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The dataset generation failed
Error code: DatasetGenerationError
Exception: ArrowInvalid
Message: JSON parse error: Missing a closing quotation mark in string. in row 64
Traceback: Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 153, in _generate_tables
df = pd.read_json(f, dtype_backend="pyarrow")
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 815, in read_json
return json_reader.read()
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1025, in read
obj = self._get_object_parser(self.data)
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1051, in _get_object_parser
obj = FrameParser(json, **kwargs).parse()
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1187, in parse
self._parse()
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/pandas/io/json/_json.py", line 1403, in _parse
ujson_loads(json, precise_float=self.precise_float), dtype=None
ValueError: Trailing data
During handling of the above exception, another exception occurred:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1997, in _prepare_split_single
for _, table in generator:
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 156, in _generate_tables
raise e
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/packaged_modules/json/json.py", line 130, in _generate_tables
pa_table = paj.read_json(
File "pyarrow/_json.pyx", line 308, in pyarrow._json.read_json
File "pyarrow/error.pxi", line 154, in pyarrow.lib.pyarrow_internal_check_status
File "pyarrow/error.pxi", line 91, in pyarrow.lib.check_status
pyarrow.lib.ArrowInvalid: JSON parse error: Missing a closing quotation mark in string. in row 64
The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/src/services/worker/src/worker/job_runners/config/parquet_and_info.py", line 1529, in compute_config_parquet_and_info_response
parquet_operations = convert_to_parquet(builder)
File "/src/services/worker/src/worker/job_runners/config/parquet_and_info.py", line 1154, in convert_to_parquet
builder.download_and_prepare(
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1029, in download_and_prepare
self._download_and_prepare(
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1124, in _download_and_prepare
self._prepare_split(split_generator, **prepare_split_kwargs)
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 1884, in _prepare_split
for job_id, done, content in self._prepare_split_single(
File "/src/services/worker/.venv/lib/python3.9/site-packages/datasets/builder.py", line 2040, in _prepare_split_single
raise DatasetGenerationError("An error occurred while generating the dataset") from e
datasets.exceptions.DatasetGenerationError: An error occurred while generating the datasetNeed help to make the dataset viewer work? Make sure to review how to configure the dataset viewer, and open a discussion for direct support.
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Andrew Ulman
Community Activist, Writer, Collector
Missing Persons 911
Sports Collectibles & Memorabilia
Missing Persons 911 is an online news distribution platform that highlights missing persons cases in real time. Andrew Ulman is the Founder and Content Creator of the project.
Andrew Ulman founded Missing Persons 911 in 2014. Passionate about helping others, he initiated the project in hopes of fulfilling a serious need in the area of news distribution. Ulman says that the ultimate goal of the project is to help bring missing persons home to their families.
What is Missing Persons 911?
Missing Persons 911 is a web-based platform that informs the public about missing persons cases. From time to time, Andrew Ulman also uses the independent news outlet to follow the reopening of cold cases. Via Missing Persons 911, Content Creator, Andrew Ulman reports on missing persons incidents in real time. His coverage of these cases includes informing the public of current Amber Alerts, Silver Alerts and Blue Alerts. Ulman also distributes information relevant to the descriptions of missing and wanted persons. Although the project often focuses on incidents in the North East, United States, Missing Persons 911 takes advantage of its global reach. Ulman often highlights incidents and cases throughout the country and around the world.
Missing Persons 911 and Andrew Ulman source information from a variety of outlets. Ulman keeps a watchful eye on official emergency broadcasts. The Missing Persons 911 Content Creator understands how crucially time sensitive these emergencies are. That’s why in his dedication to reporting on missing persons incidents, Ulman treats Missing Persons 911 as a full-time, around-the-clock project.
Andrew Ulman turns to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for his coverage of Amber Alerts, Silver Alerts and Blue Alerts. To make sure that he never misses an alert, Ulman is subscribed to Wireless Emergency Alerts on his mobile devices. He strongly encourages the audience of Missing Persons 911 to do the same. Alerts received may depend upon a person’s mobile carrier. All questions and concerns on received alerts should be directed to the national Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC).
Copyright © 2023 · Andrew Ulman · Log in
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RESERVATIONS 480.359.9938
Tools for Trophy Hunting
About Bar 5 Ranch
THE BAR 5 RANCH/ Raton New Mexico EXPERIENCE
The Bar 5 Ranch Raton/ New Mexico is a host to 10,000 acres of prime hunting and is in the center of the historic two million-acre land grant known as the Maxwell Land Grant. It is encompassed by the nearly 600,000 acres known as Vermejo Park Ranch with no public access from any direction. It was recently purchased by a Texas business man who is an avid hunter with a never-ending passion for the outdoors. His aspiration is to preserve the integrity of the ranch and enhance its resources. With cooperation and guidance by the New Mexico Game and Fish department, existing wildlife habitats are being improved and new ones established in order to provide a suitable environment for the game to survive and prosper and for man to enjoy. With these measures in place and less commercializing of the ranch, it is now a destination for world class trophy hunts. The Ranch is home to a large resident elk herd shared with black bears, mule deer, mountain lions and turkeys, all trophy caliber. Elevation varies from a low of 7,570 ft. to a high of 8,062 ft. and branches out to mountains, gorges, and steep canyons. The Ranch boasts several lakes with a healthy population of rainbow trout, springs flowing through long meadows of lush green and pastures, all within a forest of ponderosa, douglas fir, blue spruce, oak and conifer. Bands of aspen trees adorn the outer line of the forest.
As fall approaches and temperatures begin to dip, a visitor can witness the landscape as it begins to transform to its winter setting. Oak leaves turn yellow before dancing their way to the canopy floor and blanket the fallen acorns and vegetation as a gesture of preserving it for the wildlife to find during the lean months ahead. Aspen leaves turn vivid yellow and shine like gold before the slightest breeze.
Scenic highpoints at the Ranch provide a great opportunity for a photo of panoramic vista of the Spanish Peaks and endless views of surrounding mountains. A romantic flash will pass through the most beastly of us.
All hunts include first class lodging and meals with a fine selection of wines to complement every meal. We take pride in what we do and our hospitality is unparalleled.
Our guides are professionals and the head guide who resides at the ranch has been hunting it for 25 years.
We also provide transportation to a nearby game processing facility and taxidermy.
Read a REVIEW by Wayne Carlton >
THE LODGE & DINING
All who join us here at Bar 5 Ranch will spend five nights in a luxurious mountain lodge that can accommodate eight overnight guests. Single or double beds are available to suit your needs. Gourmet meals will be served with fresh, indigenous ingredients, and are included in the accommodation fees.
The open dining, living and kitchen area of the house is elegantly furnished and fully equipped. Enjoy the big screen television, quiet rooms, and homelike atmosphere. Many of our returning groups request the Ranch House because of its exclusiveness for group events. The Ranch House can comfortably sleep seven guests.
Our guests enjoy the gourmet meals and good conversation in our dining room and lounge. We pride ourselves on using the freshest ingredients available and presenting our guests with a varied menu featuring regional specialties and many unique wild game dishes.
THE HISTORY OF LUCIEN B. MAXWELL & THE LAND
In the beginning the land was the undisputed territory of the Apache and Ute Indians, and later the Comanches. In 1841, just five years before the US Army arrived, Charles Beaubien and Guadalupe Miranda of Taos, New Mexico applied to Governor Manuel Armijo for the Grant, promising to encourage new settlers to come to the area and utilize its resources. Beaubien was a French-Canadian trapper who came to New Mexico in 1832, became a Mexican citizen, married a 16-year-old native girl, and opened a store in Taos.
Miranda was a gentleman from Chihuahua who had come to New Mexico on business and stayed; later he was appointed to several government positions including Governor Armijo’s departmental secretary.
The Maxwell Land Grant, also known as the Beaubien-Miranda Land Grant, was a 1,714,765-acre (6,939.41 km²) Mexican land grant in Colfax County, New Mexico and part of adjoining Las Animas County, Colorado. This land grant was one of the largest contiguous private landholdings in the history of the United States. The New Mexico towns of Cimarron, Colfax, Dawson, Elizabethtown, French, Lynn, Maxwell, Miami, Raton, Rayado, Springer, Ute Park and Vermejo Park, came to be located within the grant, as well as numerous other towns that are now ghost towns.
The lands covered in the Maxwell Land Grant were originally tribal lands belonging to Jicarilla Apache Indians. The region of northern New Mexico was claimed by Spain in 1524, but there were few settlements east of the Sangre de Cristo Range.
Lucien Bonaparte Maxwell was a pioneer, explorer and adventurer who married Luz Beaubien, the daughter of Carlos Beaubien. Beaubien hired Maxwell to manage his interests, and Maxwell and his wife settled in Rayado, New Mexico in 1849. In 1860, Maxwell built a large home in Cimarron, a stop on the Mountain Branch of the Old Santa Fe Trail.
Guadeloupe Miranda, who was living in Mexico, sold his interest in the Grant to Maxwell, Carlos Beaubien died in 1864, and Maxwell bought out the other heirs to the property. In 1858 Maxwell’s father-in-law, Charles Beaubien, paid a Santa Fe law firm to petition the Congress to confirm the Grant under the terms of the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo.
By 1865, Maxwell and his wife were the sole owners of the entire land grant, and it was renamed the Maxwell Land Grant. In 1866, gold was discovered on Willow Creek in the Grant. There was a gold rush the following year, and many mining camps were established including Elizabethtown, New Mexico.
Senator Chaffee and the others who had purchased the land from Maxwell, almost immediately sold the land to an English syndicate for $1,350,000; and, just six months later, it was sold again to a Dutch Firm in 1872. The new Grant owners immediately began to aggressively exploit the resources of the Grant, opening a sales office at Maxwell’s old place in Cimarron. They waited for the customers to rush in, and they continued to wait. Faltering gold production and the shadow of Indian attacks spooked potential buyers. Meanwhile, folks who had already settled on the Grant were riled at the brisk way the new owners tried to collect rents.
Thanks to a variety of financial problems, the Dutch company went bankrupt in 1878. In the early 1880s, the United States sued the company for making claims of lands in the Public Domain in Colorado. In 1887, this case reached the US Supreme Court, and was decided as United States v. Maxwell Land Grant Company. The court’s decision affirmed the company’s ownership of the land. At this point, the settlers and squatters realized that they could not obtain good title to the land, and most of them left.
In 1902, William Bartlett , a wealthy grain operator from Chicago bought 205,000 acres (830 km²) of the Grant along the drainage of the Vermejo River. Under the agreement, he withheld part of the last payment until the Maxwell Land Grant Company evicted the last of the squatters. In his words, “They are given two years to get the Mexicans off and I hold back $10,000.” Bartlett’s Vermejo Park portion of the Grant has passed through several owners during the Twentieth Century. Pennzoil bought the Vermejo Park Ranch in 1973, and portion of the ranch known as Valle Vidal to the U.S. Government. This area is managed as a wilderness by the U.S. Forest Service. In 1992, Ted Turner bought Vermejo Park Ranch 590,823 acres (2,390.98 km²) from Pennzoil. Ted Turner did not buy the mineral rights, so El Paso Corporation produces oil and gas on the Vermejo Park Ranch, while Ted Turner raises buffalo.
In 1905, the St. Louis, Rocky Mountain, and Pacific Company acquired 500,000 acres (2,000 km²) of Grant land that it used mainly for coal production. Raton, New Mexico went through a boom as a coal town from about 1910 to 1920. Kaiser Steel took over the coal mining in1955. The Kaiser Steel properties at York Canyon eventually became part of the Vermejo Park Ranch.
Beginning in 1922, Waite Phillips, an oilman from Tulsa, Oklahoma also assembled a block of land on the Maxwell Land Grant. Phillips bought over 300,000 acres (1,200 km²), and named his ranch Philmont. In two separate gifts in 1938 and 1941, Phillips donated 127,395 acres (515.55 km²) as a wilderness camping area for the Boy Scouts of America.
In 1963, Norton Clapp, an officer of the National Council of the Boy Scouts of America, donated another piece of the Maxwell Land Grant to Philmont. This was the Baldy Mountain mining area consisting of 10,098 acres (40.87 km²).
The Whittington Center, founded in 1973, is the largest shooting and hunting complex in the world. It is owned by the National Rifle Association, and covers 33,000 acres (130 km²) of the Maxwell Land Grant.
During the 1900′s the land was gradually subdivided, and ranchers, loggers, and private organizations bought the property. Five hundred thousand acres became the hideaway home of Chicago grain baron, William Bartlett who built three mansions and a railroad for his guests’ convenience. Later 200,000 acres of the private retreat were purchased and became the Vermejo Park Club, whose members included celebrities and the wealthy, such as Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Cecil B. DeMille, Herbert Hoover and Harvey Firestone. However, when the depression was evident, the club closed and the property reverted to ranching.
The Vermejo Park property and other lands, which totaled almost one million acres, were eventually sold to W.J. Gourley, a Texas oil man from Fort Worth. Mr. Gourley wanted to expand the existing elk herd and purchased several hundred elk from Yellowstone National Park for $5 per head. He also bred and raised wild turkeys to increase wild bird population. When Mr. Gourley died in 1970, the land was sold to the Pennzoil Company for a bargain $26 million. Pennzoil donated 100,000 acres to the Forest Service in 1982. Now, part of the original land is owned by media magnate Ted Turner.
Trophy Elk
© 2023 Bar 5 Ranch
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Governments need to act in Rio for a sustainable energy future
Global Wind Day builds pressure on world leaders ahead of the Rio +20 Summit to commit to doubling the share of renewable energy by 2030.
As countries around the world celebrate Global Wind Day tomorrow (15 June), the Irish Wind Energy Association highlights the positive effects of wind energy in Ireland, and the need to commit to increasing the use of renewable energy for a sustainable future.
When world leaders gather in Rio next week, they will have an opportunity to set a new course towards a more sustainable energy future. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s Sustainable Energy for All initiative calls for universal energy access, a doubling of energy efficiency and a doubling of renewable energy by 2030. Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan will lead the Irish delegation at the summit.
Today, commercial wind power is deployed in more than 75 countries around the world, with 21 countries, including Ireland, having more than 1000 MW installed. The current 250 GW+ of installed capacity is more than 30 times the amount deployed just 15 years ago, when the Kyoto protocol was signed in 1997. Industry projections show that wind power could, with the right policy support, double in capacity by 2015, and again by the end of this decade, delivering 9 – 12 % of global electricity supply.
There has been a significant increase in the amount of electricity generated from renewable energy sources over the past two decades in Ireland too. In 1990, this figure stood at just 5.3%. Due to heavy investment in and development of the sector over the last two decades, this figure grew to 14.8% in 2010. Today, wind is the main source of renewable energy production, increasing from less than 1% of total production in 1995 to over 40% in 2010(wind energy power stood at just 53MW in Ireland in 1997; by 2011 this had soared to 1,631MW).
However, greater investment in the sector is needed to provide the necessary certainty that will guarantee that the sector reaches its potential and Ireland’s wind regime is capitalised upon.
Speaking ahead of Global Wind Day and the Rio +20 Summit, Kenneth Matthews, CEO of the Irish Wind Energy Association said, “Global Wind Day shines a spotlight on the true potential of wind energy. Not only does the increased use of wind energy lower carbon dioxide emissions, it also creates opportunities for job creation, investment and economic recovery, which are priorities for the Irish government at the moment. By agreeing and setting ambitious renewable energy targets for 2030, participating governments at Rio +20 can publicly commit to a sustainable energy future.
“Increased electricity generated by wind power will reduce CO2 emissions by up to 1.5 billion tons per annum worldwide, save billions of litres of precious fresh water, and contribute to energy security and price stability in countries around the world. However, for wind power and other renewable energy sources to reach their full potential, governments need to act and commit to increasing their use of renewable energy, both nationally and internationally.
“IWEA is holding a health and safety event on 14 June in Dublin, which will see the Irish Health & Safety Strategy Group continue to work towards creating and communicating best practices in health and safety for the wind industry, ensuring this sector has the strongest and most sustainable footing to deliver its potential.”
Global Wind Day in Ireland
In Ireland last year Global Wind Day was a great success, with over 1,000 people visiting wind farms across the country. This year sees even more activities being held to celebrate Global Wind Day including:
1. A number of wind farms across Ireland are hosting an array of events to celebrate wind energy. Locations include Cavan, Limerick, Derry, Antrim, Tipperary, Tyrone. The activity dates vary and some are hosting family days whilst others are inviting schools for fun, games and facts on wind.
2. A number of KidWind workshops are being held in Dublin, Waterford and Tipperary. KidWind workshops introduce teachers to the science behind wind energy while giving them the knowledge, skills, and resources needed to bring wind energy into their classrooms using standard based activities in an engaging, hands-on manner. Workshops are aimed at primary and secondary school teachers interested in renewable energy, physics, general science, technical education, engineering, environmental science, and mathematics.
3. To mark Global Wind Day, IWEA’s Health & Safety Event will take place on Thursday 14 June 2012 in Dublin.
About IWEA
Established in 1993, the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA) is the national body representing the wind energy sector in Ireland. IWEA is committed to promoting the use of wind energy in Ireland and beyond as an economically viable and environmentally sound alternative to thermal or nuclear generation and promotes awareness and understanding of wind power as the primary renewable energy resource. IWEA is also dedicated to education and awareness building, and to building the skills base of the renewable energy sector in Ireland. IWEA also supports the development of other renewable technology, particularly marine energy.
IWEA has more than 250 members who incorporate all leading industry voices in Ireland. IWEA acts as a central point for information for its membership as well as a lobbying group to promote wind energy to government. IWEA’s Council consists of 26 members and is made up of elected and corporate members. IWEA is entirely self-funded and relies on the support of its members.
For more information, please visit http://www.iwea.com
Categories News Post navigation
Eirgrid to hold capacity auction for firms to trade energy on East West Interconnector
Cement Sustainability Initiative Revised guidelines for emissions monitoring and reporting
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DOASKDOTELL MOVIE REVIEWs of D.I.Y. or Die, Naked Fame , That Man: Peter Berlin
Title: D.I.Y. or Die: How to Survive as an Independent Artist
Nationality and Language: USA/English
MPAA Rating: Suggest R
Distributor and Production Company: MVD/Dean
Director; Writer: Michael W. Dean
Cast: Ian MacKaye (Fugazi), Jim Rose (Jim Rose Sideshow), Jim Thirwell (Foetus), Lydia Lurch, Mike Watt (Minutemen), Ron Asheton (Stooges), Madigan Shive (Bonfire Madagin), Lynn Breedlove, Liza Matlack, Li’l Mike Martzke, Kevin Wengler, Steve Albini, Paul Sudo, Maggie Estep
Technical: Video
Relevance to doaskdotell site: Sales culture vs. artistic temperament
This documentary lays out what I feel about my own work (with the “Do Ask Do Tell” books, websites and movie proposals)—I take the “do it yourself” approach so that I can “tell the truth” without the influence of OPM (“other people’s money) or conflict of interest. Art, in many forms, is a way of telling things. Think about novels, music, opera, plays, movies. Some kinds of art seem to say less to me. For example, the walkthrough mazes in the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao, Spain (as of late April 2001, anyway), seemed (as one guest said) designed to “make you feel like shit.” Not all art is expressive. On the other hand, sculpture (of an alien twin fetus) and woodcut (or another planet’s landscape) by starving artist friends-of-mine from my NYC days are quite expressive.
Most of the video appears to be shot in NYC, but there is one scene outside Union Station in Washington, DC. Technically, the film is quite simple. IMDB indicates that it has no copy protection, and the DVD brazenly begs, “Burn This DVD” (for non-commercial purposes) as a working subtitle. But let’s get back to its basic level of debate now.
Of course, the many artists express their protests against the evil “system.” You can imagine how this goes (keeping people in their place, the place that they inherited from their families, or maybe even the place that they earned by competing in a meritocracy). Now, I can pretty well grasp where the “other side” is coming from. I am seen by some people as a “self-promoting queer” (to quote Clive Barker in his 1996 novel Sacrament) who speaks out against a lot of conventions without directly taking responsibility for vulnerable people the way people once took responsibility for me—that is, without “paying my dues” even though I pay my bills. I am seen as wanting to step on people’s toes, to show them contempt, while avoiding the kind of closeness and commitment it takes to raise families and support life for its own sake, to keep civilization going. Art, in fact, could survive as an aesthetic object even if civilization ended (with a “Childhood’s End”).
As I discussed in my own books, self-publishing is very much double-edged: it gives you the ultimate freedom to be yourself and say what needs to be said, and yet denies authentication from others, especially bean counters. The artist here says that he or she care about having his work seen by others, regardless of making money. The independent artists stays on his own path, following self-chosen goals, and perseveres long enough to have an impact on some community, which might be quite small and circumscribed. It may be the willingness to stay small and private that keeps a certain moral focus.
The artist works out of a labor of love, and works “because he has to.” He or she needs less and less. Creativity must win out in its battle for time with adaptiveness (not the same as adaptation), as with the creative life that we so often talked about at the Ninth Street Center (and by the way I have an unpublished 90 minute black-and-white video of an early 1980s talk group that covers some of this same territory—some day, maybe, it will make the movie “art houses,” too…) The artist eschews the established system of agents, editors, publicists, and various middlemen looking for their “cut” (which is how Hollywood—the Evil Enemy—works, given the “third party” rule for considering scripts). The artist lives on very little, and can get by on menial, graveyard shift jobs that wouldn’t create publicity conflicts of interest, or require loyalty to other causes or interests outside the self (though these interests could, for most people, be like raising a family). The artist is in a practical sense competent and knows how to work. The artist survives. One of the artists on the DVD discusses having cancer.
The video could have made more of the influence of technology, which has made “self-promotion” easier than at any time in the past. Of course, this is double-edge, too, as the freedom offered by the technology is so easy to abuse with unethical get-rich-quick schemes. That is, hopefully, a long way from the world of art. The virus-writer and artist may share the same rebellion against the “system” but otherwise have opposite motives.
The Internet, of course, gives the independent artist the nouveau opportunity to be “discovered”—and bypass pleonastic third parties. After all, who wouldn’t want to stand on the podium of the Kodak Theater some day and earn an Oscar.
Naked Fame (2004, TLA/Here!/Regent, dir. Christopher Long) is a documentary of the “career switcher” moves of gay male porn star Colton Ford, slightly past 40, to singer. He has a lot of support from his slightly younger lover and partner Blake Harper, who has a good job as a nurse when he wants it and will go to work to support his lover’s career change. Blake, however, has sometimes been a star himself and is actually the more attractive of the two to my eyes. Ford is already a bit gray. (Was he a star at one time in Colt’s “The Hairy Chested Male”?) The film documents the transition, especially the work with one seedy agent who looks pretty ridiculous in shorts on film with his pot belly and balding legs. The two stars, themselves, are wonderful. They look after their friends, as in one scene where they find someone bombed out on meth on New York City streets. There are a few glimpses of circuit parties and of mainline disco. In one scene, the two lowers appear to be walking in the gay district of SE Washington DC (I know it pretty well). Otherwise, they bounced between New York and L.A. Making it in the entertainment world does sound like a mixture of “who you know,” and being good and persistent enough at manipulating your opportunities.
The DVD includes a half-hour interview with Colton and Blake.
That Man: Peter Berlin (2005, Gorilla, dir. Jim Tushinski, video, 80 min, sug NC-17) is a documentary biography of 1970s porn star Peter Berlin, who made his own life (mostly in San Francisco, after coming over from Germany) an art form, as he shunned opportunities with Hollywood that could have brought him fame in a more conventional fashion. He is interviewed today at age 63, when he is still trim and fit, and shown extensively as a 30-year-old living in the San Francisco Tenderloin district, where he still looked like a permanent adolescent, very lean. His gentler but “masculine” personality won people over continuously; he seemed to be protective of his friends. There are a few shots of total and near total nudity, of which gay critics have taken note. It is remarkable also that he remained HIV negative during the epidemic as his friends died; some of this he attributes to safe practices, but he may well be one of the lucky men with an apparent natural resistance to HIV, a medical possibility that still should be explored in developing newer HIV vaccines.
Related reviews: Hustle & Flow, various GLBT films; My Date with Drew; Giuliani Time
Return to doaskdotell movies (reviews)
Return to doaskdotell movies, books, plays (strike page)
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08.12.2016 12:03 Why a strengthening dollar is bad for the world economy
THE world`s most important currency is flexing its muscles. In the three weeks following Donald Trump`s victory in America`s presidential elections, the dollar had one of its sharpest rises ever against a basket of rich-country peers. It is now 40% above its lows in 2011. It has strengthened relative to emerging-market currencies, too. The yuan has fallen to its lowest level against the dollar since 2008; anxious Chinese officials are said to be pondering tighter restrictions on foreign takeovers by domestic firms to stem the downward pressure. India, which has troubles of its own making (see article), has seen its currency reach an all-time low against the greenback. Other Asian currencies have plunged to depths not seen since the financial crisis of 1997-98.
06.12.2016 10:55 Oil-rich Russia sees economic growth ahead
The economy of oil-rich Russia could catch up with the rest of the world in about 10 years if the conditions are right, the country`s finance minister said. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said the economy could grow at around 3 percent by 2025 provided policies are in place to support lower inflation, lower interest rates and a stable tax regime. "This is a very ambitious task, since we planned the growth from zero to 1.5 percent for three years ahead," he was quoted by Russian news agency Tass as saying. "This is a new target, a new task." Central Bank Gov. Elvira Nabiullina said the rate of inflation is expected to be close to its low-end outlook of around 5.5 percent this year and the International Monetary Fund said there are prospects for "modest" recovery starting in 2017.
04.12.2016 11:30 OPEC Deal Could Be a Boon to World Economy Amid Shifting Dynamics
Traditional economics says a boost in oil prices - they rose more than 9% to over $49 a barrel Wednesday after the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to cut output - is bad for global growth because it erodes consumer buying power, especially in the world`s largest economies. But that view is built on experiences of the past. This time may be different, given changing dynamics in the world economy. “Higher oil prices are good for growth,” said Jeffrey Currie, head of commodity research at Goldman Sachs. First, higher prices should help stimulate growth in the world`s largest economic engine, the U.S. It is one of the top three oil producers in the world, pumping more than nine million barrels a day, or 10% of global consumption. As prices fell over the last two years, investment in the sector pulled back and output sank by roughly a million barrels a day. But as prices picked up in recent months in anticipation of an OPEC deal, investment in the industry has risen. That should help push down unemployment further, pressure wages and fuel the U.S. economic expansion.
02.12.2016 11:40 Could Trump help revive Russia`s economy?
The cornerstone of Vladimir Putin`s strategy for political longevity has been his projection of Russia as a besieged fortress fighting off the menacing encroachment of the US and other western powers. By presenting himself as the only leader capable of protecting Russia from those who seek to undermine her, the authoritarian president has skilfully managed to distract his people from the rapidly deteriorating economic conditions that would doubtless sink the leader of a more democratic country. But the cost of maintaining a war footing is considerable, with massive spending on defence depriving the rest of the economy of much needed state support. Putin understands this well and Donald Trump`s election might provide him with an opportunity to rebalance public expenditure. When Putin came to office, there was little sign of the anti-western rhetoric that now so dominates his leadership and public discourse in Russia. Indeed, in 2001, just a couple of years after becoming leader, Putin said that Russia should either be allowed to join Nato or the alliance should be replaced by a new organisation that includes all of Europe and Russia. But his desire for integration did not last long.
30.11.2016 12:28 U.S. Economy Grew at 3.2% Rate in 3rd Quarter
The United States economy in the third quarter grew at the fastest pace in two years, according to a revised report that showed stronger consumer spending than first estimated. The gross domestic product, the country`s total output of goods and services, expanded at an annual rate of 3.2 percent in the July-September period, the Commerce Department reported on Tuesday. That is up from a previous estimate of 2.9 percent. The revision was significantly better than the meager gains of 0.8 percent in the first quarter and 1.4 percent in the second, when the economy was being held back by a strong dollar and weak business investment. The 3.2 percent increase was expected to be the best showing for the year. Economists say they believe growth has slowed to around 2 percent in the current quarter. At the moment, they are forecasting growth of 2 to 2.5 percent for 2017.
28.11.2016 11:06 The cost of climate change: World`s economy will lose $12tn unless greenhouse gases are tackled
Preventing global warming from rising above 1.5 degrees Celsius will mean the world`s economy is at least 10 per cent bigger by 2050 than it would be if action is not taken to reduce greenhouse gases, according to a new report. The planet`s average temperature has already risen about 1C in about 130 years, with scientists admitting that restricting this to just 0.5C more will be difficult. However the report – released by the United Nations Development Programme and a group of 43 developing countries which are highly vulnerable to climate change – argued doing so would be worth it. As a result, the world`s gross domestic product would fall by $21 trillion by 2050, compared to $33 trillion under a `business-as-usual` approach that allows global warming of 2.5 degrees. This saving of $12 trillion (about £9.6 trillion) represents about 10 per cent of global GDP.
26.11.2016 11:28 World economy needs Trump to build bridges, not burn them
President-elect Donald Trump`s big-spending plan to revitalize US infrastructure could be just the ticket to drag the world economy out of its post-crisis torpor, experts say. Experts warn benefits from President-elect Donald Trump`s big-spending plans could be eroded if he sticks to his aim of putting "America first" and tearing up trade pacts. But there is a huge caveat, they warn: the plan`s benefits would be eroded if Trump executes his avowed aim of putting "America first" and tearing up commercial pacts, potentially igniting a trade war. The Republican property tycoon`s team says he will devote $550 billion to rebuilding decrepit highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools and hospitals -- something that President Barack Obama failed to persuade Republicans in Congress to back.
24.11.2016 10:49 The World Economy Is Too Interconnected for the U.S. to Retreat
What kind of economic world do we live in? It is interconnected, not only in the sharing of information, but also in the relationships among financial markets. The movement of money between the world`s currencies has been amazing. And the dollar, being the premier store of value currency, is at the center of everything. Consider what has been happening since the U.S. presidential election. The U.S. dollar has risen substantially against the euro. It has also risen against the pound, extending the gains that occurred after the British voted to leave the European Union. Since election day, the dollar has risen against the yen and further extended gains against China`s yuan. Currencies from emerging-market nations have also declined in value during this period. And, if the Federal Reserve raises its short-term interest rate target at its December meeting, this will only further strengthen the the dollar. Furthermore, it is expected that the Fed will raise rates again next year, maybe more than once.
23.11.2016 12:23 How Italy Is Helping Russia Avoid More Sanctions
One of the most reliable partners for Russia in the European block is Italy. During a recent European summit in Brussels, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi successfully persuaded other European countries such as Germany, France and the U.K. to refrain from introducing new economic sanctions against Russia in response to Moscow`s bombardment of the Syrian city of Aleppo. This week`s summit was not the first time Italy stepped in to help Russia. According to the International Business Times, Italy attempted to block EU proposals to renew sanctions against Russia in December 2015. ”Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi has consistently asked EU partners to avoid isolating Russia and to involve Moscow in resolving international conflicts,” the paper said.
22.11.2016 12:03 October economic data show Russian economy still slumping
Russian retail sales fell further and an increase in real wages slowed in October, official data showed on November 18, signaling that an economic slump is yet to run its course. Russian officials have said in recent months the economy will return to growth soon, because it has passed the most acute phase of an economic crisis sparked by low oil prices and Western sanctions. However, the October data came in below expectations and revised figures for September paint a gloomier picture. Taken together, that could mean Russia will return to economic growth later than previously thought. Statistics service Rosstat said retail sales fell by 4.4 percent in October from a year ago after declining by 3.6 percent a month earlier.
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On March 22, 2018, the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police (ILACP) and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) signed a historic agreement on 10 shared principles of policing. This is the first of its kind in the nation and is the result of four years of discussion following the aftermath of the Ferguson, Missouri riots. The Flossmoor Police Department recently joined 152 other Illinois law enforcement agencies in signing a dedication committing to the 10 Shared Principles.
The 10 Shared Principles represent a vow between the two statewide associations "by mutual affirmation to work together and stand together in our communities and at the state level to implement these values and principles, and to replace mistrust with mutual trust wherever, whenever, and however we can."
The Flossmoor Police Department has adopted these 10 Shared Principals as its own and has added its name to the historic agreement between the Illinois NAACP and the ILACP. In early October, the first ever World Café Summit was presented to high school students at H-F High school, an initiative led by Chief Mitch Davis, of the Hazel Crest Police Department and member of the executive board of the ILACP, and Dr. Jerry Anderson, Principal of Homewood Flossmoor High School. Flossmoor Police Chief Tod Kamleiter and members of the Flossmoor Police department were also active participants in the ground-breaking presentation.
These are the Ten Shared Principles
1. We value the life of every person and consider life to be the highest value.
2. All persons should be treated with dignity and respect. This is another foundational value.
3. We reject discrimination toward any person that is based on race, ethnicity, religion, color, nationality, immigrant status, sexual orientation, gender, disability, or familial status.
4. We endorse the six pillars in the report of the President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing. The first pillar is to build and rebuild trust through procedural justice, transparency, accountability, and honest recognition of past and present obstacles.
5. We endorse the four pillars of procedural justice, which are fairness, voice (i.e., an opportunity for citizens and police to believe they are heard), transparency, and impartiality.
6. We endorse the values inherent in community policing, which includes community partnerships involving law enforcement, engagement of police officers with residents outside of interaction specific to enforcement of laws, and problem-solving that is collaborative, not one-sided.
7. We believe that developing strong ongoing relationships between law enforcement and communities of color at the leadership level and street level will be the keys to diminishing and eliminating racial tension.
8. We believe that law enforcement and community leaders have a mutual responsibility to encourage all citizens to gain a better understanding and knowledge of the law to assist them in their interactions with law enforcement officers.
9. We support diversity in police departments and in the law enforcement profession. Law enforcement and communities have a mutual responsibility and should work together to make a concerted effort to recruit diverse police departments.
10. We believe de-escalation training should be required to ensure the safety of community members and officers. We endorse using de-escalation tactics to reduce the potential for confrontations that endanger law enforcement officers and community members; and the principle that human life should be taken only as a last resort.
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Felix Schoeller Group starts 2023 with a new management team
Category: Companies
Hans-Christoph Gallenkamp focuses on his role as CEO
Matthias Breimhorst moves to the position of CSO
Astrid Enge joins the Holding Executive Committee as new CFO
The Felix Schoeller Group is entering 2023 with a newly formed Management Board. As part of the realignment, Hans-Christoph Gallenkamp is relinquishing global sales responsibility. From 1 January 2023, he will once again be concentrating more on his duties as Chairman of the Management Board with strategic issues.
The duties as CSO will be taken over by the previous CFO Matthias Breimhorst. In his new role as CSO, he will be responsible for global sales and supply chain management. One focus of his tasks is the strategic further development and strengthening of the group's worldwide sales activities in the international market for high-quality speciality papers. "Not least in the current challenging times, it is particularly important for us to be a reliable partner and to develop new ways and solutions for the future together with our customers," says Breimhorst.
The position of CFO will be filled by Astrid Enge as a new member of the Holding Executive Board. Astrid Enge brings with her many years of experience as a managing director in various family-owned companies in the field of mechanical and plant engineering. Most recently, she was CFO at the SAACKE Group. "We are delighted that Ms Enge is joining us with her extensive expertise in finance. She focuses on the financial performance and development of the group," said Gallenkamp.
Georg Haggenmüller (COO), Michael Szidat (CEO Americas) and Yong Li Gao (Vice CEO APA) remain members of the Felix Schoeller Group Executive Board.
www.felix-schoeller.com
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← Walter Reuther
Esther Eggersten Peterson →
“The essence of trade unionism is social uplift. The labor movement has been the haven for the dispossessed, the despised, the neglected, the downtrodden, the poor.”
In 1964, A. Philip Randolph received the Medal of Freedom from President Lyndon Johnson. The honor was a fitting tribute for a man whose life was marked by one historic accomplishment after another. Achievement that included his pivotal role in establishing the Sleeping Car Porters union in 1925, his high-profile effort to force President Truman’s Executive Order banning discrimination in the military and his election as the first black vice president of the AFL-CIO in 1955.
The George Meany Memorial Archives offers a fine biographical sketch of Randolph and an online exhibit based on the 1992-2001 traveling exhibit on A. Philip Randolph sponsored by the AFL-CIO. Click Here.
Advancing the legacy of A. Philip Randolph is also the mission of the A. Philip Randolph Pullman Porter Museum and the A. Philip Randolph Institute. Both are valuable sources of information on the life and career of this notable American.
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A Trinity of Ejaculatory MATRIX REVOLUTIONS reviews! 'It's A Sci-fi Lover's Wet Dream!'
Published at: Oct. 21, 2003, 3:59 a.m. CST by staff
Hey folks, Harry here with the first two MATRIX REVOLUTIONS film reviews... This time, unfortunately... that JohnnyComeLately NEAL CUMPSTON, just couldn't get it together this time. But never fear... we have two that did crack the MATRIX and got out with their opinions. Don't worry, they don't spoil it for us, and they're both very very positive... so put on your happy face and countdown these last few moments till you're either shaking your head in aggravation or trembling with elation. Here's Ack...
Just got back from a screening in New York City of Matrix Revolutions.
Don't want to give away anything...... but-
First off I loved the first and was disappointed by the second. I found Reloaded confusing and boring. The big chase scene at the end was good, but it looked like computer animation. I didn't like how at the end of the first one Neo had the ability to stop bullets and fight in slow motion.... so what do the baddies do in the second one..... they shoot at him and try to beat him with kung fu.
This one starts off exactly where the second ends. It lags for the first fifteen minutes or so. It is a continuation of the second- a lot of boring talk about confusing plot points. Then it goes crazy right until the end. All of the characters are great. The plot great. Effects are stunning. There is a big fight in the middle that, in my opinion is the best ever seen on screen.
They should have taken Reloaded, cut it down to twenty minutes and just added this to the beginning of this film.
See this movie- It's f-ing great!
Ok, and now we have this...
Harry--
Thanks to a friend within the large corporate behemoth known as TimeWarner, I was able to a screening of “Matrix Revolutions” last night in New York City.
So that you know where I stand in terms of my opinions on the first two films in the trilogy, let me say that I really liked the original film which seemed fresh and original when it first arrived on the scene. “Matrix Reloaded,” while entertaining, seemed bloated and over-hyped and left me feeling sort of blasé about sitting through a third chapter.
If “The Matrix” was the brain of the series and “Matrix Reloaded” the fat that should have (in hindsight) been trimmed from the trilogy, then “Matrix Revolutions” is pure lean and mean muscle that serves up an astounding finale. It’s a sci-fi lover’s wet dream.
This movie delivers on the promise of the original film in a way “Matrix Reloaded” didn’t. The Wachowskis have thrown everything they have at the screen and, wouldn’t you know, it works. The film has enormous action sequences chock-full of “Holy Shit!” moments that make the freeway chase in the second film seem tiny and insignificant in comparison, yet even with these bigger set pieces the movie manages (rather surprisingly) to elevate the human drama in a way most FX-driven movies seem unable to do.
There’s a real sense that something important is at stake here and the battle between good and evil/man and machine reaches an epic scale that other genre filmmakers will be hard-pressed to top – some of the imagery the artists involved have conjured up is truly astounding. But it’s not just about state-of-the-art effects. Characters are forever changed. Lives are lost, including that of a major player. Humanity is on the verge of extinction. The film wears its bloody heart on its sleeve, making this the most human “Matrix” of them all.
The film jumps right into its story without a recap of the previous chapter. We’re right where we were when we left off at the end of “Reloaded” and the Wachowski brothers assume you’re up to speed on the story details. Right away things are noticeably better than “Reloaded.” The pacing is better than in the last film. The performances are less stiff than before and the story more engaging. The transition to a new actress in the role of the Oracle is seamless and she’s terrific. Jada Pinkett Smith gets a chance to shine with a bigger, more important role than last time. The music roars in easily the best score of the three films. The battle in Zion is incredible and complex and full of human struggle. An epic fight in the skies during the finale plays like the ultimate “Superman” movie, backed by full orchestra and choir.
Is it big? Is it over-the-top? Fuck, yeah! What else do you expect? It earns its place among other visionary sci-fi films of recent decades and you can expect big boxoffice and huge DVD sales to follow.
Yeah, some of the dialogue is grandiose and borderline cheesy. But the pretentious atmosphere that nearly sunk “Reloaded” for me is gone and the tone is more in sync with that of the original.
A side note: film snobs will predictably turn up their noses and complain that they haven’t been served a plate of delicate character moments we all enjoy in other smaller, character-driven films (I say this knowing a few in attendance felt the action overwhelmed the characters). I would disagree and also say they’re missing the point. This is a postmodern take on the classic struggle between good and evil told with kick-ass comic book artistry and a style uniquely its own. It exists in and of itself and, if you accept the rules and conventions the filmmakers have laid out within the universe they’ve created, you will be rewarded. It doesn’t hurt if you go into it expecting to see a big-budget commercial action film.
How does it end? Obviously I won’t tell, except to say that it’s satisfying, not entirely as expected, and a few cynics in the crowd might find reason to smirk. But overall this is a far better film than the chapter that preceded it and it delivers a rousing finale to a pretty amazing trilogy. Can't wait to see it again.
CarpalTunnelDude
Ok, so... are these 'agents' of the Matrix infecting our Zion free world with their rhetoric about the coolest and the best... or is MATRIX REVOLUTIONS really an asskicking monstrosity of cosmic levels? Well, personally... I'm hoping it is an asskicking monstrosity of cosmic levels. I'd really get a kick out that. BTW - is this year, the year of Blind Heroes? DAREDEVIL, ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO and MATRIX REVOLUTIONS... and of course with what Peter did... RETURN OF THE KING.... I've said too much. Anyway, that's all for now...
But Wait... There's More.... Beware... this time there are spoilers... lots of them...
It has been determined that the following review is complete and total BULLSHIT!
Howdy Harry and company, I managed to squeeze into a sneak peek of The Matrix Revolutions here in Chicago. We weren't told going in what the movie was, only that it was a studio film for release before the years end.
I loved the Matrix and hated Reloaded. I figured that since Reloaded and Revolutions were shot together the final chapter would be more like its brother than its father. The Watchowski's have knocked one out of the park, and not even Reloaded sitting in the stands knocking the ball away can keep this trilogy from being remembered as the masterpiece Revolutions has insured it will be.
A quick synopsis to get the ball rolling:
Agent Smith is steadily spreading through the Matrix, absorbing humans and ruining the machine's power supply in the process. Neo is making back door deals with the machines, while Trinity and Morpheus are contacting the Oracle, and the rest of Zion is preparing for the inevitable onslaught of sentinels only 12 hours away. Before Neo faces Smith he has to find his way through the buffer world, where the code is translated and controlled into the Matrix, which only one man has access to: The Keymaker. The Keymaker of course bit it in Reloaded so the Oracle sends Trinity, Seraph, and Morpheus to crash the Merovingian's party where they intend to use Persephone to persuade the Merovingian to set Neo free. Recall the kiss Neo gave Persephone in Reloaded, it comes into play here.
All of the above is setup within the first 20 minutes of the movie, what happens in each instance and what results I will not ruin here. All I feel the need to say regarding plot is that what you thought you knew about the matrix, even given what the Architect and Oracle revealed: its wrong. Simply, totally, wrong, and you'll be smiling every time the brothers Wachowski pull open another curtain. The answer to "What is the Matrix?" is finally revealed here. A Matrix inside of a Matrix? Luckily for us the Wachowski's are better than that.
I found it interesting that the action was hyped so much for Reloaded, but little was revealed or publicized about Revolutions' sequences. Revolutions is the movie Reloaded should have been. The passion is back, the intensity of the action sequences, even exceeds the first Matrix. The Burly Brawl is useless compared to the final Neo vs Smith fight. They fight on the ground, in the trenches, in the skies, I can still feel the impacts: little impresses me in movies these days, expect this sequence to be ripped off and cannibalized for the next decade.
I was looking forward to the destruction of Zion, those raving Zionites had it coming and I was rooting for those slippery Sentinels going in. That changed fairly quickly, I felt for Zion, they actually feel like real people this time around (especially ironic given what is revealed 3/4ths the way through) and my heart was racing as the sentinels ripped Zion apart bit by bit. Incredible sequence (intercut through most of the last half) that builds and builds, completely relentless.
The movie doesn't give you a chance to breath, I couldn't be happier that the Wachowski's brought this train back online, they couldn't have ended this trilogy any better. After Reloaded I figured the Matrix would live on, while the trilogy would be forgotten, Revolutions secured this trilogy's place in film history.
That's it for now...
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Written by Khannea Suntzu October 20, 2012 October 20, 2012
Bill Moyers: The Plutocracy Will Go to Extremes to Keep the 1% in Control
From BillMoyers.com:
The One Percent is not only increasing their share of wealth — they’re using it to spread millions among political candidates who serve their interests. Example: Goldman Sachs, which gave more money than any other major American corporation to Barack Obama in 2008, is switching alliances this year; their employees have given $900,000 both to Mitt Romney’s campaign and to the pro-Romney super PAC Restore Our Future. Why?
Because, says the Wall Street Journal, the Goldman Sachs gang felt betrayed by President Obama’s modest attempts at financial reform. To discuss how the super-rich have willfully confused their self-interest with America’s interest, Bill is joined by Rolling Stone magazine’s Matt Taibbi, who regularly shines his spotlight on scandals involving big business and government, and journalist Chrystia Freeland, author of the new book Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else .
Full transcript of the interview below the video:
BILL MOYERS: The new Gilded Age is roaring down on us, an uncaged tiger on a rampage. Walk out to the street in front of our office and turn right and you can see the symbol of it: a fancy new skyscraper going up two blocks away. When finished, this high rise among high rises will tower a thousand feet, the tallest residential building in the city.
The New York Times has dubbed it “the global billionaires club,” and for good reason. At least of two of the apartments are under contract for more than $90 million each. Others, more modest, range in price from $45 million to more than 50 million.
Simultaneously, the powers-that-be have just awarded Donald Trump — yes, that Donald Trump — the right to run a golf course in the Bronx which taxpayers are spending at least $97 million to build. What “amounts to a public subsidy,” says the indignant city comptroller, “for a luxury golf course.” Good grief. A handout to the plutocrat’s plutocrat.
This, in a city where economic inequality rivals that of a third-world country. Of America’s 25 largest cities, New York is now the most unequal. The median income for the bottom 20% last year was less than $9,000, while the top one percent of New Yorkers has an average annual income of $2.2 million.
Across America, this divide between the superrich and everyone else has become a yawning chasm and studies indicate it may stifle jobs and growth for years to come. At no time in modern history has the top one hundredth of one percent owned more of our wealth or paid so low a tax rate. But in neither of the two presidential debates so far has the vastness of this astounding inequality gap been discussed. Not by Mitt Romney, who is the embodiment of the predatory world of financial capitalism. And not even by Barack Obama, whose party once fought for working men and women against the economic royalists.
So just in time, if not too late, comes this definitive examination of inequality: Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super-Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else. Its author is Chrystia Freeland, whose journalism is steeped in years of covering robber barons from Russia to Mexico and India. Once deputy editor of The Globe and Mail in Canada and a correspondent for The Financial Times and The Economist, she is now the editor of Thomson Reuters Digital.
We’re joined by the perceptive and merciless Matt Taibbi, who has made the magazine Rolling Stone a go-to source for understanding the financial scandals that roil America. Who can forget his 2009 article on “The Great American Bubble Machine,” which described investment bank Goldman Sachs as quote, “a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money”? … Income inequality has soared to the highest level since the Great Depression, with the top one percent taking 93 percent of the income earned in the first year after the recovery, the first full year after the recovery. Why are the two candidates not talking about inequality growing at breakneck speed?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: You know, I think because it is still a taboo in American political life and in American cultural life. One of the economists I talk to he works for the World Bank. And he said to me, you know, and he’s a specialist in income inequality.
And he said, “When you go to think tanks you say you’d like to do a study about poverty, they say, ‘That’s fine. That’s great. We’re happy to fund it,’ because writing about poverty makes everybody feel good and feel that they’re being charitable and beneficent. But if you say, ‘Actually, I want to study income inequality,’ and even most dangerously, ‘I want to study what’s happening at the very top of the distribution,” what Branko Milanović said to me is the think tanks immediately pull away because they say, “Our donors won’t like it.”
And that actually challenges the whole economic setup of the United States and of western capitalism. It’s very, very threatening. And I think that that’s why you’ve had the billionaire class. You know, the minute Barack Obama, I would actually say rather gently suggested that the millionaires and the billionaires should pay a little bit more, you had immediate cries of class warfare from the plutocrats. And very emotional. You know, there was an activist investor who sent an e-mail to his friends. The subject line is, “battered wives.” And in the e-mail he compares himself and his fellow multi-millionaires to battered wives who are being beaten by the president. He actually uses those words.
MATT TAIBBI: And I thought it was really interesting in your book how you pointed out that Bill Clinton, himself, responded to Obama’s criticism by saying, “You know, I would have done it a little bit differently. I think, you know, you can’t attack these people for their success.” And I think that’s very relevant because if you go back in time, it wasn’t always this way.
But I think the shift really began with Clinton and the New Democrats. I think after, you know, Walter Mondale lost in 1984, the Democrats decided, “You know, we’re never going to lose the funding battle again.” And they began this sort of imperceptible shift, where they continued to campaign on social issues the same way they had before.
They retained their liberalism in that sense. But economically, they began to side more and more with Wall Street and more and more with the very rich. And they’ve, I think we’ve now reached the point where neither party really represents the very poor in the way that the Democrats maybe used to. And so, that there’s, that’s why, you know, you don’t see it in the debates, because neither party is really an advocate for that kind of left behind class anymore.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: It is the people at the bottom, as Matt says. But it’s also the people in the middle.
MATT TAIBBI: Right.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: You know, the middle class is being–
MATT TAIBBI: Decimated, yeah.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: –hammered. Those jobs are hollowed out. And where are the people pulling back and saying, “Okay, technology revolution, we love it.” Globalization, I love that too. And I think it’s great people are being raised up in India and China and now Africa. But let’s think about how our society and our politics need to change to accommodate this. And no one is doing that. And meanwhile, the guys at the top, who are making, who are doing so, so well actually are saying, “We need to slant the political system even more in our own favor.”
BILL MOYERS: Why are we so passive about this?
MATT TAIBBI: Well, I think the, first of all the poor in this country have been incredibly demoralized whether it’s the relentless attention of, you know, bill collectors. Or if you go to poor neighborhoods, you know, I was out in Queens last night interviewing a kid who’s been stopped and frisked 70 times already. He’s 22 years old. You have this constant interference by the police if you live in a bad neighborhood.
There’re all these obstacles to getting up and rising up and having your own voice. And also I think in the media we get these relentless messages that being poor is actually your own fault and that people who are rich deserve to be rich. And a lot of Americans are disillusioned about their situation. They believe, they actually do believe on some level that if they’re poor, they deserve to be that way. I think they’re, and so they’re reluctant to go out and revolt the way maybe Europeans in the last century, early in the last century would have.
BILL MOYERS: Left unanswered, left unanswered where does this vast inequality take America?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Well, I think to a very bad place. And I see two real and present dangers. One is that you see an increase of the political capture.
BILL MOYERS: Of what?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Of the political capture. So of the people at the very, very top, capturing the political system. And most crucially, I think something that an economist, a guy called Willem Buiter, who’s the chief economist at Citigroup, he calls it cognitive capture. Where he says, look, it’s not like this vast conspiracy. It’s not as if, you know, everyone is on the payroll of the plutocrats.
And this guy, okay, he is now the chief economist of Citigroup. He wrote this when he was an academic economist. But so it’s, he’s hardly, you know, some kind of Marxist on the barricades. His argument was that part of the reason the financial crisis happened is the entire intellectual establishment, not just people inside investment banks, but regulators, academic economists, financial journalists, had all been captured by the financial sector’s vision of how the economy should work. And in particular, light touch regulation.
And I think there is a broader cognitive capture of, you know, you might call it the intellectual class, the public intellectuals, around maybe the inevitability of plutocracy. You know, as Matt was saying, this notion that if you’re poor, it’s your own fault. You’re part of this dependent 47 percent. Unions are very bad. All of that sort of stuff.
So I think that that cognitive capture increases. And I think what you see increasingly is, you know, elites like to think of themselves as acting in the collective interest, even as they act in their personal vested interest. And so what I think you’ll end up seeing is social mobility, which is already decreasing in the United States, being increasingly squeezed. You see particularly powerful sectors, finance, oil. I would say the technology sector is going to be next in line, getting lots of government subsidies.
And meanwhile, I think you see much less money spent on the things that the middle class and the poor need. That’s why have this, you know, full bore attack on entitlements, right? Why is the plutocracy so enthusiastic about cutting entitlement spending? Because they don’t need it. But they’re very worried about their tax dollars funding it.
MATT TAIBBI: Right. Where was that outrage when the $5 trillion or $6 trillion in bailouts was coming their way?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Right. So I really worry about that. And then the other thing that I worry about is you do start actually stifling economic growth. So, you know, if you want my dystopia scenario for the United States, it is that America’s moving into a more Latin American structure of the economy.
BILL MOYERS: People at the top, rich. And a lot of people—
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: A few incredibly rich, you know, having just great lives. And then people at the bottom really struggling.
MATT TAIBBI: We both lived that. We saw that in Russia and it happened in the mid-’90s. And—
BILL MOYERS: Yeah, you both cut your teeth in journalism covering Russia. What do you take away from that that is relevant to what’s happening in this country?
MATT TAIBBI: You know, I, that experience completely shaped the way I look at the present situation in the, in America. In the mid-’90s, suddenly when Russia became a “capitalist society” you suddenly has this instant division of the entire society into this very, very tiny group of people at the top who had more money than anybody in the world. And then there was everybody else who had nothing. And—
BILL MOYERS: And they got it through privatization, the government sold off the resources of–
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: “Sold” in quotation marks–
BILL MOYERS: Yeah. So–
MATT TAIBBI: But that was, that’s the key part that I think people don’t understand, is that what happened in Russian was really a merger of state and private power that empowered this one tiny little class. There was this moment in Russia’s history called loans-for-shares. The loans-for-shares privatizations, where a few people, a lot of them were ex-KGB types, were essentially handed the jewels of Russian industry by the people in the Yeltsin government. There were companies that were put in charge of their own auctions. So they–
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: They were all in charge of their own auctions.
MATT TAIBBI: They were all in charge of their own auctions. So they, you would have an auction for an oil company and a bank would be put in charge of that auction. And the bank magically, you know, would win the auction for the oil company, which was worth, you know, billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars. And that’s how they instantly created this super wealthy class of people. And everybody else had nothing. This one story, for me this image that I’ll never forget. I went to a coal mine up in the Russian arctic north where workers hadn’t been paid their salaries for nine, ten months at a time. And when I went to the mine, the mine owners, the first thing they wanted to do was to take me to their bright shiny new lounge that they had built for themselves and show off their brand new slate pool table that they had built with the money that they weren’t paying to their workers.
And that, to me, perfectly expressed the divide in modern Russian society. You had these people who were living off nothing on the one hand. And then you had these super wealthy people who had been enabled who had just kept the money for themselves. And that’s I think, you know, it’s a caricature of what we’re experiencing here in America. But I think that’s where the world is drifting toward now.
BILL MOYERS: You write about some of these super rich, not only with insight, but with empathy. That is, you’ve gotten to talk to a lot of them. You have moved among them as a financial journalist, been to Davos and other places like that. And I’m wondering, how did you crack what is clearly a tight knit world?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Well, I guess the way journalists do it, just by talking to people, writing about them. I think you write stories that show people that actually you’re interested in what they’re doing. And what I would also say is, you know, I believe in capitalism. And I also actually believe in globalization and the technology revolution. If you gave me the option of turning the clock back to the 1950s, I wouldn’t do it. Partly because I’m a woman and things were not that great for us then.
BILL MOYERS: Well.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: And, you know, it’s important, you know, I think a mistake that the left can make in criticizing income inequality is to behave as if this is entirely a political confection. It’s entirely about political capture. There are no genuine, legitimate and actually benign economic forces driving it. Because I think there are. I think the winner take all economic dynamic is something that is existing separate from the politics. The politics in the United States are exacerbating that division rather than mitigating it.
But I do think that when you pull back and look at the global picture, which is something that was important for me to do in the book, it becomes a little bit harder to say, “this particular American tax break,” or even, “this particular American financial reform is the only thing driving income inequality,” because the really remarkable thing is the extent to which this is a global phenomenon.
It’s happening across the western industrialized world. I’m Canadian. So I’m practically born a socialist in the view of many Americans. But even in Canada, income inequality is increasing. It’s even, you know, for a while in the economic literature the one outlier was France. And so, insofar as economists make jokes they would say, “oh, the French. They have to be exceptional even in this area.” But now you’re seeing it increase in France too. And you’re seeing it increase in the emerging market economies. So I think we do have to accept that there are some economic drivers.
Now those economic drivers are partly put in place by the politics. It was politics that allowed globalization to happen. And in the United States really crucially, and I think you can’t emphasize this too much. Look at what happened with the tax code. I mean, in the 1950s, this era when America felt itself to be a very conservative society, and it was, the top marginal tax rate was above 90 percent.
BILL MOYERS: Yeah, 91 percent, I believe.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Right, just think about that. Imagine if Barack Obama had said in the debate this week, “You know what Governor Romney? I think America in the ’50s was a wonderful place. That was the age of the greatest generation. They, too, faced a real budget deficit they had to pay off. And the people at the very top were willing to pay a 90 percent top marginal tax rate. Would you be willing to do that, Governor?” I mean, imagine if he had said that.
BILL MOYERS: You cover some of the same crowd that Chrystia’s writing about, but you do so with a, with complete irreverence. Do you still gain access to them? Or have all the doors been slammed in your face?
MATT TAIBBI: Well, the very, very top people won’t talk to me. You know, I don’t have access to the same people that Chrystia maybe talks to. But I do talk to a lot of people who work on Wall Street. In fact I got started down the road of this whole topic, you know, after I wrote a couple of articles. And then suddenly on this there was this outpouring of people from Wall Street who suddenly wanted to talk to me because they were upset about the direction that the financial services industry was taking.
So I’m hearing a lot from people sort of from the middle on down on Wall Street. And what they’re really upset about is corruption. Is this merging of state and private power, where the losers don’t lose anymore. I think the people who get really upset are small hedge funds, small banks. And they see companies like, you know, Citigroup and Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase make mistake after mistake. And they get rewarded for it what with bailouts and even greater market share than they had before.
And so, you know, my analysis is informed by those people. And I think, you know, I think Chrystia and I agree about a lot of things about, particularly about the growing divide and how extreme it’s become. My analysis just might be a little bit angrier just because the, you know, from the point of view that I’m particularly looking at is the corruption and the use of force and state power to keep divide where it is and increase it.
BILL MOYERS: You both have pointed out that we tend to talk as if Wall Street and the plutocracy were a monolith. But it’s not. Do you think there is a civil war within the one percent?
MATT TAIBBI: There is absolutely a schism developing in this community. Think about it just on one level, on the level of banking, right? If you have these too big to fail banks, everybody in the world knows that nobody’s going to l allow the very biggest commercial banks to go out of business. It will never happen. 2008 proved it, that if they ever get in trouble the government will come in and rescue them. So what does that mean for those banks?
It means that it allows them to borrow money more cheaply because anybody who lends them money knows they’re always going to get paid off. The government if, in the worst case scenario, they’re going to get paid off. So this gives them an inherent financial advantage over the small, regional commercial bank, which does not have that implied government guarantee. And so those people are furious.
They’re furious that they have to compete against these gigantic monoliths that have the implicit backing of the U.S. government. Then there’s the other problem of corruption. I mean, I hear all the time from hedge funds you know, these smaller guys who believe that some of the big investment banks are selling them out to even bigger hedge funds, that are, you know, giving away information about their positions to even bigger clients so that somebody else can trade against them.
Or maybe the banks themselves are front running their positions and trading against their own clients. There’s this schism developing between the smaller guy the medium size financial player and the very, very big too big to fail companies that are perceived as getting a break, and getting the backing of the government. And also are perceived as getting away with stuff that they wouldn’t get away with.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: I agree with Matt. And I think what you’re really seeing , actually, it’s sort of the battle of the millionaires versus the billionaires because this winner take all dynamic is not just between, you know, the 10 percent and the 90 percent or the one percent and the 99 percent.
What’s quite interesting and leads me to really believe that there’re some deep economic forces involved is it’s happening just as much within the top one percent. We saw it in the recovery. You sited those statistics, Bill, about 93 percent of the recovery going to the one percent. Thirty-seven percent of the recovery went to the top 0.01 percent.
So even in there, there’s, you know, even more of a gap. And the people one layer down can be very, very aggrieved precisely because, you know, they see what’s going on. They see that unfairness. And it makes them really, really mad.
You know, one of the things that I found as I was writing my book and talking to plutocrats was, you know, as Matt says, these are very, very smart people. And many of them, not all, some—
BILL MOYERS: They work very hard too, don’t they?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: This is not Downton Abbey. These are not people, this is not a landed gentry. These are people who even, and even if they’re sort of a Mitt Romney or a Bill Gates who grew up very affluent, their actual business, they did build themselves. They built in a society that was very supportive of that, but they built it. So, you know, they’re hardworking. They have to be thoughtful about the world because they’re making investments.
And what I found was very interesting was they were very keen to divide the world into the good plutocrats and the bad plutocrats. And what was very funny was everyone was happy to make that division. But everyone felt that they themselves and their particular type of business belonged to good plutocrats, and somebody else belonged to bad ones. So you talk to the Silicon Valley guys, they love talking about this, especially after the financial crisis because their view was, “Of course income inequality is a problem. Of course there has been state capture by those bad guys in New York. “We however, are the innovators. We created value ourselves. We are completely pure and good. And these issues really have nothing to do with us.”
BILL MOYERS: Do you think they think they’re really defending honest capitalism?
MATT TAIBBI: Oh, absolutely. I, you know, the one thing that’s consistent in my exposure to the financial services industry is that the people who work within it, and particularly the people you know, at the very, very top, sincerely believe that they have not done anything wrong. And, you know, when you bring up things like the mass sale of fraudulent mortgage backed securities, it’s just like you say.
It’s always somebody else who made that mistake. You know, “We didn’t know at the time that we were selling billions and billions of dollars of junk and we were dumping this on pension funds and foreign trade unions.” It was always somebody else who was doing that. And they also have built up this very, very powerful insulating psychological justification for their lifestyles. They’ve adopted this sort of Randian point of view, where–
BILL MOYERS: Ayn Rand.
MATT TAIBBI: Yeah exactly, you know, they genuinely believe that they are the wealth creators and that they should get every advantage and break whereas everybody else is a parasite and they’re living off of them. So when you bring up to them, for instance, how is it that nobody, despite this mass epidemic of fraud that appears to have happened before the 2008 crash, how come nobody of consequence has gone to jail after that?
They always, you know, they always argue against more regulation and more enforcement because they say, “We need room to, we need air to breathe, we need room to create jobs. And this is just counterproductive to put people in jail. It’ll cast a pall over society.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: If I may say so Bill, this very sincere, absolutely, absolutely sincere self-justification, I think, is one of the most dangerous things that’s happening because in our society, and I would say this is particularly powerful in America. Really since the Reagan era, there has been this vision of the successful businessperson as really a leader for the whole society. And there has been a view that the businessperson, what he thinks, and, by the way, all of my plutocrats are men.
But, you know, what he thinks about how society should be ordered, we should all listen to because he, after all, is the hero of our time, is the hero of capitalist narrative. And I think it’s so important for us to really understand that what is good for an individual business, particularly in this age of very high income inequality and the ways of thinking, the ideas that are no doubt absolutely the right ones for this particular business, may very well not be good for society as a whole.
BILL MOYERS: Both of you write in different ways that, with irony, that they threaten the system that created them.
MATT TAIBBI: Well this was another thing, another image from Russia that always stuck in my mind. And I studied in Russia when it was still communist. I remember going through the countryside. And you had all these villages and people walked around in the villages.
And then suddenly in the mid to late ’90s in Russia you drove through the Russian countryside. And suddenly there were these big brick houses that had these huge walls on the outside, these big brick walls with guards on the outside. It was the rich had sort of built this wall that insulated them from the rest of society.
They were living, there was one society on one side of those walls, and then one society on the other side of it. And I think that’s where we’re headed now. We have this kind of community of rich people who sort of live, hop from place to place. And they never have any sort of intercourse with the rest of the world.
BILL MOYERS: Disconnected?
MATT TAIBBI: They’re completely disconnected. And so they’ve built this kind of nation where inside, it’s all, you know, nice and everything works logically. And it makes sense to them. But they never really see what goes on on the outside.
BILL MOYERS: Do they feel entitled?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Yes. Absolutely. And, you–
BILL MOYERS: For what reason?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Because they are treated so well. So my favorite story about this was when I was at Heathrow Airport, about to go to a fancy conference. And I ran into someone also going to a fancy conference, a Silicon Valley senior technology person. You know, I didn’t have a car. But he had a car coming to picking him up and so he offered to share the ride. So we’re in the car and this technology guy said to me, when you live our life, you are surrounded by such power and such entitlement, you lose touch with reality.” And his very personal example was he said, “I was recently staying at this lovely Four Seasons Hotel. And I was beside the pool. I was eating a melon. And my spoon fell to the ground. And he said, “Before I could summon anyone, someone rushed up to me with three spoons of different sizes on a linen napkin so that, God forbid, you know, I shouldn’t have the wrong size spoon.”
And what he said was, “You know, what was amazing to me,” he’s talking about himself, “is when I reentered my real life,” he said, “I was kind of a jerk because I like, I expected to live a life where I was constantly being presented with three spoons of different sizes. And I just I couldn’t deal with the frustrations of everyday life.” What makes this a totally ironic story is here he’s telling this kind of self-aware story about the plutocracy.
But when we had been in the airport waiting for the car, he was on the phone, screaming at someone about “Where is my car,” et cetera, et cetera.
So this is, you know, morning in Heathrow. Middle of the night, you know, in San Francisco. And he’s yelling at someone there because she hasn’t organized his car and we had to wait for five minutes. And then he tells me this story about how entitlement can make you not an ideal person. That kind of says it all, right?
BILL MOYERS: But political behavior’s another thing. And there’s no doubt in either of your minds, is there, that they tilt the rules in their favor through their influence and power over the politicians.
MATT TAIBBI: Absolutely. I mean–
BILL MOYERS: I mean, our own government relaxed the regulations, upended the rules, leveled the laws to make way for them.
MATT TAIBBI: They have this power and influence over the government to and they’ve been continually deregulating the atmosphere to legalize whatever it is that they want to do, whether it’s, you know, merging insurance companies and investment banks, whatever it is. The derivatives, the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, they lobbied heavily to create a completely deregulated atmosphere for that. And we saw what happened with that in 2008 with the collapse of companies like AIG. They’ve been incredibly successful in creating their own landscape where they get to do business the way they want to do business.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: And what I think is crucial is, this is not framed as, “I want government to do this so I can get rich and my company can prosper.” This is framed as “We need to do these things for the greater good.” And this is where I think another big problem in America today is a disempowering and a devaluing of the role of government and of its authority as an independent, respected arbitrating body in the center of the ring. And one of the great contrasts for me in the past decade has been looking at what happened in bank regulation in the United States and looking at what happened in Canada. Matt has just spoken about bank mergers. And with hindsight, you know, one of the great brave decisions taken by the Canadian government was to not allow the Canadian banks to merge. They wanted to. Huge lobbying effort. And they made the same arguments about, “Oh, if we can’t merge, we’ll never operate on a global scale. You know, Canada will be left behind. We’ll be a provincial backwater.” And the government just said no. And that decision I think flows directly into the Canadian government’s ability to regulate the financial sector.
Leverage at U.S. levels was not allowed. And the consequence was Canada didn’t have a financial crisis. It’s the only G7 country that didn’t have to bail out its banks. So government can actually hold the line. Government can–
BILL MOYERS: But not if it’s captured, Chrystia.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Not if it’s captured. Not if it’s captured. And so–
BILL MOYERS: And it is captured—
MATT TAIBBI: But now we’re completely captured, with the banking example, now we have these banks that are literally too big to fail in America because we didn’t do the same thing.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: But government can act. I mean, I think it’s important not to have a counsel of despair. That you can have a sophisticated, industrialized western economy. People can live, you know, civilized lives. They can have bankers. Their bankers even, maybe they’re not going to earn $25 million. But they can earn $5 million or $6 million.
They can be perfectly affluent. And government can actually stand up to its banks and stand up to other sectors of industry and say, “You know what? I’m sure that would be great for you guys. My judgment is it’s wrong for the country. And you’re not going to do it.”
BILL MOYERS: They resent any criticism, despite all the advantages and entitlements they have. They also exhibit disdain, as Mitt Romney made clear in that infamous or famous 47 percent video. You know, when he talked about other people being dependent on government.
MATT TAIBBI: I’ve heard that attitude more than once, and not just from Mitt Romney. I think it’s, again, it’s consistent with this mindset that there is an intellectual atmosphere that these people I think have to work within in order to justify a lot of what they do, because you have to be completely disconnected from the real world in order to do things like sell fraudulent mortgages to a state pension fund. If you’re actually thinking about that, you know, you’re taking somebody’s life savings away when you do that. But you can’t think about that.
BILL MOYERS: Matt, you quoted the billionaire Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway, who said that anyone who wants to complain about the Wall Street bailout should realize they were, “absolutely required to save your civilization.” What did he mean by that?
MATT TAIBBI: Well, again, this group of people believe that all of civilization depends on their health and their wellbeing. So when they were threatened in 2008, when they were all about to collapse, it made absolute sense to them that the government should immediately intervene and give them as much money as they needed, to not only to get back on their feet, but to restore their lifestyles to the level that they had been accustomed to.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: So I’m going to, here, step in as a voice in favor of the bailout. I think that Munger was right. I do actually believe–
BILL MOYERS: Saving civilization?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Yeah, I think it was. I think that the bailouts were absolutely essential. I think that, had there not been a bailout, which, by the way, let’s remember, voices on the right as well as the left were objecting to the bailout at the time. I think had there not been a bailout, you would’ve had a much more severe crisis. You would’ve had a full financial collapse and a much, much deeper economic recession. Now, I think where you can and should criticize is first of all, why was the crisis allowed to happen in the first place and the regulatory failure beforehand. I think second of all, you know, where were the strings attached? And actually Charlie Munger’s great business partner, Warren Buffett, drove a much harder bargain with Goldman Sachs than the U.S. Treasury did.
You know, 2008 is not so long ago. And already, the anti-regulation chorus is so strong. You know, I think the re-regulation was not done well at all.
But the fact that people are already making a very, you know, powerful and proud argument against government regulation, bankers are making this argument. I mean, how dare they. How dare they have the gall to actually argue that too much regulation of American financial services is what is killing the economy.
MATT TAIBBI: Right. Right. Just to be clear, I actually agree that the bailouts were necessary. What I completely disagree with was the way they were done. They just simply threw a whole bunch of money at this community and didn’t have any conditions at all. They didn’t sweep in and change any rules. You know, and after the S&L crisis, for instance, we went in and there were massive criminal investigations.
We put 1,000 people in jail. There were no such investigations this time around. So this was just making everybody well again and restoring everybody to the status quo, which I think was a major mistake because it produced precisely the result we’re talking about now. It allowed everybody to think that the previous status quo was okay.
BILL MOYERS: Let me talk about the CEO class because it seems almost every day now there’s a new story of some CEO, some boss of a big company who’s attempting to tell voters to vote as they say.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: If you really see yourself as a job creator, someone who is not just pursuing their business interest in getting richer, but someone who is creating jobs, doing great things for America and for your workers, and you also sincerely believe that Barack Obama is a bad guy, then you feel you have to help your workers to understand this. You know, you have to let them know that you, the job creator, believe that this job creation of which they are the fortunate beneficiaries, you know, that engine is going to slow down. It’s going to grind to a halt.
BILL MOYERS: Do you see this as different from what unions do in urging their voters to go out and vote for the candidates of their choice? Do you see it differently?
MATT TAIBBI: I think it’s a little different just because there’s an implied threat. It’s very, very vague, but, you know, if the CEO of your company suggests to you that you have to vote for Mitt Romney or you have to give money to the Romney campaign, I think the tendency to, you know, to not break ranks, is going to be a little stronger than maybe it would be in a union.
But I think it grows out of this, you know, companies and corporations, they’re not democracies. They’re authoritarian structures. And the people who work in those companies– they start to adopt those attitudes after a while. And especially the people at the very top.
I think they’ve begun to actually believe that their authority extends beyond that. And I just think that people– it’s a little bit different when it’s something your boss tells you to do something than when your union brothers tell you something.
BILL MOYERS: Matt, you have written a lot about the tax code and these plutocrats. Exactly how do they work the tax system?
MATT TAIBBI: Well the plainest example is Mitt Romney. I mean, you know, if you look at his tax returns, he paid, you know, rates of 14, 13 percent. That’s totally normal in this world if you work in a private equity fund. Your income is—
BILL MOYERS: Again, he’s not an exception, he’s an embodiment.
MATT TAIBBI: He’s an embodiment. In the financial services industry for sure, the very, very rich mostly receive income as capital gains or if they’re private equity people, as carried interest.
In both of those, the max rate is 15 percent. So people who make $20 million, $30 million, $50 million a year like Mitt Romney and like, you know, Steve Schwarzman of whoever it is, they pay half the tax rate of, you know, a nurse or a doctor or a fireman or a teacher. And it’s considered totally normal in that world.
BILL MOYERS: So they really do consider tax reform a threat?
MATT TAIBBI: Absolutely. I mean every time that there’s been any discussion about rolling back the carried interest tax break in particular, there’s suddenly been this intense, you know, hurricane of lobbying. And it never seems to get rolled back. Barack Obama promised to repeal that tax break and didn’t do it.
BILL MOYERS: Give us a working definition in the vernacular of carried interest.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: So basically, what this means is that if you’re in, if you work in a private equity firm, the money that you earn– so, you invest a little bit of your own money. And the gains that you make on that investment would be treated under any definition as a capital gain taxed at 15 percent. But you also earn money because you are investing on behalf of all of your investors.
That money that you earn, it’s called carried interest. And it is treated as a capital gain in the same ways that the gains to the investors are treated.
The economic arguments in favor of the carried interest tax break are so weak. I mean, even Mike Bloomberg, who is, you know—
BILL MOYERS: The tenth richest man—
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: –very far from being a socialist. He has come out and said he doesn’t support it. And it says something to you about the power of a very well heeled, very focused lobby group. That, you know, Barack Obama is president. He is opposed to this. He says he’s opposed to it. Even Mike Bloomberg is opposed to it. So there’s a body of Wall Street opinion that thinks it should go away. It’s still there.
BILL MOYERS: But when there was an effort, when the Obama White House and others made an effort to revoke carried interest, the fight was led by people like Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer, representing Wall Street–
MATT TAIBBI: It’s always the New Yorkers.
BILL MOYERS: Yes, the New Yorkers. Of course, that’s their constituency, they would say if they were sitting here. But the Democratic Party didn’t come to the aid and relief of working people at that time.
MATT TAIBBI: Well right, because again, it’s because you have a small, very, very concentrated lobby that is very, very noisy and is very, very specific in what it wants and what it needs. And then there’s the rest of us who, how many people are really thinking about the carried interest tax break? So the advocacy against the carried interest tax break is dispersed. It’s sort of random. It’s not focused, whereas the advocacy for it is incredibly organized. It’s disciplined. And it has a ton of money.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: And it is bipartisan.
BILL MOYERS: Who’s looking out for the rest of us?
MATT TAIBBI: Well, there are, I mean, there definitely are good people in Washington. You know, I meet and talk to a lot of them. There are a lot of honest politicians who are trying to do the right thing. But the– my experience, the money issue is so overwhelming to people in Congress that–
BILL MOYERS: Raising money for their campaign?
MATT TAIBBI: Raising money for their campaigns. It’s so central to their daily lives, really. And especially in the House, where you have to essentially start raising money the instant you get elected because the reelection campaign is only a couple years away that — it’s just too overwhelming for most legislators to get past that issue.
BILL MOYERS: Despite how the plutocrats have reacted to Barack Obama, he does not seem to be like FDR, taking on the economic royalists or like Theodore Roosevelt, fighting the guys he says are taking the country down. How do you explain Obama’s attitude toward these plutocrats?
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Barack Obama in many ways is one of them. He is educated the way a plutocrat is educated. He had an opportunity to join the plutocracy. He could very easily right now be a top corporate lawyer. And they know that.
He thinks the way they do. He’s a technocrat in the accepted manner of the current plutocracy. And I think they like that. I think that’s why he had such a strong reception in 2008. So I think that’s one element. Another element though, and I think that this is something that sort of bothers them, is he isn’t over-awed by them. And that kind of bugs them too, because they do think they’re pretty great.
MATT TAIBBI: To answer your question about, you know, why doesn’t he take the sort of fist shaking attitude of an FDR or a Teddy Roosevelt, I just think Barack Obama has surrounded himself with people, like Larry Summers, like Bob Rubin. And I think he’s accepted a lot of the justifications and the arguments that come from Wall Street and the business community.
So I don’t think he feels genuine class based rage towards this community. I just don’t think that’s in him. You know, I think the– if you listen to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and the likes, they really believe that somewhere under there, there’s this raging socialist. And, you know, there’s Lenin ready to break out and put them all up against the wall in a firing squad. That guy just isn’t there. He really is more one of them than they think.
BILL MOYERS: So you don’t think he’s fighting a class warfare as the right says he is?
MATT TAIBBI: Definitely not. No. No, I think he’s very emotionally and culturally much closer to those people than he is to the rest of us.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: No, but he is moving– he is and I don’t think he says this as directly as perhaps, you know, some of his supporters would like. He is challenging this notion of the successful businessman as the hero and the driver of the American narrative. And that actually is a big– if you think it through to its logical conclusion, that is a big challenge. And I think that accounts for this hurt. This seemingly completely disproportionate emotional reaction.
MATT TAIBBI: He’s made a rhetorical mistake in the way he’s occasionally described this community. And that’s what’s inspiring this whole reaction against him, this feeling that we are like battered wives because they’ve occasionally been described as rich.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: So it’s easy to laugh about this, and we should. But this hurt feelings, the fact that this is really playing out in the emotional space as well as in the balance sheet space, I think is really an important point. I think it’s hard for us civilians to get it because it seems so absurd. You know, really? That would hurt your feelings? Are you so thin skinned? But it is real. And I think that it’s real for a reason, which is I think that Barack Obama, the Democratic party, but also the political discourse more generally is posing an existential threat, or certainly an existential question to the plutocrats, which makes them very, very anxious.
BILL MOYERS: I haven’t heard that, Chrystia.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Well, I’ll tell—
BILL MOYERS: Barack Obama said—
CHRYSTIA FREELAND:
–I’ll tell you what it is– BILL MOYERS:
–in the debate this week that– CHRYSTIA FREELAND: No, but I’ll tell you—
BILL MOYERS: –he sounded like, he said, “I’m for free enterprise, I’m for–”
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: And I’m for free enterprise too. But what he had started to say—
BILL MOYERS: That sounds very tough on them.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: No, but there is an underlying point that he does make. I think he should make it more explicitly which is to say that American capitalism is not working the way it was in the ’50s. That we are not living in a time when a rising tide is lifting all boats. That we are seeing the people at the very top take off. Their economic fortunes actually disconnect from those and from —
BILL MOYERS: Stratospherically leaving earth.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: –most everybody else. And they’re not dependent. You know, that old Henry Ford model, where you needed the middle class to be well paid to buy Henry Ford’s stuff, that that has broken down. And we can argue a lot, and we should, about the reasons. But the facts are that it has. And to say that, to actually state that, is profoundly threatening because it starts to break down this equation of my wealth equals my virtue.
The size of my bank account doesn’t– it isn’t just good for me. It is a manifestation of my civic contribution. And that, in some ways, is Mitt Romney’s campaign. He’s saying, “I’m a successful businessman. So I will make a good president.” And Barack Obama, he is actually saying, “You know what? I don’t think that that equation works and is automatic.” And actually, in saying that, the plutocrats are not wrong to detect there a very powerful ideological challenge.
BILL MOYERS: If plutocrats keep on winning, if they manage to avoid tax reform, if they keep low regulation, if they get a president who is sympathetic to them or even enables them, what’s ahead for us?
MATT TAIBBI: Well, I mean, I fear that what’s ahead is just a continual worsening of the situation. You know, what we’ve seen in our lifetime even since we’ve come back from Russia is this decimation of the middle class in America.
If we continue on this path, what we’ll end up with is, you know, is Russia or some other third world country where, again, you have this handful of people who are protected and who have expanding wealth. And then there’s this sort of massive population of everybody else. And that’s what I worry about.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: I would like to really issue a clarion call to progressives because I think the sort of the progressive public intellectuals are to blame as well. I think a big reason people aren’t protesting is no one is offering sufficiently compelling alternatives and solutions.
And when you think back to the history of the Industrial Revolution, the Progressive Era, the New Deal, these were brand new ideas and brand new institutions designed to cope with changed economic circumstances. What I think is the challenge for everyone who is worried about this, and I think all of us should be worried about it. We should be terrified. But I think we need to start taking the next step. And we need to realize the 1950s are not coming back. What angers me sometimes about these debates is people talking about manufacturing jobs coming back.
That– it’s just not going to happen. So let’s really face the facts of how the world economy works. And really come up with what needs to be the political and social response.
And frankly, you know, I see the right not interested in addressing this issue at all. And I see the left not offering enough new thinking. And people know that. And that’s why people aren’t on the barricades. There’s no manifesto to be waving.
MATT TAIBBI: One caveat I would like to just throw anytime you propose anything that has any kind of government, you know, component to it, there’s this automatic criticism that it’s communist and socialist. So, when you come up with a solution, the boundaries are let’s come with a solution that doesn’t have– that can’t be criticized as being communist or socialist. And that is incredibly difficult for people to work around.
CHRYSTIA FREELAND: Okay, but let’s at least see the new ideas. I mean, my argument is we are living through equally profound economic transformations. And we’re just trying to rehash and re-tinker with the twentieth century institutions. I don’t think it’s enough.
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HomeThe regulatory framework
The decision to set up the National Network was taken in 2003 as part of the transposition of Euratom directives 96/29 (Basic Safety Standards for Health Protection of the Population and Workers against Ionizing Radiation) and 2003/4/CE (Public access to environmental information).
Decision n°2008-DC-0099 ratified by the Nuclear Safety Authority (ASN) on 29 April 2008 (repealing the original decree of 17 October 2003), adopted pursuant to the Public Health Code and amended by Decision n° 2015-DC-0500 of the French Nuclear Safety Authority of 26 February 2015, defines the national network organization, lays down the approval procedures and the qualification requirements which must be met by the laboratories in order to be certified.
THE EUROPEAN FRAMEWORK
Euratom Directive 96/29 of 13 May 1996 on basic safety standards for the protection of the health of workers and the general public against the dangers arising from ionizing radiation
The National Network creation originates from several articles of the Euratom Directive 96/29, in particular Articles 43 to 47 relative to the implementation of radiological protection for the population.
Directive 2003/4/CE of January, the 28th 2003 on public access to environmental information
In accordance with Articles 1 and 2 of Directive 2003/4/CE, , the National Network collects and releases to the public, information on the radiological status of the various environmental compartments held by public authorities. In order to satisfy the quality objective of the environmental information published in accordance with Article 8 of the Directive, a laboratory accreditation system has been set up at the French level.
Article R.1333-11 of the Public Health Code defines this laboratories accreditation for the environmental radioactivity measurement and the Decision n° 2008-DC-0099 ratified April, the 29th 2008 by the ASN, amended by the Decision n° 2015-DC-0500 of the ASN on February, the 26th 2015, specifies the practical arrangements.
Euratom Directive 2013/59 of December, the 5th 2013 on basic standards for health protection against dangers arising from exposure to ionizing radiation
This Directive incorporates Euratom Directive 96/29 of May, the 13th 1996 and includes the dose due to nuclear practices estimated by the competent authority. To comply with this directive, the radiological assessment, drawn up every three years by the IRSN, is published on the RNM website.
This Directive is currently being transposed into national law (amendments to the Public Health Code, the Environmental Code and the Labor Code).
TEXTS relative to the GENERAL ORGANIZATION
Law No. 2006-686 of June, the 13th 2006 on transparency and security in the nuclear field (so-called "TSN Act")
In accordance with the provisions introduced by the TSN Act, now codified in the Environmental Code, the issuance, renewal, refusal, suspension or withdrawal of laboratories certifications for measuring environmental radioactivity are left to the ASN to decide, then corresponding decisions are published in the ASN’s official bulletin, accessible on its website www.asn.fr.
The provisions of the Public Health Code
As part of the transposition into French law of the Euratom Directive 96/29, the Public Health Code was amended by Decree n° 2002-460 of April, the 4th 2002 and the Decree n°2007-1582 of November, the 7th 2007 relative to the general protection of people against the dangers of ionizing radiation.Article R. 1333-11 of the Public Health Code defines the objectives of the National Network and specifies which measurements of environmental radioactivity the public can access via this website. Finally, this article entrusts the ASN with the responsibility of setting the orientations for this network, while the IRSN is in charge of managing it.
Article R. 1333-11-1 refers to the process of laboratories accreditation, since only laboratories certified by the ASN, including the IRSN, are authorized to release environmental radioactivity measurements results on the National Network.
Decision n°2008-DC-0099 of the Nuclear Safety Authority of April, the 29th 2008 relative to the national network organization for measuring environmental radioactivity, laying down the certification procedures for the laboratories
ASN’s Decision n° 2008-DC-0099 dated April, the 29th 2008 relative to the national network organization for the measuring environmental radioactivity, laying down the certification procedures for the laboratories, was adopted pursuant to Article R .1333-11 of the Public Health Code and was ratified by the Minister of Health by ministerial decree dated 8 July 2008 published in the Official Journal on 9 August 2008. This decision replaces the provisions of the Ministerial Order dated 17 October 2003 which has created the National Network.
ASN’s Decision n° 2015-DC-0500 dated February the 26th 2015, ratified by Ministerial Decree of June, the 3rd 2015, has updated the provisions of ASN’s Decision No. 2008-DC-0099 dated 29 April 2008, in particular by introducing a new certification type which allows feeding into the National Network, the radioactivity measurement results of foodstuffs carried out by the network laboratories of the Directorate General on Food Safety (DGAL) and the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Rights and Protection against Fraud (DGCCRF).
This decision defines:
- the National Network organization: ASN is responsible for setting its guidelines, taking into account the opinion issued by a multilateral steering committee, while the IRSN is in charge of defining the methods for collecting measurement data, developing and managing the internet mapping portal where information on environmental radioactivity is released ;
- the certification methods and the qualification requirements that must be met by laboratories to be accredited, a prerequisite before being authorized to supply the National Network. The certifications are issued by the ASN on an accreditation commission’s proposal ;
- the procedures to follow for feeding the measurement results from the certified laboratories into the National Network.
This decision takes into account the ASN’s prerogatives introduced by the TSN Act and the provisions as per Articles R.1333-11 et R.1333-11-1 of the Public Health Code. It also incorporates ASN's experience feedback on the laboratory accreditation process since 2003.
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ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT
Friends of the museum and Newsletter
Manuel Rosa
b. 1953, Portugal
Manuel Rosa was born in Beja, Portugal, in 1953. In 1987 he completed the sculpture programme at the Lisbon School of Fine Arts. In the early 1980s he studied and collaborated with João Cutileiro. His work was first represented in the 1st Symposium of Stone Sculpture, held in Evora in 1981, and his first exhibition took place in Módulo Gallery – Centro Difusor de Arte, Lisbon, in 1984. Working in stone (particularly limestone), bronze, glass and metal, Rosa explores the intrinsic characteristics of those materials through abstract shapes usually with figurative referents, which gives his work a symbolic dimension. In addition to solo and group exhibitions, he has participated in sculpture symposia and designed public art projects, such as Homenagem a D. João II [Memorial to King João II], 1998, a public sculpture located in Parque das Nações, Lisbon, in the ambit of Expo 98. Manuel Rosa was in charge of Editora Assírio & Alvim, where he continues to work as a freelance contributor, until 2012, when this publishing house was taken over by Porto Editora.
Voltaic arc - Manuel Rosa - I Symposium 1991
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India Opens Doors to Foreign Firms to Share its Space Technology
Dec 14, 2020WorldComments Off on India Opens Doors to Foreign Firms to Share its Space Technology
Tamil Nadu — Foreign companies will now be able to access technology developed by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), which previously was restricted to use by domestic entities.
Recent government guidelines point out the change in policy, from the transfer of technology for domestic use to foreign entities, by the Department of Space (DOS).
“The technology transfer activities of the DOS are primarily intended for the domestic utilisation of DOS,” the guidelines state. “ISRO developed technologies by Indian industries. However, in the context of liberalisation and globalisation, requests from foreign organisations for transfer of DOS or ISRO developed technologies shall be encouraged as per the guidelines issued by Government of India.”
ISRO Chief K. Sivan said that the agency will transfer technology to foreign companies in an effort to encourage startups. The transfer of technology will occur on a case-to-case basis, with restrictions on anything considered to be sensitive. This will encourage foreign firms to use Indian technology or collaborate with Indian companies, he said.
Former ISRO chief, G. Madhavan Nair, told Zenger News that ISRO might not give out its rocket technology, which is sensitive information. But he acknowledged that the new policy would be an immense help to startups.
“I think this knowledge-sharing based on contracts with companies will help startups to the extent that the startup would not have to spend time in conducting research,” said Nair.
ISRO’s “brand name” will also be beneficial to companies that use technology, analysts say.
“These companies will get the backing of ISRO, which will make it easy to attract funding,” said S. R. Chakravarthy, a professor in aerospace engineering department at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, and a mentor to Agnikul Cosmos, a space-tech startup incubated at the institute.
Agnikul Cosmos recently partnered with ISRO to test its small rockets, which aim to launch 100 kg (220-pound) satellites. Agnikul will use ISROs facility for this project.
Close to 500 technologies are open for transfer and are already being used by Indian firms.
“One of India’s USPs [unique selling points] is that ISRO makes these technologies at much cheaper costs as compared to counterparts in other countries,” said Ajay Lele, senior fellow at the Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi. “Companies have started to realize that launching their satellite is becoming expensive in other countries, which is why they will come to ISRO.”
Chakravarthy agrees.
“When Mangalyaan (India’s mission to Mars) was launched, India’s prime minister [Narendra Modi] stated that the per kilometer cost was less than an auto-rickshaw ride in Ahmedabad in his home state Gujarat,” said Chakravarthy. “That is how frugal ISRO is.”
India completed the mission for a cost of about $70 million, down from the estimated cost of $100 million. In 2013, With this mission, India became the first country in Asia to reach Martian orbit.
Modi had also compared this mission, which was launched in 2014” to the Hollywood film “Gravity.” He said, to his knowlege, the budget of Mangalyaan was less than what it cost to make the movie [reportedly $100 million].
In recent years, India has launched U.S. satellites from the ISRO space center in Sriharikota in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh. ISRO’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle has attracted deals from companies based in France, the United States and Canada for their satellites to be launched. These launches are operated by ISRO’s commercial arm, Antrix, which has revenue of more than $4 million.
In November , ISRO launched 10 satellites, many from foreign countries, from its Sriharikota space center.
“Companies might have ideas but not the wherewithal to go ahead with it, especially to test their products. ISRO will be able to provide them with the needed help to develop their ideas,”, said Lele.
When it comes to space science, security is a concern.
In regard to security concerns, Chakravarthy said, “According to international space laws, even though a company is conducting a project, the government of the company where the firm is originally registered is also responsible. This sovereign oversight will help. Also, ISRO usually trains private companies so that these companies can supply hardware which can be assembled at ISRO’s centers.”
ISRO’s technology transfer to industry will be done through NewSpace India Ltd., a company incorporated by the government for commercializing ISRO’s research. While ISRO is helping companies with technology transfer, it is also working with organizations like NASA to develop new technologies.
(Edited by Uttaran Das Gupta and Judith Isacoff)
The post India Opens Doors to Foreign Firms to Share its Space Technology appeared first on Zenger News.
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Critics of California governor gather enough signatures to force recall election
readsonthego | April 27, 2021 | News | No Comments
Critics of California Gov. Gavin Newsom have met the state’s threshold with enough validated signatures to force a recall election of the Democratic governor this year, a contest that could land on the ballot as early as this summer or as late as December.
The recall had long been expected to qualify because it was driven by a well-organized grassroots group that gathered signatures in every county of the state — and backed by key Republican strategists in California who brought their fundraising heft and direct mail expertise to the effort.
After largely ignoring the bid to force him out of his job, Newsom began mounting a formidable offensive to fight the recall earlier this year. But the California Democrat, who is often mentioned as a future contender for the White House, now enters a challenging new phase where he will be attempting to steer his state back to normal life as the pandemic recedes while essentially running a full-time campaign to defend his job.
Newsom’s approval ratings are still above 50% and he has put a great deal of effort into accelerating Covid-19 vaccinations to speed up the state’s reopening — setting a target of June 15 for when he hopes to lift all Covid-19 restrictions. But the recall has been fueled by anger over the restrictions he put in place to curb the spread of coronavirus throughout last year and during an alarming surge in cases during the winter holiday months. California has been one of the slowest states to get children back to school — in Los Angeles, the second-largest school district in the country, many children did not return to school in person until mid-April, infuriating parents who worried about their own ability to work and the many hours of instruction that their students have lost this year.
In a recent survey by the Public Policy Institute of California, 53% of likely voters said they approved of how Newsom is handling his job. Only 4 in 10 likely voters said they would vote to remove him in a recall, while 56% said they would vote no and 5% are unsure.
The California governor has said that he is working as hard as he can to get children back into the classroom, and Californians back to work, while balancing the lingering safety concerns about the virus. He and his team have framed the recall as an effort by Trump supporters and right-wing extremists to wrest control of the government from progressives.
“It is what it is. This is a Republican recall,” Newsom said in an exclusive interview with CNN before the latest signature tally. “An RNC-backed Republican recall of White supremacists, anti-Semites and people who are opposed to immigration and immigrants is an accurate assessment of who’s behind this recall.”
After the announcement, Newsom tweeted an ad on Monday tying recall proponents to extreme Trump supporters and calling it a “power grab.”
“This Republican recall threatens our values and seeks to undo the important progress we’ve made — from fighting COVID, to helping struggling families, protecting our environment, and passing commonsense gun violence solutions,” Newsom tweeted. “There’s too much at stake.”
Orrin Heatlie, who led the grassroots effort to gather the signatures to recall Newsom, hailed the critical milestone by noting how many people had predicted the effort would fail when it started.
“The People of California have done what the politicians thought would be impossible,” said Heatlie, a retired Yolo County sheriff’s office sergeant and founder of the California Patriot Coalition (who filed the petition with 124 others). “Our work is just beginning.”
There are still a number of bureaucratic steps that state officials must take before the recall is officially announced — and before Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis can set a date for the question to appear before voters on a ballot. Then potential candidates vying to replace Newsom can officially file paperwork to get into the race.
For the recall to qualify, Newsom’s opponents were required to gather more than 1,495,709 valid signatures from Californians by March — the equivalent of 12% of the vote in the last election for governor — and they ultimately submitted more than 2 million to give themselves a cushion for duplicates. On Monday, the secretary of state’s office put out a new report showing that county officials have now verified at least 1,626,042 signatures as valid — signifying that recall proponents had crossed the critical threshold.
Still, county registrars have until April 29 to continue verifying the signatures and report their final tallies to the secretary of state. After that, any voter who signed the recall petition will have 30 days to reconsider their support and withdraw their signature. State officials will then complete a second verification process to make sure there are still enough signatures to qualify.
“This now triggers the next phase of the recall process, a 30-business-day period in which voters may submit written requests to county Registrars of Voters to remove their names from the recall petition,” California Secretary of State Dr. Shirley N. Weber said in a statement Monday. “A recall election will be held unless a sufficient number of signatures are withdrawn.”
Weber was recently appointed secretary of state by Newsom, who had to fill the vacancy left when he sent Alex Padilla to Washington to replace Vice President Kamala Harris as California’s junior senator.
Several Republicans have already announced their intentions to challenge Newsom, including businessman John Cox, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and former Olympian and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner. Now that recall proponents have officially crossed the threshold to qualify, the floodgates will open for dozens of additional candidates who want to raise their profiles by running to replace Newsom.
The state’s voters will be asked two questions on the recall ballot. First, do they want to vote “yes” or “no” on recalling Newsom, who was elected in 2018 with nearly 62% of the vote.
The second question will ask which candidate they would like to replace Newsom, and they will choose from what is likely to be a very long list of names (candidates from different parties will appear on that same list). By law, Newsom is not permitted to add his name to the ballot as an option.
When then-California Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, was recalled in 2003, more than 125 candidates — including Davis’ eventual replacement, Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger — leapt into the race, creating a circus-like political environment for months.
California Republicans, who are outnumbered by Democrats by nearly 2 to 1 in the Golden State, welcomed the prospect of a fierce campaign ahead on Monday, predicting that the recall would be supported by voters “across political parties and a range of diverse constituencies.”
California Republican Party Chairwoman Jessica Millan Patterson accused Newsom of “keeping children out of school by not standing up to teachers’ unions” and faulted him for dining at the famed restaurant French Laundry at a time when he was urging Californians to stay home and avoid gatherings with families beyond their own households — an act of hypocrisy for which he has profusely apologized.
“Voters signed recall petitions because California is on the wrong track, and we deserve better than the failures of this incompetent governor,” she said.
This story has been updated with additional details Monday.
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Quote from: Watamushi(Polly Poller) on November 13, 2017, 12:13:53 AM
Wow. The covers are quite pointless.
Al and Brian's cover songs on their solo albums have been criticized to be pointless very often. But most of them had something to make it worth listening to.
But, as far as I listened to the samples, there was no such thing in Mike's covers. Too similar to the original, in other words, Obviously very little efforts were made for the recordings of the covers.
I'd rather have a full live album of The current Beach Boys.
Al re-recording BB songs for his "Postcards" album wasn't the most inspired choice of all time, but he did indeed do different arrangements for the songs for the most part. "Rhonda" was done in a blues arrangement (somewhat closer to the old 70s BB live arrangement), "California Dreamin'" was done in a pretty cool stripped-down arrangement, etc.
What I'm noticing as I listen to more and more of "Unleash the Love" is that, perhaps more than any album I can recall, even modern albums from pop artists, there is zero deviation or subtlety in how autotune is used on Mike's album. It sounds like it's cranked to the exact same level/intensity on everything at every moment.
Say what you want about past uses of autotune and other forms of vocal synthesis on BB/Brian projects, but they've always had some amount of thought and work put into them. Even the C50 studio and live albums vary from song to song. "Spring Vacation" is more impacted, "Summer's Gone" for instance less so. "Don't Back Down" on the live album has noticeable autotune (perhaps the most *glaring* use prior to Mike's upcoming album), while "Getcha Back" was relatively unscathed.
"Unleash the Love" sounds like the producer found a setting on autotune, left the room, and had Mike cut all of the lead vocals in one single session in a single day. I honestly find it truly bizarre.
I've heard stories of Mike and Bruce implying they were taken aback by the sound of the C50 live album. How Mike could complain about *that* but then put *this* solo album out, I have no idea. I suppose it's unfortunately just more indication that his main issue/beef is whether *he* has control over something.
Quote from: KDS on November 13, 2017, 06:32:42 AM
Quote from: NateRuvin on November 13, 2017, 05:31:39 AM
Watamushi(Polly Poller)- ME TOO! I would love a proper live of album of the currrent BBs band. And no autotune!
As cool as that would be (especially one of their recent UK shows), under the licensing agreement, I don't think they can release any new product as The Beach Boys, including live albums.
And as it should be. It's the only thing, even if sort of my accident, that is forward-thinking about BRI's "Wild West" set up for their licensing agreements.
It's also more a case of semantics I suppose, but there's probably nothing *in* the licensing agreement that even addresses recordings. Rather, the licensing agreement pertains solely to touring. The easiest way to look at it is that BRI owns the name, not Mike, and he pays for the right to use the name for one single purpose. As opposed to Mike having any broad-reaching rights to the name with only specific exceptions (e.g. recordings).
I wonder if the BRI agreement would allow Mike and Bruce to offer free downloads of their concerts. Since it doesn't constitute actual product on the shelves with "The Beach Boys" on the label, I think it would be cool if they offered that. In fact, I'd love to see both Mike and Brian offer soundboard downloads of recent shows.
Mike could release recordings of his live shows anytime he wants, on any format he wants. He could have done this at any point since 1998. He just can't use the "Beach Boys" name for it. That would certainly include free items, and downloads.
Heck, Al did shows as "Beach Boys Family & Friends" in late 1999 and recorded them, but by the time he was able to release it he had to rename the band "Al Jardine Family & Friends."
It's possibly Mike wouldn't want to draw attention to his limited-scope usage of the BB name by performing a show as "The Beach Boys" and then releasing that exact recording under a different name. More likely, I just don't think Mike has ever had strong feelings about recordings, especially in the last 25 or so years, whether we're talking new BB recordings, archival BB recordings, archival solo recordings, or new solo recordings.
Even if the downloads were officially put out as "Mike Love and Bruce Johnston," I personally would rather see that than a disc full of pointless re-records. Especially since Mike's band is doing some great shows these days. And for all the touring that's been done over the last two decades between Mike, Al, Brian, the C50 reunion, there's are surprisingly few live products, and even fewer live products that are actually worth owning outside of completists (I'd say Al's album, Live at the Roxy, and maybe Brian & Friends are the only really worthwhile ones).
I don't know if Mike just has no interest in releasing live recordings (seems like the most likely or at least prevalent reason), or if there's something else behind the fact that he hasn't officially released on record a single note of his live band in the last nearly 20 years.
I do know that, in my opinion, he has on a few occasions tread closely to confusing labeling/marketing. There was a dissection in the last year or two of some of the videos/songs featured on the USB drives given away as part of ticket packages at Mike shows. In particular, one instance of his re-recording of "Sloop John B" being dubbed over the original, vintage BB promo film, was an example of blurring the line between Mike's use of the name for touring, versus his solo recordings, versus vintage BB material.
Normally, I wouldn't be so nitpicky about such things. But Mike supported a relentless and vigorous pursuit of Al and Brian separately in lawsuits in the previous decade, with Al being pursued on the absurd idea that a band with Carnie Wilson and Owen Elliott would be confused as "The Beach Boys", and Brian being pursued for simply re-recording songs *he* wrote ("Smile" 2004) and for a freebie CD that featured a few pics of the old band.
The fact that Brian nor Al, either individually or through BRI, have bothered to go after Mike for doing some very similar things that Brian and Al were sued for, tells me they're either being a bigger person about it, or they have lazy lawyers or something.
Could be, as there isn't exactly a live of official tangible BB live releases as a whole.
I wouldn't mind seeing more live releases from Brian too. For a while there, McCartney was doing a live release to commemorate every tour, and with usually full sets. To date, I think Live at the Roxy is the only full BW concert available (and you have to seek out the import to get every song).
I think they are being bigger people about it, plain and simple.
Life's too short for them to spend a bunch of time bitching, moaning, and dissecting the actions of Mike Love. That's our job.
Having now heard the entire album, I have to say Mike should have just put out (more or less) that 2004 collection that floated around. Sonically and in terms of production, that stuff sounds much more organic and mellow and warm, and all the vocal work sounds better. Christian Love (whose voice I've always been rather ambivalent about; I don't think it often sounded as much like Carl's as some suggested, but he certainly has a fine voice) sounded better on the old "First Love" tracks, and Mike's voice sounded better without the autotune.
I don't even think Foskett (it sounds like him on most of the falsetto stuff anyway) even makes the rather anonymous-sounding backing vocal stacks sound any better than the stuff with Adrian Baker all over it from past years. Baker's solo falsetto voice was always pretty grating, but within a vocal stack it was never nearly as bad.
The vocal stacks on the 2004 stuff, similarly to the 1981 LBWL album, were one of the weaker elements of those sets because they sounded so generic and anonymous. Sadly, the backing vocal stacks on Mike's new album are by default some of the least problematic elements now, because they're not as drenched in autotune.
Apparently, instead of using Michael Lloyd, Mike should have just let *Al* produce his album, because "Postcards" sounds like a warm, fuzzy, analog dream compared to Mike's stuff.
Beyond the autotune, a lot of the stuff on "Unleash the Love" sounds very choked out and claustrophobic. I don't know if "recorded in a closet" is the best analogy, but something like that.
Just in case you haven't seen it and are interested, our member The Real Barnyard just posted the following in the Pro-Shot-Concert-List thread. Mike & Bruce two days ago, professionally filmed. And they play "Unleash the love" near the end. Maybe more, but I haven't watched it
Quote from: The Real Barnyard on November 13, 2017, 11:33:08 AM
The last 90 minutes of this video include The Beach Boys performance at the American Airlines Sky Ball XV Gala in Dallas. November 11, 2017.
Amazing sound and performance!
https://skyball.play.livearena.com/Live/4e8d62f821944525fb7048a41b92f99e
I thought those remakes were very good, although, yes, I wondered why Al didn't come up with more new songs. But I get it now. These are the songs the guys sing night after night in concert, so I guess it makes sense to have new studio versions of them. And maybe some casual fans will buy the cd's if they see some familiar titles on them.
Watching/hearing Mike Love fall face first for 25 days in a row has been such a great pleasure. I'm eagerly anticipating the critical and commercial failure this double "album" of remake atrocities has in store. For some reason, I have no sympathy for Mike, who seemingly has no clue what a laughing stock he is making himself bringing Mark McGrath, John Stamos, and autotune into the fray. But it's somehow commendable he's so determined to DO IT! DO IT! DO IT AGAIN!!!
« Last Edit: November 13, 2017, 02:06:48 PM by Gabo » Logged
oldsurferdude
Quote from: Gabo on November 13, 2017, 02:04:09 PM
Gabo, you rock with that post!!
doc smiley
Timeless pounds the livin' daylights outta trendy
at the 6hr 20minute mark perhaps the worst Kokomo performance I've ever heard...
"A voice or a song can be so comforting to someone who really needs it."
..................................Brian Wilson, 1990
RubberSoul13
Amazing sound and performance?
It's a kick ass band, that's about the only nice thing I have to say.
Weak vocals from Mike, "Unleash The Love" is embarrassing, and Bruce looks bad. Did it ever come out as to why he was off the road for awhile? It looks like he's aged ten years since he bitched me out in August.
Yeah, I'm not gonna lie, Bruce's age is really starting to show. His vocals were good though.
Quote from: RubberSoul13 on November 13, 2017, 05:51:01 PM
Weak vocals indeed. His rerecording of I Get Around is akin to the gasps of a dying man cut off from the ventilator.
If anybody knows how to download that video stream, let me know. I think it would be much easier to watch this thing on an actual TV, etc. It's the first full pro-shot document of Mike's show in some time as far as I know.
Having checked out portions of this on the computer, I'm surprised that they sound rather ragged here. Musicianship-wise, I suppose it's fine. But it's not sounding so great vocally. My guess is that this is over-touring more than anything else.
The tour schedule shows they did something like 14 shows in 15 nights between October 21 and November 5, and then did the "Malt Shop Memories" gig, and then this "Skyball" event. They sound pretty beat vocally. Foskett in particular sounds like he's lagging; the falsetto is flatting in some spots and he just seems to lack energy. The entire band seems kind of tired, assuming this isn't their usual on-stage demeanor/energy level.
This was the first time I had an extended listen to Ike singing. He has a perfectly fine voice, but it's also super generic. He sings the lead on "Then I Kissed Her" like it's a job. I used to think the touring Beach Boys of the 90s were on autopilot and didn't care. They definitely *were* on autopilot, but they never seemed so "meh, whatever" while they sang.
Al Jardine literally sings "Then I Kissed Her" at age 75 with more energy and vigor than Ike does in that clip. Really weird.
But more than anything else, I'm guessing some of what's going on is that they're doing too many dates. I'd be kind of disappointed if I got *this* sort of show at the tail end of like 27 shows in 30 days.
« Last Edit: November 14, 2017, 06:53:21 AM by HeyJude » Logged
Right, I think it would be best if Mike scaled back the number of shows his band does. Guys half his age don't play half the amount of shows that Mike and Bruce play in a year.
And it's really going to tend to be the backing guys that suffer the most. Yes, Mike and Bruce are older, but the rest of the band does the musical heavy lifting. Mike does have to sing a lot of the leads of course, and I think his voice also sometimes suffers because of it. Bruce (who ironically talked in 2012 about the band not being able to keep up to his touring pace) adds little vocally or musically, so apart from health issues, he shouldn't have problems. But guys who have to play instruments and doing four/five-part harmony are going to start sounding ragged when they do 14 shows in 15 nights.
And, some of the guys in Mike's band aren't exactly super young. Foskett has to be nearing 60 I would guess. Cowsill is 61. I'm guessing Totten has to be in the range of 50 or so. Same with Bonhomme.
Foskett is 61, turning 62 in February. And it's not like these guys are doing short shows either. They also do two shows in a single day sometimes in the summer (in Ocean City, MD this summer, they did two shows in one day).
Other artists that have been touring since the 1960s taking much longer breaks, and play far fewer shows.
The LEGENDARY OSD
luHv Estrangement Syndrome. It's a great thing!
It's just the same old tired shtick from the King of All Insincerity, myKe luHv, trying like hell to *prove* himself in front of a world that has no or very little interest in him or what he has to say. Yes, I did listen to the clips of the irrelevant remakes and the highly uninspired new fodder which left me with the feeling that this trainwreck of an album will attend it's own funeral in little or no time. Unfortunately, it's to hell with the legacy and wherever there's a buck to be made, he'll be there front and center all the while watering down the BB name until there's nothing left. Pull the license? Nah, just let this clown keep on grinding himself and the legacy down to the bone. In all honesty, it's rather fun to watch.
myKe luHv, the most hated, embarrassing clown the world of music has ever witnessed.
All the indicators I see suggest to me that Mike wants the money and other perks that go with touring, and as long as *he* can keep up, that's all that matters. He could very well continue to swap out band members for younger band members, and otherwise make changes if any members can't "keep up" the pace. This also has the fringe benefit of having more guys to hand leads off to.
Mike sings plenty of leads at his shows still, but he has the other guys singing a good hunk of the show as well.
I see Mike standing back in the backline and letting Ike take front stage for "Then I Kissed Her", and I'm thinking Mike now has no problem literally presenting the band as a tribute band.
A few thoughts to add to this topic:
- the concert video posted above is pretty blah, but Jeff does sound damn good on Darlin.
- KDS mentioned on the PS forum that he’ll treat the second disc of re-recordings like the IJWMFTTs album. I have to agree that it will be similar in nature...I mean, IJWMFTTs is more genuine in its production sound imo, but it’s still nothing I play over the originals unless I’m curious about listening to it once in a while. But it got me thinking; IJWMFTTs was more like therapy for Brian, alongside OCA it was kind of a therapy to get him comfortable in the studio again. I wonder if Mike is doing the same thing with this album? Like I said in a previous post, Mike has seemed to be a lot happier in interviews lately.
- the latest re-recording samples are atrocious. Like honestly how the hell could you be in the studio booth and hear the lead vocals for IGA played back to you and think “yes, this is what we want the world to hear”?
- I can’t get over how odd it is to re-record ‘Brians Back’ but it’s the best sounding sample I’ve heard thus far.
- comparatively the first disc seems like it will be a fun listen...I’m not a fan of the production at all but at least it’ll be original songs with a new sound to offer.
- I really wonder what Mike’s intention is with recording all these songs.
I don't think IJWMFTT and Mike's disc or remakes are particularly analogous.
Brian's collection was mostly deep cuts (including several solo songs, and one old demo), while Mike's is mostly well known songs.
Also, Brian hadn't performed many if not most of the songs on IJWFTT in decades, in most cases since they were originally recorded. Mike's remakes are largely songs he has sang literally *thousands* of times and still sings every night.
Also, Brian's CD featured moderately to severely altered arrangements compared to the originals, for better and worse. Mike's remakes are apparently purposefully mostly note-for-note copy attempts of the originals. (Sidenote: YouTube recently threw random "suggestions" at me that included some of Mike's 90s stuff with Adrian Baker, which I hadn't listened to in quite some time, and I was surprised that his new 2017 remakes actually sound somewhat similar to the Baker stuff. The new backing tracks are a bit better, but the vocals are worse due to the autotune).
I think Mike did the disc of re-records not for therapy or to reacquaint himself with the studio (he's been cutting this solo stuff on and off for a decade, and more noticeably over the last few years), but to entice and/or secure a record deal for his "new" stuff.
I'm also curious if Mike and/or his team are going to attempt to sell the re-records for use in movies, TV commercials, etc. Similar to what Jeff Lynne did with this ELO re-records from a few years ago; Lynne put the CD out, but clearly the main motivator had been to re-record stuff and directly license it out to circumvent Sony. The difference of course would be that Lynne's re-recordings were well-made (shockingly similar to the originals) even if needless, and Lynne owns the ELO name so he can still bill the new recordings as "ELO." Mike's re-records don't sound that great, with autotune are much more obviously *not* vintage recordings, and he can't use the BB name when licensing them out.
Still, I wouldn't be surprised in the coming year to hear one of these Mike re-records in some movie or trailer or commercial; some producer somewhere will need to cheap out.
IJWMFTT and Mike's latest album project are apples and oranges. Don Was performed with Brian and saw what he felt was something really special hearing Brian perform and wanted to capture that and share it on film. It did turn into therapy of sorts to help reacclimate Brian to recording and playing his music after the Landy years. Brian wanted to perform with the Beach Boys - the lawsuits prevented Mike from being in that film even though Don and Brian wanted him there. Don assembled his A-List of session players and got Brian back into the game. The fact they tackled some very challenging and personal songs Brian had not touched in years was icing on the cake.
Above all it was a soundtrack to a film which tied directly into Don Was' original concept and spark of an idea for a film - To capture Brian as he saw Brian when they shared a stage at a charity concert and show whatever magic Don felt to a wider audience. It became much more than that, and the soundtrack was not an attempt to cash in on old Beach Boys tracks redone decades later as remakes. It was a *soundtrack* of performances done specifically for a film.
Why is Mike doing remakes now, in 2017? He's been doing the same thing for decades. Literally, for decades at this point. He amped it up even more after Carl died and released multiple collections of synth and drum machine laden sequenced remakes of BB classics, each of which sunk like a stone and didn't sell at all. Some couldn't because they were given away or sold with a fill-up of gas or something.
This one? I have to think again it has as much to do with ego, and a desire for Mike to have the less knowledgeable (in terms of the band history) fans who go to his shows consider Mike as The Beach Boys. I think he's been chasing that windmill for years, the notion that people think "Beach Boys" and think of Mike Love as the standard bearer in more than license fees alone. Now he has his own recordings of songs that are Beach Boys songs and stone-cold classics existing on iTunes, Pandora, and wherever else alongside the Real Beach Boys recordings.
It sure isn't a financial decision, is it?
With the disc of BB remakes, Mike has certainly tread as *closely* as he can to recording his own "Beach Boys" album. Almost all of the ingredients are there: It's Beach Boys songs, and there's a classic "Beach Boys" logo on a sticker on the cover.
Again, I have no doubt that had Al Jardine in 1999 released a disc of Beach Boys re-recordings with a classic Torrence-designed "Beach Boys" logo on a sticker on the cover, he would have been sued into oblivion.
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Home › Articles
‘Zimbabwe playing good cricket to cause upsets in World Cup 2015’
Chris Gayle rather ruined this column. When a team concedes 370, world record partnership and a double-century, it rather takes the gloss of whatever they may have achieved before that.
By Alistair Campbell
Updated : February 25, 2015 12:58 PM IST
Chris Gayle rather ruined this column. When a team concedes 370, world record partnership and a double-century, it rather takes the gloss of whatever they may have achieved before that. So, well done Big Man! The highest score in an ICC Cricket World Cup and the first ODI 200 outside India, fantastic effort! And there were many of your Zimbabwean friends who enjoyed it, too, after your appearance for the Matabeleland Tuskers a couple of seasons ago. (ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Full coverage)
But there has been some good as well as some bad for Zimbabwe in our first three games and we’re still alive with the possibility of a quarter-final place remaining a reality — not just statistically, but because we are playing well enough to produce an upset. (ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: Points Table)
Our batting has been a problem area for a number of years, so it’s been a pleasure and relief to see it functioning well enough to register scores of 280+ in all three matches against South Africa, the UAE and the West Indies.
Much of the hard work done by Grant Flower in his time as batting coach with the national squad is now paying dividends but we need to keep working hard and progressing. Both the attitude and the science of batting is changing all the time and we must keep up, keep progressing, to stay in touch with the leading teams.
The temperament shown by the top order in a tricky run chase against the UAE was particularly impressive. Sure, it was against an Associate nation and we should always beat them but, like everyone else, I’ve been delighted to see how well they are all performing so far. And they have played a lot more cricket than us in the months before the tournament began.
As for the bowling, we started encouragingly in all three games, especially against South Africa in Hamilton where we not only kept it tight but also picked up four wickets to leave them under serious pressure at 83-4. Unfortunately, it was the precursor to the first of two world record partnerships we were to concede in three games.
Neither the UAE nor the West Indies were able to get away from us in the first half of their innings either so, in short, we have plenty to be encouraged by in three quarters of all three games so far. Unfortunately, the final quarter has been horrendous. Every team in the tournament is struggling to contain batsmen in the ‘death’ overs, but none more than Zimbabwe.
South Africa and West Indies both added around 150 in the final ten overs to take the game beyond us. They were two of the three most expensive final 10 overs ever. If we’d kept them to 100 we might have produced an upset — certainly against South Africa after we reached 180 for two2 in the run-chase. But 15 an over…FIFTEEN! One over of 15 was a rarity a decade ago, but 10 in row! Wow!
But that is the reality and we have to deal with it. Analysis of opposition is important and so is the execution of skills, but so is the planning. Although the bowlers were clearly operating to some sort of plan, I’m not sure they were the best or most realistic ones. But that’s very easy to say … and I know all too well how difficult it is on the field – and how easy from the sidelines.
Many people have spoken about the performances of the teams which qualified for this ICC Cricket World Cup. The ICC has spent millions of dollars in helping to develop the game, and the rewards are there for the world to see. They should be congratulated. But it makes the decision to reduce the teams from 14 to 10 at the next ICC Cricket World Cup all the more bewildering. Like many others, I hope that decision is reviewed — for the good of the game.
The match against Ireland is crucial to our chances of progressing, but we will have to beat Pakistan or India, too. It is not impossible; far from it. But we will have to find a way of limiting the damage in the final overs. The best way, of course, is to take more early wickets.
Courtesy: ICC
(Appearing as a teenager at the ICC Cricket World Cup 1992, Alistair Campbell played in four World Cups. He inspired Zimbabwe to its best World Cup result when they reached the Super Six stage in 1999. Campbell is Zimbabwe’s most capped captain with 86 matches, while his 188 ODI matches puts him in third place behind the Flower brothers. The left-hander scored 5,185 ODI runs, including 281 in 19 World Cup matches. He was Zimbabwe’s Chairman of Selectors for the 2011 Cricket World Cup)
Zimbabwe Alistair Campbell ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Opinions Features ICC World Cup cricket Columns
ICC Cricket World Cup 2015: India delay training session in Perth
Shaiman Anwar plays a rare shot during his knock of 106 vs Ireland in ICC Cricket World Cup 2015
BAN to host ZIM,WI series late in 2018
Sarfraz Ahmed calls Zimbabwe series preparation for Asia Cup
Pakistan beat Zimbabwe by 131 runs, clinch series 5-0
Zimbabwe vs Pakistan: Fakhar Zaman becomes first batsman to smash 500 runs in a 5-match ODI series
Shoaib Malik achieves rare ODI 'double'
http://staging.cricketcountry.com/articles/zimbabwe-playing-good-cricket-to-cause-upsets-in-world-cup-2015-500695mukesh
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Malcolm Young’s Illness Spells The End For AC/DC
AC/DC Founder Malcolm Young Quietly Played A Huge, Behind The Scenes Part In AC/DC’s Long Success
Malcolm (l) & Angus Young (r)J photo Jaime Saba For the L.A. Times
When reading about the recent disclosure that AC/DC founder and rhythm guitarist Malcolm Young was suffering from dementia and was retiring from the band, it occurred to me how many casual fans of AC/DC are not aware of how important Malcolm is to the band.
Malcolm did a lot more than stand in the background pounding out crunchy rhythm guitar riffs and come up to the microphone to sing things like “hoy” with his backing vocals.
AC/DC is (was) Malcolm’s band.
Malcolm controlled the touring, personnel, finances, important band decisions and most importantly the songwriting.
It was Malcolm Young, not his flashier, lead guitarist younger brother Angus Young, who came up with most of the riffs and leads for those brilliant AC/DC songs over the past 41 years.
In a recent Guitar World interview Angus Young said:
Malcolm is a big inspiration to me; he keeps me on my feet. Even when I’m tired from running around the stage for two hours, I’ll look back at what he’s doing and it gives me that boot up the backside I sometimes need. [laughs] Also, he can always tell me if I’m playing well or if I’m not. Mal’s a very tough critic, and I know that if I can please him, I can please the world. A lot of people say, “AC/DC-that’s the band with the little guy who runs around in school shorts!” But I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without Malcolm and the other guys pumping out the rhythm. They make me look good.
Mal is really a great all-around guitarist. I know it says “rhythm guitar” on the album jacket, but if he sits down to play a solo, he can do it better than me. Not a lot of people have picked up on this, but in the early days he used to play lead. But then he said to me, “No, you take the solos. I’ll just bang away back here.” And what’s more, he actually plays rhythms. He just doesn’t make a noise; he works them out, and he knows when not to play.
My part in AC/DC is just adding the color on top. Mal’s the band’s foundation. He’s rock solid and he pumps it along with the power of a machine. He doesn’t play like a machine, though. Everything he does grooves and he always seems to know exactly what to play and when to play it. He’s a very percussive player too, his right hand just doesn’t stop sometimes. It’s scary, it really is!
Fans on the official AC/DC web site commenting about the announcement that Malcolm has retired because of dementia are clueless. Most are writing things like, “Get well soon, Mal!”
Malcolm Young has a terrible, irreversible brain disorder which will not get better. As a family friend pointed out who knows Malcolm’s situation, “If you were in the room with Malcolm Young and walked out, then came back in one minute later, he wouldn’t remember who you are. He has a complete loss of short-term memory. His wife, Linda, has put him in full-time care.”
Malcolm Young cannot remember how to play the AC/DC songs that he wrote. Sadly, Malcolm Young will live out his days with this horrible condition.
AC/DC for now will soldier on. There will be a worldwide tour in 2015 in conjunction with the new album Rock or Bust which AC/DC are releasing in a few weeks. Maybe they will continue touring for several years like Scorpions have done, but to continue to put out new music without Malcolm, the engine of the band, does not seem feasible.
AC/DC bassist Cliff Williams and drummer Phil Rudd have never received a single songwriting credit. This leaves lead guitarist Angus Young, singer Brian Johnson and Malcolm replacement, nephew Stevie Young to shoulder the burden of continuing to write those classic AC/DC riffs.
Can it be done? Possibly, but I don’t think collectively they have the energy or desire to. With the exception of Angus and Stevie Young who are 59 and 58 respectively, the rest of the band members are all in their sixties. They forged on after the death of their seminal lead singer Bon Scott in 1980. But that was 34 years ago and the band members were a lot younger and on the verge of worldwide stardom. To pack it up would have been a mistake.
There is nothing left to prove now. Malcolm is gone and the remaining band members have to know when to stop the AC/DC juggernaut. I hope I’m wrong because I love AC/DC, but after this album, AC/DC will probably rest on their musical legacy.
AC/DC's Malcolm Young Is Dead And So Is AC/DC
Why Def Leppard Doesn't Want The Public To See This Video
This entry was posted in Commentary, Music, World News and tagged AC/DC, Angus Young, Hard Rock, Heavy Metal, YouTube on October 4, 2014 by B.P..
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3 thoughts on “Malcolm Young’s Illness Spells The End For AC/DC”
Norm March 25, 2021 at 11:19 am
Love the new AC/DC Powerup album. What a nice bit of hard rock in these darker times. Stevie Young has done a fantastic job in trying to duplicate Malcolm’s rhythmic sound. Kudos to the whole band. What a refreshing way to end 2020 and segue through 2021. All the very best everybody😉
Brian Beard January 8, 2015 at 6:47 pm
A great column on a tragic situation. With over 180 songs spanning 16+ albums (exact #?), I think they deserve to “rest on their musical legacy”.
I remember seeing them in Toronto for the SARS benefit concert. The Stones were supposed to be the headline act, but Malcolm and the boys stole the show hands down.
I’ve seen them live only three times in my life, but would see them again and again until they hang up their caps, guitars, etc.
Malcolm, may you find solace having created one of the greatest rock bands in history. I wish you the best in your remaining years on this rock. R.I.P. (Rock in Peace)
B.P. Post author January 8, 2015 at 10:44 pm
Thanks for sharing your memories and thoughts Brian.
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The West Tamar Historical Society Inc. (WTHS) was formed in April 2000 after a visit to the York Town Historic Site organized by Richard Hooper.
The society aims to promote, protect and preserve the history of the
West Tamar Municipality on the west side of the Tamar River north of Launceston, Tasmania.
Membership: Membership costs $10 per year and new members are welcome.
Historian: the Historian is a magazine containing history stories about people, places and events in the West Tamar area. Back issues can be purchased for $3.00 plus postage.
West Tamar History: Our members have written a number of stories about places in the West Tamar. Click on locations on the map to find out more about the history of each area.
York Town
York Town is the fourth oldest permanent settlement in Australia behind Sydney, Norfolk Island and Hobart. It was settled in December 1804 under the leadership of Lt. Col. William Paterson. At its height it was home to 300 people. It had a year round water supply and was close to Bass Strait but it had poor soil and difficult access. Launceston was commenced in December 1805 and the two settlements co-existed until York Town was largely abandoned in December 1808.
The society have researched the history of the site, have located nearly 50 building sites from the original settlement, have opened the site for visitors, have conducted an archeological excavation on the site and continue to promote the history of York Town.
The site is on the Register of the National Estate and on the Tasmanian Heritage Register. The site is managed by a committee with representatives from WTHS, West Tamar Council, Parks & Wildlife Service and local landowners.
York Town; a respectable looking village
York Town; a respectable looking village gives a detailed account of British occupation in 1804 of northern Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania). Lieutenant-Governor William Paterson established a township, York Town, with a guard house, barracks, gaol, hospital, store-house, gardens, including a botanical garden, and cemetery. Paterson built houses for the people in his care including one for himself and his wife Elizabeth. This was the third settlement with a lieutenant governor in command that had been established from Sydney, the first being Norfold Island (1798) and the second Hobart in southern Tasmania (1803).
Download the order form or contact John Dent to place an order; This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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Erykah Badu Says She ‘Saw Something Good in Hitler’
Erykah Badu is raising eyebrows for her controversial comments about Adolf Hitler.
During an interview with Vulture, the neo-soul singer spoke on a variety of topics, including anti-Semitism. “I’m not an anti-Semitic person,” she said. “I don’t even know what anti-Semitic was before I was called it. I’m a humanist. I see good in everybody. I saw something good in Hitler.”
She continued, by calling Hitler “a wonderful painter,” before being questioned by the interviewer. “Okay, he was a terrible painter,” she replied. “Poor thing. He had a terrible childhood. That means that when I’m looking at my daughter, Mars, I could imagine her being in someone else’s home and being treated so poorly, and what that could spawn. I see things like that. I guess it’s just the Pisces in me.”
She agreed that her opinion usually isn’t the popular one, but she said she didn’t understand why she couldn’t praise the Nazi figure openly. “I don’t care if the whole group says something, I’m going to be honest. I know I don’t have the most popular opinion sometimes,” she said. “Why can’t I say what I’m saying? Because he did such terrible things?”
In the past, Badu was accused of being anti-Semitic after traveling to Palestine. “I’d gone to Palestine and journalists asked me, ‘Do you believe in Louis Farrakhan? Do you follow him?’ Sure I do. I’ll follow anyone who has positive aspects,” she said. “He single-handedly changed half of the Nation of Islam to clean eating, clean living, caring for their families. He has flaws — like any man — but I’m not responsible for that. I said I’ve appreciated what he’s done for a lot of black Americans. I mean, I’m not Muslim, I’m not Christian, I’m not anything; I’m an observer who can see good things and bad things. If you say something good about someone, people think it means that you’ve chosen a side. But I don’t choose sides. I see all sides simultaneously.”
Her support for Farrakhan was seen by some as anti-Semitic at the time, a notion that caught Badu off guard. “I was so surprised when I read that people thought I’d said something anti-Semitic,” she added. “I went to Palestine because I cared about the Palestinian children, and I was there doing work for them. Then someone twisted what I’d said around and made me into a villain or something.”
Badu’s comments about Hitler have received criticism across the internet. In apparent response to the reactions, Badu simply tweeted: “Sheeeeit.. ion know.” Read additional comments from her controversial conversation, including her thoughts on Bill Cosby, XXXTentacion, and Louis C.K. below.
On Music She Listens To: “I’m listening to new things I’ve recorded — seeing if they might lead to bigger ideas. I’m also listening to DRAM and Lil Uzi Vert. All new stuff because of Seven. XXXTentacion is another one.”
On Bill Cosby, Louis C.K., and XXXTentacion Allegations: “I would have to really think about it and know the facts in each of those situations before I made a judgment. Because I love Bill Cosby, and I love what he’s done for the world. But if he’s sick, why would I be angry with him? The people who got hurt, I feel so bad for them. I want them to feel better, too. But sick people do evil things; hurt people hurt people. I know I could be crucified for saying that, because I’m supposed to be on the purple team or the green team. I’m not trying to rebel against what everybody’s saying, but maybe I want to measure it. Somebody will call me and ask me to come to a march because such and such got shot. In that situation I want to know what really happened. I’m not going to jump up and go march just because I’m green and the person who got shot is green. The rush to get mad doesn’t make sense to me.”
On Her Reputation with Rappers: “I take advantage of it. It’s a good thing if people think I’m supposed to be some mystical creature that controls people’s minds. I keep the prestige going. I keep up the idea that I’m mystical. The thing about this legend is, I get blamed if rappers do good or do bad — people think these rappers get all confused by my presence. That I take rappers to the sunken place. I don’t think that’s what I do. I hope it’s not.
On New Music: “I’m thinking about music, but it’s all about tuning forks, singing bowls, bells, drums. I went to South Africa and recorded drums from Soweto, from Johannesburg, just gathering sounds. That’s what I’m interested in right now — sound vibration. If I put out another project, it’ll be like that. Maybe I’m humming or primal wailing or tribal moaning. You know, I haven’t written anything in five years.”
On Lauryn Hill, André 3000, & D’Angelo: “I don’t want to speak for those people. I know all of them, and there are individual circumstances for why each of them were quiet in different moments…D’Angelo did what he came to do. He never had to make another record. Lauryn continues to make music. I don’t think she’s putting it out, but she’s always recording. I think we have something in common, us neo-soul musicians, and that’s honesty. Making music hurts, or it feels good, and we do it when we have to. And sometimes we don’t.”
On Politics: “[My younger kids] talk with me about it. They say the typical little girl things like ‘Trump’s a mean man and he wants to send my friends back to Mexico.’ We don’t elaborate any more than that, because that’s all that they need to be preoccupied with right now. But I’m not a political chick at all. I’m macrocosmic in lieu of microcosmic. I see a whole big picture. I see freedom for the slaves and the slave masters. For everybody. We’re just emerging into a new state of being altogether, and the anger now is about people scared of that change. What I’m talking about is Baduizm, and I see Trump as part of the resistance to that.”
On Trump: “The thing about Trump is that he’s a bad guy to the point where it looks manufactured. Are we playing games here? He can’t really be that bad. I’m not a conspiracy theorist at all — I don’t give a shit about that stuff — but it looks like Trump’s just trying to spark division. It looks like a game. Why are we being toyed with?”
The Best Hip-Hop and R&B Soda Commercials of the 90s
SZA Stars in New Gap Campaign Alongside Metro Boomin
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Vero News > 32963 Features > People > Making it possible: John’s Island Foundation fetes top donors
Making it possible: John’s Island Foundation fetes top donors
Written by: Mary Schenkel December 22 2022
PHOTO BY JOSHUA KODIS
Members of the Leadership Circle of the John’s Island Foundation, its top-level donors, enjoyed a delightful reception at the John’s Island Golf Club, featuring champagne and French dishes prepared by Anthony Cole, the club’s new executive chef, and his team.
In his welcoming remarks Don Blair, JIF board president, thanked the sponsors, chief among them John’s Island Real Estate, Northern Trust Bank and Croom Construction, and recognized members of the JIF board, site teams and the event committee, led by Linda Fox and Betsy Smith.
“So finally, and most importantly, because this is the reason we’re here, I want to thank all of you, the Leadership Circle donors to John’s Island Foundation. Your generosity is amazing and it’s what makes the work that we do possible,” said Blair.
Despite the difficulties of the past few years, he said the Leadership Circle has continued to grow in number and its level of giving.
“We know that the measure of success is not just getting the dollars out the door. It’s making a difference for less fortunate people in the community. And we will continue to do our homework to make sure that that’s what happens,” said Blair.
He said last season, JIF provided more than $1.1 million in grants to 26 agencies, an increase of 22 percent over the prior year, and that while most funders support operational expenses, their focus is on capital investments, funding the assets and infrastructure.
Last year’s inaugural McCabe Leadership Grant was awarded to address our county’s lack of affordable housing.
Francie Cramb, grant review vice president, said the $200,000 grant, the largest they’ve ever given, was awarded to the Coalition for Attainable Homes in a public/private partnership with the county, to build a triplex – three units of affordable housing.
Introducing Julianne Price and Louise Hubbard, the coalition’s president and vice president, Cramb said, “It is through their hard work and tireless effort that the triplex was possible.”
Hubbard has served as executive director of the Treasure Coast Homeless Services Council, and Price is the Indian River County Health Department environmental administrator and statewide PACE-EH (protocol for assessing community excellence and environmental health) coordinator.
Price said that 10 years ago “there was no one who was building structures to help people get into homes and off the streets.”
To address the issue, they started a nonprofit and turned to the John’s Island Foundation as the only funder of capital projects, and received a $25,000 grant toward construction of a duplex, followed the next year by $50,000, then the maximum award, and subsequent grants.
“If we hadn’t received that initial funding, the first structure would never have been built. And we’ve kept building all these years because of your support. I cannot thank you enough for everything you do for us every year so that we can build these structures and help people who need housing,” said Price.
Since last year’s $200,000 grant, they have broken ground on the triplex, and the project is underway.
“Our current projects and our future subsequently depend on this population right here. Because up to now it’s been extremely difficult to have the concept of community, local government and local philanthropy actually come together in a significant way,” said Hubbard. “This is probably the most significant that I’ve ever seen in 20 years.”
Most importantly, she said the project can be replicated because it is reasonable, cost effective and “makes sense.”
“This last year especially has been overwhelmingly exciting to us because we have other things already in the hopper, already started, already going forward. And you give us the opportunity and the energy that it takes to put up with the limitations that appear on a regular basis,” said Hubbard. “If you guys weren’t here, we wouldn’t be able to do it at all.”
“Thank you again to all of you,” said Blair. “As members of the Leadership Circle, I hope you are convinced you are making a positive difference in people’s lives.”
Photos by Joshua Kodis
Guard against stress, illness – and peril – during the holidays
Elite Airways says it still plans to resume flights to Vero shortly
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FBI raids SR locations in search of Hells Angels leader
By DEREK J. MOORE; THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
Scores of federal agents and other law enforcement officers raided five locations in Santa Rosa early Friday searching for the leader of the local Hells Angels motorcycle club, authorities said.
Raymond Michael Foakes, 42, was being sought on suspicion of drug possession and distribution. His whereabouts were still unknown as of mid-morning Friday, San Francisco FBI spokeswoman LaRae Quy said.
She declined to go into greater detail about the allegations against Foakes, saying the federal warrant seeking his arrest was sealed.
But she did say the case is connected to a larger criminal investigation that resulted in the arrest of two high-ranking Hells Angels members in San Francisco in April.
“It’s definitely related,” she said.
Foakes was previously arrested in 2003 in connection with a violent confrontation between members of the Hells Angels and Mongols motorcycle club at Harrah’s Casino in Laughlin, Nev. in April 2002.
On Friday, armed FBI swat team members raided a Hells Angels clubhouse at 517 Frazier Street at about 5 a.m. Friday, Quy said.
Authorities also stormed Foakes’s home at 748 Mill Street, as well as 747 Mill, 663 Mill and 895 Sonoma Ave.
A sixth address outside of Santa Rosa also was searched but Quy did not provide the address.
She said authorities sought evidence at the addresses including drugs and weapons.
About 70 law enforcement officers participated in the raids, including officers from the Santa Rosa Police Department and Sonoma County sheriff’s deputies. The California Bureau of Narcotics Enforcement and Bureau of Alcohol and Beverage Control also helped, she said.
On April 20, the president of the Hells Angels Frisco Chapter and sergeant-at-arms were arrested following FBI raids on 19 Bay Area locations.
Federal authorities said the men were involved in a multimillion-dollar criminal enterprise involving methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana.
The Press Democrat Santa Rosa,Calif.
[Submitted by Free2]
Posted by e107 on Saturday 03 June 2006 - 14:29:07 Read/Post Comment: 5
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Bundelkhand Online Journal
Khati Assamese: The Hilarious Instagram Page From the Heart of Assam
In today’s world of internet memes, it can be difficult for a new page to make a mark. But one page that has managed to do just that is Khati Assamese, founded by Diplu Kingkar Das in December 2019. Born and raised in Assam, India, Diplu is a computer science graduate with a passion for creating and sharing memes. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at Khati Assamese, the man behind it, and the content that has made it a hit.
Khati Assamese is a page dedicated to Assamese culture, and the memes on the page are relatable, clever, and visually striking. The page has carved out a niche for itself by focusing on Assamese culture, which has allowed it to cultivate a devoted audience of followers who are particularly interested in this subject matter. Diplu puts a lot of thought and effort into crafting each meme, and it shows in the page’s high-quality content.
The page has amassed a following of fans on Instagram, and the memes are regularly updated for the enjoyment of its followers. The page has become a beloved source of entertainment for meme lovers around assam, and it continues to grow in popularity.
When asked about the future of Khati Assamese, Diplu Kingkar Das stated, “I am excited to see where Khati Assamese goes in the future. I am constantly looking for ways to improve and evolve the page, and I hope to continue bringing joy and laughter to my followers through my memes. I am grateful for the support of my followers and I look forward to continuing to share my unique perspective on Assamese culture with them.”
In a time when memes have become an integral part of internet culture, Khati Assamese stands out for its unique focus on Assamese culture and its consistently high-quality content. The page has become a go-to destination for anyone looking for a good laugh, and the followers eagerly await the daily updates.
In conclusion, Khati Assamese is a page that has managed to make a mark in the crowded world of internet memes. The page has become a beloved source of entertainment for meme lovers around the world. With its unique focus on Assamese culture and its consistently high-quality content, Khati Assamese is a page that is definitely worth checking out.
The page can be found on Instagram under the handle @khati_assamese or visit www.khatiassamese.com
Company Name: Khati Assamese
Website: www.khatiassamese.com
© 2019 Copyright Carson City Headlines. All Rights reserved.
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AboutGalleriesMuseums + PUBLIC ART + FoundationsFriendsEventsADNO LIVE AUCTIONSPressVideoContact
At 91, George Dunbar's says 'my best work is yet to come'
By Ted Lewis
George Dunbar
Coin du Lestin, 2018
Gold leaf over mauve and red clay.
Photo by Will Crocker, courtesy of New Orleans Museum of Art.
In 1955, Slidell abstract artist George Dunbar was selected as Art in America’s “New Talent” of the year.
More than six decades later, at age 91, Dunbar no longer thinks of himself as a new talent.
But he is as productive as ever in his studio on the banks of Bayou Bonfouca, coming to work every day in the belief that, “my best work is yet to come.”
Dunbar’s latest creations — he calls this his “Surge Period” — will be on display in November in a new show at the Callan Contemporary Gallery in New Orleans.
But before that, some of Dunbar’s best previous work will be part of the St. Tammany Art Association’s annual "Selections from New Orleans Museum of Art" show at the STAA’s Art House in Covington.
The show opens Oct. 6 and runs through Nov. 17. It’s the first St. Tammany Parish show featuring Dunbar’s work in three years.
“This is my home,” said Dunbar, who in his earlier days developed many of the subdivisions in Slidell, personally digging out the canals. “So, I love having my work shown here.
“But I’ve also got to show it where I can make a living.”
After such a long and distinguished career, Dunbar jokes about holding out hope that his work might still be shown in the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City because the value of those pieces would be in excess of $1 million.
And, having outlived his contemporaries (Dunbar is the only living artist in the STAA show), Dunbar he also jokes about the value of his work is likely to increase after he’s gone.
Dunbar, however, considers himself blessed to be remarkably fit, thanks in part to regular visits to Cross Gates Athletic Club where the Navy veteran of World War II still displays the swimming skills first developed as a salvage diver in the Philippines.
Following cataract surgery a few years ago, Dunbar needs glasses only for reading, keeping his eye for color and detail sharp.
Arthritis in his wrists does require the aid of assistants Lizzie Shelby, Ryan Gianelloni and Gae Lynn Cavalier to mix some of the materials for his work. But the ideas are still all Dunbar.
His mind is as creative as ever.
“We all worry about dementia,” Dunbar said. “We want to have our marbles until we die.
“But I don’t really think about age. I just want to keep going until I can’t.”
And by keeping going, Dunbar means not standing still as an artist.
“You’ve got to constantly reinvent yourself,” he said. “You’ve got to do different things because you don’t want to become a one-trick party.”
Dunbar, who uses a variety of media, has been through more periods than he can recall (12 according to his website).
His latest is inspired by the marsh grass bordering his home and studio and the way the shapes, textures and colors vary in the reflections of sunlight.
But Dunbar also prides himself in maintaining his own thumbprint, no matter the style or period, and never becoming derivative, as he views many of those who remain colonized in New York.
“The best compliment I can get is that somebody can see different types of work I’ve done and say, ‘That’s a Dunbar,’” he said. “I’d never want to be thought of as copying someone else.”
Dunbar credits his longevity as a working artist — and for remaining a distinctive one — to the decision he made years ago to return to Louisiana rather than join the art scene in New York, one primarily made so he could remain with his terminally ill mother in New Orleans.
Dunbar and his family were able to lead a regular life, horseback riding for the kids on the 9-acre tract he created out of marshland and coaching Little League teams for several years.
Dunbar’s early days of developing subdivisions (“That was my morning job; I painted in the afternoon,”) in and around Slidell were the basis of his current energy level, one that he says would have been difficult to maintain in a loft in SoHo.
And it’s one he doesn’t feel has declined despite the passage of time, either physically or mentally.
“I still feel passionate about my work,” Dunbar said. “Some people may dread getting up in the morning, but I get up and look forward to doing something.
“To me, it’s still like mining for gold and feeling that I’ve just scratched the surface. I’ve had a very good life.”
CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE
P.O Box 57025 | New Orleans | Louisiana | 70157
info@artsdistrictneworleans.com
#ArtsDistrictNewOrleans
#ArtIsNewOrleans
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Tag: metal core
Music Monday: Killswitch Engage “Incarnate”
martymankins | June 6, 2016
the new album by Killswitch Engage
Back on March 11, 2016, one of my all time favorite metal core bands Killswitch Engage released their 7th album “Incarnate”, which is their 2nd since the return of original lead singer Jesse Leach [which would make it their 4th album with him)]. It has been 3 years since their last album “Disarm The Descent” which landed a number 3 spot on my top albums post for 2013.
“Alone I Stand”
“Hate by Design”
“Cut Me Loose”
“Strength of the Mind”
“Just Let Go”
“Embrace the Journey… Upraised”
“Quiet Distress”
“It Falls on Me”
“The Great Deceit”
“We Carry On”
“Triumph Through Tragedy”
Strong Release
Since the release, I’ve listened to this album at least 20 times and it’s really good. My favorite track on the album is “Hate By Design” which was the second single released from the album. It’s got those melodic hooks that I’ve always loved from this band. Another great track is “Quiet Distress” which starts off nice a slow with that acoustic guitar strum, then rips into that signature sound that lead guitarist Adam D. Jesse’ vocals are spot on and maybe even a bit too polished on some songs like “Quiet Distress” and “It Falls On Me”.
As far as compared to 2013’s “Disarm The Descent”, the strength of this album falls just a bit below. That album was hard to top, which was Jesse’s return to the band and they pulled out every metalcore stop to make an incredible album that was flawless from start to finish.
The track listing above is from the Deluxe edition of the album, which adds the last 3 songs. The extra songs are good and not considered filler by this fan.
The return of Jesse continues to be a positive thing for this band. I finally got to see them live at the end of March when they came to Salt Lake City. I still need to blog about that show, which I enjoyed a lot.
And today, the band announced a return to SLC to play in September. I will most likely be going to see them again. For now, this album continues to remain in my regular playlist on all of my digital devices and cloud music services. And I expect it to land a spot on my Top Albums for 2016 list at the end of this year.
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PRESIDENT CONGRATULATES LADIES ON LEAGUE WIN
Tuesday 1st March
Banbridge Hockey Club President Sheree Totton has congratulated the Ladies 1st XI on winning the Senior 1 League and gaining promotion to the Premier league in Ulster.
Sheree said; “Huge congratulations to our ladies 1st XI and their coach Robin Madeley. This is massive achievement for the girls and it means that Bann will be represented in the premier league in Ulster for the first time in the clubs history. ”
The Banbridge ladies confirmed their title when they beat Cookstown 1-0 last Wednesday evening. The resulting 3 points means that no other team in the league can go ahead of them regardless of what happens in their remaining three games.
Sheree added; “We are so proud of the whole team. They have worked so hard this season and that hard work has really paid off. To win the league with 3 games left to play at this level is fantastic. We look forward to seeing the girls playing at the top level in Ulster hockey next season.”
The club will host a reception for the girls and their supporters in the club on Saturday afternoon after the Ladies 1st XI game at 1pm to mark this achievement.
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Air, Air Force
Aerial Tanker
February 4, 2020 Dmitry Shulgin
The new capability for Airbus’ C295 to serve as an aerial tanker brings additional flexibility for this tactical airlifter, further increasing its already-proven versatility and opening additional mission opportunities.
Air-to-air refuelling broadens the Airbus C295 tactical airlifter’s operational versatility
Airbus Defence and Space developed a removable Air-to-Air Refuelling (AAR) kit for the twin-engine aircraft that utilises a 100-foot-long/30.5-meter-long deployable hose with a «basket» at the end – enabling the transfer of fuel to receiver aircraft equipped with a probe. A remote vision system allows crewmembers aboard the Airbus C295 tanker to monitor refuelling operations from the cargo cabin.
Recent flights to test the kit involved an Airbus-owned C295 that refuelled a C295 from the Spanish Air Force, as well as proximity tests with the Airbus C295 and a fast fighter aircraft – a Spanish Air Force F-18 Hornet.
The Airbus C295’s removable refuelling system – which weighs 1,500 kg/3,307 lbs. – consists of up to three additional fuel tanks, an operator’s console, and the hose drum unit.
Making the Airbus C295 an even more valuable platform
«Customers are increasingly interested in purchasing not just an aircraft, but a versatile platform that can be used for different missions», explained Martín Espinosa, the Airbus Defence and Space engineering technical manager responsible for the Airbus C295’s aerial refuelling test campaign. «The development of the air-to-air refuelling capabilities of the Airbus C295 forms part of this strategic vision».
The Airbus C295’s aerial refuelling capability would be a highly valuable mission-extender for customers using Airbus C295s. These customers include the armed forces of current and future Airbus C295 operators responsible for civil and military Search and Rescue (SAR) missions.
Additionally, it could serve as a cost-effective platform to train fighter pilots in the skills needed for air-to-air refuelling. «The Airbus C295 tanker kit could facilitate training of fighter pilots for missions involving refuelling, or even for AAR services on a lease-by-the-hour basis at a fraction of the cost of heavier aircraft», explained Luis Díaz-Miguel, the Tactical Airlifters Marketing Manager.
Captain Gabiña, a Spanish Air Force pilot involved in the aerial refuelling tests, gave high marks to the Airbus C295 in its new role as tanker. «The degree of difficulty in flight test is always high since it involves performing manoeuvers that no one has done before. It should be noted that due to the positive behaviour of the aircraft, the operation has been good and straightforward», he said.
Airbus Defence and SpaceC295
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ARIAS AND ROMANCES
SONGS AND DITTIES
NAPLES SINGS
DIALECTS AND FOLKLORE
POLITICAL SONGS AND PROPAGANDA
SONGS AND WAR
PATRIOTIC SONGS, HYMNS AND MARCHES
CINEMA, THEATRE AND TELEVISION
THE NEAPOLITAN SONG
SONGWRITING AND SINGER SONGWRITERS
POLITICAL SONGS
ITALIAN ROCK MUSIC
EXTRA MATERIAL
The objective of the project “Portal to the Italian song” was to create a platform granting the public widespread access and the opportunity to listen online to a musical heritage that includes over a century of Italian songs, from the year 1900 to 2000. Thousands of songs featured in the collections of the Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage will be gradually made available for consultation on the portal, following an editorial plan and in collaboration with several public and private sound archives.
The project aims to promote a specific aspect of the Italian cultural tradition which, in view of its scale, will be organized by historical periods as follows:
1900/1950 (cylinders, 78 rpm records, non-standard supports )
1951/1969 (33 rpm records, magnetic tapes, audio cassettes)
1970/ 1980 (33 rpm records, magnetic tapes, audio cassettes)
1981/2000 (CDs).
The above material is further subdivided conceptually into the following 4 macro areas:
ARIAS / ROMANCES / FOLK SONGS AND NINETEENTH CENTURY POP MUSIC (1900/1950)
POP MUSIC FROM 1950 to the present
(1960-…….) FOLK MUSIC, LIVE RECORDINGS STEMMING FROM RESEARCH (1960 onwards)
THEMATIC COLLECTIONS (in diachrony with subsections consisting of rarities, anthologies etc.)
The main feature of the portal is the gathering of the entire ICBSA catalogue of published recordings which is made available alongside unreleased audio material (mainly linked to the popular and demo-ethno-anthropological traditions).
Access and online listening to the audio material is obtained through a search by author, performer, musician, etc. or by consulting thematic sections (proper collections) and graphic material associated with the recordings, thus offering a complete overview of the patrimony of recorded songs in Italy.
Another feature of the portal are the thematic collections resulting from an organization of the tracks by musical itineraries.
These collections offer further insight into the material found in the database, and will be curated in collaboration with experts in the field. Renowned Italian artists will act as testimonials to encourage use of the portal by a diverse audience belonging to different generations, and guide them in the discovery of the Italian song, as well as to promote the dissemination of such a significant aspect of the national cultural heritage.
The distinguishing feature of the portal is the gathering of an audio-recorded production that is at present unsystematically organized or scattered, especially on the web, and its organization following chronological, analytical and reasoned criteria.
With its configuration, the “Portal to the Italian song” could act as one of the most recognizable testimonies of our music heritage, particularly abroad, and provide a true soundscape to accompany promotional initiatives for all that is “Made in Italy”.
For this purpose, in the first instance the site will be translated into English, French, Spanish, German, Chinese and Japanese.
Participants in the project include the Ministry of Education and Research, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the SIAE, various associations of independent producers, as well as writers, actors, musicians, experts, and private collectors.
In particular, content may be also provided and managed through specific research activities launched in collaboration with the Ministry of Education (e.g. research projects, degree theses, scholarships to fund indexing and checking of authority files for sections of the portal) or participation of producers and publishers associations (for addition of content to areas of the musical collection that are wanting and/or access to databases for information about rights holders).
The design of the portal allows for potential future expansion to include other categories of musical heritage such as opera recordings for example.
The objective of the project “Portal to the Italian song” was to create a platform granting the public widespread access and the opportunity to listen online to a musical heritage that includes over a century of Italian songs, from the year 1900 to 2000. Thousands of songs featured in the collections of the Central Institute for Sound and Audiovisual Heritage...
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