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Bernie Sanders endorses Hillary Clinton
Watch the truly bizarre first trailer for the Cats movie
Tom Cruise promises that everything you see in this Top Gun: Maverick trailer is 'for real'
U.S. Navy 'destroyed' Iranian drone that came too close, Trump says
Toys 'R' Us is relaunching in the U.S. with new stores designed to be more 'fun and interactive'
Seattle’s NHL expansion team names Hall of Famer Ron Francis as general manager
Rep. Ilhan Omar reminds Lindsey Graham that he once called Trump a 'race-baiting bigot'
Hope Hicks told Michael Cohen to 'keep praying' as they hoped to keep hush money payments quiet, documents show
See More Speed Reads
More than a month after Hillary Clinton bagged enough delegates and superdelegates to clinch the Democratic nomination, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) officially endorsed her during a joint rally in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on Tuesday. Though Sanders applauded his own campaign's wins in 22 states, he conceded that Clinton has "won the Democratic nominating process" and announced he will work to "make certain she will be the next president."
Sanders admit that he and Clinton "disagree on a number of issues," but he contended that's "what democracy is about" and also underscored that the campaigns have come together recently to produce "by far, the most progressive platform in the history of the Democratic Party." "This campaign is about the needs of the American people and addressing the very serious crises that we face," Sanders said. "And there is no doubt in my mind that, as we head into November, Hillary Clinton is far and away the best candidate to do that." Becca Stanek
Nothing can adequately prepare you for your first glimpse at the Cats movie.
Universal Pictures on Thursday debuted the highly-anticipated first footage from its upcoming musical adaptation after months of teases about Taylor Swift's attending of "cat school" and the film's supposedly revolutionary use of, as the filmmakers describe it, "digital fur technology." And, well, here it is.
I'm at a loss for words pic.twitter.com/0QblRxDk5k
— Chris Evangelista (@cevangelista413) July 18, 2019
From start to finish, the trailer is a wild ride that doesn't even attempt to ease viewers into how surreal literally every character in the film looks. That online reaction to the initially funky-looking CGI Genie in Aladdin and the extremely distressing new Sonic the Hedgehog don't even hold a candle.
Cats' cast includes, believe it or not, Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, Ian McKellen, and Judie Dench, who discussed their experience making the film in a recent behind-the-scenes reel featuring such quotes as "they're people but they're cats ... there is nothing else like it." Indeed, there isn't. Take a deep breath and watch the trailer below. Brendan Morrow
This Christmas, you will believe. #CatsMovie pic.twitter.com/doKFWGAdpB
— Cats Movie (@catsmovie) July 18, 2019
Tom Cruise still has that need for speed, even three decades later.
At San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday, Cruise made an unannounced appearance following a Terminator: Dark Fate panel to reveal the first trailer for the long-awaited Top: Gun Maverick, a follow-up to the 1986 original that's set for release next year. The footage, which dropped online shortly after its Comic-Con debut, shows off Cruise's return as Maverick and some seriously impressive-looking flying sequences.
Cruise, who in recent years has infamously done his own, increasingly insane stunts for the Mission: Impossible franchise, promised the Comic-Con audience similar authenticity in Maverick, saying, "Everything you see in this film, obviously, it's for real," Variety reports. "We're working with the Navy. All of the flying that you see in this picture, everything is real." He also described the movie as a "love letter to aviation."
Top Gun: Maverick will hit theaters on June 26, 2020, and Cruise said Thursday that after a 34 year wait, "I felt it was my responsibility for me to deliver for you." Watch the trailer below. Brendan Morrow
Watch the official trailer for #TopGun: Maverick starring @TomCruise. In theatres 2020. pic.twitter.com/WbXdWDR2nc
— Paramount Pictures (@ParamountPics) July 18, 2019
MCSN Craig Z. Rodarte/U.S. Navy via Getty Images
The U.S. Navy has "destroyed" an Iranian drone in the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump announced Thursday afternoon.
The U.S.S. Boxer was sailing in the strategic strait when the drone came within 1,000 yards of it and ignored "multiple calls to stand down," Trump told reporters. It then took "defensive action" and used electronic jamming to down the drone, Trump continued.
The attack comes after Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on Thursday claimed responsibility for seizing a foreign tanker that went missing this past weekend in the Strait of Hormuz, The Washington Post notes. It's the latest international incident in the waterway that connects the Persian Gulf with the rest of the world, and also comes amid rising tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Iran shot a U.S. drone in that area last month, but while America says it was in international airspace, Iran claimed it was flying in Iranian territory. Kathryn Krawczyk
Tim Boyle/Getty Images
Toys 'R' Us is getting a reboot.
The retailer, which closed all its locations in the U.S. in 2018 after the company filed for bankruptcy, is being relaunched by Tru Kids Brands with the opening of two new stores this year, CNN reports. One of the new locations will be in Houston, Texas, while the other will be in Paramus, New Jersey, and the company's aim is to open 10 new stores by the end of 2020, The Washington Post reports.
But Toys 'R' Us won't be coming back without some major changes, as Tru Kids Brands has reworked the stores' design so they're more "fun and interactive" as to "better fit within today's retail environment," CEO Richard Barry told the Post. The two new locations will be smaller — 6,500-square feet compared to about 40,000 square feet before — and they'll emphasize open areas for children to play in, the Post notes. The stores will also sell fewer toys than before, CNN reports. Previously, lenders had teased a "new and re-imagined" Toys 'R Us on the horizon.
Ahead of this relaunch, though, The Associated Press notes that it's unclear "how much support the new model will get from suppliers, who were burned by Toys 'R' Us' quick demise." The company in 2018 announced it would close all of its stores in the United States six months after filing for bankruptcy, resulting in the loss of more than 30,000 jobs, per The Washington Post.
For Toys 'R' Us kids in Texas and New Jersey, the new locations will open this fall. Brendan Morrow
SLAPSHOT IN SEATTLE
Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
National Hockey League Hall of Famer and former Hartford Whaler Ron Francis was named the first general manager of Seattle's forthcoming expansion team on Thursday, The Seattle Times reports.
The team was approved by the NHL's Board of Governors in December, and will begin playing in the 2021-2022 season. Francis received a multi-year contract with Seattle, according to ESPN.
Francis played 23 seasons in the NHL, and is second only to Wayne Gretzky in all-time career assists. Following his retirement in 2004, Francis was hired to direct operations for the Carolina Hurricanes and was later named general manager. He was then president of hockey operations until 2018.
The new Seattle team is still unnamed, but Oak View Group, the new team's ownership group, registered 13 possible trademarks last year, including the Seattle Kraken, the Seattle Sockeyes, and the Seattle Evergreens. The name choice, which Francis will be able to give input on, is expected to be announced by the end of the year. To the dismay of few, the Whalers is not being considered.
The Seattle team, when it officially launches, will become the league's 32nd team, following the Las Vegas Golden Knights in 2017, who reached the Stanley Cup finals in their first season. Their entrance will cause a realignment of the league's divisions, with Seattle taking the Arizona Coyotes' place in the Pacific Division, and moving the Coyotes, who play in suburban Phoenix, to the Central Division. Together, the Central and Pacific Divisions make up the Western Conference, and the Atlantic and Metropolitan Divisions make up the Eastern Conference.
Francis tweeted that he was looking forward to "build[ing] an excellent franchise that will bring back the Stanley Cup!" Steven Orlofsky
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has provided the most confusing explanation yet for President Trump's racist tweets.
Trump on Sunday sent tweets telling four Democratic congresswomen to "go back" to the countries they came from, inspiring his backers at a Wednesday rally to chant "send her back" after Trump attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). This sparked dozens of allegations that Trump is racist, which, as Graham oddly claimed in a Thursday tweet, apparently happens to every Republican president.
Something I have learned:
If you are a Republican nominee for President – or President – you will be accused of being a racist.
John Lewis compared John McCain’s campaign to being like that of George Wallace.
It comes with the territory unfortunately.
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 18, 2019
Graham's statement not only doesn't defend past GOP nominees and presidents against labels of racism; it's downright coated in irony. As Omar quickly reminded the senator, he was the one calling Trump a "bigot" just a few years ago. Kathryn Krawczyk
“Donald Trump is a race-baiting, xenophobic, religious bigot.”
~ Sen. Lindsey Graham https://t.co/IqQaIbynHs https://t.co/z4aFtJRxdj
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 18, 2019
it's working
New court documents unsealed on Thursday detail President Donald Trump's 2016 team's conversations as Michael Cohen was arranging hush money payments to silence women alleging they had affairs with Trump.
In the documents, an FBI agent says that Trump's former attorney in the days after the Access Hollywood tape was released "exchanged a series of calls, text messages, and emails" with Stormy Daniels' attorney Keith Davidson, the National Enquirer's David Pecker and David Howard, Trump, and then-campaign secretary Hope Hicks, per BuzzFeed News' Zoe Tillman.
"Based on the timing of these calls, and the content of the text messages and emails, I believe that at least some of these communications concerned the need to prevent [Stephanie] Clifford from going public, particularly in the wake of the Access Hollywood story," the FBI agent says.
One portion of the document also describes a conversation on Nov. 5, in which Cohen texted Hicks noticing that a Wall Street Journal article about the National Enquirer paying to silence Karen McDougal, who also claimed she had an affair with Trump, was "getting little to no traction," per CBS News' Steven Portnoy. Hicks responded, "Same. Keep praying!! It's working!" Hicks claimed in a comment for that story, "We have no knowledge of any of this." The documents also show that Cohen texted Howard that "he's pissed," per HuffPost, seemingly referring to Trump.
Hicks has denied knowing about Daniels' allegations until November 2016, a claim she made during congressional testimony, ABC News reports.
Cohen is currently serving a three-year sentence after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations as prosecutors say he made the hush money payments at the direction of Trump, and the documents show Trump and Cohen communicating numerous times as Cohen was arranging the payments, CNN reports. Trump has denied knowing anything about the payments. Brendan Morrow
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Dave Sitek - Quotes
There are 19 quotes by Dave Sitek at 95quotes.com. Find your favorite quotations and top quotes by Dave Sitek from this hand-picked collection about music. Feel free to share these quotes and sayings on Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr & Twitter or any of your favorite social networking sites.
Being in L.A. has definitely given me the opportunity to experience how my music sounds in real life because I can drive around and listen to the mixes, which I couldn't do in New York. I get to feel how a song works in combination with a sunset and a drive through the mountains.
If you're going to reach for it, reach all the way for it. Albums like 'Purple Rain' and 'Thriller' and those kind of records, you had to reach far above the din of cynicism and modern living to get to that place, against all the odds. ---->>>
I want to make hand-held music, undiminished by the need to make everybody in the world listen at once. The goal is to ride into the sunset, stereo blasting, and all of what's got you worried will disappear in the rear view mirror! ---->>>
I believe in the power of song. Under the spell of the right song, passion is within reach, love is close by, and you are not alone!
I make music to bring the dead to life for a couple minutes and then let it go. ---->>>
I think I tried on the hardcore scene's outfits maybe once, and then I just figured I'd stick to Hawaiian shirts. ---->>>
My records don't go platinum or gold. I think they go cedar. ---->>>
There are so many people in the world with so many different perspectives. But ultimately, at the heart of it, they're people. ---->>>
Under the spell of the right song, passion is within reach... love is close by... and you are not alone! With such potency, music should be treated with care. The sound, the feel, the presentation... everything! It is a medicine. It is a teacher!
I think that there's something really powerful about the sun and its effect on the human psyche. I lived in a place with no windows for twelve years. ---->>>
If we can move together as a species, I think that there is a possibility that we can make the world a better place. ---->>>
I moved to L.A. after my landlord in Brooklyn tripled my rent. I spent months looking for other places to move to in New York, then one day I was in California eating a grapefruit, and I was like, 'This is what they taste like?' So I decided to move to L.A. and build a studio in my house. ---->>>
I spent more time at the library than anyone my age when I was a kid. ---->>>
I'm a behind-the-scenes guy. I've got a face for radio. ---->>>
Somewhere along the line, music became 'content'... It's my full intention to bring it back to music again! I believe in the power of song. ---->>>
I don't think that TV on the Radio is some dark mysterious band that no one can know about. We write music because it's an immediate form of communication. We're able to put on record what's happening in our times, and we want that message to be heard by the most amount of people. ---->>>
I work very closely with my publisher and just give them tons and tons of music, and then they link that with different songwriters and stuff. I'm basically a workaholic. So, I figured I might as well just start working outside. ---->>>
I'm not a big equipment guy; I think that people are a little bit shocked by that. I really don't care about gear in general. I care about people and their intentions to make music - it doesn't matter what equipment you have. ---->>>
Pop belonged to more musical people in earlier times, but we've sort of gotten away from that. Now it's software people. I kind of feel like reclaiming it is in order. ---->>>
Name: Dave Sitek
Occupation: Musician
David Andrew Sitek (born September 6, 1972) is an American musician, guitarist and record producer, best known for his work with his band TV on the Radio. He has also worked with bands such as Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars, Foals, Celebration, Little Dragon, and most recently Beady Eye, and produced free jazz-influenced remixes of songs by artists such as Beck and Nine Inch Nails, and has contributed a solo track to the Red Hot Organization Dark Was the Night charity compilation (wikipedia)
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Photographer Rose Smith Offers Glimpse into Vine City Through a Different Lens
ADW News
Inner City Urban: Vine City, a photographic exhibition by Rose Smith, is currently on display at the Auburn Avenue Research Library.
The exhibition, which showcases visuals, voices and perspectives from Vine City residents, captures a narrative of a community working to hold onto the valuable culture they’ve built up in the face of impending change. We spoke with Smith about the exhibition to get some perspective from her on what it was like to create this body of work. Please see the Q&A below.
What’s your connection to Vine City and why was it important to make this work?
My connection with the Westside began with the West End. My cousins resided in the West End during my years of middle and high school, while my immediate family resided in Cherokee County, a rural part of north Georgia. I’d visit my cousins quite often and spend time in their neighborhood. Within that period of time, I felt as if I had missed out on an aspect of the Black experience; the lifestyle of growing up in the inner city. My interest in documenting the surrounding area arose out of what I felt I lacked.
I came across Vine City and English Avenue while researching low-income neighborhoods in Atlanta, and noticed the short distance between it and the West End. I drove there to see how it looked. Within that moment, I parked my car and got out to walk around to take in the neighborhood. I immediately became intrigued and instead of choosing to photograph the West End, where my cousins grew up, I chose Vine City, based solely on what I felt at the time. This was in April of 2015.
It was important for me to make this work initially to see the relation and connection in how residents of inner-city communities viewed home versus how I viewed home. I was on the quest to find if we had similar perspectives, which I found to be true. At that particular time, I noticed the construction project for the Mercedes-Benz Stadium and became concerned with if the completion of the stadium would affect residents of the Westside. My mission for creating this body of work shifted to capturing the current culture and livelihood of Vine City, which is more so about the people in the midst of seeing if this area would experience gentrification like other areas of Atlanta.
What specific story were you hoping to convey about Vine City and the residents of the community?
My narrative of Vine City is one that expresses truth and authenticity of the people and their home, a community that the residents value and holds historical significance. As all of the neighborhoods within close proximity of downtown are transforming, my mission is to create archival footage of this community even if it experiences the smallest portion of gentrification. Through this body of work, my goal is to raise the conversation of realistic affordable housing.
Talk about your material choices. What is the significance of the wood panels?
Although I am a documentary photographer, the display of my work is conceptual. The materials chosen for this project are newsprint and particle board/wood panels. I chose these materials while thinking about street art, newspaper covers, and what houses or vacant buildings are boarded up with. I chose to print my photographs on newsprint after thinking of each photograph as a cover of a newspaper while also considering that newsprint was also a paper used in street art with wheat-pasting signage. I chose to wheat-paste the prints on the wood as a non-conventional and non-archival way to display the work, which signified the abandonment of this community.
At the time, I had interviewed a longtime resident who expressed to me that she felt as if the city had overlooked Vine City for years, and she feared that the new stadium would cause her to move. Her story was also a major factor in why I chose this display. With this being a non-archival process, the work will transform over time, which equates to Vine City transforming over time.
This work is a part of a larger “Inner City Urban” series. What makes the Vine City story different from that of the Germantown community of Philadelphia? When did you know that Vine City was a community you wanted to feature?
“Inner City Urban” is a working series including all of Atlanta’s inner-city communities that are changing due to the growth and development of Atlanta. It also includes inner-city communities across the nation that are experiencing gentrification as well as inner city communities that have a much stronger foundation and are not allowing their communities to be redeveloped.
Germantown Philadelphia is a story that I recently began towards the end of 2017. In the midst of being there for such a short period of time, I spoke to a few residents about their community and their involvement with local government.
One gentleman mentioned that a few government officials reside within their community. And many of the residents work closely with these officials to make sure the community’s needs are met quickly. Also, there aren’t any major construction projects happening in Germantown that will attract tourists or a certain demographic causing transformation.
Vine City along with other low-income neighborhoods in Atlanta have community-based organizations where they discuss the needs and wants of the community, but the only difference I noticed is that despite their needs, the local government in Atlanta makes moves without much warning unless it’s the use of eminent domain; which is a sign of injustice. Vine City was the first community I chose when I began my Inner City Urban series in 2015.
How do you envision your role as a photographer/documentarian at this particular moment of your career?
My role as a documentarian is quite significant. I agree with Nina Simone – “An artist’s role in society is to reflect the time; it is our duty.” Gentrification “urban redevelopment” is a social justice issue, and as it is happening on a national and global level, it’s important that I provide a voice for the people being affected so that we are able to hold our government accountable. This is supposed to be the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave,” but those words lose meaning when adequate housing is not provided, and the history we’ve established within our communities is erased and replaced with the unfamiliar.
How important was it to have the work on display at the Auburn Research Library?
My connection with the Auburn Research Library was made shortly after my work was installed for public engagement throughout downtown last year.
It was important for me to have this work exhibited at the library considering that it’s a library of African-American history and Atlanta’s African-American history. It was also important because of my topic and primary focus in relation to Atlanta’s African-American neighborhoods and the current news.
How long did it take you to complete the work, and do you have a favorite story or person from the work?
I completed this work within three years; however, I still find myself photographing Vine City and English Avenue quite often although I have moved on to photograph another neighborhood. It’s just something about its presence that’s unforgettable. One of my favorite photographs is actually not on display in this exhibit due to a limited number of pieces for the size of the space.
The title of my favorite photograph is Irwin Street. I interviewed and photographed a young man and his little cousin standing on the porch of their home. He didn’t live in Vine City but his grandmother and little cousin reside there. He visits quite often and brings over groceries while keeping his cousin entertained on the weekends. He expressed that this keeps him out of trouble. His story resonated with me because it made me think about the simple/smallest things are typically what impact our lives the most.
What is the lasting message or perspective you want viewers to take away from this work?
I’d like viewers to remember the faces of the people of Vine City and their neighborhood if it transforms while the city of Atlanta grows and transforms. I want people to think about their communities and what home means to them and what type of trauma would be caused if their communities were on the verge of redevelopment.
Inner City Urban: Vine City is on display from March 12 – April 29. The exhibit is free and open to the public. Smith will return to the library for a closing artist talk at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 29.
About Rose Smith: Rose Smith is a conceptual documentary photographer currently residing in Atlanta, Georgia. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Smith began her artistic practice at the age of 10 after discovering an interest in the medium of photography while watching her father create VHS tapes and make photographic documentary stills with Polaroids.
She received her BFA in Photography at the Savannah College of Art and Design where she studied and became inspired by the works of Gordon Parks, Roy DeCarava, Baldwin Lee, Lorna Simpson, and Carrie Mae Weems; all of whom created photographic narratives on the Black experience in the U.S.
Similar to them, Rose uses the medium of photography for activism to discuss social issues that reflect the present time and continue to affect people of color. She exhibits her commitment to photography by educating and expounding on topics that are often overlooked.
Tags: Rose Smith, Vine City
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Members vote to accept new terms and conditions but branch calls for more talks to protect low paid
November 9, 2013 Aberdeenshire UNISON Comments Off on Members vote to accept new terms and conditions but branch calls for more talks to protect low paid
Aberdeenshire UNISON members have accepted the new terms and conditions package proposed by the council, with two thirds of those who responded in the ballot voting to accept.
However, responses to UNISON’s consultation has shown a clear division between members who work 9-5, who stand to gain most from the proposals, and those who work unsocial hours and shift work, who stand to lose anything from £200 to £3000 a year. These are amongst the lowest paid in the workforce and many, such as homecarers, provide care services to the most vulnerable in our communities.
Inez Teece, Branch Secretary said, “We were able to negotiate a pay increase of £750 in total for our lowest paid workers, as well as the living wage which is already in place, and £250 for everyone else. Whilst many members were happy with this and will see a rise in their take home pay, others will see this eroded and more by the loss of unsocial hours payments, shift allowances and the mileage lump sum.
“We are particularly concerned, as a union, about the impact on our lowest paid, mainly women workers and at the bitter divide that this is creating between those who work 24/7 and 9 to 5 staff.
“Also while many have been looking forward to the buyout of shift allowances, others will find the big drop in their take home pay very difficult to manage in these austere times. Especially in one of the most expensive parts of the country in which to live.
“We will now go back to the council and raise these issues and seek that changes are made to prevent such losses for those who will lose the most. After all, the council has been working hard to find ways of attracting people to work for the council in these jobs and cutting take home pay will have the opposite effect.”
Previous Post:Members vote 94% to 6% to accept new Scottish Local Government Pension Scheme
Next Post:Branch will work in partnership with council Health and Safety team to address stress at work
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* Direction of Democrats * Money at Conventions * Peace Voices Squelched * 9-11 Families March
GWENDOLYN MINK
Author of the book “Welfare’s End,” Mink is currently writing a book about the Democratic Party, “Retreat from Democracy.” She said today: “For decades, the Democratic Party was hogtied from within by a powerful Dixiecrat faction. That faction has for the most part left the party, leaving behind a coherent, progressive Democratic electoral base. But at the very moment unionists, people of color, feminists, environmentalists, peace activists, lesbian and gay activists, and advocates for global justice formed the core of the party’s electoral base, the ‘New Democrat’ Clinton presidency turned the party against its base. NAFTA, the 1994 Crime Bill, welfare reform, and the Defense of Marriage Act are the signature accomplishments of a party at odds with its soul. It’s not clear whether a Kerry presidency will close the gap between the official party and the party’s core. What is clear is that if the Bush presidency is continued the democratic process will be so disrespected and distorted that programmatic debate may well be impossible.”
STEVEN WEISS
Weiss is communications director of the Center for Responsive Politics and editor of Capital Eye, which recently published the article “Conventional Wisdom: Increasing Number of Corporations Are Giving to Both Party Conventions.” Researchers found that each of the following companies has contributed more than $1 million to both the Democratic and the Republican conventions: Altria Group (Philip Morris), American International Group, AT&T, Bank of America, Ernst & Young, Fannie Mae, Metropolitan Life, Microsoft, Pfizer and Verizon.
MEREDITH O’BRIEN
Currently in Boston, O’Brien is author of a series of recent reports released by the Center for Public Integrity on conventions and the money involved in them. Among the reports she has authored: “It’s Their Party: DNC Demands Boost Cost of Convention, Paid for By Special Interests,” “The Party’s Parties: Lavish Parties Lead to Access at Nominating Convention” and “Wining and Dining the DNC: When Cities Vie to Host a Convention, It’s the Party Insiders Who Win.”
VINCENT LAVERY
Currently in Boston, Lavery is a delegate from Fresno, Calif. He had a “No War” sign taken from him by convention organizers as he entered the convention hall and was handed a Kerry sign. Lavery said today: “How ridiculous, it’s like we’re robots, we’re given signs to wave on cue. They take all signs people bring in. The convention is very controlled.”
DAVID POTORTI
(and via Adam Eidinger)
Currently in Boston, Potorti is co-director of September 11th Families For Peaceful Tomorrows. He lost his brother, Jim, at the World Trade Center. David is participating in a “Stonewalk,” as he and other peace activists walk from Boston to New York City (in time for the Republican convention) pulling a 1,400-pound granite memorial honoring the “Unknown Civilians Killed in War.” Potorti said today: “With public attention focused on both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions this summer, there is no better time for Americans to consider and to call for sensible, effective political policies which place a priority on principles of democracy and human rights. We need to recognize the human cost of war, and explore new directions for our nation, and our world, toward peaceful tomorrows for all.”
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Home » Events & media » Turnbull Takes Part in Reinvigorated Pacific Islands Forum
Turnbull Takes Part in Reinvigorated Pacific Islands Forum
Policy Fellow
IB 2018/20 Measuring Attendance Patterns at Pacific Island Forum Leaders Meetings
Much of the domestic commentary surrounding the 2018 Pacific Islands Forum Leaders meeting (the Forum) in Nauru centered on the new Australian prime minister’s decision not to attend in person.
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Barring unforeseen circumstances – and these days perhaps one shouldn’t talk too soon – Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will fly to Samoa to attend the annual Pacific Islands Forum Leaders’ Meeting. In fact, the prime minister will only arrive at the tail end of what these days is a week-long suite of meetings but he will be in Samoa for the core event, the Leaders’ Retreat, on Friday 8 September.
The retreat is in many senses the essence of the forum; it’s where leaders meet without officials for an unscripted and private discussion. It’s where much of the key business of the forum is done: where deals are struck and compromises made. And it’s where personal relationships count.
Australian prime ministerial attendance at the forum is a necessary, if not a sufficient, condition for maintaining healthy relations with a region that Australia says is important to it. This will be the prime minister’s second consecutive forum, which is a good, albeit short, track record. After a slow start, the government has recently showed signs of a more thoughtful and purposeful approach to its relations with the Pacific.
Minister for Foreign Affairs Julie Bishop’s recent speech in Suva was noteworthy in this regard, outlining a tripartite approach including closer cooperation on security issues, better people-to-people links and greater economic integration through easier access for Pacific Islanders to Australia’s labour market. The prime minister’s announcements at the forum on these fronts will bear close watching.
A new framework
It would be an exaggeration to say that the forum itself is experiencing a Golden Age, but there’s no doubt that fresh winds have been blowing through the organisation in recent years. This follows a major review of the forum in 2013, which resulted in a new Framework for Pacific Regionalism being adopted the following year.
The framework was aimed at injecting greater purpose and focus into Pacific regionalism, which was seen as having fallen prey to a technocratic agenda and to have led the forum astray from its founders’ original vision. In 2014, there was also the appointment of a new forum secretary general, PNG’s Dame Meg Taylor.
Spurred by the framework, and by increasingly assertive sub-regional agencies, Taylor’s tenure has seen the forum reinvigorate both its processes and its thinking about the region. That hasn’t necessarily always been comfortable for all forum members. For instance, the forum now gives greater access to private sector and civil society voices in its annual meeting cycle. One of the consequences of this has been to give greater prominence to issues such as the status of West Papua within Indonesia, something that a number of forum members (notably PNG and Fiji, as well as Australia and New Zealand) would prefer not be on the agenda. That said, on balance Taylor appears to have succeeded in broadening the forum’s accessibility and legitimacy across the region.
In a similar vein, last year both New Caledonia and French Polynesia were admitted as new members of the forum. This decision came as a surprise to many observers given that the forum has previously been restricted to independent and, with the partial exception of Vanuatu, Anglophone states; it brought the membership of the forum to 18.
The implications of including these two French territories in the forum are still working their way through the system. To cite just one example, some forum countries have been worried that commercially sensitive information about Pacific fisheries could leak to the EU via these territories. The full impact of the forum’s expanded membership is yet to play out.
Big ideas for the Pacific
What’s on the region’s agenda? The theme of this year’s forum is ‘The Blue Pacific’. This is part of an ambitious attempt to reshape thinking about the Pacific away from ideas about smallness, remoteness, vulnerability and aid dependence, and to reimagine the region instead as an “ocean continent”. Such ideas aren’t necessarily new but Taylor and the forum secretariat have been especially active in advocating these ideas and bringing this agenda into focus in the region and more broadly (for instance in helping to shape the UN Ocean Conference).
This is a welcome ambition and we should expect to hear more of it. Even so, much of the energy of Pacific diplomacy remains focussed on maximising aid flows and concessional financing. Even the forum secretariat’s own State of Pacific Regionalism Report 2017 acknowledges the Pacific’s, “unique vulnerabilities and dependencies”, a reminder of the enormous development challenges that face much of the region.
With the UN Climate Change Conference (COP23) to be held in Germany in November this year, climate change will of course remain very high on the agenda of forum leaders. Given current policy settings it’s inevitable that there will be some daylight between the positions of Australia and New Zealand on the one hand and that of the island countries on the other. The forum has regularly been accused of producing lowest common denominator outcomes on the question of climate change and of failing to lead on the issue internationally.
To read the entire article by James Batley, visit the AIIA website.
Tags: Pacific Islands Forum, Australia-Japan relations; Small Island States; Pacific Islands; Diplomacy
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In 2015, Ross wrote an op-ed for Time magazine about his city’s planned transition to renewables. “A town in the middle of a state that recently sported oil derricks on its license plates may not be where you’d expect to see leaders move to clean solar and wind generation,” he wrote. Lest readers get the wrong idea, he felt compelled to explain: “No, environmental zealots have not taken over City Council.”
From the end of 2004, worldwide renewable energy capacity grew at rates of 10–60% annually for many technologies. In 2015 global investment in renewables rose 5% to $285.9 billion, breaking the previous record of $278.5 billion in 2011. 2015 was also the first year that saw renewables, excluding large hydro, account for the majority of all new power capacity (134 GW, making up 53.6% of the total). Of the renewables total, wind accounted for 72 GW and solar photovoltaics 56 GW; both record-breaking numbers and sharply up from 2014 figures (49 GW and 45 GW respectively). In financial terms, solar made up 56% of total new investment and wind accounted for 38%.
Photovoltaics (PV) uses solar cells assembled into solar panels to convert sunlight into electricity. It's a fast-growing technology doubling its worldwide installed capacity every couple of years. PV systems range from small, residential and commercial rooftop or building integrated installations, to large utility-scale photovoltaic power station. The predominant PV technology is crystalline silicon, while thin-film solar cell technology accounts for about 10 percent of global photovoltaic deployment. In recent years, PV technology has improved its electricity generating efficiency, reduced the installation cost per watt as well as its energy payback time, and has reached grid parity in at least 30 different markets by 2014.[115] Financial institutions are predicting a second solar "gold rush" in the near future.[116][117][118]
Solar power is produced by collecting sunlight and converting it into electricity. This is done by using solar panels, which are large flat panels made up of many individual solar cells. It is most often used in remote locations, although it is becoming more popular in urban areas as well. This page contains articles that explore advances in solar energy technology.
The first words of everyone calling us are “the wind is blowing here all the time”. People consistently overestimate how windy their place actually is. They forget about all the times the wind does not blow, and only remember the windy days. Such is human nature. Before even considering a small wind turbine you need to have a good idea of the annual average wind speed for your site. The gold standard is to install a data-logging anemometer (wind meter) at the same height and location as the proposed wind turbine, and let it run for 3 to 5 years. Truth is that it is usually much too expensive to do for small wind turbines, and while logging for 1 year could give you some idea and is the absolute minimum for worthwhile wind information, it is too short to be very reliable. For most of us, the more economical way to find out about the local average wind speed is by looking at a wind atlas, meteorological data, airport information and possibly the local vegetation (for windy spots the trees take on interesting shapes).
Adam Schultz, a senior policy analyst for the Oregon Department of Energy, says he’s more encouraged than ever about the prospects for renewables. Because the Pacific Northwest features large-scale hydropower plants built as part of the New Deal, energy already tends to be less expensive there than the U.S. average. But solar and wind power have “gotten cheaper over the last couple years to the point that I can’t even tell you what the costs are because costs have been dropping so rapidly,” Schultz says. “We have enough sunshine,” he says (presumably referring to the eastern part of the state), “so it’s just a matter of time.”
The first three are active solar systems, which use mechanical or electrical devices that convert the sun's heat or light to another form of usable energy. Passive solar buildings are designed and oriented to collect, store, and distribute the heat energy from sunlight to maintain the comfort of the occupants without the use of moving parts or electronics.
2010 was a record year for green energy investments. According to a report from Bloomberg New Energy Finance, nearly US $243 billion was invested in wind farms, solar power, electric cars, and other alternative technologies worldwide, representing a 30 percent increase from 2009 and nearly five times the money invested in 2004. China had $51.1 billion investment in clean energy projects in 2010, by far the largest figure for any country.[155]
So how do wind turbines make electricity? Simply stated, a wind turbine works the opposite of a fan. Instead of using electricity to make wind, like a fan, wind turbines use wind to make electricity. The wind turns the blades, which spin a shaft, which connects to a generator and makes electricity. View the wind turbine animation to see how a wind turbine works or take a look inside.
As of 2014, offshore wind power amounted to 8,771 megawatt of global installed capacity. Although offshore capacity doubled within three years (from 4,117 MW in 2011), it accounted for only 2.3% of the total wind power capacity. The United Kingdom is the undisputed leader of offshore power with half of the world's installed capacity ahead of Denmark, Germany, Belgium and China.
Index of solar energy articles List of concentrating solar thermal power companies List of photovoltaics companies List of photovoltaic power stations List of pioneering solar buildings List of rooftop photovoltaic installations List of solar car teams List of solar powered products List of solar thermal power stations People associated with solar power
It is hard to beat the advantages of solar: No moving parts. Warranties of 25 years are common for PV modules. No maintenance, other than the occasional hosing-off if you live in a dusty place. The installed price of a 6 kW wind turbine on a good height tower is about $50,000 (and we are not even counting the money you are going to sink into maintenance of that wind turbine). At the time of this writing, half that money will buy you about 7 kW of installed solar panels. In our not-so-sunny Ottawa location those solar modules will produce around 8,000 kWh of electrical energy per average year, and they will do that for 30 years or more.
The International Geothermal Association (IGA) has reported that 10,715 MW of geothermal power in 24 countries is online, which is expected to generate 67,246 GWh of electricity in 2010.[131] This represents a 20% increase in geothermal power online capacity since 2005. IGA projects this will grow to 18,500 MW by 2015, due to the large number of projects presently under consideration, often in areas previously assumed to have little exploitable resource.[131]
A recent UK Government document states that "projects are generally more likely to succeed if they have broad public support and the consent of local communities. This means giving communities both a say and a stake".[194] In countries such as Germany and Denmark many renewable projects are owned by communities, particularly through cooperative structures, and contribute significantly to overall levels of renewable energy deployment.[195][196]
Today that initiative, the Green Climate Fund, is an “empty shell,” Mr. Ban said in a recent phone interview. The lifelong diplomat — who recently assumed the presidency of the Global Green Growth Institute, an international organization based in Seoul, South Korea, that focuses on clean energy development — said he hoped to use the next chapter of his career to help poor countries meet their goals under the Paris agreement on climate change.
Based on REN21's 2017 report, renewables contributed 19.3% to humans' global energy consumption and 24.5% to their generation of electricity in 2015 and 2016, respectively. This energy consumption is divided as 8.9% coming from traditional biomass, 4.2% as heat energy (modern biomass, geothermal and solar heat), 3.9% hydro electricity and 2.2% is electricity from wind, solar, geothermal, and biomass. Worldwide investments in renewable technologies amounted to more than US$286 billion in 2015, with countries such as China and the United States heavily investing in wind, hydro, solar and biofuels.[5] Globally, there are an estimated 7.7 million jobs associated with the renewable energy industries, with solar photovoltaics being the largest renewable employer.[6] As of 2015 worldwide, more than half of all new electricity capacity installed was renewable.[7]
The locations with highest annual solar irradiance lie in the arid tropics and subtropics. Deserts lying in low latitudes usually have few clouds, and can receive sunshine for more than ten hours a day.[86][87] These hot deserts form the Global Sun Belt circling the world. This belt consists of extensive swathes of land in Northern Africa, Southern Africa, Southwest Asia, Middle East, and Australia, as well as the much smaller deserts of North and South America.[88] Africa's eastern Sahara Desert, also known as the Libyan Desert, has been observed to be the sunniest place on Earth according to NASA.[89][90]
The energy in the wind goes up with the cube of the wind speed. Double the wind speed and you have 2 * 2 * 2 = 8 times the energy! Sit back and let the full weight of that sink in for a moment: It means that even a small difference in annual average wind speed will make a BIG difference in how much your wind turbine will produce: Putting that turbine in a place that has just 10% more wind will net you 1.1 * 1.1 * 1.1 = 1.33 = a full 33% more energy!
Turbines used in wind farms for commercial production of electric power are usually three-bladed. These have low torque ripple, which contributes to good reliability. The blades are usually colored white for daytime visibility by aircraft and range in length from 20 to 80 meters (66 to 262 ft). The size and height of turbines increase year by year. Offshore wind turbines are built up to 8(MW) today and have a blade length up to 80 meters (260 ft). Usual tubular steel towers of multi megawatt turbines have a height of 70 m to 120 m and in extremes up to 160 m.
A subtype of Darrieus turbine with straight, as opposed to curved, blades. The cycloturbine variety has variable pitch to reduce the torque pulsation and is self-starting.[33] The advantages of variable pitch are: high starting torque; a wide, relatively flat torque curve; a higher coefficient of performance; more efficient operation in turbulent winds; and a lower blade speed ratio which lowers blade bending stresses. Straight, V, or curved blades may be used.[34]
The Solar updraft tower is a renewable-energy power plant for generating electricity from low temperature solar heat. Sunshine heats the air beneath a very wide greenhouse-like roofed collector structure surrounding the central base of a very tall chimney tower. The resulting convection causes a hot air updraft in the tower by the chimney effect. This airflow drives wind turbines placed in the chimney updraft or around the chimney base to produce electricity. Plans for scaled-up versions of demonstration models will allow significant power generation, and may allow development of other applications, such as water extraction or distillation, and agriculture or horticulture. A more advanced version of a similarly themed technology is the Vortex engine which aims to replace large physical chimneys with a vortex of air created by a shorter, less-expensive structure.
Wind power first appeared in Europe during the Middle Ages. The first historical records of their use in England date to the 11th or 12th centuries and there are reports of German crusaders taking their windmill-making skills to Syria around 1190.[6] By the 14th century, Dutch windmills were in use to drain areas of the Rhine delta. Advanced wind turbines were described by Croatian inventor Fausto Veranzio. In his book Machinae Novae (1595) he described vertical axis wind turbines with curved or V-shaped blades.
The generator, which is approximately 34% of the wind turbine cost, includes the electrical generator,[38][39] the control electronics, and most likely a gear box (e.g. planetary gear box),[40] adjustable-speed drive or continuously variable transmission[41] component for converting the low-speed incoming rotation to high-speed rotation suitable for generating electricity.
Renewable energy projects in many developing countries have demonstrated that renewable energy can directly contribute to poverty reduction by providing the energy needed for creating businesses and employment. Renewable energy technologies can also make indirect contributions to alleviating poverty by providing energy for cooking, space heating, and lighting. Renewable energy can also contribute to education, by providing electricity to schools.[140]
The conversion of sunlight into electricity is made possible with the special properties of semi-conducting materials. It can be harnessed through a range of ever-evolving technologies like solar heating, photovoltaics, solar thermal energy, solar architecture, molten salt power plants, and artificial photosynthesis. Learn more about solar solutions from IGS Solar.
In net metering the price of the electricity produced is the same as the price supplied to the consumer, and the consumer is billed on the difference between production and consumption. Net metering can usually be done with no changes to standard electricity meters, which accurately measure power in both directions and automatically report the difference, and because it allows homeowners and businesses to generate electricity at a different time from consumption, effectively using the grid as a giant storage battery. With net metering, deficits are billed each month while surpluses are rolled over to the following month. Best practices call for perpetual roll over of kWh credits.[97] Excess credits upon termination of service are either lost, or paid for at a rate ranging from wholesale to retail rate or above, as can be excess annual credits. In New Jersey, annual excess credits are paid at the wholesale rate, as are left over credits when a customer terminates service.[98]
We harness the earth’s most abundant resources – the strength of the wind, the heat of the sun and the force of water – to power the world’s biggest economies and the most remote communities. Combining onshore and offshore wind, hydro and innovative technologies, GE Renewable Energy has installed more than 400+ gigawatts capacity globally to make the world work better and cleaner.
Solar power panels that use nanotechnology, which can create circuits out of individual silicon molecules, may cost half as much as traditional photovoltaic cells, according to executives and investors involved in developing the products. Nanosolar has secured more than $100 million from investors to build a factory for nanotechnology thin-film solar panels. The company's plant has a planned production capacity of 430 megawatts peak power of solar cells per year. Commercial production started and first panels have been shipped[50] to customers in late 2007.[51]
Although many older thermoelectric power plants with once-through cooling or cooling ponds use more water than CSP, meaning that more water passes through their systems, most of the cooling water returns to the water body available for other uses, and they consume less water by evaporation. For instance, the median coal power plant in the US with once-through cooling uses 36,350 gal/MWhr, but only 250 gal/MWhr (less than one percent) is lost through evaporation.[139] Since the 1970s, the majority of US power plants have used recirculating systems such as cooling towers rather than once-through systems.[140]
A 1.5 (MW) wind turbine of a type frequently seen in the United States has a tower 80 meters (260 ft) high. The rotor assembly (blades and hub) weighs 22,000 kilograms (48,000 lb). The nacelle, which contains the generator, weighs 52,000 kilograms (115,000 lb). The concrete base for the tower is constructed using 26,000 kilograms (58,000 lb) reinforcing steel and contains 190 cubic meters (250 cu yd) of concrete. The base is 15 meters (50 ft) in diameter and 2.4 meters (8 ft) thick near the center.[43]
Any solar PV system that’s tied to the grid will use a bi-directional meter. When you use electricity from the grid, you’ll see your meter move forward. But when your solar PV system produces electricity, any excess will go back into the grid and your meter will move backward. This is called “net metering,” and the utility company will credit your bill for the excess electricity generated.
A wide range of concentrating technologies exists: among the best known are the parabolic trough, the compact linear Fresnel reflector, the Stirling dish and the solar power tower. Various techniques are used to track the sun and focus light. In all of these systems a working fluid is heated by the concentrated sunlight, and is then used for power generation or energy storage.[11] Thermal storage efficiently allows up to 24-hour electricity generation.[12]
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Reimbursement Committee
MIH Compendium
On Demand Education
Air Ambulances With Sky-High Charges
10 Jul 2019 1:16 PM | AIMHI Admin (Administrator)
Health Affairs source article | Comments courtesy of Matt Zavadsky
Interesting data report in this month’s Health Affairs.
Original and highlighted versions of the published study attached. Highlighted sections replicated below for your convenience.
Ge Bai, Arjun Chanmugam, Valerie Y. Suslow, and Gerard F. Anderson
https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2018.05375
Charges for air ambulance services were 4.1–9.5 times higher than what Medicare paid for the same services in 2016. The median charge ratios (the charge divided by the Medicare rate) for the services increased by 46–61 percent in 2012–16. Air ambulance charges varied substantially across the US, and some of the largest providers had among the highest charges.
In 2017 two-thirds of air ambulance services with available billing information on network status for privately insured patients were out of network.4 In 2016 the national median charges for air ambulance services were 4.1–9.5 times the Medicare rates; in contrast, the national median charges for ground ambulance services were 2.8 times what Medicare paid (exhibit 1).
As shown in exhibits 1 and 2, the national median charges for initial fees and mileage rates for air ambulances for rotary-wing air ambulances were 5.3 and 7.3 times the Medicare rate, respectively, compared to 4.1 and 9.5 times that rate for fixed-wing air ambulances. In contrast, the national median charges for initial fees and mileage rates for ground ambulances were 1.7–2.8 times the Medicare rate.
Charges increased substantially over this time. The median charge increased by approximately 60 percent, from $24,000 to $39,000, for both types of air ambulances (appendix exhibit A2).6In the same period, the median charge ratios for the mileage rate increased for rotary (55 percent, from 4.7 to 7.3) and fixed wing (46 percent, from 6.5 to 9.5) (exhibit 4). The median ratios for the initial fee also increased, by 61 percent (from 3.3 to 5.3) for rotary and 46 percent (from 2.8 to 4.1) for fixed wing.
The high charges might be the result not of lack of entrants or limited supply, but of a market failure.
Encouraging the market entry of new air ambulance providers could spur competition and reduce charges, but since many incumbent providers possess underused capacity, the market may already be saturated.8 The high charges, therefore, might be the result not of lack of entrants or limited supply, but of a market failure. Patients lack control over which air ambulance provider transports them, nor can they check provider network status or conduct price comparisons in the midst of an emergency serious enough to require air ambulance service.
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HCA buys two dozen urgent-care centers from Fresenius Medical Care
4 Jul 2019 11:00 AM | AIMHI Admin (Administrator)
Modern Healthcare source article | Comments courtesy of Matt Zavadsky HCA has been investing heavily in the Urgent Care model – as referenced in the article, they acquired 24 of them back in October 2016, and they are part of our current ambulance transport alternatives program for a capitated payment agreement we have with a commercial payer.
They have been very willing to partner on data and outcome sharing, as well as making it easy for us to refer patients to them, both through our 9-1-1 Nurse Triage program, as well as part of a 9-1-1 response. HCA/CareNow have already reached out with interest in being part of ET3 models as a non-participating partner.
HCA Healthcare purchased 24 MedSpring urgent-care centers from Fresenius Medical Care, the investor-owned hospital chain announced Tuesday.
The urgent-care centers will operate under HCA's Medical City Healthcare division and be rebranded as CareNow Urgent Care. The acquisition adds eight centers to CareNow's 37 North Texas locations. In 2018, CareNow and Medical City Children's Urgent Care clinics served about 10% of the Dallas-Fort Worth population, with more than 770,000 patient visits, HCA said.
"Like many of our communities across the country, Austin, Dallas and Houston are experiencing significant growth, and increasingly people want to be able to access healthcare services closer to where they live and work," HCA CEO Sam Hazen said in prepared remarks. "The addition of these urgent-care centers will complement our already robust healthcare networks and help us provide more convenient access for our patients."
Medical City Healthcare has invested more than $1.7 billion over four years in access points, including CareNow urgent-care locations, infrastructure and new technology, HCA said.
With the addition, CareNow will operate 160 urgent-care centers across the country. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Investors have targeted urgent care and medical offices, particularly in rapidly growing markets, as the industry pushes for more convenient, affordable care.
The number of U.S. urgent-care centers swelled to 8,774 as of November 2018, up 8% from 8,125 in 2017, according to the Urgent Care Association's annual report. The number of Medicare and Medicaid patients seeking services at urgent-care centers continues to grow, accounting for nearly 27% of all visits in 2018.
"This acquisition creates more access to the quality healthcare services our community needs, when and where they need them," Erol Akdamar, president of Medical City Healthcare, said in prepared remarks.
HCA Healthcare reported net income of $3.79 billion on revenue of $46.68 billion in 2018, up from $2.22 billion in net income on revenue of $43.61 billion in 2017.
Same-facility inpatient admissions increased 2.5% during 2018 while same-facility outpatient surgeries rose 1.8%.
Outpatient revenue as a percentage of patient revenue remained relatively flat at 38.2%.
The gap between U.S. hospitals' outpatient and inpatient revenue continued to shrink in 2017, according to the American Hospital Association.
In Memory of Patrick Wells Smith
30 Jun 2019 7:02 AM | AIMHI Admin (Administrator)
AIMHI is deeply saddened to share the passing of longtime leader and friend Patrick Smith.
Patrick Wells Smith, age 65, passed away unexpectedly on June 21, 2019, at his home in Reno, Nev. He was well-known as a nationally-respected innovator and icon in the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) industry. Most recently he was the President and CEO of REMSA (Regional Emergency Medical Services Authority) and Care Flight, based in Reno, from January 1990 through March 2013 and then President of SEMSA (Sierra Emergency Medical Services Authority) also based in Reno, from April 2013 to June 2018.
He was born on November 17, 1953 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to parents Ted Arvel Smith and Margaret Wells Smith. He was the second of three children. He attended Minnetonka High School, got his start as an EMT in 1973 as a college student in Minnesota, and soon began taking on supervisory roles for EMS agencies in Minnesota and Oregon. In 1980 he was hired as an assistant director of Metropolitan Ambulance Services Trust in Kansas City where he consulted to establish EMS systems in Fort Wayne, IN.; Pinellas County, FL; Fort Worth, TX; and Little Rock, AK. He worked as Vice President of Eastern Ambulance in Syracuse New York after that before moving to Reno.
He was well known for his innovation and leadership in EMS systems design and medical 911 communications systems. One of his most fascinating stories was his role as a first responder at the 1981 collapse of the walkway at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City where he was one of the initial responders on site. It killed 114 people and injured 216. That experience inspired the ways he help REMSA to prepare for many crises in which the team needed to respond with speed and outstanding systems, but still compassion.
During his time at REMSA he created and fostered programs such as the special events coverage team, community and professional education teams, and the TEMS program which attaches specially-trained paramedics from REMSA to the SWAT teams of local law enforcement. He received numerous local and national awards, including the Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award for small businesses in 2008 where he was awarded the opportunity to meet the President of the United States.
He was proudest in his professional life when talking about his REMSA/Care Flight team. “It’s about the people,” he would often say. He was a proud and loving father and grandfather who passed on his devotion to Disney and instilled a deep loyalty to the Minnesota Vikings in his family.
He was very active at the leadership level volunteering in the American Ambulance Association, and also NAPUM, National Association of Public Utility Model, which was a group of EMS organizations across the nation, each with the unique structure of a Public Utility Model, which provided guaranteed quality of care, response times and coverage without tax subsidies. REMSA had been one of those PUMs since its creation in 1986.
He is survived by his five children: Michelle Bergren (Matt), Aaron Smith (Divya), Danielle Sanford (Michael), Theodore Smith (Hailey), and Allison Hahn (Mark), his seven grandchildren: Blake, Sage, Bode, Rishi, Rohan, Hadley, and Cole, his nephews Jason and Jeremy Smith, and the mother of his children and ex-wife, Linda Smith, who remained his good friend and co-parent/grandparent, as well as his many other friends and EMS and medical profession colleagues.
He was preceded in death by his parents, his sister Diana Smith and his brother James Smith.
A celebration of life will be held on Tuesday July 2, from 4 to 7pm at 10379 Dixon Lane in Reno.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Truckee Meadows Community College to the Patrick Smith Memorial Scholarship, which will be for students who want to study to become an Emergency Medical Technician, or a Paramedic.
Please send donations to:
TMCC Foundation
7000 Dandini Blvd, RDMT 200
Reno, Nevada 89512-3999
You can also donate online at: https://www.tmcc.edu/foundation/support-tmcc/make-gift. In the “Leave a Comment” box just note your donation is for the Patrick Smith Memorial Scholarship.
Ohio Health System Launches EMS-Based Accountable Care Network
EMSWorld Source Article | Comments courtesy of Matt Zavadsky
Outstanding initiative by the folks in Ohio! The most recent NAEMT MIH-CP Survey revealed multiple EMS agencies in OH doing MIH-CP programs – coupling those proactive service lines with navigation of patients requesting episodic care through the 911 access point may demonstrate significant value!
John Erich
Responding to real time-critical emergencies isn’t a big part of EMS providers’ jobs. Most of what we do, truth be told, is provide access to the healthcare system, primarily through transport to an emergency department.
That gives EMS a unique ethical burden. Callers to 9-1-1 don’t have a choice of ambulance providers; rarely can the direly hurt or ill offer informed consent. This means EMS bears much of the responsibility for ensuring its care is appropriate. In turn, that has obviously large implications for the use of health systems’ finite resources.
While the latter hasn’t historically been their purview, emergency medical services are well positioned to shape stewardship of those limited dollars. At the junction of planned and unplanned care, hospital and out-of-hospital, EMS is optimally suited to reach patients early, establish directions for further care, and impact much that happens downstream.
Unpacking The Executive Order On Health Care Price Transparency And Quality
HealthAffairs Source Article | Comments courtesy of Matt Zavadsky
Nice summary from the Health Affairs on yesterday’s Executive Order… Much to unpack in the near future as the rules are proposed….
Katie Keith
On January [June] 24, 2019, President Donald Trump issued a highly anticipated executive order on health care price and quality transparency. The White House also posted a fact sheet alongside the order. The goal of the executive order is to help consumers know the prices and quality of a good or service and to make informed decisions about their health care. The executive order is consistent with recent rules to, for instance, require drug manufacturers to disclose list prices in their advertisements or require hospitals to publish list prices on their websites.
Generally speaking, the executive order directs an array of federal agencies to adopt rules, issue guidance, or develop reports with the goal of increasing the transparency of health care price and quality information.
Realignment of EMS Reimbursement Policy
24 Jun 2019 6:08 PM | AIMHI Admin (Administrator)
JAMA Network source article | Comments courtesy of Matt Zavadsky
Special thanks to Dr. Munjal, Dr. Margolis and Dr. Kellerman for this editorial in the JAMA Network!
Tip of the hat to Dr. Margolis for sharing this link!
New Hope for Patient-Centered Out-of-Hospital Care
Kevin G. Munjal, MD, MPH, MSCR1; Gregg S. Margolis, PhD, NRP2; Arthur L. Kellermann, MD, MPH3
doi:10.1001/jama.2019.7488
Substantial efforts have been made over the past decade to move the US health care system away from fee-for-service reimbursement toward alternative payment models, with the goals of expanding access, improving quality, and reducing medical costs. However, financing for emergency medical services (EMS) continues to incentivize transport to the emergency department (ED), regardless of the needs or desires of patients. In 2016, EMS agencies in the United States responded to an estimated 22.0 million 911 calls and transported an estimated 14.6 million patients to a hospital. Of those transports with complete billing information, 33% were billed to Medicare, 31% to private insurers, 20% to Medicaid, and 15% were self-pay.1
Experts have long called for realigning reimbursement policy to support a more patient-centered approach to out-of-hospital emergency care. On February 14, 2019, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) announced the Emergency Triage, Treat, and Transport (ET3) model.2 This voluntary, 5-year payment model will allow EMS agencies to be reimbursed for handling 911 calls with dispositions other than transportation to an ED, including nurse triage, treatment by a qualified health care practitioner either on scene or via telehealth, or transporting patients to an urgent care center, or primary care physician office.
The decoupling of EMS assessment and treatment from ED transport is a major development for out-of-hospital care. This approach is consistent with a 2007 Institute of Medicine recommendation “to evaluate the reimbursement of emergency medical services” and follows the recent release of the EMS Agenda 2050 document, commissioned by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which articulated a future in which EMS is safe, reliable, efficient, equitable, innovative, and seamlessly integrated into health care.3 Together, these developments have the potential to promote significant innovation within the EMS community.
Moving Beyond Transport
EMS services are generally underfunded and have historically lacked financial motivation to invest in approaches that could help determine the most appropriate level of care. The CMMI announcement does not indicate an intended reduction in Medicare’s annual ambulance expenditures of $5.5 billion, but rather cites a projected $560 million in annual savings from reduced ED expenditures if 15.6% of Medicare ambulance transports could be managed outside a hospital ED.4
With the ET3 model, incentives are now better aligned for EMS to pursue new communications technologies, decision-support applications, and point-of-care laboratory testing that could enable more patient-centered care to help avoid transport. The ET3 model is also likely to promote new collaborations between EMS and various community resources, including federally qualified health centers, dialysis centers, and substance abuse treatment programs. Other partnerships, such as with traditional taxi services or app-based ride services, may develop and could give patients more affordable transportation options.
In rural and remote areas, EMS services could potentially manage an array of problems on scene with telehealth support, rather than transporting every patient (often requiring a lengthy ambulance ride) to a hospital ED. Likewise, patients receiving hospice care or palliative care may be treated more humanely in their home rather than in the hospital ED.
EMS systems participating in the ET3 model also may be able to expand their efforts to promote injury and disease prevention. Because EMS personnel already make “house calls” and regularly encounter vulnerable populations, they are ideally positioned to identify health hazards and connect patients to community-based resources such as home health, housing assistance, and food delivery programs.
Remaining Barriers
Despite the potential for the ET3 model to transform EMS, several issues must be addressed to ensure that the concept moves from demonstration project to established policy.
While the ET3 model is designed to unlock potential savings opportunities through reduced ED utilization, EMS agencies must ensure that patients who require ED care receive that service. It will, therefore, be important to demonstrate that EMS professionals can safely and consistently identify patients with nonemergency conditions. A 2009 meta-analysis of paramedic accuracy in determining medical necessity from 13 studies calculated negative predictive values of 91% for ambulance transport and 68% for ED evaluation.5 A more recent analysis involving 503 patients and 45 paramedics found a similar under-triage rate of 19.3%.6
With additional education, greater use of evidence-based algorithms, clinical decision support, and online medical control, it should be possible to improve paramedics’ decision-making. A study performed by Wake County EMS demonstrated that a validated clinical protocol avoided transport for 65.8% of 840 low-acuity falls among older adults and achieved a negative predictive value of 98% for a time-sensitive condition.7 This same group created another protocol that triaged 226 patients with minor behavioral health symptoms, such as substance use disorders and depression, to a specialty center, with only 5% requiring secondary transport from the specialty center to the ED.8
In another study, Houston EMS demonstrated safer decision-making using physicians via telehealth. Based on an analysis of 5570 patients treated by EMS in 2015, the project achieved a mean 44-minute reduction in EMS call time (from 83 to 39 minutes), and 75% of patients were safely transported by taxi (3751 patients) or treated on scene without transport (419 patients).9
Measuring and Ensuring Quality
Within the ET3 model, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services includes a 5% upside-only incentive based on as-yet unannounced quality metrics. This represents one of the first pay-for-performance initiatives for EMS and will hopefully help to ensure safety of the new initiative. Measures will be needed to assess 911 call handling, nurse triage, treat-and-release policies, alternative destination management, and telehealth. However, quality measurement in EMS remains underdeveloped. With the exception of a few well-funded disease-specific registries, it has proven difficult for EMS services to obtain data on patient outcomes.
EMS agencies will more likely succeed in the ET3 model if they can access and send electronic health information to other health care entities. This could serve to improve triage, treatment, and transport decisions, and could enable notification of the patient’s primary care physician, care manager, or both of the EMS encounter and needed follow-up.
States, Municipalities, and Other Payers
EMS is primarily state-regulated with substantial variation in system design and clinical protocols. As a result, the ET3 model may prove more feasible in some jurisdictions than others. In highly restrictive regulatory environments, this model may provide political impetus for reform. However, some hospitals and EDs may oppose giving EMS the flexibility to manage patients in less costly ways.
Medicare officials are encouraging multi-payer arrangements so that EMS agencies can service all patients in a region. While most patients will benefit from more coordinated, patient-centered out-of-hospital care, Medicaid beneficiaries have particularly high EMS utilization rates, thus giving state governments the greatest opportunity to benefit from reduced health care spending.
Local governments often operate local 911 centers, making them eligible to apply for ET3 model funding to support a medical triage function. Despite having substantial influence over the provision of EMS, many communities currently do little more than monitor EMS response times. The 5% quality incentive may encourage more meaningful priorities, such as improving patient experience and measuring clinical outcomes.
The ET3 program only applies to patients who access the 911 system, as opposed to directly contacting a health system call center. As a consequence, innovative programs that are virtually identical to the ET3 model will be ineligible for reimbursement despite having demonstrated substantial savings. A future refinement of the ET3 program might reimburse all EMS systems providing care, regardless of how the call for out-of-hospital emergency care is first placed.
Another concern is the potential for abuse of 911 services to secure convenient treatment at home, taxi vouchers to an ED or urgent care center, or quicker appointments. EMS systems will need to monitor call volumes to determine if the ET3 program incentivizes increased utilization of 911 for low-acuity conditions. If this proves to be problematic, additional measures may be required to deter misuse of the system. However, recognizing human behavior, some increase in call volume may need to be accepted, if offset by increased efficiency and therefore increased availability of 911 resources for life-threatening emergencies.
The recent CMMI announcement represents an important development for EMS. This is a first step toward the financial and delivery system reforms needed to allow out-of-hospital care systems to deliver higher-quality, patient-centered, coordinated health care that could lower costs. If CMMI and the EMS community can successfully address patient safety, quality, and local and state regulation and mitigate unintended consequences, the ET3 model experiment could help EMS realize its full potential.
Conservative legal expert calls surprise bill proposals unconstitutional
Modern Healthcare source article | Comments courtesy of Matt Zavadsky
Interesting perspective…
HARRIS MEYER
A prominent conservative legal expert is warning that congressional moves to regulate surprise out-of-network billing by physicians are unconstitutional and could be challenged in court.
In a new legal brief, Paul Clement, a former Republican solicitor general who led the unsuccessful effort to overturn the Affordable Care Act in 2012, said bipartisan congressional proposals to cap out-of-network rates would violate the takings clause of the Fifth Amendment as well as the First Amendment right to freely associate.
Other legal experts said Clement's arguments are dubious but could convince lawmakers to back off or water down legislation.
"These are extremely weak constitutional claims—the sorts of claims that, if accepted, would threaten the constitutionality of any kind of legislative price controls," said Nicholas Bagley, a health law professor at University of Michigan.
Nevertheless, Clement's brief may foreshadow a court challenge by provider groups or conservative legal groups if Congress passes legislation to protect consumers from surprise out-of-network bills and cap the rates insurers pay for out-of-network services.
The Senate health committee is planning to vote next week on a bipartisan bill that would cap payment for out-of-network care at a regional insurer's typical negotiated rate. House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders have offered a similar proposal.
With public outrage growing over surprise bills, President Donald Trump and lawmakers of both parties have called for protecting patients from these bills. "A very unpleasant surprise," Trump said last month. "So this must end."
Clement, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis who has argued nearly 100 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, said the proposed legislation "threatens to take property from healthcare providers without just compensation" and "threatens to infringe on providers' associational activity."
He argued that any legislation should at least ensure that out-of-network providers who treat patients during an emergency or at an in-network facility receive the prevailing market rate as soon as possible after providing the service. In addition, he said Congress also should require a baseball-style arbitration process as an alternative.
Clement's office did not respond to a question about whether he wrote the brief on behalf of a particular client.
Physician and hospital groups strongly oppose the Senate health committee's "benchmarked cap" proposal as well as proposals to require hospitals to bring all their physicians into their insurance networks.
Provider groups didn't immediately indicate whether they agreed with Clement's legal analysis or would sue to block legislation. But the American College of Emergency Physicians echoed his arguments.
"While we can't speak to the legal or constitutional implications of the benchmarking approach of the Senate (health committee) bill, we have very strong concerns about the damaging impact that capping out-of-network reimbursement at the median in-network rate would have on patient access to care," said Laura Wooster, the association's associate executive director for public affairs.
Clement wrote that capping or eliminating balance billing would rob providers of the negotiating leverage they have with health plans, forcing them to accept unreasonable network rates. Over time, he said, rates would decline and physician practices would become economically non-viable for both network and out-of-network providers.
But those arguments are unlikely to hold up in court, said Tim Jost, an emeritus health law professor at Washington and Lee University.
"It seems to me a real stretch to say that requiring providers to accept a median in-network rate would be a taking prohibited by the Constitution or a violation of freedom of association," he said. "Government action has to be pretty extreme to constitute a taking."
Still, Clement's arguments "may give cover to politicians who are otherwise opposed to addressing surprise medical billing," he added.
In Fight Against Surprise Medical Bills, Lawmakers Miss High Air Ambulance Costs
Kaiser Health News source article |Comments courtesy of Matt Zavadsky
This article was produced by Kaiser Health News and published in Governing Magazine…
BY KAISER HEALTH NEWS
In April 2018, 9-year-old Christian Bolling was hiking with his parents and sister in Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains, near their home in Roanoke. While climbing some boulders, he lost his footing and fell down a rocky 20-foot drop, fracturing both bones in his lower left leg, his wrist, both sides of his nose and his skull.
A rescue squad carried him out of the woods, and a helicopter flew him to a pediatric hospital trauma unit in Roanoke.
Most of Christian’s care was covered by his parents’ insurance. But one bill stood out. Med-Trans, the air ambulance company, was not part of the family’s health plan network and billed $36,000 for the 34-mile trip from the mountain to the hospital. It was greater than the cost of his two-day hospitalization, scans and cast combined.
“When you’re in that moment, you’re only thinking about the life of your child,” said Christian’s mother, Cynthia Bolling, an occupational therapist. “I know that I am being taken advantage of. It’s just wrong.”
The rising number of complaints about surprise medical bills is spurring efforts on Capitol Hill and at the White House to help consumers. Over and over again, the high cost associated with air ambulance service gives patients the biggest sticker shock — the subject has come up at nearly every Capitol Hill hearing and press conference on surprise medical bills.
Yet air ambulance costs are not addressed in any of the proposals introduced or circulating in Congress. Even a congressional decision last year to set up a panel that would study air ambulance billing hasn’t gotten off the ground.
“We’re doing a disservice to patients if we protect them from hospital bills but bankrupt them on the way there,” said James Gelfand, senior vice president for health policy for the ERISA Industry Committee, known as ERIC, a trade association for large employers.
The issue came up again Wednesday at a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing where Rick Sherlock, president and CEO of the Association of Air Medical Services, the industry group for air ambulances, was among eight witnesses.
Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) sharply questioned Sherlock why costs for air ambulance services have risen by 300 percent in his state since 2006.
“I’m trying to get my hands around why this is costing so much and why so many of my constituents are being hit by surprise bills,” Luján said.
Sherlock said that reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid do not cover the cost of providing services, so charges to private patients must make up that difference.
Air ambulances serve more than 550,000 patients a year, according to industry data, and in many rural areas air ambulances are the only speedy way to get patients to trauma centers and burn units. As more than 100 rural hospitals have closed around the country since 2010, the need has increased for air services.
More than 80 million people can get to a Level 1 or 2 trauma center within an hour only if they’re flown by helicopter, according to Sherlock.
The service, though, comes at a cost. According to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office, two-thirds of the more than 34,000 air ambulance transports examined were not in the patients’ insurance networks. That can leave patients on the hook for the charges their insurers don’t cover, a practice known as “balance billing.”
In 2017, GAO found that the median price charged nationally by air ambulance providers was around $36,400 for helicopter rides and even higher for other aircraft. The total generally includes the costs for both the transportation and the medical care aboard the aircraft.
Additionally, the ongoing “Bill of the Month” investigative series by Kaiser Health News and NPR has received more than a dozen such bills, ranging from $28,000 to $97,000.
Cynthia Bolling said her insurance company paid about a third of Christian’s air ambulance bill and the family settled this week with Med Trans by agreeing to pay $4,400 out-of-pocket.
Reid Vogel, director of marketing and communications for Med Trans, said the company cannot talk about a private patient because of privacy rules. But he added that the company works with patients to find “equitable solutions” when their bills are not covered by insurance.
Since nearly three-quarters of flights are for patients insured by low-paying Medicare, Tricare and Medicaid, he said, “providers must shift costs to insured patients.”
Private insurers usually will pay only an amount close to what Medicare reimburses, which is around $6,500. That gives air ambulance companies an incentive to remain out-of-network, according to a 2017 GAO report.
“A representative from a large independent provider noted that being out of network with insurance is advantageous to the provider because a patient receiving a balance bill will ask for a higher payment from the insurance company, which often results in higher payment to the air ambulance provider than having a pre-negotiated payment rate with the insurer,” the GAO said.
In an interview, Sherlock, of the trade association, disputed the report’s findings, saying his members are actively trying to be in-network in more places, although he couldn’t provide any specific numbers.
“I think that everywhere they can, they’re incentivized to be in-network,” he said.
States are hampered in their efforts to ease the strain for residents.
The Airline Deregulation Act of 1978, which was intended to encourage more competition, forbids states to regulate prices for any air carrier, which applies to air ambulances. What’s more, many large employers’ health insurance is not governed by states but regulated by the federal labor law, known as ERISA.
So a remedy likely has to come from Congress. And it’s proven to be a heavy lift.
For example, the committees that deal with regulation of the air industry — the Commerce Committee in the Senate and the Transportation Committee in the House — don’t make health policy or regulate health insurance.
Last year, some lawmakers sought to let states regulate air ambulances with a provision in the bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration.
But that measure was ultimately eliminated. Instead, the bill called for the creation of an advisory committee to study air ambulance prices and surprise bills.
“The air ambulance lobby did a very good job playing defense during FAA authorization,” said ERIC’s Gelfand.
The panel, which was supposed to be formed within 60 days of the law’s enactment date — Oct. 5 — still has not been created.
Representatives from the air ambulance industry don’t think congressional action is necessary, although they are calling for higher reimbursements from Medicare.
Chris Eastlee, vice president for government relations for the Association of Air Medical Services, said his group does not favor more congressional regulation of prices but would support mandatory disclosure of costs to the secretary of Health and Human Services. The organization argues that greater transparency will help companies negotiate more in-network contracts.
A fix for surprise bills supported by some researchers and advocates would require every provider within a medical facility to accept any insurance plan that contracts with that hospital. It might also help bring down air ambulance bills, said Loren Adler, associate director of USC-Brookings Schaeffer Initiative for Health Policy.
It would avoid the situation where someone picks an in-network hospital only to find out that a surgeon or anesthesiologist at that hospital doesn’t take their insurance. Air transport should also be included in the rule, he said.
“It’s the exact same situation as with the out-of-network emergency facility rates,” Adler said. “The same solutions should apply.”
Gelfand suggested also that the House Ways and Means Committee mandate that air ambulance companies seeking to participate in Medicare must charge in-network rates.
That would require only a small tweak of the legislative language, as he sees it. “Every proposal that includes something to address surprise bills for emergency care, all you have to do is add in the words ‘air ambulances,’” Gelfand said.
Right now, the closest any surprise billing proposal has come to addressing air ambulances is a draft legislative plan on medical costs from Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.). They would require bills for air ambulance trips to be itemized to show both medical charges and the transportation charges so patients and health plans can understand them better.
Surprise billing proposals don't address ambulances
Axios Source Article | Comments Courtesy of Matt Zavadsky
Interesting – From Axios…
Caitlin Owens
None of Congress' proposals to rein in surprise medical bills address ambulances — which are expensive and often aren't covered by insurance.
Why it matters: More than half of ambulance rides, and two-thirds of air ambulance transports, aren't covered by private insurance. Patients are often billed more than $10,000 for what insurance won't cover.
What we're watching: Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Frank Pallone has said that the committee plans to address air ambulances in its final bill. But it's less clear what will happen with ground ambulances.
What they're saying: "Ground ambulances are arguably the screwiest market of any that comes up in this context," said Brooking's Loren Adler.
"Neither side has much incentive to contract because the insurer knows the ambulance has to pick up anyone who calls 911 and the ambulance doesn’t want to take less money from the insurer than they could get balance billing people," he added.
The other side: Air ambulances say that the government reimburses below the cost of the service. That means that they have to charge privately insured patients higher rates, but insurers often refuse to cover their services.
Final Rule On Health Reimbursement Arrangements Could Shake Up Markets
This is a very comprehensive, (i.e.: long) interpretation of the new HRA regulations.
Seems that these changes could have significant impact on both employers and employees.
On June 13, 2019, the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury issued a new final rule to expand the use of health reimbursement arrangements (HRAs) by employers to fund premiums for their employees in the individual health insurance market. The final rule reverses prior federal guidance by allowing HRAs to be used to fund both premiums and out-of-pocket costs associated with individual health insurance coverage. The Departments also released new frequently asked questions, model attestations, and model notices.
The final rule is largely similar to the proposed rule, which received more than 500 comments from a stakeholders that include state regulators, insurers, and employers, brokers, and benefit advisors. The final rule’s major significant changes focus primarily on new “integration requirements” for HRAs. The rule also allows a new “excepted benefit HRA” option that employees can use to pay premiums for excepted benefits and short-term coverage. Individuals who gain access to an HRA or qualified small employer health reimbursement arrangement are eligible for a special enrollment period in the individual market.
© 2019 Academy of International Mobile Healthcare Integration | www.aimhi.mobi | hello@aimhi.mobi
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Her ser du listen med Ginetta modeller. Vælg en model for at se alle årgangene.
Ginetta Cars
Ginetta Cars is a British specialist builder of racing and sports cars based in Garforth, Leeds, West Yorkshire.
Ginetta G60-LT-P1
The Ginetta G60-LT-P1 is a non-hybrid Le Mans Prototype built by Ginetta for use in the LMP1 category for the FIA World Endurance Championship, as well as the 24 Hours of Le Mans.
Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S
The Ginetta-Zytek GZ09S was a LMP1-class Le Mans prototype race car, built by Zytek Engineering following their partial merger with Ginetta.
The Ginetta G40 is a sports car which has been built by Ginetta Cars since 2010. It is available in two versions; a road-going version, named the G40R, and the race version, the G40, which is available in two specifications; one of which is the G40 Challenge, the other is the G40 Junior, which were designed for the Ginetta GT5 Challenge and the Ginetta Junior Championship respectively.
Ginetta Sagan
Ginetta Sagan (June 1, 1925 – August 25, 2000) was an Italian-born American human rights activist best known for her work with Amnesty International on behalf of prisoners of conscience.
The Ginetta G55 is a specialist sports car, which has been built by Ginetta Cars since 2011. It is built to the FIA GT3 regulations, and the cars are raced in a one-make series; the Ginetta GT Supercup.
The Ginetta G50 is a specialist GT4 class-developed racing car, designed by Ginetta Cars. A road version of the car was planned, but did not enter wide-scale production; instead, the smaller Ginetta G40 was launched.
Ginetta-Juno P3-15
The Ginetta-Juno P3-15, also known as the Ginetta-Juno P3 is a Le Mans Prototype LMP3 built to ACO Le Mans Prototype LMP3 regulations.
The G60 is a mid-engined sports car produced by British car manufacturer Ginetta Cars, based on the Ginetta F400, which itself was based on the Farbio GTS.
Ginetta GT4 Supercup
The Ginetta GT4 Supercup is a one-make racing, Sports car racing series based in the United Kingdom, using identical Ginetta G50 and G55 sports cars.
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What it Means to Create With Intention
By Brianne Hogan
I have a few responsibilities to uphold while I’m here on this planet, and one of them — I think the biggest one — is to help people live their lives more authentically. Like, I’m talking unabashedly authentic. Unapologetically authentic. This is how I live. At least, I really, really try to. Being authentic is kind of in my bones. It’s my North Star. When I know I’m not being true to myself, I literally feel sick. I feel like I’m living in a pile of mud, or to put it more bluntly, shit. I feel like shit. Maybe even I look like shit. Life feels heavy. I feel like something extreme and intense is raging inside of me, trying desperately to burst outta me like I’m that creepy girl from “The Exorcist.” I might feel scattered. Lost. Uneasy. Extra emotional (more so than usual). Something just feels off. Basically, I don’t feel like ME.
When I feel this grossness, I know it’s time for…a change. A shift. An overdue text message. It’s not something different and unLIKE me, but the opposite. I do what comes natural. What feels real and true. I get back to me. And in order to do this, I get clear on what that is, what that would feel and look like. And then…I fucking do it.
This has looked like…quitting more jobs than I can count. Going freelance. Turning down a book deal. Moving across the country. Breaking some hearts. Breaking my own heart.
All in the name of authentic living.
But here’s the thing: being real and true to you is a process. It’s self-awareness. It’s purging. It’s getting raw and real. It’s no bullshit. It’s owning your shit. It’s claiming what you want, wholeheartedly. It’s super duper vulnerable.
I think what must come before authenticity are a couple of things. The first: acceptance. Total self-acceptance of who you are and what you want, and acceptance of your sacred and shadow side. Like, deep shit. (Total self-acceptance, by the way, is always, always going to be a work-in-progress. So, like, let’s leave that one for another day.)
The other is, clarity. Clarity on…everything. What you want. What you like, what you don’t like. Clarity on who you are. What you like about yourself, what you don’t. What you want to own about your life’s story, what you want to let go of. With clarity — which by the way, can be just as challenging/confrontational as self-acceptance and is most definitely not easy to spot just so we’re, uh, clear — comes intention.
Ooh, intention. In my humble opinion everything starts with intention. From what we eat to how we communicate to our relationships to our creative projects to…
Because without intention, we are operating from autopilot. Knee-jerk reflexes. Old habits and patterning that probably don’t serve us any longer.
For example: you want to feel more healthy, but your go-to snacks are highly processed and not-that-great-for-you but they’re “easy” and “comfortable” and it’s what you know, so…Or…maybe you have this dying, all-encompassing urge to honour your beautiful creativity. You really want to make something that is so YOU. That is so perfectly aligned with your soul. But you’re still working at that desk job you hate…
How do you bust out of these ruts? With intention. How do you live life more authentically? With intention. How do you create soul-aligning work? With intention. But what does it mean to have an intention? And how do you know what yours is?
It goes back to your WHY.
Why do you want…the healthy body? The long-term relationship? The creative enterprise? Why, why, why.
And how do you find your WHY? By figuring out what your values are. By understanding that you want certain things because you believe they will bring you a certain ‘something something’ into your life. Mostly a feeling. Feelings that feel good. Feelings that feel like your best self. Your most true self.
My values/feelings are: Fulfillment. Connection. Community. Stability. Joy.
Speaking very broadly, these look like: Working from home. Communicating my needs and desires. Solid friends and family around me. Entrepreneurship. Freedom. Flexibility. A steady income. Animals. Love. Good food. Exercise.
When I got clear with my intention on my WHY with writing…I was booking more long-term gigs. I was writing stuff I cared about. Subjects that I loved. I enjoyed. I finally felt I had something to say. I felt purposeful. I also landed a book deal and an agent.
And now my WHY has put me on the path of a new project: my desire to create a writing workshop that focuses on “creating from intention.”
Maybe I buried the lede. But, yes, this is something I’m working on and hoping to bring to people sometime this year — a writing workshop and course that helps people create projects with intention. So that you can create from a place of authenticity. So that the work you’re creating feels and sounds like YOU. That you are sharing YOUR story. Your truth.
Because I think that’s what we’re all here to do. To live and share our truths/stories with one another. Your story is everyone’s story. You heal by healing. Speak and live the truth and we all feel free.
So in preparation of this new venture of mine, here’s a little exercise: Think of a creative project — or any project, any wish that you are desiring — and think of your WHY. Why do you want to create that meditation course? Write that children’s book? Don’t go general. Go deep. Get personal. What are your top five values in life? What feelings do you want to feel by creating this project? And WHY?
Your list and your why will look different from mine, of course. But we all have a list. We all have values. We all have a WHY. And when you know what that is…that fuels the fire. That brings the intention into focus.
And from there? You can start creating with your heart on fire.
xo Brie
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brianne hogan
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Of the millions of songs which have been recorded, only 30 songs can make it into The Lucy Museum of Musicians who deserve entry to Lucy's Museum of Musicians and at number 1 and therefore the best song ever recorded, we have Sweet Child O' Mine by Guns N Roses (1988).
The outstanding Sweet Child O'Mine' ticks every box and is the perfect song, beginning with Slash, has a magnificent Slash solo in the middle and ends with the maestro with Axl Rose going on about his baby's blue eyes and pretty smile and throwing in a few 'woah oh, oh, oh's' before ending with even more Slash which goes to show that great love songs do not have to be mushy ballads and can contain arse kicking guitar solos. By Slash preferably.
The song ends as a different one to which it started although the rumour is that they didn't know how to end the song so they just chanted 'where do we go now' over and over again.
That the debut Guns N Roses album it came from, 'Appetite for Destruction' also contained 'Welcome to the Jungle' and 'Paradise City' and they left off for future albums 'November Rain" and 'Don't Cry' because they had already agreed to put "Sweet Child 'O Mine" on it as the ballad on the album meant that they were always going to be massive as long as they didn't implode in a drugs and drink frenzy first.
Something which did go bang was bass player Duff McKagan's pancreas which exploded due to too much alcohol and and it doesn't get much more rock and roll than your bodies internal organs rebelling and trying to blow themselves up but that was Guns N Roses, they were always drunk, mostly high but always brilliant and if nothing else they left us with the best song ever made since that first person pulled a vine tightly across a plank of wood and plucked it.
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Britannica.com
Iraq: Who’s to Blame?
Chet Meeks - April 2, 2007
The U.S. has now been in Iraq for more than four years. More than 3,000 American soldiers are dead. An October 11, 2006 article in the Washington Post reports that a group of public health researchers from Johns Hopkins University estimate that “655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.” Health Now reports that 92% of Iraqi children are suffering from mental health issues as a result of the American invasion: “the only thing they have on their minds are guns, bullets, death, and fear of the US occupation.”
As recent polls indicate, Americans are now largely opposed to the Iraq War, despite the President’s recent urging for patience. On the other hand, a full 43% still believe we did not make a mistake by invading. How did we get here, Americans seem to be asking themselves. Who’s to blame? We have blamed the President, as his low approval rating indicates. On counterpunch.org, Joshua Frank blames Hillary Clinton and other Democrats for failing to challenge the war resolution in 2003, and for doing very little to stop the war once they gained a majority in 2006. Liberals have also blamed Cheney and other neo-conservatives for hijacking the country, for ruining our global reputation Guantanamo style, and for throwing our own civil liberties in the toilet with the Patriot Act and with the warrantless wiretappings that violated the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978.
We have blamed the media for not being tough enough on the powers-that-be during the rush to war with Iraq (see David Brock’s mediawatch.org). Many now blame the Iraqi people themselves — for not wanting democracy badly enough, and not doing enough to secure their own country after we left it in shambles with our Rumsfeldian “shock and awe” campaign of terror.
There’s one group of people who seemed to have escaped any blame for this cataclysm: The American Citizenry.
It’s easy to blame the president — and I blame him, too, to be sure — but nothing George W. Bush has done has surprised me in the least since his “election” in 2000. I knew he would be a bad leader from the start. He was then, and is now, a stubborn person who, at one time, claimed not to concern himself with newspapers and polls and who seems impenetrable to the ideas of others when they conflict with his own. Yet this is the man who, after 9/11, had the highest approval rating of any president in the history of our Republic. America loved it when Bush cried on television about 9/11, the same day he was reading a child’s book upside down. [See final paragraph.]
It’s also easy to blame the neoconservatives, but neoconservatism did not come out of nowhere, and neocons had plenty of public support during the rush to war with Iraq. The basic idea behind neoconservative foreign policy — that America should preemptively attack any country that we feel threatens us, that we should change regimes at will, that we should intervene militarily anywhere in the world any time we want — had broad popular support from the Americans who now blame them (see Ron Suskind’s book, The One Percent Doctrine).
It’s easy to blame Hillary Clinton because, well, she’s Hillary Clinton. Along with many other Democrats in Congress, she was wrong to support the 2003 war resolution, and she is wrong now in refusing to apologize for her mistake. Still, her support for the 2003 war resolution cannot be separated from the fact that the American public was overwhelmingly in support of the war at that time. Clinton is a smart politician, and she knew in 2003 that to not support Bush’s quest for war would be political suicide.
How about the media? Conservatives think the media is too liberal. Liberals believe corporate interests trump the truth. To be sure, our mass media is not perfect. But people like myself who opposed the war from the beginning were not reading French newspapers; we were getting our news from the same place as every other American. While the media is not perfect and can be rightly blamed for going easy on Bush, I seem to remember plenty of interviews with Hans Blix and Mohamed Elbaradei in which both claimed that the inspections were working and that war was not necessary. I seem to remember Kofi Annan and many member-states of the European Union warning us that a pre-emptive attack would be illegal and would have catastrophic consequences. I seem to remember Scott Ritter, a former UN weapons inspector in Iraq, a US Marine, and a Republican, warning us nightly on CNN and elsewhere that there was no possible way Iraq could have reconstituted its weapons program after the sanctions of the 1990s. They were all right, and the American citizens who refused to listen to them were wrong.
America is the richest country on earth and in the history of humanity. Even our poorer citizens have more money than most people who inhabit the planet. According to Seymour Martin Lipset’s book, American Exceptionalism, 43% of Americans attend church service on a weekly basis, yet America ranks at the very bottom in voter participation per capita amongst democratic countries worldwide (see also the World Values Survey of 1980, 1990, and 1995). Americans go to church, but not to the voting booths. They may know who Anna Nicole Smith was, but less than half of college seniors know what the Ba’th Party is (see the Civil Literacy Report). Although I have no hard statistics to prove it, I seriously doubt most Americans can explain the differences between the Sunnis, the Shi’a, and the Wahhabiists (if you don’t know, read Scott Ritters brilliant essay).
When the president decided to go to war, 75% of the American public supported his decision, and a full 1/3 of the American public believed we should declare war even in the absence of UN support (see World Public Opinion for this and other polls). And most Americans are probably of the mind that things didn’t work out in Iraq because Iraqis don’t love freedom nearly as much as we do. Speaking of freedom, most Americans define freedom as the freedom to consume in whatever way they choose without any regard for the social consequences of their behavior: freedom means the freedom to drive an SUV, to consume most of the world’s resources at cheap costs, to pollute the environment however we wish, to live in expensive suburbs where one has little contact with others, and the freedom to watch as much television as possible.
During the rush to war with Iraq, nearly 70% of the American population believed that there was a direct connection between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda. Nearly as many believed that there were Iraqis amongst the terrorists who attacked us on 9/11. President Bush’s approval ratings were higher than any President’s, ever. Americans applauded when we renamed French fries “freedom fries.” These individuals viewed those of us who were protesting the war as unpatriotic, anti-American cowards who did not “support the troops.” They viewed the war the same way they view a Monday night football game: you have to be for one side, the “good guys,” and if you’re not rooting and waving your foam finger from the bleachers, you’re anti-American. After 9/11, American citizens were thirsty for revenge, and they didn’t seem to care whose blood was spilled.
Now that the war has become inconvenient, Americans are opposed to it. They don’t like Bush anymore. They like Cheney even less. They voted the Democrats in to office. But where was the American citizenry when it mattered? The American public had the power to stop this war, but they didn’t; they handed Bush a second term in 2004. I have a deep suspicion that the turn against the war has less to do with any deeply felt, well thought out opposition to the war itself, and far more to do with the boredom and short attention spans of a spoiled American citizenry who inherited the most powerful democracy on earth, and who allowed one village idiot to pillage it. Four years is a long time to pay attention.
Now that we’re in the midst of disaster, we can blame whomever we choose. But when Joe Q. Public wakes up in the morning and ponders who should be blamed for Iraq, he should look in a mirror.
(I am thankful to readers who have pointed out that the Congressional resolution authorizing the Iraq war occurred in 2002, not 2003. This is correct. The war resolution passed in 2002, and our invasion of Iraq ensued in March, 2003. A few readers have also pointed out that, in fact, George W. Bush was not holding “My Pet Goat” upside down on 9/11/01, while he sat inert in a Florida classroom for a full seven minutes after hearing the news about planes striking American cities. Bush was accused of holding another book, “America: A Patriotic Primer,” by Lynne Cheney, upside down, but these photos, it seems, were doctored as part of an anti-Bush urban legend. As a careful writer, I should have double checked this fact before maligning the President with it. In any case, it is the least offensive example of his incompetence. I could easily have cited dozens of other more significant and alarming failures by Bush — if that were the main theme of my essay. CM)
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Events: Doug Armstrong, Andrea-Teresa Arenas and Eloisa Gómez, just about sold out for Gail Honeyman
Thursday, May 31, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Douglas Armstrong, author of Life on the Sun
Douglas Armstrong, former reporter for The Milwaukee Journal and winner of the Council for Wisconsin Writers Anne Powers (now Edna Ferber) Award, was on the scene in the 1960s during the era of anti-war protests and the struggles for civil rights and women’s liberation. These turbulent times are the backdrop of his new series of dark humor mysteries, beginning with Life on the Sun.
Armstrong’s latest novel spans ten days of anger and confusion in that bygone era of love beads, tear gas, and manual typewriters. It’s July, 1967, and war is raging in Vietnam. Following a suspicious fire that’s killed a famous war protestor, three headstrong strangers – a rookie newspaper reporter, a veteran rewrite man, and the anti-war fugitive’s bereaved girlfriend – clash as the mystery of his murder unfolds in their revolving viewpoints.
The sometimes darkly comic novel, set against the eccentric inner workings of a metropolitan daily newspaper, is a remembrance of tumultuous times, when lives were disrupted or destroyed by war’s far-reaching consequences.
Douglas Armstrong is the author of the prizewinning novel Even Sunflowers Cast Shadows, and his short fiction has appeared in a variety of magazines, including Alfred Hitchcock and Ellery Queen. He serves on the board of the Whitefish Bay Library and school district, and is a member of the Mystery Writers of America, the Council for Wisconsin Writers, and the Milwaukee Press Club.
Tuesday, June 5, 6:00 pm, at MPL's Mitchell Street Branch, 906 W Historic Mitchell St:
Andrea-Teresa Arenas and Eloisa Gómez, author of Somos Latinas: Voices of Wisconsin Latina Activists
Arenas, director of the Somos Latinas Digital History Project, and Gómez, former vice president of the Latino Historical Society of Wisconsin, share the inspirational stories of twenty-five Latina agents of change. The powerful narratives of these activists, from outspoken demonstrators to collaborative community-builders to determined individuals working for change behind the scenes, provide proof of the long-standing legacy of Latina activism throughout Wisconsin.
Somos Latinas draws on activist interviews conducted as part of the Somos Latinas Digital History Project, housed at the Wisconsin Historical Society, and looks deep into the life and passion of each woman. Though Latinas have a rich history of community activism in the state and throughout the country, their stories often go uncelebrated. Somos Latinas is essential reading for scholars, historians, activists, and anyone curious about how everyday citizens can effect change in their communities.
Listen to Tess Arenas talk to Stephanie Lecci on a 2013 edition of Lake Effect about this project.
Andrea-Teresa Arenas, PhD, recently retired from her positions at UW–Madison as a Chican@ and Latin@ Studies Faculty Affiliate and the director of the Office of Service Learning and Community-Based Research in the College of Letters and Science. Eloisa Gómez is the director of the Milwaukee County UW–Extension Office. From 2008 to 2012, she was the vice president of the Latino Historical Society of Wisconsin, and she served on the Somos Latinas Advisory Committee from 2012 to 2015.
Wednesday, June 6, 7:00 pm reception, 7:30 pm talk, at Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W Brown Deer Rd:
A ticketed event with Gail Honeyman, author of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
Gail Honeyman's event at the Lynden Sculpture Garden is close to capacity and remaining tickets are going fast. Tickets are $22, $18 for Lynden members, and include an autographed paperback copy of Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine as well as refreshments from MKE Localicious. Tickets available online, at lyndensculpturegarden.org/gailhoneyman, or by phone: (414) 446-8794.
From Jenny Colgan in The Guardian: "Long after your chance has gone to make it as a professional gymnast, ballerina or violinist, there is and always still the chance to write your book. And here comes a debut novel discovered through a writing competition, by an author in her 40s, which has sold for huge sums worldwide. It does happen.
"And what a joy it is. The central character of Eleanor feels instantly and insistently real, as if she had been patiently waiting in the wings for her cue all along."
To the British, the discovery of Gail Honeyman was akin to the joy of hearing Susan Boyle sing "I Dreamed a Dream" on Britain's Got Talent. The book went on to win the coveted Costa First Novel Award. It's also a selection of the Reese Witherspoon Book Club.
This Boswell bestseller list for the week ending May 26, 2018 brought to you by Andrew Sean Greer and Jennifer Egan visiting Boswell on June 15. Tickets now available.
Here's the Boswell's bestsellers for the week ending May 26, 2018
Hardcover Fiction:
1. Paris by the Book, by Liam Callanan
2. Robert's Rules, by J.F. Riordan
3. Gale Force, by Owen Laukkanen
4. The Outsider, by Stephen King
5. A Gentleman in Moscow, by Amor Towles
6. Warlight, by Michael Ondaatje
7. The Immortalists, by Chloe Benjamin
8. Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng
9. The Mars Room, by Rachel Kushner
10. Less, by Andrew Sean Greer (tickets for June 15 event here with Jennifer Egan here -- more below
Sorry! Stephen King is not coming back to Milwaukee for The Outsider. That was kind of a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Of the new book, Amanda St. Amand in the St. Louis Post Dispatch writes: "What would it feel like to be so perfectly, completely implicated in the worst crime to ever befall a small town, and have perfectly, completely exonerating evidence you weren’t there? That’s the biggest question King explores in The Outsider as small-town cops and prosecutors are asked to believe the impossible — and find the impossible as well."
Hardcover Nonfiction:
1. Rocket Men, by Robert Kurson
2. War in 140 Characters, by David Patrikarakos (at USM on Thu Sept 13, 7 pm)
3. Born a Crime, by Trevor Noah
4. Parisian Charm School, by Jamie Cat Callan
5. Restless Wave, by John McCain
6. Barracoon, by Zora Neale Hurston
7. Creative Confidence, by David Kelley
8. The Soul of America, by Jon Meacham
9. Facts and Fears, by James R. Clapper
10. See What Can Be Done, by Lorrie Moore
The political books keep coming. New to the list this week is James R. Clapper's Facts and Fears: Hard Truths from a Life in Intelligence. Philip Ewing, reviewing the book on the NPR site, writes: "No wonder James Clapper always seemed so grouchy. The longtime spy baron became well-known during his stint as director of national intelligence for his profound scowl and sometimes-Zen-like terseness. Now, in his new memoir, Clapper tells why: It is the tale of how the world — at least from his perspective - fell apart."
Paperback Fiction:
1. Run, by Ann Patchett
2. Dragon Teeth, by Michael Crichton
3. Less, by Andrew Sean Greer (did we mention Greer is visiting?)
4. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, by Arundhati Roy
5. Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward
6. Station Eleven, by Emily St. John Mandel
7. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders
8. Pachinko, by Min Jin Lee
9. All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
10. The Thin Man, by Dashiell Hammett
Why anyone would buy a copy of Less when for just about the same price they can get the book and see Andrew Sean Greer is in conversation with Jennifer Egan is beyond me, but I know that this time of year there are people to see, trips to embark on, drinks to imbibe. Hey, you can drink afterwards. This is going to be an amazing event. Here's YA star Maggie Stiefvater (really!) reviewing the book on Goodreads: "I actually think I loved it because of what it believes. There's a line in the book — I had to fetch it to quote it exactly — that I think is what the book says on every page: 'Just for the record: happiness is not bullshit.'" We have plenty of people attending, but it strikes me that we should be sold out already! Ticket link here.
Paperback Nonfiction:
1. Just Mercy, by Bryan Stevenson
2. Sapiens, by Yuval Noah Harari
3. Lost Milwaukee, by Carl Swanson
4. The Color of Law, by Richard Rothstein
5. Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond
6. The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, by Dan Egan
7. Somos Latinas, edited by Andrea-Teresa Arenas and Eloisa Gómez (event at MPL Mitchell Street Branch, 6/5, 6 pm)
8. Evicted, by Matthew Desmond
9. Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
10. Janesville, by Amy Goldstein
No, not every bookin he store is on the what to read after Evicted table, but it's noticeable that while Evicted didn't make this list, just about every book in our top ten is at least scheduled for the table (there's a lot of books, so we rotate). Just to say that aside from the regional stuff, issue books really drive this category, even when we're talking about things that could be in history or memoir. Not so many traditional bios, soft memoirs, or even paperbacks on the impulse table. It strikes me that event Killers of the Flower Moon is driven by the issues in the book, as much as the storytelling. The In-Store Lit Group is reading David Grann's history book on August 6.
Books for Kids:
1. The Hate U Give, by Angie Thomas
2. Here We Are, by Oliver Jeffers
3. The House that Once Was, by Julie Fogliano
4. If You Had a Jetpack, by Lisl Detlefsen, illustrations by Linzie Hunter
5. Endling: The Last, by Katherine Applegate
6. Anger Is a Gift, by Mark Oshiro
7. What a Wonderful World, by Bob Thiele
8. You Go First, by Erin Entrada Kelly
9. The Wild Robot, by Peter Brown
10. Baby Monkey Private Eye, by Brian Selznick
Here's my rec on If You Had a Jetpack: "What adventures two little animals have when they build jetpacks to fly around! Helping their principal, visiting Nana, playing Turbo Tag – the possibilities are endless. I like how both the conditional tense of the story and the emphasizing of adverbs play with the adorable illustrations (you’ve seen them on puzzles, stickers, and greeting cards) to give the story a sense of possibility. Both the text and the pictures have lots of funny asides to keep readers young and old occupied, and I can’t imagine a group of kids reading this story not having their own ideas about what they’d do with a jetpack."
And now it's time for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel TapBooks Page features.
Paula McLain's Love and Ruin, a novel based on Martha Gellhorn and her marriage to Hemingway, is reviewed by Jocelyn McClurg, originally from USA Today. She writes: "It can be weird, if titillating, to eavesdrop on imagined, intimate conversations between famous people, but McLain’s dialogue, is, as Hem might say, good and true. She captures the passion Gellhorn and Hemingway feel for each other, and the slow erosion of trust on both sides." We have some signed copies.
From Pamela Miller, originally from the Star Tribune, comes a profile of the Gopher State's Patricia Hampl, whose new memoir is The Art of the Wasted Day. She writes: "Patricia Hampl, a memoirist, poet and professor who is one of Minnesota’s most thoughtful writers, transports us far from such glum judgment in her latest memoir, a wise and beautiful ode to the imagination – from a child’s daydreams, to the unexpected revelations encountered in solitary travel, meditation and reading, to the flights of creativity taken by writers, artists and philosophers."
Randy Lewis in the Los Angeles Times talked to Robert Hilburn about his new biography, Paul Simon: The Life. On granting access: "There was this huge thing early on – in the second month, third month, fourth month. He said, 'If you’re going to London, here are some people you ought to talk to,' and he had a whole list of names. He had people he had his secretary send notes to saying I’m going to be calling them. But then he said, 'Now Kathy Chitty (his girlfriend during his early years living in England) is off limits.' And I thought, 'Here we go.'"
Book Club Mondays
When Boswell first opened, our goal was to have a book club meet on each Monday. I started the Lit group on the first Monday, Jason led the Science Fiction Book Club on the second Monday, and Anne organized the mystery group on the fourth Monday, which I think actually continued from the Shorewood Harry W. Schwartz Bookshop. And then for the third Monday, another group asked us to meet and agreed to be open to new members and Boswell promotion. We actually had a few other book clubs asked to meet on weekends and afternoons and signed them up.
One thing you learn is that not every program goes the way as planned. And one thing we realized over time was that if a Boswell person wasn't running the book club, it's not really our book club. It's hard to get the titles, hard to move the meeting if we're hosting a large event, and hard to get the people to buy the books from us. Sometimes the clubs would get so popular they'd outgrow the space. Live and learn.
We'd been contemplating a fourth Boswell club for years. And after contemplating a few other ideas, we decided to copy the model in a few other cities and have a bar book club. Cafe Hollander signed on. Irony #1: After we set this up, the longtime club meeting in the store moved to a weekend daytime model. Irony #2: Just after the first meeting, another beer book club asked to meet at Holland on the same time. We saw it as proof that we had a good idea.
Our New Books and Beer Book Club is at Cafe Hollander on the Third Monday of Each Month, at 7 pm. Here are our next three selections:
--Monday, June 18: Underground Airlines, by Ben H. Winters
--Monday, July 16: Meddling Kids, by Edgar Cantero
--Monday, August 20: Mister Monkey, by Francine Prose
While you are reading, here are our other upcoming book-club selections.
In-Store Lit Group, run by Daniel on the first Monday at Boswell at 7 pm
--Monday, June 4: The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, by Lisa See
--Monday, July 2: Sour Heart: Stories, by Jenny Zhang
--Monday, August 6: Killers of the Flower Moon, by David Grann
Science Fiction Book Club, run by Jason on the second Monday at Boswell at 7 pm
--Monday, June 11: Embers of War, by Gareth L. Powell
--Monday, July 9: Borne, by Jeff VanderMeer
--Monday, August 13: Spaceman of Bohemia, by Jaroslav Kalfar
Boswell Mystery Book Club, run by Anne on the fourth Monday at Boswell at 7 pm
--Monday, June 25: The Professionals, by Owen Laukkanen
--Monday, July 23: Open Grave, by Kjell Eriksson
--Monday, August 27: Death on Nantucket, by Francine Mathews (just announced!)
And for those who care about these things, both the Science Fiction Club and the Books and Beer Book Club have selections titled to the end of the year and beyond.
I should note that with our event programming ramped up from what was a modest beginning, we no longer schedule regular groups at the magazine table on weekday nights and weekend days. But if your group meets weekday days, it still might be possible, if another group isn't already meeting. We suggest that it be for groups of 12 or less. And it is possible to schedule one-off meetings for book selection, based on availability.
Here's one more book club piece of news. We have two book club events at area libraries on Tuesday, June 26. At 2 pm at the Frank L. Weyenberg Library in Mequon, and again at 6:30 at the Elm Grove Library, I will be giving a talk with an area librarian (Paulette Brooks in Elm Grove) about great book club choices. As part of that, we'll be featuring Kathleen Rooney, the author of one of our favorite book club selections, Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, who will talk about her book. We've done this before and it's a lot of fun!
We're trying to keep our book club page updated. You can find it here.
Events this week: Robert Kurson, Jamie Cat Callan, J.F Riordan, Owen Laukkanen in conversation with Nick Petrie
What's going on at Boswell this week?
Tuesday, May 22, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Robert Kurson, author of Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man's First Journey to the Moon
Robert Kurson, the Chicago-based University of Wisconsin-Madison grad and bestselling author of Shadow Divers, appears at Boswell with his latest riveting history, the lesser-known inside story of NASA’s boldest, riskiest mission: Apollo 8, mankind’s first journey to the moon. For this event, Kurson will be in conversation with technology specialist Dave Shapson, an area technology specialist who helped on the research for Rocket Men.
In early 1968, the Apollo program was on shaky footing. President Kennedy’s end-of-decade deadline to put a man on the moon was in jeopardy, and the Soviets were threatening to pull ahead in the space race. By August 1968, with its back against the wall, NASA decided to scrap its usual methodical approach and shoot for the heavens. With just four months to prepare, the agency would send the first men in history to the Moon.
From Meg Jones's profile in the Journal Sentinel: "While researching his book, Kurson had unprecedented access to all three astronauts and their families as well as key NASA officials who vividly shared their recollections from 50 years ago. Borman and Lovell are now 90 and Anders is 84. All three are still married to their wives, a rarity for 1960s astronauts."
In addition to Shadow Divers, Robert Kurson is the author of Pirate Hunters and Crashing Through. His award-winning stories have appeared in Rolling Stone, The New York Times Magazine, and Esquire, where he is a contributing editor.
Wednesday, May 23, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Jamie Cat Callan, author of Parisian Charm School: French Secrets for Cultivating Love, Joy, and That Certain Je Ne Sais Quoi
Jamie Cat Callan presents an engaging and practical guide to cultivating inner beauty and mystique. This is sure to be a delightful evening for anyone who is French, has French aspirations, or just wants to add a little bit of that certain je ne sais quoi to their lives. Cosponsored by Alliance Française de Milwaukee.
We all know that French women don’t get fat. But their famous joie de vivre comes from more than just body type. It’s from the old-fashioned art of keeping romance alive at any age. Filled with insights from Parisian women, this delightful guide shows readers how to cultivate charm in the age of Tinder and OKCupid and to find lasting romance and connection.
From first impressions, lively conversation (in person!), and cultivating social finesse to embracing femininity and communicating with grace and humor, this is age-old advice that’s more precious than ever in our disconnected world. For anyone who’s tired of texting with strangers who don’t write back, here’s an inspiring guide to a better way.
Jamie Cat Callan is the author of the bestselling books French Women Don’t Sleep Alone, Bonjour, Happiness! and Ooh La La! French Women’s Secrets to Feeling Beautiful Every Day. Her books have been published in 21 countries and have been featured in major magazines, including The New York Times, Vanity Fair, and Time.
J. F. Riordan, author of Robert’s Rules
Riordan returns with Robert’s Rules, the third installment of the award-winning North of the Tension Line series set on a remote island in the Great Lakes. Called a modern-day Jane Austen, Riordan creates wry, engaging tales and vivid characters that celebrate the well-lived life of the ordinary man and woman.
As the new Chairman of the Town Board, Fiona Campbell finds life has become a series of petty squabbles, complicated by her guardianship of the as-yet unidentified screaming goat. In desperation, she hires a newcomer, the compulsively orderly Oliver Robert, to keep her organized. As Roger’s fame as an idiosyncratic yoga practitioner spreads, and he and Elisabeth look for a new location to accommodate the growing crowds at their tiny coffee shop.
Meanwhile, Ferry Captain and poet Pali has an offer to leave the Island and wonders whether it is time to introduce his son, Ben, to the larger world. The Fire Chief is threatening to quit, and Fiona finds herself faced with an Island controversy and an unwanted set of new responsibilities. As Pete Landry prepares to leave for one of his regular journeys, Fiona begins to suspect his life may be more than it seems. His secrecy raises doubt about whether he can be trusted, and their breakup plunges her into grief. The reliable Jim, always nearby, is all too ready to offer comfort.
J.F. Riordan first moved to Wisconsin as a child. At the age of 14 she decided to become an opera singer, studied voice at the University of New Mexico and in Chicago and Milwaukee, and ultimately became a professional singer. Homesick after years of travel, she came home to the Midwest. She taught for three years before taking a position as a program officer for a foundation. She lives in exile from Washington Island with her husband and two dogs.
Friday, May 25, 7:00 pm, at Boswell:
Owen Laukkanen, author of Gale Force, in conversation with novelist Nick Petrie. This event is cosponsored by Crimespree Magazine.
Partners in crime (fiction) Owen Laukkanen and Milwaukee’s own Nick Petrie convene at Boswell for a conversation about Laukkanen’s newest novel, Gale Force, the beginning of a new series of seafaring action-adventure starring a dazzling new heroine. Laukkanen's latest was just named one of five mystery/thrillers to read for summer from Carole E. Barrowman.
McKenna Rhodes has never been able to get the sight of her father’s death out of her mind. A freak maritime accident has made her the captain of the salvage boat Gale Force, but it’s also made her cautious, sticking closer to the Alaska coastline. She and her crew are just scraping by when a freighter out of Yokohama founders two hundred miles out in a storm.
This is their last chance, but more is at stake than they know. Unlisted on any manifest, the Lion’s crew includes a man on the run carrying fifty million dollars in stolen Yakuza bearer bonds. And the storm rages on. If McKenna can’t find a way to prevail, everything she loves and maybe even her life itself will be lost. Filled with bravery, betrayal, sudden twists, and pure excitement, Gale Force is a spectacular new adventure from the fast-rising suspense star.
Vancouver author Owen Laukkanen comes from a family of fishermen and spent months and summers as a deckhand for his father and uncle. He is the author of six Stevens and Windermere novels, nominated for Barry Awards, an International Thriller Writers Award, and the Spinetingler Magazine Best Novel: New Voices Award.
Find out about the rest of the folks coming to Boswell on the upcoming events page.
Robert Kurson: Matt Ferguson
Owen Laukkanen: Berni Huber
Here are the Boswell bestsellers for the week ending May 19, 2018.
1. The House of Broken Angels, by Luis Alberto Urrea
3. Death Rides the Ferry, by Patricia Skalka
4. Last Stories, by William Trevor
7. The Overstory, by Richard Powers
8. You Think It I'll Say It, by Curtis Sittenfeld
9. The Female Persuasion, by Meg Wolitzer
10. Less, by Andrew Sean Greer (ticketed event 6/15. Info here)
Our good friend Dennis came back from Turkey to tell us that William Trevor is very popular there, or so the Istanbul booksellers say. His legacy is pretty strong in the United States too, where Last Stories, his posthumous collection, has a nice pop in sales this week. Maina Vaizey in The Arts Desk wrote: "This voices perhaps the underlying theme of these yearning lives, with fulfilment tantalisingly always just round the corner. Here are tales of compromise and melancholy and uncertainty, yet with moral and ethical considerations also shadowing decisions."
1. Beauty in the Broken Places, by Allison Pataki
2. Would You Do That to Your Mother, by Jeanne Bliss
3. Pick Three, by Randi Zuckerberg
4. A Year in the Wilderness, by Amy and Dave Freeman
5. How to Change Your Mind, by Michael Pollan
6. The Sociable City, by Jamin Creed Rowan
7. I'll Be Gone in the Dark, by Michelle McNamara
9. Phyllis Tickle, by Jon M. Sweeney
10. Barracoon, by Zora Neale Hurston
Out this week is Michael Pollan's latest, How to Change Your Mind: What the New Science of Psychedelics Teaches Us about Consciousness, Dying, Addiction, Depression, and Transcendence. From Kevin Canfield in The San Francisco Chronicle: "In How to Change Your Mind, Pollan explores the circuitous history of these often-misunderstood substances, and reports on the clinical trials that suggest psychedelics can help with depression, addiction and the angst that accompanies terminal illnesses. He does so in the breezy prose that has turned his previous books — these include The Omnivore’s Dilemma and Cooked, the inspiration for his winning Netflix docuseries of the same name — into bestsellers."
1. The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, by Lisa See
2. The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead
4. The Magpie Murders, by Anthony Horowitz
5. Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman
6. Embers of War, by Gareth L. Powell
8. A Legacy of Spies, by John Le Carre
9. The Coincidence of Coconut Cake, by Amy E. Reichert (event 6/13 at Boswell with Karma Brown)
10. Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk, by Kathleen Rooney (event 6/26 at Weyenberg Library 2 pm and Elm Grove Library 7 pm)
Book Club update! We've added a fourth Boswell-run book club on the third Monday of each month and it's meeting at Cafe Hollander. On Monday, May 21, Jen and attendees will be discussing The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden. Two other book club picks make this week's top 10. The In-Store Lit Group will be discussing The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane on Monday, June 4 and the Science Fiction Book Club will be discussing Embers of War by Gareth Powell on Monday, June 11, 7 pm.
Paul Di Filippo talked up Powell's novel on Locus: "I knew readers were in for a great ride on the shoulders of a writer here to stay. And his new novel, the first in a trilogy, bears out all my forecast. It’s a smart, funny, tragic, galloping space opera that showcases Powell’s wit, affection for his characters, world-building skills and unpredictable narrative inventions."
1. The Divided City, by Alan Mallach
5. The Color of War, by Richard Rothstein
6. Inspiralized, by Ali Maffucci
7. Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance
9. Janesville, by Amy Goldstein
10. Not That Bad, by Roxane Gay
We had a table at the JFS luncheon featuring Matthew Desmond where we recommended books to read after Eviction. We actually featured 5 of the 10 books on this week's top ten: The Death and Life of the Great Lakes (signed paperbacks available), The Color of Water, Hillbilly Elegy, Killers of the Flower Moon, and Janesville, plus of course we also had Evicted on display, and we sold those books too, even though many attendees received a copy of the book as part of their ticket. Ben Austen's High Risers almost made the top 10 hardcovers, coming in at #12. We probably would have sold more, but we sold out!
2. The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate
3. If You Had a Jetpack, by Lisl Detlefsen
4. The Book of Beasts V3, by John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman
5. The Bone Quill V2, by John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman
6. The Hollow Earth V1, by John Barrowman and Carole E. Barrowman
7. The Rose Legacy, by Jessica Day George
8. Crenshaw, by Katherine Applegate
9. Tuesdays at the Castle V1, by Jessica Day George
10. Wishtree, by Katherine Applegate
We had two authors last week who did school visits in the Milwaukee area. Lisl Detlefsen talked about her second book, If You Had a Jetpack, while Jessica Day George was in town for the The Rose Legacy, the first book in a new middle-grade series. Kirkus Reviews offered this nice review of The Rose Legacy: "In this middle-grade fantasy, orphan Anthea is sent from Coronam to live with her uncle beyond the Wall, where she learns that not everything she was taught to believe is the truth."
Signed copies of both are available. Here's what's happening on the Journal Sentinel TapBooks page.
Featured on the front page are books to read this summer from the Journal Sentinel from Jim Higgins: "Whether you’re on the road or staying on the porch this summer, a book can be your traveling companion." Here are the editor's picks.
--Calypso, by David Sedaris (on sale 5/29)
--The Female Persuasion, by Meg Woliltzer
--The Monk of Mokha, by Dave Eggers
--Paris by the Book, by Liam Callanan
--Robin, by David Itzkoff
--See What Can Be Done, by Lorrie Moore
--Sharp, by Michelle Dean
Carole E. Barrowman suggest five great mystery/thrillers for summer reading.
--Mr. Flood's Last Resort, by Jess Kidd
--Paper Ghosts, by Julia Heaberlin
--Gale Force, by Owen Laukkanen (event at Boswell Fri 5/25, 7 pm)
--A Jar of Hearts, by Jennifer Hillier (on sale 6/12)
--The Line That Held Us, by David Joy (on sale 8/14)
Here's what Barrowman had to say about Gale Force: "Call me Ishmael! This is one of the most original thrillers out this summer. Captain McKenna Rhodes has inherited a business that’s leaking money. Her marine salvage company is going under unless she can get to the seas north of Alaska in time to salvage The Pacific Lion and earn the insurance fee. The freighter is packed with SUVs on its decks and a dangerous stowaway hiding in its hull."
Events this week (though two are already at capacity and two more are close to it): Allison Pataki, Amy and Dave Freeman, Jon M. Sweeney, Dan Egan, Patricia Skalka, Rhonda Leet, Robert K. Elder, Jamin Creed Rowan.
Please note that the following library events are full to capacity and are no longer taking reservations. If you have registered, please arrive by 15 minutes before start time to guarantee entry. Please note that it is likely that we will not be able to accommodate walk-ups at either event.
--Katherine Applegate for Endling: The Last on Tuesday, May 15 at the Greenfield Public Library. For more information, contact the Greenfield Public Library at (414) 321-9595. We hope to have signed copies after the event.
--Victoria Aveyard, author of War Storm, with special guests Brittany Cavallaro, and Lori M. Lee on Sunday, May 20 at Delafield Public Library. For more information, contact Books and Company at (262) 567-0106. Also please note that if you are attending, there are signing restrictions for this event.
Here's what else is going on.
Monday, May 14, 7:00 pm reception, 7:30 talk, at Lynden Sculpture Garden, 2145 W Brown Deer Rd in River Hills:
A ticketed event with Allison Pataki, author of Beauty in the Broken Places: A Memoir of Love, Faith, and Resilience
Please note, this event is now filled to capacity.
Please note that registration for this event is near capacity. If you are planning on attending, please register at lyndensculpturegarden.org/allisonpataki-2018 or call (414) 446-8794. Walk-ups may not be available for this event.
Milwaukee Reads presents Allison Pataki as a part of the Women’s Speaker Series at the Lynden Sculpture Garden, produced by Milwaukee Reads. Pataki, author of several historical novels including The Traitor's Wife and Sisi, now tells her own story, chronicling her husband's brush with death, his slow recovery, and how their relationship was affected by the experience.
From Allison Klein's Washington Post profile, reprinted in the Seattle Times: "Dave Levy leaned over and asked his wife (Pataki) if his eye looked strange. Pataki looked up. She watched as her 30-year-old husband had a stroke and lost consciousness while they were 35,000 feet in the air. The plane made an emergency landing in Fargo, North Dakota. Pataki spent the night in a hospital waiting area while doctors worked on her husband. She didn’t know if he’d ever wake up."
If you haven't been to the a Lynden Sculpture Garden event, know that the evening begins at 7 with a short reception Enjoy a glass of wine or light appetizers from MKE Localicious. The talk begins at 7:30. If it's not raining, you're welcome to walk the grounds. Tickets are $30, $25 for Lynden members, include a copy (autographed if you wish) of her new memoir, Beauty in the Broken Places, and are available at lyndensculpturegarden.org/AllisonPataki-2018 or by phone, at (414) 446-8794.
Monday, May 14, 7:00 pm, at Riverside Park Urban Ecology Center, 1500 E Park Place:
Amy and Dave Freeman, author of A Year in the Wilderness: Bearing Witness in the Boundary Waters
Amy and Dave Freeman are biking to DC from Ely, Minnesota in support of their new book and to continue to raise awareness of their efforts to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. They’re stopping in Milwaukee as they take their book and a petition of support over 1,750 miles across the country to the nation’s capital. Please note this event is pay what you can.
On September 23, 2015, Amy and Dave Freeman embarked on a yearlong adventure in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in support of the Campaign to Save the Boundary Waters to protect the Boundary Waters from sulfide-ore copper mining. They shared their year in the wilderness in their blogs with hundreds of thousands of concerned citizens. This book tells the story of their adventure in northern Minnesota: loons whistling under a moonrise, ice booming as it forms and cracks, a moose and her calf swimming across a misty lake.
With the magic, urgent message that has rallied an international audience to the campaign to save the Boundary Waters, A Year in the Wilderness is a rousing cry of witness activism and a stunning tribute to this singularly beautiful region. This stop on their cross-country trip is being held at the Riverside Park Urban Ecology Center. Admission is pay what you can.
Amy and Dave Freeman's expeditions have taken them over 30,000 miles by canoe, kayak, and dogsled through some of the world's wildest places, from the Amazon to the Arctic. National Geographic named Amy and Dave Adventurers of the Year in 2014 and their images, videos, and articles have been published by the Chicago Tribune, National Geographic, and Minnesota Public Radio.
Wednesday, May 16, 7:00 pm, at at All Saints Cathedral, 818 E Juneau Ave in Milwaukee: Jon M. Sweeney, author of Phyllis Tickle: A Life
Sweeney, a locally-based independent scholar who is also the publisher of Paraclete Press, presents his newest work of biography, Phillis Tickle: A Life. Sweeney was in active conversation with Phyllis Tickle at the time of her death about co-authoring her biography and is the official biographer of Tickle’s estate. This event is sponsored by All Saints Cathedral.
The founding editor of the Religion Department at Publishers Weekly, Tickle’s work influenced the growth of spiritual writing and interfaith understanding during the 1990s. By the time of her death in 2015, Phyllis Tickle was one of the most beloved and respected figures in American religious life. Sweeney examines Tickle’s personal and professional roots, from her family, and life on The Farm in Lucy, Tennessee, to her academic career and move into book publishing.
Sweeney also looks at pivotal relationships with John Shelby Spong, Marcus Borg, and Brian McLaren, as well as her great influence on the increasing number who adopted fixed-hour prayer, the Episcopal Church as a whole, and the Emerging Church, for which she served as historian, forecaster, and champion. A look at her early, passionate advocacy for the LGBT community, lecture circuit controversies, and projects left unfinished completes the picture.
Jon M Sweeney is editor in chief and publisher of Paraclete Press and author/editor of more than 20 works of religious scholarship. His recent books include What I Am Living for: Lessons from the Life and Writings of Thomas Merton, Meister Eckhart's Book of the Heart: Meditations for the Restless Soul, and The Pope's Cat, a book for kids.
Patricia Skalka, author of Death Rides the Ferry
Patricia Skalka returns to Boswell for the latest installment in the mysterious Sheriff Dave Cubiak series, in which another Door County summer’s end is disturbed by a gruesome death, one that dredges the depth of Lake Michigan and draws up crimes from the past.
It’s a sparkling August day on Washington Island and the resonant notes of early classical music float on the breeze toward the sailboats and ferries that ply the waters of Death’s Door strait. After a forty-year absence, the Viola da Gamba Music Festival has returned to the picturesque isle on the tip of Wisconsin’s Door County peninsula. Sheriff Dave Cubiak enjoys a rare day off as tourists and a documentary film crew hover around the musicians.
The jubilant mood sours when an unidentified passenger is found dead on a ferry. Longtime residents recall with dismay the disastrous festival decades earlier, when another woman died and a valuable sixteenth-century instrument—the fabled yellow viol—vanished, never to be found. Cubiak follows a trail of murder, kidnapping, and false identity that leads back to the calamitous night of the twin tragedies. With the lives of those he holds most dear in peril, the sheriff pursues a ruthless killer into the stormy northern reaches of Lake Michigan.
Thursday, May 17, 7:00 pm, at Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, 1111 E Brown Deer Rd in Bayside Dan Egan, author of The Death and Life of the Great Lakes
Please note that registration for this event is near capacity. If you are planning on attending, please register at (414) 352-2880, x0 today. Walk-ups may not be available for this event. This event is free with admission ($8) or membership to the Schlitz Audubon.
Dan Egan returns to Schlitz Audubon Nature Center for the paperback release of his compelling and nimble chronicle of the many man-made hazards threatening the world’s largest source of accessible fresh water. Boswell is cosponsor of this event.
The Death and Life of the Great Lakes is prize-winning reporter Dan Egan’s compulsively readable portrait of an ecological catastrophe happening right before our eyes, blending the epic story of the lakes with an examination of the perils they face and the ways we can restore and preserve them for generations to come.
The Death and Life of the Great Lakes was recently awarded the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for History. Egan’s book is also the current pick for the PBS NewsHour – New York Times book club. In addition, UW-Madison just named The Death and Life of the Great Lakes the Go Big Read title for incoming freshmen.
After-school storytime and activities with Rhonda Leet, author of Franny's Father Is a Feminist
DePere-based Leet appears at Boswell for an after-school afternoon of empowerment perfect for young feminists and parents alike, regardless of gender, with a sweet, straight-forward picture book that portrays the loving bond between a young girl and her father, who isn’t afraid of bucking gender norms to ensure that his daughter grows up smart, strong, and self-confident. We’ll have themed activity sheets before and after the event.
From Kirkus Reviews’ starred review: “Little readers learn what it means to be a feminist. As the title says, Franny’s father is a feminist. Feminists believe “that girls can do everything boys can do, and [that girls deserve] all the same rights, freedoms, and opportunities that” boys have. The book’s tone is informative rather than preachy, presenting feminism not as the only way to be but rather a sensible caregiving choice. An excellent primer on what feminism and allyship entail.”
Rhonda Leet grew up in Green Bay, and her passion for children’s books has grown from reading them to writing her debut picture book. A former educator, Rhonda believes all children deserve to thrive in the classroom and throughout their lives, regardless of their gender.
Robert K. Elder, author of The Mixtape of My Life: A Do-It-Yourself Music Memoir
Mix up your own musical memoir at Boswell with Chicago-based author Elder. No matter which musical generation you belong to, from doo-wop to Daft Punk, The Mixtape of My Life is an instant conversation starter and a great way to rediscover the special tunes that played during key moments of your life. Elder provides more than 200 questions and prompts to help readers chronicle their lives through music and explore their personal soundtrack.
Evoking memories, stories, and long-forgotten mix tapes, this guided journal includes questions like "What was the first record you owned?" and "What song did you later realize was smutty?" and provides room to draw a favorite album cover or create the perfect road trip playlist. With dozens of quirky illustrations throughout, The Mixtape of My Life can be a great tool for your next dinner party, or simply something any music lover can enjoy for themselves.
Listen to Elder talk to Amy Guth on WGN's Saturday Night Special.
Robert K. Elder is the author of seven books, including 2016's Hidden Hemingway. His work has appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and Salon. He has worked for Sun-Times Media and Crain Communications, and is the founder of Odd Hours Media.
Saturday, May 19, 2:30 walk, 4:30 talk, at Boswell:
Jane’s Walk presents Jamin Creed Rowan, author of The Sociable City: An American Intellectual Tradition
Jane’s Walk, MSOE Scholar’s Honor Program, and Boswell present an informative afternoon stroll through the city with author Jamin Creed Rowan, Assistant Professor of English and American Studies at Brigham Young University, and MSOE Associate Professor Michael Carriere. Walkers meet at Boswell at 2:30 pm for a guided walking tour through the East Side that will return to Boswell for Rowan’s 4:30 talk.
Registration for the walk is requested, at eventbrite.com/e/45170056856. And find out more about Jane’s Walk Milwaukee at janeswalkmke.com.
The Sociable City chronicles how, as the city's physical and social landscapes evolved over the course of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, urban intellectuals developed new vocabularies, narratives, and representational forms to explore and advocate for the social configurations made possible by urban living. Jamin Creed Rowan aims to better understand why we have built and governed cities in the ways we have, and to imagine an urban future that will effectively preserve and facilitate the interpersonal associations and social networks that city dwellers need to live manageable, equitable, and fulfilling lives.
Read Tom Daykin's story in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about the Jane's Walk on the High Rise Bridge that previewed development plans below on the old Kneeland Properties.
And more about other Boswell upcoming events here.
--Allison Pataki and Dave Levy credit Beatrice Copeland
--Amy and Dave Freeman credit Nate Ptacek
--Dan Egan credit Sara Egan
--Robert K. Elder credit Greg Rothstein
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THE FLEXIBLE CITY International Symposium
University of Oxford - St. Anne's College, 56 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HS
Cities over the world face complex and rapidly evolving challenges. Ranging from climate, to poverty, economic downturns and demographic shifts, cities now need to confront an unprecedented array of issues. Addressing them requires ingenuity and versatility, whether in policymaking, investment decisions or everyday livelihoods. At the Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities, we seek to re-think the city, in theory and practice to confront these challenges.
Responding to these pressing demands, the two-day international symposium on ‘the Flexible City’ aims at investigating the future of urbanisation and of urban theory towards rethinking the city as a dynamic space that better responds to evolving circumstances and contemporary global challenges. Held at the University of Oxford on 24-25 October 2013, the event provides scholars, policymakers, investors, and the public at large with an opportunity to discuss the challenges for research of contemporary and future urbanisation. Gathering 35 urban innovators across academia, policy and business, the symposium is organised around the four main research streams of the Oxford Programme for the Future of Cities: City-to-City Learning, Emergent Governance, Infrastructure and Technology, and Everyday Urban Life. Along with these research themes, the event will also include a session on Financing the Future of Cities, a policy-academia dialogue roundtable on the Future of Urban Research, and two keynote lectures by Neil Brenner (Harvard University) and Matthew Gandy (University College London).
The conference is also preceded by an Early Career Scholars Workshop on 23 October 2013, where scholars at postdoctoral and junior faculty level will engage in open discussions about cutting edge work on the future of cities and the flexible responses to the challenges faced by urban dwellers worldwide.
http://www.futureofcities.ox.ac.uk/event/327
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Parks, Recreation & Tourism
The featured exhibit during the summer of 2019 is the Good Old Days exhibit. The exhibit features a display of household items, clothing, toys, photos, tools, and numerous other items that were used in Gloucester from the late 1800's to the mid-1900's.
Other Exhibits
Another popular exhibit at the Museum is the original oil painting of Civil War General W. B. Taliaferro reviewing the last general muster of the Gloucester Militia at Roaring Springs Plantation the 4th Saturday in May 1860. Painted by Robert E Goodier (1925-1999), the painting has been donated to the Gloucester Museum of History by his family. The artist’s daughter, Elizabeth G. Esrey of Middletown, Delaware and son, Winslow R. Goodier of Glen Allen, Virginia, agreed that the painting should be returned to Gloucester because of it’s historic significance to the County. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Goodier lived at Roaring Springs Plantation from 1992 until 2004.
The Museum also continues to display numerous permanent exhibits which include:
Antique Survey Equipment
Battle of the Hook
Celebration of African American History in Gloucester
Free School House
Gremer Doll Houses
The Hotel Botetourt
James D. Gardner
The Old Country Store
Warner Hall
Museum Exhibits on the Second Floor
The second floor of the Gloucester Museum of History is also open to the general public. The theme of the eight station exhibit is "Echoes From The Past, Six Periods of Gloucester History."
The exhibit traces Gloucester's rich history and varied contributions from 5 million years ago, when the area was covered by a warm tropical sea, to the Civil War, when it gave both a General to the Confederate Army and was home to James D. Gardner, who rose from oysterman to become the only recipient of a Congressional Medal of Honor from the area while serving in the Union Army.
Other exhibits include:
Archaeological findings from "Paradise" (home of the Lees)
Archaeological findings from the Fairfield Plantation
Bacon's Rebellion
Gloucester's participation in the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War
Also continuing on display on the second floor is the exhibit "Threads: A Loving Legacy Unfolds." This exhibit highlights the creative handiwork of ladies from two families who helped shape the history of Gloucester County - the Sterlings and the Shacklefords. Pictures of each woman are included and stories of many of the pieces on display, some dating back to 1920. The display was created by cousins Hilda Anne Nolen Hodgson, Amy Williams Boykin, Heather Sterling Pearce and Mary Anne Sterling.
6539 Main Street Gloucester VA 23061
Closed Sundays and Holidays
Information on Other Regional Historical Attractions
Virtual Historic Marker Tour
Proceedings of the Gloucester Monument Association
More Cemeteries of Gloucester County Order Form (PDF)
Virginia GenWeb Genealogy Site for Gloucester County
Gloucester Genealogy Society of Virginia (GGSV)
Register & Pay
Daffodil Festival
Visit Gloucester
Office Building Two, 3rd Floor
Park Ordinances
Facility Evaluation Form (PDF)
Program Evaluation Form (PDF)
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Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci Tapped to Rewrite THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN Sequel
by Adam Chitwood April 24, 2012
It’s commonplace nowadays for studios to get a jump on the sequel to big budget properties before the first film hits theaters, and Sony got a very good head start on the follow-up to The Amazing Spider-Man by setting James Vanderbilt to pen the sequel back in March of last year. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is already dated for May of 2014, and now it appears that the studio would like another pass on the script. So who do you get to pen a high priority, big-budget summer movie? Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, of course. Hit the jump for more.
Per Deadline, the screenwriting team of Kurtzman and Orci have been hired to rewrite Vanderbilt’s script for the sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man. Vanderbilt, whose past credits include Zodiac and The Rundown, was an inspired choice to pen the Marc Webb-helmed reboot, but I can’t really say the same for Kurtzman and Orci. Their credits include Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and they also penned Cowboys & Aliens and J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek.
They’re by no means terrible screenwriters, but given the pick of Vanderbilt I was hoping Sony would go for another interesting choice if they wanted another pass on The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Gary Ross penned the script for The Hunger Games and Lionsgate just tapped Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind scribe Charlie Kaufman to adapt a young adult series (seriously), proving that it’s possible to get someone known more for character work than action sequences to write a successful, “blockbuster” screenplay. The Kurtzman and Orci-penned drama People Like Us opens this summer, so maybe we’ll be pleasantly surprised by their ability to tackle intimate character drama.
Nevertheless, The Amazing Spider-Man isn’t even out yet so it’s still early days. It’s possible that another screenwriter might be brought on to do yet another pass. In the meantime, Spidey’s in the hands of Kurtzman and Orci.
Extended Iron Man TV Spot for THE AVENGERS Reveals New Footage; Plus…
Ray Stevenson Joins the Seventh Season of DEXTER
• Alex Kurtzman • Entertainment • James Vanderbilt • Movie • Roberto Orci • Sony Pictures • Spider-Man • The Amazing Spider-Man • The Amazing Spider-Man 2
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Economic sanctions» or the white-collar war
Written by voltairenet
Published in Specials
The United States and the European Union have launched an undeclared war against Syria, Iran and Russia – it is known by the alias «economic sanctions». This appalling tactic killed more than a million Iraqis during the 1990’s, without arousing any suspicion in Western public opinion. It is used today, patiently, against any state which refuses to be dominated by the unipolar world order.
In the past, conventional war strategy included the siege of a city or a state. It was used to isolate the enemy, to prevent him from using his resources, to submit him to famine, and finally to gain victory. In Europe, the Catholic church firmly condemned this tactic as criminal, in that it killed civilians first, and the military forces only afterwards.
Today, conventional wars include «economic sanctions», which are used for the same purpose. From 1990 to 2003, the sanctions levied against Iraq by the UN Security Council killed more than a million civilians. In fact, it was a war led by the bankers in the name of the institution whose purpose was supposedly to promote peace.
It is probable that several of the states which voted for these sanctions were not aware of their extent nor their consequences. What is certain is that when some members of the Security Council asked for the sanctions to be lifted, the United States and the United Kingdom opposed the motion, thereby assuming the responsibility for a million dead civlians.
After numerous international civil servants had been fired for their participation in the massacre of a million Iraqi civilians, the United Nations began to think about the manner in which they could make the sanctions more effective in terms of the objectives announced. In other words, to ensure that the sanctions would effect only the political and military sectors, and not civilians. There was talk of «targeted sanctions».However, despite much research on the subject, no-one has ever practised sanctions against a state which affected its leaders and not its population.
The effect of sanctions is linked to the interpretation that the governments make of the texts which define them. For example, most of the texts evoke sanctions on products which may be used both by civilians and the military, which leaves plenty of room for interpretation. A rifle may be forbidden for export to a certain state because it can be used for war as well as hunting. But a bottle of water can be drunk by a mother as well as a soldier. Consequently, the same texts – according to the political circumstances and the evolution of the government’s will – can lead to extremely different results.
The situation is all the more complicated in that the legal sanctions of the Security Council are augmented by the illegal sanctions of the United States and the European Union. Indeed, while some states or intergovernmental institutions can legally refuse commercial relations with other states, they can not establish unilateral sanctions without waging war.
The term «sanction» gives the impression that the state which is submitted to them has committed a crime, and that it has been tried before being found guilty. This is true for sanctions decreed by the Security Council, but not those decided unilaterally by the United States and the European Union. These are purely and simply acts of war.
After the war against the British in 1812, Washington created the Office of Foreign Assets Control, which is tasked with waging this white-collar war.
Currently, the main states which are victims of sanctions are not the targets of the United Nations, but exclusively those of the United States and the European Union. They are Syria, Iran and Russia. That is to say the three states which are fighting the jihadists supported by the Western powers.
Most of the sanctions that have been decreed are without direct links to the contemporary war against Syria. The sanctions aimed at Damascus are mainly linked to its support for the Lebanese Hezbollah, and to the asylum granted to the Palestinian Hamas (which has since joined the Muslim Brotherhood, and is now fighting against Syria). The sanctions against Iran were allegedly imposed against its military nuclear programme, even though it was closed down by the Ayatollah Khomeiny thirty years ago. They continue to be levied despite the signature of the 5+1 agreement, which was supposed to resolve this problem, which does not in fact exist. Those levied against Russia sanction the incorporation of Crimea after it had refused the Nazi coup d’état in Kiev, qualified as a «democratic revolution» by NATO.
The most rigourous sanctions currently levied are those affecting Syria. A report drawn up by the UN Office for the Coordinaton of Humanitarian Affairs in Syria, financed by the Swiss Confederation, and made public four months ago, observes that the US and European interpretation of the texts leads to the deprivation, for the majority of Syrians, of many medical care products and also food resources. A great number of medical products are forbidden, since they are considered to be of double usage, and it is impossible to pay for the importation of food via the international banking system.
Although the situation of the Syrian people is not as catastrophic as that of the Iraqis in the 1990’s, it is nonetheless a war waged by the United States and the European Union, by financial and economic means, exclusively against the population living under the protection of the Syrian Arab Republic – with intent to kill.
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