie expects us to sympathize with all of these very same characters and it even wants us to root for them. But really, how can you ever do such a thing when the characters laugh and joke about things such shooting an innocent woman in the face, just because she looked funny at one of the characters.
There are absolutely no redeeming qualities about any of the characters. They are gangster, they are thugs, they are low life scum and they do absolutely nothing to change or to become an even remotely better person, at any point in this movie. It seems like the director and writers of this movie secretly want to be gangsters and dream about robbing banks and fleeing from- and shooting at the police, while getting rich fast. Just play one of the GTA games if you want to live that dream but please don't bother us with such a terrible and nonsensical fantasy movie such as this one.
I also still don't really know who was supposed to be the main character in this, which is also due to the fact that all characters are very much alike and I just couldn't tell them apart from each other.
So the characters and actors who portray them are a big problem of this movie but in all fairness, most of the blame should be put on the writing for all of that. Instead of being busy trying to survive and make it out OK, the characters talk and joke about the most trivial stuff, while they are literally being chased by the police. There is never a sense of urgency or danger and it's incredibly annoying how all of the characters behave throughout this movie. It makes this an incredibly unrealistic movie, even more so than usually would be the case for a low-budget, B-action movie of this sort.
It's also a movie with an incredibly cheap look and feel to it. It's still the main reason why this movie feels like an amateur project. Not just the look is cheap but also the sound quality for instance is absolutely terrible. All reasons why I call this an incredibly inapt movie that's neither worth your time or money.
Bottom of the barrel kind of stuff
Just watched this movie and I think you are being too generous with your rating.
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My Writing Process – Blog Tour
I'm delighted to be involved with this blog tour, and send my thanks to Margaret Skea for inviting me.
Okay the questions:
1) What am I working on?
Currently I'm putting the finishing touches to The Torrid Zone. This will be book six in my Fighting Sail series, which starts with His Majesty's Ship. Each of the Fighting Sail books can be read in isolation, although there is also a definite story arc. Torrid Zone is set just before the Peace of Amiens, HMS Scylla, my current central ship, is in sore need of a refit when she is despatched on one last journey. Her destination is the distant but strategically placed island of St Helena, and her mission: to deliver the island's new governor. But what should be a simple task proves otherwise when the British encounter a powerful French battle squadron, while the governor himself is anything but an easy passenger...
2) How does my work differ from others of its genre?
The Fighting Sail series follows the fortunes of a diverse bunch of seamen, ranging from ordinary hands on the lower deck, through petty and junior officers, right up to lieutenants, captains and even those of flag rank. I find that using a group, rather than one central hero, enables me to avoid the “charmed life” that so many fictional heroes seem to enjoy, and gives a more authentic glimpse into the navy of that day.
3) Why do I write what I do?
Several reasons; first of all, the period fascinates me. In the last twenty years there have been many changes in our world: the adoption of personal computers and tablets, mobile phones; the internet, etc. However, I would maintain that anyone living throughout the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars would have seen innovations that were almost as radical, and life changing. By then the Industrial Revolution was truly under way, with steam power and other mechanical marvels fast becoming common place. There were advances in nearly every other field as well, from medicine, science, and communications, through to logistics and transport; truly inspiring times.
And while we are making comparisons, people of the period were not so very distant from those of today. They might have different standards (certainly as far as hygiene is concerned), but a casual glance at the work of cartoonists and caricaturists of the period reveals many familiar faces staring back.
Seamen at that time had something of the kudos of the modern day astronaut. Despite the draw of city life, most were only starting to become accustomed to travel, and many still lived and died in the same small village. But an ordinary hand could boast of seeing far off countries and cultures that those at home could only dream about. Fortunes were also within reach of the enterprising mariner: ignoring prize money (which was usually as elusive as it was unfairly distributed) the Far East, with all its mysteries and allure, was being made accessible by the East India Company, and a tidy pile might be accumulated through personal trade.
But, getting back to the question, probably the strongest attraction for me is the sea itself. Be it the mighty Atlantic as it is moved by the force of a gale, the absolute calm of the doldrums when a heavy sun loiters above the leaden ocean, or the crystal clear guardian of a coral reef: the sea can be both a magical backdrop or a captivating central character. But in any guise it remains as compelling as it is fascinating, and I can think of no greater accompaniment to telling a story.
4) How does your writing process work?
I start each book by thoroughly researching the central subject. With those of the Fighting Sail series, this usually means the particular campaign or area where I will be sending my ships and men, as well as any political or social history that is especially relevant. True Colours entailed an in depth look at the mutinies at Spithead and the Nore, as well as visiting Duncan's North Sea Fleet, and the Battle of Camberdown, while Jackass Frigate centred on both the Bantry Bay invasion and Jervis' victory at St Vincent. Patriot's Fate concentrated on the Irish rebellion of 1798, viewed, (rather predictably), from the naval angle, and for Torrid Zone I took an in depth look at St Helena, and explored the island's many mysteries.
Turn a Blind Eye was a little different; in fact the whole book was something of a diversion, being based about the smuggling activities that were rampant on England's south coast during the turn of the nineteenth century. Besides reading up on the Preventative Service and our revenue laws, there was a good deal of social and local history to investigate. I also had to conjure up a whole new cast of characters, along with their own particular peculiarities and histories. It was a fun book to write, but I was quite relieved to go back to series fiction.
Research, and the first draft, usually takes about six months; the second, and any subsequent re-writes, a further three. After that the beast goes out to a valued team of readers, and is finally delivered to my publisher. Torrid Zone will be handled by Old Salt Press, who cater exclusively for those who love books about ships and the sea. Their writers currently include Rick Spilman, Joan Druett, and V. E. Ulett.
The closing of a book is both a happy and a sad occasion; rather like leaving a much loved child on their first day of school, something that has been so close for so long is effectively abandoned. You can only sit back and wait to discover what the rest of the world makes of it and, when you can summon the energy, get on with the next one...
I'm happy to hand over this blog hop to two excellent writers; Matthew Willis and S.K. Keogh. (My third choice was to have been Linda Collison, but I note that she has already been featured.)
Although S. K. Keogh lives far from the ocean, she is surrounded by water in the Great Lakes state of Michigan, where she lives and crafts her nautical series following the adventures (and mis-adventures) of Jack Mallory. Her “real life” job is in the health care field. Her hobbies include “horsing around” as an equestrian in the hunter/jumper/dressage world and travel (preferably to warm places).
The Prodigal was published in 2012 by Fireship Press. Her follow-up novel, The Alliance, was released in late 2013. The third book in the Jack Mallory trilogy will be released later in 2014. You can find out more about S.K. Keogh and her books at her website: skkeogh.com
Matthew Willis, 37, is a writer and journalist living in Southampton, England. He is the author of the nautical adventure Daedalus and the Deep, published in 2013, and a number of books and features on historic aviation. Prior to this he worked as a journalist for motorsport titles such as Autosport and F1 Racing after completing a Master's degree in history and cultural studies of science at the University of Kent. airandseastories.com
historywriter 17 March 2014 at 18:01
Nice. We are blog hopping together today. I've fallen in love with a 19th century bark that worked up in the Puget Sound 1857-1865.
Alaric Bond 18 March 2014 at 01:44
Yes, I can see how that could so easily happen.
Hi Jim, Great post - off to tweet / FB about it now - wasn't totally on the ball yesterday - sorry! Agree re the sea - it is the one thing I really miss living where we do, as I grew up just minutes from the sea. In fact my first 'adventure' in the truest sense of the word was taking off by myself to the beach when I was just 2 years and 4 months old. Apparently when my parents found me sitting happily in the shallows, having removed my socks and shoes but not my clothes, I told them 'I got here myself, I could have come home myself!' Rather envious of your 6 month first draft timetable - realise I need to pull my finger out...
Background to a Book
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Posted on July 5, 2019 by Ellen
In the middle of research for my dissertation, I procrastinated by watching the Jonas Brother’s music video for their single ‘Sucker’. I can’t say I’m a close follower of the band but I was drawn in by their reunion and I feel that they are genuinely hilarious, indicated by this Paper cover.
Pls be my friends.
I’ve since become hooked on the song, but the most significant part of the video for me was the location: the stately home, Hatfield House. This is because a key part of my dissertation was based on the locations used in Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, especially Hatfield, which was used for Queen Anne’s palace.
For the most part the music video matches the theme of the song, with the brothers literally falling at their wives’ feet. There was also a chaotic atmosphere, which I felt resembled a mad hatter’s tea party through the exuberant outfits and actual tea parties. In this sense, the grandeur of Hatfield suits the excess in the video; lounging in a bubble bath in a diamond hairnet should be an everyday ritual.
Sofie Turner in the ‘Sucker’ music video.
However, having obsessively looked at Hatfield onscreen and in person, there were some definite nods to The Favourite. I’ve narrowed it down to these three moments:
1. Rabbits
Sophie Turner and Danielle Jonas in ‘Sucker’.
Olivia Colman and Emma Stone as Queen Anne and Abigail Masham in The Favourite.
In The Favourite, Queen Anne has seventeen pet rabbits, which represent the real monarch’s number of miscarriages. They are a key visual motif throughout the film, communicating the Queen’s tragedy and eccentricity. In Sucker, Sophie Turner and Danielle Jonas lounge on deckchairs in the distinctive Marble Hall (think of the scene in the film with the dance mash-up of voguing and waltzing), while a herd of rabbits surround them.
2. The Long Gallery
Priyanka Chopra in ‘Sucker’.
Emma Stone in The Favourite, with a wide angle lens used for this shot.
This expansive corridor is used many times throughout the film to convey the idea of isolated spaces, with the gallery often manipulated by the use of fisheye lenses to enhance the length and add a period look to the film. In the music video, Priyanka Chopra strides down the corridor, and there is the same gilded ceiling and wooden panelling which makes it so distinctive in The Favourite.
3. The Library
Image 7: The gang’s all here.
Rachel Weisz and Mark Gatiss as Sarah and John, the Duchess and Duke of Marlborough.
The library is used as Sarah’s bedroom in the film, distinctive for its floor to ceiling bookshelves and ladders lining the walls (think of Sarah throwing books at Abigail, if the room isn’t coming to mind). In the final moments of the music video, the band and their wives pose in front of the shelves as their portraits are painted.
Hatfield House, with its distinctive Jacobean architecture, is a popular film location, and this could be the reason why the Jo Bros chose it for their music video. However, assuming those moments are references to The Favourite makes me enjoy the video and the film so much more, so I can only thank the band for some mid-dissertation distraction.
Watch ‘Sucker’ here.
comparisonFilmHatfield HouseJonas BrothersMusic videoPop cultureThe Favourite
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