pred_label
stringclasses 2
values | pred_label_prob
float64 0.5
1
| wiki_prob
float64 0.25
1
| text
stringlengths 51
998k
| source
stringlengths 37
43
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
__label__wiki
| 0.533107
| 0.533107
|
BMW is a company full of ideas
Well, how are you? If you are reading this article, you probably were able to survive the Monday. You had a hard time as we do. But now you can relax, because in front of this bright prospect: to go to work the next 3 days. Only three days, and then you will find. But we’re not here to talk about you and your entertainment. Today think of the brand, which is a dream of many men.
We will focus on the BMW. The car is a dream dreamed by millions. We’ve told you about these great car brands as Jaguar and Chevrolet, so what prevents us to know a little more about the legendary BMW?
Story three-letter brand began in 1896 in the town of Eisenach. Or rather, not yet a BMW: at the time it was a factory producing vehicles for the army and, oddly enough, bicycles. It was founded by Heinrich Erhard, whom you owe for the creation of high-performance automobiles. Probably, Henry and continued to develop the soldiers ‘ cars, if time has not noticed that luck smiles to those who have plunged into the business sidecars.
In the short time it was decided to create something cars, non-military and, of course, different from what is already done by competitors. But to save time and money and Erhardt had purchased a license from the French. The Paris car had the name of Dueville. So came that now you call BMW. But it is now, but before — is much simpler: «motorized carriage Wartburg».
A few years after the creation of the brand, in September 1898, the Wartburg on their own arrived at an automobile exhibition in düsseldorf and took its place on a par with Daimler, Benz, Opel and Durcupan. This, as you know, progress is not stopped and a year later the motorized carriage of Erhardt has won major road races of the time. Golden double helped the Wartburg in his career winning twenty-two medals, including one for elegant design.
As in all real stories, the happiness of this company did not last long, and in 1903 the production, when I first visited here stopped. It is caused by the excessive debt and recession. Arched finally collects all those who actively participated in the creation of incredible machines, and says a sad speech, after which should follow a complete cessation of the development history of BMW.
However, as always, came unexpectedly — from one of the shareholders of Erhardt. Speculator Jacob Shapiro really did not want to part with so beloved by him a motorized wheelchair. Shapiro at that time had enough control over the English factory in Birmingham produced the Austin Seven. It’s a miracle the British car industry enjoyed great popularity in London and the surrounding area. And Shapiro, without thinking twice, having to calculate all possible profits, buys the English license for Austin.
Now that began to roll off the production line in Eisenach, was appointed Dixi. From 1904 to 1929 restored factory Erhardt produced and sold 15 822 Dixi. Meanwhile, there is a formation of the future BMW not only in the automotive and aviation factory. In this rapidly developing story breaks Karl Friedrich RAPP, who dreamed of the sky and aviation engines. RAPP founded a small company and started working somewhere on the Northern outskirts of Munich. His goal — to airplanes. He had both the desire and enthusiasm, but as it turned out, it wasn’t enough.
RAPP soon went bankrupt and was forever secured the title of loser, which, of course, contributed to the development of the business. When RAPP began to fall from his hands, to his aid came the Franz-Josef Popp, who actually pulled the company out of debt. The first thing that made Popp, hired a brilliant engineer max Fritz. At this stage of life, the company finally began to play with colors.
21 Jul 1917 in Munich registration chamber is the historical record: «Bavarian aircraft factories RAPP» called henceforth «the Bavarian motor factories» (Bayerische Motoren Werke). BMW has taken place. Moreover, the production of «the Bavarian motor factories» — still aircraft engines. Hooray, finally born a miracle that now, as then, I say with enthusiasm!
Only in 1929, BMW finally determined on their fate: motorcycles, cars, and aircraft engines. Two years since the company manufactures its own Dixi. This model, driven by Popp to meet the German taste. In the same year, BMW Dixi wins the International Alpine race.
At this stage, the development of the BMW was already impossible to stop. Progress growing up with a relentless speed, and soon the company left almost all the competitors behind. Even now, BMW never ceases to surprise with new vehicles which join the ranks of their series. Guys are also not far behind in public relations and advertising mastery: over the years they have learned with sarcasm to beat the mess with their competitors. I hope that a little bit can satisfy your curiosity and have a desire in you to seek to acquire automobile cult brand.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line570
|
__label__wiki
| 0.772842
| 0.772842
|
Morbidity and timing of colostomy closure in trauma patients
J. E. Sola, J. S. Bender, T. G. Buchman
The reported morbidity of colostomy closure in trauma patients varies from 5 to 27 per cent. Low morbidity rates are cited as a factor favouring colostomy creation and against expanded indications for primary repair in the treatment of colonic injuries. In order to assess the morbidity of colostomy closure, we reviewed all colonic injuries from 1979 to 1991 at our institutions. In all, 86 trauma patients who underwent colostomy creation and closure were identified. There were 82 men and four women with an age range of 16 to 74 years (mean 28.1 years). Of these, 95 per cent (N = 82) resulted from penetrating trauma. Of the patients, 63 per cent (N = 54) received end colostomies and 81 per cent (N = 70) of the patients had associated injuries. Of the patients, 38 per cent (N = 33) had a complication with their initial operation. There were no deaths after colostomy closure, but a total morbidity of 24.4 per cent (N = 21) was noted. There were 11 anastomotic complications (two of which required repeat laparotomy) and nine wound infections. The average length of stay was 10.4 days. Morbidity was concentrated in the group who had complications at their initial hospitalization. This was especially true if these patients underwent closure earlier than 3 months after injury. Conversely, if the first operation was uncomplicated, waiting longer than 3 months to perform colostomy closure did not improve results further.
https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-1383(93)90143-T
10.1016/0020-1383(93)90143-T
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Morbidity and timing of colostomy closure in trauma patients'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Colostomy Medicine & Life Sciences
Morbidity Medicine & Life Sciences
Wound Infection Medicine & Life Sciences
Length of Stay Medicine & Life Sciences
Hospitalization Medicine & Life Sciences
Sola, J. E., Bender, J. S., & Buchman, T. G. (1993). Morbidity and timing of colostomy closure in trauma patients. Injury, 24(7), 438-440. https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-1383(93)90143-T
Morbidity and timing of colostomy closure in trauma patients. / Sola, J. E.; Bender, J. S.; Buchman, T. G.
In: Injury, Vol. 24, No. 7, 08.1993, p. 438-440.
Sola, JE, Bender, JS & Buchman, TG 1993, 'Morbidity and timing of colostomy closure in trauma patients', Injury, vol. 24, no. 7, pp. 438-440. https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-1383(93)90143-T
Sola JE, Bender JS, Buchman TG. Morbidity and timing of colostomy closure in trauma patients. Injury. 1993 Aug;24(7):438-440. https://doi.org/10.1016/0020-1383(93)90143-T
Sola, J. E. ; Bender, J. S. ; Buchman, T. G. / Morbidity and timing of colostomy closure in trauma patients. In: Injury. 1993 ; Vol. 24, No. 7. pp. 438-440.
@article{4dfe2984185d48bd950b5bc107710de7,
title = "Morbidity and timing of colostomy closure in trauma patients",
abstract = "The reported morbidity of colostomy closure in trauma patients varies from 5 to 27 per cent. Low morbidity rates are cited as a factor favouring colostomy creation and against expanded indications for primary repair in the treatment of colonic injuries. In order to assess the morbidity of colostomy closure, we reviewed all colonic injuries from 1979 to 1991 at our institutions. In all, 86 trauma patients who underwent colostomy creation and closure were identified. There were 82 men and four women with an age range of 16 to 74 years (mean 28.1 years). Of these, 95 per cent (N = 82) resulted from penetrating trauma. Of the patients, 63 per cent (N = 54) received end colostomies and 81 per cent (N = 70) of the patients had associated injuries. Of the patients, 38 per cent (N = 33) had a complication with their initial operation. There were no deaths after colostomy closure, but a total morbidity of 24.4 per cent (N = 21) was noted. There were 11 anastomotic complications (two of which required repeat laparotomy) and nine wound infections. The average length of stay was 10.4 days. Morbidity was concentrated in the group who had complications at their initial hospitalization. This was especially true if these patients underwent closure earlier than 3 months after injury. Conversely, if the first operation was uncomplicated, waiting longer than 3 months to perform colostomy closure did not improve results further.",
author = "Sola, {J. E.} and Bender, {J. S.} and Buchman, {T. G.}",
doi = "10.1016/0020-1383(93)90143-T",
journal = "Injury",
T1 - Morbidity and timing of colostomy closure in trauma patients
AU - Sola, J. E.
AU - Bender, J. S.
AU - Buchman, T. G.
N2 - The reported morbidity of colostomy closure in trauma patients varies from 5 to 27 per cent. Low morbidity rates are cited as a factor favouring colostomy creation and against expanded indications for primary repair in the treatment of colonic injuries. In order to assess the morbidity of colostomy closure, we reviewed all colonic injuries from 1979 to 1991 at our institutions. In all, 86 trauma patients who underwent colostomy creation and closure were identified. There were 82 men and four women with an age range of 16 to 74 years (mean 28.1 years). Of these, 95 per cent (N = 82) resulted from penetrating trauma. Of the patients, 63 per cent (N = 54) received end colostomies and 81 per cent (N = 70) of the patients had associated injuries. Of the patients, 38 per cent (N = 33) had a complication with their initial operation. There were no deaths after colostomy closure, but a total morbidity of 24.4 per cent (N = 21) was noted. There were 11 anastomotic complications (two of which required repeat laparotomy) and nine wound infections. The average length of stay was 10.4 days. Morbidity was concentrated in the group who had complications at their initial hospitalization. This was especially true if these patients underwent closure earlier than 3 months after injury. Conversely, if the first operation was uncomplicated, waiting longer than 3 months to perform colostomy closure did not improve results further.
AB - The reported morbidity of colostomy closure in trauma patients varies from 5 to 27 per cent. Low morbidity rates are cited as a factor favouring colostomy creation and against expanded indications for primary repair in the treatment of colonic injuries. In order to assess the morbidity of colostomy closure, we reviewed all colonic injuries from 1979 to 1991 at our institutions. In all, 86 trauma patients who underwent colostomy creation and closure were identified. There were 82 men and four women with an age range of 16 to 74 years (mean 28.1 years). Of these, 95 per cent (N = 82) resulted from penetrating trauma. Of the patients, 63 per cent (N = 54) received end colostomies and 81 per cent (N = 70) of the patients had associated injuries. Of the patients, 38 per cent (N = 33) had a complication with their initial operation. There were no deaths after colostomy closure, but a total morbidity of 24.4 per cent (N = 21) was noted. There were 11 anastomotic complications (two of which required repeat laparotomy) and nine wound infections. The average length of stay was 10.4 days. Morbidity was concentrated in the group who had complications at their initial hospitalization. This was especially true if these patients underwent closure earlier than 3 months after injury. Conversely, if the first operation was uncomplicated, waiting longer than 3 months to perform colostomy closure did not improve results further.
U2 - 10.1016/0020-1383(93)90143-T
DO - 10.1016/0020-1383(93)90143-T
JO - Injury
JF - Injury
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line574
|
__label__cc
| 0.537302
| 0.462698
|
Virginia Overton in Place is the Space
Contemporary Art Museum, St. Louis
The opening of CAM’s building in September 2003 heralded not only the introduction of a new space for contemporary art in St. Louis but also a new identity for an institution that had begun as the First Street Forum in 1980. The two-story, 27,000-square-foot museum was designed with open, flexible spaces that allow for variation and emphasis on the artwork while highlighting transparency and natural light. After his work with CAM—Cloepfil’s first museum—the award-winning architect went on to design the Museum of Arts and Design, New York (2008), the University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor, Michigan (2009), and the Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, Colorado (2011), among many other celebrated projects.
Each of the five works in Place is the Space will respond to different aspects of the structure, including surface, scale, transparency, and boundaries. While demonstrating the building’s unique ability shape the presentation and experience of contemporary art, the exhibition also examines the larger idea of how various artists address museum spaces as a key element in the development of their work.
Arocha-Schraenen (Carla Arocha, b. 1961, Caracas, Venezuela; Stephane Schraenen, b. 1971, Antwerp, Belgium. Both live and work in Antwerp, Belgium)
Founded in 2006, the Arocha-Schraenen collective is known for their installation-based and sculptural work that explores the relationship between material, space, and perception. Arocha and Schraenen will extend this exploration at CAM with the installation of an overlapping abstract graphic pattern on the windows of the museum’s café and performance space.
Jill Downen (b. 1967, Belleville, Illinois; lives and works in Kansas City and St. Louis)
Downen’s work incorporates surfaces, flaws, and other elements of a space to create organic forms. Her project for Place is the Space, titled Beauty Mark, will feature the seaming of a long fissure in CAM’s concrete floor with gold leaf as well as the reconstruction of a wall sculpture that she created at the Museum nearly a decade ago.
Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (b. 1961, Madrid; lives and works in Chicago)
Manglano-Ovalle’s sophisticated sculptures and video installations often use natural forms such as clouds, icebergs, and DNA. The artist will present a new sculpture comprising a massive cube constructed of charred cedar planks and a grid of white maple beehive structures to address issues of scale, proportion, and surface within the building.
Virginia Overton (b. 1971, Nashville, Tennessee; lives and works in Brooklyn, New York)
Known for graceful sculptures that use raw materials such as drywall, mud, and wood beams, Overton will create an elegant arrangement of long metal pipes across architectural voids between the Museum’s main galleries and performance space and between the performance space and lobby.
Dominique Petitgand (b. 1965, Laxou, France; lives and works in Paris)
Petitgand, one of the most prominent French artists working in sound, creates works that address the relationship between the spoken word, silence, music, and space. His project will juxtapose abstract sounds emanating from speakers placed in the main galleries and performance space, with a French vocal narrative and video translation, prompting visitors to consider their physical and public presence in the space.
Place is the Space is organized for the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis by Dominic Molon, Chief Curator, and Brad Cloepil, Founding Principal, Allied Works Architecture. The exhibition will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue that focuses on the artists and their respective projects; an annotated visual history of CAM; and a scholarly appreciation of the building.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line575
|
__label__wiki
| 0.75579
| 0.75579
|
Patrons and Ambassadors
The Mineseeker Foundation
A Not for Profit Organisation
Stanmore Industrial Estate
Bridgnorth,Shropshire
WV15 5HP
The Mineseeker Foundation is dedicated to seeking to help those people who have been affected by landmines, by rehabilitating the people and land to ensure that these communities have sustainable futures. The Mineseeker Foundation in conjunction with it’s partner, Seeker Technologies has focussed on the detection, identification and removal of landmines using it’s new cutting edge airborne detection technology - MIR™.
The Foundation’s core driver and vision is to create a sustainable future for these people. We do not believe in ‘Aid for aid sake’, we know the right thing to do is to provide solutions that create trade and wealth. These basic building blocks of trade, education and health are the primary cornerstones to the empowerment of the people and their futures.
In 2001, The Mineseeker Foundation (www.mineseeker.org ), a not-for-profit organisation, was created to promote technology to speed up and make safer the work of humanitarian de-mining. Patrons include founder patron Nelson Mandela (retired), Queen Noor of Jordan, Sir Richard Branson, Graca Machel. John Paul DeJoria, Lord Richard Attenborough and the actor Brad Pitt. Mineseeker Foundation demonstrated a prototype mine mapping solution in Kosovo, using an airship and a Ground Penetrating Synthetic Aperture Radar system (GPSAR) developed by the British Ministry of Defence
We have now launched the ‘Aid Free Zones’ programme to help the communities affected by landmine and unexploded ordnance (UXO).
The ‘Aid Free Zone’s programme, takes the project much further. Once the mines have been identified and the removal process is under way, the land will then be released for agriculture and a Foster Management team will be installed to teach the communities to sow, grow and sell their own produce, empowering the people to, self help, the only way to solve the mine and famine problem, in the long term.
One of the first stages in the project is to rehabilitate those landmine survivors with prosthetic limbs and educational programmes so that they are equipped for their future.
The significance of this project has led Nelson Mandela, as the founding Patron of Mineseeker to make an impassioned plea to businesses and Captains of Industry to join, with him :
“World business leaders and statesmen to support a new technology that can hasten our quest to rid the world of landmines.”
Seeker Technologies
SeekerDNA
Rhino Rescue Project
Copyright © 2021 The Mineseeker Foundation. Joomla templates powered by Sparky.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line578
|
__label__wiki
| 0.554178
| 0.554178
|
Neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome: Clinical and pathological features of Parkinson's disease, motor neuron disease, and Alzheimer's disease
Ryan J. Uitti, Kenneth Berry, Osamu Yasuhara, Andrew Eisen, Howard Feldman, Patrick L. McGeer, Donald B. Calne
Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and motor neuron disease (MND) share epidemiological, clinical, and pathological features. Few studies have reported comprehensively on individuals who demonstrate a neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome, comprising idiopathic parkinsonism, dementia, and motor neuron dysfunction. We describe clinical, electrophysiological, and pathological features in six patients with neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome. All had cardinal features of PD (duration 6-26 years), and any mixture of dementia (slowly advancing), fasciculations, hyperreflexia, Babinski signs and mild atrophy and weakness of distal muscles (slowly progressive). EMG often demonstrated a lack of denervation in conjunction with abnormal MEPs (high thresholds). Patients had either 6FD-PET or pathological studies consistent with PD. Pathological studies also demonstrated moderate numbers of neurofibrillary tangles and plaque formation, typically with sparing of motor neurons in the spinal cord. We conclude that neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome may represent forme frustes of traditionally accepted diagnostic categories. Patients with parkinsonism, fasciculations, hyperreflexia and mild atrophy are unlikely to demonstrate active denervation on EMG; their prognosis is better than for classical MND. Neurodegenerative overlap syndrome (clinicopathological mixtures of PD, AD, and MND) may develop in some individuals as a reflection of common etiology, pathogenesis or susceptibility.
Parkinsonism and Related Disorders
https://doi.org/10.1016/1353-8020(95)00004-P
10.1016/1353-8020(95)00004-P
Fingerprint Dive into the research topics of 'Neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome: Clinical and pathological features of Parkinson's disease, motor neuron disease, and Alzheimer's disease'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.
Undifferentiated Connective Tissue Diseases Medicine & Life Sciences
Motor Neuron Disease Medicine & Life Sciences
Parkinson Disease Medicine & Life Sciences
Alzheimer Disease Medicine & Life Sciences
Fasciculation Medicine & Life Sciences
Abnormal Reflexes Medicine & Life Sciences
Parkinsonian Disorders Medicine & Life Sciences
Denervation Medicine & Life Sciences
Uitti, R. J., Berry, K., Yasuhara, O., Eisen, A., Feldman, H., McGeer, P. L., & Calne, D. B. (1995). Neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome: Clinical and pathological features of Parkinson's disease, motor neuron disease, and Alzheimer's disease. Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, 1(1), 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/1353-8020(95)00004-P
Neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome : Clinical and pathological features of Parkinson's disease, motor neuron disease, and Alzheimer's disease. / Uitti, Ryan J.; Berry, Kenneth; Yasuhara, Osamu; Eisen, Andrew; Feldman, Howard; McGeer, Patrick L.; Calne, Donald B.
In: Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, Vol. 1, No. 1, 07.1995, p. 21-34.
Uitti, RJ, Berry, K, Yasuhara, O, Eisen, A, Feldman, H, McGeer, PL & Calne, DB 1995, 'Neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome: Clinical and pathological features of Parkinson's disease, motor neuron disease, and Alzheimer's disease', Parkinsonism and Related Disorders, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/1353-8020(95)00004-P
Uitti RJ, Berry K, Yasuhara O, Eisen A, Feldman H, McGeer PL et al. Neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome: Clinical and pathological features of Parkinson's disease, motor neuron disease, and Alzheimer's disease. Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. 1995 Jul;1(1):21-34. https://doi.org/10.1016/1353-8020(95)00004-P
Uitti, Ryan J. ; Berry, Kenneth ; Yasuhara, Osamu ; Eisen, Andrew ; Feldman, Howard ; McGeer, Patrick L. ; Calne, Donald B. / Neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome : Clinical and pathological features of Parkinson's disease, motor neuron disease, and Alzheimer's disease. In: Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. 1995 ; Vol. 1, No. 1. pp. 21-34.
@article{8def70faf0e442fdaea19a96b50fc28e,
title = "Neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome: Clinical and pathological features of Parkinson's disease, motor neuron disease, and Alzheimer's disease",
abstract = "Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and motor neuron disease (MND) share epidemiological, clinical, and pathological features. Few studies have reported comprehensively on individuals who demonstrate a neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome, comprising idiopathic parkinsonism, dementia, and motor neuron dysfunction. We describe clinical, electrophysiological, and pathological features in six patients with neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome. All had cardinal features of PD (duration 6-26 years), and any mixture of dementia (slowly advancing), fasciculations, hyperreflexia, Babinski signs and mild atrophy and weakness of distal muscles (slowly progressive). EMG often demonstrated a lack of denervation in conjunction with abnormal MEPs (high thresholds). Patients had either 6FD-PET or pathological studies consistent with PD. Pathological studies also demonstrated moderate numbers of neurofibrillary tangles and plaque formation, typically with sparing of motor neurons in the spinal cord. We conclude that neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome may represent forme frustes of traditionally accepted diagnostic categories. Patients with parkinsonism, fasciculations, hyperreflexia and mild atrophy are unlikely to demonstrate active denervation on EMG; their prognosis is better than for classical MND. Neurodegenerative overlap syndrome (clinicopathological mixtures of PD, AD, and MND) may develop in some individuals as a reflection of common etiology, pathogenesis or susceptibility.",
author = "Uitti, {Ryan J.} and Kenneth Berry and Osamu Yasuhara and Andrew Eisen and Howard Feldman and McGeer, {Patrick L.} and Calne, {Donald B.}",
doi = "10.1016/1353-8020(95)00004-P",
journal = "Parkinsonism and Related Disorders",
T1 - Neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome
T2 - Clinical and pathological features of Parkinson's disease, motor neuron disease, and Alzheimer's disease
AU - Uitti, Ryan J.
AU - Berry, Kenneth
AU - Yasuhara, Osamu
AU - Eisen, Andrew
AU - Feldman, Howard
AU - McGeer, Patrick L.
AU - Calne, Donald B.
N2 - Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and motor neuron disease (MND) share epidemiological, clinical, and pathological features. Few studies have reported comprehensively on individuals who demonstrate a neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome, comprising idiopathic parkinsonism, dementia, and motor neuron dysfunction. We describe clinical, electrophysiological, and pathological features in six patients with neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome. All had cardinal features of PD (duration 6-26 years), and any mixture of dementia (slowly advancing), fasciculations, hyperreflexia, Babinski signs and mild atrophy and weakness of distal muscles (slowly progressive). EMG often demonstrated a lack of denervation in conjunction with abnormal MEPs (high thresholds). Patients had either 6FD-PET or pathological studies consistent with PD. Pathological studies also demonstrated moderate numbers of neurofibrillary tangles and plaque formation, typically with sparing of motor neurons in the spinal cord. We conclude that neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome may represent forme frustes of traditionally accepted diagnostic categories. Patients with parkinsonism, fasciculations, hyperreflexia and mild atrophy are unlikely to demonstrate active denervation on EMG; their prognosis is better than for classical MND. Neurodegenerative overlap syndrome (clinicopathological mixtures of PD, AD, and MND) may develop in some individuals as a reflection of common etiology, pathogenesis or susceptibility.
AB - Parkinson's disease (PD), Alzheimer's disease (AD), and motor neuron disease (MND) share epidemiological, clinical, and pathological features. Few studies have reported comprehensively on individuals who demonstrate a neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome, comprising idiopathic parkinsonism, dementia, and motor neuron dysfunction. We describe clinical, electrophysiological, and pathological features in six patients with neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome. All had cardinal features of PD (duration 6-26 years), and any mixture of dementia (slowly advancing), fasciculations, hyperreflexia, Babinski signs and mild atrophy and weakness of distal muscles (slowly progressive). EMG often demonstrated a lack of denervation in conjunction with abnormal MEPs (high thresholds). Patients had either 6FD-PET or pathological studies consistent with PD. Pathological studies also demonstrated moderate numbers of neurofibrillary tangles and plaque formation, typically with sparing of motor neurons in the spinal cord. We conclude that neurodegenerative 'overlap' syndrome may represent forme frustes of traditionally accepted diagnostic categories. Patients with parkinsonism, fasciculations, hyperreflexia and mild atrophy are unlikely to demonstrate active denervation on EMG; their prognosis is better than for classical MND. Neurodegenerative overlap syndrome (clinicopathological mixtures of PD, AD, and MND) may develop in some individuals as a reflection of common etiology, pathogenesis or susceptibility.
U2 - 10.1016/1353-8020(95)00004-P
DO - 10.1016/1353-8020(95)00004-P
JO - Parkinsonism and Related Disorders
JF - Parkinsonism and Related Disorders
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line580
|
__label__cc
| 0.664919
| 0.335081
|
The Movie Crash Course
Crash Course Syllabus (or, The Full List)
Credits, Bios and Other Ephemera
Director's Cut, film, Movie Crash Course Review, movies
The 39 Steps (1935)
February 25, 2019 KWadsworth
This project of mine may be like dating in a weird way. The 39 Steps is one of those movies where I can empirically recognize the quality, and intellectually I can appreciate the skill, but yet somehow…there’s no “x” factor that makes me swoon. Possibly because this is a thriller; I’m not a huge fan of that genre as a general rule.
I can appreciate the cleverer parts of the script, however – particularly that the woman who’s being put forth as the lead’s love interest actually doesn’t fall head over heels for him as quickly as she would have done in other films.
….But I’m getting ahead of myself a little.
The hero of our tale is Richard Hannay, a bloke in London on business who’s taking in the show at a music hall. During the performance, someone in the audience fires a gun, and in the ensuing panic, Hannay ends up thrown together with “Annabella Smith”, a beautiful and mysterious woman who takes one look at him when they’re safely outside and then informs him she’d like to come home with him. A bemused Hannay agrees – but when they get up to his room, Smith quickly tells him she wasn’t looking for a pickup. Instead, she explains, she is a secret agent, trying to stop a network of spies from smuggling RAF secrets out of the country. The gunshots in the theater were meant for her, and she had to escape.
Hannay is of course dubious – but then notices that there are a pair of men loitering on the sidewalk outside, staring up at his flat and trying to act a little too casual. Smith decides the safest thing is to try to get a few hours’ sleep and hope the lurkers eventually leave; but just in case, she tells Hannay a few basics in case anything happens to her: she needs to meet with a man in Scotland for further instructions, she doesn’t know exactly what the spies are trying to smuggle out of the country, and the head of the spy ring she’s trying to bring down is missing the tip of one of his little fingers. Okay, good to know.
…Especially when in the middle of the night, someone sneaks into Hannay’s flat and stabs Smith in the back. She manages to stagger into the living room – Hannay has gallantly taken the couch to let her have privacy in the bedroom – and she gasps out the name of the town in Scotland where her contact lives, begging him to make contact for her. Then she collapses, leaving Hannay with a dead spy in his living room and two more outside his door.
…Well then.
After slipping past the spies, Hannay hits the road and has nearly reached Scotland when he learns that he is under suspicion for killing Smith. Sharp-eyed policemen spot him on the train, and he is barely able to evade them, fleeing desperately across moors and bribing farmers for help – and then realizes that the spy ring that killed Smith is now after him as well.
Despite her spending the night in Hannay’s flat, Smith actually isn’t the love interest the film is trying to throw at Hannay. Instead, the film tries to hook him up with “Pamela” – a stranger Hannay briefly meets on the train while trying to escape police. He sees her sitting alone in a compartment, barges in, and apologetically says he’s desperate – then locks lips with her, in an attempt to hide his face from oncoming police. She understandably doesn’t take that well, pushes him away and tries to turn him over to the police.
Pamela then disappears for most of the rest of the film; then, much later, when Hannay is trying to bluff his way through making a political speech (it makes sense in context, trust me), Pamela just so happens to walk in, see him there, and fetch the police again. Except the men she fetches, unbeknownst to her, aren’t police, and insist that she should also come to the station too…
I’m afraid that Pamela’s chance presence at that political rally is one of the two plot wrinkles I had trouble with. The other came earlier, with Smith’s initial stabbing; any spy would have assumed she’d told Hannay something and killed him too, but they let him be. Wasn’t there a chance that someone was still in the apartment? Why weren’t they? I even pointed that out to Alex, who was watching this with me; he only said, enigmatically, that “those are very good questions to be asking.” They weren’t answered, though, which bothered me – I was expecting some kind of a double-cross Mission-Impossible thing that never came.
Another thing I was expecting, however, was for Hannay to engage in some kind of sex scene – and I was pleased to see that he didn’t. He and Pamela are forced into being fugitives together and ended up sharing a room in a wee Scottish inn, and all they do is sleep. Most likely the reason was because of the Hays Code – but it was downright refreshing to see that the most physically intimate Pamela and Hannay get is for his hand to rest on her knee, and even then it’s only an inadvertent thing because they are handcuffed together and she’s trying to take off her stockings. (Again – it makes sense in context.)
Speaking of handcuffed – I’m feeling a bit shackled not giving away the final twist, which I appreciated: the climactic scene where Hannay finally figures out what it is the spies are trying to smuggle out of the country, and more importantly, how. It’s a clever twist, but it would thoroughly be spoiled if I said anything. So I’ll say that if you see it…yeah, that’s a neat touch at the end, there, huh?
There are similar “neat touches” throughout the film – moments of gorgeous cinematography, clever bits of dialogue – all of which I can appreciate for their skill, even though they’re applied to a genre that I’m only lukewarm about. As dates go, it was okay.
Published by KWadsworth
View all posts by KWadsworth
Previous postMutiny On The Bounty (1935)
Next postA Night At The Opera (1935)
3 thoughts on “The 39 Steps (1935)”
Pingback: Sabotage (1936) – The Movie Crash Course
Thomas Sørensen says:
I also felt a bit…unsatisfied watching The 39 Steps, and I think the only reason it is on the List is that it is a Hitchcock movie and interesting in the sense of Hitchcock developing his style.
Pingback: The Wrong Man (1956) – The Movie Crash Course
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line584
|
__label__cc
| 0.728822
| 0.271178
|
The Anatomy of a Disability Insurance Suit: UNUM
In December 2014, a Northern California woman filed a lawsuit against disability insurer Unum Life Insurance Company alleging that the company wrongfully denied her claim for long-term disability (LTD) benefits under the long-term disability insurance plan issued to her employer and governed by ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act). An LTD plan is intended to provide financial benefits to workers when they are unable to perform their job duties because of a disability – even if the injury or illness is unrelated to their employment.
The plaintiff, alleged that Lyme disease rendered her unable to work, and that she was therefore entitled to LTD benefits. Her claim was filed pursuant to a group disability insurance policy sold to her former employer by Unum. The LTD Policy provided LTD benefits to full-time workers. She filed a claim with Unum in April 2012, and her claim was initially approved, with Unum concluding that her disability began September 2011.
However, in December 2013, Unum is alleged to have notified the insured that she no longer met the definition of disability, and had the ability to return to work for her former employer. The insured appealed that decision and provided additional medical documentation of her Lyme disease to Unum supporting her disability claim.
The lawsuit alleges that, despite this additional documentation, she was again denied any further benefits under the Unum LTD policy – without an adequate explanation from the company. The insured also claimed that Unum violated ERISA by failing to provide a reasonable and prompt explanation for why her claim for LTD benefits was denied.
Are such actions common among insurers? Yes. Unfortunately many Americans regularly and faithfully have money deducted from their paychecks in order to cover premiums for their disability insurance benefits under LTD plans. However, when it comes time to collect those benefits due to a disability or illness, many insured find themselves in the midst of a battle that threatens their ability to pay their mortgage, car loans or other bills.
Various companies have been known to use certain tactics to avoid paying disability benefits. Among them: Changing the terms of policies after a claim is filed; failing to adequately investigate a claim; using biased physicians; refusing to examine an insured, instead relying on “paper reviews” by a so-called “independent” consultant; misreading or ignoring important medical documents and records; and, simply refusing to acknowledge that a disability exists.
In these circumstances, however unfortunate, it is critically important to have an attorney on your side to represent your interests vigorously and fairly – one who has previously represented insurance companies and now wants to fight for you. Contact us to request a free consultation today.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line586
|
__label__wiki
| 0.681688
| 0.681688
|
Flute, Cello and Piano Trios
FortePiano Trio
Classical · 2013
Trio in D Minor, Op. 49
Trio in D Minor, Op. 49: I. Molto allegro agitato
By Felix Mendelssohn
Trio in D Minor, Op. 49: II. Andante con moto - Tranquillo
Trio in D Minor, Op. 49: III. Scherzo. Leggiero e vivace
Trio in D Minor, Op. 49: IV. Finale. Allegro assai appassionato
Trio in G Minor, Op. 63, J. 259
Trio in G Minor, Op. 63, J. 259: I. Allegro moderato
By Carl Maria von Weber
Trio in G Minor, Op. 63, J. 259: II. Scherzo. Allegro vivace
Trio in G Minor, Op. 63, J. 259: III. Andante espressivo
Trio in G Minor, Op. 63, J. 259: IV. Finale. Allegro
Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano
Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano: I. Poco allegretto
By Bohuslav Martinů
Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano: II. Adagio
Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano: III. Andante - Allegro scherzando
11 SONGS, 1 HOUR, 14 MINUTES
℗ 2013 VELUT LUNA
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line588
|
__label__wiki
| 0.724143
| 0.724143
|
Kelly Clarkson Reportedly Realized She Had to Divorce During Quarantine With Brandon Blackstock
Michael Buckner, Getty Images
The coronavirus (COVID-19) quarantine may have contributed to the breakup of Kelly Clarkson's marriage to Brandon Blackstock. According to Entertainment Tonight, Clarkson finally realized that "divorce was her only option" during the weeks the couple recently spent quarantined at their ranch together.
A source tells ET that Clarkson and Blackstock, who married in October of 2013, "had been having problems for several months," but they were trying to work things out before the pandemic hit. The couple went into quarantine with their kids on their ranch in Montana, and the source says that while they were hopeful the change of scenery would help, "the change in environment was actually detrimental."
While Clarkson continued to appear remotely on The Voice and her daytime talk show from Montana, "the constant time together seemed to make an already challenging situation worse" in her marriage.
"This recent downtime gave her the time she needed to think about her life and her marriage," the source tells ET. "Kelly knew she just needed to follow her heart and finally realized divorce was her only option."
Clarkson served as a stepmother to Blackstock's two children, daughter Savannah and son Seth. She and Blackstock welcomed their first child together, daughter River Rose, in June of 2014, followed by their son, Remington Alexander, in April of 2016. She filed for divorce in court in Los Angeles on June 4, 2020, citing irreconcilable differences.
The couple listed two lavish mansions in Nashville and Los Angeles for sale in the months before she filed for divorce. The L.A. residence has since been pulled from the market, and that may be where Clarkson is currently holed up as the news of her divorce makes headlines all over the world. On Saturday morning (June 13), the UK's Daily Mail published the first pictures of Clarkson in public since the news broke of her divorce, showing her walking her dog in Los Angeles.
Kelly Clarkson's Tennessee Mansion Is Spectacular! See Inside
See Inside Kelly Clarkson's Amazing California Mansion:
Source: Kelly Clarkson Reportedly Realized She Had to Divorce During Quarantine With Brandon Blackstock
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line592
|
__label__cc
| 0.609325
| 0.390675
|
Margaret Atwood – Maddaddam Trilogy (2013)
Growing up in the Canadian school system, Margaret Atwood was a name that was thrown around a lot. Her books never really appealed to me however and I made it though high school without having to read any. It wasn’t until a summer in university that I picked up The Handmaid’s Tale and absolutely devoured it. I decided to try another one of Atwood’s dystopian futures, Oryx and Crake and while I did not love it as much as The Handmaid’s Tale, I decided to stick with the series and read the other two books. I was not disappointed as, for me, The Year of the Flood, and Maddaddam were spellbinding.
The trilogy takes place in a post-apocalyptic United States with flashbacks to they way things were before the breakout of an epidemic that wiped out a majority of the population. In Oryx and Crake, you meet Crake and Jimmy, childhood friends who grew up together in a government compound where pharmaceuticals were manufactured. The society that the two boys grow up in is a morally depraved one where the government manufactures a drug for everything and popular forms of entertainment include watching public executions and various lewd sexual acts. Crake as the more gifted of the two creates his own “species” of humans called “Crakers” who were devoid of all the flaws he saw in his own species. You find out (Spoiler) that Crake is responsible for the epidemic released, but he left Jimmy alive to watch over the Crakers. The story is told alternating between Jimmy’s point of view in the present post-apocalyptic work, and a third person during flashbacks to Jimmy and Crake growing up. This wasn’t my favourite as I didn’t like either character and found them both to be annoying.
The Year of the Flood however was more interesting as it parallels the events of Oryx and Crake but takes place in the “Pleeblands” the area outside of government-run compounds and follows two characters, Toby and Ren and how they survived “The Flood.” This novel was more interesting as it brought in elements of religion with the “God’s Gardeners,” and the characters were more likeable with more interesting backstories. The third instalment, Maddaddam picks up where The Year of the Flood leaves off, but fell short of my expectations.
While the trilogy is full of hokey language (pigoons: a pig-racoon genetic hybrid; bimplants: breast implants, etc) Atwood paints a vision of the future that is entirely possible. Her world in Maddaddam differs drastically from her world in A Handmaid’s Tale. In the latter novel, the world is run my puritanical evangelists while in her more recent work drug companies and big businesses run the world. Think of it as a much more sobering version of Idiocracy (a great and fairly underrated movie). Juxtaposing the two books also says a great deal about Atwood’s activism and her response to the times. A Handmaid’s Tale was published in the late 1980’s when Evangelical Christianity was seeing a rebirth in North America. Now with Maddaddam Atwood is responding to current trends in entertainment, as well as the health and food industries. It is an entertaining read but underneath a very thought provoking one. Atwood’s view of the future is a realistic one, which is a very terrifying thing indeed.
This entry was posted in Reviews and tagged Dystopian Future, Fiction, Maddaddam, Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake, Review, Science Fiction, The Year of the Flood on November 10, 2014 by kwils3.
← Elliot West – The Last Indian War (2009) Susan Bordo – The Creation of Anne Boleyn (2013) →
1 thought on “Margaret Atwood – Maddaddam Trilogy (2013)”
Pingback: Margaret Atwood – Alias Grace (1996) | My Book Bag
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line593
|
__label__wiki
| 0.937062
| 0.937062
|
Early last decade, Matthew Buchanan and Karl von Randow, web designers based in Auckland, New Zealand, were seeking a passion project. Their business, a boutique web design studio called Cactuslab, developed apps and websites for various clients, but they wanted a project of their own that their team could plug away at when there wasn’t much else to do.
Buchanan had an idea for a social media site about movies. At the time, he reflected, he used Flickr to share photos and Last.fm to share his taste in music. IMDb was a database; it wasn’t, in essence, social. That left a gap in the field. The result was an app and social media network called Letterboxd, which its website describes, aptly, as “Goodreads for film.”
After it was introduced at the web conference Brooklyn Beta in the fall of 2011, Letterboxd steadily developed a modest but passionate following of film fans eager to track their movie-watching habits, create lists of favorites, and write and publish reviews. In 2020, however, the site’s growth was explosive. Letterboxd has seen its user base nearly double since the beginning of the pandemic: They now have more than 3 million member accounts, according to the company, up from 1.7 million at this time last year.
And it’s not just more users. It’s more use: “We’ve seen more activity per member,” Buchanan said in a recent Zoom interview. “Our metrics are up across the board.” Their revenues have increased, from advertising and optional paid memberships, which give users added features. The company is no longer just Buchanan and von Randow’s side project, and over the last year, they have brought on several full-time staff.
The pandemic has ravaged the movie industry, as theaters have remained mostly shuttered and high-profile would-be blockbusters like “Tenet” have drastically underperformed. But for Letterboxd, all that time at home has been a boon. “We love talking about movies,” said Gemma Gracewood, Letterboxd’s editor in chief. “And we’re talking even more about what we love lately because we’re all stuck indoors.”
In the beginning, Letterboxd mainly attracted film obsessives: hard-core cinephiles, stats fanatics and professional critics looking to house their published work under one roof. Mike D’Angelo, a longtime contributor to Entertainment Weekly and Esquire, used Letterboxd to retroactively log every movie he has seen, by date, since January 1992. In addition to uploading his old reviews to the platform, he uses the site as a kind of diary for more off-the-cuff musings.
“If I’m writing a professional review, I’m writing for a general audience,” he said in a recent phone call. “Whereas on Letterboxd, I don’t worry about pro forma things like plot synopsis. I make jokes and references you would have to have a fairly deep film knowledge to understand. I find it much more liberating.”
That freedom gives writing on Letterboxd a kind of wild-west quality. What rises to the top of the site’s page for most popular reviews ranges wildly: There are obscure memes, diaristic essays and sprawling screeds packed with pseudo-academic jargon. You might find political disquisitions written with breathless zeal: “As the most destructive action in the world, as the source of more war, death, and exploitation than anything this world has known since chattel slavery was born, imperialism is the highest, most vile, most horrifying aspect of capitalism, and we oppose it.” (That is, of course, a review of “Wonder Woman.”) Or you might find a single cryptic sentence, such as one of the site’s most popular reviews of the movie “Joker”: “This happened to my buddy Eric.”
The unedited, anything-goes spirit of Letterboxd can be off-putting: D’Angelo confessed he finds it “maddening” when writers “use all lowercase” or refuse “to use normal grammar or punctuation,” which on the site is often. But the lack of rules or structure can also lead to some interesting, unconventional criticism, and offers a platform to voices that might otherwise not be heard. On Letterboxd, you can discover not only new movies to watch, but new critics to follow.
Sydney Wegner, a single mother in rural Texas, started using Letterboxd in late 2012. Under the username @campbart, she has written vivid, free-form reviews (almost exclusively in lowercase) of sci-fi, horror and action movies, including a heartfelt piece about “Minions” that reads like a poetic ode to her daughter. “I wrote that way because that’s what I like to read,” she said recently. “I find criticism very boring unless there’s a personal aspect to it.”
Wegner said she “never intended to write professionally,” but as her account began to gain followers, she soon found herself fielding requests for paid work as a critic. She has appeared as a guest on film podcasts, done introductions for film screenings and been commissioned by editors at several film review websites, such as Film Freak Central.
Lucy May joined Letterboxd in 2015, and today she is one of its most popular users, with nearly 60,000 followers. The 26-year-old lives with her family in her hometown in Illinois, where she works at a movie theater, and in her spare time watches movies and writes about them at length on Letterboxd.
Although May said she is “first and foremost a fan of film,” and not a professional, she nevertheless now considers herself a critic. “I would call myself a Letterboxd-era critic,” she said. She finds this “modern wave of criticism” on Letterboxd interesting, “because a lot of the old rules are being thrown out the window.”
“There’s now less shame when lower ratings are handed out to acclaimed older films, and there’s more love to go around for things like rom-coms,” she said. “I find that honesty on Letterboxd fascinating. I didn’t go to school for writing or anything like that, but I do call myself a critic in that sense.”
Letterboxd’s explosion in growth is indeed trending young. On the app, which the company reports is how 75 percent of users access Letterboxd, the largest demographic is 18- to 24-year-olds. “There’s been an enormous growth in younger members,” Greenwood said. And she said that once drawn to the platform, these younger members often soon find their tastes starting to evolve. “They’re coming on having watched ‘The Princess Switch: Switched Again’ and discovering ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,’” she said.
That shift toward a younger user base means Letterboxd is finally starting to expand outside the hard-core movie-buff niche — and the more than a million new users in 2020 represent a lot of people “who aren’t strictly cinephiles,” Buchanan explained. The growth has brought the platform to a new level of success, and Buchanan sees even greater potential. “There are tens of millions of Netflix users, for instance. We know we’re not going to appeal to every single Netflix user, but we also know that the appetite for film content is growing.”
The surge in growth suggests that while the film industry has in many ways been devastated by lockdown orders and the scourge of the pandemic, film culture itself is still thriving. We may not be able to go to the movies, but as the success of Letterboxd shows, we still want to talk about them.
← Pet Food Recall is Expanded After 70 Dogs Die
Air Canada cutting about 1,700 jobs as it reduces capacity in response to pandemic restrictions | CBC News →
‘Growing Up Hip Hop’ Preview: Bow Wow Reacts To Angela’s New Boyfriend – Hollywood Life ad
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line598
|
__label__wiki
| 0.875501
| 0.875501
|
Another part of the 'wow experience'
'Raise the Beam' event opens the door to next phase of UI Children's Hospital construction
Xela Weber, 6, of Galena, Illinois, signs her name to a special purple beam set aside just for patients and families of University of Iowa Children’s Hospital during a special beam-signing event earlier in April. A larger beam was available for the public to sign on Saturday, April 25, in Krause Plaza at Kinnick Stadium, and both beams were lifted and placed into the top of the new UI Children’s Hospital. Photo by Tim Schoon.
By: Molly Rossiter | 2015.06.18 | 11:11 am
A beam is a means of support, of strength. It’s what holds structures together.
When the final beam was raised for the new University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, that same showing of support and strength was evident. This time, however, it was present in the patients, families, faculty, staff, construction workers, donors, and community members who put the “finishing touches” on the beam before it was raised to the top of the building and put in place.
On April 15, a special, smaller beam was taken to patients and families inside UI Children’s Hospital for their signatures. This beam was raised to the top of the new UI Children’s Hospital on April 23, during a celebratory lunch for the entire construction crew. Pediatric patients watched this event from one of the hospital skywalks, while the crew waved their hard hats to the children.
More than 3,000 people added their names and messages to beams – in person and by sending their signatures through a virtual signing process online, which were then added to the beams – that would become permanent fixtures of the new UI Children’s Hospital. One thousand five virtual signatures from 13 states and Germany were placed on the beam by members of the UI Foundation Student Philanthropy Group.
Special “raise the beam” ceremonies marked the “topping off” of the new hospital building, celebrating the completion of the building’s core structure.
It’s just another part of the “wow experience” that is the new UI Children’s Hospital.
“The ‘wow experience’ is not a singular place or destination, but an overall feeling shaped by the shared compassion of the people who work here,” says Scott Turner, executive director of UI Children’s Hospital. “We are all excited about the new UI Children’s Hospital for what it will become, and the promise it holds to improve the health and well-being of the children we serve. Truth be told, it is the collective commitment and dedication of our faculty, staff, and construction team that brings the ‘wow experience’ to life each and every day.”
Patients, university and hospital leaders, patients, and families talked about what the new IU Children’s Hospital means for them, for the community, and for the state of Iowa.
Chris Denison and Stacy Van Gorp are the parents of twins, Maren and Berne, who were born seven weeks early and spent weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit in 2005. In addition to being premature and of low birthweight, both babies were diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. Now 10 years old, the twins battle their disease every day. They each spend 90 minutes a day in physical therapy, and Marin takes 308 pills and medications each week.
“Cystic fibrosis is a heavy burden,” Stacy says. “The disease never goes on vacation, and the treatments never get a day off. But we don’t carry that burden alone. We have the support of University of Iowa Children’s Hospital. And like the beam that’s being raised, the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital supports our family. It helps us withstand the weight of cystic fibrosis.”
The new hospital will be completed in the late summer of 2016. For more information about the new University of Iowa Children’s Hospital, visit www.uichildrens.org/building.
Molly Rossiter, UI Health Care Marketing and Communications, 319-335-8892
Carver College of Medicine
UI Children's Hospital
raise the beam
Iowa's only nationally ranked children's hospital
UI Children's Hospital ranked in nine specialties by U.S. News & World Report
By: Tom Moore | 2015.06.09 | 03:19 pm
Raising the beam for children's health
UI Children’s Hospital invites public to once-in-a-lifetime opportunity April 25
By: Molly Rossiter | 2015.04.19 | 08:11 pm
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line599
|
__label__wiki
| 0.895363
| 0.895363
|
Liquid batteries could level the load
MIT team makes progress toward goal of inexpensive grid-scale batteries that could help make intermittent renewable energy sources viable.
David L. Chandler, MIT News Office
Caption: Professor Donald Sadoway and Materials Processing Center Research Affiliate David Bradwell observe one of their small test batteries in the lab. The battery itself is inside the heavily insulated metal cylinder at center, which heats it to 700 degrees Celsius.
Credits: Photo: Patrick Gillooly
Professor Donald Sadoway and Materials Processing Center Research Affiliate David Bradwell observe one of their small test batteries in the lab. The battery itself is inside the heavily insulated metal cylinder at center, which heats it to 700 degrees Celsius.
Photo: Patrick Gillooly
The biggest drawback to many real or proposed sources of clean, renewable energy is their intermittency: The wind doesn’t always blow, the sun doesn’t always shine, and so the power they produce may not be available at the times it’s needed. A major goal of energy research has been to find ways to help smooth out these erratic supplies.
New results from an ongoing research program at MIT, reported in the Journal of the American Chemical Society, show a promising technology that could provide that long-sought way of leveling the load — at far lower cost and with greater longevity than previous methods. The system uses high-temperature batteries whose liquid components, like some novelty cocktails, naturally settle into distinct layers because of their different densities.
The three molten materials form the positive and negative poles of the battery, as well as a layer of electrolyte — a material that charged particles cross through as the battery is being charged or discharged — in between. All three layers are composed of materials that are abundant and inexpensive, explains Donald Sadoway, the John F. Elliott Professor of Materials Chemistry at MIT and the senior author of the new paper.
“We explored many chemistries,” Sadoway says, looking for the right combination of electrical properties, abundant availability and differences in density that would allow the layers to remain separate. His team has found a number of promising candidates, he says, and is publishing their detailed analysis of one such combination: magnesium for the negative electrode (top layer), a salt mixture containing magnesium chloride for the electrolyte (middle layer) and antimony for the positive electrode (bottom layer). The system would operate at a temperature of 700 degrees Celsius, or 1,292 degrees Fahrenheit.
In this formulation, Sadoway explains, the battery delivers current as magnesium atoms lose two electrons, becoming magnesium ions that migrate through the electrolyte to the other electrode. There, they reacquire two electrons and revert to ordinary magnesium atoms, which form an alloy with the antimony. To recharge, the battery is connected to a source of electricity, which drives magnesium out of the alloy and across the electrolyte, where it then rejoins the negative electrode.
The inspiration for the concept came from Sadoway’s earlier work on the electrochemistry of aluminum smelting, which is conducted in electrochemical cells that operate at similarly high temperatures. Many decades of operation have proved that such systems can operate reliably over long periods of time at an industrial scale, producing metal at very low cost. In effect, he says, what he figured out was “a way to run the smelter in reverse.”
Over the last three years, Sadoway and his team — including MIT Materials Processing Center Research Affiliate David Bradwell MEng ’06, PhD ’11, the lead author of the new paper — have gradually scaled up their experiments. Their initial tests used batteries the size of a shot glass; they then progressed to cells the size of a hockey puck, three inches in diameter and an inch thick. Now, they have started tests on a six-inch-wide version, with 200 times the power-storage capacity of the initial version.
The electric utility companies that would ultimately be the users of this technology, Sadoway says, “don’t care what the stuff is made of, or what the size is. The only question is what’s the cost of storage” for a given amount of power. “I can build a gorgeous battery to a NASA price point,” he says — but when cost is the primary driver, “that changes the search” for the best materials. Just based on the rarity and cost of some elements, “large sections of the periodic table are off limits.”
The team is continuing to work on optimizing all aspects of the system, including the containers used to hold the molten materials and the ways of insulating and heating them, as well as ways of reducing the operating temperature to help cut energy costs. “We’ve discovered ways to decrease the operating temperature without sacrificing electrical performance or cost,” Sadoway says.
While others have researched similar liquid-battery systems, Sadoway says he and his team are the first to produce a practical, functional storage system using this approach. He attributes their success in this partly to the unique mix of expertise in a place like MIT: “People in the battery industry don’t know anything about electrolytic smelting in molten salts. Most would think that high-temperature operation would be inefficient.”
Robert Huggins, a professor emeritus of materials science and engineering at Stanford University, says, “As for any radically different approach, there are a number of new practical problems to solve in order for it to become a practical alternative for use in large-scale energy storage, [including] electrolyte evaporation, and corrosion and oxidation of components, as well as the ever-present issue of cost.” Nevertheless, he says, this is “a very innovative approach to electrochemical energy storage, and it is being explored with a high degree of sophistication.”
Sadoway, along with Bradwell, has founded a company to bring this technology to commercialization, and is on sabbatical this year working with the company, Liquid Metal Battery Corp. “If this technology succeeds,” he says, “it could be a game-changer” for renewable energy.
The work has been funded by grants from the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation at MIT, the Chesonis Family Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy's ARPA-E program, and Total, S.A.
Video: Innovation in Energy Storage
Video: Donald R. Sadoway
OpenCourseWare: Introduction to Solid State Chemistry
Paper: "Magnesium–Antimony Liquid Metal Battery for Stationary Energy Storage"
Donald Sadoway
Group Sadoway: Extreme electrochemistry
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
MIT Materials Processing Center
ARCHIVE: "Liquid battery big enough for the electric grid?"
Electric grid
Improving MIT life and learning during a pandemic
Weekend hackathon inspires hundreds of MIT students to find ways to improve the upcoming semester.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line603
|
__label__wiki
| 0.859903
| 0.859903
|
News Room - Latest News from Guyana Live on E-Networks E1 7PM
EU’s partnership with developing countries extended to November 2021
The Cotonou Agreement is a treaty between the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States
- New agreement to be signed in second half of 2021
By Editor On Dec 7, 2020 Last updated Dec 7, 2020
The Cotonou Partnership Agreement, signed between the developing African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries and the European Union (EU), has been extended from December 2020 to November 2021.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in a statement on Monday said following negotiations, the EU and the Organisation of ACP States (OACPS) have arrived at a political deal on the text for the new agreement to replace the Cotonou Partnership Agreement.
Guyana, through its Embassy in Belgium, played a leading role towards achieving convergence on several sensitive issues throughout the negotiating process, the Ministry said. The agreement seeks to reduce and eventually eradicate poverty and contribute to the gradual integration of the ACP countries into the world economy.
The new agreement, following legal verification, will be signed in Apia, Samoa in the second half of 2021 and come into effect in December of that year.
See full statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation below:
Post-Cotonou negotiations: Political deal reached on new EU-Africa, Caribbean and Pacific Partnership Agreement
On December 3, 2020, Chief negotiators of the European Union, Ms. Jutta Urpilainen and the Organisation of the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), Hon. Robert Dussey, arrived at a political deal on the text for the new agreement to replace the Cotonou Partnership Agreement.
The deal, which will require initialing, signature and ratification by the parties, was a culmination of two years of intense negotiations covering several areas of mutual interest composed of a “common foundation”, which sets out shared values and principles and indicates the strategic priority areas for the partnership. These are: (i) human rights, democracy and governance, (ii) Peace and security, (iii) Human and social development, (iv) Environmental sustainability and climate change, (v) Inclusive sustainable economic growth and development, and (vi) Migration and mobility.
The new Partnership Agreement also allows for an unprecedented regional focus by combining the ‘common foundation’ with three specific, action-oriented regional protocols (Africa-EU, Caribbean-EU, Pacific-EU) which focus on the priorities of each region. The regional protocols will be annexed to the common foundation and contain their own specific governance to manage and steer the relations with the EU and the different regions involved, including through joint parliamentary committees. There will also be an overarching joint OACPS-EU framework with a strong parliamentary dimension.
Serving in the capacity of Vice-chair of the OACPS Central Negotiating Group and Lead negotiator for the Caribbean-EU Regional Protocol at Ambassadorial level, Guyana, through its Embassy in Belgium, played a leading role towards achieving convergence on several sensitive issues throughout the negotiating process.
Following the political deal, the text will be subjected to legal verification before the agreement is initiated by the chief negotiators, marking the end of the negotiations. Signature of the agreement takes place in Apia, Samoa in the second half of 2021.
To facilitate this process, the Cotonou Agreement which should have expired on December 31, 2020, will be extended to November 30, 2021.
Together, Member States of the EU and OACPS represent over 1.5 billion people and more than half of the seats at the United Nations. Upon its entry into force, the new agreement will replace the Cotonou Partnership Agreement as the legal framework to inform political and economic cooperation between the European Union and the 79 member countries of the OACPS and equip them to address emerging needs and global challenges over the next 20 years.
Share FacebookTwitterGoogle+ReddItWhatsAppPinterestLinkedinEmail
Woman, 34, dies from COVID-19; death toll now at 154
US company conducting feasibility study on waste to energy project
No intention to deliberately debar contractors – Public Works PS
Croal details govt’s plan for Region Six residents
Clerks distributing COVID-19 cash grant threatened by residents
Courtney Benn delinquent on several projects; $400M paid for vessel repairs but…
52 new COVID-19 cases
Editor Jan 21, 2021 0
Works well-advanced for new road link between Diamond and Eccles
News Room is a news outlet launched in 2016 and catered to persons interested in creative and intelligent journalism with a broad perspective. We are a daily news broadcast on E-Networks channel, E1, and our stories are also distributed via the devices closest at hand: mobile phones and tablets.
© 2021 - News Room Guyana. All Rights Reserved.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line605
|
__label__cc
| 0.533731
| 0.466269
|
The OEIS Foundation is supported by donations from users of the OEIS and by a grant from the Simons Foundation.
(Greetings from The On-Line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences!)
A051798 a(n) = (n+1)*(n+2)*(n+3)*(9n+4)/24. 5
1, 13, 55, 155, 350, 686, 1218, 2010, 3135, 4675, 6721, 9373, 12740, 16940, 22100, 28356, 35853, 44745, 55195, 67375, 81466, 97658, 116150, 137150, 160875, 187551, 217413, 250705, 287680, 328600, 373736, 423368, 477785, 537285 (list; graph; refs; listen; history; text; internal format)
Partial sums of A007586.
Convolution of A000027 with A051682 (excluding 0). - Bruno Berselli, Dec 07 2012
A. H. Beiler, Recreations in the Theory of Numbers, Dover, N.Y., 1964, pp. 194-196.
Murray R. Spiegel, Calculus of Finite Differences and Difference Equations, "Schaum's Outline Series", McGraw-Hill, 1971, pp. 10-20, 79-94.
Herbert John Ryser, Combinatorial Mathematics, "The Carus Mathematical Monographs", No. 14, John Wiley and Sons, 1963, pp. 1-8.
Table of n, a(n) for n=0..33.
Index to sequences related to pyramidal numbers
Index entries for linear recurrences with constant coefficients, signature (5,-10,10,-5,1).
a(n) = C(n+3, 3)*(9*n+4)/4.
G.f.: (1+8*x)/(1-x)^5.
a(0)=1, a(1)=13, a(2)=55, a(3)=155, a(4)=350, a(n)=5*a(n-1)- 10*a(n-2)+ 10*a(n-3)-5*a(n-4)+a(n-5). - Harvey P. Dale, Aug 19 2012
a(n) = A080852(9,n). - R. J. Mathar, Jul 28 2016
Table[(n+1)(n+2)(n+3)(9n+4)/24, {n, 0, 40}] (* or *) LinearRecurrence[ {5, -10, 10, -5, 1}, {1, 13, 55, 155, 350}, 40] (* Harvey P. Dale, Aug 19 2012 *)
(MAGMA) /* A000027 convolved with A051682 (excluding 0): */ A051682:=func<n | n*(9*n-7)/2>; [&+[(n-i+1)*A051682(i): i in [1..n]]: n in [1..35]]; // Bruno Berselli, Dec 07 2012
(PARI) a(n)=(n+1)*(n+2)*(n+3)*(9*n+4)/24 \\ Charles R Greathouse IV, Oct 07 2015
Cf. A007586, A051682.
Cf. A093644 ((9, 1) Pascal, column m=4).
Cf. A220212 for a list of sequences produced by the convolution of the natural numbers with the k-gonal numbers.
Sequence in context: A158485 A274973 A005902 * A206372 A290396 A061161
Adjacent sequences: A051795 A051796 A051797 * A051799 A051800 A051801
nonn,easy
Barry E. Williams, Dec 11 1999
Lookup | Welcome | Wiki | Register | Music | Plot 2 | Demos | Index | Browse | More | WebCam
Contribute new seq. or comment | Format | Style Sheet | Transforms | Superseeker | Recent
The OEIS Community | Maintained by The OEIS Foundation Inc.
License Agreements, Terms of Use, Privacy Policy. .
Last modified January 21 15:16 EST 2021. Contains 340352 sequences. (Running on oeis4.)
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line610
|
__label__wiki
| 0.790789
| 0.790789
|
Перейти к навигации | Перейти к содержимому
Что такое права человека ? СДЕЛАТЬ ПОЖЕРТВОВАНИЕ
С КЕМ МЫ СОТРУДНИЧАЕМ
ВЕРХОВНЫЙ КОМИССАР
ФИНАНСИРОВАНИЕ, БЮДЖЕТ И ГРАНТЫ
ОЦЕНКА ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ
РАБОТА И УЧЕБНЫЕ ПРОГРАММЫ
ОФИС В НЬЮ-ЙОРКЕ
ВСЕ НАПРАВЛЕНИЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ
ИНСТРУМЕНТЫ ПО ПРАВАМ ЧЕЛОВЕКА
ПРАВА ЧЕЛОВЕКА ПО СТРАНАМ
Смотреть все страны >
Боливия (Многонациональное Государство)
Венесуэла (Боливарианская Республика)
Иран (Исламская Республика Иран)
Лаосская Народно-Демократическая Республика
Микронезия (Федеративные Штаты Микронезии)
Палестинские территории
Республика Молдова
Республика Северная Македония
Сан-Томе и Принсипе
Тимор-Лешти
Эсватини (бывший Свазиленд)
УВКПЧ НА МЕСТАХ
ОРГАНЫ ООН ПО ПРАВАМ ЧЕЛОВЕКА
ВСЕ ОРГАНЫ ООН ПО ПРАВАМ ЧЕЛОВЕКА
СОВЕТ ПО ПРАВАМ ЧЕЛОВЕКА
УНИВЕРСАЛЬНЫЙ ПЕРИОДИЧЕСКИЙ ОБЗОР
СПЕЦИАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОЦЕДУРЫ
ДОГОВОРНЫЕ ОРГАНЫ
ПУБЛИКАЦИИ И РЕСУРСНАЯ БАЗА
OHCHR > русский язык > Новости и события > DisplayNews
Roma still victims of hate crimes, decades after mass killings, says UN expert
Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day, 2 August 2020
GENEVA (30 July 2020) – Intimidation and aggression directed at Roma minorities has risen alarmingly in recent years and States must do more to prevent hate crimes and incitement to violence against them, a UN human rights expert said today.
Fernand de Varennes, UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues, issued the following statement ahead of Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day on 2 August, which marks when the Nazis exterminated their last Roma prisoners.
“It’s been nearly eight decades after the Nazis killed hundreds of thousands of Roma, who all too frequently have been victims of massacres and other grave human rights violations. Unfortunately, hatred, exclusion and vilification of the Roma still persist today in many parts of the world.
Nearly 3,000 Roma children, women and men perished in the gas chambers of Auschwitz II-Birkenau and it is estimated that the Nazis and their allies killed around 25 percent of all European Roma, possibly 200,000 to 500,000 people.
I am extremely concerned about the alarming rise in recent years of intimidation, aggression and violence against Roma minorities, including scapegoating and hate speech through social media. Racial bias and discrimination resurfaced this year during the COVID-19 pandemic with false rumours against Roma minorities.
The dehumanisation and denigration of the Roma that has led to atrocities in the past must not be perpetuated today in different guises, such as hate speech against the Roma in social media.
I call on governments to take bold steps to prevent any further human rights violations, to ensure that people belonging to the Roma minority can live as equal members of society, without fear and stigmatisation. Comprehensive anti-discrimination measures, as well as legislative and policy initiatives must be taken to protect and promote the human rights of Roma minorities, their identity, languages, and rich culture and history.
On this important date, I urge States to increase public knowledge about the Roma Holocaust, recommit to tackle the racism and discrimination that are still too prevalent, and particularly to designate an official day of remembrance in those States where Roma were victims of the Holocaust.”
Mr. Fernand de Varennes (Canada), was appointed as UN Special Rapporteur on minority issues by the Human Rights Council in June 2017. He is tasked by the UN Human Rights Council with promoting the implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, among other things. He is Extraordinary Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Pretoria in South Africa; Cheng Yu Tung Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Hong Kong; and Visiting Professor at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland-Galway. He is one of the world’s leading experts on minority rights in international law, with more than 200 publications in some 30 languages.
The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Proceduresof the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
For inquiries and media requests, please contact Ms. Marina Narvaez (+41 22 917 96 15 / mnarvaez@ohchr.org) or Ms Hee-Kyong Yoo (+41 22 917 97 23 / hyoo@ohchr.org)
For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts, please contact Renato de Souza (+41 22 928 9855 / rrosariodesouza@ohchr.org) and Kitty McKinsey (kmckinsey@ohchr.org)
Follow news related to the UN’s independent human rights experts on Twitter: @UN_SPExperts.
Concerned about the world we live in?
Then STAND UP for someone’s rights today.
#Standup4humanrights
and visit the web page at http://www.standup4humanrights.org
УВКПЧ в социальных СМИ
Мемориал УВКПЧ
© УВКПЧ 1996-2020
*Информация доступна только на английском
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line612
|
__label__cc
| 0.650027
| 0.349973
|
Teachers Administrators Parents
UPCOMING COURSES COURSE LIBRARY Activities SKILLS BLOG HELP WEBINAR PRICING
Frameworks/Resources
Schoology for Parents
All Administrators Teachers Parents
All Free Earns Certificate No Certificate ISTE Aligned Closed Captions Product Familiarization Certifications Courses Tech-Infused Lessons Frameworks/Resources Instructional Skills School Uploaded Content
All < 15 min 15 min - 30 min 30 min - 45 min > 45 min
ALL Administrator Apple Apple for Parents Art & Design Assessment Blended Learning Canvas Canvas for Parents Chromebooks for Parents Civics Computer Science Digital Accessiblity Digital Citizenship Digital Storytelling Early Childhood Educational Frameworks ELA ENL/ELL General Interest Google Google for Parents Holiday Infinite Campus for Parents iPad iPads for Parents Literacy Math Microsoft Microsoft for Parents NAO Parents Project Based Learning Promethean Remote Learning Rube Goldberg Schoology Schoology for Parents Science SMART SMART Table Social Emotional Learning Social Studies Special Ed STEM TCEA Website Makeover
ALL PreK - 2nd 3rd - 5th 6th - 8th 9th - 12th
English Spanish Mandarin
SORT BY: Most Recent Alphabetical Highest Rated Most Watched
Digital Online Certifications
Below are some popular Digital Teacher Certifications that are available as a series of online courses. Click on a logo to start your certification track today!
Literacy Apps for Early Education
OTIS is Online Technology and Instructional Sessions
Request a feature.
Report a bug.
otis@teq.com
7 Norden Lane
Huntington Station, NY 11746
Copyright © Teq Privacy Policy, Terms
Force other sessions to log out
Please enter the email address associated with your account and follow the instructions to reset your password.
Please answer the following security questions to reset your password.
First Question?
Second Question?
Can't remember the answers to your security questions?
RESET BY EMAIL
An email has been sent to the address we have on file for your account. If you don't receive an email from us within a few minutes, check your spam filter as sometimes they end up in there. The email will be from onlinepd@teq.com.
You have exceeded the maximum number of attempts to reset your password. For security reasons, your account will be locked for 30 minutes. Please try submitting again later.
Please enter the new password
Password reset email sent!
Password was changed!
Please login Now!
Sorry, but there are no Professional Development representatives currently available to chat. You may always send us an email with any questions you have.
Click to start a video chat with us
Sorry, but live video is only available on tablet and desktop devices. You may always Email Us with any questions you have.
Awaiting PD Professional
Sorry, but there are no Professional Development representatives currently available for live video. You may always Email Us with any questions you have.
Sorry, but all Professional Development representatives are currently busy. You may always Email Us with any questions you have.
Select Time 8:00AM 8:15AM 8:30AM 8:45AM 9:00AM 9:15AM 9:30AM 9:45AM 10:00AM 10:15AM 10:30AM 10:45AM 11:00AM 11:15AM 11:30AM 11:45AM 12:00PM 12:15PM 12:30PM 12:45PM 1:00PM 1:15PM 1:30PM 1:45PM 2:00PM 2:15PM 2:30PM 2:45PM 3:00PM 3:15PM 3:30PM 3:45PM 4:00PM 4:15PM 4:30PM 4:45PM 7:00AM 7:15AM 7:30AM 7:45AM 8:00AM 8:15AM 8:30AM 8:45AM 9:00AM 9:15AM 9:30AM 9:45AM 10:00AM 10:15AM 10:30AM 10:45AM 11:00AM 11:15AM 11:30AM 11:45AM 12:00PM 12:15PM 12:30PM 12:45PM 1:00PM 1:15PM 1:30PM 1:45PM 2:00PM 2:15PM 2:30PM 2:45PM 3:00PM 3:15PM 3:30PM 3:45PM 6:00AM 6:15AM 6:30AM 6:45AM 7:00AM 7:15AM 7:30AM 7:45AM 8:00AM 8:15AM 8:30AM 8:45AM 9:00AM 9:15AM 9:30AM 9:45AM 10:00AM 10:15AM 10:30AM 10:45AM 11:00AM 11:15AM 11:30AM 11:45AM 12:00PM 12:15PM 12:30PM 12:45PM 1:00PM 1:15PM 1:30PM 1:45PM 2:00PM 2:15PM 2:30PM 2:45PM 5:00AM 5:15AM 5:30AM 5:45AM 6:00AM 6:15AM 6:30AM 6:45AM 7:00AM 7:15AM 7:30AM 7:45AM 8:00AM 8:15AM 8:30AM 8:45AM 9:00AM 9:15AM 9:30AM 9:45AM 10:00AM 10:15AM 10:30AM 10:45AM 11:00AM 11:15AM 11:30AM 11:45AM 12:00PM 12:15PM 12:30PM 12:45PM 1:00PM 1:15PM 1:30PM 1:45PM 3:00AM 3:15AM 3:30AM 3:45AM 4:00AM 4:15AM 4:30AM 4:45AM 5:00AM 5:15AM 5:30AM 5:45AM 6:00AM 6:15AM 6:30AM 6:45AM 7:00AM 7:15AM 7:30AM 7:45AM 8:00AM 8:15AM 8:30AM 8:45AM 9:00AM 9:15AM 9:30AM 9:45AM 10:00AM 10:15AM 10:30AM 10:45AM 11:00AM 11:15AM 11:30AM 11:45AM 4:00AM 4:15AM 4:30AM 4:45AM 5:00AM 5:15AM 5:30AM 5:45AM 6:00AM 6:15AM 6:30AM 6:45AM 7:00AM 7:15AM 7:30AM 7:45AM 8:00AM 8:15AM 8:30AM 8:45AM 9:00AM 9:15AM 9:30AM 9:45AM 10:00AM 10:15AM 10:30AM 10:45AM 11:00AM 11:15AM 11:30AM 11:45AM 12:00PM 12:15PM 12:30PM 12:45PM 9:00AM 9:15AM 9:30AM 9:45AM 10:00AM 10:15AM 10:30AM 10:45AM 11:00AM 11:15AM 11:30AM 11:45AM 12:00PM 12:15PM 12:30PM 12:45PM 1:00PM 1:15PM 1:30PM 1:45PM 2:00PM 2:15PM 2:30PM 2:45PM 3:00PM 3:15PM 3:30PM 3:45PM 4:00PM 4:15PM 4:30PM 4:45PM 5:00PM 5:15PM 5:30PM 5:45PM 7:00AM 7:15AM 7:30AM 7:45AM 8:00AM 8:15AM 8:30AM 8:45AM 9:00AM 9:15AM 9:30AM 9:45AM 10:00AM 10:15AM 10:30AM 10:45AM 11:00AM 11:15AM 11:30AM 11:45AM 12:00PM 12:15PM 12:30PM 12:45PM 1:00PM 1:15PM 1:30PM 1:45PM 2:00PM 2:15PM 2:30PM 2:45PM 3:00PM 3:15PM 3:30PM 3:45PM 9:30AM 9:45AM 10:00AM 10:15AM 10:30AM 10:45AM 11:00AM 11:15AM 11:30AM 11:45AM 12:00PM 12:15PM 12:30PM 12:45PM 1:00PM 1:15PM 1:30PM 1:45PM 2:00PM 2:15PM 2:30PM 2:45PM 3:00PM 3:15PM 3:30PM 3:45PM 4:00PM 4:15PM 4:30PM 4:45PM 5:00PM 5:15PM 5:30PM 5:45PM 6:00PM 6:15PM
Eastern Central Mountain Pacific Hawaii Alaska Atlantic Saskatchewan Newfoundland
What is the best phone number to reach you at?
Full number including Area Code is required.
Please describe what you would like your call to address.
Questions on a piece of edtech? Issues with the OTIS platform? Send us an email about the issues you are experiencing, and our OTIS team of PD Specialist will get back to you.
For more information on School, District, or Category Pricing, fill out the form below and a PD Specialist will reach out to you directly or call us toll free at 877.455.9369.
Interested in scheduling a demo?
Fill out the form below and a PD Specialist will reach out to you directly or call us toll free at 877.455.9369.
Have a great great idea for a course? We'd love to hear it. Use the form below to send your idea directly to our curriculum team.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line619
|
__label__wiki
| 0.664
| 0.664
|
Oak Ridge Boys Down Home Christmas
Down Home Christmas
~by Ryan Stacy
Vince Gill. Tanya Tucker. Clint Black. Some of country music’s biggest names have come through the “other” Nashville since the Brown County Music Center opened its doors this past August, and the hits keep coming. On December 10, legendary Country Hall of Famers the Oak Ridge Boys bring their Down Home Christmas show to town, and long-time Oaks fans—and fans of Christmas in general—won’t want to miss this celebration of great music and the seasonal spirit.
One stop among twenty-eight on the current tour across the nation, the show at the BCMC features the multiple-Grammy, CMA, and Dove winners doing what they love most: performing for an audience with a deep connection to the Oak Ridge Boys’ brand of country and gospel. The group’s lineup (Duane Allen, lead vocal; Joe Bonsall, tenor; William Lee Golden, baritone; Richard Sterban, bass) is the longest-running in their forty-five-plus year history together, and the same one that recorded the Oaks’ biggest hits.
Hits that you’re sure to hear on December 10, says Richard, who put the famous “Oom Papa” in the quartet’s smash single “Elvira.” “We’ll play a good number of our country songs, and then do a Christmas set,” he says. Newer songs on the Down Home Christmas tour come from the album of the same name released in October, as well as 2018’s 17th Avenue Revival.
Both the newest albums were produced by another award-winner: Dave Cobb, who works out of Nashville, Tennessee’s RCA Studio A. “Dave’s got such an appreciation for the gospel sound,” says Richard. The Oak Ridge Boys fell in love with the way Cobb was able to capture the intimacy of a live gospel performance, he says, and they credit him with this quality as it comes through on the new Christmas album.
At some point in the show there’s a “rocking chair” part of the show that allows the group to simply talk to the audience, sharing Christmas memories and thoughts about what the holidays signify for them individually. “That’s very important to us,” Richard says. “We want people to know what the true meaning of Christmas is.”
The Oaks’ stop in Brown County holds a special significance for Richard. “We played the Little Nashville Opry a bunch of times,” he says, referring to the longtime country music mainstay that burned down in 2009. “It’ll be great to get back to Brown County and check out the new venue.”
For more information on the Oak Ridge Boys’ December 10 performance at the Brown County Music Center, visit <browncountymusiccenter.com> or call (812) 988-5323.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line620
|
__label__cc
| 0.596596
| 0.403404
|
Marius Noss Gundersen – Visual Music – Retrato Brasileiro (classical/ MPB)
Oli September 9, 2012 Music, Recorded music
Ponca Jazz Records PJRCD 1010, 2012, CD album, 59m 30s
http://www.pureclassicalguitar.com/fr_store.cfm
http://www.visualmusic.no
Visual Music is, according to the sleeve notes, a collaboration with the photographer Tomas Moss; the ‘power of combining vision and audio’, we are informed, offers a broader experience than either would alone, and we are directed to the ‘Visual Music’ website to discover more about this idea. The music on the album is all either composed by Brasilians, or inspired by Brasil, and on the website there are a lot of very beautifully composed photographs of Brasil and Brasilians. There is also a certain amount of explanatory text in Norwegian, but as it has all been inserted into the layouts as image files, I wasn’t able to paste it into Google for one of its Pythonesque translations. Judging by what I can see, the collaboration consists simply of some music, some images, and a short piece of text exhorting us to read them as a single work; granted, both sets of artworks have similar themes (a country as large, and nearly as diverse, as Western Europe), but I was at a loss to detect any real connective tissue, or any sense of a unified creative practice. Sure, we can look at the pictures while we listen to the music, and both convey a very similar representation of Brasil. They portray it in the way Western Europeans expect Brasil to be presented, as a country of beaches, smiles, capoeiristas and bossa; there is no sense of any specific meanings to be found in the collision of two media that could not be found in each independently, and notwithstanding a few minor intimations of poverty in the photography, no apparent agenda to explore or question received notions of Brasilian-ness. There seems little point interpreting this album as a collaborative work: although both it and the photos are very pleasing aesthetically, neither adds anything indispensible to our understanding of the other. The visual associations of these sounds are indeed well represented by Moss’s pictures, but I’ll stick to discussing the music.
So what indeed is there to be found on this handsomely digipak-ed CD? For the most part, there is just Marius Noss Gundersen’s classical guitar. He performs pieces by several Brasilian, and one Argentinian, composers, as well as a number of his own compositions; the composers he features straddle the classical and popular worlds, although the popular world involved is the rarified, middle-class milieu of bossa-nova and MPB, which is a small corner of Brasilian music, if a prominent one. All the material is treated very much in the manner of the classical repertoire, performed with respectful accuracy, and a mindful reverence for the tradition. Gundersen is a guitarist of impeccable technique and sensitive phrasing, less free with tempi than might be found in a purely classical context, but making full use of all the expressive levers that remain in the wake of a decision to record ‘readings’ of notated compositions. He is joined by percussionist Luis Landa-Schreitt on the Toquinho composition ‘Tarde em Itapua’ (a famous paean to a neighbourhood of Salvador, Bahia, a region whose musical culture is notably unrepresented in Visual Music’s picture of Brasil), who plays with rhythmic fire and great restraint; Beate Slettevold Lech lends breathy and mellifluous vocals to his interpretations of the Tom Jobim warhorses ‘Girl From Ipanema’ and ‘Corcovado’, and Magnar Olsen contributes a gorgeously lyrical double bass solo to the latter piece.
Visual Music is an irresistibly beautiful record. For all my reservations about the workings of the collaboration, it is also a very visual record: there is something about its aesthetic that seems to set neurons firing in the visual cortex. My predominant impressions while listening were of cool, clarity and poise; this is a music of the subtle nuance, the metaphorical raised eyebrow that can despatch the narrative in one direction or another (although the chances are both routes will lead to more or less the same place); it is a music of light and shade, dappled patterns of which are what I seem to see when I listen to it. This is a slightly airless recording: although the guitar provides its own reverberant space, there is (other than the percussion) virtually nothing at the top end of the frequency spectrum, which is an area where we sense the ambience of the (real or constructed) soundworld; it’s almost as though we had our heads in Gundersen’s guitar. Lech’s two vocals are delivered with rhythmic and timbral control as tasteful and as sexy as any readings I’ve heard of the English lyrics, although it has to be said that it’s some years since I’ve listened to the classic recordings of these tunes: had I heard them more recently, and considering how incredibly well-trodden these musical paths are, I might not have been that interested, but as it was I enjoyed listening to both songs a great deal. What this music is not, is a music of raging passions or life-and-death decisions; to play with Gundersen, his guest musicians do not need to be willing, as Elvin Jones said of playing with Coltrane, ‘to die with the motherfucker’. The whole vibe is one of cool detachment, of intellectual sophistication, of refinement and taste, like the ‘university music’ many of the composers were involved with.
Marius Noss Gundersen clearly loves Brasil, the country and its music; he has also spent some time there, which I haven’t, so I wouldn’t dream of questioning his experience of the place. But it is notable that his representation of Brasilian musical culture is very much the same one that is to be had in the world music racks of the few remaining mainstream CD retailers. Brasil is a vast and diverse country, of which I know very little, but I know enough to observe that the majority of that diversity is not getting a look-in here, and those parts that are have already received copious exposure in Europe and North America. What this means is that the record has a very specific audience; established fans of Brasilian music may well love it, if this is the kind of Brasilian music that they like, but it offers little in the way of novelty, and relatively little in the way of new musical insights into the material. People who like acoustic guitar music, and haven’t had much exposure to Brasilian sounds, will almost certainly be blown away by this, because it is a decidedly lovely collection of recordings. For me, the high points are Gundersen’s six compositions: not because I’m unsympathetic to musicians who choose to perform repertoire, but because I feel that the creative interest that remains in this area of music is more apt to be unleashed by new writing than by respectful interpretations of an exceptionally well-known canon. These pieces sit among the others with total confidence, evincing a complete assimilation of the rhythmic and harmonic vocabulary; ‘Obrigado’, with which the album closes, successfully integrates that vocabulary into a piece more obviously reminiscent of the classical tradition (and with a harmonic nod or two to The Beatles). Gundersen is a technically accomplished and emotionally committed guitarist, who knows exactly how to deploy delicacy for maximum emotional impact; he is also a gifted composer, and I hope that he’ll progress towards an emphasis on that aspect of his artistic practice, or a more adventurous choice of material.
acoustic guitar, bossa-nova, brasil, Brasilian, brazil, brazilian, classical, classical guitar, MPB
Previous Paragaté – The World Above Us (ambient)
Next Various Artists – Album Roundup
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line623
|
__label__cc
| 0.595689
| 0.404311
|
Nevertheless, They Persisted
Yesterday, a joint session of Congress met to affirm the results of the 2020 presidential election, which determined that Joe Biden would be the 46th President of the United States. What should have been a ceremonial exercise had instead been engulfed in controversy for weeks. Despite a complete and utter lack of evidence of widespread election irregularities, and despite dozens of court rulings condemning the notion, multiple Republicans stated that they would object to the vote from certain states which had gone against Donald Trump.
These politicians intended to carry out a craven, self-interested charade to appease Trump and his followers, all the while knowing it would not change the result, and knowing that it shouldn’t. They were kicking at one of the key foundations of our democracy, the orderly transfer of power following free and fair elections, in the hopes that it would further their future political ambitions. Such fecklessness was despicable, and it should have been the worst news of the day.
Instead, things got worse, in far more visceral fashion. Following a fact-free speech from Donald Trump at his “March to Save America” rally, a small band of insurrectionists stormed the US Capitol building. Due to an inexplicable absence of proper security, Congressional members were forced to flee the chamber. In a matter of minutes, thugs were literally able to physically overtake the seat of the legislative branch. It was horrifying to witness, and it was a direct result of Trump’s refusal to accept his loss.
Make no mistake. Donald Trump encouraged this action, as did those who have cynically enabled him in both the past two months, and over the past four years. All that preceded yesterday’s events should be dissected at length, and we should do all we can to avoid ever seeing something like this again. Lies and hypocrisy must be called out, criminals must be prosecuted, and democracy must never be taken as a given. When it comes to Trump specifically, the rhetorical two-step that Donald Trump should be taken “seriously, but not literally” must finally be rejected by all. Time and again, Trump has shown exactly who he is. He is serious and literal, and he would do anything to hold on to power, including tearing down American democracy itself.
There must be a reckoning in the coming weeks, months, and years. Republicans must see that placating and cozying up to lunatics is playing with fire, and eventually, we’ll all get burned. Dangerous conspiracy theories and alternate realities must be quashed, because it is more clear than ever just how much they threaten our society. Let us remember yesterday as a terrible day, but also as a death throe, marking the end of an awful era.
While this is generally a humor site, I simply can’t find a joke anywhere in all of this. Nevertheless, I can still find hope. At present, I hope the following will be the ultimate story of January 6, 2021 (as well as the wee hours of January 7): After a demoralizing day of rioting and mayhem in our nation’s capital, Congress got back to work, and certified Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. Despite the noxious lies from Trump and his acolytes, despite the violence perpetrated by a small band of anarchistic thugs, our system once again held. In just over 13 days, the Trump presidency will end. Where we go from there, only time and our actions, will tell.
Madea Went to the Polls ∞
On Monday, the eve of the Senate run-offs in Georgia, I came across this tweet from writer/director/actor/producer Tyler Perry. It seemed he was having trouble voting in those critical races.
Hey Georgia,
Is anyone else having this problem? I ordered my absentee ballot on December 2nd. I’m told it was mailed on the 4th. I still don’t have it!
Many replies urged Perry to vote in person, as it would now be impossible to vote absentee. Voting rights dynamo Stacey Abrams herself even chimed in:
Hey @tylerperry, we’ve got you. Requested a ballot but haven’t received it? Vote in person on Election Day! Just tell the person at the check-in table that you wish to cancel your ballot & vote in person. Go to https://iwillvote.com to find your assigned polling place.
While I hoped Perry would manage to vote, I also didn’t have particularly high hopes. If he needed an absentee ballot, it seemed likely that it would be impossible for him to get to the polls in person.
So I was delighted yesterday afternoon when VoteRiders posted a video from Perry showing off his Georgia peach-themed “I Voted” sticker. He had indeed made it, and I was impressed at his dedication. A few hours later, I learned Perry had actually flown home to vote in person. Tyler Perry worked his ass off to make sure his vote counted. Let it be an example for all of us in the future.
It’s His Loss ∞
In July of 2020, Justin Fernandes was struck by a hit-and-run motorcyclist, and lost his right leg. After many emails and phone calls, he now has an unusual memento:
the articulated bones of his lost limb, a testament to the struggles he went through in a year unlike any other.
It is apparently not at all easy to get your own dismembered body part back. The process required hundreds of emails and dozens of phone calls, but with help from the Prehistoria Natural History Centre, Justin Fernandes has been reunited with his leg.
Some might find this morbid, or disturbing. For them, Fernandes has a simple message.
“You grieve however you feel is the right way to grieve. It’s your loss.”
I like this alternate use of “your loss”. I also like his unique coping mechanism.
An Air-Powered Costume Is a Bad Idea ∞
Previously, we had superspreader Santa. Now, it appears a Christmas tree costume may have led to the infection dozens of people in San Jose, and at least one death so far.
[Photo via Marianne Favro]
There are countless ways folks are being foolish as this pandemic rips through America, and it’s quite literally killing people. Wash your hands, wear a mask, stay home.
Twentieth Century Browsers ∞
Friday, January 1st, 2021
The treaty containing the terms for Britain’s exit from the European Union is an enormously consequential document. Given that, it probably shouldn’t contain copy and pasted details that reference technology which hasn’t been current in over two decades, like Netscape Communicator.
I’m Saving Hundreds of Microseconds Each Day
Thursday, December 31st, 2020
In 18+ years over at my day job, we’ve shipped over 800 different software updates for our products. Sometimes, those updates contain a slew of new features and changes, given us lots to talk about and promote. Other times, well, it goes the other way. It can be difficult to come up with interesting marketing copy when a release mostly just cleans up some boring things on the backend, invisible to the user.
Thus, I can understand how the makers of Weather Line (an excellent weather app for iOS) wound up here:
That understanding didn’t make it any less ridiculous, however. Just to compare, here’s a before and after shot:
I don’t know quite how much time that “faster glance-ability” is saving me, but I’ve probably blown several lifetimes’ worth of savings writing this post. And then you read it! Thank you for joining me on this time-wasting journey.
We’ve All Had Days Like That ∞
As has been well established, I really like octopuses. Now, there’s yet another reason to appreciate them.
Scientists have discovered that, on occasions, an octopus will “punch” a fish for no reason other than “spite”.
I feel you, octopuses. I feel you.
Progress in Major League Baseball
Winter has just begun here in America, but recently, two positive announcements were made relating to the boys of summer. First, at some point in the near future, Cleveland’s baseball team will have a new name.
The decision follows a similar move by the NFL’s Washington Football Team. Unlike the Washington Football Team, however, Cleveland’s baseball team will continue to be known as the Indians — the name it has carried since 1915 — until a new name is chosen and various branding and trademarking issues are resolved.
I’m not sure why they’re taking a half measure for now, but it will be good to get rid of this name (and worse, the terrible “Chief Wahoo” logo). For now, there’s nothing stopping all of us from just calling them the Cleveland Baseball Club, and I intend to.
Shortly after Cleveland’s announcement, Major League Baseball stated that the the Negro Leagues would now be considered as ‘Major League’.
Major League Baseball is correcting a longtime oversight in the game’s history by officially elevating the Negro Leagues to “Major League” status…With this action, MLB seeks to ensure that future generations will remember the approximately 3,400 players of the Negro Leagues during this time period as Major League-caliber ballplayers. Accordingly, the statistics and records of these players will become a part of Major League Baseball’s history.
From 1920 to 1948, African and Latin Americans players competed at a tremendously high level, but were excluded from the all-white Major League Baseball. That exclusion can never be undone, but recognizing the accomplishments of those players is a positive move nonetheless.
Both of these changes have been a long time coming, but late is far better than never.
Take a Day Off, Coach
Regular readers will know about my love-hate relationship with the Apple Watch, which I often refer to as my dumbwatch. While I appreciate the activity tracking it does, I’m often confounded by many of its behaviors. Perhaps my least favorite feature is the Activity app’s “Daily Coaching”. According to Apple, this is intended to “help you complete your Activity goals and Monthly Challenges”. I leave this turned on so that it can helpfully notify me if the day is winding down, but I need a bit more activity to reach my goals.
However, this same feature also nags me at other times throughout the day, in ways that are anything but helpful. I run in the morning most days, but occasionally, I’ll run in the afternoon. At eleven or noon on those days, the Watch will note with alarm that I’m behind my usual pace. I’ll get there, dummy. Worse, this warning sometimes pops up earlier, right after I’ve woken up and put on the Watch in the morning. I’ve even seen it as early as 1 AM, which is just ridiculous.
Other times, possibly because it’s bored, the Watch will issue a needless status update. When the below appeared, it was shortly after high noon, and I was over halfway to my calorie goal.
Begging for attention
I really don’t need or want an Everything’s OK alarm.1
This past Friday, my Watch popped up with this:
Now, read in the right cadence, that’s downright poetic. But it’s also a rhyming pain in the ass. For the love of Saint Nicholas, that was Christmas morning. The day brought some time lounging about in pajamas, followed by talking with loved ones while sitting around on the couch. Maybe Apple could provide this digital coach a calendar, because shattering personal records on December 25th is simply not in the cards for most people.
The day after Christmas, however, I ran a half-marathon. It was a cold, windy Saturday, and when I was done, I was done. This was my last race in a virtual distance medley. Over the past three months, I’d trained for and run a 5K, 10K, and now a half-marathon. I intended to take it easy and recuperate on Sunday.
So of course, shortly after I woke up the next, my Watch hit me with this:
No! No I will not. It is OK to do less some days than others. Boom? Boom yourself, Watch.
What’s maddening about virtual assistants like this is the wildly fluctuating levels of intelligence. The same device that can check both my calendar and local traffic, then helpfully remind me when I need to leave for a doctor’s appointment, is also completely oblivious of concepts like holidays and rest days. Apple and others have created semi-intelligent facsimiles of a human assistant, but it’s clear there’s a lot of work left to be done.
For now, it provides me with a harmless outlet for anger and mockery. The Apple Watch has no feelings, so I’m blissfully free to tell it to shove its encouragement up its own ass.
As always, the relevant video is archived here.↩︎
Scottish Gritters Have Great Names ∞
The transportation department of Scotland has 213 snow plows, which they refer to as “gritters”. Every single one of them has its own name, and they are wonderful. My current favorites are “Spready Mercury” and “I Want To Break Freeze”, but there are so many to enjoy. View (and track!) the Scottish snow plows yourself right here.
About One Foot Tsunami
Best of One Foot Tsunami
Read a random selection from OFT's very best posts:
The Bell Tolls for Glen
Check out the full Best Of archive.
Tune in to Just The Tip
Hear Paul and his good friend Amy Jane Gruber on their mildly-popular Just The Tip comedy podcast.
If you shop at Amazon, support One Foot Tsunami by clicking this button first:
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line624
|
__label__wiki
| 0.671106
| 0.671106
|
Hijacked by Legislative Anachronisms
by Lara Friedman 11/03/11
As everybody who cares about foreign policy (and hasn't been living under a rock) knows by now, earlier this week the PLO was admitted as a full member by UNESCO, triggering pre-existing U.S. laws that mandate an immediate and 100% cut-off in U.S. funding to UNESCO. These laws likewise mandate such a cut-off of funding to the UN, any specialized agency of the UN, or any affiliated organization of the UN who follows suit. With the Palestinians reportedly planning to apply for membership in at least 16 more agencies, the specter of a far-reaching U.S. withdrawal from international agencies - including from agencies like the IAEA and WIPO, looms large. And with it looms the specter of far-reaching consequences for U.S. international influence, leverage, and engagement, and for the U.S ability to protect and promote its interests across the whole spectrum of issues around the globe.
Absent from the reporting and debate around this issue is any real notice of the fact that the rationale that existed for passage of these laws in 1990 and 1994 no longer exists. Objectively speaking, what we are seeing today is U.S. policy at the UN being hijacked by a pair of legislative anachronisms.
U.S. (non)-Recognition of Sovereignty in Jerusalem: A Consistent Policy, pre-1948 - Present
Americans for Peace Now (2011)
APN's Lara Friedman provides an outline of the history of US policy regarding the status of Jerusalem. Includes dates, statements, and descriptions of relevant actions by US government bodies and officials. Read More >
Top 10 Myths Likely to be Heard from Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat in Washington this week
This week Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat will be in Washington. He will be holding meetings with Members of Congress, Administration officials, think tanks, and the press.
These interactions offer an excellent opportunity to hear the mayor's views about the Jerusalem-related issues of contention right now between his government and the Obama Administration.
While Mayor Barkat has a right to hold any opinions he wishes, the facts are important and, when and if he deviates from them, he should be challenged.
To help prepare the mayor's Washington interlocutors for what will no doubt be a lively exchange of views, Jerusalem expert Daniel Seidemann and APN's Lara Friedman have assembled this guide to some of the most prominent - and inaccurate - assertions often heard about Jerusalem.
Myth #1: "Arabs can build and live anywhere in Jerusalem, so Jews must be allowed to build and live anywhere, too."
Myth #2: "We are not targeting Palestinian homes for demolition - we go after all illegal construction."
Myth #3: "Palestinians can build legally, if they want to."
Myth #4: "Demolitions are about respecting the rule of law, not politics. I have no authority to stop them and trying to do so would be disrespecting the rule of law.
Myth #5: "My development plans in East Jerusalem are for the benefit of everyone - Israelis and Palestinians. Palestinians would support them if radical left-wing agitators weren't causing trouble."
Myth #6: "There is nothing controversial about what we are doing in East Jerusalem - everybody knows these areas will always remain part of Israel."
Myth #7: "The planning and approval process is so convoluted that there is no way the government can keep track of, let alone stop, East Jerusalem settlement plans - even if it wants to."
Myth #8: "The land we are building on in East Jerusalem wasn't being used by anyone until we built on it."
Myth #9: "East Jerusalem settlements have never bothered Palestinians and don't impact their lives negatively in any way."
Myth #10: "Israeli construction in East Jerusalem is not an obstacle to peace."
Myth: "Arabs can build and live anywhere in Jerusalem, so Jews must be allowed to build and live anywhere, too."
Fact: While Israelis and Jews living abroad may purchase real estate anywhere in both East and West Jerusalem, this is not the case for the 270,000 Palestinian residents of the city. Most of West Jerusalem, like most of Israel, is "State Land" (in all, 93% of land in Israel is "state land"). Under Israeli law, to qualify to purchase property that is "state land" the purchaser must either be a citizen of Israel (Palestinian Jerusalemites are legal residents of the city, not citizens of Israel) or legally entitled to citizenship under the law of return (i.e. Jewish). This means an Israeli or a Jew from anywhere in the world can purchase such property in West Jerusalem, but not a Palestinian resident of the city. (Technically, by the way, these are actually not purchases but long-term leases.)
This ban on purchase of property on "State Land" by Palestinian residents of Jerusalem extends to East Jerusalem. Not only are Palestinian Jerusalemites barred from purchasing property in most of West Jerusalem, but they are also barred from purchasing property in the 35% of East Jerusalem that Israel has expropriated as "State Land" since 1967, and on which Israel's East Jerusalem settlements have been built. This means that in more than 1/3 of East Jerusalem, Israelis and Jews from anywhere in the world have a right to buy property, but not Palestinian residents of Jerusalem, including the very residents whose land was expropriated to build these settlements.
With respect to private land in West Jerusalem, there are no legal limitations on purchases by Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. Similarly, there are no legal limitations on Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem renting in West Jerusalem. However, so few Palestinians actually reside in West Jerusalem, either through purchase or rental of property, that experts on the issue could not come up with a single example of a Palestinian doing so. The reasons for this are social, cultural, and economic. There is also anecdotal evidence of discrimination, indicating that Israelis prefer not to rent or sell to Palestinians. (This is distinct from Arab citizens of Israel, who by virtue of their citizenship have the right to buy property that is "State Land" or private property, and a small number of whom do live in West Jerusalem).
A small number of Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem have rented apartments in some East Jerusalem settlements (principally French Hill, Pisgat Zeev, and Neve Yaacov - all settlements that are so far "east" that they are increasingly less attractive to Israelis). This does not appear to reflect any political agenda to move to these areas, but rather is a byproduct of the severe housing shortage that exists in Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. And it should be noted that these are short-term rentals from their Israeli owners (as opposed to formal leases by the titular land owner, the government of Israel, to Palestinians).
Myth: "We are not targeting Palestinian homes for demolition in Jerusalem - we go after all illegal construction."
Fact: In 1967, there were 12,600 residential units in East Jerusalem, for a population of 70,000 Palestinians. Today that population has grown to 270,000, with an accompanying need for more housing - and the number of units has grown to in excess of 43,000. However, since 1967, Israel has granted fewer than 4000 building permits - allowing for the construction of only around 8000 units - to Palestinians in East Jerusalem. Consequently, well over 50% of the homes in East Jerusalem were built without permits, for the simple reason that Israel did not allow such permits. This refusal to grant permits was part of a well-documented policy seeking to artificially cap Palestinian growth and maintaining an Israeli majority in "unified" Jerusalem. Thus, most of the Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem are vulnerable to demolition.
While most (about 66%) of the building violations documented by Israeli authorities are located in the Israeli sector, generally 66%-70% of demolitions are in the Palestinian sector. Municipal officials will respond, with some justification, that the violations in the Israeli sector are usually "minor" (e.g. an illegal extension), while the Palestinian violations are "major" (e.g. entire buildings) and therefore cannot be overlooked. However, this argument ignores the fact that while the town plans in Israeli neighborhoods of the city are geared to accommodate or even accelerate development, the town plans in East Jerusalem (to the extent that they even exist) are geared to contain or even prevent any reasonable development. The nature and scope of violations reflects this discrepancy.
Moreover, while in the past demolitions in East Jerusalem were random, following no particular pattern, in recent years demolitions have clearly focused on specific neighborhoods. These are the neighborhoods that are, not coincidentally, the focus of the most intensive ideological settlement activity - Silwan, Ras al Amud, Sheikh Jarrah, etc. In this way not only are Palestinians as a whole being targeted by the municipality for home demolitions, but home demolitions have been transformed into a blunt political tool to further the right-wing settlement agenda in East Jerusalem. The most glaring example is the Bustan neighborhood of Silwan - an area long- coveted by the settlers, who now enjoy the close support of Mayor Barket on the issue. Legal proceedings have now been instituted against 57 of the 88 homes in this area - demonstrating that how the previously random crime of punitive demolitions is morphing into pattern crime.
Finally, it is worth noting that he number of home demolitions in East Jerusalem in 2008 rose by about 32% in comparison to 2007, and by about 217% in comparison to the multi-year average between 1992 and 2006 (the number of demolitions in the first two months of 2009 is 16% higher, annually, than in 2008). However, the Municipality has proudly asserted that in the last few years, the scope of building violations in East Jerusalem has dropped by as much as 70%. Thus, as illegal Palestinian construction plummets, the number of demolitions has increased in recent years.
Myth: "Palestinians can build legally in Jerusalem if they want to."
Fact: Since 1967, Israeli planning in East Jerusalem has almost invariably been driven by the calculus of national struggle, the goal of which is to maintain a large Israeli majority in the city. One way Israel has tried to achieve this is by artificially putting a cap on Palestinian development. Since 1967, Israel has expropriated 35% of the land of East Jerusalem - upwards of 24 sq. km. - for the purposes of constructing new Israeli neighborhoods/settlements. On these lands the government sponsored the construction of almost 50,000 residential units for Israelis only - and none for Palestinians. In contrast, since 1967, less than 600 government-sponsored residential units have been built in the Palestinian sector, the last of which was built more than 30 years ago.
Most of the land that remains in Palestinian hands subsequent to these expropriations - approximately 45 sq. km. - cannot be built on, either because Israeli authorities have approved no town plans at all (and no permits can be issued without a valid town plan), or because large swathes of these lands have been designated "open spaces" where no legal construction can take place. Thus, only a fraction of the land of East Jerusalem is even theoretically available for construction, and even this theoretically available space is largely limited to the existing built-up areas of Palestinian neighborhoods, where the construction potential has been virtually exhausted.
Over the past forty-two years, the Palestinian population of East Jerusalem has almost quadrupled, rising from 70,000 in 1967 to approximately 270,000 today. The existing town plans that have been approved throughout the years subsequent to 1967 accommodate only a small fraction of the housing needs of this additional population.
For those few Palestinians who are lucky enough to own land in Jerusalem that is located in an area that does have an approved town plan and where the land is zoned for construction, a building permit is still a remote possibility at best. If these Palestinians do apply, they encounter a process geared to accommodate the Israeli sector, meaning extraordinary legal, financial and bureaucratic obstacles for a Palestinian applicant. In sum, today there is little incentive for Palestinians to even begin the costly, time-consuming process of applying for a permit when they know in advance they will have rather questionable chances of success.
Myth: "Demolitions are about respecting the rule of law, not politics. I have no authority to stop them and trying to do so would be disrespecting the rule of law."
Fact: The authority to carry out, suspend or freeze home demolitions is vested in the courts and an independent state prosecution - not with politicians, such as Mayor Barkat. In spite of this, Mayor Barkat has intervened in the judicial process, acting to spare the illegally built settler house called Beit Yehonatan, and attempting to accelerate the pace and scope of demolitions of Palestinian homes in Silwan, He has done so in defiance of the Attorney General and the Municipality's own legal adviser.
Allowed to fulfill their independent discretion, the courts and the state prosecutors have at times exercised their authority to suspend or freeze home demolitions. In 2000 the number of home demolitions in East Jerusalem dropped to 9, demonstrating that if the genuine public interest is considered - a public that includes the Palestinians - home demolitions have been and can be kept to a bare minimum. The same mechanisms and methodology that allowed the authorities to virtually suspend demolitions in 2000 - and additional methods as well - are still available to the authorities today.
Myth: "My development plans in East Jerusalem are for the benefit of everyone - Israelis and Palestinians. Palestinians would support them if radical left-wing agitators weren't causing trouble."
Fact: Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat is pushing a major development plan for part of Silwan. Under the plan tens of Palestinian homes would be demolished, others would be legitimized, and the area would be turned into a settler-inspired, settler-run Biblical park. The plan would also legalize an illegally-built settler high-rise known as "Beit Yehonatan" (named for Jonathan Pollard) in an adjacent area of Silwan.
Barkat has launched a personal PR offensive, giving interviews in the Israeli press where he explains - patiently, calmly - that the plan is really and truly for the benefit of everyone, including and especially the Palestinians. It is only a question of the Palestinians being sensible and recognizing what is in their own interest, and it is a question of dangerous Israeli leftists not poisoning the well. This, however, is transparently dishonest.
Barkat's plans have nothing to do with the needs of the Palestinians, but are a transparent effort to accommodate the aspirations of the settlers: to place the settlers above the law, "legalizing" an illegal outpost not on some isolated hilltop in the West Bank but a settler high-rise located close to the Old City, and reducing the Palestinian presence so they do not get "under foot" while the settlers create their pseudo-Biblical domain. Indeed, the two major plans commissioned by the Municipality for this area are being carried out by town planners who are also employed, separately, by the Silwan settlers. Indeed, it has been documented that representatives of the settlers have regularly participated in the Municipality's internal planning deliberations. The Municipality's own legal adviser has concluded that both of these constitute a grave conflict of interest.
Barkat has posted details of his plan on the website of the Jerusalem Municipality, including media-friendly talking points that try to portray the plan as reflecting only pure intentions: preserving/restoring Jerusalem, repairing the environment, and building a new community in the area that will thrive on tourism.
The plan, it claims, reflects a "sense of commitment to the past and consideration for the present" and as such, "the municipality is working on the development of the King's Garden neighborhood, restoration of its groves, in addition to providing an appropriate and fitting solution for the neighborhood residents." (emphasis added). What would such a solution look like? According to the website, it means that some "currently existing buildings...will be diverted to other areas" - with "diverted" apparently being a euphemism for "forcibly displaced."
The website offers assurances that the Municipality is taking the concerns of these residents into account: "The process requires determination on the part of government factors and cooperation on the part of the local residents and their representatives. Whenever the residents cooperate, the municipality will be flexible, but when they attempt to undermine the plan, the municipality will remain firm in its implementation..." (emphasis added). Which appears to translate as: if the residents agree to the plan, then it will be implemented with their cooperation. If they don't agree, it will be implemented anyway.
Myth: "There is nothing controversial about what we are doing in East Jerusalem - everybody knows these areas will always remain part of Israel."
Fact: In 1993, when the peace process was taking off, the settlement of Ramat Shlomo -- which recently caused such a headache for Vice President Biden -- didn't exist. If in 1993 you had asked what areas "everybody knows" would stay part of Israel under any future agreement, the area that is today Ramat Shlomo -- territorially distinct from any other settlement and contiguous with the Palestinian neighborhood of Shuafat -- would not have been mentioned.
The same can be said of the massive settlement of Har Homa. Here, again, the argument is that "everybody knows" this area will forever be part of Israel. But again, this is an area that at the outset of the peace process was empty land -- devoid of Israelis, belonging mainly to Palestinians, and contiguous entirely with Palestinian areas -- that anybody drawing a logical border would have placed on the Palestinian side.
The real question, then, is what does Barkat mean when he says that "everybody knows?" If he meant that everybody understands what areas will be Israeli and what areas will be Palestinian in Jerusalem, this could be good news: it could mean that an agreement is possible, at least on Jerusalem, tomorrow.
But that's not what he means - because for Barkat there is no place in Jerusalem that "everybody knows" will be Palestinian. What he means is that East Jerusalem can be divided into two categories: areas that "everybody knows" Israel will keep and where it can therefore act with impunity, and areas that Israel hopes it can keep by dint of changing enough facts on the ground that such areas move into the first category. It is an approach that can be summed up as: "what's mine is mine, and everything else will hopefully be mine, too."
Those who embrace such an approach are acting under the premise that the status of Jerusalem and its borders will be determined by Israeli deeds rather than by negotiations. It is an approach that appears to be being implemented on the ground today in the area surrounding the Old City in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods like Ras al Amud and Jabel Mukabbir Some settler groups appear to be targeting, for the first time, areas like Shuafat and Beit Hanina. In all these area, Israeli policies - construction, demolitions, displacement, changes in the public domain - appear aimed at transforming them into places that Israel can also claim that "everyone knows," will always be Israel.
It is only in this context that one can grasp the logic in the Palestinian authority's rejection of Netanyahu's proposal to negotiate a Palestinian State in temporary borders without also freezing settlement activity in East Jerusalem. Acceptance of such a position would allow Israel to use the negotiations as an opportunity to create additional facts on the ground that would make any political agreement in Jerusalem impossible.
Myth: "The planning and approval process is so convoluted that there is no way the government of Israel could keep track of, let alone stop, East Jerusalem settlement plans - even if it wanted to do so."
Fact: The planning and approval process for East Jerusalem settlements is long and convoluted, but that does not mean it is impenetrable or impossible to oversee. Indeed, notwithstanding the flow charts that Netanyahu has gleefully shown to officials in Washington, the fact is that outside parties with no access to internal government information have still been able to track and predict virtually every plan that has come up, not only since Netanyahu came to office but in the years before that.
The planning/approval process has clear and well-known "bottlenecks" - hurdles through which plans must pass and at which they can be stopped. By monitoring activity in 5 of these "bottlenecks" (the Local Committee and its Licensing Subcommittee; the Jerusalem Municipality and Ministry of Interior websites; and the Regional Committee and its Objections Subcommittee) there should be zero surprises.
While Netanyahu and Barkat may be justified in arguing that the process is so complex that it calls for legislative reform, it is patently false to use this argument in an effort to absolve themselves of responsibility for knowing about planning and construction activities in East Jerusalem. If motivated outside groups can track these by simply monitoring what is on the public record, the government of Israel can certainly be expected to do no less, and indeed should be expected to do far more.
Myth: "The land we are building on in East Jerusalem wasn't being used by anyone until Israel built on it."
Fact: This argument rests on the assumption that it is permissible to confiscate someone else's property - not for public domain but for commercial development that does not benefit the existing community - based solely on the argument that the owner doesn't really need it or isn't using it.
Moreover, this argument rests on the false assumption that Palestinian non-use of property is voluntary. This is patently not the case. Shortly after the 1967 war, Israel expanded Jerusalem municipal boundaries to include not only Jordanian East Jerusalem but much of its West Bank hinterland. Shortly thereafter, Israel expropriated much the open land in East Jerusalem, designating it for settlement construction and placing it off-limits for Palestinian development.
It is misleading to assume that East Jerusalem's Palestinians - whose population since 1967 has grown at a much higher rate than Israel's Jewish population - didn't need or weren't interested in developing their land, when the fact is that Israel barred them from ever doing so.
Moreover, it is a fact that there is massive overcrowding in Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. Yet, while the government of Israel has planned and built more than 50,000 units for Israelis in East Jerusalem settlements since 1967, fewer than 600 residential units have been built for Palestinians in East Jerusalem with any kind of government support, the last of which was more than 35 years ago.
Similarly, while the government of Israel has been generous in approving planning and permits for private Jewish construction in East Jerusalem, including in the heart of Palestinian neighborhoods, it is well-documented that since 1967 East Jerusalem's Palestinian residents have had a difficult and sometimes impossible time getting permits to build on their own, privately-owned land, and the government of Israel has refused to approve new neighborhood plans that would allow for any systematic expansion.
Myth: "East Jerusalem settlements have never bothered Palestinians and don't impact their lives negatively in any way."
Fact: East Jerusalem settlements are a bone in the throat of Palestinian East Jerusalem. Almost invariably they are built on land that prior to expropriation had belonged to Palestinians, and that under normal circumstances would have been the natural sites for Palestinian development. They cut off access to the West Bank and between Palestinian neighborhoods. The infrastructure to serve them is built at the further expense of Palestinian land and generally designed to suit the needs of the settlers, while infrastructure for East Jerusalem Palestinian neighborhoods resembles that of third-world villages. The claim that the Palestinians "didn't mind" losing one-third of the privately owned property in East Jerusalem - for the clear purpose of Israel marginalizing their community - is reminiscent of colonial double-speak of a bygone and shameful era.
Myth: "Israeli construction in East Jerusalem is not an obstacle to peace."
Fact: Jerusalem is the epicenter of the bitter national conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. It is the place where the conflict is at its peak and also the place where the conflict will come to an end. There can be no Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement and no two-state solution without an agreement - agreeable to both sides - on the future status of Jerusalem. Furthermore, any notion that Palestinian aspirations regarding Jerusalem can be satisfied by permitting them to call some outlying area in the West Bank "Jerusalem" and making that the Palestinian capital must be recognized as pure fantasy.
Should current settlement trends in East Jerusalem continue, the day will come sooner rather than later when the two-state solution will be irrevocably lost. This will be because the demography and geography of Jerusalem have become so Balkanized that no reasonable, viable solution in Jerusalem will be possible. And if there is no solution in Jerusalem, there is no two-state, conflict-ending resolution. In short, we are hanging on by our fingernails to the two-state solution itself. And contrary to those who would argue otherwise, there is no other solution. The loss of the two-state solution does not create alternative solutions.
But that's not all. We are also hanging on with our fingernails to the nature of the conflict. For now it is still a bitter, nasty national-political conflict that is at times fueled by religious extremism. As such, it is manageable and ultimately resolvable by statesmanship and diplomacy. However, what is transpiring in and around the Old City - both in terms of settlements and government-backed plans that are turning the public domain over to extremist, exclusionary settlers and colluding with them in turning the area into an evangelical theme park - threatens to transform this resolvable national-political conflict into an intractable religious conflict. That is what is at stake.
By using his authorities as Mayor to support and accelerate settlement expansion in East Jerusalem, and by extending all possible support to the extreme, exclusionary settler organizations, Barkat has embraced policies that undermine the cultural and historic integrity of the city, that exacerbate already high levels of tension and volatility, and that threaten to destroy the very possibility of the two-state solution. In so doing, Barkat and his policies pose a grave threat to Israel's genuine interests in Jerusalem.
Settlements in Focus (July 22, 2009): "Abusing Jerusalem to Assail Peace: the Case of the Shepherd's Hotel"
The background and details on the current controversy of a new settlement housing project green-lighted in East Jerusalem.
Setting the Record Straight: Palestinians Can't Really Live in West Jerusalem
Lara Friedman / Americans for Peace Now (July 20, 2009)
Explanation of how Palestinians are effectively unable to purchase land in West Jerusalem, and face severe difficulties acquiring land in East Jerusalem as well. Read More >
Settlement in Focus: Vol. 1, Issue 10 - "Behind the Barrier: A Profile of Elon Moreh"
Settlements in Focus
Behind the Barrier: A Profile of Elon Moreh (Vol.1, Issue 10)
A publication of Americans for Peace Now
Where exactly is Elon Moreh?
Elon Moreh is an isolated settlement located on the northeastern outskirts of the Palestinian city of Nablus ("Shechem" in Hebrew). It is located 18 miles east of the Green Line and 13.5 miles west of the Jordan River (i.e., closer to Jordan than the Green Line). It is 32 miles from the center of Jerusalem.
Settlements in Focus - Vol. 2, Issue 4: Settlers vs. Palestinians: Double Standards and Illegal Construction
Providing detailed background and comparison to the various types of illegal construction.
Acting Prime Minister Olmert is being accused by some of his opponents of using a double standard - demolishing illegal settler construction but ignoring illegal "Arab" construction. Is this accurate?
Opponents of the settlers both inside and outside the government - including Peace Now - have long been accused, usually by settlers and their supporters, of caring only about illegal construction being carried out in the settlements, and ignoring illegal construction by "Arabs." This accusation generally reflects efforts to divert the public's focus from the manifest illegality of settlers' actions.
Settlements in Focus - Vol. 2, Issue 3: Amona Redux
Update on the first illegal outpost with permanent housing to be demolished as a result of Peace Now's petition to the Israeli court.
What is the timeline of legal decisions that led up to the recent demolitions at the illegal outpost of Amona?
The illegal outpost of Amona was first constructed in late 1995. Demolition orders for nine structures at Amona - all built illegally on land that is privately owned by (and appropriately registered to) Palestinians - were issued in October 2004 by the Civil Administration.
Settlements in Focus - Vol. 2, Issue 2: West Bank Outposts in 2006 - Same Song, Different Tune?
To review, what exactly is an "outpost"?
An outpost is a new Jewish settlement - or a proto-settlement - built in the occupied territories without prior legal approval from the Israeli government. For years settlers have used the establishment of outposts as a mechanism to stake out new territory, expand settlement boundaries, create contiguity between veteran settlements, and establish facts on the ground that will make it more difficult to reach a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
1 2 3 ...26 27 28 2930
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line631
|
__label__cc
| 0.659511
| 0.340489
|
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Israel Putnam to George Washington, March 13, 1779
george washington papers series 4 general correspondence 1697 1799
israel putnam
Los Corrales
Explore: israel putnam
Brooklyn Green, North Green, South Green, & West Green, parts of Brown Road, Canterbury Road (Route 169), Hartford Road (Route 6), Hyde Road, Pomfret Road (Route 169), Prince Hill Road, Providence Road (Route 6), Wauregan Road (Routes 169 & 205), & Wolf Den Road, Brooklyn, Windham County, CT
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Israel Putnam to George Washington, June 30, 1777
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Israel Putnam to George Washington, January 4, 1780
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: George Washington to Israel Putnam, February 5, 1779
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Israel Putnam to George Washington, July 24, 1777
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: George Washington to Israel Putnam, November 20, 1778, two same date
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Israel Putnam to George Washington, May 10, 1777
Explore: george washington papers series 4 general correspondence 1697 1799
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Continental Congress to George Washington, July 10, 1778
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Gouverneur Morris to Francis G. Osborne, Duke of Leeds, April 17, 1790
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Comfort Sands & Company to Robert Morris, June 17, 1782
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Artemas Ward to George Washington, April 27, 1776
George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Philip J. Schuyler to Elias Dayton, May 14, 1776
Explore: george washington
ADM Frank B. Kelso II, chief of naval operations, salutes an officer aboard the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN-73) during the vessel's commissioning ceremony
An MD-3A tow tractor positions a Fighter Squadron 142 (VF-142) F-14A Tomcat aircraft on the pier as the plane is readied for lifting by crane onto the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN-73). Aircraft are being lifted aboard the carrier in preparation for the vessel's commissioning ceremony on July 4th
A US Navy (USN) graphic illustration by Photographer's Mate 2nd Class (PHM2) Roberto Taylor. The illustration depicts The GEORGE WASHINGTON Carrier Strike group currently participating in Partnership of the Americas, a maritime training and readiness deployment of the US Naval Forces with Caribbean and Latin American countries in support of the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) objectives
An aerial view of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN-73) tied up at the fitting-out pier at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Co. yard on the James River
An HH-46A Sea Knight helicopter hovers over the nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine USS GEORGE WASHINGTON CARVER (SSBN-656)
The US Navy (USN) Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) prepares to drop anchor off the coast of Saint Maarten, near the Netherlands Antilles (ANT) and enjoy a four-day port visit. GEORGE WASHINGTON Carrier Strike group is currently participating in Partnership of the Americas, a maritime training and readiness deployment of the US Naval Forces with Caribbean and Latin American countries in support of the US Southern Command's (SOUTHCOM) objectives for enhanced maritime security
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line632
|
__label__wiki
| 0.577781
| 0.577781
|
Biography Alana Beard
Alana Beard
by John Max 23 Oct,2019
Famous Name Alana Beard
Country United States US
Birth Name Alana Monique Beard
Birth Place Shreveport, Louisiana
Birth Date May 14, 1982
Father LeRoy Beard
Mother Marie Beard
Net Worth $0.5 Million
Salary $108,000
Profession Basketball Player
Currently Working For Los Angeles Sparks
University attended Duke University
School attended Southwood High School
Alana Monique Beard, simply known as Alana Beard is an American basketball player who is currently signed to the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA. The 4× WNBA All-Star was picked by the Washington Mystics in 2nd overall at the 2004 WNBA Draft. Besides, she finished her collegiate career with Duke Blue Devils.
The 5 ft 11 in tall, Beard was born on May 14, 1982, in Shreveport, Louisiana, under the star sign Taurus. She holds an American nationality and is of Afro-American ethnicity.
Net Worth: $0.5 Million
Beard is currently under a one year / $108,000 contract with the Los Angeles Sparks, which includes an annual average salary of $108,000. As per the deal, she will earn a base salary of $108,000, while carrying a cap hit of $108,000 in 2019 season. Similarly, she earned $110,638 in the 2018 season.
Besides, she co-owns a restaurant named Mellow Mushroom Roanoke through which she makes a decent amount.
Alana Beard's restaurant, Mellow Mushroom Roanoke SOURCE: [email protected]
Looking at her earnings from basketball career and other income-generating ventures, her net worth is approximately $0.5 million.
The WNBA star also endorses several brands through which she earns more to her net worth. On her Instagram, she regularly promotes the products of Nike, Nuna USA, Maveron, etc.
Alana Beard endorses Nike SOURCE: [email protected]
Also, a charity person, the basketball player, has established a nonprofit organization named Alana Beard Foundation that sponsors female AAU basketball teams, helping young women with the necessary resource to have success on or off-court.
2016 WNBA champion, Beard is possibly single as of 2019. She has shared less to no information regarding her love life.
Back in 2010, Beard tweeted that her boyfriend preferred to move in, only after the ring exchange. Since then, there are no signs of her affair with any man.
Beard and her rumored girlfriend SOURCE: Instagram @alanabeard
Different than that, she is rumored to be lesbian, and fuel to the fire is her Instagram post with Liran Buchris. Their Instagram is full of adorable pictures. Scrolling through their socials, it seems that the duo often visit worlds mesmerizing holiday destinations together.
Well, Beard and Buchris do couples things rather than the friend zone. However, none of the two have precisely confirmed their relationship.
The 2017 and 2018 WNBA Defensive Player of the Year, Beard was born to her parents: LeRoy and Marie Beard. She grew up alongside her two siblings.
CAPTION: Beard's sibling's SOURCE: Instagram @alanabeard
Though she has not disclosed much information about her family, she often shares a picture with her family.
WNBA Career
At the 2004 WNBA draft, Beard was selected with 2nd overall pick in the round one by the Washington Mystics. Further, she played for the Shinsegae Coolcat (2005-2006), Elitzur Ramla (2007), Lotos VBW Clima Gdynia (2008-2009), and (2011-2012), before signing to the Los Angeles Sparks as a free agent.
In February 2019, she signed an extension contract with the Sparks for the fourth time. Her famous teammates include Candace Parker, Maria Vadeeva, and Nneka Ogwumike.
WNBA Los Angeles Sparks Alana Beard
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line638
|
__label__wiki
| 0.948991
| 0.948991
|
The Plough & Stars
Celtic in Philadelphia
Celtic’s first trip to Philadelphia was during The Great Depression when Willie Maley brought a full team with him on Celtic’s first tour of North America. His team featured Celtic Legends James McGrory, and Johnny Thompson, but also included James McStay, John Morrision, Charles Geatons, William Cook, Willie Hughes, Joe McGhee, Denis Currie, Alex Thompson, Robert Whitelaw, Peter Scariff, Charles Napier, Hugh Smith, and Peter McGonigle.
Celtic would face an amateur select team called East Penn & District on the 23rd of May 1931. Celtic ran out to over 12,000 supporters at the Frankford Yellow Jacket’s Field. This was the home of the legendary Yellow Jackets who would later be transformed in the Philadelphia Eagles football team. The majority of the fans that attended the match came from the large Irish and Scottish Immigrant communities that made up that area of the city. The Celtic faithful who turned up would not be disappointed as Celtic beat EP&D 6-1. This must have been extra special for these poor immigrant communities to have the famous Glasgow Celtic playing in their own backyards during the dark days of the Great Depression.
Celtic would return to Philadelphia again on the 3rd of June 1951. This time they would face a Philadelphia All-Star team at Cahill Field. The Philadelphia Irish and Scottish community once again arrived in impressive numbers. The Celtic team would include the likes of Bobby Evans, Bertie Peacock, John McPhail, and Charlie Tully. This time Jimmy McGrory would return as manager and his players put on quite the display beating the Philadelphia All-Stars 6-2.
After the match the majority of the fans marched back to the streets of Kensington. Kensington was once the largest Irish enclave in Philadelphia. The telephone polls were all wrapped in green, white, and gold ribbons in honor of the Celtic. The Kensington Irish were in full voice until the wee hours of the morning. God Save Ireland could be heard in the streets from Holy Innocence all the way to St Hugh’s parishes. This is impressive as these two churches are several miles apart. One of the Irish Pubs on the corner of J Street & Erie Avenue called the “Church” ran out of porter and a local brew called Schmidt’s, which was a lager. The pub was called the “Church” because the lassies had to enter the pub from a separate entrance from the lads, and there was no swearing allowed. It was also strongly rumored that Holy Communion would be given to the lads on Saturday night’s because it was very unlikely that they would make it to Mass on Sunday. Collections were also taken in the “Church” to help the local Irish community.
It would be six years before Glasgow’s Green & White would return to the Philadelphia on the 25th of May 1957. To know that Celtic were in Philadelphia ten years to the day before we would win the European Cup should fill our hearts with pride.
The Bhoys would face a team called the Uhrik Truckers, which were a Philadelphia professional football team in the American Soccer League. That year the majority of the Uhrik team that year was made up of Irish players who made their homes in Philadelphia’s Irish Community in Kensington. This was a big deal as the Uhrik Truckers were originally formed as the Philadelphia German-American Soccer Club. James McGrory’s team included Seán Fallon, Charlie Tully, Bertie Peacock, and Johnny Donnelly. The match was played at Temple University Stadium to another big crowd. Celtic defeated the former American Soccer League Champions 4-0 and the celebrations began once again throughout the Irish neighborhoods of Kensington, Overbrook, Southwest Philly, Juniata Park, and Mayfair.
It would be 47 years before Celtic would return to Philadelphia in 2004 to face Manchester United at Lincoln Financial Field. The Bhoys were back 2010 to face the Philadelphia Union and again in 2012 to face Real Madrid. We hope that the Celtic come back to Philadelphia in the very near future.
Séamus Cummins
Twitter @iceltic
© 2021 2nd Street Plough Bhoys CSC. All Rights Reserved.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line639
|
__label__wiki
| 0.672231
| 0.672231
|
Subscribe to receive our Expert views regularly in your mailbox
In our Expert Views, our staff members give their views on current topics related to Profundo’s work
How healthy is the meat in your portfolio?
About 70 billion animals are being slaughtered annually to feed 7 billion humans. The meat sector is responsible for more than 14% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions - more than the whole transport sector. The livestock industry also is the single largest driver of habitat loss worldwide, which impacts biodiversity and the livelihood of local communities.
Voluntary standards are insufficient to stop soy-related deforestation
Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado is surging, with the increasing acreage needed for soy cultivation as one of the key drivers. A significant share of all soy is exported to feed livestock in Europe, China and other overseas markets, to satisfy the growing demand for meat and dairy.
Governments should track controversial arms trade
EU member states disagree on whether Saudi Arabia, the leader of a coalition responsible for fighting a devastating war in Yemen, should be eligible for buying European arms. The Saudi-led coalition is involved in severe human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law, through the starving of the Yemeni people. But the France Defence Minister buried her head in the sand when she confirmed early May that France will send a new arms shipment to Saudi Arabia..
Cluster munitions alert for investors
Ten years after a majority of all countries in the world banned production of cluster munitions in the 2008 Convention on Cluster Munitions, investors and banks are still exposed to cluster bombs. These weapons contain multiple explosive submunitions, “which can saturate an area up to the size of several football fields. Anybody within the strike area of the cluster munition, be they military or civilian, is very likely to be killed or seriously injured.
Deregulation endangers Brazilian forests
The election of the ex-military far-right politician Jair Bolsonaro as Brazil’s next president puts the country’s economy on the path to heavy deregulation. Bolsonaro’s campaign promises include backing off from the Paris climate agreement, the abolishment of the Brazilian ministry of environment, stripping indigenous peoples’ land rights and opening the Amazon to mining and agriculture.
Rabobank fools responsible investors
The Green Bonds market already offers many fixed income options to responsible investors to invest in sustainable companies and projects. But Green Bonds generally have a maturity of 3 to 25 years. A responsible alternative for short-term fixed income investments, such as Commercial Paper, would be a welcome addition.
Tobacco financiers face increasing reputational and investment risks
Smoking tobacco comes with a high price. Annually more than 7 million people die prematurely from tobacco consumption, with about US$ 2 trillion in healthcare costs and lost productivity. The industry still engages millions of children in child labour and accounts for a significant portion of global deforestation. With such societal damage, the tobacco companies and their financiers are faced with significant reputational and investment risks.
Greenpeace leaving FSC: what next for commodity roundtables?
Recently, Greenpeace International announced that it is leaving the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). Since its establishment in 1994, Greenpeace has been advocating FSC as setting more stringent standards than competing certification systems, such as PEFC. But Greenpeace has lost confidence ...
Towards a sustainable financial system in the EU
On 8 March, the European Commission (EC) published its action plan on financing sustainable growth. This plan should focus more on regulatory and supervisory measures.
Water scarcity, climate change and conflict
Water scarcity is a risk for populations, companies and investors alike. If the existing climate change scenario becomes a reality, almost half the world’s population will be living in areas of high water stress by 2030. Water scarcity is likely to be an important factor threatening stability in fragile regions.
ICAN’s Nobel Peace Prize should alarm investors
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 2017, "for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons".
Responsible investment in tobacco?
As tobacco products pose many risks, foremost health-related, responsible investors need to consider the best strategy towards this sector. The life expectancy of a long-term smoker, on average, is about 10 years less than a non-smoker. According to the WHO, half of the people who smoke will die from smoking-related diseases - cancer, respiratory problems or vascular diseases.
Nuclear alert for investors
Amid increased nuclear weapons budgets and serious nuclear tension between the US and North Korea, 7 July 2017 could surprisingly become a landmark date in global nuclear disarmament. From 15 June until 7 July, the General Assembly of the United Nations holds its second ‘Conference to Negotiate a Legally Binding Instrument to Prohibit Nuclear Weapons, Leading Towards their Total Elimination’.
More compensation budgets needed for Groningen gas
Profundo recently published a report commissioned by Friends of the Earth Netherlands (Milieudefensie), in which the costs from earthquake-related damages caused by gas extraction in Groningen province (in the north of the Netherlands) were estimated. This report found that annual costs could potentially rise in the coming decade to over 1 billion euros.
Rana Plaza - Four Years Later
Monday, April 24, 2017, is proclaimed as “National Garment Workers’ Mourning Day” in Bangladesh. On that date four years earlier, 1,136 people were killed and more than 2,500 injured in the collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory, near Dhaka, supplier of a large number of international garment brands.
Patient finance is (more) sustainable finance!
Civil society organisations (CSOs) campaigning on issues of financial sector regulation broadly have two campaign agendas, namely ‘sustainable finance’ and ‘patient finance’. Both agendas have remained mostly disconnected while in fact, patient finance is more sustainable finance.The voice of CSOs could be more powerful if they recognised this and joined forces to explore and harness the overlaps between the two campaign agendas.
KraftHeinz’s failed bid on Unilever: A crucial wake-up call for Investors
KraftHeinz (KHC)’s failed bid on Unilever should undoubtedly be a wake-up call for equity investors. Had the bid been successful, there would have been less transparency in accountability and sustainability reporting and a reduction in Unilever’s long-term value creation agenda
The road forward for Responsible Investors – After Trump’s triumph
The election of Donald Trump for president of the United States has led to mixed reactions in the responsible investment community. Prior to the elections, his candidacy was regarded ‘a worst nightmare’ by financial analysts.
Changing regulatory landscape is a welcome push for Dutch Pension Funds
The introduction of the revised EU Directive ‘IORP II’ is a welcome push for pension funds in the Netherlands to adopt Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) policies and strategies more rapidly. But especially the small and medium sized pension funds need to apply an integrated approach towards ESG investing strategies in order to keep up with the biggest pension funds, for which applying SRI policies is already a regular activity.
Can banks make the difficult choices society demands?
The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) controversy illustrates how financial institutions are increasingly being criticised if their responsible investment policies conflict with their actual investments. The DAPL is a proposed USD 3.78 billion pipeline of 1,886 km being built in the United States by Dakota Access, LLC, which is a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners (ETP). It will be built to transport oil from the Bakken oil fields in northwest North Dakota to an oil tank farm in Illinois.
Facilitators rather than regulators: EU’s new role with respect to fisheries
In November, Profundo was invited to the EU Commission’s Committee on Fisheries to present the conclusions of a scoping study on possible measures at the EU-level to promote equity and social justice in the EU seafood industry. A key conclusion of the study was that facilitation measures such as EU-level online platforms are more appropriate for the fisheries sector than regulatory measures.
Textron stops producing cluster munitions
Textron stops producing cluster munitions. The US company announced in August 2016 that it will “discontinue production of
its sensor-fuzed weapon product”. What Textron calls a ‘sensor-fuzed weapon’, falls within the definition of ‘cluster munitions and explosive submunitions’ as declared by the international Convention on Cluster Munitions.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line642
|
__label__wiki
| 0.562825
| 0.562825
|
Is Donald Trump a Target for Political Assassination?
The author of such prescient classics as Animal Farm and 1984, George Orwell wrote, “Those who control the past, control the future. And, those who control the present now, control the past.” And yet, I doubt many people could have predicted the insane 3-ring political circus that is being orchestrated before our eyes not merely for our amusement but to readily capture our hearts and minds for the upcoming November elections in the battle for what will become of this once great nation that has become a corporate and consumerist caricature of its former self.
While I’m wise (and some would say cynical) enough to see the duopoly of the 2-Party System as essentially a rigged game, this doesn’t imply that there are no differences between the two candidates this year at least based on what they claim to stand for in style if not entirely in substance. Personally, I’m nauseous just thinking about Hillary Clinton as the Commander-in-Thief. Based on everything that I’ve read, researched, and heard from her- it should be obvious to everyone that she will essentially be nothing but an establishment puppet in the same vein as Barrack Obama was albeit without the swagger and charm of Obama and likely more bloodthirsty for war with Syria and Russia.
It’s known that the Clinton Foundation is a slush fund for political kickbacks and bribery. Even back when Bill was office, the Chinese were providing campaign cash for US military and technological secrets were initially investigated and then squashed. Whitewater, Mena, AR Cocaine Trafficking, Travelgate, Waco, OKC Bombing, TWA 800, Vince Foster’s Death, and the sexual assault and rapes of multiple women by Bill Clinton all occurred while Hillary Clinton (like Tammy Wynette would sing) “stood by her man” not because she particularly loved him at that point as her cussing tirades in front of aides and Secret Service agents would attest but for what I can only assume is political expediency.
Later, her lust for political power would lead to an unsuccessful run for the presidency in 2008 given the meteoric rise of what I saw as a False Messiah and Manchurian Candidate, given his family’s CIA pedigree via the USAID. It’s rumored that Obama even told former classmates that he was “an Indonesian Prince” or “Kenyan Royalty”, which would seem to confirm my suspicions that candidates are “selected by blood” rather than elected by popular vote. Naturally, we learned much later that he was actually a distant cousin of Dick Cheney, the Dark Lord of the Neo-Con Empire that Obama was supposed to be huge reprieve from. Hillary knew she was next in line and therefore had time to stoke the flames of her rise to the top of the DNC totem pole with stint as Secretary of State, where she also had time to preside over one of the worst scandals of the Obama Administration with Benghazi, feign surprise at the fake bin Laden assassination, and gloat over the murder of Gaddafi in an invasion that cost thousands of Libyan lives.
What the American people weren’t told about the Libyan attack mainly by French forces was that in addition to securing France’s neo-colonialist position in Francophone countries of Africa and gaining a goodly share of Libyan oil reserves, Libya held 143 tons of gold and a similar amount in silver. Wikileaks released an unclassified US State Department document that was emailed to Hillary Clinton on April 2nd, 2011 from Sidney Blumenthal, which essentially spelled out how Libya was attacked not for being a threat but to loot its gold and silver reserves. These precious metal reserves were going to back a Pan-African currency based on the Libyan golden Dinar as an alternative to the French Franc. Needless to say, the mainstream snooze media never got around to reporting this.
My point to clarify once and for all (as if the disenfranchised Bernie Sanders supporters didn’t already know) is that Hillary Clinton is a lying, manipulative, greedy, power-hungry, and vicious establishment shill, who will do and say anything to get into the Oval Office. And, seeing Bernie Sanders capitulate the way he did at the DNC National Convention, where the primaries looked to be rigged in Hillary’s favor as the DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz clearly favored and collaborated with Hillary to give her the nomination, was just plain sad to see. Whether or not Bernie was roughed up, threatened, or bribed to back Hillary at the convention, I can’t really say one way or another. However, his passionate and principled supporters were essentially railroaded and cheated out the nomination for Sanders, who I think stood a better chance against Trump anyway all things being equal.
As for Donald Trump, he has said a great many things that make a lot of political analysts very angry and worried apparently. In terms of the general public, some see him as a bloated narcissist, others as the voice of disenfranchised mostly poor and middle-class white people. Some see him as a dangerous proto-fascist demagogue, others as a champion of “Making America Great Again” (whatever that entails). So far, there’s a lot of political platitudes as were in abundance at the GOP Convention and not much in the way of specifics and substance as in how he’s actually going to achieve all his lofty goals like building a wall between the US and Mexico border while getting Mexico to pay for it, being the greatest jobs president, renegotiating our financial obligation to NATO, eliminating the Trans-Pacific Partnership, getting rid of Obama Care, supporting our Vets, etc.
Whether you agree with his policy stances or are totally opposed, one thing is for sure- “Donald Trump is a big political unknown in terms what he’ll actually do if he gets into the Oval Office, and it is this question mark that I believe is scaring the shit out of the establishment right now.” There’s enough to see in his business history as a real estate mogul and entrepreneur (from what I’ve seen) to predict that Trump will do what’s good for Trump and his over-sized ego whether or not the public likes his ideas or not. His wife and kids do help to humanize his larger than life persona, but this is a double-edged sword. Recently, he made some strides towards playing ball after having completely ostracizing himself from the GOP establishment by endorsing Majority Leader Paul Ryan and Senator John McCain for their respective seats. But, his alienation from party leaders has a long way to go before he could potentially collaborate with them successfully should the GOP come to dominate the Congress.
Here’s the real question that I’ve been pondering as of late as the police shootings by angry (and mostly military-trained) black people continues…”Is Donald Trump a target for political assassination?” Former maverick governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, certainly seems to think so now that Trump has picked party mainstay Pence as his running mate. There’s certainly no shortage of available patsies and willing dupes out there, especially when you consider him being painted as anti-Muslim, anti-Mexican and protests by the “Black Lives Matter” people with his very vocal support of the police. If for whatever reason it looks like Hillary Clinton can’t simply rig the swing states to give her the election the way that George W. Bush was able to do via electronic voting machines, Trump would likely be target by either a MK-Ultra styled mind-controlled assassin like Sirhan Sirhan or Mark David Chapman, who after he shot John Lennon calmly sat down outside the Dakota Building and began reading The Catcher and the Rye.
In the case of the RFK assassination, Sirhan Sirhan was essentially a programmed mind-controlled assassin but didn’t fire the fatal shots that were fired into Robert Kennedy’s head from the rear. All witnesses inside the kitchen pantry that day said that Sirhan Sirhan was always in front of Kennedy about 4 to 6 feet way. It was clear to everyone that night in Los Angeles in 1968 that Robert Kennedy was well on his way to winning the Democratic primaries to be the nominee, where he was expected to win the presidency. He had built his platform on a very sympathetic idealistic populism that couldn’t be stopped by simply manipulating the primaries and controlling the Super Delegates the way Bernie’s campaign was derailed. Therefore, the ruling Cabal decided he had to go just as JFK was killed before him.
In other words, the status quo was thought to be inviolate just as I’m sure it is considered to be today. Those that threaten the established order of things are considered dangerous to the ruling Cabal, who could easily target them for elimination. Let’s take it a step further, since I like to deal in hard verifiable truths. Shortly after the aforementioned politically-active John Lennon was assassinated by a mind-controlled CIA asset, Ronald Reagan barely survived an assassination attempt on his life. Previously on the campaign trail, Reagan attempted to distance himself from the Cabal and one of their front men, George H.W. Bush Sr., who was not only a former head of the CIA but a member of the secretive Skull and Bones. This is no ordinary college fraternity as some assume, but (as I detailed in a previous article of mine) has connections going back to the British East India Company’s Opium trafficking into China up through their backing of Nazis via Brown Brothers Harriman and the Union Bank that was busted under the “Trading With the Enemies Act” when Prescott Bush was a board member and on through the heroin trade during Vietnam and beyond.
Keeping all that background in mind, once Reagan allowed Bush to be his VP the stage was now set for a political coup d’etat. The would-be assassin, John Hinckley Jr., claimed he wanted to impress Jody Foster, who famously played a teenage prostitute in the movie Taxi Driver. Her loner, self-appointed defender was played by Robert DiNiro whose character, Travis Bickle, also wanted to impress an attractive campaign worker for a presidential candidate by killing the guy (who represented a kind of father figure to the country). When he failed to do that, he settled for killing the pimp (the figurative father figure) of Iris the teenage prostitute played of course by Jody Foster. Interestingly enough, John Hinckley Jr.’s older brother Scott Hinckley was planning on having dinner with one of George H.W. Bush’s sons, Neil Bush, the same day as the assassination attempt in Neil’s Denver, Colorado home. Apparently, the father, John Hinckley Sr., and the Bush family were old friends, and he contributed money to Bush’s political campaign. Bear in mind that we are supposed to think of all of this as just some odd coincidence. When John Hinkley Jr. was sentenced, he was found “not guilty” by reason of insanity and admitted to St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington D.C. where he stayed until just this year when he was unexpectedly released for the first time. The question is why now?
This isn’t to imply that he’ll be reactivated as some sort of revived Manchurian Candidate, but the timing, at least in terms of a subtle hint, is telling when you consider Bush’s aforementioned connection here. Obviously, Bush Sr. was hoping that his other son, Jeb Bush, would continue the dynastic rule of the White House. So, Trump’s unlikely ascendancy to the top of the GOP heap where Jeb’s anemic pretensions were easily seen through must have been a source of anguish for Poppy Bush and his sinister burgeoning brood. At one point, when he was asked about Trump, he seemed to symbolically gesture a kind of throat cutting with his hands on camera that you can see for yourself pretty clearly. Coming from Bush Sr., this is indeed an ominous foreboding.
Back in 1992, Ross Perot (much like Donald Trump now) decided to put up his own considerable wealth in running for the presidency. He was brazenly outspoken, didn’t care about political correctness, and appeared to shoot from the hip in his manner of speaking that really resonated with the masses at the time. Sound familiar yet? Seemingly coming out of nowhere as an improbable 3rd Party candidate, he spoke in the kind of “plain spoken” folksy common sense language that appealed to many disenfranchised voters and scored a major coup when he was allowed into the presidential debates. However, when it looked like he was going to win…he did two things that completely sunk his campaign. The first was making a politically at least idiotic mistake in who he chose as his running mate, namely a guy that looked and sounded like he was two sandwiches short of picnic. Then, he did something that made absolutely no sense whatsoever…he dropped out of the race. By the time he came back, he had lost what momentum he had, and the vote was swung to Bill Clinton. Shortly after Clinton got into office, he passed NAFTA that led to that giant sucking sound that Perot warned everybody about, only this time it wasn’t Monica Lewinsky doing the sucking it was jobs going south of the border. So, Perot ended up splitting the GOP ticket the same way Teddy Roosevelt did with the Bull Moose Party, who ended up splitting up the sure Taft ticket that paved the way for Woodrow Wilson to get in, where he could pass the Federal Reserve Act. Motivated by his desire to defeat Bush and prevent him from serving a second term, Perot entered the race without necessarily even needing to know he was used as a ringer to get Clinton into office. After all, Bush knew that it would easier for Clinton to pass NAFTA given a majority Democratic Congress. He would have known Clinton having been to the Bilderberger Group in 1991 was one of the boys after all.
As for Ross Perot, he was a staunch advocate for the MIA/POW cause and found out that the US still had POWs in Laos and Cambodia. He also likely would have known of the heroin being flown and sailed out of the Golden Triangle had CIA fingerprints all over it. When Green Beret Col. Bo Gritz met with the major heroin kingpin warlord, Khun Sa, he fingered George H.W. Bush Sr. as being one of the major traffickers, who used his main operative Richard Armitage in Southeast Asia as a conduit for the heroin. Perot likely also knew that had he spilled the beans about Bush Sr. that he would have been killed as readily as JFK was, and I suspect feared for not just his own life but that of his family. It would certainly go a long way towards explaining his actions in the race that year. Officially, he claimed that top GOP operatives connected with Bush/Quayle were using “dirty tricks” against him such as threatening to disrupt his daughter’s wedding along with posting fake pictures of her with the media (reportedly implying that she was a “lesbian”). He was also told of a plan to tap his phones at his office in Dallas. However, as elaborated by the New York Times, he said that there were at least 7 reasons as to why he was dropping out of the race, and the ones he told 60 Minutes seemed rather small to my mind as to why he dropped out with so much invested at that point. The “unofficial” reason that was never revealed might have had something to do with the aforementioned threat to his and perhaps his family’s life. Former Black-Ops Soldier working in the clandestine Project Pegasus, Gene “Chip” Tatum, claims he was actually assigned to “neutralize” (assassinate) Ross Perot by George H.W. Bush back in 1992, but he luckily turned it down. He even wrote a letter to Ross Perot back in April of 1996 about this very contract along with what happened to him afterwards that you can read on the right side of the website by going here. Later on, Chip Tatum would be taken out in a contract hit himself based on what he knew and threatened to reveal about the Bush Cocaine/Covert Ops Crime Syndicate. After Ronald Reagan was shot back in 1981, he got the message apparently and went on to sell his soul to the Enterprise as we all learned from his involvement in Iran/Contra among other things during his presidency. As for Trump, all I can say is- “Watch your back!”
This entry was posted on Monday, August 8th, 2016 at 9:48 pm and tagged with Bernie Sanders Sells Out to Hillary Clinton, Can Trump be Assassinated?, Clinton Foundation Slush Fund, Donald Trump as Political Unknown, George Bush Sr. Makes Threat Against Trump, George H.W. Bush and the Heroin Connection, George H.W. Bush Makes Slashing Gesture, Hillary Clinton Corruption Scandals, Is Donald Trump a Target for Political Assassination?, Is Donald Trump a Target?, Is Trump a Target for Assassination?, Jesse Ventura on Donald Trump, John Hinckley Jr. a Mind-Control Victim?, John Hinckley Jr. Assassination Attempt, Libyan Gold Reserves Looted, Neil Bush and Scott Hinckley Dinner, Obama Admits to Kenyan Royalty, Real Reason for Libyan Invasion, Ronald Reagan Assassination Attempt, Ross Perot and Donald Trump Parallels, Ross Perot Split the GOP Ticket, Sirhan Sirhan a mind-controlled assassin, Trump Endorsement of Ryan and McCain, Why did Bernie Sell Out? and posted in Mind Control and Targeted Individuals, State Crimes Against Democracy (SCADS), Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
« Unanswered Questions, Intelligence Connections, and Political Considerations in the Orlando Nightclub Shooting
Solving the 911 Mystery (Part 1): The Israeli Connection »
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line647
|
__label__wiki
| 0.529784
| 0.529784
|
Home » What is Partners in Flight? » Governance and History
Partners in Flight (PIF) in the United States is governed by a Steering Committee that provides oversight and direction to the implementation of the PIF conservation plans at local, regional, national and international scales. The Steering Committee is composed of federal and state government agencies, non-governmental organizations, industry and others. This group fosters vital liaisons with a wide variety of partners who further deliver bird conservation.
PIF is further supported by Working Groups that focus on particular geographies of interest (such as the Boreal Forest or Northeastern United States) or subject matter (such as the PIF International Science Committee). For example, the Western Working Group (WWG) of PIF is very active throughout the west and meets twice a year to collaboratively implement landbird conservation efforts on the ground.
Partners in Flight (PIF) was launched as a movement for bird conservation in 1990 (list of original MOU signatories here). The rapid and sustained declines in many long-distance migratory bird populations as documented in John Terborgh’s book “Where have all the birds gone?” helped stimulate action. Soon, PIF had international, national and regional staff positions to coordinate efforts to determine the conservation status of species, clarify species and habitat relationships, develop Best Management Practices for public and private land managers, prioritize science needs, provide educational and communication materials and events, and improve policies for bird conservation.
For more than 25 years, PIF has remained true to its original mission of “keeping common birds common and helping species at risk through voluntary partnerships”. PIF remains a strong movement to lead science efforts to better understand bird ecology and factors that limit bird populations, as well as design and implement conservation plans to halt and reverse bird population declines.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line649
|
__label__wiki
| 0.636699
| 0.636699
|
Entertainment » Books
'Our Friendship, and her Legacy' — Robyn Crawford Stands Up for Whitney Houston
by Steve Duffy
Robyn Crawford (Source:Penguin/Random House)
"I found comfort in my silence," author Robyn Crawford told The Guardian recently. She was speaking about "A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston," her memoir of her relationship with the late superstar, which the Guardian calls "tender, moving and painful to read, the history of a friendship that is also a love story."
Speculation of that love story was long part of Whitney lore, but it wasn't until late last year — seven years after Houston's death — that Crawford broke her long silence seven years after her death with her book's publication. "I'd come to the point where I felt the need to stand up for our friendship. And I felt an urgency to stand up and share the woman behind the incredible talent," she told PEOPLE last November.
A pair of documentaries a few year ago confirmed the speculation that Houston had a romantic relationship with Crawford. With this book , the New York Times writes, she "confirms, for the first time publicly, her romantic history with Houston, which began when they were teenagers and lasted a short period of time, ending around the time Houston signed her first record contract at age 19. 'We were friends. We were lovers. We were everything to each other,' Crawford says, her voice level, unbothered, not dishy at all. 'We weren't falling in love. We just were.'"
Why the sexual relationship was so short-lived came with Houston's "Star Is Born" moment when record executives saw her relationship with Crawford as a hindrance. "In an extraordinary scene in the book, Houston, the Guardian writes, "went to Crawford's house, handed her a Bible and told her they had to quit having sex, 'because it would make our journey even more difficult'. She also told Crawford that, [if they found out — because her career was taking off — they'd use it against us.'"
She stayed on and became Houston's emotional cushion for 20 years. With threats of Houston's father threatening to hire a thug to break her kneecaps, the friendship was not without drama; as well as personal professional betrayal right out of "Dreamgirls." Crawford left Houston's orbit in 2000 rebuilt her life and "is now happily married with two adopted children. She has worked as a journalist, interviewing the likes of Jessica Biel and Kristen Bell, and is currently a fitness trainer," .
Whitney Houston and Robyn Crawford
EDGE spokes to Crawford recently about Houston, silence, why she has no regrets, and why the superstar is not on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
EDGE: Would Whitney want you speaking out on your special bond and friendship?
Robyn Crawford: I thought about that. Knowing Whitney like I do, I was 100% confident that she would. No one would leave her alone. Everyone around her knew something. The stuff that I was hearing really began to bother me. I know that world; I lived it. I knew her very well. I took part in every recording, I was on the road with her, and I was on the movie sets with her. When she wasn't here anymore, people began to talk and to speculate and even make things up. I didn't see anything that I wrote in my book that I felt shameful about. Whitney has a huge spirit. She kind of hovers around. I don't believe in my heart that she would have been disappointed at all in me with sharing the life that we partnered with and experienced together.
EDGE: How did the two of you meet?
b>Robyn Crawford: We meet at the Community Development Center in East Orange, NJ. The center took care of the children for the parents who were working. We both worked with the children who were ages 6 — 11. We become immediate friends and the rest is history.
EDGE: To break your silence must have been truly difficult. How did you deal with all the emotions of revisiting your 20 years together?
Robyn Crawford: That's funny! You should probably interview my wife for this answer. It is funny when someone is looking at you while you are going through whatever. It was a rollercoaster. I had to start with my family, because I am a person too. I have feelings. I tried my best to avoid any kind of attention. I enjoy my life and I enjoy my children. I stand silent until I felt the urge that I needed to stand up and protect myself, Whitney, our friendship, and her legacy. One of the struggles I did have was people in the music business who played an important role like mine you are required to make sure your boss feels secure. I thought about them and how would they feel when I told my story. There was a lot that I fought with internally, but I feel like I did the right thing. My family really supported and lifted me up.
Robyn Crawford and Whitney Houston.
EDGE: Was it difficult to continue the friendship after Whitney broke off the physical part of the relationship? Why did you continue to stay around?
Robyn Crawford: You're friends first. For me, any closeness that you have, you want to really know the person. When we stopped it, we had a plan. The physical part of things evolved. It felt like part of the plan. We didn't talk labels. It felt like it was just part of us. We were aware and we would hear things. If anything was going to get in the way of accomplishing her dreams that she talked so much about.
EDGE: Did you fear any type of retaliation from Whitney's family or estate?
Robyn Crawford: No, because I didn't write the book to get back at people or to hurt anyone. I just wanted to tell my story. My life isn't in 336 pages. Believe me, there is a lot more to me.
EDGE: Do you have any regrets? Would you change anything?
Robyn Crawford: I don't have any regrets. As I was writing this, there were things that I would remember and they would give me moments of pause. As an example, when I was resigning. There was one mistake that I made. I allowed someone to tell me that Whitney said to hand in my resignation. I had been waiting to talk to her for days. When I should have just picked up the phone and called her because they may have changed the outcome. She did later call me, and that is not someone who wants you to go. Not sure if that is a regret, but it is something that I should have had more control over.
Whitney Houston. (Associated Press)
EDGE: In writing this what was your goal for the reader?
Robyn Crawford: My goal is for people to understand that she was a real person. She was an artist who was a really hard worker. She was a master at it. She did all the meet and greets; she shook all the hands. She showed up.
EDGE: Did writing "A Song for You" give you closure?
Robyn Crawford: I feel like I was able to move on without interruptions or having someone putting a mic in my face asking for my opinion on her. I hope people won't ask me questions anymore like "Was Whitney gay?" I think that I answered in the book that she wasn't. Did she love a woman? Yes. And I love her. Whitney also made it clear that was not the road she wanted for herself. I respect her for that. What we shared, we both felt it.
EDGE: What is your favorite memory of Whitney?
Robyn Crawford: Oh man! I have a lot of those. She had a wonderful sense of humor and she spoke really fast. When she got going, you couldn't stop her. Whitney loved to sit around and just talk. They way she talked and laugh when she got going was just a sight to see. You couldn't out talk her. I really miss the laughter and the fun part of Whitney.
The one industry memory I have of her is that she couldn't believe you had to pay to get your name on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She was not going to pay to have people walk on her name. She took on singing and fame as a duty of hers and she didn't want to cheapen it.
For more on "A Song For You: My Life with Whitney Houston" by Robyn Crawford, visit the book's website.
Millennial Money: 10 Money Insights Distilled over 25 Years
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line653
|
__label__cc
| 0.540264
| 0.459736
|
Posted on Sunday 30 April 2017 Sunday 30 April 2017 by Chris
City Council continues to wave through new houses
Sound objections from local residents were once again ignored by Cambridge City Council’s Planning Committee this week, which approved new houses in Queen Edith’s Way and Cavendish Avenue without addressing neighbours’ concerns. The meeting, which I attended in part, was thoroughly dispiriting and another small example of who calls the shots in the way the city is suffering death by a thousand small disfigurements.
In Queen Edith’s Way, the local building developers who have bought numbers 3 and 5 Queen Edith’s Way returned to pursue their bid to demolish these lovely houses and replace them with six new ones. It’s quite clear that the idea of ‘six houses replacing two’ is one which currently gets councillors’ juices flowing, and I felt very sorry for the local residents whose reasonable objections were dismissed so quickly. The developers played the “we’ve done everything the council has advised” card beautifully, and dismissed offhandedly the way these new houses would loom over their neighbours.
No Queen Edith’s City Councillors turned up to speak on behalf of the local residents, and our City Councillor actually on the committee, George Pippas, decided to abstain from the final vote, something which seems to have made one of the residents almost as angry as anything else which happened.
Meanwhile, in Cavendish Avenue, a resident had applied to build a house at the bottom of their garden, with one storey buried underground. This would be a fair way from the main house, but right up close to two or three other houses accessed from Hills Avenue. The residents of all these houses were rightly horrified. Doubtless the applicant wouldn’t build a second house that close to their own one.
There are several reasons why this greedy ‘garden grab’ ought to have been thrown out by the council officers, but they recommended it for approval regardless. One councillor told me that we shouldn’t be surprised, as “the bit they don’t tell you is how concerned the council is nowadays about disapproved applications ending up in the courts”.
As usual, the visuals provided to councillors were rubbish, based mainly on selective views provided by the developers.
The real issue of concern here, however, was the apparent ignorance of council officers of what guidelines apply to these ‘back land developments’. One of the residents decided to use much of the pitiful 90 seconds she was allowed to speak, to highlight the relevant government guidelines, which clearly advise against these developments.
On the back of this, there was much discussion from the committee of councillors, and requests for advice from the council officers who they rely on. The replies from the officers were just worryingly vague waffle which suggested that the council officers don’t really know what guidelines apply.
To me, the sensible ruling from the chair, Councillor John Hipkin, should have been that the decision on this and similar applications should be deferred, pending clarification from council officers on what guidelines apply to these ‘back land developments’. Instead, and despite several other questions from committee members remaining unanswered, the chair announced that he was going to approve the application (before taking the vote), in a manner which suggested that after 45 minutes, he’d got fed up with discussing the item.
In this case, one of our local City Councillors, Tim Moore, did turn up and speak on behalf of residents. His arguments went similarly ignored. Councillor Pippas voted against the application, but the rest of the committee followed the chair.
In both cases, I understand that local residents are considering ways in which they can continue the fight, despite the Planning Committee’s decision. This would be ironic if it were true that the council really does favour the side which it reckons will give it the least chance of the application rumbling on. The Cavendish Avenue house, for example, would not appear to be accessible by the local fire brigade, which must be a concern with respect to building regulations.
6 Replies to “City Council continues to wave through new houses”
rosemarymyers1 says:
Monday 1 May 2017 at 11:07 am
George Pippas abstaning to vote has made up my mind as to whom I shall vote for in the forthcoming elections. I was undecided before this.
Wednesday 3 May 2017 at 3:29 pm
The representation from our elected councillors couldn’t have been different for the 2 applications in Queen Edith’s. Perhaps they can explain why the application on Cavendish Avenue had their attention, while they were apathetic in supporting the residents against the much larger development on QEW? And specifically, why Cllr Pippas abstained from the vote?
Totally agree Chris with your point regarding the guidelines. The petition against the QEW development requesting the application be reviewed under the Cambridge Local Plan 2014 had some good points and was signed by 111 supporters. Other applications reviewed by the committee have been acknowledged, by planning officers, that these policies should be applied where there are no or limited objections. Despite this, the committee accepted this officer’s comment that the 2014 plan has not been formally adopted and the petition dismissed. They either don’t know which policies or guidelines to use, or are selective in those that they want to apply.
Caroline Holloway says:
Thursday 4 May 2017 at 7:09 am
Will the newly elected Mayor provide a legal framework for our local planning officers to abide by, rather than the councillors run for their rabbit burrows when the developers sit down with them.
I have never understood planning, vast reports, and then the ok means some of the applicants run a coach and horses through what they are not allowed, and no checks are made. Council and business tax is never paid as a consequence, and the council expect neighbours,, who may well be doing the same, to tell the council officials.
Friday 5 May 2017 at 11:59 pm
I would say the residents deserve all they get ,lib dems and labour councilors haven’t stood up to any planning decisions in the city ,this is why we have monstrosities everywhere with traffic to suit,residents have constantly voted for these useless councilors cannot complain ,this is what you have voted for and you continue as lib dems have won again ,when will you all wake up and give conservatives the vote ,don’t listen to all the blame given to county council decisions if city stood up for their principles instead of pussy footing around then maybe we wouldn’t be in the mess we are in .
Thursday 1 June 2017 at 10:15 pm
Hi, I was wondering how you decide which planning applications to comment on? For example, you don’t seem to have a view about the demolition of the bungalow on Baldock Way (near Glebe Road) which is going to be replaced by two houses with basements and no parking.
Hi Chris ? I’ve been meaning to do this, but have been so tied up with election stuff, I haven’t had the chance. Hopefully there’s still time.
Previous PostPrevious My view of the local elections in Queen Edith’s 2017: Part 3
Next PostNext Thoughts on last week’s local election results
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line657
|
__label__cc
| 0.719686
| 0.280314
|
Hyrum Real Estate Lawyers
Hyrum Zoning Attorney
Find the right Zoning Planning & Land Use attorney in Hyrum, UT
Zoning Planning & Land Use Law in Utah
Hyrum, Utah has laws which control how individual parcels of land can be used, and how they cannot. These rules aren't always simple, and this article should serve as an introduction to some of the most frequent issues that homeowners might face, though it is not meant to turn a layperson into an expert.
Municipal governments which practice zoning usually follow a similar scheme: the town or city is divided up into "zones," or areas in which particular types of use are permitted. For example, the downtown area might be zoned for commercial and office use, and perhaps for large, multi-unit apartment buildings. The surrounding areas will usually be zoned for residential and small-scale commercial use, and the outskirts zoned for manufacturing and other heavy industry.
Zoning serves many different purposes - but it its main one is to increase or preserve property values by ensuring that conflicting uses don't result in legal disputes. Obviously, if you bought a house in a residential neighborhood, and your neighbor could simply convert his property into a steel mill, your property's value as a residential lot would decrease substantially.
While zoning laws appear to be geared just toward protecting residents, they also protect industry, by ensuring that they are free to conduct their business without getting caught up in the many legal disputes that would be inevitable if they were closer to a residential area.
Possible Outcomes of Boundary and Title Disputes in Hyrum, Utah
You have quite a few options if you find that a planned or current use of your property violates Hyrum, Utah's zoning regulations.
However, it isn't always practical or affordable to correct a minor violation of a zoning law. For example, suppose you have just spent a large amount of money and effort remodeling a house to turn it into your dream home. You thought you were in total compliance with local zoning laws when you did this, but find out that there is some small, technical violation of Hyrum, Utah's zoning laws. In these cases, you have recourse in the form of a variance. You are entitled to petition the local zoning board to grant you a variance, which is an official decision not to apply a particular provision of a zoning law to a single violation. These aren't always granted, but typically have to be granted if the violation doesn't interfere with anyone else's use of their property, and doesn't thwart the purposes of local zoning laws.
You also have considerable protections if a zoning law changes, and you find that the land you've been living on for years is suddenly in violation of the new law. In general, zoning laws cannot apply to structures and uses which were built or commenced before the law was changed. Under the U.S. Constitution, it's not permissible for state or local governments to pass laws which have retroactive effect. You should know, however, that any future changes you make to your property will have to comply with the new zoning law.
What Can A Hyrum, Utah Attorney Do?
If you find yourself facing zoning or other land use issues, it's important to have good legal advice. A brilliant Hyrum, Utah attorney will help you work within the law to ensure that you are as free as possible to make the use of your land that you want.
Hyrum Commercial Real Estate Attorneys
Hyrum Construction Disputes Lawyers
Hyrum Landlord & Tenant Attorneys
Hyrum Buy or Sell a Home Lawyers
Hyrum Condo & Co-Op Attorney
Hyrum Foreclosure Lawyer
Hyrum Mortgage Attorney
Hyrum Boundary Disputes Lawyer
Zoning Planning & Land Use Lawyers in Nephi
Zoning Planning & Land Use Lawyers in St. George
Zoning Planning & Land Use Lawyers in Murray
Zoning Planning & Land Use Lawyers in Tooele
Zoning Planning & Land Use Lawyers in Herriman
Zoning Planning & Land Use Lawyers in Ephraim
Zoning Planning & Land Use Lawyers in Santa Clara
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line659
|
__label__wiki
| 0.777403
| 0.777403
|
INTERVIEW: Westchester’s Carly Rose Sonenclar Prepares Debut LP
Good news for “Carly’s Angels” – the name given to fans of Carly Rose Sonenclar. It seems “The X-Factor” runner-up will have no problem releasing her album to the masses.
“I’m in pre-production on my album,” Sonenclar told me inside the Hard Rock Café in Times Square. The Westchester-native attended J-14’s Little Mix showcase. “I got signed to Simon Cowell’s company, so they picked up my recording option, which I’m very happy about.”
The 13 year-old has good reason to be pleased. It is hard enough for winners, let alone second and third place finishers, to release music on a large scale following a reality TV show. Now signed with Cowell’s SYCO Music, Sonenclar is almost guaranteed a major record label debut with Sony Music Entertainment – probably through either the Epic or Columbia Records imprint.
“I’ve been in the studio, I’m finishing school, and stuff like that,” said the teenager, who is back in New York where she will record most of her music. Sonenclar even brought a group of her friends down to red carpet at the Hard Rock Café for the event.
Another friend that Carly Rose hopes to talk with soon is Britney Spears.
“She just switched agents to my agent, so now hopefully I’m going to be able to get in touch with her,” she said. Spears left William Morris Endeavor for Creative Artists Agency after calling off her engagement with Jason Trawick. He represented Spears, but later stepped down as her agent to focus on their relationship.
In audio, interview britney spears, Carly Rose Sonenclar, simon cowell, the x-factor
DAILY DOWNLOAD: Beyonce -...
INTERVIEW: Little Mix...
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line662
|
__label__wiki
| 0.963331
| 0.963331
|
Three weeks after they announced their engagement, Ivanka Trump congratulates Prince Harry and Meghan Markle
The bully dweeb from the classic “A Christmas Story” sure doesn’t look like this anymore
Former Rare Staff , December 16, 2017 1:02 pm
Screenshot/medicinemon
You may remember him as Scut Farkus from the iconic Christmas movie “A Christmas Story,” but actor Zack Ward has certainly grown up and looks very different today.
Cracked called him “one of pop culture’s most timeless jackasses,” and if you recall this scene from the movie, you’ll see why.
Those “yellow eyes” sure instilled fear into the hearts of the other neighborhood boys, but fortunately today, he’s just a normal actor.
LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 16: Actor Zack Ward attends the premiere of Open Road’s “Triple 9” at Regal Cinemas L.A. Live on February 16, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images)
Ward recently shared that he still receives royalties from the Christmas cult favorite movie.
“It’s basically about $1,800 every two years … and it comes in in Canadian money because we shot in Canada,” he recently told Page Six.
The cast of “A Christmas Story,” from left, R.D. Robb, Ian Petrella, Peter Billingsley, director Bob Clark, Scott Schwartz and Zack Ward, pose during celebrations of the release of the “Special Edition DVD Release of A Christmas Story,” Friday, Dec. 5, 2003, at the Arclight Hollywood Theater in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ann Johansson)
The former child actor continues to appears in movies and shows including “Always Sunny in Philadelphia” and “American Horror Story.” Despite the movie being more than 30 years old, Ward still gets people on the street who call him out for the bully character he played as a child.
“It happens all the time, it’s bizarre,” he told Cracked. “I’m 47, I wear glasses, and still everywhere I go, two or three times a week. Johnny Depp came up to me once, Snoop Dogg came up to me and was like ‘Hey, man, aren’t you that guy I wanted to beat the shit out of when I was a kid?'”
And speaking of people wanting to beat him up, let’s not forget about the legendary scene from “A Christmas Story” when Ralphie finally gets the muster to fight back.
About the author: Former Rare Staff
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line664
|
__label__wiki
| 0.98381
| 0.98381
|
Michael Bloomberg Will Spend $80 Million on the Midterms. His Goal: Flip the House for the Democrats.
Michael R. Bloomberg has indicated to aides that he only wants to support candidates who share his relatively moderate political orientation.
Michael R. Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City, has decided to throw his political clout and personal fortune behind the Democratic campaign to take control of the House of Representatives this year, directing aides to spend tens of millions of dollars in an effort to expel Republicans from power.
Mr. Bloomberg — a political independent who has championed left-of-center policies on gun control, immigration and the environment — has approved a plan to pour at least $80 million into the 2018 election, with the bulk of that money going to support Democratic congressional candidates, advisers to Mr. Bloomberg said.
By siding so emphatically with one party, Mr. Bloomberg has the potential to upend the financial dynamics of the midterm campaign, which have appeared to favor Republicans up to this point. Facing intense opposition to President Trump and conservative policies, Republicans have been counting on a strong economy and heavily funded outside groups to give them a political advantage in key races, especially in affluent suburbs where it is expensive to run television ads.
Mr. Bloomberg’s intervention is likely to undermine that financial advantage by bankrolling advertising on television, online and in the mail for Democratic candidates in a dozen or more congressional districts, chiefly in moderate suburban areas where Mr. Trump is unpopular. Democrats need to gain 23 congressional seats to win a majority.
While Mr. Bloomberg has not chosen his list of targeted races yet, he is unlikely to get involved in rural, conservative-leaning districts where his views on guns and other issues could stir an uproar, according to people briefed on his plans, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private deliberations.
The new alliance between Mr. Bloomberg, 76, and congressional Democrats marks a fresh stage in the former mayor’s political evolution. And it promises to put New York and its political leaders even more squarely at the center of a midterm campaign already stocked with prominent characters from the city, including a president who made his fortune in Manhattan real estate; the top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer; and Mr. Bloomberg’s predecessor in Gracie Mansion, Rudolph W. Giuliani, who serves as a lawyer for Mr. Trump.
[Here’s how two rogue billionaires — one on the left, one on the right — have emerged as the some of the biggest political spenders of the 2018 elections.]
After moving freely between elite circles in both parties for years, Mr. Bloomberg is now poised to become one of the Democrats’ most important benefactors: His spending on House campaigns appears likely to exceed the involvement of donors like Sheldon Adelson, the Republican casino billionaire who recently donated $30 million to a “super PAC” aligned with Speaker Paul D. Ryan, and Tom Steyer, the liberal hedge-fund investor spending tens of millions of dollars on voter-turnout programs and television ads demanding Mr. Trump’s impeachment.
Massive campaign spending by partisan billionaires — like Mr. Adelson and Mr. Steyer, and the powerful conservative donor network led by the Koch brothers — has yielded a hodgepodge of results over the years. In many cases, it has helped to amplify existing political trends, allowing parties already on the rise to gain ground even more rapidly. In other instances, billionaire-funded “super PACs” have helped parties limit their losses in difficult political conditions, as Republicans hope their outside groups will do this year. But money alone rarely determines the outcome of national elections.
Mr. Bloomberg outlined his plans in a statement, denouncing the Republican Congress and urging a return to divided control of the federal government. His 2018 effort is to be overseen by Howard Wolfson, a close adviser who is a former executive director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee; Mr. Wolfson confirmed the scale of the spending envisioned.
Calling Republican leaders in the House “absolutely feckless,” Mr. Bloomberg criticized them for failing to check Mr. Trump or to exercise rigorous oversight of his presidential administration.
“I’ve never thought that the public is well-served when one party is entirely out of power, and I think the past year and half has been evidence of that,” Mr. Bloomberg said, lamenting that Republicans “have done little to reach across the aisle to craft bipartisan solutions — not only on guns and climate change, but also on jobs, immigration, health care, and infrastructure.”
Mr. Bloomberg continued: “Republicans in Congress have had almost two years to prove they could govern responsibly. They failed.”
In past campaigns, Mr. Bloomberg has been a highly unusual figure among megadonors, dividing his spending between the parties rather than picking one team. In 2016, he worked aggressively both to re-elect Senator Pat Toomey, a Pennsylvania Republican who co-authored a compromise gun-control bill, and to defeat Senator Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican who opposed the measure. (Mr. Toomey won; Ms. Ayotte lost.)
But Mr. Bloomberg began linking himself more closely with Democrats after Mr. Trump was nominated for president, giving a speech at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia endorsing Hillary Clinton. He has repeatedly rebuked Mr. Trump since the inauguration, calling the Republican tax-cut law a “trillion-dollar blunder” and becoming a United Nations envoy on climate after Mr. Trump announced plans to withdraw the United States from the Paris agreement on emissions.
[Here’s what’s coming up next on the primary calendar.]
Mr. Bloomberg’s political team is in frequent contact with Democratic leaders, including some he has relationships from his time as mayor, and with liberal-leaning advocacy groups like Emily’s List that he is likely to collaborate with in the 2018 campaign. He has conferred regularly with Representative Joseph Crowley, of Queens, who is the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, as well as Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, a 39-year-old military veteran who has emerged as a leading critic of Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader.
Mr. Bloomberg is said to be intrigued by a list of candidates Mr. Moulton has endorsed, many of them also veterans.
“Especially in these marginal suburban districts, he’s someone whose resources and credibility can help candidates in tough races,” Mr. Moulton said, adding that Mr. Bloomberg would likely be cautious about where to deploy his operation: “There are places where you want to go in very obviously, and other places where you want to do work behind the scenes.”
Mr. Crowley said in an interview that Mr. Bloomberg had expressed dismay to him about Republican lawmakers’ refusal to challenge Mr. Trump.
“He recognizes the threat of this presidency,” Mr. Crowley said.
Mr. Bloomberg will likely support Republicans in a few races for governor this year, and he donated $5,400 in April to Representative Dan Donovan, a Staten Island Republican battling a primary challenge from Michael Grimm, a former congressman who was jailed for tax evasion. Beyond that, Mr. Bloomberg is expected to spend little or nothing on Republicans at the federal level, his advisers said.
Mr. Bloomberg’s partisan loyalties have shifted repeatedly over the years: He was a registered Democrat before switching parties to be elected mayor in 2001, and hosted the Republican convention in New York in 2004 before leaving that party to become an independent three years later. He twice made serious preparations to run for president as an independent, in 2008 and 2016, but both times ultimately decided against it.
In a sign of Mr. Bloomberg’s deep alienation from the Republican Party, he has recently told associates that if he were to run for president in 2020, he would likely do so as a Democrat, according to people who have spoken with him directly.
It is unclear whether Mr. Bloomberg, who would be 78 on Election Day in 2020, is actively contemplating another presidential campaign or simply leaving the door open to the possibility.
While his money could be an enormous help to Democrats, Mr. Bloomberg is imperfectly matched with the party on important matters of policy and his involvement in the midterms has the potential to stir unease on the left. He has defended Wall Street banks over the years from liberal criticism, and as mayor he championed an aggressive approach to policing that is now anathema to much of the Democratic coalition.
And Mr. Bloomberg, despite his antipathy for the G.O.P., has not shed some of his reservations about the Democrats. He has indicated to aides that he only wants to support candidates who share his relatively moderate political orientation, avoiding nominees hailing from the populist left. In his statement, Mr. Bloomberg also took strong issue with any Democrats campaigning on impeachment, declaring: “Nothing could be more irresponsible.”
Representative Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, a centrist Democrat who recently hosted Mr. Bloomberg at an event on Capitol Hill, said the former mayor could be most helpful in the “purple-ish” areas where Democrats hope to gain the most ground. Democrats are seeking to capture more than three-dozen Republican-held seats in the suburbs around big cities like Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Minneapolis and Miami.
“He plays very well in the moderate suburbs where we need to win seats,” said Mr. Gottheimer, adding: “From my perspective, I want more pro-business, moderate Democrats in Congress next year.”
Prominent Blagojevich witnesses have pros and cons
Man charged in NY hotel death: I left her sleeping
Mo. teen pleads guilty in Ohio drifter's death
Suspect in Detroit serial rapes heading to trial
No break this spring at the gas pump
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Dancing Video Was Meant as a Smear, but It Backfired
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line665
|
__label__cc
| 0.72465
| 0.27535
|
LOGIN REGISTER SEARCH
Resilience – the film
The impact of showing Resilience
Holding a Resilience screening in a building
Holding an online Resilience screening
What might follow up actions look like?
Challenge requirements
Sponsor the Challenge
Resilience Challenge event listings
See also the Terms and Conditions statement. Use of text, images and other content on this website is subject to the following terms and conditions:
CONTENT IS PROTECTED BY INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY LAWS
Text and image files, audio and video clips, and other content on this website are the property of Resilience Challenge. Copyrights and other proprietary rights in the content on this website may also be owned by individuals and entities other than, and in addition to, Resilience Challenge. Resilience Challenge expressly prohibits the copying of any protected materials on this website, except for the purposes of fair use as defined in the copyright law, and as described below.
FAIR USE IS PERMITTED
Note - image files are licenced from bigstockphoto and may not be reused.
Fair use of copyrighted material includes the use of protected materials for non-commercial educational purposes, such as teaching, scholarship, research, criticism, commentary, and news reporting. Unless otherwise noted, users who wish to download or print text from this Web site for such uses may do so without the express permission of Resilience Challenge, provided that they comply with the following conditions:
The content may only be used for personal, educational or noncommercial purposes;
Users must cite the author and source of the content as they would material from any printed work;
The citation must include all copyright information and other information associated with the content and the URL for the Resilience Challenge website;
None of the content may be altered or modified;
Users must comply with all other terms or restrictions which may be applicable to the individual file, image, or text.
By downloading, printing, or otherwise using text from this website, users agree and warrant that they will limit their use of such files to fair use and will comply with all other terms and conditions of this license, and will not violate the rights of Resilience Challenge or any other person or entity. Resilience Challenge does not warrant that use of the text, images and content displayed on the website will not infringe the rights of third parties not owned by or affiliated with Resilience Challenge.
COMMERCIAL USE IS RESTRICTED
Unauthorized commercial publication or exploitation of text, images or content of this website is specifically prohibited. Anyone wishing to use any of these files or images for commercial use, publication, or any purpose other than fair use as defined by law, must request and receive prior written permission from Resilience Challenge. Permission for such use is granted on a case-by-case basis at the sole discretion of Resilience Challenge. A usage fee may be assessed depending on the type and nature of the proposed use.
Tel: Email:
a ChurchInsight siteLow GraphicsCopyrightT&CsPrivacyHelp
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line668
|
__label__wiki
| 0.837934
| 0.837934
|
U.S. Marines assigned to Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Central Command (SPMAFTF-CR-CC) 19.2, prepare to deploy from Kuwait in support of a crisis response mission, Dec. 31, 2019. The SPMAGTF-CR-CC is designed to move with speed and precision to support operations throughout the Middle East. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Sgt. Robert Gavaldon)
Can Escalation be Prevented in Iraq?
Helena Cobban
Back in 2003, a U.S. president used unsubstantiated (and as it turned out, false) claims about WMD programs in Iraq to launch a war that wrecked Iraq, killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, and cost the U.S. taxpayer well over $1 trillion — and counting. On December 29, a U.S. president launched a large-scale air-raid against five bases along the Iraqi-Syrian border run by Ketaeb Hizbollah (KH), an Iraqi militia allied with government forces. U.S. officials claimed that KH was responsible for an attack that two days earlier killed a U.S. contractor in Kirkuk, 400 miles east of the KH bases on the Syrian border. But they did not see the need to produce any evidence of the KH’s responsibility.
The December 29 raid killed at least two dozen people — members of KH and the Iraqi security forces — and has brought the U.S. to the brink of a new war in Iraq or even of an outright confrontation with Iran, seen in Washington as being KH’s main backers. The consequences of any such escalation, while unforeseeable in detail, would certainly be disastrous for Americans, Iraqis, and numerous others.
Can escalation be prevented?
As of today (January 1), the prospects look grim. Yesterday, the funeral cortege for the slain fighters reached Baghdad, and enraged KH supporters (and leaders) mobbed the U.S. embassy compound, storming through its outer perimeter and besieging those inside. Overnight, scores of additional Marines were airlifted into the embassy’s inner redoubt as Washington announced the dispatch of an additional 500 U.S. troops to join the 5,000 troops (and a similar number of military contractors) already in the country. This morning it looks as if the KH supporters have left the embassy compound.
Behind all the military fireworks, the engines really driving the prospects for war or peace in Iraq still lie, as Clausewitz reminds us, in the realm of politics. And not just — or perhaps, not even mainly — in the realm of American politics, though the “Wag the Dog” possibilities for the year ahead are substantial. But the politics within Iraq and the global system are also potent factors.
Inside Iraq, the country’s people are still reeling from the numerous shocks of the past 40 years: a hugely draining but ultimately unsuccessful war effort against Iran; the disastrous aftermath of Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait; 13 years of crippling UN sanctions; the U.S. invasion and takeover of the country and its subsequent dismantling of all organs of the Iraqi state; the apocalyptic eruption of ISIS in 2014, and so on. Under all these shocks, a once proud and well-educated citizenry has become impoverished, resentful, volatile.
Over the past few months, much of the resentment of the populous, predominantly Shiite-Arab south had been turned against Iran, a neighbor that had welcomed Washington’s overthrow of Saddam, had later built a substantial presence in Baghdad and the south — and had cooperated closely with Washington, the Iraqi government, and the Iraqi Shiite militias in their joint campaign against ISIS.
For months now, large-scale protests have rocked Baghdad and cities to the south, calling for the overthrow of “the regime.” Protesters torched several Iranian government outposts in key southern cities. Last month, under the pressure of this ragged movement, Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi announced his resignation. The whole, intentionally sectarian political structure that was designed and installed by the United States after the 2003 invasion looked set to collapse.
Washington’s decision on December 29 to bomb the KH sites along the Iraqi-Syrian border threw a hand-grenade into that chaotic, but strongly anti-Iranian, political maelstrom. Two key Iraqi Shiite leaders who had implicitly supported the anti-Iran protests, the much-revered Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani and the factional leader Moqtada al-Sadr, were quick to express public condemnation of the American raid. As did Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi. All were united in decrying not just the December 29 raid itself but also the fact that Washington launched it despite the fact that Abdul-Mahdi, after being given advance notice of it by Defense Secretary Mark Esper, had specifically asked Washington not to launch it, as he was quick to inform the Iraqi people in its bloody aftermath.
And, of key significance for Americans, Iraqis, and others, throughout these recent days, no one in the U.S. government has even bothered to produce any evidence that might link KH to the December 27 incident in Kirkuk. Instead, the December 29 raid was described throughout by U.S. spokespeople as being intended, in a broad, unspecified way, to “restore deterrence” and to “send a message to Iran,” which has many political and military ties with KH, although operationally KH works in close coordination with the Iraqi military.
This idea that “restoring deterrence” can provide, on its own, any kind of valid basis on which to launch lethal military operations is a clear mark of an aggressive bully, as we have seen on the numerous times that Israel has used it to justify military operations against Lebanon or Gaza. And such operations seldom (if ever) have the desired effect of bending the targeted population to the aggressor’s will. Instead, they push the targeted population into a deeper and tougher resistance; and this is what seems to be happening inside Iraq.
It is unclear what the mission of the latest U.S. troop reinforcements in Iraq will be. The original rationale for sending U.S. troops back into the country in 2014, after their agreed-to withdrawal in 2011, was to deal with the extreme threat posed by ISIS. Over the past five years, ISIS had been almost wholly defeated, at massive cost, in both Iraq and Syria. But now, can the previous, painstakingly navigated anti-ISIS coalition — which included the United States and the governments of Iraq and Syria, along with their allies (including Iran) and some of their opponents (like the Syrian Kurds) — be preserved at all? What would the region-wide fallout from that be like?
Hanging over this, too, is the question of the continuing confrontation between Iran and the United States. As statements from U.S. officials have made clear, the major rationale of the December 29 raid was to curtail the capabilities and influence of a militia, the KH, that is seen in Washington only as an Iranian proxy; and therefore to curb some of Tehran’s regional influence. (This agenda has also for years now been actively promoted by Israel.) Given that the December 29 raid has backfired on Washington so seriously within the Iraqi political system, will Washington now choose to double down and get into an even more overt confrontation with Iran?
Let us hope not. Regional and international politics would have great impact on any such scenario. Within the region, an adventurous and politically and legally embattled Israeli prime minister might be eager for more confrontation between Washington and Tehran, but no other significant regional power would welcome it. At the global level, Washington is likely to receive not support, but condemnation, for the recklessness of its actions in Iraq. Once foreign ministries around the world get back into action after the New Years’ break, we are likely to hear of plans by numerous governments that aim at de-escalating the crisis.
Another international factor, little noticed amid the hubbub inside Iraq: On Tuesday, the Russian, Chinese, and Iranian navies wrapped up a four-day joint exercise in and around the Strait of Hormuz. This was the first time since the fall of the Shah in 1979 that the Iranian navy had conducted a joint exercise with any other partner. As it started, December 27, Iranian Rear Admiral Gholamreza Tahani declared that, “The message of this exercise is peace, friendship and lasting security through cooperation and unity … and its effect will be to show that Iran cannot be isolated.”
More from Helena Cobban
Democratizing Foreign Policy
Another American first: a self-collapsing empire!
No world power has undergone a collapse as dramatic as what the United States has been undergoing. Are we seeing the collapse of American hegemony?
by Helena Cobban
Covid crisis brings new global influence for China?
As “post-Covid” countries continue reopening their economies to business, the world may soon become divided into “Covid-safe” and “Covid-unsafe” zones.
Two big powers arm-wrestle in Syria. Neither one is the United States
In Moscow and Ankara, two strongly nationalistic leaders, both endowed with a wily realpolitik-style realism as well as a strong dose of paranoia, perform an intriguing and complex diplomatic dance around each other.
Did Washington Use a False Pretext for Its Recent Escalation in Iraq?
A New York Times report raises serious questions about the official U.S. account of the attack on the K-1 base in eastern Iraq on December 27.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line669
|
__label__wiki
| 0.609435
| 0.609435
|
Nicolas Maduro (Photo: Golden Brown / Shutterstock.com)
Trump’s attempt to get rid of Maduro has failed. What now?
Geoff Ramsey
After a year and a half of diminishing returns since recognizing Juan Guaido as interim president and imposing crippling oil sanctions, U.S. strategy in Venezuela has reached a crossroads. Policymakers in Washington have two paths before them: they can either continue down the path of “maximum pressure” and saber-rattling, or they can choose a path of pragmatism, supporting more flexible negotiations towards a democratic transition.
The current path has been disastrous. Since January 2019 the Trump administration has refused to lift broad oil or financial sanctions on Venezuela until de facto Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro either resigns or is overthrown. The U.S. government has steadily escalated those sanctions to limit other countries from engaging with Venezuela’s state oil company, a policy that has exacerbated already widespread shortages of fuel, medicine, food, and other essential goods. Now the White House is threatening to impose further sanctions that could limit the importation of diesel to the country, which would have devastating consequences for bulk transport, public transportation, and electricity generation.
Meanwhile, Maduro appears more firmly in control than at any point since August 2017, when the first sectoral sanctions were imposed on Venezuela. His government has succeeded in putting down a series of mass protests in recent years, and the military leadership has stood behind him each time they have been tested. The deterioration in living conditions — which predates sanctions and occurred due to the government’s own mismanagement and corruption — has left the vast majority of Venezuelan people with scarce access to food, medicine, and other basics. Nonetheless, military and political elites in the country remain largely shielded from the economic crisis, and will remain comfortable even as U.S. sanctions continue to block access to the credit and investment needed to spur an economic recovery.
Perhaps in recognition of the lack of impact through sanctions policy, the Trump administration has begun to adopt the language of supporting a negotiated transition — but its red lines remain the same. When the opposition attempted to negotiate an electoral solution in mid-2019, for example, the White House trashed the deliberations and undercut opposition negotiators by refusing to back a deal that would require a lifting of sanctions ahead of new presidential elections. Today, the Trump administration claims to support a negotiated solution, but the text of the State Department’s Democratic Transition Framework and the Treasury Department’s regulations explicitly state that its fundamental position has not changed. The Trump administration is not willing to provide relief from sanctions in exchange for anything other than Maduro’s immediate resignation.
Meanwhile, there are few incentives for Maduro and his inner circle to get behind a plan for a negotiated transition. In March, the Department of Justice unsealed indictments against the head of every single government institution controlled by the ruling United Socialist Party. This was a significant break from the previous U.S. strategy, which sought to drive a wedge between Maduro and members of his inner circle. The indictments helped cement a situation in which Maduro’s inner circle now have little reason to break away and support regime change.
Past experience shows that the existing U.S. approach in Venezuela will only deepen the current stalemate. Washington has imposed a trade embargo on Cuba for over 50 years, yet the Cuban government remains in place and the Cuban people are those most affected. On top of worsening human suffering, the history of broad economic sanctions shows sanctions are simply not an effective way of promoting democratic transitions. In fact, the literature suggests that they fail to meet their stated objective over two-thirds of the time, and can actually weaken the ability of civil society to mobilize against target regimes.
Fortunately, it is not too late to change course. After the dust settles from U.S. presidential elections in November and the deeply flawed Venezuelan legislative elections scheduled for early December, policymakers in Washington will have an opportunity to press the reset button. Whoever occupies the White House on January 21, whether a second Trump administration or a Biden administration, will be able to guide policy in a more positive direction.
A more productive path would start by recognizing that pressure alone is not a strategy. To be effective, international pressure on the Maduro government should be smart, focused, and tethered to more realistic and concrete outcomes.
While sectoral sanctions have aggravated the crisis and had a documented negative impact on the work of independent NGOs, there is evidence that targeted sanctions against individuals have had more impact inside the Maduro government. The U.S. government should continue to use these individual sanctions to build internal pressure for change, but abandon a failed strategy of relying on sanctions as a direct tool to force regime change. Instead, U.S. policymakers should consider lifting them in exchange for more immediate concessions like an improvement in electoral conditions, restoring opposition parties, allowing international observation, and freeing all remaining political prisoners.
This will require a more flexible approach to the White House’s “red lines.” Rather than weighing in on internal tactical debates, the United States should consider letting the opposition work things out for themselves. Instead of insisting on the impossibility of negotiating anything other than Maduro’s resignation, the State Department should focus on supporting the implementation of partial agreements between the Maduro government and the opposition, such as a recently-announced deal to address the health crisis in partnership with the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).
Further agreements between Venezuelan actors will be needed to address the scale of the humanitarian emergency, and U.S. diplomats should work to ensure that these partial accords help build momentum for a broader political negotiation.
Finally, the U.S. should recognize that it cannot embark on a new path alone. A more effective approach starts by rebuilding a multilateral consensus on the need for a negotiated democratic transition in the country. The failed mercenary coup in April and the occasional stray remarks from U.S. officials floating a reckless—and highly unlikely—“military option” have damaged diplomatic consensus in Latin America and Europe. U.S. policymakers need to explicitly reject a unilateral approach, and work with international partners to emphasize a peaceful solution to the crisis.
Despite the advance of authoritarianism in Venezuela, the fact that there is continued civil resistance in the country shows that Maduro has not yet succeeded in consolidating total control. Washington can help prevent a deeper descent into authoritarianism in Venezuela, but it will require charting a new course, one that does not repeat the same mistakes of “maximum pressure” regime change strategies that have failed elsewhere.
More from Geoff Ramsey
Venezuela is the perfect test case for Biden’s promised return to multilateralism
There will be plenty of space to maneuver after the Trump administration’s brash unilateralism.
by Geoff Ramsey
How the Trump administration has courted hardliners and failed the Venezuelan people
The White House has consistently deluded hardline elements of the Venezuelan opposition with the possibility of a quick and easy military solution.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line670
|
__label__cc
| 0.652417
| 0.347583
|
Home / New Surveillance Reform Bill “SAPRA” Launches
New Surveillance Reform Bill “SAPRA” Launches
Posted on February 7, 2020 in Op-Ed
On March 15, Congress will face again the expiration of three long-controversial post-9/11 surveillance powers: The “roving wiretaps” provision (Section 206) the “business records” provision (Section 215), and the “lone wolf” amendment (FISA Section 101(b)(1)(C)). They were originally due to expire December 15, 2019, but what with the need to avoid a government shutdown and lawmakers wanting to get home for the holidays, Congress kicked that can three months down the road. FBI Director Christopher Wray, in testimony before the House Judiciary Committee this week, called these powers “vital,” and said that “it would be a sad day for America” if they were to expire.
It won’t surprise anybody that we think he’s wrong.
First of all, allegedly, the “lone wolf” amendment’s powers have never been used, which, if true, makes it So Weird that Director Wray nonetheless sees them as “vital.”
But anyway, let’s sketch out a little of what happened last time these powers were due to expire, back in the distant Stone Age era of 2015.
Back then, Senate Majority Leader McConnell had hoped to renew the powers without any reforms, despite the massive surveillance abuses then recently revealed by Edward Snowden. Sen. Rand Paul and others mounted a filibuster to thwart McConnell, and these powers did expire – for two days. A panicked McConnell dropped his prior opposition to the mild transparency reforms of the “USA FREEDOM Act,” which then passed. Somehow, in the five years since then, the US has survived without being annihilated by any external threat, and the public now has more information about the nature of the NSA’s and the FBI’s mass surveillance abuses than we did before.
What does this new information show? FBI and NSA are not complying with the Constitution. Not even close. It’s not isolated cases; it’s so gross, and so endemic, that NSA is having to suspend and purge whole programs because they can’t run them in a Constitutional fashion. After the Snowden revelations started coming out in the summer of 2013, they’ve had more than six years to get their house in order, and under current law, that’s not happening.
Witness, for example, the FBI oversight hearing at the House Judiciary Committee this week. It could have been a chance to talk about actual FBI abuses, such as, oh, I don’t know, the FBI running over 3 million backdoor searches on US persons as an end-run around the Fourth Amendment; or their sustained surveillance and disruption of domestic advocacy groups, including Black and Muslim groups and perhaps even Restore The Fourth itself. Instead, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee seemed chiefly interested in whether the FBI’s boots were pressing equally hard on white supremacists versus Islamic terrorists, and if the FBI was doing enough to thwart Russian intervention in elections. On the Republican side, there was more focus on actual abuses by the FBI, but nearly all of them focused on the (legitimate) concerns raised by the deficiencies in the FISA application to surveil Trump campaign worker Carter Page, rather than on broader issues of FBI surveillance.
That’s why it’s a good sign that a new bill has launched, the “Safeguarding Americans’ Private Records Act” (H.R.5675 / S. 3242), with substantial bipartisan support. In the House, the Republican cosponsors are Reps. Davidson, Gaetz, Massie and Yoho; the Democrats are Blumenauer, DeFazio, Jayapal, Lofgren and McCollum. In the Senate, it has cosponsorship from Wyden and Daines. Many of these legislators have been leaders in reining in the surveillance state, and the bill reflects that.
SAPRA is, at its core, a deep reform – some might say, neutering – of the infamous Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, with additional limitations on searches of Section 702 data, and transparency reforms of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Here are some of the things it does:
SAPRA imposes a statutory end to the Call Detail Records program, which scooped up all Americans’ phone metadata. That program was limited by the USA FREEDOM Act, and NSA found that it was unable to operate the program lawfully under those new limits, so NSA declared in 2019 that it was no longer using it. However, NSA spokespeople have given testimony to Congress that they don’t want a statutory end to it, and the Trump administration opposes such an end, because perhaps one day terrorists will in fact be caught using it. Well, they’ve had nearly twenty years to have that happen; it’s safe to say at this point that it’s both massively intrusive, and wholly unhelpful in preventing terrorist attacks.
In line with Supreme Court precedents, SAPRA “explicitly prohibits the warrantless collection of cell site location and GPS information as well as browsing history and internet search history, and ensures that the government cannot conduct collection for intelligence purposes that would violate the Fourth Amendment in the criminal context.” This is vital. The FBI was found in late 2019 to have been running over three million searches a year of intelligence databases, likely mostly on US persons, in order to make an end run around the need for a warrant to collect the communications of US persons in a criminal context. This “FBI backdoor search” abuse must end.
Under SAPRA, the government would have to disclose its use of Section 215 data in criminal cases; justify to the FISC the use of gag orders on companies who receive Section 215 orders; and limit its use to counterterrorism and espionage cases.
Addressing some of the problems identified in the Inspector-General’s report into defects in the Carter Page FISA application, the bill finally gives FISC amici an independent and potentially adversarial role on the Court, to represent the interests of the people and organizations being surveilled.
SAPRA also makes sure that all “significant” FISC opinions are made public within six months, and strengthens the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board. It would finally reveal the numbers FBI and NSA have been so close-mouthed about: How many Americans have had their information collected under Section 215, how many US person searches have been conducted under Sections 215 and 702, and how many of those searches actually returned information.
The FBI loves to surveil domestic groups who advocate changes to the economic, social, or racial status quo, and particularly dislike their own critics. SAPRA takes action on this, requiring the Inspector General to conduct an investigation into the use of First Amendment-protected activities as well as race, ethnicity, national origin and religious affiliation to support Section 215 applications.
It does plenty more than that; a full summary is here. But politically, we should also ask what chance SAPRA has. Its biggest limitation is that it is not cosponsored by leadership. The lead committee on the PATRIOT Act renewal fight is likely to be House Judiciary, because the Intelligence Committees have been busy with other things. The House Judiciary Chair is Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), who has supported significant reforms in the past. The record of the Ranking Member, Rep. Doug Collins, has been mixed: He supported significant surveillance reforms when President Obama was in office, but has opposed them under Trump. Collins is stepping down from that position, and is likely to be replaced by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), who has a very strong record on surveillance reform; but that transition is unlikely to take place until after the mid-March deadline for the expiration of the PATRIOT Act powers.
If we reach mid-March with there being only two options on the table – SAPRA or expiration of the PATRIOT Act powers – then there is a chance that the House Judiciary Committee would pass it. But it’s more likely that a more limited bill will emerge either from Nadler’s office or from the Senate Intelligence Committees. Getting more cosponsors for SAPRA now will likely be the best way to influence that more limited bill.
Your Member of Congress needs to know that we will not stand for another five years of mass spying on Americans. Ask them to cosponsor SAPRA today!
← Restore the Fourth, 18 Allies Ask Congress To Investigate FBI Monitoring Shooting as She Drove Away: RT4 Files Amicus Brief in Torres v. Madrid →
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line671
|
__label__wiki
| 0.666363
| 0.666363
|
Recklessness
July 17, 2016 July 17, 2016 / Rick Ellrod
The name of the title song from Martina McBride’s album “Reckless” (released April 29, 2016) matches that of another favorite of mine, Alabama’s “Reckless” (1993). What strikes me most is the difference in what the songs say.
Martina McBride’s “Reckless”: music video; lyrics; Wikipedia entry (album)
Alabama’s “Reckless”: fan video with lyrics; just lyrics; Wikipedia entry
I’ll refer to the songs by their performers, but since I’m talking about the words, it’s really the lyricists at work (though the music, as in any good song, reinforces the lyric—and vice versa). For McBride’s song, the writers are Sarah Buxton, Zach Crowell, and Heather Morgan; for Alabama’s, Michael Clark and Jeff Stevens.
Alabama’s song is an ode to spontaneity, with its overtones of rebelliousness and adventure. The singer and his girlfriend are dissatisfied with life in their Texas small town. He wants them to take off somewhere else, anywhere else.
The refrain begins with “Let’s roll the windows down…” Since this song came out, I can’t count the number of country singers I’ve heard rolling their windows down for exactly the same reason. It works, too. “[L]et the wind blow through our hair” – what suggests excitement more than air streaming past our faces? The refrain ends with the inevitably suggestive line, “Let’s get reckless tonight.”
But the overall message is clear in the bridge: “When you’re crazy in love you gotta take a chance, / Burn the bridge and don’t look back.” Love, in other words, requires recklessness. (Despite being burned, however, the bridge remains intact in the song.)
This trope is firmly rooted in classic American tradition. It lines up with a long tradition of such anthems. Wilson Phillips’ “Impulsive” comes to mind, where “reckless” is the second adjective the singer applies to herself (to her own surprise) in the refrain.
Love of spontaneity has a much broader reach than love songs alone. Our fascination with the impulsive, boundary-breaking individual includes, for example, the recurrent trope of the “loose-cannon cop who doesn’t play by the rules” (TV Tropes calls it Cowboy Cop). The attitude is canonized in the “chaotic good” alignment featured as one of the options in Dungeons & Dragons and other role-playing games (you can find descriptions on Wikipedia, TV Tropes, or elsewhere).
Twenty-three years later, McBride’s take doesn’t quite follow the trope—or does it? Clearly, we are supposed to be attracted by the singer’s portrait of a wild and impulsive woman. But the narrator’s actual description of herself isn’t favorable. The song opens:
For stumbling through a mess of dances
For squandering my second chances
For wrecking every dream
And breaking everything I ever had . . .
The singer seems to be sorry about her ungoverned behavior, or ashamed of it. She even calls it “criminal” in the refrain. She feels her beloved cares for her despite this chaotic quality, not because of it.
Originally I wondered whether this new song represented a change in attitudes over time. We are highly sensitive today to unintended consequences, including “collateral damage”—in everything from environmentalism to superhero movies (the damage caused by epic battles is a major plot driver in this year’s Captain America: Civil War and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice). One might suspect we’re becoming less enthusiastic about recklessness than we used to be.
On the other hand, we’re still getting just as many images in which operating outside the law is seen as a good thing. The screenwriters’ sympathies seem to lie more with the “chaotic” side in both those films. It would be rash to imagine a reversal of so pervasive an attitude based on one song.
But there’s more to it: McBride’s song has another layer. Her lover’s willingness to cope with her erratic nature also represents daring or courage. The last lines of the refrain are: “For loving me the way you do—I know I’m reckless—but you must be reckless too.” Loving someone who is so uncontrolled is its own form of recklessness.
This kind of risk-taking appears in the song as a good thing. She—and we, the listeners—want him to take that chance. Only when he does so can he prize who she really is, and see her lovableness: “For looking in my eyes and seeing the soul inside . . .” It’s the difference between acting unthinkingly or destructively, and taking a desperate risk in a good cause.
McBride’s “Reckless,” in other words, draws our attention to the fact that there is a certain kinship between the kind of recklessness that represents pure spontaneity (and can go drastically wrong), and the kind that dares to take the necessary risks to love someone. And, yes, can also go drastically wrong.
This truth holds to some extent for everybody. None of us is ideal and unexceptionable. We’ve all squandered opportunities and stumbled through life. Committing ourselves to any of us flawed human beings means taking chances. Love always requires courage.
What McBride’s song tells us, then, is that there are some risks that must be taken; and love is one of them. On this, the two songs come back together—Alabama also told us we had to take chances to be “crazy in love.”
It’s one reason we might say, with that well-known sage Rich Burlew, “Love is an Epic-level challenge.”
Alabama (band), alignment, Batman v Superman, Captain America: Civil War, chaotic good, Cowboy Cop, D&D, Impulsive, Martina McBride, Order of the Stick, Reckless (Alabama), Reckless (Martina McBride), recklessness, Rich Burlew, romance, RPGs, superheroes, unintended consequences, Wilson Phillips
← The Internet Strikes Back
The Backyard Spaceship →
2 thoughts on “Recklessness”
Pingback: The Malleability of Myth | Rick Ellrod's Locus
Pingback: Higher, Further, Faster: Captain Marvel | Rick Ellrod's Locus
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line674
|
__label__cc
| 0.532072
| 0.467928
|
Rules and Regulations of the Agricultural Lands Preservation Commission
505-RICR-00-00-1 ACTIVE RULE
1.1 Purpose
The purpose of these Rules and Regulations is to establish the operating procedures of the Agricultural Lands Preservation Commission for the administration of the purchase of development rights to, and criteria for the selection of, parcels for which the development rights may be purchased pursuant to Farmland Preservation Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 42-82.
1.2 Authority
These Rules and Regulations are authorized pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 42-82.
1.3 Construction and Severability
A. The terms and provisions of these Rules and Regulations shall be liberally construed to permit the Commission to effectuate the purposes of state law, goals, and policies.
B. If any provision of these Rules and Regulations, or the application thereof to any person or circumstances, is held invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the validity of the remainder of the Rules and Regulations shall not be affected thereby.
1.4 Definitions
A. For the purposes of these regulations, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
1. "Act" means the “Farmland Preservation Act," R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 42-82.
2. "Appraisal" means a report by a certified Rhode Island appraiser that estimates the fair market value of property.
3. "Chairperson" means the Chairperson of the Agricultural Lands Preservation Commission.
4. "Commission" means the Agricultural Lands Preservation Commission as established by R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-82-1(b).
5. "Department of Environmental Management" means a department of the state government as described in R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 42-17.
6. “Relative Agricultural Value" or "RAV” means a numerical value of a soil type that has been calculated using a methodology consistent with the United State Department of Agriculture and based on the following factors:
a. The average yield of a selected indicator crop that can be expected from the soil;
b. The amount of soil erosion control practices, irrigation, or other important soil management activities required to achieve acceptable yields from the soil; and
c. Placement of the soil in the USDA Important Farmland classification system.
B. As used in these Rules and Regulations, all terms not defined herein shall have the meaning given them in R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 42-82.
1.5 Application Procedures
A. The Commission shall develop and make available a form designated as the Application for the Purchase of Development Rights.
B. To be accepted for consideration, the application form must be signed by the landowner or legal agent, be complete, and meet any other requirements established by the Commission.
1. Commission staff shall review each application as it is received. Applications found to be acceptable will be referred to the Commission for evaluation and the applicant shall be notified in writing that the application has been accepted for review.
2. Applications found to be deficient will be returned to the applicant with a statement as to the deficiencies noted and a notice that the applicant can correct these and resubmit the application.
C. Once an application has been accepted, the Commission shall evaluate the application within 90 days unless such time is extended by the Commission.
1.6 Evaluation Procedures
A. The Commission shall develop and adopt a scoring system using the criteria set forth in § 1.7 of this Part.
1. Scoring shall be conducted by a quorum of the Commission.
2. The final application score shall be determined by averaging the scores of the Commission members.
3. The Commission may set a minimum score such that only those applications that meet or exceed the minimum score shall be eligible for further consideration by the Commission.
4. The application score is intended to assist the Commission in prioritizing negotiations and purchases; it is not intended to be binding in terms of setting the negotiation and closing order of the scored farms.
B. The Commission shall notify the applicant the outcome of the scoring in a timely fashion. Any rejected applications may be resubmitted one year from the date of rejection; however, an application may be resubmitted at any time in cases of a significant material change.
1.7 Scoring Criteria
A. The Commission shall adopt scoring criteria consistent with the Act and shall include:
1. Parcel Size - The minimum parcel size for consideration by the Commission is set by the Act at five (5) contiguous acres. The Commission defines this to mean five acres dedicated to or available for agricultural production. Commissioners shall consider the overall acreage in determining the extent to which the land furthers the goals of the Act. Parcel size may be awarded up to five (5) points.
2. Soil Quality - The soil quality on applicant farms shall be scored by assigning a “Relative Agricultural Value” to the soils offered for the purchase of development rights. The Commission may adjust the Relative Agricultural Value scoring to account for orchards and other specialty crops. Soil quality may be awarded up to twenty-five (25) points.
3. Agricultural Operation and Viability - The Commission shall consider the actual and potential contribution of the applicant farm to the state’s agricultural community and agricultural sector of the state’s economy. Priority shall be given to farms that are important to the overall and/or long-term viability of agriculture in general in Rhode Island. Priority shall also be given to farms that are, or have potential to be, financially viable as based on individual operational and site characteristics. In determining agricultural viability, the Commission shall consider the farm’s geographical location including proximity to other agricultural operations, markets, and suppliers, the farm’s overall management including agricultural infrastructure, diversified production, soil management, current conservation practices and future conservation plans, economic significance, the current business model, and future business plans including a farm transfer or farm succession plan. Agricultural operation and viability may be awarded up to ten (10) points.
4. Protection of Water Supplies and Quality - The Commission shall consider how the acquisition of development rights to the applicant farm could further the protection of water supplies and water quality. Protection of water supplies and quality may be awarded up to ten (10) points.
5. Open Space, Cultural, and Scenic Features - The Commission shall consider how the acquisition of Development Rights to the applicant farm may contribute to the preservation of important open spaces, the conservation of cultural features, and the preservation of scenic landscapes. Open space, cultural, and scenic features may be awarded up to fifteen (15) points.
6. Flood Protection - The Commission shall consider the value of acquiring the development rights to farmland in floodplains and flood prone areas in order to prevent development and thus protect against loss of structural improvements and threats to residents who could otherwise occupy these areas. Flood protection may be awarded up to three (3) points.
7. Demonstrated Local and/or Conservation Organization Support - Demonstrated local and/or conservation organization support, which may be in the form of letters of support or financial commitment, may be awarded up to two (2) points.
1.8 Negotiation and Purchase of Development Rights
A. The Commission shall maintain a list of farms that satisfactorily meet the scoring criteria, pending the negotiation for the sale of development rights. The Commission shall, not less than annually, review the list of farms eligible for the purchase of development rights and evaluate the following factors for each farm. The Commission shall rank each of the following factors as being low, medium, or high.
1. The application score
2. Development pressure
3. How the purchase of development rights would contribute to maintaining geographic diversity in the protection of farmland
4. How the purchase of development rights would contribute to the creation of open space or agricultural corridors
5. How the purchase of development rights would contribute to maintaining a mix of farm types
6. The potential cost of development rights
7. Funding partnership opportunities
B. As additional farms are scored and qualified for the purchase of development rights, the Commission shall add them to the list within sixty (60) days of their scoring.
C. Negotiations may be initiated at any time, either at the request of an applicant or by the Commission. Prior to the start of negotiations, the Commission shall consider the factors listed in § 1.8(A) of this Part and must determine if there have been any significant changes to the agricultural operation, land, or information provided in the application since its original acceptance. If substantial changes have occurred, the Commission must decide whether to proceed with negotiations or rescore the application. All applicants selected for negotiation shall be in writing.
D. The Commission shall either authorize its staff to conduct the negotiation or appoint a Negotiating Committee consisting of at least one Commissioner and one staff member to negotiate with the owner(s) of the property or with the authorized representative of the owner(s) and any funding partners that wish to participate.
E. The negotiation shall ensure that an agreement accomplishes the purposes of the Act and that it incorporates any provisions or considerations specified by the Commission. The Commission may require, where appropriate, that a written conservation plan or water quality plan be developed and implemented for the land as a condition of purchase.
F. The price and/or other consideration to be exchanged for the development rights shall be based upon an approved Appraisal of the fair market value of the development rights. This consideration shall be made a part of the purchase and sales agreement. No purchase and sale agreement shall be concluded or adopted by the Commission until the value of the Development Rights has been determined by Appraisal and the Appraisal has been reviewed and approved by Department of Environmental Management staff. The Commission is authorized to accept donations and offers for the purchase of the development rights at less than the appraised value. The Commission recognizes that potential funding partners may wish to consider and negotiate for other factors in addition to development rights.
G. Upon reaching a tentative agreement, a proposed purchase and sales agreement, baseline documentation following standards set by the Commission, including an enumeration of easements, rights-of-way, or other legally defined limits on the property, and photographic documentation shall be prepared and submitted to the Commission for approval. If an agreement cannot be concluded, the Negotiation Committee or staff shall so report to the Commission.
H. The Commission shall review each proposed purchase and sales agreement and each proposed deed to development rights containing a standard covenant and such additions or amendments as are appropriate to the property in question, and shall approve or disapprove the execution of the Contract by majority vote of the members present at a properly convened meeting.
I. Upon approval by the Commission and the State Properties Committee, the deed and covenant shall be executed by the Chairperson of the Commission, or by another member of the Commission as designated by the Chairperson, and by the owner. The deed and covenant shall be recorded in the land evidence records of the city or town in which the property is located.
1.9 Waiver of Retroactivity
The Commission may reimburse a third-party, in part or in full, for the purchase of development rights of agricultural lands meeting the Commission’s minimum criteria. To be eligible for reimbursement, the acquiring party must submit a written request for funding prior to the applicant taking title (fee or development rights) to the property. Funding of such acquisitions are subject to Commission approval. The granting of a Waiver of Retroactivity only assures that the applicant may apply for reimbursement and does not constitute an assurance that the Commission will approve the request.
1.10 Compliance Review
The Commission shall review the properties protected by the program at least once every three (3) years or as required by agreements with funding partners to verify compliance with requirements of the covenant provisions contained within the deed to development rights. The Commission may authorize a suitable entity to conduct compliance reviews on its behalf and issue a report to the Commission. Nothing stated herein shall be construed to limit a funding partner from conducting independent reviews with regard to any and all compliance issues.
1.11 Agricultural Land Inventory
The Commission shall produce, or cause to be produced, an inventory of all land in the state that meets the definition of agricultural land as required by R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-82-5(2). Accuracy of the inventory shall be evaluated not less than every five (5) years.
Title 505 Agricultural Lands Preservation Commission
Chapter 00 N/A
Part 1 Rules and Regulations of the Agricultural Lands Preservation Commission
The Agricultural Lands Preservation Commission is charged with identifying and acquiring the development rights to land so as to maintain farming, productive open spaces, and ground water recharge areas. The purpose of these rules is to establish standard operating procedures for the Commission in fulfilling its duties. The reasons for amending the rules are:
1) The current rules contain provisions that would be better suited in a guidance document. Removing these provisions will make the rules easier to understand and comply with.
2) The Commission wishes to update its scoring system by eliminating some criteria that it no longer believes to be useful.
3) Allow for greater flexibility in the administration of the program so that staff resources may be used more efficiently.
A summary of non-technical changes between the previous version of the rules and the proposed amended rules follows:
Deleted rules on Meetings and Officers
Revised rule on Application Procedures
Deleted the requirement that soils evaluation must use “an approved soils evaluation system developed by the USDA”
Added point values for criterion scores
Deleted specific descriptions of criteria for Open Space, Cultural, and Scenic Features
Deleted Relative Development Pressure as a scoring criterion
Deleted State and Local Plans as a scoring criterion
Added criterion for demonstrated local and/or conservation organization support
Revised criteria for selecting applicants for negotiation
Allows the Commission to authorize staff to conduct negotiations
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line675
|
__label__wiki
| 0.916124
| 0.916124
|
To participate in the poll, please enable JavaScript or use a browser that supports it.
◄ IMDb Polls
Poll: Favorite crime-fighting duo?
A poll by Djesika.
Which of these duos/partnerships that fight against crime is your favorite?
See results without voting »
Johnny Duncan and Robert Lowery in Batman and Robin (1949)
Batman & Robin. Robert Lowery and Johnny Duncan in Batman and Robin (1949).
See more▼See less▲
Raymond Burr in Perry Mason (1957)
Perry Mason & Paul Drake. Raymond Burr and William Hopper in Perry Mason (1957).
"Green Hornet, The" Bruce Lee, Van Williams circa 1966
Britt Reid & Kato. Van Williams and Bruce Lee in The Green Hornet (1966).
Adam West and Burt Ward in Batman (1966)
Batman & Robin (Dick Grayson). Adam West and Burt Ward in Batman (1966).
Bruce Willis and Cybill Shepherd in Moonlighting (1985)
Madelyn 'Maddie' Hayes & David Addison Jr. Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis in Moonlighting (1985).
Hugh Fraser, David Suchet, and Gordon Wharmby in Poirot (1989)
Hercule Poirot & Chief Inspector Japp. David Suchet and Philip Jackson in Agatha Christie's Poirot (1989).
Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Ontkean in Twin Peaks (1990)
Special Agent Dale Cooper & Sheriff Harry S. Truman. Kyle MacLachlan and Michael Ontkean in Twin Peaks (1990).
Keanu Reeves in Speed (1994)
Jack Traven & Harry Temple. Keanu Reeves and Jeff Daniels in Speed (1994).
Sigourney Weaver and Holly Hunter in Copycat (1995)
M.J. Monahan & Reuben Goetz. Holly Hunter and Dermot Mulroney in Copycat (1995).
The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police (1997)
Sam & Max. Harvey Atkin and Rob Tinkler in The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police (1997).
Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in Men in Black (1997)
Agent Kay & Agent Jay. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in Men in Black (1997), Men in Black II 2002) and Men in Black 3 (2012).
Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett in Hollywood Homicide (2003)
Sgt. Joe Gavilan & Detective K.C. Calden. Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett in Hollywood Homicide (2003).
Pam Ferris and Felicity Kendal in Rosemary & Thyme (2003)
Rosemary Boxer & Laura Thyme. Felicity Kendal and Pam Ferris in Rosemary & Thyme (2003).
David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel in Bones (2005)
Dr. Temperance 'Bones' Brennan & Special Agent Seeley Booth. Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz in Bones (2005).
Yannick Bisson and Helene Joy in Murdoch Mysteries (2008)
Detective William Murdoch & Dr. Julia Ogden. Yannick Bisson and Helen Joy in Murdoch Mysteries (2008).
Robin Tunney and Simon Baker in The Mentalist (2008)
Patrick Jane & Teresa Lisbon. Simon Baker and Robin Tunney in The Mentalist (2008).
Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic in Castle (2009)
Richard Castle & Kate Beckett. Nathan Fillion and Stana Katic in Castle (2009).
Jude Law and Robert Downey Jr. in Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Detective Sherlock Holmes & Dr. John Watson. Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law in Sherlock Holmes (2009) and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011).
Martin Freeman and Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock (2010)
Detective Sherlock Holmes & Dr. John Watson. Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman in Sherlock (2010).
Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander in Rizzoli & Isles (2010)
Detective Jane Rizzoli & Dr. Maura Isles. Angie Harmon and Sasha Alexander in Rizzoli & Isles (2010).
Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Chloë Grace Moretz in Kick-Ass (2010)
Kick-Ass & Hit-Girl. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Chloë Grace Moretz in Kick-Ass (2010) and Kick-Ass 2 (2013).
Robson Green and James Norton in Grantchester (2014)
Sidney Chambers & Geordie Keating. James Norton and Robson Green in Grantchester (2014).
Yolanda McClary and Kelly Siegler in Cold Justice (2013)
Kelly Siegler & Yolanda McClary. Cold Justice (2013).
Jeremy Brett and David Burke at an event for The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984)
Sherlock Holmes & Dr. John Watson. Jeremy Brett and David Burke in The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1984).
IMDb Polls
Follow @IMDb on Twitter
Poll FAQ
nickjbovi voted for #24
sambillyhoolihan voted for #18
a-serrr voted for #3
leo_casta voted for #15
Rovy13 voted for #18
alenlove voted for #16
radoslav_neshev voted for #18
kostassekerak voted for #11
stnami2 voted for #16
irinasokolowa voted for #14
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line677
|
__label__wiki
| 0.559677
| 0.559677
|
Ultrasonic pulse velocity (UPV) is an acoustic non-destructive test (NDT) method most often used to evaluate the relative quality, or uniformity, of concrete structures, and to identify the presence of internal flaws such as cracks, voids, and honeycombing. UPV can also be used to assess the severity of damage from durability-related distresses (e.g. ASR), to estimate the depth of surface-breaking cracks, and to monitor structures for changes in their condition over time.
Basic Principle of UPV
To conduct an UPV test, the travel time of an ultrasonic (frequency > 20 kHz) pulse through a known thickness of concrete is measured. The pulse velocity is calculated as the distance traveled divided by the travel time. The UPV instrument is a portable unit containing an electrical pulse generator, a pulse receiver/amplifier, a timer (typically with 0.1 µs resolution), and timer display. The instrument employs two piezoelectric transducers; one transducer converts the electrical pulse to a mechanical vibration (the ultrasonic pulse) that is transmitted into the concrete, while the receiving transducer converts the received pulse to an electrical pulse that returns to the instrument, stopping the timer. The transducers are coupled to the concrete with a viscous fluid or gel to maximize transmission of the pulse energy.
The test is typically conducted with transducers located on opposite sides of the concrete element being tested, which is known as the through-transmission, or direct configuration, illustrated in Fig. 1. The test can also be conducted with the transducers on surfaces oriented at right angles to each other (semi-direct configuration), or with both transducers on the same surface (indirect configuration), when access to opposing surfaces is not feasible.
An ultrasonic pulse is generated travels through the concrete as a combination of acoustic wave types; the compressional wave, or P-wave, travels faster than shear (S) or surface (R) waves, and is the first to arrive at the receiving transducer. Thus, the velocity measured is also referred to as the P-wave velocity, and the received pulse is referred to as the ‘first arrival,’ particularly if the instrument is connected to an oscilloscope to display the full received waveform. The slower-arriving S- and R-waves are not considered in UPV testing, but can be analyzed by other, more computationally intensive techniques.
Relationship to Mechanical Properties of Concrete
The P-wave velocity (VP) in concrete is a function of the dynamic modulus of elasticity (Ed), dynamic Poisson’s ratio (µ), and the density of the concrete (ρ) according to the following equation given in ASTM C597, Standard Test Method for Pulse Velocity Through Concrete:
The velocity measured by UPV is thus proportional to the square root of the dynamic modulus of elasticity, which describes the stress/strain behavior under rapidly applied small strains. The dynamic modulus is greater than, but still proportional to the static secant modulus, a property typically used in analysis of concrete structural behavior. The elastic modulus (stiffness) of concrete is also often assumed in design and analysis to be proportional to the square root of the compressive strength. Although this would seem to imply a fourth-power relationship between P-wave velocity and compressive strength, in practice, the relationship of P-wave velocity to compressive strength must be determined empirically for a particular concrete mixture. In addition to the influence of Poisson’s ratio and density (which are largely independent of strength or stiffness), velocity is determined from the shortest travel time between the two transducers, which is indicative of the best quality concrete traversed by the P-wave. However, it should be noted that strength is actually governed by the weakest pathway through the concrete1.
Factors Influencing UPV Test Results
In addition to the factors discussed above, UPV test results can also be influenced by the temperature and moisture condition of the concrete, as well as the transducer frequency, aggregate size, and the presence and orientation of reinforcing steel. For example, air-dried concrete with a high w/cm may exhibit an increase in P-wave velocity of 5% if it is saturated with water. Also, temperatures greater than 30°C (86°F) or less than 5°C (41°F) may require corrections to the result2. Moisture and temperature corrections are most important when attempting to estimate mechanical properties or when monitoring changes in a structure over time. The transducer frequency should be selected such that the wavelength is greater than the maximum aggregate size, but less than the least lateral dimension of the concrete element. In practice, 54 kHz transducers (68 mm wavelength) are commonly used with good results. Because the speed of sound in steel is significantly greater than that of concrete, the presence of reinforcing steel can lead to a higher measured velocity in the concrete, particularly when the steel is parallel to the path between the transducers. If possible, measurements should not be made in areas of dense reinforcement or parallel to the steel.
Use of UPV for Condition Assessment
Measuring P-wave velocity provides an indication of the relative quality of the concrete; higher velocities tend to correlate to better quality concrete. Lower velocities can be indicative of internal cracks and flaws that slow the P-waves or force them to take a longer path, as indicated by cases (b) and (c) in Fig. 2. A complete absence of received pulse indicates more significant voids and cracks that cause a complete reflection of the pulse (case (d) in Fig. 2). Fig. 3 shows test data from concrete damaged by alkali-silica reaction (ASR) and delayed ettringite formation (DEF), forms of durability distress that involve distributed internal cracking that can greatly reduce the stiffness of the concrete; this is manifested in UPV results by velocity reductions of up to 20% compared to undamaged concrete. By mapping the measured velocities from an array of test locations, variations in concrete quality can be visualized and local regions of degradation can be located in a given structure, while long-term monitoring will provide information on the progress of damage development.
Strength estimation is possible with UPV, following methodologies given by ACI3 and Naik et al. for new construction and existing concrete structures. These require developing empirical mixture-specific correlations between compressive strength and P-wave velocity. Combined methods involving both UPV and the rebound hammer (e.g. SONREB) may provide small improvements in the reliability of strength estimates and have seen more widespread use in Europe4.
UPV testing in the indirect configuration (both transducers on the same surface) can also be used for the purpose of estimating the depth of open surface-breaking cracks, and the thickness of a damaged surface layer of concrete.2,5
By identifying areas likely to contain defects and variations in concrete quality that cannot be detected with visual inspection, nondestructive evaluation (NDE) of concrete structures with UPV can inform sampling plans for more intrusive investigations, such as core extraction for petrography and mechanical testing.
Applicable ASTM standards include C597 and C823.
Fig 1 – Schematic of a through-transmission UPV test showing the instrument, transducer locations, and propagation of a transmitted P-wave through the concrete.
Fig 2 – Several cases of flaw detection by UPV. (a) No flaws, no reduction in velocity; (b) High-porosity or honeycombed region, velocity reduced and attenuated pulse; (c) pulse diverted around crack tip, lower apparent velocity; (d) large open crack, complete reflection of pulse. Adapted from ACI 228.2R-135.
Fig 3 – Through-transmission UPV test results for concrete specimens experiencing expansion and cracking from ASR and DEF.6
1Teodoru, G.V.M. (1994), “Nondestructive Testing of Concrete from the Research to the Use in the Practice." In International Advances in Nondestructive Testing, Volume 17, by W. McGonnangle, 117-138. Gordon and Breach, Langhorne, PA.
2 Naik, T.R.; Malhotra, V. M.; and Popovics, J. S. (2004), “The Ultrasonic Pulse Velocity Method,” Handbook on Nondestructive Testing of Concrete, V. M. Malhotra and N. J. Carino, eds., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
3ACI Committee 228 (2019), ACI 228.1R-19: Report on Methods for Estimating In-Place Concrete Strength, American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI.
4Samarin, A. (2004), “Combined Methods,” Handbook on Nondestructive Testing of Concrete, V. M. Malhotra and N. J. Carino, eds., CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
5 ACI Committee 228 (2013), ACI 228.2R-13: Report on Nondestructive Test Methods for Evaluation of Concrete in Structures, American Concrete Institute, Farmington Hills, MI.
6Giannini, E.R. (2012), Evaluation of Concrete Structures Affected by Alkali-Silica Reaction and Delayed Ettringite Formation, Ph.D. Dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX.
Applicable RJLG Services
Nondestructive Testing & Evaluation
Field Evaluations & Structural Assessment
Targeted Sample Collection
RJLG Project Examples
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line680
|
__label__cc
| 0.612318
| 0.387682
|
ROCO In Concert: Courageous Catalysts (November 2017)
1962, 2017-2018, Adolphe, Concertmaster, Gandolfi, Houston: September 12, I Will Not Remain Silent, Jean Sibelius, JFK, Joachim Prinz, ROCO Commission, Scott St. John, Season Thirteen, Soloist, Symphony, Violin, World Premiere
Saturday, Nov 11 2017, 5:00pm
Continuing its 13th season, ROCO presented “Courageous Catalysts”, featuring a new commission by Michael Gandolfi. The new work, entitled “Houston: September 12, 1962”, celebrated the 100th birthday of President John F. Kennedy and the courage of people who fight for change. Conducted by Michael Stern, the program also included Jean Sibelius’ Symphony No. 7 in C major, op. 105, the composer’s final published symphony, and Bruce Adolphe’s I Will Not Remain Silent, a violin concerto inspired by the life of German-American rabbi and civil rights leader, Joachim Prinz. Throughout the concerto, the violin, played by ROCO concertmaster and featured soloist, Scott St. John, represented the voice of Prinz, while the orchestra represents opposing forces – Nazi Germany in the first movement and America during the Civil Rights era in the second movement. Performed November 11, 2017, at The Church of St. John the Divine, Houston, TX.
ROCO In Concert: Once Upon a Time (September 2014)
ROCO on Buffalo Bayou: Gravel Silos
ROCO on Buffalo Bayou: Explore – Monumental Moments, Anthony Thompson Shumate, 2015
ROCO on Buffalo Bayou: Allen’s Landing
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line684
|
__label__cc
| 0.704568
| 0.295432
|
← Exeter’s Excellence
Nothing is off the table →
Marler and mirth
Posted on March 8, 2020 by Sam Roberts
The 26th of September 2018 was the date he tried to sort this all out. He would step away from international rugby. He was young enough to still be incredibly useful as an international prop forward, but he’d had enough. Of rugby? Possibly not. Of what came with it? Maybe.
Joe Marler has a brilliant mind. One that can find comedy very quickly. He recognises situations before anyone else and can quickly step outside of himself to comment and amuse people. If you were to give him a microphone and an audience, he’d entertain everyone. That’s a really difficult thing to do.
Does he work on it? He will think in these patterns all the time. Around him, players, club staff and friends will tell you he rarely stops looking for a funny angle. But one on one, he’s a brilliantly sensitive and kind man. A by-product of being a good comedian is the ability to empathise; remember how closely great comedic creations are linked with pathos. Joe knows how people feel; he knows gravitas and seriousness; he can be profound and insightful. But in certain situations, he loves to make people laugh.
And Joe knows this. When your brain works like his does, self-awareness is a blessing and a curse. He knows what he is likely to do, and how that might not always get the reaction he is after. The problem with comedy is that you do fire some duds. You also attempt to find comedy in anything. There is nothing off-limits for a truly comedic brain. It will gaily skip through fields of egregious matter, sliding its hands over things like sexual assault, incest, racism, as if they were ears of corn. It’s not that they don’t think those things aren’t awful and horrible: they are looking for a rise, a snort, a reaction. Comedy’s intention is to make people laugh but a shocked gasp will also do. They are trying to find the right joke for the right person, on the right occasion. Of course, this is where it can also go wrong.
Earlier in this Premiership campaign, Marler was yellow carded for his fracas with Jean-Luc du Preez of the Sale Sharks. Even in that ruckus, Marler found comedy. In apologising to Du Preez, he pretended to be confused as to which of the Du Preez twins he’d whacked. Sale’s players were unimpressed, with many of them screaming at him to leave the field. Joe exited shaking his head. He was trying to diffuse the situation. But his comedy hadn’t worked.
And then there was the whole Samson Lee saga. Another wind-up gone wrong. How social media seethed. How we, myself included, whined that he should know better. But I did not understand the man; how intrinsically ‘being funny’ sits within him.
And this is why Joe wanted to give up international rugby. Because he knew, deep down, that he couldn’t be trusted to refrain from joking at the wrong time. And international rugby, with all its slo-mos and out of context screengrabs, means that it is never the right occasion. It would happen again.
Let’s talk about intent. It is very relevant here. There is no serious intent about Marler’s fondle. There is no malice or spite. It is aimed at getting a reaction, and yes, it is purposefully invasive. But it may be a lot more benign than people think. In the context of a rugby fraternity, it isn’t terribly unusual. You can get het up about that but it’s how these communities roll. They grab each other in all sorts of different ways, for lots of different reasons. Should it not happen? Probably. Is it something which goes on? Definitely.
But that doesn’t really matter. The watching hordes will throw up their arms and Joe Marler will be vilified. And what he was most worried about, what drove him to give up back in September 2018, will come back to haunt him.
Maybe we shouldn’t feel sorry for him. It is all part of playing the clown. But you can’t say he didn’t try and warn us.
This entry was posted in rugby, Sport and tagged AWJ, england rugby, England v Wales, joe marler, Rugby union, six nations, Wales. Bookmark the permalink.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line687
|
__label__wiki
| 0.627746
| 0.627746
|
Quality | Perfection | Customer Satisfaction
B. G. Shirke Construction Technology Pvt Ltd is a plus Rs. 3000 Crore Group with millions of sq. ft of construction encompassing mass housing projects, administrative facilities, airports, bridges, roads, flyovers, monuments, entertainment malls and industrial complexes.
We are a multi-disciplinary civil, mechanical and electrical engineering organisation with international tech tie-ups and a workforce of over ten thousand. With its fully equipped and integrated plants and factories and R&D unit spread over 53 acres in Mundhwa, Pune, the company has already succeeded in making our Founder Chairman’s dream come true with utmost dedication and continues to be a catalyst of prosperity in modern India, significantly contributing to industrial and socio-economic progress.
Today, the Shirke Group is at an enviable position in India’s Civil and Industrial engineering realm, offering world class engineering and construction capabilities to indigenous and overseas clientele, carrying forward Shri B. G. Shirke’s single-minded passion for civil engineering and operational excellence.
The Group has now diversified into other business areas to include: Polynorm Pressed Steel Doors, Post Harvest Equipment, Transmission Towers, Hospitality and Aviation.
Our Founder's Vision
https://shirkegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/BGS-Speech-1.mp4
Through his Herculean and creative efforts as an entrepreneur and industrialist for more than five decades, Shri. B G Shirke has succeeded in his mission of demonstrating in India and abroad that total industrialization of the civil engineering industry is both possible and practicable.
Here is a video clip from our archives where he has clearly stated his vision.
“He held the master key that unlocked the doors of many dream homes”
The Nation bestowed upon him its prestigious award the “Padma Shri” in 2003, for his distinguished service in the field of Science & Technology.
Shri B G Shirke is widely revered throughout the industry for his efforts in creating jobs, bringing innovation to the industry and was aptly conferred the title of “Visvesvaraya of Modern India.”
Shirke Group pays its humble tribute to this farsighted visionary and promise to steadfastly continue his legacy.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line690
|
__label__cc
| 0.66034
| 0.33966
|
The Final ‘Batman V Superman’ Trailer Is Here (And It’s Extra Heavy On Batman)
Posted February 11th, 2016 by Jax Motes
The first major movie event of the year is a little more than a month away, so get ready to get your final tease as to the contents of the highly scrutinized, highly anticipated ‘Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice’, the film that unites Henry Cavill’s Superman, Ben Affleck’s Batman and Gal Gadot’s Wonder Woman and sets the stage for a full line of movies coming over the next five+ years.
There have already been several trailers and clips released, all of which have fleshed out the film a bit further and highlighting different aspects and characters of the film. And the final trailer, which is heavy on new material, also has a bit of a narrow focus: Batman.
That may be intentional, as this is Affleck’s first go at playing the Dark Knight, and it comes just four years after Christian Bale’s last turn in the role. It probably is important to announce to mainstream audiences that Batman is back and is just as kickass as before, despite his advanced age, which is rather heavy-handedly made clear.
We also get some nice dry comedic lines from Jeremy Irons as the newest film Alfred.
Watch the newest and last trailer below:
The clip certainly emphasizes the titular conflict, with Lex Luthor only making a few brief appearances. The same is true of Gadot’s Wonder Woman. Even though her inclusion has been heavily hyped, keep in mind that her name isn’t in the title, so if you’re expecting her to play as large a role as either Batman or Superman, you may be in for a huge disappointment.
Interestingly, the big reveal in the previous trailer was that of Doomsday, who doesn’t appear in this one at all.
The majority of the trailer consists of nonsequitor quick-cuts, so there’s not much to glean from those, but overall it looks like, at the very least, if you love Batman, this movie may be just what you’re looking for.
What do you think? Does this final trailer make you more pumped to see ‘Batman V Superman’?
‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice’ directed by Zack Snyder and starring Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot, Amy Adams, Laurence Fishburne, Diane Lane, Jeremy Irons, Holly Hunter, and Jesse Eisenberg hits theaters on March 25, 2016.
Source: /Film
James Gunn Says ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’ Will Be Even Less Connected To The Larger MCU
Mattel’s DC Super Hero Girls Coming Exclusively To Target, Cartoon Coming To Boomerang In March
‘Free Guy’ Will Be “Back To The Future For This Generation” According To Ryan Reynolds
Producer Trinh Tran Gives The Lowdown On Disney+’s ‘Hawkeye’
Setting The Record Straight On The ‘Rogue One’ Reshoots
Academy Award-Winner Cate Blanchett Is In Final Negotiations For ‘Thor: Ragnarok’
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line696
|
__label__cc
| 0.697837
| 0.302163
|
Senior Care Authority of Central Iowa
About Dana Cox
Greg McIntyre is VA Certified and an Elder Law Attorney based in North Carolina. He became a lawyer to fight courtroom battles which he did for years. However, after working in an environment where the focus was always on the next billable hour, he started McIntyre Elder Law practice because he was interested in being more than just a lawyer. Greg was interested in making a difference in his clients’ lives.
Frank Samson: Welcome to Boomers Today. I'm your host, Frank Samson. Of course, each week on our show we bring you important, useful information on issues facing baby boomers, their parents, and other loved ones.
Today we have with us, Greg McIntyre, who is based in North Carolina, and became a lawyer to fight courtroom battles, which he did for years, however after working in an environment where the focus was always on the next billable hour, he started McIntyre Elder Law Practice because he was interested in being more than just a lawyer. Greg was interested in making a difference in his client's lives.
Greg is a veteran of the United States Navy and a member of the North Carolina State Bar Association. He's also a member of Elder Council, a national network focused specifically on estate planning and wealth preservation, and we might ask Greg a little bit more about that organization.
Thank you for joining us on Boomers Today. I really appreciate it.
Greg McIntyre: Thank you sir. I appreciate the opportunity to be here and talk about something I'm passionate about.
Frank: Oh, that's great. I'm going to start us off with a basic question. There's a lot of different types of attorneys out there and everybody has their specialization. Elder law is also an area of specialization, but within elder there's kind of, for lack of a better term, sub-specialization. So can you give us a brief introduction to elder law and the specific area you specialize in?
Greg: Absolutely. I would say it's a subset of estate planning, but I think it's a pretty deep rabbit hole to go down because it has its own unique set of circumstances. Planning for a couple in their 30s with two children or early 40s with two children is much different than planning for a senior. And we always want to keep our eye on the fact that long term care could be an issue.
We’re very aware of the fact that around 70% of people over the age of 65 are going to need some type of long term care in their lives, in home assisted living or nursing home care. We want to make sure that, "Hey, is the will the right place to pass the assets? Should we look at other ways to protect the property? Do they have longterm care insurance that maybe their insurance specialists could put in place to help protect? Should we use trust?"
Those are all questions that we want to answer. Sometimes in elder law, you might get people who failed to plan. We've gotten in a situation where the family all of a sudden realizes, "Hey, we've got to pay for care and it's going to cost a lot of money. We're going to spend When we get clients who arein that situation, we help them navigate that situation and activate much needed benefits to pay for care.
So while elder law involves many different aspects of a person’s life, our main focus is on the senior and making sure they can stay in control of assets, protect those assets while maximizing their ability to pay for things like long term care.
Frank: Right. So you mentioned an interesting statistic that I use quite often and I think it goes something like, once you turn about 65 years old or there about, you've probably got about a 70% chance that you're going to need some sort of long term care. Firstly, can you take a stab at what percentage of your clients are really planning and what percentage are in ‘panic mode’?
Greg: Yeah. I'd say it's about half and half. Well, actually. Less than half have planned ahead.
Frank: That doesn't surprise me. So, what would you emphasize to people in order to get them to plan ahead. I'm sure you've heard that before, but how do we get people out there, our listeners to share with their friends and family to plan ahead? What do we need to do?
Greg: Absolutely. I'll tell you the story of my grandfather, Papa Mack, my dad's dad. My dad is one of six children as well and loves his grandmother and gramps. I'm sorry, his mom and dad. I love my grandmother and grandfather. My grandfather was a tenant farmer in North Carolina and also a furniture maker. Very talented. And as a tenant farmer, he farmed other people's land. The first year he farmed this guy's land when he was a young man. The guy didn't pay him. He stiffed him at the end of the year. He's a better man than me because I might've needed a civil attorney, maybe a criminal attorney by the time we were done.
However, he worked hard his entire life. He raised six children with his wife and in the end he lost literally everything, including his small farm house, which he was able to buy and take out a mortgage to buy. He probably paid on that mortgage for 30 years, Frank. He probably paid the bank back three times as much as he actually bought the house for over the 30 year period, including interest. And then in the end he ends up losing everything. I mean everything. He spent 14 and a half years in assisted living care and it literally took everything he had and then Medicaid came in and paid for it anyway. Okay?
I never thought that was right. I never thought that was just. So that is one of my ‘why's’. That and my wife and our six children. That's why I worked so hard, so late and weekends too to try to help people to avoid those types of situations. My grandfather's story is not much different at all than tens if not hundreds of millions of Americans out there who are in the same exact situation.
Elder law does not just affect that one person, that senior, it affects the entire family Frank, because the value of that house could send a grandchild to college. Those things are extremely important and could be fixed by literally just doing some planning ahead of time.
Or if you live in a state like I do that's fortunate enough to allow a lady bird deed, then that is not subject to any lookback period from a benefit program the way that long term care is. You can put it on today and preserve the home for the kids or grandkids and still qualify for that benefit tomorrow with no penalty.
Frank: I don't know if you'd agree with me on this, but the majority of people think that there's going to be some sort of insurance or government program that's going to pay for their care, which is true, but only in specific situations. Could you expound a bit on these options?
Greg: It's a deep question. Let's start with Medicare. A lot of people think that Medicare is going to pay for long term care. Everybody over 65 in the United States of America has Medicare. However, Medicare will not pay for assisted living or nursing home care. Medicare will pay for rehabilitation for a certain period of time, and if you have a supplement, may have it extended out longer to pay for 100% but at some point, usually it's within 100 days, you're going to have to start paying for your own long term care in-home assisted living or nursing home care, at the level prescribed by the doctors who will evaluate you.
And at that point, how are you going to do it? Well, you're going to have to come out of pocket for that care. That means it's going to start depleting your savings. It's going to take your income and you're going to have to pay rent at whatever facility you're in. Facilities have to maintain a staff, proper standards, equipment, and pay the mortgage as well. So you literally have to pay the rent there every month or you can't stay, which presents a problem for a lot of people because they might not have gotten long term care insurance that will kick in at that point to provide much needed supplemental income, additional income to cover those costs.
So that can be a huge issue. If not, you could look to roll to a Medicaid program in your state that pays for assisted living or nursing home care. From a legal standpoint, it’s tricky to qualify someone legally while preserving the assets for say a healthy spouse called the community spouse for instance, or the family.
Frank: All right. Thank you for that. I know that there’s also a long term care benefit through the VA. They don't really promote it heavily. So maybe you could give us a little overview on how that works.
Greg: Yes, there is a little known veterans benefit called Veterans Aid and Attendance Pension Benefits that allows a veteran or a spouse of a deceased veteran to receive benefits if they have some healthcare issues going on at the time, and we can get into that. I'm a certified attorney through the US Department of Veterans Affairs. I'm a veteran myself. I'm a member of the American Legion and I like helping veterans. So Veterans Aid and Attendance Pension Benefits is a benefit that has three prongs: health, wealth and service. You have to have been in service during a wartime period as set forth by VA.
You don't have to be on the frontline dodging bullets. They could have been in Nebraska at an Air Force base during a period of time. Or like my father who was on a sub tender docked in San Diego and doing patrols around that area and fixing subs during Vietnam when he was in the Navy. He would still qualify under the service prong because of the time he spent in during that war time event.
So that's one. Health is the second prong. You have to have some health issues going on. We'll hear insurance people talk about ADLs, activities of daily living. So if you need help eating, preparing meals, bathing, dressing or being ambulatory, you need a walker. A doctor will specify that you need help with two out of, say, six of those things, then you should qualify under the health prong. Or there's some automatic qualifiers, which are legal blindness, Alzheimer's dementia, any evidence of Alzheimer's dementia could help someone qualify on its own. That's under the health problems.
And then there is the wealth prong which I'll divide into two parts, income and assets. Assets, right now, thankfully the VA has actually codified something. Used to, it was kind of a rule of thumb approach as to what they would accept in assets and that was rumored to be around $80,000 or below. However, they've now codified it at $120,000 so you can't have more than a $120,000 in assets, but that can be defined a number of different ways. Your house and two acres of land now are not part of that.
As an elder law attorney, as a certified attorney through the VA, I can help veterans position their assets to better qualify other than just spending them down. There is a three year lookback period now that was implemented last year, I want to say October 18th of 2018, that if you move money into say a veterans asset protection trust or someone else's name, there's a three year lookback on that, but there are still other ways to either get qualified now or to utilize things for planning ahead like veteran's asset protection trust.
And then I'll come to the income prong under that wealth prong, which is a dollar for dollar decrease in benefits based on how much accountable income you have. So let's just say you're owed $2300 in benefits per month, which is not an unusual amount. That would be a common amount for that range under Veterans Aid and Attendance Pension Benefits for a veteran, say a married veteran. And that married veteran had $2300 in household income. Okay. That would mean he would get zero benefits because his income canceled out the benefit, unless he or she was spending their income on in-home care, assisted living, nursing home care, or even independent living care.
Let's say they're paying for in-home care. Perhaps they're paying a family member for in-home care because VA can't say that you have to hire the person down the street or somebody from an agency to come in and give care. They can't confine it to that. Perhaps a sister, a son, a daughter, a grandchild could give just as good care and be paid for that care.
There are many different ways to characterize that. That's just an example under a VA and Medicaid compliant caregiver agreement that would help to dispense that money and bring down that countable income to maximize the availability or eligibility of the Veterans Aid and Attendance Pension Benefits, which is a benefit for life, just like any other pension, once it's activated for a veteran.
Frank: I know we've been putting the emphasis on the veteran, but this benefit, it can provide dollars to a surviving spouse as well. Correct?
Greg: Exactly. The spouse of a deceased veteran can also qualify based on the veterans service. I would go back and listen to those same rules again that I just ran down if you're a spouse of a deceased veteran. You could be eligible for that same benefit, but Veterans Aid and Attendance pays down on a decreasing scale, whether you're the veteran, a veteran with a non-married veteran spouse, two married veterans or a spouse of a deceased veteran, etc., it pays out at different rates.
The payout, I'll just say, is approximately $1300 right now, approximately $1300, for a spouse of a deceased veteran per month. But sometimes that could double someone's income. I have taken veterans and spouses of deceased veterans as clients who were struggling to pay assisted living care. All their income was going to pay for that care, plus their savings every month, they were dipping into, which was running ... Which was being depleted and taking someone in that situation and turn ... Or the family was chipping in the shortfall between the cost of care and the senior's income who needed care and put that senior in a more empowered position where they drastically increased their income with Veterans Aid and Attendance Pension Benefits, and were able to have a surplus in assisted living and be able to actually put that money aside during their stay and pay private pay.
Frank: It could also help them be in a location that would be more preferable than maybe the family's able to afford. With the cost of longterm care, maybe the VA program won't fully pay for it, but it could certainly help a tremendous amount.
Greg: Sure. The VA is only going to pay in full if it's a retired veteran or you're disabled, fully disabled under a service disability.
Frank: Something that you said that I'd like to just reemphasize because I thought it was just so important and that's moving assets around. When we first talked to a family and were having some discussion, you'll hear from the adult daughter, "Yeah. I know we've got to get her approved on Medicaid. I've heard about this VA thing and my father was a veteran, so we’ve got to get her to this level. So we've been moving some money around out of her account, into the kids' accounts." I cringe when I hear that. So if you could just reemphasize why they shouldn't be doing that at all.
Greg: So when we plan for someone under either a state Medicaid program to pay for longterm care or a Veterans Aid and Attendance Pension Benefits or both at the same time, we keep an eye on both those programs to make sure we don't step on that benefit, that we don't block that person because of an erroneous move under the rules from getting that benefit that they really, really need.
Frank: You have a wealth of information, but unfortunately we're kind of out of time. But I want to make sure people know how to get ahold of you if they would like to talk to you.
Greg: Absolutely. To reach our practice, you can dial 7-0-4-7-4-9-9-2-4-4 or check us out online, M-C, elderlaw.com that's mcelderlaw.com. If you call our office and you're in any state, I don't really care if you're in California, wherever you are, Hawaii, call our office, 7-0-4-7-4-9-9-2-4-4, and we will look up and recommend another elder council attorney that practices elder law just like me in a town nearby.And we'd be glad to help be that resource for your listeners.
Frank: Great. Greg, I could talk to you all day, but unfortunately we have to go. I just want to thank you so for joining us on Boomers Today.
Greg: Absolutely. Thank you Frank and thank you for having me. You have a great day out there.
Frank: Great. Thank you. I want to thank everybody for joining us on Boomers Today. Just be safe out there and we'll talk to you all soon.
6165 NW 86th Johnston, 50131 Iowa
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line703
|
__label__cc
| 0.725292
| 0.274708
|
Listings >> Legal
Law Offices of Pamela Y. Price
One of California’s Super Lawyers
(510) 452-0292 pypesq.com
The law firm of Law Offices of Pamela Y. Price is a recognized leader in civil rights litigation.
Led by the dynamic Pamela Y. Price, the Firm strives to provide the San Francisco Bay Area community with access to justice and unparalleled legal representation.
For more than 23 years, the Firm has specialized in high-profile and high-impact civil rights and employment litigation, with a particular focus on sexual harassment and racial discrimination cases.
Attorney Price has an established track record in state and federal trial and appellate courts. Her tenacious style and innovative strategies have brought distinguished honors and numerous courtroom successes, including prevailing before the U.S. Supreme Court. She consistently is named one of California’s Super Lawyers and has garnered prestigious awards for her exemplary legal counsel and community service. B
Clay Street 901
Dorsey’s Locker
YOGALOVE
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line705
|
__label__cc
| 0.657758
| 0.342242
|
Meet Ryan Novak: The CEO OF Central New York’s Largest Gourmet Chocolate Manufacturer
26 people shared the story
Many times we find entrepreneurs who have achieved massive success are more like superheroes than real people. The reality is that everyone has to start somewhere when it comes to starting a new business. Ryan Novak is one of those inspiring entrepreneurs who worked his way to success.
At 15 years old, Novak got his first job as a dishwasher at the small chocolate shop in his hometown. He washed dishes, mopped floors, and emptied the trash but he loved being around chocolate. He told the owner when she wanted to retire that he wanted to own her business. Six years later, in 2010, when his opportunity to be an entrepreneur finally came so he decided to take a chance and take it.
No bank would agree to finance him at the time as he was told that he was too young to run a business so he worked out a buy-out with the owner and he eventually took over. He juggled finishing his bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship and being a business owner but he managed to adapt quickly. Fast forward to today, and he has grown that small-town chocolate shop into Central New York’s largest chocolate maker. His company has been featured on the Food Network, Hallmark Channel, CNBC, CMT, Forbes, People, and Entrepreneur magazine. They built their own 10,000 square feet production facility and employ about 15 people. He makes it a point to hire local high school teenagers who are eager to work and give them the same opportunity to experience a job as he got. As a food manufacturer, they continued working through the pandemic and actually grew online sales by over 400% in the last 4 months. On the day his mother died, I promised that he would make her proud. Every day he works to keep that promise.
StarCentral Magazine recently caught up with Ryan to discuss his journey to success and here’s what went down:
Could you please tell our readers a brief background about yourself and how you started your business?
I grew up in a quiet, one-stop-light town in the rolling hills of Central New York. It is a throwback to simpler times when you knew your neighbors, cheered the varsity football team on Friday nights, and walked a Main Street dotted with little shops. When I was 9 years old, tragedy struck. My mom was killed as she drove home from work by a man high on drugs who ran a stop sign. She was 7 months pregnant. Her loss was devastating but I made a promise the day she died that I would make her proud. It is a promise that still inspires me 22 years later.
At 15, I walked into a tiny chocolate shop in town, called Chocolate Pizza Company. The owner hired me as a dishwasher. I worked hard and loved being around chocolate. I told her that when she wanted to retire, I wanted to own the business. Six years later, that opportunity came. It was 2010 and I was a 21-year-old senior at Syracuse University studying entrepreneurship. Banks told me I was too young to run a company and wouldn’t finance the deal, but I negotiated a buy-out over time with the owner. I juggled finishing my degree and being a business owner, ending up many nights asleep in the shop. I graduated on-time and have grown the business into Central New York’s largest chocolate maker. In 2016, Chocolate Pizza Company was selected as Business of the Year. I own a 12,000 square foot production facility, employ about 15 people, and have sales in the seven figures.
We make gourmet chocolate specialties for business gifts and families. Our signature Chocolate Pizza® and Peanut Butter Wings® have been enjoyed by A-list celebrities, hall of fame athletes, music legends, top political and business leaders. Our website (ChocolatePizza.com) has received orders from chocolate lovers on 6 continents.
Our Chocolate Pizza is a blend of the highest quality Swiss-style chocolate with homemade English toffee that we make from a local, century-old recipe. We top it with a variety of candies or nuts and serve it in a custom pizza box. Peanut Butter Wings are crisp, rippled potato chips covered in creamy peanut butter and drenched in rich milk or dark chocolate. They are insanely delicious and our best-selling item. Both are trademarked. We use about 200,000 lbs. of chocolate annually and ship nationwide, year-round.
I met my wife, Christie, at Syracuse University. I was a placekicker on the football team, and she was on the dance team. We love traveling (when there’s not a pandemic) – Italy and Hawaii are our favorite destinations.
Fun facts about our business:
If you laid all the Chocolate Pizzas we make in a year end-to-end, they would span the Grand Canyon.
Our largest order from a single customer was 31,000 Chocolate Pizzas.
What are you currently doing to maintain/grow your business?
From March through August this year, sales are up an average of 400% YOY. To handle this growth, and in anticipation of a likely record holiday season, we have expanded our production facility. We also invested the past couple of years in website upgrades and SEO, working with two talented companies, Exclusive Concepts, and Famcom. The increase in organic website traffic has been significant. One of the best resources for getting the word out about Chocolate Pizza Company has been the work we’ve done with an amazing PR firm, ChicExecs. And, not to be overlooked, we are constantly building our social media reach.
What social media platforms do you usually use to increase your brand’s awareness?
We have the best results with Facebook and to a lesser extent Instagram. Those two platforms are performing very well for us in terms of driving new visits to our website and keeping our products in front of consumers. Our Facebook page has over 60,000 followers and Instagram has about 20,000 which are respectable numbers for a small business.
What is your experience with paid advertising, like PPC or sponsored content campaigns? Does it work?
The problem with PPC advertising is that the big guys always have deeper pockets and bigger budgets so we’re never going to out-spend them in this arena. Plus, research shows that less than 10% of people click on paid search ads, so the ROI for us in that channel just isn’t there. We opt to play the long game and drive organic web traffic which takes more time but levels the playing field somewhat and is more cost-effective.
What is your main tactic when it comes to making more people aware of your brand and engaging your customers? How did your business stand out?
Our day-to-day preference for communicating with our customers has been Facebook (@chocolatepizzas). We post daily, usually around noon, so our followers know to check for contests, new product rollouts, updates on seasonal treats and more. We blend product features with personal vignettes that keep the page fresh. This year, we created a small studio in-house that has improved the quality of our product photographs. People notice the pictures, share them, and comment more frequently than in the past and we see an almost immediate reaction in sales from most items we feature.
What form of marketing has worked well for your business throughout the years?
PR opportunities have been the most successful marketing tool for us. We have landed some major national TV segments on Food Network, Hallmark Channel, CNBC, and CMT. The CNBC appearance actually crashed our website with so much immediate traffic. I’ve been interviewed for Forbes and People magazines and been published in Entrepreneur magazine. The best marketing is storytelling so that’s what we do, we share our story. It seems a lot of people identify with my journey and tell me they are inspired by it. But it’s not just about me. It’s about a company that stayed in its hometown, grew, and gives back. During the pandemic, my younger brother, Connor, organized some high school friends to make and donate hundreds of Easter chocolates for our local food bank. Fox News did a story on it that was picked up by over 1,200 news outlets across the country. The best marketing usually isn’t a sales pitch.
What is the toughest decision you had to make in the last few months?
The toughest decision in the past few months has been whether or not to believe that this year’s explosive growth will continue. There are so many variables in this calculation that as a small business we are truly in uncharted waters. May through August is typically our slow season and yet we have posted sales increases of 400% YOY. Projecting even half that rate into the 4th quarter (our busiest) poses major challenges in our current space. And, given the unpredictability of supply chains, any disruption this fall could cripple our operation. The smart move is to inventory key ingredients and packaging materials but to do that, we needed a bigger building. So, in August, we added on, but it is a risk and a tough decision.
What money mistakes have you made along the way that others can learn from (or something you’d do differently)?
Succeed first, grow later. Early in my career, I thought adding brick-and-mortar locations was the path to growth. It’s not. It’s a rabbit hole that you fall into and have a hard time getting back out. A few years into being an owner, I opened a store about 800 miles away in Cincinnati, Ohio because I was convinced the location and opportunity were prime. They were not and the logistics and expense of maintaining that operation was a millstone around my neck. Eventually, we cut our losses and negotiated out of the lease, but it was a financially painful experience. We’ve had much better success selling wholesale to established retailers, using their shelf space to expand our marketplace presence. We’ve done business with major big boxes and smaller specialty stores across the country.
What new business would you love to start?
I have the sweetest business in the world, so I am not looking for any new ventures. My next goal is to make Chocolate Pizza Company a national brand.
If you could go back in a time machine to the time when you were just getting started, what would you do differently?
I would not have added brick-and-mortar locations as a business growth strategy. Instead, I would have invested more in automating the production process so I could have raised capacity faster. When I became the owner, the staff was melting chocolate in pans and hand-dipping every item. We needed ways to run a manufacturing process, not a kitchen. The equipment I eventually purchased made an immediate impact. For example, in the 6 years, before I bought the company, they dipped 9,000 chocolate covered Oreos®. Today, we can do that many in a day. I would tell my younger self that capacity is the key to growth.
What is the best advice you have ever been given?
That’s easy because it’s in a book my dad wrote about things that made a difference for us moving forward with purpose and passion after mom died. In his book, Conquering Adversity: Six Strategies to Move You and Your Team Through Tough Times, he teaches us to count blessings, not tears. Keep the focus positive. Life is not fair so don’t expect it to be, and don’t use it as an excuse to quit. I didn’t let anyone or anything define my dreams – not coaches, not bankers, not pandemics. I count my blessings every day.
What advice would you give to a newbie Entrepreneur setting up their first business?
Sell the story; they’ll buy the product. Consumers don’t want to buy something; they want to feel something. If you move them, they take notice. Spend as much time sharing your business as building it. And, don’t go it alone. Surround yourself with people you can trust, people who believe in you, people who will move mountains with you. All business is people – find good ones. I did. I have an amazing team.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line712
|
__label__wiki
| 0.653911
| 0.653911
|
Cityringen: an architectural vision for Copenhagen’s next generation metro
Featured in Creating smart, green and liveable cities
We are an independent firm of designers, engineers, architects, planners, consultants and technical specialists working across every aspects of today’s built environment.
Home » Cityringen: an architectural vision for Copenhagen’s next generation metro
Arup led the architectural design, taking a user-centric ethos at every step of the way. Our intuitive-minimalism, inspired by the Scandinavian design tradition, has led to spacious, light-filled stations with distinctive internal façades that echo the local spirit of the areas they connect to.
Copenhagen is one of the most densely populated areas of Denmark. The new City Circle Line (Cityringen) metro, expands the city’s existing system, and is a key part of its drive to become carbon neutral by 2025. Metroselskabet, Copenhagen’s transit authority, appointed Arup in joint venture with Cowi and Systra to act as the multi-disciplinary technical advisor for this ambitious metro design and build project, the city’s largest construction project in more than 400 years.
The new line seeks to encourage more residents out of their car and onto a more environmentally-friendly mass transit network. Now that more than 16 kilometres of twin-bore tunnels and 17 new stations have been completed, Cityringen ensures that a majority of Copenhagen’s residents will be within 600 metres of a train or metro station.
Designed as a kit
Arup led the architectural work across the 17 stations, approaching each station as a gigantic ‘kit-of-parts’. This led to a very cost-effective and rational design and construction system, one that still possesses individual elements as it creates seamless journeys from street to platform.
Each station has a unique identity, supported by intuitive wayfinding that makes the metro easy to navigate, even for children. The sculptural wall panels and cladding act as internal façades to facilitate passenger navigation, and reinforce each stop’s unique identity. Paying homage to the areas they serve, stations feature colours and materials that echo the neighbourhood above ground, such as the use of beautiful, fossil-embedded sand-coloured limestone panels at Marmorkirken, or the application of bold red cladding to identify the transfer stations.
Light and purpose
Our vision was that every element must work hard. Beyond their functional use as air vents, the asymmetric, sculptural skylights allow natural light to flood the stations, revealing the pared-back design while providing an element of visual excitement for city dwellers above ground. In a similar dual-use approach, the lighting design is fully integrated with the architecture and uses the feature ‘origami ceilings’ as reflectors, complemented with bespoke LED lighting that helps avoid glare.
Compact, clever design
The compact driverless trains on the existing Copenhagen metro allowed our team of engineers, designers and transport consultants to design smaller platforms, helping shrink the overall footprint of the underground stations and minimising the need for demolitions and worksites throughout the city. Designed as cut-and-cover structures with a rough footprint of less than 64 m x 20 m, stations were placed under existing parks and squares wherever possible to minimise impact on traffic, utilities and private properties.
Other dual-purpose design strategies helped to reduce the overall station footprint. We designed the skylights to vent the station in the event of a fire, reducing the reliance on mechanical smoke ventilation systems, and the need for further in-station equipment rooms. Our work on the fire and safety strategy, and tunnel ventilation during the concept design phase helped reduce the overall number of intermediate escape shafts by around 30%, significantly reducing the visual and physical impact on the city above.
Emma Gains
Contributors to this solution
COWI
COWI is a leading international consulting group. We provide state-of-the-art services within the fields of engineering, environmental science and economics with due consideration for the environment and society.
The Copenhagen Metro
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line713
|
__label__wiki
| 0.692941
| 0.692941
|
https://sixerswire.usatoday.com/2019/11/03/brett-brown-praises-sixers-comeback-win-theres-a-growing-resilience/
Brett Brown praises Sixers comeback win: 'There's a growing resilience'
The Philadelphia 76ers have big plans for the 2019-20 season as they have championship visions dancing in their heads. To do that, they must be challenged and they must come together and play as a unit. In their 129-128 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday night, they displayed a lot of growth.
The Sixers, missing superstar big man Joel Embiid due to a suspension, trailed by 21 points on the road in a building where they hadn’t won in five years and rallied to a win completed on a Furkan Korkmaz triple with 0.4 seconds left. The Sixers are now 5-0 on the season, 3-0 on the road, and they have had to rally from double-digit deficits in all three road games as well as missing Embiid in two of those games.
“It’s an emerging resilience,” said coach Brett Brown. “It is a growing disposition where they believe that if they defend that they have a chance. Although the final score is way too much in the fourth period, a few things happened. We started getting very aggressive with pick and roll defensive and we didn’t turn the ball over in the second half, so if you can end up with 14 shots more than they did then you got a chance.”
In the past, the Sixers would not have won this game. It would have been a wash down by that much on the road against a Western Conference Finalist while missing their best player. Instead, they rallied together and got an important win.
“Everyone made plays coming in, and it just shows how deep we are as a team,” said point guard Ben Simmons. “I think everyone played a role tonight, and if it wasn’t for guys in that second team that came in, if it wasn’t for rebounds, if it wasn’t for a certain set of plays, we wouldn’t have had a chance. Everybody played a huge part.”
The Sixers will now take their talents to Phoenix on Monday to take on Devin Booker and the Suns.
Sixers' Furkan Korkmaz knows he has support, confidence of teammates
Ben Simmons on Furkan Korkmaz: 'I trusted Furk to make that shot'
Furkan Korkmaz: 'Biggest shot I've ever taken in a Sixers jersey'
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line714
|
__label__wiki
| 0.742118
| 0.742118
|
Voting Technology Firm: Official Venezuela Election Tally Off by at Least 1 Million Votes
The CEO of a voting technology company said on Wednesday that the results of a recent election in Venezuela were off by at least 1 million votes, confirming the suspicions of some opposition figures that the tallies were inflated. Antonio Mugica, the CEO of Smartmatic, a company that provides electronic voting systems intended to make…
As Senate Moves Forward on Sanctions, Trump Says He May Scrap Iran Nuclear Deal in September
President Trump, in an interview with the Wall Street Journal last Thursday, said he expects Iran to be non-compliant with the terms of the JCPOA nuclear deal by next September, despite his admission that the Islamic Republic has not violated the deal to date. “We’ve been extremely nice to them in saying they were compliant,”…
In Mosul, ISIS Had the Ingredients For a Frightening Weapon
When the Islamic State captured the city of Mosul in its 2014 blitzkrieg, the militant group obtained access to a highly lethal material that would have been useful for a “dirty weapon,” the Washington Post reports. In taking Mosul, the Islamic State controlled a city filled to the brim with with guns, bombs, rockets and…
Civilian Casualties in Iraq and Syria Set to Double Under Trump
The number of civilian casualties inflicted in the U.S.-led coalition’s war on the Islamic State is set to double under the Trump administration, according to an investigation conducted by Airwars, a group that monitors noncombatant deaths in Iraq and Syria. Airwars estimates that at least 2,300 civilians were killed in coalition strikes overseen by the…
Spreading the Patriotism: U.S. Sells Patriot Missiles to Several East European Nations
The United States in the last week has initiated Patriot missile sales to multiple East European and Baltic countries, as well as deployed the missile system in Lithuania for NATO war game exercises. “The deployment of Patriots is important because it demonstrates that such moves are no longer a taboo in the region,” Lithuanian Defense…
The Latest Russian Plot: Hacking Nuclear Power Plants
Yet another Russia story is being reported breathlessly from our nation’s finest major media outlets, this time hyperventilating over the claim that the Russians are trying to hack into U.S. nuclear infrastructure. The New York Times, Newsweek, Bloomberg, the Washington Post, NBC, the Chicago Tribune, Business Insider, the Hill and numerous other outlets have pushed…
Ceasefire Holds in Southwest Syria
A ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States and Russia was implemented in Southwestern Syria on Sunday. It appears to have held throughout Monday, despite minor violations. “The situation is relatively calm,” said Suhaib al-Ruhail, a spokesman for Alwiyat al-Furqan, a rebel faction active in al-Quneitra. Other rebel groups reported no significant fighting since the…
Trump, Putin Meet at G20 Summit to Discuss Geopolitics
U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart appeared to have a productive discussion on the sidelines of the G20 summit meeting in Hamburg, Germany, on Friday, covering issues related to a Syrian ceasefire, the conflict in Ukraine and the 2016 election, among other things. “We had a very lengthy conversation,” Putin said after the…
Kurdish Militia Commander: Clashes with Turkey May Come “Within Days”
The head of a prominent Syrian Kurdish militia said Turkish military deployments in northwestern Syria amount to a “declaration of war,” Reuters reports. “These [Turkish] preparations have reached level of a declaration of war and could lead to the outbreak of actual clashes in the coming days,” YPG commander Sipan Hemo told Reuters. “We will…
Gen. Townsend: U.S. Has Role In Iraq “Long After ISIS”
The commander of anti-ISIS operations in Iraq and Syria, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, in an interview with the Fayetteville Observer said he hopes American troops have a role in Iraq long after ISIS is driven from that country. Townsend, the head of the CJTF-OIR, or “Operation Inherent Resolve,” said the Islamic State was well on…
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line738
|
__label__wiki
| 0.621729
| 0.621729
|
Open Education Sociology Dictionary
Twitter: @SocioDictionary
Home > C Words > constitutional monarchy
Definition of Constitutional Monarchy
Example of Constitutional Monarchy
Constitutional Monarchy Pronunciation
Cite the Definition of Constitutional Monarchy
(noun) A monarchical government in which the ruler’s power is limited by a constitution or other legal restraints.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland governed by Queen Elizabeth II and a parliament divided into the House of Lords and House of Commons, led by a prime minister.
Pronunciation Usage Guide
Syllabification: con·sti·tu·tion·al mon·ar·chy
– American English
– British English
Phonetic Spelling
American English – /kahn-stuh-tOO-shuhn-l mAHn-uhr-kee/
British English – /kon-sti-tyOO-shuh-nuhl mOn-uh-kee/
International Phonetic Alphabet
American English – /ˌkɑnstəˈtuʃənəl ˈmɑnɑrki/
British English – /ˌkɒnstɪˈtjuːʃənl ˈmɒnəki/
Plural: constitutional monarchies
The authority of a constitutional monarch is typically hierarchical, with power transferred hereditarily, typically through the eldest son (primogeniture).
A constitutional monarchy is compared and contrasted with an absolute monarchy.
Absolute monarchies were once the norm in Europe. However, most contemporary monarchies are constitutional monarchies (Wright 2006, under “monarchy”).
A type of government, monarchy, and political system.
Also called limited monarchy.
A (noun) monarch rules a constitutional monarchy, and their authority is described as (adjective) monarchal or (adjective) monarchic or (adjective) monarchical.
Word origin of “constitutional” and “monarchy” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
Ball, Philip. 2004. Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Turner, Bryan S. 2012. “In Defence of Monarchy.” Society 49(1):84–89. doi:10.1007/s12115-011-9496-6.
absolute monarchy
Wright, Edmund, ed. 2006. A Dictionary of World History. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press.
Ferris, Kerry, and Jill Stein. 2010. The Real World: An Introduction to Sociology. 2nd ed. New York: Norton.
Griffiths, Heather, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Susan Cody-Rydzewski, Gail Scaramuzzo, Tommy Sadler, Sally Vyain, Jeff Bry, Faye Jones. 2016. Introduction to Sociology 2e. Houston, TX: OpenStax.
Macmillan. (N.d.) Macmillan Dictionary. (https://www.macmillandictionary.com/).
Merriam-Webster. (N.d.) Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (http://www.merriam-webster.com/).
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Ravelli, Bruce, and Michelle Webber. 2016. Exploring Sociology: A Canadian Perspective. 3rd ed. Toronto: Pearson.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wiktionary, The Free Dictionary. Wikimedia Foundation. (http://en.wiktionary.org).
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “constitutional monarchy.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved January 21, 2021 (https://sociologydictionary.org/constitutional-monarchy/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
constitutional monarchy. (2013). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/constitutional-monarchy/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2013. “constitutional monarchy.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed January 21, 2021. https://sociologydictionary.org/constitutional-monarchy/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“constitutional monarchy.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2013. Web. 21 Jan. 2021. <https://sociologydictionary.org/constitutional-monarchy/>.
The Open Education Sociology Dictionary (OESD) is a free online dictionary for students, teachers, & the curious to find meanings, examples, pronunciations, word origins, & quotations.
Search the Dictionary
Contributors and Peer Reviewers
Edited and Written by Kenton Bell, University of Wollongong.
Copyright © Open Education Sociology Dictionary 2013–2021.
All cited material belongs to the license owners and must be used according to their distribution license.
Everything else was developed for the OESD and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line742
|
__label__cc
| 0.640597
| 0.359403
|
Gov. Perry Appoints Sudderth as Justice of 2nd Court of Appeals
(http://governor.state.tx.us/news/appointment/20470/)
Gov. Rick Perry has appointed Bonnie Sudderth of Fort Worth as justice of the 2nd Court of Appeals for a term to expire at the 2016 general election.
Sudderth is judge of the 352nd Judicial District Court in Tarrant County, an adjunct professor at the Texas A&M University School of Law, and past chief judge of the Fort Worth Municipal Court. She is board certified in civil trial law and personal injury trial law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. She is a member and past president of the Eldon B. Mahon Inn of Court and American Judges Association, life member of the American Inns of Court Alumni Association and Texas Bar Foundation, and a charter member of the Tarrant County Bar Foundation. She is a fellow of the College of the State Bar of Texas and vice chair of the Rules Committee Trial Subcommittee, a member of the State Bar of Texas Pattern Jury Charges – Business, Consumer and Employment Committee and Litigation Section, and past chair of the Municipal Judges Section of The State Bar of Texas. She is also past president of the Texas Municipal Courts Association, past chair of the Tarrant County Juvenile Board and a past member of the Texas Commission on Judicial Efficiency Task Force and Texas Commission on Judicial Conduct. She is a board member of Tarrant County Volunteer Attorney Services, a member of the Rotary Club of Fort Worth Music Committee, and a mentor for the Texas Christian University Center for Civic Literacy.
Sudderth received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Southern California and a law degree from The University of Texas School of Law.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line746
|
__label__wiki
| 0.79501
| 0.79501
|
Tag: MIGRANTS
VIDEO: MIGRANTS IN PARIS REFUSING TO COMPLY WITH QUARANTINE ORDER
Shout at police during confrontation.
Paul Joseph Watson – MARCH 19, 2020
Video footage out of Paris shows migrants violating the country’s quarantine order by being outside without good reason as they squabble with and shout at police.
The clip appears to show a man being arrested and bundled into a police car by officers.
A group of migrants then immediately forms a crowd around the police officers and begins loudly remonstrating with them.
Threat Alert in Paris, France…
Migrants attack police and refuse to comply with Chinese Coronavirus Quarantine – just like in Germany!
It is delusional to think that these individual will EVER comply with ANY rules -Globalists already new this.
READ: https://t.co/OIQJJ1rbel pic.twitter.com/I6ub8ZCOqG
— Amy Mek (@AmyMek) March 19, 2020
As we highlighted earlier, French citizens are being forced to fill out paperwork every time they leave the house to explain why they are breaking quarantine.
It doesn’t look like migrants in France’s troubled areas are being treated the same way.
In another video, a woman in France breaking quarantine deliberately coughs on police officers.
Woman in France purposely coughs on police trying to enforce the nationwide quarantine. pic.twitter.com/C4sjj0hqQK
— Chris Tomlinson (@TomlinsonCJ) March 17, 2020
As we previously highlighted, migrants in Naples, Italy are also violating the lockdown order and roaming around the streets.
Sono giorni che nel quartiere Vasto di #Napoli, i migranti affollano vicoletti e marciapiedi. Sfidano i divieti, noncuranti del rischio.Mentre noi viviamo barricati nelle nostre case, c’è chi si prende gioco della nostra salute. Le regole valgono per tutti! #IlNostroPosto pic.twitter.com/6feNt6XqvN
— Severino Nappi (@severino_nappi) March 17, 2020
Meanwhile, in Germany, migrants rioted, displayed ISIS flags and threatened to burn down their own refugee camp after the facility was quarantined.
French intellectual Eric Zemmour appeared on television to warn that looting was already taking place in migrant neighborhoods of France.
“In Saint Denis, as you have seen, in the 18th arrondissement, at the Duchère in Lyon, there are already many people in the immigrant neighborhoods who have started to revolt,” said Zemmour.
“They don’t want to respect the quarantine. This could end very badly. There is already looting in the supermarkets,” he added.
No, Sweden, hand grenade attacks aren’t an ‘image’ problem
Stockholm was shaken by three explosions in one night last week. But the blasts didn’t even make headlines. With violence rising, the country’s government seems more concerned with downplaying the problem instead of tackling it.
Three explosions in one night would be front page news in any first-world city. But when Stockholm reverberated to multiple blasts in one night last week, national broadcaster SVT’s nightly broadcast was silent, relegating the news to its web coverage instead. One of the targets, a Syrian Orthodox church, had already been bombed twice in the past year.
But in Sweden, explosions no longer make the news. In 2018 there were 162 bombings reported to police, and 93 reported in the first five months of this year, 30 more than during the same period in 2018. The level of attacks is “extreme in a country that is not at war,” Crime Commissioner Gunnar Appelgren told SVT last year.
At least 19 cars burned, barber shop rocked by EXPLOSION in Stockholm suburb
The use of hand grenades is a purely Swedish phenomenon too, with no other country in Europe reporting their use on such a level, a police manager told Swedish Radio in 2016, a year after attacks first spiked.
The grenades used almost exclusively originate in the former Yugoslavia, and are sold in Sweden for around $100 per piece. But while only three hand grenades were thrown in Kosovo between 2013 and 2014, more than 20 have been used in Sweden every year since 2015.
More broadly, homicide has risen in Sweden, with more than 300 shootings reported last year, causing 45 deaths. Though homicide rates had been in decline since 2002, they again began trending upwards in 2015, as did rapes and sexual assaults, which more than tripled in the last four years.
Of course, 2015 was also the year in which Sweden flung open its doors to more than 160,000 asylum seekers, more per capita than any other European country. The right have blamed these newcomers for the rising rates of homicide and sexual violence, and Denmark’s former Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen told Swedish television last year that he often uses “Sweden as a deterring example” of mass immigration gone wrong.
What would any country in the throes of a crime wave do? In Sweden’s case, the government and media have launched a concerted campaign to downplay the problem.
In February 2017, a month after a hand grenade was lobbed through the window of a police station in Katrineholm and days after another exploded in Södertälje, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs put out a press release debunking “simplistic and occasionally inaccurate information about migration, integration and crime in Sweden.” In it, gun crime was portrayed as a consequence of “criminal conflicts” and rising sexual violence attributed to a change in the definition of “rape” in Swedish law. The grenade attacks weren’t mentioned, and the claim that the government isn’t doing enough to stamp out crime was dismissed.
The publication rubbished the link between immigrants and crime. However, a recent study from the Swedish Defence University has warned that the Swedish justice system is ill-equipped to police the parallel societies developing in immigrant neighborhoods, and newspaper Dagens Nyheter pointed out that 90 percent of shooting perpetrators in Sweden are either first or second generation immigrants.
Swedish police have identified 50 neighborhoods it considers “vulnerable” – a term many have taken as a euphemism for “no-go zones.” In tackling crime within them, the government has come up with some novel solutions, like implementing a ‘grenade amnesty’ last year, and kindly asking residents of violence-plagued Malmo to “stop shooting” each other.
Neither measure seems to have worked.
Still, the government would seemingly rather Sweden be associated with IKEA and social cohesion than immigrant gangs and grenade attacks. After all, admitting to the crime wave would undermine the supposed success of the Nordic model, and suggesting that it may be connected with immigration would call into question Sweden’s self-righteous status as a “humanitarian superpower,” as former Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom described the country in 2015.
To that end, the government has not ordered a police crackdown in crime-stricken neighborhoods or held a national debate on integration. Instead it has launched a PR campaign to fix Sweden’s tarnished image abroad. The Swedish taxpayer funds the operation of the Swedish Institute to the tune of nearly $50 million per year. The institute is a sort of in-house PR agency that “promotes interest in Sweden around the world.”
Among its projects are English-language videos downplaying the country’s newfound reputation for crime, and the @sweden Twitter account, which spends its time literally telling critics “nothing has happened here in Sweden.”
You think that Swedish police have lost control? The ‘no-go zones’ are in fact ‘go-go zones’. #FactCheck pic.twitter.com/m0Aoi9lW59
— Sweden.se (@swedense) February 25, 2017
More than 14,000 journalists, authors and politicians have been blocked by @sweden for asking difficult questions, among them Israel’s ambassador to the country. However, the account’s curators reversed course when some online media kicked up a stink.
“The truth is that we are a country that gives the rest of the democratic world hope,” Deputy Prime Minister Isabella Lövin said last January, weeks after grenade attacks in Malmo, Stockholm and Gothenburg. In Stockholm, an elderly man died when he picked up an unexploded grenade near a metro station.
Meanwhile, with paramedics, firefighters and postmen refusing to serve high-crime immigrant neighborhoods, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven publicly denied the existence of ‘no-go zones’. Stockholm Police Chief Erik Åkerlund told Swedish Radio a year earlier that 50 neighborhoods identified by police as “vulnerable areas” were “more like ‘go-go zones.’”
Less than a week after Åkerlund’s interview was aired, a man was hospitalized when a grenade ripped the facade of a house apart in Lindängen, a suburb of Malmo added to the list of “go-go zones” that year.
Call them what you will, but zones characterized by bombings, shootings, and an atmosphere that forbids essential services from entering without police escorts are no-go zones. Endemic bombings are the hallmark of countries at war, not countries that give “the rest of the democratic world hope.” And “humanitarian superpowers” should at bare minimum ensure their own citizens – native and immigrant – are protected against hand grenade attacks.
Sweden does not have an image problem. Sweden has a crime problem.
By Graham Dockery,
‘ISLAM IS RIGHT ABOUT WOMEN’ SIGNS APPEAR IN AUSTIN, TEXAS
Progressives still confused about who to be offended on behalf of.
Paul Joseph Watson – OCTOBER 14, 2019
Having appeared in numerous cities all over the world last month, signs that read “Islam is right about women” have now been seen in Austin, Texas.
An image of the sign was posted on The Donald subreddit with the caption, “Which of you beautiful bastards plastered these all over SW Austin last night? My next door app is blowing up with confusion. Absolutely hilarious.”
The posters previously appeared in Winchester, Massachusetts, causing a mini moral panic and the police to be called in to investigate.
They also popped up in Limerick, Ireland, prompting a local councillor to assert that the signs were intended to “incite hate” towards “either women or Muslims” (she wasn’t sure who).
The meme is a 4chan troll designed to confuse muddled leftists who attempt to support Islam and women’s rights at the same time without realizing how the two contradict each other.
What makes the meme funny is that leftists routinely react with outrage, but don’t know quite who to be outraged on behalf of.
If they find the message offensive, they can be accused of being bigoted towards Muslims.
However, if they don’t sufficiently explain why they are offended, they can be accused of being hateful towards women, given how some women are treated as second class citizens in Islamic societies.
“The result is that those who attempt to explain why the act is offensive end up simply tying themselves in knots, while revealing that they have never given a moment’s thought to the position they find themselves defending,” writes Alla Al-Ameri.
“This seems to generate even more anger, with the inevitable online mob quickly joined by politicians, journalists and other public figures, eager to see that the heretic is made an example of.”
TUCKER PREDICTS WHAT AMERICA WILL LOOK LIKE IF DEMOCRATS WIN
Fox News host Tucker Carlson devoted a Tuesday night “Tucker Carlson Tonight” segment to describe what America will look like if Democrats regain control in 2020
Daily Caller – OCTOBER 9, 2019
Fox News host Tucker Carlson devoted a Tuesday night “Tucker Carlson Tonight” segment to describe what America will look like if Democrats regain control in 2020.
The segment featured clips of various Democratic 2020 presidential candidates and other prominent Democrats explaining their views on key issues from marijuana legalization to gun control to even the abolishment of prisons.
After a segment featuring Democratic views on drug legalization, Carlson set his sights on New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who this week tweeted her belief that prisons should eventually be abolished.
“Of course, there were no prisons before racists in America thought them up,” Carlson quipped. “So with no more prisons, presumably that will mean no more prisoners, right? So with all of those felons back on the street and in your neighborhood – hey, felons – you may suddenly be a little bit concerned about protecting yourself and your family, but tough. In Democratic America, self-defense will be banned because they are taking your guns.”
The Fox News host then played a clip of Democrats talking about taking so-called assault weapons.
“By the way, that’ll make home invasions a little tougher to deal with,” said Carlson. “Lots of luck with that. Let’s hope you don’t get assaulted and need to go to a hospital, because in Democratic America you might find the hospitals a bit overcrowded. Why? Well, the left is giving free health care to the rest of the planet.”
Cue clips of Democrats supporting universal health care, even for illegal aliens.
“Raise your hand if you don’t want a single normal person to even consider voting for you ever,” said the Fox News host. “Free health care for illegal aliens. That’s quite an idea. How’s our already broke country going into pay for that? Here’s a calculator. You figure it out. But don’t even think about heading to a bar to drown your sorrows with a cocktail, and a steak. In the America of tomorrow, that will be banned too.”
https://assets.infowarsmedia.com/videos/2c23a186-d5c2-43fb-8f14-d2dc81748aee.mp4
Acting DHS Secretary Mobbed by Angry Leftist Protesters, Forced Off Stage at Migration Event
“Cancel culture” is out of control.
Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Kevin McAleenan was forced to cancel his speech at an immigration conference in Washington D.C. on Monday after being shouted down by a mob of angry left-wing protesters.
“When immigrants are under attack, what do we do? Stand up, fight back!” the mob yelled before McAleenan left the stage, unable to deliver his keynote address at the Georgetown University Law Center.
The event was hosted by the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) and Catholic Legal Immigration Network. The organizers were troubled that leftists disrupted the event and prevented McAleenan’s speech from being heard.
“We very much regret that the keynote address Homeland Security Acting Secretary Kevin McAleenan was to deliver today at the 16th annual Immigration Law and Policy Conference was disrupted by protestors and could not occur,” MPI president Andrew Seele said, adding that “we very much regret” what took place.
“In a democracy, it is important to hear from all sides on public policy issues, including from those who are instrumental in developing and implementing policy, whether or not we agree with them, and MPI remains committed to that belief,” Seele added.
“By drowning out the secretary’s remarks, the protestors deprived immigration attorneys, service providers, journalists, advocates, business leaders, law students, and many others in the public who were in the audience from hearing his point of view and engaging in a meaningful dialogue,” he continued.
Georgetown University offered lip service after being unwilling or unable to properly provide security to the event hosted on their campus.
“We share our partners’ regret that the audience did not get to hear from the Secretary and engage in a dialogue through the Q&A session that was scheduled to occur following his remarks. Georgetown Law is committed to free speech and expression and the ability of speakers to be heard and engage in dialogue,” the notoriously liberal university wrote in a statement.
The left-wing mob also brought up the names of migrants that died during or after they made the dangerous trek up to the United States, including 16-year-old Carlos Gregorio Hernandez Vasquez who lost his life in a south Texas detention center.
Strangely, the protesters did not mention the names of the illegal immigrants responsible for the ongoing rape spree occurring in Montgomery County, MD – a sanctuary jurisdiction:
In what has become a disturbingly familiar story over the past couple months, another illegal alien has been charged with rape in the sanctuary jurisdiction of Montgomery County, Md.
Wilder Hernandez-Nolasco, 21, of Silver Spring is accused of raping a six-year-old girl. He was apprehended and charged with the crime last week, and faces 155 years in prison if he is ultimately convicted of the heinous act.
Hernandez-Nolasco, an illegal immigrant who is a Honduran national, reportedly threatened his child victim that he would ground her for “100 days” if she told anyone about the vicious attack. Law enforcement claims he admitted to committing the rape, and he committed sexual assault against the child on more than one occasion.
This is at least the ninth time that there has been an illegal immigrant charged with a sex crime in the sanctuary jurisdiction of Montgomery County since July 25. The area has become a hot bed for illegal aliens to commit vicious sex crimes with law enforcement being ordered by county officials not to comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The Department of Homeland Security expressed their dismay about McAleenan being forced off the stage.
“Unfortunately the Acting Secretary and the audience did not get the opportunity to engage in a robust dialogue this morning due to the disruptions of a few activists,” the DHS wrote in a statement about the display.
This is apart of the growing “cancel culture,” a Stalin-esque movement from the Left to shut down anything that they feel is contrary to their Marxist worldview. Michelle Malkin, the conservative founder of #StandWithICE, was also targeted by these repressive, anti-American forces recently.
Heading into next year’s presidential election, the Left will only become more unhinged as they grow more desperate in their efforts to prevent America from being great again.
VIDEO: JULIÁN CASTRO ESCORTS ILLEGALS INTO AMERICA – BORDER PATROL DEPORTS THEM IMMEDIATELY
Democrat stunt fails miserably
Kelen McBreen – OCTOBER 8, 2019
Democrat presidential hopeful and former Obama Cabinet member Julián Castro escorted a group of 12 illegal immigrants from Mexico into Texas on Monday, only for them to be instantly sent back to Mexico.
The botched publicity stunt took place near Brownsville, Texas where Castro walked across a bridge from Matamoros, Mexico with eight LGBT illegal immigrants and a deaf Salvadoran woman, accompanied by her three family members.
The presidential candidate was attempting to help the group claim asylum in the United States, but the Trump administration’s “Remain in Mexico” policy ensures border crossers aren’t released into America and instead are to remain in the country until their asylum pleas are adjudicated.
With nearly half of illegal immigrants failing to appear at their court hearings in 2017, this policy helps the U.S. sort out legitimate asylum claims from those who are taking advantage of our failed border policies.
However, Castro says “cruelty is the point” for Donald Trump.
For Donald Trump, the cruelty is the point.
His immigration agenda has created the conditions on our border—conditions only bound to get worse. We are better than this. pic.twitter.com/Uq57Ubc8XZ
— Julián Castro (@JulianCastro) October 7, 2019
The Democrat also claimed Trump’s “agenda is killing people – and it’s on purpose.”
Watch below as Castro speaks with CBP agents after accompanying the group across the international bridge.
.@JulianCastro is speaking to CBP officials right now. Agents went back into their offices. We are waiting to hear back if our clients will be allowed into the United States to pursue their asylum cases. #LetThemIn pic.twitter.com/6CPjxUtya0
— Texas Civil Rights Project (@TXCivilRights) October 7, 2019
.@JulianCastro, our team, and the community are walking over to the international bridge so that our clients can present their legal documents requesting an exemption under "Remain in Mexico."#LetThemIn pic.twitter.com/Ox1kMj0PFy
Hours later, the Texas Civil Rights Project released a statement saying all 12 individuals were sent back to Mexico.
In July, another Democrat presidential candidate, Cory Booker, escorted five illegal immigrants across the border in a similar stunt.
TRUMP SIGNS ORDER TO PREVENT TAXPAYERS FROM SUBSIDIZING HEALTH CARE FOR IMMIGRANTS
Move meant to reduce dependency on government benefits
Jason Hopkins | Daily Caller News Foundation – OCTOBER 6, 2019
The Trump administration will require many future immigrant applicants to prove they can afford health insurance, marking the White House’s latest move to restrict immigration from those who could become a financial burden on the government.
President Donald Trump, invoking his executive authority, issued a proclamation Friday evening that will prohibit the entry of immigrants applying for visas unless they prove they can obtain health insurance within 30 days of entering the U.S. or otherwise indicate they can afford their own medical care.
“The United States has a long history of welcoming immigrants who come lawfully in search of brighter futures. We must continue that tradition while also addressing the challenges facing our healthcare system, including protecting both it and the American taxpayer from the burdens of uncompensated care,” Trump said in the proclamation. “Continuing to allow entry into the United States of certain immigrants who lack health insurance or the demonstrated ability to pay for their healthcare would be detrimental to these interests.”
The directive, published on the White House’s website, will go into effect on Nov. 3.
Notably, the subsidized health care plans found on Obamacare exchanges will not qualify as eligible forms of insurance under the new rule.
“While lawful immigrants qualify for [Affordable Care Act] subsidies, they’ll be stuck in a catch-22 because subsidized coverage does not qualify as insurance under the proclamation,” Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said Friday on Twitter.
The order will apply to any foreign national who applies for an immigrant visa abroad and cannot obtain health insurance within 30 days of entering the U.S. or does not have the financial ability to cover their own medical care. Those with ties to family members in the U.S. are not exempt from the rule. However, asylees and refugees will not be impacted, and neither will non-citizen children of U.S. citizens. Those who have already obtained immigrant visas also will not have worry.
The health care proclamation is Trump’s latest move to restrict immigration from those who are likely to become dependent on U.S. government benefits.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) acting Director Ken Cuccinelli, for example, rolled out a directive in August that takes into account an immigrant’s use of government benefits when deciding whether or not to grant them permanent status. Known as the “public charge” rule, the directive makes it more difficult for immigrants to obtain permanent status if they have used any number of public benefits, such as Medicaid, food stamps, Section 8 housing, cash assistance or other programs.
“Immigrants who enter this country should not further saddle our healthcare system, and subsequently American taxpayers, with higher costs,” Trump wrote in his proclamation.
UNREAL: Eighth Illegal Alien Charged with Rape in Same Maryland Sanctuary County
These string of sexual assaults in Montgomery County, MD have come shortly after it was made a sanctuary county.
The illegal immigrant crime wave continues in the sanctuary jurisdiction of Montgomery County, MD, as an eighth illegal alien residing there has been charged with rape in just little over a month’s time.
According to journalist Kevin Lewis of ABC 7 News, 26-year-old Oluwakayode Adebusuyi has been charged with rape, and police believe he raped an intoxicated woman in his car. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has reported that he is an illegal immigrant from Nigeria.
Adebusuyi had previously worked as a driver for a ride sharing service. He was previously charged last summer with second-degree assault, a fourth-degree sex offense, and false imprisonment, but all of those charges were mysteriously dropped.
He is being held in jail on a $250,000 bond. If Adebusuyi posts bond, county officials will give a courtesy call to ICE officials but do nothing else to enforce immigration law. He will be subject to the same release policies and afforded the same rights that any American citizen would receive, likely able to walk the streets.
There have been at least seven other instances of rape or sexual assault committed by illegal immigrants in Montgomery County since July 25. The most recent instance besides Adebusuyi is 37-year-old Emilio Carrasco-Hernandez, who remains behind bars after being charged with raping the 15-year-old daughter of his lover inside their Silver Spring, MD home.
Other grizzly cases have been reported throughout the summer as well, as Montgomery County has quickly become a renowned hot spot for illegal immigrants looking to commit vicious sex crimes.
An executive order was issued in July to officially grant sanctuary status to the county. County Executive Mark Elrich signed the executive order that banned all county support toward enforcing federal immigration law.
“We don’t interact with ICE. We don’t contact ICE nor do we ask any of our residents in Montgomery county about their immigration status in the United States,” Acting Montgomery County Police Chief Marcus Jones said.
The county is located right outside of the Washington D.C. swamp, and county officials feel that taking a stance against the law-and-order immigration policies of President Donald Trump is of paramount importance.
“I feel pretty sure that most Montgomery county residents don’t agree with the president’s immigration policy such as it is,” Elrich said.
The chickens have come to roost in Montgomery County, where extreme leftist public officials have ignored the rule of law with great cost to public safety.
California Legislature Considers Free Health Care for Illegal Alien Seniors
JOEL B. POLLAK
The California state legislature is considering a bill that would expand Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicare program, to illegal aliens over the age of 65 with low incomes.
Earlier this year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill expanding Medi-Cal to illegal aliens 25 years old and younger with low enough incomes to qualify for the program. That fulfilled a pledge he made in his first act as governor to offer coverage to illegal aliens over 18 years old.
As Calmatters notes, Newsom balked at proposals earlier this year to expand Medi-Cal to elderly illegal aliens because of concerns about the cost, and because the proposal would pre-empt the governor’s budget proposals.
Calmat’s explains (original links):
The bill, authored by Los Angeles Democrat Maria Elena Durazo, would expand Medi-Cal—the state’s version of federal Medicaid for low-income residents — to undocumented immigrants age 65 and older starting next July. That would inch the state closer to providing health care to all immigrants in the state illegally.
The governor hasn’t indicated whether he would sign this bill, despite his previous support for universal health care. Experts note that he might object to its attempt to lock him into new spending for next year’s budget.
The Newsom administration’s Finance Department opposes the bill, estimating it would cost an additional $163 million in next year’s budget and $255 million the following year, with costs projected to rise further as the senior population of undocumented immigrants grows. Nearly all of those costs would be born by state taxpayers because the federal government, which funds most of Medicaid, refuses to pay for services for people in the country illegally.
All of the Democratic Party frontrunners for president support providing free health care to illegal aliens; all ten presidential candidates on the stage at the second night of the first presidential debate in Miami, Florida, famously raised their hands to agree.
VIKTOR ORBÁN: NATIVE POPULATION DECLINE IS THE “SICKNESS OF EUROPE”
“Without families and children, the national community will disappear.”
Hungary’s populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán says the “sickness of Europe” is the continent’s native population decline as he urged for more incentives to encourage citizens to have children.
During a speech at Budapest’s 3rd Demographic Summit, Orbán warned that the biggest problem Europe faced was demographic suicide.
“Why is this the case? It’s most certainly not because of some sickness of Christian civilization – after all, the number of Christians are rising all around the world. This is a sickness of Europe in general,” he said.
The Prime Minister said that the solution was not to import vast numbers of migrants, asserting, “We must never accept population exchange.”
According to Orbán, the remedy should be to ensure that families were financially rewarded for having children, not punished.
“We win only if we can build a system where those who bear children live significantly better than if they hadn’t started a family,” he said.
Orbán emphasized that the west was doomed if the current model of atomization and demographic decline isn’t halted.
“Without families and children, the national community will disappear,” said Orbán, adding, “and if a nation disappears, something irreplaceable will disappear from the world.”
As we previously highlighted, as part an effort to boost the country’s population without having to rely on mass migration, Hungary will hand out €30,600 to married couples who have three or more children.
A married couple receives the €30,600 as a loan from the government upon getting married. The loan then has to be repaid until the couple has three children. At this point, the debt is completely forgiven.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line752
|
__label__cc
| 0.590727
| 0.409273
|
Home / What's New / Reviews / The Shires
The Shires
Annette Gibbons 28th July 2016 0 comments 2146 view
The Shires – Album Launch
By Kerry
On October 7th The Shires are set to release their second studio album, ‘My Universe’ and last Thursday I had the opportunity to attend their secret album launch party at One Embankment in London.
With only one album released so far, The Shires have proven that not only are they very talented having been the first UK Country act to be in the top 10, but also that country music isn’t just for the USA.
Being a fan and having seen the Country duo live a couple times before, I was very excited to see what new material they had put together. I always love seeing them perform, as they give off such a sweet vibe, their harmony’s work perfectly together and they sure know how to get the crowd going.
After Radio 2 DJ – Bob Harris had introduced the duo, Ben and Crissie took to the stage kicking it off and getting the crowd singing along with ‘Nashville Grey Skies’. The duo then briefly spoke about the creative process and what it was like producing their second album with all their friends in Nashville.
It was only a 35 minute set, so they kept it short and sweet. After performing a couple of songs from their first album, they spoke about how they had both written songs about their fathers at different times, but how they happened to be such similar stories. This sparked the idea for ‘Daddy’s Little Girl’, a song about the relationship and loss between a father and daughter. This song is the epitome of country music. Lyrics that tell a story, making you feel an emotion and it’s safe to say that there was not a dry eye in the room. Even though we only had the opportunity to listen to a few of their new tracks such as ‘I’m not even drunk right now’ and ‘Hallelujah’ I can assure you that with a great variety of tracks, this is an album worth checking out. Even my mum who say’s “Country Music isn’t for me” loved their new tracks, so if this isn’t a sign that their new album is going to be a big hit, then I don’t know what is.
The night was topped off perfectly, as Ben and Crissie kindly stayed after the event to have a picture in the photo-booth with all of their fans… (Feel free to post the photo below)
Following on from the release of their new album the duo will be heading out on the road towards the end of the year! For dates and locations, see below and hopefully we’ll see y’all there!
http://www.theshiresmusic.com/tour/
Tags The Shires
Southern Junction
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line755
|
__label__cc
| 0.531179
| 0.468821
|
ECON 203. Introduction to Economics. 3 Hours.
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. A survey of economic principles, institutions and problems. The course is designed to provide basic economic understanding for students who do not expect to major in economics or in the School of Business. Not applicable for credit toward economics and business majors. Students may receive credit toward graduation for only one of the following three courses: ECON 203, ECON 205 or ECON 210.
Mass Communications, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in public relations
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/college-humanities-sciences/school-media-culture/mass-communications-bs-concentration-public-relations/
...ECON 210 and ECON 211 may substitute for ECON 203 . To enroll in MASC 203...
Additional sources of academic credit
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/undergraduate-study/admission-university/additional-sources-of-credit/
...CMSC 101 3 Economics ECON 210 -211 (6 credits) ECON 203 3 Art and design...
Marketing, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in marketing communication and analytics
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/marketing/marketing-bs-concentration-integrated-marketing-communications/
...of B in ECON 203 at VCU may substitute that credit for ECON 210 . Degree...
Business, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in supply chain management and analytics
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/supply-chain-management/business-bs-concentration-supply-chain-management-analytics/
Mass Communications, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in journalism/digital
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/college-humanities-sciences/school-media-culture/mass-communications--bs-concentration-journalism-digital/
...ECON 210 and ECON 211 may substitute for ECON 203 .) To enroll in MASC 203...
Mass Communications, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in advertising/strategic
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/college-humanities-sciences/school-media-culture/mass-communications-bs-concentration-advertising-strategic/
Business, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in management/business administration
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/management/business-bs-concentration-managementbusiness-administration/
General business, minor in
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/general-business-minor/
...three courses: ECON 203 , ECON 210 or ECON 211 . ACCT 205 and ECON 205 are...
Economics, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) [School of Business]
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/economics/economics-bs/
Business, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in management/international management
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/management/business-bs-concentration-managementinternational-management/
Mass Communications, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in journalism/broadcast
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/college-humanities-sciences/school-media-culture/mass-communications-bs-concentration-journalism-broadcast/
Mass Communications, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in advertising/creative
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/college-humanities-sciences/school-media-culture/mass-communications-bs-concentration-advertising-creative/
Accounting, Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/accounting/accounting-bs/
...of B in ECON 203 at VCU may substitute that credit for ECON 210 . All...
Accounting, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in data analytics
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/accounting/accounting-bs-concentration-data-analytics/
Financial Technology, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in actuarial science
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/finance-insurance-real-estate/financial-technology-bs-concentration-actuarial-science/
...of B in ECON 203 at VCU may substitute that credit for ECON 210 . No...
Fashion, Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) with a concentration in fashion design
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/arts/fashion-design-merchandising/fashion-bfa-concentration-fashion-design/
...AFAM, ANTH, BIOL, CHEM, ECON, ENGL, ENVS, FRSC...specified dress form. FASH 203. Patternmaking. 3 Hours...
Business, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in finance
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/finance-insurance-real-estate/business-bs-finance/
...of B in ECON 203 at VCU may substitute that credit for ECON 210 . Students...
Financial Technology, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in financial engineering
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/finance-insurance-real-estate/financial-technology-bs-concentration-financial-engineering/
Real Estate, Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/finance-insurance-real-estate/real-estate-bs/
Business, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in risk management and insurance
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/finance-insurance-real-estate/business-bs-concentration-risk-management-insurance/
Finance, Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/finance-insurance-real-estate/finance-bs/
Finance, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in risk management and insurance
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/finance-insurance-real-estate/finance-bs-concentration-rmi/
Information Systems, Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/information-systems/information-systems-bs/
Business, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in human resource management
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/management/business-bs-concentration-human-resource-management/
Business, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in management/entrepreneurship
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/management/business-bs-concentration-managemententrepreneurship/
Marketing, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in general marketing
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/marketing/marketing-bs-concentration-general-marketing/
Marketing, Bachelor of Science (B.S.) with a concentration in product and brand management
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/marketing/marketing-bs-concentration-product-brand-management/
...of B in ECON 203 at VCU may substitute that credit for ECON 210 . D...
Shared undergraduate business curriculum
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/business/undergraduate-information/shared-curriculum/
Undergraduate information
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/college-humanities-sciences/undergraduate-information/
...Introduction to Anthropology 3 ECON 101/INTL 102...Ethics 3 WRLD/INTL 203 Cultural Texts and...
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/undergraduate-study/core-curriculum/
...Idea? 3 WRLD/INTL 203 Cultural Texts and...Introduction to Anthropology 3 ECON 101/INTL 102...
Interdisciplinary Studies, Bachelor of (B.I.S.) [University College]
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/university-college/interdisciplinary-studies-bis/
Communication Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.)
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/arts/communication-arts/communication-arts-bfa/
...AFAM, ANTH, BIOL, CHEM, ECON, ENGL, ENVS, FRSC...Figure Observed 3 COAR 203 Digital 3D Studio...
Communication Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) with a concentration in visual effects
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/arts/communication-arts/communication-arts-bfa-concentration-visual-effects/
Theatre, Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/arts/theatre/theatre-ba/
...AFAM, ANTH, BIOL, CHEM, ECON, ENGL, ENVS, FRSC...Actor I 3 THEA 203 Movement for the...
Theatre, Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) with a concentration in performance
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/arts/theatre/theatre-bfa-concentration-performance/
Interdisciplinary Studies, Bachelor of (B.I.S.) with a liberal studies for early and elementary education major [College of Humanities and Sciences]
http://bulletin.vcu.edu/undergraduate/college-humanities-sciences/interdisciplinary-studies-program/interdisciplinary-studies-bis-liberal-studies-early-elementary-education/
...of Elementary Science 1 3 Social studies ECON 203 Introduction to Economics 3 HIST 103...
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line757
|
__label__wiki
| 0.731177
| 0.731177
|
Should You Believe the Rumors About Kaspersky Lab?
Is Russian software company Kaspersky Lab colluding with the FSB? Stealing private information? Rumors abound, without any hard evidence to back them up.
By Neil J. Rubenking
14 Sep 2017, 8:15 p.m.
If you accuse me of stealing your new car, I have a lot of options to prove my innocence. I was out of the country at the time of the alleged theft. I don't have the car. Security cameras show it's sitting in a garage. And so on.
But if you accuse me of hacking in and stealing the design documents for your new car, things get dicey, especially if you start a whispering campaign. Neil sometimes consorts with known hackers (true). Neil regularly meets with representatives of foreign companies (true). Neil maintains a collection of all kinds of malware, including ransomware and data-stealing Trojans (true). Neil has the programming skills to pull off this hack (I wish!).
After a while the original accusation doesn't even matter; you've successfully damaged my reputation. And that's exactly what seems to be happening with antivirus maker Kaspersky Lab.
You can find any number of news articles suggesting improper activities by Kaspersky Lab. The US government removed Kaspersky from its list of approved programs and, more recently, added it to a list of banned programs. Best Buy dropped Kaspersky products from its stores. Kaspersky has hired security experts who previously worked for the Russian government. Kaspersky is a Russian company, darn it!
The list goes on, but what's impressively absent is any factual evidence of security-related misbehavior. To get a handle on this situation, I asked for thoughts from security experts I know, both in the US and around the world.
A moment of disclosure, first. While I wouldn't say I know him well, I have certainly met Eugene Kaspersky and been impressed by his knowledge. I follow him on Twitter, and he follows me. I've even ridden a tour boat with Eugene (and others) into McCovey Cove during a Giants game. Go Giants!
Anti-Russian Antivirus Hysteria
Graham Cluley has been in the computer security business for almost as long as there has been a computer security business. He worked at Dr. Solomon's back in the day, briefly toiled at McAfee, and then represented Sophos for many years. He's now an independent security expert with a popular security blog and podcast series. Cluley worries that the rumors about Kaspersky are, at least in part, a smear campaign, fueled by anti-Russian hysteria.
"I've seen no evidence of Kaspersky having any inappropriate interaction with the Russian government," said Cluley, "and no one seems to have presented any evidence of its software putting its US customers at risk. What I have seen are non-Russian security companies taking advantage of the current smear campaign against Kaspersky to promote their own solutions, which I find rather distasteful."
Cluley noted that anyone worried about software from Russian developers should be equally concerned about large amounts of "technology used throughout American homes and businesses which rely upon—for instance—Chinese developers and manufacturers."
"Unless convincing evidence is presented to the contrary," concluded Cluley, "my belief is that Kaspersky is the unfortunate victim of anti-Russian hysteria."
Put Up or Shut Up
Fahmida Rashid, a security expert who's both a friend and a former PCMag colleague, wrote an in-depth piece about Kaspersky Lab for CSO Magazine. The article goes into careful detail about the accusations against Kaspersky Lab and Eugene Kaspersky, and the absence of any damning proof. I asked her about Best Buy dropping Kaspersky from its in-store lineup, a development that occurred after her article came out.
"Best Buy is allowed to make its own decisions on what to sell or not to sell," noted Rashid. "Unlike the federal government, the retailer doesn't have to explain why it severed ties with a vendor. That said, this decision looks like a marketing decision and not a technical one. Someone in Best Buy is nervous about the negative headlines battering Kaspersky Lab and decided to pull the software off the shelves so that they don't get concerned phone calls from consumers.
"If Best Buy really was concerned about the potential dangers of Kaspersky software," she continued, "it would have explicitly warned past customers to uninstall the product, or publicized the refund/exchange policy more broadly. This is about Best Buy hoping that consumers don't call the company asking why there are Russian-made products on the shelves. This is all optics.
"If you are going to make a stand, be explicit and bold about it," she concluded. "Silently removing products from the shelves and hoping no one notices—and then refusing to discuss why—is just cowardly."
Along those lines, another of my contacts who prefers to remain nameless posited a completely different reason for Best Buy dropping the Kaspersky product line. This summer, the company introduced Kaspersky Free, a no-cost antivirus that encourages users to upgrade to Kaspersky's security suite, an online purchase directly from Kaspesky. I can see how a retailer might resent that move.
It's Not Us Against Them
For years, Simon Edwards managed the grueling anti-malware tests performed by London-based Dennis Labs. More recently, he's taken the helm as founder and CEO of SE Labs, testing security products for consumers, small businesses, and enterprises. Like me, Simon knows just about everybody in the industry. He finds the Kaspersky rumors (or, as he would have it, "rumours") hard to swallow.
Regarding the accusation that Kaspersky products spy on users, he pointed out, "Modern anti-malware products are often in frequent communication with their supporting cloud servers. To maintain the security of their users, they encrypt traffic that flows between their servers and their software. This means that it's hard to know the nature of the data being sent and received."
Hard isn't impossible, though. With enough resources, that traffic could be decrypted. "It would be commercial suicide for a security company to systematically steal data or otherwise compromise its customers," said Edwards. "It would be an extraordinary move, and extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence.
"It's also important to understand that the global security community is relatively small," Edwards pointed out. "People who used to work for Russian security companies, in Russia, may now work for American security companies, in America. The same applies in reverse. It seems very simplistic to characterize a company as being 'them' or 'us' when the experts that power these businesses are from all countries in the world, and move between companies regularly."
I can certainly vouch for that. Many of the people I know in the industry have worked for three, four, or more different security companies in the US and Western Europe, as well as in Russia and Eastern Europe and all over the world.
We Protect Consumers; So Does Kaspersky Lab
When I first met Dennis Batchelder, he was the Director of Program Management for antivirus matters at Microsoft. After more than eight years in that position, he founded AppEsteem, a company devoted to eliminating the practice of bundling unwanted (or even malicious) software along with the software you chose to download. He boiled down his Kaspersky comments to a few simple points.
Kaspersky protects consumers, and they do a damn good job of it.
As long as Kaspersky is committed to protecting consumers, we're committed to working with them to help them better protect consumers from deceptive software.
We'd stop working with them if we received evidence that their relationship with the Russian government caused consumers to be hurt.
Clearly Batchelder has seen no such evidence.
Embedded in Sensitive Areas
One of my long-time contacts really wanted to share information with me, but absolutely could not have his name or company name mentioned. I'll call him Deep Throat. Briefly, he sees no evidence to connect Kaspersky with spying, hacking, or other malfeasance, but worries that the security industry will become increasingly politicized.
"I have known Eugene and many of the staff at Kaspersky for many years," he said, "and I have never had any reason to believe they are engaged in anything suspicious with regard to their software. Eugene and others have demonstrated that they are reliable experts, fighting the same fight as myself and thousands of others."
Deep Throat continued, "The problem is that to do business in Russia...Well, you have to comply with whatever rules are imposed on you. I can't imagine not having interference from the Kremlin if you are a $1B+ company. That doesn't mean back doors, but it is hard to know what it might mean."
His own opinion is that "whatever is going on in the US is politics and likely nothing more," but that politics is encroaching into the security industry. "We are embedded in incredibly sensitive areas of computer networks around the world. Now that nation-state hacking is an everyday occurrence, there will be suspicions about your adversaries planting flaws. We saw the same kind of suspicion about Huawei a few years ago."
Deep Throat concluded on a sobering note. "The other option is that the NSA has detected some sabotage and is ringing some quiet alarm bells. I hope not." I hope not, as well. If they have real evidence, they should trot it out.
Kaspersky Lab Responds
As expected, Kaspersky Lab denies any inappropriate ties to the Russian government and all accusations of spying or other illicit activity. In an official release, the company stated, "[Kaspersky Lab] doesn't have inappropriate ties with any government, which is why no credible evidence has been presented publicly by anyone or any organization to back up the false allegations made against Kaspersky Lab. The only conclusion seems to be that Kaspersky Lab, a private company, is caught in the middle of a geopolitical fight, and it's being treated unfairly even though the company has never helped, nor will help, any government in the world with its cyberespionage or offensive cyber efforts."
Eugene Kaspersky himself has offered to testify before any relevant committees, and make the source code for security products available, so that experts can perform a detailed audit. So far, US agencies haven't taken him up on either offer. According to the release, "Kaspersky Lab has only received a general reply from one agency."
In response to the Department of Homeland Security's ban on Kaspersky Lab software, Eugene Kaspersky tweeted, "When politics use the news to shape facts, no one wins." He also referred to the ongoing slew of allegations as a new "Cold War witch hunt."
The company's official response to the DHS ban: "Given that Kaspersky Lab doesn't have inappropriate ties with any government, the company is disappointed with the decision by the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), but also is grateful for the opportunity to provide additional information to the agency in order to confirm that these allegations are completely unfounded."
The Evidence, Please
Kaspersky Lab has the biggest market share of security vendors in Europe. Globally, it's the fourth-largest antivirus company by revenue, and 85 percent of its revenues come from outside Russia. Collaborating with the Russian government would put that global success at risk. It would be corporate suicide. That doesn't mean that it's an impossible scenario, but I can't believe it without hard evidence.
If Kaspersky products send private information to the Kaspersky Lab cloud, even in encrypted form, the NSA's cryptanalysts and security scientists should have no trouble decoding that activity. A full audit of the source code for Kaspersky products could prove or disprove allegations. I, for one, would be fascinated to see Eugene Kaspersky interviewed by a Senate committee or other government agency. None of this has happened.
Yes, Eugene Kaspersky has met Vladimir Putin. And Elon Musk has met Donald Trump. When your company is big enough, you hobnob with the government. Until I see some hard evidence to back up the rumors about Kaspersky, I'll treat them as rumors and nothing more. I'll continue to recommend products such as Editors' Choice Kaspersky Anti-Virus.
The Best Malware Removal and Protection Software for 2021
The Best Mac Antivirus Protection for 2021
The Best Android Antivirus Apps for 2021
The Best Spyware Protection Software for 2021
The Best Free Antivirus Protection for 2021
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line760
|
__label__wiki
| 0.502211
| 0.502211
|
Failure to check virus will lead to ‘intolerable’ loss of life, Government warns
Gavin Cordon, PA Whitehall Editor
The new tiered coronavirus controls for England will have a “significant” impact on the economy but allowing the disease to run unchecked will be “much worse” for public health, the Government has said.
In its impact assessment on the new regulations, released ahead of Tuesday’s crucial Commons vote, the Government said failure to maintain strong controls would lead to the NHS being overwhelmed, resulting in an “intolerable” loss of life.
The document acknowledges that controlling the virus would have “significant costs” for both individuals and society, as well as for the wider economy.
It pointed to the latest projections of the Office for Budget Responsibility, published with last week’s Spending Review.
They included a central forecast that if restrictions were broadly maintained at pre-lockdown Tier 3 levels until the spring, national income would fall by 11.3% while unemployment would reach 7.5%.
However, the analysis states that without strong measures, the R number – representing the rate of reproduction of the virus – was likely to rise significantly above 1, leading to a rapid expansion in cases, hospital admissions and deaths.
It said it was impossible to state with confidence what would be the economic impact of lifting the controls and simply allowing the virus to spread unchecked.
“However, the alternative of allowing Covid-19 to grow exponentially is much worse for public health,” it said.
“At the outset of the most difficult time of year for the NHS, and with hospital admissions already high, a sustained period with R above 1 would result in hospitals rapidly becoming overwhelmed.
“A stable and fully functioning health system is one of the pillars that underpins our society and our economy.
“The Government’s view is that the severe loss of life and other health impacts of allowing the NHS to be overwhelmed would be intolerable for our society.”
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line761
|
__label__wiki
| 0.973541
| 0.973541
|
Monsters sign Lappin to AHL deal
Appert eager for first AHL season with Amerks
‘Canes acquire Tlusty from Toronto
December 3, 2009 September 27, 2016
Jim Rutherford, President and General Manager of the National Hockey League’s Carolina Hurricanes, today announced that the team has acquired center/left wing Jiri Tlusty from the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for the rights to center Philippe Paradis.
Tlusty will report to Carolina’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Albany River Rats.
“This trade gives us an opportunity to pick up a young, skilled forward who is further along in the development phase,” said Rutherford. “We feel that Jiri has a chance to be with the Hurricanes sooner than Philippe, who is a good, but still very young prospect.”
Tlusty, 21, is in his third full professional season in North America after being drafted by Toronto in the first round, 13th overall, of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. The Slany, Czech Republic, native has played in 74 career NHL regular-season games with the Maple Leafs, scoring 10 goals and earning 10 assists (20 points).
In 105 career AHL regular-season games with the Toronto Marlies, Tlusty (6’0”, 209 lbs.) has scored 43 goals and earned 60 assists (103 points), including eight goals and seven assists (15 points) in 19 games this season.
East Notes: Pirates hot, Sens roll at home
AHL Quick Hits
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line764
|
__label__wiki
| 0.618868
| 0.618868
|
Former Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy speaks with inmates. AP Photo/Pat Eaton-Robb
A prison program in Connecticut seeks to find out what happens when prisoners are treated as victims
March 7, 2019 6.21am EST
Miriam Gohara, Yale University
Miriam Gohara
Clinical Associate Professor of Law, Yale University
Miriam Gohara receives funding from the Oscar M. Ruebhausen Fund at Yale Law School.
Prisons are full of people who were once victims of violence and abuse.
As many as 75 percent of people who are in prison have experienced violence or childhood neglect, according to data from the Department of Justice.
Prisoners report past abuse at rates up to twice that of the general population. Youth who get caught up in the criminal justice system have experienced chronic trauma at rates triple those of youth in the general population.
A study of people who spent time in prison, conducted by sociologist Bruce Western, found that 42 percent had witnessed a violent death as children.
Advocates of criminal justice reform are beginning to catch up with what social scientists have shown for years: The correlation between being the victim of a crime and committing crime cannot be ignored in serious conversations about sending fewer people to prison.
However, the U.S. justice system focuses almost exclusively on punishing people who commit crimes. What if our justice systems treated victims of violence who harm others as also deserving of healing?
A pilot prison program in Connecticut entering its third year is beginning to answer that question. Connecticut modeled the program on a German prison for young people. I visited that German prison and two others last summer as part of research funded by Yale Law School.
Connecticut’s experiment with rehabilitation
In May 2018, I toured a prison in Cheshire, a suburb outside of New Haven, Connecticut. That’s where the Connecticut Department of Corrections is running a pilot program called T.R.U.E., which operates on the idea that acknowledging and healing trauma is essential to a successful post-prison life.
T.R.U.E. stands for truthfulness to oneself and others, respectfulness toward the community, understanding ourselves and what brought us here and elevating into success.
During my visit, I met several of the 21 “lifers,” prisoners who are serving decadeslong or life sentences and mentoring 52 younger prisoners. The younger prisoners are between the ages of 18 to 25, and have been convicted of serious crimes such as armed robbery and homicide. Mentors try to equip them with practical, social and emotional skills to earn a living and live law-abiding, productive lives when they are released.
Inmates Festim Shyuqeriu, left, and Isschar Howard, middle, tour former Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy around a unit of the Cheshire Correctional Institution in Cheshire, Conn., on May 30, 2018. AP Photo/Pat Eaton-Robb
I spoke in-depth with five participants to learn about their work.
Mentors counsel their mentees on confronting their pasts, including how their own histories of being victims of violence relate to their incarceration and how to consider the world from their victims’ perspectives.
Mentors have single cells with doors they can leave open, to encourage the young men they are counseling to drop by for conversations. The private cells are meant to provide the mentors with space for honest, one-on-one talks with the younger men.
T.R.U.E. participants told me that for the first time in their lives, they felt sufficiently safe to let their guard down enough to reflect and learn practical life skills like how to prepare a resume.
T.R.U.E. mentors and correctional officers who sign up to work in the unit receive training in how to talk with and counsel people who have survived violence, as many of the mentors themselves have. Mentors then design and teach a curriculum focused on rehabilitation and life skills, ranging from how to do laundry and manage a bank account to how to navigate conflict productively.
Through a simulated banking system the mentors developed, the mentees save mock currency and pay “rent” and “taxes.” They also study in philosophy, economics and English classes led by mentors or local college professors.
When conflicts among T.R.U.E. participants arise, they engage in conflict-resolution circles, where the disputing prisoners sit with other T.R.U.E. residents and engage in guided, structured conversation to de-escalate disagreement.
The German model
T.R.U.E. was founded in 2017 after Connecticut’s then-Department of Corrections Commissioner Scott Semple and then-Governor Dannel Malloy toured European prisons on a trip led by the nonprofit research organization, the Vera Institute of Justice. The Vera Institute’s mission is to improve justice systems to ensure fairness and promote safety.
Semple and Malloy were inspired to establish a prison unit that would focus on young adults, the population most likely to commit crimes and to be victims of crime.
T.R.U.E. is modeled on one of the German prisons the Connecticut delegation visited, in a town called Neustrelitz. I also visited this facility in July 2018.
At Neustrelitz, 19- to 25-year-olds convicted of serious and often violent crimes are provided with comprehensive therapy and vocational and life-skills training.
On my visit, the German correctional professionals I spoke with said the first thing they do when a prisoner enters is conduct a weekslong assessment of their social history, including any history of being a victim of violence or abuse. They then offer treatment and rehabilitation programs based on this detailed information.
My German hosts were puzzled when I asked whether they measure the success of their work by reduction in the number of prisoners who return to prison after their release.
They explained that their work arises out of an inherent duty to heal, train and teach every prisoner in their care, regardless of the severity of their convictions. They measure their success by delivering therapeutic, educational and vocational programs. The German correctional model is built on the principle that prisons owe training, education and therapy to the people in their custody.
This may seem counterintuitive in the U.S., where the success of justice programs is often measured by whether participants in the programs are re-arrested or return to prison. Can a new way of thinking about justice, such as what is embodied in the T.R.U.E. approach, work in the U.S. system?
Too few T.R.U.E. participants have been released to measure success by whether they will return to prison. However, data show that among a cohort of more than 3,200 Connecticut prisoners, those who participated in programs designed to reduce their risk of being re-arrested were 10 to 12 percent less likely to commit another crime than counterparts who had not participated, six and 12 months after their release. This is according to a report shared with me by the Connecticut Office of Policy and Management.
They also report that T.R.U.E. has had no violent incidents while the participants are in prison. This is remarkable when data show that 21 percent of prisoners are assaulted within a six-month period.
These data suggest that prison programs that provide a combination of counseling and educational and work opportunities reduce violence and the risk of returning to prison. The Department of Corrections is committed to the model indefinitely and has started a unit like T.R.U.E. in the state’s prison for women.
Building prison programs that heal all victims, including those who have injured others, is consistent with the recognition that people who commit crimes are often survivors of crime themselves.
US justice
US prisons
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line766
|
__label__wiki
| 0.958819
| 0.958819
|
Related Tags: DAPP, After Fukushuma, Lady Alicia, Atyia Martin, Yaa Kindres Spirit, Jackson Hamiter, True Nubia whitney houston tribute music national anthem super bowl kwr kevin w. reese dj relly rell hot 937 bobby brown grammy runnindis k-dub ct suicide awards 2012 oprah interview live concert jennifer hudson bodyguard best of twitter drugs winehouse mj jackson michael elvis overdose ultimate platinum reality tv show fight blood documentary Michael Billie Jean Motown 25th Anniversary Yesterday Today And Forever Off the Wall Thriller Bad Dangerous HIStory Invincible Tour Live King Of Pop Moonwalker Best Moonwalk
Videos with tag jackson
After Fukushima - Part 2 of 2
[PART 2] Lady Alicia Presents "DAPP" with Atyia Martin AND Yaa Kindred Spirit "News, Views, and Alerts" on the True Nubia Network, collaborate to bring you the short and long term effects of nuclear radiation on the environment in light of the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown in Japan on March 11, 2011.
DAPP, After Fukushuma, Lady Alicia, Atyia Martin, Yaa Kindres Spirit, Jackson Hamiter, True Nubia
Channels: DAPP #911
Runtime: 01:03:16 | Views: 1705 | Comments: 0
[PART 1] Lady Alicia Presents "DAPP" with Atyia Martin AND Yaa Kindred Spirit "News, Views, and Alerts" on the True Nubia Network, collaborate to bring you the short and long term effects of nuclear radiation on the environment in light of the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown in Japan on March 11, 2011. GO TO PART 2
The Ultimate Whitney Houston Musical Tribute - 1 Hour Long!
Just a few hours after the sudden passing of Whitney Houston, Kevin W. Reese & Dj Relly Rell take to Hot 937 to pay tribute to the pop icon. In this One hour video, you will hear a mix of her hits including her national anthem performance at the Super Bowl & listeners calling in to comment.
whitney houston tribute music national anthem super bowl kwr kevin w. reese dj relly rell hot 937 bobby brown grammy runnindis k-dub ct suicide awards 2012 oprah interview live concert jennifer hudson bodyguard best of twitter drugs winehouse mj jackson michael elvis overdose ultimate platinum reality tv show fight blood documentary
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean (Motown 25th Anniversary 1983)
Michael Jackson - Billie Jean (Motown 25th Anniversary Yesterday Today And Forever) His 1st Moonwalk Performance "Billie Jean" is a dance-pop R&B song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was written by Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones for the singer's sixth solo album, Thriller (1982). Originally disliked by Jones, the track was almost removed from the album after he and Jackson had numerous disagreements. The song's lyrics refer to a real-life experience, in which a mentally ill female fan claimed that Jackson had fathered one of her twins. The song is well known for its distinctive bass line and Jackson's vocal hiccups. The song was mixed 91 times by Bruce Swedien before it was finalized. Following the successful chart performance of "The Girl Is Mine", "Billie Jean" was released on January 2, 1983, as the album's second single. "Billie Jean" was a worldwide commercial and critical success; it became one of the best-selling singles of 1983, and topped both the US and UK charts simultaneously. Cited as one of the most revolutionary songs in history, "Billie Jean" was certified platinum in 1989. Honored numerous times—including two Grammy Awards, one American Music Award and an induction into the Music Video Producers Hall of Fame—the song and corresponding music video propelled Thriller into the best-selling album of all time. The song was promoted with a short film that broke down MTV's racial barrier as the first video by a black artist to be played in heavy rotation by the channel, and an Emmy-nominated performance on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, in which Jackson premiered "the moonwalk." The song was also promoted through Jackson's Pepsi commercials; during the filming of one commercial, Jackson's scalp was severely burned. Covered and sampled by modern artists, "Billie Jean" sealed Jackson's status as an international pop icon. Thriller Album: Thriller is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson. The album was released on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records as the follow-up to Jackson's critically and commercially successful 1979 album Off the Wall. Thriller explores similar genres to those of Off the Wall, including funk, disco, soul, soft rock, R&B, and pop. Thriller's lyrics deal with themes including paranoia and the supernatural. With a production budget of $750,000, recording sessions took place between April and November 1982 at Westlake Recording Studios in Los Angeles, California. Assisted by producer Quincy Jones, Jackson wrote four of Thriller's nine tracks. Following the release of the album's first single "The Girl Is Mine", some observers assumed Thriller would only be a minor hit record. With the release of the second single "Billie Jean", the album topped the charts in many countries. At its peak, the album was selling a million copies a week worldwide. In just over a year, Thriller became—and currently remains—the best-selling album of all time. Sales are estimated to be over 110 million copies sold worldwide. Seven of the album's nine songs were released as singles, and all reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards at the 1984 Grammys. Thriller cemented Jackson's status as one of the predominant pop stars of the late 20th century, and enabled him to break down racial barriers via his appearances on MTV and meetings with President Ronald Reagan at the White House. The album was one of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools—the videos for "Thriller", "Billie Jean" and "Beat It" all received regular rotation on MTV. In 2001, a special edition issue of the album was released, which contains additional audio interviews, a demo recording and the song "Someone In the Dark", which was a Grammy-winning track from the E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial storybook. In 2008, the album was reissued again as Thriller 25, containing re-mixes that feature contemporary artists, a previously unreleased song and a DVD. Thriller ranked number 20 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list in 2003, and was listed by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers at number three in its Definitive 200 Albums of All Time. Thriller was preserved by the Library of Congress to the National Recording Registry, as it was deemed "culturally significant".
Michael Jackson Billie Jean Motown 25th Anniversary Yesterday Today And Forever Off the Wall Thriller Bad Dangerous HIStory Invincible Tour Live King Of Pop Moonwalker Best Moonwalk
Pages 12345678 ... 8 >
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line770
|
__label__cc
| 0.52777
| 0.47223
|
In the digital age, the more people you can reach, the more influence you have. As the president of Adknowledge, Marco Ilardi (’99) has the power to reach billions.
Since graduating from the University, Ilardi has established himself as a key player in the world of digital media. In 2005, he helped facilitate the sale of the social media trailblazer MySpace to News Corp. He also worked as an executive vice president at Fox Interactive Media prior to taking his role at Adknowledge.
Ilardi earned his degree in business administration long before most people had ever heard the term “social media,” but he still credits the preparation he received at Truman for helping him excel in an emerging field.
“My experiences at Truman helped me learn how to get multiple tasks accomplished efficiently, creatively and within rigorous time constraints,” he said. “Learning how to overcome obstacles and manage a complex work schedule with concurrent priorities is extremely valuable in the workplace.”
As the president of Adknowledge, Ilardi oversees a global company that brings in hundreds of millions in annual revenue. The global digital marketing company specializes in assisting large clients reach consumers through social media, mobile devices, video and email. Adknowledge is responsible for helping name brand clients—like Coca-Cola, Ford and McDonald’s, to name just a few—reach an audience of more than a billion people.
Adknowledge has five offices in the U.S. as well as international offices in Canada, England, Germany, France, Singapore and Brazil. Ilardi oversees the company from its global headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., where 150 of its 350 total employees work.
Ilardi is tasked with making sure the business stays on top of consumer behavior and new technologies. So far, business has been good on his watch. Adknowledge has received awards for performance and it is a strategic partner of social media giants Facebook and Twitter.
“I am really excited about the future of Adknowledge,” Ilardi said. “We have a highly motivated team that is consistently opening up exciting new channels for growth and providing innovative marketing opportunities for our clients.”
When he is not working to expand his company’s global reach, Ilardi enjoys playing tennis, cooking and spending time with his wife and two daughters.
Marco Ilardi (’99)
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line772
|
__label__wiki
| 0.606885
| 0.606885
|
Archives For antitrust law
The Limits of Rivalry
Kelly Fayne — 2 November 2020
[TOTM: The following is part of a symposium by TOTM guests and authors marking the release of Nicolas Petit’s “Big Tech and the Digital Economy: The Moligopoly Scenario.” The entire series of posts is available here.
This post is authored by Kelly Fayne (Antitrust Associate, Latham & Watkins).]
Nicholas Petit, with Big Tech and the Digital Economy: The Moligopoly Scenario, enters the fray at this moment of peak consternation about big tech platforms to reexamine antitrust’s role as referee. Amongst calls on the one hand like those in the Majority Staff Report and Recommendation from the Subcommittee on Antitrust (“these firms have too much power, and that power must be reined in and subject to appropriate oversight and enforcement”) and, on the other hand, understandably strong disagreement from the firms targeted, Petit offers a diagnosis. A focus on the protection of rivalry for rivalry’s sake is insufficiently adaptive to the “distinctive features of digital industries, firms, and markets.”
I am left wondering, however, if he’s misdiagnosed the problem – or at least whether the cure he offers would be seen as sufficient by those most vocally asserting that antitrust is failing. And, of course, I recognize that his objective in writing this book is not to bring harmony to a deeply divided debate, but to offer an improved antitrust framework for navigating big tech.
Petit, in Chapter 5 (“Antitrust in Moligopoly Markets”), says: “So the real question is this: should we abandon, or at least radically alter traditional antitrust principals modeled on rivalry in digital markets? The answer is yes.” He argues that “protecting rivalry is not perforce socially beneficial in industries with increasing returns to adoption.” But it is his tethering to the notion of what is “socially beneficial” that creates a challenge.
Petit argues that the function of the current antitrust legal regimes – most significantly the US and EU – is to protect rivalry. He observes several issues with rivalry when applied as both a test and a remedy for market power. One of the most valuable insights Petit offers in his impressive work in this book, is that tipped markets may not be all that bad. In fact, when markets exhibit increasing returns to adoption, allowing the winner to take it all (or most) may be more welfare enhancing than trying to do the antitrust equivalent of forcing two magnets to remain apart. And, assuming all the Schumpeterian dynamics align, he’s right. Or rather, he’s right if you agree that welfare is the standard by which what is socially beneficial should be measured.
Spoiler alert: My own view is that antitrust requires an underlying system of measurement, and the best available system is welfare-based. More on this below.
When it comes to evaluating horizontal mergers, Petit suggests an alternative regime calibrated to handle the unique circumstances that arise in tech deals. But his new framework remains largely tethered to (or at least based in the intuitions of) a variation of the welfare standard that, for the most part, still underlies modern applications of antitrust laws. So the question becomes, if you alter the means, but leave the ends unchanged, do you get different results? At least in the merger context, I’m not so sure. And if the results are for the most part the same, do we really need an alternative path to achieving them? Probably not.
The Petit horizontal merger test (1) applies a non-rebuttable (OMG!) presumption of prohibition on mergers to monopoly by the dominant platform in “tipped markets,” and (2) permits some acquisitions in untipped markets without undue regard to whether the acquiring firm is dominant in another market. A non-rebuttable presumption, admittedly, elicited heavy-pressure red pen in the margins upon my first read. Upon further reflection … I still don’t like it. I am, however, somewhat comforted because I suspect that its practical application would land us largely in the same place as current applications of antitrust for at least the vast majority of tech transactions. And that is because Petit’s presumptive prohibition on mergers in tipped markets doesn’t cancel the fight, it changes the venue.
The exercise of determining whether or not the market is tipped in effect replicates the exercise of assessing whether the dominant firm has a significant degree of market power, and concludes in the affirmative. Enforcers around the world already look skeptically at firms with perceived market power when they make horizontal acquisitions (among an already rare group of cases in which such deals are attempted). I recognize that there is theoretical daylight between Petit’s proposed test and one in which the merging parties are permitted an efficiencies defense, but in practice, the number of deals cleared solely on the basis of countervailing procompetitive efficiencies has historically been small. Thus, the universe of deals swept up in the per se prohibition could easily end up a null set. (Or at least, I think it should be a null set given how quickly the tech industry evolves and transforms).
As for the untipped markets, Petit argues that it is “unwarranted to treat firms with monopoly positions in tipped markets more strictly than others when they make indirect entry in untipped markets.” He further argues that there is “no economic basis to prefer indirect entry by an incumbent firm from a tipped market over entry from (i) a new firm or (ii) an established firm from an untipped market. Firm type is not determinative of the weight of social welfare brought by a unit of innovation.” His position is closely aligned with the existing guidance on vertical and conglomerate mergers, including in the recently issued FTC and DOJ Vertical Merger Guidelines, although his discussion contains a far more nuanced perspective on how network effects and the leveraging of market power from one market to another overlay into the vertical merger math. In the end, however, whether one applies the existing vertical merger approach or the Petit proposal, I hypothesize little divergence in outcomes.
All of the above notwithstanding, Petit’s endeavor to devise a framework more closely calibrated to the unique features of tech platforms is admirable, as is the care and thoughtfulness he’s taken to the task. If the audience for this book takes the view that the core principals of economic welfare should underlie antitrust laws and their application, Petit is likely to find it receptive. While many (me included) may not think a new regime is necessary, the way that he articulates the challenges presented by platforms and evolving technologies is enlightening even for those who think an old approach can learn new tricks. And, of course, the existing approach, but has the added benefit of being adaptable to applications outside of tech platforms.
Still, the purpose of antitrust law is where the far more difficult debate is taking place. And this is where, as I mentioned above, I think Petit may have misdiagnosed the shortcomings of neo-structuralism (or the neo-Brandeisian school, or Antitrust 2.0, or Hipster Antitrust, and so on). In short, these are frameworks that focus first on the number and size of players in an industry and guard against concentration, even in the absence of a causal link between these structural elements and adverse impact on consumer, and/or total welfare. Petit describes neo-structuralism as focusing on rivalry without having an “an evaluative premise” (i.e., an explanation for why big = bad). I’m less sure that it lacks an evaluative premise, rather, I think it might have several (potentially competing) evaluative premises.
Rivalry indeed has no inherent value, it is good – or perceived as good – as a means to an end. If that end is consumer welfare, then the limiting principle on when rivalry is achieving its end is whether welfare is enhanced or not. But many have argued that rivalry could have other potential benefits. For instance, the Antitrust Subcommittee House Report, identifies several potential objectives for competition law: driving innovation and entrepreneurship, privacy, the protection of political and economic liberties, and controlling influence of private firms over the policymaking process. Even if we grant that competition could be a means to achieving these ends, the measure of success for competition laws would have to be the degree to which the ends are achieved. For example, if one argues that competition law should be used to promote privacy, we would measure the success of those laws by whether they do in fact promote privacy, not whether they maintain a certain number of players in an industry. Although, we should also consider whether competition law really is the most efficient and effective means to those ends.
Returning again to merger control, in the existing US regime, and under the Petit proposal, a dominant tech platform might be permitted to acquire a large player in an unrelated market assuming there is no augmentation of market power as a result of the interplay between the two and if the deal is, on net, efficiency enhancing. In simpler terms, if consumers are made better off through lower prices, better services, increased innovation etc. the deal is permitted to proceed. Yet, if antitrust were calibrated, e.g., for a primary purpose of disaggregating corporate control over capital to minimize political influence by large firms, you could see the same transition failing to achieve approval. If privacy were the primary goal, perhaps certain deals would be blocked if the merging parties are both in possession of detailed consumer data without regard to their size or existence of other players in the same space.
The failure of neo-structuralism (etc.) is, in my view, also likely the basis for its growing popularity. Petit argues that the flaw is that it promotes rivalry as an end in itself. I posit instead that neo-structuralism is flawed because it promotes rivalry as a means and is agnostic to the ends. As a result, people with strongly differing views on the optimal ends of competition law can appear to agree with one another by agreeing on the means and in doing so, promote a competition law framework that risks being untethered and undisciplined. In the absence of a clearly articulated policy goal – whether it is privacy, or economic equality, or diluting political influence, or even consumer welfare – there is no basis on which to evaluate whether any given competition law is structured or applied optimally. If rivalry is to be the means by which we implement our policy goals, how do we know when we have enough rivalry, or too little? We can’t.
It is on this point that I think there is more work to undertake in a complete critique of the failings of neo-structuralism (and any other neo-isms to come). In addition to other merits, welfare maximization gives us a framework to hold the construct and application of competition law accountable. It is irresponsible to replace a system that has, as Petit puts it, an “evaluative premise” with one possesses no ends-based framework for evaluation, leaving the law rudderless and susceptible to arbitrary or even selective enforcement.
In petit-moligopoly-symposium, truth on the market antitrust, antitrust and platforms, antitrust law
A Law & Economics Perspective on Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Ben Sperry & Kristian Stout — 23 September 2020
With the passing of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, many have already noted her impact on the law as an advocate for gender equality and women’s rights, her importance as a role model for women, and her civility. Indeed, a key piece of her legacy is that she was a jurist in the classic sense of the word: she believed in using coherent legal reasoning to reach a result. And that meant Justice Ginsburg’s decisions sometimes cut against partisan political expectations.
This is clearly demonstrated in our little corner of the law: RBG frequently voted in the majority on antitrust cases in a manner that—to populist leftwing observers—would be surprising. Moreover, she authored an important case on price discrimination that likewise cuts against the expectation of populist antitrust critics and demonstrates her nuanced jurisprudence.
RBG’s record on the Court shows a respect for the evolving nature of antitrust law
In the absence of written opinions of her own, it is difficult to discern what was actually in Justice Ginsburg’s mind as she encountered antitrust issues. But, her voting record represents at least a willingness to approach antitrust in an apolitical manner.
Over the last several decades, Justice Ginsburg joined the Supreme Court majority in many cases dealing with a wide variety of antitrust issues, including the duty to deal doctrine, vertical restraints, joint ventures, and mergers. In many of these cases, RBG aligned herself with judgments of the type that the antitrust populists criticize.
The following are major consumer welfare standard cases that helped shape the current state of antitrust law in which she joined the majority or issued a concurrence:
Verizon Commc’ns Inc. v. Law Offices of Curtis Trinko, LLP, 540 U.S. 398 (2004) (unanimous opinion heightening the standard for finding a duty to deal)
Pacific Bell Tel. Co v. linkLine Commc’ns, Inc., 555 U.S. 438 (2009) (Justice Ginsburg joined the concurrence finding there was no “price squeeze” but suggesting the predatory pricing claim should be remanded)
Weyerhaeuser Co. v. Ross-Simmons Hardwood Lumber Co., Inc., 549 U.S. 312 (2007) (unanimous opinion finding predatory buying claims are still subject to the dangerous probability of recoupment test from Brooke Group)
Apple, Inc. v. Robert Pepper, 139 S.Ct. 1514 (2019) (part of majority written by Justice Kavanaugh finding that iPhone owners were direct purchasers under Illinois Brick that may sue Apple for alleged monopolization)
State Oil Co. v. Khan, 522 U.S. 3 (1997) (unanimous opinion overturning per se treatment of vertical maximum price fixing under Albrecht and applying rule of reason standard)
Texaco Inc. v. Dagher, 547 U.S. 1 (2006) (unanimous opinion finding it is not per se illegal under §1 of the Sherman Act for a lawful, economically integrated joint venture to set the prices at which it sells its products)
Illinois Tool Works Inc. v. Independent Ink, Inc., 547 U.S. 28 (2006) (unanimous opinion finding a patent does not necessarily confer market power upon the patentee, in all cases involving a tying arrangement, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant has market power in the tying product)
U.S. v. Baker Hughes, Inc., 908 F. 2d 981 (D.C. Cir. 1990) (unanimous opinion written by then-Judge Clarence Thomas while both were on the D.C. Circuit of Appeals finding against the government’s argument that the defendant in a Section 7 merger challenge can rebut a prima facie case only by a clear showing that entry into the market by competitors would be quick and effective)
Even where she joined the dissent in antitrust cases, she did so within the ambit of the consumer welfare standard. Thus, while she was part of the dissent in cases like Leegin Creative Leather Products, Inc. v. PSKS, Inc., 551 U.S. 877 (2007), Bell Atlantic Corp v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007), and Ohio v. American Express Co., 138 S.Ct. 2274 (2018), she still left a legacy of supporting modern antitrust jurisprudence. In those cases, RBG simply had a different vision for how best to optimize consumer welfare.
Justice Ginsburg’s Volvo Opinion
The 2006 decision Volvo Trucks North America, Inc. v. Reeder-Simco GMC, Inc. was one of the few antitrust decisions authored by RBG and shows her appreciation for the consumer welfare standard. In particular, Justice Ginsburg affirmed the notion that antitrust law is designed to protect competition not competitors—a lesson that, as of late, needs to be refreshed.
Volvo, a 7-2 decision, dealt with the Robinson-Patman Act’s prohibition on price discimination. Reeder-Simco, a retail car dealer that sold Volvos, alleged that Volvo Inc. was violating the Robinson-Patman Act by selling cars to them at different prices than to other Volvo dealers.
The Robinson-Patman Act is frequently cited by antitrust populists as a way to return antitrust law to its former glory. A main argument of Lina Khan’s Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox was that the Chicago School had distorted the law on vertical restraints generally, and price discrimination in particular. One source of this distortion in Khan’s opinion has been the Supreme Court’s mishandling of the Robinson-Patman Act.
Yet, in Volvo we see Justice Ginsburg wrestling with the Robinson-Patman Act in a way to give effect to the law as written, which may run counter to some of the contemporary populist impulse to revise the Court’s interpretation of antitrust laws. Justice Ginsburg, citing Brown & Williamson, first noted that:
Mindful of the purposes of the Act and of the antitrust laws generally, we have explained that Robinson-Patman does not “ban all price differences charged to different purchasers of commodities of like grade and quality.”
Instead, the Robinson-Patman Act was aimed at a particular class of harms that Congress believed existed when large chain-stores were able to exert something like monopsony buying power. Moreover, Justice Ginsburg noted, the Act “proscribes ‘price discrimination only to the extent that it threatens to injure competition’[.]”
Under the Act, plaintiffs needed to demonstrate evidence of Volvo Inc. systematically treating plaintiffs as “disfavored” purchasers as against another set of “favored” purchasers. Instead, all plaintiffs could produce was anecdotal and inconsistent evidence of Volvo Inc. disfavoring them. Thus, the plaintiffs— and theoretically other similarly situated Volvo dealers— were in fact harmed in a sense by Volvo Inc. Yet, Justice Ginsburg was unwilling to rewrite the Act on Congress’s behalf to incorporate new harms later discovered (a fact which would not earn her accolades in populist circles these days).
Instead, Justice Ginsburg wrote that:
Interbrand competition, our opinions affirm, is the “primary concern of antitrust law.”… The Robinson-Patman Act signals no large departure from that main concern. Even if the Act’s text could be construed in the manner urged by [plaintiffs], we would resist interpretation geared more to the protection of existing competitors than to the stimulation of competition. In the case before us, there is no evidence that any favored purchaser possesses market power, the allegedly favored purchasers are dealers with little resemblance to large independent department stores or chain operations, and the supplier’s selective price discounting fosters competition among suppliers of different brands… By declining to extend Robinson-Patman’s governance to such cases, we continue to construe the Act “consistently with broader policies of the antitrust laws.” Brooke Group, 509 U.S., at 220… (cautioning against Robinson-Patman constructions that “extend beyond the prohibitions of the Act and, in doing so, help give rise to a price uniformity and rigidity in open conflict with the purposes of other antitrust legislation”).
Thus, interested in the soundness of her jurisprudence in the face of a well-developed body of antitrust law, Justice Ginsburg chose to continue to develop that body of law rather than engage in judicial policymaking in favor of a sympathetic plaintiff.
It must surely be tempting for a justice on the Court to adopt less principled approaches to the law in any given case, and it is equally as impressive that Justice Ginsburg consistently stuck to her principles. We can only hope her successor takes note of Justice Ginsburg’s example.
In antitrust, law and economics, truth on the market, vertical restraints antitrust law, Justice Ginsburg, Law and economics, Supreme Court, vertical restraints
In the Fight Against Qualcomm, Apple’s Loss is Apple’s Gain
Dirk Auer — 22 September 2020
Apple’s legal team will be relieved that “you reap what you sow” is just a proverb. After a long-running antitrust battle against Qualcomm unsurprisingly ended in failure, Apple now faces antitrust accusations of its own (most notably from Epic Games). Somewhat paradoxically, this turn of events might cause Apple to see its previous defeat in a new light. Indeed, the well-established antitrust principles that scuppered Apple’s challenge against Qualcomm will now be the rock upon which it builds its legal defense.
But while Apple’s reversal of fortunes might seem anecdotal, it neatly illustrates a fundamental – and often overlooked – principle of antitrust policy: Antitrust law is about maximizing consumer welfare. Accordingly, the allocation of surplus between two companies is only incidentally relevant to antitrust proceedings, and it certainly is not a goal in and of itself. In other words, antitrust law is not about protecting David from Goliath.
Jockeying over the distribution of surplus
Or at least that is the theory. In practice, however, most antitrust cases are but small parts of much wider battles where corporations use courts and regulators in order to jockey for market position and/or tilt the distribution of surplus in their favor. The Microsoft competition suits brought by the DOJ and the European commission (in the EU and US) partly originated from complaints, and lobbying, by Sun Microsystems, Novell, and Netscape. Likewise, the European Commission’s case against Google was prompted by accusations from Microsoft and Oracle, among others. The European Intel case was initiated following a complaint by AMD. The list goes on.
The last couple of years have witnessed a proliferation of antitrust suits that are emblematic of this type of power tussle. For instance, Apple has been notoriously industrious in using the court system to lower the royalties that it pays to Qualcomm for LTE chips. One of the focal points of Apple’s discontent was Qualcomm’s policy of basing royalties on the end-price of devices (Qualcomm charged iPhone manufacturers a 5% royalty rate on their handset sales – and Apple received further rebates):
“The whole idea of a percentage of the cost of the phone didn’t make sense to us,” [Apple COO Jeff Williams] said. “It struck at our very core of fairness. At the time we were making something really really different.”
This pricing dispute not only gave rise to high-profile court cases, it also led Apple to lobby Standard Developing Organizations (“SDOs”) in a partly successful attempt to make them amend their patent policies, so as to prevent this type of pricing.
However, in a highly ironic turn of events, Apple now finds itself on the receiving end of strikingly similar allegations. At issue is the 30% commission that Apple charges for in app purchases on the iPhone and iPad. These “high” commissions led several companies to lodge complaints with competition authorities (Spotify and Facebook, in the EU) and file antitrust suits against Apple (Epic Games, in the US).
Of course, these complaints are couched in more sophisticated, and antitrust-relevant, reasoning. But that doesn’t alter the fact that these disputes are ultimately driven by firms trying to tilt the allocation of surplus in their favor (for a more detailed explanation, see Apple and Qualcomm).
Pushback from courts: The Qualcomm case
Against this backdrop, a string of recent cases sends a clear message to would-be plaintiffs: antitrust courts will not be drawn into rent allocation disputes that have no bearing on consumer welfare.
The best example of this judicial trend is Qualcomm’s victory before the United States Court of Appeal for the 9th Circuit. The case centered on the royalties that Qualcomm charged to OEMs for its Standard Essential Patents (SEPs). Both the district court and the FTC found that Qualcomm had deployed a series of tactics (rebates, refusals to deal, etc) that enabled it to circumvent its FRAND pledges.
However, the Court of Appeal was not convinced. It failed to find any consumer harm, or recognizable antitrust infringement. Instead, it held that the dispute at hand was essentially a matter of contract law:
To the extent Qualcomm has breached any of its FRAND commitments, a conclusion we need not and do not reach, the remedy for such a breach lies in contract and patent law.
This is not surprising. From the outset, numerous critics pointed that the case lied well beyond the narrow confines of antitrust law. The scathing dissenting statement written by Commissioner Maureen Olhaussen is revealing:
[I]n the Commission’s 2-1 decision to sue Qualcomm, I face an extraordinary situation: an enforcement action based on a flawed legal theory (including a standalone Section 5 count) that lacks economic and evidentiary support, that was brought on the eve of a new presidential administration, and that, by its mere issuance, will undermine U.S. intellectual property rights in Asia and worldwide. These extreme circumstances compel me to voice my objections.
In reaching its conclusion, the Court notably rejected the notion that SEP royalties should be systematically based upon the “Smallest Saleable Patent Practicing Unit” (or SSPPU):
Even if we accept that the modem chip in a cellphone is the cellphone’s SSPPU, the district court’s analysis is still fundamentally flawed. No court has held that the SSPPU concept is a per se rule for “reasonable royalty” calculations; instead, the concept is used as a tool in jury cases to minimize potential jury confusion when the jury is weighing complex expert testimony about patent damages.
Similarly, it saw no objection to Qualcomm licensing its technology at the OEM level (rather than the component level):
Qualcomm’s rationale for “switching” to OEM-level licensing was not “to sacrifice short-term benefits in order to obtain higher profits in the long run from the exclusion of competition,” the second element of the Aspen Skiing exception. Aerotec Int’l, 836 F.3d at 1184 (internal quotation marks and citation omitted). Instead, Qualcomm responded to the change in patent-exhaustion law by choosing the path that was “far more lucrative,” both in the short term and the long term, regardless of any impacts on competition.
Finally, the Court concluded that a firm breaching its FRAND pledges did not automatically amount to anticompetitive conduct:
We decline to adopt a theory of antitrust liability that would presume anticompetitive conduct any time a company could not prove that the “fair value” of its SEP portfolios corresponds to the prices the market appears willing to pay for those SEPs in the form of licensing royalty rates.
Taken together, these findings paint a very clear picture. The Qualcomm Court repeatedly rejected the radical idea that US antitrust law should concern itself with the prices charged by monopolists — as opposed to practices that allow firms to illegally acquire or maintain a monopoly position. The words of Learned Hand and those of Antonin Scalia (respectively, below) loom large:
The successful competitor, having been urged to compete, must not be turned upon when he wins.
To safeguard the incentive to innovate, the possession of monopoly power will not be found unlawful unless it is accompanied by an element of anticompetitive conduct.
Other courts (both in the US and abroad) have reached similar conclusions
For instance, a district court in Texas dismissed a suit brought by Continental Automotive Systems (which supplies electronic systems to the automotive industry) against a group of SEP holders.
Continental challenged the patent holders’ decision to license their technology at the vehicle rather than component level (the allegation is very similar to the FTC’s complaint that Qualcomm licensed its SEPs at the OEM, rather than chipset level). However, following a forceful intervention by the DOJ, the Court ultimately held that the facts alleged by Continental were not indicative of antitrust injury. It thus dismissed the case.
Likewise, within weeks of the Qualcomm and Continental decisions, the UK Supreme court also ruled in favor of SEP holders. In its Unwired Planet ruling, the Court concluded that discriminatory licenses did not automatically infringe competition law (even though they might breach a firm’s contractual obligations):
[I]t cannot be said that there is any general presumption that differential pricing for licensees is problematic in terms of the public or private interests at stake.
In reaching this conclusion, the UK Supreme Court emphasized that the determination of whether licenses were FRAND, or not, was first and foremost a matter of contract law. In the case at hand, the most important guide to making this determination were the internal rules of the relevant SDO (as opposed to competition case law):
Since price discrimination is the norm as a matter of licensing practice and may promote objectives which the ETSI regime is intended to promote (such as innovation and consumer welfare), it would have required far clearer language in the ETSI FRAND undertaking to indicate an intention to impose the more strict, “hard-edged” non-discrimination obligation for which Huawei contends. Further, in view of the prevalence of competition laws in the major economies around the world, it is to be expected that any anti-competitive effects from differential pricing would be most appropriately addressed by those laws.
All of this ultimately led the Court to rule in favor of Unwired Planet, thus dismissing Huawei’s claims that it had infringed competition law by breaching its FRAND pledges.
In short, courts and antitrust authorities on both sides of the Atlantic have repeatedly, and unambiguously, concluded that pricing disputes (albeit in the specific context of technological standards) are generally a matter of contract law. Antitrust/competition law intercedes only when unfair/excessive/discriminatory prices are both caused by anticompetitive behavior and result in anticompetitive injury.
Apple’s Loss is… Apple’s gain.
Readers might wonder how the above cases relate to Apple’s app store. But, on closer inspection the parallels are numerous. As explained above, courts have repeatedly stressed that antitrust enforcement should not concern itself with the allocation of surplus between commercial partners. Yet that is precisely what Epic Game’s suit against Apple is all about.
Indeed, Epic’s central claim is not that it is somehow foreclosed from Apple’s App Store (for example, because Apple might have agreed to exclusively distribute the games of one of Epic’s rivals). Instead, all of its objections are down to the fact that it would like to access Apple’s store under more favorable terms:
Apple’s conduct denies developers the choice of how best to distribute their apps. Developers are barred from reaching over one billion iOS users unless they go through Apple’s App Store, and on Apple’s terms. […]
Thus, developers are dependent on Apple’s noblesse oblige, as Apple may deny access to the App Store, change the terms of access, or alter the tax it imposes on developers, all in its sole discretion and on the commercially devastating threat of the developer losing access to the entire iOS userbase. […]
By imposing its 30% tax, Apple necessarily forces developers to suffer lower profits, reduce the quantity or quality of their apps, raise prices to consumers, or some combination of the three.
And the parallels with the Qualcomm litigation do not stop there. Epic is effectively asking courts to make Apple monetize its platform at a different level than the one that it chose to maximize its profits (no more monetization at the app store level). Similarly, Epic Games omits any suggestion of profit sacrifice on the part of Apple — even though it is a critical element of most unilateral conduct theories of harm. Finally, Epic is challenging conduct that is both the industry norm and emerged in a highly competitive setting.
In short, all of Epic’s allegations are about monopoly prices, not monopoly maintenance or monopolization. Accordingly, just as the SEP cases discussed above were plainly beyond the outer bounds of antitrust enforcement (something that the DOJ repeatedly stressed with regard to the Qualcomm case), so too is the current wave of antitrust litigation against Apple. When all is said and done, Apple might thus be relieved that Qualcomm was victorious in their antitrust confrontation. Indeed, the legal principles that caused its demise against Qualcomm are precisely the ones that will, likely, enable it to prevail against Epic Games.
In antitrust, truth on the market, vertical restraints antitrust, antitrust enforcement, antitrust law, App Store, Apple, Epic v. Apple, Vertical integration, vertical restraints
The Upsides of Collusion and Concentration
Eric Fruits — 24 January 2020
Conspiracies and collusion often (always?) get a bad rap. Adam Smith famously derided “people of the same trade” for their inclination to conspire against the public or contrive to raise prices. Today, such conspiracies and contrivances are per se illegal and felonies punishable under the Sherman Act.
It is well known and widely accepted that collusion to suppress competition is associated with an increase in price, a transfer of consumer surplus to producers, and a deadweight loss. It seems that nothing good comes from anticompetitive collusion.
But what if there was some good from a conspiracy in restraint of trade?
Using data from the formation and breakup of illegal cartels, Hyo Kang finds higher levels of innovation—measured by patents and R&D spending—during the cartel period than in the period before the formation of the cartel or the period after the breakup of the cartel.
By Kang’s measures, during the cartel period, colluding firms increased the annual number of patent applications by about 50% or more and their R&D expenditures by more than 20% relative to the pre-cartel period. After the breakup of the cartel, patent applications and R&D spending return to approximately pre-cartel levels.
These findings are consistent with ICLE’s review of research on four-to-three mergers in the telecom industry. The review found that, of those studies that considered the effect on investment in four-to-three mergers, all of them demonstrated that capital expenditures, a proxy for investment, increased post-merger.
If Kang’s conclusions are correct they contradict John Hicks’ quip that “the best of all monopoly profits is a quiet life.” Instead of silently collecting the profits of price fixing and other forms of collusion, cartel conspirators seem to be aggressively innovating. So what gives?
Kang’s paper points to Joseph Schumpeter, who argued that some degree of market power can promote innovation by providing firms with the financial resources and predictability required for innovative activities:
Thus it is true that there is or may be an element of genuine monopoly gain in those entrepreneurial profits which are the prizes offered by capitalist society to the successful innovator. But the quantitative importance of that clement, its volatile nature and its function in the process in which it emerges put it in a class by itself. The main value to a concern of a single seller position that is secured by patent or monopolistic strategy does not consist so much in the opportunity to behave temporarily according to the monopolist schema, as in the protection it affords against temporary disorganization of the market and the space it secures for long-range planning.
Along this line, Kang argues that the reduced competition afforded by the cartel provides both an incentive to innovate and an ability to innovate. Incentives include the potential for higher returns from innovation and the reduction of duplicative R&D investment. Increased profits from collusion provide increased resources available for R&D, thereby improving a firm’s ability to innovate. In some ways, it can be argued that the cartel arrangement reduces price competition, while increasing competition along other dimensions.
A seemingly unrelated working paper by R. Andrew Butters and Thomas N. Hubbard come to a similar conclusion. They note that over time, hotels have increased competition along nonprice dimensions, trading improved room size and in-room amenities for reduced out-of-room amenities such full-service restaurants, swimming pools, and meeting spaces.
Butters & Hubbard note that many out-of-room amenities are typified by fixed costs that do not vary (much) with hotel size, while room-size and in-room amenities are largely variable costs with respect to hotel size. With the shift from out-of-room amenities to in-room amenities, the market has shifted from one of larger hotels with many rooms, to smaller hotels with fewer rooms. Thus with the shift in the dimensions of competition, the structure of the industry has shifted along with it.
The research of Kang and Butters & Hubbard raise important issues about competition policy. A single-minded focus on price ignores the other many dimensions across which firms compete. While a cartel’s consumers may face higher prices, they may also benefit from increased innovation. Similarly, while hotel guests may experience reduced price competition among hotels, they are also experiencing a better in-room experience. Although increased concentration and outright collusion may harm consumers along the price dimension, they may also benefit along other dimensions that are not so easily quantified or quantifiable.
In antitrust, economics, truth on the market antitrust law, collusion, competition, economics
Economics is Dead. Long Live Economics! A Review of The Economists’ Hour
Ben Sperry — 13 November 2019
John Maynard Keynes wrote in his famous General Theory that “[t]he ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed the world is ruled by little else. Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”
This is true even of those who wish to criticize the effect of economic thinking on society. In his new book, The Economists’ Hour: False Prophets, Free Markets, and the Fracture of Society, New York Times economics reporter Binyamin Appelbaum aims to show that economists have had a detrimental effect on public policy. But the central irony of the Economists’ Hour is that in criticizing the influence of economists over policy, Appelbaum engages in a great deal of economic speculation himself. Appelbaum would discard the opinions of economists in favor of “the lessons of history,” but all he is left with is unsupported economic reasoning.
Much of The Economists’ Hour is about the history of ideas. To his credit, Appelbaum does a fair job describing Anglo-American economic thought post-New Deal until the start of the 21st century. Part I mainly focuses on macroeconomics, detailing the demise of the Keynesian consensus and the rise of the monetarists and supply-siders. If the author were not so cynical about the influence of economists, he might have represented these changes in dominant economic paradigms as an example of how science progresses over time.
Interestingly, Appelbaum often makes the case that the insights of economists have been incredibly beneficial. For instance, in the opening chapter, he describes how Milton Friedman (one of the main protagonists/antagonists of the book, depending on your point of view) and a band of economists (including Martin Anderson and Walter Oi) fought the military establishment and ended the draft. For that, I’m sure most of us born in the past fifty years would be thankful. One suspects that group includes Appelbaum, though he tries to find objections, claiming for example that “by making war more efficient and more remote from the lives of most Americans, the end of the draft may also have made war more likely.”
Appelbaum also notes positively that economists, most prominently Alfred Kahn in the United States, led the charge in a largely beneficial deregulation of the airline and trucking industries in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Yet, overall, it is clear that Appelbaum believes the “outsized” influence of economists over policymaking itself fails the cost-benefit analysis. Appelbaum focuses on the costs of listening too much to economists on antitrust law, trade and development, interest rates and currency, the use of cost-benefit analysis in regulation, and the deregulation of the financial services industry. He sees the deregulation of airlines and trucking as the height of the economists’ hour, and its close with the financial crisis of the late-2000s. His thesis is that (his interpretation of) economists’ notions of efficiency, their (alleged) lack of concern about distributional effects, and their (alleged) myopia has harmed society as their influence over policy has grown.
In his chapter on antitrust, for instance, Appelbaum admits that even though “[w]e live in a new era of giant corporations… there is little evidence consumers are suffering.” Appelbaum argues instead that lax antitrust enforcement has resulted in market concentration harmful to workers, democracy, and innovation. In order to make those arguments, he uncritically cites the work of economists and non-economist legal scholars that make economic claims. A closer inspection of each of these (economic) arguments suggests there is more to the story.
First, recent research questions the narrative that increasing market concentration has resulted in harm to consumers, workers, or society. In their recent paper, “The Industrial Revolution in Services,” Chang-Tai Hsieh of the University of Chicago and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg of Princeton University argue that increasing concentration is primarily due to technological innovation in services, retail, and wholesale sectors. While there has been greater concentration at the national level, this has been accompanied by increased competition locally as national chains expanded to more local markets. Of note, employment has increased in the sectors where national concentration is rising.
The rise in national industry concentration in the US between 1977 and 2013 is driven by a new industrial revolution in three broad non-traded sectors: services, retail, and wholesale. Sectors where national concentration is rising have increased their share of employment, and the expansion is entirely driven by the number of local markets served by firms. Firm employment per market has either increased slightly at the MSA level, or decreased substantially at the county or establishment levels. In industries with increasing concentration, the expansion into more markets is more pronounced for the top 10% firms, but is present for the bottom 90% as well. These trends have not been accompanied by economy-wide concentration. Top U.S. firms are increasingly specialized in sectors with rising industry concentration, but their aggregate employment share has remained roughly stable. We argue that these facts are consistent with the availability of a new set of fixed-cost technologies that enable adopters to produce at lower marginal costs in all markets. We present a simple model of firm size and market entry to describe the menu of new technologies and trace its implications.
In other words, any increase in concentration has been sector-specific and primarily due to more efficient national firms expanding into local markets. This has been associated with lower prices for consumers and more employment opportunities for workers in those sectors.
Appelbaum also looks to Lina Khan’s law journal article, which attacks Amazon for allegedly engaging in predatory pricing, as an example of a new group of young scholars coming to the conclusion that there is a need for more antitrust scrutiny. But, as ICLE scholars Alec Stapp and Kristian Stout have pointed out, there is very little evidence Amazon is actually engaging in predatory pricing. Khan’s article is a challenge to the consensus on how to think about predatory pricing and consumer welfare, but her underlying economic theory is premised on Amazon having such a long time horizon that they can lose money on retail for decades (even though it has been profitable for some time), on the theory that someday down the line they can raise prices after they have run all retail competition out.
Second, Appelbaum argues that mergers and acquisitions in the technology sector, especially acquisitions by Google and Facebook of potential rivals, has decreased innovation. Appelbaum’s belief is that innovation is spurred when government forces dominant players “to make room” for future competition. Here he draws in part on claims by some economists that dominant firms sometimes engage in “killer acquisitions” — acquiring nascent competitors in order to reduce competition, to the detriment of consumer welfare. But a simple model of how that results in reduced competition must be balanced by a recognition that many companies, especially technology startups, are incentivized to innovate in part by the possibility that they will be bought out. As noted by the authors of the leading study on the welfare effects of alleged “killer acquisitions”,
“it is possible that the presence of an acquisition channel also has a positive effect on welfare if the prospect of entrepreneurial exit through acquisition (by an incumbent) spurs ex-ante innovation …. Whereas in our model entrepreneurs are born with a project and thus do not have to exert effort to come up with an idea, it is plausible that the prospect of later acquisition may motivate the origination of entrepreneurial ideas in the first place… If, on the other hand, killer acquisitions do increase ex-ante innovation, this potential welfare gain will have to be weighed against the ex-post efficiency loss due to reduced competition. Whether the former positive or the latter negative effect dominates will depend on the elasticity of the entrepreneur’s innovation response.”
This analysis suggests that a case-by-case review is necessary if antitrust plaintiffs can show evidence that harm to consumers is likely to occur due to a merger.. But shifting the burden to merging entities, as Applebaum seems to suggest, will come with its own costs. In other words, more economics is needed to understand this area, not less.
Third, Appelbaum’s few concrete examples of harm to consumers resulting from “lax antitrust enforcement” in the United States come from airline mergers and telecommunications. In both cases, he sees the increased attention from competition authorities in Europe compared to the U.S. at the explanation for better outcomes. Neither is a clear example of harm to consumers, nor can be used to show superior antitrust frameworks in Europe versus the United States.
In the case of airline mergers, Appelbaum argues the gains from deregulation of the industry have been largely given away due to poor antitrust enforcement and prices stopped falling, leading to a situation where “[f]or the first time since the dawn of aviation, it is generally cheaper to fly in Europe than in the United States.” This is hard to square with the data.
As explained in a recent blog post on Truth on the Market by ICLE’s chief economist Eric Fruits:
While the concentration and profits story fits the antitrust populist narrative, other observations run contrary to [this] conclusion. For example, airline prices, as measured by price indexes, show that changes in U.S. and EU airline prices have fairly closely tracked each other until 2014, when U.S. prices began dropping. Sure, airlines have instituted baggage fees, but the CPI includes taxes, fuel surcharges, airport, security, and baggage fees. It’s not obvious that U.S. consumers are worse off in the so-called era of rising concentration.
In fact, one recent study, titled Are legacy airline mergers pro- or anti-competitive? Evidence from recent U.S. airline mergers takes it a step further. Data from legacy U.S. airline mergers appears to show they have resulted in pro-consumer benefits once quality-adjusted fares are taken into account:
Our main conclusion is simple: The recent legacy carrier mergers have been associated with pro-competitive outcomes. We find that, on average across all three mergers combined, nonstop overlap routes (on which both merging parties were present pre-merger) experienced statistically significant output increases and statistically insignificant nominal fare decreases relative to non-overlap routes. This pattern also holds when we study each of the three mergers individually. We find that nonstop overlap routes experienced statistically significant output and capacity increases following all three legacy airline mergers, with statistically significant nominal fare decreases following Delta/Northwest and American/USAirways mergers, and statistically insignificant nominal fare decreases following the United/Continental merger…
One implication of our findings is that any fare increases that have been observed since the mergers were very unlikely to have been caused by the mergers. In particular, our results demonstrate pro-competitive output expansions on nonstop overlap routes indicating reductions in quality-adjusted fares and a lack of significant anti-competitive effects on connecting overlaps. Hence ,our results demonstrate consumer welfare gains on overlap routes, without even taking credit for the large benefits on non-overlap routes (due to new online service, improved service networks at airports, fleet reallocation, etc.). While some of our results indicate that passengers on non-overlap routes also benefited from the mergers, we leave the complete exploration of such network effects for future research.
In other words, neither part of Applebaum’s proposition, that Europe has cheaper fares and that concentration has led to worse outcomes for consumers in the United States, appears to be true. Perhaps the influence of economists over antitrust law in the United States has not been so bad after all.
Appelbaum also touts the lower prices for broadband in Europe as an example of better competition policy over telecommunications in Europe versus the United States. While prices are lower on average in Europe for broadband, this obfuscates distribution of prices depending on speed tiers. UPenn Professor Christopher Yoo’s 2014 study titled U.S. vs. European Broadband Deployment: What Do the Data Say? found:
U.S. broadband was cheaper than European broadband for all speed tiers below 12 Mbps. U.S. broadband was more expensive for higher speed tiers, although the higher cost was justified in no small part by the fact that U.S. Internet users on average consumed 50% more bandwidth than their European counterparts.
Population density also helps explain differences between Europe and the United States. The closer people are together, the easier it is to build out infrastructure like broadband Internet. The United States is considerably more rural than most European countries. As a result, consideration of prices and speed need to be adjusted to reflect those differences. For instance, the FCC’s 2018 International Broadband Data Report shows a move in position from 23rd to 14th for the United States compared to 28 (mostly European) other countries once population density and income are taken into consideration for fixed broadband prices (Model 1 to Model 2). The United States climbs even further to 6th out of the 29 countries studied if data usage is included and 7th if quality (i.e. websites available in language) is taken into consideration (Model 4).
Country Model 1 Model 2 Model 3 Model 4
Price Rank Price Rank Price Rank Price Rank
Australia $78.30 28 $82.81 27 $102.63 26 $84.45 23
Austria $48.04 17 $60.59 15 $73.17 11 $74.02 17
Belgium $46.82 16 $66.62 21 $75.29 13 $81.09 22
Canada $69.66 27 $74.99 25 $92.73 24 $76.57 19
Chile $33.42 8 $73.60 23 $83.81 20 $88.97 25
Czech Republic $26.83 3 $49.18 6 $69.91 9 $60.49 6
Denmark $43.46 14 $52.27 8 $69.37 8 $63.85 8
Estonia $30.65 6 $56.91 12 $81.68 19 $69.06 12
Finland $35.00 9 $37.95 1 $57.49 2 $51.61 1
France $30.12 5 $44.04 4 $61.96 4 $54.25 3
Germany $36.00 12 $53.62 10 $75.09 12 $66.06 11
Greece $35.38 10 $64.51 19 $80.72 17 $78.66 21
Iceland $65.78 25 $73.96 24 $94.85 25 $90.39 26
Ireland $56.79 22 $62.37 16 $76.46 14 $64.83 9
Italy $29.62 4 $48.00 5 $68.80 7 $59.00 5
Japan $40.12 13 $53.58 9 $81.47 18 $72.12 15
Latvia $20.29 1 $42.78 3 $63.05 5 $52.20 2
Luxembourg $56.32 21 $54.32 11 $76.83 15 $72.51 16
Mexico $35.58 11 $91.29 29 $120.40 29 $109.64 29
Netherlands $44.39 15 $63.89 18 $89.51 21 $77.88 20
New Zealand $59.51 24 $81.42 26 $90.55 22 $76.25 18
Norway $88.41 29 $71.77 22 $103.98 27 $96.95 27
Portugal $30.82 7 $58.27 13 $72.83 10 $71.15 14
South Korea $25.45 2 $42.07 2 $52.01 1 $56.28 4
Spain $54.95 20 $87.69 28 $115.51 28 $106.53 28
Sweden $52.48 19 $52.16 7 $61.08 3 $70.41 13
Switzerland $66.88 26 $65.01 20 $91.15 23 $84.46 24
United Kingdom $50.77 18 $63.75 17 $79.88 16 $65.44 10
United States $58.00 23 $59.84 14 $64.75 6 $62.94 7
Average $46.55 $61.70 $80.24 $73.73
Model 1: Unadjusted for demographics and content quality
Model 2: Adjusted for demographics but not content quality
Model 3: Adjusted for demographics and data usage
Model 4: Adjusted for demographics and content quality
Furthermore, investment and buildout are other important indicators of how well the United States is doing compared to Europe. Appelbaum fails to consider all of these factors when comparing the European model of telecommunications to the United States’. Yoo’s conclusion is an appropriate response:
The increasing availability of high-quality data has the promise to effect a sea change in broadband policy. Debates that previously relied primarily on anecdotal evidence and personal assertions of visions for the future can increasingly take place on a firmer empirical footing.
In particular, these data can resolve the question whether the U.S. is running behind Europe in the broadband race or vice versa. The U.S. and European mapping studies are clear and definitive: These data indicate that the U.S. is ahead of Europe in terms of the availability of Next Generation Access (NGA) networks. The U.S. advantage is even starker in terms of rural NGA coverage and with respect to key technologies such as FTTP and LTE.
Empirical analysis, both in terms of top-level statistics and in terms of eight country case studies, also sheds light into the key policy debate between facilities-based competition and service-based competition. The evidence again is fairly definitive, confirming that facilities-based competition is more effective in terms of driving broadband investment than service-based competition.
In other words, Appelbaum relies on bad data to come to his conclusion that listening to economists has been wrong for American telecommunications policy. Perhaps it is his economic assumptions that need to be questioned.
At the end of the day, in antitrust, environmental regulation, and other areas he reviewed, Appelbaum does not believe economic efficiency should be the primary concern anyway. For instance, he repeats the common historical argument that the purpose of the Sherman Act was to protect small businesses from bigger, and often more efficient, competitors.
So applying economic analysis to Appelbaum’s claims may itself be an illustration of caring too much about economic models instead of learning “the lessons of history.” But Appelbaum inescapably assumes economic models of its own. And these models appear less grounded in empirical data than those of the economists he derides. There’s no escaping mental models to understand the world. It is just a question of whether we are willing to change our mind if a better way of understanding the world presents itself. As Keynes is purported to have said, “When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir?”
For all the criticism of economists, there at least appears to be a willingness among them to change their minds, as illustrated by the increasing appreciation for anti-inflationary monetary policy among macroeconomists described in The Economists’ Hour. The question which remains is whether Appelbaum and other critics of the economic way of thinking are as willing to reconsider their strongly held views when they conflict with the evidence.
In antitrust, economics, politics, regulation, technology, telecommunications, truth on the market antitrust enforcement, antitrust law, book review, economics, economists, Law and economics
The Unconstitutionality of the FCC’s Leased Access Rules
Ben Sperry — 24 July 2019
Monday July 22, ICLE filed a regulatory comment arguing the leased access requirements enforced by the FCC are unconstitutional compelled speech that violate the First Amendment.
When the DC Circuit Court of Appeals last reviewed the constitutionality of leased access rules in Time Warner v. FCC, cable had so-called “bottleneck power” over the marketplace for video programming and, just a few years prior, the Supreme Court had subjected other programming regulations to intermediate scrutiny in Turner v. FCC.
Intermediate scrutiny is a lower standard than the strict scrutiny usually required for First Amendment claims. Strict scrutiny requires a regulation of speech to be narrowly tailored to a compelling state interest. Intermediate scrutiny only requires a regulation to further an important or substantial governmental interest unrelated to the suppression of free expression, and the incidental restriction speech must be no greater than is essential to the furtherance of that interest.
But, since the decisions in Time Warner and Turner, there have been dramatic changes in the video marketplace (including the rise of the Internet!) and cable no longer has anything like “bottleneck power.” Independent programmers have many distribution options to get content to consumers. Since the justification for intermediate scrutiny is no longer an accurate depiction of the competitive marketplace, the leased rules should be subject to strict scrutiny.
And, if subject to strict scrutiny, the leased access rules would not survive judicial review. Even accepting that there is a compelling governmental interest, the rules are not narrowly tailored to that end. Not only are they essentially obsolete in the highly competitive video distribution marketplace, but antitrust law would be better suited to handle any anticompetitive abuses of market power by cable operators. There is no basis for compelling the cable operators to lease some of their channels to unaffiliated programmers.
Our full comments are here.
In constitutional law, First amendment, telecommunications, truth on the market antitrust law, competition, FCC, Federal Communications Commission, First Amendment, free speech, telecommunications, Telecommunications Act
Reflections on the recent filings in Qualcomm/FTC dispute
Natasha Nayak — 17 October 2018
On Monday, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and Qualcomm reportedly requested a 30 day delay to a preliminary ruling in their ongoing dispute over the terms of Qualcomm’s licensing agreements–indicating that they may seek a settlement. The dispute raises important issues regarding the scope of so-called FRAND (“fair reasonable and non-discriminatory”) commitments in the context of standards setting bodies and whether these obligations extend to component level licensing in the absence of an express agreement to do so.
At issue is the FTC’s allegation that Qualcomm has been engaging in “exclusionary conduct” that harms its competitors. Underpinning this allegation is the FTC’s claim that Qualcomm’s voluntary contracts with two American standards bodies imply that Qualcomm is obliged to license on the same terms to rival chip makers. In this post, we examine the allegation and the claim upon which it rests.
The recently requested delay relates to a motion for partial summary judgment filed by the FTC on August 30, 2018–about which more below. But the dispute itself stretches back to January 17, 2017, when the FTC filed for a permanent injunction against Qualcomm Inc. for engaging in unfair methods of competition in violation of Section 5(a) of the FTC Act. FTC’s major claims against Qualcomm were as follows:
It has been engaging in “exclusionary conduct” that taxes its competitors’ baseband processor sales, reduces competitors’ ability and incentives to innovate, and raises the prices to be paid by end consumers for cellphones and tablets.
Qualcomm is causing considerable harm to competition and consumers through its “no license, no chips” policy; its refusal to license to its chipset-maker rivals; and its exclusive deals with Apple.
The above practices allow Qualcomm to abuse its dominant position in the supply of CDMA and premium LTE modem chips.
Given that Qualcomm has made a commitment to standard setting bodies to license these patents on FRAND terms, such behaviour qualifies as a breach of FRAND.
The complaint was filed on the eve of the new presidential administration, when only three of the five commissioners were in place. Moreover, the Commissioners were not unanimous. Commissioner Ohlhausen delivered a dissenting statement in which she argued:
[T]here is no robust economic evidence of exclusion and anticompetitive effects, either as to the complaint’s core “taxation” theory or to associated allegations like exclusive dealing. Instead the Commission speaks about a possibility that less than supports a vague standalone action under a Section 5 FTC claim.
Qualcomm filed a motion to dismiss on April 3, 2017. This was denied by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The court found that the FTC has adequately alleged that Qualcomm’s conduct violates § 1 and § 2 of the Sherman Act and that it had entered into exclusive dealing arrangements with Apple. Thus, the court asserted, the FTC has adequately stated a claim under § 5 of the FTCA.
It is important to note that the core of the FTC’s arguments regarding Qualcomm’s abuse of dominant position rests on how it adopts the “no license, no chip” policy and thus breaches its FRAND obligations. However, it falls short of proving how the royalties charged by Qualcomm to OEMs exceeds the FRAND rates actually amounting to a breach, and qualifies as what FTC defines as a “tax” under the price squeeze theory that it puts forth.
(The Court did not go into whether there was a violation of § 5 of the FTC independent of a Sherman Act violation. Had it done so, this would have added more clarity to Section 5 claims, which are increasingly being invoked in antitrust cases even though its scope remains quite amorphous.)
On August 30, the FTC filed a partial summary judgement motion in relation to claims on the applicability of local California contract laws. This would leave antitrust issues to be decided in the subsequent hearing, which is set for January next year.
In a well-reasoned submission, the FTC asserts that Qualcomm is bound by voluntary agreements that it signed with two U.S. based standards development organisations (SDOs):
The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and
The Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS).
These agreements extend to Qualcomm’s standard essential patents (SEPs) on CDMA, UMTS and LTE wireless technologies. Under these contracts, Qualcomm is obligated to license its SEPs to all applicants implementing these standards on FRAND terms.
The FTC asserts that this obligation should be interpreted to extend to Qualcomm’s rival modem chip manufacturers and sellers. It requests the Court to therefore grant a summary judgment since there are no disputed facts on such obligation. It submits that this should “streamline the trial by obviating the need for extrinsic evidence regarding the meaning of Qualcomm’s commitments on the requirement to license to competitors, to ETSI, a third SDO.”
A review of a heavily redacted filing by FTC and a subsequent response by Qualcomm indicates that questions of fact and law continue to remain as regards Qualcomm’s licensing commitments and their scope. Thus, contrary to the FTC’s assertions, extrinsic evidence is still needed for resolution to some of the questions raised by the parties.
Indeed, the evidence produced by both parties points towards the need for resolution of ambiguities in the contractual agreements that Qualcomm has signed with ATIS and TIA. The scope and purpose of these licensing obligations lie at the core of the motion.
The IP licensing policies of the two SDOs provide for licensing of relevant patents to all applicants who implement these standards on FRAND terms. However, the key issues are whether components such as modem chips can be said to implement standards and whether component level licensing falls within this ambit. Yet, the resolution to these key issues, is unclear.
Qualcomm explains that commitments to ATIS and TIA do not require licenses to be made available for modem chips because modem chips do not implement or practice cellular standards and that standards do not define the operation of modem chips.
In contrast, the complaint by FTC raises the question of whether FRAND commitments extend to licensing at all levels. Different components needed for a device come together to facilitate the adoption and implementation of a standard. However, it does not logically follow that each individual component of the device separately practices or implements that standard even though it contributes to the implementation. While a single component may fully implement a standard, this need not always be the case.
These distinctions are significant from the point of interpreting the scope of the FRAND promise, which is commonly understood to extend to licensing of technologies incorporated in a standard to potential users of the standard. Understanding the meaning of a “user” becomes critical here and Qualcomm’s submission draws attention to this.
An important factor in the determination of a “user” of a particular standard is the extent to which the standard is practiced or implemented therein. Some standards development organisations (SDOs) have addressed this in their policies by clarifying that FRAND obligations extend to those “wholly compliant” or “fully conforming” to the specific standards. Clause 6.1 of the ETSI IPR Policy, clarifies that a patent holder’s obligation to make licenses available is limited to “methods” and “equipments”. It defines an equipment as “a system or device fully conforming to a standard.” And methods as “any method or operation fully conforming to a standard.”
It is noteworthy that the American National Standards Institute’s (ANSI) Executive Standards Council Appeals Panel in a decision has said that there is no agreement on the definition of the phrase “wholly compliant implementation.”
Device level licensing is the prevailing industry wide practice by companies like Ericsson, InterDigital, Nokia and others. In November 2017, the European Commission issued guidelines on licensing of SEPs and took a balanced approach on this issue by not prescribing component level licensing in its guidelines.
The former director general of ETSI, Karl Rosenbrock, adopts a contrary view, explaining ETSI’s policy, “allows every company that requests a license to obtain one, regardless of where the prospective licensee is in the chain of production and regardless of whether the prospective licensee is active upstream or downstream.”
Dr. Bertram Huber, a legal expert who personally participated in the drafting of the IPR policy of ETSI, wrote a response to Rosenbrock, in which he explains that ETSI’s IPR policies required licensing obligations for systems “fully conforming” to the standard:
[O]nce a commitment is given to license on FRAND terms, it does not necessarily extend to chipsets and other electronic components of standards-compliant end-devices. He highlights how, in adopting its IPR Policy, ETSI intended to safeguard access to the cellular standards without changing the prevailing industry practice of manufacturers of complete end-devices concluding licenses to the standard essential patents practiced in those end-devices.
Both ATIS and TIA are organizational partners of a collaboration called 3rd Generation Partnership Project along with ETSI and four other SDOs who work on development of cellular technologies. TIA and ATIS are both accredited by ANSI. Therefore, these SDOs are likely to impact one another with the policies each one adopts. In the absence of definitive guidance on interpretation of the IPR policy and contractual terms within the institutional mechanism of ATIS and TIA, at the very least, clarity is needed on the ambit of these policies with respect to component level licensing.
The non-discrimination obligation, which as per FTC, mandates Qualcomm to license to its competitors who manufacture and sell chips, would be limited by the scope of the IPR policy and contractual agreements that bind Qualcomm and depends upon the specific SDO’s policy. As discussed, the policies of ATIS and TIA are unclear on this.
In conclusion, FTC’s filing does not obviate the need to hear extrinsic evidence on what Qualcomm’s commitments to the ETSI mean. Given the ambiguities in the policies and agreements of ATIS and TIA on whether they include component level licensing or whether the modem chips in their entirety can be said to practice the standard, it would be incorrect to say that there is no genuine dispute of fact (and law) in this instance.
In antitrust, contracts, ftc, intellectual property, patent, standard setting, telecommunications, truth on the market antitrust law, Competition law, contracts, Federal Trade Commission, innovation, Intellectual Property Rights, Patents, standard-essential patent, standards, telecommunications
Amazon-Whole Foods symposium wrap-up
Geoffrey Manne & Kristian Stout — 29 August 2018
On Tuesday, August 28, 2018, Truth on the Market and the International Center for Law and Economics presented a blog symposium — Is Amazon’s Appetite Bottomless? The Whole Foods Merger After One Year — that looked at the concerns surrounding the closing of the Amazon-Whole Foods merger, and how those concerns had played out over the last year.
The difficulty presented by the merger was, in some ways, its lack of difficulty: Even critics, while hearkening back to the Brandeisian fear of large firms, had little by way of legal objection to offer against the merger. Despite the acknowledged lack of an obvious legal basis for challenging the merger, most critics nevertheless expressed a somewhat inchoate and generalized concern that the merger would hasten the death of brick-and-mortar retail and imperil competition in the grocery industry. Critics further pointed to particular, related issues largely outside the scope of modern antitrust law — issues relating to the presumed effects of the merger on “localism” (i.e., small, local competitors), retail workers, startups with ancillary businesses (e.g., delivery services), data collection and use, and the like.
Steven Horwitz opened the symposium with an insightful and highly recommended post detailing the development of the grocery industry from its inception. Tracing through that history, Horwitz was optimistic that
Viewed from the long history of the evolution of the grocery store, the Amazon-Whole Foods merger made sense as the start of the next stage of that historical process. The combination of increased wealth that is driving the demand for upscale grocery stores, and the corresponding increase in the value of people’s time that is driving the demand for one-stop shopping and various forms of pick-up and delivery, makes clear the potential benefits of this merger.
Others in the symposium similarly acknowledged the potential transformation of the industry brought on by the merger, but challenged the critics’ despairing characterization of that transformation (Auer, Manne & Stout, Rinehart, Fruits, Atkinson).
At the most basic level, it was noted that, in the immediate aftermath of the merger, Whole Foods dropped prices across a number of categories as it sought to shore up its competitive position (Auer). Further, under relevant antitrust metrics — e.g., market share, ease of competitive entry, potential for exclusionary conduct — the merger was completely unobjectionable under existing doctrine (Fruits).
To critics’ claims that Amazon in general, and the merger in particular, was decimating the retail industry, several posts discussed the updated evidence suggesting that retail is not actually on the decline (although some individual retailers are certainly struggling to compete) (Auer, Manne & Stout). Moreover, and following from Horwitz’s account of the evolution of the grocery industry, it appears that the actual trajectory of the industry is not an either/or between online and offline, but instead a movement toward integrating both models into a single retail experience (Manne & Stout). Further, the post-merger flurry of business model innovation, venture capital investment, and new startup activity demonstrates that, confronted with entrepreneurial competitors like Walmart, Kroger, Aldi, and Instacart, Amazon’s impressive position online has not translated into an automatic domination of the traditional grocery industry (Manne & Stout).
Symposium participants more circumspect about the merger suggested that Amazon’s behavior may be laying the groundwork for an eventual monopsony case (Sagers). Further, it was suggested, a future Section 2 case, difficult under prevailing antitrust orthodoxy, could be brought with a creative approach to market definition in light of Amazon’s conduct with its marketplace participants, its aggressive ebook contracting practices, and its development and roll-out of its own private label brands (Sagers).
Skeptics also picked up on early critics’ concerns about the aggregation of large amounts of consumer data, and worried that the merger could be part of a pattern representing a real, long-term threat to consumers that antitrust does not take seriously enough (Bona & Levitsky). Sounding a further alarm, Hal Singer noted that Amazon’s interest in pushing into new markets with data generated by, for example, devices like its Echo line could bolster its ability to exclude competitors.
More fundamentally, these contributors echoed the merger critics’ concerns that antitrust does not adequately take account of other values such as “promoting local, community-based, organic food production or ‘small firms’ in general.” (Bona & Levitsky; Singer).
Rob Atkinson, however, pointed out that these values are idiosyncratic and not likely shared by the vast majority of the population — and that antitrust law shouldn’t have anything to do with them:
In short, most of the opposition to Amazon/Whole Foods merger had little or nothing to do with economics and consumer welfare. It had everything to do with a competing vision for the kind of society we want to live in. The neo-Brandesian opponents, who Lind and I term “progressive localists”, seek an alternative economy predominantly made up of small firms, supported by big government and protected from global competition.
And Dirk Auer noted that early critics’ prophecies of foreclosure of competition through “data leveraging” and below-cost pricing hadn’t remotely come to pass, thus far.
Meanwhile, other contributors noted the paucity of evidence supporting many of these assertions, and pointed out the manifest value the merger seemed to be creating by pressuring competitors to adapt and better respond to consumers’ preferences (Horwitz, Rinehart, Auer, Fruits, Manne & Stout) — in the process shoring up, rather than killing, even smaller retailers that are willing and able to evolve with changing technology and shifting consumer preferences. “For all the talk of retail dying, the stores that are actually dying are the ones that fail to cater to their customers, not the ones that happen to be offline” (Manne & Stout).
At the same time, not all merger skeptics were moved by the Neo-Brandeisian assertions. Chris Sagers, for example, finds much of the populist antitrust objection more public relations than substance. He suggested perhaps not taking these ideas and their promoters so seriously, and instead focusing on antitrust advocates with “real ideas” (like Sagers himself, of course).
Coming from a different angle, Will Rinehart also suggested not taking the criticisms too seriously, pointing to the evolving and complicated effects of the merger as Exhibit A for the need for regulatory humility:
Finally, this deal reiterates the need for regulatory humility. Almost immediately after the Amazon-Whole Foods merger was closed, prices at the store dropped and competitors struck a flurry of deals. Investments continue and many in the grocery retail space are bracing for a wave of enhancement to take hold. Even some of the most fierce critics of deal will have to admit there is a lot of uncertainty. It is unclear what business model will make the most sense in the long run, how these technologies will ultimately become embedded into production processes, and how consumers will benefit. Combined, these features underscore the difficulty, but the necessity, in implementing dynamic insights into antitrust institutions.
Offering generous praise for this symposium (thanks, Will!) and echoing the points made by other participants regarding the dynamic and unknowable course of competition (Auer, Horwitz, Manne & Stout, Fruits), Rinehart concludes:
Retrospectives like this symposium offer a chance to understand what the discussion missed at the time and what is needed to better understand innovation and competition in markets. While it might be too soon to close the book on this case, the impact can already be felt in the positions others are taking in response. In the end, the deal probably won’t be remembered for extending Amazon’s dominance into another market because that is a phantom concern. Rather, it will probably be best remembered as the spark that drove traditional retail outlets to modernize their logistics and fulfillment efforts.
For a complete rundown of the arguments both for and against, the full archive of symposium posts from our outstanding and diverse group of scholars, practitioners, and other experts is available at this link, and individual posts can be easily accessed by clicking on the authors’ names below.
Amazon and Whole Foods, Historically Considered (Horwitz)
Amazon-Whole Foods: The Speculation Then, the Evidence Today (Fruits)
Amazon/Whole Foods: What, Me Worry? (Atkinson)
The Lasting Legacy of the Amazon-Whole Foods Merger Will Likely Be the Spread of Grocery Tech (Rinehart)
It’s Not Time To Panic About Amazon’s Purchase of Whole Foods. Yet. (Singer)
The Amazon / Whole Foods overreaction: Antitrust populism exposed (Auer)
Are the antitrust laws any defense to the real dangers of mega-mergers and big technology power aggregation? (Bona & Levitsky)
Whole Foods? Seriously? Why Are We Talking About Whole Foods? (Sagers)
The Amazon-Whole Foods merger: Natural and organic competition in the evolving grocery industry (Manne & Stout)
We’d like to thank all of the participants for their excellent contributions!
In amazon-whole foods symposium, antitrust, truth on the market Amazon, antitrust, antitrust law, antitrust populism, mergers, Vertical integration
The Amazon-Whole Foods merger: Natural and organic competition in the evolving grocery industry
What actually happened in the year following the merger is nearly the opposite: Competition among grocery stores has been more fierce than ever. “Offline” retailers are expanding — and innovating — to meet Amazon’s challenge, and many of them are booming. Disruption is never neat and tidy, but, in addition to saving Whole Foods from potential oblivion, the merger seems to have lit a fire under the rest of the industry.
This result should not be surprising to anyone who understands the nature of the competitive process. But it does highlight an important lesson: competition often comes from unexpected quarters and evolves in unpredictable ways, emerging precisely out of the kinds of adversity opponents of the merger bemoaned.
Whole Foods? Seriously? Why Are We Talking About Whole Foods?
Chris Sagers — 28 August 2018
So why this deal, in this symposium, and why now? The best substantive reason I could think of is admittedly one that I personally find important. As I said, I think we should take it much more seriously as a general matter, especially in highly dynamic contexts like Silicon Valley. There has been a history of arguably pre-emptive, market-occupying vertical and conglomerate acquisitions, by big firms of smaller ones that are technologically or otherwise disruptive. The idea is that the big firms sit back and wait as some new market develops in some adjacent sector. When that new market ripens to the point of real promise, the big firm buys some significant incumbent player. The aim is not. just to facilitate its own benevolent, wholesome entry, but to set up hopefully prohibitive challenges to other de novo entrants. Love it or leave it, that theory plausibly characterizes lots and lots of acquisitions in recent decades that secured easy antitrust approval, precisely because they weren’t obviously, presently horizontal. Many people think that is true of some of Amazon’s many acquisitions, like its notoriously aggressive, near-hostile takeover of Diapers.com.
Are the antitrust laws any defense to the real dangers of mega-mergers and big technology power aggregation?
Jarod M. Bona & Steven Levitsky — 28 August 2018
Amazon offers Prime discounts to Whole Food customers and offers free delivery for Prime members. Those are certainly consumer benefits. But with those comes a cost, which may or may not be significant. By bundling its products with collective discounts, Amazon makes it more attractive for shoppers to shift their buying practices from local stores to the internet giant. Will this eventually mean that local stores will become more inefficient, based on lower volume, and will eventually close? Do most Americans care about the potential loss of local supermarkets and specialty grocers? No one, including antitrust enforcers, seems to have asked them.
In amazon-whole foods symposium, antitrust, mergers & acquisitions, truth on the market Amazon, antitrust, antitrust law, antitrust populism, mergers, Vertical integration
The Amazon / Whole Foods overreaction: Antitrust populism exposed
Dirk Auer — 28 August 2018
The gist of these arguments is simple. The Amazon / Whole Foods merger would lead to the exclusion of competitors, with Amazon leveraging its swaths of data and pricing below costs. All of this begs a simple question: have these prophecies come to pass?
The problem with antitrust populism is not just that it leads to unfounded predictions regarding the negative effects of a given business practice. It also ignores the significant gains which consumers may reap from these practices. The Amazon / Whole foods offers a case in point.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line773
|
__label__wiki
| 0.505744
| 0.505744
|
Trump aims to end HIV in the country in the next decade
Ana Luci Ortega
Trump aims to end HIV in the United States in the next decade The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi (d), and the Vice President, Mike Pence (i), listen to the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, on Tuesday as he delivers his second speech on the State of the Union , at the Capitol in Washington, DC (USA). EFE
The president, Donald Trump, today set himself the goal of ending a decade with “the HIV epidemic” in his country, and promised to dedicate government funds to that end and to the fight against childhood cancer.
“Together, we will end AIDS in the United States and in the world,” Trump said during his annual address on the State of the Union before Congress.
The president stressed that “in recent years, the United States has made” remarkable progress in the fight against HIV (acquired immunodeficiency virus) and AIDS. “
“Scientific advances have brought what was once a distant dream in. My budget proposal (for the next fiscal year) will ask Democrats and Republicans to make the commitment necessary to eliminate the HIV epidemic within 10 years.” Trump advanced.
The president also asked that lawmakers join him in “the fight against childhood cancer,” and highlighted the story of one of her guests at the speech at the Congress, ten-year-old Grace Eline, who has just passed a treatment for a brain tumor.
“Many childhood cancers have been without new therapies for decades, and my budget proposal will ask Congress for 500 million dollars in the next decade to finance this crucial, life-saving research,” he said.
Trump also said that his “next big priority” will be to lower the prices of prescription drugs, and asked Congress to approve a bill on the matter.
“It is unacceptable that Americans pay much more than people in other countries for exactly the same drugs, often manufactured in the same place, this is wrong, it is unfair, and together we can end it,” he said.
Last October, Trump presented an ambitious proposal to reduce the prices of some prescription drugs, and thus face the imbalance between the costs of drugs in his country and in Europe.
The initiative seeks that the agency in charge of the federal program of subsidized medical insurance for the elderly, called Medicare, can negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies the prices of certain medicines, based on the costs paid for them in other industrialized economies (EFEUSA). –
Previous articleThe worst defeat of James; Westbrook draws with Jordan triple-double streak
Next articleTrump ratifies his support for Guaidó as “interim president” of Venezuela
https://thesunpost.com
Physical activity favors mental health during confinement, according to a study by UNIR and other universities
Kamala Harris will not yet move to the official residence of the Vice Presidency at the Naval Observatory
Fauci advances that the US will join the WHO project to bring vaccines to the whole world
Obama, Bush and Clinton wish Biden “success” and advocate for unity in the US
Iran says Trump and Pompeo “are relegated to the dustbin of history” after the end of their administration
The White House recovers Spanish on its website
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line779
|
__label__cc
| 0.622401
| 0.377599
|
2WD ATV Buyer’s Guide
If you’d love to get an ATV for trail-riding fun or to have help with chores around the homestead but the prices are putting you off, you need to know about 2WD sportutility models. Many of these machines are half the price of some 4×4 ATVs, or about what you’d pay for a used quad. Our guide has everything you need to know about this special group of machines.
HONDA RANCHER 420 AND 420ES
The latest rendition of the 2WD Rancher shares the upgraded platform used for the 4WD models. You get more room, better suspension and more rugged styling. There’s a foot-shift five-speed model and a button-shift (ES) version. Both have responsive liquid-cooled, fuel-injected engines.
Engine ………………..420cc, liquid-cooled, 2-valve OHV
Transmission …………. Auto clutch 5-speed w/ reverse;
push-button auto clutch 5-speed w/ reverse
Drive system …………………………………………….Shaft
Front suspension/travel ………….Double A-arms/6.69”.
Rear suspension/travel …………………. Swingarm/6.69”
Brakes: f/r ……………………………………….Discs/drum
Fuel capacity ………………………………………… 3.9 gal.
Towing Capacity ………………………………………850 lb.
Rack capacity: f/r ………………………………….66/133lb
Length/width/height ……………………82.8”/47.4”/46.2”
Tire size: f/r ………………………….. 24×8-12/24×10-11
Weight …………………………………. 573 lb./ES 575 lb.
Colors ……………………………………………… Red, olive
Price …………………………………………. $5199/$5449
The Grizzly 350 is all about rugged simplicity. An air-cooled, twovalve single-overhead-cam engine supplies the power. A fully automatic transmission makes this Grizzly as easy to ride as the more expensive models.
Engine ………………..348cc, liquid-cooled, 2-valve OHC
Transmission ………….. Auto-clutch 5-speed w/ reverse
Front suspension/travel …………….Double A-arms/6.3”
Rear suspension/travel ……………………. Swingarm/7.1
Fuel capacity ………………………………………. 3.8 gals.
Towing capacity …………………………………….1102 lb.
Rack capacity: f/r …………………………………88/176lb.
Weight ………………………………………………….540 lb
Colors ………………………………………Red, green, blue
Price …………………………………………………… $4699
Arctic Cat’s 300 is a light, easy to-handle machine with strong performance and lots of useful features. It has a dual-range automatic transmission and full instrumentation, including a speedometer, fuel gauge and more.
Engine ….270cc, liquid-cooled, 4-valve, SOHC 4-stroke
Transmission ……………………………….Dual-range CVT
Front suspension/travel ……………….Double A-arms/5”
Rear suspension/travel ……………………… Swingarm/5”
Brakes: f/r …………………………………………Discs/disc
Fuel capacity …………………………………………. 3.4 gal
Rack capacity: f/r …………………………… 50 lb./100 lb.
Length/width/height ………………………73.7”/41.4”/44”
Weight …………………………………………………477 lb.
Color ……………………………………………………..Green
KAWASAKI BRUTE FORCE 300
The Brute Force 300 is compact and easy to handle, and it has many of the features that make the larger Brute Force models popular. A liquid-cooled, four-valve engine delivers the power through a dual-range, fully automatic transmission. The 300 also has full instrumentation.
Front suspension/travel ……………….Dual A-arms/5.2”
Rear suspension/travel ……………………Swingarm/5.6”
Fuel capacity …………………………………………3.2 gal.
Rack capacity: f/r ……………………………..44 lb./66 lb.
Tire size: f/r …………………………..22×7-10/22×10-10
Weight ………………………………………………535.8 lb.
Colors ………………………….Super Black, Bright White
Price ……………………………………………………$4299
SUZUKI OZARK 250
The Ozark 250’s smooth-running, responsive engine and the machine’s overall high-quality look and feel make it a very desirable machine for play or work. The foot-shift five-speed transmission is as rugged as the rest of the quad.
Engine ……. 246cc, air-cooled, 2-valve, SOHC 4-stroke
Fuel capacity ………………………………………….2.8 gal
Towing capacity …………………………………………..N/A
Rack capacity: f/r ………………………………44 lb./66 lb
Tire size: f/r …………………………….22×7-11/22×10-9
Colors ……………………………………………..Green, red
New colors and graphics give the MXU 270 a fresh look, and its liquidcooled, four-valve engine and fully automatic dual-range transmission give it impressive performance. This machine is recommended for riders age 14 and up.
Front suspension/travel ………………..Dual A-arms/N/A
Rear suspension/travel …………………….Swingarm/N/A
Towing capacity ……………………………………….500 lb
Rack capacity: f/r …………………………….50 lb./100 lb
Colors ……………………………………. Blue, orange, red
Arctic Cat’s 150 is a great choice Arctic Cat’s 150 is a great choice for small adults, big kids or anyone who needs a small machine for fun or chores. A fully automatic transmission makes it easy to ride.
Engine …………………..149cc, 2-valve, SOHC 4-stroke
Transmission ……………………………..Single-range CVT
Drive system ……………………………………………Chain
Front suspension/travel ……………..Single A-arms/3.5”
Brakes: f/r ……………………………………….. Drum/disc
Fuel capacity ………………………………………..2.14 gal
Length/width/height ………………………70”/37.4”/40.9”
Tire size: f/r ………………………………21×7-8/22×10-8
HONDA RECON 250 AND RECON 250ES
The Recon 250 has such sporty power and handling, Honda based the 250X sport quad on it. The Recon 250 is available with a foot-shift five-speed transmission with an automatic clutch or a push-button-shift, automatic-clutch five-speed.
Engine …..229cc, air-cooled 2-valve, pushrod 4-stroke
Transmission ……….. Auto-clutch 5-speed; push-button auto-clutch 5-speed w/ reverse
Front suspension/travel ……………Double A-arms/ 5.1”
Brakes: f/r ……………………………………..Drums/drum
Rack capacity: f/r ………………………………….33 lb./66
Length/width/height …………………………75”/40.7”/42”
Weight ………………………………………432 lb./439 lb.
Colors ……………………………………………….Olive, red
Price ………………………………………….$4049/$4299
KYMCO MXU 150X
The light, maneuverable MXU 150X gets a new look for 2016 and a new 12-and-up rider age recommendation. The Kymco is full of features, including an automatic transmission, full instrumentation and a trailer hitch.
Brakes …………………………………………….. Drum/disc
Fuel capacity ……………………………………….2.14 gal.
Rack capacity ……………………………………….25/50 lb
Colors ………………………………………Blue, yellow, red
NEW UTV MUD TIRE BUYER’S GUIDE
PRODUCT: ICAN INDUSTRIES GOGGLES
1,320Subscribers Subscribe
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line780
|
__label__wiki
| 0.660412
| 0.660412
|
41 Shocking Illegal Immigration Statistics
March 23, 2017 March 24, 2017 by Louise Gaille
One of the primary campaign pledges that was offered by Donald Trump was to firm up border security. Through a promise to build a wall and improve Border Security numbers, amongst other ideas, the goal was to put a stop to illegal immigration in the United States.
The subject of illegal immigration often involves movement that occurs along the US-Mexico border, but not every illegal immigrant to the US is Mexican. Every country around the world deals with this subject at some level. Here are the illegal immigration statistics to consider, some of which may be quite surprising.
Statistics About Illegal Immigration
1. About 3.5% of the total US population consists of illegal immigrants, though the actual figure is difficult to determine. (The Week)
2. In the United States, about 820,000 of an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants are considered to be “removable criminal aliens” by the Department of Homeland Security. This is about 7.5% of the total illegal immigrant population. (The Week)
3. 8.1 million illegal immigrants are either working right now or looking for work in the United States. Some are paid in cash under the table, but fake Social Security numbers are often used to secure jobs. This means about 50% of all illegal immigrants are paying income taxes in some form. (The Week)
4. In 2010, illegal immigrants in the United States contributed over $10 billion in local or state taxes. Another $13 billion was contributed to Social Security. (The Week)
5. The average illegal immigrant household costs taxpayers $14,387 per year, though various assumptions about personal conduct and behaviors must be used to reach this figure. (Heritage Foundation)
6. The total number of unauthorized immigrants remained unchanged from 2009-2014. The peak year for illegal immigrant populations in the US was 2007, when there were 12.2 million in the country. (Pew Research)
7. 5.2% of the labor force consists of illegal immigrants. They are most likely to be found in farming occupations (26%) or construction jobs (15%). (Pew Research)
8. In every industry, US-born workers outnumber unauthorized immigrants in terms of an available workforce or for those who are unemployed and seeking work. (Pew Research)
9. In 2014, Mexicans made up 52% of all unauthorized immigrants that were in the United States. There were 5.8 million in 2014, which is down from 6.4 million in 2009. (Pew Research)
10. The number of illegal immigrants from countries other than Mexico in the United States grew by 325,000 from 2009-2014. Populations went up most for unauthorized immigrants from Asia, Central America, and sub-Saharan Africa. (Pew Research)
11. In the last fiscal year, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) deported over 235,000 illegal immigrants. (The Week)
12. About 70% of the illegal immigrants that were deported from the US in the last fiscal year were caught within 100 miles of the border. (The Week)
13. For deportations that involve “interior removals,” or illegal immigrants that have been presumably living in the United States for several years, 91% of them involve an individual who had been convicted of at least one crime. (The Week)
14. The cost of removing every illegal immigrant in the United States would require an expense of up to $600 billion. There would be another $1 trillion reduction in the US economy because of the lack of labor. (The Week)
15. 76% of Americans say that undocumented immigrants are as honest and hardworking as any US Citizen. (Pew Research)
16. 51% of Americans say that the priority of the US government should be to find a path for legalization so that the illegal immigrants who are already here and contributing can be allowed to stay here. (CNN)
17. Just 11% of Americans say that the focus of the US Government should be on deporting all illegal immigrants. (CNN)
18. Six states account for 59% of the illegal immigrants that are in the United States: California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois. (Pew Research)
19. Several states have seen increases in illegal immigration since 2009, including Washington, Louisiana, Virginia, and Pennsylvania. (Pew Research)
20. 2 out of 3 adults who are in the United States and living there illegally have been in the country for at least 10 years. In comparison, just 14% of unauthorized adults have lived in the US for fewer than 5 years. (Pew Research)
21. As of 2012, 1 in 4 illegal immigrants was living in California. (CNN)
22. In FY 2016, there were over 59,000 unaccompanied alien children that were apprehended during a border crossing. Children that are not accompanied by adults are referred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement. (CNN)
23. About 4% of the children who cross the US border illegally are deported back to their country of origin. Between 2012-2015, about 7,600 people who arrived as children were sent back home. (CBS News)
24. The US immigration court that oversees cases for immigration hearings that involve children has a backlog of nearly 475,00 cases. (CBS News)
25. Several countries around the world see illegal or irregular immigration rates that are similar to that of the US. In 2010, 3.49% of the population as there illegally. Spain has seen population numbers as high as 2.8% since 2005. Russia had the highest reported rate of illegal immigration as a percent of the population since 2000, with 8.8% of their population there illegally in 2006. (ProCon)
26. In 2015, about 51% of immigrants were women, which is a figure that has remained stable since 1980. (MPI)
27. The immigrant population in the United States was older than the US-born population. The average age of an immigrant is 43.9 years, while native-born US citizens have an average age of 36 years.
28. Thousands of Americans are also living in Mexico illegally. In the last year, about 1,000 US citizens were questions over irregularities regarding their immigration status. (BBC)
29. If Americans are found to be working without a permit or living in Mexico without permission, they face a fine that is equal to about $50. For Americans who lose their visas in Mexico or are asked to leave and do not, then they face a fine that is equal to $400. (BBC)
30. In comparison, the fee to apply for deferred action in the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) immigrant program in the United States is a cost of $465 that must be paid every two years. Paying the fee and submitting the application for DACA does not provide lawful status. (USCIS)
31. ICE utilizes three different enforcement priorities when it comes to illegal immigration. Priority 1 categories included national security interests, border security interests, street gangs, felonies, and aggravated felonies. Priority 2 categories include a conviction on 3+ misdemeanors, significant misdemeanors, significant visa abuse, or entry since January 2014. Priority 3 involves a removal order that was issued after January 2014. (DHS)
32. 98% of initial enforcement actions that involve illegal immigrants are classified within one of the three enforcement priority categories. (DHS)
33. 91% of illegal immigrants who are contacted by US law enforcement officials are classified within a Priority 1 category.
34. 99.7% of removals and returns were classified within one of the three priority categories, with 94% classified within a Priority 1 category. (DHS)
35. The majority of Priority 1 category engagements by law enforcement are classified under Priority 1B, which is border security. Anyone who is identified at or near the border while attempting or furthering unlawful entry it automatically given this priority status. (DHS)
36. About 0.5% of removals and returns involve an unknown priority classification in the United States. (DHS)
37. 72% of the intakes to ICE detention involved people who were identified at or near the border in FY 2016, which is slightly higher than the percentages that were published in 2015. (DHS)
38. 1% of the deportations that occur in the US are considered to be a “Federal Interest Deportation.” An immigration officer and/or attorney may pursue the removal of an illegal immigrant not identified in a priority category if, in the judgment of an ICE Field Office Director, the removal of that person would serve an important Federal interest. (DHS)
39. This means more than 2,000 people are deported from the United States each year because it is deemed to be in the best interest of the United States without any other reason given. (Pew Research, DHS)
40. About 1 in 7 people living in the United States were born in a different country. By comparison, 1 in 5 people living in Canada are foreign born. In Australia, it’s 3 in 10 people. Countries such as the United Arab Emirates have 88% of their population foreign-born. (Pew Research)
41. More than 3 million people who were born in the United States are now living in other countries. Some nations with much smaller populations, such as Poland and Syria, have higher levels of emigrant populations. About 1% of Americans who are born outside the US will stay outside the US. (Pew Research)
These illegal immigration statistics show that there is a legitimate concern about the US-Mexico corridor, which is the largest immigration corridor in the world – both legally and illegally. It isn’t the only corridor, however, and that must be taken into account when policies are being determined.
Categories Statistics Post navigation
24 Frightening Racial Profiling Statistics
26 Dire Childhood Obesity Statistics
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line783
|
__label__cc
| 0.625976
| 0.374024
|
Ramdas Iyer
All very nice. But who will tell me HOW to stop worrying?
Jodie Paterson
Sounds like an interesting read! I will have to pick up a copy soon
J.E.Logan
Seems a case of ” Think Fear..& attract Fear ” ..Fear that stays, the trouble..” Main thing is not to dwell upon Fears..To stop worrying so much & use mental discipline & also Faith to Stop welling up the Fears ..Fears thst may never happen, included..
Taking a Scientific Approach to Worrying
In the new book “Worried?” a biomedical engineer and a neuroscientist analyze some of our most common fears.
Visual: Nik Shuliahin/Unsplash
It’s been 30 years since Bobby McFerrin urged us, “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” But it’s not so easy, is it? In the modern world, there’s plenty that you could worry about — but what should you worry about? If you worry about everything, you end up paralyzed with fear; if, on the other hand, you never worry about anything, you’re likely to end up falling victim to circumstances that you could have prevented.
BOOK REVIEW — “Worried? Science investigates some of life’s common concerns,” by Lise Johnson and Eric Chudler (W.W. Norton, 312 pages).
Lise Johnson and Eric Chudler have written a new book to help you navigate the worrysphere. Johnson is a biomedical engineer and a science writer and Chudler is a neuroscientist, and together they lead us on a tour of 58 things that one might potentially worry about, and try to assess how much those things are actually worth worrying about. The authors shine a spotlight on everything from caffeine, fluoride, and the Ebola virus to bees, snakes, public restrooms, and cruise ships.
If it were only a list, I suspect they’d have had trouble getting a book deal — but fortunately it’s more than that. The authors have found a nifty way of presenting the variables in graphic form (what they call a “worry index”), displaying each worry-item as a circle on a Cartesian graph: Likelihood is plotted on the x-axis, and preventability on the y-axis; meanwhile, the size of the circle reflects the consequences, or the severity, of the issue. For example, a flesh-eating infection gets a pretty big circle — the disease can be fatal if left untreated. Fortunately, your chances of getting it are very low, so the circle is placed on the far left-hand-side of the graph; and it’s also highly preventable (with good hygiene and prompt medical treatment), so the circle sits high up on the y-axis. In contrast, although “medical errors” get a similar-sized circle, it falls in the lower-right quadrant: Doctors and nurses make mistakes more often than we might imagine, and there’s not much you can do to prevent such errors from happening.
So what’s the bottom line? The authors are very up front regarding their philosophy: We should only worry about things that are likely to happen, and which are likely to cause serious harm if they do happen — and which you can take reasonable measures to prevent from happening. In other words, only worry about the large circles positioned in the upper-right quadrant. And — surprise! — these turn out to be the same things your doctor has been warning you about all these years, with sugar and alcohol leading the way (with lead, mercury, and mosquitos next in line).
There is no jargon; indeed, the pages positively ooze with both common sense and straightforward truths: “Encounters with bears can be prevented by avoiding places frequented by bears”; “It is unlikely that an amoeba will eat your brain.” The chapter on gluten ends by noting that those on a gluten-free diet may need to make up for a lack of fiber and vitamins, so if you decide to go gluten-free, “you need to be eating beans, lentils, wild rice, unsalted nuts, sweet potatoes, green veggies, and fruits. Actually, that’s what we should all be eating anyway, gluten free or not.”
Meanwhile, those items in the lower-left quadrant can be safely ignored: Regardless of how much harm they might do, they’re unlikely to happen and there’s not much you can do to prevent them anyway. An asteroid hit is the quintessential example. (It is worth mentioning, however, that although we might not worry about asteroids very much as individuals, NASA does in fact worry about them, given the enormous stakes.)
“Worried?” is an easy read — the chapters are very short — but I’m worried (sorry) that something’s missing. The problem is that there’s no way to catalog all the different things that people might worry about (the authors recognize this, saying it would be “an impossible task”). So, for example, while there’s a section on airport body scanners, there’s nothing about turbulence, hijacking, or airline safety more generally.
OK, they can’t cram everything in. But it’s not just that. The book omits some of our most seemingly urgent fears. Topping the list would be global climate change: the authors say they’ve intentionally left this out, along with vaccines, because “they have been so frequently and thoroughly covered elsewhere.” They also omit nuclear war because it is “beyond the scope” of the book. (Wouldn’t this book have been a great place to point out that vaccines are generally safe, and that climate change is a pretty big deal?) And what about cyber-crime, identity theft, Russian bots, and the like? Or road traffic crashes, which kill approximately 1.35 million people worldwide each year?
As a journalist, I also wonder why the various “headline worries” — the fears that tabloid newspapers and cable news channels seem to nurture — are absent. Those on the right are told to fear immigration, crime, terrorism, and creeping socialism; those on the left fear an erosion of civil rights and creeping fascism. I don’t mean to suggest there’s a perfect symmetry between the two sides; research has shown that the attitudes of conservatives, in particular, are strongly fear-driven. (As I was writing this review, Donald Trump claimed that noise from wind turbines causes cancer. They don’t — but no doubt it will spark fear in at least some people.)
None of these kinds of fears (or the politics that surrounds them) are mentioned in the book; indeed, of the 58 items, the only one that involves crime is “pirates” — which, we’re told, is highly preventable (“Stay out of dangerous waters”) and also unlikely (“Few people will encounter pirates on the open seas”). I’m not sure how the authors could have added more crimes without changing the flavor of the book entirely; still, it’s an odd omission. (Raise your hand if you’ve never worried about your safety while riding the subway late at night.)
I admire the authors for laying out a reasonable quantification scheme for our worries; there’s even an appendix in which readers are encouraged to work out worry-factors for themselves, for items not covered in the book. And I absolutely agree with their suggestion that we ought to focus on those cases in which likelihood, preventability, and severity of consequences intersect. It’s just that there are so many more things that we could worry about. Books are finite, but our fears are boundless.
Dan Falk (@danfalk) is a science journalist based in Toronto. His books include The Science of Shakespeare and In Search of Time.
Tests to Detect Coronavirus on Surfaces are Mixed
By Lina Zeldovich
A New Disease Stalls Efforts to Fight Old Ones
By Lynne Peeples
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line784
|
__label__wiki
| 0.686128
| 0.686128
|
This is not the first time Tracie Sheppard is being interviewed. In fact, her story has been published in community newspapers. What attracted reporters then was the fact that Tracie, who has a developmental disability, is living independently.
Tracie is a participant at Semiahmoo House Society and she enjoys the various programs, including learning a new language. This afternoon, she has just entered my office at The Treehouse along with her mother Marie Sabine who happens to be a colleague of mine. Both women are pleasant and smiley as they talk about Tracie’s life as an independent woman.
She has been living independently for 5 years now. Marie exclaims: “I’m really proud of Tracie. She has made a giant leap. I was worried, but she has proven she can do things and make her own decisions.” As Marie articulates that sentiment, I hear a sigh from Tracie. When Marie is finished speaking, I ask Tracie: “I noticed that you sighed when your mother said she was proud of you. What was that all about?” Tracie tells me in her quiet way: “I am proud of myself too. And, I feel fortunate as compared to my friends who would like to live more independently but can’t because of a lack of resources or overprotective families.”
Marie recounts an exchange between one of Tracie’s friends that was living in a group home and the group home manager. He told his home manager that he wanted to be Tracie’s roommate in the new apartment building. Although it was Tracie’s dream to move in the apartment when it’s complete, Tracie confidently stated: “He can live down the hall if he wants, but I don’t want a roommate. I like my independence too much for that.” In fact, she adds that she wouldn’t get married just because she relishes living alone.
At night, Tracie watches old episodes of the original Hawaii Five-O. Tracie likes Jack Lord. In fact, she admits having a bit of crush on him as she smiles shyly at the question: “Do you find him handsome?” She adds: “He’s handsome, but I wouldn’t marry him either.” We all had a good laugh about that. As it turns out, Tracie is not only independent; she has a great sense of humour.
Tracie doesn’t like being told what to do, particularly in her home. Marie recalls that while she visited her once, she proceeded to tell her what to do about something. Tracie got so angry that she could barely speak. She pointed at a sign on her fridge door that said: “I’m the Queen. I make the rules!” Marie hit her forehead and said to herself: “Of course, nobody likes to be told what to do, especially someone as independent as my daughter.”
Like any daughter, Tracie prefers confiding in her best friend, Debbie, rather than talking with her mother about certain subjects. Tracie and Debbie spend a fair amount of time alone together contemplating life events. Tracie has other friends that she enjoys as well. The week prior, she entertained 10 people in her home. She served pizza and drinks and they all watched a movie. “We had a lot of fun together”, says Tracie.
Tracie keeps her home clean and tidy with some support from a housekeeper on a weekly basis. She is so neat, that her mother refers to her as the character portraying the neat freak on the show, The Odd Couple. “When we lived together in the family home, I used to refer to Tracie as my Felix Unger.”
Tracie doesn’t know me very well. She is soft spoken and isn’t always forthcoming with the words. While I have to elicit a few, she insists on choosing the right ones and makes her body language obvious if my paraphrasing is inaccurate.
When I ask Tracie what she wishes for in the future, she gives me that look that says, “What are you talking about?” Then she replies: “I like the way things are and I wouldn’t change a thing in my life. I’m just happy.”
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line787
|
__label__wiki
| 0.801379
| 0.801379
|
← George Romero’s Grand(?) Finale Begins In “Empire Of The Dead : Act Three” #4
Val’s Movie Roundup #20: Hallmark Edition →
Review: Fear the Walking Dead S1E02 “So Close, Yet So Far”
Posted on August 30, 2015 by Arleigh
“I’m about to step into a world of shit. You know that, right?” — Nick Clark
[some spoilers]
Is watching a zombie apocalypse unfold during it’s early days something that fans of the original series, The Walking Dead, want to actually watch happen? That was probably the least important question asked by AMC producers when they were brainstorming about how to take advantage of the pop-culture phenomena they had in their hands with The Walking Dead. This was a show that consistently beat every show it went up against and even manages to surpass some Sunday Night Football games in viewership.
The show enjoys viewership ratings of every type of metric one can think of that only the biggest network shows today can pull. Yet, the question remained of whether a second series exploring the world that Robert Kirkman created in his Image Comics title of the same name would have a similar reaction from fans. If the numbers brought in by the pilot episode of Fear the Walking Dead would be of any indication then the answer was a resounding yes.
The pilot episode of this new series introduced viewers to a cast of characters that wouldn’t look out of place from any family drama on network tv, cable or even the big-screen. It’s a world focused on the densely-packed Los Angeles area with all it’s different neighborhoods from glitzy and glamorous Hollywood and Beverly Hills to it’s surrounding middle-class areas like East L.A. and Venice Beach. One could substitute any major American city as location and we’ll still be able to relate to the opening narrative beats of an apocalypse descending on an unprepared populace.
Witnessing a zombie apocalypse in it’s early stages has it’s drawbacks and for some fans it’s the lack of the very zombie mayhem which made the original series so “must-see” that has become this companion series’ own weak point. Yet, there’s a logic and reason to the lack of zombies. It is the early days and the lack of zombies doesn’t mean the show lacks in tension and dread-building moments.
As Madison Clark’s drug-addict son succinctly says during the second episode, and could mean for the rest of the cast in the show, they’re all about to step into a world of shit.
“So Close, Yet So Far” jumps into literally right after both Madison Clark and Travis Manawa sees the truth in Nick’s words about what he witnessed in the drug den during the pilot episode. Their disbelief still governs some of their rash decisions (like splitting up to find other family members), but it also gives them a leg up on some of their neighbors and most everyone of the Greater Los Angeles area. Outside of Travis and Madison we’re given glimpses of others like Tobias (Madison’s paranoid but well-informed student), a next door neighbor looking to stock up and flee the city right up to a cop on-duty stocking up on water supplies. The city and the surrounding seem oblivious to the hell about to land on everyone, but that primordial part of everyone’s brain the says something is wrong seem to be working more efficiently for some.
The episode finds both Madison and Travis and their respective families split up when it looks like the zombie apocalypse is finally hitting it’s stride. Police actions turn into riots as civilian bystanders witness cops shooting (many, many times) and killing who look like innocent homeless people. As an audience we know better and it’s that knowing the rules of the game while those in the series are still so uneducated to the changes in this world of theirs which gives Fear the Walking Dead a fresher look at Robert Kirkman’s world.
This advance knowledge of this new world’s rules make for both a exhilarating and frustrating show. We wait for when the rest of the cast catch up in how to deal with the zombie apocalypse, but we also worry that some characters may not get the time spent during this shortened first season to survive. Rick Grimes was the lone babe in the woods in The Walking Dead. His family, best friend and the other survivors he has met with since he awoke from his coma already knew the basics on how to survive in this post-apocalyptic world. Madison, Travis, Nick, Alicia and the rest do not have the luxury of knowing what’s happening. They’ve seen examples of what’s coming, but they’re still dealing with it as if it’s your typical natural disaster. That everything will sort itself out in the end.
Tobias, our on-screen oracle, knows better and in just two episodes have become the audience’s proxy for a series cast full of babes in the woods. His very insular nature of spending way too much time on-line has given him an insight to this current calamity that everyone else around him seem oblivious and/or not extremely worried about. Whether Tobias survives the season has been left up in the air and with 4 episodes left in this inaugural season there’s not much time to dwell on who will live or who will die.
As we saw with Madison stopping Alicia from running out of the house to help a neighbor being attacked by another neighbor (the same one Travis saw earlier that day planning to get out of the city but already sick and infected) zombified, some have begun to worry about just protecting those closest to them and leaving the rest to fend for themselves.
Fear the Walking Dead has navigated a narrative that could get frustratingly old and stale with some great character work from it’s cast. Yes, even the annoying way the teenage children of the two leads have been written. The series has chosen to focus on the lives of your typical American family of the 21st century and that includes the annoyances and warts of parents and children.
Will fans continue to tune in without the zombies showing up more often? That will depend on whether show’s writers slows things down just as the apocalypse is hitting or just press the pedal to the floor and ride the zombie apocalypse wave and hope it lands with a bang instead of a whimper.
Tonight’s episode was written by Marco Ramirez and directed by Adam Davidson.
The episode’s cold opening of the high school principal walking the grounds of an empty high school made for an eerie sequence.
While it seems like instances of zombie attacks have been concentrated in the more densely populated city area of LA, we still saw some signs of it hitting the outer areas like East LA. Alicia’s boyfriend Matt being one on the way to turning.
Interesting way for the writers to incorporate the current climate of distrust the public have with law enforcement into the series with civilians protesting then rioting over cops shooting what they think were innocent people. Audiences know better and we see how this civil disturbance look like it’s adding to the chaos that helps the zombie apocalypse take a foothold in the city.
Always nice to see Ruben Blades on-screen.
Episode 1: “Pilot”
This entry was posted in TV, TV Review, TV Show and tagged Adam Davidson, Alycia Debnam-Carey, Cliff Curtis, Colman Domingo, Dave Erickson, David Alpert, Elizabeth Rodriguez, Fear the Walking Dead, Frank Dillane, Gale Anne Hurd, Greg Nicotero, Horror, Kim Dickens, KNB EFX, Lorenzo James Henrie, Maestro Harrell, Marco Ramirez, Mercedes Mason, Patricia Reyes Spindola, Pilot, prequel, Robert Kirkman, Ruben Blades, Sandrine Holt, Shawn Hatosy, So Close Yet So Far, spin-off, The Walking Dead, tv series, zombie apocalypse. Bookmark the permalink.
2 responses to “Review: Fear the Walking Dead S1E02 “So Close, Yet So Far””
Pingback: Review: Fear the Walking Dead S1E03 “The Dog” | Through the Shattered Lens
Pingback: Horror Review: Fear the Walking Dead S1E04-05 “Not Fade Away” & “Cobalt” | Through the Shattered Lens
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line789
|
__label__wiki
| 0.787395
| 0.787395
|
FLOATING IN THE OCEAN OF HELENA LEE
by Dennis Cozzalio Apr 16, 2015
In writer-director Jim Akin’s The Ocean of Helena Lee, the first thing you may notice about 12-year-old Helena Lee (and the young actress, Moriah Blonna, who plays her) is the diverting mole on the left side of her chin, the sort of punctuation which amplifies the beauty of the face which it interrupts– a face which manages to playfully mix the openness of youth with a preternatural wariness. That wariness is best reflected in Helena’s eyes, forever darting, absorbing, reconsidering the characters that scurry and spin along the Venice Beach boardwalk where she will play out her summer, and a couple seasons beyond, trying to wrap her arms around a world whose conflicting influences and absence of empathy worries, confounds and compels her.
This young girl spends less time with others her own age than she does in the company of her dad Micky (Tom Dunne), an aimless, well-meaning surf-bum with a philosophical bent (“I recommend time slowing down”) and only a vaguely defined sense of parental responsibility. She sleeps in the sand-littered closet of his cluttered one-bedroom apartment, almost more a roommate than a daughter, assessing the constant parade of sunbathers, strippers and hookers that pass his way against the very interactive memory of her recently deceased mother, Luisa (Maria Mckee), who haunts Helena with maternal comfort and soothing lullabies (written by Mckee and Akin) from beneath a diaphanous, shroud-like veil. She’s a muse from the beyond the grave who connects Helena with a nascent sense of personal contemplation, life’s mysteries, disappointments and its inevitable end, and the combination of Mckee’s soulful voice and spectral beauty fill the demands of the role nicely.
Helena, as you might guess, is precocious, but in a muted sort of way, stuck uncomfortably somewhere between the adventure of growing up and an oncoming weariness from having seen too much too soon. While most girls on the precipice of their teen years are more worried about social situations and having fun, Helena is soberly considering a life as a writer (“Everyone’s got a story. Thing is, sometimes it’s hard to stay tuned in. I always wonder, what does the storyteller want? What do I want?”) The movie is thusly imagined as a loosely constructed tour through her imagination, as the temperament of her grief over her mother and dissatisfaction with her father shapes her observations as raw material for a story waiting to be told.
Blonna has an easygoing, naturalistic quality to her performance that never spills over into a Hollywood sort of precocious, yet she has confidence and a welcome directness. She’s not quite up to the demands of the dramatic confrontation she has with Micky near the end, when Helena calls him on his lack of focus as a parent (“My stomach hurts. I feel lonely. If I get hurt, you can’t even drive me to the hospital. Do you see me?”). But Akin’s movie isn’t built on confrontation, and the rest of Helena happily remains Blonna’s movie– we just live in it.
The only time the movie noticeably breaks with Helena’s point of view is during a scene in which Micky confesses his own emptiness in the wake of his wife’s death (“I’ve got a black seed in place of my heart”) to a prostitute played by Kristina Neykia, last seen as a hobbled succubus in Akin’s casually brilliant After the Triumph of Your Birth (2012). Akin intercuts that confession with shots of Helena on the Venice boardwalk, as if to confirm the unconscious connection with her dad, a way of acknowledging that she’s aware of the existence of that black seed. She’s part of the scene, yet she’s not, in a way similar to how, in The Long Goodbye, Robert Altman imposed a reflection of Marlowe on the beach into an argument between Eileen and Roger Wade taking place in their Malibu living room. Akin comes close to that movie’s overall gliding, ethereal vision of Los Angeles too, though for quite a dissimilar end.
At one point, Micky inquires to Helena in the innocuous way that parents sometimes do about how school is going. “You know,” Helena replies. “I like to learn. Don’t like to be taught.” That offhanded comment resonates not only with Helena’s summer of discovery, but also with the fresh, distinctive style Akin is developing as a filmmaker. Only his second feature, The Ocean of Helena Lee feels even more confident than its predecessor, which juggled a circus’s worth of impulses and stylistic conceits without betraying a bead of sweat. His sense of where to break from scenes (usually a beat before you think they should) and how to tender connections between individual moments (Helena’s unnamed friend pops up every so often to ground her, and us, in a more common variety of teenage experience) speaks to his own intangible impulses as a provocative conductor of moments.
But the director also manages to fuse what he’s learned from a diverse band of European and American filmmakers with those impulses to create something that feels new, freshly imagined. One can discern the spirit of Kings of the Road-era Wim Wenders flitting around the edges of TOOHL, as well as Fellini’s affinity for unusual human and environmental beauty, and the movie is attuned to Helena’s inner spirit in such a way that it feels at times like a Dardennes Brothers joint on rollerblades, gliding effortlessly down the boardwalk to the beach-friendly strains of Mckee and Akin’s propulsive pop score.
This being a movie at least in part about Los Angeles, it won’t be a surprise to learn that David Lynch comes up in Akin’s internal conversation as well. Here though the Lynchian influence is more tempered than it was in the previous film. In Helena there is no equivalent to the eerie bombast of ATTOYB’s Answer Man, a character who seemed directly attributable to Lost Highway, and the foreboding and tearful empathy that courses just beneath the breezy context of Helena’s imagery seems much more organic, a product of the girl’s fertile imagination and her anxieties, in a way that the previous movie’s musical demon never quite achieved. There’s real tension here between being set loose and aimless in a sun-splashed paradise to contemplate the world, the idle idyll of summer, and the vast indifference with which these days of heaven seem to be enveloped. In the end, the most remarkable thing is that the writer-director is aware of all these influences too, yet always manages to stay true to his own much more heartfelt muse.
Akin seems to function on the periphery of the American independent filmmaking scene, in terms of distribution and in terms of the fierce visual intelligence with which his movies are made, and that leaves lots of room for the sort of truly independent development of artistic personality that often gets crushed in the stampede toward more mainstream success. But I can imagine a sort of cognitive dissonance for some viewers in encountering The Ocean of Helena Lee. This is a movie that is, at its heart, very European in its storytelling temperament—that is to say, it rather proudly stands outside the sort of narrative behavior one usually encounters in a movie populated with and made by native Southern Californians.
Some will listen to Micky’s philosophical musings, which sometimes land with a clunk when one is expecting less poetically inclined dialogue, and cry “Pretentious!” Which is neither an entirely unearned accusation nor one from which Akin or other similarly inclined filmmakers should necessarily flee. The sort of articulated contemplations that wouldn’t seem out of place in a black-and-white German movie (with subtitles) about angels in Berlin might indeed play a little strange coming out of the mouths of beach bums and bohemian hangers-on knocking sand from the bottom of their sandals. But is that Akin’s problem or ours? The difference between lofty and insufferable, it seems to me, can be measured in the perception of sincerity, and by its probing of a young girl’s development toward intellectual independence The Oceans of Helena Lee can hardly be cast as a cynical bid for artsy hipster cred.
There is one major disconnect between Helena’s life and that of her peers in the real world. Though the chronology is ostensibly present-day, at no time is she ever seen tweeting, texting, taking selfies or operating any sort of personal electronic device. Chroniclers of modern-day verisimilitude will have to take note (it’s what they do), but this 4G-free phenomenon will serve to remind viewers that what Akin has served up here is a long way from the up-to-the-minute snark of something like Glee. The absence of electronic intrusions into a teenager’s life may, on the face of it, be “unrealistic,” but it’s also perhaps more significant evidence than any that Helena’s story, her desire to seek out her own point of view, to reinvent the world, as she puts it, takes place in the rarified world of imagination, filtered through the lens of artistic license and/or wish fulfillment of a very personal nature. In After the Triumph of Your Birth, Akin alluded to the difficult relationship between his seeker protagonist, Eli, and that man’s demanding, long-dead father. After completing a 100-mile journey of his own Eli pulls out a picture of his old man, a faded, folded and creased mug shot, and pays tribute. And as a prelude to the end credits of The Ocean of Helena Lee, a picture of that same man shows up again– this time he’s posed in a surf suit very much resembling one worn by Micky early on in the film. Beside the faded, slightly blurry image a title card reads simply, “Michael Lee Akin—‘A Day to Surf’—Summer ’73.”
It isn’t much of a stretch to connect the dots, but the grace of Akin’s film is rooted in the writer-director never pushing the point. Among many other things, The Ocean of Helena Lee is a look through the eyes of a girl who wants to learn to see life her own way, as well as a tribute to those who helped her adjust her focus. It’s a perspective we can indulge in even more vividly thanks to the marvelous empathy of this filmmaker’s very personal, independent vision.
If you’re in Los Angeles next month, you can see the world premiere of The Ocean of Helena Lee Friday, May 8, at the Egyptian Theater as an exclusive presentation of the American Cinematheque. That night the movie will be followed by a discussion with Jim Akin, Maria Mckee, Tom Dunne and others moderated by screenwriter Josh Olson and director Allison Anders, and that panel with then be followed by a live concert performance by Mckee, backed by Akin and Tom Dunne, performing music from the movie and more. Acoustic performances from Mckee will accompany each subsequent screening of the movie, May 9-13, in the Spielberg Theater at the Egyptian.
Then, to finish off the week of screenings and performances, a double bill of The Ocean of Helena Lee and After the Triumph of Your Birth will screen at the Aero on Thursday, May 14, capped by yet another full-band live performance by Maria Mckee. If you’ve never seen Mckee perform live before, this should rate as a can’t-miss/won’t-miss/mark-your-calendar sort of event, especially in conjunction with a screening of the new movie. You can get your tickets for any of the seven scheduled performances right here, and I suggest you do so right now, because this opportunity won’t come around again.
About Dennis Cozzalio
Dennis Cozzalio has been writing his all-purpose, agenda-free film criticism blog Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule since 2004. Cozzalio studied film at the University of Oregon in the late ‘70s and currently resides in Glendale, California where he lives with his wife and two daughters. He spends his (precious little) free time writing, cooking and trying to reconcile himself to a new reality weighted more toward catching up on movies at home, where distractions abide, and less in the overpriced, chatter-infested environs of 21st-century cinemas. His favorite movies include Nashville, The Lady Eve, Once Upon a Time in the West, Fellini Roma, His Girl Friday, Dressed to Kill, Amarcord and 1941, and he thinks Barbara Stanwyck can do no wrong.
Dennis's Site | @DCozzalio | Facebook
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line795
|
__label__wiki
| 0.807911
| 0.807911
|
Convergence Sciences researchers target 3D printing waste
Jan. 4, 2021 — The 3D printing revolution is nothing short of remarkable, but it also produces a considerable amount of waste. In fact, it’s estimated that up to 19% of 3D printing is waste. A team of interdisciplinary researchers at Wichita State University is working to create sustainable 3D printing practices to reduce that waste.
Regents approve four new programs to support digital transformation initiative
Dec. 17, 2020 — With the intention of furthering Wichita State University’s commitment to digital transformation, the Kansas Board of Regents has approved four degree programs that will launch in spring 2021: Bachelor of Arts in Applied Linguistics, Master of Science in Data Science, Master of Science in Business Analytics, and Master of Science in Mathematical Foundations of Data Analysis. These degrees are in addition to existing undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificates in applied computing, computer science, cybersecurity, homeland security, and supply chain.
Power of the Positive Coalition works to prevent childhood adversity
Dec. 17, 2020 – Wichita State University’s Community Engagement Institute’s coalition is working to better the lives of children by encouraging workplaces to establish family-friendly practices. WSU-CEI works closely with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment to establish multisector partnerships and resources for the execution of the Child Maltreatment Prevention Plan across Kansas. WSU-CEI also organizes a statewide coalition for this effort called Kansas Power of the Positive.
Shocker strength coach puts holiday muscle into campaign for Harbor House
December 10, 2020 - Hannah Wilkinson, Wichita State's associate head strength and conditioning coach, is taking donations for Catholic Charities Harbor House domestic violence shelter and service. The campaign is an extension of the toy drive that strength and conditioning coach Kerry Rosenboom organized in previous years.
Shock the World Campaign donors raise $307.8 million for Wichita State
Dec. 9, 2020 — The WSU Foundation's seven-year Shock the World campaign raised more than $300 million to fund scholarships and campus improvements at Wichita State University.
Wichita State's 125th birthday celebrated with a graphic novel
November 23, 2020 - Jay Price, a history professor at Wichita State, is honoring Wichita State’s birthday by creating a graphic novel of Wichita State's history.
Meet a Shocker: Zane Storlie
Nov. 16, 2020 — Zane Storlie has not only dedicated his time at Wichita State to learning everything he can about computer science, but he’s also been an advocate for computer science education for elementary and middle school students in the area. Zane created a three-unit curriculum to teach Scratch coding to more than 750 students in Wichita Public Schools, and the Derby school district asked him to present a teacher training course to its librarians.
Meet a Shocker: Abdelhakim Al Turk
Nov. 16, 2020 — Abdelhakim Al Turk came to Wichita State University to study engineering from Lebanon. Throughout his time in Wichita, he has appreciated the mentorship and hands-on experience he’s gotten from the College of Engineering and through his work at the Rapid Prototyping and 3D Printing Lab.
Meet a Shocker: Kirsten Long
November 16, 2020 - Kirsten Long, from Haven, came to Wichita State University to start her career in education. She credits her field experiences and helpful teachers with preparing her for teaching. Kirsten is one of more than 1,200 students eligible for fall 2020 graduation. Learn more about her time at Wichita State and what is next for the grad.
Meet a Shocker: LaShaya Lawrie
Nov. 16, 2020 – LaShaya Lawrie chose Wichita State because it’s close to home. While pursuing her Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering, LaShaya became involved on campus. LaShaya is one of more than 1,200 students eligible for fall 2020 graduation.
NIAR receives $13.7 million from Air Force for advanced composites research
Nov. 12, 2020 — The National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) has received another $13.7 million contract from the United States Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to extend the Modeling for Affordable, Sustainable Composites (MASC) research program.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line799
|
__label__wiki
| 0.794049
| 0.794049
|
Wiki.RIP
110 283 backing tracks
Hadji Murat (novel)
Hadji Murat
The house of Prince Semyon Vorontsov, illustration by Eugene Lanceray
Хаджи-Мурат (Khadzhi-Murat)
Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (2012)
1912 (abridged) 1917 (unabridged) (posthumously)
192 pp (hardback)
Hadji Murat (or alternatively Hadji Murad, although the first spelling better captures the original title in Russian: Хаджи-Мурат [Khadzhi-Murat]) is a short novel written by Leo Tolstoy from 1896 to 1904 and published posthumously in 1912 (though not in full until 1917). The protagonist is Hadji Murat, an Avar rebel commander who, for reasons of personal revenge, forges an uneasy alliance with the Russians he has been fighting.[1]
1 Inspiration
2 Historical context
3 Plot summary
4 Character list
5 Themes
6 Symbolism
The theme of struggle while remaining faithful resonated with Tolstoy even though he was in ailing health; later letters suggest this work gave him a brief, final moment of vigor. Just as the author was struggling with his near death, his extended meditation on the concept of the individual refusing to give in to the demands of the world helped him to complete the book, although he himself had no inclination to publish it and was only concerned with its completion. In addition to the theme of resistance, there are many other ideas that can be found in the novel, such as determinism; this echoes Tolstoy's major work War and Peace. An even clearer theme is the struggle between a Christian Russia and Muslim Caucasian Imamate, the classic West vs. East theme found in Russian history and many different stories and novels (and which is once again pertinent in light of First and Second Chechen Wars in Chechnya and Russia).
The work is very similar to Alexander Pushkin's work The Captain's Daughter in that it is a realist work based on actual people and events and has a similar direction, though the main character in this novel does not meet the same end. Tolstoy used material in Russian archives, including Hadji Murad's own account of his life.
Tolstoy created this story in reference to the Caucasus Mountains during the mid-nineteenth century in Russia. During this time period, an imperial conquest ensued between the Chechen-Dagestani and the Russian military. The Russian military had expectations to expand upon their empire. Hadji Murat is also linked with Tolstoy's own experiences in the military. He wrote to his brother in 1851: “If you wish to show off with news… you may recount that a certain Hadji Murad surrendered a few days ago to the Russian Government. He was the leading dare-devil and ‘brave’ of all Chechnya, but has been led into committing a mean action.”[2]
In the book he described the experiences of the Caucasian and Russian struggle that both he and Hadji Murad were caught up in. Although it was written about fifty years after the events of the story actually happened Tolstoy paints a picture of actual Russian civilization at the time. He portrays the differences between the bureaucratic decay and the healthy passionate life of a mountaineer.[3]
The narrator prefaces the story with his comments on a crushed, but still living thistle he finds in a field (a symbol for the main character), after which he begins to tell the story of Hadji Murat, a successful and famed separatist guerrilla who falls out with his own commander and eventually sides with the Russians in hope of saving his family. Hadji Murat’s family is being contained and controlled by Imam Shamil the Avar leader who abducted his mother, two wives, and five children. Aside from the fact that Murat wants to save his family, he additionally wants to avenge the deaths of other family members. The story opens with Murat and two of his followers fleeing from Shamil, the commander of the Caucasian separatists, who is at war with the Russians. They find refuge at the house of Sado, a loyal supporter of Murat. The local people learn of his presence and chase him out of the village.
His lieutenant succeeds in making contact with the Russians, who promise to meet Murat. He eventually arrives at the fortress of Vozdvizhenskaya to join the Russian forces, in hopes of drawing their support in order to overthrow Shamil and save his family. Before his arrival, a small skirmish occurs with some Chechen and Dagestani mountaineers outside the fortress, and Petrukha Avdeyev, a young Russian soldier, dies in a local military hospital after being shot. Tolstoy makes a chapter-length aside about Petrukha: childless, he volunteered as a conscript in place of his brother who had a family of his own. Petrukha's father regrets this because he was a dutiful worker compared to his complacent brother.
While at Vozdvizhenskaya, Murat befriends Prince Semyon Vorontsov, the Viceroy's son, his wife Maria and his son, and wins over the good will of the soldiers stationed there. They are at once in awe of his physique and reputation, and enjoy his company and find him honest and upright. The Vorontsovs give him a present of a watch which fascinates him. On the fifth day of Murat's stay, the governor-general's adjutant, Mikhail Loris-Melikov arrives with orders to write down Murat's story, and the reader learns some of his history: he was born in the village of Tselmes and early on became close to the local Khans due to his mother being the royal family's wetnurse. When he was fifteen some followers of Muridism came into his village calling for a holy war (ghazavat) against Russia. Murat declines at first but after a learned man is sent to explain how it will be run, he tentatively agrees. However, in their first confrontation, Shamil—then a lieutenant for the Muslims hostile to the Russians—embarrasses Murat when he goes to speak with the leader Gamzat. Gamzat eventually launches an attack on the capital of Khunzakh and kills the pro-Russian khans, taking control of this part of Dagestan. The slaughter of the khans throws Hadji and his brother against Gamzat, and they eventually succeed in tricking and killing him, causing his followers to flee. Unfortunately, Murat's brother is killed in the attempt and Shamil replaces Gamzat as leader. He calls on Murat to join his struggle, but Murat refuses because the blood of his brother and the khans are on Shamil.
Once Murat has joined the Russians, who are aware of his position and bargaining ability, they find him the perfect tool for getting to Shamil. However, Vorontsov's plans are ruined by the War Minister, Chernyshov, a rival prince who is jealous of him, and Murat has to remain in the fortress because the Tsar is told he is possibly a spy. The story digresses into a depiction of the Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, which reveals his lethargic and bitter nature and his egotistical complacency, as well as his contempt towards women, his brother-in-law Frederick William IV of Prussia, and Russian students.
The Tsar orders an attack on the mountaineers and Murat remains in the fortress. Meanwhile, Murat's mother, wife and eldest son Yusuf, whom Shamil hold captive, are moved to a more defensible location. Realizing his position (neither trusted by the Russians to lead an army against Shamil, nor able to return to Shamil because he will be killed), Hadji Murat decides to flee the fortress to gather men to save his family.
At this point the narrative jumps forward in time, to the arrival of a group of soldiers at the fortress bearing Murat's severed head. Maria Dimitriyevna—the companion of one of the officers and a friend of Murat—comments on the cruelty of men during times of war, calling them 'butchers'. The soldiers then tell the story of Murat's death. He had escaped the fortress and shook off his usual Russian escort with the help of his five lieutenants. After they escape they come upon a marsh that they are unable to cross, and hide amongst some bushes until the morning. An old man gives away their position and Karganov, the commander of the fortress, the soldiers, and some Cossacks surround the area. Hadji Murat and his men fortify themselves and begin to fire upon the troops, dying valiantly. Hadji himself runs into fire after his men are killed, despite being wounded and plugging up his fatal wounds in his body with cloth. As he fires his last bullet his life flashes before him and the soldiers think he’s dead; he gets up for one final struggle and falls to his death. Victorious, the Russian soldiers fall upon and decapitate him. The nightingales, which stopped singing during the battle, begin again and the narrator ends by recalling the thistle once more.
The story is about Hadji wrestling with joining the Russians against their Caucasian adversaries to defeat a foe Shamil who captured his mother, wives, and children. He is an Avar Caucasian warrior who was formerly as Russian-appointed governor of Avaria and currently Shamil’s chief representative there. Hadji has a very distinct appearance: black eyes, shaved head, sun burned hands, skinny yet muscular arms, and most importantly a limp. Hadji received this limp while he was escaping from Akhmet Khan. He has many different personality traits that range from very intimidating to very kind.
Shamil
Shamil is the leader of the Caucasian rebels, who is determined to clash with the Russians. He is very tall, powerful and charismatic. He holds Hadji Murat’s family and loved ones captive and threatens them so he can draw Hadji to where he is so that he can kill him.
Prince Mikhail Semenovich Vorontsov
This prince is one of the major commanders of the Russians. His wealth and connections enable him to be a great leader and to get people to follow him. He is vital to the plot because he is the only Russian commander to whom Hadji Murat will submit and listen. Vorontsov does not give Hadji everything that he wants, like trading POWs for his family. However, Vorontsov does let Hadji move freely about Russia in search of his family.
Petrukha Avdeyev
He is a young Russian soldier who bleeds to death in a local military hospital after being shot in a small skirmish outside the fortress. An entire chapter is dedicated to explaining his life. He has no children and volunteered as a conscript in place of his brother who had a family of his own.
A very lethargic and bitter Tsar of Russia. He is very egotistical and treats women and those who are close to him poorly. This includes Frederick William IV of Prussia and his Russian students.
Maria Dimitriyevna
She is a friend of Murat who becomes troubled by the cruelty of men during times of war when she sees his severed head. She expresses her feelings towards some soldiers who then told her the story of his death.
Hadji Murat is very different than the other works Tolstoy produced around the same time. In The Devil (1889), The Kreutzer Sonata (1890), "Father Sergius" (1898), Resurrection (1899), "Master and Man" (1895), and The Forged Coupon (1905), the emphasis is on man's moral duties which is not the case in Hadji Murat. Tolstoy usually has the protagonists go through a process of "purification", where they learn something about an ethical ideal. Hadji Murat is a unique story by Tolstoy because this does not occur. Instead in Tolstoy's old age he returned to writing about memories from his youth. Hadji Murat is a story that consists of negative themes which is unusual for Tolstoy. He portrays the negative side of man doubting that there is goodness in any man at all.[4] Rebecca Ruth Gould has describe Hadji Murat alongside with Tolstoy's other writings on the Caucasus, as "ethnographic footnotes informing the reader about the history, languages, and customs of Russia’s enemies."[5]
The narrator encounters two thistles at the beginning of the story. The first thistle is crimson colored and very prickly, so he has to go around to avoid it. He desperately wants it for his bouquet, but, while he is trying to uproot it, he accidentally destroys its beauty. Shortly afterward, he finds the second thistle, which has been run over and stands half-broken, though it still looks resilient. After the events unfold, Hadji Murat becomes the thistle that grew on Russian soil but is ignored or destroyed.[6]
^ Pevear, Richard; Volokhonsky, Larissa (2010-03-18). "Tolstoy's Stories". HuffPost. Retrieved 2019-11-10.
^ Wheeler, Edward Jewitt, and Frank Crane. Current Opinion. Vol. LII. New York: Current Literature, 1912. Print.
^ Woodward, James B.. “Tolstoy's "hadji Murat": The Evolution of Its Theme and Structure”. The Modern Language Review 68.4 (1973): 870–882. Web…
^ HEIER, EDMUND. “Hadji Murat in the Light of Tolstoy's Moral and Aesthetic Theories”.Canadian Slavonic Papers 21.3 (1979): 324–335. Web...
^ Gould, Rebecca Ruth. "Topographies of Anticolonialism: The Ecopoetical Sublime in the Caucasus from Tolstoy to Mamakaev" Comparative Literature Studies, Vol. 50, No. 1, p. 92
^ Dart, Ron. "Hadji Murad: A Tale for Our Time." Clarion: Journal of Spirituality and Justice. Boston University, 24 Sept. 2010. Web. 15 Jan. 2017.
The complete text at The University of Adelaide
Chechnya's Favorite Russian: Leo Tolstoy
Next Up for WSJ Book Club: Leo Tolstoy
Novels and
Childhood (1852)
Boyhood (1854)
Youth (1856)
Family Happiness (1859)
The Cossacks (1863)
War and Peace (1869)
The Death of Ivan Ilyich (1886)
The Kreutzer Sonata (1889)
Resurrection (1899)
The Forged Coupon (1911)
Hadji Murat (1912)
"The Raid" (1852)
"The Snowstorm" (1856)
"Albert" (1858)
"Three Deaths" (1859)
"God Sees the Truth, But Waits" (1872)
"The Prisoner of the Caucasus" (1872)
"What Men Live By" (1881)
"Quench the Spark" (1885)
"Where Love Is, God Is" (1885)
"Ivan the Fool" (1885)
"Wisdom of Children" (1885)
"The Three Hermits" (1886)
"Promoting a Devil" (1886)
"How Much Land Does a Man Need?" (1886)
"The Grain" (1886)
"Repentance" (1886)
"Croesus and Fate" (1886)
"Kholstomer" (1886)
"A Lost Opportunity" (1889)
"Master and Man" (1895)
"Too Dear!" (1897)
"Father Sergius" (1898)
"Work, Death, and Sickness" (1903)
"Three Questions" (1903)
"Alyosha the Pot" (1905)
"The Devil" (1911)
The Power of Darkness (1886)
The Light Shines in the Darkness (1890)
The Fruits of Enlightenment (1891)
The Living Corpse (1900)
The Gospel in Brief (1883)
What Is to Be Done? (1886)
The Kingdom of God Is Within You (1894)
What Is Art? (1897)
"A Letter to a Hindu" (1908)
A Calendar of Wisdom (1910)
Sophia (wife)
Alexandra (daughter)
Ilya (son)
Lev Lvovich (son)
Tatyana (daughter)
Yasnaya Polyana
Tolstoyan movement
Christian anarchism
Departure of a Grand Old Man (1912 film)
Lev Tolstoy and the Russia of Nicholas II (1928 documentary)
The Last Station (1990 novel
2009 film)
Tolstoy Farm
Tolstoj quadrangle
The Triumph of the Farmer or Industry and Parasitism (1888)
Vladimir Chertkov
Translators of Tolstoy
Tolstoy scholars
VIAF: 55151352038452601110
What is Wiki.RIP There is a free information resource on the Internet. It is open to any user. Wiki is a library that is public and multilingual.
The basis of this page is on Wikipedia. Text licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported License..
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. wiki.rip is an independent company that is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation (Wikimedia Foundation).
E-mail: wiki@wiki.rip
WIKI OPPORTUNITIES
Privacy Policy Terms of Use Disclaimer
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line801
|
__label__wiki
| 0.694583
| 0.694583
|
Share this Story: Jets' Redmond getting better
Jets' Redmond getting better
Kirk Penton
Feb 09, 2013 • February 9, 2013 • 2 minute read
OTTAWA — As the kids like to say, Zach Redmond’s phone “blew up” on Thursday night after he scored his first NHL goal.
The rookie Jets defenceman received at least 75 text messages from friends and family members after wiring a shorthanded wrist shot over James Reimer’s shoulder to put Winnipeg up 1-0 in the second period.
The Jets failed to take advantage of scoring the game’s first goal, ultimately falling 3-2, but Redmond was still feeling pretty good about his tally a day later.
The odd part is he doesn’t know where the puck is. It made its way to the bench, so he trusts it’s in the hands of someone who won’t lose it.
“I don’t have the first point puck either,” said Redmond, who notched the first two points of his career on Tuesday against Florida. “I think someone’s taking care of it.”
Redmond said he hadn’t heard head coach Claude Noel’s words of praise for him following Thursday’s contest.
“Zach Redmond played really well,” Noel told reporters. “He’s just getting better, getting stronger all the time. One of our better players for a young player.”
Redmond appears to have a solid hockey sense, knowing when to make a move and when to take care of his own end.
“Every game you get a little bit more comfortable, kinda figure out what you can and can’t do,” he said Thursday. “I’m more so focusing on trying to keep the puck out of my own end. That’s the most important.
“But jumping up and all that, that’ll come and the offence will come. I’m pretty happy individually how things are going so far.”
NO MORE ROOMIES ON ROAD
One of the rules of the NHL’s new collective bargaining agreement is players who aren’t on entry-level contracts get their own hotel rooms on the road.
Jets winger Chris Thorburn was a little apprehensive about losing his roomie from last season, defenceman Mark Stuart.
“I thought I’d be lonely, like scared you’re going to miss something, you know?” he said with a laugh. “Because if you miss a meeting or something you can go down together kind of thing. Now you’re on your own. There’s no excuses.”
After a few road trips, however, Thorburn is liking the new arrangement away from home. It actually makes life a little easier.
“If the guy wants to be at the rink early and you’re a sleeper, you end up waking the guy up,” he said. “Now that we have no roommates, you don’t have to worry about any of that.”
Jets' Redmond getting better Back to video
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line803
|
__label__wiki
| 0.947493
| 0.947493
|
Home Uncategorized With Whitman, H-P gets star power, imperfect fit
With Whitman, H-P gets star power, imperfect fit
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Hewlett-Packard Co.’s decision to fire CEO Leo Apotheker after just 11 months and replace him with former eBay chief Meg Whitman is another dizzying turn of the executive merry-go-round at a company whose leadership issues are straining a sprawling technology empire.
Swapping Apotheker, who has now been ousted from two high-profile CEO jobs in two years, for Whitman is a decision designed to stem investor fury over a series of questionable strategy moves.
Apotheker was doomed by disappointing earnings and his fumbled announcement that HP’s personal computer division is for sale. HP’s chairman, Ray Lane, said the dismissal was caused by several factors.
“You don’t deliver a quarter, you don’t deliver another quarter, then you make some important announcements that are communicated poorly ? it was incremental,” Lane said on a conference call. Whitman was on the call, but Apotheker was not. “Then you have to make the tough call of, how long do you go along with that? Do you help? Do you surround? Or do you replace?”
Whitman is a billionaire who is best known for the decade she spent building eBay and her unsuccessful run last year for California governor.
Her star power could be an asset for a company that struggled to gain credibility under Apotheker, who was previously little-known outside of the business-software world. HP is no stranger to celebrity CEOs. But Carly Fiorina’s run at the company’s helm, from 1999 to 2005, ended in shambles.
Despite Whitman’s success at eBay, she is untested when it comes to running a company that is in as many businesses as HP. Another turnaround effort earlier in her career, at FTD, the iconic flower-delivery company, ended with Whitman quitting after two years and declaring that the company is “not fixable.” Many analysts have said the same thing about HP in its current form.
On Thursday, she defended her predecessor’s most controversial moves. She said a decision on PC division’s fate will be made by the end of the year.
Analysts are mixed about her prospects.
“She built up a one-trick pony, an online auction site, and she oversaw the growth of the company, but we are talking about a situation where someone needs to come in who has a technological background, an engineering and scientific background,” said Steve Diamond, an associate professor at Santa Clara University School of Law. “And that is way outside of her skill set.”
Diamond said the decision to change CEOs so soon points to continued disarray on HP’s board, long a target of critics for the chaos it’s caused at one of Silicon Valley’s oldest and largest companies. Infighting and ego-driven drama has long plagued the board, from revelations in 2006 that HP had spied on directors and journalists to ferret out the source of leaks, to last year’s dismissal of CEO Mark Hurd in an ethics scandal.
“There’s no question the board is off the rails ? they need a smaller, tighter board that’s committed to the idea of what the company does,” Diamond said. “But they have a lot of people on the board from different industries. The tough job will be getting the board on board.”
Whitman’s appointment Thursday was Silicon Valley’s worst-kept secret. Deliberations leaked out a day earlier to the delight of investors, who drove up HP’s stock and apparently gave HP’s board the push it needed to oust Apotheker.
HP’s board met Thursday to finalize the change, having decided that Apotheker had lost the board’s confidence in his ability to lead HP long-term, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press. This person was not authorized to speak on behalf of HP and spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Lane, the HP chairman, defended Apotheker’s firing and Whitman’s quick selection.
The board “objectively evaluated whether he was the right guy to operate the business, and we came to the conclusion that he was not,” he said on the conference call. “And we chose someone who is a great operator, who executed in her business for years and has a track record of leadership. I can’t think of a name out there over Meg that I would pick to be CEO of this company.”
Apotheker was also forced to resign from HP’s board. Lane’s position has been elevated. He was non-executive chairman. He is now executive chairman.
An HP spokesman said that Apotheker, Whitman and Lane were not immediately available for interviews.
Whitman’s likely arrival was greeted warmly on Wednesday, when investors drove the stock up more than 7 percent on reports she was being considered for the job. But most of those gains evaporated Thursday, when fears set in that the company’s strategy is still in need of repair.
Cathie Lesjak, HP’s chief financial officer, added to those fears when she disclosed that she isn’t sure HP can hit its revenue target of $32.1 billion to $32.5 billion in the quarter ending Oct. 31. She reaffirmed earnings guidance. She blamed weakness across consumer and commercial markets, particularly in Europe.
HP’s stock fell $1.18, or 4.9 percent, to close at $22.80 on Thursday. It fell another 7 cents in after-hours trading. The declines were worse than the overall market. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged 391 points, or 3.5 percent, on worries that the global economy is headed for another recession.
Boosting HP’s sagging stock price will be an urgent problem for Whitman.
HP’s market value has dropped by $60 billion since CEO Mark Hurd was forced out in August of last year over an ethical scandal. Hurd’s departure set the stage for Apotheker’s appointment as CEO and Lane’s appointment as chairman.
Proving she can instill order in a disordered company is another pressing issue.
EBay, when Whitman inherited it, was a star on the rise. HP is struggling with bloat and hasn’t decided on a clear direction. It knows it wants to be more like IBM Corp., but has a long way to go to complete the transformation.
Steering a startup through a period of growth is markedly different from running an established company that’s fallen on hard times, experts say.
Whitman touted her business credentials on the campaign trail in her unsuccessful California gubernatorial bid. She spent more than any candidate for a statewide office in U.S. history on the campaign ?at least $174 million, most of it her own money.
She became a respected executive for her work at eBay, transforming it from a website with a few dozen employees and less than $100 million in revenue into an industry heavyweight with thousands of workers and billions in sales.
But her record as CEO also includes a lesser-known episode that paints a different picture of her abilities to quell a company in disarray. Whitman’s time at FTD in the 1990s was her most high-profile turnaround attempt. It did not end well.
Whitman has rarely spoken about her time at FTD. It’s an imperfect comparison to HP, but Whitman was brought in to the company in 1995 by her former colleagues at investment firm Bain & Co. to spearhead a major transformation. She was supposed to stay five years, but ended up quitting after two, citing investors’ unrealistic goals.
“This company is not fixable, at least not by me,” Whitman wrote in her book, “The Power of Many.” She calls her tenure there “probably the most frustrating and, ultimately, least successful executive experience of my career.”
Other types of concerns have been raised about Whitman.
She was named to HP’s board this year as part of a sweeping overhaul under Apotheker and Lane. They were supposed to be steadying hands. But almost immediately, corporate governance experts began crying foul. They took issue with the fact Whitman’s hiring by esteemed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, where Lane works, was announced a week after she was formally elected to HP’s board.
Several unflattering incidents helped scuttle her gubernatorial campaign.
She was revealed to have shoved an eBay employee during a disagreement, which led to a six-figure settlement. Whitman said the altercation was an anomaly and taught her to always be professional. It was also revealed that her former housekeeper of nine years was an illegal immigrant.
To complicate matters further, Whitman was a board member at Goldman Sachs when it allegedly engaged in the now-illegal practice called “spinning,” in which wealthy clients and CEOs whose companies did business with Goldman received early access to IPO shares, which they flipped quickly for large profits. Whitman said she forfeited the $1.8 million she made from the deals in a lawsuit she settled with eBay shareholders.
Associated Press writer Juliet Williams in Sacramento and AP Business Writer Chip Cutter in New York contributed to this report.
Producing Courses Describing a, How-To Summarize and Develop Characterization
How to Compose an Abstract
Does racial bias fuel Obama foes? How to tell?
Summary Box: AT&T relents on data plan limits
2 Texas prisons to get phone restriction devices
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line805
|
__label__wiki
| 0.936075
| 0.936075
|
Whitmer says Trump ‘inciting’ domestic terrorism as Trump campaign adviser dismisses President’s incendiary rhetoric as ‘having fun’ at rallies
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer called out President Donald Trump on Sunday for incendiary comments he made about her during a weekend campaign rally, saying the President’s heightened rhetoric just days after authorities foiled a plot by extremists to kidnap her is “inciting this kind of domestic terrorism.”
But as Whitmer, a Democrat, pleaded with Trump to “bring down the heat,” the President’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump described the President’s calls to jail the governor as him “having fun,” during an interview with CNN on Sunday.
“You know, it’s incredibly disturbing that the President of the United States, 10 days after a plot to kidnap, put me on trial and execute me, 10 days after that was uncovered, the President is at it again and inspiring and incentivizing and inciting this kind of domestic terrorism,” Whitmer said in an interview on NBC.
“It is wrong. It’s got to end. It is dangerous, not just for me and my family, but for public servants everywhere who are doing their jobs and trying to protect their fellow Americans. People of goodwill on both sides of the aisle need to step up and call this out and bring the heat down,” she added.
During a rally Saturday in Michigan, Trump accused Whitmer, whom he has previously called “a dictator,” of unnecessarily locking down her state as she fought the coronavirus pandemic. That led his crowd to break into a chant of “Lock her up!” a little more than a week after federal authorities revealed a plot by extremists to kidnap Whitmer and overthrow the government.
Rather than condemning the derailed plot — which led to terrorism, conspiracy and weapons charges against more than a dozen men — or discouraging that kind of divisive language, Trump responded to the cheer by saying, “Lock them all up” — drawing on his authoritarian rhetoric about jailing his political opponents by adding Hillary Clinton and the Biden family into the mix.
Asked about the chants by CNN’s Jake Tapper on State of the Union, Lara Trump, who serves as a senior adviser for the Trump campaign, downplayed the comments and dismissed concerns about their potential impact.
“Well, look, he wasn’t doing anything, I don’t think, to provoke people to threaten this woman at all,” she said, referring to Whitmer. “He was having fun at a Trump rally.”
During his rally Saturday, Trump also complained that Whitmer said publicly that his refusal to denounce White supremacists, extremists and hate groups has emboldened activists like those who allegedly planned the foiled attack against her.
“I guess they said she was threatened, right?” Trump said, seeming to doubt the specifics of the case and underplaying the violence it could have entailed. “She was threatened, and she blamed me — she blamed me, and our people were the ones that worked with her people, so let’s see what happens.”
Democratic Sen. Chris Coons of Delaware called Lara Trump’s comments “troubling” during an appearance on “State of the Union” later Sunday, telling Tapper that the President’s language creates a clear contrast between him and Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden.
“If that means that for our President ‘fun’ is fueling division and encouraging folks to say and do things that are threatening and completely inappropriate, well that’s a reminder of what kind of president we currently have, in sharp contrast to Joe Biden, someone who can and will bring our country together,” Coons said.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi also criticized Trump for his rally comments, saying in an interview with ABC on Sunday that he was being “irresponsible” with his rhetoric.
“The President has to realize the words of the president of the United States weigh a ton. And in that political dialogue, to inject fear tactics into it, especially (about) a woman governor and her family, is so irresponsible,” said Pelosi, a California Democrat.
This story has been updated with additional developments Sunday.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line810
|
__label__wiki
| 0.610387
| 0.610387
|
In which Kurt Cobain enables me to appreciate James Taylor somewhat (and Lukas Graham is also mentioned)
walt walker / July 4, 2016
James Taylor was trending on Yahoo, and I clicked because I thought he’d died. Not that I want him to die, but famous musicians are dying fast this year (Prince, Glenn Frey, David Bowie) and I couldn’t think of another reason why James Taylor would be trending. Never did find out why he was trending — I got distracted by a link. I clicked the link, came back to Yahoo, and James Taylor wasn’t trending anymore. Below is the link that distracted me. Don’t feel like you need to click it right now. Do whatever it is you were doing, and just give it a good watch at some point. Here it is:
What struck me was not the song — which has caused me to grit my teeth or change the channel or fill my ears with sand for several decades now (because I can’t stand James Taylor). What struck me was the hair, the facial scruff, the sweater, and to a certain degree the collar. It all reminded me of someone else who’s music strikes me in the right place, who I almost never change the channel on. Someone I’ve written about before, here. This guy:
Cobain would have been just a little older in that picture from the early 1990s than James Taylor was in that video from 1970, when Taylor was 22. That’s what I found remarkable. The similarity of their appearance in youth, though separated in their youth by 20+ years. When you get to the Cobain video below, and you watch it (which I know you will do, because I know you so well), take a look at his eyes at around the 4:15 mark. Then go back to the James Taylor clip above and look at J-Tay’s eyes at around the 2:53 mark. Go ahead, do that now. I’ll wait.
*sips coffee, waits*
What do you make of that? Isn’t it fascinating?
I can’t imagine today’s 22-year-old writing or singing a song like the one James Taylor did. You might ague that the 22-year-old James Taylor was pretentious and didn’t really have it in him to write the song he wrote to begin with. You could argue that, but you’d be wrong, because he did. Today’s 22-year-old isn’t doing much of that kind of writing, pretentious or otherwise. The closest thing today’s 22-year-old’s have might be Lukas Graham, who’s 27, and who I don’t think comes very close, but you can decide for yourself right here:
Lukas Graham is a little older than Cobain was in the above, and Cobain was a little older than James Taylor was in the above-the-above. Plus, Lukas Graham is from Denmark, which makes him way older than today’s 22-year-old American, which is the 22-year-old I’m talking about, being an American myself.
The vibe of the songs is also worth a speak or two. The James Taylor vibe is a sort of laid-back but sad peace. The Cobain vibe is one of angst and tension, and kind of explodes into a raging pain at the end. Which is funny (not literally funny, but strange funny) because the James Taylor song makes me depressed, whereas the Cobain song liberates me, fills me with a sense of companionship, like someone gets me, like my feelings are felt by an ‘another’ who can bottle them, shake them, let them explode and be free and done. I’ve always related to Cobain. But I’ve always been put off by James Taylor. I find him depressing, and I don’t find Cobain depressing. I have no real opinion on Lukas Graham, I think I’m too old to care. That might make no sense, but it’s true for me. Others may find it crazy. Or me crazy. Maybe I am crazy. But for a moment tonight, while clicking on these silly links that distract us from real life, from love, from problems, and from having real thoughts, for a moment I was struck by James Taylor, and I almost came around.
But isn’t it fascinating, the differences? And the not-so-differences?
Check out the Cobain video below. Compare and contrast it with the James Taylor video above. What are the similarities? The differences? Is Taylor self-absorbed? Is Cobain pretentious and depressing? What is wrong with the world we live in, with the youth of today, if anything? What about the youth of yesterday? Is Lukas Graham older, wiser than Cobain? Than Taylor? Are today’s kids too young or too old? Feeling stupid, contagious? Have they seen fire, rain? Explain in the comments below.
Nirvana: Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
Recommended reading: acousticguitar.com — what would kurt cobain be today
July 4, 2016 in Music. Tags: cobain, guitar, james taylor, listen to what the man said, lukas graham
The Post About Nirvana That I Need To Read Tonight
How quaint; now swipe right, and straight on ’til morning.
In which the neophyte will enjoy a concise history of Metallica on the occasion of the band’s new release, which (at times) rocks one’s bollucks
← Those are people who died, died
the violence →
45 thoughts on “In which Kurt Cobain enables me to appreciate James Taylor somewhat (and Lukas Graham is also mentioned)”
christhara says:
Wow that’s quite a comparison, good one.
I hardly think it’s fair to use a young prodigy like James Taylor to compare with today’s youth. I don’t believe most 22 year olds in 1970 were like him either.
Take another example, the young Bob Dylan, who was already capable of wisdom beyond his years when his first album came out at the age of just 21 in 1962. Dylan was also far more knowing that most kids his age then, which was of course a more innocent time.
These are just exceptional human beings.
There is a modern equivalent in the British singer George Ezra who sounds like he’s 60 even though he’s still only 23. His first album is amazing, check out the hit record ‘Budapest’ for example.
You know you’re getting old when you start griping about “the youth of today”…
Robert Cox says:
I’m 46, so I’m gonna gripe about the youth of today. They come off as standoffish. I don’t mean that they ARE standoffish (meaning, not caring about anyone else), I mean they COME OFF that way. That, bugs. Why they gotta act like snotty bitches when they generally aren’t?
I’m 41 and happy to stick up for the youth of today!
Ok then, stick up for ’em. Tell me something good about Millenials.
They dress pretty sharp.
Oi, you got me, you tittle devil you!
Good points, Alastair. I never thought of James Taylor as a young prodigy, though. Do you think he was one? I’m not sure I would put him in the same category as Dylan. And of course I shouldn’t throw today’s youth under the bus as I did. But I’ve always done that, even back in the day. I can’t help it. I didn’t much like the company of teenagers, for example, even when I was a teenager. I will check out George Ezra… sounds interesting.
Kate McClelland says:
I’m with you on JT and Cobain.
Also no-one will ever appreciate JT the way JT appreciates JT
Glad you have my back, KM!
siddiebowtie says:
Ha! Spooky similarities indeed. The jawline…the eyes!
I’d never really listened to James Taylor before this, admittedly. I dunno. I didn’t mind it, to be honest. I don’t really listen to Nirvana these days, but was a HUGE fan as an angst ridden teen. Cobain seemed like an intelligent and sensitive soul. But of a hottie, as well.
As for youth, i suspect there are- and were- always an equal amount of immature and shallow ones, no matter what the era. Mefinx it’s more a personality thing than an age thing. I mean, yes, you grow and evolve as a human as the years go by, but i’ve met my fair share of vacuous, insular older people, just as i’ve encountered a surprising number of Deep Thinkers in the 18- 25 age bracket. The problem is, it’s always the irritating, stupid, superficial ones who are the loudest, so they’re the ones we notice more.
True enough, there are plenty of older folks who never grew up. Here’s to the quiet introspective deep thinkers of all ages *raises goblet in toast*
*clink!*
*oops, that was supposed to be ‘BIT’ not ‘but’, up there.
I think Taylor was trending because there was a rumor he died, but it turned out to be false.
Enjoyed your comparisons, Walt, and in fact totally agree on the uncanny similarities. I guess you can’t go wrong with the beach bum look. It’s kinda classic musician/hippy grunge. …You and Cobain! Hah. Reminds me of all those kids I knew who worshiped him. I had a friend that wallpapered his dorm with posters of him. And I kinda agree on the 22-year-olds of today. But like all music lovers, you’re drawn to comparisons when they each have their own merits, borrowing from one another and adapting to different styles. If I were to crown the most prolific youthful prodigy it would have to be Bob Dylan though.
I wallpapered my bedroom as a kid with pictures of heavy metal rockers torn out of Circus or Hit Parader magazine. Motley Crue, Ratt, Krokus, Def Leppard, Led Zeppelin, Quiet Riot, et al. I am neither proud nor ashamed, for it seemed the right thing to do at the time and I stand firmly by my decisions. By the time Nirvana came around, I’d moved on from the scrapbook-wall-art lifestyle and just really enjoyed the music. Dylan definitely made his mark and was an old soul. I wonder if Dylan is still that Dylan that he was, or if he’s comfortably numb with his earthly riches by now. Not trying to sound snarky, just truly curious. Is he still burning with that same fire or does he sleep on a bed of gold and drink wine from diamond-encrusted chalices? Like, what book or magazine is he reading right now? Or is he watching Game of Thrones?
That’s a nice comparison between JT and Cobain. Really unusual. I like most your description of how hearing JT makes you want to fill your ears with sand, though. It has its own very distinct vibe, it puts you in. My daughter Charlotte fell for that song when she was very young, one of the first songs where the words made it through to her. And she’d ask me to play it, which I wanted to, to encourage her to like music, but man it was hard to hear that more than once. For me, it’s the lyrics obviously, the story, that really gets to me. And Cobain wrote about pain too, but differently. I had a very early JT album with Paul McCartney doing back-up vocals, can you believe that? You should, because I said so. Comment boxes don’t lie, ever. Bill
I believe it, because McCartney’s not full of himself.
I think it’s Going to Carolina in my mind. McCartney is ‘the Mack.’
I would like to think I’m the first to compare JTay to Cobain, that I’m breaking new ground, that would be something. I don’t think there’s anyone who McCartney hasn’t collaborated with at some point. If someone came up to me and said, hey, I just found out Paul McCartney never contributed anything at all to a Skynyrd album, I’d be all, like, no way!! But then again I believe everything I read on the internet. Kind of like David St. Hubbins, who believes everything he’s ever read, period, which he thinks makes him even more selective.
That sounds Texan, “JTay.” Intentional or a slip?
Intentional. Like in sports talk or pop music talk: A-Rod for Alex Rodriguez, for example. J-Lo for Jennifer Lopez. That’s how all the cool kids bring it, I hear.
By the way, I’m listening to Rage Against the Machine tonite. A very underrated band. They are worthy of induction into the pantheon of good rock things. One of the best.
Probably not your thing, but it would be really cool if it was, though.
I’m a year or two older than Cobain would be. I didn’t like Nirvana when they were current, but I didn’t hate them either. Being born in 1970, I know only a few James Taylor songs, the ones everybody knows. I mostly like them, and I don’t want a reason to hate J.T., (and I don’t have my earbuds with me at this library), so I can’t and won’t listen to Sand in Your Ears.
I will say this however, I think personality is (at least) a bit genetic. So if Cobain was a bit of a doppelganger for J.T….I’m not surprised.
I don’t get Dylan, and I don’t think I ever will. When he releases an album, Rolling Stone always give it 5 stars.
I too was born in 1970. It was a very good year. Except that, growing up, you had to listen to a lot of James Taylor. I’ve come around on a lot of 70s music. Elton John, The Bee Gees, Thin Lizzy. I’ve even liked a lot of 70s music since the 70s: “Afternoon Delight,” “Love Will Keep Us Together,” anything by Judas Priest from that era. But not James Taylor. Most days I would rather bang my head against a wall than be hit with the depressing wet noodle that is James Taylor.
I’m gonna tell James Taylor that you said that.
That’s fine. He’s probably heard worse.
I heard him just yesterday. He really does need to shut the fuck up with his Whining Sand in Your Earboxes. Like, what had him so down?
Kevin Brennan says:
I’d never have made the comparison on my own, but it is pretty apt. It’s like Cobain is the bizarro JT. I used to like JT because he seemed to be a conduit to certain girls, and I was willing to go that route.
That still pic of Cobain startled me, since he’s left-handed (I’m left-handed too) but the pic shows him playing right-handed. It’s been flipped!
I can totally see how JT would have been a girl-conduit back in the day. Today, though, he’d have to be shirtless, tattooed, and have a thumb stuck in his cotton briefs, photographed in black-and-white, and be looking at the camera like he was pissed off about something, don’t you think? Maybe with the other hand behind his head? I think that’s how they do it today, I think. The bizarro connection, you’re right about that.
And yes, the pic must have been flipped. Didn’t even notice until you did. I was looking for one that matched in the sweater and collar department. That was the best I found. Didn’t catch the flip.
Exile on Pain Street says:
I respect James Taylor for his longevity but every song sounds exactly the same to me. It’s just the same song over and over in different iterations. You can say that about the Rolling Stones, too, but at least that one song they’ve reworked for centuries is a pretty good one.
On finding Taylor vs. Cobain depressing, it’s all in the delivery vehicle. Taylor’s voice is…well…depressing. It matters not a whit what he’s singing about. Cobain’s voice is raw energy. Nothing depressing about that.
I agree completely about James Taylor’s longevity, that must be respected. Also about how all his songs sound the same. As for your comment about the Stones, I’ve had the same thought about other bands, if not necessarily the Stones. Echo & The Bunnymen, for example, put out a sort of ‘comeback’ album in the late nineties. I loved it, and I described it as one of those albums where all the songs sound the same, but the song they sound like is a really good one.
Agreed on the voices of Taylor and Cobain, too. In fact, I agree with pretty much everything in this comment. 99.9% pure, this one. Thank you! 🙂
Dang. All this agreement isn’t any fun. Don’t you want to mix it up a little bit? How do you feel about the James Taylor/Carly Simon duet of “Mockingbird?”
Never heard of it. It probably sucks. Or maybe it’s great. I’m open to disagreeing with whatever you think.
The key element missing in younger generations in the ability to fail. They are coddled. Imagine what Cobain would sound like if he was of the Faceflop generation. I’d of never found his music enticing/healing/freeing. I’m not big AT ALL on James Taylor, but I don’t think his music would transcend anyone if he were song writing at 21 in 2016.
The up and coming generations expect a silver spoon and coddling, labels for everything…rather than to feel life, to fail and learn. It’s not good. It leaves a hole in the world that today’s ‘live by WI-FI’ generation hasn’t yet come to recognize.
On another note-you should really put a warning label for James Taylor. That song is stuck in my head…awesome.😖
I guess they are a bit coddled, maybe feeling a little entitled too? Like they shouldn’t have to work too hard for stuff? That’s what I’ve read, anyway. And I do sense a little bit of that in the workplace.
The weird thing about that Taylor song is that not only did it stick in my head, but a bunch of others of his have been stuck in my head ever since. “You just call / out my name / and you know wherever I am / I’ll come running / to see you again.” Can’t get that one out of my head either, even though I haven’t heard it in forever.
We have a 21 year old that just graduated from college. She’s amazing. Smart, beautiful and motivated…to a point.
We paid for her health insurance, car insurance, phone, internet, tires, and everything for her first apartment and other needs. All because she was in school. She graduated and that ended…we have seven kids…it can’t go on forever. She was well aware that it would end and we tried to help her get her budget in order before she graduated.
At a month out from graduating she doesn’t understand why no one will GIVE her a job. And because we won’t pay her bills she’s not talking to us.
I got nothin’ for your song problem though, but now that I’ve read the lyrics you have provided I might need a lobotomy.
Kick rocks you 🙂
sheuncagedherself says:
It’s JM. I started a new blog (again). Exhausting, isn’t it? The first post has a decent explanation. Stop by if you like. 🙂
https://sheuncagedherself.wordpress.com/
You’re nuts! But yes, I will be by, of course.
tria says:
I actually found this post on an idle search to see if anyone else had ever noticed the similarities between (young) Taylor and Cobain. So, thanks for the validation.
Not a huge JT fan, but I want to point out that at 22 he’d already been in a few psychiatric hospitals and rehab for mental issues and addiction. So it probably makes sense that he was writing more mature-sounding songs. And that he had that shaggy tortured look down.
Hi, Tria. You’re right, it does make sense, and also explains something I didn’t point out in the above. There is a moment at around the 50 second mark where Taylor looks completely strung out. It’s in the eyes. His playing is clean and crisp, and his voice is on throughout, but his eyes go kind of addict at that moment. Glad to validate for you. And thanks for stopping by to read.
grungeislalive says:
Do check my blog please and your one is amazing I respect.
Thanks, will do.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line813
|
__label__cc
| 0.731092
| 0.268908
|
GWSP Archive: Achieving Water Security in the Arid Americas: Emerging Challenges at the Beginning of the Anthropocene
Contemplating the Earth from the space gives us the impression that this blue planet would never suffer from water availability problems. However, as in any down-scaling exercise, it is only when we perform a detailed examination we begin to realise that, in many places of the world, water abundance is rather a privilege than a normal operating condition.
Water is at the very basis of biophysical and socioeconomically processes, so that whenever we trespass thresholds of water availability their functioning is seriously affected. That is why, the availability of sufficient quantities and adequate quality of water to meet societal needs and build resilient ecosystems, a concept known as water security, represents a fundamental precondition to achieve sustainability. This integration of societal and ecological needs broadly represents an aggregated demand that must be seen as dynamic in nature, since societal requirements are often reexamined and adjusted to respond to population growth, technological changes and the accommodation of multiple and more sophisticated aspects of water demand such as recreational and spiritual needs. Freshwater supply is also subject of considerable modes of variability (from seasonal to interannual) so the difference between this supply and demand at a given time is a preliminary indicator of the level of water security.
Dynamic global processes, such as climate change, land-use change, urbanization, population growth, and economic development (characteristic symptoms of the arriving era) produce evident biophysical effects that can seriously threaten water security. The latter two, if not accompanied by increasing efficiency, can produce unidirectional changes in water demand increasing pressure over existing freshwater resources. Climate change and land use change, on the other hand, can have effects on both total demand and on the magnitude (and seasonality) of freshwater supply. The result is however, not easy to anticipate. In some scenarios such as the ones obtained from precipitation reductions along with increased deforestation in mountain areas, significant changes in land cover can overcome climate change impacts, resulting into an increase in surface water availability, usually at the expense of water quality due to erosion.
Water (in)security is not only the result of supply/demand interactions driven by global change. Societal conditions such as institutional rigidity and regulatory aspects can aggravate this problem as they affect stakeholder’s capacity to adopt long term horizons in their planning process and/or impede the incorporation of adaptive water management strategies. There is growing recognition of the importance of institutions and adequate legal frameworks to ensure water security. In this sense, researchers and policymakers are expected to establish interdisciplinary science-policy dialogues to distill basic scientific knowledge and transform it into actionable information for policy making.
Western North America, central Andes, and north east Brazil are three regions that collectively represent the Arid Americas and share common features in terms of water security. Here severe water scarcity shapes landscape and constraints socioeconomic development. Global economic integration has accelerated growth and urbanization in the region, increasing water use, and changing consumption patterns.
The region also exhibits a significant El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) footprint in its climatic regime, showing significant correlation between the occurrence of droughts and floods and the magnitude of the anomalies of the ENSO index. In addition, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects increasing temperatures and drier conditions in sixty percent of the Latin American region. As a consequence it is expected that the number of people living in water-stressed conditions would increase by 2100.
From the ecosystem stand point, projected changes in precipitation, increases in evapotranspiration result in diminished groundwater recharge. As a consequence, riparian areas are modified, affecting ecosystem services that determine water quality and wildlife habitat.
Numerous approaches have been applied to address problems of water insecurity in this region. Some of them focus on the supply side, favoring the investment in infrastructure to better regulate seasonal streamflows and make water available when it is needed. Others like cloud seeding, artificial infiltration of aquifers, and water reuse enrich the portfolio of alternatives. From the demand side, most of the approaches emphasize strategies that increase efficiency (either sectorial or at a basin level). Systems to allocate water, assign rights, establish priority uses, and balance human and ecosystem needs are also explored to complement the abovementioned policies, but they depend strongly on historical, political, and institutional context.
In view of the critical challenges faced by the Arid Americas to achieve water security, a network of researchers funded by the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), has launched AQUASEC, the IAI Center of Excellence for Water Security (http://aquasec.org). In 2012 IAI provided some initial support to encourage networking among AQUASEC partners across the American continent. AQUASEC ’s objectives are to promote water security through adoption and innovation with adaptive governance and management approaches that are innovative and adaptive. Integrated research and strong science-policy dialogues are two of the most important and distinctive elements of this initiative since they are regarded as necessary conditions to strength water security. Taking a comprehensive approach we aim to study and represent the full range of uncertainties (social, ecosystem, and hydroclimatic), as well as to explore effective adaptation alternatives, facilitating decision making at all scales.
We have identified several case examples using comparative, cross-basin and multi-country approach to extract most salient lessons and have engaged relevant decision makers and stakeholders in a collaborative and integrated modeling framework.
Water security is a cornerstone for sustainable development. As we enter the Anthropocene, more critical it becomes to view water management through the lens of flexible strategies and to gain insights by working within communities of practice, with scientists and stakeholders.
By Francisco Meza
Director of the Centro de Cambio Global at Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and co-Director of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI) Center for Water Security in the Americas AQUASEC.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line814
|
__label__wiki
| 0.500511
| 0.500511
|
Book WB Ward as your next guest speaker. Visit the Vlog page for details.
Audiobook Seminar
WDA Classics and Books
About W.B. Ward
Affiliate Download
Having worked as a mentalist, he discovered that his effects were often based on tricks used by con men to swindle honest people from their hard-earned money. Using his craft as a springboard, Mr. Ward began researching various schemes to defraud unwitting victims, and he has compiled his findings into a book called Brother Can You Spare a Dime? And Other Popular Cons, along with suggested defenses again each con. (Sadly, however, this book is currently out of print.) His younger brother Tim has since picked up a magic wand and has taken over the Ward family tradition of performing. Visit his website at TimWardMagic.com.
Born in 1958, W. B. Ward has worked in various fields of the entertainment industry including music, radio, television, theatre, concerts, carnivals, professional wrestling, and so on.
In radio he has worked in stations coast to coast including, but not limited to, 97.5 KMOD, 101.5 the Beat, 92.1 KISS FM, KOOL 106.1, KAKC AM 1300, AM 1430 the Buzz, KMUS, KRLQ, KBIX; KGNX-TV, KRRG-FM, KRKC-FM, KNIC, and KVOO. His television credits include KGNS-TV, KOKI Fox 23, KLDO-TV, KOTV, KTUL, KJRH, ABC’s That’s Incredible, Westwood One’s PM Magazine, and was invited to perform on NBC’s Phenomenon. Currently he writes and produces a daily 2-minute feature, Wards Daily Almanac, which airs on stations around the country (as well as in more than 120 countries via the Armed Forces Network.).
Playing over 30 instruments, he is also an accomplished musician. His love of performing combined with his love for music encouraged him into the studio where he has recorded (and is currently recording) a number of CDs as well as an admirable library of audiobooks.
If you would like to book Mr. Ward as a speaker at your next meeting or convention, send us an email and check for availability. To inquire, send a message via the Contact form on the home page.
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site, you accept our use of cookies
Some production music by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)
License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Used by permission.
Copyright © 2019 WDA Media All Rights Reserved.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line815
|
__label__cc
| 0.666152
| 0.333848
|
Obama’s Trans-Pacific Partnership May Undermine Public Health, Environment, Internet All At Once
Posted by Alec Cope | Jan 11, 2014 |
www.huffingtonpost.com
WASHINGTON — Opponents of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal reacted angrily Mondayto disclosures that the Obama administration is backing proposals that would expand political powers for corporations, weaken financial regulations and increase the cost of prescription drugs.
In an interview on Huffpost Live Monday, Ilana Solomon, Sierra Club director of responsible trade, said parts of the proposed trade pact “could directly threaten our climate and our environment [including] new rights that would be given to corporations, and new constraints on the fossil fuel industry all have a huge impact on our climate, water, and land.”
Parker Higgins, an activist for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said the intellectual property rights chapter of the proposed agreement is “deeply worrisome — not just in substance.”
“What we’ve seen is actually a lot harsher than many of the national regulations that we see around the world, but we’ve also in terms of process,” Higgins said. “This new leak suggests that things are still a little problematic, but this is not the way that Internet policy should be formed. It’s really an inappropriate venue for that.”
The Obama administration since 2010 been leading negotiations on the international trade accord with Australia, Brunei, Chile, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, and urges countries to reach a deal by New Year’s Day. The U.S. has deemed negotiations to be secret — banning members of Congress from discussing the American negotiating position with the press or the public.
Memos obtained by The Huffington Post show the U.S. is having trouble gaining support for the agreement among the 11 other participating nations.
Ben Beachy, research director at Public Citizen, said the leaked documents show U.S. negotiators are isolated from other countries as well as from the U.S. Congress.
PreviousWhy Medicine Won’t Allow Cancer to Be Cured
NextHow To Get Over Your Fears & Live Your Dreams
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line817
|
__label__wiki
| 0.842993
| 0.842993
|
New Building for Alaska Native Cultural Charter School
Daysha Eaton, KMXT - Kodiak
Principal Patsy Shaha looks out the window of the new school building as 5th grade teacher Danielle Riha works in the background. Photo by Daysha Eaton, KSKA – Anchorage.
The Alaska Native Cultural Charter School, in Anchorage, has a new and bigger home – just in time for the new school year.
The new building was sorely needed says school Principal Patsy Shaha. She says the old location was simply bursting at the seams.
“We were maxed out at 210 over there,” Shaha said. “We couldn’t fit any more students; it just wouldn’t fit.”
The school started in 2007 and was housed at an old furniture store on Muldoon.
It didn’t have a its own parking lot, a playground or a gym. Students exercised in a storage room with eight foot ceilings. The new school has a parking lot a playground and a gym, plus more classrooms.
The new building is sandwiched between the neighborhoods of Airport Heights and Mountain View. It’s a rambling 1960s era former public school on Bragaw that was most recently occupied by Pacific Northern Academy, a private school. In 2009 the charter school added preschool. They added 7th grade in 2011. This year they added 8th grade. They use a district approved curriculum but they supplement with lessons on Native culture and language.
The outside of the new home of the Alaska Native Cultural Charter School. Photo by Daysha Eaton, KSKA – Anchorage.
“We begin everyday with a community gathering and all the students and staff are in the same room and every single day, there’s parents who stay also, and we say the pledge,” Shaha said, explaining the start to a typical day. “We say the pledge in Yup’ik. And on Monday we have a guest elder who speaks to the children about whatever they want to share.”
Each year students learn about a different Alaska Native cultural group. They study two hours of Yup’ik a day. Regular lessons are supplemented with berry picking and ice fishing field trips – and the occasional seal-skinning.
“Last year one of our teachers, her family harvested a seal; and so she brought in the seal and she laid out this cardboard on the ground and she took her ulu and all the students took turns watching as she skinned it, butchered it,” Shaha said. “She talked to them about when she was a little girl and her grandma taught her in the same thing, and she talked about how you use each individual part.”
With less than two weeks until school starts, the building is undergoing a major overhaul. Shaha walks me down a long cinder block-walled hallway where workers are rolling over Crayola colored paint with earth tones of blue and brown.
Shaha says that when they started the school the building was the least of their worries. Alaska Native achievement was about half that of other students and the school was started, in part, to address that.
“The first year of the school the achievement scores for the kids was 44 percent, average,” Shaha said. “And last year it was 76, and it just keep rising.”
So that means that less than half were passing standardized tests. Now more than three quarters are.
In general, the number hovers around 50 percent in Anchorage and across the country.
Shaha says they’re getting those results through excellent curriculum and excellent teachers. Danielle Riha teachers 5th grade at the school.
Tabytha Gardner fills out paperwork, registering her children for school. Photo by Daysha Eaton, KSKA – Anchorage.
Today she’s calling parents to remind them to register.
“I had to learn about their culture in order to teach them through their traditional ways of knowing. and once I did that they loved learning,” Riha said. “And that’s what I find here too is that once they’re connected to culture – even if they’re not Alaska Native, just having cultural values that are universal, they feel a sense of pride and they feel like they’re a part of something and they enjoy learning.”
The school focuses on community – and building relationships with families.
“I am registering five kids today; sixth grade, third grade, second grade, first grade and kindergarten,” Tabytha Gardner said, sitting at a table near the main office with her kids filling out paperwork.
Gardener says she chose to enroll her kids in the school for several reasons, but the main one is that she wants them to learn about their Alutiiq Heritage, along with reading, writing and arithmetic. And she says, she also likes the sense of community at the school.
“Going to the other schools it’s like you get a number basically,” Gardner said. “And maybe a phone call once in a while, or an automated phone call – you don’t talk to real people.”
Gardener says, because of that, she’ll send her sixth child to the school too, just as soon as he’s old enough. Shaha says it’s that sense of community that seems to be filling up the school.
“We moved into this building, it’s way bigger than the other building, but we’ve already run out of space,” Shaha said.
Shaha says the school has extended their lottery. They now have room for around 100 more students than last year, and slots are going fast. You don’t have to be Alaska Native to attend.
Previous articleAK: Doves
Next articleInterior Dry Spell Continues
http://www.alaskapublic.org/author/daysha-eaton/
Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network. Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage. Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email. Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.
Alaska Public Media > News > APRN Stories - Featured > New Building for Alaska Native Cultural Charter School
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line826
|
__label__wiki
| 0.601578
| 0.601578
|
Terell: Next matches will define our season
Defender focuses on Burton after slender loss at Sunderland
By Rob Cornell
Terell Thomas has called on his team-mates to take the spirit shown in recent matches against West Ham and Sunderland into important challenges ahead.
The Dons host Burton Albion on Saturday with points required to keep alive hopes of staying in League One and Terell is fully aware of what’s required.
“The teams in and around us, they are the teams we need to be beating, and that will define our season,” said Terell. “We are not going to come up against the quality of Sunderland or Barnsley all of the time. In these games I think we’ve been a credit to ourselves. We’ve shown the fight that we can have, but we just need to keep that going.
“I think we have to take that energy and fight (shown at Sunderland) into the next game and keep going. It was a much better performance than in the Fleetwood game. We have to try to take that into the Burton match.”
In-form defender Terell was pleased with the way Wimbledon defended as a unit and he is convinced that a win is just around the corner.
“Against a side that were in the Premier League two years ago I didn’t feel that we were under the cosh all of the time,” added Terell. “We had a few chances that I felt we could have scored from in the first-half. I felt confidence in the players that we could defend well. I think we just need to keep this flow going, from the West Ham game. We’ve kept that good momentum.
“The boys did well throughout the whole 90 minutes. We were a credit to ourselves, but it just came down to one little mistake. We are not going to dwell on it too much and if we perform like that for the next 16 games then the wins will start coming. I believe that once we get one then the run will start.
“We have a strong defensive mindset. We all speak to each other and we all try to stay in a good shape. We are all onto each other about staying switched on. It’s a good back four and I feel confidence in the players next to me.”
Terell Thomas
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line829
|
__label__wiki
| 0.518453
| 0.518453
|
ALFA ROMEO STELVIO GETS ITS FILL OF RECOGNITION.
The year just ended saw Alfa Romeo Stelvio top a list of international awards that still continues to grow in 2018. In fact, in 2017, Alfa Romeo’s first SUV gained pole position in major industry journals, distinguishing itself amongst high-profile competitors and winning trophies in different categories.
Beginning in Italy, Stelvio triumphed as the Web's Most Beautiful Car at the tenth edition of the IWA - Infomotori Web Awards -thanks to its lines characterized by pure, Italian design. It then went on to win the Big SUV Category of the German magazine, Auto Motor und Sport, at the Autonis Awards with more than half the readers’ overall votes. Furthermore, It was crowned Best Premium SUV by Auto Bild in Bulgaria and was awarded the Swiss Favourite Car, Best Car 2018 in the SUV segment by Auto Illustrierte in Switzerland.
Thanks to its ability to combine attractive design with extraordinary performance and advanced safety systems, Stelvio was also awarded the title of Premium SUV at the 2018 CCT100 Awards by Car Today, one of the most prestigious motoring magazines in the United Kingdom. It also gained the title of Premium Fleet Auto from Fleet Derby in Poland and, according to the Greek magazine Autotriti, Stelvio is The Most Beautiful Car, deserving the 1st prize in the category. The French magazine, Kilomètres Entreprise chose Stelvio from among over 50 contenders, awarding it the title of Premium Business SUV 2018 on the occasion of the Business Car of the Year.
The very latest award, coming just days ago - New Car of the Year 2018: the most coveted award of the Italian monthly Quattroruote - once again confirms Stelvio as the standard-bearer of Made in Italy’s stylistic and motoring excellence in the world.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line830
|
__label__wiki
| 0.933725
| 0.933725
|
Removal of Soviet statue further strains Czech-Russian relations
Ivan Konev entered Prague shortly after the German surrender in 1945, while his statue left the city on Friday.
The statue of Soviet commander Ivan Konev was removed from its plinth in Prague on Friday, two days before the Czech embassy in Moscow was attacked [David W Cerny/Reuters]
Tim Gosling
Prague, Czech Republic – Masked men attacking the Czech embassy in Moscow on Sunday after a statue of a Soviet-era military commander was removed from its pedestal in Prague is just the latest in a series of interruptions of bilateral relations between Russia and the small European Union state.
The bronze statue of Marshal Ivan Konev was taken from its podium in the leafy Prague 6 district on April 3. Moscow responded with fury, and was joined in its anger by activists in both countries, as well as the outspoken populist Czech president.
In a letter, the Russian embassy accused the Czech authorities of “seeking to worsen the entire complex of Russian-Czech relations”. This “vandalism” would “not remain without an appropriate response”, it said.
“I’m not sure what they mean by an ‘appropriate response’,” Ondrej Kolar, the mayor of Prague 6, told Al Jazeera. “But I don’t think that it should include attacking our embassy.”
Kolar belongs to the centre-right Top 09 party, and led the effort to move Konev’s statue.
Czech president suggests sending refugees to uninhabited Greek island (2:37)
The Other Russia, the “nationalist bolshevik” group that claims to have carried out Sunday’s embassy attack – which featured smoke bombs and saw a flag reading “Stop Fascism” attached to the building’s gates – said they were protesting the Czech authorities’ “justification of Nazism”.
The group, which issued a statement declaring: “Our tanks will be in Prague! Russia is everything, the rest is nothing!”, did not respond to Al Jazeera’s requests for comment.
The Czech foreign ministry called on Russia to prevent further attacks. “The incident occurred despite the fact that a curfew applies in Moscow,” the ministry noted in a letter. “We expect the Russian authorities to take measures to prevent such incidents from recurring.”
Politics of memory
The monument of the Red Army general was for years a subject of controversy in Prague 6, an affluent residential quarter of the Czech capital that plays host to many embassies.
Erected in 1980, the statue honoured Konev for leading the Soviet forces credited with liberating Prague from the Nazis in 1945. However, his later involvement in suppressing the Hungarian revolution in 1956, as well as suggestions he took part in planning the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact forces, meant it attracted both zealous gatherings and vandalism.
In September, Kolar and the municipal council voted to move the sculpture. The mayor said Marshall Konev should be on view again in a new Museum of Memory of the 20th Century being established by the city by next January. A “Prague Liberation Memorial” will replace the Red Army officer on Interbrigady Square.
The decision triggered violent protest from local activists last year. There was also stiff condemnation from Moscow, which in recent years has often accused other states of seeking to “rewrite history”.
Many of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe that fell under the yoke of communism following the conflict – which for Russians ran from 1941-45 and is called the Great Patriotic War – claim that Moscow is trying to wield the “politics of memory”. Poland, for instance, has furiously fought assertions from President Vladimir Putin that it was partly responsible for starting the second world war.
“World War II and the defeat of fascism is a sacred cow for the Russian authorities,” said Jiri Pehe, a political analyst who was an adviser to the first Czech president, Vaclav Havel, and is now director of the New York University in Prague.
“They know very well that the removal of the statue is a local issue, not an attempt to reinterpret history or an outbreak of fascism, but it plays well for the purposes of their propaganda.”
Kolar, whose family remains under police protection following death threats last year, claims the Russian embassy, which sits in a giant neo-Baroque villa behind high walls in Prague 6, directly coordinated protests by local far-left and far-right groups.
The statue’s removal has produced another sharp rise in abuse, he says. The Russian embassy in Prague did not respond to requests for comment for this report.
As well as trying to decipher a Russian-language barrage on Facebook, Kolar said he has been forced to confront accusations made closer to home. The Czech Communist Party (KSCM) complained that the timing of these “brutal and amoral acts” during the coronavirus lockdown was “cowardly”. The KSCM also refused to comment to Al Jazeera.
Kolar says the authorities “did not abuse the coronavirus lockdown, but did use it”. With protesters unable to gather, he says, the municipality was able to avoid conflict and potential violence.
Bigger fight?
However, the mayor’s actions have powerful opponents in his own country. The struggle over Konev is part of a bigger fight over the Czech Republic’s geopolitical stance.
President Milos Zeman is a leading critic of the statue’s removal. The controversial populist has long bid to replace Havel’s human rights-focused foreign policy legacy with a more “pragmatic” approach that favours strengthened ties with Russia and China over the EU and NATO, which is the government’s official line.
“You can tear down a statue, but you can’t erase the memory,” Zeman’s spokesman tweeted on April 3. “The president considers the abuse of the crisis situation to be morally unjustifiable,” he later told local media.
On April 6, as the foreign ministry announced the attack on the embassy in Moscow, far-right parties linked to the president were quick to blame Kolar and his centre-right party.
“Action causes a reaction,” Radim Fiala, deputy head of the far-right SPD, posted on Facebook. “It is right to condemn the actions of Russian extremists, but also the extremists from Top 09.”
Pehe said the events “are part of the domestic political struggle”:
“The liberals in power in Prague are no fans of the policies pursued by Zeman and these extremist parties.
“Such foreign policy confusion would be dealt with if the government were stronger,” he added. Yet, the government has consistently failed to maintain discipline.
The furore over Konev’s removal is just the latest in a series of controversies featuring Prague officials seeking to reiterate the Czech Republic’s Western orientation.
Earlier this year, Prague renamed the square hosting the Russian embassy to honour slain Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, in a move the city’s Mayor Zdenek Hrib told Al Jazeera was “in line with the Czech tradition of respect for human rights”.
In November, Russia noted “yet another truly horrible report from Prague”, as it slammed plans by the mayor of the district of Reporyje to build a monument to the controversial Vlasov Army as the “criminal rewriting of history”.
Hrib, meanwhile, is continuing a long fight with China – which last year saw Beijing tear up a sister city agreement with Prague. The mayor recently sought to debunk China’s “mask diplomacy” efforts as simply business.
Other parts of the political establishment have also joined in. The Czech security services (BIS) have issued increasingly urgent warnings that the threat from Russian and Chinese operations is rising.
This raises concern that Moscow could seek to strike back. After Estonia moved a Russian military statue in 2007, Tallinn reported a wave of massive cyberattacks that disrupted government and public services. In the middle of the current lockdown, Kolar admits, the Czech Republic would be highly vulnerable to any such action.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line831
|
__label__cc
| 0.625677
| 0.374323
|
Lawyers & Support
Three Firm Members are Top 100 Super Lawyers & Ten Are Recognized as Super Lawyers or Rising Stars in 2018
Posted by Scott MacDonald
In Construction News and Notes, Out of the Ordinary, Rants and Raves
With the Fourth of July festivities still ringing in our collective ears, we are having our own celebration at Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC. We avoid using this blog as a platform for self-promotion as we want to keep relevant construction industry news and notes hitting your inboxes. Longtime readers will know, however, that we make an exception to recognize the Super Lawyers of the firm, who are each humbled to receive this peer-voted award. We also share this news in recognition of our clients and industry-partners who have put their trust and confidence in us. Without these relationships, these industry acknowledgments would have no significance.
Super Lawyers is a wholly independent company that identifies outstanding lawyers in the profession. It selects attorneys using a patented multiphase selection process based on legal excellence, industry involvement, and civic leadership. Super Lawyers’ initial pool of candidates is based on peer nominations and evaluations from outside the firm, which is then combined with Super Lawyers’ own third-party research. Only five percent of all lawyers in Washington State are selected for the honor of Super Lawyers and no more than 2.5 percent are selected for the honor of Super Lawyers Rising Stars. What makes this award meaningful is it is based upon evaluation of individual merit—as opposed to a “pay-to-win” award.
John P. Ahlers, one of the firm’s founding partners, is again recognized as one of the 10-Best Lawyers in the State of Washington across all practicing industries.
Founding partner Paul R. Cressman, Jr. and partner Brett M. Hill are also recognized as two of the 100-Best Lawyers across all practicing industries in Washington State.
In addition, three other firm members are also recognized as Super Lawyers: Founding partner Scott R. Sleight, Bruce A. Cohen (of counsel), and Lawrence S. Glosser (partner). In addition, Ryan W. Sternoff (partner), Lindsay (Taft) Watkins (partner), Ceslie A. Blass (associate), and Scott D. MacDonald (associate) were selected as Super Lawyers Rising Stars. Well over half of the firm’s lawyers received Super Lawyers distinction.
Much of the honor of being named Super Lawyers is due to all of the firm’s hardworking and talented professionals, including associates, administrative staff, legal assistants, paralegals, and law clerks. As always, we will continue to strive to offer high-quality legal services to the construction industry.
John P. Ahlers is a Super Lawyer and named one of the 10-Best lawyers in Washington State across all practicing industries for the second year in a row. A founding member of Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC, he has been named a Super Lawyer since 2003—16 years in a row. To read Mr. Ahlers’s full profile, click here.
Paul R. Cressman is a Super Lawyer and named one of the 100-Best lawyers in Washington State across all practicing industries. A founding member of Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC, he has been named a Super Lawyer since 2003—16 years in a row. To read Mr. Cressman’s full profile, click here.
Scott R. Sleight is a Super Lawyer in Construction Litigation for 2018. A founding member of Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC, he was previously recognized as a Rising Star from 2005-2009, and has been named a Super Lawyer since 2011. To read Mr. Sleight’s full profile, click here.
Brett M. Hill is a Super Lawyer and named one of the 100-Best lawyers in Washington State across all practicing industries. A partner at the firm and a member since its inception, he was previously recognized as a Rising Star from 2010-2014, and has been named a Super Lawyer since 2015. To read Mr. Hill’s full profile, click here.
Bruce A. Cohen is a Super Lawyer in Construction Litigation for 2018. Mr. Cohen has been of-counsel at Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC since its inception and has been named a Super Lawyer since 2012. To read Mr. Cohen’s full profile, click here.
Lawrence S. Glosser is a Super Lawyer in Real Estate for 2018. A partner at Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC, Mr. Glosser joined the firm months after its inception and has been named a Super Lawyer since 2014. To read Mr. Glosser’s full profile, click here.
Ryan W. Sternoff is a Rising Star in Construction Litigation for 2018. A partner at the firm and a member since its inception, Mr. Sternoff has been named a Rising Star since 2010. To read Mr. Sternoff’s full profile, click here.
Lindsay (Taft) Watkins is a Rising Star in Construction Litigation for 2018. A partner at the firm and a member since 2009, Ms. Watkins has been named a Rising Star since 2016. To read Ms. Watkin’s full profile, click here.
Ceslie A. Blass is a Rising Star in Construction Litigation for 2018. Having joined the firm as a law clerk during her second year of law school in 2015, Ms. Blass has been an attorney with the firm since 2016 and is receiving the honor of Rising Star in her first year of eligibility. To read Ms. Blass’s full profile, click here.
Scott D. MacDonald is a Rising Star in Construction Litigation for 2018. Having joined the firm as a law clerk during his second year of law school in 2015, Mr. MacDonald has been an attorney with the firm since 2016 and is receiving the honor of Rising Star in his first year of eligibility. To read Mr. MacDonald’s full profile, click here.
Contractor’s Charge of Improvements to Real Property Not Required for Laborers to Have Lien Rights
RCW 82.32.655 Tax Avoidance Statute/Speculative Building
0 comments on Three Firm Members are Top 100 Super Lawyers & Ten Are Recognized as Super Lawyers or Rising Stars in 2018
Blog Categories Select Category Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Bankruptcy Change Orders Claims Construction Bidding Construction Defect Construction Discovery Construction News and Notes Contracting Courses Damages Delay Claims Department of Labor & Industries Development Employment Firm News Government Contracts Indemnity Learning Liens Managing MBE Memorable Quotes Notice Issues Out of the Ordinary Rants and Raves Recent Legislation Regulatory Administration Seminars Settlements Uncategorized
Court of Appeals Expands Application of Construction Statute of Repose
California Precludes Surety from Asserting Pay-When-Paid Provision as Defense to Payment Bond Claim
In Memory of Douglas R. Roach
UPDATE TO WASHINGTON STATE COVID-19 GUIDANCE
Ahlers Distinguished as Top Super Lawyer in Washington and Nine Firm Members Recognized as Super Lawyers or Rising Stars
Archives Select Month December 2020 November 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 May 2010 April 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 September 2007 March 2007
Get Construction Law Blog Updates
RSS Testers
999 Third Avenue, Suite 3800
Copyright © Ahlers Cressman & Sleight PLLC - All Rights Reserved
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line835
|
__label__wiki
| 0.577661
| 0.577661
|
Apocryphal Press is a news service that blends fantasy with fact—the fantasy predominating. It is firmly based on absurdist principles.
Our large editorial staff is pleased to receive feedback of any kind.
Send general comments here, or publish comments on a specific news clip in the form below each clip.
To access the comment form for a news clip, double click the clip's headline, or the "read more" or "Comments" link at the bottom of the clip.
Find and read older clips
Our home page displays our five most-recent news clips. To view a list that includes our older clips, click Sitemap here or at the bottom of the right column of each page.
In the Sitemap, you'll find all of our news clips listed in reverse chronological order under the "Blog" heading. To open a clip, double click its page icon or headline.
Site designed and built by
Trump vs. The New York Times (A Continuing Narrative)
We’ve always known that the Trumps are very wealthy.
The New York Times is not failing — it’s succeeding.
In exposing Donald Trump’s false claim that he’s a self-made man, the Times is doing just what it should be doing (https://www.politico.com/story/2018/10/03/trump-consequences-unlikely-despite-tax-dodging-allegations-827484).
The Times’ report, based on a careful examination of some 100,000 documents, is well-timed ahead of the mid-terms.
It said he engaged in “instances of outright fraud” during the 1990s and that he set up a sham corporation to hide the family’s wealth from tax authorities.
In pushing back against the Times' report, Sarah Huckabee referred to the Times as failing — just as Trump loves to do.
On September 26, we wrote that Tiffany Trump, Donald Jr., and Eric Trump plan to buy the UN just so they can tear it down (https://www.apocryphalpress.com/2018/09/26/tiffany-trump-trump-jr-and-eric-buy-the-un-with-plans-to-take-it-down-more-on-tomorrow-s-senate-judiciary-committee-hearing/).
Given their wealth, maybe they’ll try to buy the Times, as well, for a similar purpose.
Copyright © 2020 Apocryphal Press,
Apocryphal Press® is a United States Registered Trademark of Tom Korson.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line837
|
__label__wiki
| 0.58455
| 0.58455
|
TPG 'uncertainty' sees Vodafone losses soar
Revenues also hit by “aggressive competition”
Sasha Karen (ARN) 26 February, 2020 14:10
Credit: 38416505 © Tktktk Dreamstime.com
Vodafone Hutchison Australia (VHA) has reported an annual loss of $279.3 million after a year of turbulence surrounding its merger with TPG.
Despite closing the year ending 31 December 2019 with a further 124.5 per cent dip into the red, CEO Iñaki Berroeta remained positive about the company's prospects following the merger's recent approval.
“The merged company will have a strong balance sheet, significantly improved spectrum and transmission assets, and increased cross-selling opportunities,” he said.
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) increased by 6.9 per cent year-on-year to $1.2 billion, while total revenue decreased year-on-year by 2.8 per cent to $3.5 billion.
Berroeta said he was pleased with the EBITDA result as the company’s strategy in 2019 was to focus on its commercial stability.
Meanwhile, the revenue loss was attributed to aggressive competition for new customers, according to Sean Crowley, acting chief financial officer.
He said that "the uncertainty we faced with the merger approval" with TPG necessitated a different commercial approach compared to its competitors.
“However, by improving device margins and managing our cost base effectively, we were able to mitigate against the decline in revenue and overall we estimate that our EBITDA market share, on a normalised basis, has increased through 2019," he said.
Mobile average revenue per user (ARPU) was also down by 4.9 per cent year-on-year to $33.4 million.
Read more Court approves $15B TPG-Vodafone merger
Its fixed customer base more than tripled, rising 245.5 per cent year-on-year to 114,000, while its total mobile network customer base decreased in the same period by 4.6 per cent to 5.7 million.
The change in customers aligned with VHA’s focus of maintaining its postpaid mobile based, rather than targeting aggressive customer growth, Crowley added.
Berroeta also said that he was excited to be pushing ahead with the company’s plans for delivering its first 5G sites alongside Nokia which will start with a roll out of over 650 sites and will be going live “within weeks” and will number in the thousands in the future.
To the future, the company's 2020 focus is on its 5G roll out and implementation of the merger, Berroeta said. “This will enable us to compete with confidence in the market and reverse the downward movements of 2019," he added.
Read more Vodafone Australia partners with Nokia to kick off 5G rollout
TPG pays the price for scrapping mobile network and low-margin NBN migration
ACCC gives up on TPG-Vodafone merger battle
More from ESET
Tags vhaVodafone Hutchison Australia
Why fibre is crucial to the future of 5G
To support 5G’s growth and capabilities, mobile service providers will need access to high-capacity, reliable fibre backhaul in the right places
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line844
|
__label__cc
| 0.503023
| 0.496977
|
Image by Osama Shukir Muhammed Amin
Stela of Ity
In the upper scene, Ity and his wife receive offerings from two sons. Below left is another figure of Ity faced by two daughters. The top of the stela bears an exact date; year 14 of the reign of Senwosret I. The family came from Thebes...
Image by Neithsabes
Bust of Sobeknefru
Bust of Queen Sobeknefru, 12th Dynasty, Egypt. Louvre, Paris
Book Review by Steven Snape
The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt
The Complete Cities of Ancient Egypt, by Dr. Steven Snape, instructor of Egyptian Archaeology at the University of Liverpool, reveals the astonishing urban world of ancient Egyptian civilizations, from large cities like Memphis, Thebes, and...
Book Review by Joshua J. Mark
Ancient Egypt: An illustrated reference to the myths, religions, pyramids and temples of the land of the pharaohs
Ancient Egypt: An Illustrated Reference To the Myths, Religions, Pyramed And Temples Of The Land Of the Pharaohs by Lorna Oakes and Lucia Gahlin is among the best books on ancient Egypt I have ever read. The prose is light and well written...
Death and Burial in Ancient Egypt
Dr. Salima Ikram's Death and Burial in Ancient Egypt is among the best works on the subject presently on the market. Dr. Ikram earned her Ph. D. in Egyptology and Museum Studies at Cambridge and yet her work breathes with a love of the...
Image by The Trustees of the British Museum
Middle Kingdom Axe-head
Arsenical copper axe-head, dating to the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. It has nine binding-holes, three in each tang. Traces of the original wooden haft survive and the remains of some organic material are preserved in the corrosion product on...
The Kingdom of Kush
Kush was a kingdom in northern Africa in the region corresponding to modern-day Sudan. The larger region around Kush (later referred to as Nubia) was inhabited c. 8,000 BCE but the Kingdom of Kush rose much later. The Kerma Culture, so named...
Kingdom of Jerusalem
The Kingdom of Jerusalem was a state created in 1099 CE by Crusaders and western settlers after the First Crusade (1095-1102 CE). With Jerusalem as its capital, the kingdom was the most important of the four Crusader States in the Middle...
Kingdom of Axum
The African kingdom of Axum (also Aksum), located on the northern edge of the highland zone of the Red Sea coast, just above the horn of Africa, was founded in the 1st century CE, flourished from the 3rd to 6th century CE, and then survived...
Kingdom of Wessex
The Kingdom of Wessex (c. 519-927 CE or c. 519-1066 CE) was a political entity founded by the West Saxon Chieftain Cerdic (r. 519-540 CE) in 519 CE in the Upper Thames Valley of modern-day Britain which would later evolve into the modern...
<< First < Previous 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Next > Last >>
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line845
|
__label__wiki
| 0.749545
| 0.749545
|
American Nursing Informatics Association President Patricia Sengstack Honored as a Top Female Influencer in Health Care IT
Pitman, NJ — FierceHealthIT has named American Nursing Informatics Association (ANIA) President Patricia Sengstack, DNP, RN-BC, CPHIMS, one of the "10 Influential Women in Health IT in 2014" for her outspoken advocacy in the use of health technology among nurses.
Sengstack was chosen by the publication's readers and joins other women who serve in a wide variety of health IT roles, from government to research. According to an article describing the influencers, “Women continue to play a major role in the evolution of health IT both in the U.S. and around the world."
A respected leader and widely known nursing informatics expert, Sengstack is also the Chief Nursing Informatics Officer (CNIO) for the Bon Secours Health System based in Marriottsville, MD. With her role as ANIA president, she has helped put the specialty on the industry map during her term.
"Patty's intelligence, commitment, humor and positive outlook have led ANIA to another level this year," ANIA Vice-President Charles Boicey, MS, RN-BC, CPHIMS, said. “She's inspired her colleagues on the ANIA Board, our members and other leaders. She deserves this honor and we are proud of her work in promoting nursing informatics."
Since she became ANIA president in April 2013, Sengstack's focus has been on the impact of health care informatics on patient safety. She has also worked diligently to help build a program to improve the evaluation process of IT systems.
The former Deputy CIO and Chief of Clinical Informatics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center in Bethesda, MD, Sengstack earned her DNP from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, where she still serves as a faculty member teaching nursing informatics. She earned her master's in nursing informatics from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD. She currently resides in Damascus, MD.
The FierceHealthIT list, its third annual, also includes a health technology and social media maven and the first female National Coordinator for Health IT. The individuals were chosen because they ‘helped guide their organizations to unprecedented health IT heights,' according to the publication.
ANIA is a professional nursing association with over 3,000 members in the U.S. and internationally. For more information about the organization and nursing informatics, visit the ANIA website at www.ania.org.
Members of the Media: American Nursing Informatics Association President Patricia Sengstack has been honored by an industry publication for the influence she has had on health care IT. To interview Sengstack or to obtain a photo, please contact Janet D'Alesandro at 856-256-2422; janetd@ajj.com. Thank you for your time and attention.
ANIA is a professional nursing association with over 3,000 members in 50 states and 30 countries. The purpose of ANIA (formerly ANIA-CARING) is to advance the field of nursing informatics through communication, education, research, and professional activities.
You are receiving this press release because you are on the Anthony J. Jannetti, Inc. press release distribution list. If you wish to be removed from future press release e-mailings, please send an e-mail to rosaria@ajj.com.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line846
|
__label__wiki
| 0.518251
| 0.518251
|
Home > William Paca Garden
The William Paca House and Garden is currently closed for the winter, and will re-open in March 2021.
The William Paca Garden is a two acre oasis of natural beauty in the bustling center of Annapolis’ Historic District. Although many colonial Annapolitans had gardens, only Paca’s has been returned to its original splendor and opened to the public. Intrigued by garden details in the background of Charles Willson Peale’s 1772 portrait of Paca, researchers were able to reconstruct the site from a series of archeological digs that turned up evidence of the garden’s former glory.
The brick walls enclose a series of terraces characteristic of colonial gardens in the Chesapeake region. The uppermost terrace serves as a platform for entertaining and viewing the garden. The next two levels are laid out in parterres, geometric designs that demonstrate human control over nature. The Rose Parterre is filled with heirloom varieties, while the Flower Parterre provides three seasons of colorful bloom. The Holly and Boxwood Parterres provide year round structure with their carefully shaped evergreen plants.
The Summerhouse, reconstructed from the Paca portrait, serves as a focal point in the garden. On its upper floor the Paca family could view the garden, entertain guests, and catch cool summer breezes. The Chinese style latticework bridge provides a path over the pond to this inviting garden retreat.
The Summerhouse sits in the Wilderness, which reflects the picturesque style of gardening that was fashionable in England after 1740. Serpentine pathways meander between beds of mixed plantings. The emphasis today is on native plants of North America that had been brought into cultivation by Paca’s time.
Paca conceived water features to contain and channel the natural runoff across his property. A small brick canal once again carries water away. A natural spring, still active after several centuries and once again sheltered by a springhouse, feeds the pond. In Paca’s day, the spring water also supplied a bath house in the opposite corner of the garden.
Plants of the 18th century are known from books and letters. Roses, perennials and annuals in the parterres reflect what would have been available in the colonial period. The Kitchen Garden provides fresh delicacies such as salad greens, peas and melons. In the fruit garden heirloom varieties of apples, pears, plums, cherries and figs are carefully trained into espaliers and cordons to take advantage of limited space in an urban garden.
Once covered by a 200 room hotel, the Paca Garden is now owned by the State of Maryland. Historic Annapolis oversaw its restoration in the 1970s and continues to manage it. Today, the garden is again host to visitors as Historic Annapolis celebrates holidays, weddings and special events. Children and adults enjoy educational programming. Many gardeners make a ritual of attending the Paca Garden Plant Sale on Mother’s Day weekend every year.
William Paca House and Garden
186 Prince George Street
Closed December through early March.
Hours subject to change based on special programs and events.
Group tours can be arranged by appointment with advance notice. Please contact grouptours@annapolis.org or call 410.267.7619.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line848
|
__label__cc
| 0.66854
| 0.33146
|
Background information about dementia and home care services
In 1978, the National Health System was set up in Italy. In the same year, Local Health Authorities (USL) were created which were controlled by the municipalities. However, it was not until 2000 that a legal framework and financial basis for a national development of social services was established. Meanwhile, care for the elderly was entrusted to general practitioners, community care services organised by municipalities and associations. According to Nesti et al. (2003), “at least until the 1990s, Italy had no clear concept of the problems inherent to elderly people with care needs, nor was it clear which services were required to maintain their health.”
There is still a strong emphasis on support from the family. Care of the elderly is traditionally considered as a kind of “social duty” by the family, especially the women on whom the main burden of care falls. According to Auser (2001), “it is generally accepted as normal and legitimate that the community and institutions should become involved in caring for elderly family members only after the family resources – often interpreted in a very extended sense (up to the third degree of kinship) have run out (in Polverini et al. 2004).
Demand for home care services has nevertheless increased significantly but supply has been fairly limited. The percentage of over 65 year-olds using home care services in Italy is very low (i.e. 1% of the population) compared to other countries e.g. 5.5% in the United Kingdom, 6.5% in Germany and almost 10% in Scandinavia (Minguzzi in Polverini et al. 2004). Moreover, there have been considerable differences in the development and distribution of home care services, particularly between the north and south of the country. There are also differences between the populations. For example in the north, elderly people tend to live in better conditions; on the islands, such as Sicily and Sardinia, there is a higher percentage of chronic diseases and disability (Nesti et al. 2003). Services tend to be fragmented and public expenditure on health services is fairly low.
Legislation relating to the provision of home care services
Reform of the National Health System began in 1992 with the Health Care Decree no. 502/1992, followed by the “Objective: Ageing Persons” project (the National Plan for Welfare), Law no. 328/2000 relating to the creation of an integrated care and social services system and finally the Guidance and Coordination related to Health and Social Integration Act of 2001.
The objective of the National Plan for Elderly People was to better coordinate medical and social services so as to ensure their integration within the home care services system. Related services are intended to promote the well-being of elderly people and to help them to maintain their autonomy.
Every person in Italy, with insufficient financial resources, irrespective of age, can ask for “alimony” from his/her family. According to articles 433, 438 and 443 of the Civil Code, relatives can fulfil this obligation either by paying money every month or by accepting and supporting the person in their own home (Polverini et al., 2004).
Financing of home care services
In Italy, citizens must purchase a ticket in order to have access to services within the National Health Service. People who are over 65 years old and those suffering from an officially recognised chronic and disabling disease do not have to pay.
The regions have legislative powers over health and welfare but home care services are financed entirely by Local Councils. Such services are generally rendered to people on low incomes. Elderly people may have to contribute towards costs using their pensions, vouchers and care payments. Those with extremely limited financial resources may be exempt from making these partial payments. According to Dogliotti et al. (1999), there is a die-hard cultural misconception in Italy that care is not considered as a right to be claimed by each and every citizen, but rather as a concession from above, similar to some sort of ‘charity’ (in Polverini et al., 2004, p.57).
According to Nesti et al. (2003), national surveys have revealed that 15% of families caring for an elderly relative employ informal carers on a private basis for more than 20 hours per week. These carers are often immigrants and the amount paid per month ranges from approximately EUR 500 in the South to EUR 800 in the North (Salvini, 2006). In some cases, families use the vouchers that they are given for services to contribute towards the cost of private care.
Kinds of home care services available
A care system was set up in the framework of the National Plan for Elderly people which includes[1]:
Home Care (community care): with social importance (home help, meals and personal care); with health importance (medical, rehabilitative and/or nursing care); integrated.
Integrated Home Care Services: is a combination of integrated and coordinated health and social activities which seek to keep an elderly person at home as longer as possible. Health services are medical care (Geriatric, Psychiatry), nursing, rehabilitation, medicines and prosthesis supply. Social services are: personal care, meals, house work, laundry, administrative services.
Day Centres: semi-residential structure, within the District, which hosts disabled elderly people for a short-term period (they are open during the day, 5 days a week, 7 hours a day, and admit 20 elderly persons). They provide healthcare services (prevention, therapy, and rehabilitation), and social care services (personal care and promotion of personal autonomy, entertainment, job therapy, and social activities).
Nursing homes: residential structure, organised into small groups (“nuclei”), which provides healthcare, social care, and functional rehabilitation for people with disabilities. Patient care can be extensive or intensive. The first area comprises temporary accommodation for long-term care and rehabilitation (while hospitalisation is limited only to the acute stage). The second area comprises intensive rehabilitation, with high medical importance, plus a hospice for terminal patients which provides palliative care (reduction of pain; social protection for patients and their family; family support). Doctors, nurses, social workers and psychologists are available at the Nursing Home.
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions (EFILWC) (2002), Italy – http://www.eirpfpimd.ie/living/socpub_cstudies/de3.htm (accessed 31/5/2005)
Information provided by Gabriella Salvini (2006)
Nesti, G. et al. (2003), Providing integrated health and social care for older persons in Italy, Procare (http://www.imsersomayores.csic.es/documentos/documentos/procare-providingitaly-01.pdf)
Polverini, F., Principi, A., Balducci, C., Melchiorre, G., Sabrina Quattrini, M., Gianelli, V. and Lamura, G. (2004), National Background Report for Italy, EUROFAMCARE. http://www.uke.uni-hamburg.de/extern/eurofamcare/documents/nabare_italy_rc1_a4.pdf
[1] Extract from the report “Providing integrated health and social care for older persons in Italy” (Nest et al., 2003)
Last Updated: Wednesday 15 July 2009
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line850
|
__label__cc
| 0.722154
| 0.277846
|
Contractual provisions:
This EULA concerns the granting of a license for the software product to be used by you as well as any related online services by Ashampoo.
1. Definitions:
1. Ashampoo – refers to Ashampoo GmbH & Co. KG and its sister companies Ashampoo Technology GmbH & Co. KG, Ashampoo Development GmbH & Co. KG and Ashampoo Systems GmbH & Co. KG, with its registered office at Schafjückenweg 2 | 26180 Rastede/Germany and all other companies of the group.
2. Terms and Conditions – means the General Terms and Conditions of Ashampoo. See www.ashampoo.com. As stated below, these terms and conditions apply in addition to and supplement the provisions of this EULA. In the event of contradictions between the two sets of rules, this EULA shall apply.
3. Costumer – means a contractual partner of Ashampoo, i.e. both consumer and entrepreneur.
4. License period – begins as soon as you have activated the software or received a software key.
5. Multiple use – means the simultaneous storage, the simultaneous retention and any other simultaneous use of software on several digital devices as well as any use of such software for which special licenses for multiple use are granted in accordance with the respective product information.
If you have any questions about the products, their services or these terms of use, please visit www.ashampoo.com or contact
Schafjückenweg 2 | 26180 Rastede/Germany
E-Mail: support@ashampoo.com
Phone: +49 4402 9739-200*
2. Grant of the License
1. Ashampoo grants you a non-exclusive and non-transferable right to use the software for the duration of the agreed license period, subject to any restrictions contained in this EULA or in the Terms and Conditions.
2. If you have agreed to an automatic renewal of your license, the license period will automatically be renewed at the then effective list price.
3. The termination or expiration of the license granted under this Agreement will immediately end your right to use the software and the updates and upgrades. You must delete the software as well as all backup copies from your digital device.
3. Usage
1. Access to the software is only permitted via the sources provided and approved by Ashampoo. You are obligated not to access the software in an unauthorized manner, e.g. by using unlicensed software clients.
2. The software may be protected against digital duplication and/or license abuse. Access to the online services and features of this software may require an Internet connection, an Ashampoo account, the installation of the Connect Client software as well as the activation of a product license.
3. Unless otherwise contractually agreed, the use of the software is limited to one digital device. For this purpose, you can use any available digital device that meets the system requirements and for which the license has been granted. If you change the digital device, the software must be removed from the digital device on which it was previously installed before it is reinstalled on another digital device. For software whose product information provide for special licenses for multiple use, multiple use is only permitted to the extent that you have purchased the corresponding type or number of licenses and received them from Ashampoo.
4. The software shall not be passed on to third parties without the consent of Ashampoo. In the context of the case law on used software, consent is hereby granted under the following conditions:
- You transfer the software permanently.
- All associated files, including the installation program, must be passed on.
- The software must be unchanged.
- You may not remove any product information, copyright or other proprietary notices from Ashampoo.
- The recipient must in turn accept these Terms of Use.
- You cease using the software and do not retain any copies or other materials. Both must be permanently deleted.
- Each transfer of the software must include the latest update as well as all previous versions.
- The transfer takes place only in individual cases and not on a commercial scale.
5. You are not permitted to revise the software, reverse engineer it, convert it into another form of expression, decompile it, disassemble it, create any derivative work(s) of it, or otherwise attempt to discover the source code of the software.
Ashampoo hereby grants you a non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, non-commercial and personal license to install and/or use the software (in whole or in part)(the ‚license‘), until one of the parties terminates the contractual relationship or until its possible time limit expires. There is no transfer of ownership. This is not a sales contract. Updates, patches and similar changes may be necessary in order to continue using the software on certain hardware.
All proprietary and ownership rights and all intellectual property rights relating to the software (including, but not limited to, all texts, graphics, music or sounds, all messages or information, names, themes, objects, effects, dialogues, slogans, places, diagrams, concepts, videos, audio-visual effects, domain names and all other elements belonging to the software, individually or in combination) and all copies thereof, are and remain the property of Ashampoo or its licensors. The software is protected by national and international laws, copyright treaties and agreements as well as other laws. This software may contain licensed materials and in this case, Ashampoo’s licensors may protect their rights in the event of a breach of this Agreement. Any duplication or reproduction of these licensed materials in any way and for any reason without the prior consent of Ashampoo and, where applicable, Ashampoo’s licensors and representatives, is prohibited. With the exception of the cases expressly provided for in this EULA, all rights not conferred on you by this Agreement are expressly reserved by Ashampoo. This license does not transfer any claims or ownership rights to the software.
5. Right of Modification
Ashampoo reserves the right to make product changes, updates and revisions at its own discretion in order to further develop, improve and adapt the software to changing commercial and technical requirements. The equivalence of the performance/software is ensured. Modified, updated or revised software is subject to the terms of this License Agreement. There is no obligation to provide updated, modified or revised software.
6. Liability for defects
1. Ashampoo warrants remedy of defects that occur and are reported in a documented, verifiable form if and to the extent that the contractual or ordinary use is impaired.
2. If the defect cannot be remedied within a reasonable period of time, you are entitled, in accordance with the statutory provisions, to withdraw from the contract or at your discretion to reduce the purchase price and to demand compensation for damages or expenses. The defect can also be remedied by handing over a new version of the program or a work-around. If the defect does not or only insignificantly affect the functionality, Ashampoo may, to the exclusion of further claims for defects, remedy the defect by providing a new version or an update as part of its version and update planning.
3. Ashampoo’s obligation contained in section 6.1. does not apply if and to the extent that the reported error is due to changes or additions to the LICENSED SOFTWARE or its improper handling or installation by you and/or your costumers or third parties.
1. With the exception of liability under the German Product Liability Act (“Produkthaftungsgesetz”) and on the grounds of injury to life, body or health, Ashampoo’s liability is limited or excluded as defined below.
2. In case of negligence, Ashampoo’s liability is limited to the compensation of the typical foreseeable damage. However, in the event of slight negligence, Ashampoo shall only be liable if an obligation is breached, whose fulfilment is a prerequisite for enabling the proper execution of the contract in the first place and, in particular taking into account the interests of both parties in the contract territory, on whose compliance you can trust.
8. Final provisions
1. The law of the Federal Republic of Germany applies to contracts between the provider and the customers, to the exclusion of the UN Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods. The statutory provisions on the restriction of the choice of law and the applicability of mandatory regulations, in particular in the state in which the customer has his habitual residence as a consumer, remain unaffected.
2. If the costumer is a merchant, a legal entity under public law or a special fund under public law, the place of jurisdiction for all disputes arising from contractual relationships between the customer and the provider is the provider’s registered office.
3. Even in case of legal ineffectiveness of individual points, the contract remains binding in its other parts. Instead of the ineffective points, the statutory provisions, if any, apply. However, to the extent that this would constitute an unreasonable hardship for one of the parties, the contract becomes ineffective in its entirety.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line856
|
__label__cc
| 0.515441
| 0.484559
|
Home On Location
Updates on Novel Treatments for Leukemia
Three sessions at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting focused on promising, novel treatment options for patients with various forms of leukemia.
In the first study, a late-breaking abstract presented by Yoko Ogawara, PhD, of the division of hematological malignancy at the National Cancer Research Institute in Tokyo, Japan, researchers tested the validity of mutant isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) enzymes as targets for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) therapy. Using mouse models of mutant IDH-dependent AML, Dr. Ogawara and colleagues determined that four mutations are necessary for induction of AML: IDH2/R140Q, NPMc, SNMT3A/R882H, and FLT3/ITD. All four mutations must be present, they noted: When only three of the mutant genes were transduced, myeloproliferative neoplasms, rather than AML, more frequently resulted. To test their findings, the investigators then conditionally deleted IDH2/R140Q from the AML mice; doing this blocked 2-HG production and resulted in the loss of leukemia cells. The function of IDH2 is critical for the development and maintenance of AML stem cells; thus, IDHs are promising targets for AML treatment, the authors concluded.
Also on the AML front, Gail Roboz, MD, of the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, reported results of a more aggressive 10-day regimen of guadecitabine (SGI-110) for older patients (≥65 years) with AML. Guadecitabine is a novel hypomethylating agent (HMA) that produced an overall complete response (CR) of 55 percent when administered over a five-day course. Dr. Roboz and colleagues enrolled 52 older patients with AML (median age = 77 years) into the current study, with guadecitabine given: at 60 mg/m2 subcutaneous injection per day for 10 days (days 1-5 and 8-12) for the first one to two cycles, followed by the five-day regimen (days 1-5) for subsequent cycles.
All patients were followed for a minimum of three months, though 50 percent of patients (n=26) were still receiving treatment at the time of data reporting. Twenty-four participants (46%) experienced overall complete response (complete response + CRi [complete remission with incomplete blood count recovery]+ CRp [complete remission with incomplete platelet recovery]), the study’s primary endpoint (TABLE). Early, all-cause 30-day and 60-day mortality occurred in two (4%) and 10 (19%) patients, respectively. Toxicity was also acceptable: grade ≥3 adverse events included febrile neutropenia (33%), thrombocytopenia (27%), neutropenia (21%), anemia (15%), bacteremia (10%), and pneumonia (6%).
“However, and although it was not a randomized comparison, the 10-day regimen did not result in a higher rate of overall complete response in previously untreated AML than what was previously reported for the five-day regimen,” the investigators concluded.
Finally, in a report about models of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), ABL001 (a potent, specific BRC-ABL inhibitor) was shown to suppress emergence of disease resistance. ABL001, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, dually targets BCR-ABL and was developed for use in combination with nilotinib to combat potential genetic resistance to therapy. William R. Sellers, MD, of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and colleagues presented the research.
Data suggest that tumors may need to co-evolve independent mutations in order to combat combination treatment within two classes; in a mouse model, dual targeting with ABL001 displayed potent anti-tumor activity with tumor regression. The findings suggest that the use of ABL001 and nilotinib together may lead to tumor regression, as the study in mice demonstrated complete tumor regression with no evidence of disease relapse during 70 days of treatment, and for more than 100 days after treatment cessation.
Currently, ABL001 is being studied in a phase I trial of patients with CML and Ph+ ALL.
Ogawara Y, Matsunaga H, Seki T, et al. IDH mutations are promising targets for acute myeloid leukemia. Abstract #LB-252. Presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, April 21, 2015.
Roboz G, Kantarjian H, Kropf P, et al. First results of a 10-day regimen of SGI-110 (guadecitabine), a second generation hypomethylating agent (HMA) in previously untreated elderly AML who are not candidates for intensive chemotherapy. Abstract #CT321. Presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, April 21, 2015.
Sellers WR. Dual targeting of BCR-ABL with ABL001: a novel potent allosteric ABL kinase inhibitor in combination with nilotinib suppresses the emergence of disease resistance in models of CML. Presented at the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting, April 19, 2015.
TABLE. Safety and Efficacy Outcomes with Guadecitabine 60 mg/m2
Number of patients (%)
Overall complete response 24 (46%)
CR 14 (27%)
CRi 8 (15%)
CRp 2 (4%)
All-cause 30-day mortality 2 (4%)
All-cause 60-day mortality 10 (19%)
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line857
|
__label__cc
| 0.562265
| 0.437735
|
The Six New Rules of Business: Creating Real Value in a Changing World
The rules of business are changing dramatically. Success is no longer defined by the balance sheet. Reputation, trust and other intangibles drive business value, employees give voice to risk and competitive advantage, and culture is king. “Business as usual” is not a viable option.
From technology to supply chains, social impact to environmental limits, the landscape for business and the definition of success have both been upended. Income inequality is rife, social discord is high, and the demand for business to create real value for all its stakeholders has become a loud and rallying cry. Many of the forces that define these new rules of business are already in play, and business, arguably the most powerful force in the world, is in desperate need of a new operating manual.
In her new book, The Six New Rules of Business: Creating Value in a Changing World (Berrett-Koehler; January 12, 2021) Judy Samuelson – Founder & Executive Director at the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program – describes the profound shifts in attitudes and mindsets that are redefining our notions of what constitutes business success, unraveling the old rules that focused solely on profits, shareholder mindset, and the bottom line, that led to corporate greed and short-termism, and offers a new set of rules, that enable executives and leaders to think and manage differently, by embracing a new definition of business success.
Join us for a webinar with Judy as she discusses her book in conversation with Elliot Gerson, Executive Vice President at the Aspen Institute.
Mon Jan 11, 2021
1:00pm - 2:00pm EST
Business and Society Program
The Next Move: Fair Pay
Thu Jan 14, 2021 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm EST
A webinar with Don Lowman, Senior Partner and Global Leader, Rewards and Benefits at Korn Ferry; Erica Smiley, Executive Director at Jobs With Justice; and Damon Silvers, Director of Public Policy and Special Counsel, AFL-CIO; moderated by Judy Samuelson, Executive Director at the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program.
Putting Purpose at the Heart of Corporate Decision-Making
Wed Dec 16, 2020 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm EST
A webinar with Joseph Wolk, EVP and Chief Financial Officer at Johnson & Johnson; and Brandon Nelson, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary at JetBlue; moderated by Judy Samuelson, Executive Director at the Aspen Institute Business & Society Program.
Where is ESG Heading in 2021?
Wed Dec 9, 2020 2:30 pm - 3:30 pm EST
A webinar with Jonathan Bailey, Managing Director and Head of ESG Investing at Neuberger Berman; Cambria Allen, Director of Corporate Governanceat UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust & Board Member at Council of Institutional Investors; and Lex Suvanto, Global Managing Director, Capital Markets and Financial Communications at Edelman, moderated by Sabastian Niles, Partner at Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line858
|
__label__wiki
| 0.647336
| 0.647336
|
China’s maritime dilemmas
6 Aug 2013|Benjamin Schreer
The strategy behind China’s emerging naval capability is subject to considerable debate. Most of the commentary concentrates on the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s (PLAN) capability development. Some commentators argue that the PLAN has shifted its focus towards developing a ‘blue water navy’ to contest America’s maritime predominance in the Western Pacific. But, as David McDonough’s recent post on The Strategist points out, the PLAN also continues to invest in defensive ‘anti-access/area-denial’ (A2/AD) for operations in its ‘ First Island Chain’. The common theme of these assessments is that China’s growing naval power should have us worrying.
However, while the PLAN’s growing maritime capabilities potentially pose a challenge to the United States and countries in the Indo-Pacific region, it’s also important to consider the weaknesses in China’s maritime strategy. Indeed, I’d argue that provided the US and its allies and partners invest in smart counter-strategies, China will find it very difficult to overcome its maritime dilemmas and to coerce regional countries in accepting Beijing’s territorial claims.
Let’s start with China’s ‘Taiwan Dilemma’. The conventional wisdom is that China has already ‘succeeded’ in its A2/AD strategy in the Taiwan Straits by raising the costs for third-party intervention prohibitively high, i.e. keeping US carrier battle groups at arms length. But even if the PLA manages to keep US forces out of a conflict through a ‘sea denial strategy’—which in itself is a very risky assumption given the importance of Taiwan in US Pacific strategy—it faces serious political and operational challenges in invading Taiwan. As I’ve argued elsewhere, Taiwan is systematically investing in its own ‘sea denial strategy’ and the PLA would need to physically destroy most of the island’s infrastructure prior to invasion, with disastrous consequences for China’s international and regional reputation. In short, the PLAN’s A2/AD approach in the Taiwan Straits might not translate into real political currency for Beijing’s leadership.
Secondly, US naval strategists argue that the PLAN faces a ‘strategic chokepoint dilemma’. The moment the PLAN sails through the Taiwan Straits into the wider Western Pacific Ocean, it faces the combined naval power of the US Navy and her allies, particularly Japan. It couldn’t hope to establish a significant level of ‘sea control’ in this area. Moreover, as soon as the PLAN projects maritime power out of Hainan Island into the South China Sea to assert its claims in the ‘nine-dashed line’ it will face a reengaged US military as well as A2/AD ‘pockets’ of Southeast Asian countries. Just like the US Navy and other modern navies, the PLAN won’t be immune from sea denial capabilities such as submarines, anti-submarine warfare and anti-ship missiles. Moreover, the Chinese Government has pointed to the country’s ‘Malacca Dilemma’—the PLAN’s inability to protect China’s energy transport in this strategic chokepoint. But given the geostrategic characteristics of the Malacca Strait—only 1.5 nm at its narrowest point and critical not just for China but the rest of Asia—military options for China are also very limited. Any attempt to project naval power to control this area will automatically draw China into conflict with regional heavyweights such as India, Indonesia and Japan—hardly a winning formula.
Finally, Chinese strategists seem to be aware that the offensive use of naval power against its Asian neighbours will most likely not achieve any political objective; the opportunity costs of a war at sea are just too high. That’s probably why the most significant recent development in China’s maritime strategy has been the creation of a unified coast guard agency. This step potentially strengthens China’s capacity to use non-military vessels for coercive purposes in territorial disputes with Japan and Southeast Asian nations.
But even this strategy has limits. Regional countries are upgrading their coast guards and other maritime agencies to level the playing field. They also cooperate, as in the case of Japan and The Philippines. In July, Tokyo announced it would provide Manila with 10 coast guard patrol boats through a yen loan to help it to counter Beijing’s maritime assertiveness. Regional countries are also increasing their maritime surveillance capabilities to monitor and expose Chinese maritime behaviour to a domestic, regional and global audience. This fundamentally undermines Beijing’s attempt to restore its ‘soft power deficit’ accumulated over recent years.
While China’s naval power projection will certainly grow in the future, it’s far from inevitable that the PLAN’s coercive potential will increase commensurately. Indeed, the PLAN’s current desire for big surface combatants and aircraft carriers runs counter to modern navies’ recognition that the future lies in a greater number of smaller, more dispersed and less vulnerable ships which operate as part of a joint force. I’m not yet convinced that China as a continental power has much to gain politically by investing in a very expansive, offensive blue water navy. And even if it does, the good news is that there’ll be lots of ways to offset the PLAN strategy.
Benjamin Schreer is a senior analyst at ASPI. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
maritime strategy
China’s naval strategy—from sea denial to sea control?
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line859
|
__label__wiki
| 0.917352
| 0.917352
|
Cyber wrap
4 Nov 2015|Jessica Woodall
Last week, the US Senate approved the CISA or Cyber Security Information Sharing Act. Among the bill’s main provisions is a proposal to expand liability protections to companies that voluntarily share threat information with the government. The bill managed to evade a series of last minute privacy amendments, passing with strong bipartisan support in a 74–21 vote. Congress will now have to work to reconcile the differences between CISA and a similar, earlier version of the bill, the Protecting Cyber Networks Act, which passed the House in April. Once the two have been merged, the White House is expected to rubber stamp the finished product.
The New York Times has published an interesting piece on the issue of export controls on surveillance technology. Last month two men were fined by the US Department of Commerce for illegally exporting surveillance technology to Syria via an elaborate Middle East distribution network. The US has enacted specific bans on the export of American surveillance technology to both Syria and Iran, where it’s feared they can be deployed to crackdown on dissidents and opposition parties. But moves to introduce a wider licencing arrangement for the export of surveillance technology have been met with stiff resistance by the US tech sector. Other countries including Germany and Switzerland successfully passed mandatory licensing laws on the export of surveillance technology earlier this year, and in September the European Parliament agreed to a non-binding resolution calling for similar tech safeguards.
Japan’s Minister in charge of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games recently met with the head of the London Olympics organising committee, Sebastian Coe. The get-together aimed to share insights into the types of cyber-attacks tackled during the 2012 games and to communicate lessons learnt with the Tokyo 2020 organising committee. The meet follows the announcement that the Tokyo Metropolitan government will establish its own computer security incident response team (CSIRT) to assist in the protection of critical infrastructure in the lead-up to and during the games.
Chinese hackers behind the breach were motivated by a desire to understand how the US delivers health care, say insiders close to the investigation of the Anthem health insurance hack. The Chinese government has vowed to provide universal access to healthcare by 2020 but there’s widespread frustration domestically as to the quality, availability and cost of care. While Chinese intelligence agencies might have been interested in US government employee information, it’s believed that the theft of intellectual property and trade secrets was the main target for the infiltration. A US government official told the Financial Times, ‘Knowledge is power. How is it set up? What are they insuring? Why is this procedure covered but not that one? All of that is useful information.’
Last week Thai military chiefs publically called for the creation of a whole-of-government body to help ensure ‘cyber readiness’ at the national level. Special adviser to the permanent secretary for the Defence Ministry General Bunjerd Tientongdee warned that Thailand only maintained preparedness within the military and the Information and Communications Technology Ministry. Deputy chief of the Air Forces’ Cyber Warfare Division called for the creation of a ‘one-stop service’ to handle national cybersecurity issues. Earlier in the week Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha moved to distance Thailand’s military cyber set-up from the controversial ‘single gateway’ proposal after new questions were raised by the public surrounding the militaries involvement in domestic surveillance.
Jessica Woodall is an analyst in ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre. Image courtesy of Flickr user Fernando Leyder.
Sea, air and land updates
Cyber maturity in the Asia–Pacific 2015
Why the PLA is no paper tiger (part 2)
The Beat, CT Scan and Checkpoint
War and peace in China’s cyber space
Cyber stability: why retaliation won’t deter
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line860
|
__label__wiki
| 0.620121
| 0.620121
|
A Complex Case with a Happy Ending
In the early morning hospital dimness, a man awoke to see a platoon of doctors surrounding his 14-year-old daughter’s bed. He could see her sitting up, mouth open, a glint of sweat on her cheeks and forehead. He could hear her rapid, ragged breaths, almost as if she had just run a race. She looked over to him. She was scared. And suddenly, so was he.
“We have to take her to the Intensive Care Unit,” a doctor said. Equipment there could help her breathe more easily. As the nurses packed up IVs and hooked up portable tanks of oxygen, the girl’s father and mother gathered their books and bags. His wife seemed much calmer than he felt. Until that moment, he had not believed his daughter was that sick. The doctor diagnosed her with a rare autoimmune disease known as granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA).
Now, five years later, the girl is in college and doing well. She is active and while she gave up playing soccer after her illness, she has since recovered much of her lung function. And, she still visits her specialists at Goryeb Children’s Hospital.
The series of moments that fell into place for this particular patient: The diligent family pediatrician who follows the patient, carefully monitoring symptoms and progress; access to a hospital like Goryeb Children’s Hospital that can care for children like this patient; a pediatric subspecialist who recognized the connection between seemingly unrelated symptoms and solved the medical mystery; and the many people who cared for the patient and her family during her illness, all made a successful outcome possible.
“This case highlights the complexity of care that Goryeb Children’s Hospital is equipped to handle,” says Simona Nativ, MD, the patient’s rheumatologist. Dr. Nativ remembers determining the GPA diagnosis and credits the family’s pediatrician, Suhaib Nashi, MD, who was thorough and persistent as the family consulted doctor after doctor, struggling to find the cause of their daughter’s symptoms. “It was Dr. Nashi who specifically requested a rheumatology consult,” Dr. Nativ recalls.
Pediatric patients only account for about 5 to 10 percent of cases diagnosed with this already rare condition. Long after the patient was discharged, her impact was felt at Goryeb. Many nurses, medical students and physicians learned valuable lessons about diagnosis and treatment of rare conditions in children from this case.
And roughly five years later, this patient is designing her own road map for success as she grows into adulthood and continues to inspire the medical professionals who saved her life.
Learn more about the Division of Pediatric Rheumatology or call 973-971-4096.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line862
|
__label__cc
| 0.728572
| 0.271428
|
One Student's Journey: To Private Day School >> To Public School >> To Boarding School
Stories, know-how, and guidance from the experts in educating boys.
◄ Back to Blog
Millan Jain '21
Day Student Life at Avon Old Farms
Hi, my name is Millan Jain. I am a three-year senior from Houston Texas. For my freshman and sophomore year, I was a day student at Avon Old Farms, the private CT high school for boys, living in Avon—only ten minutes from campus. I have always enjoyed going to school; I loved interacting with my friends and learning new things. Coming to AOF was easily the best decision I had made in my life. In the first two years, I made lifelong friends with the students and faculty.
On-campus, I played baseball and basketball. I was a member of the Riddlers, and play-by-play broadcaster for the varsity soccer team. I was cruising through high school and was excited to finish my second year at school. As the spring of my sophomore year drew to the end, all of that changed and life threw a curveball at me.
The Journey to Public School
Summer: As graduation slowly drew closer, I was hit with the news that any high school student dreaded to hear. “We are moving.” The words hit me like a 2-by-4 hitting the ground. My first thought was “Maybe we are only moving to another house in Connecticut.” The dreaded question loomed. Where were we moving too? My curiosity led me to build up the courage to ask the question. “We are moving to Houston, Texas and we would like you to come with us,” my parents said. Boom, it felt like another 2-by-4 just hit the ground. We have lived in Avon for 11 years. Avon was the town I grew up in. I had made so many friends and made so many memories. Now, I was going to start over in a new school in a new state over 1,000 miles away. Worst of all, I had to leave the brotherhood, the school I fell in love with.
The Move: During the first week of August, we packed our bags and left for Houston. Throughout the month of August, temperatures reached a sweltering 100+ degrees in Houston. My family got right to work moving into the house. After about two weeks everything was settled and we all had our eyes on my first day of school which was looming. I was going to attend a school that was only three years old and close to 4000 students. After coming from a small school with rich traditions, I was curious about how the school would operate. It was their first time with a graduating class.
With the first day looming, I have never felt more nervous in my life. For the first time in 11 years, I walked in alone to my new school in Texas; it was filled with people I did not know and who did not know me. I was starting over. It took a while to make friends. Walking around the halls was lonely, although I was surrounded by thousands of peers. Nobody went out of their way to make me feel at ease or invited me to sit at their table for lunch. I missed AOF where everyone was always included. Thankfully, my friends back in Connecticut checked in on me every day to see how I was doing.
What did I learn?: This move has taught many things. I learned that I could adjust to different places and cultures (yes, Texas has a very different feel than New England), to a new school, and new kids. I took AOF’s motto of Aspire and Persevere and applied it to my move in Texas. In Texas, I jumped right into the school’s journalism department and got my feet wet. I went to all the football games and reported for them and made friends through journalism. In 100-degree weather baseball practices, I survived doing suicides with the baseball team. While I realized I could survive at Bridgeland High School in Texas, I also realized what I preferred. And that was Avon Old Farms. Just after the new year, I sat down with my parents. They could see Texas wasn’t a good fit for me. We put a plan in place to return to Avon Old Farms.
Back to the Brotherhood—Back to Avon Old Farms
Avon has something special that no other school in the world has. Avon has been striving to turn boys into men for 93 years whereas my school in Houston has only been open for three years. Avon has faculty and students that will support you from day one that you step on campus. With only having 400 students, you get to know each person on a personal level. At lunch, you sit with students of all grade levels from all over the world. At each end of the lunch table, there are two faculty members so you can get to know a teacher that you may not even have.
Unlike public schools, Avon has small class sizes so teachers can focus on individual students. At Avon, my biggest class has been 11 students and my smallest class size has been four. This past year at public school, my smallest class was 22 and biggest was around 30. The best part about Avon is the brotherhood. It has been said many times but this brotherhood can't compare to anything in the world. Avon is a family and you have 400 brothers ready to have your back and support you in anything you do. Whether it’s a play, art gallery exhibit, a choir concert, or a football game under the lights, the brotherhood will show up and give you their full support. For me, Avon is a special place filled with life-long friends and faculty that is always there for you. I am excited to be coming back for my senior year.
Author: Millan Jain '21
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterShare to LinkedInShare to PinterestShare to EmailPrint this page
Two Week to Go: How To Finish A Semester Strong, Online
Avon's Approach to Online Learning
Making Myths: A Lesson in Active Learning
Quick Tips for First-time Boarding School Parents
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line864
|
__label__wiki
| 0.678556
| 0.678556
|
Tag: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore
Pushpiece-guards fitted to the case increase the sturdiness and powerful lines of this supremely technical and high-performance model. The first Royal Oak Offshore was launched in 1993 with its sizeable 42 mm diameter, in a truly groundbreaking style for large-sized watches. Its generous size set a new standard for future trends.
The new Royal Oak Offshore Selfwinding Chronograph is presented with a choice of smoked blue, green or grey dials, each incorporating the Manufacture’s “Méga Tapisserie” pattern and new Arabic numerals which supplant the customary applied hour-markers. Each model also includes a black ceramic case and textured rubber strap.
Diving watches in the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore collection are water resistant to 300 m (30 bar, 984 ft), making them robust enough for your next diving trip. The Royal Oak Offshore Diver comes in a number of bright colors, such as turquoise blue, lime green, yellow, orange, and purple. What’s more, this series also includes Offshore models without a chronograph function.
When Audemars Piguet unveiled the Royal Oak in 1972, luxury timepieces were usually small and made of gold, but the brand broke these rules, forever defying with conventions, with this first luxury sports timepiece honed from steel. Its powerful look ushered in a revolutionary avant-garde style, that has since become its trademark.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore is a watch that was destined to evolve, and changes to its design happened almost instantly and throughout the first few years of its production. Those early watches – made during the original run of the Ref. 25721ST – proved how versatile and marketable “The Beast” could be, and with time and imagination,
The Royal Oak Offshore Diver made its premiere as a chronograph in 2016. The in-house caliber 3124/3841 serves as the beating heart of this timepiece. It had previously been exclusive to the Jules Audemars Chronograph. This movement provides the watch with a small seconds dial at 3 o’clock and a 30-minute counter at 9.
Why Buy Pre-Owned Audemars Piguet Watches? At WatchBox, it is our goal to provide the highest quality pre-owned Audemars Piguet watches, including newer models, as well as vintage selections that are no longer in production. From the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak, to the Royal Oak Offshore, to AP dress models, we have a wide selection of AP Watches.
The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak was the world’s first luxury sports watch. The Swiss manufacturer revolutionized the entire watch industry with this stainless steel piece. In the early 1970s, luxury watches were still being made exclusively out of precious metals, such as gold and platinum.
Authentic Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore Watches. The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak is one of the most popular luxury watches of all time. This model has been refined even further with the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore, which combines many familiar characteristics with an added sense of style that makes it ideal for boating, outdoor excursions, or just wearing around town.
Replica Audemars Piguet watches is exquisite and stylish, with a unique style. Among them, the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore replica is one of the more famous series. When many people choose watches on our website, they often consider Rolex replica and Audemars Piguet replica.Which one should I buy? Among them, these two brands are very famous, and the preservation rate is high.
mysun08481, November 25, 2020. Category: Perfect Wrist. Tagged: Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line866
|
__label__cc
| 0.694904
| 0.305096
|
Warning after Suffolk man targeted by scam
Published: 11:55 AM October 6, 2010 Updated: 8:10 PM October 10, 2020
SUFFOLK police have renewed warnings to people not to send money in response to unsolicited calls following reports of a scam involving people claiming to work for the Ministry of Justice.
Officers were contacted around 11.20am on Tuesday, by a man who said he had received a phone call the previous day from someone claiming to work for the Ministry. The caller told him he was owed more than �6,000 and gave his bank details, including the mans account number.
In order to claim the �6,000 the man was asked to organise two money transfers – totalling over �300 – and was given details of someone in India to transfer the cash to.
After transferring the payments the man became suspicious and rang what appeared to be a UK number he had been given by the original caller – a 0203 number. This was again answered by someone claiming to work for the Ministry but, still suspicious, the man decided to find the real number for the Ministry of Justice, called the genuine organisation and discovered it was all a scam.
Since then he has received further calls from those behind the fraud.
Suffolk police are urging anyone receiving such a call not to send cash. “There are a number of methods used to try to get you to part with money but if anything involves sending cash to claim a larger sum of money it is more than likely to be a scam,” a force spokesman said.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line869
|
__label__cc
| 0.727823
| 0.272177
|
The Belfer Center researches a broad range of nuclear issues from nuclear terrorism, dirty bombs, and nuclear programs around the world.
Research (2,762)
Related Experts (35)
(-) International Relations--U.S. foreign policy (1)
International Relations--United Nations (1)
(-) International Security & Defense--Intelligence (1)
International Security & Defense--Negotiation (1)
Nuclear Issues--Iran nuclear program (1)
(-) Nuclear Issues--Nuclear proliferation (1)
International Security & Defense (1)
Middle East & North Africa (1)
Broadcast Appearance (1)
(-) Infographics & Charts (1)
Diplomacy and International Politics (1)
International Security (1)
(-) Science, Technology, and Public Policy (1)
Future of Diplomacy Project (1)
Iran Project (1)
Report - Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School
Decoding the Iran Nuclear Deal
Gary Samore
Read more about Decoding the Iran Nuclear Deal
On April 2, 2015, the E.U. (speaking on behalf of the P5+1 countries) and Iran announced agreement on “key parameters” for a comprehensive agreement on Iran’s nuclear program. The E.U.-Iran Joint Statement is buttressed by unilateral facts sheets issued by the U.S. and Iran, which provide further details of the framework accord. Negotiators now turn to translating this framework accord into a final comprehensive agreement by June 30, 2015. Members of Congress and their staffs, as well as informed citizens, are now focusing on the Iranian challenge and assessing the framework accord. The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School has prepared this Policy Brief summarizing key facts, core concepts, and major arguments for and against the current deal aimed at stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons. The purpose of this Policy Brief is not to advocate support for or opposition to the tentative deal that has been negotiated, but rather to provide an objective, nonpartisan summary to inform Members and others in coming to their own conclusions. The team of experts who prepared this report includes Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and internationals, who have many disagreements among themselves but who agree that this Brief presents the essentials objectively.
|
cc/2021-04/en_head_0035.json.gz/line870
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.