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The XFL pulled together vendors across sports technology earlier this month and asked them to do something unusual: work together.
At the X Lab, a showcase in Austin during the Spring League on the weekends of Apr. 6 and April 13, the XFL pulled together nearly two-dozen vendors across athlete management, tracking, and operations to imagine how it might be able to use technology to enhance the game of football.
The new league, which plans to launch in February 2020, has been in the midst of a significant amount of research and development, including an ongoing exploration of rules changes. In December at an earlier R&D session, the league worked with two Mississippi junior colleges to test gameplay and rule modifications. In February, it teamed up with Your Call Football to test new rules under consideration.
The X Lab was the XFL’s first dedicated showcase of technology. It was intended to help the XFL to strategize how it might leverage tech to improve operations, gameplay, fan experience, and athlete health and safety.
“We’ve been refining what we think the XFL is going to be since last year, and we’ve been using opportunities along the way when we have access to players of different calibers to test how that might look on the field,” said Iain Paine, the XFL’s head of football systems. “In our partnership with the Spring League, we were utilizing their access to the players to test some aspects of how technology could potentially improve our chances of getting the best possible game on the field.”
Eighteen vendors, including some that are direct competitors, flew down to Austin at the XFL’s invitation. Under athlete performance monitoring and management, the XFL brought in Catapult Sports, Kitman Labs, Kinduct, Fusion Sport, and Edge10. Under tracking and wearables, the league included Catapult again, together with Kinexon Sports, Wimu.Pro, and TitanGPS. The XFL brought in 080 Motion, InBody, Physmodo, Swift, Hawkin Dynamics, Assess2Perform, and Fit3D to study biomechanics and motion capture technologies. And for business and communications services, it looked at GSC, Riedel Communications, and CoachComm.
They were told they’d be showing off their technology and would be asked to collaborate with their rivals. The league hoped to challenge the companies to think beyond their typical purview and to reimagine how their technologies might add value now and into the future.
The league has not yet announced partnerships with any of those companies. XFL executives say they’re now working through the weekend’s insights with hopes of making decisions on technology, strategy, and partners. Not every technology will be implemented for the inaugural season, though some may be.
The X Lab was spearheaded by both the XFL and its league consultant, Gains Group. Running the event at the Spring League offered access to NFL-caliber athletes. Also present were six XFL coaches, including Dallas Coach Bob Stoops and St. Louis Coach Jon Hayes, who observed the athletes, looked through the data, surveyed technology, and worked with the league and vendors.
Perhaps one of the biggest immediate takeaways from the X Lab showcase is that it enabled the league to see for itself what works and what doesn’t. The XFL was pleasantly surprised, for example, at how well GPS trackers worked having heard from elsewhere that they weren’t as accurate as newer tracking tools like ultra-wideband.
“The reputation of GPS is it’s a lot less accurate because it relies on satellites many miles away, but we were pleasantly surprised by the amount of details that tracking a player with GPS was able to yield for us,” Paine said. “This [event] was successful in terms of understanding what’s possible.”
Beyond just understanding the possible, the XFL also pushed vendors to imagine the not-yet-possible. To understand how they might do more by collaborating, and how a technology designed for one thing could find use for another.
“One of things we learned is that we want to be really efficient with our use of technology and use things for multiple purposes,” said Steve Gera, chief executive of the Gains Group. “In measuring the way football players move, we’re trying to get past just seeing how far they traveled in a period of practice. We wanted to use the sensors that an athlete was wearing to see ‘How does a football player really move?’ Coaches talk about burst, power, how fast someone is going in and out of cuts. We’re trying to find ways to drill down into that and put more of a measurement onto that.
“We asked vendors ‘How do we tell a better story about the XFL using the data that you have?’ How can you enhance the story of the XFL, not just from an R&D perspective, but also in telling the story of our coaches and our players.” | {
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Ever wish you could feed your pet from afar? Meet Pintofeed, a device that lets you feed your pet using your smartphone.
Once connected to the wireless network in your home, you can activate the feeder from anywhere using a mobile app. Feedings can also be automated. The Pintofeed is capable of programming itself, and creating a personalized feeding schedule for you and your furry friend.
If you have more than one furball at home, you can control several Pintofeeds from the same account. Multiple users can also be given access to the same Pintofeeds, ensuring that Fido gets fed even if Mom is out of town.
Once your pet has been fed, you can choose to be notified via SMS, Twitter or even Facebook.
Pintofeed has a 5- and 10-pound food repository for storing meals and keeping food fresh. Food can be dispensed in half-cup portions, allowing you to keep track of exactly how much food your pet is consuming and to help combat overeating.
Pintofeed is currently in a prototype stage, and is attempting to raise $50,000 on Indiegogo to start production. When released, it is expected to be priced around $99.
Would you like to have the ability to feed your pet with an app? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. | {
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Description
Story-line based on the movie "2012" Be risky around disasters to gain Risk; exchange Risk to Survival Points, and buy gear to enhance game play. All stats and gear save. Re-pick the gear you want each life by clicking on the store and then on gear you have already bought. Classic version: www.roblox.com/Item.aspx?ID=5462678 V8.74 | {
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Just weeks after the Department of Justice vowed to fight for free speech on college campuses, President Donald Trump tapped a vociferous opponent of students’ protest rights for a top civil rights position at the Department of Education.
The White House on Thursday announced the nomination of Kenneth Marcus, president of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, as the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.
Marcus, who previously served in the Office for Civil Rights under former President George W. Bush, has spent years campaigning for crackdowns on Palestinian-American student activism and laws to punish Americans who support the Palestinian-led boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement that advocates for economic pressure to force Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories.
This movement is most robust on America’s college and university campuses, where students led by a nationwide group called Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) have sought to pressure their schools to divest from Israel, at times successfully.
Marcus has said that he founded the Brandeis Center to “fight anti-Semitism on college campuses,” but he makes little distinction between anti-Semitism and a boycott of Israel for its violations of international law. While maintaining that not all people who advocate for BDS are anti-Semitic, Marcus has written that “the modern BDS movement is anti-Semitic,” whether those who take part in it are consciously biased or not.
The nominee has called on Virginia to adopt the State Department’s widely criticized definition of anti-Semitism when investigating schools for possible hate crimes. That definition includes as examples of anti-Semitism “delegitimizing” and “demonizing” Israel, “applying double standards” to Israel, and “focusing on Israel only for peace or human rights investigations.” A state that adopts this definition would be empowered to punish students who are part of SJP or other groups critical of Israel for exercising their rights to political speech.
He has also testified before state legislatures in favor of laws banning contracts with individuals who refuse to pledge not to boycott Israel. Such laws recently made national headlines when the American Civil Liberties Union intervened on behalf of a Kansas teacher who was denied payment for a training contract because she boycotts Israel and when the city of Dickinson, Texas, required contractors applying for post-hurricane relief grants to promise not to boycott Israel. (The city later removed this requirement from applications for aid.)
Advocates for the rights of BDS activists said they worry that appointing Marcus to a top civil rights job is tantamount to appointing a fox to guard the hen house: His anti-BDS work seeks to limit the civil rights of Americans.
Lara Friedman, the president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, pointed to Marcus’s years of hardline activism and warned about the implications for campus free speech.
“In tandem with efforts to [legislate] against boycotts of Israel and settlements, Marcus has long been a vocal advocate of efforts, unsuccessful so far, to pass laws at both the federal and state level defining activism targeting Israel as anti-Semitism, and imposing a gag rule on such activism. These bills are clearly unconstitutional — a view held not only by activists but also by the likes of Kenneth Stern, who authored the definition of ‘anti-Semitism’ that Marcus and others are trying to use as a tool undermine free speech on campuses,” Friedman told The Intercept. “With Marcus now at the Department of Education, it is a good bet that he and his fellow travelers will now seek to impose through regulations what they have failed to achieve through legislation. The implications for campus free speech — not just on Israel-Palestine issues — are chilling.”
Palestine Legal Staff Attorney Liz Jackson pointed out that the Brandeis Center has made numerous complaints under Title VI — a federal civil rights law that prevents colleges from discriminating against students based on race, color, or national origin — alleging that pro-Palestinian activism has made campuses biased against Jewish students.
“Marcus is the architect of using Title VI complaints alleging that Palestinian-rights activism creates an anti-Semitic hostile climate for Jewish students,” Jackson said. “His theory is that universities are required under their Title VI obligations to suppress and punish Palestinian rights activism.”
The Department of Education has dismissed the complaints brought by the Brandeis Center, and a federal court threw out a Title VI lawsuit against the University of California, Berkeley, for failing to protect a student from anti-Semitism on campus, finding that the actions complained of, if true, constitute “pure political speech and expressive conduct … entitled to special protection under the First Amendment.”
Still, merely investigating pro-Palestine activism can have a chilling effect on free speech, a fact that Marcus has acknowledged.
“These cases – even when rejected – expose administrators to bad publicity,” Marcus wrote in a Jerusalem Post op-ed in 2013. “No university wants to be accused of creating an abusive environment. … Needless to say, getting caught up in a civil rights complaint is not a good way to build a resume or impress a future employer.”
The Department of Education, under Secretary Betsy DeVos, is rolling back protections under Title IX, a federal law that prevents discrimination based on sex. | {
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Jessica Simpson (and of course, Ken Paves) are in NYC working on some special photoshoot. The pics look pretty cool from the Polaroids Jessica is holding in her hand. I wonder what they are for - perhaps a new album or maybe just another magazine spread. For the first time in a while, I will say I like this version of Jessica - the T-shirt and jeans girl with no extensions still looking like a star.
One more pic of Jessica with her signature open mouth greeting so read more
Source | {
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This 30 Year Old Mercedes-Benz Is In Near Perfect Condition
22 Dec, 2015 | category - Vehicles | 12 photos | 5121 visits
German man Leonard Speer bought a new Mercedes-Benz 240D series W123 in 1985, then he let it sit for 30 years. Due to the fact that he didn't use it, 30 years later the car is still in perfect condition with only 30 km on the odometer. The car may be 30 years old, but it's practically brand new because he hasn't used it.
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League party leader Matteo Salvini (C) speaks next to President of Fratelli d'Italia party (Brothers of Italy) Giorgia Meloni (L) and Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi following a talk with Italian President Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale palace in Rome, Italy, May 7, 2018. Italian Presidential Press Office/Handout via REUTERS
ROME (Reuters) - Negotiations on forming a coalition government between the far-right League and the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement are going well and a deal could be wrapped up soon, the two parties said in a joint statement on Thursday.
“Significant steps forward have been made on the composition of the government and on the (nomination) of a prime minister,” the statement said following a meeting between League leader Matteo Salvini and 5-Star chief Luigi Di Maio.
“...the aim is to define everything in a short space of time to provide answers and a political government quickly to the nation,” the statement added. The talks, which kicked off on Wednesday, look set to end nine weeks of political deadlock. | {
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AS3Q3447.JPG
Eagles LB Jordan Hicks (58) runs off the field after a 27-13 victory vs. the Cowboys at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Sunday, Jan. 1, 2017. (Tim Hawk | For NJ.com)
(Tim Hawk)
PHILADELPHIA -- Eagles linebacker Jordan Hicks has been limited throughout training camp and the preseason, recovering from a hand injury suffered on his honeymoon back in June, but he has little doubt that he'll open the season healthy against Washington Week 1 at FedEx Field as he recovers from an injured groin.
"None," Hicks said prior to Monday's practice at the NovaCare Complex, when asked if he has any concern that the injury will keep him from the season opener. "None whatsoever. I'll be there."
Even though he is confident that he'll be able to play against Washington, Hicks admits that he isn't quite back to a full practice workload.
"I'll probably do some stuff tomorrow," Hicks said, when asked if he thinks he'll be able to practice this week. "Maybe not everything. But, going into Redskins week, I should be good."
Given that the Eagles' starters aren't expected to play Thursday, Hicks caps the preseason with two tackles, and 1.0 sack against Bills quarterback Tyrod Taylor.
A significant argument can be made that Hicks is not only the most important player on the Eagles' defense given the team's lack of quality depth at linebacker, but also the most talented player on the roster.
In his first two NFL seasons, Hicks has posted 101 tackles, 2.0 sacks, 14 pass breakups, and seven interceptions with one returned for a touchdown.
Last season, both Hicks and Nigel Bradham were healthy for the entire season and played all 16 games. Given that injuries are a constant concern in the NFL, Hicks says that he's confident in the players behind him on the depth chart to step up, if that consistency isn't possible in 2017.
"I think we're pretty good," Hicks said of the linebacker group. "Obviously, Najee [Goode] is getting his hand repaired. He'll be ready to go. Joe Walker's come a long way. The young guys, Kamu, Nate [Gerry], obviously, they're young but they're top-notch athletically.
"You see a lot of athleticism, a lot of play-making ability, from just about everybody in this group. I have a lot of confidence in our guys. I know we're going to keep working to get better."
Matt Lombardo may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MattLombardoPHL. | {
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Récemment, les modèles économiques de l’industrie du jeu vidéo ont été bousculés par les manœuvres stratégiques de la part d’acteurs historiques de l’industrie comme Epic Games, Microsoft ou Sony. L’arrivée de nouveaux entrants attirés par la manne financière – Google et sa technologie Stadia ou le développement du cloud gaming – devrait également changer la donne. Dans le même temps, UFC-Que Choisir a remporté une première bataille en obtenant la condamnation de Steam en faisant reconnaître le droit de revente des jeux vidéo.
Au mois de septembre, trois offres d’abonnement illimitées à des jeux vidéo (Uplay+ d’Ubisoft Apple Arcade et Google Play Pass) ont été lancées. Lors d’une conférence diffusée sur Internet en 2018, Reed Hastings, le PDG de Netflix, avait qualifié la concurrence entre les plates-formes de VOD de « compétition féroce pour les entreprises » mais « formidable pour les consommateurs ». La généralisation des offres d’abonnement dans l’industrie du jeu vidéo aura-t-elle les mêmes effets pour la compétition et surtout pour les joueurs ?
Le principe de l’abonnement dans les industries culturelles et créatives
L’industrie du jeu vidéo, dernière-née des industries culturelles et créatives, est par construction une « industrie culturelle numérique » (Benghozi & Chantepie, 2017). Paradoxalement, cette industrie n’est pas la première industrie créative à se lancer dans les offres d’abonnement illimité.
Le cinéma (cartes illimitées UGC Illimité Mk2 ou CinéPass), la musique (abonnement à des plates-formes comme Deezer, Spotify ou Qobuz) et la télévision (abonnement à des plates-formes comme Netflix, OCS ou Disney+) ont déjà tenté le pari de l’abonnement et des offres illimitées.
Dans le domaine de l’industrie du jeu vidéo, certains consoliers (Microsoft Game Pass, Playstation Store de Sony) et éditeur (Origin Access d’Electronics Arts) font déjà figure de pionniers. Au mois de septembre 2019, les lancements des offres d’Ubisoft, d’Apple et de Google – l’offre de la firme de Moutain View est une réaction quasi instantanée à l’offre de la firme de Cupertino – font entrer l’abonnement dans le jeu vidéo dans une autre dimension. Ces offres ne sont pas comparables dans la mesure où elles ne sont pas de la même nature et s’adressent à des écosystèmes différents (smartphones/tablettes, ordinateurs personnels et consoles) :
pour l’instant, Google Play Pass a été lancée uniquement aux USA, l’offre d’Ubisoft ne fonctionne que sur les PC, les offres d’Apple et Google ne fonctionnent que sur des terminaux mobiles ;
en termes de prix, le joueur devra débourser mensuellement 12,99 euros pour l’offre d’Ubisoft, 4,99 euros pour les deux autres offres ;
l’offre d’Ubisoft permet d’accéder à une centaine d’anciens et nouveaux jeux du catalogue Ubisoft, aux accès anticipés des nouveaux jeux et aux betas des jeux tandis que l’offre d’Apple est pour l’instant de 70 jeux sans micro-transactions.
Originellement utilisé à partir du XVIᵉ siècle par les vendeurs de cartes, le business model de l’abonnement est récemment devenu très populaire. Il permet notamment une fidélisation plus facile des consommateurs (John Warrilow utilise le qualificatif de « consommateur automatique ») ou la constance des revenus perçus. Pour les acteurs historiques du jeu vidéo, la menace de nouveaux entrants – Apple et Google, voire Amazon ou Netflix – utilisant déjà ce modèle peut constituer une incitation supplémentaire à l’adopter. De plus, les systèmes d’abonnement pourraient radicalement résoudre les problèmes de revente des jeux dématérialisés en réduisant fortement le marché de l’occasion.
Une vie sous abonnement ?
Dans « The age of access : The new culture of hypercapitalism, where all of life is a paid-for experience », l’essayiste américain Jeremy Rifkin prophétisait que la nouvelle culture du capitalisme serait celle de l’accès. Pour résumer son propos, la propriété privée de biens physiques tendrait à disparaître au profit de l’accès à la ressource, à l’expérience vécue. Plutôt que posséder des albums physiques de musique, les mélomanes écoutent des playlists via leurs abonnements payants à des plates-formes comme Deezer, Spotify ou Qobuz (Gimenez-Roche & Calcei, 2019). Plutôt qu’acheter des jeux sur des supports physiques, les joueurs s’abonnent à des offres illimitées.
Pour les consommateurs, ces offres d’abonnement peuvent présenter quelques avantages. Pour le prix d’un abonnement mensuel et sans engagement, les joueurs peuvent tester des centaines de jeux avant de décider ou non de les acheter : les jeux vidéo étant des biens d’expérience, pouvoir les tester avant de les acheter permet de mieux connaître leur qualité et d’éviter les mauvaises surprises. Sur un marché où les jeux deviennent de plus en plus chers, le prix d’un abonnement peut permettre aux joueurs peu enclins à payer des jeux au prix fort ou aux joueurs aux revenus plus modestes d’accéder à des offres pléthoriques de jeux sans pour autant se ruiner. Par exemple, The Division2 d’Ubisoft coûte, selon les versions, de 40 à 120 euros (sur le site d’Ubisoft) contre un coût d’abonnement annuel à Uplay+ de l’ordre de 180 euros, qui permet de jouer à plus d’une centaine de jeux.
La question de la disponibilité des jeux
Du côté des points négatifs, contrairement à l’achat de jeux en supports physiques, l’abonnement à des offres illimitées pose la question de la disponibilité dans le temps des jeux. Rien ne garantit que des acteurs comme Ubisoft, Apple ou Google ne suppriment pas des jeux disponibles sur leurs plates-formes. Pour des raisons variées et plus ou moins louables, les « purges » de jeux vidéo sont parfois pratiquées sur les plates-formes numériques. En 2015, Ubisoft a ainsi supprimé temporairement les jeux de joueurs ayant acheté leurs jeux – des clefs d’activation, en fait – sur Origin Access. Suite à la plainte de joueurs de bonne foi sur les réseaux sociaux, Ubisoft a rétabli les jeux des joueurs – bien que légalement achetés sur Origin Acesss, ces clefs d’activation provenaient de revendeurs du marché gris. Depuis ces incidents, les clefs d’activation des jeux d’Ubisoft doivent être obligatoirement activées sur Uplay, ce qui permet à Ubisoft d’en garantir l’authenticité.
Plus globalement, ces offres participent d’une vie sous abonnement qui devient de plus en plus coûteuse pour les consommateurs. En mars 2019, le cabinet Deloitte a publié la treizième édition de son rapport annuel sur les grandes tendances des médias numériques. Certes, le rapport annuel se concentre exclusivement sur les consommateurs américains et sur un marché où les offres de divertissement payantes sont plus nombreuses qu’en Europe. Pour autant, il ressort de cette étude que 47 % des utilisateurs se déclarent frustrés par l’accroissement des offres d’abonnement.
L’accroissement des offres oblige les consommateurs à cumuler les offres d’abonnement afin de bénéficier des contenus qu’ils désirent exactement. Ce phénomène est ainsi déjà visible dans la diffusion des compétitions de football et des séries et des films, éclatés en une multitude d’offres. Ainsi, avec la logique des exclusivités et des offres différentes selon les écosystèmes, un joueur s’abonnant à Arcade pour bénéficier d’un jeu inédit, à Uplay+ pour un jeu Ubisoft et au XBOX Game Pass débourserait mensuellement au minimum 20 euros – si ce joueur souhaite en plus bénéficier de l’ensemble des fonctionnalités d’un Mario Kart Tour, il devra ajouter mensuellement 4,99 euros.
De plus, 57 % des consommateurs interrogés par Deloitte déclarent leurs frustrations lors de la perte d’accès à leurs contenus préférés suite à l’expiration des droits. Il est encore trop tôt pour tirer des enseignements sur le recours de plus en plus massif à l’abonnement pour diffuser les jeux vidéo. Il n’est notamment pas possible de mesurer l’impact final pour les consommateurs, les poids lourds de l’industrie et les petits studios à la merci d’une nouvelle indiepocalypse. | {
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Sweden is responsible for bringing the world some of its most popular apps, brands and gadgets. From Skype and Spotify to Ikea and H&M — the Swedes are known for their catchy concepts — the latest of which is a fitness trend known as Plogging.
Plogging, also known as picking up trash while jogging may not seem revolutionary, but it’s certainly providing fodder for the world of social media — in the last week alone, more than 800 people have used the hashtag #plogging to show off their jogging hauls. So where does the name come from? It’s a combination of the words “plucking” and “jogging.”
Certified personal trainer and behavioral change therapist Charles F. Porter tells Moneyish: “There are two great things about this type of exercise. You get the added benefit of carrying a few extra pounds and you’re bending over and doing squats, which is a move that’s fundamental to your everyday life. You’re getting a full body workout.” Another bonus, it’s beneficial for the environment. “You’re helping the planet and that can encourage others to participate, especially if it’s a social media phenomenon, everyone wants to jump on that bandwagon,” says Porter.
And since Sweden has ranked first among the global contribution to health and wellbeing according to The Good Country Index, it seems they’re onto something with this eco-friendly fitness method.
According to Statista, more than 64 million Americans went running or jogging in 2016, while 110 million used walking as a form of exercise. Had each of these people plucked a few pieces of garbage every time they pounded the pavement, cities and communities would likely see less litter. The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans generate 4.4 pounds of trash per person per day, with the most common items consisting of food, paper, plastics, wood, metals and yard trimmings.
Seattle-based ultramarathon runner Margaret Young tells Moneyish, “It’s great that plogging is a trending word and people will think it’s Nordicly cool to pick up trash, but most trail runners and leave-no-trace believers have been practicing this already. My pockets are usually stuffed with other people’s trash when I get home from a hike or run.”
Instead of signing up for a clean up day sponsored by The Nature Conservancy one day a year, turning your workout into an activity that not only provides physical benefits but also gives you a psychological boost and helps the planet can become routine. “It seems silly that we need to have a special word for something that people should be doing anyway, but if it gets the trash picked up, I’m all for it,” says Young.
It seems to be working. On Twitter, people around the world aren’t just commenting on Plogging, they’re posting photos of themselves and others bending over to pick up trash while exercising. Global Action Plan, an Irish sustainability company touts the form of fitness as helping the environment and your abs. For many, Plogging in groups seems to be popular and some folks are even seeking out fellow people to go Plogging with, like @Catboy92 who tweeted, “Does #Dubai have any #Ploggers yet?” | {
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Politică
Gheorghe Nicolae a ajuns, luni dimineaţa, la sediul DNA, pentru a fi audiat într-un dosar de corupţie.
Nicolae Gheorghe a fost demis, în data de 10 februarie, de premierul Dacian Cioloş, din funcţia de şef al Departamentului de Informaţii şi Protecţie Internă din cadrul Ministerului Afacerilor Interne. Decizia premierului a fost publicată miercuri în Monitorul Oficial şi se menţionează faptul că a fost luată în temeiul art.15 şi al art. 19 din Legea nr.90/2001 privind organizarea şi funcţionarea Guvernului şi a ministerelor, precum şi în baza art. 22 din OUG nr. 96/2012 privind stabilirea unor măsuri de reorganizare în cadrul administraţiei publice centrale. | {
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OTTAWA – Liberal Minister Melanie Joly is the latest MP to add her name to a growing list of party supporters who are pointing to the House of Commons as the place for former ministers Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott to air any outstanding information they want to share in the SNC-Lavalin controversy.
In an interview on CTV’s Question Period that will air on Sunday, the Quebec MP said that if her former cabinet colleagues -- both of which resigned amid the scandal -- want to speak, they have a venue to do so.
“They can clearly speak, they can use their own parliamentary privilege to go before Parliament and speak,” Joly, who is a lawyer, said.
Calls have increased in the last week for the pair to use the Commons to speak to the events surrounding alleged months-long pressure on then-attorney general Wilson-Raybould to seek a remediation agreement instead of criminal charges in a corruption case against the Quebec engineering and construction firm over business dealings in Libya.
That’s because both Philpott and Wilson-Raybould have issued comments indicating they want to, or will be elaborating on the affair that has now dominated headlines for more than a month and a half.
In an interview with Maclean’s magazine that was published on Thursday, Philpott said that that there is “much more to the story that needs to be told.”
Philpott, who shortly followed Wilson-Raybould out the cabinet doors, citing a loss of confidence in the way the government is handling the scandal, said in the interview that she believes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his top staffers have been trying to “shut down” the story.
Then, in a letter to the House Justice Committee, Wilson-Raybould said that she will provide additional evidence and a written statement on the SNC-Lavalin affair, after her request to testify again was rejected by the Liberal majority on the committee. She wrote that this new information she will provide will still be within the “confines of the waiver of cabinet confidence and solicitor-client privilege.”
Joly, who is a lawyer, said that if both want to “tell more,” they “clearly” can speak because the protections of parliamentary privilege would apply, but they also have other options -- as Liberal MP Judy Sgro put it -- to “clear the air.”
“They have the opportunity, three ways: Before Parliament; through the ethics commissioner; and if the parliamentary committee on justice wants to continue to study this issue, it’s up to them to decide,” Joly said.
It’s unlikely that the committee probe will be revived, and the ethics probe is largely a closed-door avenue.
Liberal MP Marco Mendicino, who was also on Question Period, said that Philpott and Wilson-Raybould would have “immunity” if they stepped into the Commons citing various procedural experts and legal scholars.
In the Maclean’s interview, Philpott was asked about the prospect of using the protections MPs have when speaking in the House of Commons to say what she thinks needs saying. She said she would “prefer to err on the side of caution in terms of the very serious oaths that I made when I became a cabinet minister to respect confidentiality.”
Similarly, Wilson-Raybould -- who over a month ago first stood in the House and implored that she be allowed to “speak my truth” -- told the committee that the unprecedented waiver that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued still limited her. In that waiver, Trudeau relinquished solicitor-client privileges and cabinet confidences so that she and anyone who participated in discussions with her could “address relevant matters.”
Trudeau has been consistently citing the waiver and the hours of testimony as evidence that Wilson-Raybould has already been able to speak “entirely and completely” about her experience on the SNC-Lavalin file when she was justice minister.
“This is something that we have taken very seriously as a government and will continue to take seriously, but there has been a full airing,” Trudeau said on Friday.
They’d ‘take all the risk’: Raitt
Rebuffing the idea in a separate interview on CTV’s Question Period, Conservative Deputy Leader Lisa Raitt said that all of the legal voices opining on whether or not parliamentary privilege is an adequate protection can’t hold a candle to the legal advice these two are likely receiving. In the early days of the scandal, Wilson-Raybould retained former Supreme Court judge Thomas Cromwell to provide legal guidance.
She said that those suggesting all they need to do is walk into the House are putting “all the risk” on their shoulders and not where it should be: on Trudeau.
“They’re the ones that are going to have to make sure that they’re not going to get sued or disbarred or looked down upon because they broke an oath that they made… they’re going to take all that risk, whereas the one guy who can just say, ‘You can speak about anything you want, lets clear the air,’ refuses to do so, and it’s their fault?” Raitt said.
The opposition has used several procedural mechanisms to try to push Trudeau to waive all possible confidences, including a more-than-30-hour vote marathon, to no avail.
“Let’s just rip the Band-Aid off, let’s get this done, bring them in, have a conversation, lift the waivers, relieve them of their oaths, get it done,” Raitt said.
Former NDP Leader Tom Mulcair said on the show that he thinks eventually Trudeau won’t have a choice but to “lift the veil,” with pressure of the story expected to keep up.
‘Politics is a team sport’
Aside from the slow drip of news on the SNC-Lavalin story is the question of whether or not Wilson-Raybould and Philpott will, or should, remain members of the Liberal caucus.
Trudeau has deferred on this question, saying it’s a decision that is up to them, but now some think it should be put to a vote in caucus.
On Wednesday, Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes removed herself from the caucus, saying that she no longer wanted to be a distraction, after she accused Trudeau of acting with “hostility” towards her when she said she wouldn’t be running again.
Asked whether Philpott and Wilson-Raybould should stay in caucus, Joly said “politics is a team sport, and in a team not everybody agrees… but at the end of the day what‘s the most important is team spirit and if they decide not to want to play in a team, it’s up to them to decide.”
“They know that they have to make a choice,” Joly said. | {
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There is a situation brewing in Jamaica where state-owned China Harbour Engineering Company wants to build a massive shipping port. The Government already set aside the Portland Bight Protected Area, the Goat Islands area and surrounding waters for the endangered species. The Jamaican government did an about face and now the area is being considered for development of this huge port.
Hellshire Hills, Jamaica is the last remaining home of the critically endangered Jamaican Iguana. The PBPA is a cultural heritage site, being once the home of the Taino Tribe, that at one time inhabited much of the south coast of Jamaica encluding Old Harbour, and around the Goat Islands in the Portland Bight Protected Area.
I'm asking for your support to help save this species along with the 58 other critically endangered and 77 endangered species of plant and animal in the region,(20 of these species are in the PBPA), along with the cultural heritage of the Portland Bight. | {
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In May 2000, around half of Walkerton’s 5,000 residents fell severely ill and seven people died when cow manure washed into a well. The extent of the water pollution in the small Canadian town was concealed from the public, people drank from their taps and the result was ruined lives.
For academic microbiologist Joan Rose, who has observed water pollution outbreaks around the world, it was the worst that she had ever experienced.
“It affected me the most. Walkerton is a small small farming community. The people there were very gracious. Two pathogens came in to their water supply. They did not know children would die, or would suffer kidney failure and be on on dialysis for the rest of their lives. I saw what it did to people. I saw the pain.”
Walkerton was one of Canada’s worst-ever pollution incidents but there are hundreds of similar incidents every year around the world, albeit mostly less serious, says Prof Rose, who is laboratory director in water research at Michigan State University.
Most come from people drinking water contaminated with sewage, she says. “In the US there are 12-18m cases of human water-borne diseases a year. In developing countries it is possible that one in three hospital cases may be due to contamination of water. We do not know exactly how bad it is but 1.5 billion people do not have access to adequate sewage treatment.”
Prof Joan Rose received the world’s most prestigious water prize at a conference in Stockholm this week. Photograph: Mikael Ullén/Stockholm International Water Institute
Rose, who this week was presented with the world’s most prestigious prize for water at a conference in Stockholm, is alternately depressed and optimistic at progress to clean the world’s water supplies and make water fit to drink.
“We have started to decrease mortality for waterborne diseases but the big problem now is morbidity [disease-related]. People are getting more sick. We are now more polluted than we have ever been”.
The statistics are dismal. This week the UN Environment Programme reported that “hundreds of millions” of people face health risks like cholera and typhoid from pathogens in water. Water pollution in Asia, Africa and Latin America is worsening, said the report, with pathogen pollution now in more than half of all rivers stretches on the three continents.
“There are 7 billion people and most of their waste is going into water. The water quality of lakes, rivers and coastal shorelines around the world is degrading at an alarming rate. There has been a great acceleration since the 1950s of human and animal populations, water withdrawals, pesticide and fertiliser use. But at the same time there has been a deceleration, or shrinkage, in wetlands,” says Rose.
“We are changing our lands. Land is the source of contamination, but climate is the driver [of contamination]. We know that the intensity of rainfall, storms and droughts is changing. More than 50% of community waterborne illness events in the US each year are associated with extreme rain.”
When it rains heavily or floods, pathogens like Leptospira, hepatitis, norovirus and cryptosporidium are all significant, she says. “There is a direct link between water pollution, certain food-borne disease outbreaks and warmer oceans. Temperature, precipitation, humidity and flooding are all factors in contamination of water and food systems by pathogens. Many developing nations suffer terribly from illnesses caused by lack of sewage treatment facilities which are exasperated by climate.”
Meanwhile, sewage contains well over 100 different viruses. Newly emerging viruses such as Cycloviruses, which are causing neurological problems in children in Asia, are also emerging in sewage and are spreading.
“Pollution is spreading to every part of the world. Everywhere is now under huge new attack from viruses and pathogens,” she says.
Rose has led research into how new pathogens and viruses are being spread around the world by hitching rides in the ballast water which ships take on to stabilise them on long journeys. They are picking up viruses in one ocean or sea and bringing them to others, she says
“We are infecting the food chain, and the whole system. I am thinking what are we missing about the bio-health of the planet. What do we know about what is happening in the wild? Frogs are dying, starfish are dying. We focus so much on humans we don’t know about much else. Every part of the world is now under huge new attack from viruses and pathogens.”
For almost two years, there has been a water crisis in Flint, Michigan, US. Photograph: Ryan Garza/AP
The answer, she says, must be massive investment in water infrastructure. “But in the US alone, it’s estimated that what is needed is $70 per person per day for 10 years. In developing countries its far more.”
But it has to be worth it, she says. “Access to clean water is a central stabilising force in societies and lack of access destabilises societies. As a microbiologist, I believe that the provision of safe drinking water is the basic building block of a healthy and successful society.
“It is hard to progress when you are fighting cholera, or when there is an epidemic of child malnutrition as in India due to exposure to untreated water contaminated with fecal waste.”
The better news, she says, is that scientists can now monitor pathogens better and track their sources. “What took three weeks to diagnose now takes 24 hours. There is more public support, more money, more political will to clean up water. We have more knowledge and more willingness to pay.
“The key is education, specifically development of a global water curriculum to prepare the next generation of problem solvers. The need is enormous.”
| {
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The subsidy will not be reviewed till 2018, says Ramvilas Paswan
The prices of subsidised wheat and rice, given at ₹ 2 and ₹3 per kg respectively to 81 crore people in the country, will not be reviewed till 2018, the Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Ramvilas Paswan said there was a provision for revision of the prices of foodgrains every three years in the National Food Security Act (NFSA) 2013.
“However, we have decided to continue the present scheme till 2018,” he said during Question Hour.
Under the scheme, rice is supplied at ₹ 3 per kg, wheat at ₹ 2 per kg and coarse grains at ₹ 1 per kg.
Paswan also said it was the responsibility of the state governments to ensure that no one remains in hunger and the Centre was doing its best to properly implement the scheme.
The Minister said in order to augment the storage capacity in the country, the government formulated Private Entrepreneurs Guarantee (PEG) Scheme in 2008—2009 for construction of storage capacity through private entrepreneurs, Central Warehousing Corporation (CWC) and state government agencies.
Under the scheme, investment and construction is done by the private investor or state agencies. As return for investment, FCI guarantees hiring of the godown constructed by a private party for 10 years
The guarantee period for CWC or state government agencies is nine years The location and capacity for godowns are identified as per storage requirements by State Level Committees (SLC) and finally approved by the High Level Committee (HLC) headed by Chairman and Managing Director, FCI.
Under PEG scheme, investment for construction of godowns is done by private parties, CWC, SWCs and other state agencies by arranging their own funds and land.
No funds are allocated by the government for construction of godowns, he said.
Mr. Paswan said following a initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the employees of the FCI would now get pension and post retirement medical benefits. | {
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South Korea’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance will reportedly release a taxation framework for cryptocurrencies by the end of June, local news outlet Fuji News Network (FNN) reported March 25.
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Strategy and Finance said that although they “do not have a specific time frame,” they are “thinking about announcing a virtual money tax in the first half of the year,” and FNN adds that any taxation would only start next year.
The announcement of the future tax plan came after the Finance Ministers' meeting of the G20 that took place earlier this month from March 19-20.
In December of last year, South Korea’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance said that the country was looking into taxation methods for the local Bitcoin (BTC) market. More recently, in January, South Korea announced that cryptocurrency exchanges will be taxed in line with the existing tax policy, a 22 percent corporate tax and a 2.2 percent local income tax.
The South Korean government’s crypto tax task force has proposed a “transfer income tax that levies taxes on profits” made from crypto sales, FNN writes, adding that “If income from virtual currency transactions is considered temporary and irregular, other income taxes may be imposed.”
South Korea’s Ministry of Taxation has looked internationally for examples in crypto taxation, sending employees to the US, Japan, Germany, and the UK for surveys of their varying crypto tax frameworks. The surveys found that in most cases, taxation is applied “based on the principle that there is a tax on income,” as opposed to non-income taxes, according to FNN.
According to FNN, the Korean government will also be setting up “full-scale virtual currency regulation” after local elections on June 13. FNN adds that the Ministry of Finance and Economics will hold a virtual currency international conference held in Seoul on June 14 for G20 members, as well as the “second working session of the G20 international financial system” on June 15. | {
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Fantastic gallery - your work is very original but its also like Don Lawrence and Ron Embleton..but it might be you have not heard of those Uk artists. | {
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On Wednesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit declined to vacate a unanimous panel’s February ruling, which maintained a nationwide injunction against Donald Trump’s first travel ban. That decision means the February order will remain on the books and serve as precedent going forward. The famously liberal Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote a short concurrence featuring an oblique jab at Trump, stating that he was “proud to be a part of this court and a judicial system that is independent and courageous, and that vigorously protects the constitutional rights of all, regardless of the source of any efforts to weaken or diminish them.” But a much lengthier rebuke to Trump came from the pen of one of America’s most conservative judges, Jay Bybee.
You may remember Bybee as an author of the torture memos, which he signed while serving in George W. Bush’s Office of Legal Counsel. These memos authorized the brutal torture of detainees at Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib. But they did not become public until a year after Bush had appointed Bybee to the 9th Circuit, where he still sits today.
Bybee is a quintessential conservative judicial activist in the vein of Justice Samuel Alito. But it seems he also holds a deep respect for the independence and integrity of the judiciary. Bybee, joined by four other circuit judges, wrote a dissent from Wednesday’s vote explaining why he thought the panel’s original decision was incorrect. But he ended his opinion with a sharp reprimand to Trump, criticizing his disturbing attacks on the district and circuit court judges who blocked his first travel ban.
“I wish to comment on the public discourse that has surrounded these proceedings,” Bybee wrote. “The panel addressed the government’s request for a stay under the worst conditions imaginable, including extraordinarily compressed briefing and argument schedules and the most intense public scrutiny of our court that I can remember. Even as I dissent from our decision not to vacate the panel’s flawed opinion, I have the greatest respect for my colleagues.” Then came the kicker:
The personal attacks on the distinguished district judge and our colleagues were out of all bounds of civic and persuasive discourse—particularly when they came from the parties. It does no credit to the arguments of the parties to impugn the motives or the competence of the members of this court; ad hominem attacks are not a substitute for effective advocacy. Such personal attacks treat the court as though it were merely a political forum in which bargaining, compromise, and even intimidation are acceptable principles. The courts of law must be more than that, or we are not governed by law at all.
The courts may be split on the legality of Trump’s efforts to exclude a wide swath of people from the United States on the basis of their nationality and religion. But they appear to be united in their disgust for Trump’s efforts to scare the judiciary into quiet compliance with his agenda. | {
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Last updated on .From the section Football
Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge scored his first ever hat-trick as the Reds consigned Fulham to a fifth league defeat in a row.
Dimitar Berbatov headed Fulham into the lead from Sascha Riether's cross, only for Sturridge to lash in an equaliser.
The home side were denied a penalty for a Lucas Leiva handball before Sturridge slotted in his side's second.
Rodgers hails Liverpool 'invention'
Liverpool were creating chances at will and Sturridge grabbed his third when he chipped over keeper Mark Schwarzer.
Fulham boss Martin Jol had a suitably concerned expression on his face at the final whistle after his side's capitulation left them with just one point from their last seven games.
It is a run of results that means the Cottagers are still not mathematically safe from relegation, although it would take an unlikely set of scores for them to go down.
They were easily undone here by a Liverpool side without two of their pivotal players, with midfielder Steven Gerrard injured and striker Luis Suarez suspended.
The visitors began in enterprising fashion but Fulham gradually worked their way back into the match before taking the lead.
Analysis Martin Fisher Match of the Day commentator "Liverpool are now unbeaten in their last seven games and on this sort of form might be contenders for a Champions League spot next season. Fulham, who started the season brightly, have fallen away badly and have relied too much on their player of the year Dimitar Berbatov."
Damien Duff fed Riether and the German full-back crossed for the previously anonymous Berbatov to head in at the far post.
Liverpool's response was almost immediate, as they took just three minutes to equalise. A long Andre Wisdom ball was gathered by Sturridge, who twisted and turned Aaron Hughes before bursting past the defender to lash a shot past keeper Schwarzer.
The visitors made no further progress before half-time, however, and after the break the home side were furious that referee Mark Halsey failed to award them a penalty when a Bryan Ruiz cross struck the outstretched arm of Lucas Leiva.
The decision rocked Fulham and Liverpool capitalised by immediately going up the other end and scoring. Philippe Coutinho slipped as he attempted a shot but his effort fell to Sturridge, who controlled and slotted past Schwarzer.
Sturridge's hat-trick bid was initially thwarted by two superb Schwarzer saves, while Reds keeper Pepe Reina pulled off equally impressive saves to keep out a Berbatov shot and Aaron Hughes header.
Jol : "We can't get these decisive winners"
But Liverpool were in rampant form, regularly opening up Fulham's defence, with Reds substitute Fabio Borini cutting inside and rattling the post with a well-struck shot.
Schwarzer was doing his best to limit the damage but Sturridge's third finally arrived when he latched on to an incisive Coutinho pass before chipping the ball over the on-rushing keeper.
Fulham boss Martin Jol:
"It should have been a penalty [for the Lucas Leiva handball].
"[The game] was frustrating. Normally if we score we win games. We never seem to win games after being down."
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers:
"Daniel was outstanding. He scored three goals and he could have had maybe six.
"If he keeps improving, keeps training well, then I think he will have an outstanding couple of years for us.
"He's not perfect. He should have squared one when he was through. But he was looking for his hat-trick, he's a goalscorer, and to be greedy you've got to be good. He's an outstanding player." | {
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According to Dubai local Media, “The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC)” is partnering with Smart Dubai to create the world’s first Court of the blockchain. It was announced on Monday, the 30th of July 2018 that the reason behind partnership is to streamline the “process of verification of court judgment for cross-border enforcement”.
Since Dubai 2020 is still on way to hit the target line, Blockchain implementation will mark as one of the notable innovation. Nevertheless, Dubai blockchain strategy seeks to run 100% of applicable government transactions on Blockchain by 2020.
“By harnessing blockchain technology, Dubai will be firmly positioned at the forefront of legaltech and judicial innovation, setting the standards or countries and judiciaries to follow.”
In specific, the adoption of blockchain technology will focus on improving the efficiency over legal matters and removes document duplication. It also proposed their plan on looking over dispute or issues arising from public and private blockchains, quoting;
In the future, research will focus on how to handle disputes arising from private and public blockchains, with regulation and contractual terms encoded within ‘smart’ contracts. At the moment, blockchain-based smart contract transactions are irrevocable, with no technical means to unwind a transaction.
In addition, joint task force of “DIFC Courts and Smart Dubai” said that they will outline use cases of smart contract across blockchain technology by taking into consideration the various terms, conditions and exceptions.
Amna Al Owais, chief executive and registrar of DIFC Courts said,
“The taskforce is in line with our guiding principle to deliver courts as a service, powered by technology and extended through cooperation agreements and alliances,”
In the same regards, Director general of the Smart Dubai Office (SDO), Dr.Aisha bint Butti Bin Bishr embraced new move of partnership to adopt blockchain technology. By working on it, Dubai can be seen accomplishing one of the larger goal of digitizing government service of all kinds.
Dr. Aisha explained how teaming up with DIFC Courts helps blockchain innovation in Dubai. She stated disruptive set of rules and an empowered institution” is equally matter to “uphold” the potential of blockcahain technology. And here comes “our partnership with DIFC Courts”, she said.
Blockchain Technology and the power of Judiciary
It was no surprise to see blockchain technology in judicial matter but adopting disruptive technologies by countries like Dubai where the license was required on starting new cryptocurrency firm is quite hazy.
Back in 2017, Dubai Future Foundation and DIFC Courts initiated the launch of “Court of the Future Forum”, aims to outline the guidelines for a commercial court for border-less operation. And this year, the skilled professionals are researching on future technology such as Blockchain. | {
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Esta crónica não é sobre Bas Dost. E até podia ser: o holandês deu a vitória ao Sporting em Braga com um “hat-trick” na segunda parte. Mais: Dost chegou aos 31 golos em 28 jogos na liga — sendo dele 50% dos 62 golos do Sporting esta época. Mais ainda: está agora a somente dois de Messi na disputada da Bota de Ouro.
Esta crónica é sobre Podence. E ele nem titular foi; só entrou aos 27′ quando Alan Ruiz se lesionou e teve que sair.
Jesus voltou-se para o banco. Podia ter chamado o outro Ruiz, Bryan — ao longo da época, em vários ocasiões o treinador trocou de homónimos nos jogos. Mas Jesus pediu a Podence que aquecesse. Uma mão-cheia de sprints em pouco mais de um minuto, o tempo de Ruiz sair, e entrou. A frio. Mas foi a “acendalha” de que o Sporting precisava: quando os outros não assumiam o jogo, ele assumia. Desavergonhadamente. À direita ou mais à esquerda, tantas vezes pelo centro, livre, foi o melhor.
Uma confidência: há dias um amigo, o jornalista Hugo Tavares da Silva, perguntava-me algo, desafiando-me a matutar “fora da caixa”: se o futebol não tivesse balizas — e, logo, golos –, quem seria o melhor jogador do mundo? Respondi: Modric, Silva, Pjanic, Isco ou Verratti. Podence não é como eles. Talvez nunca o seja. Mas numa coisa é-lhes idêntico: o futebol é mais apaixonante (mais ainda) quando a bola lhe toca as botas, pé número 38 de” Cinderela”.
O futebol não era para ele. Na teoria, não. Pela altura ou falta dela, não. Em relação ao “matulão” Dost, por exemplo, tem 34 centímetros a menos. Mas Podence é (e citando aqui Alberto Caeiro em “O Guardador de Rebanhos) “do tamanho do que vejo [ou melhor: do que ele, Podence, vê] e não do tamanho da minha altura”. O que não tem em verticalidade, tem em técnica: de receção, de passe, de drible, de visão, de aceleração. E é confiante. Acima de tudo, confiante. O futebol não era para ele. Mas ele fê-lo seu por direito e talento.
Quanto a golos no jogo, o primeiro surgiu quando Podence ainda o via sentado no banco. Aos 13’, Battaglia cruzou à direita, Rui Fonte recebeu a bola na pequena área, antecipou-se a Coates, rodou e chutou, mas à barra. Depois, na recarga, Horta vinha embalado de trás, ninguém o importunou, e o médio bracarense rematou forte e rasteiro para o primeiro golo da tarde na “Pedreira”.
O Sporting (apesar de pegar no jogo e se aproximar mais da baliza do que o Braga) tardava em reagir. Fê-lo de penálti, à meia-hora. O central Rosic derrubou Podence dentro da área — ou o derrubava, ou este isolar-se-ia na direção da baliza. Na conversão, Marafona adivinhou o lado, o direito, Adrien tentou colocar a bola rentinha ao poste, mas tanto colocou que esta saiu ao lado da baliza. Esta época, em quatro tentativas, Adrien falhou metade. E aquele penálti nem seria para o capitão, como Jesus confirmaria depois do jogo: “Queria que o Bas Dost marcasse . Primeiro, porque marca bem. Depois, porque a equipa corre por um objetivo que é individual [Bota de Ouro]. Contra o Benfica queria que fosse o Adrien, hoje queria o Bas.”
O Sporting sentiu o toque. Podence não. E empurrava, em vão, o Sporting para a frente. Mas quem chegou ao golo antes do intervalo até foi o Braga: aos 40’, Horta dribla Schelotto, cruza para a pequena área, Stojiljkovic desvia para dentro da baliza do Sporting, festeja, mas foi sol de pouca dura. O árbitro Nuno Almeida anulou. E bem. O sérvio estava “plantado” na área, dois palmos à frente de Coates e Paulo Oliveira.
Após o recomeço, aos 49’, mais um penálti e de novo a favor do Sporting. Mas a falta de Baiano sobre Gelson é fora da área. Aqui, Nuno Almeida errou. Ao contrário de Adrien, Bas Dost não falhou: Marafona para a esquerda, bola para a direita, e o Sporting empatava o jogo. O holandês chegava aos 31 golos, tantos quantos em três épocas de Wolfsburg.
O cronómetro avançava e, com o avançar, decrescia o futebol em qualidade e ocasiões de golo. Tudo, e o “tudo” aqui são golos, estava guardado para os derradeiros 15 minutos. Logo aos 75’, Podence acelerou pelo centro, aos adversários deixava-os um a um para trás sem que estes tão pouco a ele chegassem, desmarcando depois Marvin Zeegelaar à esquerda. De holandês para holandês, Zeegelaar cruza para a área, Dost surge nas costas de Goiano, o lateral do Braga não consegue cortar, e o ponta-de-lança do Sporting só tem que desviar de cabeça para a baliza à guarda de Marafona: 1-2 e reviravolta.
Feito? Longe disso. Logo em seguida, aos 75’, Paulo Oliveira “meteu água” – o que não tira mérito à boa exibição que teve –, Pedro Santos ganhou-lhe um ressalto na área, cruza à direita para Rui Fonte, que deu um passo atrás — ou terá sido Coates que deu um à frente cedo demais –, livrou-se com isso da marcação que tinha e rematou para o empate. E Fonte, que foi formado a meias entre Alcochete e a academia do Arsenal, até é “freguês” do Sporting ou vice-versa: fez o seu terceiro golo ao clube que o dispensou quando chegou a sénior.
Tal como até aqui – e o aqui é o minuto 85 – era Podence quem mais acreditava que o Sporting venceria. O tempo escasseava, mas ele acreditava. E voltou, uma vez mais pelo centro, a apanhar o Braga em contra-pé, a acelerar, a dar vantagem numérica ao Sporting: cinco vs. quatro. Entregue que foi a bola a Dost, pouco depois do meio-campo, o holandês entregou-a mais à direita em Gelson e correu na direção da área. Gelson, esse, desmarcou depois Ezequiel Schelotto, e foi o argentino a cruzar, longo e para o poste mais distante. Lá distante, esquecido pelos centrais do Braga, estava Dost, que cabeceou à vontade para o 2-3 e a vitória do Sporting.
No final do jogo Podence atirou de chofre, na flash interview, antes mesmo de algo lhe ser perguntado: “Queria, não só da minha parte como do grupo, dedicar esta exibição e vitória ao mister. Ele passou um momento muito complicado [a morte do pai, Virgolino]. Claro que não é por acontecimentos como este nas nossas vidas que temos de dar mais; temos de dar sempre mais em todos os jogos. Mas tínhamos uma motivação extra porque é sempre mau um dos nossos passar por isto.”
És maior do que a tua altura e até do que o que vês, puto. | {
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As you may have read in the past few days, an up-and-coming singer/songwriter called Adele Adkins has a new album that is selling quite well.
Her third album, 25, smashed past 3m sales in its first week in the US on Wednesday (November 25), destroying previous records.
In the UK, however, its record-breaking status needed a few footnotes. Allow MBW to explain.
Until 25 was released last Friday (November 20), the fastest-selling album in UK history was Oasis’s Be Here Now.
The British band’s bombastic third record officially sold 696,000 in its first chart week on sale in the UK.
However, because Be Here Now was released on a Thursday – back when the Official Album Chart was revealed on a Sunday – it actually only had three days to clock up this figure.
Adele’s 25, on the other hand, has had a full seven days – from last Friday to yesterday (Thursday, November 26) – to rack up its first chart week sales.
As such, 25 surpassed Oasis’s first chart week tally on Wednesday, bursting to 727,000 sales in six days.
UPDATE: However, things are different when you look at both albums’ first full sales week – ie. the first seven days they were both on sale.
Oasis sold 813,000 copies of Be Here Now in the record’s first seven days on sale, according to Official Charts data from the time – ie. the album’s first full week.
25’s full week tally (to the end of play on Thurdsay) was just over 803,000 sales, according to the Official Charts Company.
MBW originally raised the point, informed by industry experts, that ‘panel sales’ may have boosted Oasis’s tally – and because Adele operates in an era where these don’t exist, they may have unfairly weighed in Be Here Now’s favour.
‘Panel sales’ were essentially an approximation of an album’s performance across retailers who did not report their data to the OCC.
However, Official Charts Company data experts have now told MBW that ‘panel sales’ were not part of Be Here Now’s sales, as the practice had died out by the time the LP arrived in August 1997.
So there you have it: in terms of an opening ‘chart week’, Adele is the fastest-selling album in UK history. But on the basis of a ‘full week’, says the Official Charts Company, the king is still Oasis’s Be Here Now.
(Not that Noel Gallagher will probably mind Be Here Now being scrubbed from the history books. He once said: “I can’t listen to fuckin’ any of that album now”, admitting that he and brother Liam were “taking all the cocaine we could possibly find” during its recording.)
Ben Beardsworth, MD of Adele’s label XL – part of Beggars Group – told MBW of 25’s momentous week:
“It’s a triumph. Adele really is in a lane of her own. It feels like she’s been building towards this moment for the entire nine years we’ve known her.
“It represents nine years of her always knowing exactly what she wants to do and exactly how she wants to do it, and making the right call every time.”Music Business Worldwide | {
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Boogie Cousins broke my heart.
In what was apparently an early April Fools’ joke, Sacramento Kings big man DeMarcus Cousins fooled the internet into believing he was releasing an R&B album entitled Misunderstood. Cousins released cover art for the album on his Instagram and then changed his website to a landing page announcing the album, which was to be released under the name “Boogie Smooth” and was to have guest appearances from Chance the Rapper and Rick Ross.
It turns out it was all a hoax.
In what might have been an early April Fool's prank, Kings say that DeMarcus Cousins is not putting out a R&B album called, "Boogie Smooth." — Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) March 31, 2014
Now, aside from the fact that this news is the most devastating thing I’ve heard this calendar year, can I also point out that there is no such thing as an “early April Fools’ joke?” An April Fools’ joke on any other day of the year is not an April Fools’ joke. It is a lie.
So you chuckle, Mr. Cousins, and you and your friends all have a big laugh, but know this — you got me impossibly excited about something that is never going to exist. Try to sleep well tonight knowing that. | {
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Mark Levin opened his show saying the stench of the 1930’s is in the air and we are surrounded by Neville Chamberlains. And one of those Neville Chamberlains is our president who wants to make peace with the Islamo-Nazis in Iran while attacking the Prime Minister of our greatest ally in the Middle East. Levin wants to know whose side Obama is on.
With the way Obama’s been acting, especially considering his latest outrage at Netanyahu, Mark Levin makes the point that Obama has all the signals of an anti-Semite:
I’m going to tell you something and it’s going to be unconformable. I don’t care how many wealthy Jews Obama surrounds himself with, I don’t care how many wealthy Jews contribute to his campaign. This man has all the signals of an anti-Semite and I’m not going to take that word back. I believe this in my heart and my soul. It’s not about Israel, it’s about what’s in Israel.
Listen to the full audio of his first segment and make sure you listen to the end: | {
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CHARLOTTE - The Panthers made their decisions at kicker and punter in roster cuts Monday, awarding the jobs to a pair of young legs in kicker Justin Medlock and punter Brad Nortman while releasing veterans Olindo Mare and Nick Harris.
Other moves to reduce the 90-man roster to 75 players by the 4 p.m. deadline included placing cornerback Brandon Hogan on injured reserve and moving wide receiver David Gettis to the regular-season version of the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list.
The Panthers must make their final roster cuts to 53 players by Friday, the day after they conclude their preseason schedule at the Pittsburgh Steelers.
"These were harder probably than a lot of years," Panthers general manager Marty Hurney said. "We had to get down from 90 instead of 80 like in the past, and the other thing was that we had so much competition at spots this year – people like Eric Norwood and Nick Harris and Olindo Mare, who certainly were difficult decisions." RELEASED POS PLAYER EXP COLLEGE P Nick Harris 12 California K Olindo Mare 16 Syracuse WAIVED POS PLAYER EXP COLLEGE WR Darvin Adams 2 Auburn G Roger Allen 3 Missouri Western State WR Michael Avila R San Jose State WR Brenton Bersin R Wofford G Will Blackwell R Louisiana State DE Eric Norwood 3 South Carolina RB Lyndon Rowells R Humboldt State TE Greg Smith 1 Texas RB Josh Vaughan 2 Richmond WR Rico Wallace R Shenandoah INJURED RESERVE POS PLAYER EXP COLLEGE CB Brandon Hogan 2 West Virginia PHYSICALLY UNABLE TO PERFORM POS PLAYER EXP COLLEGE WR David Gettis 3 Baylor
Hurney said the decisions on the specialists were tough given that all four candidates had strong preseasons.
Mare and Harris have kicked for 26 NFL seasons between them, but in the end, the Panthers decided that youth would serve them well.
"It came down to the fact that we have two young kickers with very strong legs who had very good training camps and did well in the preseason," Hurney said. "It was an extremely hard decision because Nick and Olindo also did very well."
Medlock, a fifth-round draft pick by the Kansas City Chiefs in 2007, played in the Canadian Football League the past three seasons and has attempted just two NFL field goals. He has made all three of his field goals in preseason play, including one from 49 yards and one from 48.
Nortman, the first punter ever drafted by the Panthers, has averaged 45.7 yards on six punts in the preseason. He was selected in the sixth round of the most recent NFL draft from Wisconsin.
Monday's moves mean that Hogan's anticipated second season will end before it even starts, but Gettis could still return to action this season.
Hogan, who started his rookie season of 2011 on the PUP list following left knee surgery before seeing action in the final three games, was expected to compete for significant playing time this preseason.
"Brandon came out and had two very good days of training camp, and then his knee swelled up," Hurney said. "We kept thinking he was going to be back the next week and then the next week, and it never happened. Finally, we found out last Friday that he needed surgery, so we put him on injured reserve."
Gettis is coming off a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee that cost him the entire 2011 season. He had been rehabbing from a hamstring injury on the preseason version of the PUP list, which prevented him from practicing with the team.
Now the earliest he can return to the field is Week 7 of the regular season. He won't count against the roster limit until he is activated.
"This gives David several more weeks to get completely healthy," Hurney said. "He came off the ACL and then had a pretty bad hamstring injury he's been trying to get over for the last couple of months.
"I think with our situation at wide receiver and the way guys have performed, we just felt that he could use the time to get stronger and get more confidence. We'll have the option of activating him after Week 6." | {
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Image copyright Thinkstock
More than a quarter of a million reports of online images and videos of child sexual abuse were dealt with by the Internet Watch Foundation in 2019.
Of this record number of reports, more than 132,000 contained child sexual abuse material, up 26% on 2018 and double the number identified in 2016.
The charity said much of the abusive content is available on the open internet, as opposed to the dark web.
Chief executive Susie Hargreaves described it as an "epidemic".
"What's really shocking is that it's all available on the open internet, or 'clear web'," she said.
"That's the everyday internet that we all use to do our shopping, search for information, and obtain our news."
Ms Hargreaves said it was "really shocking" to find the number of reports going up.
The charity's hotline manager, who asked to be identified only as Chris, said there were several factors behind the increase, including better staff awareness and expertise.
"We look at every report which comes into our hotline, but not every report leads to child sexual abuse content.
"Whilst we actively encourage people to report to us content within our remit because it helps us do a good job, actually, far too many people are wasting our time," Chris said.
"Our analysts have to look at everything they're sent. So, our message is, yes please report to us, but please, please stop reporting material outside our remit."
'Dose of reality'
The IWF works to find and remove online sexual abuse content, and false reports to the charity in 2018 cost £150,500 - the equivalent of 4.3 years' worth of analyst time.
Its website provides a list of organisations to help members of the public to report material to the correct place.
The charity, which launched in 1996, began actively carrying out its own searches as well as reacting to reports in 2015.
Ms Hargreaves said: "Child sexual abuse is an horrific topic for people to talk about, but as a society we have got to take on board a heavy dose of reality and face up to what's right in front of us."
If you have been affected by the issues raised in this article, help and support can be found at BBC Action Line. | {
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Perfect World Entertainment is headed to E3 2018 (Los Angeles) on June 12th with their first ever mobile sandbox MMORPG called ReEvolve. ReEvolve is set in a post-apocalyptic semi-realistic world that was brought to its destruction by wars and plagues. To avoid total annihilation of the human race, humans must use space-time tunneling technology to navigate various eras and build a brighter future.
ReEvolve’s world will offer a wide range of ecosystems, weather, realistic animal behaviors, a day and night cycle and animal migration. Seems to good to be true? Well, the game will also offer sandbox features like building and maintaining your very own bases where you can create houses, construct defenses, farm your own crops and breed animals. The game will have a PvE mode where you can fight against the wild monsters that you encounter and a PvP mode with solo PvP and Team Death Match.
ReEvolve’s Synopsis
“The future is upon us, and things aren’t looking too good for the human race. War, plague, and evil have brought humanity to the brink of extinction, with one thing standing in the way of total annihilation-time travel. ReEvolve charges players with an important task: use the future’s space-time tunneling technology to past eras and other planets in order to build a newer, brighter future. Will your contributions have you following The Shepherd, the human organization determined to set history right? Or will you be drawn to the corrupting, Cthulu-worshipping forces of The Piper? Use your M.P.D., a gun that can absorb everything from bosses to wild animals, to craft the world of your choosing.” | {
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It is fairly straight forward to solve a Sudoku as an integer programming problem, by creating 9 binary variables for each cell, only one of which is one in the solution. The walk-through below and attached notebook illustrates this for the problem shown.
Implementation
Given values, as {row, column, value}
input = { {1,4,4},{1,5,9},{1,8,5},{2,1,6},{2,5,3},{3,1,4}, {3,2,5},{3,4,6},{3,5,2},{3,7,3},{3,9,7},{4,1,5}, {4,3,2},{4,4,7},{4,7,9},{4,8,8},{5,1,3},{5,3,6}, {5,7,2},{5,9,1},{6,2,9},{6,3,1},{6,6,2},{6,7,6}, {6,9,5},{7,1,2},{7,3,5},{7,5,1},{7,6,4},{7,8,3}, {7,9,8},{8,5,8},{8,9,9},{9,2,1},{9,5,7},{9,6,3}};
Display given values
viewmat = Table["", {9}, {9}]; Do[viewmat[[input[[i, 1]], input[[i, 2]]]] = ToString[input[[i, 3]]], {i, Length[input]}] Grid[viewmat, Frame -> All]
Variables, as 9 x 9 x 9 matrix
varmat = Table[m[i, j, k], {i, 9}, {j, 9}, {k, 9}];
Variables as a list
vars = Flatten[varmat];
Constrain the input cells to their value
cons1 = (varmat[[Sequence @@ #]] == 1 &) /@ input
The sum of the binary variables for each cell is 1
cons2 = Flatten @ Table[ (Sum[varmat[[i, j, k]], {k, 9}] == 1), {i, 9}, {j, 9}];
All different constraint for the rows
cons3 = Flatten @ Table[ (Sum[varmat[[i, j, k]], {i, 9}] == 1), {j, 9}, {k, 9}];
All different constraint for the columns
cons4 = Flatten @ Table[ (Sum[varmat[[i, j, k]], {j, 9}] == 1), {i, 9}, {k, 9}];
All different constraint for the submatrices
sm[di_, dj_] := Flatten [Table[{i, j}, {i, 1 + 3*(di - 1), 3*di}, {j, 1 + 3*(dj - 1), 3*dj}],1] cons5 = Flatten @ Table[(Total[m[Sequence @@ #, k] & /@ sm[i, j]] == 1), {i, 3}, {j, 3}, {k, 9}];
Confine the variables to the range 0 to 1
cons6 = Thread[0 <= vars <= 1];
Combine the constraints
Length[allcons = Join[cons1, cons2, cons3, cons4, cons5, cons6]]
1089
Solve the problem, specifying that the variables are integers.
AbsoluteTiming[sol = FindMinimum[{0, allcons, Element[vars, Integers]}, vars];]
{0.0946335, Null}
Find the values for each cell
resmat = Table[Sum[k*m[i, j, k], {k, 9}], {i, 9}, {j, 9}] /. sol[[2]]
Display the input and result
{Grid[viewmat, Frame -> All], Grid[resmat, Frame -> All]}
Check the result
And @@ Table[Unequal[Sequence @@ resmat[[i]]], {i, 9}]
True
And @@ Table[Unequal[Sequence @@ Transpose[resmat][[i]]], {i, 9}]
True
And @@ Flatten @ Table[Unequal[resmat[[Sequence @@ #]] & /@ sm[i, j]], {i, 3}, {j, 3}] | {
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更新
今夏の世界選手権で新種目、シンクロナイズドスイミング男女混合デュエットが実施される。栄えある男子の日本初代表に選ばれた安部篤史（３２）＝トゥリトネス水泳部＝は２月２３日の会見で、ペアを組む２０１２年ロンドン五輪代表の足立夢実（国士舘シンクロク）とともにポーズを決め、「シンクロ界が築き上げてきたものを壊さないよう、死に物狂いで頑張りたい」と決意を語った。
２月１５日の代表選考会で、参加した男子５人の中でトップとなり、史上初の座を勝ち取った。手先、足先まで神経を行き届かせ、水面を自由自在に舞う表現力は、水中パフォーマンス集団「トゥリトネス」で約１２年間、培ってきたものだ。
加えて目を引くのは、男性ならではの鍛え抜かれた肉体だ。３歳から水泳を始め、高校卒業まで競泳選手だった。その経験を生かして力強く水を捉え、スピードを上げることで、女子選手では描けないダイナミックな作品が生まれる。
国際水泳連盟が男女混合デュエットの導入を決めたのは、昨年１１月。背景には男女平等を推進する国際オリンピック委員会の意向もあるとみられる。
各国の選手はすぐに反応。１９９０年代に五輪、世界選手権以外の国際大会で米国代表として活躍していた男子のビル・メイが復帰した。女子で史上最高のソリストとして名を残したフランスのビルジニー・ドデュ（０７年世界選手権ソロで３連覇し引退）もプールへ戻り、ペアを組む男子選手と合宿を敢行しているとの情報もある。 | {
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I got engaged recently, for my sins, and though I am naturally overwhelmed with joy to be marrying a man who adds Tabasco to any delicately flavoured dish I cook while complaining about how many books I own, it does also mean that I have been sucked into the terrifying, pastel-hued vortex that is the world of the online wedding blog. For those unacquainted with this particular genre of lifestyle porn, believe me when I say: here be monsters, and those monsters are after your hard-earned cash.
Don’t get me wrong: I’ve got nothing against a good wedding. I find such public declarations of commitment and the way they bring friends and families together deeply moving. But I can’t help but be alarmed that not only does the average British wedding cost a preposterous £20,500, but almost all of them seem to be indistinguishable (or at least the heterosexual ones do; gay couples have largely escaped this fate, through not being so doggedly devoted to centuries’ worth of rigid gender norms).
Thanks to the decline of the bridal magazine in favour of the more DIY aesthetic of social media, not to mention a hefty amount of one-upmanship, the same touches and tropes keep popping up. How can your day truly represent the two of you when it is little more than a series of carefully curated conceits nicked from someone else’s Instagram?
It has slowly dawned on me that, no matter how hard I might try to make my own wedding different, it will probably end up being exactly the same as everyone else’s. The only question is, which one of the trending types will it be? Here are 10 weddings you’ve certainly got in your diary this summer.
The Pinterest wedding
Everything looks as though it has been ripped straight from the visual scrapbooking site and made real. There’s a chalkboard welcoming guests in curly cursive, and Facebook profile picture name cards printed out to look like Polaroids. There’s a “cake” consisting of three wheels of British cheese stacked one on top of the other. There’s a basket of “wedding flip-flops” (yes, they are a thing) for female guests who have worn shoes too impractical to dance in. There’s confetti made with real rose petals, there’s pick ’n’ mix, a Gypsy swing band, antique pictures of all the couple’s ancestors who ever got married, even if they eventually got divorced or were bigamists or lived for decades in silent, aching desperation. There are giant, wooden, light-up initials, in case people drink so much cava, they forget the bride and groom’s names. There’s a photo booth. Most of all, there is bunting. Oh, is there bunting.
The barn wedding
This is almost exactly like the Pinterest wedding, except the wine is warm, there are hay bales, it is possible at all times to discern a faint backnote of manure, and in order to relieve yourself, you’re forced to squeeze out of your Spanx in a darkened portable toilet. Meanwhile, the farmer, who knows that the bridal party have never once been near the countryside and will therefore pay through the nose to get married in a glorified corrugated tin can just because it’s got fairy lights in it, has made a cool four grand.
A far-flung wedding ensures most of your family won’t show up. Photograph: Alamy
The exotic beach wedding
For people who dislike most of their family members, the far-flung beach wedding guarantees that most of them will not turn up. Those who do show up have a tendency to treat the bride and groom like their travel agent, and behave as though flying to a four-star exotic beach resort has been nothing but an inconvenience. As a result, there’s an air to all proceedings of “We’ve come all this way, and… you’re only serving us house wine.” Everyone worries constantly about the weather. Also, did you know there was such thing as a bridal bikini?
The emotionally awkward wedding
Everything about this wedding is geared towards making you feel things. There might as well be ushers standing next to the top table holding up prompt signs that read “EMOTE”. The speeches are tearful and peppered with cliches, not to mention inappropriate jokes about ex-partners and the wedding night. The readings are nauseating (“Wherever I am, there’s always Pooh, there’s always Pooh and me” being inexplicably popular). There are homemade signs saying, “Today two families become one, so pick a seat not a side” or “He stole my heart so I’m stealing his last name”. The couple wrote their own vows to include their secret pet names. The first dance is Snow Patrol, and they will french kiss for the duration. If you’re extremely unlucky, as a friend of mine sadly was, they may even grind each other.
The ‘just something small’ wedding
This starts off as being “just for friends and family”, but rapidly spirals out of control until it’s an 11-course meal featuring hours’ worth of speeches and a role for every member of the wedding party, whether it’s handmaking 250 wedding favours, chauffeuring elderly relatives to and from the reception, sewing thousands of silver beads on to the bodice of the wedding dress, or distilling the very essence of the bride and groom into an interpretative dance performance to be uploaded straight to YouTube.
The boho hipster wedding
Everyone is wearing a flower crown. There are so many flower crowns that you have forgotten what people looked like before flower crowns. The groom has a beard and a man bun, and is wearing braces; he and his groomsmen look like a budget version of Mumford & Sons. The bridesmaids are all wearing dresses in different, delicate colours that complement one another perfectly. Decorations come in the form of wildflowers in jam jars, found objects and mismatched china. There is elderflower in everything, and for some reason everyone is encouraged to wear disturbing woodland animal masks that make the entire wedding party look as if they are about to participate in a pagan black mass.
The American wedding
This wedding lasts for approximately 152 days, because there’s a bachelor party, a bridal shower, a bachelorette party, a rehearsal dinner, a wedding brunch, a lengthy service and a 12‑course meal. Everyone is drinking mimosas all the time. There are 27 bridesmaids and groomsmen, the only requirement for such a role being that you once stood in an airport boarding queue next to one of the happy couple and offered them a tissue when they sneezed. Speaking of flights, getting to this wedding has already cost you £2,000 and that’s before you even consider the gift list. All the women are on juice fasts; all the men have undone their bow ties and are thrilled to think that smoking a cigar makes them Donald Trump.
The traditional English church wedding
Bow down to this couple, for they have made the ultimate sacrifice: they have attended Sunday school every week for a year so they can be married in the bride’s parish church, as is her dearly cherished dream. This wedding is essentially unchanged from the days of Four Weddings And A Funeral. The dress is a blancmange, the hats are sensational, the disco cheesy, the salmon overpoached. But the guests do not care, because they know that, ultimately, they are swaying precariously on the dancefloor while burping neat sauvignon blanc not for themselves, not even for the couple, but for England.
The festival wedding
This wedding has all of the bad things about festivals (rain, camping, Calvin Harris) with none of the good (a feeling of blessed liberation from the constraints of society, MDMA). The bride and bridesmaid are wearing matching wellies under their dresses, there are food vans serving hot dogs, a hog roast and, of course (because the couple insist that the Native American deities smile down on their special day), it’s in a tipi. There is guaranteed to be at least one exhausted great-grandma silently wishing for the days when a prawn cocktail consumed while sitting down in a chair was a guaranteed good do.
Make like you’re in a Tim Burton film. Photograph: Alamy Stock Photo
The alternative wedding
This is exactly like all the other weddings, except the couple have tattoos, DMs and a lot more purple in the colour scheme. But why not? Pretending to be in a Tim Burton film is a lot more fun than standing around in a community centre full of trestle tables. So what if auntie Sue doesn’t like Cradle of Filth?
And the one you’re not invited to… the best wedding of all time
Why haven’t they invited you? “Whywhywhywhywhy?” you moan as you peruse their wedding hashtag to watch everyone you have ever met quaff champagne in the sunshine without you there. OK, so you haven’t seen either of the happy couple for five and a half years, and the last time you did was at a dinner party where you were sick, and they had to put you on the sofa under a blanket, and you did sleep with the groom once at university – but then, so did everyone, so it’s not a big deal. And when they got engaged, you may have told them weddings were an outdated, patriarchal concept. But still – why didn’t they invite you? Why? | {
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Captured cop bondage xxx Some of these pigs just don\'t get it. | {
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Tl;Dr Recap for those who just want the stats:
1/19/18 Providence (22-11-3) vs. WBS Penguins (24-10-3) 7:05 PM
Goalies: Zane McIntyre, 28 of 28 shots, Shutout; Anthony Peters, 42 of 43 shots, 0.976 SV%
Box Score W/Scoring Summary:
Team Period Goal Assist(s) PRO 3rd T. Cross (PP) A. Czarnik, P. Cehlarik
PVD 1-0 Regulation W, improves to (23-11-3); WBS drops to (24-11-3)
1/20/18 Providence (23-11-3) @ Bridgeport (18-15-6) 7:05 PM
Goalies: Jordan Binnington, 27 of 30 shots, 0.900 SV%; Christopher Gibson, 25 of 27 shots, 0.925 SV%
Box Score W/ Scoring Summary:
Team Period Goal Assist(s) BRI 1st J. Ho-Sang Unassisted BRI 2nd K. Schempp K. Burroughs, B. Holmstrom PRO 2nd J. Forsbacka Karlsson (PP) R. O’Gara, K. Agostino BRI 2nd C. Bailey J. Ho-Sang, P. Wotherspoon PRO 3rd C. Cave J. Hickman, R. Fitzgerald
PVD 3-2 Regulation L, drops to (23-12-3); BRI improves to (19-15-6)
1/21/18 Providence (23-12-3) vs. Springfield (19-22-2) 3:05 PM
Goalies: Zane McIntyre, 27 of 27 shots, Shutout; Sam Montembault, 47 of 48 shots, 0.979 SV%
Box Score W/ Scoring Summary:
Team Period Goal Assist(s) PRO 3rd R. Fitzgerald P. Cehlarik, J. Szwarz PRO 3rd J. Szwarz A. Czarnik, K. Agostino
PVD 2-0 Regulation W, improves to (24-12-3), Springfield drops to (19-23-2).
Game Summaries:
Providence Bruins vs. Wilkes Barre-Scranton Penguins (1/19/18)
Coming off their worst weekend 3-in-3 this season, the Providence Bruins skated against formidable opponent Wilkes-Barre Scranton Penguins. In their last 10, the Penguins have surged with a 8-2-0 record and overtook Providence for 1st in the Atlantic. Despite the low score of the game, the entertainment value was immense; the game was reminiscent of game 7 of the 2011 Eastern Conference finals between the Bruins and Lightning. Providence goaltender Zane McIntyre had one of his best games of the year, turning away all 28 of the Penguins shots for a shutout. Both goaltenders had to deal with their fair share of odd man-rushes, man-advantage, and scrambling save situations, however during a Providence powerplay, Penguins goaltender Anthony Peters buckled once, giving up the game’s only goal. In the 3rd period, Austin Czarnik, Tommy Cross, and Peter Cehlarik had been working the puck between the boards and the Penguins blue line, trying to split the Penguins defense. Finally, Austin Czarnik saw the seam, fed Cross, who fired the shot glove side on Peters for the game-winning goal. With the net empty, Providence almost had a chance at the empty net; JFK rang a puck off the left goal post, and the clock expired before the Bruins could put the puck into the yawning cage.
Providence Bruins @ Bridgeport Sound Tigers (1/20/18)
After breaking his orbital bone last weekend, Matt Beleskey returned to the ice for the first time in Bridgeport. Unsurprisingly, he donned what looked like a full fishbowl-style shield for the game. Unfortunately, 17 seconds into the game, he hoisted the puck from the defensive zone into the penalty box for a delay of game penalty. Fortunately, the Providence penalty kill succeeded. Bridgeport would strike first, however, as Josh Ho-Sang sprinted for a loose puck and sped by Providence D-man Jakub Zboril at the Bridgeport blue line. Ho-Sang continued almost unopposed up the ice, tucking the puck past netminder Jordan Binnington. Bridgeport opened a winder lead 3 minutes and change into the 2nd period. As the Tigers worked the puck around the boards, sloppy play in the Bruins defensive end opened up a pocket in the slot for Kyle Schempp to set up in front of the Providence netminder Binnington. A few seconds later, the Tigers’ Kyle Burroughs fired a shot from the left faceoff dot in the Providence end that was initially blocked in front, however Schempp picked up the loose change and stuffed it into the net for a 2 goal lead. The Bruins would not end the 2nd scoreless, as JFK beat the Sound Tigers’ Chris Gibson on a powerplay. Prior to the goal, Rob O’Gara took a quick shot intentionally wide right of the net, where Colby Cave recovered, worked it along the board to Kenny Agostino, back to O’Gara, and after a cross-ice feed, JFK wired a shot into the back of the Bridgeport net. The momentum wasn’t long lived, as Bridgeport scored again to restore their 2 goal lead. During a powerplay for Bridgeport, the Sound Tigers worked the puck along the blue line, where Josh Ho-Sang fired a rising shot toward the slot. Casey Bailey was standing in the middle of the Providence Penalty Kill box and managed to tip the puck down out of mid-air past Binnington; More sloppy defensive play gave Bailey the game winning goal. To their credit, Providence played much better in the third period, mustering a goal past Gibson off Colby Cave’s stick set up by some heads-up play by Ryan Fitzgerald below the goal line. The comeback would fall short, and the Sound Tigers skated away with a win in regulation.
Providence Bruins vs. Springfield Falcons (1/21/18)
Coming off a tough loss to Bridgeport the night before, the Providence Bruins skated against the Springfield Thunderbirds to close out this weekend’s 3-in-3. Much like Friday, the story of the game was the goaltenders who were perfect until the third period. In another spectacular performance, Zane McIntyre stopped all his shots, while the Springfield goalie Sam Montembault was beaten only once. As a penalty kill for Springfield came to an end, the Bruins were pressuring in the offensive zone. Austin Czarnik had just rang a dangerous shot off the goalpost and the puck skittered out to Cehlarik, who shot from the left faceoff dot. Montembault made the initial save but the rebound was scooped up by Szwarz who shoveled a short pass to Ryan Fitzgerald who quite literally tucked the puck between the Springfield goalie’s pads and the goal posts. Springfield pulled their goaltender looking for the equalizer; however Jordan Szwarz provided the insurance goal, hitting the empty net.
Plus / Minus
Plus: + After 2 of their worst 3-in-3s of the season, the Bruins took a respectable 4 of 6 points this weekend, both against division opponents.
+ Providence’s powerplay has found some life, again scoring twice this weekend; both were game winning goals.
+ Zane McIntyre’s apparent deal with the devil has paid off: since January 13th, he has a .977 SV%, an insane 0.33 GAA (if my math is correct) bolstered by 2 shutouts.
+ With 2 wins this weekend, Providence recovered in the standings to 2nd in their division (behind the WBS Penguins). Providence has a game in hand over 3rd place Lehigh Valley and 4th place Charlotte. WBS, however, has 2 games in hand on Providence.
+ After suffering a broken orbital bone last week, Matt Beleskey made his return to the ice Saturday night.
+ Jeremy Lauzon returned to the lineup Friday night, after a concussion held him out since November 22nd.
+ Despite their lack of goals, Providence is absolutely relentless on the forecheck. It seems they won this week by grinding down opponents, giving little scoring opportunities, and flawless goaltending.
Minus: – Rookie defenseman Jakub Zboril took two big steps back Saturday night vs. Bridgeport. Twice he was beaten by a speedy Ho-Sang who froze Zboril at the Bridgeport blue line and raced past him. (Both times on the same side)
– Despite their arsenal of offensive talent (Czarnik, Szwarz, JFK, Cehlarik etc.) the Bruins couldn’t manage more than 2 goals all weekend.
– Providence peppered the WBS goalie with 43 shots, and Springfield with a shocking 48 shots but only managed one and two goals respectively. On the bright side, this seems to be mostly bad puck luck, not just lazy players taking low-danger shots.
– With 61 seconds of 5v3 powerplay time, Providence couldn’t score on Springfield’s Sam Monetembault
– Providence still cannot solve the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, who they have beaten only once in six contests this season.
-Jordan Binnington has been slipping recently, losing his last 3 contests. His biggest issue seems to be shots taken at seemingly impossible sharp angles.
– Austin Czarnik was a precautionary scratch against Bridgeport on Saturday after a high hit Friday night shook him up a bit.
– Rookie Zach Senyshyn has gone ice cold, and was a healthy scratch on Sunday. | {
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From alleged mistreatment of prisoners to questionable lobbying intentions, private prisons have been making headlines for all the wrong reasons lately. And as a growing number of U.S. inmates are being jailed in private prisons — the number of inmates in private facilities increased by 37 percent between 2002 and 2009 — it's more important than ever to examine the policies and practices carried out in these intuitions.
Consider the East Mississippi Correctional Facility (EMCF), a private prison housing mentally ill prisoners near Meridian, Miss. The prison recently made national news after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) filed a lawsuit against the Mississippi Department of Corrections — which outsources prison duties to the EMCF — for allowing the prison to operate under allegedly "barbaric", "hyper-violent" and "grotesquely filthy and dangerous" conditions, including rat-infested cells, non-working toilets, and a lack of access to mental health services.
In addition to EMCF being a "cesspool", the lawsuit also alleges that its prisoners are being severely underfed. "All inmates report significant weight loss since arriving at EMCF, from ten to 60 pounds," said physiatrist Terry A. Kupers, who studied the facility in 2011 on behalf of the ACLU. "From my direct observation it is clear that all the men are much thinner, almost emaciated, in comparison to old snapshots I viewed in their charts or on their identity cards showing them much heavier.
For its part, while the ENCF acknowledges the prison has problems, it argues that it has been taking measures to improve conditions. "Do we still have issues? Sure. It's a prison. It's the nature of the business. But we do everything we can to make it better for the offenders and the employees," said then-Warden Frank Show in June.
Similar allegations are made against traditional government-funded prisons all the time. For instance, recently families of two inmates who allegedly died of heat stroke in a state-run Texas prison announced they are bringing a wrongful death lawsuit against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ).
The families of the deceased inmates allege that as many as 13 prisoners have died from heatstroke since 2007. "Like most other TDCJ units, the Gurney Unit inmate living areas are not air conditioned, and apparent indoor temperatures routinely exceed 100 degrees," the lawsuit states. "As the body can no longer cool itself, body systems fail. If there is no immediate intervention, extreme temperatures will cause death."
TDCJ spokesperson Jason Clark said the TDCJ "takes precautions to help reduce heat-related illness such as restricting activity during the hottest part of the day, providing water and ice in work and housing areas and training staff to identify and treat those with heat-related illnesses." Yet Clark acknowledges there are limitations to this strategy. "Many of TDCJ's facilities were built before the time that air conditioning was commonly installed," he explained. "Prisons built in the 1980s and '90s didn't include air conditioning because of the added construction, maintenance and utility costs... Retrofitting facilities with air conditioning would be extremely expensive."
The Atlantic's Andrew Cohen argues these and other recent controversies demonstrate the U.S. prison system is in the midst of "one of the darkest periods on record." But which are worse for inmates: private for-profit prisons or their state-run counterparts?
The answer is relatively simple. As bad as state-run prisons can be, private prisons ultimately pose a greater threat to inmates because of their raison d'être; they exist solely to make a profit off of incarcerated individuals.
Like pretty much all other for-profit enterprises, private prisons make money in part by cutting operating costs wherever possible. In most industries, this can be done by reducing employee hours or buying goods wholesale or any number of other strategies. But when it comes to housing inmates, cutting costs is done in a variety of troubling ways. In the case of the EMCF, the lawsuit alleges the facility offered inmates a Spartan diet, grossly reduced access to health care, and essentially eliminated mental health services — in a facility specifically for patients with mental illness.
Other ways private prisons cut costs are by understaffing guards and other prison employees, leading to increasingly dangerous conditions for both guards and inmates. An unfortunate example: The 2004 riot at the Crowley County Correctional Facility (operated by the for-profit Corrections Corporation of America) in Olney Springs, Colo. What started as a fight between two rival prison gangs quickly morphed into a prison-wide riot in which the inadequately staffed guards quickly lost control. After state law enforcement officials quelled the riot, the Colorado Department of Corrections issued a report blaming the riot on the private prison's high staff turnover rate and inadequate staffing.
But perhaps the greatest threat private prisons pose to inmates is their constant need for inmates. While overall crime — especially violent crime — has rapidly declined in recent years, the U.S. incarcerates more individuals than ever. This is great news for the private prison industry. With private prisons receiving upwards of $200 per inmate per night, the more beds occupied, the more revenue.
Of course, the private prison industry doesn't like to frame it this way. The Correctional Corporation of America — the largest private prison company in the country — claims its motivations are to rehabilitate prisoners, increase public safety, create jobs, and save taxpayers money. Nowhere do they mention that seeking profits for themselves and their shareholders is part of their business plan.
Where things get tricky is the majority of incarcerated individuals in U.S. prisons are non-violent offenders either serving drug sentences or having been arrested for their immigration statuses. While possession of illegal substances and an undocumented immigration status have long been illegal under U.S. law, the kinds of harsh sentences today's offenders receive are a relatively new phenomenon, tracing back to the anti-drug hysteria of the 1980s and the creation of programs such as the Department of Homeland Security's "Operation Streamline," which have both contributed to a 790 percent increase in prison sentences in the last three decades.
So far, the private prison industry has spent $45 million in lobbying to keep these kinds of harsh sentencing laws in place, reports the Associated Press. And the industry freely admits that without these laws, private prisons would no longer be profitable: "The demand for our facilities and services could be adversely affected by the relaxation of enforcement efforts, leniency in conviction or parole standards and sentencing practices or through the decriminalization of certain activities that are currently proscribed by our criminal laws," said a Corrections Corporation of America 2010 Annual Report. "Any changes with respect to drugs and controlled substances or illegal immigration could affect the number of persons arrested, convicted, and sentenced, thereby potentially reducing demand for correctional facilities to house them."
Few would argue the U.S. penal system operates efficiently and ethically 100 percent of the time. And while government-run prisons have more than their fair share of problems, private prisons are creating a whole new set of challenges. | {
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A mother-daughter team has set themselves up on Prince Edward Island to help people get rid of unwanted ghosts.
Nicole Tremblay and her mother Rosaling Hennigar moved to P.E.I. about a year ago, and have formed the Island Paranormal Research Group. Tremblay told CBC News Wednesday the main goal of the group is not to hunt ghosts, but to help people.
"A lot of people when they do have a haunting they kind of think that they're crazy. I've been in that situation before, as had the co-founder, and I know what it feels like," said Tremblay.
"Sometimes that's all a client needs for help, is someone to sit there and say, 'OK, I know what you're going through. I've been through it. I believe you. This is what we can do. This is how we can help.'"
Tremblay said she and her mother have been haunted for six or seven years.
The group is self-taught and their services are free.
They are still looking for their first client, but have been looking into some well-known Island cases, such as the fabled witch's grave in the Old Catholic Cemetery in Charlottetown. | {
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Germany’s Social Democrats (SPD) polled 31 per cent in a survey on Wednesday, benefiting from a surge in support since nominating Martin Schulz as leader and narrowing the gap to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives.
The poll for Stern magazine and broadcaster RTL, published just over seven months before federal elections, was the first by the Forsa institute to give the SPD above 30 per cent since October 2012.
Merkel’s conservative bloc, made up of her Christian Democrats (CDU) and their Bavarian sister party the Christian Social Union (CSU), lost 1 percentage point to 34 per cent.
The SPD gained 5 points from the previous Forsa survey.
The poll showed as many Germans would vote for Schulz, who was previously European Parliament president, as for Merkel if there were a direct vote for chancellor, with both on 37 per cent.
The SPD, Merkel’s junior coalition partner, has been trailing the conservatives for years in opinion polls and last won an election under Gerhard Schroeder in 2002.
On Monday a different poll showed the SPD would beat Merkel’s conservatives had an election been held that day.
But Forsa head Manfred Guellner said: “We’re not yet seeing such a decisive mood for change as we did in 1998 when Gerhard Schroeder was able to score points due to widespread weariness after 16 years of Helmut Kohl,” he said.
Schroeder was German chancellor from 1998 to 2005, replacing the CDU’s Helmut Kohl, who was elected West German Chancellor in 1982 and remained leader of a reunified country until 1998.
The Forsa poll put the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) in third place on 10 per cent while the Greens and the far-left Linke were on 8 per cent each.
The federal election is due on 24 September and Merkel reiterated on Tuesday that it would be the “toughest that I have ever experienced”.
The poll of 2,501 people was conducted between 30 January and 3 February. | {
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Hoverboards may have yet to make the leap from the Back to the Future movies to reality, but Austria's transport ministry has given them the green light anyway.
A ministry announcement on Tuesday (local time) — a day before the day on which the plot of 1989's Back to the Future II unfolds, October 21, 2015 — said hoverboards could be treated as "small off-road vehicles" that could be used "anywhere a skateboard is".
The ministry added it wanted to provide users with "legal clarity" over the matter.
The only general restriction, as for skateboards, is that users must not "endanger passers-by or motor traffic".
But the ministry said more restrictive regulations would be needed for the Pit Bull hoverboard model featured in Back to the Future, which was powered by rockets.
Use of this model would require a pilot's certificate and flight authorisation, and a nautical permit if it was to be used on water.
Long a fantasy for teenagers and engineers alike, hoverboards have yet to become commercially available.
Several firms have produced prototypes, including California-based technology company Hendo, which is building a hoverboard that works on magnetic repulsion.
Shoemaker Nike is meanwhile working on sneakers with self-tightening "power laces" like the ones Marty McFly wears in Back to the Future.
AFP | {
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Swiss bank Julius Baer plans to provide its client access to digital asset services, following a partnership with crypto bank startup Seba Crypto, a press release from Julius Baer reveals on Feb. 26.
The partnership will come into effect when Seba is granted a securities dealer and banking license by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, the press release notes. The Swiss bank will then begin offering digital asset storage, transaction and investment solutions in partnership with the crypto startup.
The announcement also discloses that the banking giant has been a minority shareholder of Seba since last year.
According to a press release from Seba, the election of Peter Gerlach, Head Markets at Julius Baer bank, to Seba’s Board of Directors will be proposed to the company’s shareholders on March 20.
Gerlach was quoted in the announcement as saying:
“At Julius Baer, we are convinced that digital assets will become a legitimate sustainable asset class of an investor's portfolio.”
Seba Crypto, which aims to become a bank offering cryptocurrency-related services, raised 100 million Swiss francs (about $99.8 million at press time) for this purpose at the end of September last year.
In 2018, Julius Baer reported having 382.1 billion swiss francs (about $381.6 billion) in assets under management.
As Cointelegraph reported at the beginning of this month, Seba Crypto signed an agreement with Swiss mortgage bank Hypothekarbank Lenzburg AG to use its core banking system, Finstar.
Also in February, news broke that Switzerland's principal stock exchange, SIX Swiss Exchange, will test blockchain integration for its forthcoming parallel digital trading platform, SDX, in the second half of this year. | {
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SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- An 80-year-old missionary and former pastor was charged with sexually assaulting two girls under the age of 10, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.Prosecutors said Douglas Whinery, of Tustin, approached a 10-year-old girl and her 8-year-old relative at a park in Tustin on Nov. 7, 2011.Whinery groomed his victims by befriending their family, providing money for a place to live, taking the victims to school, having the victims spend the night in his home, and inviting them to attend church with him, according to prosecutors.He was actively involved at Olive Crest Church in Santa Ana, Foothill Family Church in Foothill Ranch, and Grace Church in Yorba Linda, according to prosecutors.The district attorney's office originally stated Foothills Church was in Rancho Santa Margarita, but later clarified it was in Foothill Ranch.Officials stated Whinery sexually assaulted the two victims on multiple occasions between Nov. 7, 2011, and March 28, 2016.Prosecutors said the youngest victim reported the sexual assaults to a family member on March 28 and Tustin police were contacted.Whinery was arrested on March 30 and later charged with four felony counts of lewd acts upon a child under the age of 14, and two felony counts of oral copulation or sexual penetration with a child 10 years old or younger, with a sentencing enhancement allegation for committing lewd acts upon multiple victims.If convicted, prosecutors said Whinery faces a maximum sentence of 100 years to life in state prison.Police said their investigation was ongoing and urged anyone with additional information, or anyone who believed they may have been a victim of Whinery, to contact Supervising District Attorney Investigator Mark Gutierrez at (714) 347-8794. | {
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There’s a concept I’ve been playing with for a bit that I call the Indictment of Potential. To put it simply, this is the burden that having ideals, goals, and the possibility of success places on the individual, as it represents some sort of inherent insufficiency in the present that must be overcome. Today, we’re going to be exploring that concept, as well as the nature of obligation in the individual, and what obligation a man may have to society. Along the way, we’re going to talk about self-interest in the modern world and what we can do to start building a better world.
Let’s get it.
We’ll start with the nature of the Indictment of Potential in the individual before we move into society. At its most basic level, the Indictment is the result of realizing the troubling fact that believing that you could be better also means believing you’re not good enough right now. Let’s clarify what I mean by that- if you want to be the best downhill mountain bike rider in the world (and you’re not) then you have to accept both that you’re not the best and that the desire to be the best imposes a heavy burden on you.
A counter-example: mostly everyone says they want to be rich, but they don’t take any action towards being rich. This indicates either that people don’t actually want to be rich (which is unlikely) or that they don’t want to do the things required to be rich (more likely). There’s also probably a degree of not understanding how, but someone who genuinely wants it and is willing to do the things required will learn how as a result.
Mostly everyone wants mostly everything- this is why the Buddha says desire is the root of suffering, because to want is to lack. (That’s an oversimplification of the Buddha’s actual position but for the sake of this article it suffices.) However, unlike the Buddha, I’m not anti-suffering in the slightest, so that’s not a problem in my eyes.
Or is it?
This brings up a fundamental division between two types of people. The first sort, more akin to the Buddha’s position, would rather learn not to desire (or be attached to desire) to avoid the suffering/unsatisfactory nature of desiring. The second camp (myself included) would rather accept the suffering inherent (a component of the Indictment) in the striving towards something, even if we fail to attain it.
I personally believe that the former is a coward’s position- “I might fail so I won’t try,” or perhaps even “we’re doomed to fail/victory is fleeting and unsatisfactory, so why try?” This is bullshit and I cannot endorse it. One of the fundamental properties of the human experience is the presence of suffering, as well as the nature of the hedonic treadmill– you’re going to suffer more than not, and your successes are going to be short-lived before it’s back to the climb. However, this isn’t a problem if you cease focusing on the outcome and begin to appreciate the struggle in and of itself. Doing the opposite is like loving your birthday so much you ignore the rest of the year- clearly missing the point of living.
So long as we accept that this cyclical suffering is inevitable if we choose to live, it ceases to be some dread terror to flee from and becomes a pretty decent motivating mechanism. However, the average person isn’t likely to simply say, “alright, lay it on me, I can take the weight of the world,” not without a good reason at least.
This is where the ideal arises.
Everyone, in some form or another, has some ideal in their head at some point. A lot of people, however, don’t grow up with good role models or other guiding figures, so they may choose whoever seems to be the best able to survive in their scenario- poor kids in bad neighborhoods often idolize drug dealers because they have money and the trappings of success. Those who feel powerless often idolize politicians as the presumed source of power in society, and also as a means to achieve some power themselves (through voting and legislation).
On a less pessimistic note, it’s also possible to construct an ideal. In the most basic sense, the ideal is a template for action in the world- Christianity succeeded in providing this with the whole idea of “WWJD,” but it’s hard to imagine what Jesus thinks about the ethics of shopping from Amazon or what kind of politician we should vote for. (Maybe it’s not hard to imagine, but the abundance of people doing that shit anyway leads me to believe it’s not as obvious as one would think.) In some sense, all religions are ideal-system templates, providing both an understanding of the world as well as the ideal way to operate in the world. It’s not a far road from external ideals to externalized idols, though, and just like idols are man-made, often we choose interpretations of these idols that suit the way we already are rather than guide us towards change and growth.
As a template for action, the ideal is a desired outcome with a set of instructions/behaviors that are meant to get one there from the present. This can be as simple as “if we want to have a good birthday party, I better buy the cake in advance and get some candles,” or as complex as “if I’m going to go to Mars, we’re going to have to sort out the necessary conditions for a small band of settlers to live in a way that will prevent the emergence of sectarian infighting and weird Martian cults.”
Here’s where things get interesting.
For a long time, I was an advocate for an ideal-state of individualism in which the individual had no obligations to society and was effectively left to his own devices. However, it doesn’t seem like that works in the long run, but I’m still a die hard individualist and couldn’t figure out how to rectify the two positions.
What I realized is that our ideals do not exist in a vacuum, just as no man is an island. I think a large portion of the problem with the state of things today arises from the fact that we thought we could pursue a naive concept of individualism that meant we weren’t responsible for those around us in any way, and as a result we’ve developed wonderfully manipulative things like marketing, sales techniques, political propaganda, and so on. The naive individualist defaults to the notion that “marketing is ethical because everyone is responsible for their own choices,” and while everyone is responsible for their own choices, the nature of living in a system with other people means that we (despite believing ourselves islands) end up impacted by those choices as well.
This is especially true of bad choices.
Now, those of you who lean Objectivist or liberarian are almost certainly fuming at this point, assuming you haven’t stopped reading by now. If you’re still here, don’t worry, I’m not making an argument for collectivism or against individualism- the problem is naive self-interest, not self-interest itself.
The failure of Marxist thought is fundamentally rooted in the demonstrably false idea that people can consistently/should act against their own self-interest. The failure of naive individualism is in the belief that the scope of self-interest is limited exclusively to the individual themselves. One of my complaints against Rand’s stories (which are magnificent, so don’t pretend like I’m aiming to willfully misinterpret them here) is the fact that the primary characters do not live in a way that’s sustainable beyond a single lifetime. None of the protagonists have kids or a normal family situation, and neither did Rand herself.
“But Garrett, you’re saying that everyone has to have a family!” No, no I’m not. Everyone probably should, maybe, but that’s not really my call to make. One of my primary points of differing from Rand’s Objectivism, however, is that I believe that to choose to live properly also means to choose to reproduce, and my system of philosophy is based fundamentally around this. I remember in my time as an Objectivist years ago that a hugely common question in the community was “what about kids?”- and this was never adequately answered. How could it be? Rand’s notion of individualism couldn’t deal with something she herself had no interest or experience in having.
Unfortunately, in this case, reproduction is a fundamental requirement if we assume that life is worth living and worth continuing. Once you make this distinction, it becomes a lot harder to justify a great many things that can be justified in the name of naive individualism, so we’re forced to change our perspective a bit. This brings us to a concept that I’ve termed as “no separation,” which is a statement about the nature of the Self being larger than we initially think.
An example of this is (one of my favorite of all characters in literature), Howard Roark from Rand’s The Fountainhead (one of my favorite books)- Roark is effectively an impossible person (which is often the nature of pure ideals), since he’s an orphan who is also a self-teaching supergenius that effectively doesn’t noticeably change as a character throughout the book. Now, this is part of the reason I like him, because he represents the pure masculine- unshakeable, self-created, all that. The issue (and I get that we’re not supposed to literalize this as a goal person, duh) is that while in the context of the book, Roark is this thing that’s immune to society completely, in reality, he’d at best be in opposition to it.
Rand believed in a perfectly tabula rasa (blank slate) person at birth (which speaks to her lack of actual psychological knowledge versus her keen observational skills), which is all well and good but isn’t exactly right, since, despite not being born knowing stuff, we still have genetic predispositions and some form of instinctual underpinnings. Beyond that, the nature of the individual’s self-concept is implicitly formed as a result of the interaction between the self and others, barring extreme forms of solipsism like autism.
Now, here’s the thing- I’m still a diehard individualist, despite knowing all this. The core difference is that in my philosophy, we have to move from the naive self-interest to what I call expanded self-interest, which comes from a notion in the No Separation article I call the “expanded self.” On a fundamental level, part of the basis for naive self-interest is due to the fact that we tend to think of our individual selves as simply people and our identities are as those singular people.
However, we’re more than simply people, we’re the product of an immensely long biological process of DNA mutating and reproducing for billions of years. Our belief that we’re simply individuals untethered from any larger system is the failure to reckon our true nature, and when you understand that your true nature is as the avatar of these self-replicating chains of amino acids, you have to accept that part of this nature is to continue it. This basis in the fundamental biological reality allows us to accomplish what Rand tried (but didn’t completely succeed in doing- plus, as far as genetics is concerned, she herself was a failure and her line died out) to do:
The construction of a complete system of philosophy based on the foundations of reality itself.
This brings us back to ideals and potential, in a roundabout way- if we intend to reproduce (and to do so sustainably over the long term), we have a massive obligation to the world because we have to make it better for our kids, their kids, and future generations. This ties into my concept of “A Philosophy for Eternity” a bit, because we have to plan as far in advance as is feasibly possible.
This is the antidote to one of the core emergent problems of naive self-interest, the “tragedy of the commons.” The Tragedy is usually explained that there are 10 farmers with 10 sheep grazing sustainably on a patch of grass, and suddenly one farmer adds another sheep. This makes the balance unsustainable, so the other farmers all add sheep until the field is barren.
Obviously, if you gave a shit about your kids eventually inheriting the field, you don’t do this. More interestingly, if you and the other people working the field give a shit about your kids, you can team up to deal with the person that’s going out of their way to ruin it for your kids by acting out of naive self-interest.
See, part of the problem is that we’re so concerned about getting ours that we’re willing to ignore the fact that things are getting steadily worse- the incessant progression of political overreach and bureaucracy is inevitably going to make your kids’ lives worse, but we don’t do anything about it, just like we ignore the fact that we let strangers use manipulative marketing techniques to brainwash them into becoming placated, dull consumers.
It’s easy to not object to this if you yourself don’t plan on having kids, and it’s a great opportunity for hypocrisy if you do, like how big tech company execs don’t let their kids use the social media services or devices they create. It’s easy to justify this sort of thing when you don’t feel any sort of responsibility to make the world genuinely better, and it’s that sort of attitude that naive individualism breeds so well.
Just like I believe that potential is an indictment for the individual to improve, I believe that an in-depth understanding of the nature of the Self and how it pertains to society is an indictment for individuals to begin to take responsibility for the state of the world. The child doesn’t know about responsibility, and the adolescent rejects it and rebels, but it is the nature of the mature adult to accept, embrace, and welcome the burden of responsibility that the world presents. We operate under the delusion that there is an Atlas who should shrug, when in reality the world was dropped long ago, and it waits for someone to come pick it up.
The strong men, those of nobility and ideals long since past, have all but gone from the world. We’re left with an abundance of children and half-adults, running around in the clothes of their parents, pretending to be mature while lacking any sort of maturity. The strong prey on the weak, and we feel no obligation to do anything because we ourselves have become weak. In our powerlessness, we’ve invited wolves into our home and are surprised when they turn to devour us.
This cannot go on.
The structure of modernity is fundamentally one of abdication.
We’ve abdicated our rights to “leaders” who do not merit the title.
We’ve abdicated our privacy to people who think so little as to sell your information.
We’ve abdicated our children’s minds to marketers and bureaucrats.
We’ve abdicated our pursuit of Truth to old books and dogma.
We’ve abdicated our ideals entirely because of the finger they point at us, saying,
“You can be more than this. You could be better- why aren’t you?”
We run from the obligations that our innate talent and potential cast before us, and we hide in dead end jobs and unhappy relationships as a way to place the blame anywhere but on ourselves. Then, we tell our kids that this is just the way the world is, it’s not our fault that life is suffering, and hey, maybe if you vote for this guy, he’ll make it better.
This is despicable.
All the billions of generations of life in this universe have culminated in you, and you are the tip of the spear of destiny stretching across the vast stretches of eternity. You’re the most perfect thing ever conceived by evolution, you’re the pinnacle of all life, and what do you do with it? Waste it arguing in the YouTube comments section, or watching reruns on Netflix again?
Reject this.
Become more than you are, accept the burden of your inner capacity to be great, and stare down the indictment of potential for what it is, the force that will make you better than you are, because as much as you want to pretend it isn’t the case, you are better than you are, and can be better, and most importantly, must be better.
If not you, who?
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David M Jackson
USA TODAY
CLEVELAND — The latest name to surface in Donald Trump's vice presidential search criticized Democrat Hillary Clinton on Sunday for what he called a lack of leadership in the wake of last week's shootings involving police and African Americans.
Retired Gen. Michael Flynn, speaking on ABC's This Week, also indicated he supports abortion rights and downplayed the significance of the same-sex marriage issue, saying the election should be about national security.
"It's about leadership, and it's about responsible leadership as well," Flynn told ABC. "The country is going in the wrong direction."
Flynn said Clinton's comments after this week's violence — the shooting deaths of two African-American men by police and the killings of five police officers in Dallas — were "totally irresponsible when she talked about white people being to blame. I mean, that is so irresponsible."
A Clinton supporter, Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, told ABC that Clinton also honored police officers and said all people should respect the difficult jobs they do. He said the Democratic presidential candidate has "been somebody who’s tried to heal the divisions of our country."
The retired general, who once worked in the Obama administration, also criticized the FBI for declining to recommend prosecution of Clinton over her use of private email as secretary of state.
While Flynn said he was not speaking for Trump, he is "honored" by reports that the businessman is considering him for running mate.
Trump is providing quasi-tryouts for vice presidential contenders, including ex-House speaker Newt Gingrich and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
If Flynn is picked, he could face opposition from social conservatives over abortion rights. Asked about that issue on ABC, Flynn said women "are the ones that have to make the decision" because they are the ones who have to "decide to bring up that child or not."
In a statement following Flynn's interview, Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, which opposes abortion, said, “General Flynn has disqualified himself from consideration as Vice President. His pro-abortion position is unacceptable and would undermine the pro-life policy commitments that Mr. Trump has made throughout the campaign.”
On the other side of the abortion debate, Dawn Laguens, executive vice president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, said in a statement: “Women in America are not fooled –– Donald Trump doesn’t understand or care about women’s health or lives. ... Whomever he picks as Vice President will reflect those values."
On another top issue for religious conservatives, Flynn basically declined to answer questions about same-sex marriage, saying the main issue in the election is national security.
Asked about one of Trump's main issues, immigration, Flynn said he supports the idea of stepped-up deportation: "If they're here illegally, then it's illegal."
Flynn is also a registered Democrat and declined to say whether he has switched parties.
"I vote for leadership," he said. "That's what I vote for, and I vote for America."
ABC News provided background on Flynn: | {
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Some people believe that humans do not need to kill animals to thrive, while others believe that animals are food. Living in a society saturated with animal products, non-meat eaters often find it hard to stomach the realities of industrial animal agriculture. The mental health of vegans and vegetarians is rarely addressed within the movement for animal liberation, while debates surrounding physical health are prioritised. I want to begin a dialogue to discuss how veganism impacts mental wellbeing, using my own experiences and ability as a starting point for examining this hushed topic.
Contemporary theories of ecology and ability have produced some excellent discussions on how the environmental and animal rights movements relate to humans and non-humans with differing abilities. I am currently reading Earth, Animal and Disability Liberation: The Rise of the Eco-Ability Movement. This book contains a variety of essays that reveal the subtle intersectionality between the environment, species, and ability, with each writer building on the same principles to create the concept of Eco-Ability. It is a social movement based on the idea of respect and inclusion for all creatures with all abilities. The concept shuns the notion of disability as a social construct, as pinpointing individuals as disabled promotes ‘normalcy’, which has the knock on effect of stigmatising individuals recognised as abnormal. In the book, Anthony Nocella writes an analogy that clarifies the difference between inclusion of humans with dis-abilities and tolerance of them:
“By erecting a standard of normalcy, society devalues diversity. While technology can be a wonderful tool, some technology destroys at the expense of difference, such as by making a paved path through a forest to accommodate everyone instead of making a wheelchair that is meant for off-road use or admitting that some people simply cannot go down that path.”
The book as a whole is a brilliant step to begin a collective liberation movement focusing on both physical and mental ability. Often mental wellbeing does not echo alongside the prominence of physical health in environmentalism and animal liberation movements. Health becomes limited to physical effects, and I might even go as far as saying that these movements are body-centric. Environmentalism warns of unbreathable air, destruction of water supplies, increasing global temperatures, and genetically mutated crops, while Animal Rights discusses nutrition and weight in humans as well as the commodification of animal’s bodies into products.
In a vegan discourse, mental wellbeing has too often been side lined. Even the little discussion available on mental health and cruelty free diets tries to cite blame for mental illness in nutrition. Several studies have concluded that there is a correlation between mental illness and vegetarianism, but conclusions are unable to find the cause in a deficiency of vitamins and refuse to fully examine social conditions. A German study into the link between mental illness and vegetarianism has produced the following judgement:
“Two possible causal mechanisms seem possible. First, because the start of a vegetarian diet, on average, follows the onset of disorder, the experience of a mental disorder may increase the probability of choosing a vegetarian diet (i.e., the mental disorder causes the vegetarian diet). Individuals with a history of a mental disorder may exhibit more perceived health-oriented behavior in order to positively influence the course of their disease. Moreover, the experience of a mental disorder may sensitize individuals to the suffering of other living beings, including animals. In addition, elevated levels of health-related anxiety may lead individuals with mental disorders to choose a vegetarian diet as a form of safety or self-protective behavior, because a meat free diet is perceived as more healthy. Second, a relatively stable psychological mechanism (a third variable) may increase the probability of mental disorders and independently increase the likelihood of choosing a vegetarian diet. The possibility is appealing that psychological mechanisms like the tendency to experience and regulate negative emotions, high levels of responsibility and perfectionism, or contrasting social values of vegetarians might be responsible the pattern of results. However, such possible psychological mechanisms cannot easily explain the temporal sequencing of disorders developing before vegetarian diet.”
The parenthetical sentence ‘the mental disorder causes the vegetarian diet’ is enough to realise the ideological skew inherent in this research and most research conducted on mental health and meat free diets. This reductive carnist logic is resisted and rejected by the ethics of Eco-Ability, as this kind of research is a symptom of the normalisation of mass industrial agriculture. Refusing to eat meat and mental illness are both seen as abnormal in society, and the correlation between the two is reinforcing. But what if society was abnormal? What if there was no concept of normality at all? This study fails to interrogate the structure of capitalism as the root of illness and injustices. Mental wellbeing is re-determined by Eco-Ability as unique for every individual. However, Eco-Ability must also not ignore the proven correlation between veg(etari)anism and mental illness, and produce an explanation for the high levels of mental trauma suffered.
I will begin with the positives that might go towards dispelling the hostile myth that mental illness makes people vegetarian. Like every other vegan I know, I have never been happier since making the transition. It feels liberating to live inside the ethical philosophy I believe in and passionately embrace. I frequently get reminders of my childhood depression, and I contribute a lot of my recovery to growth in political awareness. Now fully vegan, pragmatically abolitionist in principles, I am happy. Food is more exciting than it ever was before. I do not see animals as beneath me, but as companions. My newfound compassion for different species further extends to my own. I can say that my mental wellbeing is healthy, although like my physical health, I will have off-days. I can feel sad, and angry, and excluded, and hurt, and this can come from out of the blue or be the result of small things that are triggering.
Triggering occurs when an action, word, or discussion in the present serves as a reminder to traumatic experiences in an individual’s past. Being triggered by an event does not mean you are mentally ill. It is an understandable reaction to memories of past experiences, which can often be avoided with sensible and compassionate language and dialogue. Many articles on sensitive subjects will have content warnings, alerting readers if a subject is sensitive. Triggers are not limited to language or discussions, they can happen with objects or images, or in my case – meat. For sure I cannot be the only person who associates meat with the violence of animal suffering. I used to disassociate meat with dead animals, but now the link is unavoidable. I try to be around people eating vegan food and avoid non-vegan restaurants because seeing meat is a triggering experience. For me, I plunge into a space of sadness and exhaustion, and depending on the situation, the experience can ripple through the rest of my day. I cannot explain this to my meat eating friends without it sounding like I want to convert them, so I try to take them to vegan restaurants as a kind of safe space and often avoid the topic of food. Sometimes I will ask if they can abstain from animal products around me. Maybe this is selfish of me, asking for their tolerance, but it does remove the potential for triggers. The requirement to ask is an example of how vegan diets are considered abnormal in society and the mental repercussions rarely considered. With a generally healthy mental wellbeing, I can tolerate meat as much as carnists will tolerate vegans. Someone with a different mental ability may have more negative feelings and potentially be subjected to intolerance and exclusion.
Alongside triggered experiences comes anger. A change into a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle forces the individual to reconsider their entire lifestyle, and simultaneously the mechanisms of society. This can result in the build up of internal rage, stress, anxiety, and the experience of exclusion. My rage for animal justice is infrequent, but my rage for environmentalism once spiralled into obsessive-compulsive tendencies. I would either fantasize or follow through with unplugging vending machines, believing that it would save electricity and somewhat help towards deconstructing capitalist domination and abuse. When explaining it to people, I was met with hostility and a lack of compassion or understanding. I was either seen as crazy or funny. Anger is a suitable reaction to political injustices. It can be channelled in various ways, some helpful and some detrimental. But we cannot criticise strong recurrent emotions negatively as they are personal instinctual reactions, and to say these feelings are wrong stigmatises their normalcy. I want to use The Simpsons episode ‘Lisa The Vegetarian’ as an example of an individual experiencing anger and exclusion. Lisa decides to abstain from meat at the same time as Homer decides to host a barbeque. Lisa sabotages the barbeque by stealing the hog roast, and Homer stops speaking to her until she apologises. Lisa’s transition into vegetarianism sees her excluded by her neighbourhood, while a single outburst sees her father follow suit. Homer fails to understand Lisa’s personal experience, and instead of respecting Lisa’s moral difference, he becomes personally offended. Homer not only dismisses vegetarianism but also stigmatises her reaction as abnormal. Lisa’s feelings should not result in her exclusion from society, for she has the right to react and experience emotion.
The emphasis of animal liberation has been and will continue to be placed upon diet. There is also a growing awareness of how diet can affect the environment too, and therefore animal product consumption is a topic recognised within environmentalism. Eating can be a joy, but it can also be very complex. Individuals regulate their food consumption differently suiting their own needs and desires, although an enhanced food consciousness may have a knock on effect to mental wellbeing. An unhealthy relationship with eating can arise from various and often-unknown causes, but an Eco-Ability movement specifically acknowledges how meat-free diets correlate to a broad range of eating ‘disorders’.
Reputable studies have concluded a link between vegetarianism and food consumption-related mental illness. Although an unfortunate truth, we must use this fact to strengthen the animal rights movement by providing support and solidarity to the individuals who are suffering. To deny the link is to maintain veganism as ableist and exclusive, where as progressive Eco-Ability awareness recognises the correlation as a major issue and take action to ensure that the movement is inclusive and respectful, prioritising the mental wellbeing of everyone involved. It can be achieved by firstly moving towards an open discussion of mental health without fear of stigma or judgement. This step has already begun with some excellent blogs dedicated to vegan eating disorder recovery. The second step is to ensure disability liberation runs concurrently with ecological liberation, using the ethics of Eco-Ability to justify the requirements of counselling and psychiatry in a stigma-free society.
The Eco-Ability movement must also be aware of an illness called Orthorexia, which is a mental condition that causes an obsession with eating food that the individual considers healthy and avoiding food the individual considers harmful or unethical. Vegetarians and vegans may be affected by this illness, especially since ethics and nutrition are fundamental topics in the animal rights discourse. While we must remain vigilant for the mental wellbeing of our peers, we must also recognise the condemnation of sufferers with Orthorexia by individuals or even by movements. For instance, the feminist news website Jezebel has used a woman’s Orthorexia as a means to denounce veganism. In an article about vegan blogger Jordan Younger, the title itself insinuates that veganism is a mental illness, ‘Famous Vegan Admits She’s Suffering From an Eating Disorder.’ Even though the website promotes feminism, here Jezebel has been very quick to stigmatise mental illness and criticise the vegan movement for apparently encouraging it. The article reads as more of an ideological attack on veganism rather than a compassionate out reach to the woman suffering from Orthorexia. This is why we need an approach to collective liberation that challenges articles like this with an Eco-Ability-Feminist dialogue.
I have some final thoughts on food consumption-related mental health. Illnesses are not limited to the few discussed by the media, and sometimes they need to be signalled by a peer for an individual to become aware of the issue. Just over a year ago, I became aware of the addictive qualities of processed sugar during my transition towards vegetarianism. Since then I have become incredibly conscious of my sugar consumption, although it has only been within the past 6 months that I have considered it as an addiction. I am aware of how I became addicted, although I also believe that veganism has not helped. Conditions such as addiction can be very serious and often become normalised within society. Both meat and dairy possess psychological and chemical addictive qualities that can make transitioning into ethical diets difficult. I had to wean myself off meat with a flexitarian diet, and when I went ‘cold turkey’ from dairy, I had slight withdrawal symptoms for about a week. The advertising industries refuse to acknowledge the detrimental effects of addictive food products for the simple reason that it will impact profitability.
But I also have some positive thoughts on diet and mental wellbeing, as meat-free diets also have the ability to provide individuals with a sense of control over their own lives. I have met many people who have not considered veganism before and questioned the range of food vegans are able to eat, believing that vegans are at a loss when it comes to choice. But on the contrary, and I am sure that most vegans will agree with me when I say that veganism is liberating. Taking control of what I eat and shunning the capitalist exploitation of animals is uplifting and empowering. I cannot think of anything better for my mental wellbeing than being able to practice my own ethics with every meal.
However, for those who are unfamiliar with animal liberation, it can be difficult to recognise the suffering and torture involved in animal agribusiness. The particular emotion is guilt. Having lived a life believing animals are food, when it comes a point where those principles are challenged, it can be hard to look back. This reaction is typical and nothing to be ashamed of. But at the same time, saying, “well, you don’t have to feel like that if you just go vegan” is unhelpful. I am guilty of saying this on many occasions, as it seems like the obvious response. But these remarks disregard the feelings and experiences of the individual. Some people can immediately abstain from animal products and some require a process of transition. We should not perpetuate a hurry-up attitude, but remain supportive and inclusive and respectful. If a peer needs reassurance, remember your own experience. Perhaps say, “I had that exact same feeling. Is there anything I can do to help?”
While on the topic of Eco-Ability, it is vital to also consider the ability of animals in this movement. I have had many conversations with people (from meat eaters to vegans) who completely deny that animals can experience mental illness. It is a requirement of collective liberation movement to dispel this myth, and highlight the absolute damage of factory farming and dominion over animals. Behavioural studies and compassionate interspecies observations tell stories of animals experiencing various degrees of poor mental health. For instance, dairy cows are particularly known as sufferers of depression. These creatures live through monotonous lifestyles, food bribery, exploitative milk over-production, annual artificial inseminations, and have their calves taken from them year on year to experience the same trauma. All farm and domesticated animals will have different mental states, but they are highly prone to suffer compulsive disorders, anxiety, stress, eating disorders, rage, among other conditions and emotions. Alongside recognising mental health of human animals, Eco-Ability must simultaneously tackle the mental wellbeing and recovery of non-human animals while noting the intrinsic differences between species.
Mental wellbeing is as important as physical wellbeing. This should be represented as part of an ecological movement towards collective liberation, and not merely a side note. In a technological age where the world is becoming increasingly complex, mental health must follow suit. This discourse must continue, but only in a stigma-free environment. The blessing about the Eco-Ability movement is its inclusivity. There are individuals who are certainly more marginalised than others in society, and their voices must not be silenced in this movement. However, each one of us is differently abled in specific ways. I have been diagnosed with dyslexia and attention deficit disorder. My ability means that I may not be able to hold focus without medication, but my high energy levels under pressure and ability to multi-task means that this ability is not entirely negative. Everyone is able to contribute on this planet, and everyone is able to have a voice in this faction for collective liberation.
_____________________________________________
Nocella, Anthony (2012), ‘Defining Eco-Ability’, Earth, Animal, and Disability Liberation: The Rise of the Eco-Ability Movement (Quotation from p. XVII) | {
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The composer John Adams and his frequent collaborator, the librettist and director Peter Sellars, are getting the band back together with “Girls of the Golden West,” a new opera about the women of California’s Gold Rush. It will receive its world premiere at San Francisco Opera in 2017, the company announced on Tuesday.
The two men have collaborated on operas that have become part of the American canon: Mr. Sellars directed the first productions of many of Mr. Adams’s works, including “Nixon in China,” “The Death of Klinghoffer” and “Doctor Atomic,” which was also set to his libretto.
Their new opera, which is drawn from historical sources, will weave together the stories of women living in a small mining community in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1850. Mr. Sellars said he was drawn to the period after he came across a trove of historical material while he was working on a production of Puccini’s Gold Rush opera, “La Fanciulla del West,” which is usually translated in English as “The Girl of the Golden West.” | {
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Giancarlo Stanton se gozó el jonrón 33 pic.twitter.com/2wPWEvNrA6 — Enrique Rojas/ESPN (@Enrique_Rojas1) July 27, 2017
Giancarlo Stanton doesn't forget.
After hitting a massive 468-foot solo home run in the eighth inning of Wednesday's game, the Miami Marlins outfielder uncorked an emotional celebration in which he appeared to mock the fist pump used by Texas Rangers right-hander Jason Grilli.
The response was likely in retribution to Grilli's emphatic celebration when he struck out Stanton to end Tuesday's game in what was a 10-4 win for Texas.
Anoche, Jason Grilli se pasó celebrando ponche a Stanton. Hoy, Stanton celebró igual un jonrón contra Grilli pic.twitter.com/W4WaO8fn7O — Enrique Rojas/ESPN (@Enrique_Rojas1) July 27, 2017
The blast was Stanton's MLB-leading 33rd of the season. | {
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Mulher é presa suspeita de estuprar garoto de 12 anos na Bahia; crime foi filmado
Segundo a Polícia Militar, vídeo do crime circulava na internet e foi feito por dois adolescentes, que foram apreendidos. | {
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The Oakland A’s weren’t all that TOOTBLANy in 2013, tying for 19th in MLB - despite ranking sixth in on-base percentage.
If it weren’t for Eric Sogard, they would have competed for the league lead in fewest TOOTBLANs - as shown in the infographic below. Such is life.
You can read the full series here - and you can see the full details of every TOOTBLAN we logged at the TOOTBLAN Database.
Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus.
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You’ve likely seen the video by now. (It’s inching toward one million views.) The toddler with those sweet cheeks lights up as the experimenter passes the toy across the table. The toddler plays with the parts as he’s seen the experimenter do. His eyes are wide, his smile even wider. Then the “emoter” comes in.
She’s grumpy.
She argues with the experimenter. They stop, and the experimenter hands the toddler another toy.
But this time, the toddler freezes. He looks down. He doesn’t play.
For twenty seconds, this toddler, who was once eager and excited, simply tries to hold still and not be noticed.
Researchers from Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences (I-LABS) at University of Washington created this experiment to assess the ability of toddlers to regulate behavior based on social cues. The toddlers don’t play after the negative exchange because they’ve used an important skill called social referencing, looking at the emotional expressions of others to ascertain what type of behavior is expected.
If you haven’t seen the video yet, you can find it here:
(For those of you bothered by the experimenter’s somewhat robotic demeanor and scripted sing-songy voice, my guess is that’s necessary to maintain consistency between samples and to prevent the experimenter from becoming another variable. For more background, read this article written by the mother of the toddler in the video.)
I love what this experiment sets out to explore, the possible links between impulsive behavior and the ability to read social cues, but as I watched the video a different connection was brought home to me.
Children, particularly toddlers, learn by playing and exploring. In a safe and cheerful environment, the toddler was eager and enthusiastic about exploring and playing.
Excited to learn.
In the tense, negative environment the toddler stopped. He didn’t play. He didn’t explore.
He didn’t try to learn.
I couldn’t help but think about the emotional environments in which our children live and learn. Is the emotional environment safe, warm, and loving? Then they are more likely to play, explore, take risks, and learn. Is it tumultuous, curt, or negative? Then they may be more inhibited, reticent, afraid to try.
Learning requires mistakes, but kids in negative environments don’t feel safe making mistakes. So they put their heads down and just get through.
Sometimes they just try not to be noticed.
Sometimes we mistake that fear for good behavior.
Whether it’s the home environment or the classroom, kids recognize and respond to emotional charge. When negative environments create fear and stress, learning is blocked. That’s what I personally saw as I watched the I-LABS video. To me, a child who is afraid to play is symbolic of a child who is afraid to do what it takes to really learn — play, explore, risk.
It seemed to be a perfect outward representation of what we know goes on inside the brain when children try to learn in overly stressful environments. Neuroresearchers tell us that when the amygdala (the part of the brain responsible for sensing and responding to threats) becomes over-activated it creates what they refer to as an “affective filter”. New input literally can not get through to the memory and association circuits of the brain. This isn’t just theory, it’s supported by neuroimaging. As neurologist and teacher, Dr. Judy Willis, states:
“What is now evident on brain scans during times of stress is objective physical evidence of this affective filter. With such evidence-based research, the affective filter theories cannot be disparaged as “feel-good education” or an “excuse to coddle students” — if students are stressed out, the information cannot get in. This is a matter of science.”
The brain systemically resists learning when it’s fearful, stressed, or otherwise threatened. And since we know that the home is the child’s first classroom, this information extends there as well.
Protect the environment.
Discussing the study demonstrated in the video by the rosy-cheeked cherub, co-director of I-LABS, Dr. Andrew Meltzoff, said, “Through studying the roots of social-emotional learning we are illuminating an important aspect of human personality and what helps kids succeed in life and school.”
I agree, and appreciate this look into the social skills kids need to succeed. I don’t want to take away from this work whatsoever. But as I watch I wonder. As we look at what skills will benefit kids, are we also noticing what environments will help them succeed as well?
Related: How Positive Parenting Shapes the Brain
Photo: Christos Tsoumplekas (CC BY-NC 2.0) | {
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Sometimes Nuno Espírito Santo makes it his mission to puncture hype but after watching his team reach the Europa League group stage by completing an impressive aggregate victory over Torino, the Wolves manager allowed himself to trumpet his team’s success.
“It’s fantastic, isn’t it?” said Nuno in a tone uncharacteristically close to giddiness after goals from Raúl Jiménez and Leander Dendoncker, either side of a reply by Andrea Belotti, gave his side a 5-3 win on aggregate that took them into Friday’s draw.
For a manager who took charge of Wolves in 2017 when they were still in the Championship, and for a club who had not competed in a major European competition for nearly 40 years until this season, this is a feat to cherish. “The work started two years ago in the Championship – all this work, building and building,” he said.
“What the boys have done is fantastic. It’s very important for us. Massive. Massive. We will sit down and watch the draw and that will be a pleasure for all Wolves fans.”
Given the way certain other clubs have looked down on the Europa League in recent seasons, it is refreshing how Wolves have embraced it. The way they have played – winning six matches out of six – gives them genuine hope of venturing beyond the group stage no matter whom they are pitted against. Chances are that few of their group opponents will be as nifty as Torino, one of the toughest adversaries Wolves could have been paired with for the play-off. They gave the home side a rigorous test but Wolves ultimately passed it with flying colours.
Nuno Espirito Santo is taking his team into Europe. Photograph: Ryan Browne/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock
This was their ninth match in 36 days since they kicked off their season at the end of July but no one at Molineux is grumbling about a heavy workload. Perhaps it will take a toll later in the season, but Nuno thinks otherwise. “This is what we want,” he said. “We want to play and play. We use games as a tool for us to grow as a team.”
His team selection reflected that conviction. The only alteration from the first leg was to bring back Jonny Otto at left wing-back instead of Rúben Vinagre, whose foul in Turin led to Belotti scoring a late penalty that kept Torino’s qualification hopes alive.
Belotti caused the most trouble to Wolves in that game and the striker proved a pest again. But not only him, because Torino started with a brisk menace that suggested they fancied their chances of becoming the first visitors since January to win here. They took most of the initiative early on, pressing energetically and looking to unhinge Wolves with zippy passing and movement.
Wolves held firm for the most part, though they had a fright in the 16th minute when a headed clearance by Conor Coady fell to Tomás Rincón at the edge of the area. The Venezuelan’s volley whizzed a couple of yards wide.
It was 24 minutes before Wolves rattled the visitors thanks to the exhilarating speed and directness of Adama Traoré, who raced straight through the defence from halfway before Salvatore Sirigu batted away his shot from 10 yards.
Wolves seemed to take heart from that while Torino grew even more wary of Traoré, whose progression from erratic winger to consistently brilliant wing-back has been one of the most thrilling features of their season.
It did not take him long to underline that point. On the half-hour he threw the visitors into a panic again, teasing Temitayo Aina and Sasa Lukic down the right before splitting them with a perfect cross to Jiménez, who nipped in front of two defenders at the near post to produce the finish that the build-up deserved.
A full Molineux under the floodlights is always a picture and that goal added an extra dash of beauty.
Torino did not lie down. Rui Patrício had to stretch himself to swat away a free-kick from Daniele Beselli in the 50th minute. That was merely a warning: in the 56th minute Beselli whipped in another free-kick from the left and Belotti darted into its path and flicked a header in from six yards.
The comeback was on. And then it was off. Within 55 seconds Wolves had restored their lead, Diogo Jota forcing a save from Sirigu before Dendoncker guided the rebound into the net via a post.
“We got confused,” said the Torino manager, Walter Mazzarri, adding that his side failed to stop Wolves because “we were too euphoric about scoring a goal”.
At full-time the celebrations were all from the home team’s staff and fans. Wolves’ European adventure will last for six more matches – at least. | {
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The Denver Broncos have always excelled at finding players in the ‘eighth round’ of the NFL Draft, otherwise known as the college free agent ranks. Under GM John Elway, the Broncos have also done well to find role players and starters from the waiver wire and scrap heaps of other NFL teams.
Former linebacker Brandon Marshall is a good example of the latter. He was a former Jacksonville fifth-round pick back in 2012, whom the Broncos identified and later signed to the practice squad in 2013. Marshall would go onto become a five-year starter and help Denver bring home the Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl 50.
We’ve seen other players develop on the practice squad, patiently and diligently biding their time, only to eventually kick the doors down when they received their opportunity to get called up to the active roster. Players like C.J. Anderson and Shaquil Barrett, and most recently, Dymonte Thomas are good examples of this.
Heading into 2019, the Broncos have a handful of players they’ve carried over from their practice squad last year who have a great shot at making the 53-man roster and carving out a role. Let’s break each one down.
Jeff Holland, OLB
Holland went undrafted out of Auburn last year, and in fairness, was called up to the active roster for the final three games of the 2018 season. He played well in relief of Bradley Chubb, and with both Shaquil Barrett and Shane Ray no longer with the team, Holland will have a great opportunity in 2019.
Holland will face some competition from Aaron Wallace, and whichever rookie edge rushers the Broncos add via the draft and ‘eighth round’. But if the Broncos had to play football today, Holland would likely be deployed as the No. 3 outside linebacker.
Alexander Johnson, LB
Johnson was a late addition to the roster last offseason, and though he didn’t get a lot of time to show what he could do in training camp or preseason action, the Broncos reserved a spot on the practice squad for the former Tennessee stand-out.
The 6-foot-2, 245-pound Johnson was promoted to the active roster in November of last season, but he only appeared in one game. He was mostly a healthy scratch the team promoted to keep outside teams from scalping him. With Brandon Marshall gone, Johnson will get an expanded opportunity to impress new head coach Vic Fangio in 2019.
The linebacker position — inside and outside — is Fangio’s specialty as a coach, which could bode well for Johnson. Johnson is a downhill thumper, which means he’ll have to prove to Fangio he can offer more in coverage in order to earn an expanded role and compete with Todd Davis and Josey Jewell for playing time.
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Austin Schlottmann, OG/C
Schlottmann went undrafted last year out of TCU but he saw a lot of action in the Broncos’ preseason. With 2018 sixth-rounder Sam Jones missing two preseason games, Schlottmann got to ply his wares as the third center probably a little more than even the team expected.
Denver liked what they saw from the 6-foot-6, 300-pound interior lineman and carved out a spot for him on the practice squad. With Matt Paradis, Max Garcia and Billy Turner departed in free agency, needless to say, the Broncos need interior O-line depth for Mike Munchak to mold.
Schlottmann is the type of smart and scrappy player coaches love. We’ll see how the 2019 draft unfolds, but don’t be surprised if Schlottmann wins a spot on the 53-man roster this season.
Andreas Knappe, OT
The Danish-born offensive tackle was making waves in training camp last summer before an injury derailed his possible path to the 53-man roster. With both Billy Turner and Jared Veldheer departed, the Broncos are in need of a swing tackle to hold down the fort behind starting duo Garett Bolles and Ja'Wuan James.
The 6-foot-8, 325-pound Knappe will get the chance to earn that job. He certainly has the size NFL teams covet in the tackle position, and there’s no telling how much of an improvement a fringe (but talented) O-line prospect like Knappe might make under the tutelage of Munchak. Keep an eye on Knappe as a darkhorse to make the roster — health willing.
Trey Marshall, S
Marshall was a highly coveted high school recruit who struggled to meet expectations at Flordia State. However, the Broncos were able to sign him following the 2018 draft, and he took his place at the bottom of a stacked safety depth chart.
Marshall played well late in the preseason, and with Jamal Carter going down with a season-ending hamstring injury, the Broncos chose to keep Marshall on the practice squad. Although Carter will return to action this year, Darian Stewart is gone, which could open the door for a talented young player like Marshall to stick his foot in it.
Of this group, Marshall is probably the biggest long-shot to make the 53-man roster this year, but you never know what type of quantum leap a young player might make between years one and two. Keep an eye on him. | {
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TheDougler Profile Joined April 2010 Canada 8173 Posts Last Edited: 2016-03-21 23:45:25 #1 The Swarm Monarchy
The Prophet Fruitdealer, Herald of the Swarm
1st Generation: Nestea, Creator of the Universe. Challengers: Leenock, Losira, July
2nd Generation: DongRaeGu, The Prince who Was Promised. Challengers: Leenock, Symbol
3rd Generation: Life, King of Lings. Challengers: Leenock, Hyun, Symbol, Sniper
4th Generation: Soulkey, Elephant Overmind. Challengers: Roro, SoO, Life, Symbol
5th Generation: SoO, Silver Crowned. Challengers: Life.
6th Generation: Life, The Second Coming. Challengers: Dark, Rogue
7th Generation: Byul, Last Heartland King. Challengers: SoO,
A history of The Brood Lords*:
On the first day, Nestea created the universe and it was good. He created the sun and the stars, protoss and terran, and he sent back in time his prophet, Fruitdealer (peace be upon him) to bring tidings of the power possessed by the Swarm. But Fruitdealer succumbed to temptation and never again took up the mantle. So it was that the creator of the universe himself descended and won against terran, and zerg, and protoss alike, so that the world would remember the beauty he bestowed unto them. Claiming an undefeated Korean tournament is a feat that has never happened before or since the reign of Nestea... But there are those who see a man where we saw a god.
Men who have defied the divinity of Nestea have existed before however. While Dongraegu had made a name for himself already, through his
The reign of Dongraegu was long and prosperous. Until it was ended one fateful night, as Taeja and Polt dispatched him, to make room for Life as he strode towards the throne along the fabled Royal Road.
Then the domain of Life. As King of Lings he ruled over WoL with an iron fist. The rebellous Leenock would ocassionaly rise up and challenge him, as would the exiled prince Dongraegu, such as occured at
But soon the tide of Starcraft turned. Elephants stampeded onto the scene, and Starcraft players young and old left the warm embrace of Liberty, and entered the Heart of the Swarm. Life would defeat
So it was that Soulkey came into power. Toppling many a foe at the finals he would be truly be put the test, for niether a man nor god stood before him, but a kill bot. Fearlessly, Soulkey sent sent wave after wave of his own men at the kill-bot, until it reached its kill limit, and shut down. Innovation and Soulkey would soon meet again however, and the Kill Bot would have the last laugh. One championship alone is not enough to be declared a lord of the swarm however, and Soulkey ended 2013 by winning the World Cyber Games, thus cementing his legacy.
Then Soo emerged, bravely he battled his way to one GSL finals, then a second, then a third. Always denied that final victory. He approached the throne once more, still, the world denied him. But as his collection of fine silver grew, so did his reputation, and soon there were none who doubted that this was the ruler the the swarm.
But, infuriated by what SoO had done to the gold standard, Life returned once more. He emerged from the shadows to win Blizzcon 2014, and as the first GSL of 2015 came, Life reminded everyone what it meant to be king of Lings.
Soon the winds of scraft would change again, and Byul would pay homage to SoO by gathering the metals for his own crown of silver.
But then all was void.
...
And here we are. Days away from
Dark has seen team mate after team mate achieve greatness. He watched as Boxer coached MMA to greatness. He stood silently, as Taeja left for foriegn soil to seek his fortune. He basked in the destruction, as Innovation took his revenge against Soulkey and defeated many others to become the most feared man/machine in early HoTS. Dark chose his name well, as he has always stood in the shadow of champions. Biding his time until now. He hasn't lost a televised game yet in 2016. But, one still remains to eclipse him.
Solar has already defeated two former brood lords this tournament. He smashed Soulkey 2-0 and routed Byul 3-0. Yet, the rebellious agent of chaos Ragnarok made him appear very mortal as Solar took a shaky 3-2 victory over him. Does he have what it takes, for his skill to outshine even the bleakest Darkness?
This will not be the last battle to determine a Brood Lord, the loser of this will play Stats, to qualify for the finals against the winner. This will not be the last, but it will be the first Brood Lord battle, of Legacy of the Void.
* + Show Spoiler + Look I get it: Brood Lord is not a thing. But the Overmind has been irrelevant for close to two decades, I'm not even sure Cerebrates are things any more and they weren't exactly the coolest even when they did exist, and Kerrigan is a Xel Naga and possibly dead. So I say screw it, lets make "Brood Lord" a thing!
A history of The Brood Lords*:On the first day, Nestea created the universe and it was good. He created the sun and the stars, protoss and terran, and he sent back in time his prophet, Fruitdealer (peace be upon him) to bring tidings of the power possessed by the Swarm. But Fruitdealer succumbed to temptation and never again took up the mantle. So it was that the creator of the universe himself descended and won against terran, and zerg, and protoss alike, so that the world would remember the beauty he bestowed unto them. Claiming an undefeated Korean tournament is a feat that has never happened before or since the reign of Nestea... But there are those who see a man where we saw a god.Men who have defied the divinity of Nestea have existed before however. While Dongraegu had made a name for himself already, through his epic rivalry against MMA in GSTL and at Blizzcon Finals. it wasn't until he slew the Creator of the Universe himself in WoL's most brutal group of death that he was able to go on and take the GSL Trophy, and establish himself as the new leader of the swarm.The reign of Dongraegu was long and prosperous. Until it was ended one fateful night, as Taeja and Polt dispatched him, to make room for Life as he strode towards the throne along the fabled Royal Road.Then the domain of Life. As King of Lings he ruled over WoL with an iron fist. The rebellous Leenock would ocassionaly rise up and challenge him, as would the exiled prince Dongraegu, such as occured at Iron Squid II , after defeating Nestea 3-2, but Life would find a way, as he did that night by defeating DRG 4-3.But soon the tide of Starcraft turned. Elephants stampeded onto the scene, and Starcraft players young and old left the warm embrace of Liberty, and entered the Heart of the Swarm. Life would defeat God himself to strike fear into many, but as the world turned its eyes back to Korea, Life returned to the shadows.So it was that Soulkey came into power. Toppling many a foe at the finals he would be truly be put the test, for niether a man nor god stood before him, but a kill bot. Fearlessly, Soulkey sent sent wave after wave of his own men at the kill-bot, until it reached its kill limit, and shut down. Innovation and Soulkey would soon meet again however, and the Kill Bot would have the last laugh. One championship alone is not enough to be declared a lord of the swarm however, and Soulkey ended 2013 by winning the World Cyber Games, thus cementing his legacy.Then Soo emerged, bravely he battled his way to one GSL finals, then a second, then a third. Always denied that final victory. He approached the throne once more, still, the world denied him. But as his collection of fine silver grew, so did his reputation, and soon there were none who doubted that this was the ruler the the swarm.But, infuriated by what SoO had done to the gold standard, Life returned once more. He emerged from the shadows to win Blizzcon 2014, and as the first GSL of 2015 came, Life reminded everyone what it meant to be king of Lings.Soon the winds of scraft would change again, and Byul would pay homage to SoO by gathering the metals for his own crown of silver.But then all was void....And here we are. Days away from two would-be Brood Lords battling for the throne for the first time in LoTV Dark has seen team mate after team mate achieve greatness. He watched as Boxer coached MMA to greatness. He stood silently, as Taeja left for foriegn soil to seek his fortune. He basked in the destruction, as Innovation took his revenge against Soulkey and defeated many others to become the most feared man/machine in early HoTS. Dark chose his name well, as he has always stood in the shadow of champions. Biding his time until now. He hasn't lost a televised game yet in 2016. But, one still remains to eclipse him.Solar has already defeated two former brood lords this tournament. He smashed Soulkey 2-0 and routed Byul 3-0. Yet, the rebellious agent of chaos Ragnarok made him appear very mortal as Solar took a shaky 3-2 victory over him. Does he have what it takes, for his skill to outshine even the bleakest Darkness?This will not be the last battle to determine a Brood Lord, the loser of this will play Stats, to qualify for the finals against the winner. This will not be the last, but it will be the first Brood Lord battle, of Legacy of the Void. Thanks to EATINGBOMBER for the idea, and to FrostedMiniWheats for tweaking the list a bit. I root for Euro Zergs, NA Protoss* and Korean Terrans. (Any North American who has beat a Korean Pro as Protoss counts as NA Toss) | {
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Israeli police arrested the Palestinian governor of Jerusalem for the second time in as many months, a spokesman said Sunday, after reports of an investigation related to a land sale.
Adnan Gheith was arrested in east Jerusalem overnight, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said in a statement, without providing further details.
Israeli security forces would not comment beyond saying the arrest had to do with money-related issues.
Gheith will be brought for a remand hearing in the Jerusalem magistrate’s court later in the day and details of the allegations against him may be released then.
On October 20, Gheith was detained for two days of questioning before being released, with Israel’s Shin Bet domestic security agency saying it was over “illegal activity by the (Palestinian Authority) in Jerusalem”.
He was also taken for questioning a number of times in recent weeks and his office was raided on November 4.
Israeli media have reported that authorities have been investigating the governor following the PA’s arrest of a man in October accused of being involved in selling property in east Jerusalem to a Jewish buyer.
Such sales are considered treasonous among Palestinians concerned with Israeli settlers buying property in east Jerusalem.
But among Israelis, there have been calls for authorities to free the man arrested by the PA over the sale.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz has reported that the man is a Palestinian with US citizenship.
Fuad Hallaq, a senior advisor to the Palestine Liberation Organization in Jerusalem, told AFP that he believed the latest arrest was part of Israeli efforts to pressure the Palestinian leadership to release the man.
Israel occupied east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move never recognized by the international community.
It considers the entire city its capital, while the Palestinians see the eastern sector as the capital of their future state.
Palestinian Authority activities are barred from Jerusalem by Israel.
As a result, the PA has a minister for Jerusalem affairs and a Jerusalem governor located in Al-Ram, just on the other side of Israel’s separation wall from Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank.
Last Update: Wednesday, 20 May 2020 KSA 09:54 - GMT 06:54 | {
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Reader Keyser Soze had an interesting comment last week that I thought would be a good jump off point for today’s topic:
@Siirtyrion: You said, “Many scientists still go by this notion because it explains the frequent tradeoffs in mating and gives us a more complete picture for sexual selection as a whole. I understand that I uphold physicality as king, but understand that hypergamy isn’t completely about a short-term mating strategy, regardless of what some people may think. Women may be able to fund their our lives currently but rest assure, they still seek out Beta Bucks in other forms aside from monetary or material gain (i.e they still seek out physiological and emotional comfort from less than ideal males).” Question for all: Reading this, I had a thought. We often talk about women hitting the wall at 35ish and their sudden willingness to be me more reasonable with their expectations in a mate as they realize their SMV has decreased. I wonder if the above quote also plays into this. By the time women hit 35ish, historically (without modern methods of assisted conception) they are past their childbearing years. I wonder if their mating strategy changes at this age not only because of diminished SMV, but also because they are no longer looking for prime genetic material for reproduction as much as they are looking for “physiological and emotional comfort”. Perhaps this was implied all along, but I never thought about it this way before.
I hate to think this is going to come off as sympathy for the aging spinsters who had their cake in their youth and now, late in life, are looking to make honest amends for their past decisions, but it probably will.
A few months ago I broke-down Robin Korth’s aging sexual denial and in response we got a glimpse into the rationalization engine (a.k.a. the Hamster) at work in feminine solipsism:
http://twitter.com/RobinKorth/status/486636301207093248
My intent here isn’t to pick on Korth personally or really any woman in the post-Wall demographic in particular, but this self-insight is an excellent illustration of the feminine solipsism I often refer to on this blog. Furthermore, this sense of ego-blamelessness is then combined with the easy rationales and social conventions ready-made by the Feminine Imperative to affirm her self-importance.
Deti comments:
Robin Korth should be reposing in the love of her husband of the past 35 years, give or take. She should be doting on children and grandchildren as the esteemed matriarch of her family. Instead, Ms. Korth is still out there acting as if she’s 25 years old. She’s still trying to navigate the sexual and dating minefields. In the end she’s trying to show everyone (but really herself) that she’s still “got it”; that she can still arouse a man sexually. It is all really about self aggrandizement. It is all about self- validation and affirmation. In the end, it’s all about Robin Korth. It’s pathetic and sad, really. And no, Ms. Korth, your life is not the result of what you think about yourself. You are what you do. You are NOT what you think, read, or write. You are not what you were or what you’d like to be. You are what you do. Period. Full stop.
And from The Difficulty of Gaming Women by Age Brackets by (the old) Roissy:
36 to 38 year olds She is at peace with her spinsterhood and her failure in the dating market. She will acquiesce easily and gratefully to sex with very little game, as long as you don’t look like a grandpa. Her expectations are so low, it will be a challenge to disappoint her. If you are prone to guilt, you might feel it when you inevitably dump a woman in this age range. Don’t. Remind yourself that her past is littered with her insouciant dumping of many beta men before you. You are merely an alpha agent of righteous karma.
Granted, Robin is well past the 38 year old mark by over 20 years, however even at 59 the description is still remarkably apt in light of Deti’s overview, however, the real lesson here is for men.
There comes (or should come) a certain empowerment for men after a point of maturation in life where he grows into an understanding of how the Game is played by women. As I’ve noted in the past month, this game, the former secret of women’s dualistic sexual strategy, is becoming more and more of an open secret amongst a feminine-primary culture becoming increasingly more assured of its primacy. If anything this plan for women’s optimizing hypergamy is just this side of proudly flaunting it to men.
As I pick my way through exactly this ‘plan’ in writing the next book, I’ve actually become less surprised by so many examples I find of this willingness with which women will overtly share their strategy for assuring short-term Alpha sexual desires during their SMV peak, and then consolidation on the security a Beta provider represents as their SMV decays beginning at around 30 years of age.
My purpose in writing this next volume of The Rational Male is to make men aware of just this life-schedule and sexual strategy, but even with my own efforts and the glaring willingness with which women will now confirm it, a larger whole of men simply don’t mature into this overall understanding.
For all the education the Red Pill represents for men, the larger blue pill whole simply don’t want to accept the ugly reality of women’s sexual strategy even when women openly confirm this for them – or when they do it’s too late for anything but pensive self-reproach and then signing the alimony/child support check anyway.
As this understanding becomes more widespread some social change will have to follow. Men will either become so pathetic as to ‘normalize’ it for themselves, and personally identify with what amounts to their open (proactive or reactive) cuckolding under women’s grossly overt championing of their Alpha Fucks / Beta Bucks sexual strategy – or Men will come to the realization (hopefully sooner than later) that the fantasy of monogamous bliss based on a notion of intergender compromise and the ‘give & take’ (but mostly give) they were sold on was never in the best interests of feminine-primacy.
The Feminine Imperative was (and is) only ever concerned with men’s imperatives or male-specific priorities insofar as they align with the superseding, primary imperatives of women. Thus, as open hypergamy becomes more common and the truth of this duplicity and imbalance (really disinterest) of mutual sexual imperatives becomes more evident, men will again (as with Game) evolve methods and mentalities to consolidate on their own imperatives or simply live in denial of it all.
The Long Game
For almost 6 months I’ve had this post from Cail Corishev bookmarked. It’s an excellent driver for exactly this point: prior to the digital age men tended not to play a long game when it came to socio-sexual strategies. The short game is all that matters in the moment, and all that stimulates, but until the advent of digital forums where men could figuratively compare notes, most men were simply unable, and perhaps too distracted to ask the obvious questions about women’s hypergamy and how it plays out over the course of 10-30 years and the roles women expect men to play during those stages of their lives in order to accommodate their strategy.
In Cail’s piece he describes a woman he knew at age 30 and how attractive she was, and his consideration of starting a relationship with her. After a failing interest and 10 years of no contact, she reinitiated with Cail:
But while we were chatting, I saw some of her recent pictures, and whoa! She’s gone from a 7-8 to maybe a 5, and that would be adjusted for age. She hasn’t gotten fat, but that’s about the only positive note. She looks so rough that I found myself wondering what I was thinking ten years ago, but I looked back at some old pictures, and she really was pretty at 30 — not a model or anything, but enough to turn heads. Now she looks like she’s lived 20 hard years in 10. She works nights at a pretty demanding job and has had some serious health problems, so I guess it’s no surprise, but it was really striking: ten years ago I ached for this girl, and now I wouldn’t look twice at her if I passed her in the grocery store. That got me thinking about Rollo’s chart. My own SMV, as far as I can tell, hasn’t changed much from mid-30s to mid-40s, just as his chart would predict. I’m about the same weight, same build, maybe a little less hair, but I’d lost quite a bit of it already back then. I’m not much better-off financially, but at least not worse, and I have more of a sense of direction in my life. I’m certainly more confident, especially with women, and more established in my communities. So some pluses and some minuses, holding steady at about the same level. The amount of interest I get from women seems to support that. She, on the other hand, going from 30 to 40, has gone from fertile to not likely. She’s also a grandmother now, so instead of looking to start a new family, she’s focused (and rightly so) on helping her kids with theirs. (If single moms don’t have much spare attention to give a husband, imagine the single mom of a single mom.) An additional ten years of dating and relationships under her belt certainly doesn’t add to her appeal. On top of those reasons, add the drastic decline in her looks, and now I not only don’t want to marry her, but as we chat I’m mostly thinking, “How soon can I politely say goodnight so I can get to sleep already?” Harsh, but true. Just as Rollo’s chart predicts, her SMV has been on a steady decline since we met — maybe more of a free-fall in her case — and now mine is well above hers.
I had a similar post to this I published back in December of 2011 – Protracted SMV:
It’s a simple matter to tell a guy he’s dodged a bullet in the cosmic scheme of things, but it’s altogether different to provably show him how he’s dodging it. For all the evils of facebook at least it gives him [men] an ability to see the forest for the trees, but the feminine can’t even afford him that. You must stay dumb, you must stay plugged-in for the feminine to maintain primacy. For all the benefits of a globally connected world, the feminine imperative expects you to accept a feminine-centric normalization of it.
What the Feminine Imperative fears is men becoming what Roissy terms Alpha Agents of Righteous Karma. Due to a lifetime of feminine conditioning, men tend to underestimate the leverage their SMV has in the context of women’s biological imperatives.
Pity for Reneé
I have a similar story to Cail’s. When I was a senior in high school I had a ‘friend‘ named Reneé, she was a gorgeous auburn-red head with a fantastic 17-18 year old body. We were good ‘friends‘ in the sense that it was clear I wasn’t ever going to see her naked and she had all of the personality trappings of a girl who knew she was attractive (she did modeling after high school), but also had the beginnings of a very self-important ego-invested feminist mind set.
I never really stayed in touch with her after graduation since by then I had moved on to women who enthusiastically reciprocated my interests and I moved along in life. It wasn’t until 2009 that I got on FaceBook and began having old friends look me up – Reneé was among the first. Very similar to the woman in Cail’s story we started to catch up with what the other had been doing through their 20s, 30s and now 40s.
As it turned out she was still fairly attractive for having had one daughter and never marrying the father, or any other guy for that matter. Most of the predictable single mommy issues and false-empowerment memes were bandied about by her, but the short version is here she was at 41 and her daughter was a year away from leaving for college. She was between jobs, but the one she had and the one she hoped to get were mediocre low to mid-management type, subsistence level employment.
She was and still is single 5 years later. The predictable questions about what my wife was like and how long we’ve been married came up, how we met, and where I’ve travelled in my work, etc. and I can honestly say I felt bad for her just recalling all of the life I’ve lived in the interim and basically forgot about her since high school.
She’s 46 now, and loves FaceBook as much as any aging spinster, but I really don’t want to call her that. In between the many pictures of her 4 cats (no lie) she occasionally posts some lament about how lonely she is now that her daughter has gone away to school and she comes home to an empty apartment these days. She makes not-so-subtle pleas to her FB community friends to set her up with ‘a great guy’ and all the dutiful Betas come out of the woodwork to tell her how pretty she (still) is and to keep her chin up and the right guy will “come along” – not so unlike the advice she gave me and at least half a dozen other guys I knew back in the day.
Reneé still clings to all of the feminist memes and mantras (reposts all the most popular), and complains of not being able to find a “great guy” anymore. This is of course infantile men’s faults for not manning up to her fem-correct standards, or else it’s a complaint about the ‘creepy’ men who really just want to bang her when she out with friends.
Unhappy Feminists
I hadn’t really ever considered using Reneé as a blog post subject until I read this article in Psychology Today:
According to a new survey released this month, your odds of winning the cash would increase if you skipped any 40-something, single female professionals and focused on the middle-aged male managers with one child at home and a wife who works part-time. In its Office Pulse survey, Captivate Network, a media solutions company, says its uncovered “profiles of the happiest and unhappiest workers.” And here it is: Male
39 years old
Married
Household income between $150,000 and $200,000
In a senior management position
1 young child at home
A wife who works part-time And the unhappiest profile?: Female
42 years old
Unmarried (and no children)
Household income under $100,000
In a professional position (doctor, lawyer, etc.)
Minus the professional status, essentially Reneé fits the profile for the most unhappy person in the western world today. Now, return back to Robin Korth’s comment, her life is the result of what she thinks of herself. What does this say about the decision making both she and Reneé have made in their lives?
I can’t say I have any sympathy for the likes of Korth, but for Reneé I do feel a pang of pity (in spite of Roissy’s advice for women of this age). For all of the accusations of red pill “misogyny” I genuinely do like women, and I’m not rooting for them to smash into the Wall. However I can see why my observations make this seem so – hard truths are often warnings that we don’t like to heed.
I often wonder if women of this profile aren’t as much victims of an ideological conditioning as Betatized men are over the course of their lives. Much of what’s resulted in Reneé’s life are the consequences of having (and still subscribing to) a mindset that’s based on equalist individualism, and she’s now beginning to reap what she’s sown – knowingly or not.
I don’t know the father of her daughter, but my red pill instincts (and knowing how hot she used to be) tell me the guy was likely a pump and dump Alpha bad boy. Reneé never struck me as the type to ‘settle’ on a Beta provider because she was too headstrong and independent® for that – she was certainly hot enough to attract the Alphas and independent enough to never consider a Beta for a relationship.
Observations
So my observation is this; while granting that women’s decisions are their own, and they should in all ways be accountable for the consequences that follow from them, how much of those decisions are based on a conditioning that promotes an idealized ideology of feminine, equalist independence?
For the same reason I can’t entirely fault a man with an internalized blue pill mindset over his conditioning, shouldn’t we also consider that women are likewise mislead by a similar influence? Are we (again) giving women too much credit for being rational independent agents under different circumstance?
For men’s part, it’s hardly avoidable that we become Alpha Agents of Righteous Karma by default for women in this cohort. Perhaps not as Alpha as we’re perceived, but as our SMV ascends in our 30s and (sometimes) through our 40s, it’s almost unavoidable that, even with a baseline of ambition, we’re seen as more desirable long term prospects.
In all honesty, were I to find myself single tomorrow, Reneé or women like her would never make my ‘to date’ list. Women love to complain that mature men really aren’t, and all they want is a young girl to fuck and coo for them. I would argue that men in my demo (at least should) have the depth of experience to know what the Feminine Imperative (and its social arm feminism) has bred and conditioned into women, and we honestly don’t want the hassle of dealing with it.
There is precious little reward for a man, and no appreciation, for having a big enough heart to save a woman from the consequences of her past decisions. That’s not meant as a callous punishment, just simple pragmatism.
As I stated in The Threat,
Nothing is more threatening yet simultaneously attractive to a woman than a man who is aware of his own value to women.
When you’ve spent your whole life attempting to ‘have it all’ on your own, perhaps men can’t help but be an agent of Karma when that ‘all’ includes a man’s participation.
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School of Psychotherapy and Psychology
Regent’s University London
PROJECT TITLE
Maternal Effects on Eating Disorders.
INVESTIGATOR
Lucy Fowler
INVITATION
You are being asked to take part in a research study of possible risk factors in the development of eating disorders in daughters. I am Lucy Fowler, a student studying for an MSc in Psychology at Regent's University London. This study forms part of my dissertation and is supervised by Dr Leslie Van der Leer. The aim of this study is not to attribute any blame to parents but to help further understand potential risk factors in the development of eating disorders, an area still little understood by professionals. The project has been approved by the Psychology Research Ethics Committee.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN
In this study, you will first be asked to consent to taking part and then asked to fill in some demographic information and details about your eating disorder history. if you are the "mother" of your pair, you will then be asked to complete two questionnaires: the first relating to attitudes towards your body, and the second relating to traits associated with obsessive-compulsive disorder; the "daughter" of the pair will be asked to complete only one questionnaire, about her (daughter's) perceptions of her mother's attitude towards her (mother's) body.
TIME COMMITMENT
The study typically takes 15 minutes.
PARTICIPANTS’ RIGHTS
Participation in this research study is completely voluntary. Even after you agree to participate and begin the study, you are still free to withdraw at any time and without having to give a reason.
BENEFITS AND RISKS/DISCOMFORT
There are no known risks for you in this study. If, however, participating in this study causes any personal distress or you want to talk to someone further about any issues associated with this study, there will be contact details at the end of this study. A potential benefit of the study is that it may provide further insight into potential risk factors in the development of eating disorders.
COST, REIMBURSEMENT AND COMPENSATION
Your participation in this study is voluntary. You will receive no remuneration in return for your participation.
CONFIDENTIALITY/ANONYMITY
The data we collect do not contain any personal information about you except for your age, gender, ethnicity, your eating disorder history and your surname, as well as the information provided in the questionnaires. The information that you provide will be confidential and anonymous: surnames will be used purely to match mother and daughter pairs and then deleted before data analysis.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Dr Leslie Van der Leer will be glad to answer your questions about this study at any time. You may contact her at [email protected]
If you would like to find out about the final results of this study, or have any questions related to this study only, you should contact Lucy Fowler at [email protected].
| {
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funny joke I told my crush was successful laughed so hard I farted | {
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Sophisticated Cat
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OTTAWA -- The war on drugs may move to a new battlefield in Canada, if Liberal MPs get their way: the 2019 federal election campaign.
They're pushing the Trudeau government to go much further than legalizing recreational marijuana. In a priority resolution they hope will be adopted at the Liberals' policy convention in April for inclusion in the next election platform, the national caucus is calling on the government to eliminate criminal penalties for simple possession and consumption of all illicit drugs.
Newly-minted NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has taken a similar stance.
But the Conservatives, who have opposed many elements of the plan to legalize pot by July, are signalling that they would object to decriminalizing the use of other, harder drugs even more strenuously.
"The Conservatives haven't been satisfied or in any way pleased with what they're doing in the area of marijuana. I think it's going to be a complete mess in this country," Conservative justice critic Rob Nicholson said in an interview.
"That being said, to expand this ... to do anything that does anything except discourage people from taking opioids and strong drugs I think is a mistake," he added.
"If you're saying it's OK to consume this, you're not sending out the message here that this is a huge problem that tears families apart, destroys peoples' health, decreases the safety within this country. Because who's going to be providing them with this? These are the criminal elements."
Many Conservatives feared legalization of pot would be just the first step towards legalizing other, harder drugs. But Nicholson said he's frankly surprised that Liberal MPs aren't even waiting to see how legalizing cannabis works out before starting down that slippery slope.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has repeatedly ruled out legalization of drugs other than cannabis. He has not so far commented on the resolution advanced by his own caucus, which does not actually go so far as to advocate legalization of other drugs.
Rather, the caucus is proposing that Canada adopt the model that has proven successful in Portugal in significantly reducing overdose deaths, decreasing illicit drug use and reducing the social cost of drug abuse.
Since 2001, Portugal has expanded treatment and harm reduction services, such as safe injection sites, and eliminated criminal penalties for simple possession and consumption of all illegal drugs. A person found in possession of a drug for personal use is no longer arrested but ordered to appear before a "dissuasion commission" which can refer the person to a treatment program or impose administrative sanctions.
"We see on all the metrics that matter, in terms of a public health approach, positive success stories," Toronto Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine-Smith said in an interview.
"We're certainly not talking about legalizing all drugs here. We're talking about a step that would decriminalize (drug use) ... I think the easiest way of thinking about it is we currently use the criminal justice system to tackle drug abuse and let's use the health system as much as possible to tackle drug abuse instead."
In a recent byelection in Toronto's Scarborough-Agincourt, the Conservative candidate ran social media ads, one of which featured a grainy photo of a junkie injecting heroin into his arm. The ads warned voters about the Liberals' plan to legalize pot and create more safe injection sites.
"The Trudeau Liberals want to bring dangerous drugs into our community," one ad asserted. "The Liberals are rushing to legalizing (sic) marijuana despite concerns being raised by police and health professionals. And now they want to legalize prescription heroin!"
It's not hard to imagine how much sharper Conservative attacks would become if the Liberal party adopts the caucus proposal. But Erskine-Smith said Liberals shouldn't let that deter them.
"If the Conservatives want to ignore the evidence and lash out in some tough-on-crime way, I say have at it. It hasn't worked in the past and I don't think it will work," he said.
"I hope we're past the point of worrying whether Canadians are going to buy into this idea ... It doesn't matter what political stripe you are, if you care about the evidence and you care about what works, I think you've got to get past the politics of it and what the easy attack ad is and follow the evidence to save lives." | {
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New People’s Army (NPA) guerrillas killed two soldiers and two militiamen, and wounded eight others in separate attacks Thursday on security teams delivering computer equipment for Monday’s elections, officials said.
The Philippine National Police said it had recorded 44 fatalities in 66 election-related incidents, including 58 cases of shootings that also left 38 people wounded.
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More than 3,000 people have also been arrested, while 3,011 firearms have been confiscated since the Commission on Elections (Comelec) imposed a nationwide gun ban in January.
Guerrillas ambushed a government convoy that was delivering election equipment to a mountainous area near Tabuk, Kalinga, killing two soldiers, their unit commander, Col. Roger Salvador, reported.
“They did not manage to get any of the (voting) machines, but the escorts got hit,” Salvador told AFP, referring to scanners that would be used to tally votes in polling precincts.
The ambush also left six other military escorts wounded, said Senior Supt. Froilan Perez, police chief in Kalinga.
Perez said the scanners were to undergo final testing ahead of the balloting, in which more than 52 million Filipinos are qualified to vote. None of the civilian election workers in the convoy was reported hurt.
NPA rebels ambushed a second convoy delivering ballot scanners near Ragay in Camarines Sur at dawn, killing a member of a local militia force, said local Army commander Lt. Col. Michael Buhat.
Two soldiers escorting the convoy were wounded, he added.
The Philippine military has said the NPA is using the elections to raise funds by extorting money from candidates. Those who refuse to pay up are attacked, officials say.
Last month, the NPA ambushed Ruth Guingona, mayor of Gingoog City, Misamis Oriental, killing two of her aides and leaving her and two policemen wounded.
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The 4,000-member NPA has been waging a 44-year-old Maoist armed campaign that has claimed at least 30,000 lives, according to a government estimate.
Last week, President Aquino’s government said its peace talks with the communists had collapsed and a target of ending the insurgency by 2016 was impossible to achieve.
Deployment completed
PNP Director Alex Paul Monteagudo said security forces had been deployed to guard vital installations like power plants, mass transportation, telecommunication infrastructure, and places of heavy public convergence as part of the election security preparations plan presented on Wednesday during a meeting with Mr. Aquino.
Full deployment of the 140,000-strong police force for election duty has been completed, he said.
Monteagudo urged the public to report possible sabotage operations on vital installations.
A massive power outage in Luzon on Wednesday was not caused by sabotage, he said, “but it only highlighted the fact that these things could happen.”
Monteagudo said that the PNP would be primarily responsible for securing vital installations in urban areas while the military will guard those in the rural areas.
However, Monteagudo said that this was “not a fixed rule” and the Regional Joint Security Control Center would still determine the “tactical deployment” of the government security forces.
“There are many factors to be considered. Each region, province and vital installation has its peculiarity. There are vital installations that have their own security force so we would just have to coordinate with them as they won’t need warm bodies. So all these factors are being factored in when planning to secure these vital installations,” he said.
“We are calling on concerned citizens… If you know something, inform the police, our Army units and other security forces so that we can preempt that… information is important to the police and the military deployed in an area. If they get wind of plans it would be better because they take measures to prevent these plans to conduct sabotage operations against vital installations,” he said.—With reports from AFP and Nikko Dizon
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OXNARD, Calif. - The Cowboys have apparently seen enough of the Rico Gathers experiment, deciding to cut the tight end on Monday here at training camp.
Gathers was entering his fourth camp with the team, and had seemingly improved every year, going from the practice squad in 2016-17 to the active roster last year in 2018, when he played 15 games, including four starts.
But here at camp, Gathers hadn't made a big impact, and also suffered a minor ankle injury that kept him out a few days.
Gathers, the sixth-round pick in 2016, tried to make the transition from a college basketball star at Baylor to the NFL. He hadn't played organized football since junior high before he joined the Cowboys in 2016.
Last year, he caught three passes for 45 yards but was used more as a blocker. | {
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Alabama wide receiver Jerry Jeudy is one of the most exciting freshmen to keep an eye on this fall. As an early enrollee, Jeudy was named MVP of the Tide's spring game following a five-catch, 134-yard, two-touchdown performance. Calvin Ridley and Robert Foster are expected to keep their spots at the top of the depth chart, but defensive coordinators will lose sleep over the potential damage that Jeudy can do to a secondary this fall.
Jeudy has NFL potential and, like many college receivers, looks up to Odell Beckham, posting this clip of him making a one-handed grab -- "working on my Odell Beckham" -- from a video of practice this week. | {
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I looked on Google.com Advanced Search for "problem" "anal bead" but found so many articles that I couldn't go through them all. Perhaps you'll have better luck. Several different designs of these bead strings were pictured, and some of them looked dangerous if they should break.
You could eat a lot of soft foods like apple sauce and other foods that you know can produce soft bowel movements, and wait for results. A bulk-producing laxative might also work. In my opinion, a Fleet's enema might be too drastic.
If there's any possibility that part of the broken bead string might be poking or scratching the delicate rectal tissues, you really should give up and go to the doctor. Tell the receptionist that it's a very personal issue, and when you see the doctor, ask him not to keep any detailed information in your records. He could call it "irritation" or "constipation" or some such thing. If you explain your special privacy concerns, I'm sure he'll understand. | {
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We St Louis bloggers all know Mae Mason, otherwise known as MuthaMae. She’s the mother of a three who not only blogs, but video-blogs (vlogs) and produces her own online show, Word To Your Mutha. Mae’s blog discuss all kinds of parenting and family issues in a lighthearted, humorous way, and in her latest show, she tackles how to instill the value of recycling in her four-year-old and two one-year-olds…when she doesn’t really recycle herself. Best of all, she used Green Options to help her figure it out…
Smarty pants that she is, Mae enlisted the help of Green Options Senior Editor and founder of Sustainablog, Jeff McIntire-Strasburg. Jeff is a fellow St. Louisan, and he offered to appear on Mae’s show walking her through recycling for beginners, giving information on how to set up a system that works for your family, what you can and can’t recycle, and different types of recycling programs.
Mae says:
I had read a recent article that stated it’s easy to get young kids to recycle, but once they hit the teen years they lose interest. It hit me that we didn’t have a recycling program in our home and that’s NOT GOOD! I went online to do some research on how to set up a program, then realized it would be a fantastic show episode. Maybe I could convince other families like mine to recycle, too. I wanted to bring an expert on board to show us how to set up a proper program. Jeff was so kind, so informative, and so good on camera. I look forward to making future shows with him.
Kudos to Mae for getting on the green train. This is a great video for anyone looking to go green, but especially parents who want to teach their kids. Wanna check it out? MuthaMae’s “Recycling With Mae” is online.
[This post was written by Kelli Best-Oliver]
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One of two bills that would eliminate the per-country cap on green cards has been blocked in the U.S. Senate, according to a report Thursday.
The annual 7 percent cap on green cards for citizens of any one country has led to waits of many years for foreign nationals working in the U.S. on the H-1B visa and seeking permanent residency, with citizens of India waiting the longest because they dominate the H-1B system.
Under bill S386, sponsored by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and also spearheaded by co-sponsor Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), a maximum 85 percent of green cards could be allocated to Indian or Chinese citizens in 2020. In the second and third years, that proportion would rise to 90 percent.
The bill, called the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act and introduced in February, requires unanimous consent to be brought to the Senate floor, immigration lawyer William Stock noted on Twitter. On Thursday, Sen. David Perdue (R-GA) blocked it — for now. “I support this bill,” Perdue said. “We have some language that needs to be clarified and I still have some concerns about the impact this legislation would have on some specific industries in not only my state but in the country.” Perdue said he wanted to work with Sen. Lee to “quickly” resolve his concerns about the bill.
Earlier this year, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) blocked the bill, seeking a carve-out for nurses.
Related Articles Foreign investors seeking green cards to pay far more under new EB-5 visa rule
Bill to scrap per-country green card cap passes House with bipartisan support
Scams block some Chinese investors’ path to U.S. green cards The version blocked Thursday contained a carve-out for “shortage occupations,” according to a tweet by Migration Policy Institute analyst Julia Gelatt. The institute has projected that even if the bill passed, skilled professionals newly applying for green cards might still have to wait almost 14 years before getting one, institute analyst Sarah Pierce tweeted Thursday.
An identically named companion bill, HR1044, that originated in the House, sponsored by Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose), passed the House easily in July with bipartisan support. | {
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[Esta reportagem foi publicada a 1 de novembro de 2017 e recuperada a 15 de novembro de 2018, depois de ter sido noticiado que a chefe de gabinete do PAN na Assembleia da República, Cristina Rodrigues, é dada como suspeita pela PJ de estar entre os encapuçados daquele grupo]
Desde o contacto inicial ao primeiro encontro passaram cerca de três semanas. A IRA, acrónimo para Intervenção e Resgate Animal (não confundir com o Irish Republican Army) existe há um ano, tem 54.870 seguidores no Facebook, já fez dezenas de resgates de animais na zona da Grande Lisboa, e até uma batalha contra o gigante espanhol El Corte Inglès venceu, depois de se ter mobilizado contra uma campanha de compra de animais a prestações. Ainda assim, os seus membros continuam a fazer questão de se manterem no anonimato — e, até agora, de recusarem todos os pedidos de entrevista que lhes foram feitos.
As instruções, enviadas via Facebook, são precisas e a roçar o militar: às 20h30 de uma noite de fim de setembro os jornalistas do Observador serão apanhados por uma “viatura 4×4” numa bomba de gasolina em Lisboa para então seguirmos para a zona de Massamá, onde o grupo vai proceder ao “sequestro” de dois cavalos subnutridos e maltratados pelos donos. “Não tragam nada que vos identifique; tatuagens tapadas; calçado desportivo; roupa prática; cabelo apanhado ou uso de boné. O restante será explicado logo, aguardem no interior do posto de abastecimento.”
Já depois de recebermos o resto do briefing por parte do fundador do grupo, no exterior de um ginásio nos Olivais, onde a IRA tem sede, somos apresentados aos restantes membros — formais no trato, ar de quem vai para uma missão em zona de guerra. “Irados” é como se autodenominam. Ao todo são nove em Lisboa mais outros cinco na zona Oeste. Nesta noite só sete participarão no resgate, cinco partem de Lisboa, os outros dois já estão em Massamá, “para detetarem qualquer tipo de movimento”.
Um dia antes, alguns já tinham estado no local e falado com o proprietário dos animais. Por isso mesmo, temem que ele possa dar sumiço aos cavalos. Ou pior: “Ainda há pouco tempo circularam na Internet fotografias de um cavalo que estava a ser maltratado pelos donos. Antes que alguém o pudesse resgatar, desapareceram com ele. Quando apareceu, estava o corpo de um lado e a cabeça do outro; decapitaram o animal. A ideia deles é conseguirem ganhar dinheiro com os cavalos. Não conseguindo vendê-los e ganhar esse dinheiro rápido, também não têm dinheiro para os alimentar e maltratam-nos”, explica um dos elementos. | {
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U.S. President Donald J. Trump is like the Old Testament figure Nehemiah who was called by God to construct a wall to protect the people of Jerusalem, according to Southern Baptist preacher Robert Jeffress.
(REUTERS / Jonathan Ernst) U.S. President-elect Donald Trump delivers remarks at a luncheon with his cabinet members and congressional leaders at Trump International Hotel in Washington, U.S. January 19, 2017.
In a telephone interview on the Mike Gallagher Show on Jan. 20, Pastor Jeffress talked about the private prayer service he led for President Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, and their families and Cabinet officers on the morning of their inauguration. The First Baptist Church of Dallas leader explained why he compared Trump to Nehemiah during his sermon that day, the Catholic News Service relays.
"I was privileged to deliver the sermon at that service today. I decided to compare President Trump to another great leader God chose 2,500 years ago named Nehemiah," Pastor Jeffress told Gallagher over the phone. "Nehemiah wasn't a politician, he wasn't a prophet, he was a builder. God told him to build a wall around Jerusalem and he did that, and God made it a great success."
Gallagher agreed that Trump and Nehemiah had some things in common because both were not politicians and had experienced being attacked and mocked by their opponents.
Jeffress answered by saying Nehemiah was criticized by Sanballat and Tobiah, two figures that he says are represented by today's mainstream media. Despite the verbal attacks and the false rumors hurled against him, Nehemiah did not stop building the wall, and the task was done in 52 days. This caused the Israelites' enemies to lose their confidence because they recognized God's hand behind the building of the wall.
"But Nehemiah didn't let it stop him and I think the same is true for this president," Jeffress added in the interview. "He knows God has called him to a great work and he's not going to be stopped."
The sermon about building walls stirred controversy, considering that Trump had previously expressed his intention to build a wall along the country's southern border. In an exclusive interview with The Christian Post, Jeffress clarified that the whole point of his sermon was not about building walls but was about Nehemiah being used for God's unique purpose.
Moreover, Jeffress predicted that Trump's presidency will mark the start of spiritual revival in America. He said the great irony in this forthcoming revival is the major participation of a "secular billionaire" who ended up being the county's "most faith-friendly" national leader. | {
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An ex-Brick employee and daughter of a former disgraced township mayor was released Wednesday after she served only 10 months of a 5-year sentence for stealing nearly $1 million from the township's health insurance program to help chiropractor brother's failing practice.
Kim Bogan, 52, of Brick, was released early through the state's Intensive Supervision Program, her attorney, Steven Secare, said Friday.
Kim Bogan, 53, of Brick (New Jersey Department of Corrections)
"Certain people are eligible for the program," Secare said. "You can't be in for a violent crime and there can't be a parole disqualifier. The program is designed for people like her."
Bogan was sentenced in January after pleading guilty in October to a single count of theft by deception, officials have said.
She admitted that between 2011 and 2017 she tried to help her New York-based chiropractor brother, Glenn Scarpelli, by helping him submit false claims to her employee health insurance program totaling $941,354, the New Jersey Attorney General's Office said.
"The defendant allowed the practitioner to submit claims in her name for services never rendered, and endorsed the insurance checks when they were mailed to her, knowing the money was stolen," former New Jersey Attorney General Christopher Porrino said in a release earlier this year.
As the scheme unraveled, Scarpelli and his wife, Patricia Colant, leapt to their deaths from a Madison Avenue building in New York, where Scarpelli ran his practice. The New York Post reported that the couple was deeply in debt and left behind suicide notes where they said "cannot live with" their "financial reality."
Scarpelli and Bogan's father, former Brick Mayor Joseph Scarpelli, received an 18-month federal prison sentence in 2007 for taking bribes in exchange for helping a developer obtain approval for construction projects.
He served as Brick's mayor for nearly 13 years before he resigned in December 2006, one month before he pleaded guilty.
As part of her plea agreement, Bogan was ordered to pay the $941,354 she stole back to the town.
Under the Intensive Supervision Program, Bogan will have to wear a monitoring device and must be "gainfully employed" within a certain time period to help pay back her debt to Brick, Secare said.
"If you violate the terms, you can be sent back to state prison," he said. "It's not an easy program because you have someone watching over you."
Chris Sheldon may be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @chrisrsheldon Find NJ.com on Facebook. | {
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Deputy State Duma speaker Sergey Neverov has called for various international organizations to create a joint group to assess the US authorities’ handling of the ongoing protest in the town of Ferguson.
Neverov, who also chairs the majority United Russia caucus in the Lower House, has told reporters that the international community must not remain indifferent to the crisis situation in the United States – the country that presents itself as a model for democracy. “The events in Missouri have demonstrated that the United States have serious problems based on racial discrimination,” Neverov noted in a comment to the Russian daily Izvestia.
The politician said that United Russia wanted to set up a special commission manned with representatives of the UN, PACE and other international groups that would make contact with participants of the events in Ferguson, Missouri, and investigate the lawfulness of the actions of US authorities and law enforcers.
Neverov added that the chairman of the Lower House committee for international relations MP Aleksei Pushkov (United Russia) could head the Russian part of the international commission.
In mid-August, Pushkov denounced the use of tear gas and rubber bullets in Ferguson as “a sign of dictatorship and an excessive use of force” by posting a message on his Twitter.
США применяли слезоточ.газ и резиновые пули для разгона протеста в Фергюсоне. Разве это не признак диктатуры и чрезмерного применения силы? — Алексей Пушков (@Alexey_Pushkov) August 15, 2014
Izvestia quoted a source in the United Russia party saying they wanted the Russian part of the commission to be manned by MPs, who now participate in the Russian delegation in the PACE.
On Thursday a member of the Presidential Council for Human Rights suggested sending a peacekeeping mission of rights activists to Ferguson in order to stop the violence. Igor Borison told the ITAR-TASS news agency that the measure would prevent “a full scale genocide against its own population” in the United States.
Earlier this week, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s envoy for Human Rights, Konstantin Dolgov, said that the unrest in Ferguson was a vivid demonstration of the extreme tensions that exist in modern American society. Dolgov called the curfew, the violent dispersing of rallies and the deployment of the National Guard to the area “a repetition of the race cataclysms” that have shaken the United States in the past.
“While demanding that other countries guarantee the freedom of speech and stop suppressing anti-government protests, at home the US authorities never show any leniency towards those who actively express their discontent with inequality, de-facto discrimination, and the position of second class citizens. As we have all seen, reporters who perform their professional duty also get their share of ill treatment,” read the comment posted on the ministry’s website.
Tensions remain in the St. Louis suburb of Ferguson where the Missouri governor announced on Monday that he had ordered National Guard troops to be deployed to protect the area from “deliberate, coordinated and intensifying violent attacks on lives and property.” The clashes resumed during the week as police used tear gas to disperse protesters. Law enforcers also used live ammunition against the crowd.
The initial protests were prompted by the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old black man who was shot and killed by white police officer, Darren Wilson, on August 9. | {
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NEW YORK—Microsoft today unveiled Teams, its Slack-like chat service. Teams offers the same kind of Web-based IRC-like text chat experience that Slack users have come to know and love, with persistent storage of historic chats, integrations with third-party services, and of course emojis and memes.
Slack has become the darling of millennials, serving as a kind of digital water cooler for idle office chit-chat, as well as a workspace for teams to tackle projects. This is particularly valuable for geographically distributed teams, as it fosters a style of communication that's more fluid and informal than e-mail or conference calling.
Microsoft's first foray into corporate social media was its purchase of Yammer, which offers something along the lines of Facebook for organizations—a virtual noticeboard to broadcast to your team. While this is still ticking along, the IRC-like model of communications is looking like it's going to be the one with legs. There were suggestions that Microsoft might buy Slack, but the asking price (a $4 billion valuation) was likely too high for the amount of revenue and number of paying customers that Slack actually has.
As such, over the last 18 months or so, Microsoft has been building Teams, its own take on the Slack idea. Microsoft's vision is a little different; Teams has threaded chat so that replies can be directly beneath the message they're responding to.
Microsoft is also heavily promoting its integrations with the rest of Office 365; Teams members can be invited to Skype for Business calls, shared documents can be attached to conversations, and services like Power BI can be directly accessed from within Teams. Third-party integration is also possible, with a range of APIs available.
This Office 365 tie-in is perhaps Microsoft's strongest weapon. Teams will be available to everyone with a small business or enterprise subscription to Office 365, making it essentially "free" to tens of millions of customers. The service is available as a preview today in 181 countries thanks to 18 language localizations. It will be released to the general public in the first half of next year.
For a preview product, Microsoft's release looks ambitious. It's doing more than just offering the core chat experience; the company is also shipping mobile clients for Windows, Android, and iOS. The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, but it certainly appears that it will be a well-rounded offering right out of the gate.
Slack's response to Teams has been to take out a full-page open letter-style advertisement congratulating Microsoft on its entry into the space and giving some "advice" about what made Slack successful. This response has raised a few eyebrows—the comments beneath the Medium version of the open letter are broadly unkind—and gives the impression that the startup is already running scared of an 800lb gorilla that's muscling in on its turf.
Slack does retain one big advantage, however: Microsoft has said that there's no free pricing tier for Teams. Slack, on the other hand, can be used for free, subject to certain limitations. This makes it much easier for organizations to try out Slack to see if it's a good fit for their needs. | {
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MIDFIELDER Josh Thomas has re-signed with Collingwood for 2018 to cap a successful comeback from his two-year anti-doping ban.
Thomas returned to Collingwood at the start of this year, having been forced to sit out the 2015 and 2016 seasons, along with teammate Lachlan Keeffe, through a WADA suspension.
The Magpies showed their faith in Thomas during his ban, keeping him on their list as a rookie, but when the Queenslander returned he had just this season to convince them he still had a future at the club.
AFL Trade hub: Click here for all the latest trade news
Thomas did not waste his opportunity, breaking into Collingwood's senior team in round 15 after a strong start to the VFL season, and then holding his spot for the final nine home and away games.
The 26-year-old had no hesitation signing a new one-year deal with the Magpies late last week despite being eligible to explore unrestricted free agency.
Thomas joined Collingwood via pick No.75 in the 2009 NAB AFL Draft and has played 41 games.
Meanwhile, Keeffe's future is yet to be decided. The unrestricted free agent did not manage a senior game in his return to Collingwood this season, but the 204cm swingman's form was solid in the VFL, where he played predominantly as a forward.
Keeffe, 27, is hoping to learn of Collingwood's plans for him before the end of the trade period on October 19, but has attracted interest from another Victorian club. | {
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Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Advertisement Israel's navy has intercepted a ship carrying hundreds of tonnes of Iranian weapons intended for Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Israeli military has said. The Antiguan-flagged vessel, Francop, was boarded 160km (100 miles) off the Israeli coast, the military said, and has been towed to the port of Ashdod. PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the arms were intended to strike Israeli cities. In recent months Israel has stepped up efforts to combat the smuggling of arms to both Hezbollah and Hamas militants. Hezbollah has not yet commented on the latest incident. Iran and Syria have both rejected Israel's allegations. 'Disguised cargo' The Israeli military said marines had boarded the 137m (450ft) Francop after its captain agreed to the search and no force was used.
Weapons haul reveals fragile calm In pictures: Seized arms ship The vessel was intercepted "near Cyprus", the Israeli military said, though it gave no further details on where this took place. The country's deputy defence minister, Matan Vilnai, said the ship's crew were not thought to have been aware of the smuggling operation. A spokesperson for the military said there were "dozens of shipping containers, carrying numerous weapons, disguised as civilian cargo among hundreds of other containers on board". The spokesperson added: "The weapons originate from Iran and were intended to reach the Hezbollah terror organisation for use against the state of Israel and its citizens." The Associated Press news agency reported the vessel was operated by Cyprus-based shipping company United Feeder Services and the company had said the cargo was picked up in Damietta in Egypt. ANALYSIS Paul Wood, BBC News, Jerusalem The seizure of the Francop is being celebrated by Israeli generals and politicians as a major success. The vessel, says the military, was carrying enough weapons to supply Hezbollah for a month or more of ground fighting. The seizure comes after Israel carried out a joint military exercise with the Americans. The unspoken assumption of that exercise - for many in Israel at least - is that Israel will one day carry out military strikes against Iran's nuclear programme. Tehran will then hit back itself and also activate Hamas and Hezbollah. Even if that sequence does not take place, Israeli military intelligence believes the "northern front" is the most likely place for the next fight. Syria denies weapons were on board - accusing Israel of an act of piracy - but the seizure is another sign of how impermanent is the peace in this part of the world; how all sides are looking ahead to, and preparing for, the next round of hostilities. The exact route of the ship has not been confirmed but Israel's Haaretz newspaper said it originated in Iran and had docked in Yemen and Sudan before using the Suez Canal. A United Feeder Services source told news agencies the ship was scheduled to dock in Lebanon. The Israeli military said an Iranian document had been found on the ship. A military spokesperson said: "All the cargo certificates are stamped at the ports of origin and this one was stamped at an Iranian port." However, in a news conference in Tehran broadcast on Iran's state-run Press TV, visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the ship was not carrying Iranian-made weapons and that the cargo comprised Syrian exports to Iran. Mr Netanyahu congratulated the army, navy and security forces on a successful action to prevent the supply of weapons. Since Israel's offensive in Gaza last December and January, the Israeli navy and air force have been conducting intense searches in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea for ships smuggling weapons either to Hezbollah or to Hamas in Gaza. In February Israel said a vessel detained off Cyprus was carrying Iranian weapons to Hamas in Gaza. Iran denied the claim. In 2002 the Israeli navy captured the Karin-A, which was carrying some 50 tonnes of arms thought to be destined for Gaza.
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Andhra man hacked to death in broad daylight over suspicion of extramarital affair
The accused, who suspected that his wife was having an extramarital affair with the victim, was on his way to murder his wife.
news Crime
A shocking video which came to light on Monday showed a man being brutally hacked to death on a busy street near Visakhapatnam. In the video, a man wearing a helmet is seen getting down from a bike and approaching the victim, who is lying on the ground next to a fallen bike. The culprit swiftly hacks him with a weapon in a single blow before getting back on the bike and signalling to someone ahead of him.
Even as the young man lies on the ground before being struck, vehicles move by slowly and indifferently. A bystander who seems to be on his phone stops in his tracks when he sees the fatal blow and falters in his steps, seemingly bewildered.
The victim, who was identified as 22-year-old Kona Rajesh, died instantly. The incident occurred on Sunday at around 3 pm on Chodavaram main road, in front of a liquor store.
The Chodavaram police obtained the footage from a shop across the street. On inquiring about possible murder motives, police chased down their main suspect, 27-year-old Satthi Babu, to his hometown in the nearby Binnavolu village.
WARNING: Graphic Content. Viewer discretion is advised.
Yet another incident of brutal hacking, in broad daylight amid public !! This time in Visakhapatnam. Where a 24-year-old was done to death. Police nabbed the accused immediately after. #AndhraPradesh pic.twitter.com/GuvCRMjOXG — Aashish (@Ashi_IndiaToday) July 15, 2019
According to the Chodavaram police, Satthi Babu suspected that his wife was having an extramarital affair with Rajesh, and committed the crime out of vengeance. “We tracked him to his home within a few hours from the murder. He was on his way to kill his own wife too. Luckily, his wife was not home and we reached in time to apprehend him,” police said.
Police say that Satthi Babu has confessed to the crime and was sent to remand on Monday.
Last month, two cases of murders committed in broad daylight were reported in Telangana. On June 25, a 34-year-old man was allegedly beheaded by his own relative after a tiff over a job.
On June 1, a man identified as Mahboob Pasha was brutally murdered on National Highway 65 near Rudraram village in Sangareddy district by three unidentified assailants who fled the scene on a motorcycle after the crime. Police suspected gang rivalry and a revenge plot in the murder. | {
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We knew that there would be some Kindle releases this year, after all, as with many consumer electrical devices today, Amazon likes to issue a yearly refresh. This time around, there have been suggestions of a Kindle Fire 2, with an improved display and all-round specs, Kindle e-readers that may feature LED front-lighting and, we know that colour e-ink displays are now widely available, should the firm wish to make use of them.
What we didn't know was exactly when some of these products may be released, however, recent changes on the Amazon US and UK websites signal that a release may be immanent. It has been noted that over the weekend, the Kindle Keyboard WiFi has disappeared completely from existence and that the 3G variant has been heading in-and-out of stock, suggesting a winding-down of production.
There's no exact science to Amazon's Kindle release dates, only that they take place around this time of year, typically ranging from any time now, up to October. The real question for us here in the UK is, will we see the Kindle Fire 2, or receive leftovers of the original Kindle Fire from the US? Only time will tell, though hopefully it'll spill its beans fairly soon. | {
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The New York Jets have a 3 day mini-camp kicking off tomorrow. It will be the last time the full team is gathered before training camp which starts at the end of July. The skill position offensive players will be gathering in the coming weeks for Mark Sanchez’s “Jets West” camp but that will smartly be closed to the media. I threw the question out on Twitter earlier today, “What is one storyline you’ll be focusing on for # Jets mini-camp the next 3 days? (Non-Tebow related).” Here are a few responses I received, along with more extended commentary on them than what I could give in 140 characters –
@GreenLanternJet – What other RBs will step up to spell Greene and be 3rd down back?
The Jets current depth at running back is absolutely a cause for concern. For starters, Shonn Greene is going to need an improved performance from what we have seen the past two seasons. He is never going to be an elite back but if he gives the Jets 1,200 yards, keeps his YPC comfortably over 4.0 while protecting the football, it is satisfactory. However, he will need support. Ideally, Joe McKnight will seize the 3rd down role and be able to handle being his primary backup. McKnight’s potential was never fully realized in Brian Schottenheimer’s scheme (a recurring theme for many players). It will be interesting to see if Tony Sparano can find a way to use McKnight in similar ways to how he used Reggie Bush in Miami.
Outside of Greene and McKnight, the Jets need either Bilal Powell or Terrance Ganaway to step up as a short yardage, power running option off the bench. Ganaway is comfortable with the option from college, which could help get him on the field with Tim Tebow. Powell disappointed last season but was taken in the fourth round for a reason and should benefit from his first full NFL off-season. If both players struggle in camp, could the Jets consider adding Cedric Benson?
@TeamThirstTrap – How the 46 defense will function/look?
This year’s defense should have more depth and versatility than any unit Rex Ryan has had since taking over as the Jets head coach, particularly on the defensive line. One of the most interesting things to watch the next 3 days and all throughout training camp is the number of different positions certain players are lining up at. The Jets have the ability to run a hybrid 3-4/4-3/46 that will give offensive coordinators and opposing quarterbacks nightmares. Up front, Quinton Coples, Aaron Maybin, Calvin Pace and Muhammad Wilkerson should be all over the place depending on the personnel group. On the back end, Ryan has to figure out how to best utilize his three strong safeties: Yeremiah Bell, LaRon Landry, and Eric Smith while piecing together coverage from whomever lines up at free safety.
Aren’t we all? Considering that Vlad Ducasse has spent all of OTAs filling in for Matt Slauson at guard and that Stephon Heyer and Ray Willis are career journeyman, it looks like Wayne Hunter is a safe bet to be the opening day right tackle. Skepticism of this decision is more than warranted but it is also reasonable to assume that Hunter has a chance to improve to his 2010 level of play, particularly with a new coach and system that supposedly will play better to his strengths.
@e_man – Holmes
Enough said. Holmes will be the most closely scrutinized player on the Jets roster heading into the season who isn’t a quarterback. The New York media will do no favors for him but he isn’t going to help his cause by throwing helmets at open practices. How will he develop in Tony Sparano’s offense? Will he ever receive credit for doing positive things, like mentoring the younger receivers on the roster? Will his stand-off relationship with the local media continue to sour? #10 is certainly worth keeping your eyes on in the coming months.
I received multiple questions about Landry. He is expected to be attendance but I’m not sure anybody knows how far along he is in his rehab. It will be good to have him around the team but I wouldn’t expect to see him taking extended reps until we get into training camp. By all accounts, Yeremiah Bell has looked terrific since joining the team, so it would be nice to see how Rex plans to use him in tandem with Landry. Unfortunately, we probably won’t have a clear picture of that until week 1.
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An online petition has been signed by thousands of Muslims who are angry at Nike over a design on their Air Nike Max 270 shoe that they see as "blasphemous."
The petition appears on Change.Org, and aims to garner 15,000 signatures, but has received over 11,200 at the time of publishing.
"Nike has produced the Nike Air Max 270 shoe with the script logo on the sole resembling the word Allah in Arabic, which will surely be trampled, kicked and become soiled with mud or even filth," wrote Saiqa Noreen, who published the petition.
The petition has a photo of the offensive logo of the shoe, with a comparison to the word "Allah" written in Arabic above it.
Image Source: Change.Org screenshot
"It is outrageous and appalling of Nike to allow the name of God on a shoe," the petition continued. "This is disrespectful and extremely offensive to Muslim's and insulting to Islam."
The petition demands that Nike stop selling the "blasphemous and offensive shoe," and any other product that might include the same logo.
"I urge all Muslim's [sic] and everyone who respects the freedom of religion to sign this petition," the petition concludes.
Nike released a statement that did not comment on the demand to stop selling the shoes.
"Nike respects all religions and we take concerns of this nature seriously," a Nike spokesperson said to "Today." "The AIR MAX logo was designed to be a stylized representation of Nike's AIR MAX trademark. It is intended to reflect the AIR MAX brand only."
"Any other perceived meaning or representation is unintentional," the statement concluded.
Nike was previously embroiled in a political firestorm when they signed Colin Kaepernick, the controversial former NFL quarterback who began the national anthem protests, to a very lucrative marketing deal. | {
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The Nordic countries are going through their own energy transition, but via a different route, said Pekka Lundmark, president and CEO of energy company Fortum.
While Germany's energy transition began with a move away from nuclear power, the Nordic energy transition is about moving away from coal-fired power plants, said Lundmark, whose company says it is the third largest power generator in the Nordic countries.
Student or retired? Then this plan is for you.
Nuclear energy is climate-friendly, at least compared to fossil fuels, but carries with it a number of other environmental and safety risks.
“We are implementing in a way our own Energiewende in the Nordic countries,” Lundmark told journalists on Monday (20 March) at a Berlin conference on Germany's energy transformation, using the German word for "energy transition".
“But because of the geographic location and because of the even harder winter that we have up in the north, we have taken slightly different paths towards the same goal.”
Coal goals
Lundmark did not criticise Germany directly, stressing that both Germany and the Nordic countries “probably have good reasons for their choices”.
However, Lundmark was clear why he thought coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels, should be consigned to history first.
Gathered by German think tank Clean Energy Wire, Lundmark told a group of journalists that his company - but probably also the Nordic countries where it operates - “are so concerned with climate change and emissions, that we feel it is even more important to phase out coal, to deal with emissions” than to get rid of nuclear energy.
While Germany has a relatively large share of renewable electricity, much of it is still generated by coal stations.
On Monday, the German Environmental Agency announced that carbon emissions had increased slightly in 2016.
“We have made very careful calculations what the different alternatives would be,” said the CEO, adding that “based on those calculations, we have decided that the highest priority needs to be decarbonisation and getting rid of coal".
Lundmark went on to argue that “We have decided to phase out coal first, and to use nuclear as a transition technology, and then in the next phase after that, see how also that could be phased out so that it becomes completely renewable. Germany is doing it the other way around.”
Fortum provides power and heat in Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, and India.
A third of Fortum's power generation in 2016 was nuclear energy, with another third coming from natural gas – which is also a fossil fuel, but produces less CO2 per terawatt-hour compared to coal.
Hydroelectric
Some 28 percent of Fortum's electricity was generated with hydroelectric power. In Europe, however, the energy company said it was 96 percent CO2-free in 2016. Its two main electricity sources in Europe last year were nuclear power (51 percent) and hydroelectric power (44 percent).
Lundmark noted that Finland and Sweden have long cold winters, and heavy industry such as steel mills and paper mills.
“Knowing that the electricity demand is highest when it's high pressure and a cold winter day, when there is no sun and no wind, it's very hard to see how we would be able to phase out coal and nuclear at the same time.”
“It's mathematically not possible, at least we have not been able to do that. That forced us to make a prioritisation and the conclusion was that we want coal to go first,” added Lundmark.
He said his company is also “decarbonising” in the heating sector.
“When we talk about decarbonisation, it is very important to remember that it is not only about electricity. Electricity is about 20 percent of energy consumption. Heating is often 50 percent.”
Shift to renewables
Fortum's senior vice president of public affairs, Esa Hyvaerinen, noted that in Stockholm, Fortum is heating buildings with mostly renewable energy.
“We are using waste heat from the industry, like data centres, they have cooling needs. We are using public buildings. We are taking the heat of there and putting it in the heat networks,” said Hyvaerinen.
Many people think of wind power or solar when they hear the phrase renewable energy. However, in the Nordic region, other types of renewable energy are more prevalent.
In Norway, the largest share of renewable energy is provided by hydroelectric power. In Iceland, it's geothermal power.
In Sweden, Denmark and Finland, it's biomass and renewable waste, which account for around a quarter of all energy supplies. Biomass is the burning of organic material, and some question if it is always carbon neutral.
In 2014, Denmark had the EU's largest share of wind power in the final energy mix: 6.7 percent, compared to the 1.4 percent average. | {
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WHEN the KGB men came to his family flat, they split up Yaroslav Sivulsky and his parents into separate rooms. Mr Sivulsky, then a young boy in the Soviet Union, watched as agents searched their belongings for “banned literature”. His grandparents had been exiled to Siberia for belonging to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a Christian denomination founded in America in the 19th century; his parents had kept the faith alive in their home.
Now Mr Sivulsky and the 175,000 other Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia face the prospect of returning to an underground existence. On April 20th, the Russian Supreme Court outlawed the group’s activities, declaring it an “extremist” organisation. “It’s all happening again,” says Mr Sivulsky. “Back then they came after us for ideological reasons, and now because our faith is not of the ‘right kind’.”
The ruling puts the group, whose members preach non-violence and refuse to serve in the military, on the same legal footing as several neo-Nazi groups. Lawyers from the Russian Ministry of Justice argued that they pose a threat to “public order and public security”. The group’s property and assets are set to be seized. Any organised religious activity will be considered illegal, with violators facing steep fines and even potential prison sentences. If implemented, the decision would be “by far the most severe blow to religious freedom in Russia since the end of the Soviet Union”, argues Geraldine Fagan, author of “Believing in Russia: Religious Policy after Communism”.
The ruling is a testament to the growing influence of the Russian Orthodox church, especially of a radical wing who see the Jehovah’s Witnesses as a dangerous sect that deviates from the official version of Christianity. The court’s decision marks the culmination of a long and concerted campaign. Experts trace the latest wave of troubles back to 2009, when Orthodox activists and local authorities began aggressively pursuing members and congregations. Regional courts steadily added Jehovah’s Witnesses literature to lists of banned extremist works, often on absurd premises. (One pamphlet was flagged for a line criticising the Russian Orthodox church. It was a citation from Tolstoy, whose works are not exactly banned in Russia.) The group’s refusal to participate in militaristic state rituals further fuelled suspicion. “The campaign dovetails with the drive for greater security, unity and patriotism,” says Ms Fagan. “Otherness and dissent are seen as threats.”
The Orthodox church’s complaints found support among Russia’s security services, which see the Brooklyn-headquartered Jehovah’s Witnesses as a nest of pernicious foreign influence. Valery Malevany, the vice president of a security service veterans’ group, suggested that Jehovah’s Witnesses and other Christian groups were “financed by Western special services” in order to carry out “sabotage” and “intelligence work”. Vitaly Milonov, an ultra-conservative MP, said Western governments were using the group to further their goal of “destroying our country through spiritual and moral decay”. Roman Lunkin of the Centre for the Study of Religion and Society at the Russian Academy of Sciences sees the crusade as part of “a wave of suspicion and fear regarding the West”. In recent years, Russia’s courts have declared more than 140 non-governmental organisations “foreign agents” for receiving money from abroad. “Now it has come to religion,” says Mr Lunkin.
It is not clear whether the decision portends a wider crackdown or will remain an isolated incident. The Jehovah’s Witnesses came under attack in part because they presented an easy target, argues Mr Lunkin. Members do not vote, are staunchly pacifist, and enjoy little support among a population that bristles at their door-to-door proselytising and unfamiliar theology. But the ruling is unlikely to cause believers to lose faith. “Who are we supposed to listen to now?” Mr Sivulsky muses. “The unjust decision of the court, or God?”
Correction (May 8th): An earlier version of this piece said that Mr Milonov accused Western governments of promoting “moray decay”. In fact, it is “moral decay”. Apologies. | {
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Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D., Wisc.) has accepted another $50,000 in bundled contributions from lobbyists at the J Street PAC despite her anti-special-interests stance, filings show.
The $50,000 in new donations now brings Baldwin's total to $170,000 on the election cycle from lobbyists, all of which came from individuals at just two far-left organizations.
The J Street PAC, a controversial Washington, D.C.-based Middle East advocacy organization that describes itself as "pro-Israel" and "pro-peace," but is called "anti-Israel" by its opponents, has been the most generous to Baldwin in terms of lobbyist donations.
J Street was one of the biggest backers of President Barack Obama's Iran nuclear deal, which was called a "historic mistake" by the Israeli government, and threw millions of dollars into a public relations blitz in an attempt to garner support from the public on the deal.
During the first quarter of 2018, which spans from Jan. 1 to March 31, lobbyists from J Street bundled $49,452.66 for Baldwin's campaign, filings show.
Lobbyists at the group previously bundled $70,646.17 for Baldwin's campaign throughout 2017, bringing Baldwin's total from individuals at J Street to $120,098.83 on the cycle.
In addition to J Street, lobbyists at the League of Conservation Voters, a D.C.-based environmental group, have bundled nearly $50,000 for Baldwin's campaign.
Baldwin, who is considered one of the more vulnerable Democrats up for election this year, has taken the $170,000 in total bundled contributions from lobbyists despite claiming to be opposed to the undue influence of special interests.
Baldwin has introduced legislation aimed at curtailing the influence of lobbyists, mainly in the financial services industry.
"Hardworking American families are struggling to get ahead and they can't afford to have special interests in a cozy relationship with the government," Baldwin said at the time. "We need to make sure that government officials are working on behalf of the public interest and our common good."
The press release additionally read, "#WeThePeople will hold the government more accountable, amend the Constitution to end unlimited campaign contributions, and reform the lobbying laws to limit special interest influence."
Baldwin has also been endorsed by the End Citizens United PAC, which is pushing for politicians to promise that they will no longer take donations from the political action committees of corporations.
However, Baldwin has not made that pledge. The only Democratic senators that have pledged to deny the contributions are those speculated to run for president in 2020.
Bernie Sanders (Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Kamala Harris (Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y), and Cory Booker (N.J) have all vowed to swear off corporate PAC cash.
Democrats are reportedly quietly fretting over Baldwin's upcoming election.
President Donald Trump narrowly carried Wisconsin over Hillary Clinton, who did not once step foot in the state to campaign.
Republican senator Ron Johnson, who was considered the underdog in his race that year against former Democratic senator Russ Feingold, won the contest by nearly four points.
Johnson garnered 70,000 more votes (1,479,262) statewide than Trump (1,409,467) during the election.
Baldwin, whose approval rating currently sits at just 37 percent, is the last major statewide Democrat in Wisconsin.
An inquiry sent to Baldwin's campaign on the lobbyist donations was not returned by press time. | {
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Stricken Indian warship 'to be salvaged' By Prachi Pinglay
BBC News, Mumbai Published duration 2 February 2011
image caption The vessel caught fire after the collision forcing passengers and crew to evacuate
Indian naval authorities say they hope to salvage a 3,000-tonne warship which ran aground on Monday after colliding with a merchant ship.
The INS Vindhyagiri collided with a Cyprus-flagged merchant vessel on Sunday in Mumbai and caught fire.
The incident has been described by critics as one of the navy's most embarrassing peacetime incidents.
About 400 passengers and crew who were on board the warship at the time of the collision had to rescued.
Some media reports say that the stricken ship sustained serious damage when it hit the seabed at the naval dockyard in Mumbai, but there has been no official acknowledgement of the damage.
At the time of the accident, the warship was returning from a "day at sea" for families of sailors and officers.
The navy says it has registered a case against the captain and crew members of the merchant vessel. They are accused of negligent navigation, causing injuries and endangering the lives and personal safety of others.
The navy says that it is also conducting an independent inquiry into the incident.
"It is very difficult to gauge the extent of damage at this point. But we will involve our technical agencies to salvage the ship. Firstly, it has to be made lighter by pumping the water and fuel out. Then we can carry out further operations," a navy spokesman said.
A coastguard spokesperson said that the possibility of an oil spill had been averted because the ship was in a tidal basin and river booms had been deployed to stop any movement of oil. | {
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The Browns have many holes to fill on their roster. What free agents could Cleveland pursue next week that could alter their 2020 NFL Draft plans?
The first test of new general manager of the Cleveland Browns, Andrew Berry, as his first offseason is upon him. With free agency right around the corner, and the 2020 NFL Draft less than 50 days away, Berry has potential to add a haul of young talent to the roster in Cleveland as the Browns enter a crucial year.
The Browns have to fill more holes than one would have previously thought after former GM John Dorsey overspent last year on talent and developed an under-achieving roster. They have, however, cleared a great deal of cap space before free agency already with the release of a handful of veteran under-achievers.
All guys that Dorsey added over his two years in the Browns’ front office, Berry and his team has let cornerback T.J. Carrie, Adarius Taylor, Demetrius Harris, and Eric Kush early on in his reign. Just this week, Berry released veteran linebacker Christian Kirksey after back-to-back seasons of season-ending injuries. All in all, Berry has saved the Browns right around $20 million in cap space with these five roster moves.
Berry has already declared his intentions to be aggressive in free agency, so here we take a look at players who the Browns could sign that may alter their 2020 NFL Draft plans. | {
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GREEN Don't go to Chop & Swizzle, a new retro-cocktail nightspot, and order a Bud Lite and a shot of Fireball, or a Jack & Coke.
It's not a snob thing. It's just not what they do.
As co-owner and bartender Daniel Allyn explained it, "You wouldn't go to a Mexican restaurant and order chicken parmesan."
At Chop and Swizzle, which opened in mid-January at 3700 Massillon Road, craft cocktails are serious business. "What we do here, we have a passion for," he said. (There's also an ambitious food menu; see accompanying story.)
Allyn likes to describe his new place — which is dark and sleek and has a kind of '60s bachelor's-den vibe to it — as a "Tik-easy," referring to its dual cocktail focus.
There are deluxe versions of classic "speakeasy" cocktails originated in the early 1900s — Manhattan, Old-Fashioned, martini, sidecar, gimlet, sour.
But Allyn's heart clearly lies with the Polynesian-themed drinks — Zombie, Painkiller, Fog Cutter, Mai Tai — invented in the '40s and '50s at legendary Los Angeles tiki bars like Don the Beachcomber and Trader Vic's.
Mostly rum-based, these Tiki drinks "have eight to 10 ingredients per cocktail and very elaborate garnishes," Allyn said. When they were invented, "the object was to put in as much liquor as possible."
While custom cocktails at Chop & Swizzle run $10 to $13, "you're getting five ounces of booze in one glass and also all-handcrafted ingredients," he said. There also is entertainment value in watching such concoctions be created.
Here's a sample from the Chop & Swizzle menu:
• Flaming Bourbon Sour, with bourbon, lemon juice, blood orange bitters, caramelized sugar cube, egg white foam.
• Zombie, with gold rum, 151 rum, lime, grapefruit and pomegranate juices, passion fruit puree, cinnamon, apricot, ginger, bitters, absinthe.
• Black Rose, with gin, elderflower liqueur, lemon juice, muddled luxardo cherries, sparkling wine.
• Fog Cutter, gin, brandy, rum, lemon and orange juices, house-made orgeat (almond syrup).
Allyn is justly proud of Chop & Swizzle's house-made pecan bourbon, available in smoke-infused shots. "We take Evan Williams, which is a single-barrel bourbon, infuse it with Chef Dick's butter toffee and toasted almonds and pecans and let that marinate for two weeks," he said.
Click here to watch Daniel Allyn create a smoked pecan bourbon shot.
For beer fans, Chop & Swizzle stocks 10 craft beers in bottles and cans with two more on tap, including beers from Royal Docks in Jackson Township and Brick and Barrel in Cleveland.
Enamored with "the rich history of cocktails," Allyn fell in love with Polynesian-style drinks when he helped to open the Cleveland nightspot, Porco Lounge & Tiki Room, in 2013.
In March 2016, Allyn opened the first Chop & Swizzle in a former firehouse at 60 S. Maple St. in Akron and soon discovered a clientele for elaborately crafted cocktails. "What I've found is that people middle-age and up are pretty much where we're sitting, but there's been a surge in younger people, 23 to 30, who are already cultured in what we're doing," he said. "Most of our clientele in Akron is female, I'd say three to one, then couples and educated drinkers."
During happy hour, from 4 to 6 p.m. daily, cocktails are $2 off.
Don't miss the cuisine that complements the drinks at Chop & Swizzle.
Check out the places where Dan's reviewed restaurants:
If you're looking for a place to eat, let our restaurant review database help with your selection: | {
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Yep, we finally have our day one online functionality of the Nintendo Switch and can confirm that the main way to add friends will be using Friend Codes.
The options in the Add Friend menu are:
Search for Local Users
Search for Users YOu’ve Played With
Search with Friend Code (12 digit)
Sent Friend Requests
You can also add friends from Super Mario Run and Miitomo, which I’ve tested and it does work quite well.
Although, it looks like you’ll need to give someone a 12 digit friend code to add them if you haven’t played with them or aren’t in the same room. | {
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ISIL suicide attackers have killed dozens of people, including Syrian refugees and Kurdish security personnel, with car bombs in northeastern Syria, according to multiple sources.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said Thursday's attack took place at Abu Fas, near the border of Deir Az Zor and Hasakah provinces, and the dead included refugees, as well as members of the Kurdish Asayish security force.
ISIL, or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, has lost large expanses of its territory in both Syria and Iraq this year and is falling back on the towns and villages of the Euphrates valley southeast of Deir Az Zor.
The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance of Kurdish and Arab paramilitaries is pressing it from the north and a rival offensive by the Syrian army, supported by allies including Iran and Russia, is attacking it from the west.
Talal Sello, an SDF spokesman, confirmed that a car bombing targeting people displaced from Deir Az Zor occurred in Abu Fas in Hasakah's south.
"Dozens of people were killed and wounded," he told AFP news agency.
After the blast, "the civilians escaped towards desert areas where mines exploded and the toll rose."
Much of Hasakah province and Hasakah city are under the control of a Kurdish "autonomous administration", with smaller parts of both controlled by the central government.
Abu Fas is where Kurdish authorities gather people displaced by conflict before allowing them to enter camps where they can shelter, the SOHR said.
Earlier on Thursday, the SOHR, which relies on a network of sources inside Syria, said government forces had retaken four neighbourhoods in the town of Mayadeen in Deir Az Zor.
The state news agency SANA confirmed that troops had re-entered Mayadeen.
Last week, ISIL, also known as ISIS, succeeded in expelling Syrian forces from Mayadeen, two days after they entered the town.
A Syrian army source recently described Mayadeen as the "military capital" of ISIL in Deir Az Zor.
In a separate development on Thursday, Syrian armed groups reached a ceasefire agreement for southern Damascus during a meeting in Cairo, according to Egyptian state media.
The deal includes opening main crossings and halting forced displacement of people living in the opposition-held district of Eastern Ghouta, a report in the state-run Al Ahram newspaper said.
It quoted Mohamed Alloush, the political head of Jaish al-Islam, as saying that Egypt had pledged to help break the siege on Eastern Ghouta using diplomatic means and allow in aid "in sufficient quantities to alleviate the suffering in the region".
Eastern Ghouta, near Damascus, is one of the last strongholds of fighters battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces and was the scene of a chemical weapon attack that killed hundreds in August 2013. | {
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NEW DELHI: Reliance Jio Infocomm has accused Bharti Airtel Vodafone Idea and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) of ‘cheating’ by fraudulently masquerading landline numbers as mobile numbers to unfairly earn interconnect revenue. The charge was rejected by Airtel , which said the Mukesh Ambani-owned telco was trying to ‘misguide’ the telecom regulator amid the ongoing consultation process on interconnect usage charge (IUC), as the war of words over the contentious fee heated up further.In a strongly-worded letter to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chairman R S Sharma dated October 14, Jio urged the telecom regulator to slap the heaviest penalties on both incumbents & BSNL for alleged violations of various telecom regulations, which it claimed had cost Jio hundreds of crores, and the government as well. It has also sought a refund of the termination charges it had paid the incumbents due to the alleged fraud.“Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL have implemented a process under which various enterprises are offered mobile numbers as their customer care or helpline numbers…the mobile number is used just as a virtual number for routing all such calls to call centres,” Jio said in the letter seen by ET. The exercise, it claimed, “changes the nature of the call from a mobile to wireline to a mobile to mobile which is a “fraudulent attempt” made Airtel, Vodafone Idea and BSNL to illegally extract interconnect charges at 6 paise per minute."...it is evident that such illegal, fraudulent and cheating practice has resulted into millions of minutes originating on RJIL network getting considered as mobile terminating minutes instead of wireline termination, not only causing huge loss in hundreds of crores to RJIL and undue enrichment of Incumbent operators but to influence the Authority on the apparent traffic asymmetry between RJIL and incumbent operator...," Jio added.IUC is a charge paid to a telco on whose network a call terminates. But there is no IUC charge on mobile voice calls terminating on wirelines.In a statement to ET, Airtel rejected Jio’s allegations, while Vodafone Idea and BSNL didn’t respond to ET’s queries.“Enterprise customers referred to by Jio transfer their call to their unique number to a fixed line or another mobile number as this is permitted by the DoT. There is no loss to originating operator as the customer always dials a mobile and not a fixed line number,” Airtel said in a written response to ET’s queries.Jio’s latest letter comes on the heels of the company slamming Trai in an earlier letter, dated October 10, calling its IUC review process a retrograde step and against consumers, which if retained, would harm mobile users and punish efficient operators. The Trai is seeking views on deferring a zero-IUC regime, which was slated to take effect from January 2020. Jio, which is a net payer of IUC revenue, wants Trai to stick to the timeline, while Airtel and Vodafone Idea – net IUC revenue gainers – want the timeline to be deferred.In its follow-up letter to Trai boss Sharma, Jio also alleged that Airtel, Voda Idea and BSNL are not only earning IUC revenue illegally but also denying the latest entrant revenue it could earn at 52 paise a minute for such calls, resulting in “undue enrichment for these incumbents at the cost of Jio”.“We suspect thousands of such numbers are operational in the market deployed by incumbent operators," Jio said.Such illegal, fraudulent and cheating practice, it said, has “resulted in millions of minutes originating on Jio’s network getting considered as mobile terminating minutes instead of wireline termination, not only causing huge loss in hundreds of crores to Jio and undue enrichment to incumbent operators but also to influence the Authority (read: Trai) on apparent traffic asymmetry between Jio and incumbents, which is the only reason cited by the Authority to review IUC regulations,” Jio has alleged.IUC has been a bone of contention among the private carriers and the telecom regulator. Two years ago, Trai had cut it down from 14 paise a minute to 6 paise a minute and decided to scrap it from January 2020, a timeline which the regulator is reviewing now. This in fact prompted Jio to start charging its users for voice calls made to rivals’ networks, to account for the IUC it pays out.Jio and Airtel-Vodafone Idea have previously leveled allegations of ‘gaming’ the IUC regime against each other, with each side leveling charges of manipulating missed calls to elicit a return call, so as to gain from the termination charge. | {
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THE identity of the hacker who sucked 2.6 terabytes of data out of Mossack Fonseca, a law firm, to bring the world the “Panama papers” remains a mystery. Not so the source of the previous biggest financial leak: on April 26th Antoine Deltour, a soft-spoken, bespectacled former auditor with PwC, went on trial in Luxembourg for his role in the “LuxLeaks” affair.
Mr Deltour does not deny being behind the exposure of cosy tax deals between the Grand Duchy and 340 of the accounting firm’s corporate clients, including Pepsi and FedEx. He passed 28,000 pages of documents to Edouard Perrin, a French journalist, in 2012. Many of these were later put online by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. PwC identified the former employee as the source of the leak and complained to prosecutors, who charged him with theft, violating secrecy laws and illegally accessing a database.
If convicted, Mr Deltour faces up to ten years in prison and a hefty fine. In the dock with him are another former PwC man, Raphaël Halet (in connection with a separate, smaller leak), and Mr Perrin, who is charged as an accomplice. The trial is expected to last until May 4th.
Luxembourg’s lawyers and moneymen mostly take the view that the case against Mr Deltour is straightforward: he stole data to reveal tax arrangements that were legal, and should be punished for his crime.
Mr Deltour’s lawyers argue that the action was justified because it was in the wider European public interest. Neighbouring countries were being stripped of tax revenue by the deals, unaware of their cushy terms (profits routed to Luxembourg incurred tax of as little as 1-2%). Not all tax deals of this kind are legal: the European Commission argues that some fall foul of European Union (EU) state-aid rules.
The EU’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, has praised Mr Deltour’s actions, as has France’s finance minister, Michel Sapin. The European Parliament has awarded him a prize. Even in Luxembourg, people have turned in droves against the questionable tax and other financial practices through which the tiny country grew rich: three-quarters of those voting this week in an online poll by Le Quotidien, a local newspaper, disapproved of the criminal charges. Regardless, overt support for corporate whistleblowers remains muted. Only a few dozen activists turned up to cheer Mr Deltour as he entered court; some waved “Justice Fiscale” placards, others blindfolded themselves with EU flags (something to do with hidden tax havens, apparently).
As part of their public-interest defence, Mr Deltour’s lawyers will be sure to highlight the policy impact that LuxLeaks has had. By drawing attention to exploitable gaps in international tax rules, it sharpened the debate on reform. The OECD is overseeing the closure of numerous loopholes as part of its “Base Erosion and Profit Shifting” proposals. Large companies are steeling themselves to report profits and taxes paid on a country-by-country basis. EU governments have agreed to share with each other details of any special tax deals they strike with companies. “We’ve seen more tax progress in Europe in the past 18 months than in the previous decade,” says Carl Dolan of Transparency International, a lobby group.
However, the LuxLeaks case has exposed weaknesses in legal protections for whistleblowers. The relevant law in Luxembourg, passed in 2011, is one of the strongest in Europe, but too narrow: it covers only blatant criminality, not behaviour that is legal (or in a legal grey area) but nevertheless damaging to the public interest. The justice minister, Félix Braz, says it is “not a law that allows everyone to denounce everything and anything according to his own moral values”. Still, the government is thinking of proposing changes. Campaigners want stronger EU-wide protections for leakers.
These would come too late for Mr Deltour. He is said to be “worried” about the prospect of spending time behind bars, but his lawyers say he has no regrets. | {
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The latest AP-GfK poll was released this afternoon and it shows that the election of Barack Obama has led to a new wave of optimism among Americans. The poll found that most Americans are hopeful about the Obama administration, and 72% believe that he will make the changes needed to improve the economy.
Since Obama’s election the number of Americans who think that the country is moving in the right direction has more than doubled. In October, only 17% of those surveyed thought that things were going in the right direction. This has more than doubled to 36%. Almost three quarters of those polled said that the election of Obama made them feel hopeful, and another 60% said that they were proud that Obama had been elected. This hope and optimism is strictly limited to Obama though. President George W. Bush has a 28% approval rating, while Congress is seven points lower at 21%.
Seventy seven percent of respondents described themselves as very or somewhat worried that the federal debt being passed on to their children and grandchildren will harm their future. It also seems that Americans want to see some bipartisanship, as 73% said that Obama should appoint some qualified Republicans to some posts in his administration. Forty two percent felt that having Democrats in control was good for the country, while 34% said it was bad, and 20% said that it didn’t matter.
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According to the poll, the top four priorities for Obama should be improving the economy (84%), create jobs (80%), stabilize the nation’s financial institutions (61%), and reduce the federal debt (61%). Those surveyed believed that Obama would be able to implement his policy agenda. Sixty eight percent were very or somewhat confident that Obama will be able to implement the agenda that he campaigned on.
It looks like Obama is in line for a honeymoon period. The most immediate impact of Obama’s election is that it has allowed the nation to start looking forward, and begin the process of putting the past eight years behind us. The nation was ready for a fresh start, and what could be a more fresh beginning than a historic president? Obama seems to understand the enormity of the task and expectations that he is facing. I don’t think he needs to fix the economy all at once. I believe that if he merely improves the situation, he will be widely regarded as a success.
People understand the mess that George W. Bush is leaving behind, and that it will take some time to get things back on track, but judging from Obama’s early actions, he appears to not sit back and enjoy the honeymoon period. It looks like he will be getting to work on day one of his administration. If he governs with the same discipline and focus that he campaigned with, he will be an outstanding president. Americans are willing to give him a chance, but he still will have to deliver.
Full Poll Results in PDF | {
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Top judges of Pakistan took up some weighty issues on Monday and tried to determine whether or not parliament could declare Pakistan a secular state and under what provision of the law could a constituent assembly be formed.
“Can Pakistan be declared a secular state? If there is a popular demand, then how Pakistan can be declared a secular state,” observed Chief Justice Nasirul Mulk while hearing petitions challenging the 18th and 21st constitutional amendments.“Can the federal legislature declare Pakistan a secular state?” asked the top judge, who was heading a 17-member bench of the apex court. “Are there ways other than revolution to change the basic feature of the state?” he further asked.Advocate Hamid Khan, who is representing different bar associations, said this could be done only through a constituent assembly. “Under what provision of law can a constituent assembly be formed?” Justice Nasirul Mulk shot back.In the meantime, another judge on the bench, Justice Mian Saqib Nisar, posed another question: “If a political party promises in its manifesto that it will declare the country a secular state after coming to power, can it fulfill its promise if it secures a heavy mandate in the elections?”He also asked whether all future generations will remain hostage to what had been decided earlier. He further asked how a constituent assembly comes into being. Justice Nisar’s colleague Justice Asif Saeed Khosa, who triggered the debate during the proceedings, said the question is if parliament can declare secularism as the basic feature of the state.Justice Khosa said Pakistan was created in the name of Islam in 1947 and later in 1949 the Objectives Resolution was passed with the support of East Pakistanis in which Islam was recognised as the basic feature of the state. However, after the dismemberment of East Pakistan, the Bangladeshis framed their own constitution and declared their country a secular state, he said, adding that General Irshad had introduced a constitutional amendment, declaring Islam as the basic feature of the state, but the Bangladesh Supreme Court annulled the amendment.Justice Khosa, while citing the examples of Turkey and China, said that people and their ideology change with the passage of time. Justice Jawwad S Khawaja, however, said the changes in Bangladesh and Turkey were “revolutionary”.Hamid Khan said there was a consensus in Pakistan that Islam will be the basic feature of the state.Justice Khosa said one thing bothered him that all the judges have taken the oath to protect the Constitution and the same Constitution barred them from annulling any constitutional amendment. “Judges cannot go beyond the Constitution. If a policeman oversteps his power, then he is found guilty – the same approach should be applied on all bodies, including judges,” he added.Justice Khawaja said the people’s representatives in parliament were the guardian of the Constitution. “There is need to examine the circumstances in which the Constitution of Pakistan was framed in 1973,” he added. Justice Azmat Saeed Sheikh remarked that whether under the garb of a constitutional amendment, parliament can destroy the Constitution.When Hamid Khan contended that the top court in its short in the 18th amendment case had admitted the basic structure of the Constitution, Justice Saqib said the observations of the short order were tentative as it was like a speech.He said that the short order was issued after four days of lengthy discussion, wherein the court had admitted the supremacy of parliament; therefore the matter was referred to parliament in 2010. However, Justice Khawaja said the matter was kept pending to see if parliament did not accept the court’s proposals, then it would give a ruling.The hearing was adjourned until today (Tuesday).Published in The Express Tribune, May 5, 2015. | {
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Barbara Wanjala writes about her short, ill-fated attempt to research democracy in a not-so-democratic country. On behalf of the Americans, of course.
Land of Gods is a catchphrase used often in promoting Djibouti as a tourist destination. The Land of Gods referred to is the Land of Punt, a mysterious kingdom of untold wealth located to the south of ancient Egypt. Queen Hatshepsut referred to it as her “place of delight”. The exact location of Punt is disputed but historians have offered the possibilities of Djibouti, Eritrea, Somalia and Yemen. Djibouti seems convinced it was their land. Wherever it lay, it was tremendously important. Queen Hatshepsut undertook an expedition to Punt, known as Ta netjeru in the ancient Egyptian tongue. Punt was a sacred place to the ancient Egyptians; they believed it to be the birthplace of both gods and men. It had commercial value as well: Egyptian fleets regularly crossed the Red Sea to trade in incense, ebony, gold, wild animals and more.
Djibouti’s crossroads location brings a different sort of visitor these days. “We are the gateway to the Middle East. That is why the Americans are here,” said Zaki as he sat with me in Djibouti Ville back in 2010.
Relief of Queen Hatshepsut’s expedition to the Land of Punt; Temple of Deir el Bahri, Upper Egypt. Photo courtesy of Σταύρος/Wikimedia Commons
We were in Sept Frères, a restaurant in the African Quarter famed for its moukbassa, a whole fish fresh from the Red Sea grilled in the Yemeni style and served with the Djiboutian flatbread lahoh and a sweet viscous purée of bananas and honey called houlba. Zaki was a tall, gaunt and solemn man in his early thirties. We had exchanged emails while I was still in my hometown of Nairobi in which I told him of my impending trip. I was coming to conduct a research project in Djibouti, on democracy. Funded, naturally, by the Americans.
My superiors at work had chosen me for this project because I spoke French. The client was an American NGO whose mission, we were told, was to educate the citizens of “undemocratic” lands about the virtues of democracy. They had written to my boss enquiring whether he had a field team in Djibouti and he had fired back a quick reply saying, rather disingenuously, that he had experienced men on the ground all over the country. Those men were imaginary; perhaps he believed that a man’s reach ought to exceed his grasp. Encouraged by his responsiveness and resourcefulness, the Americans wrote back saying they wanted to carry out a survey of Djiboutian citizenry’s attitudes towards democracy. The boss, seeing the possibility of a long and lucrative relationship with the Americans, agreed to take on the project. He drew up a timeline and a budget and emailed them to the Americans. Then he summoned me to his office and presented me with the job.
The American clients were scheduled to land in Djibouti on Sunday afternoon and wanted to meet the (still imaginary) field team for a briefing session upon arrival. The boss instructed me to depart immediately in order to set everything up before the American landing. This seemed impossible. It was Wednesday. It would take three working days to obtain a visa. He advised me not to bother going to the embassy. Instead, he said, I should travel on Thursday night to Addis Ababa in neighboring Ethiopia and then onward to Djibouti where I would arrive on Friday morning. He assured me that Friday was a slow and sleepy weekend day in the predominantly Muslim country and therefore immigration officials would be forgiving, allowing me to slip easily into the country sans visa. This clandestine suggestion gave me pause. Even if I managed to enter the country without a visa, where would I begin? I did not know anybody over there. Could he not stall the clients for a few more days while I tested the waters? He alternated between threatening and cajoling, saying time was a luxury that I did not have. I accepted the job.
Whatever you do, do not mention politics
The next morning I went to the embassy and waited nervously for my visa to be expedited. I had chosen to err on the side of caution and to enter the country legally. An older colleague at the office—a seasoned veteran of travel to “undemocratic” lands—had given me some welcome advice: “Whatever you do, do not mention politics. Say you are doing a comparative study on the eating habits of the wider Eastern African region instead.” It worked brilliantly. The bored embassy official was unprepared for my charm offensive. In my finest French and flashing my most dazzling smile, I expressed my deep and sincere interest in the food of Djibouti—its flatbread lahoh, its sweet halwo desserts, its baasto pasta. I even said I wanted to try camel meat. I left the embassy not only with a visa stamped in my passport but with a long and varied list of culinary delights that he insisted I try upon arrival in Djibouti. This seemed to augur well for the project.
At 2 am on Thursday morning, I presented myself at the Ethiopian Airlines check-in desk at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. The two-hour flight to Addis Ababa was uneventful. I spent it familiarizing myself with the client’s very particular areas of inquiry.
I continued with these preparations during the four-hour layover at Bole Airport in Addis, pausing only for people-watching breaks. I was particularly fascinated by a large group of young women in loose floor-length dresses and shawls draped around their heads. A middle-aged Ethiopian seated beside me whispered to me that the contingent was Riyadh-bound, possibly victims of human traffickers masquerading as “foreign employment agencies” which lure unsuspecting young Ethiopian women with the promise of domestic work in the Middle East, where many fall into the hands of cruel employers and lead lives of servitude and suffering. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that many of the dresses were indeed new, and that many of the shawls were adjusted with a frequency that indicated either unfamiliarity or discomfort, and I wondered what lay in store for this seemingly upbeat and optimistic group.
Djibouti has the only American military base on the African continent
On the forty-minute flight from Addis to Ambouli, my eyes met those of an American soldier in seat 23C. He winked; I looked away. Djibouti is home to the only American military base on the African continent. Camp Lemonnier in the Djibouti Ville suburb of Ambouli is the American hub for the war on terror in the Horn of Africa, and no doubt at least a contributor to my clients’ interest in this tiny country. The soldier helped me with my luggage when we landed—muscular arms, many tattoos. He stood next to me on the bus ride to the terminal but we did not exchange a word. I bent into my purse to rummage for a pen with which to fill in the immigration form. When I raised my eyes to look for him, he was gone. I sighed, and moved along with the rest of the queue.
Surely the red-light district could not be in the center of the city?
Upon stepping outside into the sweltering heat I was promptly accosted by a sprightly old porter who forcibly steered me towards a taxi while carrying my luggage with surprising ease. He stuck out his palm and barked, “Trois dollars.” Three dollars. I obliged and entered the ramshackle vehicle. The elderly taxi driver greeted me cheerfully and introduced himself as Issa. He stroked his orange beard somewhat nefariously and asked where I would be staying. Tufts of matching curly orange hair peeked out of his white skullcap. I wanted to interrogate him on his henna dye job but felt it would be inappropriate.
“Hotel Ali Sabieh,” I replied.
He eyed me suspiciously. “Don’t you have any family?”
“None here,” I replied. I had obtained the hotel name from a hasty Google search for cheap hotels in close proximity to the university where I was planning to recruit my field team of bright, eager, cash-strapped students. Had I accidentally picked a seedy ‘love hotel’ in a disreputable part of town? Surely the red-light district could not be smack in the center of the city?
“Husband?”
“No.”
“Children?”
“No.”
He frowned disapprovingly. “That is not good. Once a woman stops having her period, it is over for her. Women must get married and have children quickly, when they are young.” He looked at me closely in the rear view mirror, no doubt trying to establish why I had failed to ensnare a husband by my advanced age of 25. “It is not good for a woman to travel alone and stay in hotels. People will talk. Also, your hotel is too expensive. I will take you to another one.”
And so Issa commandeered me to Hotel Banadir. It was a clean and utilitarian place, and once I ensured that there was a fan in the room, I paid cash upfront for two nights. Djibouti is said to be the world’s hottest country and already I had been wilting in the 40°C heat. Kadra, the pleasant and rotund cleaning lady, plied me with sugary coffee, freshly squeezed orange juice and a warm crispy baguette. She quickly took to lamenting the lack of good men in Djibouti as she straightened out my room. “All they do is chew khat,” she says angrily slapping a pillow into shape. It turns out that she, like me, was also unmarried. This left her extremely bitter about having to eke an honest living when all her four older (and significantly less attractive, according to her) sisters were all happily married with children. I commiserated.
After a refreshing shower, I slipped into a loose flowing dress I had packed with foresight for the hot weather. I went to the reception to call Zaki, my sole contact in the country who had been recommended by the seasoned veteran in the office. He knew someone in Nairobi’s predominantly Somali suburb of Eastleigh who knew someone in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu who knew someone in Djibouti. To my delight, I discovered that the hotel manager was an Omani Arab who wanted to practise his Arabized Swahili with me. After a labored conversation and several cups of sugary coffee, I finally managed to extricate myself and ventured out into the streets of Djibouti Ville, deserted on this hot and humid Friday afternoon, to meet up with him.
“We are the smallest country in the region,” Zaki had said as he tore apart his fish with his hands. “We are a desert nation with few natural resources. Those who say we have sold ourselves to the Americans do not understand our situation.” America might indeed be a good friend to have when one is surrounded by volatile and belligerent neighbors such as Somalia and Eritrea. While Djibouti has been committed to the Somali peace process, American military presence in Djibouti is a thorn in the side of Somali terror group al-Shabaab. The group reminded Djibouti that Somalia had sacrificed people and resources to aid them in their struggle for independence from the French. Signing a deal with U.S. President Obama on May 5, 2014 to let the US keep a military base in Djibouti for 30 more years was not the way to return the favor. The presence of foreign soldiers, both American and French, has been blamed for the increase in “un-Islamic behavior” among local women. On May 24, 2014, al-Shabaab carried out first suicide bombing in Djibouti’s history at La Chaumière, a restaurant popular with Westerners in Djibouti Ville. In a statement claiming responsibility for attack, al-Shabaab said that Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh had signed a “deal with the devil” by allowing access of its land and facilities to the “Crusaders”. In June, both Britain and the US issued travel advisories against Djibouti, citing credible threats by al-Shabaab to Western interests there.
US Marines conduct an amphibious landing in Djibouti. Photo courtesy of US Navy
The Americans are not the only ones interested in Djibouti. Tarek bin Laden, brother to Osama bin Laden, wants build a gigantic suspension bridge across the Red Sea to connect Yemen to Djibouti through the Bab el-Mandeb, a strait approximately 30 km long connecting North Eastern Africa to the South Western tip of the Arabian Peninsula. Bab el Mandeb means Gate of Tears in Arabic, named for the tears shed by the many that drowned when an earthquake separated Asia and Africa according to an Arab legend. It is estimated that about 30% of the world’s oil shipment transits through Bab el-Mandeb on a daily basis. Over 3.3 million barrels of oil are shipped daily from the Gulf States through the Red Sea and onto Europe and America. All this oil is why the high seas of the Gulf of Aden are a hotspot for pirates.
Zaki pointed out an elderly Arab man eating alone at a nearby table. “Very powerful guy that one. Has a band of young thugs on high-powered motorboats. They steal petrol from the big ships. They give us a bad name. Now the whole world thinks we are pirates like the Somalis.” This animosity with Somalia seems odd, given that the majority of Djiboutians are Somalis themselves. The country used to be known as French Somaliland. When Somalia was about to get independence in 1960, there was a referendum here to vote on whether French Somaliland should unite with Somalia. The Afars, a minority group somewhat favored by the French, and the French themselves did not want that and so Djibouti remained colonized until 1977, making it the last French colony in Africa to obtain independence.
Djibouti Ville was once known as Little Paris and vestiges of French presence abound. There is a Boulevard du General de Gaulle and a cultural centre named after Arthur Rimbaud, the infamous French poet who abandoned Parisian bourgeois life to trade coffee and guns in the Horn of Africa. In the European Quarter’s Place Menelik cafés serve coffee and croissants while French legionnaires in uniform wander around. Like many of its African counterparts, the city is a study in contrasts. The African Quarter is a riotous mayhem of sights, sounds and smells. Aggressive vendors of clothes, food, spices, electronics and assorted counterfeit goods jostle with urchins, beggars, prostitutes, animals and loudly hooting minivan taxis. Picturesque Arab style arches can be seen in some of the older buildings, and the muezzin’s call to prayer from the city’s mosques wakes one in the early morning hours. This is Djibouti: a heady fusion of African, Arabic and European influences. As postprandial coffee was served in the Arab style, I outlined the project to Zaki.
Djibouti Ville, once known as Little Paris. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
I was here to test the political temperature of the country before the upcoming 2011 presidential elections on behalf of an American NGO client, and I needed Zaki to find willing focus group participants from all of the major towns of both genders and of varying ages, tribes, religions, political affiliations, levels of education, income and so on. As much diversity as possible was desirable. Could it be done?
“What kind of questions do you want to ask?” he asked suspiciously.
“What Djiboutians think of the government, whether you think the forthcoming elections will be free and fair, that sort of thing.”
“That is very dangerous. They will not allow you to ask these kinds of questions. You have to be very careful. You are risking imprisonment, not just for yourself but for me as well. If I decide to help you, that is.” He said there were severe restrictions on freedoms of speech, assembly and association. In addition, I was required by law to obtain a permit prior to conducting any research in the country. He said that the government would view this project as an American scheme to sow seeds of subversion among the Djiboutian people. This was worrisome news but he reassured me that we could get it done if we kept our wits about us and employed a bit of cunning.
The city is teeming with government spies and secret police
The first challenge was obtaining the research permit. The plan was to say that we wished to visit the country’s various regions in order to research the eating habits of the people. The second challenge was finding willing participants. Zaki told me that it would be difficult to find people who would voice their honest opinions about the country’s politics. However, he was sure that some financial incentive and the guarantee of anonymity would loosen a few tongues. He suggested hiring a bus to pick up the participants from the different towns to ferry them into the capital, holding the discussions at night then ferrying them back in the morning. He would also have to find a discreet location to hold the discussions in, a daunting task in a city teeming with government spies and secret police. We sketched out a plan of action and then he got on his phone to marshal his troops. I headed to an internet cafe to send a detailed update to the boss.
We met the American clients the next day. They looked perfectly at home in the luxurious opulence of the Kempinski, a hotel catering to those in search of international five-star service in a third-world setting. The vast lobby was swarming with Western military types in uniform, Arab businessmen in spotless white dishdashas, portly African diplomats and sunburned Western tourists. I introduced Zaki as the local field manager and they were suitably impressed by his knowledge of the country’s political situation. We informed them that a trial run of the discussions was scheduled for the next day.
Zaki did not think it is a good idea for the Americans to attend the discussions. The participants would not want to talk in the presence of foreigners. I told him not to worry; we would put them in an adjacent room with a Somali-English translator.
“The client is king,” I said, quoting one of the boss’ favorite mantras. “And they are only here for two days.”
Zaki nodded grudgingly. “You are right. We should keep them happy. I don’t think they want to leave their hotel in the first place.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Do you think foreigners come here to see the real Djibouti? No. They come here and ask for air-conditioning and high-speed internet. These are basic necessities to them. Most Djiboutians are struggling just to put food on the table.” He was working up an impressive lather of indignation, and I seized the opportunity.
“Isn’t the government to blame for that?”
Zaki unburdened. “The president is a dictator,” he said, referring to President Guelleh, one of just two presidents free Djibouti has ever had, who has been in power since 1999. “He pays lip service to progressive politics but runs the country on his own terms, which is to say repression and intimidation. He promises free and fair elections but reneges each time. Talk of increased democratic space is simply just that: talk. Instead of pursuing the goal of national development he is selling the country to foreigners. The chasm between the rich and the poor is expanding rapidly. This is the country we live in.”
After all that outrage, Zaki apparently needed a fix of khat—like his president, he is a devoted masticator of the narcotic stimulant that is flown in fresh daily from Ethiopia. I went with him to a street vendor where he bought a huge bag of the green leaves, and we then headed to his brother-in-law Abdkader, who lived a short ride away, past herds of languid camels, in the southern suburb of Balbala.
Khat, at a market in Ethiopia. Chewed in bunches for its mild narcotic effect in Ethiopia, Yemen, and neighboring countries, the plant is a controlled substance in the U.S. and U.K. Photo by: A. Davey
To my great delight, Zaki’s brother-in-law Abdkader had assembled members of his vast extended family to take part in the focus group. Zaki was from the majority Issa tribe whereas Abdkader was from the smaller Afar tribe. “They are more Somali and we are more Ethiopian,” Abdkader explained. In a country with a history of tribal animosities, he was understandably proud of his marriage to someone from a different tribe. He was a small and furtive man, a great contrast to his wife Fatiah who was tall with ample curves. The men had changed from their Western-style trousers into macawii, a length of colorfully printed cotton fastened securely at the waist and draped loosely down to the knees or the ankles like a skirt. After they had said their prayers, they sat down on the carpeted living floor chewing khat and conversing in rapid Somali. Fatiah brought bottles of cold Coca Cola to them. Apart from Fatiah, Abdkader’s elderly mother and myself, the rest of the women are nowhere in sight.
Zaki introduced me to the group, most of whose cheeks are bulging with wads of khat. I thanked them for their interest in the project. I stressed that the aim of the discussions was simply to find out what life was like for the average citizen of this country, and that I wanted to collect as many views as possible. They conferred among themselves in hushed tones, their jaws working furiously on the khat leaves. Zaki translated. They wanted a guarantee that their identities would not be revealed, and they would require a small financial token of appreciation. We agreed, and Fatiah and I went to the kitchen where the women were preparing the evening meal of rice and a spicy beef soup known as fahfahk. Afterwards as the evening got cooler, mattresses and bedding were spread out on the roof for the extended family guests. I headed back into town.
The trial run was a success. Several of the men and women from the night before took part in the discussion. Abdkader led while Zaki sat in the room next door with the Americans and me, translating from Somali into English. The group was timid at first, but gradually warmed up. Several of the men vehemently expressed their displeasure with the government, echoing Zaki’s sentiments from the previous day. The Americans nodded enthusiastically and scribbled the revelations in their notebooks. Once the group had left, they congratulated me on a job well done. They would be leaving for the U.S. tomorrow but expected me to send daily updates with the findings from the other towns. While Zaki was excited at the prospect of fanning embers of revolt nationwide, I only wanted to go back to my hotel room and sleep.
I was jolted awake by loud pounding on the door
No sooner had I fallen asleep than I was jolted awake by loud pounding on the door. I ignored it, hoping the unwanted visitor would tire and leave but the pounding did not stop. Suddenly I was afraid. While at Abdkader’s place, Zaki had recounted a cautionary tale about two Kenyans who were arrested and summarily deported for conducting research in the country illegally. Their photos were splashed in the local newspapers accompanied by severely excoriating articles. Overtaken by paranoia, I took my mobile phone and tiptoed to the bathroom where I quietly locked the door and dialed Zaki’s number. “They have come for me,” I whispered. He told me not to open the door, to pack my things and be ready to go when he arrived.
The pounding stopped after a while. I did as ordered and then sat down to torment myself by imagining the worst. My imaginings of Djiboutian prison conditions were interrupted by quiet tapping on the door, followed by Zaki’s voice. I let him in and apprised him of the past hour’s events. He feared the worst and told me that I was decamping to Abdkader’s. He was distrustful of the overly inquisitive Omani proprietor he had encountered downstairs. He said the man was probably calling the police as we spoke. I arrived at Abdkader’s to find that the news of my alleged imminent arrest has preceded me and created no small anxiety in my project participants. They no longer wished to take part in the research. I struggled desperately to salvage the situation, saying that it might not have been the police at my door. But the story has opened old wounds from the civil war twenty years ago: summary executions, imprisonment without trial, mysterious disappearances—fates that had befallen people they knew.
Egyptian soldiers from Hatshepsut’s expedition to the Land of Punt as depicted from her temple at Deir el-Bahri, located on the west bank of the Nile opposite Luxor. Photo courtesy of Hans Bernhard/Wikimedia Commons
Feeling overwhelmed, I called my boss and asked him how to proceed. He said a more competent replacement would come to take over. When the replacement arrived, his first move was to offer more money to the participants. It was a very Kenyan response. The Djiboutians refused, their dignity slighted. “It is not worth the risk,” said an insulted Abdkader. The replacement then asked where we could find a new group of people, but Zaki said that nobody would agree to cooperate with him. Unwilling to accept defeat, the replacement set out to do the recruitment himself. Instead of going about it tactfully as per Zaki’s advice, he went to public spaces where being conspicuously foreign, he attracted the attention of the police. He was asked to produce his permit and failed to do so. The police advised to leave the country as soon as possible and not to trouble himself with returning. And thus the democracy project came to an unceremonious end.
On the return flight I was seated next to an elegant Djiboutian woman in her late 40s by the name of Amina. She was heading to Paris to visit relatives. She asked me whether I had enjoyed my stay in her country. I told that unfortunately I had not been able to see much of the country. “Did you not go clubbing? A young girl like you? How about deep-sea diving? Lac Assal?” Nothing, I replied. She appeared more disappointed than I was. “You will go back home and tell people that there is nothing to see in Djibouti which is not true.” It’s true that Djibouti is not a place people fall in love with—for many it is too hot, too poor, too dangerous, too bewildering. But I disagreed with Amina: I would have no bad report to make of the country. And for all the fiasco that was my American research project, at least as of this writing, I am still allowed to return.
“Will you be back?” asked Amina. “Yes,” I said, “I will be back.”
Some names have been changed to protect identities. | {
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I only remembered about this book towards the end of the lockdown but either way thought it could be an interesting read.
Solitary Fitness had some good ideas, misses some but unfortunately also provided a lot of nonsense.
Bronson was quite the motivator, here he did everything right. He wanted you to take responsibility for your actions and start your fitness journey as soon as you started the book. The language was simple and a little crass but this kept the mood light and allowed to easily spee
I only remembered about this book towards the end of the lockdown but either way thought it could be an interesting read.
Solitary Fitness had some good ideas, misses some but unfortunately also provided a lot of nonsense.
Bronson was quite the motivator, here he did everything right. He wanted you to take responsibility for your actions and start your fitness journey as soon as you started the book. The language was simple and a little crass but this kept the mood light and allowed to easily speed through the book.
The majority of the solitary workouts are isomeric holds which are understandable but not always used for the right muscle groups.
Due to a lack of load progression the program implements progressive overload via metabolic stress rather than mechanical tension.
There were bizarre cleansing cleansing methods mentioned in the book as well as activities to strengthen and stretch your...manhood. As I’m not too familiar with these subjects my only comment here is that’s it’s definitely entertaining.
The suggestion that BMI is a good way of setting the proper height to bodyweight ratio is preposterous. Bronson didn’t mention that it is only ideal for those who never worked out or carry significant muscle mass.
It was noticeable that the chapters on nutrition were co-written. The information here was solid for the most part and delivered in a more verbose manner.
On multiple occasions Bronson expressed his disdain towards steroid use (keep in mind the goal of this program is to get fit, not big and muscular), yet it boggles my mind when I look at the woman (“Storm”) who models the exercises in this book, let’s just say she hasn’t been skipping any meals...and by meals I mean test shots. This is clearly a double standard that is ignored in order to sell more copies, if you preach about the evils of steroids, don’t make a roid head your poster girl.
My final thoughts on the book; It works well as a source of entertainment and motivation, Bronson encourages you to enjoy your workouts. Unfortunately as a training system it falls short. Being rampant with misinformation or incomplete information, some exercises are not explained properly and thus feel unfinished. | {
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I suppose Joe Dudek was never truly famous, except in the minds of people like me, who happened to be 13 years old in December 1985, and who happened to believe that Thursday was the greatest weekday of them all, because it meant a brand-new issue of Sports Illustrated would inevitably arrive curled up in our mailbox. I mean, Dudek still has occasional brushes with something that resembles notoriety: Every so often, an old SI shows up at his house, and he autographs his photo on the cover and ships it back to some obsessive completist who no doubt attached a self-addressed stamped envelope from a hoarder’s shack in Kalamazoo. Every so often, a person will roll his granite slab of a surname about on their tongue, and they will ask, “Why does that sound so familiar?” Every so often, someone will glance down at his thick fingers and notice the AFC championship ring or the NFL alumni ring that his wife ordered for him, and they will ask him about it, and then Dudek will tell them about who he once was, for a brief period, before he came to live the rest of his life.
So I guess you could say that at irregular intervals, Joe Dudek is still quasi-famous, even if you might argue that his 15 minutes were manufactured with a Warholian flourish, even if you might argue that he was specifically targeted for fame because he embodied the antithesis of celebrity in that flamboyantly weird American epoch known as the 1980s.
On Saturday night following the Heisman Trophy ceremony, ESPN will air a 30 for 30 about Bo Jackson, who, for a short time before the rise of Michael Jordan and the implosion of Bo’s own hip, was both the most famous and most remarkable athlete in our nation’s modern history. I have written extensively about Bo in the past; I believe he is the greatest pure athletic specimen I’ll ever see in my lifetime, and I believe the particular fame that built up around him laid the framework for what it means to be a famous athlete in 2012. I believe that Bo happened along at the right time and engendered such tremendous enthusiasm that he became a unique sort of American icon, and I believe that no athlete embodied the spirit of the Reagan era more than Bo did. His career was brief, but I believe it was tremendously important, and the myth he created was so great that smaller myths built up all around him. And this is where Joe Dudek (above, center) comes in, because without his association with Bo Jackson, Dudek’s existence might be completely different.
“I do believe that magazine cover changed my life — it motivated me to become something more,” he says. “For the rest of my life, Bo and I are going to be attached at the hip.”
I ask him where he might have wound up if they weren’t ever connected, if none of this had ever happened, and he pauses for a very long time.
“I honestly don’t know,” he says. “I was the right guy at the right place at the right time.”
We are driving in Dudek’s sport-utility vehicle, on the way back to Manchester from his son’s prep-school hockey game in rural New Hampshire. Except for a brief interlude in Colorado, he has spent most of his life in New England. He works as a vice-president at Southern Wine & Spirits, a major liquor distributor with a headquarters in nearby Concord; he has a wife he met in college and they have a son and a daughter, and he tells me over and over again that he could not possibly be happier with his life. Everything that happened back then — that confluence of good luck and good timing and genuine achievement — feels a little bit like he’s eavesdropping on someone else’s dream. “Joe doesn’t like to talk about it,” his wife, Jodi, tells me, and part of this is because Dudek is a legitimately humble man. When Jodi decided to display some of his football trophies in a small corner of their house, Dudek protested, worrying that people would find it ostentatious. “Joe,” she said, “it’s your house.”
But I also wonder if Joe Dudek worries that if he tells the story too much — just as it is with those hyper-surreal Bo Jackson highlights — it might cease to be real.
It started, of course, with a magazine writer and a magazine editor, but before that, it started in North Quincy, Massachusetts, in a family with seven children that had recently escaped from the rough neighborhood of Dorchester. The father was an electrical designer; the mother worked at a drugstore. None of the first six children had gone to college, and the youngest assumed that he wouldn’t, either. He imagined he would get a job working construction with his brothers; he played soccer until his sophomore year, and then he picked up football. He was a running back and he had good speed and he was undersized and no one showed much interest, except a Division III school called Plymouth State in New Hampshire, which had recruited a group of Quincy kids before and figured there was no harm in inviting another, even if his prospects were cloudy.
Dudek’s grades weren’t very good, but he sold himself to the admissions office. He took out steep loans to pay the out-of-state tuition. His freshman year, he was backing up an All-America candidate, and he assumed he wouldn’t see the field, but then the All-America candidate went down with an ankle injury during a controlled scrimmage, and Dudek came in. Dudek wasn’t a power back — he was an upright runner with a long stride, a poor man’s Marcus Allen — but he hit the hole on a dive play, fell backward onto a pile of bodies, bounced up without landing on the ground, and scrambled 66 yards for a touchdown. From time to time after that, his teammates referred to him as “Crazy Legs.” The next week, he was supposed to attend his brother’s wedding — he assumed he wouldn’t be playing — and instead he scored four touchdowns against Norwich. When he showed up for the tail end of the reception, no one believed him, because he’d never done anything like that in high school.
Over the next three games, Dudek scored nine touchdowns. Plymouth State went undefeated, but they weren’t considered good enough to compete in the NCAA’s Division III playoffs.
In the spring of his sophomore year, Dudek took a semester off to drive a van, delivering supplies for Blue Cross/Blue Shield to help pay his tuition. His own car cycled past 100,000 miles, and he kept scoring touchdowns, and by his senior year, he’d set the Division III record for rushing yards and was on the verge of breaking Walter Payton’s NCAA career touchdown record. The school’s sports information director, John Gardner, began courting media, and on the day Dudek broke the record with his 67th touchdown, a news helicopter from a Boston television station landed on the field. This, he assumed, was about as big as things would ever get; a few NFL scouts were sniffing around, but Dudek was already making plans for what would come next when Rick Reilly called.
Reilly was in his first year at SI, covering college football. He was unimpressed by the Heisman Trophy field, and more than that, he and editor Mark Mulvoy were seeking to make a statement. College football was seething with blatant and in-your-face corruption, punctuated by the sordid happenings at Southern Methodist University. And even though Bo’s career at Auburn had nothing to do with this — even though the supposedly inconsequential injuries, like a thigh bruise that kept Jackson out of certain games and that Reilly cited as the primary reason for Bo’s lack of qualifications, were, in fact, very real — he and Iowa quarterback Chuck Long became symbols of the Heisman’s insistent celebration of mediocrity. By extension, they became symbols of college football’s inevitable degeneration into a semiprofessional avocation. In search of an anti-antihero, Reilly happened upon Joe Dudek, who had the name, and the car, and the lack of scholarship money — one of the myths that made the rounds was that Dudek actually worked cleaning up the stadium after the games (he’s still not sure where that came from) — and who had run for 265 yards in his final game at Plymouth. Then, suffering from injuries and exhaustion, he had to be carted from the field by ambulance. Thigh bruise, indeed, Reilly sneered at Bo.
The cover: A mug shot of Bo, and a mug shot of Chuck Long. And at the bottom, a mug shot of Joe Dudek. Check boxes next to each; only the bottom box marked. Headline: The Thinking Fan’s Vote for the 1985 Heisman Trophy. Inside, a shot of Joe posing next to the brown jalopy he drove, the totem of purity and innocence SI was seeking. The article’s headline: “What the Heck, Why Not Dudek?”
“At a time of growing suspicion about the money side of big-time college football,” wrote the Christian Science Monitor after the issue was published, “Joe Dudek has emerged as a symbol of the virtues and appeal of the game’s purely amateur version.”
“There’s nothing wrong with creating a hero,” Mulvoy told SI.com a few years ago. “Let’s face it: Madison Avenue did it, everybody did it.”
The irony, of course, is that they would soon do it to Bo, on an exponentially larger scale: Those brilliant and self-referential Nike commercials and that “Bo knows” catchphrase would propel him to a level of fame he never could have anticipated and never really asked for. Years later, Bo would tell me that all the people who presumed they were using him were actually being used by him. He made a fortune, and he became, for a brief time, a modern-day superhero, streaking across outfield walls and through stadium tunnels. Then, when it was over, when he’d come back to baseball and retired again, he retreated to a quiet life in a gated community in the Chicago suburbs, on his own terms.
It wasn’t like Joe Dudek didn’t realize that he was being manipulated, too, that his story was being elevated into its own little fairy tale. He felt guilty that it came at the expense of Bo (and, to a lesser extent, Chuck Long), but it was so surreal in its speed that he had trouble absorbing it all. “It all happened so quick,” he says now. “If it happened all over again, I wish I could have slowed it down a little.”
He was being honored at his high school’s football banquet when Gardner, the school’s SID, called a pay phone in the hallway to inform him that he’d gotten the cover over Marvin Hagler; the next day, he raced to a local magazine distributor to buy a copy as soon as it went on sale. He appeared on Good Morning America with Bo, and he played in the Japan Bowl, a college all-star game, with Bo. During the practices, he thought, I can play with any of these guys. Except Bo.
“He would hit the hole, and then get to another gear that you shouldn’t have for someone that big,” he says. “He is by far the best athlete I’ve ever seen.”
And Joe? He was still Joe. But his mailbox was crammed with letters from agents. He thought he might get chosen in the NFL draft. He even received 12 first-place votes in the Heisman Trophy balloting, no doubt from 12 people who had never seen him play a single down (he finished ninth overall).
The day after the photo shoot for the SI cover story, Dudek was driving down a snowy road to get medical treatment. He slammed into a parked vehicle and totaled his car, with 106,000 miles on the odometer. He would never drive it again.
Dudek wasn’t drafted, but he did catch on with the Denver Broncos, playing mostly on the practice squad, a longshot who engendered sympathy because of the symbol of purity he’d come to represent. In 1987, the NFL players walked out on strike, and the Broncos, desperate for a back who knew the playbook, begged Dudek to return. At first, he refused — he was the son of a union man, after all — but then the Broncos guaranteed him a spot on the taxi squad for the remainder of the season, and Dudek came back for a Monday Night game against the Raiders. He ran for 128 yards and two touchdowns, and caught five passes the following week against the Chiefs before the regular players returned (the Broncos went to the Super Bowl). He never played in a regular-season game again, but through the Broncos he got a job at the Coors Brewing Company, thereby leading him to a career in the liquor business. (If not for that, Dudek says, he might have wound up working construction again.)
Five weeks after the Broncos defeated the Raiders, Bo Jackson made his Monday Night Football debut against the Seahawks — in the sport he famously referred to as a “hobby” — and he blew through the tunnel at the Kingdome, and toppled Brian Bosworth’s burgeoning fame, and birthed a phenomenon that we’re only now beginning to grasp, one that we may never witness again.
As proof, here is Dudek’s son, J.D. — he used to play hockey and baseball when he was younger, but then his coaches told him to choose, one or the other, which is how it goes for most young athletes these days. J.D. picked hockey, and committed to Boston College heading into his junior year last summer, and then transferred to a prep school with more than a half-dozen future college players on the roster. It is serious hockey, far more serious than anything Joe was doing at his son’s age, when he was just starting to take up football.
But then, all that was a long time ago. I have no idea what Bo Jackson remembers about Joe Dudek, if anything, or if he feels any sort of synergy. But I can tell you that Joe Dudek remembers Bo with a fondness that has less to do with their actual relationship, and everything to do with the way their stories became connected, and the way Bo opened those who watched him to an ecstatic sense of possibility. In fact, Bo and Joe only really spoke once, in the green room at Good Morning America; Dudek was a shy kid sitting in the corner, and Bo came up and introduced himself, repressing the stutter that had plagued him since childhood.
“You must be Joe,” he said. “I’m Bo Jackson. It’s great to meet you.”
And that one time, Joe Dudek shook the hand of the man who inadvertently altered the course of his life. | {
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The zombie only had THC in hi- WE KNOW!
5,872 shares | {
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Hello!I was wondering if I could use this piece of your artwork for one of my F2U Custom box codes? I'm working on a Sailor Moon and Individual Scout Boxes (Live Preview at the bottom of my profile, and still a wip). I can't seem to find many people whom do the Sailor Senshi (besides sailor moon) page dolls and other f2u resourcesExamples of what I do:I will credit if I use (on the page itself).If not thank you for your time ^v^. | {
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House Ways and Means Social Security subcommittee chair Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX) introduced a bill that was disguised as reform but is actually the first step in a sinister Republican plan to dismantle Social Security.
The full text of the legislation can be read here, but what Republicans are calling “reform” is actually a planned attack on the foundation of the beloved program.
The Washington Examiner summed up what the bill would do, “The bill put forward by Texas’ Sam Johnson, the chairman of the subcommittee on Social Security, would reduce costs by changing the benefits formula to reduce payments progressively for high earners. It would also gradually raise the full retirement age from 67 to 69 for people who are today 49 or younger. Lastly, it would change the inflation metric used to calculate benefits to one that shows lower inflation, essentially slowing the growth in benefits, and eliminate cost of living adjustments for high earners.”
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In other words, the legislation does exactly what Trump and the Republicans promised not to do. It cuts Social Security. However, the bill is even more sinister than a plan cut, because it attacks the fundamental basis of the entire program. The raising of the retirement age and the cutting of benefits opens the door to Social Security being reshaped from a retirement program for all to a program for older Americans while everyone else has their retirement privatized.
House Democratic Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that Johnson’s bill cuts Social Security benefits by more than one-third, “Cutting Social Security would have devastating consequences for Americans’ retirement security. At a time when Americans are more anxious about their retirement than ever, the top Republican on the Social Security Subcommittee is rolling out legislation that cuts benefits by more than a third, raises the retirement age from 67 to 69, cuts seniors’ cost of living adjustments, and targets benefits for the families of disabled and retired workers.”
There is a reason why this bill was put forward on Thursday night, instead of in the light of day. Republicans are trying to stealthily gut Social Security. They are hoping that the American people won’t notice that the program has been hollowed out until it is too late.
The Republican course of action is both sinister and dishonest. If Trump and the Republican Congressional majority want to cut Social Security, they should look the American people in the eyes and own it.
Republicans in Congress are setting themselves up to dismantle Social Security, and they are hoping that the American people will be too distracted by Trump’s Twitter account to catch on. Social Security will only be saved if the public is informed and ready to fight. | {
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Bill Keating (above, from this video), a former Texas Sheriff, pleaded guilty in federal court to sexually assaulting a woman, telling her she had to comply or face jail on a drug charge.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert K. Roach decided to allow Keating to remain free until sentencing in May. The honorable Judge Roach said Keating was neither a flight risk nor a danger to the community because he had a "stable marriage" and because "this crime and other alleged misdeeds happened when he was acting as the sheriff."
Keating and [as many as 12 other former sheriff's personnel and inmates] also face state charges related to having sex with inmates and taking illegal substances into the jail, Montague County District Attorney Jack McGaughey said. He declined to reveal specifics Tuesday but said he would present cases to a grand jury in February.
So rapists get special treatment if they carry a badge? And did the judge ask Keating's wife how "stable" her marriage with this rapist is? Civil Liberties Examiner has more. | {
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As Mike Riggs noted on Thursday night, the Justice Department's new medical marijuana memo (PDF) confirms that President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder are reneging on their promises to respect state law. Under the policy described by Deputy Attorney General James Cole on Wednesday, "commercial operations cultivating, selling or distributing marijuana" are fair game, even when they are explicitly authorized by state law. By contrast, in his October 2009 memo (PDF) to U.S. attorneys, Cole's predecessor, David Ogden, instructed them that they "should not focus federal resources" on "individuals whose actions are in clear and unambiguous compliance with existing state laws providing for the medical use of marijuana."
Furthermore, as I pointed out last month, the Ogden memo listed factors (such as violence, sales to minors, and sales of other drugs) that "may indicate illegal drug trafficking activity of potential federal interest." These criteria make no sense when applied to individual patients or their caregivers, the only people the DOJ now says need not worry about federal prosecution; they make sense only when applied to dispensaries, and they imply that bona fide dispensaries, the ones that are not merely fronts for drug trafficking, should be left alone. Yet the Cole memo says threats to prosecute legitimate, state-licensed dispensaries are "entirely consistent" with the Ogden memo. The new memo even suggests that state employees could be prosecuted for licensing and regulating dispensaries, saying people "who knowingly facilitate" the distribution of medical marijuana "are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of state law," and "are subject to federal enforcement action, including potential prosecution."
The reversal in policy is even clearer when you consider public statements by Obama and Holder that contradict the position the administration is now taking. In a March 2008 interview with Oregon's Mail Tribune, Obama said, "I'm not going to be using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue." Two months later, when another Oregon paper, Willamette Week, asked Obama whether he would "stop the DEA's raids on Oregon medical marijuana growers," he replied, "I would, because I think our federal agents have better things to do."
Here is how Holder described the administration's policy during a March 2009 question-and-answer session in Washington:
The policy is to go after those people who violate both federal and state law. Our focus will be on people, organizations that are growing, cultivating substantial amounts of marijuana and doing so in a way that's inconsistent with federal and state law.
Three months later, Holder visited New Mexico, which licenses medical marijuana dispensaries. Here is how The New Mexico Independent described Holder's attitude toward such operations:
The nation's top cop said Friday that marijuana dispensaries participating in New Mexico's fledgling medical marijuana program shouldn't fear Drug Enforcement Agency raids, a staple of the Bush administration. U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, speaking in Albuquerque during a meeting focused on border issues, including drug trafficking, said his department is focused "on large traffickers," not on growers who have a state's imprimatur to dispense marijuana for medical reasons. "For those organizations that are doing so sanctioned by state law, and doing it in a way that is consistent with state law, and given the limited resources that we have, that will not be an emphasis for this administration," Holder said.
Finally, as I've said before, the position that Obama is now taking on medical marijuana—go after producers and sellers but leave patients alone—is no different from the position his predecessor took. In fact, Obama's crackdown on medical marijuana is, if anything, more aggressive than Bush's, with more frequent raids, IRS audits that threaten to put dispensaries out of business, forfeiture threats to dispensaries' landlords, and direct interference in the legislative process by U.S. attorneys. This is certainly not what voters thought they were getting when they heard Obama repeatedly promise to change course on this issue. | {
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We’ve carried several reports recently discussing Arsenal’s interest in signing Barcelona midfielder Andre Gomes.
The Portuguese international arrived at the Camp Nou from Valencia and has struggled to get regular playing time under Ernesto Valverde, and also struggled to impress when he has got on the pitch.
Catalan newspaper Sport reported on Tuesday that Barcelona are willing to allow the 24-year-old to leave the club in the summer transfer window, if they receive an offer of €20m including bonuses.
Today’s edition of the same publication reports that talks have started between Barca and Arsenal, with the La Liga champions taking the step and contacting the Gunners after hearing of their interest.
Embed from Getty Images
Arsenal don’t want to go as high as €20m for the midfielder, according to Sport, whilst his former club Valencia have been looking for loan which has received a straight ‘no’.
Barcelona’s objective is to finalise the transfer this week, which sounds ambitious but is still being presented as a possibility. On this front, talks are said to be continuing with Arsenal on the basis of a set fee plus bonuses.
It’s not so long ago that Gomes had a price-tag of over €30m, and depending on how interested Arsenal are, and how far they can get a guaranteed fee down from €20m, this may be worth a gamble.
Right now this feels very much like Barca trying to sell Gomes to Arsenal, and do so quickly. | {
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Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images Photo by Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images
Vice President Joe Biden would enter Iowa in a distant third place among Democrats if he decides to run for president, but his rising popularity, combined with signs of trouble for Hillary Clinton, means the early caucus state may be less of an obstacle to Biden this time than it was in 2008.
Biden is the first choice for president among 14 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers in a Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll released Saturday. That’s up from 8 percent in May, a significant increase given that Biden is not a declared candidate. He trails Clinton, the first choice of 37 percent, and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont at 30 percent.
When likely Democratic caucus-goers are asked for their second choices, however, Biden leads the pack with 24 percent, narrowly ahead of Clinton's 23 percent and the 20 percent for Sanders. Biden also has the highest favorable rating of the three among likely Democratic caucus-goers, at 79 percent, compared with 77 percent for Clinton and 73 percent for Sanders.
The survey of 404 likely Democratic caucus attendees, conducted Aug. 23-26, comes as Biden and his backers are meeting with prospective donors, organized labor and other key constituencies to assess his potential support and Clinton’s weaknesses in key early states.
J. Ann Selzer, president of West Des Moines, Iowa-based Selzer & Co., which conducted the poll, said it's too soon to know how well Biden can do in the state if he runs. "We’re just at the beginning," she said. "He’s known in Iowa, he’s run twice here before, so there’s an amount of goodwill left."
Related:
While the results don’t show an easy path for Biden to win in Iowa, they suggest he may be better positioned now for a credible run than he was in January 2008, when he abandoned a run for the White House after placing fifth in the Iowa caucuses with less than 1 percent of the vote.
In an October 2007 Iowa Poll, Biden was the top choice for only 5 percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers—about one-third of what he commands now.
Biden's latest poll numbers, combined with Sanders’ rising popularity, may bolster the case for a campaign-in-waiting in the event Clinton is further damaged by investigations into her use of a personal e-mail server while at the State Department, and other controversies.
“He’s like, ‘Wow I’m at 14 and I haven’t even announced, and everybody likes me, but more importantly Hillary’s way under 50 and Bernie’s within striking distance,’” said Ken Goldstein, professor of politics at the University of San Francisco and Bloomberg Politics' polling and advertising analyst.
“Biden is a bet on potential. He’s got high favorability and then if Hillary implodes, if Hillary’s a disaster in the debate, if another scandal comes up, if Bernie beats Hillary in Iowa and New Hampshire, Biden’s strong favorability is then poised to take advantage of those things,” Goldstein added. “At the end of the day, Biden doesn’t care whether he wins Iowa. But he would love for Bernie to beat Hillary. Think of a world where Hillary loses or has a very narrow victory in Iowa, and then Bernie wins New Hampshire, Biden wins South Carolina, and the Democratic establishment goes on to reassess everything.”
Marvin Trimble, 54, a firefighter from Garrison, Iowa, said he likes Biden personally, and thinks his experience as vice president has prepared him for the presidency and that Biden is less vulnerable to controversy that Republicans can exploit in the general election than is Clinton. “I know what the polls say now, but I think if he jumped in soon, I mean now, I think in a short time the numbers would show he has support and I think he’d give Hillary a run for her money,” Trimble said.
“The controversial stuff with Hillary, I think, it’s just going to be kind of a nightmare whether it turns out to be true or not,” Trimble added. “Look what they did to John Kerry,” he said, referring to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a campaign questioning of Kerry's military record during the 2004 presidential campaign. “You take a little bit of truth and make it gospel, and a lot of people who are going to want to believe it will believe it. I don’t honestly think she’ll get elected if she wins the nomination,” he said of Clinton. “That’s just a gut feeling with me.”
Bob Huber, 71, of Coralville, Iowa, said Biden seems “a lot more trustworthy” than Clinton. He said he's worried about her chances in a general election because she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, have a reputation for “not necessarily telling the truth all the time.”
Another Biden fan, Joan McCloskey, 72, of Des Moines, cited the vice president's personality, his support of women’s issues and his experience with foreign policy. “He’s been my first choice for a long time,” she said, adding that a certain amount of pragmatism is involved in her decision. While she loves Sanders’ ideals, McCloskey said, “Bernie Sanders is a socialist and he’s not going to win. Let’s face it. Bernie Sanders is not going to win but Joe Biden has a chance.”
At the same, McCloskey said she wonders if Biden, who turns 73 in November, is game to make the race. Given the death of the vice president's older son, Beau, in May from brain cancer, she said: “I’m concerned about his heart, personally.
“I wonder if, at his age, if he really wants to go through this horrid campaign when he’s hurting and when his family’s hurting. It’s grueling," McCloskey added, dissecting the campaign with the insider's knowledge comes from living in the state where the first ballots are cast.
"One small event, big event, one town after another and you give the same goddamn speech over and over again and you’ve got to appear compassionate and considerate. At this age and this time in his life I don’t know if I wish that on him even though I think he’d be a terrific president.” | {
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"I just signed your death warrant," Aquilina said Wednesday during an impassioned half-hour announcement of her decision.
During her powerful statement, Aquilina stopped to directly address Nassar about his guilt after reading from a letter he had written in court defending himself.
The judge strongly disagreed, saying: "It was not treatment. It was not treatment what you did. It was not medical."
Sir, I hope that -- sir. I hope you are shaken to your core. Your victims are clearly shaken to their core. And I know there are still some who ask are you broken because you got caught. First let me address counsel. I agree with your words in regard to no one should blame defense counsel and vigilante crimes are not tolerated. So, I hope that no one will do anything untoward against counsel, their children, their families, their firms, their cars, whatever. Crime plus crime solves absolutely nothing. Please respect their job. (unintelligible) The Sixth Amendment does guarantee each defendant the right to counsel. It doesn't matter what the defendant has done. They have the right to counsel.
I also want to say that being said, we also have the First Amendment. So, you are all free to have your own opinion. It is always a balancing act between the First Amendment, the Sixth Amendment. All of the due process and all the other amendments to the constitution,they are all valuable in their own way. That's why we have an organized and just society. That's why we are here today. Because this defendant has been brought to justice. Do not make it worse, please. Before I get to sentencing, I want to talk about a couple of things and first, I have said what I need to say to the victims. I have a little more to say. You are no longer victims, you are survivors. You're very strong and I have addressed you individually.
'Become part of the army'
Before I say anything further, I don't know if you all know this and I know that the world is watching, I know this because I am on the bench every day and this isn't the only heinous crime that appears in this court. The national crime victimization survey that's done by the (US) Justice Department annually reports that 310 out of every 1,000 assaults are reported to the police, which means that two out of three go unreported. To the voices of everyone that report, keep your voice up. Rachael's voice hopefully will raise these numbers of reports in all your voices. But that statistic does not include children 12 and under. One in 10 children will be sexually abused by their 18th birthday. One in seven girls and one in 25 boys by their 18th birthday. That means that in the United States, I am not talking about any other country, but in the United States, 400,000 babies born in the US will become victims of child sexual abuse. It stops now. Speak out like these survivors, become part of the army.
I do one case at a time. And I really so very much appreciate all of your thank yous. I read some of the Twitters and Facebooks and all that's going on the media. I am not special, I am doing my job. If you come into my courtroom, any Wednesday and watch sentencing, I give everybody a voice. I give defendants a voice, their families when they're here. I give the victims a voice. I try to treat everybody like family because that's the justice system that I was raised to believe in.
Judge gets personal
I came to this country stateless, unnaturalized. My father's Maltese, my mother's German. And I was raised on old country values. And my grandmother always told me and my parents always told me, my grandfather too, that America is the greatest country. I believe that. That's why I served in the military. That's why I have always done community service. I am not really well-liked because I speak out. I don't have many friends because I speak out. If you ask me a question, you better be ready for the answer. I speak out because I want change. Because I don't believe in hiding the truth. I am not saying I am always right. But I try.
Sentence fits all crimes, judge says
I also don't believe that one size fits all when it comes to sentencing, another reason I was (unintelligible). I know that there are some judges for every crime they give the same punishment. I don't think that's justice. I believe in individualized sentencing. I follow the Constitution and I believe our system works.
I also believe these survivors. Now there is case law about how I can consider what I can consider. And first and foremost, my sentence reflects the seven (victims) in regards to who the defendant pled to. What the remainder of you, the 161 others add to the credibility of those seven. So technically, I am considering everything. Everyone. Because your crime, all of your crimes, the depth of them have cut into the core of this community and many communities and all of the families and of all of the people that we don't even know.
Nassar's letter
And sir, the media has asked me to release your letter, I am not going to do that. Counsel may object, the media may object, but there is some information in here that troubles me in regards to the victims. I don't want them to be revictimized by the words that you have in here. But I do want to read some more of your letter. And the reason I want to do that is because I considered it as an extension of your apology and whether I believe it or not. So I want you to hear your words.
I have already read some and I am not reading every line. Let me begin. "The federal judge went ballistic at sentencing since I pled guilty to the state case and spent 10% on the federal case and 90% on the state cases and civil suits. She gave me 60 years instead of five to 20 years, in parentheses, three consecutive 20 years sentencing. I have pleaded guilty to possession of porn from 9/2004 to 12/2004. Four months. The prosecutor even admitted that I never belonged to any porn site or chat room, was not on the dark web. And also, they could not prove that I viewed it. It was all deleted, of course. I shared my electronics and I could not prove that. So for four months of porn possession from 2004, I was sentenced to 60 years, not proper, appropriate there. Going down a few lines, what I did in the state cases was medical, not sexual. But, because of a porn, I lost all support and thus another reason for this state's guilty plea."
Let me move down further. "So I tried to avoid a trial to save the stress to this community and my family and victims, yet, look what is happening. It is wrong."
Let me move down further. "I was a good doctor because my treatments worked and those patients that are now speaking out were the same ones that praised and came back over and over and referred family and friends to see me. The media convinced them that everything I did was wrong and bad. They feel I broke their trust. Hell hath not fury like a woman scorned. It is just a complete nightmare. The stories that are being fabricated to sensationalize this than the AG would only accept my plea if I said what I did was not medical and was for my own pleasure. They forced me to say that or they were going to trial and not accepting the plea. I wanted to plea no contest, but the AG refused that. I was so manipulated by the AG and now Aquilina. And all I wanted was to minimize the stress like I wrote earlier."
Going down a little bit further. "In addition, with the federal case, my medical treatments with the Olympics/national team gymnastics were discussed as part of the fleet. The FBI investigated them in 2015 and found nothing substantial because it was medical. Now, they are seeking the media attention and financial reward."
The judge addresses the former doctor
Would you like to withdraw your plea?
Larry Nassar: No your honor.
Judge Aquilina: Because you are guilty, aren't you? Are you guilty, sir?
Nassar: I said my plea exactly.
'You have not yet owned what you did'
Judge Aquilina: The new sign language has become treatment. These quotes, these air quotes, I will never see it again without thinking of you and your despicable acts. I don't care how they are used, it was not treatment. It was not treatment what you did. It was not medical. There is no medical evidence that was ever brought. When this case first came to me and I have told you this and I apologize to the Olympians and athletes but I have five children and two dogs, my parents live with me, I work four jobs, I don't have much time for television, I don't watch sports, although last year I was a soccer coach much to the laughter of my family. I didn't know anything about you, your name or anything that was going on. And so when I kept saying we are going to trial, here is the date.
Everyone wanted more time, but I said no that's the cutoff. The cases were merged and we delayed it and I still thought well maybe there is a defense of medical treatment. Why did I think that? Because it is my job to be fair and impartial but also because my two brothers and my father are very well-known respected doctors, real doctors with real treatments and research, dedicated to healing. I have not considered that in this case, but I have heard from your survivors now, that they trust doctors like I trust the doctors in my family and the doctors that I go to. But, I still thought, well, there is a defense of medical treatment and there are changes in the medical community every day for the betterment.
So up until the time you pled, I believed that maybe there is a defense here despite the felony information. I was ready for trial. Your counsel was ready for trial. The attorney general's office was ready for trial. You, sir, decided to plea because there was no medical treatment. You did this for your pleasure and your control. This letter which comes two months after your plea tells me that you have not yet owned what you did. That you still think that somehow you are right that you are a doctor and you are entitled and you don't have to listen and that you did treatment. I would not send my dogs to you, sir. There is no treatment here. You finally told the truth.
Inaction is inaction, silence is indifference. Justice requires action and a voice and that is what has happened here in this court. 168 buckets of water replaced on your so-called match that got out of control.
I, also like the attorney general, want to thank law enforcement for their investigation but I also want to be the voice on behalf of these survivors who asked law enforcement to continue their fine work and also include the federal government.
There has to be a massive investigation as to why there is inaction and why there was silence. Justice requires more than what I can do on this bench. I want to also applaud all of the counsels in the attorney general's office. I want to also applaud defense counsel.
You all have done fine work. You made me proud of our legal system. We all work together for the betterment for our community and that's law enforcement, prosecutors, defense counsel, investigators and there are countless of people. It is the only way our system works. We need this balance so all of you when I look at myself as lady justice, my arms are like this: they are balanced. Prosecution, defense are balanced.
It only starts to tip after there is a plea and after I take into consideration of everything that has happened. So I want everyone to understand, I have also done my homework, I always do. People vs. Waclawski. I'm sure I slaughtered the name but it is spelled w-a-c-l-a-w-s-k-i. And in it, I want you to clearly understand, it says, plainly the law does not limit victims impact statement to direct victims. It does not say and I have found nowhere that limits me from having you hear all of your victims.
As I said before, when counsel came to me and said we are not going to go to trial despite our court having already sent out 200 of the 800 juror requests and they told me their plea and would I consider it and move to trial. There was the agreement between us because I always, and they know it, they are familiar with me, let people speak. And I wanted all victims and we had a discussion about which victims. Of course, there was an objection to one of them but I let her come in anyway. That was part of the plea that you entered into to allow victim impact statement. Because after that discussion, I know your lawyers, as good as they are, sat down with you and said the judge is going to allow this. When it comes down to this, I know it also because this was signed by the attorney general, by the defendant and by defendant's counsel on November 22, 2017.
Judge rips into Nassar
Aside from the letter you wrote, a couple of months after your plea which tells me that you still don't get it, there is something I don't understand and I want to make clear. Sir, you knew you had a problem, that's clear to me. You knew you had a problem from a very young age before you were a doctor. You could have taken yourself away from temptation and you did not.
Worst yet, there is not a survivor who has not come in here and said how world renowned you were. I trust what they say. You could have gone anywhere in the world to be treated. You could have gone to any resort and any doctor or place where you can get treatment. In Europe they have all sorts of hidden places for things like this.
No one had to know and you could have found treatments, some help, taken some medicines. You would have done that if you had cancer. I know you would have. You are about self-preservation. But, you decided to not address what's inside you that causes this control urge that causes you to be a sexual predator. So, your urges escalated and based on the numbers, that we all know go unreported. I cannot even guess how many vulnerable children and families you actually assaulted.
Your decision to assault was precise, calculated, manipulated, devious, despicable, I don't have to add words because your survivors have said all of that, I don't want to repeat it. You cannot give them back their innocence, their youth, you can't give a father back his life. One of your victims, her life and she took it. You can't return a daughter to a mother, a father to a daughter. You played on everyone's vulnerability.
I'm not vulnerable to you or to criminals. I swore to hold the Constitution and law and I am well-trained. I know exactly what to do. This time, I am going to cure it.
And I want you to know, as much as it was my honor and privilege to hear the survivors, it is my honor and privilege to sentence you. Because, sir, you do not deserve to walk outside of a prison ever again. You have done nothing to control those urges and anywhere you walk, destruction will occur to those most vulnerable.
Now, I am honoring the agreement and I'm also honoring of what is requested of me and I want you to know that I am not good at math -- I have a cheat sheet. I am only a lawyer. I know that you had a lot of education and physics and math but I have a cheat sheet. It is my privilege on counts one, two, five, eight, 10 and 18 and 24, to sentence you to 40 years. And when I look at my cheat sheet, 40 years just so you know and you can count it off your calendar is 480 months. The tail ends, because I need to send a message of parole board in the event somehow God is gracious and I know he is. If you survive the 60 years of federal court first and you start on my 40 years.
You have gone off the page here as to what I am doing. My page only goes to 100 years. Sir, I am giving you 175 years which is 2100 months. I have just signed your death warrant.
Thank you to Judge Aquilina. Thank you to EVERY SINGLE person that came forward and shared their story, both in and out of the courtroom. And thank you to everyone who has reached out in support. ❤️ justice was served today and now it's time for CHANGE #timesup pic.twitter.com/mI24s9qn1t — Jordyn Wieber (@jordyn_wieber) January 24, 2018
I need everyone to be quiet. I still have contempt powers, I told you I am not nice. I find that you don't get it, that you are a danger. You remain a danger and I am a judge who believes in life and rehabilitation when rehabilitation is possible. I have many defendants come back here and show me great things they have done in their lives after probation and after parole. I don't find that possible with you. So, you will receive jail credit and counts, 1, 2, 5, 8, 10, 18 of 369 days and count 24, you will have 370 days' jail credit. If you are ever out which is doubtful. You would be required to register at the Michigan sex offenders registration act complying with all requirements of that act in addition to global position monitoring system, you would wear a GPS. You will pay restitution in the amount to be determined based on whatever amounts are submitted and your attorneys can ask me for a restitution hearing so I can determine what a reasonable amount is for the victims. I am leaving restitution opened as long as those victims that have issues that can be medically documented. You will comply with DNA testing and pay a $60 fee for that. I suspect that's already done. You must submit to HIV testing and complete counseling associated with HIV and AIDS and you must weigh confidentiality of test results and medical information obtained from this test to be released to the court. You will pay $476 in state pocket and crime victim assessments in the amount of $130. If counsel wishes to address courts and fines, I don't know his financial state. I am not imposing any court costs and fines. And here's the reason, I don't know what he has or what he will get in the future.
The victims deserve the money, the county will survive one way or another. I am also going to make recommendations of the Michigan Department of Corrections for mental health treatments. I understand he has some medical conditions and he should be taking medication for that. He should have individual and group counseling. Treatment for sexual predators, whatever they allow. I am also going to send a message. I am not sure but I believe I read an article, sir, that you were treating people in prison that don't have a license, don't commit any more crimes. I know you don't have any more lives to give but you cannot be treating people. You are not a doctor. So, I am not sure how that's happening. But I want to extend that message. You have 21 days to appeal, 10 days to request court-appointed counsel to acknowledge receipt of your appellate rights.
Media availability
Let me just state to the media. Again, I am just doing my job. I know you all would like to talk to me. My secretary informed me that I have a growing stack of requests from print media, from television, from magazines, from around the world, literally.
This story is not about me. It never was about me. I hope I've opened some doors, because you see I am a little stupid because I thought everybody did what I did and if they didn't, maybe they ought to, but I do this and I am happy to do it. If you don't believe me, the keeper of my words is right by my side and lawyers who are hearing this and shaking their heads that yes, I have waited too long. Sometimes people are upset, I don't care, I get paid the same.
So I ask the media who want to talk with me, I'm not going to be making any statements, I know that my office and I even don't know, it is been a long couple of weeks that after this is over, it is just not my story. After the appellate period runs with victims by my side to tell their stories, I may answer some questions than what I said on the record. I don't know what more I can possibly say.
I am not going to talk with any media person until after the appeal period, and even then if you talk to me about this case, I will have a survivor with me because it is their story.
So I wanted everybody to hear that from me. I respect all of the media outlets, you've done just a fabulous job here. There has not been any commotion or upset by this. I do believe in the First Amendment and I thank you all for being here because it is an important story for the survivors. As to today, I know there are a lot of survivors and family members and husbands and friends, a lot of people in the courtroom, you have voices. I am going to leave the courtroom, the defendant will leave the courtroom. The attorneys may stay. Victims, family members, survivors -- you may stay in the courtroom and talk with the media, you can have your own press conference right here. Spur of the moment sometimes works out the best, doesn't it?
Again, I won't make a statement until after the appeal period. And again, if there's any survivor then who at that point, if somebody wants to talk to me, I am sure you will be moved onto another story but if you're not, please give your names to the victims' advocate so that I can contact you. Because please, media, do not contact me on this story without a survivor. It is their story. I thank everybody in this case.
Sir, I hope somewhere you have heard everybody's words and it really does resonate with you. | {
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Some troubling news out of the Dreamchasers camp today, as reports are coming in that Meek Mill's artist Chino has reportedly been shot. According to Karen Civil, Chino was reportedly shot in the head this morning, though there is no update or status of his current condition at this time. Meek, nor any other members of Dreamchasers, have commented on the situation via their social media accounts as of now. Chino was reportedly sitting in a car in his hometown of Baltimore when the shooting took place. The exact details of what led to the reported shooting are also unclear at this time.
Chino has always been a loyal member of Meek's crew and the two originally bonded years ago over their love of riding bikes. Aside from being a devoted member of Dreamchasers, Chino also appeared in Meek's new Bike Life app as one of the main characters in the game. We've reached out to Dreamchasers and Atlantic for comment on the situation and we'll continue to update when more details are available. | {
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The number of journalists jailed around the world in connection with their work has reached a record high of 262, according to a new report, with just over half of them imprisoned in Turkey, China or Egypt.
Nearly three-quarters of the detained journalists were jailed after being accused of antigovernment activities, many of them under broad and vague counterterrorism laws. A record number, 21, were jailed on charges of “false news,” a term that has gained resonance as strongmen have embraced President Trump’s attacks on “fake news” to silence critics.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, an advocacy group that does an annual count of detained journalists, said in its report that Mr. Trump had “cozied up to strongmen” and done little to stand up for human rights.
“President Donald Trump’s nationalistic rhetoric, fixation on Islamic extremism, and insistence on labeling critical media ‘fake news’ serves to reinforce the framework of accusations and legal charges that allow such leaders to preside over the jailing of journalists,” the group said. | {
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Argentina sub: Antarctic tribute to lost San Juan crew Published duration 30 January 2018 Related Topics Argentina missing submarine
image copyright Argentine Navy image caption The crew of the ARA Almirante Irizar paid tribute to the 44 lost on the San Juan submarine
The crew of an Argentine icebreaker have paid a moving tribute to their comrades lost at sea in a submarine.
They formed the number 44 on the ice as they headed into the Antarctic while performing a traditional military salute next to their ship, the ARA Almirante Irízar.
Forty-four submariners on the ARA San Juan were lost in the waters of the South Atlantic on 15 November.
The photo was taken from one of the helicopters that accompanied the ship.
It was then published on the Argentine navy's Twitter account.
The icebreaker arrived in Antarctica on Friday. Argentina has 13 permanent and transitory bases on the continent.
The ARA Almirante Irízar itself has had a troubled past. A fire partially destroyed it in 2007 and this is its first mission for more than 10 years.
image copyright Argentine Navy image caption The Argentine Navy held a ceremony at the Belgrano II base
Members of the crew held a ceremony at the Belgrano II, Argentina's southernmost base, located 1,300km (800 miles) from the South Pole.
No trace
The loss of the ARA San Juan has shaken the Argentine Navy deeply. No trace of it has been found more than three months after it went missing.
Two members of the crew, who left the sub in the port of Ushuaia just days before the accident, gave evidence before a judge investigating its disappearance on Monday.
image caption The crew of the ARA San Juan comprised 43 men and one woman
Earlier this week, police searched four buildings belonging to the navy, including its Submarine Force Command, as part of the investigation.
The judge said the aim of the search was to find documents clarifying its state of repair.
Five ships are still searching for the ARA San Juan, among them the Russian spy ship Yantar.
Another ship, the ARA Robinson, is searching an area north of the location where the navy lost contact with the submarine. It had reported an electrical problem off the coast of Patagonia.
A noise consistent with an implosion was recorded by the Vienna-based Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty some six hours after the sub's last contact. | {
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The involvement of a Russian billionaire developer and his pop-star son in setting up a meeting between a Kremlin-linked lawyer and members of Donald Trump’s inner circle may have landed the father-son duo in controversy in the United States, but it doesn’t seem to be hampering their business back home. On July 13—two days after the role of Aras and Emin Agalarov in arranging the June 2016 Trump Tower meeting was revealed—Moscow’s city-planning and land commission granted approval for their company, Crocus Group, to begin constructing a sprawling shopping and entertainment complex in the Moscow suburbs.
The Agalarovs, with whom Trump partnered in 2013 to bring his Miss Universe contest to Moscow, have been paving the way for this project—literally—for several years. Their company has been involved in constructing sections of the Central Ring road, a new highway that will encircle Moscow and run through a planned Moscow city expansion known as “New Moscow,” where the recently approved mall complex will be located. In an interview last year with Kommersant, a major Russian business newspaper, Agalarov said the road contract had proved less profitable than expected, in part due to the rising cost of sand. “You could say that our hope dissolved in the sand,” he joked. But the recently approved development could make the road project pay off, easing traffic on routes near the new complex.
The development will join the Crocus Group’s chain of glitzy “Vegas” mega-malls in suburban Moscow. The original Vegas is Russia’s largest retail-entertainment complex, complete with a Ferris wheel, ice-skating rink, movie theater, and 400 stores. Agalarov said in February that his company planned to invest 15 billion rubles (about $254 million) in this new venture, which will be the firm’s fourth Vegas mall.
Much of the financing for the Crocus Group’s recent projects has come from the state-controlled Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, which is currently under US sanctions imposed due to Russia’s 2014 invasion of Crimea. While Trump was in Russia in November 2013 for the Miss Universe pageant—which was held at a Crocus Group property outside Moscow—Agalarov organized a meal for the visiting real estate mogul with some of Russia’s top businessmen, including Sberbank CEO Herman Gref, a longtime Putin ally who previously served as Russia’s economic minister under Putin. (In 2016, Gref recommended that Putin hire his former Sberbank colleague, Sergey Gorkov, to head up Russia’s state-owned development bank, Vnescheconombank. Gorkov got the job, and in December, he met with Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner at the behest of then-Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak—a meeting that Kushner left off his initial application for a security clearance.)
During Trump’s 2013 visit, he entered into a preliminary deal with the Agalarovs to build a Trump tower in Moscow—a project he had been trying to get off the ground in various forms since the 1980s—as part of a Crocus Group complex. The Crocus Group later signed an agreement with Sberbank to borrow about 55 billion rubles ($1.6 billion in 2013) from the bank for a variety of new real estate projects, including the potential Trump tower. This agreement almost doubled the Crocus Group’s existing debt with the bank and was the largest real estate development loan ever made by the bank at the time.
In a recent interview with Forbes, Agalarov said Sberbank might also provide his company with the financing for the new Vegas shopping complex. “It is also ready to give us a loan for the fourth Vegas, but I haven’t yet decided, because I’m already so indebted [to the bank],” he said. “Our debt is almost $100 billion rubles.” (That’s about $1.68 billion.)
Agalarov has a reputation for taking on difficult projects on behalf of the Kremlin. In 2009, Crocus Group was selected for a government contract to build a new Far East University campus on an island off Vladivostok, in southeastern Russia, that would host global delegations for APEC 2012, a gathering of leaders from Pacific Rim countries. Putin awarded Agalarov the Order of Friendship for Crocus Group’s successful completion of the project. In 2014, the Crocus Group was handpicked by the Kremlin to construct two stadiums on behalf of the Russian government ahead of the 2018 World Cup. Agalarov said he considered turning the work down, given the short time frame and the headaches involved in constructing one of the stadiums, which is located on swampland. But the fact that the Kremlin had invited him to take on the project showed how much confidence the government had in Agalarov and his firm. “I thought about it, thought about it, but I could not say no,” Agalarov told Forbes.
Back in 2013, hooking up with Agalarov to mount the Miss Universe contest in Moscow seemed like a stroke of fortune for Trump. Here was an oligarch in good with Putin and the Kremlin. The Agalarovs’ involvement in the June 2016 meeting suggests this effort—even if the Trump camp claims it did not yield Clinton dirt—was a serious matter for the Kremlin. And for the Agalarovs, it sure wasn’t bad for business. | {
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