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The disruption caused to Dublin city centre by Luas works is necessary and will be worthwhile in the long run, according to Dublin City Council's Chief Executive Owen Keegan. The disruption caused to Dublin city centre by Luas works is necessary and will be worthwhile in the long run, according to Dublin City Council's Chief Executive Owen Keegan. Mr Keegan was responding to criticism that the Luas works are "causing chaos" and could be carried out in a manner that is less disruptive to pedestrians and motorists. The city council boss has also been accused of trying to remove all cars from the city centre. While he accepted the original proposal to ban all cars from Eden Quay was "probably a step too far," he said it still may happen in the future. Mr Keegan said that the works "overall, had been a very well managed project" and will make Dublin a more accessible place to live in. "I think most people accept it has been painful and it will be painful for another few months but it will be of enormous benefit," he told Today with Sean O'Rourke. Owen Keegan, Chief Executive of Dublin City Council. Photo: Mark Condren "I appreciate these are very major works and by their nature they are very disruptive. It is particularly disruptive at this end phase where we are trying to finish off the paving and resurface the roads, but the works are necessary and I'll make no apologies." He said overall the key objective is for there to be a "lot less traffic travelling through the city that doesn't need to travel through the city." "We will facilitate cars and car access but we hope those cars that don’t have to travel through the core city routes will divert onto other routes or better still, use public transport." When asked about the plans to make College Green a pedestrian area and whether those works could have been carried out simultaneously with Luas works, he said: "Those works will be contained within that area and since the traffic is going to be banned...it won’t be disruptive in terms of a traffic flow point of view." More cycling lanes are also set to be introduced in the city centre. Online Editors |
Washington is coming out to help Cochran stare down tea partier Chris McDaniel. GOP establishment backs Cochran A thousand miles from Mississippi, Republican lobbyists, long-time senators and fundraisers are raising a glass — and raising money — to save their man Thad Cochran from the tea party. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell bragged at an event Tuesday night that it was the “biggest fundraiser ever in this building” — a feat considering the building is the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Story Continued Below Washington is coming out in force to help Cochran stare down an insurgent tea partier Chris McDaniel, who stunned the establishment by nearly pulling off an upset victory last week over the sitting Republican senator. The two will meet again on the ballot in a run-off at the end of the month. ( DRIVING THE DAY: Primary results stun D.C.) The primary battle has become a flashpoint in the GOP civil war, emboldening many of Cochran’s old friends to fight for him — even at the risk of inflaming movement conservatives in Mississippi who believe Washington is the problem. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s stunning primary defeat Tuesday by tea party challenger Dave Brat only increased the pressure on the GOP establishment to win in the Magnolia State. “We are going to win it,” McConnell promised the crowd Tuesday night, according to a source at the event. The fundraiser raised $820,000 for Cochran’s political war chest, according to a senior Republican official. ( Also on POLITICO: Twitter 'celebratory' after Brat answers) Cochran’s inside-the-Beltway backers are well on their way to raising their goal of $1 million from the business community to help fuel his campaign. They are also hitting the phones in nightly banking sessions, huddling to strategize and holding conference calls with the Cochran operatives to get updates on what is happening on the ground. Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) is also soliciting contributions from lawmakers, K Street and donors for a super PAC run by former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour that is backing Cochran, according to GOP sources. Blunt is limited to asking potential donors for $5,000 per person, but they can give unlimited funds. Barbour has also been placing calls to political allies trying to raise more funds. Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), NRSC executive director Rob Collins and other chiefs of staff have been making phone calls to lobbyists and business groups asking them to re-up with Cochran as well, according to GOP sources familiar with the dialing for dollars campaign. ( Also on POLITICO: The GOP leadership scramble) Wicker said the fundraising effort is going “very very well.” In effect — the GOP establishment is doing what they are supposed to do — going all in for one of their own. The push comes after the high profile American Crossroads super PAC announced it would not put money towards Cochran’s campaign to fend off McDaniel in the June 24 run-off. Outside groups spent more than $8 million in the primary, an extraordinary amount in Mississippi. Defending incumbents in primaries this cycle has been a focus for Republican leadership and the NRSC since the start of 2013. ( Also on POLITICO: Brat to Todd: No more policy talk) McConnell and his political operation have said they are “all in” for Cochran and the Kentucky Republican has put the weight of his political operation into the effort. In an unusual move, the NRSC sent an email signed by McConnell urging K Street to get in the game. McConnell is also getting daily briefings on the state of the race and who is making campaign contributions to Cochran showing the stakes the minority leader has assigned the race. “We have been in this situation before and all of us know well from experience, this is no time to sit on the sidelines,” the email signed by McConnell said, noting that that he and his team will be “asking for daily updates for those of you who have stepped up to help.” Several lobbyists said that McConnell’s personal involvement in the race convinced them to cut checks for Cochran. ( Also on POLITICO: Palin congratulates Brat, talk radio) “He’s as involved as a leader can be asking other colleagues to help out and sending out an email to K Street,” said one lobbyist, noting that giving to Cochran is a way to earn a chit with the McConnell operation. Several Republican senators said they would attend the Cochran fundraiser and also were stepping up to give the maximum amount to Cochran for his run-off. Sens. John Thune (S.D.), Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), John Cornyn (Texas), John Barasso (Wyo.) and James Risch (Idaho) were all at the event, according to a source. Cochran remained back home in Mississippi. “I’ve raised money for him. I had a fundraiser for him in Huntsville, maxed out in the PAC and am maxing out again tonight,” said Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.). “Cochran’s a good friend and a good man and I want him to win.” Additionally, the NRSC and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce have been in the field doing polls, according to multiple sources familiar with the effort. ( Also on POLITICO: Leadership jockeying heats up) The Chamber’s Blair Latoff Holmes said that Cochran is “a champion for free enterprise and an important voice for job creation in his state and the country, and the Chamber is standing with him.” The Chamber has not committed to doing any ads, or allocating other resources yet. Cochran is in an uphill fight. GOP leadership aides say that senators are “very realistic” about Cochran’s chances in the run-off. He has had multiple gaffes, hasn’t shown the energy he has had in previous races and increasing his performance in a run-off is really difficult. He was first elected to Congress in 1972 and became a senator in 1978. Cochran made his reputation as a king of pork barrel spending directing hundreds of millions of dollars back to Mississippi from his perch on the once-powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. Tea Party groups say it isn’t surprising that the Washington machine is coming out for Cochran. “Everyone coming to Cochran’s defense are lobbyists that very much depend on their special relationship with him and his ability to get special provisions through the appropriations process, so it doesn’t surprise me that they are basically fighting for their own business model and all the interests that they represent,” said Freedom Works’ Matt Kibbe. Kibbe said the group’s ground team is still in place and they want to “re-execute the plan that got us to victory” in the primary. Kibbe will be in Mississippi Saturday as part distribution of new materials and get out the vote rallies in five cities. ( Also on POLITICO: Cantor loses) The National Republican Senatorial Committee also had sent a number of staffers to the Magnolia State for the primary and they will remain for the run-off, according to GOP insiders. Sen. Susan Collins also said she was “very optimistic” about Cochran’s chances. “I’m giving him another contribution, the maximum I can give him from my leadership PAC and I’ll be going to the event for him tonight,” the Maine Republican said. |
Ashima Shiraishi (born April 3, 2001 in New York, NY) is an American rock climber. Ashima started climbing at the age of six at Rat Rock in Central Park, joining her father. Only a few years later, she quickly established herself as one of the top boulderers and sport climbers in the world, and is nowadays widely considered to be the best teenage climber of either gender. Her numerous accolades include first-place finishes in international competitions, and multiple first female and youngest ascents. Ashima is featured in several short documentary-style films, and is the subject of the documentary short "Return to the Red" (2012).[2] The New York Times referred to her as a "bouldering phenom".[3] Outside Magazine described her as a "young crusher".[4] At age 13 she became the second[5][6] female, and youngest person, to climb a sport route with a difficulty grade of 5.14d/5.15a (9a/9a+).[7] In 2016, she achieved the second ascent of the V15 Horizon in Mount Hiei, Japan and became the first female climber to climb the grade.[8] Biography [ edit ] Ashima was born in New York, NY on April 3 of 2001. She is the only child of Tsuya and Hisatoshi Shiraishi, who immigrated from Japan in 1978 to New York, NY. Her father, Hisatoshi "Poppo" Shiraishi, was trained as a dancer in Butoh.[9] When she was 6 years old, her parents took her to Central Park, where she started climbing at Rat Rock. She later started climbing at Brooklyn Boulders in Gowanus, Brooklyn.[10] Ashima started climbing competitively at age 7, in 2008, and paired with coach Obe Carrion, an accomplished climber. Their partnership ended in 2012, largely due to tensions and disagreements between Carrion and Ashima's father (who has been her coach since then).[11] Ashima first made a name for herself by bouldering at a very high level at a very young age. At age 8, she climbed the classic boulder problem Power of Silence (V10), in Hueco Tanks, Texas. At age 9, she also climbed Chablanke (V11/12) and Roger in the Shower (V11) in Hueco Tanks, and several other difficult boulders. At age 10, she climbed Fred Nicole's notorious Crown of Aragorn (V13) also in Hueco Tanks. She is the youngest person ever to climb this grade, and one of very few female climbers to climb a confirmed V13.[12] Ashima also excelled in lead climbing. At age 11, in October 2012, she climbed Southern Smoke at the Red River Gorge, a grade 5.14c (8c+) sport route, becoming the youngest person to climb a route of this difficulty.[13] In 2013, Ashima continued to excel at both bouldering and lead climbing, adding to her ticklist a 5.14a (Slow Food at Céüse)[14] two more V13s (One Summer in Paradise and Automator)[15][16] and finally two 5.14c's (24 Karats and 50 Words for Pump).[17] On July 2014, she climbed what might be her first V14, Golden Shadow; however, there is a suggestion that Golden Shadow is V13 or V13/V14.[18] She was the second officially recorded female climber (after Tomoko Ogawa) to successfully climb a V14 problem.[19] On the first day of 2015, she climbed her second V14 (V13/V14), The Swarm, claiming the first female top-out of the problem.[20][21][22] At age 13, Ashima climbed her first 5.14d (9a), Open Your Mind Direct R1 in Santa Linya. The route was thought to be harder while Ashima was attempting it, for a few months earlier a hold had broken off near the top.[23][24][25] However, on Christmas Day of 2015, Edu Márin Garcia climbed the route past Ashima's end point to the second top and confirmed Ashima's route as a 5.14d (9a).[26] In the same climbing trip Ashima climbed Ciudad de Dios, making her the youngest athlete to climb a 5.14d/5.15a (9a/9a+) and the second female climber to climb at this level.[7][23][27] The route has been climbed by 6 other athletes, but there is still no definite consensus on whether the grade is 5.14d or 5.15a. In 2015, 2016, and 2017 Ashima won the IFSC World Youth Championships for both Lead and Bouldering in the Female Youth B category.[28][29] In March 2016, at 14 years old, she climbed the boulder problem Horizon (8C/V15) in Mount Hiei, Japan.[30] She is the second person ever to finish this problem. Additionally, with this achievement she became the first female climber as well as the youngest climber to climb this bouldering grade.[31] A few months later, she climbed Sleepy Rave, another V15 (or V14 according to some),[32] in Grampians National Park, Australia.[33] In 2017, she was the winner in the female sport category at the USA Climbing Sport & Speed Open National Championships (SCS nationals) held in Denver, Colorado, and placed second at the USA Climbing Bouldering Nationals (ABS nationals) to 10-time champion Alex Puccio.[34] In the same year, she started competing in the Climbing World Cup as an adult.[35] She is sponsored by Evolv, The North Face, Clif Bar, Petzl, Coca-Cola Japan, All Nippon Airways and Nikon. Rankings [ edit ] Climbing World Championships [ edit ] Youth[29] Discipline 2015 Youth B 2016 Youth B 2017 Youth A Lead 1 1 1 Bouldering 1 1 1 Speed - - 28 Combined - - 2 Notable ascents [ edit ] 8C (V15): 8B+ (V14): 8B (V13): Other Bouldering Achievements: Chblanke - V11/V12 (8a/8a+) - V11/V12 (8a/8a+) Ashimandala - V11 (8A) - V11 (8A) Roger in the Shower - V11 (8A) - V11 (8A) Power of Silence - V10 (7C+) 9a or 9a+ (5.14d or 5.15a): Ciudad de Dios - Santa Linya (ESP) - March 23, 2015 - First female ascent.[7] The route has been repeated by several others, but they have not reached consensus about its grade[7][23][27] 9a (5.14d): Open Your Mind Direct R1 - Santa Linya (ESP) - March 17, 2015 - First female ascent. The route was initially graded 9a (5.14d), but later a hold broke off leading to speculation that the route might have become harder, possibly 9a+. Ashima was the first climber who climbed it after the hold had broken.[23][26][27][24][25] However, in December 2015 Edu Márin Garcia climbed the route past Ashima's end point to an higher top and confirmed the initial 9a (5.14d) rating for Ashima's route.[26] 8c+ (5.14c): Southern Smoke - Red River Gorge (USA) - September 2012 [40] - Red River Gorge (USA) - September 2012 Lucifer - Red River Gorge (USA) - September 2012 [40] - Red River Gorge (USA) - September 2012 24 Karats - Red River Gorge (USA) - October 2013 [41] - Red River Gorge (USA) - October 2013 50 Words for Pump - Red River Gorge (USA) - October 2013 [41] - Red River Gorge (USA) - October 2013 La Fabela - Santa Linya (ESP) - March 2014 - First female ascent[42] 8c (5.14b): Digital system - Santa Linya (ESP) - March 2014 [42] - Santa Linya (ESP) - March 2014 Rollito Sharma extension - Santa Linya (ESP) - March 2014[42] |
The public phone numbers for both the majority and minority offices of the House Oversight Committee now give callers a separate option to complain about the Trump administration, an option that did not exist for the Obama administration. “[T]his is not typical,” said Jennifer Werner, the communications director for the committee’s Democrats, in an email to TPM, when asked whether the Oversight Dems had operated a separate option for executive branch inquiries under previous Presidents. “It reflects the massive number of calls we have been getting since the election urging the committee to conduct basic oversight of the Trump Administration,” she said. The office for the committee majority also confirmed to TPM that the separate option in their automated message had been added about a month ago. The automated message for the public number for the committee’s Republicans tells callers in to “Press 1” if they “would like to provide information or make an inquiry relating to President Donald Trump,” while instructing callers to press two for other matters or to speak to a staffer. Likewise, the Democrat-operated virtual receptionist instructs callers to “Press 1” if they would “like to leave a message about oversight of the Trump administration” and gives a separate option for other matters or for speaking to the staff. The House Oversight Committee, under Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), spearheaded numerous investigations into the Obama administration. Prior to the November election, Chaffetz said he had “ two years’ worth of material already lined up” relating to the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton. He has been more deferential to President Trump, telling the Huffington Post that it had only been a “few days” since the Inauguration, and that, “All the flailing before he was even sworn in was a bit silly, if not purely immature.” Chaffetz and the committee’s ranking member, Elijah Cummings (D-MD) did send a letter to the Office of Government Ethics Thursday knocking Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway for plugging Ivanka Trump’s clothing line in a TV segment filmed in the White House briefing room. [H/T Rusty Foster] |
Americans work a lot. The vast majority of us go above and beyond the typical 9-5, Monday-Friday routine, working between 45-55 hours per week. So when energy starts to lag and the day gets that much longer, most of us turn to chemicals and quick fixes to get the boost we need. It’s hard to stay motivated. But in the long term, the second (or third) cup of coffee, the after-lunch 5-hour energy shot, or the bag of peanut M&Ms you down at 3 A.M. are doing more harm than good. You’re cheating yourself with sugar and caffeine. Fortunately, there are other energy hacks you can implement that will work as well, if not better than, the elevator-Snickers at way past go to bed time. Here are nine such hacks to stay motivated and how to implement them into your schedule starting this week. Screen Detox Before Bed We are hard wired to sync up with the light cycles around us. So when our brains are fully stimulated for hours up until the minute we lay down to sleep, it’s that much harder to get a good night’s sleep and in turn stay focused the next day. Even if you fall asleep immediately, the quality of sleep is low. Advertising To avoid this and ensure you get the full night of quality sleep you need to jump out of bed refreshed, avoiding screens for 1-2 hours before bed every night. Better yet, when you wake up also avoid looking at your phone for 30 minutes to an hour. You’ll feel more relaxed and more energized, reducing those mid-day crashes. What a Good Breakfast Looks Like For years you’ve heard that you need breakfast to start the day properly, but most of us do it incorrectly. We either cram something down real quick so that we feel like we’ve covered our bases or we wait too long. Your body doesn’t need 1,000 calories first thing in the morning. A banana and a large glass of water will get you moving much faster than a sugar-laden donut. Small snacks until lunch will keep you moving at a steady pace until your next meal. Visualize Your Day with Clear End Goals Visualization is a powerful technique used by many of the world’s most successful people. The human mind processes images thousands of times faster than any other form of stimuli, to the point that if you visualize yourself completing a task, your body will respond as if you did. Advertising Michael Phelps has famously visualized tens of thousands of races he never swam. So effective was his habit that when his goggles filled with water during an Olympic final, he not only finished the race, he won in record time. Listen to (the right) Music While Working Music can motivate and push us through spells of low energy, but you could be listening to the wrong kind of music. Music with human voices can keep you from 100% focusing on what you are doing – it’s how we’re wired. Classical music, instrumentals and even techno or EDM are better suited for work. For a service that takes this to the next level, check out [email protected], an app and web service that plays continuous productivity focused music in these styles. A Twenty Minute Focus Hack One of the most famous hacks in productivity circles is the Pomodoro technique. Put simply, this requires that you focus intently for 20 minutes on a given task and then take a five minute break. There are software tools that will help you do this, tapping into the natural timeframe your mind is willing to sit still and focus on one action. Advertising Not only does the Pomodoro technique engage you in much greater stretches of focus, it also forces you to break up your tasks and goals into bite sized chunks – which itself has been shown to have many positive benefits. Build a To Do List You Can Trust A good To Do List is the cornerstone of productivity. One of the most famous “To Do List gurus” is David Allen, author of Getting Things Done. The basic idea behind this philosophy is that when something comes up, you write it down and place it in your “inbox”. At set intervals during the day, you review your inbox and categorize tasks accordingly – either doing them, delegating them, or scheduling them for later. When you do this consistently, you reach a point at which you can fully trust your to do list – putting the stress of remembering what’s next out of your brain entirely. Go For a (Short) Jog Physical exercise does a LOT of things for the mind – too many to list here. It releases endorphins, reduces cortisol levels, stimulates muscles and nerves, and keeps your brain active. In short, even if it makes you physically tired, good exercise will jump start the brain. A good mid-day jog will keep you going through the toughest schedule. Advertising Patch Together a Standing Desk Sitting is bad for productivity. Your body actually changes both chemically and physically when you sit down, and the result for many people is a less focused, lower energy level, even if they follow every other tip in this article. Hence the recent popularity in standing desks. But standing desks can be very expensive. So if you want to give it a go without investing in a custom built desk, build one yourself. You can either follow the instructions here or grab a spare filing cabinet on top of which you can place your monitor and keyboard. Give Your Mind a Jumpstart Mid-Day At a certain point, your mind is going to get distracted. Whether it’s a repetitive task or a midday crash, you’re going to find it hard to get back into the swing of things at a certain point. Changing venues, going for a walk, talking to a co-worker, or running up and down the stairs can break you out of whatever loop you’re currently stuck in and jump start your mind enough to get back into the swing of things. Not every tip above will work as quickly or as effectively as a quick shot of caffeine for everyone. But if you start making small changes to your lifestyle to match this list, you’ll almost certainly see results that will allow you to get more done with your day. Featured photo credit: Check List/Gerardo Hernández Arias via flickr.com |
Ouch!! Gentlemen, fancy a bone in your penis? Seems a bit risky, given it could fracture during copulation. Even our near ancestors had such a bone. It has probably evolved several times, but what is its function? The genitalia of male animals vary considerably in their morphology, which is widely attributed to sexual selection. A good example is the baculum or penile bone (os penis) of mammals. This isolated bone, which develops in connective tissue under the influence of androgens, is located in the distal end of the penis above the urethra. In some species, the females have a smaller equivalent in their clitoris, which is referred to as the baubellum. Arguably, the baculum is the most diverse bone of all, varying greatly in length and shape even between closely related species. Bacular morphology has therefore been frequently used in species diagnosis and taxonomy. Taxonomic distribution of the baculum The baculum is not present in all mammals, but only found in carnivores (Carnivora), rodents (Rodentia), bats (Chiroptera), primates (Primates) and some insectivores in the order Eulipotyphla. In all these orders, a penile bone occurs in some, but not in all species. For example, carnivores show a dichotomy with respect to baculum length. Whilst the baculum is greatly reduced or even absent in many cat-like carnivores (Feliformia), dog-like carnivores (Caniformia) possess an elongated penile bone. In primates, the baculum is present in most prosimians (but lacking in the genus Tarsius) and most New World monkeys, with the exception of howler monkeys (Alouatta), spider monkeys (Ateles), uakaris (Cacajao), bearded sakis (Chiropotes) and woolly monkeys (Lagothrix). Amongst the Old World monkeys and apes, the smallest bacula relative to body size are found in the great apes and humans are the only species without a baculum. In most bats, the baculum is small, but large in some members of the large-bodied genus Pteropus and completely absent in others (e.g. New World leaf-nosed bats in the family Phyllostomidae). Evidence for convergence The baculum evidently evolved several times, limiting its usefulness as a diagnostic taxonomic character. In caniforms in general and the weasel family (Mustelidae) in particular, there is pronounced bacular convergence. Several features of the penile bone have most likely been derived independently in distantly related species. These include lengthenings or shortenings, the development of the urethral groove and changes to the baculum’s head. Within the Mustelidae, for example, the bacular head of the extinct wolverine Plesiogulo marshalli is characterised by a wide leaf-shaped lobe and a finger-shaped outgrowth, as are those of two extant species from Asia, the back-striped weasel (Mustela strigidorsa) and the Malayan weasel (M. nudipes). Within the Caniforma, examples of very similar bacular morphologies include the bifurcated head of the racoon (Procyon lotor) and the European otter (Lutra lutra) penile bone. Function of the baculum So what is the penile bone for? It has been suggested that it might simply be a by-product of penile development with no adaptive function. The recurrent evolution of particular shapes in unrelated groups, however, indicates functionality. If the baculum was affected by sexual selection, this would help to explain its extreme morphological diversity. Furthermore, the baculum is likely to come with energetic costs, such as growth and maintenance (although these do not seem to be substantial), as well as the risk of infection or fracture (as observed in e.g. some mustelids). Hence, various hypotheses regarding adaptive baculum function have been proposed. Mechanical support The bony nature of the baculum has led to the suggestion that it could provide mechanical support to the penis during copulation. According to the “vaginal friction hypothesis”, the function of the baculum is to make the erect penis more rigid, thus facilitating intromission by overcoming the friction that is due to the relatively smaller size of the female vagina. Evidence for this hypothesis is limited. In the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus), the microstructure of the baculum indicates that it is load-bearing and might increase penile stiffness during copulation, probably by force transfer to the hydrostatic corpus cavernosum. The baculum of dogs might also stiffen the penis. It has a lower mineral density and hence lower stiffness than skeletal bones, which might reduce the risk of fracture during copulation. Stimulation of the female The baculum could also serve to stimulate the female during copulation and trigger a hormonal response, which might then increase the male’s fertilisation success by facilitating sperm transport, preparing the uterus for implantation or inducing ovulation. In carnivores at least, there is not much support for this “induced ovulation hypothesis”. Canidae, which have large bacula, are spontaneous ovulators, while in contrast Felidae are characterised by induced ovulation and small bacula. Sperm competition success Sperm competition, where sperm of different males compete for fertilisation of eggs in the female reproductive tract, is prominent in mammals where females mate with multiple males. The baculum could help males to increase their success in sperm competition in various ways. According to the “prolonged intromission hypothesis”, the baculum could directly facilitate sperm transport by keeping the urethral canal open and maintaining unhindered sperm flow. This should be especially beneficial in species with copulatory ties and long copulation times. Evidence for this hypothesis comes from a comparative study of primates. Those species with a relatively long baculum show prolonged intromission, whereas species with single or multiple brief intromissions have shorter bacula. A long baculum could also help deliver sperm close to the site of fertilisation, displace or even remove sperm from rival males or facilitate the placement of copulatory plugs, which prevent further males from successfully copulating with a female. In a comparative analysis considering baculum length and relative testis size, a positive correlation was found in rodents and carnivores. Since testis size can be considered an indicator of sperm competition, with large testes implying intense sperm competition, baculum evolution might be related to the intensity of sperm competition at least in certain conditions. Cryptic female choice Another element of post-copulatory sexual selection is cryptic female choice, where females can “choose” between the sperm of multiple males, favouring that of high-quality males. There is evidence that females use the size of the penis as an indicator of male quality, and a similar function has been suggested for the baculum. In the muskrat (Ondatra zibethicus), baculum width varies considerably between males, and baculum dimensions show positive allometry (i.e. larger males have relatively larger bacula than smaller males) compared to non-sexual traits. It has hence been suggested that females might use the penile bone to evaluate male quality. Muskrats mate underwater, an environment that limits the availability of visual and olfactory cues and might therefore make it difficult for females to assess a male before copulation. If females were able to detect differences in the bacular morphology of different males in their reproductive tract during copulation, they could potentially exert cryptic female choice. This is in agreement with findings from other mammals that also mate aquatically (e.g. harp seals Phoca groenlandica) or underground (e.g. Cape dune mole rat Bathyergus suillus), where a pre-mating assessment of male quality might be tricky as well. Similarly, in bats males frequently copulate with females that are hibernating, which prevents them from actively choosing a mate. However, in the noctule bat (Nyctalus noctula), while the penis is under sexual selection and its length is correlated with indicators of male quality such as body size and mass, this is not the case for the baculum. To further assess the role of the baculum, more direct evidence is needed that links baculum features to male fertilisation success. A recent study in the promiscuous bank vole (Myodes glareolus) has shown that bacular morphology is linked to male social status. Dominant males have wider (though not longer) bacula than subordinates, and there is evidence that the baculum is affected by sexual selection in this species. As a larger baculum might confer an advantage to the male in terms of sperm competition and/or cryptic female choice, this could explain the higher fertilisation success of dominant males compared with subordinate individuals. All these hypotheses are non-exclusive, and none of them has proven fully satisfactory or well supported across taxa. According to Serge Larivière and Steven Ferguson, “the existence of the mammalian baculum remains one of the most puzzling enigmas of mammalian morphology” (2002, Mammal Review, vol. 32, p. 288). Baculum evolution has probably been affected by a number of factors, the importance of which should vary between the different mammalian groups. So it may be a mistake to assume that all bacula do the same thing. Loss of the baculum in humans Why has the baculum been lost in humans, while it is present in all the other Old World monkeys and apes? Evidence that this is indeed a secondary loss comes from some primate fossils from the Eocene, which possessed a prominent baculum, suggesting that this is an ancestral feature in primates. The reasons for this loss remain largely elusive, but are likely linked to changes in reproduction. Homo sapiens might simply have continued the general trend towards baculum reduction that is observed in the apes (it has been speculated that early hominids such as Homo erectus still possessed a baculum). This reduction could in turn be related to a reduction in intromission times and/or to an increase in body size. The loss of the baculum could also reflect a lower degree of sperm competition in humans compared with other primates (which is in accordance with e.g. the relatively small testes of human males). Richard Dawkins has furthermore proposed that the baculum might have disappeared in response to selection pressure from females. Females could assess the quality of a male from his ability to achieve a full and stiff erection even without a baculum, as this ability might be impaired by factors such as ill health or an inability to cope with stress. |
While this guide highlights standout motorcycle helmets from top brands that absolutely can’t miss for most riders, we strive to give you the information and resources you need to find the best helmet for your head and your ride, whether we’ve featured it in this year’s guide or not. That is why we’ve gone beyond our seasonal Motorcycle Helmet Buying Guides and created our Moto 101 articles, a resource where you can school up on topics relevant to your buying decision without any individual product noise. Check out our Motorcycle Helmets 101 article for an intro to the basics of a topic that is not so simple as it seems. To find the perfect fit, our Motorcycle Helmet Fitment Guide is the perfect place to start. And to sort out the alphabet soup that motorcycle helmet safety certifications can so easily become, reference our Helmet Safety Ratings Guide as your helmet safety rosetta stone.We started with the top rated motorcycle helmets and most exciting new releases from the best motorcycle helmet brands—but we didn’t just compare spec sheets to find you the lightest, quietest, or safest lid on paper—our trusted gear experts actually rode and reviewed each one to give you our expert opinion on which of the “best of the best” is going to be ideal for you.If you haven’t bought a new motorcycle helmet in the past 5 years (and even if you have), click over to Common Tread to get the lowdown on the different helmet types (full-face v.s modular, etc.), and the specific buying considerations you should keep in mind when shopping for a modern motorcycle helmet. You’ll also find useful info on Motorcycle Helmet Safety Ratings and Properly Fitting A Motorcycle Helmet . Then you’ll be more than ready to shop the full catalog—the literal thousands of Motorcycle Helmets available at RevZilla.com! |
Matt Lauer Told Meredith On Camera ... 'Keep Bending Over, Nice View' Matt Lauer Caught on Video Telling Meredith Vieira, 'Keep Bending Over, Nice View' (UPDATE) EXCLUSIVE Matt Lauer creepily whispered to Meredith Vieira ... "Keep bending over like that. It's a nice view" -- and it happened on set, while cameras were rolling. This all went down in October 2006, and it's a little bizarre how it got out to the public. The show had gone to commercial, but in at least one city, the local affiliate stayed on NBC's in-studio feed. Matt was seen sitting on the couch as Meredith got mic'd up. As she leaned over in front of him to grab scripts, you clearly hear Lauer say, "Pretty sweater. Keep bending over like that. It's a nice view." The video never shows a clear view of Meredith's face -- and we initially thought it was Katie Couric -- however the timing makes sense. Meredith took over for Katie in Sept. 2006. Here's the thing ... NBC says the employee who came forward on Monday was the first complainant ever against Lauer at the network. However, this video makes it clear everyone in the control room -- including the executive producer -- could have heard Lauer's leering behavior. |
CHICAGO -- Bulls center Joakim Noah says he made a mistake by trying to enter the Oklahoma City Thunder's locker room after Thursday night's game but downplayed its importance, repeatedly calling Thunder center Kendrick Perkins "an angry dude." A heated argument occurred after Perkins loudly protested Noah's presence. Noah had come in to see former teammate Thabo Sefolosha after Sefolosha visited the Bulls' locker room a few minutes before. Words were exchanged between Noah and Perkins before Noah ultimately walked out. "It doesn't matter," Noah said of the incident. "Just nothing. Just trying to chill with Thabo. It's all good. ... It's not that serious." "I know that you guys are probably bored right now: We're losing, there's nothing to do, there's nothing else to talk about. But it's not a big deal," Noah said. "Just waking up in the morning having to talk to NBA security. Come on, let's move on. We've got a game tonight. It's not a big deal. No big deal." Noah said he had no previous history with Perkins. Although there was no physical altercation, the pair continued to exchange words as Noah walked to the Bulls' bus. "He's just an angry dude, you know?" Noah said. "It's all good." When asked to clarify his discussion with NBA security, Noah tried to move on. "We don't have to talk about this anymore," Noah said. "Nothing happened. It's no big deal. I shouldn't have been in that locker room in the first place. Just wanted to say hi to some loved ones, Thabo's family, that's it. It's not a big deal. Perk is an angry dude. It's all good." Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau knows that former teammates want to see each other after games but seemed surprised Noah went into the Thunder's locker room given that he hasn't played for Oklahoma City. "You see it sometimes where a player -- like Thabo played for the Bulls," Thibodeau said. "So if a guy played for the team it's not a big deal but usually guys will wait outside." Thibodeau said this incident would not change the Bulls' policy on allowing former players to enter into their locker room after games. "If a guy's been with the organization ... that's usually the case," he said. "Usually you have a guy, if he's played [with your team] and he wants to come in and say hello to his old teammates he does. The trainers and people like that. We allow that. It's more or less frowned upon to go into someone else's locker room where you haven't played." Thibodeau coached Perkins while as an assistant on Doc Rivers' staff with the Boston Celtics. He didn't sound surprised that the emotional big man responded the way he did. "That's normal," Thibodeau said. "That's usually how teams respond." |
Eli Manning is known for having many great attributes as a quarterback: Durability, arm strength, big-game ability and a clutch gene that always seem to come out when the Giants needed it most in the Super Bowl. Over the years, another has been evident in stories: Prank artist. Eli, although quiet and reserved in front of the media, has always been talked about as a great teammate and one that knew how to keep the locker room loose through long, grinding seasons. Even when the Giants were struggling, Eli's steadiness went a long way. Apparently, so did his ability to execute a perfect prank. Antonio Pierce, the starting middle linebacker on New York's Super Bowl XLII team and Manning's teammate for five seasons, told a story of the ultimate Eli Manning prank during an appearance on ESPN Radio's Russillo and Kanell with hosts Ryen Russillo and former Giants quarterback Danny Kanell. What Giants fans should know about Day 1 of NFL Combine "Here's a guy that's playing pranks on his lineman," Pierce said. "He'd go get some purple paint and dip their shoes, and these guys are looking like Barney on a flight. They did something to Eli, so Eli goes to the equipment room and they get legit purple paint. So we come back in and we hear ruckus. All the lineman, all the starting five lineman had purple shoes. These are expensive shoes. And we're getting on the plane. You know how Coughlin is. You can't be late, wife can't bring you new shoes. You need to get on the plane with painted shoes! "That's what people don't understand about Eli. That's the corniness and quirkiness about him that make him cool. When you see him at the Super Bowl, it's like, Eli just has a different way of going about things." Joe Giglio may be reached at jgiglio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeGiglioSports. Find NJ.com on Facebook. |
Video: Capgemini: AI is already creating jobs and boosting business There's much concern about the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on jobs and the economy. And while it's difficult to know for certain which types of jobs will likely be eliminated by AI, one thing is for sure: the technology will have a profound affect on a range of skills. "It's not easy to predict far into the future, but it is easier to indicate what AI technologies have advanced at an unusually rapid pace over the past five years," said Tom Mitchell, professor of machine learning at Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science. These include computer vision, which has improved in terms of error rates in recent years; speech, which has been enhanced to the point where both Microsoft and IBM have claimed that they've reached human-level speech-to-text performance on the standard "switchboard" data set; analytical skills, evidenced by the ability to defeat top humans at games like Go and poker; and mobile robotics, including the advancements in drones and self-driving cars. Machine learning is the underlying technology that has effectively caused each of these advances, Mitchell said. "The shift from human programming to instead training a program from data has resulted in higher-performing AI systems across many tasks," Mitchell said. "For example, even though you can easily recognize your mother in a photograph, nobody has ever succeeded in writing down an algorithm to do that -- we know more than we can articulate. But today it is rather straightforward to train a machine learning algorithm to recognize your mother by providing training examples, photos where you label your mother and others where you indicate your mother is not present." What types of jobs will be most impacted by AI and machine learning? The potential is there to affect any jobs that require the skills that the technologies have acquired in recent years. "Any task performed online where the inputs and outputs of a human decision are captured, is a task amenable to applying machine learning," Mitchell said. For example, routine workflows performed online, such as approving vacation requests or travel reimbursements, also generate as a byproduct the training data needed by a machine learning algorithm to learn how to perform that task. Read also: Match Group's Tinder emerges as cash cow courtesy of data science, dynamic pricing, paying off tech debt | Salesforce updates Einstein AI platform with custom analytics and chatbots Most jobs involve multiple tasks though, and often machines might be able to assist in only some of those tasks, Mitchell said. "Furthermore, a big unknown is whether computers will replace or instead augment workers," he says. "Will they replace radiologists, or just advise them to make them better performers?" New business models enabled by AI are already creating new types of businesses and jobs, Mitchell said. "For example, Uber relies heavily on AI algorithms to schedule where their drivers should be placed, to minimize the wait times of passengers while keeping all the drivers busy," he said. This efficiency, together with the advent of ubiquitous wireless communication, has enabled Uber to create a new kind of business that employs many people. "The gig economy -- part time, just in time, opt-in employment -- is a growing phenomenon enabled by [IT] and increasingly by AI," Mitchell said. Previous and related coverage Kakao AI speaker begins official sales South Korean chat giant Kakao has launched its AI speaker, Kakao Mini, after months of teases. Storage will continue to play a role in the advancement of AI: Pure Storage Advancements in storage have contributed to the progression of AI, even though it's still early days. |
Life, the Universe, and Everything A central goal that modern physicists share is finding a single theory that can explain the entire universe and unite the forces of nature. The standard model, for example, leaves Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and even gravity out of the picture — meaning that it really only accounts for a very small percentage of what makes up the universe. String Theory stitches Einstein’s conception of the general theory of relativity together with Quantum Mechanics, and the result is quantum theory applied to gravity. This application allows us to break down the universe beyond the subatomic particle level into vibrating strings whose interactions and vibrations make up the universe. In other words, all matter is made up of atoms, and all atoms are composed of electrons, neutrons, and protons — and these can be broken down further into quarks. Quarks are are made up of these dynamic strings, whose motions in space are the key to understanding the universe, explained Michio Kaku, physicist at the City College of New York. Kaku is the He’s the co-founder of string field theory (a branch of string theory). What is String Theory & How Does it Work? |
Commentaries Obama’s Maidan in Ferguson TEHRAN (FNA)- The protests against racial discrimination and injustice in the United States have sparked international solidarity and outcry, highlighting once again Washington’s hypocrisy and double standards on human rights. Russia says Washington needs to clean its own house if it wants to call itself a "bastion of human rights." North Korea says the US is a human rights "tundra" where racial discrimination flourishes and extreme racial discrimination acts are openly practiced. China says US police use rubber bullets and tear gas against protesters while in other countries they use riot shields and batons to reduce damage. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei says the US should turn its critical eye on itself: "It’s a world of tyranny and lies. The flag of human rights is borne by its enemies, with the US leading them." It is easy to lose track of the bigger discussion by arguing that these governments are at odds with Washington over its hypocritical championing of human rights in their countries. But it’s not just them that are shaking their heads in disgust. Many others like Egypt, Denmark, France and Germany, as well as human rights organizations are also beginning to hear the cry of a people with no voice. They are urging the US to correct its double standards and reflect on its finger pointing over other countries' human rights records: Amnesty International roundly condemns the excessive force used by law enforcement agencies in Ferguson, and calls for “accountability and systemic change” to curb human rights abuses increasingly seen in US communities. Likewise, a group of United Nations human rights investigators has written to President Obama, urging him to release the classified Senate torture report on post-9/11 abuses in secret CIA prions. The Obama administration refuses to allow the report to be released because it includes pseudonyms for the CIA officers who participated in the torture program. If nothing else, it’s not an exaggeration to say the contentious nights of protest in Ferguson mirrored “Obama’s Maidan” for a brief moment in history. They sparked international rallying cry against America’s racist power structure and multi-generational injustice. They showed police beating crowds, sitting atop of military tanks, spraying tear gas into protestors, and a sudden hail of bullets is what passes for the American dialogue on race and justice. Ultimately though, people came out to express their collective outrage over racial oppression and say a long pattern of broken justice system is impacting millions of Americans on a daily basis. They showed putting an end to this violence with a greater show of violence will not bring change. They also showed the US government cannot poke their nose into the affairs of other nations if they cannot get their own house in order. It is high time the US government took stock of these, looked at the mirror, and focused on the serious internal problems they have with human rights. This way they can show Washington is committed to applying the same standards for accountability it has asked of other nations. |
Old brewery, new tricks South Street Brewery is just a hops, skip, and a jump away from being back up and running. The downtown brewpub and restaurant has updated its “fall” re-opening to late October, with a soft open for friends and family planned before the doors swing wide in early November. “We’re going to keep it simple, make sure our food’s good, our beer’s awesome, and the service is the best you can get in town,” said co-owner Mandi Smack. Smack, who also owns Blue Mountain Brewery and Barrel House with her husband Taylor, said the new South Street will feature a remodeled interior in addition to updated beer and an all new food menu. A walk by the pub these days will offer a good look at some heavy construction, a process Smack said would render the place almost unrecognizable even to former regulars. (The restaurant’s fireplace centerpiece will stay, though.) Smack was tight lipped about the new menu South Street will be cooking up, but there’s plenty of information out there on the new suds. Smack said the brew team, which includes Mitch Hamilton in addition to her husband, is focusing on cleanliness—all the former South Street tap lines have been replaced—and consistency. They’re currently producing South Street’s signature Satan’s Pony and two new beers, the Bar Hopper IPA and 365 Shandy, out of Blue Mountain’s Barrel House brewery in Arrington, Va. When the downtown brewhouse is fully functioning, they’ll also be reviving a few other as-yet unnamed favorites from South Street’s lineup while adding new mainstays like the My Personal Helles Lager and a seasonal series known as Barstools and Dreamers. When the dust settles on the construction, South Street will be open for lunch and dinner seven days a week, offering 12 taps of house-made beer to complement food that will be “inspired by the Blue Mountain brewpub in Afton.” If the powers that be allow it, a few of those taps may even feature Blue Mountain brews. “We are definitely run as two separate businesses, but there will be collaborations,” Smack said. Buon compleanno, tavola It’s been nearly five years since Michael and Tami Keaveny (who happens to be C-VILLE’s arts editor) opened the doors of tavola, the Belmont spot that quickly became known as the one to beat in the annual Best of C-VILLE’s “best Italian restaurant” category. To celebrate half a decade of serving up rustic classics like skillet-roasted mussels, Maiale Milanese, and chocolate torte, the team will hold a fifth anniversary dinner on Saturday, October 18. A new crew took over kitchen duty after chef Loren Mendosa bowed out late this summer on a pizza venture. The guys are still fine-tuning the details of the five-course birthday dinner, but the Keavenys said you can expect offerings of what they do best, like housemade pastas, risottos, and seafood dishes. Beginning at 6:30pm, the prix fixe feast is $100 per person, plus $50 for a wine pairing. Tavola doesn’t traditionally take reservations for dinner, but call 972-9463 to claim your spot for this one, because it’s filling up fast. Movin’ on up Since its 2012 opening, Bold Rock Hard Cider has been serving up samples and selling cases of its hard apple cider from behind the counter in a small, rustic barn next to the gravel parking lot. Signs and renderings posted in the barn have been promising a spring opening of an elaborate taproom and restaurant overlooking the nearby Rockfish River and Blue Ridge Mountains, and finally, as of Monday, September 22, it’s officially up and running. You may recognize the $4 million new facility, as it matches the picture on the cider bottles’ labels. Originally sketched and designed by one of Bold Rock’s founders, the building has three fireplaces and 600 native oak beams. And while there’s nothing quite like unpacking a picnic lunch outside the cidery during the summer, the restaurant featuring local grub may make the cidery a more popular winter destination. Skewered The space on Main Street once operated as Ariana Grill Kabob House has been cleared out—an auction of the restaurant’s assets was held on September 22—and the future of the space is about as clear as the contents of gyro meat. According to a notice on the front door of the restaurant, former owner Mirahmad Mirzai defaulted on the property sometime in the past several months, and Ariana’s landlord “elected to enter and retake possession of the premises.” The notice indicates the default entitled Ariana’s landlord to sell the contents of the restaurant, including tables, chairs, a four-bay steam table, a point-of-sale register, a grill, a six-burner range, and a Shawarma roaster rotisserie. Representatives of Lenhart Petit, the law firm acting on behalf of Ariana’s landlord, confirmed the auction was held but weren’t available to offer specifics by press time. Mirzai, who still operates the Afghan Kabob Palace on Emmett Street, did not respond to a request for comment. According to his bio on the Kabob Palace website, Mirzai moved to the U.S. from Kabul in 1983 and opened his first Charlottesville restaurant in 2002. Have a scoop for Small Bites? E-mail us at bites@c-ville.com or call 817-2749 (x38). |
US Congressional hearing: Former FBI agent says tech companies must “silence” sources of “rebellion” By Andre Damon 1 November 2017 Top legal and security officials for Facebook, Twitter and Google appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, in a hearing targeting “Extremist Content and Russian Disinformation Online.” Over the course of four hours, senators argued that “foreign infiltration” is the root of social opposition within the United States, in order to justify the censorship of oppositional viewpoints. Russia “sought to sow discord and amplify racial and social divisions among American voters,” said Democratic Senator Dianne Feinstein of California. It “exploited hot button topics…to target both conservative and progressive audiences.” Republican Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa said Russia helped promote protests against police violence in Ferguson, Baltimore and Cleveland. Russia, he said, “spread stories about abuse of black Americans by law enforcement. These ads are clearly intended to worsen racial tensions and possibly violence in those cities.” Democratic Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii demanded, for her part, that the companies adopt a “mission statement” expressing their commitment “to prevent the fomenting of discord.” The most substantial portion of the testimony took place in the second part of the hearing, during which most of the Senators had left and two representatives of the US intelligence agencies testified before a room of mostly empty chairs. Clint Watts addresses a nearly-empty hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee Clint Watts, a former U.S. Army officer, former FBI agent, and member of the Alliance for Securing Democracy, made the following apocalyptic proclamation: “Civil wars don’t start with gunshots, they start with words. America’s war with itself has already begun. We all must act now on the social media battlefield to quell information rebellions that can quickly lead to violent confrontations and easily transform us into the Divided States of America.” He added, “Stopping the false information artillery barrage landing on social media users comes only when those outlets distributing bogus stories are silenced—silence the guns and the barrage will end.” As this “civil war” rages on, he said, “our country remains stalled in observation, halted by deliberation and with each day more divided by manipulative forces coming from afar.” The implications of these statements are staggering. The United States is in the midst of a civil war, and the necessary response of the government is censorship, together with the abolition of all other fundamental democratic rights. The “rebellion” must be put down by silencing the news outlets that advocate it. That such a statement could be made in a congressional hearing, entirely without objection, is an expression of the terminal decay of American democracy. There is no faction of the ruling class that maintains any commitment to basic democratic rights. None of the Democrats in the committee raised any of the constitutional issues involved in asking massive technology companies to censor political speech on the Internet. Only one Republican raised concerns over censorship, but only to allege that Google had a liberal bias. The Democrats focused their remarks on demands that the Internet companies take even more aggressive steps to censor content. In one particularly noxious exchange, Feinstein pressed Google’s legal counsel on why it took so long for YouTube (which is owned by Google) to revoke the status of Russia Today as a “preferred” broadcaster. She demanded, “Why did Google give preferred status to Russia Today, a Russian propaganda arm, on YouTube? ... It took you until September of 2017 to do it.” Despite the fact that Feinstein and other Democrats were clearly pressuring the company to take that step, the senators allowed Richard Salgado, Google’s Law Enforcement and Information Security Director, to present what was by all appearances a bald-faced lie before Congress. “The removal of RT from the program was actually a result of…is a result of some of the drop in viewership, not as a result of any action otherwise. So there was … there was nothing about RT or its content that meant that it stayed in or stayed out,” Salgado stammered, in the only time he appeared to lose his composure during the hearing. Salgado’s apparently false statement is of a piece with Google’s other actions to censor the Internet. These include changes to its search algorithm, which, behind the backs of the public, have slashed search traffic to left-wing websites by some 55 percent, with the World Socialist Web Site losing some 74 percent of its search traffic. Stressing the transformation of the major US technology companies into massive censorship operations, Democratic Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island asked the representatives of the firms, “I gather that all of your companies have moved beyond any notion that your job is only to provide a platform, and whatever goes across it is not your affair,” to which all answered in the affirmative. When pressed by lawmakers to state how many people were employed by Facebook to moderate content, Colin Stretch, the company’s general counsel, said that Facebook employed “thousands” of such moderators, and was in the process of adding “thousands more.” While the senators and technology companies largely presented a show of unity, just how far the companies were willing to go in censoring users’ content and helping the government create blacklists of dissidents was no doubt a subject of contentious debate in the background. On Friday, Feinstein sent a letter to Twitter’s CEO demanding that the company hand over profile information—possibly including full names, email addresses, and phone numbers—related to “divisive” “organic content” promoted by “Russia-linked” accounts. Although the senators largely steered away from the issue of “organic content” in their questions, a remark by Sean Edgett, Twitter’s acting general counsel, made clear that the “organic content” Feinstein’s letter was referring to included the social media posts of US-based organizations and individuals. Edgett said “organic tweets,” include “those that you or I or anyone here today can tweet from their phone or computer.” The New York Times reported over the weekend, however, that Facebook has already begun turning lists of such “organic content” over to congressional investigators. Given that Facebook has said that just one “Russia-linked” company had posted some 80,000 pieces of “divisive” content, including reposts from other users, it is reasonable to assume Facebook and Twitter are being pressured to turn over information on a substantial portion of political dissidents within the United States. Fight Google's censorship! Google is blocking the World Socialist Web Site from search results. To fight this blacklisting: Share this article with friends and coworkers Facebook Twitter E-Mail Reddit Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. |
Empowered by President-elect Donald Trump Donald John TrumpSpike Lee urges Oscars viewers to vote in 2020: 'Let’s all be in the right side of history' José Andrés honors immigrants, women in Oscars speech Javier Bardem knocks 'borders,' 'walls' during Oscars speech in Spanish MORE, Republicans lawmakers are moving to gut the vast regulatory powers federal agencies enjoyed during the Obama administration. On Wednesday, the GOP-controlled House passed the Regulatory Accountability Act which puts a ceiling on the regulatory costs coming out of Washington by instructing federal agencies to craft the "least expensive" rules they possibly can. It passed 238-183 on a largely party line vote with five Democrats crossing the aisle. This would give Congress more control over federal agencies. “Some of the most significant decisions in Washington --- those that most affect the lives of the public --- are made by those who don’t stand for election,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) said. “What happens when the EPA imposes rules that deprive people of their property rights? Or when the Department of Health and Human Services tries to force nuns to violate their religion? Or when the VA perpetuates a system that lets veterans die while they wait for care?” McCarthy asked. “The people can’t vote out the bureaucrats who write rules at the EPA or at the Department of Health and Human Services. They can’t vote out bad leaders at the VA,” he added. “And these bureaucrats know it.” Regulatory reform is a key part of Trump’s economic agenda, and Republican lawmakers are working quickly to reshape the way in which regulations are developed before the president-elect takes office next Friday. McCarthy indicated the House would begin repealing specific regulations after the inauguration. "The Federal Register is now the length of 80 King James Bibles," McCarthy said, referring to the book where new rules are published. Since the beginning of the year, the House has passed three regulatory reform bills that limit the authority of federal agencies. Last week, lawmakers approved the Midnight Rules Relief Act, which blocks the Obama administration from publishing expensive rules at the last-minute before Trump takes over next Friday. While the Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act gives Congress the power to reject rules it dislikes with a simple majority vote. The rules onslaught continued Wednesday as the House passed the Regulatory Accountability Act, which is part of a larger package of reform bills that passed in previous sessions of Congress but were vetoed by President Obama. “The Obama administration abused regulation to force its will on the American people,” said Rep. Bob Goodlatte Robert (Bob) William GoodlatteIt’s time for Congress to pass an anti-cruelty statute DOJ opinion will help protect kids from dangers of online gambling House GOP probe into FBI, DOJ comes to an end MORE (R-Va.), the architect of the bill. “The assembling Trump administration promises to wipe out abusive regulation.” With Trump about to enter the White House, Republicans are hopeful they can shove these regulatory reform bills through Congress. But they may run into resistance in the Senate, where Democrats could filibuster. Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) warned that some Americans “will not survive” the weaken of regulations. “The side that loses is the consumers and the folks that will be injured or killed because of a lack of regulation,” Cohen said. “Whether it’s food safety, whether it’s water safety, whether it’s air safety, whether it’s toys, there’s always a side that loses.” The other bills passed Wednesday along with the Regulatory Accountability Act, include: —The Require Evaluation before Implementing Executive Wishlists (REVIEW) Act prevents federal agencies from issuing expensive regulations while they are facing court challenges. Once the legal battles are resolved, the rules could move forward. —The Separation of Powers Restoration Act would prevent courts from deferring to the regulatory interpretations of federal agencies, which makes it difficult for those rules to be challenged. Goodlatte said the current law “rubber stamps” regulations. —The All Economic Regulations are Transparent Act (ALERT) Act instructs federal agencies to publish costs estimates for rules they are working on while they are still in development. —The Providing Accountability Through Transparency Act instructs federal agencies to publish “plain language” summaries of their rules online, so the “public can understand what the agencies are actually proposing to do.” “Our constituents should not need a law degree to understand the rules they’re supposed to follow,” said Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer (R-Mo.), who sponsored the bill. “The American people deserve to be informed about the rules and regulations being proposed by their government,” he added. —The Small Business Regulatory Flexibility Improvements Act instructs federal agencies to account for not only the direct costs of their rules, but also the indirect costs and cumulative impacts they will have on small businesses. |
This is a guest post by R. Tyler Croy, who is a long-time contributor to Jenkins and the primary contact for Jenkins project infrastructure. He is also a Jenkins Evangelist at CloudBees, Inc. When the Ruby on Rails framework debuted it changed the industry in two noteworthy ways: it created a trend of opinionated web application frameworks (Django, Play, Grails) and it also strongly encouraged thousands of developers to embrace test-driven development along with many other modern best practices (source control, dependency management, etc). Because Ruby, the language underneath Rails, is interpreted instead of compiled there isn’t a "build" per se but rather tens, if not hundreds, of tests, linters and scans which are run to ensure the application’s quality. With the rise in popularity of Rails, the popularity of application hosting services with easy-to-use deployment tools like Heroku or Engine Yard rose too. This combination of good test coverage and easily automated deployments makes Rails easy to continuously deliver with Jenkins. In this post we’ll cover testing non-trivial Rails applications with Jenkins Pipeline and, as an added bonus, we will add security scanning via Brakeman and the Brakeman plugin. Topics For this demonstration, I used Ruby Central's cfp-app: A Ruby on Rails application that lets you manage your conference’s call for proposal (CFP), program and schedule. It was written by Ruby Central to run the CFPs for RailsConf and RubyConf. I chose this Rails app, not only because it’s a sizable application with lots of tests, but it’s actually the application we used to collect talk proposals for the "Community Tracks" at this year’s Jenkins World. For the most part, cfp-app is a standard Rails application. It uses PostgreSQL for its database, RSpec for its tests and Ruby 2.3.x as its runtime. If you prefer to just to look at the code, skip straight to the Jenkinsfile. Preparing the app For most Rails applications there are few, if any, changes needed to enable continuous delivery with Jenkins. In the case of cfp-app, I added two gems to get the most optimal integration into Jenkins: ci_reporter, for test report integration brakeman, for security scanning. Adding these was simple, I just needed to update the Gemfile and the Rakefile in the root of the repository to contain: Gemfile # .. snip .. group :test do # RSpec, etc gem ' ci_reporter ' gem ' ci_reporter_rspec ' gem " brakeman " , :require => false end Rakefile # .. snip .. require ' ci/reporter/rake/rspec ' # Make sure we setup ci_reporter before executing our RSpec examples task :spec => ' ci:setup:rspec ' Writing the Pipeline To make sense of the various things that the Jenkinsfile needs to do, I find it easier to start by simply defining the stages of my pipeline. This helps me think of, in broad terms, what order of operations my pipeline should have. For example: /* Assign our work to an agent labelled 'docker' */ node( ' docker ' ) { stage ' Prepare Container ' stage ' Install Gems ' stage ' Prepare Database ' stage ' Invoke Rake ' stage ' Security scan ' stage ' Deploy ' } As mentioned previously, this Jenkinsfile is going to rely heavily on the CloudBees Docker Pipeline plugin. The plugin provides two very important features: Ability to execute steps inside of a running Docker container Ability to run a container in the "background." Like most Rails applications, one can effectively test the application with two commands: bundle install followed by bundle exec rake . I already had some Docker images prepared with RVM and Ruby 2.3.0 installed, which ensures a common and consistent starting point: node( ' docker ' ) { // .. 'stage' steps removed docker.image( ' rtyler/rvm:2.3.0 ' ).inside { (1) rvm ' bundle install ' (2) rvm ' bundle exec rake ' } (3) } 1 Run the named container. The inside method can take optional additional flags for the docker run command. 2 Execute our shell commands using our tiny sh step wrapper rvm . This ensures that the shell code is executed in the correct RVM environment. 3 When the closure completes, the container will be destroyed. Unfortunately, with this application, the bundle exec rake command will fail if PostgreSQL isn’t available when the process starts. This is where the second important feature of the CloudBees Docker Pipeline plugin comes into effect: the ability to run a container in the "background." node( ' docker ' ) { // .. 'stage' steps removed /* Pull the latest `postgres` container and run it in the background */ docker.image( ' postgres ' ).withRun { container -> (1) echo " PostgreSQL running in container ${ container.id } " (2) } (3) } 1 Run the container, effectively docker run postgres 2 Any number of steps can go inside the closure 3 When the closure completes, the container will be destroyed. Running the tests Combining these two snippets of Jenkins Pipeline is, in my opinion, where the power of the DSL shines: node( ' docker ' ) { docker.image( ' postgres ' ).withRun { container -> docker.image( ' rtyler/rvm:2.3.0 ' ).inside( " --link= ${ container.id } :postgres " ) { (1) stage ' Install Gems ' rvm " bundle install " stage ' Invoke Rake ' withEnv([ ' DATABASE_URL=postgres://postgres@postgres:5432/ ' ]) { (2) rvm " bundle exec rake " } junit ' spec/reports/*.xml ' (3) } } } 1 By passing the --link argument, the Docker daemon will allow the RVM container to talk to the PostgreSQL container under the host name 'postgres'. 2 Use the withEnv step to set environment variables for everything that is in the closure. In this case, the cfp-app DB scaffolding will look for the DATABASE_URL variable to override the DB host/user/dbname defaults. 3 Archive the test reports generated by ci_reporter so that Jenkins can display test reports and trend analysis. With this done, the basics are in place to consistently run the tests for cfp-app in fresh Docker containers for each execution of the pipeline. Security scanning Using Brakeman, the security scanner for Ruby on Rails, is almost trivially easy inside of Jenkins Pipeline, thanks to the Brakeman plugin which implements the publishBrakeman step. Building off our example above, we can implement the "Security scan" stage: node( ' docker ' ) { /* --8<--8<-- snipsnip --8<--8<-- */ stage ' Security scan ' rvm ' brakeman -o brakeman-output.tabs --no-progress --separate-models ' (1) publishBrakeman ' brakeman-output.tabs ' (2) /* --8<--8<-- snipsnip --8<--8<-- */ } 1 Run the Brakeman security scanner for Rails and store the output for later in brakeman-output.tabs 2 Archive the reports generated by Brakeman so that Jenkins can display detailed reports with trend analysis. As of this writing, there is work in progress (JENKINS-31202) to render trend graphs from plugins like Brakeman on a pipeline project’s main page. Deploying the good stuff Once the tests and security scanning are all working properly, we can start to set up the deployment stage. Jenkins Pipeline provides the variable currentBuild which we can use to determine whether our pipeline has been successful thus far or not. This allows us to add the logic to only deploy when everything is passing, as we would expect: node( ' docker ' ) { /* --8<--8<-- snipsnip --8<--8<-- */ stage ' Deploy ' if (currentBuild.result == ' SUCCESS ' ) { (1) sh ' ./deploy.sh ' (2) } else { mail subject : " Something is wrong with ${ env.JOB_NAME } ${ env.BUILD_ID } " , to : ' nobody@example.com ' , body : ' You should fix it ' } /* --8<--8<-- snipsnip --8<--8<-- */ } 1 currentBuild has the result property which would be 'SUCCESS' , 'FAILED' , 'UNSTABLE' , 'ABORTED' 2 Only if currentBuild.result is successful should we bother invoking our deployment script (e.g. git push heroku master ) Wrap up I have gratuitously commented the full Jenkinsfile which I hope is a useful summation of the work outlined above. Having worked on a number of Rails applications in the past, the consistency provided by Docker and Jenkins Pipeline above would have definitely improved those projects' delivery times. There is still room for improvement however, which is left as an exercise for the reader. Such as: preparing new containers with all their dependencies built-in instead of installing them at run-time. Or utilizing the parallel step for executing RSpec across multiple Jenkins agents simultaneously. The beautiful thing about defining your continuous delivery, and continuous security, pipeline in code is that you can continue to iterate on it! |
There is a true law, a right reason, conformable to nature, universal, unchangeable, eternal, whose commands urge us to duty, and whose prohibitions restrain us from evil. Whether it enjoins or forbids, the good respect its injunctions, and the wicked treat them with indifference. This law cannot be contradicted by any other law, and is not liable either to derogation or abrogation. Neither the senate nor the people can give us any dispensation for not obeying this universal law of justice. It needs no other expositor and interpreter than our own conscience. It is not one thing at Rome and another at Athens; one thing today and another tomorrow; but in all times and nations this universal law must for ever reign, eternal and imperishable. It is the sovereign master and emperor of all beings. God himself is its author,—its promulgator,—its enforcer. He who obeys it not, flies from himself, and does violence to the very nature of man. For his crime he must endure the severest penalties hereafter, even if he avoid the usual misfortunes of the present life. – Marcus Tullius Cicero There’s been a lot going on this week, so it’s unsurprising that an extremely important vote in Congress failed to get the attention it deserves. What I’m referring to is the recent Russia/Iran/North Korea sanctions bill passed by the House of Representatives in a frighteningly lopsided 419-3 vote. Let’s turn to Bloomberg for a quick analysis on the Russian reaction: Russia threatened to retaliate against new sanctions passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, saying they made it all but impossible to achieve the Trump administration’s goal of improved relations. The measures push U.S.-Russia ties into uncharted territory and “don’t leave room for the normalization of relations” in the foreseeable future, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Wednesday, according to the Interfax news service. Hope “is dying” for improved relations because the scale of “the anti-Russian consensus in Congress makes dialogue impossible and for a long time,” Konstantin Kosachyov, chairman of the international affairs committee in Russia’s upper house of parliament, said on Facebook. Russia should prepare a response to the sanctions that’s “painful for the Americans,” he said. The bill, passed by a vote of 419-3 on Tuesday, would strengthen sanctions against Russia less than three weeks after President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin held their first official meeting at the Group of 20 summit. The measure, which now goes to the Senate, would let Congress block any effort by Trump to unilaterally weaken sanctions imposed under the Obama administration for Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential elections and its support for separatists in Ukraine. The White House has sent mixed signals about whether Trump will sign the bill. U.S. Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday that senators want to examine North Korea sanctions added to the bill by the House. If senators insist on changes to the bill, passage could be delayed, possibly until September, when lawmakers return from a recess. “We all want this to become law before we leave here for the recess,” Corker told reporters in Washington. He added: “The White House doesn’t like this bill. The State Department doesn’t like this bill. This bill is going to become law, OK.” The sanctions are “pretty sad from the viewpoint of Russian-American relations and prospects for developing them, and no less depressing from the perspective of international law and international trade,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday on a conference call. Putin will decide on a response if the bill becomes law, he said. Trump will sign the law because “he’s a prisoner of Congress and anti-Russian hysteria,” Alexei Pushkov, a senator in Russia’s upper house of parliament, said on Twitter. The sanctions are “a new stage of confrontation,” he said. Russia has prepared “economic and political measures that will be adopted if the Senate and Trump support the bill,” said Vladimir Dzhabarov, deputy chairman of the international affairs committee in the upper house, the RIA Novosti news service reported. Relations with the U.S. “are at such a low level that we have nothing to lose” by retaliating, he said. To summarize, the entire House of Representatives other than three Republicans, Justin Amash of Michigan, Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and John Duncan of Tennessee, voted for this thing. Not a single Democrat voted against the sanctions. We supposedly live in a “representative democracy,” but 99% of our so-called representatives voted for this bill. Does this really represent the will of 99% of the public? These are the kind of numbers you’d expect to see in totalitarian states, and the ironic thing is the vote was driven by a desire to put a stop to supposedly fascist Trump. We’ve got much bigger problems than Trump. Michael Tracey put it perfectly on Twitter earlier today: The complete conformity of views in the political/media class re: sanctions — virtually no dissent at all — should be a major warning sign — Michael Tracey (@mtracey) July 26, 2017 As troubling as the bill is for relations with nuclear armed Russia where tensions are already high, the response from European allies is arguably more concerning. As much as I hate to quote CNN, it actually published a pretty good article on the subject. Here’s some of it: The European Union has delivered a stern warning to the US over a plan to impose new sanctions on Russia, opening up the prospect of a rift between the two allies over how to deal with Moscow’s foreign interventions. EU President Jean-Claude Juncker said the bloc would act “within days” if it does not receive reassurances on the potential impact of new sanctions on European interests. The EU has previously coordinated with the US over sanctions in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. But it fears the latest measures could hit companies that are involved in the financing of a controversial new pipeline, Nord Stream 2, that would carry natural gas from Russia to Germany. Juncker said the bill could have “unintended unilateral effects” on the EU’s energy security. “This is why the Commission concluded today that if our concerns are not taken into account sufficiently, we stand ready to act appropriately within a matter of days,” Juncker said. “America first cannot mean that Europe’s interests come last.” Germany, which strongly backs the new pipeline, said it was concerned over the sanctions. It would be “unacceptable for the United States to use possible sanctions as an instrument to serve the interests of US industry policies,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schäfer said Wednesday. France called the US bill “unlawful” due to its “extraterritorial reach,” saying it could impact Europeans if enacted. “We have challenged similar texts in the past,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “To protect ourselves against the extraterritorial effects of US legislation, we will have to work on adjusting our French and European laws.” The European Union expressed frustration that it had not been consulted over the new proposals. “New sanctions should always be coordinated between allies,” EU President Jean-Claude Juncker said in a statement. The EU and the US imposed coordinated sanctions in 2014 over Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. President Barack Obama imposed further sanctions in late 2016 over alleged interference in the 2016 US election. Sanctions were also imposed under the 2012 Magnitsky Act, which targets Russians whom the US considers human rights abusers. These are major EU allies furious with this bill, which makes you ask the obvious followup question. Did 99% of the House of Representatives not realize the implications of what they were voting for in their blind rage against Russia? If so, these people are extremely dangerous and have no business making important decisions for 320 million of us. This is exactly how empires implode. Corrupt, power-drunk , disconnected elites living in an echo chamber of hubris always destroy everything in their path at the end of a geopolitical cycle. First they lose the trust of their own people (this has already happened), and then they lose the trust of their allies. This last part is happening rapidly and it’s moving much faster than even I imagined. Unless something major changes we have to assume the U.S. empire is going down, and need to start thinking about what a post-imperial America can look like. There are countless dangers in such a scenario, but also many opportunities for a vastly improved and freer society. If you liked this article and enjoy my work, consider becoming a monthly Patron, or visit our Support Page to show your appreciation for independent content creators. In Liberty, Michael Krieger Donate bitcoins: Like this post?Donate bitcoins: 3J7D9dqSMo9HnxVeyHou7HJQGihamjYQMN Follow me on Twitter. |
MADISON, Wis. (WMTV)---Police are investigating an attempted homicide on the city’s east side that happened on Tuesday night. According to the Madison Police Department, a 14-year-old Madison boy suffered non-life threatening injuries as a result of this shooting. He has been treated and released from a local hospital. Police believe this was not a random act, but that the victim was not the intended target of the shooting. The shooting happened in the 3100 block of Webb Avenue just before 9:00 p.m. People in the community gathered for an event to help stop the violence in Madison just hours before. "No more than an hour ago we had 300 people in a community gathering, women, children, it was a beautiful event. As soon as I was about to leave, ten minutes later there was a shooting, it's just mind boggling." said Caliph Muab'El, a member from the Focused Interruption Coalition. Anyone with information about this incident is being asked to call Madison Area Crime Stoppers at (608) 266-6014. Copyright 2017: WMTV ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MADISON, Wis. (WMTV) - A spokesperson from Focused Interruption Coalition said a teen was shot on Madison's east side during a drive-by shooting. Caliph Muab'El, a member of the coalition, said seven to 8 shots were fired from 2 different guns Tuesday night. Our NBC15 crew on the scene reported seeing multiple police cars near the intersection of Darbo Drive and Rosemary Avenue. Witnesses reported hearing several shots. A community gathering was held at the Darbo Worthington Park earlier Tuesday evening. The event was aimed to bring youth together to help stop the rise in gun violence across the city. Stay with NBC15 for the latest developments. Copyright: WMTV 2017 |
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form. AMY GOODMAN: “Anda,” music by the pianist, arranger and composer Bebo Valdés. He died Friday at the age of 94. The son of a cigar factory worker and grandson of a slave, he studied classical music at the Conservatorio Municipal in Havana and became a favorite collaborator with the great Cuban singers of his era, including Beny Moré and Pío Leyva and Orlando Cascarita Guerra, along with Americans such as Woody Herman and Nat King Cole, was considered a giant during the golden age of Cuban music. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and Peace Report. Our guest is Richard Wolff, a professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, now at New School University, author of a number of books, including Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism. I want to talk about austerity here at home. This is House Speaker John Boehner speaking last month defending the $85 billion budget sequester cuts that took effect on March 1st. HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER: The American people know, the president gets more money, they’re just going to spend it. And the fact is, is that he’s gotten his tax hikes. It’s time to focus on the real problem here in Washington, and that is spending. AMY GOODMAN: House Speaker John Boehner. Professor Richard Wolff, your response? And also, that the Obama administration was warning catastrophe if sequestration took place. It took place. RICHARD WOLFF: Well, it’s a stunning comment on our dysfunctional government built on top of a dysfunctional economy. Here we are in the middle of a crisis. We have millions of people without work, millions of people losing their homes, an economy that doesn’t work for the vast majority. The United States government is one of the major customers for goods and services in America. Sequestration is simply a cutback in government spending. It doesn’t take rocket science to understand that if the government, as the largest single buyer of goods and services, cuts back on the goods and services it buys, that means companies across America will sell less, and they’ll have less need of workers, and they will lay off workers. So, this is an act that worsens an unemployment that is already severe. If you put that together with the tax increase on January 1st—and let me say a word about that. We heard a lot of public debate about taxing rich people, not taxing rich people, Republicans and Democrats, but the tax on the wealthy is small compared to the tax on the middle and lower incomes that went up on January 1st. When we raised the payroll tax here in America from 4.2 to 6.2 percent, we raised over $125 billion—huge amount of money, much more than was raised by taxing the rich—and we savaged the middle- and lower-income groups in America, those that in the presidential election both candidates had sworn to save and support. We attacked them, thereby limiting their capacity to buy goods and services because we taxed them more. You put together the taxing of the middle and lower incomes with the cutbacks of government spending, and you’re going to do what every European country that has imposed austerity has already discovered: You’re making the problem worse. So with all the homilies that Mr. Boehner can put out there about how spending is a problem, this abstract idea doesn’t change the fact you’re making the economic conditions of the mass of people worse by these austerity steps, not better. And that ought to be put as the fire burning at the feet of politicians, so they stop talking these abstractions and deal with the reality of what they’re doing. AMY GOODMAN: So what do you think needs to be done? RICHARD WOLFF: A radical change in the policies. And I think it has to go far beyond simply reversing this austerity program, which, again, just for a word about history, back in the 1930s, the last time we had a breakdown of our capitalist system like this, we didn’t have austerity, we didn’t have cutbacks. We had the opposite. Roosevelt, in the middle of the '30s, created the Social Security system, went to everybody over 65 and said, “I'm going to give you a check for the rest of your life.” He created the unemployment compensation system, giving all the unemployed for the first time checks every week for a year or two. And he created a public employment program and hired millions of workers. It’s the opposite of austerity. So any politician who says, “We must do this, because there’s no option,” has forgotten even the American history of not that long ago. So, the first thing I would do is go in that direction—not austerity, but its opposite. But I want to go further, because I think our problem is deeper. This crisis wasn’t supposed to happen. When it happened, it wasn’t supposed to last a long time. All of that has been proven false. The problems run deep. And I think what we have to do, and what that book tries to do, is to talk about reorganizing our economy so that for the first time we can say we’re not only going to get out of this crisis, we’re taking the kinds of steps that can prevent us from having them over and over again as our unstable business-cycle-ridden economy keeps imposing on us. So, for me, it’s the more profound change that we finally have to face, painful as it is. After 50 years of a country unwilling to face these questions, I think we need basic change. And that’s what I spend most of my time stressing. AMY GOODMAN: Before we talk about the basic change, “democracy at work,” as you put it— RICHARD WOLFF: Right. AMY GOODMAN: —what could Obama do without congressional support right now? RICHARD WOLFF: Well, I think, in many ways, he could initiate a public employment program. I think it’s long overdue that he find all the ways available to him to say what Roosevelt said—and not that Roosevelt did everything correctly, and not that he’s a genius or any of that, but to take some lessons from those people in our country before who took steps that were successful. AMY GOODMAN: I mean, Roosevelt didn’t plan on doing this when he first took office. RICHARD WOLFF: Absolutely. He had pressure from below. The CIO, the biggest union-organizing drive in American history, never had anything that successful before. AMY GOODMAN: As in AFL-CIO. RICHARD WOLFF: That’s right. And with the socialist and communist parties, who were strong at that time, working with them, they organized millions of Americans into unions who had never joined a union before, and they pushed from below in a very powerful way. And they changed Mr. Roosevelt, showing that politicians, if subject to pressure from below, can change—same lesson that Cyprus has just taught us yet again. So, my response is: Learn from that. Roosevelt went on the radio to the American people and said, basically, “If the private sector either cannot or will not provide work for the millions of Americans that need and want to work, then it’s my job as president to do it.” And he did it. And I think Mr. Obama could and should overcome whatever has made him hesitate. We in this country not only don’t have a federal employment program, the Republicans and Democrats haven’t even put it on the floor to debate it as an important issue, even though it comes out of our own history. So I would say, put us—put our people to work. They want to work. The Federal Reserve says 20 percent of our tools, equipment, factory and office space is sitting idle, unused. So we have the people who want to work; we have the tools, equipment and raw materials for them to work with. And lord knows we need the wealth they could produce. Put them to work, and make it a national issue that that happen. AMY GOODMAN: Where does the money come from? RICHARD WOLFF: Well, Roosevelt went to the wealthy, and he went to the corporations, and he said to them, “You must give me the money to take care of the mass of people, because if you don’t, we’re going to have a catastrophe in this country. We’re going to have a social revolution.” My argument is, let’s go back to the same tax rates that Roosevelt imposed, or at least in that neighborhood, which is much higher on wealthy people and much higher on corporations than we have today. That’s what he did. That’s how he funded it. And in case our politicians are worried, let’s remind them: Mr. Roosevelt, who took those daring steps, was re-elected to be president four consecutive times, the most popular president in American history. It’s not a dead-end political decision. It’s the best decision a president could make to leave his legacy in history, that, we are told, our presidents care so much about. AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to Richard Wolff, author of Democracy at Work. Again, before we talk about “democracy at work,” I wanted to go to a recent hearing in Washington. Executives with the banking giant JPMorgan Chase appeared before a Senate panel earlier this month to answer questions around so-called “London Whale trades” that cost the bank more than $6 billion and derailed financial markets worldwide. This is Arizona Republican Senator John McCain criticizing JPMorgan’s actions. SEN. JOHN McCAIN: JPMorgan completely disregarded risk limits and stonewalled federal regulators. It is unsettling that a group of traders made reckless decisions with federally insured money and that all of this was done with the full awareness of top officials at JPMorgan. This bank appears to have entertained—indeed, embraced—the idea that it was, quote, “too big to fail.” AMY GOODMAN: Ashley Bacon, JPMorgan’s interim chief risk officer, testified at the same hearing. ASHLEY BACON: I don’t think it is too big to fail. I think there’s further work that needs to be done to demonstrate and document that, and it’s in process. I’m not leading that process or deeply involved in it, but I think it is—it’s something that needs to be demonstrated to everybody’s satisfaction. AMY GOODMAN: That was Ashley Bacon, JPMorgan’s interim chief risk officer. Can you explain what took place here and what is happening? RICHARD WOLFF: Yes. On the question of “too big to fail,” there really isn’t much to say. In 2008, our banks failed—all of them—the way the Cyprus banks failed and for very similar reasons. They took in a lot of depositors’ money, and they made risky bets they shouldn’t have made, and they failed, and so they didn’t have the money to honor their obligations, and they turned to the government for a bailout. And when the government hesitated, because it’s public money to bail out a privately failed bank, they were told, in another kind of blackmail, “We’re too big to fail. If you don’t bail us out, we will collapse and take the entire economy with us.” And that was a persuasive argument. Particularly after they allowed Lehman Brothers to fail and that nearly did take the economy with it, that was a convincing argument. You would have thought they had then learned the lesson about the problem of a too-big-to-fail financial institution. If you thought that, you would have been wrong, because the same banks that were too big to fail in 2008 are, all of them, bigger today. So we didn’t learn the lesson. We didn’t break up the banks. We didn’t limit, control their growth. They’re bigger now than they were then. And in a sense, maybe shame on them the first time, but having allowed this to happen, it’s shame on us. Number two, we seem to need, as a nation, to believe that we have the power to control, limit or regulate, whether it’s the Glass-Steagall Act that came out of our disaster of the 1930s or the Dodd-Frank Act, which came out of the disaster that started in 2008. We seem to want to believe we can leave in place private banks, no matter how big they are, and hedge them about with regulations. The proof of the Whale trades in London, the proof of everything we know, is that these banks have the money, the staff, the resources to work their way around the regulations at least as fast as we impose them on them. That’s what these hearings fundamentally show. They can make trades that are too risky. They can lose wild amounts of money. They can turn to the government and demand to be helped and bailed out each time. And they get it. We are telling them, in a classic example, “Look, do whatever you want. You don’t have any risk of fundamental failure and punishment.” Regulation doesn’t work, because we believe in place an entity, a large corporation, with the money and the incentives to get around it. AMY GOODMAN: Interestingly, Jamie Dimon, the head of JPMorgan Chase, did not testify. He was brought before the Senate, what, about last June, where the senators were asking him for advice. And then, when you looked at the senators on the Senate committee and how much money JPMorgan Chase had given each of them, we’re talking about millions of dollars went to many of them. RICHARD WOLFF: When I say that the big corporations, particularly the banks, have the resources and the incentives, I’m being polite. Yeah, part of the resources are going into literally making sure that the political regulator is a good friend and understands the complexities. In simple English, they are buying their way into the situation we watch, which is: “We will pretend to be regretful. You will pretend to be protecting the public. You will make regulations that we help you write so that we can get around them.” It is something that ought not to be allowed to continue, because we’re living the economic crisis that comes from that way of doing business. AMY GOODMAN: What lessons have been learned since 2008? And today, could the U.S. see the same situation as Cyprus? RICHARD WOLFF: Absolutely. We have banks that are literally telling us, because we know from our controls that they are trying, even, to regenerate it. They’re trying to get people to borrow more money again. We’re not changing the wage structure of America, which means that Americans are required to go into debt to supplement their wages. You know, the irony is, we are trying, in the language of some of these folks, to kickstart our economy, to get it going again. But the problem is, our economy was a train heading into a stone wall in the first years of this century, and if we get our economy going again, without fundamental changes, what we’re doing is putting that same train back on the track heading towards the same wall. Cyprus shows us what’s happening. But we don’t have to take just small countries. Take Great Britain, our classic ally. Their economy is now in the second or, in some people’s minds, the third recession within the crisis since 2007. They are following an austerity problem—process exactly like that supported by Mr. Boehner, and the economic downturn in Great Britain is catastrophic for that society. And so, we have this image of a future for us, if we don’t make fundamental change, but everyone wants to put it away and pretend that we can let it go by itself or a few regulations will solve the problem. They haven’t. They’re not doing it now elsewhere. That’s not a strategy we should pursue in this country, either. AMY GOODMAN: When we come back, we’ll talk to Professor Richard Wolff about the alternatives, about, well, what he’s put forward, Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism. This is Democracy Now! We’ll be back with Professor Wolff in a minute. [break] AMY GOODMAN: We continue with Richard Wolff, professor emeritus of economics at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, visiting professor at New School University here in New York, does a weekly program on WBAI in New York called Economic Update every Saturday at noon. His latest book is Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism. So what exactly do you mean by this? RICHARD WOLFF: What I mean is a change in the enterprises that produce the goods and services we all depend on and provide the jobs we all need and want. I think those have to be, in a fundamental way, democratized. So let me begin in that way. We live in a country that says it goes to war around the world to bring democracy and that its central, most important political value is democracy. If you believe that—and I am a fervent supporter of democracy, and obviously you are—you’ve named your program that way—then we ought to have democracy in the place where we as adults spend most of our time. Five out of seven days we go to work. We walk into a place where we use our brains and our muscles eight or more hours, five out of seven days. If democracy is an important value, it ought to be right there, first and foremost. But we don’t. We basically have a situation where, for most of us, we go to work in a place where the decisions that are made are made by a tiny group of people. The major shareholders who own the block of shares in our system select a board of directors, 15 to 20 people, and they make the basic decisions: what to produce, how to produce it, where to produce it, and what to do with the profits. The rest of us must live with the results of that decision. So if that tiny group of people make a decision to close the factory in Cincinnati or the office in Atlanta and move to Shanghai, the chips fall where they may. If they decide to use a toxic technology that’s not good for the air and water but is good for the profits, they do, we live with the results. And when they decide to take the profits of their business and to give enormous pay packages to a handful of top executives and big dividend payouts to their shareholders, which of course they do, since they’re in a position to do it, and the rest of us suddenly have to take out absurd debts to get our kids through college, then that’s the inequality of income and wealth that we have in America. So, I look at this decision-making apparatus, I say, “Why are we surprised that they make the decisions the way we do—they do?” We all live with the results, and we have no say in how those decisions are made. It’s not democratic. That’s the first thing. But the second thing is, we’re now in five years of economic crisis that indicate that way of organizing the decisions doesn’t work for the mass of people. It works for them. The stock market’s back. The profits of big corporations are back—surprise, surprise—given who makes the decisions. But we are left. And so, for me, the solution is, let’s face this. Let’s build an option, a real choice for Americans, between working in a non-democratic, top-down-organized capitalist enterprise or in what, for lack of a better term, we can call “cooperatives,” workplaces that are organized democratically. I think we’ll have less inequality of income, we will have less pollution of our environment, and we’ll have less loss of jobs out of the country, if those decisions were made by the people, as they should have been from the beginning, who will not make the kinds of decisions that got us into the mess of economic crisis that we’re in now. AMY GOODMAN: In June, you wrote a piece, Richard Wolff, in The Guardian called “Yes, There is an Alternative to Capitalism: Mondragon Shows the Way.” Mondragon, Spain’s renowned co-op where all enterprise is owned and directed by co-op members. At the Green Party’s convention last year, the keynote speaker, Gar Alperovitz, said the Mondragon model is being replicated here in the United States. I want to just turn to a clip of what Gar Alperovitz said, the professor of political economy at the University of Maryland. GAR ALPEROVITZ: So, in Ohio, the idea of worker ownership is a bigger idea. Lots of people understand it. And in Cleveland, building on the Mondragon model—some of you know about the Mondragon model—and other ideas, there are a series of worker-owned, integrated co-ops in Cleveland in a neighborhood where the average income is $18,000 per family. And they have got these co-ops, not just standing alone, but linked together with a nonprofit corporation and a revolving fund. The idea is to build the community and worker ownership, not just make a couple workers richer, to say the least, not rich, but to build a whole community, and to use the purchasing power of hospitals and universities—tax money in there—Medicare, Medicaid, education money, buy from these guys, and build the community. That model—and it’s the greenest for—one of the things is the greenest laundry in that part of the country, that uses about a third of the heat and about a third of the electricity and about a third of the water. They’re on track now to put in more solar capacity that exists—one of the other worker-owned companies—that exists in the entire state of Ohio. These are not little, dinky co-ops. AMY GOODMAN: That was Gar Alperovitz talking about the Mondragon model here. And when we were in Spain, Democracy Now! went to Mondragon and interviewed one of the cooperative members, and we’ll link to that at democracynow.org [ Click here to watch the interview with Mikel Lezamiz, director of Cooperative Dissemination at the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation in Spain’s Basque Country. ] But, Richard Wolff, talk about that model and what’s happening here. RICHARD WOLFF: Well, the model of Mondragon is so interesting, not only because it’s a real co-op, where the workers make the decisions—what to produce, how, where, what to do with the profits. And just to mention one of their achievements, they have a rule that the highest-paid worker cannot get more than a maximum of eight times the lowest. In our society, it’s typical in our large corporations that the CEO gets 300 to 400 times what the lowest worker. So, for those of us that are interested in a less unequal society than what we have here in America, the lesson is, if you cooperatize your enterprise, that’s a sure route to get there. And we haven’t found any other route that is just as effective. So, the importance of Mondragon is, they start in the middle of the 1950s with a Catholic priest, Father Arizmendi—I always have to remember it—with six workers in the north of Spain, desperately trying to overcome the unemployment there. And here we are over a half a century later. Having to compete with countless capitalist enterprises, they won that competition. Trying to grow, they have a growth record that would be the envy of any capitalist corporation. They went from six workers in 1956 to 120,000 workers today in Spain. AMY GOODMAN: And they are making? RICHARD WOLFF: And they are making everything. They make dishwashers. They make clothes washers. They raise rabbits on farms. They do high-tech research, together with General Motors and Microsoft as some of their partners there. They do an immense array. They’re really a family of 200 to 300 co-ops that are united within the Mondragon cooperative corporation. So they’ve shown the ability to grow. They’ve shown the ability to adapt. They’ve shown their competitive power. They have—excuse me, they’ve shown all the different ways that a corporation can develop without a top-down hierarchical, undemocratic structure. So we don’t have to choose between effectiveness, growth, job, security, and a cooperative structure. The cooperative structure can be a way to get there. Here in the United States, we have lots of such co-ops developing. There’s one even named after Father Arizmendi in California in the Bay Area. There are six Arizmendi bakeries and coffee shops that were set up on that model. They started with one; they’re now six. Hint: They’ve grown. And you can do this. And all over the United States, there are these efforts, often done by people who want a different kind of life. They want to be in charge of their own job. They want to have a sense of control and a sense that they’re not just a drone doing the work, but they’re part of the folks who design and direct. It brings out new capacities. It makes you more happier to go to work. It’s a more satisfying job life than you would otherwise have. So I think it recommends itself on all kinds of levels. One other example, we can learn something from a country called Italy that we admire for its cuisine and its lovely countryside. They have a law there, passed in 1985, called the Marcora Law after the name of the legislator. Here’s what it does. It offers a choice to unemployed workers. You can take a dole every week, an unemployment check, the way we do in this country, or you have an option, an option B that we don’t have. If you get at least nine other workers to make the—unemployed workers, like yourself, to make the following choice, here’s what you can get. As a lump sum, you can get your entire unemployment program of two years of checks in your hands right at the beginning; you have to have nine other workers or more, and you have to use that money as the start-up capital for a cooperative enterprise. The idea of the Italian government was, if we give workers this to set up a job and an enterprise, they will be much more committed to it than they would if they didn’t have that role. AMY GOODMAN: How do they know they’ll do it? RICHARD WOLFF: They don’t. But they know those workers have an incentive, because if they don’t make that work, they can’t go back and collect unemployment. That’s what they got. The government doesn’t spend much more money than it would have anyway, but it creates jobs, and it creates workers committed, because it’s their enterprise, to make that work as their personal solution and as a way not only for them to survive, but for the whole of the Italian society for the first time to see what it’s like to have an enterprise where you run the affair. You know, here in America, we want to believe in freedom of choice. Let’s give our people freedom of choice. They can have the choice to go work in a top-down, capitalist enterprise—what we’re used to—but if we develop the alternative, really a program of co-ops around the country, then American young people and older people could say, “What would it be like to work there? Let’s see what that’s like.” And then we would have the choice we do not have in this country now. AMY GOODMAN: Professor Wolff, before we end, I want to turn back to the crisis in Cyprus and relate it to what’s happening here. Bill O’Reilly of Fox News warned his audience last week that Cyprus and other European countries are facing economic hardships because they’re so-called “nanny states.” BILL O’REILLY: Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, now Cyprus, all broke. And other European nations are close. Why? Because they’re nanny states, and there are not enough workers to support all the entitlements these progressive paradises are handing out. AMY GOODMAN: That’s Bill O’Reilly of Fox News. Richard? RICHARD WOLFF: You know, he gets away with saying things which no undergraduate in the United States with a responsible economic professor could ever get away with. If you want to refer to things as nanny states, then the place you go in Europe is not the southern tier—Portugal, Spain and Italy; the place you go are Germany and Scandinavia, because they provide more social services to their people than anybody else. And guess what: Not only are they not in trouble economically, they are the winners of the current situation. The unemployment rate in Germany is now below 5 percent. Ours is pushing between 7 and 8 percent. So, please, get your facts right, Mr. O’Reilly. The nanny state, you call it, the program of countries like Germany and Scandinavia, who tax their people heavily, by all means, but who provide them with social services that would be the envy of the United States—a national health program that takes care of you, whether you’re employed or not, and gives you proper healthcare. In France, for example, the law says when you go to work, you get five weeks’ paid vacation. That’s not an option; that’s the law. You get support when you’re a new parent for your child care and so forth. They provide services. And they are successful in Germany and Scandinavia, much more than we are in the United States and much more than those countries in the south. So they’re not broken, the south, because they’re nanny states, since the nanny states, par excellence, are doing better than everyone. The actual truth of Mr. O’Reilly is the opposite of what he says. The more you do nanny state, the better off you are during a crisis and to minimize the cost of the crisis. That’s what the European economic situation actually teaches. He’s just making it up as he goes along to conform to an ideological position that is harder and harder for folks like him to sustain, so he has to reach further and further into fantasy. AMY GOODMAN: In our last minute, other cures for capitalism, as you put it? RICHARD WOLFF: Well, I think that there’s a set of fundamental reorganizations. When you have a private banking system in the United States, the way we did up until, say, the 1970s and '80s, you had it in a position relative to the economy that made a certain sense. But over the last 30 and 40 years, for a whole host of reasons, we have made debt a central part of the economy. Today it is not unusual for a person who goes into a grocery store to get a bottle of water to use a credit card, basically to make a loan in order to buy that bottle of water. Everything that consumers do is now mediated by debt. Everything corporations do, and as we look around the world, the governments are in debt. Debt is everywhere. It has become the water we swim in, the air we breathe. That puts the banks in an unbelievably powerful position, because they're the repository of the means to borrow. If we’re going to make an economy dependent on debt, we can’t leave the power to control that— AMY GOODMAN: We have 10 seconds. RICHARD WOLFF: —in the private hands of banks. Either we don’t become a debt-ridden country, or we make borrowing and lending a social program. We can’t allow private banking. It doesn’t work. It needs to be changed. AMY GOODMAN: Richard Wolff, I want to thank you for being with us. If you’d like a copy of today’s show, you can go to our website at democracynow.org. Richard Wolff is professor emeritus at University of Massachusetts, teaches at New School University. |
It’s that time of year again folks. Time to be thankful for friends, family and the fact that your knee hasn’t popped yet this year (yes, there’s still time). Also it’s time for some sweet, sweet Jiu-Jitsu & MMA related Black Friday deals. Check out our deals below and grab a bargain! If you have a Black Friday deal, please click the link to email me here. Thanks! 2018 BJJ Black Friday Deals MMA Warehouse Everything Must Go Sale – Click Here BJJ Fanatics 40% off with code BLACKFRIDAY18 Digitsu Black Friday Sale TBA Scramble Buy 1 item – 10% off Buy 2 items – 20% off Buy 3 items – 30% off Buy 4 items – 40% off Tatami Fightwear 30% off sitewide & Free bag over £80 Fighters Market EU 25% off Storewide, up to -60% off selected lines. Kingz Europe 25% off Storewide, Black Friday special rashguard release. 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A visualisation of the light rail system. Sydney Transport will completely overhaul its 60-year-old bus network ahead of construction for the planned light rail on the city’s busiest street, George Street. As of today, Transport NSW has released a new redesigned bus network which will see new routes, timetables and bus stops changing. The NSW government’s decision to bring forward the proposed construction, in an attempt to complete the low impact works before the Christmas and Boxing Day period, will result in a significant adjustment for the 600,000 daily commuters who work in, or pass through, the CBD. During the overhaul, Elizabeth, Castlereagh, Park, Druitt, Clarence and York Street will take priority over new bus routes with no buses operating on George Street during and after construction of the South East Light Rail, Sydney Transport confirmed. Transport minister Andrew Constance said “Sydney will be changed forever”, offering advice to those heading into the city tomorrow: “Try and get to work earlier if you can. Try to leave work later, or leave work earlier. Particularly over the next three to four weeks.” It is estimated that 45% fewer buses will be travelling through Sydney’s CBD. Transport NSW will attempt to make the transition for commuters as seamless as possible, with staff and signage positioned throughout the business district. Information regarding trip planners, departure times and updated timetables can be found at www.transportnsw.info. Construction for the light rail is expected to take nine months and is scheduled to be fully operational in 2018. Business Insider Emails & Alerts Site highlights each day to your inbox. Email Address Join Follow Business Insider Australia on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. |
When three men were arrested for robbing a drug dealer in Tallahassee, Florida, in 2013, prosecutors seemed to have a slam dunk case. As The Washington Post reported, Tadrae McKenzie and his friends used BB guns to rob a drug dealer, taking $130 worth of marijuana and his cellphone. A few days later the local police tracked them down and charged them with possession as well as armed robbery with a deadly weapon. During the trial, the defense raised questions about how the police were able to locate the suspects so quickly, but the police and prosecution refused to answer. The judge ordered them to disclose the information, but instead of complying, the prosecution offered the defendants a plea bargain. McKenzie and his friends could have spent anywhere from three to 30 years in jail for their crime. Instead, the three men received probation with no jail time. As Cato Institute policy analyst Adam Bates pointed out during a panel discussion yesterday, the reason for the discrepancy was that the police and prosecution were unwilling to admit they had used a surveillance tool called a "Stingray" to find the criminals. Stingrays mimic the signal of a cellular tower and lure nearby mobile phones to connect to their fake network. Through this connection, law enforcement can track the cellphone's location and even download its content. The device allowed cops in Tallahassee to locate the three robbers with ease by tracking the drug dealer's stolen phone—but when faced with the necessity of acknowledging the technology's existence and explaining in court how it was used, the government's lawyers opted to drop the case rather than speak candidly. "Through the use of nondisclosure agreements, a refusal to honor freedom of information requests, and deceit toward courts and the public, the full capabilities of these devices, the extent of their use by law enforcement, and the existence of policies to govern their use remain secret," Bates writes in a report on law enforcement use of Stingrays. The report explains that nondisclosure agreements between local law enforcement and the FBI and Harris Corp. (the manufacturer of the devices) keep the public in the dark about these cellular surveillance devices: "The government plainly views sacrificing individual prosecutions, even for serious crimes, as an acceptable price for concealing the nature of stingray surveillance," Bates argues. "The FBI's nondisclosure agreement is clear: in exchange for permission to use stingray devices, state and local officials must surrender prosecutorial discretion to the federal government." Advocates such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have tried to increase transparency about the government's use of Stingrays, with varying degrees of success. In 2014, the Florida chapter of the ACLU filed a freedom of information request and was granted access to documents about the Sarasota Police Department's use of the devices. Before the department could hand over the information, the U.S. Marshals intervened, raiding the department and seizing the requested documents. The ACLU has been able to gather some data, though. It found that at least 23 states and the District of Columbia have law enforcement deploying Stingrays. A House Oversight Committee report, published in December, found that in from fiscal year 2010 to fiscal year 2014, the Department of Justice (DOJ) spent more than $71 million to acquire and use cell-site simulators, and has 310 devices agency-wide. In the same span, the Department of Homeland Security spent more than $24 million for 124 devices for that agency. Since January 2006, the Treasury Department has spent more than $1.3 million and possess three devices. The lack of transparency and accountability has led to much concern about civil liberties violations. U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R–Utah) is planning to introduce two bills to demand more congressional oversight of how the federal government use Stingrays. Reason reporter Eric Boehm provides a more in-depth look at the proposed legislation here. |
How is it that Democrats forgot about the joys Santa Claus can bring? How is it that Republicans managed to steal the Santa idea from the party of FDR and never let go? Understanding why Bernie Sanders’s presidential candidacy is important requires revisiting the politics of St. Nick. The senator from Vermont has little chance of defeating Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. But he is reminding his party of something it often forgets: Government was once popular because it provided tangible benefits to large numbers of Americans. At a time of rising inequality and short-circuited social mobility, Sanders is unapologetic about taking some wealth and income away from those who have a lot of both to ease the path upward for those who don’t. He has proudly called himself a democratic socialist, but he doesn’t spin abstract Marxist theories. He wants government to do stuff, and the sort of stuff he has in mind is potentially quite popular. Political commentators routinely complain about politicians who are not specific enough. Sanders has more specifics than Ben and Jerry’s has ice cream flavors. He has called for $1 trillion in infrastructure investment. He wants the federal government to mandate a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour and restrict the ability of employers to declare normal employees as “managers” and thus rob them of overtime pay. He would replace our current health-care hodgepodge with a Medicare-for-all single-payer system. He thinks the government should provide free college education for all comers, arguing that the Scandinavian nations and Germany are “smart enough to understand that the future of their countries depends on the education their young people get.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a White House contender in 2016, is known for his stances on budget issues and war. Here's the Vermont senator's take on Obamacare, Social Security and more, in his own words. (Julie Percha/The Washington Post) And far from cutting Social Security, he wants to expand benefits. Why? Because the decline in employer-guaranteed pensions is leaving many of today’s retirees (and will likely leave most of tomorrow’s) without the retirement security that was once far more common. He is also big on pre-kindergarten and paid sick leave. He’d pay for his new spending with substantial tax increases on the best-off. Already, his program has come under criticism from those who say its costs are too high, that the government already spends too much on senior citizens and that providing universal benefits such as free college would assist not just the less affluent but also those who may not need much help. Of course, there are legitimate questions about his largesse. But consider what a victory it would be for those who are weary of responding defensively to the phrase “tax and spend” if the sack of proposals Sanders carries over his shoulder began to reframe the popular debate. Suddenly, the country would be asking of this or that idea: “Why not?” Nothing could be better for politics than expanding our imaginations about what we might usefully do together to solve some big problems. And far from hurting a likely Clinton general-election campaign, Sanders will help Clinton by shifting the boundaries of a public conversation dominated by a crabbed and pessimistic attitude toward what government can do. The first task before former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who entered the Democratic race on Saturday, will be to challenge Sanders for the agenda-stretching role. Which brings us back to Santa Claus. In the 1970s, champions of supply-side economics and its steep tax cuts — thinkers and publicists such as Irving Kristol, Jude Wanniski and Arthur Laffer — argued that Republicans had become dour advocates of “root canal” economics who offered nothing to bring voters good cheer. Tax cuts could be for the GOP what programs were for Democrats, and Republicans have never stopped proposing new tax cuts. Wanniski championed the “Two Santa Claus Theory.” He argued for “a division of labor between Democrats and Republicans; each must be a different kind of Santa Claus.” The Democrats, “the party of income redistribution, are best suited for the role of Spending Santa Claus. The Republicans, traditionally the party of income growth, should be the Santa Claus of Tax Reduction.” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) officially started his campaign for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination from his hometown of Burlington, Vt., saying now is the time to “end the collapse of the middle class.” (Reuters) Sure, there is a problem when it comes to deficits if one party continually spends and the other constantly cuts taxes. The supply-siders never worried about deficits very much. Sanders, at least, would answer the budget concern with new revenue. What’s valuable for progressives in the Two Santa Claus Theory is that it reminds voters that the point of tax increases is not to drag down the rich but to finance initiatives on behalf of citizens who can use some help in lifting themselves up. It also fights against a gloomy resignation that things can’t get better. Sanders, who sometimes enjoys putting on a grumpy face, is a right jolly old elf. Read more from E.J. Dionne’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. |
On the June 6 broadcast of portal site Naver V app, BEAST hosts a live broadcast during which they spill the beans on their upcoming comeback. First, the group gives an update on what they’ve been up to, “We have completed two out of 11 concerts.” The group reveals that in between concerts, they will be coming to Korea to film the music video of their new song. “We have already filmed [the music video] for one song. We are planning on filming for two songs,” they say. “In order to look good post-comeback, we are working out.” BEAST also reveals that they are aiming for a July comeback.”The choreography came out really well. I don’t know how it will come off if I put it like this, but the choreography came out really pretty.” Meanwhile, Jang Hyunseung parted ways with BEAST in April, so the group will be making a comeback as a five-member group. Source (1) (2) |
Members of the San Diego Police Department collect evidence at the scene of a fatal police officer involved shooting of a 15-year-old boy in one of the parking lots in front of Torrey Pines High School, early Saturday morning. The boy reportedly called the police and when they arrived pointed what appears to be a gun at them. (Howard Lipin/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP) SAN DIEGO (AP) — Police shot and killed a 15-year-old student Saturday after he pointed a BB gun at them in a high school parking lot, authorities said. The Torrey Pines High School student called 911 shortly before 3:30 a.m. to ask officers to check on the welfare of an unarmed boy in front of the school, according to a police statement. He didn’t name the boy, but investigators later determined he was referring to himself, police said. When two officers arrived, they spotted a youth in the front parking lot. But as they got out of their patrol cars, he pulled a gun from his waistband and pointed it at an officer, police said. The officers drew their guns and ordered him to drop the weapon. But instead he began to walk toward an officer, ignoring more demands to drop the weapon, police said. Both officers fired, hitting him several times. They performed first aid and summoned paramedics, but the teen was pronounced dead at a hospital, police said. The gun was found to be a BB air pistol. Police didn’t release the teen’s name because of his age. “Our hearts go out to the student, his family and his friends,” said a statement from Eric Dill, superintendent of the San Diego Union High School District. A crisis-response team will be on campus Monday to support students, staff and parents, Dill said. Counseling also will be available at all district schools for anyone who needs a place to talk about the shooting or “to mourn and process this tragedy,” he said. |
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It is the summer of 1989. There is a luxurious yacht full of beautiful women in the French Riviera. A polite, but straightforward, Israeli man approaches French journalist Roger Auque. Follow Ynetnews on Facebook and Twitter "My name is Amos - I'm Israeli. We have a pilot, Ron Arad is his name, that has been held captive since 1986," the Israeli man says to Auque without wasting any time on formal introductions. "We think the person who released you from captivity can help us," the Israeli man said. The Israelis, Auque reveals in a sensational autobiography released after his death, had asked to be introduced to a French businessman of Lebanese descent Iskandar Safa known as "Sandy," and in return promised Auque an interview with Sheikh Obeid, the spiritual leader of the Amal militant group based in Lebanon. Roger Auque (Photo: Abaca) Auque accepted the request and came to Israel, where Amos was waiting for him along with the Mossad agent "Tony" and Israeli diplomat Uri Lubrani. The interview with Sheikh Obeid never took place, but Auque ended up with a different story in his lap. When he returned to Paris, Auque fulfilled his part of the deal and introduced Lubani to the French businessman. "During that time I established very close ties with Israel," Auque wrote in his biography. "I would travel there a lot. I wasn't just a journalist. "The Israeli intelligence services paid me to complete certain missions, such as secret missions in Syria under the cover of a reporter. These missions were at times very dangerous, and I risked the worst, including death in the case of failure. I traveled to Damascus a number of time in order to make contact with the local elite, doctors, researchers and others – all of whom wanted to emigrate to the United States. Every time I would get the equivalent to a month's wage." Roger Auque passed away in early September as a journalist and France's Ambassador to Eritrea. He was 58 years old at the time of his death – he fought cancer, which stuck him at the beginning of his career as a diplomat in the service of the French Foreign Ministry, during the last two years of his life. Auque, a veteran combat war reporter who survived 391 days in Hezbollah captivity, decided in the last days of his life to write up his secrets, his adventures and the mysterious missions that he took part in. His services, he claimed, were not limited to the Mossad. The French intelligence services, who according to Auque knew about his work for the Israeli intelligence, also enjoyed the fruits of his labor and later on so did the CIA. In his autobiography, released two weeks ago, Auque wrote about the hardship of struggling with his captiviy even after he was set free. He also wrote of his secret daughter – Jean-Marie Le Pen's granddaughter and of the interviews he conducted with Ariel Sharon, Imad Mughniyeh and Yasser Arafat. "He knew himself that he would not reach the end of the adventure," wrote Auque's friend, Jean-Michel Verne, who helped Auque write the book, in the preface of the biography, a descendant of the legendary writer Jules Verne. "The book is pure Roger, because when a person knows he is going to die he doesn't cheat. He no longer cheats," said Verne of Auque. Auque was well known. Going by the alias Pierre Boudry, he wrote a series of reports for Yedioth Ahrnoth from Baghdad during the Second Gulf War. For years he reported for various international news outlets from war-torn areas. This is how he was taken captive in 1987 by Hezbollah, while he worked as a reporter in Beirut. Auque was held captive for a eyar. "Part of my life was stolen by violent people," Auque wrote in his biography, and described how reading was the only thing that helped him hold on. "Did I really leave the hell of captivity in Lebanon? My prison became internal. You cannot fully recuperate from that kind of experience," he wrote. Auque's release from Hezbollah captivity, he wrote, was a political gesture that was supposed to aid, among other things, the conservative party in the 1988 elections. In a plane that waited for Auque and another man held captive sent free during the deal were Jean-Charles Marchiani, the right-hand man of then French foreign minister at the time, and a man Auqes referred to as the key man in the deal, the French businessman of Lebanese descent Iskandar Safa – "Sandy" who became his loyal ally and close friend. "A lot of money was given in order for us to be freed," wrote Auque in his autobiography. "France did not pay, but rather the Libyan Gaddafi." According to Auque, a financial conflict between France and Iran was at the heart of the abduction, and millions of Euro were transferred from the French government by the Libyan dictator in order to enable their release. Immediately after his captivity, Auque returned to the Middle East. "I never had a lifestyle that fits the earnings of a journalist," admitted Auque. "Therefore, I chose a second life, of a 'mercenary' for the secret services ." Auque says he found himself in the heart of attempts to release captives. In his biography, he describes a dinner that took place in 1989 near the Champs Elysees in Paris. "There were Hezbollah members, Israelis, Sandy and myself," Auque said of the dinner. In the beginning, he wrote, everyone ate together and conducted small talk. "After two hours we turned to serious things," Auque wrote. "The fate of American and British hostages held in Lebanon, Terry Anderson and Terry Waite, came up. That evening, the Israelis offered to give up two Lebanese terrorists that were taken captive in southern Lebanon. We also spoke of Ron Arad. Today I can reveal that through my work I led to the release of several captives. With others we failed, and some died. I deeply regret it. Just as I regret that I could not help find Ron Arad, who most likely died in Iran." 'I regret that I could not help find Ron Arad, who most likely died in Iran.' (Photo reproduction: Tzvika Tischler) In an interview he conducted with i24 news in honor of the one year anniversary of the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, Auque said that in the beginning of the new millennium, Mossad contacts reached out to him and asked him to help them find the phone number of Mughniyeh.. According to Auque, with the help of a Lebanese friend he succeeded in finding the number and passed it on to the contacts. Mughniyeh was responsible for one of Auque's biggest scoops – he was the only journalist to have succeeded in interviewing the Hezbollah terrorist. Auque reveals more than just state secrets in the new book. Auque, who describes himself throughout the book as a hopeless womanizer, fathered three children from different women. One of his children, it was revealed before his death, is Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, granddaughter of right-wing politician Jean-Marie Le Penand. Maréchal-Le Pen became the youngest member of France's parliament in history at the age of 22. While Auque's relationship with her mother went on for mere days, she notified him of the birth. "I understood that the Le-Pen family didn't want me to acknowledge the child," he says. A decade passed before he was able to connect with his daughter. Auque had surprisingly kind words for Marine Le Pen, who inherited the right wing National Front party from her father, saying Marion's aunt acted as a father figure in the child's youth. Auque's final adventure in life was in Eritrea, where he arrived thanks to former president Nicolas Sarkozy, a friend since the days when Sarkozy was mayor of Neuilly-sur-Sein and the two saw each other on their morning runs. Auque traded in his bulletproof vest and war reporter clothes for bespoke suits and moved to the African country. He said he was aware that he was appointed partly in order to help free a French intelligence agent kidnapped in Somalia and held by the terror organization Al Shabab. The mission failed, but according to Auque, he managed to arrange the release of several prisoners, including two Israelis. "I remember my intervention on behalf of a couple of Israeli tourists, a man and wioman who decided to make an emergency landing in Eritrea after a malfunction," he said of the incident, which was reported in Israel, but credited to former minister Efraim Sneh. It was in Eritrea that he fell ill. He collapsed during a workday, and a tumor was discovered in his head. He struggled with cancer for two years and hoped to return to diplomacy, but when he realized the end was near, he began to write his book. "I always had a special connection to death," he writes. "I lived as though I would die tomorrow. The danger, the fear of disappearing forever, attract me because they allow me to understand myself better." |
The awful congestion on and around the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge has been a daily topic of discussion among residents of the North Shore for the past few years. “The concern over traffic, any kind of backup from the Cassiar Connector to the Lonsdale corridor, is conversation in virtually every single home,” said District of North Vancouver Mayor Richard Walton. The district and city are calling on the provincial government help relieve congestion on the bridge and traffic delays elsewhere in B.C. by changing the Motor Vehicle Act so that minor accidents may be cleared from provincial highways, bridges and tunnels faster. They have outlined their proposals in a resolution that will be considered at next week’s Union of B.C. Municipalities (UBCM) conference in Vancouver. The resolution points out that traffic volume is steadily increasing on provincial highways and minor collisions are frequent. Those accidents cause “excessive traveller delay, significant local and regional economic loss and loss of mobility on adjacent local road networks.” The Ironworkers Memorial Bridge sees three to four collisions per week, causing traffic to stop or crawl on the highway and clogging feeder routes. Walton stressed that the aim of the resolution is not to compromise safety — if there is any chance someone might be injured, the incident would be dealt with in the usual way. “We’re really focusing on the minor accidents — the fender benders, the stalls,” said District of North Vancouver project manager Erin Moxon. “Let’s get those cleared up more quickly.” The resolution states that the Motor Vehicle Act should be changed to allow maintenance contractors, such as Mainroad Contracting, to authorize the removal of stalled or damaged vehicles from the roads. Currently only police have this power. Police who attend collisions in which damages are estimated to be more than $1,000 are also required to conduct an investigation that involves completing a collision reporting form that only they can fill out. The municipalities would like to see the act changed so police don’t have to fill out the form unless damage is more than $10,000, and so that the form can be filled out by fire rescue services for minor accidents. It’s expected these changes would also allow vehicles with minor damage to be removed from the roadway faster. “I know this would have a huge influence here,” said Walton. “The level of frustration in this community is extremely high.” He said the changes could benefit people across the province, but acknowledged they would have the most impact in the Lower Mainland. “We want to make sure the ministry and RCMP are better prepared to handle these accidents,” said City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto. “Any little delay adds to the congestion.” Const. Melissa Wutke, spokesperson for E Division RCMP Traffic Services, was unable to comment on the resolution. but said in general that “we understand the frustration of traffic backups and work to get roads open and traffic flowing as expeditiously as possible.” One concern, raised by the Insurance Corp. of B.C., is how the changes could affect data gathering. ICBC spokesperson Joanna Linsangan said the corporation relies on information from police reports to determine trends and inform their programs. Related “While we are open to discussing increasing the threshold, we do know that any kind of change would impact the kind of data ICBC would receive. How big or small the impact we don’t know — it’s kind of early days,” she said. If the resolution is passed, ICBC would still have an opportunity to share its concerns and comments with the Ministry of Transportation. Ian Tootill, a co-founder of motorist advocacy organization SENSE B.C., called the resolution “a good start,” but said it’s a Band-Aid solution to a greater problem: Road users, emergency services and those responsible for policy not recognizing the importance of properly using the transportation system. “We get crashes all the time around the Lower Mainland that cause catastrophic traffic jams. They cause people to be late for things, they cost businesses money. There’s a domino effect when people don’t get to where they need to go,” said Tootill. “Thank God North Vancouver has started the ball rolling. I hope this gets somewhere,” he said. — With a file from Nick Eagland jensaltman@postmedia.com Twitter.com/jensaltman CLICK HERE to report a typo. Is there more to this story? We’d like to hear from you about this or any other stories you think we should know about. Email vantips@postmedia.com. |
“Let the games begin” – Bane The Dark Knight Rises is a solid action film that I’m guessing many of you have seen by now. While there are not as many game theory examples as in The Dark Knight (pirate’s game, barganing game, prisoner’s dilemma), the movie does have many scenes that illustrate strategic thinking. I want to discuss a few of the game theory concepts I noticed throughout the movie. I will give fair warning this post does contain spoilers, so you want to read it only after watching the movie. Still want to read more? Okay, then let’s begin. This post focuses on the very first scene in the movie, with a few notes about the rest. The opening scene: reasoning ahead The action begins right away. A CIA agent boards a plane, ready to interrogate a gang of criminals and a scientist. He quickly runs into trouble as the “masked man” Bane strikes back. Bane had planned all along to explode the plane and capture the scientist, flying away on a hanging rope from a cargo airplane, just like Batman did when he captured Lau The Dark Knight. The CIA agent was outmatched physically and mentally. But he further sealed his fate by making a series of terrible strategic decisions. Here are a few of the mistakes the CIA agent made. Mistake 1: trying to interrogate on an airplane First, the agent chose the wrong location to conduct the interrogation. The CIA agent probably thought he would have power in the skies, holding them hostage. If anyone refused to cooperate, he could simply throw them out of the plane. Sounds good, but do you see the problem with this plan? The CIA agent was playing the following sequential game. He could ask for information, and the criminal could either stay silent or confess. If the criminal kept mum, the CIA agent would then have the option of throwing him off the plane or keeping him alive. The plan is to compel the criminal to confess, or else he can face death by gravity. Will this plan work? Let’s assign point values to analyze the game. The CIA agent gets 1 point if he gets the information, and the criminal gets 1 point if he keeps quiet (and -1 if he offers up information). If the CIA agent throws the criminal out of the plane, the agent faces a double whammy. He did not get the information (-1) and he killed someone who knew it (-1). So the game looks like this: The CIA agent wants to threaten the criminal by throwing him out of the plane. But will he ever follow through? Therein lies the problem: if he kills the criminal, he can’t get the information from him! It’s actually worse for the CIA agent to kill someone who has information than to keep him alive and hope he might confess later. Thus the CIA agent has no real bargaining power, and the criminal would choose to keep quiet from the very start. Here’s the equilibrium path of the game: In general, the strategy of using high altitude interrogation should never work, but it’s dramatic characteristics make it a frequent setting in TV and movie shows. Incidentally, the CIA agent could have taken a note from Batman. In The Dark Knight, Batman goes berserk and busts into a club to find the mob boss Maroni. He wants to find the location of the Joker, so he hangs Maroni from the top of the building. Here’s the important dialog of that scene: Maroni: From one professional to another, if you’re going to threaten somebody, pick a better spot! From this height… the fall wouldn’t kill me. Batman: I’m counting on it. (drops Maroni who gets injured) Here Batman’s threat to drop Maroni was credible–he follows through!–precisely because the fall was non-lethal. Still, Maroni does not crack since he knows Batman won’t go any further: Batman has rules about not killing. Ultimately Maroni refuses to talk since he fears the Joker more than anything Batman can do. In short, trying to interrogate at high altitudes is not wise. Remember the Prisoner’s Dilemma interrogation takes place in a boring old police station. That was an incentive scheme that worked–no need for dramatic threats, just use a good strategy. Mistake 2: selecting out the stupidest criminal Next, the agent announces his offer to the criminals. The flight plan only contains one of the criminals, so the rest are unaccounted for and expendable. He says, “The first one to talk gets to stay on the aircraft!!” What do you think, is that a good plan or not? There is a selection bias in this offer. One needs to think about is the type of criminal that would be attracted to this offer. Criminal organizations are not transparent organizations where knowledge is freely shared. The peons at the bottom know almost nothing, and they have the least to lose. The mob bosses are the ones with all the knowledge and would rather die than offer up what they know. So, who do you think is most likely to talk when the agent rewards the “first” person to speak? The offer to save the first people will attract the lowest of the lowest, who either know nothing or would lie just to save their skin. Instead of gaining valuable information, the offer will attract exactly the wrong kind of person! Mistake 3: trying to bluff his way out Nothing so far has worked, so the CIA agent wants to show he means business. After the first criminal stays quiet, he points a gun to his head and shoots. Thinking he’s scared everyone, he asks who is next to play the confession game. Bane is not fazed and in fact taunts him. “Perhaps he’s wondering why someone would shoot a man before throwing him out of a plane.” Touche. If the CIA agent really meant to kill him, he would have thrown him out. Why go through the extra effort of shooting him? It was clearly theatrics and a bluff. Bane has learned enough. He crashes the plane and escapes with the scientist. Next up in Bane’s plan: time to implement the same wreckage on Batman and Gotham. As Bane says before he executes his diabolical scheme, “Let the games begin.” Here are some of the other games and strategic elements peppered throughout the rest of The Dark Knight Rises, in brief: (REMINDER: SPOILERS BELOW!!) . . . . . . . . . . . Taking hostages Hostages are used in many scenes as protection. Here are a few that I noticed: –Selina Kyle takes an important Congress member to protect herself after being backstabbed by Mr. Daggett’s crew –Bane ties hostages from the trading floor to escape by motorcycle –Bane takes an extra board member from Wayne Enterprises (so he can kill one to coerce Lucius Fox to activate the reactor) In each case, the criminal exploits the police rule to not kill innocent to save themselves. Handing out the trigger Bane smartly does not hold on to the trigger for the bomb. He announces he has handed it to a “random” citizen to confuse the authorities. Of course he ultimately would not leave such power in untrusted hands, but Batman learns about that nearly too late. We don’t negotiate with terrorists This is uttered by the President on TV. We all know this is technically not true, but this is often a general government policy to deter terrorism (no reward = less incentive to take hostages) and in theory help the greater good. The threat to prevent escape Bane turns the army force against Gotham by threatening to blow up the city if anyone tries to escape. When Blake tries to escape, they try to scare him away but eventually blow up the bridge in a vain effort to avoid Bane’s counterpunch. Batman faces a villain that can rival the Joker in terms of pure destruction. That he rises up to the challenge is an impressive display of courage and strategy. He shows he is willing to give it all for Gotham, and that’s the only chance the city has in this game. |
This month, James Estrin met with Alison Nordstrom, the curator of a major retrospective of more than 150 Lewis Wickes Hine photographs that opens Sept. 7 in Paris at the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation. Ms. Nordstrom is also the curator of photographs at George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, where the two talked. Their conversation has been edited. Q. Tell me about your interest in Lewis Hine. A. I am fascinated by the role of the photograph in affecting social change. Hine was one of the first to do that in a systematic, politically informed way. I also just personally respond to the work. The more I looked at Hine, it became clear that while everyone knows two or three or five of his pictures, they have been taken out of context. They run the risk of being seen with a degree of sentimentality that Hine never intended. There has been a lot of work done on Hine, but it has mainly been subject-orientated. It hasn’t dealt with his career as a whole, which is really very interesting. So there was a lot to sink my teeth into. I feel good when I see pictures by Lewis Hine and I feel good when I am working with that material. I genuinely think he was one of the good guys. He became a photographer in order to further his political and social ends. It was only very, very late in his career that he began to understand himself as an artist and it was only very late in his career that the arts establishments paid any attention to him at all. Hine was not discovered truly until the 1930s. He was famous in the teens and ’20s, but not in art circles. Eastman House has the contents of his house at the time of his death — negatives, prints, publications and correspondence. Because we have so much of the material, not just the greatest hits or just one element of the career, it seemed possible to do something comprehensive. Lewis W. Hine, courtesy of George Eastman House Q. You came to Eastman House attracted by the Lewis Hine collection. What did you discover when you delved into his work? A. There was a much greater variety of work than most of us know. In his child labor work, most of us are familiar with the kids in the coal mine and the wan little girl standing in the mill. When he was working on child labor for the National Child Labor Committee, he covered 50,000 miles a year. He went as far west as Chicago and to Florida. It was fascinating to see how comprehensive he was. Since our material is vintage material, there are sometimes these amazing annotations on the backs of these prints. I often say the back of a photo can tell you more than the front. In that period, he is really gathering evidence, and so the notations have the name of the child and the height of the child. He measured the height of his buttons on his vest. He always wore a suit and tie to the ground so that he could ascertain the heights of these little children by measuring them against the buttons on his jacket. Obviously the employers of these children were not too pleased with a muckraking journalist visiting these factories. In many cases, he would sneak his way in. He was a skilled amateur actor and he would often pretend to be something other than he what he was. There were photographs that surprised me. But what came to me from looking hard at him was a sense of a real personality, the sense of a real human being — almost a Horatio Alger character himself. Q. How so? A. He was from the Midwest. He was poor and hard-working. His father died when he was a teenager and he ended up being the sole support for his mother before he got an education. He had a lot of different jobs. He sold things door-to-door. He actually worked in a factory briefly, a furniture factory in Wisconsin. He fell under the influence of a strong mentor, Frank Manny, who recognized him as a bright, promising boy and encouraged him to get an education. When Manny was hired as the head of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York, he brought the young Lewis Hine with him to teach. He asked him to take up photography so that the activities of the school could be documented. There is evidence that it was Frank Manny who said, “Let’s go to Ellis Island and photograph immigrants.” I find it fascinating that the rhetoric around immigration in 1900 is so familiar to us today. It was: “These people aren’t like us. They don’t speak English, they have different customs and religions, and they’re going to destroy the fabric of America.” Hine was a genuine progressive. His letters are full of puns and wordplay and clever jokes. You get a sense of a clever guy who comes to the big city and feels his way. He put a human face on these people in a way that really made a difference. I think in doing that, he realized that photography would let him further his efforts for social change. He became a freelance photographer in 1910 but always considered himself an educator — someone who used photography and wasn’t in a classroom. Q. What did you find out that you didn’t expect? A. Hine went to Europe at the very end of the First World War for the American Red Cross. He was there to document the efforts of Red Cross workers with refugees across Europe, but especially in Croatia, Bosnia, northern Greece, Macedonia and France. You get this sense of a still-youngish man who is delighted by these new places. He is taking a lot of photographs that don’t tell you anything about the Red Cross. They tell you about an old lady with a great face holding a baby pig [Slide 13]. There is this sense of delight and wonder about being in a new culture. I see that as a real turning point for him. Before his experience in Europe, his work mostly focuses on the negative: it’s child labor, it’s slum housing. He said, “I had to show the things that needed to be changed and I had to show the things that needed to be celebrated.” But until this trip to Europe, he focused on the things that needed to be changed. When he comes back, he is definitely a changed person. The work becomes much more focused on positive aspects of labor. He is not opposed to labor. He thinks labor is enriching and the thing that connects us to the planet. He is opposed to child labor because he thinks it strips them of their natural childish gifts and enthusiasm and turns them into oxen too early. The work he does after his World War I experience is really a celebration of labor, the powerhouse mechanic, the building of the Empire State Building , candy makers, wig makers, linotype operators. In a way, he reminds me of Walt Whitman. Hine was interested in everything and his work is enthusiastically encyclopedic in the way that Whitman’s poetry is. And very American. Lewis W. Hine, courtesy of George Eastman House Q. And Hine started thinking of himself as more as an artist? A. There are photographs that are very romantic and pictorialist. He was certainly aware of painting and he talked about the influence of a Raphael Madonna on some of his “Madonna of the Tenement” pictures. It’s later, with “Men at Work,” that it seems quite clear — both from his writing and the work itself — that he is beginning to think of himself as a modernist artist. One of the things that made him quite different from photographers of the time is that he insisted on a byline. He referred to his own photographs as “Hineographs” and expressed that they were different from other kinds of photographs. He insisted on keeping his negatives and he was basically attempting to use them as stock. He is a really interesting character. He always had to make a living and he wasn’t very good at it. He died in poverty with his house foreclosed on and taking food from welfare. It’s really a very sad story. Q. Toward the end of his life, many of his concerns had been addressed. He was successful in bringing attention to a lot of these problems — and, as you said, the world had changed. There was less child labor. A. I would argue that what we have done in America is we’ve moved our child labor to Vietnam. But that’s another story entirely. The world did change. Some of his photographs were used to persuade legislators to pass new laws. The milieu that Hine comes out of was called “social work” at the time but it was morphing into what we would now call “sociology.” In the 19th century, philanthropy had this kind of Lady Bountiful aspect to it — reaching a hand down to the poor; the worthy poor. Widows and orphans. What changed around the time of the last century was the idea that social ills could be scientifically studied and that if you document these social ills, if you shone a light on them, they would go away. Now it can seem like a sad, pathetic belief. One of the characteristics of Hine’s work is that he’s not seeing his subjects as victims. I just think he cared about people. We are taught you have to be very cautious about trying to infer the feelings of either the photographer or the subject by looking at an image. They can mislead. But I have looked at a lot of Lewis Hine photographs and I think he cares deeply and respectfully for the people he photographs. He says that at the end of the day, it’s about the people. He doesn’t mean the people, in a Marxist class sense; he means individual humans. And that’s something we can respond to. Q. What did you want to do with this exhibit? A. I wanted to do justice to the man. I’m pretty sure it’s the biggest exhibition of Lewis Hine photographs that’s ever been held. 213 objects and 179 photographs, and I think that’s necessary to show the breadth and depth of this image maker. The other thing we do is show a lot of ancillary material, trying to give context so people can recognize that the act of looking at a photograph in 1910 is different from looking at a photograph now. One of my objectives has been to link us more directly with the international photographic community. This show is done by Eastman House in collaboration with the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation in Paris; the Mapfre Foundation and its exhibition space in Madrid; and Nederlands Fotomuseum, which is the National Museum of Photography in Rotterdam. Lewis W. Hine, courtesy of George Eastman House Follow Lens and James Estrin on Facebook. On Twitter, follow @nytimesphoto, @JamesEstrin and @RocEastmanHouse. |
FARMINGTON, Utah – A former Davis County teacher has been arrested again for sexual misconduct with a minor after more allegations recently surfaced. According to officials, the new alleged sexual offences with an underage teen boy happened while 35-year-old Brianne Altice was out on bail awaiting trial for previous felony sex charges. Altice posted the $10,000 bail after she was arrested Wednesday for alleged sex crimes with a 17-year-old boy, one of three alleged victims. Altice is now facing more charges for sexual misconduct with a minor; three counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and one count of dealing in material harmful to a minor. Court documents state, in this instance, Altice is accused of having sex with the minor on two different occasions as well as oral sex with the teen between Nov. 1, 2013 and Aug. 25 2014. According to the documents, she also allegedly texted a photo of her “bare breasts” to the teen on June 7, 2014. Altice is expected in court Jan. 15 for previous charges, according to court documents. Third student comes forward in case of former teacher accused of rape Former teacher accused of sexually abusing two students pleads not guilty Davis County former teacher to stand trial after second student alleges sexual misconduct Ex-teacher accused of sexual relationship with student |
75 experts from the Arms Control Association have come out today with a statement to endorse the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, saying the pact was a “net plus for nuclear nonproliferation” and exceeds historical standards on arms control limitations. The signatories of the statement include several high-profile opponents of the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, including Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame, along with former IAEA chief Hans Blix and former US Ambassador Morty Halperin. The statement goes on to echo the comments of other proponents, saying it will make it easy for the international community to detect any clandestine program by Iran, and will “decisively prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.” Congress is planning to vote on the deal on September 17, and is expected to have a majority against the deal. It is not, however, expected to get the veto-proof majority that would be needed to attempt to block US participation in the pact outright. Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz |
The Canadian Conference of the Arts is folding this week, ending a 67-year run as the country's oldest and largest arts advocacy organization. The official announcement is to be made Tuesday in Ottawa by CCA national director Alain Pineau. The collapse of the CCA comes in the wake of the Harper government's decision earlier this year not to provide $780,000 the organization said it needed to transition to being self-sustaining. The hope was the self-sustaining model could be fully implemented by mid-2015. The CCA, which has more than 200 members, had been funded annually without interruption by the federal government since 1965. But in April Canadian Heritage announced that, as part of the Conservative government's ambition to achieve a balanced budget by 2015, it would be terminating the Arts, Culture and Diversity Program through which the CCA had been receiving $390,000 a year -- roughly 75 per cent of its annual operating budget. As a stop-gap, Canadian Heritage did agree to give the CCA $195,000 -- money, it told the CCA, that could be used to help the organization enact a new business plan or to wind up its operations. Story continues below advertisement In an interview Monday, Pineau said that the CCA had enough resources, including contributions from members and an unnamed foundation, to keep going to March next year. But last week the organization's board decided "it would be irresponsible to gamble the money we've been able to line up . . . because the perspective beyond that [is] not good enough." Operations are scheduled to end Wednesday. "However, the silver lining to that black cloud is that we're doing everything we can to preserve the organization as a shell with its charitable status [and eventually a caretaker board] for whomever may feel like picking up the torch and re-launching it," said Pineau. "We have to stop now if we want to prevent the organization from going bankrupt and losing everything." The CCA hoped that with its new business model membership fees would account for at least 42 per cent of annual revenue, instead of the 13 per cent they contributed in recent years. Among its members: the Royal Conservatory of Music, the Banff Centre, the Writers' Union of Canada, Business for the Arts, Actors' Equity, the National Ballet of Canada and the National Theatre School. Never a harsh critic of governments, the CCA nevertheless didn't hesitate to point out what it saw as their errors. Last spring, for example, it made a last-ditch push to amend the Harper government's Copyright Modernization Act, arguing the extant bill benefited consumers more than creators and rights-holders who stood to lose $126-million if enacted. (The act became law in late June this year.) In a statement Monday, Sébastien Gariépy, press secretary for Heritage Minister James Moore, indicated it was unlikely there would be any last-minute reprieve from government. "For over 35 years this organization has received up to 60 per cent of its budget from the government of Canada, including this year when funding was provided to give the [CCA] the opportunity to work with individual and groups it claims as stakeholders to develop a new mandate and funding model." Gariepy said the Harper government has delivered "unprecedented" support to the arts and would continue to invest in programs deemed "affordable and effective." |
This week marks the release of The Conjuring which is already garnering rave reviews from critics and seems to be on it’s way to a decent opening weekend at the box office. But what sticks out the most about The Conjuring is that it’s a horror film that doesn’t rely on or try to re-invent tropes of the genre but rather embraces them — which is a concept we all forgot worked. [RELATED: Most Anticipated Horror Films Still Coming in 2013] It’s not often these days that we are gifted with a decent horror film, despite the sheer number of them that are released each year. Usually we get a burst of movies around Halloween but The Conjuring is not some gimmick movie trying to earn money off of a holiday, instead it’s an actual film that is actually pretty haunting. Imagine that — a movie that is actually trying to be both a horror film and a good film. I liken The Conjuring to Scream in that they live within the world of horror already created. Neither film tried to reinvent the genre but both still somehow succeed in bringing something new to the table. Scream was half parody, half horror as it never once pretended that horror films didn’t exist before it, which was something you pretty much hadn’t seen before. Scream went as far as to openly mock trope as Wes Craven famously propped up and pointed out every horror genre cliche in one classic party scene before then tearing down each one in brilliant fashion. The Conjuring is absent that mocking tone, but it is still a throwback horror film we rarely see these days. Most of the time, ‘throwback’ is confused with reboot, remake or sequel but The Conjuring is trying to pay homage to old school horror movies while still attempting to be modern. Unlike the constant flow of horror sewage we are subject to each year where the story is more about how much blood and guts can be spilled than plot, The Conjuring is suspenseful in a very terrifying way. The cast is top notch, which tells you something right off the bat about the quality of the story, and the film feels like a blend of Hitchcock and modern paranormal cinema. One thing modern horror films forget is that what you don’t see is often times a lot more horrifying than what you do see. The Conjuring doesn’t forget that and it’s not a coincidence that it’s looking like it could be the next great horror movie. |
82 Proof Old Cockney is a contemporary style gin crafted from a base of organic winter wheat. The botanical blend of coriander and orange peel provide nice floral and citrus aromas and flavors, which are balanced by spice from black peppercorn and earthy elements from orris root, angelica root and gentian root. Our gin possesses heavy juniper, but pine notes serve as an undertone in the flavor profile. The result is a dry, smooth gin with a unique but harmonious balance of flavors—a true cocktail connoisseur’s gin. 82 Proof Two James Old Cockney Gin Back 91 Proof Just like our Old Cockney Gin we use a proprietary blend of botanicals and an all organic wheat base. We then rest our gin in new American oak barrels for a minimum of 6 months before we bottle. The oak aging adds a very subtle toasted vanilla note and accentuates the citrus peel. Martinez drinkers beware, you have never met it’s equal. Barrel Reserve Old Cockney Gin Back 91 Proof Grass Widow Bourbon contains a unique high rye mash bill of 36% Rye, 60% Corn and 4% Barley. This delicious bourbon possesses intriguing levels of spice and complexity. The hazelnut and dried raisin notes are results of our proprietary Madeira Barrique finishing. Two James is excited to become a part of and honor the glory of Detroit’s whiskey roots with the resurrection of the Grass Widow name. Two James Grass Widow Bourbon Back 101 Proof We welcome you to taste our first expression of field-to-bottle whiskey. This Double Gold winner (2014 San Francisco World Spirits Competition), un-aged, Michigan rye possesses character beyond its years. Distilled from 100% locally grown rye grain from Wing Farms in Ann Arbor, Rye Dog possesses floral and citrus notes with a round mouth feel. Call me Rye Dog! Two James Rye Dog Back 98.8 Proof Distilled from 100% Michigan rye and pure water from the Great Lakes, Catcher’s Rye is a testament to the grain’s distinctive terroir. Each drop is artfully produced and aged for a minimum of two years in traditional, charred new American oak 53 gallon barrels. With delicious spice notes and a subtle fig finish, Catcher’s Rye proves there is no substitute for time or proportion. This is a labor of love, accept no phonies. Catcher’s Rye Whiskey Back 87 Proof Johnny Smoking Gun is a story of East–Meets-West. This is a whiskey crafted specifically to compliment the “umami” of the rich pork and fish broths of Japanese cuisine. Possessing intriguing smoke character from a two-stage maceration with a proprietary blend of Asian tea, this blend of 60% 7-year corn and 40% young rye will surely not disappoint. Enjoy and prosper! Johnny Smoking Gun Whiskey Back 91 Proof Two James Spirits is proud to announce the release of our newest spirit, J. Riddle Peated Bourbon. This unique spirit pairs the sweet robust flavor of corn bourbon with the elegant smokiness of single malt whiskey. The mash bill possesses subtle notes of vanilla, buttered popcorn, sea salt, fresh cut grass and light smoke. What started off as an experimental mix of grains developed into a delicious bourbon unlike any other on the market. Distilled on-site from 79% Michigan Corn and 21% Scottish Barley and aged in full-format 53-gallon new American oak barrels, we are excited to release our first barrels and for you to savor and enjoy! J. Riddle Peated Bourbon Back 120 Proof We are excited to bring the Green Fairy to Detroit and the Great Lakes Region with the release of our Nain Rouge Absinthe Verte. Starting with a traditional 19th century French recipe we distill Wormwood, Fennel, Green Anise, and over 100 pounds of botanicals to create a spirit that has an unfathomable depth of flavor and complexity. Colored with peppermint, hyssop and nettle to produce a beautiful rich earthy green color. Nain Rouge Absinthe Verte Back 96 Proof We are excited to release our Dos Jaimes Mezcal Joven. Distilled in Oaxaca, Mexico (NOM-0120X) in partnership with Pierde Almas and bottled under the Dos Jaimes name, our Mezcal is made from a blend of espadín, wild tepeztate and wild tobalá agave plants. Made from 100% agave in compliance with the laws and regulations of the Mexican government. Dos Jaimes Mezcal Joven Back 82 Proof 28 Island Vodka is carefully crafted from a blend of 70% corn and 30% organic winter wheat and distilled with the finest American-made copper pot still. The result is a remarkably smooth, balanced spirit with a hint of sweetness that makes an excellent addition to both classic and modern cocktails. The name references the 28 islands of the Detroit River that served as safe haven for Detroit’s clandestine distillers of the prohibition era. Two James 28 Island Vodka Back |
Sepp Blatter is hoping for a fifth successive term as Fifa president Whatever name has been ascribed to Sepp Blatter's critics within Fifa - the admirable reformers or, more pertinently, the lambs to the slaughter - Stewart Regan is one of them. The chief executive of the Scottish FA made no bones about the need for change within football's governing body. Speaking from Sao Paulo, Regan outlined where he stands on the Blatter issue. "We support the view that he [Blatter] should not stand for another term as Fifa president," said Regan. "We need new leadership, we need to restore Fifa's reputation, because it's become tainted by the allegations of bribery and corruption. "At the Congress vote on Wednesday, we [the SFA] voted in favour of term limits and age limits for officials, so for somebody to stand again for what would be a fifth successive term is not the right message to send out. SFA chief Stewart Regan admits those in favour of change at Fifa were hugely outnumbered "We need to drive it, modernise it, restore faith in it. We need a new plan. "A fifth term when the organisation doesn't have the greatest reputation is not the right way for the game, but we have to stand by a democratic process. We are one country out of 209 and we're bound by the rules and have to live with it." Regan called Blatter's performance at the Fifa Congress on Wednesday a "masterclass" in political nous. It was such an emphatic denouncement of a mini-uprising in Uefa the day before that many European delegates left the room feeling crushed by the Blatter juggernaut. "You might say that those of us who want change were put back in our box," said Regan. In flexing his political muscle, Blatter illustrated yet again that, unless allegations of corruption can be proven against him personally, then nobody is going to get in his way next year when he will seek a fifth term. Put simply, Blatter will go when he is ready. The weight of support he commands among 150 Fifa nations guarantees it. The Congress was Blatter at his calculating best - or worst. Visibly shaken when slammed by delegates among the Uefa nations on Tuesday, he came out fighting. Before the vote on term and age limits was taken, requests were granted for some last-minute speeches from officials of Haiti, Congo, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. Each speech eulogised Blatter and Fifa and how the organisation came to the rescue of football in their countries in the greatest hour of need: earthquakes, tsunamis, flash floods, thousands of fatalities and the support of Fifa's "family" in using its financial might in rebuilding destroyed facilities and towns. It may be the case now that Uefa don't bother putting a challenger up against Blatter next year when the presidency is voted upon again The message was that Fifa have never had it so good, with $1.4bn in reserves in the bank and with revenues up 20-fold in the last 20 years. The gist of what Haiti, Congo, Sri Lanka and Pakistan were saying was, "Blatter is doing a fantastic job, so why change the rules? This is a winning formula". And so many agreed. When they had finished their 'impromptu' speeches there was a round of applause in the room that crushed the rebellion ever further. And to pile it on, Blatter announced that Fifa is doing so well that every member nation is going to get $250,000 in additional funding. He wasn't quite finished. If the 2014 World Cup proves to be the success that Blatter is sure it will be, every member country will get an extra $500,000 on top. More applause. Something else happened. When the time to vote had arrived, it was announced that the electronic device wasn't working, so what was going to be a private vote done simply by pressing a button was now a public vote. No anonymity now. As if by magic, there were two coloured cards in the meeting packs given to all delegates when the conference began - green if you wanted limits on terms and age for FIFA officials, and red if you wanted no limits. The president wanted red and he got it. A sea of red. Next, he called for the greens and a smattering went up; 50 or less. Blatter's eyes cased the room in that moment. It was the type of landslide victory that shows there is little hope of change at the very top of Fifa unless there is a smoking gun that directly and indisputably involves Blatter and corruption. It may be the case now that Uefa don't bother putting up a challenger against him next year when the presidency is voted upon again. Any candidate would be certain of defeat. A mortifying defeat at that. Sepp Blatter talks to his counterpart, and potential rival for office, Michel Platini in Sao Paulo Michel Platini has told his organisation that he will decide before the end of August whether to put his name forward. The likelihood is that the Uefa president won't for fear of getting trounced, and thereby causing damage to a more likely bid for leadership in 2019. Even then, you have to wonder. The vast majority of FIFA look on UEFA as arrogant and laden with money - and there is much evidence to support their grievance - while the countries of the developing world are left to struggle on without the support of government and with none of the riches of television and sponsorship enjoyed in the bigger markets in the western world. Fifa money is their lifeline. Blatter is their God. The fear is that whenever he goes, it will be an acolyte, rather than a reformist, who will take his place. To the sound of cheering, Blatter nailed the insurrection on Wednesday. He might be an old man but he is still running rings around everybody in the world game. And the scary thing is that nobody is going to stop him anytime soon. |
By Christopher R Rice Underground Newz Just how much of America’s debt does Saudi Arabia own? That question -- unanswered since the 1970s, under an unusual blackout by the U.S. Treasury Department -- has come to the fore as Saudi Arabia is pressured by plunging oil prices and costly wars in the Middle East. In the past year alone, Saudi Arabia burned through about $100 billion of foreign-exchange reserves to plug its biggest budget shortfall in a quarter-century. For the first time, it’s also considering selling a piece of its crown jewel -- state oil company Saudi Aramco. The signs of strain are prompting concern over Saudi Arabia’s outsize position in the world’s largest and most important bond market. In 1982 America was the largest creditor nation on earth. By 2005, the U.S. was the largest debtor nation on earth. In 1980, the national debt had yet to eclipse the $1 trillion mark and had accumulated around $850 billion during the first 204 years of this republic. By 2007 or 24 years later, our debt had risen to more than $7 trillion and continues straight up. Today, The U.S. government reports its debt at more than 17 trillion dollars, China alone purchases in excess of $1 billion per day of our debt. Japan owns billion and billions of U.S. debt instruments as do the Arabs and so on. But, these are reasonable countries and I believe that they would understand that we are broke and just forgive all of those billions; right after we gave them California and Yellowstone Park. Saudis dump massive amounts of securities in the markets A big risk is that the kingdom is selling some of its Treasury holdings, believed to be among the largest in the world, to raise needed dollars. As a matter of policy, the Treasury has never disclosed the holdings of Saudi Arabia, long a key ally in the volatile Middle East, and instead groups it with 14 other mostly OPEC nations including Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria. For more than a hundred other countries, from China to the Vatican, the Treasury provides a detailed breakdown of how much U.S. debt each holds. “It’s mind-boggling they haven’t undone it,” said Edwin Truman, the former Treasury assistant secretary for international affairs during the late 1990s, and now a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. Because relations were rocky and the U.S. needed their oil, the Treasury “didn’t want to offend OPEC. It’s hard to justify this special treatment for OPEC at this point.” Like maggots eating a carcass in the dark Unfunded debt is $127 trillion at current levels…and rising hourly. This is the debt that we owe to ourselves in the way of Medicare, Social Security, government retirements and so on. In other words, promises that can’t be kept and so they won’t. As a reminder, the unfunded debt is greater than the total wealth of all American households. Many people want to blame one administration or another because that’s easy. It isn’t true, it's not any one administration, the system isn't broke, it's rigged. This is a form of destructive economic management at a level of graft & corruption that has NO parallel. There’s nothing comparable to that in history. The special arrangement, born out of the 1973 oil shock following the Arab embargo, is just one small concession among many that successive U.S. administrations have made over the years to maintain America’s strategic relationship with the Saudi royal family -- and its access to the kingdom’s deep reserves of oil. The exception extends to 12 other countries in the Treasury’s oil-exporter group, all from the Middle East or Africa. Based on aggregate data released this week, that group has trimmed its stakes by a few billion dollars since March and held $289 billion as of November. Because its holdings are believed to be the largest, Saudi Arabia’s moves have drawn scrutiny, particularly as other central banks in emerging markets sell Treasuries to raise cash in defense of their currencies. (The Treasury doesn’t break out private and public holdings, but its disclosures say about two-thirds of foreign holdings are held by official institutions such as central banks.) “You need dollars if you’re an oil producer, you want to make sure you have dollars on your balance sheet,” said Sebastien Galy, Deutsche Bank’s director of foreign-exchange strategy, who suggests SAMA could be raising cash by liquidating riskier investments such as stocks, real estate and private equity. Holding dollars also makes sense as a hedge against the plummeting price of oil, which is priced in the U.S. currency. When America scrapped the Gold Standard we replaced it with the petrodollar. This has left America vulnerable in ways our fore fathers never dreamed. As the administration and Congress argue over cuts in social programs, inequality in America grows more extreme each day. Even the great financial crash of 2008 didn’t derail this trend. The richest 400 Americans, for example, increased their wealth by 54 percent between 2005 and 2010, while the median middle-class family saw its wealth decline by 35 percent. It’s not the result of mysterious global forces, or technology, or China, or structural problems concerning the skills and education of our workforce. Rather, it is the direct result of policy choices made by Democrats and Republicans alike. The bailouts resurrected high finance and the inequality it inevitably spawns. Instead of putting our foot back on the neck of finance, we’re talking about slashing social programs. Rather than dramatically increasing taxes on the super-rich through a wealth tax, we’re debating how to slash Social Security and Medicare benefits. The U.S. policy (includes tax policy, financial deregulation, trade policy, anti-labor policy, and much more.) for the past 40 years has been aggressively dedicated to shifting income share away from the poor and middle class and into the pockets of the already rich. During an era in which the rich were getting richer anyway, we deliberately set out to reduce their tax burdens so that they could become even richer. • In 2010, the top hedge fund manager earned as much in one HOUR as the average (median) family earned in 47 YEARS. • The top 25 hedge fund managers in 2010 earned as much as 658,000 entry level teachers. • In 1970 the top 100 CEOs made $40 for every dollar earned by the average worker. By 2006, the CEOs received $1,723 for every worker dollar. As Citizens for Tax Justice and USPIRG reported , 280 large and profitable corporations contributed $216 million to Congressional campaigns over four election cycles and got nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars in tax breaks. That’s a terrific investment for them – a return of more than a thousand to one – but it’s a bad deal for the American people. In fact, US Corporations pay less tax as a percentage of the GDP than corporations in Canada. Or Japan, South Korea, Norway, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Israel, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, and Italy. (Source: OECD StatsExtract interactive database.) Tax breaks for Exxon Mobil: $4.1 billion between 2008 and 2010. The company paid no taxes at all in 2009.) In 2010, corporate giant GE made a profit of $14.2 billion but it paid not a penny in taxes because the bulk of those profits, some $9 billion, were offshore. In fact, GE got a $3.2 billion tax benefit. The 10 most profitable U.S. companies paid an average federal tax rate of just 9 percent last year . The group includes heavyweights Exxon Mobil, Apple, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase and General Electric. Answer: Here is the Top 10 (as of Oct/2015) 1. China, Mainland, $1254.8 billion dollars 2. Japan, $1149.2 billion dollars 3. Carib Bkg Ctrs, $322.0 billion dollars 4. Oil Exporters*, $291.4 billion dollars 5. Brazil, $255.0 billion dollars 6. Ireland, $232.9 billion dollars 7. Switzerland, $225.6 billion dollars 8. United Kingdom, $210.6 billion dollars 9. Hong Kong, $197.0 billion dollars 10. Luxembourg, $188.2 billion dollars For more- National Debt Clock END DEFICIT SPENDING (once and for all) Make it illegal. Politicians should only be allowed to spend the amount they collect. In case of an emergency this law can not be broken or bent. It should be required that politicians come before the people and ask for a tax increase whenever the government needs more funds than expected. No more deficit spending for f ederal, state or city governments. Profitable corporations need to start paying their fair share and stop taking government subsides, tax rebates and tax shelters/loopholes. Every administration claims to be making cuts to defense spending and yet every year the military budget grows larger and larger. Daily we see that an elected body can trample rights the same as a sitting monarch or dictator. The soft tyranny we endure now on a daily basis has turned scores of Americans into reluctant activists, no longer satisfied with participation in mundane “demonstrations” that prove and accomplish nothing. |
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From: Ryan Banfill <ryban1001@gmail.com> To: Donna Brazile <donna@brazileassociates.com> CC: "Miranda, Luis" <MirandaL@dnc.org>, Tracie Pough <PoughT@dnc.org> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="001a113dd720b7441b05316908a8" Return-Path: ryban1001@gmail.com X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AVStamp-Mailbox: MSFTFF;1;0;0 0 0 X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthSource: dncedge1.dnc.org X-MS-Exchange-Organization-AuthAs: Anonymous MIME-Version: 1.0 --001a113dd720b7441b05316908a8 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-WatchGuard-AntiVirus: part scanned. clean action=allow Donna, Even though your Tigers have owned my Gators over the past few years, I'm a long-time admirer of yours. Luis and Tracie, thank you for setting this up. Taylor Wofford is a reporter with Newsweek. He is working on a piece about Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz. He has been asking questions prompted by many of the "off-the-record" critics of the Congresswoman. He says he's looking to get a sense of who she is by speaking with people who know her best. He has spoken to ex-staffers but he's looking for someone who DWS turns to for advice. Someone who's opinion she trusts. In speaking with the Congresswoman, she praised you and said she values your opinion. We would like to help this reporter get as many positive comments on the record about the Congresswoman as possible to counter any negatives being drummed up by her opponents and critics. Are you available to speak with him? If so, would you like to phone him or would you like me to have him phone you? Thanks for all your help, Ryan On Tue, Apr 26, 2016 at 4:12 PM, Donna Brazile <donna@brazileassociates.com= > wrote: > Thanks everyone > > Sent from Donna's I Pad. Follow me on twitter @donnabrazile > > > On Apr 26, 2016, at 3:14 PM, Miranda, Luis <MirandaL@dnc.org> wrote: > > Hi Donna, I=E2=80=99m connecting you here with Ryan Banfill, who will sta= rt next > week as the new Sean Bartlett, the senior communications advisor for the > Chair=E2=80=99s office and also the liaison to her campaign. He=E2=80=99s= hoping to touch > base with you about a Newsweek article in the works. I=E2=80=99ll leave i= t to him > to get you the details. > > > > Thanks, - Luis. > > > > <image001.png> <http://www.democrats.org/>*Luis Miranda, *Communications > Director > > *Democratic National Committee* > > 202-863-8148 =E2=80=93 MirandaL@dnc.org - @MiraLuisDC > <https://www.twitter.com/MiraLuisDC> > > > > > > --001a113dd720b7441b05316908a8 Content-Type: text/html; charset="UTF-8" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-WatchGuard-AntiVirus: part scanned. clean action=allow <meta http-equiv=3D"Content-Type" content=3D"text/html; charset=3Dutf-8"><d= iv dir=3D"ltr">Donna, <div><br><div>Even though your Tigers have owned= my Gators over the past few years, I'm a long-time admirer of yours. Luis = and Tracie, thank you for setting this up. </div></div><div><br></div>= <div>Taylor Wofford is a reporter with Newsweek. He is working on a piece a= bout Congresswoman Wasserman Schultz. He has been asking questions prompted= by many of the "off-the-record" critics of the Congresswoman. He= says he's looking to get a sense of who she is by speaking with people who= know her best. He has spoken to ex-staffers but he's looking for someone w= ho DWS turns to for advice. Someone who's opinion she trusts. </div><d= iv><br></div><div>In speaking with the Congresswoman, she praised you and s= aid she values your opinion. </div><div><br></div><div>We would like t= o help this reporter get as many positive comments on the record about the = Congresswoman as possible to counter any negatives being drummed up by her = opponents and critics. Are you available to speak with him? If so, would yo= u like to phone him or would you like me to have him phone you? </div>= <div><br></div><div>Thanks for all your help,</div><div><br></div><div>Ryan= </div></div><div class=3D"gmail_extra"><br><div class=3D"gmail_quote">On Tu= e, Apr 26, 2016 at 4:12 PM, Donna Brazile <span dir=3D"ltr"><<a href=3D"= mailto:donna@brazileassociates.com" target=3D"_blank">donna@brazileassociat= es.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class=3D"gmail_quote" style=3D"= margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"> <div dir=3D"auto"> <div>Thanks everyone<br> <br> Sent from Donna's I Pad. Follow me on twitter @donnabrazile <div><br> </div> </div><span class=3D""> <div><br> On Apr 26, 2016, at 3:14 PM, Miranda, Luis <<a href=3D"mailto:MirandaL@d= nc.org" target=3D"_blank">MirandaL@dnc.org</a>> wrote:<br> <br> </div> </span><blockquote type=3D"cite"> <div> <div><span class=3D""> <p class=3D"MsoNormal">Hi Donna, I=E2=80=99m connecting you here with Ryan = Banfill, who will start next week as the new Sean Bartlett, the senior comm= unications advisor for the Chair=E2=80=99s office and also the liaison to h= er campaign. He=E2=80=99s hoping to touch base with you about a Newsweek article in the works. I=E2=80=99ll leave it to him to get you t= he details.<u></u><u></u></p> <p class=3D"MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p> <p class=3D"MsoNormal">Thanks, - Luis.<u></u><u></u></p> <p class=3D"MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p> </span><p class=3D"MsoNormal"><a href=3D"http://www.democrats.org/" target= =3D"_blank"><image001.png></a><b><span style=3D"font-size:12.0pt">Lui= s Miranda, </span></b>Communications Director<u></u><u></u></p><span class= =3D""> <p class=3D"MsoNormal"><b>Democratic National Committee<u></u><u></u></b></= p> <p class=3D"MsoNormal"><a href=3D"tel:202-863-8148" value=3D"+120286381= 48" target=3D"_blank">202-863-8148</a> =E2=80=93 <a href=3D"mailto:MirandaL= @dnc.org" target=3D"_blank"><span style=3D"color:blue">MirandaL@dnc.org</sp= an></a> - <a href=3D"https://www.twitter.com/MiraLuisDC" target=3D"_blank"><span styl= e=3D"color:blue">@MiraLuisDC</span></a><u></u><u></u></p> <p class=3D"MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p> <p class=3D"MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p> </span></div> </div> </blockquote> </div> </blockquote></div><br></div> --001a113dd720b7441b05316908a8-- |
Chip Starnes (L) held in Beijing factory by disgruntled workers. [CBS News] The owner of a Florida-based medical supply company has been trapped inside his company’s factory in China by a group of about 80 angry workers, though they deny mistreating him physically. “We women can’t hold the boss hostage,” one employee, Gao Ping, told CBS News. “We’re negotiating. He didn’t pay us wages.” But their employer, 42-year-old Chip Starnes, said employees have deprived him of sleep since first taking him captive on June 21 and blocked him from leaving the Specialty Medical Supplies facility in Beijing. He also denied owing his captors two months’ worth of salary and severance packages after laying about 30 employees off. “They’re kind of holding me in a cage like an animal,” Starnes shouted from behind a window to a reporter. Starnes, the company’s co-owner, was allowed to speak to CBS from behind a gate at the facility, but declined to take the chance to escape, explaining that it “would probably be the wrong impression to give at this point in time.” Employees told CBS that they became worried for their own jobs after the layoffs, part of the company’s plastics division being outsourced to India. According to a local union official, the workers are demanding to be paid the salary owed and severance packages similar to the ones their colleagues received before leaving their own jobs. “I deserve the right to go back to my hotel room,” Starnes said to CBS. “I deserve to come back and we can address these things professionally. This is not how it’s done.” Watch CBS’ report on Starnes’ confinement, aired Tuesday, below. [h/t WTVJ-TV] |
Michael Andersen, local innovation staff writer Seattle, Washington. “Hey, how long does it take you to get to work?” “Well, on average my car is usually traveling at 36 mph.” No actual human makes transportation decisions this way. But for some reason, the federal government has proposed evaluating highway congestion based entirely on the speed of cars — while ignoring how far or how long people have to drive or ride to get where they’re going. It’s a system that’d reward states for spending billions to extend freeways to sprawling exurbs, transportation reformers warn, but penalize communities that make their streets more space-efficient. “Let’s say your [road’s average speed is] going from 40 mph to 30 mph,” said Katy Hartnett, director of government relations at PeopleForBikes, in an interview. “Maybe at 30 mph you’re actually moving more people through, because you’ve put a bus on it, or a bike lane.” For the White Flint neighborhood of Montgomery County, Maryland, that’s exactly the risk. The county has a long-term plan to run a bus rapid transit line and protected bike lanes up Rockville Pike, greatly improving access to the White Flint Metro Station. Old Georgetown Road would also get protected bike lanes, helping form a connected bike-and-transit network that could combine to create convenient alternatives to rush-hour traffic in this redeveloping suburban area. “Montgomery County, it’s growing quickly,” said Garrett Hennigan of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association. “Over the past five years there’s really been a change in focus and a change in thinking in how we should plan around the bike.” But the federal rules as currently proposed might penalize Montgomery County for trying to get ahead of its congestion problem. That’s because Rockville Pike and Old Georgetown Road are both classified as “principal arterials,” which makes them part of the Federal Highway System, which means any slowdown in auto traffic would raise bureaucratic red flags — even if the actual result would be to help more Marylanders escape congestion. Rule could make it harder to build protected bike lanes The planned biking network around White Flint in Montgomery County, Maryland. Look around the country and you’ll see many cities trying to cut congestion while improving public health and equity by adding protected bike lanes to “principal arterials.” Here are a few: The proposed federal rule wouldn’t make projects like these illegal. It’d just make them look bad on spreadsheets, even if in the real world they’re improving the average commute. “This is how the discussion over congestion will be framed,” said Stephen Davis, spokesman for the mobility advocacy group Transportation for America. “Everybody who writes about it, everybody who covers it, every time there’s a community meeting about a project, somebody will be able to say, ‘well, this project will mean that if we add our protected bike lanes, then we won’t make our targets.'” Over time, Davis said, treating automotive speed as the top priority can starve a city or a business district of its most precious resource: how much people want to be there. “A local community says, ‘Well hey, that doesn’t actually jibe with our goals we’re trying to turn this into an enjoyable downtown main street and you’re trying to turn this into a speeding highway,'” Davis said. That’s too bad, the proposed rules would say. Smarter rule still possible Allen and Pike Streets, New York. There’s still a chance to amend or block these rules, Davis and Hartnett said. Ideally, congestion would measure people rather than machines. But people can, admittedly, be difficult to measure. So Davis and Hartnett both suggested that a smarter federal rule would also give road projects credit for the auto trips they prevent. They hope this would be a way to start changing the assignment that the United States has given its thousands of transportation engineers. It would no longer have engineers ask only “How can we make cars move faster?” It’d ask them to put their brains toward another problem: “How can we get people where they want to go?” “This is important because it sets the norms,” Davis said. To send your comments to the Federal Highway Administration, click here. See all Protected Bike Lanes blog entries |
After a tough week of media scrutiny, Herman Cain retreated to friendly turf Friday with an address to a conference sponsored by Americans for Prosperity, a grassroots conservative group Cain worked for prior to launching his presidential campaign. Liberals have criticized Cain for his connection to the group, funded in part by Charles and David Koch, energy moguls who own one of the largest privately owned companies in the country. The Kochs bankroll many conservative and libertarian causes. But on Friday, Cain was anything but apologetic. "I'm very proud to know the Koch brothers," Cain told the crowd. "Just so I can clarify this for the media. This may be a breaking news announcement. I am the Koch Brothers' brother from another mother. Yes. I'm their brother from another mother! And proud of it!" AFP enlisted Cain in 2005 to head its Prosperity Expansion Project, and he traveled the country for the group. Mark Block, Cain's campaign manager, formerly led AFP's Wisconsin state chapter and Rich Lowrie, Cain's economic adviser who wrote his "9-9-9 Plan," sat on AFP's board of advisers for three years. Over the past couple of years, Koch Industries has become Enemy Number One on the left for its financial support to Republican political organizations. At the AFP conference, activists from the local Occupy Wall Street protest in Washington, D.C. are planning to target the company in pickets outside the convention center. More popular Yahoo! News stories: Herman Cain's wife cancels Fox News interview Herman Cain in 2007: Voters 'are too hung up on people's baggage' when choosing a president Cain campaign drops claim that Perry aide leaked harassment story Want more of our best political stories? Visit The Ticket or connect with us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. |
France24 lead an investigation in Lebanon to try and find out whether domestic workers suffer abuse in Lebanon. I’m sure you already know the answer. Also On The International Political Forum The France24 team divided their investigation in two parts: The first one, which is filmed in Arabic follows France24’s Sarra Grira and Rahel, a former Ethiopian domestic worker turned activist. The second one, filmed in French and then dubbed in English, follows France24’s Julien Pain and Aimée Razanajay, a former Malagasy domestic worker turned activist. It is the same investigation, with the only difference being that the Arabic version starts with Rahel and the English and French versions start with Aimée. Arabic Version Here is what they found out. 02:11 – 03:14 Aimée and Rahel try to enter a beach When Aimée and Rahel tried to enter a beach in an area that’s probably around Batroun, they were first allowed in by the reception woman. Then, after a few moments, the manager tells them to leave. When they asked why, they were told that the pool is full, and that it’s closing soon. 03:14 – 03:45 Julien and Sarra try to enter When Julien asked “I cannot go to the swimming pool?”, the woman replied “it is closing at 6”. When Julien pointed out that it was 4pm, the woman told him yes. “So I can go in?”, Julien asked. “Yes”, she replied. When Julien and Sarra entered, they discovered that the pool was quite empty. 03:40(Eng/Fr), 0:45(Ar) – 04:17, 04:26 Follow up In each version, Rahel and Aimée are asked why they think they weren’t allowed in. Rahel recalled how they were first asked “who did you come with?” (as in where are your masters?). When she was asked why she thought this happened, she replied “I don’t know. Racism. What else could it be?” Similarly, Aimée pointed out the fact that we’re all human beings and that she couldn’t understand why we can eat the same food and live in the same house, but we cannot go swimming together. “And the segregation begins at the hiring stage. Aimée is particularly critical of the ages at which they bring these women to Lebanon often selling them like Cattle with no thought to what happens to them once they start working for a family” 04:30, 04:39 – 05:29, 05:37 Julien and Sarra visit a domestic worker agency Julien and Sarra decide to visit a hiring agency, posing as potential customers. They started by showing them a catalog from which they can pick a future employee. “African”, “French-speaking”, “Sri Lankan”, “Filipina”; all prepared to leave their country to come and work here. This is what they were told: She cannot go back to her home country before her contract has been terminated. She does not have any annual leave. She is allowed to call her family only twice a month. She can be brought back to the agency in case of any problem. “And you’ll find us another one?”, Sarra asked. “Yes, of course.” She has to sign an employment contract which is tailor made for their employees. If the boss is unfair or abusive, there’s nothing she can do about it. 05:30, 05:38 – 07:33 Julien and Sarra interview a Malagasy domestic worker Both Julien and Sarra interview a Malagasy woman who has been working as a domestic worker for the past 6 years. Her face is of course blurred and she remains anonymous. The woman tells us how when she first came to her employer’s house, she barely was allowed to eat anything for 3 months. She had bread and Nescafe, and nothing else. Furthermore, she wasn’t paid for 10 months. When she was asked why she didn’t leave, she replied that she couldn’t. “How can I leave my employer? I’ll still have to write paperwork”. When her daughter died and she wanted to go back home, but she wasn’t allowed to by her sponsor. She ended up in prison. Her employer told her that the government wanted to ask her a few questions, and then left her there. She stayed in prison for 1 week. She has the official paper stating that she was in prison, but she couldn’t read it because it was in Arabic. The immigration officials did not translate it. In fact, they never contacted her, just her employer. She wants to stay in Lebanon because she needs the money. She has children and has been a widow for a long time. 07:34 – 09:46 Julien and Sarra visits Caritas Lebanon Migrant Center The place they visit is a shelter where migrant workers stay there while their papers are being done so that they can either change employers or go back to their home country. The Caritas woman explains how in Lebanon we don’t have a law that protects migrant workers from harm. We have the Kafala system, which basically states that any migrant worker in Lebanon has to have a sponsor and that a worker cannot change households without the explicit authorization of the sponsor. She then explains, after being asked, that eliminating the Kafala isn’t simple because it’s been in place for a very long time. But some changes can be made. For example, the contract can be translated into a language the domestic worker understands so that she has full knowledge of what she’s signing. Or that she has the right to keep her passport, instead of being forced to hand it over to her sponsor. “There’s really no way out. If she has been physically abused, mistreated, or isn’t getting enough food, or is unable to communicate with her loved ones, the only solution she has is to run away. And then a new problem begins. She is then living illegally because she no longer lives in her sponsor’s home.” – Caritas Worker 09:47 – 11:11 Julien and Sarra interview Abdallah Razzouk, Director general of the Ministry of Labor When asked whether he is aware of the horrible situation in which many domestic workers live, he replied that there are problems like in any country. “Sometimes, although this is rare, it is the mistress of the house causing the problems. But generally speaking, the issue is with the domestic worker because she comes from a very different environment and is not used to the Lebanese way of life.” Quick response to this disgusting answer: I wonder if Mr. Razzouk is aware that he’s basically saying that the problem is that domestic workers are apparently unfamiliar with a daily dose of Hummus, Man’ouche and Fairuz and therefore cannot tolerate being beaten or being forced to live in such horrible conditions that leads to them escaping or committing suicide. Mr Razzouk then said that he is working with the International Labor Organization to translate the contracts into Arabic and French or Arabic and English – I wonder why it’s taking so long to translate some papers. When he was asked whether he thinks their is racism towards domestic workers in Lebanon, he replied “I swear to God. Absolutely not. There is no racism here. “ Quick response to yet another disgusting answer: Racism exists in Lebanon, to say the least. In fact, it so exist that we actually use the word “Sri Lankan” to describe any domestic worker with the question “What is your Sri Lankan? Ethiopian or Filipino?” actually existing. I’ve heard it before, and it’s been used in many protests as a sarcastic slogan. Any Lebanese who hasn’t been living in a cave all his/her life, knows that racism exists, including Mr. Razzouk. When asked if female domestic workers are allowed to swim in private pools in Beirut, he replied “of course they are, we even take her there myself.” (meaning his family takes their domestic worker to the swimming pool) 11:11 – 12:32 Julien goes back to Aimée, and Sarra to Ali, a local activist When Julien told Aimée what Mr. Razzouk just said, she replied “if we are to solve a problem, we have to admit that the problem exists in the first place. If I’m sick and I go to the doctor, I have to say what’s wrong with me so that he can make me better, give me the right treatment, right medication I need. If I refuse to accept I’m sick, then it becomes very difficult for the doctor to treat me. When Sarra told Ali the same thing, he replied “the ministry can make up all the excuses it wants, but the fact of the matter remains that the situation in Lebanon is overwhelmingly racist when it comes to domestic workers. There is a system, the Kafala system, that has to be abolished. It’s as simple as that.” (rough translation) More Migrant Rights-related topics on this blog I try and share interesting things on Twitter, so you can follow me if you want. Cheers! |
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Investments in the drug cartel world apparently know no bounds. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western Texas District announced Tuesday the indictment of 14 members of Mexico’s Los Zetas cartel for laundering money by purchasing, breeding and racing American quarter horses in the U.S. Those indicted included Los Zetas leader Miguel Angel Trevino Morales (aka “40”) and his brothers, Oscar Omar Trevino Morales (aka “42”) and Jose Trevino-Morales, authorities said. On Tuesday, authorities said they arrested seven of the defendants. “The allegations in this indictment, if proven, would document yet another example of the corrupting influence of Mexican drug cartels within the United States, facilitated by the enormous profits generated by the illicit drug trade,” U.S. Attorney Robert Pitman said in a statement. The indictment alleges that millions of dollars worth of transactions transpired in New Mexico, Oklahoma, California and Texas involving a large number of quarter horses, and the cartel used front companies to conceal the true ownership. OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST |
. Explosion That Injured at Least 29 an 'Intentional Act,' New York City Mayor Says (ABC News) . An explosion that rocked Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood and injured at least 29 people appears to have been "an intentional act" -- but not related to terrorism, according to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio. The cause of the explosion has not been determined, said New York City police commissioner James O'Neill. The explosion, which seriously injured at least one person, happened on West 23rd Street late Saturday in an area frequented by shoppers and diners. "New York City experienced a very bad incident," de Blasio said at a news conference. "We have no credible and specific threat at this moment." A possible secondary device was located a few blocks away on 27th Street, between 6th Avenue and 7th Avenue, the NYPD Special Operations Division said at 11 p.m. The device, a pressure cooker, was removed by authorities. It was in a white plastic bag with tape, wiring and a cell phone or other electronic device. Police said the device was to be detonated at the NYPD's firing range in the Bronx. Police had earlier advised residents on the block where the device was found to stay away from windows facing 27th Street. There were other suspicious packages and incidents in the area since the pressure cooker was discovered, but they were deemed not dangerous, police said. Bomb-sniffing dogs deployed in NYC's Chelsea neighborhood after reported explosion. Follow @ABC for latest. pic.twitter.com/fH6uF0hGqD The explosion on 23rd Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues was seen by police officers driving by about 8:30 p.m., according to police. The fire department heard the explosion and responded immediately. Officials said the NYPD has video it is reviewing and De Blasio urged any witnesses or people who may have information to come forward. Two law enforcement sources said the explosion occurred in a dumpster, and the NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau tweeted a photo of a mangled dumpster after saying they were responding to the explosion. The NYPD Bomb Squad was searching the area and checking garbage cans for any other possible explosive devices. The FBI and Homeland Security officials, along with the ATF arson and explosive task force were also at the scene. Surveillance video recovered from West 23rd Street shows the explosion and contains other evidence that indicates to investigators the original object was intentionally left next to the construction trash container, described as 4 ft. by 4 ft. by 3 ft. in size. In one video obtained by police, a man is seen crossing the street in the vicinity of where the original object was left. The trash container was blown clear into the street by the force of the blast. The object left behind could be a large tool box, left next to one of the several commercial trash containers in front of a building that has been under construction. Investigators are trying to determine if there is a connection to this seemingly "random construction site." The explosion even startled residents who were a few blocks away. Chelsea resident Michelle Leifer was walking her dog in Madison Square Park when she heard a loud boom and rumbling. "I heard a loud boom and felt rumbling," she tells ABC News. "I wasn't sure if it was an explosion or if a large truck had gone by. One of the park's maintenance men came in and said he got an alert on his phone that there was an explosion on 23rd and 6th. As I was leaving the park, I saw a smoke cloud hovering in that area. Then police cars and firetrucks started streaming in." Meanwhile, a "possible secondary device" was located a few blocks away on 27th Street, between 6th Avenue and 7th Avenue, the NYPD Special Operations Division said around 11 p.m. The device, a pressure cooker, was removed by authorities. The device was in a white plastic bag with tape, wiring and a cell phone or other electronic device. The explosion occurred one day after O'Neill was sworn as the new police commissioner following Bill Bratton's retirement. The mayor said the Chelsea explosion has no apparent connection to the explosive device that detonated in Seaside Park, New Jersey, Saturday morning. Nobody was injured in the New Jersey incident, which occurred at a time when a 5k run to benefit U.S. Marines and sailors was scheduled, but the race was delayed because so many runners had signed up. Society & Culture Unrest, Conflicts & War Mayor Bill de Blasio NYPD . — Paul Blake (@PaulNBlake) September 18, 2016 |
Suspect was taken into custody shortly before three other pirates were killed to free Maersk Alabama captain Captured Somali pirate will face trial in US, says official The captured Somali pirate who held a US merchant ship captain hostage will be brought to New York to face trial, a US official said yesterday. The suspect, identified as Abduhl Wal-i-Musi, was taken aboard a US navy ship shortly before Navy Seal snipers killed the three remaining pirates holding Captain Richard Phillips hostage on a lifeboat launched from his cargo vessel, the Maersk Alabama. The official said it was not immediately clear when Wal-i-Musi will be brought to New York. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to disclose information about an ongoing investigation. CBS News first reported the name of the suspect and the decision to prosecute him in New York. Officials decided to send him to trial in New York in part because the FBI office there has a history of handling cases in Africa involving major crimes against Americans, including the al-Qaida bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The government had been weighing whether to bring the suspect to trial in the United States or hand him over to authorities in Kenya, which has an international agreement to prosecute pirates. Since the hostage standoff on the high seas ended on Sunday, US authorities have been examining details of the case, particularly Wal-i-Musi's age. Initially, he was thought to have been between 16 years and 20 years of age, but US defence secretary Robert Gates later said all four of the pirates involved were between ages 17 and 19. If he is under 18, federal prosecutors must take a number of additional steps to justify charging him in federal court. Though no charges have been publicly filed, the suspect could face charges that carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. |
PostgreSQL with different I/O schedulers One of the questions I'm getting in response the talks and posts about filesystem performance is "What about I/O schedulers?" Sadly I didn't have much reliable data on this topic before, and I've already published that some time ago. But I've been asking myself this question too, so naturally I decided to additional benchmarks, hopefully improving the reliability somewhat. So let's look what I've measured. The main reason why I haven't been very happy with the previous measurements is that the setup was not particularly representative of actual deployments. Most serious deployments don't run on a single SSD device, but at lease separate the data directory and WAL somehow. As I finally received the additional SSD drives I ordered some time ago, I've modified the setup this way - one SSD for WAL, one SSD for data. This also allows setting different I/O schedulers for WAL and data separately - maybe one scheduler is good for WAL and a different one for data? Those results suggest that in terms of average throughput, the I/O scheduler on XLOG does not actually matter, while the I/O scheduler on data directory can indeed make a significant difference. The interesting thing is that although the common recommendation is to use "deadline" I/O scheduler for databases or "noop" for SSD devices, in this benchmark "cfq" actually performed better than both of those schedulers. Compared to "deadline" the difference is not that big (just ~3%), but "noop" is almost 10% slower. But of course, average throughput may be quite misleading, hiding various types of performance variability. One way to illustrate the variability might be to simply plot number of transactions completed each second, but that gets very confusing very quickly. So instead let's look at the statistical distribution of this metric - a 60-minute run gives us 3600 observations, which we can use to build approximation of the statistical distribution. TPS CDF A good way to represent the distribution is CDF, which for the "tps" looks like this: Firstly, this chart once again suggests that scheduler on XLOG does not really matter - there are three clearly separated groups of curves, depending on the scheduler set on the data directory. If you're not familiar with CDF, it's not that difficult - pick a value on x-axis, for example 6000 tps, and find the matching value on y-axis for a given curve. For the "blue" curves on the previous chart it's ~0.5, which means ~50% of values are below 6000. In other words, 6000 is median of distributions when "noop" scheduler is used for the data directory. Or you may go from the other direction and pick a value on the y-axis, and use that to find out the matching values on x-axis, effectively percentiles percentiles - for example by using 0.5, you can easily find medians for all the curves. The CDF also visualizes variability of the data - the speeper the curve, the less variable the data. Had the performance been perfectly consistent, i.e. all the values would be exactly the same (same performance each second), the CDF would be a step function, going from 0 to 1 in a single point. It's obvious that "cfq" performs better than "deadline" or "noop" not just in terms of average throughput, but also in terms of variability. The "cfq" curves are steeper than for the other schedulers, and also the "tails" are much shorter. Minimum/maximum latency CDF We can use the same method to analyze latencies - I didn't collect the full transaction log, but let's look at minimum and maximum latencies (collected per second). For the two next charts, the x-axis is the latency in microseconds. For the minimum latencies, the "noop" performs best and "cfq" worst, but the difference is quite negligible - less than 10 microseconds for all percentiles. I'd guess it's mostly due to how expensive the scheduling algorithm is, and clearly "noop" is cheapest as it does nothing, while "cfq" does a fair amount of reorderings and such. The maximum latencies are much more interesting - the values mostly depend on the I/O performance, and how well the I/O scheduler reorganizes the requests for the device. While it's often recommended to use "noop" for SSD devices, these results quite contradict that, as it results in the worst latencies. Similarly for "deadline", although then the difference is not that bad. This mostly matches the difference in average throughput. Data and environment The benchmarks were executed on a system used for some of the previous tests, i.e. 1x i5-2500k (4 cores @ 3.3 GHz, 6MB cache) 8GB RAM (DIMM DDR3 1333 MHz) 2x S3700 100GB (SSD) xlog+data Gentoo, kernel 4.4.0-rc1, ext4 The data (tooling and results) are available at bitbucket. Summary I find it slightly surprising that "cfq" so clearly wins over "deadline" and (especially) "noop." I'd not dare to suggest that "cfq" universally beats the other schedulers - there may be other PostgreSQL workloads where "deadline" or "noop" performs much better, not to mention other types of applications (i.e. not databases). I also wouldn't be surprised if the results were slightly different for other types of storage, e.g. rotational devices or even different types/models of SSDs. In case of "noop" I believe this means that the optimizations performed by "cfq" (reordering and coalescing of requests, etc.) still matter even on SSD drives. For "deadline" I'm not quite sure. The ideas behind this scheduler sound like a great match for PostgreSQL and databases in general - preferring reads over writes should work great, because reads in databases are synchronous (client has to wait for them) while writes are asynchronous (happen mostly in the background during checkpoint). Yet "deadline" does not beat "cfq" - similarly to "noop" it might be due to not performing some of the optimizations done by "cfq." Actually, while there's a lot of "deadline works great for databases" claims, there are also discussions about bad experiences with "deadline" scheduler. For example there was this thread on pgsql-hackers in 2010, discussing issues with "deadline" scheduler (and also workloads that work poorly with the other schedulers). Definitely worth read, and it also links to various benchmarks, like fsopbench. |
Update February 23rd, 3:30PM: These recommendations were based on assumptions made from reading Nintendo’s charging specifications that early tests from Ars Technica seem to refute. We’re looking into the issue and will update accordingly. The Nintendo Switch is almost out, and chances are you’ll want an extra battery pack to juice up your console on the go (in addition to a couple other accessories, like a microSD card). Fortunately, the Switch has a standard USB-C port, which makes it the most universal Nintendo power system since the Game Boy took AA batteries. The downside is that the wide range of devices that support USB-C make the standard somewhat of a tricky beast, especially when it comes to making sure you’ve got enough power to juice up your console. With that in mind, let’s break down what you need to know about charging your Switch, along with some battery pack, charger, and cable recommendations. As we can see, the Switch actually outputs two power at two different level: 5.0V/1.5A and 15.0V/2.6A, which works out to 7.5W and 39W, respectively. This is a bit of speculation, but if I had to guess, those correspond to regular charging (7.5W) and actively being used as a docked console (39W), which presumably needs more power. (Update: This assumption appears to no longer be correct. It appears the Switch requires the full 15V/2.6A to charge) What that means in practical terms, though, is that we have a rough idea of the kind of specs we’re looking for to charge up a Switch on the go. (For reference, a standard iPhone charger is 5W, and iPad is 12W, putting the Switch somewhere in between a phone and a tablet when it comes to power demands, which makes logical sense to me.) Best battery pack: (Update: This recommendation may no longer be accurate, we’re investing other battery packs that will properly charge the Switch) The Jackery Titan S with USB-C is the best battery pack we’ve found out there for the Switch. At $46 on Amazon, it’s cheaper than most of its competitors (like Anker’s similarly priced model), and has a USB-C port that outputs 5.0V/3A, which should be more than enough to charge a Switch at full speed. And with a 20,100mAh capacity, it should be able to recharge the Switch’s 4,310 mAh battery a couple times over. Anker and RAVPower also offer similar options, but they’re both priced higher than the Jackery Titan S. While they offer some different functionality when it comes to Qualcomm’s Quick Charge support, either product will work just as well when it comes to charging the Switch. Best extra charger: (Update: These recommendations may no longer be accurate, we’re investigating other chargers that will manage to charge the Switch) The Switch comes with an AC adaptor in the box, but you’ll probably plug that into the dock for when you’re using it in full console mode. If you want to charge up your Switch away from your TV, you’ll need a second charger. Nintendo will sell you a second one for $29.99, if you’d like to keep things simple. Or, if you’ve got one handy, any of Apple’s USB-C MacBook and MacBook Pro chargers will also work, as will most other USB-C laptop chargers. Alternatively, you can pick up a generic USB-C charger — so long as it outputs at least 5.0V/1.5A, it’ll be good enough for juicing up a Switch. This 24W Anker charger should work. If you’ve got a legacy USB to USB-C cable, you can also use a regular USB charger, assuming it can put out the power you need. Best cable: USB-C is infamous for poor cable standards that can fry your devices. Your best bet is to check that the cables you’re buying have been vetted by heroic Google engineer Benson Leung, whose made a hobby of verifying cable standards. Leung posts his reviews directly to Amazon and his Google+ page, but if you’re looking for a few simple USB-C to USB-C cables, here are few options. Nintendo Switch First Look |
I’ve hooked twice. Well, technically three times—but twice was with the same guy. So I don’t know if it counts. The first time, I went with Laila. Fresh out of a long, drain-circler of a relationship, it was as if she had all of a sudden stormed into the escorting business with some kind of a vengeance. She even did the whole personal phone/business phone thing. Every time I texted her in the past month, it seemed she was either on her way to a job, or just leaving a job. Advertisement: “This guy Frederick from Malibu has been asking about you. He’s, like, so fuckin’ rich, girl.” We were lying side by side in the sauna at our local Korean spa, relaxing after an anal threeway scene. The Korean spa is our secret little getaway. No one from porn knows about it, and on its worst day it’s filled with Korean and Russian housewives who keep to themselves. This particular day was a weekday, and the sauna was empty except for us. Not that it would have made a difference if there were other people around. Laila is loud, crude, and gives a fuck about no one. Just that morning she had mortifyingly screamed across the line at a very crowded Starbucks, “Fuck Imodium, I drink coffee before anal!” It’s inevitable. You can only show the inside of your asshole to the world for so long before your filter ceases to exist. I wondered why she was bringing this guy up to me. She knew I wasn’t into the escorting thing. This guy Frederick-from-Malibu was notorious for seeing girls in porn, a big-time CEO of a huge, very commercial, very family-friendly company. “A few people hit me up about him. He sounds gross.” It was true. He had been trying to get other girls to refer him to me since my early days in porn. “There’s no way.” “He’s super-nice and not gross at all. He’ll pay you whatever you want.” “Tell him five thousand dollars for half an hour.” Thinking this was a ridiculous deal no one would agree to, I laid a damp towel over my face and we proceeded to talk shit about the potential new girl in our agency. Spiegler was thinking of taking on a new Asian girl. As it stood, Laila and I were the only Asian girls on his roster. We wanted to keep it that way. He only represents twenty-five girls at a time, and so three of them being Asian would seriously dilute our market. Advertisement: That night, Laila texted me. “He’s in. When can you do it?” Having no knowledge whatsoever regarding the world of hooking, yet feeling spontaneous, intrigued, and admittedly a little bored, I agreed to see Frederick-from-Malibu for half an hour the next evening, under one condition—that Laila come with me. I had no moral issue against escorting, just an irrational fear (. . . is it, though??) of being murdered. Two girls could take on one guy, right? Besides, the prospect of making my double penetration (one dick in the butt, one in the pussy) rate in a mere thirty minutes (without even putting anything in my ass) was too tempting. It was the length of a television show episode. Not even that long, if it were on HBO or Showtime. I persuaded myself to give it a try. Laila drove. “Girl, it’s so easy. You’re gonna wonder why you didn’t do this before.” “I don’t know. What if he tries to pull something? I brought Mace. But it’s fucking pink and I’ve never used it. Does Mace expire?” “Shut up. We’re gonna get there, have condom sex for ten minutes, shower, and leave. It’s gonna be the easiest money you ever made.” Advertisement: Condom sex. Shit. I was so wrapped up in thinking of ways to hide my Mace within arm’s reach during the actual fucking, I had totally forgotten to pack condoms. Rule number one as a working girl: Bring. Fucking. Condoms. We weren’t even there yet, and I already had one strike in the hooker game. Luckily, Laila was more prepared than me. We got to the hotel, valeted the car, and took a fancy elevator up to the room. This is when things started getting real for me. Or maybe more like surreal. A million thoughts started racing through my head. Mainly, that if someone recognized us, they would for certain know what we were up to. And out us on the Internet. Or worse, call the cops. I turned my head down as much as I could without seeming too weird and silently cursed Laila for talking so damn loud. As we walked through the hallway I recognized the mirrors on the wall from various girls’ self-taken cellphone photos on their Twitter profiles. Advertisement: When Frederick opened the door, the first thing I noticed was that he was black. I had been hearing about this guy for years, and in my mind, he was white. Not like it really mattered. It’s like that weird sensation when you pick up a drink thinking it’s gonna be water, and as the liquid hits your tongue you realize it’s Coca-Cola. Like everything you knew to be true a second ago is now questionable. Frederick was wearing a white robe, I guessed with probably nothing underneath. He was much better-looking than I had expected. Handsome, even. Not old. Not young, but not old. Advertisement: He flashed a mouth full of expensive-looking, well-done veneers. “I’ve been waiting to meet you. Come in.” When we entered the room, I saw he had a porno of mine playing on the TV. I was dressed up in what was porn’s version of a schoolgirl outfit, and fucking my teacher for extra credit. Right away I noticed how horrible my skin looked on the huge screen. I already regretted coming. Advertisement: “I laid out some outfits for you girls in the bathroom,” Frederick said. Laila was clearly feeling more comfortable than me, making herself at home on the floor in front of the minibar. She got her drink, and we went into the bathroom. Just like he said, there were four schoolgirl uniforms laid out on the counter for us to choose from. They looked freshly dry cleaned, but definitely not new. Which girls had worn these outfits before me? Surely, I knew at least a few of them. I chose a cropped collared shirt that showed off my stomach, and a red plaid skirt that came with a matching tie of the same pattern. I opted for the baggy Japanese-style leg warmer socks rather than the stockings. My shoes, I had brought. Laila picked a similar outfit in blue, only she went for the stockings. After dressing in silence, Laila put my hand in hers. We walked out together like this, hand in hand. I never asked her if she did this to comfort me, or as a part of the act. Either way, it was sweet. The porno was still on the screen, but it wasn’t my scene anymore. “Teacher, you wanted to see us? Is this about our recent tardiness?” Laila is a fucking pro. Advertisement: “I hope you didn’t call us in to punish us. We really are very good girls.” I was shocked to hear my own voice chime in on this role play. The inner dialogue running in my head was far different. Shit, I left my Mace in the bathroom. What kind of teacher wears a fucking robe? This is corny. Maybe it’s not too late to go grab my Mace. I could say I have to pee. “Maybe Teacher can tell us how to work to our full potential.” My mouth was making words that must have been ingrained into my brain from all the schoolgirl scenes I had shot over the years. “You’re good girls. Teacher thought you might like to earn some extra credit.” In this moment, I realized that people are actually into these tired, old, clichéd porno scenarios. Every time I shoot a student/teacher scene, I’m baffled at how the scripts never change. On the other hand, seeing how into the scene he was put me at ease. I probably didn’t need my Mace. Advertisement: I hoped my lack of enthusiasm wasn’t too obvious. We bent over against the TV screen and showed off our asses. “Like this, Teacher?” “Is this what you want? Does this make Teacher’s cock hard?” “Why don’t you girls kiss each other? Put on a show for Teacher.” Frederick sat on the sofa and stroked his dick while watching us. His cock was rock hard. I couldn’t believe this cheesy half-assed act was working. Advertisement: With my eye on Frederick, I kissed Laila as I put my hand on her pussy. I could tell immediately from the change in his breath that it drove him crazy. And it dawned on me. Here we were, two girls he had been jerking off to for years. We were making this man’s fantasy come true. In his eyes we could do no wrong. Everything we did was sexy. He had been waiting for this to happen for who knows how long. We were on a pedestal. He was so obsessed with me that he was willing to pay for thirty lousy minutes with me. I was starstruck on myself. Advertisement: I was starting to enjoy this. In true porno style, as if it were second nature to us, Laila and I dropped down to our knees in sync and crawled over to him on the sofa. I took his shaft in my mouth while she took the balls. I thought about how many times he had cum thinking about this moment. Often, I think about the guy on the other side of the screen while I’m shooting. If I’m not particularly fond of my partner for the day, I know I can rely on the idea of the guy at home watching, jerking off to me to get me wet. Right now, right here, this was my favorite part of my job coming to life. “Teacher, I want to be your favorite student.” By the time the condom was on and he put his dick in me, I was soaking wet. I screamed like I did in the movies for him. I shook my ass. Laila and I slapped each other around, just like we had done so many times before on camera. Only this time we had a live audience. Like Laila had said, once we started fucking, it lasted about ten minutes. Like in the scene he was watching earlier, he came on our faces. We went to the bathroom, took turns showering, got our money, and left. She was right. It was the easiest money I had ever made. I saw Frederick again, on my own, the next day. We acted out a similar scenario, minus Laila. The sequel felt underwhelming. Maybe because I was alone . . . maybe because the novelty had worn off. Maybe because he wanted me to wear the same outfit as the day before, and it hadn’t been washed. Or maybe it was the fact that he had asked me to fuck without a condom on, which just reminded me of how many girls in this business are fucking their clients raw. It made me sad. It turned me off. I never saw him again. He texts me from time to time, but I never reply. What’s the point? The spark I felt on our initial rendezvous had gone. I had given the guy too much credit. Strike two. Feeling confident about the gig, but not necessarily needing to experience it again, I told Laila hooking wasn’t my thing. So the next time she mentioned a client, I smiled and told her, “Tell him ten grand.” I was joking. I never thought someone would pay that much for sex. But Joe did. The agreement was that I would meet him for dinner. If I felt uncomfortable in any way, I would walk away right there with a thousand dollars. If I went home with him, I’d get ten grand up front, cash. The holidays were just around the corner. It was an offer I couldn’t turn down. “I watch about five hours of porn a day,” Joe confessed to me at dinner. His brutal honesty charmed me. Most people would consider this the kind of information you kept hidden on a first date. Then again, this wasn’t a date. Like Frederick, he was kind of handsome. He was the kind of guy I’d like to watch a character-driven documentary on. Nerdy, socially awkward, and though I’m no psychologist, to me he seemed like he could be on the Asperger spectrum. After dinner I was more than thrilled to go back to his place. We stayed up all night and talked. Joe was smart, and I felt like I could listen to him talk forever. He was the kind of guy I could really learn from. I told him I had only hooked once (half true), and we were so enthralled in conversation, we didn’t even get to fucking until five in the morning. I think the True Romance–ness of it was what drew me in. After the sex, we took a nap, went out to breakfast, and I drove home. I couldn’t shake him off; I was fascinated by him, his brain, the whole scenario. I romanticized the situation, fantasized what it would be like if he were my Captain-Save-A-Ho. The next week was Christmas, so my schedule was clear of shoots. Joe took me on a first-class trip to Hawaii. Everything was top-notch. The resort, our suite, our limos, everything. He worked the whole time we were there from his computer but had rented out a cabana for me by the pool for every day we were there. I lounged by the pool, went hiking, explored the resort, and shopped with his money while he worked all day. Then we’d meet up for dinner, fuck in the room after, and stay up late talking. It was perfect. On the last night, we took a stroll along the beach after another fancy dinner. “How much longer do you want to do porn?” It was happening. The inevitable question. What it translates to is I don’t want to say it now but eventually I will ask you to quit your job for me. Every guy I’ve dated has eventually brought this up; it’s not a matter of if they will, it’s a matter of when. I imagined what my life would be like if I were with this guy. Could I really give up this life I was living? Sure, he was rich. I’d probably never have to work again. Ultimately, though, I knew what our destiny would be. I’d been down this road before. The first step would be for me to make faraway promises I knew at the bottom of my heart I couldn’t keep. Then when the time came, I’d come to my senses and realize that I wasn’t ready to give up my dream job. We’d argue, both make compromises, only to realize that our relationship would never work because ultimately I need to do what makes me happy, which is porn. We’d part ways and never speak again. We didn’t fuck that night. I hardly even spoke to him after he asked that question. He knew what my silence meant. The next day we flew back to Los Angeles. We said an awkward goodbye at the airport, and I knew I’d probably never speak to him again. On the cab drive home, the first song to come on my iPod was “Ho,” by Ludacris. What the fuck. Then I remembered a joke my friend Sebastian had told me a long time ago. “You don’t pay a hooker to come, you pay a hooker to leave.” I was the ultimate hooker failure. I didn’t leave. At all. I did just the opposite. I came, over and over. I got emotionally involved and tried to make something out of nothing. Strike. Three. Excerpted from "Insatiable: Porn -- A Love Story" by Asa Akira. Published by Grove Atlantic. Copyright © 2014 by Asa Akira. Reprinted with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved. |
WASHINGTON — President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor on Thursday to a soldier who rushed a suicide bomber in Afghanistan in 2012 and saved perhaps dozens of American and Afghan lives at a devastating cost to his own. The soldier, Capt. Florent A. Groberg, has spent much of the last three years recovering from 33 operations, but he stood at attention in the East Room of the White House as the commander in chief bestowed on him the highest commendation available to members of the American military. “On his very worst day, he managed to summon his very best,” Mr. Obama said. “That’s the nature of courage — not being unafraid but confronting fear and danger and performing in a selfless fashion. He showed his guts, he showed his training, how he would put it all on the line for his teammates. That’s an American we can all be grateful for.” Captain Groberg, 32, who goes by Flo and retired from the Army this year to serve as a civilian in the Defense Department, was only the 10th living recipient of the Medal of Honor from actions during the war in Afghanistan. The ceremony came the day after Veterans Day as Mr. Obama sought to demonstrate concern for those who served even as he tries to wind down the war in Afghanistan. |
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