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Leave it to Japan to once again give us the foods we didn’t know we needed: in this case, a vampire defense system and savory munchie packaged as a brand-new type of that childhood favorite of snacks, the Dorito. But this is no friendly Cool Ranch or Nacho Cheese flavor; no, the new chip is all powerful garlic, and is stained an inky charcoal black for that optimum weird factor. The limited-edition chips are out just in time for Halloween, of course. They follow in the mold of IKEA’s black ninja hot dog, McDonald’s pumpkin-and-chocolate French fries, and Burger King’s black-bun Whopper as one of Japan’s more unusual (and dark) iterations of a fast food favorite. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now These also come hot on the heels of the release of the world’s spiciest chip, another Halloween-themed novelty chip that has regularly brought taste-testers to tears. In both cases, snack at your own risk. Write to Raisa Bruner at raisa.bruner@time.com. |
IN THE hot debate over the proposed Comcast-Time Warner Cable merger, there are two competing versions of reality. In one, increasingly massive communications firms gobble up ever-larger shares of various, increasingly interrelated markets, magnifying the power they wield against innovators who threaten the old business model and against customers already suffering from high bills and poor service. In that world, stopping the Comcast merger would prevent a bad situation from getting worse. In the other, traditional cable television and wired broadband providers are in increasingly dire competition with online video services, wireless Internet providers and a cash-flush Google expanding its installation of high-speed fiber-optic cable across the country. Consolidation is the only way to ensure these companies have enough capital to invest in new and better technology that will keep their customers happy — or, at least, satisfied enough not to cancel their subscriptions. In the real world, the outlook for the future of communications and entertainment is foggier than either scenario suggests. That uncertainty recommends a degree of regulatory caution. The government’s smartest move is not to block the merger, but to make clear that regulators will respond if big industry players begin to violate basic principles of market fairness. Some criticism of the merger is misleading or speculative. Cable subscribers will not lose flexibility to get their television service from another company. The market is split geographically: Comcast and Time Warner Cable do not compete for customers. Will Comcast find ways to use its strengthened position to promote its own content (from NBC, for example) or services (such as its Netflix competitor, Streampix)? It may well gain more leverage in negotiations with content creators, some of which are in pretty strong positions at the moment. But it would take a much more drastic change in practice to start discriminating heavily against other players interacting with the company. By the same token, some merger supporters overstate the extent of competition the cable industry faces. At the moment, there are few broadband services as attractive as the wired connections cable companies sell. That might change, but it is not clear how fast and in what way. Merger defenders also downplay the conflicts of interest that might encourage firms such as Comcast to promote their products on the wires they own, about which critics are speculating. That is not grounds to take the severe step of blocking a proposed merger. But it is reason for federal regulators to keep a close eye on what cable companies, still huge players in how we communicate and consume culture, end up doing to competitors and upstarts — and to set clear conditions that allow a crackdown, if necessary. |
Will The Riddler Be Affected By Being Frozen? Here's What Cory Michael Smith Says By Matt Wood Random Article Blend In the Season 3 finale of Gotham, the Riddler found himself on the wrong end of Mr. Freeze's ice gun and was frozen in a block of ice. He'll be the centerpiece of Penguin's new Iceberg Lounge, but he likely won't be there for long. The Riddler will eventually thaw out, but when he does, there's no guarantee he'll have all his marbles. Turns out getting frozen for a long period of time isn't good for your brain cells. CinemaBlend was present at the Gotham San Diego Comic Con Roundtable, where Riddler actor Cory Michael Smith revealed Riddler will have some personal challenges in Season 4. You know, we play a lot with Edward having identity issues, and so this is another identity crisis for him. His mind isn't functioning at the level that it was. Whether that can be cured or fixed, he doesn't know, but his computation is not as it was. So what does that make him now? The thing that he had was his intelligence and his ability to trick people and outsmart people, and so he doesn't have that anymore. So what is there? So he goes on a new quest. I'm really happy, because it allows for a little comedy. Some of the old comedy we had with Ed, we get to find again. Some of his physical and mental ineptitude is back. Sounds like the Riddler will have some trouble coming up with his riddles in Season 4. We don't know how Edward Nygma will escape from his icy prison, but when he does, he'll have an uphill battle to get back into top shape. While I would wager just about everything I own that the Riddler will be back in top form by the season's end, it doesn't mean it will be easy for him. Cory Michael Smith likened his characters current struggles to what they were back in the early days of the show when the Riddler was still figuring out his place in life and wasn't a total psychopath. It should make for an interesting challenge for the character, who values his own intelligence above basically everything. Gotham's fourth season will be a big one for the show. Bruce Wayne finally starts to get physical and patrols the streets as a masked vigilante, just a skip away from finding some pointy ears. The show will be pairing off its huge cast of characters in new ways, with Riddler teaming up with newly resurrected Solomon Grundy, while Selina forms a group with Barbara and Tabitha and gets closer than ever to becoming Catwoman. Gotham may like to play it fast and loose with the Batman mythology, but it's no doubt an exciting time to be a fan. Gotham will return on Thursday, September 21, at 8 p.m. EST on Fox. The Masked Singer Mystery: Our Best Guesses (Part 4) Blended From Around The Web Facebook Back to top |
Sharks prop Andrew Fifita faces up to three weeks on the sideline after being charged with a Grade 2 shoulder charge during Monday night's 18-12 loss to Gold Coast. Fifita has until 12pm on Wednesday to decide whether to contest the charge, or take the early guilty and miss two games. The reigning Dally M Prop of the Year follows Roosters star Sonny Bill Williams as the second player charged with committing a shoulder charge over the weekend. Williams accepted the early guilty plea on Monday, and will serve three matches. Sharks fullback Michael Gordon was also cited for tripping but won't miss any games, but forward Siosaia Vave wasn't as lucky, charged with making dangerous contact on Titans fullback William Zillman in the 53rd minute. He will miss this week's clash with the Bulldogs unless he defeats the charge at the judiciary. |
“The tradition of the White House Correspondent’s Dinner is a long one,” said Association President Jeff Mason in his opening remarks Saturday night. “Journalists, Presidents, cabinet members, lawmakers, and diplomats have shown up for decades, and demonstrated that even though we have vastly different roles government officials and reporters can come together for one night.” He held a beat for nearly 10 seconds, with some tittering, before continuing. “Tonight looks a little different.” He referenced of course the obvious “controversy” that erupted regarding the lack of attendance of President Trump to this year’s event. There was an immediate upheaval in the journalistic ranks following the inauguration, and after contentious weeks of speculation the President announced he would not be attending this year’s affair. As a result Mason said, generating applause, “We’re here to celebrate the press, not the Presidency.” That is the pull quote of the night. The press, was celebrating themselves. The non-appearance of President Trump was not only the focus of the night but in the days leading up. A number of names from the press corps commented on his choice to avoid the annual gathering. “I think they are going to regret not coming. I think they are going to look at this the next day and say, ‘Maybe we made a mistake here.’ Because we are going to be the ones talking about freedom of the press, and they are going to be the ones on the sidelines.” — Jim Acosta — “When they took the next step and said White House staff and administration officials would not come that changed it more because the members the Correspondents Association bring officials to that dinner in part to meet and develop sources…and we don’t have that opportunity.” — Jeff Mason — “Here are a few things Trump has dodged: Viet Nam; sexual assault charges; releasing his tax returns; the White House Correspondent’s Dinner.” — Seth Abrams All this self-important pontificating avoids a core truth that dissipates the condescension. It was members of the press who originally pledged to boycott the WHCA event if Trump attended. There were numerous reports of preening journos pledging to sit out the dinner, just a couple of weeks after the inauguration. So the original ones “dodging” the Dinner, denying themselves the chance at contacts, and avoiding discussion of freedom of the press were…the press. This means the very people who originally promoted Trump to the Republican nomination resented his winning the election so much they turned their own event into a political cudgel and threatened to avoid attending until he pulled out of the event, only to scorch him for doing what they had pledged to do themselves. (And journos are dismayed why people find them tiresome?) After entering the hall the attendees located their place cards and discovered there was a small token awaiting each of them. At every seat at tonight’s WHCD: First Amendment lapel pins. To remind us what this is really about pic.twitter.com/BBksm8FGYd — Tal Kopan (@TalKopan) April 30, 2017 The press needed to be reminded about The First Amendment? It seems that Trump’s blatant antagonism to the media is being interpreted as him opposing the freedom of speech, somehow. Bear in mind, these are the same professionals who saw no issue with President Obama being controlling and openly antagonistic repeatedly towards the press. Meanwhile, the assaults on free speech taking place across college campuses bore no mention that night. Beetter still, during a portion when scholarships for select students were announced one recipient was, with dark irony, from Berkeley. To underscore the renewed mission statement of the press corps in the Trump era the preeminent reporting duo of Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein took the podium to inspire the next generation of truth-seekers. However in each of their speeches to rally the troops were nuggets that underscored the paradox of our contemporary press, newly sworn as they are to topple Trump. “The people with information we want should not be pigeon-holed or prejudged by their ideology or their politics,” said the esteemed Mr. Bernstein, unintentionally lecturing against the very behavior we have been witnessing since last November. Bob Woodward came up next, quoting Marty Baron, of the Washington Post: “Reporters should display modesty and humility, bending over backwards and sincerely not only to be fair, but to demonstrate to people we cover that we intend to be fair. In other words, that we have an obligation to listen.” I don’t know about those in the dining hall, but I know I was laughing. Finally, we came to the entertainment portion. Following the self-created uproar and Trump’s eventual exodus, the event became somewhat toxic. As a result, the best they could do for a host of the night was Hasan Minhaj, a comedian and correspondent from The Daily Show. “We got to address the elephant that’s not in the room,” Minhaj started off. “The leader of our country could not be here tonight…because he lives in Moscow.” Yes, Russia jokes. Uh…yea. “As for the other guy, he’s in Pennsylvania, because he can’t take a joke.” Next Minhaj really stepped on his tongue when he made a comment about Rick Perry not being present, and joking at his expense. In truth, Perry was making funeral arrangements for his just departed father. The amusing part was later when the attempt was made by some to defend Minhaj’s tastelessness by stating the host had no way of knowing of the recent passing. I mean sure, he only spent the entire day with hundreds of reporters – how could he possibly have heard the news?! His best summation of the night comes from about the only reference to the previous 8 years. “It was all fun and games with Obama right? Because you were covering an adult, who could speak English.” He was referring to President Teleprompter, who surreptitiously obtained phone records of AP reporters, was verbally hostile to Fox News, and controlled the White House pool reports. Tellingly he received a fraction of the scorn than Trump received for avoiding a dinner with these preening hypocrites. |
PITTSBURGH – The 500 millionth lighter produced by the family-owned Zippo Manufacturing in northwestern Pennsylvania didn't exactly roll off the assembly line Tuesday. Rather, it was passed along, hand to hand, in two pieces — the lighter's brushed chrome-plated brass case and its fuel-and-wick assembly innards — by each of the company's 620 employees, who were lined up between the plant and the Zippo museum a few hundred yards away. CEO Greg Booth then put together the pieces, owner George Duke, the 59-year-old grandson of the company's founder, lit the device and the lighter was placed in the museum for safe keeping. "I think it's a great way to get everybody involved and make everybody feel a part of this 500 millionth celebration," Booth told The Associated Press. The company in Bradford, about 130 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, has been making the cigarette lighters with distinctive metal cases that go "click" when their lids close since 1932. Tuesday also happened to be the birthday of the late George Blaisdell, Zippo's founder who died in 1978. When it became clear months ago that the milestone lighter would be produced sometime this year, company officials began manipulating the plant's production schedule to ensure it would coincide with Blaisdell's birthday. The case for the actual 500 millionth lighter came off a metal press at 8:26 a.m. ET, said Jim McDonough, Zippo's vice president of operations who personally guided the lighter through each step of production. The case was stamped with the time it was finished — 10:51 a.m. — before the hand-to-hand delivery to Booth began about 11 a.m. Zippo was celebrating the milestone by creating about 60,000 replicas during the day, each stamped with the commemorative date. McDonough said Zippo's workers reported earlier than usual Tuesday and were staying late so they could enjoy a picnic during an extended lunch break to celebrate the feat. About 50,000 of the replicas will sport the company's well-known brushed nickel chrome case and sell for $50 each, while the others will get a higher polished Armor case with gold engraving and sell for $100. The 500 millionth lighter also has a brushed nickel chrome case and is known as a Model 200 — so named, because the lighter sold for $2 when Blaisdell invented it. That model normally retails for $16.95. Zippo lighters come with a lifetime guarantee and its museum contains a handful of lighters that have been replaced — at no cost — even though the damage suffered, such as being run over by vehicles or chewed up by heavy equipment, could hardly be described as normal wear and tear. The company is savvy enough to realize that the rugged dependability helps make its lighters retro chic, and officials say they've never paid to have their products placed in movies. Hollywood and some of its stars, instead, come to Zippo for permission to feature the lighters, usually as an unspoken symbol of cool. Charlie Sheen even flicked the lid of his Zippo in public appearances meant to rehabilitate his public persona last year. Zippo's popularity is just one reason the company last year launched other Zippo-branded products, including clothing and cologne in a lighter-shaped decanter with a "clicking" lid. The company took 10 years to produce its 1 millionth lighter, and received a considerable boost when Zippos were issued to U.S. soldiers during World War II. It took the company 37 years to hit the 100 million mark. The 300 millionth lighter was produced on April 15, 1996 and the 400 millionth was produced on Sept. 4, 2003, making Tuesday's milestone the third for A.J. Comilla, who holds the company record for perfect attendance dating to 1994. He joined Zippo in June 1989 and said the company's reputation for dependability helped inspire his attendance streak. "Oh, that's a part of it, sure. I'm very proud to be a Zippo employee and what they've accomplished throughout the years," Comilla said. Barb Reid, 67, is the company's longest tenured employee. She'll celebrate 47 years on Sept. 21. She started out in the plating department and now clerks in the maintenance department, ordering products that keep the plant's machines humming. "It's mind boggling to think of how many lighters, you know?" Reid said. |
EDIT: THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE DAILY DEVIATION AND ALL YOUR LOVELY COMMENTS EDIT: THANKS SO MUCH FOR THE DAILY DEVIATION AND ALL YOUR LOVELY COMMENTS "Din, with her strong flaming arms, cultivated the land to create the earth. Nayru poured her wisdom onto the earth to give the spirit of law to the world. Farore’s rich soul created all life forms who would uphold the law."That's what it says in around each of the circles in Hylian text. I downloaded it from somewhere - I forgot where.uhh this took forever...I hope it was worth it.The paper textures are byOh, and I will be at NYCC Artist Alley this year with, we're at table Z16 so stop by if you're going!(This will be available as a print and some other stuff too! You gotta come and find out what!edit: these are also available to carry around in your pockets kgoggles.deviantart.com/art/Go… Also follow my art on facebook www.facebook.com/pages/Karlens… please, thanks.Thanks for looking |
About six months ago, I started coming out to loved ones and colleagues about my genderqueer identity. For me, this process couldn't feel complete without informing people of my new pronouns. Telling people to use "they/them" rather than "she/her" when referring to me took much longer than I thought it would. I no longer felt that I identified with "she/her" pronouns, nor did it feel true to myself and my identity to keep using them now that I was out. But something caused me to hesitate. I was afraid that I would be asking my friends and family too much by requesting they change the language they use to refer to me. I also feared that maybe I wasn't entirely sure about my identity yet, and that asserting my desire to use "they/them" pronouns was a big leap. What if I changed my mind again? What would people think? So, I told everyone that they could refer to me as she/her or they/them, with the exception of my partner and Bustle editor, who I asked to exclusively use they/them. Of course I felt inclined to be perfectly honest with the person I'm in love with. But the fact that I told my editor (who ensured that through other editors and stories published that I would not be misgendered) speaks to how seriously I felt about it. I knew in my heart that "they/them" felt right. I didn't want "she" to be attached to my name, my work, or my legacy. My personal life, however, was another matter entirely. Gradually, I gained confidence about my identity and realized how ridiculous it was to worry about "imposing" on people by asking for them to use my correct pronouns (#cisprivilege). However, my fears about the consequences of making this important change remained. Was I ready to commit to they/them pronouns? Was I ready to deal with regularly being misgendered? Yes, these were the pronouns that I knew I most closely identified with, and I wanted people in my life to use them so badly. But was I ready to face people using the incorrect pronouns, and then possibly correcting them when they did? Feeling the way that I do about my gender identity, I already felt disoriented and strange when hearing people refer to me as "she." So if I officially changed them, it'd be like there's no going back. If I heard someone misgender me, I would know. My friends would know, and I would feel their eyes on me, a wave of discomfort blanketing our group. I'd feel pressured to defend my identity, and when I did so, sometimes I'd be made to feel bad that I spoke up. I thought in circles about all of these possibilities until finally, by the end of August, I took the plunge and informed everyone in my life that I now use they/them pronouns, and that they should use them as well when referring to me. And it felt amazing. Every time somebody used my proper pronouns, and when friends consistently used them the right way, I felt so liberated. By being honest about who I was and what I needed from those around me, I was rewarded generously. Every "they" or "them" that I would hear felt like a small victory. Whenever I heard my mother talking to her friends about me while using the right pronouns, or correcting herself immediately when she'd slip up, my heart would skip a beat. This is what it feels like to be seen. This is what it feels like to be validated. But unfortunately, coming out caused me a lot of strife as well. Whenever I heard my mother talking to her friends about me while using the right pronouns, or correcting herself immediately when she'd slip up, my heart would skip a beat. This is what it feels like to be seen. This is what it feels like to be validated. There were many others in my life who continued to misgender me, even after I had informed them of my pronouns (and, sometimes, even after I had corrected them multiple times). I felt the sting just a little more whenever a stranger would use "she," now that I was used to my friends, family, and coworkers seeing the real me. It never feels worth it to correct strangers or casual acquaintances, but it still hurts. It makes me feel less authentic, less me, and if I'm having a bad day, it can make me feel dissociative. It makes me feel frustrated at cis people's privilege of looking the way they identify. I look past cashiers as if in a daze when they call to me, "Miss, you forgot your receipt!" I'm not a woman. I'm not a "Miss." I'm not a "she." I'm not a "her." If a cis woman with short hair, or a feminine looking cis man is referred to as the wrong gender, their frustration is validated. No cis woman with short hair wants to hear "sir," because odds are she identifies closely with her womanhood, and with her right to be called "her." But my frustration, and the frustration of other genderqueer people, feels like that too, yet it is always invalidated. We are told our pronouns are unnatural, confusing, or grammatically incorrect. And we are expected to be silently tolerant since our identity and simple requests are too damn confusing anyway for anyone to want to take the time to change one little word. And when well-meaning people do misgender us and go on a self-deprecating rant about how hard they're trying, we're forced into the awkward role of essentially comforting them about their privilege. I've had my fair share of awkward confrontations and moments regarding my pronouns. One of my closest friends, who I had been very clear with about my pronouns, misgendered me twice while we were hanging out last. I corrected her after the second time, reminding her that I go by "they/them." She simply answered with, "oh, I know!" I was puzzled. She then misgendered me a couple more times almost immediately before using the right pronouns. If she knew, then why did she do it? It would have just been better for her to acknowledge her mistake, rather than try to appear nonchalant about it. I was pissed because, although I know this person always means well, it felt as if she was intentionally using the wrong pronouns since she acted like she was so aware of it. I know she was probably just embarrassed, but I was the one who was misgendered after all. A little accountability would be nice. I've also gotten into multiple heated debates with one of my apartment mates for her misunderstanding of my gender identity. Once I came out, she expressed to me that she was feeling alienated and even confused by my gender and pronouns, and would rudely shut down any conversations I tried to have with her about my discomfort with her behavior. We finally ended whatever was left of our friendship with a screaming fight as she told me it's not her responsibility to make me comfortable or feel understood regarding my pronouns. "I'm cis, so I couldn't possibly understand your gender thing," she had told me. Once again, cis privilege and certain individuals' refusal made me feel helpless and disillusioned with the world. I hate this. I've been shamed when I correct people, and I've felt intense fear to correct others in certain circumstances, enduring the misgendering quietly. I wish that when an acquaintance used the wrong pronouns, I could quickly be like, "no, I'm genderqueer," or "no, I'm a 'they' not a 'she,'"as if it was no big deal. As if, "duh, this is who I am, and you slipped up." And then whoever it was that misgendered me would quickly apologize, and correct themselves, feeling embarrassed that they saw a cis woman when really the creature standing before them was a genderqueer unicorn. Instead, I endure the uncertainty and anxiety that overcomes me whenever I correct someone, ready to apologize for my pronouns and make excuses for the other person's slip up. But I continue to correct people anyway. I fight so hard everyday to be seen and heard by the people in my life, and by my readers online. Fights to correct my pronouns in stories, or awkward long conversations about colleagues' questions about my gender have left me drained and frustrated, but the fight is always worth it. Sometimes, I've cried about how I wish I was a cis woman, that if I just never came out, being a cis woman in life and in the media industry would be so much easier. But at the same time, coming out taught me to fight and to work hard. Changing my pronouns were essential in staying true to myself, and becoming who I really am. And they taught me to be assertive, to fight like hell to be my own advocate, and above all, patience. My pronouns are more than words. They are ideas. They reflect my gender, my being, my essence. And when you use the wrong one, when you say "she" and not "they," you're acknowledging that you don't see what I want you to see when you look at me, the non-binary androgynous person that I am. You erase me and say I'm too confusing to be able to begin to understand. And then you have the audacity to ask me to comfort you about your cis privilege. For more LGBTQ stories, check out Bustle on YouTube. Bustle on YouTube Images: Meg Zulch |
Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Nov. 16, 2017, 8:47 PM GMT / Updated Nov. 16, 2017, 8:47 PM GMT By Phil McCausland More than 250 alleged MS-13 gang members and associates were arrested after an investigation that lasted more than a year across two countries, authorities announced Wednesday. “Today I am pleased to announce the arrest of 267 MS-13 gang members and associates in conjunction of ICE’s most recent targeted anti-gang effort known as 'Operation Raging Bull,'” said Acting ICE Director Thomas Homan. “Operation Raging Bull” moved in two phases. The first netted 53 alleged gang members and associates in El Salvador after an 18-month investigation. They will mostly face charges in the Central American nation. The second phase of “Operation Raging Bull” occurred between Oct. 8 and Nov. 11. The Department of Homeland Security conducted a series of nationwide raids, which led to 214 arrests of people who allegedly had connections to the MS-13 gang. “Enhancing public safety goes to the core of homeland security investigation mission is,” said Derek Benner, the acting director of Homeland Security Investigations. “By taking criminal street gang members and associates off the streets — if they are here illegally, removing them from the country — we are addressing a significant security and safety vulnerability.” Related: Trump blames Obama for MS-13's growth, but gang's roots are older Of the 214 arrested, 93 were detained on federal or state criminal charges that ranged from assault to murder, Benner said. More than half of those arrested, 121 people, were held on administrative immigration violations. Foreign nationals being arrested during a targeted enforcement operation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) aimed at immigration fugitives, re-entrants and at-large criminal aliens in Los Angeles, on Feb. 7, 2017. Charles Reed / U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via AP Benner also noted that 16 of the alleged MS-13 members or associates were U.S. citizens. The remaining 198 were foreign nationals, five of whom had legal status in the United States. “This is a great operation, but we are not done,” said Homan. “And we will not be done until we totally dismantle this organization. The President of the United States has made this a priority and ICE joins him in this.” President Donald Trump has previously emphasized the importance of cracking down on MS-13, an international criminal gang based principally in El Salvador. He delivered a fiery speech on Long Island in July in which he called members of the gang “animals” and promised to “destroy” them. "We're getting them out," Trump said at the time. "They're going to jails and then they're going back to their country, or they're going back to their country period." |
The prominent placement of an Andrew Jackson portrait during an event meant to honor a group of Native Americans at the Oval Office on Monday has raised questions about the White House's message. Jackson is known for his harsh treatment of Native Americans as president, famously signing the Indian Removal Act, which led to thousands of Native American deaths as tens of thousands were forced to relocate. Some observers thought the juxtaposition of his portrait during the event with the stated purpose of honoring three Navajo code talkers was strange. "We noticed," said Jacqueline Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians. "Andrew Jackson wasn't necessarily a president who was respectful of tribal governments and Native Americans. This is one of those eras that is probably bleaker in terms of the relationship between Native Americans and the federal government." The portrait is visible for the entirety of the White House's 17-minute broadcast of the event. As president from 1829 to 1837, Jackson is perhaps most famous for his pivotal role in Native Americans' painful and violent history in the United States. He signed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, which forced the relocation of more than 60,000 Native Americans to clear the way for white pioneers. The act helped lead to the "Trail of Tears," in which an estimated 4,000 Cherokee died during the harsh conditions of a long march during a forced relocation in 1838 and 1839. The Cherokees called Jackson "Indian killer"; the Creek called him "Sharp Knife." Susan Walsh / AP A portrait of former President Andrew Jackson looms behind Peter MacDonald at a White House event honoring the Native American code talkers in the Oval Office on Nov. 27, 2017. A portrait of former President Andrew Jackson looms behind Peter MacDonald at a White House event honoring the Native American code talkers in the Oval Office on Nov. 27, 2017. (Susan Walsh / AP) (Susan Walsh / AP) A slave owner, Jackson spoke about Native Americans as if they were an inferior group of people. "Established in the midst of a superior race," he said of the Cherokee, "they must disappear." Removing Native Americans from their land would "enable them to pursue happiness in their own way, and under their own rude institutions," he said. Trump's affinity for Jackson has long been a facet of his public image as a politician. He lambasted an Obama administration plan, which has not yet taken effect, to remove Jackson from the $20 bill in favor of abolitionist Harriet Tubman, referring to Jackson during the presidential campaign as someone with "a history of tremendous success for the country." And just days after his inauguration in January, Trump selected a portrait of Jackson in the Oval Office. In March, he stopped by the Hermitage, Jackson's home in Tennessee, to lay a wreath at the former president's tomb. The president's former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, lauded Trump's inauguration address as "Jacksonian." Pata said she wanted to assume the symbolism wasn't intentional. As the president spoke to honor the three code talkers Monday, he lobbed the nickname "Pocahontas" at Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mass., which many consider to be a racial slur. Gyasi Ross, an author from Washington state and member of the Blackfeet Nation tribe, said he considered the portrait's prominence during the news conference to be an intentional slight. "It's an incredibly distasteful wink in front of people who have sacrificed so much," he said. "Donald Trump is not a stupid man. He understands visuals and optics: His background is in television. So all of that stuff, I believe, is very deliberate." He said the insult was magnified by the nature of the event. "Elders and veterans, we take those two things very seriously," he said, speaking about Native Americans. "And so to people who take that seriously, all of these things are incredibly consequential." Mihio Manus, a spokesman for the president and vice president of the Navajo Nation, said the placement of the Jackson portrait was "unfortunate." However, Thomas Begay, one of the code talkers honored Monday, told Joshua Green, a CNN political analyst, that he was "puzzled" but not offended. "The Marines made us yell 'Geronimo' when we jumped out of planes and that didn't offend me either," he said. When asked about the Pocahontas comment, White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that being offensive was "certainly not the president's intent." She did not answer a question about the Jackson painting that was shouted as she left the briefing room. Trump has hosted conferences in front of the portrait before, like an economic announcement the president made this month. When Venezuelan activist Lilian Tintori met with the president and Vice President Mike Pence in October, Trump had the group pose under the Jackson portrait and then posted the photo on Twitter. But there are plenty of other places to host a press event at the White House. A remark Trump made to Congress in 1993 about owners of casinos not looking like Indians continues to draw scrutiny. Some have compared Jackson, a populist who campaigned against elites and was known for being temperamental, to Trump. Trump's admiration for the seventh president has not gone unnoticed by Native Americans, Pata said. "We knew when he chose to put the wreath on Andrew Jackson's grave," she said. "There are a lot of presidents out there. We remember those things. It's part of our history, too." The Washington Post's DeNeen L. Brown contributed to this report. |
Please enable Javascript to watch this video GLADSTONE, Mo. -- Police say that a standoff ended just before 10 p.m. on Tuesday, it happened in a home near Charlotte and 60th Terrace. Officers tell FOX 4 that police were called to a domestic violence incident where shots were fired. Police say a woman was shot and ran across the street to a neighbor's house until EMS arrived and took her to a hospital. They say her condition is unknown, but she was communicating with paramedics on the way to the hospital. Investigators later discovered that the shooting suspect took his own life. Police tried to contact the man who refused to answer the door or come outside multiple times, and sent robot in the house, and the camera on it saw the man lying on the ground dead. The relationship between the dead man and shooting victim wasn't revealed on Tuesday night. A total of eight agencies assisted in the standoff that lasted about four hours. |
Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt has told a British radio station that he was "perplexed" by the debate over the company's tax affairs. Mr Schmidt insisted the company paid everything it was legally required to in the UK and suggested it was up to the government there to change the law if it wanted more from the firm. Google has come under fire over reports that it paid only £10 million in corporation tax in the UK between 2006 and 2011, despite revenues of £11.9 billion. Much of the company's European sales are routed through its EU headquarters in Ireland. Mr Schmidt told BBC Radio 4's Start the Week: "What we are doing is legal. I'm rather perplexed by this debate, which has been going in the UK for quite some time because I view taxes as not optional. "I view that you should pay the taxes that are legally required. It's not a debate. You pay the taxes. "If the British system changes the tax laws then we will comply. If the taxes go up we will pay more, if they go down we will pay less. That is a political decision for the democracy that is the United Kingdom." Mr Schmidt was brought before the public accounts committee earlier this month to account for Google's tax affairs after MPs were unhappy with the company's previous evidence. Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also raised the controversy directly with Mr Schmidt at a meeting in Downing Street and days later Labour's Ed Miliband told the corporation at its own "Big Tent" event it should not be going to "extraordinary lengths" to avoid paying taxes. Mr Schmidt dismissed suggestions that a legalistic approach to paying taxes did not sit well with Google's pledges on social responsibility. He said: "I do not agree with this and the reason is that at least under American law we have a fiduciary responsibility to our shareholders to account for things properly so if we were, for example, to just arbitrarily decide to pay a different tax rate than we were required to, a more favourable one for example to a particular country, how would we account for that? "How would we file the necessary paperwork, what would be the legal consequences in other countries? "Somehow these questions are ignored in the debate. We are very happy with whatever the countries all come to agreement on. We are not particularly upset about it." He added: "Our position is very simple, taxes are not optional, we pay the mandatory amount." |
WASHINGTON — Republicans entered the final weekend before the midterm elections clearly holding the better hand to control the Senate and poised to add to their House majority. But a decidedly sour electorate and a sizable number of undecided voters added a measure of suspense. The final drama surrounded the Senate, which has been a Democratic bulwark for President Obama since his party lost its House majority in 2010. Republicans need to gain six seats to seize the Senate, and officials in both parties believe there is a path for them to win at least that many. Yet the races for a number of seats that will decide the majority remained close, polls showed, prompting Republicans to pour additional money into get-out-the-vote efforts in Alaska, Georgia and Iowa. Democrats were doing the same in Colorado, where they were concerned because groups that tend to favor Republicans voted early in large numbers, and in Iowa. While an air of mystery hung over no fewer than nine Senate races, the only question surrounding the House was how many seats Republicans would add. If they gain a dozen seats, it will give them an advantage not seen since 1948 and potentially consign the Democrats to minority status until congressional redistricting in the 2020s. |
David DeCastro had a very impressive first start for the Steelers. The thing that really jumps out at you is his pass protection. DeCastro seems to be a master of the quick set. With this technique, the guard immediately gets his hands on the defensive tackle and thus neutralizes him. On the first pass play of the game for the Steelers, the Cowboys attempted a TE stunt. DeCastro was able to stone the stunt simply because he did not give up any penetration at all. And that is what is so impressive about Decastro. He gets his hands on the defensive tackle immediately, gets a great base with his feet, and does not give up any ground. What's even more impressive about this is that offensive linemen are taught to give up some ground when getting bull rushed. They are taught to hop back and try to lower their center of gravity. This hopefully allows the offensive lineman to regain some power. Amazingly, Decastro does not seem to need to do this. He keeps a tremendous base. Also, just as important, Decastro keeps his hands inside of the framework of his body. Decastro did give up one sack when Marcus Spears ripped inside of him. But, Ben Rothlisberger scrambled to his left, and more importantly, towards the line of scrimmage. This left Decastro in a bad position. With that being said, Decastro should have had a heavier inside foot. It's hard to judge how Decastro did in the run game since the Steelers did not run the ball that much. However, he had a great block against the aforementioned Spears on Jonathan Dwyer's touchdown run. One on one with Spears, Decastro came off the ball with great pad level and drove Spears backwards. Dwyer followed right behind him for a touchdown. Hopefully, Mike Adams will be ready to play next week. If so, the Steelers will have a dominant right side when it comes to run blocking, with the ability to pull Decastro and run counters to the left. Decastro plays with great balance and power, while maintaining fantastic pad level in the run game. We have not yet had a chance to see what everyone raved about Decastro before the draft: his ability to pull and/or block people in space. Decastro seems to be the real deal. |
Lech Walesa, leader of the Solidarity trade union movement that ended communism in Poland, said on Wednesday that democracy was at risk. He called for a referendum to force the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party to hold an early election. Although Walesa has no say in government decisions, he does have influence on public opinion in Poland. His remarks have coincided with a growing anger among Poles who are unhappy with PiS policies, which critics say are undermining democracy. Protest rally in Warsaw Poland's lower chamber of parliament passed a constitutional court amendment on Tuesday. Both the supreme court and activists have said the change in law would undermine the separation of powers and paralyze the constitutional court. "One should think about organizing (ourselves), press for a referendum, show in a referendum that two thirds are against such rule and shorten (parliament's) term," Walesa, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, told private Radio Zet. New government The ruling conservatives won the October general election securing an outright majority in both chambers of parliament. They pledged to offer more social benefits for Poles who felt the country's economic success was not equally distributed. "This government acts against Poland, against our achievements, freedom, democracy, not to mention the fact that it ridicules us in the world," Walesa said. "I'm ashamed to travel abroad." Walesa's latest criticism of the government comes just days after 10,000 anti-government protesters took to the streets in Warsaw, while thousands more rallied in at least three other Polish cities. The PiS party, using nationalist rhetoric, has dismissed criticism that it undermines Poland's young democracy. It claims a broad mandate to redesign the country to reflect its Catholic values and independence from Brussels. New President Andrzej Duda, a close PiS ally, has refused to swear in Constitutional Tribunal judges chosen by the former parliament. However, he has sworn in new judges chosen by the new PiS-controlled parliament. Approval ratings Poland, which overthrew a communist government in 1989 and joined the EU in 2004, has long been considered one of the strongest supporters of the European Union among the former Soviet bloc states. According to a TNS Institute poll published last week in Gazeta Wyborcza, one of the country's leading newspapers, approval ratings for the PiS have slipped to 27 percent from 42 percent at the start of December. However, the party remains the most popular one in Poland. European Parliament chief Martin Schulz on Monday compared the political situation in Poland to a "coup", drawing the anger of the Polish government. bik/jm (Reuters, AFP) |
By: Anand Harsh Buy your limited Super Early Birds for The Untz Festival NOW: www.theuntzfestival.com Our dream is becoming a reality. Since TheUntz.com got off the ground six years ago, it's been a goal of the senior staff to hold a super intimate friends and family camping gathering with incredible performances from some of our favorite musicians from around the industry. It's our pleasure to announce that June 2-4 at Mariposa County Fairgrounds in Mariposa, CA, we get to do just that. The Phase 1 lineup of our inaugural festival brings together some of our biggest homies and inspirations from across the electronic music spectrum. Because audiences of underground electronic music have cultivated such a variety of tastes and our fans in particular seem to appreciate the same incredible talents we find to be the real deal, we were able to assemble a lineup that not only ticks our boxes for our personal preferences, but also brought together a bunch of artists who our fans will dig. Starting with the top three names on our lineup, fans of psychedelic tunes, sacred bass, and downtemple dub will be thrilled to hear we've cornered the market with our friends Desert Dwellers, Kalya Scintilla & Eve Olution, and the inimitable Kaminanda. Throw in a little Sixis, and the trippy low-end is covered. Fans of the mercurial music of Wick-it The Instigator, which runs from jaw-dropping turntablism hip-hop jockeying to guitar-shredding, funk-blasting, bass-fueled mayhem, will know that the party has arrived. And for those of us who crave our glitch-hop with an extra dose of weird bass, Australia's own Mr. Bill is on the case. We know melodic bass inside and out, so we have assembled an unmatched selection of the some of the youngest, brightest stars in the scene. ILLENIUM, Fractal, Siren, and Said The Sky will unleash all the feels on our friends and family. Our bread and butter is livetronica, and we have dug deep to bring out some of our favorites, and those who we think will be the banner-holders for the genre for years to come. Representing all the various incarnations of live electronic hybrids and jamtronica acts, we've got Bass Physics, Marvel Years, Dynohunter, YAMN, and Evanoff. And don't think we forgot you, electro-soul and future funk fans, because SugarBeats and Lucid Vision are holding it down with more to come. What you get with this initial lineup is a promise that The Untz is going to deliver the fun and funky vibes of a jam festival in the midwest in the stunning beauty of northern California. Just an hour from the mouth of Yosemite National Park, folks looking for an excuse to escape to the breath-taking forests of NorCal just found one. With four stages, including two indoor late-night stages that go all night long, and a special pre-party on June 2, it will be the intimate camping experience set against a beautiful backdrop you've been looking for. We can't stress enough how limited this launch of The Untz Festival will be, so make sure to snag your Super Early Birds today at a low, low price. Visit www.theuntzfestival.com to grab your passes today! |
In my house, today is all about Super Bowl XLIX. Yes, we'd rather see the Eagles playing (to be fair, we didn't expect that to happen this year) and yes, I've had to have some interesting conversations with my kids about cheating (my son was a Tom Brady fan until recently - now, he's not so sure). But we'll still be parked in front of the television with 112 million or so other viewers to watch what is generally regarded as the television event of the year. The amount of money that goes into this moment is staggering. Players' salaries. The highest paid players in Super Bowl XLIX raked in a base salary of $58,780,000 this year. Granted, that's a bit misleading since it doesn't count bonuses: Tom Brady makes a mere $2 million this year in base salary - less than his kicker, Stephen Gostkowski - though he snatched up $30 million in signing bonus just two years ago. Those base salary numbers also don't include achievement bonuses, front loaded contracts or endorsements. Coaches' salaries. The New England Patriots' Bill Belichick brings home an average salary of $7.5 million per year while the Seahawks' Pete Carroll - who just signed a contract extension in 2014 - is thought to top $8 million per year. Assistant coaches. Equipment managers. Sports therapists. Cheerleaders. There are a great deal of personnel and costs attached to a National Football League (NFL) team that makes it to the Super Bowl. The NFL is a multi-billion dollar business - even those teams who won't be at the big game still pay out millions of dollars to players, coaches and support each year. And while the NFL may enjoy tax exempt status under section 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code, not all dollars escape taxation. Those millions of dollars in salaries? They are still taxable. Also a big dollar generator? Taxable ad revenues. NBC expects to rake in somewhere approaching $360 million in television ad revenue tonight. That's based on an average cost of $4.5 million per each 30 second spot. Companies shelling out those kinds of dollars include perennial favorites Anheuser-Busch ( Budweiser ), Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Plenty of star power is packed into the ads, including appearances from Katie Couric, Mindy Kaling, Pierce Brosnan and Kim Kardashian (okay, I used "star power" a bit liberally there): the amounts paid to create and produce those ads are on top of the $360 million to secure a spot. That Super Bowl halftime show? Pop star Katy Perry won't pay to play the Super Bowl this year - and she won't be paid either. The NFL will, however, pick up the tab for the cost of producing the show, thought to be in the millions. I know. You get my point: there's a lot of money at stake. You can see some of those dollars (and more) in graphic form here, courtesy of Common Form: With all of this money pouring in and out of the Super Bowl, will any of it stick? Meaning, does any of it create a financial benefit for those outside of the NFL? Specifically, what does it mean to Arizona - and Glendale? More than 100,000 visitors are expected into the greater Phoenix area for the Super Bowl which should translate into a lot of sales. The state sales tax in Arizona (called the transaction privilege tax) is 5.6%. Sales tax can be imposed on top of that rate by counties and municipalities. Maricopa County, where Phoenix is located, imposes .7% in sales tax, while the city of Phoenix tacks on an additional 2.0%, bringing the total sales tax to a whopping 8.3%. And while many Super Bowl attendees head straight for Phoenix, the University of Phoenix Stadium is actually located in Glendale, Arizona, about 10 miles northwest of the Arizona capital. Sales inside of Glendale are still subject to the state sales tax of 5.6% and the Maricopa County tax of .7%. Glendale tacks on an impressive 2.9% bringing the total to 9.2%. The transaction privilege tax is imposed on most retail sales, restaurants/bars, hotel/motels, advertising, amusements, personal property rentals, real property rentals, and transportation, which means that sales made during the Super Bowl are sure to bring in tax dollars. The Department of Revenue makes it clear that the tax applies to out-of-state residents, too: sales are exempt only if the purchaser has proof of out-of-state residence and the merchandise is shipped out of state for use out of state. Tickets for Super Bowl XLIX range from $500 to $1,900 (not counting scalpers and freebies). Total ticket revenue for the event is estimated to be $60.3 million, according to the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority. Those tickets are subject to sales tax - but some of those tax dollars won't stay in Arizona. By agreement, more than $4 million in ticket sales tax revenue will be refunded to the NFL. Add in dinners, taxis and hotel stays, souvenir tee shirts and giant foam fingers, and the potential for tax revenue could be significant, right? Maybe not. Super Bowl XLVI, held in Indianapolis, was considered a financial success. But Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers says that likely won't happen in his town: he expects to lose money. While additional tax revenues may temporarily bump coffers, they can be offset by additional costs. A big one for Glendale? Public safety. The cost of public safety, including blocking roads and extra staffing, is covered by Glendale and is not reimbursed by the state of Arizona or by the NFL. How much are we talking? The city expects to spend at least $2 million on security for the Super Bowl. Adding in other costs, Glendale expects to be out of pocket at least $3 million. The hit is deja vu all over again: when Glendale hosted Super Bowl XLII in 2008, the city lost $1.6 million. The mayor of Atlantic City may feel Weiers' pain. When Miss America made her way back to the boardwalk in 2013, Atlantic City was charged with picking up the cost of public safety, including nearly $400,000 in overtime. The majority of overtime expense went to police who logged 3,000 hours in overtime to keep contestants and attendees safe. But the long term effect on the economy could be worth it, right? That added exposure has to mean something. Maybe. Weiers sure hopes so, saying, "In the long run, down the road, certainly we might break even on this, we might even possibly make money." The exposure could entice tourists to consider Glendale as their next tourist destination. It's happened before: a return to the national spotlight for Super Bowl XLVII was thought to kickstart a post-Katrina resurgence in New Orleans, dubbed "an economic miracle." But "super" events don't always work out that way. Sometimes, local taxpayers end up picking up the slack. Atlanta dropped millions of dollars to make the 1996 Summer Olympics a commercial and media success – all while the city struggled years later to meet a $56 million deficit (Atlanta voted to raise property taxes to make up the difference). Philadelphia initially picked up the tab for Jay-Z’s Made In America concert in 2012 despite the fact that the city's finances were such that it couldn’t pay for its schools (taxpayers were subsequently hit with a number of tax hikes including a cigarette tax increase and a permanent sales tax increase). The same event in Los Angeles in 2014 was estimated to cost taxpayers half a million dollars in police overtime alone. It's hard to judge how much of an impact a mega-event like the Super Bowl can have on a city. Event destinations often struggle with the balance between spending tax dollars on promotions and security with the idea that the eventual payoff in good press and future tourist dollars will be worth it. While it's easy to evaluate the outlay in terms of tax dollars, it's more difficult to quantify the return to the taxpayers. Weiers wondered, "[H]ow do you go back and verify that you actually got benefit from that?" It's a fair question. And one that may not have a ready answer. Meanwhile, as his city goes on display, Weiers will watch just like my family, from the comfort of his own home: he doesn't have tickets to the big game. |
G.M. and the Treasury will re-examine the results after 5 p.m. on Saturday to gauge support before deciding how to proceed. Administration officials said Thursday that 15 percent of bondholders approved the first debt-for-equity swap. (G.M. had wanted 90 percent.) With that group added to the 20 percent represented by the ad hoc committee, which had opposed the earlier offer, officials believe they have a good starting point. In a regulatory filing, G.M. filled in many of the details of how it would look once it completed its reorganization, devised under the eye of the Treasury Department. G.M. said the government, which is to provide bankruptcy financing of about $50 billion, initially would hold 72.5 percent of G.M., with the United Automobile Workers union receiving 17.5 percent, and bondholders receiving 10 percent. But the percentages held by the bondholders and the union could conceivably be larger because each are being offered warrants in the new G.M., which would be created in bankruptcy. Under the terms of the plan, bondholders would initially receive 10 percent. They could then exercise their warrants for an additional 7.5 percent when the new G.M. rises to about $15 billion in value. The second set of warrants for the final 7.5 percent would be exercisable when new G.M. rises to $30 billion in value. The union would initially receive a 17.5 percent stake to finance a health care trust for its retirees. It has also received warrants to raise that holding to 20 percent — but those warrants are exercisable only if new G.M.’s value hits $75 billion. Once the union and bondholders achieve their full stakes, the government’s share would drop to 55 percent. The hope is to create a new G.M. by late August, people with knowledge of the matter said. During a briefing on Thursday, administration officials said they expected that G.M. would emerge from bankruptcy in 60 to 90 days, but would probably not be a publicly traded company until sometime later, possibly after a public offering. Until then, there would not be a ready market for the equity holdings of former bondholders and others. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. The administration officials said that G.M.’s balance sheet going forward could make a $15 billion market capitalization possible within a relatively short period of time, but did not offer details on how its value would rise to that level. The current market capitalization, said an administration official close to the negotiations, reflected a capital structure that was unacceptable. Advertisement Continue reading the main story G.M.’s current market capitalization is about $683.8 million; it was close to $22 billion a few years ago. (By comparison, Toyota is now worth $123 billion, and its market capitalization was $200 billion in 2006.) G.M. bondholders rejected the initial offer because they were upset that the U.A.W.’s health care trust, to which G.M. owes $20 billion, received a larger stake than the debt holders, who were owed $27 billion. Under the proposal, bondholders conceivably will outrank the health care trust, once the warrants are exercised. Not only does that soothe any ruffled feelings, but it will create good will with the lenders G.M. will need to tap after it emerges from bankruptcy. On the other hand, the union will hold debt and preferred stock that helps guarantee its health care trust will be financed even if the new company falters. Alan Reuther, the U.A.W.’s legislative director, defended the union’s situation in a letter to members of Congress on Thursday. Mr. Reuther said that retired union members gave up portions of health care benefits over the last few years, while many bondholders purchased their debt at ”sharply discounted rates.” “Most bondholders are investors who can spread any losses across a broad portfolio. In contrast, retirees do not have any similar way to spread the losses they are sustaining,” Mr. Reuther wrote. He went on, “The retirees gave a lifetime of service to G.M. in return for the promise that they would receive health care coverage during their retirement years. They can’t get their service back, or start over again on a new career. Instead, they will be forced to live with reduced access to health care and/or a lower standard of living.” G.M. and the Treasury are striving to resolve several issues before G.M. files for protection. Last week, G.M. reached a deal with the U.A.W. on contract concessions, while the company announced plans to eliminate brands including Hummer, Saturn, Saab and Pontiac. It also seeks to close dealerships and plans to shut several plants. Thursday’s announcement came after German and American negotiators in Berlin failed to agree on a crucial bridge loan to sustain Opel and the rest of G.M.’s European operations in the event of a bankruptcy filing, after negotiating till nearly 5 a.m. Thursday. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Neither G.M. nor the Treasury Department is willing to invest significant sums in the company’s European operations, which they believe hold little value, people briefed on the matter said. |
We really dig the Mercedes-AMG C63 Coupe. With a stonking 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 sending 469 horses to the rear wheels, it's the kind of burly, tire-punishing fun we've come to expect from the AMG brand. But not everybody can commit to daily driving such brutality. That, we assume, is where the newly-revealed Mercedes-AMG C43 Coupe, seen here, comes in: With a more manageable power output and 4Matic all-wheel-drive, it's the Mercedes muscle coupe for folks who value traction. First, a little lesson on naming conventions. The Mercedes-AMG C63 Coupe may be more familiar to you under its previous moniker, the Mercedes C450 AMG. Mercedes used to use the AMG / AMG Sport suffix for offerings that landed in between the non-performance model and the full-bore AMG version; now, those models wear the Mercedes-AMG badge. The bigger the number, the bigger the power. And of course, those numbers don't really correspond to anything anymore. The Mercedes-AMG C43 is powered by a 3.0-liter twin-turbo V6, putting out 362 horses and 384 lb.-ft. of torque; none of those numbers bears any mathematical relationship to the number 43, but there you have it. That power gets sent through a nine-speed automatic transmission to an AMG-tuned 4Matic all-wheel-drive system with a 69-percent rearward torque bias. AMG Ride Control sport suspension offers three stages of adaptive, variable damping; AMG Dynamic Select offers five driving modes ranging from economy to comfort and up to Sport Plus. The C43 gets more negative camber front and rear for increased agility, while 14.2-inch front and 12.6-inch rear brakes handle deceleration duties. Mercedes says this mid-muscle coupe will do 0-60 in 4.6 seconds, and run to the industry-standard 155 mph—though given that the pre-name-change C450 AMG sedan with the same engine but an older 7-speed transmission did the 0-60 sprint in 4.7, we think Mercedes's acceleration estimates might be a bit conservative. On the styling front, the C43 coupe looks a bit like the little brother to the be-flared C63, but aesthetic details like AMG-unique front and rear bumpers and 18-inch five-spoke AMG wheels (wrapped in 225/45 front, 245/40 rear tires) set the C43 apart from its lesser bretheren. Inside, AMG-branded instruments and black-upholstered sport seats with red accent stitching carry over the subtle performance theme. The 2017 Mercedes-AMG C43 Coupe arrives at U.S. dealers this fall. Pricing has not yet been announced. |
Product Information Pixel power This monitor doesn't sacrifice color for speed, so you can warp to a high level of gaming on a stunning IPS display. Extra smooth Experience incredible smoothness - NVIDIA G-SYNC eliminates screen tearing and minimizes stuttering for legendary PC gaming. Superb design Futuristic aluminum base design with matte finish and thin bezels level-up your desk. And on the back, aggressive design and ergonomic tilt / height adjustment serve for the perfect gaming setup. Perfect control Conquer your enemies with Predator GameView. Shooting aim-points and customizable gaming profiles give you the upper hand. Fast refresh Minimize motion blur and zip through space with super high native refresh rate. Now that's fast. Screen size - 32 Inch - Maximum Resolution - 3840 x 2160 - G-Sync - Yes - Freesync - No - Aspect Ratio - 16:9 - Refresh Rates - 60 Hz - Curved screen - No - Response Time - 4 MS - VESA Mounting Interfaces - - Speakers - Yes - Warranty - 3 Month RTB Warranty A1 Refurbished Explained... A1 Monitors are open boxed units which have been returned usually due to being unwanted. The units may have at very worst case, very faint minor /non-permanent blemishes. All units then undergo a full 25-point inspection by our experienced tech team ensuring they are in full working order. Once all the relevant checks have been completed, the units are then securely repacked ready to be resold. Please note, although we can’t guarantee that these units are still in their original boxes with all their original accessories we can confirm that on average 85% of our stock is still in its original packaging. |
"I want to be the president for everybody," Hillary Clinton said Friday. | Getty Clinton: Being the first woman president will make my job harder Hillary Clinton on Friday said her presidency will be more difficult both because of her role as the first woman to hold the office and because of the viciousness of her race with Donald Trump. “I know this is the hardest job in the world,” Clinton told Anjali “Queen B” of WBTP 95.7 FM The Beat in Tampa. “I think being the first woman to do this job will require even greater effort on my part because I want to be the president for everybody.” Story Continued Below “I really regret how divisive this campaign has been,” she added, hitting Republican nominee Donald Trump for “hurtful” rhetoric. “I’ve got to figure out how we heal these divides.” Clinton typically talks about her presidency in "if-I-win" hypothetical terms, but she repeatedly skipped that hedge Friday. Her comments come two days after a raucous debate in Las Vegas in which Clinton called Trump a “puppet” for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Trump declared Clinton “such a nasty woman.” And just Thursday night Trump was booed at a charity dinner in New York where both candidates took place in the tradition of “roasting” each other, with many in the buttoned-up audience thinking Trump went too far in his attacks on Clinton. Clinton also used the interview to call on African-American listeners to vote, touting her work with President Barack Obama and praising the Black Lives Matter movement. “I think they’ve played a very constructive role in helping us all to face up to the work that we need to do to confront systemic racism in America,” she said. |
Update, 11.04.11: There have been no reported sightings of a Muntjac deer according to Berkeley Animal Services. “We have had phone calls, but nobody has said they have seen this deer,” said BACS Officer Stevenson. She added that she had been to César Chávez Park to look for herself and that it is possible that a dog was mistaken for the miniature deer. “It’s a dog park, so there are lots of small four-legged animals. In one way I hope it’s not there. But in another I hope it’s there as I would like to see this deer,” she said. …………………………….. A Reeves’ Muntjac deer is believed to be on the loose and in danger in Berkeley’s César Chávez Park. Animal experts are calling on the community to keep an eye out for the animal, which is tiny and easy prey for larger animals, including dogs, and to call in sightings as the deer needs to be trapped and taken care of. “Muntjac deer are an Asian species and a popular exotic pet. They need hot weather to survive and are very tame, so easy to hunt and kill,” said Winnie Kelly, a wildlife specialist at San Rafael-based Wildcare. “It’s very important that we get a hold of this animal.” The Reeves Muntjac is one of the smallest species of deer in the world; they only stand about 24″ tall, even as adults. “It’s about the size of an Italian greyhound,” said Kelly. “A large dog could easily kill this deer.” She added that the deer is “adorably cute”. Kelly said the organizaion had received three separate calls about sightings in the past 48 hours — one from a woman who recognized the species because she had seen it at a zoo. Wildcare believes the deer was let loose in the park by its owner. Keeping Muntjac deer as pets is illegal in California. If an animal services organization is able to find the animal it will likely be offered to a zoo or taken out of state to a warmer climate. According to Kelly, it is common for people to “dump” their pets at both César Chávez Park and Point Isabel in Richmond. “Owners assume other dog owners will take care of them,” she said. Kelly said if a member of the community spots the deer, they should not chase it and keep dogs away. If it is possible to get close to the deer, throw a blanket over it and call Berkeley Animal Services (BACS) at 510-981-6600. They should be able to come and take the animal. Alternatively, call WildCare on 415-456-7283. After hours, for emergencies only (5pm to 9am): 415-300-6359. |
Mitt Romney, parroting another right-wing conspiracy theory: Mitt Romney, speaking to a group of more than 200 supporters in hotel in the heart of London this evening, said he is “looking forward” to returning the bust of Winston Churchill to the White House after it was sent back to Great Britain by President Obama. Wait, this bust That's Obama showing off the Churchill bust to British Prime Minister David Cameron ... INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE. So yeah, the bust was never "returned" to the UK. In fact, it was moved to the residence. In its place in the Oval Office, Obama placed a bust of Pres. Abraham Lincoln. Pretty sensible, right? Which goes to show, only in America does the self-styled "patriotic American" party get insanely outraged when a bust of a foreign leader gets replaced with that of an American president. And a Republican president, at that. |
You could say Pooks has been put through the wringer. This put-upon but patient Persian has had a difficult start in life so far, and her life is about to get harder as her current owner is no longer able to care for her. On the plus side, Pooks possesses a pleasant, sweet personality and a group of people rallying to help her. Her current owner, Allison Wilson, purchased the cat for $350 about a year ago from a breeder in Washington. Upon meeting the tiny feline, Wilson was dismayed to find she was flea-infested, and her fur was matted and soaked with urine. She took her home anyway. Wilson promptly bathed Pooks and took her to a veterinarian, who said she had respiratory and eye infections that needed treatment – and that the cat was likely between two and four years old. That further surprised Wilson, who thought the tiny feline was just a kitten. The cat required frequent baths to rid her of her fleas and matted hair, and she wasn't house-trained; she used her food dish as a litter box. Wilson taught her to use a cat box and cared for her as best she could. "I can tell she has been neglected for attention," Wilson says, "and I honestly see that she appreciates every brushing and bath and knows I'm trying to help her." Another veterinary visit revealed Pooks' toenails are growing through her paw pads, she suffers from an eyelash disorder that causes her bottom eyelashes to grow inwards, and she needs to be spayed. Wilson has worked hard to nurture Pooks back to health, but she recently lost her job and is struggling with illness herself. She contacted Cat's Cradle Rescue, a small nonprofit based in Hillsboro. The rescue is trying to raise money to cover the medical costs to remove three ingrown toenails, as well as the spay surgery, which will likely total around $400. Since Wilson is no longer able to care for her, Pooks will also need a new home. "She has an extremely friendly personality and enjoys being bathed," Wilson says. "She loves being brushed and needs to be brushed often." She does require regular maintenance on her nails and fur, but Wilson says Pooks patiently allows her nails to be sanded and endures frequent baths with Johnson's Baby Shampoo. (Flea shampoo irritates her sensitive skin). The cat also gets along well with Wilson's other pets, including another cat and a small dog. If you want to adopt or help Pooks, contact Cat's Cradle at info@catscradlerescue.com or Wilson at ahwilson85@yahoo.com. You can also help by donating online at catscradlerescue.com. Click the "Donate Now" paw and specify that you want your donation to go toward Pooks. --Monique Balas; msbalaspets@gmail.com |
Eddie Curlin. (Michigan Department of Corrections) Last fall and in the spring, the otherwise quiet campus of Eastern Michigan University was hit by three ugly incidents of vandalism targeting blacks. The first came in September, when “KKK” was sprayed in red, white and blue paint on the wall of a dormitory, along with a threat that used a racial slur and told blacks to “leave” the school in Ypsilanti, about 11 miles southeast of Ann Arbor. Then, on Halloween, the same ominous hate message using the n-word and ordering blacks to leave showed up on another building, this one right next to the campus’s monument to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “It really has rocked our community,” Judith Kullberg, an EMU political scientist and president of the faculty senate, told The Washington Post. “In this whole context of a very tense presidential election, it has raised anxiety here considerably.” In the spring, a third racist message was left in a men’s restroom stall. Coming as other campuses were dealing with similar acts of what appeared to be hate vandalism, the incidents sparked protests and made national news. On Tuesday, the university was shaken again when police announced that a 29-year-old black man, a former student, had been charged in all three crimes. The suspect was identified as Eddie Curlin, a student at the school from 2014 to 2016, who is serving a one-to-five-year sentence on an unrelated charge of receiving and concealing stolen property, according to a university statement. Curlin was arraigned in Washtenaw County District Court on charges of malicious destruction of property, identity theft and using computers to commit a crime. A preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 9. Eastern Michigan student Mikea LaPierre holds a sign in protest of the racist graffiti in 2016. (Ann Arbor News/AP) EMU’s chief of police, Robert Heighes, did not offer any motive for the vandalism, except to say that “it was not driven by politics, and it was not driven by race. It was an individual item done by one individual,” Heighes told the campus newspaper, the Eastern Echo. Campus police noted that they had committed more than 1,080 hours to investigating the incidents, with the help of the FBI and the Michigan State Police, among others. “To know that it was a person of color is hurtful,” a black student, Jaiquae Rodwell, told the paper. “As a black student, to know that another black person is using the n-word in a negative way is embarrassing.” EMU President James Smith said in a statement to the campus community that the vandalism “created significant pain, fear and distress among our students, faculty and staff” and that he had felt angry about them as well. The incidents prompted strong reactions throughout the community, both on and off campus. The faculty senate condemned them and held a day-long teach-in about racism and diversity, and some professors held a vigil at one of the vandalized buildings, wearing black to show support for students of color. Student leaders, Ypsilanti city officials and NAACP members held a candlelight vigil. More than 100 students marched to the university president’s house, demanding action. The school launched several efforts to combat what were seen as hateful attacks, including increased spending for security, additional lighting and cameras on campus, expanded diversity training for university leaders and others, and a presidential commission examining diversity and inclusion. Despite the suspect being a black man, Smith said those efforts will continue. “These and other actions will continue to move forward with the focus, determination and importance with which they began,” he said. There has been a lot of talk about this on campus, said EMU professor Ronald C. Woods, as well as online, in person and in meetings held by black student leaders. He said reactions include relief and questions about what this means. “The arraignment definitely is positive,” said Woods, chair of the president’s commission on diversity and inclusion, “because the events last year and the unresolved nature of the crime has kept a sense of unrest and disquiet quite active. And so, yes, the fact that there has been an arrest will be very helpful. Not necessarily in calming the waters. It’s a reality check of where the cause is.” Like Smith, he said efforts to unify the campus will continue. Leaders of student government and the Black Student Union did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment Tuesday morning. The arrest was one of several in the country in the past year in which an apparent act of racism or anti-Semitism was traced not to a hate group but to a suspect belonging to the targeted minority. In December, an African American member of a historic black church in Greenville, Miss., was charged with setting fire to it and writing “Vote Trump” on the exterior of the building. [Miss. black church fire was called a hate crime. Now parishioner has been arrested for it.] In March, an American Israeli Jewish man was arrested over bomb threats aimed at Jewish community centers in the United States and elsewhere. To judge from news accounts at least, such cases are still relatively rare. Most arrests and convictions for hate-related crimes of violence or vandalism follow the traditional pattern. Last month at EMU, a racist message was found scratched onto a bathroom stall at the student center. The Black Student Union announced on social media that the message was “N—ers die.” The incident is not connected to those from last year, Geoffrey Larcom, a spokesman for the university, said Tuesday; the suspect arraigned Monday was in prison at the time. “We live in challenging times,” Woods said. “What we’re seeing here is just a replication of what we’re seeing so broadly in our society.” More from Morning Mix: A brutal racial murder, a pair of neo-Nazi brothers and a big lie Solange Knowles sang ‘don’t touch my hair.’ But a U.K. magazine did just that. |
Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said investigators were able to pinpoint the substance based on swabs taken from Kim Jong-nam's eyes and face. — Reuters pic KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 24—Police have identified the toxin used in the alleged assassination of Kim Jong-nam as the VX nerve agent. Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar said investigators were able to pinpoint the substance based on swabs taken from the eyes and face of the former heir to the late North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il. “The chemical substance has been identified as S-2-diisopropylamino-ethylmethylphosphonothioate or ‘VX nerve agent’,” he said in a statement today. “VX is listed as a chemical weapon under Schedule 1 of the Chemical Weapons Convention Act 2005 and Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) 1997.” VX is a powerful neuro-toxin that is used exclusively as a weapon. The substance has no taste or smell, making it difficult to detect save for its slightly reddish hue. It is also known to be fatal at doses as low as 30—50 mg·min/m3 if introduced via inhalation. The substance can also kill at a dose of 10mg via prolonged skin contact, but can be safely washed off using water or household bleach. Symptoms of VX poisoning include shortness of breath and tightness in the chest, which can be confused for cardiac arrest. The toxin is classified as a weapon of mass destruction according to international conventions. Restrictions on its production and storage makes the substance rare and available only to to highly-militarised states. Jong-nam was attacked by two women at KL International Airport 2 (KLIA2) on February 13 while waiting for a flight to Macau. He died on the way to hospital. Police have so far arrested four people including three foreigners over the killing. Khalid previously said the Indonesian and Vietnamese women who applied the substance on Jong-nam knew it was toxic and were trained for the attack. North Korea continues to accuse Malaysia of conspiracy over the latter’s investigation into Jong-nam’s death. It tried to block his autopsy here and claim his body ahead of his family. Pyongyang also disputed Khalid’s claim that the women had used a powerful poison on Jong-nam, asking how the two were still alive when they had handled the substance with their bare hands. Today’s revelation suggests that North Korea was already aware of what toxin was used in the deadly attack. |
This wildlife-themed wall mural seems to invite the viewer to untangle the mess of animals, to make sense of the many shapes and colors all thrown together. It looks haphazard, and for the typical art viewer it may not seem to make visual or practical sense. But once a light switch is flipped, the method to this madness is quickly revealed. The multi-colored layers of animal shapes are not meant to simply confuse the eye; rather, they are a sort of color puzzle that only becomes apparent once the ambient light shifts from one color to the next. It is an RGB (red-green-blue) mural that is chaotic in white light but perfectly ordered in red, green or blue light. Different parts of the mural are revealed as the room’s light changes color. A simple colored filter over the room’s lighting source or a piece of colored transparent plastic held over different areas of the mural reveal one layer of the piece at a time. The once-jumbled mass of lines and colors resolve into three separate pieces of art all occupying the same physical space on the wall. The mural and many other smaller, similar pieces are the work of Milan-based collective Carnovsky. The pair of artists experiments with the visual effects of chromatic manipulation as well as the emotional associations of the different colors. The smaller works, such as the Tarot cards above, are fun to look at but lack the awe-inspiring effect of an entire room of shape-shifting RGB art. |
It's not often that astronomy goes well with the book of Genesis. But this is a theory that evokes the line, "But of the tree of the knowledge, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." In this theory, knowledge doesn't just kill you — it kills the entire universe. Indeed, one physicist speculates that continuous observation of the universe might put it into a state that will destroy us all. Illustration by Ron Miller The Curse of the Big Bang Our universe's eventual demise, in this case, springs from the fact that it wasn't properly created. The big question has always been, how does something come from nothing? If, in the beginning, there was nothing but a vacuum, devoid of energy or matter, where did the universe come from? As it turns out, not all vacuums are alike - some of them are what's called "false vacuums." They are "bubbles" of space that look like vacuums, but aren't actually at their bottom energy state. They can collapse at nearly any time, and go into their ground energy state. The collapse of such a false vacuum releases energy. At first, many physicists thought this is how our universe began. A false vacuum collapsed down to a true one, and the matter and energy of our universe was the result of its collapse. Advertisement It's also possible that the collapsing false vacuum didn't create a true vacuum. It simply created, along with all that matter and energy, another false vacuum. The universe we live in now might simply be a long-lived bubble of false vacuum that's not really at its lowest energy state. If you have trouble believing that the vacuum of space that astronomers observe isn't at its lowest energy state - ask yourself what dark energy is if not a higher-than-expected energy state for the universe. We might be in a fragile, and unstable, bubble of universe that could collapse at any time. But There's Hope! (Unless We Screw It Up) It's unpleasant to think the universe might collapse out of existence at any moment. Especially since, as the collapse won't exceed the speed of light, we'll probably see it coming for us, knowing we're unable to escape it. Fortunately, we have (theoretical) options. Dark energy drives the expansion of the universe. Although bubbles decay, they decay along different lines according to the energy state they're in when they start collapsing. If they're in a high energy state, the rate of decay is also high. If they're in a low energy state, the rate of decay is slow. Put the fast rate of decay in a race against the expansion of the universe, and we are all winked out of existence. Put the slow rate of decay in that same race, and we all have the chance to live productive lives. Advertisement The problem is, when we observe a system, we can keep it in a certain state. Studies have shown that repeatedly observing the state of an atom set to decay can keep that atom in its higher-energy state. When we observe the universe, especially the "dark" side of the universe, we might be keeping it in its higher-energy state. If the process of collapse happens when it is in that state, the universe will cease to exist. If we stop looking, and the universe quietly shifts to a state at which its decay is slower, then we're all saved. The more we look at the universe, the more likely it is to end. The Unsettling Truth At least that was the theory that Lawrence Krauss, a well-known physicist and author, playfully put forward. He was applying the idea of quantum mechanics in small systems, like atoms, to large systems, like the universe. It's a fun idea, but not practical reality. Although Schrödinger's cat is a good thought experiment, the cat doesn't need us to observe it in order to die, and the universe doesn't need it either. (Even if it did, humanity probably isn't the only race looking out at the universe. If we see our little bubble collapsing, we could easily blame it on curious extraterrestrials and their observations.) Advertisement Krauss re-stated his position after his paper on the subject came out and made a bit of a stir. He doesn't truly believe that we might end the universe by looking at it too closely. The truth is even more unsettling. The data that led to the false vacuum universe theory came from observing a supernova in 1998. Given the data about the supernova, Krauss believes that the universe is likely to be in its high-rate-of-decay state. So although we might not be the reason the universe ceases to be, we still might be the victims of its collapse. [Via The Late Time Behavior of False Vacuum Decay, Ars Technica, The Telegraph.] |
John Rooney, the 20-year-old younger brother of Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, headlines a list of young international players who will join the college seniors and Generation adidas signees invited to participate in the annual MLS player combine in January. The English midfielder, who trialed with the Seattle Sounders and Portland Timbers in August, has signed an MLS contract and will be available for selection by all MLS clubs via the SuperDraft in Baltimore. MLSsoccer.com caught up with Rooney back in England as he prepares to embark on his American dream. MLSsoccer.com: Why MLS? What has struck you about the league that you want to play in America? John Rooney: I’ve been watching the league for a few years now and it’s getting better and better every year. When I went over there in August I thoroughly enjoyed it. I went to one of the Seattle games [while on trial] and the Sounders fans were great. They [Sounders] had great support and it was a great experience. When I went over there it was fantastic from the start. MLSsoccer.com: How did the opportunity with Seattle come about? John Rooney: I played for Macclesfield in the English league and they offered me a new contract. But I was focused on the chance and the opportunity to go over there [USA] in August and trial with two teams [Seattle and Portland]. It was the right time in my career to go over there and to improve on my young career. MLSsoccer.com: Portland manager John Spencer played in England. How did you hit it off during your trial? John Rooney: I didn’t really speak to him. He had only just got the Portland job when I was there. I really didn’t get to meet him. MLSsoccer.com: What was your impression from your MLS trials? John Rooney: I really enjoyed it. The lifestyle and the football there [in USA] was great. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I wanted to get back over there and have a career over there. [inline_node:325562] MLSsoccer.com: What’s your position on the field and what are your characteristics? John Rooney: I trialed at midfield. In Portland I played up front in one game and I moved to midfield. Midfield is my best position. I’m probably more of an attacking midfielder. Getting on the ball and making stuff happen, creating plays. MLSsoccer.com: How has it been waiting four months without a club? John Rooney: It’s been tough. I really wanted to come over there [USA] and now I’m just waiting to get myself going and get started. MLSsoccer.com: How have you stayed fit over the last four months? John Rooney: I’ve been training with Tranmere Rovers. Since I’ve come home from the United States I’ve been training there to keep myself fit and in shape. I can’t wait to get going. MLSsoccer.com: Aside from Macclesfield Town, any other offers that came in for you over the last four months? John Rooney: There were a few teams sniffing around from the higher leagues but I wanted to change my career and go to the United States to build on my own career over there [in USA]. MLSsoccer.com: Are you familiar with the way the SuperDraft works? John Rooney: When I first went over [to USA] I started reading up about the draft and how the league worked. For the last four months I’ve been looking at the web site every day and reading about how it works. I have an idea now. I can’t wait to get over there and get started. [inline_node:325563] MLSsoccer.com: Do you have an idea of the teams which are interested in you? John Rooney: When the draft comes. I haven’t spoken to any teams at the moment. When the combine starts I need to address the coaches that are watching and take it from there. MLSsoccer.com: Any special connections to the USA? John Rooney: That was my first time in the United States [in the summer]. But I heard a lot of good stuff. My family was on vacation and they love the United States. When I went over there I was just surprised how good it was and I couldn’t wait to get back over there [to USA] and play soccer over there. MLSsoccer.com: What has your brother [Manchester United's Wayne Rooney] told you about the United States? John Rooney: He told me about a few of the teams he played when they’ve been over on tour. The team [Manchester United] enjoyed it a lot and he likes it over there [in USA]. MLSsoccer.com: Do you see this as an opportunity to make a name for yourself outside of England? John Rooney: That’s why I want to get over there [to USA] -- so it’s just me. And I want to build my own career over there and do my best. Hopefully I‘ll enjoy it. MLSsoccer.com: When do you leave England for the United States? John Rooney: I fly out on the 2nd of January. I’ll get used to the time change over there and probably take in a bit of training before the Combine starts [Jan. 7]. MLSsoccer.com: In the meantime, any special holiday plans in the Rooney household? John Rooney: I’m spending it with the family before I go away. Looking forward to spending it with the family. MLSsoccer.com: Any messages for MLS fans before they see you at the Combine? John Rooney: Hopefully they like my style of play, what I bring to the field and the way I am. |
I’m sitting on the rooftop deck at Dream Heaven, a funky lakefront hotel in Udaipur, India. Across the lake, the opulent City Palace is lit up against the night sky, casting a medieval reflection on the waters of Lake Pichola. Air conditioners are working hard against the humid night air here in Rajasthan. The monsoon is late, and temperatures have been rising to over 100 degrees in the day. The people, the land, and the cows and dogs in the streets are all praying for rain. Suddenly, the lights go out. The buzz of the air conditioners goes quiet. It is yet another power outage, though only on our side of the lake. City Palace continues to glow serenely. After a few minutes, diesel generators begin to fire up, including a huge one at the luxury hotel next door that sounds like a tractor-trailer. It’s a typical event here in India, where utilities use outages to manage the system. The shadow utility While the country has plenty of generation overall -- something like 270 gigawatts of capacity in a system that typically peaks around 180 gigawatts -- local distribution utilities can’t always afford to pay for power from state-owned or private generators. The unreliability of the power system has led to customers building their own shadow utility system, almost as big as the official one. Ujjwal Bhattacharjee of TERI, a leading energy think tank in Delhi, estimates that customers have installed about 100 gigawatts' worth of backup generators, with another 70 gigawatts for cell phone transmitters. Many homes opt for battery systems, with lead-acid systems that provide juice during outages. The India Energy Storage Association estimates lead-acid battery sales for stationary and motive applications (like electric tuk-tuks) at about $1.9 billion in 2015. This could double by 2020. This DIY attitude extends to illegal hookups and stolen electricity as well. The back streets of Delhi are lined with a chaotic tangle of power lines. As much as 20 percent of power is stolen in some areas. Photo credit: Bentham Paulos As part of national renewable energy goals through 2022, the Indian government has called for 100 gigawatts of solar, including 40 gigawatts on rooftops. The shadow utility already built implies that Indians can do the same with solar -- acting on their own where government-owned power systems have failed. But there are many impediments to rooftop solar in the country. And it's still unclear whether the country can get anywhere close to the ambitious targets established by the government. Getting to 100 gigawatts of solar A week later, I’m sitting on another deck, at The Park Hotel in Hyderabad, talking to Dr. P. Jayakumar. The Park is the nicest hotel in town, with a swept aluminum façade and a deck overlooking Hussain Sagar, a lake built in 1562. Next door is a vacant lot full of trash, some of which is on fire, sending toxic fumes of burning plastic across the deck, spoiling my gin and tonic. Dr. Jayakumar runs Arbutus Consulting in Pune, and has helped develop 1 gigawatt of the 7 gigawatts of solar in India. He also helped Jigar Shah, his colleague from BP Solar days, get SunEdison started in India in 2007. But I was focused on one question: How can India meet its huge solar goal? In addition to the 7 gigawatts already built, India has 20 gigawatts in the development pipeline, according to the government. “When we started in 2007, grid-connected systems were very new,” Jayakumar recalls. “Utilities weren’t familiar with the technology, and land ownership was often unclear, making project development difficult.” Things are progressing, but Jayakumar still sees two major things that need to be solved: finance and coordinated development. “If we don’t solve these problems, I have the feeling we may be doing 50 percent of the goal.” The utility system in India is largely owned by state and federal governments, through a series of public corporations. The one exception is renewables, which have largely been built by private developers in recent years. India spent decades as a planned socialist economy, with an army of bureaucrats controlling business though the “permit raj.” Reforms in 1991 spurred a move away from central planning; this June the pro-business administration of Narendra Modi announced further measures to encourage development, such as easing limits on foreign investment. But the energy sector is a stalwart of the old economy, and efforts to modernize run up against a host of barriers. Energy policy has a strong “social mission,” and electricity is often sold at less than cost to low-income customers or given away for free to promote economic development. “About 75 percent of customers pay full price for electricity,” estimates Ravi Vora, a former managing director of an Indian utility. The rest of the power is simply not paid for, and goes onto the books of the state-owned distribution utilities. Debt has gotten so catastrophically large -- estimated losses of $9 billion per year and an accumulated debt of $64 billion -- that utilities have been unable to pay their bills or borrow money to invest in their systems. The federal government is now pursuing what it calls “the most comprehensive power-sector reform ever,” a plan called UDAY, to roll that debt onto bonds to allow the utilities to stay solvent. A total of $15 billion in bonds has been sold in the past year. Rural power Rural areas are central to the problem. While almost all villages have been connected to the grid in recent years, only half of village homes have power and none enjoy reliable power. An estimated 300 million people are poorly served, or are not served at all. (This dashboard tracks weekly progress in the quest for village electrification.) According to the World Bank, poverty rates in India have fallen from 20 percent in 2011 to 12.4 percent today. Still, that means that 172 million people in the country are living on less than $1.90 per day. Electricity is a luxury. The government sees rural electrification as a key part of the war on poverty. “Rural electrification in India has caused changes in consumption and earnings, with increases in the labor supply of both men and women, and promoted girls’ schooling by reallocating their time to tasks more conducive to school attendance,” said the World Bank in a recent report. Agricultural customers get power at very low or no cost, often unmetered, in the name of food security and rural economic development, resulting in a massive operating deficit for the local utility. In Maharashtra, for example, agricultural load -- especially for water pumping -- makes up about one-quarter of total sales (12 to 13 gigawatts) and is charged at 0.8 rupees per kilowatt-hour, whereas the cost of procuring that electricity to the utility is 2.4 rupees. Other states have an even higher share of agricultural customers. While many reformers get excited about the potential for distributed solar to power rural India, heavy subsidies for rural energy actually make farmers less likely to buy it. “A 1-kilowatt solar water pump may be only 30,000 rupees, but they say, ‘I’m getting my power for free today, why should I pay for it?’” asks Dr. Jayakumar. “Many states use free power for agriculture as a political tool,” he argues. In theory, solar can be an opportunity for utilities to move these money-losing customers off their books. But in practice, it is cheaper simply to cut off power. “Utilities serve rural areas only certain hours of the day,” Jayakumar says, “which already limits their losses.” The financial problems of the Indian power sector limit new investment by the state utilities and scare off potential private-sector developers. As a result, “power-sector investments are seen often to have junk status,” according to the Renewable Energy Roadmap 2030, a report written for the National Institution for Transforming India Aayog, a government think tank. High risk means high finance costs. Jayakumar says government-owned banks are a major source of finance for solar projects, but because they don’t offer “concessional” rates, project finance costs are around 13 percent. “The most important thing is to bring down financing costs to 5 percent to 7 percent,” he says. Private banks have shied away from such risk, he says, though this could be changing. A report from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis chronicles over $100 billion of firm commitments for renewables announced by a variety of multinational banks and companies. The World Bank and others recently committed $2.5 billion in low-cost financing for solar. Dr. Jayakumar’s second recommendation is greater coordination of development. He sees utility-scale projects as the main pathway for solar, since they are “the easiest question to answer.” Because the low-voltage grid is so unreliable, distributed projects in the range of 1 megawatt to 5 megawatts can lose access to their markets on a daily basis. Big solar plants, such as those 100 megawatts or more, that are connected to the high-voltage transmission grid are more secure. “I think the way forward is not individual projects but through solar parks,” he says. Solar parks, essentially industrial parks for solar projects, are being developed by state business agencies to streamline development. The parks clear up the issue of land ownership, since in many rural areas of India title to the land is uncertain, leading to expensive delays. They are also sited near high-voltage grid connections, enabling big projects to be developed quickly. These solar parks can be integrated into broader transmission planning, such as the Green Corridor project. The people While some observers look on India as a land of opportunity for clean energy, the truth is that it’s hard to get things done there. Financial problems, massive poverty, legal issues and a stubborn bureaucracy are all big red flags on the green pathway. Over the past half century, most development in India has come from the government, as the only institution that can function in the chaos. As the Modi government continues to turn away from the centrally planned economy of Nehru and his descendents, they are seeking to unleash the power of the people to change the energy system. A small example of this attitude was rolled out this spring in a quintessentially modern way -- through two new smartphone apps. Vidyut Pravah gives real-time information on power availability and price, while Urban Jyoti Abhiyaan has a “consumer dashboard” with data on outages, complaints, and energy theft for each local utility. The apps aim to generate political pressure as much as energy. “The mobile application will empower the Common People to demand 24x7 power from the States,” said Power Minister Piyush Goyal, speaking at an event in Delhi on March 31. “[T]his app will work as a manifestation of the Prime Minister’s vision of good governance via inculcating transparency in the system and will put pressure on power producers across the country.” The app “will empower the consumer, thereby leading all the stakeholders to be more responsive and efficient, bringing more economy to the country.” When it comes to energy, nothing is more grassroots than solar power. Modular and nimble, with many ways to be deployed, solar may succeed where other “hard-path” energy solutions fail. Most importantly for India, solar works with both the official utility and the shadow utility of diesel generators and batteries. This alone may make the 100-gigawatt goal possible -- but certainly not easy. |
A randomized, placebo-controlled trial has found that vitamin D and calcium, whatever their other benefits may be, have no effect on upper respiratory tract infections. Researchers randomly placed 759 generally healthy people ages 45 to 75 in four groups who received: a daily dose of 1,000 units of vitamin D, 1,200 milligrams of calcium, vitamin D with calcium, or a placebo. During winters of the four-year study, those taking vitamin D had, on average, 1.8 days of illness, compared with 1.6 days among the placebo group, an insignificant difference. And there were no significant differences between the groups in the duration of infection or severity of symptoms. Calcium supplementation did not help, either. It was not associated with the incidence, duration or severity of symptoms, and was equally ineffective when taken with vitamin D. The study, published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, had a large sample size, detailed reports of symptoms and excellent adherence to pill-taking, all of which give it considerable strength. “Of course there are observational studies that show that vitamin D has various benefits,” said the lead author, Judy R. Rees, an assistant professor of community and family medicine at Dartmouth. “But those studies can’t eliminate the effects of lifestyle from causing bias. A randomized trial is designed to avoid those problems, and that’s what I think we did.” |
Ted Cruz (T-TX) calls himself a Southern Baptist, so he should know the Ninth Commandment. A full 54 percent of Ted Cruz's statements have been rated "false" or "pants on fire" by PolitiFact. Another 20 percent are only "half true." That's 74 percent of Cruz's statements failing the truth test. We're used to politicians lying to us, of course. But the frequency of Cruz's lies is actually staggering. Compare Cruz's 74 percent lying rate with Rick Perry's 48 percent and John Cornyn's 56 percent. Cruz is in rarified with Michele Bachmann as one of this country's biggest political liars. Whenever Ted Cruz opens his mouth, there's a 3/4 chance he's lying. Cruz, you may remember, says he has a secret list of communists at Harvard Law School, and bravely exposed a Democratic plot to shutter Catholic charities and hospitals. Guess you could say he's lying for Jesus. |
The hiss of welding torches has fascinated Yaqeen Nihad-Abdulkarim ever since she was a little girl growing up in Iraq, watching her father weld at the shop he owned. She dreamed of become a welder too, and after her family moved to Ottawa, she heard about a welding program at St. Patrick's High School on Alta Vista Drive. Nihad-Abdulkarim, who is now in Grade 9, said she knew right away that's where she wanted to go to high school. "My grandma wanted to learn how to weld just like me when she was younger. She said that I acted like how she acted when she was little," she recently told CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning. "I was this person that always wanted to do stuff her own way. I told my dad once that I wanted to become a welder. He didn't say no, but my mom is definitely the one who encouraged me the most." 'I told my dad once that I wanted to become a welder. He didn't say no, but my mom is definitely the one who encouraged me the most,' remembers Yaqeen Nihad-Abdulkarim, second from right. (Brett Throop/CBC) 'They're more comfortable in here' The classes are filled mainly with boys, so teacher Rob Lavergne started an after-school welding club just for girls two years ago. "Usually in a class of 20 I'll have anywhere from two to three [girls]," Lavergne said. "Being a former business automotive person, there wasn't enough women in the trades and I figured it would be a great way to get things started ... to show them that it's not a man's world out there. "They're more comfortable in here.... Sometimes some of the ladies might be intimidated, thinking it is only a man's world in the tech world and automotive welding, and stuff like that." Nihad-Abdulkarim said she's happy to be among the best students in her welding class, and she hopes more girls will become interested in the trade. Listen to more of the interview with Nihad-Abdulkarim and Lavergne here. |
The U.S. Department of Commerce added new entities from Russia and other countries in its list of sanctions over the Ukraine conflict. Russian news agency TASS reported that 39 persons under 33 entries had been included in the "Entity List," according to a rule notice in the Federal Register to be published Wednesday. The entries include entities from Russia, Ukraine, Crimea, Romania, Finland, Cyprus, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. The difference between the number of persons and the number of entries take place because one person is listed in three locations and two others in two locations. According to the notice, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security “is taking this action to ensure the efficacy of existing sanctions on the Russian Federation.” Wall Street Journal reported that almost 200 Russian and “Ukrainian-separatist” companies and individuals were targeted by the EU and the United States for the sanctions until March 15. The goal is to keep pressuring Russia for the complete implementation of the Minsk ceasefire by the end of 2015. The present sanctions originally targeted 151 individuals including Ukrainian officials and leaders as well as Russian lawmakers and advisors. The number has now become 151 as one of the individuals has passed away. Even though the sanctions do not affect Russian President Vladimir Putin and his major ministers, Valentina Matviyenko was not allowed to attend a forum in New York due visa restrictions. The speaker of the upper house of the Russian parliament said that the U.S. sanctions against Russian lawmakers “put up obstacles for a full-scale inter-parliamentary collaboration.” Meanwhile, senior EU officials will meet Wednesday to make the decision, which should be signed off by ministers by mid-September as the travel bans and asset freeze will expire on Sept. 15. |
Remember when the dysfunctional Buccaneers were an 0-8 dumpster fire fueled by MRSA and ineptitude? Greg Schiano and his Men have somehow won three straight, with some legitimate play from both sides of the ball—especially rookie quarterback/intrepid middle schooler Mike Glennon. Which leaves us with the same question Team Schiano has left for us all year, if inflected slightly differently: Are these assholes for real? The transformative change at quarterback is as well-worn as any story in football, but for the Bucs, it's as good an explanation as you'll find for how this team went from viscous shit to something resembling competent. Especially because, through all this, the defense has been rather good. As a team, they're -5.8% in weighted DVOA, good for 10th in the league. Gerald McCoy is a total stud, and before his groin injury, every metric available had Darrelle Revis re-ascendent as the best corner in the league. (Our favorite CB metric, PFF's yards gained by a cornerback's assignment while that cornerback is in coverage, has Revis well ahead of the league at 0.44 yards per snap. Quarterbacks have a 53.4 QB Rating throwing against him. He's been very good.) All that is to say, the big change has been the rookie and his play. After Josh Freeman and his 59.3 QB rating were shipped off to terrorize poor Vikings fans, the Bucs turned to Glennon. He had a rough start, fumbling in each of his first four starts, and struggling to crack even 6 yards per attempt. But over the past month or so, he's improved to the point where Schiano considers him to be a long-term solution. (That'd be neat, if Schiano still has a job at the end of the season.) Glennon's success is built on a relatively simple foundation. The first order of business was to get him running more play-action passes. He's actually great at it, and those plays have been a core part of the offense's success. Nearly one-fifth of the rookie's dropbacks have been play-action passes, and he's been remarkably accurate with them. Per Pro Football Focus, Glennon has an astounding 124.2 QB rating and 11.1 yards per attempt on play-action passes, both third-best in the league behind Philip Rivers and Peyton Manning. And play-action opens up the deep ball. Last Saturday, we highlighted NFL quarterbacks' proficiency at throwing long. Glennon ranked near the bottom of the league in how often he actually throws the deep ball, but was up near the league leaders in terms of accuracy on those throws. He's around the middle of the pack on yards per attempt—probably a better gauge than either—but surging lately. The numbers were compiled before Tampa Bay's game against the Lions, but including the game against Detroit, Glennon's completed 11 out of 26 attempted throws over 20 yards. Four were completed during his first four starts; the remaining seven have come in Glennon's last four games. It's a small sample, but Glennon's hitting on more of his admittedly infrequent deep passes, successfully stretching the field against weak secondaries. His talent at throwing clean, fast balls gives receivers like Vincent Jackson and Tiquan Underwood solid opportunities to benefit from the occasional long play. Advertisement It turns out, hitting on more deep balls will help you win games, and deep catches after play fakes have been key to each of the Bucs' wins in this streak. Against the Dolphins, the offense ran eight play-action passes with four resulting in completions, including one on a trick play for a one-yard touchdown to offensive lineman Donald Penn. In the game against the Falcons, Glennon completed eight of ten play-action plays, the majority going to Jackson, with two deep passes going for 100 total receiving yards, both on corner Asante Samuel. Last Sunday, against the Lions, both of Glennon's touchdowns to Underwood came on play-actions. When the play-fake isn't working, it takes away a big weapon for the rookie. Against the Seahawks—a game the Bucs lost in overtime, but in which the team looked competent, and which directly preceded the three-game win streak—the Bucs completed only three of six play-action passes, all three resulting in checkdowns to fullback Erik Lorig. This isn't much of a surprise; Seattle has an excellent secondary, and a a strong pass rush, and this forced the Buccaneers to play it safer, so that their limited offense wasn't able to extend and protect an early lead. Advertisement What's slightly surprising is that play-action is effective at all, given the state of the Bucs' running game. It's up in the air (with some extreme exceptions on either end) whether or not having an effective running game really is important to being able to run play-action. Tampa borders on the low end of those extremes, with breakout star Doug Martin and pleasant surprise Mike James both already out for the season. Bobby Rainey's been promising, but inconsistent. None but James have fared especially well, though Rainey had a nice game against Atlanta. In Glennon's first four starts, all losses, he threw over 40 pass attempts. Tampa Bay's offensive success rides on not making Glennon shoulder the load; he threw no more than 23 attempts in those three wins and that close game against the Seahawks. His accuracy's consistent, even in the losses, with a 62.5 completion percentage in his eight starts. The yards per attempt average has vastly improved with fewer throws, naturally. Glennon didn't top 6.3 YPA in his first four starts. In his last four games: 7.3, 6.6, 10.0, and 11.8. The running game coming up with some good performances the past few weeks obviously helps, but remember: you run when you win, not win when you run. The Buccaneers have primarily been a sorry burlap sack of shit, but it's nice to see a demonstration of the team's talent clicking. It's still a lost season, but a three-game winning streak out of nowhere is damn impressive. Sure, Miami, Atlanta, and Detroit aren't the toughest opponents, but this team was worse than all of them. Keep in mind that the team lost its first two games of the season on last-minute field goals—and they held Drew Brees and the Saints to one offensive touchdown, the only team to do that this season—and they should really be deemed mediocre rather than a completely lost cause for 2014. Advertisement The reality check will come soon enough. The Bucs' schedule gets significantly tougher down the stretch, with five of Tampa Bay's final six games featuring strong playoff contenders, so this streak of good tidings is most likely over. But at least Glennon will get some real experience against more challenging defenses. It could be helpful in the long run. There is possible hope, Tampa Bay fans, even with Schiano's man. Photo: Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images |
Facebook/Broadcom Broadcom has agreed to buy Brocade Communications for $5.9 billion. According to a statement on Wednesday, Broadcom, a semiconductor maker, will pay $12.75 a share for the data-storage and networking provider. The deal is valued at $5.5 billion in cash, with $400 million of net debt. The two companies are compatible because semiconductors are among the components that go into Brocade's networking equipment. "With deep expertise in mission-critical storage networking, Brocade increases our ability to address the evolving needs of our OEM customers," Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said in the statement. An OEM, or original equipment manufacturer, makes components that go into another company's products. "In addition, we are confident that we will find a great home for Brocade's valuable IP networking business that will best position that business for its next phase of growth." Brocade shares gained 7% in premarket trading after the news; they have climbed by 29% since the news of a potential deal was first reported on Monday. Based on Friday's closing price, Broadcom is buying Brocade at a 47% premium. Here's the full press release: Broadcom Limited (Nasdaq:AVGO) and Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:BRCD) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement under which Broadcom will acquire Brocade, a leader in Fibre Channel storage area network ("FC SAN") switching and IP networking, for $12.75 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $5.5 billion, plus $0.4 billion of net debt. Broadcom expects to fund the transaction with new debt financing and cash available on its balance sheet. Broadcom, with the support of Brocade, plans to divest Brocade's IP Networking business, consisting of wireless and campus networking, data center switching and routing, and software networking solutions. "This strategic acquisition enhances Broadcom's position as one of the leading providers of enterprise storage connectivity solutions to OEM customers," stated Hock Tan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Broadcom. "With deep expertise in mission-critical storage networking, Brocade increases our ability to address the evolving needs of our OEM customers. In addition, we are confident that we will find a great home for Brocade's valuable IP networking business that will best position that business for its next phase of growth." "This transaction represents significant value for our shareholders, who will receive a 47% premium from the Brocade closing share price on Friday, October 28, 2016, and creates new opportunities for our customers and partners," said Lloyd Carney, Chief Executive Officer of Brocade. "Our best-in-class FC SAN solutions will help Broadcom create one of the industry's broadest portfolios for enterprise storage. We will work with Broadcom as it seeks to find a buyer for our IP Networking business which includes a full portfolio of open, hardware and software-based solutions spanning the core of the data center to the network edge." Upon closing, the transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to Broadcom's non-GAAP free cash flow and earnings per share. Broadcom currently anticipates that Brocade's FC SAN business will contribute approximately $900 million of pro forma non-GAAP EBITDA in its fiscal year 2018. The board of directors of Brocade and the Executive Committee of the board of directors of Broadcom have unanimously approved the transaction, which is presently expected to close in the second half of Broadcom's fiscal year 2017 which commenced on October 31, 2016, subject to regulatory approvals in various jurisdictions, customary closing conditions as well as the approval of Brocade's stockholders. The closing of the transaction is not subject to any financing conditions, nor is it conditioned on the divestiture of Brocade's IP Networking business. |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) -- It was a Sunday morning no parent wants to experience. Louisville Metro Police said a 3-year-old boy accidentally shot himself before 11 a.m. Sunday in an apartment in the 1500-block of Oleanda Avenue. LMPD said the child's father was rushing to drive him to the hospital when he crashed his car at the intersection of Fourth and Hill Streets in Old Louisville. According to officials, three other cars were involved in the accident. Police officers arrived to the scene and found the child and his father with emergency personnel blocking off the intersection as the boy was transported to Norton Children's Hospital. Police said the child was conscious when he arrived at the hospital and his injuries appeared to not be life-threatening. "It makes me so sick to think about a little one having done that and how that father must feel right now," Lorna Cloud, who walked by the accident scene, said. "And I can see why he was driving, trying to get him help. I would have done the same thing." According to Norton Children's Hospital, this is the 19th child that has been brought to its hospital with a gunshot wound this year. In several of those cases, children accidentally shot themselves or others. "It's very troubling," Metro Councilman David James, D.-District 6, said. "Every time I see it on television or I see the news and I see a child's been injured by a gun that was left unsecured, it just breaks my heart." RELATED: Child expected to be okay after shooting self in So. Louisville Kentucky State Rep. Jim Wayne, D.-District 35, has pre-filed legislation for the upcoming legislative session in Frankfort, which would make it a misdemeanor for people to leave their guns unattended with children around, which right now does not carry any criminal penalty, even if someone gets hurt or killed. "So the officers are frustrated because this happens too regularly here in our community and their hands are tied and there's nothing they can do about it," James said. The legislation pre-filed by Wayne reads: "(1) A person is guilty of unlawful storage of a firearm when: (a) He or she recklessly stores a firearm in a manner which allows a minor to have access to a firearm which is not secured by a trigger lock; and (b) The minor, without legal justification, accesses the firearm. (2) Unlawful storage of a firearm is a Class B misdemeanor, unless the minor, without legal justification, uses the firearm in a manner which results in physical injury, serious physical injury, or death to the minor or another person, in which case it is a Class A misdemeanor." James told WHAS11 he and several other councilmembers are planning on drafting a resolution in support of Wayne's bill. James said he hopes the bill will be more of a proactive measure rather than a punitive one to encourage parents to secure their guns using either a gun safe or a gun lock. "A lot of times parents think, 'Well I'm going to put it in the glove box. They'll never know it's in there,'" he said. "Well children are curious and they open up the glove box and there it is." James said he expects to file the resolution after Metro Council returns from their holiday break. |
Just over a year ago -on February 7 & 8, 2014 – moe. headlined the Wetlands 25th Anniversary shows at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester. The guest-filled performances were each filled with highlights and the band has kindly made MP3 downloads of both shows available free-or-charge. To download, simply head to LiveDownloads.com’s pages for the February 7th show and the February 8th show. Check out the setlists from moe.’s Wetlands Preserve 25th Anniversary shows: Friday, February 7: Set One: New York City, Y.O.Y., Nebraska&, Blue Jeans Pizza&!=, Plane Crash&? @, Buster&*@, Sugaree&*%^+<# Set Two: Mexico&%^+<, Speculator&%^+<##, Keep On Growining&%^+<###, She&^, The Road& > Timmy Tucker& Encore: Up On Cripple Creek&%^ {& w/ Nate Wilson on keys ! w/ Wayne Krantz on guitar ? w/ Michael Landau on guitar * w/ Jimmy Herring on guitar % w/ Reid Genauer on guitar & vox ^ w/ Scott Murawski on guitar & vox +John Leccese on bass @ al. on double-neck gibson = w/ no al. < w/ no rob. # FTP (Grateful Dead cover) ## FTP (Stragefolk Cover) ### FTP (Derek And The Dominos cover) The Road was unfinished} Saturday, February 8: Set One: Recreational Chemistry, Skrunk > Time Ed, Downward Facing Dog, Seen The Rain*^1, How Could You Want Him*^2, Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong*^2, In My Life^+=$3, Akimbo^+=&, Sledgehammer^+==$&4 Set Two: Spaz Medicine+, Spanish Moon+?, Crab Eyes, Okayalright$, St. Augustine$@, You Don’t Mess Around With Jim@5, Into The Mystic!^6, Mile By Mile!^7, Happy Hour Hero+!^, Stand+&$=8> I Want To Take You Higher+&$=^8 Encore: With A Little Help From My Friends^+=$&@!9 {* w/ Chris Baron on vox ^ w/ John Medeski on keys + w/ Conehead Buddha horns: Shannon Lynch on saxophone, Terry Lynch on trumpet, Shaun Bazylewicz on trombone = w/ Dave Masucci on sax == = w/ Dave Masucci on flute & sax & percussion $ w/ Jen Durkin on vox & w/ James “Fuzz” Sangiovanni on guitar & vox ? w/ Suke Cerulo @ w/ Peter Prince on guitar ! w/ Aaron Maxwell on guitar 1 FTP (CCR Cover) 2 FTP (Spin Doctors cover) 3 FTP (Beatles cover) 4 FTP (Peter Gabriel cover) 5 FTP (Jim Croce cover) 6 FTP (Van Morrison cover) 7 FTP ( God Street Wine cover) 8 FTP (Sly & The Family Stone cover) 9 FTP (Beatles cover) [Setlists via moe.’s Facebook] |
Analysis What is a SAN and is an NVMe over Fabrics (NVMeF) array a SAN or not? Datrium says not. E8 says... maybe. A Storage Area Network (SAN) is, according to Wikipedia, "a network which provides access to consolidated, block level data storage... A SAN does not provide file abstraction, only block-level operations. However, file systems built on top of SANs do provide file-level access, and are known as shared-disk file systems." Techopedia says: "A storage area network (SAN) is a secure high-speed data transfer network that provides access to consolidated block-level storage. An SAN makes a network of storage devices accessible to multiple servers." It seems simple enough, but there is a wrinkle that affects NVMeF arrays. Techterms states: "A SAN is a network of storage devices that can be accessed by multiple computers. Each computer on the network can access hard drives in the SAN as if they were local disks connected directly to the computer." This allows individual hard drives to be used by multiple computers, making it easy to share information between different machines. That, for Datrium, is the kicker. Co-founder and CTO Hugo Patterson told a Silicon Valley press tour group: "NVMe in a shared chassis look like an internal drive – so it's not shared data. It's not a SAN. You cannot run VMFS (VMware file system) on top of that." Datrium CTO Hugo Patterson He's saying that SAN users can share data and drives as well as storage chassis. But NVMeF array users cannot share data or drives. Why not? The idea starts from having a local drive in a computer, client device or server. It is local to its host and private, inaccessible to any other computer. This is the case with a PCIe-connected SSD addressed through an NVMe driver. With NVMeF there is a remote direct memory access from a host server to a drive in an NVMeF array. The host server sees a another local drive and it is assigned to that server, mapped to it. No other server can access that drive, which means that they can't access the data on that drive or drives. Well then, let's abstract the drives and add some sort of drive/volume manager. Where? We'll do it in the array controller; it sees all the drives and receives all the IO requests. But if this is done then it breaks end-to-end NVMeF, meaning latency is added and the IO operations get longer, meaning the NVMeF equals local drive access speed idea is broken, and controller bottlenecking is an issue as a Datrium slide shows. If you have direct host server access to the array's drives across NVMeF then the array is effectively controller-less, and just a bunch of flash drives (JBOF), again as a Datrium slide shows: Datrium supports NVMe drives but does not have an NVMeF array in its product line. It's thinking about it. The company says that NVMeF inside an array doesn't solve the host-array network latency problem. E8 point of view Datrium doesn't have an NVMeF array. Startup E8 does, a dual-port NVMeF JBOD – 24 x 6.4TB SSDs. What does it think about an NVMeF array or JBOF being or not being a SAN? Founder and CEO Zivan Ori said: "A SAN? That's associated with Fibre Channel and SCSI. I would call it NVMeF. This is a SAN replacement or next-generation of SAN. It may be a bit confusing to call it a SAN." He thinks dual-controller arrays won't get the benefit of NVMeF unless they have direct server to drive RDMA links. If they don't, they have to go out of the RDMA path and start using the array controller stack, receiving added latency for their pains. Ori thinks it's an issue that Pure is going to have to confront. What happens if E8 customers do want to share data in the E8 JBOFs? A clustered file system is one answer and he talked about a data warehouse customer running a SAS statistical analysis application. Before E8's system was installed the SAS application ran in servers with local NVMe SSDs: Afterwards, GPFS – IBM's Spectrum Scale parallel file system software – was used instead of XFS and the SAS nodes parallelised IO access to the E8 shared NVMe storage. Distributing controller-level intelligence E8's system has an agent in each accessing server, as the diagram in the lower left of the slide below illustrates: Interestingly Datrium has a similar concept – it has the controller logic in its array distributed upstream to its accessing servers. It believes accessing server logic is required to provide storage array controller-type functionality in an NVMe JBOF environment: The final point in the Datrium slide above is: "Server-powered data management required to do more." In other words, we think, the volume management-type functions, previously done by an array controller, have to be carried out in some way in the accessing servers before the NVMeF IO request is initiated by the server. Further, when there are multiple servers accessing the NVMeF JBOF then this volume management function would seem to need being distributed across the accessing servers so that data accesses can be coordinated. We suspect Datrium, which provided the press tour with a seven-slide sequence explaining why an NVMeF JBOF was not a data-sharing SAN, probably has technology under development to fix this problem. Why else take seven slides to lengthily explain why it isn't being done at the moment? ® |
Does law enforcement’s quest for safety infringe on people’s civil liberties? That’s the question privacy advocates are asking as technology continues to make it easier for police agencies to monitor citizens. From radar devices that can see through walls to a network of microphones that reports shootings to officers, here are eight ways the police can keep an eye on you, and why some groups find them alarming. / Courtesy CyTerra Range-R handheld radar system. (Courtesy CyTerra) Range-R handheld radar system. (Courtesy CyTerra) (/ Courtesy CyTerra) 1. Range-R What it is: The Range-R looks like a high-tech stud-finder, but it pinpoints people. The radar device uses radio waves to “see” through walls to locate people inside a structure. It can pick up on movements as slight as human breathing to detect the location of a person up to 50 feet away, but it doesn’t provide an image of what’s inside. The device was devised for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it’s been used by U.S. law enforcement agencies since at least 2012. A unit costs about $6,000. Why you’ll care: Privacy advocates have concerns about use of the device without a search warrant. A Kansas federal appeals court brought the issue to light in December. A deputy U.S. Marshal – who had a warrant for a parolee’s arrest but no search warrant – used the Range-R to determine if anyone was inside a Wichita home where authorities suspected the felon lived. The parolee’s defense attorney tried to get a charge thrown out because of the radar’s use. While the charges were upheld, the court’s ruling said the “government’s warrantless use of such a powerful tool to search inside homes poses grave Fourth Amendment questions.” (AP Photo/U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) (AP Photo/U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) 2. Stingray What it is: The Stingray masquerades as a cellphone tower, forcing all nearby cellphones to connect to it. It’s usually mounted in a law enforcement vehicle. Coupled with an antenna, police can use the Stingray to determine where a mobile phone is in real time. Phones also stream data to the device, including the phone and identification numbers, which can be used to get past call and text data and any dialed numbers. The technology was initially developed for military and spy agencies and can cost as much as $400,000. Why you’ll care: Law enforcement agencies, including local ones, have been extremely secretive about whether and how they use Stingray technology. A civil-rights group is suing the San Diego Police Department for its refusal to turn over information about the device. Police in other parts of the country have admitted using the technology without a warrant, which advocacy organizations argue is a violation of the Fourth Amendment. Civil groups are also concerned that many cellphones, not just the cellphone being targeted, connect to the device, and want to know what safeguards are in place to protect information gathered from innocent citizens. The Associated Press FILE - In this Nov. 5, 2014 file photo, Sgt. Chris Wicklund of the Burnsville, Minn., Police Department wears a body camera beneath his microphone. Cleveland's move to buy 1,500 police body cameras and data storage could cost up to $3.3 million over five years, a higher price tag than previously known and an illustration of the long-term costs of such programs with Taser International. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File) FILE - In this Nov. 5, 2014 file photo, Sgt. Chris Wicklund of the Burnsville, Minn., Police Department wears a body camera beneath his microphone. Cleveland's move to buy 1,500 police body cameras and data storage could cost up to $3.3 million over five years, a higher price tag than previously known and an illustration of the long-term costs of such programs with Taser International. (AP Photo/Jim Mone, File) (The Associated Press) 3. Body Cameras What it is: Police departments have rolled out a variety of body cameras that attach to an officers chest, shoulder or sunglasses. Police officers are responsible for turning the cameras on during interactions with the public. Many believe they de-escalate conflict between police and the public, and increase law enforcement transparency. A study done several months ago by the San Diego Police Department showed officers have used less force and members of the public have complained about officers less since the department rolled out the cameras. Why you’ll care: Lawmakers, police departments and civil advocacy organizations generally agree body cameras are a useful tool, but there is much debate on the policies that govern how they’re used. Where will body camera videos be stored and for how long? Who has the ability to view footage? Should officers record all encounters? Recently, controversy erupted when a San Diego officer didn’t turn on his camera before fatally shooting a man in the Midway District. The department revised its body camera policy following the shooting, but it sparked renewed debate about the effectiveness of the devices. Related: Shooting raises cop camera questions Howard Lipin Chula Vista police Officer Roman Granados uses a computer tablet equipped with facial recognition software to photograph a person while on patrol. The photo is uploaded to a database which searches for possible matches. Once possible matches are found, Granados compares the photos to make the final determination on a match, and to learn or confirm that person's identity. Chula Vista police Officer Roman Granados uses a computer tablet equipped with facial recognition software to photograph a person while on patrol. The photo is uploaded to a database which searches for possible matches. Once possible matches are found, Granados compares the photos to make the final determination on a match, and to learn or confirm that person's identity. (Howard Lipin) 4. Facial Recognition Software What it is: Facial recognition software analyzes aspects of a person’s face – the space between someone’s eyes or how long a person’s nose is – and creates a template. That template is then compared to a database of photographs, which could include images from surveillance video or mug shots, to identify a person. Recently, the FBI launched the Next Generation Identification system, which will house more than 50 million photographs that law enforcement can access to verify someone’s identity. Why you’ll care: Several organizations argue facial recognition software simply doesn’t work. The system can be fooled by facial hair, weight loss, aging – even a big smile. But there are privacy concerns as well. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has sued the government for more information about the FBI’s system and argued the software “is among the most alarming new developments, because Americans cannot easily take precautions against the covert, remote, and mass capture of their images.” License plate reader device. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston) License plate reader device. (AP Photo/Danny Johnston) 5. License plate readers What it is: A license plate reader scans a vehicle’s license plate and stores the plate number and the time, date and GPS location from when it was photographed. Data may be stored for days, months or years depending on the jurisdiction. Scanned license plate numbers can be checked against a list of vehicles that are stolen or wanted. The technology wasn’t widely used until the 90s, when software became more affordable and more capable. License plate readers are used to enforce road rules and can be found on roadways, atop streetlights and attached to law enforcement vehicles. Why you’ll care: While license plate information can help criminal investigations, civil liberties groups argue those instances account for a very small portion of the plates that are cataloged. Most often, license plate information belongs to innocent people, and privacy advocates argue storing such information is very invasive. Several organizations that have requested information associated with license plate scans were able to ascertain where members of the public spent much of their time, including their homes and workplaces. There are also concerns that private companies use license plate readers with little to no oversight. |
Things to do if you want to practice essay writing Before getting to write essays, you need to familiarize yourself with how good papers look like by asking the assignment assistance or just to hire someone to write an essay for you. Good examples can be found in libraries or reputable online sources with analytical materials. Therefore, before starting to write something it is recommended to read as many papers as possible to understand the format, structure, language style and many other parts of which a paper consists of. However, many students pay too much time to this stage without getting to actually write something. So, make sure you read a couple of articles and books related to the sphere of your interest and start writing your own piece or look for 'write my essay for me' options provided by custom writing services. |
Please enable Javascript to watch this video MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- A business trip for most of us means turning in receipts to show the company how we're spending its money, but that's not how it's done when Tennessee legislators head to Nashville each year. WREG found out they're given a set amount of money and paid the same whether they work one hour or eight hours. The business of making laws is a part-time job for Tennessee lawmakers, but some of them bring home more money in a few months than most of you make all year. Justin Owen is one of the watchdogs watching government spending. "I don't think it's abused in any massive sense right now but there is obviously the opportunity there," Owen, who's with Beacon Center of Tennessee, said. WREG did the math and found most lawmakers are paid around $45,000 for about four months of continuous work. There are no receipts to turn in and the payday comes just for showing up. Legislative staff say keeping up on receipts might be too time consuming and end up costing more, but here's where the opportunity for abuse comes in: lawmakers are paid the same if they work for one hour or a whole day. "I think more reforms like giving legislators hourly per diem or half day per diem when they don't actually work a full day will be fair," Owen said. Lawmakers are paid a salary of $20,000. They get a home allowance of $1,000 a month. Food and lodging averages $750 a week. Most Memphis-area legislators receive about $200 a week for mileage reimbursement. "I think the policy they have right now is reasonable but is there some room to be a little bit more frugal and a little bit more careful with taxpayer money, sure there is," Memphis' newest state senator Lee Harris said. Harris represents District 29 and plans to drive his 10-year-old Toyota sometimes, but says he's looking for ways to save taxpayers money. Harris said, "I'm going to try to take the Megabus at least from time to time. The Megabus stops downtown. I live downtown. The Megabus stops downtown. My understanding if you book it early enough, you can get a Megabus fair to Nashville for a dollar. " Harris says riding the bus will allow him to read through bills and other material, but we questioned him if it will it really make a difference in savings to taxpayers. Harris says in the scheme of things maybe, maybe not. "It is symbolically very meaningful. People want to see legislators who are going to put their best foot forward and not live this life of extravagance," Harris said. Lawmakers are paid at the same travel and per diem rates for any extra trips to the hill when they're not in session. Again, whether they're just dropping off paperwork or staying for a three-hour committee meeting, they're eligible for a full day's pay. "There's always room for abuse when you're talking about taxpayer's money. That's why it's important not to just rely on politicians to abide by the laws or work within those constraints but to put systems in place that make it difficult for that abuse," Owen said. Lawmakers head back to Nashville in January for their next regular session. WREG will be watching how they spend your money and if anyone else joins Harris on the Megabus ride to Nashville. Lawmakers have policed themselves when it comes to out of state travel. Those serving in the Tennessee House of Representatives can attend one all-expense-paid conference a year. State senators can make more than that, but they must be approved first. |
Tweet Envoyer Imprimer Partager | La présidente du CCMM-CSN, Dominique Daigneault, souhaite que plusieurs candidats de Québec solidaire soient élus le 7 avril prochain. photo Annabelle Caillou / 24h Le Conseil central du Montréal métropolitain (CCMM-CSN) appuiera pour la première fois de son histoire Québec solidaire (QS) lors des élections générales du 7 avril prochain, délaissant ainsi le Parti Québecois (PQ). Aux yeux des représentants syndicaux du CCMM-CSN, le programme de QS rejoint dorénavant le plus les aspirations des travailleurs. «Ce parti a à cur la défense des services publics et s'est engagé clairement pour l'amélioration du droit à la syndicalisation», souligne la présidente du CCMM-CSN, Dominique Daigneault, dans un communiqué. Le conseil se réjouit notamment de la volonté du parti de moderniser les dispositions anti-briseurs de grève du Code du travail, en adoptant des mesures qui offrent un meilleur rapport de force aux syndicats. «Sans la présence d'une Françoise David ou d'un Amir Khadir à Québec, bon nombre de préoccupations passeraient tout simplement inaperçues», croit Mme Daigneault. D'après les représentants syndicaux, le bilan des 18 mois de gouvernance du PQ et la candidature de Pierre Karl Péladeau dans ses rangs expliquent largement ce changement de position. «On a assisté à plusieurs reculs et décisions répondant davantage aux exigences des marchés financiers et des chambres de commerce qu'aux besoins de la population en général et ce, malgré les engagements pris lors de la campagne électorale de 2012», précise Mme Daigneault. |
Researchers have discovered a fish venom that contains opioid properties, which could help in the development of new pain-killing drugs. The fierce-looking fang blenny, also known as the poison-fang blenny or the sabre-tooth blenny, fends off predators and competitors by injecting them with a heroin-like substance that impairs them rather than kills them. "The venom causes the bitten fish to become slower in movement and dizzy by acting on their opioid receptors," said Bryan Fry, who led the study published Tuesday in the science journal Current Biology. Although used for defence, the venom "inhibits pain rather than causing it." It is impossible to predict where the next wonder drug will come from. - Bryan Fry, associate professor, University of Queensland It's not the first time animal poison has been found to have analgesic properties: Ziconotide which was derived from cone snails, is used to treat chronic pain. But it's the first time scientists have identified opioid peptides in fish venom, Fry said. The venom is "chemically unique," which drives home the importance of biodiversity, said Fry of the University of Queensland. "This discovery is an excellent example as to why we must urgently protect all of nature," Fry told CBC News. "It is impossible to predict where the next wonder drug will come from." Existence 'threatened' But there's no wonder drug just yet. Scientists still have to figure out how to synthesize and use the pain-killing peptides. "The next step is now to study these peptides further and continue sequencing them," Fry said. "This may reveal versions that are longer lasting, more potent or with less side effects." But the discovery offers hope for the development of a next-generation painkiller at a time when opioid addiction has become a pressing public health issue. Fang blennies are a popular aquarium fish, usually bottom-feeders that are found in reefs like Australia's Great Barrier Reef. As those formations degrade due to climate change and other factors, the world risks losing an important potential trove of discovery. "These fish are found on the Great Barrier Reef, so their existence is as threatened as that of the reef itself," Fry said. "Destroying the reef is no different than popping a nuclear bomb on top of an oil field. It is the wilful destruction of a vast economic resource." |
This story has been updated. Government travel per diem rates will increase in fiscal 2016, according to the General Services Administration. The standard lodging per diem rate for fiscal 2016 will rise $6 from $83 to $89, starting on Oct. 1, 2015. The meals and incidental expense ranges also are increasing from $46-$71 to $54-$74 per day. This is the first increase in the standard lodging per diem rate since fiscal 2014. While the standard rates apply to about 2,600 counties in the continental United States, 400 additional “non-standard areas” -- or NSAs -- receive individual calculations. Feds traveling in more expensive cities receive higher rates of reimbursements. For example, feds heading to Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area in fiscal 2016 will receive a lodging per diem of between $174 and $226, depending on the time of year, and a $69 per diem for meals and incidental expenses. San Francisco’s per diem rates are $250 for lodging in fiscal 2016 and $74 for meals and incidentals, while lodging rates for New York City and its boroughs will fluctuate between $181 and $306 per day. Government travelers to that area will have an M&IE per diem of $74. Click here to see current and fiscal 2016 lodging rates for all localities. Click this notice to see the fiscal 2016 breakdown between M&IE expenses. Beginning in fiscal 2016, two more locations will move into the NSA category: Grand Lake, Colo. (Grand County), and Pecos, Texas (Reeves County). GSA also renamed the Belle Mead, N.J., area Somerset, “which more accurately recognizes the major city in the county,” the notice said. GSA is shifting 15 locations that were NSA in fiscal 2015 to the standard or CONUS (Continental United States) category for fiscal 2016. They are: Huntsville, Ala.; Modesto, Calif.; Driggs/Idaho Falls, Idaho; Springfield, Ill.; Covington/Slidell, La.; Hattiesburg, Miss.; Los Alamos, N.M.; Stateline/Carson City, Nev.; Oak Ridge, Tenn.; Greenville, Texas; Fredericksburg, Va.; Norfolk/Portsmouth, Va.; Prince William/Manassas, Va.; Anacortes/Coupeville, Wash.; and Shepherdstown, W. Va. Based on recommendations from the Governmentwide Travel Advisory Committee, GSA now will review the standard CONUS travel per diem rate annually rather than every three years. The agency also reviewed the meals and incidental expense methodology, the first in-depth review since the 1980s. “GSA developed a new methodology and conducted a pilot, and determined that a change would continue to provide a fair reimbursement to employees as well as save future taxpayer dollars as compared to using the previous methodology,” said Christine Harada, GSA associate administrator of governmentwide policy, in an Aug. 14 blog post on the changes. GSA establishes per diem rates for lodging, meals and incidental expenses in the continental United States. A standard per diem is applied in locations less commonly traveled by federal workers, while nonstandard areas frequently visited are granted individual rates based on the average daily industry rate. (Image via View Apart / Shutterstock.com) |
In Native American culture, a medicine man is revered as both a spiritual and physical healer. So when Karl Gillson, the District Attorney in New Mexico’s McKinley County, found himself prosecuting a Navajo healer for sexual abuse he recognized how much was at stake. “(In our culture), the medicine man is at the top of the social hierarchy,” says Gillson, who is of Navajo descent. Advertisement: “When healers breech the trust placed in them (and) prey on others wearing the cloak of health and harmony, it increases my passion to personally prosecute the case.” Last month, Francis Nez, a 62-year-old medicine man from Gallup NM, was charged with two counts of sexually assaulting two girls in his family. What troubled Gillson was that Nez hadn’t been the first. At least two similar cases have occurred in the vast Navajo reservation spanning four states in the U.S. Southwest—the country’s largest autonomous reservation—over the past decade. Herbert Yazzie was convicted in 2007 of raping his pregnant daughter-in-law during a ceremony she requested in 2000. Five years earlier, in 2002, 68 year-old David Filfred was convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl, who became pregnant. According to Gillson, the fact that some of the most revered people in the enigmatic Navajo culture have been accused of rape exacerbates the lawlessness—including disrespect for women—that pervades many Indian reservations across the country. Endemic Abuse Advertisement: Sexual abuse is already endemic in what Native Americans refer to as “Indian Country.” In 2010, the Navajo Nation reported 336 rapes, according to the FBI Uniform Crime Report. Although this was a slight decrease from the 374 reported in 2009, the Navajo Nation—with a population of about 174,000—continues to experience one of the highest numbers of reported rapes in the country per capita. And even that may not reflect the real extent of the problem. Mike Harrigan, supervisory resident agent for the FBI in Gallup and Farmington, NM, which border the Navajo Nation, acknowledged in an interview with The Crime Report that accurate figures are hard to obtain because many tribal authorities, who have primary jurisdiction over criminal justice on the reservation don’t have adequate record-keeping facilities—and don’t always report all crimes to federal authorities. Advertisement: While there is little doubt that sex crimes on reservations are pervasive, he says, “the data purity is not there.” According to the Department of Justice, Native American women are more than two times as likely to be raped or be victims of attempted rape as non-Native American women. Adding to the complexity, crime in Indian lands is affected by complex jurisdictional issues. Tribes operate their own courts and law enforcement, but the federal government is empowered to investigate and prosecute serious crimes such as rape and murder—but only if they are called in by tribal authorities. Misdemeanors, including domestic violence, fall under tribal jurisdiction unless a non-Indian is involved. Advertisement: Alcohol and drug abuse are often blamed for the high crime rates on reservations, but tribal authorities are also frustrated by the lack of effective law enforcement. After a rash of sex crimes against children on the Spirit Lake Sioux Reservation in North Dakota, the federal government reportedly moved to take over the tribe’s social services programs. Spirit Lake, has the highest proportion of sex offenders in the country, prompting Molly McDonald, a former tribal judge, to complain in an interview with The New York Times that the lawlessness “is considered so normal.” A Threat to Faith Advertisement: The cases against native healers present a special problem, because of the unique power and authority they hold in native communities. Anthony Lee Sr., president of the Hataalii Association, compares the situation to the revelations of sexual abuse by Catholic priests. “Even though only a handful (of medicine men) don’t adhere to the fundamental laws established by the Holy People, these abuse cases have a negative reflection on all healers,” he says. In a culture comprising poor and isolated native communities, medicine men are uniquely in a position where they can abuse their authority without fear of reprisals. Many Navajo traditional believers are loathe to report abuse because of family and community pressures—or even the threat and fear of witchcraft. Advertisement: The young girl who was victimized by David Filfred in 2002 was reported to have told authorities that she feared the medicine man would put a spell on her if she revealed what had happened. Just as disturbingly, some cases of abuse derive from long-standing practices that have been grudgingly tolerated for years. Several families have claimed privately that healers have demanded payment for their services not just with rugs, jewelry or livestock but with a daughter—sometimes as young as 12. One traditional Navajo woman, who declined to be identified, said such abuses were part of a pattern of disturbing behavior for years among men in tribal communities, where multiple sex partners were common, and “if a man wanted a woman, he would just take her.” Historic Discrimination Advertisement: Some observers, including Native Americans themselves, wonder whether the historic discrimination against Native peoples has perversely spawned a culture that rejects modern values such as respect for women. Gillson, for instance, speculates that some of the criminal sexual behavior on the Navajo reservation stems from “boarding school” culture—when young people were forced to reject their traditions and adopt to white ways. Sexual abuse of Native students was rampant, creating a multi-generational cycle of deviant sexual behavior. Gillson says the only way to counter such deep-seated traditional fears and bring abusers to court is by employing Navajo traditions against them He performs a ceremony called the Enemy Way to help persuade victims to agree to prosecute abusers. Advertisement: Aimed at preparing warriors for battle, the ceremony has been used by Navajo soldiers before being deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. "I won't tell you what I do but I do prepare traditionally before some trials," he said. He also advocates spiritual guidance to victims and their families if he sees they are in need. "When I have a serious crime, I become very close to my victim as a district attorney and a human being," he said. "I realize their spiritual foundation and do encourage prayer." Advertisement: Adding to the importance of prosecuting such cases, medicine men are now recognized officially as healers in the larger society. Healing ceremonies, some of which can run into thousands of dollars, are covered by some insurance carriers in the Southwest and are subsidized by the federally funded Indian Health Service Hospital in Gallup. Lee of the Hataalii Association worries that unless abuse cases are prosecuted swiftly, more young people will reject the tradition—further deepening the alienation which he feels has contributed to so many of the problems on the reservation. “We are in the business of healing, not abusing,” Lee said. |
The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Home Lottery has pulled its “Grand Prize Showhome” in Markham, Ont. after a Global News investigation revealed a legal medical marijuana grow house was located close by that parents say had also caused children at an elementary school across the street to come home smelling like pot. The $1.285 million fully furnished custom built dream home, which also includes $25,000 in cash for the winner, comes with an unexpected view. Security cameras and extra ventilation for the grow house can be seen from virtually every window of the prize home and the smell of marijuana permeates the entire neighbourhood. READ MORE: Grow house near Markham, Ont. school leaves kids reeking of pot The cancer foundation told Global News it had made the decision to “replace” the house, one of seven properties offered through the lottery, with a cash prize of $1.3 million. “It will never open. It is closed to the public. It is not longer a prize in the Princess Margaret Home Lottery,” said Christine Lasky, vice president of the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation. “All I can say is that I’m so grateful for Global having brought this to our attention. We acted as quickly as we could.” The organization said in a statement that the homeowner of an adjacent house had a licence issued by Health Canada to legally grow marijuana for personal consumption, adding that the growing of a large number of plants in the house has resulted in an “intrusive odour in the neighbourhood.” WATCH: Global News has discovered the grand prize home in one hospital home lottery is located next to a smelly neighbour. Jennifer Tryon has a Global News exclusive. Lasky also said that “nobody inside the building organization was aware of this situation” before the decision to pull the home from the lottery, calling it “very unusual.” “I think it’s the right thing to do. They’ll get the full value of the prize. … We have many other properties that are available in this lottery program. Some people prefer the cash so this could be a very viable option as well,” she said. “Obviously we need to inform people that have purchased the tickets already. We need to change our website and communication.” Lasky said the organization did not feel misled by the builder, Treasure Hill Homes, which told Global News it was the last lot they had available to sell in the neighbourhood. She also said that was “not accurate” and that the charity had put a hold on the lots when they opened to the public. WATCH: Medical marijuana operation causing a stink in Markham neighbourhood The neighbourhood was previously the subject of a Global News story, after parents said children who attended a elementary school in the neighbourhood came home reeking of marijuana. The homeowner, Wei Gao, previously told Global News he didn’t live in the residence but has been growing marijuana there for two years. He admitted to having 146 plants for personal medicinal use. His licence was granted by Health Canada after he broke his leg. READ MORE: Feds say kids shouldn’t have to smell of pot because of grow house In 2014, the federal agency changed the Marihuana for Medical Purposes Regulations, making home grows illegal. Current regulations, however, allow for grow-ops only in industrial areas but Gao’s grow house has been grandfathered in under previous rules and therefore is allowed in a residential neighbourhood. Former Conservative Member of Parliament for Oak Ridges—Markham Paul Calandra said the grow house was “completely unacceptable” last year. “We have moved very quickly to try and end these grow ops in our community,” he said in the House of Commons. “But the courts are fighting us every step of the way.” WATCH: Markham marijuana grow house concerns addressed in Parliament The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre said the decision to pull the home from its lottery was made with the full support of Treasure Hill Homes and the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario. The company also told Global News it previously did not know about the grow house before the house was built. The AGCO said in an email to Global News it had been in contact with the Princess Margaret Foundation regarding the house, adding it had “no regulatory compliance concerns” with the way it replaced the home with a cash prize. The showhome is described on the organization’s website as “the home you’ve always wanted” with “timeless architectural appeal on the outside and spectacular design on the inside,” in addition to being “beautifully finished to every last detail.” The charity said a similar $3.7 million Kleinburg showhome listed as their “biggest grand prize ever” is still open for public viewing. With files from Jennifer Tryon |
Image copyright Thinkstock Image caption The Crofting Commission had to apologise following a row over the running of land shared by crofters to raise livestock Scottish ministers have demanded "urgent action" after a report highlighted "worrying failures" at the Crofting Commission. A review ordered by the government found "personality clashes" amid issues with management at the group. There has been a long-running row at the commission over its leadership and the management of common grazing land. Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing said it was "essential" that governance was improved "immediately". Bill Barron, the new chief executive of the commission, said the review had raised "important points" which he was "committed" to addressing. The review follows a protracted internal dispute in the commission, which grew from a row over the running of land shared by crofters to raise livestock. Some members demanded the resignation of convener Colin Kennedy, who recently insisted he would stand for a fresh term in the role. Mr Kennedy has also complained about Mr Ewing's handling of the matter, and has threatened to take legal action against the group. A separate government review concluded that Mr Ewing had behaved "appropriately". Image copyright Crofting Commission The latest report highlighted a range of areas requiring action, including governance standards, procedures and other arrangements at both executive and non-executive levels and arrangements for handling conflicts of interest. It said there had been "notable failures in governance within the Crofting Commission", which "has not been working as a fully effective, coordinated entity". The authors noted that "considerable time" had been spent on "discussing internal problems and reacting to crises and conflicts", which had "particularly impaired" its work. They added: "Strong personalities, differences of opinion and apparent incongruent individual objectives and priorities have impaired effective and efficient governance. "There is a strong case for the commission seeking professional support from an independent expert to work through the interpersonal issues which are impacting the workings of the organisation." 'Worrying failures' A full action plan to deliver "necessary improvements" is to be drawn up in response to the report. Mr Ewing said: "This review highlights notable and worrying failures in the governance of the Crofting Commission which must be improved immediately. That is why I have asked the new chief executive to urgently prepare an action plan to take this forward. "Crofting is an integral part of Scottish rural life and it is essential that it has an effective regulator. This review, and the action plan which will follow, must help to deliver the necessary changes and ensure the commission is able to lead the crofting industry forward." Mr Barron said: "A number of important points have been made in the governance review and we are committed to ensuring robust processes are in place to achieve a high standard of governance within the organisation. "We have already made some of the improvements recommended in the review and building on this, along with continuous improvement, will help us to create a focussed and effective commission." |
Marotta: 'Dybala-Juve for life' By Football Italia staff Juventus are prepared to “make a big financial sacrifice” to keep Paulo Dybala for life, confirmed Beppe Marotta. “He asked to stay here.” La Joya has been sensational so far this season, scoring 12 goals in 10 competitive games for Juve. “The lad is priceless, because we are not a selling club,” director general Marotta told La Stampa newspaper. “I always repeat that a player has his future in his hands and Paulo just said he wants to tie himself to our club for life. “Translated, that means we will make another big financial sacrifice to keep him. We will soon lock him down to a new contract – it’s what he asked us for.” The 23-year-old Argentina international has been linked with the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea. His current contract runs to June 2022 and was only signed in April 2017. |
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - There’s no reward for a job poorly done, California lawmakers were told on Tuesday as their wages and expense pay were suspended after passing a budget that did not “add up.” Controller John Chiang on Tuesday said he was acting under terms of a law approved by voters last year, the “On-Time Budget Act of 2010,” to withhold lawmakers’ pay if they miss a mid-June deadline for balancing the state’s books. Democrats pushed a budget through the legislature last week, but Governor Jerry Brown, a fellow Democrat, vetoed the budget a day later, saying it was filled with “legally questionable maneuvers, costly borrowing and unrealistic savings” and didn’t close a $10 billion gap. Chiang on Tuesday vowed to withhold paychecks until lawmakers submit a balanced spending plan for the fiscal year that starts on July 1. Last Wednesday was the deadline for lawmakers to submit a budget to Brown. “My office’s careful review of the recently passed budget found components that were miscalculated, miscounted or unfinished,” Chiang, also a Democrat, said in a statement. “The numbers simply did not add up, and the legislature will forfeit their pay until a balanced budget is sent to the governor,” he said. Assembly Speaker John Perez said Chiang’s decision gives the legislature’s Republican minority control of the budget process, since they have refused to vote for Brown’s plans to put a temporary tax extension up to a popular vote. Without any Republicans lending support for that, Democratic leaders said they opted to drop Brown’s plan to try to push through their own budget last week. California is notorious for late budgets. Former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed the state’s current budget last October, 100 days after it should have been in place. Jack Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College, said the loss of pay could act as a catalyst. “Withholding paychecks might lubricate discussions,” he said. A report released by Standard & Poor’s Ratings Services on the heels of Chiang’s statement may also encourage California’s leaders to bear down on the budget. California’s already low credit rating is at a “crossroad,” S&P said. A lengthy budget impasse extending into the new year could result in a “patchwork” budget similar to one Brown vetoed, S&P said, which “may lead us to lower the state’s long-term rating depending upon the severity and duration of the cash crisis that we believe could precede it.” Legislators were quick to voice their discontent. “Our state government right now reminds me of a troop of boys lost in the wilderness,” Democrat Mike Gatto said in a statement. |
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