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SAN DIEGO (AP) — A sergeant will be discharged for criticizing President Barack Obama on Facebook in a case that called into question the Pentagon's policies about social media and its limits on the speech of active duty military personnel, the Marine Corps said Wednesday.
Sgt. Gary Stein will get an other-than-honorable discharge and lose most of his benefits for violating the policies, the Corps said.
The San Diego-area Marine who has served nine years in the Corps said he was disappointed by the decision. He argued that he was exercising his constitutional rights to free speech.
"I love the Marine Corps, I love my job. I wish it wouldn't have gone this way. I'm having a hard time seeing how 15 words on Facebook could have ruined my nine-year career," he told The Associated Press.
Gary Kreep, an attorney for Stein, said he would pursue administrative appeals within the Marine Corps but anticipates the effort will fail. He said he planned to file an amended complaint in federal court.
"As long as he wants to pursue this, we will be supporting him," said Kreep, who is executive director of the United States Justice Foundation, an advocacy group.
The Marines acted after saying Stein stated March 1 on a Facebook page used by Marine meteorologists, "Screw Obama and I will not follow all orders from him." Stein later clarified that statement, saying he would not follow unlawful orders.
Brig. Gen. Daniel Yoo, the commanding general of the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, said in a brief statement Wednesday that evidence supported an administrative board's recommendation to discharge Stein.
Tom Umberg, a former Army colonel and military prosecutor, said Stein persisted even after being warned.
"The Marine Corps gave him the opportunity to think about his actions, yet Sgt. Stein continued to undermine the chain of command," said Umberg, who was not involved in Stein's case. "I think his purpose was to leave the Marine Corps in a dramatic fashion in order to begin a career in talk radio or what have you."
Umberg believes the decision to discharge Stein will have limited impact because the vast majority of Marines would never consider such postings.
"I think 99 percent of the soldiers and Marines currently on duty understand the duties of supporting the chain of command and understand their rights of free speech are limited," he said. "To that 1 percent who don't know their rights to free speech are limited once they take the oath, this is a loud and clear message."
During a hearing, a military prosecutor submitted screen grabs of Stein's postings on one Facebook page he created called Armed Forces Tea Party, which the prosecutor said included the image of Obama on a "Jackass" movie poster. Stein also superimposed Obama's image on a poster for "The Incredibles" movie that he changed to "The Horribles," military prosecutor Capt. John Torresala said.
At the hearing this month at Camp Pendleton, Torresala argued that Stein's behavior repeatedly violated Pentagon policy and he should be dismissed after ignoring warnings from his superiors about his postings.
The military has had a policy since the Civil War limiting the free speech of service members, including criticism of the commander in chief.
Pentagon directives say military personnel in uniform cannot sponsor a political club; participate in any TV or radio program or group discussion that advocates for or against a political party, candidate or cause; or speak at any event promoting a political movement.
Commissioned officers also may not use contemptuous words against senior officials. |
Back in early 2016 we interviewed IRIX about their new line of wide angle primes. Now we are back with some exclusive news and first sample photos. The good news: IRIX are moving from just Ultrawides to primes. Their first lens which was just announced is the IRIX 45mm f/1.4. You can see that lens in the video, it is quite a big lens, and if it holds up to the previous lenses optics it is going to be very interesting. and definitely form some competition to the Tokinas and Samyangs out there. (head over to our previous interview to see why we think the IRIX is such an exciting lens)
We also got to play with the IRIX 11mm f/4 lens which they announced in The Photography Show and were blown away with the sharpness and lack of distortion on that lens (see samples and video below). We tested it on a full frame D810 and shot some of the stands both in landscape and in portrait mode. If you want to get an idea about the distortion, just check the lines along the booth’s walls.
We asked about the mount selection on the IRIX line and it seems like the company is now focusing on Canon, Nikon and Pentax. “No Sony?” we asked and they told us that on one side you can not ignore the quality of Pentax and on the other hand, there is a shortage for good Pentax lenses in the market, so it’s a great opportunity to make Pentax users happy (and win this market). You can still use IRIX lenses on an alpha mount, but you would need an adapter. The company is not ruling out developing a lens specifically for Sony at some point.
Samples from the IRIX 11mm f/4 |
So far, the Olympics have been an open invitation to China-bash, a bottomless excuse for Western journalists to go after the Commies on everything from internet censorship to Darfur. Through all the nasty news stories, however, the Chinese government has seemed amazingly unperturbed. That's because it is betting on this: when the opening ceremonies begin friday, you will instantly forget all that unpleasantness as your brain is zapped by the cultural/athletic/political extravaganza that is the Beijing Olympics.
Like it or not, you are about to be awed by China's sheer awesomeness.
The games have been billed as China's "coming out party" to the world. They are far more significant than that. These Olympics are the coming out party for a disturbingly efficient way of organizing society, one that China has perfected over the past three decades, and is finally ready to show off. It is a potent hybrid of the most powerful political tools of authoritarianism communism -- central planning, merciless repression, constant surveillance -- harnessed to advance the goals of global capitalism. Some call it "authoritarian capitalism," others "market Stalinism," personally I prefer "McCommunism."
The Beijing Olympics are themselves the perfect expression of this hybrid system. Through extraordinary feats of authoritarian governing, the Chinese state has built stunning new stadiums, highways and railways -- all in record time. It has razed whole neighborhoods, lined the streets with trees and flowers and, thanks to an "anti-spitting" campaign, cleaned the sidewalks of saliva. The Communist Party of China even tried to turn the muddy skies blue by ordering heavy industry to cease production for a month -- a sort of government-mandated general strike.
As for those Chinese citizens who might go off-message during the games -- Tibetan activists, human right campaigners, malcontent bloggers -- hundreds have been thrown in jail in recent months. Anyone still harboring protest plans will no doubt be caught on one of Beijing's 300,000 surveillance cameras and promptly nabbed by a security officer; there are reportedly 100,000 of them on Olympics duty.
The goal of all this central planning and spying is not to celebrate the glories of Communism, regardless of what China's governing party calls itself. It is to create the ultimate consumer cocoon for Visa cards, Adidas sneakers, China Mobile cell phones, McDonald's happy meals, Tsingtao beer, and UPS delivery -- to name just a few of the official Olympic sponsors. But the hottest new market of all is the surveillance itself. Unlike the police states of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, China has built a Police State 2.0, an entirely for-profit affair that is the latest frontier for the global Disaster Capitalism Complex.
PHOTO GALLERY
Photos courtesy of Thomas Lee
Chinese corporations financed by U.S. hedge funds, as well as some of American's most powerful corporations -- Cisco, General Electric, Honeywell, Google -- have been working hand in glove with the Chinese government to make this moment possible: networking the closed circuit cameras that peer from every other lamp pole, building the "Great Firewall" that allows for remote internet monitoring, and designing those self-censoring search engines.
By next year, the Chinese internal security market is set to be worth $33-billion. Several of the larger Chinese players in the field have recently taken their stocks public on U.S. exchanges, hoping to cash in the fact that, in volatile times, security and defense stocks are seen as the safe bets. China Information Security Technology, for instance, is now listed on the NASDAQ and China Security and Surveillance is on the NYSE. A small clique of U.S. hedge funds has been floating these ventures, investing more than $150-million in the past two years. The returns have been striking. Between October 2006 and October 2007, China Security and Surveillance's stock went up 306 percent.
Much of the Chinese government's lavish spending on cameras and other surveillance gear has taken place under the banner of "Olympic Security." But how much is really needed to secure a sporting event? The price tag has been put at a staggering $12-billion -- to put that in perspective, Salt Lake City, which hosted the Winter Olympics just five months after September 11, spent $315 million to secure the games. Athens spent around $1.5-billion in 2004. Many human rights groups have pointed out that China's security upgrade is reaching far beyond Beijing: there are now 660 designated "safe cities" across the country, municipalities that have been singled out to receive new surveillance cameras and other spy gear. And of course all the equipment purchased in the name of Olympics safety -- iris scanners, "anti-riot robots" and facial recognition software -- will stay in China after the games are long gone, free to be directed at striking workers and rural protestors.
What the Olympics have provided for Western firms is a palatable cover story for this chilling venture. Ever since the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, U.S. companies have been barred from selling police equipment and technology to China, since lawmakers feared it would be directed, once again, at peaceful demonstrators. That law has been completely disregarded in the lead up to the Olympics, when, in the name of safety for athletes and VIPs (including George W. Bush), no new toy has been denied the Chinese state.
There is a bitter irony here. When Beijing was awarded the games seven years ago, the theory was that international scrutiny would force China's government to grant more rights and freedom to its people. Instead, the Olympics have opened up a backdoor for the regime to massively upgrade its systems of population control and repression. And remember when Western companies used to claim that by doing business in China, they were actually spreading freedom and democracy? We are now seeing the reverse: investment in surveillance and censorship gear is helping Beijing to actively repress a new generation of activists before it has the chance to network into a mass movement.
The numbers on this trend are frightening. In April 2007, officials from 13 provinces held a meeting to report back on how their new security measures were performing. In the province of Jiangsu, which, according to the South China Morning Post, was using "artificial intelligence to extend and improve the existing monitoring system" the number of protests and riots "dropped by 44 per cent last year." In the province of Zhejiang, where new electronic surveillance systems had been installed, they were down 30 per cent. In Shaanxi, "mass incidents" -- code for protests -- were down by 27 per cent in a year. Dong Lei, the province's deputy party chief, gave part of the credit to a huge investment in security cameras across the province. "We aim to achieve all day and all-weather monitoring capability," he told the gathering.
Activists in China now find themselves under intense pressure, unable to function even at the limited levels they were able to a year ago. Internet cafes are filled with surveillance cameras, and surfing is carefully watched. At the offices of a labor rights group in Hong Kong, I met the well-known Chinese dissident Jun Tao. He had just fled the mainland in the face of persistent police harassment. After decades of fighting for democracy and human rights, he said the new surveillance technologies had made it "impossible to continue to function in China."
It's easy to see the dangers of a high tech surveillance state in far off China, since the consequences for people like Jun are so severe. It's harder to see the dangers when these same technologies creep into every day life closer to home-networked cameras on U.S. city streets, "fast lane" biometric cards at airports, dragnet surveillance of email and phone calls. But for the global homeland security sector, China is more than a market; it is also a showroom. In Beijing, where state power is absolute and civil liberties non-existent, American-made surveillance technologies can be taken to absolute limits.
The first test begins today: Can China, despite the enormous unrest boiling under the surface, put on a "harmonious" Olympics? If the answer is yes, like so much else that is made in China, Police State 2.0 will be ready for export.
Read more HuffPost coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games
Read my full report on how U.S. corporations are helping to build China's high tech Police State in Rolling Stone.
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism is now out in paperback. You can find extensive resources related to the book at www.shockdoctrine.org. |
For over a year Arnold Diaz and his Shame Crew have been on the tail of Queens pet dealer Robin Schulder (pictured). The dog breeder uses various websites to sell puppies nationwide, raking in at least $1000 per dog, and allegedly gets them through a 3rd party—though she claims they are from her farm upstate.
The problem is, once they get to their new homes, their new owners realize they are sick. Her dogs have had varying visible signs of illness—suffering seizures, and even dying once delivered. Others reached their new homes blind, but Schulder says they weren't sent in that condition and in turn blames the owners. She also adds this bit of "advice," saying: "live animals get sick, it's not the breeder's fault. If you don't want an animal to get sick, buy a stuffed animal."
Now attorney general Andrew Cuomo is on the case, and has filed a lawsuit against Schulder and her husband; he aims to put them out of business and wants them to give refunds to their victims. Video of the Queens Cruella can be found below... |
A 15-hour flight awaits Noad Lahat on Sunday morning, only hours after he faces Steven Siler on Saturday in a three-round featherweight bout at UFC Fight Night 12 at the SAP Center in San Jose, Calif.
Little good will come of the trip, but Lahat, 30, has few options.
He's headed to war, to join his countrymen in the seemingly never-ending struggle to defend Israel.
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He was born in Alfei Menashe, Samaria, Israel, and has lived his entire life in the country except for those periods since 2009 when he's lived in San Jose during his mixed martial arts training camps.
His preparations for the bout with Siler, though, have been more difficult than normal. He doesn't want to be in the gym. He doesn't want to be in the U.S. His heart and mind are thousands of miles away, on the other side of the world, where his countrymen are fighting the Palestinians in Gaza.
"It's been really hard," Lahat told Yahoo Sports. "I've been on my phone all the time, checking messages, checking the news, stuff like that. The only time I get some peace and get to isolate myself from all of this is when I'm in the gym training.
"When you're sparring, you have to be focused, because the other guy is coming for you. I've been training with Josh Thomson as he gets ready for his fight. He doesn't care if I'm distracted or not focused. He's coming to take my head off."
Noad Lahat works out with Cain Velasquez during a media day workout at the American Kickboxing Academy. (Getty)
Athletes in all sports accept some level of risk, and in a sport where the object is to punch or kick the other person in the head, the level of risk rises greatly.
But it's nothing new for Lahat, who shortly after his return to Israel will rejoin the military to take part in the conflict with the Palestinians.
He was born and raised in Israel and so he has gotten used to the havoc and chaos that permeates life in his homeland.
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He's used to the sirens that periodically shriek to warn of incoming bombs or imminent attacks, urging civilians to flee for shelter.
He's accustomed to bombs exploding in crowded city streets and seeing friends leave to go to war but never return home.
Lahat speaks bluntly but matter-of-factly. It's a part of a Jew's life to fight and defend the homeland, he said.
"I hear it a lot, especially when I'm here in California, because people don't understand how we have to live," he said. "Life here is very good, you know? It's a good life. What do you worry about? Do you worry about paying your mortgage or making the payment on your car? That's not real life. People here in the States, they don't understand real life. Americans are fortunate. In the rest of the world, real life is totally different.
"You don't have to worry about driving in a certain [area] because that population there is hostile. We live knowing we are never safe. You live your life and go about your business every day, but we know [an attack] could come at any point. Everyone has someone or knows someone they've lost [to war]. Everyone. When something happens to one of our soldiers, the whole country feels it."
His parents are both generals. His older brother has been in the military service, as has his sister. His younger brother is preparing to serve.
He understands that by leaving the U.S. and returning home on Sunday, he's putting himself into grave danger. But he never gave a second's consideration to staying in California and waiting out the conflict before returning home.
"The only way we are a safer, stronger country is for us all to be united and fight together to protect our country, and so that's what I'm going to do," Lahat said.
Noad Lahat (L) fights with Shad Smith on Aug. 9, 2013. (Getty)
His father's family, he said, had lived in Yemen for 1,000 years. In 1948, he said his father's grandparents were murdered in their homes simply because neighbors were angry at the Jews. So, Lahat's grandparents scooped up their children and trekked through the desert to return to Israel.
"They ran through the desert to get back home [to Israel]," he said.
At the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, where he trains, he frequently practices with Khabib Nurmagomedov, a Muslim from Dagestan.
They're friends, despite their differences. He posted a picture on Twitter of himself training with Nurmagomedov and immediately faced questions.
"The guy said, 'How is it that you and a Muslim are training together?' " Lahat said. "I said, 'We punch each other really hard. I punch him really hard in the face.' I love him. Every time he comes here to fight, I help him like a brother.
"I don't care what your religion is, I don't care what color you are. For me, none of that really matters. I don't even care about your political views. But if you come against my country, then you're going to have trouble. As long as you're a good person, I don't care. I have Arab friends in Israel. It's not that we have to fight them just because they're Arabs. It's like when the U.S. was at war with the Japanese, the Germans, other Europeans, whoever. You didn't hate every Japanese person."
Lahat said he doubts the Middle Eastern conflict will ever end. He just hopes for what he calls "a cold peace," when the rival nations aren't actually in combat.
But he said because Israel has been under siege for so long, every Israeli understands his or her duty.
"That's what I was saying before about people here [in the U.S.] not really understanding," he said. "It could be calm. It could be peaceful. But at any moment, that could change and we need to be ready to stand up to protect our country at any cost. It's a part of us we all understand and accept." |
The Regional Plan Association has been advocating for better transportation throughout New York City for over 75 years. Now, at a time when subway ridership is nearing an all time high and buses continue to be strongly mediocre, RPA is advancing their plan for an outer-borough rail that would connect The Bronx, Queens, and Brooklyn (and serve way more communities than the Brooklyn-Queens Streetcar.)
"[T]oday, more New Yorkers commute within the outer boroughs than into Manhattan, and the city is gaining more jobs in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island than it is in the urban core," the RPA rationalizes. The Triboro rail line would allow commuters to bypass the circuitous trip through Manhattan, and in some cases significantly reduce their commute times between boroughs.
According to the RPA, over 43 percent of outer borough New Yorkers have to walk more than a quarter mile to the subway, and outer-borough residency is coupled with longer commute times all-around. A survey presented in the Census Transportation Planning Package 2006-2010 found that the average commute from The Bronx to Queens takes 68 minutes. It's a similarly long 63 minutes between Brooklyn and Queens.
The Triboro would run 24 miles between Co-op City and Bay Ridge, with the opportunity to connect to Staten Island in the future. Its route would most significantly impact commutes to and from neighborhoods like Middle Village, East New York, and Co-op City.
The Triboro would "use an existing rail right-of-way, which means it could be built faster and more cheaply than other recent, large-scale transit projects in the New York region," RPA writes. Some of the Triboro would would employ existing freight track used by Amtrak between The Bronx and Queens, and by CSX throughout Queens. As they are now, the lines only carry one to two trains on average a day (per RPA), but by mixing freight and passenger rail could be used up to 21 times daily.
The above-ground line would intersect and connect with 17 existing subway lines and four commuter rail lines, and will also include 24 of its own new stops. RPA estimates that about 100,000 people would take the Triboro daily, which trumps the daily ridership of the Staten Island Ferry by about 30,000 people.
As with all things, the concern is: but how much will this cost? RPA nails the initial estimate at $1 billion to $2 billion (which is, er, pretty lenient) including the cost of installing signals, new track, rail cars and stations, and possibly power substations.
The plan is still in its conceptual phase, but an RPA representative said that the project's development could be partially funded through Move NY, the city's on-the-table plan to add tolls to the Brooklyn and Williamsburg bridges as well as create a surcharge for entering Manhattan by car below 60th Street. |
There’s an impressive legacy of moral hypocrisy on the right. From Mark Foley to Newt Gingrich to David Vitter to Larry Craig to, most recently, Dennis Hastert, the GOP is perpetually plagued by scandals. This is a curious phenomenon, considering that it’s the Republicans, not the Democrats, who fancy themselves the party of family values. It’s clear, though, that their ranks are lined with liars who rarely live by the light of their own values.
Worse still, Mike Huckabee's actions after it was revealed that Josh Duggar sexually abused four of his sisters. Huckabee rushed to the Duggar family's support -- then silently scrubbed their endorsement from his website.
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We ought to view the Republican Party as a case study in overcompensation. It appears the majority of their members moralize in proportion to their sinfulness. Even more annoying, when busted, their response is always to double down on their false convictions. Their hypocrisy and moral failures feel routine at this point. This is unfortunate for a couple of reasons. For one, the public becomes desensitized to this sort of thing, which means the hypocrites are able to survive their scandals.
But more important, the GOP’s posturing has been a persistent obstacle to progress. Wherever attempts have been made to reform racist drug laws or advance civil rights for gay Americans, Republicans have undermined them. If they did so on legal or economic grounds, that would be one thing, but that’s not the case. Instead, they cloak themselves in the language of values, which is all the more astonishing given the immorality of so many Republicans. Because they insist on preaching, because they insist they’re defending family values, we should expect social conservatives to uphold them in their own lives.
I don’t give a damn if Eliot Spitzer cheats on his wife. I don’t care if Anthony Weiner texts pictures of his penis; that’s not my business. Spitzer and Weiner, like most Democrats, aren’t pushing regressive public policies on the basis of their personal moralities. But I do care when Larry Craig, a former Republican and staunch opponent of LGBT rights is found allegedly soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom. And the reason is simple: There’s a glaring contradiction between his public pronouncements and his personal conduct. This man was essential to the passing of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which threatened gay service members with a discharge if they were honest about who they were. If a public official makes a show of his personal virtue, we’re entitled to judge him according to those standards, particularly if those standards stand in the way of social justice.
If Republicans were merely hypocrites, they would be more like the Democrats. The difference is that only Republicans, the party of small government, insist on legislating their morality. That they show themselves, time and again, to be frauds only heightens their offense. The recent Hastert revelations are a reminder that we should be especially suspicious of self-righteous conservatives. Moralizers are typically the least moral, the people who have the most to hide. Those who claim the high ground are rarely who they say they are, and almost always the very thing they pretend not to be; Republicans have made it impossible to forget that.
There is good news, however. As a recent Gallup poll confirmed, the country is changing. There’s no need to convince people like Bobby Jindal and Mike Huckabee that we don’t live in the 19th century. There’s no need to persuade the “family values” crowd that they’re wrong; that their positions on marriage and sex and birth control and civil rights and drug laws are backward and out of step with most Americans. The country is moving forward in spite of their obstinance.
When the zeitgeist shifts, as it has on most of these issues, it becomes embarrassing to hold archaic views. We’ll never be rid of racists, for example, but it’s more difficult to be a racist today than in previous decades. In most places, to self-identify as a racist is to declare one’s self an idiot. This is what social progress looks like, and it’s a consequence of changing cultural norms. The same is true of homophobia. Thirty years ago homophobia was uncontroversial; today it’s tantamount to bigotry. In a decade or so, when the battle for LGBT rights is over, it will be politically untenable (and morally obscene) to deny equal rights to gay people; one waits in vain for Republican to notice this. |
In case you didn’t know..there isn’t any baseball or softball in the Olympics. They didn’t get enough votes to stay in the Games. Which is weird. Considering some of the other sport that are in there. With that being said, check out list this of some of the other SPORTS that used to actually been eliminated over the years from the games?
Tug-of-War.Tug-of-War, which is now pretty much reserved for church picnics, summer camp color wars and “Real World/Road Rules Challenge” events, was an actual Olympic sport. At five Olympics, 1900, ’04, ’08, ’12 and ’20.Olympic tug-of-war was eight-on-eight, and would be won when one team pulled the rope six feet.
Poodle clipping.As this list will show repeatedly, at the second modern Olympic games — 1900 in Paris, France — there was just some crazy shit going on. And nothing exemplifies that to me more than the poodle clipping event.For this event (which was a trial event), 128 competitors assembled at the Bois de Boulogne, a park in western Paris. A giant (for the time) crowd of 6,000-plus watched as they competed to see who could trim the most poodles’ fur in a two hour period. After the Paris Olympics ended, poodle clipping failed to get the votes to become an official Olympic sport. Firefighting.Another trial event from 1900 Paris. It’s not clear what exactly was involved in the firefighting event… like, did they light some random Parisian neighborhood on fire and send all the dudes over there to see who could put their designated house out the quickest?In the volunteer competition, the winner was a team from Portugal; in the professional division, the winner was a group of firefighters from Kansas City. Solo synchronized swimming.Lest you think that all the weird events are from the early 1900s… this should prove that Olympic organizers make strange, strange decisions in the modern era, too. In 1984, ’88 and ’92, there was actually solo synchronized swimming in the Olympics.
Delivery van driving.More from 1900 in Paris. This was another trial event (and tied in with the 1900 World’s Fair that as going on concurrently). The Paris Olympics featured a ton of different motor races, including delivery van driving. French “athletes” got all three medals, although their names aren’t on record.The motor racing event also included small cars, large cars, seven-seat cars, trucks and taxis. Plunge diving.OK, you know how when you were, like, six, you and your friends all stand at the edge of a pool and see who could jump in the furthest? That was once an Olympic event.At the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, there was an event called plunge diving. A diver would stand stationary on the edge of a pool, then, from that stand still, jump as far as possible. Once they got underwater, they could swim forward for up to 60 seconds… or as long as they could keep their head below the surface. Live pigeon shooting.There’s only been one Olympic event in history where animals were (intentionally) harmed. And that was live pigeon shooting, which went down at those absolutely absurd 1900 Paris Olympics.The goal of the event: Stand there with your gun and kill as many pigeons as possible. For the event, more than 300 pigeons were shot and killed… and, apparently, afterwards, there was a ridiculous mess of blood and feathers. At the Paris games that year, there was also a shooting competition centered around shooting running deer… except those were moving cut-outs, not actual animals.
Swimming obstacle race.Now this sounds really cool… and sounds like another thing little kids do in a pool. This is another 1900 Paris event, and took place in the Seine.First, competitors had to swim to a pole, then climb up it, then slide down it. Then they’d swim toward some boats, which they had to climb over. After that, more swimming to more boats… but this time, they had to go under. Overall, they’d swim 200 meters… with a lot of climbing in between.
Rope climbing.This was in four Olympics: 1896, 1904, 1924 and 1932. It was incredibly simple: Just climb to the top. The whole event gives me a funny feeling. Like when I used to climb the rope in gym class.
Water skiing.Water skiing was a demonstration sport at the tragic 1972 Olympics in Munich. There were three different events — slalom, figure skiing and jumping. Apparently it was pretty cool… but there was too much controversy about whether or not water skiing involved any actual athleticism… so water skiing never showed up at the Olympics again.It did become a staple at Sea Worlds, though, so it’s got that going for it. Hot air ballooning.And one more from the 1900 Olympics for good measure. During the Paris Olympics, they held several hot air ballooning events, including distance, duration, elevation and targeted stopping.French competitors won every single event. |
In the world of nonprofit social media, a new strategy is emerging surrounded around data. Social Media Strategist are urging the nonprofit sector to utilize their data to tell a story to increase online presence and donations. However, before an organization can employ their data they must secure and gather it. One option is to have a dedicated server that hosts and secures the organization’s critical data.
From client information to budget plans, a dedicated server can protect your data from attacks while hosting your website. As your social media strategy starts working your server and website will receive an increase in traffic allowing for more opportunities to spread the word on your particular cause, receive donations, and, unfortunately, experience downtime. With a server hosted in a data center, if your server goes down, gets attacked, or runs out of memory an experienced technician is there to help. The security that dedicated servers provide gives you and your client’s privacy meanwhile allowing access to the information you need.
Another benefit of having a dedicated server is monitoring and customization. The monitoring software used will give you another venue to collect data. Have IT support install software that helps you monitor who is visiting your site, donating, and ultimately leaving (it should be noted that Google Analytics offers similar points of data). Figure out who is your niche group by observing your sites traffic. On the other hand, as far as gaining more exposure goes, there are many reasons why a dedicated IP address is important. By hosting your own site on a dedicated IP, you ensure that your site’s IP is not being shared with a website that goes against your core vision and mission.
To show our love and appreciation to nonprofits around the country this Valentine’s Day, Colocation America is offering free dedicated server hosting for a year to five nonprofits who express the need. On behalf of the Colocation America team, we would like to say thanks and send our love to the organizations and people that are trying to make the world a better place one step at a time. To be one of the five organizations please contact pr@colocationamerica.com with information about your organization plus confirmation about your 501(c)3 status and website.
Feel Free to Contact Sam Walt |
One mom in California is being forced to defend herself for being physically fit.
Having a toned body is not normally a controversial topic, but when Maria Kang, a fitness enthusiast, posted a photo of herself in a sports bra and workout shorts alongside her three young sons with the caption "What's Your Excuse?" to her Facebook page, social media uproar ensued.
The photo with her sons, now ages 1, 3 and 4, has garnered more than 12,000 Facebook shares and 16,000 comments, largely coming from critics accusing her of intentionally trying to shame overweight mothers.
"It's a natural response. I'm used to it," Kang, 32, told GoodMorningAmerica.com of the picture she originally posted a year ago. "But it never feels good not being liked. I think people hiding behind their keyboards think I'm not human and I don't have bad days. … That I don't struggle with my weight and cravings and PMS. In this picture, to them, I'm just this person that's never experienced any hardship."
But that couldn't be farther from the truth, she said.
"I grew up with an overweight mother and saw her struggles and that's what inspired me to stay fit," she said. "My mother was admitted into the ER for health related reasons on my wedding day. She really inspired me to take care of myself."
Usually one to "avoid the backlash," Kang chose not to retaliate or respond to the negativity until recently when she received a personal, extremely hurtful email.
"It said I should be ashamed of myself and that I should take down my Facebook profile picture," Kang recalled. "It said I'm a shame to women. It was deep and hurtful."
Instead of letting herself feel attacked, Kang used the email she called "ridiculous," for the greater good, deciding to focus on the positive aspects of motherhood, using her message to inspire others.
She took to Facebook, where the controversy began, to issue her "First and Final Apology" to the influx of new followers she received calling her a "bully," saying she's "fat-shaming," and telling her she needs "to apologize for the hurt" she's caused women.
Kang wrote: "I'm sorry you took an image and resonated with it in such a negative way. I won't go into details that I struggled with my genetics, had an eating disorder, work full time owning two business', have no nanny, am not naturally skinny and do not work as a personal trainer. I won't even mention how I didn't give into cravings for ice cream, french fries or chocolate while pregnant or use my growing belly as an excuse to be inactive. What I WILL say is this. What you interpret is not MY fault. It's Yours. The first step in owning your life, your body and your destiny is to OWN the thoughts that come out of your own head. I didn't create them. You created them. So if you want to continue 'hating' this image, get used to hating many other things for the rest of your life. You can either blame, complain or obtain a new level of thought by challenging the negative words that come out of your own brain."
Although the apology elicited countless more amounts of backlash and negative critique, there were also plenty of women in support of Kang, posting comments such as, "You go girl!," "Love this!! Inspiration!," and "U go Maria! [You're] an inspiration to me, no apologies needed!"
The positivity she received gave Kang the strength to stand up to her enemies, who, according to her, mistook the message that was only ever intended to inspire mothers to be the best they can be.
"No matter how many children you have, especially when you're working and trying to maintain your shape, you don't' have to lose yourself in becoming a mother," she explained. "You can still maintain a sense of self physically and professionally. If I can do it, you can do it." |
Numerous historical examples have demonstrated that attempting to go to war in Afghanistan isn’t really the best plan, what with the tricky geography and all, yet here we are, eight years into just that very scenario. Along with the landscape-oriented issues, The Wall Street Journal has noted yet another reason that this war is dragging on without a clear end in sight: Afghanistan happens to be the place a relatively large percentage of angry young men call home at the moment. — KA
The Wall Street Journal:
How can a politically divided population of today 33 million provide enough fighters to resist the NATO countries, which have a combined population of nearly one billion? How can the Afghans challenge such military behemoths? Or, to put it differently, why do Russia and NATO win easily against mini-powers such as Georgia or Serbia, but find it hard to defeat mini-powers such as Chechnya or Afghanistan? What do the Afghans have that both the other mini-powers and the big powers are lacking? The answer is in the dynamics of a rapidly growing population.
Decade after decade, the women of Afghanistan have been averaging three to four sons each. This means even if an Afghan family loses two or more boys on the battlefield—”disposable sons”—it still has one or two male offsprings at home to carry the family into the next generation. Russian soldiers in 1979, however, were likely to be only sons. Statistically, that is also true for American soldiers in 2009, and is true as well for the soldiers of Serbia and Georgia that have quickly shrinking and ageing populations.
Read more |
Documentary which goes to the heart of climate scepticism to examine the key arguments against man-made global warming and tries to understand the people who are making them.
Filmmaker Rupert Murray takes us on a journey into the heart of climate scepticism to examine the key arguments against man-made global warming and to try to understand the people who are making them.
Do they have the evidence that we are heating up the atmosphere or are they taking a grave risk with our future by dabbling in highly complicated science they don't fully understand? Where does the truth lie and how are we, the people, supposed to decide?
The film features Britain's pre-eminent sceptic Lord Christopher Monckton as he tours the world broadcasting his message to the public and politicians alike. Can he convince them and Murray that there is nothing to worry about? |
When you stop and sort through the biggest NBA headlines of the past week and a half — Jimmy Butler being traded to the Timberwolves, Chris Paul becoming a Houston Rocket, Oklahoma City shocking the league by picking up Paul George, and now four-time All-Star Paul Millsap joining the increasingly fun Denver Nuggets — you might notice a trend. The best players are all either going to or staying in the Western Conference.
Nearly a quarter of last season’s Eastern Conference All-Star roster has gone west this offseason while no 2017 Western All-Stars have gone east, at least so far. In a way, LeBron James is to blame: He has bludgeoned his Eastern Conference competition so badly in the past seven years that several of those franchises have given up on competing with him in the near future and begun teardowns. The Eastern conference as a whole won just 45 percent of its contests against the West last season (a 37-win pace over 82 games), and things can only get worse from here.
This could very well be the biggest top-end talent disparity we’ve seen between the conferences since the NBA-ABA merger took place before the 1976-77 season. Depending on whether Utah free agent Gordon Hayward moves to an Eastern team, either 22 or 23 of the top 30 players going into next season will be in the West. Hayward is choosing between the Miami Heat, Boston Celtics and Utah Jazz, who this past season made their first playoff appearance since 2012. But even if Hayward signs with Boston or Miami, the East will still only be home to eight of the league’s top 30 players next season, the lowest total for a conference in the modern era. Likewise, the West would eclipse the previous high-water mark of 21 top-30 players, which was set before the 2003-04 season — in which the West had six 50-win teams, while the East had just two.
We ranked the NBA’s best players by calculating a three-year rolling average of each player’s key value metrics: Box Plus/Minus, Win Shares per 48 minutes and Player Efficiency Rating. After isolating the top 30 players (including ties) after each season, we tracked how many were in each conference just before the start of the following season.
Things haven’t always looked so dire for the East. Right after the merger and through most of the 1980s, the Eastern Conference featured the majority of the league’s top players; then the conferences were relatively even for another 10 years or so, until Michael Jordan retired after the 1997-98 season. From roughly that point on, the West has been slowly accumulating more than its share of great talent, culminating in what looks to be a historic imbalance next season:
As problematic as the imbalance might be in this coming season — a season that a lot of eastern clubs may decide to punt on, given how easily the Cavs figure to win the conference — the issue seemingly stems from the way these clubs perform in the draft. A quick look at the top 20 players from last season, for instance, reveals that 17 of them began their careers with teams out west — James, Butler and Kyrie Irving are the lone exceptions.
There are other, nonsystemic reasons that the East has less top talent than it should. Two of the biggest are Derrick Rose’s history of injuries, which changed the trajectory of his career before he reached what should have been his physical prime, and the career-threatening health condition that has indefinitely sidelined Chris Bosh, who was one of the league’s most well-rounded players even while playing third fiddle to James and Dwyane Wade in Miami.
We don’t yet know how the season will play out. But if this summer is any indication, we shouldn’t expect all that much noise from the Eastern Conference during the 2017-18 campaign. The league can only cross its fingers and hope that LeBron, who will be a free agent in 2018, doesn’t decide to join the party out west. If he does, we might see nothing but tumbleweeds east of the Mississippi. |
Searching For a New Normal
By: MJ Boice, Staff Writer
For some, transition from military service back to the civilian world is complicated and difficult. But the one thing all service members and their families have in common is that they’ll all leave the military at some point. How do some families transition seamlessly, while others struggle?
With a military spouse unemployment rate of 23%, military members are leaving the service with an already shaky financial foundation, and losing their pay and other allowance benefits can increase that financial instability. Roles and responsibilities within marriages will change and family dynamics will shift, whether welcomed or not.
And unfortunately, there’s a gap between the support families receive while actively serving in the military and support they need when they no longer have access to those resources. Service members and their families who use free counseling through military installations, for example, are no longer able to use those services after leaving the military. Instead, they’re left to find civilian providers, or worse, they don’t find anything at all.
Service members who have left military service say losing the daily comradery from their brothers and sisters in arms can increase the stress, anxiety, isolation and loneliness associated with transition. Others feel these emotions as they struggle to join the workforce outside of the military. Unable to cope with the assumed pressure and challenges of transitioning out of the military, staggering statistics say veterans are more likely to commit suicide within the first year of leaving the military than any other time period.
So what can help alleviate or reduce the transition challenges before they lead to mental health issues or service member suicide?
One study suggests that peer support, such as veterans groups or receiving transition advice from other veterans who have “been in their boots,” may be critical to transitioning successfully with their military families.
The study also encourages use of a broad peer program for transition navigation that is not focused solely on the mental health aspect of getting out of the military. Instead, potential peer programs could focus on transitioning service members creating informal relationships with potential battle buddies who are currently or have already separated from the military.
Aside from navigating the complex logistics involved with getting out, there is little information available to military families on coping with the search for their ‘new normal’ after military service. We recommend visiting the website Make The Connection to learn more about the emotional toll of transitioning out of the military.
Has your service member or family experienced struggles as you left military service? What resources helped your family’s journey? We’d love to hear your story.
Posted October 17, 2017 |
Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2010 February 18
Vesta Near Opposition
Credit & Copyright: Jimmy Westlake
Explanation: Main belt asteroid 4 Vesta is at its brightest now. The small world is near opposition (opposite the Sun in the sky) and closest to Earth. But even at its brightest, Vesta is just too faint to spot with the naked-eye. Still, over the next few days it will be relatively easy to find in the constellation Leo, sharing a typical binocular field of view with bright star Gamma Leonis (aka Algieba). In fact on February 16 Vesta passed between Gamma Leonis and close neighbor on the sky 40 Leonis. Gamma Leonis is the brightest star in these two panels, while the second brightest star, 40 Leonis, is directy to its right. As marked, Vesta is the third brightest "star" in the field. Vesta shifts position between the two panels from well below 40 Leonis on Feb. 14 to near the top of the frame from Feb. 16, shooting the gap between the close Gamma/40 Leonis pair. Of course, premier close-up views of the asteroid will be possible after the ion-powered Dawn spacecraft arrives at Vesta in August of 2011. |
Gaze at the sky for long enough and you'll notice its piercing shade of baby blue mature into an azure wash that slowly gives way to an electric indigo. Watch for long enough and you'll see day dip into night until the wee hours when light pierces the sky once again.
Of course, this entire jaw-dropping yet time consuming phenomenon requires around 24 hours to behold. Unless you're looking at a GIF, of course, where the stunning transformation occurs in a matter of seconds.
Fong Qi Wei made our unusual time-passing fantasy scenario a reality with "Time in Motion," a series of hypnotic GIFs that capture the passage of time in a single moving image. To create the metropolitan mashups, the artist took photos at various times of day from a single vantage point, capturing not only the changes in light but also the passing cars, illuminated windows, passersby, etc.
Wei collapsed the various visual moments into a kaleidoscopic fluid collage, turning the city into a personal lava lamp. The visual loops, spinning to eternity, show the circular motion of time's passage as well as the consistent nature of change. Yup, these are some deep GIFs. |
On Wednesday evening, Shabir Ahmad Mungoo, a resident of Shar-e-Shali village in the saffron-rich Khrew area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama district, was discussing his 15-month-old son’s health with his father, when the Indian Army barged into their house and starting beating him.
“We had just finished dinner and were sitting in his (Ahmad’s) room. All of a sudden there was noise outside and the army entered our house. They dragged my son out and started beating him mercilessly. We tried to stop soldiers, but they kicked us and whisked him away,” said Wali Muhammad Mungoo, father of the slain Ahmad.
According to the Jammu and Kashmir Police, protesters had pelted stones at army vehicles earlier in the day, and a scuffle had broken out.
Wali said the soldiers were carrying knives, iron rods and axes and unleashed a reign of terror.
Ahmad, 30, was a college lecture he had been teaching as an ad hoc lecturer for the past four years in the nearby college. His father said he was dragged out of the house by solders of the army’s 50 Rashtriya Rifles, who also looted saffron worth Rs 30 lakh from the homes of locals, alleged the residents. They said that Ahmad was beaten to death by the army in a nocturnal raid, while dozens others received injures.
“The army threw iron rods at the high-tension lines and the electricity went out in the entire area. They then started entering every house and beating up everyone who came in their way,” Wali said.
Residents said the army took four people, including the sarpanch Abdul Ahad Sheikh and Ahmad, along. On Thursday morning, the dead body of Ahmad was handed over to the family by hospital authorities.
Lieutenant-General Satish K Dua, Chinar Corps commander, told reporters in Srinagar on Thursday that the death of Ahmad was “regrettable”, but also said that it was a joint patrol.
“Last night's incident is regrettable. It was during a joint patrol that the death took place. But I assure you, we will investigate the incident," said the Chinar Corps commander.
However, the police said it was not part of the patrol and refuse to hand over the body of Ahmad to his family after the army asked for it.
The police sought details about Ahmad’s death that the Army refused to divulge. The soldiers later managed the ambulance that ferried Ahmad’s body to his home.
After being taken away along with two other men, Ahmad was taken to an army camp in Pampore, where two other men from his village were already present. Abdul Ahad Sheikh, who was also taken to the army camp, said Ahmad was not able to stand on his feet as he had been beaten badly, and was continuously vomiting.
When the army handed over four people, including Sheikh to the Pampore police station, the police refused to take custody of Ahmad and others as they were badly injured.
“Minutes later, Ahmad asked for a glass of water. He drank some water and fell down, and collapsed. We could feel he had breathed his last,” Sheikh said. The body of Shabir was taken to the Sub-District Hospital, Pampore where doctors declared him 'dead-on-arrival'. Doctors at the hospital said he died of cardiac arrest caused by intense beating.
National Conference leader Yawar Masoodi said the forces comprising the army, CRPF and SOG cordoned the village Shar-e-Shali at around 10 pm when the residents were asleep and beat them up mercilessly till 2 am.
“The forces after breaking open the doors and windows entered residential houses and attacked men, women and children. In the crackdown, scores of people were injured and property worth lakhs was damaged," Masoodi said.
“At least 200 houses were damaged while 100 people were beaten to a pulp. We have never seen such atrocities of the army before. It seemed the soldiers were drunk,” another resident, said.
On the hospital bed inside Srinagar’s SMHS hospital, Fayaz Ahmad Mir’s body is completely bruised. His face is the only part of his body that doesn’t have bruises and cuts.
“They were drunk and shouting azadi slogans,” Mir said, while referring to soldiers who, “when they came to the village, first starting shouted slogans and when people tried to find out what was happening, they entered homes and beat them up.”
While holding Ahmad’s 15-month-old son, Nouman, in his lap on Thursday inside his house, Wali said this was the second tragedy he has had to face in two years after losing his wife in 2014. She was hit by an army vehicle in the Lethpora area, on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, after which she died.
“I am old man now and I don’t know how to take care of Ahmad's wife and this child now,” Wali added.
Awanitipora superintendent of police, Zahid Malik, said as per his reports, people pelted stones at army vehicles and a scuffle broke out. “Some people were later arrested. Four people were injured and one of them died,” he said.
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Claiming he received a sign from God, former GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson endorses Donald Trump.
Mediaite reports that at a press conference Friday in which Carson announce his endorsement of Donald Trump, Carson was asked what part God played in his decision to back the real estate titan-turned-presidential frontrunner. Carson replied that there had been all sorts of signs from God, including a vision that came to an unidentified friend, then added that Hillary Clinton is of the devil:
Reporter: You said throughout your life God has led you to your most important decisions. This truly is an important decision. Did God lead you to Donald Trump? Carson: I prayed about it a lot, and I got a lot of indications, people calling me that I haven’t talked to for a long time saying, I had this dream about you and Donald Trump — I mean, just amazing things…
After meandering a bit Carson then launches into an attack on Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, declaring:
Hillary Clinton was a great friend of Saul Alinsky. On a first-name basis with him as a student. He wrote the book “Rules for Radicals” and if you haven’t read it, I recommend that you read it, and see the kinds of things that are recommended to change, fundamentally change, this nation from the great success we have to a socialist country. And the dedication page of that book says, dedicated to Lucifer, the original radical who gained his own kingdom. I don’t want anything to do with anything like that.
While it is not surprising for a Christian conservative to compare Hillary Clinton to the devil, Carson’s endorsement is puzzling to many, especially given the fact that Trump had savagely attacked Carson on the campaign trail.
The Hill reports Carson’s decision to endorse Trump has divided his supporters, with many expressing shock and anger over the move on social media, with many supporters expressing their frustration on Carson’s Facebook page Friday. One wrote:
Can’t believe you chose to support the one candidate who mocks God and is definitely not a Christian. Very disappointed in you and have lost much respect.
Another wrote:
I voted for you even though I knew you wouldn’t win my area’s primary. Confusing why you would support a person who mocks God by saying he doesn’t have to ask for forgiveness and disparages minorities including the disabled and women.
Another wrote:
Honestly I feel used. I feel like you sold out. You speak of Party as if it has relevance in the kingdom. I am hurt and feel like you have used the flag of Christ to sell out for political gain. I will never support Donald Trump.
Maybe instead of blaming Carson, those conservative Christians should blame God. After all, according to Carson, Trump is now God’s candidate.
Watch Carson speak at Friday’s press conference – |
Blogs DOJ Releases Confidential Information; Verizon/Cable Deal As Bad As We Thought August 23, 2012
As we process the FCC’s approval of the deal between Verizon, Comcast, and other cable companies, it’s worth taking a closer look at the actual agreements, based on the details that the Department of Justice (DOJ) recently released in its analysis of the deal. Although the DOJ expressed concerns about the deals it still decided to approve it.
On August 16, 2012 the Department of Justice announced its approval of the Verizon/SpectrumCo Deal, a disappointing outcome for those of us fighting for greater competition in the broadband marketplace. Check out Jodie Griffin’s thorough analysis for a full rundown of Public Knowledge’s concerns with the DOJ approval, including the conditions imposed on Verizon and the cable companies.
The DOJ also released a Competitive Impact Statement that it filed along with its Proposed Final Judgment in the antitrust proceeding. This Statement includes previously confidential details about the deals, which is disappointing to read given the DOJ’s approval and lackluster conditions. Everything the DOJ mentions in this Statement further emphasizes PK’s position that this deal is bad for consumers and potentially crippling for innovation in the broadband and wireless marketplaces.
The commercial agreements allow Verizon Wireless and the cable companies to (1) cross-market each other’s services; (2) create a new company for them to develop new products and services that integrate wireline and wireless services; and (3) create a future option for each of the cable companies to operate a virtual wireless network using Verizon Wireless’s network. The DOJ found these agreements violate provisions of the Sherman Act and unreasonably “restrain trade and commerce.”
Here are some of the DOJ Statement’s observations about the most anticompetitive consequences of the Verizon/Cable deal. The commercial agreements:
Harm competition in the video, broadband, and wireless markets because they impair the ability and incentives for Verizon and the cable companies to compete aggressively against each other. Contractually require Verizon to have a financial incentive to market and sell the cable companies’ products through Verizon Wireless channels in the same local geographic markets where Verizon also sells FiOS. Unreasonably diminish competition between Verizon and the cable companies—competition that is critical to maintaining low prices, high quality, and continued innovation. Unreasonably diminish future incentives to compete for product and feature development pertaining to the integration of broadband, video, and wireless services. Unreasonably restrain the ability of the cable companies to offer wireless services on a resale basis. Unreasonably restrain competition due to ambiguities in certain terms regarding what Verizon can and cannot do to compete in the marketplace. The aspects of the JOE unreasonably reduce the companies’ incentives and ability to compete on product and feature development, and create an enhanced potential for anticompetitive coordination.
Below are several provisions in the agreements that the DOJ identified as potentially harmful for competition in the broadband, video, and wireless services markets.
Verizon Wireless Selling Cable Companies’ Products Even in Areas where FiOS is Available
Currently, Verizon offers its voice, video and broadband FiOS service in certain parts of the country where one of the cable companies also sells the same services. In these areas there are two separate companies offering the same services and competing for the same customers. Hooray, competition!
However, under the commercial agreements, Verizon Wireless (which is majority-owned by Verizon Communications) would sell its own services AND a cable company’s services in two competing quad-play offerings. There would literally be a situation where Verizon Wireless would sell its wireless service and Comcast quad play services in one corner and would sell Verizon Wireless and Verizon FiOS services in another corner.
Essentially, Verizon would have been joining with a competitor AND competing against itself in a house-divided scenario that even the DOJ defines as an “unusual structure.”
Verizon Wireless Selling Its Services along with Its Competitors’ Services
The commercial agreements include an explicit restraint on Verizon FiOS sales and mandate that Verizon Wireless may not market or sell Verizon FiOS services unless it also offers the cable companies’ services on an “equivalent basis.” According to the DOJ Statement, this “equivalent basis” provision restricts Verizon’s ability to “offer, promote, market, and sell FiOS services in competition with the Cable Defendants’ services through any Verizon Wireless distribution channel.”
In other words, Verizon (A) can’t sell its own products and services unless it also promotes its (former) competitors’ products and services at the same time, and (B) can’t plug its own products over the cable company’s products. Imagine Ford and Chevy joining together in a small town where they’re the only two dealerships around for miles. Now imagine that Ford can’t sell its own cars unless it also promotes Chevys to the same degree. What if those two jointly decide to raise the price of their products? Who would match or beat the other’s lowest offer to provide a competitive alternative? Oh that’s right, no one.
Cable Guys NOT Allowed to Partner with Other Wireless Companies
The commercial agreements include a long-term exclusivity provision that prohibits the cable companies from partnering with any other wireless company. What if T-Mobile wants to join with the cable guys and utilize more of its recently acquired spectrum? Too bad, this deal prohibits it. What if there’s a smaller wireless company like MetroPCS that could benefit from a quad-play arrangement in select markets? Unfortunately, MetroPCS would also be SOL. If there were a new entrant into the wireless marketplace that could benefit from this arrangement, the new entrant would also be locked out of the deal.
After a Period of Four Years, Cable Companies May Resell Wireless Services on Verizon’s Network Under Their Own Name
Cable companies will eventually be able to resell wireless services on the Verizon network after four years under the name of their new joint venture.
Behold, the Joint Operating Entity (the JOE)
Finally, the commercial agreements creates a Joint Operating Entity (the JOE), which is a joint research and development venture to generate and market integrated wireline and wireless technologies, like new ways to stream online video. As long as Verizon Wireless, Comcast, Time Warner Cable, and Bright House Networks remain in the JOE none of them can independently research or develop products or services within the JOE’s exclusive field, even on projects that the JOE declines to pursue.
Members of the JOE have exclusive use of the technology developed within the JOE and that privilege potentially may be extended to other cable companies that also agree to sell Verizon Wireless services. So much for innovative cross-carrier handsets in the wireless marketplace.
We cannot state it any plainer: the Verizon/Cable deal is anticompetitive and bad for consumers. Public Knowledge made the same argument in our Petition to Deny several months ago and has been reiterating ever since. The findings in the DOJ’s Competitive Impact Statement only validate our argument.
The FCC and DOJ seem poised to impose a number of conditions designed to decrease the companies’ anticompetitive incentives and avoid opportunities for collusion. However, as we mentioned in our August 16 press release, the DoJ and the FCC acknowledge the failure of broadband competition policy in the United States. Verizon and the cable companies scored a huge victory last week. Unfortunately, the consumers, competitive pricing, and wireless innovation were the ones they defeated.
Check back with the PK Policy Blog for forthcoming information on the FCC’s decision. |
Board Director Compensation Trends in Healthcare
Director compensation among middle market public companies is up 12 percent in fiscal year 2013, a significant jump from the 3 percent increase in the previous year, according to an analysis of 600 companies conducted by BDO USA, LLP, a leading accounting and consulting organization.
Average healthcare director compensation climbed to $163,069 in fiscal year 2013, an 11 percent increase over fiscal 2012, when director compensation at $146,636, had remained essentially unchanged over the year before. This year’s healthcare compensation increase is equal to the mode of the increases seen across the eight industries surveyed. Retail and banking directors saw the lowest increases, at 2 percent and 4 percent, respectively, while non-banking financial services director compensation increased at an average of 36 percent.
Healthcare Continues to Rank Third in Overall Compensation
Similar to last year, average total director compensation in the healthcare sector continues to fall just behind that found in the energy and technology sectors. While there is no year-over-year spike in compensation in the sector, the strong overall director compensation levels reflect a need to attract board talent that has the skills and experience to effectively manage a risky business environment that may see increased merger and acquisition activity and continued regulatory compliance challenges.
Pay Mix Favors Equity |
To The Mountain Horse
“His sire was Spain; His dam, the Nez-perce. Legs forged on granite anvils; Heart forged by the mountains.
Kin to the bighorn With clever hoof and infinite eye. Drinker of the wind, the dawn-singer, Kin to the elk.
Enduring, gaunt, rock-worn, Lacking titled rank or registry, His labors win the noble heights And the consort of eagles.” – John Madson, From The Elk, 1966
There is no better way to hunt elk or mule deer in the high Rocky Mountains than by horseback or mule, yet working with pack animals is fast becoming a lost art. Still, there are still some diehards out there, so hats off to all of you pack-in hunters.
Mountain hunting holds a certain romance and allure all its own, and a large part of the experience depends on how you get there. Some prefer horses, others say that mules may be better. But then again, I think I will stay out of that argument.
Still, from what little I know about mules, they always seem to be playing chess when everyone else is playing checkers. They are definitely smart, and so sure-footed too! As many of you know, that can be particularly comforting when your life literally depends on the careful placement of hooves on stone.
Check out this short video for some basic tips.
– Video courtesy of Dave Massender. See Dave’s Youtube Channel Here.
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Posted by Michael Patrick McCarty
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Making almond milk is one of the easiest things in the world. It is not expensive either, given that you only need 150 grs. of almonds to make about a litre of milk.
It has a very subtle taste, therefore you can use it as a milk substitute in smoothies, baked goods, porridge, and even when making your coffee or hot chocolate.
Almond milk even looks like milk and it does not taste like almonds at all.
This is a great dairy-free milk substitute. Here are 5 reasons you may want to give it a try:
1.- Low in calories: A glass of almond milk has a fraction of the calories present in cow’s milk. There are 60 calories in a glass of almond milk while a glass of whole milk has 146 calories. Even skimmed cow’s milk has more calories: 86.
2.- No cholesterol: Unlike cow’s milk , almond milk has no cholesterol.
3.- Good for the heart: Almond milk is low in sodium and high in healthy fats, such as omega fatty acids (commonly found in fish) which help prevent high blood pressure and heart disease.
4.- Good for your skin: Almond milk is rich in vitamin E (provides 50% of the recommended daily amount) which protects your skin from sun damage and other external factors.
There seems to be a connection between dairy and acne, even though there hasn’t been a definitive study to prove 100% that this is the case, there is proof enough that doctors are recommending patients that suffer from acne to stop their intake of dairy. Most patients seem to react favourably to a dairy free diet.
I can testify to this, as soon as I go back to dairy on a regular basis my face gets irritated and populated by all sorts of red pimples.
I keep a healthy diet in general, so I’m aware of the changes in my body when I eat something I shouldn’t. Having a coffee with milk once a week is not a big deal, but as soon as I have milk daily, say with cereals or porridge in the morning, boom! acne and reddish skin.
In an article he wrote for a medical journal in 2008, F. William Danby, MD, a skin expert who promotes the possible dairy-acne connection, explained how the two may be related: milk contains components related to the hormone testosterone that may stimulate oil glands in the skin, setting the stage for acne.
Dairy also causes your skin to produce excess sebum (oil), leading to – yes! – more clogged pores, more acne, and a breeding ground for P. acnes bacteria, which feed on your sebum and spew out inflammatory by-products.
So, if you suffer from acne, you may want to cut back on your dairy intake and see what happens. You might be surprised!
5.- Keeps your bones healthy: Shop-bought almond milk usually has added calcium and vitamin D (you can check this on your milk carton as it varies from brand to brand) and offers about 30 percent of the recommended daily amount of calcium, as well as 25 percent of the recommended amount of vitamin D, reducing your risk for arthritis and osteoporosis and improving your immune function. These two nutrients also work together to provide healthy bones and teeth formation.
Bear in mind that the amount of calcium in shop-bought almond milk is smaller than that on cow’s milk (and is even smaller in home-made almond milk), so if you are thinking about replacing cow’s milk altogether, you may want to add some other calcium rich foods to your diet, such as broccoli, sardines, kale, spinach or sesame seeds, in order to keep a healthy intake of calcium.
Almond milk has also less protein than cow’s milk, but we normally get enough protein (from meats, eggs, nuts and tofu) anyway.
This was going to be a short post, but I have difficulty in keeping things short! Must be the writer in me 😉
Here is the recipe.
Ingredients for a litre of milk:
150 grs. of almonds.
300 ml of water to activate the almonds.
800 ml of fresh water to make the almond milk.
Update 14/8: I’ve been playing with different ratios of almonds to water and came to the conclusion that using 50grs more almonds and 200 ml less water makes for a more nutritious almond milk without altering the flavour too much, so I’ve changed the original recipe which was: 100grs almonds to 1L water.
How to:
1.- The night before place the almonds in a bowl or jar and cover with some water (300ml should be enough). This activates the almonds: they are dormant seeds, so by putting them in water they are woken up and all their goodness is released. Next morning you’ll find that the water has a brownish colour:
2.- Discard the water, place the almonds in a blender and add 800 ml of fresh water. If, like me, you only have a hand-held blender don’t worry, this part will be a bit more awkward but it can be done. Place the almonds in a jar and add the water.
3.- Now all you have to do is blend! You’ll notice that the water turns a bright white. Lovely!
4.- Now it’s time to filter it. You can use a cheese cloth, a tea strainer or even a cafetière (sounds odd, I know, and it is a bit messy, but it still works).
You’ll end up with some almond residue which you can further use in fillings or soups.
And voilà! That’s all!
You can keep your almond milk for up to 4 days in the fridge. Use it to make porridge, chilled with cacao powder for a refreshing iced chocolate drink, mixed with granola for a healthy breakfast, use it to produce creamy mashes, or even to bake spongy muffins.
Note: The more almonds the thicker your milk and the stronger the flavour. Some recipes call for a lot more almonds per litre of water. I prefer my milk to be liquid and with a mild flavour so that I can use it in cooking. But you can adjust the quantities to suit your taste.
Some people add sugar or vanilla essence when they blend the almonds, you can do it too but that will change the calorie content and the flavour.
Why don’t you start using your home-made almond milk in this lovely banana smoothie?
Have a great day!
Pau |
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A view of the Krishna Raja Sagara Dam built on the Cauvery. Bengaluru consumes 50% of Cauvery water reserved for domestic use in Karnataka. As much as 49% of this water supplied is what is called “non-revenue water” or “unaccounted for water”, i.e. water lost in distribution.
As Karnataka continues its legal battle over the Cauvery, the state’s capital–almost entirely dependent on the river–wastes half the water it receives, according to an IndiaSpend analysis of water-use data.
The only Indian city that wastes water at a greater rate is Kolkata.
Every Bangalorean—8.5 million people live in India’s third most populous city–should get 150 lt of water per day. But what she gets is 65 lt, the equivalent of four flushes of a toilet. Water is supplied, on average, thrice a week. The situation in Bengaluru is likely to worsen.
Over the next nine years, the city’s water demand is predicted to be three times more than supply.
Its population density 13 times higher than Karnataka’s average, Bengaluru consumes 50% of Cauvery water reserved for domestic use in Karnataka. As much as 49% of this water supplied is what is called “non-revenue water” or “unaccounted for water”, i.e. water lost in distribution, according to the Bengaluru Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) data.
“Inequitable supply to different parts of the city–ranging from one-third to three times the average per capita daily supply–makes this worse,” Krishna Raj, associate professor at the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bengaluru, and author of this 2013 paper on the city’s water supply system, told IndiaSpend.
Bengaluru’s water loss is the second highest among Indian metros: Kolkata leads at 50%. The wastage figure for Mumbai is 18%, New Delhi, 26% and Chennai, 20%. Across the world, cities lose only about 15 to 20% of their supply, said the ISEC study, which pegged Bengaluru’s losses at 48 per cent three years ago.
Former BWSSB chairman, T M Vijaybhaskar, admitted to a loss of about 46% water at a conference in February 2016. “Of 1,400 MLD (million litres per day) of water pumped to the city, 600 MLD goes to waste,” he said.
Widespread leaks and theft across Bengaluru
The ISEC paper attributed the wastage to two types of distributional losses: First, damages and leakages in the water supply system and, second, unauthorised water connections.
“Water leakages largely take place at distribution mains, service pipes and stand posts and together account for 88.5 per cent of water spillover, the rest being low leakages at main valve, meter joint stop valve, ferrule, air valve and others,” the paper said. “This huge loss is directly attributed to the water seepage at various stages of supply.”
Of the 270 thousand million cubic ft (TMC) of Cauvery water allotted to Karnataka by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, Raj estimated that, roughly, about 80% is used for agriculture and industry (down from over 90% in 2007). This leaves about 20% for rural and urban domestic use, of which Bengaluru records the highest demand.
The city receives about 19 TMC of Cauvery water. Recently, the Karnataka state urban development department provisionally raised supply by an additional 10 TMC to meet the needs of 110 villages added to the metropolitan area in 2007. A formal proposal to raise the city’s water supply to 30 TMC from the Cauvery basin has been forwarded to the central government.
60% of water supply budget spent on pumping water over 100 km
Sourced from a distance of 100 km, up to a height of 540 m, the BWSSB spends nearly 60% of its budget in pumping water to the Bengaluru metropolitan region. With groundwater reserves overexploited and polluted, and its other two ageing reservoirs–the 120-year-old Heseraghatta and 83-year-old Thippegondanahalli of Cauvery’s Arkavathi tributary–unreliable, Bengaluru is almost entirely dependent on the disputed river.
Source: Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board
The large water losses, which ISEC has recorded for the last five years at least, offset any efforts to augment water supply through various stages of Cauvery river water supply projects. Thus, efforts to enhance per capita water availability to 150 lt per capita per day (LPCD) to meet World Health Organization (WHO) and Central Public Health and Environmental Organisation (CPEEHO) standards remain unfulfilled.
“After Stage IV Phase II of the Cauvery Water Supply Scheme (CWSS) was commissioned recently, Bengaluru now receives 1,350 MLD of water daily,” said Raj. “For the city’s population of 8.5 million (Census 2011), this quantity officially raises per capita water availability to 158.82 lt, which is more than sufficient to meet the WHO and CPEEHO standards.”
If unaddressed, the situation is only likely to worsen. In nine years, the city’s demand (currently 1,575 MLD) is estimated to rise by 71%, while the supply (currently 1,350 MLD) will rise only by a third, thereby tripling the demand-supply gap, according to the ISEC study of water demand and availability.
Source: The Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru
By 2031, Bengaluru’s water supply will reach its optimum level (2,070 MLD) and stay there while the city’s water demands rise further in the decades thereafter widening the shortfall progressively, showed BWSSB data.
Source: Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board
“Whenever the demand for water exceeds supply, urban water utilities quickly design water supply strategies, giving little importance to demand control or management. Failure of water supply authorities to incorporate demand-side factors in their policies leads to ‘system-collapse’ or ‘institutional failure’,” the 2013 paper said.
“As per the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal award, Karnataka receives lesser water per sq km–1 TMC of water is distributed over 134 sq km here, whereas in Tamil Nadu, it is supplied to 116 sq km,” Raj said. “Add to this, there is inefficiency and inequity in Bengaluru’s supply which must be addressed.”
(Saldanha is an assistant editor with IndiaSpend.)
We welcome feedback. Please write to respond@indiaspend.org. We reserve the right to edit responses for language and grammar.
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Together, we can do more to help horses
Horse owners allege Archer Daniels Midland Company poisoned their horses to death with monensin-contaminated horse feed. A class-action suit was filed Tuesday.
Plaintiffs Beth Berarov and Annelisa Bindra filed the complaint in Northern Illinois Federal Court on behalf of a class of over 100 ADM horse-feed purchasers against ADM Alliance Nutrition, Inc. and its billion-dollar parent company, ADM. They are seeking damages of over $5 million for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and products liability.
Monensin, an ionophore, is highly poisonous to horses and affects the heart and skeletal muscles. The level of toxicity is dose and individual dependent. There is no antidote for monensin poisoning.
Symptoms of monensin toxicity may include colic, sweating, muscle wasting, bloating, kidney failure, damage to the heart, respiratory distress, stiffness, and the inability to stand. Once a horse has ingested monensin, the damage is irreversible, and treatment is supportive.
Monensin is an inexpensive feed additive that helps cattle improve weight gain and control internal parasites.
The FDA requires all feeds containing monensin to have the warning: “Do not allow horses or other equines access to feed containing monensin. Ingestion of monensin by horses has been fatal.”
Cross-contamination in the milling process of equine feed, due to human error or mechanical failure, can expose horses to varying amounts of monensin. ADM manufactures its horse feed in the same facility where medicated feed containing monensin is produced, according to the suit.
The lawsuit details the losses of Michigan business owner Beth Berarov. She fed ADM SENIORGLO to the horses at Moonlyte Equestrian Center in Carleton. In March 2015, several horses became ill and showed symptoms of tying up after little or no exertion, tachycardia, irritability, lethargy, and severe weight loss.
Of 19 horses, nine have been euthanized due to the ill effects of eating monensin contaminated horse feed. Necropsy reports reveal the horses suffered permanent cardiac and skeletal muscle damage.
South Carolina ADM feed contaminated?
South Carolina horse owner Annelisa Bindra stabled her horse Dakota at Camelot Farms in Beaufort. Dakota and another horse began exhibiting signs of colic, dehydration, and other digestive issues after eating ADM Alliance 12% Pellets and Patriot 12% Supreme Performance horse feeds. Both horses died two days later. Other horses at the boarding stable died or suffered irreversible health complications.
ADM makes GROSTRONG vitamin-mineral products. It also makes JUNIORGLO, PRIMEGLO, SENIORGLO, and POWERGLO premium blend equine feeds along with Ultra-Fiber and Patriot fortified equine feeds. The MOORGLO or HEALTHY GLO high-fat supplements round out the equine product line.
‘Doing what’s right for the horse’ is the company’s slogan, but the suit alleges ADM’s equine marketing materials and packaging fails to disclose the risks associated with monensin cross-contamination issues for horses.
ADM continues to deny there is an issue.
“We believe the claims are meritless, and we will vigorously defend ourselves,” ADM spokeswoman Jackie Anderson tells us in a statement. “Our processes comply with FDA guidelines, and we are confident that our feeds are safe.”
The plaintiffs are seeking refunds and damages, actual and punitive, for the loss or damage to their horses. They are also seeking an order requiring ADM to modify their manufacturing process to avoid the risk of monensin cross-contamination to horses in the future.
Are you a horse owner seeking justice after your horses ate contaminated horse feed? click here |
DARBY, Pa. - A doctor wounded by a patient in a deadly shooting Thursday afternoon at a suburban hospital campus in Darby, Pa. returned fire and wounded the patient, authorities said.
Investigators believe the doctor had his own gun and acted in self-defense, Delaware County District Attorney Jack Whelan said.
The patient, who had psychiatric problems, opened fire after entering the doctor's office with a caseworker Thursday afternoon, Whelan said. The female caseworker was killed. The doctor appears to have suffered only a graze wound and was expected to be released from treatment later in the day.
Authorities have not publicly identified the gunman or his two victims. CBS Philly reports Whalen said the gunman was shot three times. Both the doctor and the suspect were taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for treatment, according to the station.
The shootings occurred on the third floor of a wellness center attached to Mercy Fitzgerald Hospital in Darby, just southwest of Philadelphia. The center, which does not have metal detectors, is attached to the hospital by a pedestrian bridge.
Just what led to the shooting was unknown, Whalen said. Two guns were recovered, and the shooting was still being investigated.
"The scene is secure. Everyone is safe," Whelan told a late afternoon news conference.
The 213-bed teaching hospital is part of the Mercy Health System, a large Catholic health care network serving the region. |
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April 28, 2015, 2:58 PM GMT / Updated April 28, 2015, 7:26 PM GMT / Source: NBC News
LOS ANGELES — Bumble Bee Foods and two managers were charged by Los Angeles prosecutors Monday with violating safety regulations in the death of a worker who was cooked in an industrial oven with tons of tuna.
Jose Melena was performing maintenance in a 35-foot-long oven at the company's Santa Fe Springs plant before dawn Oct. 11, 2012, when a co-worker, who mistakenly believed Melena was in the bathroom, filled the pressure cooker with 12,000 pounds of canned tuna and it was turned on.
When a supervisor noticed Melena, 62, was missing, an announcement was made on the intercom and employees searched for him in the facility and parking lot, according to a report by the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health. His body was found two hours later after the pressure cooker, which reached a temperature of 270 degrees, was turned off and opened.
The company, its plant Operations Director Angel Rodriguez and former safety manager Saul Florez were each charged with three counts of violating Occupational Safety & Health Administration rules that caused a death.
The charges specify that the company and the two men willfully violated rules that require implementing a safety plan, rules for workers entering confined spaces, and a procedure to keep machinery or equipment turned off if someone's working on it.
Rodriguez, 63, of Riverside, and Florez, 42, of Whittier, could face up to three years in prison and fines up to $250,000 if convicted of all charges, prosecutors said. Bumble Bee Foods faces a maximum fine of $1.5 million. Prosecutions of workplace violations are uncommon — even in fatalities.
— The Associated Press |
Barack Obama is, unquestionably, a Star Trek fan. Given the chance to take a photo with the original Lieutenant Uhura, Nichelle Nichols, the president will raise a Vulcan salute and flash a smile befitting a visiting dignitary. He did the same upon meeting Leonard Nimoy, and when the actor passed away last year, Obama eulogized him by saying “I loved Spock.”
Yes, Obama, who was the guest editor for our November issue, spent his childhood watching and re-watching Star Trek. But for the leader of the free world, his fandom goes beyond unbridled enthusiasm for gadgets and space travel. As he said in an interview with Editor-in-Chief Scott Dadich and MIT’s Joi Ito, Star Trek is more than a story of intergalactic adventure. It “was really talking about a notion of a common humanity and a confidence in our ability to solve problems.”
As much as Star Trek was about space travel and futuristic world-building and intergalactic domination, it celebrated curiosity and teamwork—values that inform innovative exploration from the Enterprise to NASA to Silicon Valley. “What made the show lasting was it wasn’t actually about technology,” Obama says. “It was about values and relationships.”
As Obama sees it, approaching the unknown with resourcefulness and discipline and optimism is what made Star Trek so good—and what makes America great, too. “That is what I love most about America … that spirit of ‘oh, we can figure this out,'” he says. “If we ever lose that spirit, then we’re gonna lose what is essential about America and what I think is essential about being human.”
Like the crew of the Enterprise, America combines logic, emotion, optimism, and practicality. “Part of figuring it out is being able to work across barriers and differences,” Obama says, articulating a vision of the US that is especially compelling during this election cycle. “There’s a certain faith in rationality, tempered by some humility.”
After all, says the president, “We’ve all got a little bit of Spock and a little bit of Kirk and a little bit of Scotty, maybe some Klingon in us, right?” If we can use our differences to approach the future with America’s inimitable brand of capable optimism, Obama believes, we just might live long and prosper. |
Hillary Clinton has blamed almost everyone and everything imaginable for her election loss to Donald Trump except herself.
She has blamed so many things that we were forced to create a short list of all the people and things Hillary has blamed for her election loss.
1. FBI Director James Comey. Clinton blamed Comey, who released a letter just ten days before the election, for reopening a second investigation into her email server.
2. Russia. Clinton hurled quite a bit of blame at Russia for “meddling” in the election when they allegedly hacked the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and her campaign chairman John Podesta in order to release damaging emails to the public.
3. WikiLeaks. Clinton blamed WikiLeaks, who has no proven connection to Russia or Russian hackers, for their involvement in publishing thousands of emails from her personal accounts as well as John Podesta’s.
4. Sen. Bernie Sanders. Clinton did laugh when she blamed Sanders for her election loss, but she was also kind of serious, too. Clinton was asked to what extent she would assign to Sanders for pushing the narrative on her emails on voters. Clinton looked at her watch in the interview and said, “How much time do we have?”
Also important to note that Donna Brazile, a CNN commentator, was busted twice for leaking debate questions to the Hillary campaign and not to Bernie Sanders. So it is possible Clinton is still mad at Bernie for pushing her so hard during the primaries.
5. Misogyny. In the interview below, Clinton said: “Certainly, misogyny played a role. And that just has to be admitted, and why and what the underlying reasons for that, is what I’m trying to figure out myself,” she said.
“I think in this election there was a very real struggle between what is viewed as change that is welcomed and exciting to so many Americans and change which is worrisome and threatening to so many others,” she said, adding, “You layer on the first woman president over that, and I think some people, women included, had big problems.”
Clinton thinks people didn’t vote for her because she is a woman. Sad!
6. Her Campaign members. According to an excerpt from the book, “Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign,” both Bill and Hillary blamed almost all of the senior campaign officials for failing to push her message, prepare her for debates, and develop a viable campaign strategy in key swing states.
To compare to that list, here’s how many times Hillary spoke about how she was personally to blame for her own loss: zero.
Hillary never once highlighted that her entire campaign strategy was terrible. We could go on and on about “pay for play” scandals, her tenure at the State Department when she approved weapons deals in exchange for donations to her foundation, her private email server, Benghazi, that she never set foot in Wisconsin, or how she framed her campaign in the most narcissistic way possible with the phrase “I’m With Her” instead of “I’m With You [voters].”
Clinton failing to acknowledge any of that is breathtaking, but it is exactly why she lost.
Sure, the election was long ago and we all should move on. But when she appears in the political spotlight and tries to blame everyone and everything else for her election loss, that has to be called out.
Here’s the interview she sat down for at the 2017 Women in the World Summit where she gave a majority of these excuses: |
GLENN BECK: I hate to say these things, and it pains me to say these. First of all, we should start with this. Progressives, liberals, whoever on the other side, I will admit I was wrong about the war in Iraq. I really thought we could bring peace and justice and freedom and all of that stuff. You didn't. You were right. People have to want it and they have to earn it themselves.
Now, because of that, I'm not willing to spend any more treasure -- we spent $2 trillion. How many lives have been lost? You are never going to bring freedom there. You're never going to do it. They have to want it. When the Iraqis are just walking away, when the commanders are walking away from the fight, you can't fight for them. And I don't want to fight for them. |
About three years ago I wrote an article analyzing the memory usage of arrays in PHP 5. As part of the work on the upcoming PHP 7, large parts of the Zend Engine have been rewritten with a focus on smaller data structures requiring fewer allocations. In this article I will provide an overview of the new hashtable implementation and show why it is more efficient than the previous implementation.
To measure memory utilization I am using the following script, which tests the creation of an array with 100000 distinct integers:
$startMemory = memory_get_usage (); $array = range ( 1 , 100000 ); echo memory_get_usage () - $startMemory , " bytes
" ;
The following table shows the results using PHP 5.6 and PHP 7 on 32bit and 64bit systems:
| 32 bit | 64 bit ------------------------------ PHP 5.6 | 7.37 MiB | 13.97 MiB ------------------------------ PHP 7.0 | 3.00 MiB | 4.00 MiB
In other words, arrays in PHP 7 use about 2.5 times less memory on 32bit and 3.5 on 64bit (LP64), which is quite impressive.
Introduction to hashtables
In essence PHP’s arrays are ordered dictionaries, i.e. they represent an ordered list of key/value pairs, where the key/value mapping is implemented using a hashtable.
A Hashtable is an ubiquitous data structure, which essentially solves the problem that computers can only directly represent continuous integer-indexed arrays, whereas programmers often want to use strings or other complex types as keys.
The concept behind a hashtable is very simple: The string key is run through a hashing function, which returns an integer. This integer is then used as an index into a “normal” array. The problem is that two different strings can result in the same hash, as the number of possible strings is virtually infinite while the hash is limited by the integer size. As such hashtables need to implement some kind of collision resolution mechanism.
There are two primary approaches to collision resolution: Open addressing, where elements will be stored at a different index if a collision occurs, and chaining, where all elements hashing to the same index are stored in a linked list. PHP uses the latter mechanism.
Typically hashtables are not explicitly ordered: The order in which elements are stored in the underlying array depends on the hashing function and will be fairly random. But this behavior is not consistent with the semantics of PHP arrays: If you iterate over a PHP array you will get back the elements in the exact order in which they were inserted. This means that PHP’s hashtable implementation has to support an additional mechanism for remembering the order of array elements.
The old hashtable implementation
I’ll only provide a short overview of the old hashtable implementation here, for a more comprehensive explanation please see the hashtable chapter of the PHP Internals Book. The following graphic is a very high-level view of how a PHP 5 hashtable looks like:
The elements in the “collision resolution” chain are referred to as “buckets”. Every bucket is individually allocated. What the image glosses over are the actual values stored in these buckets (only the keys are shown here). Values are stored in separately allocated zval structures, which are 16 bytes (32bit) or 24 bytes (64bit) large.
Another thing the image does not show is that the collision resolution list is actually a doubly linked list (which simplifies deletion of elements). Next to the collision resolution list, there is another doubly linked list storing the order of the array elements. For an array containing the keys "a", "b", "c" in this order, this list could look as follows:
So why was the old hashtable structure so inefficient, both in terms of memory usage and performance? There are a number of primary factors:
Buckets require separate allocations. Allocations are slow and additionally require 8 / 16 bytes of allocation overhead. Separate allocations also means that the buckets will be more spread out in memory and as such reduce cache efficiency.
Zvals also require separate allocations. Again this is slow and incurs allocation header overhead. Furthermore this requires us to store a pointer to a zval in each bucket. Because the old implementation was overly generic it actually needed not just one, but two pointers for this.
The two doubly linked lists require a total of four pointers per bucket. This alone takes up 16 / 32 bytes.. Furthermore traversing linked lists is a very cache-unfriendly operation.
The new hashtable implementation tries to solve (or at least ameliorate) all of these problems.
The new zval implementation
Before getting to the actual hashtable, I’d like to take a quick look at the new zval structure and highlight how it differs from the old one. The zval struct is defined as follows:
struct _zval_struct { zend_value value ; union { struct { ZEND_ENDIAN_LOHI_4 ( zend_uchar type , zend_uchar type_flags , zend_uchar const_flags , zend_uchar reserved ) } v ; uint32_t type_info ; } u1 ; union { uint32_t var_flags ; uint32_t next ; /* hash collision chain */ uint32_t cache_slot ; /* literal cache slot */ uint32_t lineno ; /* line number (for ast nodes) */ } u2 ; };
You can safely ignore the ZEND_ENDIAN_LOHI_4 macro in this definition - it is only present to ensure a predictable memory layout across machines with different endianness.
The zval structure has three parts: The first member is the value . The zend_value union is 8 bytes large and can store different kinds of values, including integers, strings, arrays, etc. What is actually stored in there depend on the zval type.
The second part is the 4 byte type_info , which consists of the actual type (like IS_STRING or IS_ARRAY ), as well as a number of additional flags providing information about this type. E.g. if the zval is storing an object, then the type flags would say that it is a non-constant, refcounted, garbage-collectible, non-copying type.
The last 4 bytes of the zval structure are normally unused (it’s really just explicit padding, which the compiler would introduce automatically otherwise). However in special contexts this space is used to store some extra information. E.g. AST nodes use it to store a line number, VM constants use it to store a cache slot index and hashtables use it to store the next element in the collision resolution chain - that last part will be important to us.
If you compare this to the previous zval implementation, one difference particularly stands out: The new zval structure no longer stores a refcount. The reason behind this, is that the zvals themselves are no longer individually allocated. Instead the zval is directly embedded into whatever is storing it (e.g. a hashtable bucket).
While the zvals themselves no longer use refcounting, complex data types like strings, arrays, objects and resources still use them. Effectively the new zval design has pushed out the refcount (and information for the cycle-collector) from the zval to the array/object/etc. There are a number of advantages to this approach, some of them listed in the following:
Zvals storing simple values (like booleans, integers or floats) no longer require any allocations. So this saves the allocation header overhead and improves performance by avoiding unnecessary allocs and frees and improving cache locality.
Zvals storing simple values don’t need to store a refcount and GC root buffer.
We avoid double refcounting. E.g. previously objects both used the zval refcount and an additional object refcount, which was necessary to support by-object passing semantics.
As all complex values now embed a refcount, they can be shared independently of the zval mechanism. In particular it is now also possible to share strings. This is important to the hashtable implementation, as it no longer needs to copy non-interned string keys.
The new hashtable implementation
With all the preliminaries behind us, we can finally look at the new hashtable implementation used by PHP 7. Lets start by looking at the bucket structure:
typedef struct _Bucket { zend_ulong h ; zend_string * key ; zval val ; } Bucket ;
A bucket is an entry in the hashtable. It contains pretty much what you would expect: A hash h , a string key key and a zval value val . Integer keys are stored in h (the key and hash are identical in this case), in which case the key member will be NULL .
As you can see the zval is directly embedded in the bucket structure, so it doesn’t have to be allocated separately and we don’t have to pay for allocation overhead.
The main hashtable structure is more interesting:
typedef struct _HashTable { uint32_t nTableSize ; uint32_t nTableMask ; uint32_t nNumUsed ; uint32_t nNumOfElements ; zend_long nNextFreeElement ; Bucket * arData ; uint32_t * arHash ; dtor_func_t pDestructor ; uint32_t nInternalPointer ; union { struct { ZEND_ENDIAN_LOHI_3 ( zend_uchar flags , zend_uchar nApplyCount , uint16_t reserve ) } v ; uint32_t flags ; } u ; } HashTable ;
The buckets (= array elements) are stored in the arData array. This array is allocated in powers of two, with the size being stored in nTableSize (the minimum value is 8). The actual number of stored elements is nNumOfElements . Note that this array directly contains the Bucket structures. Previously we used an array of pointers to separately allocated buckets, which means that we needed more alloc/frees, had to pay allocation overhead and also had to pay for the extra pointer.
Order of elements
The arData array stores the elements in order of insertion. So the first array element will be stored in arData[0] , the second in arData[1] etc. This does not in any way depend on the used key, only the order of insertion matters here.
So if you store five elements in the hashtable, slots arData[0] to arData[4] will be used and the next free slot is arData[5] . We remember this number in nNumUsed . You may wonder: Why do we store this separately, isn’t it the same as nNumOfElements ?
It is, but only as long as only insertion operations are performed. If an element is deleted from a hashtable, we obviously don’t want to move all elements in arData that occur after the deleted element in order to have a continuous array again. Instead we simply mark the deleted value with an IS_UNDEF zval type.
As an example, consider the following code:
$array = [ 'foo' => 0 , 'bar' => 1 , 0 => 2 , 'xyz' => 3 , 2 => 4 ]; unset ( $array [ 0 ]); unset ( $array [ 'xyz' ]);
This will result in the following arData structure:
nTableSize = 8 nNumOfElements = 3 nNumUsed = 5 [0]: key="foo", val=int(0) [1]: key="bar", val=int(1) [2]: val=UNDEF [3]: val=UNDEF [4]: h=2, val=int(4) [5]: NOT INITIALIZED [6]: NOT INITIALIZED [7]: NOT INITIALIZED
As you can see the first five arData elements have been used, but elements at position 2 (key 0 ) and 3 (key 'xyz' ) have been replaced with an IS_UNDEF tombstone, because they were unset . These elements will just remain wasted memory for now. However, once nNumUsed reaches nTableSize PHP will try compact the arData array, by dropping any UNDEF entries that have been added along the way. Only if all buckets really contain a value the arData will be reallocated to twice the size.
The new way of maintaining array order has several advantages over the doubly linked list that was used in PHP 5.x. One obvious advantage is that we save two pointers per bucket, which corresponds to 8/16 bytes. Additionally it means that iterating an array looks roughly as follows:
uint32_t i ; for ( i = 0 ; i < ht -> nNumUsed ; ++ i ) { Bucket * b = & ht -> arData [ i ]; if ( Z_ISUNDEF ( b -> val )) continue ; // do stuff with bucket }
This corresponds to a linear scan of memory, which is much more cache-efficient than a linked list traversal (where you go back and forth between relatively random memory addresses).
One problem with the current implementation is that arData never shrinks (unless explicitly told to). So if you create an array with a few million elements and remove them afterwards, the array will still take a lot of memory. We should probably half the arData size if utilization falls below a certain level.
Hashtable lookup
Until now we have only discussed how PHP arrays represent order. The actual hashtable lookup uses the second arHash array, which consists of uint32_t values. The arHash array has the same size ( nTableSize ) as arData and both are actually allocated as one chunk of memory.
The hash returned from the hashing function (DJBX33A for string keys) is a 32-bit or 64-bit unsigned integer, which is too large to directly use as an index into the hash array. We first need to adjust it to the table size using a modulus operation. Instead of hash % ht->nTableSize we use hash & (ht->nTableSize - 1) , which is the same if the size is a power of two, but doesn’t require expensive integer division. The value ht->nTableSize - 1 is stored in ht->nTableMask .
Next, we look up the index idx = ht->arHash[hash & ht->nTableMask] in the hash array. This index corresponds to the head of the collision resolution list. So ht->arData[idx] is the first entry we have to examine. If the key stored there matches the one we’re looking for, we’re done.
Otherwise we must continue to the next element in the collision resolution list. The index to this element is stored in bucket->val.u2.next , which are the normally unused last four bytes of the zval structure that get a special meaning in this context. We continue traversing this linked list (which uses indexes instead of pointers) until we either find the right bucket or hit an INVALID_IDX - which means that an element with the given key does not exist.
In code, the lookup mechanism looks like this:
zend_ulong h = zend_string_hash_val ( key ); uint32_t idx = ht -> arHash [ h & ht -> nTableMask ]; while ( idx != INVALID_IDX ) { Bucket * b = & ht -> arData [ idx ]; if ( b -> h == h && zend_string_equals ( b -> key , key )) { return b ; } idx = Z_NEXT ( b -> val ); // b->val.u2.next } return NULL ;
Lets consider how this approach improves over the previous implementation: In PHP 5.x the collision resolution used a doubly linked pointer list. Using uint32_t indices instead of pointers is better, because they take half the size on 64bit systems. Additionally fitting in 4 bytes means that we can embed the “next” link into the unused zval slot, so we essentially get it for free.
We also use a singly linked list now, there is no “prev” link anymore. The prev link is primarily useful for deleting elements, because you have to adjust the “next” link of the “prev” element when you perform a deletion. However, if the deletion happens by key, you already know the previous element as a result of traversing the collision resolution list.
The few cases where deletion occurs in some other context (e.g. “delete the element the iterator is currently at”) will have to traverse the collision list to find the previous element. But as this is a rather unimportant scenario, we prefer saving memory over saving a list traversal for that case.
Packed hashtables
PHP uses hashtables for all arrays. However in the rather common case of continuous, integer-indexed arrays (i.e. real arrays) the whole hashing thing doesn’t make much sense. This is why PHP 7 introduces the concept of “packed hashtables”.
In packed hashtables the arHash array is NULL and lookups will directly index into arData . If you’re looking for the key 5 then the element will be located at arData[5] or it doesn’t exist at all. There is no need to traverse a collision resolution list.
Note that even for integer indexed arrays PHP has to maintain order. The arrays [0 => 1, 1 => 2] and [1 => 2, 0 => 1] are not the same. The packed hashtable optimization only works if keys are in ascending order. There can be gaps in between them (the keys don’t have to be continuous), but they need to always increase. So if elements are inserted into an array in a “wrong” order (e.g. in reverse) the packed hashtable optimization will not be used.
Note furthermore that packed hashtables still store a lot of useless information. For example we can determine the index of a bucket based on its memory address, so bucket->h is redundant. The value bucket->key will always be NULL , so it’s just wasted memory as well.
We keep these useless values around so that buckets always have the same structure, independently of whether or not packing is used. This means that iteration can always use the same code. However we might switch to a “fully packed” structure in the future, where a pure zval array is used if possible.
Empty hashtables
Empty hashtables get a bit of special treating both in PHP 5.x and PHP 7. If you create an empty array [] chances are pretty good that you won’t actually insert any elements into it. As such the arData / arHash arrays will only be allocated when the first element is inserted into the hashtable.
To avoid checking for this special case in many places, a small trick is used: While the nTableSize is set to either the hinted size or the default value of 8, the nTableMask (which is usually nTableSize - 1 ) is set to zero. This means that hash & ht->nTableMask will always result in the value zero as well.
So the arHash array for this case only needs to have one element (with index zero) that contains an INVALID_IDX value (this special array is called uninitialized_bucket and is allocated statically). When a lookup is performed, we always find the INVALID_IDX value, which means that the key has not been found (which is exactly what you want for an empty table).
Memory utilization
This should cover the most important aspects of the PHP 7 hashtable implementation. First lets summarize why the new implementation uses less memory. I’ll only use the numbers for 64bit systems here and only look at the per-element size, ignoring the main HashTable structure (which is less significant asymptotically).
In PHP 5.x a whopping 144 bytes per element were required. In PHP 7 the value is down to 36 bytes, or 32 bytes for the packed case. Here’s where the difference comes from:
Zvals are not individually allocated, so we save 16 bytes allocation overhead.
Buckets are not individually allocated, so we save another 16 bytes of allocation overhead.
Zvals are 16 bytes smaller for simple values.
Keeping order no longer needs 16 bytes for a doubly linked list, instead the order is implicit.
The collision list is now singly linked, which saves 8 bytes. Furthermore it’s now an index list and the index is embedded into the zval, so effectively we save another 8 bytes.
As the zval is embedded into the bucket, we no longer need to store a pointer to it. Due to details of the previous implementation we actually save two pointers, so that’s another 16 bytes.
The length of the key is no longer stored in the bucket, which is another 8 bytes. However, if the key is actually a string and not an integer, the length still has to be stored in the zend_string structure. The exact memory impact in this case is hard to quantify, because zend_string structures are shared, whereas previously hashtables had to copy the string if it wasn’t interned.
structure. The exact memory impact in this case is hard to quantify, because structures are shared, whereas previously hashtables had to copy the string if it wasn’t interned. The array containing the collision list heads is now index based, so saves 4 bytes per element. For packed arrays it is not necessary at all, in which case we save another 4 bytes.
However it should be clearly said that this summary is making things look better than they really are in several respects. First of all, the new hashtable implementation uses a lot more embedded (as opposed to separately allocated) structures. How can this negatively affect things?
If you look at the actually measured numbers at the start of this article, you’ll find that on 64bit PHP 7 an array with 100000 elements took 4.00 MiB of memory. In this case we’re dealing with a packed array, so we would actually expect 32 * 100000 = 3.05 MiB memory utilization. The reason behind this is that we allocate everything in powers of two. The nTableSize will be 2^17 = 131072 in this case, so we’ll allocate 32 * 131072 bytes of memory (which is 4.00 MiB).
Of course the previous hashtable implementation also used power of two allocations. However it only allocated an array with bucket pointers in this way (where each pointer is 8 bytes). Everything else was allocated on demand. So in PHP 7 we loose 32 * 31072 (0.95 MiB) in unused memory, while in PHP 5.x we only waste 8 * 31072 (0.24 MiB).
Another thing to consider is what happens if not all values stored in the array are distinct. For simplicity lets assume that all values in the array are identical. So lets replace the range in the starting example with an array_fill :
$startMemory = memory_get_usage (); $array = array_fill ( 0 , 100000 , 42 ); echo memory_get_usage () - $startMemory , " bytes
" ;
This script results in the following numbers:
| 32 bit | 64 bit ------------------------------ PHP 5.6 | 4.70 MiB | 9.39 MiB ------------------------------ PHP 7.0 | 3.00 MiB | 4.00 MiB
As you can see the memory usage on PHP 7 stays the same as in the range case. There is no reason why it would change, as all zvals are separate. On PHP 5.x on the other hand the memory usage is now significantly lower, because only one zval is used for all values. So while we’re still a good bit better off on PHP 7, the difference is smaller now.
Things become even more complicated once we consider string keys (which may or not be shared or interned) and complex values. The point being that arrays in PHP 7 will take significantly less memory than in PHP 5.x, but the numbers from the introduction are likely too optimistic in many cases.
Performance
I’ve already talked a lot about memory usage, so lets move to the next point, namely performance. In the end, the goal of the phpng project wasn’t to improve memory usage, but to improve performance. The memory utilization improvement is only a means to an end, in that less memory results in better CPU cache utilization, resulting in better performance.
However there are of course a number of other reasons why the new implementation is faster: First of all we need less allocations. Depending on whether or not values are shared we save two allocations per element. Allocations being rather expensive operations this is quite significant.
Array iteration in particular is now more cache-friendly, because it’s now a linear memory traversal, instead of a random-access linked list traversal.
There’s probably a lot more to be said on the topic of performance, but the main interest in this article was memory usage, so I won’t go into further detail here.
Closing thoughts
PHP 7 undoubtedly has made a big step forward as far as the hashtable implementation is concerned. A lot of useless overhead is gone now.
So the question is: where we can go from here? One idea I already mentioned is to use “fully packed” hashes for the case of increasing integer keys. This would mean using a plain zval array, which is the best we can do without starting to specialize uniformly typed arrays.
There’s probably some other directions one could go as well. For example switching from collision-chaining to open addressing (e.g. using Robin Hood probing), could be better both in terms of memory usage (no collision resolution list) and performance (better cache efficiency, depending on the details of the probing algorithm). However open-addressing is relatively hard to combine with the ordering requirement, so this may not be possible to do in a reasonable way.
Another idea is to combine the h and key fields in the bucket structure. Integer keys only use h and string keys already store the hash in key as well. However this would likely have an adverse impact on performance, because fetching the hash will require an additional memory indirection.
One last thing that I wish to mention is that PHP 7 improved not only the internal representation of hashtables, but also the API used to work them. I’ve regularly had to look up how even simple operations like zend_hash_find had to be used, especially regarding how many levels of indirection are required (hint: three). In PHP 7 you just write zend_hash_find(ht, key) and get back a zval* . Generally I find that writing extensions for PHP 7 has become quite a bit more pleasant.
Hopefully I was able to provide you some insight into the internals of PHP 7 hashtables. Maybe I’ll write a followup article focusing on zvals. I’ve already touched on some of the difference in this post, but there’s a lot more to be said on the topic. |
When it comes to deflation, mainstream economics becomes not the science of common sense, but the science of nonsense. Most economists today are quick to say, “a little inflation is a good thing,” and they fear deflation. Of course, in their personal lives, these same economists hunt the newspapers for the latest sales.
The person who epitomizes this fear of deflation best is Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve. His interpretation of the Great Depression has greatly biased his view against deflation. It is true that the Great Depression and deflation went hand in hand in some countries; but, we must be careful to distinguish between association and causation, and to correctly assess the direction of causation. A recent study by Atkeson and Kehoe spanning a period of 180 years for 17 countres found no relationship between deflation and depressions. The study actually found a greater number of episodes of depression with inflation than with deflation. Over this period, 65 out of 73 deflation episodes had no depression, and 21 out of 29 depressions had no deflation.
The main argument against deflation is that when prices are falling, consumers will postpone their purchases to take advantage of even lower prices in the future. Of course, this is supposed to reduce current demand, which will cause prices to fall even further, and so on, and so on, until we have a deflation-depression spiral of the economy. The direction of causation is clear: deflation causes depressions. You can find this argument in almost all introductory economics textbooks. The St. Louis Fed recently wrote:
“While the idea of lower prices may sound attractive, deflation is a real concern for several reasons. Deflation discourages spending and investment because consumers, expecting prices to fall further, delay purchases, preferring instead to save and wait for even lower prices. Decreased spending, in turn, lowers company sales and profits, which eventually increases unemployment.”
There are several problems with this argument. The first is that, regardless of how low prices of consumer goods are expected to fall, people will always consume some quantity in the present and in order to do so, they therefore need to spend in the present on investment to ensure the flow of consumer goods into the future. We can see that many high technology products have had brisk demand despite living in a deflationary environment. Apple has been able to sell its latest version of the iPhone, although most people expect the same phone to be much cheaper in six months.
The second mistake with this argument is that it assumes that we base our expectations only on the past. Falling prices makes us anticipate prices to continue to fall. Of course, our expectations are based on a multitude of factors, of which past prices is just one. I am sure that the economists at the Fed are surprised that we did not react to lower interest rates as we did after the dot com bubble of 2001. Human actions simply cannot be modeled as you would the reactions of lab rats in a biology experiment.
A third mistake is that if we are consuming less, we must be saving more. Investment must therefore be higher. Therefore increased saving that can lead to deflation does not reduce aggregate demand but simply alters the composition of demand. The demand for consumption goods will decline, to be replaced with demand for capital goods. If anything, this will lead to growth and more consumption goods in the future, since the economy has more capital to work with.
Growth lowers prices: that is a good thing. The period of the greatest growth in the U.S. during the nineteenth century, from 1820 to 1850 and from 1865 to 1900, was associated with significant deflation. In those two cases, prices were cut in half.
Let me explain this point with a very uncomplicated example. Suppose you have 10 pencils and $10. What is the price of a pencil? It can’t be $2 since we would have pencils that remain unsold, so the price would tend to fall. It can’t be 50 cents since people would have money and nothing to buy. Prices would be bid up. This would lead to equilibrium where pencils would be sold for $1 each. Now suppose we double the amount of pencils, so we have 20 pencils and $10. The price will fall from $1 to 50 cents. Other things being equal, including the stock of money, the price will be cut in half, falling prices here is very positive since our dollars now give us more goods and services. It reflects society’s ability to push out the bounds of scarcity. We can never conquer scarcity, or all prices would be zero, but falling prices shows that we are winning this crucial battle. More goods and services for all is a good thing and deflation reflects this additional abundance.
Now let’s talk about the deflation which causes such fears in so many economists. Suppose the production cost of a pencil is 80 cents. The rate of return is 25 percent. Now suppose people hoard $5 and stuff money in their mattress instead of saving it. The price of a pencil will again be cut in half, falling from $1 to 50 cents. If input prices also fall to 40 cents per pencil then there is no problem since the rate of return is still 25 percent. What economists fear is that input prices are sticky, and don’t adjust to output prices, so that firms produce at 80 cents and sell at 50 cents. This leads to bankruptcies, unemployment, and falling output, so now we may only be producing 8 pencils, which causes more hoarding, more bankruptcies, and so on, and so on. You get the picture. To avoid this, most economists advocate that the government print $5, keeping the price of pencils steady at $1, and avoiding a deflationary-depression spiral in the economy.
Of course, there are also some major problems with this little story. There is always a certain amount of stickiness in both input and output prices. You don’t want to have to constantly renegotiate your salary, nor do you want to constantly check on the hourly ticket price of the latest movie. So what is important is the lag existing between changes in output prices and input prices. If the lag is not long, then the policy solution described above may not be necessary and counterproductive. Also, entrepreneurs survive by forecasting output prices and then bidding for the inputs to be able to make a profit. This would suggest that the lag is probably relatively short.
Also, the printing of money is distortive. When the government adds $5 to the economy, it is not neutral. It initially benefits those that receive the money first, the government and banks, and penalizes the late receivers of the money, the wage earners and the poor. The printing of money and its associated price effect is the reverse of Robin Hood, taking from the poor to give to the rich. These early receivers, the rich, will spend the money in a certain way, altering relative prices in the economy.
Now what happens when the economy improves and people reverse their hoarding? We now have 10 pencils and $15. Other things being equal, prices will rise from $1 to $1.50, unless the government retires the $5 it put into the system. If they do, this will create another round of altered relative prices. The medicine is likely to be worse than the disease.
In a multiproduct world, inflation (including asset prices) from excessive credit growth causes changes in relative prices that induces unsustainable investments, like housing from 2001-2007. Deflation, in the bust phase, is a partial realignment of these relative prices closer to what society really wants to be produced. The printing of money simply interferes with this essential clearing process. The real solution is to end fractional reserve banking and central banking.
Inflation is much worse than deflation because it robs wage earners and the poor. Central banks are the primary cause of inflation and are the main reason for the growth of income inequalities, as the rich get richer and the middle class sinks toward poverty. This income trend has been self-evident and growing since the demise of the Bretton Woods system in 1971 and its replacement with fiat currencies. Central bank power depends on the ability to generate inflation.
This is why central banks have been so generous supporting economic research in so many academic institutions that serve to theoretically justify the central bank’s current inflationary policies. The common fallacy of “a little inflation being good” has been expounded by the media and economists for a reason. Inflation is theft as you sleep, since it robs the value of the dollars in your wallet. Two-percent inflation over 35 years reduces the value of money in your pocket by 50 percent. If anything, evil has a new face; it is called a central bank.
Many times deflation follows a period of central bank inflation. Deflation is part of the deleveraging process that is necessary following such an excessive policy by the central bank. As Austrian economists have always said, “fear the boom, not the bust.” Delaying the deflation by extending the bubble or creating new bubbles by printing more money only delays the adjustment making it much more painful.
The real solution is to end fractional reserve banking and central banking. A world without fractional reserve banking and central banks would be a world of gentle deflation, which should be hailed as indicative of one of mankind’s greatest achievements: the raising of living standards for all. |
The WikiLeaks release of hacked Democratic National Committee emails includes a number of voicemail message recordings purportedly stolen from the DNC.
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The emails, which many believe were stolen by Russian hackers, showed Democratic officials coordinating efforts to undermine Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernard (Bernie) SandersSenate Dems seek to turn tables on GOP in climate change fight Bernie Sanders Town Hall finishes third in cable news race, draws 1.4 million viewers Woman to undecided Biden: 'Just say yes' to 2020 bid MORE’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign. The fallout from the leaks led to the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, who will step down at the end of the Democratic National Convention this week.
Many of the voicemails were messages of callers leaving their numbers in hopes of being called back or innocuous greetings.
But multiple messages came from voters upset that the DNC was giving too much support to Sanders.
One caller with an Arizona area code called to blast the DNC for putting Sanders surrogate Cornel West on the platform drafting committee.
“I’m furious for what you are doing for Bernie Sanders,” another caller says in a message. “He’s getting way too much influence.
“What I see is the Democratic Party bending over backwards for Bernie,” adds the caller, who threatens to leave the party if the DNC doesn’t stop “coddling” the Vermont senator.
— Updated on July 28 at 6:22 p.m. |
There will be a lot of talented players watching the World Cup from the ‘comfort’ of their couches this summer as their countries failed to qualify for football’s premier tournament or else they simply weren’t chosen for their national squad. In rare cases, some decided to make themselves unavailable for selection. Tut tut Carlos! Here are the ten most exciting players we’ll miss in Brazil.
10. Philippe Coutinho – Liverpool & Brazil
This Brazilian magician played an impressive role in Liverpool’s second place finish in the Premier League by playing 37 games and scoring 5 goals. His skill and pinpoint passing could have been a great asset for the Brazilian attacking force but Brazil boss Felipe Scolari opted to not include him in his squad. However, the Brazilian attacking midfielder shouldn’t be too upset as he is only 22 this summer and should have the 2018 World Cup competition firmly in his sights.
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9. Henrikh Mkhitaryan – Borussia Dortmund & Armenia
The Armenian midfielder impressed in his first season at Borussia Dortmund with 31 appearances and 9 goals after a €22million move from Shakhtar Donetsk last July. However, the attacking midfielder didn’t have much to be happy about in his international career as Armenia failed to qualify for the World Cup, finishing second last in Group B which Italy eventually won outright.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHdCu177bA8
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8. David Alaba – Bayern Munich & Austria
Alaba had a successful season with Bayern Munich as they dominated German football by running away with the Bundesliga and defeating Borussia Dortmund in the DFB Cup Final. The full back turned midfielder put everything into trying to help his national side qualify for this year’s World Cup, exemplified by his six goals in qualification. However, it was Germany who went on to win Group C.
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7. Arda Turan – Atletico Madrid & Turkey
Turan has enjoyed an amazing season with his Atleti teammates who have won La Liga, Atleti’s first title triumph since 1996. A Champions League Final appearance is also on the cards for the Turkish midfielder while personally he has played 30 games and scored 4 goals. The attacking midfielder didn’t have similar success with his national side as they finished fourth in their qualifying group while The Netherlands and Hungary managed to get out of Group D.
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6. Samir Nasri – Manchester City & France
Nasri had a successful season under new manager Manuel Pellegrini at City where the Manchester side went on to win the League Cup and Premier League. Nasri also impressed individually through his goal in the League Cup win against Sunderland earlier this year and made himself a regular in the Pellegrini’s side. He finished the season with 34 appearances, 7 goals and 7 assists.
France finished second in their qualifying group just behind World Cup holders Spain and were drawn against Ukraine in their World Cup play-off. They went 2-0 down in the first leg but managed win 3-2 over both ties. Nasri was in the French squad for the play-off games but Didier Deschamps decided not to include him in his World Cup squad. This was a shocking decision by Deschamps which led to Nasri’s girlfriend Amara Atanes blasting Deschamps and France on Twitter.
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5. Carlos Tevez – Juventus and Argentina
Tevez had a successful season with Juventus who went on to win the Serie A title in dominant fashion. The Argentinian striker also had a great individual season by racking up 19 goals for his Juventus side. It was shocking for football fans when the Argentinian squad was announced and there was no Carlos Tevez included.
It was reported that Tevez had actually asked to be left out of the Argentinian World Cup squad so that he could spend more time with his family. Other reports had also stated that he asked to be left out of the squad so that he could bring his family to Disneyland instead which is both baffling and surprising considering how important the World Cup should be for professional footballers.
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4. Robert Lewandowski – Borussia Dortmund & Poland
Borussia Dortmund didn’t have the greatest of seasons as they finished runners-up in the Bundesliga and lost in the DFB Cup final to Bayern Munich. However, the attacker had another impressive individual season as he featured in 47 games and scored 26 goals. The consistent goalscorer’s impressive form has resulted in a move to Bayern Munich next season. Lewandowski admitted he agreed to make the move because he wants to win titles.
“It is my goal to win and collect titles, at Bayern, for sure the opportunity is bigger.”
Lewandowski also had a disappointing run in with his national side as Poland finished fourth in their qualifying group as England went on to win Group H.
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3. Kaka – AC Milan and Brazil
Kaka is an iconic figure of world football and has enjoyed a successful career, winning the Champions League and Serie A title with AC Milan and a La Liga title with Real Madrid. The Brazilian midfielder has also played in three World Cup competitions in his career. He was a squad player in Brazil’s triumph in 2002 while he featured in the 2006 and 2010 competitions where Brazil bowed out in the quarter-finals in both competitions.
Kaka returned to AC Milan last summer and unfortunately, it was a hugely disappointing season for the Rossoneri as they finished 8th in the Serie A. Kaka racked up 37 appearances, 9 goals and 5 assists but that wasn’t enough to impress Brazil boss Felipe Scolari.
Scolari has been questioned over his World Cup squad selections as he decided to leave out many big name players such as Kaka, Robinho and Ronaldinho but surely Kaka’s World Cup experience and natural flair in midfield could’ve been beneficial to a young Brazilian squad this summer.
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2.Gareth Bale – Real Madrid and Wales
Gareth Bale made football history last summer with his world record transfer to Real Madrid. Many doubted that the Welsh midfielder would impress in the Spanish capital but he went on to have a terrific season for his new club. Bale scored 15 goals in La Liga, 5 goals in the Champions League as well as a breathtaking winning goal in the Copa del Rey final against Barcelona.
Football fans were amazed by Bale’s magnificent solo run and amazing pace which won Madrid the cup against their bitter rivals. His season still isn’t finished and Bale will feature in the Champions League Final against rivals Atletico Madrid.
However, Bale doesn’t have much to cheer about regarding his international career as Wales finished 5th in their qualifying group with Belgium and Croatia qualifying. With Wales in need of more top class players to compete on an international level, it is disappointing to think that a player of Bale’s calibre may never play in a major international tournament.
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1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic – PSG and Sweden
The outspoken and controversial Swedish striker had a successful season with PSG after they became Ligue 1 and Coupe de la Ligue champions. Zlatan went on to set a new record for the Parisian club as he racked up 40 goals in all competitions. The striker is unfortunate not be competing in this year’s World Cup as his national side fell at the last hurdle in their play-off against Portugal.
Zlatan almost put his side through after scoring twice but it was a spectacular performance from Portugal’s Ronaldo that denied Sweden a place in the World Cup. Ibrahimovic was disappointed after the play-off defeat but responded to the media in typical Zlatan fashion by claiming,
“The World Cup is nothing without Zlatan.”
Sarah Fitzpatrick, Pundit Arena. |
This is a two minute video of an orangutan trying to get its friend's attention by dressing up like a ghost and scaring it from behind (technically by repeatedly running into it from behind, which is scary). I swear, there's always that friend that just has to have all the attention. In the case of my group of friends, Nate. He always has to be the life of every party we go to. "There is no Nate, is there?" What gave it away -- I said I go to parties? "You said you had friends." Everyone my mom introduces me to is a jerk.
Keep going for the video.
Thanks to Marcus O, who appreciated how his friend wasn't even afraid of the ghost and immediately tried to beat it up. |
Two teenagers have been charged with seven felony counts of armed robbery and one count of attempted robbery with a firearm after a string of incidents on the North Side, according to Chicago Police.
The boys aged 14 and 16, went on the wild crime spree Saturday morning between 2:15 and 4 a.m. The neighborhoods targeted include parts of West Andersonville and West Ridge.
In separate incidents, the boys approached two different women, one 39-years-old and 49 year-old. Both were robbed at gunpoint and asked to hand over their money. The younger woman also had her dark-colored SUV stolen.
In five other incidents, the boys approached men ranging in age from 21 to 54. In those robberies, the suspects asked for property after showing the gun.
The two teens were eventually arrested by Lincoln District officers after they were spotted getting out of the stolen vehicle.
The robberies occurred at:
• 5200 block of North Wolcott
• 5900 block of North Campbell
• 5500 block of North Lincoln
• 1900 block of West Foster
• 1900 block of West Norwood
• 6200 block of North Western
• 5300 block of North Virginia |
Can mobile truly catch up with and surpass last-gen console performance? A couple of weeks ago we reviewed the Xiaomi MiPad featuring Nvidia's Tegra K1 - a processor that features, theoretically at least, more GPU power than the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Our conclusions? There were hints of the chip's capabilities but no real demonstration of its power. Well, this week, our Nvidia Shield Tablet arrived for review, pre-loaded with Frozenbyte's Trine 2 - a modern PC and console title that miraculously looks and plays closely to the existing console and PC versions of the game.
We're still a long way from an era where modern console titles will appear en masse on tablets (and eventually smartphones) but this is an important step forward in many ways. By our reckoning, Trine 2 just falls a little short of matching the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, but it gets very, very close - certainly the fun factor of the game is undiminished and in some ways it can even be considered better than the last-gen console versions. Put into perspective, this is a watershed moment in mobile gaming. We reached out to developer Frozenbyte to talk about this achievement, who were quick to point out that while the tablet version has graphical differences with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, we shouldn't forget the issue of content either - an element that introduces its own technological challenges.
"Trine 2: Complete Story on Android/K1 is more extensive than the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Trine 2, since those don't have the Goblin Menace expansion levels released. The reason why we never released those is that we'd have to a great deal of specific optimisations for the platforms, and possibly even touch the levels themselves (to make them less demanding), and we weren't very enthusiastic about it, so it kind of fell on the wayside when new things came along," the developer says.
"The Android version is basically exactly the same as on PC and on PS4. Also Wii U has Trine 2: Director's Cut which is the same game as Complete Story, just under a different name. To compare the different versions: PS4 renders at 1080p60 (stereo 3D internally also [runs at] 1080p60 but PS4 currently outputs only 720p60), Wii U 720p30 and Android 720p30. Xbox 360 and PS3 versions run at 720p30, but have a slight resolution adjustment enabled if the going gets tough."
Comparing the versions side-by-side, it's safe to say that there's not exactly a huge amount of difference between them - there's the suggestion of tweaked lighting and some lower resolution texture assets. Meanwhile, the pass of FXAA post-processing anti-aliasing seen on console is missing on the Android build. However, as a proof of concept, Trine 2 on Android is still a significant leap beyond Nvidia's own ports of Half-Life 2 and Portal. Trine 2 proves conclusively that the latest mobile technology can compete with console, on certain titles at least.
Trine 2 compared on Nvidia Shield Tablet, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Use the full-screen button and full HD resolution for the best experience.
"Previous mobile hardware hasn't really been up to par from our perspective but we always knew it was just a matter of time, so we've kept an eye on the mobile space for a couple of years now. In fact, Trine 2: Complete Story for Android is a good working example of 'let's keep in touch' - lots of yearly hellos back and forth finally leading to something more concrete when the pieces fell just right," Frozenbyte explains, when asked about the business conditions that made the Android port possible.
"Nvidia approached us around Q3-Q4 2013 and introduced their future plans for the Android platform, and we started thinking maybe the time was right. We are always interested in new devices and platforms, it's that geeky side of things, and if it has some business resonance then it gets very interesting. Our own in-house engine was lacking Android support but we're not shy to adding new platforms, and we figured now would be a good time to start exploring Android in more detail."
The studio had a headstart of sorts owing to the proliferation of platforms Trine 2 already supports. The Kepler graphics architecture in Tegra K1 is derived from a full desktop part, and supports every major graphics API. Android ports typically need to be down-converted to the more restricted OpenGL ES - Trine 2 is a pure conversion from desktop code - this is the "secret sauce" in the latest generation of mobile graphics processors, the path that makes mobile a viable target for a huge library of existing titles.
"Indeed, Trine 2 on Mac OS X and Linux used OpenGL for rendering and that renderer served as the basis for the K1 port. Porting to Android was basically like any other port we do: you always need to handle platform specific features such as rendering, input etc. We have experience on a lot of platforms and our in-house engine is pretty easy to port usually... Each platform always has their own kinks and pitfalls, but so far we've found ways around them pretty fast," the studio reveals, going into a little more depth on the conversion process.
First impressions are very positive. Trine 2 on Android appears to retain the beautiful lighting scheme and detail of the PC and console versions, although the FXAA post-proces anti-aliasing is absent on tablet. What you lose in AA, you gain through more detail resolved. Bloom - or perhaps an additional lighting pass - seems to be pared back on the Tegra K1 version, as seen on the lanterns in the room here. Amadeus the magician appears to float above his bed as he sleeps on the tablet version! Once again bloom looks different on the Android build, but more noticeable are the wooden ground textures in the foreground, which are clearly more detailed on the last-gen console versions. Either texture filtering is dialled back on the middle-distant ground textures, or once again we're seeing lower quality assets. In some areas, the Tegra K1 build appears to have some advantages over the console versions. For example here, the distortion shader centre-screen produces an arguably more impressive effect. There's evidence of lower quality assets on the wall to right here, but this scene is all about the lighting and in that respect, the Tegra K1 version matches the last-gen console builds. This scene is a showcase for the PhysX effects work, carried out with no problem at all on all versions tested here. Tegra K1 has lower levels of GPU bandwidth than Xbox 360 and PS3, but despite that, it handles performance-sapping transparency effects just fine.
"Most of the work comes from rendering and optimising the game to the specific platform. The K1 also needed some optimisations and OpenGL modernisation, most of the OpenGL rendering is now based on OpenGL 4.x. Overall the Android port for K1 took about 12 man months from our programmers. We had one programmer who did the porting in general, one for input related tasks and one for optimisations and rendering tweaks. Of course you need to add a few man months for our designers, QA and production team as well, and all the business related things."
The Tegra K1 port of Trine 2 is very, very neat. Not only does the conversion match and indeed exceed last-gen console in certain respects, there are enhancements that benefit the Nvidia Shield tablet in particular. Multiple controllers can be paired up to the unit, allowing for simultaneous local co-op play. Hook the tablet up to your HDTV and you have the same options as a traditional console. Playing Trine 2 on the Xiaomi MiPad - another Tegra K1-powered device - and those options are obviously gone, but we note that Frozenbyte has adjusted aspect ratio to suit, changing rendering solution to 1024x768 (a quarter of native res).
The level of power on tap in the Shield Tablet is clearly quite impressive then, but as a pioneering piece of technology it is fair to say that it is not the complete article. Running older Android games gives us a similar level of battery life as, say, an iPad mini, but titles like Trine 2 are much heavier on resources and as such battery life can suffer - something we'll address with some metrics when we post our review. Nvidia implemented a passive cooling technology that dissipates twice the level of heat as competing designs - and clearly it needs it as the unit does get quite warm during gameplay. It's a problem that would have been flagged up early on based on Frozenbyte's experience.
"One issue we ran into while developing for K1 was heating on the prototype devices. Since Trine 2: Complete Story was now being developed for a tablet device, we had to make sure the device would not get too hot (since it's lacking powerful fans). In the latest version, the Shield Tablet (K1) can pretty much keep 720p30 without heating up too much," Frozenbyte reveals.
Performance analysis of the Shield Tablet version of Trine 2 compared with Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The Android version holds its own at 720p30, just like the console games. The only fly in the ointment is inconsistent frame delivery - a 30fps game should present a new frame every 33ms. On the Android version, we see 16ms, 33ms and 50ms delivery, resulting in slight stutter.
Part of the problem has been the fact that silicon makers like Nvidia can't rely on more refined fabrication processes to arrive quite as quickly as they used to. Tegra K1 is a 28nm part - a process that's been with us now since 2011. 20nm is the next step, but we're unlikely to see any production silicon arriving until next year. At that point, Nvidia will have a new part - codenamed Erista - based on its Maxwell GPU tech. The question is whether it doubles down on performance, or aims for a cooler chip with longer battery life when it is really pushed. Certainly, the momentum of performance increases in the mobile space doesn't seem to be decelerating any time soon.
"It's been really interesting to see how rapidly the power of mobile devices has increased. The gap between the latest console game releases and the release of those same games on mobile is shrinking. In the past it might have taken four to six years before some console games were seen on mobile devices, but now and in the future that gap might be only one to two years," says Frozenbyte.
"That's part of our Android project too - right now only a select few devices using the K1 are able to run Trine 2, but we expect chip development to keep up its rapid pace, so a year from now there should be a lot more hardware out there, and we hope to include them in our platform plans for future games - and maybe some current ones."
Indeed, while Trine 2 represents a new wave of mobile gaming, right now it is the exception rather than the rule. Tegra K1 devices are limited in availability to say the least, and the business case for porting over modern console titles is flimsy until many more devices have an equivalent level of power. But we suspect that is not too far off: Tegra K1's graphics power is a 2x leap over the A7 chip found in the iPhone 5S, and the current iPads - and Apple has a proven track record in delivering a doubling of performance year in, year out. We can also expect Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors to close the gap quickly too.
And bringing more advanced games to new tablets and smartphones makes sense to the hardware manufacturers eager to shift the latest and greatest in gadgetry. We've reached the point now where a modern phone or tablet has reached a functionality brick wall - an iPad Air may indeed feature 2x the power of an iPad 4, but there are few use-case scenarios that demand so much raw processing ability. It makes releasing a new device as an upgrade a tough sell - but providing a generational leap in games potential is just one way that the next-gen mobile devices can justify themselves. While Trine 2 may not be the absolute state of the art in modern gaming, it's hardly a slouch in terms of graphics utilisation - and if this game works on mobile, a vast library of modern titles could follow...
Many thanks to Frozenbyte staffers Jari Kantomaa (senior producer), Joel Kinnunen (vice president), Timo-Pekka Kemppainen (producer) and Kai Tuovinen (marketing manager) for talking to us about the Trine 2 Android project |
How Mole Hill in Virginia became a mountain is an old story, but not as old as some geologists think. The reason for that has to do with volcanoes—and may help explain why the U.S. East Coast, so long removed from geologic upheaval compared with the West, still suffers from relatively powerful earthquakes like the one that shook Mineral, Va., and much of the East Coast, in 2011.
Five years ago or so, newly minted professor of geology Elizabeth Johnson needed something for her undergraduate students at James Madison University to study on field trips. Locals suggested the unusual geology of Mole Hill, just a few kilometers from campus, where one could find black obsidian (a superhard rock glass formed when magma cools quickly) or rocks that when cracked open looked as pure white as newfallen snow thanks to the carbonate minerals inside.
When Johnson and her students started to poke around through the dense vegetation swathing Mole Hill, the very texture of the volcanic rock appeared unusual. The igneous rock was fine-grained with small crystals of various kinds, except every once in a while where a relative giant crystal—1 centimeter or more across—intruded. Intrigued, Johnson studied up on the local geology, finding that this is not the first time these interesting igneous rocks had been spotted. As far back as 1899, such obsidian and minerals had been reported in this area. Most other geologists simply assumed they were much older.
But Johnson had other suspicions after having taken the most careful look to date. So she passed the rocks to an expert on magma, geochemist Esteban Gazel of Virginia Tech University. By measuring the abundance of an isotope of the noble gas argon in the rock or its crystals, Gazel and his colleague Michael Kunk of the U.S. Geological Survey found that the magma was much younger than the last known volcanic event on the East Coast—which occurred when the supercontinent of Pangaea slowly pulled apart into North America, Africa and South America some 200 million years ago, forming the Atlantic Ocean in the process. In fact the argon dates suggested that roughly 50 million years ago in the Eocene—when a warmer world of forests stretched from pole to pole and the ancestors of mammals such as bats, elephants and primates first evolved—cinder cone volcanoes dotted Virginia for a million years or two. "After 200 million years ago, you are not supposed to have any magma on the East Coast," Gazel says. But Johnson had found it.
The conventional geologic story renders the East Coast of North America as a so-called passive margin, an area free of volcanoes and earthquakes due to its position within the fractured plates that make up the surface of the globe. Volcanoes are most common at sites where one such plate slips under another, such as the U.S. West Coast or Central America, according to this theory.
But the new research suggests the East Coast should be thought of as more of a passive-aggressive margin. By measuring the levels of magnesium in magma itself, Gazel can tell at what temperature and pressures it formed—and therefore where it came from and what type of volcano was most likely to produce it. The Mole Hill lava shows high levels of magnesium, which is typical of not-too-hot, not-too-cold volcanoes in the Basin and Range out West—roughly 1,400 degrees Celsius molten rock. Mole Hill itself is the remnant of the neck of a nearly 50-million-year-old volcano that has now eroded away. In other words, volcanism made a mountain out of Mole Hill—and Mole Hill is just one of a swarm of such volcanoes in the region, such as Trimble Knob.
But where did the volcano swarm come from? One idea is that there might have been a hot spot, such as the one still forming the Hawaiian island chain, which North America slowly slid over. The hot spot started somewhere in Missouri, migrated toward the coast as the continent shifted and then moved up the East Coast and off Maine in the present day. But there the trail grows cold as no new volcanic islands like Hawaii are known to be forming off the coast of Maine. Plus, the magma itself does not seem to have been hot enough to have created a plume like the ones in Hawaii or Yellowstone. Such plume-related volcanoes require magma hotter than 1,500 degrees C.
Another idea is that, for reasons yet unexplained, there is simply a thinner layer of continental crust shielding the surface from volcanism that runs through the North American continent from roughly New Madrid in Missouri to the coast in Virginia. Perhaps a rift got started, thinned the crust but then failed to fully pull apart. Yet magma in rifting zones is typically around 1,350 degrees C, so this theory also does not quite fit Mole Hill's profile.
The not-too-cold, not-too-hot theory favored by Johnson and Gazel suggests that the roots of the Appalachian Mountains themselves may be to blame. Essentially the remnants of the plate that slipped under what is now the East Coast and shoved up the Appalachians 480 million years ago or so had been heating slowly over all those long years. Roughly 50 million years ago, some of these deep roots beneath the mountains in modern day Virginia simply dripped off the underside of the crust and into the mantle 40 kilometers below the surface, displacing a burst of magma. The relatively young volcanoes like Mole Hill are thus the result of magma that seeped up through the cracks in the overlying rock, in essence further weakening pre-existing faults on the way up. "Magma is really lazy," Gazel explains. "If there is not an easy way to get to the surface, it won't come out."
That hypothesis also has the benefit of explaining why the Appalachian Mountains in Virginia are higher than they should be, rather than having more fully weathered away over the last 480 million years. These mountains may have gotten a rejuvenation treatment late in life. Johnson and Gazel's initial findings have been submitted to Geology.
The presence of such young volcanic rocks has modern-day implications. Such rocks may prove good news for efforts to combat climate change because basalt reacts with carbon dioxide to form carbonate, locking a greenhouse gas in a carbonate mineral that often appears as white as snow. But the finding also has repercussions for modern seismology.
The after-effects of this volcanic outburst are still being felt today, as earthquakes like the 5.8 magnitude quake centered near Mineral, Va. in 2011 still rumble through the faults weakened by the volcanoes. More such earthquakes are extremely likely. And there's no reason that more of the heavy roots of the Appalachians could not drop off at any time, spurring a recurrence of volcanism on the East Coast and an outbreak of lava in the most densely populated regions of the U.S. But don't worry too much. As Johnson says: "If something hasn't erupted for the last 47 million years, you can call it completely extinct." |
CBS4 Investigator Rick Sallinger talks to Katie Peroni as she leaves court. (credit: CBS)
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4)– A woman who tried to cash in on the Aurora theater shooting has been sentenced to jail.
Katie Peroni set up a fund and collected donations for a fictitious victim of the July 20 shootings at the Century 16 Theater.
Peroni, 19, claimed she was the caretaker for the child of a shooting victim. Those involved with helping the real victims became suspicious and called police in Aurora.
The judge told Peroni, “You took advantage of the biggest tragedy that has occurred in this state.”
The judge also said her actions diverted resources from those who really needed help.
Peroni pleaded guilty to misdemeanor theft and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
She posted a solicitation for contributions on the “indiegogo” website. It stated “KPeroni.. friend of Monica.. wounded.”
In the post she explained the Monica was shot in the theater and her daughter had a birthday quickly approaching and needed presents since her mother was injured.
Peroni received dolls, coloring books, diapers and $500.
But there was no victim named Monica and when confronted by police Peroni admitted it was a scam.
There was a similar posting on Facebook by Peroni.
Peroni has a medical disorder. She told police she made up the story because she wanted someone to care about her.
James Holmes has been charged in the July 20 shooting that left 12 people dead and 58 others injured. |
Charity work has become a large part of the Who 's incredible career legacy, including the decades of fundraising efforts spearheaded by co-founders Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend through their Teen Cancer America organization. And as Townshend revealed in a recent interview with Yahoo Music , it all started because drummer Keith Moon was looking for some female companionship.
As Townshend recalls the story, the band members were in the midst of recording their Quadrophenia LP when they received a call from Joanna Lumley, the actor now best known for her role as Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous . Invited to meet her in London, Townshend demurred, but offered to send one of his bandmates in his stead — and Moon volunteered because, as Townshend put it, he was "very much hoping that it would lead to something sexual, I think."
The reality of Moon's meeting with Lumley turned out to be life-alteringly different for the drummer — and his bandmates. "It turned out that what she’d done is invited him to the very, very first women’s refuge in the world [the domestic violence shelter Chiswick’s Women’s Aid , founded in 1971]. And Joanna got him cleaning toilets," said Townshend. "He came back in tears. And he said, ‘Pete, we’ve got to do something for these women!’"
Moon's epiphany took on added meaning for Townshend later, after he realized Moon had been guilty of "real violent outbursts against his wife" during moments when he suspected her of infidelity — sadly ironic because, as Townshend pointed out, "in fact, it was the other way around." In seeing the error of his ways and spurring the band to action, Moon helped spark a lifetime of efforts on behalf of others.
"We started to do shows for the woman [Erin Pizzey] who started [the refuge]. And that’s how charity work began for me and for the band. And we’ve gone on from there," added Townshend. "Anyway, that was a great moment. And it was one of the nicest stories about Keith, I think: that something had touched his heart, because usually he would turn everything into a gag."
See Who Drummer Keith Moon’s Craziest Antics |
The growing calls for a $15 minimum wage have infiltrated not just the Democratic primary campaign, but now the Republican one as well. But while Democrats are debating how high it should be raised, Republicans are explaining why they think it should remain where it's been since 2009.
In the first question of Tuesday night's GOP debate, moderator Neil Cavuto asked Donald Trump if he was sympathetic to workers around the country who were demanding that the federal wage floor be more than doubled.
"I can't be, Neil," Trump responded. "The reason I can't be is we are a country that's being beaten on every front, economically, militarily. There is nothing we do now to win."
Those lines are consistent with Trump's running stump speech on American demise, but then the front-runner took a curious turn. In explaining his aversion to a minimum wage hike, Trump asserted that "our wages are too high."
Not many Americans would agree with the billionaire business mogul on that front. The problem of stagnating wages isn't just a Democratic trope anymore -- even Republican candidates have been eager to point out that the wages of average Americans are falling behind, relative to the growth in productivity.
"We cannot do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world," Trump said to lackluster applause.
Asked for his own take on the issue, Ben Carson said it would be misguided to raise the minimum wage, which remains $7.25 per hour. In particular, Carson said he would be concerned that such a raise might keep young African-Americans out of the job market. The neurosurgeon alluded to his own first job in a lab, which "gave me what I needed to ascend the ladder of opportunity."
"I would not raise it," Carson declared.
Scott Olson via Getty Images Presidential candidate Ben Carson pauses during the Star Spangled Banner in the opening of the Republican Presidential Debate sponsored by Fox Business and the Wall Street Journal at the Milwaukee Theatre November 10, 2015 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
This appears to be a reversal from Carson's position on the minimum wage earlier this year. In an interview with CNBC's John Harwood in May, Carson said the minimum wage deserved a raise.
"I think, probably, it should be higher than now," Carson said.
The last candidate to chime in on the minimum wage was Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who wasn't asked specifically about the issue, but volunteered his views. Rubio was asked about Americans receiving giveaways, and he pivoted in such a way that seemed to compare a higher minimum wage to something unearned.
"In the 21st century, it's a disaster," Rubio said of increasing the minimum wage, drawing applause for his answer. "If you raise the minimum wage you're going to make people more expensive than a machine."
The idea of raising the minimum wage tends to poll extremely well, drawing reasonable support even from Republican voters, and support for a minimum wage hike isn't unheard-of in GOP primaries. In 2012, Mitt Romney advocated pegging the wage floor to the inflation index, and former Sen. Rick Santorum has advocated for a modest raise to the minimum wage this year.
See the latest updates on the GOP debate here.
Also on HuffPost: |
And he is the propitiation for our sins
For the sins of us who now believe, and are Jews:
and not for ours only;
but for the sins of Old Testament saints, and of those who shall hereafter believe in Christ, and of the Gentiles also, signified in the next clause:
but also for [the sins] of the whole world;
the Syriac version renders it, "not for us only, but also for the whole world"; that is, not for the Jews only, for John was a Jew, and so were those he wrote unto, but for the Gentiles also. Nothing is more common in Jewish writings than to call the Gentiles ( amle ) , "the world"; and ( Mlweh lk ) , "the whole world"; and ( Mlweh twmwa ) , "the nations of the world" F12 ; (See Gill on 12:19); and the word "world" is so used in Scripture; see ( John 3:16 ) ( 4:42 ) ( Romans 11:12 Romans 11:15 ) ; and stands opposed to a notion the Jews have of the Gentiles, that ( hrpk Nhl Nya ) , "there is no propitiation for them" F13 : and it is easy to observe, that when this phrase is not used of the Gentiles, it is to be understood in a limited and restrained sense; as when they say F14 ,
``it happened to a certain high priest, that when he went out of the sanctuary, ( amle ylwk ) , "the whole world" went after him;''
``( amle ylwk ) , "the "whole world" has left the Misna, and gone after the "Gemara";''
``( amle ylwk ) , "the whole world" fell on their faces, but Raf did not fall on his face;''
``R. Simeon ben Gamaliel entered (the synagogue), ( amle ylwk ) , "the whole world" stood up before him;''
``when a great man makes a mourning, ( amle ylwk ) , "the whole world" come to honour him;''
ygylp al amle ylwk
yrbo amle ylwk
FOOTNOTES:
F12 Jarchi in Isa. liii. 5.
F13 T. Hieros. Nazir, fol. 57. 3. Vid. T. Bab. Succa, fol. 55. 2.
F14 T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 71. 2.
F15 T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 33. 2.
F16 T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 22. 2.
F17 T. Bab. Horayot, fol. 13. 2.
F18 Piske Toseph. Megilla, art. 104.
F19 T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 90. 2. & Kiddushin, fol. 47. 2. & 49. 1. & 65. 2. & Gittin, fol. 8. 1. & 60. 2.
F20 T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 48. 1.
F21 Maimon. Hilch. Tephilla, c. 11. sect. 16.
F23 Zohar in Lev. fol. 29. 1.
F24 Ib. fol. 24. 1. T. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 38. 2.
F25 T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 88. 2. & Erachin, fol. 16. 1.
F26 T. Bab. Zebachim, ib. T. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 44. 2.
F1 T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 87. 1. & T. Hieros. Yoma, fol. 45. 2, 3.
F2 Seder Tephillot, fol. 41. 1. Ed. Amsterd. |
UPDATE: Mapleton Woman Apologizes for Alleged Death Threats Towards Somali Americans at Fargo Walmart
They said the woman began yelling at them to go "back to their own country"
FARGO, ND — The woman who is at the center of a social media controversy over alleged death threats she made to three Somali Americans at a Fargo Walmart reached out to KVRR to explain why she said what she said.
Amber Hensley said she is sorry things got out of control in the heat of the moment and takes responsibility for the things she said.
“I would first like to apologize for the horrible things that I said to the two ladies at Walmart. It was not a Christian-like thing to do AT ALL and wish I could take it back, but I lost my cool and I can’t. I am terribly sorry. I just wish the whole video could be shown. And the things that were stated before she starts taping. She had parked way too close to my car and I couldn’t get in, when I asked her to move she refused, I asked her again and she swore at me calling me a fat b—-, to that I informed her that I was a Christian and asked her if she knew who Jesus was, she said F— JESUS and I lost it! But there are absolutely no excuses. I am in tears with regret and will take any form of punishment deemed fit..”
We will continue to update you as the story develops.
PREVIOUS CONTENT:
FARGO, ND — Three Somali-American women who live in Fargo said they were approached by a screaming woman in the parking lot of the Walmart located at 4731 13th Avenue South.
Sarah and Laleyla Hassan and Rowda Soyan said a blonde woman approached them on Tuesday at about 5:30 p.m.
They said the woman began yelling at them to go “back to their own country”.
Sarah said she began shooting video on her phone of the screaming woman, who told them “We’re going to kill all of you. We’re going to kill every one of you.”
The police were called to the scene and a report has been filed, but police have not commented on the incident.
The video has been posted to social media and the community has become outraged.
Hukun Dabar, who is with the Afro-American Development Association, brought the video to our attention and shared it on his social media.
Many people are demanding the woman, who has so far not been officially identified, to be charged with a hate crime.
We have talked to some of the people involved and will bring you their story Wednesday. |
A film director and his strange friends struggle to produce the first major silent feature film in forty years.
When Duffy Bergman, a New York City cartoonist, meets Meg Lloyd, a gourmet chef, he discovers the love of his life and they marry, yet love alone isn't enough to make them happy. Meg ... See full summary »
On his way to work, Teddy spots Charlotte, an incredibly beautiful Woman in Red. He really wants to meet her, but what would his wife say?
A sex comedy anthology containing four stories, each from a different country (England, France, the U.S., and Italy).
A boozing young man in love with his co-worker finds that everyone around him, even his pompous and condescending best friend, is changing into a rhinoceros.
George has been in a mental hospital for three years and is finally ready to go out into the real world again. Eddie Dash, a dedicated con man, is supposed to keep him out of trouble, but ... See full summary »
A Polish rabbi wanders through the Old West on his way to lead a synagogue in San Francisco. On the way he is nearly burnt at the stake by Indians and almost killed by outlaws.
Completely innocent man, Michael Jordon, is drawn into a web of government secrets when a girl carrying a mysterious package gets into a taxi with him. When she's later murdered, Michael becomes the chief suspect and goes on the run.
Larry Abbot, speaker in the radio horror shows of Manhattan Mystery Theater, wants to marry. For the marriage, he takes his fiancée home to the castle where he grew up, among his eccentric ... See full summary »
On a long-distance train trip, a man finds romance but also finds himself in danger of being killed, or at least pushed off the train.
A neurotic baker travels to Hollywood to attend a talent search for an actor to rival the great Valentino. Although not an actor, through blind luck he succeeds, to a certain degree.
Sherlock Holmes' younger brother is annoyed that he has had to live in Sherlock's shadow for so long. When Sherlock goes to the continent, he sends a case to his brother who constantly tries with varying success, to imitate Sherlock's deductive and observational tricks. Written by John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
Did You Know?
Trivia In the scene in which Moriarty (Leo McKern) is auctioning off the Redcliff Document to a Russian and a Frenchman, the Russian bids five thousand Rubles, which equals six hundred twenty-five pounds. The Frenchman then bids seven thousand Francs, which equals six hundred twenty-six pounds, only one pound more than the Russian bid. In the scene in which Moriarty (Leo McKern) is auctioning off the Redcliff Document to a Russian and a Frenchman, the Russian bids five thousand Rubles, which equals six hundred twenty-five pounds. The Frenchman then bids seven thousand Francs, which equals six hundred twenty-six pounds, only one pound more than the Russian bid. See more
Goofs After his "duel" with the fencing machine, Sigerson is seen putting his street clothes back on. He starts putting on his pants...then repeats the action in the next shot. After his "duel" with the fencing machine, Sigerson is seen putting his street clothes back on. He starts putting on his pants...then repeats the action in the next shot. See more
Quotes [ first lines ]
Royal Herald : The Foreign Secretary, Lord Redcliff!
: [ rehearsing what to say under his breath ] Your Majesty, being inside of your confidence is the greatest joy I've ever known. Ahem...
: [ handing him the document ] Lord Redcliff, the fate of England is now in your hands.
: Your Confidence... being inside of Your Majesty is the greatest single joy I've ever known.
[ realizing what he's said, he tosses the document away ]
: Woof!
: It's alright, Your Majesty! I've got it! I've got it. All's well that ends well!
Queen Victoria :
See more » : The Foreign Secretary, Lord Redcliff! Lord Redcliff : [] Your Majesty, being inside of your confidence is the greatest joy I've ever known. Ahem... Queen Victoria : [] Lord Redcliff, the fate of England is now in your hands. Lord Redcliff : Your Confidence... being inside of Your Majesty is the greatest single joy I've ever known. Lord Redcliff : Woof! Lord Redcliff : It's alright, Your Majesty! I've got it! I've got it. All's well that ends well! |
Eddie Robinson’s phone has been ringing for several days, from places all over the country.
Robinson, 95, a longtime Fort Worth resident and former Texas Rangers general manager, is the remaining survivor of the Cleveland Indians’ last World Series winning team. It included legends Bob Feller, Bob Lemon, Satchel Paige, Larry Doby and player/manager Lou Boudreau.
Robinson, a first baseman, hit .300 as the Indians beat the Boston Braves in six games. They haven’t won it since. Their opponent in the best-of-seven series, which begins Tuesday night in Cleveland, is the Chicago Cubs, who last won the World Series in 1908.
Cleveland won with some players and Band-Aids, they had so many injuries. Former Indians player Eddie Robinson
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Robinson, who was born in Paris, Texas, in 1920, goes into great detail about his time with the Indians in his book Lucky Me: My Sixty-Five Years in Baseball, which he co-authored with C. Paul Rogers III.
The Indians haven’t yet called to check in on Robinson, but he’s received calls from reporters from North Carolina, Wyoming and New York. A videographer is set to record his reactions during Game 1 from his east Fort Worth home.
“I’m pulling for Cleveland and I want Cleveland to win,” he said. “I’ve watched every game. I really want them to break that jinx.”
.300 Eddie Robinson’s 1948 World Series batting average. He hit .254 with 16 homers and 83 RBIs during the regular season.
Robinson played for the Chicago White Sox from 1950-52, and is the oldest living former New York Yankees player. He was honored at Yankees Stadium during the club’s 70th annual Old-Timers’ Day in June.
“I might consider going to Game 6 or 7. If they go back to Cleveland, I’d consider doing that,” he said.
Robinson played with Tito Francona, father of Indians manager Terry Francona, with the Baltimore Orioles in 1957, Robinson’s last season in the big leagues and Francona’s second season in the majors. Although his Indians’ ties run deep, the longtime scout says the Cubs should be the favorite.
“Cleveland won with some players and Band-Aids, they had so many injuries,” he said. “I don’t think Cleveland is anywhere near full strength. The Cubs have good pitching and their offense has been good once they broke out of their slump against Los Angeles.”
SHARE COPY LINK Eddie Robinson, 95, is the oldest living former Yankee, played on the Indians last World Series title team in 1948 and worked at nearly every level of the game, including Rangers general manager from 1976 to 1982 (Video by Stefan Stevenson/Star-Te |
HBO is expanding its relationship with “Ballers” star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Johnson will produce and appear in a documentary for the network about youth prison boot camps, which is inspired by his young life. The film is set to premiere in May.
Titled “Rock and A Hard Place,” the documentary captures the lives of incarcerated young people who are granted a second chance: the opportunity to trade an extensive prison sentence for a fresh start by completing the famed Miami-Dade County Corrections & Rehabilitation Boot Camp Program. The doc chronicles the harsh six-month program, in which drill sergeants push inmates to their limit, encouraging them to learn from their past mistakes and become constructive members of society so that they’re less likely to return to prison.
Inspired by Johnson’s own experiences with the law as a youth, the wrestler-turned actor will appear in the documentary — a passion project for him — as he visits a facility to speak with a group of young offenders who are on the brink of serving long prison terms.
“By the time I was 16, I had been arrested eight or nine times for a variety of things, and can relate to what these kids are going through,” Johnson said.
Related Dwayne Johnson’s Company Bringing Marching Band Docuseries to Fuse Dwayne Johnson Producing Scripted LAPD Auto Theft Drama ‘Boost Unit’ for Fox
Hailing from Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions — which he co-founded with Dany Garcia — and 44 Blue Productions, Johnson, Garcia and 44 Blue president Rasha Drachkovitch will serve as exec producers, in addition to HBO’s Sheila Nevins and Matthew O’Neill and Jon Alpert who are directors on the film. HBO’s Jacqueline Glover is a supervising producer.
Garcia commented, “Miami-Dade is making a difference and truly changing lives in the process of all their hard work. That is why we wanted to make a film about it.” Drachkovitch added, “Something remarkable is happening behind the scenes of this program — we’re going to find out exactly what that is.”
“Rock and A Hard Place” marks the second collaboration between Seven Bucks Prods. and HBO, following “Ballers,” which is heading into Season 2. The project is the latest partnership between Seven Bucks and 44 Blue, following the companies’ co-produced docu-series “Hard Corps,” which is set in the competitive world of Drum Corps International and was recently greenlit at Fuse.
Aside from a stacked slate with “Hard Corps,” “Ballers” and “Rock and A Hard Place,” Johnson is staying plenty busy this year. News of the HBO doc — which the star announced Wednesday on social media — comes just one day after Seven Bucks Prods. landed a script deal for a LAPD drama “Boost Unit” at Fox. |
Several officers involved in the raid on Midtown gay bar the Atlanta Eagle on Sept. 10, 2009, were accused of destroying evidence but not fired.
“If an officer thinks, oh, well, I’ll just get a three-day suspension for deleting cell phone records, then nothing keeps him or her from doing it,” Grossman said.
A court order also mandated the city pay Grossman $25,000 in attorney’s fees for working to ensure the APD implemented the policy changes mandated from the original lawsuit that resulted in a $1.025 million settlement.
“Now they are in compliance and doing what we have been asking for since day one,” he said.
The three Eagle lawsuits filed by patrons and employees of the bar total would total $1.475 million.
The Eagle settlement was part of a resolution to settle a total of four lawsuits against the APD in which Grossman represents the plaintiffs. The four lawsuits totaled $940,000, including the Eagle suit.
• Grossman represented several men who alleged they were illegally strip searched in public. That suit was settled for $470,000 plus mandatory training of officers on constitutional rights to go along with similar Eagle training.
– The APD arrested a woman for videotaping a male being beaten by Red Dog Officers and confiscated her cellphone. This case was settled for $50,000.
– The city settled a lawsuit by a woman arrested while sitting in a chair for $90,000
The total of all Grossman’s settlements on behalf of his clients total $2.6 million of taxpayer money.
“Over the past 24 months the city has paid out $2.6 million dollars all for police misconduct,” Grossman said. “The police department could have been improved without the city paying $2.6 million.”
Grossman said he went after significant amounts of money on behalf of his clients to hopefully make the city pay attention as well as instill better practices at the APD.
“Nothing else was working,” he said, noting the original Eagle plaintiffs simply sought an apology.
“Unfortunately, this is a painful way to get to this. My hope is it will motivate the APD and individual officers to follow the law.”
Grossman said the procedural reforms put in place should also ensure the APD and the city do not have to face significant settlements in the future which will save the city taxpayer money in the long run.
He also added the Atlanta Citizen Review Board has been asking for police changes for years and many of the officers that led to the costly settlements had been investigated in the past.
“Most of the officers responsible for the amount of money being paid have been investigated in the past but not disciplined. The key figure in the strip searches was first investigated in 2007,” he said.
“The end results are good for the citizens and for the taxpayers,” said Grossman.
Another lawsuit against the city is still pending stemming from the Eagle raid is still pending. Former bartender Chris Lopez filed a federal lawsuit saying his constitutional rights were violated because he was arrested and then put on trial in municipal court.
Update: The city issued a statement at 6 p.m. today about the resolution, saying it is “pleased to end this chapter of litigation.”
“Under the settlement approved today, the city will implement new and revised Standard Operating Procedures on searches, preservation of information, and protection of citizen’s rights to record police activity.
“Even before the settlement was reached, the city already had implemented department-wide training on proper searches, which will continue moving forward.
“Since the Calhoun lawsuit was settled in December 2010, the city has put into motion multiple reforms relating to the Atlanta Police Department. The police department, under the leadership of Chief George Turner, disbanded the Red Dog unit, conducted a full review and revision of its Standard Operating Procedures, and engaged a nationally recognized expert, Ken Wallentine, to conduct department-wide training on police procedures.
“The city is pleased to end this chapter of litigation and move forward in the spirit of cooperation.
“Plaintiffs and the city jointly recognize that now is the time to end costly and time-consuming litigation and conflict, and move forward with a newly-strengthened relationship between the police department and the community,” the statement says. |
One of two people facing charges in a deadly arson that claimed the life of a baby boy and left his mother in hospital in serious condition initially failed to appear in court Friday morning.
At around 12 p.m. on Friday, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Jessica Tammerand, 18, who is charged with arson, disregard for human life and mischief under $5,000.
By Friday afternoon, a lawyer appeared on Tammerand’s behalf and the warrant was vacated. Her case has been put over until Sept. 29.
Bronson Woycenko, 19, was charged with second-degree murder, arson, disregard for human life and mischief under $5,000. Woycenko appeared in court via CCTV. His case was put over until Sept. 29.
Cordell Brown just left court. He says "I'm falling apart." Seeing the accused appear via CCTV was difficult. #yeg — Fletcher Kent (@FletcherKent) September 1, 2017
READ MORE: Murder charges laid in Edmonton house fire that claimed life of baby boy
Investigators believe outdoor patio furniture was purposely set on fire near the front door of a home in the Ambleside neighbourhood on Aug. 22.
Five-month-old Hunter Brown and his mother, Angie Tang, were trapped on the second floor of the home until firefighters pulled them out. Hunter died a short time later from smoke inhalation and Tang was sent to hospital in serious condition.
On Friday, Cordell Brown, Tang’s husband and Hunter’s father, said she was released from hospital.
Six other people were in the home when the fire started, including Brown. All six were able to escape without serious physical injury.
“We don’t have anything, our life is destroyed. My life is destroyed,” said Brown.
READ MORE: Baby boy’s death a homicide, house fire deliberately set: Edmonton police
“I don’t understand how someone can destroy our whole life. Everything’s gone: our dogs, my kid, Angie’s really injured.”
Court records show no previous charges against Woycenko or Tammerand.
Tammerand had been released on $5,000 bail prior to the scheduled court appearance. Her boyfriend told Global News at the time that she’s “holding up” and that there is more to the story but didn’t provide further details. He believes she’s innocent.
READ MORE: Edmonton police say Cordell Brown arrest ‘unrelated’ to fatal arson
Brown told Global News the pair had previously rented a room in the home. He said they were evicted three times from various properties that he owned.
He alleged the pair stole from him, smoked in the home and caused damage.
Brown said he last spoke with Woycenko three days before the fire.
Hunter’s death was Edmonton’s 32nd homicide of 2017. |
An Aussie family has opened up about their journey to acceptance with transgender daughter, Emma.
Emma, now 12, was born Ronan but her mother Megan said they knew their then-son was different from a very early age.
Speaking to 60 Minutes , she revealed Emma will be put on puberty blockers, followed by hormone replacement therapy and then eventually sex reassignment surgery should she wish to have it.
“She's been extremely worried about her Adam's apple. Obviously, nothing's changed whatsoever but, in her head, it's that obvious fear that, 'Oh,my god, I'm turning into a man!'” Mrs Hayes said.
Megan says the journey began when she caught Ronan, then recognised as a boy, trying to cut off his penis with a knife at just 4 years old.
“I found her in the room just with a knife and pants down, and she tried to cut off her own penis,' Mrs Hayes said. [She] wanted to cut it off. She just didn't want it there. She didn't think it belonged there. She only ended up with a little scratch."
Emma was diagnosed with gender dysphoria at 8. |
Hello, Big Brother superfans! It’s Matt Hoffman from Season 12…back again in part to cling tenaciously to my 15-minutes of fame, but primarily to rail into this new crop of Big Brother lab rats!
Looking back at how my pre-show cast assessment from last season ended up alarmingly accurate in many regards, I (with Big Brother Network’s blessing) decided to have another stab at predicting the future through unwarranted judgment and opinion. Let’s get this BB16 train a-rollin’…
See the Big Brother 16 cast interview videos here that Matt Hoffman is referencing.
Brittany Martinez
Give this interview a little time. I also started off immediately not liking Brittany (I say “also” because I assume you share my same view that Brittany is as engaging as a wall of drying paint). Then she lost a lot of superfan points by saying she’s a recruit and had never seen an episode of Big Brother before. But Brittany started to turn things around when the interviewer aborted the impossible task of coaxing a personality out of her and, instead, began focusing on her strategy. This girl seems ruthless and sharp…two excellent qualities to have. I see a game barely fueled by emotions, and a lack of knowledge of Big Brother could help her to not overplay. I’m picking Brittany to make it far. I’m also very excited to hear your collective taunts to me on Twitter when she’s voted off first.
Christine Brecht
Christine would be my favorite contestant this season…IF she never talked or played Big Brother. What I love about her is that, for the first time on Big Brother, we’re finally getting what I consider to be a truly genuinely, nerdy, awkward female who will not ultimately do anything pornographic post-season. What turns me off about her is that I believe that she is one of those people who thinks that she is funnier than the people around her think that she is. The reason I believe this to be true is because we can smell our own.
Donny Thompson
Let me introduce you to Donny Thompson. Settle down, ladies – he’s taken. Don’t let the “Orlando” hat fool you…he’s from North Carolina, and that’s just one of his many ruses. Donny says that he’s too old to win physical competitions, so his strategy is to “make people feel comfortable”. That should be no problem for this good ol’ boy, since there’s nothing more welcoming than a dude with more hair on his face than on his head wearing a full-on badass camouflage top that makes Season 15 Judd’s bear shirt look feminine. If he wins, Donny says he’s going to use the money to get “laser surgery” on his eyes. And, really…is there anything more awesome than Donny Thompson with laser eyes? I rest my case.
Derrick Levasseur
Derrick is a cop. Derrick doesn’t want anyone in the house to know he’s a cop. Someone needs to tell Derrick really soon to stop talking, looking, thinking, behaving, and sounding exactly like a cop. I know a thing or two about reality television lies, and I predict that this one will blow up in his face before the first week is over. We also learn that Derrick is one of those honesty/integrity/family-man/blahblahblah types. Being that I watch reality TV primarily for its most vile deviancies, Derrick is not my cup of tea.
“Joey” Van Pelt
Joey Van Pelt (no acknowledged relation to Linus or Lucy) is Season 16’s less-interesting, less-tattooed, less-drama-inducing Lydia Tavera (Season 11). Joey says that America should cheer for her because they won’t expect her to win. Ain’t that the truth! Maybe we’d have more confidence in her if, in the previous breath, she didn’t mention how she will invariably suck a nut at every competition and try to stay safe by “being fun”. Joey also has a GREEEAT (is that how you convey sarcasm on the internet?) plan to form an all-girls alliance…which, as any Big Brother fan knows, works FLAWLESSLY nearly EEEEVERY season! Joey feels this strategy will work perfectly for her because she says she gets along best with women, so she will not get into any cat fights. Joey fails to realize that, historically speaking, there will only be one or two females at most who are mentally-stable enough to form this peaceful, rational, girl-power coalition with.
Nicole Franzel
Curse you, Big Brother, for casting two “chicks with glasses”!…thus, I now have to remember names instead of vague, superficial generalities. Here is an easy mathematical equation to describe Nicole:
Jordan (S10/13)
– Cute southern accent
+ Irritatingly thick midwestern accent
+ Aaryn (S15)
– Racism
—————–
= Nicole Franzel
The highlight of this video, by far, is Nicole awkwardly fumbling around a way to explain to everyone how she is definitely not racist like some people may have been in the past ** wink ** wink **! Honestly, I like Nicole…she is a live-feed-viewing, t-shirt-making superfan, and she seems to just genuinely be excited about having fun and making the most out of the entire experience. I hope she does well, but she won’t.
Amber Borzotra
Ahhh, what to say about Amber?…no, seriously – what to say about Amber? She’s a model/esthetician, and I would give her a half-million dollars myself if she could spell “esthetician”. Amber SAYS “I try to steer clear of drama and confrontation”, but what I HEAR Amber saying is, “I’m a loony bitch and will be flying off the handle in no time”. Mark my words on this one…she’s just got that crazy look in her eyes. Amber also wants to form a tight-knit female alliance, so maybe we’ll see her and Joey fail together, hand-in-hand, a la Thelma and Louise.
Paola Shea
I have to imagine that some feminist organization had a heavy hand in casting this season, as we now have the THIRD contestant who is adamant about forming an all-girls alliance and sticking together. Failure works best in threes, I’ve been told. Meet Paola…or “Pao Pao”, as she calls herself. I call her “Bye Bye”. Pao Pao reminds us multiple times that she is proud to be the first female DJ ever to play Big Brother. Wow…THERE’S a stat for Wikipedia. Pao Pao goes on to say that she will not do well in memory competitions because her “brain doesn’t work like that”. Yeah…”like that”.
Victoria Rafaeli
Victoria is one of several recruits this season, but she is a different breed…because coincidentally, she also happens to be a huge fan of Big Brother both nationally and internationally! Based on the fact that Victoria is a superfan who got approached with no initiation on her part and was offered a dream chance to play, I have to assume that Victoria has a horseshoe wedged rather deeply up her ass. Luck like that could take her at least to jury…then she’s going to have to start playing. If she can pull off her “secret alliance” strategy, it could be fun to watch.
Zach Rance
I was fascinated just watching Zach talk. I can’t really even explain it or put my finger on it, but I know it was odd. I imagine that Zach is the guy who bangs a lot of chicks and is totally brazen about it, yet chicks keep banging him anyway and have nearly instant regret. In the scheme of Big Brother, he is the character love-child of Dr. Will and Dan Gheesling, but with zero strategy. I believe we’ll be seeing a lot of Zach, however, because he is my prime suspect for a showmance.
Caleb Reynolds
Caleb reminds me of some nightmarish hybrid between Jeff Schroeder (S10/13) and Chef Joe (S14). Maybe it’s the soul patch…I dunno. I believe that Caleb is the first military man that we’ve seen since Jerry back in Season 10. Another thing Caleb and Jerry have in common?…the inability to speak coherent thoughts at length. This is pristinely illustrated when Caleb describes to us his “bobber, hook, and sinker effect” theory that you would not be surprised to learn he came up with the night before this interview. His theory has something to do with him being a bobber so that fish don’t get mad at him…very confusing, but at least Caleb said that “the bobber plays a big role in the depth of your hook”, which sets us up for a fantastic “…that’s what she said”.
Cody Calafiore
Two things stood out to me about Cody. 1) He has a young Ralph Macchio vibe. 2) He will not last long in Big Brother. Cody is quite boring and seems to just be going through the motions. He doesn’t appear to be enough of a gamer to even make it to jury, but the interviewer is still polite enough to ask him funny questions like what he’d do with the $500,000 and how he’d handle the jury in the Final 2. Cute.
Frankie Grande
As soon as this video started, I wanted it to stop. Big Brother Network, however, has the same sadistic tendencies as Big Brother itself, and decided to make this the longest interview segment for me to sit through. Frankie Grande describes himself as an “actor/social-media-influencer/YouTube-personality”. That last sentence alone should be enough to explain why I can’t take any more of this. One of Frankie’s biggest worries is that people will recognize him in the house from his YouTube videos, causing him to have to change up his strategy. This is more comically delusional than maybe anything I’ve ever heard out of a contestant’s mouth pre-season. Frankie will be lucky if people recognize him AFTER being on Big Brother, let alone before. Finally, Frankie really sells the “please-hate-me-as-much-as-possible” vibe by ending his interview telling all of his adoring fans to “shine bright like a Frankie”.
Devin Shepherd
Ugh. This is a tough one. I feel bad that Devin even has to be evaluated by a dickwad like me. Devin appears to be a really REALLY genuinely good dude…the kind of guy you would love to have as your buddy, but that will be drab as can be to watch on TV. Someone needs to fly a banner in the backyard that just says, “RUN, DEVIN!” to try and save this guy from devolving into whatever demonized version of himself he may end up becoming after being trapped with the 15 other nutjobs this summer. I truly do wish him the best of luck, and although I don’t think he will win, Devin is certainly the contestant that I would most like to want to see win. Also, Devin is an ex-St. Louis Cardinal which could lead to a potentially awesome reality-check if Devin gets recognized in the house as a pro athlete before Frankie gets recognized for his stupid internet videos!
Hayden Voss
Hayden Voss describes himself in the way that you would expect any unkempt bicycle cab driver dressed in safari gear to describe themselves…as a “hustler” who “knows what it takes to get to the top”. Look, let’s just address the big pink elephant in the room here right now…seriously what the $*#@ are the odds that Big Brother would cast a Hayden Voss only a few years after casting Season 12 winner Hayden Moss?!? Never in my life did I think I’d have to use the phrase “which Hayden?”, but I feel like that will become commonplace amongst the BB fan community now. In order to clear things up for you, I’ve whipped up this handy table:
Hayden Moss Hayden Voss Played college baseball Played college hockey Long, flowing, silky golden locks of hair Long, unwashed, lice-infested golden locks of hair Winner of Season 12 Loser of Season 16 Has $500,000 Works for tips to pay for ramen noodles “The Animal” in the Brigade alliance Genetically part animal
Jocasta Odom
Wow. This was an exhausting video, to say the least. Jocasta likes to talk a lot without saying much of anything. Her casting story played out like Chunk’s confession to the Fratellis in Goonies. After rambling on about her husband and her sister and her nail tech and her college roomate’s kid, Jocasta is asked what she will bring to Big Brother 16 that no one else will. This is where she really goes off the deep end talking about some “secret symbol” that she has which will give her powers of some sort that she will reveal at some point but not now. If this sounds insane, it is…and I assure you that, as confusing as that last sentence sounded, I did as good of a job of describing it as was possible. Jocasta also becomes the FOURTH female to insist on forming a rock-solid all-girls alliance. If/when this plan doesn’t work with all of these women dead-set on its success, can we please finally just collectively agree to abandon this concept forever? Finally, Jocasta tells us that a vote for her is a vote for Jesus. Not to get all theological here, but I can’t imagine that Jesus (or any supreme being, for that matter) has any vested interest in Big Brother. Although when Jocasta gets voted out first or second, I may change my tune.
Well, that’s it for me this year. Thanks again to Big Brother Network for giving me the opportunity to dissect my fellow future Big Brother alumni before they ever even step foot into the house. If you enjoyed what I wrote here, then you may be a prime candidate to follow my sarcastic, cynical brain-dumps over on Twitter @HeadOfHOFFhold…so go do that now, because a follow for me is a follow for Jesus. |
A potentially life-saving drug, that can be used to reverse an overdose, is now available without a prescription at pharmacies across New York State.
This is the statement from CVS: "Naloxone is a safe and effective antidote to opioid overdoses. And by expanding access to this medication in our New York pharmacies by the use of a physician's standing order for patients without a prescription, we can help save lives”.
Recovering heroin addict Tatiana Green credits Naloxone also known as Narcan as one of the reasons why she's here today.
“April 19th, 2011 is my recovery date. So almost five years” Green said. According to the Centers for Disease Control, Opiate abuse has become a national epidemic and overdoses have quadrupled in the last decade. Now for the first time in history, New York State will be working with nearly 500 CVS pharmacies to provide Narcan to customers without a prescription.
“The bottom line is it's going to save lives period” Green said.
Narcan has been available to first responders in the form of a needle. Upon request, people can order it through a CVS pharmacy to be picked up the next day. It comes in an aerosol nose spray for $40-50. While it won't stop the addiction, Steve Chassman, with Long Island Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependance, says it's about risk reduction by regulating what could be a lethal dose of heroin.
His organization provides free Naloxone kits and training. He says having it available on a larger scale is a huge leap forward. He hopes other pharmacies will join in.
“If you're an active user or you have a loved one using, it's better to have and not need than need and not have” Chassman said.
According to statistics, last year in New York, 1500 users were revived with Narcan. While many are all for it being readily available, others question whether the quick fix could encourage drug use.
And while Tatiana no longer needs Narcan, she has her kit ready in case someone else does.
“They were never given Narcan and they died. They weren't go to get clean, right? They're dead. So if they live, there's a chance” Green said.
In a statement, CVS Health says Naloxone is a safe and effective antidote to opioid overdoses. Even though Narcan is available over-the-counter it's important to still get checked out by a professional after using it. |
So, here’s the news from the Senate. Martha Johnson was nominated to head the General Services Administration, and was confirmed by a nearly unanimous vote — but only after having had her nomination held hostage for nine months by Senator Kit Bond, who wanted more pork for Kansas City. And now Senator Richard Shelby has placed a hold on — are you seated — all, all, Obama administration nominees, until he gets some pork for Alabama.
What’s going on? The Senate has rules based on the idea that it was a chamber of gentlemen who would find ways to work together. But now, 41 Senators belong to a party that has no interest in a working government, no desire to work with the majority in good faith.
There’s a precedent for all this. In effect, we’ve now become 17th-century Poland:
… with the rise of power held by Polish magnates, the unanimity principle was reinforced with the institution of the nobility’s right of liberum veto (Latin for “I freely forbid”). If the envoys were unable to reach a unanimous decision within six weeks (the time limit of a single session), deliberations were declared null and void. From the mid-17th century onward, any objection to a Sejm resolution — by either an envoy or a senator — automatically caused the rejection of other, previously approved resolutions. This was because all resolutions passed by a given session of the Sejm formed a whole resolution, and, as such, was published as the annual constitution of the Sejm, e.g., Anno Domini 1667. In the 16th century, no single person or small group dared to hold up proceedings, but, from the second half of the 17th century, the liberum veto was used to virtually paralyze the Sejm, and brought the Commonwealth to the brink of collapse.
“Brink of collapse”: get used to that concept. |
Lewis Hamilton took aim at IndyCar competitors before the 101st Indianapolis 500, and the prestige of the greatest spectacle in racing by association.
Former Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has become a bit of a polarizing character in motorsports. From his prioritization of his social life over support of racing overall, to his utmost desire to win at all costs, he’s the world championship’s version of NASCAR driver Kyle Busch. Ahead of the Indy 500, won by Takuma Sato, Hamilton stirred up another controversy.
In an interview with France’s L’Equipe, Hamilton took aim at the IndyCar Series regulars, and their competitiveness in the wake of Fernando Alonso’s strong qualifying run:
I looked at the times and, frankly, for his first ever qualifying for Fernando to be fifth — what does that say about Indy?
The comments from the Mercedes driver have certainly lit a fire under a number of open-wheel fans in the United States. The controversy is two-fold on Hamilton’s, first not understanding the true awesomeness of the speed and power of IndyCar racing, and second underestimating the abilities of his former teammate Fernando Alonso.
If Lewis Hamilton were to compete in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, perhaps he would understand better what the race truly means. It is the grandest open wheel race in the United States, bringing out the best racers in the world. People from all around the globe tune in to see the race, including many of the drivers who race earlier that day in the F1 Monaco Grand Prix. Finally, one has to consider the prestige of winning the race, and the weight that carried not just in the United States but in racing overall.
On the other side, while Hamilton continues to show great reverence for his former teammate Fernando Alonso’s abilities in racing, he clearly underestimates them when compared to other IndyCar drivers. While few could qualify fifth in their first ever oval event, much less one of the most prestigious race in open wheel racing, it would take a driver of great accomplishment to do so. Fernando Alonso certainly fits that bill.
It would behoove Lewis Hamilton to learn more about other racing series around the globe, rather than slapping them around as if they are inferior to solely where he races. Besides, many would love the prospect of seeing Hamilton cross over to another racing series to try something new and challenging. |
It’s a week of love in Old School. The Lumbridge Cook has a new girlfriend and wants your help to impress her. You may even get a new tasty treat if you help him out. The big questions are, who is his girlfriend and is she real? This is the internet after all.
The Valentine's event will be around for one week and all the rewards will disappear then.
We also have a few bug fixes this week:
We have done work on the game engine which should allow for faster item switching, we would love to get your feedback on how well this is working for you.
The log out timer will now kick you from the game if you have been logged in for 6 hours whether or not you are in combat.
The slayer masters now understand the concepts of agility and quest requirements properly and will no longer assign Earth Warriors and Spiritual creatures with checking these first.
The Suq-A-Nother One reward for slayer now gives more monsters to kill, not less.
Clicking on the minimap orbs no longer closes some cut scenes.
The biggest update of the week was moving the castle wars mage hat 5 pixels higher in your inventory! WOO go us!
Join us on our stream tonight on Twitch.TV at 5pm GMT where you will get a first a look at some of the Wilderness updates.
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A few weeks ago I decided to dive a bit into google go and write a little URL shortener. So far go feels very dynamic and lightweight, while it does not need an 800 pound gorilla of a runtime environment. It still has not reached a 1.0 release and in some parts of the standard library you see, that it is work in progress, but the language is here to stay.
One of the nice properties of go is the super-fast compilation speed, which must have been an answer to this. My development setup for go is vim, git and a makefile, which are great text based tools all the way down.
Given the fact that the compiler is so fast and I was getting a bit tired of typing make , I looked for a better solution to compile my code continuously while working on it. I wanted something automatic, like in an IDE, while sticking to the tools I have.
Luckily the good Linux operating system has everything I needed to implement that, so doing a full build every time I save my code is as simple as the following commandline.
Now let’s look at what that does: The inotifywait command is from the inotify-tools package, which uses inotify to watch for file-system events. The nice thing about inotify is, that the kernel informs you about file-system events and you don’t have to poll for changes yourself. You should really add all of inotify to your toolbox, it can be a great technology for solving part of different bigger problems, like automatic image resizing.
The command as shown here sets up recursive ( -r ) file system watches on the src directory and waits for close_write events, which are fired, as soon as I save any file in vim or any other tool. The -m switch puts inotifywait in monitor mode, which means it will run forever in the foreground and emit one line of text for each event. Every time one line is emitted, bash will read it and call make to build my project. Pretty simple and pretty powerful and the best thing is, that inotifywait does the right thing, meaning it will start watching new files as they appear in the src directory.
Since I am using vim , I could have used a combination of :makeprg and :errorformat , :quickfix and :autocmd , but I wanted something portable, that I could easily reuse under other circumstances.
Happy hacking! |
Very recently, we have been seeing the Congress party celebrating acquittal of Raja in the 2G scam and relief to Ashok Chavan in the Adarsh scam. But the nation is largely unaware of the attitude of the most celebrated Congressman, Jawaharlal Nehru towards national resources. The anecdote that I am about to share comes from an unexpected source; a book about Subramanian Swamy written by his wife Roxna Swamy.
In the first chapter of the book : “Evolving with Dr Swamy” , Roxna Swamy narrates an anecdote from her father (an ICS officer)’s career . The chapter is titled “The Precursor To Swamy : Daddy”. Mrs Swamy doesn’t write her father’s name in the book , therefore I am forced to use the phrase ‘Roxna Swamy’s father’ .
She recounts her father’s experience with Nehru in early fifties regarding an order to make available a defence plane to an American lady journalist. There had been floods in Bihar at the time of the journalist’s interview of Nehru. After it was done, she lady journalist had expressed her wish to view the floods in Bihar from air. Our hero Nehru, declared that he would make her wish come true.
Nehru directed the Defence Ministry to make arrangements. The file came to the junior secretary in the ministry (Roxna Swamy’s father). The man refused to accept this request and returned the file. He got a call from M.O. Mathai, Nehru’s private secretary, who pointed out that the request came from the Prime Minister himself. Here I quote from the book ( page 9 ):
“Nehru has no authority to requisition a defence plane for this purpose”; and when Mathai persisted, my father (using what every seasoned bureaucrat knows is the ultimate Sudarshan Chakra , to be used only at your peril) told him, “Give it to me in writing.” Mathai went and reported to Nehru
Apparently, her father presented himself before Nehru and received a long lecture on the freedom movement. “You people still think that you are working under the British“, he reportedly said. And then, Nehru went on to ask him to sign the requisitioning papers. Again, Roxna Swamy’s father asked for a written request. Eventually, Nehru did not give the order in writing and her father was transferred to Bombay from Delhi.
Of course this is no scam, but the tendency of the Congress to treat national resources as petty objects that can be used for personal benefit or enhance one’s own image is a very old and deeply rooted attitude. The same attitude has blossomed into a patronage based corrupt polity where embezzlement of public resources is not an exception but a norm. This episode, if accurate, also makes us think about the unholy nexus between journalists and politicians (especially Congressmen).
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Margaret L. Andersen (B.A., Georgia State University; M.A., Ph.D. University of Massachusetts, Amherst) is the Edward F. and Elizabeth Goodman Rosenberg Professor of Sociology at the University of Delaware, where she has also served in several senior administrative positions, including most recently as Vice Provost for Faculty Affairs and Diversity. She holds secondary appointments in Black American Studies and Women and Gender Studies. She is the author of several books, including (among others) THINKING ABOUT WOMEN, recently published in its tenth edition; the best-selling anthology, RACE, CLASS, AND GENDER (co-edited with Patricia Hill Collins, now in its ninth edition); LIVING ART: THE LIFE OF PAUL R. JONES, AFRICAN AMERICAN ART COLLECTOR; and ON LAND AND ON SEA: A CENTURY OF WOMEN IN THE ROSENFELD COLLECTION. She is a member of the National Advisory Board for Stanford University's Center for Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity, the Past Vice President of the American Sociological Association, and Past President of the Eastern Sociological Society, from which she received the ESS Merit Award. She has also received two teaching awards from the University of Delaware and the American Sociological Association's Jessie Bernard Award.
Howard F. Taylor has taught at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Syracuse University, and Princeton University, where he is presently Professor of Sociology and former director of the African American Studies Center. He has published over fifty articles in sociology, education, social psychology, and race relations. His books include THE IQ GAME (Rutgers University Press), a critique of hereditarian accounts of intelligence; BALANCE IN SMALL GROUPS (Van Nostrand Reinhold), translated into Japanese; and the forthcoming RACE AND CLASS AND THE BELL CURVE IN AMERICA. He has appeared widely before college, radio, and TV audiences, including ABC's Nightline. Past president of the Eastern Sociological Society, Dr. Taylor is a member of the American Sociological Association and the Sociological Research Association, an honorary society for distinguished research. He is a winner of the DuBois-Johnson-Frazier Award, given by the American Sociological Association for distinguished research in race and ethnic relations, and the President's Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University. Raised in Cleveland, Ohio, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Hiram College and has a Ph.D. in sociology from Yale University. |
Travelers who do not require visas for the United States - such as most citizens of Europe, including Germany, as well as Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and Japan - must pay a $14 tax (11 euros) starting Wednesday.
Travelers from so-called Visa Waiver Program (VWP) countries "must pay operational and travel promotion fees" when applying for an Electronic System for Travel Authorization, or ESTA, US authorities announced.
ESTA is an electronic registration form for overseas visitors and has been required for travelers from VWP countries since January, 2009.
EU set to challenge new US rules
The European Union Home Affairs Commissioner, Cecilia Malmstroem, has warned that the new US fees amounted to introducing visas through the backdoor.
Fee is "inconsistent with transatlantic mobility," says Malmstroem
"I have repeatedly raised concerns about this fee and I remain convinced that these new requirements…are inconsistent with the commitment of the US to facilitate transatlantic mobility and will be an additional onus for European citizens traveling to the US," Malmstroem said in a statement.
Malmstroem also said that the EU would carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the ESTA program, once the US authorities publish the final rules.
But, Elmar Brok, a German member of the European Parliament, speaking to Deutsche Welle, said on Wednesday that if the US didn't drop the fee, the EU might take other action.
"I think we can only talk to the Americans that they get rid of it; that we convince them, or, that we come up with retaliation measures," he said.
Under pressure, US parries criticism
Jacqueline Bednarz, from the US Homeland Security Agency, defended the new practice at a press conference on Wednesday.
Europeans have grown accustomed to visa-free travel
"We're very confident that the system is fast and easy and very user-friendly for travelers applying for an ESTA to come to the US through the Visa Waiver Program. We certainly are ready and see this as a great way to promote tourism to our country," Bednarz said.
Questions on the ESTA form include whether a passenger has a communicable disease, a physical or mental disorder, abuses drugs, has been convicted a certain crimes, or been involved in espionage, terrorism or genocide.
In Europe, the system is viewed as invasive and bureaucratic
Contrary to US opinion, Europeans view the system as an oversized bureaucratic annoyance. And the new tourist tax adds insult to injury for Europeans wanting to go to the US, said Iris Bellingrodt, a German travel agent in Kerpen near Cologne, in an interview with Deutsche Welle.
"It's another point they do to make people angry to go to the US. ESTA is a thing people don't like anyway, because they have to answer so many questions. And now, they have to pay for what the government wants them to do," she said.
Bellingrodt said she didn't think the new fee would keep people from going to the US because it was minimal compared to the total cost of such a trip. But she does think it means more paperwork for her business.
"In our travel agency, it's service for our customers that we fill out the ESTA form, but now, since it costs money we will go on doing this, but only with their own credit cards because if we charge the amount with our card we have to print an invoice or something. This all makes much more paperwork, so we would have to take another fee for this," said Bellingrodt.
Author: Gregg Benzow
Editor: Nancy Isenson |
Last week I wrote a post about how Nikon really needs to jump on the 4k bandwagon. I got a few comments that basically said; "Why do you care about 4k? nobody even owns a 4k TV at this point." They were right, 4k TVs aren't very popular, but I have no interest in producing 4k videos right now. I want to shoot 4k footage to enhance my 1080p videos.
Sharper 1080P footage
You may think that HD footage is a universal standard and anything shot in "HD" will look ultra sharp but that isn't true. "High Definition" footage can mean 720i/p or 1080i/p footage. Most HD cameras today will shoot in 1080p (the highest level of HD footage) but there is no regulation at all on a camera's bit-rate.
To save money on processors and memory buffers, cheaper cameras typically output HD footage at a relatively low bit-rate (megabits per second). This causes your footage to look soft, pixelated, and muddy.
In the example below I've taken a Jpeg image using the Nikon D750 and have shrunk it down to 1080p and I've also taken a still from a video clip of the exact same scene. I've then cropped in so that you can see the pixels at 100%. The D750's video footage is actually quite good compared to other DSLRs but the image below shows you just how far 1080p video footage still has to improve.
4k footage, named because it has 4000 pixels horizontally (4096x2160), is approximately the size of 4 standard 1080p (1920x1080p) video files. Shrinking down 4k footage to be 1080p is a night and day difference in detail and quality. Down-sampling can also help cut down on noise and grain making the footage appear to be cleaner as well.
In theory it is possible for a high end 1080p camera to film higher quality footage than a cheap 4k camera, but in my experience most 4k cameras are significantly sharper than 1080p cameras.
Shooting 4k video footage to get a sharper 1080p final export is the ultimate reason to shoot 4k but I've got 5 other uses for 4k that make it even more useful.
Stabilizing Footage in Post
While Hollywood has a team of people and an unlimited budget to produce flawless camera moves, I don't have that luxury and sometimes I'm forced to shoot hand-held. Even if I am standing perfectly still with a optically stabilized lens on my camera, you're going to be able to see camera shake. If I have to start walking, the footage becomes unusable.
Video effects like Premiere's "Warp Stabilizer" can save shaky footage, but it requires that the footage be "zoomed in" to work. If your 1080p footage is already soft, cropping in another 20% will make it unusable.
Shooting in 4k will give you enough pixels to play with so that effects like video stabilization will have no discernible effect on your finished video.
Cropping Footage In Post
You've heard photographers say for the last 10 years: "I like having more megapixels because it gives me more cropping options." Now that same luxury is available for film makers. When we were filming our landscape photography tutorial we used a Dji Phantom 2 with a Gorpo 4 Silver at 2.7k (2.7k is larger than 1080p but smaller than 4k).
Since I didn't have a vision downlink system I had to fly the drone and guess what I was filming. Back in post I was able to crop the footage to be the best composition without losing any quality in the final 1080p export.
Chances are, you've never considered cropping your video footage because it wasn't an option. Once you've experienced the flexibility of recomposing a shot after you've shot it, you'll never want to go back.
Perfect Pans and Zooms
Have you ever tried to film a perfectly smooth pan with a video camera? It's almost impossible. Have you ever tried to film a perfectly smooth zoom with a manual lens? It's literally impossible.
If you shoot 4k, small pans and zooms have never been easier. Simply zoom out, grab a few seconds of your scene and then add a pan or a zoom once you get back to the computer.
Adding these movements to your video in post will actually look better than anything you can do in the field and because 4k gives you so many extra pixels to work with, your finished product will look flawless.
Shooting A and B Roll Shots At The Same Time
If you've ever filmed an interview with someone you know that you will need to run a minimum of 2 cameras. A 5 minute video might have around 20-100 cuts in it and to mask each of them, you will need to jump from camera to camera to avoid the dreaded "jump cut." Shooting 4k and exporting in 1080p gives you a lot of room to play and basically can give you 2 or even 3 different looking shots (wide, medium, and tight).
For many of our videos we end up setting 2 cameras in almost an identical position, one shooting wide and the other shooting tight. One 4k camera could easily replace this 2 camera setup.
4k Footage Is Good Enough To Pull Still Frames
Most 1080p video footage looks so low res that still frames really aren't even good enough for web use. If it's not good enough for a website, you certainly wouldn't consider printing a still frame from a standard HD video camera but 4k is changing that.
Not only is most 4k footage good enough to replace standard still images on the web, but many shooters are starting to realize that 4k still frames are actually good enough to print. To put this into perspective, a 1080 video contains 2 million pixels where a single frame of 4k video contains 8.8 million pixels.
Check out our video where we compare a Hasselblad file to a still frame pulled from a very outdated Red Epic. Back in 2012 when we filmed this we were all really impressed with the Epic but today the Red Dragon puts the Epic to shame.
Conclusion
4k is far from being a common household format. Even though it is easy to go out and buy a 4k TV, you will have a very hard time finding footage to play on it. Luckily 1080p footage has so much room to improve. You shouldn't run out and buy a 4k video camera because you want to see your footage in 4k but, you should consider filming in 4k simply to enhance your standard, HD footage. Unlike 3D, it's pretty obvious that 4k is the future and even if it never becomes universally adopted it will help improve your videos today no matter what format you are working in. |
Pals say the pressure of being Vice President Joe Biden’s niece made her a “hot mess” – but Caroline Biden apparently had no trouble using her status to try and pull rank on cops, The Post has learned
“I shouldn’t be handcuffed! You don’t know who you’re doing this to,” Caroline Biden barked at police, according to court documents.
Cops arrested Biden at her then luxury rental apartment in Tribeca Sept. 17 after she allegedly went berserk in a door-pounding, screaming confrontation with her roommate over unpaid rent.
After swinging at a female officer then slapping another, cops cuffed her and took her to the station house.
The unstable 26-year-old rambled for nearly two hours, snootily trying to get cops to make the connection between her name and that of her powerful uncle, court papers show.
“My name can’t be on it,” Biden bossily demanded, referring to police paperwork. “I know my rights, I studied law.”
When cops tried to search the Georgetown University grad’s purse she snapped, “I have secret service stuff in there.”
Biden continually referenced her connection to her uncle, despite having complained to friends about how much she hated the pressure of being the VP’s niece, according to socialite and pal Paul Johnson Calderon.
She at one point asked to use the bathroom and when her cell door was opened she announced she was leaving, according to the criminal complaint.
The prima donna, who wasn’t cuffed, tried to slide past an officer who blocked her.
“Don’t touch me,” she squealed, trying to push the cop out of the way. When the officer tried to deposit her back into the cell, she desperately clung to a doorframe to prevent it.
Some cops questioned whether the young woman’s erratic behavior and incessant gabbing might be caused by medication, a source added.
A friend of Biden’s previously told the Post she’d struggled with alcohol and pill addiction and even did a stint in rehab.
In a last ditch effort to escape police custody, Biden appealed to the next best thing to her big shot uncle. “I need to call my father,” she said, referring to her financier dad James Biden Sr.
She’s charged with obstruction of government administration, resisting arrest and harassment.
The blue-eyed Biden sported a mysterious black eye at her appearance Tuesday in Manhattan Criminal Court.
Additional reporting by Tara Palmeri |
Do you remember that time where you did something that you once said you would “never” do? Thinking about it now, you are in the process of changing your mind. ‘I said that then because I was younger…’ or ‘I didn’t really mean it as much as you think…’ these are cases of cognitive dissonance. It is when two things that are different from each other comes into our lives. When we do the opposite of what we believe in, and when people contradict something that we do and question our actions.
Cognitive dissonance is normal; it happens to me, it happens to you, and everyone else in the world so there's no point in denying it. It is a very uncomfortable sensation because we either have to look for more excuses for what we did even though we are clearly wrong or change what we believe in. Here are a few examples:
Cognitive Dissonance: THE PERFECT COUPLE
Think about a time when you met a ‘perfect’ couple. They’re so in sync with each other, personality/looks wise they match; they are just made for each other. You think that no one else would be better for them because that’s it; they’re each other’s soul mates.
And then you find out that one cheated on the other.
At first, it would be hard for you to believe because of every single detail inside your head that makes them perfect for each other. You might think, ‘that’s just a rumor, it’s not true…’ or ‘ maybe that happened because…’ you look for an excuse so your belief sticks. This is cognitive dissonance.
You found an information against something that you believe in, therefore, even though know that it is a possibility, you just can’t believe it.
However, when it happens that there are proofs and that the fact is, one of them is a cheater, you start seeing all of their flaws as a couple. And you might even start thinking that you always thought that they weren't that perfect for each other. You start thinking, ‘it was kind of suspicious when this happened…’ or you just start saying and/or thinking every negative thing about the cheater. This situation is also cognitive dissonance.
We cannot have two different beliefs. Either we find an excuse to believe what we believe in, or we change what we believe in.
Cognitive Dissonance: THE PERFECT STUDENT
Imagine a young person who has a mild case of social anxiety disorder (s.a.d.) This young person constantly thinks that they are not good enough, that other’s think negatively of them and that they just can’t. It is obviously not easy to know if someone is suffering from s.a.d. you cannot just look at someone and know. Everyone feels shy when it comes to doing something new, so we don’t really know if they are just shy or suffering from s.a.d. We don't know until they ask for a zero on a speech instead of doing it. Teasing a student for being shy sometimes is normally what happens in schools, however, some of them are affected more than others. What you’re saying to them may be consonant to what they are thinking which can enforce their belief of not being good enough even more.
Helping them think the opposite will not be easy because what you’ll be saying to them will be dissonant from what they are thinking and it is NOT easy to change their mind.
When it comes to Social Anxiety Disorder, one of the most effective ways to change their way of thinking is through Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. A part of the CBT therapy is to change the negative thoughts inside your head and replace them with good better ones.
Instead of thinking ‘If I go up there they’ll think my speech is stupid’ you might want to replace this with ‘No one has mentioned this part of my speech yet, I can contribute something to the class.’
Once you practice replacing your negative thoughts such as the one mentioned before and replace it with a positive one, if consistent enough, these ‘dissonant’ thoughts will no longer be dissonant instead they will be consonant with you because you may start feeling more positive about yourself. However, this cannot happen overnight, this is a therapy that should be done consistently with a professional so that you can do every single step that must be taken to be successful.
So no, today you won’t be having an embarrassing day, today going out will mean you will get to see people chat happily with each other and enjoy the weather!
If you or you know someone going through Social Anxiety Disorder Visit:
https://www.beyondblue.org.au/the-facts/anxiety/types-of-anxiety/social-phobia |
George Karl could always tell a story. When Nate Timmons, Andrew Feinstein and myself would have our annual offseason breakfast with him it was always a treat. There was no better NBA insider who could spin a yarn about a career in the the League with more panache and style. Even over a bowl of oatmeal. That is something I will miss about not having George around. It was a treat.
George was also honest, at least, from his perspective. That whole "shoot straight" cliche was definitely present and he would tell you exactly what he thought of a player, owner, situation or whatever you'd like to hear. It was always from his perspective, though, and if you gave it a little bit of time you'd think to yourself "yeah, there's definitely another side to this story". Though, once again, you would appreciate his honesty.
One curious aspect of George was his embrace of the analytics movement. While there is definitely some truth to that statement, it's more likely that George just exaggerated aspects of his existing philosophy and fit them in to an analytics friendly approach. Particularly this recent "layups and threes good - mid-range shots bad" that has swept through the league. George loved the threes and layups anyway, but didn't have anything particular against mid range twos until about 2011. If you want to put it another way, the Nuggets put the college dribble-drive offense inside an NBA system frame.
George "embraced" it, but to say that he was analytics friendly was an exaggeration. George knew well enough to see where the NBA was going, but was highly leery of stats-based analysis and would often say that once the NBA get's run by statistics and not "feel", he would be out. There was an interesting contradiction there, but from the outside looking in ... the Nuggets were on the leading edge of the NBA revolution.
It was a carefully crafted, and deliberate, illusion.
This seeming embrace of analytics generated this almost hipster-like cool that the Nuggets had. No "stars"? Yeah buddy! Layups and threes? Heck yeah! Crazy 'players standing out of bounds and should be against NBA rules zany offensive sets'? We got that in spades, doe! The twitter world, where analytics roam free like the once plentiful Bison, this made the Nuggets THE team to watch on NBA League Pass. Combine that with defensive "genius" Andre Iguodala and you have the makings of something hipster-special.
Let's be honest folks, the Nuggets house of cards collapsed the moment Danilo Gallinari clutched his knee in agony against the Dallas Mavericks 10 days before the season ended. The team, which didn't have many shooters to begin with, lost their best floor spacer. When the team entered the playoffs against the Golden State Warriors, all the Dubs had to do was pack the paint and dare the Nuggets to shoot. George's penchant of over-tinkering got the best of him, and despite a spirited and desperate effort in Game 5, the handwriting was on the wall ... and the thousands of empty seats in that game at Pepsi Center showed how weary the fanbase was of first round exits.
When the Nuggets lost that series back in April, it wasn't where the team lost it's "cool". No, and I'd wager to say that even when Executive of the Year Masai Ujiri left for the Toronto Raptors shortly after the season ended the Nuggets didn't even lose their cool then. No, but when George Karl was fired, there was a part of various observers (specifically Zach Lowe of Bill Simmons' Grantland, whose distaste at what the Nuggets are doing is quite profound) that regarded the Nuggets as an organization that lost it's mind.
As soon as Josh Kroenke (Nuggets owner) uttered the word "traditional" in his press conference a week after Karl was fired, you would have thought the Nuggets were installing peach baskets at Pepsi Center and were going back to the days of short shorts and high socks. There may be many square peg, round hole aspects to this Nuggets roster and there's a definite work in progress aspect to the team. However, much of this venomous spite directed at the Nuggets seems to be out of losing a favorite coach more than anything else. The curious thing is, this all seems to be stemming from the National media.
There's many aspects I personally miss about George. As I have said over and over since his dismissal I did like him personally. Maybe, in a larger sense, the Nuggets have lost their hip vibe because George embraced things that analytics people do value. The team can certainly can be a chore to watch at times (as evidenced by last night's lackluster and no-energy performance in Houston) and there are times this year when I have found myself saying that a team coached by George Karl would have won that game.
Without placing a value judgment on the veracity of firing Karl, I do think you can judge this team on it's own merits. Brian Shaw as well. While I have quibbles with his approach at times (his substitution pattern is still to random for my taste) he seems to communicate well with the players and get the most out of what he can. This roster isn't set to his specifications and until Gallo get's back we won't see what this team is capable of. That being said, can we call the Shaw Nuggets cool on their own merits?
If Nate, Andy and I sit down at that breakfast cafe again and have a talk with George, it would be great. You miss the stories. You miss the honesty and the (at times) shoot from the hip approach he had. It's just different now at Pepsi Center and the vibe that has surrounded the team for lo these last 8 1/2 seasons is gone. I would be lying if I didn't say it's worrisome.
That being said. It's cool to change horses in mid stream. Like David Bowie or Paul Weller. Keeping people on their toes is the essence of being cool isn't it? Hip? Hipster? The Nuggets, in many ways, took an enormously bold risk.
If it eventually pays off, I have a feeling they will be the coolest kids on the block.
Now, to celebrate. Here is a video of Morrissey and Morrissey clones wearing hipster glasses. ENJOY!
***
Twitter: @jmorton78
mortonagency@juno.com |
Editor’s Note: February 2, 2016
After uncovering misattributed quotes in stories written by Juan Thompson, a former staff reporter, The Intercept conducted a review of his work. We were unable to confirm several quotes in this piece, which Thompson said he collected while covering the protests in Baltimore. Unconfirmed quotes include those attributed to Kianda Miller, James Drummond, and Naz Gibson. The Intercept has no reason to doubt the veracity of other parts of this story, which were reported by George Joseph.
BALTIMORE, Md. — West Baltimore, the site of most of the unrest that’s erupted in this city in the wake of the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray, has all the staples of a forgotten, neglected urban neighborhood: liquor stores, storefront churches, check-cashing joints and vacant buildings. Lots of vacant buildings. In fact, riding into Baltimore’s Penn Station, the first sight for Amtrak passengers is row after row of vacant houses.
“Those vacant houses almost represent our lost dreams,” said Kianda Miller, 33. Miller is a single mother of four children who lives near the Gilmor Homes public housing project, in the area in which Gray was detained by police before struggling in a police van and dying as a result of spinal injuries. “People are kinda lost,” Miller added. “No jobs, no money, no hope, nothing.”
In order to understand the events that followed Gray’s killing — the fires, the looting, the clashes with police that occurred Saturday and Tuesday — one must first understand the relationship between the police and the poor, mostly black residents of this section of the city. In her book, The Hero’s Fight: African Americans in West Baltimore and the Shadow of the State, author Patricia Fernandez-Kelly wrote about “how growing up poor in the richest nation in the world involves daily interactions with agents of the state, an experience that differs significantly from that of more affluent populations.” When Kianda Miller said that her neighbors didn’t have money, she was right. One entity, however, has plenty of resources: the police department. Last summer, The Baltimore Sun reported that “police departments in Maryland have received more than $12 million in excess equipment from the U.S. military through a federal program that has come under bipartisan scrutiny.”
Getty Images
The Baltimore PD has enough of an outsized bank account to rank as the eighth largest department in the country — in a city that’s only the nation’s 27th largest. The bulked up department has developed a reputation for brutal treatment of black residents. Since 2011 alone, the city has paid nearly $6 million to settle police brutality cases.
One man was beaten bloody because he refused to sit down in the grass when a plainclothes officer approached him after he bought some fried chicken for dinner. The Sun cataloged the attacks:
Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson. Those cases detail a frightful human toll. Officers have battered dozens of residents who suffered broken bones — jaws, noses, arms, legs, ankles — head trauma, organ failure, and even death, coming during questionable arrests. Some residents were beaten while handcuffed; others were thrown to the pavement.
We approached a number of younger protesters at the the intersection of Pennsylvania and West North avenues for interviews in West Baltimore on Tuesday. The vast majority of them declined. “I don’t want to answer y’all questions. We don’t trust y’all either,” one demonstrator said.
As often happens within social movements, a generational divide has opened up. The youth who rebelled didn’t “have any home training,” local resident Lorraine Hall said in an interview. “All police aren’t bad. There’s the good and there’s the bad. Deal with it and get out there and protest peacefully.”
A younger resident, who identified himself as Naz Gibson, 22, and who lives in the Gilmor Homes, said, “The old heads don’t understand, we’re not going to take a back seat anymore. We don’t wanna live like them. Look around! We’re going to do better!”
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A blighted neighborhood in an impoverished city
The poisoned relationship between police and residents in West Baltimore has unfolded against the backdrop of economic devastation. Baltimore is ranked the sixth poorest city in the country. The Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, where the Gilmor Homes are located, is one of the poorest in the city. More than half of its residents aged 16 through 64 are unemployed. The median household income is only $24,000, and more than 60 percent of the population doesn’t have a high school diploma. Nearly 33 percent of the homes in Sandtown-Winchester sit vacant.
The economic situation has been exacerbated by institutionalized racism against black residents. In 2008, Baltimore officials alleged, in a suit supported by testimony from former Wells Fargo loan officers, that the national bank engaged in unscrupulous lending practices, while its staffers called black Baltimore residents “mud people” and referred to loans given out to black residents as “ghetto loans.” The city said the bank’s predatory lending ultimately exacerbated Baltimore’s problem with vacant buildings.
On top of its other problems, Sandtown-Winchester also suffers under one of the highest incarceration rates of any one community in the state.
A thoroughly militarized police force
Since 2006, Baltimore’s Police Department has bulked up its surveillance and military capacities. Some of the huge guns, riot gear, and armored vehicles currently being used to intimidate protestors in Baltimore may have come directly from the Department of Defense’s Excess Property program, left over from the American invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2006, The Baltimore Sun reported, the program gave over $12 million worth of excess military equipment to police departments across Maryland, including mine-resistant and armed combat vehicles. Since the program began, The City of Baltimore has received at least $553,000 worth of military equipment and the county received 283 rifles. (The Baltimore Police Department did not respond to The Intercept’s inquiry as to whether weapons used in response to the Freddie Gray protests were received from the Department of Defense.)
Since 2007, the Baltimore police have spent more than $250,000 on cell-phone tracking devices, which have been used to monitor thousands of Baltimore residents indiscriminately and without warrant. The department uses this technology with almost complete impunity, and has even publicly disclosed it is following directions from the FBI to block information on the program from judges and prosecutors. This fact is even more alarming when put in the national context. Over the past seven years, Baltimore’s police department has used stingray data collection 4,300 times, usage that goes far beyond many cities and even states across the country.
Indeed, the Baltimore PD’s surveillance capabilities are now a far cry from the bygone era of Lester Freamon’s dusty intelligence basement. Last year, the department unveiled its new “Watch Center,” a central intelligence hub equipped to collect, centralize, and comb through data across the entire city. As ABC News reported, inside the “Watch Center” police intelligence officials can view all city surveillance footage, track the location of social media posts in real time, and use this data to map social media movement across the city — an ominous sign for protestors and the horde of reporters tweeting after them.
Many black residents in West Baltimore say all this gear has been used to treat them like enemies on the battlefield. Betty Smith, a young person from the Gilmor Homes, where Freddie Gray once lived, said she’s never been able to walk around without being stopped and harassed by police. “I grew up with him [Gray], he was a fun loving guy … Once the police hopped on me, my daughter, and my two nephews and made us sit down at gun point. We’re kids! They’re one and two!” says Smith. “The police are bullies with badges. They harass us all day long and we can’t even walk down the street. They lock us up for jay-walking. We can’t do nothing.”
James Drummond, a 29-year-old protester from West Baltimore, said the police’s surveillance technologies are being used inappropriately against protestors. “It’s fucked up out here,” he said. “My homeboy told me yesterday that they got intel van following them around.” The intelligence vans Drummond referred to sometimes include cell phone tracking devices that follow around targets of surveillance, indiscriminately swiping sensitive user, location, and communications information of anyone within a one-block radius of the van without a warrant.
Speaking with residents in West Baltimore, Baltimore’s most policed and predominantly African-American neighborhood, it seems clear that many view the police surveillance apparatus and Baltimore’s heavily armed guards as enemy forces, there to suppress rather than protect them. “Who’s policing the police? They’re their own gang, they stick together, help each other, and never tell on each other,” said Rob Gordon, a 48-year-old West Baltimore resident.
Photo of a man in front of a line of police officers in riot gear as part of a community effort to disperse the crowd ahead of a 10 p.m. curfew in the wake of Monday’s riots following the funeral for Freddie Gray, Tuesday, April 28, 2015, in Baltimore. (David Goldman/AP) |
Pugar “The Magician” Arreon claims his big brother is a Warp Talon and that’s where he got the awesome helmet and chainsword; while the claim is patently ridiculous the sword is basically brand new … there’s no Nurgle rot, Tzeentchian sigils, and not nearly enough blood to have been looted from Khornish marines. Exactly how Pugar acquired is unclear.
In the revelry after a particularly successful battle another cultists, Cruga tried to insult Pugar by calling him a lumberjack, and Pugar responded by sawing him in half and then proclaiming that he couldn’t put Cruga back together so he was apparently a pretty piss poor magician. This struck a cord with the rest of the cult, and now there are usually raucous calls to “Show us a magic trick” from everyone else in his squad when they charge into battle.
Pugar has the distinction of having one of the few Chaos amulets not made by Moebius, though he’s not clear on the origins since it was attached when “his brother gave it to him.”
The sword and helmet are indeed spares from the Warp Talon/Lightning Claws kit. The pistol is actually from a Kharadron Overlord kit (aka fantasy sky dwarves).
Tags: 40k, meetthecult, Warhammer 40k |
For this week’s FABULOUS giveaway (Monday 5/16 through Wednesday 5/18) we are giving away a Nature Anywhere Birds-I-View Window Bird Feeder House! This bird house has industrial strength suction cups with a sliding feed tray. It is touted to be virtually 100% squirrel and deer proof, provided you use it on a high window with no ledges or branches near it. It is also educational and fun as it allows your family (and your cats) to get closer to nature! For more information on this prize, visit the product page on Amazon.com.
To enter, just leave your answer to the question: “What do you feed your garden birds?” on the comments section of our Facebook Nature Anywhere Bird Feeder giveaway post anytime from Monday May 16 through midnight Wednesday May 18 as well as share the Facebook giveaway post on your timeline. The winner will be drawn at random from all qualified entrants, and notified through Facebook. (See Rules for more information.)
Be sure to check out Nature Anywhere at www.nature-anywhere.com!
Good luck and happy gardening!
UPDATE 5/25/2016: Congratulations to Terri Key!
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Neighborhoods around Rhode Island Avenue NE were built to depend on transit. A new express bus, the G9, is one step closer to running along the corridor, from downtown to Mount Rainier.
WMATA first proposed the G9 in 2014, after studying the way transit use was changing along Rhode Island Avenue into Prince George’s County. The DC Council made a huge push toward making the line a reality Tuesday night, with a unanimous first vote for a FY17 budget that includes $1.04 million for the G9.
“The proposed G9 bus line will service Rhode Island Avenue from 14th Street NW to just beyond the District’s border at Eastern Ave NE, thereby filling that gap and alleviating congestion on the G8 and other bus lines that offer partial service to the Rhode Island Avenue NE corridor,” said Ward 5 councilmember Kenyan McDuffie.
Here’s a full map of the planned route:
The proposed G9 route, from WMATA. A bigger version is on page 25 of this report.
This is extremely welcome news to residents of the Rhode Island Avenue corridor, who are looking at an almost one-month shutdown of their portion of the Red Line during SafeTrack.
As of press time, neither WMATA nor McDuffie’s office had responded to questions about when, exactly, residents can expect the G9 to start running. We’ll update the post as soon as we hear back.
But for now, let’s take a moment to celebrate this bit of good transit news — it’s a welcome bit of sunshine on a rainy horizon.
Popping bottles in the ice, like a blizzard
When we drink we do it right gettin slizzard
Sippin sizzurp in my ride, like Three 6 689
Now I’m feeling so fly like a G6 G9
Like a G6 G9, Like a G6 G9
Now I’m feeling so fly like a G6 G9
Like a G6 G9, Like a G6 G9
Now I’m feeling so fly like a G6 G9 |
Unknown to most Americans is the fact that the first motion picture camera was invented by Thomas Alva Edison in East Orange, New Jersey. A lifelong inventor, Mr. Edison had over 1,000 inventions patented when he died in 1931. Inventing a motion picture camera that worked properly was the easy part for Edison. Keeping Jews from using the camera without paying him royalties for his invention was the hard part. As soon as the German born Jew, Carl Laemmle found out about motion pictures, he started figuring ways to exploit the new invention. Efforts by Laemmle and other Jews to deprive Edison of his fees for using his cameras forced Edison and other movie makers like Dickson, Casler, Koopman, Long, Smith, Klein and Marion to form a protective association called the TRUST. As fast as these Jews could get their hands on Edison's equipment and started using it, the Trust would file lawsuits against them to stop their illegally using his patented equipment. Not to be outdone, Laemmle and some other New York Jews, rushed around Europe in their efforts to circumvent the long arm of the Trust. Cameras based on Edison's invention were smuggled into the United States by Jews as well as raw film. Edison and the Trust had made arrangements with the Eastman Kodak Company to exclusively produce film for it and those who had been sanctioned to use the equipment by the Trust. Carl Laemmle Laemmle and his Jewish co-racialists found film manufacturers in Europe to supply them with Kodak-like film which was also smuggled into the United States. When the courts moved at a snail's pace or refused to stop these Jews from using Edison's invention, the Trust would send out it's own enforcement 'police' which would seize and smash the illegal equipment. As one author noted, this forced them to set up an elaborate warning system. Jewish lookouts would keep watch while they were filming and when they observed the Trust 'police' on their way, they would quickly pack up their cameras and flee as fast as possible to another 'filming' location. However, Laemmle knew that while the Trust controlled most of the movie cameras, they could not get their films into circulation without 'movie houses.' Edison and other non-Jewish movie makers distributed their movies through numerous non-Jewish independent 'movie house' owners across America. However, those owning the movie houses were completely independent and had no central distribution center or movie house chains. Before Edison perfected his camera other individuals had developed a system of rapidly moving cards which depicted short scenes. The 'pictograph' system as it was called, was quickly seized upon by Jews as a means of making a fast buck by developing a series of cards depicting 'movies' of naked women or sex acts by couples. To exploit the 'pictograph' market Jews used their homes and buildings in New York to set up 'Nickelodeons,' which turned useless real estate into a means of making a fast buck---on this early form of pornography. The Jewish 'Nickelodeon' system spread from New York and Carl Laemmle used the 'Nickelodeons' as a framework for organizing his own distribution system among his more than willing co-racialists nationwide. To fight the Trust they formed the Distributing and Sales Company. To get the 'goyim's' support, Laemmle allowed some non Jews to become involved and bring their movie houses and money into the venture. The non-Jews Robert Cochrane and Pat Powers merged their holdings with Laemmle. However, most of the funding for the DSC came from Jewish investors Laemmle had managed to get control over distribution facilities and over 300 theaters nationwide. In his drive for power over the Trust and his competitors, Laemmle formed Universal Movie Distributors with Cochrane and Powers. After destroying his competitors at Mutual Film Distributors, Laemmle then proceeded to use his investors to push Cochrane and Powers out of Universal, and before long he was in total control and was nicknamed the 'King of the Film Renters' At this point the control of the movie industry went from the non-Jewish hands of the Trust into the hands of Laemmle, Fox and other Jews. They had won the fight for the control to the thinking of the American public. The movie producers aligned with the Trust felt they were producing quality movies and wouldn't distribute any 'less than perfect' films. Laemmle didn't have that problem, and to keep the films flowing into his theaters and going through his distributors, he used every piece of junk film he could get his hands on. His motto was 'the more the better.' The Trust simply couldn't keep up, because they could not understand the Jewish mentality. The Trust still kept fighting back so these Jews decided to pull up roots in the East and head West to Hollywood, California where there would be over 3,000 miles distance between the Trust, the courts and the Trust's 'police.' From that time on Hollywood became the motion picture capital of America. Edison and the members of the Trust felt that by producing wholesome movies they were helping to preserve the nation's morals. However, these Jews were not governed by moral standards. In the book Walt Disney Hollywood's Evil Prince, Marc Eliot says: "Unlike their early East Coast counterparts, the heads of Hollywood's studios were less interested in artistic experimentation than profit. They put on the screen what sold the most. The public was willing to pay to see films with sex and violence, and Hollywood was more than happy to make them. "By the early twenties, all that remained of Edison's Trust was the issue it had raised regarding the moral content of motion pictures. The federal government kept a close watch on Hollywood, the new capital of the film industry, to make sure the movies it produced remained 'socially acceptable.' However, Hollywood's moguls had no idea of what was meant by 'socially acceptable.' They didn't know if their movies were moral or immoral and couldn't have cared less... The more a film made, the better it was...Whenever the industry came under attack for being morally corrupt, none of Hollywood's owners believed the problem had anything really to do with morality." The members of the Trust couldn't understand that Jews wanted control of the movies so they could promote their own social and religious agenda. In An Empire of Their Own: How Jews Invented Hollywood, the Jewish author, Neal Gabler says: "...But one major reason Edison and his cohorts lost their hegemony was that they misinterpreted what was at stake. They never seemed to understand that they were engaged in much more than an economic battle to determine who would control the profits of the nascent film industry; their battle was also generational, cultural, philosophical, even, in some ways, religious. The Trust's members were primarily older white Anglo-Saxon Protestants who had entered the film industry in its infancy by inventing, bankrolling, or tinkering with movie hardware: cameras and projectors. For them, the movies themselves would always be novelties. The Independents, on the other hand were largely ethnics, Jews and Catholics, who had entered the industry by opening and operating its theaters." =Trying to stop Jews from controlling the distribution of movies had cost the Trust $300,000 in legal fees. The Hollywood Jews had been hit with 289 lawsuits. Undaunted by the action taken by Edison and the Trust, they kept using his equipment. In a last ditch effort to stop them, Edison and his friends organized the General Film Company as a film exchange. However, by now it was too late: they had gobbled up half the market and had formed a monopoly that would thumb its noses at the 'goyim' from the Trust. After Jews achieved complete control over the distribution of movies, they kept lowering the standards regarding morality and sex to the point where some members of Congress felt that film censorship was necessary and they introduced legislation to create a board of film censorship. To get around this censorship board Hollywood Jews rapidly moved to form a 'self regulating' organization called the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America. (MPPDA) A non-Jew was picked to head the MPPDA, and this was former Postmaster General Will Hays who had been national chairman of the Republican party. In his book Marc Eliot says: "The Jewish power faction in Hollywood hoped choosing a Christian to regulate the moral content of their films would improve the overall image of its industry." Some members of Congress considered Hollywood not only to be immoral but also subversive. In 1929, U. S. Senator Smith Brookhart summed up the deteriorating situation in Hollywood as a battle between competing studios led by 'bunches of Jews.' By the late 1920s most of the move theaters in America were Jewish controlled and the means of distributing movies. With Jewish control of the movie industry from A to Z it was almost impossible for a non-Jew to get a break. One of those who fought the system was Walt Disney. Disney was born in the Midwest and learned cartoon animating on his own. His attempts to get his short subjects and cartoons marketed ran into constant roadblocks from the 'chosen' elite who ran Hollywood. Disney was able to sell a number of animated cartoons he produced for small stipends. At that time one of the most popular cartoons was 'Felix the Cat.' Trying to produce a cartoon that would equal 'Felix the Cat,' Disney came up with a character called 'Oswald the Rabbit.' In an effort to get his work recognized, he contacted a New York distributor by the name of Margaret Winkler. Disney also produced a series of cartoons based on Alice in Wonderland, which Ms. Winkler contracted with him to produce. At this time a Hollywood Jew who had worked for Warner Brothers, Charles Mintz, was courting Ms. Winkler and upon seeing the 'Oswald the Rabbit' samples, could sense that 'Oswald the Rabbit' was every bit as good as 'Felix the Cat' and could make him rich. In order to get on Walt's good side and get to 'Oswald the Rabbit,' Mintz agreed to advance Walt $1,800 and to pay him for another eighteen cartoons in the 'Alice' series. Jubilant, the Disney brothers took the deal and promptly set about purchasing a studio on Hyperion Avenue in Hollywood. Mintz had set the stage. After the Disney brothers had completed the construction of their modest studio, Mintz dropped the bomb on them. He told them that due to 'lack of interest' the 'Alice' series would have to be dropped and his contact with them would have to be cancelled. All this time Mintz had been traveling between Hollywood and New York making secret deals with his fellow co-racialist, Carl Laemmle. Laemmle wanted a cartoon character based on the 'Felix the Cat' to compete with 'Felix the Cat.' Mintz knew Disney had already created such a character, a rabbit named 'Oswald.' Disney, not paying much attention to the contacts that Mintz had negotiated with him, had in fact, signed away all rights to 'Oswald the Rabbit' and to all goods sold through the promotion of the cartoon. Keeping his side of the bargain, Disney produced Trolley Troubles featuring Oswald and faithfully gave Mintz new cartoons in the series every two weeks at $2,500 a cartoon and "part of the box office" gross. Walt learned by accident that without his knowledge, known consent or participation, Mintz had made a secret deal with Laemmle to market merchandise based on 'Oswald.' When Walt complained, his brother Roy calmed him down by telling him that the sales of the merchandise would help promote the 'Oswald' series and make him money when customers came to see the movies. Then in 1928 he and his wife went to New York to negotiate a new contact with Mintz. When they met Mintz, in a typically arrogant fashion, told Disney that his advance per cartoon had been cut to $1,800. He went onto tell Disney that if "he didn't like it" the cartoon production would be taken over by a Mintz front called 'Snappy Inc.' and Walt's own employees would be hired to produce the cartoons, in spite of him. Walt called his brother Roy and told him what had happened and Roy told him that Mintz, according to the contract that Walt had signed, owned all the rights to 'Oswald' including the name! Roy then informed Walt that the animators Walt had hired in Hollywood to help produce 'Oswald' had suddenly quit. The Hollywood Jews went straight to work for Mintz and the non-Jews that Disney had brought with him from the Midwest stayed loyal. In desperation Disney appealed to Laemmle about his rights and he told Disney that he couldn't help and that he would only deal with the series distributor, who was Mintz, also Jewish. Cut out by this Jewish group, Disney returned to Hollywood and created what was later to be known as 'Mickey Mouse.' After Mickey Mouse proved to be successful Carl Laemmle came to Disney in an effort to distribute the film. He offered to distribute Mickey Mouse if Disney would give him the copyright to it. It was now Disney's turn, he turned him down flat. Laemmle and his fellow Jewish distributors of films were known as the 'Majors,' and after he gave the cold shoulder to Laemmle, none of them would distribute his Mickey Mouse series. Being a gentile, Disney could not penetrate what Eliot describes as the 'old world brotherhood.' Disney then turned to another man who had, had a falling out with Laemmle and the 'brotherhood,' Pat Powers. Powers made a deal to distribute the series on a 'states rights' basis, to as many independent theaters as possible. Irregularities in the amount of earnings and the amount the Disney's received brought about an end to the Disney/Powers alliance. However, as much as Disney searched he could not find a gentile distributor for his productions. Finally, he made a deal with Harry Cohen the head of Columbia Pictures. Sensing the profits to be made from Disney productions, Cohen fought off the other 'chosen' wolves in behalf of Disney. The next problem faced by Disney as the popularity of his productions increased was organized crime and its efforts to form and control all movie based unions. The mob infiltrated the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) in their effort to control Hollywood. Behind the effort to control the Hollywood unions were Bugsy Siegel and Meyer Lansky, both Jewish. The third man in the troika of mobsters was Charles 'Lucky' Luciano, the 'Sicilian' gangster who was responsible for massacring his fellow Sicilians in the 1920s when they had to be eliminated in order for him to make an alliance with Jews. Even when Disney had found distributors he was always in need of money to cover production costs and expansion. Disney severed his dealings with Columbia Pictures and United Artists took over distribution of Disney productions. One of Disney's most successful cartoons was the Three Little Pigs. In the original Three Little Pigs, there was a scene where the Big Bad Wolf disguised himself as a Jewish peddler to trick one of the pigs into opening the door. As soon as word leaked out about this scene, representatives of a number of Jewish organizations beat a path to Disney to get the 'offensive' scene removed. Disney removed the scene and told the Hollywood Jews that the scene was a spoof depicting Carl Laemmle's continuous efforts to "blow down the house of Disney." Julius Schenck of United Artists, which was distributing Disney productions, had carefully set a trap for Disney. Schenck recommended that Disney seek funding from the Bank of America, and personally contact UA's financial advisor at the bank, Joseph Rosenberg. He gladly opened a line of credit for Disney, but never gave him enough so he could be effective and later helped bring down the Disney empire. Disney constantly found himself the victim of walkouts by Jews he had hired or by Marxist agitators who were constantly forming unions in Hollywood. Through the unions Hollywood Jews constantly used unions to curb the growth of Disney productions. An effort to break the control of the Majors over Hollywood was made when several independent film makers formed The Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers (SIMPP). SIMPP was formed to challenge the majors domination of production, exhibition and distribution. The leading non-Jews in SIMPP were William Cagney, Walt Disney, Mary Pickford, Edward Small, Orson Wells and Walter Wagner. A few Jewish studio moguls who had found themselves cut out of the action by the insiders of the 'old world elite' supported SIMPP and these were: David O. Selznick, Sol Lesser and Sam Goldwyn. The dictatorial control of the Jewish 'Majors' is described in Walt Disney Hollywood's Dark Prince: "For the most part, the Majors were still controlled by the same group of men who had first broken the iron grip of the old Edison Trust. Ironically, a quarter of a century later, their success had led them to create an even more anti-competitive environment than the one from which they had desperately fled. So much so that no independent film could gain national distribution unless the filmmaker or studio dealt with one of the Majors, who not only controlled all the distribution networks but owned virtually every first run theater in the country...." Disney raised the ire of the Majors when he publicly attended America First meetings and had even stood beside Charles Lindbergh at one rally. To retaliate the red dominated unions kept strife going at the Disney studios. In the early 1930s it was a well known fact that the sympathies of the majority of Jews in Hollywood was in favor of Socialism and Communism. In An Empire of Their Own, Neal Gabler talks about communist influence in Hollywood. He says: "Jews had first forged ties to the parties of the Left, and to the Communist party specifically, back in Europe...one leading Communist estimated that 50 percent of the Party's members were Jewish during its heyday in the thirties and forties, and a large minority---sometimes a majority---of the Party leadership was Jewish...What was true of the national Party was even truer in Hollywood, where they already formed a large part of the left leaning artistic community...One member complained that nearly 90 percent of the Party in Los Angeles was Jewish...Ring Lardner, Jr., himself a Party member had the "impression that it was well over 50 percent, somewhat like, maybe, two thirds." As it became apparent that the Communist movement in the United States was mainly Jewish led, congressman Samuel Dickstein of New York, who was an Eastern European born Jew, took steps to protect his co-racialists. He moved to have a special committee set up in Congress to investigate those who were pouring forth documents proving that Jewish Bolsheviks were running the Soviet Union and had killed almost thirty million Russians and Ukrainians and were the leaders of the Communist movement in Europe. By calling all those who dared to criticize Jewish groups as 'Nazi' Dickstein felt that he could bully loyal Americans into silence. In January of 1934 Congress voted to establish a House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) to investigate German activities in the United States. The bias of Dickstein was so apparent that by 1937 his anti-German and anti-Gentile rantings and ravings in congress were drawing attention to other Jews. When he tried to get the HUAC mandate renewed, it measure failed. The Hollywood Jews then backed Congressman Martin Dies, a non-Jew, in setting up a committee with the same name under his chairmanship. Dies voiced their concern in An Empire of Their Own, when he said: Many of our Jewish citizens wanted Dickstein eliminated because they felt he was furnishing ammunition to the Nazis and other anti-Semitic movements." By 1939 Die's investigation of subversion in America had opened his eyes to the fact that facts uncovered by the Committee substantiated the claim that Hollywood was, indeed, pro-Communist as many so-called 'anti-Semites' had claimed. Gabler quotes Dies as telling key figures in Hollywood: I told the producers that we had reliable information that a number of film actors and screenwriters and a few producers either were members of the Communist Party, followed the Communist line, or were used as dupes, and that there was evidence that the Hollywood Anti-Nazi League was under the control of the Communists." Dies retired from Congress in 1944 and a fiery Congressman named John Rankin of Mississippi used his influence to get the HUAC made a permanent committee of Congress. Rankin's investigations further opened his eyes to the fact that Hollywood Jews were behind the anti-moral assault on America. Rankin told the press that: "...the information we get is that (Hollywood) is the greatest hotbed of subversive activities in the United States. We're on the trail of the traantual now, and we're going to follow through...We are not trying to hound legitimate writers, but we are out to expose those elements that are insidiously trying to spread subversive propaganda, poison the minds of your children, distort the history of our country, and discredit Christianity...alien minded communistic enemies of Christianity, and their stooges are trying to take control over the radio. Listen to their lying broadcasts in broken English and you can almost smell them...They are now trying take over the motion picture industry, and how to high heaven when our Committee on un-American Activities propose to investigate them. They want to spread their un-American propaganda, as well as their ...immoral, anti-Christian...before the eyes of your children in every community in America." Jews founded the HUAC in an effort stifle legitimate criticism of their activities in America, and by 1945 it had gone full circle and was being used as a legitimate vehicle for patriots to go after those who were influenced by Communism and trying to change the thinking of America. This gave Walt Disney and other non-Jews who had been discriminated against by the 'Majors' a chance to try to bring an end to the Jewish domination of Hollywood, and the HUAC hearings went on well into the mid 1960s. Disney and his Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals tried to break the Jewish Communist stranglehold on Hollywood. As the MIAPIA and the HUAC fought the red/Jewish influence in Hollywood, the reds kept striking back by fomenting one strike after the other against Disney and others who opposed them. Walt openly vowed to keep the commies out of his studio and told the press that the strikes at his studio were fomented by the Communist Conspiracy. Again Eliot says: "Ever since Sinclair's gubernatorial campaign helped unify Hollywood's left, the Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA) had made its presence felt by championing the rights of the film industry's workers. The CPUSA played a vital role in the Screen Writers Guild's long battle to exist, thus helping to make legitimate the industry's burgeoning union movement." In 1941 the CPUSA backed strikers at Disney Studios who were fomenting trouble through the Screen Writer's Guild. Most of the Disney staff walked out 'on strike.' Pressure was brought on Disney to settle the strike by Bank of America representative, Rosenberg, who told him that the effects of the strike would "damage his relationship with the Bank of America." The Jewish tentacles through the Bank of America were brought to bear on Disney. A further attack was launched on Disney by King Features when Jewish groups accused Disney of being a 'Nazi' because they claimed that there was a swastika drawn in a Mickey Mouse cartoon in a panel in a cartoon on June 19th, 1940. The swastika was "in the form of two crossed musical notes." Efforts to get Disney to support Roosevelt and his 'get us into war' effort failed as long as Walt Disney kept tight control over his studio. In an effort to get Disney away from the studio Roosevelt instructed Nelson Rockefeller to make Disney a part of a tour to South America by actors allegedly sent to "counter Nazi propaganda in South America." Rockefeller had been named the 'Official Coordinator' of the State Department's Inter-American Affairs group. Roosevelt was particularly concerned because of Disney's appearances at America First rallies alongside Charles Lindbergh. From all indications, Roy Disney was a part of the plot to get Walt away from the Disney studio so the "strike could be settled" and so Walt could 'clear' himself of the charges leveled against him of being a 'Nazi' sympathizer. Walt and his entourage left for South America on August 17th, and on the 9th of September, Roy Disney met with James F. Dewy and agreed to 'arbitration' to settle the strike. When Walt received news of the sell out by Roy, he vowed to close down the studio forever rather then have the red dominated Cartoonists Guild run his studio. It seems that Roosevelt and the Hollywood Jews had made plans well in advance to shut down Disney studios. On December 8th, 1941 the Army seized Disney studios claiming that they had to use it as a 'defense station' to protect Lockheed which was nearby. Disney's studio was the only one seized by the government. His studio and production facilities sequestered by the government, Disney was now without a job. The next step in the plot against Disney was when the Naval Bureau of Aeronautics contacted him and offered him $80,000 to make twenty animated training films. The anti-Disney move was evidently orchestrated by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau. According to Disney he had been forced to 'accept that Jew' Morgenthau, and was being forced by circumstances to be used by Morgenthau "...to deliver political propaganda films that cashed in on the popularity of that all American mouse Mickey..." Disney referred to his cartoon characters as captives who were forced to perform for the Stromboli-like Morgenthau." The 'crowning achievement' of Morgenthau was to have Disney produce a cartoon featuring Donald Duck which openly mocked Hitler, with the title Der Fuhrer's Face. According to Eliot, this move by Morgenthau produced 'more animosity' between Disney and Morgenthau, as Disney made the movie under protest. However, Morgenthau made it look like Disney approved of the project and had him given awards by Hollywood and moved more business his way. The studio was returned to Disney eight months after it was closed. Trying to ad insult to injury, the National Council of Christians and Jews contacted Disney in an effort to get him to make a cartoon to promote 'unity' in America. They told him that the move would 'depict human prejudices.' Disney rejected the proposal outright and said it was a disguised attempt by the National Council of Christians and Jews to promote communism in America. This attempt to recruit him by the 'Brotherhood' gang confirmed Disney's view that Hollywood was being consumed by communism. In response he set out to make 'battle plans' to counter their moves and to recruit 'soldiers' for the fight against the reds in Hollywood. One of the first moves he made was to help found the Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals in 1944. He was a co-chairman of the organization and among its members were: Robert Taylor, John Wayne, Gary Cooper, Ward Bond, Charles Coburn, Adolphe Menju, Hedda Hopper and sixty five other key Hollywood personalities. As vice-president of the MPA, Disney wrote to Senator Robert R. Reynolds and called on the House Committee on Un-American Activities to investigate red influence in Hollywood. In his open letter of March 7, 1944 Disney said that Hollywood had been "coddling Communists...and those with un-American beliefs." Having been denied access to the power and profits of Hollywood by the Jews and Communists, Disney felt it was time to strike back. Both Disney and the Jew Samuel Goldwyn had been cut off from full market access by the 'big five' who controlled most of the theaters in America: Paramount, Loews, Warner's, Twentieth Century Fox and RKO. When the Fox owned T & D theaters insulted Goldwyn when he wanted to exhibit his movie Up In Arms, Disney joined with Goldwyn in trying to break the hold of the 'big five' over film distribution. They rented the El Patio nightclub to review the movie and then all hell broke loose. The power of the 'big five' was evident when the Reno county commissioners issued multiple violations for the El Patio and the fire department said it would prevent the showing. To appease the 'big five' the proceeds of the showing had to be contributed to the Red Cross. Legal action was taken to break up the 'big five' monopoly by SIMPP and in the case of the United States of America vs. Paramount the supreme court ruled that the 'big five' were prohibited from expanding their holdings and control over the production, distribution and exhibition of movies. A small victory for Disney, but a victory, nonetheless. The actions of Disney, SIMPP and the handful of patriots in Hollywood led to the House Committee on Un-American Activities investigating hundreds of reds in Hollywood, mostly Jewish. A number of the most notorious reds were blacklisted by Hollywood movie makers because of fear that the HUAC would also investigate them. The ban on outright reds in Hollywood lasted until around 1965. After that many of those 'blacklisted' by the HUAC were back in Hollywood making movies 'exposing' their 'persecution.' One of the first efforts by the reds to show their rehabilitation and power over Hollywood was the movie the Front, by Woody Allen. From screenwriters to producers to actors those involved in the movie the Front, were Hollywood reds who had been investigated by the HUAC and had been fired from their jobs by Jewish studio owners and producers who were afraid not to fire them. The Jewish owners of the major studios knew that to allow those named as Communists by the HUAC to keep working would provoke the HUAC to investigate them as well. To circumvent this, the Jewish studio owners put a number of them on the 'blacklist' which kept them from working. However, as depicted in The Front, most of them kept working by hiring front men to use their names on their manuscripts. It seems that Americans have short memories and by the time Walt Disney died in 1966, the Jewish reds were back in Hollywood thumbing their noses at those who had fought so hard to bring Hollywood back under American control. Always short of funds, Disney found a temporary ally in billionaire Howard Hughes. Hughes had purchased RKO studios and distribution and was also wary of the Jewish control of not only Hollywood but America. Hughes loaned Disney millions of dollars---interest free, which Disney paid back in full. While a good businessman, Hughes was a poor movie studio manager. Perhaps, when he took RKO over from Jewish control; the Jews who stayed on found it in their interest to break Hughes by producing flop after flop for him, as they have recently done to Columbia Pictures. In any case, Disney wanted his own means of distribution and founded Buena Vista. Hughes offered to give Disney RKO for free and also give him a $10 million credit line with no interest rate. However, Disney's advisors soured him on the deal and he turned it down. Again, was it Rosenberg of the Bank of America who advised him to turn down the deal, fearing that in charge of RKO he would become a major challenge to the Jewish domination of Hollywood? After fighting the Jewish powers that control Hollywood, Disney became fascinated by the idea of forming theme parks. He eventually turned over control of Disney studios to his brother Roy and devoted full time to fulfilling his theme park dream. Disneyland opened in 1955 and Walt Disney died December 5, 1966 after a long bout with cancer. Then the battle for the 'Magic Kingdom' began. One of the major drawbacks to Disney was the fact that his older brother Roy, was an accountant who turned manager. Roy had no vision and no courage to stand up for his convictions. When things got tough, Roy would always cave in to the opposition and even go against Walt's wishes, as happened during WW II when he moved to settle the red strike against the Disney studios when Walt was out of the country. Walt's venture into the 'new' TV phenomena in the 1950s with the 'Mousketeers' was successful beyond his dreams. However, Walt spared nothing in developing, directing and producing the 'Mousketeers' and after the expense of production, the show lost money for Disney. He kept it going because it promoted Disney products, brought the Disney concept to national TV and he felt it would be a key vehicle for promoting his new Disneyland concept. Walt's first choice for Disneylandia, as he first called it, was Burbank. However, the attempt to build it there ran into constant trouble from the city council, which Walt felt was being influenced against him by Universal Studios. He then built Disneyland in Anaheim. With the Mickey Mouse Club, ABC and the Jew Leonard Goldenson made their mark as a competing network. The Disney shows on ABC made it into a real competitor with the CBS and NBC. Around 1960 Disney complained to Goldenson that there were too many commercials on the shows. As other Jews had done to Disney, Goldenson cancelled the two Disney shows. ABC had now made so much money off Disney that they could produce their own shows and, again Disney was cut out of his fair share of Hollywood profits by the Jewish 'Brotherhood.' To keep his shows on national TV Disney approached NBC. However, Goldenson refused to let Disney out of his contract and Disney took ABC to court. In the end ABC turned over all rights to Disney productions and products to Walt and cut all ties with him. As Disney became more absorbed in his theme park he started shifting more responsibility to his son in law Ron Miller. This caused animosity from his brother Roy who felt that his son Roy E. Disney should be the future 'King' of the Disney Empire. The problem was that neither Ron, Roy or Roy E. were really able to handle the Disney conglomerate and future events would prove this out. When Walt died the bulk of his estate went to the his wife and the female members of the family. His brothers Roy and Raymond were left out of the will as Walt believed that men should make their own livings and didn't need his help. In 1967 Ron Miller and Roy E. Disney were elected to the studio's board of directors. Since both were antagonistic to each other, two 'committees' were formed to run the Disney Empire. Roy senior died in 1971, opening Disney up to challenges from all sides. Some Walt Disney loyalists were appointed to key positions in the studio and this didn't fit well with Roy E. Loyalist Card Walker became the president of Walt Disney Productions and Roy E. resigned from the board. However, the stock his father had given him made him the largest single stockholder. Ron Miller and his associates at Disney then proceeded to make a series of movie 'flops' and this prompted Roy E. to make moves he believed would keep the studio from going under. Advising Roy E. in his moves was attorney Stanley Gold, another Hollywood insider. Gold urged Roy E. to hire his former law partner Frank Wells. Wells had been a vice-president at Warner Brothers. Roy felt he was in 'good hands' with what studio employees called the 'Troika.' As soon as he was in place, Frank Wells, who was Jewish, recommended that the studio hire Michael Eisner to replace Ron Miller. Eisner had been the president of Paramount Pictures, and had been recommended for the job by Barry Diller, Jewish, who was chairman of Warner Brothers. Seeing discontent at Disney, Saul Steinberg, also Jewish, felt that Disney was ripe for a corporate takeover. Using rumors of discontent, they drove Disney stock down almost 50% causing a near panic at the studio. Roy E's stock fell from $80 million to $50. Roy was advised that a corporate takeover could be fought and that junk bond king Michael Milken was the man to 'save' Disney. He was hired by Roy E., Gold and Wells without the knowledge of the other board members. Roy E. had wanted to purchase back most of the Disney stock to stop the proposed junk bond takeover. However, Jews at the Bank of America advised him that Steinberg could raise so much funny money that Disney would not be able to do so. At this point corporate raider Ivan Boesky entered the fray and made millions on the stock based on inside information he had received from Jewish insiders at Disney. The Hollywood Jews were now in a position to completely take over Disney. The Jews at Disney convinced the board to pay what is called 'greenmail' to Steinberg and he was given a $31 million dollar pay off to call off his fight to take over Disney. Roy E's Jewish advisors came out on top taking control of Disney while Roy E. was 'paid off' by being made Chairman of Walt Disney Feature Animation at a yearly salary of $850,000. Gold convinced Roy E. that Ron Miller was responsible for the decline at Disney and that he should be replaced. Miller was asked by the board to step down and on August 17, 1984 the board asked Miller for his resignation. He resigned and his seat was taken over by the Stanley Gold - Jewish. They had effectively eliminated Disney heir apparent Ron Miller and now they started moving more Jews into Disney. On September 22, 1984 the board of directors appointed Michael Eisner and Frank Wells to head Disney Productions. Eisner then brought Jeffrey Katzenberg, also Jewish, over to Disney from Paramount. Katzenberg's job was to 'revamp' Disney studios. Old Disney loyalists were considered by the self 'chosen' to be 'dead weight' and over 400 were fired and replaced by a hand picked Jewish team from Paramount. Former Morris Agency employee David Hoberman was put in charge of Disney subsidiary Touchstone Pictures. Richard Frank was recruited from Paramount to 'revitalize' Disney's television interests. Jews had now taken over control of Disney. They used the Touchstone and Miramax to make racy and anti-Christian movies that Walt Disney would never have allowed at his studio. Although gays were prohibited from any activities at Disneyland while Walt was alive, after the Jewish takeover, Eisner openly invited and courted homosexual groups to hold 'dances' and events at the theme parks. As we go to press a number of magazines have carried news articles gloating over how "Disney would be turning in his grave" if he knew what had now happened to his theme parks and movie productions. From the very beginning Disney was considered a 'goy' outsider by Jews who stole from Thomas Edison. They had defied the 'goy' Edison and by their tenacity had beaten him. They blocked out Disney because he wasn't one of the self 'chosen' and Disney had to fight his whole life to break into the closed Jewish society called Hollywood. Disney didn't like Jews and used every means at his disposal to counter them. According to Eliot, Disney at an early age had been informed by his father about the self 'chosen' and how they operated. For awhile Disney was able through the HUAC to root out those Jews and non-Jews in Hollywood who had supported Communist causes. At least for fifteen or twenty years, he had his revenge. While Disney was alive the 'Magic Kingdom' remained in good hands in spite of his spineless brother Roy. His self chosen heir, Ron Miller proved to be no match for Ray and the ruthless Jews who became his close advisors. Disney who was the descendant of Crusaders who left their village of Isgny in 1066 to fight the good fight, fought the good fight all his life. While alive he manned the ramparts and like his Crusader ancestors fought off the anti-Christ Hollywood Jews. However, despite his efforts he could not defeat the forces who made up the anti-Christ kingdom called Hollywood. They may gloat while they savor their victory in storming and taking the last Christian stronghold in Hollywood. However, he who laughs last, laughs best, and the time will come when Walt Disney will have his victory over the self 'chosen.' http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/history/zionism/news.php?q=1278910113 |
From Helen
Margaret, the more Republicans I meet, the more I like my dog. Just once I would like to see a politician with an ass too small to fit his own head. It has been a rough few weeks sitting back trying to get my rest and stay out of politics, but honestly, there seems to be no end to this madness and I once again find myself not able to keep my mouth shut. I used to have a handle on life, but it broke. Let me count the new ways the Republicans found to wear their ass for a hat…
One. I heard a Congressman from Texas today say that Obamacare was forcing hard-working, middle class families to purchase health insurance they don’t need. Now there is a congressman who has definitely put his head in a place where the sun doesn’t shine. Show me someone who doesn’t need health insurance and I’ll show you the second coming of Jesus. And for the record, it’s called the Affordable Care Act because before it was passed, healthcare was no longer affordable for most Americans. Do these Tea Party asshats really take us for fools?
Two. We are a country that blindly followed Bush’s codpiece into “preventive” war not once but twice. Now a bunch of children get gassed to death by a dictator and we are suddenly too weary for war. Really? Republicans too weary for war. Sounds to me that they are too weary for a black commander-in-chief. Oh dear me. Did I say that out loud? God forbid someone suggest that Republicans are racists. He’s a Muslim from Kenya with a fake birth certificate…short version: he’s black.
Three. Not crazy enough for you? How about thinking the answer to gun violence is more guns? We’re up to what, about one mass shooting a month now? It sure seems like there are plenty of guns to go around. How about we try a different approach like asking ourselves why we need more guns than actual people in this country. Are there really that many deer to hunt? And something tells me if the British are coming again, it’s not with muskets. One thing is for sure: Guns don’t kill people… but they make it a hell of a lot easier.
Four. Oh but for the love of God if Texas wasn’t dealing with enough crazy already with Rick Perry, we now have to deal with Ted Cruz. Now here’s a guy who talks in circles so effectively, it’s no wonder his head eventually ran into his ass. In an effort to show off his grasp of the situation, he had to go and bring Dr. Seuss into the mix. For the record Senator Cruz, the moral of Green Eggs and Ham is to try something new… you might like it. For example, 40 million people might actually like having access to healthcare. Cruz staged his ridiculous talk-a-thon against cutting off debate only to then turn around and join 99 other senators in voting to cut off the debate. He’s no Wendy Davis. That’s for sure. But exactly what should we expect from a man who said, “We need 100 more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate.” If brains were leather, Cruz wouldn’t have enough to saddle a junebug.
I could go on, but must I really? Let me sum it up for you. Now that the government is closed, will hard-working, middle class federal employees get paid? No. Will Congressmen get paid? Yep. They’ll continue to get their $174,000 a year, and they will have health insurance as well. Asshats everywhere. I mean it. Really.
From Margaret
Helen dear, you would think their heads would be too big. Then again, thinking doesn’t seem to work in this situation. I wonder which part they hate more – the Obama or the Care?
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It seems that many people misunderstood my post on Milton Friedman. It was not intended as Friedman-bashing, as a claim that MF was a bad economist; in fact, I’m on record declaring Friedman a “great economists’ economist”. His work aimed primarily at a professional audience — the permanent income theory of consumption, the case for flexible exchange rates, the natural rate (even if it does break down at low inflation), the optimum quantity of money — was often, maybe even usually, brilliant, and will live on.
What isn’t living on, however, is Friedman’s role as a guiding light for conservative economic policy.
Think about Paul Ryan, who is, like it or not, the leading economic intellectual of the modern GOP. Ryan sometimes drops Friedman’s name — but when he does, it’s to cite Capitalism and Freedom, not A Monetary History of the United States. When it comes to monetary policy, Ryan has said that his views are based on fictional characters in Atlas Shrugged. No, really.
Or think about the economics rap video of Keynes versus Hayek everyone had fun with. Never mind that back in the 30s nobody except Hayek would have considered his views a serious rival to those of Keynes; the real shock should be, what happened to Friedman?
Partly this disappearance reflects real problems with Friedman’s analysis. His views on the omnipotence of monetary policy,let alone the adequacy of a simple quantity-of-money rule, haven’t withstood the test of time. As far as stabilization policy is concerned, he was indeed, as Brad DeLong archly puts it, a minor post-Hicksian.
But the bigger issue, I’d argue, is that modern conservatives can’t accept the things Friedman was right about. Take, in particular, his essay on flexible exchange rates, in which he argued that a country that finds its wages and prices out of line should devalue its currency rather than rely on unemployment to push wages down, “until the deflation has run its sorry course.” Contrast this with Ryan’s declaration that “There is nothing more insidious that a country can do to its citizens than debase its currency.”
The point is that Friedman was, when all is said and done, a pragmatist; he leaned right ideologically, but was willing to make room for awkward realities. And these days reality has a well-known liberal bias. Hence, Friedman has become an unperson. |
A Chinese court gave a suspended death sentence Monday to Gu Kailai, the wife of deposed regional Communist Party chief Bo Xilai, ending a high-profile murder trial that appeared tightly scripted by the party’s leaders, according to court witnesses.
At Gu’s one-day, eight-hour trial on Aug. 9, prosecutors laid out a dramatic narrative, describing how Gu poisoned British businessman Neil Heywood because she believed he had threatened her son.
In an apparent attempt to stifle objections and put an end to a highly sensitive case for the party, authorities also told Gu’s family members that they would be allowed to see her in less than 20 days as long as they did not appeal her case, said a person with knowledge of the discussion within Gu’s family.
The offer was conveyed before Monday’s sentencing hearing, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of government reprisal.
According to that person, authorities also told the family that both Gu Kailai and Zhang Xiaojun, a family aide, will be sent to Beijing soon to serve their prison sentences near their families.
According to two witnesses, Gu and Zhang both said in court they will not appeal their case.
Gu’s case and the spectacular downfall of her ambitious husband threw China’s ruling leaders into a political crisis earlier this year, amid a sensitive once-in-a-decade leadership transition in China. It revealed deep fissures within the party’s secretive higher echelons between supporters of Bo and those backing his competitors.
Many party experts believe top officials will want to fully resolve the scandal, including the fate of Bo and his former lieutenant Wang Lijun, before the leadership transition begins this fall.
According to the official news agency Xinhua, the sentencing hearing lasted 20 minutes. And in a very short piece of footage on state-run television, Gu was shown in court saying, “I feel the verdict is fair and just. It reflects comprehensively the special respect of our court to the law, reality and especially to life.”
The suspended death sentence means that if Gu does not commit further offenses in the next two years, her sentence will likely be downgraded to life imprisonment. At the court hearing in the city of Hefei on Monday, Zhang was sentenced to nine years in prison.
He Zhengsheng, a lawyer representing Heywood’s family, said, “We respect the verdict of the court.” Heywood’s family has not expressed an opinion on the outcome, he said, but plan to discuss it with their lawyer later this week.
A person with ties to the familyalso described in detail on Monday for the first time the testimony that Bo Guagua, Gu’s son, wrote on behalf of his mother. The court did not use the son’s testimony, the person said, though the family gave it to Jiang Min, Gu’s court-appointed attorney.
“In the testimony, Bo Guagua asserted he didn’t meet Heywood and did not engage in anything with Heywood in recent years,” the person said.
Another person close to the family and familiar with the case confirmed the details about Bo Guagua’s testimony, saying, “In his testimony, Bo Guagua cleared up the hearsay about his mother and Heywood, which is not true.”
The assertions attributed to Gu’s son — who was studying until recently at Harvard University — cast doubts on the official narrative pushed by court officials and state-run media throughout Gu’s trial.
Court officials said Gu killed Heywood because he sent her son an e-mail threatening him over business differences.
Heywood’s purported e-mail, written in English, was displayed in court with a Chinese translation as part of evidence at the trial, which consisted almost entirely of prepared written testimony.
It was in response to this perceived threat, prosecutors said, that Gu got Heywood drunk and then, after he vomited and asked for water, poured cyanide-laced poison into his mouth.
But Chinese and Western legal scholars, as well as friends of Heywood, have pointed to several gaps and unanswered questions in the case. And the outcome of the trial is believed by many to have been decided by party leaders behind the scenes.
Gu’s sentence is seen as a signal for how the party may deal with Gu’s husband — the former powerful party chief of Chongqing, once in contention for top leadership whose fate now poses a delicate problem for the party hierarchy.
According to Xinhua, Gu received a reprieve from the death penalty because of several factors: her supposed psychological instability during the incident, Heywood’s alleged threats against her son, her offer of information on others involved and her expression of regret for the crime.
Four policemen charged with covering up Heywood’s murder were also sentenced on Monday to prison terms ranging from five to 11 years.
All mention of Gu’s husband was conspicuously missing throughout the trial and sentencing — distancing him from the murder. And her relatively lenient sentence may bode well for Bo’s case, said Zhang Ming, a political science professor at Renmin University in Beijing.
Leaders have been careful not to delve into other charges related to Bo and his wife, including allegations that they used their political power to amass a personal fortune, a topic others in top party positions are eager to avoid.
“The party certainly has tried to limit the influence of [the] scandal,” Zhang said. “Bo Xilai will receive further punishment after this case, but the punishment may not be very heavy. They face a dilemma now.”
If Bo goes largely unpunished, the new leadership will inherit an unresolved and potentially unstable issue as it takes over the reins, Zhang noted. If Bo is punished too heavily, other princelings like Bo — influential offspring of China’s revolutionary leaders — may be angered, exacerbating a split within the party.
“But Bo Xilai caused this splitting of the party, so he should be the one to take responsibility,” Zhang said.
Bo has not been heard from since his suspension from his position in Chongqing and from China’s powerful 25-member Politburo.
Zhang Jie in Beijing contributed to this report. |
CLOSE Nichole Carver, 35, of Anderson appears before Judge Eaton an her bond is set for $2,500 for impersonating investigator Charlynn Ezell, the lead investigator on the case, to get a phone service provider to ping the number of Charles David Carter. KEN RUINARD/Independent Mail
Nichole Carver sits in an Anderson courtroom at her bond hearing Wednesday. (Photo: Ken Ruinard/Independent Mail)
Nichole Carver, the estranged wife of Charles David Carver, was granted a $2,500 personal recognizance bond when she appeared alone before an Anderson judge Wednesday.
Carver, 35, is accused of impersonating Anderson Police Department Detective Charlynn Ezell. According to an arrest warrant and police report, Carver tried on Oct. 8 to get AT&T to "geo-locate" her estranged husband's cellphone.
Judge Goetz Eaton said Nichole Carver had no criminal history.
Carver told the judge she does not need a public defender. She said she had a private lawyer, whom she did not identify.
After the hearing, Lt. Mike Aikens said his agency is still investigating posts that were made on Charles David Carver's Facebook page after his disappearance.
Charges against someone connected to those posts are still possible, he said.
"We are still looking at a lot of leads, a lot of new leads," Aikens said. "We are not done."
Aikens said that just in the past few days the Anderson Police Department has gotten responses to search warrants the agency sought weeks ago.
"There are a lot of search warrants connected to this case," he said.
Carver changed out of her orange jumpsuit into street clothes and left the Anderson Police Department through a side door just moments after her hearing, while reporters and officers remained inside the municipal courtroom that is part of the same complex.
When she was arrested, officers logged only a few personal effects she had, including silver shoes, a pack of cigarettes and a purple lighter.
A woman who answered Carver's phone number hung up on an Independent Mail reporter later Wednesday.
Ezell, the officer Carver is accused of impersonating, was at the hearing. Ezell said the judge granted the kind of bond she expected, given that Carver has no criminal record.
Aikens said Carver did speak with Anderson officers after her arrest, but did not provide them "with anything that would help our investigation."
Carver is next expected to appear in General Sessions Court in December.
The body of her estranged husband, Charles David Carver, was found Friday on land owned by Todd Kohlhepp, an Upstate real estate agent and convicted sex offender. Kohlhepp has been charged with kidnapping Charles David Carver's girlfriend, Kala Brown. He has also confessed to a 2003 quadruple homicide in Chesnee, according to Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright.
Aikens said Anderson police are still trying to determine whether Nichole Carver is connected to Kohlhepp. They are asking anyone who has information to contact the Anderson Police Department at 864-260-4444.
"We are asking anyone who may have seen them together, or who knows anything about whether they are connected, to please contact us," Aikens said. "If there is information out there, we need it."
Follow Nikie Mayo on Twitter @NikieMayo
Read or Share this story: https://www.independentmail.com/story/news/2016/11/09/nichole-carver-released-personal-recognizance-bond/93535662/ |
PARIS (Reuters) - Airbus Group and Safran are set to boost co-operation with a joint venture in space launchers, aiming to galvanize Europe’s competitive response to U.S. low-cost rival SpaceX, people familiar with the matter said.
The logo of Airbus Group, Europe's largest aerospace group, is pictured in front of the company headquarters building in Ottobrunn, near Munich February 26, 2014. REUTERS/Michaela Rehle
The heads of the two companies, both leading contractors on the Ariane space launcher, are due to meet French President Francois Hollande early on Monday, Hollande’s office said, but no official reason for the meeting was provided.
Two people familiar with the matter said space would top the agenda, amid growing pressure from industrial groups for a shake-up of Europe’s public-private system of building rockets.
The move is expected to involve closer partnership between Airbus Defense & Space, which builds the Ariane launcher, and the Herakles space propulsion unit of French aerospace group Safran, which makes its solid rocket motors.
It is the first concrete step towards consolidation after Airbus Group Chief Executive Tom Enders, speaking exclusively to Reuters last month, called for a shake-up to prevent Europe becoming “irrelevant” in the $6.5 billion space-launch industry.
His call for a bigger say for industry was triggered by the arrival of low-cost U.S. based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), run by electric car mogul Elon Musk.
But industry sources say there have been disagreements with France’s CNES space agency over the right strategy to adopt.
Musk’s SpaceX company offers lightweight rocket launchers to send up communications satellites at lower prices than those currently on the market, including Europe’s Ariane 5.
Europe aims to replace the Ariane 5 rocket launcher with an Ariane 6 by 2021, but is wrestling with complex structures behind the design, manufacture and marketing of space launchers as well as strict conditions on the national share of work.
Under the current system, government agencies such as CNES in France and the DLR in Germany design launchers, and pass the designs to Airbus Group to manufacture the product, which is then passed to a third party, Arianespace, to market.
Airbus Group owns around 30 percent of Arianespace, whose biggest shareholder is the French space agency, CNES. Safran owns just under 11 percent.
By seizing the industrial initiative, Enders and Safran Chief Executive Jean-Paul Herteman are effectively offering to lead Europe’s fight-back against SpaceX but must also tackle sensitivities among public bodies involved, observers said.
Enders has likened the threat posed by SpaceX to a wake-up call that forced European planemaker Airbus to reorganize after rivals Boeing and McDonnell Douglas merged almost 20 years ago.
Without a new industrial set-up, Ariane 6 and the intermediary Ariane 5 ME will be a failure, he believes.
Les Echos newspaper, also reporting a new co-operation venture, said Airbus and Safran would propose a new technical configuration for Ariane 6 as part of the move. France and Germany have been at odds over the rocket’s design, which must be resolved ahead of a ministerial meeting in December. |
By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor
Two months after Camp Second Chance became officially city-sanctioned, its Community Advisory Committee convened at the encampment on Myers Way in southeast West Seattle.
They heard updates from its operator, Polly Trout of Patacara Community Services, including her report that CSC’s population had more than tripled since it became sanctioned two months ago – from 14 to 49, counting three people who were reported to have arrived just as the Sunday afternoon meeting began. But that’s not yet the full capacity mentioned in the announcement last December that it would be one of three new sanctioned encampments in the city.
The committee – which the city decreed would be a required part of camp operations – includes a wide range of representatives from around the area, West Seattle to South Park to Top Hat to White Center, neighbors, businesses, nonprofits, neighboring senior-housing complex Arrowhead Gardens, and more. A city rep – Tom Van Bronkhorst from the Department of Neighborhoods – was at the meeting too. In all, more than 20 people were sitting in a canopy-covered circle before the meeting wrapped up.
Trout explained the camp’s operations – that it’s self-governed, with a Monday meeting where there’s a vote on decisions such as barring people who can’t follow its code of conduct, which includes “no criminal behavior, no stealing,” drug and alcohol free, being civil and ethical. The camp also has a grievance process if someone feels they’re not being treated fairly, and that can be pursued with Patacara’s board, but so far, she said, no one had done that.
She mentioned the services that have improved at CSC since signing a contract with the city on arch 8th – including:
*Potable-water cistern, 850 gallons, providing running water
*City electricity replacing gas generator
*New community structures like a new storage shed
*Their first “tiny house” – which is going to be a staff office
*Up to 50 platforms provided for tents, which they hope to convert to tiny houses by November – the city money covers only the platforms, so they’re raising money for the structures (four have been donated so far) and also working with someone designing an 8 x 12 prototype structure
*Fulltime housing case manager helping connect people with housing
*More Honey Buckets – the camp had some with private funding before being sanctioned, and now there are seven
*Lighting along Myers Way, installed by the city (as reported here)
*Trash/compost/recycling services were being provided by the city since shortly before the contract, and Trout says those services can be “upgraded” if necessary to handle
The duration of Camp Second Chance’s contract with the city is not yet clear, said Trout – the first year, a $208,000 contract, runs through the end of December, and whether they would offer a full-year extension or part-year, they don’t know. She told the group that the budget “doesn’t cover everything” and they get monthly checks that help them “triage what they can afford this month.” Improvements they’re looking at include “gray-water catchment” which will enable camp residents to use donated warm-water sinks, donated solar lighting, and rodent control. The latter is focused on bait boxes that would not harm other animals, since, camp rep Patrick Mosley said, they have cats and dogs at the camp, as well as wildlife in the area (including a major bird population – they could be heard singing throughout the meeting).
“We want to make this the best camp in the city, the county, the nation,” Trout declared, also explaining that Patacara is an organization grounded in the Buddhist faith, which counsels “everything is changing and growing so we should never get set in our ways, should always pay attention to what’s going on.”
It was time to move on to community concerns.
A man identifying himself as living in a house nearby along Myers Way said, “It’s difficult to separate camp residents from those around who aren’t part of the camp – we’ve tried to get the city to deal with those issues – but they haven’t.”
Mosley said the city’s encampment sweeps are a problem – “every time you sweep, people have to go somewhere.”
Another person noted that the city has a May 15th community meeting coming up to address larger issues involving homelessness in the area, beyond the camp, and that she had heard from the city and county that the population has two elements, those who just want to quietly get by, and those who are “part of the opioid epidemic who need to finance their purchases,” often by criminal activity.
Some outside CSC are there because they have “some affinity to the area,” one housed neighbor observed. Trout added, “We’re working really hard to not increase homeless population in this area,” including not just booting people onto the street nearby if they have to leave the camp for not following rules.
Nearby housed resident Carol wondered if people who don’t live in the camp are allowed to come to it for “stuff” and services.
Mosley said there’s a shower truck once a week, with camp residents going first, others allowed if there’s time. The Honey Buckets, he added, were moved away from the street so they are no longer accessible to non-CSC residents. They also have set up times when those in need can come get dry clothes and food if needed.
Nearby housed resident Willow said the area had problems even before Camp Second Chance showed up last summer (after leaving a South King County church that had hosted the camp’s original incarnation). “My experience and perspective, having the services available … can help those (outside camp) folks take the next step.” She says the lighting “seems to have been a huge help toward the excess dumping, people driving up in trucks … that had been going on for years.” She sees people walking along the street, says hello, and they say hello back. “They’re just walking on the hill to get into the White Center area.”
Trout said she has been working with unhoused people for 16 years now. “The one thing that is likely to help somebody make the choice (to take the next step) is kindness. … It makes a profound transformative difference when you treat someone like a human being.”
An Arrowhead Gardens rep asked, “How do you apply to be a resident here?”
Trout said the city only wants them to take referrals from the Navigation Team, but they’re going beyond that when it’s perceived as necessary. “Because we’re here, prioritizing intakes from walk-ins from this neighborhood is the right thing to do.”
Prerequisites, Mosley said, include having ID – which the camp itself decided to require – and clearing the sex-offender registration list. Camp manager Eric Davis added, and being clean and sober, though overall: “We don’t have this great big list of things to keep people out.”
Other topics included how and where to make a central list of what the camp needs and how people can donate, as well as how to get more information about the camp onto its website.
“We need a volunteer volunteer coordinator,” joked Trout. Her organization was all volunteer with almost no budget last year, while this year they have a $300,000 budget and will have three paid staff, including her, but, she said, “mistakes are being made because I only have a certain number of hours in a week.” She also said that Camp Second Chance will eventually become its own 501(c)3 nonprofit, so Patacara’s sponsorship of it is temporary.
As is CSC’s inhabitation of the site – Mosley said they have everything set up “so that the site will be left in as good or better condition when they go … everything is being put together so that it can be carried away” when the camp leaves.
The site’s future remains uncertain – it’s city-owned land that the mayor promised to keep as open space, but it has yet to be turned over to the city Parks Department, and there’s no definite timetable. Trout noted that whenever CSC moves on, it would have no control whether other campers followed them.
“There’s too many homeless people and not enough places to put them,” observed Mosley.
Trout said that the type of affordable housing that’s really needed to help reduce homelessness is true low-income housing to help people who are, for example, subsisting on disability checks, “$770 a month, with no (jobs for them) … that’s what we need the help with.” She said that kind of housing has a 3- to 5-year wait list.
After the meeting, we went along on a short tour of the camp, which is on a graveled, fenced lot just inside the main gates to the Myers Way Parcels. Its growing tent area stretches in neat rows toward the north side of the site; its common areas are near the front gate. The first “tiny house” is being worked on alongside the south section of the fence; it’s shingled, and power is being installed.
UPCOMING MEETINGS: The advisory committee will meet again at 4 pm June 4th, (corrected) at nearby Arrowhead Gardens (9220 2nd Ave. SW). Also near CSC, the Joint Training Facility (9401 Myers Way S.) is where the city’s next “community conversation” about Myers Way-area homelessness issues is scheduled for one week from tonight, 7 pm Monday, May 15th. And if you’d like to hear a top-level update on the Seattle homelessness emergency, a briefing including the city’s homelessness director George Scarola is scheduled for the City Council’s Human Services and Public Health Committee this Wednesday, 2 pm. |
This is a time of testing for American journalism—will it rise to the occasion? Today’s media environment faces dangers as threatening as our physical environment faces from climate change. Journalism’s operating model has been under siege for more than a decade; now it confronts an existential risk as an authoritarian populist attacks democratic norms once taken for granted. But this moment of peril is also a moment of opportunity. Much depends on how a media system already under stress from the epochal changes in technology, economics, and audience behavior responds to this new challenge. And much is at stake: not only a renewal of the journalistic vocation, public trust in the media, and its commercial potential, but also the accountability architecture of American democracy itself. Securing these things will mean returning to some old principles: fairness, accuracy, rigor, and, above all, a position outside of power, exerting pressure on it, rather than inside, transmitting its message. And even that on its own may not be enough. To truly confront this moment and emerge strengthened, the press will require new and sometimes uncomfortable strategies. Ad Policy This article is being co-published by the Columbia Journalism Review and is part of a special issue of The Nation on “Media in the Trump Era,” available online in full here.
I know how bewildering it can be as a journalist to feel the secure foundations of a liberal-democratic culture shift and slip beneath you. As a parliamentary reporter in South Africa, and later as the editor of Johannesburg’s Mail & Guardian, a newspaper built on blockbuster investigations of corruption and the abuse of power, I watched it happen in slow motion to a country that was too complacent by half about the strength of its young institutions. In the 2000s, as the leaders of the African National Congress lost patience with the very constitutional constraints on power they had once battled apartheid to secure, they took to closing off reporters’ access, launching proxy lawsuits, stigmatizing the press as biased, building a case for regulatory oversight, and abetting the purchase of hostile news outlets by business cronies. Today, under Jacob Zuma’s majoritarian rule, a free press survives, albeit in diminished form, thanks to a vigorous and persistent fight.
The United States, where I work now, is not South Africa: Its democratic traditions are older, its legal protections for speech more absolute, its media more diverse and, despite the carnage in print journalism, vastly better resourced. And yet the features of an authoritarian populism, centered on the personality of a demagogic leader, are emerging with stunning rapidity here.
The day after he was inaugurated, Donald Trump made it clear that his “running war with the media” would continue into his presidency. “They are among the most dishonest human beings on earth,” he said of journalists in a speech at the CIA’s headquarters. He then sent his press secretary, Sean Spicer, out to berate the press for accurately reporting on the inauguration’s attendance and to fabulate numbers about crowd size. The next morning, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, introduced a spluttering Chuck Todd to “alternative facts” when he questioned her about Spicer’s lies on NBC’s Meet the Press. Four days later, with the sulfur of Trump’s first executive orders still hanging in the air, White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon gleefully told the press to “shut up” and then daubed it with the scarlet letter that authoritarians routinely bestow upon independent journalism: “the opposition party.” And so it went, compressing into days an assault that in other countries—Russia, Turkey, Venezuela, South Africa—has taken years. But the tropes of illiberal democracy aren’t enough for Trump. When stories in The Washington Post and The New York Times helped to bring down his national-security adviser, Gen. Michael Flynn, he escalated to outright dictator-speak, attacking “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN)” on Twitter and describing it as “the enemy of the American People!”
Grandiose hostility to the press, performed as a kind of theater, is no longer a tool of voter mobilization for Trump; now he seeks to use it to undermine the basic information infrastructure of democracy. His ultimate target is accountability in the largest sense. No one who has covered other authoritarian leaders could have been surprised when President Trump ridiculed US District Court Judge James Robart for overturning his travel ban against the citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries: “The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law-enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Related Article Progressives Need to Build Their Own Media Mark Hertsgaard
In the face of this blitzkrieg, there have been some fine acts of individual journalism. The Times and the Post have kept the spotlight on allegations of Russian campaign meddling, and there have been telling accounts of the access that $200,000 can buy at Mar-a-Lago. No doubt that’s why the president and some of his supporters felt that he needed to “win” his bizarre face-off with journalists in the East Room on February 16, and insist that he succeeded. Be that as it may, when NBC correspondent Peter Alexander corrected Trump’s false assertion about his margin of victory in the Electoral College and asked: “Why should the American people trust you?,” he planted a flag that others may rally to in time.
Overall, though, the press has found it difficult to mount an effective response to Trump. Why? Combating climate change—the global-warming kind—is hard, because fossil fuels are part of the global economy’s deep structure. American journalism, similarly, finds itself trapped in dysfunctional practices that it regards as foundational.
Two habits of mind stand out: an insistence that the press must pretend to Olympian neutrality, and a conviction that access to the powerful is good per se. These two beliefs coincide with the persistence of a journalistic professional class that was educated in elite institutions, is convinced of its place within the machinery of power, and has forgotten its blue-collar roots (which are literally invisible in most newsrooms now that printing presses have moved to distant suburban plants and computers have replaced hot lead).
Trump and Bannon understand this perfectly and have hacked the deep grammar of establishment journalism to turn the press against itself. If the press believes its job is to convey messages from the nation’s leaders rather than to hold them to account, then news organizations need only send their most polished stenographers to the White House briefing room and carry the proceedings live, lies and all. If the job of journalists is to be “balanced,” they will invite Conway onto their programs as a representative of the president, even if she adds no new information or, worse, invents a Bowling Green massacre to justify his travel ban. They may snort at her in derision, as Todd did when she coined the term “alternative facts,” but that only enables the propagandist to label journalists as an arrogant coastal elite.
Worse still, if journalists insist on appearing neutral, they will avoid asking hard-edged questions or calling a lie a lie. Instead, they’ll default to mealy-mouthed formulations like “What do you say to those of your critics who argue that…?” They will spurn the word “lie” when covering Trump because, as Wall Street Journal editor in chief Gerard Baker maintains, we cannot see inside the president’s mind and divine his “state of knowledge and moral intent.”
It isn’t the word “lie” that really matters in this debate; the deeper problem is the familiar theory of trust that Baker insists on. “If we routinely make these kinds of judgments,” he has said, “readers would start to see our inevitably selective use of a moral censure as partisanship. We must not only be objective. We must be seen to be objective to continue to earn our readers’ trust.” This is an extraordinary claim. Drawing journalistically reasonable inferences from unimpeachable evidence actually enhances the press’s authority rather than undercuts it. For a journalist or a news organization to abdicate that responsibility is to give up before they’ve begun. The tropes of illiberal democracy aren’t enough for Trump, who blasted the news media as “the enemy of the American People!”
Moreover, for the press to articulate a politics of independence, accountability, fairness, and accuracy, and then to choose its words on that basis, is not partisan. Nor does the press risk its credibility with such reporting any more than it currently does with phony “he said/she said” formulations. On the contrary, this will be the basis for a more enduring trust—perhaps the only kind that can survive a president who attacks as partisan any outlet that contradicts his fables.
The first imperative in war is to recognize that you’re fighting for your life and act accordingly. The war for freedom of the press in the Trump era must be fought on many fronts. It must be fought in the White House briefing room, where reporters need to shun stenography, ask more pointed questions, and stand up for colleagues when the administration attempts to punish a given reporter or outlet. It must be fought in the courts, where lawsuits and the threat of legal action will aim to sap journalists’ will and reduce their bosses’ appetite for risk. It must be fought in the publishers’ suites, where crony deals or concern over pressure from regulators on associated companies or deals can encourage the softening of coverage. According to the The Wall Street Journal, Trump son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner has already complained to CNN’s parent company, Time Warner, about the network’s coverage. Time Warner is planning a merger with AT&T, which must clear a series of federal hurdles. Even if this pressure has no effect on CNN, it sends a message to the entire industry.
Nowhere are the sacrifices that Washington journalism makes at the altar of access more egregious than with the annual White House correspondents’ dinner. Astonishingly—or perhaps not—this year’s dinner is still scheduled to go ahead on April 29, despite rising unease and the withdrawal of the “failing” New York Times and the “way down” Vanity Fair. Jeff Mason, the president of the White House Correspondents’ Association, recently told the Times that his organization “looks forward to hosting our annual dinner this year as we do every year to celebrate the First Amendment, reward some of the finest reporting of the past year and recognize promising young student journalists.”
The First Amendment and student journalism need all the love they can get, but the true function of the correspondents’ dinner is quite different: to bind the establishment press and the White House in a slightly awkward hug and then sprinkle both with celebrity stardust. There is mutual ribbing, but any sting is always drawn by the certain knowledge that “we”—journalists and government officials—are all in this together.
Until we aren’t. On February 24, Spicer excluded the Times, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, BuzzFeed, and the BBC, among others, from an off-camera briefing, saying the White House would continue to “push back” on the “narrative” they were reporting. The following day, amid gathering outrage and rumbles about a boycott, Trump pulled out of the dinner, tweeting: “Please wish everyone well and have a great evening.”
If the correspondents’ association had any sense of what the politics of the moment demand, it would have cancelled the dinner or changed its format weeks earlier. Alternatively, the big networks, papers, and newswires could have pulled out, making the whole sad charade untenable. Instead, Trump robbed the press of an opportunity to demonstrate its political savvy, setting himself up to dismiss statements in defense of press freedom at the dinner as sour grapes. Indeed, reporters for Time and the Associated Press, who declined to attend Spicer’s “friendlies-only” briefing when rival outlets were excluded, showed a much clearer sense of the solidarity that is required.
That adversarial posture doesn’t come easily to Washington journalists, but at a moment when The New York Times feels constrained to take out advertisements for the truth during the Oscars, it is now coming upon them willy-nilly.
To be clear, journalistic access can be very useful, but only if journalists and their bosses make sure that “access” does not mean the tacit or explicit trading of your independence for information. As the public’s surrogate, the press has a right of access to the places where the machinery of government is working—places where documents funnel through the system, where officials can be confronted directly, or where they can find reporters when they have something important to leak. You do not bargain about this kind of press access, and you accept no diminishment of it, because it belongs to you, not the government of the day.
When I arrived as a reporter in the press gallery of South Africa’s Parliament in the early 2000s, I was stunned and thrilled by the openness of the place. Each morning, a giant sheaf of official documents would arrive at my door, which was just 30 feet from the main chamber of the National Assembly. We reporters could wander in and out of committee meetings and buttonhole top officials and CEOs giving testimony; lawyers and activists, cabinet ministers and functionaries would drop by to chat.
This was the very definition of an access journalist’s perch, and it would have been easy to succumb to the comfortable rhythms of stenographic reporting. But the veteran reporters on the beat made sure that a different culture prevailed. They taught the rest of us to scan the official documents for hints of conflict, to read deeply through dull reams of print, to fulfill our responsibilities as the public’s watchdog. It was a place we would later have to fight for, with only partial success, once the government tired of our prodding. To deal with the onslaught it now faces, the press needs to get organized to accomplish things more difficult than an annual dinner.
It is this cultural outlook that Washington journalism must revive, buoyed by a conviction that the public—notwithstanding right-wing jeers about a biased liberal press—wants someone to keep a skeptical eye on government. Such a cultural shift, in turn, implies a range of tactical reforms. Bobby Ghosh, a former international editor at Time, suggests that news organizations reassign their foreign correspondents to the White House beat, because they are used to asking hard questions of hostile leaders. Mehdi Hasan, whose Al Jazeera program is a master class in tough interviewing, has offered Twitter tutorials in real time as Spicer’s briefings unfold: “Stop asking open-ended questions [like] ‘what do you say to those…’”; and “Ask pointed questions: ‘Is it right for a 5-year-old boy to be detained at the airport?’”
At a minimum, it seems clear that carrying the White House press secretary’s briefing live is of no news value. Doing so simply amplifies the administration’s demonstration of its power over facts and its humiliation of the press. (On the other hand, carrying a briefing by President Trump is clearly newsworthy, as the February 16 encounter starkly illustrated.) Margaret Sullivan, The Washington Post’s media columnist, urges greater skepticism and selectivity in reporting on White House briefings. “Official words do matter,” she observes, “but they shouldn’t be what news organizations pay most attention to, as they try to present the truth about a new administration.” Press critic Jay Rosen has suggested letting sharp interns cover the briefing; this would free up experienced correspondents to go out and do the reporting that would yield real news. Support independent media. Donate Now
Beyond tactical adjustments, American journalism needs to develop a larger strategy and institutional structure for defending freedom of the press. At the moment, nothing of the kind exists—and worse, despite frenzied debate about the future of journalism and how to cover this president, no one is even beginning to discuss what such an institutional strategy might look like.
To deal with the onslaught it now faces, the press needs to get organized to accomplish things more difficult than an annual dinner. Organizing implies taking a stance, if only in defense of the precedents and practices that secure the press’s role in a constitutional democracy. This will call forth more accusations of partisanship, which is why it will be important to show that this stand is not a partisan one, but rather an affirmation of bedrock values. The press should champion a politics of independence, accountability, ethical standards, and legal rights; this is the basis on which it can fight to defend its role in a democratic society and to fulfill its duty to the people and founding ideals of the United States. The editors of America’s grandest news institutions are now beginning to speak out clearly on Trump’s tactics. We will know that something deep has shifted when they begin to act together in defense of the information infrastructure of democracy.
The press will also need friends to help in its defense. A coalition of news organizations should articulate common principles and assemble the staff and funds to pay for litigation and outreach to fellow pillars of civil society: good-government groups and press-freedom NGOs; business organizations that recognize the value of independent journalism; religious and ethical leaders; and, not least, the legion of unofficial press critics. There must also be a more robust discussion of the effects of corporate consolidation on independent journalism and the ability to serve diverse publics. To regain trust, news organizations must not only produce first-rate work; they must show that they understand why so many people lost faith in them and take concrete steps to make amends.
Neither a reinvigorated journalism nor a movement for press freedom will be enough on its own, but together they’re a baseline for survival. Climate-change denial may be back in vogue, but the facts of this case are on the nightly news. The waters are rising for democracy in America, and the world is watching. All hands to the pump. |
The Senate is heading for a showdown over women registering for the draft.
Supporters of requiring women to sign up for Selective Service see the upper chamber as their last best hope for getting legislation to President Obama's desk.
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They've turned their attention to the Senate after suffering a setback in the House, which last week dropped language requiring women to register from its version of the annual defense bill.
Proponents say women already have the green light to serve in combat roles, hurting the legal argument for excluding them from the draft. But opponents say Congress needs to spend more time studying the politically tricky issue instead of tucking it into a massive “must pass” bill.
The Senate Armed Services Committee has already included a requirement to open the draft to women in its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), a move that sparked outrage from conservatives.
The battle will come to a head on the Senate floor, where conservative opponents are expected to make a last stand to remove the provision. If successful they would effectively kill any chance of Congress approving the policy change.
But supporters got an unexpected boost as they fight to keep the language in the bill. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellWhite House pleads with Senate GOP on emergency declaration Senate Dems seek to turn tables on GOP in climate change fight Pence meets with Senate GOP for 'robust' discussion on Trump declaration MORE (R-Ky.) said he supports the change, while noting he doesn’t expect the United States to return to the draft.
“Given where we are today, with women in the military performing virtually all kinds of functions, I personally think it would be appropriate for them to register just like men do,” the Kentucky Republican told reporters during a weekly press conference.
Though McConnell, as the Senate’s top Republican, would have strong influence in a floor debate, the proposal is dividing his caucus.
GOP Sens. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzCornyn less popular than Cruz in Texas: poll Trump unleashing digital juggernaut ahead of 2020 Inviting Kim Jong Un to Washington MORE (Texas) and Mike Lee Michael (Mike) Shumway LeePush to end U.S. support for Saudi war hits Senate setback The Hill's Morning Report — Emergency declaration to test GOP loyalty to Trump The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump escalates fight with NY Times MORE (Utah) both say they voted against the Armed Services committee’s defense bill, in part, because of the requirement that women sign up.
“I cannot in good conscience vote to draft our daughters into the military, sending them off to war and forcing them into combat,” Cruz, who ended his presidential campaign this month, said in a statement.
Though the Texas Republican didn’t mention the Senate’s upcoming debate he pledged to “continue my efforts to speak out against the effort to force America’s daughter into combat.”
Sen. John Cornyn John CornynGOP lawmaker says panel to investigate drug company gaming of patent system Senators grill drug execs over high prices Cornyn less popular than Cruz in Texas: poll MORE (R-Texas), McConnell’s No. 2, said the decision on women and the draft should be put on hold until “future circumstances” allow it.
“I’m not really sure why we’re talking about the draft. I don’t know anybody who supports the draft at this point, and I would leave that decision for future circumstances,” he told The Hill, asked if he supported requiring women to register for the Selective Service.
Both Armed Services Chairman John McCain John Sidney McCainGOP lobbyists worry Trump lags in K Street fundraising Mark Kelly kicks off Senate bid: ‘A mission to lift up hardworking Arizonans’ Gabbard hits back at Meghan McCain after fight over Assad MORE—who will oversee the bill for Republicans on the floor—and Sen. James Inhofe James (Jim) Mountain InhofeTrump backs off total Syria withdrawal Allies wary of Shanahan's assurances with looming presence of Trump On The Money: Trump to sign border deal, declare emergency to build wall | Senate passes funding bill, House to follow | Dems promise challenge to emergency declaration MORE (R-Okla.) have said they expect to see an amendment on the issue once the defense policy bill makes it to the Senate floor.
While McCain supports a gender-neutral draft, Inhofe said that he opposes the bill’s language and would support a proposal to remove it.
But opponents will need a majority of the Senate—51 votes—if they want to get it dropped from the legislation.
In a sign of the potential uphill battle they could face, a separate bill introduced in February stating that only Congress can modify the Military Selective Service Act has garnered only six cosponsors—all Republicans.
Sen. Lindsey Graham Lindsey Olin GrahamWhite House pleads with Senate GOP on emergency declaration GOP lawmaker says panel to investigate drug company gaming of patent system Sixteen years later, let's finally heed the call of the 9/11 Commission MORE (R-S.C.), a close ally of McCain’s in the Senate, said he supports requiring women to sign up for the Selective Service.
“Women are now integrated in the military fully. They’ve performed exceptionally well,” he told The Hill. “I don’t think you’d want to take half of the population off the table, understanding the military is not going to put somebody in a situation they can’t handle.”
The U.S. military has been an all-volunteer force for more than forty years — the draft ended in 1973 — but the issue of women registering has come under the spotlight as the Pentagon opens up more roles to female soldiers.
Noting that women are already serving in combat-like roles, Sen. Marco Rubio Marco Antonio RubioWhite House pleads with Senate GOP on emergency declaration Sixteen years later, let's finally heed the call of the 9/11 Commission Schumer urges GOP to reject Trump's 'destructive' national emergency MORE (R-Fla.), said during a New Hampshire presidential debate that he backs allowing women to sign up for the draft.
“I do believe that Selective Service should be opened up for both men and women in case a draft is ever instituted,” he said, asked if women should be required to sign up “in case of a national emergency.”
But—underscoring the political sensitivity of the topic—he appeared to make a distinction days later in South Carolina, saying that he doesn’t believe the United States still needs a draft.
“I do not support drafting women and forcing them to be combat soldiers. I don’t support that. I never have and I don’t now,” he added.
A Rasmussen Reports poll released earlier this year found that 49 percent of all likely U.S. voters think women should be required to register for the draft, compared to 44 percent who disagree.
Even if supporters win the fight in the Senate, they’ll face another fight with House lawmakers. The two chambers must reconcile their separate bills before sending the final version to Obama.
The House Armed Services Committee (HASC) initially approved an amendment expanding the draft, with 26 Democrats and six Republicans on the committee supporting the proposal.
But the Rules Committee moved to strip the language, with the House formally removing the proposal as part of a larger procedural vote. House lawmakers didn’t vote specifically on the amendment, from Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), to remove the draft expansion.
Graham acknowledged that he isn’t sure the Senate could prevail in a conference committee.
While Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), the House Armed Services chairman, is predicting the two chambers will be able to work out their differences, he stressed that Congress needs to spend more time reviewing the draft broadly.
“The big issue is we ought to study whether we need Selective Service or not," he told reporters.
"And then we'll deal with the other questions later.” |
Don’t talk to Tony Stark about horsepower, that’s so yesterday. Instead, talk to the man about, erm, torque. He loves it. He literally can’t get enough. Because today, we learn that for the upcoming Iron Man 3 movie, Tony Stark will drive an Audi R8 e-tron.
Of course, Tony Stark isn’t real - he’s a fictional Marvel comics character played most superbly by Robert Downey Junior, silly - but the R8 e-tron is very much real, and very much full of torque: 3,614lb ft of the stuff. That’s…a lot. It comes courtesy of four electric motors, one mounted on each wheel, producing around 900lb ft of torque and around 80bhp each.
So you get some 320bhp and a truckload of oomph, all packaged up in a car weighing in at around 1700kg - the same as a Porsche 918 Spyder - allowing Monsieur Stark and his Big Brain the capacity to accelerate from 0-62mph in 4.8 seconds and on to a top speed limited to 124mph (to protect the battery charge).
Still, it’s two tenths of a second slower than the V8 R8, but of course, doesn’t emit anything while driving. And who’s to say Tony Stark, billionaire industrialist and leader of The Avengers and still not an actual real human, won’t tinker with the output? Well, partly because in this recently released trailer, below, we see the R8 e-tron meets a rather watery demise. Don’t filmmakers realise electricity and water aren’t the most convivial of bedfellows?
Don’t think Stark will lose any sleep, mind. Because if the last two Iron Man movies are anything to go by, he’ll have quite a bit of exotic machinery which will help ease the pain. We’ve already seen him drive an R8 and R8 Spyder, and snapshots of his car collections include the Saleen S7, Rolls-Royce Phantom, a seriously cool old Cadillac and Mercury coupe, a Shelby Cobra, and of course, a Ford Model B roadster that gave him the inspiration for his suit colour (he’s still not real, btw).
Whatever the outcome of the R8 e-tron in the film, the production version is coming your way soon. And it’s pretty quick, as just last year Audi took it to one of James May’s least favourite holiday destinations (the Nürburgring) and recorded a lap time of 8m 09.099s, setting a new world record for a (deep breath) ‘production vehicle with an electric drive system’.
Sounds promising. The trailer for Iron Man 3 is below, as is the video of Audi’s R8 e-tron ‘Ring footage. Reckon Stark should call up Batman and ask for a ‘Tumbler’ instead? |
See on GitHub
Script is a simple scripting language, as well as the core of Bitcoin transaction processing. If you ever wrote assembly code you’ll find this article very easy to understand –probably entertaining–, otherwise it might well be one of the most challenging. Keep focused!
Meet machine code
A script is a computer program, and as a programmer you certainly know what a program is. A program takes an input, executes for some time, then returns an output. Programming languages are our tool to write programs that computers will understand, because most languages come with compilers that map human-friendly code to CPU operations, also known as opcodes.
Opcodes
Opcodes include memory manipulation, math, loops, function calls and everything you find in procedural programming languages like C. They make up the spoken language of a CPU, the so-called machine code. Since bytes are computers’ preferred idiom, no wonder opcodes are bytes as well. As a result, machine code is a string of bytes representing operations to be executed on a CPU.
Consider this piece of code in a high-level programming language like C:
x = 0x23 ; x += 0x4b ; x *= 0x1e ;
Now suppose you want to compile and run this code on a hypothetical little-endian CPU with a single cell of 16-bit memory (a register) and the following set of opcodes:
opcode encoding V SET(V) ab V 16-bit ADD(V) ac V 16-bit MUL(V) ad V 16-bit
The opcodes explained:
SET loads the register with the value V.
ADD adds V to the register.
MUL multiplies the register by V.
A compiler for such a CPU would generate these 9 bytes of machine code:
ab 23 00 ac 4b 00 ad 1e 00
Here’s how it’s interpreted:
Load the register with the value 23 . Add 4b to the register, that is now 23 + 4b = 6e . Multiply the register by 1e , yielding 6e * 1e = ce4 .
The register holds the final result, that is ce4 .
Stack memory
Most of the time, we need to track complex program states with variables. In C, depending on whether a variable is allocated statically or with malloc , it’s stored in a differently arranged memory. While malloc -ed data is accessed like an element in a very big array, static variables are pushed to and popped from a pile of items called stack. A stack operates in a LIFO fashion (Last In First Out), meaning that the last item you push will be the first to pop out.
Consider this dummy function:
int foo () { /* 1 */ /* 2 */ uint8_t a = 0x12 ; uint16_t b = 0xa4 ; uint32_t c = 0x2a5e7 ; /* 3 */ uint32_t d = a + b + c ; return d ; /* 4 */ }
The stack is initially empty (1):
[]
Then, three variables are pushed (2):
[12] [12, a4 00] [12, a4 00, e7 a5 02 00]
A fourth variable is assigned the sum of the others and pushed onto the stack (3):
[12, a4 00, e7 a5 02 00, 9d a6 02 00]
The tip of the stack is the return value and is sent back to the function caller by other means. Each temporary stack variable is popped at the end of the block (4), because the push/pop operations must be balanced so that the stack always goes back to its initial state:
[12, a4 00, e7 a5 02 00] [12, a4 00] [12] []
The Script machine code
Likewise, Bitcoin Core has its own “virtual processor” to interpret the Script machine code. Script features a rich set of opcodes, yet very limited compared to full-fledged CPUs like Intel’s, to name one. Some key facts about Script:
Script does not loop. Script always terminates. Script memory access is stack-based.
In fact, point 1 implies 2. Point 3 means there’s no such thing like named variables in Script, you just do your calculations on a stack. Typically, the stack items you push become the operands of subsequent opcodes. At the end of the script, the top stack item is the return value.
Before presenting real world scripts, let’s first enumerate some opcodes. For a full set please check out the official wiki page.
Constants
The following opcodes push the numbers 0-16 onto the stack:
opcode encoding OP_0 00 OP_1 - OP_16 51 - 60
By convention, OP_0 and OP_1 also express the boolean OP_FALSE (zero) and OP_TRUE (non-zero).
Example:
54 57 00 60
or:
OP_4 OP_7 OP_0 OP_16
Here’s how the stack evolves:
[] [4] [4, 7] [4, 7, 0] [4, 7, 0, 16]
The return value is the top item, so the script returns 16. Quite pointless, I know, but it’s a start.
Push data
Several opcodes are provided to push custom data. They differ in the size of the operands:
opcode encoding L (length) D (data) OP_PUSHDATA1 4c L D 8-bit L bytes OP_PUSHDATA2 4d L D 16-bit L bytes OP_PUSHDATA4 4e L D 32-bit L bytes
For example, if your data length can be stored as a 8-bit number, then OP_PUSHDATA1 is your best choice. Look at this:
4c 14 11 06 03 55 04 8a 0c 70 3e 63 2e 31 26 30 24 06 6c 95 20 30
The first byte is clearly a OP_PUSHDATA1 opcode, followed by a 1-byte length of 14 that is decimal 20. So, 20 bytes of data are coming next. The effect of this instruction is that such data is pushed onto the stack:
[11 06 03 55 04 8a 0c 70 3e 63 2e 31 26 30 24 06 6c 95 20 30]
Indeed –like with varints–, there’s a special encoding for very short data. If an opcode lies between 01 and 4b (included), it’s a push data operation where the opcode itself is the length in bytes:
opcode encoding L (length) D (data) L L D 01 - 4b L bytes
For example, in the string:
07 8f 49 b2 e2 ec 7c 44
the opcode 07 means that 7 bytes of data are to be pushed:
[8f 49 b2 e2 ec 7c 44]
Next block in chain?
You learned a little bit about machine code and opcodes. Script is a simple low-level language understood by miners software. Script state is tracked with stack memory.
In the next article I’ll show you opcodes that do something more than just pushing data. Please share this post if you enjoyed it and use the form below for questions and comments! |
Aside from debating whether or not to vote for a prisoner exchange deal that would set Gilad Shalit free, several members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's cabinet offered several lines of action Israel could take following the deal's execution.
Standing head and shoulders above most were Interior Minister Eli Yishai of Shas and his party member Meshulam Nahari, who said Israel should consider releasing Jewish terrorists who carried out attacks against Palestinians.
Eli Yishai and Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset. Emil Salman
"It's the right thing to do as part of the balances in Israel's society," Yishai said, adding that such a move would not "undo the releasing of hundreds of [Palestinian] prisoners, but it may sweeten the bitter pill."
Other offers that came during Tuesday's dramatic cabinet meeting were to change Israeli law as to allow sentencing terrorists who had murdered Israeli citizens to death, thus increasing the legal deterrence against such acts.
Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor vehemently opposed the offer, saying: "I don't think we should be rushing toward extreme ideas."
Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who pushed for the completion of the prisoner swap deal in recent weeks, urged the establishment of a set government policy to deal with future abductions of Israelis.
"We need to change the rules from the ground up," Barak said, indicated that the "Americans, the British, and others formed regulations ahead of such eventualities, and I am sure some of them could fit us."
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"I have formed a committee in the past, headed by [former Supreme Court] Justice [Meir] Shamgar, that recommended guidelines and it will be appropriate to deal with that issue the day after the deal is completed," Barak said.
Likud's Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz, who had also backed the Shalit deal, agreed with Barak, saying "such a dynamic must be prevented in the future."
"The kidnappings work against us as efficiently as tanks or missiles. See how many terrorists we are freeing now," Katz said.
Strategic Affairs Minister Moshe Yaalon, who voted against the deal, also agreed that set rules need to be established in order to deal with future abductions.
'We have no choice', Netanyahu told ministers of Shalit deal
Netanyahu's quest to persuade cabinet ministers to accept the deal to secure the release of captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit continued behind closed doors on Tuesday. Once the television cameras left the conference room, Netanyahu opened with a fiery monologue, saying he had no choice but to go through with the deal.
For more than four hours on Tuesday night, Israel's government ministers sat to discuss the deal that would secure the release of Gilad Shalit - until it was finally approved by a large majority. During that dramatic meeting, all of Israel's security chiefs and almost all of the government ministers voiced their opinions.
"It is true that there are no promises that the prisoners released will not return to terror, but they are already leading terror activities from their prison cells," Netanyahu told the cabinet ministers.
"There are some countries that don't hold negotiations with kidnappers, and we can discuss this policy going forward, but in this particular case, this is something that we inherited from the previous government, and we do not have a choice," he said.
Netanyahu did not mention former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert by name, but placed the blame on him in a roundabout way. "This is a reality that was forced upon us from the moment the former government engaged in negotiations with Hamas," Netanyahu said.
"We could not pay the price, but if we want Gilad to come home, there is no other choice," the prime minister said, adding "in any case the deal is not the same as the original one drafted by Hamas."
In his closing statement, just moments before the ministers voted, Netanyahu claimed that the draft of the deal that his government received was better than the deal that was brought before Olmert's government two-and-a-half years ago.
"At the beginning I wanted to change a lot of things on the original draft, and I tried to turn things around," Netanyahu said. "In the end, we arrived at a better result than we did two years ago."
Minister Uzi Landau: Agreement 'great victory for terrorism'
From the start, it was obvious that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was backed by all of the security chiefs. The person who played a key role in convincing the ministers was Shin Bet security service director Yoram Cohen.
Cohen, who had been debating for a long time whether to support the deal or not, finally made his mind up a few weeks ago, and joined the head of Israel's negotiating team David Meidan in the last two rounds of talks in Cairo.
Cohen told the ministers that compared with past negotiations – both under former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and under Netanyahu – the Shin Bet had softened its stance.
"In the past, we didn't support the deal," Cohen said. He described the Shin Bet's efforts to minimize the security risks of releasing Palestinian prisoners. "It was like an equalizer in a stereo system," he said. "We inherited the framework of the deal and the game was with the tones – who would be deported, who would go back home and would be released with restrictions."
One of the government ministers asked Cohen if he recommended approving the deal. Cohen answered yes, a response that angered National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau.
"You are a public servant," he told Cohen. "Your job is to provide data, not to recommend."
A few ministers responded to Landau and sided with the Shin Bet chief, but the officials most supportive of Cohen were his colleagues – IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz and Mossad chief Tamir Pardo.
"I send soldiers to battle, and it is my duty to share my professional position on the matter," Gantz said. "The deal is the only way. It is possible that we will encounter some of those released in future military activities, but according to our assessments we think releasing the prisoners is acceptable in terms of security."
Pardo also reacted strongly to Landau's statements. "I am in charge of combatants and I'm committed to them," he said. "It is my duty to say whether I am for or against, and the government will decide what it will. In this case, I am for the deal." |
were holding hands at her workout in Los Angeles
A source says the 34-year-old tennis star and the 32-year-old
Serena Williams may have met her match.
The 34-year-old Wimbledon champion, who was thought to be in a relationship with rapper Drake, is reportedly now dating Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, 32, after they 'met at a lunch'.
According to Us Weekly, the tennis star had the entrepreneur join her at her workout at the Los Angeles School of Gymnastics on Saturday, and while the relationship is 'new', and onlooker told the outlet that Alexis 'called her babe' and they 'held hands'.
Happy couple? Serena Williams is reportedly dating Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian
Serena was previously linked to 29-year-old Drake, however, rumors of their alleged engagement were proven to be unfounded earlier this month, with a spokesperson for the rapper telling Daily Mail Online that 'the rumor is completely untrue'.
But while the pair denied that they were ever engaged, they certainly seemed to be joined at the hip for much of the summer.
Indeed, when Serena lost her bid for the first Grand Slam since 1988 to unseeded player Roberta Vinci on September 11, fans took to Twitter to blame Drake for her heartbreaking loss.
A few days later Drake attended Serena's runway show at New York Fashion Week, sitting in the front row alongside Vogue's Anna Wintour.
Just friends: The 34-year-old tennis champion was rumored to be engaged to Drake. The pair are pictured together after Serena's New York Fashion Week show in September
Offering support: Although a spokesperson for Drake told Daily Mail Online that the engagement rumors were unfounded, the pair certainly seemed very friendly when pictured together during New York Fashion Week
Front row friend: The rapper lent his support to Serena during her fashion show, sitting alongside Anna Wintour during the runway event
But just a little over a month later, Serena appears to be moving on, however, it is still business as usual for the famous athlete.
Serena is featured in a stunning spread in November's Harper's Bazaar: The Daring Issue in which she can be seen modeling a tailored white jumpsuit.
Inside the issue, she speaks of her phenomenal career and her calculated ambition.
'Some people are born to do certain things, and I think I was born to do tennis. I definitely didn't miss my calling!' she said.
Tough loss: Drake came under fire from Serena's fans after she lost the final of the US Open (pictured), with many blaming him for her defeat
New man on the block: According to US Weekly, Serena met Alexis (pictured in May) 'at a lunch' recently
Serena, who said she looks up to the likes of Oprah Winfrey and Sheryl Sandberg, added: 'Daring to me is taking a chance but not doing it blindly. A very calculated chance.
'Think of amazing women like Sheryl Sandberg and Oprah Winfrey – they're daring, but they're not jumping off a building without a parachute, you know?'
The decorated champion also served as a guest editor for a special edition of of WIRED magazine, which focuses on issues surrounding gender and race inequality in the digital age, writing a powerful essay entitled The Ball is in Your Court. |
Almost a year after it was initially scheduled to be finished, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats' home stadium of Tim Hortons Field has finally received a regular occupancy permit. Of course, it's already been used to host games under temporary permits from last September on, but only part of the stadium was utilized then thanks to significant construction still being underway. There have been further delays and setbacks since the CFL ended, and the stadium still isn't 100 per cent finished (with May's police exercises, June's CFL preseason and July's Pan Am Games all approaching). That could cause problems for other stadium projects. In Hamilton, though, as Kevin Werner writes in The Hamilton Spectator, the end appears to be in sight:
Hamilton’s Tim Horton’s Field is nearing completion about 10 months past its official deadline.
The city issued an occupancy permit for the stadium April 16 to Infrastructure Ontario that is overseeing the $145.7 million construction of the facility on the former Ivor Wynne Stadium site.
Building officials, stated a news release from the city, had inspected “hundreds” of components while conducting safety checks. The statement said delays in caulking work in the east end of the stadium is not considered a public safety issue and won’t delay the occupancy permit from being issued. The work is expected to be completed within two weeks.
There's still a lot to do, however, and as Werner goes on to write, Hamilton officials aren't happy with how things have progressed:
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Mayor Fred Eisenberger has called the delay “inexcusable,” while Ancaster councillor Lloyd Ferguson said it’s “unbelievable” how the process had unfolded.
Infrastructure Ontario has withheld payments to [builder Ontario Sports Solutions] because of the delays.
Ferguson, who is also chair of the Pan Am Stadium sub-committee, said he expected the city to issue the occupancy permit this week.
He said after conducting a tour of the facility a week ago that work on the facility had progressed since the last time he saw the facility. Over the severe winter there were problems from water damage causing seals to erode.
“It’s all finished on the west side,” said Ferguson. “They are finishing on the east side. It’s a big job. They are getting close.”
City staff said the project is still not “substantially completed” according to the contract. Once it reaches that level, the stadium can be turned over to the city.
Ferguson said he expected the stadium to be substantially completed by the end of April, “based on what I saw yesterday.”
So, while it sounds like the stadium should be fully ready by the Ticats' next home game (they kick off the CFL preseason by hosting Ottawa on June 7), there are still some concerns here for the league. This stadium process already didn't make the CFL look good, with the Ticats quibbling about site locations and threatening to relocate to Burlington, Ottawa or Moncton before agreeing on a new facility on the site of the old Ivor Wynne Stadium. The construction mess hasn't helped, and in combination with the various delays and issues that have sprung up in Winnipeg (where the team's actually paying a significant portion of the stadium costs, unlike in Hamilton where those costs are being paid by various levels of government), getting involved in a CFL stadium may seem problematic to many governments.
Fortunately, there are only a couple of projects going on at the moment: Toronto's plans to move into a renovated BMO Field (which are still up in the air, but not over municipal contributions) and Saskatchewan's new stadium (where the deal's already signed). There could be more coming down the pike, though; there's been talk of a new stadium in Calgary, likely as part of a new arena deal for the NHL's Flames (who own the CFL's Stampeders), and expansion to a 10th team in Atlantic Canada, Quebec City or elsewhere would also require a new stadium or a substantial renovation. The stadium issues in Hamilton and Winnipeg won't necessarily mean that governments will refuse to invest in CFL facilities, but they could make them more leery of doing so. |
The actor was not on the aircraft, an aviation official said.
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A small plane assigned to the crew of a movie starring Tom Cruise crashed in Colombia on Friday, killing two people, including a Los Angeles-based film pilot, and seriously injuring a third, the country's civilian aviation authority said.
An official with the aviation agency, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter, said Cruise was not on the aircraft.
The official said an American, Alan Purwin, was killed along with the Colombian Carlos Berl. A third person aboard, American pilot Jimmy Lee Garland, was rushed to a hospital in Medellin.
The official said the twin-engine Aerostar ran into bad weather late Friday afternoon after taking off from the colonial town of Santa Fe de Antioquia for a short flight to Medellin.
Purwin was founder and president of the Los Angeles-based Helinet Technologies, a company providing aerial surveillance technology to law enforcement and government agencies. On the company's website, he's described as "one of the top film pilots of his generation" with a list of credits from television and major Hollywood movies such as Transformers, Pearl Harbor, and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Helinet's Vice President Jack Snyder declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.
Cruise's spokeswoman, Amanda Lundberg, had no comment.
Cruise, a trained pilot, arrived last month in Colombia to film Mena, a movie about an American pilot who worked for the late cocaine kingpin Pablo Escobar. The film is financed by Cross Creek Pictures and distributed by Universal.
"An aircraft carrying crew members crashed while returning to Enrique Olaya Herrera Airport in Medellin following production wrap on the film Mena resulting in two fatalities," a Universal spokesperson confirmed in a statement. "Further details are not available at this time. On behalf of the production, our hearts and prayers go out to the crew members and their families at this difficult time."
Cruise had recently said that he'd be filming the 1980's action-packed drug thriller in Colombia. In July, at the Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation premiere in Vienna, the actor noted: "I'm going to fly to Colombia when we finish the press on this to finish that."
The actor reteamed with director Doug Liman (Edge of Tomorrow) for the drug thriller. In May, photography began on the film, with production starting stateside in Georgia.
Cruise is playing Barry Seal, a fired TWA pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medellin Cartel. He was later recruited by the DEA and CIA to provide intelligence, with his work tying to the Iran Contra scandal. He was assassinated by Colombians in 1986.
The film's cast also includes Jesse Plemons, Domhnall Gleeson, Sarah Wright and Caleb Landry Jones.
10:00 pm, Sept. 11 Updated with additional information from The Associated Press and a Universal spokesperson. |
Image caption The feet are home to a whole community of fungi
We all have nearly 200 different types of fungi colonising our feet, scientists have discovered.
Fungi live all over the human body, but their favourite spots are the heel, under toenails and between the toes, according to a US study.
A new map of the body's fungal diversity could help combat skin conditions such as athlete's foot, researchers report in Nature journal.
Harmless fungi live naturally on skin but cause infection if they multiply.
In the first study of its kind, a US team catalogued the different groups of fungi living on the body in healthy adults.
Fungal skin infections Fungal infections are common and include athlete's foot, ringworm and yeast infections
Athlete's foot, also called Tinea pedis , is a very common fungal infection of the foot, causing peeling, redness, itching, burning, and sometimes blisters and sores
, is a very common fungal infection of the foot, causing peeling, redness, itching, burning, and sometimes blisters and sores Fungal nail infections affect about three in every 100 people in the UK
The most common symptom of a fungal nail infection is the nail becoming thickened and discoloured. it can turn white, black, yellow or green.
A team led by the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, sequenced the DNA of fungi living on the skin at 14 different body areas in 10 healthy adults.
Samples were taken from the ear canal, between the eyebrows, the back of the head, behind the ear, the heel, toenails, between the toes, forearm, back, groin, nostrils, chest, palm, and the crook of the elbow.
The data reveal that fungal richness varies across the body. The most complex fungal habitat is the heel, home to about 80 types of fungi. The researchers found about 60 types in toenail clippings and 40 types in swabs between the toes.
Other favoured fungal hotspots include the palm, forearm and inside the elbow. These had moderate levels of fungi, with each location supporting 18 to 32 types.
The bottom line is your feet are teeming with fungal diversity, so wear your flip flops in locker rooms if you don't want to mix your foot fungi with someone else's fungi Dr Julia Segre, National Institutes of Health, US
In contrast, the head and the trunk harboured fewer varieties of fungi - just two to 10 each.
"The data from our study gives us a baseline about normal individuals that we never had before," said lead researcher Dr Julia Segre.
"The bottom line is your feet are teeming with fungal diversity, so wear your flip flops in locker rooms if you don't want to mix your foot fungi with someone else's fungi."
Tremendous diversity
The study defines the normal populations of fungi across the skin, which provides a framework for investigating fungal skin conditions.
In 20% of volunteers, the researchers observed problems consistent with fungal infections.
An imbalance of microbes may provide an opportunity for harmful microbes to flourish and establish disease, they believe.
Commenting on the study, fungal expert Dr Paul Dyer of Nottingham University, said fungi could normally co-exist quite happily on the body without causing any harm, except in people with poor immune systems.
"It illustrates the tremendous diversity of fungi that grow on the human body," he told BBC News. "This is much higher than we previously knew." |
The fire season has started early. Homes were destroyed last month in bushfires near Lancefield, Victoria, while buildings and lives have been lost as fires continue to sweep through southern Western Australia.
Alongside the devastating loss of life and properties, many properties potentially in the path of Australian bushfires are inadequately insured.
While we have known about high rates of non-insurance and under-insurance across Australia for some time, there is surprisingly little solid data on the issue. We recently set out to address this gap at both the national and regional level.
Early findings from a national survey (which we will be presenting at the 2015 TASA conference later this month) indicate 13% of those surveyed are without insurance cover for their assets - 9% of home owners are without house insurance and 41% of tenants do not have contents insurance.
Approximately one-quarter of those who are insured may also be inadequately covered.
Under-insurance: a hot topic
These new findings strengthen our understanding of some already troubling figures on insurance in Australia.
After bushfires destroyed or severely damaged 500 homes in Canberra in 2003, estimates for national rates of under-insurance varied from 27 to 81%. The 2009 Victorian Black Saturday bushfires destroyed over 2000 homes, with about 13% of all property losses not insured.
The average uninsured loss for each Australian natural disaster between 2004 and 2011 is estimated to be nearly one billion dollars.
Yet the lessons of Black Saturday and other disastrous events appear slow to sink in.
For some, the purchase of adequate insurance cover is simply not an option. Bushfire-prone urban fringes are increasingly populated by low income earners and households where English may be the second or third language. The affordability and perhaps cultural understanding of insurance stand as obstacles to obtaining adequate coverage.
Informing people of the risks of under- or non-insurance, along with fear mongering or peer-pressure, are unlikely to be effective strategies for change. Even when money is not as tight, more information does not necessarily result in behavioural change.
This was found in interviews with at-risk residents in New South Wales. Everyday priorities, care-providing roles, and trade-offs between environmental risks and benefits are all factors that influence risk tolerance and safety behaviour.
Interviews we undertook with “tree changers” living on the outskirts of Hobart, Tasmania also highlight the uncertainty associated with taking out insurance cover. While affordability is not an issue for this cohort, public mistrust in insurance companies, and their lack of transparency certainly is.
Insurance as one part of an integrated disaster strategy
Losing one’s biggest material asset without the means to re-build or repair certainly exacerbates the personal trauma of disasters. It also contributes to the financial burden borne by governments and communities in the process of recovery.
However property insurance should not be seen as a panacea for the next Black Saturday. Insurance alone cannot prevent floods or fires, and without a broader support network in place it is unlikely to be as effective as proactive disaster mitigation.
In fact, our research suggests that house and contents insurance works best as one aspect of an integrated disaster preparedness and recovery plan. With some governments leaning towards the privatisation of risk, insurance can appear as the disaster management mechanism of choice.
Yet re-building a house (if one has adequate insurance cover) does not, on its own, re-build lives and communities.
Insurance can help in the aftermath of a disaster only if it is coupled with collective clean-ups, infrastructure repair, government assistance, and community outreach.
A call to action
As the fire season kicks off, it’s not only about individual responsibility for adequate insurance coverage. Affordability is clearly important for those who are most vulnerable in the face of property loss. Insurers also need to bring more transparency to premium pricing.
Governments have a vital role to play here, too. By providing greater accountability for payout decision-making, they could increase consumer confidence that money spent on insurance will actually deliver dividends. Only through the development of robust prevention and recovery strategies can communities and households be adequately safeguarded against future disasters. |
CLOSE Here's a breakdown of the top stories right now at theadvertiser.com. Caitlin Jacob
The Daily Advertiser columnist Sharane Gott
Ever wonder what happens to a scammer in the U.S. that is caught by the feds? In one recent case, the Federal Communications Commission recommended to a federal court an alleged Florida robocall scammer be fined $120 million.
For many years, Better Business Bureau Serving Acadiana has received thousands of calls from consumers and businesses trying to stop these annoying calls. BBB has also heard horror stories of people being ripped off as a result of scammers placing these calls.
The company caught by the FCC, Market Strategy Leaders, is accused of making 100 million robocalls over just a few months selling discounted “travel” services to the elderly as well as altering call ID information in order to perpetrate a fraud, according to FCC documents.
It is believed by the FCC that the call center was actually part of a Mexico-based call center engaged in selling timeshares and vacation packages using aggressive and illegal sales tactics.
On top of the numerous other charges, Market Strategy Leaders is also accused of violating the Truth in Caller ID Act, which prohibits the deliberate falsification of caller ID information to defraud and harm consumers as well as federal wire fraud charges. Consumer complaints to the FCC often included the fact consumers were on the “Do Not Call” list, but were receiving the calls anyway.
Marketing Strategy Leaders even allegedly made robocalls calls to a telecommunications service used by hospitals and emergency medical providers, jeopardizing their operations.
Better Business Bureau reminds local consumers that recorded messages are only legal if they are regarding candidates running for office or charities asking for donations. Messages that are solely informational, for example a reminder from your pharmacy or doctor’s office, and messages from a business that is contacting you to collect a debt, are also permitted.
Penalties for sellers and telemarketers who break the rules and transmit prerecorded messages to consumers who have not agreed in writing to accept automated messages can face penalties up to $16,000 per call.
BBB offers the following tips to avoid being taken by Robocall scams:
Never give out any financial information. If you did not initiate the call, do not provide bank account, credit card or social security numbers over the phone to unknown callers.
Don’t rely on caller ID. Scammers can use technology to make it appear as though their calls are coming from legitimate businesses or organizations. Some will even display as your own telephone number.
Hang up the phone. Don’t press 1 to speak to a live operator and don’t press any other number to get your number off the list. If you respond by pressing any number, it will probably just lead to more robocalls.
Consider contacting your phone provider. Ask your provider to block the number, and whether they charge for that service. Remember that telemarketers change Caller ID information easily and often, so it might not be worth paying a fee to block a number that will change.
Trust your instincts. If something doesn’t seem right to you, end the call.
BBB of Acadiana serves the parishes of Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Martin, St. Landry and Vermilion.
BBB of Acadiana serves the parishes of Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Martin, St. Landry and Vermilion. Sharane Gott is the President/CEO of the BBB of Acadiana.
Read or Share this story: https://www.theadvertiser.com/story/money/business/2017/08/13/robocall-operation-called-out-fcc/560159001/ |
Stranger of Sword City for PS Vita coming west in March
Experience-developed dark fantasy dungeon RPG headed westward.
NIS America is bringing the Experience-developed dungeon RPG Stranger of Sword City to PS Vita both physically and digitally in North America on March 22, 2016 and in Europe on March 25, the publisher announced.
The dungeon RPG from the makers of Demon Gaze takes a more western approach, infusing the game with themes of dark fantasy, new elements, and the ability to compete with other players through online leaderboards. It is a game about death and disappearance where the choices you make have meaning.
Get the full rundown below, via NIS America:
Story Your flight crashes after passing through a mysterious portal. As the sole survivor, you awaken to an unfamiliar land lit by stars you’ve never seen. This land is Escario, the city of swords. Quickly marked as the Chosen One, the Stranger of Sword City, you must defend this place, and choose your allegiances carefully as you scour the land for a way home. Key Features A Surprising Dark Fantasy – A labyrinth wouldn’t be complete without the trappings of darkness that this fantasy brings. The story and characters depart from the comedy and lightness found in some of Experience’s other games, and opts for traditional hardcore elements like perma-death and Life Points, while infusing the gameplay with a new Ambush system which will challenge you to decide how much risk you’re willing to accept to obtain the greatest loot.
A labyrinth wouldn’t be complete without the trappings of darkness that this fantasy brings. The story and characters depart from the comedy and lightness found in some of Experience’s other games, and opts for traditional hardcore elements like perma-death and Life Points, while infusing the gameplay with a new Ambush system which will challenge you to decide how much risk you’re willing to accept to obtain the greatest loot. Competition in the Dungeon – Unlike most dungeon RPGs, Stranger of Sword City won’t leave you as a stranger among your peers. Online leaderboards will allow you to finally compete with your friends, and strangers across the world to display your dominance in everything from the best gear, to the fastest clear time.
Unlike most dungeon RPGs, Stranger of Sword City won’t leave you as a stranger among your peers. Online leaderboards will allow you to finally compete with your friends, and strangers across the world to display your dominance in everything from the best gear, to the fastest clear time. Overwhelming Art – Fantasy is created by visuals and music as much as by story. In this title, the breathtaking art throughout your travels, and abundance of character portraits available for creating your perfect party will allow you to be truly transported into the magic of Sword City.
Watch the teaser trailer below. View a set of screenshots at the gallery. |
You've waited close to a half-hour to get to the front of the airport's security checkpoint. You're finally there, but the passenger in front of you couldn't be moving any slower.
Wouldn't you like to jump in front of them and just get moving already?
With new "automated security screening lanes" launched Tuesday morning at Newark Liberty International Airport, that would be possible.
The TSA and United Airlines deployed two of these lanes in Terminal C. In total, 17 of these enhanced lanes will greet United riders when installation wraps up.
"We figure that this entire process will decrease the time that travelers spend in the security screening line by up to 30 percent," said TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein.
Among the changes is a revamped front-of-the-line scheme that allows up to five passengers to load their carry-on items into the bins and on the conveyor belts at the same time.
"Also, those bins are about 25 percent larger than the bins you might see in a standard screening lane," Farbstein added.
Shaving off some precious seconds are automated conveyor belts that draw your bins into the X-ray machines and return the bins back to the front of the queue after you've completed the process. Security agents no longer have to ship carts of bins themselves, freeing them to focus on more important screening tasks.
Farbstein said increased security measures will also get the process moving much faster when an illegal or suspicious item is discovered. Unique Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tags are attached to each bin and color photographs of each bin's contents are linked side-by-side to the X-ray image.
"We expect to have a few more of these lanes before the end of this year, and we'll continue to install them and get them up and running in the weeks ahead," Farbstein said.
Identical lanes were installed at Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Los Angeles International Airport earlier this month.
More from New Jersey 101.5:
Contact reporter Dino Flammia at dino.flammia@townsquaremedia.com . |
[image-36]The radar on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured an image of Supertyphoon Usagi near the end of a 24-hour period in which Usagi intensified by 65 knots. This is more than twice the commonly used 30-knot threshold for defining rapid intensification.
The TRMM data was used to create a 3-D image. The data was collected at 1035 UTC/6:35 a.m. EDT on Thursday, September 19, 2013, when Usagi was at category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson hurricane intensity scale. A few hours later, Usagi completed its lightning-fast intensification to category 5, the highest category in the scale. While the center of this tropical cyclone is forecast to past just south of Taiwan in a few days, some forecasts have it striking Hong Kong a few days after that.
A number of the features of the TRMM radar observations are consistent with a well-organized storm with an efficient "heat engine." A tropical cyclone's heat engine extracts heat from the ocean's surface through wind-enhanced evaporation and converts a portion of that energy into kinetic energy of the destructive winds that circle under the eyewall of the storm. The eyewall is an arc or ring of string storms just outside the mostly cloud-free eye at the center of rotation of the tropical cyclone.
Radars almost always see eyewalls in strong tropical cyclones, but few tropical cyclones have such symmetric eyewalls as does Supertyphoon Usagi in the TRMM 3-D image. The 3-D image was multi-colored to show the volume of the light precipitation lifted to high altitudes, and heavy precipitation at the base of the eyewall (using a radar reflectivity threshold of 20 and 40 dBZ, respectively). Even the heavy precipitation at the base of the eyewall is fairly symmetric which is somewhat unusual.
Tropical cyclone eyewalls that are this symmetric are called "annular," and they have a tendency to maintain their intensity for longer periods than do tropical cyclones with more lopsided eyewalls (Knaff et al., 2003). At two locations in the eyewall, updrafts are strong enough to lift ice precipitation up and out of the troposphere, the layer of the atmosphere that usually confines the weather. Such tall storm cells are called "hot towers" and are associated with periods of tropical cyclone intensification.
Lightning flashes were detected by a group of ground-based sensors called the World-Wide Lightning Location Network (WWLLN, http://wwlln.org). The WWLLN does not measure the altitude of the lightning, so the flashes were depicted in TRMM data at a 5 km altitude, which is near the freezing level in tropical cyclones and near the top of the heavy precipitation detected by the TRMM radar.
Lightning requires strong updrafts to form, indicating locations where storm cells are releasing considerable energy into atmosphere. It is an active area of research, however, to pin down the exact relationship between bursts of eyewall lightning and current or future changes in tropical cyclone intensity (Thomas et al., 2010; DeMaria et al., 2012). The lightning plotted in the TRMM image was observed during a 20 minute period centered on the time of the TRMM overflight. The flash rate was about 1.5 flashes per minute during this period, and the flash rate held fairly steady during a full six hours centered on the time of the TRMM overflight.
TRMM data is provided by NASA and JAXA. WWLLN data courtesy of Dr. Robert Holzworth (http://wwlln.org). Next year, NASA and JAXA will launch the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite which will have advanced capabilities beyond those of TRMM (http://pmm.nasa.gov).
Unlabeled image
References:
Knaff et al., 2003: Annual hurricanes, Weather and Forecasting.
Thomas et al., 2010: Polarity and energetics of inner core lightning in three intense North Atlantic hurricanes, J. Geophysical Research.
DeMaria et al., 2012: Tropical cyclone lightning and rapid intensity change, Monthly Weather Review. |
Football: Refreshed Bobcats Dominate Buffalo At Home 37-14
It was total domination. It was the best and most complete game for Ohio this year.
And it was just the game Ohio needed.
The Ohio Bobcats welcomed the Buffalo Bulls in for some Wednesday night #MACtion, and sent them back to New York with a 37-14 loss inside Peden Stadium.
Ohio (5-5, 3-3 Mid-American Conference) dominated in every facet of the game, as they outgained the Bulls 389-134, forced four turnovers, and won the time of possession, holding the ball for over 36 minutes of the game.
“I thought our team played with a great deal of energy, the [time off] helped them,” said Ohio coach Frank Solich after the game. “[The players] were excited about playing tonight and I think it showed. We got off to a pretty good start, which we haven’t always done.”
The ‘Cats were helped immensely by the bye week, as several players such as running back A.J. Ouellette and defensive back Devin Jones were able to rest some injuries and get healthy enough to contribute.
Ouellette—who has been battling an ankle injury—was a difference maker in the game, carrying the ball 29 times for a career-best 155 yards and two touchdowns, both coming in the first half.
“[Tonight] shows an awful lot of his heart, his character, and his toughness,” Solich said of Ouellette. “He is not 100 percent, and I thought he had an excellent game for having limited practice this week.”
This game was also Ohio’s first real glimpse at the starting backfield, as quarterback Derrius Vick made his first start since suffering a knee injury in just the fourth game of the season versus Idaho, the first game in which Ouellette started at running back.
Vick was a little rusty overall, throwing for 118 yards on just 7-18 passing—the best of which was a long 47-yard completion to wide receiver Chase Cochran down the left sideline during Ohio’s first series of the game. Vick also added 44 rushing yards and one touchdown on 12 carries.
“I hadn’t played in a while, especially at home, so I wanted to get the victory,” Vick said after the game. “Starting off great helped get me in the groove, but in the second half I slumped a little bit on some easy throws, but luckily A.J. was toting the rock and eating the clock.”
The best taste tonight was in the second quarter, when Vick and Ouellette busted back-to-back 20-yard rushes, which pushed Ohio deep into Buffalo territory to set up Ouellette’s second touchdown of the game.
On the defensive side of the football, it was easily the best game they have contributed thus far.
Ohio’s defense held Buffalo to a mere 28 rushing yards, the fourth time the ‘Cats have held the opponent to under 100-yards rushing in a game this season, as well as the second time they have held the opponents to under 50-yards rushing.
And Buffalo (3-6, 1-4 MAC) didn't break the 100-yard mark until there were seven minutes remaining in the game.
“We wanted to make them one dimensional and stop the run,” said defensive back Ian Wells. “That’s coach Burrow’s philosophy every game, to stop the run and make them pass and we’ll win games. That’s what we did and when they had to pass, we made plays.”
Wells himself contributed several big plays for Ohio, recording four tackles, one sack, and two pass breakups. Solich described his play tonight as “special.”
Linebacker Quentin Poling also continued to show his worth tonight leading Ohio with 9 total tackles and recording his team-leading fifth sack of the season.
Most importantly, the win keeps Ohio’s postseason hopes alive, as Ohio is now just one win away from becoming bowl-eligible for the sixth-straight season.
“We’ll have the chance to take some more time off, which I think will be a benefit to our team,” Solich said. “Coming off that nine-game stretch, we needed the break that we got this past week and I thought that’s why we had so much energy on the field.” |
FBI, ATF Battle for Control Of Cases
Cooperation Lags Despite Merger
By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 10, 2008
In the five years since the FBI and ATF were merged under the Justice Department to coordinate the fight against terrorism, the rival law enforcement agencies have fought each other for control, wasting time and money and causing duplication of effort, according to law enforcement sources and internal documents.
Their new boss, the attorney general, ordered them to merge their national bomb databases, but the FBI has refused. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has long trained bomb-sniffing dogs; the FBI started a competing program.
At crime scenes, FBI and ATF agents have threatened to arrest one another and battled over jurisdiction and key evidence. The ATF inadvertently bought counterfeit cigarettes from the FBI -- the government selling to the government -- because the agencies are running parallel investigations of tobacco smuggling between Virginia and other states.
The squabbling poses dangers, many in law enforcement say, in an era in which cooperation is needed more than ever to prevent another terrorist attack on U.S. soil. Michael A. Mason, a former head of the FBI's Washington field office who retired in December from a senior post at FBI headquarters, said outside intervention might be needed.
"A lot of these things require a little adult supervision from the Justice Department or Congress, which will resolve a lot of the food fights these two agencies find themselves in," he said. Mason said that although both agencies "have in their hearts the safety and security of this country," he worries about a potential attack "where the ball got dropped, and it's not going to matter whose fault it was because information wasn't passed or shared."
The ATF's transfer from the Treasury Department to the FBI's home at Justice after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was supposed to eliminate long-standing tensions between two proud and independent entities,
"We thought we'd get more cooperation from two agencies that ought to be cooperating in the war on terror," Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said of the 2002 law that created the Department of Homeland Security and authorized the merger.
But the transfer, thrown together in the final stages of the largest government reorganization in a half-century, proved to be a merger in name only. The ATF came under the Justice Department seal yet maintained its offices and headquarters. Little thought went into melding the distinctive cultures.
"It was all slapdash," said a Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not an authorized spokesman. "One day you wake up, and ATF is part of Justice."
The new law not only failed to repair clashing jurisdictional lines, it also expanded the ATF's role in domestic terrorism cases, bringing that agency into conflict with the core mission of the post-Sept. 11 FBI.
Officials from both agencies acknowledged occasional tensions and said they are working hard to protect Americans and ensure smooth relations. They provided numerous examples of cooperation, including the response to bombings in Iraq, the recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina and the investigation of the Virginia Tech massacre led by state and university police.
But law enforcement sources describe an unyielding struggle for control of explosives, arson and tobacco investigations that has played out in recent months at the government's highest levels. A dispute over the ATF's role in explosives cases, sources said, has helped delay a White House-ordered national strategy to protect the nation from terrorist bombs.
"Everything that we're doing, they're doing," said an ATF agent not authorized to comment. "It's just a constant battle."
More than 30 ATF agents arrived at the smoldering Pentagon the day after Sept. 11, 2001, to help with the largest criminal investigation in the nation's history. The FBI commander threw them off the site.
Although Arlington County had authority over the scene for the first 10 days after the attacks, the two federal agencies fought over who would take the eventual lead in the investigation, recalled Arlington Fire Chief James H. Schwartz, the incident commander.
The ATF backed down, but before assuming control, the FBI again excluded some ATF agents from the site. Several frustrated ATF agents cut a fence to get closer and were ejected by U.S. marshals, Schwartz said.
"The American people are not being best served by this sour relationship and by the lack of efficiency," Schwartz said. "I think there's a huge risk there, especially when you look at it through the lens of terrorism."
ATF spokesman Robert Browning said ATF commanders told him the fence incident did not happen.
The clash at the Pentagon laid bare problems between the two agencies that had been brewing for years.
The ATF, which now has about 2,500 agents, was historically part of the Treasury Department -- it became an independent agency within Treasury in 1972 -- because it collected tobacco and liquor taxes. It has gradually acquired jurisdiction over firearms, explosives and other related crimes.
The FBI, which has more than 12,000 agents, has prided itself on fighting violent crime since the 1930s.
The competition between the FBI and ATF bred mutual suspicion. ATF agents, many of whom are former police or military officers, have long resented their FBI colleagues, who until the mid-1990s were usually higher paid.
"We fashion ourselves as federal street cops, and we don't try to make things larger than they are," said one ATF agent. "Their job is to see a bigger picture, a global connection."
As Congress debated the Homeland Security Act of 2002, an FBI memo surfaced that hinted at problems to come. It derided ATF agents as poorly trained and lacking "strategic vision." Although it was discounted by FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III, many in the ATF were outraged.
The new law turned the rivals into Justice Department siblings but might have deepened their estrangement.
It is unclear who conceived the transfer, but then-ATF Director Bradley A. Buckles recalled that the Justice Department "seemed like a natural home for us" because the ATF had become primarily a law enforcement agency.
Grassley saw a way to heighten collaboration against terrorism. "I was well aware of the conflict between ATF and FBI, but I thought it would all be put to the side once they got under the same department," he said.
The Bush administration's first proposal left the ATF in the Treasury Department. What ensued was "a mad scramble," Buckles said. "We were just a loose piece that they hadn't figured out what to do with."
With little fanfare, the final bill transferred the ATF's law enforcement functions to Justice while leaving tax-collecting employees at Treasury. But the agents who became part of the Justice Department on Jan. 24, 2003, didn't really move at all. Their supervisors stayed the same, as did their work.
A few things did change. Congress added the word "explosives" to the name of the ATF, which had been the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
And the law spelled out that in addition to violent crime, the ATF could investigate acts of "domestic terrorism."
Less than two months later, in March 2003, a North Carolina farmer drove his tractor into a pond on the Mall, keeping police at bay for 47 hours as he threatened to set off bombs. The FBI and ATF both asserted jurisdiction, even though the U.S. Park Police was the lead agency, sources said.
It was becoming clear that the lack of planning would have consequences. Who would control explosives cases? How involved would the ATF be in fighting terrorism? When is a bombing considered terrorism?
Within days of the tractor episode, the ATF fired a shot in a long series of battles at Justice Department headquarters, documents show. Emboldened by its new name, the ATF sought to become the department's primary responder to all of the nation's estimated 3,500 annual explosives incidents and to coordinate the on-scene investigation even for domestic terrorism.
The FBI, which had always taken the lead on terrorism, fought back. Other disputes flared: Who would train bomb-sniffing dogs and bomb squads, and what would be done about competing ATF-FBI "bomb data centers" -- vast databases used in explosives investigations?
An August 2004 memo from then-Attorney General John D. Ashcroft decreed that the bomb data centers and most explosives training would be consolidated under the ATF and that the agency would train all Justice Department bomb-sniffing dogs.
On the core issue of explosives, Ashcroft said that if a bombing was terrorist-related, the FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force for that area would control the investigation. If it was not, the ATF would take charge, unless the case involved areas such as civil rights that are traditional FBI turf.
The memo left it up to the task forces to determine terrorist links. In practice, it has meant that both agencies descend on the same crime scenes, often at the same time.
FBI agents arrived first in December 2004 after fires devastated a Charles County subdivision, built near an ecologically sensitive bog, in Maryland's biggest residential arson case in memory. The FBI pushed to declare it eco-terrorism, sources said.
ATF agents thought the FBI, seeking to take the lead in the case, was reaching a hasty conclusion before fully examining the evidence. There were shouting matches at the scene, slowing the investigation, sources said. "There were definitely some issues," said Maryland Deputy State Fire Marshal Joseph Zurolo.
Five men were ultimately convicted of setting the fires, and eco-terrorism was ruled out. The arson disputes have persisted. Sources said arguments in similar fires have flared more than a dozen times across the country in recent years.
Sometimes, the integrity of key evidence is put at risk. When letters containing flammable match devices were mailed to state governors in late 2004, the ATF-FBI battle over lead agency status grew so contentious that it reached the deputy attorney general's office in Washington. Because the ATF could not prove that the act was not terrorism, sources said, officials sided with the FBI.
The ATF then had to move evidence from its lab to the FBI lab -- in the middle of the analysis. FBI officials said they thought their lab was better positioned to glean hair and fiber evidence. The case has never been solved.
Justice Department intervention was also needed after an explosion at a Texas apartment complex in July 2006 killed a 21-year-old man. ATF and FBI agents responded.
Terrorism was again the flash point. FBI agents asserted jurisdiction in part because the device was a peroxide-based explosive, a popular weapon for terrorists worldwide. ATF agents believed there was no terrorist link. The U.S. attorney's office in Houston backed the FBI.
According to an internal ATF incident report, the FBI refused to allow the ATF to continue assisting in the probe. FBI agents then threatened to arrest their ATF counterparts if they remained at the scene, sources said. The roommate of the dead man pleaded guilty to a federal explosives charge and will be sentenced next month.
The federal fighting frustrates local police and firefighters, who are usually the first responders. They describe tense crime scenes in which FBI and ATF agents stand on opposite sides of the street.
"If you're working with one agency, you have to walk on eggshells if you mention the other," said Jeff Kirk, former commander of the Kokomo, Ind., police bomb squad, who has written to Congress about the issue. "Frankly, after all these years, I'm really tired of this alphabet soup fight."
As agents battled in Texas, clashes escalated in Washington. The FBI was resisting Ashcroft's directive to consolidate the bomb databases and most explosives training under the ATF. Ashcroft, who left the Justice Department in 2005, declined to comment. Deputy Attorney General Mark R. Filip would not address the Ashcroft memo but said in a statement that the FBI and ATF "have worked together to build a unified law enforcement response to threats presented by criminals and would-be terrorists. . . . We at the Department expect that."
The FBI responded to Ashcroft's order by saying, "Are you kidding?" a former high-level Justice Department official said. "They couldn't digest it, couldn't accept the notion that their terrorism responsibilities would still be fulfilled and yet they wouldn't have responsibility or control over these certain things. . . . These are very hot and deep-seated conflicts."
FBI officials have not transferred to the ATF the bomb data center they have operated since 1972, saying it analyzes key terrorism intelligence. "Such a shift . . . would seriously impede the FBI's counterterrorism efforts," the bureau argued in a position paper circulated at the Justice Department's highest levels in early 2007.
The paper criticized the ATF for "marketing efforts" promoting the ATF's role in fighting international terrorism.
The Justice Department's inspector general has called the databases duplicative -- the ATF's dates to 1975 -- but local police often feel compelled to check both when investigating bombings. "It's killing time, manpower and resources," said one large-city bomb squad commander. "It's dysfunctional."
The agencies still run separate training academies and classes that are widely considered duplicative, even though two congressional committees also urged in 2004 that training be consolidated under the ATF.
"The FBI is doing the exact same classes that we are," one ATF agent said. "It's chest pounding -- we're better than they are, and they're better than we are."
Officials said they are trying to iron out the bomb data center issue and offer more training together.
Then there was the dogfight. When the Ashcroft memo came out in 2004, the ATF had been training bomb-sniffing dogs for more than a decade. The FBI didn't have a program.
In 2005, the FBI began training dogs to sniff out peroxide-based explosives. An FBI "white paper" sent to the deputy attorney general's office in early 2007 described how the program is superior to the ATF's peroxide training.
ATF officials, some of whom learned of the FBI initiative from the media, were so upset that they issued an order banning ATF-trained dogs from participating in the FBI program, according to the FBI document and law enforcement sources.
In a joint interview recently at FBI headquarters, top ATF and FBI officials vowed to work together, even if some in their ranks are determined to resist.
"We are two very proud agencies that have done tremendous work to protect the American public, and we do that with vim and vigor every day," said William J. Hoover, the ATF's assistant director for field operations. "Anytime you have individuals who are that passionate about their job, if they feel they are somehow being encroached upon, rightly or wrongly, they are going to bring issues like this to the forefront."
"But we work cases together every day," Hoover added. "I really believe there's a lot more good going on."
J. Stephen Tidwell, an FBI executive assistant director, said conflicts can occur "when that pride in agency comes through, and all that is sometimes going to cause some friction. . . . But I would characterize the relationship right now as as good as it's ever been."
Joseph Persichini Jr., head of the FBI's Washington field office, said he works smoothly with his ATF counterparts. "There's no room for error," he said.
Even as the current leaders try to work in tandem, they are finding it hard to overcome their history.
A fierce dispute among the FBI, the ATF and the Department of Homeland Security has helped delay for nearly a year the national strategy to protect the United States from improvised explosive devices, or IEDs -- a top Bush administration priority. The president directed that the plan be ready by last July. It is unclear when it will be finished.
Sources said the ongoing negotiations over the ATF's role in the plan have become the latest framework for the broader FBI-ATF battle over control of explosives cases, along with conflicts within the ATF over how hard to fight the FBI.
"We are working through each and every [IED] issue that has been bogged down," Hoover said.
Tensions spilled out publicly when the Center for Strategic and International Studies held an IED conference in Washington in October. David Heyman, director of the center's homeland security program, said FBI and ATF agents clashed over who would be on the panel and exchanged sharp words during the conference.
"It was such bad blood that if either agency was going to be there, the other wasn't going to be," said Heyman, who threatened to cancel the conference.
There are still issues at even routine crime scenes. When a Liberty University student was arrested near Lynchburg, Va., last May with a homemade explosive device in his car the day before the Rev. Jerry Falwell's funeral, the ATF interviewed witnesses for two days before the FBI tried to take over, citing domestic terrorism, sources said. Supervisors worked it out, and the ATF kept the case.
Terry Gaddy, the local sheriff, said he was aware of the tension but tried to stay out of it. "It's not my fight; it's theirs," he said.
The lack of information-sharing can have potentially deadly consequences. In Chicago, an undercover ATF agent bought a loaded gun from an FBI informant and was arrested, according to a 2007 Justice Department inspector general's report.
The report quoted an FBI supervisor as saying he was "truly concerned" that FBI and ATF violent crime task forces are "seriously going to be duplicating" gang investigations. It said a top Justice official asked the two agencies to coordinate task forces, but they disagreed over who would lead them.
And a newer battle is emerging: tobacco smuggling. It is integral to the ATF's mission, but the FBI is interested because terrorists have used tobacco profits. Several times in recent months, sources said, the FBI put counterfeit cigarettes on the market and found an unknowing buyer: the ATF.
Some question whether the ATF can survive. "It just doesn't make sense to have two agencies . . . responding anytime a bomb goes off," one Justice Department official said.
Grassley said Congress might have to step in.
"Anybody who wants to be attorney general in fact as well as in name ought to end this yesterday," he said.
Staff writer Sari Horwitz contributed to this report.
© 2008 The Washington Post Company |
Hullabaloo
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Million Masturbator March
by digby
I know there's a lot of controversy about Stewart and Colbert's dueling marches on October 30th and the more serious One American march on October 2nd, but I think this is the one that isn't just another finger wagging cry for attention, that will truly make people stand up and take notice:
Carrying signs reading, “O’Donnell: Hands Off Our Masturbation,” the angry masturbators clogged downtown Wilmington, stopping traffic for blocks.
Harley Farger, a leading Delaware masturbator and planner of the Million Masturbators March, said it was difficult to organize masturbators “because they’re used to acting alone.”
Mr. Farger, the executive director of the pro-monkey-spanking group MasturNation, said that the “wank and file” of his organization believe that masturbation is an inalienable right guaranteed by the Constitution.
“Our country was founded by rugged individualists,” he said. “And you know what individualists like to do.”
He said that Ms. O’Donnell’s anti-whacking position was “ill-timed,” adding, “In this economy, masturbation is one of the few simple pleasures people still can afford.”
Be sure to click the link (if you know what I mean) and check out Howie's awesome "choke the monkey" video of the song "Firing the Surgeon General."
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digby 9/19/2010 06:30:00 PM |
HEX Update – Armies Release Celebration
Hi HEXers! We have many updates today, mostly centered around events leading up to and after the release of Armies of Myth.
Celebrate Good Times
With Armies of Myth launching on July 14th, that means the Release Celebration is coming and we’re making it even better! Let’s start with what’s the same– there are two alternate art prize cards. This set’s promo cards are Brightmoon Brave and Duplicitous Duke.
The Brave is an early worker, helping you win the beatdown battle by giving the next troop you draw some extra size. With Duplicitious Duke, you could play him as a 2/2 that makes an attacking copy of himself that dies at end of turn. With Shift, you get to move that power onto any of your troops! Choose your best beater and attack with that troop, then double up with the copy! Have two Walking Calamities attacking and take your opponent from 20 to zero in a split second. The Brave will be a participation prize for the tournaments listed below.
To win the Duplicitous Duke AA, you can meet one of the following criteria:
Gauntlet: Get 5 Wins in a single Sealed Gauntlet Run (you must finish a Gauntlet run during the event). 8-person Queue: Top 1 is awarded Duplicitous Duke AA (Single-Elim Competitive Draft, and Swiss Draft) Daily Sealed Tournaments: 4-0 and 3-1 will win the Duplicitous Duke AA
The Release Celebration event starts 10 AM Pacific on Friday, July 17th and ends at 10 AM Pacific on Monday, July 20th.
Pre-Game
We’re also spending the week before the big set release celebrating the coming Armies of Myth. That’s right—the party starts early with Arena dropping 50% more gold! Plus, you’ll find HEX dev team members in the Proving Grounds queue at random times each day. We’ll announce on Twitter when the dev team enters queues, so make sure to follow the @HEXTCG account. This event runs from 10 AM Pacific on Tuesday, July 7th until the server closes for the Armies of Myth patch.
Frenemies
We have many community-organized tournaments from the Rock League to the Blood Cup. Players have been asking that we provide a way for them to easily match up and participate in these tournaments, and we’re ready to launch that feature. In the upcoming patch, you’ll be able to add players to your friends list and challenge them to a best-of-three Constructed match. Thank you to everyone who’s building our community by organizing tournaments, and we hope this feature helps you bring everyone together!
Think of the Children!
Last year, you raised over $13,000 for charity. This year, our community is making their charity stream even bigger! The community-run Extra Life charity stream on the HEX Twitch channel will be four days of interviews, games, giveaways, and more!
To mark the event, players who log in to HEX during the stream will receive 4x alternate art Mettle (this card will be distributed after Armies of Myth launches). Only accounts that exist as of 10 AM Pacific today, July 3rd will receive this card in order prevent unscrupulous players–certainly not you, the individual reader, of course; you would never do something like this– from gaming the system to receive more than their playset of Mettles. The stream runs from Midnight UTC on Thursday, July 9th (5 PM Pacific on Wed, July 8th) to Monday, July 13th at 1 AM UTC (6 PM Pacific on Sun, July 12th).
Players who watch the stream on Twitch can win prizes every hour ranging from draft tickets to one lucky viewer getting the chance to have his or her own vanity card in HEX!
You can find all the information about the stream here on the HEX forums.
Collector’s Alternate Art
For you Collector level backers, this is the moment you’ve been waiting for. Which exclusive alternate art cards will you receive?
Well, you probably already saw them before you even started reading this section. There’s no real suspense since the card images are huge and you probably scrolled down enough to reveal them, but still. Exciting times! With Armies of Myth, you’ll receive Periwinkle and Vampire Princess on patch day! These cards feature a different side of the two characters. Periwinkle is powered up and Vampire Princess, well, let’s just say that kiss must’ve been killer.
That’s all for this week. Please leave any questions or comments in the forums, and don’t forget to Follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Twitch, and register on our forums.
Discuss this article in our forums! |
Early life Edit
Barnum was born in Bethel, Connecticut, the son of innkeeper, tailor, and store-keeper Philo Barnum (1778–1826) and his second wife Irene Taylor. His maternal grandfather Phineas Taylor was a Whig, legislator, landowner, justice of the peace, and lottery schemer who had a great influence on him. Barnum had several businesses over the years, including a general store, a book auctioning trade, real estate speculation, and a statewide lottery network. He started a weekly newspaper in 1829 called The Herald of Freedom in Danbury, Connecticut. His editorials against the elders of local churches led to libel suits and a prosecution which resulted in imprisonment for two months, but he became a champion of the liberal movement upon his release.[citation needed] He sold his store in 1834 and moved to New York City because lotteries were banned in Connecticut, cutting off his main income.[citation needed] He began his career as a showman in 1835 when he was 25 with the purchase and exhibition of a blind and almost completely paralyzed slave woman named Joice Heth, whom an acquaintance was trumpeting around Philadelphia as George Washington's former nurse and 161 years old. Slavery was already outlawed in New York, but he exploited a loophole which allowed him to lease her for a year for $1,000, borrowing $500 to complete the sale. Heth died in February 1836, at no more than 80 years old. Barnum had worked her for 10 to 12 hours a day, and he hosted a live autopsy of her body in a New York Saloon where spectators paid 50 cents to see the dead woman cut up, as he revealed that she was likely half her purported age.[8][9]
The Greatest Showman Edit
Circus king Edit
Winter Quarters of the Great Barnum-London Show before 1886 Share of the Barnum and Bailey Ltd, issued 24. January 1902 Barnum did not enter the circus business until he was 60 years old. In Delavan, Wisconsin, in 1870 with William Cameron Coup, he established "P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome", a traveling circus, menagerie, and museum of "freaks". It went through various names: "P.T. Barnum's Travelling World's Fair, Great Roman Hippodrome and Greatest Show On Earth", and after an 1881 merger with James Bailey and James L. Hutchinson, "P.T. Barnum's Greatest Show On Earth, And The Great London Circus, Sanger's Royal British Menagerie and The Grand International Allied Shows United", soon shortened to "Barnum & Bailey's". This entertainment phenomenon was the first circus to display three rings,[25] which made it the largest circus the world had ever seen.[citation needed] The show's first primary attraction was Jumbo, an African elephant he purchased in 1882 from the London Zoo. The Barnum and Bailey Circus still contained acts similar to his Traveling Menagerie: acrobats, freak shows, and the world-famous General Tom Thumb. Despite more fires, train disasters, and other setbacks, Barnum plowed ahead, aided by circus professionals who ran the daily operations. He and Bailey split up again in 1885, but came back together in 1888 with the "Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show On Earth", later "Barnum & Bailey Circus", which toured the world. Barnum became known as the Shakespeare of Advertising, due to his innovative and impressive ideas.[26] He knew how to draw patrons in, by giving them a glimpse of something that had never been seen before. He was, at times, accused of being deceptive and promoting false advertising.[citation needed] Barnum was one of the very first circus owners to move his circus by train (and probably the very first to buy his own train). His friend, William C. Coup, helped him get railroad cars to make tour traveling easier. Given the lack of paved highways in America, this turned out to be a shrewd business move that vastly extended Barnum's geographical reach. In this new field, Barnum leaned more on the advice of Coup, Bailey, and other business partners, most of whom were young enough to be his sons.
Author and debunker Edit
Minstrel Shows Edit
Role in politics Edit
Profitable philanthropy Edit
Barnum enjoyed what he publicly dubbed "profitable philanthropy". In Barnum's own words: "I have no desire to be considered much of a philanthropist...if by improving and beautifying our city Bridgeport, Connecticut, and adding to the pleasure and prosperity of my neighbors, I can do so at a profit, the incentive to 'good works' will be twice as strong as if it were otherwise."[42] In line with this philosophy was Barnum's pursuit of major American museums and spectacles. Less known are Barnum's significant contributions to Tufts University. Barnum was appointed to the Board of Trustees prior to the University's founding and made several significant contributions to the fledgling institution. The most noteworthy example of this was his gift in 1883 of $50,000 (equivalent to $1,344,464 in 2018), to establish a museum and hall for the Department of Natural History, which later housed the department of biology.[43] Because of the relationship between Barnum and Tufts, Jumbo the elephant became the school's mascot, and Tufts students are known as "Jumbos".[44]
Personal life and death Edit
On November 8, 1829, Barnum married Charity Hallett.[45] The couple had four children: Caroline Cornelia (1833–1911), Helen Maria (1840–1920), Frances Irena (1842–1844), and Pauline Taylor (1846–1917).[46] His wife died on November 19, 1873.[46] Barnum married Nancy Fish the following year, 1874.[47] Barnum died from a stroke at home in 1891.[36] He is buried in Mountain Grove Cemetery, Bridgeport, Connecticut, a cemetery he designed.[7]
Legacy Edit
In popular culture Edit
Publications Edit
The Life of P.T. Barnum: Written By Himself . Originally published New York: Redfield, 1855. Reprinted., Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2000. ISBN 0-252-06902-1.
. Originally published New York: Redfield, 1855. Reprinted., Champaign: University of Illinois Press, 2000. ISBN 0-252-06902-1. Struggles and Triumphs, or Forty Years' Recollections of P.T. Barnum . Originally published 1869. Reprinted., Whitefish, MT: Kessinger, 2003. ISBN 0-7661-5556-0 (Part 1) and ISBN 0-7661-5557-9 (Part 2). 1882 edition on the Internet Archive
. Originally published 1869. Reprinted., Whitefish, MT: Kessinger, 2003. ISBN 0-7661-5556-0 (Part 1) and ISBN 0-7661-5557-9 (Part 2). 1882 edition on the Internet Archive Art of Money Getting, or, Golden Rules for Making Money . Originally published 1880. Reprinted., Bedford, MA: Applewood, 1999. ISBN 1-55709-494-2.
. Originally published 1880. Reprinted., Bedford, MA: Applewood, 1999. ISBN 1-55709-494-2. The Wild Beasts, Birds, and Reptiles of the World: The Story of their Capture . Pub. 1888, R. S. Peale & Company, Chicago.
. Pub. 1888, R. S. Peale & Company, Chicago. Why I Am A Universalist. Originally published 1890 Reprint Kessinger Pub Co. ISBN 1-4286-2657-3
See also Edit
References Edit |
Army, SOCOM Create New Landpower Group
Welcome to Wednesday’s edition of FP’s Situation Report, where free speech is always a good thing. Follow me @glubold or hit me anytime at gordon.lubold@foreignpolicy.com.
The Army and Special Operations Command are starting a new strategic land-power cell. The brand-new initiative, known only to a small group of planners thus far, is the brainchild of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ray Odierno and will take shape over the next few months. The group, which will also include the Marines, is designed to fuse the military’s land cultures, from the conventional land power of "Big Army" to the people-oriented skills of Special Forces to technology and cyber efforts. Ultimately, the planning cell could include general officers from each of the major land components, Situation Report is told.
By creating a group focused on integrating those pieces, military strategists believe they can make more effective use of land power — especially at a time when ground forces, after more than 10 years of war, are perceived to have fallen out of fashion in the hallways of the Pentagon. Ultimately, the effort could have implications for military doctrine, for the integration of conventional and specialized forces, and even for acquisition, according to an individual familiar with the nascent group.
The group’s formation is bound to be controversial for the perception it will create at a time of a major budget crunch and the move to Asia – in effect, that the land forces are looking to lobby for more resources and influence But the individual familiar with the group pushes back on the notion that this is anything more than the ground forces taking a strategic approach to working better together.
"The Strategic Landpower initiative is intended to harness the lessons learned over the past decade of population-centric warfare, retain what worked, and then determine what that means for land forces going forward," the person told Situation Report. "Understanding the relationship between people, technology and the environment will improve our efforts to shape the environment in positive ways that prevent war, just as it should allow us to make lasting process in future conflicts if we have to fight."
If it sounds like ground guys will be camping out and singing Kumbaya, remember that for the last decade, particularly in the early years of Iraq and Afghanistan, the ground components’ individual elements have worked largely in ad hoc fashion, without understanding each other’s culture or even knowing when the other was operating on the battlefield. This has led to frequent clashes. For example, Special Operations Forces have shown up to operate within a conventional unit’s "battle space" without informing them first, and conventional units have tracked targets unaware that another ground unit was gathering intelligence from the same target and saw it as a smaller piece in a much bigger battlefield puzzle.
"It was like, ‘Hi, nice to meet you,’" the individual familiar with the group said.
That person was quick to insist that the cell is not an Army effort to counter Air Sea Battle — the Air Force- and Navy-focused plan created under the auspices of 91-year old Pentagon futurist Andy Marshall in response to a rising China. Army and Marine officers charge that Air Sea Battle is costly and expensive and have poked holes in some of its assumptions. Although Air Sea Battle relies heavily on air and naval power, the Army has a role in it and doesn’t begrudge the plan, we’re told.
Odierno is expected to announce the formation of the group formally by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, did the surge work? There were four components that needed to work if the surge in Afghanistan, now over, was to work, writes Rajiv Chandrasekaran on FP: Karzai had to be a willing partner, the Pakistani government had to crack down on insurgent sanctuaries, the Afghan security forces had to step up, and the U.S. had to commit to Afghanistan’s future, in the form of troops and money, for years ahead. Rajiv looks at each of those pillars. He doesn’t draw his own conclusion, but points to Kael Weston, who appears in Rajiv’s recent book and argues that Obama should have pledged to a ground force, whatever it was, for a decade; that it was more the length of commitment than its size. Afghanistan, Weston often told Rajiv, is more of a marathon than a sprint. Rajiv: "The surge was a sprint. And America got winded too quickly." http://bit.ly/Q7zZHL
Ahmadinejad’s position on a number of things, in advance of his U.N. speech this morning. The Iran Primer primes the pump. http://bit.ly/PDSghy
Direct from the Crazy Poll Results Department: Americans accept torture creep. A new poll via YouGov shows that a quarter of all Americans are willing to use nukes to kill terrorists. Amy Zegart on FP: "[T]he poll numbers suggest that Americans have become more hawkish on counterterrorism policy since Barack Obama became president." Here’s another surprising result:
In October 2007, a Rasmussen poll showed that 27 percent of Americans surveyed thought the U.S. should torture prisoners captured in the fight against terrorism, while 53 percent said it should not. But in this new YouGov poll, 41 percent said they would accept torture, while only 34 percent said the U.S. should not. And support for assassinating terrorists has grown from 65 percent in a 2005 poll to 69 percent today. More results and analysis here: http://bit.ly/SQiHPK
Former Pentagon officials turn Obama attack dogs. Three former officials from Obama’s Pentagon, including Michele Flournoy, Colin Kahl and Doug Wilson, are all working for the Obama campaign now and, as E-Ring’s Kevin Baron terms it, "each walked their own line between policy and partisanship" at a Washington breakfast yesterday. The normally reserved Flournoy poked holes in Mitt Romney’s national security rhetoric, even highlighting some of his "bloopers" on Syria and his "distasteful" response to the unrest in the Middle East. http://bit.ly/OX1zJd
Speechifying
Think Progress: CNN contributor thinks Obama’s speech was anti-Christian. http://bit.ly/S3Lb8x
NY Daily News: Missing the point of Obama’s speech. http://nydn.us/QDkjfX
AP Interview with Ahmadinejad. http://bit.ly/OpGx9r
LAT: Romney, Obama at Clinton Initiative. http://lat.ms/Rglq7Q
No Rest for Unrest
The Cable: Senators want to see Stevens’ cables from Libya. http://bit.ly/JyqV
New NYT: Blast rocks military HQ in Damascus. http://nyti.ms/Sl01a8
Ahram Online: Yemeni leader ready for talks with a disarmed al-Qaida. http://bit.ly/Sl49H3
LAT: Romney says Obama is hiding the facts on Libya. http://lat.ms/RhoiS7
BFFs
AP: Pakistani Taliban offering amnesty to cabinet minister offering reward for killing of filmmaker. http://bit.ly/Q9UiEK
WSJ: Obama administration walks careful path on drone strikes in Pakistan. http://on.wsj.com/UFOFnC
Pak Tribune: PM Ashraf says Pakistan attaches great importance to its relationship with China.
http://bit.ly/SlzKgn
Dawn: Roadside bomb kills Pakistani soldier, injures 15. http://bit.ly/TAbI42
The Pivot |
When the president sat down for an interview with The New York Times, he all but begged his own attorney general to resign. Instead, his legal team’s own spokesman called it quits.
Mark Corallo, who had spent months defending President Donald Trump as spokesperson for his personal legal team—headed by longtime Trump attorney Marc Kasowitz—confirmed to The Daily Beast on Friday morning that he resigned. He didn’t provide any detail on his reasons.
But people who have known Corallo for years said the president’s New York Times interview, where he questioned Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ integrity, meant he had no choice but to leave.
“To people who know him, his choice to leave was unavoidable on a moral and professional level,” said a longtime friend of Corallo’s.
“Anyone with Mark’s professional capabilities would have seen The New York Times interview was a debilitating P.R. calamity,” the friend added. “To direct broadsides on Mueller and the A.G. is going to be impossible from which to recover, and Corallo certainly would have known that. It makes total sense that he got out of dodge. He’s always had tremendous political instincts.”
Another person who has known Corallo professionally for years said he couldn’t keep working on the president’s defense team after that interview.
“It’s the most unprofessional thing Trump has done to date, getting in Sessions’ ass and getting in Mueller’s ass,” the longtime colleague said. “You can’t do that. There’s no attorney in the world that’s going to want a client that’s doing that. First of all, it’s impetuous. But in addition to that, it makes the legal defense team, including Corallo, look really bad, because a lawyer would never advise their client to do that. And if you don’t make a stand on that, then tacitly, you agree with it.”
And Corallo clearly didn’t. From the moment Sessions was nominated attorney general, he was an unequivocal supporter of the Alabaman senator. And he wasn’t at all shy about ripping into the president’s potential adversaries.
And when Sessions recused himself from the Russia probe after news broke that he didn’t tell the Senate about meetings he had with the Russian ambassador, Corallo said it was “a non-story.”
“Since when is it improper for a sitting U.S. senator to have contact with a foreign diplomat?” Corallo told The Daily Beast at the time. “This is more evidence that the Democrats, and career bureaucrats in the intelligence community (pardon my redundancy) who oppose President Trump are desperate.”
Corallo, who was the spokesman for John Ashcroft when he was attorney general, defended Sessions through thick and thin.
Corallo’s resignation comes at a time when the attorney general is facing more fire than ever. The Washington Post reported Friday evening that intelligence intercepts show Sessions discussed campaign issues with the Russian ambassador, despite saying under oath that he never did so. The story will kick off another round of calls for his resignation from Democrats—and at a time when the president is wholly uninterested in defending him.
For some Republicans, Corallo’s resignation means Trump’s evolution into his own worst enemy is now complete. Ed Rogers, a well-wired Alabama Republican who’s chairman of the BGR Group lobbying firm, told The Daily Beast that when he read the president’s New York Times interview, his first fear was that it would result in good people leaving the administration—a concern he detailed in an item for The Washington Post. Corallo, he added, was a “seasoned professional,” and he said he wished he hadn’t resigned.
But, Rogers continued, only one person is responsible for this mess: Trump himself.
“Trump brings discord where it’s hard to do,” Rogers said. |
Election Spending 2012: Post-Election Analysis of Federal Election Commission Data
A new analysis of data through Election Day from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and other sources by U.S. PIRG and Demos shows how big outside spenders drowned out small contributions in 2012: just 61 large donors to Super PACs giving an average of $4.7 million each matched the $285.2 million in grassroots contributions from more than 1,425,500 small donors to the major party presidential candidates.
In addition, the analysis found that just 132 donors giving at least $1 million were responsible for 60.4% of all the money Super PACs raised in the 2012 cycle. $71.8 million of Super PAC money came from for-profit businesses.
This evidence shows that the first post-Citizens United election afforded corporations and large donors the opportunity to use their wealth to amplify their voices far beyond the volume of the average member of the general public - threatening the basic American principle of political equality - and they took full advantage.
Outside spending organizations reported $1.28 billion in spending to the FEC through the end of Election Day 2012.
Large Donor Dominance
Almost half of all reported outside spending comes from Super PACs, the independent expenditure-only committees created in the wake of Citizens United. Super PACs continue to receive the bulk of their funds from a small set of wealthy donors and corporations making very large contributions.
$396 million, or 60.4% of the $656 million raised by Super PACs, came from just 132 donors giving at least $1 million.
Fewer than 2,800 donors giving $10,000 or more were responsible for 98% of this fundraising.
Policy Recommendations:
The only way to stop the flow of unlimited money into our elections and the best way yo curb the influence of large donors is to overturn the “money equals speech” precedent in the 1976 Buckley v. Valeo decision, either by constitutional amendment or by Supreme Court revision.
Small Donors v. Large Contributors
The two major party presidential nominees have reported raising a combined total of $285.2 million from small donors giving less than $200 according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which came from at least 1,425,500 individuals. Just 61 donors (individuals and institutions) giving an average of $4.7 million each to Super PACs matched the total contributions of these small donors.
Because of their wealth and the Supreme Court’s equation of money with speech, those very large donors are able to amplify their voices to more than 23,000 times the volume of an average small donor.
Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, have given $52.2 million to Super PACs in the 2012 cycle, which, though a significant sum, is just 0.21% of their net worth. It would take more than 322,000 average American families donating an equivalent share of their wealth ($162) to match the Adelsons’ giving alone.
Policy recommendations:
Short of the aforementioned constitutional amendment to allow for the democratic establishment of reasonable contribution and spending limits, there is much to be done to encourage the increased participation of small donors to balance out the big money.
A system of tax credits for small contributions to federal candidates was in place through the mid-eighties and should be restored. Vouchers for small contributions would also significantly increase donor participation among non-wealthy Americans. Matching small contributions with public funds would help candidates focus their campaign time on constituents, rather than big donors.
Business Money to Super PACs
While it is likely that much of the business money coming into the elections was funneled through dark money sources such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which spent at least $36 million on races nationwide according to the Center for Responsive Politics, business corporations remain the second largest source of Super PAC money, accounting for $71.8 million, or 11% of all Super PAC funds.
Some of the largest and most active Super PACs receive a significant portion of their funding from businesses: pro-Romney Restore Our Future received 20% of its funds from for-profit corporations.
Polling released in late October revealed that 84 percent of Americans agree that corporate political spending drowns out the voices of average Americans, and 83 percent believe that corporations and corporate CEOs have too much political power and influence.
Policy Recommendations:
Corporations do not have the same rights as individual human beings and should not be allowed to spend money from their general treasuries in elections. Allowing a CEO or corporate board to direct funds aggregated from commercial enterprise to support or a candidate or cause fundamentally skews our democratic process and favors the profit imperative above all else. The only way to prevent this entirely is to overturn the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United, either by constitutional amendment or Court revision.
Until we reverse Citizens United, Congress should empower shareholders at corporations to have final say on whether the corporations they own may spend money in elections, thereby creating a minimum system of people-powered checks and balances on business money in politics.
Dark Money
Of the $1.28 billion in outside spending reported to the FEC, nearly one-quarter, or $298.9 million, was “dark money” that cannot be traced back to an original source.
Americans across the political spectrum have long held transparency in campaign funding to be crucial. When citizens can’t follow the money voters can’t judge the credibility of political communications and corporations and other special interests can fund misleading advertisements without facing accountability.
Policy Recommendations:
Congress and the states should enact laws that create transparency and allow Americans to trace every penny spent on elections back to an original source.
The Securities and Exchange Commission should issue a rule requiring publicly traded corporations to disclose their political spending to their shareholders, both direct spending and gifts to politically active trade associations such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, so that at the very least investors know when their money is being used to support causes they oppose.
Last month, new polling found that 76% of Americans support a requirement that companies publicly disclose their contributions to groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that funnel their money into politics.
Doubly-Secret Money
Because of gaps in reporting requirements, spending reported to the FEC is only part of the picture. Groups are not required to report to any public agency certain spending that is intended to influence an election but falls outside of certain time windows before that election.
However, there are a few races where complete spending information is available from private sources. These may give us a sense of the discrepancy between what was reported and what was actually spent by dark money groups. For example, when all types of outside spending on television ads related to the presidential race are taken into account, 37% of the spending has come from by “dark money” groups that do not disclose their donors.
Policy Recommendations:
To begin to understand the full scope of dark money in elections, Congress must expand the electioneering communications window, which presently only captures spending two months before generals and one month before primaries, to reflect the true length of modern elections.
Conclusion
It is clear that unlimited, corporate, and secret money continues to undermine the principle of ‘one person, one vote.’
Never before last Tuesday has big money had such a large profile in a national election, and the voters spoke clearly: we rejected the premise that elections are auctions and that democracy is for sale.
In the cities and states with direct referenda on money in politics, the electorate’s stance was clear: Coloradans rejected unlimited money in elections with 73% of the vote. Montana, which went overwhelmingly red in the presidential election, passed a resolution shooting down the dual notions that money is speech and corporations are people by a margin of 50 points (75%-25%), proving that this issue bridges partisan divides. Voters in towns all over Massachusetts and in Chicago and San Francisco also passed ballot initiatives pushing back on the avalanche of big, special interest money.
Polling over the last few months confirms the premise that Americans’ awareness of the problems associated with corporate and unlimited money in our politics has reached new heights: seven out 10 Americans believe that Super PACs should be illegal and nine out of 10 believe that corporations have too much power in our political process.
Furthermore, many of the winning campaigns facing massive Super PAC and dark money opposition made big money in politics an issue, which turned the tables and transformed big spending into a double-edged sword.
All this could not have been accomplished without heavy media attention on the issue of big money. Unfortunately, some in the media have now begun to embrace the notion that the big money didn’t matter, looking for the simplest story of a correlation between cash and victory, which fundamentally misses the point.
This narrative on campaign finance is misguided. Allowing the wealthy few to amplify their voices in the public square threatens the basic American value of political equality for several reasons:
First, a tiny number of wealthy individuals and interests continue to set the agenda in Washington and in state capitals across America. Second, down-ticket races are easier to buy than high-profile presidential and senate contests where there is plenty of media coverage and general awareness of candidates and their positions. Third, large donors and big spenders enjoy preferred access to and influence over winning candidates—giving them another, direct chance to shape the agenda in Washington and state capitals across America, and undermining citizens’ confidence in our democracy. Fourth, the threat of massive outside spending is ever-present, shaping candidate behavior and forcing them to spend time on a high-stakes arms race rather than engaging voters or actually governing (in the case of incumbents).
The narrative also puts America in a Catch-22: according to some, if money in politics is really a problem, then the candidates with the most financial backing will always win. But in that scenario, those who rode into office on a wave of money will never vote for reforming the system that elected them. On the other hand, if there is not an unquestionable correlation between victory and outside spending, then maybe we’ll have elected legislators willing to tackle reform, but some will argue there is no problem with unlimited money in the first place.
We see it differently: rather than seeing Tuesday’s results as an indicator that big money in politics is not a problem, our freshly elected legislators, in particular those who fought back against special interest outside spending should see the results as a mandate for reform.
We hope the figures and policy recommendations in this analysis can provide a roadmap for the changes needed to build a campaign finance system grounded in democratic principles.
This is the fourth release in the PIRG and Demos series of analyses on the role of money in the 2012 elections. Previous reports are available here, here, and here. Today’s release shows the overwhelming influence of a tiny number of wealthy donors. The organizations plan to release a comprehensive analysis of 2012 election fundraising and spending in January 2013. |
After dazzling audiences 75 years ago, 'The Wizard of Oz' returns for a one-week run in September in 3-D and on IMAX screens, part of a studio movement to remaster the classics.
Jack Haley, left, Judy Garland, Ray Bolger and Bert Lahr in a scene from the 1939 motion picture 'The Wizard of Oz.' (Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures) Story Highlights The classic will be remastered in 3-D
'Oz' to play on 400 IMAX screens
The latest release is in honor of the film's 75th anniversary
LOS ANGELES — There's no place like a restored home.
Nearly 75 years after its dazzling Technicolor debut, The Wizard of Oz will be converted to 3-D and IMAX for a one-week theatrical run in September, Warner Bros. and IMAX officials will announce Tuesday.
The restoration marks the film industry's highest-profile conversion yet of a 2-D classic. Already, studios have remastered films including Titanic, Jurassic Park and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
But Oz "is as iconic as they come," says Greg Foster, chairman and president of Imax Entertainment. "It was one of the first movies that truly came out at you with an explosion of color."
Studio execs hope to come at audiences with an enhanced look at the yellow brick road: namely, digitally enhanced sound and images to bring Dorothy and company into 3-D and IMAX's colossal format. Warner Bros. quietly remastered the film for months before bringing the reel to IMAX for a test run.
"The sound was exceptional, the sharpness was exceptional," says Foster. "But it's the color that stands out. What they could do is truly amazing, maybe what people felt when they first saw it."
The restoration is part of the studio's promotion for Oz's 75th anniversary edition, which will arrive Oct. 1. The five-disc set will include Blu-ray, Blu-ray 3-D, DVD and UltraViolet versions of the film, a new documentary on the making of the movie as well as bonus features.
MORE: The latest movie news from USA TODAY
GUIDE: USA TODAY's summer movie calendar
The theatrical stint will begin Sept. 20 and run for one week in IMAX's 400 theaters nationwide, including those in museums. The movie, which will not appear on standard screens, will get a limited international release, but details are not yet final.
Though it remains one of Hollywood's most revered and recognized films, "very few people have seen The Wizard of Oz in theaters," Foster says.
Indeed, after Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer introduced the film starring Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr in 1939,Oz earned strong reviews and six Oscar nominations (winning for original score and original song), but enjoyed only mild commercial success. It did a respectable $3 million (or about $50 million today) at the box office, but cost $2.8 million (or $46 million today). Re-releases drove its total ticket sales to $16.7 million.
Foster says modern moviegoers now can catch what many audiences missed when Oz was the IMAX of its day.
"That must have been an amazing experience to see it then, to be truly taken away to another world," he says. "That's what we'd like to do."
Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/10KPKgP |
CLOSE Chuck Pagano and Jim Irsay look ahead to the coming Colts season after a day of mini camp practice at Lucas Oil Stadium, Wednesday, June 8, 2016. (Robert Scheer/IndyStar)
Jim Irsay, Team Owner, talks to media during Colts open practice mini camp at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Wednesday, June 8, 2016. (Photo: Robert Scheer/IndyStar)
The Indianapolis Colts are nearing the end of their two-months-long offseason program, culminating with this week’s mandatory minicamp.
But during a glorious Wednesday evening practice at Lucas Oil Stadium, with the roof and northward-facing window open, owner Jim Irsay contemplated the most important move of the offseason, one that is yet to come:
The contract extension of quarterback Andrew Luck.
Things are moving along, Irsay said while acknowledging the deal will be both massive and complex in its structure.
It seems a willingness to compromise is in the air, one that just might enable the sides to get this deal done before training camp in late July.
“Luck came out yesterday and said he liked my sunglasses,” said Irsay, who was wearing a different pair of specs Wednesday night. “I said, ‘You want those, too?’ They were gold. These are regulars.”
Alas, it’s going to cost Irsay significantly more than a pair of fancy shades to keep his franchise quarterback, who is expected to earn an NFL-record contract. Doing that in a way that doesn’t hamstring the franchise is the trick. Thus the reason for the prolonged negotiations.
“It’s not easy. It’s obviously going to be a big number,” Irsay said. However, “we want to make sure the contract is something that’s Colt-friendly as we approach even the next decade.”
Accomplishing that will require cooperation from both parties.
“I think there’s been a really good element of compromise (from) both sides,” Irsay said. “Look, we went into it knowing that this is going to be a big contract and a big deal and all those things. We didn’t hide any cards that way. I think there’s been compromise on both sides. I would be surprised if we don’t have something done before training camp.”
Regarding the concept of a 10-year contract, which NFL.com reported was discussed by the Colts, Irsay said no such thing was ever presented to Luck and his agent.
“We didn’t get down that lane,” Irsay said. “That wouldn’t be accurate. That would be a reach and it would be hard to predict that far down the track. We weren’t aiming in that direction and they didn’t volunteer to.”
In any case, with those very critical efforts continuing off the field, the Colts have embarked on a sustained on-field effort to improve on last year’s 8-8 record. That began in April, when the team reported for offseason workouts, and continued through this week, after which players will be cut loose until training camp starts in late July.
Wednesday’s practice, held before a spirited crowd, featured more of what has been a staple of this spring’s offseason practices: deep shots from Luck to T.Y. Hilton and others, not to mention another slide from Luck, who is learning to adapt to avoid violent collisions.
It has been a competitive offseason, judging by the naked eye, and the Colts are holding on to that as a positive indicator.
“I thought this practice was one of if not the best practice we’ve had to date,” Pagano said. “Great focus, great energy, great communication. We’ve thrown a lot at these guys. I’ve seen every one of these units grow from the start of the offseason way back in April. We have a long way to go. Our players will tell you that. Our coaches will tell you that.
“But I’m proud of all these guys.”
Pagano then used an interesting measurement to shed light on what he sees as a dedicated group, saying attendance at voluntary offseason workouts – only this week is mandatory – has been unprecedented in contrast to his previous four seasons.
“I do know this: We’ve got 90 men right now and 20-some coaches who all love football and are very passionate, very tough, very competitive,” Pagano said. “Our attendance has been 98, 99 percent. It’s been off the charts. It’s better than any year that we’ve been here.
“I love the direction that we’re going.”
Follow IndyStar reporter Stephen Holder on Twitter: @HolderStephen. |
Avengers Assemble! This advertising project is called “A Superhero in Every Aisle” created bu talented designer, Guy Seese. They were produced as part of a campaign for the US store, Target. I love the way that you can see more detail and different toys every time you see the designs. My favourite is the Iron Man head which is made with pencils and Lego, amongst chocolate bars. I also think the green Hulk hands are pretty neat, too…
★ SEE ALSO: Realistic Paintings of Super-Heros by Simon Monk.
Credits: All the images used in this set are copyright © Guy Seese. Please head over to his site to see more of his project work. Art Director: Drew Dayberry / Copywriter: Casey Hall / Creative Directors: Guy Seese, Chris Mitton / Executive Creative Directors: Mark Fitzloff, Susan Hoffman / Photographer: Adam Levy / Retoucher: Greg Radich, SGS / Art Buyer: Amy Carleton.
★★★★★
Like Superheroes? Then check out these Related Posts
★★★★★
Check out these unusual Superhero Socks, which are sold complete with little mini capes. They come in Superman, Batman, Robin and Wonder Woman varieties [READ MORE].
These stunning examples of refraction art show water droplets with various backdrops. They were produced by German photographer, Markus Reugels, who took these photographs with a high-speed camera. Shots of Earth and Jupiter, along with the Spiderman and Superman logos have been photographed [SEE MORE]. |
Apple
An Apple store customer was given internal company media and documents by accident after getting his computer serviced at one of the company's Genius Bars, a new report says.
Cult of Mac has posted photos from an unnamed individual who says he was given the hard drive alongside a computer that was being repaired, with that spare drive containing a backup of the store's internal file server as opposed to a backup of the machine that had gone in for repair. The repair was made at an Apple store in Stamford, Conn.
The person told Cult of Mac the drive contains "confidential docs, internal manuals, Apple's sales [techniques], an Apple store work checklist, products layout, time schedules, pictures and videos of Apple corporate activities that only Apple employees can see, videos of store meetings, business structure and much much much more."
The outlet says the man offered to sell it a copy of the drive's contents, but that the offer was declined.
"Cult of Mac does not pay for stories, and especially not things like confidential information or iPhone prototypes. As such, we strongly advised him to return the hard drive to Apple, and even offered to help facilitate the safe return of the disk if he was nervous about the exchange. We have not heard from him since," the outlet said.
The drive itself is labeled "/Volumes/apple store/Backups.backupdb/teamserver/2009-11-23-095346/HD1/Server Users" and "/Volumes/apple store/Backups.backupdb/teamserver/2011-05-18-141707/HD1/Users/admin." Photos posted by Cult of Mac depict numerous backups made to the Time Machine device, dated from April to May of this year.
CNET has contacted Apple with a request for comment. |
* UPDATE *
Because of how awesome it's going.. I'm adding 5x7 mini prints of the 3 different covers to all physical orders as a way of saying " Thank you! "
Now back to your regularly scheduled program:
Upon doing research... I've found a lot of things that didn't add up in the assassination of Harambe.
I say assassination because the assault on him was malicious in nature and could have been avoided. But alas, with his death came a unified world. Everyone seemed to be behind the fallen Harambe and wanted justice for his death.
But, I think there was something else going on.
And to honor his spirit, I have made a tale that showcases Harambe as the warrior that he was. A beautiful and smart creature who just wanted peace. And when that peace is ripped from him, he goes on a quest for revenge like no other.
What is this Project Caeser?
What will become of him after his shooting?
Who is the shadowy politician who ordered his murder for knowing too much?
All will be revealed in the 33 page epic that is Special Agent Harambe!
The Primary Cover
The Mission Impossible Cover
The Jet Pack Cover!
And here is the Prologue ( aka the first 5 pages ) of the book.
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
And from here it turns into a tale of revenge and political corruption.
It's going to be epic!
Much like the life of my buddy Harambe.
He will always be remembered.
#DicksOut
The Sample Sketch Cover Up For Grabs.
Please show you love for a fallen friend.
Spread the word and share the love!
Thank you all very much for your time!
I have a ton of ideas for stretch goals.
So, let's see where this takes us and make it magical! |
Good morning! Paid for mods?!? What’s next? Flying lawnmowers???
Good morning. Let us video game on this wondrous Friday!
CelebrityMods dot com: Steam has made a controversial decision to allow paid-for mods. Holy crap! You mean to tell me modders might be rewarded for hard work? On the downside, Valve takes 75% of the pay AND expects the community to police these mods. Unfortunately, typical Valve here.
Marvel vs Telltale: Telltale is now making a Marvel game. If there is one thing I always wanted in a super hero game, it is being completely passive and making important verbal decisions while reading dialogue. Not fighting or using my epic superpowers.
Go speedrunners, go: I love speedrunning. I constantly host speedrunners on our Twitch channel and love the art and skill involved. PC Gamer has collected 14 awesome speedrunning videos for you. Check ’em out!
I am Batman: Arkham Knight is looking real good for it’s June 23rd release. See how your PC will handle it with the freshly released system requirements. Gonna need some horsepower for Ultra settings!
PC master race: Even Microsoft’s Xbox division is all about the PC. They used PC footage in an Xbox One Witcher 3 trailer. They have since apologized, but hey, we all know the PC is where Witcher 3 will shine brightest.
Metroid Love Letter: Axiom Verge has been making waves on PS4 for a month now, but it will soon be on the PC. The game will release on the 14th of May and is a true throwback to the Metroidvania style. It will be 19.99 on Steam.
Can I get a Witness: Jonathan Blow is somewhat of a celebrity developer since being featured in Indie Game: The Movie for his first game, Braid. There is a lot of hype to live up to with his next game, The Witness. PC Gamer got their hands on the game and overall, it made a positive impression. It doesn’t hurt that the Myst-like island looks gorgeous!
SOLITAIRE IS BACK BABY
Keep an eye on our Twitch channel tonight as we group up for some drinks and Killing Floor 2. Check out the forums for some good discussions and play a bigger part in the KBMOD community! |
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