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A Settlement has been reached in a class action lawsuit against Walgreen Co., Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Supervalu, Inc., and Perrigo Company of South Carolina, Inc. (hereinafter referred to as “Perrigo”), alleging that certain statements on the labeling and packaging of the Covered Products are false, deceptive and/or misleading. Specifically, Plaintiffs allege that the Covered Products, which contained glucosamine and/or chondroitin, were represented as formulated to help “rebuild cartilage,” “lubricate joints,” and “improve joint comfort” when they do not provide these benefits. Defendants deny the allegations of unlawful conduct and further deny that any Class Member is entitled to any relief and, other than for settlement purposes, that this Action is appropriate for certification as a class action. No court or other entity has made any judgment or determination of liability. Nevertheless, the Parties have concluded that it is in their best interests to settle the Action to avoid the risk, expense and distraction of continued litigation. The class includes all residents of the United States who purchased for personal use, and not resale or distribution, a Covered Product between November 1, 2005 and August 1, 2014. Specifically excluded from the Settlement Class are the following Persons: (i) Defendants and their respective affiliates, employees, officers, directors, agents, and representatives and their immediate family members; (ii) Settlement Class Counsel; and (iii) the judges who have presided over the Litigation and their immediate family members. Perrigo has agreed to provide a total Settlement Fund of $2.8 million in full settlement of the claims of the Settlement Class. Perrigo has agreed to pay out of the Settlement Fund the actual receipt price per bottle of Covered Product to Settlement Class Members who submit valid Claim Forms accompanied by a cash register receipt evidencing their purchase of a Covered Product manufactured by Perrigo and/or its affiliates. Perrigo has also agreed to pay out of the Settlement Fund $12.00 per bottle of Covered Product, up to a maximum of eight (8) bottles per household, to Class Members who submit valid Claim Forms without any cash register receipts. The actual amount received by each Class Member will depend on the total number of valid Claims received, and will be adjusted up or down (as more fully explained in Paragraph 9 of the Settlement Agreement) in order to fully distribute the Net Settlement Fund to Settlement Class Members who submit valid Claims. All payments to Settlement Class members who submit valid Claims will be made within thirty (30) Days after the Final Order and Judgment has become final (“Effective Date”). All Class Members who do not opt out of the Class Settlement and who submit a valid Claim shall receive a cash award. The Settlement is explained in detail in the Full Notice and in the Settlement Agreement. |
Eric Gray charged with first-degree murder in the death of neighbor Gerald Donovan in north Loveland Gray FORT COLLINS — A judge ruled Friday that Loveland-area resident Eric Gray be held without bail at the Larimer County jail on a charge of first-degree murder. Gray, 36, is accused of killing his 75-year-old neighbor, Gerald Donovan, on June 6. Judge Julie Kunce Field said at Gray's preliminary hearing Friday that the court found "proof evident and presumption great ... that the crime alleged to have been committed was committed by Mr. Gray." Field said the weapon used, the distance between the victim and a shell casing, the indication by all witnesses and evidence that the victim didn't have a weapon, and that Gray allegedly went back inside his home and brought out an assault-style rifle to shoot Donovan after an argument were enough to determine probable cause that the suspect acted with deliberation. The case was set for arraignment for 2 p.m. Oct. 20. Witnesses at the scene reportedly told investigators that Donovan and Gray had had an ongoing neighbor dispute about property lines, though no witnesses could confirm what the argument was about the night of the shooting June 6 in the 5600 block of Thomas Court, just outside city limits in north Loveland. According to investigators, witnesses said Donovan was in the yard working with his wife. Investigators say witnesses reported that Donovan had had a stroke a few years ago, so he was sitting down on a pile of wood, resting. Gray was reportedly in his trailer nearby, and investigators said Gray told them Donovan came up to his trailer from the back. Gray reportedly told investigators that he left the trailer, and the two men began to argue (witnesses also told investigators they heard arguing). Advertisement Gray reportedly went to his house, where he got his rifle from the bedroom. Investigators said that a witness reported that she saw Donovan walking with a "determined" gait toward the cul-de-sac, though she did not see Gray. The walk was described as "arthritic" in the investigator's report from the witness. Investigators said that Donovan's wife reportedly told them that she didn't see the shooter but that she saw her husband collapsed in the cul-de-sac. Gray's attorney, Harvey Steinberg, argued that there were a lot of questions that remained unanswered, including whether Gray's actions were in self-defense, where Donovan was when Gray allegedly went to get his gun and where the property line dispute even was. However, prosecutor Jenny Ellison argued that the shooting was deliberate because of several factors, including that the victim did not have a weapon, Gray allegedly went back into his house to obtain a loaded rifle and the victim was shot from more than 12.5 yards away. Saja Hindi: 970-669-5050 ext. 521, hindis@reporter-herald.com, twitter.com/SajaHindiRH. |
The Traditionalist American Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, a Missouri KKK group, has been distributing flyers around the St. Louis area promising to take potentially violent action against Ferguson “terrorists” who might get violent in the coming days. Here’s one of the flyers they’ve been distributing: And another flyer they released is even more threatening. It reads, “The good people of St. Louis County of all races, colors and creeds will not tolerate your threats of violence against our police officers, their families and our communities.” And they’re threatening lethal force against any protestors who try anything. Oh, and according to group head Frank Ancona, the Ferguson protestors are “the best recruiters since Obama.” Ancona, remarkably, made an appearance on MSNBC tonight, facing an incredibly amazed Chris Hayes. Ancona told him they’re very concerned about “random attacks on whites” and “sniper-type shootings.” Hayes had to point out the irony of threatening violence with… well, more violence and potential incitement. Ancona alleged that people “feel much better” about what they’re doing to create an obviously safe environment with such dire threats. You can watch the segment here (Ancona pops up at the 2-minute mark), via MSNBC: [image via KTVI, featured image via screengrab] — — Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac Have a tip we should know? tips@mediaite.com |
This article is about the television series. For the Sri Lankan city, see Colombo . For other uses, see Columbo (disambiguation) Columbo () is an American television series starring Peter Falk as Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department.[2][3] The character and show, created by Richard Levinson and William Link, popularized the inverted detective story format, which begins by showing the commission of the crime and its perpetrator; the plot therefore usually has no "whodunit" element, and instead revolves around how a perpetrator known to the audience will finally be caught and exposed (sometimes referred to as a "howcatchem"). Columbo is a shrewd but inelegant blue-collar homicide detective whose trademarks include his rumpled beige raincoat, unassuming demeanor, and frequent cigar smoking. His suspects are often affluent members of high society who try to carefully cover their tracks. Initially dismissive of Columbo's circumstantial speech and apparent ineptitude, they become increasingly unsettled as his pestering behavior leads him to tease out incriminating evidence. His relentless approach often leads to self-incrimination or an outright confession by the suspect. Episodes of Columbo are between 70 and 98 minutes long, and have been broadcast in 44 countries. The 1971 episode "Murder by the Book", directed by Steven Spielberg, was ranked No. 16 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time[4] and in 1999, the magazine ranked Lt. Columbo No. 7 on its 50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time list.[5][6] In 2012, the program was chosen as the third-best cop or legal show on Best in TV: The Greatest TV Shows of Our Time.[7] In 2013, TV Guide included it in its list of The 60 Greatest Dramas of All Time[8] and ranked it at #33 on its list of the 60 Best Series.[9] Also in 2013, the Writers Guild of America ranked it No. 57 in the list of 101 Best Written TV Series.[10] Episodes [ edit ] Season Episodes Originally aired First aired Last aired Network Pilots 2 February 20, 1968 ( ) March 1, 1971 ( ) NBC 1 7 September 15, 1971 ( ) February 9, 1972 ( 1972-02-09 ) 2 8 September 17, 1972 ( ) March 25, 1973 ( 1973-03-25 ) 3 8 September 23, 1973 ( ) May 5, 1974 ( 1974-05-05 ) 4 6 September 15, 1974 ( ) April 27, 1975 ( 1975-04-27 ) 5 6 September 14, 1975 ( ) May 2, 1976 ( 1976-05-02 ) 6 3 October 10, 1976 ( ) May 22, 1977 ( 1977-05-22 ) 7 5 November 21, 1977 ( ) May 13, 1978 ( 1978-05-13 ) 8 4 February 6, 1989 ( ) May 1, 1989 ( 1989-05-01 ) ABC 9 6 November 25, 1989 ( ) May 14, 1990 ( 1990-05-14 ) 10 + specials 14 December 9, 1990 ( ) January 30, 2003 ( 2003-01-30 ) After two pilot episodes, the show originally aired on NBC from 1971 to 1978 as one of the rotating programs of The NBC Mystery Movie. Columbo then aired less regularly on ABC beginning in 1989 under the umbrella of The ABC Mystery Movie.[11] The last film was broadcast in 2003 as part of ABC Thursday Night at the Movies.[12] In almost every episode the audience sees the crime unfold at the beginning and knows the identity of the culprit, typically an affluent member of society. Once Columbo enters the story, viewers watch him solve the case by sifting through the contradictions between the truth and the version presented to him by the killer(s). This style of mystery is sometimes referred to as a "howcatchem", in contrast to the traditional whodunit. In structural analysis terms, the majority of the narrative is therefore dénouement, a feature normally reserved for the very end of a story. Episodes tend to be driven by their characters, the audience observing the criminal's reactions to Columbo's increasingly intrusive presence. The explanation for the crime and its method having played out as part of the narrative, most of the stories simply end with the criminal's reaction at being found out. In some cases, the killer's arrogance and dismissive attitude allow Columbo to manipulate his suspects into self-incrimination. While the details, and eventually the motivation(s), of the murderers' actions are shown to the viewer, Columbo's true thoughts and intentions are almost never revealed until close to the end of the episode. (Often he begins to whistle the tune "This Old Man" once he has all the loose ends of his case tied up.) Columbo generally maintains a friendly relationship with the murderer until the end. The point at which the detective first begins to suspect the murderer is generally not revealed, although it is often fairly early on. In some instances, such as Ruth Gordon's avenging elderly mystery writer in "Try and Catch Me", Janet Leigh's terminally ill and deluded actress in "Forgotten Lady", Donald Pleasence's elegant vintner in "Any Old Port in a Storm", and Johnny Cash's enserfed singer in "Swan Song", the killer is more sympathetic than the victim.[13] Each case is generally concluded in a similar style, with Columbo dropping any pretense of uncertainty and sharing details of his conclusion of the killer's guilt. Following the killer's reaction, the episode generally ends with the killer confessing or quietly submitting to arrest. There are few attempts to deceive the viewer or provide a twist in the tale. One convoluted exception is "Last Salute to the Commodore", where Robert Vaughn is seen elaborately disposing of a body, but is proved later to have been covering for his alcoholic wife, whom he mistakenly thought to be the murderer.[14] Development and character profile [ edit ] Columbo pilot "Prescription: Murder" The Stahl House served as the filming location of the firstpilot "Prescription: Murder" The character of Columbo was created by the writing team of Richard Levinson and William Link, who said that Columbo was partially inspired by Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment character Porfiry Petrovich[15] as well as G. K. Chesterton's humble cleric-detective Father Brown. Other sources claim Columbo's character is also influenced by Inspector Fichet from the French suspense-thriller film Les Diaboliques (1955).[16] The character first appeared in a 1960 episode of the television-anthology series The Chevy Mystery Show, titled "Enough Rope". This was adapted by Levinson and Link from their short story "May I Come In", which had been published as "Dear Corpus Delicti" in an issue of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine. The short story did not include Columbo as a character.[17] The first actor to portray Columbo, character actor Bert Freed, was a stocky character actor with a thatch of grey hair.[citation needed] Freed's Columbo wore a rumpled suit and smoked a cigar, but he otherwise had few of the other now-familiar Columbo mannerisms. However, the character is still recognizably Columbo, and uses some of the same methods of misdirecting and distracting his suspects. During the course of the show, the increasingly frightened murderer brings pressure from the district attorney's office to have Columbo taken off the case, but the detective fights back with his own contacts. Although Freed received third billing, he wound up with almost as much screen time as the killer and appeared immediately after the first commercial. This delayed entry of the character into the narrative of the screen play became a defining characteristic of the structure of the Columbo series. This teleplay is available for viewing in the archives of the Paley Center for Media in New York City and Los Angeles. Levinson and Link then adapted the TV drama into the stage play Prescription: Murder. This was first performed at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco on January 2, 1962, with Oscar-winning character actor Thomas Mitchell in the role of Columbo. Mitchell was 70 years old at the time. The stage production starred Joseph Cotten as the murderer and Agnes Moorehead as the victim. Mitchell died of cancer while the play was touring in out-of-town tryouts; Columbo was his last role. In 1968, the same play was made into a two-hour television movie that aired on NBC. The writers suggested Lee J. Cobb and Bing Crosby for the role of Columbo, but Cobb was unavailable and Crosby turned it down because he felt it would take too much time away from the golf links. Director Richard Irving convinced Levinson and Link that Falk, who wanted the role, could pull it off even though he was much younger than the writers had in mind.[18] Originally a one-off TV-Movie-of-the-Week, Prescription: Murder has Falk's Columbo pitted against a psychiatrist (Gene Barry). Due to the success of this film, NBC requested that a pilot for a potential series be made to see if the character could be sustained on a regular basis, leading to the 1971 hour and a half film, Ransom for a Dead Man, with Lee Grant playing the killer. The popularity of the second film prompted the creation of a regular series on NBC, that premiered in the fall of 1971 as part of The NBC Mystery Movie wheel series rotation: McCloud, McMillan & Wife, and other whodunits. According to TV Guide, the original plan was that a new Columbo episode would air every week, but as a motion picture star, Peter Falk refused to commit to such an arduous schedule, which would have meant shooting an episode every five days. The network arranged for the Columbo segments to air once a month on Wednesday nights. The high quality of Columbo, McMillan & Wife, and McCloud was due in large part to the extra time spent on each episode. The term wheel show was coined to describe this format, and additional such series were attempted by NBC, but the astounding success of The NBC Mystery Movie series was not repeated. Columbo was an immediate hit in the Nielsen ratings and Falk won an Emmy Award for his role in the show's first season. In its second year the Mystery Movie series was moved to Sunday nights, where it then remained during its seven-season run. The show became the anchor of NBC's Sunday night line up. Columbo aired regularly from 1971–78 on NBC. After its cancellation by NBC in 1978, Columbo was revived on ABC between 1989 and 2003 in several new seasons and a few made-for-TV movie "specials".[19] Columbo's wardrobe was personally provided by Peter Falk; they were his own clothes, including the high-topped shoes and the shabby raincoat, which made its first appearance in Prescription: Murder. Falk would often ad lib his character's idiosyncrasies (fumbling through his pockets for a piece of evidence and discovering a grocery list, asking to borrow a pencil, becoming distracted by something irrelevant in the room at a dramatic point in a conversation with a suspect, etc.), inserting these into his performance as a way to keep his fellow actors off-balance. He felt it helped to make their confused and impatient reactions to Columbo's antics more genuine.[20] Some of the episodes established that Columbo carried a Colt snub-nosed revolver in his raincoat, which he pulled in rare episodes, and would occasionally remark that his wife, 'the Mrs.', would not allow him to buy a new car because it 'wasn't necessary', portraying the detective throughout the series as permanently driving an aged and battered 1959 Peugeot 403 Cabriolet. A few years prior to his death, Falk had expressed interest in returning to the role. In 2007, he claimed he had chosen a script for one last Columbo episode, "Columbo: Hear No Evil". The script was renamed "Columbo's Last Case". ABC declined the project. In response, producers for the series announced that they were attempting to shop the project to foreign production companies.[21][22] However, Falk was diagnosed with dementia in late 2007.[23] During a 2009 court trial over Falk's care, Dr Stephen Read stated that the actor's condition had deteriorated so badly that Falk could no longer remember playing a character named Columbo, nor could he identify who Columbo was.[23] Falk died on June 23, 2011, aged 83.[24][25][26] Contributors [ edit ] Directors and writers [ edit ] The first season première "Murder by the Book" was written by Steven Bochco and directed by Steven Spielberg. Jonathan Demme directed the seventh-season episode "Murder Under Glass". Jonathan Latimer was also a writer. Actor Ben Gazzara, a friend of Falk's, directed the episodes "A Friend in Deed" (1974) and "Troubled Waters" (1975). Falk himself directed the last episode of the first season, "Blueprint for Murder". Actor Nicholas Colasanto, best known for playing Coach on Cheers, directed two episodes, "Swan Song" with Johnny Cash, and "Étude in Black". Patrick McGoohan directed five episodes (including three of the four in which he played the murderer) and wrote and produced two (including one of these). Vincent McEveety was a frequent director, and homage was paid to him by a humorous mention of a character with his surname in the episode "Undercover" (which he directed). Two episodes, "No Time to Die" and "Undercover", were based on the 87th Precinct novels by Ed McBain,[27] and thus do not strictly follow the standard Columbo/inverted detective story format. Score composers [ edit ] Columbo episodes contain a variety of music that contributes to the uniqueness of each. The score becomes of particular importance during turning points of the plots. "The Mystery Movie Theme" by Henry Mancini, written for The NBC Mystery Movie series, was used extensively in the whole of 38 episodes, from 1971 to 1977. Unlike the other elements of the Mystery Movie wheel, Columbo never had an official theme as such, although some composers, such as Dick DeBenedictis and Gil Mellé, did write their own signature pieces. Several composers created original music for the series, which was often used along with "The Mystery Movie Theme": Series Music department included: Patrick Williams received two Emmy nominations for Outstanding Music Composition for a Series in 1978 (for "Try and Catch Me") and 1989 (for "Murder, Smoke and Shadows"). Billy Goldenberg was nominated in the same category in 1972 for "Lady in Waiting". Columbo also featured an unofficial signature tune, the children's song "This Old Man". It was introduced in the episode "Any Old Port in a Storm" in 1973 and the detective can be heard humming or whistling it often in subsequent films. Peter Falk admitted that it was a melody he personally enjoyed and one day it became a part of his character.[28] The tune was also used in various score arrangements throughout the three decades of the series, including opening and closing credits. A version of it, titled "Columbo", was created by one of the show's composers, Patrick Williams.[29] Awards and nominations [ edit ] Columbo received numerous awards and nominations from 1971 to 2005, including 13 Emmys, two Golden Globe Awards, two Edgar Awards and a TV Land Award nomination in 2005 for Peter Falk.[30] Home media [ edit ] DVD [ edit ] As of January 10, 2012, Universal Studios Home Entertainment had released all 69 episodes of Columbo on DVD.[31] The episodes are released in the same chronological order as they were originally broadcast. On October 16, 2012, Universal released Columbo — The Complete Series on DVD in Region 1.[32] Because the Columbo episodes from 1989 to 2003 were aired very infrequently, different DVD sets have been released around the world. In many Region 2 and Region 4 countries, all episodes have now been released as ten seasons, with the tenth season covering the last 14 shows from "Columbo Goes to College" (1990) to the most recent "Columbo Likes the Nightlife" (2003). However, in France and The Netherlands (also Region 2), the DVDs were grouped differently and released as twelve seasons. In Region 1, all episodes from seasons 8 on are grouped differently; all the episodes that were originally aired on ABC were released under the title COLUMBO: The Mystery Movie Collection. Season Eps. Year DVD release DVD name Region 1 Region 2 Region 4 Pilots 2 1968–71 The Complete First Season September 7, 2004 September 13, 2004 December 3, 2004 1 7 1971–72 2 8 1972–73 The Complete Second Season March 8, 2005 July 18, 2005 July 13, 2005 3 8 1973–74 The Complete Third Season August 9, 2005 November 14, 2005 July 20, 2006 4 6 1974–75 The Complete Fourth Season March 14, 2006 September 18, 2006 September 19, 2006 5 6 1975–76 The Complete Fifth Season June 27, 2006 February 12, 2007 March 21, 2007 6 3 1976–77 The Complete Sixth & Seventh Seasons November 21, 2006 April 30, 2007 May 2, 2007 7 5 1977–78 8 4 1989 The Mystery Movie Collection 1989 (R1/R4) The Complete Eighth Season (R2) April 24, 2007 March 31, 2008 July 4, 2008 9 6 1989–90 The Mystery Movie Collection 1990 (R1) The Complete Ninth Season (R2/R4) February 3, 2009 March 30, 2009 May 6, 2009 10 + specials 14 1990–93 The Mystery Movie Collection 1991–93 (R1) The Complete Tenth Season – Volume 1 (R2/R4) February 8, 2011[33] June 15, 2009 July 28, 2009 1994–2003 The Mystery Movie Collection 1994–2003 (R1) The Complete Tenth Season – Volume 2 (R2/R4) January 10, 2012[34] July 27, 2009 November 28, 2009 Complete series 69 1968–2003 Columbo: The Complete Series October 16, 2012 October 19, 2009 December 7, 2016 To commemorate the death of Peter Falk,[citation needed] the complete series was released on Blu-ray in Japan as a ten-season set, taken from new HD masters and original 1.33:1 (4:3) aspect ratio (1989–2003 episodes are presented in 1.78:1 (16:9)[citation needed]).[35] The set contains 35 discs and is presented in a faux-wooden cigar box. It features a brochure with episode details, and a script for the Japanese version of Prescription: Murder. Special features include the original 96-minute version of Étude In Black and the original NBC Mystery Movie title sequence. In addition, many episodes include isolated music and sound-effects tracks.[36] Before the release of this set, only the episodes up to Murder, a Self-Portrait were released on DVD in Japan. Other appearances [ edit ] Stage [ edit ] The Columbo character first appeared on stage in 1962 in "Prescription: Murder" with Thomas Mitchell in the role of Columbo. In 2010, Prescription: Murder, was revived for a tour of the United Kingdom with Dirk Benedict and later John Guerrasio as Columbo.[37] Television [ edit ] Falk appeared as Columbo in an Alias sketch produced for a 2003 TV special celebrating the 50th anniversary of ABC. Falk appeared in character as Columbo in 1977 at The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast of Frank Sinatra. Film [ edit ] The insurance investigator, John Frazier (played by James Corden) in the film Ocean's Eight is referred to appearing like a Columbo look alike.[38] Books [ edit ] Detective Conan Columbo, as he appeared in volume 7 of A Columbo series of books was published by MCA Publishing, written by authors Alfred Lawrence, Henry Clements and Lee Hays. This series of books, with the first title published in 1972, were mostly adapted from the TV series.[39] Columbo was also used as the protagonist for a series of novels published between 1994 and 1999 by Forge Books, an imprint of Tor Books. All of these books were written by William Harrington. William Link, the co-creator of the series, has written a collection of Columbo short stories, titled The Columbo Collection, which was published in May 2010 by Crippen & Landru, the specialty mystery publisher.[40] The Columbo character is highlighted in volume 7 of the Detective Conan manga edition of Gosho Aoyama's Mystery Library. Columbo was briefly mentioned in the anime adaptation in the episode "The Forgotten Cellphone Part 2" when Conan said one of Columbo's lines: "You know, my wife says...". Columbo was briefly mentioned in a 1990 chapter of the long-running manga, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, where the main character Jotaro Kujo begins to suspect the actions of a suspicious old woman. He mentions to her that he couldn't sleep at night if he had doubts, because he frequently watched Columbo as a child. In Harry Turtledove's sf/alternate history novel Homeward Bound a non-human detective, Inspector Garanpo, is a recognizable tribute to Columbo.[citation needed][original research?] Sculpture [ edit ] Hungary Peter Falk statue as Columbo with his dog in Budapest A statue of Lieutenant Columbo and his dog was unveiled in 2014 on Miksa Falk Street in Budapest, Hungary.[41] According to Antal Rogán, then-district mayor of the city, Peter Falk may have been related to Hungarian writer and politician Miksa Falk, although there is no evidence yet to prove it.[42] Podcast [ edit ] A podcast about Columbo was launched in 2014, primarily considering episodes of the television series.[43] Mrs. Columbo spin-off [ edit ] Mrs. Columbo, a spin-off TV series starring Kate Mulgrew, aired in 1979 and was canceled after only thirteen episodes. Lt. Columbo was never seen on Mrs. Columbo; each episode featured the resourceful Mrs. Columbo solving a murder mystery she encountered in her work as a newspaper reporter. Connections with the original Columbo series were made obvious: the glaring presence of Columbo's car in the driveway, Dog, and Mrs. Columbo emptying ashtrays containing the famous green cigar butts—all featured in the show's opening sequence. References were also made to Kate's husband being a police lieutenant. See also [ edit ] |
In an invitation-only extravaganza on the playing field at the Rogers Centre, the Blue Jays introduced a new logo and new uniforms for 2012, with some of its star players as models. The simple logo, somewhat retro in design, paid tribute to city, country and team history and should be well-received. The only issue now is for GM Alex Anthopoulos to put a winning team on the field. Adam Lind (left) and Ricky Romero show off the away uniform (left) and the alternate uniform. The Blue Jays today introduced their new uniforms and logo at the Rogers Centre. ( RICHARD LAUTENS / TORONTO STAR ) The new Toronto Blue Jays logo. ( HANDOUT ) Perhaps as the updated team slogan moving forward, the club could paraphrase Billy Crystal and his SNL character Fernando, claiming “It’s better to look good than to play good.” PHOTO GALLERIES: The new Blue Jays uniforms Article Continued Below Blue Jays logos through the years thestar.com readers’ designs The Jays invited a cross-section of corporate partners, advertisers and media, with the new design paying tribute to the original Blue Jay character from ’77, while incorporating all the other necessary trappings. The circular patch features the Jays head over the red outline of a baseball, with Toronto in block letters above the bird and Blue Jays in the original uniform lettering below. And to make sure Canada is recognized, the logo shows a prominent red maple leaf on the right side, below the bird’s blue head plumage. Long-time fans of the Jays will be pleased. Seven Jays came out modelling the seven different versions of the uniform, including the batting practice jerseys. The players were Jose Bautista, Adam Lind, Ricky Romero, Yunel Escobar, J.P. Arencibia, Brett Lawrie and Brandon Morrow. The most noticeable thing about the seven versions was the return to blue and the absence of black, that someone long ago had decided was appealing to the younger fans. The most impressive new look was the uniform worn by Romero. It featured white pants and a blue alternate jersey. The uniforms and the new logo are the club’s first important hit of the season, but won’t be its most important. |
Death Row Records founder Suge Knight ran over a man, possibly killing him, during an argument on a movie set where The Game, Ice Cube and Dr. Dre were filming, TMZ reports. Suge Knight got into a fight on the set of a film project in Compton, and ran over a man and we're told the victim is dead. We're told a fight broke out between Suge and 2 crew members. Suge got back into his car, took the wheel and threw the vehicle in reverse ... and ran over a bystander. The website says Knight's claiming he feared for his safety from the crew members due to his "frail health" after he was shot six times this summer. Knight's also facing up to seven years in jail on another pending legal matter—he was arrested with Katt Williams in October for allegedly stealing a paparazzo's camera. Update 9:30 p.m. Knight reportedly fled the scene and is currently preparing to turn himself in to LAPD officers. Update 11:30 p.m. The LA Times has more detail on the incident: The confrontation began around 3 p.m. when Knight and two unidentified men began arguing on the set of "Straight Outta Compton," a biopic about the group NWA, said Capt. John Corina of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department detective's unit. At least one of the victims was a member of the film crew, Corina said. About 20 minutes after the alleged argument on set, the victims visited Tam's Burgers near Central and East Rosecrans avenues, authorities said. Knight is believed to have followed the men in his truck before running them over the parking lot, Corina said. Witnesses said the truck hit the men, then backed over them before leaving the scene. One 55-year-old man died and another 51-year-old man was injured. It's being investigated as a homicide, the Times reports. Update, Jan. 30, 7:50 a.m.: Knight arrived at the LAPD's West Hollywood precinct early this morning flanked by his lawyer, the Los Angeles Times reports. He was arrested on suspicion of murder; his bail has been set at $2 million. |
AN ABBEY Wood family got the ssssscare of their lives when a 3ft snake slithered out of the chimney and attacked police as they tried for an hour to capture it. Officers used containment tactics and avoided repeated attempts by the animal to sink its fangs into them before eventually capturing the creature with the help of a bin, a takeaway pizza box and some gaffer tape. The red-eyed reptile (pictured above) - believed to be an aggressive albino desert kingsnake which feeds on rattlesnakes and mammals - was first discovered by cat Missy at the Camrose Street home in the early hours of July 14 as three friends sat drinking in the front room. After Missy's hair stood on end and she began hissing at the fireplace, one of the men looked up into the chimney and came face to face with the reptile. Annie Cox, 53, was woken up by her terrified son who was sweating and white in the face. She said: "First I told him to clear off. I thought he'd been drinking heavily." She went on: "I marched into the front room in my pyjamas, in all my glory and looked into the chimney. "It put its nose about two inches from my face. Then I kind of went into panic mode." Mrs Cox's 21-year-old neighbour and nightclub bouncer Rob Buckingham, phoned the RSPCA but, when there was no answer contacted the police instead. He said: "First it started poking its head out, then it was just getting longer and longer as it came down the chimney. "By the time police arrived it was out and wrapped around an ornament." Three officers arrived on the scene armed with a box, but it took at least an hour to capture the beast. Mrs Cox said: "It was very fast and every time someone approached it, opened its mouth and showed its fangs. "They managed to get it into a box and we were all standing there, quite relieved, but then it escaped again and started zig-zagging across the floor." Eventually, they managed to trap it using an upturned bin, sliding a pizza lid underneath and sealing it with tape. The animal was later taken in by Willow Wildlife Rescue in Chislehurst. Jack Cox was terrified when he saw the snake Mrs Cox said: "The scary thing is we're hoping it hasn't laid eggs somewhere and baby snakes aren't going to start creeping out." She added: "I'd gone to bed thinking life's a bit boring, everything's the same and then you're up chasing a snake around the front room. "The police were really good. They showed a lot of concern for it. I think they were more frightened than it was, though they wouldn't admit to it." Inspector Darren Cox: "This was a very unusual call. When we turned up we couldn’t believe the length, strength and velocity of the snake. "Eventually we caught it, after moving several pieces of furniture and deploying containment tactics. It tried to bite me too. It was a really slippery suspect." Snake facts Wayne May from Artisan Rare Breeds in Farningham said: "I probably deal with, at the most, three snakes a year. "Most of the time they're escaped pets that no one will own up to having responsibility for." He said: "I'm pretty sure its an albino desert king snake. If it is what I think it is, it will be the first one I've seen in the UK." Desert kingsnakes are more commonly found in the southern states of the USA. Non-venomous, they are constrictors and feed on rodents, lizards and smaller snakes. They can grow up to 6.8ft long. |
ZUMAR, Iraq — The role of American Special Operations Forces in Iraq has remained hidden even while the U.S. air war expands. As momentum against ISIS picks up, they may be emerging from the shadows. In a pitched battle on Monday, Kurdish Peshmerga, backed by American airpower and what appeared to be U.S. troops, struck at ISIS positions in the strategic crossroads of Zumar. Scenes from Monday’s battle provide a tentative but valuable glimpse into the evolving role of special operations troops and how that might be playing out on the ground in Iraq. Kurdish forces had once held Zumar but lost control of the town in early August in the same ISIS offensive that drove tens of thousands of Yazidis into the mountains, fleeing massacres at the hands of the Islamist militants. As ISIS advanced, besieging religious minorities and driving the Kurds into retreat, President Obama expand the military mission in the country and authorized airstrikes against the group. The effect of U.S. airpower has been clear, pushing ISIS back and allowing Kurdish and Iraqi security forces to regain territory. The airstrikes have had another important consequence: providing a psychological boon to the anti-ISIS forces in Iraq that’s allowed them to regain some of the initiative in battle. Over the past several days, Kurdish Peshmerga forces have massed in the thousands around the northern approaches to Zumar. Heavy equipment including rockets and mortars were positioned for the assault. Kurdish political and officials also told The Daily Beast that they would be utilizing weapons that had been flown in from countries including the United States and Germany, during the offensive. At sunrise on September 1, trucks and vehicles packed the highway west of the Kurdish city of Erbil, capital of the autonomous Kurdish region, heading toward Zumar. In one direction The Daily Beast observed large numbers of Kurdish Peshmerga. In the other direction drove countless numbers of Iraqi refugees, fleeing the fighting with their families and personal belongings. “The fighting is too heavy. We’re looking for safety,” said Hassar, a resident of a small village near Zumar, as he sped away in a small sedan loaded with his family. The battle began in the early hours of the morning with American airstrikes hitting ISIS positions in and around Zumar. Shortly after the bombs stopped falling Peshmerga infantry units began their advance. Initial reports indicated that the Kurdish fighters were advancing with light resistance, but that quickly changed as ISIS mortar and rocket fire began to rain down. At the last checkpoint before the battle raging ahead, a little more than a five-minute drive from our position, my Kurdish security team got news from the front line that the fighting would be heavier than expected. Not only had the mutual shelling intensified, but word came that ISIS had reinforced its positions overnight with fighters from Syria. As the fighting raged we sat and baked in the sun waiting to be brought closer. Then, the news came that our escort, a Peshmerga intelligence official, had been ambushed in route to pick us up. He had escaped, but two of his deputies were killed in the assault. By this time, Kurdish forces had opened up their second line of offense, moving in from both the northeast and northwest, attempting to envelop ISIS fighters in a pincer movement. My Kurdish contact and I decided to approach the battle from western side of the Mosul Dam reservoir, the strategic dam that had been captured by ISIS before U.S. airstrikes allowed Kurdish and Iraqi military forces to retake it. At around 10 a.m., the Peshmerga halted our movement. Fearing that the situation was changing rapidly, we asked the Kurdish security element accompanying us what was happening. “We don’t know,” they said, “we just got information that you cannot move forward.” Repeated calls were met with the same firm statement that we could not move forward. Stuck out in the open with no clear sense of what was occurring in the battle that required us to be stopped, we made contact with high-level Peshmerga ministries, both in Erbil and on the ground in Zumar. “Yes, we want to let you in, but we can’t,” said one high-level Kurdish government official. “We have visitors, you’ll see them,” he stated. As we tried to decipher his cryptic response our answer came: multiple armored Toyotas swept down the mountain, passing within feet of us. The Toyotas were packed with what appeared to be bearded Western Special Operations Forces. I watched the trucks pass and saw for myself the crews inside them. They didn’t wear any identifying insignia but they were visibly Western and appeared to match all the visual characteristics of American special operations soldiers. Contacts in the Kurdish intelligence service and Peshmerga leadership confirmed what we saw. “Yes,” one commander replied to our questions. “German and American forces are on the ground here. “They are helping to support us in the attack.” “There are no U.S. troops on the ground in or around Zumar.” The Pentagon told The Daily Beast on Monday night. Captain Rick Haupt, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, which has control over military operations in the Middle East, denied that U.S. troops were involved in the fighting but confirmed U.S. aircraft “performed one strike destroying several vehicles in the vicinity of Zumar” on Monday. Kurdish officials told The Daily Beast a different story. Ranking members of the Kurdish military and intelligence service said that one team of U.S. Special Operations was on the ground in Zumar along with several German counterparts, working in conjunction with Peshmerga units. According to the Kurdish sources, U.S. and German special operations teams had taken up positions in Zumar that allowed them to coordinate with U.S. aircraft. If American troops were active in the fighting in Zumar, as they appeared to be on Monday, and as Kurdish officials stated, it would mark a significant break with U.S. official policy. Even as President Obama has avoided getting the military more involved in Iraq, the mission has gradually expanded. U.S. airstrikes began as a policy to break the siege on Yazidis and prevent ISIS from attacking Americans in Erbil but have grown to “support Iraqi security forces and Kurdish defense forces” in their fight against ISIS. By the end of the day on Monday, Kurdish officials announced they had full control of Zumar. Security in the town appeared to be tenuous at best, though, with continued reports of potential suicide bombers. These same officials estimated that roughly 100 ISIS fighters had been killed, with 38 captured. In an interview with The Daily Beast, General Yusuf, of the Peshmerga Ministry, stated that several foreign fighters were among those captured, including Afghan and Lebanese nationals. With recent victories under their belt the Kurds appear poised to keep pressing the fight against ISIS and retaking territory they lost in early August. Something has changed in Iraq since the U.S. got involved. It may be the air war alone that opened the way for the recent Kurdish offensive or it may be the presence of elite ground forces. Even the air war may be relying on a small number of unacknowledged operators who are hidden in the shadows of the battle picking off ISIS targets. As the air war in Iraq has expanded, U.S. ground forces have officially been kept far from the fighting, acting in an advisory role in secure locations in Erbil and Baghdad. Bringing special operations forces closer to the front lines could make them far more effective but greatly increases the odds of an American casualty. Positioned closer to the front, even at a distance from active ground fighting, troops can call in precision airstrikes and quickly bring in firepower that can sway the momentum of battle. As the White House continues to mull over it options, the mounting successes of special operations forces, who have helped begin to turn the tide in Iraq, may provide a blueprint for a broader strategy. |
The Turkish government made the decision to intervene directly in the Syrian conflict, sending tanks and a mechanized infantry battalion across the border into Jarablus and the Ar Rai. The first phase began while U.S. Vice President Joe Biden was in Ankara for a visit. The Turkish military is fighting alongside rebels hailing from various factions, first, to clear Islamic State from the border; second, to prevent the Syrian Kurds from taking more territory west of Manbij; and, third, to hold territory taken. This combined force has succeeded in the first and second goals, is preparing for the third, and now there are is talk of a fourth goal: a push further south to take the city of Al Bab from the Islamic State. The forces deployed are small in number and were adequate for retaking territory from the Islamic State (ISIL) along the Turkish-Syrian border. To push to Al Bab, Turkey would have to increase the number of ground forces to offset the weaknesses of the Arab and Turkmen militias fighting in the area. The Turkish military has taken advantage of favorable terrain to advance quickly along the border, taking sparsely populated territory ISIL appears to have retreated from. A fight for Al Bab, an urban area with a pre-war population of 130,000,would be more difficult (Estimates on the current population vary between 20,000 and 60,000). ISIL has reportedly withdrawn to the city from the border areas. The city’s urban terrain would offer a challenge for advancing armor and mechanized infantry, negating the advantages Turkey relied on for operations along the border. ISIL has been degraded after more than a year of U.S.-led bombing. The group is currently fighting a two and a half-front war in Syria with the northern border of its territorial area coming under sustained assault from the Kurdish YPG, the most dominant militia in the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). On this front, the United States is using the so-called light footprint model, wherein it embeds special operations forces with local elements, in this case the SDF, and leverages American airpower to take territory. Turkey has lent support to this campaign, despite its deep misgivings about the heavy participation of the YPG, which is the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), an insurgent group currently fighting Turkish military forces in Turkey’s southeast. Turkey’s military intervention in Syria diverges from the current American war strategy. Ankara is taking a more conventional military approach, using an armored brigade to spearhead its assault directed by a combination of regular soldiers and Turkish special operations forces. The Turkish approach has a heavier footprint and thereby entails a different set of risks. The two main risks for advancing Turkish armor are anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM) and improvised explosive devices (IED). The Turkish military can minimize these risks if it chooses to limit its military goals, hug the border, and focus on holding territory taken and, perhaps, expanding the zone under Turkish control as far deep as Dabiq. This city is sparsely populated and is only 10 kilometers from the border. The risk of Turkey getting more deeply involved and perhaps bogged down in Syria has implications for the United States, a treaty ally, the ultimate guarantor of Turkish security, and the leader of the anti-Islamic State coalition. In the shorter term, the main threat to Turkish forces is the mass proliferation of ATGMs and IEDs in the Syrian conflict. In the longer term, Turkey runs the risk of taking territory, but not being able to leave because the forces fighting alongside it cannot be trusted to hold territory. In this scenario, the Turkish military may have to remain in Syria until ISIL is defeated or a political solution is reached and the fighting stops. A push as far south as Al Bab would lengthen supply lines, increasing the risks to Turkish convoys sent to resupply advancing armor and infantry. A key element in Turkey’s decision and the potential for its success on the ground will be how it deals with the IED and ATGM threat to Turkish armor and the “day after” goals of the Turkish intervention force. This, in turn, will have policy implications for the United States as it continues the air war against ISIL and managing its relationship with Turkey. The ousting of ISIL from the border is a good thing for the war, but a bogged down Turkish ally is not. An ATGM Rich Environment The proliferation of ATGMs in Syria is unprecedented, with various outside actors providing these systems to favored rebel groups. The various actors inside Syria have also taken regime ATGMs. Others have fallen into the hands of groups after they defeat their rivals on the battlefield. In August, Syrian rebels fired a total of 118 ATGMs, according to Qalaat Al Mudiq, an open source analyst tracking the daily use of anti-tank missiles in the Syrian conflict. The Turkish military has already come under fire, losing five tanks to ATGM fire in the first 14 days of operation “Euphrates Shield.” These strikes have killed 4 soldiers and wounded a handful of others. Press reports suggest that Turkish special forces and infantry are conducting dismounted patrols to blunt the ATGM threat. The logistics needed to support current tank operations appear to be based in Turkey, although pictures have been posted online that show support vehicles deployed alongside tanks in Syria. The proximity to the border allows for tanks to patrol in Syria and return to Turkey for refueling and maintenance before crossing over the border again for regular patrols. This arrangement decreases the secondary risk to the refueling and maintenance vehicles that tanks rely upon to sustain operations. If Turkey pushes farther from the border, perhaps as part of an offensive for Al Bab, the logistics chain would likewise grow longer. The Islamic State could then target these supporting trucks rather than the advancing armor. This would inflict casualties on the Turkish military and minimize risk for the ISIL attackers, and it could harm tank operations if they are cut off from overland supply. Turkey could certainly try to compensate for this vulnerability through the introduction of more ground forces or the use of local forces to protect Turkish convoys. The Turkish forces could also choose to advance to the outskirts of Al Bab and use long-range tank fire and airstrikes to pound ISIL inside the city. However, once Turkish-backed forces try to take the city, the realities of urban combat would take hold, forcing street-to-street fighting. Such a scenario raises a broader question about the insurgent forces Turkey would bring to the fight. If these forces are cobbled together from different groups primarily based in Idlib, as was the case in the fight for Jarablus, would they be recognized as liberators or as an outside force incongruent with the city’s typical demographic? This may not matter in the short term, but could become an issue once ISIL is territorially defeated and morphs back into a more typical insurgent force willing to use disgruntled locals to harass occupying forces in perpetuity — tactics reminiscent of Al Qaeda in Iraq’s harassment of U.S. forces in the “Sunni triangle.” The deeper Turkey moves into Syria, the more difficult it will be to evacuate wounded or dead soldiers. The Turkish military appears to use the “Golden Hour” rule for medical evacuation. The military has set up a field hospital in Soylu, near Jarablus, and press reports indicate that wounded soldiers requiring more medical attention are sent to a hospital in Nizip, a city 31 kilometers from the border. The Turkish military currently relies on ground transportation for medical evacuation. This arrangement works because of the proximity to the Turkish border, something that would obviously change should Turkey push deeper into Syrian territory. If the Turkish government eventually requires helicopter transport, the United States would have to work to de-conflict airspace, something that requires cooperation with Turkish officials, a task that should not be that hard because rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft fly in different flight corridors. However, the introduction of Turkish helicopters raises other tangential risks, like small arms fire and man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS). The Turkish Air Force could compensate for such threats by flying low and fast, largely over the flat terrain just across the border in Syria. However, flight operations would bring Turkish forces into closer proximity to Syrian and Russian aircraft, particularly along the regime’s front line with ISIL some 15 kilometers south of Al Bab. This would require some element of de-confliction to avoid an unintended escalation. Improvised Explosive Devices: The ISIL Bomb Factory in Gaziantep The M60A3 is a flat-bottomed tank and, like its eventual successor in the U.S. inventory, the Abrams, is at risk from IED attack. The Islamic State’s predecessor, the Islamic State of Iraq, used IEDs in urban environments to mitigate the United States’ overwhelming military and technical advantages. IEDs are the Islamic State’s most potent weapons, and it has deployed them across the battlefields of Iraq and Syria on a “quasi-industrial” scale, according to Conflict Armament Research, an organization that tracks weapons proliferation in conflict areas. A 20-month study tracing the supply of components used in Islamic State IEDs indicated that Turkey is the “most important choke point for components used in the manufacture of IEDs by [Islamic State] forces.” The Islamic State relies on components procured in Turkey for the assembly of IEDs, including the fertilizer used to derive the explosive (ammonium nitrate), the device for remote detonation (Nokia mobile phones), the detonator cord, aluminum powder/paste, and the detonators. To date, few open source pictures show intact ISIL IEDs, which prevents analysts from drawing conclusions about their design. However, in Turkey, the Twitter handle @140journos tweeted a link to a Turkish police report documenting the investigation into an Islamic State-linked attack on the Ankara train station in November 2015, which killed 103 civilians. The link has since been deleted, but I have a copy of it in my possession. The Turkish press had previously reported extensively on this police document, but had primarily focused on the movement of Turkish Islamic State members before the attack — a group that I examined in detail in previous articles for War on the Rocks. The police report also includes an inventory of materiel seized that reveals Turkish Islamic State members procured the components for IEDs in Turkey, in addition to assembling complete devices in Gaziantep. A picture taken during an October raid indicates that Turkish ISIL members were manufacturing two types of explosive devices. The first, a suicide vest, appears to rely on Composition B explosive, most likely scavenged from ordnance or purchased on the black market in Turkey or Syria. The vests, according to different pictures, show independently packaged charges, each with independently packed shrapnel. Importantly, in a separate picture, the bomb-maker appears to use two detonators: an electronic primary switch with grenade fuses serving as back-ups. These vests are well-designed and far superior to those used in the recent wave of terror attacks in western Europe. In those attacks, the vests were filled with TATP, which breaks down quickly after mixing and must be used relatively quickly compared to Composition B, according to an explosives expert I interviewed. Turkish bomb-makers also used fertilizers to acquire ammonium nitrate, most probably first using a grinding machine before mixing the powder with water to make a slurry, baking it, and then peeling the top layer off. The ammonium nitrate is then ground again and mixed with fine aluminum flake, leaving the bomb-makers with a potent device safe for travel. The police document lists all of the items required for this process, in addition to 27 Nokia telephones. The evidence from Turkey indicates that ISIL remote detonates IEDs, a challenge for advancing armor, even if the Turkish units currently operating in Syria are equipped with jammers. As evidenced by the manufacturing process in Turkey, the bombs are relatively sophisticated and the bomb-makers enjoy ample access to the ingredients, some of which are sourced in Turkey and linked to Turkish companies. Turkish tanks can avoid IEDs by staying off well-travelled roads. However, the maintenance and fuel trucks that must accompany them can only travel on roads, rendering them susceptible to IED attacks. In southeastern Turkey, the PKK has used IEDs heavily since July 2015, often attacking armored military vehicles travelling on rural roads. These weapons now account for a plurality of Turkish casualties in the latest phase of the insurgency. Implications for the United States The Turkish intervention has yielded largely positive results for the narrow goal of pushing ISIL from the Turkish-Syrian border, its primary supply route. In the opening days of the operation, ISIL’s retreat allowed for the SDF to move north of the Sajur river, coming as close as eight kilometers to the Turkish border on August 26, according to data on Syria Live Map. During the opening days of the Turkish operation, allied rebel units clashed with elements of the SDF. The United States managed to broker a tentative ceasefire after the Turkish-backed operation reclaimed territory the SDF had previously taken north of the Sajur River. Turkey denies that a ceasefire is in place, but all open source evidence suggests an agreement was reached. The agreement has held and succeeded in preventing further clashes between Turkish and its allied rebels on one side and the SDF on the other along the Sajur River. The United States has an incentive to use “airstrike diplomacy” to encourage all sides to focus on the Islamic State by withholding support from Turkish, Arab, Turkmen, and Kurdish units engaged in fighting each other rather than ISIL. As I noted, if Ankara chooses to expand military operations to Al Bab and engage in street-to-street fighting with the Islamic State, Ankara’s firepower advantage would be offset by the realities of urban combat. It is unclear whether the forces Turkey is currently fighting alongside in the Euphrates Shield operation are numerous enough to take and hold the territory required an operation against Al Bab, while concurrently holding territory elsewhere. Turkey could opt to send more troops to offset any shortages — a scenario that would increase casualties and bog down a NATO ally in a nasty civil conflict. It is also unclear if the Turkish armed forces have the capacity to fight two counterinsurgency campaigns simultaneously. The Turkish Armed Forces have certainly weakened the PKK in this latest round of fighting inside Turkey, but the group continues to carry out near-daily attacks on Turkish security personnel in the southeast. The United States should pursue a multi-pronged policy approach, built upon the understanding that Turkey’s offensive in Syria and its counter-insurgency efforts in the southeast are interrelated. Washington should encourage a PKK-Turkish ceasefire inside of Turkey to decrease Turkish threat perceptions about the YPG in Syria and open up possibilities for Turkish support to broker local ceasefires between Arab and Kurdish groups in northern Syria. The United States need not reinvent the wheel. Washington could adopt Turkey’s pre-July 2015 policy as its own and update elements of Ankara’s previous ceasefire agreements with the PKK to reflect the updated reality in northern Syria. Turkey’s attitude toward the PKK/YPG has changed considerably in the past three years. In May 2013, the Turkish government and the PKK began to implement a multi-step process of confidence-building measures designed to be a first step toward ending the decades-old insurgency. The PKK was asked to withdraw from Turkey to northern Iraq, where they would then disarm, and eventually some would be granted amnesty and return to Turkey. The PKK in turn demanded that the Turkish government pass a legal measure guaranteeing that withdrawing fighters would not be targeted or arrested. This process broke down almost immediately, with the PKK refusing to leave and the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) refusing to pass the legislation. Still, talks continued up until March 2015. The United States could proactively approach Syria-based Kurdish militants about setting up a similar mechanism, whereby PKK members could withdraw to northern Iraq or Syria, where they could then join the fight against ISIL or staff administrative positions in the quasi-governing structures in Kurdish held territory. In return, the PKK should be asked to declare a unilatealceasefire, while the Turkish government announces a willingness to return to peace talks. If this happens, the United States could then approach Turkey about working with both the YPG and Turkish-backed rebel groups to reach local ceasefire arrangements with the SDF. These ceasefires in turn could be based on Turkey’s own position vis-à-vis Bashar al Assad and the Syrian regime: specifically, that Assad can stay on during a potential transition, but would abdicate power after a set period of time, giving way to a governing structure that would account for all of the major groups active in the fight, including various regime militias. The exceptions, of course, would be the Islamic State and Jaysh al Fateh al Sham, Syria’s rebranded Al Qaeda affiliate. This policy proposal will be incredibly difficult to implement and in all likelihood will not bear fruit in the near term. The Turkish government has few incentives to agree to the aforementioned terms, largely because it has re-militarized the Kurdish issue, going as far as to indict members of the legal, pro-Kurdish Democratic Peoples’ Party (HDP). Turkey’s current approach may only strengthen political support for the nationalist Kurdish movement and detract from concurrent government actions designed to decrease support for the PKK in the southeast. Should it decide to expand its operations along the Sajur River front and support operations to take territory from the SDF, the Turkish government faces the risk of more Kurdish nationalist backlash. Any such action would further strengthen the PKK’s political narrative and galvanize Kurdish support for the group — the exact opposite intention of any coherent counterinsurgency effort. It also risks involving Turkish ground forces on a third front with an insurgent actor whose parent organization, the PKK, has demonstrated the ability to sustain an insurgency for decades. The United States has little sway over Turkish decision-making, but does have the benefit of “strategic patience.” The United States can wait out this phase of the conflict, only to revisit the aforementioned proposals once the Turkish government and the PKK eventually decide to re-open peace talks. The United States has a strong interest in the Turkish military succeeding in Syria. Washington has an equal incentive to try and keep Turkey’s goals limited to the holding of territory taken from of ISIL’s on the border, while also trying to rein in any efforts to expand the scope of operations to include serious urban combat in Al Bab. On the political side, a successful military campaign could help to restore morale in a Turkish military that has suffered numerous purges to the officer corps following the failed coup attempt on July 15th. The Turkish military faces two serious threats, but can minimize these risks if the scope of the operation remains limited to the border and does not expand into urban areas. The Turkish government will make its own decisions about the next phase of Euphrates Shield. Regardless of the direction chosen, the risks from both ATGM and IEDs will remain. The United States has an opportunity to use the incursion to continue discussions with Turkey about the interrelated goals of a PKK-Turkish government ceasefire, concurrent YPG/SDF-Arab rebel group ceasefires in Syria, the defeat of ISIL, and broader efforts to reach agreement on the future of Syrian governance. Aaron Stein is a Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East. Image: Turkish state |
Cucumbers belong to the same plant family as squash, pumpkin, and watermelon (the Cucurbitaceae family). Like watermelon, cucumbers are made up of mostly (95 percent) water, which means eating them on a hot summer day can help you stay hydrated. However, there's reason to eat cucumbers all year long. With vitamin K, B vitamins, copper, potassium, vitamin C, and manganese, cucumbers can help you to avoid nutrient deficiencies that are widespread among those eating a typical American diet. Plus, cucumbers contain unique polyphenols and other compounds that may help reduce your risk of chronic diseases and much, much more. 9 Reasons to Eat Cucumbers 1. Protect Your Brain Cucumbers contain an anti-inflammatory flavonol called fisetin that appears to play an important role in brain health. In addition to improving your memory and protecting your nerve cells from age-related decline,1 fisetin has been found to prevent progressive memory and learning impairments in mice with Alzheimer's disease.2 2. Reduce Your Risk of Cancer Cucumbers contain polyphenols called lignans (pinoresinol, lariciresinol, and secoisolariciresinol), which may help to lower your risk of breast, uterine, ovarian, and prostate cancers.3 They also contain phytonutrients called cucurbitacins, which also have anti-cancer properties. According to the George Mateljan Foundation:4 "Scientists have already determined that several different signaling pathways (for example, the JAK-STAT and MAPK pathways) required for cancer cell development and survival can be blocked by activity of cucurbitacins." 3. Fight Inflammation Cucumbers may help to "cool" the inflammatory response in your body, and animal studies suggest that cucumber extract helps reduce unwanted inflammation, in part by inhibiting the activity of pro-inflammatory enzymes (including cyclo-oxygenase 2, or COX-2).5 4. Antioxidant Properties Cucumbers contain numerous antioxidants, including the well-known vitamin C and beta-carotene. They also contain antioxidant flavonoids, such as quercetin, apigenin, luteolin, and kaempferol,6 which provide additional benefits. For instance, quercetin is an antioxidant that many believe prevents histamine release—making quercetin-rich foods "natural antihistamines." Kaempferol, meanwhile, may help fight cancer and lower your risk of chronic diseases including heart disease. 5. Freshen Your Breath Placing a cucumber slice on the roof of your mouth may help to rid your mouth of odor-causing bacteria. According to the principles of Ayurveda, eating cucumbers may also help to release excess heat in your stomach, which is said to be a primary cause of bad breath.7 6. Manage Stress Cucumbers contain multiple B vitamins, including vitamin B1, vitamin B5, and vitamin B7 (biotin). B vitamins are known to help ease feelings of anxiety and buffer some of the damaging effects of stress. 7. Support Your Digestive Health Cucumbers are rich in two of the most basic elements needed for healthy digestion: water and fiber. If you struggle with acid reflux, you should know that drinking water can help suppress acute symptoms of acid reflux by temporarily raising stomach pH; it's possible that water-rich cucumbers may have a similar effect. Cucumber skins contain insoluble fiber, which helps add bulk to your stool. This helps food to move through your digestive tract more quickly for healthy elimination. 8. Maintain a Healthy Weight Cucumbers are very low in calories, yet they make a filling snack (one cup of sliced cucumber contains just 16 calories).8 The soluble fiber in cucumbers dissolves into a gel-like texture in your gut, helping to slow down your digestion. This helps you to feel full longer and is one reason why fiber-rich foods may help with weight control. 9. Support Heart Health Cucumbers contain potassium, which is associated with lower blood pressure levels. A proper balance of potassium both inside and outside your cells is crucial for your body to function properly. As an electrolyte, potassium is a positive charged ion that must maintain a certain concentration (about 30 times higher inside than outside your cells) in order to carry out its functions, which includes interacting with sodium to help control nerve impulse transmission, muscle contraction, and heart function. |
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in during the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russia September 6, 2017. Sputnik/Mikhail Klimentyev/Kremlin via REUTERS Reuters VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks with his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in on Wednesday after which he condemned North Korea's missile testing and called for talks to try to resolve the crisis. Putin, speaking in the Russian Pacific port city of Vladivostok, said it was not possible to resolve the North Korean crisis with just sanctions and pressure alone. Pyongyang's nuclear and missile program was a flagrant violation of United Nations resolutions, said Putin. "Without political and diplomatic tools, it is impossible to make headway in the current situation; to be more precise, it is impossible at all," Putin said at a joint news conference with his South Korean counterpart. (Reporting by Denis Pinchuk in Vladivostok; Additional reporting by Jack Stubbs/Christian Lowe in Moscow; Writing by Dmitry Solovyov; Editing by Andrew Osborn) |
Marriage equality is not just about civil rights, it's about mental health. The denial of civil marriage to lesbians and gay men is a striking example of discrimination that contributes to well documented mental health disparities between heterosexual and sexual minority persons. As the U.S. Supreme Court reviews the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8 and the federal Defense of Marriage Act, it should recall an earlier ruling almost sixty years ago based, in no small measure, on the pernicious psychological effects of discrimination experienced by minority persons. When the landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education is discussed, the legal doctrine that is most often recalled is that "separate is inherently unequal." This certainly has relevance for the debate today over whether "civil unions" are enough to provide marriage equality for LGBT people. But when I think about Brown, a different quotation is the one that stays with me: that segregation of children "may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely ever to be undone." As a psychiatrist, I hear in these words an evocation of lengthy psychotherapies with lesbians and gay men who feel that their committed relationships are still "less than" the marriages of heterosexual siblings in the eyes of families (not to mention their communities and the law). This sense of inferiority sometimes results in a form of "relationship ambiguity," in which some same-sex couples don't take their partnerships seriously enough to acknowledge anniversaries or expect joint invitations to family events. The negative effects of dismissing same-sex partnerships are not limited to those in relationships. Lesbians and gay men living in States that introduced laws or promoted initiatives to ban same-sex marriage, for example, have increased rates of anxiety and depression, as demonstrated in a widely publicized study led by Mark Hatzenbuehler, a colleague of mine with the new LGBT Health Initiative at Columbia University. So, what then happens to lesbians and gay men when marriage discrimination is lifted? Hearts and minds get better. Research supports this assertion. Gay men's medical and mental health care visits, for example, declined in the year after same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts; this was true regardless of whether or not men were partnered. And having a legally recognized same-sex spouse confers extra protection against depressive symptoms in the face of sexual orientation stigmatization and stress associated with aging such as worries about health or finances. There's another story I've been hearing in recent years. In my work with lesbians and gay men who wed their partners, I am struck by the common exclamation of being surprised by the transformative effect of legally marrying a partner, even after a couple has been together for many years. Sometimes this has to do with the joint acknowledgement by both partners' kin that they have created a new family and, by extension, that those marrying must now be seen as "fully adult." For other lesbians and gay men, the deeply embedded social, cultural, spiritual, and legal meanings of civil marriage imbue their love with a sense of legitimacy that had eluded them previously. Full marriage equality becomes a pardon from the purgatory of having a relationship that is eternally deemed either pre-marital or extra-marital. And it also connotes no longer being relegated to second-class citizenship. Whereas Brown addressed the harmful effects of educational inequality, the current marriage cases before the Supreme Court speak to a government-mandated devaluation of love between two people. This has profound effects on the hearts and minds of lesbians and gay men, as it denigrates the feelings of love that tell us with whom to be intimate, whom to care for and what to care about, and how to give meaning to our brief lives as mortal beings. To quote Barack Obama's second inaugural address, "if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well" -- and be as essential to the well-being of lesbians and gay men as it is to heterosexual men and women. |
WASHINGTON — A foundering bond insurer filed a civil fraud suit against Goldman Sachs Thursday over the same exotic mortgage securities deal in which Goldman paid $550 million last summer in a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. ACA Financial Guaranty Corp. charged that Goldman helped a major client, the hedge fund Paulson & Co., rig the billion-dollar deal by allowing the firm to pack it with securities backed by highly risky mortgages in early 2007 as the housing market was beginning to collapse. ACA invested heavily in the deal, known as Abacus 2007-AC1, in the belief that Paulson had agreed to absorb the first losses, while Goldman concealed that the hedge fund was actually betting that the so-called synthetic securities would default, the suit said. Goldman initially bet on the failure of the underlying bonds in the deal, but secretly sold its position to Paulson. Paulson ultimately racked up $1 billion in profits on the deal while ACA and European banks lost that much. Besides investing $42 million, ACA wrote $909 million in insurance on the securities in the deal. When the insurer ran into financial problems, the European bank, ABN Amro, reinsured ACA's position at Goldman's insistence, the suit said. When nearly all of the securities in the deal defaulted, ABN Amro, now owned by the Royal Bank of Scotland, paid Goldman $840 million. The German bank IKB also invested $50 million. A Goldman spokesman had no immediate comment on ACA's suit, filed in the New York Supreme Court, which governs many of the $1.3 trillion in offshore deals marketed from 2001 to 2008. In settling the SEC fraud suit last summer, Goldman said that it regretted providing "incomplete information" to investors in the transaction, but didn't admit to wrongdoing. Before approaching Goldman, Paulson tried to persuade the now-defunct investment bank Bear Stearns help it put such a deal together, according to "The Greatest Trade Ever," a book on the transaction authored by the Wall Street Journal's Gregory Zuckerman. However, Zuckerman wrote, Bear Stearns turned him down. Scott Eichel, a senior Bear Stearns trader who attended the meeting, felt it was improper, Zuckerman wrote, likening it to "a bettor asking a football owner to bench a star quarterback to improve the odds of his wager against the team." ACA's suit seeks $30 million in compensatory damages and $90 million in punitive damages. Under last year's settlement with the SEC, $250 million was set aside for investors in the deal. Neither IKB nor the Royal Bank of Scotland has sued. While Goldman and the SEC settled, the agency is still pursuing a civil fraud suit against Fabrice Tourre, the young vice president in a Goldman structured securities unit who put the deal together. Tourre now works in Goldman's London office. MORE FROM MCCLATCHY Goldman Sachs: Low road to high finance SEC charges Goldman Sachs with civil fraud in subprime deal Goldman to pay $550 million to settle SEC fraud charges |
The minimum educational qualification for the porter's post is just fourth standard pass. (Representational Image) Highlights 984 graduates, 605 class12, 282 class 10 pass among applicants Minimum qualification for the post is just 4th standard pass Candidates to be examined for their linguistic ability and maths skills As many as 984 graduates and five MPhil degree holders have applied for the five 'hamal' (porter) posts in Maharashtra, a senior official today said.The minimum educational qualification for the post is just fourth standard pass."We have received applications from 2,424 candidates for the five 'hamal' posts. They include 5 MPhil holder, 9 PG diploma holders, 109 diploma holders and 253 with PG degree," Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC) Secretary Rajendra Mangrulkar told Press Trust of India in Mumbai today.The exam for the class D post is likely to be conducted in August, he said.Among the applicants, 984 are graduates, 605 HSC (class12), 282 SSC (class 10) pass candidates, and 177 below SSC.MPSC had advertised for these posts in December 2015. The age limit for the posts is 18-33 years.In the written test, candidates will be examined for their linguistic ability and basic maths skills. |
Updated: With the spike in BitCoin Scams and Theft, a hardware wallet as oppose to software wallet provides enhanced security, hardware wallets is a special type of bitcoin wallet which stores the user’s private keys in a secure hardware device. They have major advantages over standard software wallets are. Related Article 2019 ➤ 4 ASIC Bitcoin Mining Software For Microsoft Windows And Linux Private keys are often stored in a protected area of a microcontroller, and cannot be transferred out of the device in plaintext Immune to computer viruses that steal from software wallets Can be used securely and interactively, as opposed to a paper wallet which must be imported to software at some point Much of the time, the software is open source, allowing a user to validate the entire operation of the device The disadvantage is if you happened to lose that piece of device, you lose everything. This includes a faulty device. The best option is not to store all of your BitCoins in 1 place, spread them out over a few devices, this include online and software too. Below are 6 purchasable hardware wallets for the average consumer. ↓ 01 – Pi Wallet [ Discontinued ] | EUR 124.95 Pi wallet is a device for securely storing your bitcoins in an offline environment to protect them. We provide a service of installing a safe bitcoin wallet client (Armory) on a small, hand-sized computer (Raspberry Pi) so you can securely store your coins without having to deal with the issues of setting all this up by yourself. A lot of bitcoiners face the problem of how to securely store their bitcoins. Naturally they get to a point where they think about storing them offline to prevent others on the Internet from getting access to the coins. This often leads to the idea of setting up an old notebook as an offline storage or maybe even buy one for that purpose. However, this can be expensive and a real hassle to set up. Unlike a lot of notebooks Pi Wallet doesn’t have a wireless connection With Pi Wallet easily fitting into your hand you save a lot of space and you can even take it with you easily if necessary Unlike a notebook the Pi Wallet device can be easily separated from its hard drive, the SDHC card. You can take your coins wherever you want by just moving the card around Pi Wallet comes with 2 SDHC cards so you can always have the backup card stored on a safe place ↓ 02 – TREZOR | USD99 TREZOR is a single purpose device which allows you to make secure Bitcoin transactions. With TREZOR, transactions are completely safe even when initiated on a compromised or vulnerable computer. Because the use of TREZOR is very easy and intuitive we believe it will help Bitcoin adoption among people not familiar with the security issues. The list of wallets that can be used with TREZOR device is constantly growing. These inlude myTREZOR, Mycelium, and Multibit HD. Ultimate security – No matter how unprotected your computer or internet connection might be, your coins always stay safe with TREZOR as it never exposes your private keys. TREZOR is an isolated environment for offline transaction signing and using a small display you can visually verify the transaction contents. That’s why all operations using TREZOR are entirely safe. Easy to use – TREZOR is Windows, OS X and Linux friendly. All you need to do is to connect your TREZOR to the computer and follow the instructions. There are only two buttons, to confirm or to deny the action, so using TREZOR is as easy and as intuitive as it can be. Users can backup the whole TREZOR contents on a small piece of paper and use this backup to regain access to all their coins in case of disaster, loss or theft. Modern cryptography – TREZOR uses state of the art cryptographic algorithms and practices, but you don’t have to read long manuals or to be a crypto-expert in order to use them properly. Community driven open-source – TREZOR code is open-source and technical decisions are discussed with the wider developer community. Everything can be audited by an independent third party. This ensures that TREZOR is absolutely transparent and backdoor free. ↓ 03 – KeepKey | USD99 The Simple Bitcoin Hardware Wallet. KeepKey is a hardware wallet that secures bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, dogecoin, dash, and namecoin. Your assets are protected from hackers and thieves. Secure Storage – Your private key is stored securely on your KeepKey, never leaving the device. Your KeepKey is PIN-protected, which renders it useless even if it falls into the wrong hands. Transacting – KeepKey’s large display gives clarity to every digital asset leaving the device. Each transaction must be manually approved using KeepKey’s confirmation button. Recover – If your KeepKey is lost or stolen, you can safely recover your device without compromising its private keys. Supported Wallets – bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin, dogecoin, dash, namecoin, and more coming soon ↓ 04 – Opendime | 3 Sticks for $37.50 Opendime is a small USB stick that allows you to spend Bitcoin like a dollar bill. Pass it along multiple times. Connect to any USB to check balance. Unseal anytime to spend online. Trust no one. USB Drive – Acts like a read-only USB flash drive. Works with any computer, laptop, and phone. A QR Picture and Text file inside contain Bitcoin address and support. Ultra Secure – The private key is generated inside the device, and is never known to any human, not even you! Compatibility – The Bitcoin world changes fast but Opendime is built on the fundamental Bitcoin features that haven’t changed in five years. No Trust – Give an Opendime to anyone and they don’t need to worry that you can take back the funds later. You’ve got the private keys in the device. Free To Use – This is physical Bitcoin as it was meant to be: just hand it to someone and they’ve got it. Pass it on multiple times! Simple as a handshake. No miner fees, no confirmation delays. Open Standards – Uses Bitcoin message signing, normal (non HD) bitcoin payment addresses and private keys in WIF format. ↓ 05 – Digital Bitbox | USD 50 Digital Bitbox is a minimalist bitcoin hardware wallet packed with security and privacy. Safely hold and spend your coins with peace of mind. The Digital Bitbox is a plug-and-play wallet that combines the highest security of cold storage with the convenience of software wallets. For you, it gives simplicity and peace of mind. Unique advantages of the Digital Bitbox Offline, anytime backup and recovery with a micro SD card. Native software client avoids security risks of browser-based clients. Plausible deniability with hidden wallets and backups. Tor and Tails OS compatible to protect your privacy. Private keys kept on a high-security chip that prevents physical extraction (50 year lifespan). Portable, extremely durable case filled with epoxy and packed with security. Subtle design avoids unwanted attention. Multisig out-of-the-box (optional to use). Smart verification and second-factor authentication mobile app (optional to use). Swiss ideals – quality, privacy, no backdoors. ↓ 06 – Ledger Wallet | USD15 – USD58 Ledger builds solutions to bridge the physical world and the blockchain. We have three families of products: Personal Security Devices for end users, Hardware Security Modules for servers and Hardware Oracles for connected objects, machines and IoT. Ledger Nano S is a Bitcoin, Ethereum and Altcoins hardware wallet, based on robust safety features for storing cryptographic assets and securing digital payments. It connects to any computer (USB) and embeds a secure OLED display to double-check and confirm each transaction with a single tap on its side buttons. Blockchain applications live in their own digital realm, totally orthogonal to the physical world. In order to exist and solve real life problems, they must interface with human operators or machines through atomic transactions and contract function calls. As much as a blockchain is intrinsically secure thanks to its consensus based mechanism, the global security architecture ultimately depends on the reliability of the inputs fed to the system. If transactions generation is compromised, or if a data source is corrupted, the whole security model collapses. Ledger solves this major security issue by providing a trust layer between the IT system and the physical world: security devices to keep private keys out of reach of hackers and ensure a proof of presence of the user to mitigate man in the middle attacks, security modules for servers to enforce hard rules, and hardware oracles to measure and attest the existence of physical events (GPS location, vehicle speed, power consumption…). 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Overclock Labs wants to make it easier for developers to deploy and manage their applications across clouds. To do so, the company is building tools to automate distributed cloud infrastructure and, unsurprisingly, it is betting on containers — and specifically the Kubernetes container orchestration tools — to do this. Today, Overclock Labs, which was founded two years ago, is coming out of stealth and announcing that it raised a $1.3 million seed round from a number of Silicon Valley angel investors and CrunchFund — the fund that shares a bit of its name and history with TechCrunch but is otherwise completely unaffiliated with the blog you are currently reading. So far, the company used this previously undisclosed funding round to develop DISCO, which stands for Decentralized Infrastructure for Serverless Computing Operations. You may see the word “serverless” in there and think: so this is like an event-driven service like AWS Lambda or Azure Functions? And nobody would blame you for thinking that, but as Overclock Labs co-founders Greg Osuri (CEO) and Greg Gopman (COO) told me, in their view, the goal of “serverless” is about being fully automated (the company’s third co-founder is Adam Bozanich). Lambda does this at the real-time level for event-driven applications, but DISCO, which is going to be open source, aims to offer support for a wider range of applications. The general idea here, Osuri told me, is to build a platform that allows you to work with any cloud service provider and allows you to easily move between clouds. The developer experience, he said, should be somewhat like using Heroku and the team is building both a graphical interface as well as a smart command-line tool for the service. For now, the tool supports AWS, the Google Cloud Platform and bare-metal specialist Packet, but the team tells me that it expects to support other clouds in the near future. Because DISCO is open source, others can also easily build their own integrations. To deploy applications with DISCO, developers can choose two routes: If they are building according to the 12-factor app philosophy, then DISCO can simply take the source code and deploy the app for them, or they can simply build their own containers and hand them over to DISCO for deployment. The system then handles the container registry and manages the containers for them. The promise of DISCO is that it will make deploying applications as easy as using a service like Heroku, but for maybe a third of the cost. Osuri and Gopman previously built AngelHack together and have extensive experience in building open-source tools and working inside open-source ecosystems. It’s no surprise, then, that they plan to open source the DISCO tool and then build premium services on top of that. What exactly these premium services will look like remains to be seen, but the first order of business for the company is now to release DISCO within the next few months and then build an ecosystem around it. That’s easier said than done, especially in an age where it can feel like a new high-profile open-source project launches daily, but the founders are quite realistic about what the process will look like. They also admitted that they don’t expect to be the only players in this space — with Kubernetes, the basic building blocks for this automated infrastructure are available to anybody, after all (and with AWS re:Invent around the corner, I’m sure we’ll hear from other competitors in the next week or two). They do, however, think they are launching early enough to become one of the bigger players. |
House Republicans have blocked an attempt by Democrats to force President Donald Trump to release his tax returns to Congress. Democratic Rep. Bill Pascrell of New Jersey said Monday that Congress has a responsibility to hold the executive branch "to the highest standard of transparency to ensure the public interest is placed first." Pascrell and other Democrats said the tax returns also would help lawmakers and the public determine whether Trump has any investments in Russia. Trump has said he has no investments in Russia, and Democrats acknowledged they have no evidence otherwise. They said that is one reason they want to obtain access to Trump's returns. The Republican-controlled House on Monday approved Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's motion to postpone indefinitely Pascrell's proposal. The vote was 229 to 185. Follow Marie Claire on Facebook for the latest celeb news, beauty tips, fascinating reads, livestream video, and more. |
French Toasted Angel Food Cake Happy July 4th! link French Toasted Angel Food Cake By Heather Baird Monday, July 04, 2011 Monday, July 04, 2011 French Toasted Angel Food Cake Recipe ByPublished: For nearly two years I've faithfully posted to this blog at least once a week, and to get away from that routine felt strange and a little empty. I'm glad to be back,Getting the book manuscript done was a mad dash, and it was strange to see the accumulated pile of work I'd printed out over time reduced to four or five files on a hard drive - but there it was. Small and tidy. My effort to inspire creativity through confection. I can't wait to share it with all of you!While I have no red, white and blue concoction for you on this, this cake is delicious and celebratory, nonetheless. It's great if you're short on time and makes a superb dessert or breakfast for overnight company.It is as good as it sounds and super easy. Add a ready-made angel food cake to your grocery list - you'll thank me later.adapted from BHG 8" Angel food cake purchased at grocer's6 eggs, beaten1 cup skim milk3 tablespoons granulated sugar2 teaspoons vanilla extract4 tablespoons butter, dividedMaple syrupNutmeg1. Combine the eggs, milk, sugar and vanilla in a shallow dish. Whisk until well incorporated.2. Slice the angel food cake into 8 pieces with a serrated knife.3. Soak angel food cake slices in the egg mixture for no longer than 1 minute, turning to coat all sides.4. Place a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add 2 tbsp. of butter to the pan and swirl until melted.5. Cook 4 slices of cake at a time, turning to cook on all sides until golden. Add additional 2 tbsp. of butter to pan and let melt before frying the next batch of cake.6. Place slices on a serving platter in upright cake formation.7. Cover with maple syrup and sprinkle with nutmeg.1 cup heavy cream3 tablespoons super fine granulated sugar1/2 teaspoon vanilla extractCinnamon1 pint of fresh berries, whole or sliced1. Whip the heavy cream in a medium bowl with a hand mixer at medium-high speed.2. Gradually pour in the granulated sugar, and then add the vanilla.3. Increase mixer speed to high and whip until stiff peaks form.4. Dollop whipped cream over the top of the assembled cake.5. Sprinkle with cinnamon.6. Top with fresh berries.Serve immediately. |
Jeff Hughes | October 5th, 2017 Why Do I Like the Chicago Bears This Week? I always like the Chicago Bears. But I EXTRA like the Chicago Bears this week!!! Four Thoughts on Trubisky’s First Start It’s difficult to imagine how nervous this kid is going to be. First start. Monday Night Football. At home in front of a crowd that is desperate for him to be great. Dowell Loggains has to ease Trubisky into this game and then turn him loose. It is the most important game of Loggains’ time in Chicago. Since it’s his first start, don’t be surprised if the Bears constantly roll him out to the right side, eliminate half the field and “flood” options to that side – someone in the flat, someone deep and someone running an intermediate route. This will give Tru five quick options: over the top, middle, flat, toss it OB, run. When Trubisky doesn’t understand what he’s seeing after the snap – and it will happen – his instincts are going to be to run with the football. Bears have to coach that out of him. Throwing the football into the fourth row will be better for Trubisky long-term than taking a hit to gain five yards on second down. If he sees daylight on the other hand… Two positions are going to benefit from Trubisky starting: wide receivers and offensive tackles. The wides will now have a few extra seconds to find holes in the secondary due to Tru’s mobility. The tackles can now slide the edge rushers up the field without fear, knowing the QB won’t be afraid to take a few steps up into the pocket and deliver the ball down the field. Monty Hall, Dead at 96 Many people who attend New York University study serious things. I did not. I did a lot of work on game shows. Yes, at the Department of Cinema Studies you could actually write thesis papers on game shows and Bob Fosse and re-use papers you and Noah Brier wrote on “ALF & American Television”. Monty Hall was a great game show host. Here are my top ten game show hosts of all-time. I like to think very few people could even make a list like this. 1 Richard Dawson 2 Gene Rayburn I once said that Rayburn, the brilliant Match Game host, talked softly and carried a big microphone. Like many hosts of the era (and panelists for that matter), Rayburn spent years on Broadway honing the stage personality that served him so well on television. Classy. Refined. 3 Alex Trebek Many have criticized Trebek for disingenuously acting superior to Jeopardy‘s nightly contestants. But isn’t that sensibility just perfect for the host of a show asking smart people to show off their knowledge of the British monarchy and Canadian geography? 4 Monty Hall There’s a great line in Ghostbusters where Sigourney Weaver tells Bill Murray he’s “more like a game show host”. The type of host to which she referred was the host-as-used-car-salesman that Hall pioneered. Hall was surrounded by jerks in goofy costumes but the viewer’s eyes never left him for a moment. 5 Bob Barker Gets bonus points for his cameo Happy Gilmore and his unending desire to get viewers to spay and neuter their pets. 6 Bob Eubanks. Card Sharks was one of my favorite game shows of all-time but Eubanks was perfection emceeing The Newlywed Game’s awkward moments. 7 Bert Convy Convy was in the original casts of Fiddler and Cabaret. He was a wonderful performer. And as a game show host, he was one of a kind. Soft-spoken, gentle and dry. His best work? Ringmastering the circus of Win, Lose or Draw. But he’ll always be Password‘s most unique host, seemingly playing alone without a clue as to whether his own word choices were any good or not. 8 Wink Martindale He was the journeyman game show host. Tic-Tac-Dough. What’s this Song? Debt. High Rollers. None of them great shows but it didn’t stop him from defining the syndication host. 9 Chuck Woolery Woolery has become a right-wing, talking head buffoon in his later years but he brought a smarmy charm to Love Connection, projected cool authority over Scrabble and kept a confusing, ill-designed Lingo afloat on GSN for years. 10 Chuck Barris Barris was nuts, on and off television. But his Gong Show hosting is one of the most unique displays ever on American television. He is to game show hosting what Andy Kaufman was to stand-up comedy. [Note: Tom Petty will be saluted properly on the pod tomorrow.] Three Reasons the Bears Will Win Expect a solid outing from the defense. Bears have allowed 40 points at home to two good offenses – Atlanta (23) and Pittsburgh (17). They’ve allowed 64 on the road, with two horrific quarterbacking performances. Minnesota – with or without Sam Bradford and definitely without Dalvin Cook – will be the weakest offense the Bears have faced this season. The Star-Tribune’s film study session broke down why the Vikings struggled on the ground post-Cook HERE. Energy! Wait til the Bears are in third-and-long, the play is dead and Trubisky takes off down the sideline for a first down. Wait til you see how the defense and bench and crowd react. This is an entire organization desperate to be inspired by the play of their quarterback. These are players desperate to see their talent improvement show up on the scoreboard. Mark Potash did a nice job detailing the player reactions to the quarterback change HERE in the Sun-Times. Tarik Cohen. Jordan Howard’s style doesn’t feel like it’ll be effective against the Vikings defense but Cohen’s ability to bounce outside and take on their linebackers in space could be the difference. This isn’t just a game to get Cohen involved. This is a game to feature him. Three Reasons They Won’t Stefon Diggs and Adam Thielen are the best receiving tandem in the sport through the first quarter of the season. (Almost 800 yards thus far.) Monday night they add Michael Floyd to that mix. With Minnesota only allowing five sacks and the Bears only putting nine sacks on the board, expect Bradford/Keenum to find these fellas open all over the field. through the first quarter of the season. (Almost 800 yards thus far.) Monday night they add Michael Floyd to that mix. With Minnesota only allowing five sacks and the Bears only putting nine sacks on the board, expect Bradford/Keenum to find these fellas open all over the field. The Vikings defense is fourth in rushing yards allowed per attempt & total rushing yards allowed per game. Bears won’t be able to line up and simply beat this front at the point of attack. per attempt & total rushing yards allowed per game. Bears won’t be able to line up and simply beat this front at the point of attack. Zimmer vs. rookie quarterback. Vikings coach Mike Zimmer is still a terrific defensive mind and Mitch Trubisky is still a rookie quarterback making his first start. Zimmer is going to show Tru looks he’s never seen before. He’s going to crowd the line of scrimmage and then drop eight into coverage. He’s going to present man on the outside and fall into zone. Vegas has Minnesota favored for a reason. Song of the Week “I’m money making Mitch, I need a money making bitch I spent 200 on the kit, 1500 on the kicks I’m money making Mitch, I need a money making bitch I spent 200 on the kit, 1500 on the kicks Look I just hit a lick, spend 250 on the whip Another 50 on a trip just to fuck your bitch nigga Just got a check, that bitch got 2, 3, commas Look like an out of town number I’m going hard for 2, 3, summers I’m money making Mitch, I need a money making bitch I spent 200 on the kit, 1500 on the kicks” Don’t Be Surprised If… …the Bears get multiple interceptions. Only the Bears, Raiders, Dolphins and Giants don’t have a pick this season. But the Bears have had their hands on several opportunities. Stopping the Vikings run game means they’ll be forced to throw far more than they want. That means opportunities for the Bears secondary. Charity of the Week! This Saturday magical Rossi’s is hosting a #HurricaneMaria relief fundraiser and matching first $5k in donations. You should go. #freeplug pic.twitter.com/Frnf9cFTi4 — Chicago Bars (@chicagobars) October 4, 2017 Don’t Gamble But If You Do…(3-1) There is no line currently on this game but it opened with the Vikings somewhere between 3 and 3.5 point favorites. If this line stays above a field goal when the ball is kicked off, jump on the Bears, ride me to 4-1 and live the American dream. Tweet of the Week You don’t want my bad cell phone picture of Mitch Trubisky during the open period of #Bears practice today. So … pic.twitter.com/ynDpdaZflc — Patrick Finley (@patrickfinley) October 3, 2017 This will forever be the finest historical record of Mitch Trubisky’s first practice as the starting quarterback of the Chicago Bears. Game Prediction Trubisky’s line: 20-32, 267 yards, TD, INT But he puts together a couple impressive drives late against this feisty Vikings defense and runs in the game-winning touchdown with less than a minute left on the clock. Chicago Bears 20 Minnesota Vikings 13 |
Call them “eccentric,” “curious,” “inquisitive,” or “improbable.” Just don’t actually call them gay or lesbian, at least not in a movie. That was the unspoken but widely followed rule in Hollywood for decades. Homosexuality was once known as “the love that dare not speak its name,” a turn of phrase adopted from the work of English poet Lord Alfred Douglas. The movies had plenty of other names for gay and lesbian characters, however, as discussed in a thread at MetaFilter. The jumping-off point for the thread is a pair of semi-satirical articles from 2015 by Mallory Ortberg: “Code Words For ‘Gay’ In Classic Films” and “Code Words For Lesbianism In Classic Films.” Ortberg’s lists, written in collaboration with “left-handed whisperer Connor Goldsmith,” contain a mixture of real and made-up examples, and both get sillier as they go along. Some real doozies here include: “in the way of uncles,” “has a silk bathrobe,” “carries her own purse,” and that old favorite, “standoffish.” Interestingly, Ortberg uses 1970 as her cutoff point for such euphemisms. That was the year of William Friedkin’s The Boys In The Band, a film that brought a new-found candor to the subject of homosexuality in the movies. The readers of MetaFilter have many suggestions of their own. The classic “confirmed bachelor” comes up early in the discussion, as does “light in the loafers.” “Pretty boy” is deemed worthy of inclusion on the list, and it is generally agreed that, for adult male characters, a strong relationship with one’s mother was a dead giveaway. The movie Gilda from 1946 provides another classic euphemism: “A man who makes his own luck.” |
Stockholm + FÖLJ Vem är Filips långhårige hjälte? Filip Bley är glad för att ha fått sin dator åter, och söker nu den långhårige kille som hittade den. Bilden från filmen The Big Lebowski blev ett tecken för upphittaren på att datorn tvunget måste återlämnas till sin rätta ägare. avChristoffer Malm NYHETER 26 juni 2015 23:43 Filip Bleys dator ramlade ur väskan när han var på väg mot Arlanda. Men den var inte borta för alltid – en långhårig man hade tagit hand om den. – Snälla, hjälp mig hitta honom så att jag kan supa ner honom som tack, säger Filip Bley. Filip Bley kommer från Belgien och bor tillfälligt i Sverige. På fredagen skulle han hem till Bryssel för att hälsa på sina föräldrar. Då var olyckan framme. – Jag var glad för att jag var i god tid till flyget och lyssnade på Biggie Smalls, så jag märkte inte när datorn gled ur min väska, säger Filip Bley till Aftonbladet. Det var först när han klev på tunnelbanan vid Fridhemsplan i centrala Stockholm som han märkte att datorn saknades. ”Jag svettades ymnigt” Första tanken var att den hade ramlat ut hemma. – Men kallsvetten tog över och jag tappade det när jag insåg att den kanske låg mitt på gatan, och att allt mitt arbete finns på den datorn och bara där, säger Filip Bley. Han skyndade av tunnelbanan och säger att den fyra minuter långa väntetiden på nästa tåg tillbaka kändes som den längsta stunden i hans liv. – När tåget kom svettades jag ymnigt, och när vi kom tillbaka till Fridhemsplan såg jag någon sitta med min dator på plattformen, säger Filip Bley. Omfamnade främling Den svettige Sverigegästen sprang genom folkhopen på perrongen, mot mannen med datorn. – Jag tittade upp från datorn, som jag kände igen som min, och såg honom le när han sa till vad jag gissar var SL att "glöm det, jag tror det har löst sig", säger Filip Bley. I brist på ord kramade han först den hjälpsamma främlingen i ren tacksamhet. – Sen tackade jag honom tusen gånger. Big Lebowski blev ett tecken Mannen som hittade datorn hade sett Filip Bleys bakgrundsbild – en bild från filmen The Big Lebowski – och tog det som ett tecken på att datorn måste tillbaka till sin rättmätige ägare, berättar Filip Bley. – Den här mannen var inte bara en total "bro" (ung. "skön snubbe", reds. anm.), han hade dessutom missat sitt tåg, men han sa att det var värt det. Vilken kille. Det var först när de skiljts åt och stressvetten torkat som Filip Bley insåg att han borde tagit mannens telefonnummer för att kunna köpa honom en öl som tack. Vill hitta den långhårige killen Nu vill Filip Bley ha Aftonbladets hjälp med att hitta välgöraren som räddade hans filmiskt smyckade laptop. Han beskriver sin hjälte som ung, kanske i 25-30-årsåldern, med långt mörkblont hår i en hästsvans. Eventuellt bar han en ljusgrön jacka. – Snälla, hjälp mig hitta honom så att jag kan supa ner honom som tack, säger Filip Bley. ✓ Vet du något om vem Filips hjälte är? Kontakta Aftonbladets reporter (klicka på namnet här nedanför). 26 juni 2015 23:43 |
Col. Muammar Gadhafi will not only go down in history as being one of the world’s most brutal and brazen despots, but also as one of its weirdest. From his wardrobe changes to the way he tries to woo women like former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, a visit to a psychologist’s couch is long overdue. Let’s start with what to call him. Gadhafi collects titles the way normal men collect cufflinks and watches. Imam of Muslims, the Dean of Arab Rulers, the Keeper of Arab Nationalism, the King of Kings, The Mad Dog of the Middle East (courtesy of President Ronald Reagan), and The Colonel are among those he either picked up or gave himself. (Strangely “the King of Kings” never deigned to promote himself above a colonel.) Gadhafi also appears undecided how to spell his name in English. The Associated Press once donated a full column to chronicling the different spelling, among them Al Gathafi (via the official Libyan news agency JANA), El-Qathafi (via the Libyan Information Ministry), and Qathafi (via the Libyan UN Mission) – and western governments and newspapers have their own variations. It’s been more than four decades since his coup, and he’s still not made up his mind. Then there’s his wardrobe and how often he changes clothes. One of his former Ukrainian nurses, 24-year-old Oksana Balinskaya, penned a Newsweek column in April and said that “Papik” – the nickname his nurses gave him, meaning “little father” in Russian (unclear if mockery was intended) – “would change his clothes several times a day.” “He was so obsessive about his outfits,” she continued, “that he reminded me of a rock star from the 1980s. Sometimes when his guests were already waiting for him, he would go back to his room and change his clothes again, perhaps into his favorite white suit.” And his attire ranges from animal skins to rainbow-colored silk drapes, (prompting Time Magazine to anoint him in 2009 as one of the “10 Worst Dressed World Leaders”). Gadhafi not only likes to surround himself with Ukrainian nurses, but also famously travels with a bevy of female bodyguards and has been known to hire beautiful women to sit and listen to his lectures. But the woman he appears to have a unique infatuation with is Ms. Rice. When she visited Libya in 2008, an official on the trip told me, Gadhafi tried to seduce Ms. Rice with a specially made music video, before trying to drag her into his private quarters – apparently thinking the video had sufficiently impressed. State Department officials thought otherwise and grabbed her other hand – and (much to her relief) eventually won the ensuing tug-of-war. When Libyan fighters entered Gadhafi’s Tripoli compound last week they found an album full of pictures of Ms. Rice. Gadhafi’s grand gestures aren’t limited to when he’s trying to mate, however; they also appear when he’s trying to insult. One the most notorious of these came during the 1988 Algiers conference, during which he donned a white glove to avoid touching the “blood-stained hands” of “Arab traitors.” And when Jordan’s King Hussein was about to speak, Gadhafi dramatically threw a white sheet over his own body. Between his flare for staged drama, elaborate outfits, and regular wardrobe changes, one gets the impression that in another life Gadhafi would have been very happy as a Madison Avenue fashion designer or as a choreographer for Lady Gaga. Gadhafi is also known for insisting on pitching his Bedouin tent in every foreign city he visits. The tent made a big splash in 1989 when he brought it to a summit in Belgrade – along with camels and horses. Ms. Balinskaya, however, claims that: “He never slept in a tent, though! That’s just a myth. He only used the tent for official meetings.” Which of course makes it all the more reasonable. Perhaps the biggest Gadhafi joke, however, is that for all his antics – not to mention his domestic oppression and extensive support of international terrorism – he never failed to find prominent western supporters. These have ranged from President Jimmy Carter’s brother Billy (who received $220,000 from Gadhafi while his brother was in the White House), to the Scottish authorities who released the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, to the Bush administration, which not only gave Gadhafi legitimacy (and untold joy) with Ms. Rice’s visit, but even gave western security companies the go ahead to train his forces. Perhaps Gadhafi isn’t the only one who needs his head examined. Daniel Freedman is the director of strategy and policy analysis at The Soufan Group, a strategic intelligence consultancy. His writings can be found at www.dfreedman.org. He is the co-author of “The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al Qaeda,” to be published by WW Norton on Sept. 12.) |
This decklist is outdated. Use this. So, a new post with Royals as the subject. Royal Paladin was one of the first debuting clans in Vanguard. In G, it’s new keyword is Brave. Brave activates when you have less than three cards in hand. So, here is my decklist : Grade 0 x1 Knight of Discipline, Alectos x4 Bringer of Dreams, Belenus x4 Encourage Angel x4 Knight of Flash x4 Knight of Pretty Sword Grade 1 x4 Security Knight, Regius x3 Struggle Knight, Porex x3 Laurel Knight, Sicilus x3 Headwind Knight, Selim x2 Support Warlock of Damascus Grade 2 x4 Knight of Ambuscade, Redon x2 Knight of Enlightenment, Albion x3 Counteroffensive Knight, Suleiman x2 Hopesong Angel Grade 3 x3 Blue Sky Knight, Altmile x4 Knight of Heavenly Decree, Altmile Grade 4 x4 Aerial Divine Knight, Altmile x1 Divine Knight of Lore, Selfes x2 Divine Knight of Godly Defense, Igraine x2 Holy Dragon, Laserguard Dragon x2 Blazing Sword, Fides x1 Transcending the Heavens, Altmile x2 Holy Dragon, Brave Lancer Dragon Grade 0 : [AUTO]:Forerunner (When a unit of the same clan rides this unit, you may call this unit to (RC)) [AUTO](RC) Generation Break 1 (Active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone):[Counter Blast (1) & Put this unit into your soul] At the beginning of each battle phase, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card, and the brave ability of your cards will be always active until end of turn. [ACT](RC) Brave (This ability is active when you have three or less cards in your hand):[[Rest] this unit] Choose one of your units, and it gets [Power]+3000 until end of turn. I use Alectos as my starter. By using his Generation Break skill, the Brave ability will remian active even if you have three or more cards in your hand. By resting him, his other skill gives a unit +3k . [AUTO](RC):[Put this unit into your soul] When your vanguard attacks, if you have a grade 3 or greater vanguard with “Altmile” in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card, choose one of your vanguards, and it gets [Power]+5000 until end of that battle. Altmile’s Personal Critical, Belenus goes to the soul when your vanguard with Altmile in it’s name attacks another vanguard, in exchange for a 5k power boost to the vanguard and drawing a card AUTO] Generation Break 1 (Active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone): When this unit is placed on (RC), choose up to another two of your units, and you may have those units get [Power]+3000 until end of turn. If you do, return this unit to your deck, and shuffle your deck. Encourage Angel is a stand trigger, whose skill activates when a unit is placed on RC. For giving + 3k to two of your units, it returns itself to the deck. Grade 1 : [CONT]:Sentinel [AUTO]:[Choose a card from your hand, and discard it] When this unit is placed on (GC) from hand, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose one of your units that is being attacked, and it cannot be hit until end of that battle. [AUTO] Generation Break 2 Brave (This ability is active when you have three or less cards in your hand):When this unit is placed on (GC), if you have a vanguard with “Altmile” in its card name, Soul Charge (1). Then, if the number of cards in your hand is one or less, choose one of your units that is being attacked, and it cannot be hit until end of that battle. Regius is the new perfect guard we got in the character booster. He is one of the best support for Royals, Altmile and more so for Brave. It makes Brave less punishing in terms of defense. He has two skills; the first is the usual Perfect Guard Skill, and the second skill may turn him into a free perfect guard. He soulcharges one card when placed on Guardian Circle, and if you have any Altmile as vanguard and you have one or less cards in hand, he cannot nullify any attack, be it on your vanguard or rearguard. This card is a good counter against VMAX, Kaiser builds [AUTO] Brave (This ability is active when you have three or less cards in your hand):When this unit is placed on (RC) due an effect from cards, if you have a vanguard with “Altmile” in its card name, this unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn. A power gainer card, gets +5k when placed on RC and have an Altmile Vanguard. Combos well with cards that bounce cards to hand [AUTO]:[Choose a grade 3 card from your hand, and reveal it] When this unit is placed on (RC) from hand, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one grade 3 card with “Altmile” in its card name, reveal it to your opponent, put it into your hand, shuffle your deck, choose a card from your hand, and discard it. [CONT](Hand):While you are paying the cost for Stride, this card gets grade+2. . General Stride Fodder, not much say about it. Gets Grade +2 while paying cost for Stride, and get Altmile in hand by revealing a Grade 3 and discarding a card. [CONT](RC) Generation Break 1 Brave (This ability is active when you have three or less cards in your hand):If you have a vanguard with “Altmile” in its card name, this unit gets [Power]+3000. [CONT](Deck):If you have a vanguard with “Altmile” in its card name, this card gets grade+1. Selim is another support card for Altmile. It gets Grade +1 when in deck, as before Royals were more focused on calling Grade 2s to the field. His second skill gives +3k to himself if you have acheived Brave and have Altmile as your vanguard. [AUTO](RC) Generation Break 1 (Active if you have one or more face up G units in total on your (VC) or G zone) Brave (This ability is active when you have three or less cards in your hand):[Retire this unit] At the end of your turn, you may pay the cost. If you do, draw a card, and Counter Charge (2). This card comes in the new TD. This is a good mean of recharging, as Altmile as a whole tends to burn through counterblasts. With all the new support, Brave is not being so hard to acheive with Selfes and Alectos. For retiring itself at the end of the turn, she countercharges 2. Grade 2 : [CONT](RC) Generation Break 2 Brave (This ability is active when you have three or less cards in your hand):During your turn, all of the other units in your front row get [Power]+3000. [AUTO]:When this unit is placed on (RC) due to an effect from cards, if you have a vanguard with “Altmile” in its card name, this unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of turn. Then, if you have a face up card in your G zone, choose a card from your hand, and you may discard it. If you do, this unit gets “boost” until end of turn. Redon is another good card this booster gave us. His CONT skill gives all units in the front row except himself +3k power. His on call skill gives him +3k power if you have an Altmile vanguard, and then, if you have a face up G-Unit in the G Zone, by discarding a card, he gets Boost. Really useful card, because of that pseudo – Airmile power boost. [AUTO](RC) Generation Break 1:[Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1)] When this unit attacks a vanguard, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one card with the brave ability, call it to (RC), shuffle your deck, and until end of turn, that unit gets “[AUTO](RC) Brave:When this unit’s attack hits a vanguard, you may return this unit to your hand.”. The third Royal Paladin RRR this chara booster. When he attacks a vanguard, by paying a counterblast and a soulblast, he calls another card with the brave ability and gives it a bounce skill. The bounce skill activates when the called unit’s attack hits. A good card, would be even better if he himself had Brave Suleiman has been a staple since G-BT06. Since the Chara booster dropped, he has become another good card. His skills are : +3k all time if you have an Altmile vanguard and have acheived Brave ; second skill is when he atttacks, by counterblasting one and discarding a card, he calls another Grade 2 unit to RC. Useful for making more attacks. [AUTO]:[Counter Blast (1) & Soul Blast (1)] When this unit is placed on (VC) or (RC), you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to one card with the brave ability, call it to (RC), and shuffle your deck. Altmile’s best early game unit. Guaranteed pressure on your opponent if you ride this card. On-ride or call, by paying a counterblast and a soulblast, he can a card with the Brave ability to RC. Pretty much self explanatory. Grade 3 : [CONT](VC) Generation Break 2:During your turn, all of your units in your front row get [Power]+5000. [AUTO](VC):[Counter Blast (1)] During your turn, when your G unit Stride, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose up to two cards from your hand, call them to separate (RC), choose up to two of your units, and those units get [Power]+5000 until end of turn. The OG Altmile. Running three ’cause space was tight. Anyways, Shion’s (previous) avatar, he has two good skills. His GB2 gives all units in the front row +5k. His on-stride skill, by paying a counterblast, gives you the ability to call upto two cards from your hand, choose any two units, and give them power +5k. Really good unit, because of that call from hand clause. [AUTO](VC) Generation Break 2 Brave (This ability is active when you have three or less cards in your hand):When this unit attacks, choose up to five of your rear-guards, and they get [Power]+4000 until end of turn. [AUTO](VC):At the beginning of your ride phase, choose up to one card from your hand, call it to (RC), and that unit gets [Power]+4000 until end of turn. [AUTO](VC):During your turn, when your G unit Stride, choose up to one card from your hand, call it to (RC), choose one of your units with the brave ability, and it gets [Power]+4000 until end of turn. Shion’s new avatar and another much appreciated card, because of being costless. He has three skills. His Brave GB2 gives +4k to 5 rearguards; at the beginning of the ride phase, he can call a card from hand an give it +4k; and the on-stride skill calls a card from hand to RC, and you choose a unit with Brave, give it +4k. That’s the main deck. Now, the G-Zone : [Stride] (Released when both players’ vanguards are grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down. [AUTO]:[Choose a face down card named “Aerial Divine Knight, Altmile” from your G zone, and turn it face up] When this unit is placed on (VC), you may pay the cost. If you do, until end of turn, this unit gets “[CONT](VC):All of your units in your front row get [Power]+3000.”. Then, if the number of face up cards in your G zone is 2 or more, search your deck for up to one grade 2 card, call it to (RC), shuffle your deck, and that unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn. Airmile is one of the best generic Strides in Royal Paladin. Always run 4 of him. On-Stride, by G-persona flipping himself, he continuously gives +3k to the front row. Then, if you have 2 or more face up cards in the G Zone, he calls one unit from the deck. (This card cannot be in your main deck) [Stride] (Released when both players’ vanguards are grade 3 or greater!)-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down. (When this card strides, it gains the power and card name of one heart. At the end of the turn, return it face up) [AUTO](VC):[Soul Blast (1)] When this unit attacks, you may pay the cost. If you do, choose any number of cards from your hand, bind them face down, choose one of your rear-guards, and it gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn. At the end of that turn, put the cards bound with this effect into your hand. The best first stride Bravemile (Brave + Altmile) has. When he attacks, for a soulblast, he can bind any number of cards from your hand and give rearguard +5k and return the bound cards to hand at the end of the turn. This helps a lot in setting up Brave. [G guardian] (Usable when both fighters’ vanguards are grade 3 or greater, and the number of face up G guardians in your G zone is three or less)-Opponent Turn’s Guard Step-[Choose a card with “Heal” from your hand, and discard it] Call this card to your (GC) from face down. [CONT](GC) Generation Break 1 Brave (This ability is active when you have three or less cards in your hand):This unit gets [Shield]+5000. [AUTO]:[Soul Blast (1)] When this unit is placed on (GC), if you have a vanguard with “Altmile” in its card name, you may pay the cost. If you do, this unit gets [Shield]+10000 until end of that battle. Holy Knight Guardian’s evolved form. By soulblasting one card, she gets shield +10k, and if you have acheived Brave, another +5k. Overall a good G Guardian [G guardian] (Usable when both fighters’ vanguards are grade 3 or greater, and the number of face up G guardians in your G zone is three or less)-Opponent Turn’s Guard Step-[Choose a card with “Heal” from your hand, and discard it] Call this card to your (GC) from face down. [AUTO]:When this unit is placed on (GC), if you have one or more grade 2 rear-guards, this unit gets [Shield]+5000 until end of that battle. This G Guardian debuted in FC2016. He gets +5k shield if you have 2 or more rearguards. [Stride]-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down. [ACT](VC) 1/Turn :[Choose a face down card from your G zone, and turn it face up & Choose a card from your hand, and discard it] Search your deck for up to one grade 2 card, call it to (RC), shuffle your deck, and if that unit has the brave ability, draw a card. Until end of turn, this unit gets “[AUTO](VC) Generation Break 3 Brave:When this unit attacks, if you have a face up card named “Blazing Sword, Fides” in your G zone, choose one of your opponent’s rear-guards, retire it, choose up to two of your units, and they get [Power]+5000 until end of turn.”. Fides….. is kinda a good unit. By flipping a card in the G Zone and discarding a card, you can search the deck for a grade 2 card and call it. If that unit has the Brave ability, you draw a card and, when Fides attacks, If you have acheived GB3 and Brave, he gives +5k to 2 units and retires one of your opponent’s rearguards. [Stride]-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down. [ACT](VC) 1/Turn Generation Break 2:[Counter Blast (1) & Choose a face down card from your G zone, and turn it face up] If you have a heart card with “Altmile” in its card name, this unit gets “[AUTO](VC):When this unit attacks a vanguard, search your deck for up to one grade 2 card, call it to (RC), shuffle your deck, and that unit gets [Power]+5000 until end of turn.” and “[CONT](VC):During your turn, all of the units in your front row get [Power]+2000 for each face up card named “Aerial Divine Knight, Altmile” in your G zone.”. Transmile is the Mastered Form of Altmile. If you have an Altmile heart, he gets two skills : When he attacks a vanguard, call a card from deck and give it +5k; and for each face up Airmile in the G Zone, he gives the front row +2k continuously. [Stride]-Stride Step-[Choose one or more cards with the sum of their grades being 3 or greater from your hand, and discard them] Stride this card on your (VC) from face down. [AUTO](VC) Generation Break 3:[Counter Blast (1)] When this unit attacks, you may pay the cost. If you do, search your deck for up to three cards with the brave ability, call them to separate (RC), shuffle your deck, choose a card from your hand for each called unit, and discard it. (If your hand has less cards than the called number, discard all of them) [AUTO](VC) Brave (This ability is active when you have three or less cards in your hand):When your unit attacks, that unit gets [Power]+3000 until end of that battle. Brave Lancer was arguably the best GR of the three. By counterblasting one during Brave, he lets you call upto three units to RC from deck, and for each called card, discard a card from hand. This skill essentially nets you three more attacks. The best strategy during Brave Lancer turns is having no hand when you attack with him, so giving you three more attacks for no discard. He also gives +3k to a unit when it attacks. So, this is my Altmile decklist. Feel free to comment. Also, some tips : For a Brave Lancer turn, use Knight of Powercharge to bind your hand before the battle phase. Thus you need not call your units to deplete your hand. Have Warlock of Damascus or Soniccgal on rearguard circle and activate either Alectos or Powercharge, for a countercharging. Thats all for now Thanks for reading ! Advertisements |
(Reuters) - A divided U.S. appeals court has rejected BP Plc’s bid to block businesses from recovering money over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, even if they could not trace their economic losses to the disaster. By a 2-1 vote, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans late Monday upheld a December 24 ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans, authorizing the payments on so-called business economic loss claims. It also said an injunction preventing payments should be lifted. The decision is a setback for BP’s effort to limit payments under a multi-billion dollar settlement over the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig and rupture of BP’s Macondo oil well. That disaster killed 11 people and triggered the largest U.S. offshore oil spill. Geoff Morrell, a BP spokesman, said the company may appeal. BP had previously asked the full 5th Circuit to review a January 10 decision by another three-judge panel that upheld the settlement itself. BP previously settled U.S. criminal proceedings over the spill, and has completed two phases of a three-part civil trial before Barbier, where it could face more than $17 billion of penalties. The company has set aside $42.7 billion for cleanup, compensation, legal and other costs related to the spill It has estimated that business economic loss claims in the latest appeal totaled about $1 billion. “Each $1 billion extra on claims equates to just 2 pence per share for BP,” Investec analysts said in a note. BP shares traded down 0.3 percent at 491.6 pence in late afternoon trading in London. RESUMPTION OF PAYMENTS EXPECTED Barbier ruled that BP would have to live with its earlier interpretation of a December 2012 settlement with businesses and individuals harmed by the spill, in which certain businesses claiming losses were presumed to have suffered harm. BP argued that this would allow businesses to recover for fictitious losses, but the 5th Circuit rejected its appeal. “The settlement agreement does not require a claimant to submit evidence that the claim arose as a result of the oil spill,” Circuit Judge Leslie Southwick wrote for the majority. Terms of the settlement “are not as protective of BP’s present concerns as might have been achievable, but they are the protections that were accepted by the parties and approved by the district court,” the judge added. The 5th Circuit also said claims administrator Patrick Juneau retained the authority to root out bogus claims, without having to perform the “gatekeeping” function that BP sought. Circuit Judge Edith Brown Clement dissented, saying the decision wrongly helps claimants whose losses had “absolutely nothing to do with Deepwater Horizon or BP’s conduct.” Steve Herman and Jim Roy, who represent the business claimants, said in a joint statement: “Today’s ruling makes clear that BP can’t rewrite the deal it agreed to.” Juneau, in a statement, said the decision “appears to clear the way” for the resumption of payments on business economic loss claims, and that he will resume making such payments upon a formal direction from the district court. Fire boat response crews battle the blazing remnants of the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon, off Louisiana, in this April 21, 2010 file handout image. REUTERS/U.S. Coast Guard/Files/Handout BP originally projected that the settlement would cost $7.8 billion. As of February 4, it had boosted this estimate to $9.2 billion, and said this sum could grow “significantly higher.” As of Monday, about $3.84 billion had been paid out to 42,272 claimants, according to Juneau's website. (here) The case is In re: Deepwater Horizon, 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Nos. 13-30315 and 13-30329. |
Actor Bill Murray will appear in the upcoming installment of the Ghostbusters franchise, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Murray’s iconic role as Dr. Peter Venkman in the original Ghostbusters film in 1984 was reprised in the classic’s sequel, Ghostbusters II in 1989. The latest casting news comes a surprise after Murray has publicly expressed discomfort and hesitancy about being a part of the next female-led Ghostbusters, directed by Paul Feig. The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now “This is my nightmare,” he told David Letterman earlier this year. When pressed about his involvement with the upcoming Ghostbusters, Murray dismissed speculation of his potential involvement as “crazy talk.” The next Ghostbusters co-stars Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon, Leslie Jones, and Chris Hemsworth. It’s slated to come to theaters in July 2016. Write to Tanya Basu at tanya.basu@time.com. |
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Trying out IBM Bluemix with Watson API Beta, I realized there was no example in Go showing the magic. In addition a very old article explaining how to run a Go application with a custom buildpack that was not (entirely) working. So with this article, I would like to explain in few steps, how to run a simple Go example on Bluemix, using Watson API Beta. First of all we need to setup the following: – IBM Bluemix account – Go environment – Godep Once everything has been correctly setup we are ready to start building the project. 1) Create a new application with the following command: > cf push [$NEW_APP_NAME] -b https://github.com/cloudfoundry/go-buildpack.git 2) Through the website dashboard, create a new git repository (hosted on hub.jazz.net – point 1 and 2 are deeply explained at this link) and add a Watson API Question and Answer service to your application. 3) Checkout the entire repository into your Go environment. 4) Time to get our hands dirty! First of all I would like to mention that for this example we are going to use Martini a powerful package for quickly writing modular web applications/services in Golang. 5) Let’s build our folder structure: Public: This folder is going to keep all the public files (css, js, images, etc) Templates: It will contains all the .tmpl files used to create views. .godir file: a direct link to our hub.jazz.net repository manifest.yml file: this file is really important because it’s used during the building stage and contains required information for our application Procfile: it is a mechanism for declaring what commands are run server.go : our main code will work run there. In this example I will trait mainly on the server.go file because it’s the core. 1) As required for a Go file we are going to import all the dependencies , declare the structs useful for json parsing and all the variables with global scope. 2) the main function is where actually our program will get its life. First of all we are using the os space to get the environment variables, and for this example and with Bluemix, we are using the Watson QA (question and answer) Service. So if everything setup correctly we should receive a json containing all the information about our services and taking care about the “question and answer” service storing url, username and password creating a base64 authentication parameter. 3) After we setup the service requirements we can start our application using the simple Martini syntax using the Render and Recovery middlewares, setting up the routes (GET and POST) and starting listening for the incoming requests using the Run method provided by Martini (it will automatically look for the PORT variable, 3000 instead). 4) GET route will handle everything providing the exact view while the POST route will get the question posed by the user and create a request to the Watson environment with the required syntax and parameters. 5) Expected POST parameters will be questionText and dataset (first is really explicit while dataset is used to choose between healthcare and travel API services. A JSON object is built using the parameters and will be set up as body for the outgoing request. A request is created using the url provided by the service environment and an encrypted basic authentication created before and a question json body request. When the request has been executed we wait for a success or failure. As success we are going to expect a JSON response (all the details are states here) Click here for a complete DEMO The full code is hosted on GitHub |
Tamara Greenwell, communications, 360-905-2056 VANCOUVER – Community members are invited to learn more about future improvements on State Route 14 between Interstate 205 and Southeast 164th Avenue at an open house next week. In response to increasing congestion on SR 14 during peak commute hours, the Washington State Department of Transportation is working on a project to improve trip reliability and travel speeds in a busy section of the corridor. Open House information When: 4 – 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 27 Where: C-TRAN Fisher's Landing Transit Center 3510 SE 164th Avenue, Vancouver Rose F. Besserman Community Room Details: There is no formal presentation. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with WSDOT staff to discuss the project, ask questions and give feedback. Representatives from C-TRAN will also be on hand to discuss service changes, which includes using the highway shoulders on SR 14 during congested periods when travel speeds drop below 35 mph. Those who are interested, but are unable to attend the WSDOT open house can provide input about the project by filling out a brief online survey. Construction on this $25 million project is slated to begin in 2020. |
Heir to the Saudi Arabian throne who led nation's crackdown on Al Qaeda after 9/11 attacks dies in foreign hospital Dead: Crown Prince Nayef died yesterday, according to a statement issued by Saudi Arabia's royal family Crown Prince Nayef – the man responsible for the day-to-day running of Saudi Arabia – has died. The royal family said the prince, who was in his late 70s, died in hospital abroad yesterday and will be buried today after prayers in Mecca. He left the kingdom last month for what was described as a ‘personal vacation’ that would include medical tests, but no further details about his illness have been released. Crown Prince Nayef was the hardline interior minister who led Saudi Arabia’s fierce crackdown on Al Qaeda following the September 11 terror attacks. He rose to become next in line to the throne last year after the death of his brother Sultan. A new crown prince will be chosen from his brothers and half-brothers, all sons of Saudi Arabia’s founder, Abdul-Aziz. King Abdullah, 88, has outlived two designated successors. Foreign Secretary William Hague said Crown Prince Nayef, who was also deputy prime minister, served with ‘great dignity and dedication’. Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to the late crown prince for his 'leadership' and said his thoughts were with the Saudi people. Mr Cameron said: 'My thoughts are with the Kingdom and its people at this time. 'I had the pleasure of meeting Crown Prince Nayef in January and was struck by the leadership and dedication with which he served his country for so many years.' The figure believed most likely to be tapped as the new heir is Prince Salman, the current defence minister who previously served for decades in the powerful post of governor of Riyadh, the capital. The crown prince will be chosen by the Allegiance Council, an assembly of Abdul-Aziz's sons and some of his grandchildren. Still going strong at 88: Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has now outlived two designated successors A statement by the royal family said Nayef died yesterday in a hospital abroad. It did not specify where. He travelled abroad frequently in recent years for tests but authorities never reported what ailments he may have been suffering from. Nayef had a reputation for being a hard-liner and a conservative. He was believed to be closer than many of his brothers to the powerful Wahhabi religious establishment that gives legitimacy to the royal family, and he at times worked to give a freer hand to the religious police who enforce strict social rules. His elevation to crown prince in November 2011 had raised worries among liberals in the kingdom that, if he ever became king, he would halt or even roll back reforms that Abdullah had enacted. Popular among hardliners: A Saudi man prays for Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Nayef in front of his picture in Tabouk, 932 miles from Riyadh, yesterday Soon after become crown prince, Nayef vowed at a conference of clerics that Saudi Arabia would 'never sway from and never compromise on' its adherence to the puritanical, ultraconservative Wahhabi doctrine. The ideology, he proclaimed 'is the source of the kingdom's pride, success and progress.' Nayef had expressed some reservations about some of the reforms by Abdullah, who made incremental steps to bring more democracy to the country and increase women's rights. He said he saw no need for elections in the kingdom or for women to sit on the Shura Council, an unelected advisory body to the king that is the closest thing to a parliament. Covered up: Crown Prince Nayef was a supporter of the extreme Wahhabi Muslim doctrine and opposed reforms aimed at increasing women's rights His top concern was security in the kingdom and maintaining a fierce bulwark against Shiite powerhouse, Iran, according to U.S. Embassy assessments of Nayef. 'A firm authoritarian at heart,' was the description of Nayef in a 2009 Embassy report on him, leaked by the whistleblower site Wikileaks. 'He harbors anti-Shia biases and his worldview is colored by deep suspicion of Iran,' it said. 'Nayef promotes a vision for Saudi society under the slogan of "intellectual security" which he advocates as needed to "purge aberrant ideas",' it added. Nayef never clashed with Abdullah over reforms or made attempts to stop them - such a step would be unthinkable in the tight-knit royal family, whose members work hard to keep differences under wraps and ultimately defer to the king. But Nayef was long seen as more favorable to the Wahhabi establishment. In 2009, Nayef promptly shut down a film festival in the Red Sea port city of Jiddah, apparently because of conservatives' worry about the possibility of gender mixing in theatres and a general distaste toward film as immoral. Nayef, a soft-spoken, stocky man of medium build, was born in 1933, the 23rd son of Abdul-Aziz, the family patriarch who founded the kingdom in 1932 and had dozens of sons by various wives. He was one of the five surviving members of the Sudairi seven, sons of Abdul-Aziz from his wife Hussa bint Ahmad Sudairi who, for decades, have held influential posts. That makes him a half-brother of King Abdullah. Before being appointed interior minister, he held the posts of Riyadh governor, deputy minister of interior and minister of state for internal affairs. |
In second part of Glenn Greenwald interview, NSA whistleblower insists he is a patriot who regards the US as fundamentally good Edward Snowden predicted more than a month ago while still in hiding in Hong Kong that the US government would seek to demonise him, telling the Guardian that he would be accused of aiding America's enemies. In the second instalment of an interview carried out before he revealed himself as the NSA whistleblower, Snowden insisted that he was a patriot and that he regards the US as a fundamentally good country. But he said he had chosen to release the highly classified information because freedoms were being undermined by intelligence agency "excesses". The interview was conducted on June 6 in a hotel room in Hong Kong. The first part of the interview was released on Sunday June 9, starting a media frenzy and intensifying US efforts to track him down. Snowden has since fled Hong Kong for Moscow, where he is reportedly marooned while resisting US attempts to extradite him to face charges under the Espionage Act. In the newly released interview excerpts, he predicted he would be portrayed not as a whistleblower but a spy. "I think they are going to say I have committed grave crimes, I have violated the Espionage Act. They are going to say I have aided our enemies in making them aware of these systems. But this argument can be made against anyone who reveals information that points out mass surveillance systems," he said. Asked whether he had sought a career in the intelligence community specifically to become a mole and reveal secrets, Snowden, 30, said he had joined government service very young, first enlisting in the US army immediately after the invasion of Iraq out of a belief in "the goodness of what we were doing. I believed in the nobility of our intentions to free oppressed people overseas." But his views shifted over the length of his career as he watched the news, which he saw as propaganda, not truth. "We were actually involved in misleading the public and misleading all the publics, not just the American public, in order to create certain mindset in the global consciousness and I was actually a victim of that." He had not fallen out of love with America, only its government. "America is a fundamentally good country. We have good people with good values who want to do the right thing. But the structures of power that exist are working to their own ends to extend their capability at the expense of the freedom of all publics." In the new excerpts, he explained his motivation for revealing the information. "I don't want to live in a world where everything that I say, everything I do, everyone I talk to, every expression of creativity or love or friendship is recorded," he said. "And that's not something I'm willing to support, it's not something I'm willing to build and it's not something I'm willing to live under." He also insisted he had continued with his job while waiting for political leaders to rein in what he decribed as "government excesses". But, he said, "as I've watched I've seen that's not occuring, and in fact we're compounding the excesses of prior governments and making it worse and more invasive. And no one is really standing to stop it." Snowden has been attacked by his critics for first going to Hong Kong, which is part of China, even though it enjoys freedoms not available on the mainland, and to Russia. He has been offered asylum in Venezuela, Bolivia and Nicaragua but faces the practical problem of how to get to any of these countries. The most recent poll, for the Huffington Post and YouGov, suggested a shift in support away for Snowden, with 38% saying they feel he did the wrong thing in leaking documents against 33% who felt he did the right thing. After the first interview, 35% said he did the wrong thing while 38% said he had done the right thing. The interview took place immediately after the Guardian published the first leak about a court order to Verizon ordering it to hand over US customers' call records to the NSA. Snowden explained why he thought that story and the other subsequent leaks about the NSA and its partnership with the corporate sector had to be made public. "They are getting everyone's calls, everyone's call records and everyone's internet traffic as well." In reference to one surveillance system – Boundless Informant – that he said allowed the NSA to track data it was accumulating, he said: "The NSA lied about the existence of this tool to Congress and to specific congressmen in response to previous inquiries about their surveillance activities." He was part of the internet generation that grew up on the understanding that it was free, he said. The partnership between the intelligence agencies and the corporate sector was a "dangerous collaboration", especially for an organisation like the the NSA that has demonstrated time and again "it works to shield itself from oversight". |
Phoenix Coyotes captain Shane Doan has put off his free agent pursuit until now, hoping for some clarity on the franchise's ownership future. It appears Doan is ready to proceed, even if his willingness to leave Phoenix remains unknown. "I expect by Tuesday we'll probably start listening to some offers, get an idea of where he kind of fits in the market, and take that next step," . "I wouldn't say anything's imminent." Doan has maintained his first interest was to re-sign with the Coyotes. Eleven other teams reportedly have expressed interest, and . "There are two or three (other teams) that he'd take a long hard look at, and it'd break his heart to do so," Bross told the Arizona Republic. Doan earned $4.55 million in the 2011-12 season and . He's spent his entire 16-year career with the Phoenix organization. At 6-foot-1 and 223 pounds, Doan would bring size, physicality, leadership and a right-handed shot to the Red Wings, who still may be looking to make a splash in free agency after missing out on Zach Parise and Ryan Suter. Email Josh Slagter at jslagter@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JoshSlagter |
Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. Nov. 8, 2013, 1:08 AM GMT By Linda Carroll The Food and Drug Administration has declared war on trans fats. The government agency said Thursday it would require food makers to gradually phase out artificial trans fats — the artery-clogging ingredient found in crackers, cookies, pizza and many other baked goods. The change could potentially prevent 20,000 heart attacks a year and 7,000 deaths, said FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg. While the amount of trans fats consumed by Americans has dropped dramatically over the last decade, they still “remain an area of significant public health concern,” Hamburg said during a press conference. The FDA hasn’t yet set a time table for sweeping trans fats from the market. "We want to do it in a way that doesn't unduly disrupt markets," said Michael Taylor, FDA's deputy commissioner for foods. Still, the "industry has demonstrated that it is by and large feasible to do." Trans fats are considered harmful because they increase risks for heart disease by both raising bad cholesterol levels (LDL) and lowering good cholesterol (HDL). In 2006, the FDA began requiring food manufacturers to include trans fats on nutritional labels, and in 2007, New York City banned trans fats from restaurants. Food marketers have been gradually going trans-fat-free in recent years -- McDonald's switched to zero-trans fat cooking oil in its iconic french fries in 2008. New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg celebrated the FDA's proposal. “Seven years ago we became the first city in the nation to prohibit restaurants from using trans fats,” Bloomberg said in a statement. “Since then, at least 15 states and localities have followed suit and banned trans fats – and more than 10 fast food chains have eliminated trans fats entirely.” The FDA announced that partially hydrogenated oils (PHOs), the primary dietary source of artificial trans fat in processed foods, are not “generally recognized as safe” for use in foods. The agency has opened a 60-day comment period to collect additional data and to get input on how much time it might take for food manufacturers to reformulate products that currently contain artificial trans fats. In the meantime, Hamburg said, “consumers can make healthy choices by checking trans fat levels on the nutrition facts panel on the back of processed food packages and avoiding those with trans fats.” There are many brands now with no or low levels available to consumers, she added. The independent Institute of Medicine has already concluded that trans fats provide no known health benefit and that there is no safe level of consumption of artificial trans fat, Hamburg said. Additionally, the IOM has recommended that Americans keep their consumption of trans fats as low as possible while consuming a nutritionally adequate diet. Food manufacturers began adding artificial trans fatty acids, or partially hydrogenated oils, to products in the 1950s to increase the shelf life and flavor stability of foods, according to the FDA. The FDA decision "comes from decades of research on the effects of artificial trans fats on heart health," said NBC News diet and health editor Madelyn Fernstrom. "While estimates of dietary intake of trans fats among Americans has decreased nearly 75 percent in about a decade, there remain concerns about the inclusion of any trans fats in foods." In a statement, the Grocery Manufacturers Association said the industry has dramatically reduced the amount of trans fats in food products. “Through our efforts at product reformulation and the development of suitable alternatives, trans fats that are not naturally occurring have been drastically reduced in the food supply," according to the statement. “Consumers can be confident that their food is safe and we look forward to working with the FDA to better understand their concerns and how our industry can better serve consumers.” The FDA has previously estimated that the average American eats 4.7 pounds of trans fats a year. The American Heart Association recommends that people should consume fewer than 2 grams of trans fats a day. |
Carolina Panthers fullback Mike Tolbert has competition this year in training camp, and he knows it. Just after the 2016 NFL Draft concluded, the Carolina Panthers signed rookie fullback Devon “Rockhead” Johnson as an undrafted free agent out of Marshall. The Panthers thought highly enough of Johnson to pay him a 20,000 signing bonus. Rookie bonuses like these are not common in the NFL. This development appears to have gotten the attention of Mike Tolbert, and rightfully so. “I go out every day like someone is trying to take my job” Tolbert told the media during today’s move in day. (see video below) “It just so happens that somebody is trying to take my job.” he added as he chuckled. Devon Johnson is that somebody. At 6’0 and 240 pounds, Johnson is a bruising runner that has shown soft hands out of the backfield. Sounds quite a bit like Mike Tolbert, doesn’t it? While Devon Johnson is a rookie, Tolbert is entering his 9th season in the NFL. Tolbert knows football can be a young man’s game and doesn’t appear to be taking anything for granted. He knows he is not promised a 2016 Carolina Panthers roster spot. As a result, his attitude towards practice will remain how is has always been. “I’m going out with the expectation a that I gotta work.” Tolbert said. “I have always been a guy that prides myself on how I play the game.” At this point it would take an amazing performance by Devon Johnson to replace Tolbert. And even then, I am not sure the Panthers would be willing to lose such an important cog of the offense both on the field and in the locker room. In any event, Tolbert is not taking any chances. |
After looking like it was careening towards a trial next year, Warner Bros’ copyright battle with Demonologist author Gerald Brittle for nearly $1 billion over The Conjuring franchise has come to an end. Though the parties have reached a settlement in this matter, it seems that long time disgruntled producer Tony DeRosa-Grund has also been unveiled as the secret “mastermind” behind this latest legal attempt to grab ahold of the Conjuring ATM and the profits it seems to spew out over four films so far and more to come. “Mr. Brittle is dismissing his lawsuit against New Line with prejudice, and the parties announced that in court on Monday,” said attorneys for the author and the WB division in a statement to Deadline today. “Mr. Brittle ‘realizes that filing this lawsuit was a mistake, and that New Line has no liability and did nothing wrong,’” they added of the infringement action taken by a wide spread rights claiming Brittle in late March. “The parties are working to resolve New Line’s counterclaims.” In a hearing in federal court in Virginia on December 5, WB lawyer Matt Kline informed Judge John Gibney, Jr. that a “settlement was reached over the weekend.” As a part of the talks to make that deal, the O’Melveny & Myers attorney also told the court that they’ve discovered that “Mr. DeRosa-Grund has been running this litigation since day one.” In apparently brazen disregard for previous restrictions on any more legal action over the very successful The Conjuring flicks and their Annabelle spinoffs, DeRosa-Grund not only conjured up out of thin air the $900 million figure that Brittle was seeking in his now abandoned effort at the $1.2 billion earning franchise but, as discovery and declarations have made clear, was pulling the strings without Brittle even being involved. “New Line has contended all along that DeRosa-Grund was the mastermind behind the Lawsuit, was controlling and directing the Lawsuit, and had attempted to enter into secret side deals with Brittle,” a December 8 notice of additional evidence from WB and New Line stated (read it here). “In the last week, New Line has received additional documents proving these points that were directly responsive to the subpoenas at issue that the Subpoenaed Parties failed to produce.” “Mr. DeRosa-Grund has been controlling this Litigation from the start,” a clearly chagrinned Brittle admitted himself in a December 7 declaration that accompanied that notice. “Based on a review of text messages between Mr. DeRosa-Grund and my attorney, I understand that he even threatened my attorneys that if they sent information from me without him seeing it first they would be fired,” he said additionally. “When my attorney informed Mr. DeRosa-Grund that I was the client, and needed to approve discovery responses, Mr. DeRosa-Grund responded: ‘Good, then get Gerald the [sic] fucking Pay you’ and then stated ‘Oh yeah he doesn’t have a pot to piss [sic] and I for~ot.’ These revelations were partially behind a Texas judge today ordering a forensic examiner to “take possession of any: digital media device in the possession, custody or control of one or more of the Subpoenaed Parties, including but not limited to computers …mobile devices …tablets file servers, hard drives (internal or external) portable media …compact disks, floppy disks, tapes, and any other personal electronic devices” (read it here). The devices will be excavated for not only evidence pertained to the matter but signs of file erasing software or other attempt to bleach the digital stains, so to speak. Long a legal thorn in WB’s paw, DeRosa-Grund is also expected to hand over access to personal email accounts as well as provide the documents he has previously been subpoenaed to hand over. Simply put, after years of being whacked by lawsuits by DeRosa-Grund, WB is leaving no stone unturned to end what has been a street corner litigation shell game gone amok. A game that could once again prove pricey for DeRosa-Grund. Called out as a “puppeteer” in a previous hearing in the Brittle case, DeRosa-Grund could end up owing over $1 million for using surrogates like the author to peck at WB. That potential payout is a result of DeRosa-Grund previous pledge in arbitration to not sue anymore and indemnify the studio against further claims and rights, including the ones that were affirmed to the the studio back in early 2015. Representatives for DeRosa-Grund did not respond to request for comment from Deadline on these matters. With all this action back East and down in the Lone Star state, both Brittle and the “fradulent” DeRosa-Grund, as he was called in one 2016 filing, face more arbitration here in LA in the new year, I’ve learned. So, with a third Conjuring flick in the pipeline, things are going to get even haunted – on and off the screen. |
In 2007 an aircraft known as Gulfstream II crashed in a jungle in Yucatan, Mexico. The plane had four tons of cocaine onboard. The Gulfstream II, tail number N987SA, was allegedly transporting CIA rendition prisons from Europe to Guantanamo Bay. On September 24th, the plane crash-landed when, it is believed, it ran out of fuel. The (1) Daily Kos notes how there were apparently four individuals onboard the plane when it crashed. Initially only one was captured, though two more were caught by authorities later. The names of the three men and one woman that are believed to have been aboard the aircraft were not released. CIA Plains and Drugs The Gulfstream II was used by the CIA for several flights between the East coast of the United States and Guantanamo Bay from 2003 to 2005. According to reports, records from the Federal Aviation Association list the aircraft as being owned by Atef Hanna of Tarpon Springs Florida. “To be honest with relation to the crew of the Gulfstream II N987SA the Mexican government is being pretty damn silent,” writes the Daily Kos. However, at the time of the crash, the plane is believed to have been registered with Donna Blue Aircraft Inc. According to (2) Top Conspiracies, Donna Blue Aircraft was a front for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Claims have also been made that the ICE sold the plane to Drug Enforcement Agency suspected drug smugglers as part of an undercover operation prior to the crash. An undercover agent from the ICE, Don Whittington, is currently under investigation for allegedly laundering profits from the sale of the aircraft and other likes it, which were apparently used in drug smuggling raids, from a Colorado Springs resort and spa. |
Bush Attorney General Alberto Gonzales gets confronted by Luke Rudkowdski of WeAreChange and Abby Martin of Media Roots about torture. SOURCE: Jan 22, 2002 – Department of Justice memo to White House and Defense Department Counsels regarding the application of the War Crimes Act and the Geneva Conventions The 37-page memo, written by Assistant Attorney General Jay S. Bybee, is addressed to White House Counsel Alberto R. Gonzales and General Counsel at the Pentagon William J. Haynes II. The memo states that President Bush is not bound by international obligations to Afghanistan because it is a “failed state,” and that therefore the War Crimes Act of 1984 and the Geneva Convention do not apply to prisoners from the Afghanistan conflict. [The memo was released on June 22, 2004. Obtained from The Washington Post website at www.washingtonpost.com.]http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB127/ 92 percent of the men ever held in Guantánamo are not “Al-Qaeda fighters,” by the U.S. government’s own records. http://ccrjustice.org/learn-more/faqs/guantanamo-numbers-what-you-should-know… |
Opposition is mounting from conservatives against Republican efforts to delay any full repeal of the Affordable Care Act from within the ranks of those who have opposed the law for more than six years. U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan earlier this month told 60 Minutes that Congress would “work on an orderly transition to replace” Obamacare for 20 million Americans who gained coverage under the law. And President-elect Donald Trump has said people will maintain coverage after the law is repealed and replaced. Meanwhile, other Republicans have floated ideas that the ACA would be repealed first and replaced over a period of years . But any delay of a repeal or even a repeal linked to a replacement implemented two to four years down the road won’t work for some of the law’s longtime opponents. They want a repeal. Period. “From our perspective, delay is not a repeal,” Twila Brase, president of Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, said in an interview. “You can’t wait for the replacement or you will never get the repeal. My concern is we will never have a repeal. ” In a statement issued Monday, Brase and the council compared “not repealing” Obamacare to “bigger than President Bush’s broken ‘read my lips’ campaign promise.” At the 1988 Republican National Convention, then presidential candidate George H.W. Bush promised to not raise taxes, but once in office as President signed a tax increase. He lost his 1992 re-election bid. What exactly Republicans and the Trump administration plan to do regarding the ACA is unclear, according to news reports out of Washington and Trump Tower in New York. Some say Republican legislation being written wouldn’t repeal parts of the ACA for four years or longer. Politico’s Jennifer Haberkorn reported last week that Republicans are considering “enacting their replacement piecemeal, with small bills that tackle one part of the healthcare system at a time.” And the New York Times last week said GOP lawmakers are working on legislation that would guarantee “universal access” to coverage. “We can reassure the American public that the plan they are in right now, the Obamacare plans, will not end on Jan. 20,” U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas, a Republican and chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, told the Times, referring to the date of Trump's inauguration next month. Republicans are increasingly under pressure from health lobbies who don’t want to see any of the more than 20 million Americans who gained coverage lose it. The ACA provides subsidies for individuals to buy commercial coverage on public exchanges and funding for the expansion of Medicaid coverage for poor Americans. Though insurers have lost money on the individual commercial business, Medicaid has been a boon for Aetna , Anthem , UnitedHealth Group and other insurers. Many health lobbies don’t see the GOP doing anything to end coverage in the next three years. And that’s a problem in the eyes of Obamacare opponents who sees Republicans jeopardizing their Congressional seats in the future without a more immediate Obamacare repeal. “If an Obamacare repeal takes three years, as some are predicting, it becomes an election issue in 2020,” Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom’s Brase said. “The Republicans who won on it this year stand to lose big if it’s still around in 2020. And Americans stuck in its grip for another four years—or forever—will be the biggest losers of all.” |
TAMPA, Fla. -- Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Interim Police Chief Brian Dugan plan to hit the sidewalk on Halloween in a neighborhood unnerved by three murders in the past month. It's a sign of solidarity plus a show of force; the city leaders want to show they remain committed to figuring out who shot and killed three people in Seminole Heights. There will be additional Tampa police officers patrolling the neighborhood and elsewhere. Timeline: 3 murders in Tampa neighborhood, killer at large Buckhorn and Dugan plan on talking with neighbors and passing out candy starting at 5:30 p.m. at Giddens Park. Thereafter, both will go trick-or-treating with children. Parents are asked not to take their kids nor allow them to walk alone, especially after sunset. More: 'Symbol of determination': Seminole Heights victim laid to rest Police on Thursday released new video of a person of interest in the three shootings. Benjamin Edward Mitchell, 22, was killed at a bus stop; 32-year-old Monica Caridad Hoffa was found dead days later, and 20-year-old Anthony Naiboa was found murdered on Oct. 19. There is a $35,000 reward offered to anyone who can help lead police to an arrest and conviction. ►Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the 10 News app now. Have a news tip? Email desk@wtsp.com, or visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed. |
OAKLAND — When a three-bedroom house went up for sale in Deep East Oakland, an area many home seekers traditionally steered clear of because of its bad crime reputation and a lack of basic amenities, the seller was bombarded with 18 offers. The home is in Durant Manor, one of many neighborhoods clustered between Eastmont Mall on 73rd Avenue and the San Leandro border — a far cry from popular neighborhoods such as Temescal, West Oakland or Maxwell Park that typically draw homebuyers. Rob Zaborny, a 59-year-old chef who works in San Francisco, and his husband landed the winning $450,000 bid. “We wanted something that had character, we didn’t just want a little box,” Zaborny said. “And we wanted to try to stay under a half-million dollars.” The pair are at the vanguard of the latest incarnation of Oakland’s housing boom. As sales prices in other neighborhoods soar, middle- and upper middle-income homebuyers are setting their sights on Deep East Oakland. It’s one of the few remaining places in the Bay Area where it’s still possible to get a house for under $500,000 that doesn’t require extensive remodeling. “It’s pretty wild because so many people have pooh-poohed East Oakland for so long,” said Peter Ashbaugh, a realtor with East Bay Modern Real Estate. “But now it’s ascending, and people are talking about it and considering it.” Increasing demand has meant rising prices. That’s great news for existing homeowners but has had unintended consequences for others. As more owners put their properties up for sale, renters are having to move out and search for housing in one of the most expensive rental markets in the country. “I feel bad for people because there’s no place for them to go,” said Liggia Rodriguez with Genesis Real Estate. She’s the seller’s agent for a two-bedroom house where the current tenants are paying $1,000. They haven’t been able to find another place in that price range. In the past, many homebuyers wouldn’t venture into flatland Oakland neighborhoods east of 66th Avenue and below Interstate 580. Constant news reports about shootings and other violence helped scare away prospective buyers. But now, properties in those areas are sparking bidding wars. In January, Zillow listed its predictions for the hottest San Francisco metropolitan area neighborhoods for 2016. None of the top five were in San Francisco. The real estate website predicted the top five neighborhoods with the highest home-growth values would be in East Oakland. Three of them, Havenscourt, Arroyo Viejo and Cox, are in the Deep East flatlands. “People are having to choose what they can afford,” Ashbaugh said. “Someone who wants a $1 million condo in Rockridge isn’t going to want to be (in East Oakland). But if you’re looking for something affordable where you can actually live and not feel broke? There are some real options.” In the past, most people buying homes in the easternmost reaches of Oakland who planned to live there were working-class and professional African-Americans and Latinos. Today, there is a more diverse pool that increasingly includes whites and Asians. Howard Kees, a real estate agent for 25 years and a longtime resident of the Las Palmas neighborhood near the San Leandro border, said he began noticing the changing homebuyer demographics about 18 months ago. “I have a house pending on 82nd Avenue above MacArthur Boulevard, and half my clients were white,” Kees said. “That would have been very uncommon two years ago.” People are flocking to Deep East Oakland from all over the Bay Area. Last weekend, Rodriguez showed a house in the Cox neighborhood off 98th Avenue to a couple who had moved from Mountain View to Hayward to escape high rents. Now they’re looking to buy in Oakland. “I’ve just been really shocked at all of the young couples and families coming from different areas like San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Clara,” Rodriguez said. There are buyers employed in tech. But there are also entrepreneurs, people working in the service industry, at nonprofits and in other professional occupations. Zaborny is a longtime chef at the Hayes Street Grill, a popular restaurant in San Francisco’s Civic Center area. He is white; his husband, who preferred not to be named, is Asian. The couple landed in the East Bay after the San Francisco flat Zaborny had been renting for 22 years was put up for sale. They couldn’t afford to purchase it. The two had been renting a house in Oakland’s Laurel district for the past two years but couldn’t afford to buy there either. Zaborny said they put in unsuccessful bids on two houses in Fruitvale. Both got over a dozen offers and sold for more than $100,000 over asking price. That’s when they got on the web and started researching neighborhoods further east. Zaborny said the crime stats for Durant Manor were good. “I realize after living in Oakland that it’s very much a street-by-street thing, and that’s what we focused on,” Zaborny said. “We got out of the car, we walked around the neighborhood. You could tell folks were taking good care of their houses. That made us very comfortable.” On Tuesday, the couple moved into their Spanish-style split-level home. Zaborny likes the fact that the house has been updated but still has some of the original fixtures. It’s also convenient to BART, which he takes to work in the city. “The area from 98th Avenue to San Leandro is the hottest part of my district,” Oakland Councilman Larry Reid said. He said several new housing construction projects in the pipeline will accelerate the current trend. “East Oakland is really going to change in the next three years,” Reid said. Oakland Realtor Denise Kees (Kees’ daughter) has noticed the changes already. On Sunday mornings on her way to church, she sees white residents jogging and walking their dogs along Bancroft Avenue. “I haven’t seen a cafe yet, but these little things catch your eye,” Kees said. People are investing in distressed neighborhoods, which are in turn beginning to shed blight. But she said the changes are a double-edged sword. Many African-Americans who grew up in Deep East neighborhoods have been priced out. “As a Realtor, I want to get people into homes regardless of their race or ethnicity,” Kees said. “But as a native Oaklander and a black person, it’s hard because I have friends now who want to buy and can’t.” Fifty years ago, many of the same neighborhoods were almost all white. In 1966, Las Palmas resident Ron McCardell was the third black owner on his block. He’s seeing things come full circle. “Now,” he says, “whites are moving back.” Contact Tammerlin Drummond at 510-208-6468. Follow her at Twitter.com/Tammerlin. |
The classic yelling "fire" in a crowded theater when there is no fire. Doing so places others in danger, as the speaker is inciting panic and significantly raising the odds that someone will be injured by trying to escape an imaginary threat. An adult initiating a developmentally inappropriate discussion of a sexually graphic nature with your your young child against your wishes. Even without any touching, this seems to cross a line, especially if we imagine that the person doing this is doing so for their own sexual gratification. Speech that clearly involves the incitement of violence. I'm imagining someone exhorting a crowd to take out their anger by murdering members of a particular racial group during a period of civil unrest. Making unambiguous threats of serious harm to others (e.g., "When you come home tonight, I'm going to be waiting in your apartment. I made a copy of your spare key last week, and I'm going to bash your head in with a hammer until I see what the inside of your skull looks like"). The subject of free speech and when it is acceptable to place limits on it is a difficult one. Opinions differ , and emotions often run high. Not surprisingly, one of the many ways that discussions on this subject can break down is through name calling (i.e., one party becomes frustrated and begins mischaracterizing the another party's position with inaccurate labels). One of the the more common accusations is that of. "You're just a free speech absolutist!"is someone who will accept no restrictions on free speech whatsoever. In order to be a free speech absolutist, one would have to argue that individuals should be able to saywithout penalty. To keep things simple, I'm referring to legal restrictions and penalties here. At least in the U.S., most of the efforts to restrict speech come in the form of social pressures (e.g., shaming) rather than legal sanctions. I'm generally opposed to the application of these social pressures to restrict speech because I think that it is more effective to combat the expression of bad ideas with better ideas than to try to suppress them, but I'll save this discussion for other posts If we understand what it means to be a free speech absolutist in the context of legal restrictions on speech, it should be rather obvious how easy it is to rebut accusations of being one. All someone would need to do is find a single example of a case where he or she would agree to restrict speech. If the accused can point to even one such example, the accusation falls apart. Here are a few examples of scenarios where I am inclined to support legal restrictions on free speech. This list is not exhaustive. But again, it does not have to be in order to effectively rebut accusations of absolutism.Every one of these examples already carries legal penalties. They are examples where we have generally agreed that legal restrictions on speech are appropriate. And I'm okay with there being restrictions placed on these forms of speech. So at least in the context of legal restrictions on free speech, I really don't qualify as a free speech absolutist. Sorry to have to dispel that fantasy. |
The revelation at the end of the first season of Mr. Robot was far more than a plot twist or neat narrative resolution: The twist fundamentally altered the nature of the show’s protagonists, and even how the actors playing them interact on set. In brief: Mr. Robot, the hard-charging, Dickies work coat-wearing revolutionary played with extreme urgency by Christian Slater, is actually an extension of troubled genius hacker Elliot (Rami Malek), both as figment of his imagination and his sometimes alter-ego. (He functions much in the way Brad Pitt was the hit man for Edward Norton in Fight Club). Elliot, being the ultimate unreliable narrator, realizes the hard truth at the same moment the audience does, which means the beginning of the second season finds him struggling to understand and contain his inner demon. It makes life harder on the character, but a more self-aware Elliott offers a whole new set of choices and opportunities for Malek, who was just nominated for an Emmy for his work in the first season of creator Sam Esmail’s hit USA drama. Add in the fact that Elliot is also reckoning with both his role in the hacking of Evil Corp. — the massive corporation whose instability could topple the entire economy — and his culpability in the death of his old boss Gideon, s Malek had a lot of room to explore in his performance. “I went to Sam when we first started shooting, and I said, ‘Obviously Elliot has to come to terms with this, so how is he going to [do that]?’” Malek explained to Inverse at an event for the show at Comic-Con in San Diego. “I work with this psychologist and she taught me a lot about the feelings that occur after the discovery: shame and denial, all these regrets that happen. And then some acceptance of that. With the acceptance of it, I told Sam, ‘I’m not going to look at Christian a lot, I’m not going to give him anything. I said, ‘Christian’s going to have a hard time acting with me this year’.” Elliot spends the first three episodes of the season punishing himself with rules that might help constrain the monster within and allow him to reckon with the global destruction his actions have wrought. He follows a strict diet and activity calendar — three meals a day at a local diner, journaling furiously in between each — and self-medicates when his battles with Mr. Robot get particularly intense. And in those moments, Malek has kept to the early season promise he made to Esmail. INVERSE LOOT DEALS Meet the Pod The first bed that learns the perfect temperature for your sleep, and dynamically warms or cools according to your needs. Buy Now “I feel like Sam probably keeps all the looks I do give Christian, but there have been many takes where I don’t even acknowledge Christian,” Malek said, laughing. “And I feel bad as an actor, I say, ‘I’m so sorry man, I’m giving you nothing.’ He’s like, ‘You’re fine, you give me nothing anyway.’” All jokes aside, Slater also admits to tweaking his approach to playing Mr. Robot — whom he calls an idealized version of the father Elliot lost at a young age — now that the audience is in on the big reveal. “I think there is a level of freedom there, it gives me the opportunity to feel a little bit more unleashed and push the envelope a little bit more,” Slater told Inverse. “And I think the relationship is just getting clearer and clearer. Now that the cat is out of the bag, it’s like, what is the purpose? Why was I there? Where is that going to go?” Given the secrecy surrounding the show, Slater was in no position to provide any actual answers. But he did hint at an heightened version of the role Mr. Robot played in the first season, with even more moral ambiguity. “I’m there to challenge Elliot, I’m there to do things that he might not normally be able to do,” the actor, who was also nominated for an Emmy last week, said. “And Im also there to protect him and give him an out at times when hes unable to follow through with something.” And after he helped Elliot follow through with crashing one of the world’s most powerful corporations, it’s hard to imagine what else Mr. Robot has in mind for his poor alter-ego. |
According to his club Racing 92, South Africa international Johan Goosen has reportedly retired from rugby at the age of 24. Racing broke the news in a statement from club president Jacky Lorenzetti on the club’s website on Friday, saying: “Goosen, whose contract was overwhelmingly re-structured a year ago, now claims to be free in an incredible way. “He has announced today that he has taken the incredible decision to end his playing career, to return to South Africa for a strong role as a commercial director. “We regret that such a talented player has gone astray and decided to abandon professional rugby as it seems obvious that the role of commerical director is incompatible with high level sport. “We wish to add that Racing 92 has always strongly supported Johan Goosen both morally and financially. And while it has unfortunately proved in recent times that there is a certain lack of vis-à-vis between the player and his coaches and more generally of all members of the club and its fans, we hope it quickly becomes aware that compliance with a contract like that of a given word is the basis of all human and professional relationships. “Naturally, Racing 92 reserve the right to give such conduct all appropriate legal actions both towards Johan Goosen as those who advise him.” The news comes as a huge shock. Goosen was named Top 14 Player of the Season for 2015/2016 after helping the club win the French title and reaching the Champions Cup final. He has won 13 caps for South Africa since making his debut in 2012, starting at full-back for the Springboks in their most recent Test against Wales. The 24-year-old moved to France in 2014 after beginning his professional career with the Cheetahs in Super Rugby. |
The Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS), which has become a popular group among radicals, has allegedly recruited as many as 12,000 tribesmen in Pakistan who previously supported the Taliban in the region. A report sent by the state government of northwestern province of Balochistan to the central government claimed that between 10,000 and 12,000 tribesmen joined ISIS, Hangu and Kurram Agency reported. The report, billed as a "secret information report," claimed that ISIS asked "elements" from Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), a conglomerate of different insurgent groups operating in Pakistan, and hardline militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi to join its ranks to attack security installations and the minority Shiite community in Pakistan. The network has also formed a strategic planning wing to establish bases and recruit followers in Pakistan, the report stated. The report said that Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan provinces must be prepared for possible ISIS attacks on the border with Afghanistan. The warning was issued weeks after six key Taliban commanders, including former TTP spokesman Shahidullah Shahid, announced their allegiance to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. However, Rahimullah Yusufzai, a Peshawar-based expert on Afghan and tribal affairs said, "This [report] is a mere exaggeration as it does not have any basis." He said ISIS might have recruited "dozens" of members but they could not be in the thousands. "There is a very little space for ISIS in Pakistan because conditions are totally different here compared to Iraq and Syria," he said. "Those who have prepared this report do not even know about the reasons behind the creation of ISIS. It is a reaction to [former Iraqi prime minister] Nouri-al-Mailki's anti-Sunni policies. Whereas Sunnis are 85 per cent in Pakistan and do not face any threat from the Shiite minority," Yusufzai observed. Referring to the allegiance of six TTP commanders to ISIS, Yusufzai said, "It is interesting to see that ISIS has not publicly accepted their allegiance or even commented on it. It shows how seriously ISIS takes the Pakistani Taliban." Kamal Hyder, an Islamabad-based security analyst, agrees. "I do not know what the base of this report is, but recruitment of 12,000 followers is even far from exaggeration," he added. Hyder thinks the militant network might recruit "some elements" that have parted ways with the TTP but it cannot capture a huge territory in Pakistan as it has done in Iraq and Syria. "Al-Qaida and the Taliban have already distanced themselves from ISIS while the majority of Pakistani Taliban have already announced their allegiance to Mullah Omar," he observed. Previously, an Algerian armed group, which calls itself Jund al-Khalifa (Soldiers of the Caliphate), said that it has separated itself from al-Qaida and declared its obedience and loyalty to ISIS in September. Similarly, an armed group in the Philippines, Abu Sayyaf, declared its allegiance to ISIS. |
A garden without fragrance is really no garden at all. After all, how can you create something made for the senses but leave out interest dedicated to the sense of smell? There is literally an endless supply of fragrant plants to choose from, so adding aroma to any garden should be easy. But believe it or not, I have visited gardens where fragrant plants did not exist. With still a long way to go, I have what I consider to be a good start of fragrant plants in my garden, the most impressive being my Michellia champaca (Joy Perfume Tree). At night it can almost be over-powering at times. Another plant that I really enjoy for its fragrance is my Stemmadenia littoralis (Milky Way Tree). Native to Central America, Stemmadenia littoralis is an open-branching tree that creates a multi-layered canopy. In the tropics these trees have a maximum height of around 25 feet. My plant is now 6 years old from a 15-gallon sized pot and is only about 12 feet tall right now. You can see from the photo below that the twisting branches and layered growth might make for some good epiphytes attachments. Maybe a few orchids down the road? The tubular white flowers of Stemmadenia littoralis can be found on the tree from spring through fall. Only when the cool winter nights set in does the tree stop flowering. While in flower, it is a remarkably floriferous tree. Also called “Lechozo,” Stemmadenia littoralis is one of the most fragrant flowering trees in the tropics. I can attest to this from smelling them in a few botanical gardens in Hawaii. Unfortunately here in Southern California, with its drier air, the fragrance doesn’t waft like it does in more humid climates. So the fragrance is not as strong and must be enjoyed a little closer to the tree. I have my Stemmadenia littoralis planned along the walkway to my front door. It makes for a great conversation piece, as I am often asked by guest what the aroma was they smelled walking in. While I am not very good at describing fragrance, a friend’s wife gave the best description to date. She said it smells “pleasantly musky.” Huh? Well, that works for me. Here are four flowers in a before and after photo. The Gray Hairstreak Butterfly was kind enough to provide some colorful scale. Honey bees enjoy the flowers as well. This early-morning worker pictured below was actually in the process of backing out. It is a lot of work for honey bees to get to the nectar, as it is a long, tight tunnel for a bee to squeeze into. The leaves of Stemmadenia littoralis add to the overall attractiveness of the tree. The oval leaves are a dark, shiny green and glimmer in the sun. Even the seed pods are pretty on Stemmadenia littoralis. They are double-horned orange pods that hang from the tree. Here is one of last year’s that has opened up recently with ripe seed. The Milky Way Tree is in the Apocynaceae family of flowering plants. However, unlike its relatives Plumeria and Adenium, it is an evergreen tree here in Southern California. Books will tell you it is strictly a Zone 10-11 plant, but I have heard of Stemmadenia littoralis doing fine in 9B here in some SoCal gardens. It might lose all its leaves and have some major die-back from frost, but once spring hits, it will grow back quickly. Here in my garden, Stemmadenia littoralis is grown in a partial shade setting but I have witnessed it easily handling full sun 15 miles inland. In fact, mine most likely would have preferred more summer sun. However, I wanted mine under the canopy of a large Canary Island Date Palm to provide some frost protection during those occasional chilly winters. If you have a fast-draining spot in your garden that needs a smallish, fragrant flowering tree, then I highly recommend Stemmadenia littoralis. It is not an easy tree to find for sale in Southern Californian nurseries, but worth the hunt. |
The top leadership of the Miss America Organization, implicated in an email scandal that targeted past pageant winners for abuse based on their appearance, intellect and sex lives, resigned on Saturday, with the outgoing president apologizing to a winner whose weight he ridiculed. The president, Josh Randle, told The Associated Press his comment responding to an email to his private account about the physical appearance of 2013 winner Mallory Hagan came months before he started working for the Miss America Organization in 2015. But he said it was wrong. "I apologize to Mallory for my lapse in judgment," Randle said on Saturday. "It does not reflect my values or the values I worked to promote at the Miss America Organization. Although this terrible situation was not caused or driven by me, in light of recent events and new developments, I am no longer willing to continue in my capacity as president and earlier today offered my resignation to the MAO Board of Directors." Randle said his resignation was voluntary and had not been requested by the board of Miss America, which is based in Atlantic City. Hagan did not respond to a message seeking comment on the resignations of Randle, CEO Sam Haskell and Chairman Lynn Weidner. Weidner also did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment Saturday. But a day earlier on Facebook, she defended herself against an allegation by former Miss America Gretchen Carlson that Weidner solicited former Miss Americas to attack other former title winners who were not supportive of Haskell. Weidner also expressed support for the Miss America Organization. "I truly love our Miss America scholarship program and it has been a privilege to contribute and to serve for so many years as a full time volunteer," she wrote. "I have so much to be grateful for in my life and so much of that can be traced back to that day so long ago when I entered my local pageant." The scandal began Thursday, when the Huffington Post published leaked emails showing pageant officials ridiculing past Miss Americas, including crass and sometimes vulgar comments about them. The emails included one that used a vulgar term for female genitalia to refer to past Miss America winners, one that wished that a particular former Miss America had died and others that speculated about how many sex partners Hagan has had. Randle noted that the worst communications were exchanged in 2013 and 2014, years before he joined the Miss America Organization, and said the article's implication of "complicit participation on my part in a years long array of inappropriate email communication" is untrue. Haskell's resignation is effective immediately, while Randle and Weidner will remain for a few weeks to help with a leadership transition. Dan Meyers, who had been vice chairman of the board, was named interim chairman. The organization announced the resignations a day after dozens of former Miss Americas, including Hagan, signed a petition calling on the group's leadership to step down because of the emails. The emails already cost the pageant its television production partner and raised questions about the future of the nationally televised broadcast from Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall the week after Labor Day each year. Dick Clark Productions told the AP on Thursday that it cut ties with the Miss America Organization over the emails, calling them "appalling." Also on Saturday, one of the main recipients of fundraising from the Miss America Organization said it was reviewing its association with Miss America. The Children's Miracle Network Hospitals said it was "conducting an immediate review of the situation and will take appropriate actions." And New Jersey officials are reviewing their Miss America Organization contract, in which the state still owes $4 million toward the cost of next year's pageant. |
By F. William Engdahl Global Research A major new scientific study has confirmed the growing conviction that the world’s most widely used chemical herbicide, Monsanto Corporation’s Roundup, is toxic and a danger to humans as well as animals. The latest scientific research carried out by a multinational scientific team headed by Professor Andrés Carrasco, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Embryology at the University of Buenos Aires Medical School and member of Argentina’s National Council of Scientific and Technical Research, presents an alarming demonstration that Monsanto and the biotech agribusiness industry have systematically lied about the safety of the product. Roundup in far lower concentrations than used in agriculture is linked to birth defects. The health implications are huge. All major GMO crops on the market today are genetically manipulated to “tolerate” the herbicide Roundup. Glyphosate was patented by Monsanto in the 1970’s well before GMO was commercialized, as a so-called broad-spectrum weed killer. It is typically sprayed and absorbed through the leaves, or used as a forestry herbicide. It was initially patented and sold by Monsanto under the trade name Roundup, which also contains non-disclosed added chemicals the company refuses to divulge for “trade secret” reasons. As of 2005, 87% of all US soybean fields were planted with glyphosate-resistant varieties of GMO soybeans and sprayed with Roundup. Because the seeds of Monsanto Roundup Ready GMO soybeans or other crops have been manipulated solely to be “resistant” to Roundup, while all other plant life in the field is killed by it, farmers using Roundup Ready seeds must also purchase Roundup herbicide, making a captive market for both seed and chemicals. The problem with this cozy arrangement, aside from the fact that Roundup-resistant “super-weeds” are emerging as a new biological catastrophe (see Katastrophale Folgen von GVO-Pflanzen in den USA – eine Lektion für die EU), is that Glyphosate has now been demonstrated to be linked to birth defects as one of the most highly toxic substances in agriculture. The US government’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nonetheless continues to regard Roundup as “relatively low in toxicity, and without carcinogenic or teratogenic effects.” In the United States, federal agencies notoriously rely on test data from Monsanto and the agribusiness industry to make safety rulings, under the 1992 doctrine of Substantial Equivalence which asserts that GMO seeds are “substantially equivalent” to ordinary seeds and thereby need no independent health or safety tests. While herbicides are treated slightly different, the fact that the agribusiness industry influences much of US Government policy has insured the most benign regulatory treatment of Roundup to date. Alarming results Now a new international scientific team headed by Prof. Andres Carrasco and including researchers from the UK, Brazil, USA, and Argentina have demonstrated that Glyphosate, the main active ingredient in Roundup causes malformations in frog and chicken embryos at doses far lower than those used in agricultural spraying and well below maximum residue levels in products presently approved in the European Union.[1] The Carrasco group was led to research the embryonic effects of glyphosate by reports of high rates of birth defects in rural areas of Argentina where Monsanto’s genetically modified “Roundup Ready” (RR) soybeans are grown in large monocultures sprayed from airplanes regularly. RR soy is engineered to tolerate Roundup, allowing farmers to spray the herbicide liberally to kill weeds while the crop is growing. Carrasco presented his group’s findings at a press conference during the 6th European Conference of GMO Free Regions in the European Parliament in Brussels. He stated, “The findings in the lab are compatible with malformations observed in humans exposed to glyphosate during pregnancy.” Widespread reports of human malformations began to be reported in Argentina beginning in 2002, two years after widespread aerial spraying of Roundup and planting of RR Soybeans was begun. The test animals used by Carrasco’s group share similar developmental mechanisms with humans. The authors concluded that the results “raise concerns about the clinical findings from human offspring in populations exposed to Roundup in agricultural fields.” Carrasco added, “The toxicity classification of glyphosate is too low. In some cases this can be a powerful poison.” The maximum residue level (MRL) allowed for glyphosate in soy in the EU was raised 200-fold from 0.1 mg/kg to 20 mg/kg in 1997 after genetically manipulated Roundup Ready soy was commercialized in Europe. Carrasco found malformations in embryos injected with 2.03 mg/kg glyphosate. Soybeans can typically contain glyphosate residues of up to 17mg/kg. In August 2010, an organized mob violently attacked people who gathered to hear Carrasco talk about his research in the town of La Leonesa, Chaco province. Witnesses implicated local agro-industry figures in the attack. Viviana Peralta, a housewife from San Jorge, Santa Fe, Argentina was hospitalized together with her baby after Roundup spraying from planes flying near her home. Peralta and other residents launched a lawsuit that resulted in a regional court ban on the spraying of Roundup and other agrochemicals near houses. Note 1. Paganelli, A., Gnazzo, V., Acosta, H., López, S.L., Carrasco, A.E. 2010. Glyphosate-based herbicides produce terato-genic effects on vertebrates by impairing retinoic acid signaling. Chem. Res. Toxicol., August 9. http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/tx1001749 |
Swedish Bakery in Andersonville will close at the end of February after 88 years in business, according to Dennis Stanton, operations officer, whose parents bought the store in 1979. Why the closure? “A multitude of reasons,” said Stanton. “We’re all getting older here.” “My mother, who’s still involved, is 86,” he added. “It’s increasingly more difficult to compete and our current customer base dying off. “Plus it’s hard to attract millennials who are looking for a food experience. We’re pretty humdrum. We’re just a bakery.” The most popular items now are the classic green marzipan princess torte, chocolate ganache cake and whipped cream cake with fruit, said Stanton, who added cakes make up 50 percent of the bakery's sales. But when the bakery first opened in 1929, it was probably sweet rolls and bread, he said, specifically the Swedish rye known as limpa, which it still bakes. The last day, Tuesday, Feb. 28, will be Mardi Gras, aka Paczki Day. Stanton said the bakery's most popular paczki flavor is custard-filled, with chocolate fudge on top. But customers have been calling to stock up on the house special Andersonville coffeecake made from cardamom dough, with almond and cinnamon sugar filling, plus chopped almonds and crystal sugar on top. Stanton said the bakery will consider selling its recipes. “But the food scene in Chicago is competitive,” he added, “People are not interested in history. They’re interested in making their own history, and that’s understandable.” Swedish Bakery, 5348 N. Clark St., 773-561-8919, www.swedishbakery.com lchu@chicagotribune.com Twitter @louisachu |
The Houston Dynamo have finalized their 2013 local broadcast TV schedule, with 27 games set to be aired on Comcast SportsNet Houston and KPRC Local 2. All the details are below with specifics around the matches and stations. The finalized schedule just puts the finishing touches on a historic broadcast agreement for the Dynamo. Never before has the club received such professional media coverage from a broadcast partner. 2013 is poised to be a big year for the Dynamo on the field and on the air. Taken from Houston Dynamo Press Release CSN Houston or CSN2 will air 21 games and six games will air on KPRC Local 2 (NBC). In addition to games, CSN will produce live pregame and postgame shows, a weekly in-season magazine show, a monthly off-season show, a preseason preview, a postseason wrap-up special, and a behind-the-scenes documentary series. Between Comcast SportsNet Houston and KPRC Local 2, the Dynamo will have more than 200 hours of local English TV programming. Four of the five Dynamo games that will be broadcast nationally in Spanish on UniMás will also be broadcast in English on CSN Houston or CSN2. The fifth game will broadcast on CSN on a delay. The first Dynamo game broadcast on CSN is Saturday, March 23 when the Dynamo host the Vancouver Whitecaps at 7:30 p.m. at BBVA Compass Stadium. The preseason preview show will debut on Monday, February 25 at 6:30 p.m. The first weekly magazine show, Dynamo Weekly, will debut on Thursday, March 7 at 4 p.m. |
A fire is roaring in the fireplace and sprays of bright red winterberry adorn a vase on the deco mantel. The scent of hot cider wafts through the air. What Victorian-era storybook scene have I stepped into on this chilly, gray day in late November? It's the home of Hugo Award–winning author, audiobook narrator, and professional puppeteer Mary Robinette Kowal, a spacious and stately 1913 apartment in Ukrainian Village that she shares with her winemaker husband, Robert, and their two cats. click to enlarge Kerri Pang "In 2012, we were moving from Portland, Oregon, to Chicago for my husband's job and were looking for a place that was comfortable and familiar," says Kowal, 47. "Ukrainian Village was [described online as] the most Portland-like [neighborhood] of Chicago. And it has, in fact, been very much like that." She and her husband rented the apartment sight unseen and have fallen in love with its stained-glass features, dark-wood beams, and built-ins. "We were just looking for someplace with trees, hardwood floors, a gas stove, and quiet," she says. "We sent a friend here to see it, and he looked around, went through our checklist, and e-mailed us and said, 'This is the nicest apartment I've been in in Chicago. Rent it now.' " click to enlarge The living room Kerri Pang Most rooms of the house are dedicated to some sort of creative project. In Kowal's sewing room, just off the front parlor, she's busy working on a Regency gown out of blue shot silk (think Jane Austen), and a polar-bear costume for a children's theater in Iceland. The parlor, meanwhile, is home to the couple's books and antique typewriters. "When I met Rob, I had a typewriter, singular, and he had a typewriter, singular, and then we went to a yard sale together and found a third typewriter," Kowal says. "As soon as you have three of something, it becomes a collection." click to enlarge One of Kowal's puppets Kerri Pang In the months before they were married, they found that all of their conversations had something to do with wedding planning, and it had become overwhelming. "What we did was establish one of the typewriters as the nuptial typewriter, and it had red and black ink. If one of us had a question—he was red ink and I was the black ink—we would switch it to our color, type the question or the thought, and then the other person could go and look at it. It meant that you only had to deal with wedding stuff when you were in the right frame of mind. It was really nice." Suddenly, people started giving them more typewriters—"This was before the hipsters had discovered them," she says—and now they have nearly 20. Kowal does not recommend starting a similar collection. "Moving with typewriters is a really terrible idea. Dusting typewriters is really horrible." click to enlarge One of Kowal's antique typewriters Kerri Pang A bookshelf in the master bedroom is home to copies of Kowal's many novels—Shades of Milk and Honey, Glamour in Glass, Valour and Vanity, and several others—while the back porch serves as her puppet workshop, aka "the dusty area." "It's where I have my bandsaw and drill and belt sander and those things," Kowal says. "People in modern America tend to think of puppets as Sesame Street, but puppetry has this very long tradition, and a lot of them are made out of wood or fiberglass or papier-mache." She's currently building science-fiction-like puppets for the House Theatre of Chicago production of Diamond Dogs by Alastair Reynolds. click to enlarge The sewing room Kerri Pang Ultimately, her home is a reflection of a many-pronged career. "A lot of times when people are talking to me, they're like, 'Wow, you do so many different things,' " Kowal says. "But I feel like I actually only do one thing: storytelling. And I just happen to have a couple of different mediums I use to tell stories—puppets, prose, costumes . . . My job is to have a daydream and to use whatever medium to communicate that daydream to you." v |
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Uber Technologies Inc [UBER.UL] knowingly rented its drivers defective cars at risk of catching fire, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, and the ride-hailing firm said it moved to fix the problem after one of the vehicles suffered a blaze. A Honda Vezel is seen in Singapore August 4, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas White The Journal cited internal emails and documents showing Uber’s Singapore unit bought more than 1,000 Vezel sport-utility vehicles that maker Honda Motor Co Ltd (7267.T) had recalled due to an electrical fault. It reported the Singapore management was aware of the recall, and that the cars Uber had bought and rented out had not been repaired. The Journal also said management pressed the car dealer for repairs whilst renting out the vehicles. “As soon as we learned of a Honda Vezel from the Lion City Rental fleet catching fire, we took swift action to fix the problem, in close coordination with Singapore’s Land Transport Authority,” Uber said in a statement. The Journal reported the vehicle caught fire in January. A spokesperson for Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) said in a statement that it had been “closely monitoring the recall and rectification progress for affected Honda Vezels”. The LTA spokesperson said its records, based on latest information provided by importers and dealers, showed that among the Honda Vezels owned by Lion City Rental Pte Ltd (LCR), 9 percent had been rectified. “LTA is working with LCR and importers to update this figure and ensure all vehicles are rectified,” the LTA spokesperson said. An Uber spokesman in Singapore declined to elaborate on whether management knowingly rented out defective vehicles, directing Reuters to the company statement. The spokesman said all vehicles had now been repaired. “We acknowledge we could have done more - and we have done so,” Uber said in its statement. It said it had hired three experts “whose sole job is to ensure we are fully responsive to safety recalls.” The Journal reported that Uber’s lawyers had assessed potential legal liabilities including possibly violating driver contracts. “There is clearly a large safety/responsible actor/brand integrity/PR issue,” for Uber, an internal report read, according to the Journal. Uber, which has pulled out of massive markets China and Russia, used Singapore as a springboard to grow in populous Southeast Asia. The region is dominated by Grab, which says it has a 95 percent market share in third-party taxi-hailing and 71 percent in private vehicle hailing. The local incumbent said last month said had raised $2.5 billion to fund further growth. Grab said on Friday its drivers do not use the Vezel model that was subject to recall. “(This incident) will receive some attention and may dissuade some people from using Uber, but I don’t see it as having a major impact,” said Dane Anderson, a vice president at researcher Forrester. Slideshow (2 Images) “The government is very pragmatic and has been friendly to services like this and to business in general. I think it will continue to do what it has always done, which is continue to take a balanced, measured, pragmatic view,” Anderson said. The Journal report is the latest blow to Uber in Asia. Authorities in places such as Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have questioned the legality of its apps, which connect private car owners with fare-paying passengers, pitting them against licensed taxi drivers. The firm has had to suspend operations on several occasions, as in Macau last month. At home, Uber is the subject of a federal inquiry into software that helped drivers avoid authorities in areas within which it did not have official permission to operate. It is also involved in an intellectual property lawsuit filed by the self-driving car unit of Google parent Alphabet Inc (GOOG.O). |
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