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Overuse of antibiotics has allowed animals to be kept in more and more cramped conditions, but the so-called efficiency gains are often cancelled out by dangers such as drug-resistant bacteria The proliferation of factory farming is as much a feature of the industrial age as fossil fuel production. In only the last half-century, rapid population growth, quickly rising incomes and intense urbanisation have given rise to a sharp spike in meat consumption. Between 1950 and 1997, production rose from 44 million to 211 million tonnes, and once-cumbersome agricultural processes have been consolidated to the point where high-volume, low-cost methods have won through. “Looking at the industry through an ESG [environmental, social and corporate governance] lens produces alarming results that should raise a red flag to mainstream investors across the world”, wrote Jeremy Coller, Founder of the Farm Animal Investment Risk & Return (FAIRR) initiative. With the global population on course to swell a further third by the year 2040, there is a general expectation that worldwide demand for animal protein will skyrocket 70 percent by the century’s halfway point, with much of the responsibility resting on the shoulders of industrial-sized farms. Double-edged sword In Asia, demand for animal protein is soaring, and while the trend has been held up as proof of the continent’s rising prosperity, it is far from without consequence. See China, where a doubling of the population has, on the one hand, resulted in a substantial increase in meat consumption, and on the other stretched its food system to breaking point. According to Alan Briefel, Executive Director of the FAIRR initiative, China now has the world’s largest pig and poultry industries, is the world’s largest consumer of pork, the second-largest producer of poultry, and the third largest milk-producing nation. Meat consumption there has quadrupled since 1971, and while some see it as positive, others, PwC included, believe it will “place enormous burdens on an already challenged domestic food system, and have significant ramifications on international trade in agriculture”. This same dependence on animal protein feeds into much more prescient issues concerning land use, resource scarcity and climate change, all of which threaten to unseat China as a shining beacon of prosperity and wreak havoc on its population’s health and wellbeing. As damning a situation as China’s is, it is but a glimpse of the long-term implications associated with industrialised meat production, and the practice itself could well become the next big risk for investors. In only the last half-century, rapid population growth, quickly rising incomes and intense urbanisation have given rise to a sharp spike in meat consumption Steven Heim, Director of ESG Research at Boston Common Asset Management, cites methane emissions and antibiotic use as the two issues most deserving of attention on the investor front. Speaking to World Finance, he emphasised that these risks and others must be taken into account if investors wish to avoid future damages. More than anything, the scale of the industry and the extent to which it has been allowed to grow unchallenged should give people – investors in particular – reason to feel anxious. The industrialisation of farming has only recently been subjected to the same pressures as items such as fossil fuels. To date, more than 70 percent of the world’s farm animals reside in factory farms, and larger feedlots are known to contain upwards of 100,000 cattle or 500,000 broiler chickens living in close proximity. The share in the US is closer to 99 percent, and as demand for animal products in developing countries increases at a rapid pace, we should expect to see the global percentage climb higher still. A number of ‘advances’ in farming since the mid-1970s in particular have made the practice itself more ‘efficient’ and effectively transformed the old image of farming into something that resembles a sprawling, windowless machine. The use of antibiotics from that point onwards has facilitated the crowding of animals into tighter and tighter spaces, and the realisation that these same drugs facilitate faster growth again means antibiotics have become an integral part of the process. These ‘innovations’ and others mean the average US dairy cow today provides more than 2,300 gallons of milk a year, compared to 665 gallons in 1950. Chickens now reach slaughter weight at 47 days of age as opposed to 70. As much as profit-hungry companies have welcomed these ‘new and improved’ methods, they carry a number of risks for investors. A recent report by FAIRR outlined these risks on the investor side, which – willingly or not – have a stake in factory farming and could lose out to its very many uncomfortable truths. On a macro level, the livestock sector accounts for 14 percent of global GHG emissions – more than the transport sector – and, in the US, 80 percent of all antibiotic use. It is the number one consumer of water in drought-stricken California and the topmost reason for the spread of bird (H5N2) and swine (H1N1) flu – with the former responsible for a staggering $3.3bn in industry losses. On a smaller – albeit still significant – scale, the issue of antibiotic overuse has investors rightly concerned about the rise of drug resistant bacteria. The farms in question provide the perfect conditions for new strains to develop and spread, and without measures to protect against the spread of disease, large-scale epidemics and human infection could ensue. What to do? All in all, the FAIRR report identified 28 ESG issues that threaten to exert a negative financial impact on any company with connections to factory farming. The repercussions can be colossal, ranging from safety scandals to environmental fines and an overreliance on government subsidies. Regardless of this, however, the risks tied to factory farming seldom register with offending companies, and efforts to raise awareness in the past have largely come up short. UK television chef Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in 2008 failed to drum up enough support among shareholders of the supermarket chain Tesco for a motion to improve animal welfare standards. This year, shareholders at Tyson Foods rejected a resolution that would have required the company to institute a ‘water stewardship’ policy, following findings that it dumped almost seven times as much surface discharge as Exxon between 2010 and 2014. These motions and many more like it are founded on the assumption that improved governance or welfare standards require a returns trade-off. Countless studies show this not to be the case. US Mexican restaurant chain Chipotle has demonstrated time and again that prioritising animal welfare can boost both sales and share price. The company’s CEO Steve Ells implemented a sourcing policy stipulating animals be fed a vegetarian diet, not given antibiotics or growth hormones, and allowed to roam free in pastures, following a visit to a factory farm in 1999. Further to this commitment, Chipotle’s switch to sustainable sourcing and the resulting $1 per pork burrito price rise did not, as many predicted, lead to a sudden drop in sales – quite the opposite in fact. Speaking about the challenges of engaging investors, Briefel claimed it was first about raising awareness, and conceded that, while investors are increasingly concerned about sustainability issues, there is a knowledge gap when it comes to intensive farming and farm animal welfare. “It’s about convincing them that this is about materiality, not morality”, he said. “Mention ‘animal welfare’ to most investors and they immediately think this is the preserve of NGOs, or specialist ethical investors – not, by and large, big mainstream investors. But they couldn’t be more wrong. The issues at stake are core business issues that can have a major material impact if not adequately dealt with.” An investigation into meat-packing company Hallmark Westland in 2008 shed light on animal cruelty and health concerns, forcing the company into the biggest meat recall in US history – 65 million kilograms (equivalent to the weight of 195 jumbo jets) – and a subsequent class action that bankrupted the company. More recently, medical research firm Santa Cruz Biotech suffered a $3.5m fine and had its license revoked after allegations of mistreatment of animals. For now, the issue is not how much money is exposed to any one or more of these 28 ESG risks, but rather what investors concerned about factory farming risks can do to drive change. The FAIRR report itself is proof big names are beginning to take note, and the support of ShareAction, Boston Common Asset Management, Farm Forward and others should bring the issue of factory farming to the fore. Heim conceded the conversation could soon turn to the issue of divestment, though he reiterated the important thing for now is to ensure investors are as informed about factory farm investment risks as they are, say, fossil fuels. Assuming the discussion around factory farming investment risks stays lively, less risky alternatives could emerge as investors look to preserve and grow their wealth. “Investors have a big role to play”, said Briefel. “They sit at the top of the value chain and, as ultimate owners of companies, they have the influence and motivation to make the changes that are required. There are other elements of society that need to be engaged – namely consumers, regulators and businesses themselves – but investors are a key part of the chain and one that can take a lead.” |
Maybe it's not farewell for Cleveland Brown after all. Fox is denying a report that its "Family Guy" spinoff "The Cleveland Show" has been axed after four seasons. While not saying anything on the record, Fox sources say the show -- about black patriarch Cleveland Brown and his family -- hasn't been canceled, although the network hasn't ordered any new episodes, either. It's possible that the show could go on hiatus for awhile as Fox focuses on "The Simpsons," "Family Guy," "Bob's Burgers" and other animated shows for next season. PHOTOS: Memorable TV series finales It wouldn't be unprecedented for "Cleveland" to come back: Both "Family Guy" and "King of the Hill" were taken off the schedule and returned later. The cancellation news came from a blog posting by Steve Hulett of the Animation Guild, a trade union associated with IATSE. |
Leave it to Muammar Qaddafi to bring together the Israelis and Palestinians at the United Nations. I have just obtained the copy of a draft resolution from the Human Rights Council that strongly condemns the violence in Libya. The resolution is as strongly worded as they come. But what is more significant than the substance of the resolution is the broad support that it has attracted by a diverse set of members. Check this out: You’ll also note that Qatar and Tunisia co-signed. As it happens, Libya is on the Human Rights Council right now. But given the broad support for this resolution, I can’t imagine that they will last much longer. (A two-thirds vote of the General Assembly is required to boot a member from the Human Rights Council.) Very interesting times. And a situation like this demonstrates the value of the Human Rights Council–it can be used to show the cruel Libyan regime just how united the world is against it. “We’ve joined many concerned members of the Human Rights Council in supporting this session,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Suzanne Nossel tells me over email, “It is significant that the international community will speak with one voice in condemning the violence.” Discussion comments... |
Eric Schmidt is calling himself a “job elimination denier” when it comes to automation, and on Friday he shared a popular anecdote about ATMs to support his position. The problem is, the anecdote is not completely accurate. ATMs led to an increase in the number of bank tellers, said Schmidt, the executive chairman of Google parent company Alphabet. “There are more bank tellers now than ever because banks are more efficient,” he said at the Global Digital Futures Policy Forum at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. He’s not entirely wrong. From 1970 to 2010, the number of bank tellers in the U.S. increased from a little under 300,000 to around 600,000, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers cited by the public policy think tank American Enterprise Institute. But he’s not really right, either. The reason ATMs led to more bank teller jobs is that ATMs allowed banks to open more branches, since each branch could be run with fewer tellers, which also meant banks could hire more tellers overall. But now the number of branches is on the decline, “because of industry consolidation and technological change,” according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The federal agency predicts the number of bank teller jobs will decline to 480,500 by 2024, down from 520,500 in 2014. That technological change includes some banks allowing customers to interact with tellers through webcams at ATMs, according to BLS. ATMs are generally getting more sophisticated, the Wall Street Journal pointed out in 2014. Of course, teller job trends don’t all come down to ATMs. There are regulations and economic trends. And there’s mobile banking, which also involves automation of work previously handled by humans. So can Schmidt say ATMs led to more bank teller jobs? For a time there was a correlation, but that’s not the same as saying bank tellers’ job prospects have benefited from automation. |
DEXTER, Maine — A Dexter police sergeant resigned last month after he had his law enforcement certification taken away for quashing a speeding ticket as a favor to a local woman. The Maine Criminal Justice Academy board of trustees revoked Sgt. Allen Emerson’s law enforcement certificate of eligibility in May after an investigation, according to documents obtained by the Bangor Daily News through a Freedom of Access Act request. “Allen Emerson’s actions, and his failure to take responsibility for them, were particularly egregious,” the board wrote in its decision. “The board finds that its purpose of protecting the public health and welfare and its charge to ensure that the public is served by competent and honest criminal justice practitioners [requires significant action].” Emerson resigned June 1, according to Town Manager Shelley Watson. Dexter Police Chief Kevin Wintle said he plans to promote a new sergeant in the near future. Emerson worked at the department from 1987 to 1999, then returned in 2013 with the rank of sergeant. The investigation stemmed from a traffic stop in February 2015, when Officer Kenneth Spaulding, a part-time officer in Dexter, pulled over Christine Pooler for speeding on Grove Street. Spaulding issued her a ticket for traveling 43 mph in a 25-mph zone. The fine was $185. Later that day, Pooler, who formerly worked as a secretary and reserve officer at the department, called the office and spoke with Emerson. She was “very upset about having received a ticket and was crying,” according to board documents. She wanted to know why she received the ticket rather than a warning. Emerson, normally second-in-command at the department, was in charge that day because Wintle was on vacation, Emerson told the board. When Spaulding returned to the office, Emerson asked him to turn over the copies of the ticket so he could send it in with a batch that day, Spaulding told the board. “This was a departure from the normal practice, which was for the officer who wrote the tickets to put them in the designated mailbox on the wall after entering relevant information into the computer,” according to the board. Emerson said he believed he had the discretion to change a ticket to a warning, so he removed the ticket from those that were forwarded to the state’s Violations Bureau. However, the sergeant never issued the warning, the board found. Emerson called Pooler a few days later to tell her not to send her violation paperwork to the state. Wintle said the question of whether the ticket will need to be paid or reissued has yet to be resolved, but it has been discussed with the district attorney’s and attorney general’s offices. Emerson testified that he felt Pooler deserved a warning because of her previous work with the department and because she was a longtime resident. He also said he didn’t look up her prior driving record because “she was an older lady and a good person,” according to the board. The town placed Emerson on administrative leave with pay on May 15, 2015, but he returned to work about two months later after the Maine district attorney’s office investigated and decided to not press criminal charges against Emerson. He was placed on administrative leave again in November 2015 when a complaint was filed with the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, opening an investigation by that board. The board found a “preponderance of evidence” that Emerson violated several state statutes, including tampering with public records, a Class D crime, and official oppression, a Class E crime. An administrative hearing officer recommended Emerson be officially reprimanded, pay a $1,500 fine, and receive a 180-day certificate suspension. The board ultimately decided those penalties weren’t severe enough. John Rogers, director of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy, said Tuesday that these sorts of investigations are relatively common. The academy reviews about 50 cases involving law enforcement and corrections officers each year in Maine. The cases range from OUIs and domestic violence allegations against them to claims of abuse by prison guards. Of the 50 claims the academy saw in 2015, 15 resulted in revocations of certificates. A revocation is the strongest action the board can take. It means a person can never become a law enforcement or corrections officer again. Eight cases were dismissed, and nine are pending. The rest resulted in warnings, known as “letters of guidance” or other agreements with varying levels of penalties. Emerson was still listed on the Dexter Police Department’s website as of Tuesday afternoon, but Wintle said he planned to update the site later that day. Emerson is now working as fire chief in the neighboring town of Corinna, according to the town’s website. Messages left for Emerson and his attorney Tuesday afternoon were not returned. Follow Nick McCrea on Twitter at @nmccrea213. |
CINCINNATI, Ohio -- A federal appeals court on Wednesday upheld the criminal convictions against more than a dozen members of an Amish community who orchestrated a series of beard-cutting attacks against its enemies. A three-judge panel from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati ruled that the 15 defendants who challenged their convictions did so too late. This is their second appeal and the arguments raised the second time around were waived because they weren't brought up the first time, the opinion says. "In criminal case after criminal case, we have declined to allow a criminal defendant who fails to challenge part of a conviction in an earlier appeal to raise it in a later appeal," Judge Jeffrey Sutton wrote in the opinion. "Seeing no fair reason to give full review to these arguments now, especially as no defendant has explained the omissions from the earlier appeal, we decline to break from this consistent practice." (You can read the full opinion here or at the bottom of this story.) The defendants are members of a breakaway sect of an Amish community made up of 18 families in the Jefferson County community of Bergholz, located about 100 miles southeast of Cleveland. They were convicted of multiple crimes in September 2012 for carrying out five nighttime raids in 2011. Members of the community rousted five victims out of bed and chopped off their beards and hair with horse mane shears and battery-powered clippers. The attackers documented the attacks with a disposable camera. Prosecutors brought hate-crime and obstruction charges against 16 members of the Amish community. They said the attacks were carried out at the behest of Bishop Samuel Mullet against the bishop's enemies. Witnesses portrayed him as a fire-and-brimstone preacher who imposed strict, and often bizarre, discipline on his flock. The 6th Circuit later overturned the hate-crime convictions, citing faulty jury instructions. Cleveland-based U.S. District Judge Dan Polster re-sentenced all of them to shorter sentences in March 2015, and noted that it was clear that the attacks were religiously motivated. Men's beards and women's hair have spiritual significance to the Amish. Mullet, 70, is serving a 10-year, nine-month prison sentence at a minimum-security prison in Lisbon. Other defendants were re-sentenced to between one and five years in prison, though Ed Bryan, Mullet's federal public defender, said all but Mullet have been released. In its new opinion, the 6th Circuit, which Sutton called "a sequel," also rejected arguments challenging the new sentences. Sutton wrote that while some of the defendants argued that their sentences were too harsh, he felt that they were "substantively reasonable." News of the attacks made national headlines and raised questions about the federal hate-crimes law, which carries much harsher sentencing enhancements. Mike Tobin, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said in a statement that the appeals court "recognized the district court's finding that the violent attacks committed by Samuel Mullet and his 15 co-defendants were religiously motivated hate crimes. "We hope that this fact, along with the fact that Samuel Mullet will remain incarcerated for his convictions on obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI, allow the victims of these attacks to continue living their lives safely and peacefully." Bryan said he would petition the full 6th Circuit to hear the case. He said he is disappointed with the ruling and feels the judges did not recognize that Mullet's sentence is disproportionately long compared to those in the case who were convicted of more serious offenses. He said his client "pays the toll for everyone else's conduct." Updated with background, more from the appeals court's opinion and comments from the U.S. Attorney's Office and Mullet's attorney. If you want to comment on this story, please go to Wednesday's crime and courts comments section. |
Late on Saturday night, Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, delivered an uncharacteristically measured assessment of the evening’s entertainment. The U.F.C. had finally staged U.F.C. 200, a landmark night of mixed martial arts, televised on pay-per-view, which the company had been hyping all year. “Tonight’s fights—y’know,” he said, not very enthusiastically. “We had some great fights, and there were some decent fights.” True, Miesha Tate, the bantamweight champion and one of the company’s biggest stars, had suffered a memorable upset to Amanda Nunes, who stunned her with a battery of punches and then choked her into submission; Tate lost both her championship belt and a good quantity of blood, which dripped from what remained of her nose. But there were relatively few thrilling moments; even White, known for expressions of pugnacious enthusiasm, had to admit that the night was a bit of a letdown. U.F.C. 200 was meant to be the culmination of a weekend-long celebration of the U.F.C., and a chance for the company to show off: the U.F.C. also broadcast a night of fights on Thursday night, through its digital service, and another on Friday night, on Fox Sports 1. But it turned out that the biggest U.F.C. story of the weekend didn’t emerge until Sunday night, when KLAS, in Las Vegas, and the New York Times reported that the U.F.C. had been sold, for about four billion dollars, to a group of investors led by WME-IMG, the talent agency. White told ESPN that the news was very “bittersweet.” In addition to being the president—a job he will retain—White was also a part owner, with a reported nine-per-cent share in the U.F.C. This may help explain the message he sent, on Twitter, as the news broke: a smiley-face emoji. The U.F.C. story begins with U.F.C. 1, a wild and grubby spectacle broadcast in 1993 to about ninety thousand pay-per-view customers, who were drawn by the promise that a wide range of fighters—boxers, kickboxers, jiu-jitsu specialists, even a hapless sumo wrestler—would compete in a cage to see which style worked best. (The winner was Royce Gracie, who was both a master of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and the younger brother of one of the organizers.) The sport soon developed a reputation for mayhem, and states started banning it. In 2001, the U.F.C. was sold to Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta, a pair of Las Vegas casino owners who paid two million dollars, which wasn’t obviously a bargain. The Fertittas installed White, an M.M.A. fanatic who was working as a fighter manager, as president, and together they worked to restore the U.F.C.’s fortunes by redeeming the reputation of its sport, which was illegal in much of the country. They convinced the Nevada State Athletic Commission to allow matches, and as the U.F.C. prospered its owners grew more ambitious. In 2008, White told the Las Vegas Review-Journal, “This will be bigger than the N.F.L. and bigger than soccer in the next eight years.” This has not quite come to pass. (The U.F.C.’s four-billion-dollar sale price is impressive, but consider that, by some estimates, the Dallas Cowboys alone are worth about that much.) Still, the U.F.C. has made fitful progress toward the mainstream. A 2011 deal with Fox put U.F.C. fights on Fox Sports 1 and, occasionally, on the main Fox network, too. In 2014, the company signed a promotional deal with Reebok, which sounded impressive, although the initial implementation was remarkably inept. (A number of fighters complained that the new system, which made it impossible for them to advertise outside sponsors on their trunks, would cost them money; the official Reebok merchandise included typos and other embarrassing errors; a well-liked cutman claimed that he was fired by the U.F.C. for criticizing the Reebok deal, which the company tepidly denied.) And a few months ago, after a long political battle, the U.F.C. finally succeeded in persuading New York State, the final holdout, to legalize M.M.A.; the company announced that it would host its first New York City event on November 12th, at Madison Square Garden. Because the U.F.C. dominates the sport of M.M.A., and because the company does not always wield its enormous power gently or wisely, fans of the sport often express their fandom by criticizing the company, and especially its ubiquitous president, White. Last month, one of the sport’s most prominent journalists, Ariel Helwani, was ejected from a U.F.C. event after reporting a story before the company could announce it; White told T.M.Z. that Helwani would never again receive a media credential “as long as I’m here.” (After sports-media outlets erupted in outrage, the company reinstated Helwani.) This approach to media relations seemed reminiscent of a certain Presidential candidate, and perhaps that candidate took note: on Monday, the Donald Trump campaign announced that it had hired Steven Cheung, who happens to be a former publicist for the U.F.C. There is also the question of fighter pay: the astronomical sale price of the U.F.C. makes its announced salaries seem scandalously low. Saturday’s fight brought in $10.7 million in ticket sales, and a company executive predicted that it would be the U.F.C.’s biggest ever pay-per-view event, which would mean more than a million and a half buys, at a price of sixty dollars or so. And yet Tate, the defending champion, whose fight was the main event in the most heavily promoted U.F.C. show of all time, was paid an announced fee of half a million dollars: a big check, until you consider that Tate earned only ninety-six thousand dollars for her previous fight, and that she fights about twice a year, and that she is one of the most accomplished and recognizable athletes in a lucrative sport, and that this most recent payday was accompanied by a beating so comprehensive that it left Tate looking like the victim of a horrific car crash. U.F.C. executives have long maintained that athletes earn much more than their publicly disclosed purses, while declining to reveal details. As White once put it, “It’s none of your fuckin’ business how much these guys are making.” What is inarguable, though—and laudable—is that the modern U.F.C. has endured and thrived, bringing order and stability to the previously chaotic world of mixed martial arts. Even White’s biggest detractors would probably agree that he is genuinely obsessed by the sport; unlike boxing promoters, who habitually protect their most valuable stars, the U.F.C. has generally found ways to give fans the fights they want, and one recent result has been a series of thrilling upsets, including the shocking knockout of Ronda Rousey, last year, and Nate Diaz’s chokehold victory over the Irish sensation Conor McGregor, in March. Part of the problem on Saturday night was that the fights were overshadowed by one that took place forty-eight hours earlier: Eddie Alvarez’s technical knockout of the fearsome Brazilian champion Rafael dos Anjos, on Thursday night. Part of the problem was that one scheduled headliner, McGregor, had seen his fight postponed after feuding with White over promotional appearances. And part of the problem was that another scheduled headliner, Jon Jones, tested positive for a banned substance and was removed from the event on Wednesday; his scheduled opponent, Daniel Cormier, was instead matched against an aging legend named Anderson Silva, in perhaps the night’s dullest fight. This last-minute chaos was in some measure the result of the U.F.C.’s ongoing effort to act like a serious, grown-up sports league. There’s no way to know how much any of this will change in the years to come, as the U.F.C. ceases to be the private fiefdom of a bunch of fight fans and becomes the property of an entertainment conglomerate, along with a handful of investors. A more rational, more sober U.F.C. might be less likely to carry on vendettas with reporters, and it might inspire fighters to demand more transparency, or maybe even to organize. Perhaps White will be encouraged to engage more delicately—or simply less often—with the fans. Maybe fighters will be matched more cautiously, pressured to train more carefully, and encouraged to think of themselves as celebrities. (On Monday, White said that fighters would have more “television and movie opportunities” thanks to Ari Emanuel, the powerful co-C.E.O. of WME-IMG.) Maybe the new U.F.C. will be awesome. But now is not a bad time to remember that the old new U.F.C. was pretty awesome, too. |
Today on the “Crash JPMorgan, Buy Silver” Facebook group, someone by the name of Stewart Baxter posted the following: Silver is up around 100% since the first of September, right? U.S. dollar index is down around 8% in the same time period, but now you’re all buying because the dollar is supposedly devaluing. Look You’re massively overpaying, just wait, and buy some later this summer. Now it not good timing. What do you think? Mr. Baxter listed his employers as the Department of Defense, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Texas. John Maynard Keynes inspires him, and his interests include JP Morgan. Hmm… After some fierce rebuttals from fellow silver liberation army soldiers, including some calling him out as a DoD shill, Mr. Baxter removed his employer information from his Facebook profile. Check out some of the BS this shill is spouting – This one really takes the cake. The Fed apparently exists to protect us from our own idiot selves! “Trust me, I am from the Fed and I am here to help.” Stewart Baxter: “The central banking systemes are here to correct the inadequacies of the global population.” |
For just a short time, MoreBeer is discounting Heretic Brewing Co’s Shallow Grave Porter recipe kits by $6 when you use promo code TOMBSTONE6. This applies to both all grain and extract versions of the kit. Shallow Grave is part of the Brewmaster Series of recipes. These are actual recipes straight from brewers. In that sense, they are not clones. The recipe features rich chocolate and caramel flavors and uses Black Patent, Chocolate and Crystal Malts along with Cascade and Columbus Hops. Check it out – Here – make sure and use code TOMBSTONE6 Free Shipping. These kits also ship for free as part of MoreBeer’s Free Shipping Promo. Grab your next recipe kit – See: BrewMaster Series – Brewing Pliny, some gear, something that’s on sale or clearance and put together a $59 order to get free shipping. Also: Commercial Beer Replication and Clone Resources MoreDeals! at MoreBeer: More: Recent MoreBeer Finds Looking for a MoreBeer Deal? – Today’s Deal of the Day | Sale Items | MoreBeer Deals |
Earlier today I wrote about the recovery of an October 1950 episode of What’s My Line? and mentioned that the 16mm kinescope recording was started early, meaning the episode is incomplete. That’s too bad. However, because the recording started early it captured the last six minutes of the program that aired before What’s My Line? on Sunday, October 1st, 1950: a game show called Celebrity Time. No episodes of that series are known to exist, so even just a fragment is big news. Personally, I’m more excited about the recovery of the Celebrity Time fragment than the What’s My Line? episode because it features Kyle MacDonnell as one of the regular panelists. She can be see briefly in the fragment from roughly 1:39 to 1:46 but unfortunately doesn’t say anything. The fragment runs for more than six minutes but that includes a teaser and two commercials. Kyle MacDonnell (far left) on Celebrity Time – Courtesy of Kyle MacDonnell (far left) on Celebrity Time – Courtesy of To Tell the Truth YouTube Channel Here’s the full fragment. The guest panelists are Kitty Carlisle and Zachary Scott. Joining Kyle as the permanent male panelist is Herman Hickman. Celebrity Time premiered as a local WCBS-TV game show in November 1948 under the name The Eyes Have It. Douglas Edward was the first host, replaced almost immediately by Paul Gallico. Conrad Nagel took over as host in December 1948. It joined the CBS Eastern network in January 1949 under the name Riddle Me This. The concept was simple: four panelists (two men competing against two women) tried to identify people and events from old newsreel footage and other films. In April 1949, the series moved to ABC where it gained both a sponsor (B.F. Goodrich) and a new name (B.F. Goodrich Celebrity Time or simply Celebrity Time). John Daly and Ilka Chase were at that point the permanent male and female panelists, joined each week by two guest panelists. In April 1950, it moved back to CBS. Kyle MacDonnell appeared in a few episodes as a guest panelist before replacing Chase as the permanent female panelist in late April or early May 1950. The series was off the air for 13 weeks following its June 25th broadcast. When it returned on October 1st, Herman Hickman had replaced Daly as the permanent male panelist. Kyle stayed with Celebrity Time until March 1951. The series was on the air until September 1952. It’s unknown how many episodes were broadcast during its nearly four-year run but until this fragment was recovered, no footage from the series was known to exist. You can read all about Kyle MacDonnell in my article Kyle MacDonnell: TV’s Forgotten Star. I’ve also revised my list of Surviving Kyle MacDonnell Programs to reflect this recovery. I now know of 11 surviving programs or partial programs featuring Kyle. |
Lamar Jackson Wins Heisman Trophy Lamar Jackson capped off an underwhelming Heisman race tonight by winning the Heisman Trophy in New York City. Jackson wins the award over four other finalist, including fellow quarterbacks DeShaun Watson of Clemson and Baker Mayfield of Oklahoma. Jackson becomes the first player from the University of Louisville to win the sport’s most prestigious award. Jackson’s Highlight Reel Season Jackson’s numbers on the season were certainly Heisman-worthy. The Cardinals signal caller accounted for almost 5,000 yards of offense this season, finishing with 4,928 total yards. He was responsible for 51 total touchdowns on the season. Through the air, Jackson was statistically just behind Watson and Mayfield. He finished 220/382 (57.6%) for 3,390 yards (282.5/game), a 153.3 passer rating, with 30 touchdowns and 9 interceptions. Where Jackson separated himself from the other quarterbacks was on the ground. Jackson rushed for an additional 1,538 yards and added 21 touchdowns with his legs. In total, Jackson contributed an average of 410.7 yards per game. Jackson had more than the statistics, though. He provided many Heisman-worthy highlight reel plays throughout the season. His hurdle over a Syracuse defender set the tone for his Heisman effort early on. In a Heisman race with no clear-cut winner, often times the difference comes down to the eye test. Jackson certainly passes the eye test. In the end, it wasn’t as close as many people predicted. Jackson won 79.5% of the vote, the sixth highest percentage of any winner in the award’s history. In a two-man race, DeShaun Watson was the clear runner-up. Disappointing Finish Jackson was the clear Heisman front runner midway through the season. By mid-November, Louisville was 9-1 with a close loss to Clemson. But the Cardinals, and Jackson, struggled to finish the season. Louisville lost the last two games of the season. Houston dismantled Louisville in Louisville and that preceded a Kentucky upset over the Cardinals a week later. In the final three games, Jackson failed to reach 300 total yards of offense in two of the final three games. The finish didn’t have much of an impact on the award voting, however. Was it because of Jackson’s athleticism? Contributions in the ground game? Or the early lead he built in during the season? Probably a combination of all of the above. But with a vote that close, the Cardinals limping to the finish line clearly didn’t hurt Jackson’s campaign very much. Repeat Performance? Jackson, from Pompano Beach, Florida, is only a sophomore. Working in head coach Bobby Petrino’s high-octane offense, Jackson will be the Heisman favorite to start the 2017 campaign. He’ll be joined by Oklahoma quaterback Baker Mayfield, who has already announced his return. Alabama quarterback Jalen Hurts also expects to join the 2017 watch list. Main Photo: |
Disunion follows the Civil War as it unfolded. Capt. Charles Francis Adams Jr., grandson and great-grandson of presidents and son of the current minister to Britain, arrived in Washington on Aug. 27, 1862. His regiment, the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry, had been hastily snatched from its operations on the South Carolina coast and shipped north to meet the emergency created by Gen. Robert E. Lee’s stunning counteroffensive after the failure of the Union’s Peninsula campaign. Adams knew the capital city well, and was appalled by its “atmosphere of treason, jealousy, and dissension” — more than usual, given the recriminations pouring forth as federal forces retreated. Thirty miles to the southwest, Gen. John Pope’s Army of Virginia was beginning its disastrous struggle against Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia in what would be known as the Second Battle of Bull Run. But what appalled Adams was not the impending defeat, but the deep and bitter antagonism between the officers of the Army of the Potomac and the Lincoln administration. The officers, under Gen. George B. McClellan, told Adams that Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton, and the Radicals who supported him, had deliberately tried to sacrifice the Army to destroy or discredit their commander and boost Pope as his successor. Administration supporters responded in kind, accusing McClellan and his clique of deliberately stalling the war effort out of sympathy with the South. Stanton and Secretary of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase were circulating a petition among members of the cabinet calling for McClellan’s court-martial – Chase thought McClellan should be shot as a conscious traitor. Library of Congress “The air of this city seems thick with treachery; our army seems in danger of utter demoralization,” Adams wrote to his father. “Everything is ripe for a terrible panic, the end of which I cannot even imagine.” It requires, he said, “good courage not to despair of the republic.” The crisis had begun early in July, when Lincoln realized that the war could not be won without a radical change of strategy. The South’s willingness and ability to maintain the conflict could not be broken without larger and more energetic military offensives. Nor could the war be won without a direct attack on the institution of slavery, which was the basis of the South’s political cohesion and economic strength. Indeed, as Lincoln saw it, the long, bloody war that was now in prospect could not be justified unless slavery, the root cause of the conflict, were removed. Lincoln had therefore decided to issue a proclamation emancipating all slaves in rebel-held territory. But he could not act until his armies won a military victory – otherwise his deeply principled decision would seem merely an act of desperation. By that summer, it seemed clear to him that one of the obstacles to that victory was McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac – and also the symbolic leader of the political opposition. McClellan was notoriously averse to rapid, aggressive action. Despite repeated orders from the president and General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck, he refused to advance against Lee’s army defending Richmond, Va. McClellan’s popularity with his soldiers made it difficult to remove him from command. So Lincoln and Halleck chose to transfer his army piecemeal back to Washington, mostly by transporting them by ship, leaving control of the front to General Pope and his Army of Virginia. McClellan, though still the titular head of the Army of the Potomac, was relegated to the operational sidelines. It was a terrible blunder. While McClellan’s troops were at sea, Lee was able to concentrate his whole force against the hapless Pope. From his first appointment to high command, McClellan had toyed with the idea of a “dictatorship,” albeit one not seized by coup but granted by an act of Congress. When that possibility faded, he politicked incessantly to force Lincoln to fire Secretary Stanton and accept McClellan as the dominant voice in military affairs. He considered himself the one man chosen by Divine Providence to save the republic: “I have no choice,” he told his wife, “the people call upon me to save the country – I must save it & cannot respect anything that stands in the way.” He took pleasure in telling his wife, “I have commenced receiving letters from the North urging me to march on Washington & assume the Govt!!” While Lee’s campaign was developing, McClellan waged a war in the press against Stanton and Pope. He looked forward to the destruction of Pope’s army as a judgment of God against those “dolts at Washington” who are “bent on my destruction.” Once Pope was defeated, McClellan thought Halleck would have to restore him to full command. “I know that with God’s help I can save them,” but he would refuse to do so unless they granted him “full & entire control.” If his “coup,” as he called it, was successful, “everything will be changed in this country so far as we are concerned & my enemies will be at my feet. It may go hard with some of them in that event, for I look upon them as the enemies of the country & of the human race . . . [If] I succeed my foot will be on their necks.” Fitz-John Porter, McClellan’s closest confidant, wrote to a friend: “Would that this army was in Washington to rid us of incumbents ruining our country.” Related Disunion Highlights Explore multimedia from the series and navigate through past posts, as well as photos and articles from the Times archive. See the Highlights » From Aug. 27 to 30, while Pope’s army was fighting and dying at Manassas, McClellan was in the Washington area, in charge of the two corps just arrived from Virginia. Despite repeated orders from Halleck, he refused to send reinforcements to Pope. He caviled, he stalled, he gave orders and then recalled them; at one point he declared it was better to “let Pope get out of his scrape as best he can” and save his own troops to defend Washington. Chase and Stanton called his actions treason. Even Lincoln thought them “unforgiveable.” As Pope’s defeated troops filtered back into Washington, the Lincoln administration faced its worst crisis yet. The choices were grim. Pope’s defeat forced Lincoln to delay the Emancipation Proclamation indefinitely. Worse, the only general who could pull the Union Army together was the one man most adamantly opposed to everything Lincoln wanted – a man who would do things his own way, or not at all – a man who continually flirted with the idea of dictatorship. And to put him in command, Lincoln would have to defy his strongest cabinet ministers, Chase and Stanton, who thought McClellan should be shot as a traitor. But he did so on Sept. 2, by putting he put McClellan in charge of a reorganized Army of the Potomac that incorporated the remnants of Pope’s Army of Virginia. The next day, Washington learned that Lee’s forces had invaded Maryland. McClellan set off to confront them. Lincoln ran the gravest risks by reappointing McClellan to command. If McClellan failed to repel Lee’s invasion, the administration might be repudiated by voters in the coming mid-term elections. If McClellan succeeded, his prestige would be enormous, and he was bound to use it to overthrow Secretary of War Stanton and gain control of military policy. Even as his army was advancing toward its confrontation with Lee at Antietam, McClellan’s officers were using leaks to selected reporters to demand Stanton’s removal and threaten a “countermarch on Washington” if Lincoln did not give way to McClellan. As it happened, the Emancipation Proclamation provoked such anger at McClellan’s headquarters that one reporter believed “a fearful revolution” was imminent, “that will startle the Country and give us a Military Dictator” and “a change of dynasty.” Lincoln’s decision to put McClellan in command required immense moral courage, and an intelligent recognition of military necessity. He accepted the risks and the political blowback because he understood that McClellan was the only general who could lead the army against Lee, with a chance to win the victory he needed in order to issue the Emancipation Proclamation. As he would later say to another would-be Napoleon, “What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the dictatorship.” The risk was serious. But Lincoln did not (as Captain Adams feared) “despair of the republic.” He trusted the strength of the nation’s republican institutions, its people’s commitment to the Constitution – and his own ability to use those strengths effectively. Lincoln had also taken the measure of his opponent. Experience had taught him that, when faced with the necessity of battle, McClellan “became nervous and oppressed with the responsibility and hesitated to meet the crisis.” When it came to staging a coup, such a man might load the gun, but he would never pull the trigger. Follow Disunion at twitter.com/NYTcivilwar or join us on Facebook. Sources: Charles Francis Adams Jr., “A Cycle of Adams Letters, 1861-1865,” Vol. 1, ed. by W. C. Ford; Eric Foner, “The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery”; George B. McClellan, “Civil War Papers,” ed. by Stephen W. Sears; James M. McPherson, “Tried by War”; Ethan S. Rafuse, “McClellan’s War”; Stephen W. Sears, “George B. McClellan.” Richard Slotkin is Olin professor of American Studies emeritus at Wesleyan University and author of “The Long Road to Antietam: How the Civil War Became a Revolution.” |
51 MOVING IMAGE (Dec. 14 - Dec. 20) Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images A sulfur miner carries a goats head in a white bag as he climbs to bury the head in the crater as part of an annual offering ceremony on the Ijen volcano on December 17, 2013 in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The ritual is performed by the sulfur miners of Mount Ijen who slaughter a goat and then bury the head in the crater of mount Ijenn. The sacrifice is performed to ward off potential disasters for the next year. The Ijen crater rises to 2,386m, with a depth of over 175m, making it one of the world's largest craters. Sulphur mining is a major industry in the region, made possible by an active vent at the edge of a lake, but the work is not without risks as the acidity of the water in the crater is high enough to dissolve clothing and cause breathing problems. (Ulet Ifansasti/Getty Images) |
NBA legend Charles Barkley is no stranger to wading into LGBT issues, last year criticizing the state of Indiana for enacting an anti-LGBT law that was ultimately rescinded (really, really fast). Now Barkley is on the record on North Carolina after an interview with CNN: The NBA has a duty to pull its 2017 All-Star event out of the hate state: I think the NBA should move the All-Star game from there next year. As a black person I'm against any form of discrimination, against whites, Hispanics, gays, lesbians, however you want to phrase it. It's my job, with the position of power that I'm in and being able to be on television, I'm supposed to stand up for the people who can't stand up for themselves. So I think the NBA should move the All-Star game from Charlotte. I have a new campaign for 2016: Charles Barkley for NBA Commissioner. While current commissioner Adam Silver has failed to make a move with the All-Star game, its departure would have already been announced by commissioner Barkley. Your move, Silver. Your move. |
US Government is trying to bar Prince Andrew's alleged 'sex slave' Virginia Roberts from Jeffrey Epstein lawsuit case with a new filing. Read: Woman says forced as minor into sex with Prince Andrew; Buckingham Palace denies allegations On January 30, the government filed the declaration of FBI Special Agent Timothy R Slater, who joined the investigation of Epstein in 2006, Radaronline.com reported. It was noted in the declaration that sometime during January – February 2007 Slater called Roberts and told about the investigation of Epstein but she quickly became uncomfortable and expressed her desire to let everything in the past and demanded to not be bothered about this again. So now the government has been trying to prevent her from having any say in the ongoing civil suit. Sources have revealed that they are filling this evidence in order to do everything they could do to prevent the release of documents about what really went on relating to Epstein's plea deal. Noting that Slater's declaration puts the date of contact with Roberts at February 2007 and the plea deal was signed in September of that year, the source said that they're claiming that they notified her. However, Roberts had stated that she was not notified of the plea deal before it was signed along with other former victims. Read: Prince Andrew's pal may have secretly filmed him with underage sex slave Also Read: Prince Andrew publicly refutes underage sex claims |
Teen Vogue columnist Emily Lindin claimed she wasn’t “concerned” about “innocent men losing their jobs over false sexual assault/harassment allegations,” this week. “Here’s an unpopular opinion: I’m actually not at all concerned about innocent men losing their jobs over false sexual assault/harassment allegations,” declared Teen Vogue’s Lindin in a series of posts on Twitter. “False allegations VERY rarely happen, so even bringing it up borders on a derailment tactic. It’s a microscopic risk in comparison to the issue at hand (worldwide, systemic oppression of half the population).” In response to the posts, CNN anchor Jake Tapper replied, “I’m guessing you didn’t get a good grade for your 7th grade book report on To Kill A Mockingbird,” while Donald Trump Jr. also commented on the incident. I’m guessing you didn’t get a good grade for your 7th grade book report on To Kill A Mockingbird. https://t.co/3M5Af7jIqn — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 22, 2017 I read the thread. You said “if some innocent men's reputations have to take a hit in the process of undoing the patriarchy, that is a price I am absolutely willing to pay.” That’s immoral. And it’s not a price *you* would be paying, btw. It would be innocent men doing that. — Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) November 22, 2017 Yea who cares if innocent men lose their jobs or spend a few years in jail?This is the left today, and they’re only getting worse. These are the true fascists. https://t.co/otsdMFvEf0 — Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 22, 2017 Lindin has since set her Twitter account, which has over 23,000 followers, to private. Teen Vogue, which is set to be guest-edited by losing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in December, previously faced controversy in July when writer Lauren Duca posted, “Wake me up when men are obsolete,” on Twitter. In June, the magazine also called “March Against Sharia” hate speech, while in July it was criticized for an anal sex tutorial for its young readers. Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington and Gab @Nash, or like his page at Facebook. |
Addendum* Lots of traffic to this post and lots of emailed questions. I’ve put up a website specifically for this project at http://www.hairproject.wheatleyempire.com so check that out if you think you might be able to contribute some found hair to SCIENCE *end addendum Help me Paleoposse, you’re my only hope. I’m working on a project that will match changes in human hair chemistry to the region that the hair was grown in. I need to look at hair from lots of different regions in order to do this well. That’s where you come in. If you want to help, it’s pretty easy… 1) Get a Ziplock bag (quart size or even smaller is fine). 2) Go to your local barbershop or hair salon. 3) Ask them if you can have some of the hair they swept up that day (tell them it’s for SCIENCE!). 4) Put the hair in the Ziplock bag (1/3 full is plenty). 5) Write down the date you did this and the address of the place you got the hair from. 6) Mail it to me… Patrick Wheatley Center for Isotope Geochemistry Lawrence Berkeley National Lab 1 Cyclotron Rd. MS 70A-4418 Berkeley CA, 94720 6) Sit back and await your reward. I’ll list you in the acknowledgements when I publish the work. I’ll also send you a Science… sort of prize or two (so make sure you give me your address when you send me the hair sample). If I get enough responses I’ll blog about some of the results before the paper comes out. If you’ve got questions, email me patrick[at]sciencesortof.com Thanks for being a soldier for Science… sort of, Patrick |
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump urged the government on Tuesday to cancel an order with Boeing Co for a revamped Air Force One - one of the most prominent symbols of the U.S. presidency - saying costs were out of control. It was the latest example of Trump using his podium, often via Twitter messages, to rattle companies and foreign countries as he seeks to shake up business as usual in Washington. Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20, took aim at what he called cost overruns even though the plane is only in development stages. “Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, more than $4 billion. Cancel order!” Trump said on Twitter. It was not immediately clear what prompted the timing of his complaint. Trump, who has vowed to use his skills as a businessman to make good deals that benefit American taxpayers, then made a surprise appearance in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York, where he amplified his comments. “The plane is totally out of control. I think it’s ridiculous. I think Boeing is doing a little bit of a number. We want Boeing to make a lot of money but not that much money,” he told reporters. Boeing, which has built planes for U.S. presidents since 1943, has not yet begun building the two replacements for the current Air Force One planes, which are scheduled to be in service by 2024. Boeing has not yet been awarded the money to build the proposed replacements. “We are currently under contract for $170 million to help determine the capabilities of these complex military aircraft that serve the unique requirements of the President of the United States,” the company said in a statement. Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg called Trump after his remarks and they had a constructive dialogue, sources familiar with the conversation told Reuters. Muilenburg told Trump the cost of the airplane could be lowered if the U.S. Air Force changed its requirements and the issue would likely be resolved without a major dispute, the sources said. NOT A ‘VANILLA’ JUMBO JET The Air Force, which operates the presidential planes, announced in January 2015 that Boeing’s 747-8 would be used to replace the two current presidential planes. The planes can fly direct from Washington to Hong Kong, 1,000 miles (1,600 km) farther than the current Air Force One. They are designed to be an airborne White House able to fly in worst-case security scenarios, such as nuclear war. President Barack Obama, who flew on the aging Air Force One to Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday, has called the plane one of the best perks of the presidency. His spokesman, Josh Earnest, told reporters on board that the contracting arrangements for replacements were “rather complicated” and said the recommendations for upgrades had been made by national security experts. The budgeted costs for the replacement program are $2.87 billion for the fiscal years 2015 through 2021, just on research and development, testing and evaluation, according to budget documents seen by Reuters. The current Air Force plan envisions extensive modifications to a Boeing 747-8 plane, adding military avionics and advanced communications to a self-defense system. Air Force One sits ready for boarding on the tarmac at Joint Base Andrews in Washington U.S. December 6, 2016, the same morning that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump urged the government to cancel purchase of Boeing's new Air Force One plane saying it was "ridiculous" and too expensive. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque “Of course it’s not like buying a vanilla Boeing jumbo jet,” said defense consultant Loren Thompson, who has close ties to Boeing and other companies. A March 2016 report from the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, estimated the cost of the overall program at $3.21 billion, including the purchase of two aircraft. But the GAO estimated the costs for research and development would be lower, at just under $2 billion. If the GAO report used the same Air Force estimate for research and development, then its estimate would be around $4 billion. Boeing shares dipped after Trump’s tweet but closed up 0.1 percent at $152.24. LATEST BROADSIDE Trump’s broadside against Boeing comes as Washington’s business lobbyists are bracing for a wild ride. A New York real estate developer, Trump took aim at big corporations during his campaign, saying that they often harmed ordinary Americans by sending jobs abroad. Since winning the Nov. 8 election, he has taken credit for pushing United Technologies Corp and Ford Motor Co to backtrack on outsourcing plans. Trump’s attack on Boeing was the main topic of discussion at the annual luncheon of the Aerospace Industries Association, where the group’s chief executive, Dave Melcher, urged the new administration to promote trade and bolster the high-paying manufacturing jobs that the $143 billion-a-year sector offers. Slideshow (8 Images) Industry executives say they are seeing willingness from the Trump team to take another look at export controls that limit exports of U.S. weapons. But in the short term, his tweets and comments on Boeing put defense contractors on notice. “The chilling effect on industry is huge, if you are a contractor,” said Franklin Turner, a partner specializing in government contracts at law firm McCarter & English. Boeing relies on the U.S. military and other arms of the federal government for a significant share of its defense, space and security business which is worth $30 billion a year. The company clashed during the past year with Republicans in Congress over the Export-Import Bank, a federal program Boeing uses to finance sales to certain overseas customers. Boeing executives have also been outspoken supporters of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal with Asia, which Trump opposed. |
Police firing tear gas at a group of protesters, including schoolchildren (in green uniforms). Photo by our Observer. Schoolchilren pushing over the remnants of a wall that separated their school from what used to be their schoolyard. Photo by our Observer. Police in the Kenyan capital Nairobi fired tear gas at a crowd of primary school students on Monday morning as they tried to take back their playground, which was claimed by a private developer last month. Several children had to be taken to a nearby clinic for treatment.School officials and local politicians claim the land was seized illegally in mid-December when a wall was built overnight between Langa’ta Road Primary School and the field that used to serve as its playground. Last week, a Nairobi senator filed a petition in court asking for the land to be returned to the public school. The land sits on prime real estate, adjacent to a high-end hotel and opposite an airport.According to Nairobi County Governor Evans Kidero, public schools are easy targets for land-grabbers because many of them have difficulty producing the deeds to their lands. |
Travis Z’s Cabin Fever remake will be releasing in limited theaters (New York and Los Angeles) and on Digital HD February 12th, just in time for Valentine’s Day. IFC Midnight is behind the new Cabin Fever, which is a near word-for-word remake; Travis Z’s take is from a screenplay by Eli Roth & Randy Pearlstein (based on a story by Roth). Speaking of…the trailer is awfully familiar, rehashing many of the original’s great moments such as the leg-shaving sequence (with Cerina Vincent) that will go down as one of the greats in horror history. There’s also some new stuff, like the introduction of automatic weapons, and an insanely aggressive dog that’s clearly been infected. Overall, it will be really interesting to see what a different filmmaker does with (basically) the same screenplay. “The story is familiar: fresh out of college, a group of five friends retreat to a remote cabin in the woods for one last week of partying—only to become snacks for a gruesome, flesh-eating virus. What’s surprising are the ingenious new deaths, which offer a fresh spin on a horror-comedy milestone.” The redo of Eli Roth’s 2002 film of the same name stars Gage Golightly, Matthew Daddario, Samuel Davis, Nadine Crocker, and Dustin Ingram. If you recall, back in March Roth said he was “blown away” by the remake. The film was produced by Evan Astrowsky, Christopher Lemole and Tim Zajaros, and was executive produced by Roth, Cassian Elwes, Jerry Fruchtman, Peter Fruchtman and Ike and Jaclyn Suri. Here’s the trailer to go along with a few HD screencaps. Please enable Javascript to watch this video |
Gerry Harvey, the executive chairman of the Harvey Norman retail chain, has questioned the sustainability of existing retail lease structures with inbuilt annual rent increases of 4% to 5% plus regular market reviews. Rents currently could take 15% to 20%, and in some instances 30% to 40%, of retailers' turnover, he has suggested. Harvey says shopping centres that charged the highest rents faced the most risk of having to take cuts. Bulky goods centres, by comparison, which rent space at about $200 a square metre are better placed, Havey says. "You are going to see retailers closing down more than you see them opening up… And that is going to have a big influence on rents and the valuation of shopping centres," Harvey says. The fundamental problem was that Australia had too much retail space which would suggest not many more new shopping centres would be built. "We have come to a halt,” he told The Australian property reporter Florence Chong. “It is very difficult to justify the cost of building today because of the high cost of land and construction." |
Looking for news you can trust? Subscribe to our free newsletters. This story first appeared on the TomDispatch website. Americans, it’s been said, learn geography when they go to war. Now, it seems, many get their history when they go to a Tea Party rally or tune in to Glenn Beck. History is a “battlefield of ideas,” as Beck recently put it, while looking professorial in front of a blackboard filled with his trademark circled names connected by multidirectional arrows, his hands covered with chalk dust. In this struggle, movement historians like Beck go all in, advancing a comprehensive interpretation of American history meant to provide analytical clarity to believers and potential converts alike. As paranoid as it may be, this history is neither radical nor revisionist, since the Tea Party activists and their fellow travelers pluck at some of the major chords of American nationalism. It’s easy to dismiss the iconography of the movement: the wigs and knee breeches, the founding-father fetishism, the coiled snakes, and, yes, the tea bags. It’s no less easy to laugh at recent historical howlers like the claims of Dick Armey, who heads FreedomWorks, a corporate Tea Party front, that Jamestown was settled by “socialists” or the Texas School Board’s airbrushing of Deist Thomas Jefferson from its history textbooks. It’s fun to ridicule Beck, as Jon Stewart recently did, when he goes all “Da Vinci Code,” and starts connecting Woodrow Wilson, Mussolini, and ACORN in order to explain 2008’s economic collapse. But historical analysis is about making connections, and there is, in fact, coherence to the Tea Party version of history, which allows conservative cadres not just to interpret the world but to act in it. And yes, it is all about race. The 1040 Archipelago At the heart of Tea Party history is the argument that “progressivism is fascism is communism.” Conceptually, such a claim helps frame what many call “American exceptionalism,” a belief that the exclusive role of government is to protect individual rights—to speech, to assembly, to carry guns, and, of course, to own property—and not to deliver social rights like health care, education, or welfare. At Tea Party rallies and on right-wing blogs, it’s common to hear that, since the time of President Woodrow Wilson, progressives have been waging a “hundred-year-long war” on America’s unique values. This bit of wisdom comes directly from Beck, who has become something like the historian laureate of American exceptionalism, devoting many on-air hours to why progressivism is a threat equal to Nazism and Stalinism. Progressives, he typically says, “started a hundred-year time bomb. They planted it in the early 1900s.” Beck has compared himself to “Israeli Nazi hunters,” promising, with language more easily associated with the Nazis than those who pursued them, to track down the progressive “vampires” who are “sucking the blood out of the republic.” As Michael Lind pointed out in a recent essay at Salon.com, behind such Sturm-und-Drang language lurks a small group of relatively obscure historians, teaching in peaceful, leafy liberal arts colleges, many of them influenced by the late University of Chicago political theorist Leo Strauss. They argue that the early twentieth-century progressive movement betrayed the very idea of universal natural rights invested in the individual, embracing instead a relativist “cult of the state.” As a result, a quest for “social justice” was elevated above the defense of “liberty”—a path which led straight to the gulag and the 1040 short form. From there, it was an easy leap to History’s terminus: the Obamacare Death Panels. These historians and their popular interpreters, especially Beck and Jonah Goldberg, the author of Liberal Fascism, naturally ignore the real threats to individualism that the turn-of-the-twentieth-century progressive movement was responding to—namely a massive concentration of corporate political and economic power and Gilded Era “wage slavery.” Instead, they present history as a zero-sum, all-or-nothing “battlefield of ideas,” with the founding fathers, Abraham Lincoln, and Winston Churchill on one side, and Jefferson Davis, Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Stalin, Hitler, and Obama on the other. The individual versus the state. Freedom versus slavery. In such an epic view of American history, there is, however, a fly in the ointment or, more accurately, a Confederate in the conceptual attic—and that’s the inability of the Tea Party and affiliated right-wing movements to whistle past Dixie. Is the Tea Party Racist? Of course it is. Polls confirm that Tea Party militants entertain deep-seated racial resentment. In April, a New York Times/CBS News study revealed that most tea partiers tend to be over 45, white, male, affluent, and educated and think that “too much has been made of the problems facing black people.” A high percentage of them also believe that Obama favors blacks over whites. But to say the movement is racist based only on the spit and vitriol hurled at African-American congressmen and civil rights activists like Emanuel Cleaver, or on the placards depicting Obama as a monkey or a pimp, allows for rebuttal. The minute the reality of the spitting incident is challenged and “Don’t Tread on Me” is substituted for “Go Back to Kenya,” voilà, the movement is instantly as wholesome as apple pie. A debate over a recent University of Washington poll helps us understand why the movement is racist no matter which slogans and symbols it chooses to use. The poll found that “support for the Tea Party remains a valid predictor of racial resentment.” When right-wingers offered the criticism that the pollsters’ methodology conflated racism with support for small-government ideology, they reexamined their data and found themselves in agreement (of a sort) with their critics. “Ideology,” they wrote in a follow up, was indeed an important factor, for “as people become more conservative, it increases by 23 percent the chance that they’re racially resentful.” In other words, it wasn’t membership in the Tea Party movement per se that predicted racism, but conservatism itself (though the Tea Party does have a higher percentage of members who displayed racism than conservatism in general). This should surprise no one. After all, the Founding Fathers cut Thomas Jefferson’s description of slavery as an “execrable commerce” and an “assemblage of horrors” from the final draft of the Declaration of Independence, and race has been crucially embedded in the conception of the patriot ideal of the sovereign individual ever since. As Harvard historian Jill Lepore has written about the original Boston Tea Party, the colonists had a choice: “either abolish slavery… [or] resist parliamentary rule. It could not do both.” Many in Virginia, of course, didn’t want to do both. Instead, they simply defined the defense of slavery as part of American liberty. While Jefferson, himself a slaveholder, failed in his effort to extend the notion of individual inalienable rights to blacks, he was successful in setting two rhetorical precedents that would continue to influence American political culture. First, he used chattel slavery as a metaphor for British tyranny, equating the oppression of Africans with the oppression of the white colonists. At the same time, he stoked racial fears to incite rebellion: King George III, he wrote, was “exciting” blacks to “rise in arms among us, and to purchase that liberty of which he has deprived them by murdering” whites. One could draw a straight line from these words to George H.W. Bush’s infamous 1988 Willie Horton ad. From then on, the ideal of the assertion and protection of individual rights was regularly bound up with racial demonology. Anglo genocidal campaigns against and land theft from Native Americans, for instance, contributed to the influential theories concerning property of John Locke, who before Beck arrived on the scene, was considered “America’s philosopher,” the man most associated with the notion of God-given inalienable individual rights and restricted government. Once such theories were formulated, they were then used to further justify dispossession, contributing, as law professor Howard Berman put it, to the “Americanization of the law of real property.” The nineteenth century was known for a frenzied speculative capitalism that generated staggering inequality. At the same time, eliminationist wars that drove Indian removal, the illegal invasion of Mexico by the United States in 1846, and the ongoing subjugation of African Americans helped stabilize the Daniel Boone-like image of a disciplined, propertied, white male self—and did so by contrasting it with racial enemies who were imagined to be unbridled (like the speculative capitalists), but also abject and property-less. The Civil War cemented the metaphor whereby the free individual was defined by (and endangered by) his opposite, the slave, and has been used ever since to frame conflicts that often, on the surface at least, don’t seem to be about race at all. It’s a point nicely illustrated recently by Dale Robertson, a prominent Tea Party organizer, who carried a sign at a rally that read: “Congress = Slaveowner, Taxpayer = Niggar.” Beck, for his part, has identified ACORN, the Service Employees International Union or SEIU, the census, and the healthcare bill, among other threats, as laying the foundation for a “modern-day slave state” in which, of course, his overwhelmingly white following could be reduced to the status of slaves. As to progressives, he has said that, “back in Samuel Adams’ day, they used to call them tyrants. A little later I think they were also called slave owners, people who encourage you to become more dependent on them.” Sometimes, though, it really is just about race: “Obama’s Plan,” announced one placard at a Wisconsin Tea Party gathering, would lead to “White Slavery.” Lock-And-Load Populism When Tea Partiers say “Obama is trying to turn us into something we are not,” as one did recently on cable TV, they are not wrong. It’s an honest statement, acknowledging that attempts to implement any government policies to help the poor would signal an assault on American exceptionalism, defined by Beck and likeminded others as extreme individualism. The issue is not really the specific content of any particular policy. As any number of frustrated observers can testify, it is no use pointing out that, say, the healthcare legislation that passed is fundamentally conservative and similar to past Republican healthcare plans, or that Obama has actually lowered taxes for most Americans, or that he gets an F rating from the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The issue is the idea of public policy itself, which, for many on the right, violates an ideal of absolute individual rights. In other words, any version of progressive taxation, policy, and regulation, no matter how mild, or for that matter, of social “justice” and the “common good”—qualities the Texas School Board recently deleted from its textbook definition of “good citizenship”—are not simply codes for race. They are race. To put it another way, individual supremacy has been, historically speaking, white supremacy. This helps explain why it is impossible for the anti-Obama backlash to restrain its Tourette-like references to the Civil War to frame its fight, or its rhetorical spasms invoking secession and nullification, or its urge to carry Confederate flags as well as signs equating taxpayers with slaves. That America’s first Black president’s first major social legislation was health care—something so intimately, even invasively about the body, the place where the social relations of race are physically inscribed (and recorded in differential mortality rates)—pushed the world-turned-upside-down carnival on display every night on Fox News, where the privileged fancy themselves powerless, another step toward the absurd. The deepest contradiction may, however, lie in this: the teabaggers who reject any move by Big Government when it comes to social policy at home remain devoted, as Andrew Sullivan recently wrote, to the Biggest Budget-Busting Government of All, the “military-industrial-ideological complex” and its all-powerful commander-in-chief executive (and surprising numbers of them are also dependent on that complex’s give-away welfare state when it comes to their livelihoods). As James Bovard, a consistent libertarian, has observed, “many ‘tea party’ activists staunchly oppose big government, except when it is warring, wiretapping, or waterboarding.” For all the signs asking “Who is John Galt?,” the movement has openly embraced Arizona’s new “show-me-your-papers” immigration law and mutters not one complaint over the fact that America is “the most incarcerated society on earth,” something Robert Perkinson detailed in Texas Tough, his book on the Lone Star roots of the US penitentiary system. The skin color of those being tortured, rounded up, and jailed obviously has something to do with the selective libertarianism of much of the conservative movement. But this passion for pain and punishment is also an admission that the crisis-prone ideal of absolute individualism, forged in racial violence, would be unsustainable without further state violence. Behind the lock-and-load populism and the kitsch calls to “rearm for revolution” is a recognition that the right’s agenda of corporate deregulation—the effects of which are evident in exploding coal mines in West Virginia and apocalyptic oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico—can only be achieved through ceaseless mobilization against enemies domestic and foreign. Here’s an example: “I know that the safety and health of coal miners is my most important job,” said Don Blankenship at a corporate-funded Friends of America rally held in West Virginia last Labor Day, where speakers such as Ted Nugent and Sean Hannity spoke out against tyrants, regulation, “Obama and his cronies,” taxes, cap-and-trade legislation, unnamed “cockroaches,” China, green technology, and, naturally, gun control. Blankenship just happens to be the CEO of Massey Energy, owner of the Upper Big Branch mine where 29 workers recently lost their lives. He is also famous for waving the banner of individual rights even as he presides over a company that any totalitarian state worth its salt would envy, one that intimidates “its workers into a type of lock-step compliance that most often takes the form of silence,” including threats to fire workers who take time off to attend the funerals of the dead miners. Wrapping himself in the American flag—literally, wearing a stars-and-strips shirt and baseball cap—Blankenship told that Labor Day crowd that he didn’t “need Washington politicians to tell” him about mine safety. Seven months later, 29 miners are dead. The End of American Exceptionalism And here’s the irony, or one of them anyway: in the process of defining American exceptionalism as little more than a pitchfork loyalty to individual rights, Beck and other right-wingers are themselves becoming the destroyers of what was exceptional, governmentally speaking, about the United States. Like John Locke’s celebration of inalienable rights, Founding Father James Madison’s distrust of the masses became a distinctive feature of American political culture. Madison valued individual rights, but in the tripartite American system of government he worked hard to help fashion, a bulwark meant to contain the passions he knew they generated. “Liberty is to faction what air is to fire,” he wrote in 1787, and in the centuries that followed, American politicians would consistently define their unique democracy against the populist and revolutionary excesses of other countries. Today, though, not just Fox News Jacobins like Beck and Hannity but nearly the entire leadership of the Republican Party are fanning those flames. Newt Gingrich hopes the Tea Party will become the “militant wing of the Republican Party,” looking to hitch his political fortunes to a movement now regularly calling for a “second bloody revolution.” It is hard to think of another time in American history when one half of the political establishment has so wholly embraced insurrectionary populism as an electoral strategy. Considering the right’s success at mimicking the organizing tactics of the left, it would be tempting to see recent calls for rebellion and violence as signs that the conservative movement is entering its Weathermen phase—the moment in the 1960s and 1970s when some left-wing activists succumbed to revolutionary fantasies, contributing to the New Left’s crackup. Except that violence did not really come all that easy to the American leftists of that moment. There was endless theorizing and agonizing, Leninist justifying and Dostoevskian moralizing, from which the left, considering the ongoing finger-pointing and mea culpas, still hasn’t recovered. In contrast, conservative entitlement to the threat of violence is so baked into American history that, in moments like this, it seems to be taken for granted. The Tea Party crowd, along with its militia, NRA, and Oath Keeper friends, would just as easily threaten to overthrow the federal government—or waterboard Nancy Pelosi—as go golfing. On the 15th anniversary of the bombing of the Oklahoma Federal Building, which left 168 people dead and 600 wounded, gun-rights militants held a rally at the capital mall in Washington, along with a smaller, heavily armed one across the Potomac, where speaker after speaker threatened revolution and invoked the federal siege of Waco to justify the Oklahoma bombing. This is the kind of militancy Gingrich believes the Republicans can harness and which he tenderly calls a “natural expression” of frustration. Where all this will lead, who knows? But you still “don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.” Greg Grandin is a professor of history at New York University. His most recent book, Fordlandia: The Rise and Fall of Henry Ford’s Forgotten Jungle City, just published in paperback, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and was picked by the New York Times, the New Yorker, and NPR for their “best of” lists. A new edition of his previous book, Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States and the Rise of the New Imperialism, will be published later this year. |
Toukiden 2 Coming To North America And Europe In March By Jenni . January 24, 2017 . 9:30am The Toukiden 2 launch dates for North America and Europe have been confirmed. The PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and PC game will arrive in North America on March 21, 2017. A few days later, they’ll come to Europe on March 24, 2017. Koei Tecmo announced Toukiden 2’s pre-order promotions as well. If people in North America place a pre-order at Amazon, Best Buy, EB Games, or GameStop, they’ll receive Tenko Costume armor and Chika Rin In, Sanada Masayuki, Sanada Noboyuki, and Sarutobi Sasuke Mitama. Information on some of the characters and features appearing in this entry have been announced. Benizuki, the town’s strongest slayer, Gwen, a British slayer, Hakase, a professor, Homura, a former thief, and Tokitsugu, a Machina with a soul, will be aiding you in your fight to protect Mahoroba Village and defeat Oni. Tenko can join you in the world, if you bond with them, and other Machina can be found, repaired, and used to get materials. People will also have access to a Demon Hand for the first time, which allows their avatar to reach new places and attack Oni. Toukiden 2 debuted in Japan on July 28, 2016. |
This week in the war, at midnight on the night of 30/31 May 1942, Churchill announced to his dinner guests at Chequers that the RAF was, at that very moment, striking Cologne with over a thousand bombers. The guests included such high-profile Americans as presidential advisor Averell Harriman, US ambassador John Winant , and General Dwight D. Eisenhower. At that stage of the war, the USA had only a handful of men in Britain, and no planes at all. The central point, for aiming purposes, was Cologne’s famous twin-spired cathedral (shown in the picture to the left). The cathedral was hit but survived the raid and was still standing when the war in Europe ended. Over 460 people were killed in the raid, almost entirely civilians, and more than 45,000 people were rendered homeless. Cologne had been chosen because the weather over Hamburg had been bad for several days. Hamburg’s time would come later. The reaction of Luftwaffe chief, Hermann Goering, was one of disbelief. Later, he noted in his diary that the effects of aerial bombardment were horrific, but that one had to ‘accept them.’ The Cologne raid, and the even more devastating raids on Hamburg and on Dresden, and the Allied bombing campaign as a whole are described by Canadian historian Randall Hansen in his vivid and well-written book Fire and Fury: The Allied Bombing of Germany 1942-45 (Doubleday Canada, 2008). German prestige had already suffered a severe blow earlier that same week when two Czechoslovak patriots had attacked and fatally wounded Reinhard Heydrich, the Reichsprotektor of Bohemia & Moravia. Share this: Facebook Email Twitter |
While studies suggest vegans and vegetarians live longer, we all have to go sometime. Animal activists looking to show their devotion to the cause after they’re deceased can now purchase an eco-friendly coffin, courtesy of PETA. Handcrafted coffin maker The Old Pine Box has collaborated with PETA to offer a special line of coffins with $75.00 of each purchase going to the organization. [social_buttons] The coffins are made of solid wood and come in 7 designs (photos) declaring everything from “Every Life is Worth Celebrating” to the bolder “Go Vegan” statement. Prices range from $620.00 to $670.00 (not including shipping costs) and require a minimum of two weeks lead time. If a PETA coffin is not your style, you could always weave your own eco-friendly coffin or read up on ways to stay sustainable after death. |
Image caption The galaxy has a range of colours, but on average is a very specific white Astronomers have determined exactly what colour our home galaxy the Milky Way is, and find it is aptly named. They wanted to find out how our galaxy looked from the outside - a difficult task given the Earth is inside it. A comparison of star types in other galaxies gives perhaps an unsurprising result: white. But not just any white - specifically, like spring snow at an hour after sunrise or before sunset. The finding was announced at the 219th American Astronomical Society meeting. "For astronomers, one of the most important parameters is actually the colour of the galaxy," Jeffrey Newman of the University of Pittsburgh told BBC News. "That tells us basically how old the stars in the galaxy are, how recently it's been forming stars - are they forming today or did its stars form billions and billions of years ago?" Prof Newman told the meeting: "But it's worse than that; not only are we looking at the Milky Way from the inside, but our view is blocked by dust." "We can only see about one or two thousand light years in any direction." Colour chart So Prof Newman and his student Tim Licquia went about putting the Milky Way on the map of other galaxies that we can see from outside. They gathered data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, with information on about a million galaxies. They compared those data with what they knew about the total mass in the Milky Way, as well as the rate of star formation, looking for near matches among other galaxies. For those most nearly matched to our own galactic home, the team took an average and came up with a precise measure of what colour it must be. "The best description I can give would be that if you looked at new spring snow, which has a fine grain size, about an hour after dawn or an hour before sunset, you'd see the same spectrum of light that an alien astronomer in another galaxy would see looking at the Milky Way," Prof Newman told BBC News. This "colour temperature" is somewhere between that of an old-fashioned incandescent lightbulb and noon-time sunlight; both whites, but subtly different. And what does the colour tell us about our Milky Way's development - is it a cosmic newcomer or past its prime? "It appears our Milky Way is on the road between those two stages - based on the colour we find, the rate of formation of stars has been declining over time," Prof Newman said. "The Milky way is in a very interesting evolutionary state right now." |
First National Bank of Montgomery v. Jerome Daly, Dec. 9, 1968 (Justice Court, Credit River Township, Scott County, Minnesota), also known as the Credit River Case, was a case tried before a justice of the peace in Minnesota in 1968. The decision in that case is sometimes cited by opponents of the United States banking system. The trial [ edit ] An attorney named Jerome Daly was a defendant in a civil case in Credit River Township, Scott County, Minnesota, heard on December 9, 1968. The plaintiff was the First National Bank of Montgomery, which had foreclosed on Daly's property for nonpayment of the mortgage, and was seeking to evict him from the property. Daly based his defense on the argument that the bank had not actually loaned him any money but had simply created credit on its books. Daly argued that the bank had thus not given him anything of value and was not entitled to the property that secured the loan. The jury and the justice of the peace, Martin V. Mahoney, agreed with this argument. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant, and the justice of the peace declared that the mortgage was "null and void" and that the bank was not entitled to possession of the property.[1][2] The justice admitted in his order that his decision might run counter to provisions in the Minnesota Constitution and some Minnesota statutes, but contended that such provisions were repugnant to the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights in the Minnesota Constitution. The result [ edit ] The immediate effect of the decision would have been that Daly would not have been required to pay the mortgage debt or relinquish the property. However, the bank appealed the next day, and the decision was ultimately nullified on the grounds that a justice of the peace did not have the power to make such a ruling. It is of important historical note that Martin V. Mahoney died of poisoning soon thereafter. [3] This nullified case and its reasoning have nevertheless been cited by groups opposing the Federal Reserve System and, in particular, the practice of fractional-reserve banking. Such groups argue the case demonstrates that the Federal Reserve System is unconstitutional. Because the Credit River decision was nullified, the case has no value as precedent. A U.S. District Court decision in Utah in 2008 mentioned half a dozen such citations, noting that similar arguments have "repeatedly been dismissed by the courts as baseless" and that "courts around the country have repeatedly dismissed efforts to void loans based on similar assertions."[4] Jerome Daly's disbarment and criminal convictions [ edit ] The defendant, Jerome Daly, was a longtime tax protester.[5] He was convicted of willfully failing to file federal income tax returns for the years 1967 and 1968. In rejecting his appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit noted: "Defendant's fourth contention involves his seemingly incessant attack against the federal reserve and monetary system of the United States. His apparent thesis is that the only 'Legal Tender Dollars' are those which contain a mixture of gold and silver and that only those dollars may be constitutionally taxed. This is correct under a de jure Constitutional republic. Under the de facto corporate usurping system, it is considered frivolous.[6] Daly had been an attorney, but was later disbarred by a decision of the Minnesota Supreme Court in a case similar to the Credit River case, involving the same justice of the peace, in which disbarment proceeding the Court stated that Daly had: without justifiable explanation or excuse, intentionally and defiantly disregarded an order of this court prohibiting him and a justice of the peace from further proceedings in a declaratory judgment action, then pending before the justice of the peace, which was obviously, and for numerous reasons outlined in our decision, beyond the limits of jurisdiction of a justice of the peace.[7] Daly was also convicted of conspiracy to defraud the United States under 18 U.S.C. section 371, fifteen counts of willfully aiding and assisting in the preparation of false individual income tax returns under Internal Revenue Code section 7206(2), and one count of aiding and abetting the making of a false statement to the United States government under 18 U.S.C. sections 2 and 1001, in connection with a tax scheme involving the "Basic Bible Church of America."[8] References [ edit ] |
It took some convincing, but as a football player at the University of Regina, Tevaughn Campbell eventually came around to the idea of trying a sport that he regarded as "crazy." All the while, those who saw what he was capable of on the gridiron, and as a track star, were eager to introduce Campbell to rugby sevens. "One of my friends back in college always told me he did it, and he would go on and say 'Come play rugby,' but I was indifferent about it," says Campbell, who's currently a CFL free agent. "I just didn't want to do it. I thought it was a crazy sport and I was mostly thinking about 15s [the traditional version of rugby]." Despite his initial reluctance, Campbell accepted an invitation from Rugby Canada to attend a World Rugby Sevens Series event last March in Vancouver, where he discovered a much different game than he had imagined. Campbell had made waves when he set a CFL scouting combine record in 2015 by running the 40-yard dash in 4.355 seconds, so it was the defensive back's blistering speed that caught the attention of Canadian sevens coach Damian McGrath. "Initially when we saw his times for the 40 yards, that really peaked our interest," McGrath says over the phone from San Francisco, where his squad was preparing for this week's Sevens Series season opener in Dubai. "Then when I realized the position he plays — he was used to the forwards and backwards movements and he could defend. That attracted me even more." The Scarborough, Ont., native did not have any prior experience with rugby, but McGrath felt there was potential for the 24-year-old on the pitch. "We brought him into camp to do a little bit of work with us and he picked up the basics quickly," says McGrath. "Tevaughn has all the attributes to [be] successful in rugby." Taste of success Campbell was also coming around to the idea of playing rugby sevens, and travelling along with the team on the Asian leg of its season last April may have tipped the scales. The timing of the trip certainly helped, as Campbell had a front-row seat in Singapore to witness Canada's first-ever Cup final win in a Sevens Series event. "I had my cell phone with me and was just taking a bunch of pictures," Campbell recalls fondly. "The guys were super excited and you could tell on their faces, especially because they've played the game for so long and gone so long without a gold medal at any of the series stops. "So just to see the excitement and how proud and grateful they were to win that gold medal showed me a lot about the sport and a lot about the team." Campbell says he was offered playing time in Singapore, but with his lack of both playing experience and knowledge of the rules, he decided it was better to stay out of the way of a title run. With the CFL now in its off-season, Campbell will join a development team that will play its own set of games in Dubai. The ultimate goal is for Campbell to suit up for a World Series stage in the near future. Meanwhile, Campbell is also aiming to find stability in the early days of his CFL career. The six-foot, 195-pounder spent the 2015 season as a rookie with the Calgary Stampeders, was dealt to the Saskatchewan Roughriders in February 2016, and was dealt again in August to the Montreal Alouettes. "I take it day by day. I don't look at it as a negative or a positive," Campbell says of his football aspirations. "I look at it as continue to grind, continue to work through adversity and hopefully stick with a team one day and carry on." As he tries to catch on with a CFL team for next season, Campbell believes his football career can benefit from his playing rugby in the off-season. "Rugby teaches you about a lot of specific techniques when it comes to tackling, or when it comes to running the ball or anything really," he says. Always on the go Playing two sports can be tough on the body, but Campbell is taking a "use it while you got it" approach during his athletic prime. For his part, coach McGrath wants to exercise caution when managing Campbell's workload. "I don't think personally he can do it across 12 months of the year," McGrath says. "The body needs and deserves a break, so I think we'll have to be careful how we manage it and we'll certainly put Tevaughn's best interests first rather than trying to squeeze too much blood out of a stone." Overall, McGrath is open to the idea of working with the CFL to promote more crossover between the sports. "We would love to [work with the CFL]," he says. "We don't want to be seen as a threat or a competitor to them. We'd like to see a lot of crossovers and transfers of skills from both sides. "The CFL is big news in Canada and it would be great to work alongside them and get rugby out there." For now, though, McGrath speaks highly of what Campbell brings to the program. "Tevaughn is great publicity and it keeps everyone on their toes when they know that we're not just looking in rugby for players for Canada Sevens. It's players from all walks of life and everybody has to be on their mettle." |
As the Toronto Police continue to investigate the beer throwing incident at Tuesday night's wild card game, Major League Baseball wants the Blue Jays to ban beer cans from the Rogers Centre. As the Associated Press reports, a Blue Jays spokesperson said banning beer cans at the ballpark is one option that's currently on the table. "I don't think there is another ballpark where beer is served in cans," said MLB commissioner Rob Manfred in discussing this heavily scrutinized rare beer-throwing event. This isn't the first time Jays fans have thrown beer into the stadium. Last year, for instance, the Rogers Centre stopped selling beer cans in the 500 level after spray from a falling can hit a baby during the ALDS against the Texas Rangers. Let's hope we keep calm, cool and collected as we head into this year's Division Series. Photo by globetrekimages via the blogTO Flickr pool. |
Rupak De Chowdhuri / Reuters A supporter of Congress party sits next to an effigy of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a protest against the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in Kolkata, July 2, 2017. Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a speech yesterday assured the nation that All is Well with the Indian economy, and that there was no reason to worry. He offered data to sell his argument. Let's go through some of the data that he offered and see what he told us and more importantly what he did not. The fiscal deficit of the government has fallen from 4.5 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013-2014, when Manmohan Singh was prime minister, to 3.5 per cent in 2016-2017. Fiscal deficit is the difference between what a government earns and what it spends. Yes, the fiscal deficit has come down. A major reason for this is the fall in oil prices, since Modi took over as prime minister. On May 26, 2014, the day Modi was sworn in as prime minister, the price of Indian basket of crude stood at $108.1 per barrel. As of October 4, 2017, the price was at $55 per barrel, having fallen to even lower levels during the period. Oil prices go up and down due to a host of reasons and Modi's government has almost no role to play in it. The central government has captured much of this fall in price of oil, by increasing the excise duties on petrol and diesel, thereby increasing its earnings, and thereby bringing down the fiscal deficit. As they say, there is a difference between making things simple and making them simplistic. Prime Minister Modi also claimed in his speech that the current account deficit has improved from -1.7 per cent of the GDP in 2013-2014 to -0.7 per cent of the GDP in 2016-2017. The current account deficit is the difference between total value of imports and the sum of the total value of its exports and net foreign remittances. Or to put it in simpler terms, it is the difference between outflow (through imports) and inflow (through exports and foreign remittances) of foreign exchange. Again, this has primarily been account of fall in the price of oil and thus a fall in the total amount of dollars that India pays for importing oil. India imports around 80 per cent of the oil that it consumes. Hence, Modi's government has had very little role to play in the fall of the current account deficit. It further needs to be pointed out that imports are a negative entry in the GDP calculation. So, if imports fall, the GDP rises automatically, assuming everything else stays the same. Falling oil imports are a big reason for the pick-up in the GDP growth, during Modi's tenure as prime minister. Take a look at the following chart, which was a part of the prime minister's presentation yesterday. (Source: https://cdn.narendramodi.in/economy_1.pdf) As per this chart, the total foreign exchange reserves have risen by close to $ 60 billion during the period that Modi has been prime minister. In contrast, they were more or less flat when Manmohan Singh was the prime minister. At least that is what the above chart suggests. This is primarily because of data has been taken from the end of 2011-2012 onwards. What happens if the data would have been taken from the end of 2003-2004 onwards. Singh first became prime minister in May 2004. As of March 31, 2004, the total foreign exchange reserves were at around $113 billion. By March 2014, they had jumped to around $304 billion. This meant an increase of 10.4 per cent per ear on an average. Between April 2014 and September 2017, the growth rate in foreign exchange reserves has been at 8.3 per cent per year on an average. Foreign exchange reserves accumulated at a much faster rate during Manmohan Singh's tenure as prime minister. Hence, foreign exchange reserves accumulated at a much faster rate during Manmohan Singh's tenure as prime minister. Of course, a bulk of these gains came during the first five years of the tenure, when the forex reserves increased at the rate of 17.4 per cent per year. Between 2009 and 2014, when the Congress-led UPA made a mess of the economy, the increase in foreign exchange slowed down dramatically to 3.8 per cent per year on an average. Basically, who did well, Singh or Modi, on the foreign exchange front, depends on where we start measuring from. Prime Minister Modi further said that the interest rate the government pays on the money that it borrows has fallen from 8.45 per cent in 2013-2014 to 7.16 per cent in 2016-2017. This has happened primarily due to two reasons. The falling fiscal deficit has led to the government having to borrow lesser in proportion to the size of the economy. With the government borrowing lesser, interest rates have come down. It is important to remember here that the government has had to borrow lesser because it has increased excise duty on petrol and diesel and captured the bulk of the gain of falling oil prices. Also, after demonetisation, a huge amount of deposits ended up with banks. These deposits were reinvested into government securities and in the process interest rates on government securities came down. Prime Minister Modi pointed out that food inflation is in negative territory. The question is, is that a good thing? Why is food inflation in negative territory? It is in negative territory because farmers haven't got the right prices for their produce. This is primarily on account of the fact that agri-supply chains have collapsed in the aftermath of demonetisation, forcing farmers to sell their produce at rock bottom prices. The thing is there is no free lunch in economics. The collapse in food prices led to farmers demanding a waiving off agriculture loans and that has happened in state after state. It is ultimately expected to cost the nation, in the form of state governments compensating banks, more than Rs 2 lakh crore. Over and above this, the prime minister shared data on a few consumption data points. Car sales, two-wheeler sales and tractor sales have improved, since June, hence, all is well. What the prime minister did not tell us is the rapid rise in non-oil non-gold non-silver imports, post demonetisation. Take a look at the following chart. Ministry of Commerce and Industry |
Producer Emile Gladstone and his A Bigger Boat Productions have optioned the story and set John Scott III, the writer of the 2015 Arnold Schwarzenegger zombie movie 'Maggie,' to pen the screenplay. Throttle, the novella by Stephen King and his son, novelist Joe Hill, is getting the big-screen treatment. Producer Emile Gladstone and his A Bigger Boat Productions have optioned the story and set John Scott III, the writer of the 2015 Arnold Schwarzenegger zombie movie Maggie, to pen the screenplay. Taking its inspiration from the classic Richard Matheson short story Duel, Throttle tells of a motorcycle gang riding across a stark Nevada desert, after a deal gone bad, who become pursued by a faceless trucker hell-bent on revenge. The main thrust of the story is the relationship between a father and son. The story was originally published in 2009 as part of a Matheson tribute. The optioning of Throttle is the latest movement on a King property and comes when the author is gearing up to have his biggest Hollywood year in decades: Sony’s adaptation of The Dark Tower, starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba, will hit theaters July 28; New Line’s adaptation of It, directed by Andres Muschietti, is set to open Sept. 8; and J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot Productions is creating a Hulu series based on a sort of King Universe via a series titled Castle Rock. Hill followed in his father’s footsteps to become a writer, and Hollywood has also knocked on his door: His latest novel, The Fireman, is being adapted into a feature at Fox with Temple Hill producing and Louis Leterrier directing; his forthcoming novella Snapshot is being developed at Universal for a feature with Weed Road and Blumhouse producing; and Horns was adapted into a 2014 film directed by Alex Aja and starring Daniel Radcliffe. Gladstone previously produced Army of One, which starred Nicolas Cage and Russell Brand and was released by The Weinstein Co. He is developing the New Line thriller The Children with James Wan and Gary Dauberman. Since breaking into Hollywood with Maggie, Scott has worked at several studios and companies and sold a pilot to Fox TV with Bryan Singer's Bad Hat Harry attached to produce. King is repped by Paradigm and Gang Tyre. Scott is repped by ICM Partners and management firm Sly Predator. The deal was negotiated by Hotchkiss and Associates on behalf of The Choate Agency. |
Parliament gives preliminary approval to bill calling for creation of committee to study issue before legal action is launched Iran's parliament has given preliminary approval to a bill requiring the government to sue the US for its involvement in the 1953 coup that overthrew the country's democratically elected prime minister. The bill follows the release of formerly classified documents offering more details of the CIA's role in orchestrating the overthrow of Mohammed Mossadegh 60 years ago. It calls for the creation of a committee to study the issue and provide a report within six months before legal action is launched against the US government in an international court. Of the 196 MPs attending the session of parliament, which was broadcast live on state radio, 167 voted in favour of the bill and five opposed it. The MP Mahdi Mousavinejad said Iran should take legal action to ensure the US take responsibility for its actions. "America's oppressive behaviour [in 1953] shows that the Iranian nation has to stand up and pursue its trampled rights," he said. But Mohammad Mahdi Rahbari, another MP, opposed the bill, saying it would not bring anything tangible for Iran. "Pursuing this bill has no benefits for our country. It will waste the parliament's time," he said. The coup restored the despotic regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, who was later overthrown in the 1979 Iranian revolution. MPs said the documents proved that the US had a history of malevolent intervention in Iran and that the admission was sufficient evidence to demand compensation. In a document revealed this month entitled The Battle for Iran, the CIA reveals the coup plan was called Operation TPAJAX. The unnamed author of the history writes that previously published accounts miss the point that "the military coup that overthrew Mossadegh … was carried out under CIA direction as an act of US foreign policy, conceived and approved at the highest levels of government". The US cut off diplomatic relations with Iran after militant students stormed the US embassy in Tehran to protest against Washington's refusal to hand over the toppled shah to Iran for trial. The two countries remain at loggerheads over Iran's disputed nuclear programme. Iran denies claims by the US and Israel that it is aiming to build weapons, saying its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes only. • This article was amended on Wednesday 28 August to correct the chronology of Pahlavi's reign. |
The oil giant ExxonMobil has admitted that its support for lobby groups that question the science of climate change may have hindered action to tackle global warming. In its corporate citizenship report, released last week, ExxonMobil says it intends to cut funds to several groups that "divert attention" from the need to find new sources of clean energy. The move comes ahead of the firm's annual meeting today in Dallas, at which prominent shareholders including the Rockefeller family will urge ExxonMobil to take the problem of climate change more seriously. Green campaigners accuse the company of funding a "climate denial industry" over the last decade, with $23m (£11.5m) handed over to groups that play down the risks of burning fossil fuels. The ExxonMobil report says: "In 2008 we will discontinue contributions to several public policy research groups whose position on climate change could divert attention from the important discussion on how the world will secure the energy required for economic growth in an environmentally responsible manner." Nine groups have reportedly lost the company's support, including the George C Marshall Institute, the Washington DC-based think tank that asserts there is no scientific consensus on climate change, and that changes in the sun, not greenhouse gases, could be responsible for rising temperatures. A survey carried out by the UK's Royal Society found that in 2005 ExxonMobil distributed $2.9m to 39 groups that the society said "misrepresented the science of climate change by outright denial of the evidence". In 2006 the society wrote to the company to ask them to stop funding such groups. Kert Davies of Greenpeace said: "The organisations eliminated in this latest rounds of cuts could be called the engine room of the climate sceptic industry, but if Rex Tillerson [head of ExxonMobil] is serious about his company shaking off this shameful legacy, he needs to make a wider sweep." Greenpeace says ExxonMobil continues to fund over "two dozen other organisations who question the science of global warming or attack policies to solve the crisis." |
SINGAPORE - Will autonomous vehicle technology solve the perennial shortage of bus drivers? Will taxis of the future no longer disappear just before midnight? The Land Transport Authority (LTA) has issued a request for information seeking proposals on how autonomous vehicle technology can be harnessed for public transport - a move that it described as "taking the next step towards shaping how AV technology can potentially meet our future transport needs". Through the exercise, the LTA hopes to learn if autonomous vehicles - popularly called driverless vehicles - can be deployed as part of a mass-transport service that operates on fixed routes and scheduled timings, such as a bus service. The exercise will also explore if a network of shared autonomous vehicles can form a new mobility system for intra-town and inter-town travel, and thus, reducing reliance on cars. The move is part of efforts under the Singapore Autonomous Vehicle Initiative, which was launched in August last year to oversee and manage AV research, test-bedding, and the development of applications and solutions by industry partners and stakeholders. The findings of the exercise will also provide LTA with more information on what infrastructure is necessary to pave the way for autonomous vehicles to ply. LTA chief executive Chew Men Leong said: "We are excited at the many possibilities of how AV technology can be harnessed... autonomous vehicles have the potential to optimise road capacity by moving in a compact, systematic manner." christan@sph,com.sg |
HANGZHOU, China — Unmarried men across China used to spend Nov. 11 lamenting their single status with a drink. Now that unofficial holiday has become the world’s largest online shopping event. On Monday, China’s biggest online shopping company processed more than $5.75 billion in its online payments system — a record for a single day anywhere in the world, surpassing by two and a half times the total for American retailers last year on so-called Cyber Monday. The company, Alibaba, which owns Tmall and other e-commerce sites, first latched onto so-called Singles’ Day, symbolized by the four lonely 1s of 11/11, five years ago. The company realized men could just as easily seek solace by buying electronic devices and other gear on its sites. Soon enough, just about everyone else did, too. Alibaba reported Monday that it had 402 million unique visitors to its sites — more than a third of the adult population in China — and prepared 152 million parcels for shipping. Tmall.com, one of Alibaba’s shopping sites, said Chinese bought 1.6 million bras, which it helpfully noted would reach three times the height of Mount Everest if folded and stacked, and two million pairs of underpants, which if linked together would stretch 1,800 miles, all before the lunch hour. |
Issue 102 is the one-hundred-second issue of Image Comics' The Walking Dead and the sixth and final part of Volume 17: Something To Fear. It was originally published on September 19, 2012. Contents show] Plot Synopsis Dwight growls at Andrea and Rick that they are going to be killed when Negan gets to them. Andrea punches Dwight in the face and threatens to mess up his other eye, but Rick tells her to stop. He explained what The Saviors did to Glenn. Rick explains to Andrea that he vastly underestimated Negan's forces and that Glenn was his friend and a good person who didn't deserve to die the way he did. Rick shows signs of blaming himself for what happened and that Glenn and Maggie were his hope of a better future. Paul is shown around the Alexandria Safe-Zone and given a house to stay in by Heath. Heath expresses liking the sense of community that the Hilltop Colony offers, which is more people and bigger walls. Jesus says he would trade the Hilltop Colony's trailers for the Alexandria Safe-Zone's setup any day. Jesus always says that he is here to help. Carl expresses to Rick that they should kill Dwight to show Negan that Alexandria isn't to be "fucked with" and that he is angry over Glenn's death. Rick says he doesn't know what to do. Michonne and Rick discuss a course of action regarding The Saviors. Rick thinks they shouldn't fight back, or at least not at the present time. Michonne says she has seen what they are up against and is fine by living without fighting and that feels like she is on the group's "leash" and could use a break from being the de-facto "killer". She agrees they should try a different path this time than what they pursued with Woodbury. Eugene tells Rick that he and Abraham were looking for the items to manufacture ammo when he got killed. He tells Rick he can make bullets and wants to do his part by making the ammo to help kill Negan's men. Rick admires Eugene's offer, but says that isn't what's going to happen. A town meeting is called where Rick breaks the news of his compliance to Negan's demands and the release of Dwight, much to the disgust of Andrea. Rick explains to the town exactly what they are up against and how Negan saw killing Glenn as a game that meant nothing to him. Rick wishes to live in peace. Alexandria releases Dwight, much to the anger and uneasiness of Andrea, Michonne, Carl, and Holly. As everyone disperses to return to their houses, Jesus approaches Rick, telling him they will get over it and understand eventually. Rick then tells him to pack up while everyone's distracted and hit the road to catch up with Dwight before his trail goes cold. Rick wants to know what they are up against, find out as much as they can about Negan and his people, and report back. No one in the Alexandria Safe-Zone or the Hilltop Colony can know what they are really up to. Credits Deaths None Trivia The figure featured on the cover of Issue 102 is the only figure from a Volume 17: Something To Fear issue cover to not appear on the cover of Volume 17. This issue marks Rick Grimes' 100th appearance. This is one of the few issues with no zombies, including on the cover. A letter sent in by Steven Yeun, the actor who plays Glenn in the television series, was published in the letters section. In it, he jokingly insulted Robert Kirkman and stated that he was very upset about the death of Glenn in #100. This issue marks the 100th issue since the first appearance of Andrea, Sophia and Carl. Goofs/errors |
ANDERSON COOPER: I want to ask you, I saw you the other day saying that anyone who attacks the LGBT community, our LGBT community, you said, will be gone after with the full extent of the law. PAM BONDI: That's exactly right. COOPER: I talked to a lot of gay and lesbian people here yesterday who are not fans of yours and who said that they thought you were being a hypocrite, that you for years have fought -- you basically gone after gay people, said that in court that gay people simply by fighting for marriage equality were trying to do harm to the people of Florida. To induce public harm, I believe was the term you used in court. Do you really think you're a champion of the gay community? BONDI: Let me tell you. When I was sworn in as attorney general, I put my hand on the Bible and was sworn to uphold the constitution of the state of Florida. That's not a law. That was voted in to our state constitution by the voters of Florida. That's what I was defending. Had nothing to do -- I've never said I don't like gay people, that’s ridiculous. COOPER: But do you worry about using language accusing gay people of trying to do harm to the people of Florida when doesn't that send a message to some people who might have bad ideas in mind? BONDI: Anderson, I don't believe gay people could do harm to the state of Florida. We’re human beings. COOPER: But you argued that in court. BONDI: My lawyer argued a case defending what the Supreme Court allowed the voters to put in our state constitution. COOPER: Right, but you were arguing that gay marriage, if there was gay marriage, if there was same-sex marriage, that would do harm to the people of Florida, to Florida society. BONDI: That it was constitutional to put that in the constitution. COOPER: Are you saying you did not believe it would do harm to Florida? BONDI: Of course not, of course not. Gay people -- no, I've never said that. Those words have never came out of my mouth. COOPER: But that is specifically what you were arguing in court. BONDI: No. No. What we argued was it was in the constitution of the state of Florida. Let me give you an example. Medical marijuana. A 12-year-old could get it if it passed. We took that to the Supreme Court because of that language, hold on. But if that passed, I would defend that, as well, because it's my job to defend what's in the constitution of the state of Florida. That's what it was about. COOPER: The hotline that you've been talking about on television which allows family members and spouses of the dead to get information, which is incredibly important, and I appreciate you talking about it on the air, had there been no gay marriage, had there been no same-sex marriage, you do realize that spouses, there would be no spouses, that boyfriends and girlfriends of the dead would not be able to get information and would not be able probably even to visit in the hospital here. Isn't there a sick irony in that? BONDI: Let me take it a step farther. People aren't right now who are partners and aren't married officially aren't able to get information, so we're trying to assist them in getting information. Because early on we only have 24 people -- COOPER: Isn't there a sick irony that you for years were fighting that very idea? BONDI: I was defending the constitution of what over 69 percent of the voters put in the constitution. COOPER: But the courts, the federal courts said that's not the constitution and you continued to fight it. BONDI: No. That's why we rushed it to get it to the U.S. Supreme court because we needed finality. COOPER: Well, before the Supreme Court, there was a federal judge and you continued to fight it after the federal judge ruled, and in fact you spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money fighting it. BONDI: Well Anderson, we rushed to get it to the Supreme Court. You know what today is about? Human beings. Today's about victims. COOPER: It is about gay and lesbian victims. BONDI: It sure is. LGBT victims. It’s about Florida -- COOPER: I’m just wondering is it hypocritical to portray yourself as a champion of the gay community when -- I'm just reflecting what a lot of gay people have told me, they don't see you as that. BONDI: Anderson, I’m not portraying myself as anything other than trying to help human beings who have lost their lives, who are right behind us right now in hospital beds, who have family members who aren't getting the services they need. This morning, you know what I've been doing? Trying to fight with a funeral home for overcharging family members. COOPER: That’s sickening. BONDI: To bury their loved ones. I'm not championing anything other than Floridians. That’s what this is about. We’re about human beings. COOPER: Right. BONDI: And this is about victims who need help. This is about family members who need services. That’s what this is about. COOPER: It's just that -- I will say I have never really seen you talk about gays and lesbians and transgender people in a positive way until now. I read your Twitter history for the last year, and I saw you tweeting about, you know, national dog month and national shelter dog appreciation day or adopt a shelter dog month. It is gay pride month. You’ve never even tweeted about gay pride month. BONDI: Well actually if you look at my website now, we have hands clasped together, all different colored rainbow hands, people. COOPER: So you just put that up now. BONDI: Yeah I did, after this horrible tragedy, absolutely. The only thing I'm championing are human beings whose lives were lost to terror. COOPER: So that’s your message to gay and lesbian people here. Because again, I'm telling you what people have been telling me to ask you, moving forward, do you see yourself as being a vocal champion for gay and lesbian citizens in this state? BONDI: They are citizens just like anyone else. Of course. My goodness, Anderson, we’ve had 49 people murdered. Simply because they were in a bar at the wrong time. COOPER: Right. BONDI: That's horrible. I'm a career prosecutor. These family members are devastated. These surviving victims are devastated. That's what this is about. COOPER: I know a lot of gay and lesbian people in the state want to feel that the people that represent them, represent everybody in the state. BONDI: We're human beings and that's what this is about. |
(h/t Mugsy) Fox News Sunday apparently decided that the top news stories of the day were Newt Gingrich's and Laura Bush's new books (in that order, too). What oil spill? What battles in Iraq and Afghanistan? What economy? What Supreme Court nominee? What immigration reform battle? Nah, none of those are important...what Fox News viewers need to learn about is the literary efforts of "super-relevant" Republicans like the disgraced former Speaker of the House and the former First Lady of the least popular president in US history. But eagle-eyed C&Ler Mugsy noticed something in the Bush home, where Chris Wallace interviewed Laura Bush, that should make the hairs on Glenn Beck's neck stand up on end: LAURA BUSH IS A MAOIST SCHOLAR! Look at the bookshelf behind Chris Wallace. Right behind his shoulder appears to be this book. Interestingly, most of the Amazon reviews describe the book as somewhat "sympathetic" to Mao. Wait a second...you don't suppose that it's not actually Pickles who read the book, do you? That would mean that it belongs to former President George W. "I read three Shakespeares" Bush. Does Glenn Beck know????? |
ADIDAS ORIGINALS: STAN SMITH The Stan Smith has changed little since first donned by its namesake in the early 1970s. And why should it? The simple sneaker has become synonymous with classic, understated style and fresh, urban dressing. Stan Smith tennis shoes stay true to the look of the original, with its crisp leather build, low-profile shape and clean trim. ADIDAS ARCHIVE: STAN SMITH Stan Smith sneakers get their title from the tennis star of the same name. The silhouette was first released in the late ‘60s, then renamed the adidas Stan Smith in the early ‘70s. At the time, the two-time Grand Slam singles and five-time Grand Slam doubles champion was known as one of the best players in the world. Over the years, the all-American shoe has evolved from athletic sneaker to fashion icon, appearing on runways, sparking collaborations and inspiring numerous variations on the theme. MORE STAN SMITH DETAILS The signature Stan Smith features an unfussy white colorway punctuated by a patch of vivid green on the heel and a line drawing of Smith’s face on the tongue. Stan Smith sneakers feature three rows of barely-there perforations to represent the 3-Stripes heritage. |
This mod adds a brand new radio station called "An Old World Radio Christmas" which features most of the Old World Radio - Boston DJ's as well as the best Christmas and Holiday music one could hope for! Over 6 hours long! Special Features NOTE: Holotapes can be crafted in the Chemistry Station under Utility. *Fixed the modified worldspace issue that caused Vertibird flight altitude info to disappear by using radio mods created with older versions of xEdit/FO4Edit. Starring... Trailerpark Travis from Nuka World Radio Agatha from Agatha's Song Returns Fizzy from Nuka World Radio Ice Cream Carl from Synthstream FM The Storyteller from Old World Tunes Dusty Dude from Tumbleweed Tunes Jackie O'Leary from Radio FNGS Colin Nettle from Wasteland Field Survival Guide Isaiah Pendergrass from Cadillac Jack's Radio Shack Moses Pendergrass from Galaxy News Radio (Boston) Walter Camry and Bunny from True Vault Escapades Vinny Barbarino from Malt Shop Mayhem Dimitri from Gopnik Radio Johnny Fonzie from Red Rocket Radio Bop Susan and her robots from West Vault Radio ...and a few more surprises! CREDITS This radio station mod is part of OLD WORLD RADIO - BOSTON For more info on Old World Radio - Boston, please visit our Facebook, Patreon and Soundcloud pages to get up-to-date info on the future of the project and sneak-peeks into the future development of new stations, talented voice-actors/actresses, and info on new commercial and non-commercial permissions granted from talented artists joining the Old World Radio - Boston project! Stay tuned! More exciting things to come! Completely standalone radio station that plays in real-time! This station will not prematurely restart or stop playing. It continues to play while turned off just like a real world radio station! (pre-recorded of course)Includes craftable custom-skinned radios to place and enjoy inside your custom built settlements!Includes a craftable custom-skinned holotape which will allow in-game volume control and the ability to change tracks! Heard it before? Skip it! Too loud or too quiet? Adjust your station's volume to your liking!Click the links below to get up-to-date news and updates about the future of Old World Radio - Boston! |
While it's been a strong start to the century for powerful female roles, from Patty Hewes and Ellen Parsons on Damages to Alicia Florrick on The Good Wife to the evolutions of Joan Harris and Peggy Olson on Mad Men, there was something missing in the action arena. Sometimes, gloriously, a character stands out that the audience never even realized would be a regular on the show, much less a featured player. That's the case that brings us to Samantha Groves, who arrived on Person Of Interest as a villainess and has become one of the most compelling and entertaining women in recent television history. Person Of Interest looked like just another procedural, but it's so much more than a regular dramatic entry on CBS. Similarly to Fringe, another J.J. Abrams production, POI's early episodes weren't particularly interesting past the main concept. With Fringe, the first set of paranormal and mysterious self-contained episodes left many viewers wanting more; it took some time to get there. It wasn't until the ninth episode of the first season that Fringe really found its groove. Unfortunately, the show suffered through another lull throughout much of the first half of its second season and lost broad swaths of the audience, the same way Person Of Interest didn't really hit until Sam Groves appeared. Once she did, everything changed. Amy Acker has done some cool stuff in her career, but until Root, it was always "Ah, she's in this. Well, that's pretty rad." She showed up in the final season of Alias and she was around for a while on Angel. She was good, but it wasn't some kind of momentous sea change to a program to see her arrive in a scene. But Samantha Groves is going down in the annals, and as a result, so is Amy. We meet Root before we know anything of Samantha, which was a smart choice in retrospect, because the intrigue of the antagonistic enigma makes the history and the depth of the human component of the character that much more striking. Root arrives in the Person Of Interest universe in an episode named for her, "Root Cause," midway through the inaugural season. She seems to be Harold Finch's equal, but instead of altruism, Root has more malevolent motives. Luckily for us, that malice was just the beginning of the Sam Groves story. So why do we love Root? Oh, for so many reasons. Let's start with her motivation and her drive. Our first experience with this dark-haired dynamo is as a stellar hacker who finds herself drawn, almost with religious fervor, to Finch's machine. She's not a convert; she's a devotee to this cryptic marvel of precognition born from America's federal response to the attacks on 9/11. Her adoration for Finch's artificial intelligence creation isn't at all concerned with what it's doing; instead she loves the power, the design, and the sheer scope and brilliance of it all. Even as she's using the Taser on our spectacled friend, we can see her passion. It's not hidden from view, and because the actions make sense within the construct of the character, we buy into them. Amy is terrifying in the early phases of Season 2, but it's impossible to look away from the screen. When you're simultaneously uncomfortable and riveted, unable to break eye contact with a fictional character, one of two things is true: you're a stalker…or this is a hell of a role. However, there's a much more integral reason why she's so fixated on the machine: she relates to technology, very rarely finding common ground with humanity. She admits to longing to find someone who shares both her talent and her pull towards a high-tech existence. She increasingly discovers those traits inside her captive, her partner, and later her good friend Harold Finch. Any gal who says out loud that she wishes she could have just been a sociopath because it would make her occupation as a contract killer an easier job -- damn, girl, you had me at hello. The second check mark in Root's Characters We Love column: Amy Acker, Bad-Ass. Samantha Groves is a woman, make no mistake; but she's the female Jack Bauer, but with a twist of method to the madness. Her worship for the machine drives every decision she makes. She listens to every word it speaks to her, and follows the instructions without questioning the reasons or the potential consequences. Powered by this faith, she does some ridiculously cool stuff. But on a more basic level, this chick is a wizard with any weapon; she's fearless. Root when she's on the warpath is a vision. John Reese is the closest thing we've seen to Bauer, but a mission-oriented Samantha Groves might send both running for the hills. She can fight, she can shoot, and she can hack you to death; whether that's with a machete, a knife, or by stealing your identity on an air-gapped laptop. I'm also pretty sure I'd bet on her to take down the aforementioned Alicia Florrick in a court battle; maybe even Elsbeth Tascioni. I'm sure Finch would appreciate it. The best comparison I can make for our heroine (or perhaps it's actually HEROIN) is a much more dangerous Lisbeth Salander. She isn't as unstable and she's not coated in ink; she's just an insane thrill ride to watch. The third check mark takes us to a place I hope to explore further in the future as the show explores the comparison. Gotham might be a prequel to Batman, but the real Selina Kyle resides on Tuesday nights on CBS. Root is Catwoman, pure and simple. She slices in and out of the first few seasons, and once she becomes a mainstay, she's always sitting on the fence. She's a hacker rather than a thief, but the similarities are there. She has a code, where Selina might not have, but she's been on both sides, and you're never quite sure exactly where she's headed. Both had interesting and at times difficult upbringings, and both responded in unconventional, criminal, but somehow successful ways. Sam's on the good side, but she was still willing to kill to try to protect Finch, who at one time she held captive. She's infatuated with Shaw, but Sameen, nor John for that matter, never knows what to expect from her. Other than the machine, she answers to no one. It's fucking amazing. Just like our figuratively furry friend, however, Ms. Groves's value grew as the writers showcased the character's various layers. Root has grown exponentially, and in almost any real circumstance, those shifts would make no sense. In Person Of Interest -- both because Acker has been so damn good, and the stories themselves have enabled the changes -- it's felt like a natural and chronologically sound expansion. She's a villain at first, but one with a purpose that begins to flesh itself out in a somewhat believable fashion. She re-emerges, and after a brief adversarial period, Root's motives begin to gel a bit more with Finch, though they disagree on the machine's ultimate freedom. Then, by necessity in the third year, she finds herself completely aligned with our heroes, and immediately becomes one herself. As the third season ends and the show advances to push the Samaritan angle, she at times becomes the leader of the group. Root remains the one character unchanged as it relates to her mission. Finch becomes a bit more timid, but Ms. Groves stays the course, despite critical danger and immense pressure. As the character evolves, so does her emotional range, and this is where Root goes from being a really nifty character to one I just can't wait to see every week. She's basically in love with Shaw -- let me pour one out for my homette -- and she considers Finch her best friend. She respects the hell out of Reese, and she's attempted to save the lives of everybody on the team, including Fusco and Carter. Her wit stays sharp; and again, regardless of what she's saying, Amy Acker has this mid-'80s Brent Musburger thing going for her. Every sentence of dialogue sounds like it's the most important, portentous, "shut the hell up and listen to this" sequence of words in recorded history. I freaking adore it. I'm convinced Root could call a Lakers-Knicks game in 2015 and if I didn't know any better, I'd call it the biggest basketball extravaganza of all time. She could speak on C-SPAN and I'd quit my job to listen to her speak. She could read Faulkner and I would feel like I was listening to…well, something less coma-inducing than Absalom, Absalom? She could sell me a flower in an airport, just as long as she delivered a soliloquy like this: Amazing. We've managed to perfect the apple -- a genetically modified version that never goes brown. And yet, we still haven't upgraded human beings. The human race has stalled out, Harold. And from what I've seen, most of it is rotten to the core. Though her affinity for those closest to her deepens, she still has little interest (no pun intended) in protecting the potential victims or perpetrators the machine warns of through the Social Security numbers. Samantha's goals haven't entirely morphed into anything different, either. She wants to set Finch's machine free, and basically did it a few years ago. Her friendships have likely erased the original outcome, but eventually, there will be one more clash between Finch and Root over artificial intelligence as a whole. It feels as if Root's opinion is going to be the end game of the entire series. She will have to decide whether the world would be better without the prying eye, even if it is indeed perfect. Without Root, Person Of Interest is a fun show with a fascinating premise and some solid casting choices. But with Acker and the way she's completely owned the Samantha Groves character, combined with the Root narrative and its increasingly impressive lineage, POI has become one of the best shows on anyone's flat screen. None of us knew how big she would be when we saw "Harold" pop up on the screen in "Root Cause." We had no clue it would be more than a half-season big bad for Reese and Finch to deal with, but boy, are we better off that there was so much more to come. She's the Jesse Pinkman of CBS drama. Groves/Shaw 2016: Change We Can Believe In. |
Bol Bol 2018 5-star prospect Bol Bol poses with Los Angeles Clippers point guard Chris Paul (Courtesy of Bol Bol's Instagram account) The Oregon Ducks and coach Dana Altman still have some work to do on the recruiting trail for the class of 2017, but they have also made sure to lay the groundwork for the 2018 cycle. On Wednesday, GiveNGo recruiting expert Pat Lawless reported Oregon had extended a scholarship offer to 2018 five-star big man Bol Bol, the son of legendary NBA player Manute Bol. The news was quickly confirmed by several media outlets. Bol, out of Mater Dei High School (Santa Ana, California), measures in at 6-foot-11, 195 pounds and is rated the nation's No. 5 prospect overall by 247Sports. Last season, he averaged 16.5 points, 8.6 rebounds and 2.9 blocks per game, while shooting 70 percent from the field. Bol already holds offers from Arizona, Creighton, Kansas, Oregon, St. John's, USC and others. This offseason, he has paired with Shareef O'Neal, the son of Shaquille O'Neal, on the EYBL circuit, competing for Cal Supreme. But neither has a skillset similar to their famous fathers. Manute Bol was a 7-foot-7, 225-pound 10-year NBA veteran, averaging 2.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game. Bol Bol is developing as a scorer, one that can both shoot from three-point range and finish inside at a high clip. After landing four-star power forward M.J. Cage, the son of former Seattle Supersonics big man Michael Cage, in the 2016 recruiting class, Oregon has shown it can land the offspring of former NBA players. In the 2018 recruiting cycle, the Ducks will again make a move. This time with Bol. -- Andrew Nemec anemec@oregonian.com @AndrewNemec |
Today, we filed Mozilla’s comments to the FCC. Just want to take a look at them them? They’re right here – or read on for more. Net neutrality is critical to the internet’s creators, innovators, and everyday users. We’ve talked a lot about the importance of net neutrality over the years, both in the US and globally — and there have been many positive developments. But today there’s a looming threat: FCC Chairman Pai’s plan to roll back enforceable net neutrality protections in his so-called “Restoring Internet Freedom” proceeding. Net neutrality — enforceable and with clear rules for providers — is critical to the future of the internet. Our economy and society depend on the internet being open. For net neutrality to work, it must be enforceable. In the past, when internet service providers (ISPs) were not subject to enforceable rules, they violated net neutrality. ISPs prevented users from chatting on FaceTime and streaming videos, among other questionable business practices. The 2015 rules fixed this: the Title II classification of broadband protected access to the open internet and made all voices free to be heard. The 2015 rules preserved– and made enforceable– the fundamental principles and assumptions on which the internet have always been rooted. To abandon these core assumptions about how the internet works and is regulated has the potential to wreak havoc. It would hurt users and stymie innovation. It could very well see the US fall behind the other 47 countries around the world that have enforceable net neutrality rules. We’ve asked you to comment, and we’ve been thrilled with your response. Thank you! Keep it coming! Now it’s our turn. Today, we are filing Mozilla’s comments on the proceeding, arguing against this rollback of net neutrality protections. Net neutrality is a critical part of why the internet is great, and we need to protect it: Net neutrality is fundamental to free speech. Without it, big companies could censor anyone’s voice and make it harder to speak up online. Net neutrality is fundamental to competition. Without it, ISPs can prioritize their businesses over newcomer companies trying to reach users with the next big thing. Net neutrality is fundamental to innovation. Without it, funding for startups could dry-up, as established companies that can afford to “pay to play” become the only safe tech investments. And, ultimately, net neutrality is fundamental to user choice. Without it, ISPs can choose what you access — or how fast it may load — online. The best way to protect net neutrality is with what we have today: clear, lightweight rules that are enforceable by the FCC. There is no basis to change net neutrality rules, as there is no clear evidence of a negative impact on anything, including ISPs’ long-term infrastructure investments. We’re concerned that user rights and online innovation have become a political football, when really most people and companies agree that net neutrality is important. There’s more to come in this process — many will write “reply comments” over the next month. After that, the Commission should consider these comments (and we hope they reconsider the plan entirely) and potentially vote on the proposal later this year. We fully expect the courts to weigh in here if the new rule is enacted, and we’ll engage there too. Stay tuned! |
Victoria-based startup Kiind is launching in the US to help people avoid wasting money on giftcards. How does it work? A Kiind subscriber outputs a client list from their CRM, puts that into Kiind and sends a reward to all of their contacts via email. The Kiind gift recipient shows the code to cash it in and then activates the code from a webpage to redeem it. When a gift is redeemed, Kiind gift givers can see when and where it was redeemed. Unused gifts carry expiry dates. Expired, unused codes can be re-gifted to others. Kiind streamlines gift delivery and increases insights into redemption trends. A Kiind user will know as soon as a gift has been redeemed, and they will be able to see which gifts convert into an interaction and which gifts go unused. The intended markets of Kiind are professionals and businesses who wish buy and send gifts to clients, partners, and employees. Kiind says it is trying to humanize this technological experience of sending digital gifts. “If you bought a giftcard for someone this year, there’s a good chance it went to waste—along with your money,” says Leif Baradoy, founder and CEO of Kiind. “This year across North America, roughly $10 billion dollars in pre-paid gift cards will go unclaimed. With Kiind, people can avoid this unnecessary waste.” Kiind works to “deepen the relationship with high touch, high value clients through high tech,” as Leif puts it. They are aiming at businesses with a local focus; ones that thrive on personal interaction, referrals and keeping themselves forefront in people’s thoughts. Supported by iOS Passbook, the gift campaign platform provides recipients with geolocated gift reminders. Givers can add contacts to Kiind from Salesforce, Gmail, and Mailchimp. The Canadian startup says that it also notifies the giver when a gift has been used, providing new opportunities to follow up and build relationships with recipients. Kiind’s gift marketplace includes global brands like Amazon.com, as well as local and boutique business in over 300 US cities, according to the company. The company came together in the summer of 2011 and product development began in earnest in January of 2012. |
What was your scariest childhood experience? Was it getting locked up in a dark basement or wondering if there was a murderer under your bed? We know what it was: Watching television with your parents when suddenly, without any warning, ‘Sarkai Liyo Khatiya’ would start playing. ‘Well now what’ you’d think. Should you excuse yourself for a glass of water, should you make a run for it or should you pray to Mother Earth to swallow you whole? Turns out, the experience is just as bad even now, except now you are the parents and you too are waiting for sweet, swift strike of death and on screen is Sunny Leone with her new Mastizaade song. The Censor Board may be more than up for slicing up ‘non-sanskari’ movie scenes but perverted songs have some sort of immunity shield on them. No matter how dirty the song is, it slides straight through the censors like a fluffy cat through a fence (not every metaphor has to be gross…just trying to give you happy images for your brain considering what is about to follow). The latest addition to that list is Mastizaade’s Hor Nach (sounds an awful lot like another word for a prostitute). However, this is not even the tip of the giant, horny iceberg. We have tried to list 13 dirtiest double-meaning Bollywood songs here and then some more which are not even trying to cover their modesty. Enjoy… wait don’t enjoy because we will judge you if you did. 1. Hum Toh Tambu Mein Bambu Lagae Baithe (Mard) We begin by remembering our ancestors and with that we mean the most respected actor in Bollywood, Amitabh Bachchan. The lyrics go: Hum Toh Tambu Mein Bambu Lagae Baithe Hum Toh Tambu Mein Bambu Lagae Baithe Maine Zor Lagaya, Haiyya Hoo! Haath Se Bhi Dabaya Par Dil Ki Miti Na Chubhan In case you need help, it is about an erection and a groom not getting to consummate his wedding. Can you look at him the same way ever again? Lol, good luck with that. 2. Din Mein Leti Hai, Raat Mein Leti Hai (Amaanat) Chhat pe leti hai, kamre me leti hai Bistar me leti hai, khule aam Let ke leti hai, baith ke leti hai Kya bura hai uska nam leti hai, kiska? Apne sajan ka apne balam ka Wait while we cringe for the rest of eternity. If this wasn’t already ‘ugh’ enough, Ila Arun’s voice can make any song sound like it took a bath in oestrogen. 3. Khada Hai (Andaz) Khada hai khada hai khada hai dar pe tere aashiq khada hai Khol khol khol darwaja khol bol bol bol pyar ke do bol Khada hai khada hai khada hai dar pe tere aashiq khada hai In case you need help again, this is about an erection too. You are fooling no one Mr lyricist, except maybe the censors. This song went viral last year when someone dug it up randomly and we apologise for subjecting you to it once again. 4. Sarkai Liyo Khatiya Do you need lyrics? Don’t remember it by heart? Anyway: Sarkai Liyo Khatiya Jada Lage, Jade Mein Balma Pyaara Lage SUMMER You: Aww boo you look so hawt, let’s get it on? Bae: Ew! You stinky, sweaty filth, get off me nowwwwwwwwww! JADA (WINTERS) Bae: Come here baby, imma eat you rawwwww om nom nom. Women are selfish hypocrites, eh? 5. Chatt Pe Soya Tha Behnoi (Karan Arjun) Chatt Pe Soya Tha Behnoi Main Tane Samjh Ke Sogai, Mujhko Rana Ji Maaf Karna, Galti Mhare Se Hogai This song is pretty straight forward, just a girl apologizing to an overlord (maybe her husband) that she ‘slept’ with someone else mistaking him for the overlord. We’ve all heard that excuse, right? But what helps it makes it to our list is this expression by Amrish Puri. Look at him, he is almost frothing at the mouth. 6. Exercise (Prem Agann) You wanna??? ;) You wanna??? ;) You wanna??? ;) You wanna??? ;) Exercise! :| This song is a healthy (no pun intended) reminder that it is not the songs that are perverted, it’s our minds. To ‘Girl’s do it, so do boys’ we could have also thought that maybe she is talking about brushing our teeth, eating or pooping but we all know where our head went. 7. In The Night (Khiladiyon Ka Khiladi) Even naughty girls need love… In the night no control Kya karu kuch to bol Tod de ye badan Take my love take my soul In the night no control Kya karu kuch to bol. You guys we get it: She has night blindness! So of course she can’t control her car. That’s what she is talking about. Trust us. 8. Main Laya Hoon Chuha Apna (Yaar Gaddar) Ladki diwani hai ye karti hai ui ui ui ui Main laya hu chuha apna, chuha apna, chuha apna Arey mai laya hu chuha apna, kaha hai teri chuhi We swear the chorus is also saying ‘Obama Obama Obama Obama…’ throughout. Anyway, Saif Ali Khan made some wrong decisions in life. 9. Choli Ke Peeche Kya Hai (Khalnayak) Choli ke peeche kya hai, choli ke peeche Chunri ke neeche kya hai, chunri ke neeche What answer was she expecting really? 10. Maal Gadi (Andaz) Ye maal gaadi tu dhakka laga Dhakka kaga re dhakka laga Garam ho gaya engine iska dhakka deta ja From the movie that brought us ‘Khada Hai’ here is another offering. We wonder how long it took Anil Kapoor and Juhi Chawla to be able to sleep at all after this. This shit scars you for life. 11. Laila Teri Le Legi (Shootout At Wadala) O Laila teri.. hey! O Laila teri.. hey hey! O Laila teri le legi Tu likh ke le le… hey hey… O Laila teri le legi Tu likh ke le le But what will she take mommy? Notebook? Pencil? His entire property? Mom, what????? 12. I Am A Hunter (Gangs of Wasseypur 2) I am a hunter and she want to see my gun When I pull it out boy, the woman start to run She beg me to see it, she beg me to show it But when I reveal it, she want to run and hide Huehuehuehue! This one can still make us giggle like a girl even after all these years. 13. Kundi Mat Khadkao Raja (Gabbar) Kundi mat khadkao raja Seedha andar aao raja Phool bicha perfume laga ke Mood banao taaja taaja Even the cover up meaning is about sex. What we think this is about is that … there is no modest way to say it… she is telling him that she doesn’t want to waste any time … and to *ahem.. wanna die right now* just get on with it. No we are not tomatoes, we are just red like that thanks to this song. And now the few songs which aren’t even trying to cover up: Dreamum Wakeupum (Aiyya) Face to face-um dharti putram Top to base-um kamasutra-um Thighs-um thunder-um down-um under-um Size-um matter-um think-um wonder-um Jumping-um…pumping-um... Throbbingum…thumping-um… Us: Pritam Pyare (Rowdy Rathore) Pallu ke neeche chupa ke rakha hai Utha doon toh hangama ho ho ho Pallu ke neeche daba ke rakha hai Utha doon toh hangama ho Us: Aa Ante Amlapuram (Maximum) Mann mera mehandi kali Umar meri atharah hone chali Hata de chhilka, tu mere dil ka Aa khaa le moong-phali Us: Good luck ever getting it on guys…! Cringe together with the author at @soumya1405 First Published: Jan 28, 2016 09:31 IST |
Your message has been sent successfully Stephen Colbert got a good look at his new home Tuesday as a guest on the "Late Show with David Letterman." Colbert will take over from Letterman in 2015, leaving his Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report" and his conservative TV-host character behind. As if to emphasize the break, he wore glasses on the Letterman set and gave himself a new look. Advertisement: "You look right at home," said a welcoming Letterman. When Colbert suggested he would do "whatever you have done," Letterman demurred. "It seems to have gone pretty well, Dave," Colbert said. "It's gone on," said Letterman, drawing out the on. Letterman told Colbert he was thrilled he got the job, as "they could have just as easily hired a boob like me." Colbert's response? "Every boob is like a snowflake, Dave." The video's below. |
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PM criticises bishops for failing to acknowledge extent of British aid to refugees in Middle East after they urged UK to accept more people fleeing Syria David Cameron has vented his frustration with the Church of England over Syria by calling on bishops to make “an in-depth intervention” to acknowledge the £1bn in aid the UK has provided to refugees who have fled to neighbouring countries. The prime minister, who announced that Britain is to admit 1,000 refugees by Christmas, said that the Anglican bishops were wrong to criticise him for ignoring their plea to admit 50,000 refugees. Cameron criticised the Church of England after bishops released a private letter to the prime minister in which they called on him to agree to a dramatic increase in the number of Syrian refugees over the next five years – from 20,000 to 50,000. The prime minister came close to accusing the bishops of encouraging Syrian refugees to make the “dangerous journey” to Europe. He said that anyone advocating UK involvement in an EU quota system for refugees was encouraging the refugees to risk perilous journeys across the Mediterranean to the EU – usually to Greece. In their letter to the prime minister the bishops did not call on Britain to take part in the EU quota system, which would have obliged the UK to take 18,000 refugees on a rapid timetable. But the bishops did say that the UK should bring itself into line with other countries by admitting 50,000 refugees over five years rather than the 20,000 proposed by Cameron. The prime minister told MPs that Britain was starting to accelerate the admission of Syrian refugees to Britain from camps in neighbouring countries. But he rebuked the 84 bishops for failing to acknowledge the £1bn in aid provided by Britain to Syrian refugees since 2012, which is designed to encourage them to remain in neighbouring countries rather than making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean. The 20,000 refugees that will be allowed into Britain over the next five years will be taken from the camps in Syria’s neighbouring countries. Cameron said: “We want to see 1,000 refugees brought to Britain by Christmas. We will report on that after Christmas to tell you how we have done.” The prime minister, who once likened his Anglicanism to the patchy reception for Magic FM in the Chilterns, then turned on the bishops. He said: “On the bishops no one has more respect for the bishops than me. But on this occasion, I think they are wrong and I will say so very frankly. “I think the right thing to do is to take 20,000 refugees from the camps. If you become part of the mechanism distributing people around the EU you are encouraging people to make that dangerous journey. “I would now like to see the bishops make a very clear statement, as [Jeremy Corbyn] just did, which is Britain has fulfilled our moral obligations by making a promise to the poorest countries and the poorest people in the world of spending 0.7% of our gross national income on aid. How many other of the other big countries that made that promise have kept that promise. So let us hear an in-depth intervention from the bishops on that issue.” The prime minister criticised the bishops after Corbyn called on Britain to act in a coordinated way with fellow EU nations as he raised concerns that member states were seeking to outsource the refugee crisis to Turkey. The Labour leader told Cameron: “We are concerned that some within Europe would like to outsource the refugee crisis to Turkey to solve it. There is a responsibility for all European nations to act in a coordinated way, firstly to help the refugees and secondly to try and resolve the conflict that is driving so many Syrians to flee. “I have said it before and I will repeat it in the house today; I praise this government for the level of aid they have provided for the camps in Lebanon and elsewhere in the region ... However, we must do more to aid those who have come to Europe.” |
Six months ago it was reported David Fincher (The Social Network) was in talks to direct World War Z 2, following director J.A. Bayona‘s (A Monster Calls) departure from the sequel. Yesterday Paramount finally scrapped the project’s 2017 summer release date. But the good news is Fincher is still considering the World War Z sequel. The meticulous filmmaker reportedly wants to make a film that’s not as costly as Marc Forster’s $200 million popcorn movie, which came out a success story after a troubled production. Below, learn more about Fincher’s involvement with the World War Z sequel. According to The Hollywood Reporter‘s sources, Fincher is still “very creatively interested in directing the movie.” The outlet’s sources tell them he wants to direct the sequel, but it’s all up to Paramount. A part of the holdup is that the studio just isn’t ready yet to green-light the film. While Fincher is a final cut director with a say in the marketing, there’s no reported hesitation on Paramount’s part to commit because of those reasons. There are no budget disputes, either. Fincher’s vision for the sequel involves a man and his family trying to navigate the zombie apocalypse, and it would cost less money to make than the first movie. Plus, Paramount would co-finance and co-produce the sequel with Skydance Productions, which decreases the risk. Fincher was initially hesitant about the project, but he was struck by screenwriter Dennis Kelly‘s take on the sequel. Kelly created Utopia, a show Fincher was going to remake with Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) for HBO before a budget dispute killed it. After Steven Knight (Taboo) had a script for the World War Z sequel, Kelly was hired to write a new draft. Fincher’s friend, frequent collaborator, and the star of World War Z, Brad Pitt, is producing the sequel. Pitt’s production company, Plan B, and Paramount aren’t making offers to anyone else to direct it, or at least they weren’t in August of last year when negotiations between Fincher and the studio were reportedly underway. THR’s insiders tell them Paramount is now eying a 2018 or 2019 release date for the sequel. However, no steps have been taken to get the film a new release date. We’ll have to wait and see what Paramount chief Brad Grey chooses to do, but apparently, more than a few people are surprised he hasn’t the go-ahead yet to a David Fincher zombie movie starring Brad Pitt. |
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Legislation to implement a major overhaul of Mexico’s telecommunications industry will not be approved until early next year, pushing back a deadline set for December, two senior lawmakers said on Saturday. Mexico's President Enrique Pena Nieto addresses the audience during The Economist's Mexico Summit 2013 in Mexico City November 7, 2013. REUTERS/Tomas Bravo The secondary laws set out the fine print for a telecoms reform promulgated in June by President Enrique Pena Nieto which gives regulators sweeping powers to rein in billionaire Carlos Slim’s telecoms giant America Movil and dominant broadcaster Televisa. The bill raised hopes Pena Nieto was serious about breaking the hold a select few have on much of the economy, but a pile-up of pending bills in Congress has made the December 9 deadline for the secondary telecoms legislation increasingly unlikely. Federico Gonzalez Luna, a congressman who heads the radio and television committee in the lower house, told Reuters that to ensure the secondary laws were properly drawn up, they would now have to wait until 2014. “There’s no way of doing them earlier,” said Gonzalez Luna, a member of the Green Party, allies of Pena Nieto’s Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI). “The plan is to get them done as quickly as possible, but to do them well.” Efforts would focus on getting the laws passed in the next period of Congress beginning in February, he added. A delay in the secondary laws could give America Movil and Televisa more time to prepare their defense against steps by the new regulator to reduce their dominant positions in Mexico. For now, Congress is scrambling to pass an energy bill put forward by the president in August to open up the state-controlled oil and gas industry to more private investment. Fraught with political risks in a country where the 1938 nationalization of the oil industry was a defining moment, the energy bill is a central plank of Pena Nieto’s economic agenda. But the energy reform has been bogged down in the Senate, and the government is insistent it should pass this year. To do that, the PRI must first push through an electoral reform to win the support of opposition conservatives it is banking on to provide votes for the new energy law. The electoral reform is moving slowly in the Senate and PRI party chairman Cesar Camacho said on Friday a plan was under consideration to prolong Congress to make sure the energy bill is signed off by lawmakers this year. ENERGY LAW BY CHRISTMAS? Hector Gutierrez de la Garza, a PRI lawmaker who heads the communications committee in the lower house, said Congress would aim to approve the secondary telecoms laws early in 2014. “It needs to be in February because in March there’s a deadline for the Federal Institute of Telecommunications (IFT) to issue various resolutions,” he told Reuters, referring to the new telecoms regulator created by the reform. There would be no penalty for missing the December 9 deadline because a transitory article in Pena Nieto’s reform meant that current telecoms laws would remain in effect while Congress finalized the secondary legislation, he added. Pena Nieto’s reform gives the IFT the power to break up dominant telecoms companies, and the secondary legislation will set out conditions for the use of that option. Alejandra Barrales, a member of the opposition leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution who heads the radio and television committee in the Senate, said she was opposed to delaying the approval of the secondary laws. Because party leaders had so far not formally declared the laws would be delayed until next year, she would consider that December 9 remained a possibility, she told Reuters. Still, pushing them back would give Congress more space to pass the energy bill, said Eligio Gonzalez of the PRI, a senior member of the lower house communications committee. “Our thinking is that the Senate will be approving the energy reform around (December) the 14th. And for us to be meeting in an extraordinary session around the 19th-20th to pass it in the days before Christmas,” he said. |
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