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0 SHARES Facebook Twitter Google Whatsapp Pinterest Print Mail Flipboard Proving Republicans right once again that the U.S. doesn’t need any gun laws or to bother trying to enforce any sort of responsible gun ownership, a loaded gun was found in a kindergartner’s backpack at a Pittsburgh elementary School Monday morning. It was the 3rd day of the school year. Bob Allen from Pittsburgh’s local CBS channel KDKA reported that the boy brought the loaded .22 to Aliquippa Elementary School because he didn’t want anyone at his home to get hurt. “Sources tell KDKA’s Bob Allen that the boy said he brought the gun to school to get it out of his home, reportedly because he didn’t want anyone in his house to get hurt.” KDKA reported that student notified a teacher, who then secured the gun and contacted the principal and then the local police were called to the scene. A note was sent home to parents. The impact of the unregulated, wild-West gun culture upon our children has yet to be fully explored, but this is not a sign that it’s working. Why was this kindergartner able to gain access to a loaded weapon? Is this really acceptable parenting? Luckily in this instance, no one was physically harmed, but a responsible adult needs to reach out to this terrorized young boy and address his fears over having a loaded weapon in his home. A young boy took a loaded gun to school in order to protect his family. This is what we have come to. If you’re ready to read more from the unbossed and unbought Politicus team, sign up for our newsletter here! Email address: Leave this field empty if you're human: |
LONDON — A license to steal? Nine cars, customized for the new James Bond movie, “Spectre,” have been stolen from a garage in Neuss, near Düsseldorf, Germany. The cars, which included five Range Rover Sport models, were awaiting shipment to the Alps, where filming is scheduled to begin next week. As befits a Bond-like heist, the police reportedly have no leads. “We are aware of the theft of a number of Range Rovers in Düsseldorf, Germany,” Land Rover UK said in a statement to The Daily Express, a British newspaper. “This is a criminal act, and the police are carrying out a full investigation.” The cars were reportedly custom-built for “Spectre.” The film was given a big media splash last week when its cast was announced by its director, Sam Mendes. Mr. Mendes also directed the 2012 film “Skyfall,” which took in over $1.1 billion worldwide. In “Spectre,” Daniel Craig takes his fourth tour of duty as 007. The film’s returning cast members — Naomie Harris as Miss Moneypenny, Ralph Fiennes as M and Ben Whishaw as Q — will be joined by Andrew Scott playing a new MI5 employee and Christoph Waltz playing a baddie called Oberhauser. Though there has been speculation that the car theft might cause a delay in filming, producers have not announced any postponements. Q, no doubt, has a solution. |
Tina Charles talks about the Fever, Liberty and Mercury being fined for wearing black warm-up shirts in the wake of recent shootings by and against police officers. (2:03) NEW YORK -- WNBA President Lisa Borders applauds the league's players for taking a stance on social issues. She just wishes the activism was kept off the court. The New York, Phoenix and Indiana teams and players were fined this week for wearing black warmup shirts that addressed the recent shooting by and against police. WNBA rules state that uniforms may not be altered in any way. Borders spent the past two weeks talking with the union and its executive council, trying to come up with ways that both the league and its players could constructively address the Black Lives Matters movement. Nothing concrete was decided. "We were making every effort to engage our players," she told The Associated Press by phone Friday night. "We made an effort to support them and we were trying to get them to come to the table to have a conversation. The players have an open invitation with the league. Editor's Picks Can WNBA players really count on the league's support? The WNBA usually takes pride in promoting its players' activism. But how players can support the conflict between police and black communities is causing internal conflict in the league itself. WNBA players, Melo upset over league's fines The WNBA has fined the Fever, Liberty and Mercury and their players for wearing black warm-up shirts in the wake of recent shootings by and against police officers -- a move that irked players. 1 Related "Our players are important to us. We believe in them. We want them to be the people they are and we're proud of them. We want to make sure they play well on the court and they are happy off the court." Right now, the players aren't happy. On social media and in postgame interviews, players are showing their solidarity after the league fined the Liberty, Mercury and Fever players $500 each this week for wearing plain black warmup shirts that violated the league's uniform policy. The normal fine for a uniform violation is $200. Each team also was fined $5,000. The Rev. Al Sharpton said Saturday his organization, the National Action Network, will pay the $500 fines. He called the penalty "unacceptable." Washington Mystics players had shirts saying "Black Lives Matters" in the locker room after their game Friday night. Seattle Storm and Minnesota Lynx players tweeted out pictures of their teams wearing black shirts featuring a Martin Luther King Jr. quote before their game. They didn't wear those shirts on the court to avoid getting fined. "We're sick and tired of waking up every morning and seeing something like this (shootings) happen," Mystics player Ivory Latta said after her team played its final game before the Olympic break. "We need change and we have a platform to speak. Don't tell us we have a platform and then you penalize us for our platform for speaking and showing our actions. That's not right." Borders, on the job for four months, disagreed with the notion that the league was suppressing its players' voices. "We want the players to know that we have supported them in the past, support them today and will continue to support them in the future," she said. "We're not trying to stop them from expressing themselves." The league just doesn't want them to do it on the court if it violates the WNBA uniform rules. The shirts that the players were fined for wearing were the Adidas brand -- the official outfitter of the league. "The Adidas black shirts are not regulation," Borders said. "They are sponsor appropriate, but the Adidas plain black shirt would not be a regulation-issued shirt." The union felt it was unnecessary for the league to issue a memo this week reminding the players of the uniform policy. Because of that memo, the players and union weren't surprised by the fine. They were just disappointed. "This isn't about a shirt, but that was the starting point," Terri Jackson, the new operations director of the WNBA Players Association, told the AP. "The players want to blog about (Black Lives Matter), tweet about it, do videos. They want to raise visibility and keep the conversation going. They don't want this to die out." Jackson said the union's legal team is looking into what it can do about the fines, which she called excessive. She said the union proposed letting the players have a limited time to express their opinions on the court. "We talked about doing it pregame at the 10-minute mark or the 15-minute mark and they'd go back and put on their regulation warmup. Wear the regulation warmups for the national anthem and life goes on. That was declined by the league." While the league begins its monthlong break Saturday, its top players will be playing in Rio at the Olympics. U.S. coach Geno Auriemma said he was proud of their social activism. "I respect Tina (Charles) and the players in the WNBA for their concern and their voices and the passion that they have and for their beliefs. I really do," he said, citing the former UConn player and Liberty star for wearing her warmup shirt inside-out before Thursday's game. "I'm really proud of some of my former players and the way they've stepped forward and spoken their conscience and express their feelings." The league was still undecided on whether Charles would be fined. Auriemma said if players take actions at the Olympics it would be a difficult balancing act. "As far as USA Basketball is concerned, you know, that's a very delicate subject," he said. "Obviously each player has an opportunity to be who they want and say what they feel, but at the same time, you are representing the United States of America, and you are part of the Olympic team. ... I'm sure it'll come up, and we'll have to deal with it." He said the matter would largely fall to U.S. Olympic and basketball authorities. Both the league and the union hope for constructive conversations during the break. Borders said she'll be in Rio for two weeks and will participate in the monthly conference call between the two groups on Aug. 1. She missed the call on July 11 when the shirts initially were discussed. "I love this league and its players. I'd never do anything to harm the league, franchises or players," Borders said. "I want them to understand we're here to support them. We've hit a bump in a road. This too shall pass." |
Marc Serota / Getty Florida governor Charlie Crist could be turning his constituents into sugar barons. And he's about to set the stage for the Everglades to come back from the dead. At a news conference Tuesday morning near the imperiled "River of Grass," Governor Crist announced a $1.75 billion deal to buy the U.S. Sugar Corp., including 187,000 acres (75,677 hectares) of farmland that once sat in the northern Everglades. If the deal goes through, it will extinguish a powerful 77-year-old company with 1,700 employees and deep roots in South Florida's coal-black organic soil. It will also resurrect and reconfigure a moribund eight-year-old Everglades replumbing effort that is supposed to be the most ambitious ecosystem restoration project in the history of the planet. "It's mind-blowing," said Kirk Fordham, executive director of the Everglades Foundation, before the announcement was made. "Who would have thought we'd see this in our lifetimes?" The purchase would give the state control of nearly half the 400,000 acres (161,876 hectares) of sugar fields in the Everglades Agricultural Area (EAA) below Lake Okeechobee, although sources said U.S. Sugar would lease back its land for six years. Environmentalists hope that eventually, the area will become storage reservoirs, treatment marshes and perhaps even a flow-way reconnecting the lake to the Glades. This could help re-create the original north-south movement of the River of Grass and eliminate damaging pulses of excess water into coastal estuaries. That would be good news for panthers and gators, dolphins and herons, ghost orchids and royal palms. Crist has been mentioned as a possible running mate for Senator John McCain, and they both took a lot of flak in Florida last week when they dropped their opposition to offshore drilling. But Crist has been true to his pledge to be "the Everglades governor," replacing many of Jeb Bush's industry-friendly aides with eco-friendly appointees, blocking the legislature's efforts to eliminate funding for restoration and stopping the sugar industry from pumping polluted runoff into the lake. In a recent interview with TIME, Crist hinted that he was planning some "breathtaking changes" for the Everglades. "Putting your heart and soul into it really makes a difference," he said. |
I still remember my first hiking experience to Trihund, among the Himalayan Ranges; the memory is as fresh as a daisy in my mind. The sudden plan with college friends, the Pack-up and then just left for the trek. “Trihund” a glacier in Himachal Pradesh is one of the most beautiful hiking mountains in India. Located at a height of 2,827 meters from the ground level, the mountain top is always covered with snow. The journey to the top is almost nine kilometers from the place mcleodganj where I started my trek. And I tell you the joyous feeling I experienced reaching the top of it were as exciting as the journey. The waterfall in between, the forest the fire camping, I believe this was one of the most amazing and thrilling experience of my life. Here are some of the most amazing hiking places around the world you must visit to experience the thrill, joy and an exciting trek: Blyde River Canyon: Also given a name as Motlatse river the Canyon is a beautiful natural reserve, and not just a hiking place. Situated in Mpumalanga the place has some of the most breathtaking views like The God’s window and is the best hiking place in South Africa. Besides, trek you can also enjoy swimming and wildlife exploration. The place is full of biodiversity and life-forms. Kalalau Trail: Situated in between Ke’e Beach and Kalalau Beach by the Na Pali coast on Island of Kauai, Hawaii the place has a trek of almost 18 kilometers. This is one of the most tuff trails of 22 miles complete round trip and definitely for an extremely tuff and strong hiker. The hiking can be marked from the North coast of the island, and I assure you, if you are looking for a lifetime trekking experience this is it. Alps: One of the biggest mountain peaks in the continent of Europe, the Alps is not just a single trekking mountain but has a number of ranges for experiencing the trek. The mountainous ranges of Alps stretch almost 1,200 kilometers covering 8-Alpine countries. Besides mountainous ranges the Alps have a great cultural diversity as well and while you move forward covering ranges to ranges you can enjoy the forests and different types of life-forms and cultures all around. Himalayas: Now, while we are talking about trekking and hiking, how can we forget The Great Himalayan trek. Himalaya has some of the highest peaks in the world and is one of the most famous and adventurous ranges for trekking. Holding the highest peaks among its ranges Himalaya is definitely the toughest trekking mountain range and has been in past. But while it is one of the most challenging treks for decades it also holds some of most heart throbbing sights which can never be seen elsewhere. Almost covered with snow through the year the place has an amazing scenic view and will definitely be a lifetime experience. Hua Shan: Among the Mount Hua ranges in China, the place is an excellent Hiking track taking you to scenery unforgettable while you complete the trek. Though many non-professional hikers also come here for trek the place is an amazing track yet quite dangerous as the trails are somewhat unreliable. But what would the hiking experience be without some adventure and risk? Hiking has always been one of the most exciting and amazing adventure sports which will give you a memory for lifetime. And I am sure every person definitely dreams of experiencing it once in lifetime. So while you look forward to fulfill your dream don’t forget to keep these places in mind, some of the best hiking ranges in the world. |
Like a modern-day James Hunt, Lewis Hamilton admitted that his Monaco car crash in the early hours of Tuesday was caused by fatigue after weeks of partying. Hamilton has spent the year travelling around the world, but after securing his third title last month, that lifestyle seems to have finally caught up with him. What condition he is in to race for a first victory in Brazil on Sunday remains to be seen. The 30-year-old was driving his 200mph Pagani Zonda supercar around the streets of Monte Carlo at 3.30 on Tuesday morning when he collided with three parked cars. He was found by police not to have been drinking and was unhurt. A spokesman for Monaco’s Palais de Justice said: “Mr Hamilton’s foot slipped on the brake and clutch pedals and his vehicle struck three parked cars. He was tested for alcohol but the result was negative.” Hamilton’s own explanation for the shunt, captured in photographs posted on social media, was more revealing. Mercedes’ press manager originally said Hamilton would not be discussing the accident but the driver himself soon laid bare on weeks of excess. “It was a result of heavy partying and not much rest for a week and a half,” Hamilton said. “I am a bit run down. I have been non-stop and trying to fit training in at the same time and not getting a lot of sleep.” Hamilton has adopted a self-described rock ’n’ roll lifestyle this year, and while he has been dominating his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, there was little reason for censure. He has spoken of how travelling the world in his red, Bombardier private jet helps him arrive at races relaxed and refreshed. Not so since taking the world title last month in Austin. In Mexico last time out he lacked the pace over Rosberg and here he has a major job to put the crash – and what Mercedes described as a fever – behind him, already arriving in Interlagos a day later than planned. However, he insisted: “I never considered not coming. I have never ever not considered coming to a race.” Since the Mexican Grand Prix on Nov 1, he said there had been several alcohol-filled parties, as well as an event he put on for his mother’s birthday. “The party was amazing, couldn’t have gone better,” Hamilton said. “I don’t feel as bad as I look. The last two days I have slept pretty much all day. I couldn’t believe how much I slept and I slept on the flight here. “I was nervous that I was not going to sleep. I slept all day yesterday. I usually sleep four or five hours but when you are training you need more than that. I am generally a really energetic person but that week after Mexico and the party we drank a lot and I was really feeling it.” He even suggested arriving at Madame Tussauds for a photoshoot a few hours after a night out still inebriated. Hamilton went on: “Then I had a photo shoot at Madame Tussauds the next day and I wondered why I booked it for the next day because I had to do pictures looking fresh. It was not enjoyable because it was only a few hours after the night out so I was still very much…” The triple world champion does not exactly fit Mercedes’s straight-laced, rather more serious image, but he is their – and Formula One’s – biggest star. As long as he is producing on track, you will not hear a word of complaint from Toto Wolff, the Mercedes boss. The big question now is how Hamilton regains a sense of balance. For much of this year, despite truly discovering the taste for alcohol for the first time, Hamilton has reigned supreme. Damon Hill, the 1996 world champion, criticised his lifestyle earlier in the year only for the 30-year-old to go on a phenomenal run. But evidently, and as he admits, Hamilton has pushed things too far. |
MAZDA has produced nearly a million MX-5s since the car arrived on the market in 1989, making it the most popular roadster of all time (the MG MGB is a distant second at 386,961, according to Hemmings). You don’t know what an MX-5 is? In the United States the car is known as the Miata, a name unique to our country and officially dropped by Mazda nearly 10 years ago. That is like trying to rename the Mustang. The Miata’s fans simply ignored the name change. Though the new fourth generation version wears only an MX-5 badge, Mazda often slips “Miata” into its American marketing. Full disclosure: I bought a new original year Miata back in the day and still own that 1990 model. Cars have changed a lot in 26 years, but the MX-5 remains remarkably true to its original mission of maximum fun with minimum bloat. The 2016 car is better in every way, though I would argue that the original has a cleaner and more elegant design. Modern Miatas — I mean, MX-5s — have four airbags, traction and stability control, anti-lock brakes and a stout structure, stuff that owners of the first-generation Miata could only dream about. Powerful headlights are LED. At 2,332 pounds, it is 150 pounds lighter than the departing model — important because the 2-liter, 4-cylinder engine makes only 155 horsepower and 148 pound-feet of torque. The automatic and terrific manual transmissions channel six forward speeds to the rear wheels. |
Iranian clerics' attempts to curb speculation in the Rial and stabilize the currency appear to have backfired as the un-official (real) Rial rate traded as low as 34,250 Rial to the USD this morning - a massive 20% plunge. Demand for gold is surging (as Tehran exchange volume is up almost 18% today) as the population appears to be readying itself for hyperinflationary death - as we wrote yesterday, it really is no fun in Iran. The following tables/links will allow the real-time monitoring of that market's collapse - since Bloomberg's official rates are entirely useless. Via Reuters: The rial's losses have accelerated in the past week after the government launched an "exchange centre" designed to supply dollars to importers of some basic goods at a special rate slightly cheaper than the market rate. Instead of allaying fears about the availability of dollars, the centre seems to have intensified the race for hard currency by linking the special rate to the market rate, meaning that even privileged importers will face sharply higher costs. "The government's initiative ... brought to the surface a tremendous lack of confidence in its ability to manage the currency," said Cliff Kupchan, a Middle East expert at the Eurasia Group, a political risk research firm. "The attempt to fix it triggered a worse crisis via market psychology." It appears that locals are extremely active in selling out of their Rials and moving it into Gold (implicitly via the USD we pre-suppose). The rates for Gold across markets and weights/scales in Iran can be found here - www.mesghal.com For more details: Open the following tables in a Chrome browser (and Translate)... Gold market and the un-official (real) FX Market... Via www.mazanex.com |
The European Parliament will hold a special debate on Independence referendum (Reuters) Protesters blocked roads, public transport slowed to a crawl and FC Barcelona refused to train on Tuesday as Catalonia observed a general strike over police violence at a banned weekend independence referendum.Schools and some businesses also shut in a dramatic protest bound to further ratchet up fever-pitch tensions with Spain's central government, as Madrid comes under growing international pressure to resolve its worst political crisis in decades.The Port of Barcelona reduced services to a minimum, and protesters stood on roads and highways across Catalonia, blocking traffic. On the AP7 highway linking Barcelona to France two youths set up a folding table and played chess.Catalan pro-separatist trade unions, schools and cultural institutions called for the stoppage to "vigorously condemn" the police response to the Sunday poll, in which regional authorities confirmed over 90 people were injured.Catalonia's leader said 90 percent of voters backed independence from Spain, but the central government has vowed to stop the wealthy northeastern region -- which accounts for a fifth of Spain's economy -- from breaking away, dismissing the poll as a "farce".In Barcelona the Metro provided only minimum service and passengers travelled for free, while major tourist sites like the city's emblematic Sagrada Familia Church were closed."It's a bummer because we're only here for a few days. But it's hard to say my vacation is more important than what is happening here," Karen Healey, 53, from Portland in the United States told AFP outside Gaudi's Casa Batllo in central Barcelona, also shut for the day.Despite concerns that air traffic might be disrupted too, Barcelona Airport was operating as normal, a spokesman told AFP.At the city Sants train station all shops remained open except for the one run by FC Barcelona football club, which issued a statement saying both its professional and youth teams would not train on Tuesday.Asking not to be named, an employee of a toy shop in the station said members of the strike committee had asked her to shut the store for the day.She refused because "the store is not mine, otherwise I would have shut it, to defend human rights."Carmaker Seat said its three production lines were "operating at their usual pace," a company spokeswoman told AFP.Violent scenes played out in towns and cities across Catalonia on Sunday as riot police moved in on polling stations to stop people from casting their ballots, in some cases charging with batons and firing rubber bullets to disperse crowds.UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said he was "very disturbed" by the unrest while EU President Donald Tusk urged Madrid to avoid "further use of violence".The European Parliament will hold a special debate on Wednesday on the issue.The government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy held emergency talks after Catalan president Carles Puigdemont declared Sunday that Catalonia had "won the right to an independent state".Puigdemont has appealed for international mediation to help solve the crisis and called for police deployed to Catalonia from other parts of Spain for the vote to be removed.The regional government said 2.26 million people took part in the poll, or just over 42 percent of the electorate.But any attempt to unilaterally declare independence is likely to be opposed not just by Madrid but also a large section of the Catalan population, a region of 7.5 million people that is deeply split on the issue.Puigdemont has said he will now present the results to the region's parliament, where separatist lawmakers hold a majority, and which has the power to adopt a motion of independence.The Catalan leader said close to 900 people had received medical attention on Sunday, though regional authorities confirmed a total of 92 injured. Four were hospitalised, two in serious condition.Videos posted on social media showed police dragging voters from polling stations by their hair, throwing people down stairs and attacking Catalan firefighters protecting polling stations.Magdalena Clarena Dabant, a 70-year-old grandmother, described a "brutal" incident when she decided to join "passive resistance" in her village to prevent the Guardia Civil police from seizing a ballot box."To stop them, many voters sat on the floor, I sat on a chair. They told me to go away, I responded I wouldn't move."They grabbed me by the arm, strongly, and I fell on the floor. In hospital they told me my wrist was broken." |
Germany: Lothar Bisky, leading member of the Left Party, dies By Peter Schwarz 16 August 2013 Lothar Bisky, one of the most influential figures in the Left Party, died on Monday just days before his 72nd birthday. Bisky was chairman of the forerunner of the Left Party—the Party of Democratic Socialism PDS—from 1993 to 2000, and from 2003 to 2007. Together with Oskar Lafontaine he led the Left Party from its founding in 2007 up to 2010. During this period he was also a prominent figure in the European Left, which included amongst its members SYRIZA (Greece), the French Communist Party and Left Party, and the Danish Red-Green Alliance. Bisky was not so prominently in the public spotlight as other Left Party leaders such as Lafontaine and Gregor Gysi. He worked in the background. Obituaries described him as a “quiet authority”, as a “meek” man operating as an “intermediary between the party wings”, or “puppet master.” Nevertheless, Bisky left his mark on the policy of the PDS and Left Party like no other. The aim of this policy was to integrate the former Stalinist East Germany (GDR) into West German capitalism, and suppress resistance to the disastrous social consequences. Arno Widmann, co-founder of the Green taz newspaper and current head of the Feuilleton section of the Frankfurter Rundschau, made Bisky’s acquaintance at the time of German reunification. Bisky was in the process of dissolving the Berliner Verlag, which published several East German newspapers, and worked with Widmann to organize the distribution of the taz in the GDR. In his obituary of Bisky, Widmann writes that, unlike German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Joachim Gauck who made the move from the GDR to West Germany largely as individuals, Bisky and a number of others had another objective: “They wanted cadres and followers of the SED (Socialist Unity Party—former Stalinist ruling party in the GDR) to accompany them on their journey to the new Germany. They were not motivated by noble objectives. Or at least not merely by such objectives. They wanted to transfer the ideas—and probably some of the money—of the old SED to the Federal Republic. “ This is a pretty accurate description of the role of the PDS. It fully supported the introduction of capitalism despite the devastating consequences for the working class. At the same time the party wanted to ensure that not just a few individuals, but an entire social layer that occupied a prominent and privileged social position in the GDR could benefit from the free-market system. At the age of 18 years, Bisky, who had grown up under poor conditions in the West German state of Schleswig-Holstein, slipped across the fence that at the time separated the German Federal Republic from the GDR. In East Germany he was able to finish school and go on to higher studies—a path which for financial reasons would not have been open to him in the west. He studied philosophy and cultural studies, joined the SED in 1963, and undertook an academic career that eventually led him in 1986 to head the University for Film and Television in Potsdam. Like many intellectuals, Bisky was critical of some aspects of the GDR, without this ever taking the form of open opposition. After the suppression of the Prague Spring in 1968 he allegedly considered quitting the SED, but decided instead to pursue his career. To this end he enjoyed the full confidence of the SED and was able to travel abroad freely. Bisky first emerged on the political stage on November 4, 1989. Along with two dozen other speakers he addressed the one million demonstrators protesting at Berlin’s central Alexanderplatz against the SED regime. Five days later the Berlin Wall fell, the SED parted company with some of its most hated leaders, and took the road to the introduction of capitalism and German reunification. Hans Modrow, the last SED premier of the German Democratic Republic and for many years honorary chairman of the PDS, later wrote about this period: “According to my understanding of things the path to unity was absolutely necessary and had to be pursued with determination.” Modrow’s former economics minister, Christa Luft, founded the trust, which transferred state owned enterprises in the GDR into private hands. She went on to author a book entitled The Joy of Ownership . It was against this background that Bisky commenced his meteoric rise to political prominence. He worked on the committee that prepared the crucial Party Congress of October 1989, which engineered the change of the SED into the PDS. In 1993, three years after German reunification, he took over the chairmanship of the federal PDS. Bisky used his arbitration abilities to hold together the fractious wings of the party and provide cover for Gregor Gysi who represented the party publicly. Both worked closely together to cement the PDS to the bourgeois state and rid the party of all remnants of Marxist rhetoric. “Gysi and Bisky were the team that led the PDS clientele into the complex West German reality,” declares an obituary on Spiegel Online. “It’s hard to say whether the PDS would have found the way to the Federal Republic without Bisky—or whether it would have cut itself off and re-ideologisied under the constant attacks of having worked for the Stasi [GDR secret police].” Bisky played the same role 10 years later in relation to Oskar Lafontaine. The former SPD chairman took the initiative to found the Left Party in 2005 in order to create a focal point for voters who had turned their backs on the social democrats following the latter’s introduction of the anti-social Hartz laws. The task of the Left Party was to prevent such layers from turning to a revolutionary perspective. After the official launch of the Left Party in June 2007, the two joint chairmen—Lafontaine and Bisky—worked in tandem for three years in the midst of the deepest international economic crisis since the 1930s. In addition to his party posts Bisky held various parliamentary positions. In 1990 he was a deputy in last GDR parliament (People’s Chamber). From 1990 to 2005 he represented the PDS in the Brandenburg state parliament. Between 1992 and 1994 he headed the committee of inquiry that exculpated Brandenburg premier, Manfred Stolpe (SPD), from charges of collaboration with the Stasi. In 2005 Bisky was elected to the Bundestag and from 2009 to 2012 he sat in the European Parliament. As chairman of the Group of the European United Left (GUE / NGL) Bisky made his long political experience available to the Greek SYRIZA and other organizations that played a key role in suppressing resistance to the austerity measures of the European Union and the German government. At the same time, Bisky’s right-wing, pro-imperialist views increasingly came to the forefront. At the start of March 2011 he supported a resolution calling for military intervention in Libya, which then took place a few days later. Deputies from the conservative right, the Social Democrats and Greens also voted for the resolution. On June 13 this year, when he had already resigned from the European Parliament, Bisky published an appeal together with other leaders of the Left Party calling for the defense of the euro and the European Union. Under conditions where broad layers of the population increasingly identify the EU as the driving force for social cuts, mass unemployment and state repression, Bisky wrote: “The project of European integration has ... led to political stability in Europe, to the civil negotiation of conflicts of interest within Europe in a manner unseen previously.” The Left, he said, “must therefore fight to ensure there is no departure from the path of European integration.” The obituaries on Bisky show that even his political opponents appreciate his contributions to the preservation of the bourgeois order. The president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz (SPD), described him as “a wonderful colleague and human being”, while the chairman of the Free Democratic Party, Philipp Rösler, who is certainly no friend of the Left Party, praised him as “someone who had clearly drawn lessons from the SED past.” |
The fight for a spot in the top eight was on during Week 9 of the North American Call of Duty World League Pro Division, presented by PlayStation 4. Day 1 began with a big upset as #11 Counter Logic Gaming was able to win the series 3-1 against #5 compLexity. And there were no surprises in the second match, as #1 OpTic Gaming shut out Dream Team with a 3-0 win. Team Kaliber started off strong on Day 1, but they were unable to close out their match against FaZe Clan. Although tK forced a Game 5, FaZe blasted through them 6-1 in Search and Destroy. Next up, we saw Team SoloMid get a big win over a strong H2K team. Day 1 ended with one of the best plays possibly in Search and Destroy as Team eLevate’s Nagafen got a 1v4 clutch in Game 5 to win the series 3-2 against Team EnVyUs Day 2 featured the Premier Match of the week, as FaZe went up against compLexity. FaZe was able to close it out 3-1, which put them in third place in the league. OpTic took down H2KGG with a fast 3-0, which lead to H2K finishing 0-2 on the week. H2K had a strong performance in Week 8, but they could not bring that momentum with them into Week 9. Luminosity went big on Day 2 to win their series 3-0 against CLG. With Team Kaliber's deafeat of TSM, TSM has slid from 7th place to 9th place at the end of Week 9 allowing Luminosity (as of now) to be in the top eight, but TSM, Luminosity, and H2K are currently tied in Win/Loss count: 7-11. TK’s win helped them stay away from 10th place and leaves them with a chance of getting out of the relegation zone; however, their remaining matches are all against top ranked teams. These last two weeks are going to be extremely crucial, as they will define which teams make it to the finals and which teams will be forced to play in relegation. STANDINGS MATCH OF THE WEEK This week’s match of the week was Luminosity vs. Rise Nation. John “Revan” Boble says, “In such a crazy week of matches it's tough to pick out just one. I think that Rise vs Luminosity was a huge match for LG. They're currently in the relegation zone and needed a good start to the week to solidify their spot going into Stage 1 playoffs. The Hardpoint went very well for Rise as they surged to a +111 point victory but the Search and Destroy went Luminosity's way as they finished with a 6-2 scoreline. Going into Rise's best gamemode in Uplink, it was looking grim for Luminosity. But they found a way to turn the series around with an 11-7 victory which led into a 6-2 win in game 5. Luminosity finished the week 2-0 and move out of relegation zone for the time being with a record of 7-11.” MVP This week’s MVP was Saints from Luminosity. Luminosity won both of their matches this week. Revan says, “The MVP was definitely Saints from Luminosity. In an important week for Luminosity where they needed to break out of the relegation zone, Saints had a massive week against both Rise and Counter Logic Gaming. Against Rise, Saints finished the 5 game series with a 1.24 K/D ratio standing above his teammates who didn't even break over a 1. The slaying power from Saints has consistently been something that separates him from the rest of the players in the CWL.” COMING UP We have two more weeks of the North America Pro Division Stage 1 left, and the fight to stay in the top eight shows no signs of cooling down. As we head into Week 10, here are the matches to look out for: Luminosity vs. Team EnVyUs and eLevate vs. Team Kaliber. Both Luminosity and Team Kaliber have to win the rest of their matches to try and secure a spot in the playoffs. For a deeper dive into the Call of Duty World League, be sure to watch the recap show today at 15:00 Pacific/18:00 Eastern right here. The World League matches will resume next week, so follow us on Twitter and Facebook for the latest #CoDWorldLeague news! Share this article: |
But first up Friday is Penn, which the Crimson defeated, 83-82, in double overtime, at the Palestra on Feb. 5. Harvard has a 32-127 career record against Penn, which has won 26 Ivy titles. But Harvard has won their last four meetings, and five of the last six. Photo Harvard has lost its last six to Princeton, including a 65-61 defeat on Feb. 4 at Princeton. The Tigers, who have won 25 Ivy titles, are 126-38 against Harvard. Harvard stumbled at Yale (losing, 70-69, on Saturday, its most recent game) and Princeton sustained its first league loss, at Brown (75-65 on Feb. 19). “It is great to finally be able to play meaningful games in March,” said Oliver McNally, a junior and one of the Harvard captains. “I was used to it in high school. But that hasn’t happened here. Just being able to compete for the title and make the N.C.A.A. tournament would be a dream come true for all of us. That’s what Coach Amaker sold us on before we came here. It’s in our hands now.” Making Harvard competitive and relevant in the Ivy League was Amaker’s mission when he took over the program four years ago. At the time, he appeared to many to be on a fool’s errand, given that Harvard had only one outright second-place finish in its history (1970-71, behind perhaps the best Ivy team ever, the 28-1 Penn Quakers.) The Crimson has tied for second two other times. Amaker, who had head-coaching jobs at Seton Hall and Michigan, got off to a rocky start, going 8-22 in 2007-8. The New York Times reported in March 2008 that a future Amaker assistant, Kenny Blakeney, worked out with potential recruits, a rules infraction. The Ivy League cited Harvard for an “unintentional secondary violation.” The N.C.A.A. said it handled roughly 2,000 such incidents a year. Amaker said he felt that much of the publicity that followed occurred because the violation happened at an elite university like Harvard. “We’ve been through that and we’ve moved on,” Amaker said. “It has never been a factor in what we’re doing.” Photo Amaker has made good on his end of his promise. In his second season, he produced a 14-14 record. Last season Harvard finished 21-8, establishing a record for victories, and was 10-4 in Ivy League. Harvard has beaten Boston College the last three years, all three victories coming on the road. Amaker calls such wins “significant moments.” Harvard’s Rating Percentage Index ranking in the most recent N.C.A.A. release was 44th, highest in the Ivy League. Advertisement Continue reading the main story With one victory this weekend, Harvard will establish a program record for most victories in a season. With two, it will establish a program record for most league wins (12) in a season. “We’ve had a vision to have the opportunity to create something to be worthy of the brand of Harvard,” Amaker said. 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. Amaker has done it with what he says is the youngest team in the league, something he said tended to be overlooked. There are no seniors, which is unusual in a league in which players normally stay four years. By contrast, Penn has six and Princeton three. Amaker said he planned to talk to the team before Friday’s game against Penn about the players and coaches who have come before them and who, he said, “are just as much a part of this journey as we are.” They range from the former Celtic Tom Sanders (a coach) to players like Arne Duncan, the United States secretary of education; the CBS sportscaster James Brown; and Jeremy Lin, a 2010 graduate who plays for the Golden State Warriors. As fate would have it, the Warriors will be across town playing the Boston Celtics on Friday while Harvard is playing Penn. “I wish I could be there,” Lin said by phone from Indiana this week. “It’s going to be crazy. I think they’re finally going to do it. They’re young. But they’re so hungry. In talking to the guys and listening to them, I think they’ll figure it out.” |
This week we hear a radio adaptation of parts 1 and 2 of Scott Noble 's latest film, Counter Intelligence . This fast moving film uses a mixture of classic footage of events and news reports with historians and contemporary commentary to reveal a very different side to the activities of the so-called "intelligence agencies" to the stock fare dished up by their a$$et$ in the commercially-controlled media. We begin with an overview of the origins of the CIA. While their destabilization of so-called "developing world" governments such as Iran, Guatemala and Chile are now widely known, the films notes that the CIA's criminal activities did not stop there. They also worked to manipulate governments of countries traditionally allied to USA. We hear about CIA involvement in provoking the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, the Nugan Hand bank scandal and a pointer to the BBC film on the plot against UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Thanks to Olivier for a pointer to the video, and thanks to Metanoia Films for making it. Part 2 of the film, which we start in our second hour, notes the intimate connections between organized crime and the security services, starting with the WW2 secret deal struck by the ONI (Office of Naval Intelligence) and Lucky Luciano, considered the father of modern organized crime in the USA. As Peter Dale Scott notes, it is hard to locate a single area of the world in which the international drug trade isn't closely connected to support from intelligence agencies. Scott terms it a "real tragedy" that perhaps half of all US aid given to the Afghan resistance in the 1980s was given to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, at the time the world's largest drug trafficker. Looking at evidence of CIA involvement in Afghanistan the film reviews the developing relationship between organized crime syndicates, international drug dealers and agencies such as the CIA and DEA , drawing a bigger picture together from news reports of the isolated incidents which broke the public surface such as the role of drug money in the BCCI scandal, mass killings in Colombia and the repeated evidence of drug smuggling by the CIA. Login Required) |
Officials in a taxpayer-funded California school district have scuttled an annual father-daughter dance — as well as annual mother-son hike — because a handful of parents complained that the event is not sufficiently “inclusive.” The father-daughter dance and the mother-son hike had been traditions at Crocker/Riverside Elementary School in Sacramento, reports local Fox affiliate KTXL. “I’ve had girls I’ve taken to the father-daughter dance, and I enjoyed it very much,” Crocker/Riverside Elementary parent-teacher association president Patrick Kuske told the station. “We got a request from a couple parents to be more inclusive and change the name,” Kuske also said. The father-daughter dance and the mother-son hike, which are both PTA fundraising activities, will now be marketed differently. The Crocker/Riverside father-daughter dance will now be the family dance. “It’s not just about making money for the school, it’s about having a good time and getting people together,”Kuske told KTXL. Crocker/Riverside Elementary principal Daniel McCord said he fully supports the new activity names on the theory that children can define their families as any group of people. “However the child wants to define their family, whoever they want to bring with them, they’re able to do that,” McCord told the station. “When they walk into their house, it’ll look different than mine. And that’s great!” McCord added. “We want to embrace that and learn from it.” Principal McCord also said that not a soul has criticized the decision to rename the annual father-daughter dance and mother-son hike. The Sacramento City Unified School District will meet in early April to discuss the school district’s policies relating to father-daughter dances as well as transgender bathroom policies, KTXL notes. (RELATED: FREE AT LAST: Trump Revokes Obama’s Public School Transgender Bathroom Free-For-All) Crocker/Riverside Elementary describes itself as “a wonderful neighborhood school with a tradition of high student achievement, academic success for all students and outstanding parent involvement.” Ending the bane of father-daughter dances has become a fairly common occurrence at America’s public schools. Last year, for example, officials at Brockman Elementary School in Columbia, South Carolina ended the annual father-daughter dance tradition — also because a few parents complained that the event was not sufficiently “inclusive.” A large number of Brockman parents expressed frustration over the cancellation and said they hoped to organize a father-daughter dance, presumably at a venue other than the school. (RELATED: Elementary School Bans Father-Daughter Dance After A Few Parents Say It’s Not ‘Inclusive’) Also in 2016, the Rochester, Minnesota school district changed the name of father-daughter dances to “parent-daughter dances” to improve sensitivity. The change caused a massive drop in popularity which led to the dance’s wholesale cancellation. The same school district replaced its Halloween party years ago with a “harvest festival” that bans costumes. (RELATED: Minnesota Principal Wants To Halt Celebration Of Valentine’s Day, Other ‘Dominant’ Holidays) In 2012, the Cranston, Rhode Island public school system banned father-daughter and mother-son events following a complaint by the American Civil Liberties Union. (RELATED: Cranston, RI Public Schools Ban ‘Father-Daughter’ Dances Following ACLU Complaint) Follow Eric on Twitter. Like Eric on Facebook. Send education-related story tips to erico@dailycaller.com. |
If you use EC2 to run your cloud infrastructure, you are most likely making use of pre-made AMIs for faster provisioning of servers inside of auto-scaling groups. Just like any other release material, from time to time you have to cleanup your older stuff both because the cruft accumulates and also because you’re paying for the storage these AMIs take as snapshots at your EC2 account. Finding unused AMIs The first cleanup operation is detecting AMIs that are not being used anywhere at your environment, we can do this quickly with a very small Ruby script that uses the aws-sdk-v1 gem : require 'aws/ec2' client = AWS :: EC2 . new # you must have your AWS keys setup correctly for this to work amis = client . instances . map do | instance | begin instance . image_id rescue AWS :: Core :: Resource :: NotFound nil end end . compact . uniq puts ( "# Loading available AMIs..." ) images = client . images . with_owner ( "self" ) . sort_by { | i | i . name } images . each do | image | next if amis . include? ( image . id ) fields = [] fields << image . id fields << image . block_device_mappings . values . map ( & :snapshot_id ) . compact . join ( ',' ) fields << image . name puts ( fields . join ( " \t " )) end This will produce an output like: # Loading available AMIs... ami-15903pee snap-945febdz java8@2015-08-03-02-50 ami-841928e0 snap-8117t03b ubuntu_14_base@2015-04-02-21-35 ami-1dqde176 snap-33fh5a54 windows-server2012R2-base-2015-08-07 What this script does is first list all AMIs from running instances in your system and then load all AMIs that you own (AMIs you created yourself using the CreateImage command). We don’t really want to know about public or vendor specific AMIs, only the ones we created ourselves. Now that you know the AMIs that are not in use, you can just open the AWS console and deregister them, right? Not really! Deregistering AMIs While the AWS console for AMIs will let you deregister AMIs, it does the wrong thing by default, it deregisters the AMI but will not delete the snapshot associated with it. I was really surprised when I looked at our snapshots and we had hundreds of snapshots there from AMIs that were long gone! So, instead of just using the AWS console for that, we need a script that will actually delete the snapshots associated with them as it makes little sense to deregister the AMI but keep it’s snapshot around. Here’s how it would look like: require 'aws/ec2' ami_id = ARGV [ 0 ] if ami_id . nil? || ami_id . empty? puts ( "you must provide an AMI ID" ) exit ( 1 ) else image = client . images [ ami_id ] snapshots = image . block_device_mappings . values . map ( & :snapshot_id ) . compact puts "Deregistering AMI [ #{ image . name } ] with snapshots #{ snapshots . inspect } " image . deregister puts "Image deregistered" snapshots . each do | snapshot | puts "Deleting snapshot #{ snapshot } " client . snapshots [ snapshot ]. delete puts 'Snapshot deleted' end end And this should finally clean up the huge amount of useless AMIs and snapshots you have at your account. It definitely helped me clean up a lot of storage at our account by removing unused stuff. If you’re using Chef and Knife If you happen to be using Chef with your own set of knife plugins, these scripts are actually knife plugins themselves, so you can just copy them to your own repo: # ami unused require 'chef/knife' module KnifeCustom class AmiUnused < Chef :: Knife banner "knife ami unused" deps do require 'aws/ec2' end option :progress_comments , :long => '--[no-]progress-comments' , :description => "Include comments about progress, enabled by default" , :boolean => true , :default => true option :include_in_use , :short => '-U' , :long => '--include-in-use' , :description => "Include information about AMIs in-use as well, disabled by default" , :boolean => true , :default => false option :snapshot_info , :long => '--[no-]snapshot-info' , :description => "List EBS snapshot information for AMIs, enabled by default" , :boolean => true , :default => true option :ami_status , :long => '--[no-]ami-status' , :description => "Show AMI status [in-use|unused], enabled by default" , :boolean => true , :default => true def run ui . info ( "# Loading running instances..." ) if config [ :progress_comments ] amis = client . instances . map do | instance | begin instance . image_id rescue AWS :: Core :: Resource :: NotFound nil end end . compact . uniq ui . info ( "# Loading available AMIs..." ) if config [ :progress_comments ] images = client . images . with_owner ( "self" ) . sort_by { | i | i . name } images . each do | image | next if amis . include? ( image . id ) && ! config [ :include_in_use ] status = amis . include? ( image . id ) ? "in-use" : "unused" fields = [] fields << status if config [ :ami_status ] fields << image . id fields << snapshots_for_image ( image ) . join ( ',' ) if config [ :snapshot_info ] fields << image . name ui . info ( fields . join ( " \t " )) end end def client @client ||= AWS :: EC2 . new end def snapshots_for_image ( image ) image . block_device_mappings . values . collect ( & :snapshot_id ) . compact end end end And then the command that deregisters AMIs: require 'chef/knife' module KnifeCustom class AmiDeregister < Chef :: Knife banner "knife ami deregister AMI_ID" deps do require 'aws/ec2' end def run ami_id = name_args . first if ami_id . nil? || ami_id . empty? ui . error ( "you must provide an AMI ID" ) exit ( 1 ) else image = client . images [ ami_id ] snapshots = image . block_device_mappings . values . map ( & :snapshot_id ) . compact ui . info "Deregistering AMI [ #{ image . name } ] with snapshots #{ snapshots . inspect } " image . deregister ui . info "Image deregistered" snapshots . each do | snapshot | ui . info "Deleting snapshot #{ snapshot } " client . snapshots [ snapshot ]. delete ui . info 'Snapshot deleted' end end end def client @client ||= AWS :: EC2 . new end end end Now enjoy the space you now have available and the amount of money you won’t be spending on these useless snapshots! |
This week, I was able to roll down my car window for the first time in five months. Maybe you live in a part of the country where the weather has kept you similarly sequestered. If you’re like me, you now want to hear music like this. I’m talking about Southern rock, brothers and sisters. Thick accents, long guitar solos, muttonchops, drunkenness — this is what I long for in March as soon as the thermometer hits 50 degrees. I put on “Green Grass & High Tides” by the Outlaws, I enjoy the long intro, I go to the refrigerator to grab a beer, I make myself some barbecue, I mow the lawn, I return to the stereo and enjoy more guitar-soloing, I take a walk around the block, I take a nap, and then I return to the stereo to enjoy the same solo. You get the picture. This is a long song. Here’s a more bite-size version of what I’m talking about. Now, I won’t defend everything about this clip. Confederate flags are an obvious no-no, and walking around shirtless will only get you kicked out of most convenience stores. But I am all over skinny Bobby Moynihan on bass and the brassy female backup singer who looks like she pours Jack Daniel’s on her Frosted Flakes. Watching this makes me happy to be alive. My Morning Jacket is the defining band of modern Southern rock. The group’s early-’00s run from 2001’s At Dawn to 2005’s Z set a template for dreamy psychedelia cut with experimental pop and (yes) old-school Southern-rock riffage emulated by countless other groups. In the past 10 years, MMJ wavered a bit as the band tried to remake its sound with mixed success. Stabs at funk and soul mostly fell flat on 2008’s Evil Urges, and attempts to return to a bigger rock sound seemed like a reluctant capitulation to longtime fans. I haven’t sorted out my feelings quite yet on MMJ’s forthcoming LP, The Waterfall, though it is similar to 2011’s Circuital in how it tries to reconcile the band’s festival-rockin’ past with frontman Jim James’s need to push in more ethereal directions. Another defining band of 21st–century Southern rock is Jeff the Brotherhood, the Nashville duo that has taken a rather simple idea — what if “Blue Album”–era Weezer sounded more like Black Sabbath? — and somehow made it work over the course of eight albums. The group’s latest, Wasted on the Dream, was recorded for and subsidized by its former label, Warner Bros., who for some mysterious reason decided to drop Jeff the Brotherhood just a few months before the album’s release date. Thankfully, Warner Bros. gave Wasted back to the band, which will release the LP on its own Infinity Cat Recordings on March 24. Wasted is actually one of JTB’s best records, paying loving tribute to the big-sounding rock records of the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s. Perhaps it’s wrong to classify the Hagerty-Toth Band as Southern rock, as the group’s principals are associated with more Northern climes. Neil Hagerty made his name with Washington, D.C., scuzz-punk acts Pussy Galore and Royal Trux, while James Jackson Toth is a New York native who’s lived all over though currently resides in Kentucky. But I’m granting them honorary Southern-rock status anyway for two reasons: (1) The group’s forthcoming Record Store Day release, Qalgebra, is being put out by the excellent North Carolina label Three Lobed Recordings, and (2) Qalgebra emits some seriously twisted humidity, with garbled words clinging to tangled guitar strings like sweat on skin. Let’s get back to solos and muttonchops for a minute: My favorite old-school-style Southern rock right now is Blackberry Smoke, a five-piece from Atlanta fronted by a craggy-voiced romantic named Charlie Starr. Blackberry Smoke dresses like Skynyrd and sounds like a countrified Black Crowes — if that’s your thing, you’ll also appreciate that Starr is capable of leavening wanton bad-assery like “Payback’s a Bitch” with more thoughtful songs like “One Horse Town” (from 2012’s great The Whippoorwill), an affecting slice of small-town life about a guy who dreams of escaping his hemmed-in existence but knows he can’t. The new Holding All the Roses isn’t quite up to The Whippoorwill’s standard in terms of songwriting, but it’s definitely a heavier record, with meaty production courtesy of grunge godhead Brendan O’Brien. Blackberry Smoke’s former label and tour mates, the Zac Brown Band, also appears to be moving away from country and toward a straightforward rock sound on its forthcoming record, Jekyll + Hyde. Since country music is essentially the new mainstream rock anyway, perhaps this is just semantics. When ZBB appeared on Saturday Night Live last weekend, it was joined by Chris Cornell, and the collaboration somehow made more sense than it does on paper. The single “Homegrown” is more in ZBB’s usual wheelhouse, though, which is basically “Dave Matthews Band plus banjos.” Ryan Bingham is probably best known as an Oscar winner for his contributions to the Jeff Bridges hard-luck singer-songwriter movie, Crazy Heart. Bingham’s albums occasionally have a “weary Texas singer-songwriter” paint-by-numbers quality. But his latest, Fear and Saturday Night, is a genuinely affecting, “drinking bourbon at 3 a.m.” kind of record, balancing acoustic laments with likably loose and live-sounding Stonesy jams. Bingham has been around long enough now that he’s aged into his raspy vocals. Southern Indiana doesn’t normally register as “the South” unless you’ve actually been there. Houndmouth hails from a county just on the other side of the Indiana-Kentucky state line, and you can hear the country music influence in the group’s four-part harmonies. Houndmouth’s latest, Little Neon Limelight, is even slicker than 2013’s From the Hills Below the City, loaded with expertly constructed folk-rock songs that sound genetically engineered to be AAA (adult album alternative) radio hits. Sometimes this is oppressive — Houndmouth is more “gritty” than gritty — but songs like “Sedona” are pretty undeniable. Has anybody mined the rich terrain between rock and country with greater consistency than Dwight Yoakam? 2012’s 3 Pears was his first album in five years, and it was arguably his best since the mid-’90s. The upcoming Second Hand Heart is another slam dunk, as evidenced by the single “The Big Time,” which finds Yoakam in Sun-era Elvis Presley mode. Long may he run. |
Play Facebook Twitter Embed RNC to be 'star studded event' 3:50 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog The Trump campaign on Thursday finally released its list of speakers for the coming Republican convention after a week of delays and a firm insistence that the group would impress and defy expectations. What's most striking is not who’s on the list, but what's missing from it. Related: Here Are the RNC Speakers We Know Of No previous Republican presidents or vice presidents will speak, just a third of the party’s original 17 presidential contenders will rally behind the nominee, and just 11 of the most prominent speakers at 2012’s convention will have a slot this year. Instead, there are Trumps — including five immediate family members — Trump friends and Trump employees. Here is what’s missing from the speaker’s list, and what those omissions mean for the party. Any Bush at all: The two living former Republican presidents both share the name George Bush and the decision not to attend this year’s GOP confab. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who was ridiculed by Trump throughout the 2016 primary, will also not attend. While Trump's campaign has succeeded its break from politics as usual, the noticeable absence of the Bush family signals a big snub to the party. Sarah Palin: Perhaps no candidate paved the way for Donald Trump like Palin. The former Alaska governor burst onto the national political stage in 2008 as John McCain’s wildcard running mate. With the bombast and media disdain that Trump has made central to his brand, Palin was America’s most famous outsider conservative. Though her stock has largely fallen since her departure from politics was followed by her rambling public speeches, Palin campaigned with Trump and is still a crowd-pleaser in Republican circles. Play Facebook Twitter Embed Dan Rather on convention chaos 4:06 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog Marco Rubio: The young Latino Florida senator who spoke about his student loans and his immigrant family on the stump was once seen as the future of the GOP. One of the many presidential hopefuls vanquished by Trump in the primary, Rubio had indicated he would attend the convention and be willing to speak. But later, a spokesman said he was busy campaigning for reelection in Florida after jumping back in the race. South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley: The Indian-American governor was pitched as the face of the GOP just six months ago when she gave the party’s State of the Union response in January. She was also applauded for her leadership last year through a racially-motivated shooting in a Charleston church, eventually calling for the removal of the Confederate flag from the state house grounds. She endorsed Rubio before her state’s GOP primary, which Trump eventually won — earning his derision on Twitter. The people of South Carolina are embarrassed by Nikki Haley! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 1, 2016 A-list celebrities: The biggest celebrity speaker was Tim Tebow, but the high-profile Christian quarterback said in a post on Facebook Thursday evening that the news was "a rumor." Currently a free agent, Tebow said in the video that he'd just returned from the Philippines. “I wake up this am to find out I'm speaking at the RNC — its amazing how fast rumors fly, and that’s exactly what it is, a rumor.” The only other celebrities? Two soap opera stars — Kimberlin Brown and Antonio Sabato Jr. To be sure: Celebrity speakers are often last-minute additions. The big name in 2012, Clint Eastwood, was a surprise for the Tampa crowd. Diversity: The vast majority of speakers are white. Of the 60 on the list whose races could be determined by NBC News, 50 are white, six are black, two are of Middle Eastern descent, one is Latino and another is Asian. Play Facebook Twitter Embed New NBC Poll: Trump gets 0% support from blacks in OH 7:27 autoplay autoplay Copy this code to your website or blog Gov. Susana Martinez: After Trump publicly trashed the New Mexico governor earlier this year, it’s no surprise she won’t speak at his nomination convention. It is, however, another big sign that the RNC will be about Trump — not the party he’s struggled to unify. She’s the nation’s only Latina governor and a former district attorney right on the Mexican border, with a record of taking on public corruption. Rick Perry: The former Texas governor hasn’t always been a Trump fan — he endorsed and campaigned for Sen. Ted Cruz after ending his own presidential bid — but the border-state governor has since endorsed the presumptive nominee and has tried to straddle the line between more his own slightly more moderate immigration views and Trump’s hard-line plans to build a wall and deport millions. John Kasich: Despite the facts that Kasich’s state is hosting the RNC and he won Ohio in the primaries, the popular governor won’t be speaking. He and Trump didn’t get along well during the race, and Kasich's absence is yet another visible sign of intra-party divisions. Anna Merod contributed reporting. An earlier version of this story said the musician Darrell Scott would be attending. The pastor Darrell Scott is attending. This story has been updated to reflect Tim Tebow's Facebook post Thursday evening. |
■ Dozens of retired generals employed by defense firms maintain Pentagon advisory roles, giving them unparalleled levels of influence and access to inside information on Department of Defense procurement plans. And in many cases there is nothing subtle about what the generals have to sell — Martin’s firm is called The Four Star Group, for example. The revolving-door culture of Capitol Hill — where former lawmakers and staffers commonly market their insider knowledge to lobbying firms — is now pervasive at the senior rungs of the military leadership. In some years, the move from general staff to industry is a virtual clean sweep. Thirty-four out of 39 three- and four-star generals and admirals who retired in 2007 are now working in defense roles — nearly 90 percent. From 2004 through 2008, 80 percent of retiring three- and four-star officers went to work as consultants or defense executives, according to the Globe analysis. That compares with less than 50 percent who followed that path a decade earlier, from 1994 to 1998. The Globe analyzed the career paths of 750 of the highest ranking generals and admirals who retired during the last two decades and found that, for most, moving into what many in Washington call the “rent-a-general’’ business is all but irresistible. But this is the Pentagon where, a Globe review has found, such apparent conflicts are a routine fact of life at the lucrative nexus between the defense procurement system, which spends hundreds of billions of dollars a year, and the industry that feasts on those riches. And almost nothing is ever done about it. In almost any other realm it would seem a clear conflict of interest — pitting his duty to the US military against the interests of his employer — not to mention a revolving-door sprint from uniformed responsibilities to private paid advocacy. Martin was understandably in demand, having been the general in charge of all Air Force weapons programs, including the B-2, for the previous four years. But almost as soon as he closed the door that day in 2005 his phone rang. It was an executive at Northrop Grumman , asking if he was interested in working for the manufacturer of the B-2 stealth bomber as a paid consultant. A few weeks later, Martin received another call. This time it was the Pentagon, asking him to join a top-secret Air Force panel studying the future of stealth aircraft technology. WASHINGTON — An hour after the official ceremony marking the end of his 35-year career in the Air Force, General Gregory “Speedy’’ Martin returned to his quarters to swap his dress uniform for golf attire. He was ready for his first tee time as a retired four-star general. Martin and other generals interviewed by the Globe maintain that their postretirement consulting business is ethical and beneficial for America’s defense. They said it matches private-sector expertise with crucial Pentagon missions. “Rank did mean something. The principal guy in the room really drove the thing. There is a hesitancy to question them,’’ he said. “If there isn’t transparency or knowledge of who they are working for when they are advising the Pentagon, you are building a military that is not all it can be.’’ Representative Joe Sestak of Pennsylvania, a retired three-star admiral, said that when he was in uniform he saw firsthand the influence retired admirals have when they are brought in to advise the Navy. “When I was an officer in the 1970s, most general officers went off to some sunny place and retired,’’ he added. “Now the definition of success of a general officer is to move on and become successful in the business world.’’ “A lot of these guys earn two to three times their retirement money,’’ said Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and West Point graduate. “If you are deriving a significant portion of your nonpension income from defense companies actively engaged in contracting — especially if you are also involved in these advisory panels — that should be disclosed. Some members of Congress who served in the military said the system needs much stricter disclosure rules. With few exceptions, all the Pentagon requires now is for retired officers to wait one year before directly advocating for a contract before the specific military branch they served in. “The fundamental question,’’ he said, “is whether this is shaping the acquisition system and influencing what the Pentagon buys. I think the answer is yes.’’ “We are changing the perception and maybe the reality of what it means to be a general,’’ said retired General Robert “Doc’’ Foglesong, who retired as the second-ranking Air Force officer in 2006. ■ When a general-turned-businessman arrives at the Pentagon, he is often treated with extraordinary deference — as if still in uniform — which can greatly increase his effectiveness as a rainmaker for industry. The military even has name for it — the “bobblehead effect.’’ ■ The feeder system from some commands to certain defense firms is so powerful that successive generations of commanders have been hired by the same firms or into the same field. For example, the last seven generals and admirals who worked as Department of Defense gatekeepers for international arms sales are now helping military contractors sell weapons and defense technology overseas. ■ The generals are, in many cases, recruited for private sector roles well before they retire, raising questions about their independence and judgment while still in uniform. The Pentagon is aware and even supports this practice. Retired Army Lieutenant General William H. Campbell oversaw all of the Army’s information systems before leaving the service in 2000. Since 2002, he has been employed as a senior vice president at BAE Systems, one of the Army’s primary weapons suppliers and a major bidder for the new ground combat vehicle. A look at some of those attending suggests that there was ample potential for direct conflicts. The Army refused to comment on the ethical issues raised by the generals’ presence and declined to release copies of the ethics disclosure forms, citing privacy concerns. It confirmed, however, that no one was disqualified from participation based on their responses. Contacted by the Globe, several generals said they disclosed their potential conflicts of interest to the Army, on ethics questionnaires, before arriving at the meeting. At least six retired generals invited by the Army were also consultants or executives of defense companies that would bid on the new tank contracts, according to a meeting roster obtained by the Globe. The roster did not list their private-sector affiliations. Each was listed by the Army only as “distinguished participant.’’ A veil of secrecy surrounded the event. The Army did not publicly disclose the guest list for the meeting. It required participants to sign nondisclosure agreements. Their goal: develop ideas for the Army’s next ground combat vehicle. The Army badly needed to get a new tank program rolling after its previous effort resulted in an embarrassing, $14 billion flop. There was a clear sense of urgency as top Army officials and advisers converged on the National Defense University’s campus on the banks of the Potomac River for a high-level meeting in June 2009. Bonder said disclosure of potential conflicts would be desirable, to prevent confidential data from reaching contractors at an early stage. Yet judging the validity of such assertions is difficult. Even fellow participants in the two-year stealth aircraft study, for example, said they were not told of Martin’s industry clients. Seth Bonder, a member of the National Academy of Engineering who also participated on the panel, said, “I never knew what Speedy was doing elsewhere. I don’t inquire what he has in terms of industry connections.’’ “I do not substantially influence the findings of studies that could help my clients,’’ Martin said. Martin and Northrop Grumman declined to discuss the details of his activities on behalf of the company. Martin said his ongoing role as chairman of the Air Force Studies Board is mostly limited to deciding what to study, not making specific recommendations. “Access sounds sleazy, but it brings a value,’’ Martin said. “I am interested in doing things that I think the Air Force or [Department of Defense] might benefit from.’’ Wallace declined to say how he answered that question. Wallace confirmed that he is now a consultant for General Dynamics Land Systems Division, which is seeking to win the ground combat vehicle contract. But he insisted he does not use his Army contacts to further the business interests of his clients. Retired General William S. Wallace, who ran the Army’s Training and Doctrine Command before retiring in 2008, said he was not representing one of the prospective bidders at the time of the meeting. Like the other participants, however, one of the ethics questions he was asked to answer, according to a blank copy, was whether he intended to consult in the future for a client that may have a direct interest in bidding on the new tank. Another retired general at the session was General John H. Tilelli, who was the vice chief of staff of the Army before retiring in 2000. He now runs Cypress International, which has a consulting agreement with Science Applications International Corporation , another bidder on the ground combat vehicle program, confirmed Melissa L. Koskovich, a corporation spokeswoman. “You spend 35 years in an ethical place,’’ he said. “You don’t leave that at the door.’’ The new system is considered a separate contract by the military, freeing him to take an advisory role. As a rule, Yakovac said, he does not seek to influence former Army colleagues on matters involving his private defense clients. And he said he provides clients with advice that is based solely on publicly available information. It was Yakovac who had overseen, while in uniform, the failed, $14 billion “future combat system’’ program. And the office he once ran was in charge of devising the new combat vehicle. Some of the active-duty officers now running the unit previously worked for Yakovac, including Major General John Barley. Nevertheless, Yakovac said he was assured by Army lawyers he could offer advice without running afoul of any ethics rules. BAE had another representative in the meeting room: retired Lieutenant General Joseph L. Yakovac, formerly the top deputy to the Army’s senior acquisition official, who was advising BAE on the ground combat vehicle as a private consultant. “I think there is a danger of a real or perceived conflict of interest when an individual who is working on a defense program provides external advice to the military on the very same program, in either an official or unofficial capacity,’’ he said. But Campbell suggested that other generals at the meeting may have been skating closer to the edge. Campbell said in e-mail responses that he did not have a conflict of interest because he works in the electronics division of BAE, not the ground combat division, which is bidding to build the new tank. Campbell and BAE declined to say how much, if any, of the electronics system in the new tank might be produced by Campbell’s division at BAE. Navy Admiral William J. Fallon said he turned down consulting offers after learning that defense industry clients were seeking “tactical’’ information from inside the Pentagon. Said Fallon: “I didn’t want to be a walking Rolodex.’’ “I didn’t like people doing it to me when I was a four-star, a three-star, even a two-star — using a previous relationship as an entree to selling me something,’’ he said. “The perception from the outside of a previous superior now dealing with a previous subordinate can cause all kinds of questions.’’ William “Buck’’ Kernan, a retired Army four-star general who recently left Military Professional Resources, Inc., a company that provides training, logistics, and other support to the military, believes trading on such access and influence raises difficult questions. “I always felt uncomfortable dealing with former generals working for those companies,’’ said Eickmann, who retired in 1998 and is now a senior fellow at the Energy Institute at the University of Texas. “Sometimes I felt like they were relying on a past friendship to get me to do something.’’ Air Force Lieutenant General Kenneth E. Eickmann, who frequently dealt with defense contractors when he was on active duty, is among them. But a number of retired generals contacted by the Globe said they are uncomfortable with the laxity of the system and refuse to use their Pentagon contacts to win private clients. “You have to have a firewall in your head,’’ said industry consultant and former Vice Admiral Justin D. McCarthy. The generals who navigate these ethical minefields said they are capable of managing potential conflicts without oversight, because of their own integrity. “Even if restrictions apply, ‘behind the scenes’ work is permitted, so essentially they can assist a new employer as long as they don’t place the call or show up at meetings,’’ said Scott Amey, the general counsel at the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog group. The one-year “cooling off’’ period prohibits a retired general or admiral from directly making a sales pitch to their former military branch. For two years after retirement, the Pentagon prohibits them from participating in “particular matters,’’ meaning ongoing contracts greater than $10 million that were under their command. New editions of olderweapon systems — like the new ground combat vehicle — are not considered “particular matters.’’ On this point, the public is essentially left to trust the word of Wallace and other retired generals that they do not improperly trade on their influence and access. That’s because they are almost never required to divulge their clients, or say how much they get paid. The few rules that do guide the Pentagon influence trade prohibit only a narrow range of sales activities. Caldwell’s last job before retiring in 2004 was as the deputy to the service’s top acquisition official. Before that he served as commander of the Army’s Tank-Automotive Command, the Michigan-based unit that is responsible for acquiring Humvees and all other ground vehicles in the Army. Spectrum did not return several calls for comment. In addition to Keane, AM General was paying the Spectrum Group, a defense consulting firm with a roster of retired generals, about $20,000 a month to help arrange access to key decision makers, according to a former Pentagon official with direct knowledge of the contract. According to a former AM General executive, the AM General account at Spectrum was overseen by retired Army Lieutenant General John Caldwell. Keane was involved in the effort on the Hill even though he is not a registered lobbyist. He maintained in an interview that he was not required to register because he does not spend more than 20 percent of his time contacting Congress, as the lobbying disclosure laws stipulate. He said he only helps clients reach the right decision makers in the Pentagon or on Capitol Hill. Keane also helped AM General make its case to influential members of Congress, according to a former defense industry official with direct knowledge of the discussions. Keane contacted Army General Peter Chiarelli, as vice chief of staff the Army’s second-ranking officer, to make the case that the service should continue buying new Humvees, Keane confirmed in an interview. He said he told Chiarelli that he believes the Army needs to maintain a “strategic partnership’’ with AM General, whose relationship with the military dates back to building Jeeps during World War II. A commanding presence at 6 foot 5, Keane, 66, turned in his fatigues seven years ago for a pinstriped suit. He is now one of the most influential retired generals in Washington, holding a seat on a high-level Pentagon advisory panel, the Defense Policy Board, and counting among his defense industry clients McAndrews and Forbes, the New York holding company that owns AM General. The firm — AM General, of South Bend, Ind. — fielded a trio of former military leaders with major Beltway clout, including retired Army General Jack Keane, to try to reverse the plan. Whether or not it was a good move for the Army, it was a looming debacle for the Humvee’s exclusive manufacturer. Instead, it proposed shifting half a billion dollars in money for new Humvees to a program of fixing up old models, which Army officials determined would be more cost-effective. The Humvee is perhaps the most visible icon of modern warfare — bulky, tough, and ubiquitous on battlefields in Afghanistan and Iraq. But this year the Army said it would build them no more. The Army would not respond to questions about why it canceled the Fire Scout. Notifying Congress early this year that it was killing the program, it said it was focusing on other priorities. After the Army adopted the concept, it gave Northrop a 10-year deal and paid the firm $109 million to build eight Fire Scouts. But they are still sitting at Northrop Grumman’s Mississippi plant, unused. With little explanation, the service decided earlier this year that it didn’t need the aircraft after all. The concept of operations is an official document that is a crucial step in defense procurement. It lays out exactly how a weapon is supposed to work and what its mission will be, and provides the justification for pursuing its development. To get the Fire Scout off the ground, Burdeshaw did more than just set up meetings with key Army decision makers. It was hired by Northrop Grumman to write a “concept of operations’’ for the aircraft, according to retired General William Richardson, a former commander of the Training and Doctrine Command and an adviser to Burdeshaw. Burdeshaw was founded in 1979 and is one of the oldest “rent-a-general’’ consulting firms. It has a reputation for zealously guarding the identity of its clients, and even its headquarters seems deliberately low profile, housed above a Safeway grocery store in suburban Bethesda, Md. But before Northrop could get to work building Fire Scouts, it first needed to convince the Army the project was a good idea. For persuasive assistance, it turned to Burdeshaw Associates Ltd. As envisioned by Northrop Grumman, the Fire Scout — a nimble, remote-controlled surveillance helicopter — would help troops pinpoint enemies hiding beneath a jungle canopy. With hovering capability, it could peer into places a Predator drone could not. Tom Christie, a former senior Pentagon acquisition official, said the Humvee debate is a prime example of how defense companies gain by deploying retired generals. “They are very useful in opening doors.’’ In July of this year, Congress denied the Army’s request to shift more than $500 million to the refurbishment of Humvees and ordered the service to use the money to keep buying new ones. All that muscle appeared to pay off for AM General, which did not respond to a request for an interview. A third retired general helping AM General was General Paul J. Kern, a member of the Pentagon’s Defense Science Board, an official military advisory panel. Kern, who declined a request for an interview, retired in 2005 as the chief of the Army Materiel Command and was previously the service’s top acquisition officer. Kern, who served as president of AM General from 2009 to 2010, is also an associate at The Cohen Group, the consulting firm that includes a number of high-profile retired generals and admirals. Burdeshaw’s chief executive, retired Army General William Hartzog, who until 1998 commanded the Army Training and Doctrine Command, did not respond to repeated requests to discuss his company’s business. An official at Northrop Grumman’s Aerospace Systems Division who was not authorized to speak publicly disputed Richardson’s characterization of Burdeshaw’s work, saying the firm’s consultants crafted a series of briefing papers that helped make the case for the project, not an official concept of operations. Northrop Grumman declined to comment on the record about Burdeshaw’s work on the Fire Scout program. The Army Aviation Center in Alabama, which is responsible for all Army aircraft, did not respond to several requests to comment on how the documents provided by Burdeshaw were used. Retired officers frequently help industry and the military branches develop the concept or justification for weapons, according to interviews with military and industry participants. In other cases they try to influence weapons projects more indirectly: by passing along “white papers’’ and other documents drafted by their clients that question the rationale for awarding contracts to their competitors. Wallace, the Army four-star who retired in 2008 as the commander of the Training and Doctrine Command, said the phenomenon has grown in recent years. He cautioned that the Army should only use such private-industry analyses as a starting point for further work. “I hope [the Army] wouldn’t just take it and put an Army logo on it and say it’s ours,’’ said Wallace, who now consults for General Dynamics on the ground combat vehicle program, among other companies. “Doesn’t sound like a good idea to me.’’ Tapping a niche market The Four Star Group certainly lives up to its name. The Four Star Group certainly lives up to its name. The heavyweights on its consulting roster, all retired from the Air Force, served as chief of staff; deputy chief of staff; chief of the Space Command; head of the Materiel Command (Martin); and commander of the Air National Guard. The newest adviser for the group is former Air Force Secretary F. Whitten Peters. What sets these retired generals apart in the military consulting world — aside from the blatant way their brand touts their old command authority — is their market niche. They are using their influence and knowledge of the Pentagon to build a business in equity investing. The partners in the Four Star Group have an exclusive arrangement with a $3 billion private equity firm in Los Angeles, the Gores Group, which awards them an equity stake in companies that Gores acquires based on their advice. What Gores gets in return is knowledge about which companies are drawing attention from key Washington decision makers, or are developing technologies that will be in demand by the Pentagon. Through their relationship with Gores, the generals own shares, or could own shares in the future, in firms that make communications devices for soldiers, blast-resistant glass for embassies and military installations, and radar equipment. The Globe identified several other equity firms with defense expertise that also are deploying retired generals as part of an investment strategy. Critics say this emerging line of retirement business for generals raises thorny questions about their access to privileged Department of Defense information. “The big question is should they be using their contacts in the military to benefit their new investment?’’ said Charles Elson, director of the Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware. “At what point does your fidelity to the military dissipate or go away? Do the contacts they have in the military benefit their new operations?’’ But Bill Patton, a former corporate executive who helped set up The Four Star Group and is its chairman and chief executive, said the firm’s principal owners scrupulously avoid trading on privileged information. “I think this is how a company of ethical retired generals should operate,’’ he said. The generals’ role, he said, is limited to acting as “assisters, advisers, and introducers.’’ The demand for the generals who can guide investment decisions is expected to grow in the future, say observers of the trend. Retired Army General Wesley K. Clark, who now works as a lobbyist and investment banker for companies seeking alternative energy contracts, believes the growing hunger among private equity firms and Wall Street investors to enlist retired generals is a consequence of a broader phenomenon: the increasing importance of the military to America’s industrial base. “It is the militarization of the economy,’’ Clark said in a recent interview. Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com. © Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company. |
Economy The question is whether the revenue growth will sustain, and how to add the revenue capacity to the state. Following the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh in 2014, the newly-formed state of Andhra Pradesh comprising coastal Andhra and Rayalseema regions was faced with a major challenge: Hyderabad, the major source of revenue for united AP went to Telangana, and newly-formed AP had to figure out how to generate enough revenue and survive as an independent state. And if the AP budget 2017-18 is anything to go by, CM Chandrababu Naidu and his team seem to have done a good job of improving the revenue. Before we review the revenue performance of Andhra Pradesh from Budget FY2017–18, it is worth recollecting this statement by Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, the Finance Minister of Andhra Pradesh during the FY 2015–16 Budget Speech. “The State continues to reel under revenue deficit and this deficit continues even after the last year of the award of 14th Finance Commission. Our debt burden and fiscal deficit will continue to increase as we keep borrowing to meet revenue expenditure. This provides an understanding of how the state has been handling revenue deficit and fiscal deficit. In a financial year, revenue deficit occurs when the revenue expenditure is higher than the revenue receipts. Fiscal deficit, on the other hand, is the difference between the total expenditure and total receipts (including the borrowings), and is usually referred to as the percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at and Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) for a state.” After three budgets, the current dispensation in the state has made efforts to bring down revenue deficit while containing fiscal deficit within the limits. From an estimated Rs. 14,242 crores (2.72% of GSDP) in FY 2014–15, the revenue deficit, estimated to be a mere Rs. 416 crores (0.05% of GSDP) by the end of FY 2017–18, is a significant progress in improving the state’s finances. Similarly, the fiscal deficit target is set at 3% of GSDP during FY 2017–18; it was 3.88% of GSDP in FY 2014–15. While the revenue deficit and fiscal deficit targets for FY2017–18 look optimistic, it remains to be seen how the state manages to achieve this turnaround within three years, especially the revenue deficit. The decline in revenue deficit indicates an increase in revenue of the state, and thus requires an understanding of the revenue performance since the state was dismembered. Revenue Deficit and Fiscal Deficit (as Nominal values and % of GSDP). Source: http://www.apfinance.gov.in Revenue Performance of Andhra Pradesh (FY 2014–18) State revenues constitute two components — the state’s own revenues and transfers from the Union of India. State’s own revenues come from tax revenues through commercial taxes, registrations and stamps charges, and excise duty — and non-tax revenues are generated from general, social and economic services. The transfers from the Union of India are through grants, and tax devolutions. A change in these components will indicate whether the revenues are growing or declining. State’s own revenue Between the FY 2014–15 and FY 2015–16, the state’s own tax revenues increased by 33.67% — with above ₹40,000 crores as a possibility — and is predicted to increase steadily. The major contributors to own tax revenues are stamps and registration fees, state excise duties, taxes on sales, trade etc., and taxes on vehicles — each of them increased by 37.73%, 20.43%, 34.29%, and 46.33% respectively. Interestingly, the state is planning to increase revenues from taxes and duties on electricity. Andhra Pradesh State’s Own Revenues (in Crores). Source: http://www.apfinance.gov.in The non-tax revenue saw huge decline of 39.86% from FY 2014–15 to FY 2015–16, but stabilised at ₹4,000 crores, and can expect an incremental growth. In FY 2015–16 Budget Speech, the Finance Minister emphasised on increasing the state’s own non-tax revenue. We have plans to explore possibilities of increasing non-tax revenues as it will not impose any tax burden on the people. We have already engaged experts for this purpose. We are also in the process of studying the excise policy of Tamil Nadu to see whether there is any lesson to learn. To increase the state’s own tax revenues, the government of Andhra Pradesh has invested heavily in Information Technology, strict enforcement of Aadhar based registrations, improving transparency levels, and eradicating illicit distillations. These initiatives are expected to reap benefits and increase the revenues to the state. Perhaps, due to lower levels of industrialisation, and urbanisation, Andhra Pradesh has low tax-GSDP ratio compared to the neighbouring states. The 14th Finance Commission projected tax-GSDP ratio as 7.98% for FY 2015–16, and 8.41% by FY 2019–20. Efforts to increase the tax base will help increase revenues. Transfers from the Union of India The tax devolution from the Union of India has increased by 91.32% from FY 2014–15 to FY 2015–16, and is expected to grow steadily. While the increase in taxes is promising, the larger share of the grants-in-aid from the Union of India — over 50% of total Union transfers, and nearly 25% of the total revenues of the state — is a challenge in the long-term. Based on the Andhra Pradesh State Reorganisation Act, 2014, the 14th Finance Commission suggested revenue deficit gap to the state till FY 2019–20, and this component in grants-in-aid will end from FY 2020–21. The budget estimate of grants-in-aid for FY 2017–18 is higher than the actuals of FY 2015–16 and the revised estimates of FY 2016–17. The state has two years before the Union of India stops transferring the revenue deficit grant to the state. While the expectation of more grants till FY2019–20 is justified, the continuation of the same trend will pose challenges to any dispensation in 2019. Union Transfers and Total Revenues (in Crores) of Andhra Pradesh. Source: http://www.apfinance.gov.in Despite several challenges in revenue generation, the government of Andhra Pradesh and the Union of India have managed to tap the maximum revenues from the 13 districts of the state. FY 2017–18 is the third consecutive financial year for the dismembered Andhra Pradesh, and achieving this year’s targets of revenue deficit and fiscal deficit provides a better outlook on the revenue generation capabilities of the state. The question is whether the revenue growth will sustain, and how to add the revenue capacity to the state. Public investments, urbanisation, the size of manufacturing and commercial sectors (industrialisation), and openness of the economy are key components of revenue capacity of the state. The onus is on both the state government and the Union of India to strengthen the revenue base, improve revenue generation and financial situation of Andhra Pradesh. The author is a volunteer with The Takshashila Institution - An independent networked think tank on India's strategic affairs. Note: This article took several inputs from the paper “Simple tools for evaluating revenue performance in a developing country” by Mahesh Purohit. |
A former Tang Center doctor, who was charged with 19 counts of sexual assault against six former patients, is now being sued by the parents of deceased campus alumnus Elgin Stafford. Stafford was found dead in March in the Dominguez Channel in Carson, Calif., after being reported missing for a week. Stafford, 23, graduated from UC Berkeley in 2010 before enrolling at the University of Southern California for graduate school. The cause of Stafford’s death is still unknown, but his parents claim that he committed suicide after being unable to cope with alleged incidents of sexual assault from former campus physician Robert Kevess, who worked at the campus for nearly 22 years. The Stafford family filed the suit on June 29, claiming that Stafford committed suicide after being sexually abused by Kevess multiple times while being treated for a sexually transmitted disease in 2010. According to the suit, as a result of Stafford’s repeated sexual abuse and violations, he was “plagued with nightmares of sexual violation, felt intense shame, humiliation and anger and suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.” Kevess’ attorney Robert Beles said that Kevess’ alleged conduct did not in any way cause Stafford’s death. “The suit doesn’t seem to stand up, because the coroners have not ruled suicide as the cause of Stafford’s death,” Beles said. “There doesn’t seem to be a connection with Kevess’ actions and Stafford’s death.” According to the suit, Kevess subjected Stafford to both physical and mental examinations, attempting to gain Stafford’s trust. Kevess told Stafford that all the physical examinations were simply regular procedures. Kevess allegedly gained Stafford’s trust by having him share intimate information including “family history, romantic and sexual relations, self-esteem and body-image issues.” The suit states that Kevess then used Stafford’s trust to perform “unnecessary and shocking prolonged prostate exams.” Campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof said that prior to the first complaints the campus received, there were no warning signs of any kind that Kevess would commit these acts, even after extensive background checks on Kevess. “The allegations made by the district attorney are very serious, and if they are proven to be true, it is unacceptable,” Mogulof said. “After hearing the complaint we acted immediately and removed Kevess from his position and began an investigation immediately.” Kevess pleaded not guilty to the original sexual offense charges at an arraignment April 28. The suit states that the center’s negligence and lack of investigation into Kevess’ prior conduct failed to keep patients safe. “We are extremely saddened by the news of Stafford’s passing,” Mogulof said. Kevess resigned last year and accepted an interim suspension of his medical license after the 19 complaints of sex crimes were filed by the Alameda County District Attorney in April 2011. Correction(s): A previous version of this article misquoted campus spokesperson Dan Mogulof as saying “the allegations made by the attorney are very serious.” In fact, Mogulof said it was the district attorney’s allegations against Kevess that are very serious, as the Alameda County District Attorney originally charged the former UC Berkeley physician with 19 counts of alleged sex crimes against former patients in April 2011. |
The increase would amount to €12 extra a week for those working full-time. The increase would amount to €12 extra a week for those working full-time. IT’S BEEN RECOMMENDED that the government increases the national minimum wage by 30 cent. The Low Pay Commission has released a report examining the state of the economy and recommending that the current minimum wage should be increased from €9.25 per hour to €9.55 per hour. Taoiseach Leo Varadkar welcomed the announcement today, admitting that it was “a modest increase” but also “ahead of the rate of inflation and average increases in earnings”. The government wants everyone to have an opportunity to share in the ongoing recovery. Increasing the minimum wage will help to achieve that goal by providing an absolute minimum for earnings. It would be the fourth increase in the minimum wage since 2011, but still leaves quite a gap between the minimum wage of €10.50 per hour that’s in the Programme for Government. Labour, although welcoming the move, has said that the minimum wage should be raised to over four times that amount to €10.50, saying that the current increase is a “very small step in the right direction”. “Frankly, this government has a lot to be modest about when it comes to delivering on its own promise that work should pay,” said Labour Senator Ged Nash. “Even when combined, the two increases over which they have presided still falls short of the 50 cent increase we managed in a single year and on foot of the first Low Pay Commission report which was published this time two years ago.” Tánaiste and Minister for Jobs Frances Fitzgerald also welcomed the recommendation, and said that she would introduce proposals to address zero-hour contracts, low-hour contracts, banded hours and other issues in the workplace. The government will review the recommendations after the summer recess, and the Budget for 2018 will be announced in October of this year. From 2016: The government is considering raising the minimum wage by 10c |
If you love something, let it go. If it's meant to be, it'll come back. The Los Angeles Kings signed forward Andrei Loktionov to a professional-tryout contract, the team announced Thursday. Loktionov was a fifth-round pick of the Kings in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. He went on to play a total of 59 regular-season games and two playoff contests with L.A. from 2009-12 and was part of the 2012 Stanley Cup-winning team. He also played for the New Jersey Devils and Carolina Hurricanes before leaving for the KHL following the 2013-14 season. He finished his first NHL stint with totals of 22 goals and 48 points over 155 games. Loktionov spent the past three seasons with Yaroslavl Lokomotiv of the KHL, totaling 29 goals and 64 points in 140 regular-season games. He played in the postseason each year and was a standout in the 2016-17 playoffs, scoring four goals and adding eight assists in 15 games. |
In the latest episode of CNN's Parts Unknown, director Darren Aronofsky (Pi, Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan) tags along with host Anthony Bourdain on a trip to "nowhere" — or, rather, to Madagascar, an island off the coast of South Africa. For a country with rich reserves of oil, most of the population struggles with poverty and hunger. Adding a wrinkle to the journey is the fact that Aronofsky recently became a vegetarian. As it happens, most Malagasy (as the people on the island are called) don't eat meat at every meal. They cannot afford it. The poverty of the country is at times crushing, and though communities host feasts and festivals, the sheer lack of luxury of any kind is stark. The country's 22 million people live on an average of less than $2 a day. While Bourdain is known for painting a picture of each country or city's extremes, it becomes clear that the cast and crew had a hard time finding the kind of excess available in other parts of the world. No where is this more apparent than at a final train stop. Aronofsky and Bourdain are starving and in search of food, but are unable to eat the food they acquire because they are surrounded by starving children and end up giving away their small snacks. "This is fucked up," they are caught on camera saying to themselves, somewhat overwhelmed by the scene in front of them. Here now, the 21 best one-liners from Parts Unknown: Madagascar. 1. On the first restaurant Bourdain goes to with Aronofsky, which specializes in pork head: "This is what you call being passive aggressive, I think. Pork. My favorite vegetable." 2. On a popular notion of how to save Madagascar's economy: "The best case scenario that everybody seems to raise is that ecotourism will save the day... To me, this is not an ideal option..." 3. On the rural economy south of the city: "Rice is the difference between life and death." 4. On the lay of the land: "Between the traditional slash and burn agriculture... and the imperative of charcoal as heat source, much of the traditional forests that cover Madagascar are gone." 5. On the nearly extinct greater bamboo lemur that popped through the brush to pee on the cameraman: "Hopefully that's not an editorial statement." 6. After Aronofsky pricks his finger on a potentially deadly plant: "Hopes for Black Swan 2: The Revenge, were dashed today..." 7. On Aronofsky's solo treks through the forest while a cow is killed by locals in a sort of sacrificial ceremony: "For someone with as dark a world view — judging from his films anyway — as the newly vegetarian Mr. Aronofsky, he seems unusually uncomfortable with the bleeding realities of local customs." 8. On riding an antique train with surprised locals: "First class. We ride in style... wow, [the train] works...I hope that's not a pitying look on some of their faces..." 9. On the train route: "For the majority of the 17 station stops along the line, this train provides the only connection to the outside world." 10. On Aronofsky's train cocktail contribution: "Darren woke early and hit the hotel kitchen to make the necessary fresh lychee puree for festive cocktails..." They christen the drink, "The Golden Lemur." 11. On poverty, and being extremely hungry after seven hours on a train with no food: "It's hard to complain about the lack of food options." 12. After more time on the train, and daybreak on the shore: "This is what it's like at the end of the world." 13. On the spiders in the sleepy beach town of Manakara: "That is a disturbingly large spider, I would be unhappy if I saw that coming across my pillow." 14. On the local wildlife: "Dude, it's a chicken." 15. On Aronofsky's analysis of what the local wildlife must eat — "corpses" — Bourdain notes: "You are such a downer, such a Debbie downer!" 16. On the table full of food: "It should be noted, we bought a lot of food. This amount of food is unusual in these parts." 17. In the local village, on how everyone is served: "First ladies serve the men, then they serve the kids. It may not be our system, but it is a system, and it becomes clear that everybody will eat." 18. Again, on Aronofsky's new diet: "You picked a bad time to become a vegetarian, you really did." 19. After the meal, during a spontaneous party: "We all forget where we came from and where we might be for a little while." 20. On the evolving landscape: "If you'd been here, chances are you would have seen it differently." 21. And on taking it all in: "It may look simple. But the harder you look the more complicated it gets." |
New Avengers: Infinity War Set Images Tease Iron Man, Doctor Strange, and Pure Destruction Marvel has a pretty intense schedule before the next superhero team-up film Avengers: Infinity War. Spider-Man is getting his first solo Marvel movie on July 7th of this year with Thor: Ragnarok and Black Panther following closely behind. All of these movies will lead into the two part fight against Thanos for the Infinity Gauntlet. In the meantime, moviegoers may want to keep their eyes peeled for new information such as new Infinity War set images that show what appears to be more destruction in New York with Tony Stark, Doctor Strange, and Bruce Banner standing amidst the rubble. Taken while on set in downtown Atlanta, Georgia, the latest Infinity War images show off quite a bit of rubble somewhere on the “streets of New York” where casually clothed Bruce Banner and Tony Stark have a conversation with Doctor Strange and Benedict Wong in full costume. Not featured this time around are Spider-Man, Black Widow, Captain America, Thor, or many other said to make an appearance in the film. It’s no secret that some of the actors from the series of the MCU are looking to retire from their characters. Kevin Feige confirmed that this may be the end of the line for some of them in the upcoming movie which may include Robert Downey Jr’s Iron Man character. Another possibility would be Chris Evans’ Captain America, whose contract ends after Avengers: Infinity War Part II. The MCU will continue to move forward bringing comic books to life for fans all across the globe. Are you excited for the upcoming team-up film? Let us know what you think of the Infinity War set images and more in the comments section below. As always, don’t forget to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter for 24/7 coverage of all things gaming and entertainment. |
U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., announced Tuesday he would place a hold on the President Obama's nominations for the deputy defense secretary and the defense under secretary for policy. McCain told The Hill that Robert Work, the deputy defense secretary nominee, on Tuesday after Work's confirmation hearing that the former Navy under secretary was "derelict in his duties" for not reading a Government Accountability Office's report on the Littoral Combat Ship. Work said during the hearing that the Pentagon's proposal to drop LCS production from 52 to 32 was "very normal with Navy ship building." In response, McCain said he was "stunned" Work had not read the GAO report that cited cost overruns and confusion over the LCS mission. The Arizona senator placed a symbolic hold on Work and Christine Wormuth, the defense under secretary for policy nominee, in what is more or less a symbolic move since the nominees no longer need to be confirmed by the Senate Armed Services Committee before the entire Senate votes on the nomination. McCain told The Hill that his hold is also partially a symbolic protest to the Senate rule changes by Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., that are often referred to as the "nuclear option." "They can nominate any bozo they want, the way it is now. I mean, look at the ambassador nominees. People who have never been in the country are clueless who are now going to be made ambassadors," McCain told Kristina Wong of The Hill. Wormuth didn't avoid McCain's wrath during Tuesday's confirmation hearing. He didn't accept Wormuth's answer that Al Qaeda is a persistent threat when he asked if the threat was receding or growing. McCain referenced a map presented during the hearing that showed the expansion of Al Qaeda influence in Africa. Eventually, Wormuth said elements of Al Qaeda are growing. |
There was strange weather across the nation over the weekend, but no one dealt with a more blustery day than the one that affected the Denton (Texas) Guyer High game against Trophy Club (Texas) Byron Nelson High. Just ask Byron Nelson's punter. As you can see in the rather bizarre video above, Nelson was the victim of one of the most bizarre safeties you will ever see; not only did the ball not go downfield, it ended up in the Nelson end zone, all without a blocked kick. Scroll to continue with content Ad After lining up for a punt on its own 27-yard line, the unidentified Nelson punter gave the ball a boot only to see a remarkably stiff wind knock it directly backwards. The football rolled to the Nelson end zone and rested there, sending both Nelson and Guyer players scrambling to try and recover it. Eventually, a Nelson player got to the ball first, handing Guyer two free points and the ball back. Of course, getting the ball back in Guyer's hands would require the exact process that led to the safety; kicking into a stiff wind. Luckily for Nelson fans, the resulting free kick actually did travel downfield, though not too far. Just more than two minutes after the safety, Guyer was back in the end zone celebrating a touchdown that all but ensured the school's 53-28 victory. Of course, that victory might not have been quite so notable if it weren't for two safeties, one of which Guyer had absolutely no role in causing itself. "It was very weird, and from the grace of God those balls bounced our way and those safeties really helped us," Guyer quarterback Jerrod Heard told the Denton Record-Chronicle. Want more on the best stories in high school sports? Visit RivalsHigh or connect with Prep Rally on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. Story continues Outside the Game from Yahoo! Sports: Other popular content on the Yahoo! network: • Lance Armstrong's bio lands on fiction shelf • Watch: Can Ravens win without Ray Lewis? • Fantasy: Week 7 early pickups • Y! News: Romney raises record $170 million |
Jiangsu police break up child pornography site with 90,000 members image courtesy of Modern Express Jiangsu police arrested three men involved in a discontinued child pornography website Modern Express newspaper reported on June 7. At the site’s peak, “YouYou Resource Network” apparently featured 45,000 pictures and videos of young girls performing sexual acts, and had 90,000 registered members. Three men involved in managing the site were arrested on charges of creating a pornographic site and collecting illegal dues. Police were tipped off about the site in February 2014, when the Xuzhou “internet police” discovered a website named “Youyou Resource Network,” which featured a large number of pornographic images and videos involving young girls. Patrols immediately reported the site to the Quanshan Public Security Bureau, who determined the site administrator went by the username of “half-step vicissitudes of life.” The site was sourced from Xuzhou, and police believed the administrator was really a man surnamed “Liu.” Then, suddenly, the site closed. “Liu,” the suspected online administrator, disappeared. Two weeks later, a new porn site named “Lolita Valley” was opened. Police continued to investigate, but the site administrator remained one step ahead of officials, changing the domain name to “rescue angel,” “I love faint” and, eventually, “I love UU.” Police tracked the sites, and found heavy interaction between users named “half-step vicissitudes of life” (Liu) and “sister girl.” On May 13, after careful analysis, police identified “sister girl” as a 29-year-old Sichuanese man surnamed Ma. Ma was arrested three days later at a residential complex located in Panzhihua, Sichuan. Police searched Ma’s apartment for information about Liu, the original site administrator, and, a day later, located and arrested the Nanjing man. During interrogation, both Ma and Liu mentioned a user named “Pak,” who provided technical support for the site. But “Pak” was just the man’s PayPal account name. Neither man knew his real identity. Police tracked the account, and identified “Pak” as a Shenzhen man surnamed Chen. On May 20th, Chen was captured and arrested on charges of creating a pornographic site and collecting illegal dues. Liu and Ma were arrested for similar charges. After review, police found that Chen founded the site in 1996. The Shenzhen man made approximately 6,000 yuan in profit and, later, decided to sell the site to Liu. The Nanjing man managed the site, and met Ma online. Eventually, Ma and Liu ran the site together, and charged members 100-500 yuan per month for registration. |
Brazen attacks on Parliament Hill in Ottawa and in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., last week have renewed concerns about homegrown extremists and the ability of Canadian security agencies to identify and monitor potential threats. On Wednesday, Michael Zehaf-Bibeau went on a shooting spree in the nation's capital, fatally wounding a soldier at the National War Memorial and entering Parliament Hill before being shot dead. Earlier in the week, Martin (Ahmad) Couture-Rouleau rammed two Canadian soldiers in a parking lot in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que. One of the soldiers, Warrant Officer Patrice Vincent, later died of his injuries. Couture-Rouleau was killed after a police pursuit. The RCMP says Couture-Rouleau was on a list of 90 people under surveillance in Canada because they're suspected of wanting to join militants fighting abroad. Here's a look at the agencies involved in identifying and trying to neutralize the threat of radicalism in Canada. CSIS: Canada's spy agency The Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) looks for threats inside Canada and is essentially the "clearing house where all the security intelligence threads come together," says Christian Leuprecht, a security expert affiliated with the Royal Military College and Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. CSIS, which is headed by director Michel Coulombe, was recently given enhanced powers to track potential extremists. (Chris Wattie / Reuters) According to the agency's website, "countering terrorist violence is the top priority for CSIS." Through a combination of agents in the field and electronic surveillance, CSIS investigates threats and produces intelligence for the government. While CSIS has the ability to monitor a suspicious individual, the way it gathers evidence does not necessarily meet the standards for a criminal conviction, says Leuprecht. He says that when CSIS feels there is enough evidence on a suspect for a criminal investigation — say, reasonable cause to suspect a person is planning to carry out an attack — it will hand the file over to the RCMP. CSEC: Canada's cyberspy agency The Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) monitors email, telephone and satellite communications — also known as "signals intelligence" — to identify security threats to Canada outside the country. While CSEC says it only looks at foreign communications and does not actively track Canadians, the agency has acknowledged that it cannot do its job without gathering at least some Canadian information. When it comes to potential radicals, CSEC shares information with CSIS as well as Canada's allies in the Five Eyes, a transnational intelligence-sharing agreement. 'The Five Eyes' This is the colloquial name for a treaty involving Canada, the U.S., Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand to share all electronic intelligence on mutual threats. FinTRAC: Looking at money trails One of the federal government's priorities in confronting the threat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) threat is identifying people who may be supporting extremist groups financially. One instrument for that is the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada, or FinTRAC. John Forster is head of the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), which monitors 'signals intelligence' outside of the country. (Fred Chartrand/Canadian Press) Based in Ottawa, FinTRAC investigates suspicious financial transactions within Canada. The hitch, says Leuprecht, is that it us up to banking institutions to bring such activity to FinTRAC's attention. In a recent interview with The Canadian Press, FinTRAC director Gerald Cossette said the centre's main role in Canada's current anti-terrorism campaign is "to respond, basically, to the demand for information from our security partners — be it CSIS or the RCMP." RCMP Bob Paulson, the current RCMP commissioner, recently told a House of Commons public safety committee that his agency is engaged in 63 active national security investigations into 90 suspects identified by CSIS. Canada's national law-enforcement agency not only carries out investigations of suspected radicals but has also created an outreach program to forge links with Muslim communities in Canada. The idea is to make people in those communities feel comfortable enough to provide tips in the case of suspected radicals. Lorne Dawson, chair of the department of sociology and legal studies at the University of Waterloo and an expert in radicalization, says that RCMP personnel have shown they are "well-informed, well-intentioned and have the capacity to make sincere contact" with members of the Muslim community. Dawson acknowledges that some people in Canada's Muslim community are resistant to the outreach because they feel it reinforces a stigma that all Muslims are extremists. But he says the RCMP's initiative "seems to be working," citing multiple instances where tips from the community have led to significant investigations, including the thwarted VIA bomb plot. INSET: A multi-agency anti-terrorism initiative After the 9/11 attacks, the Canadian government formed the Integrated National Security Enforcement Teams (INSET) to "track, deter, disrupt and prevent criminal activities of terrorist groups or individuals who pose a threat to Canada’s national security." Led by the RCMP, these specialized teams include officers from the RCMP, CSIS, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Citizenship and Immigration Canada and police forces at the municipal and provincial levels. According to Public Safety Canada, INSET teams are operating in Alberta, B.C., Ontario and Quebec. Local police forces In recent years, police forces at both the provincial and municipal levels have become more engaged in combatting the terror threat, says Scott Tod, deputy commissioner of investigations and organized crime with the Ontario Provincial Police. Tod is also co-chair of the Counter Terrorism and National Security Committee, an initiative created by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to share information and training on how to neutralize "violent extremism in our communities in Canada." Tod says that like the RCMP, police services across the country have created outreach programs to trade information with Muslim communities. "It's about building trust with communities," says Tod. "There are still people that don't trust and will doubt our intentions," but he says that these programs are "vital." |
SfC Home > Physics > Thermal Energy > Temperature Scales by Ron Kurtus (revised 13 November 2014) A temperature scale is a way to indicate or measure temperature relative to a starting point (0 or zero) and a unit of measurement. This is usually done by defining some physical occurrences at given temperatures—such as the freezing and boiling points of water—and defining them as 0 and 100 respectively. Then the unit can be determined by dividing the range into 100 units or degrees. The major temperature scales used are the Fahrenheit, Celsius, and Kelvin scales. The first major temperature scale was the Fahrenheit scale, which is still used in the United States. Its temperature unit is somewhat awkwardly defined. Afterwards, the centigrade or Celsius scale was established. Celsius is considered metric or SI and is used throughout most of the world. The Kelvin scale is a variation of the Celsius scale that starts at absolute zero and is used in scientific measurements and in many heat-related calculations. You can use a formula to convert a temperature in one scale to another. Questions you may have include: How was the Fahrenheit scale determined? What are the Celsius and Kelvin scales? How do you convert between scales? This lesson will answer those questions. Useful tool: Units Conversion Fahrenheit Around 1700, a German scientist Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the thermometer by putting water in a thin glass tube. The warmer the temperature, the higher the water went up the tube. To be able to measure temperature with numbers, Fahrenheit had to determine a unit of measurement. Just as the measurement of weight and length was based on multiples of an arbitrary unit of measurement (the pound, gram, inch, meter), the measurement of temperature is based on an arbitrary unit of measurementthe degree. Fahrenheit defines units Fahrenheit used his body temperature as 100° F (100 degrees Fahrenheit) and the freezing temperature of saturated salt water as 0° F. He marked those levels on his thermometer and divided the scale into 100 parts for each degree. Poor choices The choices of his body temperature for 100° F and the freezing temperature of salt water for 0° F were unfortunate. Fahrenheit's metabolism was higher than most people, so 100° F for him resulted in 98.6° F as the body temperature for the average person. Fahrenheit designated the freezing temperature of water saturated with salt as 0° F. But that certainly is not the coldest temperature you can experience in winter weather. It also makes the freezing point of water an awkward 32° F. Since ocean water is not saturated with salt, it freezes at 28° F. U.S. still uses it What is more amazing than this poor selection of temperature units is the fact that countries such as Great Britain and the United States embraced that system of measurement. England has since gone to the the Celsius scale, while the U.S. still stays with the Fahrenheit scale. Metric temperature units The metric or SI (System International) units of temperature are Celsius and Kelvin. Celsius About 20 years after Fahrenheit invented the thermometer, Swedish professor Anders Celsius defined a better scale for measuring temperature. He proposed using the boiling point of water as 100° C and the freezing point of water as 0° C. This made a lot more sense, and it was called the centigrade system. (Centi- means hundred and centigrade means divided into 100 units.) The centigrade scale was used until the 1960s, when the scientific community renamed it the Celsius system in honor of the inventor. Some people still call it the centigrade scale. Europe and most of the world measures temperature in Celsius units. Kelvin For scientific work with the energy of molecules, it is good to have a starting point where the energy level is at a lowest possible state. This point is called absolute zero. The Kelvin scale was determined based on the Celsius scale, but with a starting point at absolute zero. Temperatures in the Kelvin scale are 273 degrees less than in the Celsius scale. Thus absolute zero is -273° C and the boiling point of water 100° C is 373 K or 373 kelvins. Note: There is no degree sign (°) when using the Kelvin scale. Don't ask me why. That is just the way they wanted to do it. There is also the Rankine scale, which also starts at absolute zero but is based on the Fahrenheit scale. Since most scientific work is done based on the Kelvin scale, the Rankine scale for absolute temperatures is seldom used. Converting between systems Because Fahrenheit is used in the United States and Celsius is used almost everywhere else, you may have to convert degrees from one system to another. A simple way of doing that is by using the following conversion application: Temperature Converter Enter a number in one box and then Click Here. Use the reset button to clear the numbers. °F °C Click Here If you have to learn to make the calculation by hand, the following equations are used: Celsius to Fahrenheit The formula to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit is: F = 9C/5 + 32 In other words, if C = 100° C (boiling point of water), then F = (9 x 100)/5 + 32 = 212° F Fahrenheit to Celsius The formula to convert Fahrenheit to Celsius is: C = 5(F - 32)/9 In other words, if F = 50° F , then C = 5*(50 - 32)/9 = 5*(18)/9 = 10° C Celsius to Kelvin Converting from degrees Celsius to Kelvin is simple. K = C + 273 Thus, if C = 10° C, the Kelvin temperature would be 283 K. Summary Temperature is designated as a multiple of a unit of temperature. There are three major temperature scales used, The United States uses the Fahrenheit system of temperature units. The metric unit of temperature is Celsius, which is used throughout most of the world. A scientific unit is the Kelvin, used in many heat-related calculations. Maintain your integrity Resources and references Ron Kurtus' Credentials Websites Physics Resources Books Top-rated books on Measuring Temperature Questions and comments Do you have any questions, comments, or opinions on this subject? If so, send an email with your feedback. I will try to get back to you as soon as possible. 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Here at Cisco Umbrella, we have a culture and passion for giving back to the technical community. This has included projects such as: our free consumer OpenDNS service, our free Enterprise Premium DNS Service, Phishtank, DNSStream, BGPStream, DNSCrypt, and several other open source projects and data sources. With that, we are very excited to announce the Cisco Umbrella 1 Million — a free list of the top 1 million most popular domains. This project came from our most recent hack-a-thon where we had more than 300 participants across 3 different countries hack for 24 hours. Hack-a-thons are an important piece of our engineering team’s culture and showcases their passion to build. On the heels of the announcement that the Alexa 1 Million list was not going to be available for free anymore, the idea was that we have the data and the means to provide an alternative. The data itself is based on the Umbrella global network of more than 100 Billion requests per day, across 65 million unique active users, in more than 165 countries. Although the data source is quite different from Alexa’s, we believe it’s arguably more accurate as it’s not based on only HTTP requests from users with browser additions. The way the ranking is computed is not as simple as the net sum of all DNS queries. We have built our own popularity algorithm which uses the number of unique client IPs visiting this domain, relative to the sum of all requests to all domains. We take a score of how many different client/unique IPs go to this domain compared to others, and then rank the domains based on that. Our domain (vs site) ranking reflects the popularity of internet activity over any port or protocol from any application and not just web activity over port 80 from browsers. So, moving forward we will be publishing the list of the top 1M domains in order of popularity. This also included the TLDs (top level domains). For example did you know that google.com is more popular than aggregating all queries for the entire .org TLD? LIST FORMAT One comma delimited tuple per line Rank first, followed by domain EXAMPLE 1,com 2,net 3,google.com 4,org 5,googleapis.com 6,facebook.com 7,microsoft.com 8,www.google.com 9,doubleclick.net 10,g.doubleclick.net We hope you enjoy our new data set and please follow us on twitter for updated news on the latest Cisco Umbrella 1M lists and features. The Cisco Umbrella 1M data is available free of charge here. This post is categorized in: |
by Sherrie Wilkolaski Where would romance be without the written word? Or is it the other way around? If you think about it, love is what drives so many authors to write. Whether it is the love for another person, or being passionate about a particular subject, love is most seemingly, on one level or another…always involved. We credit authors like Shakespeare and Lord Byron for our classic love stories, but I think we should be complimenting their inspiration. Perhaps the subject of their affection wasn’t even aware of the role they played in the writing process. How scandalous. When researching a family tree it’s rare to find things like, “Aunt Hilda on your father’s side inspired Shakespeare’s, Romeo and Juliet. She waited tables in his local pub.” Perhaps the story behind the story, is even more more interesting than finding out you’re a direct decent of Shakespeare himself. It is fascinating to know the history of where a character comes from and what the motivation was to create the details surrounding a personality or a piece of work. Jane Austen, who is the real, Mr. Darcy? As an author you’re having a romance with your writing every time you put pen to paper. For all of your writers out there, today is the day to think about where your own inspiration comes from. You may want to thank your own personal muse, by writing something special, with them in mind, on this hallmark of holidays. Would you be as good a writer without that extraordinary someone or something in your life? Happy Valentine’s Day! Photo courtesty of Billy Frank Alexander Design. |
Simply put, “Water Light Graffiti“, an installation sprung out of DigitalArti Artlab in Paris, was a surface on which passers-by could leave ephemeral messages. More specifically, it was a panel made of thousands of LED lights which are moisture-sensitive, meaning that all it took to sketch a message was a paintbrush, a water atomizer, a water gun, or simply anything damp. Antonin Fourneau, a french artist, had in sight the objective of creating a surface which allowed for demonstrations of graffiti that didn’t deteriorate the urban space. Thus, for the demonstration that took place in the city of Poitiers between July 22 and 24, the Digitalarti Artlab team invited Painthouse, a graffiti collective, to share its art and messages with the visitants. Water Light Graffiti by Antonin Fourneau, created in the Digitalarti Artlab from Digitalarti on Vimeo. |
The network is reliable • Comments Written by David Boike on July 6, 2016 This article is an excerpt from the book Dr. Harvey and the 8 Fallacies of Distributed Computing which chronicles the misadventures of Dr. Harvey Fallacious, a 19th-century explorer and researcher, and also my great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. In it, he details his travels and explorations in remote, then-uncharted regions of South America, unknowingly dealing with the repercussions of the 8 Fallacies long before they were written down by Peter Deutsch, let alone the birth of the computer age. On the use of tin can phones in primitive culture In the spring of that year, my travels brought me upon a previously undiscovered civilization. The people called themselves Ossians, and they lived in an isolated collection of villages in a remote part of South America. Being remote as they were, their level of technology was understandably primitive. But I was surprised by the locals' recent obsession with new forms of communication. It all started, they told me, when one of them discovered that by attaching a rope between two clay pots and stretching the rope taut, a voice uttered into one side could be heard on the other. (I neglected to tell them that even as a boy I had done this very thing with tin cans.) At first it was children doing it, but quickly the village elders recognized the advantages that communication over distances could bring, and so they strung ropes all throughout the village. "A clay pot in every home!" became a rallying cry for modernization. While the clay pot network worked well enough locally, it didn't take long for problems to begin cropping up as they attempted to distribute the network to surrounding villages. Proper rope tension could not be maintained over long distances, necessitating the placement of repeater stations (simple one-room huts) across the landscape, manned by a human operator who would listen to messages from one pot and relay them down the line toward the receiving end. This all worked quite well — until a relay operator would miss an incoming message while outside the hut answering a call of nature or until a predator chewed through a transmission rope. Clearly not a perfect system, but improvements are ongoing. Dr. Harvey Fallacious November 25, 1834 The network is not reliable Anyone with a cable or DSL modem knows how temperamental network connections can be. The Internet just stops working, and the only way to get it going again is to unplug it for 15 seconds. (Or, put another way, "Have you tried turning it off and on again?") Thankfully, better solutions exist for professional data centers than consumer-grade modems, but problems can persist. As a company that does reliable messaging, we've really heard it all. Don't worry, the names will be changed to protect the innocent. A registered ISP had two routers: a primary and a backup. One day, the primary router malfunctioned. They switched to the backup, only to find that its routing tables had not been updated in a very long time. For many customers, that was the day the Internet died. In another case, a project used an Oracle database. Everything worked great in the development environment, but in production there was an additional load balancer and firewall. Every once in a while, the load balancer would silently drop TCP connections to the database. These faulty connections continued to sit in a connection pool, so the next time somebody needed a connection, they would get an exception. Just recently, on June 12, a single ISP in Asia broke the Internet for a big section of the world, creating Internet problems in Europe. In general, you can't trust any network, no matter how local or global. Hardware, software, and security can all cause issues. This is codified in the 1st fallacy of distributed computing: the network is reliable. This is especially problematic for HTTP communication or any request/response or remote procedure call (RPC) style of communication. Consider the following simple web service call: var svc = new MyService(); var result = svc.Process(data); How do you handle an HttpTimeoutException ? This is an exception that's generated on the client side when there's a problem, but you can't know what went wrong because you haven't gotten a response. Data can get lost when sent over the wire. It's possible that the web service call actually succeeded but the response got lost somewhere on the Internet. If the web service represents an idempotent operation (a process that can be repeated without any adverse side effects), then it can simply be retried. But what if that process charges a credit card? Solutions To provide a truly reliable system, you must accept that cross-network communication will not always be possible. Because we can't guarantee that an attempt at communication will be successful, we need to provide a facility to automatically retry after failures. To protect against failure while in the midst of a retry, we can use a pattern called store and forward. Instead of directly sending data to a remote server, we can store it in local storage. This way, when we boot up again, we are ready to continue right where we left off. We can use transactions to ensure that we keep retrying until processing succeeds. This rises above the level of a simple retry loop around a web service invocation, which would fail if the server it was running on crashed. We need additional infrastructure to make these guarantees. Asynchronous messaging There are many different technologies out there, called reliable messaging or message queuing systems, that solve these types of problems. On the Microsoft platform, the best known one is Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ), and on Azure, there is Azure Queue Storage and Azure Service Bus. Outside the Microsoft ecosystem, there is RabbitMQ, ActiveMQ, and ZeroMQ. Basically anything with "MQ" at the end is an indication that the product fits within this family of technologies. These queuing technologies wrap up something like a web service call into an isolated, discrete unit of work called a message. The message queue employs store and forward to ensure that the message gets to where it needs to go. It can facilitate automatic retry, as message processing can be attempted over and over, even after a system crash. Some even support transactions, so that the message is only fully consumed if the business transaction is successful. This way, a guarantee can be made that each message is successfully processed exactly once. Techniques exist to enable "exactly once" processing in in environments like the cloud, where distributed transactions are not feasible, but that is outside the scope of this text. Queuing technologies hold an additional advantage over a simple retry loop. For example, if we were attempting to create a customer and received an HTTP timeout, we would have no way of knowing if the server received the data and was simply unable to respond or if, rather, the data never arrived at all. Retrying brings with it the possibility for server-side duplication. If we retry the attempt to create the customer, we may accidentally create the customer twice. Message queues bring with them the concept of a message ID so that the server can decide whether an attempt is a retry or not. In essence, messaging allows deduplication on the server side. Abandon request/response Asynchronous messaging requires a slight change in thinking because it does not provide the ability to do the traditional request/response seen in typical web service calls. Sending a message to a message queue is a fire-and-forget operation. You drop a message in a queue, and eventually it makes its way to the server and the server will process it. You do not get an immediate return value on the next line of code. Ultimately, by solving certain infrastructure issues, asynchronous messaging forces you to redesign the logical flow of your system. This is the difficult leap of queueing technologies: not that they have an API that is difficult to use (they don't), but that they require letting go of more traditional request/response programming models. Unfortunately, you can't just take a system using HTTP, plug in a queue, and ship it. It requires a significant redesign, and sometimes rewrite, of your system. That can be scary, but the results are worth it. Summary Compared with a few decades ago, networks are fairly reliable — except for when they're not. As we continue to build larger and more globally distributed systems, we make ourselves susceptible to all the bad things that can happen. In order to deal with this, we're going to have to move away from synchronous request/response-type programming. The object-oriented model of invoking a method (known as remote procedure call, or RPC) tends to break down to conditions when the network is unreliable, putting our system into a non-deterministic state that is very difficult to get out of. In the last several decades since the creation of the first computer networks, we have been unable to completely solve the problem of network reliability. It stands to reason that this will not change in the next 5–10 years. We need to learn to build systems that will work in this environment today. About the author: David Boike is a developer at Particular Software who first got into computers because he couldn't find a long enough string for his tin can phone. |
We’ll just say that again: It’s raining spiders in Brazil. (We’d go on to say “arachnophobes, stop reading now,” but realistically that’s unnecessary, as it’s hard to read Grist List while you’re in a fetal position under your desk with your eyes squeezed shut.) You can see it for yourself, if you can handle the creeping shivers that will run down your spine: Spiders like these live in colonies of thousands. THOUSANDS. And they make gigantic webs — webs more than nine feet in diameter. NINE FEET. That’s what you’re seeing here: several thousand spiders and their incredibly large web, from which many of them are falling onto the ground. Apparently, it’s pretty normal for this to happen with this type of spider, if “normal” is truly a word you can apply here. But, yah. We’re glad it doesn’t happen anywhere near us. One spider at a time is all we can deal with. |
The New York Knicks are a better team without Joakim Noah on the court. They can’t just go back to him when he gets healthy again. Phil Jackson couldn’t wait to boast about Joakim Noah at his new center’s introductory press conference with the New York Knicks back in July (via Marc Berman of The New York Post). “Joakim is somebody who has been on my list for a long time,’’ Jackson said. “Like to have this guy as a leader with the defensive attitude that he carries and likes to promote. Most players and a lot of coaches recognize this.” That last bit about players and coaches was Jackson’s way of saying that the media criticism towards the Noah signing meant nothing because only a player or coach could understand the value of a guy like Noah. Nobody in the media could comprehend it. That was vintage Phil. The decision to sign a big man with a bad injury history on the wrong side of thirty to a four-year, $72 million contract last summer was vintage Knicks. Overpaying for an aging veteran is a typical move for a franchise that hasn’t won a championship since 1973 and made it out of the first round of the playoffs only twice in this millennium. It doesn’t matter who’s running the show; things are always the same. Let’s take a closer look at the most recent flop. The playoff-hopeful Knicks are ten games under .500 in the pathetic Eastern Conference. The franchise might be stuck with Noah for three more seasons, but that doesn’t mean he needs to play. It’s an indisputable fact that the Knicks are better when Noah isn’t on the floor. The evidence is overwhelming. The Knicks had their best win of the season on Sunday against San Antonio while he watched from the bench. Noah has missed the last four games due to a hamstring injury. When he’s healthy again, the Knicks can’t go back to a player who only hurts them. New York’s original starting lineup of Noah, Kristaps Porzingis, Carmelo Anthony, Courtney Lee and Derrick Rose has been a monumental flop. Per NBA.com, the five have a net rating of -5.2. There are 84 five man lineups that have shared the court for more than 100 minutes this season and the starting five that New York has trotted out in 28 games and shared the court for 396 minutes ranks 71st. The combined salaries of those five players make up over 77 percent of their payroll. The Knicks invested a lot of money in a unit that doesn’t work. It hasn’t been all Noah’s fault, but he should take the brunt of the blame. The former Defensive Player of the Year has been far from the defensive anchor the front office hoped he’d be. Per NBA.com, the Knicks are outscored by 6.0 points per 100 possessions in the 1,015 minutes Noah has been on the court. That’s the second worst mark on the squad. The team allows 2.4 points per 100 possessions more when Noah is on the court and opponents are shooting 56.6 percent when he’s defending the rim. Out of the 77 players who defend four or more shots at the rim per game, Noah ranks 72nd. As the glue that held Tom Thibodeau’s Bulls together, Noah commanded respect. Think Draymond Green. He finished fourth in Most Valuable Player voting in 2013-14 while averaging just 12.4 points per game. Since that remarkable season, Noah has been on a sharp decline. He’s missed 78 games out of a possible 220 after missing a total of 98 in his first seven seasons combined. In his prime, Noah was the best post defender in the league. Multiple injuries have caused that skill to take a serious dip. Noah’s allowing opponents to shoot 51.0 percent on 65 possessions with their back to the basket. Noah contributes almost nothing on offense to the point where the Knicks are playing four on five when he’s on the floor. His defense always made up for his lack of offensive skill in the past. In fairness, Noah’s not completely useless. He can still rebound. Noah leads the league in offensive rebound percentage. Unfortunately, that doesn’t produce many points. Noah gets his hands on the ball a lot for putback attempts. According to NBA.com, he executes a putback play at a higher rate than any other player in the league (35.1 percent). Noah has only converted on 40 of his 93 attempts for 43 percent. That places him in the 16th percentile of points per possession. The passing skills we heard about haven’t translated to his new team. Noah is averaging his lowest assist total (2.2 per game) since the 2010-11 season, and he’s showing very little creativity when he does distribute. Noah has made 40.0 percent of his passes (via NBA.com) to former teammate Derrick Rose this season. Noah’s made 740 passes to Rose, and only 12 have resulted in assists. According to NBA.com, Noah has made 1,850 passes this season, but all that dishing has only led to 103 assists. He has assists on just 5.6 percent of his passes. Ouch. Noah doesn’t stray outside the paint on offense (when he does things like this happen), so it’s not a surprise that 185 of his 202 FGA have come in the restricted area. The surprise is the alarmingly low rate at which he’s converting on those attempts. Per NBA.com, Noah has made only 51.4 percent of his attempts in the restricted area and 47.4 percent of his layups. For context, the league averages are 60 percent and 56.5 percent respectively. New York has started Noah in all 46 games of which he’s been available. Falling back into that pattern will be an easy mistake for head coach Jeff Hornacek to make. The extreme of removing Noah from the rotation altogether probably isn’t an option yet. He is a well-respected veteran, so he’ll get another shot to prove himself. That is something Noah will have to do because the bench has been showing him up all season long. Rookie Willy Hernangomez has endeared himself to fans with his smooth post moves and hard work on the defensive end. Kyle O’Quinn is in his second year with the team and despite sporadic playing time has shown himself to be a more effective player than Noah. The Knicks could go with either Hernangomez or O’Quinn in Noah’s place. The people’s choice would be Hernangomez. He started in the San Antonio win and posted 12 points and 9 rebounds. If Hornacek continues to resist the temptation to go small Hernangomez is the way to go. The plethora of options to replace Noah isn’t what’s on trial here. Anyone would be a better choice than the two-time All-Star. There’s a reason Phil Jackson hasn’t spoken to the New York media since Sept. 22. He doesn’t want to talk about his mistakes and Noah is chief among them. You don’t need to play in the NBA to recognize this. |
At London’s MCM Expo I was able to sit down with Marvel and DC Comics artist John McCrea. Honestly, in my wildest dreams I didn’t think this would happen. When I rocked up to London MCM Expo all the way back in October I expected to discuss the British Comic Book Industry Spotlight with a lot independent artists, writers and editors but I doubted any creators working for Marvel or DC Comics would have the time. That’s not to belittle either type of creator, it’s just as a rule of thumb that the independent creators have a little more time for projects like this. I have tried to give every perspective I can on the British Comic Book Industry over the last few weeks but here’s a new one, how does someone in the mainstream feel about the industry? I was with this question that I approached artist John McCrea, famed for working on just about every character in the industry including Batman to Hulk to Star Wars. PL: One of the things the British Comic Book Spotlight looks at is the life of the artist, what advice would you give to someone who wants to break into the comic book industry? JM: From the very beginning, just draw all the time. Just draw all the time, but draw comics. A lot of people come to me with portfolios and it’s pin-ups. You need to draw comics, you need to show you can draw sequential art. If you want to be a comic artist, don’t just work from your own scripts, work from scripts that are prewritten. Download stuff from the internet. Buy a comic, don’t read it, get somebody to write out the story for you and draw it up from their script. I’ve always found that was a good way to work because you can then compare your work to an established artist and see where your shortcomings are. If you write your own stuff, you will write what you want to draw and not what you have to draw. You end up having to draw a lot of stuff in comics that you never expected you were going to have to draw and it pushes you. So you have to push yourself from the very beginning, even when you are trying to break in. Also, just show your work, go to conventions and get your work under the noses of editors, have a webpage, have deviant art, have all the social media you can. Because everybody else is doing it so you have to do it too. If you can get stuff sent to editors do. A small piece of advice, if you are sending something to Marvel don’t send DC Comics stuff to Marvel and vice versa cause that really hacks them off. PL: How did you break into the Industry? JM: When I was trying to break in I looked at it seriously and considered what I would have to produce every month. For most artists, that is a monthly book, which is twenty or so pages of art. So I said, every week I am going to draw four to five pages of comic. The first week I did Judge Dredd then I sent it to Titan and 2,000AD. The second week I did Spiderman stuff and sent it to Marvel. The third week, Batman to DC Comics and the fourth week I did American independent stuff, where I drew something published and sent it to them. With each month I repeated the process and I did that for four years. I figured, that’s what I am going to be doing so I might as well get used to it. The thing is, it has really prepared me for the workload that has come with drawing monthly books. There’s a lot of discipline in comics because most people work from home and so you have got to be able to work from home and not be distracted from producing the work that’s required. It’s so easy with the myriad of distractions around now. Discipline and practice are the most important things for any artist looking to start out. You will eventually get asked to draw the Human Torch juggling dogs on a bicycle and you need to be prepared. PL: Would you say that it is important for a creator to be business-minded in the industry now? JM: Oh God yes! Absolutely. You are a freelancer so half of your business is business as well. Unfortunately, you can’t just be great at drawing comics without any idea of how to look after yourself and your interests. One, almost essential, bit of advice on that is when you get paid have two bank accounts. One account for tax and bills and another for spending, then when the money comes in put the twenty five percent for tax and all your bill money in the bill account. Many creators I know have gone bankrupt because they have spent all their money and forgotten about their bills or taxes. It sucks, but it’s the way it is. PL: You have worked on a lot of super hero related projects, do you think there is a growing gap in the market for new genres of comic books? JM: This what is happening right now. Image have come along and changed the entire playing field. I’m working on my own Image book at the moment actually, and while it is about big concept crazy stuff it’s not about super heroes. The readership for comics has changed. There is now a much greater percentage of female readers than ever before, and most of them don’t really want to read about men in tights. So with the Walking Dead and Saga there the medium is expanding away from super heroes more and more. I think it’s a great time for other genres to come to the foreground. Image are my go to company, pretty much every book I buy is an Image book now. I think it’s because there are a lot of good quality writers and artist doing books that they really care about. PL: One of my favourite Image comics is Matt Fraction’s Sex Criminals run, which I think takes note of the female readership more as there are a lot of different women in the book with varying body types. How do you feel that the growing female readership is reflected in the art of industry now and your own art work? JM: They are putting real women in comics, crazy but there you go. I work with Garth Ennis most of the time, Garth doesn’t really write women characters. He tends to write around world war two and lot about male rites of passage, all that John Woo stuff. When it does come up however, I do try to give women at least a passing resemblance to reality. I don’t want to make them look all silicon. PL: Finally, is there anything that you are currently working on that you would like tell our readers about? JM: I’ve got few books coming out across winter, I’ve got Section Eight Issue Five and Six published by DC Comics and written by Garth Ennis. Then I’ve got Mythic Issue Five coming out which is published by Image and written by Phil Hester. That’s my creator owned book and it’s the book I am the most proud of. How can you get involved? If you are interested in looking at the work of a British artist in the mainstream industry it is certainly worth checking out both ‘Mythic’ from Image and ‘Section Eight’ from DC Comics as they are both great examples of how the mainstream is changing to reflect the independent market. You can also follow John McCrea on his website at: http://www.johnmccrea.com/ and on Twitter at: @mccreaman. If you want to locate your nearest convention try: http://www.mcmcomiccon.com and check out my article on London’s MCM Expo here. Photography by William Shacklady |
Enjoy this moment, Troy. Really. Enjoy it. Stick around, I’ll remind you why. As a freshman some terrifying 13 years ago (fuuuck), I remember going 6-6 and losing by a total of less than 30 points. I remember thinking we might be good. That we might have some good years. I remember my sophomore year meeting Pete Carroll on the Row. I asked him how we looked. He sounded the same way he sounded when he won the Super Bowl. Like Uncle Pete. I remember thinking that I’d love to play for a guy like that. I remember wondering if he was right. I remember taking a piss at the Orange Bowl after Iowa ran back the kickoff for a touchdown. I remember the overweight Iowa fan who made some mention of So Cal plus some vaguely homophobic slur. I remember telling him to meet me at half-time because it was going to get pretty shitty. Storm’s coming, homeboy. I remember by the time I was back at my seat, we were figuring out new ways to embarrass the weak ass Big Ten. The dude never met me back at the bathroom. I assumed he had left early with the rest of the Hawkeyes. I remember most of my time since then was realizing how bad the Big Ten is, at least where Troy is concerned. Penn State. Whack. Michigan. Hail to the victors must be a song about us. Illinois, oh yeah we played you too. Kinda forget for a second. JUICE WILLIAMS! Ohio State, it was close at the Horseshoe when our quarterback was a freshman. It was embarrassing when you came to visit. I’m probably forgetting a Big Ten team. Probably because they are mostly forgettable teams. I remember spanking top ranked Auburn on the road. I remember spanking Oklahoma. I remember spanking Arkansas worse than any team every spanked them in their stadium a year after spanking them harder than any team ever spanked them in history. I remember that Arkansas team won their division in the SEC, don’t let them tell you that team with Run DMC was weak. And then I remember the flood. The deluge of total and utter bullshit around sanctions. The shit we thought wouldn’t stick because the evidence pointed to a hard-to-prove infraction and then suddenly the punishment was indicative of far worse. A seemingly “failure to monitor” type penalty went full blown “lack of institutional control” and we got slapped with a hard backhand. I remember wondering how the now dead guy from Miami made the ruling and didn’t live to see his school barely wrist-slapped for buying drugs, hookers and abortions for their players. I also remember all the articles of our demise. I remember that even with four coaches, 30 less players and a nation of haters, we won ten games two times. Most our conference wish they won ten games two times in the last thirty years. UCLA went 29-24 since we got sanctioned. USC went 35-17. Where was the structure fire? There’s been a few bumps, namely a couple losses to UCLA that in a way are great because it’s been a long time since I gave a shit about playing them. For all their hype, we still put them in a position to take a sloppy seconds trip to the Pac-12 Title Game and after they lost, enjoyed them petitioning the NCAA to give them a bowl berth despite being 6-7 only to lose the bowl game and finish 6-8, the worst team ever to play in a bowl. UCLA is the gift that keeps on giving. Can’t wait to see how they handle the pressure of people not thinking they suck. I mean, for all the images of Matt Barkley getting knocked out of a game on a blindside sack, I pretty much can’t get past the 50-0 game that happened. A couple wins doesn’t erase that. Just like the John David Booty loss to UCLA was such a point of pride, but history forgets in a month we just came back and won another Rose Bowl in their stadium. Well, it’s kind of our stadium. Our oddly located one. But let’s talk about what happened here during sanctions, our making lemonade out of lemons and pouring vodka into it. Well, bourbon for me, but you know… I remember coming into prominence. I remember this stupid blog becoming a t-shirt empire. I remember hosting two pep rallies at Galen. I remember the high fives at the Coli, the shouts of “BEARFIGHTER” and the shots of bourbon offered by fellow Trojans. They never did sanction the endzone. If a 7-5 record is sanctioning the endzone, Colorado should be excommunicated from having a football team. In a time where UCLA ran no less than three ads proclaiming we were dead, we dealt them their worst defeat since electric lightbulbs and frankly had a better record then them in each year we were sanctioned or on probation. Sure, they have gotten back into the fray and I am for that. But let’s keep it realer than a fart in an elevator. If UCLA had gotten sanctioned in the same manner, you think they’d go 35-17? I think they’d have had between 35 and 17 people showing up to watch them lose. The sanctions are over, but we’ll still be short scholarships for now. And that’s fine. It’s fine because UCLA is getting a brief moment in the sun and using it to unveil new uniforms called “LA Steel.” They are draining the ocean from their basketball gym and they get their shot. They earned it, I guess? Now we have Sark. That was Pete’s guy. The guy Mike Garrett cock-blocked while he was making things worse with the NCAA (even though they never had a real case and pretty soon those files will be unsealed, FEELS GREAT CAN’T WAIT). He’s upgrading the offense. He’s recruiting like an animal. We don’t have distractions in Kiffin, sanctions or frankly, Coach O. We’re just gonna play football and that’s pretty fun. We get to enjoy revving up the war machine again. When you are on top for a decade, you let it get stale. You all read this, you all made me a cult figure at my college because it was pretty crazy how hard the NCAA came for us. But, four years later, who would you rather bet on? USC or the NCAA. Hate to break it to you, but we pretty much won. Yeah, they need to bleed out. Yeah, they need to make changes and call them progress. Whatever. You hit like a toddler, NCAA. You barely bruised the apple. The NCAA is so soft they literally acknowledge the championship we “gave up.” Why? Because they list co-champs all over their own website and since the AP never took our title away, it never got taken away. The people who took our title away literally acknowledge they were unable to take our title away. #ARROGANT So, here’s what’s going to happen as we climb back to prominence some time in the next five years, as we have in just about every decade since we created football (and don’t say the 1990s were hell, we won a Rose Bowl and that’s more than basically our whole conference has done ever). We’re going to get our depth back. There was a time where we’d offer full rides to players we didn’t necessarily want, but our rivals did. Mainly this was just to fuck them over. With no limits on offers again, this has started again. It is a vicious cycle for the Oregons and UCLAs and ASUs and Stanfords. We can offer to players we need less than they do and elite high school guys want to prove they can do it. Deep down, they know who puts the most players in the NFL (facts!) and how little our conference wins anything outside of Troy. I mean, the last time anyone in our conference won a national title that wasn’t USC was in 1991. I was 9. I had never been to California before. We’re the only relevant conversation in west coast football and while living in Portland has softened me to the Ducks, it’s also exposed me to the mentality of expecting the wheels to come off. You walk around Portland the day after the Ducks lose, it’s not anger. It’s not shock. It’s a feeling of “I saw this coming” and I had to move here to understand. How depressing is that! That’s why Arrogant Nation is still better than bacon (kind of). It’s not just that we’re on top the most. It’s the fact we’re good at being on top when we’re there. And everyone knows when we aren’t on top, we’ll just get back there again. It isn’t fair. Blame the NCAA for that. They sure did their best to slow us down for a hot minute to the tune of 35-17. #rough Enjoy right now. Enjoy right now because we’re far from back, but we’re only heading that direction again. Anyone who tells you otherwise is ignoring a century-long pattern of taking breaks between winning. This time, our break was a bunch of winning seasons that the world considered failures. 35-17. MUCH LOSSES. SO FAILURE. We’re almost through it. Doesn’t matter what happens this year. It’s that we’re going to have a lot of fun soon. I won’t be convinced otherwise and neither will you. I know how the story ends. Happy fall returning. Happy footballing. Happy ups and downs. In the end, we’re going to be on top again. Whenever. I’m just excited to go for the ride. You guys can be my DD. CLICK HERE TO JOIN ME ON FACEBOOK FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER BECAUSE I TWEET PROFESSIONALLY I’M ON INSTAGRAM @ZACKJEROME |
A Twitter account that claims to represent the Nusra Front, an Al Qaeda affiliate and ISIS rival, in Deir ez-Zor, eastern Syria, published photos of 16 letters allegedly from ISIS commanders in Syria. ISIS deserters who joined the Nusra Front allegedly leaked the letters, posting them with the hashtag #HackingTheSecretMessagesOfBaghdadiState. The letters include (unverified) commands written by commanders of several ISIS provinces in Syria, for militants fighting on the battlefields. All of the letters are dated and signed with the blue ink stamp of “The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.” The letters include instructions for sending car bombs to a certain village and suicide bomber to kill a specific Nusra Front leader, as well as instructions for sieging and bombing the city of Deir ez-Zor. These letters even include an order to take responsibility for last month’s terror attack in France. For the time being, ISIS has not broadcast a response and it’s impossible to confirm the authenticity of these documents. Translation: “To the brother Faruq al-Jazrawi in the information office of the (Islamic) State…please work diligently to take responsibility for the operation in France, in every way possible way. Make contact with the brother who is responsible as soon as you can, he is in the information center of the Deir ez-Zor province. And pass him this issue.”; Stamp: “The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Raqqa province.” (Jan. 13, 2015) الرسالة16 #اختراق_الرسائل_السرية_للدولة_البغدادية الأمر بضرب مدينة #الشحيل بسيارة مفخخة ( وراح ضحيتها اطفال ابرياﺀ) pic.twitter.com/AVxEbIBEqf — ديرالزور جبهة النصرة (@abja77) February 15, 2015 “To the brother Abu Ahmad al-Tunisi–please prepare a car bomb to attack the non-believers of Shejil (a town near Dir e-Zor), and send one of the brothers from the (Arab) peninsula for this operation.”; Stamp: “The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Deir ez-Zor province.” (May 13,2014) الرسالة 9 #الرقة #اختراق_الرسائل_السرية_للدولة_البغدادية الأمر بعدم توزيع الحصص الإغاثية الا على جنودهم pic.twitter.com/riaK5fUXc1 — ديرالزور جبهة النصرة (@abja77) February 5, 2015 Translation: “To the brother Abu Imad, please distribute the relief goods only to the Mujahideen brothers (ISIS fighters) and to no one else.”; Stamp: “The Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Raqqa province” (Aug. 22, 2014) |
WASHINGTON, DC, December 17, 2012 (ENS) – A leaked early draft of the UN’s latest climate change study shows human activities to be responsible for climate warming that will take centuries to reverse, even if greenhouse gas emissions were to stop right now. “Many aspects of climate change will persist for centuries even if concentrations of greenhouse gases are stabilised. This represents a substantial multi-century commitment created by human activities today,” states the draft report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “For scenarios driven by carbon dioxide alone, global average temperature is projected to remain approximately constant for many centuries following a complete cessation of emissions,” the draft states. “Thus a large fraction of climate change is largely irreversible on human time scales, except if net anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions were strongly negative over a sustained period.” “More comprehensive and improved observations strengthen the evidence that the ice sheets are losing mass, glaciers are shrinking globally, sea ice cover is reducing in the Arctic, and snow cover is decreasing and permafrost is thawing in the Northern Hemisphere,” states the draft. Blogger Alec Rawls leaked the draft on his website: www.stopgreensuicide.com. The leaked document, is part of the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report. It is formally titled, “The Second Order Draft of the Working Group I contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis.” Rawls, a climate skeptic and an official “expert” reviewer of the assessment, said he regards his confidentiality agreement with the UN’s IPCC as “vitiated by the systematic dishonesty of the report.” Rawls’ complaint focuses on climate forcings, the initial drivers of a climate shift. Solar irradiance is one example of a forcing, greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere are another. Rawls complains that he “can have no confidence” in the IPCC authors’ conclusion that “natural forcing is small compared to anthropogenic [human] forcing.” Based on this lack of confidence, Rawls writes, “I believe that the leaking of this draft is entirely legal, that the taxpayer funded report is properly in the public domain under the Freedom of Information Act, and that making it available to the public is in any case protected by established legal and ethical standards…” The IPCC said in a statement today that it “regrets his unauthorized posting which interferes with the process of assessment and review.” The IPCC declined to comment on the contents of this and all draft reports, “as they are works in progress.” The IPCC report is scheduled for publication in three parts starting in September 2013. A final summary due in October 2014 will complete publication of the assessment. It is intended to inform negotiators from 194 countries who are writing a new global climate treaty that governments have agreed will be adopted by 2015 and take effect by 2020. More than 800 authors from around the world are involved in writing the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report, which follows four previous assessments, issued in 1990, 1995, 2001, and, most recently, in 2007. The IPCC said, “It should also be noted that the cut-off date for peer-reviewed published literature to be included and assessed in the final draft lies in the future (15 March 2013). The text that has been posted is thus not the final report. This is why the IPCC drafts are not made public before the final document is approved.” That said, the preliminary conclusions in the leaked draft are alarming. “Assessment Report 4 concluded that warming of the climate system is unequivocal. New observations, longer data sets, and more paleoclimate information give further support for this conclusion. Confidence is stronger that many changes, that are observed consistently across components of the climate system, are significant, unusual or unprecedented on time scales of decades to many hundreds of thousands of years,” the draft states. “Globally averaged near surface temperatures have increased since the beginning of the 20th century and the warming has been particularly marked since the 1970s. Each of the last three decades has been significantly warmer than all preceding decades since 1850,” says another conclusion. “Based on independent observational systems and datasets, and their agreement, it is virtually certain that the upper ocean has warmed since 1971, and that ocean warming dominates the change in the global energy content,” according to the draft. Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2012. All rights reserved. |
France's president promised Sunday to take a hard line toward Iran in upcoming nuclear talks this week as he began a three-day visit to Israel. Francois Hollande's message was sure to be welcomed by his Israeli hosts, who have voiced concerns that an emerging deal with global powers gives Iran too much without getting enough in return. "France will not make concessions on nuclear proliferation," Hollande said at a welcome ceremony at Israel's international airport. "France will maintain all its measures and sanctions until we are certain that Iran has renounced nuclear weapons." Iran's suspect nuclear program will be high on the agenda of Hollande's visit. France is a member of the six global powers conducting negotiations with Iran. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been outspoken in his opposition to a potential deal in which the international community would ease some sanctions on Iran in exchange for some curbs on Iran's nuclear program. The countries fear that Iran is trying to build a nuclear weapon, a charge Iran denies. Netanyahu's strong objections have raised tensions with the US, which said his concerns are premature. US officials, seeking to calm concerns in Israel and among its allies in Congress, say Iran will get only minor relief from the painful sanctions under the international proposal. Hollande, accompanied by his girlfriend Valerie Trierweiler, was welcomed by an honor guard at Ben-Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv. "Israel sees in France a true friend," Netanyahu said at the ceremony, thanking Hollande for his positions on Iran. "Iran must not be armed with nuclear weapons," Netanyahu said. "This wouldn't just endanger Israel and the countries in the Middle East but it would also endanger France, Europe and the entire world." Speaking in Hebrew, Hollande said: "I will always remain a friend of Israel." Israel views a nuclear-armed Iran as a threat to its very existence, citing Iran's repeated calls for the destruction of the Jewish state, Tehran's long-range missile program and its support for violent anti-Israel groups like the Hezbollah in Lebanon. Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Netanyahu has repeatedly called the potential agreement between the six powers — the US, Russia, Britain, France, China and Germany — and Iran a "bad deal." He says international pressure should be increased, not eased, to pressure Iran into dismantling what he says is a military nuclear program. "I hope we will be able to convince our friends this week ... to reach a much better deal, and it's possible to obtain that because Iran is under economic pressure and by the continuation of this pressure — and even by increasing it — can lead to a much better result of a diplomatic solution in peaceful ways," Netanyahu told his Cabinet ahead of Hollande's arrival. Netanyahu said the Iran talks would dominate discussions with Hollande, as well as meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday. US Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to visit Jerusalem on Friday. Israeli President Shimon Peres, in a speech welcoming Hollande at the airport, applauded the French president's "unflinching stance to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon." "Iran seeks to dominate the Middle East with nuclear arms and long range missiles. We stand, together, against this attempt which hangs as a dark shadow over the skies of the Middle East. In fact over the skies of the entire world," Peres said. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. By signing up, you agree to our Privacy Policy Both Netanyahu and Hollande said this week's meetings would also discuss the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. Since their launch in late July, the US-brokered negotiations have run into trouble, and both sides have said no progress has been made. Hollande is to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas later in the West Bank during his visit. Netanyahu tried to play down his differences with US President Barack Obama, saying that disagreements happen even between the "best of friends" and that it is his government's duty to protect its interests. |
The latest version of the Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game Rules Reference is now online! This update contains the usual streamlined rules, clarifications, new questions, and other minor changes that come with refining the rules. In addition, today’s update includes errata and a change to claiming rings with multiple elements that players should ensure they read about. Learn why these changes were made directly from the developers in the paragraphs below, and then download the new Rules Reference to see all the changes for yourself! Click on the image above to see the new Rules Reference. This update goes into effect immediately. Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game Developers on the New Rules Reference Over the past three months, we’ve been getting rules questions submitted to us through the Rules Submission Form on the website when players encounter confusing card or rule interactions. These questions, combined with common questions that have been asked of judges at our major tournaments, have helped inform us on how to best update the Rules Reference, both to clarify rules interactions and to provide a Questions and Answers section that should address a number of interactions that may have eluded or confused players. This first major Rules Reference update contains a large number of changes. Most are additional clarifications regarding how the rules operate, often addressing corner cases that occur with certain card abilities in the Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game Core Set and the Imperial Cycle. There are a few areas, however, that we would like to draw attention to and comment on. Frequently Asked Questions The biggest addition to the document is a new “Questions and Answers” section. This section contains a number of questions that we have been asked, either through the Rules Submission Form or by players at events. In addition to answering the question at hand, we have included full explanations of why the cards or rules in question interact the way they do and which other areas of the document those interactions are derived from. Card Errata The second major addition to the Rules Reference Guide is a section for Card Errata. Errata is a tool that we, as developers, occasionally use to make sure that the game functions in a fun and engaging way. While it is a situation we strive to avoid, a card is sometimes released with text that is not working in a desirable manner. Errata overrides the originally printed information on the card it applies to, and the card functions as the errata would indicate. It is a tool we use very sparingly and with great consideration. With this update, there are three newly-released cards from the Imperial Cycle whose functions, while intuitive, were not in line with the existing rules. Therefore, we’re issuing errata to ensure that they function as intended. As with any errata, any future reprint of a card will contain the errata text so that new versions of the card contain up-to-date information. Kaiu Inventor (The Chrysanthemum Throne, 63) Kaiu Inventor was intended to modify the ability of a holding until the end of the round, allowing you to get an additional trigger out of it. However, because the card was printed with the text, “you may trigger each of that holding’s triggered abilities an additional time each round,” it made it seem as if the duration of the effect was indefinite and that you could apply the Inventor’s ability to the same holding multiple times. Kaiu Inventor now reads, “…each of that holding’s triggered abilities an additional time this round” to clarify how it should function. Pit Trap (The Chrysanthemum Throne, 73) The rules dictate that when a character has an attachment whose attachment condition becomes invalid, the attachment is discarded. Because Pit Trap says, “Attach to an attacking character,” the attachment would become illegally-attached as soon as the character was finished attacking, making the card useless. While the intended effect was intuitive, we have applied errata to make the card function as intended. Pit Trap now reads, “Attach to a character. Play only on an attacking character.” Ride Them Down (Fate Has No Secrets, 99) As printed, Ride Them Down lacked a duration. Once resolved, the effect would set the base strength of the attacked province to one for the rest of the game, which would create problematic memory issues. We have added a duration by adding, “…until the end of the conflict.” to the end of the effect. Mulligan Rule In the previous version of the Rules Reference, it was always clear that a player could only mulligan the cards in their provinces once, but it was less clear whether the players were allowed to look at the newly-added cards to their provinces before they drew their starting conflict hand. The phrasing has been changed to better clarify how mulligans should be played, and a clarifying bullet point in the Mulligan section of the rules explicitly states that players may look at the cards in their provinces after performing their mulligan, but before they draw their starting conflict hand. Ruling Reversal: Claiming Rings with Multiple Elements In the original Rules Reference, a player could not trigger the effects of Keeper Initiate or Seeker Initiate when claiming a ring that gained the Air element with Seeker of Knowledge. The question was basically: at the moment of transition, when a ring moves from the status of contested to claimed, does it maintain the characteristics it had while it was contested? Our original ruling was no, it did not. However, having seen more players play with these cards, and having discussed the matter further among the design team, we have concluded that this interpretation was unintuitive and difficult to explain. Because of these findings, we are reversing this ruling—and documenting the new ruling in Rules Reference v1.1—to bring the game more in line with people’s expectations and improve their experience. With this update, a ring is still considered to be contested until all reactions to its being claimed are complete. Thank you for reading, and may you bring honor to your clan! ~Tyler, Brad, and Nate Download the new Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game Rules Reference now to read the entire update. If you're planning on playing in an event, make sure to read the changes so you're prepared! As always, game rules, tournament regulations, and other support materials for Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game can be found on our Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game page. |
Religion in Iran Following the 1979 Revolution, Iran voted by national referendum to become an Islamic Republic and to approve a theocratic constitution. The preponderance of religiosity in Iran is the Twelver Shi’a sub-branch of Islam (the official state religion) constituting approximately 90 to 95% of the population (CIA World Fact Book, 2014). Approximately 5 to 10% of the population belong to the Sunni Branch of Islam, aggregating a total Muslim population of 99.4%. The remaining less than 1% of the population are non-Muslim minorities, including Bahá’ís, Christians, Hindus, Jews, Mandeans, Yarsanis, Yezidis, and Zoroastrians. The Constitution of Iran officially recognises three minority religions along with the State religion of Islam – Christianity, Judaism and Zoroastrianism –all have reserved seats in the Majlis (Iranian Parliament) and, under the constitution, are protected religious minorities who may worship freely and have autonomy over their own matters of personal status such as marriage, divorce and inheritance. The significant non-Muslim religious minority, the Bahá’í faith, is not officially recognised and adherents have faced persistent persecution during its existence in Iran. The International Religious Freedoms Report (2009) and the United Nations suggest that there are currently 300,000 Christians in Iran, constituting 0.37% of the total population. Operation World (2010) suggests this figure is somewhat higher at 390,000, constituting 0.49% of the population. Christianity is the fastest growing religion in Iran at an average annual rate of 5.2% whilst the non-religious population is estimated at 210,000 (0.28%) and has the fastest annual growth rate at 7.2%. The other major religions in Iran are Bahá’i with approximately 300,000 (0.4%), Jewish with 15,000 (0.02%) and other religions constitute around 112,000 (0.15%). The Apostasy Law Islam is a religion of law, rituals and duties that culminate in an all-encompassing religious, social and political system and way of life. By adopting a theocratic constitution, Iran’s legal system became founded on Islamic shari’a law that is based on the Qur’an and the hadith (the collected sayings and deeds of Muhammad), which hence are seen to be divinely inspired texts and therefore unchangeable. Shari’a is a legal structure of codified and detailed rules that are pervasive throughout every Muslim’s life from family affairs to behavioural norms to politics and economics. Analogous to other political systems, breaking shari’a law has a prescribed set of punishments associated with the degree of the crime. Additionally, shari’a law identifies certain specific crimes deemed to be committed against Allah and his rights (Hudud, singular Hadd) and are therefore subject to a separate category of criminal law as they are divinely mandated and therefore obligatory. It is from this category that apostasy, defined as religious disaffiliation, in which a person renounces their religious beliefs, incurs a God-prescribed penalty of death. The apostate laws are only applied asymmetrically as conversion to Islam is both welcomed and actively encouraged. Apostates can be reprieved if they revert back to Islam within a given time period. Taking account of the nature of the Iranian state as an Islamic theocracy, and Islam’s apostasy laws, the paradoxical religiosity conversion of Muslims to Christianity that is observed in Iran is remarkable. The robust growth experienced by Christianity, and even the apparent rejection of religion by significant numbers of people, suggests that the current apostasy laws do little to deter the questioning of the credence and the verisimilitude of the Islamic doctrine portrayed in Iran. The perceived threat posed by Christianisation and secularism to the Islamic State (acknowledged in public statements by the Supreme Leader and other influential leaders in October 2010) has increased the persecution of religious minorities in Iran as the Mullahs consistently inveigh non-Muslims to consolidate the Islamic State. This rhetoric was encapsulated by the proposed bill in September 2008, which approved amending the ambiguity on the language on apostasy which could be later codified into Iranian legislation. Judges currently revert to Islamic law for apostates in order to pass the death sentence; however, should the bill be mandated this will endanger the lives of all converts from Islam. |
“These are freshly cut flowers from the Netherlands infected with western California flower thrips,” the chief sanitary inspector for Rosselkhoznadzor, Yekaterina Slakova, said in a televised appearance as workers burned boxes of roses. The tit for tat has been so obvious that even pro-Kremlin commentators have dropped the pretense, saying the flower burning is intended as a warning to the Netherlands over risks to trade if the investigation proceeds unfavorably for Russia. “This is connected to the Malaysian Boeing,” Sergei A. Markov, a former member of Parliament in the pro-government United Russia party, said in a telephone interview. “Russia is certain that the Dutch government is falsifying this investigation,” he said, but cannot say so directly. The stepped-up flower inspections, he said, are the Kremlin’s means of communicating displeasure with the inquiry. “It is an attempt to talk in not such an obvious way, softly, a bit byzantine,” Mr. Markov said of the message of the flower burning. “I generally like byzantine. But this is not a great quality in this case. Our diplomats should have just called things by their names.” Dutch floral industry officials agree that the flower inspections have been mostly for show, so far. With its greenhouses, auction houses, and trucks and trains running like clockwork, the Netherlands provides an estimated 40 percent of all fresh-cut flowers and houseplants sold in Russia, last year worth about 283 million euros, or about $314 million at the current exchange rate. |
Our BNG Prerelease Cheat Sheets Are Here! We make handy PDF cheat sheets of all the valuable cards from new sets, and the Born of the Gods ones are here. Due to popular demand, we’ve made them both alphabetically listed and price-sorted, so you can use either that you prefer. BNG Cheat Sheet (Price Sorted Version) BNG Cheat Sheet (Alphabetical Version) If this is your first pre-release, we’ve got a handy article for you, written by Kelly Reid (who founded QS). You can find it here on Forbes. First Impressions On The Price Lists First, I haven’t seen a list this low-value since Dragon’s Maze. BNG is likely to be a lot of fun to draft, but just about all of the mechanics revolve around that. Beyond a banner Planeswalker and Xenagos, we’ve just got Brimaz to look forward to opening. I’ve got a feeling that Cat Power is going to be the Voice of Resurgence in this set – the card that stays high because the set has to be worth enough for MTGO redeemers to cash in on (that’s a big topic, one I’ll go into somewhere else). If you don’t need these cards this weekend, then you can safely wait for them to drop in price; a lot of them will. I expect any Temples that you open to trade swiftly – people want to put them into existing decks and want playsets. You’ll stand to make great trades if you can trade off Temples to willing partners. Are you a Quiet Speculation member yet? Douglas Linn Doug Linn has been playing Magic since 1996 and has had a keen interest in Legacy and Modern. By keeping up closely with emerging trends in the field, Doug is able to predict what cards to buy and when to sell them for a substantial profit. Since the Eternal market follows a routine boom-bust cycle, the time to buy and sell short-term speculative investments is often a narrow window. Because Eternal cards often spike in value once people know why they are good, it is essential for a trader to be connected to the format to get great buys before anyone else. Outside of Magic, Doug is an attorney in the state of Ohio. Doug is a founding member of Quiet Speculation, and brings with him a tremendous amount of business savvy. More Posts Enjoy what you just read? Share it with the world! If not, Ravnica Allegiance Pro Tour season is a great time to join up! Our powerful tools, breaking news analysis, and awesome Discord chat room will make sure you stay up-to-date and ahead of the curve. |
Photo by Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports Lou Lamoriello will likely be the man stepping to the podium and announcing the Toronto Maple Leafs' draft picks this weekend. But it's the man behind the scenes, not doing much talking in public, that will dictate how the draft shakes out for the Leafs. Mark Hunter was named director of player personnel for the Toronto Maple Leafs in October 2014. As the man in charge of the Leafs' professional and amateur scouting staff, he's among those tasked with putting together the pieces of the roster that could end Toronto's Stanley Cup drought. Besides being known as half of the Hunter clan that bought the OHL's London Knights and turned them into the most consistent junior team of the last 15 seasons, Mark Hunter is not a public figure. Many recent front-office hires, including Lamoriello and Kyle Dubas, have spent time in front of the camera, sharing their vision for the club, while Hunter has not. Perhaps that time away from the camera has become his greatest asset. READ MORE: How to Enjoy the NHL Draft When You Don't Care about the Draft Since joining the Leafs, he's kept ties to the Knights: the Leafs hired former Knights scouts Lindsay Hofford and Tony Martino. And, of course, Mitch Marner, who was selected fourth overall by the Leafs in 2015 and eclipsed the 100-point mark for the Memorial Cup-winning Knights. There could be worse teams to model a rebuild after than the London Knights, with three OHL championships in the past 11 seasons. And while Auston Matthews will be the franchise center the team has long coveted, Toronto's work toward a successful rebuild stretches far beyond. Anyone could make that choice. Heading into arguably the most important draft in Leafs history, Hunter's past with the Knights reveals a lot about which direction the Maple Leafs are headed in. *** Monday mornings began the same way every week for Jim McKellar. At 9 AM, the former Knights assistant general manager would gather with Hunter and members of the organization for a two-hour meeting that would involve every aspect of the Knights. There was no easing into the work week for McKellar, now a scout for the Chicago Blackhawks. Because with Hunter, there was no such thing as the easy way. "It was extra work," McKellar told VICE Sports of Hunter's 24/7 approach with the Knights. "But that extra work made for results." Mark Hunter (left) watches on behind the bench during a London Knights game in 2010. Photo by Aaron Bell/OHL Images Ask those closest to him and you'll hear the same thing over and over about Mark Hunter: he is unremitting in pursuits. "There's not too many arenas you won't find him in on any day of the week," Jeff Perry—an assistant coach with the Knights from 2004-06—told VICE Sports. "He recruits and he goes after what he wants. And he won't take no for an answer." Perry saw that work ethic firsthand in 2006 as the Knights were in hot pursuit of Patrick Kane and Sam Gagner, both of whom had spent their previous year playing in the United States. Hunter demands a challenge and nabbing the two highly-touted prospects was no different. Perry and Hunter chased them around the city of London, trying to figure out where they were going for dinner, just so Mark could run into them again. Hunter's determination paid off, as Kane and Gagner would eventually play for the Knights and then go first and sixth overall, respectively, in the 2007 NHL draft. Those two exemplified the type of player that Hunter was and is increasingly looking for. Skill before size became a priority of Hunter's in the OHL when he realized the league was getting rid of head shots. Gagner stands 5'11", as does the the diminutive but talented Kane, who scored an NHL-best 106 points this past season. "We figured out the (OHL) was changing," Hunter told the Toronto Star last summer. "We needed skilled players. We switched then, and we went with skill. Those were our thoughts when we were drafting, and we didn't change." Marner, also standing 5'11", was immediate proof that Hunter's preference for skill over size wasn't something he left behind in London, but rather a vision he would bring with him to the Leafs. Skill over size, as it were, has long been a notion refuted by the Leafs. So much of what has plagued past rebuild efforts by the Leafs has been the need to create a rough-and-tumble team identity. In 2013-14, the Leafs were first in the league in fighting penalties. This season, Toronto finished second last in fighting majors. "Skilled players have a better chance to get things done on the ice," Hunter told the Toronto Star. "You get a big, strong guy, it's hard to develop skill. Guys that do have skill, you can develop them physically. They can get stronger. That's how I look at it." Hunter at the 2015 draft with everyone's favourite commissioner Gary Bettman lurking on the right. Photo by Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports But rebuilding the Leafs is a challenge so monumental that it's beaten many men. The turnover in the OHL doesn't compare to the NHL. Hunter has said in the past that one of the biggest differences between building a winner in the OHL and the NHL is the need to be patient, develop and draft properly. Those beliefs will be of the utmost importance in the coming years when the Leafs attempt to complete their rebuild and put together a contending roster, as nothing attracts NHL players more than a winning lineup. Perhaps no one in Canada understands the importance of building winning hockey teams more than Misha Donskov. Donskov was head-hunted and had a position specifically created for him when he was hired last summer as the manager of hockey operations, analytics and video for Hockey Canada. Donskov, who largely credits Hunter for his success, was an assistant coach before becoming an assistant GM with the Knights from 2009-12. He says Hunter had a profound impact on him, both personally and professionally. "I got my master's degree in hockey through the Hunters," he jokes. There's a no-nonsense approach Hunter took with the Knights that many chalk up to a "farm-boy mentality." Raised on a farm in Southern Ontario, that tireless approach was also focused on learning more about the game and staying ahead of the trends. As head coach with the Knights, Hunter was in the office at 6 AM; along with Donskov, they'd watch countless hours of video, including two recorded NHL games per day, before deciding what was important to show players. "In the years I was there they were really focused on the analytical component of the game. We scientifically broke down scoring chances for and against," Donskov says, which determined the effectiveness of different players. This came years before the recent analytics revolution, when NHL teams got onboard with using data for predictive and qualitative means on a wide scale. Donskov says Hunter was always open to hearing ideas on new ways to improve. For a team that has been plagued by complacency, Hunter's ability to learn and stay ahead of the trends may be a long-term benefit to the Leafs. "We were always bouncing ideas around," Donskov says. "What's new in the marketplace? What works and what doesn't? What's the best way to communicate this to a player?" READ MORE: Watching Auston Matthews and the Leafs Will Be Fun, Even If They're Bad In a game that is still rife with traditionalists, shifting your understanding is not an easy thing to do. "We implemented our defence into our scoring," says Pat Curcio, assistant coach with the Knights from 2007-09. "It was always a five-man unit and you look now how many teams have their defencemen jumping into the rush and having them be offensively involved. "That's something we pioneered." Offensive-minded Maple Leafs defencemen such as Morgan Rielly and Jake Gardiner spring to mind. Leafs fans could begin to see more defencemen of their ilk, if Hunter plans on providing players for a Leafs roster much like the way he did in London. "They were like a fourth forward on every shift and it became very tough for other teams to defend against us," says Curcio. "With that comes puck possession." *** Todd Bidner started playing hockey with Mark Hunter when he was six. He now runs an analytics-based app called Innovative Sports Development that provides hockey parents an analytical understanding of their child's skating stride. He was an assistant coach with the Knights during the 2006-07 season and knows the type of players Hunter can identify. "There's a lot of skilled guys who won't go into those dirty areas to score a goal when they could've dug in for five, six or ten more goals a year. Will they go in front of the net and get hacked and whacked or will they go into the corners to make a play?" Bidner told VICE Sports, mentioning smaller, skilled players who also play with an edge like Johnny Gaudreau, Tyler Johnson and Marner. "Mark was a genius in finding players who would do that." Marner, seen here playing for the London Knights, is a huge piece of the Leafs' future. Photo by Aaron Bell/OHL Images Keep asking the questions and verbatim, people will say the same things about Mark Hunter, whom team president Brendan Shanahan describes as an "information guy." People will unequivocally say that Hunter is ruthless in his pursuit of the best players in the game. A farm boy at heart who is committed to learning about the game and being open to change. A man who could walk the paper-thin line between the old-school, Brian Burke-era Leafs and the analytics-heavy approach that the Leafs are moving in. And walking that tightrope is something Hunter is well-versed in. Hunter spoke to the London Free Press about balancing two opposing hockey mindsets ahead of last year's NHL draft. "Do we listen to everything (assistant GM Kyle Dubas' division) wants? No," Hunter said, "but do we listen to them? Yes, we do, because they're part of the scouting staff." Hunter, according to McKellar, valued two things more than anything during his time with the Knights: skill and character—two rare qualities on recent Leafs teams. But the Shana-plan seems to be on the right track, with names like Matthews, Marner and William Nylander likely to be on the Leafs roster next season. Long-term success, however, will require more than just a few high-profile names. The questions surrounding the Maple Leafs may be quiet, for now. But as the draft nears and the 50th anniversary of the team's Stanley Cup drought approaches, the questions will get louder. And the Leafs believe Mark Hunter can answer those questions. |
British National party failed to submit details on time, Electoral Commission says, meaning it must apply to be recognised The British National party has been struck off the UK’s register of political parties, the Electoral Commission has confirmed. The commission said the BNP, which won two seats in the European parliament in 2009, had failed to meet the annual requirement to submit its registration details on time. All UK political parties are required every year to confirm with the commission that their details are accurate and pay a pre-registration fee of £25, which the BNP failed to do. The Electoral Commission said: “The last date a notification can be submitted to the commission is six months after the deadline for submission of a party’s statement of accounts. Support for British far-right groups hits 20-year low Read more “The BNP’s statement of accounts were due on 7 July 2015. Their annual confirmation of registered details was therefore due on or before 7 January 2016. “The Electoral Commission did not receive the notification by this date and is required by law to remove the BNP from its register of political parties in Great Britain.” It means the party’s name, descriptions and emblems cannot be used on ballot papers unless it submits a fresh application to be considered a recognised party. BNP spokesman Stephen Squire said it was a “clerical error on our part” and that the party would submit the necessary paperwork within the next few days. “It’s a little bit embarrassing,” he said, but insisted it would be “business as usual” for the BNP, which intended to contest the London mayoral election and some council seats. “We’ve been overwhelmed by the number of phone calls we’ve had from people concerned we might be disappearing,” Squire added. The BNP, which had more than 50 council seats and two MEPs in 2009, has been in steep decline for several years and fielded only eight candidates at the general election, down from 338 in 2010. The former BNP leader Nick Griffin, who during an electoral meltdown in 2014 accepted that the BNP could be considered “racist”, was later expelled for allegedly “trying to cause disunity” in an attempt to destabilise the organisation. Adam Walker replaced him after the election defeat. Walker had said in a statement that his “primary focus is reconnecting the BNP with the ordinary person in the street”. He said he was known in the party for leading street protests and demanding the restoration of capital punishment for the killers of Lee Rigby. Matthew Goodwin, professor of politics at the University of Kent and who has written on the radical right, told the Guardian the news confirmed the BNP’s “demise in British politics”. He said : “The BNP has been blighted by continued factionalism or by continual infighting leading to the expulsion of its leader Nick Griffin. “The party has come a long way from its peak in 2009 when it had two seats in the European parliament and was attracting a growing base in local government and was looking to break through, notably in Barking and Dagenham in 2010 general election.” Although far-right groups such as Britain First and the new Pegida UK movement were trying to sustain a presence within British politics Goodwin said that such groups: “while they remain active are also monitored very heavily and do not yet to appear to be connecting with the population in the way similar groups in other European groups are doing. “So this is a moment to reflect on the failure of the British far-right than it is about it’s future progress,” he said The party has been mired in financial difficulty. The commission fined the BNP £2,700 for the late delivery of its statement of accounts for 2010. The BNP was on the brink of bankruptcy that year when Marmite owner Unilever launched high court proceedings after the party unveiled an election broadcast that ripped off the food brand’s “love it or hate it” strapline, according to Marketing Week. The TV advert featured Griffin next to a huge jar of Marmite with a strapline reading “love Britain, vote BNP”. |
The unsavory task of explaining why America apparently can't afford to help the unemployed but can afford tax cuts for the rich fell to Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) on Sunday. "Republicans, me included, have supported numerous extensions of unemployment benefits and we're anxious to do so again," the Indiana Republican told interviewer Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday." "The deficit this year is a trillion dollars for the second year in a row ... The American people have had it with runaway federal spending, deficits and debt, and they want to see men and women in Washington, D.C. make the hard choices." Polls released last week showed that despite anxiety about spending, registered voters actually favor helping the unemployed even if it adds to the deficit. Nevertheless, extended unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless lapsed at the beginning of June because Republicans in the Senate, joined by Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson, insisted that the $33 billion cost of reauthorizing the benefits not be added to the deficit (though some deficit hawks actually don't consider stiffing the jobless a smart way to reduce the deficit to begin with). Fox's Wallace said he understood the Republicans' argument that the unemployment benefits be "paid for" -- but why not also "pay for" a reauthorization of the tax cuts, which will cost $678 billion? "The reality is that as you study -- when President Kennedy cut marginal tax rates, when Ronald Reagan cut marginal tax rates, when President Bush imposed those tax cuts, they actually generated economic growth, they expand the economy, they expand tax revenue," Pence said. "The point is we've got to get this economy moving again and we can't go back to the tax-and-spend policies of the Democrats or the tax-cut-and-spend policies of the prior administration." Since extended benefits lapsed at the beginning of June, some 2.5 million people prematurely stopped receiving checks. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has called for another vote to reauthorize the benefits on Tuesday, after the replacement for the late Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) has been sworn in. He will presumably give Democrats the 60th vote they need to break the GOP's filibuster. People who missed checks will be paid retroactively if the bill is approved. |
Top seed Rafael Nadal (ESP) beats Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) in 3 sets and advances to the quarterfinals at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, Germany. Comebacker Tommy Haas (GER) looses to Bernard Tomic (AUS) in 2 sets. It was a gorgeous day here at the ATP grass-court tournament in Stuttgart (GER) and Rafael Nadal beats Marcos Baghdatis (CYP) 7:6/6:7/6:2. Nadal had a slow start into the match and got broken easily early on due to unforced errors. Baghdatis was leading 4:2 but couldn’t capitalize on his lead. Instead he lost his serve – a couple of unforced errors and a double fault was all it took. Baghdatis was in the driver’s seat for most of the 1st set but Nadal found a way to win it. Second set was as tight as the 1st – this time Baghdatis could close it out. The 3rd set was a different story. Nadal got two early breaks and was able to dominate all the way to the end. Meanwhile Alexander Zverev, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner are working on the practice courts. Earlier today, Tommy Haas lost during his comeback to Bernard Tomic 6:7/2:6. Haas had his chances in the 1st set but Tomic made the important points. Haas couldn’t maintain his mental focus in the 2nd set and couldn’t challenge Tomic anymore. Rafael Nadal Press Conference Find out what Nadal says about his performance today and how he prepares for Wimbledon. |
Omens of the Past is out and everyone is excited to brew with the new cards. This list does a little experimenting on a proven formula from last set, Armory decks. Mixing in Primal instead of Shadow to gain access to new weapons and spells like Eilyn’s Choice and Duelist’s Blade, it’s a new spin on the old archetype. *UPDATE* After playing a lot more ranked matches with the deck (currently ~50 matches total), there are additional changes I would test out in the deck. As stated in the video, the Kaleb’s Choice is OK, but really feels like a Tournament Sideboard card, and not a maindeck ladder one so it feels like a for-sure cut. More importantly, from my experience and statistics so far, it appears the meta is shifting back away from brews and more towards a lot of the aggro decks from last set, like Stonescar Aggro. The big problem that lends is that Eilyn’s Choice doesn’t deal with the little creatures they pump out quickly, your weapons are expensive and only hit one creature at a time, and although Harsh Rule is effective it often ends up stuck in your hand until it’s too late and you get burned out – or you just don’t draw one of your four copies. To fix this, I’d try to cut the Staff of Stories and run some Lightning Storm instead. Staff is very good against other midrange and control decks, but I feel the deck is already quite strong against those lists, so you can take a small hit to that match-up to cover the deficiency I see against go-wide aggro lists. DECK LIST *mouse over any card to see what it does 1 Charchain Flail (Set1 #3) 4 Inspire (Set1 #129) 4 Seek Power (Set1 #408) 4 Torch (Set1 #8) 1 Kaleb’s Choice (Set2 #188) 4 Rakano Artisan (Set1 #312) 1 Talon of Nostrix (Set2 #74) 2 Eilyn’s Choice (Set2 #220) 3 Sword of Icaria (Set1 #315) 3 Valkyrie Enforcer (Set1 #151) 3 Auric Runehammer (Set1 #166) 2 Reforge (Set2 #23) 2 Rise to the Challenge (Set1 #320) 2 Duelist’s Blade (Set2 #226) 4 Harsh Rule (Set1 #172) 2 Staff of Stories (Set1 #234) 4 Throne Warden (Set1 #514) 2 Starsteel Daisho (Set1 #328) 2 Icaria, the Liberator (Set1 #329) 5 Fire Sigil (Set1 #1) 6 Justice Sigil (Set1 #126) 2 Primal Sigil (Set1 #187) 4 Seat of Glory (Set0 #56) 4 Seat of Order (Set0 #51) 4 Seat of Fury (Set0 #53) Comments |
The first full-length Game of Thrones season 2 trailer was a look into the intense action that fans of the George R.R. Martin novels are hotly anticipating. Now the second trailer is out, and this time, we get more than a look: we get pulse-pounding music. This new trailer is backed by the song “Seven Devils” by Florence + the Machine (whose lead singer, Florence Welch, reminds me of Annie Lennox). The lyrics are perfect for the action: “A thousand armies couldn't keep me out…See I have to burn your kingdom down.” Entertainingly enough, these lyrics could apply to just about every single character in the show. But the trailer implies that the lyrics refer to either Tyrion, who threatens his sister, the beautiful, corrupt Cersei, or to Arya, who makes a promise to the viewer that she will almost likely make good on. See the new trailer for yourselves. Via The Mary Sue. |
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