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Angle Brackets and Curly Braces ScalaTest 0.9.4 Released by Bill Venners December 25, 2008 Summary The latest version of ScalaTest, a testing tool for Scala and Java developers, includes a concise way to test private methods and support for behavior-driven development. Advertisement On Christmas Eve I finally made another release of ScalaTest. During the six months since the previous release I had been quite busy with getting the Programming in Scala book out the door. I did keep working on ScalaTest during that time, with most time spent designing a way to do behavior-driven development with ScalaTest. This process involved trying many, many different ways to do Spec s and matchers. Trait Spec is a subtrait of Suite , so you run it just like any other ScalaTest suite. The matchers are not included in this release, but should be in the next release. If you want a sneak peak you can see ScalaTest matchers in action in the source code released in the 0.9.4 distribution zip file. ScalaTest 0.9.4 also includes a PrivateMethodTester trait, which provides a concise way to test private methods. To use it, you first create a PrivateMethod object, like this: val decorateToStringValue = PrivateMethod[String]('decorateToStringValue) The val defines a variable, named decorateToStringValue (the name of the private method you'd like to test), which is initialized with a reference to the PrivateMethod object created by the expression on the right of the equals sign. The String in square brackets is a type parameter. (Scala uses square brackets for type parameters instead of the angle brackets used by Java, C#, C++, etc. Thus in any of these other languages you'd see <String> instead of [String] .) This type parameter indicates the result type of the private method you want to test. The 'decorateToStringValue is called a symbol in Scala. It is a essentially a special kind of string that starts with a tick mark and ends with the first non-identifier character. Symbols provide a concise way to talk about the symbols of your program, in this case, the name of a private method you want to invoke. Given this syntax, Scala will invoke a method named apply on the PrivateMethod "singleton object." This is analogous to invoking a static method named apply on class PrivateMethod in Java. So the Scala compiler will rewrite the previous code to this: val decorateToStringValue = PrivateMethod.apply[String]('decorateToStringValue) In this case apply is a factory method that instantiates a PrivateMethod instance that is parameterized with the result type and knows the name of the private method you wish to test. To actually test the private method, you use the invokePrivate operator, like this: val result = targetObject invokePrivate decorateToStringValue(1) Here, targetObject is a variable or singleton object name referring to the object whose private method you want to test. You pass the arguments to the private method in the parentheses after the PrivateMethod object. The result type of an invokePrivate operation will be the type parameter of the PrivateMethod object, thus you need not cast the result to use it. (In this case, the Scala compiler will infer the type of result to be String .) In other words, after creating a PrivateMethod object, the syntax to invoke the private method looks like a regular method invocation, but with the dot ( . ) replaced by invokePrivate . The private method is invoked dynamically via reflection, so if you have a typo in the method name symbol, specify the wrong result type, or pass invalid parameters, the invokePrivate operation will compile, but throw an exception at runtime. Version 0.9.4 also has several other minor changes, and a few deprecated features. For the complete details, and to download, go to: Talk Back! Have an opinion? Be the first to post a comment about this weblog entry. RSS Feed If you'd like to be notified whenever Bill Venners adds a new entry to his weblog, subscribe to his RSS feed. About the Blogger Bill Venners is president of Artima, Inc., publisher of Artima Developer (www.artima.com). He is author of the book, Inside the Java Virtual Machine, a programmer-oriented survey of the Java platform's architecture and internals. His popular columns in JavaWorld magazine covered Java internals, object-oriented design, and Jini. Active in the Jini Community since its inception, Bill led the Jini Community's ServiceUI project, whose ServiceUI API became the de facto standard way to associate user interfaces to Jini services. Bill is also the lead developer and designer of ScalaTest, an open source testing tool for Scala and Java developers, and coauthor with Martin Odersky and Lex Spoon of the book, Programming in Scala. This weblog entry is Copyright © 2008 Bill Venners. All rights reserved.
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Tropical storm Pakhar brought strong winds and heavy rain to Hong Kong and Macau on Sunday, just four days after one of the strongest typhoons on record, Hato, caused serious flooding and damage in the territories and killed at least 10 people in the gaming hub. The two cities lowered their typhoon signal to No.3 in the early afternoon, after Pakhar brushed passed and landed in the southern Chinese city of Taishan in the morning. Both cities issued their third-highest weather warnings, storm signal No. 8, early in the day as winds intensified and heavy rain lashed down, churning up rough seas and prompting alerts of flooding in low-lying areas. No serious damage has been observed in Hong Kong so far. The government said it has received 13 reports of flooding and 159 reports of fallen trees. Hong Kong’s weather observatory said in the early hours that winds occasionally reached storm force in the southern part of the territory and hurricane force on high ground on Lantau Island to the west of the city where the airport is situated. Pakhar’s arrival comes as the cities are still reeling from Hato. While Hong Kong escaped major damage, Hato devastated Macau, the world’s largest gambling hub, killing at least 10 people, injuring 244 and exposing critical infrastructure flaws after it left the city without water and power for days. The maximum sustained winds recorded at Cheung Chau and Chek Lap Kok were 114 and 76 kilometers per hour (71 and 47 miles per hour), respectively, in the morning, with maximum gusts at 136 and 101 kmh. China’s Meteorological Administration maintained its yellow typhoon warning, the third-highest of four levels, as of midday Sunday and said torrential rains are expected in several southern provinces through Monday afternoon. Airport Authority Hong Kong reported 300 flights have been canceled or delayed, and around 30 diverted to other places by noon. Hong Kong’s flagship carrier, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, said the storm would cause delays and cancellations to flights arriving and departing on Sunday and Monday. Some ferries to Macau and outlying islands in Hong Kong resumed service after the typhoon signals were lowered. In Macau, the storm will pose a major setback to clean-up efforts that saw Chinese People’s Liberation Army troops deployed to help remove mountains of stinking debris strewn across some heavily flooded districts battered by Hato. Slideshow (8 Images) Power has been restored in the territory but some areas still lacked water supply as of Saturday evening, the Macau Government Information Bureau said on its official website. The government said the city still faced a severe challenge in removing huge piles of waste from the streets, with 2,600 tonnes of debris collected on Saturday alone. Shower facilities and changing rooms at four public swimming pools have been opened to accommodate residents with no water facilities. Four Hong Kong journalists were denied entry to Macau on Saturday to cover the storms and relief effort on grounds they “posed a risk to the stability of internal security,” according to reports from the media companies they represented. The Hong Kong Journalists Association expressed “deep regret” over the incident and urged Macau to respect press freedom. Police chief Ma Io-kun told a press conference on Saturday he was not aware of the case, but said the government respects press freedom “very much”.
We know that at least one person has been hit by space junk. Her name is Lottie Williams and she was hit by a piece of a Delta II rocket that fell to earth in 1997. Her encounter with space debris happened in a park in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She was walking with some friends late at night, admiring the fireball that streaked across the sky. Shortly afterwards, she felt a tap on the shoulder and heard something hit the ground behind her. Advertisement That "something" was a small piece of fabric-like metal that weighed as much as an empty soda can. Analysis by several independent laboratories confirmed it came from a falling rocket. It must have been her lucky day as your risk of getting hit by space junk is 1 in 3,200. [Fox News]
On ESPN, ex-NBA player says Towns 'needs to get out of Minnesota' Former Detroit Pistons bad boy John Salley joined ESPN's Mike Greenberg on the radio today, and three minutes of their three-hour show was spent bashing Minnesota. Greenberg simply asked Salley if he thinks NBA Rookie of the Year, Wolves big man Karl-Anthony Towns, is the "future of the NBA? Salley: "I'm not going to go too far away from that. I'm going to agree with you," Salley started out before adding: "I think he needs to get out of Minnesota. He and (Andrew) Wiggins need to get out of Minnesota. No one's gonna really be a fan of that." Greenberg: Why even have a team in Minnesota? Salley: "I said the same thing. When it's freezing cold and we had to go from building to building through a tube, I said, 'why are we in Minnesota? Well it's a great sports town – it's a great football town.' But I don't think the league is gonna go and buy Wolves jerseys." ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website Greenberg: Can Towns make them buy jerseys? Salley: "No. He can't." What does Salley think Towns needs? "I think he needs to be in a place that literally gets more TV time, and the NBA is more focused on – and those are the teams on the coast," Salley said. Note to John Salley, the following players were among the top 15 jersey sales as of Jan. 20, via NBA.com. ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website ADVERTISEMENT Thanks for watching! Visit Website LeBron James - Cleveland Russell Westbrook - Oklahoma City Kevin Durant - Oklahoma City Paul George - Indiana Anthony Davis - New Orleans Listen back to the interview here. The bashing begins right around the 37-minute mark. https://twitter.com/JimPeteHoops/status/733309291281584128 https://twitter.com/BrianHalverson/status/733308722911576064 https://twitter.com/thejuicevox/status/733283422559457280 https://twitter.com/efremsmith/status/733249696672714754 https://twitter.com/bradberreman24/status/733249207428087808
Iraqi Government & US-Led Coalition: Serious Failure to Protect Civilians IS tactics and violations created particular challenges for pro-government forces in terms of civilian protection in west Mosul. Iraqi government and US-led coalition forces failed to adequately adapt their tactics to these challenges - as required by international humanitarian law - with disastrous consequences for civilians. Starting in January 2017, pro-government forces carried out a series of unlawful attacks in west Mosul, relying heavily on explosive weapons with wide area effects such as IRAMs (Improvised Rocket Assisted Munitions). With their crude targeting abilities, these weapons wreaked havoc in densely-populated west Mosul and took the lives of thousands of civilians. Amnesty International investigated 45 pro-government attacks and found that these alone killed at least 426 civilians. The true death toll of the west Mosul battle may never be known. Pro-government forces also failed to take effective precautions to protect civilians when planning and executing attacks. They did air-drop leaflets into IS-controlled areas of the city, instructing civilians to stay away from IS or to hang children's clothes on the roof to mark civilian homes. These warnings, however, took little account of the realities of living under IS. Staying away from IS was impossible for west Mosul residents and fighters would execute anyone caught with a flyer in their hands. Houses with children's clothes on the roof were still hit by air strikes. The strikes targeted the IS snipers. A strike would destroy an entire house of two storeys. They’d hit one house and also destroy the two houses on either side. They killed a huge number of people. Mohamed from al-Tenak neighbourhood, west Mosul Share this Twitter Facebook Email Health professionals have noted that patients from west Mosul often had blast-related injuries, a phenomenon associated with the use of powerful explosive weapons in civilian areas. It is inconceivable that pro-government forces were unaware of IS tactics, the concentration of civilians in areas coming under attack, or the terrible cost to civilian life of using explosive weapons with wide-area effects in these areas.
She is a 20-year-old student at Holmes Community College in Mississippi, uncertain at the moment of whether she’ll stick with her current career track. But Emily Jolly is fairly certain of this: Dzhokhar “Jahar” Tsarnaev is no terrorist. Jolly is among a growing legion of people who have examined enough of the mountain of “evidence” now available since last week’s bombings in Boston to be convinced the 19-year-old is innocent. Which is why, she says, she has taken to Twitter in recent days hoping to make the hashtag #freejahar a trending one, and of drumming up enough support for the hospitalized suspect to get him a “badass lawyer.” Tsarnaev wasn’t even charged with a crime until Monday, and the government’s evidence has only begun to dribble out. But Jolly and thousands of other, mostly young people have already made up their minds, albeit with a wide array of conclusions. It was a setup. A false flag. Dzhokhar’s brother maybe did it, but not Dzhokhar. That Saudi guy was the ringleader. On and on and on. Much of the support for Tsarnaev comes from another 20-year-old from Chelsea, Massachusetts, named Troy Crossley, who claims he is a friend of the suspect and who has been posting hundreds of tweets, links to pictures and hashtags, from #troycrossleytruth to #fuckthegovernment, over the past several days. Crossley didn’t respond to several attempts by The Daily Beast on Monday to talk with him, but one of his followers did: Jolly. And she explained at length in an interview conducted via Google Chat why she thinks the government is lying. “Here is a kid with no known terrorist ties,” she said. “He is nineteen years old, he’s a US citizen, he has never been in trouble with the law previously, and the main reason—there’s no motive. There’s no evidence that Jahar was a radical Islamist. He barely even attended his local mosque. What reason does he have to hate the U.S.? He’s got scholarships from the state of Massachusetts. he’s a citizen, this is his home and it has been his home since he was nine years old.” Asked how she knows what the evidence against Jahar is—given that most of it hasn’t been released yet—Jolly referred to Twitter. “When I first started to express my opinions online, I found that so many of the people that know Jahar were expressing similar opinions,” she said. “Also, these people are being watched by the FBI. Why does the FBI care what these guys’ opinions are if they have evidence to prove otherwise?” Jolly and her cohorts have been researching the case ever since, they said, trying to pick apart holes in statements they hear on the media. Why would Tsarnaev tell the carjacking victim they were responsible for the bombings, as police allege? “Makes no sense.” Those unexploded bombs found in older brother Tamerlan’s apartment? “They didn’t live together.” How could Jahar have run away as quickly as he allegedly did with “multiple guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition?” What about this video with 350,000 views that maybe looks like he still had a backpack on after the bombs went off? The problem, Jolly contends, is that “the majority of the ‘evidence’ we have to go on was ONLY seen by police and officials,” which is pretty much how the criminal-justice system works. If the government proves its case in court—releases a video of Jahar dropping a backpack, for example—“I will accept his guilt,” she said. “But until then I am not going to. If we don’t stand up for him now, it’s possible that he might not get a fair trial. They didn’t read him his Miranda rights, and yet he is a US citizen.” Jolly cautions that she’s no “conspiracy theorist,” but this case has her rethinking everything, she said. Even her own future. “This case has me re-assessing my choice of major,” she said. “I’m considering law. Criminal-defense attorney.”
The Harper government is working to slash the size of the public service, but at least one agency is exempt from the austerity push. Staff levels at Canada’s electronic spy agency hit a record high last month, according to national security blog Lux Ex Umbra. There were 2,220 people working for Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) in June, an increase of 83 employees from the month before. The agency has been under siege this past year over leaked documents indicating it has been involved in numerous controversial surveillance efforts. All the same, CSEC is undergoing a significant expansion. Since June of 2008, staff levels at CSEC have jumped 33.5 per cent, and with the Harper government’s recent decision to nearly double the agency’s budget, we can expect to see that number continue to rise. The Harper government’s latest budget gives CSEC $829 million for 2014-15, nearly double the $444 million the agency got the year before. The government is also shelling out an estimated $1.2 billion on a new headquarters for CSEC, reportedly the most expensive Canadian government building ever constructed. About $300 million of the increased budget will go towards the costs of the "spy palace," with another $100 million devoted to maintenance. Other law enforcement and security agencies weren’t so lucky. The RCMP saw its budget slashed by $132 million, or about 5 per cent.
0 Shares 0 0 0 0 Syrian government forces' anti-terrorism operations in al-Malaah region in Northern Aleppo have thus far ended in the killing of 240 militants, including 25 field commanders, army sources said. "Almost the entire offensives of the terrorist groups of al-Nusra Front, Nouralddeen al-Zinki and Mountain's Hawks were repelled by the Syrian pro-government forces," the sources added. "The terrorist groups have left behind their military equipment in Kafr Hamra and fled towards Idlib's Eastern border. Most of the terrorists consider attacks on government forces' positions in al-Malaah and al-Lairamoun industrial region as homicide. Rift among the terrorist groups has been widening in the recent days due to their differences over way of battling the government forces," the sources said. In relevant developments on Tuesday, the Russian and Syrian fighter jets targeted the positions of terrorist groups in different districts of Aleppo city, leaving scores of militants dead or wounded. The Syrian and Russian aircraft bombed concentration centers of the militants in al-Lairamoun industrial region, Bani Zeid neighborhood and Castillo highway, which ended in the killing of many militants and slowed their military movements down. In the meantime, the Syrian soldiers and their popular allies engaged in heavy fighting with the terrorists in Western side of Sheikh Maqsoud and Bani Zeid neighborhoods and registered very good advances against the foreign-backed terrorists in al-Lairamoun industrial region. At least 45 percent of al-Lairamoun is under full control of the Syrian army; FNA reported.
Chinese astronauts Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and Liu Yang are preparing to undock the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft from the Tiangong-1 space station and then redock using manual controls instead of the automated controls used when they first docked on Monday. Xinhua (in English) says the manual docking will take place “about noon” on Sunday Beijing time. That would be about midnight tonight (Saturday) Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). Liu Wang will be at the controls of Shenzhou-9 during the manual docking. On Friday, he and mission commander Jing did a systems test while remaining docked to Tiangong-1, using Shenzhou’s thrusters to maneuver the complex. Liu Yang, China’s first woman astronaut, monitored the test from inside Tiangong-1. The Chinese media repeatedly state that this a 13-day mission, but have not specifically announced the landing date or time. Thirteen days would make it Friday, June 29, so presumably if the manual docking goes well, the crew will return to Tiangong-1 for several more days. They have been conducting a series of medical and other biological studies. Liu Yang is in charge of the scientific program for the mission.
With so much attention focused on the high-octane presidential race, it can be easy to overlook important down-ballot races. House Republicans enjoy a wide enough majority that even in this volatile year, few prognosticators expect them to surrender it -- although senior GOP officials have told me that if Donald Trump tanks down the stretch, they worry that it may become vulnerable. Over in the Senate, however, Democrats only need to net five seats (four, if Democrats hold the White House) to retake an upper chamber majority, The GOP won nine seats in 2014's landslide, but Democrats have a solid chance of flipping control. Why? Republicans took advantage of a very favorable political environment to make major gains in 2010. Six years later, those Senate freshmen are up for re-election, in a presidential year, and in a decidedly different political atmosphere. Because 2010 was such a strong GOP year, Republicans now have a disproportionate number of seats to defend. Advantage: Democrats. At the moment, defending incumbents in Illinois (Mark Kirk) and Wisconsin (Ron Johnson) are looking like relatively difficult tasks, although neither race is yet out of reach. But for argument's sake, let's say both of those seats are gone. The Democrats would then need to notch three more net victories to guarantee a Senate Majority. Can they achieve that? New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte's re-election race has been locked in a dead heat for months, while North Carolina and Indiana are also looking too close to comfort. Let's say Republicans earn a 2-1 split in those races. The GOP would need to run the table in all of the other contested races in order to maintain their edge -- unless they can pick off a seat or two currently in Democratic hands. The best opportunities to do so are in Colorado (a fairly long shot, it seems), and Nevada. Let's look at the fight over Harry Reid's soon-to-be-vacant seat: Breaking: Trump plus 5 in NV, Heck plus 9 (!) in new @KTNV/@Rasmussen_Poll. Show convention bump: https://t.co/RfzwlTjPFw — Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) July 25, 2016 Joe Heck is an impressive candidate who represents a swing Nevada district in the House of Representatives, and who also leads the deeply flawed Democratic nominee in the RCP average. This appears to be the strongest pick-up opportunity for the party, which would be huge. It would not only make the Democrats' climb much steeper, it would also replace Harry Reid with a Republican. Here are some developments in other crucial races: Florida: Marco Rubio may have pulled this seat out of the fire by jumping back into the race, reversing his previous decision not to seek re-election. The incumbent holds a modest but clear lead in the RCP average over serial resume-padder Patrick Murphy, whose political instincts seem increasingly...questionable. The other Democrat in the race is crazy person and accused domestic abuser Alan Grayson. Tell us more about the "war on women," Alan. Ohio: Rob Portman faces a stiff challenge from former Governor Ted Strickland, and the race is tight. But Portman has an edge. He leads by five points in a new Democrat-affiliated poll, and just collected two big union endorsements. Buckeye State Democrats are getting worried: Democrats in Ohio, Washington and Philadelphia seemed knocked back on their heels Tuesday, after Republican incumbent Sen. Rob Portman snagged back-to-back endorsements from major labor unions. The Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio, the state's largest law enforcement union, endorsed Portman on Tuesday over former Gov. Ted Strickland, in Ohio’s tight U.S. Senate race. Just 24 hours earlier, Portman also snapped up the support of the Ohio Conference of Teamsters—a union that typically endorses Democrats. The surprise union support for Portman, a Chamber of Commerce Republican not traditionally allied with labor, fueled a growing concern among Democrats that Strickland’s campaign is losing ground just as voters begin to tune in...Jennifer Duffy, who tracks Senate races for the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, said the Ohio contest looks different in practice than on paper. “If you look at least at the public polling, it still looks like a very close race,” said Duffy. “But if you watch it every day, it doesn’t feel that way.” She said Portman’s campaign “is firing on all cylinders, doing what they need to do,” while Strickland’s campaign seems more complacent. Pennsylvania: Pat Toomey has led in every poll taken this year, with the exception of a recent outlier from NBC News (a three point deficit). Toomey is well-funded and well-liked at home, Donald Trump is polling relatively well in the Keystone state, and the "terribly weak" Democratic nominee is on the defensive over this crass attack (content warning): It'll still be pretty tough sledding for the NRSC over the next few months, but their candidates are in better shape than many forecasters anticipated they would be at this juncture in the cycle. If they, and Trump, can hit their current polling marks in November, they may just pull this off. If they, and/or he, over-perform today's survey positions, the majority will be safe.
Get the biggest football stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris admits he is bitterly disappointed by Spurs early elimination from the Champions League and says that falling into the Europa League is simply not good enough. Mauricio Pochettino's men fell to a 2-1 defeat in Monaco, ensuring that they cannot reach the knockout stage of Europe's premier club competition. They have lost three of their five matches so far - including both at Wembley, where they have elected to play their European home matches. "It makes for a lot of frustration, I can't hide that," Lloris said. "We will talk between ourselves and try to find solution. Maybe we are not ready to manage Premier League and Champions League campaigns at the same time, but we need to question ourselves about that." (Image: Reuters) (Image: Getty Images) Lloris is currently in negotiations with the club over signing a new deal at White Hart Lane, and he was to thank for the defeat not being bigger, making a number of excellent saves, as well as stopping Radamel Falcao's first-half penalty. Spurs must take at least a point from their final group game against CSKA Moscow to secure third place and continue their Euro campaign. "Everyone at the club was excited to play this competition, and all the players too, but we failed all together. We had bigger expectations in this group stage. We will not go through, we are still fighting for a Europa League but it's not enough for a club like Spurs. It's a big disappointment. "We need to digest this and look forward to the game at Chelsea on Saturday." (Image: Reuters) (Image: Reuters) (Image: Michael Steele) Spurs boss Pochettino made a host of changes to his side, leaving Jan Vertonghen and Christian Eriksen on the bench at the Stade Louis II. And while the much-changed side crashed out in the Principality, Lloris believes that is no excuse. "It is a question for the manager," Lloris said. "We know we have a good squad and sometimes it can happen that the manager rotates. "But that kind of thing shouldn't affect the team because we have enough quality in the squad."
Industry groups had long pushed for more coordination of energy regulations, warning of overlapping and unnecessary rules. But Banks, in the letter, told two-dozen industry lobbyists that the task force amounted to a “stunt” aimed at winning over the oil lobby, which has a frosty relationship with the White House. “Moving forward, we — your partners — would kindly ask for better coordination and communication from you to prevent the Obama administration from pulling similar stunts in the future,” Banks wrote, according to National Journal. Though Inhofe distanced himself from the email Tuesday, he declined to distance himself from the oil industry. Asked if he is rejects the idea that he is a partner of industry, Inhofe said, "I didn’t say that. I just said that’s not the word I would have used." Inhofe is one of the Senate’s most outspoken critics of Obama’s energy policies. Inhofe and other Republicans — both in Congress and on the campaign trail — have worked to paint Obama as the enemy of the domestic oil-and-gas production.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Tuesday said it had detained labor rights activists who scrutinized conditions at a Chinese company making Ivanka Trump-branded shoes, rebuffing a call from the U.S State Department for the release of the three men. A soldier from honour guards holds a red flag during a welcoming ceremony for Vietnam's President Tran Dai Quang (not pictured) outside the Great Hall of the People, in Beijing, China May 11, 2017. REUTERS/Jason Lee The remarks were the first official confirmation of last month’s statement by China Labor Watch, a New York-based advocacy group, that one activist had been arrested and two were missing after studying conditions at factories that produce shoes for the daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump and other Western brands. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the activists were detained and investigated on suspicion of interfering with a company’s “normal operation and production activities”, and the illegal use of “professional surveillance equipment”. The case was being handled in accordance with the law and no country had the right to interfere in the judicial process, she told a daily news briefing in the Chinese capital. On Monday, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department expressed concern over reports that Chinese authorities had detained labor rights activist Hua Haifeng and that two other labor activists – Su Heng and Li Zhao – were also missing and presumed to have been detained. “We urge China to release them immediately and otherwise afford them the judicial and fair trial protections to which they are entitled,” said the spokeswoman, Alicia Edwards. Labour activists have helped U.S. companies understand conditions in their China supply chains, “which can be essential in fulfilling their own responsibilities and holding Chinese manufacturers accountable under Chinese labor laws,” she added. China Labor Watch said Hua Haifeng was arrested in southeastern Jiangxi province on suspicion of illegally using eavesdropping equipment. He and Li Zhao had worked covertly at a shoe factory owned by the Huajian Group in the city of Dongguan, in southern Guangdong province. The third investigator, Su Heng, had worked at a related factory in the Jiangxi city of Ganzhou, but had been incommunicado after May 27. Both factories produced Ivanka Trump-branded shoes, China Labor Watch said. The investigators had discovered evidence that workers’ rights had been violated, it said. The Ivanka Trump brand, the White House and Ivanka Trump’s lawyer, Jamie Gorelick, have not responded to requests for comment on the case. The case comes at a time of sustained pressure on labor activists in China amid a crackdown on civil society under President Xi Jinping. In recent years, many labor rights activists have reported being intimidated and harassed, temporarily detained, or having had their movements restricted. Rights group Amnesty International has called for the release of the three if they were held only for investigating possible labor abuses at the factories.
Announcing cgid This post is an announcement of cgid . Over the past week I developed a small UCSPI based single-file CGI server. The usage is very simple, due to the nature of the tool. Here’s a quick example of how I use it: #!/bin/nosh tcp-socket-listen 127.0.0.1 6000 tcp-socket-accept --no-delay cgid www/cgi-bin/my-cgi-script If you don’t know anything about UCSPI, this will look like nonsense to you. I have a post that I’ll publish later this week about UCSPI, so you can wait for that, or you can search for it and find lots of documents about it already. As a side note, cgid was written in Rust. I have a post about Rust itself in the queue, but I think discussing the “release process” of a binary tool like cgid at release time is sensible. The procedure for releasing went something like this: git tag v0.1.0 -m 'Release v0.1.0' # release to crates.io cargo package cargo publish cargo build --release # fiddle with github webpage to put binaries on the release This is a joke compared to the spoiling I’ve had from Dist::Zilla, which is what I use when releasing packages to CPAN. At some point I’d like to automate Rust releases as much as Rik has automated releasing to CPAN. I’ll keep my eye out for more things that deserve to be written in Rust, as I enjoyed the process, but I expect that ideas which deserve to be written in Rust are few and far between, for me. It is pretty cool that basically not knowing Rust, I successfully implemented a tool that doesn’t exist anywhere in less than two weeks. Load Comments Posted Mon, Feb 8, 2016
Most horror movies start cheerily. There will be often be scenes in which the lead characters demonstrate the optimism, innocence and playfulness of youth – and a thoroughly misplaced sense of security. On 29 March 1994, the England team boarded their coach to the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad knowing that, all things being equal, they would return that evening drunk on victory and Tetley. Alec Stewart was asked by a Sky reporter how the team would get on. “Don’t worry”, he said, sticking his thumbs up. “We’ll be fine today.” Ten hours later, after his off stump was detonated by the final ball of the day, Graham Thorpe’s blank face told the story of an horrific trauma. England had been sliced and diced by Sir Curtly Ambrose, reduced to 40 for eight in a manner that would have shattered even Kipling’s equilibrium. This wasn’t a case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory; they’d had glory snatched from them in exchange for humiliation. They never ever saw it coming at all. For a young team starting out under a new captain, it was a terrifying insight into just how tough it can be to win a Test match – especially when you are up against perhaps the greatest match winner of all. England were given little chance when they travelled to the Caribbean in January 1994. West Indies had not lost a Test series since 1979-80, even if their victories were becoming less comfortable, and had lost only three home Tests in 16 years. England lost more than that in 1993 alone: they were walloped 4-1 at home by Australia, a miserable follow-up to a shambolic tour of India and Sri Lanka in which they lost all four Tests. Curtly Ambrose: ‘You’re asking me questions I’ve never been asked before’ Read more A stirring dead-rubber win over Australia at The Oval, in their second Test under the captaincy of Atherton, provided an important injection of hope. Atherton, 25, wanted to follow the template of that Australia side by investing in young players of character and class and sticking with them through thick and thin. For the first time in 17 years, an England touring party included none of Graham Gooch, Sir Ian Botham, David Gower or Mike Gatting. The oldest player was Devon Malcolm, who turned 31 during the first Test. England lost the first two Tests emphatically, by eight wickets and then an innings. But they knew they would have to go through many hard times first, just like Australia in the mid-to-late 1980s, and there was plenty of hope in the batting of Alec Stewart, Graeme Hick and particularly Atherton, who bravely stood up to a fearsome, calculated barrage from Courtney Walsh in the first Test. In the third match at Trinidad, they played excellently. Chris Lewis, Ian Salisbury and Angus Fraser reduced West Indies from 158 for one to 252 all out on the first day, before Graham Thorpe’s 86 and some useful tail-end batting – the last two wickets added 47 – helped England to 328. When Jimmy Adams fell to Salisbury off the last ball of the third day, West Indies were 143 for five, a lead of 67. With only Shivnarine Chanderpaul remaining among the recognised batsmen. England were 4-11 with the bookies, having started the match at 12-1. “It’s nice to go into the rest day as favourites,” said their manager, Keith Fletcher. “I might get some sleep.” The first sign the match might not have a happy ending for England came when Chanderpaul, on four, was put down by Hick at slip on the fourth morning. He was reprieved again by Hick on 29, another relatively straightforward chance for such a brilliant slipper. Chanderpaul, playing only his second Test at the age of 19, frustrated England with a three-hour 50 and added 60 for the seventh wicket with Winston Benjamin. It was during that partnership the first strains of the Jaws music were heard in England’s subconscious. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Alec Stewart’s off stump is uprooted by Curtly Ambrose during the final innings of the third Test at the Queen’s Park Oval, during a devastating display of fast bowling. Stewart’s 18 was the highest score of the innings. Photograph: Rebecca Naden/PA Their frustration increased as the lead moved past 150. During a rain break, Fraser decided to nick his Middlesex team-mate Mark Ramprakash’s seat by telling him there was somebody outside the dressing-room waiting to see him – “a silly prank of the kind you often do to pass the time in these situations”, as Fraser put it. Ramprakash returned unamused and threw Fraser’s England cap in some water. Fraser booted a bin across the dressing-room and the two squared up to each other. England eventually dismissed West Indies for 269, with Andy Caddick taking a Test-best six for 65. That included the wicket of Ambrose, bowled for 12 as he failed to connect with an enormous yahoo. Ambrose had been told to play for his partner Chanderpaul but was so affronted by Caddick copying the great Sir Richard Hadlee’s action that he wanted to “beat his bowling”. He received and accepted a rare reprimand from his team-mates for the manner of his dismissal. Caddick, without trying or realising, had awoken the beast. Pride was one of Ambrose’s greatest weapons; pride in himself and also the West Indies. He never liked cricket as a teenager – he wanted to play basketball in the NBA – but once it became a career, the highest standards were non-negotiable for someone of his nature. He had let the team down, and they faced the prospect of a rare defeat at home. There had also been some criticism earlier in the series after a subdued performance in Jamaica; some even suggested that, at 30, Ambrose was past it and considering retirement. All of this fuelled his ire. “I was at my best when something was on the line,” said Ambrose in his autobiography, Time to Talk, “whether it was a match, a series or even my reputation.” If it was more than one, as at Trinidad, woe betide those in his way. In the last hour and a half, he struck down upon England with great vengeance and furious anger. England’s target was a tricky 194, when it should have been nearer 100 or 110. The extra runs also took more time out of the day; this, along with the rain break, meant only 15 overs remained on the fourth day when they started batting. Had it not rained there would have been around 40 overs left and Ambrose would have needed to keep something in the tank for a second spell. Instead he was able to throw everything at the batsmen. England’s top six – Atherton, Stewart, Ramprakash, Robin Smith, Hick and Thorpe – looks a bit stronger on paper now than it did then. It’s easy to forget careers are always in flux and even great batsmen have periods of famine. All four of England’s middle order had been dropped or omitted at some stage during the previous summer’s Ashes and were trying to establish – or in Smith’s case re-establish – themselves at Test level. Atherton had also been left out during the tour of India a year earlier, but now he was England’s captain and most important batsman. He sensed that, if England were one down at the close, they would be in with a great chance of victory. Instead, they were two down by the end of the first over. “Quality bowlers essentially need two of three things: pace, movement and accuracy,” wrote Atherton in Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack 2001. “Ambrose had all three.” Even from the first ball of the innings. Ambrose didn’t really believe in the concept of the loosener, and his opening delivery to Atherton was a jaffa. It was full, kept a bit low and seamed back to hit him on the pad in line with off and middle. It seemed to take everyone by surprise – even Ambrose, who had almost completed his follow-through when he suddenly threw his hands up and down in one movement and snapped round to point demandingly at the umpire Steve Bucknor. As he was doing so, Atherton’s momentum took him outside the line of off stump. He had both arms outstretched, like a suspect surrendering to police, and held the pose as he awaited the decision. He is not sure why he did so but it made for a glorious image as both men stared at Bucknor. He was a leisurely umpire at the best of times and, although the wait only lasted two or three seconds, it seemed to go on forever – a moment of tension in which, perhaps, both players instinctively realised the game would probably be decided. Bucknor raised the finger and Ambrose – whose primal celebrations in this spell were almost as memorable as the wickets – started punching an imaginary speedbag with both hands. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Curtly Ambrose celebrates as England captain Michael Atherton is left stranded by his opening ball, Atherton was out LBW and the target of 194 looked an awfully long way off. Photograph: Ben Radford/Getty Images For a few years, before he was dragged down by his injured back and his team’s lack of spine, Atherton was England’s rock. They developed an alarming tendency to collapse when he was dismissed. That was problematic at the best of times, never mind when he got a golden duck. The new batsman was Ramprakash, who had started his Test career splendidly against West Indies in 1991, with a series of patient 20-something innings that were far better than the bald statistics suggested. Yet in the two-and-a-half years since then he had been dropped three times; now he found himself batting at three in the England team for the first time, on the toughest tour of all. In what would become a theme of his career, runs in the final Test of an Ashes summer had got him on the winter tour. When he turned the last ball of Ambrose’s first over towards long-leg, the England fans cheered loudly: one run down, 193 to go. Ramprakash turned for a second but was then paralysed by indecision and started skidding back and forth. By the time Walsh’s throw came to the wicket-keeper Junior Murray, Stewart had run past him at the non-striker’s end. It was a shambolic run-out that would be used in evidence against Ramprakash, apparent proof of a man who found Test cricket too much to handle mentally. Yet Ramprakash says there was a far simpler explanation for the confusion: he lost sight of Walsh and had no idea whether the ball was in his hand or not, and therefore whether a second run was viable. It looked like a moment of blind panic, however, and as such had a huge impact on the morale of both sides. Angus Fraser recalls Atherton burying his head in a towel shouting “No, no, no” as Ramprakash was run out. After that Atherton retreated to the shower, with the crowd generously providing a wicket-update service for him. The arrival of Robin Smith at No4 would ordinarily have been comforting for England. He was a magnificent player of quick bowling, surely the bravest player of his generation. But he was in the middle of the worst period of his Test career and was struggling to forge a working relationship with the coach Keith Fletcher; Smith later described Fletcher and Ray Illingworth as ‘the most appalling man managers, the most appalling coaches and the most appalling people that I’ve met’. This was by far the worst of his four full series against West Indies, despite a Test-best 175 in the final game. In Trinidad he survived his first ball and willed himself to get forward to his second. “I played a beautiful forward-defensive”, he says. “The only problem was that I was about two minutes too late!” Just as Smith was completing the stroke, he heard the distinctive clink of disturbed furniture. The ball from Ambrose was so fast that it had already gone through the gate to remove his middle stump. Ambrose punched the air wildly – “as if whipping a lasso”, to use Will Luke’s great description in The Cricketer – and England were five for three in the third over. A recurring feature of Ambrose’s great spells was his ability to read both the pitch and the match situation. He was a far more intelligent bowler than some recognised. With Trinidad getting lower and offering a little sideways movement, he bowled fast, full and straight. Both Atherton and Smith fell to off cutters that were pitched up, and in the whole mini-session he bowled only five short balls in 7.5 overs. ‘It was entirely different in its intent from Walsh’s spell in Jamaica’, wrote Atherton in his autobiography, Opening Up. “Walsh’s main aim was to intimidate while Ambrose, sensing a match to win and a wearing pitch to exploit, was only interested in wickets. Of course there was the occasional bouncer … but Ambrose’s general length was full and the effect was dramatic.” How Curtly Ambrose, West Indies' silent assassin, became a big noise \| Rob Bagchi Read more It made for a different type of intimidation. There was less threat to a batsman’s safety but far more to his sanity, such was the extent to which Ambrose overwhelmed England. They knew there would be knocks on their journey, they knew Test cricket was bloody hard. But this, this was unimaginable. They had innocently taken a wrong turn and ended up on the meanest streets of Test cricket. The cacophony of joy at the Queen’s Park Oval was such that England suffered a sensory overload. “There was all the excitement, the sea of faces and the noise,” said Fraser. “The banging as Ambrose ran up to bowl. The sound just got louder and louder as each of our wickets fell … The conditions were good for Ambrose but he just worked everything into a fever pitch. We were trapped in a very intimidating environment with nowhere to go.” The only person not making any noise was Ambrose. “He didn’t say anything”, says Hick. “Not many of the great bowlers do.” Ambrose had a silent charisma that was irresistible to West Indies fans, England batsmen – even England fans. Geoffrey Boycott, commentating for Sky, said it was “possibly the most exciting period of Test cricket I can remember in all my years of playing and watching”. In Antigua, Ambrose’s mother Hillie ran into the street to ring a handbell every time he took a wicket; in Trinidad, the unofficial cheerleader, nicknamed Blue Food, a former policeman who had been going to the ground since 1948, blew his conch-smell triumphantly. Banners such as BOYCOTT PAD UP NOW! and TOO MUCH TETLEY OLD CHAP! rubbed it in. It was a struggle to think straight, never mind play straight. The noise and the sheer speed with which things spiralled out of control meant there was no time to take stock. There was barely time to do anything. Nasser Hussain, the 12th man, sensed the dressing-room tension before the start of the innings and decided to walk around the ground to get a chicken roti. By the time he got there, England were four down. Fraser and Lewis had a similar idea and followed Hussain at the fall of the second wicket. They only made it as far as the KFC, by which time England were five down and Lewis had to run back to pad up. The dressing-room was a hive of chaos. “I batted at six”, says Thorpe. “Normally batting there I wouldn’t have put any kit on at all, but here I was padded up within three overs. The dressing-room was basically a load of blokes walking around getting their kit on.” Or off. Wickets fell at such regular intervals that, although he lasted only 17 minutes, Hick’s innings was England’s fourth longest stay. “It’s all happening so fast that you don’t really gather yourself and maybe get in the right mental state”, says Hick: There’s not much to say about my innings: I played a little half-hearted shot outside off stump and nicked off. I’d had a reasonable start to the tour having got 96 in Jamaica, and I was disappointed not to kick on from there for the rest of the trip. It was just a quality spell of bowling. There were a few average shots but that’s the pressure he builds. I would put Ambrose and Glenn McGrath in the same bracket. They gave you very little to feed off. Ambrose and Walsh had days when they would alternate – one would be a bit slower, and the next day the other one would do the hard yards. Ambrose was quick. He had enough pace. He wasn’t maybe as quick as Waqar Younis or Allan Donald but he wasn’t far below. On that particular day he was even quicker than usual. There was no speedgun back then but the pace – and force – of Ambrose was such that all three batsmen who were bowled had a stump knocked out of the ground. The second of those was Stewart, who lost his off stump to leave England 26 for five. His 18 was comfortably the highest score of the innings. The rest of the top six made double figures – but only between them, with a total of 10 runs. Ambrose gave high-class batsmen an insight into what it’s like to be a tailender: intimidated, overwhelmed and with a legitimate fear that every ball might be the last. The panic in the England dressing-room was such that, with the score 26 for five, they sent in Ian Salisbury at No7 as a nightwatchman for Jack Russell. Salisbury’s excellent first-innings 36 was one of the reasons England got into a winning position. Here he lasted three balls before edging Walsh to slip. When Russell fended a rare Ambrose short ball to second slip, England were 37 for seven. Thorpe was the last of the remaining batsmen. “I was out there for a little bit of time”, he says, “but I just did a lot of fending off.” He lasted 28 balls, the longest stay of the innings, yet only managed three runs. Thorpe was just starting to change his approach, a move that was inspired by watching Brian Lara, and would became one of the great initiative-seizers of the 1990s. “I just tried to stay in the game. A few years later I would have tried to counterattack but my tactics weren’t very advanced at that stage.” From the penultimate ball of the final over, he was torpedoed by a delivery from Ambrose that kept low and removed his off stump. Without even turning round to look at the stumps, an expressionless Thorpe shuffled off. His gazillion-yard stare is the defining image of England’s humiliation. “I’ve seen it a few times on TV”, he laughs. “I think there was a bit of shock. I was probably just thinking, ‘Crikey, Test cricket is a pretty brutal game. ‘You play well for three days and you’re in the game all the time and then – bang! – game over’.” At that stage Thorpe was still waiting for his first Test victory. Ambrose and Walsh had more Test wins than the whole England team combined. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Robin Smith is out for a duck, beaten by Curtly Ambrose’s pace. ‘I played a beautiful forward-defensive’, he said. ‘The only problem was that I was about two minutes too late.’ Photograph: Rebecca Naden/PA Thorpe, like Stewart and a few of the others, could theoretically have got forward to Ambrose, even on an uneven pitch. But in theory there’s no reason why you can’t shoot the devil in the back. It was matter over mind. “I know Boycs said we should try to get forward”, says Thorpe, “but it’s never that easy. He didn’t give too many drive balls anyway. I think I drove him twice in my whole career, once in Barbados and once at The Oval.” The match was wrapped up the following morning. Walsh took the last two wickets and England limped past their lowest-ever total, 45 all out against Australia in 1887, by one run. Ambrose ended with figures of 10-1-24-6. He had done his work the previous night. “It is unlikely,” wrote Matthew Engel in The Guardian, “that anyone in history has been quite such a certainty to produce a performance of such magnitude when it actually matters.” In 44 Test victories Ambrose took 229 wickets at 16.86 and was Man of the Match 14 times. Among those who have played in at least five Test wins, only Muttiah Muralitharan has a better percentage of Man of the Match awards. The timing and the manner of Ambrose’s work makes him arguably the greatest matchwinner of all. “People ask me to explain how I can inflict these devastating, match-winning spells and I believe the simple answer is about having the strength of character to overcome adversity as all my best spells came in situations when the team was against it,” he said in Time to Talk. “It is about having sheer determination that we are not going to lose. I thrive on challenges, negative comments or anything where people doubt my ability. More often than not when I have been faced with these challenges I have come out triumphant.” The Joy of Six: great fast-bowling spells \| Russell Jackson Read more With many bowlers, control and aggression are almost mutually exclusive, but Ambrose was able to summon one without compromising the other. He was a raging metronome. Despite his obvious greatness, England were slaughtered in the press. Such shockingly low totals were unusual in those days. They have become a much more regular occurrence since the turn of the century, and we realise that it can happen to anyone – even Australia. It feels a little harsh that the 46 all out is still used as shorthand for England’s struggles in the 1990s as there were far worse performances with bat and ball. They failed, palpably, but only in the most exacting circumstances. “When a great bowler is in the zone, I don’t care how good a player you are, the bowler will win,” said Stewart. “Ambrose was awesome.” A 5-0 defeat seemed inevitable after that, but no side bounced back from rock bottom as effectively as England in the 1990s. They won astonishingly in the next Test at Barbados, West Indies’ first defeat there for 59 years, and a 3-1 series score was probably a slight overachievement. But the young team did not stick together: Illingworth took over as chairman of selectors later that month and started picking players in their forties, never mind their thirties. Atherton’s far-sighted vision did not become reality until Duncan Fletcher became coach in 1999. Many of the players had fine careers nonetheless and of the team beaten in Trinidad, Atherton, Stewart, Ramprakash, Thorpe, Hick and Caddick took part in 2000 when England finally won a series against West Indies for the first time since 1968. They did so despite exceptional bowling from Ambrose and Walsh, who had a combined age of 73 and essentially spent the summer bowling 78mph off-spin. They had a doosra too. Ambrose had already announced he would retire after the series and received a guard of honour from the England players in the final Test at The Oval. There is also a lovely picture of him walking off the field for the final time with Walsh. “It was one of the most touching moments I have seen on a field, when The Oval crowd rose to Ambrose and his great mate, Courtney Walsh, to applaud them off the field for an assumed last time,” wrote Atherton in Wisden. “They left, arm-in-arm, one sensed close to tears, and halfway up the pavilion steps Ambrose symbolically removed his famous white armbands, safe in the knowledge that his legs would have to do no more pounding.” This was not Stockholm Syndrome; everybody loved Curtly and Courtney, even the England batsmen who they had terrorised for so long. For this generation of outstanding players who did not win the Ashes, regaining the Wisden Trophy was the crowning glory. They had survived the most brutal rite of passage to get there. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Supreme Bowling is out now Photograph: PR • Supreme Bowling: 100 Great Test Performances is published by Von Krumm and is out now and available here. The book assesses the 100 greatest Test bowling performances via statistics, mathematics, deduction and writers’ knowledge. Looking at seven categories - value, economy and strike-rate, opposition, conditions, match impact, series impact and intangibles, writers such as Rob Smyth, Rob Bagchi, Daniel Harris, Dileep Premachandran and Russell Jackson have recorded the performances in a series of 100 essays.
A three-mile-long fishhook-shaped piece of land in the middle of Chesapeake Bay, Tangier Island has always been a community set apart from the mainland. Though just 12 miles off the shore of Virginia, the island’s mostly Methodist residents chose not to join the rest of the state as members of the Confederacy when the American Civil War broke out in 1861. More recently, Tangier’s town council voted against allowing the 1999 movie Message in a Bottle to be filmed on the island because of the presence of swearing, sex, and drinking in the script. (The romance was ultimately filmed in Bath, Maine.) These days, the island’s 500-plus residents, who mostly use golf carts as transportation on the village’s narrow roads and who don’t allow the public consumption of alcohol, have managed to retain a great deal of their traditional culture. Probably the most striking example of their heritage is the islanders’ unique way of speaking. What stands out most about Tangier residents’ speech is their unusual pronunciation of common English words and their use of words and expressions that are only understood by islanders. In addition, residents employ a curious way of communicating that they refer to as “talking backwards.” David L. Shores, author of the 2000 book Tangier Island: Place, People, and Talk, is a linguist who was born on Tangier Island. He has pinpointed the reason why the speech of Tangier Island strikes outsiders as odd. “They have a lot of idiomatic expressions, but the vowel system is quite different,” Shores says. “I mean, it’s English. You can understand the people, but they have a tendency to prolong a vowel.” According to Shores, the islanders pronounce their vowels louder and longer, which causes common words to sound different when uttered by Tangier natives. “If you would take the words ‘pull’ and ‘Paul,’ they would pronounce those the same way,” he says. Some writers and scholars have said the natives of Tangier, an island that people believe has been inhabited since 1686, speak an old form of English that goes back to the time of Queen Elizabeth I, who ruled England from 1558 to 1603. Shores doesn’t buy into that theory. “It’s not Elizabethan English by any means,” he says. “I doubt if anyone could trace it to that, because the varieties [of English] at that time were great.” Bruce Gordy, a Tangier native and a former teacher at the island’s only school, has compiled a list of 350 expressions and words that he says are used and understood only by islanders. It includes the word “wudget” for a “big wad of money” and the expression “in the sweet peas” to mean that someone is asleep. “On the mainland, if somebody has a bicycle and they get a flat tire then they have a flat tire,” he says. “Well, all of our lives growing up here, and even as adults, if somebody has a flat tire they don’t say that. They say ‘my bike’s bust.’ It’s just an expression we use here amongst ourselves.” There are also a few obscure words that are derived from older forms of English. “The reason Tangier people call ‘asparagus’ ‘spar grass’ is because it came from the Colonial [English] ‘sparrow grass,’” Gordy says. But Gordy doesn’t think it’s the strange vocabulary that puzzles outsiders most when hearing Tangier residents speak. “I think what confuses them is not so much the expressions or terms,” he says. “It’s the fact that we are ‘talking backwards’ a lot.” He offers up an example. “If somebody’s stupid, you know what I say?” Gordy says. “He’s smart. I’m saying he’s smart, but the way I say it and the emphasis makes everyone know I’m emphasizing he’s stupid.” Gordy compares “talking backwards” to saying something sarcastically. “If you want to emphasize how deeply the thing should be expressed, you say it with sarcasm,” he says. Isolated Island Both Gordy and Shores believe Tangier’s isolation has led to the islanders’ singular way of speaking. “I think it’s the same way with your Welsh, your Ulster Scots, the Cornish people, the Irish people, and so on,” Shores says. “Here you have these communities that people came to early, but they have just been isolated. They have retained features that have passed out of Virginia speech.” The economy of Tangier Island is moving away from its tradition of crabbing and fishing as the number of crabs and oysters in the bay plummets. More residents are finding work on tugboats or looking for jobs on the mainland. Gordy fears this could have devastating effects on the islanders’ way of life, including their speech. Tangier’s unique characteristics are “all tied to the water” and residents’ intense focus on the island and its surrounding area, he says. “That was what our whole life was. Of course the sons and daughters went with their dad out crabbing. You don’t go with your dad on the tugboat. That’s not going to preserve Tangier culture.”
Tight ends are not just “big” wide receivers One of the more interesting things that happened personnel-wise for the Detroit Lions’ offense in the Week 5 win over the Philadelphia Eagles was the use of 70 OT Corey Robinson as a tight end. 85 TE Eric Ebron sat on the inactive list Sunday due to ankle/knee injuries. That left the Lions with 86 TE Khari Lee, newly-signed 84 TE Clay Harbor, and 89 TE Cole Wick. Although Wick came out of preseason looking pretty good, by the road loss in Week 4 to Chicago he lost the backup job to Lee. To get an idea of how dissatisfied the Lions’ coaching staff was with the quality of blocking out of the tight ends, Wick went from the primary backup to Ebron to just three offensive snaps against the Eagles. Lee, who appeared to be the blocking tight end against the Bears, played only 13 offensive snaps. The new guy Harbor, who had only been with the team for five days, played more snaps (23) than both of them combined. Consider this: Harbor was signed by releasing the other tight end that was on the roster at the time, Orson Charles. It is not clear why finding a good blocking tight end has been so difficult for the team, but it is taking a toll on rushing production. When we think of bad blocking on running plays, the first instinct is usually to look at the offensive line. With the Lions, an emerging problem is that even when the offensive line blocks well, the run can be blown up on a crucial failure by a tight end. 2016 at GBY (5:41). Second-and-5 at the Green Bay 25. The alignment in this play is favorable, with Detroit’s two tight ends (Ebron outside and Wick inside) lined up opposite 56 DE Julius Peppers and 24 CB Quinten Rollins. Interestingly, 15 WR Golden Tate had started wide to the right side of the formation and motioned to a spot right behind the tight ends. This actually created a five-on-four numbers advantage to the left, but the play required Tate to come back across as a pass option to the right flat. In any case, what was supposed to happen was Ebron and Wick hit Peppers at the first level and then Ebron releases to the second level to take Rollins; Riddick follows around end and gets a shot at making a move on the deep safety for bigger yards. What actually ends up happening is Ebron merely gives a token shove to “help” Wick on Peppers, but Wick never establishes control. The angle of the off-balance stance on contact shows the rookie is toast immediately after the snap and initial burst off the line. Unless Ebron stays to help Wick re-anchor against Peppers, it’s over: the defensive end’s inside shoulder is in contact with his blocker’s outside shoulder. That gives the defender leverage to the outside, and indeed he charges into the backfield for a huge negative play: Going six yards backwards pushed Detroit into a terrible down-and-distance spot, threatening to end the drive. Stafford would hit Ebron down the seam for 14 yards to move the chains, but another poor effort in the run game by the tight ends put the offense back behind schedule on the next play. 2016 at GBY 1Q (4:15). First-and-10 at the Green Bay 17. The Lions are in a double tight end pistol formation, with 11 WR Marvin Jones stacked in front of 15 WR Golden Tate to the right and both tight ends in-line to the left. The play call is a staple: run-screen option with Stafford reading the defense to decide whether to throw the perimeter to Tate or hand off to 25 HB Theo Riddick up the gut. Since Green Bay has two defensive backs in front of the WR stack and a safety backing them up (you can see the shadow all the way at the right edge), he sticks with the run play. At the snap, the blocking at the left edge where the tight ends is worth checking out. 68 LT Taylor Decker pulls and looks down the line for someone to seal on the backside. Ebron as the outside tight end is responsible for blocking 53 OLB Nick Perry, while Wick as the inside tight end will release to the second level and is supposed to pick up 21 FS Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. In this screenshot taken after the snap, we see Perry beating Ebron to the inside: what happened to Wick? It turns out Wick didn’t bother helping Ebron at the first level and rushed off downfield to look for his guy. Thanks to poor support by Wick and the missed block by Ebron, Perry shoots through and crushes the play in the backfield for a three-yard loss. Even worse, Wick did not even successfully engage Clinton-Dix at the second level after abandoning Ebron. Two unproductive plays later, the Lions settled for a 42-yard field goal after a long and successful drive from their own 25. The Lions can only come away successful on second-and-long and third-and-long so many times; this is how poor blocking from tight ends end up stalling drives. Super-heavy blocking tight end To solve the problem of mediocre (at best) tight end play and demonstrate what can be done when adequate blocking is provided from those spots, offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter shifted Robinson to act like a tight end against the Eagles. Of the 19 offensive snaps Robinson played, 14 were rushing plays. While nothing can guarantee every play will work to perfection, the miracle of even occasional solid blocking from the tight end position kind of made me wish we had an athletic big body who could line up at TE with the blocking training of an offensive lineman. Until Pettigrew comes back, maybe Corey Robinson will have to do. Charles Davis on the broadcast for the Lions-Eagles game kept referring to the Lions’ offensive plays with Robinson on the field as “unbalanced formations.” Normally, when an extra offensive lineman is on the field or when a tackle is shifted so the line has more offensive linemen to one side of the center than the other, that’s correct. In this case, though, Robinson is not really playing tackle; he’s a tight end with the reverse skill set of Cole Wick. 2016 PHI, 3Q (9:12). First-and-10 at the Detroit 18. This is the same play we just looked at from the Green Bay game, this time flipped from right to left with 86 TE Khari Lee replacing Ebron on the outside and Robinson replacing Wick on the inside. The corresponding puller (Decker when it was on the left side) would be 71 RT Riley Reiff. Post-snap, 91 DT Fletcher Cox advances on the back side of 75 RG Larry Warford through the hole vacated by Reiff. The veteran right tackle dives at the feet of the rusher in an impromptu cut block to seal the back side for Riddick. Now, some will probably argue that Reiff merely fell down (Cox does push down on his shoulder), but whether by accident or design it is effective. Meanwhile, look at the rest of the back side being blocked by the tight ends: both Robinson and Lee have their guys locked up. Riddick hits the middle of the line with a full head of steam, pushing the pile forward for four yards. Not the most elegant rushing play in execution, but it’s hard to argue with the results. 2016 PHI, 1Q (12:25). Second-and-10 at the Philadelphia 37. Rewinding a bit to the first quarter, here is the longest rushing play of the game for Detroit. Same formation, same WR action to the outside by Marvin and Tate, but this time the puller is the outside TE Lee. Robinson must control 75 DE Vinny Curry lined up in front of him to set the edge; Lee will loop inside to blast 58 OLB Jordan Hicks in the right hand C gap, which is Riddick’s targeted hole. First, notice the screen action at the bottom. For everything except the stuff going on at the right edge of the offensive line, this play looks identical to the defense to the one we examined above in the third quarter. Turning to that right edge of the line, it is clear that Robinson has Curry under control and Lee is about to wall off Hicks. The man Riddick must beat is 21 CB Leodis McKelvin, who is the unaccounted for defender in the eight-man front. Robinson’s absolute control of Curry presents McKelvin with a dilemma. Instead of one hole to move up to fill, he has two holes that are vulnerable. McKelvin commits hard to the inside when Riddick gets the handoff, and is unable to recover and redirect when the ball bounces outside: On the replay close-up, Robinson is visible grasping the right armpit and employing a quick bit of the Green Bay sleeve technique with his left hand. McKelvin comes running in and can be seen stumbling backwards to try and recover at the left edge of the GIF. Obviously, he has no chance to try and catch Theo running downhill at full speed to the outside. Is there any healthy tight end on the roster from whom we could expect that kind of blocking? Unfortunately, I believe the answer right now is no. Another way to substitute for tight ends In the week leading up to the Philadelphia game, one of Jeremy’s open thread questions of the day was “Which Lions player would you like to see get more playing time?” My answer was 46 FB Michael Burton, and he presents another way to fill the blocking void from the tight ends on the roster. Although he is too small to put on the line of scrimmage, he can be effective from an H-back position set back a little off the line. 2016 PHI, 1Q (1:36). First-and-10 at the Philadelphia 21. Here is a play from near the end of the terrific first quarter against the Eagles featuring an odd personnel set. The Lions have three wide receivers on the field with Tate in motion across the formation and two running backs. Stafford and Riddick are in the pistol with Burton lined up where we would normally expect to see a tight end. Blocking-wise, there are two really interesting things to see here. First, obviously, is the trap block that Burton executes, which is just a shorter distance version of the usual slice block we get from Ebron or some other tight end on a split zone run. The other thing that’s worth noting here—especially for all you fanatics on board the Graham Glasgow hype train—is the excellent hand-off of 96 DT Bennie Logan after first contact to the trap block trailing behind. Glasgow flows naturally on a complicated assignment to knock the guy in front of him, release, and then latch on to 98 DE Connor Barwin to the outside. This yielded just four yards up the middle, but I think the Lions will take that on first down every time instead of negative plays. Burton as a blocker at the point of attack is so good that it is hard to believe he is so underutilized. I mean, who doesn’t want more of this? 2016 PHI, 2Q (10:21). First-and-10 at the Detroit 25. Lacking uninjured quality tight ends on the roster against Philadelphia, Jim Bob sent in plays with a fullback on the field 13 times. Cooter Ball diversified to tackle eligible plays featuring Corey Robinson and greater involvement of Michael Burton when it was forced to deal with a personnel shortage. Such weird package mixes—common in the first half but mostly absent in the second half—may have contributed to Detroit’s early offensive success by presenting new looks that made the defense hesitate (or just generally wonder what the heck Detroit was thinking). Until the veteran tight ends are ready to play, look for the offense to continue to send in wacky packages and modified plays.
Even as Sanders "path to victory" increasingly narrows, the passion for his candidacy grows in intensity. Recent victories in Indiana and Oregon reflect the continuing desire for a progressive alternative to Clinton and Centrist Democrats. It also reveals a hardening divide in the Party and beyond between those who want real "revolution" and those who are content with "reform." These divisions have increasingly spilled over from campaign rhetoric to more forceful protest and agitation. The recent upheaval at the Nevada caucus highlights the extreme frustrations and actions of Sanders supporters who feel disenfranchised by a supposedly "rigged" system. Reports include vandalism and now verbal threats to those considered to be Clinton allies. "What does too often go unsaid is how the rightful condemnation of popular violence masks the larger violence perpetuated by those with power." As Sanders declared Tuesday, "Our campaign of course believes in non-violent change and it goes without saying that I condemn any and all forms of violence, including the personal harassment of individuals." What does too often go unsaid though is how the rightful condemnation of popular violence masks the larger violence perpetuated by those with power. In this case, the legitimate critique of the actions of a few Sanders delegates is hiding the just as real present and future threat posed by the Democratic establishment to many within America and many more around the world. A Growing Revolution From the very beginning, Sanders has called his campaign a "political revolution." It is a phrase that traditionally evokes images of violent barricades and radical confrontations with authority. For Sanders and his supporters it has meant less guerrilla warfare or the protests of the square, and more a populist electoral movement against the "billionaire class" and for social democracy. The events in Nevada have raised questions over just how peaceful and democratic this "revolution" actually is. Democratic leaders and many mainstream party members have charged Sanders’ campaign of having a "violent streak." This follows months of accusations that so-called "Bernie Bros" have aggressively attacked Clinton supporters online using misogynistic language traditionally disavowed by progressives (and vehemently by the candidate himself). Even worse, these actions are perceived to be connected to protestors who interrupted a Trump Rally in March and yelled expletives at those leaving a Clinton rally in Los Angeles earlier this month. In the face of such actions Democratic leaders have "put pressure" on Sanders to more forcefully condemn such violence. If anything though this anger only seems to be growing. "The Dems new fear," according to CNN, is that the "Sanders revolt could upend the [national] Democratic convention" in July. It appears that what was once a peaceful "revolution" could blossom into a full blown rebellion. Protecting the Establishment There is clearly a need to reject unacceptable violence, death threats, harassment and misogyny. To simply ignore them would be to dismiss the experiences of many who have questioned Sanders or the tactics of his supporters. It is also significant to recognize that as Sanders mentions, the majority of his movement has been incredibly non-violent. SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Help Keep Common Dreams Alive Our progressive news model only survives if those informed and inspired by this work support our efforts "Within the last few days there have been a number of criticisms made against my campaign organization," said Sanders. "Party leaders in Nevada, for example, claim that the Sanders campaign has a ‘penchant for violence.’ That is nonsense. Our campaign has held giant rallies all across this country, including in high-crime areas, and there have been zero reports of violence." Still to merely condemn without context is to perpetuate a different type of violence. It is to be willfully blind to the institutional ways Democratic elites are alienating outside voices demanding genuine as opposed to surface level change to the Party and nation. The unrest in Nevada, for instance, was spurred by underhanded activities by the local DNC to ensure that Clinton was awarded a majority of the delegates. This echoes a primary filled with credible charges of voter suppression and perhaps even fraud from Arizona to New York to Illinois. The irritated screams are in response to the deeply felt "silencing" of their voices by Party elites and the mainstream media. Yet this justified critique also hides another more imminent danger. It is that these citizens are trying desperately to resist a status quo that has and will do dramatic violence to them and those they care about. The protest against Clinton in East LA exemplifies this clear and present threat. Underneath the hyperbolic claims of elderly women and children being verbally assaulted was a more frightening reality. It was that many of the protestors inside and outside the rally were there to condemn Clinton’s active role in legitimizing a military coup in Honduras producing an oligarchic government responsible for the death of indigenous protestors and the repression of women and LGTB rights. It was a direct shaming of the Party by “Latinos” against Clinton’s own previous brutal anti-immigration policies and Obama’s continued use of deportations. Protesting American Privilege at Home and Abroad There is a risk that in calling out the most extreme aspects of Sanders supporters, the extremism of Clinton’s brand of Centrism will be dangerously covered up. What does it say if the localized violence in a Nevada caucus room trumps the global violence of a candidate who has advocated disastrous military interventions from Iraq to Libya? Should there be more worry for a protest at a rally than for the millions of lives ruined by an economic crisis by a financial sector that Clinton did little to resist and that continues to support her? It is too once again draw a clear line of whose safety and wellbeing is important and whose is not. That the murder of Honduran activist Berta Cáceres matters little, while the "booing" of Senator Barbara Boxer is a serious incident that must be strongly decried. The reversion to violence and threat by progressives backing Sanders is inappropriate and counter-productive. Yet it is different than the reactionary assaults of a Trump rally in its desire to breakdown rather than reinforce existing racial and economic privilege. However, it is also stands in stark contrast to the less overtly violent but ultimately potentially more destructive rallies of Clinton. It is to vocally support a candidate who admirably promises to "break down" the very social and economic barriers that she and her allies have helped to build and preserve. In his statement against the violence in Nevada, Sanders proclaimed: "The Democratic Party has a choice. It can open its doors and welcome into the party people who are prepared to fight for real economic and social change – people who are willing to take on Wall Street, corporate greed and a fossil fuel industry which is destroying this planet. Or the party can choose to maintain its status quo structure, remain dependent on big-money campaign contributions and be a party with limited participation and limited energy." Right now those committed to real economic and social justice are too often confronted with an even more difficult choice. It is too engage in sporadic violent acts or to accept the "hidden violence" of the status quo. And all to commonly the progressive ends of these tactics are betrayed by their deplorable means. The political revolution called for by Sanders and activists across the country offers a different way. It is to create a democratic and inclusive system of governance that upholds the rights and dignities of all – not just elites and their supporters. It is also an opening to go beyond the borders of America to join and show solidarity with a growing international movement of citizens and activists on every continent fighting for real economic, social and environmental progress. What is needed is a radical condemnation of the worst excesses of this rebellion for a committed democratic revolution that will challenge the global destruction aided and abetted by the establishments of both major parties. It is a firm protest against American privilege at home and abroad.
Motorola introduced the original Moto X in August 2013, and the follow-up, the 2014 Moto X in September 2014. This means that the company will most likely unveil the third generation Moto X sometime in the third quarter, in four or five months. That, however, is a long time in tech, but it never stopped the rumor mill’s continuous motion. Just as we’re hearing about some great savings on the 2014 Moto X, we are also hearing some rumored Moto X 2015 specs. While we can’t verify any of the below, we advise you to treat everything accordingly. The source of the information is allegedly a Motorola insider who claims to know what the company will bake into its next flagship. A 5.2-inch QHD AMOLED panel is mentioned, as well as a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 processor, the same found inside LG’s latest and greatest, the LG G4. Additionally, there would be 4GB of RAM, 32- and 64GB storage options, a pair of 16- and 5MP shooters for the back and front respectively, a rather large 3,280mAh battery, as well as Android 5.1.1 on-board. These specs are claimed to exist on initial test devices, or prototypes, and the sheet you see below might change depending on how this initial stage is going. Some of the information above does indeed match what we heard straight from the horse’s mouth, as Motorola’s president was talking August or September release, and five-inch-plus range. That being said, while maintaining a skeptical attitude, do let us know how you find these alleged Moto X 2015 specs. asd Source: STJS Gadgets Via: GSMArena
Bernie saying no to my sandwich Oh my GOD! I can’t believe how rude Sanders is being. I mean, for weeks now he’s been pestering me with how hungry he is. Hungry, hungry, hungry. And I’ve told him I was busy. I mean Super Tuesday busy, ha-ha. Lots of very important rich people to bundle , er, meet with. I mean, does Bernie’s rumpled old self even have the $33K it costs to dine with me? Seriously, come on. He’s no George Clooney. Anyway, to be honest, I didn’t really think I should be the one making him food. Last time he was hungry, we went to a restaurant and he TOTALLY embarrassed me, waving his hands around, proclaiming how he wanted to give the wait staff a yuuuuge tip, etc. You just cannot take him anywhere. So, finally, after a bunch of his friends kept complaining to me how hungry he was, I gave in, and made him the most delicious, mouth-watering crap sandwich there ever was. Kudos to me for compromising, amiright? And, and… he REFUSED to eat it. No, really. Just completely refused it. Seriously, what is wrong with this guy? More on this outrageous insult here: www.nbcnews.com/...
“I have a personal vendetta against food allergy,” says Brian Hom. In the seven years since his oldest son’s death, the San Jose father has made a mission of educating people about this commonly misunderstood condition. Hom is especially worried that food allergies are not on the radar in communities of color. “It’s a stereotype that it’s a rich white family thing, that it doesn’t happen to blacks, it doesn’t happen to Asians,” Hom explains. “It doesn’t matter if you’re rich or if you’re poor. The rich might just have more awareness.” Outreach to Asian-Americans is important to Hom, who has appeared on Chinese-language TV to talk about his son’s death. Complicating the education efforts among Asian-Americans is the lack of food allergy data specifically for minorities. “There’s so little done looking at these kids and how they show up with food allergies,” says Dr. Ruchi Gupta, MD, associate professor of pediatrics at Northwestern Medical and the lead researcher for the 2011 Pediatrics study. “Are they allergic to different kinds of foods?” According to Gupta, Asian participants in the survey were 30 percent less likely to be diagnosed for their allergies. “Asian children may have food allergy, but their parents may feel that there’s not anything a doctor can do,” says Gupta, explaining that patients may just avoid an ingredient after a mild reaction, such as a rash or discomfort, instead of seeking medical testing to find out how severe the allergy is or if they are also allergic to other foods. Why are so many Asian-American kids developing food allergies when many of their parents and grandparents never heard of the concept? Studies in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology report that food allergies have doubled in the United States and the United Kingdom during the past two decades, but historical data from Asia is spottier. A 2013 study published in Asia Pacific Allergy reports that allergy rates in Asia during the most recent decade are increasing, albeit still lower than in Western nations. “It doesn’t seem to have any proclivity towards one ethnicity versus another or one child versus another,” says Kari Nadeau MD ,Ph.D., who is director of the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford University (formerly the Stanford Food Allergy Center). A further breakdown of findings published in 2011 Pediatrics reveal that peanuts are the most common allergen among Asian-Americans, as they are among the all American children, although peanut allergies are 30 percent more common among Asian kids. But Asian-American kids are also frequently allergic to foods that are not considered common triggers in the United States. As a result, Asian-American parents may need to be vigilant about accidental exposure to foods that are not generally thought of as allergens. Jeannie Tsai of Mountain View, California has a 4-year-old daughter who is allergic to multiple foods, including shellfish. Seafood stocks or dried shrimp may often be an ingredient in Asian meals, even though they are not visible in the finished dish or noted on the menu. “We went to a Japanese restaurant and my daughter developed hives around her lips after accidentally drinking some miso soup that was cooked with fish bones,” says Tsai. Shellfish allergy is much more common in Asian-Americans than the general population. Breakout data from the 2011 Pediatrics study reveals that Asian-Americans are almost twice as likely to be allergic to shellfish than other Americans, not surprising since the 2013 Asia Pacific Allergy report showed shellfish to be most common food allergen in many of the countries studied, including China, Taiwan and Thailand. Most allergy sufferers, or their parents, have learned to be vigilant about avoiding exposure -- checking labels, packing lunches and avoiding restaurants. Brian Hom has been especially careful about food allergies since BJ’s death, but in 2013, Hom’s youngest son Steven was rushed to the emergency room after eating at a pho shop they’d frequented in the past without problems. “He ate the same thing for years, noodle soup with seafood,” explain Hom. “They changed the recipe, boiling it with peanuts.” Food allergies seem especially cruel when people react to beloved traditional foods, causing them to avoid potlucks or family dinners for fear of unknown ingredients or cross-contamination. Cooking at home can even be a challenge. Wong has learned to prepare many Chinese foods that people typically eat at restaurants -- such dan tot egg tarts or leaf-wrapped zhong common to dim sum carts -- because of the danger that a steamer or pot of water may have also been used to cook foods that include peanuts. She reads labels and has even called distributors of packaged foods to inquire about ingredients, which is made difficult because of language barriers. “I speak Cantonese pretty well,” says Wong, a second-generation Chinese-American. “But I don’t know how to read and write. I don’t have the words ‘anaphalaxis’ or ‘cross-contact’ in my vocabulary.” Dr. Jae Rin Park, of West Point, New York, is a nutritional biochemist who is raising three young boys, each with multiple food allergies. Six-year-old Nathan is allergic to soy sauce, making it nearly impossible for his mother to prepare many traditional Korean dishes which she believes are important to maintaining optimal health. “I’ve tried to substitute coconut aminos and Bragg’s liquid aminos, both of which taste bad and nothing like soy sauce and also seem to elicit some kind of reaction in my son,” Park says. “I miss cooking certain dishes like bulgogi or kalbi.” Dietary restrictions can even interfere with religious practices. Chicago resident Sharmila Rao Thakkar’s 7-year-old son is allergic to tree nuts and peanuts, preventing him from participating in the Hindu tradition of prasad, in which worshippers eat a bit of blessed food, usually fruit or the Indian sweet halwah, both which are often combined with nuts. “The priests pass it around and just expect all to take it, like communion,” says Thakkar. Since the prasad often contains allergens, Thakkar does not allow her son to partake, unless she or her mother have prepared it, and she is certain it is free of nuts. Avoiding Foods is Not Enough “Food allergy is different from lactose intolerance, which is very easy to treat, or celiac disease in which people cannot tolerate wheat,” explains Gupta. For example, The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 90 percent of East Asians are lactose intolerant; their bodies don’t produce the enzymes to digest milk. The condition may cause discomfort, but can be easily managed by avoiding dairy products or by taking supplements. But for a person who is allergic to dairy, exposure to milk proteins triggers a potentially life-threatening response from the immune system. Stephanie Lau-Chen of Mountain View, California discovered her daughter’s severe allergy when the day care center called to report the 1-year-old looked a little blue after taking a bottle. She rushed the toddler to the emergency room, where doctors gave her a shot of epinephrine, a drug that stops anaphylactic reaction. Lau-Chen has had two other close calls with her daughter, who is now 9 years old. “They’re always accidents,” Lau-Chen says, explaining that along with the incident at day care, her daughter has had two anaphylactic reactions under her own watch. “One time there was a Jamba Juice that we thought was fruit based. Another time was at a friends house and we were passing around drinks to the kids.” While Lau-Chen rushed her daughter to the emergency room after those incidents, she says in hindsight, she should have immediate used an epi-pen, a device that injects epinephrine into the bloodstream to stop the reaction. “We’ve Been Eating This for Generations” For many Asian-American parents, one of the most formidable challenges is explaining the dietary restrictions to grandparents, who may be first-generation Americans or never heard of food allergies in their native countries. For immigrant families, in which generations may be separated by language and cultural differences, mealtime plays an especially important role. “There are some unique challenges for Asian American children with food allergies,” says Grace Peace Yu M.D. M.Sc., “Parents and grandparents sometimes show their love through food.” In Dublin, California, Dr. Yu treats many East Asian and South Asian patients in her allergy and immunology practice. She has seen a dangerous trend of patients’ families attempting to ‘cure’ food allergies on their own. “What I’ve seen people do is bring their child back to India and bring them to Ayurvedic treatments,” says Yu. “Some of these treatments involve giving the child allergenic foods, and then have allergic reactions.” Because of the Asian high population in the Bay Area, her employer, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, provides cultural awareness training for physicians. Doctor’s children are not immune to food allergies, nor to the family tensions they can cause. Dr. Gupta’s research hit home when her own daughter was diagnosed as allergic to nuts, a common ingredient in her family’s Indian foods. “We’ve been eating this for generations and generations,” Gupta’s relatives told her. The co-author of The Food Allergy Experience, Gupta suggests defusing the tension by inviting skeptical grandparents to tag along on doctor’s visits. “Have the physician describe how serious it is to the family member,” advises Gupta. “Don’t put it on yourself. Put it on your doctor.” If BJ’s Story Can Help Save a Life Like Hom, Wong is also outspoken about food allergy safety, and notes that many of California’s leading food allergy advocates are also Asian-American. In 2014, Wong testified before the California State Senate in favor of SB1266, a bill requiring epi-pens in all public schools. The California measure went even further than the federal law signed by President Obama in 2013, which gave school staff permission to administer epi-pens. While health care groups and allergy advocates backed the bill, teachers unions fought it on the grounds that educators might be forced into administering medication against their will. California lawmakers passed the bill in September 2014, joining five other states in mandating all public schools to carry epinephrine, which can be used on any child having an analphylactic reaction. After Wong, a former school teacher, spoke in favor of the bill on a San Francisco TV station, an older relative became concerned about her future job prospects. “In Asian-American culture, there’s a tendency to avoid causing trouble,” says Wong, “But I think when we keep quiet is when we put ourselves at risk.” Could a Cure for Food Allergies Be Near? At Stanford University, Kari Nadeau M.D. Ph.D has spent over a decade researching a cure for food allergies. Nadeau’s group, the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford University, currently has 13 different clinical trials designed to desensitize the immune system by administering microscopic amounts of allergens through a skin patch. While the treatment may sound similar to Ayurvedic or Chinese medicine practices, Nadeau warns against attempts to treat food allergies outside of a medical environment. “The amount that you have to start with to get someone desensitized is miniscule and safety needs to be carefully watched by trained personnel.” Dr. Nadeau is optimistic about the treatment, although it may be years away from being available to the public. “At the end of the day, there is hope and promise for patients and families with food allergies,” says Nadeau. To date, over 200 people have had their food allergies successfully reversed through the Stanford program. The trial group includes patients of various ethnicities and socio-economic levels, including Sharon Wong’s son, who is beginning to show signs desensitizing to peanuts. Brian Hom’s youngest son Steven also tested the patch for one year, but dropped out of the study due to potential interference from his asthma medication. Hom hopes his son can benefit from immunotherapy in the future, especially since the technology is on the fast track to FDA approval. In the meantime, he continues to advocate, speaking at food allergy conferences and organizing the annual Food Allergy Research and Education (FARE) walk in San Jose. He hopes his story will show other Asian Americans that they are not immune to food allergies. “You know how death is in the Asian community, it’s sacred,” says Hom. “Losing a child is even worse. Take it seriously. Go get checked.” —Grace Hwang Lynch Grace Hwang Lynch is a San Francisco Bay Area freelance writer specializing in culture and parenting. Her writing has appeared in PBS Parents, Salon, BlogHer, and Library Journal. She also writes the award-winning blog HapaMama: Asian Fusion Family and Food. This story is a part of Off the Menu: Asian America, a multimedia project between the Center for Asian American Media and KQED, featuring a one-hour PBS primetime special by award-winning filmmaker Grace Lee (American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs), original stories and web content. Participate in Indian American Food Allergy Survey
The Cabinet on Wednesday approved amendments to the GST bill to compensate states for revenue loss for five years on introduction of the uniform nationwide indirect tax regime, as has been suggested by Rajya Sabha Select Committee. The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, this evening agreed to the recommendation made by the Select Committee on compensation to states to win over support of regional parties like TMC of West Bengal and Odisha's BJD in getting the landmark Constitution Amendment approved by the Upper House where the ruling NDA does not have a majority. The Cabinet decided that the modalities for levy of 1% tax over and above the GST rate by states as well as the 'band' rate would be finalised while framing the rules, sources said. The Rajya Sabha Select panel, headed by BJP's Bhupender Yadav, in its report last week suggested GST rate to be no more than 20% and levy of 1% additional tax by states only on actual sales and not on inter-company stock or inventory transfer. The Constitution Amendment Bill for a Goods and Service Tax (GST), to replace all indirect taxes like excise and sales tax on all products, except alcohol, has already been passed by the Lok Sabha and is pending passage in the Upper House. The amendment approved by the Cabinet on compensation seeks to give an assurance to states for making up for revenue loss they may suffer in first five years of introduction of GST. Government plans to roll out GST from April 1, 2016, a very tight schedule considering the fact that the Bill has to be approved by Rajya Sabha and half of the 30 states.
The Santa Experience inside the Mall of America is bringing a unique experience to Twin Cities families this year. For the first time since it opened, a black Santa Claus will help spread the Christmas cheer. Santa Larry Jefferson is from Dallas and will spend four days taking pictures and videos for families by appointment at the Santa Experience. “It’s no big deal, I’m still Santa, I just happen to be a Santa of Color,” Jefferson said. He is one of thousands of Santa’s helpers, who pose for pictures inside malls and shopping centers across the country. “The Santa Experience is so excited to have created this opportunity and this experience,” said Landon Luther, the owner of The Santa Experience. Luther met Jefferson at the Santa Convention in Branson, Missouri, over the summer. “We had close to a 1,000 Santas there, and I was the only Santa of color,” Jefferson said. He says kids of color really get a kick out of seeing a Santa who looks like them. “It gives them something to identity with, but Santa is still just Santa,” Jefferson said. “Just Saturday, I was doing an event, and one child said, ‘Santa, you’re brown,’ and I said, ‘Yes, I am, but Santa comes in many different colors.’ He said, ‘Oh,’ so I gave him a candy cane, he ran off with other kids.” Jefferson, or Santa Larry, is only at the Santa Experience inside the Mall of America, by appointment only. He will be there Thursday until Sunday. For more information, click here. You can also call 952-854-9064 to set up a meet and greet with Santa Larry.
There was a protest rally at Evergreen College yesterday by a group calling itself Patriot Prayer. The group’s plan to visit the campus also inspired a counter-protest by an antifa group. Though there was lots of shouting, air horns, and silly string, only one person was arrested. From KIRO 7 news: A conservative, pro-Trump group protested at The Evergreen State College because they believe that “political correctness and hatred has taken over the campus.”… KIRO 7 cameras captured several Patriot Prayer protesters taking down a man for having a knife. Tusitala “Tiny” Toese was among those who jumped into action: “He had his knife open, and he was pointing it at one of our guys, so we put him down and took him to the cops.” The campus had been closed in advance of the protest. A KING5 reporter broke down the number of protesters/antifa members he saw: My estimates: 60 Pro-Trump protesters, 120 "Anarchists," about 60 WSP. More police on/surrounding campus. One person taken into custody pic.twitter.com/oCYXYlyhkJ — Drew Mikkelsen (@drewmikkelsenk5) June 16, 2017 The “60 WSP” are Washington State Police who were on hand to keep the two groups apart as much as possible. Big WSP presence on @EvergreenStCol campus for protests. Pro-Trump folks upset about recent activism on campus. Counter-activists here too pic.twitter.com/RIzFce395w — Drew Mikkelsen (@drewmikkelsenk5) June 16, 2017 Here’s a video which shows the encounter between the two groups: This clip appears to have been shot by the Patriot Prayer group themselves and offers their perspective on what happened:
Spread the love Macungie Township, PA — Imagine being imprisoned for being completely innocent and one hundred percent free of drugs and alcohol in one’s system. While there are many who may be tempted to think it could never happen to them, to Wilfredo Ramos Jr., the possibility quickly became a reality. Ramos was arrested and spent five months behind bars for being completely sober. Problems with law enforcement agents started for Ramos when he was stopped by Pennsylvania State Highway Trooper Justin M. Summa and Kevin Vanfleet on June 16, 2014. He was on his way to visit his mother when he was pulled over near Schantz Road in Upper Macungie Township. Summa believed he smelled alcohol on Ramos’ breath. But when he conducted a field sobriety test and administered a breathalyzer test, the results were immediately clear. Ramos was stone-cold sober. Not only did he blow .00 on the breath test, but his balance and coordination were without question. Still, the troopers insisted Ramos was under the influence of some substance. He arrested the motorist from New York, contending, “Oh you are from New York…You must have guns or drugs? We know you have drugs, just tell us where they are.” Even after an exhaustive search of the vehicle turned up no drugs, alcohol, or guns, the man was still taken into custody. This time, Summa believed if he could do a blood test, the man’s blood would surely convict him of driving under the influence. A drug recognition expert (DRE) was called in to evaluate Ramos. As TFTP has previously reported, the fake title is given to officers to further enable them to violate motorists’ rights by placing more value and weight into the title than the breathalyzer tests, field sobriety tests, and blood tests can demonstrate. In other words, a DRE has more power to convict someone than science does. Based on the DRE’s reported evaluation, who concluded the suspect was probably on “depressants,” Lehigh County Magisterial District Judge David M. Howells, Jr. set bail at $10,000, Ramos had his blood drawn, and then he waited in his jail cell for eleven days while the results of the drug test were being processed. Predictably, the drug tests came back negative for any drugs or alcohol. However, Trooper Summa insisted the samples be re-tested. As a result, Ramos was not free to leave. Instead, he was transferred to the Lehigh County prison where he remained for another 147 days. While in prison, because he could not work, Ramos lost his apartment as well as all of his belongings including his vehicle which was impounded at the time of his arrest. Because he could not retrieve his vehicle, it was confiscated and sold at auction. The proceeds of such sales usually go to the police department which made the arrest. Adding insult to injury, the false imprisonment also led to the man losing his job because he failed to report to work. Even after an exhaustive attempt by police to extort Ramos for bail money, a failed attempt to find him in possession of drugs or alcohol, and a tortuous ordeal being locked up in prison, Ramos was finally released. On November 12, 2014, Judge James T. Anthony found Ramos not guilty of DUI and ordered his release. But instead of immediately returning home to NY, Ramos contracted with attorney Josh Karoly, who filed a lawsuit against the officers and the PA State Highway Patrol. According to McAll, the lawsuit alleged the officers schemed to falsely arrest Ramos: Ramos’ lawsuit alleged Troopers Justin M. Summa and Kevin Vanfleet, assigned to the Fogelsville barracks, conspired to falsely arrest him after finding no evidence that he was intoxicated or that he had drugs or guns in his car. The suit also named top brass in the PA Highway Patrol: The suit also claimed five state police supervisors, ranging from the troop commander to former state police Commissioner Francis Noonan, were liable for racially motivated misconduct, unlawful seizure, due process of law violations, denial of equal rights, conspiracy to interfere with civil rights and other Civil Rights Act violations. Ramos won his lawsuit and was given $150,000 in compensatory damages for having been deprived of his civil rights. Karoly said of the settlement: It was a mistake that this happened and this resolution is going to go a long way toward getting his life back on track to where it was before this happened…It makes mistakes like that much less likely when they’re brought to the public’s attention Here at TFTP, we cannot think of another more appropriate example of how Civil Asset Forfeiture (CAF), Drug Recognition Experts, the practice of forcible blood drawing, ineptitude on behalf of the officers involved as well as unscrupulous judges, all work together to abuse our citizens’ civil liberties. Maybe Mr. Ramos’ story of false arrest/imprisonment is necessary to force others, who are still blinded by their undying loyalty to the boys in blue, to realize what’s really going on out there in our nation’s streets. It really should come as no surprise the incident took place in Pennsylvania. For the better part of two years, the highway patrol there has been embroiled in a wide-spread cheating scandal. Apparently, they’re so desperate to fill the ranks of state troopers they’re willing to hire individuals with broken moral compasses—the results of which can be seen in Mr. Ramos’ story.
Housing has become a chronic problem in Spain. But it was already a vexed issue during the property bubble of the last decade, when thousands of citizens were priced out of the market while thousands of others got themselves mortgaged for life. And it continues to be a problem now, when the financial crisis and soaring unemployment are preventing young people from moving out of their parents' homes even as the growing number of mortgage defaults are throwing entire families out on the street. And all this is happening in a country where home ownership is the rule and rental homes represent a persistently small percentage of the housing stock. Now, the Popular Party (PP) government of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is planning to bring more flexibility to the rental market with a set of measures that make it easier for landlords to get their properties back and for tenants to terminate their lease. For instance, once the reforms are enacted, owners may demand that a tenant leave the property at any time regardless of the duration of the lease, while tenants will be able to walk out with just one month's notice. Until now, contracts were for five years by default, and a further three if neither party said anything to the contrary. The executive wants to bring these periods down to three years and one year, respectively. Spain has always had a weak rental market because of the overwhelming Spanish preference for home ownership. The latest Eurostat figures, dating back to 2010, show an owner-occupancy rate as high as 83 percent in Spain, with the only partial exception to the rule being the city of Barcelona, where rentals represent 25 to 30 percent of the property market. They are getting it wrong again; supply isn't the problem, but lack of demand" Several countries from Eastern Europe had even higher owner-occupancy rates, while in Denmark, France, Britain and the Netherlands between 30 and 40 percent of homes were rentals. In Germany that figure is 46.8 percent, while in Switzerland it reaches 55.7 percent, meaning that a greater number of people rent their homes rather than seek to buy. The shortage is even greater when it comes to subsidized rentals, which represents just one percent of the entire housing stock in Spain according to CECODHAS Housing Europe, compared with 19 percent in France, for instance. So will the PP administration's measures be enough to redress these imbalances? Not everybody is convinced they will. What we need is to bring a minimal degree of dignity to renting" "The government is getting it wrong yet again," rules Gonzalo Bernardos, vice-rector of Barcelona University's Economics department. To him, the real problem of the rental market is "not a lack of supply, but a lack of demand." "There are simply not enough people demanding rental homes. Immigrants go back to their countries; there are fewer people who move to a different city for work purposes; and fewer young people leaving the family home. For the first time there is an excess on the supply side, and that is why prices are really going down," Bernardos explains. The current market conditions can be summed up by a demand that can no longer afford home ownership and must resort to renting, and another category of demand that cannot even afford to rent their own place. Last year, 58,200 families were evicted from their homes, a 22-percent rise from 2010, according to the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ). The owner could say he has a better offer and put up the rent all of a sudden" Many people are also being forced into rentals after they default on their mortgage payments and subsequently reach a deal with the bank to remain in the property as tenants. "I don't think the measures will help encourage renting. It will be the market, rather, which will force people to consider renting instead of buying," says Miguel Hernández, a property expert at the IE Business School. Hernández notes that, before the crisis, the gap between buying and renting was in the price: it made better business sense to pay a mortgage than to pay rent. Or in other words, people lived by the well-established mantra according to which "renting is throwing away your money." On the supply side, in late 2010 there were 687,523 empty homes without a buyer. And that is just counting new housing stock. The 2001 Population and Housing Census placed the total number of empty homes at more than three million, and experts believe that this figure, soon to be updated, will now turn out to be even higher. This change is for the financial sector, making evictions easy to carry out" Beatriz Corredor, a former housing minister under the previous Socialist government, thinks that the main problem is that many of these empty homes are not fit for renting, either because of the conditions they are in or their location. Professor Bernardos, on the other hand, proposes that the government act on the supply side, by doing things like putting out homes that were foreclosed by banks out on the market for a top rent of 150 euros a month, "affordable even for a family in difficulties." Little by little, though, the lack of demand is forcing prices down. According to the latest report by the real estate website Idealista.com, the Spanish leader in its market, prices went down in the first quarter of 2012 in 31 out of 42 provincial capitals. Many of them have been experiencing back-to-back drops. Figures also show that the supply of rental homes has nearly doubled across the country between 2009 and 2011. The Catalan government, which is able to produce reliable official figures because it is mandatory to keep the rental home's deposit in a public company called Incasòl, recorded a 30-percent rise in rental leases over the same period. Public Works Minister Ana Pastor said in the Senate that the draft reforms aim to "preserve the freedom of tenants and landlords" and ensure a greater degree of "equity" in their relations, since tenants will be able to break the lease without any penalty if they must move for economic reasons. But Bernardos begs to differ. "All the measures are aimed at improving profitability for the owner, but they forget that there is a very important social component to renting. The government sees it strictly as a market issue, but leases are very much limited by that social factor," he says. The former minister Corredor agrees. She says that the government views rentals "as an investment, not as a gateway to housing." "It's about bringing a minimal degree of dignity to renting," she argues. To her, ways to encourage rentals include making fiscal conditions similar for owning and for renting, and stimulating young people's desires to fly the family nest. Instead of that, she notes, the current government has eliminated a public subsidy to help youngsters move out, and reintroduced tax breaks for home purchases. Another one of the measures included in the government's plans is the elimination of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as a reference for raising the rent. Instead, the parties will have to negotiate the raise, or whether there should be one at all. Corredor recalls that the 1995 liberalization of rental prices did nothing to improve the rental market, and instead made rents go up. Bernardos says that the reform should protect the weakest party, that is to say, the tenant. "You don't have equal conditions for tenants and landlords," he says. Fernando Encinar, of Idealista.com, believes that the reforms bring no substantial improvements to the situation of tenants, but that all the measures are favorable to the landlord instead. "Removing the CPI as a reference introduces enormous instability for the tenant. The owner could say he has a better offer and that he is putting the rent up all of a sudden even though the tenant wants to stay," Encinar warns. Does the draft reform protect the owner too much at the tenant's expense, then? In boom times, it was believed that legal insecurity for the landlord was behind the lack of a rental market, and that is despite the fact that the default rate on rentals was around one percent, much lower than for mortgages. Another one of the measures entails streamlining the process for the legal eviction of tenants who don't pay the rent, something that has traditionally put many property owners off letting out their homes due to the chronic backlog of cases in Spain's courts. Ignacio Navas, the general coordinator of the Housing Observatory of the Council of Notaries, approves of any measure that brings "legal security" to the landlord, but he criticizes what he sees as a pseudo-liberalization - in other words, a liberalization that is "excessive" for the tenant. "I'd approve of giving both parties freedom [to set the rent] when both parties are individuals, but not when the landlord is a company," he notes. The charity Cáritas Barcelona, which acts as a mediator between banks and mortgage holders to prevent evictions, is more critical with regard to the government's project, and has asked that it be scrapped because it serves the interests of "the financial sector," which wants to be able to rent homes in the short term with few restrictions, and with "everything in their favor when it comes to evictions." In the NGO's opinion, Spain has a unique opportunity to develop a social housing stock if it chooses to use the "idle" property portfolios now in the hands of nationalized banks. This, says Cáritas, would be especially opportune at a time when thousands of families are teetering on the edge of social exclusion
By some measures, the Valley Transportation Authority and Caltrain are among the most troubled transit agencies in the nation. But a report released Wednesday by the Brookings Institution ranks transit in the South Bay as the second best in the U.S. at linking where people live with where they work. “Ranks second?” said transit consultant Tom Rubin, a longtime VTA critic. “How many did they rank — two?” Actually, they ranked 371 transit operators in 100 metropolitan areas, and the South Bay fared better than every one except Honolulu. This is the first nationwide study of its kind on how many people live within three-fourths of a mile of a bus or train stop and can get to work in up to 90 minutes on public transit. It’s a counterintuitive finding, as you might think larger, older Eastern cities have the most residents who are within walking distance of a quick bus or train ride to their place of employment. The West makes a strong showing in the report, with 15 of the top 20 agencies, including the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont corridor at No. 16. Denver, Las Vegas and even Modesto and Bakersfield all made the top 20, with Los Angeles and San Diego just missing at No. 24 and No. 25. “This isn’t about how well the system performs, but what they are capable of,” said Alan Berube, one of the study’s authors. “It may be surprising to many people.” That it is, especially the lofty spot held by the VTA and Caltrain. Rubin called the ranking “incomprehensible,” saying, “I believe anyone who has studied the subject would have great problems figuring out how such a result could be achieved.” In the San Jose area, 96 percent of workers live near a transit stop, compared with the national average of 69 percent. And 58 percent of all jobs are reachable within 90 minutes, compared with 30 percent across the country. In the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont area, it’s 92 percent and 35 percent. By comparison, the figures for the New York-to-Long Island area are 90 percent and 37 percent. The West’s dominance reflects the changing American commute, Berube said. Where once the vast majority of workers lived either in a big city or close by in the suburbs and worked downtown, 39 percent now commute from one suburb to another. Older transit systems in Boston and Chicago built before World War I resemble a bicycle spoke, with train lines feeding into the center of their downtowns, while more people are working elsewhere today. But in the West, transit lines were often started in the 1960s and were designed to deal with the exodus to outlying cities like Campbell and Mountain View in the South Bay, and Livermore and Walnut Creek in the East Bay. “Geography is also a key,” Berube said. “In the West, you have mountains. Like on the 101 and 280 corridor in the San Jose-to-San Francisco area. People are more limited as to where they can live than in the South, where farmland rolls on forever.” Plus, states like California have approved global emission standards that put an emphasis on getting people out of their cars. That’s why development is focused on the light-rail line along First Street and Tasman Drive in North San Jose, and in Peninsula cities like San Carlos and San Mateo along the Caltrain tracks. “The report focused on the availability of transit, working-age population and total jobs,” VTA General Manager Michael Burns said. “I’m not surprised that we fare well when these are the inputs. Our area has a large number of working-age folks and our primary market is travel to work.” That is why Lisa Bonetti takes the 101 express bus up to four times a week from her home in Sunnyvale to Palo Alto, where she works at Communications and Power Industries as an engineering manager. “I take the bus for reasons of economy, efficiency,” she said. “I can read and answer emails on my smartphone and it makes me feel like I’m contributing in a small way to improving the Bay Area air quality.” Yet the VTA has one of the nation’s lowest farebox recovery rates, the percentage of operating costs covered by fares, at 14 percent. While it has balanced its budget and been able to hold fares at current rates and avoid service cuts, attracting more riders has been difficult. And Caltrain was rescued from near-financial collapse last month, when it faced a $30 million deficit. Now the challenge for both is to attract enough riders to live up to their Brookings ranking. Contact Gary Richards at 408-920-5335.
Southern pride—biscuits and pickles to fried chicken—at Mae Image: Karen Brooks THE HOT SPOT Portland’s food scene is cleansing, purging, and remaking itself. Every week, Darwin’s long arm seems to knock over another place unfit for survival in these competitive times. But one food phenomenon that still seems to be thriving is the “unrestaurants,” semipermanent pop-ups that serve appealing slices of food and mood. Leading the pack right now is Mae: a rollicking, communal Appalachian feast served every Wednesday night in the back room of Old Salt Marketplace. Here, North Carolina native Maya Lovelace, 28, digs into her granny’s recipe file, armed with techniques earned on the line at Charleston, South Carolina’s famed Husk and local farm connections from her kitchen tour at Beast. Upsides: the dip and relish tray, fluffy Angel biscuits hot from the oven, true Southern corn bread, bacon-perfumed fried chicken, heritage grains, and a welcome emphasis on farm-fresh pickles, salads, and sides. The nice cup of coffee comes from beans roasted in Lovelace’s own oven, courtesy of partner/barista Zach Lefler. Downside: Lard, have mercy, Mae is almost punishing in its Southernness—salty, heavy, and generous to a fault. Through it all, the air fills with the sounds of the South, Atlanta hip-hop to furious banjo picking. The price is $65 or “whatever you think is fair.” BYO wine, whiskey, or whatever. 5027 NE 42nd Ave, maepdx.com ONLY IN PORTLAND Every thread, cell, and quirk of Portland’s food culture is sampled at Locale, a new North Portland coffee shop by day and votive-lit drinkery by night. There’s spiffy minimal-modern design, coffee brewed from local beans (Heart Roasters), charcuterie (Chop Butchery), Oregon craft beers on tap, and an aperitif obsession. It’s a sweet homage, complete with linen napkins at breakfast, coconutty granola, and a rather startling wake-up question: “Would you like still or sparkling water?” The one thing missing here is Portland-level geekery. So far, Locale is a jack-of-all-trades: a considerate hangout, an appealing date spot, and home to one of PDX’s biggest lists of vermouth and digestifs. (Newbies: try a light, fresh, bitter-tight Cocchi Americano, a delicately spicy Cardamaro, or an in-your-face sip from PDX’s Hammer & Tongs). What Locale needs next is to really master something with true rigor—even just a seriously good cup of coffee. 4330 N Mississippi Ave, localepdx.com THE FIND Bar Mingo’s happy hour (one of the city’s best) just got a new lease on life, jumping to twice a day, 9 p.m. to closing in addition to the usual 4 to 6 p.m. slot. Chef Jerry Huisinga’s cooking is now a late-night steal at $7 a plate, from Marcella Hazan–worthy lamb meatballs to baked polenta sided by house-made mozzarella. 811 NW 21st Ave, barmingo.com
About Remember when cell phones first started including cameras, and some people wondered why anyone would need a camera on their phone? It's now hard to imagine modern life without the phone camera, and it's amazing how essential cell phones have become to modern life in such a short time. The computing technology that we carry around in our pocket is mind-blowing, and yet there's still so much more to unlock. Siam 7X is introducing the North American market to dual-screen cellular technology, which opens new doors to connectivity and productivity. Siam Preivew The once vacant back side of the phone has been developed into a fully functioning touchscreen, maximizing the precious “real estate” of our pocket-sized mobile device. Plan your grocery list on the front of the phone while using a calculator on the rear side; keep the GPS map up on one screen while accessing your music menu on the reverse; customize the rear cover with your favorite pictures. amateur pics The Siam 7X is transporting users to a new realm of technological possibilities and efficiency, and soon it will be hard to remember how people functioned using only one side of their cell phone. Siam The Siam 7X The front screen of the 5.0” Siam 7X is a full HD screen, and the back is an 4.7” E-ink display – similar to a Kindle, but with expansive multitasking functionality, including Notifications, News/Social Feeds, Media Controls, Calender, Weather, Widgets and customizable wallpaper. The back screen is lockable for when not in use, and the E-ink display is adjustable to users' needs, ensuring clarity no matter the lighting indoors or bright sunshine outside. SMS All Kickstarter level supporters receive a pair of BioSport smart earbuds by SMS Audio. The BioSport buds feature professionally tuned 12 mm drivers to deliver studio-mastered sound, are compatible with every major fitness app, and are water resistant. Dual Screen Like the dual-screen cell phone, the BioSport earphones expand the functioning of a standard accessory by incorporating heart monitoring – eliminating the need to haul around multiple devices when working out. Unlocked GSM The Siam 7X is available just in time for the holidays, and makes the perfect gift for everyone from casual cellphone users to gadget geeks, who will be excited to know that Siam 7X is an unlocked handset. The phone is compatible with all Android apps, and is available on T-Mobile and AT&T cellular networks. Specs All Kickstarter supporter to purchase the Siam 7X earn membership in the Owners' Club, which includes a lifetime warranty, accidental coverage, free upgrade to the next model, and invites to special events and promotions.
A technique which involves injecting a virus into the eye to deliver billions of healthy genes to replace a key missing gene for choroideremia sufferers has provided sustained improvement in vision for up four years for some patients. There have recently been questions about the long term efficacy of gene therapy, but now we have unequivocal proof that the effects following a single injection of viral vector are sustained. Professor Robert MacLaren, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences This provides the strongest evidence so far in humans that the effects of gene therapy are potentially permanent and could therefore provide a single treatment cure for many types of inherited blindness. These include retinitis pigmentosa, which affects young people, and age-related macular degeneration, which affects the older age group. Reporting the results this week in the New England Journal of Medicine, doctors from the University of Oxford examined the vision of six patients up to four years after receiving gene therapy at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital. These six were the first in the world to have the procedure for choroideremia in a trial funded by the Department of Health and the Wellcome Trust. The gene therapy treatment was designed to slow or stop sight loss, however, two of the patients experienced a significant improvement in vision that was sustained for at least four years, despite a decline in their untreated eyes over this period. A further three maintained their vision in their treated eyes throughout this period. The sixth patient who had a lower dose had a slow decline in vision in both eyes. It is hoped that gene therapy would ideally be applied to patients early in the disease process to prevent sight loss because the treatment is expected to be long lasting. Patients with choroideremia are missing a key gene in their retina and the technique involves injecting a virus to deliver billions of healthy genes to replace the missing gene. Professor Robert MacLaren, the lead investigator of the study, said: 'There have recently been questions about the long term efficacy of gene therapy, but now we have unequivocal proof that the effects following a single injection of viral vector are sustained. Even sharpening up the little bit of central vision that these patients have can give them considerable independence. 'Gene therapy is a new technique in medicine that has great potential. As we learn more about genetics we realise that correcting faulty genes even before a disease starts may be the most effective treatment. Gene therapy uses the infectious properties of a virus to insert DNA into a cell, but the virial DNA is removed and replaced with DNA that is reprogrammed in the lab to correct whichever gene is faulty in the patient. 'In this case, success in getting a treatment effect that lasts at least several years was achieved because the viral DNA had an optimal design and the viral vector was delivered into the correct place, using advanced surgical techniques. In brief, this is the breakthrough we have all been waiting for.' Dr Stephen Caddick, Director of Innovation at the Wellcome Trust, added: 'To permanently restore sight to people with inherited blindness would be a remarkable medical achievement. 'This is the first time we’ve seen what appears to be a permanent change in vision after just one round of treatment. It’s a real step forwards towards an era where gene therapy is part of routine care for these patients.' Jonathan Wyatt, the first patient in the world to be treated with this gene therapy is still sight impaired, but he was able to double the level of vision in his treated left eye, which has been maintained for four years so far. The retired barrister, 68, of Bristol, suffered vision problems since the age of 20. The right eye has continued to degenerate and the left eye is now dominant. Mr Wyatt, married to Diana, for nearly 30 years, could read 23 letters in eye chart tests prior to the operation but by three-and-a-half years could read 44. Mr Wyatt said: 'I feel very lucky, privileged and honoured to be part of the fantastic John Radcliffe research group. I feel that even though I am the meat in a sandwich, my life will be making a contribution to help others. 'The left eye is much improved to such an extent that I use it mostly to get about these days. It has substantially improved, it is fantastic. 'It has made me more independent, I think I would be more dependent. I think I would feel more cautious about train journeys on my own. Without it I think I would be tapping with a white stick, I think I would have remained cheerful but I would be at home more.' Joe Pepper, a 24-year-old teacher from Croydon, who was the last patient to receive the gene therapy treatment, said: 'I sat down and began the reading chart test on my treated right eye and I read the first two lines and for the first time in my memory I read on and on. 'I will remember that day for the rest of my life. I could see more than before the operation. I could read four lines beyond where I was earlier. I laughed and shed a tear. It was special. 'Six months on from the surgery the results have been more than I ever imagined. My vision now has a new found clarity and I am no longer putting stress on my vision when reading or looking into the distance. Instead of looking into the distance and seeing outlines of people or trees I am seeing their defined features. At night I now have a new found confidence in dimly lit areas that means I can feel independent and safe after dark. 'Without Professor MacLaren and his team, and their pioneering work I could have lost my sight and for the last 14 years I have feared I could. The work they do is special and I have nothing but thanks to them.' The project is a collaboration between the University of Oxford and Oxford Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust with funding from the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre and the Department of Health and Wellcome Trust’s Health Innovation Challenge Fund. A follow on trial of 30 further patients has been funded by the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme, a Medical Research Council (MRC) and NIHR partnership.
You might be busy trying to figure out the best way to get your hands on a Jet Black iPhone 7 right now, but Apple is already working on the next-gen iPhone, the one that’s supposed to bring a major redesign next September. The phone is already labeled as the iPhone 8, it has already reportedly been confirmed by an Apple employee. DON’T MISS: One of the iPhone 8’s hottest new features was just unveiled by another company The unnamed employee spoke to a Business Insider reporter, sharing some details about what Apple is developing in the region. The employee said that staff in Israel are working on what’s coming next in Apple’s product line, including the iPhone 8. “The worker used the term ‘iPhone 8’ unprompted in our conversation,” Business Insider writes, which was a surprise because the next expected iPhone name would be iPhone 7s. The employee said the iPhone 8 will be “different” than the iPhone 6s and iPhone 7, which would explain why Apple would be willing to skip the iPhone 7s next year. One other explanation for ditching the iPhone 7s moniker next year is that Apple will celebrate the iPhone’s 10th anniversary, and a product name that would contain the “S” letter in it might deliver the wrong message — that the new iPhone is essentially a minor iPhone 7 upgrade. The person also revealed that the iPhone 8 will have a better camera than the iPhone 6s and iPhone 7, which is something expected from new Apple smartphones. Business Insider notes that there are 800 employees at Apple’s Herzliya office, which was set up after Apple bought flash memory designer Anobit in 2012 and 3D sensor developer PrimeSense in 2013. Apple has also acquired Israeli camera firm LinX since then, and its technology might be used in the just-released iPhone 7 Plus. The facility works on chips, storage, cameras and wireless technology, sources close to Apple said. The Herzliya office is Apple’s second largest R&D facility in the world, according to what Tim Cook said during a trip to the country in 2015.
There's an old expression about "knocking the cover off the ball." Maybe it happened back in the dead ball era, but, well, we've never really seen it happen. That is, we'd never seen it happen before Friday, when Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado -- yes, he of the .222 career batting average and 12 career homers -- did it. You'd think it would happen on a towering homer, but, nope, it happened on a grounder to third: There are 108 stitches on a ball. Alert Rawlings: for Brewers catcher Martin Maldonado, they need to start using, like, 125 stitches. Anyway, Maldonado gets a hit out of this, since that's not an error on the third baseman for the ball coming apart. And he gets the claim to fame of being THE STRONGEST PERSON EVER TO PLAY BASEBALL.
Two of the best pure goalscorers in the league will battle it out for the AT&T Goal of the Week in Week 29, but the rest of the competition? Not too shabby either. Seattle Sounders forward Obafemi Martins and his LA Galaxy counterpart Robbie Keane are both in the mix this week, and there's also some find handywork from league veterans Fabián Espíndola and Dominic Oduro. And don't forget New England Revolution youngster Kelyn Rowe, who won the award just three weeks ago. Which goal takes the cake? You get to choose. Cast your ballot for your favorite Goal of the Week before voting ends! The winner is determined by the total number of votes cast online and via text. Check back on Friday for the winner. Vote online or text goal code to 22442. Voting runs until 11:59 pm PT on Thursdays. For complete coverage of the AT&T MLS Goal of the Week — including an archive of all of this season's winners — click here.
The United States is reportedly still trying to explain how at least 21 diplomats working in Cuba suffered sudden brain injuries that include hearing loss and speech problems. Officials from the FBI, the State Department and other U.S. intelligence agencies are at a loss as to what the possible weapon could be and are working to make sense of the physics, The Associated Press reported Thursday. One American diplomat in Havana described what some are calling “health attacks,” in which he heard a "blaring, grinding noise" from his bed — but when he moved only a few feet away, he stepped into silence, almost like an "invisible wall cutting straight through his room," the AP described. ADVERTISEMENT Some of the injuries took place in confined rooms or even certain areas of rooms, the news wire reported, pointing to an astounding level of precision in which the attacks occurred. The injuries vary in severity, with some who sustained more serious brain damage than previously realized, the news wire reported. Stories of how the injuries came about also largely differ with some hearing different noises in real time, while some did not hear or notice anything before their symptoms appeared. The victims also are experiencing different symptoms, which is making the search to identify a culprit so difficult. The device used in the attacks has still not been identified, the AP reported, citing interviews with over a dozen current and former U.S. officials, Cuban officials and others briefed on the investigation who spoke to the news wire anonymously. The U.S. government first acknowledged the attacks in August, after the State Department expelled two Cuban diplomats from the U.S. over safety concerns of American officials experiencing said symptoms — nine months after the injuries were first reported.
Yes, conservative Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA) called Palin, "Nuts". I have no idea. I understand -- and you have to check this out -- I just had a phone call where someone said Sarah Palin's web site had talked about the House bill having death panels on it where people would be euthanized. How someone could take an end of life directive or a living will as that is nuts. You're putting the authority in the individual rather than the government. I don't know how that got so mixed up. Isakson fully CLARIFIES that the end of life directive is about aSomething both of my parents have, decisions they made for end of life. Many Americans have these wills and the Republican Party and all these insurance operatives have distorted and hi-jacked this phrasing for "killing seniors".Democrats, get the message out and CLEAN THIS MISINFORMATION, UP.
Beatport Issues Urgent Statements Following SFX Bankruptcy Beatport, a longtime fixture in the EDM and DJ community, was acquired for a reported $50 million by SFX Entertainment in 2013. Sounds great, except that SFX has now declared bankruptcy, with more than $300 million in outstanding debt (at least) wiped clean. That puts subsidiaries like Beatport at serious risk of begin sold, liquidated, or terminated to satisfy court-structured bankruptcy orders. One possibility is a below-market ‘fire sale’ to capture immediate cash value. This morning, the company issued the following statement to Digital Music News: “On behalf of BEATPORT , we are sharing this statement with you: For all of us here at Beatport, it’s just business as usual. That means entire Beatport platform is fully operational without restriction. The store remains open. The streaming service continues uninterrupted. New releases are being added every day. New videos are being scheduled and filmed. Payments to labels and suppliers are ongoing in their usual manner. We look forward to SFX successfully navigating this reorganization, and in the meantime will continue focusing on building the best music experience for the fans, artists, and DJs that make up the electronic music community.” The statement is designed to minimize disruption, both for fans and DJs alike. That said, the fate of this site is now completely uncertain given SFX’s massive debt restructuring ahead. More realistically, Beatport’s fate will rest with a bankruptcy court, and could be sold at below-market rates to satisfy creditors. Indeed, creditors and Wall Street investors are certain to demand a restructuring plan that maximizes their recoveries on this bad bet. On Beatport’s site, the company offered continued assurances, only some of which can be realistically guaranteed. Whether these claims ultimately lead to lawsuits from stakeholders and investors remains a thorny question. “Earlier today, news broke that our parent company SFX Entertainment introduced a financial reorganization plan that includes both new financing and filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. All Beatport users, customers, and partners should rest assured knowing that this action will have no impact on our ability to continue offering the most complete electronic music experience available. Around here, it’s business as usual. That means the entire Beatport platform is fully operational without restriction. The store remains open. The streaming service continues uninterrupted. New releases are being added every day. New videos are being scheduled and filmed. Payments to labels and suppliers are ongoing in their usual manner. In fact, Beatport is expanding. Just last week we launched a version of Beatport customized for the Dutch market, our first foray into operating a fully localized service, and we will be introducing several new features to our News and Video sections over the course of the coming weeks. For 12 years, Beatport has served all facets of the electronic music community–DJs, artists, labels, and fans alike–and that’s not going to change anytime soon. From the beginning, we’ve committed ourselves to the long haul, ignoring the mainstream trends, fads, or bubbles that only serve to distract and divide. We remain focused on the music and will continue to reinvest in the creative community every step of the way. We have a lot of exciting plans for the year ahead, and can’t wait to show everyone what’s next. Until then… the beat goes on.” More details on both SFX and its subsidiaries, including Beatport, as the situation develops.
Tuesday night brings about the final two episodes of USA's Eliza Coupe driven half hour comedy, Benched. Like all shows on the eve of their first season swan song, they have to be wondering if they'll be graced with a second season — that's the goal for any TV show, right? The show follows the quirky and zany story of Coupe's public defender, Nina Whitley, after her fall from grace as a very powerful lawyer. And she almost has it all together. But, is she together enough to get Benched renewed for Season 2? That really all depends if USA is willing to take a chance on a half hour sitcom again. And so far, the odds don't look to be in Benched's favor. First off, it's never a good sign when suddenly a network decides to air two episodes back to back during the holiday season — originally Episode 9 and 10 were slated to air weeks apart, but both ended up airing on December 23. The same thing happened with the last two episodes of the season, Episodes 11 and 12. The show was set up to run right into the beginning of January, but suddenly we were getting two Benched episodes every Tuesday. While, yes, that benefits fans like me because it means we don't have to wait another week for another installment, it's also usually a telltale sign that a network is trying to get rid of a show quickly. Benched's creator, Michaela Watkins, doesn't sound too optimistic about it either: Questioning Benched's Season 2 fate brings back fond memories of that time we waited approximately 45 years for USA to renew Playing House (OK, it wasn't really 45 years, but it felt like 45 years). Playing House FINALLY got a second season, so if USA wants to continue its trend of renewing much-beloved comedies with unfairly small audiences, Benched could be coming back for more. But just like the Playing House renewal, it could take anywhere from 15-35 years (once again, an exaggeration, but hey, that's what agony feels like). USA would certainly benefit from another half-hour comedy under its belt. They've clearly locked down hour long dramedies, but aside from Playing House and Sirens, they've got nothing in the comedy world. Unfortunately, as of right now, there's no word on a Season 2 pick-up. A fan recently asked Watkins over Twitter about the status of a Season 2, and her response was a bit of a sad trombone, so maybe don't start clearing out space in your DVR: Cheer up, Watkins. Things can turn around. After all, USA can only run so many Modern Family reruns before we've seen them all a thousand times. Image: Isabella Vosmikova/USA Network
By being willing to be wrong a little more often, the CFL got it right. Randy Ambrosie, the league’s brand spanking new commissioner, thus became the first North America pro sports leader to say, “Enough!” No more letting video review incrementally encroach on professional sports to the point it becomes more of an annoyance than a dispute-resolution mechanism. CFL coaches will have to be much more selective when they want to throw a challenge flag for video review. ( Andrew Lahodynskyj / Toronto Star ) “The last thing we want to have in place is an artificial impediment to our fans’ enjoyment,” said Ambrosie. Bravo, and well said. Now if only other sports and leagues will take notice. Video review had gone from “getting it right” for the CFL to “making me throw up” for fans at home. They were spending more time cursing the league’s command centre than cheering for their team, appreciating the league’s stars and feeling passionate about the competition they were watching. The eye in the sky was creating more controversy and discontent rather than less, and becoming a total distraction. Article Continued Below In other words, there were more headlines about Glen Johnson, the CFL vice-president of officiating, than Bo Levi Mitchell, the Stampeders’ superstar quarterback. There was little debate that the system as it was wasn’t working. So Ambrosie, despite having been on the job for less than a month, acted swiftly and decisively. He didn’t shelve the matter until the end of the season, or refer it to a fact-finding committee, or fill the air with a lot of wishy-washy double talk designed to avoid saying anything because, you know, you don’t want to be interpreted as slagging “the product.” Instead, he said this isn’t working, and we’re going to change it. Now. Mid-season. The reaction has been very positive, although that will likely last as long as it takes to have a poor officiating call not overturned by video review. Like most sports that have embraced video review, the CFL is still letting too many different types of calls be subject to that process. But at least Ambrosie has reduced the number of coaches’ challenges to one per game so that, hopefully, there will no longer be a seemingly endless series of coaches throwing flags to halt play and examine in minute detail plays that shouldn’t be examined that way. The Argos-Stampeders game Thursday had a great example of that. Toronto defender Cassius Vaughn was flagged for holding, grabbing and generally impeding the ability of Calgary receiver Marquay McDaniel to catch the football downfield. It was the right pass interference call, but Argos head coach Marc Trestman challenged it, the game was stopped and we all waited for a result, which was that the original call was upheld. In other words, a complete waste of time that brought the game to an unnecessary halt on a play that was a judgment call in the first place. That’s the problem other sports, particularly hockey, have run into as well. Once you start down the path of using replay for discretionary calls it becomes a rabbit hole with no bottom. Video review has worked best in tennis, one of the first sports to turn to using replay, but that’s primarily because tennis never expanded its use. It was instituted 11 years ago on the pro tours to aid in line-calling as the speed of the ball had started to increase to levels beyond the ability of the human eye to discern. Article Continued Below But tennis never expanded replay review. It kept it black and white, in or out, and that’s the only way video review really works well. The NHL has certainly found that out after expanding video review to include offside calls and goalie interference. Half the time the review does anything but provide a clear and indisputable conclusion. The offside calls are the absolute worst, with goals waved off by debatable decisions on whether a player who had nothing to do with the play had his foot a quarter-inch off the ice. Ridiculous. Worse than that, every time a goal is score these days, the first TV shot afterwards is of the coach whose team has been scored on going to his tablet to decide if he wants to challenge it on some pretence or another. Anything will do. In the NBA, permitting officials to go to monitors at courtside to determine things like flagrant fouls and who touched the ball last has created more delays for a sport that is already insufferable at times for the way in which the final 45 seconds stretches to 20 minutes of actual time. Baseball is struggling with the issue, too, including creating an issue of whether players sliding into second are able to keep their foot or hand on the bag. It wasn’t designed for that. The CFL, it seems, is ahead of the wave in backing off its reliance on replay review, or at the very least trying to limit, rather than expand, its use. Ambrosie is the first former player to inhabit the commissioner’s office since Larry Smith 20 years ago, something that doesn’t guarantee success but ideally gives that person insight that others might not have. Ambrosie already has demonstrated a greater feel for his sport and his league than his predecessor, former television executive Jeffrey Orridge. Limiting the use of replay, of course, means wrong calls will stand from time to time, and the CFL has for years been struggling with the quality and consistency of officiating. But expanded use of replay review hasn’t made it better. It’s something Ambrosie needs to tackle, but probably through more training and greater salaries and benefits to attract better people. Still, the CFL thrived long before replay review, and the suspicion is replay review isn’t crucial to whether people watch or don’t watch, buy tickets or don’t buy tickets. The same is likely the case for the NHL, NBA, MLB and NFL. This isn’t being regressive, or being anti-technology. It’s understanding that trying to impose perfection on sporting events may come at too high a cost. Damien Cox is the co-host of Prime Time Sports on Sportsnet 590 The FAN. He spent nearly 30 years covering a variety of sports for The Star. Follow him @DamoSpin. His column appears Tuesday and Saturday.
Republicans are pivoting to national defense on the campaign trail, using rising public fears about terrorism as they look to move the needle in a number of races. In contests across the country, GOP candidates are criticizing President Obama for his handling of the growing threat of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), with some warning of additional vulnerabilities from an unsecured border. ADVERTISEMENT “National security has risen up in this election, and it's because of how close it's come to the campaign and also the fecklessness of how the president has dealt with it,” said Republican strategist Brad Blakeman, a veteran of President George W. Bush’s administration. “There's a lack of confidence from the president, a lack of resolve, and Democrats who'd normally be more dovish are taking a more hawkish stand because the electorate is demanding it,” Blakeman continued. In key Senate races in Alaska, Arkansas, North Carolina and New Hampshire, Republicans are seeking to tie Democrats to a president polls show is no longer trusted on defense, giving them further ammunition to win six seats needed to flip the Senate. And on Friday, the National Republican Congressional Committee launched ads in four districts all hitting Democrats on national security. This week’s vote to approve training and arming some anti-ISIS Syrian rebels put members of both parties on the spot, though it ultimately passed with bipartisan support. Most Democrats in tough races supported Obama’s plan, along with a majority of Republicans. But the few who voted against it are already taking heat, including Sen. Mark Begich Mark Peter BegichFormer GOP chairman Royce joins lobbying shop Lobbying world Dem governors on 2020: Opposing Trump not enough MORE (D-Alaska) and Reps. Dan Maffei (D-N.Y.) and Rick Nolan (D-Minn.). Public sentiment has changed even from a year ago, when there was little support even for airstrikes in Syria. But the beheadings of two American journalists captured the nation’s attention in a way few other stories have. An NBC/Wall Street Journal poll released last week found that 94 percent of Americans had heard about them, higher than any other news event in the past five years. That same poll found that 47 percent of Americans thought the country was less safe now than at any point since the Sept. 11 attacks — up from 28 percent a year ago — and just 32 percent of the public approved of Obama’s handling of foreign policy. A CBS/New York Times poll from last week found 57 percent of Americans thought the president wasn’t being tough enough in his handling of ISIS. Democrats privately admit the issue isn’t what they want to be focused on this close to the election, and the longer they’re forced to talk about ISIS and Obama, the worse it will be for them on Election Day. The political fight over ISIS has become the most pronounced in a trio of states where armed forces veterans are challenging Senate Democrats. In Alaska, Begich has been vocal about his opposition to arming the rebels, voting against Thursday’s resolution after taking to the Senate floor to denounce it. A spokesman warned in a statement it could move “our nation closer to putting American boots on the ground. His GOP opponent Dan Sullivan, a Marine veteran who served under former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in the State Department, immediately fired back. "The Obama Administration has yet to clearly lay out such a strategy and has consistently shown weakness overseas. Mark Begich has been enabling this weak approach by only focusing on what we shouldn't do and taking options off the table – this encourages our enemies,” Sullivan said in a statement saying he would have backed the funding for Syrian rebels. Some Democrats are nervous that Begich’s vote might haunt him. Alaska has a strong contingent of non-interventionist libertarian-leaning voters, but also has a large number of veterans and several military bases. “I really don't know what Sen. Begich is thinking,” said one Democratic strategist who knows Alaska well. “The attack ad on him is going to be so easy to do.” In New Hampshire, former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), who served in the Army National Guard, has been pushing a proposal to revoke the citizenship of Americans fighting abroad for terrorist groups. He’s leaned hard on the issue, recently campaigning with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the state to attack Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) on foreign policy. Rep. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), another Marine veteran, has made his service central to his campaign and has been critical of Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) for his earlier opposition to arming the rebels. In a web ad this week, the Republican’s campaign warned of a “world in chaos,” saying Arkansas needs a senator who “will stand up to President Obama” and his foreign policy “weakness.” Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton’s (R) super-PAC is launching a $5 million digital ad blitz hitting Sens. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) Pryor and Shaheen, saying Obama is “a better strategist for aiding ISIS than eliminating it” and saying supporting the senators is “a big risk for America.” National Democrats maintain they’re not worried about the attacks, pointing to past elections that were a rebuke to the Bush administration’s foreign policy. “There is broad agreement that ISIL must be destroyed and will be destroyed. The difference is that Republicans want to take the advice of Dick Cheney and launch another ground war in another Middle East country without a plan. This debate only highlights what voters already believe – the Republican Party is not capable of governing right now,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee spokesman Justin Barasky. The issue is popping in a number of House races as well. The NRCC launched ads on Friday saying Maffei is being “dangerously wrong for our security,” accusing Nolan of voting “to cut funds for the fight against Al Qaeda,” knocking Rep. Ron Barber (R-Ariz.) on border security, and hitting Iowa state Sen. Staci Appel (D) for saying in a debate last week that she “would not be urging taking away [suspected terrorists’] passports.” House Democrats fired back, charging the GOP was “playing politics with national security.” “It is repugnant that Republicans would try to exploit this threat to divide Americans at a time when our nation should be united,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (D-N.Y.) said in a statement. “ Republicans admit that even they’re surprised the issue has become so salient — but that the pre-October surprise is playing into their hands. “We're seeing a big uptick on national security issues," NRCC Chairman Greg Walden (R-Ore.) said Friday. "There's just this growing sense that things are a little out of control," he continued. “That points to a real, real problem for all concerned, especially Democrats.”
California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin De León is facing another scandalous issue. A letter from Sen. Andy Vidak (R-Hanford) spelled out an appalling episode, in which several fruit growers whom Hall allegedly threatened, on the eve of his confirmation hearing to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. Vidak said he personally heard from several witnesses that on the eve of his confirmation hearing before the Senate Rules committee, that ALRB Commissioner Isadore Hall, “in an obscenity-laced tirade, threatened to use his position to ‘get’ several farmers who oppose his confirmation. The incident occurred at the Hyatt on February 28,” Vidak wrote. Feb. 28 was the date of the California Fresh Fruit Association Annual Government Relations Trip in Sacramento. In the evening, many of the members met in the bar at the Hyatt, where they were confronted by former Senator Hall. I also heard about Hall’s “obscenity-laced tirade.” I was told Hall said, “Are you the mother****s here to testify against me tomorrow?” Hall then allegedly said, “I have a memory and I am going to get you,” delivering a threat. My sources said Hall dropped the mother***r F-bomb numerous times in a hair-raising, threatening tone to the farmers. Vidak said he “knows the names of those who were present, but due to a fear of retaliation, those individuals are reluctant to come forward.” In his letter to de León, Sen. Vidak formally requested: The Senate Rules Committee investigate this incident and inform the entire Senate of its findings; and As part of the investigation, the Senate Rules Committee request the testimony of the individuals who were present at the incident and assure them there will be no retaliation; and The pending Floor confirmation vote on Commissioner Hall be postponed until the conclusion of the investigation. The Rest of the Story The back-story is about Gerawan Farming, and its 5,000 employees, targeted since 2012 for unionization by the United farm Workers Labor Union, with help from the ALRB. The Gerawan workers fought back against unionization, even holding an ALRB election to try to decertify the labor union – largely because most farm workers have no interest in “organizing,” and losing 3 percent of their pay as mandatory dues. While most of Gerawan’s employees are well-compensated full-time workers, many farm workers are seasonal and work in various locations around the state. I have been told by many workers they don’t see any advantage to the union “stealing” their hard-earned income for dues. When the UFW couldn’t convince Gerawan’s employees to join them, the union leaders turned to the ALRB to force them into the union. Former Senator Isadore Hall marched with the President of the United Farm Worker’s labor union, and publicly declared his solidarity with the UFW campaign against the Gerawan Farming employees, was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to the Agricultural Labor Relations Board. Hall’s confirmation hearing was March 1. After losing a race for Congress in November 2016, Hall has announced he will make another run in 2018… while he is on the ALRB? This isn’t Hall’s first foray into thuggery… In June, then-Sen. Isadore Hall insulted and provoked opponents of numerous gun-control bills during committee hearings. “These crazy, vicious, heartless individuals, who come here and defend the senseless act of terror… They are protecting the vicious murderers,” Sen. Hall said, directing his comments to Daniel Reid with the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, and Sam Paredes with Gun Owners of California, who opposed Hall’s bill. “They care more about the ability to hold a weapon in their hands,” Hall added. “They need to wash their mouths because they are filthy,” when they testified that the bills would not save lives. Sen. Vidak contacted the Senate ethics committee asking them to open an investigation into Hall’s comments, and whether he violated the house’s Standards of Conduct. “While the issue of gun control can be an emotional one, that is no excuse for Senator Hall to use such intolerant and disrespectful language aimed at those of us who don’t agree with him,” Vidak wrote. “I leave it to your committee to hand down whatever discipline is appropriate to restore the honor and integrity of the California State Senate.” Sen. Hall’s Confirmation Hearing At his confirmation hearing March 1 – the day after Hall’s alleged f-bomb tirade of threats against the farmers at the Hyatt – Hall promised to tackle ALRB issues in an “inclusive, methodical and transparent way,” and to be “a voice for working families and for business.” Attorney Anthony Raimondo, who represents many of the Gerawan Farming workers who don’t want to be forced into the labor union, challenged the members of the Senate Rules Committee on whether Hall had the capability to avoid the appearance of bias when he marched with the UFW, and was photographed waving the UFW flag, and embracing UFW President Arturo Rodriguez. “Can you assure them (the workers) they should believe cases will be heard impartially by Mr. Hall at the ALRB?” Raimondo asked. The other Back Story The other issue is why the farmers present for Hall’s obscenity-laced tirade did not speak out and report this the very next morning at Hall’s confirmation hearing to de León, who is the committee chairman. It would have been the perfect opportunity to get the skunk on the table, and describe Hall’s outrageous thug behavior. But they did not. Instead, George Radanovich, president of the Fresno-based California Fresh Fruit Association, delivered a tepid statement barely opposing Hall’s confirmation, leaving many puzzled over the apparent appeasement. Radanovich, a former eight-term Comgressman, also never even mentioned Hall’s threatening f-bomb tirade from the previous evening. Who is pulling his strings, and why? It is unlikely former Sen. Hall would have been confirmed by the Senate Rules Committee had Radanovich told the truth of what happened the previous evening. Now the question is what will Sen. President pro Tempore Kevin de León do with this information? As Sen. Vidak pointed out, Hall’s final confirmation is still pending a full vote of the Senate. And what, if anything, can and will Gov. Jerry Brown do with this information about his appointee to the ALRB? Lastly, Senator Isadore Hall’s repugnant threatening behavior surely broke some law, or violated oath of office. What is the proper recourse for justice?
Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. May 11, 2017, 9:11 AM GMT / Updated May 11, 2017, 1:18 PM GMT By Jon Schuppe COLUMBUS, Mississippi ─ He obsessed over the police interrogation for years, tormenting himself with questions he could not answer. "How could you be so stupid?" Tyler Edmonds asked himself. "Why would you do that?" Edmonds was 13 when he told detectives he helped his half-sister shoot her husband in his sleep ─ a story he says she concocted to skirt blame. He spent four years behind bars before his murder conviction was overturned and a second jury acquitted him. He went to therapy, and studied why children admit to crimes they didn't commit. He began to understand what he'd done. "I think the answer is that you're young and you don't know any better," Edmonds, now 27, said. He has rebuilt his life in many ways. But he is still paying for that confession. After Mississippi passed a law allowing exonerees to seek compensation, Edmonds sought a payout that he hoped would help his mother, who went deep into debt to pay for his defense. The state refused to give it to him. A judge sided with the state. Edmonds and his lawyers took the case to the Mississippi Supreme Court, which is due to rule by summer. Edmonds stands to reap about $150,000 if he wins, but it's not just money at stake. His case also explores the limits of efforts to bring justice to the wrongfully convicted. Who's to blame? As the number of exonerations has accelerated since the early 1990s, more states have passed laws offering reparations to people imprisoned for crimes they didn’t commit. Thirty-two states, along with Washington D.C. and the federal government, have such statutes on the books. Six states refuse to compensate applicants who “contributed to their own conviction,” “fabricated evidence” or “committed perjury” — all of which can be used against someone who falsely confessed, according to the Innocence Project. Another three states bar payouts to those who pleaded guilty. Eleven states don’t let prisoners who have pleaded guilty or confessed to seek DNA testing that could exonerate them. Challenges to those laws have focused on cases in which investigators coerced or manufactured false confessions. But Edmonds' case is different. Tyler Edmonds, then 14, appears in court in Starkville, Mississippi, in 2004. Kelly Tippett / The Commercial Dispatch via AP In the eyes of the state, Edmonds, at all of 13-years-old, was partly to blame for his wrongful conviction, and therefore deserves nothing more than freedom. To Edmonds, Mississippi is not only misinterpreting its own law, but also fails to understand why people falsely confess in the first place. Advocates for the wrongfully convicted acknowledge that there are elements of Edmonds' confession that don't make him an obvious candidate for compensation. But there are also aspects that suggest the state bears some responsibility. "The Tyler Edmonds case is interesting because it's gray," said Saul Kassin, one of the world's leading researchers on false confessions. 'They should have known better' Kassin has spent decades studying why people admit to things they didn't do, and how difficult it is for juries and the public to accept it. He categorizes false confessions into three types: those made by people seeking escape from a stressful situation, those made by people made to believe that they actually committed the crime, and those made voluntarily ─ often by children, who tend to be more open to manipulation and less apt to consider long-term consequences. Edmonds falls into that last category, Kassin said. "Kids in particular, the reason they give voluntary false confessions is to protect someone else," he said. Kassin analyzed Edmonds' confession a decade ago, during his appeals. He found that Edmonds had clearly been influenced by his half-sister. But he also concluded that because Edmonds was so young, authorities should have scrutinized his involvement more closely. "They should have known better," Kassin said. Forrest Allgood, the former district attorney whose office prosecuted Edmonds, declined to comment on the compensation case. But Allgood, who was voted out of office in 2015, said he didn't believe Edmonds made a false confession. Edmonds' acquittal, he said, "does not mean he's actually innocent." Allgood said he still remembered the "gripping" videotape that showed a teenage Edmonds telling investigators, then his mother, that he participated in the killing. "How often do you have a guy confess about a murder to his mother?" Allgood said. "That's not a situation where you think one would be lying." But Edmonds' role in the crime is no longer subject to debate. The only remaining question is whether he deserves compensation. The answer comes down to a single phrase in Mississippi law, and whether it requires that a 13-year-old boy should have known the implications of what he told detectives. 14-year saga On Edmonds' left calf is a tattoo that says "Aut inveniam viam aut faciam" ─ Latin for "I will find a way or make one." It is how he says he's tried to conduct himself throughout his ordeal, channeling his accommodating nature into self-confidence ─ the strength to speak for himself and control his future. His mission began behind bars — where he witnessed riots, stabbings and tear gassings — and continued as he transformed, virtually overnight, from child prisoner to an adult in the real world, struggling to find a job and shake the stigma of his case. He says he hasn't learned many good things from the experience, except the value of "keeping on going." He is thin and boyish, with high cheekbones and a receding hairline that he keeps buzzed short. In June, he'll turn 28. "This has literally been going on for 14 years," he said recently at his home in Boynton Beach, Florida. "That is half my life. I haven't reached the end yet." He grew up in the Golden Triangle region of eastern Mississippi, raised by his mother and stepfather. As he entered his teens, Edmonds tried to connect with his estranged biological father, with help from his half-sister, Kristi Fulgham, who was more than a decade older. It didn't work out with his father, but Edmonds believed he'd found a kindred spirit in Fulgham. He now believes she saw him as a "scapegoat" for what she planned to do. Confession and recantation Fulgham, a mother of three, had serious problems of her own ─ she and her husband, Joey, once discussed her infidelities on "The Montel Williams Show" ─ and was seeking a way out of her marriage. In May 2003, just before taking Edmonds on a weekend trip to the Mississippi coast, she shot Joey in the head as he slept. Prosecutors said Fulgham killed her husband to get money from him ─ possibly to cash in his life insurance policy ─ after she left him for another man. But her lawyers argued that her husband had abused her. The sordid nature of the killing convulsed Edmonds' hometown, and attracted national attention. Over the years, it would be covered by Court TV, re-enacted on "Snapped" and "Blood Relatives" and analyzed on "Inside the Box" and "Dr. Phil." After they returned from the coast, Fulgham was arrested, and investigators from the Oktibbeha County Sheriff's Office asked Edmonds' mother to bring him in for questioning. By then, Fulgham had told detectives that he'd helped her shoot her husband. But Edmonds and his mother, Sharon Clay, didn't know that. At first, the skinny seventh grader denied participating in the killing. But he changed his story after Clay was taken from the interview room ─ a legal police tactic in Mississippi murder cases — and investigators brought Fulgham in to speak to him privately. They conducted a videotaped interview in which Edmonds, hands fidgeting and his voice soft, said he and Fulgham had pulled the trigger together. Tyler Edmonds' mother, Sharon Clay, at her home in Columbus, Mississippi Brock Stoneham / NBC News Less than a half hour into Edmonds' confession, Clay burst into the room. She asked why investigators were taking a statement without her being there. Then she kneeled beside her son, and with the video camera still rolling, Edmonds, crying, told her: "Me and Kristi did it." Edmonds later said that Fulgham had admitted before their arrests that she'd shot Joey, and asked Edmonds to deny it, and if that didn't work, say he'd taken part. She told him that was the only way she'd avoid the death penalty, Edmonds said. She convinced him that because he was juvenile, he wouldn't be seriously punished, he said. Instead, Edmonds was charged with murder. Only then, he says, did he realize his mistake. Four days after his confession, Edmonds made a second videotaped statement in which he said Fulgham had put him up to it, and that she'd shot him while he waited in her car. But prosecutors were not convinced. Neither was the 2004 jury that convicted him based on his videotaped statements and testimony from a medical examiner, later debunked, that Joey Fulgham's bullet wounds were consistent with two people pulling the trigger at the same time. 'I just decided, "I'm going to be OK"' At 15, Edmonds was sentenced to life in prison. He was the youngest inmate in Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, a notoriously brutal privately run facility that has since been shut down. Kristi Fulgham, meanwhile, was convicted of murder in late 2007 and sentenced to life without parole. She continued to maintain that Edmonds took part in the murder. Clay, meanwhile, liquidated all of her assets, including a home and 401(k), and borrowed from family to finance his appeals. She divorced, and faced the reality that she would not be able to raise her son through adolescence. "You go to sleep every night wondering, 'Is he getting beat up? Is he getting raped? Is he OK? Is he eating?'" Clay said. "It was a really bad time." Edmonds said he remains traumatized by the violence, from inmates and guards, at Walnut Grove. He said he stayed sane by writing poetry, reading books and letters from supporters and pursuing his appeals. "After a certain point, you have two choices: survive or not survive," he said. "I just decided, 'I'm going to be OK.'" In 2007, the Mississippi Supreme Court threw out his conviction, saying the medical examiner's testimony should not have been allowed. The following year, a new jury acquitted him. Tyler Edmonds leaves the Lowndes County Courthouse, May 25, 2007, after a $75,000 bond was set for him while he awaits a new trial, in Columbus, Mississippi. Matthew West / The Commercial Dispatch via AP He suddenly had to learn how to be an adult: working, paying bills, balancing a checkbook, driving, making friends, coming and going as he pleased. He feared crowded places and distrusted strangers. While many people in his hometown believed in him, he knew that some still wondered about his guilt. He moved to Arizona, where he found work, but returned to deal with health problems. Back home, with financial support from friends, he opened a bar, then a tobacco shop. He realized that entrepreneurship helped his recovery, proving that he could make decisions on his own. Edmonds moved to Florida in 2014. He runs a commercial embroidery business out of a house he shares with one of his longtime supporters. He misses home, and visits often, but he says he's better off away. "The great thing here is people know me for who I am," Edmonds said in Boynton Beach. "My friends know me as Tyler, not the 13-year-old who went to prison. And that's for me an emotional freedom that I don't think I'll ever be allowed to feel in Mississippi." Cause and intent In 2009, after Mississippi passed its compensation law, Edmonds filed a lawsuit seeking $158,333, which was denied by a judge who said his attempts to protect Kristi Fulgham violated a prohibition against payouts to those who "fabricate evidence to bring about their conviction." Edmonds appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court. His lawyer, Jim Waide, argued that the phrase should be interpreted to mean that compensation should be denied to people who give untrue statements with the specific purpose to be found guilty. Edmonds, he said, had been manipulated, by his half-sister and by investigators, into making his confession, with the sole purpose being to protect a person he loved. "He wasn't intending to go to jail for life," Waide told the Supreme Court in January. "That wasn't why he gave the false confession." But state lawyers said Edmonds' intent didn't matter; the phrase, they argued, was written with precisely this sort of kind of case in mind. All the state had to do, they said, was show that the false confession caused his conviction. "You can't blame the state for using the same evidence you created to convict you," Special Assistant Attorney General Wilson Minor told the justices. Standing up To Edmonds, compensation is a way to thank his mother, who sacrificed her financial future, and lost a husband, in order to give him the best defense possible. It's also a chance to make a point to the people who put him in prison. "This is the only opportunity that I have to stand up for myself, you know, truly stand up for myself and say, 'You are wrong. This is what you did to me. This is not OK,'" Edmonds said. "And that means a lot to me." During his most recent trip back home, Edmonds stopped in Biloxi, where he spoke to a conference of the Mississippi Public Defenders Association. It was his first time speaking to a live audience. The lawyers gave him a standing ovation. Edmonds says he no longer feels embarrassed of what happened to him. "I'm an adult now, and I can look back and say, 'You were a kid. You did what probably nine out of 10 kids would have done at the time.' And I can't go and change anything that happened. So, no, I'm not ashamed of it. And would say that the only regret I have is...I wish that I would have been as brave then as I am now."
Categories of 'male' and 'female' are no longer that important to people under 34 Young people are more likely to believe gender exists on a spectrum, according to a new study. 1,000 of Americans aged 18 to 34 were surveyed on gender, with half believing the binary categories of male and female are too limiting. They were asked: ‘Some countries, including India, recognize a gender that is neither male nor female. Which more closely aligns with your view?’ Options were ‘There are only two genders, male and female’, which in total received 46% support, ‘Gender is a spectrum, and some people fall outside conventional categories’, which received 50%, and 4% answered ‘Don’t know’. The poll, conducted by Fusion, found 57% of female millenials believe gender falls on a spectrum compared to 44% of male respondees. Northeast 18-34 year olds were even more progressive, with 58% agreeing with that statement compared to the South where that number fell to 42%. The poll also found a difference in race, with 5% of whites agreeing gender is on a spectrum compared to 47% of Latinos and 32% of African Americans. The survey comes as more people are coming out as genderfluid and genderqueer, much like gay Australian supermodel and Orange Is The New Black actress Ruby Rose (pictured). More university are offering gender-neutral identity cards, with San Francisco State University having housing options that include ‘other gender-identity roommate pairings, regardless of biological sex’.
Specialisation has both advantages and disadvantages. The benefit arises from the ability to concentrate exclusively on a particular line of endeavor and optimize the fruits and results thereby. This takes place in Western scientific endeavor and the development of technology, as well as in the practice of the specialized forms of Yoga. This type of exclusive concentration, however, tends to narrow the vision and ability to embrace the entirety of our existence. We see then, in terms of technology, a restriction of our interaction with life and the world, which arises from our constant interaction with the technology and what it produces. Similarly with Yoga, this focus has frequently implied abandonment or withdrawal from the flow of life and action in the world, and the yogic practitioner has for the most part been someone who has given up any major active role in the development and support of the human endeavor. Sri Aurobindo describes the traditional understanding: “In fact, when a man turns his vision and energy inward and enters on the path of Yoga, he is supposed to be lost inevitably to the great stream of our collective existence and the secular effort of humanity.” He takes strong exception to this approach, however. While a temporary form of exclusive concentration may be required, and where specific individuals even are called upon to take the extreme step in order to advance the common opportunity for bringing the evolutionary progress into a general capability, he asks us to bring about a synthesis that embraces yoga while maintaining the action in the world: “No synthesis of Yoga can be satisfying which does not, in its aim, reunite God and Nature in a liberated and perfected human life or, in its method, not only permit but favour the harmony of our inner and outer activities and experiences in the divine consummation of both. For man is precisely that term and symbol of a higher Existence descended into the material world in which it is possible for the lower to transfigure itself and put on the nature of the higher and the higher to reveal itself in the forms of the lower.” “The true and full object and utility of Yoga can only be accomplished when the conscious Yoga in man becomes, like the subconscious Yoga in Nature, outwardly conterminous with life itself and we can once more, looking out both on the path and the achievement, say in a more perfect and luminous sense: ‘All life is Yoga.’ ” Sri Aurobindo, The Synthesis of Yoga, Introduction: The Conditions of the Synthesis, Chapter 1, Life and Yoga, pp. 3-4 Advertisements
Aston Villa supporters hold banners of protest during a recent Premier League game Aston Villa have scrapped their Player of the Year awards on the back of supporter unrest and near-certain relegation. Some Villa players have been openly jeered by sections of their own support during an eight-match losing run that means they could be condemned to the Championship this weekend. And a club spokesman said: "The club will not be holding its annual Player of the Year awards at the conclusion of this season. In the current circumstances, we are sure our supporters will understand." Villa have won just three times in the Premier League and are currently looking for a third manager of the season after the departures of Tim Sherwood and Remi Garde. Relegation will be confirmed if Norwich avoid defeat against Sunderland in Saturday's early game.
A White House that has railed against leaks was fractured Wednesday by a new one: President Trump’s decision to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement. An initial story in Axios, attributed to two sources close to the decision, was immediately contradicted by other administration sources who said Trump was leaning toward pulling out of the deal but has made no final decision. One unnamed official told the Associated Press there may be “caveats” in Trump’s language withdrawing from the deal. Some sources close to the White House suggested those talking to Axios were opponents of the Paris deal, like chief strategist Stephen Bannon, who were seeking to box the president in by making it more difficult to not exit the deal. ADVERTISEMENT Others speculated the leak came from those who want to remain in the pact, such as senior advisers Jared Kushner or Gary Cohn, in an attempt to whip up opposition to leaving it.Trump himself said a decision was coming “very soon,” but refused to reveal which way he is leaning.“You’re going to find out very soon,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office who asked if he was leaning toward exiting the accord. “I’m hearing from a lot of people, both ways. Both ways.”The result was another confusing day in which it often appeared the administration was fighting itself.The breaking news caught the White House on its heels and underscored the administration’s problem with leaks, its lack of a communications strategy and the divisions between rival wings within the administration.“It’s a problem,” said one former Trump adviser. “Whoever leaked this isn’t trying to help the president, they’re looking out for their own agenda. “The White House would have preferred to roll this out on their own terms,” the former adviser said. “It just shows the problems you run into when there are two wings of the White House that are diametrically opposed to each other.” Trump’s top spokesman, Sean Spicer, was unable to say whether he even knew if the president has made a decision. “I obviously don’t know whether he’s made it,” he said during an off-camera briefing at the White House. Wednesday’s whiplash showed the difficulty Trump has had in wrestling with the decision. For months, the president and his advisers have engaged in a heated internal debate over whether to leave the 195-nation agreement, as he pledged to do during the 2016 campaign. Trump’s longtime allies, including Bannon, Vice President Pence, Attorney General Jeff Sessions Jefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsFormer Trump refugee director did not notify superiors about family separation warnings Court rejects challenge to Mueller's appointment Trump says he hasn't spoken to Barr about Mueller report MORE, EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, senior counselor Kellyanne Conway, policy adviser Andrew Bremberg and legislative adviser Rick Dearborn support withdrawing from the agreement, according to those close to the negotiations. Those who want to see the U.S. stay in the accord or renegotiate it include Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, senior adviser Jared Kushner, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, economic adviser Gary Cohn and national security adviser H.R. McMaster. The debate has in some cases split junior staff from their bosses, those close to the negotiations say. “I’ve heard we’re leaning toward an exit but as of last night this was not a done deal,” said one person with knowledge of the situation who supports U.S. withdrawal. “It doesn’t look like we’re out of the woods yet, so we’re pounding away.” The White House was poised to make a decision earlier this month, but punted until after last week’s meeting in Sicily with leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. At the summit, leaders expressed frustration about Trump’s stance on the landmark agreement and urged him to remain in it. That came after Pope Francis used an audience with Trump to make a push for climate action, gifting him with a copy of his 2015 encyclical on climate change and the environment. Trump, who has called climate change a Chinese-invented hoax, appeared to signal an exit was imminent when he refrained from signing a joint statement of support for the Paris deal with leaders of other G7 nations. But the president has changed his mind in the past on major policies, such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, and he was still speaking to key stakeholders Wednesday even as reports of his decision leaked to the media. When the Axios story broke, Trump had yet to huddle with Tillerson, who had a Wednesday afternoon meeting on the books. Pruitt, an opponent of the deal, met Tuesday with Trump. Administration officials who support and oppose the pact were scheduled to meet again Wednesday for a final discussion on the matter, according to a source familiar with the deliberations. The rival factions — one led by Bannon and another that included first daughter Ivanka Trump, Kushner and Cohn — appeared to be taking their fight public on Wednesday as they sought to sway Trump’s final decision. “Here’s what we know about the president — you can influence him with media coverage,” said the former adviser. “That’s why people leak, that’s why this stuff gets out there before the White House is ready to deal with it.” Amid the debate within the West Wing, the private sector and the international community have ramped up the pressure on Trump. Tech CEOs Tim Cook of Apple and Tesla's Elon Musk both reached out to the White House on the Paris agreement this week, according to reports. Musk tweeted Wednesday that he would “have no choice” but to leave White House advisory councils if Trump pulls the plug on the deal. “Don't know which way Paris will go, but I've done all I can to advise directly to POTUS, through others in WH & via councils, that we remain,” he tweeted. Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris reportedly penned a letter with 30 other companies asking Trump to stay in the deal. The Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, an NGO, is running a newspaper ad on Thursday highlighting support for the pact from 25 companies, including tech giants and energy firms. European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker doubled down on that pressure Wednesday, warning Trump that exiting the agreement could take years and could prove to be a messy process. “Not everything in international agreements is fake news, and we have to comply with it,” Juncker said. But outside opponents have also made their voice heard. Senate 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.) and 21 of his GOP colleagues sent a letter to Trump last week urging him to honor his campaign promise to pull out of the deal. Devin Henry contributed.
With every instance of mass murder on a school campus, it becomes more and more challenging for teachers to continue to walk into their classroom. Yesterday afternoon, news outlets reported that a man had gone to Umpqua Community College (UCC) in Roseburg, Oregon, and shot 10 students and teachers dead, with many others injured. The news broke just as I was about to commute to Fordham University, where I am an adjunct professor. There have been 45 school shootings so far in 2015; UCC marks the 17th on college campuses this year, according to TIME. The number of mass shootings so far in 2015 outnumbers the days since Jan. 1. I tried to persuade myself to not get on the subway to the Bronx. This isn’t worth it, this isn’t worth it, I kept repeating. I tried to persuade myself to not get on the subway to the Bronx. This isn’t worth it, this isn’t worth it, I kept repeating as the train rattled over the tracks. As an adjunct, I make around $250 a class and don’t have health insurance. What if I get injured on campus? Who pays if I get shot? It might sound like an oddly calculated consideration—but these shootings don’t feel “random” to me anymore. We are living in a world where disaffected people seem drawn to my area of work. Where my very occupation puts a target on my back, and on the backs of my students. I am powerless as a teacher in the classroom. I am. Teachers are, no matter the pay grade, or education level, or type of institution. And everybody knows it. During my lecture on Shakespeare’s As You Like It, I was distracted. While rattling off a definition of “pastoral,” I walked to the back of the room to shut the door. I mentally registered the door’s click but felt gutted when I realized the door had no lock. And why would there be? I teach in a classroom on the basement level of an academic building. Just keep talking about Shakespeare. Academia. Institutions. Imprisonment. Foucault. My mind raced. I am powerless as a teacher in the classroom. The shooter’s name, his story, didn’t matter to me then and it doesn’t matter to me now. But one thing I do know is that the cyclical violence perpetrated by young men has long had its psycho-social origin in misogyny. As Mary Elizabeth Williams wrote in Salon, the UCC shooter’s motive seems to be the same as the UCSB shooter’s. In previous writings, I myself have elaborated upon the connection between the male “virginity” myth and violence against women. I have lived through enough shootings to have amassed what feels like an entire canon on the motivations of men like him. I am a teacher. My job is to help your children become functional adults. Books are my tools, not guns. And yet, again, I don’t care about this kid or his issues. I care about my kids, my students. And what matters to me—what has bred great anxiety and what has fomented terrific anger in me—is that my attempts to teach my students to the best of my ability are being blocked at every turn. They are blocked by the corporatization (also called the “adjunctification”) of academia, as I’ve explained in a previous piece at Quartz. And they are blocked by the increasing frequency of gun violence, capped, in my mind, by yesterday’s massacre. Gun violence is an epidemic in this country. To date, nearly 10,000 people—9,948 to be exact—have been killed by guns in America in 2015 alone, according to the Washington Post. Gun proponents and conservatives bent on defending their misreading of the Second Amendment, comically believe the solution to gun violence is more guns. Not only do statistics consistently debunk the myth that more guns reduce gun violence, but, guess what? I don’t want a gun. Let me say this again: I am a teacher. My job is to teach your children how to develop the critical and analytical skills they will need to comprehend texts, to induce independent thoughts and analysis, and to articulate these ideas in communicable, grammatically and syntactically correct, language. My job is to help your children become functional adults. This is my job and books are my tools—arguably my “weapons.” But not guns. Never guns. I don’t want to be scared to leave for school. My classroom should be a safe space, not a combat zone. This article is part of Quartz Ideas, our home for bold arguments and big thinkers.
Murtaza Ahmadi, 5, wears a plastic bag jersey in honor of Lionel Messi, his favorite player. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) Murtaza Ahmadi exists in a realm so removed from that of Lionel Messi, they may as well be in different universes. Whereas the Argentinean Messi is an international superstar who plays in Spain for one of the world’s most glamorous teams, the five-year-old Ahmadi is the son of a farmer who lives in a remote, war-torn part of Afghanistan south of Kabul. However, Messi could be on the verge of making Ahmadi’s dream come true by bringing their worlds together, at least for a short time. According to reports, the Afghanistan Football Federation has been in touch with Messi’s camp about arranging a meeting between the two. From a report by ABC Australia: “The management of the [AFF] has received emails from Lionel Messi and FC Barcelona regarding the meeting,” spokesman Syed Ali Kazemi told news agency EFE. In a post on its website, the AFF confirmed they had contacted the football star, saying it would “soon arrange Messi’s meeting with Murtaza”. No details were given on when or where the meeting could take place. Murtaza Ahmadi lives in in the Jaghori district of Ghazni province. (STR/AFP/Getty Images) The story of the young Afghan boy who idolizes the Barcelona star went viral after photos of him in his makeshift jersey began circulating on the Internet. His family can’t afford to provide him with a proper shirt, so a plastic bag with the Argentina national team’s iconic blue and white stripes had to suffice. “I love Messi, he plays well, the shirt was made by my brother and I liked it very much,” Murtaza Ahmadi said (via AFP). … “We do not have a football playground near our house, and the only ball I have is punctured,” Ahmadi added. But, he also said, “I want to be like Messi, when I grow up.” “I want my son to become a good football player in the future and become the Messi of Afghanistan,” Mohammad Arif Ahamdi, the father, told AFP. With any luck, the little boy will at least get to meet his idol, and know that his story has touched people all over the world.
On any given day, a large proportion of kids and adolescents eat pizza — and on those days, they tend to eat more calories, saturated fat and sodium than they do on other days, according to data collected over the past decade in the U.S. On pizza eating days, kids ate an average of 83 more calories, and teens had an average of 230 more calories, than on non-pizza days. Kids and teens also got three to five more grams of saturated fat on pizza days, and 100 to 400 more milligrams of sodium. "What this is saying is kids are not adequately compensating in other parts of their diet when they eat pizza, and these are nutrients that we want to limit," lead author Lisa Powell told Reuters Health by phone. Powell, of the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and colleagues analyzed National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data on a national sample of kids ages two to 19 between 2003 and 2010, and found that calorie intake from pizza actually declined, but was still associated with unhealthier eating days. "We wanted to answer the question, 'does it matter that pizza is one of the top contributors to kids' diets?'" said Powell. It does matter, since eating pizza adds extra calories and fat to the day for the average kid, she and her colleagues write in Pediatrics. Pizza common in diets of young people Youngsters were surveyed about the food they had consumed over the previous 24 hours, twice in a 10-day period. (For small children, parents answered the questions.) In the 2009-10 survey, 20 per cent of younger kids and 23 per cent of teens ate pizza on any given day. On pizza-eating days, younger kids ate an average of 408 calories worth of pizza and teens ate about 624 calories of pizza, which is actually less than in the 2003-04 survey year. That decline may be because individual kids were eating fewer slices at a time in 2010, or because the pizza itself had gotten slightly healthier, Powell said. The American Heart Association recommends that kids age four to 18 consume between 1,200 and 2,200 calories per day, depending on their age and gender. Snack time pizza was associated with the most extra calories, fat and salt, more than pizza eaten for lunch or dinner, the authors found. "It has quite an adverse effect as a snack," Powell said. "Not a lot of kids are consuming pizza as a snack, but it's definitely something they shouldn't be doing." Consumption may be going down, but portion sizes for pizza and Mexican food have both gone up over recent years in the U.S., said Barry Popkin, professor of nutrition and public health researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "It seems to me actually a worse product than it would have been 15 to 20 years ago," said Popkin, who was not involved in the new study. "These are products that you eat only as your meal, and you tend not to eat salad as well," Popkin told Reuters Health by phone. Pizza consumption may be on the decline in the U.S., but that is not the case in low and middle income countries, he said. Powell hopes that parents will recognize the role pizza plays in their kids' diets and that pediatricians together can urge the pizza industry to make their products healthier, perhaps by lowering the saturated fat content. "That would be a voluntary effort, but hopefully parents can use their pizza dollars to make healthier choices," she said. Canadian dietitians said pizza can be nutritious if the crust is whole wheat, with a light quantity of cheese, lots of vegetables and leaner proteins. Given its popularity in school fundraisers, some suggested including "how to build a healthy pizza" into the curriculum.
Ricky McDowell, President of United Auto Workers local 5285, said that organized labor supported President Barack Obama because he saved their jobs. “With the help of President Obama saving the Big Three, and if we had let Chrysler and Chevrolet and GM go down, there wouldn’t be a Big Three, wouldn’t be an international union,” he told PBS during a Labor Day parade in Charlotte, North Carolina. “So he did save our jobs.” Hundreds of union members marched in the parade, hoping to draw attention to the fact that North Carolina is the nation’s least unionized state. The Democratic National Convention is being held in Charlotte beginning on Tuesday. Labor unions have backed President Barack Obama re-election bid, despite being disappointed with his administration. UAW president Bob King and AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka will both speak at the DNC. Watch video, uploaded to YouTube by PBS, below:
Future American President Donald J. Trump began his controversy-courting, Senator-doxxing presidential run, in part, by railing against the narcotics, crime, and rape that Mexico has apparently been sending our way. “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best,” Trump said—famously so—at his campaign launch in June. “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” In his incarnation as current Republican presidential front-runner, Trump is in no way a fan of illegal drugs. He’s claimed to have never tried controlled substances “of any kind.” Last June, he said that he opposes pot legalization. “I feel strongly about that,” he told Sean Hannity. Today’s Donald Trump sounds like your average drug warrior. But it wasn’t too long ago that the real-estate mogul/reality-TV star publicly supported the legalization of drugs in the United States—and called out politicians for not having the courage to end the disastrous war on drugs. During a luncheon hosted by the Miami Herald in April 1990, Trump slammed U.S. drug enforcement policy as “a joke,” and argued that tax dollars from a legalized, regulated narcotics industry could be spent on programs educating Americans about the dangers of drugs and addiction. “We’re losing badly the war on drugs,” he said, rightly so, to the crowd of 700 people. “You have to legalize drugs to win that war. You have to take the profit away from these drug czars.” Trump was inspired to weigh in on the drug war partly due to the fact that “South Florida has such a huge problem with drugs,” he said. During the Miami Herald luncheon, he blamed America’s drug problems on politicians who “don’t have any guts” to address the issue. The reform-minded Trump of decades past is a far more attractive figure than his current incarnation, at least in the eyes of the pro-legalization advocates of today. “Well, I certainly think he had it right in 1990, and what he said then actually seemed to understand the situation,” David Boaz, executive vice president of the libertarian Cato Institute, told The Daily Beast. “My sense is that looking for consistent philosophy or even policies in Donald Trump’s statements is a pretty fruitless exercise.” Boaz also pointed out that Trump recently voiced his support for medical marijuana, and that when asked about Colorado, the 2016 GOP contender essentially said that states should be able to decide on legalizing recreational weed. “That actually puts him on the liberal wing of Republican presidential candidates in terms of drug policy,” Boaz continued. “I’m much more surprised that [Trump] ever got it right than I am that he’s getting it wrong now,” Matt Welch, editor in chief of Reason magazine, wrote in an email. “Probably goes to show that if you spend decades just mindlessly and confidently blurting out whatever comes to mind, you’ll eventually hit on the right answer. Though the fact that even Donald freaking Trump has more history of being right on the Drug War than Hillary Clinton should be deeply embarrassing for America.” The Trump campaign did not respond to The Daily Beast’s request for comment regarding what led to Trump’s change of heart. But early ’90s-era The Donald certainly was passionate about causing a stir over the legalization question. “What I’d like to do maybe by bringing it up is cause enough controversy that you get into a dialogue on the issue of drugs so people will start to realize that this is the only answer; there is no other answer,” he said 25 years ago. Somebody should tell present-day Donald Trump.
The first prototypes of a high-tech suit of armor to give soldiers superhuman abilities could be ready to test this summer, according to top military officials. The suits, which have drawn comparisons to the one worn by Marvel Comics superhero "Iron Man," could be delivered to special operations forces as early as June. The Tactical Assault Light Operator Suit, or TALOS, is being developed by engineers at MIT; the U.S. Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM); and researchers at other businesses and academic institutions. Prototypes of the suit, which is designed to provide protection from bullets and is equipped with a variety of sensors and cameras, are being assembled and could be ready for the military to test in June, reported Military.com. The TALOS technology will be rigorously tested, and military personnel hope to have operational systems in the field by August 2018, according to Navy Adm. William McRaven, head of the U.S. Special Operations Command. [See video of the military's futuristic TALOS suit] "That suit, if done correctly, will yield a revolutionary improvement in survivability and capability for special operators," McRaven said at the 25th annual Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict conference this week in Washington, D.C., according to Military.com. The suit includes features such as 360-degree cameras with built-in night vision capabilities, sensors that can detect injuries and apply wound-sealing foam, and bulletproof armor. Eventually, the TALOS systems may include full-body exoskeletons complete with screens that display information about a soldier's surroundings, according to Military.com. The technology could give American soldiers a "huge comparative advantage over our enemies and give our warriors the protection they need," McRaven said. Government agencies, corporations, universities and national laboratories are collaborating on the TALOS project, and the military may explore ways to distribute prize money as an incentive for others to get involved in the program, McRaven said. "We are already seeing astounding results of this collaboration," he added. The TALOS project began as a way to explore how technology can be used to protect special operations officers better in combat zones. "With all the advances in modern technology, I know we can do better," McRaven said. Follow Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science. Copyright 2014 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
It’s time to applaud fertility specialists for all their baby making efforts: an estimated 5 million “test tube babies” have been born worldwide since the first successful in-vitro fertilization (IVF) birth in 1978. Delegates of the non-profit organization International Committee Monitoring Assisted Reproductive Technologies recently made the announcement based on data from 2008 and estimates of 350,000 IVF births annually for each of the last 3 years. The figures were reported at the 28th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology. Assisted reproductive technology that has enabled millions of couples who suffer with infertility to have children biologically, but not without controversy. The World Health Organization estimates that infertility affects between 10 to 15 percent of reproductive-aged couples, which translates to around 80-100 million couples globally. For these couples, IVF is often the only viable possibility for having their own children. In the U.S. alone, around 1 percent of all infants born annually are conceived via IVF, which is about 61,000 infants out of nearly 155,000 procedures performed. Since first introduced in the States, around half a million IVF babies have been born. The procedure for IVF involves removing a female’s eggs from the ovaries, fertilizing them in the laboratory with male-donated sperm, and delivering embryos into the uterus for implantation. Egg retrieval is part of the broader IVF cycle, which includes treatment with hormones to promote egg maturation. But age affects fertility, especially as women approach 40. In women under the age of 35, success rates of pregnancy from IVF embryos are 33 percent per cycle, but those rates drop steadily with increasing age, down to 12.5 percent in women aged 40-42. The overwhelming reason that most cycles are discontinued is no or inadequate egg production and the rate of miscarriage rises rapidly after age 40. Though the technique had been shown to be safe, the use of IVF got off to a slow start. The first successful IVF baby, Louise Brown, was born in 1978 in Britain to John and Lesley Brown, who had been trying to conceive for 9 years (you can even watch the original news footage of Louise’s birth here). By 1984, only 350 test tube babies had been born and it wasn’t until 2001 when the number neared one million. Today, about 1.5 million cycles are performed each year, and the numbers continues to climb. In 2010, the Nobel committee awarded Robert G. Edwards, the pioneer of IVF, with the Nobel Prize in Medicine. But even as this milestone is a great accomplishment in medicine, technology, and public health, the problems surrounding IVF since it was introduced linger. One of the longstanding issues of the technique is its expense, especially in developing countries where the technology is out of reach to many. According to the American Society of Reproductive Medicine, the average cost of one IVF cycle was $12,400 in 2006, but many couples attempt more than one cycle, especially women over 35. Even in the present U.S. economic climate where fewer people have access to quality healthcare, IVF is thought of as more of luxury than a medical necessity. Efforts to decrease the cost of IVF in developing countries have been suggested and the Internet is ripe with stories about “cheap IVF”, but whether the $12k-price tag has actually dropped, without compromising success rates significantly, has yet to be reported. The likelihood of multiple births with assisted reproductive technology has also been severe: between 1980 and 1998, the rate of high order pregnancies (triplet or more) in the U.S. increased by 423 percent. Many in the public became aware of and outraged by this issue through tabloid-esque coverage of Nadya Suleman or the Octamom as she is known, who gave birth to octuplets in 2009 after IVF treatments and is now on public assistance. Fortunately, the practice of transferring multiple embryos at once is diminishing thanks to ongoing research showing transfer of a single IVF embryo is just as if not more effective than multiple or even two embryos at once. According to Dr. Anna Pia Ferraretti, chairman of the society’s IVF Monitoring Consortium, European practices have reduced the transfer of multiple embryos, such that IVF deliveries in 2009 included less than 1 percent of triplets and 20 percent of twins. For all the controversy surrounding the technology, such as religious groups who voice opposition to the discarding of unneeded embryos, use of IVF is sparse. Consider that currently 133 million babies are born worldwide every year, so IVF births make up only one quarter of one percent of all live births annually, barely a blip on the reproductive radar. The promise of IVF is translating into a seemingly exponential rise in its use, but more advances are needed in assisted reproductive technologies. Improved success rates, screening methods that enhance specificity, inexpensive solutions, technologies with low barriers to entry, and embryonic genetic testing are hopefully in the not-too-distant future. These strides would not only be beneficial to couples turning to medical assistance to have children, but they would go a long way in resolving criticisms, both ethical and pragmatic, that continue to cast IVF in a negative light. In the end, this milestone means that 5 million human beings can say that medical science is absolutely responsible for their existence. Chalk up another win for technology. [Media: CDC, Guardian] [Sources: American Society of Reproductive Medicine, ICMART, LiveScience]
Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo Did he or didn't he? This is the oddly intriguing question swirling around Mitt Romney as critics contend that he may have paid no income tax for some portion of the last 10 years. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has become chief inquisitor in this weird populist trial, claiming that a "successful businessman" familiar with Romney's finances told him that the Republican presidential candidate paid no taxes for a decade. There's a McCarthyist air to Reid's charge--since there's no proof that it's true--yet it may also be politically effective, since Romney already struggles with an aristocratic, out-of-touch image. If Romney has paid taxes, as he insists, he could clear up the whole controversy by simply releasing several years' worth of tax returns, beyond the 2010 return and the 2011 estimate he's already released. But he has refused, and there may be good reason for that. "I wouldn't be surprised if he paid nearly zero taxes in 2008 and 2009," says Brad Badertscher, an accounting professor at the University of Notre Dame. "It's going to look bad no matter what he does." Theories about Romney's tax strategy tend to focus on offshore investment vehicles and secretive accounts, but basic investing and accounting scenarios could easily explain a low tax bill. The clue comes in Schedule D of his 2010 return, in which he claimed a $4.8 million loss carried over from prior years. That helped reduce his tax bill for 2010, in which he paid $3 million in taxes on $21.7 million of income, for an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent. The carryover means that Romney probably claimed a much bigger loss a year or two earlier, which could easily have pushed his tax rate for 2008 or 2009 down to the low single digits. Most investors lost money in 2008, the year that Lehman Brothers collapsed and the S&P 500 stock index fell by 37 percent. Romney was probably no different. During bad years, wealthy investors often use a legal strategy called "tax harvesting" in which they sell weak investments at a loss, which they can use to offset the tax they'd need to pay on gains from better-performing investments. The loss can be carried forward, to help lower the tax bill in later years when investments might have done better. "It's very common for sophisticated investors," says Badertscher. "It's a good time to clean out your portfolio, sell the losers, and use the losses for tax purposes." Romney has said that his investments are in a blind trust, so if his advisors made such moves, they may have done so without his input. In 2010, all of Romney's income came from investments as capital gains, dividends and interest. He claimed no income from wages or salaries. So his maximum tax rate would have topped out at around 15 percent—the rate that applies to most investment income. The loss carryover, sizeable charitable donations and other deductions helped shave his effective rate to 13.9 percent. About half of Romney's income in 2010 came from capital gains. If that were zeroed out in 2008, say, on account of the crumbling economy, it could have cut his income for that year to $10 million or less, with a huge deduction for a capital loss. Combined with the same sorts of charitable donations and other deductions he claimed in 2010, that could have pushed his tax burden close to zero. If Romney's losses were big enough in 2008, he could have carried a portion of the loss forward into 2009, helping lower his taxes then, too. The fact that the loss carryover appeared on his 2010 return suggests that may well have happened. Romney, in response to Reid's claim, has insisted that he paid taxes every year, and paid "a lot of taxes" overall. If true, that means Romney never evaded taxes altogether. And it would be hard to fault Romney for abiding by a tax code that simply tends to favor wealthy investors like him. Still, a typical worker earning $50,000 faces a maximum tax rate of 25 percent, so Romney's tax rate could have been a fraction of what most middle-class earners pay. Nor do most workers employ complex strategies to whittle their tax rate down to single digits. Reid may suspect that, and simply be baiting Romney because he knows the candidate has little to gain and plenty to lose by releasing further returns. Meanwhile, Romney the candidate wants to eliminate taxes on all types of investment income for middle-class families, which might be a pre-emptive way of saying that the tax advantages he enjoys should be extended to all taxpayers. President Obama wants to do the opposite. He has proposed raising the tax on capital gains from 15 percent to 20 percent, and treating dividend and interest income the same as earned income, subject to whatever bracket the taxpayer happens to be in. If more of Romney's tax returns do become public, they might have the unintended effect of advancing his opponent's tax plan. Rick Newman is the author of Rebounders: How Winners Pivot From Setback To Success. Follow him on Twitter: @rickjnewman.
AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka offered a tentative olive branch to President-elect Donald Trump Wednesday, saying that the nation's largest labor federation was willing to try to meet him part way on economic policy issues. Trumka had been one of Trump's harshest critics during the campaign, repeatedly calling him a " racist" and mobilizing union support on behalf of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. In a statement emailed to reporters, Trumka said his organization accepted the outcome of the election and offered Trump "our congratulations." He said organized labor was obliged to try to work with Trump for the good of the nation. "Ultimately, the fundamental duty of America's president, symbolized by swearing to uphold our Constitution, is to protect and preserve our democracy and the institutions that make it real. We hope to work with President-elect Trump to help him carry out this solemn responsibility. Regardless, America's labor movement will protect our democracy and safeguard the most vulnerable among us," Trumka said. He added that election was a referendum "on trade, on restoring manufacturing, on reviving our communities. We will work to make many of those promises a reality. If he is willing to work with us, consistent with our values, we are ready to work with him."
(in which Sky Blue prove to be generous hosts as the Thorns leave with their spoons and tea set) Things continue to come to the Thorns in pairs, as the team posted a 2-0 win on the road versus Sky Blue FC. Lindsey Horan got her first two goals of the year. A penalty kick was awarded to Sky Blue, the second of the season against the Thorns, and for the second time Adrianna Franch saved it. There were also some firsts for the team. Dagny Brynjarsdottir made her first appearance of the year after a lengthy recovery from back problems. Tobin Heath was on the bench for the first time, also nursing a bad back. And Hayley Raso failed to see the pitch for the first time this year as she was a late scratch. Although the score matched last week’s Boston game, this was not an evening of Thorns domination. Sky Blue is a good team with dangerous players like Sam Kerr, Kelly O’Hara, and Raquel “Rocky” Rodriguez. And they were at home where they hadn’t lost or been tied this year. The match opened with sloppy and tentative play by both teams as the midfielders for both sides attacked everything that came near. In the 13th minute Sky Blue had an excellent chance on a Thorns corner kick. Nadim made a good delivery but Sinclair’s uncontested header went awry. Sky Blue were off to the races. Maya Hayes ran the length of the field with two teammates as escorts while Menges, Sonnett and Boureille strained to catch up. Menges managed to press Hayes a bit wide as they approached the Portland box. Boureille joined a double-team on Hayes, which left two Sky Blue players unmarked in the box. Fortunately, the double-team worked and Hayes was unable to make a pass. Just a minute later, it was Portland’s turn as the game began to open up with Lindsey Horan missing wide left on a long shot. Then with the clock at 18:49 Nadia Nadim got open at midfield and was cut down by Kayla Mills. The referee, Marco Vega of 2016 semifinal match fame, gave Mills a yellow card for what looked on replay to be a run-of-the-mill foul. In any case, the free kick was correctly awarded and Sky Blue paid the price. Nadim sent in a perfect 50-yard ball to the far side of the Sky Blue 6-yard box. Lindsey Horan launched herself for a diving header that powered the ball into upper near-side netting. It’s nominated for Goal of the Week, and rightly so. In the 32nd minute, Portland was in on goal again. This time Nadim was alone with the goal keeper to beat, but made a weak pass attempt instead of shooting. Two minutes after that came Sky Blue’s best chance of the game. Emily Menges got caught upfield as she stabbed at a pass and missed, letting Sam Kerr in alone on Franch. Kerr’s shot was off target to the great relief of everyone in red. In the 41st minute came what proved to the last scoring of the night during a fine spell of possession by the Thorns. Celeste Boureille did very well to beat her marker to the end line and attract most of the Sky Blue defense to their left. Nadim passed to ball to the opposite side where Meghan Klingenberg took it in stride and centered an excellent cross hard and low at the top of the 6-yard box. Lindsey Horan was on the spot to poke it over the diving Kailen Sheridan and into the roof of the net. I believe every Thorn except Menges and Sonnett touched ball in this sequence. In first-half stoppage time, the Thorns nearly added another as a long ball from Franch was flicked on by Sinclair to Nadim. Nadia carried it into the box and gave Sinclair a good pass. Mallory Weber was completely alone to Sinclair’s left, but unfortunately the captain was unable to corral the ball to make the pass. Seconds later Mr. Vega’s whistle blew and the Thorns headed to the locker room all hugs and smiles. The second half saw the Thorns become progressively more defensive as there were many more saves by Franch than shots by Thorns attackers. The 48th, Franch stoned Kelly O’Hara with an excellent kick save. In the 55th came the moment of the match as AD cleanly saved Sarah Killion’s penalty kick attempt. The penalty award was probably correct as Mallory Weber got tangled with a diving Rodriguez. Sky Blue fans were howling for another penalty call as Klingenberg and O’Hara tussled while clearing the PK save rebound. Both officials had a good look and weren’t interested. Franch’s only real error of the night came in the 57th minute when she charged out to capture a long entry pass but was beaten to it by Hayes whose chip attempt was just wide of the net. Ten minutes later AD redeemed herself with another solid save on McKenzie Meehan’s close-range header. Allie Long was playing with some type of stomach bug. Apparently she had vomited after the pregame warmup but insisted on playing anyway. In the 62nd minute she was subbed off for Meghan Cox. As Long walked to the sideline, she looked very uncomfortable. Reports are that Mallory Weber had the same problem, although she looked better when she came off in the 66th for Dagny. Both subs had their moments. Cox was given a yellow card for a perfectly clean tackle that should not have been whistled a foul. And Dagny has a chance to nail the door shut late as Nadim put a perfect cross to her foot but she fluffed the attempted volley. Some rust is to be expected after such a long layoff. One last fine save from Franch in the second minute of stoppage time ensured the clean sheet and the three points. Here’s hoping Sky Blue proves to be as docile when we see them again in a couple weeks. By Richard Hamje Video editing by Jeanette “Bitmangler” Hamje
Arcadia Class Jumpship Serviced by the Tower shipyard, this jumpship is in much better shape than when it arrived. Arcadians were the most common jumpships during the Golden Age, used for both terrestrial and planetary excursions. Their remains have been reported around most Earth-based space ports. Basic Quest Shipwright Kestrel Class AX Base model experimental jumpship. Ships capable of interplanetary travel are in limited supply. Most are never rebuilt to anything resembling their Golden Age glory. Basic Shipwright Kestrel Class AX0 Base model experimental jumpship. The Kestrel is thought to have been a prototype long-range craft designed near the end of the Golden Age. Most in service are rebuilt using reverse-engineered specs. Basic Shipwright Kestrel Class CX Base model experimental jumpship. Ships capable of interplanetary travel are in limited supply. Most are never rebuilt to anything resembling their Golden Age glory. Basic Shipwright Kestrel Class CX0 Base model experimental jumpship. The Kestrel is thought to have been a prototype long-range craft designed near the end of the Golden Age. Most in service are rebuilt using reverse-engineered specs. Basic Shipwright Kestrel Class EX Base model experimental jumpship. Ships capable of interplanetary travel are in limited supply. Most are never rebuilt to anything resembling their Golden Age glory. Basic Shipwright Kestrel Class EX0 Base model experimental jumpship. The Kestrel is thought to have been a prototype long-range craft designed near the end of the Golden Age. Most in service are rebuilt using reverse-engineered specs. Basic Shipwright Phaeton Class v1 Base model long range jumpship. Ships capable of interplanetary travel are in limited supply. Most are never rebuilt to anything resembling their Golden Age glory. Basic Shipwright Phaeton Class v1.1 Base model long range jumpship. Phaetons are sturdy and reliable, though the basic class models are rebuilt below spec, due to limited supplies and high demand. Basic Shipwright Phaeton Class v2 Base model long range jumpship. Ships capable of interplanetary travel are in limited supply. Most are never rebuilt to anything resembling their Golden Age glory. Basic Shipwright Phaeton Class v2.1 Base model long range jumpship. Phaetons are sturdy and reliable, though the basic class models are rebuilt below spec, due to limited supplies and high demand. Basic Shipwright Phaeton Class v3 Base model long range jumpship. Ships capable of interplanetary travel are in limited supply. Most are never rebuilt to anything resembling their Golden Age glory. Basic Shipwright Phaeton Class v3.1 Base model long range jumpship. Phaetons are sturdy and reliable, though the basic class models are rebuilt below spec, due to limited supplies and high demand. Basic Shipwright Regulus Class 22a Base model "near-star" jumpship. The Regulus was originally built for speed and maneuverability, but the basic class models rely on limited resources and rarely reach full spec. Basic Shipwright Regulus Class 44b Base model "near-star" jumpship. The Regulus was originally built for speed and maneuverability, but the basic class models rely on limited resources and rarely reach full spec. Basic Shipwright Regulus Class 55 Base model near-star jumpship. Ships capable of interplanetary travel are in limited supply. Most are never rebuilt to anything resembling their Golden Age glory. Basic Shipwright Regulus Class 66c Base model "near-star" jumpship. The Regulus was originally built for speed and maneuverability, but the basic class models rely on limited resources and rarely reach full spec. Basic Shipwright Regulus Class 77 Base model near-star jumpship. Ships capable of interplanetary travel are in limited supply. Most are never rebuilt to anything resembling their Golden Age glory. Basic Shipwright
Get the biggest What's On stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Everything left in the Triangle shopping centre when it closed down is being sold off this weekend - at £10 each. Doors to the amazing ‘yard sale’ open at 9am tomorrow with hundreds expected to come for a bargain. Entry is free with everything inside costing £10, from shelves and shop fittings to 50 inch televisions, sofas and even the huge metal ‘Sky Bar’ structure. Other more unusual items up for grabs include a Hacienda-style picnic bench signed by Dave Haslam and a giant silver throne. Those looking to fit out a shop can also buy chandeliers, counters and shelving. All the money from the event will be donated to charity Forever Manchester, who fund community groups across the region. Bosses at Aviva Investors, who own The Triangle, or Corn Exchange, decided to sell as much as possible from the building before it is redeveloped. The aim is for the historic grade II building to be re-launched next Spring as a base for 13 independent restaurants and a hotel. Read: Read: Associate Director Simon Green said: “We were astounded at what had been left behind [in the Corn Exchange] and wanted to do something with the items ahead of the scheme being stripped back prior to redevelopment. “We’ve always been supporters of Forever Manchester and hope this sale will raise funds for good local causes.” Volunteers from Forever Manchester will be on hand at Saturday’s sale. Items will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis and must be removed on the day, although arrangements can be made for larger items to be collected on Monday. Donations in exchange for items can only be made in cash. Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now Paul Howarth, Forever Manchester marketing director, said: “We could make as much as ten grand on Saturday, but we’d be happy with £1,000. “It would be great to help people setting up new businesses in Manchester and obviously the donations will help community groups. “There’s some really unusual things for sale, and the Sky Bar is available for £10 but I think it might cost a million to get it out by Saturday.“We’re just urging as many people to come down on Saturday to get as much stuff out as possible.” Read more city centre news: More news from the Manchester Evening News Find out what's happening where you live with our In Your Area section Read the Manchester Evening News on your phone - download the Apple MEN App here, the Android MEN App here - and get the paper as an e-edition every morning by subscribing here
Jeremy Corbyn has tempered his support for a snap general election after a Tory grandee called on Theresa May go to the public before the end of this Parliament. The Labour leader said his party would “consider” backing a Commons motion to dissolve Parliament early, despite saying in December that Labour would support a snap poll. The Fixed-Term Parliaments Act dictates that elections will take place every five years – unless two-thirds of the Commons vote in favour of an early poll. Today former minister William Hague became the first senior Conservative figure to encourage Mrs May to call a snap vote to strengthen her hand in the Brexit negotiations. Confronted with the remarks, Mr Corbyn told the BBC: “The Fixed Term Parliaments Act requires that Parliament goes for the five years that it was elected for in the first place unless two-thirds of all MPs vote for dissolution of Parliament. “We supported that legislation because we wanted to ensure greater stability in politics. But if there’s a proposal to get rid of it then I’m sure we’ll consider it.” When asked whether he would welcome a snap election, Mr Corbyn replied: “I want to see a different government, I don’t want to see this government in office.” But in an interview with The Independent at the end of last year, Mr Corbyn said Labour was “ready for it” if there was a general election. The Labour leader said: “I personally am slightly sceptical about the Fixed-Term Parliaments Acts anyway… she has not said she’s going to do that but that is what I’m saying is one possibility. “If there’s a vote to dissolve Parliament then obviously we will vote with it.” Labour's former elections co-ordinator, Jon Trickett, also put the party on an "election footing" after Mrs May became Prime Minister last summer. Downing Street this morning stressed that Mrs May has no intention of calling an early vote. "It's not something she plans to do or wishes to do," a Number 10 source told the BBC. WE BELIEVE WE CAN WIN’ Mr Corbyn’s cooling of support for an early election came during a fiery interview in which we was offered the opportunity six times to say that Labour would win the next election. At the fifth time of asking the Labour leader, having previously declared that “nobody knows the result of an election before they go into it", said: “We’re going to take our case out to the country. We’re very confident of the support we can get in order to win an election, to take our case to the British people,” he continued. “Don’t underestimate the support there is for the Labour party, don’t underestimate the anger there is out there at the levels of inequality and injustice within our society. We’ll expose all of that. That’s where our case is very, very strong.” And at the sixth time of asking, he said: “Listen, you’ve asked me the question many, many times. How many times do I have to tell you? We’re taking our case out there to win because we believe we can win.” Watch the key exchange below:
LA Police Admit That Red Light Camera Payments Are Now 'Voluntary' from the if-you'd-like-to-contribute-to-the-police-red-light-fund... dept Officials said that paying the fines was optional and the city had no legal power to force people to pay. The tickets are part of a "voluntary payment program," without sanctions for those who fail to submit fines, said Richard M. Tefank, executive director of the city's Board of Police Commissioners. "The consequence is somebody calling you from one of these collection agencies and saying 'pay up.' And that's it," said committee member and Councilman Bill Rosendahl. "There's no real penalty in terms of your driver's license or any other consequences if you don't pay." We recently wrote about how LA was considering dumping its red light cameras, and Jay Matteo was the first of a few of you to let us know that, rather than getting rid of them entirely, the police appear to be publicly stating that paying any such red light camera fines is entirely optional Of course, they never said that publicly before, and those who already paid can't take back their money, but it's still quite a revelation for the police to make. Filed Under: la, red light cameras, voluntary
The CEO of one of the nation's largest coal companies ripped the Senate tax-reform bill, saying late changes to the bill would "wipe out" coal mining jobs. Robert Murray, founder and CEO of Murray Energy, said Tuesday that the tax hike on coal mining firms that would result from the changes would cancel out progress that President Trump has made on reviving the coal industry, according to CNN. "We won't have enough cash flow to exist," Murray told CNNMoney. "This wipes out everything that President Trump has done for coal." The Senate amended its version of the bill last Friday to keep the alternative minimum tax for businesses in order to pay for other changes to the bill - including a more generous deduction for pass-through businesses and the allowance of a property tax deduction for individuals of up to $10,000. But keeping the alternative minimum tax, and the imposition of new limits on the interest deductions that businesses can mark off, would cost Murray Energy $60 million in taxes, Murray told CNN. The fight over the alternative minimum tax will be an issue in the House-Senate conference. The House bill repeals the tax. Trump campaigned heavily on revitalizing the coal industry in the U.S. and has made moves to roll back regulations, particularly Obama-era rules related to climate change, that the coal industry has opposed. Murray has been supportive of Trump's efforts, telling CNN, "I know he cares about the coal miners and their jobs." Murray held a fundraiser for Trump in June 2016.
Magnus Wolff Eikrem: Has held talks with Heerenveen over possible summer move The 22-year-old travelled to the Netherlands over the weekend to discuss terms after a fee was agreed with Norwegian outfit Molde. He is expected to undergo a medical in the coming days before finalising a move to the Eredivisie side, who are managed by Dutch legend Marco van Basten. "It's to check the conditions and to see how things are there." Eikrem told VG of his trip to Holland. "Honestly, I don't know very much. I have tried to focus on the match [against Valerenga on Saturday], but it's difficult when you know that the clubs have reached an agreement. "There is a strong desire from the coach [Van Basten] that I should go down there. "It is tremendously important that it is the coach who wants me and not the sports director or something." Eikrem joined United as a 16-year-old in 2006 but failed to make a senior appearance for the Old Trafford club. He left in January 2011 to link up with former Red Devils striker Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at Molde.
No one has a higher estimation of Texas than Texans. And, regardless of your opinion on the advisability of messing with the state, in at least one way Texas is at the forefront of the American imagination: politics. The state has seen enormous population growth in recent years, thanks to immigrants arriving from the rest of the country and from across its southern border. Its future as a deep red state has been challenged, in part thanks to those population shifts, even as the state's Republican establishment affixes itself more firmly to the right. Last week, the Census Bureau released its updated estimates of the country's population for 2013, resulting in a flurry of news reports about our nation's shifting demographics. "More whites died than were born last year, while the share of both Asian Americans and Hispanics grew," the Wall Street Journal noted. At Pew Research, the tack was different, creating the chart at right to show how much less dense the white population is in younger age groups. (We've discussed this before.) The popular thinking is that the change in the American population portends bad news for a Republican Party that's still heavily dependent on support from those older, whiter voters. Our thinking: What better place to track how that evolution might occur than Texas. So we pulled data for every county in the state (true to the state's reputation, there are over 250) on voting history, population size, population composition and population age, to see what the state looked like. In both 2000 and 2012, there was a close link between the density of a county's Hispanic population and its support for the Democratic candidate for president. But did voting patterns change noticeably as the county got more Hispanic? As the age gap between the white and Hispanic populations grew? Not really. But we'll let the maps explain. Population Most of the population growth has happened in Texas's cities, which should not come as a surprise. The state's urbanization may play a critical role over the long term in shaping its politics, but that's a topic for another day. Notice as you toggle back and forth: the increase even in the cities is subtle. Voting patterns Next, we look at voting history. Since the four races we considered varied widely in nature -- favorite-son Bush vs. Gore and Kerry; Obama vs. McCain and Romney -- we measured the amount of support for the Democratic candidate and then how that changed. We then averaged the percent that Democratic support increased or fell between the four elections, giving us the first chart above. On average, support for the Democratic candidate dropped 10 percent by county between Gore and Kerry. It increased 5 percent between Bush and Obama, and then dropped another 13 percent between 2008 and 2012. Between 2000 and 2012, cities and the border areas voted consistently more Democratic. But the central, emptier part of the state got a lot more red. On average, the state's counties voted less Democratic, and counties under the median population moved away from the Democratic candidates about twice as much. Hispanic density So what role does the shifting composition of the population play? That shift is pervasive throughout the state. In 2000, the average density of Texas' counties was 28 percent Hispanic. By 2010, it was up to 32 percent. Smaller counties became more Hispanic at a slower rate than larger ones. The average county under the median population saw its percentage of Hispanic residents increase by 4.2 percent. In above-median counties, the rate was 5.2 percent. And as the third tab shows, the population increase was largely in the same metro areas as the population growth at large. More importantly, though, there doesn't appear to be any correlation to a county becoming more Hispanic and it voting more heavily Democratic. A graph of the two just looks like a swarm of bees, a big cluster showing no pattern whatsoever. Median age This is the data that both Pew and the Journal paid the most attention to: How the gap in age between the Hispanic and white populations played out. And, sure enough, the median age of Hispanic residents was lower than that of white residents in every single county in 2000 -- by 16.4 years on average. By 2010, that average gap had grown to 18.4, even as the average median age for Hispanics had gone up a year-and-a-half. Translating that shift bluntly: white Texans will probably die before Hispanic ones, even as more Hispanics -- a younger population -- reach voting age. Which would mean a higher population of Hispanic voters and, going back to the first two graphs, more votes for Democrats. Or maybe not. A Gallup survey found that Texas Hispanics tended to be more conservative than the population nationally, further complicating the picture. All we can do is look at how the state evolves over time. Over the past 10 years, the population shift was subtle and the voting change barely noticeable. In 2000, Al Gore won 24 of the state's counties. In 2012, Obama did better. He won 25.
New footage of Shia LaBeouf’s recent arrest depicts a belligerent, profane tirade. The actor was taken into custody over the weekend for disorderly conduct, obstruction, and public intoxication. Body-cam footage, obtained by TMZ, shows LaBeouf calling one police officer a “f—ing b—” and “dumb f—.” In one video LaBeouf tells a black officer, “You’ve got a president who doesn’t give a s— about you. And you’re stuck in a police force that doesn’t give a f— and you. So you want to arrest what, white people who give a f—?” LaBeouf continues to yell and make a commotion, “I’m a f—ing American, I pay my taxes, get these s—s off my f—ing arm.” The “Transformers” star’s profane argument stated that he tried to ask a police office for a cigarette, and was arrested, which lines up with initial police reports. However, the official reports also stated, “he became disorderly, using profanities and vulgar language in front of the women and children present.” “They’ve got cameras everywhere, you dummy,” LaBeouf says to an officer in the video. “I’ve got more millionaire lawyers than you know what to do with, you stupid b—.” LaBeouf has a history with law enforcement. Previous incidents include theft at ages nine and eleven, attempting to stab a neighbor, refusing to a leave Walgreens, and misconduct during a “Cabaret” performance. Watch some of the body-cam footage below:
SEOUL (Reuters) - South Korea approved on Wednesday a $7 billion project to build two nuclear plants, a boost for an industry struggling to emerge from the shadow of Japan’s Fukushima disaster and the first approval since a policy review sparked by a safety scandal at domestic reactors. The greenlight for the plants comes only two weeks after Asia’s fourth-largest economy announced a policy shift to cut its reliance on nuclear power to 29 percent of total power supply by 2035, down from a planned 41 percent by 2030. A series of nuclear reactor shutdowns since late 2012 due to safety issues have raised the risk of blackouts, putting pressure on policy makers to maintain power supplies in a economy relying on energy intensive industries such as autos, steel and electronics. The approvals will also encourage South Korea’s nuclear power industry, which still aims to export its expertise into a global market dominated by France, the United States and Russia. South Korea, which ranks fifth globally in nuclear power generation, has largely developed its own nuclear industry, building and operating its reactors through state-run utility Korea Electric Power Corp (KEPCO). A KEPCO-led consortium won a contract in 2009 to build four nuclear reactors in the United Arab Emirates and started construction in mid-2012. But Seoul has faced public pressure to curb its use of nuclear power after Japan’s Fukushima disaster and to rebuild confidence in the industry after a scandal over parts supplied using fake certificates. It adopted a lower target for nuclear power earlier this month, but still plans to double its nuclear capacity over the next two decades as its state-run industry builds at least 16 new domestic reactors and is pushes for overseas sales. SAFETY CONCERNS An anti-nuclear power group said by backing more plants the government was not taking into account worries over safety. “In this sense, it shows the government is ignoring concerns triggered by the Fukushima case and from civic groups urging them not to use nuclear power,” said Lee Heon-seok, a representative of the Energy Justice Action group. South Korea has 23 nuclear reactors, which generate about a third of its electricity and any move away from nuclear would mean it had to spend billions of dollars to pay for extra fossil fuel imports. On Wednesday, South Korea shut down one nuclear power plant due to a technical glitch, taking the number of reactors closed to four and increasing the risk of power shortages over winter. The new plants approved on Wednesday will be on top of five nuclear power plants already under construction and another four planned, including one that will be completed in July this year. The power plants will have 1,400-megawatt capacity each, and are due to be completed by the end of 2020 and cost 7.6 trillion won ($7.0 billion). The KEPCO-led consortium building the new plants includes Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction Co Ltd, Samsung C&T Corp, Hyundai Engineering & Construction Co Ltd, Westinghouse Electric Co owned by Japan’s Toshiba Corp, according to a KEPCO official.
Ralph Langner’s Stuxnet Deep Dive is the definitive technical presentation on the PLC attack portion of Stuxnet. He did a good job of showing very technical details in a readable and logical presentation that you can follow in the video if you know something about programming and PLC’s. The main purpose of Ralph’s talk was to convince the audience with “100% certainty” that Stuxnet was designed specifically to attack the Natanz facility. He does this at least four different ways, and I have to agree there is no doubt. This video represents exactly what we are trying to accomplish at S4. Ralph is speaking in front of a very experienced and knowledgeable ICS security audience, and he doesn’t waste any time on what Stuxnet 101. Instead, he dives right into the S7 code and walks the audience through, line by line, some of the most interesting FC’s. This level of detail has never been seen before. It likely would bore or be lost on most audiences, but the S4 crowd was spellbound. [vimeo 35806770] It’s high quality video so expand to full screen to see the code. The video shows the level of effort Langner’s team put into analyzing Stuxnet as there comments are throughout the S7 Stuxnet code. Many in the audience remarked that it was probably much better documented than the Stuxnet author’s version. I’m tempted to try to excerpt the most interesting points of the presentation, but if you want to know about Stuxnet’s PLC code you should just watch it. Can’t resist; I found encryption routine in the wrapper with hard coded key the mysterious DB 8061 all of the Natanz numerology the strike condition FC 6065 manipulate outputs, FC 6079 replay recorded data Design flaws not vulnerabilities, “this is how the pro’s do it” Zero chance of Stuxnet working without a test facility and much more fascinating even after a second viewing.
At first glance, the tiny conference room tucked away in a back corner of the L.A. Convention Center’s West Hall seemed like any other: cramped, with white walls and gray carpeting, under the unrelenting glow of fluorescent lighting. Then I slipped the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset over my eyes, and the four walls disappeared. Turning my head in one direction revealed mountains buffered by fierce snow flurries. Slowly panning my head in the other direction brought rivers of lava into view—and a hulking, demonic monster sitting on a rock throne in a dark cave. Dramatic? Sure, but it’s more than just poetic license. Oculus Rift utterly engulfs you in PC-generated virtual worlds, making you feel like you’re truly inhabiting digital domains—and the newly improved version I went eyes-on with at E3 2013 is already demonstrably better than the developer version we tried out at CES back in January. Ratcheting up the resolution While the developer kit of the Oculus Rift maxes out at 720p resolution, the headset that Oculus VR CEO Brendan Iribe handed me at E3 rocked a full 1080p HD resolution. The company had never demonstrated a 1080p headset before Tuesday. Oculus VR Members of the Oculus VR team trying out the 1080p Rift prototype. “This will be the lowest possible resolution we end up shipping to consumers,” Iribe said. “Less than a year after our Kickstarter campaign began, we’re already able to offer this for the same price that we sell the [720p] developer version for.” Although the consumer prototype still packs the same gyrometer, accelerometer, and magnetometer found in the developer kit—it’s this trio that gives the Oculus Rift its 360-degree immersion, after all—it felt lighter in the hand than the developer version. Iribe confirmed that it was, though he wouldn’t get into weight specifics. “The Oculus Rift just continues to get better,” was all he would say. Oculus VR A comparison of Oculus Rift at 720p (left) and 1080p (right). The difference is evident here, but much more pronounced in action. And indeed it does. Iribe also had a 720p dev kit on hand, and he had me try both that and the 1080p consumer prototype back-to-back. While the dev kit’s experience was smooth and enjoyable, its visuals have a slight effect akin to “looking through a screen door,” as Iribe aptly put it. The 1080p consumer prototype didn’t have that effect, and its imagery just plain looked more crisp and vibrant all around. Colors were brighter. Details looked more, well, detailed. All in all, the consumer prototype is a huge improvement over the developer kit. Unreal Engine 4 integration Oculus VR had another nifty trick up its sleeve aside from the big resolution reveal. The team was demonstrating a fully playable version of Epic’s Elemental Demo, running at a silky-smooth 60 frames per second, to highlight the recent Oculus Rift software support baked into Unreal Engine 4—a vote of confidence that opens up a whole universe of gaming possibilities for the Rift. Tuesday's Elemental demo almost didn’t happen, however. Oculus VR The memorial to Andrew Reisse in the Oculus Rift Elemental Demo. (Click to enlarge.) “This demo wouldn’t be playable today without Epic,” Iribe said. Oculus co-founder Andrew Reisse, who was tragically killed when a car fleeing the police struck him in a crosswalk, was a key member in porting the Elemental Demo to the Oculus Rift. His sudden loss left a gaping void in the process—the Elemental demo was basically a trailer, whereas the Rift version is a fully navigable world. Epic stepped up to the plate, and it even included a memorial plaque to Reisse in Elemental. Unreal Engine 4 integration is indeed an epic win for Oculus (get it?), but it was a second demo that opened my eyes to new Oculus Rift possibilities I hadn’t even considered before today. Virtual reality cinema After repeatedly shooting magic fireballs into the crotch of the Elemental Demo’s demonic watcher, Iribe booted up another demonstration. I slipped the consumer prototype of the Oculus Rift over my eyes, and suddenly I was in a movie theater (specifically, the VR Cinema3D app developed by Joo-Hyung Ahn in the Unity engine). Rows of red-backed seats were arrayed ahead and to the side of me. Mere moments after I was dropped into this virtual cinema, a preview for The Hangover Part III sprang to life on the movie screen at the front of the theater. Oculus VR This may look simple on your screen, but it blows your mind when it's YOUR ENTIRE WORLD. Holy crap, it was as if you were there. After watching Zach Galifianakis sing a high-pitched song of sorrow for 30 or so seconds, my eyes started picking out minute details. Flickering light prompted me to physically turn my head around, bringing a flashing projector into focus. Eventually a bright scene illumintated the virtual movie screen, which caused the black void overhead to brighten and reveal a tiled roof that wasn’t visible during darker moments. It was seriously, seriously immersive, and seriously, seriously impressive. “Obviously, we’re at E3, and the focus is on gaming, but developers are using the Oculus Rift for more than just games,” Iribe says. “This, medical uses, educational uses, more.” Oculus VR is doing all it can to encourage that creativity: More than 10,000 dev kits have shipped out, Iribe says, with many more still on back order. More than 13,000 developers from all walks of software have registered and commented on the Oculus forums. The company is striving to keep the cost of the kit low—the dev kit costs $300 and is easily reparable—and plans to stick to popular hardware connections and software engines to make development as seamless as possible. “We’re doing this because we love the idea behind the Oculus Rift. We really want to push and promote immersive digital worlds.” Iribe also says Oculus VR has been wary of offers for additional funding, as the team doesn’t want investors or another company possibly corrupting the Oculus Rift vision before the first commercial version becomes available. “We’re doing this because we love the idea behind the Oculus Rift,” he said. “We really want to push and promote immersive digital worlds.” That passion seems infectious. Beyond the Oculus Rift support baked into the popular Unity and Unreal 4 gaming engines, Valve’s aging blockbusters Half-Life 2 and Team Fortress 2 can be played with the HD VR headset. EA has mused about adding VR capabilities to its Frostbite engine. Four indie games here at E3 were built for the Rift. The popular MMO Hawken rocks Rift support, and the Oculus Wikipedia page is chock full of titles destined to work with the Rift. And who knows what kind of nongaming applications await in the future? Not I. Nor do I know the Oculus Rift’s final commercial price or release date—two other details Iribe declined to elaborate upon. But I do know one thing: After trying the Oculus Rift for the very first time on Tuesday, I’m definitely buying a headset whenever it becomes available. Once you’ve seen the Oculus Rift’s digital worlds with your own eyes, you have to buy into its vision.
Jesus Campos, the hotel security guard who was wounded during the Las Vegas massacre, is staying for free at an undisclosed hotel owned by MGM Resorts International, according to the company. The arrangement has led to speculation that MGM wants to prevent the media from questioning Campos about the Oct. 1 massacre, in which a gunman opened fire from a hotel owned by the company. Campos, who was shot in a leg during the rampage that killed 58 people and injured more than 500, is on paid leave while he recovers. “I really think it’s about not allowing reporters and lawyers and investigators to get to him,” said attorney Mo Aziz, who represents one of the Las Vegas shooting victims. “I think they want to make sure he doesn’t make any statement that could really become problematic. And the reason they put him up on their property is so that they’ll know at all times where he is and who’s talking with him.” Campos' whereabouts have been mostly uncertain ever since he abruptly canceled several media interviews shortly after his release from the hospital, including one interview scheduled for Oct. 5 with Fox News' Sean Hannity. The 25-year old security guard surfaced briefly for a daytime television interivew with entertainer Ellen DeGeneres that aired Oct. 11, amid reports that MGM wanted to keep Campos from having to field tougher questions from journalists. MGM maintains that Campos is living rent-free solely because of the company's concern for his well-being. “When his name became public, Jesus was inundated with media coming to his home,” MGM executive vice president Alan Feldman said. “Out of concern for our employee’s well-being and privacy, we provided a room for him.” The Associated Press contributed to this story.
During Wednesday night's Republican presidential debate, a great number of issues were kicked around ― immigration, tariffs, ISIS, the VA ― and, of course, one of the chief foreign policy issues the GOP tends to focus on: the safety and security of Israel. And, after previously stating that he'd remain neutral between Israel and Palestine for the purposes of working on a peace deal, Donald Trump mentioned an old ceremonial position in an attempt to burnish his pro-Israel bonafides. So, was Donald Trump really the Israeli Day Parade Grand Marshal? As is sometimes the case with Trump's extemporaneous, mid-debate proclamations, there's a kernel of truth in there, although it's obscured by a little misdirection and misstatement. Here's the reality: Trump's never been the Grand Marshal of anything called the "Israeli Day Parade." What he did participate in was the Salute to Israel parade in 2004, and indeed, he was the Grand Marshal. Of course, this doesn't necessarily mean that he knows anything about the state of Israel, nor the kind of diplomacy it would take to engineer a peace deal in the Middle East. That's another kind of misdirection altogether ― the idea that marching in a parade makes you presidential timber on a related issue. Trump was also right when he pointed out that he has a Jewish daughter and son-in-law. He was talking about Ivanka, one of his foremost surrogates, who converted to Judaism in 2009 before marrying her husband, Jared Kushner. Again, whatever insight this is supposed to give him when it comes to hashing out a peace deal between Israel and Palestine ― which Trump has cannily described in the past as "the toughest negotiation anywhere in the world" ― isn't entirely clear. There are plenty of people with Jewish friends, family, and loved ones who'd probably be no better off negotiating such a deal than a random person nabbed off the street. But that's part of Trump's dizzyingly successful brand of low-content patter. By continuing to talk, and talk, and talk, and never ceding an inch even when his insights are obviously incomprehensible or irrelevant, he's managed to vault himself to the head of the Republican presidential race. You won't have to wait much longer to see how Wednesday night's debate went over with voters in Florida ― the state's GOP primary is going down on Tuesday, March 15.
Philippines armed forces and (above) combat police say they have regained full control of movements within Marawi but Islamists still hold parts of the city. (AP photo) MANILA - Philippine forces control most of a southern city where militants linked to the Islamic State group launched a bloody siege nearly a week ago, authorities said Monday, as the army launched airstrikes and went house-to-house to crush areas of resistance. More than 100 people, including 24 civilians, have been killed in six days of fighting, the government said. Many more were believed to be trapped inside the city. "I have to rescue my grandfather even at the risk of my life," Khana-Anuar Marabur Jr said after police stopped him for speeding through a checkpoint. He said his grandfather had been sending him text messages asking to be saved. "Get me out of here alive, not dead," one message said. "This war is taking too long." The crisis in Marawi, which is home to some 200,000 people, has raised fears that extremism in the southern Philippines is increasing as smaller militant groups unify and align themselves with the Islamic State group. Only small areas of Marawi remain under militants' control after six days of fighting, said Brig Gen Restituto Padilla, the military spokesman. In recent days, gunmen have managed to fend off attack helicopters, armoured vehicles and scores of soldiers. "We can control who comes in and who comes out, who moves around and who doesn't, and we are trying to isolate these pockets of resistance that have remained," Padilla said. Philippine National Police Chief Ronald de la Rosa said the operation was taking time because the gunmen are taking advantage of the urban environment, moving quickly from building to building to evade capture. "I cannot give operational details, but I am sure they are also human, they will also get tired," he said. According to government figures Monday, the death toll was 105 people - 61 militants, 20 government forces and 24 civilians. The bodies of several civilians were found on the streets Sunday as soldiers cleared neighbourhoods. In one area, the bodies of eight men who appeared to have been executed by militants were found in a ravine, police said. The bodies of four other men, three women and a child were found near a road close to Mindanao State University in Marawi. The violence prompted President Rodrigo Duterte last week to declare 60 days of martial law in the southern Philippines, and spurred fears that the Islamic State (IS) was making inroads in the Philippines and in the region. Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at Singapore's S Rarajatnam School of International Studies, believes that IS and the smaller regional groups are working together to show their strength and declare a Philippine province of the caliphate that IS says it created in the Middle East. He said the fighting in Marawi, along with smaller battles elsewhere in the southern Philippines, may be precursors to declaring a province, which would be "a huge success for the terrorists." Southeast Asian fighters fleeing the Middle East "could look to Mindanao to provide temporary refuge as they work their way home," said a report late last year by the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, predicting a high risk of regional violence. Marawi is regarded as the heartland of the Islamic faith on Mindanao island. For nearly a week, the Islamic gunmen have held the Philippine army at bay at Marawi, burning buildings, taking at least a dozen hostages and sending tens of thousands of residents fleeing. Officials say the commander, Isnilon Hapilon, who is one of Washington's most-wanted militants, is still hiding somewhere in the city. President Rodrigo Duterte declared martial law for 60 days in the south last week after the militants went on a deadly rampage in Marawi following a failed military raid to capture Hapilon. In recent years, small militant groups have emerged in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia and have begun unifying under the banner of the Islamic State group. Jose Calida, the top Philippine prosecutor, said last week that Indonesians and Malaysians were among the fighters in Marawi, and that the violence on the large southern island of Mindanao "is no longer a rebellion of Filipino citizens." Last week, twin suicide bombings in Jakarta, Indonesia, claimed by IS killed three policemen. While Indonesia has been fighting militants since 2002, the rise of the Islamic State group has breathed new life into local militant networks and raised concern about the risk of Indonesian fighters returning home from the Middle East.
Correct The Record Sunday September 28, 2014 Roundup From:burns.strider@americanbridge.org To: CTRFriendsFamily@americanbridge.org Date: 2014-09-28 17:18 Subject: Correct The Record Sunday September 28, 2014 Roundup **Correct The Record Sunday September 28, 2014 Roundup: Headlines: Clinton Foundation: “Statement from President and Secretary Clinton” <https://www.clintonfoundation.org/press-releases/statement-president-and-secretary-clinton> “We are blessed, grateful, and so happy to be the grandparents of a beautiful girl, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky, born on Friday evening, September 26, 2014.” Associated Press: “New Mom Chelsea Clinton Celebrates Baby Daughter” <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f7cbef6fe17b47c5b5a367f9d9e431d0/chelsea-clinton-gives-birth-baby-girl> “Bill Clinton canceled a fundraising visit Saturday to Denver for Democrats running for the Senate and governor, but he called in to an event for embattled Democratic Sen. Mark Udall to deliver his 11-minute speech by speakerphone.” New York Daily News: “Bill, Hillary Clinton beam while leaving Lenox Hospital after birth of new granddaughter” <http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bill-hillary-clinton-beam-leaving-lenox-hospital-birth-new-granddaughter-article-1.1955473> “Bill beamed as he walked down the steps of the hospital with a suitcase in tow Saturday night. He did not say anything but gave a big smile and a friendly wave before entering a GMC van, wearing a gray sport coat, jeans and Nikes. Hillary was wearing a gray sweater, beads and black leggings, while a woman behind her carried another suitcase.” The Hill: “Hillary Clinton puts women's rights at center of her agenda” <http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/219058-hillary-clinton-puts-womens-rights-at-center-of-her-agenda> “Eight years after shying away from the historic nature of her campaign, Hillary Clinton is putting women at the center of her agenda as she contemplates a second bid to become the nation's first woman president.” Associated Press: “Religious Conservatives Opposed To Hillary Clinton” <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ad0ff73a334740149032053e8131968f/hillary-clinton-uniting-religious-conservatives> “Hillary Rodham Clinton is the one figure uniting religious conservatives frustrated by a leaderless Republican Party that's divided over foreign policy, immigration and social issues.” Salon: “The 1 percent’s twisted new scheme: The Kochs and other billionaires are determined to buy the White House in 2016” <http://www.salon.com/2014/09/28/the_1_percents_twisted_new_scheme_the_kochs_and_other_billionaires_are_determined_to_buy_the_white_house_in_2016/> “Clinton’s accommodationist approach clearly reflects the pragmatic conclusion that Democrats need abundant resources to fight the conservative billionaires aligned with the Republican Party.” Articles: Clinton Foundation: “Statement from President and Secretary Clinton” <https://www.clintonfoundation.org/press-releases/statement-president-and-secretary-clinton> [Statement] September 27, 2014 We are blessed, grateful, and so happy to be the grandparents of a beautiful girl, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky, born on Friday evening, September 26, 2014. We are thrilled to be with our daughter and her husband as they welcome their daughter into the world. Chelsea is well and glowing. Marc is bursting with pride. Charlotte's life is off to a good start. Associated Press: “New Mom Chelsea Clinton Celebrates Baby Daughter” <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/f7cbef6fe17b47c5b5a367f9d9e431d0/chelsea-clinton-gives-birth-baby-girl> By Ken Thomas September 27, 2014, 7:13 p.m. EDT Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton say they are "blessed, grateful, and so happy" to become grandparents. Their daughter, Chelsea, gave birth Friday night to her first child, Charlotte. Chelsea Clinton announced the news on Twitter and Facebook early Saturday, saying she and husband Marc Mezvinsky are "full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky." The former president and first lady said in the statement on Saturday, "Chelsea is well and glowing. Marc is bursting with pride. Charlotte's life is off to a good start." The baby was born at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, where the Mezvinskys live. No other details of her birth were released by the family. The news comes as Hillary Clinton deliberates whether to run for the White House in 2016. She is the leading Democratic contender to succeed President Barack Obama, her 2008 campaign rival, and has said she expects to make a decision around the beginning of next year. The baby has been eagerly anticipated. Hillary Clinton has called the prospect of becoming a grandmother her "most exciting title yet." She even has picked out the first book she intends to read to her grandchild, the classic "Goodnight Moon." She has said she didn't want to make any decisions about another campaign until the baby's arrival, pointing to her interest in enjoying becoming a grandmother for the first time. Bill Clinton canceled a fundraising visit Saturday to Denver for Democrats running for the Senate and governor, but he called in to an event for embattled Democratic Sen. Mark Udall to deliver his 11-minute speech by speakerphone. "I hope I get an excused absence," he told the crowd. "You all know my family just got a little bigger, and I figured I should stay home where I'm really needed." Clinton has been eager to become a grandfather. During an event with former President George W. Bush in September, Clinton's cellphone rang on stage and he joked that only two people had the number "and they are related to me," musing that he hoped he wasn't becoming "a premature grandfather." "Every day I get up and I say, 'You have to remember whose child this is. Do not interfere. Be there when you are welcome. Be loving but not judgmental," Clinton said to laughs in an interview with CNN at his annual Clinton Global Initiative, only days before the baby's arrival. The 34-year-old Chelsea Clinton said in an interview with Glamour magazine last year that she and her husband had hoped to make 2014 "the year of the baby." She announced her pregnancy in April at the end of a forum in New York on female empowerment. "I just hope I will be as good a mom to my child and, hopefully, children as my mom was to me," she said at the time. Even in her late stage of pregnancy, the younger Clinton helped preside over the family's annual conference last week, conducting interviews on stage and announcing efforts to promote community service and stop the killing of elephants and trafficking of ivory. An advocate for elephants, she warned her child "could grow up in a planet without elephants." Chelsea Clinton grew up in the public eye as a teenager in the White House, later graduating from Stanford and Columbia universities. She worked in finance in New York and in public health, earning a doctorate from Oxford University. She serves as vice chair of her family's foundation, which was renamed the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, and helps direct the organization's humanitarian and philanthropic efforts around the globe. She recently departed NBC News, where she served as a special correspondent. The new parents, who married in 2010, were friends as teenagers in Washington and both attended Stanford. Mezvinsky is a hedge fund manager and the son of former Reps. Majorie Margolies of Pennsylvania and Edward Mezvinsky of Iowa, longtime friends of the Clintons. New York Daily News: “Bill, Hillary Clinton beam while leaving Lenox Hospital after birth of new granddaughter” <http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/bill-hillary-clinton-beam-leaving-lenox-hospital-birth-new-granddaughter-article-1.1955473> By Celeste Katz, Corinne Lestch, and Ginger Adams Otis September 27, 2014, 11:12 p.m. EDT [Subtitle:] In a statement released Saturday, President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton said they are 'blessed, grateful and so happy to be the grandparents of a beautiful girl,' named Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky. The grandparents of former First Daughter Chelsea Clinton's newborn girl are bursting with pride. In a statement released Saturday, President Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton said they are "blessed, grateful and so happy to be the grandparents of a beautiful girl," named Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky. "We are thrilled to be with our daughter and her husband as they welcome their daughter into the world," the statement read. "Chelsea is well and glowing. Marc is bursting with pride. Charlotte's life is off to a good start." Chelsea Clinton, 34, and her husband Marc Mezvinsky, 36, happily announced the birth of their healthy baby girl to the world just aftermidnight Saturday. “Marc and I are full of love, awe and gratitude as we celebrate the birth of our daughter, Charlotte Clinton Mezvinsky,” the contented new mom wrote on her Twitter feed. A Clinton spokesman said Charlotte was born earlier Friday. The new bundle of joy was born at Lenox Hill Hospital. Further details weren’t immediately available. The birth was timely for grandparents Bill and Hillary Clinton, who both shared the joyous news on their own Twitter accounts. The former president canceled a fundraising appearance in Denver Saturday with Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), the Associated Press reported. Bill beamed as he walked down the steps of the hospital with a suitcase in tow Saturday night. He did not say anything but gave a big smile and a friendly wave before entering a GMC van, wearing a gray sport coat, jeans and Nikes. Hillary was wearing a gray sweater, beads and black leggings, while a woman behind her carried another suitcase. Along with media maven Katie Couric and designer Vera Wang, those who offered best wishes to the happy couple included the Rev. Al Sharpton, who said he sent an email to Chelsea congratulating her. "I've known Chelsea since they were in the White House," Sharpton said Saturday, adding he's not friends with the former First Daughter but knows her from his gig on MSNBC and her short-lived tenure at the parent company. "I'm happy for her. I wish her and the baby well." The Clinton family had just wrapped up the annual Clinton Global Initiative in Manhattan this week. Bill and Hillary had both joked they were on “babywatch” the whole time — and hoped the gridlock caused by the United Nations summit wouldn’t cause problems for their expectant daughter if she went into labor. Chelsea and husband Marc had kept the baby’s gender a secret from everybody — including themselves. They announced the pregnancy in April. Congratulations poured for the young couple — with one fan already dubbing Charlotte the future first granddaughter. “Charlotte will be 2 years old when Hillary Clinton wins the presidency in 2016!!” tweeted Brian Joel in North Carolina. The Hill: “Hillary Clinton puts women's rights at center of her agenda” <http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/219058-hillary-clinton-puts-womens-rights-at-center-of-her-agenda> By Amie Parnes September 27, 2014, 12:28 p.m. EDT Eight years after shying away from the historic nature of her campaign, Hillary Clinton is putting women at the center of her agenda as she contemplates a second bid to become the nation's first woman president. In recent weeks, Clinton has trumpeted equal pay for women in speeches and panel discussions across the country. She has also called for a “movement” to help women at work, arguing that women face not only a “glass ceiling” but a floor that could collapse underneath them, erasing the gains made to win equality between the sexes. And this week, she announced a new $600 million effort through the Clinton Global Initiative to help disadvantaged girls attend secondary school. The effort suggests that if she runs for president, Clinton has decided to take the opposite tack from 2008, when top strategists such as Mark Penn suggested she not emphasize the issue during her first White House bid. In the post-mortem of that campaign, Clinton aides saw the failure to embrace the historic nature of her bid as a fatal mistake that contributed to her loss in the Democratic primary. Even worse, they witnessed Barack Obama’s campaign use the fact that voters would be electing the first black president to its advantage, making the electorate feel a part of bringing about a “change” movement. “The fact that it didn’t happen last time is indicative of everything that went wrong,” said one longtime Hillary ally who worked on the 2008 campaign. “Now, she’s being more true to herself, doing what she’s always done and always believed. It’s not about Mark Penn writing a policy memo.” Internal memos leaked to The Atlantic after the 2008 campaign show Penn wanted to portray Clinton in the mold of Margaret Thatcher, the “Iron Lady” and former prime minister of the United Kingdom. He wanted to cast her as a strong leader regardless of gender, and sought to play down the fact that she was a woman. Of voters, he wrote in one memo: “They do not want someone who would be the first mama, especially in this kind of world. But there is a yearning for a kind of tough single parent — someone who can combine the toughness they are used to with the negotiating adeptness they believe a woman would bring to the office. “They are open to the first father being a woman,” he wrote. Clinton allies argue the strategy came unnaturally to Clinton, who has long championed women and children issues. “Hillary Clinton believes that equal opportunity and success for women and girls builds a better future for all, and that’s why she led efforts to study and improve education opportunities for girls so they have a chance for a brighter future,” said Adrienne Elrod, the communications director for Correct the Record, the pro-Hillary super-PAC. When it comes to 2016, there are a number of reasons to think Clinton should embrace running as the possible first woman president if she makes another White House bid. Democrats have spent much of the last eight years solidifying their standing with women voters. Obama benefitted from a gender gap in voting in both of his general election victories, and Democrats was able to keep their Senate majority in 2010 and 2012 in large part because of support from female voters. “Democrats are banking, as they did in 2012, on the gender gap,” said Katherine Jellison, a professor of history at Ohio University. She argued that Clinton is seizing on issues that Democrats in general have realized “are winners for them.” “These women’s issues are great fundraising talking points for Democrats in terms of getting women’s groups and individual women to donate to campaigns," Jellison said. It could also be easier for Clinton to embrace running as the first woman president when she will not be running against someone set to become the first black president. The historic nature of Obama’s run for the White House in 2008 shadowed the entire campaign. This time around, Republicans say Clinton is simply looking for a base of support with her embrace of women. And they don’t think it will work. “The problem is that, while women do feel that there is some inequality that needs to be addressed they are not necessarily a group that feels in need of a "champion" in the same way that the black community rallied around President Obama or that the anti-Wall Street crowd has rallied around [Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Elizabeth] Warren,” said Katie Packer Gage, the former deputy campaign manager on the 2012 Mitt Romney presidential campaign who now works at Burning Glass Consulting, a political consulting firm that focuses on messaging to women. “And women have not shown a history of rallying to a candidate based on gender.” “I understand their strategy,” Packer Gage added. “And there isn’t really an alternative path for them.” Jellison, however, says that Clinton undoubtedly realizes that one of the most powerful moments in her 2008 campaign was her concession speech to Obama. “Although we weren’t able to shatter that highest, hardest glass ceiling this time, thanks to you, it’s got about 18 million cracks in it,” Clinton said at the time, bringing tears to the eyes of many supporters who gathered at the storied National Building Museum. Jellison and close Clinton allies predict that the line could resurface in other forms during a 2016 race. Even the super-PAC Ready for Hillary is already running with the cracks in the glass ceiling theme, releasing a logo of sorts ahead of Clinton’s much-anticipated appearance earlier this month in Iowa. Asked how Clinton would address her historic role this time around, one former aide said, “I hope the answer is, ‘directly.’ “She has to,” the former aide said. “Look what she did at the building museum. What was so striking about that was her whole riff. I don’t know how you don’t have a direct, strong message about women going forward after that moment.” And Clinton allies argue that embracing women’s issues comes naturally to Clinton. Tracy Sefl, a senior adviser to Ready for Hillary who worked on the 2008 campaign, said that, “at every turn Hillary Clinton demonstrates that the advancement of the rights and opportunities for women and girls is central to who she is. “This isn't a side issue, this isn't a one-off,” Sefl said. “As she says, this is 'our great unfinished business.'” Associated Press: “Religious Conservatives Opposed To Hillary Clinton” <http://bigstory.ap.org/article/ad0ff73a334740149032053e8131968f/hillary-clinton-uniting-religious-conservatives> By Ken Thomas and Steve Peoples September 27, 2014, 10:36 p.m. EDT WASHINGTON (AP) — Hillary Rodham Clinton is the one figure uniting religious conservatives frustrated by a leaderless Republican Party that's divided over foreign policy, immigration and social issues. The prospect of another Clinton White House stirred anguish at the Values Voter Summit this weekend where hundreds of conservative activists debated the GOP's future and warned that the acknowledged but unannounced 2016 Democratic front-runner would cement what they see as President Barack Obama's attack on religious freedom. "Never forget she will be Barack Obama's third and fourth term as president," Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, an unsuccessful GOP presidential candidate in 2012, said Friday night. She was among the high-profile Republicans, including past and prospective White House contenders, at the annual conference attended by some of the most prominent social conservatives and hosted by the Family Research Council, well known for its opposition to abortion and same-sex marriage. This year's gathering expanded its focus to religious freedom — or the persecution of Christians and their values at home and abroad. It was a message that GOP officials hope will help unify a fractured party and appeal to new voters ahead of November's elections and the next presidential contest. But it was Clinton's name that was as much a rallying cry as the theme of religious liberty. Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a prospective presidential candidate, challenged Clinton to "come and debate" Denver nuns who run nursing homes for the poor, called the Little Sisters of the Poor Home for the Aged. The nuns have challenged the Obama health law's requirement that some religious-affiliated organizations provide insurance that includes birth control. "She can do that and she can explain why we should be fighting nuns," Cruz told 750 social conservatives at a banquet in Des Moines on Saturday night, after saying much the same at the Washington gathering. Many in the Iowa crowd burst into laughter at Cruz's comment. In Washington, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a once and perhaps future contender, described Clinton as "tenacious." "She's got all the skills and would be an incredibly formidable candidate," Huckabee told reporters, suggesting that Clinton is politically vulnerable. "She's got to go out and defend Barack Obama and her record in the first four years she was secretary of state." Clinton would be the overwhelming favorite to win the Democratic presidential nomination, while the GOP's field is large and lacks a clear front-runner. Two GOP establishment favorites, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, were not invited to the Values Voter meeting. As he did last year, Cruz won the meeting's symbolic presidential preference straw poll with 25 percent of the vote, followed by conservative firebrand Ben Carson and Huckabee. Clinton earned one vote among more than 900 cast, although Family Research Council president Tony Perkins joked that even Mickey Mouse would have gotten a vote if listed on the ballot. He said religious liberty "slipped as a priority" under Clinton's leadership at the State Department as she pursued a liberal agenda "in complete contrast to what values voters care about." "She's going to have a more difficult time this go around than she did last time," Perkins said. A CNN poll this summer found that four different would-be Republican candidates earned between 10 percent and 15 percent of support from self-identified conservatives: Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, Cruz and Huckabee. The same poll found that 73 percent of conservatives said Clinton doesn't generally agree with them on issues they care about. "I think the hype will be, 'Let's elect the first woman president,'" said Tina Henold, who was at the conference and has home-schooled her three children in Toledo, Ohio, for 24 years. "We need to get away from hype and get more substance." Like many others at the gathering, Henold said Clinton's history and her handling of the 2012 attack on the U.S. facility in Benghazi, Libya, in which four Americans were killed, would hurt her chances. Republicans contend that Obama and Clinton, as secretary of state, misled the public about the nature of the attack and could have saved lives if they had quickly mobilized the U.S. military. "Mrs. Clinton, you're not going to get a free ride on this," said Gary Bauer, founder of the Campaign for Working Families and a presidential candidate in 2000. "You can't implement the policies and then run as if you were opposed to the policies. We're going to call you out." Democrats have branded a special House panel investigating Benghazi as a right-wing effort to harm a potential Clinton presidential campaign. They reject notions that U.S. forces were ordered to "stand down" during the attack or that Clinton played a direct role in security decisions. Lillian Kjellman, a freshman at Liberty University who attended the conference, said there was too much controversy surrounding Clinton and questioned whether she could to present a fresh message to the public after more than two decades in the public eye. "I don't think she could win," she said. Salon: “The 1 percent’s twisted new scheme: The Kochs and other billionaires are determined to buy the White House in 2016” <http://www.salon.com/2014/09/28/the_1_percents_twisted_new_scheme_the_kochs_and_other_billionaires_are_determined_to_buy_the_white_house_in_2016/> By Darrell M. West September 28, 2014, 11:00 a.m. EDT [Excerpted from “Billionaires: Reflections on the Upper Crust” by Darrell M. West (Brookings Institution Press, September 2014). Reprinted with permission of the publisher. All rights reserved.] [Subtitle:] Kochs and co. learned their lessons from Obama v. Romney, and can't wait to apply them in 2016. Here's the strategy The answer to the question of whether rich people can buy elections is “Sometimes, but not always.” President Obama won reelection despite the massive amounts spent to defeat him by conservative business leaders. He beat back their spending by having a weak opponent who was seen by voters as pro-rich and out of touch. Mitt Romney lacked the personal skills to connect with voters and persuade them that he cared about the middle class. Clearly, then, money is not the only thing that decides election campaigns. Public opinion, media coverage, campaign strategies, and policy positions matter as well. During a time of rising campaign costs and limited public engagement in the political process, money sets the agenda, affects how the campaign develops, and shapes how particular people and policy problems get defined. It takes skilled candidates, considerable media coverage, and strong organizational efforts to offset the power of great wealth. There are no guarantees that future Democratic candidates will replicate Obama’s 2012 electoral success. The conservative financiers involved then regard the money that they spent that year as the initial down payment on a long-term investment, even if it did not immediately pay off. After the general election, Sheldon Adelson announced that he planned to “double” his investment in future races. “I happen to be in a unique business where winning and losing is the basis of the entire business. So I don’t cry when I lose. There’s always a new hand coming up. I know in the long run we’re going to win.” Marc Short, one of the strategists behind the political activities of Charles and David Koch, echoed that thought: “Our members are committed to the long term, not to one individual cycle.” In preparation for the long-term battle, these billionaires already have altered their campaign approach to maximize the odds of winning. After studying what went wrong with the 2012 campaign, individuals such as Adelson are aiming for a different kind of GOP nominee. According to Adelson’s friend Victor Chaltiel, “he doesn’t want a crazy extremist to be the nominee. He wants someone who has the chance to win the election, who is reasonable in his positions, who has convictions but is not totally crazy.” Meanwhile, Republican National Committee member Shawl Steel said that Adelson has learned from the 2012 defeat: “The candidate will have to have a strong resume—no sudden lightning-new guy—will have to build a formidable fundraising apparatus and really be emotionally tethered to bringing in middle-class Latinos, Asian Pacifics, Jews and blacks like never before.” Understanding the importance of the top conservative billionaires, GOP strategist and former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said that one of the most important elements in the 2016 presidential campaign would be who would win the “Sheldon Primary.” Referring to the super-wealthy benefactor, Fleischer noted that “anybody running for the Republican nomination would want to have Sheldon at his side.” The same is true for Charles and David Koch. With their abundant resources, grassroots network, and willingness to spend to influence elections, their role in the GOP is of utmost importance. And like Adelson, they have sought to learn from 2012 and develop new electoral strategies. From their perspective, it is crucial to adapt to the political environment and alter public outreach strategies. James Davis of Freedom Partners, a Koch-financed group, said donors must test and refine their message: “Being in the field and testing during the slower periods, and in smaller areas, allows you to refine strategy and tactics so that you can make the larger investments with confidence.” For the 2014 midterm elections, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is focusing on field operations and broadcasting ads that employ moving personal stories to deliver policy messages. Central to their approach is the idea that Obamacare is a failure and is hurting ordinary patients. “Too often, we did kind of broader statistical ads or messages, and we decided that we needed to start telling the story of how the liberals’ policies, whether it’s the administration or Congress, are practically impacting the lives of Americans every day,” explained Tim Phillips, the president of AFP. Media expert Elizabeth Wilner of Kantar Media/CMAG noted that those kinds of ads have a greater likelihood of electoral success. “Ads that tell stories are more compelling than ads that don’t,” she said. “And ads that use sympathetic figures are more compelling, generally, than those that don’t.” With ads that have greater impact, a stronger field operation, and better candidates, conservative billionaires are likely to have greater success in the future. Worried about that possibility, Democrats have countered with a “running against the billionaires” strategy. This is a tactic that was used successfully by Barack Obama in his re-election bid. He tied his GOP opponent Mitt Romney to billionaires such as Sheldon Adelson and the Koch brothers, who were spending hundreds of millions against him. Obama appealed to basic fairness and argued that a candidate backed by the mega rich would not fight for the middle class and help ordinary people. Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has copied this approach for the 2014 elections. In a series of speeches on the Senate floor, he bemoaned the unfairness of tycoons and the millions that they are spending to defeat vulnerable Democrats in key swing states. Reid decried the radical agenda “that benefits billionaires at the expense of the middle class.” Continuing, he said that “the oil baron Koch brothers are very good at protecting and growing their prodigious future and fortune. There’s nothing un-American about that. But what is un-American is when shadowy billionaires pour unlimited money into our democracy to rig the system to benefit themselves and the wealthiest one percent.” Democratic senators under attack by Americans for Prosperity ads costing millions of dollars responded with their own ads directly targeting the Koch brothers. One spot broadcast by Alaska Democratic senator Mark Begich complained about a local oil refinery shut down by Koch Industries: “They come into town, buy our refinery, and just run it into the ground, leaving a mess. A lot of Alaskans are losing jobs, and I’m definitely concerned about the drinking water. I don’t go down and tell them what to do; I expect them not to come up to Alaska and tell us what to do.” Upset with these personal attacks, Charles Koch penned an article in the Wall Street Journal entitled “I’m Fighting to Restore a Free Society,” in which he decried “collectivists [who] engage character assassination.” He said that his companies employ 60,000 Americans and that his workers have won “over 700 awards for environmental, health, and safety excellence.” Continuing his self-defense, he said that “far from trying to rig the system, I have spent decades opposing cronyism and all political favors, including mandates, subsidies, and protective tariffs—even when we benefit from them. I believe that cronyism is nothing more than welfare for the rich and powerful and should be abolished.” Irritated that Reid was focusing on the Kochs, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) said that he “wondered why he left out billionaire Tom Steyer, who plans to spend as much as $100 million pushing the issue of climate change in the 2014 election and appears positioned to rival the deep-pocketed Koch brothers.” Democrats face interesting strategic decisions with respect to billionaires. For more populist-leaning candidates, the preferred approach is to attack billionaires, complain about unfairness, and criticize the lack of transparency in their electioneering activities. Other Democrats, though, have chosen a different tack. They have embraced liberal billionaires rather than running against billionaires as a general class. Their thinking is that “if you can’t beat them, you should join them.” An example of that alternative comes from Democrats loosely aligned with Hillary Clinton. Thinking ahead to a possible presidential campaign in 2016, her super PAC, Ready for Hillary, has signed up George Soros as co-chair of its national finance council. In contrast to his aloofness from Obama in 2012, Soros agreed to assist the group laying the groundwork for her campaign three full years before the election. Michael Vachon, the political director for\ the billionaire, explained Soros’s early action by saying that “his support for Ready for Hillary is an extension of his long-held belief in the power of grass-roots organizing.” The Clinton super PAC also has received contributions from billionaire Alice Walton, one of the heirs to the Wal-Mart fortune, and Marc Benioff, the billionaire CEO of Salesforce, along with a number of other wealthy individuals. Mrs. Clinton’s family foundation is working with billionaire Tom Steyer on an early childhood development project. Clinton’s accommodationist approach clearly reflects the pragmatic conclusion that Democrats need abundant resources to fight the conservative billionaires aligned with the Republican Party. In light of recent Supreme Court decisions opening up the big money spigot, Democrats appear to believe that they must join the arms race that now characterizes U.S. campaign finance. However, that approach comes with some pitfalls. In cozying up to billionaires, Clinton and her supporters risk alienating the populist wing of her own party and turning off voters still stewing over the Wall Street interests that they think brought down the American economy during the financial collapse. If she goes too far with this strategy, she risks facing a progressive backlash during the nominating process. The unresolved political question is how this party division over billionaires plays out. Dividing billionaires into warring factions may be the best hope for Democrats. But that choice means that Democrats should downplay the populist rhetoric and embrace pro-growth policies. They would have to quit talking about raising taxes on the rich and endorse actions that broaden social and economic opportunity. Even if Democrats run against conservative billionaires, they are likely to embrace moderate and liberal ones in both 2014 and 2016. The 2016 election will be a multibillion dollar battle for the future of America, and Democrats cannot compete without having ultrarich supporters willing to spend tens of millions on their behalf. It matters considerably to democracy as a whole how Democrats resolve this strategic and policy issue. The outcome of future elections depends in good part on whether 2016 becomes the year of conservative billionaires, liberal ones, libertarian tycoons, or a diverse set of billionaires across the political spectrum. Calendar: Sec. Clinton's upcoming appearances as reported online. Not an official schedule. · September 29 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton headlines fundraiser for DCCC for NY and NJ candidates (Politico <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/hillary-clinton-new-york-fundraiser-110902.html?hp=r4> ) · September 29 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton headlines another fundraiser for DCCC (Politico <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/hillary-clinton-headline-dccc-fundraiser-110764.html?hp=l8_b1> ) · September 29 – New York, NY: Sec. Clinton meets Indian Prime Minister Modi (Zee News <http://zeenews.india.com/news/india/no-modi-sharif-meeting-in-new-york-mea_1474656.html> ) · September 30 – Washington, DC: Sec. Clinton keynotes Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Inc., conference (CHCI <http://www.chci.org/news/pub/former-secretary-of-state-hillary-clinton-to-address-leadership-luncheon-at-public-policy-conference> ) · September 30 – Potomac, MD: Sec. Clinton fundraises for Maryland gubernatorial candidate Anthony Brown (WaPo <http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/md-politics/hillary-clinton-to-headline-fundraiser-for-maryland-gubernatorial-hopeful-brown/2014/09/19/3e9b4aea-4057-11e4-b03f-de718edeb92f_story.html> ) · September 30 – Washington, DC: Sec. Clinton fundraises for New Hampshire state Sen. Lou D’Allesandro of Manchester (New Hampshire Journal <http://nhjournal.com/hillary-clinton-to-host-dc-reception-for-long-time-friend-dallesandro/> ) · October 2 – Miami Beach, FL: Sec. Clinton keynotes the real estate CREW Network Convention & Marketplace (CREW Network <http://events.crewnetwork.org/2014convention/>) · October 2 – Miami, FL: Sec. Clinton signs “Hard Choices” at Books and Books (HillaryClintonMemoir.com <http://www.hillaryclintonmemoir.com/miami_book_signing>) · October 2 – Miami, FL: Sec. Clinton fundraises for Charlie Crist ( Politico <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/09/hillary-clinton-charlie-crist-campaign-florida-111229.html> ) · October 6 – Ottawa, Canada: Sec. Clinton speaks at Canada 2020 event (Ottawa Citizen <http://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/hillary-clinton-speaking-in-ottawa-oct-6> ) · October 13 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton and Sen. Reid fundraise for the Reid Nevada Fund (Ralston Reports <http://www.ralstonreports.com/blog/hillary-raise-money-state-democrats-reid-next-month> ) · October 13 – Las Vegas, NV: Sec. Clinton keynotes the UNLV Foundation Annual Dinner (UNLV <http://www.unlv.edu/event/unlv-foundation-annual-dinner?delta=0>) · October 14 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton keynotes salesforce.com Dreamforce conference (salesforce.com <http://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/DF14/highlights.jsp#tuesday>) · October 28 – San Francisco, CA: Sec. Clinton fundraises for House Democratic women candidates with Nancy Pelosi (Politico <http://www.politico.com/story/2014/08/hillary-clinton-nancy-pelosi-110387.html?hp=r7> ) · December 4 – Boston, MA: Sec. Clinton speaks at the Massachusetts Conference for Women (MCFW <http://www.maconferenceforwomen.org/speakers/>)
"Reign for our glory, reign to strike fear in our foes, Orthodox tsar. God save the tsar!" - Vladimir Zhirinovsky Trump anti-Communist Counter Revolution The century anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution occurs this year. Any serious examination of The Russian Revolution and the Soviet Union must conclude that the systematic eradications of millions and the ruthlessness of the Communist commissars rule was a miserable failure, even by Marxist postulates. Russia today is quite different from the Gulag Archipelago that Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn experienced and wrote about. “And those who, like you and me, dear reader, go there to die, must get there solely and compulsorily via arrest.” Yet with all the moronic obsessions that proliferates the warmonger establishment and the mass media, the true Fake News echo chambers, the world is being pushed into the danger zone of oblivion. Any well schooled observer of geopolitics understands that conflicts are instituted or fabricated to achieve certain contrived political objectives. Ideology of theoretical and academic distinctions among varied systems for the social order, are as remote to the thinking of abused sheeple as any intellectual integrity among ivory tower hypocrites. Nevertheless, the gradual indoctrination of the non critical public, absorb the cultural socialism of the last century, while distorting their debased brains into thinking they are anti-communists. Sorry my fellow Americans, the Communist Manifesto , has long ago been adopted by countless collectivist betrayers. Totalitarianism has been accepted as the official implementation conduct to perpetuate and expand the globalist empire. How did this happen and what awaits a nation that refuses to face reality? James Perloff lists several developments in the methodical destruction of Russia and asks DO AMERICANS FACE A RED TERROR? “Though America would never have accepted outright communist revolution, it is now adopting measures accurately termed socialism. The Illuminati are employing a timeworn principle: To boil a frog, don’t toss him in boiling water – he’ll jump out. Instead, put him in lukewarm water and gradually raise the heat; the frog never realizes he’s been boiled. This slow warming is “Fabian socialism” (gradual communism).” Oh, what a succinct description why Bernie Sanders comrades drank the hemlock of Bolshevik progressivism. Radio Free Europe, not exactly a friendly surrogate outlet of Russia Today asks, A Century After Russian Revolution, Will Putin Bury Lenin? “Putin has drawn on aspects of both the tsarist and Soviet eras in his efforts to shape Russia. Many critics accuse him of echoing practices of Soviet times -- and even of dictator Josef Stalin -- in his quest to tighten his grip over Russia. But he has done more to link his image to the long history of tsars than to the relatively brief, badly checkered Soviet experiment -- seven oppressive decades that began with the kind of upheaval Putin seems bent on ensuring does not threaten his rule. "We've seen a long-term buildup of the sense that the real model is to be found not so much in the Soviet times, but actually in tsarist times," says analyst Mark Galeotti, a senior policy fellow at the Institute of International Relations in Prague. "And I can't help but wonder if while once upon a time Putin was willing to say that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century, he might well now actually be saying that 1917 was," Galeotti adds.” When Senator “Bomber” John McCain wants to sabotage any Donald Trump initiative to engage in a non belligerent foreign policy with Russia, one has to conclude that his globalist masters use their Manchurian Candidate stooge to keep and expand NATO’s brinkmanship and deployed encirclement of Russia. Vladimir Putin Nemesis of the New World Order poses “The essential question that has existential consequences is whether Russia (or much of the non-NWO governance bodies) is willing to revert to their serfdom heritage and accept a technocratic subservient peasantry.” The NeoCons, NeoLibs and careerist State Department globalists have abandoned any semblance of a traditional non-interventionist foreign policy. Justin Raimondo is always consistent to articulate the argument. In Trump’s Revolution he states “Trump rode into office promising that “we’ll get along with everybody” who wants peace with the United States, as he said in his victory speech. He campaigned on a platform of “America First” that his enemies derided as “isolationist” and which was, in reality, simply the foreign policy of the Founders of this country.” The necessary inquiry that will be resolved over the course of the Trump administration is whether a serious anti-Communist Counter Revolution will come out of his stewardship? In a recent “Reign of Terror” essay Trump's Self-Inflicted Policy Failures , the obvious influence of placing a tribal faction of Wall Street banksters in charge of monetary authority and a fraternity of dual loyalists and Israel First followers in key policy positions for foreign policy was made. For doubters in the wisdom of this position, read Michael Scheuer, an ex CIA alumnus who no longer appears in the corporate media. Just maybe they cannot handle the truth or allow the public from hearing the uncensored reality. Mr. Trump, stop being an ass. America First and support for Israel are polar opposites . “The American republic was not formed to be the cats-paw of any foreign power — especially one irrelevant to U.S. interests, like Israel — or any disloyal gaggle of Americans. Neither is there anything manly or self-respecting in you authorizing such Israel First goals as are signified by your ambassadorial choice and the plan to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Remember that the supporters of both goals are the same people and organizations who hysterically vilified you, lied about you, and advised all Americans to vote for Hillary Clinton. You owe them nothing, Mr. Trump, and America owes neither them nor Israel another dollar or another military life. It is time, Mr. Trump, to stop playing the fool for Israel, Israel First, the Neoconservatives, and at U.S. Congress that is controlled by all three.” Whether Trump can maintain his promise of establishing a counter revolution will be judged by this acid test of shifting away from globalist governance and putting forth a genuine nationalism that breaks the chains of internationalism. Purging the popular culture of their fellow traveler sentiments and apparatchik subversives is not likely when the country is contaminated with an authoritarian censorship assault coming from not just the usual suspects, but adopted by the very pillars of the crony establishment elites. The overwhelming and vocal voice from forgotten loyal Americans in the last election put Trump in office. Taking his oath of office is not a mere detail of showmanship. It is probably the last opportunity to put into motion an honest attempt to implement rightful truth to power. President Trump will be confronted by a junta or status quo collaborators, whose identity is indistinguishable from the imperial hegemony that dominates the world. Most of the spooks in the intelligence community are devoted globalists and view an America at peace as a threat to their power. A Counter Revolution to the tyrannical Communist overseers that attend Davos will not get support out of the beltway crowd. The populist movement needs to be based upon authentic conservative principles that are founded upon a limited government, not a corporate dominated playing field of privileged titans. The people who rallied to put Trump in the White House must not be stonewalled from seeing and experiencing real world economic improvements to their lives and circumstances. Only a revitalized economy that produces widespread prosperity for those who are willing to improve their own plight can win this war against the welfare state. Trump has the potential of being the greatest domestic proponent in history if the opposition from the establishment would get religion and become patriotic. Nonetheless, the forces of malicious wickedness are prepared to unleash their pandemic coup against the peoples of our republic. It is so obvious that the shadow state has declared war against Donald Trump. The panic that has overtaken the power elite should be evidential proof that Trump represents a terminal threat to their feudal system of perdition. The bourgeois has been explicitly stripped of their wealth and independence over the last century. Now elite’s within our own country, not the post Soviet Russians would become the U.S. version of the Bolshevik Cheka . When the conspirators in the corridors of sedition want to charge that Trump is a Putin agent, we get into the area of rarified delusional vilification. The malady of disinformation knows no bounds when it comes out of the mouth of a government hired gun. Can Trump survive from such an onslaught? Especially, when the character assassins have little hesitation to go ballistic, can the next hundred years chronicle the success of the Trump movement counter revolution? The Red Terror that imperils our constitutional republic is home grown; much like the merchants of death came out of the money-lender NYC offices that financed the Bolshevik Revolution. Continuity of Government requires that Donald Trump is the legitimate president. Those who advocate violence or a coup to prevent him from governing are traitors. Judas was the keeper of the finances. So too his same fate should apply to any snakes of our nation. SARTRE – January 17, 2017
By WizardCrab Greetings Summoners! Here are this week's free champions: Corki - the Daring Bombardier Attack Defense Ability Difficulty Primary Role Marksman Fizz - the Tidal Trickster Attack Defense Ability Difficulty Primary Role Assassin Secondary Role Fighter Galio - the Colossus Attack Defense Ability Difficulty Primary Role Tank Secondary Role Mage Kalista - the Spear of Vengeance Attack Defense Ability Difficulty Primary Role Marksman Kayle - The Judicator Attack Defense Ability Difficulty Primary Role Fighter Secondary Role Support Kha'Zix - the Voidreaver Attack Defense Ability Difficulty Primary Role Assassin Secondary Role Fighter Morgana - Fallen Angel Attack Defense Ability Difficulty Primary Role Mage Secondary Role Support Nautilus - the Titan of the Depths Attack Defense Ability Difficulty Primary Role Tank Secondary Role Fighter Orianna - the Lady of Clockwork Attack Defense Ability Difficulty Primary Role Mage Secondary Role Support Rengar - the Pridestalker Attack Defense Ability Difficulty Primary Role Assassin Secondary Role Fighter Wondering how we picked this week's free champions? Read up on it HERE. See you on the Fields of Justice!
Justin Trudeau ducks questions about endorsing former Conservative MP Eve Adams TORONTO — Justin Trudeau brushed off questions Friday about his endorsement of former Conservative MP Eve Adams, who defected to his Liberal party but failed to win a nomination for the Oct. 19 election. The morning after the first leaders’ debate, Trudeau waded into Finance Minister Joe Oliver’s Eglinton-Lawrence riding in Toronto, where Adams had hoped to be the Liberal candidate after quitting the Conservatives last February. Adams lost the nomination to Marco Mendicino, but Trudeau deflected when asked directly if his decision to welcome her into the Liberal fold was a mistake that would hurt Mendicino’s chances. “I am so proud of the open nominations process we put in place right across this country,” he said. “What that meant is great candidates built extraordinary teams to gather around, to fight, and build the kind of ground game we actually need.” He made no mention of a Liberal riding association in eastern Quebec where eight of 10 members on the executive resigned to join the NDP because they were upset with the way the local candidate was selected. Trudeau said the Conservatives could spend as much time as they like talking about his hair and refusing to use his last name, which he called distractions, because he’ll stay focused on the needs of the middle class. “My opponents have spent a lot of time and money focusing on my hair and whether to say my name,” said Trudeau. “I guess they think it’ll bother me. Guess what. It doesn’t.” Trudeau also lashed out at Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s economic record, saying the Conservatives have put Canada into a deficit, but he wouldn’t say how long a Liberal government would take to balance the books. “We are committed to a balanced budget, but how long it takes to get there will depend on the size of the mess Mr. Harper has left behind,” he said. “What we won’t do is pull billions of dollars out of the economy at a time when we’re in recession because that’s poor economic policy and it’ll hurt Canadians.” Tom Mulcair also came under fire from Trudeau, who said the NDP leader is great at asking questions but has “no answers” to offer on the big economic issues. Trudeau again took aim at the New Democrats’ promise to raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour without stating it won’t apply to most minimum wager earners who are provincially regulated. “There are a lot of words for the kind of politics Mr. Mulcair is peddling when he pushes false hope to hard working people, but none of those words is leadership,” he said. “We’ve had enough of that kind of politics after 10 years of Mr. Harper’s Tories.” The Liberal leader declined to assess his performance in Thursday’s leaders’ debate, but opened his Friday morning rally by saying he “thoroughly enjoyed” himself. “I always enjoy the opportunity to fight for my values, for Canada, and that’s exactly what we did last night,” he said. “I’m glad I got the chance yesterday to talk directly to Canadians, and I’m going to keep doing that every single day.” Follow @CPnewsboy on Twitter Keith Leslie, The Canadian Press
'Modern Family' Star ESCORTED OUT of L.A. Dodgers Game Eric Stonestreet -- 'Modern Family' Star Escorted Out of Dodgers Game EXCLUSIVE " starwas escorted out of his seat at last night's Los Angeles Dodgers game after he allegedly got into a verbal altercation with a St. Louis Cardinals fan.According to a witness, Stonestreet said something to the Cardinals fan after the guy heckled a Dodgers player. The two exchanged words, but we're told it never escalated to the point where either threatened the other in any way.In the video, you can see Stonestreet and the fan exchanging words before security eventually came over and asked Stonestreet to leave. The guy who Stonestreet appeared to be arguing with was asked to leave as well.Stonestreet was later seen in the hallway, talking to security staff.Calls to Stonestreet's rep were not returned. A rep for the Dodgers tells TMZ that Stonestreet was not ejected from the stadium and, after speaking to security, was allowed to return to his seat.FYI -- The Dodgers won the game in dramatic fashion, scoring two runs in the bottom of the 9th (with 2 outs) to beat the Cards.Go Blue.After our story went up, Stonestreet tweeted his version of events, saying, "i did NOT get kicked out of the Dodgers game last night. did i get escorted to the top of the stairs by security? yes. yes i sure did." He also spoke to our cameras on Sunday night (see below).
Next time you're travelling to one of Moreton Bay's sleepy islands, you might have to take your passport. Lamb Island, about 4.5km east of Brisbane, could become the Independent Republic of Nguduroodistan. Independence campaigner and local shop owner Tony Gilson says the proposed micronation's name comes from Nguduroo, the indigenous name for the island. Hot property: suburbs set to boom Mr Gilson says residents are fed up with getting a raw deal on services from the local, state and federal governments and have decided to go it alone. "As straw poll, about 90 per cent support independence," he told AAP. "I've been talking to people here at the shop for about a week, and I've had a couple of beers up the club and there's similar sort of reaction." View Larger Map He said three tiers of government had failed to give residents value for money so local experts were working out how the island could be more self-sufficient and cut living costs. Apologetically putting the phone down to take fish and chips orders, Mr Gilson returned to say a referendum had been organised for October 19. If successful there would be a plebiscite on the new republic's 35-page constitution and a caretaker government consisting of a king and queen, a prime minister and 21 ministers. Mr Gilson also said local yachtsman Clint Mcdonald stands ready to defend the micronation's borders from invasion. He told AAP the aspiring science and technology minister had just walked into his shop. "Hi John, just talking to AAP about the referendum," Mr Gilson said. "Oh, John says hello mate." The campaigner said his proposed country would seek advice from the head of Australia's most famous micronation, Hutt River Province's Prince Leonard in Western Australia. But he said Nguduroodistan would have to find it's own way. "I think things are moving a little quickly already," Mr Gilson said. "But you know, we've still got to give it a shot."
Young Storm half Brodie Croft has staked his claim for a Round 1 start after his instrumental showing in Melbourne's 30-18 comeback win over the Warriors at Sunshine Coast Stadium on Saturday night. After a quiet first half, Croft put on a show in the second 40, rallying his troops from 18-0 down to storm home in front of 10,169 raucous fans. Croft's two try assists late in the match were pivotal to the result as the young gun continued his excellent audition for Melbourne's vacant five-eighth jersey. Storm assistant coach Adam O'Brien was full of praise for the 19-year-old, with Croft's impressive performance on Saturday night a great follow up to his outstanding Downer Auckland Nines campaign. "He did a good job closing it out for us and that's a great sign for someone his age," O'Brien said. "The most pleasing thing is that he has a really strong head on his shoulders." All of Croft's composure was needed after half-time, with Melbourne beginning the second half down 18-6 after a poor first 40 minutes. However, a comeback was on the cards in the 54th minute, with Slade Griffin darting from dummy-half to burrow his way over for a four-pointer. Scott Drinkwater converted from next to the posts to cut the margin to six. The scores levelled in the 70th minute, with Croft putting through a perfectly weighted kick for Jeremy Hawkins. Dylan Kelly made no mistake with the conversion, locking the scores at 18-all and ensuring a nail biting finish. Croft continued his fast finish in the 75th minute, helping set up a Linc Port try that put Melbourne in front. Kelly added the extras to give the Storm a 24-18 lead with five minutes to go. Melbourne sealed the win in the 79th minute, with a clever kick from half Ryley Jacks sending Young Tonumaipea over in the corner. Kelly converted from the sideline to complete the Storm's 30-18 comeback win. Earlier, the Warriors opened the scoring in the 13th minute courtesy of a try to winger Tuimoala Lolohea, with the 22-year-old the beneficiary of a beautiful Roger Tuivasa-Sheck cut-out ball. Mason Lino added the extras from the sideline to give the visitors a 6-0 lead. In the 20th minute, star halfback Shaun Johnson found Bunty Afoa with a classy short ball that put the versatile forward through the Storm's defensive line. Lino again converted to extend New Zealand's lead to 12-0. The onslaught continued in the 23rd minute, with Tuivasa-Sheck catching a perfectly placed bomb from Johnson to score under the posts. Ata Hingano added the extras to make it 18-0. Melbourne finally got on the board in the 39th minute, with a great short ball from five-eighth Cameron Munster finding forward Joe Stimson. Stimson then crossed under the posts untouched, much to the pleasure of the pro-Melbourne crowd. Munster converted from right in front to keep the hosts in the game as both sides headed into the sheds for half-time. The Storm carried on with this momentum to record an impressive 12-point win over an inconsistent Warriors side. Melbourne Storm 30 (Joe Stimson, Slade Griffin, Jeremy Hawkins, Linc Port, Young Tonumaipea tries; Cameron Munster conversion; Scott Drinkwater conversion; Dylan Kelly 3 conversions) defeated Warriors 18 (Tuimoala Lolohea, Bunty Afoa, Roger Tuivasa-Sheck tries; Mason Lino 2 conversions; Ata Hingano conversion). Halftime: 18-6 Vodafone Warriors. Referees: Ashley Klein and Ziggy Przeklaski-Adamski. Crowd: 10,169. Addo-Carr to take Melbourne by Storm Storm young gun Scott returns NZ community brought closer by rugby league Wiki inducted into NZ Sports Hall Of Fame RTS calm ahead of comeback Draw Widget - Round 1 - Bulldogs vs Storm
Vitamin B12 deficiency is most common in developing countries where people have a diet that does not include enough animal products. The highest at risk group in the first world are vegans as there is no vegetable or fruit that provides B12. Plants simply do not make B12. A study by the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey found that almost 20% of people were borderline deficient in B12. (USA) 3.5% of these were non-vegans over the age of 50. B12 is stored in the liver and can last for years, being used as required but when that reserve is gone deficiency quickly sets in. It’s a water-soluble vitamin and any excess is excreted in the urine. If you take B12 supplements the excess in your urine will cause it to be a neon yellow or green color. If your urine does not glow you needed the supplement. Lack of B12 causes very gradual brain deterioration, which shows as fatigue, memory loss and depression. Over a period of years psychosis and mania may develop. The deterioration and damage is irreversible, and the condition is thought to account for a high number of the brain-damaged children in the developing world. Children need far more B12 than adults as they are growing so rapidly. Breast fed babies can become seriously deficient even if their mother only has a mild deficiency. B12 is found in the following foods: • Meat • Dairy • Eggs Hypocobalaminemia is a devastating disease and doctors recommend supplements for ANYONE who even might be deficient or heading in that direction due to a vegan diet. In the event of a collapse millions of currently healthy people in the first nations will have their supply of B12 cut off. From that point they will be relying on the reserves stored in their liver. Many of us have either lost or never had, the ability to rear our own fowl and livestock. Having access to either meat, dairy or eggs will be absolutely essential after any form of collapse or during any crisis that lasts longer than a year. Children and infants simply must have regular amounts of B12 in their diet to prevent degenerative brain disease. How long supplements will last in storage is open to debate but even if they lose a good deal of their efficiency over time they are still useful to have if you are in doubt over your ability to keep meat, eggs and dairy in your diet. Canned, dehydrated, and freeze dried products will still provide B12 and should be stockpiled in bulk if you will not be rearing your own fowl or livestock. SOURCE : undergroundmedic.com (Visited 57 times, 1 visits today) Share this: Print Email Reddit WhatsApp Twitter Skype Tumblr LinkedIn Pinterest Pocket Facebook
Now it’s a battle of resolutions. After seven of senators got bashed on social media for not signing a resolution urging the government to stop the killing of drug suspects, especially children, the majority in the Senate has produced its own resolution that its most battered member, Majority Leader Vicente Sotto III, called the “real sense of the Senate” on the issue. ADVERTISEMENT Senate Resolution No. 518 was written by Sen. Juan Miguel Zubiri, who along with Sotto and five other majority bloc senators, said they were “left out” in the first resolution that was spearheaded by the minority. ‘We’re not heartless’ The other five senators who missed out on the original resolution are Aquilino Pimentel III, Gregorio Honasan, Richard Gordon, Manny Pacquiao and Cynthia Villar. Zubiri said SR 518 was really a majority bloc resolution. “The minority has been advocating a stop [to] extrajudicial killings and we want to show that the majority share their sentiments and we are not heartless,” Zubiri said in a phone interview. The majority resolution “condemn[s] in the strongest sense the [extrajudicial killings] and call[s] on the government to exert and exhaust all efforts to stop and resolve these extrajudicial and all other unresolved killings.” Zubiri, Sotto and the five other majority block senators protested the “prostitution” of Senate Resolution No. 516 that “urged the government to undertake the necessary steps to stop the spate of killings, especially our children, and directing the appropriate committee to conduct an inquiry … to determine the institutional reasons, if any, that give rise to such killings.” They protested after they were bashed on the blog #SilentNoMorePH for not signing the minority-inspired resolution, which was also signed by 10 majority senators. ADVERTISEMENT The blog described the seven senators in derogatory terms that Sotto threatened to bring cyberlibel charges against the bloggers. The seven senators claimed the minority did not ask them to sign the resolution. To be adopted on Monday Sotto said the majority resolution was the “real sense of the Senate” and would be adopted by the chamber on Monday. He said the majority bloc resolution was also not out to sow intrigue against colleagues, unlike the minority’s resolution. In a phone interview, Sotto said the majority already knew who were behind the blog, as the National Bureau of Investigation had been able to trace them. “They will be invited to the hearing on Oct.4,” he said, referring to the first hearing to be called by Sen. Grace Poe, whose committee on public information and mass media had been tasked to look into the complaints raised by Sotto and the other majority bloc senators against the blog. Pacquiao, in a phone interview on Thursday, said he and his colleagues who were not asked to sign the other resolution felt bad because the minority did not reach out to them. He said the minority bloc saw his colleagues every day in the Senate and yet even Sen. Leila de Lima, who is detained in police headquarters in Camp Crame, was able to sign the minority resolution. Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV, speaking in a news forum in the Senate on Thursday, said he believed he had the most bashers on social media among the senators but he would not cry about it. He said Pimentel, the Senate President, should have suspended the session on Wednesday after the seven majority bloc senators complained about the blog and called a caucus that would have enabled them to thresh out their differences and then “come out [as a group] against fake news.” Read Next LATEST STORIES MOST READ
Reminiscing can do all kinds of weird and wonderful things, and when selling the merits of this much loved movie to my better half, the fog of nostalgia convinced me and in turn her, to take in a re-watch many years after my last viewing of what I once regarded as a gem. Years between views haven’t totally diminished its appeal, but time hasn’t been too kind to it either. Unfortunately, somewhere between now and 1980, Somewhere In Time got old. It’s now TV movie feel and hammy acting hasn’t made its production longevity eternal, though it’s heart and fascinating time travel premise is still, well…timeless; a love story for the ages – eternal indeed. Between Supermans, Christopher Reeve’s playwright is the amateur time traveller, instantly infatuated with a legendary play actress he glances upon in a hotel museum; it’s Jane Seymour – frankly, who wouldn’t be besotted. Eight years earlier, a frail old lady gifts him a golden pocket watch to start to interlace Somewhere In Time’s compelling sci-fi premise. Based on Sci-fi legend Richard Matheson’s own novel and his adapted screenplay, the man most known for I am Legend and a preeminent Twilight Zone collaborator, the ability to time travel through hypnosis with fundamental theories of causality and replication is brilliant, an original and simplistic premise that serves to uncomplicatedly send the not so Man of Steel here, back to 1912 to look too often clumsily, woo Miss Seymour. Reeve’s performance is pure Clark Kent, gawky and harmlessly bullish, innocently charming in much the same way as the movie. His initial bludgeoning attempts to win her over is borderline stalking, but a somewhat underdeveloped sub plot of fate and an instinctive knowing that Reeve’s is “the one she has been waiting for” serves to excuse, perhaps tenuously, the acceptance of a strange man’s out-of-time infatuation. Opposed to Reeve’s advances is Christopher Plummer’s protector and confidant, the formulaic protestor to eternal love, protecting his vision of a triumphant future for his innocent artiste. Plummer’s prophesising ability, again seemingly cognisant of Reeve’s arrival, goes once more unexplained. But it’s often so uncomplicated that it doesn’t need explanation, Somewhere In Time is a simple tale of love and fate with effective enough performances throughout that may not win any awards but is lovingly and respectfully played by all. Vaseline lensed, soft focus direction from predominant TV director Jeannot Szwarc lays on the stylistic love giving it all a hazy dreamlike feel but it’s still beautiful and Oscar nominated costume design provides a convincing and sumptuous period feel. Reeve’s garish suit is truly remarkable though. The beautiful score layers on thick schmaltz but its hard not to still be in love with Somewhere In Time, and it can never be a bad thing to watch the late, great Christopher Reeve. Nostalgia for a long loved film may gain it more present day credit than the sum of its parts deserve but it remains much better than many of the time spanning love story successors it no doubt inspired. Perhaps I am going soft, but the half of my heart that isn’t a swinging brick still loves Somewhere In Time. It hasn’t aged as well as hoped, but it’s themes of eternal love and a novel time travel device hasn’t diminished its timeless appeal regardless of its shortcomings. Advertisements
Should Bethlehem Steel FC remain in the United Soccer League’s current division two entity? Or should it join the recently announced division three league that is scheduled to begin play in two seasons? The answer, insofar as it is realistically within the control of parent club Philadelphia Union, hinges on three points: Are the benefits of division two’s quality and competitiveness worth the extra expense? Can the current player development template produce a winner that will sell enough tickets in the Lehigh Valley to defray some of the cost? Would the move provide appropriate professional development for the Steel’s head coach and players? Competition and quality During his tenure at the Union, Sporting Director Earnie Stewart has consistently sought to improve competition within both rosters under his care by upgrading quality. It would contradict much of what he has done so far if he deliberately reduced the quality and competitiveness available to test the Steel’s roster on gameday. A major factor in the decision will be the expenses, and the only information we have comes from a Jay Sugarman comment last season, that the overall soccer operation is not generating profit sufficient for any to be taken out for non-soccer purposes. Reinvestment remains — and will remain — the operation’s standard mode of operation. It is hard to imagine Stewart advocating reducing the Steel’s competitive level, as a clear benefit of division two is better referees. If Stewart went to bat to preserve pitch quality for his players last year over lacrosse, he will very probably do so for whistle quality when the time comes. Bethlehem head coach Brendan Burke has not advocated reducing the Steel’s competitive level, as he stated earlier this year that “Pressure creates diamonds.” Can a player development side win? Producing a winner on the pitch should sell tickets in the Lehigh Valley. The Iron Pigs and Phantoms make it as businesses, so a winning Steel team should make it as well. Logic suggests that excellence from a player development side virtually guarantees the side will be broken up, however, so winning will be episodic rather than sustained, as in all minor leagues. The eye tests for the 2017 Bethlehem Steel against Rochester, Cincinnati and Harrisburg hint towards winning. Being told to start sides that have never practiced together handicaps the Steel considerably. The side imposed on the Rochester game by the Union’s short-term needs was not as coordinated and polished as that was presented a week earlier against a tougher opponent, the Union itself. For the next week against Cincinnati, Burke knew his lineup 24 hours in advance. Team cohesion seemed better, even though Adam Najem’s passes were perfectly weighted but too far in front in the first two or three minutes. The organization knowing the Steel’s starters in advance of game day – when possible — is an important positive development. The side that took the pitch on against Cincinnati would win regularly in the USL. But a key Steel player (Jack Elliott) started the next game for the Union, successfully, so the particular side’s reappearance is unlikely, at least until Josh Yaro heals. A different group took the field at Harrisburg on Saturday night. An unexpected absence and a start at defensive center mid that is not prominent in the player’s recent professional experience were two important differences. The new lineup fell quickly behind, but fought back bravely. The spirited mentality that appeared in the two 3-2 losses is a credit to both technical staff and players although youth and inexperience in the net cost them deserved single points. Brendan Burke In addition to the Steel developing players, they are also developing an improving second year head coach. Post-game press conferences, public relations events, and being an organization public face are all off-pitch skills Burke continues to learn. And there are growing on-pitch decision-making skills as well: PSP applauds the boldness of the Seku Conneh-Cory Burke risk taken to shake up the opener with Rochester. The first 10 minutes of the second half were better but did not shake the Rhinos out of their comfort zone. The belief that the coach had in his own players changed the game. Correctly judging the fundamental thrust of the Cincinnati attack and setting forth a lineup designed to cope is likewise to his credit. The pace available all along the Bethlehem back line due to Auston Trusty pairing with Mark McKenzie allowed a high line, which in turn resulted in a compact defense that prevented the Cincinnati midfield from finding green space “in behind” on the Steel flanks. Correctly sensing that starting City Islanders’ defender Travis Brent’s injury at the end of the first half presented an opportunity Saturday night is also to his credit. Chris Nanco came on for Najem at the hour, since Najem had actually played briefly for the Union the night before. The Canadian middie’s pace was decisive immediately, as it allowed him to serve Seku Conneh from the flank for a shot that missed wide, and then allowed him to outrun defenders to receive a header from Conneh down the middle to equalize, all within five minutes. Center back Hugh Roberts was forced to start as a defensive center mid against Harrisburg, and he did so with clearly mixed results. But Harrisburg’s striker would have eaten the more experienced but smaller alternative as lunch meat, as he ate two Union loanee center backs last season. Risk taking is philosophically encouraged by player development, but each of these risks was well-judged and three were quite successful. In this season’s first three games, bringing his own Steel players off the bench has allowed Burke to change two in his favor. Last year, his bench did not do that so credit him and his staff for selection, development and use. Dropping back to division three might affect Burke’s view of his future professional development opportunities. Losing him would not be a positive outcome. The answer The choice may not come down to on-field issues or even the Union. USL is operating as a provisional Division 2 league this year, along with NASL, thanks to a waiver from U.S. Soccer. Some teams may fall short on coaching licenses, field dimensions, stadium sizes or other requirements, as that has been the case in the past. It’s not clear that Bethlehem is one of those teams, but they could be, as Goodman Stadium was at one point 10 yards shorter than ideal. Further, independent and successful second division clubs like Cincinnati or Sacramento may not want to play against MLS reserve sides that aren’t filling their stadiums, such as the very good New York Red Bulls II side that plays before mostly empty seats, or sending out legitimately competitive clubs, such as the USL side Montreal fielded last year before folding it at season’s end. But if Philadelphia and Bethlehem have a choice, the answer it simple: Creating diamonds to play on the pitch is the whole point. Do not reduce the pressure if you can help it.
Engraved on the mantel near Stephen Colbert’s interview platform in The Colbert Report studio were three Latin words: VIDERI QUAM ESSE (to seem rather than to be). The mantel framed a fake fireplace whose electric flames flickered falsely, simulating an atmosphere of warmth and coziness while Colbert interrogated his guests. His ostensibly classical catchphrase, championing the seeming over the (f)actual, suited his “fake” news show and on-air persona to a (non-silent) ‘t.’ Why “ostensibly” classical catchphrase? The Latinity of videri quam esse makes it seem a saying of ancient origins, when it is the reverse of one. Videri quam esse is an inversion, a perversion, even, of an anthem— esse quam videri (to be rather than to seem) — native to discussions in ancient Roman texts about the sights and sounds of virtue and the troubling matter of those who fake them. The form of Colbert’s phrase deftly performs its own content. An early guess from fan communities was that Colbert flipped esse quam videri because it is the state motto of North Carolina, and he so proudly hails from South Carolina. A better hunch connects it with Colbert’s “truthiness” (and its synonym, “veritasiness”), used to describe that which is self-evident and sourced in the gut. “Truthiness,” which featured on the debut episode of The Report on October 17, 2005, quickly entered the English lexicon. Feisty and zeitgeisty, “truthiness” indicted those who are “all fact, no heart” and identified the “divi[sion] between those who think with their head and those who know with their heart” as “what’s pulling our nation apart today.” Colbert’s examples of truthiness in action were President George W. Bush’s Supreme Court nomination of the vastly unqualified Harriet Miers two weeks before The Report premiered and Bush’s gut-based pursuit of Saddam Hussein in 2003: “And what about Iraq? If you think about it, maybe there are a few missing pieces in the rationale for war, but doesn’t taking Saddam out feel like the right thing?” Colbert did not coin “truthiness.” According to the OED, it is of nineteenth-century vintage, and originally meant “truthfulness.” Colbert inverted the definition of and popularized an old word. Videri quam esse, also old and inverted, obviously did not attain the same popularity, but it was and remains a subtle cultural commentary with a hefty philosophical and rhetorical history. Though The Colbert Report is now nearly two years defunct, this reversed re-emergence of esse quam videri invites inquiry into some phases of this phrase. After all, since the 1960s, an overvaluation of authenticity and sincerity has pervaded discourse pertaining to self-presentation and the assessment of the self-presentation of others. It even has played a determinative role in the dynamics, if not the outcome, of recent presidential elections in the United States. Esse quam videri is a fragment of a larger phrase: it is better ‘to be rather than to seem’ virtuous. In the truncated form, virtue has fallen out. Here lies one key difference between “being” and “seeming” in the thought-worlds of pre-modernity versus those of modernity and post-modernity: that we have undergone a shift or even a rift in concern from identifying authentic virtue to identifying authenticity itself. Authenticity has become a virtue, the virtue, even. Certain ancient figures associated with esse quam videri are well known for their resistance to the falsifying, ingratiating tendencies of certain types of rhetoric. Yet many also recognized that being virtuous was insufficient without also seeming and being seen as virtuous, and that one way to develop and display virtue was through speech. That is, they worried that broadcasted virtue might be only show, but they also worried that virtue that was not publicized, made public, seen and heard by others, shared with others, was of little social or civic worth. Though esse quam videri is obviously Latin, it enjoys an extensive earlier history in Greek texts. As with so many ancient things, it is evident as an attitude (if not an actual quote) in Homer’s Iliad, when Achilles responds to Odysseus’ wily attempts to soothe him (9.308–314). The ancient Greek equivalent of esse quam videri — usually articulated in the negative as ou dokeīn all’ einai (not to seem but to be) — first appears in Seven Against Thebes, Aeschylus’ tragedy about the conflict between Oedipus’ sons, Eteocles and Polynices. One of Polynices’ warriors, a seer from Argos called Amphiaraus, is a “most sound-minded man” (568), who rebukes the rising battle-frenzy of his fellows and implores Polynices not to proceed with an attack on his native city. Unlike the elaborate shields of his comrades-in-arms, Amphiaraus’ simple bronze shield boasts no swaggering signs or symbols (591), “for he does not wish to seem, but to be the best [ou gar dokeīn aristos, all’ einai thelei], as he harvests his mind’s deep furrows, from which his careful resolutions emerge” (592–594). Amphiaraus cares more for the slow process of deliberation than the quick flash of ostentation, for depth than surface, for the generative than the destructive. The Amphiaraus-applied line from Seven Against Thebes appears in both Plato and Xenophon. In the second book of Plato’s Republic, Glaucon, Adeimantus, and Socrates discuss justice and injustice (361aff). Unconvinced of Socrates’ unconventional position that just people live more happily than unjust ones, Glaucon and Adeimantus outline the popular position that unjust people prosper. To make their stances as starkly different as possible, Glaucon asks Socrates to imagine a wholly unjust and wholly just person. The former figure commits the utmost injustices but enjoys the utmost reputation (doxa) for justice. Though he is nimble and sly, if he does trip up, his persuasion, forceful manliness, friends, or money set everything aright. Glaucon even reckons that Aeschylus’ description of the generative furrows of Amphiaraus’ mind applies more aptly to the perfectly unjust person, since that person would be forever augmenting his position and possessions. On the other hand, the perfectly just person would be “a simple and high-born man, who, to quote Aeschylus, does not wish to seem but to be good [ou dokeīn all’ einai agathon ethelonta]. Then we must take away the seeming. For if he seems [doxei] to be [einai] just, then he will have honors and gifts because others think him to be [dokoūnti … einai] that way. It is unclear in that case whether he is just for justice’s sake or for the sake of the gifts and the honors.” He would have, instead, a reputation (doxa) for gross injustice that he would never disavow, even under threat or endurance of abuse, torture, or death. How could such a person be happy? The whole conversation moves around concepts in the dok- family: dokeīn (to seem), doxei (he seems), dokoūnti (they think), and doxa (seemingness, opinion, reputation). The way one seems to others, again and again, results in one’s reputation. If one is not seen to be — that is, does not seem to be — a certain way, then one will not be thought to be it. In Plato’s Gorgias as well, Socrates parades his claim that only the just person is happy. In the final portion of the dialogue, he insists that rhetoric should be a tool for exposing rather than concealing one’s deficiencies in virtue. Only then can they be corrected. He adds: “that above all things a man should take care not to seem to be but to be good in private and in public [pantos māllon andri meletēteon ou to dokeīn einai agathon alla to einai, kai idiai kai dēmosiai] […] and that all flattery [pasan kolakeian], with regard to both oneself and to others, to few or to many, must be fled; and that rhetoric is to be used this way always, for the sake of the just, and the same goes for every other activity” (527b-c). For the Socrates we encounter in the Gorgias (and elsewhere, too), to maintain goodness both in small conversations and mass communications seems to require dialectical and rhetorical preparations. Given the temptation to “give into the crowd,” be it of 3 or of 3,000, to flirt and to flatter, that is no easy task. Socrates constantly tests himself, talking to anyone and everyone. During an encounter dramatized by Xenophon in his Memorabilia, Socrates chats about friendship with a young man called Kritobolos (2.6). Their earliest agreement is that the best kind of friendship is that which blossoms between good people. Socrates gives Kritobolos a short if not simple answer to the question of how one signals goodness so as to attract good friends: “the shortest, surest, and best way, if you wish to seem good, is to be good [suntomōtatē to kai asphalestatē kai kallistē hodos … ho ti an boulēi dokeīn agathos einai, toūto kai genesthai agathon peirasthai]” (2.6.39). Socrates presumes that one who is — that is, one who has worked at being good — will seem good, that true goodness will make itself readily apparent without being appearance-only. The Roman engagement with “being/seeming good” emphasizes that the distinguishing virtues of good people come to be and come to be seen during encounters with others. Esse quam videri first appears in Cicero’s De Amicitia (On Friendship, §98) and in a slightly different form in De Officiis (On Duties, 2.43–44). Cicero grapples with the visibility of virtue and the troubling matter of those who fake its signs. The central issue animating De Amicitia is how to distinguish a flatterer from a true friend, a challenge whose oratorical implications serve as analogies for Cicero’s interpersonal focus. Laelius, the speaker, advises a group of young listeners about the sincere free speaking that is essential to friendship and the sickly sweet talk that degrades it. The latter, simulatio, “is not only vicious in all matters, because it adulterates truth and takes away our ability to judge it, but also especially repugnant in friendships; for it utterly destroys truth, without which the name of friendship can have no substance” (92). To distinguish a true friend requires the same quality one uses to distinguish the “sincere and true” in other areas of life: diligence (95). Laelius assures his charges that “a public assembly, composed of inexpert men, can, nevertheless, usually spot the difference between a popularis, that is, a conniving, superficial citizen, and one who has constancy and truth and weight” (95). Differentiating a fake friend from a good and true one during the preliminary stages of an interpersonal relationship should not, therefore, be difficult. He warns of people who prefer to have only a reputation for virtue, sighing that “many wish not so much to be as to seem to be endowed with virtue” (98). Such people wander far from Xenophon’s Socrates and his view that the most direct path to seeming good is being good. Cicero, though, knows that line well. In book 2 of De Officiis, he cites it, but he opts to add to it: “that we may easily be seen/seem to be [esse videamur] — and in this itself [that is, being] there is the greatest power — that which we wish to be held to be [haberi velimus], however, some instruction should be given.” Cicero does not take for granted that those who are good will seem that way to others. His advice includes attention to image-management and how to amplify virtue and correct vice across a wide spectrum of communicative activities (talking, walking, buying a house). Such activities offer to scrutinizing others opportunities to wonder about who we are and whether we are what we seem to be. What we do and how others view our actions can threaten the seeming self we are invested in maintaining and which, Cicero stresses, is less difficult to maintain when it is who we really are. Esse quam videri appears again in the Bellum Catilinae of Sallust. Its rhetorical and moral motion turn on competing speeches by Caesar and Cato the Younger on the appropriate punishment for the conspirators (§54). Following their speeches, Sallust interjects with an assessment of their respective characters and reputations. Caesar makes grand gestures and pursues high-risk, high-glory opportunities to display his virtue and virtuosity. However philanthropic he may be, his flamboyance suggests that unbecoming character traits motivate him. Cato, by contrast, is unyielding, and utterly uninterested in being a focal point of fame. “Cato’s zeal inclined toward modesty, decorousness, and, above all, severity … He preferred to be rather than to seem good [esse quam videri bonus malebat]; thus, the less he sought glory, the more he was stalked by it.” I would argue that Cato did care, though, about how he appeared to others. He had a distinctive look, and it communicated his unassailable virtue. The moralizing poet Horace, writing decades after Cato’s suicide, mocked those who thought resembling Cato’s visage made them Catonian in virtue: “What? If someone, with a grim and wild look and bare feet / and a thinly-woven toga, copied Cato, / would he thereby represent the virtue and habits of Cato?” (Epistulae 1.19.12–14). In this way, the thread of esse quam videri runs through both the mantle of Cato and the mantel of Colbert. Colbert’s VIDERI QUAM ESSE critiqued the culture of knowing — that is, the norms or habits through which a collective negotiates questions of essence and appearance — that arises from the overvaluation of authenticity. Ancient Greek has a complex vocabulary with which to describe what sorts of knowledge result from a person or polity’s management of the relationship between being and seeming. I see three such knowledge concepts at play in Colbert’s critical reversal of esse quam videri: epistēmē, complete knowledge; gnōsis, recognition or acknowledgment; and doxa, which commonly appears in verb form in the ancient Greek equivalent of esse quam videri, and signifies seemingness, opinion, or reputation. The epistemic critique in “to seem rather than to be” mocks the assumption that “seems to me” equals “to be.” “It seems to me” too often enjoys the weight of expert testimony, no matter the referent of “me,” or, worse, it has an ontological unassailability. Even so, in an environment of truthiness, a substantively epistemic appeal to facts is seldom a move that trumps. Facts require a supplement — their contextualization or articulation in hallowed cultural language or in a profound personal narrative — to be most effective. The gnostic critique, on the other hand, embraces the seeming, by tempering the obsession with knowing — definitively — who others are and who we ourselves are. Even “being” requires flexibility. Gnōsis is perhaps most well known for its presence in imperative form in the Delphic injunction “gnōthi seauton” (know yourself) that inspired Socrates’ self-scrutiny. Gnōsis implies familiarity rather than mastery. It is not invasive, but neither is it superficial. When we insist on knowing others in a totalizing way, we force false performances. Every complexity is seen as a lack of integrity, which is a standard of indivisibility difficult to satisfy. It pushes being into seeming. To see the doxastic critique means taking videri quam esse seriously as a collective charge: when it comes to questions of value and meaning, seeming is all we have. It returns knowing to the realm of the social, to the “seems to us.” This is, of course, a delicate proposition. If seeming is all we have, then we must rely on perspective-sharing, discussion, and deliberation to feel out our situation or situatedness, and not on one “decider” who locates judgment and diligence in his chest or digestive tract. Colbert’s critique of contemporary habits of negotiating being and seeming offered stability to the interpersonal dynamics and public politics of authenticity. (One challenge he has faced in his new gig is that of “introducing his real self to the public.”) It is likely that even the most devoted viewers of The Colbert Report did not notice the Latin phrase on the studio mantel. Those who did likely did not ponder the rich significance of its reversal of esse quam videri. VIDERI QUAM ESSE was nonetheless an engagement with antiquity that challenged our contemporary tendencies. Or so it would seem. Michele Kennerly is an Assistant Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University. She is co-editor (with Damien Pfister) of the forthcoming volume, Ancient Rhetorics + Digital Networks (2017), and is completing a monograph tentatively titled, Editorial Bodies: Perfection and Rejection in Ancient Rhetoric and Poetics.
DES MOINES — Ted Giannoulas’s arrival was delayed four-plus hours; some of his luggage had not arrived. Now, in a brightly lit, empty drive-through restaurant outside of downtown, he savored a double burger as closing time neared. It was a late Sunday night in early August. The surrounding suburban strip malls offered little for sale but boredom. The next day promised to be better. Men will want to shake his hand. Women will want to marry him. Children will want to take him home. The San Diego Chicken will have a crowd. Giannoulas, who turned 63 this month, has spent 42 years as perhaps the most influential mascot in sports history. Geoff Belinfante, a former executive producer with Major League Baseball Productions, said he believed Giannoulas’s riotous antics in the 1970s spurred other teams to create their own mascots.
Opening arguments are scheduled to begin on Monday in the trial of a New York City police officer who shot and killed a motorist in a traffic dispute as he headed home from work last year in Brooklyn. Wayne Isaacs is the first police officer in the state to be tried under an executive order that gave the attorney general the power to investigate and prosecute officers for civilian deaths at their hands or in their custody. Officer Isaacs, 38, is charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter in the death of Delrawn Small, 37, during a confrontation on July 4, 2016, in the Cypress Hills neighborhood. His trial is in State Supreme Court in Brooklyn. Last year, the police released grainy surveillance video of the shooting that shows Mr. Small getting out of his car and approaching the driver’s side of Officer Isaacs’s vehicle at a red light on Atlantic Avenue at the Bradford Street stoplight. Mr. Small quickly recoils and stumbles to the ground, as his girlfriend and two of their children, a 5-month-old boy and a 14-year-old girl, wait inside his car.
6 Things To Know About Navy Pier's New Ferris Wheel, Opening Friday By Mae Rice in Arts & Entertainment on May 25, 2016 8:40PM Photo courtesy of Navy Pier Navy Pier's new, 200-foot-tall Ferris wheel opens to the public on Friday at noon, and we have some updates on what you can expect from the Centennial Wheel. (It's so named because it's part of a larger remodel, or "reimagin[ing]," of the to the Pier for its 100th anniversary, a project called the Centennial Vision.) 1. The rides are more epic. The new wheel is 50 feet taller than its predecessor (whose new home is in Branson, MO). Its rides also last longer—for 13 to 15 minutes, a Navy Pier spokesperson told Chicagoist. A ride on the old Ferris wheel took seven minutes, according to the Tribune. Rides on the new wheel cover more terrain, too: three rotations, a Navy Pier spokesperson said. Riders only got one rotation on the previous wheel, the Tribune reported. 2. It's more expensive to ride. A ticket for one adult will be $15 now, compared to eight dollars on the previous wheel, according to a Navy Pier spokesperson. Visitors can also buy a $35 day pass for unlimited rides on the wheel and assorted other Pier rides. 3. It's probably more expensive to ride because it cost $26.5 million. Yep. It cost $26.5 million. Don't worry, though—it wasn't built with taxpayer money. (The Tribune reports it was financed by a private loan to Navy Pier.) 4. It's from the same company that built Navy Pier's first-ever wheel. The new model—titled, dully, the DW60—comes from Dutch Wheels, the same Netherlands company that built the Pier's original wheel. 5. It has higher-tech gondolas. This Ferris wheel has swanky, high-tech gondolas—42 of them, to be exact, each of which can hold up to ten passengers, according to Navy Pier's spokesperson. The gondolas have both air conditioning and heat, and they're equipped with TVs (though those TVs will only play Navy Pier promotional materials). 6. It even has a higher-tech middle part. The giant black circle at the center of the wheel is also a "video screen" and "digital board," a Navy Pier spokesperson told Chicagoist. The screen will show "special light shows, Navy Pier’s logo at times, historical images of the Pier over the past 100 years [and] tributes on special occasions and holidays. (Editor's note: It is so ugly.) You can pre-purchase tickets to ride the Centennial Wheel here.
Sarma Melngailis had it all: an Ivy League degree, model looks and a hot vegan restaurant, Pure Food and Wine in Gramercy, beloved by Alec Baldwin and Bill Clinton. Now, she’s got a mug shot, a $350,000 bail and husband Anthony Strangis: an alleged gambling addict with a criminal past and an 11-year-old child he hasn’t seen in over a decade. “It’s the worst nightmare you can think of,” Melngailis revealed to The Post in an exclusive jailhouse interview Saturday morning at Rikers. “If I had terminal cancer, it would be better than this, because at least [then] I did not cause it.” For the past 10 months, Melngailis and Strangis had been on the lam after allegedly stealing nearly $2 million from her trendy “raw organic” restaurant — blowing $1.2 million at Connecticut casinos. The 43-year-old restaurateur and Strangis, 35, were arrested last week at a $99-a-night Fairfield Inn & Suites in Sevierville, Tenn., after a delivery of unorganic Domino’s outed them. Sevierville Detective Kevin Bush tells The Post: “I have excellent intelligence that [Strangis] ordered the pizza and wings.” Melngailis insists that it was Strangis who placed the fateful order, and maintains she is still a devout vegan. On Thursday, nearly two dozen disgruntled former Pure employees swarmed Brooklyn Criminal Court to watch Melngailis get locked away. (Strangis will be arraigned at a future date.) The couple is charged with 24 counts of theft, labor fraud and tax crime charges. They face up to 15 years in prison for failing to pay the nearly $1 million Melngailis owed to employees and investors of Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck, her mail-order snack business, as well as $400,000 in taxes. “She’s the vegan Bernie Madoff,” says Benjamin Dictor, attorney for a group of ex-Pure workers. According to the indictment, 84 of them are owed a collective $40,000. “I love my workers,” pleads a gray jumpsuit-clad Melngailis from her cell. “When I come out, I will find something to do and pay it back.” How Melngailis went from culinary darling to convict has her friends, family and colleagues scratching their heads. But one thing is certain — things took a turn when Strangis entered her world circa 2013. “Things were going well when I was single,” admits Melngailis, though she wouldn’t cite Strangis’ involvement in her downfall. Those close to Melngailis say she first hid her relationship with the 275-pound, 6-foot-2 Strangis, a convict from Fairhaven, Mass., with arrests for grand theft and for impersonating a police officer, both in 2005. According to multiple sources, she finally introduced him as Shane Fox. Prosecutors say she had Strangis pose for potential investors as a wealthy man named Michael Caledonia to help drum up funds. Even her family doesn’t know when the duo got married — or if it is, indeed, a legal union. Until 2010, Strangis was still hitched to Stacy Strangis, 44, whom he wed in 2003. She had to publish a notice of action for dissolution of marriage in various newspapers since her husband ditched her when their son, Riley, was 8 months old. “I’ve never heard from him again,” Stacy tells The Post from her Palmetto, Fla., home. “When I met him, he said he was a retired Navy SEAL and [had been] shot in the line of action in the chest. I would always see what I thought were bandages [on] his chest,” Stacy adds. “Come to find out, he was just taping his man boobs down. “He’s a sociopath. I feel bad for [Melngailis].” Melngailis’ current predicament is a far cry from her spotless résumé: After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania she had a series of finance jobs before enrolling at the French Culinary Institute. She opened her first restaurant, Commissary, in 2001 with then-boyfriend chef Matthew Kenney, going on to consult for Jeffrey Chodorow’s China Grill Management. When she founded Pure Food and Wine in 2004, the restaurant was her life — and the staff, her family. “She was lonely, because she was obsessed. She worked constantly. Sometimes she would even sleep at the restaurant,” says Benito Borjas-Fitzpatrick, a server and bartender at Pure from 2004 to 2008. He adds that she gave him $3,000 in 2009 for his mother’s funeral. Novelist and Melngailis pal Porochista Khakpour says the restaurateur’s generosity extended to other friends as well: “She let me eat [at Pure] for free when I was a struggling writer.” The vegan guru even threw her a $35,000 book party in 2007. When Melngailis and Kenney split a year post-launch, she bought out his stake. Eight years later, in 2013, prosecutors say Melngailis brought on Strangis (a k a Shane Fox) as a manager. (One worker speculated they had met on Twitter.) Employees immediately noticed a change in their boss. After Strangis came on the scene, “[Melngailis] would go on more trips. [She] definitely became more elusive, less concerned with the well-being of the company,” says a line cook who worked at the Irving Place spot from 2009 to 2013. As Strangis’ presence grew more prominent by the summer of 2014, so did the staff’s wariness. “He had an air of an Italian-style gangster . . . walking with a big gait and speaking in a cryptic fashion about money,” says Daniel Schubmehl, who worked at Pure Food and Wine as a bartender from 2008 until its June 2015 closing. A former director of operations at Pure Food and Wine alleges Strangis and Melngailis stole with a vengeance. “There’d be times when I’d come in on a Monday and get a text or call from [Strangis], ‘Don’t deposit the money. You have to meet me here with the money,’ ” recalls the director. “I wouldn’t meet him at the company bank. I’d meet him at the CitiBank, where he had a personal account.” He adds: “Every day, the [Pure] bank account would be cleared to zero dollars. “When I first started working there, the bank account had a few hundred thousand dollars and [Melngailis would] take out $50K here and there, and $20K here and there — and then it went to 70 [thousand and then] 100 [thousand].” Though Melngailis refused to reveal what happened to the disappearing funds, she laughed at the notion that she was fueling her husband’s gambling addiction. “I hate gambling, it’s preying on the vulnerable.” In August 2014, after winning more than $160,000 at Foxwoods casino in Mashantucket, Conn., Strangis was arrested — with a $25,000 bond — presumably for the parole violation of crossing state lines. He was still on probation for his 2005 Sarasota County, Fla., grand theft charges stemming from the sale of his father’s Jaguar to a man for $20,000, according to his ex, Stacy. “Even as a teenager he wanted to live that millionaire type of lifestyle but didn’t want to put any work into doing [it],” says Strangis’ half-brother, John Strangis, of Brockton, Mass. Despite the duo’s high living — including more than $70,000 in hotel bills throughout Europe and NYC — Melngailis failed to make payroll five times in 2014. Pure temporarily closed in January 2015 after she went AWOL. When she resurfaced in February, Melngailis — who grew up in Newton, Mass. — spun various tales about where the money had gone, telling some employees it went to care for her sick mother, others that the deficit was the result of switching banks. But her former director of operations says it was all a sham: “[Melngailis and Strangis] didn’t have financial troubles. They took all the money!” Somehow, Melngailis convinced a few patrons to pony up $844,000, and the restaurant reopened in April 2015. While Strangis was still in the picture, employees say he and Melngailis never seemed particularly enamored. In fact, Sevierville Detective Bush says the outlaws were staying in two separate rooms during their 40-day occupancy at the Tennessee hotel. “She’s not fond of him. We could tell that,” says Bush. “Right before they were taken to our detention facility I said to [Melngailis], ‘Give [Strangis] a hug. Give him a kiss,’ and she didn’t want to.” (Melngailis would not address why the couple was staying in separate rooms.) Strangis’s lawyer, Samuel Karliner, told The Post, “His wife was running the operation, and everything was rosy . . . Life was grand, and he didn’t know [otherwise] when the business was going south but the lifestyle continued.” On Thursday, Strangis told the judge via his defense attorney that “it would appear Mrs. Melngailis was the one who ran this business and drove it into the ground and withdrew all the money.” When asked if she is mad at her husband for placing the blame on her, Melngailis responded: “That word is the biggest understatement.” She repeatedly claims that she was “not in control” of her actions, and that it was not her decision to flee to Tennessee. “I worked hard, this was my passion. This was all I ever wanted. Why would I throw it up in flames? I have nothing now. I have no apartment. I have no money. Why would I torture myself like that? Talk to my friends. They will tell you this is not me.” While it’s inarguable that Melngailis got wrapped up with the wrong guy, those “friends” say her carefully cultivated public persona hid some deeper demons. Her ex-boyfriend Kenney told Page Six in 2005 that Melngailis physically attacked him on multiple occasions. “She’s thrown stools, grapefruits and phones at me,” the chef said. “She would leave cryptic notes with big kitchen knives stuck into vegetables. She punched me in the head and cut me with her ring.” (Melngailis denied the claims at the time. Kenney declined to speak to The Post for this story.) And Khakpour tells The Post that the stress of having such a healthy image weighed on Melngailis, who confessed that she’s struggled with bulimia since opening Pure Food and Wine. “There was nobody in the restaurant industry who looked like Sarma. She looked like a celebrity,” says Khakpour. “She became aware that it was part of the allure of the place.” Melngailis now sits in Rikers as she awaits trial. Though she’s hopeful about making bail, she says that she doesn’t want to burden anybody — but prison has already taken a toll on the health-conscious blonde, who has lost 4 pounds since being captured. “I cry every day,” she says, though she admits the conditions at Rikers are better than Tennessee. There, she was held in a cell with no windows and was forced to sleep on the floor. She educated the other inmates about veganism and healthy eating. When Melngailis asked for a vegan diet at Rikers, her request was denied. She says she makes do with peanut butter sandwiches, bananas, apples and fresh-sliced cucumber. Melngailis’ lawyer, Sheila Tendy, tells The Post, “We really just ask that the public reserves judgment until we figure out what’s going on.” One thing’s for sure: The raw-loving Melngailis and Strangis are cooked.
A Virginia State football player faces assault charges after a bathroom fight left Winston-Salem State's starting quarterback badly beaten during a luncheon for both teams on the eve of their championship game. Both Division II schools say the CIAA canceled the title game set for Saturday in Winston-Salem. Virginia State running back Lamont Britt was arrested Friday and charged with misdemeanor assault inflicting serious injury. Winston-Salem State chancellor Donald Reaves said quarterback Rudy Johnson was "viciously beaten by one or more members of the Virginia State football team." The Winston-Salem Journal, citing multiple anonymous sources, reported that five Virginia State players were involved. Reaves said police were trying to identify the other Virginia State players. "Today's event was supposed to be a celebration for both teams and for all the players who were being recognized for an outstanding season," Reaves said in a statement. "The actions from the Virginia State players certainly changed the outcome for everyone." Johnson had a swollen eye and a cut above his eye, according to the police report. Virginia State coach Latrell Scott, in a statement provided to ESPN, apologized for the "unfortunate incident" but disputed the report that five of his players were involved. "One of our players made a mistake and cost our team the opportunity to play in the CIAA championship game today," Scott said. "This isolated incident does not represent us as a team or university and we extend our deepest regrets to the WSSU player involved. "Due to the ongoing investigation, I cannot comment on the details of the events that took place but can clarify that only one of our players, not five as previously reported, was involved." Conference officials say athletes from both schools were in the fight, but Reaves told the Journal that Johnson was the victim. "We don't know a lot of what happened but we do know our starting quarterback, Rudy Johnson, was beaten up," Reaves said. "And he didn't beat himself up." A WSSU player told the Journal that Johnson would not have been able to play Saturday. "We understand that some Virginia State University and Winston-Salem State University student-athletes were involved in an incident during the time of today's luncheon event," CIAA commissioner Jacqie Carpenter said in a statement. "The police are currently investigating the incident and are speaking with the individuals involved. Leadership from the CIAA and the participating institutions are fully cooperating. Further details and updates regarding the status of the championship game will be forthcoming." Winston-Salem State police chief Pat Norris told the newspaper that Johnson was treated and released from a local hospital. Both Winston-Salem State and Virginia State are 9-1. The CIAA volleyball championship was also canceled. Information from ESPN's Joe Schad was used in this report.
Some patients included in the breach are as young as 17. UPDATE: The reports appear to have been taken down. Google BuzzFeed News was able to access the folder containing the reports via a simple search. The medical records of over 43,000 people have been accidentally made public after being put online by a pathology lab in Mumbai. The reports contain confidential details like names, addresses, dates of birth, and blood test results. They also include details of patients who have had blood tests done for HIV detection. Some included in the breach are as young as 17. The reports, which the pathology lab Health Solutions was storing in an unprotected folder on its website, were accessible to anyone with the right URL. Worse, since the reports were exposed, they have already been indexed by Google and likely other search engines too. BuzzFeed News was able to access the folder via a simple search. BuzzFeed News screenshot The confidential blood test reports included this one, which was done for HIV determination, from the Health Solutions website. The breach was first discovered by web security expert Troy Hunt, who told BuzzFeed News that reports were stored in a folder with directory listing enabled. “What this meant was that there was literally a folder describing all the 43,000-plus files,” said Hunt. “This also means we have no idea of how many people have seen the files — they could have been viewed within cache.” Hunt was also able to find out that the reports were sitting on a server located in Provo, Utah. None of the reports were password protected or had any kind of access control on them, which means that anybody could download anybody else’s pathology reports. “It’s about as bad as it gets, security-wise,” Hunt said. When BuzzFeed News contacted Rodrigues Kustas, administrator at Health Solutions, he denied any knowledge of the breach before disconnecting the call. Kustas called BuzzFeed News back 30 minutes later, saying he was now aware of the breach. He said Health Solutions was moving to a new website in January because its current one had been “hacked" several times. Due to the move, he said there wasn’t any way the lab could fix the problem right now. “Look, we are not the doctors, we merely do blood tests for patients. We also have more than 250 franchisees all over Mumbai who do tests for us,” Kustas said. “So maintaining doctor–patient privacy is not something that we as the lab are concerned with.” Kustas also said that the lab’s website was built by a third-party developer who he described as a personal friend, but refused to provide any more details. BuzzFeed News screenshot The pathology reports are organized by folder. BuzzFeed News blurred every entry in the folder for privacy reasons. Unlike the United States, where the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) mandates doctor–patient confidentiality, India does not have a strong legal framework around medical privacy or even a privacy law in general. Doctors who BuzzFeed News spoke to said that each hospital follows its own guidelines around maintaining patient privacy in the absence of an umbrella framework. The only reference to privacy comes in the Code of Ethics and Regulations published by the Medical Council of India (MCI), a statutory body that enforces medical standards in the country. It says: “Confidences concerning individual or domestic life entrusted by patients to a physician and defects in the disposition or character of patients observed during medical attendance should never be revealed unless their revelation is required by the laws of the State.” BuzzFeed News has reached out to all nine members on the executive committee of the MCI for comment. A Google spokesperson pointed BuzzFeed News to the search engine’s page for removal policies, and provided the following statement: “Google Search generally reflects what’s on the web, so we ask that if people want content removed from the web, they start by contacting the site hosting the content. After the content is taken down, it will drop out of search engines’ web results.” “This serves as a reminder that once we digitize anything, there’s a far greater risk of it being inadvertently disclosed,” Hunt said. “It's another case like so many others we've seen where there's large amounts of sensitive data exposed and the owner is totally unaware.”
The “Space Echo” is a portable sound processing device used to create echo and reverb effects on audio tracks. How it looks 1 On/Off switch 2 VU meter A VU (volume unit) meter indicates the power level of audio signals. The reading is an average of the highs and lows within a short duration. 3 The peak level indicator The peak level indicator indicates the maximum input of audio signals (above what the VU meter can measure). It indicates an instantaneous level rather than the average. 4 Mic volume/instrument volume Controls the input and recording levels. 5 Mode selector The mode selector changes the combination of three playback heads and the spring reverb unit, achieving 12 different echo variations. It includes a “reverb only” mode. 6 Repeat rate The repeat rate controls how quickly the echo repeats by varying the tape speed. The slower the tape speed, the longer the delay between the original sound and the echo. 7 Intensity The intensity controls how many times the echo repeats. High intensity levels allow for the echo to self-oscillate (repeat indefinitely). 8 Echo volume This controls the level of the echo effect. 9 Reverb volume The reverb volume controls the level of reverb at mode selections between “5” and “11” and “reverb only.” 10 Equalizers Equalizers control the treble and bass parts of the sound. 11 Echo/normal changeover switch The echo/normal changeover switch controls instrument input alteration. At “normal,” the instrument input is unaltered. At “echo,” the instrument input is echoed 100%. 12 Output level changeover switch The output level changeover switch controls the output level ( H igh, M edium, and L ow). 13 The connections include a PA input, which connects to a mixer; two mic inputs; an instrument input; an output, which connects to an amplifier; and a foot switch jack, which allows foot control of the echo and reverb. Our 3D animated infographics attract thousands of viewers. We'd love to work with you. Let's chat. Inside the Space Echo Under the hinged lid is the tape transport system, while the cavity of the “Space Echo” contains the electrical system. 1 Variable speed motor A variable speed motor powers the capstan. 2 Capstan The capstan contacts and smoothly moves the tape through the Space Echo. 3 Circuit boards 4 Spring reverb unit The spring reverb unit adds a reverb effect to modes 5 through 11 and “reverb only.” 5 Tape loop & chamber The tape loop constantly cycles through the tape chamber in a freely moving cluster. This design cuts down on tape wear and playback speed irregularities. The tape chamber has a detachable plastic cover to protect the tape and allow easy access for tape replacement. 6 Pinch rollers & tension arms The rubber-coated pinch rollers and the tension arms maintain tension on the tape and facilitate smooth tape movement. 7 Erase head The erase head erases any previous audio on the tape. 8 Record head The record head imprints the tape with the new, incoming audio. 9 Replay/playback heads The 3 replay/playback heads read the imprint and play back the corresponding audio. 10 Transformer The transformer reduces the voltage of incoming power to make it compatible with the Space Echo. Follow Animagraffs: email, twitter, facebook. How it sounds Though there many different effects that the RE-201 can create, here are examples of no effect, echo, and reverb. 1 No effect For no effect, the echo/normal changeover switch is set to “normal,” and the sound passes through unchanged. 2 Echo With the echo/normal changeover switch set to “echo,” the mode selector set to “3,” and the repeat rate and intensity left in their default positions, a standard echo is added to the instrument sound. 3 Reverb For a sound with just reverb, the echo/normal changeover switch stays on “echo,” while the mode selector changes to “reverb only.” References Thanks to Rudy Moni and Moni Multimedia for helping us with sound recordings. http://www.moni-multimedia.com/ (2016). Retrieved 20 October 2016, from http://dl.lojinx.com/analoghell/RolandRE201_OwnersManual.pdf RE-201/ 101 Service Notes. (1978) (2nd ed.). Retrieved from http://manuals.fdiskc.com/flat/Roland%20RE-101%20&%20RE-201%20Service%20Manual.pdf Roland RE-201. (2016). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 20 October 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roland_RE-201 Roland Space Echo - RE - 201. (2016). YouTube. Retrieved 20 October 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppTMD7UK7LY&list=RDppTMD7UK7LY Tape transport. (2016). En.wikipedia.org. Retrieved 20 October 2016, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tape_transport#Capstan UK, R. (2016). The Roland RE-201 Space Echo Story - Classic Gear \| Roland UK. Roland.co.uk. Retrieved 20 October 2016, from http://www.roland.co.uk/blog/the-roland-re-201-space-echo-story/ Created in partnership with © 2019 Copyright Animagraffs.
17423 AG Wolfsburg zu Hitlergruß : Student muss Anne Frank-Tagebuch lesen 03.11.2015 © oliverfroehlich - Fotolia.com Ein öffentlicher Hitlergruß hat für einen 19-Jährigen ungeahnte Folgen: Er soll innerhalb von zwei Monaten das Tagebuch von Anne Frank lesen. Die jüdische Verfasserin war 1945 als junges Mädchen in einem Konzentrationslager gestorben. Anzeige Ein 19 Jahre alter Maschinenbau-Student soll am Vatertag dieses Jahres gegenüber mehreren Personen den Hitlergruß gezeigt haben. Deswegen hat ihn das Amtsgericht (AG) Wolfsburg am Montag nach Jugendstrafrecht zu gemeinnütziger Arbeit verurteilt. Zusätzlich soll der Jugendliche binnen zwei Monaten eine Zusammenfassung über das Tagebuch der Anne Frank vorlegen. In der Hauptverhandlung habe der Student die Tat, die als Verwenden von Kennzeichen verfassungswidriger Organisationen nach § 86a Strafgesetzbuch (StGB) strafbar ist, bestritten, teilte das Gericht am Dienstag mit. Allerdings sei er von Polizeibeamten genau beobachtet worden. Die Aufmerksamkeit der Beamten habe der junge Mann schon kurz zuvor auf sich gezogen, indem er auf eine Wiese uriniert habe. Neben der Verurteilung zu 30 Stunden gemeinnütziger Arbeit verlangte der Jugendrichter als Auflage eine sechsseitige Zusammenfassung des berühmten Tagebuchs. Anne Frank hatte sich ab 1942 etwa zwei Jahre lang in einem Haus in Amsterdam vor den Nationalsozialisten versteckt und ihre Gedanken und Erlebnisse aufgeschrieben. Nachdem das Versteck entdeckt worden war, verstarb sie kurz vor Kriegsende im Konzentrationslager Bergen-Belsen. Das Tagebucht veröffentlichte ihr Vater, der den Krieg überlebt hatte. Das Zusammenfassen von Büchern, insbesondere solcher, die Ereignisse in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus beschreiben, werde allerdings häufiger als Auflage in Jugendgerichtsverhandlungen verhängt, so der Direktor des AG gegenüber LTO. Dies komme vor allem gegenüber Angeklagten in Betracht, die nach eigener Aussage politisch "unmotiviert" seien. una/LTO-Redaktion Anm. d. Red.: Aufgrund der Vielzahl von beleidigenden und rassistischen Kommentaren sahen wir uns leider dazu gezwungen, die Kommentarfunktion für diesen Beitrag zu deaktivieren. Wir bitten um Ihr Verständnis.
Hello and welcome to another installment of LORE BUILDER, where we take a weekly dip into the pool of unexplored Star Citizen lore. If this is your first time, please consult the caveats and background reading at the beginning of the first issue, so you get an idea of what’s already been established. Thanks again for the additional pirates/criminals/syndicates; they have been absorbed into the Excel sheet. Let’s get right to it. SATABALL The results are in from last week’s poll. The combination of Australian Rules Football and Zan’s proposal was selected as the basis for the rules for Sataball. Thanks to Krant and everyone else who submitted rule systems over the weeks. We will now begin constructing an understanding of the game itself using these two approaches as a foundation. First, a few weeks ago you decided on Sam Corwin’s origin story for Sataball. He was kind enough to update that origin to incorporate the new rules format: Created during the later years of colonization efforts by Humanity (close to the Messer era), colonist children found themselves with little to do while schools and the like were being constructed. As a prank, they began playing with the settings on the prefab colony building’s bug-stopper forcefields, the most common model being the SATA-IM, an acronym standing for Static Advanced Termination Arrester – Insect Model. They tweaked the SATA fields to be strong enough to knock cups and books out of people’s hands as they passed through. One day a ball was accidentally kicked towards a door, and the modified SATA field bounced the ball back to the child. In short order, a few buildings were found with missing SATA fields. The parents discovered the children playing a new game out in an empty lot, and as it kept them out of trouble, quickly ordered more of the inexpensive SATA fields for the kids to modify and make more playing fields with. It didn’t take long for adults to realize how fun the game could be, and visitors to the colonies brought back vids of an exciting new sport being born. As with most new games, different colonies experimented with different methods of playing Sataball in the early days of its formation, before it was officially recognized as a sport. Through trial and error (not to mention a few mostly hilarious mishaps with the SATA fields), it was found that the addition of magnetic playing equipment enhanced the SATA field’s abilities to interact with both ball and players. The magnetic equipment could easily be made by salvaging electromagnets from broken down colony machines, so it was a natural addition to the fledgling sport. THE RULES To make it easier, we’re going to break this into segments for discussion. This week we’ll start looking at FIELD SHAPE, GOAL TYPES and BARRIERS. FIELD In the initial description, I had mentioned an octagon for a field shape, mostly because it felt a little more visually interesting than a rectangle. Here are some explorations of potential field types: Ellipse This was roughly made to the specifications of the Australian Rules Football field. It’s pretty massive, but then again, Australian Rules Football plays with eighteen players per team. This might be the way to go if we want to have larger size teams and possibly lower-scoring games. Polygonal (Octagon or Hexagon) These fields were scaled smaller to account for a more high-intensity game. Teams would presumably be smaller. My only worry is that when we start adding in the barriers, it might be too crowded. GOALS Probably the most important question of any game, how do you score points? Posts Australian Rules football uses four posts as their goals, kicking the ball between the goal posts = 6 points. Kicking the ball between a goal post and a behind post = 1 point. Square In Zan’s proposal, he described a 2m square for the goal. Teams get one point when the ball is shot between goal line and halfway, two points if the ball is shot from past the half-way line, and three points if the ball ricochets through the square goal from a barrier. I wasn’t sure how the goal would specifically be scored, whether it was a basket or more of a classic goal formation, so I tried couple different explorations of how the goal itself would look. Rectangular Goal The other option is the classic shaped goal from soccer (or it could be scaled down to be more like a hockey goal). As with both of those sports, if we use a rectangular goal though, you would assume that the team would have a goalie position, but that’s something that can be discussed in next week’s post. BARRIERS Zan outlined four types of barriers that can be turned on/off via player action or by pre-programmed routines. Wall: A magnetic field that repels the ball on contact like a physical surface would. These exist in numerous shapes and sizes. Stasis: A field that traps the ball and holds it in place until it’s deactivated by player proximity. Launch: Small magnetic spots on the floor that shoot the ball upwards when it passes over them. Eject: A field that traps the ball for up to 3 seconds and ejects it in a random direction. The first question is, what do these barriers look like? Here are a couple of possible options to get you started: Two Vertical Posts Two posts with the field acting between them could be interesting to add a physical obstacle for the players to have to dodge, but might be too dangerous and complicated as the posts become an additional barrier on top of the magnetic barrier. Floor/Ceiling Generators You could have the magnetic fields be generated by panels in the floor or floor/ceiling in order to keep the playing field clear of physical obstructions. Second question, is there Color-Coding? Can the players identify whether a field is active or dead? Or even what type of field is active in order to incorporate that into their strategy? The poles/panels could be outfitted with lights that could indicate active/passive and/or type based on the color of the light used. Here’s a sample color scheme with the appropriate effect: That’s it for this week. Feel free to discuss these elements in the comments below. Next week, we’ll review and see if we’ve circled in on a decision and start to get into the teams, positions, and rules for the standard Sataball match. Until next time …
"Next up we have Judy!" The blushing rabbit looked at Nick with a scorned face. "I shouldn't have ever let you talk me into this" she said in a low tone. Nick smiled at her "Comeon, Carrots. So you lost a bet. You've got to lose sometime. You can't just be good at everything all the time, you know." Nick replied. Judy walked to the steps leading up to the stage. Still hidden in the shadows, she removed the long coat to reveal her outfit. She wrapped her arms around herself "It's cold" she said with a slight quiver in her voice. Nick walked up to her, put his paw on her shoulder and said "Yeah, they keep these karaoke places cold. I could never figure out why." She looked back at Nick, giving half a smile. She tapped his paw a couple of times with her own paw and then walked up the stairs. She stopped at the top of the stairs and turned around, "You know I'm going to get you back for this." she said. Nick put one leg on the first step. Looking up at Judy he let out a chuckle and said "I can't wait to see what you come up with." as he leaned in, still looking up at her. Judy stepped into the light. She raised her left paw to cover the blinding lights. There were 4 lights, they seemed to shine directly into her eyes. She walked over to the microphone stand and stopped in front of it just as the voice of the announcer comes over the P.A. "Ladies and gentlemen, Judy!" The small crowd cheered. Some of them raised their drinks, a few of them whistled at her. Nick stood off to the side of the stage and clapped. Judy looked down at him for a moment with the same "I'm going to get you for this" smile on her face. She grabbed the microphone and held it in her right paw. She could have sworn that she had asked them for a smaller microphone, but she was able to get a pretty good grip on this one. She thought to herself "this should be alright. I just hope I don't drop it." A slightly taller tiger walks up to her carrying some equipment. "Our stage monitors don't work, but if you'd like you can use this wireless monitor. No extra charge, and the earpiece is clean." he says to her. Judy nods, and the stage hand walks behind her. He clips the small rectangular receiver to her belt, clips part of the wire to the back of her top, and then hands her the earpiece. He flips a small switch on the receiver and a red light illuminates. He gives her a thumbs up and walks off stage. Judy placed the earpiece in her left ear, letting the wire run down the left side. A low tone could be heard through the earpiece. She looked down at the receiver and adjusted the volume knob. She looked back into the crowd. She could see them a little better now. she put the microphone up to her mouth and held on to it with both paws. Nick approached the stage and looked up at her. She spoke quietly "H-Hi, everyone... This is... my first time here so I may be a l-little... nervous." The audience clapped. One of the voices shouted out "You can do it!" Judy looked towards the DJ booth on the other side of the stage and gave a small nod. The music starts. She spoke again into the microphone, "I'm going to be singing Gazelle's Try Everything" The crowd cheered. Drinks could be heard pounding the tables. More whistles. The crowd seems to be much more excited now. The drum kicks in Nick's smug smile disappears, replaced with a look of absolute focus. His ears drop slightly, his eyes widen. He places both paws on the stage and leans in. Judy puts the microphone up to her mouth, breathes in, and... ---- I started this one very late this week. I had set a goal to have this done by Friday and I had actually finished it last night. As always, I had a massive problem with the paws, and for some reason I had a problem with Judy's feet. I did have to look at a few references to get the positioning as best I could. The final result doesn't exactly convey what I had in my head, but it works to get what I had been visualizing out. I thought about filling in the rest of the picture with a background and crowd and all that, but figured it's alright like this. I ended up colouring it with pencil before scanning it, and only bumped up the colour saturation in Paint.net before uploading it here. My own personal critique, I think it looks like something I would have drawn in 9th grade, had I been given the chance. She doesn't really look like Judy in this picture, to me. I could have done a few things differently, and I started to get frustrated with Nick's arms and paws that I essentially started scribbling lines and hoped for the best. I really shouldn't have done that. I still believe that I am growing and will probably revisit this sometime in the future, maybe after my skills have improved. Overall, it's alright. Definitely not my best work so far, but I'm ok with the end result. ---- One of my friends asked me if she was on stage at a strip club, to which I said "Oh hell no". So no, she's not at a strip club. I'm trying to imply that she's either on a concert stage or karaoke stage... I guess I could have added more to make that apparent. Maybe next time. I may upload the original non-coloured version at some point. Also, you're damn right I ship it. ---- I welcome your comments and critiques! I am trying to learn and grow.
The CIA Can’t Hack Senate Computers Because They Own Them, Experts Say It’s not hacking because the CIA provided the system, network drive, search tool and classified documents for the Senate. By Aliya Sternstein CIA personnel probably didn’t commit a hacking crime by rummaging through congressional computers used to research the agency’s torture activities, former federal attorneys and scholars say. Some lawmakers are calling for a criminal probe into new findings by a CIA inspector general that the agency improperly searched Senate intelligence committee files about its detention and interrogation program. Committee staff has been compiling a report condemning the program. Under an agreement, only CIA information technology employees were allowed to access the system, says committee Chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. The CIA violated that agreement by removing about 920 agency items and searching through the committee’s own internal work, she maintains. But the CIA provided the system, network drive, search tool and classified documents. “Removing data from that network, if it’s your network, I think that’s difficult to make it hacking,” said Ben FitzGerald, director of the Technology and National Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. One needs to be careful with the term “hacking,” he said. Not Much Legal Ground to Stand On The argument that the CIA violated the closest thing America has to an anti-hacking law — the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act — likely won’t carry much weight in court, say former U.S. attorneys. This is because the law is mushy when it comes to who is a computer’s rightful operator. And there are intelligence-collection loopholes that could clear the CIA. Also, the agency could argue there was no deliberate effort to inappropriately penetrate the system. “You have to knowingly access a computer without authorization” to break the law, said Mark Rasch, former head of Justice’s Computer Crime Unit. CIA officials probably will claim that “while they did access the computer, they didn’t know that they didn’t have authorization to do it,” as the actions were approved by agency superiors. The legislation also makes an exception for “lawfully authorized” investigative, protective or intelligence activities, he noted. A teenager, however, who tried this stunt probably would be paying fines or would be confined to a prison cell. “Ordinarily, if I was not a CIA employee and I broke into a computer to get classified information, that would be like espionage and be a serious criminal offense,” said Rasch, now a private consultant. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., on Friday morning told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd: “If a 19-year-old hacker had searched Senate files this way, that hacker would be sitting in jail right now. Now, back in January, I asked [CIA Director John] Brennan whether the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act applied to the CIA. That act has criminal penalties … I want to know who is going to legally held responsible.” Other former federal attorneys say it’s unclear who held access rights to the system and the law hinges on that detail. “Who has the superior claim to control access? I don’t think there’s an obvious answer,” Orin Kerr, a former official with Justice’s computer crime and intellectual property section, wrote online when the hacking allegations surfaced in March. “My instinct is that the CIA probably has a better claim to controlling access than the committee” because it owned the machines and retained the right to have IT people access the computers. The exemption for investigative and intelligence activities — also cryptic — might lean in favor of the CIA, too. It is unknown “what makes an activity ‘lawfully authorized,’ because no court has interpreted that section. But it’s possible that it applies and negates CFAA liability,” said Kerr, currently a George Washington University law professor. Brennan has merely apologized for his employees’ actions and referred the IG report to an accountability board for potential disciplinary measures. So, if this isn’t a criminal matter — what’s the punishment for the admitted wrongdoing? Loss of credibility in the public court of opinion, other former federal officials say. The incident compounds the criticism that U.S. intelligence agencies hold too much information, following disclosures by ex-federal contractor Edward Snowden about sweeping surveillance of citizens’ Internet and call records. “What is clear is that this is a real setback for the CIA and, indeed, the intelligence community writ large as it tries to rebuild credibility and trust with Congress and the American people in the post-Snowden era,” said retired Maj. Gen. Charles J. Dunlap, former Air Force deputy judge advocate general and now a Duke University law professor. ”What must be especially frustrating to intelligence professionals is that their community will take another serious political hit, and this time for an easily avoidable, self-inflicted wound on an issue that I think could have been resolved in an unquestionably proper way.” The intelligence community continues to deal with the challenge of trust versus law, Fitzgerald said. The Senate episode “has echoes of the Snowden revelations where, even when the NSA was following the letter of the law, the actions were deeply unpopular, and out of step with the public’s expectations or, in this case, the Senate’s expectations,” he said. Justice Looks the Other Way So far, the Justice Department reportedly has declined to proceed with a criminal investigation. About a decade ago, after another government employee inappropriately searched congressional computers, Justice let him off the hook. During President George W. Bush’s first term, Senate Republican aide Manuel Miranda accessed documents belonging to the Committee on the Judiciary Democrats by exploiting a server glitch. He then leaked the files to the conservative press. Miranda resigned after he was found out. A Justice probe was launched, but no criminal charges were filed. A redacted version of the intelligence panel’s final torture report remains under wraps. The CIA sanitized the report and Feinstein said Tuesday the omissions mask key evidence supporting the committee’s conclusions. “I am sending a letter today to the president laying out a series of changes to the redactions that we believe are necessary prior to public release,” she said in a statement. “The bottom line is that the United States must never again make the mistakes documented in this report. I believe the best way to accomplish that is to make public our thorough documentary history of the CIA’s program.”
" " HIV can be transmitted through a variety of body fluids from infected individuals. Ian Cuming/Getty Images AIDS has infected and killed so many people because of the way it works. Let's look at some of the features that make this disease so unusual. HIV can be transmitted through a variety of body fluids from infected individuals, such as blood, breast milk, semen and vaginal secretions. But individuals cannot become infected through ordinary contact such as kissing, hugging, shaking hands, or sharing food or water. When compared with the many viruses that spread through the air, it would seem that the intimacy involved in the transmission of AIDS would be a limiting factor. However, a person can be contagious for a decade or more before any visible signs of disease become apparent. And in that decade, an HIV carrier can potentially infect dozens of people, each of whom can infect dozens more, and so on. HIV invades the cells of our immune system and reprograms them to become HIV-producing factories. Without treatment, the number of immune cells in the body dwindles and AIDS can develop. Once AIDS manifests, a person is susceptible to many different infections because HIV has weakened the immune system to the point where it can no longer fight back effectively. In fact, HIV not only invades and weakens the immune system — the very system that would normally protect the body from a virus — it also destroys it. HIV has also shown the ability to mutate, which makes treating the virus very difficult. As the virus destroys and impairs the function of immune cells, infected individuals gradually become immunodeficient.
Stones moved from Barnsley to Everton in February 2013 for a fee of about £3m Everton's John Stones has handed in a transfer request following Chelsea's repeated attempts to buy the defender. The Premier League champions have had bids of £20m and £26m rejected for the 21-year-old England international, with a further £30m attempt also reported. Everton manager Roberto Martinez has repeatedly said Stones will not be sold this summer and the club have not responded to the latest development. The centre-back moved from Barnsley to Everton in February 2013 for about £3m. Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, who substituted John Terry during their 3-0 loss at Manchester City and saw his skipper sent off against West Brom last Sunday, wants to strengthen in central defence. Stones is expected to be in the England squad for next month's Euro 2016 qualifiers against San Marino and Switzerland when it is named on Sunday evening. Chelsea's first game following the international break is a trip to Goodison Park on 12 September.
Made in Photoshop CS4 HASBRO and it's logo MY LITTLE PONY and all related characters are trademarks of Hasbro and are used without permission © 2016 Hasbro. Comments and faves are really appreciated! ^^ ~Spark~ Comic time! Celestia and Luna discuss some of the events of the past seasons and the repercussions of those.Another long overdue comic, this one was requested by in February 2014, this time I did all of it with my new style rather than starting it before and completing it now like the two past overdue comics; thanks for being patient, Yoshimon1, if you even remember about thisThis is the last one I had now I don't owe old requests... just some new ones n_n' they will be posted on the next art season.This is probably the comic with the most hidden mini jokes I have ever done and one of which I have had the most fun while doing it.
TRENTON -- "Saturday Night Live" alum Joe Piscopo has decided he will not run for New Jersey governor as a Republican and instead is planning to declare he will jump into the race to succeed Gov. Chris Christie as an independent candidate, NJ Advance Media has learned. Piscopo made his decision because he did not begin the process of running early enough to run as a Republican, according to two sources close to the performer who requested anonymity because they did not want to publicly discuss an official announcement that could trigger state election laws on fundraising. Republican county chairs started the process of making endorsements awarding their ballot lines starting in late January in anticipation of the April 3 deadline to file as primary candidates. Thus far, the lion's share of endorsements have gone to Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno. "You have to be out early," one Piscopo insider said. "And he didn't start early enough." The sources say Piscopo was also unwilling to give up hosting his morning radio show on New York City's 970-AM, owned by the conservative-leaning Salem Broadcasting, during the primary season. Is Joe Piscopo really going to run for governor? The Federal Communications Commission's "equal time" rule means that he would have needed step down from the show, which is the mainstay of Piscopo's income and public attention, as soon as he declared. Because the filing deadline for independents isn't until June 6, Piscopo would buy himself an extra eight weeks on the show, the sources said. In addition, Piscopo was leery of running as a Republican because of the record-low popularity of Christie, the sources said. The Republican governor currently suffers a 17 percent approval rating, tied for the lowest-ever recorded in modern New Jersey political history. A spokesman for Piscopo declined to comment for this report. In an an interview with the Record in the Record published on Friday, Piscopo insisted that "There is no way a Republican can win in New Jersey" and that "an independent has a better chance to win.'' Independent candidates have never fared well in New Jersey, but political experts say Piscopo has high name recognition and could make waves in this year's governor's race. Opinions differ among Republican county chairs as to which major party candidate he would hurt the most. Republican Guadagno and Democrat Phil Murphy are considered the front-runners in the primaries. At a meeting last December, Bergen County GOP chairman Paul DiGaetano and longtime Piscopo friend said he warned him against running outside the two-party system. "I told him if he ran as an independent, he would likely lose," DiGaetano said. "And likely cause the Democrat to win." But other GOP county chairs aren't so sure about that. Hudson County Republican chairman Jose Arango notes that as a former Democrat, Piscopo would likely over-perform in areas where Democrats tend to do better, hurting the eventual Democratic nominee. "Where he's going to be successful is in Passaic and Essex, where he grew up," Arango said. "Those aren't areas where Republicans tend to do well." But while even seasoned GOP party chairmen are bewildered about whether Piscopo would draw more from the eventual Democratic or Republican nominee, they agree that without a major party infrastructure to piggyback on local campaigns to get out the vote, running as an independent would make Piscopo's path to victory much tougher. "Inside a political science class, it sounds great," said Al Barlas, Essex County GOP chairman. "But the reality is that Joe running as an independent is like ascending Mount Everest without an oxygen tank." Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
But those detained inside the narrow detention area claim some have been there beyond 36 hours Published 3:11 PM, April 28, 2017 MANILA, Philippines – Blame the two-day ASEAN Summit holiday in the city of Manila for the police’s failure to immediately file charges against drug suspects found detained inside a jail hidden by a bookshelf inside the Manila Police District Station 1 in Tondo, Manila. “Ang sabi nila [PS1 police] they’ve been here [since] April 27. They have 36 hours to file the case, so holiday, so pwede mag-ano eh, pwedeng dagdagan kasi may holiday. Alam naman ng imbestigador yung ginagawa nila, para hindi mag-lapse yung sinsabing reglementary period para mag-file ng kaso,” said National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief Director Oscar Albayalde, minutes after they inspected the station. (The police here said the detainees have been here since April 27. They have 36 hours to file the case, so holiday, so they can extend that because it’s a holiday. The investigators know what they’re doing so the reglementary period in filing a case doens’t lapse.) On Thursday evening, April 27, the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) conducted a surprise visit to the Station 1 of the Manila police, and were surprised to see some 12 men and women locked-up inside a tiny, narrow, and unventilated alleyway inside the station. Station commander Superintendent Robert Domingo said the drug suspects were arrested by police during a “one time, big time” operation ahead of the ASEAN Summit in Metro Manila. When the CHR attempted to take custody of the suspects found inside the jail, Domingo refused and said they were still being processed. Domingo was also unable to show CHR and the media police blotters that would indicate when and where the suspects were arrested. Some of the detainees denied they had just been arrested, claiming they had been there for over a week now. Another, whose interview was broadcast live on Facebook, said he had been detained there since Tuesday, April 25. Under the Revised Penal Code, an arrested person must be brought to the “proper judicial authorities” within 12 hours for crimes with light penalties, 18 hour for crimes punishable by correctional facilities, and 36 hours for crimes punishable by capital penalties. Drug offenses are punishable by capital penalties. April 27 and 28 are non-working holidays in the city of Manila because it is host to the ASEAN 2017 Summit. Several hotels and a convention center in the Philippine capital have been chosen as venues for the events and meetings during and around the summit. Albayalde conceded that the hidden cell was below the PNP’s standards. He said the NCRPO did not know of Domingo’s “initiative” given the lack of facilities inside the station. (READ: Secret jail in Tondo? 'We really don't know') Domingo, who has since been relieved from his post, told Albayalde that the cell was a “temporary” holding center because the precincts are already crowded. Police in Tondo have also been accused of extorting money from the families of the detainees in exchange for their freedom. Domingo has denied these allegations. – Rappler.com
Women's advocates welcome the penalties as a strong symbol, but the Polish MEP who uttered the offensive statements says the fine was worth the publicity. Far-right Polish lawmaker Janusz Korwin-Mikke believes women deserve to be paid less -- now he's getting a bit of a wage gap himself. European Parliament President Antonio Tajani opened Tuesday's session in Strasbourg by declaring he will not "tolerate such behavior" as Korwin-Mikke's speech earlier this month proclaiming women to be "weaker, shorter and less intelligent" than men. Calling it a "very serious incident", Tajani is imposing sanctions on the Polish MEP that he calls "unprecedented in severity": Korwin-Mikke will lose his per diem for 30 days, a total of 9,180 euros ($9,800), he's suspended from all parliamentary activities for 10 days and he may not "represent the parliament" for a year. "The severity of punishment is commensurate with the gravity of the offense," Tajani said. "What he said is counter to our values and he did so when a woman was chairing the session and there was a debate going on about the wage gap between men and women. I'm proud to be the president of an institution that does make its voice heard powerfully every day when it comes to the question of women's rights." Korwin-Mikke been sanctioned three times before, two times fined, for making a Nazi salute in parliament, for using a racial slur referring to poor Europeans and for derogatory comments about immigrants. Now live 02:59 mins. TOP STORIES \| @dwnews - Polish MEP sparks backlash over sexist comments Women's lobby applauds penalties European Women's Lobby (EWL) Secretary General Joanna Maycock was pleasantly surprised by the decision. "This is what should happen," she told DW. "This is how a democratic institution like the EP should treat its members when they violate the values of the EU. And let's be clear -- gender equality is a fundamental value of the EU." Advertisement Maycock said it was all the more important that such comments do not go unchallenged given the current tense political climate in the world "where racist and misogynist abuse continues to contribute to inequality and human-rights violations." Her organization, the European Women's Lobby, has already asked for a meeting with newly-elected President Tajani to discuss how he plans to address gender issues during his term. They haven't heard back yet from his office but news of the Korwin-Mikke decision is encouraging that things are going in EWL's preferred direction, Maycock said. Activists ask for a bigger pay gap for Korwin-Mikke But sanctions aren't enough for supporters of an online petition to give Korwin-Mikke a permanent pay cut. Social-media activist organization Avaaz started an effort immediately after his tirade to see the lawmaker kicked out. "We ask the European Parliament to suspend the Polish MEP Janusz Korwin-Mikke following his hateful remarks about women and migrants, and after making a Nazi salute in the chamber," the petition reads. "These acts are in violation of the parliament's rules and betray the values of the entire EU which our parliament is elected to defend." At the time of his parliamentary punishment, signatures were coming in every couple of seconds, nearing 937,000 out of the goal of one million supporters. Among them is expatriate Polish citizen Aleksandra Lemanik, who lives with her family in Brussels. "I'm offended," she said. "This is not the Europe or the world we want to live in. He is against EU values so should not work for EU institutions." Korwin-Mikke knew when he made the remarks that he'd likely be sanctioned for it. He told DW in a March 7 interview that this would be a small price to pay for all the attention the incident earned him. "It makes very good public relations in Poland for me if I am punished in European Parliament," he laughed. "I like to be punished. It's very good for me." His only complaint was that the EP rule that prohibits discriminatory speech is itself discriminatory, saying Voltaire would have wanted him to have the right to express his views whether or not they were agreeable to him. Joanna Maycock sighs when asked whether the publicity has given women's causes equal benefit. Not really, she explained, as far as donations rolling in to fight this kind of attitude. However, she doesn't rule out that the shock value of the speech will increase EWL's support. "It has been a wakeup call," she said, "for many people who thought we were beyond that." Most lawmakers are beyond it but the numbers indicate Korwin-Mikke's views may not be unique to him. As his suspension was announced, his EP colleagues approved an annual resolution calling for more efforts to achieve gender equality, just 369 -- 188, with 133 abstentions. Teri Schultz
The Dreamhack Winter 2014 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Championship tournament being held in November will be the latest to put a $250,000 prize pool up for grabs. And for the first time ever, all the teams taking part are being invited to train at an advance "boot camp" in Stockholm, Sweden, with accommodations provided by Valve and Dreamhack. Following the 2013 DreamHack SteelSeries Championship, the EMS One Championship at Katowice, Poland, and the ESL One Cologne even in August, the Dreamhack Winter 2014 tournament will be the fourth beneficiary of Valve's community-funded prize pool, with prize money raised through last year's CS: GO Arms Deal update. The tourney will feature the top eight teams from ESL One Cologne—NiP-Gaming, Fnatic, Titan, Team Dignitas, Virtus.Pro, Cloud 9, Epsilon and Na'Vi—and eight others that will earn spots in online qualifiers held through October. Announced in August 2013, the CS:GO Arms Deal update was intended to help boost the prize purses at CS:GO competitive events, and thus their visibility amongst gamers and the e-sports audience. It appears to have worked: The number of Global Offensive players has grown by more than 250 percent over the past year, while three million unique viewers tuned in to the ESL One Cologne event. The Dreamhack Winter 2014 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Championship will run from November 27-29 in Jönköping, Sweden. Dates and locations for the Stockholm boot camp have not yet been announced.
The South American horned frog is a sit-and-wait predator. It huddles close to the ground or partly buried, well camouflaged, and waits until a juicy cricket or other prey wanders too close. Then it shoots out its tongue, slapping the unsuspecting prey with the sticky underside, and pulling the insect — or sometimes, for large frogs, the lizard, other frog or mouse — back into its wide-open maw, all in milliseconds. Thomas Kleinteich of Kiel University in Germany decided that the amphibian, also known as the Pac-Man frog, was ideal for an experiment he had in mind to test the adhesive strength of a frog tongue. “They eat a lot and they don’t move a lot,” he said. So Dr. Kleinteich and his colleague Stanislav N. Gorb set up a mechanism to trick the frog into striking out at a force-measuring device. They discovered that crickets and lizards scarcely posed a challenge for the sturdy frog: Its tongue can pull in more than its entire body weight.

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