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« Nolan Gone, Williams Going
Call Jennings »
Packergeeks season grades
Bob McGinn came out with his season grades. Read here for this article. In his overall summary, he made some good points and some of his grades were dead on. But there was plenty to disagree with. Perhaps the biggest issue I have with how he grades is that he is so dependent on stats. It’s almost like he tries to create a mathematical formula to come up with grades. I know, I know, numbers don’t lie etc etc etc. But they don’t tell the whole story either. Take his D+ for Brandon Jackson based solely on his low 3rd down reception average (doesn’t mention his quality blocking for Rodgers on 3rd downs and his stellar 5.5 yards per carry).
Rodgers – A. McGinn wrong giving Rodgers B. Rodgers great. Inconsistent O-line play, no run game – Rodgers great. Will get clutch victories soon, then it will become routine. Also will become better leader starting next year.
Grant – C+. Grant didn’t avoid tackles well this year. Wasn’t terrible though (O-Line didn’t help him much). Should be fine next year if the line improves (and perhaps has a new offensive scheme).
Brandon Jackson – B. McGinn was way off here giving Jackson a D+. Jackson was pretty good and only had a low 3rd down reception average because of a shoddy O-Line.
DeShawn Wynn – B. Maybe didn’t play enough to get a grade but answered when called upon. He has vision our other RBs don’t have.
Korey Hall – D+. Injury problems again. He’s not bad and when healthy could be a valuable player. If not, he may end up being yet another guy who should just play his natural position – LB.
John Kuhn – D+. There were too many times when Kuhn didn’t get to the right spot at the right time.
Greg Jennings – A. No need for comment, just very good.
Donald Driver – A-. Driver is still good and he still gets the job done. I gave him a “-” because he can’t seem to break tackles like he used to.
Jordy Nelson – C+. I like Jordy’s attitude and sure hands. He strikes me as a quality #3 receiver. If he gets stronger, he might be able to shed tacklers like I imagine he did in college.
James Jones – C+. Jones was too injured almost to be graded. But when he was actually on the field, he showed he still presents a scary option.
Ruvell Martin – C+. It is now trendy to talk about Ruvell’s blocking ability ever since Packergeeks gave him the unofficial title of “best WR blocker” last year. But he is a great blocker and a high level team guy.
Donald Lee – C. Lee wasn’t too special this year. He’s still a quality TE but I almost wonder if the priority to develop him has given way to what seems like an overwhelming priority by the staff to develop Finley.
Tory Humphrey – B-. I can’t pretend to know how good Humphrey was blocking etc, but it seemed to me that whenever he got a chance, this guy came through.
Jermichael Finley – D+. His last couple games were encouraging – mostly because I like the way they tried to use him. As he adjusts to the NFL, he could become really good.
Colledge – C. Still nothing special to me. McGinn will throw stat after stat at you and it seems “cool” presently to talk about how Colledge was a “bright spot”, but I just didn’t see it very much.
Clifton – D. Clifton is just not good enough anymore. Physically his knees don’t work, his hip probably doesn’t work. I’m not sure he makes the team next year.
Moll – D-. He is not good. Though yet again, he is another player the Packers tried to convert. Apparently Moll was mostly a TE in college.
Tauscher – C-. He really struggled this year. C- is a bad grade from me, but especially bad for a guy whom I’ve given high Bs or even As in the past. Tauscher has been one of our best players over the years, but 2008 was not a good year for him. I do want him back, but I think other teams will come after him looking for a bargain.
Spitz – C. I saw in some other post-season grades that Spitz did OK by some. I don’t get that. I like that he can play center in a pinch and I didn’t notice a drop-off at all when he did. But I’m just not sure he’s that good yet.
Wells – C-. I don’t see what others see in Wells. I think he is too small and is often responsible for giving up the push up the middle at the line of scrimmage.
Barbe and others – who knows.
Woodson – A. Maybe one of the best seasons ever by a Packer corner. His tackling this year was unreal.
Harris – B+. Harris is still good. Yes, he is vulnerable against the big/talented guys, but generally he still holds his own.
Bigby – incomplete.
Collins – B+/A-. Collins was a lot better at actually catching interceptions (though he still dropped a few) but I think the most important thing about the Pro Bowl nod is that he will be even more confident now. I think he had questions about his own skills going into this year and now I think he’ll have more faith in what he’s doing going forward.
Peprah – C-. Often injured. Shows signs of talent for tackling at times.
Tramon Williams – B-. Was great filling in for Harris but his level of play dropped in the 2nd half. I still think he has the skills to be a starting CB though.
Will Blackmon – C-. This grade is for his contributions as a CB, which weren’t great. He had one great tackle play against Jax that caused a fumble but outside of that, I’m not sure he’s that good of a corner. I really like him in the return game and may give him a B to B+ there.
Jarrett Bush – C-. His mistakes cause headaches, and overall I’m not sure he should be on the team. I do like his enthusiasm though.
Aaron Rouse – D+. Disappointment. I do wonder if Sanders just never found a good way to use him. Rouse has unique LB-like size for a safety and I hope that the new D-Coordinator can maybe find some special ways to use him. I’ve said it before, but I think having Collins, Bigby and Rouse on the field for the same plays at times could be an intriguing combination.
Brady Poppinga – A. Just kidding, D. He and Spencer Havner should switch roles.
Desmond Bishop – B. If I read again about how he missed a tackle on Chester Taylor (a tackle that only MAYBE Patrick Willis would have made – certainly not Barnett) or about major coverage let downs, I’m going to puke. He did more in his short time out there than any part-time player. He caused 3 forced fumbles in very very limited action. YOU CAN’T KEEP SOMEONE ON THE BENCH WHEN HE’S CAUSING TURNOVERS AND MAKING PLAYS AND YOUR STARTERS AREN’T!!! Sorry, bitterness.
Nick Barnett – C-. Barnett was not sharp this year before his injury. Not sure what it was but his level of play dropped significantly from last year when he was pretty darn good.
AJ Hawk – D. Gotta wonder if that chest injury affected him more than he let on. Any kind of injury of the chest is kind of scary. Either way, he was bad this year and I think Winston Moss is right when he says that AJ is not playing freely/instinctively because he’s too assignment-focused.
Chillar – B. He was good. Yes, he had a few missed tackles and poor plays here and there, but overall, he was probably our best LB.
Kampman – B-. Kampman wasn’t as visible this year. I don’t think he was stellar and I think if he rated himself, he would say the same. But I do recognize that he was double-teamed constantly because if opposing lines didn’t do that, they’d have been bored doing nothing.
Pickett – C-. Pickett was not the same. Like Tauscher, a C- for a player like Pickett is a bad, bad grade. We expect high “B” performances from him but he didn’t deliver this year.
Jolly – D+. I had high hopes for Jolly. I thought he’d be great. He wasn’t. He plays hard and has enthusiasm, but I just don’t know how effective he can be. Perhaps he was affected negatively by having a weak right DE next to him all season.
Montgomery – D+. A small part of me was pulling for Montgomery to be a surprise this year. He wasn’t. His rush “moves” are slow and he didn’t contain the edge well against the run.
Jeremy Thompson – D+. Lots of development to do for this guy. Thompson plays hard and is excited about being out there. Just didn’t perform. He consistently over-pursued or just plain got burned on plays. He plays small, more like a LB. If we move to a 3-4, he may actually have a shot at helping at OLB.
Colin Cole – C. I can’t say for sure why I believe this but I think Cole came on at the end of the season. For most of the season though, he was pretty absent.
Alfred Malone – C+. He’s a guy I’d like to see more of. He took advantage of his chances to play and looked OK.
Jason Hunter – C-. Had hopes that he would get more playing time and perform better. I believe an injury sidelined him for a bit. May be another guy who would fit in a 3-4 defense as an OLB.
Justin Harrell – D-. Harrell’s injury issues are sad. Considering the ongoing back problems, I’m not sure he’s going to be able to play at all anymore. I’m over the fact that it was a blown draft pick – dumb mistake by TT – more surprising than anything. But this is sad because if you see an interview with Justin, you’ll realize pretty fast that he’s a good kid. He, himself feels badly for letting down Packer nation and has said so.
Mason Crosby – C+. Still helps us on kick offs quite a bit. His misses on potential game-winners obviously hurt. But a bigger concern to me was the few kicks he had (like the first miss in the Bears game for example) where it seemed he had no idea how to kick. My unofficial count had this happen 3 times. He came out of his kicking form way early, didn’t focus on the plant foot whatsoever and kicked a low-flying duck-hook type kick each time. Sort of like he was afraid of someone running into him or something. 2 of these were in cold weather, but weather in which the opposing kicker made longer field goals. Still, I like Crosby and am not too worried about him.
Derrick Frost – F.
Jeremy Kapinos – B-. Came in under tons of pressure and performed OK in poor conditions. His numbers weren’t great but as I said before, numbers don’t tell the whole story. He had big kicks when we needed them and importantly, didn’t hurt us down the stretch. Packers should throw millions at Shane Lechler this off-season.
Brett Goode – B+. He was…um…goode. Not sure why McGinn would give this guy a C or whatever he gave him. He was a sure-snapper. I didn’t give him an A only because I’m not sure how he was blocking and coverage-wise.
McCarthy – C-. Mike McCarthy was off this year. He was distracted by Favre and distracted by having a baby. Neither thing his “fault”, and neither thing a small thing. I think next year he’ll be more focused and get back to being the creative, quality playcaller I think he is. This past year, his game-flow and playcalling was really subpar though.
Sanders – D+. Sanders did have a couple outstanding games, like the Colts game and the first Bears game. He was on the money for those games. But he was not consistent and his inability to adapt to changes throughout the course of a game was a major liability for us. Good guy it seems, but we’re ready for a new defensive coordinator.
Mike Stock – D. Stock’s fall was interesting. The special teams in 2007 were a key part of our success. They were consistent and solid for the most part. In 2008, however, this was a major weakness. Penalties, weak coverage, the Frost nightmare. Stock’s stock could have gone either way as he was on the rise after 2007.
Joe Philbin – ?. Not sure what he does. I’m sure he contributes in some way, but it’s hard to know exactly how because McCarthy is so involved with the offense.
Ted Thompson – C. Didn’t like his handling of Favre. Didn’t like the Frost situation. Didn’t like the lack of depth the team ended up having. And still believe he over-emphasizes the draft vs free agency. On the other hand, I liked that he tried at least for Tony Gonzalez. I liked that he got something in return for Favre. I liked that he picked up Chillar. As critical as I’ve been of TT in the past, I am not one of the group calling for his head. He has shown flashes of brilliance and I really want to see if he can help bring the team back from this miserable season. While I’d say that the players and coaches bear the majority of the blame for this past season, I do think TT must do more to improve both our talent and depth, particularly on defense and particularly on the lines. I also think we need more veteran leadership out there in the form of free agents and I hope that TT modifies his approach to accommodate this. If he doesn’t and the team doesn’t show marked improvement next year, I’m not sure TT will be wanted back.
This entry was posted on January 14, 2009 at 2:56 pm and is filed under green bay, Packers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
5 Responses to “Packergeeks season grades”
Pretty solid analysis, overall. Few areas I’d disagree with:
1. Cole – C to D- Cole had 49 tackles this year. That was the lowest tackle count of any of the regulars or semi-regulars on the D-Line. He was 22 tackles behind Montgomery, his nearest competition.
2. Bishop – C to D+ Not consistent enough to rate the higher score. Too many mistakes, even though the defensive coaching was a contributor to that consistency. He has a way to go yet, but potential is there.
3. Malone – C+ to D- 13 tackles, enough said.
4. Hunter – C- to D- 13 tackles enough said.
5. Chillar – B to D+ He was the best performer at LB for the Packers. He still wasn’t above average compared to other LB’s in the League.
6. Wells – C to D- If you go back and review the DVR’s closely he was just plain destroyed on a regular basis. I’m sure his injury effected him more than anyone would let on. However, with a back surgery scheduled, I doubt his return. Better get Birk!
The Shpherd Express also had a very good article recapping the year. It can be found on http://www.expressmilwaukee.com It’s pretty much a numbers thing but you can see where the Pack stan compared to others in the league.
LOL, that’s right, Frost doesn’t even need a description.
I agree with all the grades until I got down to coaching. Giving McCarthy a C- is pretty high in my opinion. The packers were making the same mistakes all season. Am I wrong in saying that the it is the coach’s job to fix those mistakes during practice? The pad level excuse all year long was extremely annoying. He never admitted to any of his own mistakes. Anytime someone challenged him on why he did a certain play call, he always said he believes it was the right call, he was never wrong. His play calling towards the end of EVERY game was the playing not to lose instead of playing to win. He actually believed that his defense could win us a game if we went ahead by a field goal instead of a touchdown…
TT HAS A C! What have you been smoking?? Besides the Favre situation, Frost, Harrell, and not wanting to acquire Free Agents, the draft wasn’t the most excellent either…
Can we grade the draft choices? Here are my opinions on them:
1. Nelson – When announced at Lambeau Field, the large crowd became very quiet. Everyone was going through their draft papers trying to find out who the heck this guy is. Everyone was expecting Brohm with the first pick. It was then announced that the Packers picked Nelson because they were impressed with this hands and athletic ability. I do believe that Nelson was a good pick but was also a little bit of a reach. They could have got him with the other second round pick. It is possible he could have made it to the third round as well. I think the Packers got scared when they saw the Rams and Redskins pickup WR before them. So the Packers made Nelson the third overall selected WR.
2. Brohm – Yes, I am going to say it now. BUST!
3. Lee – Had a good college career. He looks good in practice and he looked good the few times he played defense. He did suffer a knee injury though which effected his playing time and was eventually put on IR. I know he didn’t do much this season but this is a good pick.
4. Finley – Apparently he was considered an “athletic monster” in Texas. He then ran a 4.62 40 yard dash… which I would think a lot of tight ends can do. He should really lose some weight and tryout as a WR because TE is NOT the position he should be playing. Whenever you put Finley on the field, the defense already knows you are going to pass the ball. He should not have been selected in the third round.
5. Thompson – We did not need a finesse DE. He is from Wake Forest. He needs some proteins shakes and some MYO Shock.
6. Sitton – He was not on the draft radar. He was not expected to even get picked from the draft. So he must have been excited being picked from the fourth round. He did do everything he was asked to do and a lot of it, so I can’t really say he was a horrible pick either.
7. Giacomini – Who is this guy?
8. Flynn – He may be the steal of the draft. BCS champion QB in the seventh round. How did this happen?
9. Swain – Who knows where he is… don’t think he will ever be a starting NFL WR
I wanted to do TT separately. Your grade of C is too high. Yr 1 4-12 let Wahle and Rivera go. Yr 2 8-8 only after MM was able to string 4 Dec wins together. Yr 3 13-3 Yipee were the youngest team and 1 game away from the Super Bowl. We must be great. Yr. 4 6-10 poor play on the part of both lines and the LB’s created a less than stellar result. 4 years of Ted Thompson leaves us with an overall reg. season record of 31-33.
Over that period of time the Defensive Line has steadily degraded to a position that leaves them with only one above average player and two slightly below average players. The remainder of the D-line is not even NFL calibre. Similarly, the O-Line has degraded each year to a point now where the last two real Pros on the Line, Clifton and Tauscher are at the end of their careers. A crazy quilt of mid to low round draft choices are all that will remain. Are we ready for Tony Moll and Colledge to start at the tackles next year?
The Favre affair. The descision to let Favre go was the correct one. The descision to involve MM in the sorid mess with Favre was a stupid blunder on TT’s part. He should have had the guts to be the point on that.
He does get credit for WR’s selection, Safety selection. and QB. Jury is out on CB’s and kicker (can Crosby make the winning FG?)
I think Ted Thompson is the perfect example of Murphy’s law. Grade F
Poppinga should have his grade adjusted. He gets an A for falling on piles after the play is over.
If the Packers want to “right the wrong” of the J. Harrell pick, they should try their hardest to get N. Suh out of Nebraska in the draft of 2010. He’s a DT who put up amazing stats this past year, and will very likely be among the best (if not the best) DT in the country next year at the collegiate level. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5h8_dm1hes
The rest of the grades were spot on.
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Masked booby and chick
Norfolk robin
Black petrel
With iconic species like the green parrot and morepork owl, Norfolk Island is home to a fascinating array of birds.
The island’s isolation means that many of these birds aren’t found anywhere else in the world.
For more information about Norfolk’s birds, download our bird app for iOS or Android. As well as providing information about our feathered residents, the app is a great companion to walks around Norfolk Island National Park.
The Norfolk Island bird checklist is a great way to keep track of what you see during your visit.
Please do not feed any birds on Norfolk Island. Wild birds find their own natural foods like insects and plants, and other foods can make them sick.
Norfolk Island is a seabirds’ paradise, boasting access to the abundant ocean and safe nesting sites high in Norfolk Island Pines or tucked away on steep cliffs.
Wedge-tailed shearwater
Watch the ocean at sunset and you might see these birds floating on the water in large rafts before coming ashore just after nightfall.
Known to the locals as ‘ghost birds’, you can hear their moaning calls echoing across the island at night.
Shearwaters cover vast distances during their annual migration, travelling as far as 300 km a day on their way to Norfolk to breed.
These large, distinctive seabirds have a white body, black tail and a small black mask around their big yellow beak.
Phillip Island, Nepean Island and the Norfolk islets are the main breeding areas for masked boobies, and you can often observe them in their nests between August and February. See if you can spot a chick, which are nearly as big as their parents!
Red-tailed tropicbird
Visiting Norfolk between October and May, these snowy coloured seabirds have rose feathers on the breast and black borders on their wings.
Red-tailed tropicbirds use their bright scarlet tail quills to perform elaborate courtship rituals that may include hovering in a vertical position or flying backwards.
Sooty tern
These birds have a grey back and white underside. You might see them returning to breed in large noisy flocks of several thousand birds.
The local name for the sooty tern is the whale bird, as they arrive back on Norfolk Island during the spring whale migration.
Black noddy
Also known as white-capped noddies, these birds are easily recognised by their black-brown feathers and distinctive white head patch.
During summer, large numbers of black noddies congregate in tall trees on the island. They are known locally as ‘titeracks’ after the sound the adult bird makes.
Forest birds
Norfolk Island National Park’s subtropical rainforest is home to many species of birds that originally came from Australia, New Zealand or New Caledonia.
Most are endemic species or subspecies, having adapted to this island environment over many hundreds of years.
Green parrot
The Green Parrot is the symbol of Norfolk Island National Park and a conservation success story. Thanks to an assisted nesting and rodent control program, this iconic bird is recovering from near extinction.
Keep your eyes peeled in the park for this parrot’s bright green feathers, red crown-patch and blue-edged wings. You should also keep an ear out for their characteristic ‘kek-kek-kek’ call.
Norfolk Island morepork owl
This owl was once the rarest bird in the world, with only one female known to exist.
Although the genetically pure Norfolk Island morepork is now gone, a hybrid species of the original Norfolk Island morepork and New Zealand morepork has a growing population.
You can hear their distinctive ‘more-poooork’ call from dusk until midnight, especially on warm moonlit nights and during the summer breeding season.
With their blue-grey wings, green back and golden breast, these kingfishers can often be seen perching on branches, posts and powerlines. The local name for these charismatic birds is ‘nuffka’, meaning Norfolker.
Nesting from September to December, they build burrows by flying full speed into the ground to loosen dirt before finishing the job with their claws and beak.
The male Norfolk robin has a spectacular red breast, a black back and a white head-patch. The female is brown with a dull orange chest.
Pairs lay two to four eggs in a small nest made from plants and spider webs, camouflaging the exterior with lichens and moss.
This bird was previously thought to be a population of the Australian scarlet robin and then the widespread Pacific robin. However, a 2015 genetic study showed that it is actually a distinct species whose closest relative is the red-capped robin from Australia.
Silvereye
These small birds have the same white eye-ring as other white-eyes (or ‘Grinnells’, as they are often called on Norfolk). However, they can be distinguished from the rest of the genus by their smaller bill and grey back.
Silvereyes have adapted to life on the island both in the forest and around humans. You can find them all year round wherever fruit is available.
Introduced birds are species that have been brought to Norfolk Island by humans.
Some introduced birds have become major pests and compete with native species for habitat, food and nest sites.
Feral chicken
Widespread on the island, this domestic escapee causes serious disruption to the natural regeneration of native plant species and threatens some of Norfolk Island’s endangered snails.
Feral chickens come in a range of colours including black, white, red-brown, speckled and a mantled metallic-green.
Introduced in the early 1800s as a cage bird, this showy parrot is now prolific on the island. It is mostly red with a blue face-patch, tail and wing margins.
Crimson rosellas compete directly with endangered green parrots for nest sites, territory and food.
European blackbird
The male blackbird is usually all black with an orange or yellow beak. Young birds have a brown coloured beak. The female is a plain brown colour with a yellowish beak.
Blackbirds can often be seen feeding on fruits in the treetops or hopping along the ground in search of insects and worms.
Common starling
These glossy birds form large flocks in open pastures and also occur in smaller groups in forested and residential areas.
To distinguish starlings from blackbirds, look at the way they move across the ground – starlings always run, while blackbirds always hop.
Feral pigeon
Pigeons are thought to have arrived on Norfolk in 1790 with the wreckage of the Sirius. They are now common all over the main island.
Their colour varies from pale grey with a metallic green sheen through to dark greyish-black with minimal patterning.
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PREVIEW-51: Semiotics and Structuralism (Saussure, et al)
February 24, 2012 by Mark Linsenmayer 54 Comments
http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/partiallyexaminedlife/PREVIEW-PEL_ep_051_2-9-12.mp3
On Ferdinand de Saussure's Course in General Linguistics (1916) (Part I and Part II, Ch. 4), Claude Levi-Strauss's "The Structural Study of Myth" (1955), and Jacques Derrida's "Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences" (1966).
This is a short preview of our full-length, vintage episode, which you can purchase by itself, or get our whole catalog free, beamed to your mobile device, by becoming a PEL supporter: see partiallyexaminedlife.com/support.
What is language? What is the relation between language and reality? Saussure argued that a language at a given time has a structure, where you can only really understand the meaning (or "value") of a word by contrasting it with other words. Structuralists like Levi-Strauss generalized this to all of culture, and Derrida, while rejecting the structuralist project, takes the notion of "difference" between words to uproot all meaning from any non-linguistic reality. (Probably... even our guest C. Derick Varn who's read the Derrida essay dozens of times isn't sure what it means.) Learn more about the topic and get the readings.
End song: "Slipped into Words," written and recorded by Mark in 1991, released on The MayTricks, which you can freely download in full.
Looking for the full Citizen version?
Filed Under: Podcast Episodes Tagged With: Claude Levi-Strauss, Ferdinand de Saussure, Jacques Derrida, philosophy podcast, semiotics, structuralism
dmf says
well done, lots of resonances there; Darwin vs Aristotle, philology in Heidegger and Nietzsche, is social-science an oxymoron, what if anything secures meaning/correctness, emergence, background/foreground gestalts, do words get their meaning from use?
The main takeaway may well be the question of how pragmatist is Derrida and my related question is how would “experience” secure a meaning, make something correct or not, outside of the ‘web’ of language/social-practices? have you folks covered the hermeneutic circle and or the linguistic turn in philo?
Wittgenstein on how language is like a game, familial resemblances, rule following, and such might be a nice follow up to this discussion, as would:
http://www.english.unt.edu/~simpkins/Fish%20Acceptable.pdf
there is a good argument to be made that Derrida rather than denying the existence of things is a kind of hyper-realist who (in the spirit but not the Word of John Duns Scotus via Heidegger) does not believe that the world is pre-divided into categories, classes, geniuses, or species, but only unique individuals, an ethos of thisness (this will become important later for ethics/Levinas)
I would second skipping Lacan and the idea of the unconscious being structured like Language (at least until after Marx) but how language use, memory, visual perceptions, and all emerge out of neural patterns/behaviors, and how as Noe, Chalmers and others point to this mind-ing is extended bodily into the world is worth investigating.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haecceity
http://www.mediadico.com/dictionnaire/lecture.asp/definition/langue/parle/1
David Buchanan says
I’m not done listening to the episode yet but was struck by the notion of arbitrary origins for sound images and had to hit the pause button. The following quote from James popped into my mind. I think he was almost elegant in expressing this idea…
“All human thinking gets discursified; we exchange ideas; we lend and borrow verifications, get them from one another by means of social intercourse. All truth thus gets verbally built out, stored up, and made available for everyone. Hence, we must TALK consistently just as we must THINK consistently: for both in talk and thought we deal with kinds. Names are arbitrary, but once understood they must be kept to. We mustn’t now call Abel ‘Cain’ or Cain ‘Abel.’ If we do, we ungear ourselves from the whole book of Genesis, and from all its connexions with the universe of speech and fact down to the present time. We throw ourselves out of whatever truth that entire system of speech and fact may embody.” (William James, Pragmatism, 1906)
I find this passage out of the Derrida piece to be imperative toward an understanding of his work. In this way deconstruction as the petulant method of closing out other projects becomes very misleading:
‘There is no sense in doing without the concepts of metaphysics in order to attack metaphysics. We have no language-no syntax and no lexicon-which is alien to this history; we cannot utter a single destructive proposition which has not already slipped into the form, the logic, and the implicit postulations of precisely what it seeks to contest. To pick out one example from many: the metaphysics of presence is attacked with the help of the concept of the sign. But from the moment anyone wishes this to show, as I suggested a moment ago, that there is no transcendental or privileged signified and that the domain or the interplay of signification has, henceforth, no limit, he ought to extend his refusal to the concept and to the word sign itself-which is precisely what cannot be done. For the signification “sign” has always been comprehended and determined, in its sense, as sign-of, signifier referring to a signified, signifier different from its signified. If one erases the radical difference between signifier and signified, it is the word signifier itself which ought to be abandoned as a metaphysical concept.’
No important division of language or individual research program is going to be met with some sudden end as each of the philosophical programs in the 20th century had separately hoped to perform against one another. Instead, historically relevant concepts should be reappropriated when needed, and tempered with further reference to signifier and signified, or maybe also in accordance with those notions developed in recent episodes: Ponty’s embodied intentionality, Foucault’s examination of power, Pirsig’s Quality (more dubious). What this means ontologically I think Derrida is careful, and probably wrong, to try to avoid speculating on. This seems to lead to a proliferation of metaphysical concepts, and it is the hope of deconstruction that they may all still be subjected to some normative order, say as the regularly generated theoretical precursors to creative acts, or novel scientific experiments, or further philosophical investigations, and abandoned whereever it is found unnecessary that they be employed.
It’s very amusing to hear deconstruction being deconstructed. Maybe some of the overt smarm we’re encountering has always previously gone unchecked in the history of philosophy. I’ve never in my life heard Derrida compared with pragmaticists so I guess that is an interesting line of inquiry although I am almost certain he would have hated being aligned with them in any way, believing themselves to have successfully whittled down their ideas in to self-contained useful philosophies beyond the scope of any further sufficient deconstruction. The only idealists today are those who think things can go on for very much longer in anything like the way they happen to be going for right now, and in that sense the pragmaticists are much more radical in their beliefs than Derrida.
Once Upon A Space says
Slavoj, is that you?
http://redelephant.wordpress.com/2006/04/18/rorty-on-deconstruction-pragmatism/
Dylan Casey says
Thanks for posting this link to Rorty on Derrida, dmf. I’ve felt similarly “in the middle” between philosophy (especially postmodern philosophy) and science (at least some interpretations of it) since I studied philosophy as an undergrad, turned to physics, and then continued on in physics for grad school. Rorty condenses the irritation I have with Derrida rather nicely:
What pragmatists find most foreign in Derrida is his suspicion of empiricism, and naturalism-his assumption that these are forms of metaphysics, rather than replacements for metaphysics. To put it another way: they cannot understand why Derrida wants to sound transcendental, why he persists in taking the project of finding conditions of possibility seriously. So when pragmatists are told by ‘deconstructionists’ that Derrida has ‘demonstrated’ that Y, the condition of the possibility of X, is also the condition of the impossibility of X, they feel that this is an unnecessarily high-faluting way of putting a point which could be put a lot more simply: viz., that you cannot use the word ‘A’ without being able to use the word ‘B’, and vice versa, even though nothing can be both an A and an B.
my pleasure, I came the other way from lab life to antifoundationalist philosophy but share the concerns (have you read any of Hacking or Pickering?) and was with Rorty against Critchley and co. back in the day but as someone who has seen time and again the crippling tyranny of the means, and the limits of calculation, can appreciate Derrida’s desire to keep our feet to the fire, to remind us that we are always in media res.
here is a bit of Andy Pickering who was a serious physicist before leaving to write among other things a very good book on The Mangle of Practice.
http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/2009/01/02/how-to-think-about-science-part-1—24-listen/#episode4
I have read (and enjoyed) Hacking, but never read any Pickering. I’ll check it out. (The name of the book is great!)
I’d be interested in hearing your take on his work, you may also want to check out his Constructing Quarks book.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Pickering
I’m looking at the Rorty quote and thinking of the point you were making about 30 minutes from the end, Dylan. In describing Derrida’s view, you said that structure is not an indication of there being something “outside”. People get irritated by slogans that say there is “nothing outside text”, I think, because of the way they seem to de-realize reality. The world as we know it becomes something like a free-floating web of signifiers with no intelligible relation to anything but itself. Without any “center”, much less empirical restraints, meanings can just slip and slide endlessly. There’s no way to get any traction or foothold. This picture can cause a certain kind of existential sea-sickness. Realists, theists and anyone who’s fond of eternal certainties or universal truths are the most likely to react negatively or otherwise freak out. As they see it, this is dangerous, nihilistic relativism. I’m not one of those, but I can sympathize.
In the same way that structure doesn’t necessarily mean essential structure or universal structure, we don’t have to be physicalists in order to admit that there are empirical restraints. In other words, the restraints we find in experience don’t have to be explained in terms of a reality “outside” of experience itself. That is the sort of thing that Derrida will see as metaphysical. The empiricism and naturalism of scientific realists is very often a metaphysics that doesn’t know it’s a metaphysics. (I even suspect Rorty is guilty of this. He has to posit an external reality in order to deny that we can have epistemic access to it. As he puts it, our relationship with this reality is causal, not epistemic.)
As I understand it, this sort of linguistic idealism can be corrected by empiricism, but without resorting to the metaphysics of substance. What the realist really wants, I think, is some way to acknowledge the empirical fact that reality does not bend to our whims and wishes. External realities were invented to explain these empirical facts. WE say the rock and the knife are “outside” myself but “hard” and “sharp” mean what they mean in relation to you, in relation to human flesh. And these things are known within experience. There is nothing transcendent or radically external. The so-called external reality is a result of the way we sort experience according to these kinds of relations. Imaginary water won’t help you put out a “real” fire but with “real” water you stand a chance, for example. Inner and outer are categories of relations, so to speak. Words can’t start a chemical reaction and ideas cannot be clarified with soap and water. But none of this is “outside” in any metaphysical sense. As James put it, all these things come to life within the tissue of experience. This is empiricism without the metaphysics, the kind of empiricism wherein reality and experience amount to the same thing.
Part of the difficulty is the use of the word experience. While I’m deeply sympathetic with it, it can also tilt the inquiry radically inward, funneling the whole world through me as an individual. Now, some of that is true, but it is easy to go too far. Science may be a product of experience, but it is also a product of interaction — it is not fundamentally directed inward even if it scientific conclusions might be leavened and constrained by the experience of the scientists. (And even if part of the activity of being a scientist involves thinking through some of one’s own activity and pre-dispositions.) Part of what I like about pragmatism (and why I think it jives so well with science in general) is that allows for figuring things out about the world (which we certainly do) without getting too hung up on either it being “absolutely true” or it being “merely a text.” It maintains the inquiry without wallowing in skepticism or being sterilized by dogmatic certainty.
Yea, Dylan, I know what you mean. The term “experience” is traditionally associated with some kind of subjectivism and that can easily degenerate into subjective idealism or some kind of solipsism. But, as I mentioned in my post on the pragmatists, guys like James, Dewey and Pirsig use the term “experience” in a very different way. As John Stuhr says, “It cannot be overemphasized that Dewey is not using the word ‘experience’ in its conventional sense. For Dewey, experience is not to be understood in terms of the experiencing subject, or as the interaction of a subject and object that exist separate from their interaction. Instead, Dewey’s view is radically empirical.”
Objectivity takes a hit here too, as well as subjectivity, but this doesn’t do any damage to empirical science. Dropping the attitudes of objectivity doesn’t give the scientist permission to ignore the empirical data, of course, but he’ll be more sensitive to his own interests and the role they play in interpreting or framing the data.
As you pointed out during the podcast, it’s a very curious thing that Levi-Stauss picked up his structuralism and went looking for the structure of a myth and found – surprise – the structure of structuralism. Narcissus unwittingly fell in love with own reflection.
Structures, archetypes, Forms. That’s not science. It’s just more Platonism, which is anti-empirical and otherworldly. The trick is to realize that we ADD these forms and structures. They are the abstract products of experience, provisional concepts that will eventually change as new data comes in. Experience is the ultimate bullshit detector and that’s what makes empirical science work. Whatever we say about the data, about those empirical restraints, has to be consistent with the conceptual order within which the scientists works – even in the case of scientific revolutions. This work doesn’t work at all, of course, if the scientist is conceptually or linguistically “ungeared” from his cultural context. Thus truths are “wedged and controlled” between the empirical restraints and the limits of the conceptual. Then our truths are knowable and verifiable and stable enough to be useful but these truths are not posited with any eternal or universal ambitions.
I’m thinking that Derrida was attacking Levi-Strauss in the same sort of way that Rorty attacked the quasi-scientific pretensions in analytic philosophy.
Consider the fact that Levi-Stauss was working the area of mythology, a visual, visceral, symbolic language of affect, in such a way that it come out looking like algebra or some kind of taxonomy. He’s looking at stories about motherfuckers who gouge their own eyes out but he wants it to look like abstract mathematics. It seems to me that this is a clear case of scientism, of the inappropriate application of scientific methods and procedures.
As Rorty frames it in “Lumps and Texts”, the chemist and his lump posses a kind of scientific respectability that the literary critic sorely envies and so the even the crit-lit department adopts their methods. He wants to say, “don’t do that”. The one who analyzes physical phenomena does not have any more access to the “truth” than those who analyze poetry.
So Levi-Struass’s notion that mythological thinking was a “bricologe”, was a claim about it’s inferiority to his own scientific approach to human culture. This is treating a text as if it were a lump. He was saying that mythological thinking was just cobbled together from whatever was lying around, so to speak, unlike science. And Derrida is saying it ain’t so. He’s saying that scientists and philosophers can only ever work with whatever’s lying around in the culture, that they too can only cobble and tinker with the available materials.
Tim Ingold offers a post-structuralist anthro that is along the lines of M-Ponty and Dreyfus, here he is on “transmission”:
David Buchanan :
Objectivity takes a hit here too, as well as subjectivity, but this doesn’t do any damage to empirical science.
Doesn’t it though? The empirical sciences would have us believe that they are picking out actual structures in the world (or of experience, however you’d like to have it), but referring to this simply as a remnant of platonism makes it curious how they can ever be remotely successful when experimenting with a strictly dynamic, chaotic flux. What are forms and structures being added to, and what is doing the adding, if there are not subjects acting on objects? What makes for a concrete product of experience as opposed to an abstract one?
What are knowable, verifiable, stable truths useful for if not to act on (however posited as it may be) an eternal nature? I think what makes empirical science work is that there is a world outside of us with structures present in it, were this not the case there would be no empirical science to perform as an activity. How does the radical empiricist decide whether they’ve obtained workable data, or that they’ve been inadequately sensitive toward their experiment? This is what hopefully separates empiricists from idealists and solipsists, as to them the results of every single experiment have no observable difference from a personal failure in collecting data objectively.
I realize that it’s hard to swallow, Ryan, but these radical empiricists really are rejecting the common sense realism you’re defending. It takes some getting used to and I don’t blame you one bit for thinking that it sounds too incredible. But if you imagine that “actual structures” and “the world outside” are concepts invented to explain the regularities found in experience rather than the realities that cause the regularities, then it just a matter of realizing that ideas are ideas and not ontological realities. They are abstractions that can refer to any number of particular, concrete experiences. Those experienced resistances and regularities are the concrete empirical facts, whereas external objects are posited as explanations for that fact. And it’s a very powerful and fabulously successful idea, one that scientists have used quite fruitfully and it works well in rush hour traffic too. But still, its just an idea. What you get is realism and naturalism without physicalism or reductionism. It un-reifies some very key concepts and in fact all concepts are demoted to secondary status so that all metaphysical posits are treated as either hypotheses for more work or as feckless fancies to be abandoned.
If there was to be another Derrida episode, it would be interesting if it dealt with one of his later works: Specters of Marx, The Beast and the Sovereign, Politics of Friendship, Of Hospitality, The Work of Mourning… not only are they easier to read (well, what I’ve read from them seems to be), but he actually puts forward some sort of positive conception of politics/ethics (even if it is super vague) instead of just tearing everyone else to bits
It un-reifies some very key concepts and in fact all concepts are demoted to secondary status so that all metaphysical posits are treated as either hypotheses for more work or as feckless fancies to be abandoned.
I don’t see why that should be the case, concepts are things that do work in the world just as much as anything else, otherwise they are epiphenomenon. What is at stake here is exactly whether actual structures or the world outside should be put in to quotations, and if so, why we would even bother to posit their difference from ideas and the subject. I realize that this sort of perspective is often successful in the history of science, but it is also sometimes depersonalizing and an inherently constricting theoretical presupposition to begin from. Why treat your work with any seriousness if there is always an infantile equal and opposite way of reframing everything that would render it all false, incorrect, irrational, grossly abstract? While I’m all for paying respect to a plurality of perspectives, the observed and inexplicable fact of the matter is that experimental sciences have been met with unparalleled success in their ends, however ethical they may inconsistently be. And I suppose this is the other problem, as a radical empiricist may suggest sensitivity, but they have no reason to demand it: any old experiment will always be met with some kind of creative event. It is only the physicalist for which further sensitivity paid to the experiment will result in greater accuracy of results.
It is interesting how the philosophy of language has really pervaded the discourse (haha!) to such an extent that it holds consequences for all other kinds of philosophy not always immediately associated with it.
I can see where you’re coming from, I think. It’s unsettling or even disturbing for a scientific realist to contemplate the claims of these radical empiricists. And this is even more true for the claims of Derrida, or at least the deconstructive method that been taken from his work. You asked one question that seems quite key.
“Why treat your work with any seriousness if there is always an infantile equal and opposite way of reframing everything that would render it all false, incorrect, irrational, grossly abstract?” Apparently, you feel that important and valuable things are threatened by these views. I really don’t think that’s the case. Maybe you can’t have eternal certainties, but c’mon. Is that a realistic or reasonable expectation? I think not.
How does that old saying go? Truth is that brief moment in the life of an idea, just after it was a heresy and just before it became a platitude.
The Derrida in me would respond that there is still one eternal certainty remaining under that conception, that being the utter lack of center to anything. I find the opposition between the posited and the real not so much unsettling as it is productive, and this in what may honestly end up being a sort of overly roundabout, ad-hoc political sense: no matter how much thought we perform or structure we apply to the world, we will never have arrived at the real totality, and this is necessary for the possibility of creative experience to always continue changing things. That’s not to say the related Lovecraftian element of this idea you were hinting at is lacking in its own… aesthetic merit.
“Apparently, you feel that important and valuable things are threatened by these views.”
I think if this were correct, the method would be more threatened by heretics than it happens to be, but instead as a matter of chance it has presented itself among many attempted projects as being more important and valuable. Look at the difference in action now between particle accelerators, and crazed old men spouting off counter-truths from street corners. I like to explore those circumstances to their fullest extent, rather than ignore its reality. Maybe it is in fact a result of some abstract mutualism between the performance of science and capital? Maybe rather science is a method which with quantifiable accuracy can work to show us how the world really is, no ironiquotes necessary, and unlike other kinds of claims, can always be repeated by anyone on earth with the right kinds of tools, even while it is always subject to the constraints of finite human reasoning, historical context, and capitalist diversions?
As an aside, as much as I am interested in them and hope we end up taking a good long look at emergence etc., I’ve never personally found a convincing non-reductivist ontology, and I know it does sometimes make for the best empirical explanation. To this difference I attribute the age old Kantian transcendental, in addition to recent findings that render holistic statistical methods sometimes more amenable to physical computation than direct reduction as an impractical theory of everything would call for.
Brent Voelker says
I’d like to suggest you read Mike Fortun and Herbert Bernstein’s Muddling Through: Pursuing Science and Truth in the 21st Century (See link to on-line version below). Fortun is a Harvard-trained historian of science and practicing cultural anthropologist; Bernstein a physicist. This book should be read as an affirmation of science on the one hand, as a critique on the other. By critique (as opposed to criticism), I mean an effort to clarify concepts, to evaluate the relation between their logical grounds and their degree of validity; that is, how well our concepts map on to the way things really work in the world. This book may help explain what Derrida meant when he famously said, “There is nothing outside the text.” Derrida is not denying a reality out there, but he is denying that our knowledge and our discourse relate to it in anything like a direct way. Rather, our sciences are dense articulations referring to other dense articulations, some of which have been settled as “fact,” but none of which derive their truth value directly from objective reality without reference to other text and context. Take “Dark Matter/Energy” for example: Dark Matter is nothing but text. Nevertheless, it is not only very real for most physicists today but wildly generative of new experimental systems and of knowledge.
Muddling Through is under-appreciated as the definitive introductory text to Science and Technology Studies. I say that not because Mike Fortun is my advisor; rather, Mike is my advisor because of Mudding Through. It far exceeds any notions of simple social constructivism, but views sciences rather as networks of material-semiotic relations. Social constructivism ain’t the half of it, in contradiction to Sabrina Weiss’ characterization of science studies: science studies, done right, are not at all about “going around showing scientists and engineers how all of their knowledge is socially constructed.” Nevertheless, all human thought is much more dependent on language and metaphor than pragmatism would make it out to be; science, necessarily a political activity as all human activities are, is no exception. Understanding this makes the incredible productivity of science all the more astonishing, all the more worthy of our admiration, even as we worry about its effects.
Other examples of fruitful applications of Derridean thought to science studies include Fortun’s second book, Promising Genomics: Iceland and deCODE Genetics in a World of Speculation and Inscribing Science: Scientific Texts and the Materiality of Communication (Timothy Lenoir, ed.). Please do let me know if you have a chance to look at any of these. I would very much enjoy a continuing dialogue: scholarship is, at its root, about community. As a part-time graduate student and full-time engineer, husband, and father in my early forties, your project has been a source of community and inspiration for me. It would be a pleasure to make it more bi-directional. Thanks for your excellent work.
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=HYL0YZCuJRcC&oi=fnd&pg=PR7&dq=muddling+through+fortun&ots=kPgshvNosI&sig=EHOl40ZHyuHaBtFIWFD_3qC5Wbs#v=onepage&q=muddling%20through%20fortun&f=false
Brent Voelker :
It far exceeds any notions of simple social constructivism, but views sciences rather as networks of material-semiotic relations. Social constructivism ain’t the half of it, in contradiction to Sabrina Weiss’ characterization of science studies: science studies, done right, are not at all about “going around showing scientists and engineers how all of their knowledge is socially constructed.” Nevertheless, all human thought is much more dependent on language and metaphor than pragmatism would make it out to be; science, necessarily a political activity as all human activities are, is no exception.
Thank you for the suggestion, I will definitely try and get back in touch once I’ve had time to get my hands on it and dig through a little bit. I believe that networks have been and will become even moreso a major line of inquiry, and I agree completely with your sentiments about the important intersection between language and science, and the too often conflated roles for scientists and social scientists. It’s weird how many people in the 20th century in a direct reaction to modernism often swapped around the commonly recognized heirarchy placing science firmly under the speculatively restrictive domain of social sciences, rather than going through the admittedly difficult motion of making room for these autonomous programs to interdependently affect the course of human life.
Here’s another (free!) book that I think might be somewhat related ‘Prince of Networks: Bruno Latour and Metaphysics’
http://www.re-press.org/book-files/OA_Version_780980544060_Prince_of_Networks.pdf
Thanks for the reading suggestion, Brent. I’ve often used the phrase “muddling through” to describe the big-picture activity of science. Certainly science is a social activity and that much knowledge is “socially constructed,” even “socially held” to the extent that we disseminate knowledge through broadly social/interactive means. However, while it easy is to under-emphasize such things, it’s also quite easy to over-emphasize them. Special relativity doesn’t arise out of considering the mechanical texts of Newton (or even Lagrange or Hamilton), but of demanding a consistency between the physical accounts of mechanics and electricity/magnetism. (Certainly one could argue that Einstein was, in some sense, analyzing the texts in coming to the formulation of special relativity, however, my point is that your don’t get it without the input from E&M, which requires new input.) It wouldn’t be a terrible injustice to reword Galileo as saying that the goal of mathematical/scientific inquiry is to understand the “text of the world,” but I don’t think that’s the way Derrida uses the word “text.” I think he literally means words on a page.
I’m glad you’ve joined us on the discussion pages here. I expect there will be many future occasions for us to continue the conversation.
Brent said, “Derrida is not denying a reality out there, but he is denying that our knowledge and our discourse relate to it in anything like a direct way. Rather, our sciences are dense articulations referring to other dense articulations, some of which have been settled as “fact,” but none of which derive their truth value directly from objective reality without reference to other text and context.”
Nicely put. I think this is Rorty’s position and for the same sort of reasons too. If memory serves, he said our relationship with the world is causal, not epistemic, because there is no way to peel back the layers of context, the “dense articulations”, as you put it.
My hunch is that the kind of materiality involved here is political and historical in a quasi-Marxist reading of science as a cultural production – as opposed to defending substance ontology per se. Just a hunch.
The advantage of retaining empiricism while also giving up physicalism is that it makes room for plural truths without degenerating into relativism. It imposes empirical restraints but it also asks us to be epistemological pluralist. This stance opposes scientific reductionism by insisting that the various subjects of inquiry demand a variety of investigative methods. This is just a matter of using tools that are most appropriate to the object of investigation. Whether it’s chemicals or cultures, each kind of phenomena has to be handled with the methods that make sense. This is not opposed to empirical science, but to scientism and reductionism.
It’s probably worth noting that Derrida wasn’t very interested in science, or even social constructivism (or as Heidegger would say “mere” anthropology), but was primarily a man of letters, and like many in his generation (Foucault, Kristeva, et al) taken with the avant garde possibilities of writing, so the primary meaning of there being nothing outside of the text is likely the interpretive/critic’s point that there is nothing that can’t be read/written back into the text.
http://www.torilmoi.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Moi_They-Practice-Their-Trades.pdf
I’m sure you’re right. I find Derrida almost impenetrable and rely on secondary uses of his work for any kind of understanding, so I’m in no position to dispute your claim. But from its modern inception at the beginning of the Enlightenment, technologies of writing or, better, inscription – illustrations, charts, graphs, laboratory traces, data, and prose, all of which are forms of text – have been intentionally located at the core of science. (See Shapin and Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air Pump.) To the extent, then, that Derrida had something to say about writing, text, and human thought, he had something to say about science. It seemed to me that Dylan noticed this connection, the source of a good deal of frustration toward the end of this episode as he struggled to reconcile what the authors were saying with what he knows as a scientist. But maybe that’s just my own reading of the “text” the podcast!
If Derrida never uttered the word science, he has still been usefully extended in science studies. Avital’s Test Drive is another good example; thanks for that reminder and post. Test Drive is a hard read, though not as hard as Derrida himself. Foucault’s conscription, on the other hand, may have gone in the other direction. Although he was very interested in literature, many of Foucault’s major works are histories of psychology (Madness and Civilization), medicine (The Birth of the Clinic), and the human sciences (The Order of Things). Even The History of Sexuality is less about sex than it is about struggles over the authority to produce knowledge of the human body.
As for Derrida, another text you might consider reading for a podcast is Limited Inc. It is the product of an encounter between Derrida and John Searle, who has come up during several podcasts. Searle declined to have his response to Derrida published in this book – I’m sure he thought he would be cast in an unflattering light – but it is summarized by the editor and extensively quoted in the second essay by Derrida. Searle’s essay was previously published in the journal Glyph, so you might find it interesting to read the original and see whether Derrida did it justice. I have this book on my reading list for the semester; I am both eager and filled with dread at the prospect of reading it. I could use some company in the effort!
as much as I owe Rorty I think it is important to keep separate (to the degree that we can) what an author said (I think that Derrida is too dense for pulling apart in this kind of forum) and what we may find useful in him/her and if you have a chance to roam about here some you will see that I’m a fan of the turn in science studies (and the “practice” turn in general) after post-structuralism, but Derrida would have likely seen this as not being a properly philosophical line of inquiry, as not being fundamental enough, and in some sense derivative of a deeper investigation of the event-uality of khora.
As for Foucault there was a serious shift in his thinking in relation to Ecriture, if you’re interested check out Rajchman’s freedom of philo book.
For PEL purposes might be better to look into folks like Hacking and or Rabinow than go too far thru the looking Glas.
here is Derrida protege Avital Ronell riffing on the Test Drive, just to give you a sense of the practice/thought-process of deconstruction:
This episode was hit and miss generally, but you should all be embarrassed by the “nanny-nanny-boo-boo” section. Your ego is showing.
Mark Linsenmayer says
A bit protective of Derrida (whom we owe a whole episode, as we’ve acknowledged), or just objecting on aesthetic grounds? I’d be happy to hear what specifically you would add to enrich the conversation, if you’ve got time to spell it out.
max says
I was taking notes on this episode to keep track… at that nanny nanny boo boo section I left a footnote of my own: “bullshit.” I love the philosophy of Derrida and other similar French assholes of that time… I simply have encountered that angry, frustrated attitude toward Derrida. I see it as being constrictive. That’s why I really want you guys to do another episode, as I think this one didn’t give Derrida, and postmodernism in general, a fair shake.
I’ve found these philosophers to be by far the most entertaining, interesting, relevant and pragmatic for “our times.” Fun stuff.
So I can see the “nanny nanny boo boo” criticism, however I see it as a positive thing. It is pragmatic ,and there are many nuances to the philosophy that weren’t discussed here, especially, it would seem… in the philosophy of Deleuze.
Yep, Deleuze and more Derrida are on our list… Though not w/in the next few episodes. As I used to say when I worked in the software biz, “planned but not yet scheduled.”
I think Dylan’s swipe there has gotten us considerable grief, but I’ll defend not editing it out: whether re objectivism or Dennett’s Consciousness Explained or New Age Philosophy Lite or lazy undergrad student relativism or patently circular conceptions of faith or critical theory or logicism, there are plenty of things that each of us comes to the table with some beef about that will color our intake of the subjects we discuss. In many of these cases, we do get around to serious and direct discussion of the actual topic; in others, it remains a bogey man that comes up periodically for whipping. Either way, it’s probably better to get these preconceptions on the table, and we can’t really engage a point unless we’ve actually, as a group, read some of the relevant material. So put this in the “shooting the shit” category for the moment.
Totally agreed. The conflict/controversy over that philosophy is essential to a genuine understanding. Much more enjoyable to hear honest opinions and argument!
Billie Pritchett says
I enjoyed listening to this episode, having no real knowledge of structuralism. This episode made it more clear for me just how Derrida’s deconstructionism is really a position militating against structuralism. I think without that context it is unclear why Derrida has the view he does.
There’s a piece by John Searle entitled “Literary Theory and Its Discontents” that argues, among other things, that Derrida’s position is an inadequate theory of language precisely because, even though Derrida positions himself contrary to structuralism, he appears to adopt a lot of the trappings of structuralism by taking the categories and definitions of structuralism seriously rather than abandoning them altogether. I don’t know if I’m articulating this as well as I would like but I do think it is fair to say that discussions of ‘signifier’ and ‘the signified,’ for example, and talk of signs generally went on to occupy no place in linguistics formally because the use of this terminology presented the wrong kind of picture of the way language works.
the rebirth of structuralism via evolutionary “moral” psychology?
http://bloggingheads.tv/videos/9376
Setherson says
My favorite episode, methinks. I put my hat in the ring re: a Derrida episode. I can’t stand reading him or talking about him, but for some reason I love hearing other people explain him to me.
I would love a more “postmodern” episode. Focus on Deleuze and Derrida, who were quite similar and apparently respected each other.
I would love to see what you guys think of their philosophy, perhaps the intro chapter to A Thousand Plateaus, as well as Spectres of Marx or Of Grammatology? Something like that.
But yeah, something by Deleuze and something by Derrida would be brilliant for a postmodern focus. I don’t know many people who have focused and clarified these philosophies. I think you guys should DEFINITELY do that intro chapter to A Thousand Plateaus.
Fuck Lacan though, boring bullshit. So yeah, give peace a chance.
Stella Bastone says
Thanks for posting these illuminating podcasts and notes. I’m wondering if I can have your permission to record a one-minute portion of your Episode 51 (starting at around 1:20:00, on bricolage) and post it with full attribution and of course a link to your site, on a Deconstruction module I’m making openly available here: http://622module-a3.blogspot.ca/ . Either way, many thanks once again.
Great! Thanks a million. I’ll post this within the next week or so and will notify you once it’s up. Cheers. Stella
You guys cover the territory well. However…
One long circuitous conversation later, mythology as it is explained as discussed here is impenetrable, while not the usual mashup resulting from how confused Freud was, there is a far better way of understanding mythology – even granting that the methodology of mythology itself changes. Allow me to introduce you to the school of poetic meaning. That is probably my own name for essentially the work of Jane Harrison and Robert Graves.
My ongoing general mythology post on the matter can be followed here:
https://www.facebook.com/brianrbarr/posts/10202452301821965
Derrida’s “Structure, Sign, and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences” Dissection, Part I | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast | A Philosophy Podcast and Blog says:
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[…] posted our episode (here) on a historical progression in thought that is still responsible for a lot of the hard-to-read […]
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[…] slogging through the Theaetetus) and things that literary critics learn about, e.g. he brings up Saussure and Levi-Strauss at one point. This may explain why the stylistic organization is a bit disconcerting; it’s […]
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[…] group psychology, about the “social function” of celebrities. Now, we recently did an episode on structuralism, and one of our readings was Claude Levi-Strauss’s “The Structural Study of […]
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[…] Note: Here's a submission from Derick, guest from our Saussure episode.] “Plurality should not be posited without necessity” -Duns […]
Walter Mignolo On Postcolonial Philosophy | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast | A Philosophy Podcast and Blog says:
[…] further research on these and other Post-colonial theorists, listeners can check out Episode 51 or Paul Fry’s free lecture on […]
Partially Examined Life Ep. 75: Lacan/Derrida Criticize Poe | The Partially Examined Life Philosophy Podcast | A Philosophy Podcast and Blog says:
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Tag Archives: Stu Ritchie
Edinburgh Jazz Festival. July 2016.
I wrote briefly about my favourite Edinburgh Jazz Festival gigs for LondonJazz. Here are some of my photos from various EJF gigs I went to.
Magnus Ostrom Band.
Paul Harrison Sugarwork.
Graeme Stephen Quartet.
Laura MacDonald Quartet.
Colin Steele Quintet.
This entry was posted in Jazz and tagged Alyn Cosker, Andreas Hourdakis, Calum Gourlay, Colin Steele, Daniel Karlsson, EJF, Graeme Stephen, Kevin MacKenzie, Laura MacDonald, Magnus Ostrom, Mario Caribe, Michael Buckley, Paul Harrison, Phil Bancroft, Stu Brown, Stu Ritchie on September 1, 2016 by patrickhadfield.
Two Gigs: Colin Steele Quintet, and “Playtime” Play Monk. Edinburgh, March 2015.
The last of the short season of Jazz Scotland gigs I went to featured Colin Steele in a quintet. I have seen Steele play a lot over the years: you could say I am a fan; so I was likely to go to this gig whatever, but particularly when I learned he would be playing new material. Much as I love listening to his older tunes (and I do) I have long felt it was time for some new ones.
Over the past couple of years, Steele has been relatively quiet, having changed his embouchure and had to practically relearn to play his trumpet. (He expressed his gratitude to his teachers and others who had supported him in this period.) His sound is as clean as ever, but there was a reticence in his playing on this occasion, possibly because it was the band’s first outing in a while, or maybe because they were debuting the new material, or perhaps the nature of the venue, the Festival Theatre Studio, which, with its theatre seating, feels a bit formal – though as a jazz venue, it has a lot going for it, not least an excellent sound and great sight lines.
The new tunes sat comfortably in Steele’s treasury of folk-infused jazz. A couple were rearrangements of charts he prepared for a big band in the Edinburgh Jazz Festival a few years ago (a gig I sadly missed), but most were brand new. His new(ish) quintet were excellent – long time band members Dave Milligan on piano and Stu Ritchie on drums, and relative newcomers Michael Buckley on saxes and the ever-impressive Calum Gourlay on bass. It was a very enjoyable evening, but it didn’t reach the heights of excitement that Steele can reach.
Colin Steele. From a few years ago because, frankly, I have enough photos of Colin…
Steele’s website says they were due to record the new tunes after their tour, which is great news. I look forward to more regular gigs, too!
The previous evening, Stu Ritchie was in the audience at “Playtime”, where the usual “Playtime” quartet – Tom Bancroft, Graeme Stephen, Mario Caribe and Martin Kershaw – were celebrating Thelonious Monk. I find it amusing that a piano-less band focus on music by pianists, but I’m glad they do: like their recent session on Bill Evans, this was an excellent evening of music.
Monk is hugely influential, but his music can still sound jagged and edgy; notes that don’t necessarily belong together are forced into close proximity, and he makes them work.
The quartet started with one of my favorites, In Walked Bud (written to honour Bud Powell), and they ran through many of Monk’s tunes over two sets. So many of these tunes have become standards that it is a surprise they don’t sound hackneyed. Bancroft’s arrangement of Round Midnight made it fresh, by taking it towards the abstract; the tune was still there, but it was like it was haunting rather than dominating the piece.
Martin Kershaw and Tom Bancroft at a previous “Playtime” gig. Because I have more than enough photos of them, too.
The quartet made me listen to such familiar tunes in a new way. Without a piano, the guitar took all the chords, Stephen finding interesting ways of expressing the tune.
So: another very enjoyable evening at my local jazz loft!
This entry was posted in Jazz and tagged Calum Gourlay, Colin Steele, Dave Milligan, Graeme Stephen, Mario Caribe, Martin Kershaw, Michael Buckley, Playtime, Stu Ritchie, The Festival Theatre, Tom Bancroft on April 19, 2015 by patrickhadfield.
Islay Jazz Festival. September 2008.
I have been to Islay three times now, each time for the jazz festival. Islay is famous for one thing really – whisky. And the combination of the island, the whisky and jazz makes for a very memorable weekend. Whisky flows: the jazz festival is sponsored by Black Bottle, and they give out (small) samples everywhere.
Islay is a small place: a population of 3,500 people spread over the island, and most of those are in Port Ellen and Bowmore. Much of the island is wild, and every time I go there, I think that I must spend more time exploring – I really must go for longer than just the jazz festival. Next year, perhaps.
The festival itself is a curious affair, because it largely consists of musicians from the central belt of Scotland who play regularly in Edinburgh and Glasgow playing to an audience which mostly consists of visitors from Edinburgh and Glasgow. Frankly, it shouldn’t work – because I can see these guys play any weekend.
But instead it is wonderful. Maybe it is the setting – many of the gigs take place in distilleries (the best being Bunnahabhain, where the concert takes place in the bottling room, surrounded by empty whisky casks and the air full of spirit); maybe it is the audience and the musicians – because you have to be really keen to make the 350 mile round trip from Edinburgh.
Either way, it is brilliant.
I went over on the lunchtime ferry, together with a whole bunch of musicians (Tommy Smith, Mario Caribe, Calum Gourlay, Colin Steele… Hell, they could have had a jam session on the boat!). The water was very calm; no porpoises that I could see, but I watch cormorants and gannets fly low over the water.
I was staying in a B&B on the Oa, across the bay from Port Ellen. It overlooked the water and was a lovely setting. Rather than sit and take in the view, though, I dashed off for the first gig.
The one downside of the Islay jazz festival: all the venues are a long way from each other – and the only way between them is to drive. The first gig I wanted to get to was way on the west of the island, at Port Charlotte. A very pretty village.
The concert was a duet gig with Dave Milligan and Colin Steele. I have seen them both play many times before, often together, but never just the two of them. It worked really well – the setting creating a more thoughtful music than their usual quintet or bigger ensemble. It was very intimate; the backdrop behind the musicians was the view across Loch Indaal to Oa, which added to the whole. These two musicians know each so well that their playing blended wonderfully – Steele was perhaps not as fiery as he can be in a larger ensemble, but this lead to greater subtlety. (Too subtle for photographs, I’m afraid – I didn’t want to disturb people.)
There was then a mad dash in convoy back to Bowmore, home to Bowmore malt. Bowmore is a great little town, but it somehow lacks a fish and chip shop. There is a very poor excuse for an Indian restaurant, though. Indeed, the whole of Islay lacks a chip shop; there is meant to be a chip van in Port Ellen on Friday and Saturday night, but I couldn’t find it.
The next gig was another duet: Tommy Smith and Jakob Karlzon. Although the hall was set up to preclude a sea-view for all but the front row, the musicians were lit by the setting sun. (I can’t quite get my head around the geography, though – because I would swear the sun was setting in the east!)
I have seen Smith play in lots of duet settings recently: I can’t help wondering if he has perhaps become a bit of a control freak, preferring to reduce the risk of playing with more soloists by keeping to solo or duo gigs. Still, this was a spectacularly good gig. I hadn’t heard – or even heard of – Karlzon before I read the blurb for this gig, and he and Smith didn’t have time to rehearse – but they linked together really, really well. Smith was at his most Nordic; the tunes were slow and thoughtful, with a lot of reverb. Karlzon – who I saw play in many different combinations over the weekend – was a revelation: the perfect balance to the saxophone, and all in all it was a lovely gig.
The following day it was back to the west of the island, the village hall in Portnahaven, for a lunchtime gig by the Colin Steele Quintet. A lot of people had been partying late into the night, including the band (me, I don’t have the energy for that: the idea of going to a gig starting at 10.30pm, especially when I’d be driving and thus not drinking – oh no), and there were lots of hangovers, including on the stage; but it didn’t seem to get in the way of some energetic playing. The more I see Stu Ritchie, the quintet’s drummer, play, the more impressed I am (although I am not so keen on his choice of headwear – he wore a hat at every gig he played). Steele was excellent, too, and Phil Bancroft played with an angry passion; maybe he was just trying to blow away his hangover. Milligan was a bit too low in the mix, and Calum Gourlay on bass – playing his first gig with the band – seemed low-key but good. (Still, I missed Aidan O’Donnell, who decided not to leave his new New York home for the festival – apparently he received a better offer!)
Off to Bunnahabhan; this gig – in the whisky-flavoured bottling room – is usually the big concert for the weekend; this time around, it was set up as the tenth anniversary concert, headed up by Mario Caribe, one of the few musicians who has been to all ten festivals – he says it is so his family can get a holiday each year (and this year, he had one of his sons with him). This concert was great fun, featuring Caribe in different settings – duet with a percussionist, then a piano trio with Paul Harrison, a quintet with Phil Bancroft and Ryan Quigley, building up by adding more musicians – Steele on trumpet, the visiting Jimmy Greene on tenor, Chris Greive on trombone, until there were ten people on stage. The finale was a short suite Caribe had written specially for the ten piece, and it worked relly well; unfortunately, a lack of funding had stopped him extending the piece further (thank you, Scottish Arts Council!); but he’s writing a large suite for the SNJO, who will be touring it in the late autumn.
I rushed from the bottling room to make the journey back to Bowmore for the next gig: Karlzon-Greene-Quigley quintet. Karlzon had been at the Bunnahabhain gig, too, watching from the side. So with nearly all the musicians having to make the same trip, I kind of knew I wouldn’t miss it; indeed, the minibus ferrying them back to Bowmore was two cars in front of me.
God, Ryan Quigley can play loud. I was sitting near the front, and I was worried I would have to move – worried because it was packed out. Again, I was seated so I couldn’t watch the sunset, which was even more spectacular. The music was great – energetic post-bop – and Karlzon was equally at home in this setting – he’s a good pianist. He wrote all the tunes – it was very much his gig. Gourlay was on bass – he seemed to open up as the weekend went on: he worked really well in this quintet – perhaps it was just because the lunchtime gig had been his first time with Colin Steele that he had seemed a little reticent.
I liked Jimmy Greene, as well. Based in New York, he plays the role of long tall tenor perfectly: he worked in lots of different formats.
The first gig of Sunday was at Ardbeg: essentially a jam session featuring a front line of Greene, Quigley and Greive, with Gourlay on bass, Milligan on piano and a drummer who I didn’t know and whose name I can’t remember… The drummer had been rather nondescript at the Mario Caribe Bunnahabhain gig, but he played much better this time around. I could have done with a bit more of Dave Milligan, but then I do really rate him as a pianist. This time around, I was right at the front, so I guess I hadn’t learned how not to damage my hearing with Quigley’s high notes. He was loud, too, but softened a bit after the first number – he came out all guns blazing, and maybe his hangover kicked in after that! This was a fun gig, but nothing to special – very much a jam session. Still, Quigley demonstrated a rather neat capacity for naming tunes – a number called “Duck Egg Blue” was based on several tunes from Kind of Blue… (Geddit?!)
At Ardbeg we were treated to some of the malt rather than Black Bottle – which made for a very nice dram with lunch!
Another madcap dash from Port Ellen back to Bowmore for the last of Jakob Karlzon’s gigs, a trio with Gourlay and Ritchie. Stu Ritchie was on fine form, doing his fast-energetic-gentle thing, and sounding a lot like Elvin Jones (and if you’re going to sound like someone, Jones is definitely the drummer to sound like!). This setting really let Karlzon lay it down: again, it comprised of only his tunes, this time much more in the Jarrett/Evans/Svennson mould; and like Jarrett, he was signing tunelessly along at some points – very distracting! He dedicated one number to Esbjorn Svennson, a fellow Swede, explaining how shocked he still was. Now that Assembly Direct have discovered Karlzon, I expect he’ll find his way back to Scotland quite often.
Back to Laphroig for my final gig. I was hurrying because there was only 30 minutes between gigs, but not as fast as an old Peugeot that passed me (I had had to slow down when the car in front of me turned right into the airport). When I got to Laphroig, Stu Ritchie was setting up his drumkit – so it was he who sped past.
This gig was the Kevin McKenzie Quartet – and they were blistering. This was a really special concert. Bancroft was on tenor – looking ill but playing exceptionally (he is a very good saxophonist); I was glad to see him there as I had decided to go to the Ardbeg jam session instead of Bancroft’s own quartet, since I had seen them during the Edinburgh jazz festival a few weeks before. Caribe was on bass, really solid – he’s a very good player. Ritchie was also excellent – he must have been knackered – and succeeded in fitting into a completely different style of music. I really like Kevin McKenzie’s guitar playing – and his writing: this was great music. I am most familiar with his playing through Trio AAB, with Phil Bancroft on tenor and (twin?) brother Tom on drums – they play music that verges from the folky to the very wacky. This was a bit more down to earth, but still great music. It is coming out on CD soon – definitely one to get.
I caught the ferry back to Kintyre the next day. It rained non-stop, and kept it up for thirty six hours. I ate lunch of fresh oysters – straight from the sea – and langoustine from the seafood cabin, warm in front of a log fire. Magic.
This entry was posted in Jazz and tagged Calum Gourlay, Chris Greive, Colin Steele, Dave Milligan, Jakob Karlzon, Jimmy Greene, Kevin MacKenzie, Mario Caribe, Phil Bancroft, Ryan Quigley, Stu Ritchie on October 1, 2008 by patrickhadfield.
Phil Bancroft Quartet. Edinburgh Jazz Festival, July 2008.
My first gig of this year’s jazz festival was the Phil Bancroft Quartet at the Hub – indeed, all but one of the gigs I went to was at the Hub (in contrast to last year, where all but one was at the Spiegel Tent). It was a hot Saturday afternoon, and I didn’t feel like sitting in a darkened hall listening to jazz; but this quartet quickly blew the cobwebs away.
They played a varied set – Bancroft explained how he liked different styles of music to do different things emotionally – and the tunes spanned a dynamic range, drummer Stu Ritchie somehow achieving the wonderful feat of being energetic and driving whilst playing with care, precision and – best of all – quietly: Ritchie was excellent.
But then this band has pedigree, with the wonderful Aidan O’Donnell on bass and Paul Harrison on piano. It was a fun gig – the music seemed to express Bancroft’s quirky humour – and the playing was excellent throughout.
Bancroft said that someone had told him he looked like the recently discovered Radovan Karadzic, and we shouldn’t be surprised if UN forces burst in to drag him off to the Hague; but the person behind me said he looked rather more like Hagrid.
This entry was posted in Jazz and tagged Aidan O'Donnell, EJF, Paul Harrison, Phil Bancroft, Stu Ritchie, The Hub on August 5, 2008 by patrickhadfield.
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Impact of Attending a Research Experience for Teachers Program with International and Societally Relevant Components
RET Initiatives
Zornitsa Georgieva West Virginia University
Reagan Curtis West Virginia University
Reagan Curtis, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Educational Psychology and director of the Program Evaluation and Research Center at West Virginia University. He pursues a diverse research agenda including areas of interest in (a) the development of mathematical and scientific knowledge across the lifespan, (b) online delivery methods and pedagogical approaches to university instruction, and (c) research methodology, program evaluation, and data analysis (qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methodological) for studies in developmental, educational, and counseling contexts. E-mail: Reagan.Curtis@mail.wvu.edu
Tyler A Saenz Saenz West Virginia University
Miracle David Solley West Virginia University
Dave Solley is currently the Undergraduate Program Coordinator in the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department at West Virginia University. He is a student in the Curriculum and Instruction Ed. D. program at West Virginia University.
Darran Cairns West Virginia University
Impact of Attending a Research Experience for Teachers Program with International and Societally Relevant ComponentsWe report evidence of impact on 23 in-service teachers from high-need, low-SES rural schooldistricts in Appalachia across three annual iterations of an NSF-funded Research Experience forTeachers (RET) program. Novel elements of our program situated engineering research,educational experiences, and problem-based pedagogy in societally relevant energy andenvironment contexts in engineering laboratories and secondary schools in the eastern UnitedStates and in the United Kingdom.Sample research programs teachers engaged: 1. Materials for Energy Efficiency: Investigation of process-structure-property relationships in developing highly insulating aerogel blanket materials and solar reflecting polymer films for energy efficient windows. This work included thermal measurements, surface characterization, optical measurements, and electron microscopy. 2. Energy Efficiency for Transportation: Investigation of energy wastage during vehicle operation and possibilities for energy recovery. This work included data logging, a vehicle-road load model, and experimentation with hybrid electric-drive systems.The international component included: 1. Research in engineering labs in the United Kingdom to develop a global context for research and development in energy and the environment. These labs were coordinated around hydrogen as a fuel source, investigating multiple approaches to generation, storage, utilization, and scaling up. 2. Observation in UK secondary schools utilizing PBL with diverse student populations, followed by focus group discussions among participating teachers and faculty regarding similarities and differences across contexts.We worked as a multidisciplinary team integrating skill sets and perspectives from a Departmentof Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, a Department of Technology, Learning, and Culture,and a Program Evaluation and Research Center. This brought together expertise shaped throughexperience in engineering bench science, social and educational research, teaching and learningin secondary schools, and evaluation of externally funded education programs. Perspectivescommon across team members included the importance of hands-on experience in societallyrelevant contexts to drive learning1-5 and a commitment to utilizing mixed methodologicalevaluation for continuous quality improvement. The first of these drove the design of the RET toinclude hands-on research experience for teachers in engineering research labs in two nationsand to include problem-based learning (PBL) as a pedagogical tool to bring teachers’ RETexperiences into their classrooms6-7. We chose energy and environment as a societally relevanttheme through which teachers’ engineering research experiences and PBL lessons wouldmotivate learners. Our program evaluation perspective kept us focused on key project outcomesto provide continuous quantitative and qualitative feedback from participating teachers andproject personnel to improve the program as it unfolded8-10.In the full paper, we will describe significant and meaningful impact on teacher contentknowledge and attitudes toward science and engineering, increased appreciation of relationshipstying science fundamentals to technology applications and economic development, and theimpact on teachers of the international component (UK research, school observation, and culturalexperience). Quantitative and qualitative evidence for impact includes pre/post surveys (Likert-type and open-ended), teacher content knowledge tests (Force Concept Inventory, CalculusReadiness, AP Chemistry), school observation focus groups, exit interviews, written reflectionson school observations, and evaluator field notes. References1 Chang, S., & Chiu, M. (2005). The development of authentic assessments to investigate ninth graders' scientific literacy: In the case of scientific cognition concerning the concepts of chemistry and physics. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 3(1), 117-140.2 Edelson, D.C. (2001). Learning-for-use: A framework for integrating content and process learning in the design of inquiry activities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(3), 355–385.3 English, L. D. (2003). Reconciling theory, research, and practice: A models and modelling perspective. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 54(2/3): 225-248.4 Fortus, D., Krajcik, J., Dershimer, R., Marx, R. W., & Mamlok-Naaman, R. (2005). Design- Based Science and Real-World Problem-Solving. Research Report. International Journal Of Science Education, 27(7), 855-879.5 Lesh, R., & Zawojewski, J. (2007). Problem Solving and Modeling. In F. Lester (Ed.), Second Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning (pp.763-804). Information Age Publishing Inc.6 Blumenfeld, P. C., Soloway, E., Marx, R. W., Krajcik, J. S., Guzdial, M. & Palincsar, A. (1991). Motivating project-based learning: Sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. Educational Psychologist, 26, 369-398.7 Uyeda, S., Madden, J., Brigham, L. A., Luft, J. A., & Washburne, J. (2002). Solving authentic science problems: Problem-based learning connects science with the world beyond school. The Science Teacher, 69 (1), 24-29.8 Greene, J., Caracelli, V., & Graham, W. (1989). Toward a conceptual framework for mixed- method evaluation designs. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 11(3), 255-274.9 Isaac, S. & Michael, W. B. (1997). Handbook in research and evaluation: For education and the behavioral sciences ( 3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: Educational and Industrial Testing Services10 Searle, C. (2003). Quality in qualitative research. In Lincoln, Y.S. and N.K. Denzin (Eds.). Turning points in qualitative research: Tying knots in a handkerchief. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
Georgieva, Z., & Curtis, R., & Saenz, T. A., & Solley, M. D., & Cairns, D. (2013, June), Impact of Attending a Research Experience for Teachers Program with International and Societally Relevant Components Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. https://peer.asee.org/19698
Georgieva, Z., & Curtis, R., & Saenz, T. A., & Solley, M. D., & Cairns, D. (2013, June), Impact of Attending a Research Experience for Teachers Program with International and Societally Relevant Components Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. https://peer.asee.org/19698
Georgieva, Z., \& Curtis, R., \& Saenz, T. A., \& Solley, M. D., \& Cairns, D. (2013, June), \emph{Impact of Attending a Research Experience for Teachers Program with International and Societally Relevant Components}
Zornitsa Georgieva, Reagan Curtis, Tyler A Saenz Saenz, Miracle David Solley, and Darran Cairns. "Impact of Attending a Research Experience for Teachers Program with International and Societally Relevant Components". 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia, 2013, June. ASEE Conferences, 2013. https://peer.asee.org/19698 Internet. 17 Jul, 2019
Zornitsa Georgieva, Reagan Curtis, Tyler A Saenz Saenz, Miracle David Solley, and Darran Cairns.
"Impact of Attending a Research Experience for Teachers Program with International and Societally Relevant Components".
author = "Zornitsa Georgieva, Reagan Curtis, Tyler A Saenz Saenz, Miracle David Solley, and Darran Cairns"
title = "Impact of Attending a Research Experience for Teachers Program with International and Societally Relevant Components"
AB - Impact of Attending a Research Experience for Teachers Program with International and Societally Relevant ComponentsWe report evidence of impact on 23 in-service teachers from high-need, low-SES rural schooldistricts in Appalachia across three annual iterations of an NSF-funded Research Experience forTeachers (RET) program. Novel elements of our program situated engineering research,educational experiences, and problem-based pedagogy in societally relevant energy andenvironment contexts in engineering laboratories and secondary schools in the eastern UnitedStates and in the United Kingdom.Sample research programs teachers engaged: 1. Materials for Energy Efficiency: Investigation of process-structure-property relationships in developing highly insulating aerogel blanket materials and solar reflecting polymer films for energy efficient windows. This work included thermal measurements, surface characterization, optical measurements, and electron microscopy. 2. Energy Efficiency for Transportation: Investigation of energy wastage during vehicle operation and possibilities for energy recovery. This work included data logging, a vehicle-road load model, and experimentation with hybrid electric-drive systems.The international component included: 1. Research in engineering labs in the United Kingdom to develop a global context for research and development in energy and the environment. These labs were coordinated around hydrogen as a fuel source, investigating multiple approaches to generation, storage, utilization, and scaling up. 2. Observation in UK secondary schools utilizing PBL with diverse student populations, followed by focus group discussions among participating teachers and faculty regarding similarities and differences across contexts.We worked as a multidisciplinary team integrating skill sets and perspectives from a Departmentof Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, a Department of Technology, Learning, and Culture,and a Program Evaluation and Research Center. This brought together expertise shaped throughexperience in engineering bench science, social and educational research, teaching and learningin secondary schools, and evaluation of externally funded education programs. Perspectivescommon across team members included the importance of hands-on experience in societallyrelevant contexts to drive learning1-5 and a commitment to utilizing mixed methodologicalevaluation for continuous quality improvement. The first of these drove the design of the RET toinclude hands-on research experience for teachers in engineering research labs in two nationsand to include problem-based learning (PBL) as a pedagogical tool to bring teachers’ RETexperiences into their classrooms6-7. We chose energy and environment as a societally relevanttheme through which teachers’ engineering research experiences and PBL lessons wouldmotivate learners. Our program evaluation perspective kept us focused on key project outcomesto provide continuous quantitative and qualitative feedback from participating teachers andproject personnel to improve the program as it unfolded8-10.In the full paper, we will describe significant and meaningful impact on teacher contentknowledge and attitudes toward science and engineering, increased appreciation of relationshipstying science fundamentals to technology applications and economic development, and theimpact on teachers of the international component (UK research, school observation, and culturalexperience). Quantitative and qualitative evidence for impact includes pre/post surveys (Likert-type and open-ended), teacher content knowledge tests (Force Concept Inventory, CalculusReadiness, AP Chemistry), school observation focus groups, exit interviews, written reflectionson school observations, and evaluator field notes. References1 Chang, S., & Chiu, M. (2005). The development of authentic assessments to investigate ninth graders' scientific literacy: In the case of scientific cognition concerning the concepts of chemistry and physics. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 3(1), 117-140.2 Edelson, D.C. (2001). Learning-for-use: A framework for integrating content and process learning in the design of inquiry activities. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 38(3), 355–385.3 English, L. D. (2003). Reconciling theory, research, and practice: A models and modelling perspective. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 54(2/3): 225-248.4 Fortus, D., Krajcik, J., Dershimer, R., Marx, R. W., & Mamlok-Naaman, R. (2005). Design- Based Science and Real-World Problem-Solving. Research Report. International Journal Of Science Education, 27(7), 855-879.5 Lesh, R., & Zawojewski, J. (2007). Problem Solving and Modeling. In F. Lester (Ed.), Second Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning (pp.763-804). Information Age Publishing Inc.6 Blumenfeld, P. C., Soloway, E., Marx, R. W., Krajcik, J. S., Guzdial, M. & Palincsar, A. (1991). Motivating project-based learning: Sustaining the doing, supporting the learning. Educational Psychologist, 26, 369-398.7 Uyeda, S., Madden, J., Brigham, L. A., Luft, J. A., & Washburne, J. (2002). Solving authentic science problems: Problem-based learning connects science with the world beyond school. The Science Teacher, 69 (1), 24-29.8 Greene, J., Caracelli, V., & Graham, W. (1989). Toward a conceptual framework for mixed- method evaluation designs. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 11(3), 255-274.9 Isaac, S. & Michael, W. B. (1997). Handbook in research and evaluation: For education and the behavioral sciences ( 3rd ed.). San Diego, CA: Educational and Industrial Testing Services10 Searle, C. (2003). Quality in qualitative research. In Lincoln, Y.S. and N.K. Denzin (Eds.). Turning points in qualitative research: Tying knots in a handkerchief. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.
AU - Zornitsa Georgieva
AU - Reagan Curtis
AU - Tyler A Saenz Saenz
AU - Miracle David Solley
AU - Darran Cairns
TI - Impact of Attending a Research Experience for Teachers Program with International and Societally Relevant Components
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Start Your Membership Today ! 780-962-9222
Gym Tour
DeVaughn McEwan
Co-Owner of Perpetual Fitness
Devo is the new Co-Owner of Perpetual Fitness! Devo grew up in Spruce Grove his whole life and comes from a sport/fitness oriented family! Devo grew up doing track and field, basketball, and football from 8 years old through high school. After high school ended Devo began working out at Perpetual Fitness and immediately found a passion for a fitness lifestyle due to the amazing trainers and awesome atmosphere! Before taking ownership in February 2015, Devo worked the front desk at Perpetual for 2 years! He’s very excited to continue providing a friendly and comfortable gym atmosphere to all current and future members while breathing a little extra new life into Perpetual!
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Co-Owner/Personal Trainer/Instructor
Perpetual Fitness Co-owner and trainer, Leslie Quilter, has always had a passion for active lifestyle and fitness as she grew up in BC in a very active family! She played soccer and field hockey throughout junior high and high school and competed in competitive cross country skiing from a very early age!
Leslie has always lived and promoted a very active lifestyle! She took her first set personal training courses while working at a local gym in Courtenay, then went on to take Physical Education at the University of Vancouver Island. Leslie moved to Alberta 8 years ago and almost immediately signed up for a membership at Perpetual Fitness! Shortly after, Trent and Val hired her on as staff! In 2014 Leslie started a Facebook page ‘Leslie’s Funfit’ to help promote a healthy and active lifestyle! On her page you will find various workouts and healthy tips to help reach your fitness goals! Leslie is the mother of two young boys, Ethan and Wyatt. It is Leslie’s goal to raise active and healthy boys! Wyatt is an avid hockey player and Ethan loves to swim! You will often see her boys hanging out at the gym! Don’t be afraid to say hello!!
If you are interested in training with Leslie at Perpetual Fitness call (780) 962-9222 or (780) 803-6442. You can also email her at leslie@perpetualfitness.ca
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Trent Christie
Personal Trainer/ Instructor
Perpetual Fitness trainer (and former Owner!), Trent Christie, has had a passion for health and fitness that dates back to his childhood. At a young age, he went through a bout of life threatening cancer. He was told he would never leave the hospital and the outlook for his future was grim. Although the doctors gave up hope, his parents never did. After multiple rounds of chemotherapy and radiation, two massive surgeries and one doctor defying miracle later, Trent walked away from the hospital with hi life. As Trent recovered, he grew to appreciate how important it is to maintain our health and physical well-being.
Trent developed a passion for anatomy and the human body. Adding this to hi love for sports and training, it was the perfect platform for launching an education in kinesiology. Trent wanted to learn as much as he could about this mind-blowing body in which we all get to live. After finishing his bachelor’s degree Trent was given an opportunity to open a Perpetual Fitness and share his passion with the community. Trent is thrilled to be a part of PF as a trainer today, and is looking forward to continuing training, teaching and working with all the clients at Perpetual Fitness and in the community. Trent is excited to meet you and help you achieve your goals. If you’d like to meet up with Trent, call him at (780) 945-6733
Matt Duncan
At 18 Matt started at the University of Alberta in a Bachelor of Science program with aspirations of becoming a physician. After his first year he transferred into a Bachelor of Physical Education specializing in Sports Performance. While in this new program he had a change of heart and decided that instead of treating sickness, why not help prevent it? At this point he realized personal training could be an option.
Matt started personal training at 19 years old, working with hockey teams and a number of personal clients. Over the past 5 years he has coached the general public from ages of 10 to 80, young athletes, college athletes, men and women. In 2014 Matt completed an NCCP course in Olympic Lifting, which allows him to help you through those technical lifts.
With physical activity applying to his life and job as a firefighter Matt values fitness and is passionate to help you achieve your goals. If you are interested in training with Matt at Perpetual Fitness call (780) 962-9222 or
Kristen Grise
Personal Trainer/Instructor
Kristen grew up in a very active family where she was involved in a variety of sports that included soccer, ringette, volleyball, and track and field. She played ringette at a competitive level growing up and continues to play to this day. Kristen’s passion for sports lead to her decision to pursue a career in the health and fitness industry. She attended NAIT where she graduated from the 2-year Personal Trainer Program. In doing so she attained her Personal Trainer Diploma and her certification through CSEP (Canadian Society of Exercise Physiology).
Kristen is very excited to be able to help others achieve their health and fitness goals! She has experience training sport teams, one on one clients, and group fitness! Her goal is to help clients live an overall healthier and more active lifestyle! In addition to personal training, Kristen teaches our Morning Madness and Weekend Warriors classes!
If you would like to set up a consultation with Kristen call her at (780) 288-9018, email her at kristen.grise@hotmail.ca or Call Perpetual Fitness (780) 962-9222
Erin Scott
Erin has been with Perpetual Fitness since she moved to Spruce Grove in 2014. Originally from Whitecourt, Alberta, she grew up in an athletic family, playing various sports, but spent most of her youth dancing competitively.
8 years ago Erin got her start in the gym. Like many women, she started on a weight loss mission after the birth of her son. During her 50lb weight loss journey, she found a love for strength training. She shares her love of physical fitness with her family, who also strength train, and her son loves his boxing classes!
Erin took her passion for fitness to the next level and became certified as a personal trainer as well as a bootcamp instructor. Her goal is to make healthy living realistic, by giving her clients the guidance and confidence to succeed. With the belief that fit isn’t a destination, it’s a way of life, she aims to assist you in creating an active lifestyle that you can live with!
If training with Erin interests you, contact her at (780) 779-6757 or though her email at erinscott79@hotmail.com. You can also contact Perpetual Fitness at (780) 962-9222for more information!
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Lesley is our Lifestyle Coach and an instructor here at Perpetual Fitness. She has been instructing fitness classes for over 30 years and enjoys teaching a variety of Dance, Yoga Fusion, Pilates Fusion, Zumba, Boot Camp, Portable Equipment, Stretch and Strength – you name it! In 2012, Lesley began playing with Team Kathy King and won the 2013 World Curling Championship! Lesley continues to play with Kathy King and they hope to continue their success this year. Lesley also competed in the International Natural Body Building Olympia Worlds, representing Canada, in 2007. Last, but certainly not least, Lesley has been blessed with five sons (and 8 grandchildren) that have had a love of sport and fitness all of their lives. They have been her inspiration to continue on the path of health and wellness!
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Managing & Integrating Data
How to compete for data science talent
Tim Baker
Global Head of Applied Innovation, Refinitiv
Hiring and retaining data science talent continues to be one of the biggest challenges facing financial services firms today. Success lies in the four Ps — People, Projects, Place and Process — and in remembering that data quality is the biggest differentiator.
The recent AI & Data Science in Trading event in New York heard from a number of c-suite delegates on how financial services firms can build and compete for data science talent.
The four ‘Ps’ of People, Projects, Place and Process were central to the discussions, particularly the importance of ensuring the right blend of skills across the group.
Most data scientists move on because they are sick of waiting for data, highlighting the value of data quality in the process to build and compete for data science talent.
“Building a top-tier data science team feels like you’re trying to build a spaceship,” said Matt Granade in his opening remarks to the recent AI & Data Science in Trading event I chaired in New York.
Matt is the Chief Market Intelligence Officer at Point 72, perhaps one of the coolest jobs in the industry if you’re a data geek, like me.
One theme that kept recurring throughout the conference was the struggle to build a talented team of data professionals in financial services.
Matt stressed the evolutionary nature of recruitment and retention, suggesting that the right mix of people, process, and technology — applied to sourcing, analysis, and integration — garner the best results.
At Refinitiv, I’ve experienced the challenge of competing against the likes of Amazon, Google and Facebook for data science talent. This was also mentioned by others during the conference.
There’s only one way around this in my opinion: you need to make data the differentiator. For Refinitiv, this is a huge part of our recipe for success, and we’re now seeing the fruits of this strategy.
Sarah Hoffman, Vice President of AI & Machine Learning Research at Fidelity Investments, echoed this sentiment: “Most data scientists leave because they’re sick of waiting for data. It’s all about having a strong data strategy. Data is the foundation to the future.”
Data science talent and the 4 Ps
The 4 Ps govern the approach we’ve taken in building our Innovation Labs at Refinitiv: People, Projects, Place and Process.
First, the People are the team. It’s important to give them room to grow and showcase their work. It’s crucial to get the right blend of skills across the group — data scientists, data engineers, full-stack developers, and subject matter experts. If you have the wrong mix, you’ll completely miss the target.
Mark Antonio Awada, Chief Risk & Data Analytics Officer, Alpha Innovations, similarly expressed this: “I see lots of big firms that have a lot of data scientists, but they aren’t making money.”
Those firms, he assesses, see the quants as the “old guys” and the data scientists as the “new guys.” Mark went on to caution: “It is a mistake to marginalize the quants. Firms need to merge the data scientists with the quants, otherwise it is fatal.”
Second in the 4 Ps is Projects. It’s essential to give the team challenging and engaging projects that will benefit the company, and to allow them to use their knowledge, while also experimenting and gaining new knowledge.
Third is the Places where our Labs are located. We’re strategically placed in San Francisco, New York, London, and Singapore, with easy access to other competitive markets. We’ve created a look, feel and culture that’s compelling for our team.
We may not have exposed pipework hanging from the ceiling, but we do have great tech and a fridge stocked with tasty snacks and perhaps the odd case of beer (highest on the list of requests from the team).
Finally, it’s the Processes we employ that make us unique. It’s how we govern and prioritize our work, as well as how we engage with the various business units, and align with our internal and external tech partners.
When we stood up the new team last year, we sifted through the 60-odd projects on the list and reduced it to fewer than 10 that were hard, but important to the business. All projects have a finite length (typically 10 weeks), which means that “fail fast” is never an issue — all projects come to an end.
Some projects move on to be the basis of a production feature or business case, others are documented, and key learnings shared with the internal customer and across the business.
The integration factor
Another requirement of our operations at Refinitiv is to integrate the team with the rest of the organization. This is critical, especially as we’re not a direct revenue-generating center.
It’s important for other business leaders to see the value the data scientists provide, and the difference the team makes. This happens via a commitment to communication and close alignment with our internal stakeholders.
Related to this, Brice Rosenzweig, Global Head of Data & Innovation Group, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, spoke about the importance of a centralized data and innovation team tightly integrated into the business.
He explained how this enables people to think centrally and to augment their skills. It also allows the Lab leaders to create opportunities that span research, trading and sales, further solidifying the team’s relationships and value. Such subject matter expertise is something we value highly at Refinitiv.
Quick access to data
Joel Nathaniel Bloch, Founding Partner and Chief Risk Officer of Trinnacle Capital, discussed the huge challenges data scientists have with content quality. He shared that his team can spend 80 to 90 percent of their time normalizing and cleaning data.
Data scientists need quick access to data while the idea or opportunity is still fresh, and the business sponsor still engaged. The data scientists at Refinitiv have access to the world’s best content through an internal project that gives them an instant pathway to huge data sets, such as the firm’s machine readable news, tic data and QA Point.
We also leverage Jupyter notebooks to help light up the content quickly, as well as share code (I wish this had existed when I was a software engineer!). The data scientists receive a full working version of Intelligent Tagging, our high-performance NLP engine, and access to Knowledge Graph.
Passion and grit
While the 4 Ps get to how we run our operations, passion and grit are what we look for in talent.
Our data scientists are our organization’s trailblazers. They are exploring new frontiers. This requires a passion for that type of work and an aptitude to perform in an environment that’s full of uncertainty. Sometimes the theory just doesn’t work. They need to learn from that and move on. The outcomes will unfold.
Matt stressed similar characteristics he looks for in the data scientists he hires at Point72. He seeks people who are passionate about their work, motivated by problem solving, aspirational, and career focused; and “they have to have grit!”
Sameer Gupta, Head of Data Sourcing at Point72, underscored the significance of recruiting the right person. “I don’t believe in resumes. A 4.0 from an Ivy League institution is not a guarantee for the job,” said Sameer.
He’d rather give them a problem and throw them in the water. “If they don’t like it, they won’t come back. It’s a great way to figure out who’s right and who’s not.” This is another version of grit.
When we hire data scientists at Refinitiv, they go through a rigorous set of interviews and are given a technical challenge. It’s very much the team making the hire and as a result we have a good fit out of the box.
The data science arena in financial services is exciting and challenging. I hope some of the points I shared will inspire your strategies for your own innovation. And, bear in mind that in the end, data is just the beginning to building a thriving team of data science talent.
Watch: AI & alt data has changed sell-side research with Tim Baker, Refinitiv, and Jill Malandrino, Global Markets Reporter, Nasdaq
We’re hiring now and have a number of exciting data science positions open. Take a look if you’re looking for a new challenge.
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Market Voice: The Brexit Pause That Does Not Refresh
Andrew Hollins
Director of FX and Corporate Treasury Desktop at Refinitiv
Two months ago, the Market Voice considered what seemed like an imminent no-deal Brexit risk as the March deadline was approaching. The deadline turned out to be non-binding as all parties agreed to a one-month postponement and agreed last week to yet another postponement to October 31st. There is no guarantee of when Brexit will occur, if all parties – i.e., all European Union governments – agree, the rules do not limit the number or length of postponements.
1. UK Prime Minister May is now in negotiations with the opposition Labour Party to build majority support for a Brexit deal.
2. There have been negative consequences for the UK from the ongoing uncertainty on the timing and form of Brexit. The Eikon Portfolio Allocation App (search ‘AAP’ on Eikon) provides the results of a monthly survey on allocations across asset type and geography.
3. While the net impact of Brexit on real economic activity remains unclear, there is strong evidence that investors are voting with their feet on UK holdings.
UK Prime Minister May is now in negotiations with the opposition Labour Party to build majority support for a Brexit deal. As shown in the timeline taken from the Brexit page in Eikon (search ‘BREXIT’ on Eikon) the deadline is now October 31st, but PM May is hoping to have a deal in place by June, so the UK can avoid the need to participate in EU elections and still have an orderly Brexit departure. There are no current plans for a second Brexit referendum but that could change so the outlook and timing of Brexit has become even murkier with this most recent delay.
Figure 1: Brexit Timeline
Source: Eikon
There have been negative consequences for the UK from the ongoing uncertainty on the timing and form of Brexit. The Eikon Portfolio Allocation App (search ‘AAP’ on Eikon) provides the results of a monthly survey on allocations across asset type and geography. The charts below are extracted from the app and show the surveyed indications for global allocations to the UK and EUR area bond and stock markets over the past two years. While the percentage of global allocations to Europe’s stock and bond markets remained flat, the UK saw steady declines in surveyed allocations in both markets – and particularly to equities. While cause and affect remain moot, it is reasonable to blame Brexit for this divergence, especially as economic and interest rate performance have not significantly diverged in the two regions.
Figure 2: Monthly Survey of Portfolio Exposure to UK and Europe
The Eikon Global Fund Flows App which shows net flow of investor funds across the globe suggests portfolio managers are not just talking the talk in the survey data but also walking the walk. Over the past year, the UK has seen a substantial (dark red) net outflow of investment funds while most of continental Europe has experienced inflows. Italy is a notable exception likely reflecting growing concerns on the ability of the government to continue servicing the large and rapidly growing sovereign debt burden – an intended focus of a future Market Voice. Again, the cause remains moot, but we believe the outflow from the UK is at least in part a by-product of concerns of the potential disruptions from Brexit.
Figure 3: Net 1-Year Cross-Border Flow of Funds by Country (Red is and Outflow)
Reflections of Brexit in the Market
There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that companies in the UK and Europe are taking defensive action – mostly stockpiling – to protect against potential Brexit-related trade disruptions but it is hard to detect the impact in market performance. While UK equities underperformed in the US market, they paralleled the German market, so it seems macroeconomic forces continue to dominate equity pricing. Bond markets are the mirror image with parallel outperformance in the UK and Germany vs. the US market.
The chart below shows one place where the negative pricing impact of Brexit is manifest – the sovereign default market. Prior to the UK referendum on Brexit, the credit default spread (CDS) on 10Y gilts was roughly in line with US and German levels. The UK spread initially surged in the wake of the ‘yes’ vote but then gradually recovered as the UK and Europe seemed to be working toward an orderly UK exit. But the UK CDS has widened out again in recent months and, at least so far, has not seemed to get much benefit from the postponement to October.
Figure 4: 10Y Sovereign CDS Spread
The implied volatility markets are only selectively pricing in potential Brexit stress. The chart to the left below from the Eikon FX Volatility Explorer App (search ‘FXVE’ on Eikon) shows the implied volatility “smile” for 6M GBPUSD options – just ahead of the new October deadline. The smile represents the rise in implied volatility for both call and put options as the strike moves out of the money – e.g., away from the forward rate. The smile is more of a smirk with a much steeper slope for downside strikes; the implication is that the market sees more risk of a big GBP decline than a rally. A more nuanced interpretation of the volatility surface is shown with the purple implied probability curve in the right-side chart compared to the green skew-neutral distribution. The elevated narrow peak of the purple curve indicates a high probability of the status-quo – some combination of further delay or a benign Brexit – keeping the GBP rangebound. The “fat tail” to the left indicates market belief that the alternative is a much weaker GBP. Overall the market is pricing a binary world where GBP either stays where it is or is subject to extreme weakness.
The implied probability of a large positive GBP surprise is below neutral, but this seems in line with reality. We believe the market’s preferred outcome would be no Brexit, but this outcome would require another referendum which would be a lengthy undertaking and probably require yet more postponement into 2020. In the meantime, the uncertainty of the outcome would overhang the market, making it difficult to see how a highly positive GBP outcome can emerge on a 6M horizon.
Figure 5: The GBPUSD 6M Implied Volatility “Smile” and Implied Probability Distribution
As noted, the probability curve implies a high chance that the pound stays close to current levels for the next six months – i.e., until just ahead of the Brexit deadline. We believe this creates a seeming mis-pricing in the volatility market; as was shown in the Chart 1 timeline, there is risk of some turmoil ahead of the EU elections. If Parliament fails to approve an exit plan by mid-May, speculation that they might sit out the elections would cause concern of a June no-deal Brexit.
The table shown below comes from the Currency Performance/Value Tracker which allows users to rank currencies by measures of volatility and carry embedded in the forward curve. In addition to the current spot rate, the table shows 3M (at-the-money) implied volatility and the percentile of this volatility vs. how it traded over the past three years as an indicator of relative expense. The last column shows the 3-year percentile for 3M implied vs. 3M realized volatility to give an indication whether the market is pricing volatility cheaply compared to recent actual performance.
Blue cells denote relatively low numbers and red are relatively high, so despite the possible threat of a June no-deal Brexit, 3M implied vol for GBPUSD, EURUSD and EURGBP are all trading close to, or at, 3-year lows. GBP vs both the USD and EUR vol is also near 3-year lows even compared to where volatility has been realizing. We have also included BRL and TRY vol figures in the table to highlight that the super low GBP and EUR vols are not simply a by-product of super-low vols across the whole currency space. The extremely low implied volatility levels would seem to create an attractive vehicle for investors looking for protection against speculation of a no-deal Brexit occurring in June.
Figure 6: The Value Tracker Assessment of Volatility
While a 3M option can potentially buy protection through the window of the May European Union elections, there is clear possibility that the UK opts to participate in keeping GBP stable into the end-October window. However, as was the case in the run-up to the 2016 Brexit vote, forward volatility offers an attractive way to hedge against market turmoil ahead of the October deadline. The chart on the next page shows that 1M GBP implied volatility at 6.2% is near the lowest levels since Brexit became an issue. The chart also shows the spread between 5M and 6M implied volatility which gives an indication of the level of 1M implied vol five months forward. While it has moderated, there is still a modest inversion between 5M and 6M implied volatility – 6M vol is 8bps lower – suggesting that forward vol is not being aggressively priced. Indeed, 5-month forward 1M implied vol at 7.0% is above current 1M vol but it is still well below the average levels seen in recent years and very low compared to the double-digit levels that emerged when a no-deal Brexit was an imminent threat. So being long forward vol appears to be an attractive way to get low cost protection for potential fears of an ugly Brexit ahead of the October deadline.
Figure 7: 1M GBP Implied Volatility and the 5M vs 6M Implied Volatility Spread
The UK and the European Union have managed to kick the Brexit can still further down the road. While the net impact of Brexit on real economic activity remains unclear, there is strong evidence that investors are voting with their feet on UK holdings. There are two key risk windows now forming in the months ahead: late May when failure of the UK to participate in European elections would trigger a disorderly Brexit in June and at the end of October when the most recent postponement expires. Volatility markets are not yet pricing in much volatility around either of these windows making options or volatility swaps a relatively attractive vehicle for hedging Brexit risk.
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Download a copy of this article in PDF format.
Visit refinitiv.com/brexit for more insights on the impact of Brexit on financial markets.
© Refinitiv 2019. All Rights Reserved.
The opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the firm, its clients, or Refinitiv, or any of its respective affiliates. This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal advice.
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An eclectic, and by no means exhaustive, list of fellow artists/activists who’s work has inspired my own. Do check these folks out! They’re truly awesome!
Phantom of the Cross https://phantomofthecross.wordpress.com
My other site where I explore connections between what I’ve come to call Liberation Phanship and my Christian faith, especially with regard to social/environmental/economic/Disability justice.
Deserted Phans
🙂 It wouldn’t be PhantomFemme without a Phantom-related site or two! This discussion-forum, which I’m a member on, is a great place to find information on Phantom and the Phan community. Not very active right now, but hopefully it’ll pick back up soon!
The Phantom section on Fanfiction.net
In addition, if you’re a Phanfic junky like me, you might want to check this out! Admittedly, the quality can vary widely. But I’ve also found some truly brilliant Phics here, including the one that inspired my Masters thesis! So definitely worth the weeds. Warning, though, lots of Geriks! But, thankfully, you can still find old-school stage-version, and/or Leroux, and/or Kay based Phics too, and it can be well worth the search!
All Things Phantom
The Facebook group for the All Things Phantom podcast that used to run on Blogtalk Radio. Sadly, the podcast itself hasn’t been active in ages, although you can still find the old episodes on ITunes and maybe other places too. But the Facebook group’s still active! And, if the podcast ever comes back, which I really hope it does, that’s where you’ll hear about it. Plus, they often post various cool POTO links and resources, so it’s another good place to find out what’s going on in the Phantom-verse!
PhantomCon
Yay! Us Phantom Phans finally have our own convention! And here’s it’s Facebook page. Apparently it’s going to be a biannual thing, so the next one’s set for 2019.
Colm Wilkinson’s homepage!
Most of the world know Mr. Wilkinson as Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, which role he originated both in London and on Broadway. But we in Canada have the privilege of having known him as the Phantom too, as he played that role in the Toronto production for the first four years of its long run. And without the slightest bit of understatement, he is to the musical stage what Richard Burton, may he rest in peace, was to the straight stage! Seriously, everything I know about singing a song with equal care to both the musicianship and the dramatic presentation, I learned from listening to this artist. Not to mention versatility, as his rock-song performances are as killer as his Broadway stuff!
Sarah Brightman’s homepage
🙂 The performer who first really inspired me to start singing in a serious way way back when I was in fifth grade. Phantom Phans will know her as the one who originated the role of Christine back when POTO first began its run in London, and, in fact, the one for whose voice the role was actually written. But she’s since gone on to have a long and very successful solo career!
Leaving Evidence
First of all, there simply aren’t enough synonyms for amazing to adequately describe this blog by Disability-justice activist Mia Mingus, on which I found the amazing piece “Moving Toward the Ugly: A Politic Beyond Desirability” that I also link to in my own intro post. Even though I’ve only recently been introduced to Mingus’s work, without it, the PhantomFemme could never have come into being! They’re not, that I know of, a Phan. But so much of what they write about is so pertinent to the Queering of POTO that I want to do!
Interview with Loree Erickson on Femmegimp porn!
Check out this awesome interview thing with a chick whom I’m immensely proud to call a colleague, and who’s been an absolutely mind-blowing inspiration to me, both artistically and as a scholar and activist! Seriously, I couldn’t be the PhantomFemme without Loree’s work having gone ahead of me, shown me how to imagine outside the box, and broken new and sexy ground in terms of how Crip people perceive ourselves.
Disability After Dark
And, on a similar note, check out this utterly awesome podcast by Disability awareness consultant Andrew Gurza, in which he, as he puts it, “shines a bright light on sex and disability”! (Though, really wish he’d loose the visual metaphor.) Raw, frank, often hilarious discussion of a topic which, sadly, still all too few even in the Disabled community dare discuss openly. And rocking interviews with other Disability and sexuality activists/artists!
Tangled Art + Disability
Check out this awesome, Toronto-based organization by and for Disabled artists!
The Ouch Podcast
And here’s another awesome Disability podcast from the BBC. Not exclusively about sexuality, although that certainly does come up. But again, raw, frank, honest, and, again, often hilarious razor-sharp discussion of the realities of living in a Disabled body and confronting ableism.
Other Politics/News/Etc.
My lifeline for real news free from government and corporate BS. They “go where the silence is”, as anchor Amy Goodman puts it, covering the stuff the mainstream media doesn’t, and giving voice to those whom the mainstream media excludes and marginalizes. You might have seen their brilliant coverage of Standing Rock around the web over the past few months?
People’s Climate Movement of Toronto
The Facebook page of a group that I work with on climate-justice issues. It grew out of the organizing that culminated in the great People’s Climate March in NYC in September 2014 and its Toronto solidarity counterpart. People wanted to keep the momentum going and the organizing building so we can really make some change! So we’ve ben running various campaigns in the years since the big march, many of them on social media.
This Week In Heresy
This podcast blew my mind, and totally opened my spirituality up to new possibilities! Actually, it still does that every time I listen to it! It’s run by a woman in (of course, LOL where else?) California who’s, get this, both a Christian pastor and a Wiccan priest (she identifies as a priest, not a priestess). And I was like “you can do that? Wow!”. 🙂 No, I don’t do that myself. That’s not quite my path. But it’s really has helped me figure out how Phantom and my Christian practice can work together, and better understand what it means to be a Queer, progressive, yet theistic person of faith in general. So do check it out! She covers a lot of issues with the people she interviews – race, gender, Disability, etc – as well as spirituality. And the faith-fusion perspective she and her interviewees offer has hugely informed what I want to do with PhantomFemme, though not in ways that will necessarily be obvious LOL even to me!
Note: sadly, the podcast is on indefinite hiatus right now. But I’m really hoping and praying she’ll bring it back!
Alternative Radio
Another fantastic podcast! They play a different lecture every week featuring people like Naomi Klein, Arundhati Roy, Vandana Shiva, and other voices rarely heard in the mainstream corporate media. They’re a great source for real, in-depth analysis of issues!
Beyond Crisis
Also, check out this documentary on the Canadian mobilization toward the great People’s Climate March that took place in NYC in 2014, produced by my friend Kai! Although it’s focus is the Canadian mobilization, he really explores how the climate crisis can also be our great opportunity to demand a just and sustainible world. And, I’m thrilled to say, Kai’s very awesomely used one of my versions of the song “Bread and Roses” as part of the soundtrack!
Miscellaneous Inspirations/General Coolness
Socialist Hiphop
Check out this awesome Toronto-based artist! I hear him all the time at demos, and his stuff rocks! He tells it like it is with awesome, inscisive poetry.
The Open Tuning Festival
Also, check out this artist-run, corporate-free music festival that happens annually in Toronto! I’ve performed there a couple of years now, and it’s always a great time both for performers and audiences!
The homepage of Evanescence
This band is another one of my biggest inspirations, especially their first album Fallen! Their songs have taught me huge amounts about lyric-writing and rock orchestration. And Amy Lee’s also an amazing pianist!
Emma’s Revolution
In somewhat contrast, check out this awesome country/rock/roots duo. I love their lyric-writing and their harmonies! As the name suggests, they’re strongly political (named for legendary early Feminist socialist Emma Goldman), which is a lot of what I love about them. But the musicianship and poetry are first-rate too, which is what makes them so awesome!
Test Their Logik
And in another contrast, perhaps, check out this awesome hiphop duo, also Toronto-based! Great beats, and great, razor-sharp poetry! Anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, anti-racist, pro Earth and all living beings. And yes, they are still very much active even though the website seems to be a bit out of date. I hear them often at various events too, and they totally kick ass!
The homepage of Nightwish
The Finnish symphonic metal band Nightwish. Seriously, if you don’t know these dudes, then check them out! They’re awesome! And, of course, they’ve been a huge influence on my own music as well. Not to mention, they do a killer cover of the title song from Phantom! In fact, quite a few of their early original songs could be heard as having POTO overtones too!
The homepage of the totally awesome Dutch band Within Temptation, also symphonic metal. Again, if you don’t know these guys, then go check them out pronto!
🙂 And more to come as I think of/find them.
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Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Philosophy of Action
Value Theory, Miscellaneous
All publications (57)
Reflections on Human Rights and Power
In Adam Etinson (ed.), Human Rights: Moral or Political?, Oxford University Press. pp. 375-399. 2018.
Human rights are particularly relevant in contexts in which there are significant asymmetries of power, but where these asymmetries exist the human rights project turns out to be especially difficult to realize. The stronger can use their disproportionate power both to threaten others’ human rights and to frustrate attempts to secure their fulfillment. They may even monopolize the international discussion as to what human rights are and how they should be implemented. This paper explores this te…Read more
Human rights are particularly relevant in contexts in which there are significant asymmetries of power, but where these asymmetries exist the human rights project turns out to be especially difficult to realize. The stronger can use their disproportionate power both to threaten others’ human rights and to frustrate attempts to secure their fulfillment. They may even monopolize the international discussion as to what human rights are and how they should be implemented. This paper explores this tension between the normative ideal of human rights and the facts of asymmetric power. It has two objectives. The first, pursued in section 2, is to reconstruct and assess a set of important power-related worries about human rights. These worries are sometimes presented as falsifying the view that human rights exist, or at least as warranting the abandonment of human rights practice. The paper argues that the worries do not support such conclusions. Instead, they motivate the identification of certain desiderata for the amelioration of human rights practice. The paper proceeds to articulate twelve such desiderata. The second objective, pursued in section 3, is to propose a strategy for satisfying the desiderata identified in the previous section. In particular, the paper suggests some ways to build empowerment into the human rights project that reduce the absolute and relative powerlessness of human rights holders, while also identifying an ethics of responsibility and solidarity for contexts in which power asymmetries will not dissolve. Power analysis does not debunk the human rights project. Properly articulated, it is an important tool for those pursuing it.
Human Rights, MiscPolitical TheoryPolitical PowerGlobal Justice
Global Justice
In Mark Bevir (ed.), Encyclopedia of Political Theory, Sage Publications. 2010.
Global JusticeDistributive Justice, Misc
Basic Positive Duties of Justice and Narveson's Libertarian Challenge
Southern Journal of Philosophy 44 (2): 193-216. 2006.
Are positive duties to help others in need mere informal duties of virtue or can they also be enforceable duties of justice? In this paper I defend the claim that some positive duties (which I call basic positive duties) can be duties of justice against one of the most important prin- cipled objections to it. This is the libertarian challenge, according to which only negative duties to avoid harming others can be duties of justice, whereas positive duties (basic or nonbasic) must be seen, …Read more
Are positive duties to help others in need mere informal duties of virtue or can they also be enforceable duties of justice? In this paper I defend the claim that some positive duties (which I call basic positive duties) can be duties of justice against one of the most important prin- cipled objections to it. This is the libertarian challenge, according to which only negative duties to avoid harming others can be duties of justice, whereas positive duties (basic or nonbasic) must be seen, at best, as informal moral requirements or recommendations. I focus on the contractarian version of the libertarian challenge as recently presented by Jan Narveson. I claim that Narveson’s contractarian construal of libertarianism is not only intuitively weak, but is also subject to decisive internal problems. I argue, in particular, that it does not pro- vide a clear rationale for distinguishing between informal duties of virtue and enforceable duties of justice, that it can neither successfully justify libertarianism’s protection of negative rights nor its denial of positive ones, and that it fails to undermine the claim that basic positive duties are duties of global justice.
Global JusticeDistributive Justice, MiscPolitical LibertarianismLibertarian Critique of Distributive…Read more
Global JusticeDistributive Justice, MiscPolitical LibertarianismLibertarian Critique of Distributive Justice
Contractualism and Poverty Relief
Social Theory and Practice 33 (2): 277-310. 2007.
Global JusticeMoral ContractualismDistributive Justice, Misc
Global Justice and Poverty Relief in Nonideal Circumstances
Global JusticePolitical FeasibilityDistributive Justice, MiscHuman Rights, MiscFamine
Human Rights, Human Dignity, and Power
In Rowan Cruft, Matthew Liao & Massimo Renzo (eds.), Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights, Oxford University Press. pp. 196-213. 2015.
This paper explores the connections between human rights, human dignity, and power. The idea of human dignity is omnipresent in human rights discourse, but its meaning and point is not always clear. It is standardly used in two ways, to refer to a normative status of persons that makes their treatment in terms of human rights a proper response, and a social condition of persons in which their human rights are fulfilled. This paper pursues three tasks. First, it provides an analysis of the conten…Read more
This paper explores the connections between human rights, human dignity, and power. The idea of human dignity is omnipresent in human rights discourse, but its meaning and point is not always clear. It is standardly used in two ways, to refer to a normative status of persons that makes their treatment in terms of human rights a proper response, and a social condition of persons in which their human rights are fulfilled. This paper pursues three tasks. First, it provides an analysis of the content and an interpretation of the role of the idea of human dignity in current human rights discourse. The interpretation includes a pluralist view of human interests and dignity that avoids a narrow focus on rational agency. Second, this paper characterizes the two aspects of human dignity in terms of capabilities. Certain general human capabilities are among the facts that ground status-dignity, and the presence of certain more specific capabilities constitutes condition-dignity. Finally, this paper explores how the pursuit of human rights and human dignity links to distributions and uses of power. Since capabilities are a form of power, and human rights are in part aimed at respecting and promoting capabilities, human rights involve empowerment. Exploring the connections between human rights, capabilities, and empowerment provides resources to defend controversial human rights such as the right to democratic political participation, and to respond to worries about the feasibility of their fulfillment. This paper also argues that empowerment must be coupled with solidaristic concern in order to respond to unavoidable facts of social dependency and vulnerability
Political PowerHuman Rights, MiscGlobal Justice
Humanist and Political Perspectives on Human Rights
Political Theory 39 (4): 439-467. 2011.
This essay explores the relation between two perspectives on the nature of human rights. According to the "political" or "practical" perspective, human rights are claims that individuals have against certain institutional structures, in particular modern states, in virtue of interests they have in contexts that include them. According to the more traditional "humanist" or "naturalistic" perspective, human rights are pre-institutional claims that individuals have against all other individuals in …Read more
This essay explores the relation between two perspectives on the nature of human rights. According to the "political" or "practical" perspective, human rights are claims that individuals have against certain institutional structures, in particular modern states, in virtue of interests they have in contexts that include them. According to the more traditional "humanist" or "naturalistic" perspective, human rights are pre-institutional claims that individuals have against all other individuals in virtue of interests characteristic of their common humanity. This essay argues that once we identify the two perspectives in their best light, we can see that they are complementary and that in fact we need both to make good normative sense of the contemporary practice of human rights. It explains how humanist and political considerations can and should work in tandem to account for the concept, content, and justification of human rights.
International JusticeGlobal JusticeHuman Rights, Misc
Feasibility and Socialism
Journal of Political Philosophy 19 (1): 52-63. 2011.
Political EthicsPolitical FeasibilityEgalitarianism, MiscSocialism and MarxismSocial and Political P…Read more
Political EthicsPolitical FeasibilityEgalitarianism, MiscSocialism and MarxismSocial and Political Philosophy, MiscDistributive Justice, Misc
Comparative Assessments of Justice, Political Feasibility, and Ideal Theory
What should our theorizing about social justice aim at? Many political philosophers think that a crucial goal is to identify a perfectly just society. Amartya Sen disagrees. In The Idea of Justice, he argues that the proper goal of an inquiry about justice is to undertake comparative assessments of feasible social scenarios in order to identify reforms that involve justice-enhancement, or injustice-reduction, even if the results fall short of perfect justice. Sen calls this the “comparative …Read more
What should our theorizing about social justice aim at? Many political philosophers think that a crucial goal is to identify a perfectly just society. Amartya Sen disagrees. In The Idea of Justice, he argues that the proper goal of an inquiry about justice is to undertake comparative assessments of feasible social scenarios in order to identify reforms that involve justice-enhancement, or injustice-reduction, even if the results fall short of perfect justice. Sen calls this the “comparative approach” to the theory of justice. He urges its adoption on the basis of a sustained critique of the former approach, which he calls “transcendental.” In this paper I pursue two tasks, one critical and the other constructive. First, I argue that Sen’s account of the contrast between the transcendental and the comparative approaches is not convincing, and second, I suggest what I take to be a broader and more plausible account of comparative assessments of justice. The core claim is that political philosophers should not shy away from the pursuit of ambitious theories of justice (including, for example, ideal theories of perfect justice), although they should engage in careful consideration of issues of political feasibility bearing on their practical implementation.
Rawls on Distributive Justice, MiscPolitical TheoryAspects of Justice, MiscDistributive Justice, Mis…Read more
Rawls on Distributive Justice, MiscPolitical TheoryAspects of Justice, MiscDistributive Justice, MiscPolitical Feasibility
The duty to eradicate global poverty: Positive or negative?
Ethical Theory and Moral Practice 7 (5): 537-550. 2005.
In World Poverty and Human Rights, Thomas Pogge argues that the global rich have a duty to eradicate severe poverty in the world. The novelty of Pogges approach is to present this demand as stemming from basic commands which are negative rather than positive in nature: the global rich have an obligation to eradicate the radical poverty of the global poor not because of a norm of beneficence asking them to help those in need when they can at little cost to themselves, but because of their having …Read more
In World Poverty and Human Rights, Thomas Pogge argues that the global rich have a duty to eradicate severe poverty in the world. The novelty of Pogges approach is to present this demand as stemming from basic commands which are negative rather than positive in nature: the global rich have an obligation to eradicate the radical poverty of the global poor not because of a norm of beneficence asking them to help those in need when they can at little cost to themselves, but because of their having violated a principle of justice not to unduly harm others by imposing on them a coercive global order that makes their access to the objects of their human right to subsistence insecure. In this paper, I claim that although Pogge is right in arguing that negative duties are crucial in an account of global justice, he is wrong in saying that they are the only ones that are crucial. Harming the global poor by causing their poverty provides a sufficient but not a necessary condition for the global rich to have a duty of justice to assist them. After engaging in a critical analysis of Pogges argument, I conclude by suggesting the need for a robust conception of cosmopolitan solidarity that includes positive duties of assistance which are not mere duties of charity, but enforceable ones of justice.
Distributive Justice, MiscGlobal JusticeHuman Rights, Misc
Should discourse ethics do without a principle of universalization?
Philosophical Forum 36 (2). 2005.
Ethical Theories, MiscJürgen HabermasDeontological Moral Theories, Misc
Justice and Feasibility: A Dynamic Approach
In K. Vallier & M. Weber (eds.), Political Utopias: Contemporary Debates, Oxford University Press. pp. 95-126. 2017.
It is common in political theory and practice to challenge normatively ambitious proposals by saying that their fulfillment is not feasible. But there has been insufficient conceptual exploration of what feasibility is, and very little substantive inquiry into why and how it matters for thinking about social justice. This paper provides one of the first systematic treatments of these issues, and proposes a dynamic approach to the relation between justice and feasibility that illuminates the impo…Read more
It is common in political theory and practice to challenge normatively ambitious proposals by saying that their fulfillment is not feasible. But there has been insufficient conceptual exploration of what feasibility is, and very little substantive inquiry into why and how it matters for thinking about social justice. This paper provides one of the first systematic treatments of these issues, and proposes a dynamic approach to the relation between justice and feasibility that illuminates the importance of political imagination and dynamic duties to expand agents’ power to fulfill ambitious principles of justice.
Political FeasibilityJustice, MiscEgalitarianism, MiscReflective Equilibrium
The Socialist Principle “From Each According To Their Abilities, To Each According To Their Needs”
Journal of Social Philosophy 46 (2): 197-225. 2015.
This paper offers an exploration of the socialist principle “From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs.” The Abilities/Needs Principle is arguably the ethical heart of socialism but, surprisingly, has received almost no attention by political philosophers. I propose an interpretation of the principle and argue that it involves appealing ideas of solidarity, fair reciprocity, recognition of individual differences, and meaningful work. The paper proceeds as follows. …Read more
This paper offers an exploration of the socialist principle “From each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs.” The Abilities/Needs Principle is arguably the ethical heart of socialism but, surprisingly, has received almost no attention by political philosophers. I propose an interpretation of the principle and argue that it involves appealing ideas of solidarity, fair reciprocity, recognition of individual differences, and meaningful work. The paper proceeds as follows. First, I analyze Marx’s formulation of the Abilities/Needs Principle. Second, I identify the principle’s initial plausibility, but show that it faces serious problems that cannot be addressed without developing a fresh interpretation of it. Third, I provide an interpretation of the principle that highlights demands concerning opportunities for self-realization in work, positive duties of solidarity, sensitivity to individual differences, and mechanisms of fair reciprocity. Fourth, I discuss a possible institutional implementation of the Abilities/Needs Principle. Finally, I identify some normative puzzles about the transition from capitalism to socialism, and suggest how the Abilities/Needs Principle might gain motivational traction by mobilizing the powerful idea of human dignity.
Political FeasibilitySocialism and MarxismDistributive Justice, MiscKarl MarxEgalitarianism, Misc
Kant and the Claims of the Poor
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 81 (2): 382-418. 2010.
Distributive Justice, MiscMoral ContractualismKant: Ethics, MiscGlobal Justice
Justice and Beneficence
Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 19 (5): 508-533. 2016.
What is a duty of justice? And how is it different from a duty of beneficence? We need a clear account of the contrast. Unfortunately, there is no consensus in the philosophical literature as to how to characterize it. Different articulations of it have been provided, but it is hard to identify a common core that is invariant across them. In this paper, I propose an account of how to understand duties of justice, explain how it contrasts with several proposals as to how to distinguish justice an…Read more
What is a duty of justice? And how is it different from a duty of beneficence? We need a clear account of the contrast. Unfortunately, there is no consensus in the philosophical literature as to how to characterize it. Different articulations of it have been provided, but it is hard to identify a common core that is invariant across them. In this paper, I propose an account of how to understand duties of justice, explain how it contrasts with several proposals as to how to distinguish justice and beneficence, respond to some objections and suggest further elaborations of it. The conceptual exploration pursued in this paper has practical stakes. A central aim is to propose and defend a capacious concept of justice that makes a direct discussion of important demands of justice (domestic and global) possible. Duties of justice can be positive besides negative, they can be imperfect as well as perfect, they can range over personal besides institutional contexts, they can include multiple associative reasons such us non-domination, non-exploitation and reciprocity, and they can even go beyond existing national, political, and economic associative frameworks to embrace strictly universal humanist concerns. We should reject ideological abridgments of the concept of justice that render these possibilities, and the important human interests and claims they may foster, invisible.
The Nature of JusticePerfect and Imperfect DutiesBeneficence in Applied EthicsGlobal JusticeRights a…Read more
The Nature of JusticePerfect and Imperfect DutiesBeneficence in Applied EthicsGlobal JusticeRights and Duties
Political Feasibility. A Conceptual Exploration
with Holly Lawford-Smith
Political Studies 60 (4): 809-825. 2012.
Political TheoryPolitical ConceptsAspects of Justice, MiscJustice, MiscPolitical Feasibility
Comentarios sobre la concepcion de la justicia global de Pogge
Revista Latinoamericana de Filosofia 33 (2): 205-222. 2007.
This paper presents a reconstruction of and some constructive comments on Thomas Pogge’s conception of global justice. Using Imre Lakatos’s notion of a research program, the paper identifies Pogge’s “hard core” and “protective belt” claims regarding the scope of fundamental principles of justice, the object and structure of duties of global justice, the explanation of world poverty, and the appropriate reforms to the existing global order. The paper recommends some amendments to Pogge’s pr…Read more
This paper presents a reconstruction of and some constructive comments on Thomas Pogge’s conception of global justice. Using Imre Lakatos’s notion of a research program, the paper identifies Pogge’s “hard core” and “protective belt” claims regarding the scope of fundamental principles of justice, the object and structure of duties of global justice, the explanation of world poverty, and the appropriate reforms to the existing global order. The paper recommends some amendments to Pogge’s program in each of the four areas.
Human Rights, MiscGlobal JusticeDistributive Justice, MiscLatin American Political PhilosophyImre La…Read more
Human Rights, MiscGlobal JusticeDistributive Justice, MiscLatin American Political PhilosophyImre Lakatos
Kantian Dignity and Marxian Socialism
Kantian Review 22 (4): 553-577. 2017.
This paper offers an account of human dignity based on a discussion of Kant's moral and political philosophy and then shows its relevance for articulating and developing in a fresh way some normative dimensions of Marx’s critique of capitalism as involving exploitation, domination, and alienation, and the view of socialism as involving a combination of freedom and solidarity. What is advanced here is not Kant’s own conception of dignity, but an account that partly builds on that conception and p…Read more
This paper offers an account of human dignity based on a discussion of Kant's moral and political philosophy and then shows its relevance for articulating and developing in a fresh way some normative dimensions of Marx’s critique of capitalism as involving exploitation, domination, and alienation, and the view of socialism as involving a combination of freedom and solidarity. What is advanced here is not Kant’s own conception of dignity, but an account that partly builds on that conception and partly criticizes it. The same is the case with the account of socialism in relation to Marx’s work. As articulated, Kantian dignity and Marxian socialism turn out to be quite appealing and mutually supportive.
Karl MarxKant: Political PhilosophyAlienationExploitationSocialism and Marxism
The feasibility of basic socioeconomic human rights: A conceptual exploration
Philosophical Quarterly 59 (237): 659-681. 2009.
To be justifiable, the demands of a conception of human rights and global justice must be such that (a) they focus on the protection of important human interests, and (b) their fulfilment is feasible. I discuss the feasibility condition. I present a general account of the relation between moral desirability, feasibility and obligation within a conception of justice. I analyse feasibility, a complex idea including different types, domains and degrees. It is possible to respond in various ways if …Read more
To be justifiable, the demands of a conception of human rights and global justice must be such that (a) they focus on the protection of important human interests, and (b) their fulfilment is feasible. I discuss the feasibility condition. I present a general account of the relation between moral desirability, feasibility and obligation within a conception of justice. I analyse feasibility, a complex idea including different types, domains and degrees. It is possible to respond in various ways if the fulfilment of basic socioeconomic human rights against severe poverty seems at first to be infeasible.
Human RightsGlobal JusticeDistributive Justice, MiscPolitical Feasibility
Does Global Egalitarianism Provide an Impractical and Unattractive Ideal of Justice?
with Christian Barry
International Affairs 84 (5): 1025-1039. 2008.
In his important new book National responsibility and global justice, David Miller presents a systematic challenge to existing theories of global justice. In particular, he argues that cosmopolitan egalitarianism must be rejected. Such views, Miller maintains, would place unacceptable burdens on the most productive political communities, undermine national self-determination, and disincentivize political communities from taking responsibility for their fate. They are also impracticable and quite…Read more
In his important new book National responsibility and global justice, David Miller presents a systematic challenge to existing theories of global justice. In particular, he argues that cosmopolitan egalitarianism must be rejected. Such views, Miller maintains, would place unacceptable burdens on the most productive political communities, undermine national self-determination, and disincentivize political communities from taking responsibility for their fate. They are also impracticable and quite unrealistic, at least under present conditions. Miller offers an alternative account that conceives global justice in terms of a minimum set of basic rights that belong to human beings everywhere. Primary responsibility for securing such rights for an individual lies with his or her state, but in so far as these rights go unprotected, responsibilities for fulfilling them may fall on outsiders. While less ambitious that cosmopolitan egalitarian justice, Miller argues that his own view would nevertheless enable us to articulate what is most morally objectionable about our current world. In this article it is argued that none of Miller's critiques of cosmopolitan egalitarianism is effective, and that while certainly preferable to the status quo, a world governed by Miller's principles is not an attractive ideal.
Rawls on Distributive Justice, MiscGlobal JusticeDistributive Justice, MiscThe Scope of Equality
Is there a genuine tension between cosmopolitan egalitarianism and special responsibilities?
with Arash Abizadeh
Philosophical Studies 138 (3). 2008.
Samuel Scheffler has recently argued that some relationships are non-instrumentally valuable; that such relationships give rise to “underived” special responsibilities; that there is a genuine tension between cosmopolitan egalitarianism and special responsibilities; and that we must consequently strike a balance between the two. We argue that there is no such tension and propose an alternative approach to the relation between cosmopolitan egalitarianism and special responsibilities. First, while…Read more
Samuel Scheffler has recently argued that some relationships are non-instrumentally valuable; that such relationships give rise to “underived” special responsibilities; that there is a genuine tension between cosmopolitan egalitarianism and special responsibilities; and that we must consequently strike a balance between the two. We argue that there is no such tension and propose an alternative approach to the relation between cosmopolitan egalitarianism and special responsibilities. First, while some relationships are non-instrumentally valuable, no relationship is unconditionally valuable. Second, whether such relationships give rise to special responsibilities is conditional on those relationships not violating certain moral constraints. Third, these moral constraints arise from within cosmopolitan egalitarianism itself. Thus the value of relationships and the special responsibilities to which they give rise arise within the parameters of cosmopolitan egalitarianism itself. The real tension is not between cosmopolitan equality and special responsibilities, but between special responsibilities and the various general duties that arise from the recognition, demanded by cosmopolitan egalitarianism, of a multiplicity of other basic goods. Indeed, even the recognition of special relationships itself gives rise to general duties that may condition and/or weigh against putative special responsibilities
Global JusticeDistributive Justice, MiscEgalitarianism, Misc
From Global Poverty to Global Equality: A Philosophical Exploration
Oxford University Press, UK. 2012.
Do we have positive duties to help others in need or are our moral duties only negative, focused on not harming them? Are any of the former positive duties, duties of justice that respond to enforceable rights? Is their scope global? Should we aim for global equality besides the eradication of severe global poverty? Is a humanist approach to egalitarian distribution based on rights that all human beings as such have defensible, or must egalitarian distribution be seen in an associativist way, as…Read more
Do we have positive duties to help others in need or are our moral duties only negative, focused on not harming them? Are any of the former positive duties, duties of justice that respond to enforceable rights? Is their scope global? Should we aim for global equality besides the eradication of severe global poverty? Is a humanist approach to egalitarian distribution based on rights that all human beings as such have defensible, or must egalitarian distribution be seen in an associativist way, as tracking existing frameworks such as statehood and economic interdependence? Are the eradication of global poverty and the achievement of global equality practically feasible or are they hopelessly utopian wishes? This book argues that there are basic positive duties of justice to help eradicate severe global poverty; that global egalitarian principles are also reasonable even if they cannot be fully realized in the short term; and that there are dynamic duties to enhance the feasibility of the transition from global poverty to global equality in the face of nonideal circumstances such as the absence of robust international institutions and the lack of a strong ethos of cosmopolitan solidarity. The very notion of feasibility is crucial for normative reasoning, but has received little explicit philosophical discussion. This book offers a systematic exploration of that concept as well as of its application to global justice. It also arbitrates the current debate between humanist and associativist accounts of the scope of distributive justice. Drawing on moral contractualism (the view that we ought to follow the principles that no one could reasonably reject), this book provides a novel defense of humanism, challenges several versions of associativism (which remains the most popular view among political philosophers), and seeks to integrate the insights underlying both views.
Global JusticeThe Scope of EqualityHuman Rights, MiscPolitical Feasibility
La Justice Globale, le Multiculturalisme et les Revendications des Immigrants
Philosophiques 34 (1): 41-60. 2007.
International Ethics, MiscGlobal JusticeDistributive Justice, Misc
The Human Right to Democracy and the Pursuit of Global Justice
In Thom Brooks (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Global Justice, Oxford University Press. forthcoming.
Justification of DemocracyHuman Rights and DemocracyHuman Rights and Global JusticeGlobal Justice
Review of Gillian Brock, Global Justice (review)
Philosophy and Social Criticism 38 (3): 333-338. 2012.
Global JusticeEgalitarianism, Misc
Ability and Volitional Incapacity
with Nicholas Southwood
Journal of Ethics and Social Philosophy 10 (3): 1-8. 2016.
The conditional analysis of ability faces familiar counterexamples involving cases of volitional incapacity. An interesting response to the problem of volitional incapacity is to try to explain away the responses elicited by such counterexamples by distinguishing between what we are able to do and what we are able to bring ourselves to do. We argue that this error-theoretic response fails. Either it succeeds in solving the problem of volitional incapacity at the cost of making the conditional an…Read more
The conditional analysis of ability faces familiar counterexamples involving cases of volitional incapacity. An interesting response to the problem of volitional incapacity is to try to explain away the responses elicited by such counterexamples by distinguishing between what we are able to do and what we are able to bring ourselves to do. We argue that this error-theoretic response fails. Either it succeeds in solving the problem of volitional incapacity at the cost of making the conditional analysis vulnerable to obvious counterexamples to its necessity. Or, it avoids the counterexamples to its necessity but fails to solve the problem of volitional incapacity.
AbilitiesFreedom and Liberty
Cohen on Socialism, Equality and Community
Socialist Studies 8 (1): 101-121. 2012.
Egalitarianism, MiscSocialism and MarxismJustice, Misc
In Hugh Collins, Gillian Lester & Virginia Mantouvalou (eds.), Philosophical Foundations of Labour Law, Oxford University Press. pp. 68-86. 2018.
This paper offers a justification of labor rights based on an interpretation of the idea of human dignity. According to the dignitarian approach, we have reason to organize social life in such a way that we respond appropriately to the valuable capacities of human beings that give rise to their dignity. That dignity is a deontic status in virtue of which people are owed certain forms of respect and concern. Dignity at work involves the treatment of people in accordance to the ideal of solidarist…Read more
This paper offers a justification of labor rights based on an interpretation of the idea of human dignity. According to the dignitarian approach, we have reason to organize social life in such a way that we respond appropriately to the valuable capacities of human beings that give rise to their dignity. That dignity is a deontic status in virtue of which people are owed certain forms of respect and concern. Dignity at work involves the treatment of people in accordance to the ideal of solidaristic empowerment as it pertains to their life as workers. This requires that we generate feasible and reasonable social schemes to support each other as we pursue the development and exercise of our valuable capacities to produce in personally and socially beneficial ways. The spectrum of dignitarian justice goes from basic rights to decent working conditions to maximal rights to flourish in working practices that are free from domination, alienation, and exploitation.
Rights, MiscExploitationDistributive Justice, MiscLabor RightsHuman Rights, Misc
The Capability Approach and the Debate between Humanist and Political Perspectives on Human Rights. A Critical Survey
Human Rights Review 14 (4): 299-325. 2013.
This paper provides a critical exploration of the capability approach to human rights (CAHR) with the specific aim of developing its potential for achieving a synthesis between “humanist” or “naturalistic” and “political” or “practical” perspectives in the philosophy of human rights. Section II presents a general strategy for achieving such a synthesis. Section III provides an articulation of the key insights of CAHR (its focus on actual realizations given diverse circumstances, its pluralism of…Read more
This paper provides a critical exploration of the capability approach to human rights (CAHR) with the specific aim of developing its potential for achieving a synthesis between “humanist” or “naturalistic” and “political” or “practical” perspectives in the philosophy of human rights. Section II presents a general strategy for achieving such a synthesis. Section III provides an articulation of the key insights of CAHR (its focus on actual realizations given diverse circumstances, its pluralism of grounds, its emphasis on freedom of choice, its demand for public reasoning, its context-sensitive universalism, and its broad view of obligations). These insights go some way toward the achievement of the desired synthesis. But, as explained in IV.1, in its current form CAHR faces two serious objections by the defenders of the political perspective: the Gap Between Capabilities-Interests and Rights Objection and the Disconnect From Practice Objection. Answering these criticisms requires some amendments to CAHR. Section IV.2 suggests a response to the first objection based on the introduction of a contractualist framework of justification. Sections IV.3 and IV.4 tackle the second objection by introducing a re-characterization of the cosmopolitan standard underlying the humanist perspective and by identifying the differences and relations between various dimensions of a conception of human rights and their significance for actual political practice. The paper illustrates the practical implications of CAHR, in its modified form, for the pursuit of some important rights.
Human Rights, MiscPolitical TheoryGlobal JusticeEquality and Capabilities
Cosmopolitan Overflow
The Monist 94 (4): 584-592. 2011.
Cosmopolitanism, MiscGlobal JusticeThe Scope of Equality
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Cell & Microbiology
Predatory bacteria offer potential solution to drug resistance problem
by American Society for Microbiology
Credit: The American Society for Microbiology
For the first time ever, scientists have used predatory bacteria to kill pneumonia in a rat animal model. The research, published online in mBio, provides evidence that predatory bacteria can be used as a therapeutic, offering a possible solution to the rise of multidrug-resistant bacterial infections.
The issue of multidrug-resistance and the lack of antibiotics in the development pipeline have spurred researchers to pursue new ways to combat bacterial infections. Using naturally occurring predatory bacteria, such as Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Micavilbrio aeruginosavorus, is one possibility. "Predatory bacteria is one of the new therapeutic approaches that people are starting to look at," said lead author of the new study Daniel Kadouri, PhD, associate professor of microbiology at Rutgers School of Dental Medicine.
Bacteria that require a prey to finish their life cycle are called predatory bacteria. In the environment, most Bdellovibrio invade a microbial prey cell, secrete enzymes that break down the cell, and then use the free floating proteins and nucleic acids for its own nutrient source. Micavilbrio attaches to its prey from the outside and sucks the cells dry like a vampire. [Transmission electron micrograph of Pseudomonas aeruginosa (blue) growing on a plastic surface being attacked by the extracellular bacterial predator Micavibrio aeruginosavorus (yellow). (Electron micrograph courtesy of D. Kadouri; image colorization by G. A. O'Toole.)]
Several years ago, Dr. Kadouri and colleagues set out to investigate whether they could culture predatory bacteria and use them for therapeutics. "There are probably numerous different predatory bacteria that can affect other bacteria," said Dr. Kadouri. "We are looking at the ones that can attack organisms that are harmful to humans." Previously, the researchers demonstrated that predatory bacteria are nontoxic in mice and rabbits. They also showed that the bacteria can attack human pathogens of interest and that, in vitro, they were not harmful to human cells.
In the new study, researchers introduced sub-lethal concentrations of Klebsiella pneumonia into the lungs of rats via intranasal inoculation and followed with multiple doses of predatory bacteria over 24 hours. The predatory bacteria were able to reduce the pneumonia burden by more than 99.9% in the lungs of most rats and it was harmless to the rats. "There were no adverse effects on the animal. There was no type of histological tissue damage or signs of sustainable inflammation," said Dr. Kadouri. "They were perfectly healthy."
Dr. Kadouri said the next question to investigate is whether or not the effect is sustained. "We don't know what happens after longer time points, whether the pneumonia will rebound," said Dr. Kadouri.
Work is also underway to test the ability of predatory bacteria to treat eye infections and wound infections in animal models. "When we get that data, it will give us a good idea of whether or not it is effective enough to go into clinical trials. At this point, I think we can make a very strong case that it is safe," said Dr. Kadouri.
If the research pans out, Dr. Kadouri believes predatory bacteria could be used in concert with other therapeutics. "If you have a patient who is heavily infected, antibiotics will not be efficient because the bioload is too high, so the idea is that you would hit the infection with predatory bacteria, compromise the infection, and then use antibiotics or perhaps enough of the infection would be removed that the immune system could kick in," said Dr. Kadouri.
Hide-and-seek: In some landscapes an effective strategy against predatory bacteria
More information: Kenneth Shatzkes et al. Predatory Bacteria AttenuateBurden in Rat Lungs, mBio (2016). DOI: 10.1128/mBio.01847-16
Journal information: mBio
Provided by American Society for Microbiology
Citation: Predatory bacteria offer potential solution to drug resistance problem (2016, November 9) retrieved 17 July 2019 from https://phys.org/news/2016-11-predatory-bacteria-potential-solution-drug.html
How bacterial predators evolved to kill other bacteria without harming themselves
E. coli survives predatory bacteria by playing hide and seek
A step toward a UTI treatment that could thwart bacterial drug resistance
Fighting fire with fire: 'Vampire' bacteria has potential as living antibiotic
Could this bacterial predator be harnessed to mop up biofilms?
The protein that gives identical cells individuality
Stripping down bacterial armor: A new way to fight anthrax
Ribosome standby: How bacteria translate proteins from structurally blocked mRNAs
Does rearranging chromosomes affect their function?
Minuscule microbes wield enormous power over the Great Lakes, but many species remain a mystery
Research team finds new adaptive trick used by Staphylococcus bacteria
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Be ready to wait past July 29 for your Windows 10 upgrade
by Stephen SchenckJuly 2, 2015 11:26 am
With July here, the release of Windows 10 for PCs is within sight: last month, Microsoft formally confirmed July 29 as the day when it will go forward with public availability of its new operating system. And in the weeks since, many of you Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 users have likely reserved your copies. But when July 29 finally rolls around, will your update be ready to go? From the sound of things, you shouldn’t hold your breath.
In a new blog post, Microsoft’s Terry Myerson discusses how availability of the Windows 10 update will commence. To hear him tell it, once July 29 arrives, the first users to receive their updates will be Windows Insider program members. It’s not clear if that means Insider users who are continuing with the program or those leaving it for the commercial release of Windows 10 (or both), but Insiders in general will be first on the distribution list.
Following that, Microsoft will start making the update available to upgrading users who made reservations, though not everyone will get access straight away. Instead, Myerson is clear that Microsoft will release the update little by little: “we will start notifying reserved systems in waves, slowly scaling up after July 29th. Each day of the roll-out, we will listen, learn and update the experience for all Windows 10 users.”
There’s no estimate on just how long this roll-out process might take, and if we’re talking about waiting a day or two, or maybe even a week or more.
Source: Microsoft
Via: The Verge
Tablets, Windows
Microsoft, News, Windows 10
Stephen Schenck
Stephen has been writing about electronics since 2008, which only serves to frustrate him that he waited so long to combine his love of gadgets and his degree in writing. In his spare time, he collects console and arcade game hardware, is a motorcycle enthusiast, and enjoys trapping blue crabs. Stephen's first mobile device was a 624 MHz Dell Axim X30, which he's convinced is still a viable platform. Stephen longs for a market where phones are sold independently of service, and bandwidth is cheap and plentiful; he's not holding his breath. In the meantime, he devours smartphone news and tries to sort out the juicy bits Read more about Stephen Schenck!
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Tag: immigration
Republic of Ireland PM slams Trump’s xenophobia in Trump’s presence
Since today is St. Patrick’s Day, a national holiday in the Republic of Ireland, I’ll share with you what the Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland, Enda Kenny, thinks of U.S. President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration policies:
“It’s fitting that we gather here each year to celebrate St. Patrick and his legacy,” Kenny said. “He, too, was an immigrant. And even though he is, of course, the patron saint of Ireland, for many people around the globe, he is also the symbol of — indeed, the patron of — immigrants.”
Kenny went on to explain that in past centuries, the Irish were “the retched refuse on the teeming shore,” who nonetheless “believed in the shelter of America, in the compassion of America, in the opportunity of America.”
Kenny said that while standing right next to Trump inside the White House:
"We were the wretched refuse on the teeming shore," Irish prime minister says with Donald Trump in the room. pic.twitter.com/7jEfTVvIzE
— Barry Malone (@malonebarry) March 17, 2017
Yes, Kenny’s claim of Saint Patrick being an immigrant is correct. Those who celebrate St. Patrick’s Day are celebrating a holiday named after an immigrant. Remember that.
Friday, March 17, 2017 Friday, March 17, 2017
Irish Prime Minister
state visit
The Resistance comes to GOP town halls in Iowa
AUTHOR’S NOTE: The topic of this blog post was chosen in a Twitter poll, although only one person voted in the poll.
Both of Iowa’s U.S. Senators, Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst (both Republicans), held town hall events in their home states yesterday. Needless to say, the people of Iowa were not impressed with Grassley and Ernst siding with the Donald Trump agenda to destroy America, and they had serious concerns about a wide range of issues, including immigration and foreign influence in U.S. elections.
During Grassley’s town hall in Iowa Falls, Grassley was asked by Zalmay Niazy, an Afgan man who assisted U.S. forces as a translator and is now in the U.S., about Trump’s Muslim ban:
At a town hall in Iowa Falls, Iowa, Tuesday, Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley received a question from an Afghan man who asked him for help to stay in the US in the face of the Trump administration’s immigration executive order.
Multiple federal courts across the country have granted requests to temporarily halt enforcement of the order, which bars foreign nationals from Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Iraq and Yemen from entering the country for 90 days, all refugees for 120 days and all refugees from Syria indefinitely.
“Who is going to save me?” he asked Grassley. “I am a person from a Muslim country and I am a Muslim. Who is going to save me here? Who is going to stand behind me?”
In Maquoketa, Ernst was asked a question by a U.S. Army Reserves veteran about Donald Trump’s ties to Vladimir Putin and the Russian government:
Trinity Ray, a 41-year-old veteran from Iowa City who spent eight years in the Army Reserves, pressed Ernst to investigate Trump’s ties to Russia and alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 American election.
“I appreciate that a lot, because I have said repeatedly that Russia is not our friend,” Ernst said, as Ray yelled that she should “say it louder.” She added that Trump “needs to stand up against Vladimir Putin.”
Ray wasn’t satisfied.
“If you were serious about this situation, you wouldn’t rest until you had an answer,” he said afterward. “We swore to defend against enemies domestic and foreign.”
Ernst refused to support a special congressional committee to investigate Russian influence in the November 2016 U.S. elections.
Rural America is beginning to realize that Trump and his Republican cohorts are not acting in the best interests of Greater America. People who are attending town halls in an attempt to let their voices be heard are not paid protesters. They’re ordinary people.
Wednesday, February 22, 2017 Wednesday, February 22, 2017
angry constituents
foreign influence
Iowa Falls IA
Maquoketa IA
Donald Trump’s new anti-immigration policy would ban Canadians from the U.S.
While Republican party bosses and the corporate media want to convince you that presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is softening his hard-line Islamophobic rhetoric, the reality is that Trump’s new Islamophobic proposals are, in some ways, even more absurd than the Islamophobic proposals that Trump ran on while campaigning for the Republican nomination:
Donald Trump may be finally gearing up to do what many Republican leaders have hoped: soften his rhetoric and pivot to the center.
He hasn’t done that yet. But there are growing signs that the presumptive Republican nominee is aiming to make his campaign more palatable to a general election audience.
His campaign is putting the finishing touches on a policy memo that would change his proposed ban on Muslim immigration to the United States. Instead of focusing the ban on Muslims, Trump would ban immigrants coming from countries with known terrorism links, training and equipment.
(emphasis mine)
“Countries with known terrorism links, training, and equipment” is a very broad characterization of countries. By that standard, people from first-world countries with mostly non-violent, law-abiding people, but have a small minority of people that engage in terrorism of either the Islamic fundamentalist variety or any other variety, would be subject to Trump’s immigration bans. Even the Republic of Ireland and Canada, both of which have a relatively recent history of terrorism not associated in any way with an Islamic fundamentalist ideology (in the Republic of Ireland’s case, Irish republican terrorism, and, in Canada’s case, Quebec seperatist terrorism), would qualify as a “country with known terrorism links, training, and equipment”.
Banning Canadians from entering the U.S. is just plain ridiculous policy. In the past two centuries, we’ve had very few problems with Canada (and its predecessor, British North America) being a neighbor of the United States. In fact, in Vermont, there are some places where streets and buildings are partially in Vermont (and, therefore, partially in the United States) and partially in Quebec (and, therefor, partially in Canada). Trump’s policy would result in entire communities being walled off. On a related note, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker was the first high-profile Republican presidential candidate who was forced to end his campaign after he publicly supported building a wall on the U.S.-Canada border.
Donald Trump isn’t pivoting to the political center. Instead, he’s finding even more bizarre ways to embarrass America.
bad policy
country with known terrorism links training and equipment
international border
U.S.-Canada border
Donald Trump doesn’t believe in America
Make no mistake about it, Donald Trump’s virulent racism and fearmongering about immigrants is downright unpatriotic.
One of America’s most recognizable symbols is the Statue of Liberty, which sits on a small island at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York City. The Statue of Liberty symbolizes America’s history as a nation of immigrants. In fact, just upstream at Ellis Island, millions of immigrants began their lives as residents of this great country by being processed by immigration officials on Ellis Island.
I live in a much lesser-known symbol of America’s history as a nation of immigrants: the village of Westville, Illinois, located in the east-central part of the state. In the early 20th century, immigrants, mostly from Eastern Europe, came to work in the coal mines that once surrounded Westville. At one time, Westville could boast of having people of over three dozen nationalities living in its immediate area. Throughout America’s history, immigrants built cities and communities across this country.
Donald Trump is running one of the most anti-American presidential campaigns in American history.
Friday, December 11, 2015 Friday, December 11, 2015
anti-immigrant
fearmongering
Republican presidential nomination
unpatriotic
Bernie Sanders strongly criticizes Donald Trump’s hateful rhetoric
From Bernie himself, via a recent campaign email:
I want to say a few things about Donald Trump and specifically about his comments tonight that we should ban all Muslims from coming to the United States, even American Muslims returning home from overseas.
It’s fun for the political media to treat Donald Trump like he’s the lead character in a soap opera or the star player on a baseball team. But the truth is his language is dangerous, especially as it empowers his supporters to act out against Muslims, Latinos, and African-Americans.
Poll after poll shows that I am the candidate best suited to take on Donald Trump and every other Republican running for president.
With multiple opinion polls showing Bernie being the most electable Democratic presidential candidate in hypothetical matchups against Trump, it’s clear that we need to do everything possible to help Bernie to win the Democratic nomination. One thing you can do is vote for Bernie Sanders in the Democracy for America (DfA) online poll. Should Bernie get at least two-thirds of the vote in the online poll, DfA will endorse Bernie.
ban from entering country
campaign email
Democracy for America
Democratic presidential nomination
endorsement poll
Madison, Wisconsin leads the way when it comes to welcoming Syrian refugees
AUTHOR’S NOTE: An Arabic-language translation of this English-language article is included below the English-language article. Translation is courtesy of an online translation service. Due to the online translation service not being able to translate part of the name of a member of the Madison, Wisconsin Common Council into Arabic script, she is referred to in the Arabic translation by the elected office that she holds.
يتم تضمين ترجمة عربية-لغة هذه المادة باللغة الإنجليزية تحت المادة باللغة الإنجليزية: المؤلف ملاحظة. الترجمة هي من باب المجاملة خدمة الترجمة على الإنترنت. يرجع ذلك إلى خدمة الترجمة الفورية لعدم تمكنه من ترجمة جزء من اسم عضوا في ماديسون، المجلس المشترك ولاية ويسكونسن في الكتابة العربية، وقالت انها المشار إليها في الترجمة العربية من قبل المكتب المنتخبين أنها تحمل.
The Common Council of the City of Madison, Wisconsin unanimously passed a non-binding resolution saying that Wisconsin’s second-largest city will welcome Syrian refugees:
…The Madison Common Council sent a unanimous message Tuesday that the city will accept Syrian refugees.
The resolution is meant to send a message that is in line with the city’s long history of accepting refugees. The resolution comes a couple weeks after Gov. Scott Walker said any new Syrian refugees would not be welcome in Wisconsin.
“I think it’s just to send a message about who we are as a Madison,” Alderwoman Shiva Bidar-Sielaff said. “Regardless of the redirect from anybody else, I think it’s just a statement about us and Madison and what we stand for.”
While far-right conservatives pander to Islamophobic bigots, Madison leads the way when it comes to human decency and upholding the American tradition of welcoming immigrants to this great country.
أصدر مجلس المشترك لمدينة ماديسون ويسكونسن بالإجماع على قرار غير ملزم قائلا ان ثاني أكبر مدينة في ولاية ويسكونسن سيرحبون اللاجئين السوريين:
… أرسل مجلس المشترك ماديسون رسالة بالإجماع الثلاثاء أن المدينة لن تقبل اللاجئين السوريين.
ويهدف القرار لإرسال رسالة مفادها أن يتماشى مع تاريخ المدينة الطويل في قبول اللاجئين. ويأتي القرار بعد بضعة أسابيع وقال محافظ سكوت ووكر أن أي لاجئ سوري الجديد لن يكون موضع ترحيب في ولاية ويسكونسن.
واضاف “اعتقد انها مجرد لإرسال رسالة حول ما نحن عليه باعتباره ماديسون”، وعضو المجلس المشترك من جناح الخامس قال. “بغض النظر عن إعادة توجيه من أي شخص آخر، وأعتقد أنه مجرد بيان عنا وماديسون وما نمثله.”
في حين المحافظين اليميني المتطرف باندر لالمتعصبين ضد الإسلام والتخويف، ماديسون سباقة عندما يتعلق الأمر اللياقة البشري والحفاظ على التقاليد الأميركية الترحيب المهاجرين إلى هذا البلد العظيم.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015 Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Madison Common Council
non-binding resolution
WI-Local
47 House Dems side with ISIS and Nazi-like bigotry from the GOP
A total of 47 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted for anti-Syrian refugee legislation straight out of a Nazi Germany mindset. Here are the House Democrats who voted for the legislation:
Pete Aguilar
California 31st
Brad Ashford
Nebraska 2nd
Ami Bera
California 7th
Sanford Bishop, Jr.
Georgia 2nd
Julia Brownley
California 26th
Cheri Bustos
Illinois 17th
Delaware At-large
Gerry Connolly
Virginia 11th
Jim Cooper
Tennessee 5th
Jim Costa
Joe Courtney
Connecticut 2nd
Henry Cuellar
Texas 28th
Maryland 6th
Lloyd Doggett
Hawaii 2nd
John Garamendi
California 3rd
Gwen Graham
Florida 2nd
Janice Hahn
Jim Himes
Connecticut 4th
Steve Israel
New York 3rd
Marcy Kaptur
Ohio 9th
Bill Keating
Massachusetts 9th
Ron Kind
Wisconsin 3rd
Ann McLane Kuster
New Hampshire 2nd
Jim Langevin
Rhode Island 2nd
Dan Lipinski
Illinois 3rd
Dave Loebsack
Iowa 2nd
Sean Patrick Maloney
New York 18th
Patrick Murphy
Florida 18th
Rick Nolan
Minnesota 8th
Donald Norcross
New Jersey 1st
Scott Peters
California 52nd
Collin Peterson
Colorado 2nd
Kathleen Rice
New York 4th
Ohio 13th
Kurt Schrader
Oregon 5th
Georgia 13th
Terri Sewell
Alabama 7th
Kyrsten Sinema
Arizona 9th
Louise Slaughter
Marc Veasey
Texas 33rd
Filemon Vela
Tim Walz
Minnesota 1st
When I say that these 47 Democratic traitors sided with ISIS, I mean that they are effectively fueling ISIS propaganda by refusing to take in the very people who have been oppressed by ISIS and the Syrian dictatorship of Bashir al-Assad. When I say that this legislation is straight out of a Nazi Germany mindset, I’m referring to public opposition here in the U.S. to accepting Jewish refugees who were fleeing the Holocaust and the Nazi Germany regime of Adolf Hitler in the late 1930’s.
It’s not just moderate and conservative “Democrats” who are effectively siding with ISIS and repeating the history of the Nazis by opposing Syrian refugees. Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ben Carson have used racist, Nazi-like language to stir up fear of Syrian refugees among white racist Americans.
Here’s what Trump recently said, courtesy of Yahoo! News:
“We’re going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule,” Trump said. “And certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.”
Yahoo News asked Trump whether this level of tracking might require registering Muslims in a database or giving them a form of special identification that noted their religion. He wouldn’t rule it out.
“We’re going to have to — we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,” Trump said when presented with the idea. “We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.”
Here’s what Carson recently said, courtesy of NBC News:
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson on Thursday suggested that concerns about Syrian refugees in the United States are akin to a parent’s concerns about “mad dogs.”
“If there’s a rabid dog running around in your neighborhood, you’re probably not going to assume something good about that dog, and you’re probably going to put your children out of the way,” he said during remarks in Mobile, Alabama. “[It] doesn’t mean that you hate all dogs, by any stretch of the imagination, but you’re putting your intellect into motion and you’re thinking ‘How do I protect my children? At the same time, I love dogs and I’m gonna call the humane society and hopefully they can come take this dog away and create a safe environment once again.'”
Any Democrat who voted for the anti-Syrian refugee legislation has effectively sided with right-wing racists like Donald Trump and Ben Carson, who are using Nazi Germany-like language in opposition to allowing Syrian refugees to enter the United States. Supporting requiring that Muslims have special identification is eerily reminiscent of the Nazis forcibly tattooing identification numbers onto Jewish people in concentration camps, and comparing Syrian refugees fleeing war and terrorism to mad dogs is eerily reminiscent of Nazi propaganda comparing Jewish people to rats (in fact, at least one British newspaper, the Daily Mail, actually compared Syrian refugees to rats). Normally, I’m not a fan of Nazi comparisons, but, if there’s actual historical context behind a Nazi comparison, then I’m all for it.
One last thing, I find it ironic that the number of House Democrats who voted for the anti-Syrian refugee bill (47) equals the number of Senate Republicans who signed a letter to Iranian leaders in an attempt to undermine diplomacy in efforts to stop a nuclear deal designed to keep Iran from producing nuclear weapons (47), as well as the percentage of Americans that 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney claimed were dependent on the government (47).
Thursday, November 19, 2015 Thursday, November 19, 2015
AL-7
Ann Kuster
anti-refugee bill
Assad regime
AZ-9
Bashir al-Assad
DE-AL
FL-2
GA-2
Gerald Connolly
HI-2
history repeating itself
Jewish people
Jim Hines
MD-6
Nazi tattoos
NE-2
NH-2
NJ-1
NY-18
NY-3
OH-13
OR-5
proposed legislation
RI-2
Sanford Bishop Jr.
special identification
TN-5
VA-11
My letter to Bruce Rauner on Syrian refugee resettlement in Illinois
AUTHOR’S NOTE: The following blog post is a letter that I sent to Gov. Bruce Rauner (R-IL) via the contact page on the Illinois state government website for the governor’s office.
Governor Rauner,
This is Aaron Camp, a resident of the Village of Westville in Vermilion County. I am writing to you in regards to resettlement of Syrian refugees in Illinois, which I support. I am strongly critical of your opposition to resettlement of Syrian refugees here in Illinois.
Just a few days ago, terrorists launched multiple coordinated attacks in Paris, France, and the Islamic fundamentalist terror group that is commonly known as ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks. While there needs to be proper screening in place to make sure that terrorists don’t migrate here to the United States among the refugees who are fleeing the terrorists, I believe that Illinois, and the United States as a whole, is more than capable of accepting Syrian refugees who are fleeing war and oppression.
America is a nation of immigrants. In fact, my hometown of Westville was settled by immigrants from dozens of countries many, many years before I was born. In fact, at one time, Westville once had people of 37 different nationalities living in the community. Many other Illinois communities were shaped by immigrants at some point in their histories.
For you to say no to accepting Syrian refugees is, in a way, doing what ISIS wants. One of ISIS’s goals is to terrorize politicians in our state and our country into making reactionary decisions with negative consequences. The negative consequences of not accepting Syrian refugees are numerous, although one of them is that the refusal of American politicians to accept Syrian refugees would likely be used in ISIS propaganda to recruit more ISIS terrorists, which is something that the U.S. and our nation’s allies simply cannot afford.
Bruce Rauner
refusal to accept
Syrian War
My thoughts about the first Democratic presidential debate
Having watched last night’s Democratic presidential debate, I’ll begin by saying that I believe that Bernie Sanders won the debate, with Martin O’Malley having the second-best performance, followed by Hillary Clinton, Jim Webb, and Lincoln Chafee.
My thoughts about Bernie Sanders’s performance
The Good – He upstaged Hillary Clinton on an issue directly affecting HRC (the private email server “scandal” that has been concocted by the GOP). He also defended himself very well, especially on gun safety and on the Veterans’ Affairs health system scandal.
The Bad – He mentioned his campaign website twice during the debate.
My thoughts about Martin O’Malley’s performance
The Good – He came across as the strongest candidate on gun safety, invoking the story of a family who lost one of their own in the Aurora, Colorado theater massacre.
The Bad – He tried to defend his zero-tolerance policing policy from his tenure as Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, which was one of several factors that have led to distrust between the police and the public in Baltimore.
My thoughts about Hillary Clinton’s performance
The Good – She came across as very professional during the debate without coming across as scripted or boring. She also cracked a joke at a very inappropriate remark from lead moderator Anderson Cooper about her bathroom usage.
The Bad – She twice invoked the fact that she’s a woman during the debate. She also gave weak answers on a number of issues, most notably marijuana legalization and financial regulation.
My thoughts about Jim Webb’s performance
The Good – He used his wife’s story on immigration very well.
The Bad – He used the NRA’s talking points on guns.
My thoughts about Lincoln Chafee’s performance
The Good – Nothing about his debate performance was especially good.
The Bad – He blamed his father’s death on his vote for the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in the late 1990’s. Furthermore, he made an odd remark comparing himself to a block of granite at one point in the debate.
The big winners (other than the five Democratic presidential candidates debating)
The Democratic Party – All in all, the debate was a great showing that Democrats can have an intelligent, civil discussion about actual political issues between candidates representing various factions of the party.
Civic engagement – CNN’s telecast of the debate received the most viewers of any Democratic presidential primary/caucus debate in television history.
The internet – For the first time since the 1960 presidential general election debates, there appears to be a major disconnect between two media platforms on debate performance. In 1960, it was between radio (whose listeners viewed Richard Nixon as the debate winner) and television (whose viewers viewed John F. Kennedy as the debate winner). This time, it’s between television (which has been trying to spin a Hillary Clinton debate victory) and the internet (most people on social media view Bernie Sanders as the debate victor). I’d expect the newer platform (in this case, the internet) to come out on top.
The big losers (other than the five Democratic presidential candidates debating)
Anderson Cooper – Cooper, CNN’s lead moderator for the debate, tried to use his position to smear Bernie Sanders on a number of GOP talking points against him and failed, and he also made a very inappropriate remark about Hillary Clinton’s bathroom usage after one of the commercial breaks.
The mainstream media – See my remarks about the internet being a big winner above.
Mike Huckabee – Huckabee, one of many Republican presidential candidates, took to Twitter during the debate and made downright racist remarks about Korean people while attacking Bernie Sanders.
Joe Biden – With Hillary Clinton giving a strong enough debate performance to calm down those in the establishment who were fretting about Hillary, and Bernie Sanders solidifying the progressive base of the party, there’s not really a path to victory for Biden if he were to enter the race for the Democratic nomination.
Debate fairness – CNN shut out Lawrence Lessig from participating in the debate despite the fact that Lessig is a Democratic candidate for president.
bathroom usage
big losers
damn emails
debate performance
finance regulation
gender card
inappropriate remark
Jim Webb
Lincoln Chafee
no path to victory
presidential debate
private email server
VA scandal
viewership
zero-tolerance
zero-tolerance policing
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Home Audio BUSK IN LONDON FESTIVAL
AudioLondon Events
BUSK IN LONDON FESTIVAL
by Syn July 22, 2016 July 22, 2016
written by Syn July 22, 2016 July 22, 2016
Trafalgar Square, London
23rd and 24th July 2016
Seal, Corinne Bailey Rae, Fatboy Slim, Kiko Bun, Billy Bragg, KT Tunstall, Jon McLure and Jack Savoretti are amongst some of the stars backing London’s Busk In London Festival
Some of the music industry’s top names have thrown their weight behind London’s plans to become the most busker friendly city in the world.
High profile support comes ahead of London leading International Busking Day www.buskinlondon.com
Seal, Billy, Bragg, Corinne Bailey Rae, Danny Goffey, Fatboy Slim, Hugh Cornwell (The Stranglers), Jack Savoretti, Jon McLure, Kiko BUN, King Charles, KT Tunstall, The View, Whinnie Williamsand Paves have all signed up as Ambassadors of the Busk in London scheme, which aims to make busking on London’s streets as easy as possible for performers.
Although great strides have been made in recent years, busking musicians and street performers continue to face obstacles in many cities as a result of confusing rules, unnecessary red tape and even the threat of arrest – despite it being popular with Londoners and tourists alike. This high-profile support for busking builds on the work being done by Busk in London to counter misconceptions, make street performance as easy and straightforward as possible in the capital and highlight its significance in the life of cities.
Busking is so important to the live music industry. “It enables them to hone superb live performance skills and confidence. They are seen by tens of thousands of people in high footfall locations. It also delivers unrivalled value in terms of providing accessible performances to people who can’t afford tickets or who are socially isolated. Dr Julia Jones, Found in Music CEO
The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has pledged to strengthen London’s position as the world’s artistic and cultural capital and, at the first ever International Busking Day on 23 July, the capital will lead fifty cities across the UK, along with major world cities including New York, Sydney, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Paris and Toronto for the most ambitious celebration of busking and street performance ever staged.
Saturday 23 July – International Busking Day
23 & 24 July – Busk in London Festival, Trafalgar Square
23 July to 7 August – Gigs competition live performances
Sunday 4 September – Gigs Grand Final at Westfield Stratford City
More details about International Busking Day and the Busk in London Festival can be found at www.buskinlondon.com.
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Mortal Kombat 11 Review
AMAZONShareTweet
Two Steps Forward, Two Steps Back
By James Mitchell
In PS4 Reviews
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Releasing On
PS4/Switch/Xbox One/PC
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Not many franchises get as many chances as Mortal Kombat has. The franchise has had a fair share of ups and downs, struggling to evolve with the times with every jump to new technology. From the stilted jump to 3D in Mortal Kombat 4, Deadly Alliance, Deception and Armageddon to the downright dreadful DC crossover, Mortal Kombat is truly a survivor. The ninth game successfully reinvented the franchise once more, by going back to its roots while Mortal Kombat X continued to build upon that further. Now, with Mortal Kombat 11, Netherrealm Studios have reinvented Mortal Kombat once more, though despite being better than Mortal Kombat X from a gameplay perspective, it is bound to divide fans.
Mortal Kombat 11 follows the story of the previous games, though finds yet another way to bring back characters from the past who have died or haven’t been seen for a while. The story this time centers around a mysterious being who calls herself Kronika, whose power eclipses even that of the strongest Elder Gods. Following specific events in the story, Kronika decides she isn’t happy with how events have played out and manipulates time to try and mould the universe into her perfect image. Naturally, you follow the good guys as they try to defend their realms from invaders previously thought to be defeated as well as form new alliances to beat Kronika herself.
I’ll be blunt here – the story in Mortal Kombat 11, like previous games before it, is a schlocky mess of contrivances but I honestly wouldn’t have it any other way. The team at Netherrealm have, once again, delivered a ridiculous storyline with soaring production value that does its absolute best to please fans of the series and its convoluted lore. The story itself is prone to every legitimate criticism possible but ends in such a bombastic way that I’m not sure I can hate it for doing so. You’ll enjoy every beat it hits along the way to it’s ending, and that’s all I can ask for in a Story Mode for a fighting game, really.
As a game, Mortal Kombat 11 plays just as you’d expect. You choose a character and use them to beat down an opponent using a combination of combos and special moves. I mentioned in my Mortal Kombat X review that the main draw of the series is its eclectic cast and ultraviolent sensibility, and Mortal Kombat 11 continues that tradition while still being as substantial an offering as ever. It plays differently, and the way your battles flow has changed a lot since Mortal Kombat X, but it’s such a substantial reinvention that I think it’s the best Mortal Kombat yet.
These changes are numerous, but the most obvious is the removal of the X-Ray Moves which featured in the last two games. This time around, they’re replaced with Fatal Blows, which operate as a “comeback” mechanic for when you’re close to death, allowing you to deal significant damage to your opponent in a spectacularly cinematic way. These aren’t tied to your meter anymore – so every player can pull off a Fatal Blow when close to death. You’ve got to be smart about it though, as you can only use your Fatal Blow once per match.
Here’s A Guide To Every Fatality Input In Mortal Kombat 11
That’s not to say X-Ray Moves are wholly gone. Instead, they’ve been rolled into the new Krushing Blow system. Every character has four to five of these attacks which activate when adhering to certain conditions. If you land Jade’s dash kick twice in a row, for example, her second kick will be a Krushing Blow, which zooms into the opponent’s ribcage as it shatters from the force of her boot. Krushing Blows are unique to every character and make the battles feel more dynamic than ever without slowing down the fight. Seasoned veterans will revel in learning them and using them to effectively punish their opponents, while casual players will just feel awesome when activating them.
Variations make a return from Mortal Kombat X, but they’ve been reworked entirely. Every character has two set variations, but now it’s possible to create your own variations too. Every character has the preset moves that they’ll always have, but now it’s possible to customise your character with a bespoke set of moves that best suit your playstyle. It’s a fantastic evolution of the system introduced in Mortal Kombat X, which I honestly thought they couldn’t top. Unfortunately, as is a running theme with Mortal Kombat 11, this well-designed component won’t work unless you’re connected to the internet. Given how much the excessive customisation elevates Mortal Kombat 11 above X, it’s an odd design choice.
When I say excessive customisation, I don’t mean that in a bad way, though the system does come with some obvious (and unfortunately predictable) caveats. The good part is that this is easily the most content-packed Mortal Kombat game ever made. Every character has 5 or so costumes (of which each has more than ten colour variants each) as well as 90 or so customisable parts as well as ten or so finishing moves each. This meshes beautifully with the “create your own” system of variations, but a lot of this gear must be unlocked through either the Towers of Time mode or the Krypt mode.
Towers of Time is the same as the living towers from the previous game – though their progression feels unbalanced at this point. Like the Multiverses from Injustice, these online-only towers refresh daily, hourly and weekly to offer pieces of gear to those who conquer them by defeating a set number of enemies in a row. It’s a great idea, one that I love, but they’re balanced in a way that they’re so time-consuming that I seldom find them to be worth the time for the rewards you get. The cynical side of me says they’re repetitive and overly challenging to sway you just to buy the gear you want using real money – though at the time of writing the Premium Store isn’t even online, so I can’t even see if that’s the case.
The Krypt is the other way to unlock pieces to customise your character – though this is not the Krypt players have come to know and love since Deadly Alliance. Once again, the Krypt is a fantastic idea – you play as a warrior in a third person view (that honestly reminds me of a very light Bloodborne or Metroid game, sans enemies of course) who must explore Shang Tsung’s island to open chests and unlock gear. It’s utterly awesome to walk around a modern recreation of the setting of the first ever Mortal Kombat game, and it’s ridiculously atmospheric, but the Krypt itself is online only and entirely randomised. What does this mean? It pains me to say, but Mortal Kombat 11 essentially has loot boxes, they’re just dressed them up in such a pretty metagame that you might not notice it at first.
To loosely quote Shao Kahn himself, it just sucks that Mortal Kombat 11 is such a strong game with so much to offer that’s held back by these questionable design decisions. There’s the age-old argument to be made that all these unlockables aren’t an issue if they are entirely cosmetic – and they are. But the rate at which these things are awarded to players is glacial at best. Personally, I feel that as a game, it’s still the best in the series thus far, and a game that I can enjoy playing online with friends regardless of what costume or skin my character is wearing. But those looking to collect everything and play the game solo will be disappointed by all these online-only caveats.
Speaking of online, Mortal Kombat 11 performs admirably and consistently. I was fortunate enough to fight over 200 matches during my time with the game and only had one significant disconnection during this time with minimal latency. The same modes that appeared in Mortal Kombat X appear here in a simple but robust offering – namely casual rooms, casual lobbies, ranked and the king of the hill. More bizarrely, the things we’ve come to take for granted in fighting games, like matchmaking while training, are absent here, however. Some of the Towers of Time can even be taken on with a mate while online against a powerful boss powered enemy, which is excellent fun.
Being the first Mortal Kombat game built from the ground up for this generation of consoles (which is strange to consider at first), Mortal Kombat 11 is easily the best-looking game in the series thus far. The greatest thing about 11 is that everything here is new; returning characters have been completely redesigned with an almost photorealistic look, while the newcomers fit right in too. Perhaps more importantly, the stages you’ll battle in are all visually stunning and all original also. Without a doubt, Mortal Kombat 11 easily has the highest production values in a fighting game yet, and it really shows.
While the soundtracks of the original games are unique and memorable, the later Mortal Kombat games have always struggled to offer a memorable score. Unfortunately, that trend continues ever so slightly with Mortal Kombat 11. The score that plays during your battles, though somewhat better than Mortal Kombat X, often fades to the background and is barely memorable. The voice work is a significant step up, however, with some of these characters handing in their best performances in the series thus far. Despite this, Ronda Rousey as Sonya is the most jarring thing I’ve ever had to hear in a video game though – especially during the more dramatic moments of the story mode.
THE PLAYSTATION 4 VERSION OF THIS GAME WAS PLAYED ON A PLAYSTATION 4 PRO FOR THE PURPOSE OF THIS REVIEW. A PHYSICAL IMPORT COPY OF THE GAME WAS PURCHASED BY THE AUTHOR.
Mortal Kombat 11 is both joyful and frustrating. It’s far and away a superior game to Mortal Kombat X where it truly matters - the roster is strong and varied, the visuals are phenomenal, and the flow of battle is as sharp as ever. If you play with friends, solid online offerings will deliver in droves. If you’re thinking of playing solo, although Story mode is some of Netherrealm’s best, the grind to unlock everything beyond that is sobering. It’s this grind that means Mortal Kombat 11 stands besides Mortal Kombat X, and not above it.
Great Roster
Alluring Visuals
Content Packed
Epic Story Mode
Solid Netcode
Grindy Unlocks
Spotty Voice Work
Middling Music
Online Unlocks
Mortal Kombat 11 Trailer Confirms Shang Tsung, Nightwolf, Sindel and Spawn As DLC Fighters
The Mortal Kombat Movie Remake Is Being Shot In Adelaide Of All Places
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is an enthralling listen that gets to the heart of Grizzly Bear's sound.
drewmalmuth
out 9.18
Stream | MP3 | CD | Vinyl
Fans of any given band are forever arguing over the best versions of their beloved songs. Is the live version of The National's “Terrible Love” better than the recording on High Violet? Did Radiohead sully “Videotape” with the studio version's cyclical drum beat? Grizzly Bear fans are no different. Most prefer the home recording of “Deep Blue Sea” over the polished version; and I still contend that the radio premier of “While You Wait For the Others” is the best thing that Grizzly Bear has released. These first cuts, as rough as they may be, are exposed in more intimate and natural ways. The final versions may be more album worthy but there is something lost in the transaction – something small but also infinitely important. Shields is Grizzly Bear's most concerted attempt yet to hold onto that something, resulting in an album that is organic, sprawling, and complex. The songs may not be as noteworthy, but Shields is an enthralling listen that gets to the heart of Grizzly Bear's sound.
After a three year recording hiatus, the band (Daniel Rossen, Ed Droste, Chris Taylor, and Chris Bear) got together in an abandoned military base in Texas to set back to work. Perhaps realizing that that is a completely absurd place to record an album (even for them), the band relocated to Cape Cod and wrote the bulk of the album in a remote cottage. According to Rossen, the members had spent their time off exploring largely divergent musical influences. Specifically, the likes of Talk Talk, David Axelrod, and Rap music. An intriguing combination, to be sure, but the writing process was slowed by the need for the members to rediscover their group dynamic. That incongruity made its mark on Shields. The mood of the album is in constant flux, as hypnotic acoustic melodies morph into driving rock segments that then build into a triumphant blend of vocal harmonies and bouncy synths. Almost all of Veckatimest glimmered with a pleasant sheen, which may have played a role in its broad appeal. Shields is far more schizophrenic. It explores a wide range of tones and textures and one finishes the album contented but also slightly perplexed.
The album's exploratory songwriting is introduced right away. “Sleeping Ute” begins as a gritty psychedelic-rock jam that sounds more like a Tim Presley track than Grizzly Bear. But when Daniel Rossen's voice rears its head there is no more ambiguity. The track swirls in all different directions, as dark, metal riffs and bubbly synth lines combine for a beguiling contrast. Then just when it seems that this track signals Grizzly Bear's attempt at a balls-out rock record, the clouds peel away and a delicate acoustic segment closes the song. This subversion of expectations continues throughout Shields. “The Hunt” hints at building toward something cinematic but it remains restrained. Conversely, “Sun in Your Eyes” starts out more intimately than “The Hunt” but ends up being one of the most expansive, and gripping, tracks the band has ever written. Even the more pop-oriented tracks (“Yet Again,” “A Simple Answer,” “Gun-Shy”) have unexpected flourishes of distortion or psychedelia. This unpredictability makes Shields a rewarding repeat listen and contributes to the album's off-the-cuff atmosphere.
While Shields is a departure from Veckatamist, it's unlikely to frighten away the considerable fan base that the sophomore album attracted. The fundamental draws remain unchanged: Rossen and Droste still have excellent voices, the melodies are still as ornate as they are catchy, and the group still blends psychedelic-rock, folk, and pop in fascinating ways. “Adelma” may seem like an odd ambient interlude on its own but as a lead up to the gorgeous “Yet Again” it makes for an ideal primer. “Yet Again”'s vocal harmonies and near perfect pop licks sound all the more comforting. That warmth comes back again on “A Simple Answer,” a song that makes a clustered arrangement sound coherent and spacious. The opening of guitar, drums, and piano is quickly joined by swirling guitar riffs, cooing vocals and twee synth adornments. As with most of their work, each layer added makes the track even more lovely.
With that said, the subtle changes that Grizzly Bear have made for Shields are fundamental to its success. For instance, “A Simple Answer” is a standard Grizzly Bear pop tune up to the fourth minute. At that point, the original structure of the song is abandoned and the mood goes on a downward spelunking mission into a cave of melancholy. One is meant to feel entirely different sensations at the beginning of the song as compared to the end. It's a journey rather than just a panoramic view. Some will find this irritating while others, like myself, will appreciate that “Sun In Your Eyes” is meant to be a “seven-minute Ayahusca trip.” Beyond the fact that Shields is good for taking hallucinogenics, the sound is the least polished of all three albums. Droste noted recently that he used to record his vocals in six different layers, such that any imperfections would be blended out. For this record, both he and Rossen allowed their vocals to be more exposed. Cracks and pitch mistakes may be more prevalent but that gives the voices a warmth a nd humanity that has thus far only shown up on non-studio material. Thankfully, Grizzly Bear have become confident enough to enjoy their imperfections.
All else aside, it's simply nice to have new Grizzly Bear to listen to again. They are part of the fabric of young indie fans who long for an epic melody and whose life “totally changed, man” when Funeral came out. Some no doubt find their music overwrought, but it would be difficult to say that a minimalist approach is the right prescription for Grizzly Bear. Indeed, Shields works because of its complexity rather than in spite of it. Acoustic guitars, glockenspiels, synths, banjos, horns, pianos and voices all combine to make a Rorschach test of an album that shows Grizzly Bear exploring familiar territory as well as searching for something unknown. Given the lengthy gaps between albums and Rossen's various side projects it's hard to know how long it will be before new Grizzly Bear surfaces. All the better then that Shields is a bit confounding. It leaves the listener room to wander and, more importantly, it sets itself up as an album that is meant to be explored as much as it is enjoyed. [A-]
Listen to 'Shields' in its entirety.
FeaturedGrizzly BearFavorite Albums
Review: Grizzly Bear - B-Sides
By PMA Writers
Review: Daniel Rossen - Silent Hour / Golden Mile
By Patrick McGinn
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest, Album Review & Giveaway
By Chris Barth
Review: Grizzly Bear, Painted Ruins
By Brendan Frank
New Album: Grizzly Bear - Shields
Review: The National - Trouble Will Find Me
Review/Stream: New Build - Yesterday Was Lived and Lost
Review & Stream: Andrew Bird - Break It Yourself
Review: Flying Lotus - Until The Quiet Comes
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About PSJC
Books written by our Doctors
Ana Bracilovic, MD
Grant Cooper, MD
Zinovy Meyler, DO
Marco Funiciello, DO
Scott Curtis, D.O.
Zachary Perlman, DO
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Ziva Petrin, MD
Procedures We Perform
Princeton Dance Medicine Center (PDMC)
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Patient Forms & Insurance
In Dr. Zinovy Meyler, Videos
By Princeton Spine & Joint Center
Cervicogenic Headache Causes explained by Zinovy Meyler MD, Princeton Spine & Joint Center:
In order to talk about the reasons to have this type of a headache I need to say a couple of things about the anatomy. If we visualize the spine and think of it as just a stack of bones, each individual bone, the vertebrae, comes into contact with the adjacent bone on multiple spots. The two areas that we’re concerned in the context of this discussion is the two points of contact that form the joints. Now these joints are called zygapophysial joints, also referred to as facet or facet joints. They are true joints. In other words, they are comprised of the same components as any other major joints in our body, like a hip, like a shoulder, like the finger joints. And because of that, they are subject to the same kind of influences that any other joint in our body. That joint is supplied by a small branch of the nerve called the medial branch. In the upper cervical spine that branch tends to continue on and go to the back of the head, which is why the pain usually radiates in that distribution. Inflammation and irritation in the area, including the joint or the soft tissues around the nerve, usually is the reason to have this kind of pain. In talking of the reasons for this, we can group this broadly into two categories. One traumatic and the other one non traumatic. In a traumatic category, as you would imagine, it’s something along the lines of motor vehicle accident or a slip and fall where there are acceleration / deceleration forces, such as a whiplash. In such forces the joint as it is a hinge, a sliding hinge, tends to create a lot of the sliding movement, which creates inflammation that can persist causing inflammation, irritation, and then neck pain causing the headaches. In the non traumatic category, most commonly we see this as arthritis or changes to soft tissue or connective tissue that causes inflammation, thereby irritating the nerve going to that area.
Princeton Spine & Joint Center
@wpadmin
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Specializing in the non-operative care of spine, joint, muscle, and nerve pain.
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How Kevin Hayes performed at center last night (Update)
2:30PM: Hayes, along with Dominic Moore, will play as wingers tomorrow. (NYR)
10:19AM: Kevin Hayes took 17 faceoffs last night in 17:51, winning only three of them.
Hayes had a goal, 4 shots on goal, 1 shot attempt blocked and two hits in the game.
Hayes lost all six faceoffs he took in the offensive zone, including two on the PP, went 1 for 6 in the defensive zone and 2 for 5 in the neutral zone.
Larry Brooks said that Hayes didn't have "much of a game in the middle." (NY Post)
While Hayes was on the ice at 5 on 5, the Rangers had 65% of the shot attempts. (Natural Stat Trick)
Hayes skated between Brian Gibbons and Emerson Etem.(Natural Stat Trick)
For a lot more on Hayes and where he might play this year, click HERE.
Adam Rotter: Starting tomorrow night and through the rest of the preseason the Rangers should use Hayes on the wing. 3 for 17 on faceoffs can't happen when you have one of Dominic Moore, Jarret Stoll or Oscar Lindberg on the wing. Hayes wants to be a difference maker for the Rangers and a "game changer" and the best way for him to do that is to be on the wing. He won't need to worry about faceoffs, he won't need to worry about playing deep in the defensive zone and can just focus on being a power forward on the wing. Hayes made the team and took over the third-line center spot last year out of necessity, but the Rangers have depth at center know and should shift Hayes to the wing.
Tags: Kevin Hayes, Adam Rotter
No. 2 overall pick is expected to make an immediate impact in 2019
(Anne-Marie Sorvin)
Kaapo Kakko, No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, is officially a Ranger.
Kakko signed his entry-level deal with the Rangers on Thursday, which the team shared via Twitter.
Rangers fans have already embraced Kakko, flocking to the team's developmental camp to catch a glimpse of him on the ice. And many like Kakko for the Rangers, especially NBC Sports' NHL analyst Pierre McGuire who told SNY "I can see him fitting in right away."
Rangers' Jacob Trouba, Pavel Buchnevich file for arbitration
Trouba acquired via trade in June
Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba reacts against the Los Angeles Kings in the second period at Staples Center. (Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports)
The NHL Players Association announced on Friday that 40 players have filed for salary arbitration and the most prominent name on the list belongs to the New York Rangers.
Of those heading to an arbitrator are Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich and recently acquired defenseman Jacob Trouba. Both are restricted free agents.
At a later date each player will have arbitration hearings in Toronto. Those have yet to be scheduled, but according to the NHLPA release, league-wide meetings with individual players will take place from July 20 to Aug. 4. The Rangers and players can continue to negotiate a contract before the meeting.
Tags: Jacob Trouba, Pavel Buchnevich
WATCH: Artemi Panarin officially introduced as a member of the Rangers
Panarin, the biggest name in this year's NHL free agency class, signed a seven-year deal with the Rangers
Artemi Panarin tours MSG 00:00:55
Artemi Panarin is grateful to be a Ranger and likes the history of the 'Original Six' team. David Quinn is excited for the dynamic player.
The Rangers officially landed Artemi Panarin, the prize of this year's NHL free agency class, on Monday.
By Tuesday, Panarin was introduced to the media after touring Madison Square Garden.
"I want to say thank you to the Rangers organization," said Panarin, who signed a seven-year contract with the Rangers on Monday. "I appreciate the opportunity … I'm really happy."
Free agent Artemi Panarin chooses Rangers on biggest deal in franchise history
Panarin actually took less at seven years, $81.5 million to go to NY
By Tom Krosnowski | Jul 1 | 12:45PM
Feb 18, 2019; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Artemi Panarin (9) against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports (Aaron Doster)
Another superstar is coming to New York.
The Rangers made it official on Monday when they announced the signing of All-Star winger Artemi Panarin. According to SportsNet's Elliotte Friedman, the new contract is the largest in franchise history at $81.5 million over seven years.
Panarin took less to make his way to New York. The Blue Jackets, the team he played for last season, offered an eight-year, $96 million deal, which was also their largest contract in team history.
Tags: Jimmy Vesey, Mika Zibanejad, Pavel Buchnevich
'All signs pointing' to free agent Artemi Panarin signing with Rangers
Rangers hope to sign free agent winger
Apr 30, 2019; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Artemi Panarin (9) controls the puck against the Boston Bruins in the third period during game three of the second round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Russell LaBounty-USA TODAY Sports (Russell LaBounty)
Columbus Blue Jackets winger Artemi Panarin is tihs summer's prized free agent in the NHL, and the Rangers are interested in adding him. Here's the latest updates:
July 1, 11:50 AM:
"All signs are pointing" to the Rangers landing Panarin, reports Darren Dreger of TSN. Dreger adds that it is believed Panarin is leaving money on the table to join the Blueshirts.
Is this an extra push for Artemi Panarin?
By Scott Thompson | Jul 1 | 11:12AM
New York Rangers left wing Jimmy Vesey is congratulated by teammates after scoring a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the first period at Madison Square Garden. (Noah K. Murray/USA TODAY Sports)
The Rangers have traded LW Jimmy Vesey to the Sabres in exchange for a 2021 NHL Draft pick, the team announced on Monday.
Vesey was in the final year of his two-year, $4.55 million deal with New York, so the Rangers created a little more cap space by getting rid of his contract.
Is it a coincidence that Vesey is a left winger and the Rangers are aggressively pursuing top free agent LW Artemi Panarin ahead of NHL free agency kicking off at noon today? Not at all.
Tags: Jimmy Vesey, Scott Thompson
WATCH: Rangers' Kaapo Kakko discusses his transition to NHL
The second-overall pick talks about his game translating to the NHL
Kaapo Kakko on transition to NHL 00:01:29
New York Rangers 1st round draft pick Kaapo Kakko discusses his first week practicing with the team and his transition to the NHL.
Kaapo Kakko, the second-overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft, caught up with SNY to discuss his first week as a member of the Rangers.
"It was a great week for me and for the team," Kakko said.
The Finnish winger also spoke about getting to know his new teammates and how his game translates to the NHL level.
The Panthers are at the top, with the Rangers and Islanders behind
May 2, 2019; Columbus, OH, USA; Columbus Blue Jackets left wing Artemi Panarin (9) celebrates after scoring a goal against the Boston Bruins in the first period during game four of the second round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports (Aaron Doster)
The top free agent in the NHL market this summer is by far Artemi Panarin, the Blue Jackets' left winger that has been a consistent points machine for four seasons. The Rangers are expected to be very aggressive in trying to land him, but New York doesn't seem to be the favorite at the moment.
According to The Post's Brett Cyrgalis, the Panthers are the leading candidate to land the 27-year-old. The two main reasons Cyrgalis has the Panthers at the top is the fact that Florida doesn't have any state income taxes, and the Panthers have hired Joel Quenneville as head coach. Quennevile coached Panarin during his first two seasons with the Blackhawks.
Why does income tax matter? Florida can actually offer Panarin more than the Rangers, or even the Islanders, when it comes down to contracts. Panarin is looking to settle down with a seven-year deal at $11-12 million per season.
WATCH: Rangers second-overall pick Kaapo Kakko takes in MSG for first time
Kakko spoke about wanted to take the ice for the Rangers next season
Kaapo Kakko takes in MSG 00:00:35
The Rangers showed their draft picks around Madison Square Garden. Kakko says he's ready to play in the NHL next season.
On Wednesday afternoon, the Rangers introduced members of their 2019 NHL Draft class to members of the media at Madison Square Garden.
Among the group was second-overall pick Kaapo Kakko, who gave his initial impression of MSG and the city of New York, and spoke about wanting to play with the Rangers next season.
Zubov was part of the '94 Stanley Cup Champion Rangers
Oct 21, 2018; New York, NY, USA; A general view of Madison Square Garden before a game between the New York Rangers and Calgary Flames. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports (Danny Wild)
A member of the 1994 Stanley Cup Champion Rangers has been induted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Defenseman Sergei Zubov, in his seventh year of eligibility, made the cut to join professional ice hockey's most esteemed players in Toronto's sacred hall. He joins a class that includes Guy Carbonneau, Václav Nedomanský and Haley Wickenheiser.
Although Zubov spent most of his career with the Dallas Stars, he began his career as a Ranger. Drafted in the fifth round in 1990, he played a pivotal role on the legendary 1994 team, scoring a career-high 89 points in 78 regular season games. He also added 19 more over 22 playoff contests en route to the Rangers' first championship in 54 years.
Rangers meeting with free agent Artemi Panarin this week
Panarin a top target, but may be tough to lure him to New York
The Rangers are making their push for free agent Artemi Panarin, but their hopes of landing him do not appear favorable.
According to Rick Carpiniello of The Athletic, the Rangers are meeting with Panarin this week but it remains possible, if not probable, that he will sign with the Florida Panthers instead.
Rangers president John Davidson, who knows Panarin well from his time as the Columbus Blue Jackets president, is expected to be part of the meeting with the free agent winger.
Here's the New York Rangers schedule for the 2019-20 NHL season
New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist makes a save against the Tampa Bay Lightning during the first period at Madison Square Garden. (Andy Marlin/USA TODAY Sports)
The Rangers have announced their schedule for the 2019-20 season.
Highlights include:
Seven of their first 10 games, and 11 of their first 16 games of the season taking place at Madison Square Garden
Their 2,000th all-time regular season game at the current MSG on Oct. 27, 2019 against Boston.
Three of their four games against the Islanders coming in a nine-day span from Jan. 13, 2020 to Jan. 21, 2020.
Their five-day bye week following the 2020 NHL All-Star Game, which takes place on Jan. 26.
Check out the full schedule below...
A big-picture look at the Rangers' roster after selecting Kaapo Kakko with second pick in NHL Draft
The Rangers hope they've landed a cornerstone piece in the Finnish winger
By Peter Botte | Jun 22 | 8:54PM
As the first two picks of the 2019 NHL Draft, the careers of Jack Hughes of the Devils and Kaapo Kakko of the Rangers figure to be forever linked.
New Jersey only ratcheted up the recently dormant rivalry with their Manhattan counterparts further Saturday by pulling off a blockbuster trade for Norris Trophy-winning defenseman P.K. Subban, countering the Rangers big addition on the blue line earlier this month, the acquisition of first-pair defenseman Jacob Trouba from Winnipeg.
While free agency looms in July, the transformational addition of the Blueshirts' summer haul so far clearly was the Finnish-bred Kakko, the slam-dunk No.2 selection after the Devils expectedly opened the draft by grabbing Hughes, the 18-year-old American projected franchise center, with the top pick.
Rangers have more work to do, but drafting Kaapo Kakko was a 'slam-dunk choice'
Kakko went second to the Rangers after the Devils selected Jack Hughes with the first pick
(via Getty Images)
The Rangers are far from a finished product as they aim to climb back into playoff contention in the Metropolitan Division, but they officially have landed their coveted Finnish product.
Drafting 18-year-old winger Kaapo Kakko with the No.2 overall pick in the NHL Draft on Friday night in Vancouver was a slam-dunk choice after the rival Devils selected American center Jack Hughes first overall a few minutes earlier.
"Of course, it was my dream to be No. 1," Kakko told reporters Friday night in Vancouver. "But of course, the second one is also good, and every team in the NHL is a good team, so I'm happy.
"I've never been to New York before, but I think it's coming. It's my plan and my hope I can be there next season."
Get to know Rangers NHL Draft pick RW Kaapo Kakko
Finnish standout brings plenty of hardware to Rangers
Rangers fans have been waiting eagerly to see which super-prospect they would get ever since they moved up to second in the draft lottery in May. Now, the waiting is finally over.
General manager Jeff Gorton chose Kaapo Kakko second overall in the NHL Draft on Friday night, gifting the Rangers a generational talent that instantly slots into their top-six forward group.
The Devils made Gorton's decision easy by selecting U.S.-born Jack Hughes first overall, leaving Kakko the clear-cut best option. Although he went second overall, Kakko is projected to be a budding superstar and becomes the most exciting prospect in a stacked Rangers system.
Former Rangers captain Ryan Callahan's NHL career may be over
The Lightning winger has a degenerative back disease
By John Healy | Jun 20 | 7:14PM
Apr 16, 2019; Columbus, OH, USA; Tampa Bay Lightning right wing Ryan Callahan (24) against the Columbus Blue Jackets in game four of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Nationwide Arena. Mandatory Credit: Aaron Doster-USA TODAY Sports (Aaron Doster)
Ryan Callahan's NHL career appears to be coming to an end.
The former Rangers captain, currently on the Tampa Bay Lightning, was told by doctors he has a degenerative back disease and was recommended that he no longer play hockey, Lightning GM Julien BriseBois announced on Thursday.
Callahan, 34, opened up about his back condition in an interview with the team's website, calling it a "degenerative disc disease," and essentially confirmed he will not be returning.
Pierre McGuire on newest Ranger Jacob Trouba: 'He's a physical, robust, nasty piece of business'
Trouba is the latest Ranger move that is speeding up their rebuild
Jan 10, 2019; Saint Paul, MN, USA; Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba (8) shoots during the first period against the Minnesota Wild at Xcel Energy Center. Mandatory Credit: Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports (Brace Hemmelgarn)
The Rangers are in the midst of a rebuild, but their latest move already has them trending in the right direction.
New York struck a deal with the Jets to acquire D Jacob Trouba in exchange for Neal Pionk and the No. 20 overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft on Monday. Many believe the Rangers got a steal in this trade, acquiring a 25-year-old two-way defender that is one of the best in the league.
Getting Trouba onto their roster is just another positive step for the Rangers, who are impressing NBC Sports' NHL analyst Pierre McGuire.
Tags: Brady Skjei, Kevin Hayes, Scott Thompson
Pierre McGuire explains why Kaapo Kakko would be perfect for Rangers
'I can see him fitting in right away'
Finnish prospect Kaapo Kakko (left) posing with teammate Santeri Virtanen after winning the 2019 IIHF World Junior Championship. (Kaapo Kakko on Instagram/@kaapokakko)
The NHL Draft Lottery was kind to the New York Rangers, a team looking to accelerate their rebuild as fast as possible. And on Friday, they'll be selecting No. 2 overall in Vancouver.
And with that pick, it's almost certain that it will be Finnish winger Kaapo Kakko, who many view as the second-best prospect in the Draft behind United States C Jack Hughes.
If the mock drafts and speculation hold true, the Rangers will be getting Kakko - a 6-foot-2, aggressive player that has the potential to go down in history as one of the best to come out of Finland.
Rangers NHL Draft Preview: 4 possible targets, including Kaapo Kakko
Blueshirts have the No. 2 overall pick in the first round
By Justin Tasch | Jun 19 | 2:43PM
NHL DRAFT DETAILS
Location: Vancouver, British Columbia
Round 1: Friday, June 21 at 8 p.m.; TV: NBCSN
Rounds 2-7: Saturday, June 22 at 1 p.m.; TV: NHL Network
No. 2 (First Round)
No. 20 (First Round, via Winnipeg)
No. 49 (Second Round, via Dallas)
No. 58 (Second Round, via Tampa Bay)
No. 68 (Third Round)
No. 112 (Fourth Round, via Columbus)
No. 130 (Fifth Round)
No. 161 (Sixth Round)
No. 205 (Seventh Round, via Columbus)
After trade to Rangers, Jacob Trouba talks about long-term future
Trouba is a restricted free agent
By Danny Abriano | Jun 18 | 12:29PM
Jan 4, 2019; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba (8) stands for the national anthem against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG PAINTS Arena. The Pens won 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports (Charles LeClaire)
After the Jets bungled the process a bit, the Rangers swooped in and traded for star defenseman Jacob Trouba on Monday night -- and got him for a price that most saw as very low.
That price was Neal Pionk and the No. 20 pick in the upcoming NHL draft.
On a conference call Tuesday morning, Trouba talked about the "shock" of getting traded, said he "couldn't be more excited" to be on the Rangers, and talked about his future.
The Blueshirts made their first big splash of the offseason on Monday
By Scott Charles | Jun 17 | 8:51PM
The acquisition of Jacob Trouba from the Winnipeg Jets represents the start of a new era on Broadway. No longer will the Blueshirts be hoping the ping pong balls fall in their direction during the draft lottery. Rather, they are planning to be battling for playoff positioning as the season winds down next spring.
Trouba will immediately become the top-pairing right-handed defenseman in the Rangers lineup.
"He is a big defenseman, he is 25 years old, can play against the best players, has offense, can kill penalties, and is in the prime of his career," Rangers general manager Jeff Gorton said as he raved about Trouba's skill set. "The opportunity for a player like that to become available doesn't happen all the time, we jumped on it."
Rangers officially acquire Winnipeg defenseman Jacob Trouba
Rangers deal Pionk, No. 20 pick
The Rangers acquired Winnipeg Jets defenseman Jacob Trouba for defenseman Neal Pionk and the No. 20 pick in the NHL draft, the team announced Monday.
Trouba, 25, is a restricted free agent who recorded eight goals, 42 assists and 50 points for Winnipeg last season, scoring 18 points on power plays.
"He's in the prime of his career ... we jumped on it," Rangers GM Jeff Gorton said.
Rangers aggressively pursuing trade for Winnipeg's Jacob Trouba: report
Blueshirts will have competition, including the Islanders and Devils
The Rangers are aggressively pursuing a trade for Winnipeg defenseman Jacob Trouba, according to the New York Post, but they're not alone.
The rival Islanders and Devils are also in the mix for Trouba, per the Post.
Trouba, a 25-year-old righty, is a restricted free agent who's been the subject of trade rumors for quite some time. With the Jets facing a cap issues, a Trouba trade might finally happen this offseason. The NHL Draft is next weekend and free agency starts on July 1, so it could happen sooner than later.
Tags: Jimmy Vesey, Kevin Hayes
4 potential buyout candidates for the Rangers before NHL free agency
Rangers will consider buyouts as they embark on a crucial summer
Dec 31, 2017; New York, NY, USA; New York Rangers defensemen Kevin Shattenkirk (22) and Brendan Smith (42) watch the action during practice for the Winter Classic hockey game at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports (Danny Wild-USA TODAY Sports)
There is recent precedent for the Rangers buying out a player to save some cap space, a longtime warrior at that. They bought out Dan Girardi's contract two years ago, and they could very well go the buyout route for at least one player this summer when the buyout period opens on Saturday.
"In all honesty, we haven't ruled it out," Rangers GM Jeff Gorton told the New York Post. "It's on the table. And regardless of what we do with this buyout window, we'd certainly look at the second one, too, depending on what comes up over the next few weeks. A lot can happen."
As the Post reports, Brendan Smith and Kevin Shattenkirk are the two big buyout candidates for the Blueshirts. Are there others? Let's take a look at whom the Rangers might buy out as they prepare for an important summer.
Tags: Brendan Smith, Dan Girardi, Kevin Shattenkirk, Marc Staal
The Rangers may have found their next top defenseman in Adam Fox
Rangers GM: 'We think Adam is ready to play now'
It's every young athlete's dream to play for the team he or she grew up rooting for.
For Adam Fox, that dream has become reality.
The 21-year-old defenseman signed with the Rangers this offseason after three years at Harvard, and his new boss has big things in mind for him.
Which depth players could Rangers target in NHL offseason?
Blueshirts should be busy between free agency and trades
By Tom Krosnowski | Jun 7 | 1:58PM
Sep 30, 2017; Calgary, Alberta, CAN; Calgary Flames defenseman T.J. Brodie (7) controls the puck against the Winnipeg Jets during the first period at Scotiabank Saddledome. Mandatory Credit: Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports (Sergei Belski)
The New York Rangers enter the NHL offseason in one of the best positions: They have money to spend, and are a prime free agent destination.
Some of the game's biggest names, like Erik Karlsson and Artemi Panarin, have already been linked to the Rangers before free agency begins on July 1. The team also scored a major victory in the draft lottery and will get to select a franchise player with the second overall pick.
While the Rangers are expected to be finalists for either Panarin or Karlsson this summer, that doesn't mean they should be done shopping. They have many prospects gunning for spots, but it is a little bit of proven veteran goal scoring that has a way of coming up clutch in the Stanley Cup playoffs-just look at Justin Williams and Patrick Maroon in this year's postseason.
Tags: Brendan Smith, Chris Kreider, Kevin Shattenkirk
Devils or Rangers? NHL Draft prospect Jack Hughes wants to go No. 1
Hughes and Kaapo Kakko will likely be the top two picks in the draft
Jun 22, 2018; Dallas, TX, USA; A general view of the draft floor and stage before the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports (Jerome Miron)
It wouldn't have mattered which team had the No. 1 pick in the NHL Draft. Jack Hughes just wants to be the first player taken.
"You always dream of being No. 1," Hughes told reporters Friday at the NHL Scouting Combine in Buffalo. "You don't dream of being two, three or four when you're a young kid."
But the 18-year-old American center isn't about to ruffle any feathers. Asked whether he'd look better in red or blue, with the Devils and Rangers holding the top two picks in the NHL Draft, Hughes said, "I think I'd look good in either."
Devils own the No. 1 pick with the Rangers holding the No. 2 pick
(Noah K. Murray)
It was a rough season for the NHL's Hudson River Rivalry.
The Devils took a huge step back after making the playoffs in 2017-18, their 72 points the third-fewest in the league, while the Rangers were only six points better as they embarked on their first full season of their rebuild.
But next month's NHL Draft represents an opportunity for both teams to add a potential game-changing prospect, as the Devils hold the No. 1 pick with the Rangers picking right after at No. 2. American center Jack Hughes and Finnish wing Kaapo Kakko should be the top-two picks in some order, with Hughes long pegged as the top prospect in this draft class.
Tags: Nico Hischier
Potential Rangers draft pick Kaapo Kakko caps historic stretch at World Championships
He helped lead Finland to gold at tournament with six goals
With John Davidson set to make his first draft selection as president of the Rangers next month, Kaapo Kakko being available at No. 2 is becoming more and more tantalizing.
The 18-year-old showed out for Team Finland, which captured the gold medal, at the IHF World Championship this past month. Finland bested Canada, 3-1, in the championship match Monday.
Kaako poured in six goals, leading the team, and added an assist during the team's championship run, which capped an historic 13-month stretch for him. He became the sixth player ever to win an U-18 world championship, world junior championship and men's world championship.
How many players in the Stanley Cup Final have New York connections?
Several familiar faces have a chance to win the Cup this year
By Tom Krosnowski | May 27 | 10:00AM
Although no New York-area teams made it to the Stanley Cup Final this year, the Empire State will still have a large impact on hockey's grandest stage. Twelve players from the Boston Bruins and St. Louis Blues have connections with the New York metro area in some way, so local fans still have plenty of reasons to tune in.
The Bruins have one of the largest collections of American-born hockey players of any team in the NHL. Not surprisingly, several of them have called New York home for at least part of their careers.
Tags: Boston Bruins, Jaroslav Halak, John Moore, Marcus Johansson, Paul Carey, Steven Kampfer, St. Louis Blues
On this date: Rangers' Mark Messier backs up guarantee with hat trick
All his goals came in third period to force Game 7 vs. Devils
Feb 8, 2019; New York, NY, USA; Former New York Rangers captain Mark Messier waves to the crowd during the ceremony honoring the 1994 Stanley Cup Championship New York Rangers team at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Andy Marlin-USA TODAY Sports (Andy Marlin)
Twenty-five years ago today, Mark Messier immortalized himself in Rangers history.
The Blueshirts captain scored a hat trick in Game 6 of the 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, backing up his bold prediction from the day before that the Rangers would beat the Devils and force a Game 7.
Messier's goals all came in the third period and included the game-tying and go-ahead goals in the 4-2 road victory at Brendan Byrne Arena in East Rutherford, NJ.
How Rangers president John Davidson turned around the Blues and Blue Jackets
Davidson brought St. Louis back to prominence and turned Columbus into a contender
John Davidson's years as a goaltender and broadcaster for the Rangers made him a natural fit for their president vacancy. But beyond his connections to the franchise, Davidson comes with the experience of rebuilding franchises in St. Louis and Columbus as the Rangers go through a remodeling of their own.
No situation is the same, but as Davidson embarks on the next chapter of his career, it's worth examining the moves he made at his previous two stops to help bring the Blues back to prominence and give the Blue Jackets their first taste of sustained competitiveness.
Tags: Anthony DeAngelo, Filip Chytil, Henrik Lundqvist, Kevin Shattenkirk, Lias Andersson, Libor Hajek
5 Takeaways from Rangers president John Davidson's introductory press conference
JD preaches patience but also says team in position to be aggressive
JD returns to NY 00:02:24
John Davidson talks about running the Rangers, trying to win the Stanley Cup, the status of Henrik Lundqvist, and the 2nd pick in the draft.
The Rangers welcomed back new president John Davidson on Wednesday with a press conference at the Hulu Theater at MSG. Here are five takeaways from the press conference:
A Dream Come True
It's obvious how much returning to New York means to Davidson, the former Rangers goaltender and broadcaster beloved by the fan base.
"Dreams do come true," Davidson said.
Are the Rangers favorites to sign free agent Erik Karlsson this summer?
Two-time Norris Trophy winner will be a UFA July 1
Apr 23, 2019; San Jose, CA, USA; San Jose Sharks defenseman Erik Karlsson (65) chases after the puck against the Vegas Golden Knights during the second period in game seven of the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center at San Jose. Mandatory Credit: Stan Szeto-USA TODAY Sports (Stan Szeto)
Here we go again with the Rangers and Erik Karlsson.
After being linked to the star defenseman when the Senators were looking to trade him last offseason, despite the fact they weren't actually in on him, the Rangers are considered "a favorite" and "probably the most likely destination" for Karlsson in free agency this summer, according to Sportsnet's Chris Johnston.
Johnston addressed Karlsson's future during a Thursday radio interview with Sportsnet 960 The FAN in Calgary. Because the Rangers have cap space and the No. 2 pick in this year's NHL Draft, there's speculation that the Blueshirts could try to accelerate their rebuild.
Tags: Brendan Smith, Henrik Lundqvist, Kevin Shattenkirk
Blueshirts acquired Rykov last year from Devils in Michael Grabner trade
The Rangers have signed Russian defenseman Yegor Rykov to a two-year entry-level contract, according to TVA Sports and The Athletic.
According to both reports, the contract has an out clause which would allow 22-year-old, who had been playing for HC Sochi, to return to the KHL if he wishes.
Rykov was acquired from the Devils at the 2018 trade deadline as part of a package the Rangers received in exchange for Michael Grabner. The Rangers used the second-round pick acquired in that trade to move up four spots to No. 22 in the 2018 NHL Draft to select K'Andre Miller. The Devils took Rykov in the fifth round of the 2016 draft.
Tags: Michael Grabner, Yegor Rykov
Rangers Draft Watch: Kaapo Kakko thinks he can be the No. 1 pick
Jack Hughes and Kakko are the top two players in the 2019 draft class
Time will tell whether the Devils thinking highly enough of Kaapo Kakko to take him over long-presumed No. 1 NHL Draft pick Jack Hughes, but Kakko's emergence over the last year has at least made it a debate.
And Kakko thinks it can happen, especially as he dominates in the IIHF World Championship.
"This is a big thing for me for the draft," Kakko told NHL.com through a translator. "I think I can be the first (pick)."
John Davidson returns to Rangers as new team president
Blueshirts find their replacement for Glen Sather
The New York Rangers are about to hire John Davidson as their new team president.
The Columbus Blue Jackets announced on Friday that Davidson had submitted his resignation as president of hockey operations after being granted permission to speak to the Rangers about serving as their team president.
"Personally, I want to thank J.D. for his friendship and the many contributions that he and his wife, Diana, have made to the Blue Jackets and throughout our community," Blue Jackets president Mike Priest said in a statement
Rangers Draft Watch: Kaapo Kakko scores another highlight-reel goal
Kakko has six goals in four games at IIHF World Championship
The NHL Draft gets more interesting by the day.
Because the more Kaapo Kakko plays in the IIHF World Championship, the more he impresses, adding intrigue to the Devils' decision on whom to select first overall.
The Finnish wing, who will go to the Rangers at No. 2 if the Devils take American center Jack Hughes at No. 1, scored a beauty of a goal on Thursday for his sixth goal of the tournament.
Schoenfeld held various roles in 17 seasons with organization
The Rangers announced on Thursday that Jim Schoenfeld, the team's senior vice president and assistant general manager, had stepped down after 17 years with the organization. This comes on the heels of Glen Sather walking away as team president.
"In nearly two decades with the Rangers, Jim made an impact on every level of the organization," Sather, who will transition to a senior advisor role once a new president is hired, said in a press release. "His tireless efforts and contributions were vital to the extended run of success we experienced during his tenure in New York."
Possible Rangers, Devils draft pick Kaapo Kakko continues to dominate World Championship
Kakko scores hat trick in second game after scoring twice in opener
The tournament is only two days old, but Kaapo Kakko is already the talk of the IIHF World Championship.
The 18-year-old Finnish wing scored a hat trick Saturday in Finland's 4-2 win over Slovakia, giving him five goals after he scored two in the team's opener on Friday.
Kakko's first of the game was a long one-timer. He showed brilliant hands on his second goal before adding an empty-netter.
NHL Draft: Rangers, Devils have 'eyes' on Finland's Kaapo Kakko at IIHF Worlds
The two teams both had tweets in reference to Kakko's goal on Friday
It appears as if there could be a good ol' New York vs. New Jersey battle for Finnish hockey phenom Kaapo Kakko.
Many expect the 18-year-old forward to go second overall to the Rangers, but perhaps it is too early to count out the Devils just yet.
Kakko scored an impressive goal at the IIHF Worlds on Friday, grabbing the puck on a breakaway while a defender attempted to trip him from behind. Kakko escaped free of the defender's stick while also deking out the goalie to sneak the puck past him.
When the clip of the goal surfaced on Twitter, the Rangers tweeted out the eyeball emoji while the Devils tweeted out a double eyes emoji along with a gif of the goal five minutes later.
What former Rangers RW Mats Zuccarello said about his future
Blueshirts would get Stars' 2020 first-rounder if Zuccarello re-signs with Dallas
(Jerome Miron)
Now that the Stars have been eliminated from the playoffs, speculation is already running rampant about what the future holds for former Rangers fan favorite Mats Zuccarello, whom the Rangers traded to Dallas at this year's deadline.
The Blueshirts missed out on getting Dallas' 2019 first-round pick by a goal as the Stars lost to the Blues in double overtime of Game 7 Tuesday night. Instead, the Rangers will get the Stars' second-rounder. However, if Zuccarello re-signs with the Stars, the 2020 third-round pick New York got from Dallas will become a first-rounder.
Based on what Zuccarello had to say about the matter Thursday, it seems the Blueshirts may luck out with next year's NHL Draft.
Tags: Mats Zuccarello
Rangers could pursue free agent Artemi Panarin with likely John Davidson hire: report
Davidson and Panarin spent last few years in Columbus
Now that the Columbus Blue Jackets have officially been eliminated from the playoffs, the Rangers can move forward with their offseason plans.
The Rangers had narrowed their search for a new president to John Davidson, the current president of the Blue Jackets and former Rangers goalie and broadcaster.
Davidson is believed to have a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave his position and the Rangers are expected to put in an official request soon, according to Larry Brooks of The Post.
How outcome of Stars/Blues Game 7 will impact Rangers in draft
If Dallas wins, New York will add another first round pick
Apr 25, 2019; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington (50) defends the goal against Dallas Stars center Mats Zuccarello (36) during the third period in game one of the second round of the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports (Jeff Curry)
A Game 7 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs is a must-watch for hockey fans. But Tuesday night's Game 7 between Dallas and St. Louis in the Western Conference semifinals will have significant implications for the Rangers and one of their ex-players.
A Stars win would not only send former fan favorite Mats Zuccarello to the next round, but it'd convert the second round pick the Rangers traded him for earlier this year into a first-rounder.
Zuccarello suffered a broken arm during his first game with the Stars, but returned for the team's playoff run. In the first round, he was a pivotal part of Dallas' upset over Nashville, scoring three goals.
Tags: Matz Zuccarello
Possible Rangers draft target Kaapo Kakko to play at World Championships
Touted prospect will play for native Finland
Those intrigued by the Rangers holding the second overall selection in this year's NHL Draft are already becoming familiar with the name Kaapo Kakko.
The Finnish 18-year-old is widely expected to be drafted No. 2 overall -- behind Jack Hughes. And fans will have a chance to get a feel for his game throughout May. He'll be in action over the course of the next few weeks for Team Finland at the 2019 International Hockey Federation World Championships in Slovakia.
Finland announced its full roster Monday.
Will Henrik Lundqvist finish his career with Rangers?
Veteran goalie casts doubt on future before walking comments back
( Adam Hunger)
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist sounded awfully unsure of his future with the Rangers before quickly clarifying his comments.
The 37-year-old, who has two years remaining on his contract, told the Swedish newspaper Expressen, "I don't know if I'll stay with the Rangers my entire career."
"I have two years left on my deal and it has always been my goal to stay with the Rangers, but once you get up there in age you never know," he said.
Tags: Henrik Lundqvist
Rangers sign two former draft picks to entry-level deals
2018 first-rounder Kravtsov joins New York
Vitali Kravtsov poses for a photo with team representatives after being selected as the No. 9 overall pick to the New York Rangers in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft at American Airlines Center. (Jerome Miron/USA TODAY Sports)
The Rangers signed two former draft picks, including 2018 first-round pick Vitali Kravtsov, to entry-level contracts.
Kravtsov, a 19-year-old forward, has played with the KHL's Traktor Chelyabinsk for the past three years, scoring eight goals and recording 13 assists in 50 games this past season.
New York drafted Kravtsov, a 6-foot-4, 183-pound right winger, ninth overall last year. He made the KHL All-Star Game last season and won Bronze with Team Russia at the U20 World Junior Championship earlier this year.
Newly acquired Rangers defenseman Adam Fox signs entry-level deal
Fox could be donning the Blueshirt as soon as this fall
Adam Fox could make his Broadway debut as soon as this fall.
What was a formality once the Rangers acquired his rights this week became official on Thursday as Fox signed his entry-level contract. Assuming the 21-year-old is as advertised during training camp, he could be on the Blueshirts' NHL roster on opening night.
Tags: Brady Skjei, Chris Kreider
Rangers land prospect Adam Fox from Hurricanes
Harvard product is Jericho, N.Y. native
Adam Fox is headed home.
The Jericho, New York native and former Harvard standout has been traded from the Hurricanes to the Rangers for a second round pick in this year's draft and a conditional third-rounder in 2020.
Fox wrapped up his collegiate career last month with the Crimson, where he was a three-year starter and scored 116 points during his tenure. In 2018-19, he had nine goals and 39 assists. The 21-year-old also served as an alternate captain on the 2018 U.S. World Junior Championships team and was a member of the gold-medal winning group the year prior.
rangers Archives
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Profica meets global fit out challenges
by HostDH |
Head office fit outs for global concerns extending their footprint in SA can bring numerous challenges when meeting global specifications in a local context. Tasked with the fit out for a leading e-commerce company, Profica was able to ensure expectations were not only met, but exceeded.
Cape-Town based Donia Kamstra, Associate Director at Profica, says that there are particular challenges with global companies that can be related to procurement processes, international specifications and global service provider contracts that may extend to both services and equipment. Additionally, there must be an ability to facilitate and work around procurement, transportation and delivery of long lead international equipment and supplies.
Kamstra says, “The client will often have their own processes around these areas which must be adhered to in all their international office installations. To ensure that these requirements are successfully localised without compromising on the international requirement or local compliance requires a great deal of experience. Our years of undertaking fit outs for global companies in South Africa and on the Africa continent has strongly positioned Profica to undertake projects such as these.”
An important aspect of this particular client fit out when navigating the deliverables within a global procurement process, was to include coordination and facilitation of information from the client’s directly-appointed global consultants and services providers. Profica was able to steer the project team to align with the required programme deadlines whilst adhering to the client’s particular procedures, and interpreting, sourcing and proposing some of the client’s international specifications into local alternatives.
Another critical area for a global fit out often involves timing expectations where, says Kamstra, the project delivery timeframes expected by local stakeholders don’t align with the client’s procurement processes. “For this project, Profica was instrumental in identifying where the bottlenecks were in the process and proposing alternative mechanisms to keep the project aligned with the local delivery time frames.”
Strip out of the existing premises began in February 2018 with the main contract proceeding in March. The client took occupation of the premises at the beginning of July this year, marking an impressive turnaround. Kamstra adds that Profica was able to ensure that practical completion was achieved 30 days prior to this, which was a client requirement, but not always achieved for their global projects.
Kamstra concludes. “I think that the team’s proactive and insightful approach were critical factors to enabling the project delivery that was not only successfully concluded in the client’s anticipated timeframe, but came in under budget. It is always a tremendous feeling to be able to add value such as this, which in turn allows the client to add additional scope. For Profica, our ability to successfully deliver global fit outs is made possible due to an understanding of the complex factors involved in global fit outs, being able to anticipate areas of misalignment and proactively work on these, and ensuring consistent communication with both local and global stakeholders.”
Profica ensures swift fit out for global giant Amazon
Profica’s project management capabilities enabled the fit out of Amazon’s local head office in Cape Town to be delivered in a 3-month period, below budget. This allowed Amazon to include additional items into the original project scope.
Exciting new wins for Profica’s global occupier services
Profica’s proven Global Occupier Services (GOS) experience in South Africa and on the African continent continues to enjoy upward momentum with as many as five new appointments by leading global companies that are refreshing and expanding their local offices.
The first is the appointment as full turnkey design and build managers for Oracle’s new 600m2 office in Cape Town. Another Cape Town-based project is for Amazon, who have recently appointed Profica to project manage the company’s new 3000m2 office space fit out. This follows on from a full technical due diligence on the property that was undertaken by Profica.
Growing Profica's Global Occupier Services and Design & Build division
Chanean Beetge has recently joined Profica to serve in their Global Occupier Services and Design & Build division. The fast-growing division complements Profica’s comprehensive offering on the African continent by enabling clients to optimise their strategic goals through the proper application of their real estate portfolios.
Profica in Nigeria - building a better future
Since its inception in 2005, Profica has continued to expand its operational footprint across the African Continent.
Profica extends East African footprint
Leading construction and property solutions company, Profica, has been operating successfully in the African continent for over a decade.
One on One Feature: Meet Philippe Davis - Cameroon’s Profica lead.
Meet Philippe Davis
Cameroon’s Profica lead.
He tells us more about the work going on the in region and how Profica is growing it’s brand through projects on the ground.
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Table Talk: Game Changers
Game changer – a visionary; someone who looks beyond conventional methods; conceives new strategies; works to transform their industry
You don’t have to look too far beyond our own backyard to discover someone in our local community who fits the above description. The Sunshine Coast is renowned for its innovative focus and is a breeding ground for many successful startup businesses. Not surprisingly, acclaimed futurist and demographer Bernard Salt described the Sunshine Coast as one of the most exciting business destinations in Australia. Our economic diversity, infrastructure and overall growth trajectory is attracting young entrepreneurs to create innovative businesses here that will see the bright minds of today become the game changers of tomorrow. Speaking of game changers, I recently caught up with some of the Coast’s brightest sparks from industries as diverse as fashion to politics to share their thoughts on who they believe has been a visionary in their industry. Joining me for a delicious lunch at Ba Vigo, Cotton Tree was Barbara Pease of Pease International; Judy Copley of Judy Copley Couture; Cindy Vogels of Racy & Lucky; Heidi Meyer, owner of Badderam Luxury Resort, Buderim; Jeanette Allom-Hill, COO with the Sunshine Coast Council; and Olivia Sainsbury, executive officer with the Caloundra Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Seared scallops, grilled chorizo, sesame and salsa verde
Who do you consider a game changer in your industry?
Judy: I can’t think of one person in particular, but to me, the youth are the game changers of today. They are the future. In terms of the design industry, I love the Australian designer, J’Aton Couture. Having said that, my work is art so I don’t like to follow other designers. I just like to be in my own little world and create for myself.
Olivia: From a business perspective, internationally you have the likes of Richard Branson and Elon Musk but I like to think about game changers from a local perspective and we have so many here on the Coast. There is some phenomenal stuff going on and so many startups. Recently a local business designed a unmanned vehicle that goes into war zones rather than sending our troops in. For me that’s a game changer. We all drive a car every day but making it so it goes into new territory is such a niche.
Jeanette: When I think of game changers I think about Councillor Steve Robinson who stood up and voted yes for Yaroomba. He said it was about doing what was right for the community and not his career. He is a glorious human being with great integrity. I really admire those who are brave and stand up for what’s right. Cliche as it may sound, the other game changer that comes straight to my mind is the Mayor Mark Jamieson. You read about what a great leader he is but the first time I met with him, I could clearly see he leads with a deep understanding and a love of the people and the region. It is an honour to work for someone like that. Seeing how important leadership and culture and women are to the way he leads is very inspirational. There are also many women I meet every day who give me strength.
Barbara: I would have to say my husband, Allan Pease. He was an insurance guy who had the gift of the gab and he basically created the speaking industry in Australia and he absolutely loves what he does. Before that, people who spoke got cups or a certificate saying they spoke at a conference. He created the first tape of himself speaking, and it was so new he had to sell the recorder with it. He has always been a game changer. When Australia got hit with the recession, he and I just created all these other markets. We were never frightened to take risks because we had each other. We moved to England at one stage and made it our base while we were doing lots of speaking gigs in Russia. We also look for opportunities. For example, when we realised there was no professional recording studio on the Sunshine Coast, we opened one! We are also big fan of Elon Musk, in fact we own a Tesla and we absolutely love it. It’s the best thing!
Cindy: I am in awe of eco tech fashion companies. There is one which has developed the technology to collect all the plastic from the ocean and turn it into lycra. And now I have actually got friends who have developed swimsuits from that product and it’s beautiful. Second to that are the Italian designers who have figured out how to make distressed jeans without the chemicals, they use air and pressure instead. The chemicals from the jeans industry are the most toxic, second only to the tanning industry. Both Judy and I are what you call slow fashion manufacturers. We are not contributing to mass wastage. From an artistic point of view, I love Toni Maticevski, his work is so dreamy.
Heidi: Elon Musk, inspires me incredibly. As a developer of a seven-star luxury eco resort, I am succinctly aware that the words ‘environment’ and ‘sustainability’ are not usually synonymous with the words ‘luxury resort travel’. Sustainability is about protecting the places we love and there have been several game changing luxury resort groups who have inspired the vision for Badderam. These resort developers and operators have re-invented themselves in recent years inside of a new ‘environmentally conscientious’ luxury resort and spa market. They have banned plastic bottles in most properties, sought to reduce waste and consumption and are truly engaging within the communities where they operate existing luxury resorts and of course where they intend to place new luxury resorts. These groups, at the top end of the travel industry, are becoming leaders, setting a better example among industry peers, while still indulging their guests. It’s great to see.
Spiced and grilled lamb pizza, eggplant chips, rocket and tomato
Ba Vigo
Some restaurants have a reputation that precedes them, Ba Vigo is one of them – for all the right reasons. Nestled in the heart of vibrant Cotton Tree, the Spanish restaurant has earned a name for itself as one of the best on the Coast.
Owned by husband and wife team Nick and Louise Belton, Ba Vigo opened its doors 14 years ago to become a firm favourite among locals and visitors alike; with the couple’s love for Spanish culture and food evident from the moment you set foot inside the restaurant.
On the day of our recent lunchtime visit, an inviting mix of Spanish music, eclectic recycled timber and a delicious aroma from the kitchen combined to create the perfect setting for a leisurely lunch with the girls.
We enjoyed the long lunch menu, which included a mix of exciting share plates to tantalise the taste buds. Each dish was vibrant, colourful and rich in exotic flavours. Do yourself a favour and order the chocolate and hazelnut ravioli, you will not be disappointed.
Chilled glasses of white and red sangria were the perfect complement to the delicious fare.
If you love good food, good wine, great atmosphere and great service, make sure you put it on your list – the Spanish music will have you wanting to dance too!
3/27 Cotton Tree Parade, Maroochydore
bavigo.com.au
Nick Belton
• White sangria
• Spanish charcuterie
• Roast chilli, tomato and three cheese cocita
• Spice confit duck, roast pumpkin, burnt orange caramel and sweet potato crisps
• Seared scallops, grilled chorizo, sesame and salsa verde
• Sand crab and whitebait fritters, pickled chilli vinegar, roast garlic aioli
• Spanish tomato salad, queso iberico anchovies and salad greens
• Red sangria
• Sweet pickled beetroot salad, woodside goat’s curd, roasted hazelnuts, mint, rocket and pomegranate molasses
• Spiced and grilled lamb pizza, eggplant chips, rocket and tomato
• Chocolate and hazelnut ravioli, mascarpone and burnt orange caramel
Chocolate and hazelnut ravioli, mascarpone and burnt orange caramel
Noosa Food and Wine line-up
Feeding Change with Cyndi O’Meara
Savouring experiences
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You are here: Home / presidential campaigns- election season / Ted Cruz Wants To Audit The Federal Reserve
Ted Cruz Wants To Audit The Federal Reserve
Via Fortune-
Ted Cruz, one of the most rock-ribbed conservatives in the Republican presidential field, supports auditing the Federal Reserve.
Radio and television host Glenn Beck, who has long advocated closer scrutiny of the Fed, published an e-mail Cruz sent him after missing a Senate vote on such an action:
“I strongly support auditing the Fed. Indeed, I was an original co-sponsor of Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill. Unfortunately, it was clear early on that yesterday’s vote wasn’t going to succeed (it fell 7 votes short). And, at the same time that the vote was scheduled, I had longstanding commitments to be in New Hampshire — for a Second Amendment rally, and a 1500- person State of the Union town hall. If my vote would have made a difference in it passing, I would have cancelled my campaign events to be there. Because the vote was not going to succeed, I honored my commitments to be with the men and women of New Hampshire.As President, I look forward to signing Audit the Fed legislation into law.”
The original note was published on Facebook.
The Federal Reserve has been a hot topic in the Republican party for several years. The bill voted on this week was a proposal from Cruz’s fellow presidential hopeful Rand Paul. Paul’s father Ron ran for president in 2008 with shutting down the Fed as a major plank in his platform, and even wrote a book called End the Fed.
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Filed Under: presidential campaigns- election season, Ted Cruz · Tagged: audit the fed, federal reserve, Sen. Rand Paul, Sen. Ted Cruz
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17 Reasons Why We Believe Trump Voted For Obama In 2008 »
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The List 2020 SX Venues
by: Jason Thomas & Steve Matthes
Steve Matthes and Jason Thomas Discuss the 2020 SX Venues
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With the 2020 Monster Energy AMA Supercross schedule announced, we decided to have Steve Matthes and Jason Thomas take a look at the venues and recall some of their best memories from each location.
Round One: Anaheim, CA
Of course the first round of Monster Energy AMA Supercross starts at Anaheim! Where else would it be, bro? Speaking of bros, there will be a ton of them there in the OC watching the opening round. Nothing like it, in my opinion: great buzz, the anticipation of the season is in the air, and the riders and teams try to kick off the year right. As far as the stadium is concerned, well it’s getting up there in age and it would be nice to have better crowd flow, the press box is too small and not in a good spot but it’s A1, you’re just happy to be there!
Matthes' memory: So many great races at the opener but what about when Trey Canard and Davi Millsaps just had a battle royale that no one saw coming? What a race for both of them.
Round Two: St. Louis, MO
St. Louis in January is going to be a cold one! This race is usually known for having the best dirt of the series, but the timing might make it more rutty than usual. The stadium in STL is a bit lonely these days with the St. Louis Rams taking their talents to Los Angeles. Still, the Midwest crowd turns out in droves, making this a fun event for everyone. The soft dirt will be interesting to watch as the West Coast swing of the series is usually a hard-packed, slippery affair. I am sure there will be some that complain about the trip east for the second round, but I like the wrinkle.
JT's memory: The race in 2003 was a good once for me, landing in tenth place in 450SX. I was able to keep Ezra Lusk behind me in the late laps and just felt like I belonged inside the top ten that night. It was also my first year on the Subway/Coca Cola Honda team and that was one of the team’s home races. To put in a good result with everyone watching was satisfying, as well as cementing my spot there for the next few years. There was an epic battle between Chad Reed and Ricky Carmichael that night, too, but I wouldn’t know anything about that until I watched the race on television later.
Round Three: Anaheim, CA
Yeah. We’re back at Anaheim! The second race at Angel Stadium has been a Triple Crown round for the last couple of years and I expect that to continue in 2020. Remember when there were three Anaheim supercrosses? Yeah, that was a bit much but two does seem perfect and the heart of the industry is in Southern California so I think it’s accepted by everyone. One thing I missed in the A1 preview was make sure you hit up the taco trucks in the pits, they’re pretty good!
Matthes' memory: All the non-opener Anaheim’s tend to blend together but we’ll go with 2000 when the whoops were four feet tall and Jeremy McGrath rode through them like they were flat in practice. It had all the other riders and teams shaking their heads in amazement.
Angel Stadium Jeff Kardas
Round Four: Glendale, AZ
Situated just outside of Phoenix, Glendale boasts arguably the season’s best weather. The mild Arizona January temps are a welcome sight to many as is the perennial sunshine. Phoenix is a great city and not hard to figure out why so many snowbirds make this their winter home. Scottsdale is vibrant and upscale, Tempe is home to Arizona State University and all things associated, while downtown Phoenix has its own vibe altogether.
The stadium change has been a great improvement, too, heading out to the Arizona Cardinals football stadium instead of downtown’s Arizona Diamondbacks venue. The old venue’s limited parking had a cramped feel and didn’t do justice to what was possible. Glendale could very well be one of the best rounds of the series all things considered.
JT's memory: Qualifying out of the heat races (when they only took four) was a very difficult proposition for me. I usually qualified from the semi races or even the LCQ, adding more racing and less recovery for the main event. The 2006 event, I did qualify from the heat, though, with Ricky Carmichael passing me with a couple of laps to go. It was a great feeling and one of those “validation” races where you know you are doing something right.
Round Five: Oakland, CA
I bet JT is upset that he couldn’t write this one. It might be his favorite stop in the series! The Oakland Coliseum is committed to excellence… in 1970. Yeah, it’s a tad on the older side but the dirt in Oakland is usually pretty good and it’s a huge floor so the track is always pretty good. The press box is… well better to just leave that alone. In fact, let’s just praise the dirt and track and move onto the next one before people get mad. Hey Feld, if ANYTHING ever opens up in San Fran, let’s try that, yeah?
Matthes' memory: The epic ride that Trey Canard had there one year (2015) as he sliced through some greats to take the win. Stew was also very good here.
Round Six: San Diego, CA
What a great round San Diego is! Even though some will whine about downtown parking, the move to Petco Park has been awesome. Having the Gas Lamp district next door adds to the overall feel of the event. Fans and teams can walk over from their hotel and once they arrive, a multitude of amenities await. Petco Park has the best culinary options on the calendar with breweries and unique restaurants. If you are able, San Diego is a must-attend event. If you don’t agree, Ron Burgundy will literally fight you to the death.
JT's memory: San Diego in 2008 was still out at Qualcomm Stadium but was a great night for me. I ended up tenth in the main event after chasing Nick Wey for 20 laps. I had this 3-3-4 rhythm in the whoops that was hard to top even for the fastest of blitzers. I got a decent start and can’t remember making one mistake in the main event. Tenth place isn’t setting the world on fire but I felt like I rode to the best of my ability that night. Out front, Reed won an exciting main event and being my best friend, added to a great feeling driving out of the stadium that evening.
Petco Park Jeff Kardas
Round Seven: Tampa, FL
Hey, look who’s back! Tampa, Florida, made its return in 2018 after being off the series for over 15 years and then poof, it was gone again. Well it’s back for 2020 and at a good time of the year at that. Florida in February and March is tough to beat. The stadium is cool, I mean it’s got a pirate ship in it, people! The question with Florida supercrosses is attendance and let’s hope it does well this year because it’s been a tough time over the years keeping the races in Florida. Last time we raced here Tampa had a set of sand rollers that were awesome.
Matthes' memory: I was working for Tim Ferry in 1999 and had just started working for him so to see him pass Jeremy McGrath in a heat race when MC made a mistake was pretty cool. Yes, Jeremy got him back but I remember thinking “NO ONE PASSES THE KING!!!”
Round Eight: Arlington, TX
Jerry’s World welcomes Monster Energy AMA Supercross for round eight. The sheer size and scope of AT&T Stadium is enough to make this a series highlight. The dirt has improved in recent years, too, adding traction and improving the quality of racing. This round feels more like a regional event, drawing crowds from far and wide. The pit party is always packed, the stadium is full, and the event feels like a huge success year in and year out. The only thing that could top this event would be access to Jerry’s suite but I won’t hold my breath on that.
JT's memory: My first visit to the new stadium was in 2010. After racing in the old stadium over in Irving, it was mind-blowing to be in this revolutionary new venue. Everything from the massive flat screen to the next-level VIP areas was beyond awesome. I didn’t ride all that well in the main event and can’t even remember what place I finished but I will never forget walking into that stadium for the first time.
Round Nine: Atlanta, GA
I heard that Atlanta was going to go away and truthfully that never made sense to me based on the history of the city holding races. Whether it was Fulton Country Stadium or the Georgia Dome or now, Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Atlanta round is always packed. Then again, I’ve never actually been to this new stadium and have skipped this race the last two years. This stadium looks amazing though and Atlanta needs to be on the schedule every year.
Matthes' memory: Just how the Georgia Dome would lose their minds for Ezra Lusk every year as he went up against Jeremy McGrath.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium Jeff Kardas
Round Ten: Daytona, FL
I love unique aspects to a series and Daytona certainly provides that. Bike Week is a truly awesome spectacle and the supercross event is the kick-off. There are motorcycle enthusiasts from thousands of miles away, all making their way to the speedway by Saturday night. The track is totally different than any other round of the series, the speedway setting has a different look, and as Ricky Carmichael always says, the series doesn’t even really start until we arrive here.
JT's memory: My first year of racing Daytona was 1997. I was a senior in high school and trying to make as much money as possible, raced both classes. I ended up qualifying for both main events that day and although exhausted at the end of the race, couldn’t have been happier. I remember going back to school on Monday with $1,300 in my pocket, thinking I should just drop out and retire with all of that cash.
Round 11: Indianapolis, IN
Another staple of the series, Indy has seen some great racing and crowds over the years. Yes, it’s a bit cold but the pits are nice, the stadium is right downtown and easy to get to and the city of Indy is kind of underrated. The press box is great here and there’s a good burger place in the one corner of the end zone that’s pretty solid. Also, Starbucks for days around the place so I’m all in on this round.
Matthes' memory: David Vuillemin’s win at the old RCA Dome in 2002 comes to mind as an all timer. He passed RC and Travis Pastrana to take the win in a great ride.
Round 12: Detroit, MI
Detroit takes some heat as the downtown area had a rough start to the new millennium. There has been light at the end of the tunnel and it’s clear to see things are slowly turning around. There are businesses up and running now with a much more upbeat feel to the area. The stadium here has always been great, it was just getting in and out that created the questionable vibe. With great dirt, a nice stadium, loyal fans from the entire Great Lakes area, and a city on the rebound, Detroit might be the most underrated race of the year.
JT's memory: In 2008, I grabbed another tenth place finish (notice a pattern here). It was only memorable in that it felt so easy. I didn’t battle with anyone, I didn’t have any pressure, I didn’t even have anyone to race with, honestly. I rode around by myself for 20 laps and headed back to the pits. Easy nights are few and far between for 450SX racing but that was an easy one.
Ford Field Rich Shepherd
Round 13: Seattle, WA
This race usually has bad weather, it usually has a track that is treacherous but it also usually packs the fans in! The Pacific Northwesters do not care a bit about some rain. Love this city and the general area, the pits moved indoors a couple of years ago and that was a good thing. It’s a very cool vibe at this race and I always enjoy going there.
Matthes' memory: Eli Tomac in 2018 was simply amazing to watch. The other riders looked like novices out there trying to navigate the ruts and jumps and the #3 was on another level out there.
Round 14: Denver, CO
In 2019, Denver made its return to the series for the first time since 1996. Even with the snow during practice, this round was a huge hit. Colorado has a massive off-road riding community and they all turned out to watch supercross action. I hope this round is around for a long time to come. Denver is a great city, the stadium is awesome, and the elevation creates an interesting wrinkle for teams to deal with.
JT's memory: The 1996 Denver round was the finale so of course awards were handed out afterward. In those humble days, there was no banquet or niceties, so to speak. The awards were handed out from a flat bed trailer and makeshift microphone. We have come a long way, folks.
Round 15: Foxborough, MA
I like the whole New Jersey/Massachusetts every other year thing. Just switches things up and makes it a tad more interesting every year. This is a newer venue so I haven’t quite figured everything out yet. Do I stay by the stadium? Or by the airport in Boston? Where are the good places to go? The stadium is good, it’s pretty modern although the floor seems a bit smaller than usual so the track isn’t imaginative because of the football stadium layout. It’s the home of Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski though, so there’s that.
Matthes' memory: Marvin Musquin t-boning Eli Tomac and taking the win. Uhhhh, wow.
Round 16: Las Vegas, NV
Vegas, baby! It’s going to be weird for Vegas to not wrap the series, but I am sure it will be just fine. Vegas’ great spring weather will be the same and it will still have the “home stretch” feeling that it always has. The biggest difference will be that the Shootout won’t be in Vegas and it will be a 250SX West Region only round. Otherwise, I think it will still be a great round with hopefully the same panache and fanfare that Vegas always commands.
JT's memory: My first time to Vegas was 1998 and I think my eyelids were blown off by the craziness that is Vegas. I somehow managed to qualify for the 250SX (now 450SX) main event in a wild and wooly LCQ. To travel to Vegas for my father and I was no small undertaking so to reward him with a main event was a good feeling.
Round 17: Salt Lake City, UT
The final round of the series takes place in Utah and that’s a curious decision for sure. I mean, Las Vegas kind of worked, yeah? Anyway, we’re back to SLC which is an easy commute for me and most of the industry. The dirt ends up being pretty hard pack if the weather holds out and the crowd always seems into it. Let’s see how this works for the finale this year.
Matthes' memory: The racers out there in a snowstorm one year. That was wild and something I’m not sure I’ve ever seen before.
Racer X Films: 125 All Star Race | RedBud Thu Jul 11 2:25pm
My Favorite Loretta Lynn’s Moto: Nick Wey Thu Jul 11 4:40pm
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You are here: Home / News & Blog / News / PixelFLEX takes the stage at the Scottish Rite Valley of Boston
PixelFLEX takes the stage at the Scottish Rite Valley of Boston
First Lieutenant Commander Eugene “Cappy” Capobianco works with the Nashville-based LED video manufacturer to install a new theatrical backdrop using FLEXLite LED
Nashville, 9/25/2017 – As one of the several Scottish Rite Valleys located in the state of Massachusetts, the Valley of Boston is steeped in the rich traditions of the Scottish Rite and Freemasonry dating back to the 17th Century. Dedicated to promoting personal character, leadership, and family values, the four bodies of the Valley of Boston come together twice a year in the spring and fall to welcome new members to the fraternal organization. In a ceremony that includes a high level of theatrical production, the Valley of Boston wanted to heighten the experience behind the ceremony so they installed a new FLEXLite LED video system from PixelFLEX.
“At the Scottish Rite Valley of Boston, we have a stage in Gothic Hall with full scale production equipment that you would expect to see in any regional theatre,” began Eugene “Cappy” Capobianco, First Lieutenant Commander, Massachusetts Consistory Scottish Rite Valley of Boston. “We rely upon these production elements for our new candidate orientation where each of the four bodies within the organization produces an allegory for the benefit of the candidates to understand all of the ‘32 Degrees of the Orders’. As part of the productions, we were spending a lot of money and storage space on the various backdrops, so one day we came up with the idea to begin renting a LED wall for our stills and video backdrops. This eventually led us to the purchase of our own FLEXLite LED video wall which has been a great addition for our production crew and our entire membership.”
FLEXLite from Nashville-based PixelFLEX is an economical LED video solution for both indoor and outdoor video designs. With its bright, dense display and high refresh rate, incorporating FLEXLite into any production takes little effort, and its easy access back panels allow for simple on-site repairs. Built with a die cast aluminum frame, FLEXLite is available in two sizes, 500mm x 500mm or 1000mm x 500mm, and is also available in 2.6mm-6.25mm pixel pitch options.
“I’m an electrical contractor by trade and when I initially discussed the idea of using LED video over traditional backdrops with the heads of the four bodies and our technical director, everyone agreed it was a good idea,” continued Cappy. “We began by renting an LED wall for our productions and everyone liked it so much we started looking at purchasing the technology for ourselves. At our next meeting, PixelFLEX joined us via conference call and then we took a trip to Nashville and decided to install our FLEXLite LED video wall that now measures 18-feet high by 30-feet wide for a beautiful, full-stage backdrop.”
With the decision to move forward now made, it was time to install the LED video wall in Gothic Hall, located on the 7th floor of the Grand Lodge. Using their electrical and theatrical design experience, Cappy and the production team were confident that they could capitalize on the design innovation of a PixelFLEX system for a quick and easy installation.
“It was actually a piece of cake to install the FLEXLite LED video wall,” he added. “First, we set up the piping per the specs to hang the wall, and then as the panels arrived, we were able to easily connect them together down the line. We then built a breakout box to connect power, installed the cables into our plug-and-play system from PixelFLEX, and away it went running entirely off six 220-volt 20A circuits.”
Excited to have the LED video wall in place, the Valley of Boston got right to work to create their new production designs. As each of the four body heads would be producing their own piece of the production, the FLEXLite system immediately created boundless opportunities that could not be achieved with static backdrop.
“For the content, we have been using a combination of both moving and still graphics,” explained Cappy. “To decide which content is used, the head of each body sits down with our technical director during the design and rehearsal process, and they develop the imagery for their specific production. We really are having fun exploring the all capabilities of the video system because the FLEXLite LED wall gives us unlimited opportunities to create any imagery we need.”
Ready for the productions to take flight with the FLEXLite LED video wall in place, Cappy was eager to see the reaction of the new and current membership. Knowing their dedication to creating true theatrical productions at the Scottish Rite Valley of Boston, the dynamic capabilities of an LED video system made an immediate impact.
“Our productions have always been theatrical in nature, no different from any community or regional theatre nationwide,” he concluded. “We do this for the benefit of our current and prospective membership, so when we came to the crossroads of being able to update our technical system with the latest technology, we had to take it. With four different bodies, putting on different plays throughout the course of the day, the FLEXLite LED video wall allows us to do so much more than a traditional backdrop, and it really takes our productions to a new level.”
September 25, 2017 /0 Comments/by pixelflex
https://pixelflexled.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/ScottRite.jpg 768 1024 pixelflex https://pixelflexled.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/pixelflex-logo-header-340x156.png pixelflex2017-09-25 09:53:522017-09-25 09:53:52PixelFLEX takes the stage at the Scottish Rite Valley of Boston
PixelFLEX LED sets the tone for the 2017 MLB All-Star FanFest Captivating LED Video Walls Take Church Worship Services to a Higher Level
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Manipulating Equations and Inequalities
Complex Polynomial Systems
In a statement like x^4+x^2>0, the Wolfram Language treats the variable x as having a definite, though unspecified, value. Sometimes, however, it is useful to be able to make statements about whole collections of possible values for x. You can do this using quantifiers.
ForAll[x,expr] expr holds for all values of x
ForAll[{x1,x2,…},expr] exprholds for all values of all thexi
ForAll[{x1,x2,…},cond,expr] exprholds for allxisatisfyingcond
Exists[x,expr] there exists a value of x for which expr holds
Exists[{x1,x2,…},expr] there exist values of the xi for which expr holds
Exists[{x1,…},cond,expr] there exist values of the xi satisfying cond for which expr holds
The structure of quantifiers.
You can work with quantifiers in the Wolfram Language much as you work with equations, inequalities, or logical connectives. In most cases, the quantifiers will not immediately be changed by evaluation. But they can be simplified or reduced by functions like FullSimplify and Reduce.
This asserts that an x exists that makes the inequality true. The output here is just a formatted version of the input:
In[1]:=
Out[1]=
FullSimplify establishes that the assertion is true:
This gives False, since the inequality fails when x is zero:
The Wolfram Language supports a version of the standard notation for quantifiers used in predicate logic and pure mathematics. You can input as \[ForAll] or EscfaEsc, and you can input as \[Exists] or EscexEsc. To make the notation precise, however, the Wolfram Language makes the quantified variable a subscript. The conditions on the variable can also be given in the subscript, separated by a comma.
∀xexpr ForAll[x,expr]
∀{x1,x2,…}expr ForAll[{x1,x2,…},expr]
∀x,condexpr ForAll[x,cond,expr]
∃xexpr Exists[x,expr]
∃{x1,x2,…}expr Exists[{x1,x2,…},expr]
∃x,condexpr Exists[x,cond,expr]
Notation for quantifiers.
Given a statement that involves quantifiers, there are certain important cases where it is possible to resolve it into an equivalent statement in which the quantifiers have been eliminated. Somewhat like solving an equation, such quantifier elimination turns an implicit statement about what is true for all x or for some x into an explicit statement about the conditions under which this holds.
Resolve[expr] attempt to eliminate quantifiers from expr
Resolve[expr,dom] attempt to eliminate quantifiers with all variables assumed to be in domain dom
Quantifier elimination.
This shows that an x exists that makes the equation true:
This shows that the equations can only be satisfied if c obeys a certain condition:
Resolve can always eliminate quantifiers from any collection of polynomial equations and inequations over complex numbers, and from any collection of polynomial equations and inequalities over real numbers. It can also eliminate quantifiers from Boolean expressions.
This finds the conditions for a quadratic form over the reals to be positive:
This shows that there is a way of assigning truth values to p and q that makes the expression true:
You can also use quantifiers with Reduce. If you give Reduce a collection of equations or inequalities, then it will try to produce a detailed representation of the complete solution set. But sometimes you may want to address a more global question, such as whether the solution set covers all values of x, or whether it covers none of these values. Quantifiers provide a convenient way to specify such questions.
This gives the complete structure of the solution set:
This instead just gives the condition for a solution to exist:
It is possible to formulate a great many mathematical questions in terms of quantifiers.
This finds the conditions for a circle to be contained within an arbitrary conic section:
In[10]:=
Out[10]=
This finds the conditions for a line to intersect a circle:
This defines q to be a general monic quartic:
This finds the condition for all pairs of roots to the quartic to be equal:
Although quantifier elimination over the integers is in general a computationally impossible problem, the Wolfram Language can do it in specific cases.
This shows that cannot be a rational number:
is, though:
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Headline News Around the World
PRAYERS and SOLIDARITY: 300 Members of the C-Word Minority Community Slaughtered in Sri Lanka
The 2019 Easter Sunday Massacre in Sri Lanka has left at least 300 Christians dead and as many as 500 wounded. Sri Lankan government officials blamed the Islamic group National Thowheeth Jama'ath for the senseless bombing that has rocked the country and terrorized the Christian minority community.
The victims—mostly Catholic—of the Massacre were attending Easter Sunday Mass as St. Sebastian's Catholic Church in Negombo and St. Anthony's Catholic Shrine in Colombo. The evangelical victims were attending Zion Church in the eastern city of Batticaloa.
Yes, the victims of the Massacre were Christian. Does it violate hate crime laws to report what actually happened in Sri Lanka? Must we come up with more euphemisms? Judging from the bizarre reportage thus far, it's difficult to tell.
I don't remember the mainstream media telling us that "worshippers" were slaughtered by an unnamed "extremist" in Christchurch. In that case, the world was immediately informed that fifty Muslim worshippers in two Christchurch mosques were slaughtered by Brenton Tarrant--a 'suspected white supremacist'. Within in a few hours of that horror, we had the shooter's name, nationality, photos and even his date of birth.
Not so much in the case of the Easter Sunday Massacre in Sri Lanka, where mainstream media have been bending over backwards not to report the facts. Mustn't upset the prevailing Christophobic narrative, after all.
Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton took the subterfuge to a point well beyond the absurd when they tweeted out how sorry they were that "Easter worshippers" were slaughtered by....er.... well they were slaughtered and isn't that too bad!
"Easter worshippers"?
Outspoken defender of the Motu Proprio Summorum Pontificum, Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith, conducts funeral services for victims of the Easter Sunday Massacre in Sri Lanka
(AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
This is getting truly ridiculous! As images of Christians lying dead in streets everywhere become more or less par for the course, the faithful watchdog media never miss an opportunity to warn their gullible viewers against those hateful Christians and Trump-supporting "terrorists" out there who are, apparently, the only real threat left in the world.
But when Muslim extremists blow up Christian churches the Christian victims are treated like anonymous pariahs.
Say what you will about Fox News, by the way, but in a country whose mainstream media would make Joseph Goebbels blush, Tucker Carlson is, well, a sworn enemy of lying pomposity, smugness and group-think:
We offer our prayers and solidarity to our Christian brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka. May the Risen Christ and His Blessed Mother comfort the survivors and welcome to paradise the victims of this satanic attack on the Mystical Body of Christ.
Published in Headline News Around the World
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Read 3229 times Last modified on Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Michael J. Matt | Editor
Michael J. Matt has been an editor of The Remnant since 1990. Since 1994, he has been the newspaper's editor. A graduate of Christendom College, Michael Matt has written hundreds of articles on the state of the Church and the modern world. He is the host of The Remnant Underground and Remnant TV's The Remnant Forum. He's been U.S. Coordinator for Notre Dame de Chrétienté in Paris--the organization responsible for the Pentecost Pilgrimage to Chartres, France--since 2000. Mr. Matt has led the U.S. contingent on the Pilgrimage to Chartres for the last 24 years. He is a lecturer for the Roman Forum's Summer Symposium in Gardone Riviera, Italy. He is the author of Christian Fables, Legends of Christmas and Gods of Wasteland (Fifty Years of Rock ‘n’ Roll) and regularly delivers addresses and conferences to Catholic groups about the Mass, home-schooling, and the culture question. Together with his wife, Carol Lynn and their seven children, Mr. Matt currently resides in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Latest from Michael J. Matt | Editor
Cardinal Müller Delivers Smack-down to Amazon Synod's Working Document
THE FIRST TRADITIONALISTS: From Nagasaki to the Vendée
RTV in TOKYO: Traditional Catholicism in Japan
LET THE FAT LADY SING: Francis Appoints Women to Roman Curia
Anti-Catholic Hate Crimes Skyrocket in France, Mainstream Media Keep Silent
More in this category: « Preview the April 15th Remnant Newspaper VATICAN NEWS ROUNDUP »
[See More Headline News]
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Non RU Publications
Title: Reduction of irradiated small bowel volume and accurate patient positioning by use of a bellyboard device in pelvic radiotherapy of gynecological cancer patients.
Author(s): Olofsen-van Acht, M.J.; Berg, H. van de; Quint, S.; Boer, H.D. de ; Seven, M.; Sornsen de Koste, J.R. van; Creutzberg, C.L.; Visser, A.
Source: Radiotherapy and Oncology, vol. 59, iss. 1, (2001), pp. 87-9-93
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0167-8140(00)00279-6
Subject: Experimental radiotherapy and neuro-oncology.
Experimentele radiotherapie en neuro-oncologie.
Organization: Anesthesiology
Radiotherapy and Oncology
Volume: vol. 59
Issue: iss. 1
Page start: p. 87-9
Page end: p. 93
PURPOSE: To reduce the volume of small bowel within pelvic treatment fields for gynecological cancer using a bellyboard device and to determine the accuracy of the prone treatment position. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifteen consecutive patients with a gynecologic malignancy who were treated with postoperative pelvic radiotherapy were selected for this study. The volume of small bowel within the treatment fields was calculated for both the supine and prone treatment positions. The patients were treated in the prone position in a so-called bellyboard device. During treatment sessions electronic portal images were obtained. An off-line setup verification and correction protocol was used and the setup accuracy of the positioning in the bellyboard was determined. RESULTS: The average volume of small bowel within the treatment fields was 229 cm(3) and 66 cm(3) in the supine and prone treatment, respectively, which means an average volume reduction in the prone position of 64% (95% CI 56-72%), as compared with the supine position. For the position of the patient in the field, the systematic error defined by the standard deviation (SD) of the mean difference per patient between simulation and treatment images was 1.7 mm in the lateral direction, 2.1 mm in the craniocaudal direction and 1.7 mm in the ventrodorsal direction. On average, only 0.4 setup correction per patient was required to achieve this accuracy. The random day-to-day variations were 1.9 (1SD), 2.6 and 2.3 mm, respectively. Standard deviations of the systematic differences between patient positioning relative to the bellyboard were 6.2 mm in lateral direction and 9.1 mm in craniocaudal direction. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of gynecological cancer patients in the prone position using a bellyboard reduces the volume of irradiated small bowel. An off-line verification and correction protocol ensures accurate patient positioning. Daily setup variations using the bellyboard were small (1 SD<3 mm). Therefore for pelvic radiotherapy in patients with a gynecological malignancy, the use of a bellyboard is recommended.
Non RU Publications [9419]
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800 Super Holdings Ltd - Phillip Securities 2017-10-04: Diversification To Laundry And Dry Cleaning
800 SUPER HOLDINGS LIMITED 5TG.SI
800 Super Holdings Ltd - Diversification To Laundry And Dry Cleaning
Proposed acquisition of a laundry and dry cleaning business.
S$5 mn aggregate consideration payable is 4.2 times over NTA.
Intention is for Vendors to continue managing the business.
What Is The News?
Wizwash Pte Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of 800 Super Holdings Limited (the “Group”) has entered into a call and put option agreement to acquire Iwash Laundry (Senoko) Pte Ltd (“Target”) from Fairlady Jewellers Private Limited (“Fairlady”), Lee Yok Sim (“LYS”), Chua Yun Chean (“CYC”) and Tan Choon Huat (“TCH”) (collectively, the “Vendors”) for S$4,998,960. The sum is to be paid in two tranches. (See 800 Super Holdings Announcement dated 03-Oct-2017)
Wizwash Pte Ltd was incorporated on 25 September 2017 with a paid-up capital of S$1 mn.(See 800 Super Holdings Announcement dated 25-Sept-2017)
How Do We View This?
Proposed acquisition provides diversification of income stream.
The Group would be diversifying outside of its area of expertise, and this creates a new income stream that is not correlated to the existing business lines of waste management, cleaning and horticultural services. However, the Group does not have expertise in the laundry and dry cleaning business and hence would rely on TCH, CYC and LYS to continue managing the business as a wholly owned subsidiary.
Uncertainty over what is a fair price to pay for a laundry and dry cleaning business.
There is a lack of listed peers to make a meaningful comparison. However, what we see is the consideration sum of S$4,998,960 is 4.2 times over the net tangible asset (NTA) of S$1.19 mn. In contrast, the Group currently trades at 2.6 times over its book value.
As disclosed in the announcement, the principal asset held by the Target is its leasehold property at 80 Senoko Drive. The excess over the NTA could be justified if the property is held at historical cost, but market value is significantly higher than what is recorded on the balance sheet.
The Proposed Acquisition has been classified as a "non-disclosable transaction". For the net profit of the Target to be less than 5% of the Group's net profit, we derive that the Group would be paying at least 5.8 times earnings for the acquisition.
Will an agency problem surface?
The announcement states that The Group would like TCH, CYC and LYS to continue managing the business under a renewable service agreement. As the Group does not have the expertise in laundry and dry cleaning, we would be cautious of key man risk, should the terms of the service agreement cannot be mutually agreed upon.
Moreover, we think the service agreement would need to address any principal-agent problem arising from the acquisition of the business which the Vendors continue to manage.
Maintain Buy; unchanged target price of S$1.53
We like 800 Super Holdings for its recession-proof business model. The ongoing sludge treatment facility project is expected to contribute to Group earnings over the long-term. No changes to our forecasts at this time.
Our target price gives an implied FY18e forward P/E multiple of 16.9x. This compares against the Straits Times Index 12-month forward P/E multiple of 14.5x.
Richard Leow CFTe Phillip Securities | http://www.poems.com.sg/ 2017-10-04
Phillip Securities SGX Stock Analyst Report BUY Maintain BUY 1.530 Same 1.530
800 SUPER HOLDINGS LIMITED (5TG.SI) Analyst Report
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Haunted Summer
Mooncult, Strange Phases
Mon · April 16, 2018
The songs of Haunted Summer are dreamy and hypnotic, rich with orchestral strings and sultry electronic textures. With their previous EP, Something in the Water, the group crafted a captivating, ethereal musical journey through a nostalgic world of young love and long-forgotten memories. Consisting of husband-and-wife Bridgette Moody and John Seasons, who share songwriting duties in a true collaboration, the Highland Park duo have shared the stage and toured with groups and performers including Taken By Trees, Islands, Deafheaven, The Polyphonic Spree, Coeur De Pirate, Olafur Arnalds, Carla Morrison, Meiko, Basia Bulat, Geographer, David J of Bauhaus and many more.
Their new full-length, Spirit Guides, was written on the road as well as recorded in several studios including Rancho de la Luna in Joshua Tree, Jim Henson Studios in Hollywood, Comp-ny LA, and studios owned by Ninkasi Brewing in Eugene, Oregon. It features an array of talented musicians, including (but not limited to!) Dave Catching from Eagles of Death Metal and Chris Goss from Masters of Reality (both of whom are on the title track). Having completed multiple headlining tours across the country and a new 45 day tour to start 2018 off, Haunted Summer is poised to bring their psychedelic sound to the world.
Mooncult
Listening to Mooncult is like stepping into the John Peel show in 1979. After years of existential study, songstress Raven Mystere formed the band in 2017. Things began to take shape with the arrival of ferocious drummer David Branscomb (Adam and the Ants, Fishbone, Cypress Hill, and 16 Volt). This was then augmented with some dreamy, synth soundscapes and infectious bass from Mark Mallory (Wild Betsy, Lunar Gateway). Phil Cobb (House of Affection, Neo Globs) crystallizes the music with a wash of shoegazy guitar textures that are the sonic equivalent of planes taking off. Raven's mono croon and the band's psychedelic flair feel like darkness in full bloom. After just a handful of shows, Mooncult has garnered a loyal following in Los Angeles.
Strange Phases
Strange Phases - Cool (official music video) Strange Phases - album promo trailer
Strange Phases was born from the vision of guitarist/vocalist Curt Barlage in 2015. Fresh from the split of his previous band, The Bixby Knolls, Curt instantly immersed himself in the dim, red lights and cigarette haze of an east downtown Los Angeles studio to begin the next chapter of his musical endeavors. Joined by drummer Travis Drum, acquainted by chance meeting, the pair would move beyond the notion that Strange Phases was just a creative hub of scattered ideas and late night demos. Guitarist/keyboardist Monica Mendoza and bassist Patrick Mertens soon joined, completing the line-up and fully functional force known as Strange Phases.
Art of Restart, Strange Phases’ debut, was released in autumn of 2017.
HAUNTED SUMMER: ALL AROUND Mooncult - Die Tonight Snippet Strange Phases - Cool (official music video) Strange Phases - album promo trailer
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Rule of Lords
Weekly column on human rights & the rule of law in Thailand & Burma
Saffron Revolution
← Thailand’s anti-human rights commission
Politics, not law, will determine Suu Kyi’s fate →
Questions, not dismay, over Tak Bai findings
Posted on June 12, 2009 | 1 Comment
It took five years for a court in Songkhla, southern Thailand, to hold an inquest into the deaths of 78 men after they were detained along with over 1,000 others outside the Tak Bai police station in October 2004. But for all the time spent and witnesses heard, the findings [in English] handed down on May 29 obscured as much as they revealed.
By law, the inquest was supposed to identify who died, where, when, how, why and thanks to whom. The judges omitted most of what the court was told about the how and why, and failed to name any specific responsible persons in their closing remarks.
They also tried to excuse those involved by pointing out that they had been performing their duties under difficult circumstances, even though this is a matter for a trial court to consider, not one for a post mortem inquiry.
While the court failed to do the minimum expected of it under law, it could not deny that the 78 men had all suffocated to death in trucks en route to an army camp. That the men were stacked onto one another like pigs being taken to slaughter slipped from the narrative, but that they were in military custody and died of unnatural causes is now on the judicial record.
The Asian Human Rights Commission on Thursday sent an open letter to the attorney general of Thailand pointing out that those facts alone are enough for the case to go to trial. But as the commission observed, the prosecutor has a track record of letting soldiers and police get away with murder.
The inquiry into how 19 men were gunned down at Sabayoi also in 2004 similarly excluded many critical facts from its findings and absolved police and paramilitaries of blame, even if it seemed that most of the victims had been shot in the back. The prosecutor has done nothing further.
And in the Krue Se case, where the inquest clearly identified three army officers as responsible for the shooting murders of 28 young men, the prosecutor has also declined to act.
The granting of impunity to military and police officers for all types of crimes large and small is an established feature of state practice in Thailand, irrespective of who is in power and what noises they make about the rule of law and human rights.
The current government, like its predecessors, has been feigning concern for justice, mostly in cases that occurred under the watch of its nemesis, the ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
But despite the scale of the Tak Bai killings and notoriety of the case, the incumbent premier hasn’t lifted a finger for the victims. He isn’t going to either. The perpetrators are his army buddies, and the general who watched his men pile hundreds of people on top of one another is close to some of the officers responsible for the 2006 coup.
All this could be cause for discouragement. Instead, those of us concerned with human rights in Thailand should take the Tak Bai findings as a chance to further explore and critique the failings of the country’s policing, prosecutorial and judicial agencies.
Thailand’s police and security forces – or people working for them – routinely commit murder. Most cases get run through shoddy inquests like this that close without further inquiries or the arrest and imprisonment of the offenders, but also without widespread outside interest.
In this respect, Tak Bai presents a special opportunity to go deeply into the endemic problems of a criminal justice system geared toward impunity rather than accountability. By taking the inquest findings as a cause for questioning rather than dismay, not only can the case be kept alive and the memory of the victims strong, but it can also be made relevant to the hundreds, perhaps thousands of other isolated cases like it that pass unnoticed in Thailand every year.
Source: Inquest into Tak Bai deaths disappoints
Watch video and read more: Mass killing at Tak Bai (AHRC)
Listen: Inquest clears Thai security forces (Radio Australia)
Read: Answers absent at inquest (Erika Fry/Bkk Post)
This entry was posted in army, courts, extrajudicial killing, human rights, military, rule of law, Thailand, UPI and tagged Krue Se, Sabayoi, Shinawatra, Songkhla, Tak Bai, Thaksin. Bookmark the permalink.
One response to “Questions, not dismay, over Tak Bai findings”
antipadshist | June 13, 2009 at 11:42 am | Reply
well, as I wrote in a comment to your post about “prosecute PAD” : TIT ! 🙂
P.S. good to see that you’re back to blogging, Awzar !
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Thailand sites
Bangkok Pundit
Chang Noi
Fah Diew Kan (ฟ้าเดียวกัน)
Freedom Against Censorship Thailand
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not The Nation
Political Prisoners – Thailand
Prachatai (ประชาไท)
Sovereign Myth
Thai Netizen (เครือข่ายพลเมืองเน็ต)
The Nation’s State
Whither NHRC? (ใครควรเป็นกรรมการสิทธิฯ)
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Writers Writing About Depression 2019
October 15, 2018 by Richard
Writers Writing About Depression 2019 5 out of 5 based on 163 ratings.
Depression has many physical and psychological effects on us. When writing about it, we need to know how to include these things in a natural, relatable way
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Famous writers with depression entrance and intrigue us, even as they lead tragic lives. Learn about some of the most acclaimed and famous depressed writers.
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9 Famous Writers With Depression, From. it does mean that some of history's most celebrated and talented writers. candid writing on the subject of depression.
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contact/links about fiction news photos essays : The Writer and Depression. One enduring myth is that creative genius and depression go together, and thus.
Writing Prompts Depression. Visit the post for more.
Nov 10, 2014. It was around that time that I started writing what would become my first published book, By the Light of the Moon. I'd wanted to be a writer ever.
Posts about writer's depression written by Shannon A Thompson.
Depression hit Rowling when her first marriage to a television journalist broke down after just two years.
Writing is an oftentimes lonely calling. As if the rigors and challenges of modern publishing and making a living off one's writing wasn't enough, writers often.
Mar 20, 2017. Writing Through Depression. In her new book, she writes about reading the writers she most admires, as told through their letters and journal.
Is there a connection between writers and depression? Why are there so many depressed writers?
Related: Major Depression And Bipolar Disorder Comorbidities
Sep 1, 2016. YA Open Mic is a monthly series in which YA authors share personal. This month, 11 authors discuss everything from being mixed race to dealing with depression. Honestly, different writers write for different reasons.
The Writer and Depression. No, it doesn't do their writing any good. Writers suffer from depression for all the usual reasons.
Mar 13, 2012. Some people will tell you writer's block doesn't exist, and I don't know, I have never been formally diagnosed with depression, though on.
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Writing is one of the top 10 professions in which people are most likely to suffer from depression, with men particularly at risk from the illness, according to US.
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Article – Once again this summer, I'll lead a workshop at the Northwestern University Summer Writer's Institute called "How to Write about Music." Last summer.
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Nov 4, 2016. Many people struggling with depression or other mental health. NaNoWriMo is probably the most well-known online writer's group, and it is.
Mar 25, 2011. I have battled depression throughout my life; as a beginning fiction writer trying to break into the industry at such a precarious time, I have.
Related: I Have Terrible Depression
I'm a writer who writes endlessly about the things that go on in my life. I wrote a book about men snorting cocaine off my breasts and terrible sexual encounters.
Also coming soon is his compilation book of writing. The Writer And Depression. It's why I always say that approaching depression as if it's just writer.
Jul 21, 2016. I've slipped into bouts of debilitating depression, and it's all triggered by. As a mental health writer and social worker, I am always trying to stir.
Writing Your Way Out of Depression. Dear Diary. "Keeping a journal is a good way to start coping with depression," agrees. Writing about important personal.
While still in college, Plath plummeted into depression and was hospitalized and. She is also a published non-fiction and creative writer, and a graduate of.
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Jun 29, 2017. How useful was my suffering or my depression? And who was it useful to? Was it useful to my writing? What kind of writer would I be without my.
Writers and depression: not a good combination. If you're struggling with depression and anxiety, this might be the encouragement you need to write.
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Sep 15, 2013. This entry looks at why writers and other creative types so often struggle with depression. Cites both studies and personal insights.
Nov 7, 2013. The other day, I spoke to a former student on the phone. “My Writers Write box stares at me from the shelf,” she said. “I haven't touched it in.
When the poet Anne Sexton learned of Sylvia Plath's suicide in 1963, she was horrified. "That death was mine," she said. Eleven years later, wrapped in a.
Quotable Quotes on Writers and Writing. These quotes come from a variety of sources, and due to my laxness, I haven’t bothered to document their origins.
The Fitzgeralds are perhaps the best — or at least the most intriguing — example of writers. someone to a career like writing, of depression,
Related: Statistics Increase Depression Diagnosis
Sep 27, 2015. The Mental Health Writer's Guild – “The Mental Health Writers' Guild. to writers worldwide who have survived depression, bipolar disorder,
Carolyn Kaufman is author of the upcoming book The Writer's Guide to Psychology: How to Write Accurately. (2010). Amy Tan and Writing and Depression. Psych.
Which Population Groups Are Typically Associated With Depression: Depression affects a large proportion of the population of the UK. Discover what. There is a set of symptoms that are associated with depression and help to clarify the diagnosis. The therapy is typically done in groups of 8 to 15 people. Seasonal af...
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What Are Some Diseases Caused By Depression: Both the illness, and the treatment for it, can affect the way we think and feel. affect the way the brain works and so cause anxiety and depression directly. We are not certain what causes depression. One of the predominant theories proposes that de...
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Depression Young Literati English Lyrics: clip.dj is the easiest way to. why not share it? :3 I was going to add English sub and Lyrics, Miku Hatsune - Depression of the Young Literati (english. Research strategy & sources What was the favorite food of a famous person? Excellent question...
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Times & Trends: Opportunities for private label and national brands lie in collaboration
Traditionally, private label and national brands have competed with each other, each vying for a larger share of consumers' CPG dollars.
Detailing the Retail Landscape
Responding to demand for a quick and convenient shopping experience, many retailers are rolling out a "click-and-collect" shopping model that allows shoppers to make their grocery purchases online and then pick up their wares at a designated location.
Food Marketing Institute and Stagnito Media to Partner
Leslie G. Sarasin, FMI President and CEO, and Harry Stagnito, President and CEO, Stagnito Media Inc., offer insights into their shared mission to serve the food retail industry. Q: What is the goal of the recently announced strategic partnership between Stagnito Media and FMI? Leslie G.
Many PATHS to MULTICULTURALISM
There are multiple approaches to multicultural marketing. In the "old days"–which still exist in many stores–it was as simple as translating signs and labels into another language.
What Makes an Idea Stick
Squeezable yogurt is practically omnipresent in supermarket dairy cases today.
Remodeling and the Bottom Line
Faced with slim margins and an extremely competitive landscape, retailers are constantly looking for ways to differentiate themselves.
Evalution EVALUTION
Garrison Keillor's famous joke about Lake Woebegon is that "all the children are above average." In reality, that's how every company would like its employees to perform, but how can this ideal be encouraged, and measured? Ideally, evaluations should fit into a company's overall strategy for attrac
Protecting Privacy
Retailers are embracing an ever-increasing array of technologies to improve loyalty programs that maximize the customer experience.
FRESH/PERISHABLE FOODS: Fresh Is a Good Source of Green
Fresh and perishable foods are an important profit center for food retailers, who are expanding their offerings and improving their display facilities. More than half of the executives who responded to an exclusive Retail Leader survey said their revenue from fresh/perishable food has increased ove
Growing Healthy
CEO OF THE YEAR: Doug Sanders Sprouts Farmers Market Sprouts Farmers Market is rising fast in the world of upscale, natural/organic grocery retailing. It is aggressively expanding beyond its base in the West.
What Makes an Idea "Good"?
"The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas and throw the bad ones away." Or so said American scientist, activist and educator Linus Pauling. Though it appears he states the obvious, Pauling makes an excellent point about the mysterious and somewhat daunting process of ideation, which, m
CEO OF THE YEAR: Laura Sen President and CEO, BJ's Wholesale Club When BJ's Wholesale President and CEO Laura Sen describes the company she's led for the past seven years as "values driven," it's best to take her at her word.
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Posts Tagged ‘Krishna’
The Sun Temple of Modhera
http://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/photos/the-sun-temple-of-modhera-slideshow/
The Sun Temple in Modhera, Gujarat was built in the early 11th century by King Bhimdev, in dedication to the Hindu Sun-God, Surya. The temple’s magnificent exterior is intricately carved, and designed in such a way that the sun’s rays illuminate the temple’s sanctum at dawn during the equinoxes. Besides the sanctum, the temple has a pradakshina patha and a sabha mandap, as well as a Surya Kund, a massive tank with stunning miniature shrines that adorn its steps. Yahoo! reader DHARTI PATEL, a student of sculpture and art of Gujarat, shares her experience as she visits the temple of Surya.
Note from Admin : – Behold the grandeur, grandness, magnanimity, intricacy, harmonious and holistic architecture and structural materialisation of this revered and renowned architectural masterpiece dedicated to the Higher Forces of Consciousness shaping Our World perpetually.
Temple & Kunda: The Sun Temple at Modhera’s dates back to early 11th century CE and was built by King Bhimdev I in 1026 CE.
Sabha Mandap View South West: The mandapa as usual is peristylar with an octagonal nave covered by a splendidly carved dome.
Sabha Mandap: This hall of religious gatherings is a magnificent pillared hall. It is open from all sides and has 52 intricately carved pillars representing 52 weeks in a year. The carvings depict episodes from the Hindu epics of Ramayan, Mahabharat and Krishna Lila (i.e., story of Lord Krishna).
Toran:Two huge ornamental arches called Torans form a gateway to the Sabha Mandap.
View of the Toran, north to south.
Front view of the Toran.
The exterior of the temple walls have 12 different postures of Aditya, the Sun God, along with eight Dikpals.
The eight Dikpalas are the Guardians of Direction, guarding specific directions of space. They are traditionally represented on the walls and ceilings of Hindu temples.
The inner half occupies the Garbhagriha and the front one the mandapa (hall). The sanctum sanctorum is 11 feet square inside. Between the outer walls of the sanctum sanctorum and that of the temple is the pradakshina marg (the circumambulatory passage). This passage was roofed with flat slabs laid across and carved with rosettes on the undersides and above this, rose the sikhara.
The exterior of the sanctum has many carved images of the Sun God, portrayed as wearing Irani Style Tiara, Long Shoes and Jeweled Belt.
The god Surya portrayed here with with seven horses.
Lord Vishwakarma – who constructed the golden Dwarka city for Shri Krishna.
Goddess Parvati with an apsara.
Goddess Parvati with dancing Shiva.
The Surya-kunda, also known as Rama-kunda is rectangular, and measures 176 feet north to south, by 120 feet east to west.
The Suryakund is a fine example of geometry and pattern art. It has108 miniature shrines carved between the steps inside the tank.
There are many terraces and steps leading to the water level. On its sides and corners are various small shrines with the images of gods and goddesses.
The missing Toran Arch: Outside this sabha-mandapa are two pillars of a toran from which the arch is missing. From the toran a flight of steps leads down to the kunda.
In viewing the Modhera temple as a whole the aesthetic sense at once responds to the elegance of its proportions, the entire composition being lit with the living flame of inspiration. But apart from its material beauty, its designer has succeeded in communicating to it an atmosphere of spiritual grace. The temple faces the east to that the rising sun at the equinoxes filters in a golden cadence through its openings, from door way to corridor, past columned vestibules finally to fall on the image in its innermost chamber.
Asia’s beautiful heritage temples (revolutionizingawareness.com)
Halebeedu – the crown jewel of Hoysala temples (revolutionizingawareness.com)
Shri Rangnath Venugopalji Mandir (indiaheritagehub.wordpress.com)
The Shore Temple of Mahabalipuram (shilpavenkat.wordpress.com)
The Chariot at Airavateeswara Temple, Darasuram (beontheroad.com)
Warangal – where history lies forgotten (revolutionizingawareness.com)
Posted in Ancient Architecture, India Forgotten, Picturesque | Tagged: Architecture, gods, Gujarat, holistic, India, Krishna, Lord Krishna, Modhera, Parvati, sanctity, Sanctum sanctorum, Shiva, spirituality, Sun Temple, Sun Temple Modhera, Surya, temples, Toran | Comments Off on The Sun Temple of Modhera
Halebeedu – the crown jewel of Hoysala temples
http://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/photos/halebeedu-the-crown-jewel-of-hoysala-temples-slideshow/halebeedu-photo-1336120076.html
Note from Admin : – Behold the remnants of a civilization vastly superior to any of the western nests of plague found today. Try matching the depth and details provided in the Architecture of theses buildings in any of your past and modern civilizations. Observe the sanctity of theses places, their sacredness, solemnity, peace and quiet. No occult and perverted rituals and blood sacrifices to some abstract gods like in your western secret societies and no abuse of victims be they children or women. Just sacred gathering of people to adore and garner prayers upon and request humbly of provisions of grace and blessings from magnificent beings of Light from the Higher dimensions. True Gods they be not Ets posing as Gods like in your Holy Bible and other ancient scriptures. The beings we worship are beings of pure consciousness.
The energetic vibrations associated here are harmonious to the Tree and Sacred Flower of Life. It accentuates the incoming rays of the Great Central Sun itself aiding the believer in the individual Ascension process.
Behold the glory and multitude and vastness and continence, unwavering over several millennia and yugas of my glorious motherland, her beauty and traditions rooted in the ancient cultures of her unfathomable and legendary past you worthless wretched disgusting Caucasian vermin.
You bring desolation and unwarranted destruction with wanton disregard for her Godliness. You try and destroy my proud nation with your jeans, disgusting coffee, McDonald shit junk food, multi national corporations for all types of goods and services founded in your filthy western nations based on unethical and moral disregard for human values and ever cringing for more profit and insatiable greed, ridiculous and shallow cosmetic products, base disgusting music, songs and hip hop pop rock culture along with forcing us to learn your version of history in our education books and forever holding us guilty to your white man’s burden. Yeah right! It truly has always been the coloured man’s burden.
I will not tolerate or put up with this any longer. I will not let my country be one of your playgrounds anymore.
One more thing, you think you have those disgusting looking three sided or four sided hideous pyramids numbering 86,000 around the world, all so remnant of a signature of overdrive for power by the Atlanteans and the Orion factions.
Guess what, we have 86,000 temples in India alone, discounting the ones in Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar(Burma), Java, Sumatra, Borneo and the Philippines. Not to mention the fact that it was and still belongs to the more massive and submerged continent of a bygone era – Australia is our land and our remnants there the Aborigines were butchered and are now near extinction, ruled by whites who were sentenced to it as convicts of a penal colony of the British Empire and whose descendants are exactly what their forefathers were and will always be.
There are plenty of holes into the crust of the Earth below temple foundations in India and Sri Lanka which lead to very ancient underground caverns and subterranean cavities inhabited by all sorts of reptilian races and beings of a semi advanced nature. They are not too violent or too spiritual and they don’t like to be disturbed.
How many times have you heard of them coming to the surface abusing and raping us in the middle of the night or conducting experiments on us or even eating us? Not much not because it isn’t recorded or documented but because we each know how to treat one another and give and take respect. We don’t disturb them and they don’t trouble us. Simple. Also we do not propagate hate and violence in our daily life like how you do all the time in your parts of the world.
So they are not drawn to positivity which we maintain very well on the surface. Where there is violence there they are being given an open ticket of entrance. Also we do not secretly or morbidly worship any of them in our temples, all those photos where you see snakes, those are the good ones and allegorical in nature than literary. So we don’t call out to them secretly to come up and perform sick twisted rituals through our bodies on infants and virgin girls.
What? Is it too hard to comprehend that there are good reptilians as well. The ones with honour and dignity just as much as any well natured and good human being.
Think about my ramblings…
One more thing…when we pray to our Gods we ask them to put up wards in all places where we live so that the nether world beings do not infringe on our privacy.
The name Halebeedu means ruined city, a coinage that took effect after the capital of the Hoysala empire was sacked by the Mughal sultanate twice. Its original name was Dwarasamudra and the temple here is considered the crowning glory of Hoysala architecture.
Enjoy this photo-essay by ANANTH V RAO
ABOUT THE PHOTOGRAPHER:
ANANTH V RAO is an engineer by profession and a hobbyist photographer with a passion for picturing architectural grandeur as well as nature and wildlife. He was born and brought up in Hassan, Karnataka, a place known for its culture and heritage. He lives in Bangalore.
Known as Dwarasamudra in the 12th and 13th centuries, Halebeedu was the capital of Hoysala Empire. It is situated at a distance of about 30 kms from Hassan, Karnataka. The name Dwarasamudra (Dwara = Entrance, Samudra = Sea) came due to the presence of a lake constructed beside the Hoysaleshwara temple, which resembled the sea. It then changed to Halebeedu (ruined city) after it was laid to ruin by the Moghul sultanate twice. The Halebeedu temple is considered as the ultimate work of Hoysalas and it took more than a century to complete building.
Halebeedu temple comprises of two shrines dedicated to Lord Shiva. Hoysaleshwara and Shanthaleshwara are the two deities in this temple.
The segment that joins the Hoysaleshwara and Shanthaleshwara shrines.
There are eight friezes on the temple walls. Each carries an array of decorations. The lowest frieze depicts charging elephants, which symbolize strength and stability. Above them, in order, are friezes with lions, which symbolize courage, floral scrolls as decoration, horses for speed, another band of floral scrolls, depiction of Hindu epics, Makara (beasts) and finally a frieze with hamsas (swans). No two animals are alike in a total frieze span of over 200 m.
The plinth and the temple is built in the form of Sri Chakra (star shape), a characteristic feature of Hoysala architecture. Sri Chakra is considered most auspicious in Hindu religion.
The walls of the temple consist of carvings of different deities of Hindu mythology as well as stories from the Mahabharata, Ramayana and Puranas.
This is Varaha (the boar), the third incarnation of Lord Vishnu. Varaha saved mother earth from the demon Hiranyakasha.
Govardhana Giridhari – Lord Krishna holding up Govardhana mountain to protect his village Gokula from the torrential rains caused by Lord Indra. The people and cattle can be seen seeking shelter beneath the mountain. The carvings are so intricate that one can see monkeys, hunters, tigers and a lizard in the mountain above Lord Krishna.
Gajasura Mardana. Lord Shiva, as Gajasura Mardana, is slaying Gajasura, the elephant demon by ripping him off from inside out. Observe the two legs and tail of the demon above Shiva’s head.
Nataraja Shiva, the king of dance. It is believed that Shiva as Nataraja performs this thandava in order to destroy a weary universe and make preparations for Brahma to begin the process of creation. Observe the snake making way through the ear of the skull and exiting through the eye socket to the right of Shiva.
Uma Maheshwara. Shiva in a calm state with his consort Parvathi in his lap. A mongoose sits beneath Parvathi as her mount.
Mahishasura Mardini is one of the furious forms of Goddess Parvathi. Mahishasura Mardini slew the buffalo demon, Mahishasura, after nine long days of fighting. This is celebrated as Mahanavami or Ayudha Pooja in southern India.
Makara is a mythical creature, the front portion of which is in the form of an elephant or crocodile, and the hind portion is in the form of a peacock’s tail. Makara is the steed of Goddess Ganga, as well as of the sea god Varuna.
A play of light and shadow in the temple precincts.
A visitor standing amidst the hand-lathed filigreed pillars of Halebeedu temple admires the intricate carvings on the walls.
Lord Hoysaleshwara. Halebeedu temple is among the Hoysala temples where regular worship is held.
Jageshwar Temples (indiaheritagehub.wordpress.com)
Ruins of Kiratkoop (indiaheritagehub.wordpress.com)
Kerala- Heaven on Earth (harikrishnamurthy.wordpress.com)
Submerging Temple of Lord Shiva (harikrishnamurthy.wordpress.com)
Chidambaram Nataraja Temple (harikrishnamurthy.wordpress.com)
Ramdara Temple !! (shilpavenkat.wordpress.com)
Interesting Legends About Ayyappa, The God of Sabarimala (relijournal.com)
Gokarna (bellwort.wordpress.com)
Posted in India Forgotten | Tagged: Borneo, british empire, Burma, Gajasura, Halebidu, Hoysala, Hoysala Empire, India, Karnataka, Krishna, Laos, Philippines, Shiva, Sri Lanka, sumatra, Temple | Comments Off on Halebeedu – the crown jewel of Hoysala temples
Magnificent Women of India
http://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/photos/magnificent-women-of-india-slideshow/;_ylt=Ai0GWSZgbSopIR0Wi_OkphNgmeh_;_ylu=X3oDMTM3anZmdnFiBG1pdAMEcGtnAzkxMGU2OGJlLTAzNTUtMzMyZS05MjRhLTg1MWU0OThiNTQzNARwb3MDNARzZWMDZW5kX3NzBHZlcgM4NjQzMjJkMi01ZWQ0LTExZTEtYTlmNy1hMWE4Njc4NDMzODc-;_ylv=3
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Note from Admin:- To the greatest nation on Earth and Mankind’s greatest compromise to the Divine,…For the Land of My Birth,My Love,My Glory,My Sacrifice and My Passing, Ever Unto Thee…I shall never forget you nor let go, for it is in you that I am forever nested beyond the confines of the Cosmos and Origin…
When France-born photographer CLAUDE RENAULT came to India, he fell in love with the land he now calls “a special place” and his “second country.” His observant eye finds inspiration in commonplace sights that most people let pass without a second glance. His lens seeks out hidden character in the map of human faces, in their laugh lines, dark eyes and unpretentious smiles. A passionate traveler, Renault’s journey is fueled by the mantra: “I won’t travel just for a nice landscape or an historical monument, but for what makes a country: the people.” Enjoy his candid, fascinating and inspiring photos. You will never look at India the same way again. And if you are a foreigner wandering in India with a camera, we invite you to share your impressions of India.
Danuko Lakshmi, a Lambadi woman in Andhra Pradesh.
Photo by Claude Renault
Widows in Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh, renowned in mythology as Krishna‘s playground.
Saying hello to God in Sri Sailam, Andhra Pradesh.
Durgi is a shepherd I met in Hampi, Karnataka.
Papu during the camel fair in Pushkar, Rajasthan, in 2001.
Fatima Tabasu, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh in the bus going to Golconda.
This Rajasthani pilgrim was sitting inside a small temple next to her husband in Ram Jhula, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand.
This woman is the owner of a small ‘Chai’ place in Ram Jhula, Rishikesh, Uttarakhand.
A Muslim girl in Gulbarga, Karnataka.
A lovely woman I met walking in the streets of Jodhpur, Rajasthan.
A Lambadi woman waiting for the bus in Hyderabad.
Ma Ganga in Hampi, Karnataka.
Danuko, Sri Sailam, Andhra Pradesh.
Papu in Pushkar, Rajasthan. I met her for the first time in 2001. Now she owns a little shop near the Ghats.
France-born photographer Claude Renault in Varanasi.
View more of his work on his website.
Posted in India Forgotten | Tagged: Andhra Pradesh, CLAUDE RENAULT, culture, divergence, diversity, feminism, feminity, fondness, france, glory, god, Hampi, heritage, India, Karnataka, Krishna, richness, Rishikesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, variety, Vrindavan, woman, women | Comments Off on Magnificent Women of India
Chapter 7, ET Warfare (Draft)
Exopolitics Book: Chapter 1
http://exopolitics.blogspot.com/2011/10/exopolitics-book-chapter-1-draft.html
http://exopolitics.blogspot.com/2011/10/exopolitics-book-chapter-four-draft.html
http://exopolitics.blogspot.com/2011/11/chapter-five-grays-draft.html
http://exopolitics.blogspot.com/2011/12/chapter-six-et-human-mega-popupation.html
http://exopolitics.blogspot.com/2011/12/chapter-7-et-warfare-draft.html
CHAPTER 7 Extraterrestrial Warfare
By Ed Komarek
I believe that warfare and conflict between extraterrestrial races go back in earth’s history for tens of thousands of years as recorded in the Ramayana, Mahabharata and other Hindu texts and in the Bible. The Hindu texts speak in great detail of highly technical extraterrestrial civilizations during the time of the Rama Empire and of an incredibly destructive war some ten or twelve thousand years ago between Atlantis and Rama that could not be imagined until the second half of the 20th century.
In this link http://www.crystalinks.com/vimanas.html there is some very interesting information. The author states: “The Mahabharata is a veritable gold mine of information relating to conflicts between gods who are said to have settled their differences apparently using weapons as lethal as those we have now. Apart from ‘blazing missiles’, the poem records the use of other deadly weapons. ‘Indra’s Dart’ (Indravajra) operated via a circular ‘reflector’. When switched on, it produced a ‘shaft of light’ which, when focused on any target, immediately ‘consumed it with its power’.”
“In one exchange, the hero, Krishna, is pursuing his enemy, Salva, in the sky, when Salva’s Vimana, the Saubha, is made invisible in some way. Undeterred, Krishna immediately fires off a special weapon: “I quickly laid on an arrow, which killed by seeking out sound”. Many other terrible weapons are described, quite matter-of-factly, in the Mahabharata, but the most fearsome of all is the one used against the Vrishis. The narrative records:”
“Gurkha flying in his swift and powerful Vimana hurled against the three cities of the Vrishis and Andhakas a single projectile charged with all the power of the Universe. An incandescent column of smoke and fire, as brilliant as ten thousands suns, rose in all its splendor. It was the unknown weapon, the Iron Thunderbolt, a gigantic messenger of death which reduced to ashes the entire race of the Vrishnis and Andhakas.” …. the corpses were so burned as to be unrecognizable.
The hair and nails fell out; pottery broke without apparent cause, and the birds turned white…. after a few hours all foodstuffs were infected…. to escape from this fire, the soldiers threw themselves in streams to wash themselves and their equipment…” Some say that the Mahabharata is describing an atomic war. References like this one are not isolated; but battles, using a fantastic array of weapons and aerial vehicles are common in all the epic Indian books. One even describes a Vimana-Vailix battle on the Moon!” Here many more good quotes from the Hindu texts of flying craft and battles. http://www.inquiring-mines.com/ancient_aircraft_quotes_from_indian_texts.htm
It seems that the reported destruction by God reported in the Bible of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire and brimstone was not an isolated incident, but part of a greater ET war in which we the indigenous people ended up as proxies and were drawn into these ET conflicts. The mysteries of the vitrified forts provide additional evidence of the use of modern weapons of mass destruction in ancient times. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitrified_fort http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/vitrified.htm
Besides the vitrified forts there are also stretches of desert where glass sheets were found. “One of the strangest mysteries of ancient Egypt is that of the great glass sheets that were only discovered in 1932. In December of that year, Patrick Clayton, a surveyor for the Egyptian Geological Survey, was driving among the dunes of the Great Sand Sea near the Saad Plateau in the virtually uninhabited area just north of the south-western corner of Egypt, when he heard his tires crunch on something that wasn’t sand. It turned out to be large pieces of marvelously clear, yellow-green glass.
In fact, this wasn’t just any ordinary glass, but ultra-pure glass that was astonishing 98 per cent silica. Clayton wasn’t the first person to come across this field of glass, as various ‘prehistoric’ hunters and nomads had obviously also found the now-famous Libyan Desert Glass (LDG). The glass had been used in the past to make knives and sharp-edged tools as well as other objects. A carved scarab of LDG was even found in Tutankhamen’s tomb, indicating that the glass was sometimes used for jewelry.”
“An article entitled “Dating the Libyan Desert Silica-Glass” appeared in the British journal Nature (no. 170) in 1952. The author, Kenneth Oakley said: Pieces of natural silica-glass up to 16 lb. in weight occur scattered sparsely in an oval area, measuring 130 km north to south and 53 km from east to west, in the Sand Sea of the Libyan Desert. This remarkable material, which is almost pure (97 per cent silica), relatively light (sp. gin. 2.21), clear and yellowish-green in color, has the qualities of a gemstone. It was discovered by the Egyptian Survey Expedition under Mr. P.A. Clayton in 1932, and was thoroughly investigated by Dr L.J. Spencer, who joined a special expedition of the Survey for this purpose in 1934.”
The following article http://veda.wikidot.com/ancient-city-found-in-india-irradiated-from-atomic-blast quotes Oppenheimer. “Interestingly, Manhattan Project chief scientist Dr. J. Robert Oppenheimer was known to be familiar with ancient Sanskrit literature. In an interview conducted after he watched the first atomic test, he quoted from the Bhagavad Gita: “”Now I am become Death, the Destroyer of Worlds. ‘I suppose we all felt that way.”
“When asked in an interview at Rochester University seven years after the Alamogordo nuclear test whether that was the first atomic bomb ever to be detonated, his reply was,: Ancient cities whose brick and stone walls have literally been vitrified, that is, fused together, can be found in India, Ireland, Scotland, France, Turkey and other places. There is no logical explanation for the vitrification of stone forts and cities, except from an atomic blast.”
In this article, Ancient City Found in India, Irradiated from Atomic Blast, is stated: Radiation is still so intense, the area is highly dangerous. A heavy layer of radioactive ash in Rajasthan, India, covers a three-square mile area, ten miles west of Jodhpur. Scientists are investigating the site, where a housing development was being built. For some time it has been established that there is a very high rate of birth defects and cancer in the area under construction
The levels of radiation there have registered so high on investigators’ gauges that the Indian government has now cordoned off the region. Scientists have unearthed an ancient city where evidence shows an atomic blast dating back thousands of years, from 8000 to 12,000 years, destroyed most of the buildings and probably a half-million people. One researcher estimates that the nuclear bomb used was about the size of the ones dropped on Japan in 1945.
The article goes on to state in a different excavation: “When excavations of Harappa and Mohenjo-Daro reached the street level, they discovered skeletons scattered about the cities, many holding hands and sprawling in the streets as if some instant, horrible doom had taken place. People were just lying, unburied, in the streets of the city. And these skeletons are thousands of years old, even by traditional archaeological standards. What could cause such a thing? Why did the bodies not decay or get eaten by wild animals? Furthermore, there is no apparent cause of a physically violent death.
These skeletons are among the most radioactive ever found, on par with those at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. At one site, Soviet scholars found a skeleton which had a radioactive level 50 times greater than normal. Other cities have been found in northern India that show indications of explosions of great magnitude.
One such city, found between the Ganges and the mountains of Rajmahal, seems to have been subjected to intense heat. Huge masses of walls and foundations of the ancient city are fused together, literally vitrified! And since there is no indication of a volcanic eruption at Mohenjo-Daro or at the other cities, the intense heat to melt clay vessels can only be explained by an atomic blast or some other unknown weapon. The cities were wiped out entirely. While the skeletons have been carbon-dated to 2500 BC, we must keep in mind that carbon-dating involves measuring the amount of radiation left. When atomic explosions are involved, that makes then seem much younger.” (End)
Now let’s fast forward in time a bit to Nuremberg, Germany, April 14th 1561 for evidence of extraterrestrial battles in the sky. The Hans Glaser wood-cut from 1566, 5 years after the event and in the same year as the Basle report says:
“At sunrise on the 14th April 1561, the citizens of Nuremberg beheld “A very frightful spectacle.” The sky appeared to fill with cylindrical objects from which red, black, orange and blue white disks and globes emerged. Crosses and tubes resembling cannon barrels also appeared whereupon the objects promptly “began to fight one another.” After about an hour of battle, the objects seemed too catch fire and fell to Earth, where they turned too steam.”
A broadsheet that dates from 1561, held in the Wickiana Collection of Switzerland’s Zurich Central Library, describes an ancient battle of UFOs over the skies of Nuremberg, Germany, on April 14th of that very same year. At sunrise, many people witnessed large numbers of dark red, blue and black ‘globes’ or ‘plates’ near the sun, ‘some three in a row, now and then four in a square, also some alone. And amongst these globes some blood colored crosses were seen.’ The document also refers to two great tubes ‘in which three, four and more globes were seen. They then all began to fight each other.’ This went on for about an hour, until ‘they all fell…… from the sun and sky down to the earth, producing a lot of steam’. Beneath the globes a long object that looked like a great black spear was also described as being seen.
Quote from the Gazette of the town of Nuremberg. At dawn of April 4, in the sky of Nuremberg (Germany), a lot of men and women saw a very alarming spectacle where various objects were involved, including balls “approximately 3 in the length, from time to time, four in a square, much remained insulated, and between these balls, one saw a number of crosses with the color of blood. Then one saw two large pipes, in which small and large pipes were 3 balls, also four or more. All these elements started to fight one against the other.” http://www.ufoevidence.org/cases/case486.htm http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eOgwhvmwUKM&feature=player_embedded#!
In 1608 the ETs were at it again with another aerial battle between extraterrestrial craft in France. Occupants were seen as well. http://www.inquiring-mines.com/ufo_1608_aerial_battle_france.htm In August of 1608, people of southern France, from Marseilles to Genoa, witnessed a true wave of UFOs, as reported in a chronicle of the time entitled, “Discours des terribles et espouvantables signes apparus sur la mer Gennes.”
In the sky over Martigues an aerial battle took place which left an odor of saltpeter (sulfur). The inhabitants of Nice saw three strange luminous vessels moving at high speed above the city. The vessels stopped close to a fortress then went down into the sea causing the water to boil and release a reddish-colored vapor. To the amazement of onlookers, two humanoid beings with large heads and large luminous eyes, and reddish scales connected to their vessels by tubes, passed several hours in some kind of strange work. Also off Genoa an aerial battle took place between flying objects and other craft emerging from the sea. The soldiers of the fortress delivered eight hundred blows from their guns to drive off the intruders.
I first began to hear about a war between ET factions a 2006 from my local contactee sources. They told me that what had been a cold war between ET races was now heating up. In 2008 I was told that one of my contact’s female Nordic human ET friends had been wounded in a battle. Later I was told that this ET had recovered and was back in action. I had no way of confirming this information at the time so I just sat on it, but it did get me to researching cases of possible extraterrestrial warfare.
I have expressed the point before that I believe the evolutionary laws are not just limited to earth but extend across the universe. Wherever there is competition and cooperation here on earth, either in nature or human society, conflicts and alliances arise. The evidence accumulating in the UFO/ET field indicates that it’s not any different on life evolving on other worlds and moving into space and across the universe.
I began searching the Internet, the first case of possible ET conflict I found was UFO/ET activity over Indiana. I read this article by UFO investigator Bill Knell and was told that this issue has been talked about on Coast to Coast radio. http://www.opednews.com/maxwrite/print_friendly.php?p=7083
Investigator Bill Knell had the following to say about this activity in Indiana, “Lights similar to those seen over Phoenix also appeared on Tuesday and Wednesday (April 14-15, 2008) over the towns of Kokomo and Logansport in Northern Indiana. Those lights were accompanied by loud sounds, an odd metallic odor in the air, the appearance of military aircraft and debris falling from the sky. Earlier in the evening on Wednesday night (April 15, 2008), a fishing boat captain reported seeing a huge object split into smaller lights off the coast of Atlantic City, New Jersey and said that he felt a brief tremor after that event.”
The unexplained craft are back over Phoenix and the air traffic controllers have been muzzled. http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2008/04/air_traffic_controllers_who_sa.php
obviously a lot is going on in the skies over Texas, Arizona and Indiana at the time and the public and the media do not have a clue as to what is really happening.
After I wrote a first blog article the Open Minds Forum opened up a thread called War in Space and as I had hoped more very interesting cases were posted. The following case I found on the OM thread from Kelowna, British Columbia region on July 2, 2007. http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/36243
“Numerous eyewitnesses in different parts of Kelowna saw a cylinder shaped craft, with what looked like fins on it, and on fire, ripped down through the sky and finally hitting the water on Okanagan Lake, British Columbia. The sound was incredibly loud and like a deep bass “womp, womp, womp” sound as it came down. The same object then reappeared from where it hit the lake, rose up and then sat and hovered in the sky.
Meanwhile a cone or “possible” triangular shaped craft was stationary a short distance away from the cylinder shaped craft. What took place next dumbfounded all of the people who had watched the event unfold, the two objects started reacting to one another, and the best description given from the witnesses was like looking at tracer fire from automatic weapons, or in other words it was like the two UFOs were shooting at one another. After a short time of exchanging what looked like the two craft were firing on one another, a loud bang was heard and the cone shaped craft was nowhere to be seen.
The torpedo shaped object was still hovering in the sky. It started moving from side to side and then a loud sonic boom and it was now gone. Needless to say, some witnesses screamed loudly or when watching had their jaw almost hit the ground from watching such an unusual event unfold in front of their eyes.
Other witnesses on July 2 also saw UFOs fighting. http://www.unexplained-mysteries.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=197629 “Ok, so like I said I would I’ve been watching the skies. Not last night but the night before, I saw something out of this world (no pun intended). It was about 10:45ish at night and I saw two object(s) in the sky just hovering.
They weren’t doing much, but something new with most sightings, they were different shaped objects. One was thin and longish, and the other was like a Triangular shape. They kept hovering there, so I got up quickly to run and grab my camera but the next thing I know I hear a smallest bang, almost like a gun, and the longish one starts to hurtle towards earth on fire making a deep sound, kind of like a nuclear generator bass kind of sound. I’m thinking to myself what the hell!
I watched the object and it disappeared at low altitude behind a smallish hill between my neighborhood and the lake. I look up and I see the triangular object make a small circle, come a little lower and then I see it start to hurdle towards the sky at a fast rate, and the longish one reappears from behind the hill no more fire, and ascending at break neck speed and when it gets a little higher, I saw it literally shoot something at the other object and then a very loud bang and the triangular one was no longer visible. The longish one started to what looked like search the sky. It was going north, then south, then east and west, Very quickly, almost like a hummingbird when it goes side to side. Then the object disappeared and I suppose its departure broke the sound barrier immediately because I heard that sonic boom when the barrier is broken.
Anyways, like I said. This seems ludicrous, and after my many years of watching the skies, I finally saw what seemed like two E.T.s duking it out. The thing I find interesting about this sighting though, is that the objects were not glowing eerily like most UFO sightings refer to. It makes the sighting almost that much more “real” if you know what I mean. “
Here is yet another case posted by Rodger Marsh of a possible UFO dogfight over New Jersey. The witness said, “Planes were traveling across the sky. In contrast to these planes, the objects were moving at incredible speeds…speeds that, as far as I know, are inhumanly possible. I’d estimate THOUSANDS of miles per hour. I can estimate these incredible speeds due to the known limited speed of commercial airliners. Furthermore, these objects were moving in MANY different directions. I mean right angles, reversing direction “on a dime”, vertically, horizontally, etc. during a sparing few instances these white lights would seemingly flash a red or orange hue as well. I would describe their movements; as if in a dogfight seemingly interacting with each other at times. Mind you, all the while planes are traveling through the sky.” http://www.examiner.com/ufo-in-national/witness-describes-ufo-dogfight-over-new-jersey
This UFO Dogfight over Texas case is recent. I keep finding these cases for this Chapter by trying different search words and more cases keep coming to light. “Paris -I walked outside at about 2 AM, on September 9, 2011, to make sure my car was locked and saw this weird blue glowing orb shoot across the sky towards a stationary white orb and a weird reddish glowing orb. Then the blue orb shot off a beam at the red orb. Then the red orb kind of shot off for about 30 seconds and the white orb turned a reddish color all about the same time.
The blue and red objects started shooting lights at each other. After about a minute of this battle, I watched the sky kind of flash like thunder for about five seconds and these objects were moving in weird directions stopping and then changing direction. After the flashing the red orb was gone, a second red orb appeared that I assume was the first red orb that disappeared. And they both shot off toward the northeast after a five minute dogfight.” http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message1665300/pg1
I found the following article the 1989 Battle of the Saucers in Russia from still another word search on the Internet. http://ufos.about.com/od/ufofolkloremythlegend/p/battle1989.htm “Subbotin claims that hundreds of people watched the group of six silver saucers fight against one golden UFO. The UFOs all made incredible moves in the skies-at times flying as low as 5,000 feet, giving a good view to onlookers. Beams of red light constituted the weapon of choice.
Witnesses who were interviewed by Sichenko claimed that the outnumbered golden UFO was finally defeated, although giving a gallant effort. The defeated UFO lost altitude, finally crashing to the ground. The six victorious UFOs disappeared into the clouds. Subbotin claims that the golden UFO crashed into a bog on a military test range, and the area was zoned off to everyone except military.
I received an email from Janice about a person who saw another UFO dogfight: “Approximately 25 years ago the grandmother of my son’s best friend watched an aerial dog fight between UFOs. It was way up in the sky. She saw UFOs explode and there was a lot more detail but I do not remember it.” Now let’s also not forget the four following cases alluding to extraterrestrial conflict that that I already have in the book in other chapters.
Jeff Adams struck up a confidential conversation on the Internet with an individual who claimed to be the son of a MJ 12 Air Force general and he said that the ETs known as the Nordics have fought a war with the Greys. “The Nordics and the Greys had an alliance which fell apart at this same time. The Nordics, who can be quite warlike when they want to be, opened up a can of whoopass on the Greys, and the war cost the Greys a lot of ground. The Greys were apparently using the Nordics for their own purposes, and the Nordics were not amused. The US/EU/UN still works with the Greys, so we all know where this going to end.”
Lyn Buchanan stated: Pretty soon another Gray came up and asked him to hold up his hand. When Lyn did the Gray placed his hand against Lyn’s and they had a long conversation. It took Lyn the longest time to figure out after he had remembered all this, what they talked about, but basically the Gray said they needed pilots and offered him a job. On this Lyn said: “Yes, but I will have to go back and get my family.” Gray said: “No families, we are at war” at that Lyn replied that without his family he won’t do it. The Gray did not say with whom they were at war with.
Tom Fox stated and this was confirmed by me from Charles Hall directly: “Airman Charles Hall suggests that Air Force generals thought the Tall Whites were near-enemies of the Grays. Hall: “I am quite certain that the Tall Whites and the Short Greys hate each other. I am quite certain that the Tall Whites would never permit the Short Greys to come anywhere near their base areas or near to their housing areas or anywhere that their children might be playing, etc.” But what is Hall’s basis for that assumption? I asked him, and he replied, “I was with the Tall Whites for over two years. Various remarks were made, and in particular, the Teacher (a Tall White) made the point quite clear to me.” (Charles Hall, personal email to the author 3-13-09).”
From the W56 article in Chapter 6: “Unfortunately the “W56” were fiercely struggled by a hostile race they called “our enemy brothers” and for this reason also our unaware human race was involved in some kind of “Star War”. Sammaciccia re-named these enemies “CTR” (from “contraries” and one of the duties of the “Friendship” group consisted in helping W56’s efforts to stop CTR’s evil actions. The CTR are described like totally similar to us and this characteristic made them extremely dangerous, they were perfectly fit in our society, hyper technological and totally lacking in morals.
After almost thirty years of these fantastic interactions the history of “Friendship” came to a tragic end. The W56 were defeated, the CTR destroyed the enormous bases where also humans had gone many times and the Adriatic Sea erupted with many water columns, causing death and fear among fishermen in 1978.”
It’s been amazing working on this chapter that I have been able to continue to find cases of ET conflict and fighting adding to those I found years ago for my first two blog articles on the subject. Of course I am also running into lots of trash cases but still there are still credible cases to be found across the Internet by coming at this from different angles using different combinations of search words and different search engines. I have no doubt that other credible cases can be found by diligent researchers.
Posted in Exopolitics by Ed Komarek and Others | Tagged: Bundestag, Egypt, Extraterrestrial life, Kenneth Oakley, Krishna, Libyan Desert, Libyan Desert Glass, Mahabharata, Michael Salla, Ramayana, Unidentified flying object | Comments Off on Chapter 7, ET Warfare (Draft)
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Tag: Women Writers
Joan Didion on Life Changes
by Rhys Tranter on 18 May 2019 18 May 2019
“Life changes in the instant. The ordinary instant.”
― Joan Didion, The Year of Magical Thinking
Svetlana Alexievich on the Purpose of Art
Svetlana Alexievich
“What can art accomplish? The purpose of art is to accumulate the human within the human being.”
— Svetlana Alexievich, Nobel Banquet, December 2015
The Ghost of Zora Neale Hurston
by Rhys Tranter on 1 February 2018 1 February 2018
An essay by Chantel Tattoli for The Daily blog of The Paris Review.
Female Gothic Histories (Assuming Gender Annual Lecture 2016)
by Rhys Tranter on 26 November 2016 3 December 2016
Free Public Event • 6 December 2016, Cardiff University
Design and Photography: Rhys Tranter
This year, Professor Diana Wallace (University of South Wales) will be presenting the Assuming Gender Annual Lecture at Cardiff University. The lecture will explore a tradition of Gothic historical fictions stretching from Sophia Lee in the eighteenth century to Sarah Waters in the twenty-first century. Conscious that women have often been left out of traditional historical narratives, Wallace suggests that Gothic historical fiction offers a mode of writing which can both reinsert women into history and symbolise their exclusion. (more…)
Biopic of civil rights activist Angela Davis in the works
Source: The Guardian.
“Why I love… Zadie Smith”
by Rhys Tranter on 11 August 2016 24 August 2016
Bim Adewunmi shares her admiration for the British novelist and essayist:
“Smith, now 40, is a confidently quiet writer – sly and witty and acid sharp – who always draws a world that looks like the real one; it’s a welcome skill set in the often monochrome world of UK publishing. Away from long-form, Smith also writes short stories, interviews and journalism (I urge you to read her warm profile of comedians Key and Peele). But it’s her essays – covering ground from familial loss to comedy, advertising and city living – that I love the best. She’s smart, and she doesn’t hide it.”
More at The Guardian.
Did Octavia Butler predict a Trump presidency?
by Rhys Tranter on 21 July 2016 21 July 2016
Well, no. But, nonetheless, her late-1990s dystopian novel, The Parable of the Talents, anticipates troubling undercurrents in the culture of the United States. And there are some noteworthy similarities to the 2016 presidential election. Open Culture reports:
“[I]n the second book of her Earthseed series, The Parable of the Talents (1998), Hugo and Nebula-award winning science fiction writer Octavia Butler gave us Senator Andrew Steele Jarret, a violent autocrat in the year 2032 whose ‘supporters have been known… to form mobs.’ Jarret’s political opponent, Vice President Edward Jay Smith, “calls him a demagogue, a rabble-rouser, and a hypocrite,’ and—most presciently—he rallies his crowds with the call to ‘make America great again.'”
The article also finds Trump predictors in a host of other pop culture sources, from The Simpsons to the Back to the Future franchise.
More at Open Culture.
Memories and Thoughts on Adrienne Rich
by Rhys Tranter on 21 June 2016 21 June 2016
Source: Harriet: The Blog.
Atwood wins 2016 PEN Pinter Prize
“Canadian author says she is humbled to accept reward and is praised by judges for championing environmental and human rights causes”
Download Feminist Magazine Spare Rib for Free
by Rhys Tranter on 7 June 2016 7 June 2016
Now, you can download all 239 issues of the landmark UK feminist magazine free-of-charge. Source: Open Culture.
The Mediated Woman Writer
“What I didn’t know then that I know now is that art is deeply and necessarily political. Women’s authorship is a fundamentally radical instrument, which promises to rewrite the terms of everyone’s socialisation. From Mary Wollstonecraft to Charlotte Brontë, from Virginia Woolf to Judith Butler, the history of feminism is almost indistinguishable from the history of women writers, and of women writers writing about writing.”
More at Marie Thouaille’s All the Single Writing Ladies.
Yale English Students: Move Beyond White Male Writers
Alison Flood (The Guardian) reports on a petition that rejects traditional English curriculum at Yale
Undergraduates at Yale University have launched a petition calling on the English department to abolish a core course requirement to study canonical writers including Chaucer, Shakespeare and Milton, saying that “it is unacceptable that a Yale student considering studying English literature might read only white male authors”.
The prestigious Connecticut university requires its English majors to spend two semesters studying a selection of authors it labels the “major English poets”: “Geoffrey Chaucer, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, and John Donne in the fall; John Milton, Alexander Pope, William Wordsworth, and TS Eliot or another modern poet in the spring”. (more…)
On Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique
“Betty Friedan, the godmother of the postwar US women’s movement, was an accidental feminist. “Until I started writing [The Feminine Mystique]” she confessed in 1973, “I wasn’t even conscious of the woman problem.” Friedan had begun her research into “the problem that has no name” – a catchy homage to “the love that dare not speak its name” of Oscar Wilde’s fin-de-siècle disgrace – as part of her work for a questionnaire of her former college classmates on their 15th reunion in 1957, thinking that she would “disprove the current notion that education had fitted us ill for our role as women”.”
Sarah Waters’ Cultural Highlights
The novelist on unusual cinema experiences, LGBTQ history and the genius of Happy Valley (Source: The Guardian).
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Home › Interview › Circular Economy: Thomas Rau
Circular Economy: Thomas Rau
On the 15th of September we will be discussing the concept of Circular Economy with Thomas Rau.
The circular economy is a concept that rethinks the way our economy works: instead of a linear model, a circular one. In the linear model consists of ‘take, make and dispose’. In a circular economy, the products are not wasted but designed in a way to ensure they can be used all over again.
To illustrate, Thomas Rau applied this concept to his office building in collaboration with Philips. Instead of buying lightbulbs, he wanted to buy the service of light from Philips. The idea is that whenever the producer of the product is responsible for the lifespan, it will try to make the product last as long as possible.
Will the concept of Circular Economy radically change the business models of our economy? Are we going to enter a new era of economic organization, more and more based on services instead of ownership?
Thomas Rau is ranked fourth on the Sustainable top100 of Dutch newspaper Trouw. He has been awarded ‘Architect of the Year 2013’ and received the Oeuvre Award from from the magazine Architect ARC13 for his contribution to sustainable architecture over the past 20 years, as well as for: “his inspiring contribution to the social and architectural agenda.” He is founder of Rau Architects and Turntoo.
What: Circular Economy
Who: Thomas Rau, founder of Turntoo and Rau Architecten
When: September 15th, 12.00 -13.00
Where: Roetersstraat 11, E-Hal, Amsterdam
The interview is on 15/09/2016, from 12:00 until 13:00. It is conducted in English and will be about Economics, at Room for Discussion Podium.
Watch the interview on YouTube Photo album
Thomas Rau Founder Turntoo and Rau Architecten
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Home » Table of Content » Adverse events in patients with leprosy on treatment with thalidomide
Adverse events in patients with leprosy on treatment with thalidomide
Paula Lana de Miranda Drummond1 2 Roberta Márcia Marques dos Santos1 Gabriela Oliveira Carvalho2 Cristiane Aparecida Menezes de Pádua2
1Divisão de Assuntos Regulatórios, Diretoria Industrial, Fundação Ezequiel Dias, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil. 2Departamento de Farmácia Social, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil.
Thalidomide, used to treat erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL), is associated with severe adverse events (AEs) and is highly teratogenic.
A cross-sectional study was conducted on thalidomide-treated patients with ENL. AEs and selected variables were investigated through interviews and assessment of medical records. Odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals were estimated via logistic regression.
Peripheral neuropathy symptoms and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) were the most common AEs reported. Although women of reproductive age used contraceptives, <50% of patients reported using condoms. Polypharmacy was associated with all endpoints, except DVT.
Pharmacovigilance is crucial to prevent harmful thalidomide-associated AEs.
Keywords: Thalidomide; Leprosy; Adverse events; Pharmacovigilance; Drug safety
Thalidomide was used as a sedative, hypnotic, and antiemetic in pregnant women with nausea. After a few years of use, approximately 10,000 teratogenicity cases associated with thalidomide use during pregnancy were reported in 46 countries, resulting in its withdrawal in the early 1960s1. Despite this tragedy, in 1969, Sheskin2 prescribed thalidomide as a sedative to a patient with erythema nodosum leprosum (ENL), and reported a rapid and dramatic clinical response. The efficacy of thalidomide in ENL was confirmed in a double-blind clinical trial carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO)3. In 2015, there were 174,608 cases of leprosy in the world, of which 23,995 were in Brazil, making it the country with the second highest prevalence after India. Of the new cases registered, approximately 70% were multibacillary leprosy, which may manifest as ENL, or type 2 reaction, and require thalidomide treatment4.
After sedation, peripheral neuropathy is the most frequently reported thalidomide-associated adverse event (AE). Teratogenic effects are characterized by severe fetal limb defects and internal organ deformities5,6. After the phocomelia epidemic caused by thalidomide in Europe in the 1960s, several countries recommended drug vigilance, as part of the WHO Programme for International Drug Monitoring, based on the spontaneous reporting of AEs. Nevertheless, underreporting is a well-known problem of this method which may therefore fail to ensure drug safety7. In Brazil, few studies focusing on thalidomide safety have been conducted. The aim of this study was therefore to estimate the frequency of AEs in thalidomide-treated patients with ENL and to determine associated factors.
This cross-sectional study was conducted in a public referral hospital for infectious diseases in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. All patients (≥18 years) treated for ENL with thalidomide between July and October 2016 were invited to participate. Interviews were conducted once with each patient using a previously tested standardized questionnaire and medical records were reviewed to supplement the interview information. Data were collected until 12 months preceding the interviews. Each AE was registered only once for each patient, regardless of the frequency it appeared in the medical record. An AE was defined as any undesirable event reported by the patient during the interview or registered in the medical records.
Seven key endpoints with clinical relevance in leprosy and thalidomide treatment, including paresthesia, weakness and cramps (peripheral neuropathy), permanent neuropathy, deep vein thrombosis (DVT), edema, and the number of AEs, were selected for analysis. Symptoms identified from neurological evaluation of the patients were also recorded. Exposure variables including sociodemographic (sex, age, city of origin, education, and family income) and clinical and therapeutic characteristics (comorbidities, use of other drugs/polypharmacy, and information regarding thalidomide treatment) were considered. Polypharmacy was defined as the concomitant use of ≥5 medications, including thalidomide.
Descriptive analysis of AEs and exposure variables was conducted through absolute and relative frequencies. Means were used as cutoff values to categorize continuous variables. Logistic regression was employed for both univariate and multivariate analyses. Peripheral neuropathy symptoms (paresthesia, weakness, and cramps), permanent neuropathy, DVT, edema, and the mean number of AEs per patient were compared with sociodemographic and clinical variables. The strength of the association between AEs and selected exposure variables was estimated using odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence interval (CI). The independent effect of selected variables on AEs was assessed via logistic multivariate analysis. Variables included in the initial model consisted of those statistically associated with an AE in the univariate analysis (p < 0.20). Modeling was initially done with all variables followed by sequential deletion to assess the statistical significance of each one, and only those with p < 0.05 were retained in the final model. A likelihood ratio test was used to compare models, and the goodness-of-fit was assessed via Hosmer-Lemeshow test. All analyses were performed using SAS software, version 9.4 (SAS Inc., Cary, NC, USA).
This study was approved by the Ethics Research Committees of the participating institutions (Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais: no. 54594916.4.0000.5149, and referral hospital: 54594916.4.3001.5124) and in keeping with the Helsinki Declaration of 1964, as revised in 1975, 1983, 1989, 1996, and 2000. Participation was voluntary, ensuring confidentiality concerning the information collected.
A total of 110 patients were interviewed. Patients presented between 2 and 20 AEs (mean = 11 events per patient). During the interviews, patients reported 1,356 AEs, whereas 1,278 were identified from medical records. The most frequent AEs reported during the interviews were dry skin, paresthesia, drowsiness, weight gain, and weakness, in this order. The most frequent AEs identified from medical records were pain, paresthesia, dry skin, infections, and lower limb edema (Table 1). No cases of teratogenicity were reported.
TABLE 1: Main adverse events reported by patients and identified from medical records (>10% in at least one source, n = 110).
Self-report
Medical record
Weight gain 73 (66.4) 1 (0.9)
Pain 61 (55.5) 93 (84.6)
Headache 42 (38.2) 12 (10.9)
Fever 36 (32.7) 52 (47.3)
Malaise 33 (30.0) 22 (20.0)
Tiredness 20 (18.2) 9 (8.2)
Infections 16 (14.6) 78 (70.9)
Weight loss 15 (13.6) 6 (5.5)
Paresthesia 95 (86.4) 91 (82.7)
Drowsiness 85 (77.3) 5 (4.6)
Tremor 67 (60.9) 12 (10.9)
Anxiety/agitation 59 (53.6) 6 (5.5)
Dizziness 46 (41.8) 11 (10.0)
Insomnia 21 (19.1) 4 (3.6)
Fainting 15 (13.6) 1 (0.9)
Nervousness 14 (12.7) 3 (2.7)
Permanent neuropathy 0 (0.0) 42 (38.2)
Muscular skeletal system
Weakness 68 (61.8) 27 (24.6)
Cramps 12 (10.9) 27 (24.6)
Dry skin 105 (95.5) 88 (80.0)
Desquamation 54 (49.1) 31 (28.2)
Pruritus 25 (22.7) 25 (22.7)
Constipation 40 (36.4) 6 (5.5)
Nausea 21 (19.1) 6 (5.5)
Increased appetite 12 (10.9) 0 (0.0)
Appetite loss 10 (9.1) 13 (11.8)
Tachycardia 34 (30.9) 4 (3.6)
Lower limb edema 25 (22.7) 70 (63.6)
Hypotension 19 (17.3) 2 (1.8)
Upper limb edema 11 (10.0) 27 (24.6)
Thrombosis† 7 (6.4) 10 (9.1)
Hyperglycemia 11 (10.0) 18 (16.4)
Loss of visual acuity 12 (10.9) 32 (29.1)
Cataract 2 (1.8) 27 (24.6)
Impotence 29 (26.4) 1 (0.9)
Teratogenicity† 0 (0.0) 0 (0.0)
Shortness of breath 3 (2.7) 12 (10.9)
†Thrombosis and teratogenicity were included because of their relevance as adverse events even though the frequencies observed were low.
The most commonly reported neurological symptoms were loss of sensation in the lower (74.6%) and higher (53.6%) limbs, loss of strength in the lower (10.9%) and higher (40.9%) limbs, neuritis, and visual impairment.
Most patients were men (mean age = 47.8 years), and 10% of patients reported never having studied (illiterate group), 70% had an elementary education (some incomplete), 80% received up to two minimum wages as the monthly family income, 40% were retired, and 23.6% unemployed (Table 2).
TABLE 2: Univariate analysis for the comparison of adverse events and sociodemographic and clinical variables (n = 110).
OR (95% CI)
Adverse events >11
Permanent neuropathy
Male 72 (65.5) 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Female 38 (34.6) 1.1 0.5 1.0 1.8 1.0 3.0 0.9
(0.5-2.4) (0.1-2.6) (0.5-2.3) (0.8-4.2)*** (0.5-2.4) (0.9-10.3)** (0.4-2.3)
<47 55 (50.0) 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
>47 55 (50.0) 2.8 5.4 1.9 1.0 2.6 2.2 2.3
(1.3-6.1)* (0.6-47.8)** (0.9-4.3)*** (0.4-2.2) (1.2-5.7)* (0.7-7.7) (1.0-5.4)**
HS + HE 22 (20.0) 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
NE + ES 88 (80.0) 3.5 0.8 1.1 1.2 2.5 1.3 1.6
(1.3-9.8)*** (0.1-7.1) (0.4-2.9) (0.4-3.5) (0.8-7.3)** (0.3-6.3) (0.6-4.4)
FI (min. wage)
>2 19 (17.3) 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
<2 91 (82.7) 2.6 2.6 1.1 1.3 1.1 1.1 2.8
(0.9-7.6)** (0.4-15.1) (0.4-3.2) (0.4-4.0) (0.4-3.0) (0.2-5.2) (1.0-7.8)*
LTT (months)
<12 26 (23.6) 3.5 † 1.6 1.0 1.3 0.6 1.4
(1.3-9.1)* (0.6-4.2) (0.4-2.6) (0.5-3.1) (0.1-3.0) (0.5-3.9)
AH 33 (30.0) 2.5 2.2 2.5 1.4 2.7 1.8 2.2
(1.1-5.9)* (0.3-19.8) (1.0-6.5)** (0.6-3.4) (1.2-6.1)* (0.5-6.1) (0.8-5.9)***
DM 17 (15.5) 2.7 † 1.9 0.6 5.0 1.1 3.4
(0.9-8.2)** (0.6-6.2) (0.2-2.1) (1.6-15.6)* (0.2-5.6) (0.7-15.8)**
Polypharmacy 80 (72.7) 29.1 15.8 4.5 1.3 5.9 4.6 5.0
(6.4-131.5)* (1.8-141.7)* (1.9-10.9)* (0.5-3.4) (1.9-18.4)* (0.6-37.5)*** (2.0-12.3)*
†Indeterminate values. OR: odds ratio; CI: confidence interval; DVT: deep vein thrombosis; HS: high school; HE: higher education; NE: never studied; ES: elementary school; FI: family income; LTT: length of treatment with thalidomide; AH: arterial hypertension; DM: diabetes mellitus. Min. wage = BRL 880.00. *p-value <0.05; **p-value <0.10; ***p-value <0.20
The mean number of medical visits was nine per patient in the previous 12 months. The average length of treatment with thalidomide was 3 years and 76.4% of patients were treated for >1 year, which corresponds approximately to the duration of ENL. All patients had multibacillary leprosy and the most frequent comorbidities were arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Two patients developed diabetes mellitus after starting thalidomide treatment. One case of diabetes secondary to corticosteroid use was identified from medical records.
Approximately 96% of patients had used other medications simultaneously with thalidomide, with a total of 680 prescription records. The most common drugs were prednisone (12.1%), antihypertensives (10.7%), medications for neuropathic pain (8.5%), antibiotics for multidrug therapy (MDT/WHO, 7.8%) used to treat leprosy, and anticoagulants (5.3%). The use of prednisone was recorded in 82 patients (74.6%). Polypharmacy was observed in 80 patients (72.7%).
Thalidomide dosage ranged from 100 mg twice weekly to 400 mg daily, according to the patients’ needs. Approximately 37% of patients reported discontinuing thalidomide treatment for a period for some reason, leading to the reappearance of the characteristic ENL nodules. There were 36 hospitalizations recorded during the study period for ENL or necrotizing ENL and/or Lucio’s phenomenon (52.8%), infection (19.4%), and DVT or suspected DVT (13.9%). Of 38 women, 23 (60.5%) reported using injectable contraceptives, seven (18.4%) had already undergone a sterilization procedure, and the rest did not use any contraceptive method as they were not of childbearing age. Only 34 (31.5%) patients, including men, reported using condoms.
The results of the univariate analysis are shown in Table 2. Age ≥47 years, family income <2 minimum wages, treatment duration of <1 year, comorbidities, and polypharmacy were associated with the AEs selected. The following were independently associated: sex with DVT, education up to elementary school and polypharmacy with ≥11 AEs, and polypharmacy with paresthesia, weakness, permanent neuropathy, and edema (Table 3). The goodness-of-fit of the final model was deemed satisfactory (p-value ≥0.05).
TABLE 3: Final model of the multivariate analysis for adverse events to thalidomide (n = 110).
OR 95% (CI)
Male – – – – 1.0 –
Female – – – – 3.0 (0.9-10.3) –
HS + HE 1.0 – – – – –
NE + ES 4.4 (1.4-14.0) – – – – –
DM – – – 3.4 (1.1-10.9) – –
Polypharmacy 32.4 (7.0-149.8) 15.8 (1.8-141.7) 4.5 (1.8-11.0) 4.6 (1.4-14.7) – 5.0 (2.0-12.3)
OR: odds ratio; CI: confidence interval; DVT: deep vein thrombosis; HS: high school; HE: higher education; NE: never studied; ES: elementary school; DM: diabetes mellitus. p-value <0.05 for all combinations showing values.
This study aimed to determine the frequency of AEs in thalidomide-treated patients with ENL based on data collected from the interviews and medical records of patients attending a referral public hospital for infectious diseases in Minas Gerais, Brazil. This hospital is the main health-service provider in this state, distributing approximately 14% of all thalidomide tablets annually destined to this state and accounting for approximately 5% of the national thalidomide production.
Our study revealed the large number and variability of AEs observed during thalidomide treatment ranging from nonspecific to specific events occurring more often within the first year of treatment. The frequency of AEs varied according to the source of information (self-report vs. medical records). In general, AEs recorded in medical charts were less frequent, which may result from underreporting of non-severe AEs. Therefore, the use of both sources may provide more accurate information regarding AEs.
Patients with ENL require long-term treatment with multiple drugs, usually resulting in polypharmacy. Some of the AEs observed may have been caused by more than one of the drugs used by leprosy patients. MDT/WHO (combination of rifampicin, dapsone, and clofazimine) may be administered in combination with thalidomide to ENL patients8. Prednisone is also commonly used concomitantly with thalidomide in patients with leprosy. In combination with certain chemotherapies and corticosteroids, thalidomide raises the risk of DVT6.
In our study, DVT was responsible for 14% of hospitalization cases. DVT occurred in 10 patients, showing a borderline higher association in female than male patients, but was not associated with the use of contraceptives. In another study, five of 25 patients with different diseases and four patients with ENL using other drugs (e.g., corticosteroids) simultaneously with thalidomide discontinued thalidomide treatment because of DVT. However, in that series, DVT occurred even when thalidomide was administered alone9. In our study, only one patient with DVT had been using thalidomide alone, and the other nine had used prednisone concomitantly.
Although peripheral neuropathy was not recorded, associated symptoms were, including paresthesia, numbness, tingling, burning, weakness, and cramps, and these should be carefully monitored during thalidomide treatment. Few cases of peripheral neuropathy have been reported during ENL treatment despite long-term use, possibly because of pre-existing neuropathies in certain ENL patients. Neuropathy is more likely to occur with higher doses of thalidomide, longer administration periods, and in older patients10. In our study, it was difficult to distinguish neurological ENL symptoms from AEs. However, studies have reported the association between peripheral neuropathy and thalidomide use in patients with multiple myeloma, cutaneous lupus erythematosus, and other diseases treated with thalidomide11,12, in which the symptoms cannot be confused with thalidomide-associated peripheral neuropathy.
Thalidomide-associated AEs may be similar to ENL and leprosy symptoms. The clinical manifestations of leprosy are largely confined to the skin, upper respiratory system, eyes, testicles, and peripheral nerves with subsequent physical deformities and nerve damage, especially present in lepromatous leprosy (in which ENL is most frequently observed)13. Progressive nerve damage may result in muscle weakness and insensitivity, which were observed in 61.8 and 86.4% of patients, respectively. ENL-associated orchitis causes impotence, which was reported by 26.3% of patients. Patients with ENL are, in general, chronically fatigued and suffer from chronic pain and insomnia, which were reported by 18.2, 55.5, and 19.1% of patients, respectively.
The lepromatous form of leprosy is more common in men10, in accordance with the higher number of men using thalidomide and the contraindications of thalidomide use in women of childbearing age, unless they are using effective contraception14. All women of childbearing potential in this study were using medroxyprogesterone. However, <50% of patients, including men, reported using condoms. This finding is a reason for concern, as warnings regarding the teratogenic potential of thalidomide appear to be focused on women. Male patients taking thalidomide should use barrier contraception, as thalidomide was shown to be present in semen10. However, studies confirming the association between teratogenicity and the presence of thalidomide in semen are still required.
Despite strict control on the use of thalidomide in Brazil during the last years, several new cases of malformation associated with thalidomide were identified in children born after 196515. Fortunately, in this study, teratogenicity was not observed.
This study has some limitations. Participants were not representative of all patients with ENL in Brazil. Because of the cross-sectional design, AEs observed in this study cannot be indisputably attributed to thalidomide use. Despite this, our data may provide general insight into the safety issues concerning leprosy treatment, thus highlighting the need for effective pharmacovigilance to prevent harmful adverse events in patients.
Peripheral neuropathy and DVT are severe AEs associated with the use of thalidomide in patients with ENL. Patients with leprosy face social vulnerability and treatment limitations associated with this neglected disease. Furthermore, there is a need for multidrug regimens, the associated AEs of which may worsen the patients’ quality of life. Female and male patients should be counseled about contraception methods and the appropriate use of thalidomide. Thus, pharmacovigilance is crucial for monitoring severe AEs and preventing avoidable harmful adverse events such as teratogenicity.
We would like to acknowledge the health professionals at the Hospital Eduardo de Menezes, who were so kindly willing to collaborate with us and participate in our study. Hospital Eduardo de Menezes/Fundação Hospitalar do Estado de Minas Gerais (FHEMIG). We are also grateful to Juliana Vieira Virdes for language editing.
1. Kim JH, Scialli AR. Thalidomide: the tragedy of birth defects and the effective treatment of disease. Toxicol Sci. 2011;122(1):1-6. [ Links ]
2. Sheskin J, Convit J. Results of a double blind study of the influence of thalidomide on the lepra reaction. Int J Lepr Other Mycobact Dis. 1969;37(2):135-46. [ Links ]
3. Iyer CG, Languillon J, Ramanujam K, Tarabini-Castellani G, De las Aguas JT, Bechelli LM, et al. WHO co-ordinated short-term double-blind trial with thalidomide in the treatment of acute lepra reactions in male lepromatous patients. Bull World Health Organ. 1971;45(6):719-32. [ Links ]
4. World Health Organization (WHO). Department of Control of Neglected Tropical Diseases. Leprosy elimination. Global leprosy update, 2015: time for action, accountability and inclusion. Wkly Epidemiol Rec. 2015;91(35):405-20. Avalaible at: http://www.who.int/lep/resources/who_wer9135/en/ [ Links ]
5. Patil CR, Bhise SB. Re-emergence of thalidomide. Indian J Pharmacol. 2003;3:204-12. [ Links ]
6. Franks ME, Macpherson GR, Figg WD. Thalidomide. Lancet. 2004;363(9423):1802-11. [ Links ]
7. World Health Organization (WHO). Uppsala Monitoring Center. Half a Century of Pharmacovigilance. 2019. Available at: https://www.who-umc.org/global-pharmacovigilance/global-pharmacovigilance/half-a-century-of-pharmacovigilance/ [ Links ]
8. World Health Organization (WHO). Guia para Eliminação da Hanseníase como Problema de Saúde. Avalaible at: http://www.who.int/lep/resources/Guide_Brasil_P1.pdf?ua=1. Acesso em: 28/05/2017. [ Links ]
9. Sharma NL, Sharma VC, Mahajan VK, Shanker V, Ranjan N, Gupta M. Thalidomide: an experience in therapeutic outcome and adverse reactions. J Dermatolog Treat. 2007;18(6):335-40. [ Links ]
10. Teo S, Resztak KE, Scheffler MA, Kook KA, Zeldis JB, Stirling DI, et al. Thalidomide in the treatment of leprosy. Microbes Infect. 2002;4(11):1193-202. [ Links ]
11. Wang J, Udd KA, Vidisheva A, Swift RA, Spektor TM, Bravin E, et al. Low serum vitamin D occurs commonly among multiple myeloma patients treated with bortezomib and/or thalidomide and is associated with severe neuropathy. Support Care Cancer. 2016;24(7):3105-10. [ Links ]
12. Frankel HC, Sharon VR, Vleugels RA, Merola JF, Qureshi AA. Lower-dose thalidomide therapy effectively treats cutaneous lupus erythematosus but is limited by neuropathic toxicity. Int J Dermatol. 2013;52(11):1407-9. [ Links ]
13. Lastória JC, Abreu MA. Leprosy: review of the epidemiological, clinical, and etiopathogenic aspects – Part 1. An Bras Dermatol. 2014;89(2):205-18. [ Links ]
14. Ministério da Saúde (MS). Agência Nacional de Vigilância Sanitária. Diretoria Colegiada. Resolução – RDC nº 11, de 22 de março de 2011. Dispõe sobre o controle da substância talidomida e do medicamento que a contenha. 2011. 16p. [ Links ]
15. Sales LVF, de Oliveira MZ, Sanseverino MT, Morelo EF, de Lyra Rabello Neto D, Lopez-Camelo J, et al. Pharmacoepidemiology and thalidomide embryopathy surveillance in Brazil. Reprod Toxicol. 2015;53:63-7. [ Links ]
Received: September 13, 2018; Accepted: December 17, 2018
Corresponding author: Paula Lana de Miranda Drummond. e-mail:paulalana.86@gmail.com
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All for Gaza!!!!
For the past few weeks everyone has come to their attention the Gaza issue and the strikes that have been going on there. Everyone sympathized in various ways from texting, boycotting, donating and rallying against this stupid ridiculous and meaningless invasion by the Israelis (whom of course has their back covered by the US). Some say that its Israel's right to fight off any dangers to their illegal territory, some say its illogical, some say Bush wants to leave with a big bang, and some say that its all in the cards the republicans are playing to show that a Black demorcrat can never solve the world's issues. Whatever everyone says doesn't really matter because the fact is that this thing is going on and the death toll of civilians especially those of innocent children with their cute puppy eyes is rising. People should stand united in beating this thing and lead to an immediate cease fire!!!
As I mentioned earlier people are doing all sorts of things to try and express how unjust it is and the most obvious one that you hear about is the rallying and protests that are happening around the globe. In Oman there were two rallies that happened, they both started at 4 in the evening after the Friday prayers. One happened in front of the Palestinian embassy and one happened at the Grand Mosque in Muscat. I happened to go to the Grand Mosque one since it was said to be the much bigger one with TV stations present to capture footage. As soon as I arrived there the turnout was amazing, which showed how caring and attached people are to the issue. But come what may till the entire rally started transforming int a pro-hamas rally that had nothing to do with what was happening. People started chanting pro-hamas chants and started chanting saying: "Is Gaza for Arabs? No, Is Gaza for Arabs? No, Is Gaza for Islam? Yes". Now that was quite disturbing because most Palestinians expatriates aren't pro-hamas. They actually don't like how hamas is governing Gaza as far as I was told by many I know. Furthermore, most Palestinians that actually act and work in making their voices heard and want to make a difference in the world are for a fact christians. So the rally basically not only didn't appreciate all those Christian Palestianins that are striving to make a change but it disregarded the fact of freedom of religion that Islam states. It also disreagarded the fact that most foreign Palestinians took the rally as being offensive. This rally at the end of the day just contradicted its basic goal which was to open a ground for mutual understanding and to display solidarity to Palestine and those Palestininans that were participating in it.
All in all, I just hope next time around someone would have the time to actually think of what they are rallying for before they actually do something as stupid as this!!
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Eliminating trichiasis: the next steps forward
Paul Courtright
Co-Director, Kilimanjaro Centre for Community Ophthalmology International, www.kcco.net
Matthew Burton
Senior Lecturer, International Centre for Eye Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine
Paul Emerson
Director, Trachoma Control Programme, The Carter Center, Email: Paul.Emerson@emory.edu
Significant progress is being made in the fight against blinding trachoma. However, according to estimates, there are over 7.3 million people with trachomatous trichiasis (TT) in the world. 1
Trachomatous trichiasis occurs when in-turned eyelashes scrape the cornea. Not only is this incredibly painful, it also causes damage to the cornea; sufferers will become irreversibly blind unless it is corrected surgically.
Eyelid surgery for trichiasis. ETHIOPIA. ©International Trachoma Initiative
Providing access to quality surgical services, based in the community, is critical if we are to reach the target of eliminating blindness due to trachoma. Since the formation of the Global Alliance for the Elimination of Blinding Trachoma (GET2020) in 1997, there have been advances in trichiasis management on many fronts. However, surgical numbers remain quite low.
The Global Trichiasis Scientific Meeting was held in Tanzania earlier this year to consider evidence from various sources about how best to manage trichiasis. The meeting was attended by scientists, national ministry of health programme managers, and NGO personnel from ten countries affected by trachoma. Here are selected conclusions from the meeting that are particularly relevant to eye care professionals actively working in the field:
It is both necessary and possible to improve trichiasis surgery. Programmes and surgeons should follow the techniques outlined in the WHO manual “Final Assessment of Trichiasis Surgeons”2
The bilamellar tarsal rotation procedure can produce excellent results.
Specific guidelines for managing recurrent TT are limited or lacking in most settings. Programmes are encouraged to develop locally appropriate guidelines for the management of recurrent TT.
Evidence indicates there is no difference in the TT recurrence rates between silk and synthetic absorbable sutures.
Definite indications for surgery include: having any central lashes, having peripheral lashes that touch the cornea, or surgery requested by the patient with TT. There is consensus that even a few lashes touching the peripheral globe (peripheral TT) should be managed with an appropriate intervention.
Even minor peripheral TT can progress and cause corneal damage; epilation can be considered but this must be accompanied with appropriate counselling and follow-up.
Pre-operative TT should be stratified and recorded as: minor: 0–4 lashes, major: 5–20 lashes, and severe: 20+ lashes. This will make follow-up easier.
Post-operative TT can be subdivided into early or late, and into clinically significant and non-significant. Clinically significant post-operative TT includes: any central lashes, peripheral lashes that touch the cornea, and TT identified as significant by the patient. Ideally, initial post-operative follow-up should take place between six and twelve weeks, and before six months.
Surgical training and quality
The WHO Final Assessment of Trichiasis Surgeons manual should be adopted by all programmes and incorporated at all levels of training.
There is programmatic evidence that the trainees being put forward for TT surgery training are not always the most suitable candidates. Programmes should adopt and follow clear criteria for trainee selection.
There is a need for a training of trainers manual. Where possible, training curricula should be standardised at the national level to ensure that different training programmes have equivalent outcomes.
Supportive supervision should be built into the programmes from the beginning. Surgery team leaders should be selected from amongst active TT surgeons and receive additional training and resources to ensure they are empowered to do their job.
Surgeons should maintain a surgical register of all patients. Auditing of clinical outcomes should be part of ongoing supervision. There should be a first year audit after training, including a review of patient cards and productivity, and some review of patient outcomes and observation of surgery.
Surgical output and uptake
Static service delivery alone will not solve the problem; outreach (bringing the service to the patient, or the patient to the service) is needed to address the backlog.
Evidence suggests that in well-planned, well-organised, and effectively managed programmes, surgeons can each operate on 20 eyes per day.
Decisions on who to train as TT surgeons will be country specific. A significant proportion of general health workers who are trained as trichiasis surgeons later stop performing operations; this requires attention from the country’s ministry of health.
Findings in multiple settings suggest that programmes to encourage people to come for surgery should have an understanding of the barriers that a community faces. In some settings, where use of services is lower among women, gender-focused strategies are needed.
There is sufficient evidence that bringing the service to the patient increases uptake; however, even with community-based trichiasis surgery, it is unlikely that a programme will achieve 100% coverage and interventions are needed to manage those who refuse surgery.
Activities to address some of the challenges are underway; these will be reported in future articles in this series. The meeting was sponsored by the Fred Hollows Foundation and Lions SightFirst.
1 Weekly Epidemiological Record, No. 17, 27 April 2012. www.who.int/wer/2012/wer8717/en/index.html
2 World Health Organization manual: Final Assessment of Trichiasis Surgeons. Download from www.who.int/blindness/publications/en/
Human resources and training
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The Scirefa Chronicles
The Scirefa Chronicles is a five book Epic Fantasy series with the first book having the working title: The Sapphire Talisman.
Dwarfili
Dwarfili Map
Dwarfili Epic of Creation
Dwarfil Culture
Dwarfili Pictures
Ni’jal
Ni’jal Map
Ni’jal Epic of Creation
Ni’jal Culture
Ni’jal Pictures
Nymphen Map
Nymphen Epic of Creation
Nymphen Culture
Free Cell Phone Wallpaper
Steven “Reece” Friesen is a friend of mine and I’m proud to say that. Not only is he a great artist, but he’s also a writer and published author of two graphic novels (the third is forthcoming as a webcomic). Reece’s three graphic novels: Pax Avalon: Conflict Revolution; Pax Avalon: Birthrite; and Pax Avalon: ReGeneration are an exploration of different approaches to resolving conflict. Set in a super hero motif, the exploration is an interesting and intriguing read. For more information see www.paxavalon.com.
As I mentioned Reece is a friend and willing to do artwork for me from time to time. His professionalism and way of drawing out what my characters might look like are both refreshing and challenging. However, we all know that anything worth doing is challenging.
In this rendition of my original three characters you see Corin, a nymph, standing on the left. His bow was a creation of Reece’s and I think a pleasant addition to my character. The vines on Corin’s head were also Reece’s idea but speak to the fact that the nymphs have a symbiotic relationship with the forest in which they live. Adom, the central character has a key hanging around his neck. This key is the sapphire talisman that book 1 is named after. If you look closer you’ll see that adding to the mystery is the fact that his sheath is empty. Adom would love a sword, he knows how to use a sword, he trusts in a sword, but a sword is not what’s chosen for him. Finally, Delf, a Ni’Jal or Crimson Warrior. He is of the mysterious and rebellious people who live in the Southern Swamplands. His constant companion is Nightfang, the wolf sitting at his feet. Nightfang sought Delf out as a pup in the Southern Swamplands which is also mysterious as wolves do not life in the Swamplands.
Courtney Giesbrecht is an aspiring and gifted artist who jumped at my request to provide me with a rendition of a dragon. Her willingness to create an original work for me has warmed my heart. I’m hoping I’ll be blessed to have more pictures of Courtney as time goes by, but for now I share with you her original picture of Tanin, a dragon from the Sapphire Talisman.
Inspired by a quote I tweaked from Nietzsche, Stephen “Reece” Friesen came up with this original artwork. “Be careful in fighting the dragon, lest you become the dragon.”
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The Arrow-Song Blog
~ by Scot Lahaie
The Atlantian Transformation
Posted by Scot Lahaie in Short Stories
SciFi, Short Stories
A Short Story by Scot Lahaie
Colonel Williams had served as commander for the moon colony on Oceana for fifteen years. Every spring a supply ship arrived from earth bringing much-needed supplies and a bevy of new personnel—soldiers, scientists, and technicians. And though most of the men and women working at the colony were human, there was always an interesting smattering of alien scientists in the group: Boleans, Martians, Pandorians, Mussatians, Forlings. The array of skin colors, the scales and antennae, the multi-eyed and double-headed; Colonel Williams thought he had seen it all. But this year’s crop of new recruits brought an Atlantian by the name of Piapong Sumetikong. And despite his best effort and years of experience with alien cultures, the Colonel was unprepared for his first encounter with the Atlantian.
The supply ship pulled alongside the landing bay. The doors opened and a stream of bodies and equipment poured down the gangway. After half an hour of greetings and salutes and introductions, a single figure appeared at the top of the gangway. The Colonel looked up to behold the new alien species.
“Ah. The Atlantian,” he thought.
The alien cleared the opening of the ship’s narrow hatch and stood to his full height—almost eight feet tall. His slender figure made him look taller than he actually was. He legs were longer than his torso, so he covered much ground in just a few strides. His pale complexion accentuated his yellow eyes which seemed to glow and bulge in the morning light. But what really set the young scientist off from other aliens the Colonel had encountered was the shape of his head—the distinct ellipse of an egg. He had no hair, no eyebrows, and no facial hair, just two eyes, a small slit for a mouth, and a small crease for a nose. He was a walking, talking breakfast egg.
In just five strides the young scientist reached the bottom of the gangway and stood before the colonel.
“Reporting for assignment, sir,” said the scientist, extending his hand in greeting.
Williams struggled to respond, still processing the image of the tall and lanky researcher. Delayed by his momentary embarrassment, the Colonel extended his hand in friendly greeting as well. The two shook hands as the Colonel found his tongue.
“Ah, yes. Of course. Good to have you here,” stammered the Colonel.
“My name is Piapong Sumetikong, but you can call me Egg.”
Williams’ mouth dropped open and his eyes grew wide.
“Excuse me?”—unsure if he had heard him correctly.
“Most humanoids from your planet have difficulty with my Atlantian name, so I offer them my nickname,” he answered with a courteous tone.
The Colonel found himself in conflict. Duty and professionalism demanded he treat the new scientist with respect and courtesy, but the idea of calling the young alien “Egg” summoned up a mad laughter that he could not fully control. He swallowed hard.
“Is that what they called you back at the academy? School boy pranks can be so cruel,” he offered.
“Oh, no, sir. That is my Atlantian nickname. In our own language it means ‘brave one,’ but it is a very old form of the language.”
This caused the Colonel to snicker, which he immediately stifled.
“Let me get this straight. Your Atlantian nickname is Egg. And it means ‘brave one.’”
The corners of his mouth turned up for just a moment before he was able to wrestle them down again trying his best not to offend his new scientist.
“Very well, then… Egg. Welcome to the research colony at Oceana. We’ll talk more once you’ve settled in. That’s all for now. Join the Lieutenant there at the airlock to the ‘nest.’ She’ll show you to your quarters.”
His breath was shallow as he fought to control the laughter that swirled within him.
“The ‘nest,’ sir?” he inquired.
“Oh, sorry. The compound where we find our living quarters. We call it the ‘nest,’” replied the Colonel.
“I see. A lovely name. A nest is a place of safety in which birds hatch their young. I look forward to finding my place in the ‘nest.’ Thank you, sir.”
The Atlantian turned to go, and was gone from view in just a few strides. The Colonel then snickered—a small, low laugh. Then another. Tears filled his eyes as an uncontrollable laughter overtook him. He was grateful he was alone.
Three weeks had passed since the supply ship delivered its store of goods and roster of new recruits. Colonel Williams had spent most of that time avoiding contact with the majority of his new crew. He had encountered Egg on two occasions the first week; on both encounters he found himself in a losing battle with the ridiculous need to laugh, snicker, and giggle. A snort even found its way out through his nasal passages just when he thought he might be gaining his composure. It was then he decided it was best to just avoid contact with the new alien altogether, a decision that made his job as commander more difficult. So much so that he was contemplating a visit to the base physician to see if there could be another explanation for the uncontrollable giggles he experienced when speaking with the Atlantian. He had also noticed that the morale of the colony was surprisingly upbeat—dare he say joyous—since the arrival of the new recruits.
Another week had passed. The Colonel was hiding in his office as usual when the alarms began to sound. The alarm system was seldom used, and was installed primarily as an early warning system for acid rain, meteor showers, or other atmospheric disturbances. It had been used twice for missing personnel. Williams headed out the door to consult with his aide-de-camp.
“Jones! What’ve we got?” barked the Colonel.
“It’s the new alien, sir,” she said with a military edge.
“What about him?”
“He’s dead, sir.”
“Dead?” Williams said, expecting anything but this. “Where’d they find him?
“Just beyond the rim, near the water supply,” Jones reported.
“I’ll leave the final determination to you, sir, but it appears to be foul play.”
“What do you mean, ‘foul play’? This is Oceana. We run a scientific research facility. In the fifteen years of my command we have never had a single incident of criminal behavior or violent intent. And you’re telling me we suddenly have a murder on our hands?”
“Yes, sir,” Jones replied. “His head was cracked open like an—” She knew she shouldn’t say it.
“Like an egg?”
“Yes, sir. Like an egg.”
This wasn’t at all funny. The Colonel knew that. Jones knew that. Despite what they knew, Williams found himself once again wrestling with a snicker. He returned to his office, holstered a seldom-seen side arm, and returned.
“Is everything alright, sir?”
“Yes, Lieutenant, everything is just fine. I’m just a little concerned about morale. I don’t want the research team running around thinking there’s a killer out there waiting for them.”
“No, sir. We don’t want that,” Jones replied. “I guess we need to tread lightly. A bit like walking on egg shells.”
The Colonel snorted. Embarrassed, he reprimanded Jones for her impertinence.
“We’ve gotta handle this right, Jones. We don’t want to be the cause of an interplanetary incident. We don’t want—” He stopped mid-sentence.
“What?” replied Jones. “Egg on our face?”
Again with the snort. And then a chuckle. Jones joined him in a red-faced response to the absurdness of their situation. The Colonel was angry at himself, but was also at a loss for the malady that was attacking his funny bone. He could not explain it, but he found the whole notion of the young researcher laid out on the ground quite funny, his yellow brains spilling out of his cracked head like the yolk of an egg.
“Jones! I hereby order you to show more respect to the victim. He was, after all, a respected member of our expedition. I understand that he was an ‘egg-cellent’ researcher.”
The young lieutenant found her funny bone assaulted as well.
“Yes, sir. Egg-ceptional, I am sure.”
“Enough of that now!” Williams retorted. “We cannot tolerate such impudence.”
“No sir. We cannot. No egg-ceptions allowed.”
The two gave in to an uncontrollable laughter, tears filling their yellowing eyes.
“Let’s see the crime scene,” said Williams, his teeth clenched and his face red. “Move out! Now!”
They stumbled out the office door into the hallway only to discover a half-dozen colonists bent from fits of laughter. The Colonel smiled at the sight, but his eyes narrowed and his brow knitted. The thought that had occurred to him earlier in the week returned. Could the laughing malady be more than just happenstance?
“Jones! We need to find the doctor, and quickly,” he snorted. “Where is he?”
“He is probably at the crime scene, sir.”
“Very well then! Let’s get going.”
They moved along the hallway heading to the checkpoint that led to the outer rim of the encampment. All movement to the outer encampment was monitored at the checkpoint. Along the hallways they encountered more laughing and cackling and mocking. A group of technicians—gathered at the water purifier—warbled an old children’s rhyme:
“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again!” sang the crew.
Another duet sang with drunken abandon of “eggstra-terrestrials tall and lean.”
The women in the group pulled wildly at their own hair, yanking handfuls of hair from their scalps. Others stumbled to the floor holding their heads, complaining of pressure behind the eyes, and moaning in pain. And everywhere he turned, the Colonel saw the eyes of his crew turning distinct shades of yellow.
“The doctor?!” Williams yells out to the crew in the hallway. “Has anyone seen the doctor?”
No answer. Just a frightful blend of laughter and pain in response. Williams picked up the pace. And despite the laughter that contorted his face, on the inside he was no longer laughing. Jones stumbled along behind him.
They passed through the checkpoint and ventured out towards the ridge. They reached the ridge in less than three minutes, passing researchers and technicians along the way, each suffering the same malady of laughter and pain as their counterparts inside. They reached the prone body of the Atlantian, stopping in terror at the sight of his egg-shaped head split down the middle with a yellow brain leaking out in a fluid of clear goo. And then they broke into cackles and screams of laughter.
Williams and Jones both had difficulty catching their breath, so severe were their fits. Leaving Jones behind, the Colonel stumbled off again to the nest.
“Doctor!” he screamed out again and again. “Where are you!”
Once inside, the Colonel found his crew on the floor. All of them. What he saw next made him wonder if his eyes deceived him. The men and women of his crew held their heads, writhing in pain, but the shape of their heads seemed to be in flux. Undulating like gelatin or soft fruit. The screaming had given way to low moans and states of unconsciousness. He stumbled down the hallways to the infirmary, hoping the doctor was in.
The infirmary was filled with a dozen or more bodies. Lifeless bodies. Headless bodies. The walls were covered with a spray of grey matter.
“Come in, Colonel. I’ve been expecting you,” spoke a calm voice from the next room.
With trepidation in his heart, and laughter on his face, and a growing pain and pressure behind his forehead, Williams stepped forward to see who spoke to him with such calm. The doctor’s familiar form stood before him, recognizable in shape and size, but on the shoulders of the body was an egg-shaped head.
“Doctor?” he grunted.
“No, Colonel. It’s me. Egg.”
“That’s not possible… where is the doctor?”
“He is gone… no more to be seen.”
“No! I saw you outside… on the ground… dead.”
“Ah, that is true. The body I traveled with previously is no more,” he confessed. “But this is my body now. And its previous inhabitant is now gone.”
“What are you doing to us?” Williams demanded.
“I am giving birth, of course. Isn’t it obvious?”
Williams’ instinct for flight kicked in. He turned to run, but found his way blocked by a dozen of his new recruits. Just moments ago they were lifeless bodies missing their heads. Now they stood erect, each donning a shiny new head shaped like an egg. The pain in his own head grew stronger, the pressure reaching unbearable levels.
“What have you done to us?!” Williams demanded.
“To you? Oh no, Colonel. I am not concerned with you, but with them. These are my children. Once each solar century we Atlantians venture forth into the galaxy to lay our eggs. It is a time of joy… and laughter. The joy you have experienced in recent weeks is the work of Atlantian pheromones, which accompany the spores I released into the air you breathe. You received the spores with gladness and incubated my young, nourishing them with your laughter. And then, when the time is right, they hatch inside their hosts and give new expression to the life that has hatched them, which is what you see before you. They are grateful—as am I. For I also receive new birth through the incubation process. I live eternally through the many hosts I occupy.”
“You cannot do this!” groaned the Colonel.
“I already have. You are the last of the crew. Only you remain. When the process is complete in you, we will depart and return home once again.”
The Colonel reached for his pistol, firmly grasping the handle. Through the pain of transformation, he lifted the pistol to his own head, his finger on the trigger.
“You’ll not have me.”
“Oh, Colonel Williams. Please,” patronized the alien. “Don’t be such a child. What good would that possibly do?”
Agreeing with his logic, Williams turned the weapon on the Atlantian and squeezed the trigger. The bullet shattered his new head, scattering yellow brain matter on the wall behind him. The doctor’s body fell lifelessly to the floor. And in the room behind him the egg-headed bodies fell as well, their heads imploding in upon themselves.
All across the colony, the transformed members of the expedition fell as the nurturing link between the mother and her children was severed. Unbeknownst to the Colonel, the Atlantian transformation is complete only when the very last child finds form in its host.
The Colonel fell to the floor. He lay semi-conscious in a sea of blood, sweat and grey matter. He slipped into sleep. He will awake again. But not today.
Scot Lahaie
Scot Lahaie is a playwright, screenwriter, actor, director, and university professor now living in Canton, Ohio. His full bio can be seen on his Home Page at ScotLahaie.com.
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My Links!
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My Photos from Instagram
Out for dinner on our 33rd Wedding Anniversary
Lahaie Family Christmas 2017
Church in Nashville today at Church of the Redeemer.
At the consecration of Bishop Ron Jackson.
Holiday Family Photo
The Pulaski Monument in Savannah.
DAR Cemetery in old Savannah.
You Will Find Me Here!
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Genre: Negro Spiritual
Content Type: Music recording
Vocal + Choral(20)
Negro Spiritual(20)
Work Song(3)
A Cappella(1)
American Folk(6)
Struggle and Protest(3)
Calls/Hollers(1)
Blues(6)
Country/Rural Blues(3)
Kim Harris(2)
Reggie Harris, fl. 1990(2)
Robert Pete Williams, 1914-1980(2)
Apollo Jubilee Quartette(1)
Fisk University Jubilee Quartette(1)
The Belleville A Cappella Choir(1)
Vocalizations(10)
Male chorus(2)
Speaker(3)
Guitar, acoustic(1)
Guitar, twelve-string(1)
Bass, electric(1)
Mouth organ(4)
Harmonica(3)
Comb(1)
Flute(1)
Fife(1)
Panpipe(1)
Quills(1)
New Orleans, LA(1)
London, England(1)
Slavery and Abolition, 1776 - 1865(2)
U.S. Civil Rights Movement, 1954-(2)
Underground Railroad, 1830s-1860s(1)
Folkways Records(6)
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings(3)
20 results for your search
Get on Board: Underground Railroad and Civil War Songs, Vol. 2
produced by Cathy Fink, 1953-, Marcy Marxer, 1956- and Reggie Harris, fl. 1990; performed by Kim Harris and Reggie Harris, fl. 1990 (Appleseed, 2007), 53 mins, 14 page(s)
Kim Harris, Reggie Harris, fl. 1990
Chris Andersen, Cathy Fink, 1953-, Marcy Marxer, 1956-, Reggie Harris, fl. 1990
1. Done wit' Driver's Dribbin', 3 mins
2. Get on Board, 3 mins
3. Oh Mary, Don't You Weep, 4 mins
4. Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning, 4 mins
5. Run Mary Run, 5 mins
6. Children Go Where I Send Thee, 4 mins
7. Old Tar River, 2 mins
8. Ballad of the Underground Railroad, 3 mins
9. Trampin'/I Got Shoes, 4 mins
10. Rise Up Shepherd and Follow/Go Tell It on the Mountain, 4 mins
11. One Little Step Towards Freedom, 3 mins
12. Down by the Riverside, 4 mins
13. Row de Boat, 5 mins
14. Freedom Is a Constant Struggle, 6 mins
Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry 1891-1922
produced by Richard Martin and Meagan Hennessey (Archeophone Records, 2005), 2 hours 35 mins, 54 page(s)
Richard Martin, Meagan Hennessey
Archeophone Records
1. Mamma's Black Baby Boy, 2 mins
2. Keep Movin', 3 mins
3. Who Broke the Lock, 3 mins
4. Brother Michael, Won't You Hand Down That Rope, 3 mins
5. Poor Mourner, 2 mins
7. Down on the Old Camp Ground, 3 mins
8. Jerusalem Mornin', 2 mins
9. Little Dave, Play on Yo' Harp/Shout All Over God's Heaven, 3 mins
10. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, 3 mins
11. Shout All Over God's Heaven, 2 mins
12. Good News, 2 mins
13. The Rain Song, 3 mins
14. Goodnight Angeline, 3 mins
15. Experiences in the Show Business, 3 mins
16. Whistling Coon, 3 mins
17. Adam and Eve and de Winter Apple (Excerpt), 1 min
18. Laughing Song, 3 mins
19. Minstrel First Part, Featuring "The Laughing Song, 3 mins
20. Listen to the Mocking Bird, 2 mins
21. Laughing Coon, 2 mins
22. Whistling Girl, 3 mins
23. My Little Zulu Babe, 3 mins
24. Carving the Duck, 3 mins
25. Merry Mail Man, 3 mins
26. Nobody (From Abyssinia), 3 mins
27. My Own Story of the Big Fight at Reno, Nevada, July 4, 1910, Pt. 1, 4 mins
28. Beans, Beans, Beans, 3 mins
29. Great Camp Meeting, 3 mins
30. Atlanta Exposition Speech, 4 mins
31. Old Black Joe, 2 mins
32. Old Dog Tray, 3 mins
33. I Surrender All, 3 mins
34. Swing Along, 4 mins
35. Rain Song, 3 mins
36. Exhortation, 3 mins
37. Arioso from "Pagliacci" ("Vesti la Guibba"), 3 mins
38. Go Down Moses, 2 mins
39. Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, 3 mins
40. Villanelle, 3 mins
41. Barcarolle, 3 mins
42. Lament, 4 mins
43. When de Co'n Pone's Hot/'Possum, 4 mins
44. Down Home Rag, 4 mins
45. Bregeiro (Rio Brazilian Maxixe), 4 mins
46. On the Shore at Le-Lei-Wei, 4 mins
47. Down Home Rag, 1 min
48. Some Jazz Blues, 3 mins
49. Sarah from Sahara, 3 mins
50. Jazz Dance, 3 mins
51. Ev'rybody's Crazy 'Bout the Doggone Blues But I'm Happy, 3 mins
52. Darktown Strutters' Ball, 3 mins
53. Camp Meeting Blues, 2 mins
54. St. Louis Blues -- Medley Fox Trot (Intro: Ole Miss Blues), 3 mins
Angola Prison: Spirituals
produced by Chris Strachwitz, 1931- (Arhoolie Records, 2003), 1 hour 15 mins
Harry Oster, 1923-2001, Chris Strachwitz, 1931-
Arhoolie Records
1. I'm on My Way, 3 mins
2. Church on Fire with the Word of God, 3 mins
3. What Shall I Do, 3 mins
4. Brother Norah, 3 mins
5. Little School Song, 1 min
6. Dyin' Soul, 4 mins
7. Let My People Go, 4 mins
8. So Much Is Happenin' in the News, 4 mins
9. Dig My Grave With a Silver Spade, 4 mins
10. Brother Mosely Crossed the Water, 1 min
11. I'm Stranded on the Banks of Ole Jordan, 2 mins
12. I'm Goin' Back With Him When He Comes, 3 mins
13. The Old Ship of Zion, 7 mins
14. When I Lay My Burden Down, 5 mins
15. See How They Done My Lord, 3 mins
16. Be With Me Jesus, 3 mins
17. Rise and Fly, 8 mins
18. I Know I Got Religion, 2 mins
19. Jesus, 2 mins
20. I Take Jesus (Do Lord, Remember Me), 2 mins
21. Each Day (Life's Evening Sun), 3 mins
22. Steal Away to Jesus, 4 mins
Deep River of Song: South Carolina-Got the Keys to the Kingdom
(Rounder Records, 2002), 1 hour 3 mins, 29 page(s)
1. Run, Mary, Run, 3 mins
2. John Write a Letter This Morning, 2 mins
3. Keep Workin' on a Building, 1 min
4. Heaven Is a Beautiful Place, I Know, 2 mins
5. Right Down Here, 2 mins
6. Ezekiel and the Dry Bones, 4 mins
7. Daniel in the Lion's Den, 2 mins
8. Leprosy (Nicodemus), 1 min
9. Long Grave and a Short Grave, 3 mins
10. Listen to the Roll, 1 min
11. When the Roll Is Called Again, 2 mins
12. Dead and Gone, 3 mins
13. Gonna Take a Ride on the Chariot Wheel, 2 mins
14. Got the Keys to the Kingdom, 2 mins
15. (Some of These Days) I'm Going Down to the River of Jordan, 2 mins
16. Wants to Be in Heaven When the First Trumpet Sounds, 3 mins
17. I Have a Mother Gone to Glory Over Yonder's Ocean, 2 mins
18. I'm Troubled About My Soul, 2 mins
19. Bye-O-Baby, 2 mins
20. Shoo Robin, 1 min
21. Ten Pound Hammer, 1 min
22. Oh Lordy Me, Oh Lordy My, 2 mins
23. I Sure Can't Stand It Long, 3 mins
24. Look Down That Long Lonesome Road, 1 min
25. Tally Rally Devil, 2 mins
26. Downward Road, 2 mins
27. Where Is the Gambling Man?, 3 mins
28. Ain't But the One Train Run This Track (All Night Long), 3 mins
29. Honey in the Rock, 2 mins
Afro-American Spirtuals, Work Songs, and Ballads
produced by Bob Carlin, 1953- (Rounder Records, 1998), 51 mins
Alan Lomax, 1915-2002, Ruby Terrill Lomax, 1886-1961, Ruby Pickens Tartt, Harold Spivacke, 1904-1977, Bob Carlin, 1953-
1. Trouble So Hard, 2 mins
2. Choose Your Seat and Set Down, 3 mins
3. Handwriting on the Wall, 2 mins
4. The New Buryin' Ground, 4 mins
5. Lead Me to the Rock, 3 mins
6. The Blood-Stained Banders (The Blood-Stained Bandits), 1 min
7. Run, Old Jerimiah, 5 mins
8. Ain't No More Cane on this Brazos, 3 mins
9. Long Hot Summer Days, 3 mins
10. Long John, 5 mins
11. Jumpin' Judy, 5 mins
12. Rosie, 2 mins
13. I'm Goin' to Leland, 2 mins
14. Jumping Judy, 3 mins
15. Look Down That Long, Lonesome Road, 1 min
16. The Grey Goose, 3 mins
17. John Henry, 3 mins
Southern Journey Vol. 11: Honor the Lamb
produced by Alan Lomax, 1915-2002; performed by The Belleville A Cappella Choir (Rounder Records, 1998), 45 mins
The Belleville A Cappella Choir
Anna L. Chairetakis, 1944-, Alan Lomax, 1915-2002
1. The Gospel Train, 3 mins
2. Keep Me as the Apple of Thine Eye, 5 mins
3. David Was a Shepherd Boy, 4 mins
4. What a Time, 3 mins
5. The Lord Is My Strength and Song, 3 mins
6. None But the Righteous, 3 mins
7. Come On, Israel, 2 mins
8. Medley of Spirituals, 4 mins
9. The House of the Lord, 2 mins
10. Honor, Honor, 4 mins
11. On the Battlefield for My Lord, 3 mins
12. The Creation, 5 mins
13. Honor the Lamb, 5 mins
Southern Journey Vol. 3: 61 Highway Mississippi
produced by Alan Lomax, 1915-2002 (Rounder Records, 1997), 1 hour 1 mins
Shirley Elizabeth Collins, 1935-, Jeffrey A. Greenberg, fl. 1992, Alan Lomax, 1915-2002
1. Louisiana, 2 mins
2. Jim and John, 2 mins
3. 61 Highway Blues, 3 mins
4. Stewball, 3 mins
5. Po' Boy Blues, 3 mins
6. God's Unchanging Hand, 2 mins
8. Emmaline, Take Your Time, 2 mins
9. I'm Gonna Live Anyhow 'Till I Die, 3 mins
10. Little Sally Walker, 1 min
11. Old Devil's Dream, 2 mins
12. Rolled And Tumbled, 3 mins
13. Mama Lucy, 2 mins
14. Soon One Mornin', 3 mins
15. I'm Goin' Home, 3 mins
16. Interview, 1 min
17. Fred McDowell's Blues, 4 mins
18. Tryin' To Make Heaven My Home, 2 mins
19. Berta, Berta, 5 mins
20. Germany Blues, 3 mins
21. Clarksdale Mill Blues, 2 mins
22. If It's All Night Long, 3 mins
23. Lord Have Mercy, 2 mins
24. Didn't Leave Nobody But The Baby, 1 min
Steal Away: Songs of Underground Railroad
produced by Kim Harris and Reggie Harris, fl. 1990; performed by Kim Harris and Reggie Harris, fl. 1990 (Appleseed, 1997), 55 mins, 16 page(s)
Skipp Tullen, Kim Harris, Reggie Harris, fl. 1990
Topic / Theme
Underground Railroad, 1830s-1860s, Slavery and Abolition, 1776 - 1865
1. Oh, Freedom, 3 mins
2. No More Auction Block, 2 mins
3. Let Us Break Bread Together, 3 mins
4. Wade in the Water, 4 mins
5. Go Down Moses, 4 mins
6. Harriet Tubman/Steal Away, 5 mins
7. Now Let Me Fly, 2 mins
8. Sinner, Please Don't Let This Harvest Pass, 4 mins
9. Trampin', 3 mins
10. Follow the Drinking Gourd, 3 mins
11. Deep River/Swing Low, 5 mins
12. Great Day, 2 mins
13. Heaven Is Less Than Fair, 7 mins
14. Free at Last, 2 mins
15. Ain't I a Woman, 2 mins
16. Steal Away (Reprise), 3 mins
Voices of the Civil Rights Movement: Black American Freedom Songs 1960-1966
produced by Bernice Johnson Reagon, 1942- (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings, 1997), 2 hours 18 mins
This double-CD reissue documents a central aspect of the cultural environment of the Civil Rights Movement, acknowledging songs as the language that focused people's energy. These 43 tracks are a series of musical images, of a people in coversation about their determination to be free. Many of the songs were rec...
This double-CD reissue documents a central aspect of the cultural environment of the Civil Rights Movement, acknowledging songs as the language that focused people's energy. These 43 tracks are a series of musical images, of a people in coversation about their determination to be free. Many of the songs were recorded live in mass meetings held in churches, where people from different life experiences, predominantly black, with a few white suppo... This double-CD reissue documents a central aspect of the cultural environment of the Civil Rights Movement, acknowledging songs as the language that focused people's energy. These 43 tracks are a series of musical images, of a people in coversation about their determination to be free. Many of the songs were recorded live in mass meetings held in churches, where people from different life experiences, predominantly black, with a few white supporters, came together in a common struggle. These freedom songs draw from spirituals, gospel, rhythm and blues, football chants, blues and calypso forms. The enclosed booklet written by Bernice Johnson Reagon provides rare historic photographs along with the powerful story of African American musical culture and its role in the Civil Rights Movement. "The music of the spirit with the history of the flesh." New York Daily News Show more Show less
Bernice Johnson Reagon, 1942-
Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
U.S. Civil Rights Movement, 1954-
The Collector's Paul Robeson
(Monitor Records, 1993), 1 hour 9 mins
12. Vi Azoi Lebt der Keyser, 3 mins
24. Shlof Mein Kind, 3 mins
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At RSA Conference 2018, SentinelOne CEO Tomer Weingarten talks with SearchSecurity about his company's shift to the cloud and what it means for endpoint security.
Rob Wright
Associate Editorial Director
SentinelOne has long focused on defending endpoint devices, but the company has turned its attention to cloud...
environments.
Last week, at RSA Conference 2018, the security vendor announced several new offerings for cloud security and vulnerability management. SentinelOne's AnyCloud is a management console that extends the vendor's Endpoint Protection Platform (EPP) to any public or private cloud. Enterprises can deploy the management console in those cloud environments and use EPP to secure them, as well.
SentinelOne, based in Mountain View, Calif., is largely known for its endpoint security technology and product warranties, but CEO Tomer Weingarten believes the company's approach can help improve security in the cloud, as well.
In an interview at RSA Conference, Weingarten discussed the vision for AnyCloud, the role endpoint protection can play in securing cloud environments and how the vendor is attempting to limit threat actors' lateral movements. Here is part one of the conversation with Weingarten.
What's the strategy behind AnyCloud?
Tomer Weingarten: AnyCloud is definitely one of the things that is foundational for us as we think about security in the next two to three years. Big enterprises are using clouds in a very hybrid way, so it confuses both their physical environments and their cloud environments. And, suddenly, you're running into all of these use cases where you need support on perimeter and then outside of perimeter.
Supporting hybrid clouds -- running clouds in different stacks -- became something that's pretty important to our customer base. Amazon is definitely the biggest cloud provider in market share, but we're seeing more and more adoption of the other platforms, too, like [Microsoft] Azure and Google Cloud. So, security shouldn't be limited to just Amazon. You want to give people the freedom to basically run security everywhere, regardless of what different clouds they're using. AnyCloud is about that freedom to take security to any cloud platform that you want.
How does AnyCloud fit into the company's overall vision?
Weingarten: If you think about the evolution of endpoint, we all used to think about endpoint as the antivirus, but that's really not the case anymore. There's a whole new stack [of endpoint protection] that's being developed right now that is much more current with what you need in order to manage modern enterprise endpoint fleets.
When it comes to very cloud-oriented environments, where almost everyone is now adding a layer of the cloud or becomes fully dependent on the cloud, what is the role of the endpoint in that? It's about visibility. How do I gain visibility from the device and all the way up to the cloud? These connections are typically encrypted, so how do you find malicious traffic there? How do you know to search indicators of those types of devices?
Obviously, those things become very imperative ingredients in how you think about defense in a modern enterprise environment. All of these capabilities that we've added, including vulnerability management, go far beyond what a typical antivirus program would give you.
You mentioned hybrid clouds. Are you seeing any true public-private mixes, or are the hybrid cloud environments of today just a mixed stack of different public services?
Weingarten: We see a little bit of companies building their own private cloud infrastructure. What we see more of is the classic data center -- really, it's a farm of servers. And that's your on-premises physical data center, and now you have another data center in the cloud.
So, how do you paint your perimeter around all of those? How do you see them as a singular data center? And that's where software-defined perimeters come into play. That's how you gain that elasticity. You can't gain that through putting a firewall in the cloud. You gain that by deploying software agents on all of your assets.
Today, the physical data center and the cloud data center is a combination we see a lot. We do see some folks running an Azure stack pretty much within their corporate environments; there are a lot of large enterprises doing that. We also see OpenStack as something that people will deploy in-house, and VMware is obviously pretty big in on-premises environments; in those cases, everything is completely virtualized, but it's within your premise.
So, you're not seeing a lot of multi-tenant environments.
Weingarten: No. Very rarely do we see something that's truly multi-tenant, as you get in a complete public cloud.
Do you run into organizations that don't like the hybrid or the multi-cloud approach and feel like it's a security risk?
Weingarten: I'd say less and less. Some of them are doing that for financial reasons. I've seen a lot of business reasons to sometimes go with a single cloud. For the folks that are still saying that going out to the cloud might present more risk, I'd suggest that they revisit their base assumptions and ask why are they thinking that. We've been trained to think a certain thing for about 10, 20 years now. Take air-gapped networks, for example; that's a concept that we've been using for probably 20 years now. But at this point in time, most people don't really know whether their air-gapped network is really air-gapped.
All these concepts might not be true in the world that we live in today. That said, the approach to cloud is very enterprise-specific. Some use cases will pretty much dictate that you still need to run with these old concepts. Some use cases will say, 'Look, you're already using Office 365, so what are you trying to avoid here? You're already in the cloud.'
To me, it's more about understanding a true use case. You just don't plug something in and generically configure it and that's it.
With hybrid cloud environments, how do you monitor the east-west traffic and microservices and API calls in between the different clouds? How do you prevent lateral movement without removing the interconnectivity and grinding IT operations to a halt?
Weingarten: First, we need to understand how are attackers moving laterally. Typically, what happens is they're actually using the same admin tools that a proper admin would use. They leverage legitimate programs and legitimate protocols to move within the environment like PowerShell and WMI [Windows Management Instrumentation] scripts and say, 'I want to map out all the assets, and I'm going see which one of them I can actually remote into.'
There's nothing that looks malicious at that point to any security solution. What we try to do in those cases is observe very closely the baseline behavior. If a given user never previously used their credentials to remotely execute code on a device, then something here is very much out of the norm. If they're using encoded parameters to move information from machine to machine, that's very atypical. So, the question becomes, can you monitor the right points?
And, again, endpoint is an amazing place to tap into because you know that each one of these connections starts with an endpoint and they end with an endpoint. So, if you can tap into endpoints, you can better understand what you're seeing. Am I seeing legitimate PowerShell usage? Am I seeing something that's anomalous? Am I seeing the use of credential-scraping software?
That's very common; once an attacker grabs any foothold in the environment, they try to get admin credentials, so they will try to scrape it off of memory, scrape it off of Active Directory or run pass-the-hash and pass-the-ticket attacks. Assuming you understand the baseline, you can see these things they're happening on endpoints. That's the power of behavioral detection, and that's what we do.
One of our biggest proficiencies right now is definitely dealing with lateral movement and seeing attackers move around in the environment. I'd say this type of lateral movement is one of the most prominent and slightly more sophisticated ways that you see attacks propagating today. But sometimes -- and, to me, this the funniest part -- you see that happening, a chain of pretty elaborate lateral movement, is happening when someone just wants to run ransomware. You see all of that elaborate planning for something as common as taking down a 400-seat enterprise with ransomware.
Dropbox passwords breach exposed 68 million users
Rob Wright asks:
What are the best ways to limit lateral movement in off-premises environments?
Is your IT ready to compete in the digital age? –Intel
SentinelOne CEO: Endpoint security market full of '... – SearchSecurity
CloudBees aims to solve public/private cloud dilemma ... – SearchCloudComputing
WAN optimization Magic Quadrant: Bandwidth management... – SearchNetworking
Rob Wright - 25 Apr 2018 3:24 PM
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Electronic Tickets
Men I Trust Tickets
Find tickets from 55 dollars to Belle and Sebastian with Men I Trust on Friday July 19 at 7:00 pm at House Of Blues - Cleveland in Cleveland, OH
Belle and Sebastian with Men I Trust
House Of Blues - Cleveland·Cleveland, OH
Find tickets from 38 dollars to Belle and Sebastian with Men I Trust on Sunday July 21 at 7:00 pm at Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, MI
Royal Oak Music Theatre·Royal Oak, MI
Find tickets from 268 dollars to Lollapalooza (4 Day Pass) with Ariana Grande, Childish Gambino, Twenty One Pilots, and more on Thursday August 1 at 10:58 am at Grant Park in Chicago, IL
Thu · 10:58 am
Lollapalooza (4 Day Pass) with Ariana Grande, Childish Gambino, Twenty One Pilots, and more
Grant Park·Chicago, IL
Find tickets from 157 dollars to Lollapalooza (Saturday Pass) with Twenty One Pilots, J Balvin, Lil Wayne, and more on Saturday August 3 at 11:00 am at Grant Park in Chicago, IL
Sat · 11:00 am
Lollapalooza (Saturday Pass) with Twenty One Pilots, J Balvin, Lil Wayne, and more
Find tickets from 378 dollars to Austin City Limits Festival (Weekend 1 Pass) with Guns N' Roses, Mumford & Sons, Childish Gambino, and more on Friday October 4 at time to be announced at Zilker Park in Austin, TX
Fri · Time TBD
Austin City Limits Festival (Weekend 1 Pass) with Guns N' Roses, Mumford & Sons, Childish Gambino, and more
Zilker Park·Austin, TX
Men I Trust Ticket Prices
The cost of Men I Trust tickets can vary based on a host of factors. Please see below for a look at how Men I Trust ticket prices vary by city, and scroll up on this page to see Men I Trust tour dates and ticket prices for upcoming concerts in your city.
El Rey Theatre
American Family Insurance Amphitheater
Men I Trust Tour Dates
See below for a list of Men I Trust tour dates and locations. For all available tickets and to find shows in your city, scroll to the listings at the top of this page.
House Of Blues - Cleveland
Royal Oak Music Theatre
House Of Blues - Cleveland in Cleveland, OH
Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak, MI
Grant Park in Chicago, IL
Zilker Park in Austin, TX
Men I Trust by City
Men I Trust in Chicago (Grant Park)
Men I Trust in Austin (Zilker Park)
Men I Trust in Detroit (Royal Oak Music Theatre)
Men I Trust in Cleveland (House Of Blues - Cleveland)
Grant Park Seating Chart
House Of Blues - Cleveland Seating Chart
Royal Oak Music Theatre Seating Chart
Zilker Park Seating Chart
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FilmMovies
Marvel’s mini hero leaps to the quantum realm
By Cesar Lopez :: SFBay July 8, 2018
The only thing better than seeing the Bay Area represented in a Marvel film is jumping back into the quantum realm. It trips me the hell out and I love it.
Stars: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly
Directed by Peyton Reed (Ant-Man, Bring It On), Ant-Man and the Wasp stars Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Peña, Walton Goggins, Hannah John-Kamen, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer and Laurence Fishburne.
Take all the success that Marvel Studios has had over the 10 years and shrink it down to a simple idea: Comic book superheroes fighting crime and protecting our world.
Ant-Man and the Wasp brings that concept to fruition, pulling all of the creative juices out of director Reed and the five screenwriters to slap it on the big screen.
The superhero genre, especially within the past decade, is so saturated in cinema that even industry figures seem tired of comic book films.
The point of superhero movies is to tell a hero’s journey — ones that we know, and with heroes that we know. What is different and interesting about them is the good-natured, funny and awesome protagonists that can perform superhuman acts.
Ant-Man and the Wasp doesn’t necessarily change the superhero movie game, but it is a fun time packed with action, hilarious jokes, likable characters, and super effects that remind viewers what it is like to have an imagination.
The character of Ant-Man hasn’t been the most serious in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Think about it; a man can change the size of himself to be microscopic or gigantic, and do so with other objects, as well as talk and control ants to do his bidding. It’s ridiculous, and I’m pleased the MCU decided to keep him that way.
Coming right after The Avengers: Infinity War, Ant-Man is a refreshing change of pace. I don’t need there to be tons of destruction and heroes dying. What Reed manages to do, once again, is to create a small story that doesn’t rely on the help of other heroes. Ant-Man and the Wasp is almost a contained film, which is fitting, considering it takes place in San Francisco, an urban and populated city.
Ant-Man and the Wasp has a couple more creative edges it than the average, run-of-the-mill comic book movie: Lilly as Hope van Dyne/Wasp, its humor, and the quantum realm.
This is the first MCU movie to put a female superhero in the title. Steps are being taken to bring women to the forefront in superhero films, though whether that helps the genre to undergo a de-saturation, who knows. But with Scarlett Johansson getting her solo movie as Black Widow, and the universally-liked characters of Okoye, Nakia and Shuri in Black Panther, the sun does look bright.
Lilly and Rudd pair extraordinarily well together, and that’s how it should be. The dynamic of Ant-Man and the Wasp are a staple in the Marvel comic books, and to bring that to life delivers a smile on my nerd face.
With such dynamic and how silly the concept of Ant-Man is, Reed and Marvel Studios, seeing as they are already funny entities, decided to amp the humor even more.
Ant-Man and the Wasp may be one of the funniest MCU movies to date. Top three, at least.
I believe Peña has a lot to do with this. He isn’t the average comedy relief. He is Rudd’s right hand man, and makes poignant decisions to help the heroes in the film. Therefore, Ant-Man and the Wasp is a candidate for why superhero movies aren’t a dead genre yet. They can differentiate themselves from each other if the director, screenwriters, editors and everyone else behind the camera takes risks.
Risks can pay off. In both Ant-Man and its sequel, the biggest risk is showing off the quantum realm.
Humans are inherently afraid of the unknown. Maybe that’s why producers and directors in Hollywood are scared to take risks. It’s the fear of an unrecognizable reaction by movie-goers that paralyzes their minds.
The quantum realm certainly is an anomaly. It’s the space between spaces. It was explored a bit in 2015’s Ant-Man but now it is a massive area to explore in Ant-Man and the Wasp.
What is completely invisible to the human eye is as real as the chair you’re sitting in now.
Ant-Man and the Wasp is a standout in the MCU, notably, as the film right after Infinity War. Though, deep down, even I admit the superhero genre is getting tired. Yes, this latest installment in the MCU has its differences, but I wasn’t entirely surprised or enamored by what Marvel has accomplished.
It’s almost like Pixar: ‘Pixar is always going to put something great out.’ Marvel Studios is the same way. But Pixar doesn’t spray three or four films onto screens each year.
What Kevin Fiege, producer and mastermind behind the MCU, has given us, as an audience, is the ability to weave singular stories together, bring the heroes together, tear them apart and then reassemble them again.
The past 10 years have been magnificent but maybe a break is in need. After the fourth Avengers movie in May, 2019, can Marvel take a year or two year hiatus? I love their films as much as the next geek, but there needs to be a change of pace.
Police seek naked prowler with tattoo, fade haircut
Steven Duggar leaps from minors into Giants starting lineup
via IMDB
Keanu Reeves has taken over the cinema world
By Cesar Lopez July 9, 2019
Photo Credit: Niko Tavernise
John Wick goes to war against everyone in ‘Parabellum’
By Cesar Lopez May 20, 2019
Philippe Bossé
Rogen, Theron form unlikely romance that works wonders in ‘Long Shot’
By Cesar Lopez May 4, 2019
Courtesy of Walt Disney Pictures
‘Avengers: Endgame’ is a finale fit for any Marvel hero or heroine
By Cesar Lopez April 29, 2019
Mexican folklore gets predictable, boring in ‘The Curse of La Llorona’
Flaws aside, ‘Pet Sematary’ is a fun horror romp
By Cesar Lopez April 7, 2019
More in Film
San Francisco Independent Film Festival begins Wednesday
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures & © DC Comics
‘Aquaman,’ for now, washes away fears for DC Extended Universe
‘Mortal Engines’ eye-catching visuals cover up a dead story
Unique animated ‘Spider-Man’ stands out from crowd
Photo Credit: Mark Schafer; Courtesy of LD Ent./Roadside Attractions
‘Ben Is Back’ confronts harsh world of drug addiction
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures Publicity
Newest ‘Fantastic Beasts’ is anything but
Blunt violence, realism boil up ‘Sicario’ sequel
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Category Archives: Orchid Merck Joint development deal Patent Suit Clarine
After being sued by Schering, Orchid Pharma inks $100 million Merck Drug Development Deal
Longer-term readers will recall that Schering-Plough has sued Orchid, and several other would-be generic manufacturers (back in 2007), in what looks to be a largely vain attempt to delay the U.S. availability of generic versions of Schering’s Clarinex Redi-Tabs (composed of the chemical compound descloratadine, at right). Clarinex was, until recently, a $700 million per year franchise for Schering. Orchid, an Indian company, is poised to lauch an “at risk” generic version very shortly — perhaps by year-end 2008, or early in 2009 — and thus has the most skin in that patent lawsuit game.
Now, thanks to the keen eyes of Ed Silverman (H/T) — we learn that Schering’s 50 – 50 partner in the cholesterol joint venture, Merck, has inked a deal with an Orchid subsidiary to spend $100 million in pursuit of new anti-infection compounds, among other classes of drugs. Quoth the article, out of India, that Ed links:
. . . .Orchid Chemcials and Pharmaceuticals today said that it has entered into an arrangement with US drug maker Merck & Co Inc for discovery and development of novel anti-infective drugs which holds a potential revenue stream of over $100 million.
While the deal has been signed by the two parties with an undisclosed upfront payment from Merck to Orchid the flow of money to Orchid would depend on milestones achieved over the next five years, said K Ragavendra Rao, managing director of Orchid Chemicals.
The arrangement is such that at the end of the drug discovery cycle, Orchid will hold the global patent for the molecules with an exclusive arrangement with Merck for licencing for commercialisation. Orchid expects to manufacture the drugs while Merck will market it across the world. The potential market for a the drugs yet to be discovered is estimated at $1 billion annually.
Orchid Chemicals’ fully owned drug discovery subsidiary Orchid Research Laboratories Ltd (OPLL) will be undertaking the research and development of new drug(s) in the anti-infective therapeutic area [and anti-inflamatory area]. Orchid Chemcials’ chief scientific officer, B Gopalan will be heading this initiative. Gopalan, who specializes in new drug discovery, joined Orchid Chemicals six months back after three decades of experience in various drug companies includes Boots and Glenmark. . . .
Does this presage an unwinding of the much-larger so-called Cholesterol Franchise Joint Venture Governance Agreements, to be announced on the third quarter conference calls of each company — on October 21, and 22, 2008? I guess we shall have to wait — and see.
Posted in Orchid Merck Joint development deal Patent Suit Clarine
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Sister, I’ve got your back: the women of rugby
It’s not often that women are in such a physical environment and you really need to have each other’s backs
Above: The extended women’s rugby family happy after a win (wearing charity jerseys)
We hear them before we see them… boom box blaring in the change rooms, then chattering like a flock of beautiful, bright rainbow lorikeets as they head to their warm-up. But make no mistake, the women’s rugby team is as hardworking, supportive and physical as their male counterparts.
We mums are in awe and the respect shown by the men’s teams as they tunnel them on is there for all to see.
Vira Kite
I spoke to Vira Kite (forward) and Tiana Tamati (back) from the GPS Women’s rugby team to find out more about one of the world’s fastest growing women’s sports.
About the players
Vira is the undisputed ‘mother hen’ of the team and for her, rugby is a family affair. Her husband Mote is coach, her sister-in-laws play in the team and Mote’s brothers have all coached or managed the team in the past. Their kids are having a great time in their own special area when I arrive.
Vira has played for four years and although she is playing hooker now, she prefers being a prop. But like all dedicated rugby players you fit in where you’re needed.
Michelle Beesley with speedsters Tiana Tamati (halfback) and Kayla Tukuafu (wing)
Tiana is halfback and has been playing rugby for five years. She began by playing touch footy until friends urged her to have a go at rugby. She loves it and is supremely fit, a testament to her dedication to training .
“Most girls find out about rugby through friends and many come to rugby after playing touch footy or soccer,” Tiana says.
Vira adds, “Several girls had never played any sport, hardly picked up a ball and are now on the team. Some just join for the fitness and fun aspect and are not keen to play but many change their mind after coming to a few games.”
Is it harder for women?
“We don’t feel like its harder playing rugby as a woman,” Tiana says. “We’re like a family here. You look forward to training as a stress release and when you have a passion you find ways to make time for it.”
Vira agrees. “You make friends for life. It’s not often that women are in such a physical environment and you really need to have each other’s backs. You will bleed for your sisters.”
What sort of women play rugby?
Regardless of your shape or size, you’ve got a place in a rugby team.
“In our team we have women ranging in age from 16 to 35 and they come from all walks of life,” Vira says. “Mums like me, teachers, students, childcare workers, defence personnel and people working in administrative roles.
“It’s not all rugby – we have team dinners , parties and camps at places like Tallebudgera,” she says.
Parties, hey? Mm, maybe they’ll waver the (old) age limit for me… if only I could run, kick and tackle. Well, my passing’s not bad.
Pathways in rugby
In 15-a-side rugby, our national side is called the Wallaroos and to make this side is every woman rugby player’s dream.
“The number eight for GPS, Alisha Hewett, has already been a Wallaroo and looks set to do so again,” Vira says. “She is also a regular in the Australian Defence Force side.”
Tiana adds: “Number 10, Marlugu Dixon, has also played for Queensland and is a player to watch out for.”
Some of the women will finish their season soon and Vira says many will head straight into a rugby sevens side.
Playing for the country
Rugby Sevens has been in the news recently as this is the first year it has been included as an Olympic sport. Our national team is World Champions, so they look to be well placed for a medal.
The Wallaroos are also making history by playing the New Zealand side—the Black Ferns—as part of the Wallabies versus All Blacks Bledisloe Cup game in Auckland. It is exciting to know that 2017 will be a World Cup year for women’s rugby.
Get your boots on and join in
If you’re interested in playing, check out your local club for information on how to join next season. It’s full of fun, fitness, friendship and friendly rivalry between clubs.
As the girls head off to train I tell them I’ve always thought I’d love to play number eight. I could just see myself zooming off the back of the scrum scoring tries. They look pretty skeptical. Okay, perhaps I’ll just stick to the sidelines cheering on these stars of the future. I am after all really excellent at clapping. Go GPS!
Alisha Hewitt
Black Ferns
GPS women's rugby
Marlugu Dixon
Tiana Timati
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JUST IN: Federal Officials to Explore Different Route for Dakota Pipeline
Federal officials announced on Sunday that they would not approve permits for construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline beneath a dammed section of the Missouri River that tribes say sits near sacred burial sites.
The decision is a victory for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of protesters camped near the construction site who have opposed the project because they said would it threaten a water source and cultural sites. Federal officials had given the protesters until tomorrow to leave a campsite near the construction site.
In a statement on Sunday, the Department of the Army’s assistant secretary for Civil Works, Jo-Ellen Darcy, said that the decision was based on a need to explore alternate routes for the pipeline crossing.
City Of Salisbury Work Session Agenda & Meeting Materials for- 12-5-16
Major Fire In Parsonsburg This Morning
A Viewer Writes: It's either Wednesday November 30th or Tuesday November 29th..
What Was Yours?
Purse Snatching At Food Lion In Salisbury
The other day, (Sunday) an elderly woman was walking to her vehicle at the Salisbury Food Lion when someone came up to her and snatched her purse. We had been told she held on as best as she could but was pulled to the ground and received minor scrapes.
The woman instantly recognized the person who snatched her purse when she saw the Most Wanted and called the Salisbury Police Officer.
After three attempts to contact the Officer with no return call she was able to make contact with an elected official who then called the Salisbury Police Department and demanded someone follow through.
What's most interesting is, we, (the media) never heard of the purse snatching. You have to wonder, just how much crime is not being exposed in Salisbury. We were also told there was an alleged rape recently at the Hospital gravel parking lot behind the Hospital but once again we have not been able to confirm it.
Question Of The Day 11-29-16
What charity/charities do you donate to?
JUST IN: Police: Six People Shot In Northwest Baltimore; 2 Fatalities
BALTIMORE (WJZ) — Baltimore Police are investigating reports of a shooting in northwest Baltimore, with reports of six people shot, two of whom were fatal.
Baltimore Police spokesman TJ Smith posting Twitter that officers were on the scene of multiple shooting in area of Duvall Ave and Garrison Blvd. It happened around 6:20 on Wednesday evening.
Horse Found in Delmar: UPDATE
Can you please help me find the owner of this horse, I am located at 12247 E. Line Rd Delmar DE. my cell is 443-497-2808
A Viewer Writes: Unbelievable SPD Tweet
Did you see this? The Salisbury Police Department tweeted that they will be recruiting "The People of Walmart" on Black Friday to protect the City? As if "The People of Walmart" wasn't bad enough they are trying to catch them the day some of the craziest shoppers are out! That proves how they care about of us! Thanks Barbara! Thanks Jake! Thanks Jim!
Utopia Found in Chaos
By Thornton Crowe
In the midst of a the post-election chaos, financed by George Soros, a new development occurred last Friday when Green Party candidate, Jill Stein, whom received a minutia of votes countrywide, requested a recount in three states: Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Under the guise of 'voter fairness' it seems rather peculiar she picked the three states that gave Donald Trump his electoral college lead. Of course, she's citing the Russians did it. Sounds like she's been drinking the Clinton Kool-Aid.
As seen from the video posted here yesterday, Pennsylvania will probably not go in her favor. Wisconsin has begun their recount and Michigan has yet to issue anything (nor has Stein filed officially.) Clinton's campaign (probably minus Robby Mook whom she physically assaulted on election night after losing and spiraling into a drunken state) has now stated their lawyer will be present for Michigan should a recount commence.
The question is now, isn't it time we got past the election and move forward? And, how is Clinton/Stein's colluded effort to keep people in an uproar really for the best of the country or merely to remain relevant to voters?
This is not positive for anyone - even for Stein and Clinton. It is not a way to move forward but a sour grapology that smacks of sore losing rather than accepting. Yes, this is all part of the five stages of grief but, let's face it, not many are all that shocked if they have any semblance of the law at the outcome of Clinton's election ambitions. It's pretty clear, given the information over the last week where Norway and Australia have now cut off the Clinton Foundation donations, Clinton was engaged in Pay to Play politics throughout her tenure as Senator, Secretary of State and then proposed Presidential win.
The sad thing for many Clintonites is they believed the mainstream media when they said, "nothing to see here." Hence, where the collective liberal depression set in among them. However, their hopes were based on cotton candy dreams and fast talking slickster rhetoric that was worthless. At the end of the day, Clinton realized she couldn't lie, cheat and steal to the White House the way she'd done for four decades prior. She was busted dead to rights without FBI Director James Comey issuing one recommendation for criminal charges, thus deferring to the public to be her judge and jury.
Who knows why Jill Stein hitched her wagon to damaged goods but the dye has cast and it's a done deal. As many in social media vilify and dig into every nook and cranny of her past, they are broadcasting her campaign public words verses her private actions now. Much like with many of the Clintons' associates, she now has been exposed as a fraud to many in the country to the point many have stated publicly she's flamed any future chances for another elected position.
The media is going to capitalize on this news because the Trump Transition team has put them at the back of queue, leaving them scouring for any information to report. They get their tidbits but nothing of substance after the flaming Trump railed at them last week in a Trump Tower meeting where all the high brass was given an epic dressing down. Their biggest fear now is being denied access after their atrocious behaviors and overt collusion with the DNC over the election cycle. After Wikileaks busted their four, they have lost over 83% of the viewership confidence as no one believes them anymore. Papers like the Washington Post and New York Times are suffering financial hardships and relative obscurity at this point - a punchline of a sad pathetic joke.
Therefore, how do we move forward? Frankly, it is up to us to ban together and work towards making America better rather than crying over spilled milk - which never accomplishes anything but make us discontent In the following video, Anonymous sends us a message to buck up and start remembering who we are and where we dream to go rather than staying marred down in the naysaying of the last thirty years.
Now, we have a unique opportunity to massively reset DC and our own microcosmic worlds. This seldom happens twice in a lifetime - but for many of us this is our third time to reset. We need to take advantage of it, embrace it and make it whatever we want as long as it keeps our Constitution alive and thriving, guaranteeing our inalienable rights. At the end of the day, it's really up to us, or is it?
How say you...
I'll Be Back?
Matt Creamer retired today for the second time. Maybe they'll put him in charge of the Airport where he can work for the county again?
Hillary eyeing another presidential run?
Reporter: 'Raising doubts about legitimacy of election' to keep options open in 2020
(TOWNHALL) If you thought a devastating loss to Republican Donald Trump four weeks ago and to rival Barack Obama in 2008 was finally going to put former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton out of the political game for good, think again.
According to veteran reporter Ron Fournier, someone who has been closely covering the Clintons for years, Hillary Clinton is keeping her options open for yet another presidential run in 2020.
Read the full story ›
Teacher Brutally Slaps Student for Throwing Things at Him in Class
Liberal California Just Passed Law On Regulating COW FARTS Because…Global Warming
This has to be one of the most ridiculous things I have heard thus far. According to fox 6 news in New York, California Governor Jerry Brown has recently passed legislation that will work to limit the methane gases that released from cows. I am not even making this up right now.
To continue, dairy farmers are having to purchase equipment to trap the gases. According to Fox 6 news:
Dairy farmers say the new regulations will drive up costs when they’re already struggling with five years of drought, low milk prices and rising labor costs. They’re also concerned about a newly signed law that will boost overtime pay for farmworkers.
It just makes it more challenging. We’re continuing to lose dairies. Dairies are moving out of state to places where these costs don’t exist,” said Paul Sousa, director of environmental services for Western United Dairymen.
The dairy industry could be forced to move production to states and countries with fewer regulations, leading to higher emissions globally, Sousa said.
Justice for the People...Judgement for a Former Chief of Police
It was an interesting day in Worcester County Circuit Court today. Former Pocomoke City Police Chief Kelvin Sewell went on trial for misconduct in his official capacity as a law enforcement leader. The case was not brought by local authorities; in fact it was prosecuted through an Office of the Maryland Attorney General that deals with corruption of public officials.
Sewell was dismissed by his former employer amid a cloud of questionable activities he directed or allowed as the chief. He played the race card hard and loud while his accusers were forced to remain silent due to ongoing investigations and potential litigation. In fact, with the exception of social media, his was the only voice being heard. Today, the true voice of justice resonated in a Worcester County Circuit Court with a jury of his peers.
It seems one of Sewell’s buddies (a Masonic Lodge brother and ECI Corrections Officer) got drunk and could not even drive the 7 blocks to his home without ramming two parked cars with enough force to rip off one of his front wheels! In a true November miracle, his buddy was able to flee the scene of the accident and limp his three wheel wonder vehicle back to his house. In a state of self declared “panic”...he placed a call to a magical cell phone number. In a flash, the former chief responded to the distress. He arrived on the scene, commandeered the investigation, and spelled out to his lowest ranking officer that she would record this as an “accident” as opposed to the hit and run it was in the real world. He also answered questions for his buddy when the lowly subordinate simply asked his Masonic brother, “Have you been drinking?” The incident was recorded as commanded by the chief, signed off by one of his hand picked lieutenants, and considered a perk of his position and a display of his power...and it was corrupt.
There were many other instances, but this one had the witnesses who could not be undone. After reviewing them with a Grand Jury, the State chose this as a representative instance of what the former chief was all about.
Chief Sewell had a problem with power, but he cut his teeth in a cesspool of corruption and learned from the worst in Baltimore City. The same place he left in a cloud before arriving on the doorsteps of Pocomoke City. His integrity has previously been challenged by the FBI, and today it was challenged by the State of Maryland.
Today, a jury of his peers believed the testimony of several others over the hue and cry of former chief Sewell. He did not tell the truth, he compromised his Office, and the jury called him out on it without the need to deliberate for very long.
The sentence was three years suspended with probation. Laws in Maryland will make him a prohibited person when it comes to handgun possession, so this should also be the end of a very sordid career for a guy that could have been a game changer. Instead, he chose to be a tyrant. He lied to people who trusted him and broke the public trust and he has no one to blame but himself.
Good cops spoke up today, and their voice was believed by the people they serve and protect. It was a great day for justice in our small corner of America.
White House: Obama Proud No ‘Major Personal Scandal’ Occurred in His Administration
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday that President Obama is proud that no one in his administration has suffered a “major personal scandal” during his time in office.
The comment came at the White House daily press briefing during a discussion about former CIA Director David Petraeus’ past guilty plea of mishandling classified information.
Bloomberg reporter Justin Sink asked if the Obama administration believes it is a “guiding principle” that someone who has such a charge levied against them should be barred from serving as a senior official in the U.S. government.
“Just as a guiding principle, does the president–or does the administration believe that somebody who’s had severe classification issues, for which they’ve been convicted, should hold senior positions in the United States government?” he asked.
Earnest said that each president is going to “have to decide for themselves” who they name as senior officials and “what kind of person” they want to fill each position.
“President Obama obviously took that responsibility very seriously and assembled a team that he’s quite proud of to serve him and the country, and the president has spoken at some length about how proud he is that there hasn’t been a major personal scandal in his administration,” he said.
Earnest emphasized the personal character of the people Obama chose to serve in his administration..
More here (yes, there's more..)
CNN Anchor: Americans Should Wear Hijabs To Show Solidarity With Fearful Muslims
Americans should wear hijabs to show solidarity with Muslim women who fear being attacked for wearing the religious head covering, CNN anchor Alisyn Camerota suggested on Monday, just hours before an Islamic radical stabbed students at Ohio State University.
“Maybe there will be a movement where people wear the head scarf in solidarity. You know, even if you’re not Muslim,” Camerota said during an early-morning broadcast on CNN’s “New Day.”
“Maybe it’s the way people shave their heads, you know, sometimes in solidarity with somebody who is going through something,” she added.
Camerota was responding to a CNN segment about Muslim women who say they live in fear of being verbally or physically attacked for wearing head scarves.
Bowie State study on lynching revisits Maryland’s dark past
BOWIE, Md. (AP) — The mob hauled Henry Davis out of the county jail on Calvert Street, led him through the Clay Street neighborhood to Brickyard Hill overlooking the end of College Creek and hung him from a Chestnut tree.
Their rage not satisfied, they shot him 100 times or more. A man took pictures of Davis, and sold postcards, two for a quarter. One customer bought 50 copies.
The Evening Capital headline read: “Assault on woman avenged – Davis dragged from jail and lynched – Mob riddled Negro ravisher with bullets.”
“The people in the old Fourth Ward heard the screams, locked their doors,” said local historian Janice Hayes-Williams. “The mob was saying if you choose to act this way this will happen to you.”
President Elect Trump Suggests Punishment For Burning American Flag
Accomack school district suspends “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”
ACCOMACK CO., Va. - They've been in classrooms for decades, but two classic American novels are now temporarily banned from Accomack County Public Schools.
Use of “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and “To Kill a Mockingbird” were suspended after a parent raised concerns about their use of the N-word.
“There's so much racial slurs and defensive wording in there that you can't get past that,” the mother said during last month’s school board meeting. “Right now, we are a nation divided as it is."
She filed a complaint through a “Request for Reconsideration of Learning Resources” form.
UPDATE: 8 Injured in Ohio State Attack - PRESS CONFERENCE
Update: Law enforcement sources have told Fox News that A Somali man in his 20s was behind an attack that has left nine injured at Ohio State University that involved a car and butcher knife. Authorities have said it doesn’t not appear the suspect used a gun in the attack. He is a Somali refugee but he achieved legal resident status.
After the suspect plowed his vehicle into the crowd, officials said he got out of the vehicle and began attacking people with a butcher knife before he was shot and killed by a campus police officer.
AU students prefer Castro to Trump
One Ohio Mosque Has Been at the Center of SIX Terror Cases
The website for Masjid Omar Ibn El Khattab, just a mile from the Ohio State University campus, proclaims itself "the Muslim Heart of Columbus." And yet the mosque, described as one of the most ideologically hardline in the city, has grabbed the media spotlight once again: former attendees were recently reported as having joined the Islamic State (ISIS) in Syria.
As mosque officials struggle to distance themselves from yet another resident terror cell, the recent news raises questions about the extensive history of this Ohio mosque as a turnstile for terrorism.
Just a few [months] ago, I reported here at PJ Media that three individuals who lived just yards from Masjid Omar for two years joined ISIS in Syria in July 2014. Rasel Raihan was killed in Syria in a U.S. airstrike. His older sister Zakia Nasrin and her husband Jaffrey Khan are still in Raqqa, according to internal ISIS documents which NBC News obtained from an ISIS defector.
In that NBC News report, the mosque's president, Basil Gohar, tried to distance the trio from the mosque. He said that Jaffrey, despite living so close to the mosque for two years, had only attended the mosque for a few weeks and had kept to himself.
Gohar's claims about these individuals -- and particularly his claims about the prior al-Qaeda cell that was centered around the mosque -- are flatly dishonest.
When one of the previous Columbus al-Qaeda cell members, Christopher Paul, pleaded guilty to conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction against Americans, Basil Gohar publicly rose to the defense of the longtime al-Qaeda operative and his associates. He defended their innocence and prayed that their imprisonment elevated their place in paradise.
When Paul was arrested in April 2007, the Justice Department noted -- in press statements and in federal court filings -- that the al-Qaeda operative was conducting training INSIDE THE MOSQUE:
Drudge Report: CNN Wants Megyn Kelly
Matt Drudge has an exclusive report on FOX News host Megyn Kelly — CNN wants her, but won’t match her current FOX salary offer of $20 million.
A source told Drudge that CNN is offering Kelly, whose FOX News contract ends in July, an escape from the fierce personality conflicts in the FOX empire, more international exposure, and perhaps even the chance to star in a movie at Warner Bros, which is part of the Time Warner media empire that owns CNN.
Drudge reports:
CNN President Jeff Zucker is actively perusing FOX star Megyn Kelly to anchor 8 or 9 PM on his network, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. And Kelly might just say, YES!
“He is moving the Himalayan mountains to get her,” a top insider explains. “But they are tripped up on money. He simply can’t pay her the $20 million a year FOX has on the table”
Search Underway On Shore For Police Impersonators Who Assaulted And Robbed Driver In Worcester Co.
(SNOW HILL, MD) — Maryland State Police are searching for three suspects who reportedly impersonated police officers when they stopped a woman traveling through Worcester County yesterday evening and assaulted her before taking money and jewelry.
The victim is a 38-year-old female from Brooklyn, New York. She was treated for exposure to pepper spray and examined at Peninsula Regional Medical Center before being released last night.
The first suspect is described as an African American male with short hair and a full beard. He was wearing a black suit, white shirt and tie.
The second suspect is described as an African American male who is bald, with no facial hair and was wearing black pants and a white shirt. He was carrying a small black handgun.
The third suspect is described as a white male with either a shaved head or short hair. He was wearing a zippered black hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.
The vehicle the suspects were using is described as a black Chevrolet SUV, with unknown Maryland registration plates. The victim reported the vehicle was equipped with red and blue flashing lights.
Shortly before 6:00 p.m. yesterday, Maryland State Police from the Salisbury Barrack responded to a 911 call from the victim, who said she was driving away from the location where she had been pulled over, assaulted and robbed by the three suspects. The victim was told to pull over and troopers would locate her.
Troopers found the victim in the area of Powellville Road and Webb Road, in Powellville. The investigation indicates the victim was stopped and assaulted in the area of Whiton Road at Snow Hill Road in Worcester County. After the incident, she began driving away from the area before calling police.
The victim stated she was driving from New York to Norfolk, Virginia in a rented vehicle. She said when the suspect vehicle activated the red and blue lights, she pulled over, thinking it was a police vehicle. She said the first suspect approached the driver side of the car and sprayed pepper spray into the vehicle before spraying it onto a towel that he held over her face. The victim, who is pregnant, said she got out of the car and was punched in the stomach by the first suspect.
The victim said the second suspect was holding a small black handgun and wearing a gold badge on a chain around his neck. He stole her purse, which contained cash and an ornately jeweled belt of great value. The victim said the third suspect remained at the rear of the suspects’ vehicle.
The three suspects left the scene in their vehicle. A search throughout the night for the suspects has had negative results.
Anyone who may have seen these vehicles stopped in the area of Whiton Road and Snow Hill Road yesterday evening, or who may have seen a vehicle matching the suspect vehicle description, is urged to contact Maryland State Police at 410-749-3101, or 410-641-3101. Callers may remain anonymous.
White House Warns Against Blaming Religion of Islam After Ohio State Attack
The Obama administration is warning Americans not to cast blame on Muslims after a student at Ohio State University launched an attack on innocent civilians that was likely inspired by Islamic State terrorists.
“Our response to this situation matters,” White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest explained to reporters during the press briefing. “If we respond to this situation by casting aspersions on millions of people that adhere to a particular religion or if we increase our suspicion of people who practice a particular religion, we are more likely going to contribute to acts of violence than we are to prevent them.”
Earnest said that although there was evidence that the attacker might have been inspired by extremism, his motives were still under investigation.
Law enforcement investigators have pinpointed the attacker as “likely inspired by ISIS” according to a CNN report release after the White House press briefing.
Police Raid In Salisbury
School tutor charged after student assaulted
A Baltimore City second-grader was hospitalized after his parents say he was assaulted by a school tutor Monday at his southeast Baltimore school.
Timothy Randall Korr, 25, of the 3200 block of Foster Avenue, is charged with felony first- and second-degree child abuse, felony first- and misdemeanor second-degree assault, misdemeanor reckless endangerment and misdemeanor neglect of a minor, Baltimore police said.
The parents of the boy, Travon Grayson, 7, who attends City Springs Elementary/Middle School, said their son suffered mouth and facial injuries that will require surgery.
Lateekqua Jackson and Travon Grayson Sr., Travon’s parents, said their son is bruised, swollen, cut and is missing several teeth. They believe Travon was injured when Korr assaulted him.
Tulane Protesters: White Students Must Be Held Accountable for Racism
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana – During a demonstration on the Tulane University campus, protesters largely from social justice organizations demanded white students be held accountable for perceived racism on campus.
With chants like “White silence is violence,” social justice warriors marched across Tulane campus holding signs reading “White students: No one has to do everything, everyone has to do something,” claiming their campus was full of racism, according to the Tulane Hullabaloo.
The student newspaper reported that the demonstration was “in response to a lack of action from Tulane” regarding racism on campus, but did not cite any specific incidents.
Roughly 10 organizations promoting multiculturalism demanded “accountability from white students in regards to deconstructing the racism on Tulane’s campus,” the Hullabalooreported.
The Hullabaloo reported that such racism at Tulane impacted the “personal safety and human rights,” but did not cite any reports of violence against minority students on campus.
AWESOME Christmas Parade Float By The Powellville VFC
DC Mayor Wants to Turn Away Homeless From Other States
District of Columbia Mayor Muriel Bowser wants to make it easier to deny shelter to homeless people who don't live in the District.
Bowser proposed emergency legislation on Tuesday that would allow the city to turn people away if their last place of residence can't be verified.
The District guarantees shelter to homeless people on freezing nights, and the homeless population has increased over the past few years. Last year the mayor opened the shelters year round, guaranteeing families can get off the street even when the temperature is above freezing.
The city's main homeless shelter is full, and the city is currently spending $80,000 a night on hotel rooms for families who have nowhere else to stay.
Arrest made for bomb threats at the Beltsville Motor Vehicle Administration
On 11/29/2016 at 1:30 p.m., Members of the Maryland State Police College Park Barrack responded to the Maryland Department of Transportation, Motor Vehicle Administration 11760 Baltimore Ave., Beltsville, Prince George’s County, MD 20750 regarding a bomb threat.
Upon their arrival, the suspect, Christopher Louis Adams, 60 years of age of Bethesda, MD had left the area in an unknown direction. Trooper First Class Richard Maszarose interviewed an employee of the Motor Vehicle Administration and learned that Adam made statements of returning with a bomb and wishing to detonate it at the Motor Vehicle Administration.
Members of the College Park Barrack obtained an arrest warrant for Adam for threats to commit mass violence and threats to commit arson. Members of the College Park Barrack attempted to locate Adam at several known locations throughout Prince George’s County and Montgomery County. Adam was located and responded to the College Park Barrack where he was taking into custody without incident. Adam was further processed and taken before a Prince George’s County District Court Commissioner where he is pending disposition.
The Maryland State Police College Park Barrack is asking anyone with information regarding this investigation to contact the barrack at 301-345-3101.
Hunter facing charges after two dogs found dead
BELMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WTOV) — Pete Byers says he was preparing to take his dogs and his tools on a work trip to Pittsburgh when his two beloved companions, Bella and Emmy, disappeared.
"I turned around to lock that gate. I turned around my dogs were gone," Byers said. “And it’s the opening day of gun season so I’m like dying inside. I’m scared to death."
Byers says an hours-long search began. He enlisted the help of friends and neighbors and used four-wheelers, all the while calling for his pets.
Byers says hunters reported hearing shots and a dog yelp, but eventually a trail of tracks allegedly led to Michael Chedester's tree stand some 800 yards away.
Whites Turning Dakota Pipeline Protest into Hippie Fest
Tension is brewing within the Dakota Access protest as complaints grow about outside activists trashing the camps, mooching donations and treating the anti-pipeline demonstration like a Burning Man-style festival for hippies.
“Need to get something off my chest that I witnessed and found very disturbing in my brief time there that I believe many others have started to speak up about as well. White people colonizing the camps,” Alicia Smith said in a Facebook post.
“They are coming in, taking food, clothing etc and occupying space without any desire to participate in camp maintenance and without respect of tribal protocols,” she wrote. “These people are treating it like it is Burning Man or The Rainbow Gathering and I even witnessed several wandering in and out of camps comparing it to those festivals.”
Her Nov. 14 post, now making the rounds on social media, said outsiders are “literally subsisting entirely off the generosity of native people (AND YOUR DONATIONS if you have been donating) who are fighting to protect their water just because they can.”
A local deputy who asked to remain anonymous told WDAY AM’s Rob Port that most of the protesters are white, and that some have used racial slurs against black, Hispanic and American Indian officers.
Man's vote may have cost him chance at US citizenship
What a Dundalk man who has lived in the U.S. for 47 years did on Election Day may cost him his dream.
Marcelino Vilcarino Sr., 71, knows he came extremely close to becoming a U.S. citizen, but now, that's in limbo and he might have to start the process all over again.
The retired cook worked at a restaurant in Little Italy for 25 years. He is not an undocumented immigrant, he is a permanent resident who arrived in the U.S. from Peru in 1969. He even got drafted to fight in Vietnam.
His dream is to become a U.S. citizen. He has already paid the $680 application fee.
On Election Day, he went to the polls.
WARNING: Lead Found In Water In Pittsville
Accident At Sixty Foot Road 11-29-16
Station 7 (Pittsville) has been dispatched to an accident at Sixty Foot Road and Route 50 in the Westbound lanes.
Station 6 and Station 8 have both been requested to send an ambulances and traffic control to the scene.
Just Imagine If She Was Actually In Control
I'm So Scared
Should It Make A Comeback?
Have You Started With Your Christmas Decorations Yet?
Great Deal At WalMart?
OSU Suspect Complained Campus Has No Muslim Prayer Rooms
Suspected Ohio State University attack Abdul Artan reportedly complained to the campus newspaper in August that the campus did not have enough prayer rooms.
Artan’s full name is Abdul Razak Ali Artan, a man who emigrated to the United States in 2014, NBCNews reports. Artan was a refugee who’s family left Somalia in 2007, spent seven years in Pakistan, and became legal permanent residents of the U.S. in 2014.
Artan was profiled in an Aug. 25 segment titled, “Humans of Ohio State” where he lamented, “This place is huge, I don’t even know where to pray.” Artan said he wanted to pray in the open but was scared because of recent media coverage.
Election throws US plans for Syrian refugees into question
RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) — Arabic language classes are drawing 25 to 30 people a week in preparation for the new arrivals in town. High school students are helping collect furniture and housewares for them, and employers have inquired about giving them jobs.
For the past several months, Rutland has been getting ready to receive 100 mostly Syrian refugees beginning early next year. But with Donald Trump taking office in late January, Rutland’s plans and those of other U.S. cities that have agreed to take in people fleeing the civil war have been thrown into question, given the incoming president’s hostility to Muslim immigrants.
“I am not even going to hazard a guess” about the fate of the program, said Mayor Christopher Louras, who invited the newcomers in the hope they can help revitalize this shrinking, post-industrial, heroin-plagued city of 15,800.
Did/Have you found any deals during Black Friday/Cyber Monday?
Writer Claims ‘Drain the Swamp’ Is Racist
Ryan Lenz, a senior writer for the Southern Poverty Law Center, suggested that Donald Trump’s “Drain the Swamp” slogan has racist connotations in an appearance Tuesday on CNN.
Host John Berman interviewed Lenz following a segment covering a conference held in Washington, D.C. over the weekend of a so-called alt-right group that supports white nationalist and Neo-Nazi views.
Lenz addressed a video that shows attendees at the gathering cheering the election of Donald Trump with chants similar to ones used by Nazis under Adolf Hitler’s rule. Lenz said that the president-Elect has not done enough to disavow such groups.
Berman then played a clip of Trump’s interview with 60 Minutes in which he told his supporters to not participate in any kind of violent or hateful acts.
“That’s a good message, yes, Ryan?” Berman asked.
“Yes, it’s a good message, but it doesn’t seem to have had any effect,” Lenz responded.
He went on to claim that Trump’s signature “Drain the Swamp” phrase has racist origins and served as a dog whistle to white supremacists.
An NFL game turned into a WWE wrestling match as the Ravens came up with an ingenious way to run out the clock
The Baltimore Ravens came up with a brilliant play that allowed them to successfully run out the final 11 seconds of their game against the Cincinnati Bengals and to do it all they had to do was commit a boatload of penalties.
With the Ravens leading by seven points, they faced a fourth down at their own 22-yard line with 11 seconds to go. There was too much time for the punter, Sam Koch, to scramble around and run out the clock and they certainly didn't want to punt the ball to the Bengals and given them a reasonable shot at either a punt return or a Hail Mary.
Instead, the Ravens held the entire defense — on purpose.
After Koch took the snap, it looked like a WWE wrestling Royal Rumble broke out all over the field. Everywhere you looked a Ravens player was holding a Bengals defender and flags came flying from the officials.
Obama's party and its bitter reckoning
Americans have brought the left-wing joyride to an inevitable, painful and screeching halt
Eight years ago, the Democratic Party gambled that a young, inexperienced but charismatic senator could deliver the presidency and with it, sustained national electoral success. They were half-right: They got the presidency but lost the country.
It turns out that President Obama’s promised “fundamental transformation of the nation” was not what it was cracked up to be — and it instead cracked up his party.
Now, the party appears to be committing further suicide in real time by considering far-left radicals such as Keith Ellison to head the Democratic National Committee and keeping crusty old-guard liberals such as Nancy Pelosi in other leadership positions.
They have learned nothing from the Republican sweeps of 2010, 2014 and 2016 — because committed leftist ideologues can’t — won’t — adapt.
JUST IN: Federal Officials to Explore Different Ro...
City Of Salisbury Work Session Agenda & Meeting Ma...
A Viewer Writes: It's either Wednesday November 30...
JUST IN: Police: Six People Shot In Northwest Balt...
Teacher Brutally Slaps Student for Throwing Things...
Liberal California Just Passed Law On Regulating C...
Justice for the People...Judgement for a Former Ch...
White House: Obama Proud No ‘Major Personal Scanda...
CNN Anchor: Americans Should Wear Hijabs To Show S...
Bowie State study on lynching revisits Maryland’s ...
President Elect Trump Suggests Punishment For Burn...
Accomack school district suspends “To Kill a Mocki...
UPDATE: 8 Injured in Ohio State Attack - PRESS CON...
One Ohio Mosque Has Been at the Center of SIX Terr...
Search Underway On Shore For Police Impersonators ...
White House Warns Against Blaming Religion of Isla...
Tulane Protesters: White Students Must Be Held Acc...
AWESOME Christmas Parade Float By The Powellville ...
DC Mayor Wants to Turn Away Homeless From Other St...
Arrest made for bomb threats at the Beltsville Mot...
Whites Turning Dakota Pipeline Protest into Hippie...
Man's vote may have cost him chance at US citizens...
Have You Started With Your Christmas Decorations Y...
OSU Suspect Complained Campus Has No Muslim Prayer...
Election throws US plans for Syrian refugees into ...
An NFL game turned into a WWE wrestling match as t...
► Aug 04
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Bulgaria anti-trust regulator approves sale of Hilton, Radisson owner
Written by The Sofia Globe staff on December 15, 2015 in Business - Comments Off on Bulgaria anti-trust regulator approves sale of Hilton, Radisson owner
Bulgaria’s Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC) has approved the sale of the Liechtenstein-based company that owns the Hilton and Radisson Blu hotels in the capital city of Sofia, according to a decision published on the regulator’s website.
The regulatory nod comes three weeks after Galaxy Investment Group sought the approval to buy Rasasso Anstalt, in a deal that, at that time, was reported by Bulgarian media to involve the Hilton. Galaxy Investment Group owns several hotels in the Black Sea resorts of Slunchev Bryag (Sunny Beach) and Sveti Vlas, but has no such properties in the capital city of Sofia.
CPC said that there was no overlap between the operations of the two companies, insofar as they own hotels in different geographic areas, and the proposed deal would not negatively affect the competition on the hospitality market in Bulgaria.
Galaxy Investment Group is owned by Atanas Petrov and Anton Shterev, two businessmen that local media linked to spirits manufacturer Vinprom Peshtera. According to news website Mediapool.bg, which quoted Trade Register filings, companies controlled by the two businessmen have provided loans for the buyers of the Hilton and Radisson Blu hotels the last time they went through an ownership change, in 2013 and 2012, respectively.
The media reports also claimed that Rasasso Anstalt was ultimately owned by Spas Roussev, who acquired telecom firm Vivacom, one of Bulgaria’s three major carriers, last month.
(Hilton Sofia hotel. Photo: d3l/flickr.com)
December 15, 2015, by The Sofia Globe staff
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Women and Girls
Neither Angels Nor Demons
By Jenna Barnett
I CAN THINK OF MANY MISTAKES I made before turning 18, including a couple that could have landed me in juvenile detention: fireworks in the suburbs, running from the cops, lying to the cops about running from the cops, and one or two others I’ll keep to myself because everyone I interviewed for this story insists on this: Nobody is the worst thing they have ever done.
If those words are true, Sara Kruzan will not always be the 16-year-old who shot her sex trafficker in the head right after he took her to another hotel room.
And that means Krys Shelley is not just the 17-year-old who used an unloaded gun to rob someone.
But back when Shelley stood trial as a teen, the judge only saw a criminal. Shelley still remembers what the judge said before delivering the 12-year sentence: “Good luck.” He studied Shelley closely. “You’ll do just fine in there.”
Shelley believes that the judge felt like Shelley fit the bill of a juvenile delinquent—black, tall, and masculine. At the time, Shelley identified as a tomboy (today, Shelley is gender nonconforming). From an early age, Shelley could grow a full facial beard because of an inborn hormone imbalance—a common symptom of polycystic ovarian syndrome.
But it’s less about what the courts saw in Shelley, and more about what they didn’t see: an honor-roll student with a steady job whose pastor came to the courtroom to offer support.
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The Desert Palace
by Dean Kissick
On the streets of Koreatown, a woman was howling in Spanish for her missing dog, which had one ear yellow and one mauve: a locally famous dog, Casper recognised it from the billboard for the grooming shop next to the weed dispensary on Olympic-Vermont. Huge purple flowers drifted over the sidewalks. He continued walking towards the smoggy mountains until he reached the crossroads of Wilshire-Vermont. There was a man outside the coffee shop, outside Starbucks dressed in rags and bent over the Wall Street Journal crossword, who claimed he was the exiled King of Babylon.
As he entered Casper was already thinking about how to say hello and goodbye to the barista, what to order and how to pronounce his own name clearly. This was really his only point of social interaction with the world.
‘Tall, hot, coffee, room for cream, please,’ he said.
In the far corner of the room somebody was moaning outside the closed toilet door, pounding on it, as was usually the case; on the other side of the door somebody was taking heroin in a leisurely fashion and around 10 minutes later would wander out under the blue sky with its warming aromas of flattened quesadillas cooking in a van and jasmine in bloom. Casper looked around the crossroads and he felt less alone.
Hours later as he also wandered out into the light, nauseous from complimentary refills, he found he had a heightened awareness of the ecclesiastical architecture, the jagged stonework casting shadows off the church and along the boulevard. It was one of those isolated spires of Los Angeles that made nonsense of its environment: a Latin-Gothic tower rising above the half-naked skateboarders and Korean wellness businesses like a morally ambiguous character’s lair in a superhero movie.
‘Believe in Jesus Christ, go to heaven!’ boomed a tape recording through speakers fastened to a little man standing at the crossroads, dressed in a sandwich board of many languages, performing a role somewhere in-between prophet, street furniture, dictionary and ventriloquist. ‘Believe in Jesus Christ, go to heaven!’ A jeep stopped beside him, tinted windows rolled all the way up, and two wealthy-looking Korean girls swung their bare legs out of its right-hand-side doors and pulled on their facemasks in unison, along with matching expressions of disgust, before running up the stairs into the apartment building above the Starbucks.
Casper spent the morning in the coffee shop hoping that somebody would talk to him but nobody did. He was lonely but had no one to tell about his loneliness, except for some people he didn’t particularly like, but (and this was a common source of despair in modern megalopolises) he couldn’t tell them in case they tried to become his close friends. His life, he thought (Casper had been watching documentaries about the ocean while falling asleep) was like that of a Sargasso frogfish waiting disguised as seaweed for many weeks, longing for a fish to swim into its mouth. I have been waiting, he thought to himself, draining myself of my colour and blending into my surroundings.
That morning a voice had spoken to him, a kind voice had said, ‘imagine a faint ray of light shining in the middle of your stomach,’ and for 20 long confusing seconds continued to order Casper around until he realised he had forgotten to mute the mindfulness app on his phone.
Today a disconcerting man in a black hoodie was marching along the counter at Starbucks, and tucked under his arm was a book titled Spiritual Emergency. Sometimes a person just had to spell things out. He was possessed of the kind of restless intensity that you might expect in a space churning out industrial amounts of coffee around the clock but which you rarely witnessed, so soft and comforting were the surroundings.
Casper was served by a young barista with a disfigured face, who looked sort of villainous as though he might live in the Latin-Gothic tower rising out of the church, the church with an ever-dwindling congregation, and who told him to have a nice day with an unusual degree of warmth and sincerity.
On his way home he accepted many leaflets at the crossroads, wishing to please the old women handing out Christian literature there.
He was served again by the man with the disfigured face. He ordered a tall caramel macchiato and a cookie – a warmed-up chocolate-chip cookie – because it was Tuesday, and he liked how the chocolate melting inside the dough made the heart of the cookie appear grey, how it was slightly transparent like a recently hatched songbird, how he could swirl the contents around in his mouth and feel things changing from cookie to coffee, coffee to cookie, these melting, slippery registers of sugar and salt dissolving into his sad throat. In this late-capitalist period devoted mostly to the fulfilling of desires, it was important to contemplate and understand what exactly one’s desires were. Casper was usually concentrating on or chasing after little pleasures, throughout the day and the night: hot showers, after-jogging coffees, sugars, hand-jobs, yoga-rolls, bubble baths, charcoal waters.
It was the morning that the Starbucks red cups had arrived in store, marking the changing of the seasons in a part of the world where the seasons never actually changed, and consequently most people followed the moon instead. Inside they were playing one of Casper’s favourite albums, A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector, and the air smelt of cinnamon. He ordered a tall gingerbread latte.
‘Anything else for you today Casper?’ asked the disfigured barista, who had somehow remembered his name. A disfigured barista had remembered his name. Over the coming two weeks they would build a rapport – although not too much of one, because that could become weird sometimes – so that Casper could order his favourite drink in a red cup without speaking a word.
Today he noticed a young lady that he had never seen before, sitting at the long worktable under a cloud of great sadness. She sat there watching everybody else and tearing at a croissant intently for hours and hours, and he thought she was mysterious, like the Starbucks mermaid.
On the six occasions that he attempted to catch her eye she looked away immediately, before he had raised his face even. He wanted so much to speak with her however he had read somewhere that to desire somebody, without their consent, was a form of psychic violence and wholly unacceptable, and in any case he was a coward.
In the morning there were four slim Korean guys in cardigans draped across the Wilshire-Vermont Starbucks milk station in a louche yet intimidating manner, like leopard seals on an ice floe.
Casper sat at the long worktable close to the entrance because this was where the miserable-appearing young woman had been sitting. Other people were sat around with their laptops: making do, or waiting around, whatever happened in cafes. Casper had nothing to do so busied himself reading all of the Yelp reviews of this Starbucks in reverse chronological order. The first one began, ‘Words can’t explain how much I hate this Starbucks...’
4 November (2nd visit)
He found himself wondering all the time what these strangers were doing on their computers. He had to know; he turned voyeur. Casper: bored, slothful with longing in Starbucks in Koreatown, wandering around with a coffee and sneaking glances at bright screens.
There was a boy singing love songs to somebody on Skype.
A college girl messaging a much older man. ‘Happy birthday!’ she was writing amongst strings of innocent-looking but loosely suggestive emoji. ‘You were never born and you’ll never die. Thank you sooo much for existing. I’m going to be with you in all of your coming lives! Meanwhile in this one, give me all your money.’
An old woman commenting on amateur music videos of the songs of her youth: ‘it is really beautiful and reminds me of playing in snow.’
A group of middle-aged men writing a crowd-funding application, working title ‘September 11th redux’, for $10,000,000, with the description: ‘we will fly a large, fully loaded aircraft into a World-Trade-Center-like structure. Goal is to re-enact 9/11…’ Actually, thought Casper as he wandered around the long table, that’s kind of a good idea. The coffee shop was like a workhouse where all the leaking interzones of the online world were refilled again and again with words, long past the dusk.
Today the miserable-appearing young woman came back to Starbucks and sat there watching everybody else. Sometimes she scribbled in a notebook with a sharpened pencil and sometimes she drew lines alongside, around or winding through passages on printouts of wikiHow articles, which were illustrated with drawings of figures holding up their hands, embracing or reaching out towards one another, but otherwise she just watched. Apart from Casper nobody watched back, because they were all lost in their own worlds, which continued on across centuries and light years.
After one or two hours of sitting opposite one another, she spoke.
‘Can you show me how to download a YouTube video onto my computer?’ she said. ‘I don’t have any internet at home.’
So he downloaded the video for her. It was a video about how to become a different person. It offered suggestions like, ‘…find someone who genuinely embodies the pure person you want to be. Maybe one person dresses like you want to and another person acts like you want to. You can use those pieces of each person as inspiration...’
Casper told her that this was one of nicest coffee shops in Koreatown.
‘I very much fucking doubt that,’ she said.
‘Ummm, so, why do you want to become a different person?’ he asked.
‘Because I feel very unhappy. And because everything is constructed. If you’re still here tomorrow, I could show you exactly how this Starbucks is constructed,’ she said. ‘Thank you for downloading my video.’
‘On this row of stools, to the side of the bar,’ said Lotte, which was her name, ‘you can see behind-the-scenes and watch the baristas at work, making espresso coffee, cold-brew coffee, brewed coffee, coffee syrup, drip coffee – they have at least five or more different ways of making coffee all happening side by side, harmoniously.
‘They offer a selection of rare coffees from around the world (which nobody ever buys) from places like Rwanda, Colombia, Antigua, Sumatra, East Timor, from these magical-sounding and dangerous places around the world, and this suggests a possibility of escape, adventure. Look around you. Look at that large photograph of red coffee beans on a tree and another of piles of coffee beans in varying stages of preparation. Both photographs are illuminated with soft spotlights. So is everything, even the pastries and candy inside the glowing display case – sometimes when you arrive just before closing, you can see this case completely emptied and swung open from above like a spaceship – and those sweet things are themselves deconstructed versions of drinks and other sweet things around them: a coffee cake, a frappuccino-motif iced sugar cookie, a duffin (which is a donut and a muffin), a cookie straw to enjoy your coffee through, a caramel waffle-cone frappuccino, a cake-pop – another strange idea with every new moon. Everything here is constructed, and deconstructed, and constructed again endlessly, until the end of time. Look at the blackboards behind the bar’ – Casper looked at the blackboards. They also had spotlights on them.
‘On that blackboard is a hand-annotated cross section of a new drink, an iced coconut milk mocha frappuccino (which sounds pretty good) complete with different sizes and corresponding calorie counts. All of this quantified, scientific description,’ she said, ‘as though they’re anxious to prove to us that the drink actually exists? I have to go to a workshop tonight, now.’
‘I can tell you more about this tomorrow, if I’m not boring you. Stop me if I’m boring you.’
‘Look,’ said Lotte, raising her eyes towards the ceiling, ‘there are over a hundred lights in this shop. Some branches have over a thousand. Softened spotlights and dimmed, diffuse overhead circles, all of which together make up a golden caramel glow. Listen: these songs are from decades ago and they play quietly, muffled and thick with lower frequencies as though they were coming from a long, long distance away.’
‘It’s about how this place makes you feel. When it’s magic hour outside, from around seven thirty until eight o’clock as the amber sunset collapses in through the windows, everything becomes a dream glowing green and gold – like that painting, The Tempest – with so much light and somehow still dark, the Starbucks empire is maintained at a darkness slightly more than that of the outside world, dark like coffee. This table is made of dark coffee-coloured wood. Those tiles behind the bar are the same shade of dark green as… so here we are, in the deconstructed coffee-flavoured world. The mise en abyme. Coffee inside of coffee inside of coffee.’
‘Oh,’ said Casper.
‘Has it ever occurred to you,’ she said in a tone that suggested it should have done, ‘that whoever is designing these interiors might be absolutely insane? What they are proposing, I think, is that consciousness is an object, a rippling form of wave after wave, and that emotions are like shots of bitter coffee, and pours of syrup, and spoonfuls of milky foam. It’s about how this place makes you feel,’ she said, again. ‘That is what they’re making here.’
She allowed him to walk her to the subway that evening. Towards a flashing orange open palm beckoning them across Wilshire. Under two sparrows twisting and bouncing through the air together, like tennis balls through the weed smoke. Around a one-legged man sat outside the subway, smiling with his eyes closed and leg crossed in the shape of a pretzel.
As Casper made his way back over the crossroads a preacher shouted into his face, ‘Oh I got that beautiful husband, that beautiful wife! Let me tell you – those things are going to go!’
In the morning they watched a middle-aged woman who couldn’t stop shaking having her breakfast on one of the wrought-iron tables outside the Starbucks – or was it the objects themselves that were shaking? She was struggling to hold onto her sweet iced tea and croissantwich, struggling to raise one or the other up to her mouth. The container of sweet iced tea shook itself free and disgorged itself over her.
‘Sometimes I think joy and sadness are so entwined with one another, that they’re essentially the same feeling,’ said Casper: ‘something like a pleasure in and longing for the world.’
‘That’s, like, sort of true,’ said Lotte shaking her head, ‘but also suggests that you’ve never actually experienced any real sadness in your life.’
They were sat outside. She seemed unusually sad today. He offered to buy her something sweet or a croissantwich because of the sadness but she told him she didn’t want anything. So he bought himself a tall caramel macchiato and chocolate-chip cookie, warmed-up, and Lotte ate most of it, which annoyed him.
Sparrows gathered in little conspiratorial groups under the tables, pecking at the cookie crumbs in circles, as though they were planning something.
Today there was a flock of birds sat on the many-tiered wires in the hot air, spelling out letters. Lotte wanted to show Casper something she had written the evening previous at a workshop at a temple in the Palisades. It was 14 words long:
‘Now I am turning into a mountain. Happy as a mountain. Dancing around and…’
‘Lotte this is terrible,’ he said. ‘What is this even supposed to be?’
An awkward silence descended from the heavens. Through the window they watched the old man in rags, who claimed he was a Babylonian king, falling asleep and waking up and falling asleep and waking up outside Starbucks as ‘Silent Night’ played softly inside the store.
‘I said I was sorry.’
‘But it’s okay… it’s fine… it’s okay, because there are so many more opportunities out there, so many anxious moments, around 23,767 more Starbucks, just think how many lights that is, how they would join together like galaxies, like a supermassive planetarium reaching around every city.’
Above them the lights were wobbling around on the periphery of Casper’s vision. The ceiling would vibrate, shimmer.
‘And the atoms, the atoms in our bodies,’ she said, ‘they have been everything in the universe (the moon, a thousand suns, these cookies, a horse’s tongue) and we are always changing. We are made of stardust. In the beginning the two of us might have been the same comet; falling together through the black sky,’ and she walked out through the swinging doors and poured what remained of her Peppermint Mocha into the cracked dirt beneath the palms, a blessing for the dead.
After this, Casper would often awake in the middle of the night, in those few hours when Starbucks wasn’t open: where could he go now, at this hour, he thought, what could he do? Over sleepless time an idea rose slowly in his mind concerning how in the late-19th century the Sultan Abdul Hamid II wished to impress Kaiser William II in Berlin, so he sent him the Desert Palace of Mshatta. He wondered in those moments whether, as she no longer visited the Wilshire-Vermont Starbucks, he could somehow find out her address and send her the entire Wilshire-Vermont Starbucks as an apology and a Christmas present. But this seemed unlikely for a variety of reasons, not least the fact that everybody that worked there had forgotten Casper’s name and his face, overnight, as though he had vanished with her.
In the long morning line an old, homeless-looking man tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if he liked pancakes.
‘No,’ said Casper, completely dishonestly, wary of where this conversation might be going.
‘Oh,’ said the old man. ‘Only I was just walking past IHOP and a woman there approached me and offered to buy me some pancakes, she bought me two stacks of hot pancakes with whipped butter and two jugs of maple syrup and, oh, it was just so delicious, it was so delicious, it made me so very happy. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to bother you – ’
‘Uh. No, no, it’s okay.’
‘I’m sorry, but I just wanted to tell somebody how happy I feel,’ he was smiling. ‘Because I didn’t have anyone to tell how delicious it was. I didn’t mean to bother you.’
‘No, really, it’s okay, really I like pancakes…’
Casper considered buying this man a coffee, in much the same way that Sultan Abdul Hamid II had considered giving Kaiser William II the Desert Palace of Mshatta, that one stranger had considered buying another two stacks of pancakes from the International House of Pancakes, only he hesitated and the moment slowly passed. But he bought himself a coffee and it warmed him inside, and he listened to the Christmas songs and checked his phone and looked out the tall windows and dreamt of metropolitan life.
Photograph by Stoednter / Harvard College Library
Read more by Dean Kissick:
Anna-Sophie has a Drink on Sunset
A Person under a Train
A Sugary, Fluorescent Smog
Cat/s
by Jen George
Yawning into the Staring Abyss Again
by Trevor Shikaze
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Soprano Alejandres lights up FGO’s “Roméo et Juliette”
María Alejandres and Sébastien Guèze star in Florida Grand Opera's "Romeo et Juliette." Photo: Gaston de Cardenas
Radiant singing, irritating stage direction and a farewell from Florida Grand Opera’s longtime leader marked the company’s opening-night performance of Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette Saturday at the Arsht Center in Miami.
The Mexican soprano María Alejandres made a deeply affecting Juliette, giving an impassioned, gorgeously sung performance that would by itself have made the production a success. Matching her well, the French tenor Sébastien Guèze brought to the role of Roméo the silken voice of a classic romantic leading man.
This season-closing production is the final run for Robert Heuer, FGO’s general director since 1985. Before the performance, he came on stage and made a gracious speech, thanking the audience for their support over the years and, with an eye on his yet-to-be-named successor’s task, urging them to resubscribe for next season.
“I wanted to take the opportunity to come out and thank you for all the warmth I’ve felt from you during my 33 years at FGO,” said Heuer, who began with the company in 1979 as production director. He said the search for a successor is well underway. “I urge you when the next general director comes on board, to welcome him or her as warmly as you have me.”
Heuer’s final production was a largely successful one, doing justice to the warmth and drama of Gounod’s score.
The only real flaw was the intrusive stage direction of David Lefkowich, whose on-stage action was more busy than effective. He kept filling scenes with distracting, unnecessary action, as if he didn’t trust the power of Shakespeare’s story and Gounod’s music to carry the opera. During the prelude, silent figures showed up on stage to engage in slow-motion fighting. At the beginning of Juliette’s appearance on the balcony, four female dancers appear and engage in “graceful” movements at a moment when the focus should be on Juliette and the music. And during her Potion aria, as she works up the courage to take the poison that will put her into a coma, six pantomime “phantoms” crowd around her and make menacing gestures, as if we wouldn’t understand that she’s afraid to swallow the potion.
Alejandres handled with ease the coloratura demands of her early arias Écoutez! écoutez! and Je veux vivre dans le rêve, singing with liquid, effortlessly pitch-perfect tone. But it was her portrayal of the role’s more lyric and dramatic side in which she really shone. When Juliette realizes her new lover comes from the despised Montague family, she fell to her knees and sang with dark, mourning tones, as if she could foresee all that was to come. Her finest moment came in the Potion aria, as she sat in her white-shrouded bedchamber with the potion at hand, singing with great power and an edge of desperate, dramatic courage.
Alejandres, who performed the title role of Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor last month at Palm Beach Opera, will sing the role of Violetta in next season’s FGO production of Verdi’s La Traviata, and judging from her performance Saturday, it will be well worth attending.
As Romeo, Guèze brought a smooth legato to a portrayal that was more romantic than heroic, fitting for the young lover. While his voice isn’t large, it has an intensity, ping and youthful quality that served the role well. In Ah! Levè-toi solei, as he meditates on Juliette’s beauty, he brought tightly focused, climactic high notes. And throughout his love duets with Alejandres, the attractive warmth and ease of production of his tones made for a convincing portrayal of young love.
The orchestra, led by guest conductor Joseph Mechavich, music director of the Kentucky Opera, gave the singers firm support without ever overpowering them. And it brought out the richly colored romanticism of Gounod’s score, rising to its moments of prominence in the bedchamber duet of the two lovers and Juliette’s collapse into a drug-induced coma.
The chorus, although barely audible in the prelude, gave a particularly fine performance, especially as the plot and music darkened, with its best work coming in the climactic fight scene, where it mourns two deaths and the exile of Roméo, singing in impassioned, rich, well-balanced tones.
The secondary roles were very much a mixed bag. To the role of Mercutio, Jonathan G. Michie brought a rich, agile baritone, giving a vigorous and well-characterized account of the Queen Mab aria. As Tybalt, the tenor Daniel Shirley gave a hot-headed, on-target performance.
The bass-baritone Stephen Morscheck was a bit tonally uncentered as Count Capulet, as was Craig Colclough as Frère Laurent. The baritone Joo Won Kang brought regal heft to the small but crucial role of the Duke of Verona. Mezzo-soprano Courtney McKeown gave a gracefully sung performance as the young page Stephano. As Juliette’s maid Gertrude, Cindy Sadler bustled around effectively.
The set, from a Minnesota Opera production, consisted of gray stone walls that shifted around through the evening to serve as the Capulets’ ballroom, the balcony of Juliette’s house, her bedchamber and her tomb.
Florida Grand Opera’s production of Roméo et Juliette runs through May 5 at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami and May 10 and 12 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale. fgo.org, 800-741-1010.
3 Responses to “Soprano Alejandres lights up FGO’s “Roméo et Juliette””
Posted Apr 22, 2012 at 3:33 pm by Nina Wall
The prologue was supposed to be Quiet. That was the point. Sinister
Dark & mysterious. You were supposed to want for more. It was to set the
Tone for what was to follow. So we, the chorus did what the
Conductor asked if us.
Posted Apr 24, 2012 at 12:04 pm by George Mattox
I agree that the soprano Marie Alejandre did an excellent job as Juliette, however the same can’t be said of the other singers, especially Romeo. I don’t know how many tenors you have heard (I’ve heard Gedda, Kraus, Domingo, Bjorling(only on recordings), Pavarotti, Carreras, etc. etc.)and this tenor is not very good. A tight voice with no beauty of tone.
Posted Apr 25, 2012 at 12:32 am by Great job!
The entire cast has been singing very well, especially Miss Alejandres. It’s not quite fair to compare Mr. Gueze to legends like Pavatorri, Bjorling, and Domingo. He has a lovely voice in his own right. The prologue sung pianissimo instead of the traditional forte brought a different kind of intensity.
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Education Department issues guidelines for release of campus court information
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Under new guidelines issued by the Departmentof Education in July, colleges and universities can no longer use the FamilyEducational Rights and Privacy Act as justification for their refusal torelease the results of certain campus disciplinary proceedings.
The new guidelines make it clear that schools do not violate FERPA –a law enacted to protect the privacy of students’ educational records –if they release the names of students found guilty of violent crimes andnonforcible sex offenses in the campus court system, unless prevented fromdoing so by a state law or other legal mandate.
Since the rules took effect August 7, schools are now allowed to providethe final results of disciplinary proceedings in which a student is foundto be in violation of school rules for allegedly committing a crime ofviolence or nonforcible sex offense. Although the student may have theoption to appeal the finding, the guidelines state that schools do nothave to wait for the appeals process to be completed before releasing theinformation.
“I’m very, very pleased that the Department of Education has decidedthat final results are when the decision is made and given to the perpetrators,prior to any appeals or reviews,” said Carolyn S. Carlson, founder of theSociety of Professional Journalists’ Campus Courts Task Force. “That meansthat the campus media will be getting far more timely information thanwe had ever hoped for.”
The new rules implement changes made to the 1998 Higher Education Actand seek to clarify how schools should interpret the law. By limiting thetype of information that falls under FERPA protection, the regulationsshould prevent colleges from using the law to deny access to student disciplinaryrecords, said Daniel Carter, vice president of the campus watchdog groupSecurity on Campus.
“Colleges will no longer be able to exploit federal privacy laws toprotect campus criminals,” Carter said. “Doing so only protected the school’simage while putting other students needlessly at risk.”
The guidelines also give schools a clearer definition of the kinds ofoffenses for which campus court results can be provided. A complete listingof and descriptions for what crimes are considered crimes of violence isincluded among the regulations.
The guidelines also determine what information schools can release.This includes the student’s name, details about the violation committed-includingthe institutional rules or code sections that were violated-along withany essential findings supporting the institution’s conclusion that a crimewas committed and a description of the disciplinary action taken by theinstitution, including its date of imposition and duration.
Carlson said these details should be specific enough to enable studentsto connect the punishment imposed to the crime committed.
“I think the student media, particularly, will now be able to get enoughinformation out of the judicial offices to be able to follow up on importantcrimes that have occurred on campus,” she said.
However, the guidelines do prevent the disclosure of victim and witnessinformation. The regulations allow for disclosure of records for any proceedingdating back to October 7, 1998.
The new guidelines do not require colleges to release any of the information.But many public universities will be forced to disclose the documents understate open-records laws, and Carter said the new FERPA guidelines shouldgive student journalists more access to those records.
“Student journalists need to be educated about these changes, as wellas what their state law says so they will know what campus court recordsthey have a right to, and if not a right to, what a school may legallyrelease if they can make a compelling case,” Carter said.
Carlson also offered advice on ways for student media to take advantageof the FERPA guidelines. First, she said, students should check with theircampus judicial affairs offices and examine state open-records laws tosee if they require schools to release the records.
If the state law is unclear, Carlson said students should ask theirstate attorney general’s office to determine whether the law requires it.If the attorney general is unsure, Carlson suggested having a judge orthe legislature address the law itself and make a determination.
She said student journalists should also press their schools for therelease of information and details of crimes heard by campus judicial systems.
“The whole point of covering campus crimes is to let the campus communityknow what’s going on in their midst so they can better protect themselves,”Carlson said.
The complete guidelines are available onthe Department of Education’s Web site at: http://ocfo.ed.gov/Fedreg/finrule/q300/070600a.txt.
Tagged Fall 2000, reports
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Category: Plants of IndiaPage 1 of 4
70 Plants from India to celebrate 70 years of Indian independence
Plants of India: Introduction
India does not spring immediately to mind as a major source of plants for British gardens. The reason for this is largely environmental – as the larger part…
Ficus benghalensis
1. Ficus benghalensis L. MORACEAE Banyan, बनयान The banyan, a species of wild fig, is one of the most iconic of all Indian trees. Its characteristic appearance as a mature…
Dimocarpus longan
2. Dimocarpus longan Loureiro SAPINDACEAE Longyen, longan; Bengali: ashphal, आशफल A small tree related to the lychee and native of South and South-East Asia. It is cultivated for its…
Leea guineensis
3. Leea guineensis G. Don VITACEAE The name of this genus commemorates James Lee, a Scottish nurseryman, who, with Lewis Kennedy, owned one of the most important of the…
Stephania glandulifera
4. Stephania glandulifera Miers MENISPERMACEAE An extensive climber, which grows from a large tuberous root; it is ‘dioecious’ (having male and female flowers borne on separate plants). This species…
Alpinia zerumbet
5. Alpinia zerumbet (Persoon) B.L. Burtt & R.M. Smith ZINGIBERACEAE Shell ginger It is not certain where this plant was originally native, but somewhere in tropical South or South-East…
Tacca chantrieri
6. Tacca chantrieri André DIOSCOREACEAE One of the so-called ‘bat flowers’, with brownish flowers surrounded by pairs of paler, petal-like bracts and drooping, thread-like bracteoles. This species occurs from…
7. Tabernaemontana divaricata (L.) R. Brown APOCYNACEAE Crepe jasmine, moonbeam, East Indian rosebay; Hindi: chandani, चांदनी This small tree is native to India but it is widely cultivated…
Kaempferia rotunda
8. Kaempferia rotunda L. ZINGIBERACEAE Hindi: bhumichampa, भूमी चम्पा This plant is a member of the ginger family from tropical South-East Asia. It is widely cultivated, and possibly also…
Agapetes odontocera
9. Agapetes odontocera (Wight) J.D. Hooker ERICACEAE This subtropical relation of the blaeberry (or blueberry) comes from the Khasia Hills in the Indian State of Meghalaya, where it was…
Coelogyne corymbosa
10. Coelogyne corymbosa Lindley ORCHIDACEAE A common orchid of the broad-leaved forest zone of the Sino-Himalayan region, from Nepal eastwards to China, including the Indian states of Sikkim, Arunachal…
Peganum harmala
11. Peganum harmala L. NITRARIACEAE A plant with many uses, both mystical and practical. It is one of the possible identifications for the Vedic plant ‘soma’, and the origin…
Dichrostachys cinerea
12. Dichrostachys cinerea (L.) Wight & Arnott LEGUMINOSAE Hindi: Kunali, कुणाली The genus name Dichrostachys, which was given by the Indian surgeon Robert Wight and the Scottish botanist George…
13. Schima wallichii (de Candolle) Korthals THEACEAE An evergreen tree that can reach a height of 30 metres; the generic name may be derived from the Greek skiasma, on…
Dichroa febrifuga
14. Dichroa febrifuga Loureiro HYDRANGEACAE Hindi: basak This shrub is related to the hydrangea. It has attractive blue berries and is widespread in subtropical South-East Asia, occurring up to…
Camellia sinensis
15. Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze var. assamica (Masters) Kitamura THEACEAE Tea; Hindi: chai, चाय The source of the world’s major caffeine drink exists in two wild varieties – the…
Magnolia hodgsonii
16. Magnolia hodgsonii (J.D. Hooker & Thomson) H. Keng This large magnolia is native from Central Nepal to Northern Burma eastwards to Thailand and Yunnan. Its name commemorates…
Trachycarpus latisectus
17. Trachycarpus latisectus Spanner, Noltie and Gibbons PALMAE The Windamere palm On an RBGE expedition in 1992 two trees of this hardy palm were spotted growing outside the Windamere…
Musa sikkimensis
18. Musa sikkimensis Kurz MUSACEAE Unlike the cultivated bananas, the fruits of this wild species are full of large, hard seeds. Whereas most species of banana are truly tropical,…
Carex baccans
19. Carex baccans Nees CYPERACEAE Whereas most sedges have green or brown fruits, this species is unusual in having brightly coloured ones. Although the specific name ‘baccans’ means bearing…
Rhaphidophora glauca
20. Rhaphidophora glauca (Wallich) Schott ARACEAE This is a climbing member of the aroid family. It resembles a smaller form of the familiar Swiss-cheese plant (Monstera deliciosa), a popular…
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'Cat-and -Mouse Game': EU, Turkey Keep Cards Close to Chest in Accession Talks
CC0 / Pixabay
In its annual report published on Thursday, the European Parliament’s foreign affairs committee advised the European Commission to “formally suspend EU accession negotiations with Turkey without delay if the constitutional reform package is implemented unchanged.”
© REUTERS / Francois Lenoir
EU Parliament Urges Suspension of Talks on Turkey’s Accession Over Constitutional Changes
The MEPs are expected to vote on the committee’s recommendation during their plenary meeting in Strasbourg in July.
Meanwhile, Turkish media reports that the EU Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement, Johannes Hahn, will visit Ankara on July 6 as part of the EU-Turkey dialogue, which began on May 25.
Commenting in an interview with Sputnik Turkey on the current relations between Ankara and Brussels ahead of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Turkish political analyst Sertac Aktan said that even though the European Parliament’s strongly-worded recommendations are not mandatory, they could still impact the EU’s further action.
Sertac Aktan said that Brussels will not engage in full-scale accession talks with a country, which wants to bring back the death penalty because this flies in the face of the fundamental values the EU adheres to.
He added, however, that Ankara has a strong bargaining chip in the form of the agreement on refugees it signed with the EU last year, and that the two sides are engaged in what he described as a “cat-and-mouse game.”
“Each side is making harsh statements, but neither one risks taking the responsibility for wrapping up the talks on Turkey’s EU membership. Brussels is wary of the migration problem Turkey help to deal with, and Ankara is a NATO member and has strong trade and other economic ties with the EU it would hate to lose,” Sertac Aktan noted.
Talks on Turkey accession to the European Union began in 2005, but have been repeatedly suspended due to various obstacles, such as the failed July 2016 coup attempt.
Almost 90% of Germans Against Turkey's EU Membership
In March 2016, Turkey and the European Union agreed on a deal under which Ankara pledged to take back all undocumented migrants who arrive in EU states through its territory in exchange for the accommodation of Syrian refugees on a one-for-one basis in Turkey and major concessions on membership and visas.
In August 2016, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Ankara would withdraw from the deal if the European Union failed to grant a visa waiver for Turkish citizens.
A number of EU politicians said in April that the issue of Turkey’s EU membership was no longer on the bloc's immediate agenda after the outcome of the country's constitutional referendum on expansion of presidential powers, as well as other issues, such as the possible reinstatement of capital punishment.
EU Parliament Urges Suspension of Talks on Turkey’s Accession
Turkey Emergency State Could Have Been Shortened If EU Provided Help - Minister
capital punishment, recommendation, report, accession talks, NATO, European Parliament, EU, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Johannes Hahn, Certak Aktan, Turkey
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Senior Russian Lawmaker, US Ambassador Discuss Syria
A senior Russian lawmaker and the US ambassador to Russia have discussed a possible US operation in Syria on Twitter.
MOSCOW, September 8 (RIA Novosti) - A senior Russian lawmaker and the US ambassador to Russia have discussed a possible US operation in Syria on Twitter.
The discussion between Ambassador Michael McFaul and Alexei Pushkov, the head of the Russian State Duma international affairs committee, started Saturday when Pushkov commented on a tweet from Samantha Power, the US ambassador to the United Nations.
Power wrote Friday that “the costs of not taking a targeted military action in Syria are far greater than the risks of the limited but necessary measures” that the US president outlined. Pushkov replied that that was “exactly the argument the Bush administration used in order to explain its aggression against Iraq” in 2003.
McFaul joined the conversation and said Pushkov’s analogy was “false,” as “unlike 2003, no one doubts that the regime has weapons, they used them, and we will not invade.”
Pushkov replied that his analogy was correct as “[President] Bush was looking for a pretext to invade Iraq, [President] Obama is looking for a pretext to bring down [Syrian President] Assad.”
© RIA Novosti .
Forces Preparing for Possible Strike on Syria
But McFaul told him that Obama was “not looking to bring down Assad,” but instead sought “to defend the international norm of no use of chemical weapons.”
The unrest in Syria began in March 2011 and later escalated into a civil war. More than 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict so far, according to UN estimates.
The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted Wednesday to give US President Barack Obama the authority to use military force against the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad in response to an alleged chemical weapons attack last month.
Russia has urged all sides in the Syrian civil war to use diplomatic means to end it.
chemical weapons, military intervention, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Russian State Duma international affairs committee, Barack Obama, Samantha Power, Michael McFaul, Alexey Pushkov, Bashar al-Assad
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Italy’s Prime Minister Believes EU ‘Has Future’ Despite Current Tough Times
© REUTERS / Axel Schmidt
Italy and Germany firmly believe the European Union has a future but it needs to reinforce its values, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said in Berlin on Wednesday.
© REUTERS / Jim Urquhart/File Photo
Luxembourg Expects EU, US Will Remain Partners to Avoid 'Lose-Lose' Situation
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — EU values were called into question by the United Kingdom, where a majority voted last June to leave the bloc and reclaim border controls. UK Prime Minister Theresa May put an independent immigration policy before the European Union’s principle of freedom of people’s movement in a keynote speech on Tuesday.
"We discussed with Angela [Merkel] the future of the EU. We know that the EU is going through a difficult phase, we all know this, but Italy and Germany firmly believe that Europe and the EU have a future," Gentiloni said after talks with the German chancellor.
He stressed the European Union needed "more than ever" to reinstate its key principles of an open society and free trade in order to rise to challenges related to economic growth, investment, jobs, and migration.
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European Union, Angela Merkel, Paolo Gentiloni, United Kingdom
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'Our Door Will Be Open': German Politicians Beg Britain to Stay, Say EU Won’t Be the Same After Brexit
Theresa May spent much of 2018 negotiating a Brexit divorce deal that Brussels would endorse; after doing so, she failed to obtain support among members of her own parliament, who are set to discuss her alternative withdrawal agreement in about ten days.
Merkel Remains Most Popular Politician in Germany - Poll
BERLIN (Sputnik) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel remains the most popular politician in her country, with her rating gaining 10 points compared to September, Forsa Institute's poll commissioned by the RTL/n-tv broadcasters showed.
Follow the Money: Merkel’s CDU Party Rakes in Highest Donations in 2018
German Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union CDU party received the highest number of big-money donations for fiscal year 2018, according to reports.
Merkel's Successor Leaves Chancellor Behind in Popularity Rating – Report
The newly elected leader of the Christian Democratic Union, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, and current chancellor and former CDU chief Angela Merkel are still second and third, respectively, to a prominent social democrat.
'Merkel Cannot Leave the Ship Just by Resigning' – Professor
German media reported that citing anonymous sources within the CDU, German Chancellor Angela Merkel may resign from her post in favour of a newly elected head of the party Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer.
CDU Divide Over Migration Policy to Boost AfD's Positions - Spokesman
MOSCOW (Sputnik), Ksenia Shakalova - The congress of German CDU in Hamburg on Dec. 7 showed that the party was deeply divided over migration amid the lack of any viable migration policy, a situation that stands to strengthen the Alternative for Germany party, AfD's spokesman in the Bundestag Committee on Foreign Affairs Petr Bystron told Sputnik.
New German CDU Leader Intends to Overhaul State's Migration Policy
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The leader of Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, said on Sunday that she intended to review the country's migration policies, adding that the party’s campaign during the 2019 European Parliament elections would be based on these potential changes.
German CDU Elects New Secretary General - Reports
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU) has voted for Paul Ziemiak, the head of the party's youth organization Junge Union, to take over the position of the CDU secretary general, the Zeit newspaper reported Saturday.
Germany's Christian Democrats Elect New Leader After Merkel Steps Down
Earlier, former head of the Cristian Democratic Union (CDU) Angela Merkel announced her resignation as the party's chief amid poor results in the latest regional parliamentary elections.
X Day for Christian Democrats: CDU to Choose Merkel's Successor Amid Party Split
Following the dismal results of the regional elections in October, Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that she wouldn’t seek re-election as CDU leader. She is to hand over the party’s reins of power, as well as an array of problems yet to be solved, to one of three contestants that the CDU will choose at the congress
Merkel's Possible Successor Suggests Blockade of Russian Ships from Azov Sea Amid Kerch Row
Kramp-Karrenbauer is expected to replace Angela Merkel as her party's next leader. As the fight for Merkel's CDU crown heats up, she adopted a more bellicose rhetoric than the German chancellor, who earlier pushed for the de-escalation of Russia-Ukraine tensions.
Enough is Enough? Merkel’s Possible Successors to Turn Migration Control to the Right
Incumbent Chancellor and Christian Democrats chair Angela Merkel is to leave the top party post in December, having refused to see re-election. In contrast to the German “Mutti,” who opened the country's borders to over one million migrants in 2015, all three CDU leader candidates have spoken out for stricter regulation.
CDU General Secretary Announces End of Merkel's Era, Urges 'New, Better' Stance
After German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated late last month that she will not run for another term for the post of Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party's chair, CDU General Secretary Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer positioned herself as Merkel's successor in the December 2018 party election.
From Mini-Angela to Anti-Merkel: Top CDU Politicians Vie for Leadership
Even before Angela Merkel officially announced that she would give up on the leadership of the Christian Democratic Union, the German media named potential candidates, who reportedly plan to step into the 'Mutti's' shoes.
Germany's CDU Flirting With Military Conscription Idea Amid Polls Setback - AfD
BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), led by Chancellor Angela Merkel, is floating the idea of a compulsory national service for young people and migrants after losing some of their voters.
'Refugees Have to Go Back to Their Homelands When Safe Enough' - AfD Politician
A year of community service could help migrants in Germany integrate into society. This is what the secretary-general of the ruling Christian Democrats, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, said in an interview with a German publisher. The politician argued that in such a way refugees are likely to be more accepted by German nationals.
Merkel's Party Top Member Proposes Community Service by Migrants to Help Their Integration
MOSCOW (Sputnik) - A year of community service by migrants and refugees in Germany may raise their acceptance by locals and help them integrate, the secretary-general of the ruling conservative party said.
Germany Mulls Return to Compulsory Military Service as Bundeswehr Struggles to Fill Ranks
Berlin has been contemplating new security strategies in light of recent terror attacks and as part of preparations for possible NATO actions against an imaginary threat from Russia, German media wrote.
Meet Merkel's Possible Successor: From Tiny State to National Party Leadership
Angela Merkel is speculated to pave the way for her ”crown princess;” and to secure her legacy as chancellor, she has nominated the head of the state of Saarland, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, to be the CDU's next secretary general.
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Stanley Turkel, CMHS
Hotel Consultant and Author
Visit the Book Store
Browse or Search All Articles
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 213: Hotel History: Sheraton’s Classic Advertising Campaigns
Posted on May 28, 2019 by Stanley Turkel
May 14, 2019 2:36pmShare This Link on FacebookShare This on TwitterShare This on Google+Share
By Stanley Turkel, CMHS
Hotel History: “Keyed-Up Executives Unwind at Sheraton”
In 1965, the Sheraton Corporation of America, under the leadership of President Ernest Henderson, created a brilliant advertising campaign: “Keyed-up Executives Unwind at Sheraton”. It was broadly promoted all over the U.S. in print media, TV advertising and locally by individual Sheraton Hotels. Among my collection of Sheraton artifacts is a translucent plexiglass paperweight which has a small figure of a businessman with a wind-up key in his back which says “Keyed-Up Executives Unwind at Sheraton”.
His picture was everywhere: on television, on posters, in airports and railroad stations, on leaflets, matchbooks, cocktail stirrers, in newspaper ads. He was an inspired creation of Madison Avenue– a fictional character with whom millions could subconsciously identify. Young and clean-cut, he carried an attached case, glanced at his watch and looked like a businessman scurrying to his next appointment. He had, however, an enormous protuberance on his back. For sticking out from between his shoulder blades was a great, butterfly-shaped key of the type used to wind up mechanical toys. The text that accompanied his picture urged keyed-up executives to “unwind” and slow down at Sheraton hotels. This wound-up man-on-the-go was, and apparently still is, a potent symbol of millions who feel just as driven and harried as if they, too, had a huge key in their back.
A typical Sheraton printed ad of that time read:
“Next time you’re on the road, all keyed-up from “turnpike tension”, ease up to a Sheraton Motor Inn. Then unwind. Enjoy a great meal, a quiet air-conditioned room, TV, swimming pool. Plus many other Sheraton extra values such as Free Parking (anyplace, anytime) and Family Plan (children share your room free). Call us for Insured Reservations at Guaranteed Rates.
Keyed-Up Executives unwind at Sheraton.”
The campaign was eye-catching, clever, humorous and effective. It continued as Sheraton’s brand identification until 1968 when the International Telegraph & Telephone acquired the Sheraton Corporation of America. Soon thereafter, I was hired by IT&T and became the worldwide Product Line Manager for Hotel & Motel Operations to help oversee the management and expansion of Sheraton.
Hotel History: The Magic of 800-325-3535
In 1968, after IT&T acquired the Sheraton Corporation of America, Sheraton needed a new advertising program after the highly-successful “Keyed-up Executives Unwind at Sheraton” campaign. In the spring of 1969, IT&T President Harold Geneen was touring the Sheraton Boston Hotel when the Sheraton Director of Marketing William Morton began to describe the Sheraton new Reservation system. Geneen thought that IT&T could be the first to create a national single 800 number watts line to replace the 200 phone numbers that Sheraton listed nationwide. With the help of IT&T’s expert telephone technicians, the new system was created and implemented. Perhaps the greatest problem facing Sheraton was picking one unforgettable number. With the advice of telephone company psychologists, Morton settled on the number 800-325-3535. Why? Because it was easy to dial. When area codes were introduced to speed the calling of long-distance numbers, telephones had rotary dials. The nearest digit to the dialing stopper, and thus the digit that could be dialed the quickest was 1. Next came 2 and then 3. The psychologist selected 2, 3 and 5 because they were quick to dial and in a sequence that was easy to remember.
By the winter of 1970, the new 800 number was on-line and the new advertising campaign broke with saturation TV, full-page magazine ads and steady repetition of “eight, oh, oh, three-two-five, three-five, three-five.” The number was set to a catchy tune created by BBD&O which was recorded by the Boston Pops. A singing dog performed it on Johnny Carson’s TV show, it was cocktail-lounge background music in a TV drama and it was played at skating rinks. The reservations flowed into the Sheraton Reservation Centers in ever-increasing numbers, breaking records every month.
At one of ITT’s General Managers Meetings in New York where 80 executives gathered monthly to report on the performance of ITTs many companies, I reported about the extraordinary success of the ever-increasing number of reservations pouring into the Sheraton central Reservation offices. ITT President Harold Geneen responded, “I don’t think that anyone will remember that number. I can’t ever remember it. “I replied, Mr. Geneen, How many secretaries do you have?” “Nine.” “When was the last time you made a hotel reservation for yourself?” “I can’t recall”. I replied “No wonder you can’t remember 800-325-3535. You never use it yourself. Thank goodness, the rest of the business world needs to call it themselves and therefore remembers 800-325-3535.” The GMM attendees cracked up and gave me an ovation.
If you wonder how such an exchange could take place without losing my job, don’t forget that I was the Product Line Manager for Hotel Operations, an invention of Geneen. The concept was brilliant in several ways. Since PLM’s had no P&L responsibility, we could not issue orders to the line. Nevertheless, we were empowered to go anywhere, look at everything, speak to anyone and provide answers and opportunities. We relayed our recommendations to the President’s office where Harold Geneen would review them. One thing you learned fast was that he hated “Yes-Men”. He thrived on cheerful conflict.
My New Book, “Great American Hotel Architects” Has Just Been Published
My eighth hotel history book features twelve architects who designed 94 hotels from 1878 to 1948: Warren & Wetmore, Schultze & Weaver, Julia Morgan, Emery Roth, McKim, Mead & White, Henry J. Hardenbergh, Carrere & Hastings, Mulliken & Moeller, Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter, Trowbridge & Livingston, George B. Post and Sons.
You can order copies from the publisher AuthorHouse by posting “Great American Hotel Architects” by Stanley Turkel.
My Other Published Hotel Books
Great American Hoteliers: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry (2009)
Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels in New York (2011)
Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels East of the Mississippi (2013)
Hotel Mavens: Lucius M. Boomer, George C. Boldt, Oscar of the Waldorf (2014)
Great American Hoteliers Volume 2: Pioneers of the Hotel Industry (2016)
Built To Last: 100+ Year-Old Hotels West of the Mississippi (2017)
Hotel Mavens Volume 2: Henry Morrison Flagler, Henry Bradley Plant, Carl Graham Fisher (2018)
All of these books can be ordered from AuthorHouse by visiting www.stanleyturkel.com and clicking on the book’s title.
If You Need an Expert Witness:
For the past twenty-six years, I have served as an expert witness in more than 40 hotel-related cases. My extensive hotel operating experience is beneficial in cases involving:
wrongful deaths
fire and carbon monoxide injuries
hotel security issues
dram shop requirements
hurricane damage and/or business interruption cases
Feel free to call me at no charge on 917-628-8549 to discuss any hotel-related expert witness assignment.
Tags: stanley turkel, stan turkel, hotel history, nobody asked me, brand news
About Stanley Turkel
Stanley Turkel was designated as the 2014 and the 2015 Historian of the Year by Historic Hotels of America, the official program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. This award is presented to an individual for making a unique contribution in the research and presentation of hotel history and whose work has encouraged a wide discussion and a greater understanding and enthusiasm for American History.
Turkel is the most widely-published hotel consultant in the United States. He operates his hotel consulting practice serving as an expert witness in hotel-related cases, provides asset management and hotel franchising consultation. He is certified as a Master Hotel Supplier Emeritus by the Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Lodging Association.
Contact: Stanley Turkel
stanturkel@aol.com / 917-628-8549
Choice Hotels Unveils Refreshed Look of Its Four Popular Midscale Brand Logos
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 212: Hotel History: Hotel del Coronado, Coronado, California (1888)
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 211: Hotel History: Asian American Hotel Owners Association*
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 210: Hotel History: John Q. Hammons (1919-2013)
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 209: Hotel History: The Americana of New York (1962)
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 208: Hotel History: Grand Hotel (1887) Mackinac Island, Michigan
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 207: Hotel History in Brooklyn, N.Y.: Hotel Bossert (1909) and St. George Hotel (1885)
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 206: Hotel History: Mary Elizabeth Jane Colter
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 205: Hotel History: Frederick Henry Harvey
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 204: Hotel History: The Skirvin Hotel, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (1911) Part 2
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 203: Hotel History: The Skirvin Hotel, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (225 Rooms)
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 202: Hotel History: Mayflower Hotel, Washington, D.C.
← Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 212: Hotel History: Hotel del Coronado, Coronado, CA
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 214: Hotel History: Shepheard’s Hotel, Cairo, Egypt →
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 216: Hotel History: Ellsworth M. Statler
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 215: Hotel History: The TWA Hotel
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 214: Hotel History: Shepheard’s Hotel, Cairo, Egypt
Nobody Asked Me, But… No. 212: Hotel History: Hotel del Coronado, Coronado, CA
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View from the Pit – StarStruck Theatre’s “All Shook Up”
By Daria Wagganer
Fremont Patch, August 1, 2013
There’s a hidden treasure in Fremont, and I have the distinct honor of experiencing it from 6 feet under…as a member of StarStruck Theatre’s pit orchestra. I’ve been a musician since I was a little girl, but when I am down in the pit with StarStruck Theatre’s Musical Director Nancy Godfrey and 15 other amazing orchestra members – I truly feel like a kid again… and a lucky one at that!
There aren’t many youth theater companies in California that have the privilege of performing regularly with a live orchestra, and I know there aren’t many orchestras who are treated to the outrageous talent of the young cast members who take the stage at StarStruck. Being able to accompany these incredible kids and watch them grow show after show in their musical, acting and dance skills – and year after year in their confidence, self-esteem and cameraderie…well, it’s an indescribable gift!
Artistic Director Lori Stokes, Choreographer Jeanne Batacan-Harper and Musical Director Nancy Godfrey have done it again with StarStruck’s latest show – “All Shook Up” – one of their best musicals yet! It is a high-energy, rockin’ and rollin’, hilarious romp. Filled with jaw-dropping harmonic arrangements of classic Elvis songs and set to a “Footloose meets Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night” storyline – “All Shook Up” will have you laughing, crying, clapping, and on your feet dancing throughout the show! We in the orchestra can hardly keep from cracking up at the dialogue, or shedding a few tears during the goosebump-inducing ballads. So if you hear extra snorts of laughter that seem like they are coming from underground – that’s us.
We’d love to see everyone in the community come out and support the performing arts in Fremont. So bring your family and friends for a fabulous summer treat to see StarStruck’s “All Shook Up”! Bring a blanket – it’s chilly up there after the sun goes down… but the show is HOT!
Opening night is tomorrow – Friday, August 2nd and the show runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays through August 17th at 8pm at Ohlone College’s Outdoor Amphitheatre. Visit www.starstrucktheatre.org for more information.
And peek over into the pit after the show and say hello to us down there… See you at the show!
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717 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, MA 02476
Summer Hours:
Mon, Tues, Wed, Fri: 9:30am - 5:30pm
Closed Saturdays thru Labor Day.
Bridal & Anniversary
Arlington & College-Themed Gifts
Swanson Jewelers, founded in 1938, is a third generation, family-owned and operated jeweler in Arlington, Massachusetts.
We are the only store affiliated with the American Gem Society in the greater Arlington area. Swanson Jewelers is one of only three stores in Massachusetts that exhibits a commitment to educational excellence with four AGS title holders on staff – two Certified Gemologist Appraisers, a Registered Jeweler and a Certified Sales Associate.
The American Gem Society describes the titles as follows.
Registered Jeweler: This title lets you know that the jeweler you are working with truly understands jewelry, diamonds, and gemstones. To earn this title, the associate has completed required coursework and classroom study, along with written and practical exams in diamond grading.
Certified Gemologist Appraiser: This title is the most highly regarded among peers in the jewelry industry. Why? Because it certifies that the sales person can identify diamonds, gemstones, and jewelry and determine their value. This title requires advanced training and experience in determining the value of diamonds and gemstones.
Certified Sales Associate: A salesperson with this designation behind his or her name has passed the Graduate Sales Associate course and The AGS Professional module. This assures you that the salesperson is knowledgeable about the diamonds and gemstones they are selling.
At Swanson’s, our goal is to uphold the AGS core values: honesty, ethics and professionalism. We’ve expanded from being simple watchmakers to being full-service jewelers, but our philosophy has always been the same: to offer quality products and services and to deliver an honest value to all.
Swanson Jewelers was founded by Carl Swanson in September 1938. Carl had always dreamed of owning his own watch company after immigrating to Canada and then the US from Sweden. Through the 1920s and into the 1930’s he worked as an apprentice as well as head watchmaker in several Boston establishments, determined to someday open his own shop.
Finally, in September 1938, his dream became a reality when he and his wife, Ellen, opened Swanson Jewelers inside of an old town building now the site of the Jefferson Cutter house. In 1946 the company relocated 2 blocks away onto Massachusetts Avenue in the heart of Arlington Center. During the 1950’s the store flourished with the addition of Carl’s son, Bob, who earned the title of Certified Gemologist and subsequently, Certified Gemologist Appraiser along with wife Audrey. In 1988 the business moved to even larger quarters at it’s present location across from the Town Hall.
Current operation of the business includes Carl’s grandson, David, a Certified Gemologist Appraiser who has been with the firm since 1986 and granddaughter, Karen, a Registered Jeweler who joined the business in 1989.
Swanson Jewelers is the only store affiliated with the American Gem Society in the greater Arlington area. We are also one of just three stores in MA that exhibits a commitment to educational excellence with four AGS title holders on staff. Our goal is to uphold the AGS core values: honesty, ethics and professionalism. Read More >>
Receive any exciting news, updates or promotions via email from Swanson's
Swanson Jewelers Inc. 717 Massachusetts Avenue Arlington, MA 02476 P: 781-643-4209 F: 781-643-0977 david@swansonjewelers.com karen@swansonjewelers.com
© 2019 Swanson Jewelers | Designed by Onpoint
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St. Louis Baseball Weekly
Brian Stull
Cards News
Dugout Club
Reyes Ready for Springfield
1 year ago Brian Stull
http://www.stlbaseballweekly.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/18-5-18-Seg-4-Reyes-Benes.mp3
While the last week has been tough for the St. Louis Cardinals and the disabled list, the light is getting brighter for Alex Reyes, who with a start tomorrow afternoon with the Springfield Cardinals (AA) marks what will likely be the second to last stop on his rehab assignment.
“His last start in Peoria was electric,” said John Mozeliak. “This is about just continuing to take positive steps forward and ultimately, tomorrow is just another test but hopefully he can make the most of it.”
In five innings, Reyes struck out 12 batters in that start. He has fanned 18 hitters in 8.1 innings combined over his two rehab starts.
“I feel like my last outing was definitely a positive one and one I can look back on and say my arm is feeling good,” agreed Reyes. “I’ve been recovering good. It’s kind of just waiting on the time to come and whenever it is, I’ll be ready.”
Eligible to be activated from the disabled list on May 28th, Reyes underwent Tommy John surgery last March.
“I think I’ll probably bump up 10 or 15 pitches from what I did last time,” said Reyes, who threw 80 pitches (51 strikes) for Peoria.
With Adam Wainwright on the disabled list until the middle of July and the timetable for Carlos Martinez to return uncertain, Reyes will be in the mix for one of those spots with Jack Flaherty and John Gant.
“My mentality is go out there and pitch wherever I am,” said Reyes. “If I don’t pitch well, I know that I could stay down there, so my goal is to pitch well every outing that I’m given. Just go out there and throw the ball.”
“That’s something that the front office usually keeps to themselves until they want to let everyone know.”
So in the meantime, Reyes is just eager to take the ball again and check off three simple goals.
“Go out there and compete, build the pitch count up, and get deeper into games.”
Besides Alex Reyes getting the start, Springfield is also likely to see Tyler Lyons in action. The lefty is set to have a rehab outing in tomorrow’s game as well, but Mozeliak said the assignment will not be made official until after tonight’s Cardinals game.
WAINO AND CARLOS
–At the time of his pregame media session, Mozeliak had not gotten the study back from Adam Wainwright’s dynamic ultrasound, but he did have some positive news regarding Martinez.
“The MRI came back encouraging,” said Mozeliak, noting the right-hander is now pain free. “Right now, I think he will begin some pre-prep work and likely begin a throwing program come Monday. Depending on sort of how those things unfold, he is anywhere from probably a week to maybe two weeks away.”
Reliever Dominic Leone was also evaluated today, undergoing a nerve conduction test.
“It clearly points that he has nerve damage, so that’s just going to take time,” said Mozeliak. “There’s nothing surgically to be done there or intervention. I think that’s just going to be patience and try to work through that. As far as what that runway looks like or how long, I don’t know.”
photo credit: Brian Stull/STLBaseballWeekly.com
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Tags: Adam Wainwright, Alex Reyes, Brian Stull, Carlos Martinez, Dominic Leone, dynamic ultrasound, John Mozeliak, MRI, Springfield, St. Louis Baseball Weekly, St. Louis Cardinals, Tyler Lyons
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Stockton Liberal Democrats
Campaigning to create a fairer society, a stronger economy and opportunity for everyone in Stockton, Billingham, Thornaby, Eaglescliffe, Yarm, Ingleby Barwick and the surrounding villages
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We need to talk about homelessness
The latest report from Shelter has revealed that 1 in 52 people living in the capital are homeless.
That's thousands of vulnerable people forced to go without food, warmth and a roof over their head.
The report also shows that around 320,000 people are now homeless across the country.
It's an absolute disgrace.
While Theresa May has been busy botching Brexit, she's let her party wreak a homelessness crisis in our capital. Thousands of people are suffering the dangers of sleeping out on the streets. That's 320,000 people who don't have a home to go to. And the government has done nothing.
This failure is nothing short of a dereliction of duty.
The country needs more social housing and it needs them now.
That's why we're calling for the government to build 50,000 social houses every year until this problem is solved. This should be increased to 100,000 as soon as possible.
The situation is urgent. Housing benefits aren't enough to cover rent and thousands of houses across the UK aren't being used. This needs to change.
The government is failing and the people deserve better.
We're demanding better for homeless people all over the UK. And we'll carry on demanding better until no one in the UK has to sleep without a roof over their head.
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Title Includes:
Mary McDonnell
James Callis
Actor's Name Includes:
Director's Name Includes:
Any format DVD VHS Blu-ray HD-DVD UMD Laserdisc Beta Film Reel Video CD
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Science Fiction > Space Adventure
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20 Matching Movie Titles for
Actor: Katee Sackhoff
Sort by Top-Selling Price: Low to High Price: High to Low New Price Release Date Release Date: Rev
Riddick (2013)
directed by David N. Twohy
featuring Vin Diesel, Jordi Mollà, Matt Nable, Katee Sackhoff, Dave Bautista
See All from $1.62
Battlestar Galactica: Season 04 (2008)
New from $11.99
24: Season 08 (2010)
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Battlestar Galactica: Razor (2007)
directed by Felix Enriquez Alcala
featuring Katee Sackhoff, Tricia Helfer, Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Jamie Bamber
Batman: Year One (2011)
directed by Lauren Montgomery, Sam Liu
featuring Bryan Cranston, Ben McKenzie, Eliza Dushku, Katee Sackhoff, Alex Rocco
directed by Mike Flanagan
featuring Karen Gillan, Brenton Thwaites, Rory Cochrane, Katee Sackhoff, James Lafferty
2036 Origin Unknown (2018)
directed by Hasraf Dulull
featuring Katee Sackhoff, Steven Cree, Julie Cox, Ray Fearon, Noush Skaugen
The Haunting in Connecticut 2: Ghosts of Georgia (2013)
directed by Tom Elkins
featuring Chad Michael Murray, Abigail Spencer, Katee Sackhoff, Emily Alyn Lind, Cicely Tyson
Don't Knock Twice (2017)
directed by Caradog W. James
featuring Katee Sackhoff, Lucy Boynton, Javier Botet, Nick Moran, Jordan Bolger
directed by Michael Rymer
featuring Edward James Olmos, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sackhoff, Jamie Bamber, James Callis
White Noise 2: The Light (2007)
directed by Patrick Lussier
featuring Nathan Fillion, Katee Sackhoff, Adrian Holmes, Craig Fairbrass, Kendall Cross
Girl Flu (2016)
directed by Dorie Barton
featuring Katee Sackhoff, Jeremy Sisto, Jade Pettyjohn, Heather Matarazzo, Judy Reyes
See All from $25.28
The Last Sentinel (2007)
directed by Jesse Johnson
featuring Katee Sackhoff, Don "The Dragon" Wilson, Bokeem Woodbine, Keith David, Steven Bauer
Sexy Evil Genius (2013)
directed by Shawn Piller
featuring Seth Green, Katee Sackhoff, William Baldwin, Michelle Trachtenberg, Harold Perrineau, Jr.
Tell (2014)
directed by Juan M.R. Luna
featuring Milo Ventimiglia, Alan Tudyk, Jason Lee, Katee Sackhoff, Robert Patrick
How I Married My High School Crush (2007)
directed by David Winkler
featuring Katee Sackhoff, Sage Brocklebank, Tommy Lioutas, Kim Poirier, Nikki Elek
A Deadly Obsession (2012)
directed by John Stimpson
featuring Katee Sackhoff, Grant Harvey, John Shea, Bart Johnson, Robyn Lively
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Donald Trump says US military 'locked and loaded' for North Korea
By Gareth Platt
Donald Trump has said the US military is "locked and loaded" to deal with North Korea.
Trump's latest bullish statement comes after a week of steadily escalating tension between Washington and Pyongyang.
The US President has said his forces will respond with "fire and fury" to any aggression by Pyongyang, while North Korea has said it has a plan to launch missiles at the US territory of Guam.
Trump has taken a hawkish tone with North Korea ever since taking office in January, while the North Korean government has responded with repeated missile tests and propaganda videos showing the destruction of US targets.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has waded into the diplomatic spat, saying that there is a "very high" risk that tension will escalate further between the US and North Korea.
Fire and fury
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Blondage debuts "Dive"
‘Dive’ is the infectious new single from Blondage, the Danish duo consisting of Pernille Smith-Sivertsen and Esben Andersen formerly known as Rangleklods. The track is the first off the debut EP, set to be released later this year.
“a track that’s crying out for summer sun” - i-D
The track’s bubbly pop and seamless production have been making waves in the media following it’s premiere on i-D.
“Dive is about being broke, but happy, wild and careless, and suffering the consequences.” says Esben. “One of those hot summer days where you feel like the world is ending but you just don’t care.”
The track oscillates between this carefree happiness (as in the opening line “might be all out of money // but I’m all full of love”) and an underlying rootlessness as expressed by Pernille’s vocals to underline that “if I’m forever high // they’ll never see me low”.
Contemporary and direct, the track showcases the duo’s exceptional production. Crisp and to the point, the vocals and lead synthesizers deliver crystal clear hooks while playful samples and percussion spice up the driving beat.
On changing their name, Pernille says: “We’ve released records with Rangleklods that we’re extremely proud of. But we need a new beginning for us to keep evolving. We’re changing our name to Blondage, and our main focus is to make edgy electronic pop tunes. The name Blondage is a contraction of ‘blond’ and ‘bondage’ and to us it combines naivety and daydreaming with aggression and sensuality. It has given us an empty canvas and a greater creative energy than we’ve ever had”.
Listen here: http://smarturl.it/BlondageDive
Blondage
Stoned (Yoke Lore Remix)
Call it Off
Stoned (OTR remix)
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TAPA/Dora Awards/Ancillary Awards/The George Luscombe Mentorship Award
The George Luscombe Mentorship Award
JACQUIE P.A. THOMAS Honoured with George Luscombe Mentorship Award
Toronto, May 28, 2019– The George Luscombe Mentorship Award was inaugurated in 1999. Revolutionary theatre founder and artistic director George Luscombe founded Toronto Workshop Productions (TWP) in 1959, marking the beginnings of Toronto’s alternative theatre movement. He was Artistic Director for 27 years at TWP. This year’s recipient is award-winning theatre artist Jacquie P.A. Thomas, founding Artistic Director of Theatre Gargantua.
Jacquie P.A. Thomas founded Theatre Gargantua in 1992 and since then has maintained an unwavering commitment to producing original theatre and to the development and support of artists. A pioneer of Canadian multi-disciplinary devised theatre, she has created numerous socially relevant, award-winning works while fostering successful initiatives dedicated to mentoring, training and expanding the artistic practice of young people and emerging artists.
An invaluable asset to the artistic community, her dedication to mentorship and fierce drive to provide meaningful opportunities for emerging artists is evident through such Theatre Gargantua projects as the Emerging Artist Roundtable, Producing and Artistic Internship Programs, and RISK Youth Workshops.
The Emerging Artists Roundtable is a forum for emerging artists and final year university/college students to engage with members of the professional community and other emerging artists that bridges formal training with entering the profession. The Artistic Internship Program provides an opportunity for emerging artists to expand their skills and experience through observing and participating in the creation of an original professional theatre production. The Producing Internship Program offers paid internships for youth aged 18-30 where they gain experience on the whole gamut of producing a theatrical undertaking: from planning and fundraising to communications and marketing. RISK Youth Workshopsare offered free to schools in under-served and priority neighbourhoods, providing workshops in theatre and technology that teach young people skills to access their own creativity.
Ms Thomas celebrates her 27thseason as Artistic Director of Theatre Gargantua this year, one of the longest serving female Artistic Directors in the country. Melding provocative text, daring physicality, original live music and innovative use of technology into a signature style, her productions are created in a unique two-year cycle consisting of developmental workshop phases and public performances,earning Theatre Gargantua a distinct place within Canada’s theatre ecology.
In addition to her role as Artistic Director, Ms.Thomas has served Theatre Gargantua as an actor, director, producer, composer, choreographer, dramaturge and writer, earning ten Dora nominations and two awards for her artistic contributions to the company. She was awarded a Harold Award for contributions to Toronto’s independent theatre community, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013 for her contributions to Canadian culture.
Previous winners of the George Luscombe Mentorship Award are Marjorie Chan, Peggy Baker, Franco Boni, Ruth Howard, Yvette Nolan, Leah Cherniak and Martha Ross, Iris Turcott, Andy McKim, ahdri zhina mandiela, Layne Coleman, Alison Sealy-Smith, Winston Morgan, Maja Ardal, Ken Gass, Jenny Phipps and Urjo Kareda.
The George Luscombe Mentorship Award is administered by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts. Committee members are: Chair - Maja Ardal, Steven Bush, Ravi Jain, Karen Luscombe and Anusree Roy. The George Luscombe Award comes with original artwork by Theo Dimson, a copy of the book Conversations with George Luscombe: Steven Bush in conversation with the Canadian Theatre visionary and a cash prizeof $500.00 through the generous sponsorship of an anonymous donor.
*Photo credit: JACQUIE P.A. THOMAS and Karen Luscombe in the lobby of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre, photo by Ann-Marie Krytiuk
About the George Luscombe Award
This award recognizes an individual for “mentorship in theatre”. Revolutionary theatre founder and artistic director George Luscombe founded the Toronto Workshop Productions in 1959, marking the beginning of the Canadian alternative theatre movement. His 27 years at TWP marked the longest tenure of any artistic director in Canada.
The George Luscombe Award is presented every two (2) years. The recipient, who is chosen by a designated committee, receives a framed print by Theo Dimson, a copy of the book Conversations with George Luscombe: Steven Bush in conversation with the Canadian Theatre visionary and a cash prize of $1,000 through the generous sponsorship of an anonymous donor.
Deadline for nominations: April 1, 2019 - 5:00pm. Late submissions will not be accepted.
The deceased are not eligible for consideration.
In order to nominate an individual for The George Luscombe Mentorship Award, please supply the following information:
Nominator’s Name, Title, Company, Phone and Email Address
Nominee's Name, Phone/ Email
Nominee’s Bio
Headshot or Photograph of the Nominee (if possible)
Cover Letter (Why you feel that the nominee should receive The George Luscombe Mentorship Award, up to 2 pages)
optional: Letters/Paragraphs in support of the nominee (up to 3 pages)
Click here to nominate
George Luscombe Award Selection Committee
Maja Ardal (Chair)
Steven Bush
Ravi Jain
Karen Luscombe
Anusree Roy
George Luscombe Award Recipients
2019 – JACQUIE P.A. THOMAS
2017 – Marjorie Chan
2015 – Peggy Baker
2013 – Franco Boni
2012 – Ruth Howard
2011 – Yvette_Nolan
2009 – Leah Cherniak and Martha Ross
2008 – Iris Turcott
2007 – Andy McKim
2006 – ahdri zhina mandiela
2005 – Layne Coleman
2004 – Alison Sealy-Smith
2003 – Winston Morgan
2002 – Maja Ardel
2001 – Ken Gass
2000 – Jenny Phipps
1999 – Urjo Kareda
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1/4 oz 1987 Chinese Panda Gold Coin
Added 1/4 oz 1987 Chinese Panda Gold Coin
Order an original ¼ oz 1987 Chinese panda gold coin for a low price from our online store to secure your wealth in ounces. Your panda gold order may qualify for free shipping. Official panda gold traces its heritage to the first 1983 People’s Republic of China mints in Shenyang (Y mint mark) and Shanghai (S mint mark), and features a unique reverse design which changes annually. The 1987 panda coin features a Chinese panda drinking from a pond in a bamboo forest. Its obverse side includes "People's Republic of China" written in Chinese characters, along with the year of mintage and a picture of the Hall of Prayer for Abundant Harvests in the Temple of Heaven, Beijing.
Panda’s are a symbol of rarity and purity, and so are these official coins. Buy your panda gold coin today.
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CNY 25
1/4 oz 1987 Chinese Panda Gold Coin Order an original ¼ oz 1987 Chinese panda gold coin for a low price from our online store to secure your wealth in ounces. Your panda gold order may qualify for free shipping. Official panda gold traces its heritage to the first 1983 People’s Republic of China mints in Shenyang (Y mint mark) and Shanghai (S mint mark), and features a unique reverse design which changes annually. The 1987 panda coin features a Chinese panda drinking from a pond in a bamboo forest. Its obverse side includes "People's Republic of China" written in Chinese characters, along with the year of mintage and a picture of the Hall of Prayer for Abundant Harvests in the Temple of Heaven, Beijing. Panda’s are a symbol of rarity and purity, and so are these official coins. Buy your panda gold coin today.
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Books, Upcoming New Releases
My Most Anticipated Reads – October 2018
October 2, 2018 October 2, 2018 by Simone
I didn’t think the fall would be a huge time for new reads, but it’s turning out to be a better month than the entire year. Here’s what’s publishing this month that I’m super excited about.
Of course there are some books that I’m more excited about than others. The list is pretty long this month in comparison to other months, so I’ll put a little star next to those titles. For now, get ready to get your wallet out. Here comes the books!
A Spark of Light by Jodi Picoult*
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Publishing Date: October 2, 2018
The warm fall day starts like any other at the Center—a women’s reproductive health services clinic—its staff offering care to anyone who passes through its doors. Then, in late morning, a desperate and distraught gunman bursts in and opens fire, taking all inside hostage.
After rushing to the scene, Hugh McElroy, a police hostage negotiator, sets up a perimeter and begins making a plan to communicate with the gunman. As his phone vibrates with incoming text messages he glances at it and, to his horror, finds out that his fifteen-year-old daughter, Wren, is inside the clinic.
But Wren is not alone. She will share the next and tensest few hours of her young life with a cast of unforgettable characters: A nurse who calms her own panic in order save the life of a wounded woman. A doctor who does his work not in spite of his faith but because of it, and who will find that faith tested as never before. A pro-life protester disguised as a patient, who now stands in the cross hairs of the same rage she herself has felt. A young woman who has come to terminate her pregnancy. And the disturbed individual himself, vowing to be heard.
Told in a daring and enthralling narrative structure that counts backward through the hours of the standoff, this is a story that traces its way back to what brought each of these very different individuals to the same place on this fateful day.
Dry by Neal Shusterman*
Publisher: Simon and Schuster for Young Readers
The drought—or the Tap-Out, as everyone calls it—has been going on for a while now. Everyone’s lives have become an endless list of don’ts: don’t water the lawn, don’t fill up your pool, don’t take long showers.
Until the taps run dry.
Suddenly, Alyssa’s quiet suburban street spirals into a warzone of desperation; neighbours and families turned against each other on the hunt for water. And when her parents don’t return and her life—and the life of her brother—is threatened, Alyssa has to make impossible choices if she’s going to survive.
All You Can Ever Know by Nicole Chung*
Publisher: Catapult
Nicole Chung was born severely premature, placed for adoption by her Korean parents, and raised by a white family in a sheltered Oregon town. From early childhood, she heard the story of her adoption as a comforting, prepackaged myth. She believed that her biological parents had made the ultimate sacrifice in the hopes of giving her a better life; that forever feeling slightly out of place was simply her fate as a transracial adoptee. But as she grew up—facing prejudice her adoptive family couldn’t see, finding her identity as an Asian American and a writer, becoming ever more curious about where she came from—she wondered if the story she’d been told was the whole truth.
With warmth, candor, and startling insight, Chung tells of her search for the people who gave her up, which coincided with the birth of her own child. All You Can Ever Know is a profound, moving chronicle of surprising connections and the repercussions of unearthing painful family secrets—vital reading for anyone who has ever struggled to figure out where they belong.
What Have You Done by Matthew Farrell
Publisher: Thomas and Mercer
When a mutilated body is found hanging in a seedy motel in Philadelphia, forensics specialist Liam Dwyer assumes the crime scene will be business as usual. Instead, the victim turns out to be a woman he’d had an affair with before breaking it off to save his marriage. But there’s a bigger problem: Liam has no memory of where he was or what he did on the night of the murder.
Panicked, Liam turns to his brother, Sean, a homicide detective. Sean has his back, but incriminating evidence keeps piling up. From fingerprints to DNA, everything points to Liam, who must race against time and his department to uncover the truth—even if that truth is his own guilt. Yet as he digs deeper, dark secrets come to light, and Liam begins to suspect the killer might actually be Sean…
When the smoke clears in this harrowing family drama, who will be left standing?
Grim Lovelies by Megan Shepherd
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Seventeen-year-old Anouk envies the human world, where people known as Pretties lavish themselves in fast cars, high fashion, and have the freedom to fall in love. But Anouk can never have those things, because she is not really human. Enchanted from animal to human girl and forbidden to venture beyond her familiar Parisian prison, Anouk is a Beastie: destined for a life surrounded by dust bunnies and cinders serving Mada Vittora, the evil witch who spelled her into existence. That is, until one day she finds her mistress murdered in a pool of blood—and Anouk is accused of the crime.
Now, the world she always dreamed of is rife with danger. Pursued through Paris by the underground magical society known as the Haute, Anouk and her fellow Beasties only have three days to find the real killer before the spell keeping them human fades away. If they fail, they will lose the only lives they’ve ever known…but if they succeed, they could be more powerful than anyone ever bargained for.
What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera*
Arthur is only in New York for the summer, but if Broadway has taught him anything, it’s that the universe can deliver a showstopping romance when you least expect it.
Ben thinks the universe needs to mind its business. If the universe had his back, he wouldn’t be on his way to the post office carrying a box of his ex-boyfriend’s things.
But when Arthur and Ben meet-cute at the post office, what exactly does the universe have in store for them?
Maybe nothing. After all, they get separated.
Maybe everything. After all, they get reunited.
But what if they can’t quite nail a first date . . . or a second first date . . . or a third?
What if Arthur tries too hard to make it work . . . and Ben doesn’t try hard enough?
What if life really isn’t like a Broadway play?
But what if it is?
Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller
Publisher: Tin House
From the attic of Lyntons, a dilapidated English country mansion, Frances Jellico sees them—Cara first: dark and beautiful, then Peter: striking and serious. The couple is spending the summer of 1969 in the rooms below hers while Frances is researching the architecture in the surrounding gardens. But she’s distracted. Beneath a floorboard in her bathroom, she finds a peephole that gives her access to her neighbors’ private lives.
To Frances’ surprise, Cara and Peter are keen to get to know her. It is the first occasion she has had anybody to call a friend, and before long they are spending every day together: eating lavish dinners, drinking bottle after bottle of wine, and smoking cigarettes until the ash piles up on the crumbling furniture. Frances is dazzled.
But as the hot summer rolls lazily on, it becomes clear that not everything is right between Cara and Peter. The stories that Cara tells don’t quite add up, and as Frances becomes increasingly entangled in the lives of the glamorous, hedonistic couple, the boundaries between truth and lies, right and wrong, begin to blur. Amid the decadence, a small crime brings on a bigger one: a crime so terrible that it will brand their lives forever.
My Squirrel Days by Ellie Kemper
Publisher: Scribner Books
There comes a time in every sitcom actress’s life when she is faced with the prospect of writing a book. When Ellie Kemper’s number was up, she was ready. Contagiously cheerful, predictably wholesome, and mostly inspiring except for one essay about her husband’s feet, My Squirrel Days is a funny, free-wheeling tour of Ellie’s life—from growing up in suburban St. Louis with a vivid imagination and a crush on David Letterman to moving to Los Angeles and accidentally falling on Doris Kearns Goodwin.
But those are not the only famous names dropped in this synopsis. Ellie will also share stories of inadvertently insulting Ricky Gervais at the Emmy Awards, telling Tina Fey that she has “great hair—really strong and thick,” and offering a maxi pad to Steve Carell. She will take you back to her childhood as a nature lover determined to commune with squirrels, to her college career as a benchwarming field hockey player with no assigned position, and to her young professional days writing radio commercials for McDonald’s but never getting paid. Ellie will guide you along her journey through adulthood, from unorganized bride to impatient wife to anxious mother who—as recently observed by a sassy hairstylist—“dresses like a mom.” Well, sassy hairstylist, Ellie Kemper is a mom. And she has been dressing like it since she was four.
Ellie has written for GQ, Esquire, The New York Times, McSweeney’s, and The Onion. Her voice is the perfect antidote to the chaos of modern life. In short, she will tell you nothing you need to know about making it in show business, and everything you need to know about discreetly changing a diaper at a Cibo Express.
Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak*
The breathtaking story of five brothers who bring each other up in a world run by their own rules. As the Dunbar boys love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world, they discover the moving secret behind their father’s disappearance.
At the center of the Dunbar family is Clay, a boy who will build a bridge—for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle.
The question is, how far is Clay willing to go? And how much can he overcome?
Killing Commendatore by Haruki Murakami*
Publisher: Knopf
The much-anticipated new novel from the internationally acclaimed, best-selling author of 1Q84 and Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage, Killing Commendatore is an epic tour de force of love and loneliness, war and art–as well as a loving homage to The Great Gatsby–and a stunning work of imagination from one of our greatest writers.
The Same River by Lisa Reddick
Publisher: She Writes Press
Ever since a childhood tragedy bonded Jessica Jensen to Oregon’s mighty Nesika River, she has seen herself as its guardian. Now a courageous field biologist, she has just finished gathering scientific evidence that could bring about the dismantling of the massive hydro dam that threatens to destroy her river. But then she discovers that her boss is suppressing her scientific evidence―leaving the dam’s fate at the mercy of a far-reaching corporate conspiracy―and she falls into a current of loss and desperation.
As Jess’s life spirals out of control, she mysteriously starts to make contact with Piah, a member of the Native American Molalla tribe who lived on the riverbanks of the Nesika two hundred years before Jess. Piah, too, faces a terrible threat that could destroy all that’s left of her world. As the veil between their two worlds begins to lift, each woman learns important lessons from the other about how to love, and to rekindle their faith in the future―even in the face of tragic loss and uncertainty.
Chuckerman Makes a Movie by Francie Arenson Dickman
The words of thirty-five-year-old David Melman’s Jewish grandmother still haunt him. He’s scared to settle down. Instead, he dates twenty-something pop stars that he meets through his celebrity-branding business. But when his niece and nephew inform him that he’s hit “rock bottom” with his latest inappropriate relationship, David realizes that change might be in order-so when his sister Marcy, with her own ulterior motive, pushes him to take a film-writing class taught by her friend Laurel, he agrees.
Will writing a movie about a childhood visit to his grandparents in Florida, an unforgettable driving lesson, and a 1977 Cadillac bring David love? Luck? Or both?
Alternating between David’s present-day life and his past through his movie script, Chuckerman Makes a Movie is a romantic comedy blended with a comedic coming-of-age.
The Night in Question by Nic Joseph
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
When Paula picks up her last passenger of the night, all she sees is a few more dollars to put toward her husband’s medical bills. That’s before she recognizes the quiet stranger in her back seat as a world-famous musician and realizes the woman waiting at his destination is not his equally famous wife. So, Paula does what any down-on-her-luck woman would do.
She asks for money in exchange for silence.
But when a woman is murdered in the same building days later, Paula discovers she is the only witness to the secret affair—an affair that incriminates the musician. Now, Paula’s silence comes at a much more dangerous price.
A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi*
Publishing Date: October 16, 2018
It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped.
Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother.
But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds—and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down.
One Day in December by Josie Silver*
Publisher: Broadway Books
Laurie is pretty sure love at first sight doesn’t exist anywhere but the movies. But then, through a misted-up bus window one snowy December day, she sees a man who she knows instantly is the one. Their eyes meet, there’s a moment of pure magic…and then her bus drives away.
Certain they’re fated to find each other again, Laurie spends a year scanning every bus stop and cafe in London for him. But she doesn’t find him, not when it matters anyway. Instead they “reunite” at a Christmas party, when her best friend Sarah giddily introduces her new boyfriend to Laurie. It’s Jack, the man from the bus. It would be.
What follows for Laurie, Sarah and Jack is ten years of friendship, heartbreak, missed opportunities, roads not taken, and destinies reconsidered. One Day in December is a joyous, heartwarming and immensely moving love story to escape into and a reminder that fate takes inexplicable turns along the route to happiness.
The Library Book by Susan Orlean
On the morning of April 29, 1986, a fire alarm sounded in the Los Angeles Public Library. As the moments passed, the patrons and staff who had been cleared out of the building realized this was not the usual false alarm. As one fireman recounted later, “Once that first stack got going, it was Goodbye, Charlie.” The fire was disastrous: It reached 2,000 degrees and burned for more than seven hours. By the time it was extinguished, it had consumed 400,000 books and damaged 700,000 more. Investigators descended on the scene, but over thirty years later, the mystery remains: Did someone purposefully set fire to the library—and if so, who?
Weaving her life-long love of books and reading with the fascinating history of libraries and the sometimes-eccentric characters who run them, award-winning journalist and New York Times bestselling author Susan Orlean presents a mesmerizing and uniquely compelling story as only she can. With her signature wit, insight, compassion, and talent for deep research, she investigates the legendary Los Angeles Public Library fire to showcase the larger, crucial role that libraries play in our lives. To truly understand what happens behind the stacks, Orlean visits the different departments of the LAPL, encountering an engaging cast of employees and patrons and experiencing alongside them the victories and struggles they face in today’s climate. She also delves into the evolution of libraries across the country and around the world, from a metropolitan charitable initiative to a cornerstone of national identity. She reflects on her childhood experiences in libraries; studies arson and the long history of library fires; attempts to burn a copy of a book herself; and she re-examines the case of Harry Peak, the blond-haired actor long suspected of setting fire to the library over thirty years ago. Along the way, she reveals how these buildings provide much more than just books—and that they are needed now more than ever.
Resistant by Rachael Sparks
Publisher: SparkPress
In the final battle with drug-resistant bacteria, one woman’s blood holds a secret weapon.
Rory and her father have survived the antibiotic crisis that has killed millions, including Rory’s mother—but ingenuity and perseverance aren’t their only advantages. When a stoic and scarred young military veteran enters their quiet life, Rory is drawn to him against her better judgment . . . until he exposes the secrets her mother and father kept from her, including the fact that her own blood may hold the cure the world needs, and she is the target of groups fighting to reach it first.
When the government, which wants to use Rory to produce a cure and sell it to the highest bidder, comes after her, she, her father, and their new protector are forced to flee. But can she find the new path of human evolution before the government finds her?
A Year of Extraordinary Moments by Bette Lee Crosby
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Tracy Briggs has finally gotten her act together. She’s focusing on her own life and helping her hearing-impaired son learn to talk. With her sister married and exploring a new career, Tracy has begun to run the family’s magazine business and feels her life is pretty much perfect. That is, until her son’s deadbeat dad shows up in Magnolia Grove asking for a second chance.
Now that her son is getting the help he needs and a promising new romance with his teacher is in bloom, Tracy wants to keep her life just as it is. But her ex isn’t taking no for an answer. And when a spirited elderly woman enters Tracy’s life in an unexpected way, she’ll have to work harder than ever to keep her new life on track.
Torn between the past she knows and the uncertain future, Tracy must decide what is best for both her and her son, learning along the way that ordinary choices can bring extraordinary possibilities.
This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Philipps*
Publisher: Touchstone
Busy Philipps’s autobiographical book offers the same unfiltered and candid storytelling that her Instagram followers have come to know and love, from growing up in Scottsdale, Arizona and her painful and painfully funny teen years, to her life as a working actress, mother, and famous best friend.
Busy is the rare entertainer whose impressive arsenal of talents as an actress is equally matched by her storytelling ability, sense of humor, and sharp observations about life, love, and motherhood. Her conversational writing reminds us what we love about her on screens large and small. From film to television to Instagram, Busy delightfully showcases her wry humor and her willingness to bare it all.
I Might Regret This: Essays, Drawings, Vulnerabilities, and Other Stuff by Abbi Jacobson*
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
When Abbi Jacobson announced to friends and acquaintances that she planned to drive across the country alone, she was met with lots of questions and opinions: Why wasn’t she going with friends? Wouldn’t it be incredibly lonely? The North route is better! Was it safe for a woman? The Southern route is the way to go! You should bring mace! And a common one… why? But Abbi had always found comfort in solitude, and needed space to step back and hit the reset button. As she spent time in each city and town on her way to Los Angeles, she mulled over the big questions– What do I really want? What is the worst possible scenario in which I could run into my ex? How has the decision to wear my shirts tucked in been pivotal in my adulthood? In this collection of anecdotes, observations and reflections–all told in the sharp, wildly funny, and relatable voice that has endeared Abbi to critics and fans alike–readers will feel like they’re in the passenger seat on a fun and, ultimately, inspiring journey. With some original illustrations by the author.
The Proposal by Jasmine Guillory
Publisher: Berkley Books
When freelance writer Nikole Paterson goes to a Dodgers game with her actor boyfriend, his man bun, and his bros, the last thing she expects is a scoreboard proposal. Saying no isn’t the hard part–they’ve only been dating for five months, and he can’t even spell her name correctly. The hard part is having to face a stadium full of disappointed fans…
At the game with his sister, Carlos Ibarra comes to Nik’s rescue and rushes her away from a camera crew. He’s even there for her when the video goes viral and Nik’s social media blows up–in a bad way. Nik knows that in the wilds of LA, a handsome doctor like Carlos can’t be looking for anything serious, so she embarks on an epic rebound with him, filled with food, fun, and fantastic sex. But when their glorified hookups start breaking the rules, one of them has to be smart enough to put on the brakes…
The Memory of You by Jamie Beck
After a brutal assault leaves Steffi with puzzling memory lapses, she returns to her coastal Connecticut hometown to rebuild her life the best way she knows how: with her hands. But starting a remodeling business with one longtime friend puts her in the middle of a rift with another. Worse, being hired by her ex-boyfriend’s mother forces her to confront old regrets.
Public defender Ryan Quinn wasn’t shocked when his wife left him, but he was floored when she abandoned their daughter. With his finances up in the air, the newly single dad returns to his childhood home in Sanctuary Sound. The last person he expects, or wants, to see working on his family house is Steffi Lockwood—his first love who shattered his heart.
Although Steffi and Ryan are different people now, dormant feelings rekindle. But when Ryan’s concern for Steffi’s mental health prompts him to dig into her past for answers, will what he learns bring them together or tear them apart for good?
River Bodies by Karen Katchur
A body just turned up in the small town of Portland, Pennsylvania. The crime is eerily similar to a twenty-year-old cold case: another victim, brutally murdered, found in the Delaware River. Lead detective Parker Reed is intent on connecting the two murders, but the locals are on lockdown, revealing nothing.
The past meets the present when Becca Kingsley, who returns to Portland to be with her estranged but dying father, runs into Parker, her childhood love. As the daughter of the former police chief, Becca’s quickly drawn into the case. Coming home has brought something ominous to the surface—memories long buried, secrets best kept hidden. Becca starts questioning all her past relationships, including one with a man who’s watched over her for years. For the first time, she wonders if he’s more predator than protector.
In a small town where darkness hides in plain sight, the truth could change Becca’s life—or end it.
new releases publishing books upcoming releases
What I’m Reading Wednesdays
September 2018 Wrap Up
2 thoughts on “My Most Anticipated Reads – October 2018”
Na says:
Wow- what a prolific reader you are! How do you choose all of these books that you read??
Well this is just the list of books publishing this month that I’m excited about. I pick whatever comes my way I’m such a mood reader haha
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Nao Yoshioka – Feeling Good
By Gary Gentles|2015-07-18T11:34:58-04:00July 18th, 2015|Categories: Featured, Music, R&B Music|Tags: Nao Yoshioka|0 Comments
Japanese singer and Apollo Theater Amateur Night runner-up Nao Yoshioka follows up her welcoming single, "Make The Change," with the new offering, "Feeling Good." Like its predecessor, Yoshioka delivers a beautiful and soulful rendition that displays her musical passion all while being soothing to the ears.
"Feeling Good" appears on Yoshioka's new album, The Light, available now on iTunes. Dubbed Japan's "new soul sensation," on the worldwide debut, the singer-songwriter proves that soul music is here to stay, and it's so sweet when it crosses into other continents.
Yoshioka will also tour the U.S. this fall (2015). Confirmed dates in Sept. 23rd in Wilmington, DE and Sept. 25th in New York City. Stay tuned for more dates!
Nao Yoshioka Tells “The Truth” on New Single
Nao Yoshioka Shows She Has The ‘Spark’ On New Single
Video: Nao Yoshioka – I Love When
Nao Yoshioka – Make The Change
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Transport, Airlines
On-Time Airline Arrivals Are on the Rise and So Are Complaints
David Koenig, Associated Press
On-time arrivals mean less when the schedules are padded, while over booking and the abundance of ancillary fees are the fastest way to get a passenger to file a complaint.
More flights are arriving on time and airlines are losing fewer bags, yet more consumers are complaining about air travel.
Traveler complaints jumped 34 percent last year, to the highest level since 2000. The top frustration is problem flights including cancelations and delays, which is unchanged in 16 years.
“Everything is getting better, but they are still unhappy about the same things,” says Dean Headley, a marketing professor at Wichita State and co-author of an annual report on airline quality. He thinks passengers resent the growth in extra fees for things like checked baggage and changing or canceling a reservation, and that makes them quicker to complain when something goes wrong with their trip.
The report by Headley and Brent Bowen, dean of the aviation school at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, is being released Monday. The researchers use publicly available information from the U.S. Department of Transportation to rate the airlines for on-time performance, baggage handling, bumping passengers because of oversold flights, and complaints filed with the government.
Graphic shows air traveler complaint data; 2c x 6 inches; 96.3 mm x 152 mm;
Among the findings in this year’s report:
On Time: The percentage of flights that arrived on time rose to 79.9 percent last year from 76.2 percent in 2014.
Lost Bags: The rate of bags being lost, stolen or delayed bags dropped 10 percent in 2015.
Getting Bumped: Fewer passengers were bumped off oversold flights; the rate dropped by 17 percent last year. That doesn’t count people who voluntarily gave up their seats for money or a travel voucher.
More Complaints: Airline customers filed more than 15,000 complaints with the Transportation Department last year, up from about 11,000 in 2014. Spirit Airlines and Frontier Airlines, budget carriers that charge lots of fees and had poor on-time records, had the worst complaint rates.
It was the fifth increase in complaints in six years. Still, more than 670 million people flew on U.S. carriers last year, so only a tiny slice bothered to complain to the government. Many more gripe directly to the airline. Frontier CEO Barry Biffle has said that his airline gets about 30 complaints for every one filed with the Transportation Department and it used to be a 90-to-1 ratio.
Complaints to the government topped 20,000 in 2000 but dropped sharply after the terror attacks of September 2001, which resulted in fewer people flying. Complaints didn’t start rising again until 2004.
There are serious students of the airline industry who dismiss reports like the one from Wichita State and Embry-Riddle.
Brett Snyder, who writes the Cranky Flier blog, says the overall rankings don’t tell travelers whether an airline is good or bad at what matters to them.
“It lumps everything together in a way that doesn’t make sense for most travelers,” Snyder says. “You should research what matters to you. If you’re flying a specific route, you can look at on-time performance on that route.”
Each month the Transportation Department lists flights that are chronically delayed and provides on-time figures for each airline at specific airports.
Follow David Koenig at http://twitter.com/airlinewriter
Copyright (2016) Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
This article was written by David Koenig from The Associated Press and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.
Serious about airlines? Subscribe to Skift Airline Weekly to get the strongest business insights in the world of commercial aviation
Photo Credit: Spirit is a perennial leader in the most complaints department — a dubious honor, indeed. Spirit Airlines
Microsoft + Skift
How Connected Employees Can Enhance Customer Experiences in Real Time
Raini Hamdi, Skift
Venture Capital Giant Accel Invests in Travelstop in a Nod to Asia’s Business Travel Disruption
Booking Sites
Google to Congress: We’re Not a Travel Monopoly
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Searching For One-Sided Tradeoffs
Suppose you are an admissions official for a moderately prestigious college, which is neither the best nor the worst in your state. Your job is to look over people’s SAT scores, high school GPA, and essays on How I Overcame Adversity, and then decide whether or not to admit them to your college.
And suppose that you have a team of subordinates who make the really easy decisions for you. Auto-reject the losers who show up drunk to their interview and spell your institution’s name as “collej” on their applications, pass the rest on to you.
Your job probably doesn’t matter. Yes, there will be some very high quality candidates – the kids with straight As, perfect SATs, and stories about how they personally stopped the civil war in Lebanon despite being born without legs. But they will be using you as their safety school, and whether you accept them or not they will be going to Harvard and you will never see them. You will only be deciding among a small band of students – those too smart to get auto-rejected by your subordinates, but not smart enough to go to a school better than yours.
Given that kids who are good at everything and kids who are bad at everything are equally unlikely to be your target population, your job reduces to choosing what tradeoffs to take. Do you want kids with great SAT scores but terrible grades, kids with great grades but terrible SATs, or kids with mediocre grades and test scores alike? How about kids with terrible grades and terrible SATs, but they’re really really attractive and good at sports?
Even here your job won’t matter too much. Your counterparts at Harvard will presumably be smart people who have a pretty good idea of how important test scores and grades are in terms of the Intangible Qualities That Make You Good At College. If a new study comes out showing that SAT scores determine your future but grades are meaningless, that study will make you want to shift to a high-SAT-low-grade model, but it will equally increase the high-SAT-low-grade kids’ ability to get into Harvard, meaning that you will, to use an economics metaphor, have to buy SAT scores with grades at a lower exchange rate.
So basically no matter how competent you are as an admissions official, all of the kids entering your college will be about equally “good”.
There is a fun legend I heard in a stats class – I don’t know if it’s true – of a psychology professor who got very excited about her new theory that the brain traded off verbal and mathematical intelligence – being better at one made you worse at the other. She got SAT Math and SAT Verbal scores from her students and found it supported her theory. A friend of hers did a replication at his college and found support for the the theory there as well.
But larger scale testing disconfirmed the theory. What the professors working off college samples were finding was that all of the kids in their college were equally “good”, in a general sense, so excellence in any quality implied a tradeoff in other qualities. Suppose the professor worked at a mid-tier college – students with SATs much less than 1200 couldn’t get in; students with SATs much more than 1200 could and did go to better schools instead. Then all her students would have SATs around 1200. Which meant a student with an SAT Verbal of 700 would have an SAT Math of 500, a student with an SAT Math of 800 would have an SAT Verbal of 400, and boom, there’s your “trade-off of verbal and mathematical intelligence”. Obviously the tradeoff wouldn’t be perfect, since there’s random noise and since students are also trading off less obvious qualities like attractiveness, wealth, social skills, athleticism, musical talent, and diligence. But it would be more than enough for her to find her correlation if she was looking for it.
This suggests some odd strategies if we’re looking for particular college students. If we want to find the dumbest students in a particular college, we might look at the football star – not because football stars are naturally dumb, but because plausibly a student who couldn’t get in on his wits alone might make it in on the promise of helping the college team. If we want to find the smartest student in a particular college, we might look for someone on a scholarship – because perhaps she would otherwise be at Harvard, but was made less attractive to the Ivy League by her inability to pay them any money.
It also implies some weird strategies for admission officers. How do you maximize student quality when in theory all your job allows you to do is make tradeoffs between different subcharacteristics among students of the same quality? Aside from just hoping the occasional Harvard-caliber student accidentally stumbles into your office, I suggest three potential techniques: insider trading, bias compensation, and comparative advantage.
Insider trading is where you’re just plain smarter than everyone else. Maybe you’re a brilliant psychologist who has invented a test that invariably reveals students’ true potential. You can find kids with terrible grades and terrible SAT scores who will nevertheless shine. If you happen to luck into this position, you’ve got it made.
Bias-compensation is where you try to see if other colleges have biases that you can exploit. Sometimes this is simple and profitable. If Harvard is controlled by anti-Semites and auto-rejects all Jews, then you have a free shot to get Jews with 800 SAT Math, 800 SAT Verbal, and amazing football talent (though good luck finding Jews with amazing football talent). Once again, if you happen to luck into your competitors being stupid, you’ve got it made.
Sometimes it’s not that easy, and you have to kind of spin someone else’s preferences as “bias” when they might secretly have some wisdom behind them. For example, it is no doubt true that college admissions officials are influenced by student charm and social skills. So if you want, you can probably get smarter students if you go for the really really unpleasant students whom everyone dislikes as soon as they open their mouths. You can then declare “success” when your college gets a disproportionate number of academic awards, but unless you are a remarkably single-minded academic-award-maximizer, you may find that your college is kind of horrible now and other schools had pretty good reasons for rejecting these people.
Comparative advantage is where you decide you are going to have radically different priorities than anybody else. Maybe you want to be The Math School and become known for the quality of your math geniuses. So you nab all the students with 800 SAT Math and 400 SAT Verbal and then advertise the heck out of your students’ mathematical acumen. There’s also another sort of comparative advantage, where if you have a great sign language interpretation program and Harvard doesn’t, you can advertise to deaf kids who maybe Harvard doesn’t want because they can’t develop their talents effectively.
So let’s generalize from college to the sorts of choices that we actually face.
In one of the classics of the Less Wrong Sequences, Eliezer argues that policy debates should not appear one-sided. College students are pre-selected for “if they were worse they couldn’t get in, if they were better they’d get in somewhere else.” Political debates are pre-selected for “if it were a stupider idea no one would support it, if it were a better idea everyone would unanimously agree to do it.” We never debate legalizing murder, and we never debate banning glasses. The things we debate are pre-selected to be in a certain range of policy quality.
(to give three examples: no one debates banning sunglasses, that is obviously stupid. No one debates banning murder, that is so obviously a good idea that it encounters no objections. People do debate raising the minimum wage, because it has some plausible advantages and some plausible disadvantages. We might be able to squeeze one or two extra utils out of getting the minimum-wage question exactly right, but it’s unlikely to matter terribly much.)
So there’s some argument to be made that, like the admissions officer, our decisions aren’t too important. I don’t think things are quite that depressing. But, like the admissions officer, we will have to be clever if we want to figure out how to escape the seemingly iron law of tradeoffs.
I recently heard a Catholic guy condemn the “culture of death”, which by his telling consisted of abortion, stem cells, euthanasia, and capital punishment. I’m in favor of three of those things, and I avoid a perfect four-out-of-four only on a technicality: I can’t support capital punishment until it gets better at sparing the innocent and maybe becomes more cost-effective.
My near-unaninimous support for culture-of-death issues seems unlikely to be a coincidence, and indeed it isn’t. I have a deep philosophical disagreement with the Catholics here – they think life is a terminal value, I think life is only valuable insofar as it gives certain goods associated with living.
This means from my point of view, the Catholics have a bias in their trade-off arithmetic. They are the equivalent of the anti-Semitic Harvard leadership, who have given me this great gift of trade-off-free students. Just as learning the Harvard leadership is anti-Semitic makes me suddenly want to accept all Jews as a tradeoff-free utility gain, learning that a large portion of the electorate is biased against death means that certain death-related policies can be tradeoff-free utility gains to me.
I will add one more political example. I’ve previously proposed sticking lithium in the water supply as an intervention to promote psychiatric health. People are super creeped out by this – and in fact, so am I, a little bit. But this is encouraging! If people’s response was “actually, we have proof that these quantities of lithium hurt cardiac health” we’d be faced with a useless tradeoff – X psychiatric health against Y cardiac health – and so a policy we’d be squeezing a couple measly utils out of depending on which way the tradeoff went. But if their response is “I see no particular downside, but I am very creeped out by it”, then this is like learning Harvard is anti-Semitic – an explanation for why other people haven’t gobbled up a possible advantage, and a neon sign pointing out potential tradeoff-free gains for you.
We can also use this framework to evaluate life hacks.
Life hacks are touted as “little-known techniques you can use to improve your life”. There are two ways something can fail to be a life hack – either it becomes universally known, or it fails to improve anything. These form a pre-selection kinda like a college selecting students of a certain quality, or a country debating issues of a certain quality. If an intervention was obviously great, then either you’d already do it (think “sleeping at night” or “working at a job to earn money”) – or you would at least feel guilty for not doing so (think “diet and exercise”). If an intervention was useless, no one would call it a life hack (think “hitting yourself on the head with a baseball bat every day”). Life hacks are the things that are sort of in between, where there seem to be some benefits, and also some costs in terms of time and energy and money, and you’re not sure if they’re worth looking into or not.
If you want to do better than trade off your time and energy for the occasional small benefit, you need a theory of why that might be possible.
Every life hacker wants to be an insider trader – someone who is able to outperform competitors with more resources by being a little savvier about biology and psychology. And probably some are. But unless you are the first scientist to discover a new supplement, or the first psychologist to discover a new technique, your trades aren’t that insider and you’ll eventually have to explain why no one else has adopted them.
And most life hackers pay lip service to comparative advantage: “Everyone has their own individual biology and their own set of problems, what works for you may not work for everyone else.” This is pretty plausible. It suggests the reason the whole world isn’t adopting life hacks is because there’s a very high startup cost, where you’ve got to sort through a hundred different things and find the ones that work for you and the ones that don’t, and nobody can do this for you, and if you’re not very smart you’ll get it wrong.
Another form of comparative advantage is willpower. Maybe no one else is doing weight lifting because they don’t have the determination to go to the gym three times a week. This is a fine theory – plausible even – but it’s interesting to see how many of the people who confidently assert their own comparative advantage then buy a gym membership but end up not having the determination to go three times a week.
But in terms of using a tradeoff-based framework to help inform the decision of what lifehacks to try, it seems most promising to consider opportunities for bias compensation.
Like insider trading, bias compensation is claimed a lot more often than I think it can be supported. The polyphasic sleep crowd, for example, tell you that you can increase your free time per day – and all you need to do is stick to a very strict schedule, be very tired for a long time while you’re working out kinks, and abandon all hope of a social life or flexible schedule. To me this seems a lot like the admission official with the bright idea of admitting unpleasant low-social-skills kids: it sounds good if you’re only thinking about the most easily quantifiable results, but when you actually try it you tend to regret it very quickly.
Can we find anything more promising? I think that people are unnecessarily pessimistic about nootropics because they are scared of taking drugs. Fear of taking drugs is an excellent and rational fear to have, but if you happen to lack it that fear, or you have enough comparative advantage in pharmacological knowledge / research ability that you can justifiably be less afraid of taking drugs than everyone else, then this starts to look like the lithium-water example: getting free utility by abandoning your sense of creeped-out-ness.
But if you’re going to force me to give you an example of something I actually did differently because of thinking about tradeoffs, I’ll have to go with “try bacopa”.
Bacopa is a memory-enhancing drug that performs very well in studies. But it’s rarely used and it only got a middling ranking on my survey. I think this has something to do with having to take it for three months before it has any effect. Talk about trivial inconvenience. Most people don’t want to bother, so it remains largely uninvestigated, and the nonsuperabundance of bacopa use stands explained without resorting to it being a bad drug or having other tradeoffs we really don’t want. So using it – if you can stand the three month waiting period – has a higher-than-otherwise-expected likelihood of being free utility.
Me? I tried to start taking bacopa, but it gave me terrible diarrhea and I had to stop. Another tradeoff! That should just increase its expected psychological benefits!
Last, something on the lighter side: an article going around the Internet recently claims houses on streets with mildly rude names (example: “Slag Lane”) apparently cost £84,000 less than control houses on more properly named streets (the article does not give me enough information to rule out hypotheses like poor people being more willing to give their streets rude names). If you don’t care about what your street name is called, this might be another potential free trade-off – buy a house on Slag Lane and save $100,000+. Or buy a house that’s supposed to be haunted if you don’t believe in ghosts. Or buy a house near a prison with a very low escape rate because you trust the statistics and other people don’t.
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137 Responses to Searching For One-Sided Tradeoffs
St. Rev says:
The story about math/verbal SAT tradeoffs is pretty easy to formalize as a theorem. Given uncorrelated random variables X and Y, it’s easy to create spurious correlations by filtering the sample; in that case, by only looking in the band 1100 < X + Y < 1300 we create a strong negative correlation.
Another possibly relevant example occurred to me a while back in the case of perceptions of economic justice.
Suppose people mostly associate with other people in their economic class. Suppose, furthermore, that people's economic class is determined by two random variables, which we could call virtue and vice–virtue would include hard work and skill, and vice would include dumb luck, exploitation and theft.
Then people, looking around at their economic peers–e.g. sampling the band lower middle class < Virtue + Vice < upper middle class–will see an apparent negative correlation between the two variables. Their neighbors will be a mix of hardworking, smart people who've had a rough time, and lazy cheats who've gotten away with it. From this, they may well conclude that a meritocratic society is intrinsically less just!
Elissa says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berkson%27s_paradox
Oh cool! I remember puzzling this out with Matt Simpson a while back, but I didn’t know it had a name.
suntzuanime says:
What if being anti-death is less like being anti-Semitic and more like being anti-gross people? What if it turns out that death is actually bad?
Daniel H says:
If Scott hadn’t mentioned the particular policies in question, I’d agree with you here that death is actually bad (as I do in the general case). However, I agree with Scott on each of these policies, despite being very anti-death (at least in comparison to the general population). For two of these, I am for them because I don’t think fetuses are people, at least not until late in the pregnancy (I don’t know enough about prenatal and neonatal neural development to be very precise, so am being cautious with this estimate). For euthanasia, I don’t think there’s an ethical problem with it if the patient gives informed consent, as it seems like in that case the person’s life is no longer worth living and we shouldn’t force them to do so. Iff comunication is impossible, then I’d let those close to the patient decide based on what they think the patient would want, but am less sure that’s a good idea.
I am more against the death penalty than Scott seems to be, though: even with perfect knowledge of guilt, I wouldn’t support the death penalty unless it was a) shown to be an effective deterrent (unlikely given my limited knowledge of criminal psychology), b) sufficiently reduced chances of a repeat crime over other options (depends on the effectiveness of available rehab, prisons, or other options), or c) was the request of the criminal in question. Without perfect knowledge of guilt, I only support it in the last case, for the same reason I support consensual euthanasia.
Qiaochu Yuan says:
For reference, the phenomenon you describe in the introduction is called restriction of range. Should be better known as far as defense against dark statistics goes.
jsalvatier says:
Do you have a link on the Bacopa research? Also gwern says
The research looks interesting and it’s cheap; but I am suspicious of anything Ayurvedic because of heavy metals, and Bacopa monnieri is a hyperaccumulator of heavy metals.
Which certainly *sounds* bad.
gwern says:
It is bad, IMO, which is one reason I’ve held off on taking any bacopa – where do I get heavy-metal-free bacopa? Hopefully I’ll know soon: /r/Nootropics has had a lab testing program in place for a year or so, and our next target is bacopa. We’ve already bought 2 or 3 samples from the standard retailers.
I can’t wait for those results, although I suspect the trivial inconvinience will prove difficult for me to overcome. Does anybody have advice on surmounting them?
Mqrius says:
Is there a central summary of these tests?
The reported cognitive enhancement reminds me of what’s said about Lion’s Mane; as a mushroom I’d expect it to have similar heavy metal risk.
Cyan says:
gwern doesn’t just talk about collecting data in blog comments — he documents, aggregates, and disperses it:
gwern’s page on nootropics
Let all aspiring rationalists rain approbation down upon gwern!
Medicinal lion’s mane is typically (not always; supplier will probably specify this though) cultivated directly on whole grains, which are allowed to produce many small fruiting bodies; the mushrooms and colonized grains are dehydrated and ground up together. So it should have exactly the same elemental composition as a similar mass of whole grain.
Culinary lion’s mane is grown on sawdust, not on a soil-based substrate, so I’d expect that the opportunities for heavy metal accumulation would be very limited even if you are only using the fruiting body and tossing out the substrate.
Bacopa monnieri is apparently not difficult to grow as long as you keep it warm. I would suggest growing your own; I believe commercial potting soil is pretty low in heavy metals.
anon1: Fair enough! Thanks for sharing that 🙂
Growing it myself sounds interesting, but I’m not sure if I trust my mushroom farming skills enough to eat the results on a regular basis.
Lion’s Mane is a bit finicky. It’s fun to grow because it looks incredibly cool (sort of like a living koosh ball), and it has a lovely delicate flavor that’s reminiscent of lobster, but the expected yield is not super high even if you do everything right.
If you’re interested in growing mushrooms at home, I’d recommend starting with pearl oyster mushrooms first, perhaps starting with purchased spawn. They are fast-growing, high-yielding, and much more able to defend themselves against enemies like mold and bacteria. Also they’re unusually un-picky about their food. Straw, cardboard, junk mail, corncobs, sawdust, logs… pretty much anything goes. (Also they make microscopic traps to capture and digest live nematodes! Mushrooms are SO COOL!) And they also contain fair amounts of lovastatin, which is supposed to be good for you or something. Once you’re hooked on the hobby, *then* go ahead and branch out to somewhat harder species like lion’s mane.
Heh. It sounds like a cool hobby. I wonder if my girlfriend will hate me if I take that up after we move in together 😀
Thanks for the pointers! I’ll keep it in mind. For now I’ll order extracts though.
Bacopa test results are up: http://www.reddit.com/r/Nootropics/comments/21zqvh/purityheavy_metals_testing_results/
TLDR: Bacognize good. Himalaya not as good, but under the limits. Nootrabiolabs bad.
Two related anecdotes:
– I remember hearing a variant of the SAT verbal/math story in a college stats class, but it related to the usefulness of SAT prep classes. The benighted university (this being a stats class at MIT, the university was of course identified as Harvard) naturally concluded they had no value, since both the “took classes” and “didn’t take classes” subsets of the incoming freshman class had comparable SAT scores.
– I commented to a realtor once that I did not understand why all the deaf people in the greater Boston area didn’t live in the part of Winthrop right under the flight paths from Logan Airport. She replied that she went out of her way to market houses there to hearing-impaired clients, but as far as she’d noticed none of her competitors had figured that out, so she’d appreciate it if I didn’t spread that observation around. (I made no promises.)
Another one might be creatine. It is mainly used for bigger muscles, but it can also improve cognition in people that are deficient. I would imagine its reputation of users being jock muscleheads would deter the kind of people who are interested in nootropics. But it’s only of limited use–if you regularly eat red meat you probably aren’t deficient.
For a review and (attempt at) a meta-analysis, see http://www.gwern.net/Creatine
For the physical benefits (increased strength and endurance), you should supplement regardless of how much red meat you get, simply because it’s impossible to get optimal levels unless you are eating pounds daily.
misha says:
How many pounds? I often eat like, 1.5 pounds of steak in a day.
Beef has roughly 4.5g/kg, and 5g is commonly recommend as optimal dose of creatine.
If you’re looking for the stupidest student, it’s probably better to look at the least capable player on the football team rather than the football star. However, why not check out the legacy admissions?
My insider trader admissions policy would be to choose students who aren’t good-looking.
CaptainBooshi says:
Actually, choosing students who aren’t good-looking would almost certainly lead to bad outcomes as well. I remember, back in high school, that how attractive the average student was at a college made a big difference in how attractive most people found the school. You may very well be able to attract a student who could get into a better school just by having more attractive people to be around. It actually fits perfectly into the trade-off model that Scott was talking about.
I also don’t understand your first comment, about looking at the least-capable player. The entire point of Scott’s post was that higher athletic skill might compensate for lower academic ability, so the star is exactly who you would look in that case.
I’m assuming it takes intelligence to be very good at football, and also that even the worst player isn’t really bad at football, but not as good at academics at the general student population.. I’m not sure my reasoning is completely sound– perhaps someone who knows something about college football players will chime in.
I agree that selecting for plain-looking students will damage the universities’ reputation (and probably the reputations of its students), but I’m betting that finding people who’ve been overlooked will add more intelligence than the loss of reputation will drive away. We can assume that universities are already competing on the basis of having pretty people.
A better strategy might be to select for students who aren’t well-dressed and well-groomed and give them some kind of freshman makeover seminar.
T. Greer says:
This only works if we assume said seminar will permanently change their behavior.
I am always curious how those people on “Extreme Make over” look a year or so after the show is over.
a person says:
Can we find anything more promising?
PUA? You can use it to get something everyone wants – sex with lots of attractive people, but people are creeped out by it because (I theorize) they have an implicit belief in souls that suggests people have a core unchanging true self and deviating from presenting that self is a form of dishonesty.
Zathille says:
I have had little to no contact with PUA literature, but the usual objections I’ve seen raised hardly took such dualistic direction [at least superficially] and, instead, expressed suspicion that such practices were inherently manipulative or constituted ’emotional blackmail’ of some sort.
Then again, with my inexperience on the subject, I merely know of the more superficial criticisms raised and am unable to judge their merits.
That’s kind of what I’m saying. “Manipulating” = “tricking” women into having sex with you = putting on a supposed false persona to attract women, which only makes sense if you believe in a “true” persona.
I recognize that this is a controversial subject though. I probably should have said that for certain people this is an example of the phenomenon Scott is discussing.
Kaminiwa says:
You two might be referring to different crowds. There’s definitely PUA that’s just about putting on a different/”false” persona. Buuut… there’s also PUA that’s basically teaching how to be a *successful, competent* abuser. And, obviously, plenty of middle ground too.
ozymandias says:
IME people’s objections to PUA fall into one of the following categories:
(1) some PUA techniques are very ethically dubious (most things that fall in the category of fighting ‘Last Minute Resistance’)
(2) some PUA techniques are not necessarily ethically dubious but are often presented as such by their creators and critics (e.g. negging, disqualification)
(3) PUAs tend to emphasize gender differences very hard, even in places that have absolutely nothing to do with pickup per se, which turns off a lot of feminists and feminist-sympathetic people
(4) a lot of feminists and feminist-sympathetic people are ideologically committed to “everybody is beautiful,” for fairly decent reasons (if you believe that beauty is socially constructed and you would like everybody to be considered beautiful, loudly insisting that everyone is beautiful seems like a fairly decent strategy to achieve this); therefore they dislike an ideology which explicitly opposes that idea
(5) some PUA things appear low-status and therefore people don’t want to believe they will work (peacocking, especially gender-non-conforming peacocking; approaching lots of people; prioritizing getting laid)
(6) steelmanning your “implicit belief in souls” point: people are not actually blank slates, and pretending to be an extroverted and traditionally masculine man when you are not attracts women who are into extroverted, traditionally masculine men, thus leaving you in the unenviable position of either pretending your entire relationship or turning her off and having her leave you.
(7) a lot of PUA advicegivers are actually just keyboard jockeys, making the entire business somewhat unreliable.
Mystery-style peacocking, incidentally, seems to be a pretty clear tradeoff situation: it makes more women really into you and more women think you’re gross than being a generic dude in a polo shirt, and most dudes do not want women to think they’re gross. (Also, to maximize the number of people who don’t think you look gross, you have to learn something about fashion.) I recommend it for entirely selfish reasons, because I want more pretty dudes in eyeliner hanging around for my aesthetic pleasure.
if you believe that beauty is socially constructed and you would like everybody to be considered beautiful, loudly insisting that everyone is beautiful seems like a fairly decent strategy to achieve this
It seems to me that your prediction of the direction of effect is backwards both for this strategy and as a side effect of the PUA ideology.
To the extent that beauty is socially constructed, it is surely also zero-sum. I can’t accept these reasons as “fairly decent”.
Alexander Stanislaw says:
Is beauty zero sum? If everyone suddenly became 100 beautils more attractive I would expect people to have more sex. I don’t really have a good reason for thinking this though.
I imagine when you imagine everyone becoming 100 beautils more beautiful you imagine their actual physical features changing. What would it even mean for everyone to become 100 beautils more beautiful in the socially-constructed sense?
I suppose one strategy might be to create fake people who we socially-construct ugliness onto, to boost the beauty of the real people. Mass media with its beautiful celebrities does basically the exact opposite of this, and to their credit the Radical Omnibeauticians do direct a substantial amount of their hate toward this social phenomenon.
Assuming that beauty is both socially constructed and zero-sum, you could describe the project of the “Omnibeauticians” as trying to attain a redistribution of beauty: to move from a situation in which a society as a whole agrees that supermodels are super beautiful and that fat people/disabled people/etc are not beautiful, to one where there is no such social consensus and any kind of person has a chance of being seen as attractive by a decent number of people.
I don’t think *that* goal is particularly served by “everyone is beautiful” propaganda. For that you want fractured, diverse standards of beauty, not no standards at all.
I dunno how exactly you promote that. Fill the world with various weird fetish porn and hope that what sticks is different from person to person?
instead of saying “everyone is beautiful” you could just say “everyone is beautiful to someone” or “No matter what, you’re somebody’s fetish”
Randy M says:
But the important thing is to be beautiful to someone who you find beautiful as well, and it isn’t necessarily so, or likely to be achievable.
> if you believe that beauty is socially constructed and you would like everybody to be considered beautiful, loudly insisting that everyone is beautiful seems like a fairly decent strategy to achieve this
What’s the threshhold for “fairly decent strategy”? It seems to me that 60 seconds of actual thought would suggest that fighting any standard for discriminating between people head-on will lead only to your developing a reputation as someone who fares poorly according to that standard, and doesn’t want to admit it.
Multiheaded says:
Trivial countermeasure: get attractive people on your side to decry conventional beauty standards.
Which just appears to be sabotaging the competition.
Like, if I tried to get all other men to believe that they shouldn’t care about hygene or social skills or money or whatever, despite my having naturally neutral smell or wit or inheritance. Am I fighting against my privilege, or encouraging others not to try to reduce my natural advantage in areas where the tastes of women are unlikely to change?
I don’t think you understand what most people actually find creepy about being a pick-up artist. In fact, pretty much everyone understands a little dishonesty can be a good thing sometimes.
My theory as to why people find pick-up artists creepy is that it is, at least apparently, incredibly selfish. From everything I’ve heard about the community, they are trying to satisfy their own values with pretty much no regard to the values of the other person, and in the worst cases, are willing to actively sabotage the other person to get what they want.
I have no real interest in having a discussion about whether this is true of pick-up artists or not, but it is definitely the popular opinion, and when I’ve seen them representing themselves, that’s the way they usually come across, so that would be my guess as to why people find them creepy.
Matt S Trout (mst) says:
There’s certainly a huge chunk of it that *appears* incredibly selfish.
I tend to mentally classify techniques into “light side” and “dark side” – the former being the ones that are trying to satisfy values all around, the latter those that are essentially selfish.
One of the things that fascinates me is that, as with self help stuff, the means used to sell the technique may be nothing to do with why the technique actually works – there’s a bunch of stuff I can think of that to me seemed like really pretty basic “how not to come off as a complete creep” but was sold with varying forms of psychobabble so as not to require the student to admit to themselves that they were previously doing so.
Amanda L. says:
Um, I’m creeped out by it because the community seems to have an unusual proportion of people who only pay lip service to the idea that women have agency and moral value. As a woman I find this rather uncomfortable.
More generally, I think it is useful to avoid thinking that people who criticize groups you identify with are doing so for [insert community boo light]: irrational bias (LW), racism/misogyny (social justice circles), etc. It is a fast track to complacency and lack of self awareness.
This, and Booshi’s comment,
are pretty much why PUAs make the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Even when I was desperately single, horny, and lonely, I looked at PUAs and said “Yeaaaaaah, that is not who I want to be at all.
I agree with this comment, but that also means it may in fact be a tradeoff in the sense mentioned in the post.
That is, the fact that most people don’t want to do it because it’s morally questionable seems like a good explanation for how pickup artistry could be “successful” at its stated goal without becoming universal/popular.
The tradeoff holding it at equilibrium is success versus morals.
This brings up a glaring deficiency in the original post. I mentioned the lithium example where we can get free gains by trading off against feelings of creepiness as if this was always a good thing. But sometimes the creepy feeling is right, and what we’re actually doing is winning “free” gains by trading off against the desire to be moral.
Desertopa says:
Speaking as someone who does not, in fact, want sex with lots of attractive people, and would much rather have sex with those relatively few (preferably attractive) people I actually like, I think this is an inaccurate representation of the positions of most objectors to PUA.
You don’t need an implicit belief in souls to believe that individuals have a nature that is to a very significant extent invariant. People certainly behave differently in different contexts (otherwise the Fundamental Attribution Error wouldn’t be an error,) but at the same time, there is clearly a nature component which factors heavily into the overall determination of people’s personalities. People generally don’t just judge whether they’d like to have sex with someone by their impression of how the person is behaving that particular night, but by their impression of what that person is like in general.
(Thought experiment here; imagine that an attractive person at a club is a White Nationalist who spends their spare time agitating for forcible separation of races. They have hooked up with people at the club previously, but none of them knew about this. Do you think that, if the people they had sex with learned this information, none of them would be distressed?)
Now, one might argue that as long as the information is carefully withheld, it won’t cause anyone distress, and thus is not unethical. Whatever the framework behind it though, this doesn’t conform to most people’s ethical intuitions, which is why actions such as Rape By Deception are criminalized.
The point that I think underlies the objections of most people who’re opposed to PUA though, is that the focus on getting men sexual access to attractive women suggests priorities or an ideology that many people find unpalatable. If the general community focus were simply on improving members’ understanding and command of interpersonal communication, which could then be applied to attaining greater sexual or romantic success if the participants so chose, you’d have something like Dale Carnegie seminar training, which far fewer people find objectionable.
I’ve heard folks (guys and/or feminists) speak very approvingly of Mark Manson, an ex-PUA who switched to the self-improvement model. People say that he gives good life advice and feminists would actually give him the time of the day. For a more narrow “ethical PUA” angle, there’s the recently started r/LetsGetLaid.
Geirr says:
Besides Sweden, where is being a lying asshole to get laid a crime? Also, that name is probably politically expedient but it triviaises the experience of rape victims.
ThrustVectoring says:
In general, difficult decisions are not particularly important (and vice-versa). Whenever the net benefit of each choice is close enough to make it hard to decide, the difference between them is rather low. I just thought it strange that it wasn’t mentioned explicitly.
We never debate legalizing murder, and we never debate banning glasses.
I’d think that you were choosing the examples to suggest counterexamples, except that you later switched it to sunglasses.
Morendil says:
Maybe you don’t care about your street name, but other people do, so the $100K savings on buying is also going to mean a $100K shortfall in resale value when you move out. If you’re OK with dying on Slag Lane, though, go for it.
Presumably that 100K is earning interest and stuff. It would be really weird for there to be no advantage at all to having a cheaper house.
You could also just buy a much nicer house on Slag Lane for the same price as a crappy house somewhere else, enjoy the nice house for a while, and then sell it for the same amount you would have sold the crappy house for.
Khoth says:
Perhaps the optimum strategy is to buy a house on a street with a name which is a rude word which is falling out of use. So by the time it comes to sell, it won’t be rude any more and you can sell for full price.
Curiously enough that is pretty much the exact opposite of what happened in real life, e.g. slag used to be a value neutral term for furnace waste, but evolved into a disparaging term for promiscuity.
Elliotte Rusty Harold says:
Yes, but the house is also likely gaining in value too (averaged over the years you live there), so starting 100K in the hole finishes 100K * (1 + X) in the hole later, where the X is the change in value of the house.
Of course, if you need the extra 100K more now than you need 100K * (1 + X) when you sell it, buy the house on slag lane. Similarly, if you expect other investment vehicles to appreciate faster than the house, or to provide liquidity you need, then the buy the house on slag lane. But it’s not a slam dunk to buy on slag lane given that you personally don’t mind the name.
If you’re not convinced by the angle of “spend 100k less on a slag lane house” (which feels like a fully general argument for always buying as much house as you can afford, which ended poorly), then you should at least be convinced by the angle of “buy 100k more house on slag lane”.
Unless you’re like me and actively prefer less house, which turned out awfully well for me, since my house currently has 60% of the value it had when I bought it at almost the worst possible time.
Reversal test: would you buy a house on Good Luck Road that cost $100K more than a similar house on a normally named street?
I know someone who refused to buy a house in Southern California because it was on a street called “Fawnskin,” even though it was in a really nice neighborhood.
Presumably, all the other houses on Good Luck Road are also selling for $100K more than the similar houses around. So sure. It shouldn’t make a difference, unless you can spot a trend going in either direction.
There are two parts to a house’s value – the right to live there, and the right to sell it to someone else. You can estimate the first by looking at prevailing rents, and estimate the second by subtracting rents out.
A really important missing piece of detail is how many people are willing to rent a house with a poor street name. I suspect that there’s a narrower purchase premium over renting in places like that – and really, that’s the metric you should be using for home-buying.
mimosomal says:
And the negative relative holds for much the same reasons obviously, the more naturally appealing people find a certain class of idea based on information that you’ve decided to discount, the more likely a member is to turn out worthless or negative. Examples including most of the push towards natural medicines, philosophical positions and facts that have been wrapped up in good stories and fun traditions to make them more palatable, and so on. On that note, even the less tested racetams probably have an inflated reputation in the nootropics community based on familiarity with piracetam, but halos and horns aside the evidence I’ve seen of noopept being effective without reported issues and Bacopa being harmful due to heavy metal buildup led me to use the former and not the latter.
Also, “Peripherally associated with the Gwernosphere” indicates that you may be indirectly aware of my rather atrocious tumblr through ozy now. Commencing illogical panic at the possibility of a hero knowing me (anonymously) through some of my most awful creations.
Your claims about politics fall into the common trap of assuming we’re all on the same side, and that politics is just about maximizing total utilons. It isn’t. Politics is about deciding who gets how much at the cost of who else. It is about competing interest groups who want different things.
We don’t talk about banning sunglasses because no one wants sunglasses banned. We do debate banning murder, though mostly by arguing whether a particular form of killing people is or is not “murder” (e.g. capital punishment; political assassinations; stand your ground)
We debate raising the minimum wage because it advantages some people (mostly low wage workers) and disadvantages others (mostly employers). The question is not whether raising the minimum wage increases or decreases total utilons. It’s who gets extra utilons (well, in this case we can talk about dollars so who gets extra dollars and who loses dollars) when the minimum is raised. Even if everyone agrees that raising/lowering the minimum wage will increase total utilons/dollars, if it’s going to decrease the utilons/dollars of one group, then that group will oppose the change (and vice versa of course).
Just wanted to say exactly this. Hear, hear!
It sure gets even worse with things like the “war” on “drugs”, where people make everyone worse off just to damage the group they fear and despise. A zero-sum fight for resources is still better than a negative-sum spiral of oppression.
Samuel Skinner says:
“The question is not whether raising the minimum wage increases or decreases total utilons.”
-Actually that is part of the debate; if it reduces total employment it reduces utilons.
“It sure gets even worse with things like the “war” on “drugs”, where people make everyone worse off just to damage the group they fear and despise.”
-The alternate theory I’ve heard is the war on drugs was adopted when more oversight was enforced on police and sentences were reduced. Using drugs as a proxy for anti-social and criminal behavior lets the justice system suppress crime, even with the handicaps they labor under.
But it reproduces crime on a massive scale by destroying neighbourhoods and generally reigning in terror. Haven’t you, like, watched The Wire?
I’ve heard many people say that this is a good description of how the American criminal justice system works today, but I’ve never heard anyone claim it was the original intention. Can you point to someone who actually says that? I find more plausible the obvious hypothesis that Nixon in 1970 wanted to lock up hippies.
An argument against: this hypothesis is bottom-up. The imagery of the “war on drugs” or the “drug czar” is top-down. Imagery isn’t everything, but prison sentences are set centrally; if the problem is short sentences for normal crimes, why increase the sentences for drugs? Another example is asset forfeiture laws, where the police keep what they seize. The whole point of these laws is that the legislature wants the police to prioritize drug laws.
Reducing total employment does not imply reducing total utilons. It may, but that is an empirical question, not one that necessarily follows.
If 1% of low wage jobs are eliminated, but the jobs that remain double in salary, you’re probably increasing total utilons (or not; those dollars are coming from somewhere).
But none of this addresses the main point: the issue is not and never has been total utilons. It is about the distribution of utilons among different groups and individuals.
Utilons/dollars are not strongly conserved. They can both be created and destroyed. However relatively little political disputes resolve around gross utilons/dollars. Far more commonly they are about giving more or less (or taking more or less) from one group or another.
AJD says:
If we want to find the smartest student in a particular college, we might look for someone on a scholarship – because perhaps she would otherwise be at Harvard, but was made less attractive to the Ivy League by her inability to pay them any money.
(I recognize that this is only a hypothetical example; but it seems worth noting that Harvard is less put off by the inability to pay than the typical lower-tier college. I guess extreme wealth is another source of comparative advantage?)
In fact, that example is even less plausible in the way it is worded, since Harvard and all Ivy League schools have some kind of need-blind admission (at Harvard, apparently, even for non-US applicats; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Need-blind_admission).
orthonormal says:
Yes, but you could still have the choice between zero or little need-based aid at Harvard and a full ride at a lesser school. I was tempted to go to a lesser school offering a merit scholarship, because my self-employed dad earned too much to qualify me for need-based aid but didn’t have the guarantee of continued income that would make the price tag irrelevant.
I call this phenomenon the “efficient markets hypothesis of everything.” I used to have a job in which I had a commute through one of the worst highways in the country. Geographically, the main route (a freeway) was through a valley between two large hilly areas that divided the city, but there were several alternate routes one could take over the top of the hills through wealthy residential areas. It turned out that no matter which alternate route I took, there was just enough traffic to make it take almost exactly the same amount of time, or the route was so convoluted that the driving overhead was not quite worth the minimal time savings. I eventually settled on a route that saved me about 10 out of 60 minutes that was very convoluted, but I reduced the cognitive overhead by repetition, making it almost as mindless as the freeway. It only worked in the evening, never in the morning.
The closer there is to being one clear determinant of value in a competitive situation (risk vs. return in the case of the stock market, time in the case of the commute route market), the more differences are optimized away between alternatives. In school admissions there are fewer relevant axes than in public policy, with SAT scores (and other markers that just so happen to highly be correlated with IQ) acting as the primary scoring mechanism.
The “creepy” part of your lithium proposal is that it inherently calls for the government — claiming to act for our good — sets out to manipulate our minds without our consent. What’s next?
That’s the problem with “I think life is only valuable insofar as it gives certain goods associated with living.” There have been many, many, many people who were willing to put conditions on whether life is valuable. Put them in power, and it ends with a stack of corpses and much misery all around.
Do you feel the same about putting iodine in salt? If not, can you articulate the difference?
My answer is as follows: Insofar as we have accepted fluoridated water/iodine in salt/etc, we should go full speed ahead with the lithium. There is no major difference between the scenarios, and if we accept the tradeoffs in regards to fluorine/iodine, there is no reason not to accept them for lithium.
But… actually… that is a major source of scariness. If we accept that the government can mess with our minds in proscribed cases A, B, and C, you just vaulted right over a very importent schelling fence. That is not a route we want to go down at all.
Thus runs the argument against it. It argues that the schelling point is at zero government mind modification, and that is a situation we don’t want to mess with, so much so that we may be willing to take a hit to our health and IQ for its sake.
I’m sympathetic with this argument, but I would not go so far as to wholeheartedly support it. Health and IQ are very important, and I don’t like the notion of trading them away so easily. It’s a tough problem, I’ll admit. (Actually, this kinda contradicts Scott’s use of this in his example. I guess it’s rather hard to find a pure example of unambiguous tradeoff-free policies that have not been implemented. (As per Scott’s whole point, but I digress.))
In any case, I think the best solution is to add them in, so long as there is a clear, legal, and easy way for anyone to filter them out of their personal water supply, if they are so inclined. That way, everyone get’s the boosts to there health and IQ, and if anyone feels things have gone to far, they can just install a filter over their house’s water supply, and remove the stuff they don’t want. It seems like the best of both worlds…
If you’re mentioning Schelling fences; The status quo is a quite important Schelling fence. You could take that and halt there, even though it’s not a logically consistent Schelling fence were one to start on top of the Schelling hill.
Mind modification!
Iodine affects the mind as well, as do many things that are put into your food.
Also, the reason why lithium was suggested is because the lithium levels in some water supplies are abnormally low compared to other regions. This intervention would simply maintain a standard level of lithium in the water supply rather than leaving it to chance.
Ken Arromdee says:
If you can get doctors and scientists to classify lithium as a nutrient, and lithium deficiency as a deficiency disease which affects mental health and is caused by an absence of lithium in the diet, then you might be able to compare it to iodine. Otherwise, there’s a difference between a substance that alters mental health because it alleviates a deficiency that harms mental health, and a substance that affects mental health because it is a mind-altering substance and moves minds in a particular direction rather than moving them towards what is clearly a base state and stopping there.
Is it better to earn a dollar, or to avoid the loss of a dollar?
One way micronutrients and essential vitamins are defined is basically to put animals or humans on a normal diet completely deficient of it, and see if they look worse off than a control group. Murder, suicide, rape – all these seem like the deficient group is worse off to me.
I understand why this proposal scares you. Iodine is an innocent “nutrient”. Whereas Lithium is a scary “drug” that big pharma produces in pills. However, please realize why “drug” might be an unnatural category.
Some cities have problems with crime and suicide, and other cities mysteriously don’t (we knew that). What we’ve recently found out, is that a very significant part of that difference is caused by differences in the naturally occurring levels of lithium. Cities that have lower lithium supplies tend to have problems with crime and suicide. How can you not be excited that such a simple thing could be the cause of such a seemingly unstoppable problem? Now you could:
1) Demand that every city now filter out all of their lithium thus increasing the amount of suicides and crimes in the world because lithium is a “drug”. And there is a Deontic Principle that “People shouldn’t be taking drugs without their consent”.
2) You could create a standard for the levels of lithium in water supplies that will save millions of lives.
As I’ve tried to explain above, there’s a difference between something which affects you by moving you towards a baseline, and which no longer affects you in the same manner once you have reached the baseline, and something which affects you by moving you in a particular direction without a baseline (that is not an obvious overdose). The former is characterized as a deficiency; the latter isn’t.
Using your dollar analogy, if you have a hole in your pocket, you may lose money, and putting a patch on the hole will keep you from losing money. However, you won’t find yourself with even more money if you put on two patches. Patching the hole takes you to a base state and more patches have no effect. On the other hand, if you work at an hourly job to earn money, working more hours will let you earn additional money. So patching the hole is “preventing a loss” while earning the money at a job isn’t, even if patching the hole means you don’t lose $x and working at the job means you earn $x with the same net effect on your money supply as patching the hole.
Giving people iodine is the equivalent to patching a hole. Giving people lithium isn’t.
As I’ve tried to explain above, there’s a difference between something which affects you by moving you towards a baseline, and which no longer affects you in the same manner once you have reached the baseline, and something which affects you by moving you in a particular direction without a baseline (that is not an obvious overdose). The former is characterized as a deficiency; the latter isn’t…Giving people iodine is the equivalent to patching a hole. Giving people lithium isn’t.
I don’t see how you can possibly know this, and why my reversal test is inaccurate. To be more explicit: due to heavy rains this spring, the lithium level in the local wells spikes from 11mcg/l to 70mcg/l; admission rates to the local mental hospital halves from 22 per 10k residents to 13 per 10k (estimate borrowed from Dawson et al 1972); the local government refuses to act as this change is well below EPA-defined safe limits for lithium in drinking water; is this a gross injustice, and would you vote on a referendum to add additional filtering to the wells to restore the original levels?
Again, what is the moral difference between losing a dollar and missing out on the gain of a dollar? Do humans really have holes?
would you vote on a referendum to add additional filtering to the wells to restore the original levels?
By a baseline level I (roughly) mean a level 1) at which the substance stops having a beneficial effect (and where the beneficial effect is considered beneficial by pretty much everyone), and 2) which is still far from the range where it has harmful effects. Iodine has this and lithium doesn’t. Something does not become a baseline level merely because it is the original level.
what is the moral difference between losing a dollar and missing out on the gain of a dollar? Do humans really have holes?
To take the second answer first, yes, humans have “holes”–I’m comparing holes to deficiency diseases. Humans certainly can have a deficiency of iodine, but humans cannot have a deficiency of lithium, because iodine and lithium behave differently: a certain level of iodine is necessary for normal functioning and additional doses of iodine cannot help further, while additional doses of lithium continue to have mind-altering effects far past the point where the negative consequences begin.
The answer to the first question is that there’s no moral difference when talking about perfect people, but there’s a huge practical difference. If there is widespread agreement that the effects are positive and if there’s a level at which the positive effects end before there are any negative ones, we don’t need to trust the person who supplies the substance to make good tradeoffs between positive and negative effects or to make good decisions about whether an effect is actually positive.
And again, your basis for this is…? You can know this how…? We observe severe dysfunctionality correlated with low levels of lithium: suicide, murder, insanity. This matches iodine exactly.
Prussian Prince of Automata says:
If this were pretty much any other time and place adding lithium to the water would make sense for a variety of excellent reasons[1], but our government simply cannot be trusted with the power to administer psychiatric medication without consent. It demonstrated as much when it started using involuntary psychiatric commitment to avoid the constitutional protection against double jeopardy[2], and by the eagerness many of it’s academic allies have to medicalize dissent[3].
Once a chemical popularly conceived of primarily as an anti-psychotic is placed into the water supply the doors to genuinely harmful drugging are left wide open; indeed it seems practically in invitation to do so. Maybe this is just a failure of my imagination, but I cannot for the life of me think of any argument which could be used to protect people against forced administration of mood altering chemicals which would also allow for lithium supplementation through the water.
[1] And not just mental health reasons; it looks like Lithium’s effect on lifespan might be because it reduces expression of LSD1 (a protein which demethylates histones).
[2] While SVP laws were made with pedophiles in mind, like the rest of the legal architecture around “sex offender” laws they are wide open to abuse as the definition of what constitutes a “sex crime” becomes murkier and the psychiatric community (or at least the people writing the DSM-5) continues to expand what constitutes a mental illness.
[3] Radish did a really excellent article on this, but this is hardly just a right wing concern; people on the far left have been making similar observations for years. It is far too easy and far too profitable to label any behavior you don’t approve of as pathological, whether the specific targets are ‘racists’ or gays.
I have never said that because problems are correlated with the absence of X, the problems are caused by a deficiency of X, and I see no reason why I should. Lack of Rogaine is correlated with baldness, and lack of iron is also correlated with baldness, but the latter is a deficiency and the former is not.
Treating a deficiency is different from administering a drug, even though in both cases supplying a substance alleviates symptoms.
You haven’t answered any of my questions or given a principled clear explanation of why iodine is A-OK and lithium sheerly beyond the pale (poor analogies to Rogaine aside), so I think I’m going to stop here.
nydwracu says:
Break it down.
1) Would any reasonable person, aware of both the state of the scientific literature and of the shortcomings of that literature, and without any exceptionally rare medical condition that they would already know about and be equipped to deal with, add the thing at hand to their own water supply, assuming it’s not already present at the necessary level?
2) Would any reasonable community of a few hundred people, aware of etc., add the thing to their own water supply, assuming etc.?
If the answers to 1) and 2) are both ‘yes’, what’s the problem with taking another scale jump and saying it should be added at the state level? Or does lithium fail one or both of those tests?
One of the points of having a state that can put things in the water supply is that not everyone has the IQ, the free time, the interest, or the patience to add the things on their own. Another point of having a state that can etc. is that there are community benefits to having the people least likely to add the things on their own get the things added.
If you’re in Kazakhstan (I’m not sure if iodized salt was a government initiative in the US), you benefit directly from salt iodization, but you also benefit from the increase in general intelligence brought about by salt iodization, and from the effects of that increase, whatever they might be.
If you’re in America, you might benefit directly from lithium in the water supply, but you’d also benefit from the drop in crime, and from the effects of that drop, and those benefits don’t obtain unless it’s done large-scale.
There really isn’t a good heuristic for this sort of thing that allows abstraction away from the properties of the proposal at hand, except “stick with the status quo” — and nobody would actually hold that; if it were demonstrated tomorrow that a component of the status quo had serious negative effects, who would not campaign to change the status quo toward avoiding those effects?
Ken Arromdee’s point is pretty clear to me, and I’m not sure why people are missing it:
Iodine deficiency is well-studied, severe, and easily treated. Furthermore, iodine is of relatively low toxicity, and overdose is not a meaningful risk for most people, unless they’re eating a whole ton of kelp.
Lithium is a very different story. There are a handful of suggestive studies about lithium deficiency being associated with mental illness, but there’s no consensus and no generally agreed on deficiency syndrome. A lot of people pushing the lithium deficiency concept are supplement pushers and quacks. On the other hand, there are a damn ton of unpleasant side effects to lithium at therapeutic levels, including obesity, sedation, and cognitive blunting.
tl;dr: Iodine offers big, well-understood benefits and minimal harm. Lithium offers poorly-documented benefits, and extensive and well-understood harms. The two are not comparable.
Lithium is a very different story. There are a handful of suggestive studies about lithium deficiency being associated with mental illness, but there’s no consensus and no generally agreed on deficiency syndrome. A lot of people pushing the lithium deficiency concept are supplement pushers and quacks. On the other hand, there are a damn ton of unpleasant side effects to lithium at therapeutic levels, including obesity, sedation, and cognitive blunting…Lithium offers poorly-documented benefits, and extensive and well-understood harms.
There’s a damn ton of side effects – at doses as much as 6000x larger (the ceiling of natural levels tends to be 150 micrograms/l, therapeutic doses seem to be often around 900mg or 900000mcg). This is a point that has been made repeatedly.
More importantly, you are attacking a strawman here. Neither me nor Scott nor anyone else is calling for running out and dumping lithium in local reservoirs. We certainly do agree that the data, while interesting, is very far from definitive. Our criticisms are about the absence of experimentation: we are calling for experiments to be done to furnish precisely the sort of information which would show lithium to be useful at all.
After all if the correlations turn out to not be causal (as is one’s strong prior for any correlational result of this sort), then there is nothing further to debate! Obviously. It will just have been some boring confounding from insufficient controlling for rural populations or the success of the local harvest being caused by additional rain or something else we’ll never figure out, and of no general interest.
The question is, if the causality is verified, whether lithium should then join the ranks of other public health interventions such as iodization, iron fortification, vitamin D fortification, fluoridization, vaccines, remineralization of overly-purified water (eg from revere osmosis), and if not, what clear moral principle bars its use.
My response is that you can tell the difference based on what happens when you administer it. If you administer it, it causes some unarguably beneficial changes, and then the changes stop, then it’s a nutrient, and the point at which the changes stop is the baseline level at which the body functions normally. If you administer it, and it keeps causing changes all the way up to the point of toxicity without there being any level that you can call baseline, and there are harmful changes as well as beneficial ones or the changes are only arguably beneficial, then it’s a drug.
That is completely ridiculous. All ‘drugs’ and ‘nutrients’ have different dose-response curves and ranges. Does ‘water’ pass your criterion? What about hormones? Consider the case of melatonin: after 10mg or so, it stops having effects on sleep and instead starts having different effects (for example, being a contraceptive); is melatonin a ‘nutrient’ or a ‘drug’? By your definition, apparently it is a ‘nutrient’ because it has ‘some unarguably beneficial changes’ (sleep is good) and then changes stop (past 10mg). What about drugs that change their effects at different doses, like nicotine switching from stimulant to depressant? Or let’s take iodine: iodization can kill people in previously-deficient populations because of thyroid shock; was it a ‘drug’ for some people and a ‘nutrient’ for others…?
This is not a distinction which cleaves reality at the joints. Status quo bias indeed.
That’s a reasonable argument, but I don’t think it’s reasonable to expect people to notice that he made it, buried among all the other arguments he made.
I think it’s the substance of KA’s first comment on the subthread, which got misread (at least I misread it on the first pass). The subthread then got sidetracked splitting hairs over what nutrient and deficiency actually mean. But that’s really a distraction; what’s concretely relevant is our knowledge of the shapes of the respective benefit curves.
Of course my response to your comment was to reread all of Ken’s comments, which is why I didn’t condemn them wholesale. It’s not like I merely “misread” his first comment the first time; I attempted to read it in light of yours and utterly failed. It still appears to me to be 200 proof status quo bias. That comment is all about “baseline”; ignoring Ken is the only way not to be distracted by definitions.
It’s really pretty simple, and I’m actually saying both things at the same time.
A nutrient is something which it is necessary to consume for normal functioning of the body. Lack of a nutrient is a deficiency.
A drug is a substance which alters the normal functioning of the body. Lack of a drug is not a deficiency.
Alexander tried to blur the distinction on the grounds that in both cases you add a substance to the body and cause changes, and that “normal functioning” is arbitrary, so there is no difference between a nutrient (iodine) and a drug (lithium).
And the fact that nutrients and drugs behave in these different manners is *why* we can trust untrustworthy people to supply nutrients more than we can trust them to supply drugs.
St. Rev: Or in other words, yes it’s about the benefit curves, but nutrients and drugs inherently have different benefit curves.
Where’s ‘without our consent’ coming from? You and I live in a democracy, more or less, and if I had my way it’d be more. Lithium would go in the water because elected representatives approved it, or because voters did in a referendum. Not everyone would agree but hey, maybe those could get a water purifier that removed lithium.
That is why democracy is evil.
That is why our Constitution is ringed around with rights to prevent a mob composing 51% of our citizens from shoving whatever nonsense they please down the throat of the 49%.
The idea that the 49% somehow consented because the 51% decided is a plea of tyrants.
Essentially, every form of government ultimately requires some level of coercive power in order to accomplish anything useful. You need some body with the power to make people do things they wouldn’t otherwise do in order to resolve certain coordination problems for the public good, and the threat of force can improve outcomes in game theoretic considerations. That democracy involves coercion doesn’t make it any more tyrannical than any other form of government, it just invests the coercive power in the hands of the public majority instead of elsewhere.
My evidence for this is purely anecdotal, but I think you may be a bit too glib about the possibility of someone who could get into Harvard settling on a mid-tier school instead. My impression (as a college teacher who has worked at several schools and talked to other college teachers who have worked at several schools) is that although the overall distribution of student quality varies substantially from school to school, almost every school has some real top-notch students who could do well at, say, an Ivy League school. Often these students will choose a mid-tier school because it’s geographically convenient, or for financial reasons, but sometimes they’ll choose it because their friends go there, or some relatives went there, or because (say) they’re Baptist and it’s a Baptist school. So maybe admissions officers’ jobs are worthwhile after all.
Yeah, I know someone who says he thinks the top Boston University students are as good as the top ones at Yale, but the BU bottom is much lower. He says this as someone who wasn’t a top student at Yale.
Then you’re trading off geographic convenience and religious concordance against prestigiousness. That doesn’t seem to change the model much, just add more (admittedly personally idiosyncratic) terms.
In one of Malcolm Gladwell’s books (I forget which, unfortunately,) he makes the argument that above a certain threshold of IQ, further intelligence doesn’t make much difference in one’s capacity for intellectual accomplishments, and accomplishment is determined largely by other factors which act in addition to the individuals’ intelligence.
He set this threshold around an IQ of 120, and as supporting evidence, he did a breakdown of the colleges attended by Nobel Prize winners, and showed that they were not particularly slanted towards top tier schools, which presumably smarter students would be able to get into.
…Except that if he had looked at the IQ scores of Nobel Prize winners, he would have found that average is much higher than his suggested threshold, which refutes the supposition that which college the person attended is an effective proxy for IQ. But in either case, it suggests that the real top tier students are not strongly concentrated in the top tier schools.
Seems like that would lead to a considerable underestimate since elite colleges have steadily gotten more selective since the 1940s, Nobel prizes are awarded at long lags (on top of the lag between elite college and Nobel-winning work), and how old is the cited research anyway?
“learning that a large portion of the electorate is biased against death means that certain death-related policies can be tradeoff-free utility gains to me”
I’m not sure what that means in practice, here.
Nootropics… well, evolution isn’t perfect, but to first order the same logic applies: if there were some easy and costless way to improve brain performance, we might expect evolution to have included it already. So there’s a presumptive bias against improvement drugs: if they work, there may be a good reason we don’t naturally do what they do. Maybe it’s an obsolete reason (“makes you burn more calories”) but you need to know what the reason is first…
James James says:
“I can’t support capital punishment until it gets better at sparing the innocent and maybe becomes more cost-effective.”
I was under the impression that the high cost of capital punishment is caused by its opponents.
DavidS says:
Do you think that they deliberately just raise the cost of killing the guilty? Or that it’s due to concern about killing the innocent? (This is a genuine question, btw, not snark: I can imagine campaigners wanting to ‘raise the cost of doing business’ overall as well as saving the wrongly convicted.
Personally, I have another problem with capital punishment: assuming we don’t get magically better at improving evidence-gathering, introducing capital punishment either means
a) convicting people at the current level of proof, meaning some innocents will die
b) upping the level of proof for everything, making it hard to lock up those who are almost certianly guilty
c) having different levels of proof, which I suspect would undermine trust in the system (‘we’re sure enough to lock you up for life but not to execute you’ probably doesn’t keep the defence or prosecution happy)
Considering many of them openly and loudly profess their dislike for capital punishment for the most evil and egregious cases, I would say it’s very implausible that they would not try to hinder the executions if they knew the criminal was guilty.
Sorry, I wasn’t very clear. As well as the innocence point, I think campaigners may try to save the guilty (in a way that inevitably increases costs) without setting out to waste government money. Or they could have a deliberate strategy of making it too costly an approach: that’s possible too. I don’t live in a country with capital punishment so I don’t hear much of how those campaigns work in practice.
“Do you think that they deliberately just raise the cost of killing the guilty?”
No comment, I’m just pointing out that most advocates of capital punishment do not advocate the very expensive current system where people sit on death row for decades, often until they die of natural causes.
One argument for capital punishment is that it should be much cheaper than keeping people in jail forever. The expense of the current system of capital punishment does not seem to me to be an argument against it; rather it’s an argument against drawing out the process for years.
As a consequentialist, it seems to me that the costs of executing innocent people are outweighed by the costs of keeping guilty people in jail forever. (It used to be called “dying for your country”.)
I don’t see how “having different levels of proof… would undermine trust in the system (‘we’re sure enough to lock you up for life but not to execute you’…)”. It seems to me to be an excellent, marginalist idea. Executing a few people would be better than executing none. We could start with Michael Adebolajo, who is extremely clearly guilty.
It may be an excellent idea in theory. But it’s pretty critical the justice system makes sure that ‘justice is seen to be done’ on a fairly gut level.
I think this is a large part of why we distinguish attempted murder from murder, and why a drunk driver who happens to hit and kill a child is treated differently to one that doesn’t.
It seems very obvious to me that saying we had enough proof to put someone in prison for life but not to executr them would make the victims and punitive types scream they were let off, and the defence to be appalled that you were giving life in prison even though you weren’t that sure.
Maybe once courts give actual percentage chances of guilt and identify what % ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ means, this will be possible. At the moment, I’d be incredibly shocked.
As for ‘better to execte a few’, I completely disagree. Passing the Schelling point by having the death penalty at all reduces moral authority when opposing the wider use of execution elsewhere. Doing it to save the cost of locking u a handful of people isn’t worth that fixed overhead cost.
Incidentally, a justice system that recognised degress of ‘beyond reasoanble doubt’ would inevitably attract more appeals and thus cost, as it’s an extra distinction to fight over.
Judges already have discretion over sentencing. The jury says guilty or not guilty, then the judge decides the sentence, within sentencing guidelines. So two people convicted of the same offence can already get different sentences if the details are different, e.g. mitigating circumstances, or if one crime is more “serious” than the other.
I accept what I’m proposing is different: different sentences not because the details of the crimes are different but based on strength of evidence.
But I don’t think the difference is a big deal. Framing can help. You could say that the “default” sentence is death, but if the evidence isn’t completely clear, you get life imprisonment as a “bonus”.
“Passing the Schelling point by having the death penalty at all reduces moral authority when opposing the wider use of execution elsewhere.”
You say that like it’s a bad thing.
“Doing it to save the cost of locking u a handful of people isn’t worth that fixed overhead cost.”
This begins to sound like special pleading of exactly the sort I was complaining about above: “the high cost of capital punishment is caused by its opponents.”
Discretion on sentencing is based on severity of crime, not lack of certainty of guilt. Saying that someone can be guilty of various levels of crime is different to saying ‘well, given you might be innocent we’re just throwing you in prison for the rest of your life’.
I’m really not sure whether you just think it would be good if society worked like this, or if you think that it would genuinely work in current societies. But looking back over your posts, I think we’re coming from incredibly different positions. The idea you can found a decision for the death penalty on such a stark utilitarian calculation (based on cost, not even harm by murderers) etc. is also massively unrealistic IMO.
I was also assuming that you thought capital punishment was a necessary evil, so to speak. If you’re relaxed about giving tacit support to high-execution regimes, happy to default to execution and prefer executing innocents to the costs of keeping the guilty in prison, we’re coming from utterly different perspectives, so the pragmatic arguments of balancing when capital punishment is justified are unlikely to go anywhere.
My final point isn’t special pleading at all, and nothing to do with the death penalty, just with having degrees of certainty of guilt. You get appeals when it’s unclear which side of a line something falls, and the more different lines you add to the system, the more it will be unclear where exactly something sits. Unless you’re also proposing we massively lower the standards for conviction, the line for ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ for life imprisonment and ‘beyond the shadow of a doubt’ for death penalty would be very fine indeed.
“The idea you can found a decision for the death penalty on such a stark utilitarian calculation (based on cost, not even harm by murderers)”
Well of course a rational, i.e. consequentialist system would take everything into account: cost, harm/deterrent, etc.
Funnily enough, Moldbug has already discussed the idea of “Bayesian courts”. “For instance, our courts – the form of official reasoning we know best – operate on a decidedly pre-Bayesian paradigm. The defendant is innocent (null hypothesis) until proven (inappropriate use of deductive terminology in inductive context) guilty.”
http://unqualified-reservations.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/adore-river-of-meat.html
Hmm. Another point — they could be the chief cause without intending it, but that doesn’t change their nature.
Sort of. I think it’s caused by the high cost of appeals, which opponents demand in order to ensure that no innocent people slip by. But I’d guess that lessening all these appeals would cause more innocent people to slip by, which would also be bad.
I do think it would be possibly to have near-equally-good precision with lower cost, but only in the same sense we could probably do this with our entire justice system if the country was better run, and this is apparently really hard.
You claim that the appeals process filters out innocent people. I’m pretty sure that the result of the appeals process is life imprisonment, not acquittal. The best one can say for such a system is that it has a higher standard of evidence for death than for life. Is that what you want?
Depends on what grounds your appeal is about.
My personal weird preferences tell me that I’d rather be executed than life imprisoned, but conditioning on most people having the opposite preference, yeah, I would like a higher standard of evidence for execution than life imprisonment, just like I’m perfectly fine with police officers being able to give out speeding tickets at will but they should have to go through the court system to give out jail terms.
Do you actually have a principle that they move from death to life imprisonment due to uncertainty of guilt? I thought that was only a hypothetical (and I’m arguing against it above). I’d assume death row appeals would either be mitigating circumstances of some kind, or would be aiming at actual release.
The house thing is a very practical one for most people, and can potentially cover renting as well (where there’s less of an issue with resale value).
However, it goes beyond the cases where the other people’s values are weird (street name, haunting etc.) To some extent, I think almost everyone assumes the market valuation of places is some evidence as to their value to them as an individual. But the market values houses based on lots of things that might not be relevant to you particularly. So (in the UK at least, not sure how this works in the States) if you’re considering renting a family-size house and discover it’s in the catchment area of a really good school (the area where the school takes pupils from first), then bear in mind you are probably paying for a privilege you will never use. Ditto with people buying computers with lots of graphics/audio capability aimed at gamers when actually they just want an efficient word processor and internet browser.
Given that estate agents and salesmen rarely point out the weaknesses of what they’re selling, I think it’s very useful to pay attention to whether there are large elements of the sales pitch that don’t matter to you at all. If so, you’re probably not getting a good deal.
This is quite right. In my case I benefited from the converse of the situation you describe: I have an awesome house in a “bad” part of town. The most rational reason for not buying such houses is that they tend to be in “bad” school districts. (Of course crime is also a concern, but people tend to overestimate the risks of crime to people who take reasonable precautions.) I don’t have kids, and so I benefit from the decreased demand.
mcallisterjp says:
I’m in a similar situation that’s possibly even a little more one-sided: I have a house in an area at the boundary of two postcode regions, where one is much more prestigious than the other. Houses on the less prestigious side of the road seem to cost >10% less for the same space and quality, and they can hardly be in a much worse area than the other side of the road.
I hypothesize that quite such an extreme differential is largely driven by buyers-to-let, who pay disproportionate attention to postcode-scoped statistics as a quick way of summarizing information about an area.
So I’m profiting from the worst argument in the world, I guess.
That’s a really good heuristic.
People *do* debate raising the minimum wage, because it has some plausible advantages and some plausible disadvantages. We might be able to squeeze one or two extra utils out of getting the minimum-wage question exactly right, but it’s unlikely to matter terribly much
I think this assumption is naive, especially since I remember commenters on this blog previously discussed the fact that, empirically, raising the minimum wage doesn’t really seem to have the ill effects imputed to it in terms of lower employment.
Obviously there are a lot more minimum wage workers who would benefit from a wage rise than their bosses who might have their profits reduced slightly, but in fact the minimum wage isn’t even kept up in line with inflation.
I think in this case the process is more like: raising the minimum wage (by some reasonable amount) would benefit workers, but hurt corporate profits. Economists who argue against raising the minimum wage from unrealistic classical economics principles get more funding, jobs in right-wing “think tanks” than economists who test the situation empirically.
The existence of a debate about something doesn’t always mean that the evidence for trade-offs is equivocal; it can also indicate a disparity in power and status between the people who would benefit and those who would lose out.
Most of the public in the UK would support making sure corporations don’t dodge tax, or taxing excessive banker pay, but the governing party gets half its funding from the finance industry, so they won’t do either of those.
The evidence that minimum wage doesn’t hurt employment is pretty controversial. And the evidence that it does help poverty in a meaningful way is pretty controversial too.
…by using the phrase “those who would lose out” and imputing to them the power to fight minimum wage increases, you’re already acknowledging the existence of a tradeoff.
I think you might be overestimating what I mean by “squeeze out a few utils”. I’m not saying there can’t be a right side to political issues. I’m saying that political issues will always have losers, the loss will always be non-negligible (hence why there are so many businesspeople who oppose minimum wage increases), and that this is disappointing compared to some hypothetical policy that has only benefits – a policy which we would expect not to exist in politics-space because the only things we talk about are ones with politically-powerful opposing sides.
Yeah, but is it ‘controversial’ because the evidence is genuinely weak, or because some economists have been captured to serve the interests of the rich? Academic economics is very corrupt. The section on this in the film Inside Job (nb, it’s about the 2008 finance crisis, not 9/11) is particularly convincing.
In general we could say that (number of utilons X political influence) will be roughly balanced on each side.
That means a policy that would hugely benefit millions of low status people, and mildly inconvenience the high status, will be as controversial as one that makes a tiny difference to everybody.
I think the difference between the two cases is important to bear in mind.
See for example Bryan Caplan (http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2013/03/the_vice_of_sel.html ) and various things by Neumark.
See also evidence that only about 15% of gains from raising minimum wage go to genuinely poor people (will look this up if you can’t find it)
Given how simple the microecon theory that predicts “raising the minimum wage causes unemployment” is, the fact that the evidence might be controversial is significant in itself. But: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/04/economists-agree-raising-the-minimum-wage-reduces-poverty/?tid=up_next
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Eliezer Yudkowsky says:
My mental model of Michael Vassar says that you are waaaaaaayyyyyyyyy overestimating the background competence of the planet. On reflection, I agree with my mental model of Michael Vassar. This blog post was written for a different planet, not the one where immigration is this heavily restricted and there are random trade barriers all over the place and nobody uses the land-value tax or NGDP level targeting and the government diet handbook is still telling pregnant woman to eat folic acid instead of choline and blah blah blah civilizational inadequacy.
Can I have a link on folic acid versus choline for pregnant women ? (I mean, something else than lmgfy ).
James Brooks says:
I am in agreement with the admissions hypothetical but for life-hacks I think you are assuming a greater level of knowledge in the area than exists in the population. Spaced repetition learning, mental contrasting, and implementation intentions are three examples where I think most people would be unaware of them yet could significantly improve an aspect of their life if they did know about and use them.
Berna says:
I for one don’t know what ‘mental contrasting’ and ‘implementation intentions’ are.
Princess_Stargirl says:
Generally:
Psychologists have cataloged a list of common cognitive biases. As far as I know most of what Kahneman/Tversky’s work still holds up. If a person can overcome some of these biases then they should be able to get an advantage in many situations.
A more controversial point:
I think one plausible way to get advantage is to exploit the fact that many people are very unwilling to break certain laws. Even when its pretty safe. Take modafinil, most people agree its effective and since its schedule 4 its not a big risk to buy it online. But you can presumably get an advantage from being in the 30-50% of people who are wlling to take prescription drugs to be more productive.
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Just one day after the announcement of a $1,555,000 settlement with North Memorial Health Care of Minnesota under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules, the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) announced March 17, 2016 that Feinstein Institute for Medical Research has agreed to pay $3.9 million and will undertake a substantial corrective action plan to settle charges of HIPAA violations and bring its operations into compliance. The two settlements drive home again the substantial liability that health care providers, health plans, health care clearinghouses and their business associates risk for violating HIPAA. Register for March 30, 2016 Solutions Law Press, Inc. briefing to learn the latest about this and other new regulatory and enforcement guidance impacting the HIPAA compliance obligations and risks of health care providers, health plans, health care clearinghouses and their business associates. 3/30 Webex Shares Latest On Security, Patient Access & Other HIPAA Developments.
Feinstein Settlement
Feinstein is a biomedical research institute that is organized as a New York not-for-profit corporation and is sponsored by Northwell Health, Inc., formerly known as North Shore Long Island Jewish Health System, a large health system headquartered in Manhasset, New York that is comprised of twenty one hospitals and over 450 patient facilities and physician practices.
OCR’s investigation began after Feinstein filed a breach report indicating that on September 2, 2012, a laptop computer containing the electronic protected health information (ePHI) of approximately 13,000 patients and research participants was stolen from an employee’s car. The ePHI stored in the laptop included the names of research participants, dates of birth, addresses, social security numbers, diagnoses, laboratory results, medications, and medical information relating to potential participation in a research study.
OCR’s investigation discovered that Feinstein’s security management process was limited in scope, incomplete, and insufficient to address potential risks and vulnerabilities to the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of ePHI held by the entity. Further, Feinstein lacked policies and procedures for authorizing access to ePHI by its workforce members, failed to implement safeguards to restrict access to unauthorized users, and lacked policies and procedures to govern the receipt and removal of laptops that contained ePHI into and out of its facilities. For electronic equipment procured outside of Feinstein’s standard acquisition process, Feinstein failed to implement proper mechanisms for safeguarding ePHI as required by the Security Rule.
“Research institutions subject to HIPAA must be held to the same compliance standards as all other HIPAA-covered entities,” said OCR Director Jocelyn Samuels. “For individuals to trust in the research process and for patients to trust in those institutions, they must have some assurance that their information is kept private and secure.”
The resolution agreement and corrective action plan may be found here.
The Feinstein settlement announcement follows yesterday’s announcement of a $1.5 million plus settlement with North Memorial to resolve HIPAA charges that it failed to implement a business associate agreement with a major contractor and failed to institute an organization-wide risk analysis to address the risks and vulnerabilities to its patient information. North Memorial is a comprehensive, not-for-profit health care system in Minnesota that serves the Twin Cities and surrounding communities. The settlement highlights the importance for healthcare providers, health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and their business associates to comply with HIPAA’s business associate agreement and other HIPAA organizational, risk assessment, privacy and security, and other requirements.
The Resolution Agreement and Corrective Action Plan can be found here.
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As part of the broader series of regulatory and executive actions that President Obama says the Obama Administration is taking in hopes of deterring gun violence, the Department of Health & Human Service Office of Civil Rights (“OCR”) is amending the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) Privacy Rule applicable to health care providers, health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and their business associates (hereafter, collectively “Covered Entities”) to expressly permit some (not all) HIPAA-Covered Entities to disclose the identities of and certain other protected health information (PHI) of individuals with certain mental health conditions that would disqualify the individual from having a firearm under Federal law.
“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule and the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS): Final Rule” (“Final Rule”) scheduled for official publication in the Federal Register today (January 6, 2016).
The adoption of the Final Rule provides more latitude for some by not all health care providers covered by HIPAA to report for listing on the NICS patients with gun ownership disqualifying mental health histories under the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1993, Pub. L. 103-159 (Brady Gun Law), and its implementing regulations.
However, an analysis of a prepublication copy of the Final Rule available for review here reveals that while the Final Rule will provide greater latitude for some Covered Entities to disclose the identify and other specified PHI to the NICS data base, Covered Entities contemplating making such disclosures should conduct a careful, well-documented analysis of the proposed report to ensure that the disclosure fulfills each of the requirements to qualify as allowed by the Final Rule.
The NICS reporting and other requirements of the Brady Gun Law and the Gun Control Act of 1968, as amended (Title 18, United States Code, Chapter 44), certain individuals from owning, and licensed dealers from selling or otherwise transferring firearms to certain categories of individuals referred to as “prohibitors” including felons and, most relevant for the Final Rule, “mental health prohibitors.”
Under the Department of Justice (DOJ) regulations, a “mental health prohibitors” are defined as individuals who have been involuntarily committed to a mental institution, for reasons such as mental illness or drug use; found incompetent to stand trial or not guilty by reason of insanity; or otherwise determined by a court, board, commission, or other lawful authority to be a danger to themselves or others or unable to manage their own affairs, as a result of marked subnormal intelligence, or mental illness, incompetency.
Prior to the adoption of the Final Rule, many health care providers have cited the HIPAA Privacy Rule as a deterrent to their reporting patients whose mental health history would qualify the patients as mental health prohibitors to the NICS. The HIPAA Privacy Rule, establishes federal protections to ensure the privacy and security of protected health information (PHI) and establishes an array of individual rights with respect to one’s own health information by providing that Covered Entities may only use and disclose individually identifiable health care information considered “protected health information” for purposes of HIPAA (“PHI” with the individual’s written authorization, or as otherwise expressly permitted or required by the HIPAA Privacy Rule.
As interpreted by OCR prior to its adoption of the Final Rule, a health care provider or other Covered Entity generally could not rely upon exceptions from the Privacy Rule for disclosures to law enforcement or for safety to exempt the report from HIPAA’s prohibitions against disclosure of PHI where the record of an involuntary commitment or mental health adjudication originated with a HIPAA covered entity, or the HIPAA covered entity is the State repository for such records. Rather, OCR interpreted the Privacy Rule as providing only three possible ways in which Covered Entities generally could report to the NICS (without the individual’s authorization):
The patient authorized the disclosure in accordance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule;
Where a State enacted a law that requires (and does not merely authorize) such reporting; or
Where no such state law exists, a HIPAA covered entity that performs both health care and non-health care functions (e.g., NICS reporting) could become a hybrid entity under HIPAA so that the Privacy Rule applies only to its health care functions and then report the prohibitor information through its non-HIPAA covered NICS reporting unit without restriction under the Privacy Rule.
OCR’s adoption of the Final Rule implements changes that it previously proposed in 2013 as part of a series of 23 executive actions President Obama proposed in 2013 aimed at curbing gun violence across the nation. OCR says its adoption of the Final Rule is an important step to improving public safety by better enabling the reporting of the identities of prohibited individuals to the background check system “while continuing to strongly protect individuals’ privacy interests.”
While preserving these options, the Final Rule expands the authority of health care providers and other Covered Entities to report a mental health prohibitor to the NICS data bank by creating a specific NICS reporting disclosure exception to the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s general prohibitions against disclosures of PHI without authorization in Privacy Rule § 164.512(k)(7).
Health care providers and other Covered Entities considering making NICS reports about the mental health history of individuals that qualifies as PHI should proceed with caution. The Final Rule only authorizes NICS disclosures of PHI for a small subset of HIPAA Covered Entities that either make the mental health determinations that disqualify individuals from having a firearm or are designated by their States to report this information to NICS. The rule does not apply to most treating providers.
Under the Final Rule, a Covered Entity may use or disclose PHI for purposes of reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System the identity of an individual who is prohibited from possessing a firearm as a mental health prohibitor under 18 U.S.C. 922(g)(4), if the Covered Entity:
Is a State agency or other entity that is, or contains an entity that is either
An entity designated by the State to report, or which collects information for purposes of reporting, on behalf of the State, to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System; or
A court, board, commission, or other lawful authority that makes the commitment or adjudication that causes an individual to be a mental health prohibitor; and
Discloses the information only to:
The National Instant Criminal Background Check System; or
An entity designated by the State to report, or which collects information for purposes of reporting, on behalf of the State, to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System; and
Discloses only the limited demographic and certain other information needed for purposes of reporting to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System; and
Does not disclose diagnostic or clinical information for such purposes.
Health care providers contemplating making or the need to consider making NICS reports about persons with mental health treatment histories need to proceed cautiously as even following the adoption of the Final Rule, the health care provider should anticipate the need to manage a number of risks under HIPAA and otherwise. Obviously, since disclosure of PHI in a NICS report or otherwise exposes health care providers and other Covered Entities to civil penalties, criminal prosecution, licensing board or other disciplinary actions as well as a host of other adverse consequences, a health care provider or other Covered Entity contemplating making a NICS disclosure under the Final Rule or any other disclosure of PHI will want to ensure the all requirements to make the use or disclosure permitted under the Privacy Rule are met.
Beyond these HIPAA considerations, since the disclosures specifically relate to individuals suffering mental illness, health care providers or other Covered Entities also should take steps to mitigate their potential exposures to potential charges of disability discrimination which if not properly managed, could trigger civil sanctions by OCR under its disability discrimination rules, limitation or exclusion from Medicare or other federal program participation, law suits and other liabilities.
In addition, Covered Entities also will want to consider and manage the foreseeable challenges and exposures that could arise from the disclosure under medical malpractice, licensing board, ethics, confidentiality and other applicable federal and state laws and regulations
In light of these and other risks, health care providers or other Covered Entities contemplating making or facing the need to consider making a NICS report should consider, among other things engaging the assistance of qualified legal counsel experienced with HIPAA and these other matters to assist and advise them about:
Reviewing their existing policies and procedures in light of the Final Rule, as well as their state’s current policies regarding the permissibility or requirement to make NICS reports;
Updating their written privacy practices and notices of their privacy practices to allow the NICS report in accordance with the Final Rule
Ensuring that the updated privacy notices are distributed going forward to patients and posted on their websites, in their facilities as required to comply with the Privacy Rule;
Exercising care both to verify that all requirements of the Final Rule (or the other alternatives for allowing disclosure) are met and to preserve documentation of this analysis in the event of a future complaint or investigation;
Reviewing and adopting additional protocols to manage potential mental health disability discrimination exposures under federal and state disability or other discrimination and laws; and
Considering and implementing other processes to manage foreseeable malpractice, breach of medical confidentiality, licensing or ethical requirements or other risks that could result from such disclosures.
For More Information Or Assistance
The author of this update, attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, has extensive experience representing and advising health industry clients and others on these and other regulatory, risk management, public policy and operations matters.
Recognized as a “Top Lawyer” and “Legal Leader” in Healthcare Law, Vice President of the North Texas Health Care Compliance Professionals Association, Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Section, Board Certified in Labor & Employment Law, and the former Board Compliance Chair of the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas, Ms. Stamer has more than 28 years’ experience advising health industry clients about these and other matters. Her experience includes advising hospitals, nursing home, home health, rehabilitation and other health care providers and health industry clients to establish and administer compliance and risk management policies; prevent, conduct and investigate, and respond to peer review and other quality concerns; and to respond to Board of Medicine, Department of Aging & Disability, Drug Enforcement Agency, OCR Privacy and Civil Rights, Department of Labor, IRS, HHS, DOD and other health care industry investigation, enforcement and other compliance, public policy, regulatory, staffing, and other operations and risk management concerns. The scribe for the American Bar Association (ABA) Joint Committee on Employee Benefits annual agency meeting with the Department of Health & Human Services Office of Civil Rights, Ms. Stamer has worked extensively with health care providers, health plans, health care clearinghouses, their business associates, employers, banks and other financial institutions, and others on risk management and compliance with HIPAA and other information privacy and data security rules, investigating and responding to known or suspected breaches, defending investigations or other actions by plaintiffs, OCR and other federal or state agencies, reporting known or suspected violations, business associate and other contracting, commenting or obtaining other clarification of guidance, training and enforcement, and a host of other related concerns. Her clients include public and private health care providers, health insurers, health plans, technology and other vendors, and others. In addition to representing and advising these organizations, she also has conducted training on Privacy & The Pandemic for the Association of State & Territorial Health Plans, as well as HIPAA, FACTA, PCI, medical confidentiality, insurance confidentiality and other privacy and data security compliance and risk management for Los Angeles County Health Department, ISSA, HIMMS, the ABA, SHRM, schools, medical societies, government and private health care and health plan organizations, their business associates, trade associations and others.
A popular lecturer and widely published author on health industry concerns, Ms. Stamer continuously advises health industry clients about compliance and internal controls, workforce and medical staff performance, quality, governance, reimbursement, and other risk management and operational matters. Ms. Stamer also publishes and speaks extensively on health and managed care industry regulatory, staffing and human resources, compensation and benefits, technology, public policy, reimbursement and other operations and risk management concerns. Her insights on these and other related matters appear in the Health Care Compliance Association, Atlantic Information Service, Bureau of National Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insurance, the Dallas Morning News, Modern Health Care, Managed Healthcare, Health Leaders, and a many other national and local publications. You can get more information about her health industry experience here. If you need assistance responding to concerns about the matters discussed in this publication or other health care concerns, wish to obtain information about arranging for training or presentations by Ms. Stamer, wish to suggest a topic for a future program or update, or wish to request other information or materials, please contact Ms. Stamer via telephone at (214) 452-8297 or via e-mail here.
About Solutions Law Press
Solutions Law Press™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, compensation, data security and privacy, health care, insurance, and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and other key operational concerns.
Other Helpful Resources & Other Information.
We hope that this information is useful to you. If you found these updates of interest, you also be interested in other recent Solutions Law Press, Inc. training, articles and resources. You can see more articles from this Health Care Update electronic publication, the Coalition for Responsible Health Care Reform electronic publication, our electronic HR & Benefits Update and other publications like the following and get information about training and other resources at www.Solutionslawpress.com:
Civil Rights Settlement Highlights Health Industry Discrimination Risks As OCR Prepares To Broaden Requirements
Use Free Cyber Security Awareness Month Resources To Boost HIPAA & Other Cyber Security Training & Skills
NLRB 29 Unfair Labor Practice Charges Against Community Health Systems, Inc. Shows Industry Labor Risks
EBSA Speaks On Health Plans At 9/15 Free Study Group Lunch
Health Care Org’s ERISA Health Plan Reimbursement Opportunities & Compliance Obligations Free 9/15 Study Group Topic
OCR’s Proposed Sex & Other Discrimination Rules Spell Headaches & New Risks For Health Care Providers, Insurers & Others
Feds Charges 8 For Alleged $50M In Bogus Student Substance Abuse Counseling Claims
You also can get access to information about how you can arrange for training on “Building Your Family’s Health Care Toolkit,” using the “PlayForLife” resources to organize low-cost wellness programs in your workplace, school, church or other communities, and other process improvement, compliance and other training and other resources for health care providers, employers, health plans, community leaders and others here. If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail by creating or updating your profile here. You can access other recent updates and other informative publications and resources here. If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail – by creating or updating your profile here. For important information concerning this communication see here. THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMER IS INCLUDED TO COMPLY WITH AND IN RESPONSE TO U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 230 REGULATIONS. ANY STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN BY THE WRITER TO BE USED, AND NOTHING CONTAINED HEREIN CAN BE USED BY YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON, FOR THE PURPOSE OF (1) AVOIDING PENALTIES THAT MAY BE IMPOSED UNDER FEDERAL TAX LAW, OR (2) PROMOTING, MARKETING OR RECOMMENDING TO ANOTHER PARTY ANY TAX-RELATED TRANSACTION OR MATTER ADDRESSED HEREIN.
Leave a Comment » | Brady Bill, Gun Control, HIPAA, Mental Health, Psychiatric, Second Amendment, Uncategorized | Tagged: Chemical Dependency, Gun Control, Health Care, Medical Confidentiality, Medical Privacy, Mental Health, Obama, Physician, Privacy, Protected Health Information, Psych, psychiatric | Permalink
5/18 Deadline to Register For 5/19 CMS Provider Call on Medicare and Medicaid EHR Meaningful Use Incentive Programs
Wish you knew more about how to use electronic health records (EHRs) to earn incentive payments from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)? CMS plans to host a national provider education call to help you learn more about meaningful use on Thursday, May 19 at 2:30 p.m. EDT. During the call, CMS plans to discuss:
The definition of meaningful use
The requirements for Stage 1 of meaningful use (2011 and 2012)
How to attest to having met meaningful use
Overview of the meaningful use objectives specification sheets
Stage 1 EHR Meaningful Use Specification Sheets for Eligible Professionals
Stage 1 EHR Meaningful Use Specification Sheets for Eligible Hospitals
Q&A about meaningful use
In order to receive the call-in information, you must register for the call. It is important to note that if you are planning to sit in with a group, only one person needs to register to receive the call-in data. This registration is solely to reserve a phone line, NOT to allow participation. Registration will close at 2:30 p.m. EDT on May 18, 2011, or when available space has been filled. No exceptions will be made, so please be sure to register prior to this time. In order to register, you should:
Visit the registration page.
Fill in all required information and click “Register.”
You will be taken to the “Thank you for registering” page and will receive a confirmation email shortly thereafter. Please save this page in case your server blocks the confirmation emails. (If you do not receive the confirmation email, check your spam/junk mail filter as it may have been directed there.)
If assistance for hearing impaired services is needed, please email medicare.ttt@palmettogba.com no later than three business days before the call.
Prior to the call, presentation materials will be made available in the “Upcoming Events” section of the Spotlight page on the CMS EHR website.
Register for the call today.
Want more information about the EHR Incentive Programs?
Make sure to visit the EHR Incentive Programs website for the latest news and updates on the EHR Incentive Programs.
Sixty-two Regional Extension Centers (RECs) across the nation are prepared to offer customized, on-the-ground assistance for eligible professionals and hospitals registering for the CMS EHR Incentive Programs. To locate an REC near you, visit http://www.healthit.
In addition to the May 10 call, recordings of various other recent health information privacy and data security training offered by agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services also now is avaialble on the web. For instance, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) are making presentations from the 4th annual conference on “Safeguarding Health Information: Building Assurance through HIPAA Security” co-hosted in Washington, D.C. on May 10 & 11, 2011 available on line for review. The training is part of a series of continuing efforts by the agencies to outreach to various parties on the Privacy and Security Rules of the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996, as amended (HIPAA). Meanwhile, OCR’s Susan McAndrew on Monday shared insights on OCR’s HIPAA regulatory and enforcement agenda at a teleconference to be hosted by the American Bar Association Joint Committee on Employee Benefits at Noon Central on May 16, 2011. Recordings of these presentations are or will be accessible on the sponsoring organizations from their websites. For details about reviewing the May 10-11 presentations, see the 2011 HIPAA Conference website here. For details about the May 16 teleconference, see here.
For Help With Monitoring Developments, Compliance, Investigations Or Other Needs
If you need assistance monitoring federal health reform, policy or enforcement developments, or to review or respond to these or other health care or health IT related risk management, compliance, enforcement or management concerns, the author of this update, attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, may be able to help. Vice President of the North Texas Health Care Compliance Professionals Association, Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Section and the former Board Compliance Chair of the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas, Ms. Stamer has more than 23 years experience advising health industry clients about these and other matters. Ms. Stamer has extensive experience advising and assisting health care providers and other health industry clients to establish and administer medical privacy and other compliance and risk management policies, to health care industry investigation, enforcement and other compliance, public policy, regulatory, staffing, and other operations and risk management concerns. A popular lecturer and widely published author on health industry concerns, Ms. Stamer continuously advises health industry clients about compliance and internal controls, workforce and medical staff performance, quality, governance, reimbursement, and other risk management and operational matters. On May 3, 2011, Ms. Stamer served as the appointed scribe for the ABA Joint Commitee on Employee Benefits Agency meeting with OCR and will moderate a teleconference featuring comments by OCR’s Susan McAndrew for the Joint Committee on Employee Benefits scheduled for May 16. Ms. Stamer also publishes and speaks extensively on health and managed care industry regulatory, staffing and human resources, compensation and benefits, technology, public policy, reimbursement and other operations and risk management concerns/ She also regularly designs and presents risk management, compliance and other training for health care providers, professional associations and others including highly popular programs on “Sex Drugs & Rock ‘N Role: Managing Personal Misconduct in Health Care,” “Managing Physician Performance” and others.. Her publications and insights appear in the Health Care Compliance Association, Atlantic Information Service, Bureau of National Affairs, World At Work, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insurance, the Dallas Morning News, Modern Health Care, Managed Healthcare, Health Leaders, and a many other national and local publications. You can get more information about her health industry experience here. If you need assistance with these or other compliance concerns, wish to inquire about arranging for compliance audit or training, or need legal representation on other matters please contact Ms. Stamer at (469) 767-8872 or via e-mail here.
Solutions Law Press™ provides business risk management, legal compliance, management effectiveness and other resources, training and education on human resources, employee benefits, compensation, data security and privacy, health care, insurance, and other key compliance, risk management, internal controls and other key operational concerns. If you find this of interest, you also be interested reviewing some of our other Solutions Law Press resources including:
CMS Finalizes Allotments To States To Pay Medicaid Part B Premiums For Qualifying Individuals
Sexual Misconduct Investigation Prompts Medical Board Suspension of Texas Doctor
States Get More Info On Affordable Care Act Medicaid Eligibility Maintenance Of Effort; Payers & Providers Must Monitor
Health Care Providers Brace For New HIPAA Enforcement AS OCR Announces Hospital Resolution Agreement Requiring $1 Million Settlement Payment
HHS Imposes 1st HIPAA Privacy Civil Penalty of $4.3 million
ONC Giving Small Critical Access And Rural Hospitals Added Electronic Health Records Funds
Health Care Employer’s NLRB Settlement Shows Care Necessary When Using Social Networking & Other Policies Restricting Employee Communications
Medicare Proposes To Require Providers To Notify Patients Of Quality Of Care Complaint Rights
OIG Launch of Health Care Fraud “Most Wanted” List Sign of Enforcement Risks
Rhode Island DHS Must Provide Translation, Other Services For Limited English, Other Language Impaired Persons
Texas Doctor, Pharmacy Suspension Reminder of Pain Management Prescribing Risks
Supreme Court Ruling Medical Resident Stipend Are Wages Highlights Advisability of Compliance Review
CMS Physician Compare Tool Gives Patients New Info On Physicians & Other Providers
Minimum Wage, Overtime Risks Highlighted By Labor Department Strike Force Targeting Residential Care & Group Homes
Health Care Fraud Enforcement Packs New Heat
President Signs Long-Sought Red Flag Rule Exemption Into Law
Quality, Recordkeeping & Unprofessional Conduct Lead Reasons For Medical Board Discipline of Physicians
DEA Cautions Practitioners Must Restrict Delegation of Controlled Substance Prescribing Functions, Urges Adoption of Written Policies & Agreements
EEOC Attacks Medical Leave Denials As Prohibited Disability Discrimination
Affordable Care Act’s Health Plan External & Internal Review Safe Harbor & Other Regulations Require Health Plan Updates
Employers Concerned About New Union Powers As NLRB Orders Union Elections In 31 California Health Care Facilities To Proceed
HHS Announces Adjustments to Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) Rates
Rite Aid Agrees to Pay $1 Million to Settle HIPAA Privacy Case As OCR Moves To Tighten Privacy Rules
CMS Adopts ESRD Facility Prospective Payment System & Proposes New Quality Incentive Program
CMS Rule Clarifies When Outpatient Services Subject to 3-Day Rule & Finalizes FY 2011 Inpatient Payment Rates
If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail – by creating or updating your profile here. For important information concerning this communication click here.
THE FOLLOWING DISCLAIMER IS INCLUDED TO COMPLY WITH AND IN RESPONSE TO U.S. TREASURY DEPARTMENT CIRCULAR 230 REGULATIONS. ANY STATEMENTS CONTAINED HEREIN ARE NOT INTENDED OR WRITTEN BY THE WRITER TO BE USED, AND NOTHING CONTAINED HEREIN CAN BE USED BY YOU OR ANY OTHER PERSON, FOR THE PURPOSE OF (1) AVOIDING PENALTIES THAT MAY BE IMPOSED UNDER FEDERAL TAX LAW, OR (2) PROMOTING, MARKETING OR RECOMMENDING TO ANOTHER PARTY ANY TAX-RELATED TRANSACTION OR MATTER ADDRESSED HEREIN.
©2011 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, P.C. Non-exclusive license to republish granted to Solutions Law Press. All other rights reserved.
Leave a Comment » | Academic medicine, ASC, DEA, Disease Management, DME, Doctor, Electronic Health Records, Electronic Medical Records, Employer, Genetic Information, GINA, Health Care Provider, Health IT, Health Plan, HIPAA, HITECH Act, Hospital, Medicaid, Medicare, Medicare Advantage, Medicare Fee Schedule, Mental Heatlh, OCR, Physician | Tagged: Health Care, HIPAA, Medical Confidentiality, OCR< Privacy, Security | Permalink
OCR/NIST Share Training Online, OCR’s McAndrew To Speak On May 16 Teleconference
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office for Civil Rights (OCR) are making presentations from the 4th annual conference on “Safeguarding Health Information: Building Assurance through HIPAA Security” co-hosted in Washington, D.C. on May 10 & 11, 2011 available on line for review. The training is part of a series of continuing efforts by the agencies to outreach to various parties on the Privacy and Security Rules of the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act of 1996, as amended (HIPAA). Meanwhile, OCR’s Susan McAndrew is scheduled to share insights on OCR’s HIPAA regulatory and enforcement agenda at a teleconference to be hosted by the American Bar Association Joint Committee on Employee Benefits at Noon Central on May 16, 2011.
The Security Rule sets federal standards to protect the confidentiality, integrity and availability of electronic protected health information by requiring HIPAA covered entities and their business associates to implement and maintain administrative, physical and technical safeguards. Presentations cover a variety of current topics including updates on HHS health information privacy and security initiatives, OCR’s enforcement of health information privacy and security activities, integrating security safeguards into health IT and security automation, insider threat trends and safeguards, and more.
The conference is designed to explore the current health information technology security landscape and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule, the agencies share their practical strategies, tips and techniques for implementing the HIPAA Security Rule.
For details about reviewing the May 10-11 presentations, see the 2011 HIPAA Conference website here. For details about the May 16 teleconference, see here.
Health Care Providers Should Strengthen HIPAA Compliance & Defenses As Risks Rise
$4.3 million is the amount of the civil monetary penalty (CMP) that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has ordered Cignet Health of Prince George’s County, Md., (Cignet) to pay for violating the Health Insurance Portability & Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule.
The first CMP ever assessed by OCR under the HIPAA Privacy Rule, the Cignet CMP assessment is the latest in a series of developments documenting the rising risks that health care providers, health plans, health care clearinghouses and their business associates (“covered entities”) face for violations of HIPAA. Covered entities and their business associates should tighten privacy policies, breach and other monitoring, training and other practices to mitigate against exposures in light of recently tightened requirements and new enforcement risks. Read more details.
Even before the announcement of the Cignet CMP, the HIPAA Privacy exposures of covered entities for failing to comply with HIPAA already had risen significantly. As of January 1, 2011, OCR reports that 12,781 of the cases it has investigated have been resolved by requiring changes in privacy practices and other corrective actions by the covered entities and has referred more than 484 Privacy Rule breach investigations to the Department of Justice for consideration for potential criminal prosecution.
While OCR had not assessed any civil monetary penalties against any covered entity for violation of HIPAA before Cignet, OCR’s collection of $2.25 million from CVS Pharmacy, Inc. under a 2009 Resolution Agreement and $100,000 from Providence Health & Services under a 2008 Resolution Agreement demonstrated the willingness of OCR to pursue significant civil remedies against covered entities that it determined willfully violated the Privacy Rules.
In response to these expanding exposures, covered entities and their business associates should review the adequacy of their current HIPAA Privacy and Security compliance policies, monitoring, training, breach notification and other practices taking into consideration the Cignet, Provident and CVS enforcement actions, emerging litigation and other enforcement data.; their own and reports of other security and privacy breaches and near misses, and other developments to determine if additional steps are necessary or advisable.
For Help With Compliance, Investigations Or Other Needs
If you need assistance auditing or tightening your existing HIPAA and other confidentiality practices or addressing other health care related risk management, compliance, enforcement or management concerns, the author of this update, attorney Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, may be able to help. Vice President of the North Texas Health Care Compliance Professionals Association, Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Section and the former Board Compliance Chair of the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas, Ms. Stamer has more than 23 years experience advising health industry clients about these and other matters. Ms. Stamer has extensive experience advising and assisting health care providers and other health industry clients to establish and administer medical privacy and other compliance and risk management policies and to respond to OCR, FTC, medical board and other health care industry investigation, enforcement and other compliance, public policy, regulatory, staffing, and other operations and risk management concerns. A popular lecturer and widely published author on health industry concerns, Ms. Stamer continuously advises health industry clients about compliance and internal controls, workforce and medical staff performance, quality, governance, reimbursement, and other risk management and operational matters. Ms. Stamer also publishes and speaks extensively on health and managed care industry regulatory, staffing and human resources, compensation and benefits, technology, public policy, reimbursement and other operations and risk management concerns including a number of programs and publications on Medicare quality and other compliance concerns. Her publications and insights on HIPAA and other related matters appear in the Health Care Compliance Association, Atlantic Information Service, Bureau of National Affairs, World At Work, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insurance, the Dallas Morning News, Modern Health Care, Managed Healthcare, Health Leaders, and a many other national and local publications. You can get more information about her health industry experience here. If you need assistance with these or other compliance concerns, wish to inquire about arranging for compliance audit or training, or need legal representation on other matters please contact Ms. Stamer at (469) 767-8872 or via e-mail here.
CMS Finalizes Calendar Year 2011 Physician Fee Schedule & Other Medicare Part B Payment Policies
Avoiding Post-Holiday Celebration Sexual Harassment & Discrimination Liability
Small Employers Should Weigh If Health Premium Tax Credit Justifies Changing Employee Leasing Arrangements
2011 Standard Mileage Rates Announced
Update Employment Practices To Manage Genetic Info Discrimination Risks Under New EEOC Final GINA Regulations
New Insured Group Health Plan Non-Discrimination Rules Create Significant Liability For Employers & Insurers; Prompt IRS Also To Review Self-Insured Group Health Plan Rules
New Rule Requires Federal Government Contractors To Post New “Employee Rights Under The National Labor” Poster
CMS Delegated Lead Responsibility For Development of New Affordable Care Act-Required Medicare Self-Referral Disclosure Protocoll
HHS announces Rules Implementing Tools Added By Affordable Care Act to Prevent Federal Health Program Fraud
OIG: Texas Overbilled Medicaid for Medical Transportation Costs
DMEPOS Suppliers Face 9/27 Deadline To Meet Tightened Medicare Standards
CMS Publishes Corrections To Proposed 2011 Physician Fee Schedule Rules
Medicare Changing How It Pays For Outpatient Dialysis
New Affordable Care Act Mandated High Risk Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Pool Program Regulations Set Program Rules, Prohibit Plan Dumping of High Risk Members
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HHS to Host Regional 11/18 Meeting in LA as Part of HITECH Act Psychotherapy Notes &Testing Data Study
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) in cooperation with the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is conducting a Confidentiality and Privacy Issues Related to Psychological Testing Data study pursuant to section 13424 of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, a component of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) (P.L. 111-5) to assess whether the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s special protections relating to the use and disclosure of psychotherapy notes should also be applied to “test data that is related to direct responses, scores, items, forms, protocols, manuals or other materials that are part of a mental health evaluation.”
As part of this study, SAMHSA is hosting public meetings to bring together professionals in the areas of mental health and privacy protection to discuss current practices and the policy implications surrounding this very important issue. The next regional public meeting will be held at the Sheraton Los Angeles Gateway Hotel in Los Angeles, California on November 18, 2010. The details of this meeting, as well as the project staff contact information, are contained in the embedded brochure below.
You can register for this meeting directly: here , or via the same announcement on OCR’s website here.
Other Recent Developments
If you found this information of interest, you also may be interested in reviewing some of the following recent Updates available online by clicking on the article title:
CMS Delegated Lead Responsibility For Development of New Affordable Care Act-Required Medicare Self-Referral Disclosure Protocol
Monday 9/13 Deadline To Comment Proposed HITECH Act HIPAA Privacy Rules; 9/14 Meeting Studies Proposed Changes
Initial EHR Certification Bodies Named
Last Call: Today Deadline To Comment on Proposed Edits To CMS Nursing Home Civil Monetary Penalty Regs
HHS Invites Input On Medicaid Changes To Promote Children’s Health Quality
CMS & ONC To Co-Host 7/22 ONC Certification & Medicare/Medicaid EHR Incentive Program Audio Training
CMS Proposes Changes To Civil Monetary Penalty Rules For Nursing Homes
We hope that this information is useful to you. If you need assistance evaluating or responding to the Health Care Reform Law or health care compliance, risk management, transactional, operational, reimbursement, or public policy concerns, please contact the author of this update, Cynthia Marcotte Stamer, at (469) 767-8872, cstamer@Solutionslawyer.net.
Vice President of the North Texas Health Care Compliance Professionals Association, Past Chair of the ABA Health Law Section Managed Care & Insurance Section and the former Board Compliance Chair of the National Kidney Foundation of North Texas, Ms. Stamer has more than 23 years experience advising health industry clients about these and other matters. A popular lecturer and widely published author on health industry concerns, Ms. Stamer continuously advises health industry clients about compliance and internal controls, workforce and medical staff performance, quality, governance, reimbursement, and other risk management and operational matters. Ms. Stamer also publishes and speaks extensively on health and managed care industry regulatory, staffing and human resources, compensation and benefits, technology, public policy, reimbursement and other operations and risk management concerns. Her insights on these and other related matters appear in the Health Care Compliance Association, Atlantic Information Service, Bureau of National Affairs, World At Work, The Wall Street Journal, Business Insurance, the Dallas Morning News, Modern Health Care, Managed Healthcare, Health Leaders, and a many other national and local publications. For additional information about Ms. Stamer, her experience, involvements, programs or publications, see here.
You can review other recent health care and internal controls resources and additional information about the health industry and other experience of Ms. Stamer here. If you or someone else you know would like to receive future updates about developments on these and other concerns, please be sure that we have your current contact information – including your preferred e-mail – by creating or updating your profile at here or e-mailing this information here. To unsubscribe, e-mail here.
©2010 Cynthia Marcotte Stamer. Limited license to republish granted to Solutions Law Press. All other rights reserved.
Leave a Comment » | Doctor, Electronic Health Records, Electronic Medical Records, Health Care, Health IT, Health Plan, HIPAA, HITECH Act, Hospital, Hospital | Tagged: HIPAA, HITECH Act, Medical Confidentiality, Psychotheraphy Notes | Permalink
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Category Archives: Drive-by Shooting
Hapless Hal Gets Humped: Charles Stahlman Misleads State Troopers – Hal Gets Case
Hal Warner Embarrassing Ravena
The whacko counterfeit money handler Charles “Chuck” Stahlman is on the streets and has too much time on his psycho hands. He’s so annoyed the New York State Police that they had to serve a bogus complaint on a local businessman who told Chucky (no not the horror doll, the real local horror star) to get off his property. Stahlman claims that he was harassed and demanded that the State Police take his complaint – Stahlman threatened that he would go to the NY State Police Commandant if they didn’t — so the courageous, brave, public servants got cold feet and served the business man with the bogus complaint. And Hapless Ham-hand Hal Warner allowed it. Now, people, shouldn’t we expect a higher standard of conduct from our courts? And why do our law enforcement professionals have to be the henchmen for a psychopath? It’s a slap in the face to make our troopers take such abuse from pschos, especially given the New Scotland State Police Station’s past experiences with Charles “Chucky” Stahlman, Stahlman’s wife, and his “fragile” (that’s how Chuck Stahlman describes his son, “fragile“) son, Zachary Stahlman. Given the Stahlmans’ past history with the local business and Chuck Stahlman’s record, law enforcement should have some discretionary authority, that is, the ability to tell scoundrels like Stahlman to take a walk.
Chucky Gonna Gitcha!
Chuck Stahlman on the Prowl.
Question: How can you harass someone who voluntarily trespasses on your own property, by telling him to leave? How can you harass someone who knows he shouldn’t be on the property but trespasses and then taunts the owner? Who’s doing the harassment, anyway? This is very, very strange.
DUH! DOI!
Stahlman Playing the Police for Fools [AGAIN]; Hapless Hal Warner Gets the Booty-Banger
In Brief: Neither the New York State Troopers nor the Village of Ravena Court know where they are at any given time. First of all, the NYS Trooper filling out the Information (the document showing the details of the complaint) didn’t know where he was. Trooper David Cross thought he was in the Village of Ravena when he was in the Town of Coeymans. The location of the incident was in the Town of Coeymans, outside the jurisdiction of the Village of Ravena. The document prepared by the Trooper is worthless! Even worse, the summons was issued by acting Ravena Village Justice Charles Brooks. Wouldn’t you expect a sitting village justice to know what’s in his jurisdiction and what’s not? Well not in Ravena! Then we have good ol’ Hapless Hal Warner, a resident of Ravena and a village justice for almost 10 years and he doesn’t even know where the village starts and where it ends!!! His wife, Nancy Warner, has been a village council member for at least 10 years. We won’t even mention the Albany County DA David Soares‘ mealy-mouthed gopher assistant, Rat-boy Stephen T. Lydon, who was “ready for trial” but in the wrong jurisdiction. Local justice in action. You can’t make this stuff up! You have to wonder from whose pubic mound these local lice were plucked!
Back to superpsycho Stahlman. Stahlman comes into the picture when sonny boy Zachary Stahlman leased some premises from the business for a flea market, an off-shoot of Chuck Stahlman’s so-called “antique” (= used junk) business, Fat Cat Antiques (Fat Cat Transport). The younger Stahlman subsequently broke the lease and lied his way through the small claims hearing when he demanded his security deposit to be refunded. Crackpot New Baltimore Town Justice Lee Davis, a loser and one-termer, who couldn’t read his way out of wet toilet paper, let alone a commercial lease, awarded Stahlman the security deposit. Stahlman later retained loser-lawyer, Brendan Baynes, to represent him to collect unlawful interest on the security deposit, and Baynes, idiot that he is, filed papers telling Greene County Judge and former D.A., Terry Wilhelm, that he made a mistake and didn’t know the law. Wilhelm wasted no time in putting Baynes in his place and telling Stahlman to take a walk, and denied the petition. Stahlman’s greed and little brain fart must have cost Stahlman a bundle and really pissed him off. Baynes, of course, got his fees.
Zachary C. Stahlman. Chucky Stahlman’s “fragile” son; the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, does it?
[Editor’s Note: There is some unconfirmed information that Stahlman was allegedly involved in a firearm incident involving someone he had a dispute with. The details are still unconfirmed and vague but there is a disturbing similarity of the alleged incident with that of a recent driveby shooting involving a local business who also had dealings with Stahlman.]
The law requires that all parties to a legal action be served with any papers relating to the action. The Landlord and local businessman, in compliance with the law, served Stahlman with the papers objecting to Stahlman’s demand for interest. Stahlman and cow wifely Stahlman promptly rushed to the New Scotland State Police station and demanded that the business man be arrested for harassment, that is, complying with the law and ensuring that Stahlman was aware of what was going on.
The Station Commander correctly informed Stahlman that there was no harassment and that the law required that he be served. The Station Commander even printed out the law so Stahlman could see for himself. Stahlman still raised an uproar and had to leave the station.
No wrong-doing on the part of the NYSP! They’re on the level, as always!
Thanks to NYSP New Scotland Station Commander, SGT Michael Mullaney
Several weeks ago, during an auction on the former landlord’s property and place of business, the landlord couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw “someone who looked like Charles “Chuck” Stahlman carrying goods on the property.” The businessman couldn’t believe that Stahlman would set foot on the property and was amazed when Stahlman greets him by name. The landlord asks the auctioneer if the guy is Stahlman and the auctioneer confirms. It appears that Stahlman approached the auctioneer and asked if he needed any help moving merchandise and the auctioneer, not knowing who he was, accepted the offer. When the businessman asked the auctioneer if he hired Stahlman or even knew him, the auctioneer denied both and allegedly replied, “He offered to carry stuff.”
The businessman ordered Stahlman off the property. Stahlman promptly went to the State Police and demanded that a complaint for harassment be taken and served on the businessman. For some crazy reason, the responding trooper took the complaint and served the businessman after being threatened with retaliation to the NYSP Commandant.
[Editor’s Note: If the NY State Police had any sense at all, they’d be charging Chucky Stahlman with filing a false instrument, lying to a law enforcement officer, harassment, and perjury!!! It seems to us that it’s Stahlman who’s doing the harassing, not the businessman. What do you think?]
What’s even crazier is that the responding trooper — even if he didn’t know he wasn’t in the Village of Ravena — apparently knew of Stahlman, knew of Stahlman’s history, and knew the businessman. What’s going on?
It gets even more bizarre. You see, the alleged incident happened in the Town of Coeymans, but the trooper filled out the summons with an appearance in Ravena Village Court. Isn’t there a jurisdiction problem here? Why wouldn’t a state trooper know to put in the correct jurisdiction?
Back in about 2010 Warner Dismissed Dolan’s Speeding Ticket on Jurisdictional Grounds
Back in about 2010 (we’re verifying the date), Hal Warner dismissed a speeding ticket for buddy Tom Dolan. The ticket was issued in the Town of Coeymans but the appearance venue was Ravena Village Court. Warner dismissed Dolan’s speeding on juridictional grounds (the violation was in the jurisdiction of the Town of Coeymans, not the Village of Ravena. Ravena had no business hearing the case.) In another instance where leadfoot Dolan got another speeding ticked, then village attorney Greg Teresi advised that it be reduced to a parking ticket to avoid having to dismiss on jurisdictional grounds; it apparently was getting to risky. It appears even back then Warner was aware he couldn’t hear a case from Coeymans jurisdiction; he’s a village justice with jurisdiction only for the territory of Ravena. Dolan had to revert to corrupt town justice Phil Crandall to get his other tickets to disappear. (Personal communication; Source: Tom Dolan, Board Member, Town of Coeymans)
Well, it so happens that the businessman is allegedly family to one of Hal Warner’s arch-critics, the notorious Blogger! (We say allegedly because no one really knows who the Blogger is, do they Hal?) The Blogger’s no admirer of Ravena wannabe mayorette Nancy Warner, a sitting Ravena trustee (council member), and Hapless Hal’s wife. Is there a picture of corruption taking shape here? How about potential retaliation? Or is it just me?
So, we composed a little skit on this incident:
Ham-hand Hal Gets Humped
A very short drama by The Blogger
Court Officer
Ham-hand Hapless Hal Warner, the Defendant
Judge (a real one)
Nookie-Nancy Warner, Hapless Hal’s Keeper
Stephen T. Lydon, Albany County Assistant D.A. (David Soares)
Hapless Hal Warner, you’re an idiot! You Dirty Dunce!
Court Officer: Order in the Court! Defendant please rise, state your name, and occupation!
Defendant: Ham-hand Hal Warner, “Hapless Hal,” sir. Ravena Village Justice Court, Nancy’s hapless henchman.
Judge: Well, Ham-hand, Hapless, Hal, whatever your name is, you are being charged with violation of the New York State Judicial Law and the Code of Judicial Conduct. How do you plead, Hapless Hal?
Hapless Hal: Uh! Yer honorableness. Can you repeat the charge. I have to look it up.
Judge: Ham-hand, you hapless incompetent, all I want from you now is how do you plead? Guilty or not guilty?
Hapless Hal: Not guilty, your honorary-ness.
Judge: You are pleading not guilty to criminal retaliation and abuse of judicial office by not recusing yourself, and hearing a case involving a person known to you as possibly being related to your arch-enemy, The Blogger. Is that correct, Hapless Hal? Furthermore, you Gay Goose, you don’t even know your own jurisdiction! Don’t you know where your village boundaries are?
Hapless Hal: Uh! No, your venerability. Yer right. I didn’t recuse myself and I did hear the case. I though he was related to that nasty Blogger, and I couldn’t get my hands on the Blogger so I settled for him. Any village or town justice would have done the same thing, wouldn’t he, yer holiness?
Judge: Hapless Hal Warner, you’re an idiot! We’ll do the Ravena Village Court thing and just find you guilty as charged. You should have recused yourself and stayed out of judicial hot water. Hang up your robes, you Dirty Dunce!
Hapless Hal: But Coeymans Court would have done the same thing. They hate the Blogger, too. Besides, they elect disgraced judges to be Town Supervisor. Phil Crandall liked to do his friends favors. I just wanted to make Nancy happy. She hates the Blogger too, and would do anything – and expects me to do anything – to get at him. I did it for my wifey Nancy, your venereality.
Judge: Get this foul-smelling sack of roadkill out of my courtroom! He’s a disgrace to the judiciary; he’s a boil on the ass of society! Besides, I think he’s peed himself.
Nancy Warner: [Wringing her bony wrinkled hands and shedding fake tears, her mascara running down into the shallow cleft of her sinking breasts] Oh, Hal, Honey Ham-hand Hapless Hubby! I’m so proud of you! You never disappoint! You are a model of Ravena corruption, stupidity, and dumb-assitude! Hold on, Hapless, I’ll bring you some fresh Depends®!
Stephen T Lydon, Assistant D.A.: Oh, my! Oh, dear! Oh, Daddy David [Soares], we screwed up again! Is my tail showing? Oh, God, give me some cheese. I need some cheese. I feel so faint.
Albany Assistant D.A. Stephen T. Lydon in Ravena Village Court
[Court officer forcibly removes the screaming, cussing, foaming Hapless Hal Warner from the courtroom, leaving a steaming trail of urine along the way. Nancy Warner follows with a box of Depends®, while Soares’ Ratboy Lydon cringes in a corner nibbling on something (Have you noticed he smells like cheese?). Exeunt stage left.]
All that’s left of Hapless Hal Warner.
Ham-hand Hapless Hal Warner: desecrating the flag.
This may be the moment we’ve all been waiting for. This may be the opportunity to bring old Ham-hand Hal Warner before the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct and force the hapless dunce into resignation and lifetime ban from running for judicial office. Just like he did to his buddy Phil Crandall.
Stahlman: “They keep telling me harassment!”
Editor’s Note: We will be contacting the New York State Police Internal Affairs Bureau, the New York State Police New Scotland Station Commander, the Office of the Albany County District Attorney, and the New York State Committee on Judicial Conduct for more details.
Editor’s Addendum: We have been provided with a request to publish the NYSP, New Scotland Station Commander’s response to an inquiry on this case. Here is the response:
When a complainant comes to us with a Violation level (not a Misdemeanor or Felony) complaint, we can’t make an arrest unless it occurred in our presence. In this case, the Trooper takes the complaint and gives it to the judge (in this case, Ravena). The judge makes the determination if there is enough there to issue a criminal summons. There judge did here. He/She issues a criminal summons to get the other party back to court. This is a Violation level offense, not a crime. Regardless of how we feel about the complainant, we have no choice but to proceed like we did. I hope I explained what we did. If you have more questions, feel free to contact me.
Michael B. Mullaney
Sergeant/Station Commander
SP New Scotland
If that’s the case, then the New York State Police, at least the New Scotland Station, deserve our thanks and support. There is no wrong-doing or misconduct on their part. As usual, the misconduct and wrongdoing lies with the psychos in our midst and the incompetent local hill-town courts. Thank you, SGT Mullaney, for this useful information!
Posted by Principal Editor on April 11, 2019 in Abuse, Albany, Albany County District Attorney, Albany County Sheriff Department, All the Justice You Can Buy, Assistant DA, Assistant District Attorney Stephen Lydon, Baynes Law Firm, Bethlehem Police Commander, Brendan Baynes, Capital District, Charles Brooks, Charles H. Stahlman, Charles Stahlman, Chuck Stahlman, Civil Right Violation, Coeymans Town Court, Coeymans Town Justice, Conspiracy, Corrupt Judge, Crime and Punishment, David Soares, Drive-by Shooting, False Instrument, Falsely reporting an incident, Fat Cat Antiques, Fat Cat Transport, Greg Teresi, Gregory Teresi, Hal Warner, Harassment, Harold Warner, Judge Davis, Law Enforcement, Lee Davis, Mayor "Mouse", Mayor "Mouse" Misuraca, Misconduct, Misdemeanor, Moose Misuraca, Nancy Biscone-Warner, Nancy Warner, New York State, New York State Police, New York State Unified Court System, News Herald, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate, Office of the Attorney General, Phil Crandall, Ravena News Herald, Ravena Village Justice, Senate District 46, Stephen Lydon, Tom Dolan, Trooper David Cross, William Misuraca, Zach Stahlman, Zachary C. Stahlman, Zachary Stahlman
Are Charles H. “Chuck” Stahlman and Son, Zachary Stahlman a Bit too Cozy with New York State Police?
Are the New York State Police Troop F a Bit Too Cozy with the Stahlmans?
Too Cozy with Suspect Felon?
The facts seem to point to a questionable relationship between the Stahlman pair, father Charles H. “Chuck” Stahlman, and son Zachary Stahlman. One particular set of facts raises red flags: the Stahlmans appear to have a special relationship with the New York State Police or at least with one Trooper, presumably a member of Troop F that serves the Glenmont area. Rather than request the assistance of the local law enforcement department in whose jurisdiction the Stahlmans live, they seem to rely on the State Police to be their messengers. We find that suspect and we have contacted the New York State Police with our inquiry Why? are the Stahlmans so cozy with the State Police, so cozy that every time the Stahlmans have an itch, the New York State Police are there to scratch it for them. Could this possibly have something to do with the Chuck Stahlman’s disappearing felony in 2016?
On or about November 13, 2016, Mr Charles H. Stahlman was apprehended by New York State Police for felony passing of a false instrument (counterfeit $10 and $20 bills) at an estate sale. Stahlman was arraigned before a justice of the Bethlehem Town Court on or about November 13, 2016, bail was posted in the amount of $10,000, and Stahlman had a December 6, 2016 court appearance. After that, the case disappears. (As reported in the Times Union, “Cops: Man bought furniture with fake cash” as well as in a large number of other news media).
On or about February 4, 2016, a New York State Trooper accompanied Mr Charles H. “Chuck” Stahlman to a local business to return keys to a lease property leased by Z. Stahlman, who broke the lease. Question: Why a state trooper?
On or about September 27, 2016, Mr Zachary Stahlman, Charles Stahlman’s son, testified under oath in answer to a question as to why a state police law enfocement officer accompanied Charles Stahlman to return keys, Zachary Stahlman’s response on the record (partially inaudible) was, “My father [is or has] friends with the State Police.”
On or about June 22, 2018, a New York State Trooper contacted a local business man on behalf of Mr Zachary Stahlman, to investigate Mr Stahlman’s complaining of “harassment” upon being lawfully served with the business man’s answer and motion opposing Mr Stahlman’s Motion to Reargue before the Greene County Court. Seems Mr Stahlman can play shithouse lawyer and unlawfully serve anyone but the tables turn when Zachary Stahlman is lawfully served. (See our article on Stahlman and local shyster Brendan Baynes, “Shyster Meets Psycho: Brendan Baynes and Zachary Stahlman a.k.a. Fat Cat Antiques” for details.)
The circumstances of the Stahlman’s felony case disposition, the fact that several investigations in which the Stahlmans were suspects were allowed to go cold, and the fact that the Stahlmans, rather than contact local law enforcement in whose jurisdiction they reside, the Bethlehem Police. The Stahlmans seem to have a predisposition to contact the New York State Police, which in combination with the overall factual background, suggests that there may be some impropriety in the conduct of one or several New York State Police personnel and an overly cozy relationship with the Stahlmans. (See our articles, “Local Law Enforcement Might Need Some Help with the Math: 2 + 2 = Stahlman!” and “Criminals Thumbing Their Noses to Law Enforcement? Why?” and “Drive-by Shooting Arrives in RCS“.)
These questions, as you can see, are not new, just unanswered, and we think that they need to be answered. Now!
Felonies just seem to disappear in the Town of Bethlehem…Just like in the Town of Coeymans!
We have requested information from the Bethlehem Town Court where Charles Stahlman was arraigned when apprehended for felony possession [and passing] of a forged instrument. At his arraignment $10,000 bail was posted and a court appearance set for December 6, 2016. After that, the case seems to have disappeared. Do felonies disappear that easily?
The North Country Gazette (“Cops: Man Used Fake Money To Buy Furniture“) goes a little bit more in detail than the Times Union does about the Stahlman felony charge:
“Charles H. Stahlman, 52, of Glenmont, was charged with first degree possession of a forged instrument, a felony.
“Troopers responded to a complaint of fake money that was used at an estate sale on Saturday. Stahlman allgedly used four $20 bills and four $10 bills, all of which were forged. As the Trooper was obtaining a deposition from the complainant, Stahlman showed up to retrieve the furniture he had purchased with the forged money earlier that day. The complainant positively identified Stahlman.”
Not only does the fake money incident raise questions about the New York State Police, it also points directly to Albany County District Attorney, P. David Soares, another figure who has been the subject not only of local criticism but national criticism, for his inept and corrupt practices. You see, Soares would have the final say in whether charges are brought against a perpetrator, and Soares would have the final say as to whether charges are pressed and the perp brought to trial. So if there’s some suspicious activity going on in the ranks of the New York State Police, the so-called Cuomo-the-Homo’s Private Militia, and a law enforcement body answering directly to a Democrat district attorney and Democrat governor, both being the chief law enforcement officers in their jurisdictions and calling the shots, we may have something interesting going on here. Maybe this is something the FBI should be investigating.
A contributor has contacted the New York State Police Professional Standards Bureau and the New York State Police Command Division to request investigation and comment on this situation.
We’ll keep our readers posted on this. If any of our readers has any information to add to this, we’d really appreciate your sharing your knowledge with us in total confidentiality. We will investigate and if it’s good, we’ll report on it.
In the meantime, please bear in mind that when we can’t trust those to whom we entrust the public’s safety and give what we so fondly call “police powers”, and when we start taking the deadly turn to becoming a police state in a totalitarian system, signs of which we can see already, and when we give criminals special privileges because they know someone in authority, we may all find ourselves living in fear of our lives, fear of “the camps,” fear of the death squads. It makes you wonder how many of those warriors who challenged the system and were found dead on their tractors, in their cars, or reported as human remains found in a local wooded area, might actually be the powers-to-be’s answer to the questions we ask them.
Thanks for your loyal support!
Posted by Principal Editor on June 23, 2018 in 19th Congressional District, 20th Congressional District, Albany, Albany County District Attorney, Albany County Sheriff Department, All the Justice You Can Buy, Bethlehem Police Commander, Bethlehem Town Court, Brendan Baynes, Capital District, Charles H. Stahlman, Charles Stahlman, Civil Right Violation, Civil Rights, Coeymans, Coeymans Police Department, Constitution, Contempt of Court, Corrupt Police, Corruption, Craig D. Apple Sr., Crime and Punishment, Crystal R. Peck Esq., D. W. Contento, Daily Mail, Dan Harms, Daniel Boughton, Daniel Contento, Daniel Contento, David Soares, DeLeonardis & Peck P.C., Democrats, Drive-by Shooting, Fake Money, False Instrument, Fat Cat Antiques, Fat Cat Transport, FBI, FBI Criminal Information System, FBI Public Corruption Squad, Felony, Felony, Glenmont, Greene County, Greene County Attorney, Greene County District Attorney, Greene County Sheriff, Gregory R. Seeley, Harassment, Investigation, Jeff Ruso, Joe Stanzione, John B. Johnson, Johnson Newspaper Group, Joseph Stanzione, Judge Davis, Justice and Courts, Law Enforcement, Law Enforcement Arrogance, Lee Davis, Lee Davis, Mark Defrancesco, Mark Vinciguerra, Misconduct, Misuse of Public Office, New Baltimore Assessor, New Baltimore Town Court, New York, New York State Police, New York State Police, New York State Supreme Court, News Herald, NYS Assembly, NYS Comptroller Audit, NYS Senate, Obstruction of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, Office of the Comptroller, Official Misconduct, P. David Soares, Paul Courcelle, Paul M. Courcelle, Police Incompetence, Possession of a Forged Instrument, Public Corruption, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk, RegisterStar, Smalbany, Stahlman, Stephen Prokrym, Steve Prokrym, Steve Prokrym, The Daily Mail, Times Union, Tooher & Barone, Troop F, Zach Stahlman, Zachary C. Stahlman, Zachary Stahlman
Threats of School Shooting at RCS High School!!!
As of March 29, 2018, we’re still waiting for the RCS District Superintendent Brian Bailey, RCS High School Principal Lisa Partierne, Coeymans Acting Police Chief Daniel Contento, Coeymans Supervisor Phil Crandall and others (see the list below) — anyone with real facts — to comment, provide a public statement, or provide the facts about the incident. No one seems to want to come out and make a statement on this important public safety, school safety issue. Why is that?
[Editor’s Note: The RCS Central School District issued a bland statement on the incident some three days after the incident, boilerplate, of course. The statement may be difficult to find because the main subject in the title is not “student safety” but “Dr Bailey”, narcissist! Read the say-nothing statement, CYA statement at “Message from Dr. Bailey – safe schools” last accessed on March 29, 2018) See our note about SNN at the end of this article.]
The Craziness Just Doesn’t Stop in Ravena-Coeymans!
What is RCS, Coeymans PD waiting for?
On Friday, March 23, 2018, three RCS high school students were reported to be “joking” about coming into the highschool and shooting it up.
In our article “Drive-by Shooting Arrives in RCS” we were the first to break the story about the botched up investigation of a local drive-by shooting. Coeymans Police allowed the case to go cold; no real investigation, no suspects, no arrests, no prosecution. Criminals went free. Sheriff’s Department and State Police wouldn’t touch it without Coeymans Police requesting assistance. Request was never made.
If you recall, a high-school student at RCS high school was suspendid for wearing a T-shirt depicting a weapon (National Guard), and in another incident the school was locked down and a student arrested for having a rifle in his car trunk. Just recently students at Albany High School were terrorized and evacuated, and several students arrested for a school shooting incident. Why isn’t the RCS Central School District and the Coeymans Police Department reading the writing on the wall.
Three RCS highschool students Chandler L., Dylan A., and Cameran R. were apprehended and taken into the RCS high school principal’s, Lisa Patierne’s office and suspended for five (5) days for allegedly “joking” about shooting up the high school.Five days should be just about enough time for them to plan their extracurricular criminal activities, obtain weapons and ammunition, and execute their plan for “shooting up” the high school.
RCS Central School District Superintendent Brian Bailey, RCS high school principal, Lisa Patierne, deputy principal, Joe Slichko, and Coeymans Police Department School Resource Officer, Schwebke and his boss, Coeymans Police Chief (acting) Daniel W. Contento have some questions to answer.
With the recent waves of gun violence in our schools, such “joking” must be taken to be real threats and the individuals not only taken into custody but subjected to intense psychological evaluation, surveillance and monitoring, and other controls. BUT NOT IN THE RCS CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT!!!
RCS is not the inner city, it’s not Albany Arbor Hill or Newark, NJ. And with a more than $43 million dollar budget — about 75% of which goes to salaries for personnel —, what are the teachers teaching these kids? What are the parents doing about teaching these kids correct behavior, morality, good judgment? How is it with the media coverage of the slaughter, murder, mayhem, trauma and suffering caused by students to students, to parents, to whole communities in recent shooting, that the RCS community doesn’t take “joking” about such incidents more seriously? Behind every joke is a real situation!
And with the recent scandal revolving around law enforcement misconduct and the international attention it got: Did anyone at any of the schools discuss the reasons why the conduct of two Coeymans Police personnel was reprehensible, scandalous, and outrageous? Is there anything, any room in the RCS curricula for discussions of morality, ethics, etc. or about the systemic social and political failure in the United States today that puts us at the top of the list for school shootings and other social disgraces?
Our guess is that none of this gets any discussion in the RCS Central School District and, furthermore, that most RCS parents don’t bother to discuss such things with their offspring. Judging from the response to the Coeymans Police misconduct on just one site — The Care2 Petition, which received more than 87,000 signatures (more than 10,000 in New York State alone), and the embarrassing attendance at the March 22, 2018, Coeymans Town Board meeting, at which less than 20 people showed up, three of which traveled from as far away as Queensbury to make a public statement at that meeting. That alone shows how uninterested locals are in their community. It’s a stinking shame, an embarrassment! Then you wonder why we live in such a, well, cesspool, with equally shitty elected officials, and pretty third-world services, if any? Pardon our language but there are no other words to accurately describe the situation — and you know it’s true!
We all know that our legal system will hold a host giving a party accountable for damage and injuries caused by a guest leaving the party drunk, and while under the influence, getting involved in an accident. We say hold the teachers, the administrators, the school board members, the police department school resource officers responsible for injuries and deaths occurring on school property. PERSONALLY RESPONSIBLE; the taxpayers are already being sucked dry paying for these parasites and getting nothing in return. PERSONAL LIABILITY will get these dumbasses thinking about taking their responsibilities seriously.
In the RCS Central School District, school officials and law enforcement don’t take such “joking” = “threats” too seriously. After all, the teachters, administrators, and RCS school board members are all too busy padding their pockets, planning their retirements, or budgeting school tax dollars to benefit their cronies. The Coeymans Police are too busy running over raccoons in shopping mall parking lots.
You should have a lot of questions. You should be demanding answers. Our questions are:
How are the three students’ parents being handled in this case?
Do the parents of these three students have guns, ammunition in their homes? How are they secured? Have they been seized by law enforcement during the investigation or the pending investigation?
Were the parents of RCS high school and middle school students informed of this threat?
Were students in the RCS Middle School and RCS High School, two schools on the same location, informed of the threats in a professional manner? Were they informed about ways to detect such threats and a procedure to follow? Were they educated as to what to do in such an situation?
What actions, other than administrative suspension, were undertaken to investigate these students and the possibility that their “joking” was not real “threats”?
The RCS high school and middle school are in the jurisdiction of the Coeymans “Raccoon Killer” Police Department, what actions or plan of action do the Coeymans Police have for such threats?
Are these three students under supervision or surveillance?
What action did the RCS Central School District Superintendent, , and the RCS Central School Board of Education taken in this case?
There are some really serious questions that have to be answered in cases like this. Contact local officials to get the answers before you hear the sirens and learn about the local school shootings because nothing was done in cases like Chandler L, Dylan A. and Cameran R.
CONTACT! DEMAND ANSWERS!
Dr. Brian Bailey
bbailey@rcscsd.org
Philip A. Crandall
Supervisor, Town of Coeymans
18 Russell Avenue
Ravena, New York 12143
pcrandall@coeymans.org
Daniel W. Contento (SGT)
Acting Chief, Coeymans Police Department
chiefofpolice@coeymans.org
police@coeymans.org
RCS High School
2025 Route 9W
Ravena, NY 12143
Lisa Patierne, Principal
lpatierne@rcscsd.org
Joe Slichko, Assistant Principal
jslichko@rcscsd.org
RCS Middle School
Pam Black, Principal
pblack@rcscsd.org
Cynthia Herron, Assistant Principal
cherron@rcscsd.org
Is the RCS Central School District, the Coeymans Police Department, the Albany County DA P. David Soares waiting for this to happen?
Click HERE to return to the OFFICER IDENTIFIED story.
Note: Superintendent Bailey uses a techy acronym “SNN” in his so-called message. For those of you not privy to Bailey’s cryptic lingo, here’s what SNN is: School News Notifier (SNN) is an opt-in e-news service designed to help keep parents and the community more in touch with what is happening at schools via e-mail and/or text message. With SNN, administrators have the power to send updates and reminders about school activities, information about school closings and delays, and notices and other news. Parents and residents can sign up to receive e-mail messages from any of the schools and/or the district. Subscribers can choose to receive any or all of the alerts listed and can unsubscribe at any time. Subscribers must provide personal information but that information will not be shared with outside organizations. Question: What about the many computer illiterate adults, parents and non-parents, or those who do not own computers in the RCS Central School District. How does the rest of the community find out about what’s going on. That is, when our public servants ignore our requests for information?
Posted by Principal Editor on March 27, 2018 in 19th Congressional District, 19th Congressional District, 20th Congressional District, 46th District, 46th Senate District, Acting Police Chief, Albany, Albany County Department of Children, Albany County District Attorney, Albany County Sheriff Department, Bethlehem Police, Bethlehem Police Commander, Capital District, Coeymans, Coeymans Acting Police Chief, Coeymans Police Department, Coeymans Town Board, County Legislator, Craig D. Apple Sr., D. W. Contento, Daniel Contento, Daniel P. McCoy, Danielle M. Crosier, David Soares, Dick Touchette, Dignity Act, Dignity for All Students Act, Drive-by Shooting, Eliminate Coeymans Police Department, Endangering a Minor, Facebook, Faith Plaza, FBI, Government, Gregory Darlington, Gun Control, Hudson Valley, Investigation, Jason Albert, Jerry "Dirty-Hands" Deluca, Jim Youmans, Joe Slichko, John B. Johnson, Kerry Thompson, Law Enforcement, Lisa Patierne, Mark Vinciguerra, Mayor "Mouse", Mayor "Mouse" Misuraca, Monitoring, Moose Misuraca, Moose Misuraca, Nancy Biscone-Warner, Nancy Warner, Nancy Warner, New Baltimore, New York, New York Food, New York State, New York State Education Department, New York State Police, News Channel 10, News Channel 13, News Channel 6, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate, NYSED, Office of the Attorney General, P. David Soares, Parents, Peter J. McKenna, Peter Mckenna, Peter McKenna, Phil Crandall, Phillip Crandall, Police Investigator, Public Office, Public Safety, Ravena, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk Central School District, Ravena Shop'n Save, RCS Board of Education, RCS Central School District, RCS Middle School, RCS School Board, RCS School Superintendant, Richard Touchette, Rick Touchette, Ryan Johnson, School Resource Officer, School Shooting, School Violence, Schwebke, Security Procedures, Selkirk, Senate Committee on NYC School Governance, Senate District 46, Shooting, Smalbany, Stephen Prokrym, Steve Prokrym, Student Abuse, Student Supervision, Students and Guns, Students with Guns, Superintendent of Schools, The Daily Mail, Thomas E. Dolan, Times Union, Todd Polverelli, Tom Dolan, Town of Coeymans, Weapons at School, William Misuraca
Coeymans Police Turning Into Coeymans Gestapo Again?
Is Anyone Supervising the Rookies Turned Loose on Our Streets?
The Coeymans Police are Getting Heavy Handed Again. Get rid of Amanda L. Mueller, she’s bad news! Silly cow wants to be a bully cop!
If you are a local resident and driving through Coeymans, and happen to have a headlight out, wouldn’t you be grateful for a warning from a helpful police officer rather than a ticket right away? Well, forget the helpful patrolman and welcome the Fascist Gestapo back to Coeymans. And just when we thought things might be getting better, the Coeymans Police Department stocks up on ignorant brutes to harass local residents.
Coeymans has a really lousy record when it comes to female law enforcement trainees. Remember Danielle Crosier, she was a real loser, unless she was running police vehicles off the road or onto guardrails. She kept her job for as long as she could by doing deputy chief Kerry Thompson (while he was also doubling as an Albany County Sheriff Department lieutenant). So how’s trainee Amanda L. Mueller, Badge No. 149 keeping her job? She doing one of the Coeymans board members? No, that can’t be. None of the board members has any balls; no balls, no drive.
Two Coeymans police officers stopped the resident for a headlight being out.
Problem is, the Coeymans police, or at least trainee Amanda L. Mueller doesn’t know the difference between a vehicle’s high beams and fog lights. But if Mueller was partnered with another officer, a male officer, who was the senior officer. Certainly not Mueller. And if Mueller was not the senior officer on that patrol, why didn’t the senior officer set her straight? Go figure. Cops, as we all know, stick together.
Amanda’s Father’s Business, Mueller’s Automotive, on Main Street in Ravena.
But we’re a bit confused by Amanda’s ignorance. You see, Amanda Mueller’s father owns Mueller’s Automotive, the automotive repair business on 88 Main Street in Ravena. That’s the same place that services the Coeymans Police Department vehicles. Now isn’t that an interesting coïncidence? As we always say, “Follow the money!” Now, given that fact, wouldn’t you think that sweet little Amanda would know the difference between fog lights and high-beam headlights? What’s more, might little Amanda’s quick-to-hand-out-tickets behavior be a hint that maybe she’s plugging good ol’ dad’s automotive repair business, one of the only ones in Ravena-Coeymans, and that getting the work done at Mueller Automotive might be the first step to a dismissal of the ticket? Sure, everyone in Ravena-Coeymans knows that Amanda Mueller is a local and who her daddy is!
We see a serious conflict of interest
The plot thickens with a little investigation
We see a serious conflict of interest case growing out of this otherwise unfair, but minor incident involving a Coeymans Police Department employee, a local automotive business, a police trainee who is a close relative of that business owner, and the fact that the town of Coeymans, the Coeymans Police Department does business with that trainee’s father’s business. The plot thickens with a little investigation, doesn’t it?
We see a serious conflict of interest in Amanda Mueller’s actions. Corruption, perhaps?
Hint to the Coeymans Police: You need aIl the support you can get from literate, competent residents. (Obviously you’re not getting it from your Twitter tweets!) You mess with the better element in this community and you’ll have more to deal with than just a disgraced town justice and a corrupt town board. If you want community support and good will, and you really need it in these times, you start by being helpful, not abusive. Your trainee Amanda L. Mueller and her partner were abusive to the local resident who happens to be a very upstanding and influential person, who could put most police officers to shame in terms of integrity and ethics.
They say that they’re there to “Serve and Protect.” Has anyone told them that?
Cold-Case Coeymans
They can’t complete a criminal investigation.
They can’t take a criminal complaint.
They’ll ignore evidence and obstruct justice (Right “Detective” Jason Albert”?)
If they do, it’ll go cold and they can close it. CLOSED. UNRESOLVED.
But motorists beware! If you have a headlight out, they’re gonna gitcha!
Give the biatch a badge and she becomes a bully biatch!
Once again! Shame on you Coeymans Police! Shame on your patrolpersons Amanda L. Mueller, Badge No.149. Give the biatch a badge and she becomes a bully biatch! Bully biatch in a uniform, smart mouth, vindictive, abusive. Perfect for Coeymans. Must be native brown trash from Main Street in the Hamlet.
Someone needs to counsel trainee Amanda /.L. Mueller that as a patrolman, she’s part of the executive branch of government, not the judiciary. She is not out there to make decisions, to judge a resident, and then to punish the resident. That’s the job of the judiciary in observance of the provisions of the Constitution and scrupulous interpretation of law. We doubt Ms. Amanda L. Mueller has the training, education, or brains to do that.
Judge Judy’s Response to Coeymans Cop-trainee A.L. Mueller.
Two Coeymans police officers one female and one male, stopped the resident for a headlight being out.
Mueller: “I would have let you off with a warning but because you gave me an attitude about the high beams, I’m going to give you a ticket.”
When they stopped the resident Mueller insisted that the resident “Turn off your high beams.” When the resident responded that the high beams were not on, and he was driving with his fog lights on, Mueller becomes annoyed. Her response to the resident: “I would have let you off with a warning but because you gave me an attitude about the high beams, I’m going to give you a ticket.” Attitude? ATTITUDE? The resident was merely stating that his high beams were not on, that his fog lights were on. So she’s wrong and retaliates. Just what we want to see in our law enforcement. Bullying. So, Amanda Mueller doesn ‘t like being wrong and if she is, she’s going to get even. Nice police work. Nice community work.
Editor’s Note: For those of our readers who, like Coeymans Cop-trainee Amanda L. Mueller, don’t know the difference between high-beams and fog lights, we’d like to help you out: When driving in fog or even in wet conditions, or when visibility is poor, the light from regular headlights reflects off water droplets back into your eyes, impairing rather than improving visibility. Fog lights are positioned low on the vehicle and have a wide beam angled toward the ground, which reduces glare and helps you see the road better. (Source: CarId at https://www.carid.com/fog-lights.html, last accessed on 20 December 2017) So, dear readers — and trainee Mueller — there’s a big difference between high-beams and fog lights.
If Mueller said what she is reported to have said, there will be repercussions
We are going to make our inquiries because we think that all stops must be recorded, audio and/or video. If there’s a recording, one of our editors will be looking for it and will review it. We will obtain a copy of the ticket issued to the resident as soon as possible, and will follow the case. If there is a recording of the interaction during this stop, and if Mueller said what she is reported to have said, there will be repercussions.
Now isn’t that sweet? Mueller doesn’t know high beams from fog lights and when she’s corrected, it becomes “attitude” and then she retaliates. Retaliation is not in the script, Mueller! In fact, you need to be disciplined for your unethical and unlawful conduct. We assume that all of the transaction was recorded? If so, we’ll get a copy. After all, if a warning would have been enough, just because the resident corrects her, she becomes BULLY COP!
Bully Cops Back in Coeymans!
We expect respect and courtesy.
Notice to the Coeymans Police and to Patrolperson Amanda L. Mueller: Get a grip! Loosen up! We don’t like bully cops and we don’t like retaliation. We expect respect and courtesy. If you think your uniform gives you license to abuse and to bully, your ass is going to be grass and you’ll be looking for a job. Probably a job more in line with your lack of skills and stupidity: a greasy spoon waitress.
It’s behavior like Coeymans patrol Amanda L. Mueller, Badge No. 149, that gets our attention. And the Coeymans Police Department does not want our attention. Ask former chief Darlington and some of his lackies.
Maybe we have to get back on the bandwagon. Maybe we should start pushing again to eliminate the Coeymans Police Department. it seems that all they can do is let criminal investigations go cold. But they are getting real good at bullying AGAIN.
We’ll be following developments in this case and from now on we’ll be looking a bit closer at what’s going on in Coeymans law enforcement or more accurately, Bully Patrol.
What say you, Chief McKenna?
We’ve been very fair to the Coeymans PD since Chief Peter J. McKenna took over. We’ve been very fair to Chief McKenna and very supportive. We have always rated Chief McKenna’s programs and efforts very highly. But now we have to step up to the plate and start policing the police again. True, it takes only one rotten apple to spoil the whole bushel, but who’s going to do the damage control? We know the Crandall mob wants total control. What say you, Chief McKenna?
Editor’s Note: We received notification of this incident from a person with personal knowledge about the incident. If the Coeymans Police have their version of the facts, we’d love to hear from them. We would also like to hear from any residents who have had any recent issues with the Coeymans PD, especially Ms Amanda L Mueller and Mueller Automotive of Ravena. We’re going to be watching Mueller and would appreciate any input from our friends and neighbors in Ravena and Coeymans.
Maybe Patrolman Mueller’s blood sugar was low. Was it that time of the month, Mueller? That may be why she was testy.
Why You Should Avoid Ravena-Coeymans and New Baltimore, New York
Another exposé of more of the dirty laundry of local communities.
(Next week, we’ll be reviewing the documents FOILed by us and produced by the Town
regarding some issues we’ve been investigating. Stay tuned!)
Posted by Principal Editor on December 20, 2017 in A.L. Mueller Badge 149, Abuse of Police Power, Abuse of Power, Abuse of Public Office, Accountability, Amanda L. Mueller, Amanda Mueller, Bully biatch cop, Bully Cop, Bully Cops, Coeymanazis, Coeymans, Coeymans Police Department, Coeymans Town Board, Corrupt Justice, D. M. Crosier, Danielle Crosier, Danielle M. Crosier, Drive-by Shooting, Eliminate Coeymans Police Department, Gerald Deluca, Gregory Darlington, Hal Warner, Intimidation, Investigation, James Youmans, Jason Albert, Jerry "Dirty-Hands" Deluca, Jim Youmans, Joe Stanzione, Kerry Thompson, Kevin Reilly, Law Enforcement, Lawsuit, Misconduct, Misuse of Public Office, Monitoring, Mueller Automotive, Mueller's Automotive, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate, Obstruction of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, Peter J. McKenna, Peter Mckenna, Peter McKenna, Phil Crandall, Phillip Crandall, Police State, Police Thugs, Public Corruption, Public Safety, Public Safety, Ravena, Retaliation, Retaliative Justice, Senate District 46, Shame On You, Smalbany, Steve Prokrym, Steve Prokrym, Stop the Bullying, Thomas E. Dolan, Tom Dolan, Town of Coeymans, Town of New Baltimore, Traffic Ticket, Uncategorized, White trash, William Misuraca
Complacency is a Bad Thing…Especially in Local Government
Many of our local politicians may feel a bit self-satisfied, relaxed and complacent now that the elections are behind them and history but that would be a very big mistake. At the Smalbany Blog Ops Center we’ve been very busy over the past couple of weeks sorting through information, investigations, reports, and it may have seemed to the foolish observer that we were forgetting ongoing investigations and reports. But don’t make that mistake! The watchdog never sleeps!
We’re Back on Track. Investigations and Reporting Normal
All systems Normal. Ready to Launch!
OK, you clowns, we’re ready to drop some bombs!
Make no mistake about it, dear readers, we haven’t forgotten a thing. You can expect us to pick up right where we left off before the elections. We may have some new focuses like Cindy Rowzee in Coeymans and the other newly elected Democrat tools, Daniel Baker, and Tom Frese. Rowzee, in particular, is going to have a hard time licking Phil Crandall’s boots while complying with the law — but having been Crandall’s “confidential secretary” she probably doesn’t have a clue what law is. Just wait until she has to produce minutes of town board meetings — both the original sound recordings and her transcripts for comparison —, and what she comes up with in response to demands for documents and information under the New York State Freedom of Information Laws.
Most of the Town of Coeymans is Social Services or Plain Jail Bait
That’s how the Democraps get elected or stay in office. Benefits buy votes!
Right Tom Dolan, Choices Program Director?
The BIG IF.
The good news is that Phil Crandall may not be in office much longer; that is, IF the Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares does his job and prosecutes him for violations of election law by allegedly forging signatures on his petitions or having the signatures falsely certified by his son-in-law, and for leaking confidential police investigation information to parties under investigation. Criminal activities? YES! But most of the Town of Coeymans is social services or plain jail bait so they don’t mind scoff-laws in critical public offices.
In New Baltimore, Jeff Ruso finally got into the Supervisor’s office but through the back door — sometimes that’s the only way in. Since he wanted the job so badly, he’s going to be under special scrutiny starting now. Kellie Downes, newly elected to a seat on the New Baltimore Town Council, had better show some spunk right off the starting line and give us the impression she has the right stuff. Plumbing in politics may get you into office but it won’t keep you there.
The fallout is likely to affect the Town, Mitchell & Sterling, Trident, Greene County Elected Officials, State Officials. It’s BIG!
The only ones likely to escape are the shyster attorneys, Rapplea, Peck, Bailey, Johnson, DeLeonardis & Peck P.C.
Ruso is inheriting the dirty end of the stick from Nick Dellisanti in the ongoing crisis in the New Baltimore Highway Department and Denis Jordan. We say “inheriting” and that may be the wrong term. You see, Jeff Ruso, was and still is in the thick of the scandal involving the Highway Department and Denis Jordan, as is Shelly van Etten, who was re-elected to her seat on the Town Council. Nick Dellisanti may have gotten out the back door by deciding not to run again, but he’s not off the hook, not by a long shot. So, let the fun begin! Round two is likely to be a knock-out round with the Town of New Baltimore and the New Baltimore Highway Department and its Superintendent Denis Jordan, and very likely his Deputy Superintendent Scott van Wormer flat on their backs.
What was Kellie Downes thinking when she decided to run for New Baltimore Town Council? She must have been on another planet to have run fully aware of what’s going on in the Town of New Baltimore and the New Baltimore Highway Department.
After all is said and done, where is New Baltimore’s county legislator Mr Patrick “Pat” Linger on all of this? And Mr George Amadore, NYS Senator for the 46th Senatorial District, New Baltimore’s reps, both of whom seem to indiscriminately be passing big taxpayer buck on to Mr Jordan and his center for misuse, abuse and waste.
We hope that Jeff Ruso gets together with his town attorney Tal Rappelea and realizes that the Town of New Baltimore is in violation of Town Law and Public Officers Law, as well as other statutes. They’d better have a very close look at the decisions of the New York State Office of the Comptroller over the past several years on the subject of maladministration and misadministration of Highway Departments and the Town Board’s duties and responsibilities.
The New York State Office of the Comptroller, in virtue of their own legal opinions over the past several years, must inaugurate investigations of the Town of New Baltimore and the New Baltimore Highway Department for misadministration, maladministration, corruption, negligence, incompetence and dereliction of duties and responsibilities. You can be sure we’ve done our homework and are ready to drop a test bomb.
Then there’s the question of the Town of New Baltimore Town Board’s dereliction of their duties and responsibilities to ensure fair play and justice to Town residents, and to respect their fiduciary (trust) duties to residents, not to mention their duty to comply with the law and precedent. This involves their insurance company’s lawyers, Bailey, Johnson, DeLeonardis & Peck P.C., and whether or not they are unethically and even illegally obstructing fair play and justice by not advising the insurance companies to settle or to at least tell the Town they don’t have a case, and to ensure the best interests of the Town by minimizing risk and settling fairly with the residents concerned.
The Town of New Baltimore is paying Marshall & Sterling Insurance (Leeds, NY), Trident insurance brokers, and Argo Group (Bermuda!) to cover the Town in its liabilities. Those insurance crooks are hiring attorneys to attempt to screw Town residents, and the Town Board stands by and lets this happen. In the meantime, the New Baltimore Town Board has their heads up their butts, along with town attorney Tal Rappelea, and the insurance company attorneys, Bailey, Johnson, DeLeonardis & Peck P.C., and is doing nothing to manage or to control the risks and liabilities that caused the problems in the first place: incompetence and abuses in the New Baltimore Highway Department under the direct supervision and authority of Denis Jordan. No problem, though, because we’re back on the case, locked and loaded, ready for the knock-out round. Are you ready for this, New Baltimore?
That’s the bottom line, the crappy truth, Town of New Baltimore!
Gregory “Cold-case” Seeley, Greene County Sheriff, is in the spotlight, too. Too many cases go cold in Greene County, despite the fact that the Sheriff’s Department has some pretty hard evidence to bring in the perps. But then, we have to consider that if the Greene County District Attorney, Joseph Stanzione, tells Seeley he won’t prosecute, Seeley has no choice but to chill the case. The fact of the matter is that both Seeley and Stanzione are Republicans and will be up for re-election soon; that’s when the cat hits the fan. Our advice to both Seeley and to Stanzione: produce something convincing or get off the pot!
Do something or get off the pot, dudes!
Stanzione is well informed about the New Baltimore Highway Department and Denis Jordan’s abuse of office and violations of law. Stanzione and the New York State Office of the Comptroller, too. So we have a Republican DA and a Democrap-run state office both tasked with investigating a Democrap elected official, New Baltimore Highway Superintendent Denis Jordan. This is going to be a great show. Tune in with us.
We know all of the parties have been kept informed of what’s going on from Greene County DA Joe Stanzione, to the Office of the Comptroller, to the Town of New Baltimore insurance companies, and the attorneys, Tal Rappelea and Bailey. Everybody is now on the same page, or rather sheet, so to speak. Let’s see what they do with it. Not much left for them to use.
Sorry, New Baltimore, Not Much Left for You!
Other matters in upcoming articles will be the Town and Village Courts, particularly Cairo Town Court and its dumbass justice, Leland Miller, the lawyers’ puppet judge, and New Baltimore Town Court, Thomas J. “Tom” Meacham, who has a long list of violations of judicial ethics hovering over him. We’re ready to literally flood the New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct with formal complaints!
Posted by Principal Editor on November 10, 2017 in 19th Congressional District, 19th Congressional District, 2017 Elections, 20th Congressional District, 20th Congressional District, 46th District, 46th Senate District, Abuse, Abuse of Public Office, Accountability, Albany, Albany County Board of Elections, Albany County District Attorney, Albany County Elections, Amedore Homes, Argo Group, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Cairo Justice Court, Charles H. Stahlman, Charles Stahlman, Chuck Irving, Cindy Rowzee, Coeymanazis, Coeymans, Coeymans Elections, Coeymans Town Board, Columbia-Greene Media, Conflict of Interest, Consolidated Highway Improvement Program, Corruption, Crystal R. Peck Esq., Daily Mail, Darrell Puritan, Darryl L. Purinton, David Soares, DEC, DeLeonardis & Peck P.C., Denis Jordan, Denis Jordan, Department of Environmental Conservation, Deputy Superintendent of Highways, DOT, Drive-by Shooting, Elected Official, Eric T. Schneiderman, False Instrument, Fraud, Gordon Bennett, Government, Greene County, Greene County Attorney, Greene County Board of Elections, Greene County District Attorney, Greene County Elections, Investigation, Jean Valk, Joe Stanzione, John Faso, Johnson Newspaper Group, Joseph Stanzione, Joshua Bouchez, Judicial Misconduct, Ken Grey, Kirsten Gillibrand, Lawsuit, Marshall & Sterling, Marshall Sterling Insurance, Misuse of Public Office, New Baltimore, New Baltimore Elections, New Baltimore Highway Department, New Baltimore Highway Superintendent, New Baltimore Superintendent of Highways, New Baltimore Town Board, New Baltimore town council, New York, New York State, New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, New York State Department of Transportation, New York State Department of Transportation, New York State Highway Law, New York State Town Law, News Channel 10, News Channel 13, News Channel 6, News Herald, Nick Delisanti, Nick Dellisanti, NYS Assembly, NYS Comptroller Audit, NYS Senate, Obstruction of Justice, Office of the Comptroller, P. David Soares, Pat Linger, Patricia Hildebrandt, Patrick Linger, Patty Hildebrandt, Phil Crandall, Public Corruption, Public Office, Public Safety, Ravena, RegisterStar, Scott Van Wormer, Scott VanWormer, Senate District 46, Shelly van Etten, Smalbany, Stahlman, Susan K. O'Rorke, Tal Rappelea, Thomas Rickert, Tom Meacham, Town of Coeymans, Transparency, Trident, Trident Insurance, VanEtten, Zach Stahlman, Zachary C. Stahlman, Zachary Stahlman
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Category Archives: Fat Momma
Ravena Continues Criminally Irresponsible Financial Neglect
The Village of Ravena Publishes the Proposed 2013-14 Budget: $115,500 for the Village Fitness Center;
Cathy Deluca to be Director making $30,000+.
Illegal, Exclusive, Expensive
Do the math: If there are 500 households in Ravena, the fitness outfit will cost each and every household at least $300.00 in 2013-2014!
Bruno-Warner-Deluca BurningYour Money
The Village of Ravena Refuses to Disclose Legal Fees
Financial Irresponsibility Continues in the Village
Village Mayor John T. Bruno is Still Clueless
Mayor John T. Bruno
In a Times Union article following the Office of the NYS Comptroller’s audit of the village of Ravena, ” Audit slams Ravena board. Village officials fail to monitor finances, comptroller warns,” we read:
The Village Board has little control over finances…The audit revealed scant oversight by the board and said the village treasurer has almost exclusive control over finances…It found that the board is not aware of purchases, does not monitor the actual cost of operations versus the budgeted cost, does not approve budget transfers, did not audit the treasurer’s records or the justice court and filed annual financial reports late…
None of the transfers were approved by the board, the audit said… The audit called the village’s purchasing policy outdated, said the policy is not being followed and the board is not monitoring purchases… Two out of three department heads said they were unaware the village had a purchasing policy, and in reviewing claims, a substantial portion of them did not have proper documentation attached…”The mayor stated that the board was not aware that audits of the treasurer’s and the justice court’s records were required to be completed,” the audit said.
More than thirty years on the village payroll and Mayor John T. Bruno still hasn’t got a clue. ‘What, records? Us, keep records? Nah! I don’t know nothin’! Get outta here!”
And Nancy Biscone-Warner, wife of village justice Harold “Hal” Warner, has been treasurer for more than 20 years, and has been re-elected to the position by dumbass voters (probably the Brunos, Biscones, Persicos, Albanos, and a handful of Coeymanazis were enough to vote her in). Now she’s haunting the corridors of village hall 25/7. Why are the village Ravena, NY, reading reports of such incompetence and voting these clowns back into office?!? We don’t get it!!! Shouldn’t these walking-dead from the past be exorcised or something?
Nancy Warner Still Haunts Village Hall
This blog has reported extensively on the village of Ravena’s backroom deals to evict the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Community Library and create the Ravena Health and Fitness Center. The planning for the Ravena Health and Fitness Center was business as usual in the village of Ravena: it was done secretly. No public hearings, no public comment. Then the village of Ravena went ahead and purchased about $40,000 in used health club equipment from another insider. The $40 grand came out of the public treasury. Again no public hearings or inputs.
We published our prediction that the Ravena-Coeymans Incest Club, the Brunos, Biscones, Warners, Delucas would be setting up a cozy little private spa for themselves and their croneys, as well as providing a plum position for one of their own. Well, as usual our prediction is correct.
The proposed village of Ravena budget is out and here are the figures for the Ravena Health and Fitness Center, which already has its own e-mail and designer logo, again a done deal behind closed doors.
Cathy Long-Deluca
As we predicted, Cathy Deluca has been given the position of fitness center director at a cool salary of $30,000. Is that being paid out of taxpayer monies? Yes! Does it include benefits that not many of us are likely to see? Yes! Is this an insider pick? Yes!
Actually, Cathy Deluca does have some fitness center mismanagement experience. She managed a fitness center when she was still Cathy Long. Remember the fitness center on Main Street? The one that failed?
So let’s have a look at the “budget officers estimates” of what the fitness center is going to cost (the figure below is taken directly out of the proposed budget):
7180 Fitness Center
130 Director (Cathy Deluca) 30,000.00
151 Hourly Employees 30,000.00
290 Equipment 30,000.00
424 Telephone 500.00
429 Repairsto Equipment 20,000.00
435 Outside Services 2,200.00
436 Unclassified 3,000.00
The Ravena Health and Fitness Center is Estimated to Cost Ravena Residents $115,500 in 2013-14. Can you afford that?
We’d like you to have a close look at item s 290 Equipment and 429 Repairs to Equipment. The village plans to spend another $30,000 on equipment for this misconceived misuse of public money. But what’s really irking us is that they’re budgeting another $20,000 for repairing equipment. They just bought about $40,000 in used equipment, and now they’re planning to spend another $20,000 repairing it. (Do the math: $60,000 in junk, scrap!) Our question is obvious: Who got the kickbacks?
There’s no business plan or anything like planning so the other $5,200 for items 435 Outside Services and 436 Unclassified are still mysteries. But let the imagination go wild on this one!
While I do not generally advocate taking local dollars out of the community, I must admit that nothing, nothing that the village of Ravena can do can even come close to the opportunities in Glenmont, just down the road with Planet Fitness and it’s beautiful facility, including changing rooms, tanning, instructors, events, sanitation, etc. And all at a ridiculously reasonable price and a variety of plans. But then, the Ravena Health and Fitness Center with all of its misleading hype, is not for you or me, it’s for the Ravena-Coeymans in-crowd.
Once the Coeymanazi bunch makes the Ravena Health and Fitness Center its watering hole, do you think the rest of us will be welcome? Guess again!
How comfortable will you feel with Jerry Dirty-Hands Deluca behind you?
So, cruising down Main Street in Ravena we can take in the Bruno legacy as we approach a centennial: empty storefronts and empty residential buildings. But Ravena has $115,500 dollars in the 2013-14 budget for a fitness center. Go figure!
Moreover, wouldn’t it have been more responsible to have budgeted that $150,000 to support say the RC Teen Center’s programs for the benefit of youth, or perhaps to invested some of it in the RCS Community Library programs, after all the Library is in the geographical territory of the village of Ravena, or maybe some billing software to keep village accounts, especially water and sewer billings, honest. Speaking of water and sewer, how can the village board of Ravena in good conscience budget $150,000 for a health and fitness center of dubious merit, while neglecting the necessary repair of a 100-year old village sewer and drainage system! It’s criminal and Mayor John T. Bruno and his lunatic band of clowns William Bailey, Rocco Persico, Martin Case, and Nancy Biscone-Warner need to do some jail time with co-conspirators Cathy Long-Deluca and Dirty-Hands Jerry Deluca!
Cathy D.: “Gimme a health-club, Mayor Johny!”
We’d also like to remind our readers that the Bruno-Warner-Deluca fitness scam is also at the expense of a community institution, the RCS Community library. The library is funded by tax dollars that property owners in the town of Coeymans pay. You voted on its budget at the same time you voted for the RCS central school district budget, and the members of the RCS school board. The RCS Community Library serves residents of two counties as a result of the funding (actually the town of Coeymans (Albany County) and part of the town of New Baltimore (Greene County). In other words, the RCS Community Library is a publicly funded institution that serves the entire RCS CSD region, plus. The village of Ravena has done everything possible to make the library unwelcome, including raising its rent by an additional $600. That’s $600 of your money.
One of the reasons the RCS Community Library could not leave its location in the Ravena village building is because D. Persico, board member Rocco Persico’s cousin, didn’t have the money to finish the required renovations, and had to qualify for a loan. Normally, when a contractor renegs on a commitment, there are penalties, like Donnie, you’ve got to eat the rent hike? But that’s not how business is done in Ravena-Coeymans, especially in the Incest Club. Rather than impose penalties on the contractor-board-member-cousin who doesn’t have the money to finish the job, the village of Ravena raises the library’s rent by $600!
This situation has to be investigated and we’ll be publishing forms for residents to fill in and cover letters that can be used for submitting complaints to the Office of the State Comptroller and to the Office of the Attorney General, demanding that the operations in the village of Ravena be investigated.
Rocco Persico
Isn’t it odd that Rocco Persico is a psychologist on the payroll of the RCS school district and he’s on the village of Ravena board. I really have to ask myself what kind of psychologist Persico is if he’s on the Ravena board and this crazy shite still goes on? Maybe that’s why the high-school kids are so whacked out.
And the Financial Irresponsibility and Criminally Poor Recordkeeping Goes On and On and On…
What is Ravena Shelling Out for Legal Fees?
What is the Michael Biscone Racket Being Paid?
A Local Resident Filed a Demand for Production and Disclosure of the Village of Ravena’s Legal Expenditures. The demand was made under the New York State Freedom of Information Act, which requires public entities–with the exception of courts–to produce and disclose all public access information within a specific period of time.
§84. Legislative declaration. The legislature hereby finds that a free society is maintained when government is responsive and responsible to the public, and when the public is aware of governmental actions. The more open a government is with its citizenry, the greater the understanding and participation of the public in government.
The people’s right to know the process of governmental decision-making and to review the documents and statistics leading to determinations is basic to our society. Access to such information should not be thwarted by shrouding it with the cloak of secrecy or confidentiality. The legislature therefore declares that government is the public’s business and that the public, individually and collectively and represented by a free press, should have access to the records of government in accordance with the provisions of this article.
Yes, every one of us has the right to demand disclosure of information from our government and public agencies. The government and its agencies work for you. Don’t let them forget that fact!
There are laws, the Freedom of Information Law, for example, that lay down the who, what, where, how, and when. And you should know about all of this. For example:
§89. General provisions relating to access to records; certain cases. 3. (a) Each entity subject to the provisions of this article, within five business days of the receipt of a written request for a record reasonably described, shall make such record available to the person requesting it, deny such request in writing or furnish a written acknowledgment of the receipt of such request and a statement of the approximate date, which shall be reasonable under the circumstances of the request, when such request will be granted or denied, including, where appropriate, a statement that access to the record will be determined in accordance with subdivision five of this section. An agency shall not deny a request on the basis that the request is voluminous or that locating or reviewing the requested records or providing the requested copies is burdensome because the agency lacks sufficient staffing or on any other basis if the agency may engage an outside professional service to provide copying, programming or other services required to provide the copy, the costs of which the agency may recover pursuant to paragraph (c) of subdivision one of section eighty-seven of this article.
And so far, the village of Ravena (and the RCS CSD district offices, Dr McCartney. But more on this later.) have obstinately broken the law!
It seems a local resident submitted a demand for disclosure of the village of Ravena’s legal fees, because of the observation that wherever you look there’s either a Biscone or a Teresi doing legal work for the village, the town, private individual, on their own. And given the NYS Comptroller’s observation that nobody seems to know who’s doing what or where the money’s going, it apparently seemed like a good idea to get the official word. Normally, a FOIL works…unless there’s something to hide.
Well, the resident got the runaround and then it was “we need more time because we’re mailing out sewer and water bills.” OK . Call him stupid, but the resident agreed to give them more time. And then…SILENCE. He contacted the village and the clerk tells him that the request is unreasonable, that she does not have access to the records, what she does have she’ll produce by August 2, 2013. WTF! Read the law (especially the parts quoted above)!
For all we have to say about the town of Coeymans, who apparently got the same request at the same time, the Coeymans town clerk responded in a matter of days! Why is it that Ravena needs almost 6 months from the time the FOIL was submitted to the time the village clerk expects to have the records? No way, José! Well, maybe they don’t have any records. Maybe they don’t want to surrender the records. Maybe someone doesn’t want the records public. Maybe all of the above.
So now the village of Ravena has a choice: either get the documents to the resident or face the consequences. Now we’re on the case and we’ll see it right on through to the Office of the Comptroller and the Office of the Attorney General. And we know of quite a few other residents who’ll be more than happy to join the movement.
Well, dear readers, the law is the law for you and me, and for the village of Ravena. The village of Ravena is now breaking the law and it’s time to go public and demand that the Office of the State Comptroller and the State Attorney General do some poking around. Where are the records, Ravena?
Actually, we’ve hear that Michael Biscone is having his own problems these days. It seems he’s allegedly being sanctioned by the court for some sort of misconduct. We’re trying to lay our hands on the papers and will publish as soon as we can find out the facts. A former partner of Biscone’s, Joe Rotello, is now in the Appellate Division, the New York State Unified Court System division that is responsible for disciplining attorneys. We just want all concerned to know that we know and that we’ll be watching for any messing around. May Biscone get what’s coming to him!
Mikey Working Out at the RHFC
Posted by Principal Editor on April 17, 2013 in 2Luck.com, Abuse of Public Office, Accountability, Albany, Albany County District Attorney, Andrew Cuomo, Appellate Division 3rd Departmentt, Attorney Discipline, Attorney Misconduct, Bill Bailey, Bitter Bob (Ross), Bob Knighten, Bob Ross, Brian Bailey, Capital District, Cathy Deluca, Cathy Long, Cecilia Tkaczyk, Civil Right Violation, Coeymans, Coeymans Town Board, Committee on Professional Standards, Conflict of Interest, Conspiracy, Crime Confidential, David Soares, Dawn Dolan, Dawn Rogers, Dayelin Roman, Deluca-Warner Fitness Center, Don Persico, Donna Leput Hommel, Dr Alan R. McCartney, Eleanor Luckacovic, Eleanor Oldham, F.O.I.L., Fat Bastard, Fat Momma, FBI Public Corruption Squad, Fitness Center, FOIL, Formal Written Complaint, George Dardiani, Gerald Deluca, Government, Greene County, Greg Teresi, Gregory Darlington, Gregory Teresi, Harold Warner, Hudson Valley, Incompetence, Indifference, Investigation, Irresponsibility, Jerry Deluca, Joan Ross, Joe Rotello, Joe Teresi, John J. Biscone, John Luckacovic, John Neri, John T. Biscone, John T. Bruno, Joseph C Rotello, Joseph C. Teresi, Josephine P. Dority née Biscone, Josie Biscone-Bruno, Kathleen Ryan Gill, Martin Case, Marty Case, Mayor Bruno, Michael Biscone, Michael J. Biscone, MidHudson Cable, Misconduct, Mismanagement, Misuse of Public Office, Monitoring, Nancy Biscone-Warner, Nancy Warner, Nepotism, New Baltimore, New York, New York State, New York State Supreme Court, New York State Unified Court System, News Channel 10, News Channel 13, News Channel 6, Notice of Claim, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate, Office of the Attorney General, P. David Soares, Perp Patrol, Pete Lopez, Peter Masti, Phillip Crandall, Public Corruption, Pudenda David Soares, Ravena, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk, Ravena Coeymans Youth and Teen Activities Center, Ravena Fitness Center, Ravena Village Attorney, Ravena Village Board, Ravena-Coeymans Teen Center, RC Teen Activities Center, RCS Community, Removal of Mayor, Rick Reith, Robert Fisk, Rocco Persico, Selkirk, Shame On You, Smalbany, Stephen Flach, Thomas A. Boehm, Thomas E. Dolan, Tom Dolan, Transparency, Village of Ravena Planning Board, Vote NO!, William Bailey
CONGRATULATIONS! MR JOHN M. VADNEY!!!
Albany District Attorney P. David Soares Got Another Faceful of Rotten Egg Today When a Town of Bethlehem Judge Dismissed All Charges Against Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District Board of Ed President
Mr John M. Vadney
All Charges were Dismissed for Lack of Evidence as there was “No Truth to the Charges.” Not Only Does Mr John Vadney Deserve this Commuity’s Hearfelt Congratulations for Having Stood His Ground Like a True Hero and Holding Out Against the Forces of Evil in His Community, He Should Demand a Public Apology for the Harassment He Received at the Hands of Arch-Corrupt Albany County District Attorney P.[udenda] David Soares, the Albany Times Union a.k.a. Albany Times Useless, the Local Rags (the Official Newspaper of the Coeymanazis, the Ravena News Herald) and News Channels 6, 10, and 13!
Furthermore, Albany County District Attorney P. David Soares Should Be Drummed of Public Office and Barred from Practicing Law in New York State or Anywhere Else for the Outrageous Travesty of Justice and the Shameful Waste of Public Money in His Relentless and Malicious Attempt at Prosecuting an Innocent Man. If Soares and his lackeys had a set of rat’s balls among them they would have been honest and ethical in view of the total lack of facts and the circumstances and refused to get involved. But NO! Faithful to their Albany Democrat Politics they had to join in the Coeymanazi retaliation. In other words, Albany DA obviously was involved in the Coeymanazi conspiracy!
SHHH!
Soares Sucks
The case has been dragging on and on since May 2012, when Mr Joseph “Joe” Tracey, father of sociopath Josephine ‘Tracey-O’Connor, famed former RCS board of education clown and wannabe teacher, filed trumped up charges against Mr Vadney, alleging Mr Vadney called him names. The more than 200 pound lump of wuss-flesh was allegedly part of a conspiracy to embarass Mr Vadney and a feeble-minded attempt to force him to resign from his position as board president. The idiotic circus program was hatched by the Coeymanazis nesting in the Coeymans Police Department and in the RCS high-school where New York State United Teachers local rep, Matthew “Matt-the-Mutt” Miller, is the inside man for the teachers clique on the RCS board of education.
The so-called teachers clique made up of Alice Whalen, Howard “Bray” Engel, James “Jimmy” Latter, and Edward “Teddy” Reville, at the time of the fraudulent charges also included whacko-woman Josephine O’Connor and Tracey Traver, both of the teachers clique. The clique was actively supported by the likes of Gerald “Dirty-Hands Jerry” Deluca and his bottle-blond partner, Cathy Deluca, and a ragtag bunch of psycho victims who were capable of just about anything, judging by the likes of Joe Tracey and his daughter Josephine Tracey-O’Connor.
It seems that after the 2012 budget vote was passed under suspicious circumstances under the guidance of Gerald “Dirty-Hands Jerry” Deluca and his mob of Coeymanazis, and with the backing of the NYSUT nuggie Matt-the-Mutt Miller, the Coeymanazis and the teachers union’s only way to deliver on their empty promises was to control the board of education.
Congratulations Mr Vadney & Supporters!
But Mr Vadney’s group was voted in and took the majority, grabbing the prize and the board out of the teachers and Coeymanazi’s greedy kleptomaniac hands. Mr Vadney was confirmed as president of the board and Mr Michael Robbins was elected to be vice-president.
Readers will recall that we covered the events extensively on this blog and you can search the blog to read all of the real facts.
Readers will also recall how the teachers clique and the Coeymanazis made every attempt to oust Mr Rodney Krzykowski and to defame Mr Jeff Lukens. Neither conspiracy worked.
Judge Judy:
WTF!?!
She can’t believe what goes on in RCS!
Mr Joe Tracey was allegedly put up to first harass and to threaten the board president’s family when Tracey, gutless coward that he is, appeared at the offices of the family business and verbally abused Mr Vadney’s sister. Of course, there were witnesses, but when Ms Vadney attempted to file a complaint with the Coeymans Police, Kerry Thompson refused to take the complaint. A female police officer who asked not to be identified later informed Ms Vadney that what Thompson had done was wrong and that she, the officer, would make sure it got into the file. (You’ll also recall how we broke the story about Coeymans police chief Gregory Darlington’s hiring of Thompson to be his personal assistant at mre than $31/h!) Coeymanazis take care of their own!
So there is evidence that the Coeymans Police Department was involved in the conspiracy not only with Thompson’s refusal to take the complaint against Tracey but also the fact that Gerald “Dirty-Hands-Jerry” Deluca is a close friend of Josephine Tracey-O’Connor, the one who claimed that Mr Vadney called her “fat” (well, actually, she’s not what you would really call petite). Witnesses to the entire scene testify that no such thing ever happened. It was a bare face lie.
So, dear readers, Truth and Justice won in the end, and that doesn’t happen often in this RCS community or in Albany County so we are all witnesses to a truly historic moment.
It’s Time to Change Back
To What We Once Had
The case against Mr Vadney is DISMISSED and Joe Tracey gets 6 MONTHS PROBATION!
The Court has done the right thing in terms of Justice; now let’s see if the local media has the guts to do the right thing and publish the truth!
Posted by Principal Editor on April 2, 2013 in 2Luck.com, Abuse of Public Office, AFL-CIO, Albany, Albany County District Attorney, Alice Whalen, Bethlehem Town Court, Bethlehem Town Justice, Bob Ross, BoBo Cop, Bray Engel, Burning the Constitution, Capital District, Cathy Deluca, Civil Right Violation, Civil Rights, Clowns, Coeymanazis, Coeymans, Coeymans Circus, Coeymans Police Department, Community Support, Conspiracy, Corrupt Police, David Soares, DoDo Cop, Donna Leput Hommel, Dr Alan McCartney, Edward "Teddy" Reville, Edward Reville, Eleanor Luckacovic, Eleanor Oldham, Eliminate Coeymans Police Department, Fat Bastard, Fat Momma, FBI Public Corruption Squad, Gerald Deluca, Greene County, Gregory Darlington, H Andres Jimenez Uribe, Harassment, Howard "Bray" Engel, Hudson Valley, Intimidation, Investigation, James Latter, James Latter II, Jeff Lukens, Jerry "Dirty-Hands" Deluca, Jerry Deluca, Joan Ross, Joe Tracey, John Luckacovic, John M. Vadney, Joseph Edward Tracey, Josephine O'Connor, Justice and Courts, Karen Miller, Kathleen Ryan Gill, Kerry Thompson, Marlene McTigue, Matt "the Mutt", Matt Miller, Matthew J. Miller, Melanie Lekocevic, Misconduct, Misuse of Public Office, Monitoring, Moose Misuraca, New Baltimore, New York, New York State, New York State United Teachers, News Channel 10, News Channel 13, News Channel 6, News Herald, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate, NYSED, NYSUT, Office of the Attorney General, P. David Soares, Perjury, Poll Misconduct, Public Corruption, Pudenda David Soares, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk Central School District, RCS Central School District, RCS Teachers Association, Rodney Krzykowski, Selkirk, Smalbany, Small Town, Teachers Association, Teachers Union, Teddy Reville, Times Union, Times Union Blogs, Times Useless, Times Useless Blogs, Tracey Traver, Union Representative, United Federation of Teachers, Voting Irregularities
Coeymans: Can It Get Any Worse Than This?
Warning: If you are a student or a minor, please leave this page NOW or get your parent to supervise your visit!
It Seems the Town of Coeymans Just Can’t Live Without Making A Complete Ass of Itself!
And the Coeymans Town Board Knows Just How to Announce to the World:
We’re A Bunch of Retards!
Coeymans puts the “C” in Cheap as in Sell Out Cheap!
Coeymans Town Board Sells Out for A Sandwich. Now that’s Cheap!
It’s really unbelievable that the Coeymans town board would be such whores and prostitute themselves to an Arby’s marketing scheme!
Are You thinking ARBY’S?
That Arby’s Logo is a Little “Suggestive,” Isn’t It? Wondering about the message Arby’s is sending?
And what they’re really thinking about?
We’ve already established that Coeymans has no dignity but the renaming for a month after a sandwich is clear proof of how seriously the town board of Coeymans takes their mandates and their attitude towards governing the town of Coeymans…excuse me, Reubenville. To think that the town board of Coeymans would degrade their office, the town of Coeymans, and clownify the people of this community is clearly a message shouting: We don’t belong in adult clothes! We don’t belong in office! We belong in clown clothes!
So’s Your Coeymans Town Board
Did you notice the similarity with the Arby’s logo?
This sort of idiocy, childlike, retarded behavior by so-called elected public servants is a disgrace (and YES! I did use the “retarded” word because there’s no more accurate way of describing their cognitive backwardness!). They’re not even civil service tested, they can’t even say they were appointed by some moronic dumbass. No! Coeymans has to admit that the residents of the town of Coeymans actually elected those clowns. The residents of the town of Coeymans actually made a choice, exercising their right to vote for whom they thought were the best qualified clowns for the job of running the town of Coeymans! Coeymans! Is that the best you could do?
You’d think the elected dumbasses on the Coeymans town board would have at least sold themselves for something healthy, instead of ignoring the fact that the local epidemic of obese broadasses is a public health disaster, and sending the message that we need more doublewides on the Ravena-Coeymans streets! But no, the chubby-chasers on the Coeymans town board want to put some flab on those hips and so they went for one of the least healthy fast-food gimmicks around: the fat- and sodium-laden reuben! Here’s the nutrition information (if you want to call it “nutrition”):
Calories: 640! (that’s w/o fries or onion rings!)
Sodium: 1.6 grams (68% of normal daily intake!)
Fat: 30 grams
Arby’s Reuben Sandwich
(For those of you who do better with pictures.)
(Source: HealthGuru)
And you still wonder why thunderthighs and cellulite city is lying next to you? Or why your kids look like basketballs on sticks? Or why you’re all diabetics and have high blood pressure by the time you’re 10 years old? Thank the braniacs who cook up stuff like Arby’s reuben sandwiches and thank your trusted elected officials for doing their part in putting you and your kids on early dialysis!
Eat this and YOUR time will be limited!
In fact, the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Central School District should make a formal public protest for the despicably poor example the town board of Coeymans is giving and should denounce them for contradicting any healthy foods education the taxpayers of this district are paying to have taught in the schools!
If any of that bunch of pre-adolescent kleptomaniacs in the Coeymans doublewide they call a town Hall are re-elected, the whole town should be expedited down the Hudson in a garbage barge!
Stephen Flach and Thomas Boehm sold Coeymans down the river in an Arby’s garbage barge!
It’s all over the Internet. In fact, here’s an example of some of the press the town of Coeymans is getting:
Reubenville, the Albany County town usually known as Coeymans, has been awarded 5,000 coupons for the Arby’s sandwich shop on Wolf Road in nearby Colonie.
Figuring out a way to equitably distribute them will, as Councilman Tom Boehm remarked at the February town board meeting when the temporary name change was approved, be the tough chore.
The name change was a gimmick that was part of the fast-food chain’s “Reubenville
Challenge,” which encouraged communities nationwide to adopt the name Reubenville as a way of publicizing Arby’s new Reuben sandwich. It will stay that way through the end of March.
Arby’s made the winner’s announcement Friday, noting Coeymans was the first municipality in the nation to meet the challenge.
(Source: “Welcome to Reubenville, NY, a sandwich heaven” by William M. Dowd, Examiner.com)
The most interesting question is how the town of Coeymans will decide to divvy up the 5000 sandwiches among the more than 7000 Coeymans residents. Coeymans is indeed fortunate, though, to have a pastor/preacher of sorts as its supervisor, maybe pastor/town supervisor Stephen Flach or one of his black monks, Peter Masti or Phillip Crandall, religious zealots that they are, can do something like the loaves and fishes trick. Waddaya think, Coeymans? Can they pull that one off?
The Coeymans Police Department’s Proposed New Look
Coeymans Dunkin’ Donuts DoDos Department
Sure, Coeymans was the first municipality in the nation to meet the challenge! Probably the only municipality whose elected officials are stupid enough to make asses of a whole community! Nice going, Coeymans!So, what’s next? Does the town of Coeymans rename the Coeymans Police Department Dunkin’ Donuts DoDo Cops and award DoDo Darlington and BoBo-Cop Jerry Deluca 5000 Dunkin’ Donut holes?
Enjoy Your 5000 Arby’s Reubens!
(This may actually be the first instance of cooperation between the town of Coeymans and the village of Ravena: Create fat people for the Bruno-Deluca-Warner Ravena Fitness Center! What a plan!)
Posted by Principal Editor on March 19, 2013 in Abuse of Public Office, Adult Children of Dysfunctional Families, Albany, Albany County Department of Children, Albany County Department of Children, Youth, and Families, Albany Schenectady BOCES, Alice Whalen, Arby's Reuben Sandwich, Bill Bailey, BOCES, Bray Engel, Brian Bailey, Cathy Deluca, Child Abuse, Children of Dysfunctional Families, Claudia Verga, Coeymanazis, Coeymans, Coeymans Losers Club, Coeymans Town Board, DeLuca Public Affairs, Deluca-Warner Fitness Center, Diane Malecki, Dr Alan McCartney, Edward "Teddy" Reville, Edward Reville, Endangering a Minor, Fat Bastard, Fat Momma, Fat People, Gerald Deluca, Government, Hakim Jones, Howard "Bray" Engel, James Latter, James Latter II, Jeff Lukens, Jerry "Dirty-Hands" Deluca, Jerry Deluca, John T. Bruno, Josephine O'Connor, Kathleen Ryan Gill, Lorraine Misuraca, Marlene McTigue, Martin Case, Marty Case, Matt "the Mutt", Matt Miller, Mayor Bruno, Melanie Lekocevic, Misconduct, Misuse of Public Office, Moose Misuraca, Morbid Obesity, Nancy Warner, New Baltimore, New York, New York State, News Channel 10, News Channel 13, News Channel 6, Obesity, Pam Black, Pete Lopez, Peter Masti, Ravena, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk Central School District, Ravena Fitness Center, Ravena-Coeymans Teen Center, RCS Clowns, Reubenville, Selkirk, Shame On You, Stephen Flach, Student Health, Teddy Reville, Thomas A. Boehm, Thomas E. Dolan, Tom Dolan, Town Board Meeting
DumbAss Award: May-June 2012
In May We Offered Readers the Opportunity to Vote for Your Choice of DumbAss for May
Well, The Poll Is Now Closed and Here are the Results for the “Dumb Ass” Award for May!
(The New DumbAss Poll is Now Available. Check out the Top of the Page: DumbAss Awards for June 2012 or Click → Here.)
James Latter Won Hands Down!
Here are the results:
In first place and the despicable winner of the DUMB ASS AWARD is
JAMES LATTER,
RCS CSD Board of Education member, for his feeble-minded defense of the indefensible, who violates confidentiality, abuses children, misuses funds, ignores the public’s outcry for him to take an honorable (Yeah!) way out and resign!
The runner-up scoundrels are mostly tied for second and third placings, with a couple of gray mares taking the trailing end (not worth mentioning, actually):
Seems the RCS schools and its teachers dominated Second Place with the Pieter B. Coeymanazis (the Trollettes Donna Leput-Hommel, Marlene McTigue, Sarah Berchtold Engel and R J D’Esposito), Peter J. McKenna (Coeymans Police), and the double-dipping RCS atheist teacher, bully monger, and president of the RCS teachers association, Matt “the Mutt” Miller vying for placing.
Not surprisingly, Gregory Darlington and Gerald “Jerry” Deluca are married with Josephine O’Connor in a tight-as-pantyhose tie for Third Place as DUMBASSES. The voting is gives you a rough idea of their [in]significance in the voters’ minds.
The actual percentages of votes are shown in the table below.
James Latter – RCS CSD Board of Education member, violates confidentiality, abuses children, misuses funds
Pieter B. Coeymans PTO – D’Esposito, McTigue, Hommel, Engel block parents, retaliate, punish businesses
Peter J. McKenna – Guilty of 9 counts of police misconduct, lies to supervisors, fired from Albany, hired to Coeymans
Mat Miller – Atheist teacher, double-dipper, bully teacher, has Bloger halucinations
Gregory Darlington – Keeps Deluca, hires Albany PD Rejects, head of Coeymans Thug Cops
Gerald “Jerry” Deluca – Coeymans investigator with too many jobs, too much influence, too many connections for public confidence
Josephine O’Connor – RCS CSD Board of Education member, “Fat Lady Dance,” lies about being a teacher
Brian Baily – Clueless RCS High School Principal; Fails to Implement Procedures for Gun at School
Pam Black – Principal at RCS Middle School, bully teachers and students, and retaliation.
Superintendent Elizabeth Smith – Big salary, little control; Can’t control bullying, rogue teachers, procedures
George Dardiani – Coeymans Town Judge Violates State Ethics Code – Posts Political Signs on Lawn
Once again, the despicable winner of the DUMB ASS AWARD is JAMES LATTER, RCS CSD Board of Education member, for his feeble-minded defense of the indefensible, who violates confidentiality, abuses children, misuses funds, ignores the public’s outcry for him to take an honorable (Yeah!) way out and resign!
Special thanks to all readers who participated in the poll.
Share the link to this post with a friend. They’ll be glad you did and so will you!
Posted by Principal Editor on June 13, 2012 in Albany Schenectady BOCES, Amy Bartlett, Anti-Community Activity, ARANY, Atheist Teacher, Bad Role Model, Bill McFerran, Board of Education Member, BOCES, Brian Bailey, Bully Cops, Bully Teacher, Bullying, Cathy Deluca, Coeymanazis, Coeymans, Coeymans Losers Club, Coeymans Police Department, Conflict of Interest, Corrupt Police, Crooked Cop, David Bartlett, Deceit, DeLuca Public Affairs, Donna Leput Hommel, Double Dipping, Dumb Ass, Dumb Ass Award, Elizabeth Smith, Endangering a Minor, Extramarital Affairs, Fat Bastard, Fat Momma, Fat People, George Dardiani, Gerald Deluca, Greed, Greedy Teachers, Gregory Darlington, Hypocrisy, Intimidation, James Latter, Jeff Stambaugh, Jerry Deluca, Joe Tracey, Joseph Edward Tracey, Josephine O'Connor, Kerry Thompson, Lies, Losers Club, Main Street Small Business Coalition, Marlene McTigue, Matt Miller, Melanie Lekocevic, MSSBC, New Baltimore, New York, New York State, Pam Black, Perjury, Pieter B. Coeymanazis, Pieter B. Coeymans PTO, Police Rejects, Police Thugs, Ravena, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk Central School District, RCS Athletic Association, RCS School Superintendant, Retaliation, Ryan Johnson, Sarah Berchtold Engel, Selkirk, Smalbany, Sports Association, Student Abuse, Student Endangerment, Teacher Misconduct, Teacher on Student Bullying, Teachers Association, Tracey Traver, Trollettes
This Is Your Town, Coeymans! Criminals Gone Wild, Part II
I Recently Started A Discussion in a Chaplains Discussion Group on Forgiveness and Reconciliation, and I’ve Just Reviewed Some of the Discussion From the Participants. So, Forgive Me But I’m Waxing Pastoral, Theological, So-to-Speak.
Criminals Gone Wild, Part II
I’m Sitting Here at My Desk, Thinking About Coeymans, the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk District and Wondering: Does the Place Make the People Evil, Or Do the People Make the Place Evil?
“Does the Place Make the People Evil, Or Do the People Make the Place Evil?” That’s the question that is preoccupying me this evening as I read through some legal papers and police reports relating to a recent incident in Coeymans. I also wondered while reading how a country that wants to make same-sex marriages legal and liberalize immigration laws can be so hateful towards its neighbors? There’s something schizoid about the whole thing; it’s really sicko!
It seems the television and local press media have been spoon fed some blood so they’re in a feeding frenzy this evening, as only the media can do, whole facts, half facts, they don’t give a damned. As long as they can beat the others to the punch!
But the question that still comes up, even after I ponder the question of: “Why are they going after the good citizen and not the crooked, corrupt cops? Why are they not going after the deranged, depraved drug addled Neanderthal who actually menaced a lone woman, vomiting profanity and threats to harm her entire family?”
But then that haunting question resurfaces: “Is it the Place that Makes the People Evil, or the People that Make the Place Evil?”
On about Thursday, May 24, 2012, Mr Joseph E. TRACEY, the father of RCS board of education member Josephine O’Connor, entered a local business premises and launched into a tirade of obscenities, profanities and threats on the lone woman in the office, who happened to be a local busness woman and the sister of the sitting RCS board of education president. Here we have what is tantamount to Fat Bastard accosting Tinkerbell! That’s a real match, isn’t it?
Do You Recognize This Man?
Well, luckily, the lady’s brother (not John Vadney but another brother) was watching and called on her cell phone to ensure everything was all right and later physically appeared to make certain TRACEY was behaving (he was not); by that time, it appears, the lady had things under control, but TRACEY continued his attacks, now in the presence of not two but three witnesses!
The reason for TRACEY’s appearance was that the BoE president, Mr John Vadney, allegedly called his daughter, Josephine O’Connor “fat.” We reported on the incident on this blog and, it appears, the BoE president did no such thing and there are at least four, FOUR witnesses to testify to that fact. Nevertheless, TRACEY was convinced that someone called his adult married daughter, for quite a number of years estranged from TRACEY and not on friendly terms with him, “fat” but now all of a sudden he’s being protective (?). Fact is, TRACEY was set up to be a tool and was being used to set up BoE president…something TRACEY doesn’t have the smarts to do alone, having allegedly fried his brain years ago, and only recently on legal prescription meds. Mr Joseph Edward Tracey was being used as a pawn in the depraved games his daughter and her depraved pervert friends are playing; get control of the RCS board of education and its authorities. It’s all about divvying up the $41 million they deceptively got voters to accept in the 2012-13 RCS CSD school budget. The Teachers association/union wants control of all that and without the majority on the Board of Education, they’ll never have full control. So, it’s obvious, with the help of Gerald “Jerry” Deluca on the Coeymans Police Department and his bully cops–Deluca is very good friends with Josephine O’Connor–they could make a frame-up look legit but only with a Dumbo, a fall guy. Enter Joseph Edward TRACEY. After all, TRACEY has a “reputation,” a big mouth, and a brain that makes a chicken’s look like Einstein’s, and is expendible. Right, Josephine?
TRACEY BEEN BAD!
TRACEY BEEN HAD!
So TRACEY makes his appearance, does his thing, and leaves promising to call the board president, which, as we see, he does on Friday, May 25, 2012. (It should be noted here for completeness that the woman initially accosted by TRACEY feared for her own safety and that of her family and attempted to file a complaint with Officer Thompson of the Coeymans Police, but Coeymans Officer Kerry Thompson, also a Lieutenant with the Albany County Sheriff and married to Darlington’s Sister refused to take the complaint! Wonder why?)
On informatin and belief TRACEY called the president of the board at his home on Friday evening, May 25, 2012, and left a voicemail message at about 4:30 p.m.; Mr Vadney returned TRACEY’s call that evening at about 8:30 p.m. TRACEY again alleged that Mr Vadney called his daughter “fat,” which Mr Vadney denied. TRACEY again launched into a tirade of profanity and obscenities, threatening to harm Mr Vadney. Mr Vadney terminated the call and immediately reported the incident to the Bethlehem police. The Bethlehem police contacted TRACEY, located him at his home, arrested him, transported him to the station. The honorable Jordon, Bethlehem town justice, arraigned TRACEY on misdemeanor aggravated harassment, and ordered him to appear in court at a later date. Judge Jordon also issued an order of protection in favor of Mr Vadney, prohibiting Tracey from contacting Mr Vadney.
Were the Coeymans Police actually violating the Order of Protection issued by Judge Jordon? We think YES! They were actually acting after the Judge issued the Order of Protection and on the express behalf of Joe TRACEY to continue TRACEY’s intimidation and threats when Joe TRACEY was prohibited from contacting Mr Vadney! Joe TRACEY was arrested and arrested for good cause; he couldn’t accept that and made good his threats against Mr Vadney, this time with the help of the Coeymanazis, the Coeymans Police, who ignored the Judge’s order and continued to harass and intimidate Mr Vadney, even sham arresting him! Of course the general public and the media missed the finer points of this criminal activity but you now know! Fancy that! The Coeymans Police doing something illegal…AGAIN!
Apparently, after TRACEY’s arrest, TRACEY filed a complaint with Coeymans police alleging that Mr Vadney threatend TRACEY with bodily harm, and that he stated “I know where you live” and “You’d better watch out.” TRACEY states that he was “alarmed” by these threats. Our question, naturally is: TRACEY, if you were so alarmed by these alleged words, Why didn’t you report them immediately or when you were arrested? There’s no mention of that in the police reports. Why did you wait til the next day, after you had been arrested and an order of protection issued against you?
Well, at about 11 a.m. on Saturday, May 26, 2012, the Coeymans police arrive at the home of sitting RCS board of education president, John Vadney, and arrest him on the charge of Guess what? Aggravated harrassment.
Now, who’s our little sock-puppet, Officer Crosier?
But reading the Coeymans police report, we note that it is not Joseph Edward TRACEY who is complainant, but Officer D.M. Crosier shield No. 128, of the Coeymans Police Department. Our first impression is that this Crosier character is either ignorant or totally incompetent ,or more probably still, just a sockpuppet following orders. (S)he was not present when the alleged threats were made, was (s)he? Neither is the complaint/report signed by TRACEY. Nor is there a jurat or sworn deposition by TRACEY in support of the complaint–at least not in the report we have. Mr Vadney was not mirandized upon his arrest and he was not arraigned before a judge at the time of being charged. All of these irregularities–did we expect different in Coeymans–are glaring in terms of law enforcement! What does this spell out for us:
RETALIATION! PERJURY! CONSPIRACY! SET-UP! DUH! NO-BRAINER, PEOPLE!
This entire series of events perfectly illustrates what we have been reporting and saying all along! The players are all the same: The Coeymans Police Department (representing Gerald “Jerry” Deluca and the Coeymanazis), Josephine O’Connor and dear ole demented Dad (representing the teachers union members on the RCS board of education), and the residents and people of the RCS community and central school district (represented by Mr John Vadney).
As for the circumstances at large in the RCS community and in the schools in the RCS central school district, all you have to do is page through this blog to get a good idea of what that’s all about. I won’t waste space here repeating it all.
When interpreting the facts, we look at the events, the circumstances, the individuals involved. Here we have the image of Josephine O’Connor, an adult married woman, calling herself inaccurately a teacher (making her a liar), alleging that the president of the RCS board of education called her “fat,” and, in the presence of voters waiting to hear the results of the presumably fraudulent budget vote, in her own words published on FaceBook, Josephine O’Connor writes:
“In that hot hallway full of people waiting for election results, I raised my voice and said “hey everyone: Member of the Board X just said I look like I put on weight, anyone else want to chime in?” I yelled the insult up and down the hallway.” (See our article: Josephine O’Connor: A Role Model of Maturity and Mental Stability…NOT!)
And then, not to let the matter rest, and to use it to the max for her depraved and lunatic purposes, she enlists her burnt-out father as her Dumbo! and sets out with the collusion of the Coeymans Police (Deluca, her “good friend”) to frame Mr Vadney! This woman claims to be a teacher; is that the sort of person you want in your school?
Our advice: Get over it Josephine! Get some counseling, some therapy! But stay away from the children!!!! You’re really BAD news!
Then we have that poor bastid Joseph Edward TRACEY, who fathered our lunatic wannabe teacher, Josephine O’Connor, who on information and belief has quite a history of his own, which explains much of his behavior, and who, for whatever reason, gets sucked into this undercurrent by his newly re-found Josephine–and gets his ass arrested for his idiotic behavior and then, stupidly, perjurs himself in retaliation!
As for the corrupt and tainted thugs at the Coeymans Police Department, they are beyond any criticism we could unleash on them here. They are thugs, bullies, Coeymanazis; what can you expect with the leaders they have and the types of recruits they bring in: rejects. Unfortunately, the good apples in the barrel have to carry the stench of their rotten colleagues.
Mr John Vadney
Gold Star Rated
As for Mr Vadney: He was elected on his merits. He’s a hard-working family man, he and his wife have two beautiful children and have provided wonderfully for them. His children are smart, talented, respectful, handsome. He is honest, honorable, and respectful. Godfearing, moral, ethical and good. Having observed him many times in the videotapes of the RCS board of education meetings, he is always professional, cheerful, and respectful. Mr Vadney and his family are hospitable and generous; their home and table are open to all. It’s a family tradition. Mr Vadney is a good listener and mediator; he treats everyone with respect. Mr Vadney has worked long and hard for the RCS central school district and has made many personal sacrifices for the sake of the district, its students and residents. It’s an abomnation what the sicko’s in this community have done to them! There’s a special p;lace in hell for those asocial perverts and they’ll reap the rewards of their evildoings none to soon! A curse be upon them and those who support them! Amen! The man described by the LIARS Joseph Edward TRACEY and his estranged, strange adult daughter, Josephine O’CONNOR is a fiction, a fabrication of their sick minds. Those who know Mr Vadney and work with him can confirm the observation that he is good, honorable, and a victim of the perverts; you can judge for yourself: Watch the tapes, they’re available on the RCS board of education website.
One final word on the media: This blog, to its credit, deals in facts. We could have commented on these events sooner but we waited until we had all of the reports and could quote facts. Unfortunately, that is not the case for Channel 6 News and Channel 10 News; they hadn’t even seen the police reports and were hounding Mr Vadney and his neighbors. Channel 6 News and Channel 10 News had the opportunity to establish credibility but BLEW IT! Their editors have to answer for that; hopefully their shareholders and their advertisers will take those faux pas and the ignorance in consideration. Don’t be mistaken, we’ll make sure they know about it! Sorry stupids…you made your beds, now sleeep in them!
Is this Dayelin Roman?
Of course, the Times Useless and the sleeze reporter Dayelin Roman were on the phone trying to scrape up some of the pooled blood before it could even clot! Dayelin Roman, star pornographic reporter! Makes you wonder who’s doing what for her, she’s so hot on destroying the decent people in Coeymans and ignores the crooks and criminals! What’s up, Day’, you and Jerry gettin’ kinda “close?” Who’s leaking information to you from Coeymans (that’s an old problem, common knowledge that someone in the Coeymans P.D. leaks information)? Or do you suck up anything put in front of you?
But credit where credit is due: At least Channel 13, I’m told, was reasonably balanced in its reporting and at least gave both sides of the story. Earlier today, WNYT Channel 13 spent more than 51 minutes on this blog. Eric Hoppel was notified of the problems in Coeymans some time ago. Do you think WNYT or Hoppel will get to the bottom of the real problems in Coeymans, like Deluca and the Coeymanazis? Time will tell.
People of Ravena, Coeymans, Selkirk! How can you have the stomach to let this go on any longer?
Enough said on that subject. The Law and Justice will have the last word! But that question is still bothering me:
“Is it the Place that Makes the People Evil, or Is it the People that Make the Place Evil?
A Couple of Afterthoughts…
“It’s for the kids!”
Remember that slogan abused by the Yes! people during the budget battle. Wielded so many times by teachers and teacher minions to tug at your heart strings and to get you to give them their money? Well, apparently Josephine O’Connor and Joe TRACEY “did it all for the kids.” Was it for the kids that Mr Vadney’s children had to hear Joe TRACEY’s filth coming over the speaker phone? Was it for the kids that Mr Vadney’s children had to witness their innocent father arrested and carted off like the Coemanazi criminals instigating the fraud? Was it for the kids that they now have to face their schoolmates and bear the stigma of what Josephine O’Connor, Joe TRACEY, and the Coeymanazis conjured up? Yeah! It’s for the the kids…and I just saw a pig (I won’t mention any names) fly by my window!We can only speculate why this evil has been done…
But here are some ideas:
The Coeymanazis are lashing out wildly at anything or anyone that is associated, in reality or only in their small minds, with this blog. They think they know who the blogger is and will do anything to “punish” her/him or anyone associated with him/her. They seem to see her/him everywhere (see our article Matt Miller: “I Seen The BLOGGER!!!!” — his grammar, not ours!). And have even used the school children to do their dirty work (see Schools, Superintendent: No Response to Allegations of Bullying… and Stop the Presses…EXTRA! Bully Gangs at RCS).
The word is that some members of the RCS board of education were going to vote to deny RCS teachers association/union president Matt Miller (the self-professed atheist teacher) the $10K he’s receiving on top of his teacher salary (he has a reduced teaching load of 2 periods a day so that he can do his union finagling at the school, and then they pay him an additional stipend of $10K to act as energy watchdog at the school!). Is it worth $10K to frame an innocent person? You betcha it is in Coeymans. The solution: Do anything to prevent the vote! Create a distraction…ANYTHING!
It could be revenge for the fact that so many residents in the RCS central school district saw and reported numerous irregularities leading up to and in the May 15 budget voting and the election of board of education members. Revenge for the fact that the teacher’s lost their majority on the board so some non-supporters had to go! They had already tried before and failed. It looks like they really go desperate.
And then there’s Josephine O’Connor. She appears to have anger and self-esteem issues that probably go way back in her personal history. A lot of trauma there. Maybe it was one of the many voices in her head that called her fat and she tried to pin reality on it by lashing out at someone in the crowd, maybe a father figure? Maybe the father figure represented in the president of the RCS board of education? It really makes no difference which voice it was she heard. What does matter is that she’s held on to the thought for so long and has actually kept the rage in her until she could vent it. Now that in itself is nutz! Josephine O’Connor has some serious psychological issues, it seems, and she’s not someone I’d want around my kids…in school or anywhere!
Well, those are the facts; obviously nothing seems to change in the Coeymans freak show.
Posted by Principal Editor on May 31, 2012 in Abuse, ACLU, Albany Police Rejects, American Civil Liberties Union, Amy Bartlett, Anti-Bullying Law, Anti-Community Activity, ARANY, Atheist Teacher, Bethlehem Police, Bill McFerran, Blogger, Board of Education Member, Board of Regents, BOCES, Bully Cops, Bully Gang, Bully Teacher, Bullying, Bullyism, Capital District, Cathy Deluca, Cathy Long, Coercion, Coeymanazis, Coeymans, Coeymans Circus, Coeymans Police Department, Coeymans Town Justice, Conspiracy, Corrupt Police, Crime and Punishment, Crooked Cop, D. M. Crosier, Daily Mail, David Bartlett, David Soares, Dawn Dolan, Dayelin Roman, DEC, Deceit, DeLuca Public Affairs, Department of Environmental Conservation, Donna Leput Hommel, Elizabeth Smith, Ethics and Morality, Extramarital Affairs, FaceBook, False Instrument, Fat Bastard, Fat Momma, FBI, FBI Criminal Information System, FBI Public Corruption Squad, Fraud, George Dardiani, Gerald Deluca, Greedy Teachers, Greene County, Gregory Darlington, Harassment, Harold Warner, Hudson Valley, Hypocrisy, Immorality, Incompetence, Incompetent School Principal, Innocent Bystander, Intimidation, Investigation, Irregularities, Voting, James Latter, Jeff Stambaugh, Jerry Deluca, Joe Tracey, John B. King, Joseph Edward Tracey, Josephine O'Connor, Judicial Misconduct, Law Enforcement, Liar, Liberty Weeping, Lies, Main Street Small Business Coalition, Marlene McTigue, Matt Miller, Mayor Bruno, Misdemeanor, Misfits, Morbid Obesity, MSSBC, New Baltimore, New York, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, News Herald, NYCLU, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate, NYSED, NYSED Office of Counsel, Office of the Attorney General, Order of Protection, Parent Teachers Organization, Perjury, Perp Patrol, Person of Interest, Perv Patrol, Pervert, Pervert Teacher, Peter Masti, Pieter B Coeymans Elementary School, Pieter B. Coeymanazis, Pieter B. Coeymans PTO, Police Incompetence, Police Rejects, Police State, Police Thugs, Pulp Fiction Journalism, Pulp Journalist, R J DEsposito, Rat Pack, Rats, Ravena, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk Central School District, RCS Athletic Association, RCS Board of Education, RCS Central School District, RCS Community, RCS School Board, RCS School Superintendant, RCS Sports Association, RCS Sportsman Association, RCS Teachers Association, Retaliation, Ryan Johnson, Sarah Berchtold Engel, Secret Meetings, Secret Police, Selkirk, Senate Committee on NYC School Governance, Small Town, Snakes, Sports Association, Stephen Flach, Stifling Freedom, Stop the Bullying, Student Endangerment, Superintendent of Schools, Teachers Association, Terrorism at Home, Thomas A. Boehm, Thomas E. Dolan, Times Union, Times Union Blogs, Times Useless, Times Useless Blogs, Town Justice, Trollettes, Vampire Teachers, Village Justice, Voting Fraud, Voting Irregularities
This Is Your Town, Coeymans! Do you like it?
Sometimes You Just Need To Sit Down and Write Things Out to Get a Real Feel for What’s Going On Around You. We Did And Here’s What We Came Up With…
Coeymans at Work
For about two months now we’ve been reporting on what’s going on right under your noses. It’s all stuff that you are not hearing about in the newspapers, the News Herald, the Daily Mail, the Times Union, who should be reporting and investigating this scandalous situation. We’ve encouraged you to complain, to fight back, to call the New York State Education Department, the FBI, the County Sheriff, and others. To stand up, speak out, fight back, take back your town, and peace of mind. Well, here are some thoughts and facts for you to chew on and to think about:
FACTS AND NOTES
See our accompanying letter, An Open Letter to the Albany County Sheriff and the Albany County DA.
Gerald “Jerry” Deluca is employed by the Town of Coeymans in the Coeymans Police Department
Gerald “Jerry” Deluca works very intimately with Gregory Darlington (“manager” of the Coeymans Police Department)
Gerald “Jerry” Deluca involved with Yes! side in budget debates (see our article, Secret Meetings on Budget at Public School?)
Gerald “Jerry” Deluca involved with teachers side on BoE
Gerald “Jerry” Deluca has conspicuous influence with Coeymans Police Department and with its members
Gerald “Jerry” Deluca is a former member of the RCS board of education and served as president for a time. After the scandal of his adulterous affair with his now partner Cathy (Long) Deluca, he was not re-elected and his partner, Cathy (Long) Deluca, lost her bid for relection. The Deluca legacy to the RCS central school district was the money-pit swimming pool (which was slipped in on the residents in the budget after failing to pass several times; a Deluca sneak job).
Gerald “Jerry” Deluca and the other loser candidates (most of his public following is made up of people who ran for office but lost) making up his entourage has been on a merciless campaign of misinformation and abuse of the present non-teacher supporters on the RCS board of education. Delucal heads the so-called Coemanazis [the Losers Club].
Gerald “Jerry” Deluca is a so-called police investigator and investigates local requests for law enforcement assistance (which raises many questions, considering he receives a check from the State of New York, and has quite a number of other jobs, some raising questions of conflict of interest and worse. See below for more details. And see our article on this blog, Can You Explain This, Jerry?) There is apparently considerable evidence for Deluca’s involvement in criminal retaliation and coercion. (The Albany County Sheriff’s Department finall got involved and kicked some Coeymans ass; the investigation is now underway. Lost again, Jerry!)
Gerald “Jerry” Deluca directly involved in retaliation and coercion, but has not yet been charged!
Gregory Darlington (“manager” of the Coeymans Police Department) apparently works for Gerald “Jerry” Deluca, which may explain why the rogue Jerry Deluca and his accomplices has free hand in Coeymans.
Gregory Darlington, before he was hired to the Coeymans Police Department, was a garbage collector! He’s still collecting garbage and putting it in police uniforms. Most of the derelicts and refuse that was thrown off the Coeymans P.D. by former chief Scott Giroux, including on information and belief, Gerald “Jerry” Deluca and others, were hired back by Darlington!
Ryan Johnson, another rogue at the Coeymans Police Department, was previously in the military and deployed to the Mid East. He never adapted to civilian law enforcement and still thinks he’s in the military. Heavy handed, abusive. But on information and belief he was charged at least 4 times for perjury. Has this man ever undergone psychological evaluation for fitness to be in law enforcement, we wonder? Could he have been adversely affected by his military experiences?
Officer Kerry Thompson of the Coeymans Police Department is married to Darlington’s sister; this is the same Officer Thompson who, in retaliation, refused to take a woman’s harassment complaint against Joseph Edward Tracey, father of Deluca’s close friend and board of education member, Josephine O’Connor! Thompson is also with the Albany County Sheriff’s Department. Cozy, eh?
Gregory Teresi, a lawyer who is serving as both Village of Ravena and Town of Coeymans attorney, is the son of the notoriously infamous Joseph Teresi (NYS Supreme Court, Albany County). Read more about good ol’ dad’s escapades at Teresi: Part I. Fear the worst: Like father, like son! A dynasty of corruption!
The Coeymans town justice, George Dardiani, violated just about every section of the New York State Rules of Judicial Conduct, and broadcasted his bias and prejudice by publically displaying his political support for the Yes! side in the 2012-13 budget battle by displaying a Vote Yes! (ít’s for the kids) sign on his front lawn! A complaint has been filed.
Between the activities of Gerald “Jerry” Deluca and Gregory Darlington (“manager” of the Coeymans Police Department) in the budget controversy and the attempts to remove board of education members tainted and compromised Coeymans Police Department, and the public announcement of bias and prejudice by a judge on the Coeymans town court (George Dardiani), there cannot be any reasonable expectation whatsoever of justice in the town of Coeymans (no convicting any No! sign vandals or anyone involved in criminal activity against anyone openly opposing the budget or the teachers union can continue their criminal activities in Coeymans with no fear of apprehension!)
Because of the collaboration and conspiracy between members of the Coeymans Police Department and the Ravena village and Coeymans town court, and the seeding of the Coeymans Police Department with known criminals and delinquents (McKenna, Johnson) protecting them on the Coeymans Police Department who, because of the favors and protection and support they are receiving from key members in the Coeymans Police Department, and the support received from the Ravena village and Coeymans town court, are key instruments in the campaign of retaliation and coercion by the Coeymans Police Department and abetted by the Ravena village and the Coeymans town court. (See our article on this blog, Corrupt Coeymans Police Effectiveness Compromised!!!)
The Coeymans Town Court with it’s tainted and corrupt justice George Dardiani (former cafeteria manager, completely ga-ga about the Rules of Judicial Conduct), and the tainted and corrupt Ravena village court with its jugdge Harold Warner (ex-cop, still-cop-at-heart so-called judge, TAINTED & COMPROMISED); Crandell, a Town of Coeymans town justice is still under scrutiny and had better behave for now, unless something comes up to show he’s in bed with the rest! (In fact, George Dardiani did not recuse himself from the Krzykowski actions, despite the fact that Dardiani was in bed with Deluca and Co. The fact that Dardiani issued a bench arrest warrant for a local resident but the resident was never served with the summons in the first place! (Despite repeated requests by the resident, the Coeymans court was unable to come up with the original summons! Isn’t that odd?) Odd that this should be a controversial board of education member and a local businessperson, who was cited by the DEC! That is “odd,” isn’t it, Jerry? You want to tell us something, Jerry?)
Deluca is closely involved with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the DEC, activities and has been working with them (How? He has no background in environment! He’s supposed to be working as a police investigator since about 1982!) and lists himself as “executive director” of a special interest automotive scrap organization called ARANY–Automotive Recyclers of New York–(Now, how did he qualify for that one?). He’s also running Deluca Public Affairs (no not his usual affairs) and an entity called the Main Street Small Business Corporation. Do you wonder why local business people are experiencing so many problems with the DEC, and why local scrapyard operators and others are having problems with the DEC? Shouldn’t we ask Gerald “Jerry” Deluca about his relationships with the DEC and ARANY why there are so many problems? (O.K., Jerry, we’re asking now!) (See our article on this blog, Can You Explain This, Jerry?)
Complaints about Coeymans Police Department likely to be handled by AlbanyCountyD.A. David Soares’ office…but Darlington’s wife works there…Gregory Darlington’s wife works forAlbany County D.A. as secretary to Soares!
If that isn’t enough for you try this on for size: Coeymans town justice Harold Warner’s daughter also works in Soares’ office! Remember Hal Warner, the ex-cop playing at town justice–and if you think teachers stick together like shite to a show, you don’t don’t know how tight cops are…or how close they are to the DA’s office! Does it get any more incestuous?!?
Albany County D.A. David Soares’ office is compromised and tainted by conflict of interest between the best interests of the public and gatekeeper Mrs Darlington; what does that mean when disciplining Gerald “Jerry” Deluca, Gregory Darlington, and the Coeymans P.D.
Investigations of criminal activity in Coeymans by Coeymans Police Department compromised by the fact of political involvements of Gerald “Jerry” Deluca, Gregory Darlington (“manager” of the Coeymans Police Department) (e.g. harassment and intimidation of local business owners, harassment and intimidations of board of education members and their families, retaliation and coercion, non-investigation of sign vandalism to No! vote signs)
Investigations of criminal activity in Coeymans by Coeymans Police Department compromised by the fact of Gerald “Jerry” Deluca’s involvement with teachers and support of Yes! group…(e.g. arrest of BoE president connected with father of BoE member falsely claiming an abusive phone call; Coeymans police “chief” Darlington can’t seem to get the incident report together. Imagine that!)
Gerald “Jerry” Deluca’s and Coeyman’s P.D. involvement in retaliation against BoE members and others to coerce silence or collaboration (e.g. violation of the provisions of the Americans With Disabilities Act-ADA, arrest of BoE president; various delaying tactics in police investigations; harassment and intimidation of residents (numerous complaints of police misconduct; we have at least four (4) formal complaints in our possession!))
Questionable integrity of Coeymans Police Department members (e.g. Johnson, Gerald “Jerry” Deluca, Gregory Darlington (“manager” of the Coeymans Police Department), Laviano, and others). Are they faithfully and impartially serving and protecting YOU?
Attempts by Gerald “Jerry” and Cathy (Long) Deluca, David and Amy Bartlett, Donna Leput Hommel, Josephine O’connor, James Latter, and others to unsuccessfully remove RCS board of education members leads to secret meetings and attempts to “discipline or remove” board members. (Search our blog for articles on any of these perps and read about their mischiefmaking!) (See our articles on this blog, Can You Explain This, Jerry?, James Latter: Why Is He Still On the Board of Education?, We Asked…You Responded: Thank You!, Josephine O’Connor: A Role Model of Maturity and Mental Stability…NOT!)
Loss of majority of teachers’ supporters on RCS CSD board of education continues with heightened clear and palpable increase in clandestine retaliation and coercion methods to achieve same purpose of removing non-teacher supporters from the RCS board of education by other methods: conspiracy and retaliation (the most conspicuous and underhanded conspiracy was to use Joe TRACEY (father of board of education member Josephine O’Connor) to falsely accuse the BoE president of misconduct, resulting in the BoE president’s arrest, and then the retaliatory tactics of the Coeymans Police Department in refusing to promptly provide a copy of the police report on the arrest)
The Coeymans Police Department is clearly conspiring with certain elements of the Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk district, including certain members of the current board of education, unsuccessful bidders for seats on the board of education, elements supporting certain controversial and political agendas in the district, most notably the 2012-13 RCS school budget in support of certain special interest groups, notably the teachers association, and teacher-related members of the BoE
The Coeymans Police Department is retaliating against family members of the feared blogger in the idiotic hope that reports such as this one will stop and the blogger will disappear (Sorry, Jerry, it’s not going to happen!)
And not the least of the corrupt and unlawful practices in the RCS district, do we really have to remind any of you of the gross and scandalous irregularities in the recent voting? If we do, please visit our article More Irregularities in the Voting? The RCS Central School District was served with papers on May 29th demaning an investigation; we’re waiting to see where the NYSED is going to go with all of this!
Time to Start Writing–Right NOW!
So, now that you have some facts to fill in any blanks, don’t you think it’s time to start using the Complaints Contact Sheet we provided (you can view or download the sheef from the blog article, Retaliation Is A CRIME! Let’s Go After the Criminals!)? Start sending letters, e-mails, complaint forms, demands to everyone and anyone on or off the list! Get those criminal bastids out of government, investicated, in jail where they belong. They’re crooks and criminals and shouldn’t be in your back yard. (Don’t bother calling the local Coeymans police, though, they’re the criminals!)
It’s time to do YOUR part in cleaning up RCS!
Posted by Principal Editor on May 31, 2012 in Abuse, ACLU, Albany County Sheriff Department, Albany Police Rejects, American Civil Liberties Union, Amy Bartlett, Anti-Bullying Law, Anti-Community Activity, ARANY, Atheist Teacher, Bethlehem Police, Big Brother, Bill McFerran, Blogger, Board of Education Member, Board of Regents, BOCES, Brian Bailey, Bridget Engelhardt, Bully Cops, Bully Gang, Bully Teacher, Bullying, Burning the Constitution, Capital District, Cathy Deluca, Cathy Long, CJC, Coeymanazis, Coeymans, Coeymans Losers Club, Coeymans Police Department, Coeymans Town Board, Coeymans Town Justice, Commission on Judicial Conduct, Complaint, Complaint Contacts, Conflict of Interest, Conspiracy, Corrupt Police, Corruption, Crime and Punishment, Crooked Cop, Daily Mail, David Bartlett, David M. Steiner, David Soares, Dawn Dolan, DEC, Deceit, DeLuca Public Affairs, Department of Environmental Conservation, Dignity for All Students Act, Donna Leput Hommel, Double Dipping, Election Fraud, Elizabeth Smith, Ethics and Morality, F.O.I.L., FaceBook, False Instrument, Fat Bastard, Fat Momma, Fat People, FBI, FBI Criminal Information System, FBI Public Corruption Squad, FOIL, Freedom of Information Law, Freedom of Speech, George Dardiani, Gerald Deluca, Greene County, Harassment, Harold Warner, Hudson Valley, Hypocrisy, Incompetence, Intimidation, Investigation, Irregularities, Voting, James Kane, James Latter, Jeff Stambaugh, Jerry Deluca, John B. King, Josephine O'Connor, Judge, Judicial Ethics, Judicial Misconduct, Kerry Thompson, Law Enforcement, Liberty Weeping, Losers Club, Main Street Small Business Coalition, Marlene McTigue, Matt Miller, Mayor Bruno, Melanie Lekocevic, Misdemeanor, Misfits, MSSBC, Neanderthal, New Baltimore, New York, New York Department of Environmental Conservation, New York State Commission on Judicial Conduct, News Herald, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate, NYSED, NYSED Office of Counsel, Office of the Attorney General, Parent Negligence, Parent Teachers Organization, Perp Patrol, Person of Interest, Perv Patrol, Pervert Teacher, Peter Masti, Pieter B Coeymans Elementary School, Pieter B. Coeymanazis, Pieter B. Coeymans PTO, Police Incompetence, Police Rejects, Police State, Police Thugs, Poll Misconduct, R J DEsposito, Rats, Ravena, Ravena Coeymans Selkirk Central School District, Ravena Village Justice, RCS Athletic Association, RCS Board of Education, RCS Central School District, RCS School Superintendant, RCS Sports Association, RCS Sportsman Association, RCS Teachers Association, Retaliation, Rodney Krzykowski, Ryan Johnson, Sarah Berchtold Engel, SeeThroughNY, Selkirk, Senate Committee on NYC School Governance, Sign Vandalism, Silence of the Press, Skunks, Smalbany, Small Town, Snakes, Sports Association, Stephen Flach, Stifling Freedom, Stop the Bullying, Superintendent of Schools, Teacher Misconduct, Teacher Negligence, Teacher on Student Bullying, Teachers Association, Terrorism at Home, Thomas A. Boehm, Thomas E. Dolan, Times Union, Times Union Blogs, Times Useless, Times Useless Blogs, Tom Dolan, Transparency, Vampire Teachers, Village Justice, Voting Fraud, Voting Irregularities, Who is the blogger
Circus in Town! May 29 Coeymans Town Board Meeting!
The Coeymans Clowns Are Meeting!
Here is the Agenda for the Coeymans Town Board Meeting for Tuesday, May 29, 2012. The Circus Starts…OOPS! The Board Meeting Starts at 7 p.m.
The Town Board Meeting is YOUR opportunity to stand up and make your public statement on what’s going on in the town of Coeymans. Don’t miss the opportunity to witness the clowns at work ruining your community. We REPORT it, You need to DO SOMETHING about it! It’s YOUR community and they’re YOUR children watching!
Somebody please ask about the Coeymans P.D.!
Are they employees of the town of Coeymans? The State of New York? Are they supervised and managed by the Town of Coeymans?
Is Gerald “Jerry” Deluca a full-time employee of the town of Coeymans, of the State of New York, of Deluca Public Affairs? Or any one of the other four or five employers he currently lists? Who’s paying his salary?
Who’s supervising Gregory Darlington? Who’s supervising rogue cop Johnson, Laviano, McKenna as they abuse residents?
Can Darlington publish a résumé? How about Deluca’s current résumé?
MEETING OF THE TOWN BOARD
PLEASE SILENCE CELL PHONES WHILE MEETING IS IN PROGRESS
(1) Call to Order – Pledge of Allegiance (Supervisor)
(2) Members Present and Overview of Agenda Topics (Supervisor)
(3) Public Announcements
(4) Public Comment Period
(5) Approval of Minutes of Meetings
Public Hearing – May 14, 2012
Town Board Meeting – May 14, 2012
(6) Supervisors Report – April 2012
(7) Department Report Review (Board Members)
Building Department Monthly Report – April 2012
Sewer Department Monthly Report – April 2012
Town Clerk Monthly Report – April 2012
(8) Old Business Update and Discussion (Board Members)
Proposed Local Law #1 for 2012 (Amendment to 138) vs Revised Proposed LL# 2 (Repeal of 138 & replacement of Chapter 109)
(9) New Business Topics for Discussion and/or Action (Board Members)
Evening on the Green Schedule
Request for Planning & ZBA Members to Attend Local
Government Planning & Zoning Workshop by Capital District Regional Planning Commission – June 20, 2012
RC Sportsmen’s Club Fishing Derby
(10) Resolutions (Board Members)
Appointment of Confidential Secretary (Cirillo)
Appointment of Summer Recreation Program Recreation Leader (Norris)
Establish Public Hearing to Obtain Public Comment on Revised Proposed Local Law #2 (Landfill Law)
Approval of Abstract – May 2012
(11) Correspondence (Board Members)
NYS Department of Transportation
(12) Town Board Workshops/Meetings
Public Hearing – June 19, 2012 – 6:00 PM
Town Board Workshop – June 19, 2012 – 7:00 PM
Town Board Meeting – June 25, 2012 – 7:00 PM
(13) Adjournment
GET UP AND OUT TO THE TOWN MEETING! SPEAK UP ABOUT WHAT’S GOING DOWN IN COEYMANS! THE CORRUPTION, THE COMPROMISED POLICE, THE COMPLAINTS, THE QUESTIONS! THE CIRCUS IS IN TOWN! DON’T MISS IT!
Coeymans Town Circus
Stephen D. Flach
Animal Trainer
Gregory Darlington
Performing Apes
Harold Warner
George Dardiani
Philip A. Crandall, Sr.
Jerry the Talking Gorilla
(Gerald “Jerry” Deluca)
Star Clown
Thomas E. Dolan
Supporting Clowns
Peter E. Masti
Dawn Rogers
Thomas A. Boehm
Those Clowns Are Really Scary!
Posted by Principal Editor on May 29, 2012 in Abuse, ACLU, Albany, Anti-Community Activity, Big Brother, Blogger, Bound and Gagged, Bully, Bully Cops, Bully Gang, Burning the Constitution, Capital District, Circus, Clowns, Coeymanazis, Coeymans, Coeymans Circus, Coeymans Police Department, Coeymans Town Board, Coeymans Town Board Meeting, Coeymans Town Justice, Conflict of Interest, Conspiracy, Corrupt Police, Corruption, Crooked Cop, Daily Mail, Dawn Dolan, Deceit, DeLuca Public Affairs, Endangering a Minor, Fair Play, False Instrument, Fat Bastard, Fat Momma, Fat People, FBI, FBI Criminal Information System, FBI Public Corruption Squad, Fraud, Freedom of Speech, George Dardiani, Gerald Deluca, Greed, Gregory Darlington, Harassment, Harold Warner, Hudson Valley, Hypocrisy, Intimidation, Investigation, Jerry Deluca, Judicial Misconduct, Liar, Lies, Main Street Small Business Coalition, Meeting Agenda, Meeting Notice, Melanie Lekocevic, Misdemeanor, Misfits, New Baltimore, New York, News Herald, NYS Assembly, NYS Senate, Office of the Attorney General, Perp Patrol, Person of Interest, Perv Patrol, Police Incompetence, Police Rejects, Police State, Police Thugs, Politics, Rat Pack, Ravena, Ravena Village Justice, RCS Athletic Association, RCS Business Group, RCS Community, RCS Sports Association, RCS Sportsman Association, RCS Teachers Association, Scary Clowns, Secret Meetings, Secret Police, Selkirk, Silence of the Press, Skunks, Smalbany, Small Town, Sports Association, Stephen Flach, Stifling Freedom, Stop the Bullying, Teachers Association, Terrorism at Home, Thomas A. Boehm, Thomas E. Dolan, Times Union, Times Useless, Tom Dolan, Trailer Trash, Transparency, Trollettes, Village Justice, Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
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Light Start – Microsoft assimilates, Samsung Go’s (again), Prima guides no more, and Korea’s Kingdom
Brett Venter November 12, 2018 Featured News, Light Start, News
Microsoft pick up two RPG-focused development studios — Obsidian Entertainment and inXile Entertainment
Microsoft has, at their XO18 event held over the weekend, announced that they’ve absorbed two new developer studios — both of which are talented when it comes to making RPGs. This could be… interesting. The two studios are inXile Entertainment and Obsidian Entertainment, best known for the Wasteland games in the case of inXile and KotOR, Fallout: New Vegas and the Torment games for Obsidian. Microsoft says that the studios will be hanging on to their autonomy, which is a great thing because both have done some amazing work in the past — without anyone looking over their shoulder. We’re looking forward to seeing what comes out of the new partnership. Nothing new has been mentioned yet but we’re going to hazard a guess that an RPG or two may be in the works.
Source: Polygon
The Galaxy J4 Core is Samsung’s second Android Go smartphone
The first one was the Galaxy J2 Core, now here’s Samsung’s second Android Go handset — the Galaxy J4 Core. Android Go, if you remember, is the low-resource version of the popular mobile operating system designed to run on handsets that aren’t all-knowing and all-powerful. Here the OS is running on a 6in 720p display and a 1.4GHz quad-core CPU with 16GB of storage and a mere 1GB of RAM. Samsung’s made sure you can expand storage (by up to 512GB, if you think it’ll be worth spending more on the expansion card than the phone) at least. There’s an 8MP rear and 5MP front camera but nothing fancy. It’s a basic, entry-level phone after all. Pricing and availability is unknown for now, we’ll update once Samsung spills the beans.
Source: Samsung
It’s the end of the road for those high-quality Prima Games strategy guides
Add another item to the list of things killed by the internet — more or less. You might remember hard-copy strategy guides, which were most popular around the time that the PlayStation 2 was the console to own. Most of these were published by Prima Games — we recall owning a few back in the day (particularly the one for Grand Theft Auto: Vice City) but ‘back in the day’ is all we’ll have now. The publisher will soon pull the plug. Prima will finish up the titles that they have in the works already, a process that should conclude in early 2019. After that, it’s the end of an era.
Source: The Next Web
Kingdom is the medieval Korean zombie film you never knew you wanted
We get it, zombies are everywhere. They’ve proved to be an enduring fascination, having stuck around in our normally short-lived attention spans for a very long time. The challenge has become how to make something everyone knows about seem fresh and exciting. Netflix’s Kingdom, a Korean series about zombies during the country’s Joseon period, looks to be one of these attempts and, based almost purely on the visuals, we’re sold. A king dies and then he gets up again, kicking off a plague that involves zombies. Lots of zombies. In a time when there were no handguns with multiple rounds in a clip to assist with putting them down. Watch the trailer at the link below. The series premieres on 25 January 2019 and there’s already a second season planned.
Kingdom Light Start Microsoft Netflix Prima Games Samsung
Brett Venter
Stuff South Africa's online editor and print assistant editor, Brett Venter has churned out more words on more titles than most journalists will in a career. He's kind of shy.
Kwesé Play boxes across the continent have stopped working
Samsung and AMD are teaming up to bring Radeon graphics tech to smartphones
Xbox-branded deodorant, shower gel and body spray are incoming
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Stuff’s five-minute guide to Apple’s iPad Pro event
Stuff writer October 31, 2018 Featured News, Industry News, Laptops News, News, Tablet News
Apple’s events are renowned for dragging on a bit. So, you didn’t have 90 minutes to spare on a Tuesday afternoon to take it all in or even about fifteen minutes to go into specifics? We get it, you’re a busy person with stuff to do. That’s where Stuff comes in.
We watched the whole thing — even the bit in the middle when they started rambling on about Apple Stores and everyone began to doze off — to bring you this five-minute round-up of everything that Tim Cook and co. unveiled on that stage in Brooklyn.
Whether you’re in the market for a new laptop, are worried about the fortunes of the Mac Mini, or just have a small fortune burning a hole in your pocket, here’s all you need to know (quickly) about Apple’s New York event.
The new iPad Pro is absurdly desirable
The rumours were true. Apple’s latest iPad Pro has ditched the power button and switched to Face ID, so now it really is just a glowing rectangle.
But what a rectangle. Available with either an 11in or 12.9in screen, the former is the same size as the old 10.5in Pro but makes more of the display, while the latter has had the overall volume decreased by 25%, making it more portable than before. Both are 15% thinner.
Face ID works in both portrait and landscape, while it uses the same gesture controls as the all-screen iPhones. It also comes with an A12X chip, plus it uses the same Liquid Retina screen tech that you’ll find in the iPhone XR, albeit without a notch.
The cheapest 64GB 11in model will set you back $799 (around R11,700, converted), but with the option to add up to 1TB of storage and cellular capability, it’s possible to find yourself $2,380 (which equates to roughly R35,000 — that’s a small car) down if you’re not careful. And that’s before you add any of the accessories…
And it’s driving Photoshop nerds crazy
That’s mainly thanks to the second-gen Apple Pencil, which now charges by magnetically attaching to the top edge of the new iPad Pro when in landscape mode. It’s the little things. You can also switch tools while you’re scribbling by simply giving it a quick double tap with your index finger.
Apple has also ditched the iPad Pro’s Lightning port and switched it for a USB-C one, which means it can be hooked up more easily to external displays without having to use an adaptor.
For those who prefer the written word, there’s also a new Smart Keyboard Folio that doubles as a case when it’s not being used. It magnetically attaches to the new iPad Pro, while magnetically extracting either $179 (about R2,600) or $199 (R3,000 — and none of these prices are local, obvs.) from your wallet, depending on which size you need. At least it never needs charging.
Touch ID and a retina display come to the MacBook Air
Before yesterday the MacBook Air was the only Apple laptop without a super sharp Retina Display, but the famously thin portable has now had its pixel count upped dramatically.
Framed by 50% narrower black bezels, the 13.3in screen on the new MacBook Air is 4x as sharp as the previous model, while it weighs slightly less.
Without a pointless Touch Bar like the one found on the MacBook Pro, Apple has squeezed the Touch ID button into the top right-hand corner of the keyboard, while the trackpad is 20% bigger. The specs start with a 1.6GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of RAM and 128GB SSD for $1,200 (about R17,500), but double the RAM and increase the storage to 1.5TB and price more than doubles to $3,280 (almost R50,000, converted for Saffas).
Despite all these extras it’s actually smaller than before, meaning there’s not a lot of space for ports. On one side you get a pair of Thunderbolt 3 holes, while there’s a headphone socket on the other.
The Mac Mini isn’t dead
Far from it, in fact. After years of being neglected, the most diminutive, screenless Mac has had a complete overhaul.
From the outside it looks like only the colour has changed, now a darker space grey to fit in with all the others, but inside there are new bits everywhere you shine your torch.
Now available with 8th-gen Intel quad-core and six-core processors, you can also fill it with up to 64GB of RAM and a maximum of 2TB of storage. That makes it up to 5x faster than the last one. You also have a 10Gb ethernet port next to the quartet of Thunderbolt 3s, dual USB 3 and single HDMI ones, plus there’s a good old-fashioned headphone hole on the back too.
It starts at $799 (about R11,700) for the 3.6GHz quad-core version with 8GB of RAM, although as usual you’ll need to bump up the storage from 128GB to make it properly usable, which adds significantly to the price. Max out all the specs with a 3.2GHz 6‑core i7 processor, all the RAM and the most capacious SSD and you could be staring down the barrel of a R75,000 credit card bill…
Everything costs more
This is South Africa, everything always costs more but we’re going to be eying the exchange rate hard when this lot launches. Compare the entry level prices of everything and there’s an increase across the board, and that’s before we learn the official SA pricing. We’re expecting that to be an even greater shock to the system than even we’re expecting.
Based purely on overseas costs (for both the old and new models referenced here), the 12.9in iPad Pro will be at least R3,000 more than its predecessor was at launch, while the 11in iPad Pro is at least R2,000 costlier than the 10.5in version. Again, that’s not actually factoring import duties and markups in SA. The new Apple Pencil will likely cost more, but the old version is still for sale for R2,000. It just won’t be the same, though…
You can also still get the old MacBook Air without a Retina Display or Touch ID for R14,000, but the new one will probably start at upwards of R4,000 more than that. Did somebody say “upsell”?
Apple Apple Pencil iPad Pro Mac Mini MacBook Air
Stuff writer
Who is Mysterion?
Xiaomi’s ‘Mimoji’ avatars look awfully familiar
Don’t worry, Apple has a backup plan if US-China tensions get wack
Are Silicon Valley companies chaos factories? Tim Cook thinks so
Of course there’s hardware — Apple’s new Mac Pro looks solid enough to build a house on
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Ethical Travel Agent
dawnbeattietravel@yahoo.com
Splendours of Japan Celebrate the Takayama Festival Summer 2020
Celebrate the changing seasons as the jangle of bells and boom-boom-bang of drums accompany a captivating parade of festival floats on the streets of hillside Takayama
CITY TOUR of Tokyo and Kyoto
SEE the traditional Gassho-zukuri houses in Gokayama, the beautiful gardens of Kenrokuen in Kanazawa
VIEW Mt. Fuji
VISIT the Edo Tokyo Museum, the Sensoji Temple in Tokyo, Mt. Fuji 5th Station, the Kinkakuji Temple, Sanjusangen-do Hall, Fushimi Inari Shrine in Kyoto
9 breakfasts
3 lunches (including Be My Guest)
Luxury air-conditioned coach or alternative transportation (such as rail journeys)
An expert Travel Director and separate Driver
Airport transfers on the first and last day of your guided holiday
Handcrafted Highlights
Day 1 ARRIVE TOKYO (2 NIGHTS)
Day 2 TOKYO SIGHTSEEING
Day 3 TOKYO - LAKE YAMANAKAKO
Day 4 LAKE YAMANAKAKO - MT. FUJI - TAKAYAMA (2 NIGHTS)
Day 5 TAKAYAMA SIGHTSEEING AND FESTIVAL
Day 6 TAKAYAMA - GOKAYAMA - KANAZAWA
Day 7 KANAZAWA - KYOTO (2 NIGHTS)
Day 8 KYOTO SIGHTSEEING
Day 9 DEPART KYOTO
Japan’s capital from 794 – 1869, Kyoto is located on west-central Honshu Island, north of Osaka. It has long been an artistic, cultural and religious center of Japan.
It’s a city of contrast. Where else do you find demure kimono-clad girls next to slick Elvis impersonators than good old Yoyogi Park? But only on Sundays.
Tokyo will amaze you with its dual personality; its serenity and its brashness. A city of about 20 million people, it is one of the few metropolises where every train is on time. But try to avoid rush hour. You might get pummeled by a sweet old lady on her way to the Sumo matches at the Budokan Hall!
Visit Roppongi for a taste of modern night life; you can even catch a reggae show. And if you’re still awake after that, hop a train to the Tsukiji fish market at 5 a.m. to see one of the most spectacular fish bazaars on earth. Some tuna comes all the way from Montauk, NY. Now that’s a global marketplace!
When you’re ready for a little peace and quiet, you may visit the brilliant Asakusa Shrine, a prime example of Edo-period architecture. Here you may cleanse your spirit, or, of course, shop to your heart’s delight at many of the little stalls lining the small streets leading to the shrine. Otanoshimi ni! Perhaps the greatest urban sprawl in the world, the Tokyo metropolitan. Tokyo began as a tiny fishing village called Edo, and for more than four centuries was ruled by a series of
chieftains and military warlords. A castle was constructed in Edo in 1457, the year officially noted as the founding of the city, and by 1680 it had grown to a population of over a million people. The city received its modern name in 1868 when the Emperor Meihi moved his court to Edo. It now sprawls 55 miles (88.4km) east to west and 15 miles (24km) north to south and covers an area of 2,031 sq. km.
This area is home to some 20 million people. Famous for its extremes; the word’s most crowded trains, the world’s cleanest streets, the world’s most expensive melons, Tokyo nevertheless seems to be characterized by an overlying blandness. Since the 17th century, Tokyo has been divided up between “yamanote” (south and west) and “shitamachi” (north and east). Simply put, uptown has more to do, downtown more to see. Uptown has the high-rises, the nightlife and the
armies of navy-suited salarymen of the Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro business areas, while downtown has Tokyo’s oldest area, Asakusa, the city’s great museums and the imperial palace.
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the retrospective entrepreneur
tales from the boardroom
Tag Archives: Alternative dispute resolution
The business of life Chapter 37 – the joy of closure
Assembled in a meeting room in a hotel close to Newcastle airport early one morning, the two sides eyed each other warily. We had not met for three years but had fought with all the powers of the law on our side and what had seemed like pure obduracy & guile on our opponents’ part. It appeared that Clifford had convinced himself that our legal claims would melt away as we failed in the business his father had founded all those years before.
The plenary session began with both sides facing each other either side of a long table with the law society facilitators at either end. Both sides had legal teams present comprising lawyers and barristers, all enjoying huge hourly fees whatever the outcome. The process of spelling out our claim in great detail and at length whilst staring Clifford in the eye was a strange experience indeed. It was exceeded only by having to listen to what we felt constituted the fairy tale of their defence and counter claim. The plenary session over we retired to our respective rooms and the shuttle diplomacy began. The chairman visited each party in turn to ascertain at first hand the reaction each group had to the others’ position.
It was clear that no quick or easy solution was likely to emerge, in fact it seemed that Clifford and Mike were as resistant to a settlement as ever. Day turned into evening with no progress at all and the session broke up with each group making its own arrangements for dinner. The next day began and continued all morning with no progress. I was becoming increasingly irritated by the corporate finance partner from our law firm who could only match the other side’s bluster and seemed intent on ensuring that we ended up in court. In contrast, Stephanie his manager who had worked closely with me over the previous three years impressed me greatly with her calm efforts to find a solution.
The day wore on in like fashion and Roger, Malcolm and I were becoming resigned to having to endure the costs and uncertainty of resolution before a judge. I had been casually intrigued by the behaviour of our barrister who for the last hour or so had been ignoring the rest of us and quietly doodling on his pad (or so I assumed). “OK,” he suddenly exclaimed, “this is how I see things.” He then proceeded to share his doodles with us, which were actually a matrix of all of the claims and counter claims at stake. Ranged against each claim was a percentage calculation of the chances of each party winning or losing with his best estimate of the awards and costs each would incur should they win or lose.
The bottom line was the view that we had an almost 100% chance of winning all of our claims. His view was that Clifford had, at best, only a 50% chance of winning their counter claim. However, the killer result was that the costs and damages Clifford would suffer as a result of our wins would exceed any benefit from his counter claim succeeding by a factor of about ten. We called in the chairman who quietly listened, asked a few questions and departed to put this picture before Clifford and Mike. An hour later he returned and we learned that they had capitulated almost completely. A couple more hours later we all signed the necessary documents that drew matters to a close (apart from some remaining issues that festered on with HMRC).
As I drove back to Yorkshire that night I reflected on what had happened over the last three years. Many years previously Clifford and Mike had put in train a course of action that was relatively insignificant at the time but one that had snowballed into major proportions. I felt it was sheer arrogance and mindless bravado that had brought Clifford into conflict with us, a process that set about unravelling their plan & compounding matters through their refusal to negotiate. It was clear that Clifford and Mike’s legal team had failed to advise them of the costs they could incur by their actions. We had won a long, drawn out and bloody battle that had never been of our choosing and had won handsomely. Strangely, it gave me little satisfaction other than great relief that the whole sad story was over. I had closure.
Freed of the efforts and frustrations of a long and drawn out legal fight, we threw ourselves back into the challenges of improving our complex new group of three companies. MSG was our strategic acquisition, the core of our business with, we believed, great potential for highly profitable growth and an ultimate sale. By the standards of the UK engineering sector it was already a highly successful business (not least due to its non-involvement in the mainstream automotive sector, one we steadfastly ignored). It had a potential to become even more profitable through an ability to offer unique solutions to demanding blue-chip customers. We knew that it would take hard work and patience owing to the extremely long leads times required to replace an existing process. In the case of one of the major customers we won, it took fully ten years.
Trisk and Bison were more tactical (and certainly opportunistic) acquisitions. Both produced exceptional profits in the first year of our ownership. If we had then put both businesses up for sale life would have become a lot simpler (a lot sooner). However, buoyed by the wondrous sound of cash hitting the bottom of the piggy bank and improving PEI’s balance sheet, we pressed on certain that we had hit the magic formula. From then on matters got infinitely more complex as the cash production machine slowed.
There are long, frustrating stories behind our ownership of both these businesses but I’ll restrict myself to the following brief accounts.
A common feature of both businesses was the quality of management and many of the staff we inherited (courtesy of TUPE). In both cases, instead of their embracing the change and opportunity brought by new ownership, we had to spend too much time fighting a tendency to revert to the orthodoxies that drove them into administration in the first place. It was almost as if they believed their failed businesses had been pursuing the correct strategy and policies all along and some freak external event had knocked them temporarily off course. These tendencies were bad enough but the net effect was to divert our attention from MSG where, with hindsight, we should have concentrated our time and energies.
With Bison, it only took a parting with the MD (son of the CEO of failed parent PLC) and four short years to sell the business in 2003. We heaved a sigh of relief and moved on.
The situation with Trisk was much more complex. The company still had technical leadership in infra red paint curing and had also developed ultra violet technology for more demanding applications. The business was certainly a world leader in its sector and exported to every continent across the globe. Once we had taken over we saw that Trisk had a number of critical strategic issues. A major market for Trisk had been the USA where we had a network of commission agents. Our products were capable of commanding far higher price levels but the agents had learned to sit on their hands ahead of the peak winter demand until our locally based manager panicked and reduced prices. This was a pattern that revealed itself to be a major problem in many parts of the world. Attempting to establish a stable and rational pricing strategy proved to be particularly tough due to internal company politics and the weak MD we had inherited with the business.
The other major problem took several years to emerge as the Trisk management either weren’t aware of the shifting dynamics of their marketplace or they ensured that they wouldn’t reveal what they knew (knowing it would require them to change strategy completely). Trisk had built its initial success on designing and selling IR paint curing systems almost exclusively used for automotive repair work. These systems were based around an array of IR lamps mounted on relatively simple mobile stands that could be moved around car repair workshops. Trisk had also adapted the concepts into larger arrays built into custom spray booths. A major market shift began to make itself felt in the first couple of years following our acquisition.
Legislation was driving the introduction of health and safety and other environmental regulations and these were killing off small repair shops, consolidating the market towards larger and more efficient units. As this trend continued (fuelled by a succession of mild winters) sales of Trisk’s traditional mobile units declined. The problem, that took some time to emerge, was that we were not gaining the share of in-booth systems that we should have been achieving. Booth manufacturers were being involved at the design stage of the new super car repair shops permitting them to specify whose paint curing system was installed. By the time Trisk personnel got to know about a new repair centre it was already up and running with a competitor’s curing system installed with the booths.
It was clear that Trisk management and sales staff had simply been unaware of this key shift in market dynamics. Or worse, they had chosen to keep doing what they always did (in their comfort zone) in the hope that it might bring about a return to the glory days. Around the time that this strategic market shift was becoming apparent, our MD, Tom, came to us with a request to buy the company out from us. Tired of the short-sighted and intransigent management at Trisk and a need to re-focus our attention back upon MSG, we agreed. What followed was a disaster that we should have foreseen. Tom took many months getting funding and putting his bid together during which time he clearly neglected the company. The bid he put to us ultimately was derisory, was duly rejected and he departed shortly afterwards.
Roger and I became more closely involved in running the business and the strategic issues began to surface. Trisk’s real expertise lay in the technology of curing paint quickly and effectively and it was a world leader in this field. The actual delivery systems were secondary but it was vital that Trisk became involved in ensuring their systems were specified at the design stage of the spray booths. We recruited a marketing manager to research the market, promote and co-ordinate the use of Trisk technology into booths.
We also looked to see where else the technology could be most effectively employed. It didn’t take long to discover that the servicing and repair of commercial aircraft was a potentially hugely profitable sector. The leading edges of wings and tailfins had to be resprayed on a scheduled basis but the paint curing systems used were slow and expensive. Trisk’s solution could eliminate days of aircraft downtime saving thousands of pounds for the operators. With these two strategies in place, we employed an aerospace expert and a new managing director.
Sadly, our new MD transpired (despite an apparently strong CV and significant technical qualifications) to be completely ineffective and I had the task once more of seeing an MD off the premises. It became clear that the sales and marketing team were not being successful in either ensuring specification of Trisk technology into new booth installations nor were they taking the action we had agreed to improve pricing. Despite diverting major time on the part of our local MSG US manager towards assisting Trisk, the distribution problems there remained. The fledgling aerospace business was still struggling to break through and gain aerospace approvals. Our aerospace manager resigned taking up a more mainstream role in the sector. Despite investing huge amounts of our time the team never seemed to have their heart in stepping out of their comfort zone and taking the necessary action that would turn the business around.
Looking back, Roger and I had believed in the business and had pushed hard to effect the changes that we believed would turn its fortunes around. Our experience once more had been of ineffective management that we had inherited (and subsequently employed). Buying both Bison and Trisk had stretched our management capabilities to the limit. I still believe that we could have made a success of Trisk had we been able to concentrate solely on that business. Both businesses had initially contributed strongly but we should have sold both within a year.
Although 3i had never overtly pressured us to sell PEI we did experience attempts at ‘persuasion’ occasionally and around this time a fresh ‘persuasion offensive’ was made. Roger, Malcolm and I discussed the situation and decided that we would put the entire PEI business up for sale. MSG had been performing well, our debt had been significantly reduced and we would be glad to see the end of Trisk.
Could we find a buyer for the whole business? Would we receive offers that would reflect the value we had built in MSG?
Image courtesy of careers.guardian.co.uk
Tagged achievement, Alternative dispute resolution, Barristers, Business Analysis, Business partners, Business plans, Commission agents, Decision making, Evidence based management, Financing, Forecasting, Insolvency, Interviewing, Leadership, Learning, Marketing, Money, Morality, passion, Pricing, Problem solving, Shareholders, SME, Strategy, Success, Teamwork, Venture Capital
The Business of Life Chapter 36 -it’s not just the business risks
Roger was taken seriously ill over the Christmas holiday 1998 and admitted to hospital with crippling back & chest pain. Following MRI scans and blood tests he was diagnosed with an MRSA infection in his thoracic spine. The affected vertebrae had all but collapsed, were partially fused, trapping nerves and were the cause of the excruciating pain he was suffering. No one knew the source of the infection or how it came to lodge in his spine but it seemed life threatening at worst and incapacitating at best. Whilst Roger was being pumped full of a cocktail of the most powerful antibiotics I pondered our situation.
The illness could not have come at a worst time. Our dispute with the vendors of MSG had reached the stage where a court action seemed inevitable and with the only certainty that we would be spending vast sums more to fuel the action. I had been overseeing the detailed investigative work inside the company and liaising with our legal team. I could ensure that our claims continued to be pursued with vigour but there was a peak of activity occurring simultaneously on a number of fronts.
A few months earlier one of our minor customers had been placed into administration. The loss to MSG was small but the business itself was interesting. The company concerned was Trisk, a world leader in infra red paint curing equipment for the automotive after market. Situated only a few miles from us in Sunderland, it had enjoyed explosive growth with the founder recently receiving the accolade of North East Businessman of the Year award. Unfortunately, a combination of poor strategy and uncontrolled spending had run the business into the ground resulting in the management being replaced and the bank appointing an administrator as soon as they had recovered their overdraft.
The other aspect was that Trisk was also a 3i investment. Although they had no hope of recovering their original investment they assured me that they would be supportive of an acquisition by us. Prior to Christmas we had met with the administrators and the new management at the Trisk headquarters. The new team had all been promoted from within and, whilst lacking experience, seemed supportive of our efforts to acquire the company. However, there were a number of other parties interested including the largest competitor, Hedson of Sweden. We were fully engaged in negotiations when Roger was taken ill.
Our efforts to locate at least one suitable acquisition candidate in our own engineering sector had come to nothing. Having scoured our industry, had meetings with owners and analysed many sets of accounts, we came to the decision that there was not a competitor worth buying. With the exception of a single piece of equipment (that we subsequently acquired for very little) none even had assets worth acquiring. It was also quite clear that our competition fought with only one weapon – price. They competed with each other for components that had always been made by the spinning process simply driving down price in the process. The result was that margins in all of the competition were slender to non existent.
Following our strategic review we had identified that any new major business to be targeted would have to be conversion from alternative metal forming processes. It was apparent to us that we could offer significant technical advantages for industrial applications where the risk of failure in life had to be eliminated. This was a risk in particular (and demanding) applications where components had been made using alternative metal forming processes. Companies were prepared to pay heavily for a process that eliminated these risks. As the result of our new strategy, Roger had targeted the medical division of one of the largest industrial companies in the world. Within hours of his contact they had put an engineer on a plane from the USA to meet with us. Now, they had followed this up with drawings for a set of major components for one of their products. The only person with the engineering skills to lead the investigation into how we could produce the components was Roger.
When I went into the hospital the following day to discuss how we might make alternative plans, I found I had been beaten to it. Drawings were strewn across Roger’s bed and a small team were assembled around him. “If I don’t do it, no other bugger can.” growled Roger in his inimitable manner. He proceeded to lead the team that developed our ultimately successful solution from his hospital bed in the weeks that followed. Samples were produced, shipped to the US and soon approved. Unfortunately, despite our superior solution (and the winning of an internet auction) we fell foul of internal politics and it was to be several years before we became a regular supplier.
The infection that had laid Roger low was finally pronounced clear but it was to leave him with subsequent and recurrent problems that continue to this day. Somehow he would shrug the problems off and battle on displaying a level of fortitude and perseverance I have never witnessed before or since. It soon became apparent that to pursue these strategic opportunities required investment in new equipment that was capable of producing the power and tolerances required for the demanding, new work. Over the next few years we acquired two of the largest CNC spinning lathes in Europe (capable of spinning components up to 5 metres in diameter). These were followed by smaller state of the art spinning machines, water jet cutting, high speed plasma and a robot.
Our bid to acquire Trisk was successful, beating off our Swedish competitor. Getting to know our new business and repositioning strategy proved to be a time consuming process. However, we quickly had the business back into profit and started looking for fresh opportunities.
In another serendipitous turn of events we suffered a further minor bad debt when a second of our many MSG customers went into administration. The company, Bison IBC Systems in Bradford, produced UN standard intermediate bulk containers for the transportation and storage of hazardous chemicals. It was a leader in its field and had a strong reputation for quality. However, once again we found a company that had been mismanaged, although this time it was through the activities of its parent company. Following protracted negotiations we bought the assets of the business later in 1999. A similar pattern occurred as with Trisk and profits started to flow shortly after our acquisition.
By the end of that financial year both new acquisitions had made strong profits and, combined with our MSG business, we produced an extremely strong result for our holding company, Precision Engineering International (PEI) which we held jointly with 3i. We now owned a portfolio of 3 industrial companies, each a leader in its sector.
Pleased with our track record, 3i positively encouraged further acquisition activities. As a result I received a copy of their entire engineering and manufacturing portfolio (over 500 companies) together with an open invitation to consider any of these for acquisition. Detailed investigation made clear a couple of things to me. The first was that it was extremely satisfying to discover that we were one of their top performing investments in these sectors. The other aspect was learning that they were quite amenable to turning over an investment with a fresh set of partners they considered could produce a higher return. However, despite spending a great deal of time in further research and analysis there was no obvious target for us. Shortly afterwards, another problem was sprung on us.
When I set up the funding to acquire MSG I had sat through a ‘beauty parade’ of banks (something that might reasonably be called an oxymoron). The bank that offered the lowest lending rates and the most attractive deal was Allied Irish. It seemed that they wanted to become involved in supporting VC backed deals and were anxious to become involved with 3i, hence their better than average offer. All had gone well for several years although it was clear from various meetings that they knew little about manufacturing and less about engineering. Nevertheless it was a shock when they turned up one day that year and said they were calling in their millions and we would have to refinance. When pushed for a reason they claimed that they really didn’t understand our sector and were going to concentrate on property, a sector where they had real expertise. Well, we all now know how that one worked out for them!
We refinanced easily with HSBC and that relationship worked well for a number of years with further lending to support our growing capital investment programme at MSG. Until that is, they decided to replace their extremely knowledgeable regional director for someone who knew about as much about business as Allied Irish (perhaps less).
In 2000 another significant event took place. Our claim against the vendors of MSG and our defence against their counterclaim had been consuming vast amounts of my time and we had already run up massive legal fees. With all legal avenues exhausted, I had prepared for a full hearing with a brief to a very experienced barrister in London. We were convinced we could win our case and this meeting reinforced that view. The process had become more and more fraught as a result of constant rejection by the vendors of each and every attempt we made to resolve the matter and obstruction of our investigations. It didn’t help that Clifford had a reputation as a blustering bully whose usual line of defence was attack.
Nevertheless, in one last attempt to avoid the additional time and expense of a trial we made a proposal to the vendors to join with us in the Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) process. To our great surprise we learned that they had agreed to this process. The stakes were very high. We had already sunk a large six figure sum into legal and investigative fees in the previous three years but there always has to be an element of risk and uncertainty in legal matters. Even the ADR process didn’t come cheap with barristers in attendance on both sides.
Some weeks later I sat across the table from Clifford with our respective teams ranged around us. It was the first time we had met since we bought the business three years previously and in that time I heard he had suffered a stroke. Would illness have mellowed him or would he be as obdurate as ever? Could we reach a settlement and put an end to the vast drain on time and expense? Or was this just a futile exercise?
Image courtesy of gastroenterologyupdate.com.au
Tagged achievement, Administration, Alternative dispute resolution, Business Analysis, Business partners, Business plans, Decision making, Ethics, Evidence based management, Financing, Forecasting, Insolvency, Leadership, Learning, Marketing, Money, MRSA, passion, Pricing, Problem solving, Shareholders, SME, Teamwork, Venture Capital
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The Business of Life – Chapter 44 Postscript II finding that elusive balance
The Business of Life Chapter 43 – Postscript (part 1)
The Business of Life Chapter 42 – where the road ends
The Business of Life Chapter 41 – when the attack comes (part 2)
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The RhiView
Thoughts & Opinions of a Nerd Girl…
Meet Rhi
Author: Sarah A. Easley
Rhi’s View: Long Live the Lich
The best Living World installment to date, ladies and gentlemen! This one has it all — great story, phenomenal dialogue, an atmospheric setting, and Joko’s snark at its very best…
July 25, 2018 July 25, 2018 by Sarah A. Easley
Rhi’s View: “Sapphire Skies”
Drama, romance, mystery and intrigue, all set in the Soviet Union during World War II? It had me hooked from the get-go…
April 16, 2018 April 16, 2018 by Sarah A. Easley
The Case for Reylo, Part II
Now that we’ve cut our teeth on where this crazy-wonderful theory got its start, let’s dive into ‘The Last Jedi,’ which led to a chorus of “Told you!!” from the intrepid Reylo fandom…
April 3, 2018 April 16, 2018 by Sarah A. Easley
The Case for Reylo, Part I
The Reylo fandom is one of the most exuberant in the galaxy far, far away. What makes this popular theory tick?
March 24, 2018 April 16, 2018 by Sarah A. Easley
A New Adventure, From the Beginning
A Guild Wars 2 Content Creator is up to something new … let’s take a look at what it could do for this game we all love!
Rhi’s View: “A Bug in the System”
Guild Wars 2 got its latest Living World update with “A Bug in the System.” Let me tell you what I think…
March 9, 2018 April 16, 2018 by Sarah A. Easley
Rhi’s View: ‘Black Panther’
‘Black Panther’ has made a huge splash and I can’t help but add my excitement to the hype…
February 27, 2018 April 16, 2018 by Sarah A. Easley
The Two Best Musical Numbers in ‘The Greatest Showman’
I loved “The Greatest Showman” — from its cast to its whimsical blend of historical and modern. But if there’s one thing to focus on in a musical … it’s the music!
Yes, No, Maybe So: Screen Couples Who Have/Had Us Guessing
On this Valentine’s Day, let’s celebrate the screen couples whose futures together were never guaranteed, but had us rooting for them…
Five Tidbits from the ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ Trailer
Have you caught the new ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ trailer yet? Let’s dive into what it reveals about the famous smuggler’s origin story…
February 6, 2018 April 16, 2018 by Sarah A. Easley
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2009, ★★½, Comedy
The Hangover (2009, Todd Phillips)
22 January 2010 Andrew Wickliffe 2 Comments
Huh. Either blockbuster comedies are getting better or I’m getting stupider. The Hangover is actually a rather neat narrative–it’s kind of like Memento if Memento wasn’t like a concept episode of “Miami Vice.” There are some questions of the film’s sexual politics–apparently going to Vegas and carousing with strippers is okay for certain married men to do, but not others (the more callous the man, the more permissible), but whatever. It’s not like there’s a joke about physically abusing spouses or anything.
Oh, wait, yeah, there is.
But it’s hardly anymore despicable than its peers and it does have that neat narrative structure, kind of like a film noir, only sunny and a gross-out comedy.
I’d heard a lot about Bradley Cooper, but he really doesn’t seem like much other than a less creepy, more greasy version of Ralph Fiennes. A more commercial Ralph Fiennes. He’s fine and he can get some of the jokes done, but it’s Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis who deliver actual laughs. Cooper’s role could have been a standout, but he’s just not dynamic.
Helms and Galifianakis, while funny, don’t exactly deliver a lot of solid acting either (Helms isn’t believable as a dentist–he’s the “Office” guy, nothing more) and Galifianakis is doing a bit. So, strangely, Heather Graham comes off as the most professional actor in the film. She’s utterly fantastic.
Phillips is an okay director. Not sure if he needed Panavision for anything but his ego, but who cares?
Directed by Todd Phillips; written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore; director of photography, Lawrence Sher; edited by Debra Neil-Fisher; music by Christophe Beck; production designer, Bill Brzeski; produced by Phillips and Daniel Goldberg; released by Warner Bros.
Starring Bradley Cooper (Phil), Ed Helms (Stu), Zach Galifianakis (Alan), Heather Graham (Jade), Justin Bartha (Doug), Rachel Harris (Melissa), Mike Epps (Black Doug), Ken Jeong (Mr. Chow), Jeffrey Tambor (Sid) and Mike Tyson as himself.
OTHER FILMS DIRECTED BY TODD PHILLIPS
Bradley CooperEd HelmsHeather GrahamJeffrey TamborKen JeongMike TysonThe HangoverWarner Bros.Zach Galifianakis
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2 thoughts on “The Hangover (2009, Todd Phillips)”
samo9789 says:
“Huh. Either blockbuster comedies are getting better or I’m getting stupider.” I like this remark, I feel the same way. I recently saw the Hangover and Up in the Air and had some serious laughs in both cases.
I lasted about ten minutes through The Hangover, then shut it off. 🙂
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Kalamsat: NASA launches the lightest satellite designed by Tamil Nadu teen
Amazon patents futuristic-looking beehive delivery drone tower
Published on 23 June 2017, 14:17 Asia/Kolkata
Kajal Joshi
India has a legit reason to rejoice over the extraordinary prowess of an 18-year-old Tamil Nadu teen. Rifath Sharook, along with six other teammates, has designed and built world’s smallest as well as the lightest satellite. Weighing just 64 grams, the satellite was launched in a NASA sounding rocket from a NASA facility in Wallops Island.
The team has christened the satellite after former Indian President and nuclear scientist Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam.
Sharook, a native of Tamil Nadu’s Pallapati town, is a part of the organization named ‘Space Kidz India’ that had funded the satellite. He has been a member of the organization since 8th grade. His innovation was selected by NASA after he exhibited his invention in a competition called ‘Cubes in Space’. Dr. Srimathy Kesan, founder and CEO of Space Kids India, supervised the team during the process. Speaking to ANI, Sharook had said,
It’s a 3D printed satellite. It is for the first time that 3D printing technology is being used in space. We have made history. The world’s smallest satellite has been launched in space. It was not possible without my team.
Rifath and his team, relied on carbon fiber polymer to develop the fully 3-D printed 3.8 cube structured-satellite. As per a quoted statement by Sharook, the satellite had aimed to “demonstrate the performance of 3-D printed carbon fiber.”
Coupled with nano Geiger Muller counter for measuring the radiation in space, it was able to operate for 12 minutes in microgravity once it was launched. Post that, Kalamsat fell into the sea. Talking to TOI, Dr. Srimathy said the satellite will be recovered and Nasa will be send it back to them for decoding the data. She terms the flight as “a divine intervention”, and adds,
I am calling it divine intervention because the previous Nasa mission from Wallops got postponed because of weather and we were able to launch successfully today.
kajal@thetechportal.in
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Teach Shakespeare: Get Started
A helpful guide to using Teach Shakespeare.
Fact Sheet: Shakespeare
We know quite a lot about Shakespeare, but there is still much that remains a mystery.
Fact Sheet: London
Shakespeare spent most of his working life in London, the home of the first permanent playhouses.
Fact Sheet: Special Effects
Thunder, lightning, magic and more! Learn how special effects were done in Shakespeare's time.…
Fact Sheet: The First Globe
Many of Shakespeare’s plays were first performed at the Globe, which opened in 1599.
Fact Sheet: Playhouses
There were two different types of playhouse in London in Shakespeare’s time: outdoor and indoor.
Fact Sheet: Audiences
By 1600, between 10,000 and 20,000 people a week went to London theatres.
Fact Sheet: Writing Plays
Just about everyone in London went to the theatre, but what did they go and see?
Fact Sheet: Actors
The life of an actor changed dramatically during Shakespeare’s lifetime...
Fact Sheet: Costumes and Cosmetics
Stage make-up, like costumes, helped the audience to understand characters.
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Home Entertainment SINGLES PREVIEW: Liz Shannon Miller vs. Demi Adejuyigbe – Who Ya Got?!
Singles Match
SINGLES PREVIEW: Liz Shannon Miller vs. Demi Adejuyigbe – Who Ya Got?!
William Bibbiani
Greetings, Schmoedown fans! It’s your mild-mannered editor here, and I’m sitting in for Tim Sim for the latest Schmoedown Preview!
This week, we’ve got the Singles division debuts of not one but TWO hot new prospects in the Movie Trivia Schmoedown. It’s a battle between a TV writer and a TV critic, a podcaster and another podcaster, two brilliant minds that seem destined to clash… Liz Shannon Miller vs. Demi Adejuyigbe!
Ordinarily this is where we would give you the inside scoop on each player’s histories, their rivalries, their ups and their downs, but both Miller and Adejuyigbe are new to the Schmoedown, and have no backstories… yet.
That’s the fun of these rookie matches, actually… to meet new personalities and see where they’ll fit into the Movie Trivia Schmoedown. Will they be epic heels or noble faces? Will they join a faction or fly solo? WHO, in other words,. ARE THEY?
Liz Shannon Miller comes from the world of film and television criticism, and is currently the TV Editor for IndieWire, so she’s not a casual enthusiast. Knowing the entertainment industry inside and out is her day job. Anyone who comes to the Schmoedown with as much cred as Liz Shannon Miller is someone the players keep their eye on, and the fans should too.
And if that’s not enough to intrigue Schmoedown fans, let us not forget how Liz Shannon Miller found her way into the Hallowed Halls of Harloff. As a friend of Ethan Erwin, it was Ethan’s own spouse who recommended Miller to the show, and who argued – allegedly – that Miller was as good, if not better, than the former Schmoedown champ!
Making his debut opposite Liz Shannon Miller will be none other than Demi Adejuyigbe, a prolific comedian and podcaster, who has also written for the hit comedies shows like The Good Place and The Late Late Show with James Corden.
It’s quite a resumé, and as his fans already know, Adejuyigbe has a great personality. So if nothing else, fans should expect him to feel comfortable on-stage, under the lights, in a position that sometimes gets under the skin of rookie competitors. The question is, does he have the knowledge to compete with Miller, and make his mark in the Schmoedown overall?
It’s difficult to predict where a match like this will go, since even if we assume both Miller and Adejuyigbe are movie trivia wunderkinds, we don’t know their strengths or weaknesses, and we have no stats by which to predict their performance.
Instead, I offer the same advice to these rookies that I would offer any new player: learn the game. It’s one thing to know the trivia, it’s another thing to put on a great show, and it’s another thing altogether to strategize on the fly, and have the situational awareness necessary to maximize the rules to your advantage.
Before they spin, Liz Shannon Miller and Demi Adejuyigbe will need to study the wheel they’ve been given, and decide which slices are worth keeping, or spinning away from. They should consider what percentage of “safe” vs. “dangerous” slices are on the wheel for them, individually, so they can tell the difference when it’s wise to spin again on an iffy category, or when it’s worth taking the chance on finding a better one. And they should definitely decide as quickly as possible which slice they would want if they get Spinner’s Choice (and which slice they’d want to lob at their opponent, if their opponent lands on Opponent’s Choice).
They should also remember to use their JTE Rules, since not every rookie has them burned into their brain as an option yet. For every time a player uses a JTE Rule to actually repeat the question, because they heard it wrong, there are a dozen players using it just to stall for time when the answer is on the tip of their tongue. JTE Rules can be everything in a match. (Trust me, I’ve probably lost at least one match because I didn’t realize I still had them at my disposal.)
And then of course, there’s the tough call of whether to go to multiple choice in the second round. Heck, some rookies get wrapped up in the moment and forget that multiple choice is an option! And it’s a simple little mistake like that which can cost you a close game.
Liz Shannon Miller and Demi Adejuyigbe are both promising prospects in the Movie Trivia Schmoedown, who seem likely to bring new knowledge and personality to the league. But only one of them can win, and based on what little we know ahead of their debut match, it seems like Liz Shannon Miller has a slight edge going in. She’s got a film expert’s resumé and a letter of recommendation from someone who knows film expertise.
Who do YOU think has the edge going into tomorrow’s match? Let us know, and let’s get ready to Schmoedown!
Demi Adejuyigbe
Liz Shannon Miller
Previous articleTEAMS DIVISION: KOrruption vs. World’s Finest – Movie Trivia Schmoedown
Next article40 COMPETITORS, ONE SCHMOEDOWN: Get Your Livestream Tickets for Free For All 3!
The Founding Fathers: “We Built This Damn Game!” – INSIDE SCHMOEDOWN WITH THE PIT BOSS
It all depends, but I’ll go with Liz.
Roi March 14, 2019 at 9:16 pm
Nice preview, Bibs! Really excited to see both these players!
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You are here: Home » St Kilda Season Review by Nick Ciantar
St Kilda Season Review by Nick Ciantar
follow on twitter: @nick_saint13
Ladder: 9th: 12 wins, 10 losses, 123.33%
Most goals: Stephen Milne (56)
Most disposals: Lenny Hayes (538)
Most handballs: Lenny Hayes (283)
Most kicks: Leigh Montagna (324)
Most tackles: Lenny Hayes (130)
Most clearances: Lenny Hayes (119)
Most contested possessions: Lenny Hayes (238)
Most marks: Sean Dempster (155)
Most inside 50′s: Leigh Montagna (94)
Most rebound 50′s: Sean Dempster (72)
Most hit outs: Ben McEvoy (405)
Played Every Game:
Lenny Hayes, Leigh Montagna, Sean Dempster, Nick Dal Santo, Stephen Milne.
Debutants:
Seb Ross, Jack Newnes, Ahmed Saad, Terry Milera, Beau Wilkes (debuted for West Coast in 2008), Sam Dunell.
Rising Star Nominee:
Arryn Siposs (round 15).
Review of Season:
Scott Watters started his coaching campaign with a 4 point defeat to Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium. The Saints then went on to win the next two games against the Suns (92 points) and Dogs (63 points). Under a new coach and an attacking game style, the team was always going to take some time to adjust. The Saints then faced Fremantle and previous coach Ross Lyon at Etihad Stadium in round 4. The Dockers won a thrilling game by 13 points. From rounds 3 to 12, St Kilda maintained a win/loss ratio. They could not get consistency in their games. The streak was broken after the bye with a round 14 defeat to North Melbourne (33 points).
For the last 9 games of the season, St Kilda won six games. They outclassed Essendon in round 15 (71 points) and were too strong for the Bulldogs (76 points), Melbourne (25 points) and Giants (128 points). The three games they lost were against top 8 teams. They were competitive against Sydney (29 points), nearly snatched a victory against Collingwood (6 points) and outclassed by Geelong (42 points).
St Kilda would be disappointed that they could not make the finals this year, however, they still proved a force to be reckoned with.
3 Best Games:
St Kilda vs. Carlton Round 7:
Stephen Milne (4 goals), Terry Milera (3 goals) and Ahmed Saad (2 goals) were dominant in a 24 point victory. Carlton had no answer for the small forwards. A 6 goal to 3 second quarter set up the victory.
St Kilda vs. Sydney Round 9:
St Kilda outclassed Sydney in the second quarter with a 28 point victory. Sydney could not matchSt Kilda’s intensity and were down by 42 points at three quarter time.
St Kilda vs. Essendon Round 15:
St Kilda was too strong for Essendon defeating them by 71 points. Nick Riewoldt played his best game for the year with 4 goals, 24 disposals and 11 marks. A 12 goal to 3 second half set up an impressive victory.
What went Right:
The kids: 6 kids debuted this year, the most since 1999. Sam Dunell, Seb Ross, Jack Newnes, Ahmed Saad, Terry Milera and Beau Wilkes all had impressive years at VFL affiliate Sandringham and took their chances at AFL level.
Pace: St Kilda has been known to be a ‘slow’ team, however, this year they were not. Saad and Milera injected some pace into the sides and they did not disappoint.
Attacking football: You had to go back to 2005 for consistent big wins. St Kilda played the slow, flooding football for the past 5 seasons and it was effective. However, the change to consistent attack was much needed and revitalised the playing group.
What went Wrong:
Consistency: St Kilda had a win/loss ratio for 10 games in a row this season. They were not able to win two games in a row and it cost them dearly at the end of the season. They eventually got more consistent as the year went on.
Lack of tall defenders: St Kilda’s tall defender of Zac Dawson left at the end of last season. At 195cm, Zac may have frustrated the fans, however, he helped by limiting the tall forwards. Tom Simpkin (191 cm), Sam Fisher (191cm) and James Gwilt (188cm) are quality defenders, yet they lack the height of Dawson.
Ruck stocks: From rounds 9-11, St Kilda had no ruckmen. Ben McEvoy (knee) and Rhys Stanley(hamstring) were both out which lead Justin Koschitzke, James Blake and even Beau Wilkes to take on ruck duties. Players were unexpectedly moved around and questions were raised as to whether St Kilda should draft or trade for another ruckman.
Most valuable player:
Lenny Hayes: Hayes had a stellar year. He won the Best and Fairest and played every game. At the age of 32, he came back from a serious knee injury and played career best football. At the end of the year, the club stated that he played the entire season with a heart problem. Hayes’ contested work and ability to come back after a serious injury shows how vital he is to the club.
Big Improver:
Jarryn Geary: Geary surprised many with a fantastic year. Many may have thought that this season would be his last chance, however he proved wrong by having a breakout year. He played 20 games off half back and defeated many highly rated opponents. He finished 6th in the best and fairest in a make or break year.
Next Star:
Arryn Siposs: At the age of 19, many Saints fans are getting excited. He debuted last year as a forward, however, he played 11 games this year switching from half back to half forward. His kicking is pin point and can take contested marks.
What we need:
Tall defender: On many occasions this year St Kilda’s defence leaked goals. Watters’ has already stated that the club is looking for a key defender. Troy Chaplin and Mitch Brown have been linked to the club.
Tall ruck/forward: St Kilda’s talls of McEvoy, Stanley and Koschitzke all had terrific years. Though when Stanley and McEvoy were out of the team, there was no recognised ruckman. Koschitzke is 30 years old and only has a couple of years left. Stanley seems to play better as a forward, so ideally, St Kilda would be best placed to draft a young ruckman.
Inside Midfielder: Hayes is 32 and Armitage will take his spot once Hayes retires. Another inside midfielder is needed, to give the team more depth. Although this may not be a top priority, St Kilda will need one in the future.
What to expect in season 2013?
St Kilda will be looking at nothing less than a finals spot. After an inconsistent start to the season, St Kilda rallied hard towards the end and could have easily made the finals. With kids debuting this year and senior players revitalising their careers, the clubs future looks ideally placed. If St Kilda can land a tall defender, then St Kilda could challenge for the top part of the eight. Watters’ has worked wonders with the list and they matched it with nearly every team this year.
← Sandringham End of Season Review
2012 AFL Grand Final Preview: Hawthorn vs Sydney →
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Advanced Reviews Round-Up: World Enough and Time (Spoiler-Free)
Unbelievably, Doctor Who Series 10 is coming to a close, and this run of episodes seems to have gone down really rather well.
But how it’s remembered largely hinges on the finale, World Enough and Time/ The Doctor Falls.
No one’s seen The Doctor Falls, but a few lucky reviewers have seen advanced copies of World Enough and Time, the opening part of a story that reintroduced the Cybermen from The Tenth Planet, and John Simm’s Master. So what’s the general consensus?
Please note, this is basically spoiler-free.
While you might think there are minor spoilers, there’s nothing to stop your enjoyment – in fact, we won’t be delving into anything we don’t already know about. For instance, we know Missy and the Master are in it. Judging from the image gallery, we also know numerous Cybermen designs appear.
Preview discs also omitted an important scene too, so even those in the know aren’t completely in the know. Y’know?
Without further ado…
Let’s start with the thing that surely got Peter Capaldi most excited: Cybermen! He’s been asking for the return of those original Mondasian models since he came aboard the TARDIS, so here they are, and looking gorgeous.
“Given that this is a Cyberman episode, the reveal of the very first Cyberman is a surprisingly long time coming and cannily done. Instead it focuses on the terrifying mid-conversion stage, and it ain’t pretty,” writes Rob Smedley. “The rest of the episode is lessons on gravity’s influence on the plot and enough implied body horror to let your mind wander to some gruesome places. Oh and the word ‘pain’ gets said. A lot. An awful lot.”
DWTV relieves some worries: “Yes, even the voices are maintained! Fortunately, despite a few worries pre-viewing, they’ve translated successfully to the modern era in the episode itself. The top-knotted converts are utilized in a very effective and creepy way.”
Dave Golder reaffirms: “There’s a careful piece-by-piece build-up to the reveal of the first proper Cybermen – it’s very effective and creepy, especially the rationale behind the voices.”
“We see the horrors of forced human-experimentation and Bill is left in amongst it all,” Flickering Myth states. “This isn’t a standard episode of Doctor Who with Good vs Evil, Right vs Wrong, as we see when Bill deals with a victim in pain; though quite shocking it is very human.”
Missy and the Master
Of course, many were incredibly excited by the promise of John Simm’s return – myself included. So what about the Master, and his female counterpart, Missy, played by Michelle Gomez. Has she really turned good?
“The Master is very much back – not a dream, not a ‘Moment-esque’ type appearance – he is back, and at his evilest,” assures DWO. ” We are still unsure of whereabouts in Simm’s Master’s timeline this episode sits, but it seems to be set after the events of The End Of Time (we may be wrong, though).”
The DWC’s own James Baldock writes for the Metro: “When you have a TV show in which the lead character can not only change their appearance but also travel through time and space, it’s comparatively easy to put the two of them together. It just means that their timelines cross over… Missy is definitely the Master (whatever the fan theories tell you) – it’s just that she’s meeting up with an earlier / later / different version of herself.”
DWTV is annoyed at the publicity machine spoiling the big surprise: “It’s just a disappointing case of publicity taking precedence. Regardless, thankfully the latter moments of the episode still come the closest yet to rivalling Utopia for sheer fan excitement. Simm hasn’t missed a beat, but is thankfully more toned down than his manic hooded-hobo ways in The End of Time.”
Generally, however, reviewers skirt around the issue of the Master. Could this mean he’s only in it for a bit, with centre stage being reserved for Missy for now…?
Direction and Music
As with Series 8 and 9, Rachel Talalay is back on directorial duties (as she will be at Christmas).
“This is really, really creepy television in places, and I wonder if Talalay – appreciating she’s no slouch when it comes to horror – has been playing her fair share of survival horror videogames as well,” Simon Brew says. “Her sense of pace, light and being able to pick the right camera angle to unsettle the viewer is acute.”
“The episode is dripping in atmosphere and ramps up the scares in the more horror-y sequences,” DWTV teases, while Smedley hints, “Actually, it does make you wonder what the Christmas Special is going to be like. And oooh we’re clipping close to spoilers there.”
Murray Gold has been working on the show since 2005’s Series 1, and his scores continue to impress in Series 10.
“Murray Gold, too, puts in place another score here that instantly makes the eventual soundtrack release a corker,” says Simon Brew, and Dave Golder goes on: “Murray Gold gets to revisit one of his greatest ever pieces of music he’s written for the show (not someone’s theme) during a lovely reminiscing sequence. In fact, there’s some brilliant use of sound and music throughout.”
DWO concludes, “Murray Gold has given us something bigger and bolder, with hints of Series Three (his finest soundtrack in our opinion), and a chilling undertone that haunts throughout the episode.”
The Whole Episode
Even if all the elements are there, that doesn’t mean an episode works in its entirety. So how does World Enough and Time hold up?
Dave Golder writes that “though some Moffat-doubters are probably going to like it a lot less we did, we thought it was bursting with great ideas, atmosphere, creepiness, surprises and WTF? Moments”, and Flickering Myth says, “This is an excellent piece of Doctor Who and not only are we getting two slightly unhinged Time Lords with flexible morals together, but we’re seeing a Companion who is very much human. If the closing chapter – next week – continues along this path, this will be an excellent goodbye from Steven Moffat and something that will be remembered in Doctor Who lore for a long time.”
“It begins on an enormous cliffhanger. It ends on about another three of them. And you know what? None of them feel cheap,” writes Rob Smedley. “Everything in World Enough and Time – all the twists, the turns, the timey-wimeyness – feels earned after such a strong and investing series. This feels like a brilliant start to a brilliant end of a brilliant series.”
Bedwyr Gullidge has words of wisdom: “World Enough and Time is a mind blowing episode. It is dark. It is terrifying. The majority of the time it is genuinely shocking. What I can say is do everything you can to avoid spoilers.”
While Simon Brew simply states, “World Enough And Time is a thoroughly, thoroughly impressive piece of work,” DWTV cautions: “Some major things happen here again. However, the key question is, will any of it stick? It’s hard to get 100% invested in the things that transpire when you have that nagging suspicion at the back of your mind that it can (and likely will) be undone… If he does follow through on some of the things, it will certainly be an ending to remember.”
Finally, Paul Jones enthuses that World Enough and Time is “not only one of the best episodes of this run but one of the best since the show returned in 2005 – and certainly one of the darkest.”
Frankly, we cannot wait.
World Enough and Time airs on BBC One tonight at 6:45pm.
Posted in Round-UpsTagged Bill Potts, Cybermen, Doctor Who Series 10, John Simm, Matt Lucas, Michelle Gomez, Missy, Murray Gold, Nardole, Pearl Mackie, Peter Capaldi, Rachel Talalay, Steven Moffat, The Doctor Falls, The Master, Twelfth Doctor, World Enough and Time2 Comments
← Coming Soon – The Tenth Doctor Gets His Own Mr. Men Book in Dr. Tenth: Christmas Surprise
Here’s What The Doctor Who Companion Thought of The Eaters of Light! →
Advanced Reviews Round-Up: Wor…
Round-Ups Twice Upon A Time: Spoiler-Free Reviews Round-Up
Round-Ups Reviews Round-Up: Unreachable Starring Matt Smith…
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There’s Nothing Wrong With A Few Butt-Kicking Heroines
When toddler girls are forced to watch ‘Braveheart’ until they join the guttural yells, I’ll gladly sound the alarm. Here, though, we’re talking about a statue and some fiction.
By Rachel Lu
David French is fed up with warrior princesses. There are just way too many of them. His recent send-up of “feminist ferocity” laments the rash of butt-kicking heroines who (as he sees it) implicitly denigrate homemakers’ life choices.
I like homemakers. I don’t think it’s especially important to cultivate “fierceness” in girls. Even so, I think French and others should relax about the tough-girl heroines. If you don’t like them, don’t watch, but making a cosmic issue of it is a little paranoid. That reaction also leads us into a quagmire of hard questions. If we’re not supposed to like fierce female characters, how should we feel about actual fierce girls?
If French and I were to have a friendly chat about men and women, we would surely agree on a great many points. I’m all for raising boys as boys, and I also happen to share French’s view that women are basically unsuited for soldiering.
Men offer their bodies for the common good when hostile forces must be repelled. Women offer their bodies for the sake of perpetuating human life. So it has ever been, and should be. As the mother of four boys, I accept the second of these responsibilities for myself, and take seriously the necessity of instilling the first into my sons.
I’m still okay with the “fierce girl” fantasies. Partly, this just seems to be an over-reaction. Based on some movie characters, a television commercial, and a Wall Street “fearless girl” statue, French concludes that liberals are “crafting girlhood into stereotypical boyhood” and “going to extreme lengths to give girls that boyish fighting spirit.”
Are these really “extreme lengths”? To me, they seem pretty mild. If girls were being dragged to Spartan-like “warrior camps” while tea sets and tiaras were snatched off the shelves, I’d agree that was extreme. When toddler girls are forced to watch “Braveheart” until they join the guttural yells, I’ll gladly help sound the alarm. Here, though, we’re talking about a statue and some fictional characters. If that’s alarming (and degrading to homemakers) I have to wonder: is any indulgence of the tough-girl fantasy permissible, or are fierce girls just universally pernicious?
For those living in a gender-addled age, overreaction is always tempting. I perfectly understand the impulse to stand in the path of mainstream culture shouting, “Boys and girls are different!” They are, but we need to be careful. Oversimplification can easily become fuel for eager gender-benders.
As I see it, tough-girl characters are mostly variations on a time-honored theme: Women fantasizing about succeeding in competitive and traditionally masculine realms. We’ve been through this plenty of times before, from Buffy to Xena to “Brave” Princess Merida. Men often find this disconcerting, as do traditionalists of both sexes. It’s important to understand, though, that this isn’t just a feminist thing. There have always been girls who daydreamed about beating the boys at their own game.
In girlhood, I logged plenty of hours pondering the appropriateness these tough-girl fantasies. I pondered as I lay awake at night, mentally inserting myself into epic fantasies and suspense thrillers. (No, I was not the rescuee.) I pondered as I imagined myself saving the day for my Denver Broncos, leading the charge after John Elway fell prey to a devastating last-second injury.
In my early teens, my family spent several months in Scotland, fueling an imaginary alliance with Bonnie Prince Charlie and his rugged highlanders. I did wonder whether it was okay for a girl to relish such fantasies. For that reason, I mostly kept them to myself. But still, I kept them.
I wasn’t delusional. I knew women can’t play in the NFL. Also, dragons are not real, and it’s been game over for Bonnie Prince Charlie for more than two centuries. So what, though? Fantasies are fantastical; that’s what makes them fun.
Some traditionalists would surely frown on these girlhood tendencies (imagination be damned). Many feminists, for their part, would find it heartbreaking that I felt compelled to keep my fantasies secret. I disagree with both groups.
To be sure, daydreams have aspirational elements. Even understanding that I couldn’t grow into an NFL quarterback, that fantasy gave imaginative life to some kind of real-world yearning (which presumably had something to do with competing successfully in more masculine settings). I think it was healthy to explore the contours of that aspiration as a child, in the safe and unbounded world of imagination. I also think it was healthy to spend time pondering the question: what kinds of goals would actually be appropriate for me as a woman?
Girls and Boys Face Different Life Challenges
Most historical societies have granted women somewhat greater license to push the boundaries of their gender-specific roles. It’s typically better to be a fierce girl than an effeminate boy. There are reasons for that.
To be born male is to be born with a rich array of physical and rational gifts, which have any number of possible applications and thus no obvious, particular one. The goal, as the boy matures, is to narrow the field of possibilities and prove himself capable of a more particular social contribution. The effeminate boy causes consternation to his parents because a boy is not capable of duplicating the woman’s most characteristic contribution. He can be a great many valuable things (a warrior, a scholar, a builder, an explorer, and so forth), but he cannot be a mother. That’s why most societies have very definitely not wanted their boys to be girlish.
A girl faces a different set of challenges. She is born with a blessedly burdensome biology, and a rational mind. Most likely she is slower, weaker, and less coordinated than her brothers. That is, in some sense, the price of one truly remarkable capacity that she does have: the ability to nurture nascent life in her very body. This is a beautiful thing, which we should encourage girls to embrace.
She also has a distinct advantage over her brothers in that she doesn’t need to distinguish herself in some rarified field in order to prove her social value. Physiologically, she was built for maternity, and maternity is precious. At the same time, that blessing can seem extremely burdensome at times, when she as a rational person is drawn to goals and excellences that her body is under-equipped to pursue. Femininity can seem especially onerous in a woman’s reproductive years, when the biological burden is heaviest.
Although her physiology may point her towards a particular social role, the girl’s rational imagination is freer. It may wish to roam where the body cannot. She can admire the explorers, warriors, and prophets of history and legend. She can be excited by feats of daring or awesome displays of athleticism. This is not a rebellion against femininity.
A girl, after all, is a rational creature; as such, it is not contrary to her nature to admire the full range of human excellences. Gracefully navigating this interplay between (burdened) body and (less-burdened) mind is itself an aspect of the feminine experience, and necessary component of mature womanhood.
Try to Understand Competitive Females
Without question, some girls are more inclined than others to struggle with the burdensome aspects of the female physiology. Donna Reed’s interests and talents seemed well suited to the domestic sphere, so it was comparatively easy for her to flourish as a wife and mother. For Eowyn of Rohan, the challenges were more considerable; her domestic bliss was secured only after some battlefield heroics, and only through a marriage to a sympathetic gentleman-warrior. Representing half the human race, women can differ quite a lot from one another, and we should probably make our peace with that.
As compensation for the sacrifices women make, a healthy society permits and encourages them to break out a little from a strictly domestic role.
For the “fiercer” members of the fair sex, fighter-girl fantasies may naturally hold a lot of appeal. This creates discomfort for some people, especially traditionalist men. They are irked by the unreality of the fighter fantasy. We can acknowledge its fantastical elements, and still appreciate that some girls may need the imaginative freedom to explore that gap. Fantasizing about “the body unbound” can be a natural stage of the maturation process, which may culminate in a healthy channeling of competitive impulses in some more appropriate direction. If you don’t happen to be a competitive girl, feel free to change the channel. Try not to judge too hastily, though.
Why do girls get to push the boundaries more than boys? Physiologically, there is a fundamental asymmetry between them. Boys are presented with a huge range of open possibilities that they need to narrow. Girls are physiologically directed towards a far more specific role, which may however be unpleasantly limiting for them as rational beings. A healthy society does ask women to assume the relevant burdens, because it’s vitally necessary, both for them and for society. (The world must be peopled, but also, maternity is richly rewarding, and a fundamental aspect of fulfilled femininity.)
At the same time, as compensation for the sacrifices women make, a healthy society permits and encourages them to break out a little from a strictly domestic role, as opportunity allows. In our wealthy and long-lived society, there can be quite a lot of opportunity, even for women who fully embrace their fertility. Childhood experimentation (whether it takes the form of a “tomboy” phase, or just an imaginative flirtation with fierce-girl roles) can be a girl’s way of figuring out what is and is not genuinely possible.
Give the Girls a Break
Cleaning out my attic some years ago, I ran across a sixth-grade essay in which I was asked to imagine my life at age 30. What did I anticipate? My prediction read more or less like a 1950s sitcom. I saw myself packing school lunches and searing off roasts. That was the role most women played in my childhood (Mormon) community, and it sounded fine to me. As best I can recall, that essay was written at the height of my imaginary NFL career.
Was it still possible to embrace maternity in a way that suited my talents and temperament?Yes.
I never became John Elway, and I never quite became Donna Reed either, but my actual adult life is a somewhat-plausible amalgamation. I never joined up with marauding Scottish highlanders, but I did join the Peace Corps and travel across Central Asia. I never rubbed shoulders with elite athletes, but I did spar with elite scholars, in a discipline (philosophy) famous for its bruising intellectual combativeness.
Today I spend most of my hours at home with my four kids, but I also write social and political commentary, attend conferences, and do some public speaking. Would adolescence have been less confusing if I had been clearly and unambiguously drawn to a more circumscribed social role? Yes. Was it still possible to embrace maternity in a way that suited my talents and temperament? With the help and guidance of supportive adults, it was.
I never suited up for the Denver Broncos, but there is a real sense in which that girl is still alive today. She’s grateful that she was afforded the space to explore imaginatively what it could mean to be feminine and fierce.
Rachel Lu is a contributor at The Federalist. As a Robert Novak Fellow, she is currently researching criminal justice reform. Follow her on Twitter.
Photo Universal Pictures / YouTube
characters fantasy female characters femininity feminism Gender roles heroines imagination men and women stereotypes story the sexes women women's issues
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Photo: Rodger Boshch/AFP/Getty ImagesPhoto: Rodger Boshch/AFP/Getty Images
Obama’s Clemency Problem – And Ours
Liliana Segura
December 24 2016, 2:31 p.m.
Earlier this week, President Obama broke his own remarkable clemency record, granting an unprecedented 231 commutations and pardons in a single day. Headlines and tweets broadcast the historic tally; on the White House website, a bar graph tracks Obama’s record to date, which has dramatically outpaced that of his predecessors. With a total of 1,176 recipients, the White House boasted, Obama has granted clemency “more than the last 11 presidents combined.”
The president certainly deserves credit for making clemency a priority before leaving office. His efforts are especially laudable in contrast to the lazy rhetoric of President-elect Donald Trump, who has cluelessly condemned clemency recipients as “bad dudes.” In reality, to use language Trump might understand, all successful applicants go through a process of extreme vetting: only a fraction of people in federal prison are eligible in the first place, and selections rely on a careful review of each candidate’s history and behavior behind bars. A record of violence, including as a juvenile, is disqualifying.
Those who make the cut are, as the White House put it this week, “individuals deserving of a second chance.” Many have been serving long mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses, crimes for which they have shown remorse. Applications list courses completed, prison jobs maintained, records untarnished by disciplinary write-ups. Last spring, Obama highlighted a handful of men and women who “have made the most of their second chances,” describing their ability to leave prison, get a job, and piece their lives back together as “extraordinary.”
With his legacy and the politics of crime in mind, it makes sense that Obama would be cautious with his commutations, while amplifying the success stories. Yet there’s something disingenuous in the now-familiar rhetoric peddled by the White House with every clemency announcement, which repeatedly tells us we are a “nation of second chances.” Even within the narrow scope of Obama’s clemency initiative — and putting aside his treatment of immigrants and whistleblowers — this is wishful thinking at best. As Obama himself has written in his congratulatory letters to clemency recipients, “thousands of individuals have applied for commutation, and only a fraction of these applications are approved.” Before the latest round of pardons and commutations, Obama had rejected nearly 14,000 clemency applications. On the Department of Justice website, which tracks the rejections, the staggering list of names includes Ferrell Scott, whose application was denied on November 29. Scott is serving life without parole for pot offenses — precisely the kind of draconian sentence clemency exists to address.
Obama’s clemency project was ostensibly born of the recognition that, as then-Attorney General Eric Holder put it in 2013, “too many Americans go to too many prisons for far too long, and for no truly good law enforcement reason.” At the time, Holder promised the Obama administration was “fundamentally rethinking the notion of mandatory minimum sentences for drug-related crimes.” But when it comes to the president’s pardon power — the one place where Obama could directly address the problem — there are few signs of a transformation.
Instead, the White House has promoted a story about exceptionalism: The president has proven exceptionally merciful and the clemency recipients are uniquely deserving — even extraordinary. If the former is true, it is only because we have set the bar so low. As for the latter, it is certainly no small thing to survive — even thrive — while serving some of the harshest prison sentences in the world. But praising such men and women as exceptional diminishes the vast human potential that exists behind bars. As one clemency recipient told me last month, recalling an exchange with the former White House pardon attorney, “I have a list of names of people I would like to see come home. But there are even more people who I’ve never met. To give a list of names would exclude too many people.”
On November 29, a coalition of activists, legal scholars, and attorneys published a letter urging Obama to take much bolder action, to commute the sentences of whole categories of people whose prison terms are plainly unjust. He could, for instance, prioritize the cases of people who should have received retroactive relief under the Fair Sentencing Act in 2010, which reduced (but did not abolish) the obscene sentencing disparities for crimes involving crack versus powder cocaine. “There is bipartisan agreement that pre-Fair Sentencing Act crack sentences are unjust and have disproportionately affected people of color,” the authors wrote, “but there is no mechanism for addressing that injustice outside of clemency.” Whether Obama will act on such ideas remains to be seen. But the letter exposed the fallacy of framing clemency as a “second chance” to be bestowed upon a small number of “deserving” individuals. If the underlying sentences were senseless and cruel to begin with — and if clemency is the only way to grant relief — why has the White House made it so hard for these same people to get out of prison?
This is just one of a nagging set of larger questions highlighted by Obama’s clemency initiative. In an era in which so many politicians now recognize the need to correct the excesses of mass incarceration, why should the burden fall on incarcerated people? How is it reasonable to require people in prison — the most disempowered individuals in society, living in state-imposed environments of extreme violence — not only to survive but to excel in order to win relief from a punishment the government itself has admitted was wrong? Should someone serving a draconian sentence under a racist sentencing scheme really have to work so hard to prove their worth when it was the state that robbed them of their humanity?
A prisoner’s bunk at the Veterans Unit of the Cybulski Rehabilitation Center on May 3, 2016, in Enfield, Connecticut.
A Nation of Second Chances?
On the same day activists published their letter exhorting Obama to expand his clemency efforts, the American Civil Liberties Union released a report titled “False Hope: How Parole Systems Fail Youth Serving Extreme Sentences.” Documenting how states routinely deny release to those eligible for parole, the ACLU offers numerous profiles of men and women sent to grow up (and in many cases, to die) in prison, whose efforts to prove their value as adults have been repeatedly rebuffed. The stories are all too familiar. They show how poverty, neglect, trauma, and mental illness factor into the lives of young people arrested for violent crimes. They also show how harshly we continue to punish such youth, first with decades in prison, and then with repeated refusals to grant parole, no matter how much they change in the years that follow — or how much evidence shows that older people “age out” of crime. People of color are seen as even less amenable to rehabilitation. Today, despite the wide rejection of the “superpredator” myth, state parole boards show very little mercy to people serving sentences that grew out of such racist hysteria.
As with Obama’s clemency initiative, the problem is largely political: Nobody wants to be the person to free an individual who might go out and commit another crime, even if it has been decades since the original offense — and even if the sentence was disproportionate to begin with. What’s more, the ACLU notes, by focusing on the original crime, “parole board members may never know about the success stories: people convicted of serious crimes who, once released, have become successful community leaders supporting themselves and their families, who grew up and moved beyond the worst thing they ever did.”
One bright spot of Obama’s clemency initiative has been in these very kinds of success stories – publicized in the press and by the White House itself. But in the absence of a deeper rethinking of what we consider a second chance, such anecdotes are no match for generations of fear mongering that has entrenched fear of violent criminals into our very psyche, even at times when crime has hit historic lows.
Just a few days after the ACLU report on parole, the Washington Post unveiled a front-page, four-part investigative series called Second Chance City, which examined a D.C. law called the Youth Rehabilitation Act. Passed in 1985, the law aimed to give judges discretion in handling cases involving young defendants — including by circumventing mandatory minimums — to allow deserving young people to avoid harsh punishment and, ultimately, expunge their record. The Post series raised alarm, finding dozens of cases where beneficiaries of the law had gone on to commit new, often violent offenses, and describing the crimes in dramatic detail. Exhibit A was a black man in his early 20s facing trial for rape, and whose record included eight previous arrests and stints in state custody dating back to his teens. “There’s simply no indication here that Mr. Pitt is amenable to rehabilitation,” a judge told the man’s defense attorney at one point, and the Post would seem to agree.
The series included two large mugshots of the young man in question. Yet absent from the series were figures to contextualize the cases highlighted by the Post, making it impossible to measure the law’s failures against its successes. Indeed, while the YRA may well be flawed in its implementation, the man profiled by the Post could just as easily be considered a poster child for the utter inability of the criminal justice system to address pervasive problems such as mental illness, poverty, and neglect — the very factors so common among youth who cycle in and out of prison. Although the Post noted that the man “began psychiatric treatment at age 13,” the portrait that emerges is of a predator coddled by the courts, free to victimize his community because of an overly lenient justice system.
Most counterproductive was the framing of the series, placed squarely as a counterpoint to efforts at prison reform on Capitol Hill. “At a time when the Obama administration and Congress are working to ease ‘mandatory minimum’ sentencing guidelines for non-violent offenses, in part because of concerns that such laws have unjustly imprisoned large numbers of African-Americans,” the authors write, “D.C. law enforcement officials are increasingly concerned about the number of repeat violent offenders on the streets.”
The media should certainly scrutinize attempts at reform, pointing out where they fail. But the Post series was a reminder of how quickly we revert back to old narratives about crime, to convince ourselves that more imprisonment will keep us safe. With the real fights over prison reform happening at the state and local level — over things like the Youth Act — any efforts by the president were always going to be limited. But if the pendulum is to swing back toward a more punitive era, as many fear it will under Trump, Obama must do as much as he can now to preserve the legacy he has carved out.
But beyond Obama — and if we are to make a dent in mass incarceration — Americans must also begin to think much bigger than his administration ever did. We should refuse to let the same government that gave us mandatory minimums define what counts as a “second chance.” We must stop letting our leaders — whether the president or a parole board — divest their responsibility to remedy draconian punishments by placing the burden on people who never should have received them in the first place. Ending mass incarceration will require mercy, but fundamentally it is about justice. And the state has not even begun to account for its own mistakes.
Top photo: Barack Obama, then a U.S. senator from Illinois, looks out the window of Nelson Mandela’s jail cell, August 20, 2006, on Robben Island, South Africa.
Liliana Segura[email protected]theintercept.com@lilianasegura
Fiona C
Obama’s “clemency” and his supposed interest in reforming America’s for-profit prison system is a transparent and half hearted PR exercise. It’s a poor attempt to redeem a legacy that looks more like George Bush’s third and fourth terms than anything like the hope and change promised in the 2008/2012 presidential campaigns.
What some commenters here “fail to understand” is that there are more trumped-up, exaggerated and false charges routinely brought against citizens, than real crimes being committed. So when the accused plead out, they are pleading guilty to lesser charges only to avoid lengthy and mandatory sentences which they know they can’t beat, regardless of their guilt or innocence.
The prison/justice system is broken because it’s profitable. At an estimated turnover of $74 billion per annum, it eclipses the GDP of 133 nations. It’s profitable for the police departments, the for-profit prisons, for counties, for states and for thousands of secondary businesses many of whom employ prisoners in shoddy and unsafe working conditions, paying them a disgraceful 25 cents an hour.
Unqualified judges are elected nationwide on the basis of fear inducing tv ads, fooling the public into believing that tough sentencing will prevent crimes, when deeper economic and social problems like poverty, racism, education drop out rates, unemployment, and untreated mental illness have already been proven to correlate directly with increased crime rates.
Coincidentally, these are issues that the corporate media, politicians and bureaucrats aren’t interested in solving, hence the prison industrial complex emerged, concealing but not hindering societal ills created by unchecked capitalism, corruption and greed.
In July 2015, Obama visited the El Reno Federal Correction Institution in Oklahoma, where he met with six inmates serving time for drug offenses. One of those inmates pled out to a crime he didn’t commit. He was jailed at the time of the alleged crime. It’s more than improbable that if you’re already incarcerated, you’re simultaneously committing crimes on the outside. But not to the justice system in America, and apparently not to prosecutors who rely on convictions to advance their careers, too often built on the backs of the disenfranchised, the poor and minorities.
The Innocence Project estimates there could be up to 140,000 innocent people imprisoned at any given time. That number is probably a vast underestimate. From an article published in 2008: “Ninety-seven percent of 125,000 federal inmates have been convicted of non-violent crimes. It is believed that more than half of the 623,000 inmates in municipal or county jails are innocent of the crimes they are accused of. Of these, the majority are awaiting trial. Two-thirds of the one million state prisoners have committed non-violent offenses. Sixteen percent of the country’s 2 million prisoners suffer from mental illness.”
The uninformed here, can opine about those serving lesser sentences due to plea bargaining, or make comments such as “They CHOSE to break the law” but that doesn’t change the fact that there are vast swathes of people incarcerated for crimes they didn’t commit, including those convicted or charged from false results on field drug kit tests used by police departments.
http://www.alternet.org/drugs/unreliable-unchallenged-police-field-drug-tests-innocent-people-prison
These drug kits almost always produce false positives on innocuous substances like powdered sugar, a Tylenol PM, or even no compound at all.
http://thefreethoughtproject.com/marijuana-advocacy/
There’s only one reason that America jails 25% of the world’s inmates, yet its total population is only 5%: Money.
Phil Ferro
December 29 2016, 1:28 a.m.
Wow, Obama is doing something I really respect. Too little too late.
Michael Laughlin
To quote Will Rogers: We have the best politicians money can buy. And, to paraphrase Will Rogers: We have the best judicial system money can buy.
December 27 2016, 11:37 p.m.
Obama gives clemency to his future body guards.
In a Renewed America, Obamie the Commie needs an entourage of all the criminal friends he can buy.
Extremely well written, Ms Segura. The unwarranted sentences that can be-, are-, and have been legally leveled against Americans makes one question the basic semantics of “clemency”.
ax123man
Ferrell Scott: I’m not saying this guy hasn’t already served enough time – likely he has (9 years) based on my review of his paperwork. However your article leaves out the fact that he has had cocaine charges, multiple other drug offenses (one for possession over over 1000kg of pot), federal theft offense, and two weapons charges.
Also of note, it is the same government that progressives can’t seem to get enough of that has created a criminal justice system that is utterly broken. When you give power to politicians, be ready to take the good with the bad.
pretzelattack ax123man
the same government and politicians bought by private interests, you mean. when you stop regulating bribery of government officials, this is what happens.
December 27 2016, 10:02 a.m.
Nothing is right . Most of American worried about own future and Trump playing with words and USA future do not know what should do! He trying to have experances cabinet to advice him also able to run the country but it is a dark clude which covered whole USA and nations also worried about future of himself too.we didn’t see any positive action of trump and his words is not worthy and what ever he said all changed .i am sure LIERS cheaters gamblers and druggies can not quite and soon he will be scrow himself and country .Time will shows who will be new trump.
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.
-Mona- -Mona-
I do not understand this. My comments show very late, and a full thrived in Zaid Jilani’s thread never show at all. I’m not the only one, by far. What is going on?
“full thrived” should read “full third”
Jack Green is a hasbara troll
Every point he’s raised below comes straight from a hasbara manual, and has been recited here, often verbatim, by him many times — and rebutted almost as many times. He does not post in any but Israel-related threads. It’s his sole purpose for being here.
Max Blumenthal has addressed the common occurrence of the hasbara troll, found all over the Internet.
Jack Green’s nonsense about Israel and the apartheid issue is a topic I copiously address — with documentation — in the thread I link above. Do a ctrl F on my name in that thread.
bahhummingbug -Mona-
Now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the world.
Donald J. Trump [email protected] Dec 23
As to the U.N., things will be different after Jan. 20th.
15,024 replies 33,175 retweets 94,683 likes
*also, fwiw, I’ve noticed subsequent comment(s) (ie. more than one (1) in a 24hr period) at TI can take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours (or longer!) to post. I assume it is an automated system designed to limit anyone from hogging/flaming the conversation… such as it is. **”refresh” seems to help speed things along, but I wouldn’t swear by it.
drcc4
Don Siegelman should be one of the first pardoned, or is Obama afraid of Carl Rove?
feline16
Seems to be a bit slow article wise. This is a new report from commondreams …
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/12/26/under-cover-christmas-obama-establishes-controversial-anti-propaganda-agency
As if there isn’t already enough to worry about…
-Mona- feline16
What I was able to scan through of the article was quite good.
I REALLY applaud the points of Fellow Citizen and Patricia Williams.
Jessejean
ff–o snap!
ff– o snap!
f f skitty
first… free leonard peltier.
then prosecute the guy who released marc rich.
And, still, no clemency for Leonard Peltier….incredible.
“Nazis were executed for precisely what Washington is doing today.”
– Paul Craig Roberts
milton wiltmellow Vivek Jain
Exactly what is “Washington” doing today for which Nazis were executed?
Cities don’t “do.”
People act; cities just sit there.
And which Nazis were executed for doing precisely what?
A few Nazis were executed after a trial and after a bloody war. Many other Nazis, most others, were not executed. I don’t know about the Nazis captured by the Russians. The Russians arbitrarily executed people Stalin didn’t like so I suppose many Nazis were executed by the Russians for the “crime” of being a Nazi. But if that’s the standard — executing people for their political affiliation — then welcome to a horrible new reality.
I hope Vladmir Putin’s version of “justice” — executing political opponents — doesn’t arrive in Washington in January in guise of Putin admirer Donald Trump.
That would really suck.
pretzelattack milton wiltmellow
well, noeliberals and neoconservatives give orders to commit war crimes, like some nazis did.
droug milton wiltmellow
> Cities don’t “do.” People act; cities just sit there.
that is really stupid
Mass Independent
I applaud the POTUS action and hope that it restores a little of his self tattered legacy, and hope that he uses the next 4 weeks to do THOUSANDS more pardons and acts of clemency. In particular, he should pardon Ed Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange and especially political prisoner Leonard Peltier. As well as the huge majority of non-violent drug offenders, that he himself was, but didn’t get caught (Bill Clinton too, very likely W. Bush too).
William Delaforce Mass Independent
Obama only cares for his legacy now, not for justice – so don’t hold your breath waiting for him to do the right thing.
I’d like to hear the reason that Leonard Peltier is not one of those released. Perhaps he has not shown enough ‘contrition’ for being scape goated.
It’s the American state that should be showing contrition!! It could begin with the 700 FBI agents that paraded around the White House in response to then outgoing President Clinton’s planned pardon of Peltier, and include Clinton himself for his spinelessness when confronted with the protest.
droug
> How is it reasonable to require people in prison — the most disempowered individuals in society, living in state-imposed environments of extreme violence — not only to survive but to excel in order to win relief from a punishment the government itself has admitted was wrong?
great question. if the sentence is unjust, nothing else should matter; the convict’s behavior in prison should be irrelevant. but people are always looking for ways to justify the mistakes they’ve made and the evil they’ve knowingly committed
Christian C Holmer
Fatma Güçlü
British surveillance operations targeted the French businessman. Beyond France, the disclosures highlight the U.K.’s extensive spying operations across Africa. It is not a good news for England. I understand that any country does not think positive about another country.
What you fail to take into consideration is that the many of people in prison on drug charges are there after a plea bargain wherein they pled guilty to a crime and accepted their punishment. This process of plea bargaining allows those who were guilty of violent offenses to have those charges dismissed in exchange for their guilty plea to a lesser charge of possession. So when We are told that these prisoners being let out are non-violent we really don’t know if we are getting the whole story.
Rob B.
You obviously think the president has nothing better to do than sit around reviewing pardon requests. I would agree that far too many non-violent offenders are spending far too much time in prison, but let’s not forget that they are there for a reason. They CHOSE to break the law. Now they are suffering the consequences. Whether or not those consequences are fair or not is another matter and maybe you should work to change those. As far as the president is concerned, if he was to personally review every request for a pardon he wouldn’t have time to do anything else, like you know, run the country.
General Hercules
I think President Obama is doing a very good thing by granting all the pardons, but he should realize that he should not leave us to their mercy while he himself enjoys secret service protection from all the convicted criminals. In line with all his pardons he must renounce his privileges and let himself be under the same level of protection as the rest of us.
Mass Independent General Hercules
I guess you missed the part that said that they cannot have any record of violence for consideration of clemency, even as juveniles (Hillary’s “super-predators”) or are you being threatened by pot smokers in your neighborhood.
General Hercules Mass Independent
Good point, would have been truly excellent had it not been a fake assurance. Maybe Hillary Clinton can qualify for pardon on these grounds, but it’ll be safer to lock her up.
We can be dismayed that clemency has not been as wide nor as sweeping under Obama as we’d hoped but get ready for the clemency door to be slammed shut and locked with the incoming Oligarchs.
Mass Independent Ted
Maybe not. It’s a law they can’t change, and that many of them will need to avail themselves of near the end of Trump’s term.
One day I was involved in social work presenting no cost services in a prison, which the inmates could take advantage of upon release. In case they lost the paper I left for them I suggested to them an easy way to memorize how to google the services.
One of the inmates said to me “You do not understand if somebody gives us something like this while we are in here we hold on to it”. I was both touched by his words, and like never before was made aware of the meaning of hope.
We all know how horribly the U.S. ranks in placing their people in prisons, and it is one of the greatest failures of our society. The phrase “Make America great again” is an oxymoron as long as the inside of a prison cell is what we so widely present to so many of our less fortunate people.
Patricia Williams Fellow Citizen
Luckily you are obviously a compassionate AND observant person. So many church going folks go to Kairos or other religiously based prison visitor programs and swallow whole the propaganda that is fed us…You noticed that NOT all prisoners are violent, dangerous, ungrateful, mentally ill or illiterate. I was a Federal Drug prisoner for 10 years and I met a LARGE number of kind, normal women …who had made a dangerous error in judgement..often by helping a husband or relative without quite grasping the implications
Fellow Citizen Patricia Williams
Women without records are at a disadvantage over men as it is when it comes to things like equal pay, then after serving time it is very hard to find meaningful employment. It is insane that on top of these challenge inmates often come out of prisons facing fines and fees. Some of the probation systems have been privatized and the paroles pay stiff monthly fees for things like ankle monitors of which they have to pay for out of meager minimum wage salaries.
Some people really do overpay for their mistakes while others like the most amoral banksters whom raided our financial system in terms of $17 trillion to hold up their last Ponzi scheme, which ruined the lives of so many everyday citizens, go on to live lives of luxury and are honored with appointments to the highest offices in the land.
Liliana beautifully wrote:
“Should someone serving a draconian sentence under a racist sentencing scheme really have to work so hard to prove their worth when it was the state that robbed them of their humanity?”
”Ending mass incarceration will require mercy, but fundamentally it is about justice. And the state has not even begun to account for its own mistakes.”
Yes, mistakes in the likes of a society that sanctifies greed, consumerism, complete political corruption, represented government of the elite, corporate welfare scoundrels, adulation of the thieving haves, and a complete lack of passion for those whom need to have some sense of hope and justice directed to their spirits and hearts.
It all needs to be placed right side up, and that will require major changes in the way our society educates, messages, cares for the sickly, selects work that enhances our being rather than oppresses it, provides proper housing, establishes rational transportation, and allows the constant stimulation of creative thinking through the arts and free expression, which will challenge the narrative of those oppressors existing in a realm of amoral fantasy.
Jeff D Fellow Citizen
You forgot the Golden Rule of this society (he who has the gold makes the rules). The ruling class is not going to allow laws to be enacted that criminalize the regular activities of its members.
Using pardons to undo wholesale laws on the books retroactively – no matter how bad those laws – is simply too far a road for an executive office already far too powerful.
FTR…..Some black leaders were in favor of “the obscene sentencing disparities for crimes involving crack versus powder cocaine. ” IIRC the argument was, crack was destroying their communities, and they wanted to put a stop to it.
Happy holidays, everyone.
rick Ron
I’m thinking they were in favor of harsh punishment for crack but I can’t imagine them being in favor of the disparity in sentencing since it would hardly help clean up their communities.
W0X0F
No pardon or clemency for Snowden or Manning, certainly no justice there.
Jeff D
I don’t disagree with anything in this column, but another large concern that the column failed to mention is political prisoners like Leonard Peltier and Mumi Abu Jamal. Drugs should be legal and nonviolent blue collar crime should not bring long sentences, but people should also not be prosecuted for political actions.
Sharon Jeff D
I agree. Our political prisoners say so much about Obama’s legacy – from Peltier to Snowden to Aaron Schwarz.
Michael H Jeff D
Mumia was convicted of murdering a police officer. He is not a political prisoner.
GilG Jeff D
agree with everything except your contention that Jamel act should be pardoned. He killed a cop who was giving his brother a traffic ticket. The evidence is overwhelming. Anyone can call anything a political act, it doesn’t make it so.
Jeff D GilG
The evidence against Mumia Abu Jamal is not only not “overwhelming,” it relies on the words of cops, who are liars.
Gil G Jeff D
Nonsense , the evidence relies on the bullets that killed the cop matching Jamal’s gun.
john K. Jeff D
Not to mention the crack addict who, as an informant worked with the D.A. to get a conviction. In the mean time Mumia is denied medical treatment for his problems. Fcuk the so called justice handed to him.
Beside, whether someone was guilty is not relevant to getting a pardon. The idea that because he allegedly shot a damn cop he shouldn’t be pardoned is disgusting.
That psycho Roof who murdered those people in the church in SC, thought he was commiting a political act. How would you feel about a pardon for him?
Truthbtold
Person for person blacks are the overwhelming winner as the most criminal race on the planet. Obanana is their great black hope to set them free from paying the price for their criminality. He is a disgrace, but then again he is black.
TimN Truthbtold
I know you’re doing your best with your very limited intellect. Keep on keepin’ on.
barabbas Truthbtold
They are the most criminalised, penalised, deprived race.
But the record of abused persons are palestinians who are regularly murdered and robbed by the israelis.
meanwhile your comment puts a stain of ugly on whatever race you pretend to represent.
Mudbone Truthbtold
Your mother is the biggest criminal the human species has ever endured . She had you !
Joshua88 Truthbtold
Ugly. Very ugly.
Great story, Liliana Segura.
Roch Truthbtold
When you get a blood transfusion, blac or any color works and accepted.
You are a mean person.
Sonja Truthbtold
The two atom bombs, depleted uranium, Agent Orange, nuclear submarines, B-21s, ICBMs, drone warfare, the Holocaust?
Wow those persons of color sure do get around.
The bitter joke is that if they were the criminals you claim they are, you would likely respect them.
OraleHohms Truthbtold
EdgarBos Truthbtold
Your comment indicts you, not those imprisoned. You imprisoned yourself in your warped and closed mind holding its doors firmly shut from within. Given your pen name and comment here, there is only the conclusion that it reflects a very sad, lonely, and miserable life.
The State doesn’t rob anyone of anything.
The State is an illusion, a fiction, a fabrication, a creation of cultural biases perpetuated by lip-flapping grifters (i.e., “politicians”), various commercial factions, academics and polemicists. The State bears absolutely no resemblance to that originally envisioned by Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton et al.
Those who work for the State actually work for the political flim-flammers (only nominally tied to voters) who create State jobs to solve one political problem or another. As long as commercial interests predominate, people are nothing more than commodities — branded and marketed by these same politicians who generalize, stereotype, demonize, scapegoat and ultimately betray the ideals manifest in the Constitution.
The entire system is rotten to the core. Voters don’t matter, rights count for nothing, representatives represent those who pay them, media scoops the scum from the surface of the swamp (calling it “news”) and the legal system — once a shining example of evidence and morality — sorts people like a factory conveyor belt designed to sort eggs or recyclables.
Prisoners aren’t delivered to their cells because of a design flaw. The system only works as long as it has raw materials — people — from which profits can be extracted. Lack of a living wage, drug laws, law enforcement extortion schemes (see Ferguson MO for example), tax policies, for-profit detainment businesses, and lack of social spending all combine for the same purpose: Revenue. It isn’t a coincidence that the immoral and enormous incarceration rates in America parallel the immoral and enormous concentration of wealth in America. The latter demands the former like hunger demands bread.
Obama should be called the President of Grand Gestures — he is quite adept at doing nothing while seeming to do something praiseworthy. He is like a doctor treating the Black Plague. Sure, he saves a few (or claims he has), but the disease remains as virulent as ever.
The worse news?
His replacement is a flea infested rat bringing with him a horde of his plague carrying brethren.
Ricardo Camilo López milton wiltmellow
openly unpretentious “flea infested rat bringing” which was people’s choice based on all other rotten to the core, flea infested theatrical options they had …
it seems to be systemic
RCL
milton wiltmellow Ricardo Camilo López
openly unpretentious
Hahahaha …
Trump Tower.
Trump University.
Trump Steaks.
Trump Vodka.
Trump Casino.
Donald J. Trump Collection (Trump Fashions)
Trump Jet.
Trump Magazine.
Do you even know what “unpretentious means?
The last word I’d use to describe Trump is “unpretentious.” Okay maybe the second to the last word, (the last word being “smart.”) But still this guy is as humble and unpretentious as bling on a rapper.
It’s hilarious that anyone could describe the grandiose guy with a comb-over from hell as unpretentious.
As we will discover, the only thing Trump is good at is failure. He buys politicians with his dead daddy’s money, pays no tax (thanks hirelings), pays lawyers to stiff people and then bullshits his way into calling his cheating “success.”
It was said of George Bush, “He was born on third base and thought he hit a triple.”
Donald Trump bought third base from Steinbrenner, hung it on his wall and claims it as proof of his success.
I hope you enjoy sad disillusionment.
You’ve got a lot of it heading your way.
Well, I think I do and BTW what I said was: –openly unpretentious- mostly speaking about his manners and political projections (which is what the political establishment, the status quo and the U.S. viscerally hate about him). Compare him to Obama or the Clintons even though they don’t claim a building in the center of Manhattan as their home.
Yes, he has a line of underwear under his name, but he is not pretending not to be a “narcissist @ssh0l3″. He, very evidently, is one! He is true or much, much more true than the rest of the pack.
Ricardo Camilo López Ricardo Camilo López
He is true or much, much more true to his sh!t than the rest of the pack
If by openly unpretentious you mean rude, crude, impulsive, dismissive of consequences, and politically incorrect, then yes, Donald Trump is “openly unpretentious.”
If considering other’s rights, feelings, validity as human beings, and being cognizant of consequences counts as the opposite, then I’m all for the opposite of “openly unpretentious.” I don’t scream at my opponents. I don’t swindle my employees. I don’t make grandiose promises. I don’t threaten war for random acts of defiance, I don’t mistake the actions of a few zealots as an indictment of an entire religion and I don’t blame an entire national heritage for the criminal acts of a few members of that heritage.
Do you see my point?
Blunt may be a positive trait in a movie critic or a crime boss; it is not a trait I want to see in a president.
Truthful and blunt are not synonyms — otherwise we’d hear oaths in court as, “I swear that the evidence that I shall give shall be blunt, entirely blunt, and nothing but blunt, so help me ,,, um … believe me.”
There is absolutely nothing “openly unpretentious” about Trump’s blustering grandiosity and babbling cluelessness.
You can put lipstick and a wig on him, but he’s still a squealing Trump.
barabbas milton wiltmellow
His replacement is a flea infested rat bringing with him a horde of his plague carrying brethren.?
or he is asking those wealthers to do something right and good for a change
milton wiltmellow barabbas
More silliness from the dumbstruck gulls.
Here’s NPR:
During a town hall meeting on NBC’s Today show, he said he believes in raising taxes on the wealthy.
And at least half of Trump’s supporters agreed with him on that, according to a pre-election survey by RAND Corp., a research group.
“Just before the election, after the last debate, 51 percent of them intending to vote for Trump supported increasing taxes on high-earning individuals,” says Michael Pollard of RAND.
But Trump’s plan does the opposite, says Lily Batchelder, a law professor at New York University and visiting fellow at the Tax Policy Center.
“If you look at the most wealthy, the top 1 percent would get about half of the benefits of his tax cuts, and a millionaire, for example, would get an average tax cut of $317,000,” she says.
Yet you claim the group of people least likely to help others, most likely to pillage the economy, most likely to hire accountants and retain off-shore bankers, and those — like Trump — who’ve avoided paying taxes for decades are suddenly going to change???
That is more absurd than calling Trump “unpretentious.”
You’ve given us a bloated monster.
At least don’t pretend you don’t know exactly what Trump is all about.
Enjoy the coming catastrophes.
At least it promises to be spectacular.
RMD milton wiltmellow
[voice of arrogant, deluded Trump supporter]
“Well, now that HRC and the democratics™ are out, we can rebuild the political system to be pure and free™ !”
…yeah, that’ll be great!
just like the war after the next? …. built with sticks and stones.
oh… and do us a solid and “Drain the Swamp”
unless it’s no longer a good slogan. Don’t want to offend the predacious.
Happy Holidaze
Looking forward to the Kryptos Kristmas Kwiz, or will it be a modern version of Nabucco?! It’s likely the only thing that will set whistleblowers free any time soon… Little & big brother both approve. Happy Holidays to the team at TI, Jacob Price.
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The Overcast’s Unauthorized Best Of Ron Hynes Playlist
by Chad Pelley
All that remains to be said about Ron Hynes is that he wrote more good songs than “Sonny’s Dream.”
All that remains to be said about Ron Hynes, after a week of mourning and thoughtful posts on social media, is that he wrote more good songs than “Sonny’s Dream.” If deep down you’ve been ashamed of joining the province’s reverence of a man whose music you secretly knew little about, enjoy the playlist below as proof he really was one of the greats.
You can find most of his albums on iTunes. I’d recommend Get Back Change and Cryer’s Paradise, and if you can find a copy of his debut, Discovery, snatch it up, it’s a rare collectible now. NOTE: THIS PLAYER MIGHT NOT LOAD/WORK ON A PHONE
[mp3player width=600 height=400 config=album-player.xml playlist=ron-hynes.xml]
Still More to Come from Ron Hynes …
He might not be here to launch it, but there’s a new Ron Hynes’ album on its way, and it’ll be an appropriately intimate affair. According to his manager, Charles MacPhail, it’ll be called Later That Same Life.
“This is a recording that I had spoken to Ron about for years, of ‘minimal accompaniment,’ and I got my way. Yay! People who did not see him live have to hear this, this is truly The Man of a Thousand Songs. It is Ron on guitar and Vinyl Cafe member Dennis Pendrith on bass. The only other instrumentation was by Glen Simmons from NL on ‘Marie.'”
It’ll be ten original songs, but for the first time, he’s included a cover: Bob Dylan’s “You’re a Big Girl Now.”
Chad Pelley
More from Chad Pelley
Another NL Book Being Adapted for the Big Screen: Kathleen Winter’s Annabel
Oscar nominee Deepa Mehta will be bringing Kathleen Winter's internationally renowned novel,...
Special One Night Screening of “The Man of A Thousand Songs”
People’s Choice Awards 2015: Local Music
Expect the Unexpected from this Stunning, Surprising Read on Ron Hynes
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FACT CHECK: Did Trump tell the FBI to ignore the allegation of sexual assault against Kavanaugh?
Published on : September 22, 2018 September 22, 2018 Published by : Jacob Palmieri
ARTICLE FROM CHECKYOURFACT.ORG:
CNN politics reporter and editor-at-large Chris Cillizza claimed in a tweet that while speaking to the press, President Donald Trump told the FBI to ignore Professor Christine Blasey Ford’s allegation of sexual assault against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
No big deal: Just the president telling the FBI to ignore an allegation of sexual assault https://t.co/lvO8w9ccOm
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) September 18, 2018
“No big deal: Just the president telling the FBI to ignore an allegation of sexual assault,” Cillizza said Tuesday.
Verdict: False
Trump did not direct the FBI to not investigate the allegations in statements to the press. He remained open to the possibility of an FBI investigation if the department expressed interest in doing so.
The FBI could investigate the incident as a part of its background check on Kavanaugh with authorization from Trump.
Fact Check:
Cillizza tweeted in response to CBS White House correspondent Mark Knoller, who reported on Trump’s comments in the Oval Office with Polish President Andrzej Duda Tuesday.
“Trump says he still hasn’t spoken to Judge Kavanaugh, but says he knows he has @POTUS’ support … Says FBI doesn’t want to reopen its background investigation,” Knoller said in the tweet.
Trump’s full quote shows that he said the FBI should not investigate the allegations because it expressed reluctance to do so, but he showed openness to the FBI getting “involved” if it wanted.
“I don’t think the FBI really should be involved because they don’t want to be involved. If they wanted to be, I would certainly do that. But as you know, they say this is not really their thing,” Trump said. (RELATED: Did Kavanaugh’s Accuser Get Scathing Reviews On RateMyProfessors.com?)
CNN did not provide comment for this article.
Ford alleged in a July 30 letter to Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein that Kavanaugh tried to “disrobe” her and put his hand over her mouth at a high school party when they were teenagers, more than 35 years ago. Feinstein referred the matter to the FBI after the Senate Judiciary Committee had completed its hearing for Kavanaugh’s nomination.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley said Monday that the committee would hold another hearing Sept. 24 where Kavanaugh and Ford could testify about the allegations, but her lawyers Tuesday called for an FBI investigation of the incident before she testifies at a committee hearing.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) said in a statement to news outlets Monday night that the FBI forwarded the letter to the White House counsel’s office and indicated that it would not investigate the matter further.
“The FBI does not make any judgment about the credibility or significance of any allegation,” the DOJ statement said. “The purpose of a background investigation is to determine whether the nominee could pose a risk to the national security of the United States. The allegation does not involve any potential federal crime. The FBI’s role in such matters is to provide information for the use of the decision makers.”
The FBI could not investigate the incident as a federal crime because it lacks jurisdiction. Ford alleges that the incident took place at a home in Maryland.
“That’s a local crime. Unless it involves a federal official, or on federal land, or has some federal nexus, there’s just no jurisdiction to do it,” Chris Swecker, former assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, explained on CNN Wednesday. Ford has not filed a report with local police.
Analysts note that Trump could ask the FBI to look into matter further, however, as a part of Kavanaugh’s background investigation for his Supreme Court nomination.
In the midst of the confirmation process for Justice Clarence Thomas in 1991, the White House ordered the FBI to investigate University of Oklahoma law professor Anita Hill’s claim that Thomas sexually harassed her when she worked for him at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
In Ford’s case, the FBI could interview those involved in the allegations for the benefit of decision makers, Swecker said. “But it’s all fairly thin. None of this would hold up in court,” he said.
The FBI investigated Hill’s claims before they were revealed to the public and the Senate Judiciary Committee assessed testimony on its own after the allegations leaked. Grassley argued in a letter to Democrats on the committee Wednesday that because Ford’s allegations are already public, it is appropriate for the Senate to evaluate her claims rather than the FBI.
While Trump has not asked the FBI to reopen its background investigation on Kavanaugh, he did not direct the FBI to “ignore” the allegations Tuesday.
Ford’s attorneys told the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday that she “would be prepared to testify next week,” if the committee offers “terms that are fair and which ensure her safety.”
Have a fact check suggestion? Send ideas to emily@dailycallernewsfoundation.org
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BOMBSHELL! Intel report claiming Russia wanted to elect Trump was politically motivated
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Why choose Farrow & Ball ?
Have you been Farrow and Balled?
Choosing a paint colour for your project can be a challenge, but by choosing it correctly can be one of the most rewarding aspects of home decorating and as the role of an interior designer. It is a skill not only instinctive but learned. On the design journey there are many elements to consider, but colour and tone is at the top of the hierarchy list, whether it’s about gaining the right mood for a contemporary or traditional setting, or for historical fact, Farrow & Ball can achieve all of those. In essence it is a very versatile paint.
When it comes to living with colour in your home or business its about achieving that perfect back drop that will ether enclose or isolate you. Here we see the importance of colour. Most homeowners, decorators and interior designers instinctively reach out for the very popular brand, that is.our very own born and bred – Farrow & Ball . Such a wise choice, but do you know why?
lFor the discerning home designer, choosing the right colour with a ‘go to’ brand is like a rite of passage, a verification that one knows how to throw a scheme without any hand-holding. For interior designers and decorators alike, it’s about using a quality product and an amazing range of paint colours that can be used for any interior design project, whether contemporary or traditional. A partnership made in heaven. Mesmerised, we return to Farrow & Ball time and time again, rather like returning to a trusted friend. It’s this love of the brand and recognition of the quality and quirky palette names that holds us loyal. I am infatuated by Farrow & Ball, and this is when I ask you – Have you also been Farrow and Balled?
The Farrow and Ball History
The Farrow and Ball story began as early as in 1946 when John Farrow and Richard Ball established a small paint factory in Verward, Dorset in 1946. In the 1960’s the business gained pace and moved premises to its current site in Wimborne. From that point onwards until the present day the Farrow& Ball reputation increased in popularity.
Production.
The difference with Farrrow & Ball products is that they are and still created with rich pigments and traditional processes, which is comforting for this high tech age. While other brands continued to use acrylic based constituents, F&B remain focused on long-established values. I am delighted to understand that even today they are still created in the same way. The uniqueness of the product and its intriguing story has survived a competitive industry and has become the nations favourite paint.
The 132 palettes have been cleverly formulated, and I believe neither intentionally at the start, but incredibly, to work well for any period of time. Farrow & Ball offers infinite possibilities, for where colour is needed; there is a colour for everyone’s personality and style. So there is a science, and there is also psychology. My most loved paint colours have been strategically designed to lure and remain besotted.
Curious names.
During the nineties, the names of Farrow & Ball paints became topics of conversation over dinner parties and the like. Partly because of their intriguing names and how they seem to gel with the conscious home decorator. ‘Mizzle’ and ‘Dimpse’ which mean a mix of mist and drizzle and the more popular ‘Elephants Breath’ that everyone knows and has come to love, has obvious connations of its own. The naming alludes to each individual paint is taken from Historic houses and others landscapes or other historical findings. They certainly trigger your imagination to associate a name to a colour, which magically interprets your vision. Precision colouring, witty and subtle marketing without realisation, the pigments produce the intensity of colour which is the secret behind such a wanting and versatile paint.
What colours do you love?
As an interior designer, I have learnt that people feel the most comfortable when surrounded by carefully balanced colours that create an understated environment and make few demands on the eye. Neutrals offer no end of calm and the bolder colours liven up the smallest of rooms. Farrow & Ball provides versatility and intensity which makes it the number one choice in the interior designer’s toolbox. Today, Farrow & Ball distributes its paints and wallpapers to 67 countries worldwide and has more than 50 showrooms. This is in itself stands a testament to its time, and assuring that the company will be current for many more years to come!
I have to confess I have been Farrow and balled.
All images courtesy of Farrow & Ball How to Decorate: Transform your home with paint & paper.
Crittall-Style is back, to ‘steel’ the show.
Dulux colour of the year- Spiced Honey
Interior Styling Workshop – From Boutique to Boho the Alex and Bro way.
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Jenn Bishop SourceJenn
‘Winterthorne’ Premieres First Episode
Jenn Bishop
This week the first episode of the highly anticipated web series Winterthorne premiered. The series is created by Daytime Emmy Nominee Michael Caruso, directed by Daytime Emmy Winner Sonia Blangiardo and stars Days of our Lives’ Martha Madison in the lead role role of Miranda Winterthorne. Winterthorne tells the tale of the Winterthorne family and the twisted secrets behind their candy empire.
“There are secrets deep in the forests. I come from a family born of these secrets. There is a substance that women in our family has been killing each other over for generations. The very thing our family is named after, I’ve built an empire with it. This is Winterthorne.”
The series’ all star cast includes Michael Caruso (DeVanity), Kirsten Storms (General Hospital), John Paul Lavoisier (One Live to Live, Beacon Hill), Linda Grey (Dallas, The Bold and the Beautiful), Gordon Thomson (Dynasty, Santa Barbara, DeVanity), Kevin Spirtas (One Live to Live, Days of our Lives), Kathleen Gati (General Hospital).
The first episode can be watched at winterthorne.com.
TagsSoaps Web Series Winterthorne
Jenn Bishop was TVSource Magazine's Soap Editor. She's a thirty-something fan girl of soapy television and anything involving Joss Whedon. She began sharing her views on daytime soaps in 2012 with her blog Save Our Suds. A former philosophy major, she loves discussing different view points with fellow TV addicts and aficionados. When not watching television, she enjoys art, live music, exploring the Midwest food scene, and drinking too many lattes. Follow her on Twitter at @SourceJenn.
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Front page - The Books
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This is a listing of our bestsellers, those titles are the ones our users have clicked on the most often to purchase online. You can order any of them online by clicking on the Amazon logo - and thus help support uboat.net.
The last stand of the tin can sailors
by Hornfischer, James D.
The Extraordinary World War II Story of the U.S. Navy's Finest Hour (2005, Bantam)
Description: One of the finest WWII naval action narratives in recent years, this book follows in the footsteps of Flags of Our Fathers, creating a microcosm of th ...
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Left for dead
by Pete Nelson
A Young Man's Search for Justice for the USS Indianapolis (2003, Delacorte Books for Young Readers)
Description: Just after midnight on July 30, 1945, the USS Indianapolis was torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. The ship sank in 14 minutes. More than 1,000 men wer ...
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Shattered sword
by Parshall, Jonathan
The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway (2007, Potomac Books Inc.)
Description: Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, ...
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The Mathews Men
by William Geroux
Seven Brothers and the War Against Hitler's U-boats (2017, Penguin Books)
Description: “Vividly drawn and emotionally gripping."—Daniel James Brown, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Boys in the Boat. One of the last unhera ...
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by Erik Larson
The Last Crossing of the Lusitania (2015, Crown Publishers)
Description: #1 New York Times BestsellerFrom the bestselling author and master of narrative nonfiction comes the enthralling story of the sinking of the Lusitani ...
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All the Gallant Men
by Donald Stratton
An American Sailor's Firsthand Account of Pearl Harbor (2016, William Morrow)
Description: THE FIRST MEMOIR BY A USS ARIZONA SURVIVOR: Donald Stratton, one of the battleship's five living heroes, delivers an "epic,"* "powerful,"** and "in ...
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by Buchheim, Lothar-Günther (1999, Orion Military)
Description: This well-known novel, stemming from the author's experiences as a war correspondent on U-96, describes a single U-boat patrol from beginning to end. ...
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Iron Coffins
by Werner, Herbert A.
A Personal Account of the German U-Boat Battles of World War II (2002, Da Capo Press)
Description: Herbert A. Werner was the Commander of U-415 and U-953. This book tells the story of his wartime career, including his service on U-557 and U-230 as w ...
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by Scott, Peter (2001, Down East Books)
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Why the Allies Won
by Overy, Richard (1997, W W Norton & Co)
Description: This book devotes a chapter to each of the decisive military campaigns of the war. One is entitled "The Battle for the Seas" and deals mostly with t ...
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German submarine U-1105 'Black Panther'
by Aaron Stephan Hamilton
The naval archaeology of a U-boat (2019, Osprey Publishing)
Description: A detailed study of history and marine archaeology of an innovative late-World War II U-boat that currently lies as a wreck in the Potomac River.Now i ...
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Ship of Ghosts
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The Story of the USS Houston, FDR's Legendary Lost Cruiser, and the Epic Saga of her Survivors (2007, Bantam)
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by Monsarrat, Nicholas (1999, United States Naval Inst.)
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Steel Shark in the Pacific
by Jaffee, Walter W.
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Neither Sharks nor Wolves
by Mulligan, Timothy P.
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U-Boats Beyond Biscay
by Bernard Edwards
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The Admirals
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Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan, the Japanese Navy's Story
by Fuchida, Mitsuo (2001, United States Naval Inst.)
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The Little Giants
by Y'Blood, William T.
U.S. Escort Carriers Against Japan (1999, United States Naval Inst.)
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Otto Kretschmer
by Lawrence Patterson
The Life of Germany's Highest Scoring U-boat Commander (2018, Naval Institute Press)
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Where Divers Dare
by Randall Peffer
The Hunt for the Last U-Boat (2016, Dutton Caliber)
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Struggle for the middle sea
by O'Hara, Vincent P.
The Great Navies at War in the Mediterranean Theater, 1940-1945 (2009, Naval Institute Press)
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The Burning Shore
by Ed Offley
How Hitler's U-Boats Brought World War II to America (2014, Basic Books)
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Torpedo Junction
by Hickam, Homer
U-Boat War on America's East Coast (1996, United States Naval Inst.)
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Escape from the deep
by Kershaw, Alex
A Legendary Submarine and Her Courageous Crew (2008, Da Capo Press)
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British Battleships, 1919-1945, Revised Edition
by R. A. Burt (2012, Naval Institute Press)
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Michael (Hedges Here)
Shining On Your Dreams
Live On (The Wall)
My Country Tis of Thee
℗ 2004 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd., a BMG Company, under exclusive license to [PIAS] UK Ltd.
© 2004 Sanctuary Records Group Ltd., a BMG Company, under exclusive license to [PIAS] UK Ltd.
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Trust Me, PR is Dead
Robert Phillips
PR is Dead. Contradictions on the downfall of monarchy
The following is the text of the 2015 John Campbell Lecture, delivered on November 30 2015, on behalf of Republic – the campaign for an elected Head of State.
It is a privilege to deliver the 2015 John Campbell Lecture.
When it comes to the monarchy, I have three questions:
Can the British Royal family overcome the tectonic shifts of our time and defy logic to maintain the status quo?
If PR is dead, how can an institution that is little more than a PR smokescreen actually survive?
In addition to a web of well-spun PR, is the Windsor family now propped up by little more than public apathy plus latent affection for an elderly woman?
The logic of circumstance and the march of change should determine that the monarchy’s days are numbered. However, I do not think this is the case. This is the age where trust in institutions has been eroded to the point of collapse. In my book, PR and spin died with the last millennium. The monarchy’s survival may be one of the last great contradictions of our times.
To be clear: I am adamant that PR is dead but I am no longer convinced that the downfall of monarchy – unlike other institutions – is inevitable. This depresses me. Make no mistake, the British monarchy is a huge PR illusion. It is effectively a “consumer brand experience” designed to suppress the democratic judgment and will of real people – of citizens. It is little more than a selfish, financially-driven marketing machine, operated by a narrow, self-interested elite.
We have witnessed many memorable royal sound bites. Cast your minds back to the death of Diana. Among the bizarre over-reactions and curious outpourings of national “grief”, we were treated to Alastair and Tony’s “people’s princess”.
One week later, after her retreat to Balmoral, we heard Elizabeth’s “what I say to you now as your Queen and as a Grandmother, I say from my heart."
In his memoirs, Alastair Campbell describes this, somewhat immodestly, as a “game-changer” that on his intervention “saved” the monarchy from collapse. Such was the power of great PR. But think about how much the world has changed in two decades since Diana’s death.
PR is one among many disrupted industries – no different from taxis and travel, publishing and porn. It no longer works as it once did. This spells trouble for any institution – monarchy included – that tries to deceive, spin or manage the message.
In an age of activism and networks, crumbling hierarchies and tired elites are unlikely to survive. But – and herein lies one of many contradictions – we also live in times of Open Tribes and Adaptive Change. The monarchy has been very good at adaptation and re-invention for several centuries now. The re-branding of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha to Windsor is just one example.
I have been a committed republican since childhood. I have always believed in an elected head of state and I have long wanted to end the anachronism of monarchy. Monarchy suppresses democracy, undermines a flourishing citizenship and impedes economic progress. But my personal passion points are not important. I would like to take a more analytical view.
In theory, the collapse of monarchy should only be a matter of time. It should be the case that republicans simply need to ride the power shifts already underway. This could even be the most practical and painless path to pursue – to wait, as the “new normal” takes hold, rather than actively agitating for the removal of Elizabeth, the de-fenestration of Charles, or the political emasculation of William.
Many commentators, myself included, talk about this “new” normal. There’s no point fighting change, even if you are the establishment. PR – and its attempt to control everything – no longer works in the new normal. PR will not save you. This is one of the reasons I quit my job as EMEA CEO of the world’s largest Public Relations firm. I no longer believed in what we were doing, still less on what we insisted on selling to clients. The new normal is one where the future is negotiated, not imposed.
The monarchy, like medieval tithes or Sharia law, is without doubt an imposition. There is no open, consultative, or democratic process. Ed Miliband’s calls, prior to the last General Election, for a constitutional convention were lukewarm and underwhelming. The new normal welcomes a plurality of voices. I like to call them “citizen crowds.” Yet, with the exception of a cursory glance at the Daily Mail headlines, the monarchy listens not to the many, but to the few. The very few. They are truly the 0.1%.
Last year, Charles upset a relatively long period of accident-free communications with his comparisons of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Adolf Hitler. Charles’ Canadian moment – spoken privately to an elderly pensioner and quoted publicly by a media bystander – illustrated the very point that it is now impossible to control or “manage the message”. It also demonstrated how the end of the age of deference is really upon us.
This was not Charles’ first “moment”, of course. With his political speeches and spidery memos, he increasingly behaves like a social activist, rather than a regal diplomat. Curiously and maybe unintentionally, that puts Charles more in tune with the real world, which, like you and me, sees through the obvious veneer of “spin” and demands a return to honesty from those in positions of leadership and responsibility.
Much of my work over the past decade has focused on the relationship between communications, leadership and trust. No talk on how or who we can trust should fail to mention recent events at Volkswagen. Martin Winterkorn, former VW CEO, is the latest entrant into the ever-expanding Trust Hall of Shame. He joins a global cast from WorldCom to Enron, RBS, BP and Toshiba. Maybe even “Prince” Andrew, too.
The cost of VW’s criminal breach of trust is incalculable. It will exceed $20 billion – set aside for fines and claims – and up to 40% of the value of the stock price before the truth was told. VW thought it could beat the system on its own terms. It cheated and lied. Any organisation forgets the truth at its peril. Except, it would seem, the monarchy.
The UK royal family manipulates data, too. First, there is the issue of how much it all costs. The Royal Household says publicly that the annual cost of monarchy is about £42 million. But the estimated total annual cost is actually nearer £334 million – eight times the stated figure.
Second, the data surrounding Elizabeth’s personal wealth crosses some very blurred lines about what is “hers” and what belongs to us. Royal officials state repeatedly that "estimates of the Queen's wealth often mistakenly include items which are held by her as Sovereign on behalf of the nation and are not her private property" but, of course, they will not comment in detail on any of the royal family's assets.
A recent Wealth-X report revealed a number of huge investments. The Queen has around £362m in cash and a variety of assets, with £78m coming from Royal Mail stamps, plus her car, wine, art, and medal collections alone. She apparently has £121m in property, £90m in stocks and £109m in cash and other holdings.
Third, there is the truth/ facts/ data (call it what you will) about the involvement of members of the Windsor family – especially Charles – in national politics. They are famously a-political, are they not?
Since the 2010 election, Charles has had 47 meetings with Cabinet ministers and 21 with junior ministers – more than one a month. Tony Blair’s former Press Secretary noted: “the Prime Minister felt the heir to the throne overstepped the constitutional boundaries previously observed by the royal family by trying to influence government policy.”
If this is the age of transparency – as every politician trumpets – then we need to see what is going on. Minutes of meetings such as these must be published for all to see.
I have made up little white lies in my time. I am not proud of this now – but was back then. The fact that 8/10 women wear the wrong size bra started out life not as a properly researched statistic, but instead as a piece of PR fluff.
Lingerie was my thing. I went on to launch the infamous Wonderbra and the claim, often repeated, that Eva Herizigova’s “Hello Boys” image caused cars to crash. Actually, it didn’t. We made that up.
For me, the monarchy’s spin and deceit and its manipulation of data, lies somewhere between the playful innocence of Wonderbra and the criminal scale of Volkswagen. How can Britain trust them?
You shouldn’t trust me, of course. I used to work in PR. I’m a “repentant spinner”, according to Management Today. For decades, Public Relations has been part of the trust problem. It is not part of the trust solution.
PR – often with lawyers alongside it – has been used, time and again, to prop up bad business, bad politics and bad institutions. In my book, I call for an end to monarchy. I would do this over the next decade, pivoting with the death of Elizabeth.
I would expose the madness one bit at a time.
Change the iconography on bank notes and coins
Change the national anthem
Dis-establish the Church of England
Abolish ridiculous royal privileges and all manifestations of an elitist state
Stop calling us subjects and respect us instead as citizens
Some of our most “respected” and “loved” institutions – perhaps fearful of their own impending implosion – reinforce the malignant status quo. Consider the collusion between the monarchy and the BBC, whose royal reporter, Nicholas Witchell, Charles famously described as “that awful man.”
Check out the truth:
- Duchy of Cornwall accused of tax avoidance
Covered by: The Guardian, The Independent, The Daily Mail, Financial Times, The Daily Express
BBC coverage: none
- Royal finances to be investigated by public accounts committee
Covered by: The Independent, The Daily Mail, The Telegraph, The Sunday Express
- Prince Charles uses intestate cash to fund own lobby groups and old public school
Covered by: The Guardian, The Times, The Daily Mail, The Daily Express
But there is always room for the trivial:
Charles and Camilla take Tube ride
Prince Charles: 'I'm feeling very old' … urges 'harmony with nature'
Royal baby prompts green concern for Prince Charles
Prince Charles calls for more compassion in NHS
Prince Charles revives horse logging on Balmoral estate
Prince Charles 'worried' for rural communities
Prince Charles visits community shop, Northampton shoe or Middleport pottery factory
To quote Republic’s Graham Smith: "If the BBC has the time and resources to report that Prince Andrew uses an iPad, then it can report on controversies surrounding the royal finances or Prince Charles's political meddling."
Except, it doesn’t.
The BBC opts for wilful blindness instead. It is a complicit partner to the royal PR machine. It is part of its own PR play with the state – behaving not unlike Pravda in the Soviet era.
In my book, I challenge former BBC Economics Editor Robert Peston on his tiresome 1980s view of the Public Relations industry and his public defence of the BBC and its quality journalism.
For me, Peston protecting the BBC is not very different from a black-cab driver ranting about the disruption that Uber is wreaking. Peston presents a powerful symbolism of old media, old times and old institutions. Everyone is due their Uber moment.
Until this summer, Tom Fletcher was Britain’s Ambassador to Lebanon. Tom draws parallels between the world of diplomacy, the world of PR and the fragility of institutions today. If PR is dead, then diplomacy is certainly dead, too.
He writes: “Diplomacy has detached itself from public debate through meaningless platitudes; much of its form (summits, communiqués) was designed in 1815 for an age of monarchies and great states; it has been slow to adjust to the next wave of disruption. Let’s be honest, post Snowden and Assange, we are now less trusted than we were.”
Tom continues: “We need to embrace a more activist, insurgent, citizen-style of diplomacy if we are to survive”
This is how the Foreign & Commonwealth Office – another pillar of the British establishment – increasingly thinks and behaves. But most leaders don’t think in terms of insurgency or activism. Instead, they impose managerial hierarchies and attempt to command and control. They communicate through the equivalent of summits and communiqués – and spew the meaningless platitudes to which Tom refers. Mid- to long-term, this is not sustainable.
Meaningless platitudes will be ruthlessly exposed. Hierarchical institutions like monarchies can only fail in a networked society, especially if PR is the mainstay of what sustains them. But again we find contradictions.
56% of those surveyed back in September agreed that the monarchy is an elitist institution. But 65% still felt that it still has a place in modern Britain. On many metrics – from “uniting Britain” to economic benefits – the monarchy defies logic and statistics. The century-long legacy of a full-frontal and permanent PR assault will linger for some time yet.
These contradictions fascinate me. This is, after all, the age of Edward Snowden, not Edward Windsor. Edward Snowden symbolises the new normal. Snowden teaches us that we need a radical re-think in how organisations communicate and, more importantly, how they behave.
In contrast, modern Public Relations – according to popular legend – was the brainchild of Edward Bernays, Sigmund Freud’s nephew. He created PR in the United States a century ago as a means of control over the masses, whose judgment he did not trust. Bernays’ legacy is another reason why “old normal” PR no longer works. No-one is in control. Anyone who thinks they are – and can impose, rather than negotiate trusted relationships – is living in the wrong century.
Consider also the mega-trend of individual empowerment. This is the power shift from state to citizen; employer to employee; corporation to citizen-consumer. It is fuelled and accelerated by technology, costless communications and the rise of networks. It’s why all so many old institutions like the BBC – from the UN to the EU, trade associations, the medical profession, political parties and even global sports bodies – struggle to be as trusted as they once were. The result is chaos. Trusted leaders embrace chaos.
The new world is complex, too. Networks are inter-dependent and now global. We may trust others within our own networks but will not trust those who think they can impose external control. Trusted leaders understand complexity. I am not sure the Windsor family are great fans of either chaos or complexity.
Here’s a story from the world of business: Three years ago, I attended a session of the European Roundtable, talking trust with 44 of the 50 CEOs of the largest companies in Europe. At the end of my talk – titled “you are no longer in control” – there was silence. One of the CEOs then spoke. “What you do not understand”, he said, “is that people like me pay people like you to keep us in control”.
Before I could answer, another CEO jumped in: “You can pay Robert as much as you like, but the truth is we are no longer in control. The game is up”. If the control game is up for business leaders, why is it not up for monarchs, as well?
Many organisations use Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) to flaunt their values. The Chairman of one global brand, in the wake of a tragic factory fire in Dhaka, Bangladesh, asked not what they should be doing to help the families of victims, but instead how they should better showcase their CSR credentials, to distract from the issue at hand.
Bullshit CSR is not the answer to greater citizen trust. The monarchy deploys endless versions of its own CSR. Take, for example, the veneer of social commitment painted by William’s secondment to the Air Ambulance Service
How many days does William really work? Has anyone yet been rescued by the good prince? How does the offset work between his salary and the £4.5 million of public money paid to refurbish his London home or a further £1.5 million for his country house? Maybe stuff like this shouldn’t matter – but it does. For the record, William was available to work for 47 days last year.
Then there are the rather tenuous links between royal charitable fundraising and the actual costs of delivery.
Are struggling, worthy charities actually disadvantaged when funds are diverted to the causes favoured by royals?
Are we, the public, subsidising royals in their charity promotions?
One MP noted: “A visit of a minor royal to my constituency may have raised £1,000 in income but it cost the taxpayer more than £30,000 in policing and other security. The public stood nil-deep on the pavement. To avoid embarrassment, a group of schoolchildren were bussed in and given flags to provide a hollow ritual cheer.”
This is the way PR works and this is the social cost of “clever” PR. The old normal was very much about “what we say”. Now, it is what we DO that counts. Actions, not words.
In the new normal – as we see time and again from organisations with nonsense “mission statements” –there is no point adopting principles if you are not willing to implement different behaviours. It’s just PR nonsense or CSR bullshit. It has to be about what we do, not what we say.
The monarchy fails the “actions not words” test. Hypocrisy is laid bare. They say one thing and do another. Start with hunting. Endless killing trips for birds, boar and deer are offset with photo opportunities to save rhinos and tigers.
Then there are the frequent incidences of casual racism. Whether it is Charles getting his mate to defend him for calling him “Sooty” or Harry’s reference, exposed in the News of the World, to “our little Paki friend Ahmed.” Or Philip’s “they all look the same, don’t they?” question to Barack and Michelle Obama.
The royal spin machine is always there to tidy up the mess. PR is used, time and again, to prop up a dysfunctional family and – to quote Morrissey – “to impose a virtual emblem on our age”. We continue to be treated as subjects, not as citizens. Tom Fletcher’s evaporating age of monarchy and great states lingers still yet.
Back in the real world, management guru Charles Handy shares great statistics. 80% of employees within an organisation are not engaged – and don’t care. 25% of employees would actively sabotage the organisation for which they work. The revolution is underway in the places we work.
Technology, networks and activism are flattening old hierarchies and elites. Whistle-blowers, social media campaigns and citizen journalists will get you. The days of controlling anything, especially media, are receding fast. ‘People see what we see’. Everywhere we turn, resistance is increasingly futile. In an interconnected world, all of us are smarter than any one of us. Evidence suggests that organisations that embrace these beliefs will be more resilient, adaptive and creative.
The successful, more trustworthy organisations of the future are open, empathetic and relational. These are NOT behaviours the monarchy shows in abundance. One wonders what sorts of conversations are taking place “below stairs”, in the royal palaces?
At the heart of my work is a call for a new model of Public Leadership to replace the broken model of Public Relations. Public Leadership is activist, co-produced, citizen-centric and society-first.
The more trusted organisation of the future looks more like a social movement – a citizen movement – than a traditional hierarchy. Just as diplomats need to think like insurgents, so leaders need to think and behave like social activists.
Public Leadership recognises purpose at the heart of organisations. It stresses the importance of common good, as originally set out by Aristotle. Public Leadership is based on the simple principle of “doing the right thing” – for citizens, not subjects. Citizens understand what the common good really looks like.
The Public Leadership model is made accountable through Public Value. Every organisation, monarchy included while it lasts, should have its unique version – its own manifesto – because Public Value is better co-produced with wise crowds of citizens. This ensures its accountability to the many, not the few – the 99 per cent.
If we are to be properly accountable, then we need to take a more radical approach to honesty and transparency. The monarchy fails this test in spades. It is accountable to no-one – figures are dressed to impress; lawyers are used to suppress spidery memos and blatant lobbying; spin doctors continue to run riot with the truth. How is it possible for a non-accountable, contrary-to-common-good institution survive?
We know Jeremy Corbyn is a republican but I do not think he helps the campaign for an Elected Head of State. Jeremy serves as a warning that – even though change should be inevitable and immediate – the path towards an elected future will need to be carefully negotiated.
Aggressive disruptors – immediately dismissive of the social status quo – may hinder not help, especially in times of such economic and political anxiety and uncertainty. We are perhaps all more conservative than we would like to admit.
Even so, Corbyn has struck a political chord. Whatever you think of Jeremy, he (maybe inadvertently) demonstrates the principles of Public Leadership: activist, co-produced, citizen-centric and society-first. Corbyn’s Catch 22 is whether his own authenticity will be hisdownfall? His stance of Syria clearly exposes this.
Republicans can, however, take heart from the traumas of the Labour Party in recent months. The transition from Elizabeth to Charles may well be the equivalent of a royal Corbyn moment. Whatever happens, it is certainly time for a new national anthem – one that even Jeremy can sing.
I would like to dwell on the personal, as we think about that moment when the crown, blessed by a mythical god, passes from Elizabeth to Charles.
“The aim to have more trust is a stupid aim”, argues moral philosopher Onoora O’Neill. “Intelligently placed and intelligently refused trust should be the proper aim”.
Trustworthiness – better judgement – matters more to Onoora than trust. Better judgement is based on a combination of competence, honesty and reliability. Trustworthiness is personal and reciprocal. It is not for institutions to own. This is interesting for the future of monarchy and its possible “Corbyn moment.”
A very large percentage of current support and goodwill is for Elizabeth, more than the institution. It is highly personal. In our unpredictable world, there’s a good chance that 'trust' and goodwill will not be automatically transferred to Charles. Elizabeth has, according to prevailing mythology, earned her trust. None of the others have.
Reciprocal vulnerability makes accountability mutual – again not a current manifestation of monarchy. Organisations and institutions should be as exposed to their citizen stakeholders as those citizens have traditionally been to them. The genuinely trusted organisation accepts this and creates safe spaces in which dissenting voices are welcomed; where challenging conversations can flourish; and where there may be no single correct answer.
In these safe spaces, the leadership, metaphorically, stands naked before those it serves. This of course sets alarm bells ringing for PR traditionalists, who have always set out to know all the answers and ensure only happy endings. PR traditionalists, including, I am sure those in the Palace Press Office, don’t like naked leaders. And leaders – especially monarchs – don’t like standing naked anyway.
Look no further than a fly-on-the-wall TV series, created way back in 1969, that the Windsor family has long suppressed – a bit like that other film of Elisabeth and her mother giving Nazi salutes.
According to commentators, the documentary was buried because it showed real, fallible human beings – and did not support the image of royalty. Philip was apparently barbecuing a sausage. Elizabeth was making small talk with guests – telling US President Richard Nixon: "world problems are so complex, aren't they now?" Indeed they are.
Fallibility is normal. PR illusion is not.
What can Elizabeth learn from former Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, Margaret Hodge? Revolutionary approaches to the new normal are already underway in sectors we might least expect. The monarchy is slow to catch up. Tax, of all issues, is now being openly debated within crowds. There is now an open and public debate on responsible tax and the common good.
The project has brought together a coalition of global corporations, NGOs and activists. It has welcomed faith leaders and industry groups, regulators, administrators and government. Margaret Hodge – vocal critic of many global corporates – has been transparently involved.
In September, 120 stakeholders came together in the “Responsible Tax Big Tent”. This is a safe space that no-one actually controls – where everyone holds everyone else to account, however scary that may be for some taking part. Trustworthiness is better built by embracing vulnerability – and by being honest and transparent, together. No-one can learn if they don’t listen.
Could this also be a new model for a different type of constitutional convention and/ or people’s parliaments up and down the land?
Members of the Windsor family can learn a great deal from Margaret Hodge. As she noted in a PAC report: “the Duchy (of Cornwall) enjoys an exemption from paying tax even though it engages
in a range of commercial activities. This tax exemption may give it an unfair advantage over its competitors who do pay corporation and capital gains tax.”
In that particular case – at least £18 million in revenues and NO corporation tax –
the Duchy is no different to Starbucks, who so many revile.
As part of my work on tax, I was privileged to meet Rowan Williams. The former Archbishop of Canterbury spoke wisely about apology. “We’re all familiar with how we feel”, he remarked, “when someone says only ‘I’m sorry that you feel like that’, rather than apologising outright”.
We all know what he means. Sometimes, only a proper “sorry” will do. When it comes to how organisations can demonstrate honesty and genuinely earn trust - the ability to say a “proper sorry” is possibly the most important point of all.
We all no doubt have our favourite apologies that we want to hear from the Windsors. Saying sorry for aggressive tax avoidance schemes. Saying a proper sorry for making Nazi salutes. For deliberately burying films from public view. Saying sorry for consistently making casually racist or sexist comments from a position of complacent power. Saying sorry for flirting with a fake sheikh – or with real sheikhs for arms deals, for that matter. When did we last hear them say a proper sorry?
If I was advising the Windsor family – which, for the record, I have absolutely no intention of doing – there are better communications strategies they should adopt, rather than their current “old normal” PR.
We have already looked at several closely:
Accept chaos as reality
Radicalise honesty & transparency
Build coalitions – even unexpected ones
Love the citizen crowd
Communicate through actions, not words
Of course, the Windsors and their advisors will adopt none of these.
Future institutions need to be social in all dimensions, harnessing the energy of networks. This runs to the heart of how they should operate – a far-flung distance from the hierarchies that we see everyday. It would certainly take more than a single royal campaign on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. Clever hashtags aren’t enough.
Elizabeth (@BritishMonarchy) is on Twitter but this is really not the answer. We are fed bits and pieces from her day-to-day activities – but essentially they are shouted at us in old press release form. Again, we don’t hear from the person as a human being, just from the construct of monarchy. Such is the continued arrogance of elites.
It’s a bit of a cliché, but every organisation can be a media company now, even the royal family. Technology has blown away the imperialism of old media. We see examples everywhere – from consumer brands like Red Bull to more corporate institutions like HSBC or GE. They have their own digital newsrooms, You Tube channels and TV shows.
I am sure Edward would be more than happy to launch Windsor TV. It would give him something to do. We should welcome it. The infamous Royal “It’s a Knockout” was, for many, a watershed for the monarchy. It was one of many days when “royalty finally lost the plot.”
Many still believe that Kate Middleton is the best PR the royal family could ask for.
Washington Post writer Autumn Brewington notes: “Her appealing image as an ordinary woman who happened to marry a handsome prince has inspired an illusory sense of pride that the couple have leveled social distinctions in a historically class-conscious society”.
Illusory indeed. Pure, old-fashioned PR. Social distinctions have most certainly not been leveled. This “ordinary” image is ruthlessly enforced – buying “High Street” clothes and, shock-horror, even wearing the same outfit twice. But this is not real-life. This is illusory life. This is pure PR. It is all so carefully managed.
We should not ignore the Kate factor. Kate helped increase the share of Britons who thought the monarchy would be around in 50 years rise to 56%. Is Kate really the secret weapon of a doomed institution? Possibly, “yes”.
Yet British women – so polls tell us – don't actually want to be Kate. A staggering 89% of women have no interest in being Kate, even for a single day. So – according to one commentator – the royal PR machine creates the illusion of a woman to whom the British public no longer attach themselves emotionally. They are not psychologically invested in her life; they do not project their own identities onto her; she is not a repository for the nation’s sense of itself, nor of its beliefs.
If, in the real world, we want to address the crisis of leadership and trust and move happily – or unhappily – into the new normal, the answer certainly does not lie with PR as many still practice: active deceit, managing messages, spinning furiously. Except for the royal family – at least, for now.
Earning genuine trust demands we stand naked. Reciprocal vulnerability. Real public leadership. Citizens first. Genuine accountability. Except for the royal family – at least for now.
Making the right decisions and doing the right thing have never been more important than the “who do we fuck today?” mentality we see from certain politicians, CEOs, industries and institutions. Except for the royal family – at least for now.
In good theory, the Windsor’s downfall should be imminent. But my sense is that we are some way off yet. The campaign for an elected Head of State may need to exercise active patience. It needs to be more interventionist, more activist and more asymmetrical, for sure. It needs to do more than simply bide its time, waiting for the inevitable. But it may need to reluctantly accept the institution, short-term – while fighting hard against the silent authority it wields. The monarchy’s Corbyn moment will inevitably come. I am sure of that.
The Windsor family represents a huge contradiction in a messy and uncertain world. The Wall Street Journal’s Peggy Noonan, after the death of Osama bin Laden, wrote: “Here is the fact of the age. People believe nothing. They believe everything is spin and lies. When people believe nothing, they believe everything.”
So much about Britain’s royal family is spin and lies. We, the people, believe nothing but seemingly allow ourselves to believe everything meanwhile. We need to confront this and other contradictions, if we are to flourish as British citizens. Timing is everything.
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Single Judge Application; aggravation; § 3.310(b); “the ‘permanent worsening’ standard has no application in cases involving an incremental increase in disability of a non-service-connected condition proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury.” Ward, __ Vet.App. at __, 2019 WL 2491552,at *6;
Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: at *6; — veteranclaims @ 4:30 pm
Excerpt from decision below:
“The appellant’s arguments regarding the proper standard for determining whether a service-connected condition “aggravated” a non-service-connected condition under § 3.310(b) is a legal question, which the Court recently answered in Ward.In that case, the Court unequivocally held that “the ‘permanent worsening’ standard has no application in cases involving an incremental increase in disability of a non-service-connected condition proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury.” Ward, __ Vet.App. at __, 2019 WL 2491552,at *6.The Court concluded instead that “compensation was due for any incremental increase in disability. .. in non-service-connected disabilities resulting from service-connected conditions, above the degree of disability existing before the increase—regardless of its permanence.” Id.at *5.Here, the Board relied primarily on the June 2015 VA addendum opinion to find that the appellant’s low back disability was not aggravated by his service-connected left ankle disability. See R. at 9. In so doing, the Board itself relied on the more stringent “permanently worsened” standard of aggravation. R. at 9 (“Chronic aggravation is defined as a permanent worsening of a nonservice-connected disability not otherwise attributable to the natural disease process.”).
Designated for electronic publication only
UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR VETERANS CLAIMS
ANDREW L.MARSHALL,APPELLANT,
ROBERT L.WILKIE,SECRETARY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS,APPELLEE.
Before MEREDITH, Judge.
MEMORANDUMDECISION
Note: Pursuant to U.S. Vet. App. R. 30(a),this action may not be cited as precedent.
MEREDITH, Judge: The appellant, Andrew L. Marshall, through counsel appeals a November 30, 2016, Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) decision that denied entitlement to benefits for a back disorder, including as secondary to a service-connected left ankle disability.Record (R.) at 1-12. On January 25, 2018, the Court stayed proceedings in this matter pending the resolution of Ward v. Wilkie, No. 16-2157, by a panel of the Court. The Court issued its decision in Ward on June 14, 2019. Ward v. Wilkie, __ Vet.App. __, U.S. Vet. App. No. 16-2157, 2019 WL 2491552(June 14, 2019). On June 19, 2019, the appellant filed an opposed motion to lift the stay; the same day, the Secretary filed his opposition, noting that the time to seek reconsideration of or to appeal the Court’s decision in Ward had not expired. The Court will grant the appellant’s motion, lift the stay of proceedings,and consider the merits of this appeal.This appeal is timely, and the Court has jurisdiction to review the Board’s decision pursuant to 38 U.S.C. §§7252(a) and 7266(a). Single-judge disposition is appropriate. See Frankel v. Derwinski, 1Vet.App. 23, 25-26 (1990).For the following reasons, the Court will vacate the Board’s decision and remand the matter for further proceedings consistent with this decision. 2I.
BACKGROUNDThe appellant served on active duty in the U.S.Navy from November 1968 to August 1970. R. at 1777. His service medical records reveal that he injured his left ankle in October 1969 while playing football. R. at 1824. In April 1970, hewas treated for a contusion of the right foot. R. at 1827. His July 1970 separation examination reveals that his feet, lower extremities, and spine were evaluated as “[n]ormal.” R. at 1831.In September 1978, the appellant filed a claim for benefits for a “[b]roken [a]nkle and [i]njury to [f]oot.” R. at 1814. In January 1979, a VA regional office (RO) granted hisclaim for benefits for residuals of a left ankle fracture and assigned a noncompensable disability rating. R.at 1784. The RO did not address entitlement to benefits for a foot injury. See id.The appellant did not appeal that decision, and it became final. The record contains aDecember 2005report of a private orthopedist. The orthopedist stated that the appellant had sought treatment from him for “pain, swelling[,]and stiffness[,] as well as weakness in his left ankle,” which the appellant reported he had experienced for “a long time” but which had worsened over the previous several months. R. at 1332. The orthopedist recorded the appellant’s reports that standing and walking made his symptoms worse, that the pain caused him to start limping, and that the pain had begun to radiate to his hip. Id.At a December 2005 VA joints examination, the examiner acknowledged the appellant’s in-service ankle injury but found that his complaints and physical examination”point[ed]more to plantar fasciitis, pes planus Grade-II with pronation” than to any residual of the in-service injury. R. at 1740. In September 2007, the appellant advised VA that he had begun using an ankle brace and orthotics to treat his ankle condition and that his physician had ordered a magnetic resonance image (MRI) to evaluate his back because of his limp. R. at 1579. In October 2007, headvised VA of the medications he was taking to treat his service-connected ankle condition. R. at 1553. The appellant submitted a statement in support of his claimin February 2008in which he reported that he was experiencing pain, swelling, and stiffness in his left ankle. R. at 1433. He reported that the pain had begun to go up his left leg and into his left hip.Id.He further stated that he was experiencing increased back pain and pain in both legs and feet. Id.Hehad been directed to wear a “short leg walker boot” on his left foot, use crutches to avoid bearing weight on the left foot, and stop working. R. at 1433-34. 3Six months later, the RO denied the appellant’s claim for benefits for a back condition, finding that there was noevidence that the condition was related to service or to hisservice-connected left ankle disability. R. at 1277. The appellant filed a Notice of Disagreement with that decision, R. at 1132, and ultimately appealed to the Board, R. at 1031.At a September 2011hearing before a Board member, the appellant testified that his personal physician had told him that his gait was “off”because he favored his left ankle, which put more pressure on his “knee and right foot.” R. at 892. The appellant’s wife testified that she attended that appointment and heard the doctor tell the appellant that, “when he walks[,] because of the severe pain in his left ankle[,] he’s putting all the pressure on his right side and that’s making his right knee hurt and also that’s throwing his back out because his gait is off.” R. at 893. Shortly after the hearing, the Board remandedthe appellant’s claim for benefits for a back disability for further development, including a medical examination to assess whether hiscondition was at least as likely as not secondary to his service-connected left ankle disorder. R. at 862.Specifically, the Board directed:Provide a diagnosis with regard to all current disabilities manifested by pain involving the lower back[, t]hen indicate whether the diagnosed condition(s) is/are at least as likely as not secondarily related to the [appellant’s] service-connected left ankle disorder. The VA examiner should consider whether the left ankle disorder was the initial cause of the diagnosed back condition(s), as well as whether the left ankle disorder has chronically aggravated the diagnosed condition(s). The examiner should consider the theory of whether the [appellant] has an altered gait due to his left ankle condition which brought upon the back problems. (Chronic aggravation for this purpose is defined as a permanent worsening of the nonservice connected disability not otherwise attributable to the natural disease process).Id.(emphasis added).The appellant underwent a VA “Back (Thoracolumbar Spine) Conditions” examinationin February 2012. R. at 367-76. The examiner diagnosed degenerative disc disease with foraminal and canal stenosis. R. at 367. The examiner recorded the appellant’s report that he started to notice low back pain in 2000 while working at a distribution centerand that the pain had increased in the years since. Id.The appellant stated that his back pain did not affect his daily activities, although his wife sometimes assistedhim in dressing. R. at 368. The examiner noted that the appellant used a walker and that his ability to stand was limited to one hour. Id.; seeR. at 374. The appellant reported that hegenerally experiencedfoot and knee pain before the back pain beganand that he experiencedpain that radiates down his left leg. R. at 368. After range of motion testing, the 4examiner noted that the appellant experienced functional loss or impairment in the nature of less movement than normal;pain on movement;and interference with sitting, standing, or weight-bearing. R. at 370. The examinernoted that imaging studies of the spine revealed arthritis. R. at 375. The examiner opined that the appellant’s low back disability was not directly related to military service and was not secondary to the service-connected left ankle condition.R. at 376.The examiner explained:There is nothing in the currently accepted, peer reviewed, credible, and authoritative orthopedic lit[e]rature demonstrating that in[]trinsic conditions of an ankle (including a healed non[]displaced fracture in the remote past) with or without altered gait will cause intrinsic conditions of the spine. It is this examiner’s opinion that the [appellant’s] current spine condition is not secondary to the service[-]connected healed left ankle fracture.Id. In December 2012, the Boarddeniedthe appellant’s claim for benefits for a low back disability secondary to hisservice-connectedleft ankle disorder. R. at 652-96. The appellant appealedthat decision to the Court, which granted the parties’ joint motion for remandin September 2013. R. at 598-605. In the joint motion, the parties agreed that the February 2012 VA examination “was inadequate in its discussion of aggravation.” R. at 600. Accordingly, the parties agreed that a new examination was necessary. R. at 603.The appellant underwent aVA back conditions examinationin May 2014. R. at 184-93.The examiner diagnosed lumbar degenerative disease with bilateral radiculopathy. R. at 185. The appellant reported the onset of back pain 10 to 15 years earlier whilehe wasworking in a warehouse. Id.He complained of bilateral lumbar pain that was worse with standing, walking, bending, or lifting, along with bilateral radiating pain to the buttocks, thighs, and knees. R. at 186. After range of motion testing, the examiner determined that the appellant experienced functional loss or impairment in the nature of less movement than normal;pain on movement;disturbance of locomotion;and interference with sitting, standing, and weight-bearing. R. at 188. The examiner also noted the appellant’s “constant” use of a wheelchair. R. at 191. The examiner indicated that x-rays revealed arthritis and that an MRI revealed degenerative disc disease and degenerative joint disease. R. at 191-92. Finally, the examiner found that the appellant’s low back disability was not relatedto his service-connected left ankle disability. Id.He explained:I know of no medical authority or peer reviewed medical literature which supports the contention that lumbar degenerative disease can be caused by or aggr[a]vated 5by a remote healed fracture of the ankle with residual osteoarthritis. Antalgic gait has never been shown medically to be causative to or aggra[]vate lumbar degenerative disease. Lumbar degenerative disease is the result of chronic weight bearing on the lumbar disc mechanism over extended time and is caused by gravitational effects[, ]not by variations in gait. The [appellant’s] current lumbar degenerative disease is no worse tha[n] anticipated based on age alone.Id.Nearly a year later,the Board again remanded the appellant’s claim, finding that the May 2014 VA examinerdid not address the appellant’s contentions that his service-connected left ankle disability aggravates his low back condition. R. at 84. Accordingly, the Board orderedeither an addendum opinion from the May 2014 examiner or a new examination that specifically addressed “whether it is at least as likely as not (50[%] or greater likelihood) that the [appellant’s] back disability is aggravated (permanently worsened) by his service-connected left ankle disability.” R.at 85(emphasis added). The Board directed the examiner to consider “a) the [appellant’s] report that pain from his left ankle goes up his leg into his back; [and] b) the testimony at the September 2011 hearing that the [appellant] has thrown his back out because of his altered gait.” Id.In June 2015,the May 2014 VA examiner provided an addendum opinion based on a records review. R. at 79-80. Heagain concluded that it was not at least as likely as not that the appellant’s current low back disability “was caused by, aggr[a]vated by[,]or the result of” the appellant’s service-connected left ankle condition. R. at 80. Heprovided the following rationale:See previous rationale dated 21 May 2014. The [appellant’s]left [lower extremity] radiated symptoms, pain[,] and paresthesias are the result of his lumbar radiculopathy. Localized ankle conditions do not cause retrograde transmission of pain up to the back. This pain is the result of nerve root irritation by the [appellant’s] lumbar degenerative disease. Altered gait has never been shown to aggravate or cause lumbar degenerative disease. Lumbar degenerative disease is caused bychronic weight bearing on the lumbar disc mechanism over a lifetime. “Throwing out” one’s back does not causelumbar degenerative disease. The [appellant]clearly engaged in manual labor over the 30 years following discharge from service and was able to tolerate the work. [He] reportsthe onset of lumbar symptoms starting 30 years after discharge from service. Normal age[-]related lumbar degenerative disease is generally found on x[-]ray imaging by age 40 years, and progresses thereafter. I find no medical evidence that the [appellant’s] current lumbar condition was aggravated by his service[-]connected left ankle injury.Id.(emphases added).In November 2016, the Board issued the decision on appeal, denyingthe appellantentitlement to benefits for a low back disability, including assecondary to a service-connected left
ankle disability. The Board found that the December 2005 and February 2012VA medical opinions related the appellant’s back pain to his foot disabilities, for which he is not serviceconnected. R. at 9-10. The Board also determined that the June 2015 VA addendum provided “a reasoned medical opinion” that the appellant’s low back disability “was not caused by or chronically aggravated beyond its natural progression” by his left ankle disability. R. at 9. The Board further explained that “[c]hronic aggravation is defined as a permanent worsening of a nonservice-connected disability not otherwise attributable to the natural disease process.” Id.This appeal followed.II.
On appeal, the appellant argues that the Board erred in finding the June 2015 VA opinion adequate. Appellant’s Brief (Br.) at 7-20. More specifically, the appellant contends that the examiner, as directed by the Board in its prior remand, used an improper legal standard for aggravation—permanent worsening—in reaching the conclusion that his back disability was not aggravated by his service-connected left ankle disability. Id.at 7-16. The appellant also asserts that, even assuming the aggravation standard was not improper,the opinion does not adequately address the issue of aggravation because the examiner focused on causation. Id.at 16-20. The Secretary disputes these arguments and urges the Court to find no clear error in the Board’s determination that the June 2015 VA medical opinion was adequate. Secretary’s Br. at 9-25.”[O]nce the Secretary undertakes the effort to provide an examination [or opinion] when developing a service-connection claim, … he must provide an adequate one.” Barr v. Nicholson, 21Vet.App. 303, 311 (2007). A medical examination or opinion is adequate “where it is based upon consideration of the veteran’s prior medical history and examinations,” Stefl v. Nicholson, 21Vet.App. 120, 123 (2007), “describes the disability, if any, in sufficient detail so that the Board’s ‘evaluation of the claimed disability will be a fully informed one,'” id. (quoting Ardison v. Brown, 6Vet.App. 405, 407 (1994)) (internal quotation marks omitted), and “sufficiently inform[s] the Board of a medical expert’s judgment on amedical question and the essential rationale for that opinion,” Monzingo v. Shinseki, 26 Vet.App. 97, 105 (2012) (per curiam). The law does not impose any reasons-or-bases requirements on medical examiners and the adequacy of medical reports must be based upon a reading of the report as a whole.Id. at 105-06.
Establishing that a disability is service connected for purposes of entitlement to VA disability compensation generally requires medical or, in certain circumstances, lay evidence of (1) a current disability, (2) incurrence or aggravation of a disease or injury in service, and (3) a nexus between the claimed in-service injury or disease and the current disability. See 38 U.S.C. §1110; Shedden v. Principi, 381 F.3d 1163, 1166-67 (Fed. Cir. 2004); see also Davidson v. Shinseki, 581 F.3d 1313, 1316 (Fed. Cir. 2009); 38 C.F.R. § 3.303 (2018). Service connection may be established on a secondary basis for a current disability that is either proximately caused by or aggravated by a service-connected disability.See Allen v. Brown, 7 Vet.App. 439, 448 (1995) (en banc); 38 C.F.R. § 3.310(a), (b) (2018).Section 3.310(b), which pertains to aggravation of non-service-connected disabilities, provides: “Any increase in severity of a nonservice-connected disease or injury that is proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury, and not due to the natural progress of the non-service-connected disease, will be service connected.” 38 C.F.R. § 3.310(b)(emphasis added). The questions of whether a medical examination or opinion is adequate and whether service connection is warranted are findings of fact that the Court reviews under the “clearly erroneous” standard of review.D’Aries v. Peake, 22 Vet.App. 97, 104 (2008) (per curiam); Russo v. Brown, 9 Vet.App. 46, 50 (1996). The appellant’s arguments regarding the proper standard for determining whether a service-connected condition “aggravated” a non-service-connected condition under § 3.310(b) is a legal question, which the Court recently answered in Ward.In that case, the Court unequivocally held that “the ‘permanent worsening’ standard has no application in cases involving an incremental increase in disability of a non-service-connected condition proximately due to or the result of a service-connected disease or injury.” Ward, __ Vet.App. at __, 2019 WL 2491552,at *6.The Court concluded instead that “compensation was due for any incremental increase in disability. .. in non-service-connected disabilities resulting from service-connected conditions, above the degree of disability existing before the increase—regardless of its permanence.” Id.at *5.Here, the Board relied primarily on the June 2015 VA addendum opinion to find that the appellant’s low back disability was not aggravated by his service-connected left ankle disability. See R. at 9. In so doing, the Board itself relied on the more stringent “permanently worsened” standard of aggravation. R. at 9(“Chronic aggravation is defined as a permanent worsening of a nonservice-connected disability not otherwise attributable to the natural disease process.”).The
Secretary asserts that the June 2015 VA examiner found no worsening of the appellant’s disability, permanent or otherwise,and therefore any error in the Board’s definition of the aggravation standard is harmless. Secretary’s Br. at 10-12. It is not possible to say, however,whether the Board would have viewed the medical evidence differently had it used the proper legal definition of aggravation under §3.310(b). Accordingly, the Court finds the Board’s error in this matter prejudicial. See Arneson v. Shinseki, 24 Vet.App. 379, 389 (2011) (finding prejudice when an error “could have altered” the Board’s determination). Remand is thus warranted for VA to readjudicate the matter using the appropriate legal standard. On remand, the appellant is free to submit additional evidence and argument on the remanded matter, including the specific arguments raised here on appeal, and the Board is required to consider any such relevant evidence and argument. See Kay v. Principi, 16 Vet.App. 529, 534 (2002) (stating that, on remand, the Board must consider additional evidence and argument in assessing entitlement to the benefit sought); Kutscherousky v. West, 12 Vet.App. 369, 372-73 (1999) (per curiam order). The Court reminds the Board that “[a] remand is meant to entail a critical examination of the justification for the decision,” Fletcher v. Derwinski, 1 Vet.App. 394, 397 (1991), and the Board must proceed expeditiously, in accordance with 38U.S.C. §7112.III.
The appellant’s motion to lift the stay of proceedings in this matter is granted. After consideration of the parties’ pleadings and areview of the record, the Board’s November 30, 2016, decision is VACATED and the matter is REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this decision.DATED: June28,2019Copies to: Linden K. Nash, Esq.VA General Counsel (027)
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By admin | 1:10 pm on November 24, 2008
New Research Universities' Council Announced
The Presidents of the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University, the University of Victoria and the University of Northern British Columbia are pleased to announce the formation of the Research Universities’ Council of BC. RUCBC will provide a coordinated approach to the development of relevant public policy related to current and future issues facing the four research-intensive universities in British Columbia.
“The BC post-secondary system has undergone fundamental change over the last decade and as a result we think it is important that the issues facing our four research-intensive institutions be coordinated and thoughtfully considered.” said Council Chair and UBC President and Vice Chancellor Stephen Toope. “RUCBC will seek to enhance our capacity for excellence in research, expand opportunities for graduate students and improve the undergraduate teaching and learning experience. All are critical to the future sustainability of the BC economy.”
Don Avison has been appointed president of the Research Universities’ Council effective November 15th, 2008. “This is an exciting opportunity,” said Avison. “The four research-intensive universities in British Columbia are consistently recognized as national leaders and we look forward to building on those strengths.”
The Research Universities’ Council will also continue to work closely with other post-secondary institutions and in partnership with the Government of British Columbia in pursuit of enhanced opportunities for our students and a continuing commitment to excellence. According to Avison, “we all share the goal of building a stronger future for British Columbia.”
The Research Universities’ Council of British Columbia
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“The Evidence is Clear” by Ed Broadbent and Hugh Segal
A socialist and a conservative finally agree on something in this brief Globe and Mail article : our ancient voting system now has problems and needs modernizing. One criticism: while it’s often said, and repeated here by these famous and generally well-informed men, that first-past-the-post worked fine when there were only two political parties, and indeed it’s not so bad when there are only two, it actually caused an uproar due to regional misrepresentation in the very first election after Confederation – a weakness it’s always and still prone to, even with just TWO parties, in Canada and in every province.
It’s worrisome that the Comments on this article by readers at the Globe and Mail contain so many Trump-like ignorant fabrications about proportional representation. Democracy’s weak point is that it depends on an informed and honest discourse to dominate; it can only withstand FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt sown by competitors) up to a certain point.
Example: pro rep worked better than first-past-the-post would have done, to keep Adolph Hitler from getting total power legally, so finally he had to seize it by force. This is an example illustrating why pro rep is safer, the very same way that it will, if enacted, reduce our exposure to arrogant premiers making foolish and arrogant unilateral decisions (as history has so often seen that we now have the expression ‘total power totally corrupts’). Yet the enemies of pro rep, who callously want to preserve their party’s chances of winning total power with less than half the vote (called a false majority) continue to cite Hitler as an example of pro rep gone wrong – a simple but effective Trump-level lie.
VotingBC offers engaging and honest snippets on the battle for democracy in BC, mostly in graphic images and videos generously produced by others. If you’re a British Columbian, please make sure to vote in the current 2018 BC Referendum on Electoral Reform. Thank you!
Maxwell Anderson, Chair, VotingBC
B.C. Legislature
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“The Community Vegetable Garden”
Our old voting system: FPTP
Modern voting method: Pro Rep
One Pro Rep system: Dual Member Proportional
The theme with DMP is simplicity. Same, simple ballot we currently use. It uses two-member districts just like those that were used in parts of BC until 1991, but with an updated way for Elections BC to count the ballots so that more voters get at least one MLA they like. Some people describe it as a simple version of voting systems used in many countries, such as List PR or the next voting system:
Another Pro Rep system: Mixed Member Proportional
MMP is a little more complicated than the system above: You have to vote twice, once for a local candidate, and again for your favourite regional candidate. It’s been used for 69 years in Germany, 22 years in New Zealand, and a number of years in Scotland, Wales, and other countries, where people are generally happy with it.
A third Pro Rep system: Rural-Urban Proportional
Rural-Urban Proportional uses two common and successful voting systems, one for the rural areas and one for the urban areas. It’s similar to voting in the northern European countries, and a version was used for decades on the Canadian prairies. It’s considered the most made-in-BC plan; rural voters would use MMP (see above), while if you live in an urban area you could rank as many or as few candidates as you want.
The Sightline Institute has kindly provided the above illustrations by François Vigneault, of our current voting system “First-Past-The-Post” (FPTP); the alternative arrangement “Proportional Representation” (Pro Rep or PR); and the three types of Pro Rep to choose from in the 2018 BC Referendum on Electoral Reform: Dual Member Proportional (DMP), Mixed Member Proportional (MMP), and Rural-Urban Proportional (RUP). Further explanations of the analogy to go along with the illustrations are provided at 5 pictures to explain the voter referendum in British Columbia by Kristin Eberhard (Oct. 1, 2018).
Home (Highlights) | Quick Guide to Voting | Voting Systems as Gardening | Pro Rep vs FPTP: Intro. | 17 Benefits of First-Past-The-Post | Economy, Stability, etc. | Voter Turnout | Simpler Voting | Better Politicians?! | True Majority Rule | Regional Representation | Questions and Answers | VIDEOS | About VotingBC
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