text
stringlengths 14
100k
| meta
dict |
|---|---|
LAist Photo Illustration (Photo of Fleetwood Mac by Steffane Lui via the Creative Commons on Flickr)
I never did believe in the ways of magic, but I'm beginning to wonder why: for Vin Scully and Fleetwood Mac, two of the most miraculous entities in existence, will be joined together under the skies at Dodger Stadium next month for a 'Blue Diamond Gala' in honor of the legendary announcer.
We sure will miss Vin after he retires at the end of this year, and Angelenos have been showing their appreciation in many ways, kicking off his last season with the renaming of Elysian Park Ave in honor of Scully himself. A tribute performance to Vinny by one of the greatest bands of all-time is literally ripped from the headlines of my dreams.
The 'Blue Diamond Gala' will be held at Dodger Stadium on July 28, and ticket packages start at $1,500 for all the paupers out there.
The @DodgersFoundation will pay tribute to Vin Scully at their 2nd annual Blue Diamond Gala. The night will feature an exclusive 2016 concert with renowned rock band Fleetwood Mac! Visit Dodgers.com/Gala and follow @DodgersFoundation for more information. A photo posted by Los Angeles Dodgers (@dodgers) on Jun 13, 2016 at 11:18am PDT
If you really want to go all out, a 'Grand Slam Sponsorship,' can be purchased for $100,000 and includes 20 "preferred seating" tickets for the concert, 20 tickets to the "Pre-Show Party," tickets for a "Meet and Greet" with the Mac themselves (crying), and, perhaps most bizzare, a "choice of 2 players to be table hosts during the Pre-Show Party." It's #PuigYourFriend, not #PuigYourHost!
According to the event website, proceeds (of which, there will probably be a lot!) will go towards expanding the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundations' local inner-city baseball programs.
This won't be the first time the Mac has graced Dodger Stadium. Here they are, goofing around on the field with the USC marching band in the music video for "Tusk" (it's great):
But this video of outtakes is even more fun:
In related news, Fleetwood Mac will be reissuing 1982's Mirage in July (the day after the gala, coincidentally), and just released an early version of "Gypsy" that will appear as one of the deluxe-edition features. Listen to the predictably beautiful jam here. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
The 90s were a funny old time for fashion, and that didn't stop when it came to the football pitch.
Cheap material, massive sponsors, and designs that looked like they had been painted by a blind person were the norm, but looking back, you can't help but admire the decisions that were made by the likes of Adidas, Umbro, and of course, Le Coq Sportif.
We love a good retro jersey here at Balls.ie, but we also love a bad one too, and we've had a dig for some of the the more noteworthy League of Ireland jerseys from the 1990s, and while some are good, some are very, very bad.
Galway United - 1995
Not entirely sure what 'Digital' did at the time, but they sponsored Galway and that template is a 90s Adidas classic. Works well with those colours too, a cracker for the time.
Derry City - 1991
When you think of Derry City in the 90s, you think 'FRUIT OF THE LOOM'.
Shamrock Rovers - 1999
This won't be the last time Rovers feature here, but they outdid themselves with their kits in the 90s. Umbro were taking the piss a bit here.
Cork City - 1992
Another gem here, the Cork colours looked great with that Adidas template, the 90s really were a good time for the German sportswear giant. Special mention to Bohs' absolutely gigantic 'BASS' sponsor too.
Drogheda United - 1999
An absolute monstrosity. McDonalds logos do not work as shirt sponsors.
Shamrock Rovers - 1993
We know Rovers like a bit of purple, but jaysus. Also worth noting this jersey was made by "Matchwinner", whoever they are.
Cork City - 1999
Sometimes a sponsor just works on a jersey. Even better when the sponsor is Guinness and the jersey itself looks like the head of a pint of Guinness.
Sligo Rovers - 1994
Sligo won the FAI Cup is this headache of a football shirt.
Shamrock Rovers - 1995
Shamrock Rovers again thinking outside the box, this time with an improvement in terms of results.
Finn Harps - 1999
Finn Harps reached the 1999 FAI Cup final and were spotted easily by motorists at night in this luminous version of Brazil's 1998 World Cup jersey.
Images via Classic Football Shirts, and SportsFile | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
News, views and top stories in your inbox. Don't miss our must-read newsletter Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email
Oscar-winning actor Emma Thompson has joined a peaceful walk and silent protest at a controversial fracking site.
Protestors, led by over 100 women in white clothes, marched through Blackpool, Lancs., to urge the Government to publish an internal report on fracking which "could call into question" the viability of the industry.
Emma Thompson, 58, led from the front holding a "NO FRACKING" sign in solidarity with the throng of protestors, accompanied by Greenpeace activist Tina Rothery.
The protestors have opposed the plans for many years.
Fracking is the process of drilling down into the earth before a high-pressure water mixture is directed at the rock to release the gas inside.
(Image: Getty Images Europe) (Image: Daily Mirror)
Fracking uses huge amounts of water, which must be transported to the fracking site, at significant environmental cost.
In an anti-fracking video, the actor said: ""A lot of us in this country are not excited about fracking, at all."What we are excited about is renewable energy.
(Image: Daily Mirror) (Image: Daily Mirror)
"After all we are living in one of the windiest countries in Europe, and are surrounded by oceans which also provide a lot of power."
Environmentalists say potentially carcinogenic chemicals used may escape and contaminate groundwater around the fracking site and fracking is distracting energy firms and governments from investing in renewable sources of energy.
(Image: PA)
Lancashire county council voted against the controversial drilling technique in 2015 but was subsequently overruled by the government.
A 15-minute silent protest took place at the Preston New Road fracking site followed by speeches from Emma Thompson and others.
Greenpeace activist Mrs Thompson last visited the site in April 2016 when opponents of fracking occupied the field with a "frack free bake-off" event before the drilling began. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Mike Bradley wants the prime minister to consider clearing the criminal records of people charged with possession of marijuana once the drug becomes legal.
The Sarnia mayor penned an open letter to Justin Trudeau Monday stating that, as the mayor of a border city, possession charges are of "great concern."
"Those charges of simple possession can cause loss of employment and the inability to travel, particularly to the United States of America," he explained. "These are often people who have no other convictions and who have lived lives that have contributed to Canada."
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley is calling on the Prime Minister to consider clearing the criminal records of Canadians with simple marijuana possession charges once it becomes legal. (Facebook)
Canada's federal government has committed to legalizing marijuana by July 1, 2018.
Scarborough Southwest MP Bill Blair, the prime minister's point person on the marijuana file, said the government understands the concerns of border cities.
"We recognize the impact that a criminal conviction for simple possession of cannabis can have on a Canadian and we are looking at ways in which we can respond fairly to those concerns," he said.
Liberal MP Bill Blair answers a question during Question Period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Thursday, Feb.25, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld (Adrian Wyld/Canadian Press)
Blair added the government's first order of business is to pass legislation to make marijuana legal, then it will consider past criminal records.
"We're exploring various ways in which those concerns can be addressed, but quite frankly, until the new system of cannabis control ... is put in place the current law stands and we urge all Canadians to continue to obey the rule of law," he said. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
April 16, 2008 -- The Supreme Court has upheld the three-drug lethal injection method used by the state of Kentucky in a 7-2 decision, clearing the way for an unofficial moratorium on executions to be lifted.
"Some risk of pain is inherent in any method of execution no matter how humane -- if only from the prospect of error in following the required procedure," Chief Justice John Roberts wrote in the majority opinion. "It is clear, then, that the Constitution does not demand the avoidance of all risk of pain in carrying out executions."
"Simply because an execution method may result in pain, either by accident or as an inescapable consequence of death, does not establish the sort of 'objectively intolerable risk of harm' that qualifies as cruel and unusual," his opinion continued.
Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented.
The two convicted murderers at the center of the case, Ralph Baze and Thomas C. Bowling, had unwittingly caused an unofficial moratorium on executions across the country.
Since the court announced in September that it would hear the Kentucky case, states had postponed the execution of 25 death row inmates; some states had stopped scheduling them altogether while the justices mulled the case.
The last execution in the United States occurred the same day the court picked up the case, when Texas put Michael Richard to death on Sept. 25, 2007.
Baze and Bowling had argued that death by lethal injection constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, an argument the Court rejected. The drugs included in the protocol are sodium thiopental, which anesthetizes; pancuronium bromide, which paralyzes; and potassium chloride, which causes cardiac arrest.
Of the 36 states with a death penalty law on the books, all but one has designated lethal injection as the primary method of execution.
As for what's next, Richard Dieter, who runs the Death Penalty Information Center, a group opposed to the capital punishment, said he believes that "quite a few [execution] dates will be set -- testing whether their states meets the same standard that the court found acceptable in Kentucky."
Dieter said methods of capital punishment are not likely to go unchallenged in the future, despite the court's ruling in the Kentucky case.
"Lower courts could say that based on today's decision that the execution in certain states cannot go forward because they don't even meet the Kentucky procedures," Dieter continued. "This is not a blanket pass for all states to carry out lethal injections."
Associate Justice John Paul Stevens noted in his concurring opinion that the decision is not the final word on the lethal injection issue because other states have their own challenges.
Dieter noted that "Roberts indicated that they have never overturned a method of execution, and that's true, but I don't think this decision removes objections that will continue."
"The fact that there were only two justices in dissent, they may be thinking of the real problems of executions in Ohio and Florida etc.... This must be lingering in the thoughts of the dissenters," he added.
Lawyers for Baze and Bowling had argued that the drugs are administered by untrained officials who can botch the execution and cause extreme pain. They also argued that other drug combinations could be more effective in carrying out the death penalty.
Donald Verrilli, an attorney for the Kentucky inmates, has said, "It really is not about fine-tuning the system to create an incrementally less amount of pain. This is about avoiding torture."
But in court, the justices seemed skeptical of the argument. Conservative Justice Antonin Scalia said, "Where does this come from that you must find the method of execution that causes the least pain? We have approved electrocution. We have approved death by firing squad. I expect both of those have more possibilities of painful death than the protocol here."
There have been instances across the country of fumbled executions.
In Florida, convicted murderer Angel Diaz was executed in 2006. But a medical examiner's postmortem examination revealed that due to the improper injection of the anesthetic in his case, he had chemical burns on both arms. Experts believe he would have felt extreme pain for 20 to 30 minutes.
In Ohio, Joseph Clark was sentenced to death for killing a gas station attendant. But his 2006 execution was botched. It took him 86 minutes to die while he screamed in pain.
Even his victim's brother, Michael Manning, watched in horror. "He started to shake his head from side to side," said Manning. It took a technician 19 tries to insert the deadly intravenous needle.
Manning said what he saw in that execution chamber should not have happened. "I believe in the death penalty, but I side on the constitutionality side of it. The Eighth Amendment says no cruel and unusual punishment, and that's what I think it was."
In Missouri, the doctor who devised and supervised that state's lethal injection procedure has admitted in court that he is dyslexic, "so it's not unusual for me to make mistakes."
An investigation by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch revealed that the doctor, Alan R. Doerhoff, had been sued for malpractice more than 20 times. The paper also reported that one nurse who worked on Missouri executions is himself a convicted stalker.
But victims' rights advocates, as well as victims' family members, often have little sympathy for the arguments of the death row inmates.
Dennis Briscoe was 14 years old when Baze opened fire with an assault weapon and murdered his father and uncle -- both Kentucky law enforcement officers.
"What they should really consider is the pain my father and uncle went through when that happened," he said. "We should all be so lucky as to just fall asleep when we die." | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Because Ponies + Socks = Adorable.
Considering my OC is an extension of myself, this may be a form of masochism…. Oh well, he deserves it.
I’m still undecided if I like colored lines or black lines more, I did both and I think I like the black lines more the colored lines more….
Anyone else want a drawing of their OC? Send me a message and I’ll be happy to draw it for you :) | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Photo
Senator Bernie Sanders is breaking away from Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire and is edging ahead of her in Iowa, according to new polls that show him solidifying the support of Democrats ahead the first two 2016 presidential primary election contests.
The polls add to mounting pressure on Mrs. Clinton, who was seen for months as an overwhelming favorite in the race, to avoid another upset from an insurgent Democratic challenger after her 2008 loss to Senator Barack Obama for the party’s nomination.
A survey from Quinnipiac University found that 49 percent of likely Democratic caucusgoers in Iowa are planning to back Mr. Sanders while 44 percent support Mrs. Clinton. The results represent a shift from a month ago, when the former secretary of state was leading Mr. Sanders by 11 percentage points. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.
“Iowa may well become Senator Bernie Sanders’s ‘Field of Dreams,’” said Peter A. Brown, director of the Quinnipiac poll. “After three months of Secretary Hillary Clinton holding an average 10-point lead among Iowa Democrats, the playing field has changed.”
The Vermont senator has been gaining ground on Mrs. Clinton in recent polls and capitalizing on a lack of enthusiasm for her candidacy less than three weeks before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses. The Quinnipiac poll found that Mr. Sanders is seen as more honest and empathetic than Mrs. Clinton, and stronger on climate change and the economy. She is viewed as being more electable in a general election and stronger on foreign policy.
Gender is also turning about to be a significant factor in how the candidates are performing, with men preferring Mr. Sanders by a margin of 61 percent to 30 percent. Women back Mrs. Clinton by a margin of 55 percent to 39 percent.
A separate survey from Monmouth University, released on Tuesday, shows Mr. Sanders leading Mrs. Clinton by a margin of 53 percent to 39 percent. The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus five percentage points.
The results signify a significant shift in the New Hampshire race, as Mrs. Clinton had a narrow advantage over Mr. Sanders there in a November poll from Monmouth. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News/Marist poll released this week showed Mr. Sanders with a four-percentage-point lead there.
Perhaps more worrying for Mrs. Clinton is the finding that a majority of New Hampshire voters said that their choice is set, while only 35 percent were completely decided two months ago.
“New Hampshire Democratic preferences are getting baked in, with Sanders gaining the upper hand,” Patrick Murray, director of the Monmouth University Polling Institute, said in a statement. “The final question will be who does a better job at turning out their respective voting blocs.”
Mr. Sanders is now leading Mrs. Clinton among all the major voting blocs in New Hampshire. According to Tuesday’s survey, he has overtaken her with female voters — a core constituency for the former secretary of state who would be the first female president. And he is also leading her among independent voters and with registered Democrats.
With his message of fighting to reduce income inequality and taking on Wall Street, Mr. Sanders continues to be the candidate of choice for younger voters in New Hampshire. But he has also managed to broaden his appeal since November, overtaking Mrs. Clinton with voters who are over age 50.
Lagging the two top candidates is Martin O’Malley, the former Maryland governor. His support sits at 5 percent in New Hampshire and 4 percent in Iowa, according to the new polls. But with the race tightening, his supporters could become a determining factor if they shift toward Mr. Sanders or Mrs. Clinton. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Rapist who saw women as 'lesser beings' is jailed Published duration 6 November 2017
image caption Abdel-Aziz Al-Shamary punched his victim twice in the face, dragged her to the floor and raped her
A man who raped a stranger on a riverbank and regarded women as "lesser beings" has been jailed for 12 years.
Abdel-Aziz Al-Shamary, 21, attacked the woman near the River Skerne in Darlington in May having watched outdoor porn on his phone.
The takeaway worker punched his victim twice in the face, dragged her to the floor and raped her.
Al-Shamary, of Pensbury Street, Darlington, denied the offence but was convicted on 16 October.
Teesside Crown Court heard he had drunk a bottle of Jack Daniel's and Johnnie Walker whisky and was said by the judge to have been "thrilled" by the idea of what he did having watched the porn.
Al-Shamary spotted his victim walking alone after a night out and threatened to kill her if she reported the attack.
Two women in a passing car followed him and alerted police.
Bedouin family
Al-Shamary, from a Bedouin family who spent a considerable amount of money to get him to the UK from Kuwait, refused to be dealt with by a female police officer - saying he only spoke to men.
He also called the UK a "bitch country", prosecutor Paul Abrahams said.
Judge Sean Morris expressed the hope he would be deported after serving half his jail sentence.
He said: "You had a sheltered upbringing in a Bedouin family with very little contact with the opposite sex.
"It is quite clear to me you have a problem with females and you regard them as lesser beings, as evidenced by your behaviour to the female police officer, and I am of the view that this was as much about degradation and humiliation as about sexual pleasure."
Al-Shamary, who maintained his innocence, was put on the sex offenders register for life.
Related Topics Darlington
Durham Constabulary | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
TMZ released a photograph and what it says are text messages proving Asia Argento had sex with 17-year-old Jimmy Bennett.
On Monday, the New York Times dropped a nuke on #MeToo heroine Argento, an Italian film actress and director who was one of the first to level accusations against disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
According to the Times, Argento paid Bennett $380,000 after he leveled the allegation she had sexually assaulted him in a California hotel room as a 17-year-old in 2013. The age of consent in California is 18.
Bennett and Argento have known each other since 2004 when the two starred together in a movie. Bennett was only seven at the time, Argento was 27. Bennett says he perceived Argento as a mother figure and that he was emotionally devastated after she gave him alcohol and forced herself on him.
Argento released a statement Tuesday where she appears to blame her then-boyfriend Anthony Bourdain — the celebrity chef who recently killed himself — for talking her into a pay off. She also said, “I have never had any sexual relationship with Bennett.”
According to what TMZ says it has, including a photo of Argento and Bennett in bed together (below), not only has Argento been caught red-handed lying about a sexual encounter, in the aftermath of the New York Times story, she admitted to the sexual encounter to a friend and accused Bennett of being the aggressor.
In a texts TMZ claims came from Argento, she wrote, “I had sex with him it felt weird. I didn’t know he was a minor until the shakedown letter … the horny kid jumped me.”
Argento adds, he “kept sending me unsolicited nudes all these years up until 2 weeks before” he sent the letter from his attorney demanding money.
“It wasn’t rape,” she writes, “but I was frozen. He was on top of me. After, he told me I had been his sexual fantasy since [he] was 12.”
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC. Follow his Facebook Page here. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Carolina Panthers backup defensive end Bryan Cox Jr. on Wednesday was cited for possession of marijuana and going 90 mph in a 65 mph zone on his way back from training camp in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
The incident occurred on Interstate 85 near Bessemer City, North Carolina.
"The club is aware that Bryan Cox Jr. was cited by law enforcement today," a team spokesperson said in a prepared statement. "We are in the process of gathering information and have been in contact with the NFL and Bryan. We will have no further comment at this time."
The Panthers said in a statement that they are aware Bryan Cox Jr. was cited Wednesday and are gathering information. Bob Donnan/USA TODAY Sports
Cox, the son of three-time Miami Dolphins Pro Bowl selection Bryan Cox, was pulled over by the North Carolina Highway Patrol at 1:02 p.m., less than two hours after the team broke camp on the second day of a two-day joint practice with the Buffalo Bills.
The 25-year-old was undrafted out of Florida in 2017. He appeared in 18 games over the past two seasons, totaling 16 tackles and one fumble recovery.
Cox, who stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 270 pounds, has been battling for a roster spot on the defensive line. If released, his contract is not guaranteed.
According to Sgt. Chris Knox of the North Carolina Highway Patrol's public information office, the state trooper smelled marijuana when Cox was pulled over, and Cox subsequently turned over the illegal substance. Cox also was cited for possession of drug paraphernalia -- a jar containing the controlled substance.
Under the NFL's drug policy, marijuana is handled differently than other substances. An additional offense is allowed before suspensions are leveled. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
By David Shepardson
WASHINGTON, March 7 (Reuters) - General Motors Chief Executive Mary Barra called on the U.S. Congress on Wednesday to expand a consumer tax credit for electric vehicles as the automaker said it would boost production of its EV Chevrolet Bolt in response to strong demand.
Barra also called on U.S. regulators to take into account when scoring automakers' emissions the potential for autonomous ridesharing vehicles to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and petroleum consumption. The Trump administration is currently reviewing whether Obama administration emissions standards that called for roughly doubling average U.S. vehicle fuel efficiency by 2025 are appropriate.
"We feel tax credits should be expanded so our customers continue to receive the benefit going forward," Barra told an energy conference in Houston, according to a copy of her remarks.
GM has sold more than 160,000 plug-in and full-electric vehicles eligible for the credit. The $7,500 consumer tax credit phases out over a 12-month-period soon after an automaker hits the 200,000 mark and the largest U.S. automaker is expected to hit the mark later this year. The tax credit is aimed at helping defray the cost of pricier electric vehicles.
Introduced in October 2016, the Bolt was the first mass-produced electric vehicle to go more than 200 miles (320 km) between charges, and sell at a sticker price of under $40,000.
GM sold about 26,000 Bolt EVs worldwide last year, mostly in the United States. The company declined to say how much it would hike production when it adds production later this year at an assembly plant north of Detroit.
Tesla Inc said last month it expects to reach the 200,000 figure later this year.
Congress opted not to kill the tax credit as part of a tax overhaul passed in December, but did not act on a proposal that would have lifted the cap entirely but then sunset the credit in a few years.
GM said in October it planned to launch 20 new electric vehicles by 2023, but did not provide more specifics. Automakers around the world are investing tens of billions collectively to electrify vehicles.
Automakers want the Trump administration to revise the 2022 through 2025 fuel efficiency standards. The administration must determine by April 1 whether the standards are appropriate and regulators are expected to declare they are not.
Administration officials are considering proposing significant reduction in the requirements, according to automakers and government officials.
"We also feel the regulations need to comprehend new developments in the industry – like the move away from one owner, one vehicle – that have taken place since the rule was finalized in 2012," Barra said. She noted "current standards did not comprehend increased shared and autonomous electric vehicles."
The company's "commitment to an all-electric, zero-emissions future is unwavering, regardless of any modifications to future fuel economy standards," she added. (Reporting by David Shepardson Editing by Frances Kerry) | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Afghan National Police students demonstrate crowd-control techniques in Wardak province in 2011. A new report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction expresses concern that the U.S. may be unwittingly helping to pay the salaries of non-existent members of the ANP.
WASHINGTON — American taxpayers may be the victims of a ‘ghost worker’ scheme in Afghanistan, according to the Office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, an independent watchdog group created by Congress.
“The U.S. may be unwittingly helping to pay the salaries of nonexistent members of the Afghan National Police,” John Sopko, the head of SIGAR, wrote in a Feb. 19 letter to commanders of Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan, which manages the majority of donated funds intended for the Afghan National Security Forces.
Sopko believes that some Afghans may be lining their pockets by collecting the paychecks of Afghan policemen whose names appear on payrolls but aren’t actually on the force. His concerns are based on conversations he had during a recent trip to Afghanistan, as well as discussions with European officials.
Concerns about ‘ghost workers’ in Afghanistan are not new. A 2011 SIGAR report raised questions about the U.N.’s management of the Law and Order Trust Fund for Afghanistan, which is used to pay ANP salaries. SIGAR auditors found that neither the Afghan Ministry of Interior nor the U.N. could verify payroll data. There was “limited assurance that only ANP personnel who worked received pay,” SIGAR concluded at the time.
Since 2002, the international community has contributed $3.2 billion to LOTFA, $1.2 billion of which came from the U.S., according to SIGAR.
The European Union is withholding 100 million euros — half of its contribution to LOTFA — due to concerns about how that money is being used, including the possibility of payments to ghost workers and other forms of financial mismanagement, according to Sopko.
“We must do more to understand how U.S. funds are flowing through the Afghan banking system, particularly those used to pay ANP salaries,” Sopko wrote. “We lack an adequate understanding and oversight of how U.S. funds flow from LOTFA through the Afghan banking system to their destination in the hands of legitimate ANSF personnel.”
SIGAR has initiated an audit to scrutinize the reliability of ANSF personnel data, and look at how that data are used for both the Afghan National Army and ANP payrolls, according to Sopko.
In a March 7 memo to SIGAR, Maj. Gen. Kevin Wendel, the CSTC-A commander, said the command discovered “discrepancies” in personnel and payroll records, including 54,000 erroneous personnel identification numbers in the LOTFA database used by the United Nations Development Program to manage and account for ANP payroll on behalf of international donors.
Wendel told Sopko that the erroneous ID numbers “could have facilitated LOTFA unwittingly making payments to nonexistent members on the ANP payroll.”
Wendel outlined steps that CSTC-A has taken to address the MOI’s financial management problems, including standing up its own audit division and requesting a Department of Defense Inspector General assessment of how payroll funds are accounted for within the Afghan financial system. CSTC-A has also threatened to withhold money from the MOI if they don’t improve their financial management practices, although not until after the Afghan presidential election and the initial stages of the upcoming fighting season.
“If there is significant ghost payrolling or other mismanagement of these funds, it is not only a waste of money, but reliance on inaccurate ANP numbers could undermine U.S. transition planning as we continue to withdraw troops from Afghanistan,” Sopko wrote.
The U.S. strategy calls for handing off responsibility for Afghanistan’s security to Afghan security forces by the end of the year as American troops leave the country. If ANP personnel numbers appear higher than they actually are due to payroll fraud, it could lead to inaccurate and overly optimistic U.S. and NATO assessments of the ANSF’s ability to fight off Taliban insurgents after most international forces leave the country.
[email protected]
Twitter: @JHarperStripes
| {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
As the clock winds down on congressional Republicans’ chance to repeal ObamaCare without threat of a Democrat filibuster — the Senate parliamentarian ruled two weeks ago that the opportunity to repeal ObamaCare via reconciliation will expire on September 30 — I’m going to do in this column what I only rarely do: Directly share comments I’ve received in recent days about the issue from Tea Party Patriots supporters across the country.
I’m taking this extraordinary step because I simply don’t believe congressional Republicans understand the depth of the anger felt by their supporters about their failure to keep their promise to repeal this odious law.
Of course, we’ve known for years that the Washington elites are out of touch with the struggles of average Americans. Seven of the 10 richest counties in the country are found in the Washington, DC suburbs, after all. They’re totally insulated from the burdens they impose on their constituents.
ADVERTISEMENT
And when it comes to ObamaCare, as if the exceptional status they enjoy simply as denizens of the Washington Establishment isn’t bad enough, they found a way illegally to exempt themselves from the true financial costs of the law, by falsely claiming that Congress is a “small business” that employs 45 people.
So as they now “pivot” to tackle tax reform, they should remember that for most Americans, the rising costs of health care imposed by this outrageous law – with premiums, deductibles, and co-pays all going through the roof — will likely still outweigh any tax cut the average citizen will receive.
By failing to repeal ObamaCare and its out-of-control price increases, the Republican-controlled Congress leaves in place a hidden tax – a mandatory payment we must make under penalty of law — that affects all of us.
But I digress.
Here, edited only for clarity, are comments directed to me in response to a recent email Tea Party Patriots sent out to its supporters, inviting them to join us for a Facebook Live session to discuss the new Graham-Cassidy bill:
Jonathan M., from Southlake, Texas, simply wrote, “Zero interest in a partial solution. All the best.”
Leo B., from Schertz, Texas, wrote, “I’m not supporting any plan that doesn’t clearly say: 1. NO care for illegals 2. NO exemption including Congress 3. NO mandatory enrollment 4. 100% free care for veterans.”
Ronald C., from Greenville, Tennessee, replied, “NO – WE voted for REPEAL, NOT fix ObamaCare.”
Faith R., from Grass Valley, California, wrote, “I am outraged that we are not completely repealing ObamaCare!!! Get rid of it. That’s what we voted for.”
Cristine K., from Grand Blanc, Michigan, wrote, “ObamaCare must be completely repealed! They have to try again! Why can’t McConnell put it back on the schedule? Get it done. Twist McCain’s arm – his state is hurting! No socialized medicine! Huge mistake!”
William P., from Petaluma, California, wrote, “Just cancel entirely all this unconstitutional Bull Crap. No matter how I read the document, I find no authorization for Federal intervention into the health matters of its citizens. Dump ALL the bureaucracies .. Leave all health issues at the private sector where it belongs.”
Tom S., from Las Vegas, Nevada, wrote, “If the Republican Party doesn’t get behind President Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE, one of two things will happen. President Trump will solicit the Democrats again or secondly, the vote fails to pass and the Republicans lose whatever is left of trust they have from their base. I’m fine with either way. This is about the American people … we demand better treatment from our elected officials! We want better health care, less government spending, tax cuts and reform, better paying jobs and safety from the threat of terrorism from in and out of the country.”
That’s seven responses, out of thousands of emails we receive each week from our supporters. Trust me, these seven responses are representative of the rest.
The conservative activists who worked their tails off to put Republican majorities in the House and the Senate, and who worked to put Donald Trump in the White House, are outraged.
And they have every right to be. I share that outrage.
The promise to repeal ObamaCare isn’t like any other campaign promise ever made. It was the centerpiece of GOP congressional campaigns in four straight election cycles. There’s not a single Republican in the House or Senate who got there by declaring his or her support for ObamaCare – in fact, exactly the opposite is true. I cannot find a single Republican in either the House or Senate who did not promise to repeal ObamaCare.
Yet it remains intact, and it appears the congressional GOP “leadership” is content to simply acknowledge its failure and move on.
Based on the feedback I am hearing, Americans, still struggling under the weight of the law, don’t have the luxury of simply shrugging their shoulders and moving on.
If GOP leadership fails to align its legislative priorities with its voters’ highest priority, Republicans are going to have a lot of explaining to do in next year’s election. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Consider this the media version of “RTs ≠ endorsements.” The Covington Catholic High School teen who was smeared as a racist over a badly reported incident at the March for Life will not be able to recover damages from media outlets. A federal judge ruled that the Washington Post did not make false and defamatory claims about Sandmann, and that reporting what Nathan Phillips alleged was protected by the First Amendment.
It’s not the end of this, but it’s not likely to get much better on appeal:
A federal judge on Friday dismissed a multi-million dollar defamation lawsuit against The Washington Post over its coverage of an interaction between a Kentucky high school student and a Native American activist on the National Mall, which gained national attention after the video went viral. Judge William O. Bertelsman dismissed the suit, stating that the Post’s coverage was protected as free speech and rejecting Covington Catholic High School student Nicholas Sandmann’s argument that the newspaper implied inaccurately that Sandmann had behaved in a menacing or violent way. The Post had quoted the activist, a veteran named Nathan Phillips, who said Sandmann stood in his way to get to the Lincoln Memorial in the Jan 19 incident. Bertelsman wrote that though Phillips’ claim may have been inaccurate, the Post had a right to publish it. The Post couldn’t be sued for defamation simply if some of its reporting was inaccurate, he wrote, rather it had to both false and defamatory.
Bertelsman concluded that the Post had the right to report on Phillips’ point of view even if Phillips’ claims were “erroneous.” Bertelsman took Sandmann’s claims as fact but ruled that irrelevant to the defamation claim:
“The court accepts Sandmann’s statement that, when he was standing motionless in the confrontation with Phillips, his intent was to calm the situation and not impede or block anyone,” the judge wrote. “However, Phillips did not see it that way. He concluded that he was being ‘blocked’ and not allowed to ‘retreat.’ He passed these conclusions on to The Post. They may have been erroneous, but . . . they are opinion protected by the First Amendment. And The Post is not liable for publishing these opinions.”
That’s not going to bode well for Sandmann’s other lawsuits. He has filed a similar claim against CNN and has identified over 50 other potential targets for legal action. Unless Sandmann can point to much more egregious conduct, especially statements of “facts” in reporting that were clearly false and published for defamation, this project doesn’t have much promise, as I wrote at the time:
In order to win a libel or defamation action, the plaintiffs have to show that the statements were objectively false, caused financial injury, and weren’t protected speech. The big problem for Sandmann and his attorneys will be the first and second points. Respondents will argue that they thought they had the full story from the first video, and they were at worst simply mistaken rather than acting with intent to defame. They might also argue that even the longer video remains open to a wide variety of interpretations, so there is no objective foundation for legal action. On top of that, what financial injury did a 16-year-old high-school student incur from a week of terrible coverage? His attorneys will argue that Sandmann’s prospects are damaged for life, but it’s going to be difficult to quantify those damages beyond sheer speculation.
As it happens, Bertelsman found problems with Sandmann’s argument on points 1 and 3. He also relied on Milkovich to note that the complaint’s reliance on figurative speech cut against precedent as well:
In his ruling, Bertelsman also cited the case, Milkovich v. Lorain Journal Co., writing that statements that are “loose, figurative” or “rhetorical hyperbole” are protected by the First Amendment because they can’t be proved true or false. Bertelsman identified words used by The Post to describe the students as falling under the protection established in Milkovich: “swarmed,” “taunting,” “disrespect,” aggressive” and “rambunctious,” among others.
Those are terms of opinion rather than fact, and rely heavily on perspective. None of this makes the reporting on Sandmann and the Covington Catholic High School students good, of course. In fact, the reliance on these terms points to a certain bias that came through loudly and clearly at the time. This should embarrass the Washington Post, but bad reporting alone isn’t actionable. If it were, most media outlets would have blinked out of existence decades ago, and all we’d have are social-media video clips.
The question in the headline, by the way, is a trick question. Freedom of speech and “modern-day McCarthyism” are, unfortunately, not mutually exclusive states. In fact, to combat the latter we need the former even more. The best cure for bad speech is more and better speech. That is why the courts have been stingy about defamation and libel, restricting it only to the most obvious of circumstances. Sandmann got victimized by the national media and deserves a hearty rhetorical defense, but defamation suits aren’t going to work to correct the record.
Of course, Sandmann’s attorneys plan to appeal this, and who knows? Perhaps the Supreme Court might be in the mood to rethink Milkovich and other libel-slander-defamation law. Justice Clarence Thomas certainly made his feelings known about Sullivan in February, not long after this legal action got filed. Until the Supreme Court decides to redefine defamation in relation to opinion and free speech, though, this isn’t going anywhere. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
The Day MLK Died: LIFE's Forgotten Photos at the Lorraine Motel Unearthed | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Mitch Marner’s future with the Toronto Maple Leafs may still be up in the air, but that’s not stopping him from helping out the surrounding community.
The Durham Regional Police K-9 unit has a new “apprehension suit” or “bite suit,” donated by Marner’s charity “Marner Assist.”
The padded suit is part of training for the police dogs and protects the person wearing it from actually getting hurt.
The force showed their appreciation for the training device by designing it to look like a Leafs jersey, complete with Marner’s number 16 on the front and back.
You can see the suit in action in the video above. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
add your own caption
add your own caption
Shaves in public restroom cleans the sink when hes done | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Saluting a “fallen hero,” President Donald Trump bestowed the Medal of Honor Wednesday on an American soldier who gave his life to protect three comrades from a suicide bomber in Iraq.
Army Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins, at age 31, died on June 1, 2007, after he tackled an Iraqi insurgent who was trying to detonate his bomb vest; Atkins wrapped himself around the man as the bomb exploded, protecting three colleagues from the blast.
“He put himself on top of the enemy and he shielded his men from certain death,” Trump said during a White House ceremony.
“In his final moments on earth,” Trump said, “Travis did not run.”
In an account of the incident, the Defense Department said, “Without pausing, Atkins bear-hugged the man from behind, threw him to the ground and pinned him there, shielding his fellow soldiers who were only a few feet away.”
Trump presented the Medal of Honor to members of Atkins’ family during the somber ceremony.
It was Trump’s eighth Medal of Honor ceremony, the first honoring a veteran of the Iraq war.
The nation’s highest military commendation, the Medal of Honor is awarded to members of the armed forces who “distinguish themselves conspicuously by gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of their own lives above and beyond the call of duty,” the White House said.
Born on Dec. 9, 1975, Atkins grew up in Bozeman, Montana, and first joined the Army in 2000, according to the Pentagon. He became an infantry team leader shortly after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in spring 2003.
While he left the service later in 2003, Atkins decided to re-enlist two years later, the Defense Department said. He was promoted to staff sergeant while serving in Iraq in 2007, the year of his death.
Gallatin County, Montana, has declared this to be Staff Sergeant Travis W. Atkins Week.
In a Twitter post, the government said: “The citizens of our county are eternally grateful for his service and sacrifice.”
Read more at usatoday.com. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
One does not simply Get up on mondays
151 shares | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Today's batteries take a long time to charge - but that's set to change. Researchers just developed a new graphene super battery that charges up in seconds and lasts virtually forever. Meanwhile, Ukraine announced a proposal to transform the Chernobyl nuclear wasteland into a gigantic solar farm that would produce four gigawatts of energy. In other solar news, scientists found a way to create energy-generating photographs using a printer and photovoltaic ink. And a new sun-powered machine transforms human urine into beer.
Most homes takes months or years to build, but a new bricklaying robot is able to create an entire house in just two days. In other design news, we showcased an "ice battery" that provides 24/7 cooling while using 40 percent less energy than traditional air conditioners. Elon Musk is contributing to the home of the future by developing helpful robots that may do your chores one day. Dutch designers found a way to turn cow manure into clothing (it's not as gross as it sounds). And a newly proposed "Women of NASA" LEGO set pays homage to five female space exploration pioneers. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Limburg krijgt hoogstwaarschijnlijk de eerste Forum voor Democratie-bestuurder van Nederland. Ruud Burlet wil net als zes andere kandidaat-gedeputeerden zitting nemen in een zogenoemd extraparlementair provinciebestuur, wat ook een landelijke primeur is.
Een extraparlementair college sluit geen coalitieakkoord, maar zoekt wisselende meerderheden voor geformuleerde programmapunten. De formateurs hebben vrijdag alle zeven kandidaat-leden voor de Gedeputeerde Staten gepresenteerd. De Provinciale Staten spreken zich eind deze maand uit over hun voordrachten.
De zeven beoogde leden hebben allen een partijpolitieke achtergrond. Het CDA is met twee mensen vertegenwoordigd en FVD, PVV, VVD en GroenLinks met één. De zevende was eerder wethouder voor de Landgraafse lokale partij GBBL.
Ontsteltenis bij GroenLinks
Pikant is de kandidatuur van Carla Brugman, oud-fractievoorzitter van GroenLinks. Zij zegt ja te hebben gezegd omdat ze zich wil inzetten voor „een groen geluid en een inclusief Limburg”. De vertegenwoordiging van haar partij in Provinciale Staten heeft „met ontsteltenis” kennisgenomen van Brugsmans voornemen. De fractie distantieert ervan en beschouwt het voorgestelde nieuwe dagelijks bestuur als een „uiterst rechts” college.
Lees hier hoe de formatie in Zuid-Holland terug bij af lijkt
Ruud Burlet van Forum voor Democratie krijgt onder meer duurzaamheid in zijn portefeuille en zegt zich in te willen zetten voor een circulaire economie. Spanning met zijn partijprogramma ziet hij niet. „Wij scheiden klimaat, milieu en natuur wel nadrukkelijk. De juiste dingen doen en met de juiste urgentie, daar gaat het om. Maatregelen moeten betaalbaar, haalbaar en draagbaar zijn.”
Brede coalitie
Bij de Statenverkiezingen in maart kwamen Forum voor Democratie (zeven zetels), GroenLinks (vier zetels) en de Partij voor de Dieren (twee zetels) in Limburg als winnaars uit de bus. Het CDA verloor terrein, maar bleef met negen zetels de grootste partij. Tijdens de informatie werd ingezet op een brede coalitie met het CDA, VVD, PvdA en D66 als „motorblok”. Daar moesten extra partners bij worden gevonden. CDA en VVD wilden het proberen met Forum voor Democratie, maar dat stuitte op veto’s bij PvdA, D66 en GroenLinks. Een coalitie over rechts met CDA, VVD, FVD en PVV zou mogelijk zijn, maar is niet aangegaan.
‘Vernieuwend verbinden’
De lastige coalitievorming baande de weg voor een extraparlementair college. Het zou zich baseren op uitgangspunten, waarmee alle partijen uitgezonderd de SP, eerder volledig instemden. Maar PvdA, D66 en GroenLinks vreesden voor een college met een te rechtse signatuur.
Het beoogde college gaat de komende weken onderhandelen over een programma. Uitgangspunten zijn er al wel: „het belang van Limburg voorop, een inclusieve samenleving en oog voor de Europese ligging van Limburg”. Ook in een motto is al voorzien: vernieuwend verbinden.
Een versie van dit artikel verscheen ook in NRC Handelsblad van 8 juni 2019 | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — Transgender students should have the right to use restrooms “and other sex-segregated facilities” consistent with their declared gender identity, Los Angeles city officials announced Thursday.
Los Angeles, along with 30 other U.S. cities, counties and mayors, joined an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court that argues Title IX — a federal law forbidding discrimination in schools on the basis of sex — protects transgender students from discrimination, according to City Attorney Mike Feuer.
The brief, filed in the case of Gloucester County v. G.G., notes that “for decades” more than 200 cities, counties, and other municipalities “have been adopting and enforcing local laws prohibiting discrimination against transgender people”.
“All our children deserve fair and equal treatment,” said Feuer. “All our children are entitled to respect, and to be free from discrimination. That includes our transgender children.”
Mayor Eric Garcetti also issued a statement in support of the brief, saying, “No child should be subjected to bullying, intimidation, or humiliation. Discrimination against the transgender community is wrong, it can be especially destructive in the lives of young people, and has no place in our schools.”
In addition to the city of L.A., more than 1,800 faith leaders and several major American corporations – including Apple, Microsoft, Paypal, eBay and others – were involved with the brief, which is a legal document filed in appellate court cases by non-litigants with a strong interest in the subject matter.
Brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on behalf of 17-year-old transgender boy Gavin Grimm, the brief argues that requiring transgender students to use single-stall restrooms is a form of “separate but equal” treatment “that imposes significant burdens on those students.”
The case was filed after the Gloucester County, Virginia, School Board passed what the ACLU calls a discriminatory policy that “treats [Grimm] differently from all other boys by preventing him from using the boys’ restrooms.”
According to the ACLU, the single-stall restroom policy for transgender students “visibly marks them as different from their peers and exposes them to a risk of violence and harassment. It also prevents them from receiving an equal education by requiring them to miss valuable class and activity time to visit restrooms that may not be conveniently located.” | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has called on jihadists to target the United States, after Washington launched air strikes in Iraq against Islamist fighters calling themselves the Islamic State.
In a statement published on a Twitter account affiliated with the group's local affiliate, Ansar al-Shariah, AQAP said on Thursday: "... We declare our solidarity with our Muslim brothers in Iraq."
"We call on all Islamist groups ... to go after America as part of its plan for jihad, militarily, economically, or through the media."
"And we call on every Muslim, especially anyone who can enter America, to champion his brothers by going to war against America with everything he can."
The Reuters news agency said it could not immediately verify the authenticity of the Twitter account.
After its capture of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul in June, the Islamic State - previously named the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria - swiftly pushed to the borders of the autonomous ethnic Kurdish region, alarming Baghdad.
Last week it drew the first US air strikes in Iraq since the withdrawal of American troops in 2011.
Advice on drones
The group has been disowned by al-Qaeda, which considered it as too radical after it took control of large parts of Syria.
Nevertheless, the AQAP franchise offered their "brothers" in Iraq some advice on dealing with US drone strikes that the Yemen-based group has had to contend with for the past few years.
In its statement, AQAP advised its fellow Islamist fighters to be wary of spies "because they are the main factor in specifying targets," to be careful when dealing with telephones and internet networks, and to disperse in fields if there is a heavy concentration of planes.
"We reaffirm to our Muslim nation that we stand in one trench with our Muslim brothers in Iraq against the American Crusader and Iranian conspiracy," the statement said.
Earlier this week a top AQAP leader hailed the Islamic State group's seizure of swathes of Iraq.
A senior US official last month expressed concern over possible collaboration between bomb makers from Yemen and fighters in Syria, where the Islamic State group has also seized extensive territory in the rebellion against President Bashar al-Assad. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
John Chappell, shows the injury to his Dog George after the Attack
Johnny Chappell was walking his Yorkshire Terrier, George, when they were set upon by a group of hooded figures who had been hiding in bushes.
Speaking from his hospital bed, the grieving 68-year-old said: “George was my best friend. He kept me company, it was us against the world.”
John Chappell, shows the injury to his Dog George after the Attack
Sign up to our daily newsletter The i newsletter cut through the noise Sign up Thanks for signing up! Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting...
Johnny was heading back to his home on Fox Hill Crescent, Fox Hill, when he noticed he was being watched from nearby bushes.
The dad-of-one, who lives alone, said he kept on walking with 11-year-old George and tried to make his way to his block of flats as quickly as he could.
But as he tried to get through the main entrance, the door got stuck on a bag he was carrying that contained an extra duvet he had borrowed as he was worried about getting cold overnight.
“When the door got stuck I knew that was it – they were going to get me,” Johnny told The Star.
Injuries that Johnny Chappell suffered after he was attacked by three men who also killed his dog. Picture: Andrew Roe
“The next thing I knew one of them had hit me round the head with a brick.
“Then they had me on the floor and were going at my legs. I don’t know if they had baseball bats or what but they were going at them hard.
“One of them took my walking stick out of my hand and started hitting me on the legs with it.
“I didn’t know what they were going to do to me.”
Johnny Chappell in hospital after he was attacked by three men who also killed his dog. Picture: Andrew Roe
Due to being disorientated from the blow to the head, Mr Chappell says he does not know how long the attack lasted but the next thing he remembers is being inside the flat block and trying to make his way upstairs.
“I’m not sure if I called 999 or if my partner Elaine did because she also lives upstairs and says she heard the commotion from outside,” he said.
“The next thing I know, I’m in the bedroom and the paramedics are there.
“The first thing I asked them was, ‘Where’s George?’
John Chappell, shows the injury to his Dog George after the Attack
“They went to have a look – at first they said they hadn’t found him - but I knew. I knew what they’d done. I said, ‘He’s dead, isn’t he?’
“They said yeah, but because it was a crime scene they wouldn’t let me see him, they wouldn’t let me say goodbye to him.
“There’s never been a dog like him, he was so different.
“I can’t believe he’s gone. I was in a shock for three days after this has happened.”
Johnny has been left with extensive injuries including a broken cheekbone. He remains in hospital more than a week after the attack, which occurred at about 10pm on February 10.
Officers are appealing for information from anyone who may have witnessed the incident, or who might have seen anyone acting suspiciously in the area at the time.
Injuries that Johnny Chappell suffered after he was attacked by three men who also killed his dog. Picture: Andrew Roe
Call 101, quoting incident number 1211 of February 10.
Alternatively, you can email information to [email protected] or give details to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
The billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks says America’s colleges are in serious trouble and that over a trillion dollars in student loans will put many of them out of business.
For years the federal government has been subsidizing loans, much like they did with houses ahead of the 2008 crash. This has led to increased tuition costs and lending to individuals who will more than likely never be able to pay back their student loans. The end result, according to Mark Cuban, will be a bursting of the debt bubble, a significant drop in college tuitions, and an outright collapse of America’s institution of higher learning:
College tuitions have exploded because of easy money guaranteed by Sallie Mae. So, if any student can borrow more and more money, and it’s guaranteed by the federal government, why wouldn’t the colleges take it all? take our poll - story continues below Will You Be Voting In Person November 3rd? Will You Be Voting In Person November 3rd?
Should the Government be Mandating Masks? * Yes No My State Is Not Allowing In Person Voting
Email *
Phone This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. Completing this poll grants you access to DC Clothesline updates free of charge. You may opt out at anytime. You also agree to this site's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. The problem is that bubble has led to over a trillion dollars in student loan debt, which is having a significant impact on the economy and it’s really holding us back in the economy’s ability to grow. It’s holding back housing, it’s holding back apartment building, it’s holding back car sales, it’s holding back clothing sales… anything that’s not an absolute necessity, kids can’t spend their money on. That’s a real problem for the economy and I think that bubble is going to burst. I think it’s inevitable at some point there’ll be a cap on student loan guarantees and when that happens you’re going to see a repeat of what we saw in the housing market when easy credit for buying or flipping a house disappeared.We saw a collapse in the price of housing and we’re going to see the same collapse in the price of student tuition and that’s going to lead to colleges going out of business.
Though going to college was a stepping stone for bigger and better things several decades ago, the notion that having a degree is the only road to success today is one of the largest scams in U.S. history:
College education is big business, and with easy Federal loans, prices for everything from tuition to text books is going through the roof. Once degreed, the majority of college grads are ill-equipped to handle the current marketplace. Many of those who entered college just five years ago simply can’t find work in a 21st century economy that’s imploding on all sides. What college grads are left with are massive loans that can’t be repaid and a room in mom and dad’s basement. At one time, college was an investment. Today, it’s become indentured servitude. For parents and teens looking at colleges, we suggest taking a close look at the amount of money that will need to be spent and borrowed, compared to the benefits that will come out of the degree pursued. Thirty years ago, a bachelor of business would have been a desired degree to hold. In an economy with over 20% unemployed, one must ask: how many business administration and management jobs will there be four or five years from now, especially if we continue to lose production capacity to cheap foreign labor.
A micro-documentary produced earlier this year by Crush The Street exposes the scam for what it is:
The government gladly invests taxpayer dollars into student grants and loans. This is what has been driving the increase in college tuition bringing it above and beyond the average student and family. For teenagers the propaganda is so potent that high school students in many cases have blind optimism that they will land their dream career after college and have the income to easily pay off any loan balances occurred along the way. Some graduates are left with over 100,000 in debt and can barely find any job, let alone the one they pictured themselves getting into four years ago.
We’re not suggesting that a college education isn’t worthwhile. But at current tuition costs those who lack practical skills for today’s economy once they get out of school will be left indebted, impoverished and living in mom’s basement for the majority of their working lives. That’s hard to believe for many future students of higher education but the fact is that nearly 85% of college graduates will return home jobless:
Saddled with debts that will take years to pay off, college graduates are finding it almost impossible to acquire any sort of meaningful labor in this much touted jobless recovery. […] Though estimates vary, a recent study by Twentysomething Inc., a consulting firm specializing in marketing to young adults, predicted that of the 2 million graduates in the class of 2011, 85 percent will return home because they can’t secure jobs that might give them more choices and more control over their lives.
Millions upon millions of dreams will be crushed by the propaganda being spewed by high school counselors, university marketing departments and the federal government.
Think carefully before committing yourself to tens of thousands of dollars in student loans just so you can hang out and party, because partying is the last thing you’ll be doing for the 20 years that follow your graduation ceremony.
Courtesy of SHTFplan.com | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Almindelig dværgbaldakinspinder (Bathyphantes gracilis)
Navngivet af Blackwall 1841
Beskrivelse
Almindelig dværgbaldakinspinder har en brun eller mørk forkrop med en mørkere kant. Bagkroppen har næsten altid en brun baggrund med 4 mørke tværgående striber hen over. Benene er lange, tynde, lyse og gule.
Hannen bliver op til mellem 1,5 mm og 2 mm. Hunnen bliver en smule større op til mellem 1,9 og 2,5 mm.
Udbredelse
Almindelig dværgbaldakinspinder er vidtspredt i Vest- og Centraleuropa men kan findes mange andre steder med sin holartiske spredning.
Levevis
Almindelig dværgbaldakinspinder kan findes over alt. Det være sig i græs, underskov, hede, skov eller moseland.
Almindelig dværgbaldakinspinder hører til de edderkopper der spreder sig ved at flyve. Den kravler op på et højt og venter på at vindhastigheden er korrekt til at flyve, så vendes bagkroppen opad og et en silketråd spindes som er lang nok til at bære edderkoppens vægt med vinden.
Jagt
Almindelig dværgbaldakinspinder har hen over sit horisontale tæppespind trukket limtråde rundt på kryds og tværs som skal fange byttedyr der forsøger at flyve igennem. Når byttet lander nede på selve spindet løber Almindelige dværgbaldakinspinder hen til det for at dræbe det, byttet bliver ikke spundet ind i silke som det ses ved mange andre edderkopper.
Reproduktion
Kønsmodne voksne kan findes hele året rundt men er oftest forekommende i sommeren og efteråret.
Observationer
21. juni 2015
Observeret i have.
Lokationer for observationer
Center map Get Directions
Referencer
http://srs.britishspiders.org.uk/portal/p/Summary/s/Bathyphantes+gracilis
http://www.araneae.unibe.ch/data/525/Bathyphantes_gracilis
http://wiki.spinnen-forum.de/index.php?title=Bathyphantes_gracilis
http://danmarks-edderkopper.dk/species-description?taxon=Bathyphantes%20gracilis | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
FILE PHOTO: Catalan Regional President Quim Torra is seen ahead of a rally of Catalan separatist organisations, in Madrid, Spain March 16, 2019. REUTERS/Juan Medina/File Photo
MADRID (Reuters) - The leader of the Spanish region of Catalonia, Quim Torra, will be tried for disobedience after he failed to obey an order to remove separatist propaganda from public offices during election campaigning, the regional court said on Friday.
During campaigning for national and local elections in April and May regional leaders were required to remove partisan messages from public offices. But Torra continued to display yellow ribbons - a protest against the jailing of Catalan independence leaders - from government buildings.
He could be removed from office for up to two years for failing to comply with the order. The court announced its intention to try him in a tweet.
Torra has said he disobeyed because the order was at odds with a resolution adopted by the Catalan parliament and the character of the yellow ribbons was open to subjective interpretation.
Many of the politicians and civil leaders involved in a failed push for secession for the wealthy region two years ago were subsequently arrested, and are now awaiting the decision of the courts, or fled the country and live in self-imposed exile.
Spain was plunged into its worst political crisis in decades in 2017 when the then-government of Catalonia called a referendum on secession and then unilaterally declared independence, actions that were both ruled illegal by the constitutional court.
The central government invoked a constitutional law to take over the regional authority and called an election, however pro-secessionist parties won a majority and put Torra, a pro-independence activist, in as regional leader.
In a letter to the electoral body that made the order, Torra said in March he would not remove the ribbons as he had a duty to respect the right to freedom of expression of public employees.
Polls show around half of the electorate in Catalonia supports independence while the other half wishes to stay within Spain. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Colgate forward Kyle Baun is getting a fresh start.
The 22-year-old free agent, who was being wooed by several teams, has agreed to terms on an entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks, as first reported by TSN's Bob McKenzie and later confirmed by Baun's agent.
Happy to confirm that new client Kyle Baun (@Bauner27) has agreed to terms with Chicago Blackhawks. He will report to the team this season. — Brian Bartlett (@BBarts) March 26, 2015
The Detroit Red Wings, Calgary Flames, Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers were believed to be among the teams most interested in acquiring Baun's services.
Baun will have to forego his senior year at Colgate in order to turn pro. In 113 regular-season NCAA games, he's recorded 39 goals and 38 assists.
He's also expected to suit up for the team as early as this season. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
When Evan Hu was six years old, his father took him to the Eaton’s store in Winnipeg in September and bought him his first bicycle. The little, red shiny bike sat off in the corner of the clearance centre and Hu’s father bought it for 50 per cent off.
In the spring, Hu went to work on the bike. He stripped off the fenders, turned the handlebars around, and then took a hacksaw to them to chop them shorter. “It was in my blood to start modifying things,” Hu recalls.
Hu hasn’t stopped since. Hu and his business partner, Angus Cowan, own Calgary’s Cycles Toussaint, a boutique bicycle frame-building business that creates bikes that look like they’ve sprung from another era.
If Hu's bikes harken back to a distant past, then the serial entrepreneur who has founded no fewer than four start-ups is very much of his time. Hu has successfully sold three of his firms, while his current venture is Knelf, an app and messaging platform that sends questions back and forth between mobile phones to spark conversations between people.
Cycles Toussaint is sparking conversations, as well. A Vancouver bike shop owner calls Cycles Toussaint 'The King of Bling.'
There are two models, the Velo Routier and the Citie. The former is an all-purpose machine capable of handling smooth pavement and rough dirt roads equally and designed for long-distance touring. The latter, as its name suggests, is a city commuter that positions its rider in a comfortable, upright posture.
Both bikes possess the kind of detailing and parts that cycling enthusiasts moon over: light-weight cro-moly frames; leather seats; braze-ons for touring racks, water bottles and pumps; high-quality shifters, brakes and cranks.
Detail of one Cycle Toussaint's bikes. Photo from Evan Hu
Cycles Toussaint sells online and through a small network of dealers. “It’s a tiny, niche business,” Hu says. “I call it a slow business. I was inspired by the slow food movement.”
So far, Hu and and Cowan have honoured that slow philosophy. The business is a part-time venture for the tech industry executive and even somewhat of a family affair; his sons help assemble the bikes when a large order arrives and the Hu and Cowan home’s basements are crammed with parts and frames.
Hu made a promise to himself and his family that he’d only spend four hours a week on the business. Since starting Cycles Toussaint in 2012, Hu and Cowan have sold 140 bikes.
Right now, Hu is working a couple of new stainless steel prototypes. Harkening back to his slow analogy, he says, “We’re kind of like the bakery where you make so many buns and then when they sell out, they sell out.” | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
I don't own Frozen. Many, MANY thanks to my beta for her hard work and lessons.
The next few weeks were a string of awkward situations, meetings in hallways that consisted of nothing more than a wave and a smile. It rained often and heavily, leading to many days spent indoors. Until that Friday morning, three weeks after that first meeting, that Elsa heard a soft rap at her door.
Elsa froze where she was, cooking scrambled eggs half-dressed, a glass of chocolate milk and a pot of coffee on the counter.
"Knock knock?" Anna's voice called cautiously when there was no immediate response. After a moment of silence, the rap came again. Tap, taptaptap, tap-tap.
Elsa shuffled over to the door nervously, looking through the peephole to see Anna leaning up and pressing her ear to the door, holding something out of sight. Elsa unlocked the door with a click and cracked it open carefully, brushing falling bangs back over her hair and smiling like a little mouse cornered by a cat. Anna was in PJs, barefoot. Her clothes had smiley faces imprinted all over them. She smelled like cereal and toothpaste.
"Good morning!" Anna said, then continued without waiting for a response. "Um, do you have a cup of sugar I could borrow?"
Elsa relaxed and took a moment to reflect on the question asked of her, then a few moments more than one should really need to consider whether or not to give someone a cup of sugar. Coming to a decision, she nodded tersely, shuffling over to her kitchen to fetch it. She had plenty of sugar to spare, she rarely made anything more complicated than breakfast. She opened the cupboard door, reached up on her tip-toes to the shelf with the sugar, and pulled it down, closing the door again. Anna's head had been hidden behind it, looking around the kitchen admiringly. Elsa had forgotten to close the door and it seemed the redhead had invited herself inside.
"Nice place!" Anna commented just as she came into view, and Elsa jerked in surprise, dropping the bag of sugar on the floor and backing away, clutching her chest as if she'd had a heart attack. "Oh, geez! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to surprise you- you left the door open and I thought that meant- it doesn't matter what I thought it meant, look at this mess, oh, geez, let me clean this up for you.." Anna quickly lifted the bag of sugar and put it on the counter, leaving spilled sugar around it. The redhead then looked around quickly for...- oh there it was, a little brush and pan for cleaning up. She grabbed it off the hook and swept the sugar into the dustpan while Elsa watched, wide eyed and silent.
"I'm SO sorry, I didn't mean to scare you, I - what is that smell?" Anna looked up from the floor. "Elsa, your eggs are burning!" Anna leapt to the stovetop and quickly grabbed the frying pan, causing Elsa to jump back and away as Anna yanked the eggs away and turned the heat off, putting the pan in the sink hastily as a chunk of blackened egg tumbled over the side onto the kitchen floor. She accidentally brushed her foot into one burning morsel and yelped, moving away from it and sliding onto the countertop, knocking the glass of chocolate milk over.
The scene finally settled as Anna stayed there, arms brought up to her chest, while Elsa looked on to the disaster area her kitchen had become in the space of a few seconds. Sugar on the counter, sugar on the floor, steaming eggs in the sink, black bits of food on the floor, chocolate milk on the counter, chocolate milk on the floor, Anna on the counter...
"Um..." Anna slowly righted the chocolate milk glass, sliding it away from her. "I'll just.." She looked up at Elsa, who was looking at Anna as if she were insane.
Nothing in Elsa's isolated past had prepared her for dealing with sprucy redheads creating a disaster scene in her kitchen. In fact, they hadn't taught her how to deal with redheads in any fashion, anything about interacting with other live human beings at all. She knew how to acknowledge people existing when they served a purpose to her. She knew how to fire them and she was very skilled in handpicking people - from their CVs. Never face to face. Never.
Elsa's expression tightened and turned cold. "I'm... going to go take a shower." She said, wrapping her arms under her chest. "Please close the door when you're done." She marched out of sight. A door opened, closed. The apartment was silent.
Speechless, Anna stared after Elsa, then at the mess she had made of the kitchen.. Her shoulders slumped and she slowly slid down off the countertop, getting to work on cleaning up the mess she had made.
"Stupid, stupid, STUPID." She muttered, rubbing her wrist across her eyes. "Can't do anything right... shouldn't even have tried, look at this." It only took a minute to clean up the mess and find a trash can to stuff the roll of soiled paper towels in, but it felt like forever to Anna. Like a defeated soldier she bit back her tears and marched quietly out of the apartment, closing the door behind her.
Elsa was freaking out, hiding under her covers and holding onto a pillow for dear life, crushing her fingers into the fabric like it was a stress ball. An alarm went off and she yelped, reaching out from under the covers to grab the phone the alarm was coming from. Work could wait. She stayed where she was, waiting. When the sounds from the kitchen stopped she began to calm down enough to move again.
Father was right, Father was right.. No, must not overreact, must not make a scene. Elsa pushed the covers away from her. The bedroom door was still closed and locked. When she cracked it open, the door to her apartment was closed and there were no signs of her unfortunate neighbor. Anna didn't deserve to be run out on like that after trying to help. It was all Elsa's fault, she'd left the door open, she'd dropped the sugar, burned the eggs.
The kitchen had been cleaned up, though she was missing a roll of paper towels. At least the glass hadn't broken- and there was a strange cup next to it. It wasn't one of hers. Anna must have brought it over and then forgotten it. She picked it up and inspected it. Anna wouldn't be able to do whatever she needed the cup of sugar for. That was something she could fix.
So it was only mere minutes after the incident in her kitchen that Elsa knocked stiffly on the door to her neighbor's apartment, so softly as if though she didn't want to be heard. "Anna?" She whispered. She was lucky the hallway was devoid of anyone else, she didn't think she'd be able to handle someone seeing her like this, cowering by a door. After a few seconds she began to lose her nerve and turned to retreat back to her room, but the door opened just in time. She steeled herself as best as she could.
Anna cringed and grimaced at the sight of Elsa, looking cold and distant. Surely, she was about to receive the scolding of her life. So much for befriending the older girl.
"Anna." Elsa said, rigidly. Anna braced. "You forgot your cup of sugar. I thought you might want it." She offered the cup, her grip like iron on the handle. "So you could do whatever it was you were going to do with it." Elsa managed to smile, just a little, and it wasn't a real smile, but a smile with the intention to smile, at least, and it was enough. Anna relaxed.
"You- Thank you." Anna said, taking the cup. "I'm sorry about your kitchen, that never happens- okay, that always happens around me, but- I'm sorry."
"That's okay." Elsa said, then just... stood there. Waiting. Unsure. Anna looked down at the cup of sugar until the silence grew awkward.
"You're not going to yell at me?" She gingerly offered. "I did kind of ruin your breakfast."
"Why would I yell at you?" Elsa looked genuinely confused.
"Well, you know, because that's what people do when they're mad." Anna said. Elsa's look of confusion didn't go away, and Anna realized that yes, the older girl was not angry with her. Maybe she could salvage the situation. "You're not mad?"
"No. Why would I be? It wasn't your fault."
"It was TOTALLY my fault." Anna said, and looked behind her at her own, messy apartment. "But if you're not mad, then I'm really thankful. I didn't know how I was going to start my day without some sugar in my coffee. I was going to brew some when I realized we were out, and I figured you might have some, so I- yeah."
"I have coffee already made?" Elsa offered. "Would you like some of that instead?"
Anna smiled and clapped her hands together, bringing them up and around the cup of sugar. "Yes, please!"
Relieved at the atmosphere finally lightening, Elsa smiled a tiny, but real, smile. "Come on over, then, I'll give you some."
Anna ran to her kitchen to put the sugar down and grab her coffee cup, then followed the blonde across the hallway, closing her door behind her with a click. Elsa made herself a cup of chocolate milk while Anna used her coffee pot, inhaling the scent and sighing contently before trying a sip. "What flavor is this? It smells good. Like caramel."
"It's imported. Fazenda Santa Ines." Elsa said, sipping from her glass. "I mix it into my chocolate milk when the glass is half-full.. I like the taste better that way."
"Really? Me too." Anna said. "I mean, I like my coffee LOADED with sugar. Totally unhealthy, but so delicious! It makes a day start so much easier, you know? That's why it was so urgent I came to you instead of the store."
"Mm-hm. You're not late for anything, are you?" Elsa asked suddenly.
"Oh- uh, ah. Y- no, not really." Anna admitted. "I'm a student at a local college but I don't have any classes today. I was just actually going to be watching some Disney movies. By myself. I guess." She waited to see if Elsa got the hint.
"Oh, okay then. That was urgent?" Elsa questioned, genuinely confused.
"...well, not REALLY, no." Anna admitted, hoping Elsa would please pick up the hint.
"Oh, okay then." Elsa sipped her chocolate milk to hide the fact she had no idea what to say.
"Well, I guess I'll be going now. Thank you for the delicious coffee. It's too bad I don't have anyone to share it with while I watch movies. Alone."
"Anytime." Elsa said, smiling faintly.
Anna turned away to hide the frustration and defeat on her face. "Have a good morning then."
Elsa watched the girl leave her apartment. She seemed very insistent that she watch the movies alone. I wonder if she would have minded me asking to watch them, too. Elsa thought. I wish I understood social cues more. Wait, did she want me to-? Her thoughts were interrupted by a dull thud outside her door. Curious, she headed back over to the hallway.
Anna was thumping her head on her apartment door, until she heard the squeak of hinges moving and looked back at Elsa with a sheepish grin.
"Forgot my keys." Anna said.
"Oh, that's unfortunate." Elsa said. "Would you like to watch some movies at my place instead?"
Anna fought hard to keep her smile from exploding. "That would be perfect." | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Today's setback in London – and it has to be seen as a setback for anti-racists given that they were substantially outnumbered by EDL supporters, and forced to weather a shower of bottles while being kettled – should provoke some rethinking. These are some points that immediately come to mind, which I'll flesh out and redact in the next few days.
1. This is a long-term fight that has to be conducted on many different levels. It is not just a question of winning immediate political battles. The tempo of political struggles is extremely rapid, and the half-life of a particular struggle can be very brief indeed. But these struggles are fought on a terrain formed by years of cultural and ideological work, between forces shaped by that same work over a long duration. The tempo of cultural and ideological battles is, compared to political fights, glacial. But just because there are no immediate successes in these fronts doesn't mean they are of no value – they are absolutely central. The intense racist backlash following the Woolwich killing was not inevitable. It took place on the basis of efforts by diverse forces to elaborate new racist ideologies over a long period.
2. We cannot fight the EDL without also combating the other major forces of racism in society. The EDL would be nothing without the tabloids, the police, the neoliberal parties in parliament, and so on. The ideologies which legitimise the EDL's actions or at least render them as explicable reactions to extreme provocation, originate in Whitehall, the BBC, the press, parliament and the business funders of reaction. And to defeat those forces we need a different range of tactics. The EDL is primarily based on street violence, so the onus is on counter-mobilisation and self-defence. The same tactics could not be deployed against Ukip, the Murdoch press, or the Home Office. I don't propose a smorgasbord of alternative tactics here; I merely highlight the need for something more than counter-mobilisations.
3. There is no future in attempting to collapse anti-racism into anti-austerity struggles. Such attempts represent a strain of workerism, and have emerged from some surprising quarters – including Alexis Tsipras. Racism does not simply emerge as a displaced form of despair over deprivation or insecurity. Its development and spread may be accelerated by profound political crisis, the breakdown of authority, crises of overproduction, financial collapses, and so on. And certainly, the struggles over the capitalist crisis and its resolution has a relationship to the struggle over racism: this means that initiatives such as Left Unity and the People's Assembly should take anti-racism seriously as a semi-autonomous component of their broader strategy. But to understand the relationship between racism, economic crisis and emerging political subjectivities requires an analysis light years ahead of the lingering "capitalist crisis = hard times = racism" model.
4. There can likewise be no attempt to collapse anti-racism into the antiwar movement, such as it is. That is no less reductive. For example, the analyses of the Woolwich killing that attempt to ascribe it to the "war on terror", and therefore to orient analysis primarily toward antiwar activism, strike me as unconvincing. Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale certainly seem to have responded to the context of the "war on terror", and to have explained their actions in that context. But the processes through which they appear to have decided to join the most marginal and militant of Islamist sects in the first place are likely to be rooted in the daily processes of British capitalism. We need to fight and win that argument: that Britain is a profoundly racist and unjust society in which black people are humiliated and deprived in all sorts of highly visible ways.
5. It's been obvious for a while, and it is more obvious now – one cannot segment off different types of racism as if they are completely separate; they are mutually reinforcing. The rise in Islamophobia, as we saw during the riots, and as is becoming clear from the intriguing raciologies arising from the Woolwich killing – the EDL speaker in Newcastle urged his audience to "send the black cunts back" – is not exclusive of a long-term regeneration of other types of racism. Indeed, Islamophobia's role as the dominant form of culturalist racism permits the rehabilitation of the discredited elements of racial essentialism, while at the same time articulating them in a new form. What this means is not simply that Islamophobia is simply a cover for "traditional" types of racism. It used to be argued that it was merely a way of being racist toward Pakistanis. No, current forms of racism do not simply reanimate older forms. As Stuart Hall put it, "Racism is always historically specific. Though it may draw on the cultural traces deposited by previous historical phases, it always takes on specific forms. It arises out of present – not past – conditions, its effects are specific to the present organisation of society, to the present unfolding of its dynamic political and cultural processes – not simply to its repressed past."
The current forms of racism refer to and organise current antagonisms, expressed in complex political struggles, from the 2001 riots to the 2012 riots. And there is something very specific about Islamophobia and its content – the obsession with religious identities, with the amateurish hermeneutics of the Qur'an, and so on – something very current. The point is not that Islamophobia is a cover, but rather that there is a convergence in the techniques of racialisation, the political forces involved, and the ideational content involved in the types of racism in Britain today. I think this means that it would a political mistake to try to identify one type of racism as the "respectable racism" and simply campaign against that – the tendency is for racism in general to be made "more respectable", and therefore we need a multi-pronged assault on racism in general.
That'll do for now. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
It was the hug felt around the world.
This past Wednesday, black people watched with collective shock as 18-year-old Brandt Jean walked across a Dallas courtroom to share an embrace with his older brother’s killer.
Amber Guyger case: judge defends hugging officer who killed Botham Jean Read more
Just moments earlier, that same audience celebrated a landmark verdict in a case that has left us shocked, infuriated and horrified since the incident that triggered it took place last fall.
In September last year, 26-year-old Botham Jean was sitting on the sofa in his apartment eating ice cream, when he was shot and killed by Amber Guyger, an off-duty Dallas police officer. The story sparked international outrage. Not only was Botham an active, beloved member of his local church, the case in particular seemed to highlight the most basic and terrifying iteration of a dynamic we have seen play out over and over again – a defenceless black man killed by a trigger-happy officer. Guyger later claimed she was exhausted following a long shift at work, and thought she was defending herself from an intruder in her own apartment, which was one floor below Botham’s.
The trial revealed that Guyger sent racist texts to co-workers, including offensive statements about Martin Luther King and some of her black colleagues. In one of those messages, Guyger claims not to be racist, but points out that black officers on the force have a different way of working – “and it shows”.
So when Brandt and presiding judge Tammy Kemp each got up to hug Guyger after the sentencing, there was a sense of anger and betrayal. Guyger, who is white, was being publicly placated seemingly for suffering the consequences of a crime she committed, a crime for which people like her rarely ever suffer consequences.
Kemp even gave Guyger a Bible, and whispered a few words of encouragement as she begins her prison journey. Opening it to John 3:16, she reportedly told Guyger: “This is where you start.”
The moment has since been called “beautiful” and many have praised Brandt for finding the strength and grace to take that position, especially so soon after Botham’s death. Now, let’s make something clear: Brandt has full license to extend forgiveness to the woman who shot and killed his brother. But what cannot be ignored is the way whiteness often operates in a moment like this, effectively dismissing the victim, and centering the white person’s experience of the incident.
These moments are continually usurped as avenues for white redemption, with black victims being asked to “make nice” with the perpetrators of their trauma. It’s like the boy on the playground who you had to apologize to, because all of a sudden he’s upset that he got in trouble for hitting you. And what’s worse? Black people are never afforded the same kind of empathy within the US criminal justice system. Ever.
It’s something we have long bemoaned, especially as more and more of these incidents unfold in public view. Writer Jemelle Hill tackled the topic in a 2018 op-ed in the Atlantic titled Sometimes I Wish the Obamas Wouldn’t Go High.
Hill, speaking about Michelle Obama’s mantra “When they go low, we go high”, wrote: “I sometimes wonder if the people who often cite that quote have a full understanding of the emotional toll it takes on people of color to have to constantly absolve the racism directed at them.”
Coined during the 2016 election, Obama’s phrase has become the rallying cry of black people everywhere, acting as a handy stress ball or meditation spell whenever we are confronted with (usually racial) unpleasantness.
Sadly, this low-high binary almost always ends up in service to whiteness. Not only does it absolve the guilt and responsibility of the offending party, it also works to make black people complicit in the accountability process. Why do I have to continually stifle my outrage, anger, pain or trauma just to make you feel OK about getting your just reward?
And speaking of justice and consequences, Judge Kemp’s conduct also bears particular mentioning. It says a lot about this specific racial dynamic not just on the ground, but throughout our higher institutions. Kemp has since defended herself, telling the Associated Press: “I came down to extend my condolences to the Jean family and to encourage Ms Guyger, because she has a lot of life to live.” Despite the fact that a complaint has been filed against her with Texas authorities because of the gesture, Kemp stands by her decision.
The discomfort around the courtroom gestures was also later echoed by Botham’s mother. Shortly after the hearing, Allison Jean told CBS News’s Omar Villafranca that she was surprised by the moment. “What Brandt did was to cleanse his heart towards Amber. I do not want it to be misconstrued as a complete forgiveness of everybody.” As she points out, there are plenty of people to blame for what happened to her son, but that responsibility is not just Guyger’s.
For me, framing these types of incidents as “teachable moments” not only puts the onus on black victims to concede in some way to their abusers. It also suggests that black people be somehow remorseful that someone is actually facing consequences for the harm they have suffered.
Black people deserve justice, and we shouldn’t have to apologize for getting it. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
RALEIGH — The son of Republican congressional candidate Mark Harris testified Wednesday that he warned his father repeatedly that he believed a political operative now at the center of an election-fraud investigation had previously used illegal tactics to win votes.
John Harris, now an assistant U.S. attorney in Raleigh, said he advised his father in conversations and emails that he believed Leslie McCrae Dowless was “shady” and appeared to have illegally collected absentee ballots in 2016 while working for a different Republican candidate in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District.
The younger Harris, who is 29, said he offered the advice to his father as he considered whether to hire Dowless to run his absentee-ballot program in the 2018 congressional race. He conveyed similar concerns to the campaign’s chief strategist, Andy Yates, he said. Mark Harris hired Dowless despite his son’s concerns, which he expressed starting in the spring of 2017.
At one point during his testimony, John Harris’s voice cracked and his father wept.
“I thought what he was doing was illegal, and I was right,” John Harris said about Dowless. He added: “I had no reason to believe that my father actually knew, or my mother or any other associate with the campaign had any knowledge. I think Dowless told them he wasn’t doing any of this, and they believed him.”
Harris’s dramatic testimony undercut claims by both his father, a 52-year-old evangelical minister, and Yates — who completed nearly eight hours of testimony earlier Thursday — that they had not been aware of any red flags that Dowless might be breaking the law. Investigators also shared an email between father and son in which the younger Harris wrote: “Good test is if you’re comfortable with the full process he uses being broadcast on the news.”
Months after the midterms, an election-fraud investigation in North Carolina’s 9th District is focusing on an operative who worked for the GOP candidate. (Jenny Starrs, Sarah Hashemi, Zoeann Murphy/The Washington Post)
John Harris’s account ended the third day of testimony before the North Carolina State Board of Elections, which is hearing evidence this week to decide whether a suspected ballot-tampering scheme tainted the outcome in the 9th District, where Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes in unofficial returns. The district runs along the South Carolina border from Charlotte to rural eastern North Carolina.
The election, the last undecided congressional race in the country, has been in limbo since November, when the board declined to certify a winner and launched an investigation instead. The board’s decision on whether to certify or call for a new election will wait at least another day, with the elder Harris scheduled to open his testimony Thursday morning.
The younger Harris told the board Wednesday that he began studying absentee-ballot tallies in the 9th District in June 2016, when his father narrowly lost the Republican primary to then-incumbent Robert Pittenger. In tiny Bladen County, Harris and Pittenger had dramatically lost the vote among mail-in voters to a third candidate, Todd Johnson — who had hired Dowless to run his absentee program.
John Harris described digging into the numbers and discovering that mailed ballots for Johnson had arrived at county election offices “in batches” — which he believed suggested that they had been collected illegally by campaign workers. It is a felony in North Carolina to collect and turn in another voter’s ballot. Harris said he told his father then of his suspicions.
Dowless, 63, a Bladen County native who declined to testify this week to avoid self-incrimination, is accused of doing just that in the 2018 cycle — hiring a team of workers to illegally collect, sign, forge and turn in ballots.
Both Yates and Harris have denied knowledge of those alleged tactics. But in another email from 2016 displayed during testimony Wednesday, the two Harrises discussed the anomalies that year — as well as the irony that Dowless had submitted a complaint to state elections officials that Democrats had employed similar tactics in Bladen County.
“Guess he didn’t like the Dems cutting into his business!” the elder Harris wrote.
In a televised interview in early January, Mark Harris told Spectrum News in Raleigh that reports, including one in The Washington Post, that he had been warned of Dowless’s alleged tactics, were untrue.
[N.C. congressional candidate sought out aide, despite warnings over tactics]
In his testimony Wednesday, the younger Harris also called into question the account of Yates, whose political consulting firm, Red Dome Group, had paid Dowless on behalf of the campaign.
John Harris said he was surprised to hear how little oversight Yates provided to ensure that Dowless was performing the services that he was being paid for. He was also surprised to hear Yates say he was shocked to learn of Dowless’s alleged tactics once the investigation began in November.
“Mr. Yates said he was shocked and disturbed by the testimony,” the younger Harris said. “I was disturbed. Less shocked.”
Harris said that after he warned Yates of Dowless, “Andy assured me, ‘Yeah, we’re going to make sure that he does what he says he’s going to do.’ ”
But in his testimony Tuesday and Wednesday, Yates describes an arrangement in which there was little oversight or accountability for Dowless’s activities. He demanded payment, for instance, for submitting far more ballot-request forms — a legal activity — than records later showed were actually submitted.
John Harris emphasized his belief that his parents did not know of Dowless’s alleged tactics, but he also acknowledged in wrenching testimony that they “wanted” to believe Dowless — perhaps against their better judgment.
The younger Harris asked the elections board if he could make a few final remarks after lawyers had completed their questioning of him.
“I love my dad, and I love my mom,” he said. “I certainly have no vendetta against them, no family scores to settle. I think that they made mistakes in this process, and they certainly did things differently than I would have done them.”
Harris also criticized both parties for working more to protect their political interests than to protect the integrity of the electoral process. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
You are facing a choice
and you need an opinion? Raise the doubt,
question the world! Earn points
by answering questions
from other members... Then ask your questions
with the points earned. Target people
of your choice by language,
country, age or profession... Enter the number of reviews
you want to get
and publish your question... You will get answers
in a few seconds! Win gifts with the lottery
to reward your participation! Join the community
by registering now! ;)
Connection Registration Direct log in with Facebook or E-mail Password Remember me Forgot password Log in Create your account for free Pseudonym E-mail Password 8 characters 1 number 1 capital letter I'm a professional Sign up By subscribing, you accept our terms of use. Thank you, just one last thing! Click on the confirmation link we just sent you by email to activate your account (check your spams). I confirm my email | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
While the Defiance television show was not renewed for a fourth season, the video game side of the science fiction crossover continues to live on. Developer Trion worlds recently released a large update to the game that introduced the Dark Metamorphosis quest line, which includes new weapons, enemies, and events.
But what is it like taking on the full brunt of a project that previously had two parts? In an email Q&A with Carble Cheung, project lead for Defiance, we discuss the future of Defiance.
GameSpot: How does it feel to carry the torch on the Defiance universe now that the show isn’t going to have a season 4?
Carble Cheung: The Defiance universe was developed cooperatively, but has always been conceived to exist independent of either medium be it the TV show, the game or whatever else we came up with. Simply stated, the show had to focus on what was good for the show, the game had to focus on what was good for the game. Not being at complete parity with the show allowed us to keep our focus on what would be most important for the game. The fact that we were able to pull off a shared universe for three seasons active at the same exact time was a huge transmedia milestone.
What are the challenges of keeping your audience engaged in the Defiance game?
The challenges with any ongoing persistent game is engaging the interest of each player type. We just released a PvP balance update a month ago, and last season we focused on challenging group content via the Expeditions content, which included a character upgrade path via Cyber Rigs and Cyber Chips. The beginning of this season (Season 4) we are releasing story content. Our plan is to eventually release other types of content to reach each specific player type. This also considers planned features that we will be talking about in the future.
How do you design a zone with PVE and PVP in mind? How does that change the way you build maps? How do you balance weapons?
PvE and PvP are first and foremost not as exclusionary as you may think. The goals of a PvE map can easily be added onto a map that has PvP at its roots since much of the challenge of a PvE experience comes from the quantity, quality, and pacing of incoming enemies rather than strictly balanced map layout, map knowledge, and time-from-start-to-location advantages per team (i.e. can one team reach a critical defensive position before the other). Thus, designing around PvP first has little to no impact on the PvE experience. We started with PvP in mind, knowing it was a great use of our map assets with the one caveat: The PvE objective flow couldn’t be hampered.
Ultimately, the main design mandate for such a map is to make sure it is balanced and fun for PvP, where distances and cover placement can lead to critical balances between the teams. The PvE experience relies on AI and behavior driven NPCs to be your adversaries who are intended to be defeated in large numbers by the player. In short, as long as the overall objective flow of a PvE map is met, the PvP map design has the priority for any alterations and balance changes during development.
Defiance the show balanced self-aware humor with more serious dystopian themes--how do you strike that balance in the game?
Comedy and tragedy are two sides of the same mask. A balance must be struck between the two. In our case, we use humorous characters to lighten the mood of an otherwise fairly bleak story of a devastated Earth. That balance isn’t exactly 50/50, either. As far the characters, they tend to deliver funny lines more often than not, but for the moment-to-moment action, we are more serious and threatening. By defining more humor in the dialog than in the action, and more tragedy in the action than in the dialog, we keep the game light with dark undertones. By spacing the lighter dialog out between spans of deadly gunplay, we keep the experience fresh and consistent.
In many ways, the approach we have is very human. In the face of such overwhelming tragedy, humor is often the only way to stay sane. The frequent snarky comments and laughter in the face of death seem so well placed because it is natural for people in extraordinary circumstances to try and remind each other of the lighter side of things. To do otherwise would invite insanity. Of course, in a world gone mad who is to say who is insane?
Shrill Weapons vs Dark Matter, what are your thoughts?
The key point to the Dark Metamorphosis update is that NPCs are now influenced by Shrill. How parts of Dark Matter splintered (morphed) to form the "Neo Votanis Front" enemies with their Shrill influenced armor and helmets. This continues with the "Harbinger" enemy being a hybrid human/shrill experiment gone wrong. This would be where players hopefully go "I see what you did there…" Overall we hope this update reengages players in to the lore of the Defiance universe in the San Francisco region we know in the game as "Paradise." | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Right product for the correct prerequisite at the correct cost, i.e. instead of a simple provider of the item we take most extreme endeavors in comprehension the customer's prerequisite, recognizing the correct item at the correct cost. This has brought about close ties with real clients inside India and all over the world.
- CUSTOMER FOCUS
- LARGE WAREHOUSING
- AFTER SALES SERVICE | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Sunderland have suspended a member of their academy staff after he was arrested on suspicion of meeting a player aged under 16 following sexual grooming.
Physio Peter Howey, 60, was arrested after an allegation was made to the club by a player within their academy.
He was suspended by the club before being questioned by the police and then released under investigation.
Sunderland have suspended a member of staff after he was arrested on suspicion of grooming
A Sunderland spokesman said: ‘We were made aware of allegations pertaining to a member of staff. We reported the matter to Northumbria Police immediately and the individual was suspended.’
A Northumbria Police statement read: ‘Police have arrested a 60-year-old man on suspicion of meeting a male under the age of 16 following sexual grooming. He has been released under investigation.’
Howey is a former assistant head teacher at Hetton School. He coached a football team for 29 years before retiring in 2013 and has been a youth worker in Sunderland for more than 30 years.
He is not a member of the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, nor registered as a qualified physiotherapist with the state regulator, the Health and Care Professions Council.
He has previously stated he is employed by Sunderland as a part-time physio and other employees within the club refer to him as a ‘physio’.
Sunderland say he is not employed as a ‘physiotherapist’ but does support the medical team. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Je conseille à Luc FERRY de lire l'article intitulé : Comment la FRANCE s'est vendue aux GAFAM", dans le magazine le POINT du 5 janvier 2019 : une preuve de plus que nos pseudo-élites ne sont pas fiables et que depuis 40 ans, elles ont détruit la FRANCE. La sagesse de la population, des hommes et des femmes de terrain, n'est pas à mettre de côté : la population doit être consultée et le référendum dont il faudra définir le contour à sa raison d'être. Il existe en FRANCE un référendum, mais les conditions pour l'ouvrir sont inaccessibles pour la population : il faut donc un référendum citoyen qui soit accessible. https://www.lepoint.fr/invites-du-point/tribune-comment-la-france-s-est-vendue-aux-gafam-05-01-2019-2283510_420.php
mitipi
le 04/01/2019 à 11:35
Je trouve effarant le discours ouvertement antidémocratique de certains, pour qui le gouvernement du peuple, par le peuple et pour le peuple - notre devise nationale - par la voie de ses représentants ET du référendum - innovation de la 5eme République, ne serait pas souhaitable. De Gaulle se méfiait à raison de l'accaparement du pouvoir par les partis politiques, trop tournés vers les petits arrangements et les postures stratégiques, et dune petite élite dominante plus intéressée par la défense de ses intérêts que par le sort de la France et des français. M ferry craint la démagogie, mais il n'y a rien de plus démagogique que le système actuel qui consiste à faire reposer le pouvoir sur une élection qui a lieu tous les 5 ans dans une sorte de concours de beauté et de fausses promesses qui conduit rapidement à la désillusion puis la colère ou l'apathie. Le RIC à la Suisse est la meilleure réponse à la crise démocratique de notre pays. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
(CNN) If you haven't heard of BTS yet, it's time to succumb to the inevitable: The Korean boy band is taking over the world.
This is One Direction big. This is Beatlemania big. And while K-pop music isn't exactly a new sensation outside of Korea, BTS and similar groups are cultivating devoted followings across the globe, elevating K-pop from a niche import to a full-blown international movement.
Pre-orders for "Map of the Soul: Persona," have surpassed 3 million copies, Big Hit, their management company, told CNN.
Their two most recent two albums -- "Love Yourself: Tear" and "Love Yourself: Answer" -- each sold around 2 million copies.
So before our new K-pop overlords become any more powerful, it's time to get to know them. Here are 12 essential facts about BTS and the colossal, churning K-pop industry that spawned them.
JUST WATCHED K-pop group BTS scores worldwide success Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH K-pop group BTS scores worldwide success 01:11
1. BTS officially stands for 'Beyond the Scene.' But that's not what people typically call them
When BTS was first fully formed in 2013, they took their name from the Korean expression Bangtan Sonyeondan, which roughly translates to "bulletproof boy scouts." In 2017, as their profile rose among English-speaking audiences, the group announced they were shifting the meaning of the acronym to "Beyond the Scene" in a nod to the themes of empowerment and individuality in their music.
It depends where in the world you are, but most likely, you'll hear people refer to the group as BTS, the Bangtan Boys, or for Japanese audiences, Bodan Shonen Dan
2. The seven members each have stage names
It's not uncommon for K-pop groups to have more members than a starting hockey lineup, and BTS has a grand total of seven:
RM (previously Rap Monster)/ Kim Nam Joon
Jungkook/ Jeon Jeong-guk
Jin/ Kim Seok Jin
Suga/ Min Yoon Gi
J-Hope/ Jung Ho Seok
Jimin/ Park Ji Min
V/ Kim Tae Hyung
Here they are, in pastel glory, at the Seoul Music Awards in January:
V, Suga, Jin, Jungkook, RM, Jimin and J-Hope at the 2019 Seoul Music Awards.
3. K-pop stars are called 'idols' because of the intense fandoms they inspire
It may seem like hyperbole, but the term "idol" is pretty accurate when it comes to the passion and devotion K-pop artists command, and you'll often hear the term thrown around for a group as a whole and its individual members. It's long been a convention of boy band fanatics to have a favorite member, and in K-pop circles, fans call their favorite member their "bias."
South Korean K-Pop fans cheer during a 2019 concernt in Suwon, South Korea.
4. BTS fans call themselves ARMY, and like all boy-band devotees, are incredibly loyal
ARMY (not "the Army," educate yourself) is like any other massive fan group with a cool name , but with everything dialed up to 11. Since BTS has international and cross-lingual appeal, being a part of ARMY is as much about interacting with and supporting other fans as it is about supporting the group. ARMY members from across the world will gather online at all hours to watch and enjoy a BTS appearance in a different time zone, or translate different BTS news and interviews so more fans can enjoy it. Memes, handmade products, fan art and fan fiction also connect ARMY members across the globe.
Unfortunately, the sheer size of ARMY also means there's a high potential for toxic drama, unhealthy obsessions and online abuse between members, as well as intense animosity toward anyone who dare speak ill of BTS. Of course, that kind of behavior is hardly endemic to BTS, K-pop or the music industry (hello, all sports ever). It just may be more noticeable with a fandom that's massive, non-centralized and highly social media-savvy.
Fans pose outside a BTS concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles in September 2018.
5. BTS' success is comparable to other boy-band sensations
Again, BTS' success isn't new, but there's a difference between being a popular act and being a worldwide icon. In 2017, they beat out the likes of Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez to win the Billboad Music Award for Top Social Artists of the Year, and became the first Korean artists to take home a BBMA prize
Their BBMAs appearance was a coming-out party of sorts, and since then, they've been everywhere ; on "Ellen," on the "Late Late Show with James Corden," and on the cover of virtually every major entertainment magazine ever. They've also had two albums hit #1 on the Billboard 100 chart: " Love Yourself: Answer " and " Love Yourself: Tear ," both in 2018.
It was the first time a group had two #1 albums in the same year since — you guessed it — One Direction in 2014. "Love Yourself: Her" also topped iTunes' top-selling album chart in 73 countries and territories after its release.
6. Social media is an essential part of their success
BTS also holds several Guinness World records, including the most Twitter engagements and the most music video views within a 24-hour period (records that had previously belonged to One Direction's Harry Styles and Taylor Swift, respectively).
That kind of achievement is indicative of just how important social media is in uniting BTS with their fans, and the fans with each other. Only one member of BTS — Kim Nam Joon — speaks English fluently, though several others are conversational, so social media is an ideal place to connect with fans. Not to mention, there's a rich and rather hilarious meme culture among ARMY members, who tend to be young women already fluent in the esoteric vernacular of the internet.
Every time one of the boys in BTS does something weird, adorable or relatable, it almost instantly becomes a reaction meme or an in-joke or some other little part of a vast and ever-expanding K-pop discourse that spans distance and language.
Mattel recently broke the internet when they released a line of BTS dolls.
7. BTS' influence goes beyond music
True to their adopted English acronym, "Beyond the Scene," BTS' focus on socially relevant topics like mental health and the nature of fame has boosted their influence outside of the music industry.
"Tell me your story. I want to hear your voice, and I want to hear your conviction," Kim Nam Joon, aka RM, said during the address . "No matter who you are, where you're from, your skin color, gender identity: speak yourself."
8. The K-pop industry is a highly regulated machine whose artists are hand-picked and trained for superstardom
All messages of authenticity aside, the reality is K-pop acts don't typically start out as a bunch of people futzing around with guitars in their parents' garage. The groups are usually specifically put together by large Korean entertainment companies, and hopeful members train for years to perfect their dancing and singing skills
It's an extremely demanding, expensive and often alienating process, and auditions for groups are highly competitive. Once a hopeful becomes an idol, they are expected to maintain a squeaky-clean and non-controversial presence to minimize any risk to their carefully created images. So even though aspiring idols may end up with untold riches, fame and admiration, it all comes at a great risk and a steep price.
9. Aesthetics are a huge part of the K-pop game
In addition to being amazing dancers and capable singers, K-pop artists must also be ethereally, invariably attractive. After all, being an idol isn't just about being a skilled performer, it's also about being a easily marketable sex symbol. Perfect skin, slim bodies, stunning hair and a cutting edge fashion sense are absolutely critical to the idol formula.
It's not just about physical attractiveness, either. Every aspect of the K-pop genre, from pastel hairstyles to red carpet fashion to stunning music videos and album art, is presented with a rich and meticulously curated visual aesthetic. In a way, K-pop is as much art for the eyes as it is for the ears, and while this is a huge draw for fans, it can also be a discouraging reminder of the manufactured image the genre often favors.
The members of BTS pay careful attention to their hair, clothes and overall look.
10. One reason BTS is so popular is because their music focuses on themes of vulnerability and self love
There are plenty of uber-popular K-pop groups and artists who have courted international appeal in the last few years (BigBang and Psy come to mind). So why has BTS in particular seen such unprecedented success?
One popular theory is that their music tends to be particularly introspective, emotional, empowering and hyper-aware of the machinations of perfection and conformity that often drive the K-pop industry. Even their 2014 debut single, "No More Dream," was an anthem against conformity:
What is you that you dreamed of? Who do you see in your mirror, I gotta say: Go your own way.
One of their most recent singles, "Idol," celebrates individuality and confidence:
I know what I am, I know what I want, I'm never going to change...You can't stop me from loving myself.
(As a testament to BTS' international success, a version of "Idol" also features a guest verse from rapper Nicki Minaj.)
Members of BTS arrive at K-CON at the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena on August 10, 2014.
11. You won't hear many all-English K-pop songs
Speaking of songs, you're probably not going to hear BTS actually sing their songs in English. K-pop songs tend to be mostly, if not exclusively, performed in Korean. You might hear an English word or phrase, and on occasion a rapped or spoken verse in English, but the built-in language barrier is a standard operating procedure for the genre. (There are notable exceptions, of course: BlackPink's massive new release, "Kill This Love," has entire verses and refrains in English .)
Still, the language difference makes K-pop's rise even more impressive: Most fans outside of Korea probably have only the barest grasp of the language, but will joyfully burst into broken sing-alongs whenever the latest BTS jam comes on.
12. The broader culture of K-pop is complex and sometimes toxic
While BTS' success has relied heavily on their messages of non-conformity and self esteem, their fame still exists within what some consider a problematic industry that purposefully limits the privacy and individuality of its stars. (After all, K-pop idols are usually not even allowed to date , lest they ruin the fantasy of attainability for their fans.)
It's also a widely held observation that K-pop's heavy reliance on perfection and precision reflect stringent expectations and social norms that are commonplace in Korean culture as a whole. In February, South Korea's Ministry of Gender Equality and Family released guidelines warning that the homogenous, highly-groomed K-pop "look" could cause some fans to develop skewed standards of beauty.
"Beauty standards of music shows is a serious problem," the guildelines said. "Most of them are idol band members but they don't represent various appearances (of society)."
The guidelines were pulled days later after a deafening outcry from K-pop fans, who likened the guidelines to censorship.
JUST WATCHED K-Pop stars named in growing South Korea sex scandal Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH K-Pop stars named in growing South Korea sex scandal 00:53
For some, the scandal — which doesn't involve BTS — reveals ugliness that can fester under K-pop's veneer of perfection, and speaks to a larger culture of toxic masculinity in Korea that is increasingly attracting criticism.
Could the scandal taint the gleaming worldwide rise of K-pop? Will BTS' commitment to empowerment and social responsibility inoculate them against such ignominy? No one knows, but what's certain is BTS' global success shows no signs of slowing down. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
A lack of anti-avoidance tax law and cuts to public services are contributing to the UK's yawning tax gap.
New research by Tax Research LLP, on behalf of the Public and Commercial Services Union, shows that the tax gap - defined as "the difference between the tax that should be paid in the UK if the tax system worked as parliament and HMRC intended, and the amount actually paid" - topped £119bn in 2013-14 and "is rising steadily".
The figures clash significantly with those produced by HMRC, the government's tax collecting body. The PCS-commissioned research estimates that over 2013 and 14 the UK lost £73.4bn to tax evasion ("tax lost when a person or company deliberately and unlawfully fails to declare income that they know is taxable or claims expenses that are not allowed") over the course of the studied period, dwarfing the official government estimate of £22.3bn.
The other areas that contribute to the tax gap are tax avoidance – defined as "tax that is lost when a person claims to arrange their affairs to minimise tax within the law in the UK or in other countries". The PCS estimates tax avoidance costs the UK economy £19.1bn over the course of the year. Tax debt - tax which is not paid by a person or company who knows that they owe it, but who don't pay or delay payment - cost the UK £18.2bn over 2013-14.
While the total tax gap has narrowed slightly from the £120bn Tax Research estimated in 2010, tax evasion has been rising quite sharply over recent years and is predicted to do so.
Tax Research estimates that the £73.4bn estimate will grow beyond £100bn in 2018-19 should the UK government not take action.
In a pamphlet written to accompany the report, the research's author Richard Murphy recommended that the UK government introduce wholesale reform to its tax law to incorporate avoidance strategies, and "the introduction of country-by-country reporting for multinational corporations" combined with "a reversal of the cuts to staff in HMRC and at Companies House".
In June, HMRC closed all of its 281 Face to Face Enquiry Centres, months after it had also announced the loss of 8,000 jobs, to come by early 2015. The centres were designed to assist with tax queries and, over the year to March 2013, had provided such assistance to 2.5 million people.
"While we wish HMRC success in saving costs and making their brave new world of roving enquiry staff work, we wonder whether the timing of this change will come to haunt them," said Chas Roy-Chowdhury, head of taxation at the ACCA, at the time the closures were announced.
Last month, 340 staff walked out of Telford tax office in protest against HMRC moves to close its two sites in the town, thereby ending its presence in Shropshire county.
Mike Veric, the vice-chairman of the PCS (which represents most HMRC staff) West Midlands committee, told local press: "The walk out is because workers are worried because they are having to work much harder and longer hours.
"We are in the last week of tax credit renewals, for example, and because HMRC has made people redundant in that area, there is not enough staff to do the work so managers from offices are being asked to go and help out.
"These managers are on £50,000 a year. It does not make much sense for these people to replace a few workers who were on £15,000."
HMRC has been forced to defend the restructuring which it has undergone since the government's austerity policies came into effect.
Speaking after the Telford walkout, HMRC spokesperson Michelle Potts said: "HMRC is transforming to ensure that we continue to deliver the best possible service to our customers. In common with all customer service organisations we have to match staffing to the growth in online and digital services. We remain committed to avoiding redundancies wherever possible." | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
President Trump invoked the suffering of “Angel Moms” during a face-off with CNN White House Correspondent Jim Acosta Friday in the Rose Garden, as he discussed why he would be declaring a national emergency regarding border security.
Acosta, a long-time nemesis of the president’s, argued that critics claim Trump has overstated the situation at the border and that there is no actual crisis there.
“What do you say to your critics who say you are creating a national emergency? That you’re concocting a national emergency here in order to get your wall because you couldn’t get it through other ways?” Acosta asked.
“I ask the Angel Moms, what do you think? Do you think I’m creating something? Ask these incredible women who lost their daughters and their sons, okay? Because your question is a very political question, because you have an agenda,” Trump answered. “You’re CNN. You’re fake news. You have an agenda.”
President Trump asked by @Acosta about whether he is creating a crisis, pointing to stats from his own administration that conflict with his position. Trump says “you are fake news” and points to angel moms, one of whom stood up and said to Acosta, “This is real!” pic.twitter.com/x5EZbGDlE1 — Christal Hayes (@Journo_Christal) February 15, 2019
.@sabine_durden, angel moms confront @acosta for calling the crisis at the border “manufactured.” They have personal stories to prove otherwise. pic.twitter.com/4S0RXumCuX — Jon Miller (@MillerStream) February 15, 2019
Afterwards Acosta did a segment with the Angel Moms.
After Angel Moms confront Jim Acosta, he invites them to join him on air pic.twitter.com/VCL5DyzgXZ — Charlie Spiering (@charliespiering) February 15, 2019
"President Trump is completely correct on this issue," an 'angel mom' whose son was killed by an undocumented immigrant tells CNN's @Acosta reacting to Trump declaring a national emergency to secure funding for a border wall. https://t.co/MfIjYpN1Cq pic.twitter.com/bTdEVZBRdK — CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) February 15, 2019
The president on Friday declared a national emergency, saying, “We’re going to confront the national security crisis on our southern border and we’re going to do it one way or the other.”
"We’re going to be signing today and registering a National Emergency . . . We have an invasion of drugs, invasion of gangs, invasion of people—and it’s unacceptable." pic.twitter.com/tUeO8w4vcU — The White House (@WhiteHouse) February 15, 2019
Follow @AdanSalazarWins
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/adan.salazar.735
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today! | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Hello everyone and welcome to the latest Hall of Shame!
You waited for it, you asked for it and here it is. But not just that. This time, it’s different. This time, we’ll be actually DOING something about that. What exactly? That will be revealed in the next (separate) post, but I think you’ll like it. Plus, there will be bonus codes in it for you, so stay tuned – and for now, enjoy the gallery of WoT filth, knowing that soon, those HoS members from CW campaign participating clans will be specifically targetted first since the campaign is time-limited and we wouldn’t want them to make too many fame points now, would we? The Great Crusade (hehe) starts soon and you are all cordially invited :)
PS: don’t forget that WoT is a perfect family game :)
Let’s start with something light, as always. This guy got shot by an arty and sure got angry.
Random idiots and cancer wishers (the one under this text means “gas on you you fucking jewish whores” in Polish)
What the hell is “bola bola”?
No Hall of Shame would be complete without EFE! :) (don’t worry guys, you will get the attention you crave :D)
This guy wants to “rebuild the German empire” – you’re a few decades too late :)
Wow… so friendly…
And another arty rager.
Oh noes, this guy “knows the devs” – we are so screwed! And he seems to have serious mental issues. Christ…
Shooting a medium with arty is always fun…
Well that’s a nice clan
And another well-wisher…
Wut?
MM is a bitch…
UNICA – those the guys recently caught rigging CW, yes?
What’s up with some people and cancer?
This guy sure hates Serbs…
Another guy with serious issues… why would you wish a god to have cancer?
What’s with the Germans and the nazi stuff?
Of COURSE everyone will help you when you call them “jews”…
Can’t speak English? No problem, just learn the word “cancer” (pride of the Romanian community that one)
What do you know… ANOTHER friendly clan.
Another guy with issues…
“WoT is a family game”, German edition
Three screenshots, three separate battles… the pride of Czech community in this case.
And here we have something lovely… real life death threats.
I have only 9k “likes” :( (seriusly, this made me almost spit my coffee :D)
The pride of Czech community returns…
(“die of black plague”, “lucker dirty Hungarian wankstain”)
And some more greetings from Germany.
Many friendly, so clan, wow!
“WoT is a family game”, threats edition
And “turkey jew”, that’s a new one.
Classic Haetzer streaming: | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
We’re hitting the road this summer for the “End of the World Tour” with Prophets of Rage plus Three Days Grace and very special guests Ho99o9 on select dates. With great bands and a festival-like atmosphere, we’ll be ringing in the rapture in style.
Deathbat Nation, we want you to have the first shot at tickets and VIP packages. Get them starting Wed, Mar 7th at 10AM. Ticketmaster/Live Nation/Local pre-sale starts Thur, Mar 8th at 10AM. Tickets and VIP packages go on sale to the general public on Fri, Mar 9th at 10AM. All times local. Tickets and VIP packages are on sale now.
We’re happy to once again offer our specially-curated VIP packages. Access the better-than-ever Paradigm Lounge with new never-before-seen memorabilia, play our instruments, grab a copy of the exclusive “Unholy Confessions” book, get great tickets to the show, and more. Full details on the VIP packages here.
July 22 – Mansfield, MA – Xfinity Center* °
July 25 – Wantagh, NY – Jones Beach Theater* °
July 26 – Hartford, CT – The Xfinity Theater* °
July 31 – Holmdel, NJ – P.N.C. Bank Arts Center* °
Aug 01 – Bristow, VA – Jiffy Lube Live* °
Aug 03 – Burgettstown, PA – KeyBank Pavilion* °
Aug 04 – Cincinnati, OH – Riverbend Music Center**
Aug 06 – Cuyahoga Falls, OH – Blossom Music Center* °
Aug 07 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre* °
Aug 09 – Toronto, ON – Budweiser Stage* °
Aug 11 – Tinley Park, IL – Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre* °
Aug 12 – Noblesville, IN – Ruoff Home Mortgage Music Center* °
Aug 16 – Phoenix, AZ – Ak-Chin Pavilion* °
Aug 17 – Las Vegas, NV – T-Mobile Arena*
Aug 19 – Albuquerque, NM – Isleta Amphitheater* °
Aug 21 – Chula Vista, CA – Mattress Firm Amphiteatre* °
Aug 22 – Inglewood, CA – The Forum*
Aug 24 – Concord, CA – Concord Pavilion*
Aug 28 – Salt Lake City, UT – USANA Amphitheatre* °
Aug 30 – Denver, CO – Pepsi Center*
Sept 01 – Dallas, TX – Starplex, Pavilion* °
Sept 02 – The Woodlands, TX – Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion* °
* With Prophets of Rage plus Three Days Grace and very special guests
** With Prophets of Rage plus very special guests
° Included in Ticket to Rock 2018 bundle program. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
As Frank Report readers know, Tuesday was a day off for the trial in the case of the U.S. v. Raniere because one of the alternate jurors was sick that day.
But it was definitely not an off day in terms of big news coming out of the trial.
That’s because, as previously reported, the presiding judge, U.S. District Court Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis, held a hearing that day to hear arguments from both sides as to whether the prosecution should be able to introduce various documents they found in the basement of Nancy Salzman’s home through Task Force Officer Charles B. Fontanelli – or whether it would have to call Kristin Keeffe as a witness to do that.
Rather than, as Mark Agnifilo had suggested, the judge have both sides submitted legal briefs on the matter, he decided to personally review the materials in question himself and make his own determination as to their admissibility.
Ultimately, Judge Garaufis decided that the materials could be introduced through Fontanelli – which is exactly what happened this afternoon.
*****
But buried in the transcript of Tuesday’s hearing – which we only received mid-afternoon today – was the startling revelation that the government alleges that Emiliano Salinas, the son of Carlos Salinas, the former President of Mexico, is a co-conspirator in this case.
Up until now, the Frank Report is the only media outlet that has accused Emiliano of being involved in some of NXIVM’s criminal activities.
And even with lead prosecutor Moira Kim Penza’s flat-out declaration on Tuesday – “So one of the email accounts appears to have been created by Emiliano Salinas, who the government alleges is a coconspirator” – it appears that no other media outlet has reported anything regarding this aspect of the case.
*****
We previously reported that, according to our source in Washington, DC, “Discussions are ongoing between the Carlos Slim Foundation and the Clinton Foundation about a multi-million dollar payment being negotiated or already negotiated. Possibly, it is to be added to an amount previously contributed and increased now due to the severity of the situation”.
We also noted that our source indicated that “This is said to be a back-room deal to buy away the threatened indictment of Emiliano Salinas by U.S. DOJ prosecutors in the NXIVM criminal racketeering case”.
We added that our source said, “It is coming down to the last moments before the indictment may be handed down. The discussions are said to be intense. Some believe the Clintons can control DOJ outcomes at the highest levels, [i.e. Main Justice in Washington DC] yet, at this moment, more heat is on the Clintons than ever before due to so many scandals already revealed in the press.
“One of the points of contention in the discussions is – if the donation is made to the Clinton Foundation by Slim – can the Clintons deliver enough influence peddling to guarantee the indictment will be withheld? It is unknown what dollar amount may be in play or may have already changed hands between the Slim Foundation and the Clinton Foundation regarding this matter”.
*****
People are usually concerned when the names of Carlos Salinas and Carlos Slim are part of any threat that is made against them.
As well they should be.
These are powerful men who generally get what they want.
And in a situation like this – where there is a distinct possibility that the son of a former President of Mexico may be indicted – a son who was being groomed to take over that very position – there are no boundaries as to what they will do to ensure that doesn’t happen.
*****
The liaison between the Carlos Slim Foundation and the Clinton Foundation is reportedly the former mayor of Nogales, Arizona, Marco A. Lopez Jr., who has also been described as “a card-carrying member of the Arizona Mafia”.
Lopez reportedly met in Mexico with former President Bill Clinton and Carlos Slim back in March 2018.
Keith Raniere AKA The Vanguard was grabbed up by Mexican authorities – and delivered to U.S. agents – on March 26, 2019.
*****
Mexico can be a dangerous place – especially for those who have been deemed to be enemies by Raniere.
It was Mexico where Raniere and Emiliano plotted to lure several women that Raniere wanted to punish for leaving him and his NXIVM cult.
According to the transcript of a recorded telephone conversation between Barbara Bouchey and Kristin Keeffe, the plan was to get Bouchey, Toni Natalie, Susan Dones and Kim Woolhouse to go to Mexico to meet with a journalist who supposedly wanted to write an expose about NXIVM and Raniere.
Here are some excerpts from that telephone conversation:
Barbara: I remember Toni [Natalie] calling me… saying, “Are you getting phone calls from this Mexican journalist?” I said, “We have gotten some, but I hadn’t actually connected with the person.” And, she says, “She wants me to come down. I’m not fucking going to Mexico, what are they fucking crazy?”
Kristin: So, here’s the thing. You and Toni – and possibly Susan was probably getting calls too, cause they were after Susan and Kim as well. You can’t imagine the importance of the evidence of these communications, that this journalist was contacting you guys, because she was contacting you, if you recall, to go down to Mexico for an anti-cult conference, correct? Do you remember that?
Barbara: Yeah, Toni told me that part of it. I didn’t hear that part of it, but Toni told me.
Kristin: It was an anti-cult conference. Here is what Keith and Emiliano did: they bribed a Judge in Mexico to issue an indictment against you, and Toni, and Susan, and Kim. They were at different times considering adding Rick Ross and Joe O’Hara but then Joe got arrested, and all these other people. Then Keith wheedled it down to just being the four of you. You were going to be lured into Mexico, and when you got to Mexico, they were going to put you in fucking prison. You should see the emails!
Barbara: Were they really? How serious were they?
Kristin: They were serious as a fucking heart attack. I saw the Judge’s decision. Keith helped write it, and there were issues about Emiliano translating it. He worked on this for years. Fucking years. This was like a three-plus year plot in the making.
Barbara: Wow. Wow.
Kristin: And, the only reason they didn’t go forward with it was because when the journalist started contacting you guys, and Toni was the only one that responded, and there wasn’t strong response – simultaneous to the lack of strong response – the police opened the probe into the computer trespass. So, Keith downgraded the plot to have you guys thrown in prison where he expected you to be raped and rot. And, he thought that the pressure would be so bad that Toni would turn on everybody and say whatever she had to, to get out. Cause he was like, “Barbara will go down with the ship” and like, “Barbara’s never going to lie, but Toni will.” That was his strategy and his belief. And, they were going to put you in a miserable, horrible, violent, vile place.
Barbara: Right.
Kristin: And, the email, what happened was that Keith and Emiliano did this whole thing through a fucking Gmail account. … I think that was an email address they had just set up and what they would do was communicate by writing drafts. Like, they would both log on and communicate.
Barbara: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Kristin: Here’s the other thing, Keith didn’t realize until the Edward Snowden thing came out about the NSA, what he realized later was that they save fucking everything. And, those emails are going to be in that account, even the drafts.
Barbara: So, the drafts, even if you don’t save the draft, and you delete them, it gets stored?
Kristin: Yes.
Barbara: Oh, I didn’t know that.
Kristin: It gets stored on the Gmail server and uploaded to the government.
Barbara: Okay, got it.
Kristin: The Gmail server does the autosave.
Barbara: Yeah, that’s right, it does.
Kristin: So, this is going to be harder to prove because of the complexity of getting it. But, I believe that you and Toni, and possibly even Susan and Kim have a basis to look into this, because of the communications from the journalist. Why the fuck was this journalist contacting you?
Barbara: Right, well, I have emails.
Kristin: You have emails. Perfect.
Barbara: I mean, there were two different journalists that contacted me from Mexico. And, I mean I keep everything, Kristin, honest to God.
Kristin: Do you understand…
Barbara: Yeah
Kristin: The plot itself, proves why and gives a valid basis for not disclosing the source. And, at least, I believe the communications from the Mexican journalists are enough to provide a basis for it to be investigated even without having a witness to attest to it. But, here’s the thing, Barbara, that is why I’m in fucking hiding. I mean that is why I’ve had to take these extraordinary measures before I could get involved in this. Because it’s fucking black. This was serious shit.
Barbara: Right.
Kristin: I mean, this was when I was sub-rosa. I mean, in my mind, you can’t imagine, you don’t know how many stupid walks I did with Keith where he’s saying these things and I’m saying, “Oh, that’s a great idea,” but in my mind, I’m thinking, he’s a madman.
Barbara: Yeah, I know.
Kristin: You know? Because I knew. But, I learned from experience that the way I’m going to get him is by playing along until I have so much that I could crush him. But, even when I left, I had to protect myself first, before I could admit back. It takes time to get all this shit together.
Barbara: Do you have a prediction of what you think, how this will go down for Keith? Do you think that we’ll be able to hold him accountable?
Kristin: Yes, I do. And, I think he will be thoroughly and utterly destroyed, and if he doesn’t leave the country, then he’s going to, ultimately going to, end up in arrest and indictments, and some serious shit for everyone, and everyone involved. Him, Nancy, Clare, and Emiliano especially.
Barbara: Right.
Kristin: And, you know what? I gave them fair fucking warning. If they’re not getting their own attorneys to isolate, separate themselves from Keith, then they deserve what they get. You know what I am saying?
*****
So will the now designated co-conspirator Emiliano Salinas ever be brought to justice for his role in the NXIVM sex-slaver cult and his attempt to lure Raniere’s enemies to Mexico where they might have been imprisoned, raped or killed ?
Probably not.
For as we’ve already learned in this case, justice in America is a commodity that is available for purchase from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Share this: Twitter
Facebook
Email
Print
LinkedIn
More
Reddit
Like this: Like Loading...
| {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
monster lov-r By banettte Watch
35 Favourites 4 Comments 540 Views
i'll have u all know im obsessed with star vs the forces of evil. what a FUCKIN GREAT show go watch it if you haven't!!! i fell in love with eclipsa at first sight and spoiler; i'm still in love with her
also the lil watermark is my tumblr so dont be mistaken i didn't steal this
IMAGE DETAILS Image size 1879x1615px 1.57 MB Show More
Published : Apr 10, 2018 | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Hillary Clinton’s use of a personal email server while secretary of state has inevitably become a fully inflated political football in these early days of the 2016 presidential race—with the right somehow linking the emails to the late Vince Foster, and Clinton’s allies offhandedly dismissing the value of open government with comments like “people don’t care about email policies."
But make no mistake, the scandal has highlighted the very real dangers to government transparency that result when politicians use private accounts to conduct official business. The scandal also highlights important concerns around cybersecurity and overclassification.
Here’s the background. Shortly before being sworn in in 2009, outgoing Senator Clinton set up a private email server at her home in Chappaqua, New York and registered the domain “clintonemail.com.” Two months later, Secretary of State Clinton started using that email exclusively for all correspondence—both private and government.
This practice was at odds with relevant guidance at State. Further, by keeping all emails, private and professional, on one server, Secretary Clinton effectively gave herself personal veto power over what would be subject to open records laws and what wouldn’t. And, in fact, that’s what happened. Although Secretary Clinton turned over 55,000 pages of emails in 2014, she made the determination on what to disclose and what to destroy (including over 32,000 emails that she deemed, at her sole discretion, private).
Fortunately, the laws have changed since then and high-ranking officials are now expressly required, if they use personal email accounts for government business, to send a copy of the work email to the government within 20 days. That requirement must be enforced strictly.
So what are the concerns?
The open government point should be obvious. Ironically, the Clinton White House was the first to recognize the importance of email as potential federal records. Previously treated as akin to disposable pink phone message pads, then-Staff Secretary John Podesta wrote a memorandum in 1993 clarifying that emails qualify as presidential records and must be retained. Out of concern that records could be lost, that memo barred the use of personal systems.
Violations of that policy during the Bush administration starkly highlighted the danger in allowing government officials to conduct official business using private accounts. As the Committee for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has documented at length, various Bush White House officials used Republican National Committee accounts to communicate with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in what would become the scandal over the hiring and firing of United States attorneys that the Department of Justice later found to be the inappropriately politicized.
The decision by Secretary Clinton to use “clintonemail.com” exclusively for official business disregards these historical examples. Unfortunately, officials can face the strong temptation to hide official business out of the reach of Freedom of Information Act requests. And as the new retention rules recognize, that’s unacceptable for our democracy.
On cybersecurity, the concerns are perhaps less apparent but are just as acute. As ACLU Principal Technologist Chris Sogohian has noted at length, you’re “on your own” when protecting a private server from hackers. With a government email account, you’ve got an entire IT apparatus protecting your information. Indeed, security for the government system is going to incorporate state-of-the-art techniques developed by the National Security Agency, which, despite its issues with mass surveillance, is pretty good at keeping hackers at bay.
Finally, the email controversy highlights the incoherence and unfairness of existing classification policies. Despite the fact that the State Department routinely deals in extensive volumes of classified information, Secretary Clinton has said that absolutely nothing in her private email was classified. As many classification experts have noted, that’s pretty astounding if true, especially given that, as we now know, President Obama himself communicated with Secretary Clinton using her private email. Worse, and regardless of whether the claim is true, Secretary Clinton is virtually assured of immunity from any investigation into the improper handling of classified information, let alone legal consequences.
That immunity should be seen as of a piece with the amazingly lenient treatment of General David Petraeus, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor earlier this month for giving classified documents to his mistress while serving as the head of the CIA. And it contrasts tragically with the 35-year sentence imposed on Private Chelsea Manning (who, ironically, was prosecuted in part for releasing State Department emails), or the three felony charges facing Edward Snowden, or the months and months of hard time to be served by the unprecedented number of other national security “leakers” prosecuted by the Obama administration.
Fortunately, this whole imbroglio leaves us with a teaching moment. Secretary Clinton could—like President Obama in 2008—pledge a new-found commitment to open government. If she does decide to run in 2016, she should acknowledge her mistake in using a private server and embrace the cause of government transparency as a campaign promise. That’s actually the best way to give her team possession of this political football—not to mention being the right thing to do. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Police in Mississippi are looking for a gunman who approached a uniformed officer outside a Biloxi police station and shot him dead overnight, just months before the veteran cop and married father-of-three was set to retire.
Authorities say the suspect walked up to on-duty Biloxi officer Robert McKeithen in the station's parking lot on Porter Avenue at 10.30pm on Sunday, shot him multiple times and then ran off.
Firefighters rushed McKeithen to the Merit Health emergency room down the street, where he was pronounced dead from his injuries about two hours later.
Smiling suspect: Police in Mississippi are searching for a man in a red beanie (left), who is suspected of walking up to on-duty police officer Robert McKeithen (right) overnight and shooting him multiple times, killing him
The shooting took place at 10.30pm outside the Biloxi police station on Porter Avenue
Biloxi police Chief John Miller said at a press conference on Monday that McKeithen had served on the force for 24 years and had plans to retire at the end of the year.
He is survived by his wife, two stepsons and a stepdaughter.
'He was a wonderful family man,' the chief said of the fallen officer. 'He was a very gentle man for a policeman, a likeable man who treated people with respect and dignity, and we’re going to miss him sorely.'
Miller called the gunman who took the officer's life an 'animal' and expressed a belief that he is still in the area.
Chief Leonard Papania, of the Gulfport Police Department, is leading the investigation, along with the Harrison County sheriff and prosecutors' offices.
Authorities released images showing the suspect with a wide grin on his face wearing navy blue shorts, a black T-shirt, a red beanie cap and dark high top sneakers with red caps.
The wanted man was described as having a thin build and standing between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-10 tall.
Biloxi Police Chief John Miller is pictured laying a bouquet of flowers on Officer McKeithen's car in the police station's parking lot Monday
The wanted man was described as having a thin build and standing between 5-foot-7 and 5-foot-10 tall
Police are searching for the accused gunman on the ground and from the air Monday
A law enforcement helicopter has been flying over Biloxi as officers search the area.
Officials are pleading for the public’s help, saying there’s a $5,000 cash reward being offered through Crime Stoppers.
WLOX reported that Sunday's shooting marks the fifth time that the Biloxi Police Department lost an officer. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Getty Images
The Browns will hold private workouts with Sam Darnold and Josh Allen this week, Mary Kay Cabot of the Cleveland Plain Dealer reports. The team will conduct those in conjunction with the Pro Days at USC and Wyoming respectively.
Darnold’s Pro Day is Wednesday and Allen’s is Friday. Both have done their pre-draft training under the tutelage of Jordan Palmer.
Browns General Manager John Dorsey and coach Hue Jackson skipped the Pro Days for UCLA’s Josh Rosen and Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield last week because of free agency. The Browns will have private workouts with Rosen and Mayfield.
All four quarterbacks also will visit the Browns’ facility.
The Browns, who have the first and fourth choices in the upcoming draft, are expected to draft a quarterback despite naming Tyrod Taylor their starter. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
When Alabama’s Tua Tagovailoa and Georgia’s Jake Fromm take the field Saturday to battle for the SEC championship, it will be the second time the two quarterbacks have played each other in 2018.
The first came nearly 11 months ago, of course, when Tagovailoa led the Crimson Tide to a national championship over Fromm’s Bulldogs.
But familiarity between the two sophomores extends off the field. They also happen to be close friends.
Despite growing up about 4,500 miles apart, Tagovailoa and Fromm formed a bond when they were being recruited as top prospects in the 2017 class. They met at developmental camps, such as the Elite 11, and immediately hit it off.
“I think it’s his foundation,” Tagovailoa said. “He has a really strong faith background. I do, too. I think that’s kind of where we click.”
The similarities don't end there.
Tagovailoa and Fromm both made names for themselves as freshmen. Tagovailoa did it with his play in the national championship game. Fromm took over for an injured Jacob Eason early on and helped Georgia advance to the title game.
They were also both committed to play at Alabama. Just not at the same time.
Fromm was pledged to play for UA coach Nick Saban for five months, until his allegiance swayed to the favorite childhood team when Kirby Smart took over in Athens, Georgia.
Only two months after Fromm flipped to Georgia, Tagovailoa committed to Alabama. The close recruiting encounter has led to plenty of “what if” scenarios, including the two sharing a quarterback room or Tagovailoa committing elsewhere.
Looking back, Tagovailoa doesn’t think Fromm’s recruitment had an impact on his own.
“I didn't know that Jake was committed here before I committed,” Tagovailoa said. “And my father kind of implied that we should come here, too. So I thought it would be easier for us as a family to stay on the West Coast, but it was more so a family decision to come to the university and it's one of those things where it's cultural. So it's what my parents wanted more than what I wanted, you know? And it's worked out great.”
Both signal callers have followed up their successes as freshmen with stellar sophomore campaigns.
Tagovailoa will be contending for more than an SEC championship in Mercedes-Benz Stadium this weekend. He’ll be making his last impression on Heisman Trophy voters in hopes of becoming Alabama’s third-ever honoree. He has already thrown for an Alabama single-season record 36 touchdowns to go along with 3,189 passing yards.
“(Tua) has an unbelievable talent when throwing the football,” Fromm said. “I think he does a really good job of dispersing the football and getting it to his playmakers. And then he has the ability to extend that play with his legs -- those extra six, seven, eight seconds of the play. But I definitely think when he's playing, you could definitely tell he's playing for a greater purpose and something bigger than himself.”
Fromm, on the other hand, has amassed 2,236 yards and 26 scores through the air. While the two-pronged rushing attack of D’Andre Swift and Elijah Holyfield are what drives Georgia's offense, Saban knows the threat Fromm poses.
“Jake was playing really well last year, played really well in our game,” Saban said. “I think he's just gotten more confident with his knowledge and experience, having played more games. I think he gets them in the right plays. He's smart. If he knows what you're in on defense, he's going to throw it to the right place and do the right thing.”
Much like Tagovailoa. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
James Martin/CNET
Congress sent a warning to tech giants on Tuesday, telling companies including Apple and Facebook that it intends to pass legislation to regulate encryption if Silicon Valley can't reach an acceptable compromise with law enforcement agencies.
Tech companies and privacy advocates have long supported encryption, noting that the privacy and security technology protects people from hackers, crooks and authoritarian governments. Law enforcement officials, however, argue that encryption blocks criminal investigations by preventing access to suspects' devices and to their communications on messaging apps.
This debate took center stage in 2016 when Apple fought an FBI order to help unlock a terrorist's iPhone, arguing that providing a master key to decrypt devices would endanger all iPhone users.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Tuesday, Apple's manager of user privacy, Erik Neuenschwander, reiterated that point for lawmakers.
"At this time, we've been unable to identify any way to create a backdoor that would work only for the good guys," Neuenschwander told senators. "In fact, our experience is the opposite. When we have weaknesses in our system, they're exploited by nefarious entities as well."
The argument over encryption resurfaced in October after the Justice Department called on Facebook to pause its plans for encrypting all its messaging services. In March, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced plans for the social network to focus more on privacy for its users.
Law enforcement officials worried that encrypting messages on Facebook would cripple investigative efforts against child predators. Facebook had reported about 16.8 million cases to the US National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in 2018, and government officials said that if messages were encrypted, Facebook wouldn't be able to provide adequate evidence for cases.
This time next year, if you haven't found a way that you can live with [weaker encryption], we will impose our will on you. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham
On Tuesday, Facebook sent a letter to Attorney General William Barr saying it wouldn't weaken encryption on its WhatsApp messaging service. In Facebook's opening statement at the hearing, Jay Sullivan, the company's product management director for privacy and integrity, explained why.
"We oppose intentionally weakening the security of encrypted systems because doing so would undermine the privacy and security everywhere and leave them vulnerable to hackers, criminals and repressive regimes," Sullivan said.
Sullivan also warned that if the US imposed regulations on encryption, criminals would just move to foreign platforms where they aren't required to provide data to US law enforcement.
Despite the tech giants' arguments for privacy and security through encryption, lawmakers at the hearing didn't agree about the trade-offs on public safety.
"We hear your argument that this may simply push to overseas providers," said Sen. Chris Coons, a Democrat from Delaware. "But frankly, most of us are concerned about protecting the most vulnerable Americans."
Among the witnesses was Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance Jr., who has argued that encryption prevented his office from accessing evidence on hundreds of phones. He noted that while his team uses lawful hacking methods, it pays "hundreds of thousands of dollars" for these tools and they're successful only half the time.
"There are many serious cases where we can't access the device in the time period where it is most important for us to access it," Vance told the senators. "Without moving toward legislation, we're not going to solve this problem."
Several lawmakers at the hearing warned Apple's and Facebook's representatives that Congress would look into legislation if the companies couldn't provide data to law enforcement agencies.
"My advice to you is to get on with it," said Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina and the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman. "This time next year, if you haven't found a way that you can live with it, we will impose our will on you."
Now playing: Watch this: Android 10 privacy settings: Everything to know
This was a bipartisan warning. Both Democrats and Republicans argued that investigating crimes is more important than overall privacy and security on devices.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut, called out big tech's distancing itself from legal responsibility and warned that lawmakers would soon take action.
"That will end, because the American people are losing patience," Blumenthal said. "I hope you take that message back. That kind of immunity will be short-lived if big tech isn't able to do better."
Lawmakers are hoping that the tech companies will take action on their own, without requiring legislation.
"If it doesn't happen by you, it will happen by Congress," said Sen. Joni Ernst, a Republican from Iowa. "I think you'd rather find the solution than have Congress do it for you."
The US isn't the only nation considering laws around encryption. The Australian government passed the world's first encryption law in December 2018, though Apple said on Tuesday that it hasn't changed any of its software to comply with the law.
Apple's Neuenschwander told senators that it would be problematic if a similar law passed in the US.
"My overall fear would be that if some of the capabilities of that legislation were imposed on any provider, that provider would have to weaken encryption, just by the nature of the technology, for all users," he said.
There are no proposals for any legislation tied to encryption in the US, but senators at Tuesday's hearing have warned tech giants that Congress will take action if the issue continues to trouble law enforcement agencies.
"You all have got to get your act together, or we will gladly get your act together for you," said Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee. "This is not going to continue." | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Krystyna Danko, one of the oldest and most celebrated non-Jews recognized by Israel for saving Jews from the Holocaust, has died. She was 102.
Danko, who became deaf and blind a few years ago, passed away Wednesday in her Warsaw home. She died in her sleep in a hospital bed recently purchased for her by Holocaust survivors, Jonny Daniels, founder of the From the Depths commemoration group that collected the money for the bed, said in a statement.
Before World War II, Danko was an orphan who was taken in by a Jewish family named Kokoszko in Otwock, near Warsaw. During the war, Danko almost singlehandedly rescued all four members of the family, according to her case file at Yad Vashem, Israel’s authority for commemorating the Holocaust.
In 1998, Danko was named Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem, whose website characterizes her efforts as “incredible” – unusual for the memorial.
Her son, Wojciech, wrote in a statement about his mother: “She was the most wonderful mother, full of warmth and understanding (as well as a sense of humor). She gave her three children all the best. She supported her husband Mieczysław during his five-year political imprisonment during the Stalinist terror, raising children in difficult conditions and supporting his family.”
Daniels, in an obituary, called her “an angel of goodness and righteousness and a beacon of light in a dark and difficult world.”
cnxps.cmd.push(function () { cnxps({ playerId: '36af7c51-0caf-4741-9824-2c941fc6c17b' }).render('4c4d856e0e6f4e3d808bbc1715e132f6'); }); | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Texan guilty in porn case offers to mentor kids
A South Texas man who pleaded guilty in a child pornography case then sought leniency by offering to mentor youths must serve nearly 13 years in prison.
A federal judge in Corpus Christi on Thursday sentenced 70-year-old Jose Luis Salazar. Salazar in March pleaded guilty to sexual exploitation of minors by distributing child pornography.
Salazar during sentencing told Senior U.S. District Judge Janis Graham Jack that he never physically hurt anyone, had a lot to offer society and he could be useful mentoring children.
The judge told Salazar he didn't understand the gravity of his crime and that's why he was being sentenced to 151 months behind bars.
The investigation began in 2012 when an undercover Corpus Christi police officer downloaded child porn from a computer eventually traced to Salazar. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
On the face of it, South Africa would seem to have two normal selection debates on their hands ahead of the third Test against Australia. They are deciding between Theunis de Bruyn and Temba Bavuma in the No. 6 spot and between Lungi Ngidi and Morne Morkel as the third seamer, and there are decent arguments to be made for all four.
De Bruyn has only played five Tests but his first-class numbers show great potential. He has an average of 46.27, has played in six out of the eight franchise matches this season and has scored two daddy hundreds - 195 and 190. But he has only made more than 20 once in four innings in the series against Australia, which has opened the door for Bavuma, who has not played a Test since October and any professional cricket since mid-January after suffering a broken hand, to make a return.
Bavuma's first-class average of 37.40, and Test average of 33.13, belies his nuggety nature. Though he only has one Test century to his name, scored two years ago, he has eight fifties and most of them have dug South Africa out of deep holes. So the choice is between the man who is there and has not yet lived up to his promise and the one who has started well but needs to kick on at international level.
At the other end of the spectrum, Ngidi has taken to international cricket like he was born to do it. He has 14 wickets from his three Tests at an average of 16.42, is able to find movement and bowls with accuracy. He is nursing a small toe niggle which may require him to sit out at Newlands but if he is fit, including him ahead of Morkel could be justified, as it was in the second Test. Even though Morkel has played 84 Tests and is three wickets from becoming the fifth South African to 300, Ngidi is a strong competitor to keep him out. In Morkel's favour is his experience, the fact that he has found some of his best form in the latter part of his career when he has been more prone to pitching the ball up, and the nostalgia of his impending retirement.
SA transformation numbers 2017-18 (Figures correct before Cape Town Test) Total: 385 caps across all formats Players of colour: 198 = 51.40% Black African: 76 = 19.74% Tests: 132 caps Players of colour: 59 = 44.69% Black African 25 = 18.93% ODIs: 165 caps Players of colour: 85 = 51.51% Black African: 33 = 20% T20Is: 88 caps Players of colour: 54 = 61.36% Black African: 18 = 20.45%
So, while South Africa seem to have a complex cricketing choice to make, dig a little deeper and they are also deciding between black and white.
The reality of South Africa's transformation imperatives cannot be ignored and, this season, CSA will miss the ministerial target.
South Africa's transformation numbers are calculated on an annual basis, from April to April, and require a minimum average of six players of colour, of which two must be black African, to be fielded by the national team over a season. That equates to 54.54% players of colour and 18.18% black African players in the XI.
For 2017-18, across 12 Tests so far (with two to come), 15 ODIs and 8 T20s, South Africa have fielded 51.40% players of colour and 19.74% black African, thereby missing the first target but exceeding the second. The chief culprit in South Africa's inability to meet the target is their representation in Tests, where they have only fielded 44.69% of players of colour - largely as a consequence of JP Duminy's retirement and Bavuma's injury - and although they have tried to make up for it in shorter formats, they have not been able to.
Even if South Africa fielded an entirely non-white team in the remaining two Tests, they would still fall 13 caps short of the players of colour target. The consequences of their failure to meet targets have not been explicitly defined, especially since the sports minister has changed since the last time the audit was done.
When South Africa failed to reach the target in the 2015-16 year, then-minister of sport Fikile Mbalula banned CSA from bidding for or hosting major events, which did not affect it because there was no ICC tournament in the calendar. Instead, it forced CSA to implement a national target, which was met in the 2016-17 summer. Tokozile Xasa is now the sports minister, having been appointed in February, and has yet to make any strong policy statements.
While the suits wait to see Xasa's reaction, CSA is likely to continue to impress the importance of taking steps to show an intention to meet the targets, rather than an indifference to missing them, as Faf du Plessis indicated. "As a guy that has a say in selection, I always strive to get that [targets being met]," du Plessis said. "So first priority will be to get those balances and targets right. If there were injuries that played a part then it's difficult to make - for instance if Kagiso [Rabada] wasn't available for this game then it's a different story. But I also believe it's my responsibility to look and see how we can achieve that."
That means Bavuma and Ngidi could get the nod, and it is important to note that they are both regarded as equally deserving of a spot as the men they would be displacing.
As far as Bavuma is concerned, du Plessis said he had "a lot of confidence in Temba", who he called a "high-quality" player that can slot straight back in despite not having recent game time. "Obviously he hasn't got a lot of cricket under his belt, but the quality is there," du Plessis said. "Ideally, you'd like guys to play cricket after an injury to get themselves back into form or time in the middle. It doesn't always work like that. Temba hasn't played cricket, but he looks good in the nets for a while and his hand is fully recovered."
But Ngidi's participation is likely to rest more on his injury status than whether or not du Plessis considers him a better bet than Morkel, who is fully fit.
"Lungi bowled really well in the previous game but he's also got a little bit of a toe problem, which is probably why the consideration is happening. If he is not 100% then it is obviously an easy decision for us," du Plessis said. "What counts in Morne's favour is that he is a fit bowler and can bowl long spells. That's really important going into this Test match, especially if we have three seamers and a spinner. We'll have our three bowlers that have the biggest tanks when it comes to bowling a lot of overs."
With Morkel's milestone of 300 Test wickets also looming and only two more opportunities for him to play, South Africa may also want to be mindful of getting Morkel over the line before sending him off. But coach Ottis Gibson expressed little sympathy with Morkel's position, saying that selection in professional sport is only about trying to pick a team that can win.
Gibson's statement was ironic because in South Africa, that has never been the only consideration. Pre-democracy, there was only white, post-democracy there has been a push towards black and now there are all the shades of grey, when equally competent white and black players are in the mix. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
This is the beginning of a series of blog posts to get to know the Apache MXNet Deep Learning project and the new Clojure language binding clojure-package
MXNet is a first class, modern deep learning library that AWS has officially picked as its chosen library. It supports multiple languages on a first class basis and is incubating as an Apache project.
The motivation for creating a Clojure package is to be able to open the deep learning library to the Clojure ecosystem and build bridges for future development and innovation for the community. It provides all the needed tools including low level and high level apis, dynamic graphs, and things like GAN and natural language support.
So let’s get on with our introduction with one of the basic building blocks of MXNet, the NDArray .
Meet NDArray
The NDArray is the tensor data structure in MXNet. Let’s start of by creating one. First we need to require the ndarray namespace:
1 2 ( ns tutorial.ndarray ( :require [ org.apache.clojure-mxnet.ndarray :as ndarray ]))
Now let’s create an all zero array of dimension 100 x 50
1 2 ( ndarray/zeros [ 100 50 ]) ;=> #object[org.apache.mxnet.NDArray 0x3e396d0 "org.apache.mxnet.NDArray@aeea40b6"]
We can check the shape of this by using shape-vec
1 2 ( ndarray/shape-vec ( ndarray/zeros [ 100 50 ])) ;=> [100 50]
There is also a quick way to create an ndarray of ones with the ones function:
1 ( ndarray/ones [ 256 32 128 1 ])
Ones and zeros are nice, but what an array with specific contents? There is an array function for that. Specific the contents of the array first and the shape second:
1 2 ( def c ( ndarray/array [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 ] [ 2 3 ])) ( ndarray/shape-vec c ) ;=> [2 3]
To convert it back to a vector format, we can use the ->vec function.
1 2 ( ndarray/->vec c ) ;=> [1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0 6.0]
Now that we know how to create NDArrays, we can get to do something interesting like operations on them.
Operations
There are all the standard arithmetic operations:
1 2 3 4 ( def a ( ndarray/ones [ 1 5 ])) ( def b ( ndarray/ones [ 1 5 ])) ( -> ( ndarray/+ a b ) ( ndarray/->vec )) ;=> [2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0]
Note that the original ndarrays are unchanged.
1 2 ( ndarray/->vec a ) ;=> [1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0] ( ndarray/->vec b ) ;=> [1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0]
But, we can change that if we use the inplace operators:
1 2 ( ndarray/+= a b ) ( ndarray/->vec a ) ;=> [2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0]
There are many more operations, but just to give you a taste, we’ll take a look a the dot product operation:
1 2 3 4 5 ( def arr1 ( ndarray/array [ 1 2 ] [ 1 2 ])) ( def arr2 ( ndarray/array [ 3 4 ] [ 2 1 ])) ( def res ( ndarray/dot arr1 arr2 )) ( ndarray/shape-vec res ) ;=> [1 1] ( ndarray/->vec res ) ;=> [11.0]
If you are curious about the other operators available in NDArray API check out the MXNet project documentation page
Now that we have ndarrays and can do calculations on them, we might want to save and load them.
Saving and Loading
You can save ndarrays with a name as a map like:
1 ( ndarray/save "filename" { "arr1" arr1 "arr2" arr2 })
To load them, you just specify the filename and the map is returned.
1 2 3 ( ndarray/load "filename" ) ;=> {"arr1" #object[org.apache.mxnet.NDArray 0x1b629ff4 "org.apache.mxnet.NDArray@63da08cb"] ;=> "arr2" #object[org.apache.mxnet.NDArray 0x25d994e3 "org.apache.mxnet.NDArray@5bbaf2c3"]}
One more cool thing, we can even due our operations on the cpu or gpu.
Multi-Device Support
When creating an ndarray you can use a context argument to specify the device. To do this, we will need the help of the context namespace.
1 ( require ' [ org.apache.clojure-mxnet.context :as context ])
By default, the ndarray is created on the cpu context.
1 2 3 ( def cpu-a ( ndarray/zeros [ 100 200 ])) ( ndarray/context cpu-a ) ;=> #object[ml.dmlc.mxnet.Context 0x3f376123 "cpu(0)"]
But we can specify the gpu instead, (if we have a gpu enabled build).
1 ( def gpu-b ( ndarray/zeros [ 100 200 ] { :ctx ( context/gpu 0 )}))
Note: Operations among different contexts are currently not allowed, but there is a copy-to function that can help copy the content from one device to another and then continue on with the computation.
Wrap up
I hope you’ve enjoyed the brief introduction to the MXNet library, there is much more to explore in future posts. If you are interested in giving it a try, there are native jars for OSX cpu and Linux cpu/gpu available and the code for the ndarray tutorial can be found here
Please remember that the library is in a experimential state, so if you encounter any problems or have any other feedback, please log an issue so bugs and rough edges can be fixed :). | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Denver's staying smoky and cool for another day. While sunny skies are in the forecast, the temperature will rise to just 62 degrees in the metro area, according to the National Weather Service. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Enzyme-less system can produce a huge library of synthetic polymers that could catalyse chemical reactions or target disease
US researchers have developed a purely chemical and enzyme-free system that can build synthetic polymers using DNA as a template . The work offers the opportunity to harness the power of natural selection by creating large libraries of synthetic polymers in a similar way that nature evolves biopolymers such as proteins.
The field of synthetic genetics is relatively new and aims to direct the genetic machinery of life to evolve synthetic polymers. These could have new or improved biological functions not found in nature, which could have biomedical applications.
Previously, directed evolution strategies were limited because they could only evolve molecules similar to biopolymers that occur in nature, namely nucleic acids and proteins. This is because these methods rely on interactions with nature's polymerase enzymes to undergo transcription and translation processes in order to replicate.
Although one way around this is to develop synthetic polymerases, it is a major undertaking that often requires sophisticated protein engineering. This drawback means that synthetic polymers have primarily served as bulk materials, rather than as precisely folded molecules that can target a specific molecule or catalyse a chemical reaction.
Synthetic success
Now, David Liu's lab at Harvard University in US has overcome this limitation by coming up with an enzyme-free approach which, under the guidance of DNA templates, forms genetically-encoded synthetic polymers that are structurally distinct from nucleic acids.
'Unlike those made by traditional chemical polymerisation methods, the synthetic polymers generated in our system are sequence-defined, length-defined and programmed by DNA templates,' explains co-author Jia Niu. 'In contrast to many of the current translation strategies that rely upon biological transcription or translation machinery, our method can accommodate a variety of different backbone and side chain structures that cannot otherwise be incorporated, such as beta peptides.'
The team's system works by using macrocyclic substrates that allow DNA-templated couplings with synthetic polymer building blocks that are structurally unrelated to nucleic acids. To prevent the polymer from directly interacting with the template, they introduced peptide nucleic acid (PNA) adapter units which mediate the interaction with the DNA template.
A polymer product was then generated after disulfide linkers between the adapters and the building blocks were cleaved. The team showed the system could make several synthetic polymers including polyethylene glycol and beta peptides.
Evolving libraries
'Since this process also covalently linked the product with its encoding template, iterated rounds of translation, selection and template amplification, could be performed enabling the opportunity to evolve the synthetic polymer toward novel or improved functions,' says Niu.
'This is a major new advance that could dramatically expand our understanding of the types of polymers that are capable of undergoing Darwinian evolution,' comments John Chaput who investigates synthetic genetics at Arizona State University, US.
The team are now trying to determine whether their DNA-templated translation system is capable of generating a library of synthetic polymers containing billions of sequences. 'Our hope is that such libraries will be diverse enough to enable the ready discovery of synthetic polymers with a vast array of functions ranging from binding to catalysis,' says Niu.
'As these experiments continue, it will be interesting to see what types of structures can be isolated from their libraries,' says Chaput. 'Will synthetic polymers isolated by in vitro evolution collapse into structures that resemble folded proteins or will they adopt completely different types of structures whose shapes are governed by a new set of rules? I suspect that it could be a little bit of both, but it remains to be seen.'
'We have long envisioned that synthetic polymers could fold into tertiary structures and function at the single-molecule level if they had defined and heritable sequence information to enable them to be subjected to iterative rounds of directed evolution,' Niu adds. 'This work is a step toward this ultimate goal.' | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (Reuters) - A man sleeping on a Greyhound bus as it rolled across the Canadian Prairies was killed and decapitated by his seatmate as horrified passengers fled to safety in the night, witnesses and police said on Thursday.
Slideshow ( 7 images )
“All of a sudden, we all heard this scream, this bloodcurdling scream,” said Garnet Caton, who was sitting just in front of the victim on the bus. Caton said that when the attack was over, the knife-wielding killer displayed his victim’s severed head to the onlookers.
A 40-year-old man was taken into custody at the scene on Wednesday evening on a desolate stretch of the TransCanada Highway about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, but has not been charged, according to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
Police declined to speculate on what prompted the attack, and witnesses said the victim and killer, who apparently did not know each other, had enjoyed a casual cigarette break with other passengers only minutes before the attack.
Witnesses described a scene of bloody mayhem that erupted without warning on the bus, which was traveling east to Winnipeg, Manitoba, on a routine scheduled run.
“The attacker was standing up right over top of the guy with a large hunting knife -- a survival, Rambo knife -- holding the guy and continually stabbing him, stabbing him, stabbing him in the chest area,” Caton told CBC Television.
The attack continued as other passengers fled the bus and waited for police, Caton said. He said he, the driver and another passenger desperately tried to hold the bus door closed to prevent the attacker from leaving.
“He calmly walks up to the front (of the bus) with the head in his hand and the knife and just calmly stares at us and drops the head right in front of us,” Caton said.
“There was no rage in him ... It was just like he was a robot or something.”
Police praised the calmness and cooperation of the passengers, who were taken to a hotel in Brandon, Manitoba, and were being given crisis counseling and other assistance by authorities and Greyhound.
“Believe me, if we could do our jobs without having you relive this terrible experience we would,” RCMP staff Sargent Steve Colwell said in a statement to the passengers that was read to reporters in Winnipeg.
Passengers said they were having difficulty coping.
“I tried to get to lay down at 4 o’clock this morning but was up 10 minutes later because every time I closed my eyes I’d see this man in the window with some guy’s head I had just smoked a cigarette with,” Cody Omstead told CTV News.
Greyhound said in a statement that it was cooperating with police to determine what happened. It said that intercity bus travel remained the safest mode of transportation in the country. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
In 2006, a company called No Lie MRI began advertising their ability to detect "deception and other information stored in the brain" using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). They were not the first to make this claim. Two years prior, a company called Cephos had been founded on the same principle. Both companies were launched by entrepreneurs who hoped to one day replace the polygraph machine and its recognized shortcomings with a foolproof approach to lie detection.
Within several years after the establishment of these companies, their services were used on multiple occasions to obtain fMRI data to submit as evidence in court--in both criminal and civil cases. In each instance the court declined to admit the evidence, but the decision to exclude it was carefully deliberated. In one 39-page opinion written to recommend excluding the evidence in a Medicare fraud case, the judge indicated that fMRI evidence might one day be admissible even if it hadn't been determined to be an extraordinarily reliable method of lie detection. Thus, it seems that the use of neuroimaging for lie detection may be a real possibility at some point in the future. But how realistic is it right now?
Designing studies to test fMRI-based lie detection
To be able to evaluate the current state of the research regarding fMRI-based lie detection, it's important to have an understanding of how studies in this area have been designed and conducted. The goal of these studies has been to identify differences in the brain activity of participants when they are telling the truth vs. when they are lying. Thus, participants are usually instructed to lie when asked about certain topics and told to answer other questions truthfully. The brain activity observed during the truthful responses is compared to brain activity observed during deceptive responses in an attempt to isolate areas that are active only during prevarication.
For example, in one study participants were directed to "steal" one of two items: a watch or a ring. Then, the subjects were put into an fMRI machine and questioned about the mock thievery, but they were told to deny taking anything. The subjects were asked about both items, but because they had only taken one of the two, some of their responses naturally were lies and others were the truth. Researchers then compared the participants' brain activity during truthful and deceitful responses.
Other studies vary considerably in the details, but have a similar general approach. In one experiment, participants were given two playing cards and then told to deny having one of them when asked about it. In another example, participants picked a number between three and eight and then were told to deny picking their chosen number when it was shown to them. Thus, most of these experiments involve "directed deception," where a participant is told to lie about a particular experience while their brain activity is being observed.
What the studies have shown
The collection of studies investigating the neural correlates of deception has grown considerably over the years, leading to a number of candidate regions being singled out as potentially playing a role in deception. In a recent publication, Farah et al. conducted a meta-analysis of these studies to attempt to identify brain structures that had consistently been activated during lying. The investigators analyzed 23 studies which, as a whole, described a total of 321 foci of interest.
Farah et al. found significant variability among the results of the studies, and no one region was activated in all of them. However, a number of areas were generally more likely to be active during deception, including parts of the prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobule, anterior insula, and the medial superior frontal cortex.
These commonly-activated areas may provide us with some clues as to where we should be looking for the neural correlates of deception. To have confidence in fMRI for lie detection, however, it will be important to see consistent activation of a particular network of areas from study to study. Because the studies included in this meta-analysis all differed slightly in experimental design, it is not surprising they resulted in slightly different patterns of brain activity. Even if with further studies we see a more consistent pattern of activation, however, can we be confident it is representative of lying? Some would argue that we cannot.
Problems with fMRI-based lie detection research
Beyond the lack of uniform results in laboratory studies of deception, there are a number of other hurdles associated with using fMRI for lie detection. One major difficulty is in determining that the brain activity we see occurring during deception is specific only to lying. For example, if participants are instructed to steal an item and then are asked to lie about stealing it later, the increased activity observed when they are asked about the item could be associated with deception. But, it could also be that their unique personal experience with the item (e.g. having "chosen" to steal it as opposed to one of the other items) causes a different pattern of activity that is representative of familiarity. In other words, different memory systems may be accessed for items that one has more knowledge of, and the activation of these networks could be responsible for the differences in brain activity observed in deception vs. sincerity conditions.
A study conducted by Hakun et al. serves as a good example of this problem. The investigators in this experiment asked participants to choose a number out of a series of numbers. Then, the participants were put in an fMRI machine and questioned about the number chosen; half of the participants were told beforehand to lie about which number they picked while the other half were asked to remain silent. Some of the areas identified in the meta-analysis discussed above that seem to be activated during deception were activated in both groups of participants (half of whom were not lying--nor even talking). Thus, it may be that activation in these areas is not specific to deception, but involved with memory retrieval, attention, or some other aspect of higher-order processing.
Another issue with using fMRI for lie detection involves the real-world applicability of the studies in this area. For example, when you ask someone to lie about a number they chose from a list or even about a mock crime, the lie they tell will generally not have a great deal of emotional significance for them. In real-life, however, lying is often associated with high emotionality, stress, anxiety, etc. Thus, it is unclear if the brain regions identified in fMRI studies of lie detection are only likely to be activated during the more dispassionate type of deception that occurs under laboratory conditions. If so, it could mean that other areas of the brain are more likely to be activated during "real" lies, which could suggest that fMRI lie detection based on current data might overlook activity often associated with lies in the real world.
Additionally, most of these fMRI studies are conducted on healthy participants (often college undergraduate students). It seems likely that these individuals may display different brain responses to lying than, for example, a sample of participants with a criminal past (a population this technology might be expected to work with if it were to have validity in the legal realm). For instance, one fMRI study conducted with people who had a criminal history and a diagnosis related to psychopathy found a different pattern of brain activity during instructed lying than that seen in other populations. Thus, brain activity during deception may differ from individual to individual depending on other personality characteristics, personal background, etc. Until we can be more certain about which areas of the brain are activated in everyone when they lie, it is difficult to have much confidence in the use of fMRI to detect deception.
One other potential problem--which applies to using any method to attempt to detect lying--is that we must be aware of countermeasures the subject may use to evade detection. Countermeasures are actions an individual might be able to take to disrupt the lie detection device's ability to accurately identify dishonesty. For example, some have asserted that slightly painful actions like biting the tongue during control questions in polygraph tests can raise physiological responses during those responses, making baseline activity too high to be able to detect the deviations from it that occur during true deception. Countermeasures to disrupt fMRI-based lie detection are still relatively unknown, but studies suggest they may be fairly simple to implement. In one study experimenters were able to detect lying in participants with 100% accuracy. However, when they asked participants to wiggle their fingers and toes "imperceptibly" during the fMRI scanning the accuracy was reduced to only 33%.
A long way to go
Thus, despite the optimism that led some to invest in businesses devoted primarily to fMRI-based lie detection, it seems the method still has a long way to go before it can be considered valid and reliable. Consequently, it is not something we are likely to see gain widespread acceptance anytime soon. But that does not mean it is not a future possibility. As our methods of neuroimaging improve and we develop better ways of identifying specific structures that are necessarily activated during certain behaviors, highly accurate neuroimaging for lie detection may emerge, bringing with it a collection of ethical dilemmas about how it should be used. However, such developments are likely decades away; for now the knowledge about the lies we tell will remain safely sequestered in our own heads. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
In 1895, the Qing government of China ceded Taiwan and the Pescadores (Penghu) to Japan under the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the Sino-Japanese War of 1894–95. The Japanese government established the Office of the Governor-General in Taipei as an organ of colonial rule, and for the next half-century this outpost of the imperial government ruled over Taiwan and the Taiwanese while investing heavily in modern industry and infrastructure. During that time, Japanese settlers migrated to Taiwan in considerable numbers.
Taiwan’s rapid economic development under Japanese rule was a testimony to the diligence and hard work of the island’s inhabitants. After World War II, Japan forfeited control, and residents of Japanese descent were obliged to leave Taiwan. But the achievements of the colonial period helped support the postwar development of Taiwanese society, and that legacy lives on.
Who Are the Wansei?
While the inhabitants of Taiwan were all considered subjects of the Japanese empire, the colonial government classified them according to their origin. Japanese settlers and their children were called naichijin. Inhabitants of Han Chinese descent were known as hontōjin, while the indigenous Taiwanese were referred to as banjin.
By the end of World War II, there were approximately half a million naichijin in Taiwan, including members of the military. But after World War II, Japan forfeited its territorial claim, and China’s Kuomintang, or Nationalist Party, which took control of the island soon thereafter, repatriated almost all of the naichijin between 1945 and 1949. Although such marriages were uncommon, this included fathers and children of non-Japanese women—these women had the option of moving to Japan with their families.
Back in Japan, these repatriated naichijin became known as Wansei. Although the term literally means Taiwan-born, it was applied to all those of Japanese descent—with the exception of military personnel dispatched to the island—who were in Taiwan at the end of the war and subsequently repatriated. It also encompassed those who were born in Taiwan, traveled to Japan to attend university, for example, and remained there.
Between Two Cultures
A survey carried out in October 1945 by the Office of the Governor-General, then under the control of the US military, determined that the total population of naichijin in Taiwan, excluding Japanese military personnel, was 384,847—200,026 men and 184,821 women divided among 106,201 households. The survey also asked each of these naichijin (except for infants and toddlers) whether they would prefer to return to Japan or remain in Taiwan. Of the 323,269 who responded, 182,260 answered that they wanted to return to Japan, while 141,009 said they wished to remain in Taiwan. Among the respondents, women outnumbered men 168,520 to 154,749. Of the men, a full 67,654 indicated that they preferred to stay in Taiwan.
Of course, they had little access to information and no way of anticipating how things would unfold in either country in the wake of Japan’s defeat. None of them could imagine how their situation would change in the coming years. Some had deliberately turned their back on their birthplace to build a new life in Taiwan, while others had been born and raised in the colony. All must have responded to the survey of October 1945, with a sense of profound anxiety and ambivalence.
The Wansei Then and Now
For some time now, I have been interviewing the surviving Wansei in order to record and preserve their oral history. Although said to be heavily concentrated in Tokyo, the Kansai region, and Kyūshū and other parts of western Japan, the Wansei are actually scattered all over the country.
Regardless of where they live, the Wansei have impressed me as a well-educated and successful community overall. A fairly high percentage are university graduates, and many appear to have done well in their chosen line of work. One reason may be the high quality of their early education in Taiwan. Discriminatory practices placed the naichijin in separate primary schools, which unquestionably gave them educational advantages over their native Taiwanese counterparts—including a better shot at continuing their education.
This sort of discrimination extended to the civil service as well. The government paid a substantial overseas posting allowance to naichijin, resulting in a large wage gap between civil servants of Japanese extraction and their ethnic Chinese counterparts. Although there were certainly exceptions, many of the naichijin families were quite well off, and their children were raised and educated in a relatively privileged environment.
But there is another side to the story as well. Many in the Wansei community stress the difficulties they faced after repatriation and the hard work required just to survive. Most had never even set foot in mainland Japan until then and had to make their way in an unfamiliar environment without local roots or connections. They were often treated as foreigners, particularly in Japan’s provincial towns and cities. Under these circumstances, they naturally gravitated toward one another and formed their own networks. By their own testimony, many of them sorely missed their homes in Taiwan. Through sheer hard work they were able to triumph over adversity, sustained by the memory of their beloved Taiwan.
Revisiting the Colonial Past
After decades of autocratic rule, true democracy dawned in Taiwan during the second half of the 1990s, thanks to reforms implemented under President Lee Teng-hui. The years since have seen a surge of interest in local culture and history. At the same time, a more objective assessment of the period of Japanese colonial rule has led to a wider recognition of the positive contribution Japan made to Taiwan’s development.
The elderly Taiwanese citizens who grew up under Japanese rule are known as the “Japanese-language generation,” as they were educated in Japanese and can speak it fluently. Although old age has claimed many of them, they still form a significant sector of Taiwanese society. In the free and democratic climate that has transformed that society over the past two decades, a substantial number of these older Taiwanese have actively and openly embraced the Japanese language as part of their own cultural and linguistic heritage.
Another aspect of this willingness to confront and reassess the Japanese colonial era is the recent surge of interest in the experience of the Wansei.
Hōōboku no hana chirinu (The Flame Tree Blossoms Do Not Scatter) by Imabayashi Toshiharu, now a resident of Fukuoka Prefecture, is a memoir of the author’s childhood in Tainan, where he was born. Since its publication in 2011, this collection of reminiscences has become a highly valued resource for local historians. Tokumaru Satsurō, currently living in Tama, Tokyo, has spent more than 10 years compiling a residential map of Taipei—his hometown—during the era of Japanese rule. Making the most of the Wansei network, he has collected information one piece at a time and gradually incorporated it in a hand-drawn map. It is a mind-bogglingly ambitious task, but the information he has gathered in the process is invaluable for reconstructing the city of Taipei during the colonial period.
Then there is Okabe Shigeru, who has managed the alumni club of his Taipei elementary school with such single-minded diligence that it has remained active to this day. Needless to say, the records of this club also contain precious historical materials. Such efforts reflect the deep attachment of the Wansei for the land where they were born and raised.
The Taiwan Kyōkai (Taiwan Association) is a Japanese organization established in 1951 to promote friendship and communication among Japanese citizens repatriated from Taiwan after World War II. Today the association is involved in a variety of activities, including programs to support Japan-Taiwan friendship. It also collects and houses a wide range of documents and other materials relating to the naichijin and Wansei and makes them available to researchers and other interested persons. In 2015, when events were held around the region to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Taiwan Kyōkai Director Nei Kiyoshi helped organize and publicize memorial ceremonies to honor the war dead.
One thing almost all the Wansei share in common is an enduring affection for Taiwan. They love Taiwan as much as they do Japan—in some cases, even more—and care deeply about its future. Historian Takenaka Nobuko (a native of Suao township in Taiwan, currently residing in Tokyo), author of a book documenting the lives of Japanese women in colonial Taiwan, puts it succinctly: “We Wansei view Taiwan as our beloved homeland. After Japan lost the war, we were set adrift, but our feelings for Taiwan have not diminished one iota.”
Despite the absence of diplomatic relations between Tokyo and Taipei, social, cultural, and economic exchange between Japan and Taiwan is livelier than ever, with some 5 million people traveling back and forth between the two countries every year. Taiwan has become an increasingly popular destination for the class trips traditionally organized by Japanese high schools, and as many as 30,000 secondary school students were expected to visit the island in 2015. Japanese tourists who visit Taiwan often gush about the experience, dwelling particularly on the kindness and courtesy with which they were received.
On October 16, 2015, Taiwan’s Central Motion Picture Corp. released Wansei Back Home, a documentary produced by Tanaka Mika, author of a book of the same title. Directed by Taiwanese director Huang Ming-cheng, it tells the story of naichijin living in Hualien and the hardships attending their repatriation after World War II. How do younger Taiwanese view these exiled settlers and the legacy of the colonial era? More than seven decades since the end of World War II and Japanese colonial rule, it is time for all of us to revisit and reassess the complex historical relationship between Japan and Taiwan.
(Originally written in Japanese on October 5 and published on October 16, 2015. Banner photo: Seven decades after their repatriation to Japan from Taiwan, the alumni of a Japanese elementary school in Taipei have remained in touch with one another, largely thanks to this alumni bulletin. Photos by Katakura Yoshifumi.) | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) Market Size Soaring at 7.1% CAGR to reach $12,632 Million by 2022: Top Players Baxter international, Grifols, Octapharma AG, Kedrion Biopharma
https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/request-sample/2819888?utm_source=OPR&utm_medium=CC
https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/intravenous-immunoglobulin-IVIG-market?utm_source=OPR&utm_medium=CC
https://www.bigmarketresearch.com/immunoglobulin-market?utm_source=OPR&utm_medium=CC
Bigmarketresearch.com Adds a New Intravenous Immunoglobulin (IVIG) Market by Application and Type: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2016 – 2022 spreading across 220 pages with table and figures in it.Immunoglobulins (IGs), also known as antibodies, are glycoproteins produced by the blood plasma in response to foreign bodies or antigens. They are highly complex entities and are specific in their action. These IGs are obtained from blood through the process of fractionation and are purified for use in therapeutic and non-therapeutic areas. The global intravenous immunoglobulin (IGIV) market was valued at $7,861 million in 2015 and is projected to reach $12,632 million by 2022, registering a CAGR of 7.1% from 2016 to 2022.Request a Sample Copy:Increase in prevalence of immunodeficiency and autoimmune diseases such as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, hypogammaglobulinemia & others and rise in adoption of immunoglobulin treatments for the treatment of various autoimmune disorders majorly drive the growth of the IVIG market. Further, the increase in approval of IVIG drugs from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicine Agency (EMA), and other government agencies is expected to accelerate the market growth of IVIG industry. However, stringent government regulations, inflated cost of therapy, and high risk of side effects associated with the use of immunoglobulin intravenously are anticipated to hamper the market growth. On the contrary, significant investment in healthcare sector is expected to provide lucrative opportunities for the market growth in the near future.The global IVIG market is characterized based on application, type, and region. Based on application, the market is segmented into hypogammaglobulinemia, CIDP, immunodeficiency diseases, myasthenia gravis, multifocal motor neuropathy, idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), inflammatory myopathies, specific antibody deficiency, Guillain‐Barre syndrome, and others. Based on type, the market is classified into IgG, IgA, IgM, IgE, and IgD. By region, it is analyzed across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA.Read the Full Report Description with Table of Content:Top companies have been profiled in this research report such as Baxter international Inc., CSL Ltd., Grifols, S.A., Octapharma AG, Kedrion Biopharma Inc., LFB group, Biotest AG, China Biologics Products, Inc., Shire Plc. (Baxalta) and Bayer AG.Related Report:Immunoglobulin Market by Application, Product and by Mode of Delivery: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2018 - 2025The global immunoglobulin was valued at $9,851 million in 2017, and is projected to reach $17,501 million by 2025, registering a CAGR of 7.5% from 2018 to 2025.Immunoglobulins (IGs) or antibodies are glycoproteins produced in the blood plasma in response to the antigens, which are foreign to the host system. They are highly complex entities and are specific in their action. They are obtained from blood through the process of fractionation and are purified for therapeutic and non-therapeutic applications. In therapeutics, they are administered intravenously for the treatment of various deficiencies.Increase in prevalence of immunodeficiency and autoimmune diseases such as chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy, hypogammaglobulinemia & others and rise in adoption of immunoglobulin treatments for the treatment of various autoimmune disorders majorly drive the growth of the immunoglobulin market.Read More:About Us:Big Market Research has a range of research reports from various publishers across the world. Our database of reports of various market categories and sub-categories would help to find the exact report you may be looking for.We are instrumental in providing quantitative and qualitative insights on your area of interest by bringing reports from various publishers at one place to save your time and money. A lot of organizations across the world are gaining profits and great benefits from information gained through reports sourced by us.Contact us:5933 NE Win Sivers Drive, #205, Portland,OR 97220 United StatesDirect: +1-971-202-1575Toll Free: +1-800-910-6452E-mail [email protected] | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
ERROR: type should be string, got "https://www.profitconfidential.com/cryptocurrency/ripple/ripple-xrp-survive-new-partnerships-despite-crashes/\n\nRipple XRP Will Survive on New Partnerships Despite Crashes\n\nMukta Samtani, MBA, PhD\n\nProfit Confidential\n\n2018-02-02T08:47:43Z\n\n2018-02-02 08:47:43\n\nripple\n\nXRP price\n\ncryprocurrency market crash\n\nxrp price forecast\n\nripple price prediction\n\nripple price forecast\n\nripple partnerships\n\ncryptocurrency\n\nIDT corporation\n\nmercury FX\n\nThe Ripple XRP price is plummeting amid a cryptocurrency market crash despite a spate of positive news flow. SBI Virtual Currencies exclusively listed XRP while IDT Corporation and Mercury FX joined Ripple's xRapid ecosystem alongside MoneyGram and Cuallix.\n\nRipple\n\nhttps://www.profitconfidential.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/ripple-price-prediction1-300x199.jpg\n\nIf you are glued to the cryptocurrencies market prices at the moment, then it is not the best of times for Ripple XRP. At the time of writing, Ripple was down by almost 30% amid a cryptocurrency market crash and was trading at around $0.75.\n\nRipple XRP prices are being impacted due to the overall cryptomarket suffering from an influx of negative news of late. News that South Korea would not be banning cryptocurrencies was encouraging, but then the message from the Indian Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, was painted in a negative light to convey that there was no place for cryptocurrency in the growing digital economy of India.\n\nHowever, he clearly mentioned that India was open to exploring the applications of blockchain technology.\n\nSomehow, this is not being taken as a positive for Ripple XRP, which is so different from other cryptocurrencies. There has been a spate of other positive news for XRP but nothing is able to stop the plunge in the Ripple XRP price at the moment. However, there can be no denying the fact that in the long term, digital currencies that offer real-world utility shall stand out. Ripple XRP appears to one of this promising bunch.\n\nRipple had already made clear that 2018 would be the year of action for the company and it continues to make inroads into its plans, which includes making XRP the standard for international transfers of value.\n\nXRP Growing Through Partnerships\n\nThe company shared the news this week that Ripple XRP has been exclusively selected for testing the beta version of SBI Virtual Currencies—the newly released digital asset exchange of Tokyo-based SBI Holdings Inc (TYO:8473). The exchange was launched on January 30 and is designed to provide a reliable exchange for both its institutional customers and individual digital asset buyers in Japan.\n\nThis is a big boost to the XRP brand and adds to the growing global liquidity of the digital token.\n\nSBI Virtual Currencies will use XRP as the only digital asset supported at launch because of the strong belief that SBI Holdings has in XRP's potential as a faster and cheaper mode of payment than any other digital asset, with the ability to grow in scale.\n\nXRP’s strong institutional use-case and scalability (1,500 transactions per second), coupled with the growing demand for XRP in Japan, made the digital asset a natural fit for the launch. (Source: \"\n\nSBI Virtual Currencies to Exclusively List XRP at Launch\n\n,\" Ripple, January 30, 2018.)\n\nJust this week, Ripple XRP was also accepted by the biggest cryptocurrency exchange of Dubai—BitOasis. The exchange said that it has decided to introduce XRP trading to meet the increased demand from its customers.\n\nWith the growth of the remittance market, Ripple XRP attempts to fulfill the need to make real-time, transparent, and cheaper payments around the world. And it keeps on gaining new partners in the process.\n\nLast week, Ripple announced two new partners—IDT Corporation (NYSE:IDT) and MercuryFX, which shall use Ripple’s \"xRapid\" ecosystem that is designed for payment providers and other financial institutions to minimize their liquidity costs while improving their customer experience.\n\nIDT Corporation and Mercury FX will now use xRapid to settle retail remittances and corporate transactions quickly. The new companies join Moneygram International Inc (NASDAQ:MGI) and Cuallix, who will use XRP in their payment flows, to enable on-demand liquidity for global payments. (Source: \"\n\nMore Global Payment Providers, IDT and Mercury FX, Sign Up to Use XRP\n\n,\" Ripple, January 24, 2018.)\n\nAs the digital token gains more acceptance among organizations and gets listed on popular exchanges, that is bound to push XRP prices higher in the year. Although, at the moment, prices may seem to be totally disconnected from what is happening out there in the real world.\n\nWhile the listing of XRP on SBI Virtual Currencies and BitOasis may not appear to impact the price much, it could make a huge difference once the market is out if its bear grip.\n\nAs we have regularly emphasized, it is the long-term utility of digital tokens that should be taken into account when arriving at their valuation. Short-term price movement may not be of much significance as XRP is moving in line with the general pessimism surrounding cryptomarkets right now.\n\n[caption id=\"attachment_107652\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]pixabay.com/geralt[/caption]" | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
If you want a big swig of despair, listen to the people who know something about the global economy. Roger Altman, a former deputy Treasury secretary, is arguing that America and Europe are on the verge of a disastrous double-dip recession. Various economists say it will be at least another three years before we see serious job growth. Others say European banks are teetering — if not now, then early next year.
Walter Russell Mead, who teaches foreign policy at Bard College, recently laid out some worst-case scenarios on his blog: “It is about whether the international financial system will survive the next six months in the form we now know it. It is about whether the foundations of the postwar order are cracking in Europe. It is about whether a global financial crash will further destabilize the Middle East. ... It is about whether the incipient signs of a bubble burst in China signal the start of an extended economic and perhaps even political crisis there. It is about whether the American middle class is about to be knocked off its feet once again.”
The prognosis for the next few years is bad with a chance of worse. And the economic conditions are not even the scary part. The scary part is the political class’s inability to think about the economy in a realistic way.
This crisis has many currents, which merge and feed off each other. There is the lack of consumer demand, the credit crunch, the continuing slide in housing prices, the freeze in business investment, the still hefty consumer debt levels and the skills mismatch — not to mention regulatory burdens, the business class’s utter lack of confidence in the White House, the looming explosion of entitlement costs, the public’s lack of confidence in institutions across the board. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Allan Renz laughed at the question: Would people care as much about one of the bridges his grandfather designed if the word “Heck” were in its name, instead of “Hell”?
“The rhythm of ‘Heck’ doesn’t work,” said Mr. Renz, whose grandfather was the civil engineer Gustav Lindenthal, who had a hand in the Williamsburg, Manhattan and Queensboro Bridges and was New York City’s first bridge commissioner.
Lindenthal’s credits also include the Hell Gate Bridge, the railroad span with a milestone coming up next week. The first train rumbled over the Hell Gate 100 years ago on Thursday, a moment that will be celebrated by bridge fans.
The Hell Gate Bridge is the main structure in a rail link between the Bronx and Queens that crosses over Randalls and Wards Islands. It is an essential connector in the heavily traveled Northeast rail corridor between Washington and Boston, and it was all about convenience. Previously, passengers traveling from Washington to Boston, for example, had to take one train to Jersey City and a ferry to Manhattan, where they had to find Grand Central Terminal and catch another train to New England. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Getting everything perfect and hot all at once can be tricky, so prepare what you can in advance, roasties included
It’s the sides and sauces that make Christmas dinner. My advice: invest in doing a few really well. Most of us have one oven, which means getting everything golden, perfect and hot at once can be a juggle. So do yourself a favour and make sides that can be cooked in advance, put to one side then heated up at the last minute (in fact, if you don’t even get to the heating bit, they will still be delicious). This year, I will be making this cauliflower cheese, some roast potatoes and garlic- and lemon-sauteed greens. And, yes, I hear you ask, roast potatoes can be reheated – it’s how they do it in restaurants and they are all the better for it.
I think sides on Christmas Day – and with any roast – should fit into three categories: fresh and green, crunchy and crispy, and indulgent and saucy. You should have at least one of each, and this is a saucy one. Confit garlic makes everything better, so I make a load and keep under oil in a jar in my fridge (I urge you to do the same). Confit garlic, cheesy sauce and burnished cauliflower: I would swap all of my presents for a plate of this.
Confit garlic cauliflower cheese (pictured above)
I think sides on Christmas Day – and with any roast – should fit into three categories: fresh and green, crunchy and crispy, and indulgent and saucy. You should have at least one of each, and this is a saucy one. Confit garlic makes everything better, so I make a load and keep under oil in a jar in my fridge (I urge you to do the same). Confit garlic, cheesy sauce and burnished cauliflower: I would swap all of my presents for a plate of this.
Prep 15 min
Cook 2 hr
Serves 6
2 heads garlic, tops cut off
1 small bunch thyme, saving 3 sprigs, leaves picked, for the topping
300ml extra-virgin olive oil to cover the garlic (about 300ml)
75g butter or vegan butter
75g plain flour
900ml milk or oat milk
75g cheddar or vegan cheese, grated
50g gruyere or vegan cheese, grated
Salt and black pepper
1 medium cauliflower, broken in to chunky florets, smaller leaves reserved
For the topping
150g breadcrumbs
Zest of a lemon
2 sage leaves, chopped
Put the garlic and thyme in a small saucepan, then cover with the oil until the garlic is completely submerged. Gently cook over a very low heat for 30 minutes, until the garlic is pale, soft and buttery inside but hasn’t browned. Be careful not to turn the heat up too much and boil, or the garlic and oil will burn: be patient, it will be well worth it.
Leave the garlic to cool in the oil, then remove with a slotted spoon on to some kitchen paper, reserving the oil for later. This confit garlic is delicious simply spread on toast and will keep for a few weeks in its oil, if you want to make a few extra bulbs for another occasion.
Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/gas 4. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over a medium-low heat, then stir in the flour until it forms a paste. Cook for a minute or so, then add the milk a little at a time, whisking continuously into a smooth, white sauce. Squeeze out the soft garlic from one of the bulbs into the bechamel sauce, add half the cheddar, gruyere and seasoning, and mix. It should be quite a loose: sauce it will thicken up as it bakes, so add a little more milk if needed.
Arrange the cauliflower florets and some of the smaller leaves in a baking dish that will fit everything in nicely, then squeeze out the garlic from the other bulb into the spaces between the cauliflower. Pour the garlicky cheese sauce evenly over the cauliflower, then top with the remaining cheese.
Mix the breadcrumbs with the lemon zest, remaining thyme leaves and chopped sage, then sprinkle over the cheesy cauliflower. Finally, spoon over some of the oil from the confit garlic and bake for an hour, until the cauliflower is soft and golden.
Ultimate roast potatoes
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Anna Jones’ ultimate roast potatoes.
For me, the linchpin of a good Christmas dinner is the roast potato: golden and crunchy on the outside, soft and cloudy inside. I am not normally a ‘rule’ kind of person – unless we are talking roast potatoes.
• Start with good, floury potatoes: maris piper or king edward are both good.
• I cook about three large potatoes per person, peeled and cut into roughly golf-ball-sized pieces at random angles, giving more edges to crisp up.
• Blanch the potatoes in very well-salted, boiling water for 10-12 minutes, until almost fully cooked and soft on the outside
• Drain the potatoes, then shake vigorously in a colander until the potatoes have a ragged, fluffy edge, which will mean golden crisp bits; leave to steam-dry for five minutes in the colander.
• Put five tablespoons of olive oil or butter in a large roasting tray, then put in the oven to get really hot before you add the potatoes. Be careful when you do, as hot fat can splash. Toss them in the oil and season well with salt and pepper.
• Now is the time to add any flavourings. My favourite combinations are:
a whole, halved bulb of garlic with rosemary sprigs and strips of lemon zest;
lots of flaky salt and two tablespoons of white-wine vinegar, A few bay leaves, sprigs of thyme and strips of orange zest;
or two lemons, zested, halved and added to the tray with a tablespoon of coriander seeds.
• Halfway through cooking, lightly squash the potatoes with a potato masher, to give more surface area in contact with the tray, which means more brown bits.
• Once the potatoes are crisp, golden and perfect, you can keep them in the roasting tray at room temperature, warming for 10 minutes in a hot oven just before you serve.
• If you want to be really ahead of the game, the night before, you can blanch, season and tray up your spuds, tossed in a little oil to stop them discolouring. Keep in the fridge until 30 minutes before you want to cook. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Lloyds launches £2bn Clean Growth Finance scheme
Lloyds Banking Group has announced it will be providing a further £2bn of funding for sustainable investments, increasing its total UK green finance commitments to £3bn.
The bank’s new Clean Growth Finance scheme incentivises businesses to cut their carbon emissions, switch to renewable electricity and implement energy efficiency measures by offering a discounted lending rate. With the money saved through this rate, businesses can then invest in reducing their environmental impact.
“Businesses will continue to be a source of innovation and seize the opportunities presented by the global low carbon economy,” Lloyds Group’s director of commercial banking David Oldfield said. “Our funding will support small improvements in production, heating, transport, or environmental impact, right through to large scale renewable energy infrastructure.“
To support the new investment scheme, Lloyds has partnered with the University of Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership to provide specialist training to more than 300 Relationship Managers to help them support clients’ sustainability targets.
The announcement follows the Group’s previous pledges to invest up to £1bn in commercial real estate energy efficiency upgrades and renewables projects by 2020. Oldfield said the new scheme builds on Lloyds’ commitments to help clients with discounted finance for investments in sustainable business, enabling the bank to support the UK’s Clean Growth Strategy.
Investment trend
Lloyds is the latest in a string of High Street banks to increase its investments in green business projects in recent months.
For example, Barclays last week launched new green trade loans to help companies secure working capital for activities such as renewable energy, energy efficiency and waste management projects. Last month, it additionally announced its Green Home Mortgage scheme, offering homebuyers preferential interest rates and savings of more than £1,300 on energy-efficient new build houses.
Meanwhile, banking giant NatWest pledged in March to deliver £10bn of lending to UK renewable energy and energy efficiency projects by 2020, having provided £3.5bn for renewables and energy efficiency projects over the past three years.
Sector shortcomings
On a wider industry level, there are concerns the banking industry is failing to disclose and take action on climate-related risks. The UK's high street banks are still profiting from some of the world's dirtiest fossil fuel projects despite committing to deliver the Paris Agreement goals of limiting global warming to below 2C.
The shortcomings of global banks on climate action could undermine efforts to achieve a 2C world, according to a recent damning report backed by more than 100 investors worth almost $2trn in assets.
Sarah George | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
A: It's too early to think about thinning out the perimeter rotation, with Erik Spoelstra still sorting through the possibilities. Plus, Dion will be out for at least another week and a half, and that's only when his injury will be reevaluated. But taking the long view, with Goran Dragic thriving in a ball-dominant role, it only makes sense for Dion to transition back to his anticipated role, as a reserve guard, where the touches will be more plentiful. Keeping Dragic in rhythm is much more important than getting Dion back into a comfort zone. But if you do play Waiters off the bench, minutes still will be an issue, with the need to also find time for Josh Richardson and Tyler Johnson, let alone Wayne Ellington. What the past week showed is that players play well in extended minutes, be it Ellington, Josh McRoberts or even Rodney McGruder. At some point, Spoelstra is going to have to tighten his rotation. And that leaves Waiters' role a question mark. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
CraftsByBlue CommissionsPlease read the entire journal before ordering. Commissions are first come, first serve.
Rules and Restrictions
- Original and public domain characters are welcomed.
- Commissions requests for fan art or fan characters must be accompanied with the written permission of the copyright holder.
- No mature, inappropriate, political, religious, or offensive pieces. Requests related to real people, places, and organizations will be considered on a case by case basis.
- No bone, coral, fur, or leather. I will only use vegan versions of these materials.
- Do not ask me to copy other people's work or style.
- You are not allowed to copy, claim credit for, or resell my works. Works inspired by my original characters and stories must include a citation (ex. this character belongs to craftsbyblue) and a link to either my DeviantArt gallery or Instagram account.
- I will not label the package as a gift or falsify pric | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
I received several things and a note from a lovely little girl named Veronika in Russia! I got:
A package of some sort of cookies (unfortunately I can't read Russian to see what kind they are but they look great!)
A HUGE chocolate Christmas tree
An awesome Happy the cat key-chain from the anime "Fairy Tail"!
She got me two of my favorite things: food and anything anime related! Also, all the items came in this neat looking box with Russian all over it.
Thanks so much Veronika, I hope you have a great year too! | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.
If you’re a tree frog or an ovenbird in mating season and you happen to live in the 83 percent of the continental United States that lies within 3,500 feet of a road, bummer for you. Not only are you more likely to collide with an SUV, but you’re going to have a harder time finding a mate. Research suggests that human-generated noises also mess with nesting behavior, predator-prey dynamics, and sleep patterns. In other words, wildlife gets stressed out by noise.
The physical responses that helped save our asses from predators back on the veldt have obvious downsides in the middle of a school lesson.
So do we, it turns out—and the world is getting louder. Scientists define “noise” as unwanted sound, and the level of background din from human activities has been doubling roughly every three decades, beating population growth. Road traffic in the United States has tripled over the last 30 years. By 2032, the number of passenger flights is expected to be nearly double the 2011 figure—at peak hours, planes are even audible overhead 70 percent of the time in the remote backcountry of Yosemite National Park. And while that’s obviously a nuisance for animals and visitors seeking a restorative experience, this growing anthropophony (a fancy word for the human soundscape) is also contributing to stress-related diseases and early death, especially in and around cities.
By evolutionary necessity, noise triggers a potent stress response. We are more easily startled by unexpected sounds than by objects that come suddenly into our field of vision. Our nervous systems react to noises that are loud and abrupt (gunshots, a backfiring engine), rumbling (airplanes), or whining and chaotic (leaf blowers, coffee grinders) by instructing our bodies to boost the heart rate, breathe less deeply, and release fight-or-flight hormones.
But the physical responses that helped save our asses from predators back on the veldt (and still might prove useful at a busy intersection) have obvious downsides in the middle of a school lesson or while you’re trying to get some sleep—especially if, like me, you live near a major airport. On the flip side, positive sounds like chill music, pleasing birdsong, and the voices of loved ones stimulate the brain’s emotional centers, bringing feelings of joy, calm, and well-being.
To learn more, I paid a visit to biobehavioral psychologist Joshua Smyth, who studies human responses to stress at his Pennsylvania State University laboratory. An affable guy who resembles a younger Al Franken, Smyth first hooked me up to a portable heart monitor and had me spit into a test tube to measure my baseline cortisol levels before giving me what was essentially a personality test to see how sensitive I am to unwanted sounds like, say, a roommate’s loud music. While the results suggested I am neither neurotic nor particularly introverted—both of which can predispose a person to noise annoyance—I scored a high 5.2 (adults average 4, college students 3.5), which put me near the 88th percentile.
Pleasing natural sights and sounds are good for the heart and mind—our human cacophony, not so much.
Then came the fun part. To see how different types of sound affect my ability to recover from life’s ordinary stresses, Smyth first had to stress me out: Cue public speaking. He asked me to deliver a short extemporaneous speech in front of a large mirror, behind which, Smyth told me, sat a panel of judges. Several times during the five-minute speech, a lab technician interrupted and told me to speak up.
This gauntlet of misery is called the Trier Social Stress Test, and even though I knew there was no “panel of judges,” I exhibited a textbook response. My heart rate climbed from the mid-60s to the mid-90s, and my cortisol, an imperfect but suggestive marker of stress, almost doubled.
Next, Smyth assigned me one of three recovery exercises he uses: a video of a pretty summer meadow featuring chirping birds and a blue sky. As I watched, my heart rate fell to its mid-60s baseline range. A couple of minutes into the video, the abrupt rumbling of a truck engine upped my heart rate by 10 clicks. It took me a while to recover, but the soothing nature scene eventually coaxed my heart rate into the mid-50s—that is, until the sound of a propeller plane shot it up again, though not as high as the truck had. At this point, my cortisol was 8.2 nanomoles per liter—1.5 points over baseline—and the variations in my heart rate indicated similar patterns of stress.
My results were typical of Smyth’s findings, which support complementary psychological theories most of us would recognize as common sense. Namely, that pleasing natural sights and sounds are good for the heart and mind—our human cacophony, not so much. “Your recovery was clearly disrupted,” Smyth told me. “Those noises are violating your experience. It’s half as stressful as doing the speech task. Those aren’t trivial effects.”
Numerous studies have found that noise exposure has negative effects on children’s learning and cognitive performance.
It all adds up to a dagger twice thrust: Not only does background noise interfere with our much-needed ability to recuperate, but in the places where we live and play, we have increasingly fewer havens from the onslaught.
Even if you think you’re immune to city noise, it may well be affecting your health. The best research on this comes out of Europe. In one study of 4,861 adults, a 10-decibel increase in nighttime noise was linked to a 14 percent rise in a person’s likelihood of being diagnosed with hypertension. Health experts studying more than 1 million people in the vicinity of Germany’s Cologne Bonn Airport found that people subjected to background noise of greater than 40 decibels were at increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, kidney failure, and dementia compared with those who lived farther from the flight paths, where things were quieter. (For perspective, the legal nighttime noise limit in Washington, DC, is 55 decibels.)
Another study examined how the opening of a new airport in Munich affected nearby children. In the 18 months after flights commenced, the researchers observed soaring levels of stress hormones in their subjects. The children’s epinephrine levels rose 49 percent, their norepinephrine more than doubled, and their systolic blood pressure, on average, went up by five points.
Yet another depressing study examined the cognition of 2,800 students in 89 schools across Europe. Published in The Lancet in 2005, it found that aircraft and road noise had significant impacts on reading comprehension and certain kinds of memory. The results, adjusted for family income, the mother’s education, and other confounding factors, were linear. For every five-decibel noise increase, the reading scores of British children dropped by the equivalent of a two-month delay, so that kids in neighborhoods that were 20 decibels louder than average were almost a year behind.
This was no fluke: “To date, over 20 studies have shown a negative effect of environmental noise exposure on children’s learning outcomes and cognitive performance,” notes a 2013 paper in the Journal of Environmental Psychology. “Studies have demonstrated that children with chronic aircraft, road traffic or rail noise exposure at school have poorer reading ability, memory, and academic performance on national standardised tests.” There’s science behind the saying “You can’t hear yourself think.”
A healthy soundscape “is not a wishy-washy amenity. It’s a potential public health factor.”
You can probably guess which communities face the greatest sonic barrage: the same ones stuck with the worst air, the shoddiest housing, and so on. Noise as a social justice issue is just beginning to gain traction. But as diseases and cognitive problems are increasingly chalked up to chronic stress, it makes sense to look at all the contributing factors to that stress. Much of what we know about urban noise in the United States actually comes from National Park Service researchers, who have spent the last 14 years collecting 1.5 million hours of ambient sound from locations ranging from remote wilderness areas to urban street corners. What they’re finding is that noise may well be the most pervasive pollutant in America.
Now researchers can estimate people’s noise exposure down to the level of individual city blocks, says Peter James, a researcher at the Harvard school of public health whose team is using Park Service data to explore whether excessive noise is partly responsible for disparities in “cardiovascular outcomes” in disadvantaged communities. People living in such neighborhoods are also the least likely to have access to the restorative benefits of nature, and the granular noise data could help city planners, policymakers, and activists plan accordingly. Groups like Outdoor Afro and NatureBridge—which aim to get urban kids out into natural settings—are already springing up in cities nationwide.
A healthy soundscape, James says, “is not a wishy-washy amenity. It’s a potential public health factor we need to understand to make sure everyone has the same opportunities.” Smyth offers this advice: “We should think about soundscapes as medicine,” he told me. “It’s like a pill. You can prescribe sounds or a walk in the park in much the way we prescribe exercise. Do it 20 minutes a day as a lifetime approach—or you can do it as an acute stress intervention. When you’re stressed, go to a quiet place.” I’m ready. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Max sez,
The Security Group at
the University of California in Santa Barbara has released the
video that shows the attacks carried out against the Sequoia
voting system. I heard about the video when talking to some members of the
group, but it was never made available to the public before. The video was
shot as part of the Top-To-Bottom Review organized by the California Secretary
of State. Even though the review was carried our in July 2007, the video has
been posted only now, more than a year after (why?).
The video shows an attack where a virus-like software spreads across the
voting system. The coolest part of the video is the one that shows how the
"brainwashed" voting terminals can use different techniques to change the
votes even when a paper audit trail is used. Pretty scary stuff. The video is
proof that these types of attacks are indeed feasible and not just a
conspiracy theory.
Also, the part that shows how the "tamperproof" seals can be completely
bypassed is very funny (and disturbing at the same time). | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
| Last Updated: July 30, 2019 by Shubham SinghJuly 30, 2019
You’re on your way to work in your driverless car. The sounds of coffee sips and turning pages of your go-to magazine fill the air while your car is talking to the car ahead of it and behind it, at the same time. Traffic lights are giving a heads-up about possible congestion ahead, so the car decides to take an alternative route and you reach work without any fuss.
The scene isn’t from a sci-fi movie; it is possibly from the future that isn’t a decade out—let that sink in.
It’s safe to say that bad traffic management causes an awful lot of pain for the daily commuter. Be it congestion, stop-start situations at the traffic signals or finding a mere parking spot which could suddenly turn into an elusive affair.
The problems created by these situations could be a lot more severe than they look. The stop-start driving situations result in emittance of a large number of harmful gases (that are not so friendly for Mother Nature). Poor traffic management leads to a lot of time wasted, accidents and squandering of resources. Hence, the demand for a better system surfaces.
Enter IoT
This is probably not the first time you’re hearing this term. It’s no surprise that IoT has been a buzz word in the market for quite some time and its impact justifies its reputation.
The most elementary definition of IoT would be a system that stores and processes data on the cloud without the need of any human efforts.
In case of transportation, think of IoT’s implementation like a connected network of all the things you see when you hit the road—the traffic signals, street lights, the infrastructure and of course, the vehicles moving around you.
How Would IoT and Transportation Come Together?
A city’s traffic speaks a lot about its efficiency status and ease of living. Sounds of honking are no music to anybody and people HATE traffic jams. Due to poor management at traffic signals and busy junctions, the clogging starts surfacing and works like a domino effect.
Now, IoT solves this problem by enabling all the elements at the street and highways to exchange information. For example, if a big chunk of traffic is heading towards the same point, the event would result in a jam. But if there’s a healthy communication by exchange of information (thanks to the embedded IoT sensors) between the consecutive street lights, the traffic could be separated into alternative routes. If you take a moment and see the grand scheme of things, this could have an immensely profound effect on a lot of traffic problems.
Image source: www.pexels.com
But we’ve got to realize, intelligent cars and autonomous vehicles alone are not enough to justify the idea of smart streets. For the streets to compliment these automobiles, the entire system (that includes the street lights, traffic signals and the stuff we’ve discussed above) needs to be changed fundamentally, and that clearly requires a lot of inspiration and motivation. IoT in transportation is no walk in the park.
The system would allow the flow of information between vehicles, traffic management authorities, and necessary jurisdictions regarding accidents, weather changes or conditions, as well as traffic congestion—a system equipped with IoT-powered sensors on every important object on the streets and highways.
Think about how real-time information exchange between sensors would assist the entire system in serious and threatening conditions and would further aid in taking correct measures beforehand to avoid problems—hence, fewer issues on the streets and more peaceful nights on the sheets.
The Current State of IoT-Enhanced Transport Management System
We’ve seen a fair share of deployment of some of the ideas that have been discussed. The likes of Intel’s Connected Transportation and Logistics, Cisco’s Connected, Australia’s AutoBahn and a lot of other IoT-based projects have surfaced in recent times with an awful lot of hope and perspective to offer to transportation companies and municipalities. For instance, you may have heard about sensor-equipped parking lots informing drivers of empty parking sports through their smartphones.
In the IEEE Internet of Things Magazine an article was published by an IEEE fellow, Phillip A. Laplante, who is also a professor of software and systems engineering at Penn State Great Valley, in Malvern, Pa., wrote an article that encompassed all the necessary information required to deploy a fully functioning IoT-based transportation system. The article discusses matters from technical standards to privacy concerns involved in building the desired system.
Image source: www.pixabay.com
“An IoT-enabled traffic-monitoring system uses a combination of vehicle-to-vehicle, vehicle-to-infrastructure, and infrastructure-to-infrastructure communication systems and analytics to manage traffic situations,” Laplante says. “They’ll be able to inter-operate with other systems such as drones and traffic-awareness services, like Waze.”
The article, “‘Smarter’ Roads and Highways” provides useful insights for city planners, engineers, roadways construction companies and other manufacturers.
If you are fascinated by the subject and you want to delve into deeper details, we recommend you to read the article.
Major Challenges of Employing IoT in Traffic Assistance
To be fair, implementing IoT in transportation seems like a highly complex system to create even in the mind. We’re talking execution of a huge program that deals with a massive amount of data produced every minute, highly sophisticated network standards and iron-clad security—too much to stomach?
The scenario is riddled with challenges, big and small. For now, let’s talk about some of the major ones.
Managing Enormous Amounts of Data
In the current time, data is one of the most treasured assets for organizations and it might be treated like oil in the near future. Data is power but…
Traffic data from vehicles’ GPS, sensors, traffic cameras, etc. would be collected and processed in the real-time. Quite obviously, it would require highly advanced processing units to carry out all the operations seamlessly—without involving extravagant resources.
High-speed Data Transfer Without Any Interruption
As discussed above, society would be dealing with the transfer of large high-speed data sets in real-time. Delays in the transfer of data could have terrible outcomes in an autonomous system.
So, in simple words, a robust and highly reliable network infrastructure would be required to handle the smooth functioning of the ever-growing data.
Security and Privacy Concerns
This could have serious repercussions if not handled well.
The data exchanged and distributed has the potential to contain sensitive information about individuals. For example, a person’s driving habits would be subject to analysis, and that’s just one of the many things. The Internet is a daunting place and signing for a system that could put your sensitive data at risk always encourages people to make peace with the existing system.
Image source: www.pexels.com
Concerning the physical assets, they are also under the threat of any kind of damage, vandalism or theft.
So, we’d have to make sure the entire system including the IoT devices, sticks to the security policies and all the data must be carried safely. Security is as paramount to the execution in this scenario and even the slightest of errors could have awful outcomes. Hence, the requirement of extra concern in case of security.
Investments
Yes, the entire idea comes with the promise of a more efficient, convenient and greener traffic management. However, it can be a tough sell for cities to cough up the investment required to implement everything successfully.
There would be a definite need to efficiently train engineers around all moving parts within the network as well as government authorities to ensure the implementation and use of IoT without any complication.
The realization of IoT to assist traffic needs a carefully planned approach requiring an awful lot of monetary investment. Albeit, this is the price civilization pays a better tomorrow.
Conclusion
IoT in transportation is still a ways off and the mountain is a tough climb. That said, the notion does showcase a glimmer of a beautiful and seamless future of transportation.
Ideally, the goal of utilizing IoT is creating a fully automated system where every moving object on the road communicates with its surroundings and makes its own educated choices.
However, we need solid fundamentals before even thinking about creating the system.
First, we need to solve the existing issues and complexities that might become a problem when we implement high-tech solutions to the mix. Once, the structural issues are ruled out, we’d move onto integrating the tech-related infrastructure such as ensuring high-speed internet connectivity—an important glue that would hold literally everything together.
In a nutshell, we are heading into a tomorrow where going out would be easier than it is right now. A time when your bus to work would always arrive on time and in the rare chance it didn’t, you would know well ahead of time. The possibilities are endless and so fascinating.
Further reading:
Elemental Gases in Front of a Tesla Coil
Photo of an Atom: Scientist Captures Extraordinary Image | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Stephen Hawking is probably the most famous scientist of the modern age. But what exactly is he famous for? Test your knowledge of the man, his life and theories. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
さまざまな属性のオタクを集めた「女性オタク座談会」。これまで、腐女子さん、女オタクさん、声オタさん、夢女子さんたちと「オタクと各クラスタに目覚めたきっかけ」や「女子校は腐女子多い説」「声オタさんの機動力が高い理由」「女性オタク＝腐女子と言われる理由」「オタクの特殊能力」について語り合いました。
今回で座談会もいよいよ最終回となりました。最後は「女性オタクは財力がある」説や、豊かすぎるオタクライフについて話し合っています。「秋葉原、息しやすっ」など、オタクライフを満喫している様子がよく分かりました。
参加者の紹介
今回集まってくださったのは、こんな4人です。
腐女子さん いわゆる男同士の恋愛（BL）に萌える女性オタク。今のメインジャンルは「刀剣乱舞」と「KING OF PRISM」（キンプリ）。BLの中では王道を好み、Pixivで検索したときにヒット数が多いカップリングにハマる傾向がある。地雷もほとんどなく、自称「供給には困っていない幸せな腐女子」。ただ、今はマイナーカプにハマってしまい、自給自足しようとイラストレーターの友人と同人誌を作ろうとしている。
女オタクさん オタクだが、今までBLには萌えたことがない。まわりには腐女子がすごく多いが、「私はなぜか腐女子にはならなかった」と語っている。SFを中心に硬派な作品を好み、今までの傾向として「カウボーイビバップ」や「つり球」など無意識におしゃれ感漂う作品にハマってきた。今は「宇宙戦艦ティラミス」にハマり中でアニメ化を待っている。BLの話をされたり、Pixivで腐女子要素のある絵を見たりするのは平気で、自分にはない発想も尊重して聞くタイプ。
声オタさん 声オタは声優オタクのことで、作品と同時に“中の人”である声優さんを強く好む女性オタク。メインジャンルはずっと「黒子のバスケ」で最近はスマホゲームの「アイドリッシュセブン」にもハマっている。実は声オタ歴より腐女子歴の方が長い。声オタ歴はここ数年ぐらいからだが、日本全国へ積極的に遠征するなどアクティブに活動中。好きな声のタイプは「悪役が似合う声」。具体的に言うと福山潤さん。
夢女子さん 夢とは、キャラクターとの恋愛を妄想した小説のこと。キャラクターと恋愛したいと思う女性オタクが「夢女子」である。社会人になってオタ卒しかけているものの、「テニスの王子様」（テニプリ）がずっと大好きで、今でも推しのキャラクターの誕生日は毎年祝う（生誕祭）。全盛期はテニミュ（テニプリの舞台）にも通い、「テニプリに投資してきた人生だった」と振り返る。
女子向けアニメが“売れる”理由
好きなコンテンツには投資を惜しまない女性オタクたち。けれど、彼女たちは別に裕福だからそのように投資しているわけではありません。そこで見えてきたのは、生活を切り詰めて好きなコンテンツにお金を払う彼女たちの姿でした。
腐女子さん 私、女オタク伝説で一番すごいと思ったのが、「TIGER＆BUNNY」（タイガー＆バニー）に出てくるバーナビー（男性キャラ）の誕生日を祝うために豪華クルーザーを貸し切ってパーティーしたっていう話。「バニ誕クルーズ」って呼ばれてたんですけど。
女オタクさん いましたねー、さすがにすごいと思った（笑）。とりあえず、タイバニクラスタの財力はヤバイ！
腐女子さん あと私、株を買ったって話も大好きなんですよ。
女オタクさん 公式を支えるために、グッズとかじゃなくて株を買った（笑）。タイバニはハリウッド映画も決まったから、ハリウッド現地の試写会に行くためにみんなお金をためてます。
腐女子さん 私も今ためてます！
女オタクさん 私もタイバニ好きだけど、そこまで財力がないからそういうの見てすごいなーって（笑）。
腐女子さん その話をすると、男のオタクの方から「女性オタクの財力どうなってるの？」って言われます。
声オタさん 命削ってるんですよって（笑）。
腐女子さん 別に女性オタクは決して裕福なわけではなく、昼休みにスープ春雨だけとか、そういう地道な努力の積み重ねがあることを知ってほしい。
声オタさん そうそう、もやしを駆使して生きている。
もやし農家さんに足を向けて寝られない
腐女子さん もやしと豆腐は強い味方っていう！
声オタさん お金を公式に落とすのは、腐女子が断然多い気がする。でも、そうやって気軽に腐女子にこびられるとそれはそれで……。
女オタクさん だから「腐女子向けのアニメは売れる」って言われるけど、他のオタクもお金を落とせば続編は出るよ！ って思います。
声オタさん そうそう、お金を落とさないで「腐女子向けばっかり」って文句を言うのはなんか違う。
腐女子さん 公式にお布施をね……。
声オタさん 私たちはお金をかけただけリターンがあると思っているから、お布施をする。
ちぷたそ 期待するからこそ、お布施をする！
女オタクさん 「おそ松さん」はあれだけ人気で、他の人が公式グッズを買っているのは分かっているんだけど、私は2期が来てほしいから、Blu-ray Discとか全部買ったよ！ 「自分が好きな作品がマイナーかもしれない」と思ったら、なおさらお布施しないと次がない。
ITmedia村上 なんとなく、女性の方が入れ込む度合いが深いのかも？
ちぷたそ なんか大人ですよねえ。公式を支えたいからお金を出す、みたいな。貢ぎたい欲……？
腐女子さん 男性オタク界隈で一番財力があるのは、ボーカロイドの「初音ミク」クラスタなのでは。
女オタクさん まず、ボーカロイドのソフト自体が高いからね。あとDTM（デスクトップミュージック）の機材も。
声オタさん 普通に音楽好きも混ざってますよね。
腐女子さん 「MIKU EXPO」っていう、世界各国を巡るライブツアーがあるんですけど、それに必ずついていく人とかいるんですよ。米国横断しちゃう人とか。
女オタクさん 圧倒的財力……。会社休めないと行けないし……石油王かな？
腐女子さん 私も「ミク好きの中には富豪がいるのでは……？」って思ってる。
声オタさん デイトレーダーぐらいはいそう。
女オタクさん 一般庶民である私たちができることは、BDや単行本を買うくらいですね。
1|2 次のページへ | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Padraig O’Shea, who runs a collectors’ shop in Cork, took the snap decision after he was approached with an offer to buy one sheet of 60c stamps that was bought at face value six days earlier.
The special edition stamps were released by An Post only to be withdrawn almost immediately.
The 60c Citizen’s Army issue was supposed to go on sale last Thursday, but the plan was halted when historians raised doubts about the image chosen.
An Post had believed the picture on the commemorative issue was of Captain Jack White, a former British army officer who volunteered for the Irish Citizen’s Army in 1913.
But when the image was circulated on Jan 22, historians said the man in the picture was not Capt White.
Mr O’Shea, who runs the Collectors Centre on Washington St, understands in a small number of post offices, the stamp was on sale for less than 10 minutes before they were withdrawn.
One of those who bought stamps approached the shop yesterday with a sheet he wanted to sell. “He is a client of mine, he said he bought them within 10 minutes after the stamps went on sale.”
Mr O’Shea said he had been in the business for 30 years. He tried to verify the number of stamps circulated but could not get confirmation.
It meant that while there was no way of knowing the real value the sheet, he decided to trust himself.
“You have to back your knowledge in these situations; you are buying something in the hope that it has collectors’ value.”
He said as far as he knew, the circumstances were unique as no other Irish stamp was withdrawn having been available in such short supply.
He said in 1989, An Post had planned to release a stamp for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution but it was blocked at a late stage by Cabinet, because of poor relations at the time with the French government. It never went on sale.
He said in Germany, there was a similar decision where a very small number were circulated in advance. These stamps have gone on to sell for up to €20,000.
An Post said it has withdrawn the stamps while it clarifies the issues raised, and does not know how many were sold. “Post offices were advised not to offer the stamp for sale on the morning of issue but it is possible that some may have been sold,” it said.
“Where or how these stamps may subsequently be traded or sold is not a matter for An Post.” | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Michael D'Onofrio
[email protected]
Justin Bieber visited a bowling alley in White Plains on Tuesday afternoon.
The pop artist was at Bowlmor Lanes, at 47 Tarrytown Road, around 4 p.m., according to employees at the bowling alley.
"He bowled and played at the arcade," Tania Lepe, the manager of the bowling alley, said.
Lepe and other employees were tight-lipped about how long Bieber was at the bowling alley. Lepe said they received a call that Bieber "wanted to bowl, and we said bring him in."
"He played a little and then he went," Lepe said. "That's all we can tell you."
Another employee, who didn't provide his name, said: “He was here. He’s not here anymore. He was trying to do regular things.”
Employees refused to comment about who accompanied Bieber, how long he was there for or even his bowling score.
Bieber's recent album, "Purpose," was released in November. The album is currently No. 2 on the Billboard 200, and three songs appear on Billboard's The Hot 100 list, including "Sorry," which is No. 1.
Twitter: @mikedonofrio_ | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
A professional stylist, Dualleh Abdulrahman in Netherlands has various hobbies such sewing, drawing and photography, but he also loves thrifting. He describes himself as having a ‘poor man’s style’, ‘something old, something new’.
The reason he started to shop at thrift stores is because he is interested in finding rare items and fabrics, particularly 1920’s or 50’s clothing are his favourites.
He loves clothing, but “there is no reason for me to buy a jacket in the shop for €300 when I can find the same in a thrift store for €9.00 so I decided to teach myself how to alter clothes” he said.
He added denim sleeves in his tweed blazer.
He tries to add new elements in his old clothes. Once he found a 20th century tweed blazer which looked old fashioned so he added denim sleeves to make it contemporary. This is how he describes “something old, something new”. I would say the old is the new!
He goes to thrift stores twice a week spending hours looking for nice clothes. “Sometimes I find nothing, but other days I can find a whole outfit” he added.
“I found an orange Harris tweed blazer and waistcoat from the 1920’s. The funny thing is I found the blazer first in one thrift store and the waistcoat I found after 6 months in another thrift store” he described. This is the glamour of a thrift store and how he has fun in thrifting. It is like finding a treasure in there.
As a stylist and considering how he loves clothing, I bet he must retain a lot of garments. He recounted that “I have in total 160 pants, 200 shirts, 100 shoes, 250 ties, 80 suspenders 30 belts, 200 waistcoats, 60 jackets & 40 blazers etc”. I was impressed by how many he has, definitely more than me.
“Most of the time my wife helps me to organize and manage it” he said with a puckish facial expression. “Yet things we don’t use, we donate and give back to the thrift stores”.
However, it is not that common for people to shop at thrift stores in the Netherlands. “Most Dutch fashion is inspired by the 80’s & 90’s. People just don’t feel like wasting time looking for rare clothes or customizing the clothes. They would rather go to vintage stores than thrift stores”.
He described the 1940’s as a special period of time which transformed and changed men’s fashion history from nightwear to blazers, giving the clothing a new story. In Netherlands you can find a complete three piece suit in a thrift store. It is a pity more people don’t see the special and the fun parts of thrift stores.
In the end, he said using a good washing powder can get you a long way. His friends make fun of him for wearing thrift clothes rather than buying new, but he emphasises “it is not I can’t buy new clothes I just like unique pieces”.
He proves that wearing used clothes can be stylish. It can be fun and meaningful, whatever the reasons as long as you accept the secondhand clothes, and take some time to walk into thrift stores to find your own style. Buying secondhand clothing certainly helps the environment. To extend the life of clothes is the best way to reduce textile waste and energy waste of the recycled garments process.
There is nothing wrong with going to a thrift store, why don’t you give it shot, and go thrifting?
I am glad I was able to chat with Dua and share his story. More photos here.
Thank Caroline who inspired me about this idea.
Old Is New is a textile recusing social media campaign.
Please share the love and like our Facebook page, your support motivates us doing better 🙂 If you have any idea of sustainable fashion or textile, or you are doing any related topics (upcycling, refashioning, eco, thrifting, textile issues etc), please share your link, blog or website in below or Facebook page. We have been collecting reliable and useful web and will publish later on. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
UK Election Day 2017
Leader of the Liberal democrats Tim Farron celebrates beating Conservative party candidate James Airey (R) following the announcement of the results at the Westmoorland and Lonsdale constituency count at Kendal Leisure Centre on June 9, 2017 in Kendal, United Kingdom. After a snap election was called, the United Kingdom went to the polls yesterday following a closely fought election. The results from across the country are being counted and an overall result is expected in the early hours
Getty Images | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Weighing in on the GOP’s failure to repeal Obamacare, Rand Paul, who has been outspoken in his support for replacing the health care legislation, has warned that insurance premiums will continue to skyrocket.
Writing for Rare, Paul warned “What will happen now that the Obamacare repeal has failed? The same thing that was already happening: Premiums will skyrocket. Insurers will exit, leaving monopolies or vacuums, and Americans will have less choice.”
Paul blamed the GOP ‘losing its nerve’ and abandoning real repeal on “billion dollar insurance companies.”
“The insurance industry, titans of crony capitalism, whined and whined that repeal alone would cause premiums to rise. Insurers to drop out. Americans to lose coverage.” Paul urged.
“What did the insurance companies want? Well, your money of course.” Paul stated, adding that the insurance companies “lobbied hard, for a giant insurance bailout superfund. And, with compliant big government Republicans, they finally porked it up to nearly $300 billion. Obscene.”
Paul lamented the failure of the Republican replacement bill, saying that while it “wasn’t perfect,” it did represent a “clean repeal”.
“It would have forced all parties to legislatively resolve the wreckage of Obamacare.” Paul explained.
“Again, premiums will continue to skyrocket. Insurers will continue to exit. The death spiral of Obamacare will continue.” Paul warned, noting that it is “sad” that there will now be “more federal intervention into what should be a very private and personal matter.”
Paul suggested that a solution lies with Libertarian ideas, noting “Libertarian enthusiasts and optimists will hope that technology and disruptive Uber-like forces will surmount the grip of pols who lack sufficient confidence in what made America great: freedom, freedom of choice unfettered and unchained.”
A clearly distraught Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the failure of the bill this morning, after three Republican senators voted against it.
“This is clearly a disappointing moment from skyrocketing costs to plummeting choices and collapsing markets,” McConnell said. “Our constituents have suffered through an awful lot under Obamacare. We thought they deserved better. It’s why I and many of my colleagues did as we promised and voted to repeal this failed law.”
In reaction to the failure, President Trump called for scrapping the Senate filibuster which requires 60 votes for most legislation.
If Republicans are going to pass great future legislation in the Senate, they must immediately go to a 51 vote majority, not senseless 60… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017
…Even though parts of healthcare could pass at 51, some really good things need 60. So many great future bills & budgets need 60 votes…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 28, 2017
John McCain provided the key vote in the process, effectively killing the repeal legislation, even though he endorsed repealing Obamacare a few months ago.
McCain released a statement claiming that the so-called ‘skinny repeal’ amendment wouldn’t ‘increase competition, lower costs, or improve care for the American people.’
After literally wishing him dead just days ago after it was announced McCain is suffering from brain cancer, Liberals lauded the Senator on social media:
John McCain is entertaining a lot of cheerful Democrats rn pic.twitter.com/hRsEfwsOPa — Mike DeBonis (@mikedebonis) July 28, 2017
Liberals: WTF? I love John McCain now. https://t.co/6SfDldTHTZ — Andrew Kugle (@AndrewJKugle) July 28, 2017
Here come the hot takes on how McCain is actually a good guy, written by the same people who wished him dead days ago. — Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) July 28, 2017
People on Wednesday:
"Wow, McCain is such a POS. When will he die?" Same people on Friday:
"Wow, McCain is a maverick and a hero." — kc (@BourbonNBlue) July 28, 2017
Now liberals are starting to do their “O Maverick, My Maverick” shtick after shitting all over McCain a few days ago https://t.co/Ya5pYoBVHa — Allahpundit (@allahpundit) July 28, 2017
The Emergency Election Sale is now live! Get 30% to 60% off our most popular products today! | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Survivors and anti-violence advocates have long noted that there are added risks for racialized women who seek help for domestic violence and assault. When it comes to immigration police, the risk is even greater. (Photo: iStock / Getty Images)
A recent report confirms what many undocumented immigrant women have likely suspected since Inauguration Day — it’s now even more dangerous to report domestic violence and sexual assault.
According to the report by the Tahirih Justice Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting immigrant victims of violent crimes, the names of undocumented victims now appear on a public national database through the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement program, or VOICE. A team of advocates and lawyers at Tahirih Justice Center who produced the report have asked for the names of victims to be taken down immediately, saying that making the information of victims public for their abusers to see threatens the safety of a population that should have protected status. Undocumented women who are victims of violent crimes and who are willing to collaborate with the state to convict their abusers have been granted protected status since the implementation of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). A select number are even granted citizenship status each year through a special U-Visa. The idea is that women who lack citizenship status are particularly vulnerable to abuse, given that they often face issues of social isolation, weakened family and community ties, language and cultural barriers, and fears of deportation. Though VAWA is a universal policy that applies to all American women, the U-Visa clause has, since its inception, held special significance for undocumented women seeking refuge from abusive relationships where they may otherwise suffer in silence.
In March, Los Angeles chief of police Charlie Beck made a shocking announcement that indicates a shift is taking place in how immigrant women victims of domestic violence perceive the state and their so-called protected status. In the press conference, Beck said that reports of sexual assault dropped by 25 percent and domestic violence by 10 percent. Only one month later, in Houston, chief of police Art Acevedo reported that the number of Latinos reporting rape is down 42.8 percent from last year, and other violent crimes by 13 percent. In both cases, the chiefs stressed that they attribute the dip in reporting to a growing distrust of local police.
While distrust from constituents is not new to urban police departments like the LAPD whose Rampart station has been at the center of controversy about their racist practices, the reasons for this growing distrust has been cause for concern for department heads like Beck. Whereas they may have a say in the direction of their local departments, it is much more difficult for them to redress the transgressions of federal police groups like ICE that are smearing their name. Local police throughout the country have been practically forced in recent months to collaborate with federal ICE agents to round up immigrants to maintain quotas set by the national agenda: approximately 400 arrests per day, at a spike of approximately 35-37 percent. Beck, a relatively progressive chief by national standards because of his support of sanctuary city measures to formally separate local and federal agents, has expressed concern that these developments are harming his department’s ability to continue its campaign of establishing legitimacy among skeptical communities of color.
Los Angeles’s and Houston’s police departments are unique compared to others in that they track data about the ethnicity of those filing reports. Nonetheless, these statistics are most likely indicative of a general trend. According to a recent Financial Times article, Latino shopping is down nationally, although Latinos have long been believed to be a driving engine of consumer growth. In the nonprofit sector, too, staff have noted declining number of people reaching out to receive services. One staff person said she believes that widespread fear is based on the mistaken idea that any organizations that immigrants give their personal information to may give it away to federal law enforcement.
The decline in Latinos seeking care at hospitals, too, is worrisome, especially considering that following the passage of Prop 187 in 1994, fear of deportation led to the deaths of two people — a teenage boy and an elderly woman who refused to go to the doctor for fear of deportation. To top it off, the number of Latinos in general who believe their situation is worse than it was a year ago is on a steep rise, according to a recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center.
A Broader Context of Intensified Criminalization
It’s curious and truly concerning to see the ways in which the current administration has begun to disregard legislation like VAWA, which has had bipartisan support since the Clinton era. Like many decisions of the Trump administration, this approach is unorthodox to say the least. We can recall that Trump made headlines during his presidential campaign when he pronounced his intent to “build the wall” to keep out the “bad hombres,” a reference to his plans to erect a wall between Mexico and the US and to deport some of the 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the United States. Never mind that it has long been noted that the presence of immigrants actually makes communities safer. Trump has effectively mainstreamed views of extreme xenophobia and ushered in a moment of anti-immigrant hysteria unseen in modern times. Acting as if under a mandate (even though approximately half of eligible voters abstained from the November election), Trump has pursued extremely aggressive policies toward the detention and deportation of immigrants, as the spiking figures of arrests suggests.
Moreover, the deportation regime has grown not only in numbers but also in breadth and scope. Trump’s administration in recent months has expanded DHS databases of so-called “criminal aliens” or “alien offenders” begun under the Obama administration. It now notoriously includes several toddlers and babies. The administration is creating more so-called “bad hombres” by the day through policies that criminalize nonviolent behaviors in the service of deportation. And for many undocumented victims of domestic violence and assault, mostly women, Trump’s deportations and databases have made them far less safe than before.
Fostering Distrust
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is just one of a growing chorus of politicians echoing the sentiments of police chiefs like Beck and Acevedo that ICE and local police collaboration is fostering a deepening distrust. In his speech, Garcetti basically warned the public that police may begin to retaliate against demonstrators trying to prevent the arrests of community members. In March, the detention of a DACA-eligible California State University of Los Angeles student and long-time immigrant rights organizer, Claudia Rueda, catalyzed a series of rallies by local and statewide networks of organizers like the Democratic Socialists of America and the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance, to name a few.
The same month, a Connecticut woman was detained by ICE after she followed two officers to the police station because they identified themselves as local police. She only found out that they were not local police at all but ICE once the officers at the station asked them who they were and why they were wearing police badges. Believing she was asked to come down to the station to provide information about someone who’d committed an act of violence, she found herself criminalized by one department under the guise of another.
The federal government and ICE leadership are showing no signs of slowing down their aggressive assault on undocumented communities, but they have explicitly stated that they will make special considerations for victims and witnesses of crimes. ICE spokesperson Jennifer Elzea said, “When carrying out the immigration law enforcement mission … ICE officers will take into consideration if an individual is the immediate victim or witness to a crime in determining whether to take enforcement action.” So, the Trump administration has pitted federal protections for undocumented victims of violence against sanctuary cities.
It’s unclear how these contradictions will resolve themselves. Will survivors and anti-violence activists win their plea to the federal government to defend the federally protected status of undocumented victims of violence?
What is clear is that so far, the Trump administration has created a frenzy of distrust and outright confusion that appears to be the president’s approach to policy regarding Latina and Latino immigrants living in the US.
Whether it’s due to their immigration status, race, gender identity or language barriers, many women find themselves being punished by the police for reporting. For undocumented immigrant women at the intersections of competing law and order, we might talk about triple victimization or quadruple victimization. For example, if they are renters, DV victims are at risk of being evicted for calling the police after being labeled a “nuisance.” If a victim is trans, she may be deported back to an unsafe situation in her country of origin and then deadnamed by media. And because only a certain number of U-Visas are given out each year, the victim must be sympathetic and lack a criminal record herself — in other words, she must fit the mold of a “perfect victim.”
Is it any wonder that so many undocumented survivors of domestic violence and assault are hesitant to report? | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
"We applaud Governor Deal for his courage in vetoing HB 757. In doing so, the Governor confirmed that there is no place in Georgia for legislation perceived as allowing for discrimination. His thoughtful deliberation and consideration on this issue has led to an outcome that preserves Georgia's positive business climate, encourages job growth and sustains our quality of life, and is truly in the best interest of all Georgians. Governor Deal has made it clear that Georgians value both our rich faith traditions and our place as a global destination for businesses and visitors alike. We share his vision of Georgia as an inclusive, welcoming state and support his decision in this important debate." | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
JPQL is a powerful query language that allows you to define database queries based on your entity model. Its structure and syntax are very similar to SQL. But there is an important difference that I want to point out before I walk you through the different parts of a JPQL query.
JPQL uses the entity object model instead of database tables to define a query. That makes it very comfortable for us Java developers, but you have to keep in mind that the database still uses SQL. Hibernate, or any other JPA implementation, has to transform the JPQL query into SQL. It is, therefore, a good practice to activate the logging of the SQL statements during development to check the generated SQL statements.
Entity Model
Before we dive into the details of JPQL, let’s have a quick look at the entity model I use for all examples.
It consists of an Author who has written one or more Publications. A Publication can be a Book or a BlogPost. A Book might have been published by one Publisher.
Selection – The FROM clause
The FROM clause defines from which entities the data gets selected. Hibernate, or any other JPA implementation, maps the entities to the according database tables.
The syntax of a JPQL FROM clause is similar to SQL but uses the entity model instead of table or column names. The following code snippet shows a simple JPQL query in which I select all Author entities.
SELECT a FROM Author a
As you can see, I reference the Author entity instead of the author table and assign the identification variable a to it. The identification variable is often called alias and is similar to a variable in your Java code. It is used in all other parts of the query to reference this entity.
Joining multiple entities
Inner Joins
If you want to select data from more than one entity, e.g., all authors and the books they’ve written, you have to join the entities in the FROM clause. The easiest way to do that is to use the defined associations of an entity like in the following code snippet.
SELECT a, b FROM Author a JOIN a.books b
The definition of the Author entity provides all information Hibernate needs to join it to the Book entity, and you don’t have to provide an additional ON statement. In this example, Hibernate uses the primary keys of the Author and Book entity to join them via the association table of the many-to-many association.
JOINs of unrelated entities are not supported by the JPA specification, but you can use a theta join which creates a cartesian product and restricts it in the WHERE clause to the records with matching foreign and primary keys. I use this approach in the following example to join the Book with the Publisher entities.
SELECT b, p FROM Book b, Publisher p WHERE b.fk_publisher = p.id
You can read more about this workaround and Hibernates proprietary support for JOINs of unrelated entities in How to join unrelated entities with JPA and Hibernate.
Left Outer Joins
INNER JOINs, like the one in the previous example, require that the selected entities fulfill the join condition. The query returned only the Author entities with associated Book entities but not the ones for which the database doesn’t contain a Book entity. If you want to include the authors without published books, you have to use a LEFT JOIN, like in the following code snippet.
SELECT a, b FROM Author a LEFT JOIN a.books b
Additional Join Conditions
The previous examples use the defined association to join the entities. But sometimes you only want to join the related entities which fulfill additional conditions. Since JPA 2.1, you can do this for INNER JOINs, and LEFT JOINs with an additional ON statement.
SELECT a, p FROM Author a JOIN a.publications p ON p.publishingDate > ?1
Path expressions or implicit joins
Path expressions create implicit joins and are one of the benefits provided by the entity model. You can use the ‘.’ operator to navigate to related entities as I do in the following code snippet.
SELECT b FROM Book b WHERE b.publisher.name LIKE ‘%es%
As you can see, I use the ‘.’ operator to navigate via the publisher attribute of the Book entity b to the related Publisher entities. That creates an implicit join between the Book and Publisher entity which will be translated into an additional join statement in the SQL query.
Polymorphism and Downcasting
Polymorphism
When you choose an inheritance strategy that supports polymorphic queries, your query selects all instances of the specified class and its subclasses. With the model in the example for this blog post, you can, for example, select all Publication entities, which are either Book or BlogPost entities.
SELECT p FROM Publication p
Or you can select a specific subtype of a Publication, like a BlogPost.
SELECT b FROM BlogPost b
Downcasting
Since JPA 2.1, you can also use the TREAT operator for downcasting in FROM and WHERE clauses. I use that in the following code snippet to select all Author entities with their related Book entities. As you can see in the model, the publications association defines an association between the Author and the Publication entity. So without the TREAT operator, the query would return all Author entities with their associated Book or BlogPost entities.
SELECT a, p FROM Author a JOIN treat (a.publications AS Book) p
ATTENTION: There are several issues with the implementation of TREAT in Hibernate 5.1. Based on my experiments, Hibernate 5.1 handles TREAT only, if it is written in lower case and used in the WHERE clause. The treat operator in this example is ignored by Hibernate 5.1.0.Final.
Restriction – The WHERE clause
The next important part of a JPQL query is the WHERE clause which you can use to restrict the selected entities to the ones you need for your use case. The syntax is very similar to SQL, but JPQL supports only a small subset of the SQL features. If you need more sophisticated features for your query, you can use a native SQL query.
JPQL supports a set of basic operators to define comparison expressions. Most of them are identical to the comparison operators supported by SQL, and you can combine them with the logical operators AND, OR and NOT into more complex expressions.
Operators for single-valued expressions:
Equal: author.id = 10
Not equal: author.id <> 10
Greater than: author.id > 10
Greater or equal then: author.id => 10
Smaller than: author.id < 10
Smaller or equal then: author.id <= 10
Between: author.id BETWEEN 5 and 10
Like: author.firstName LIKE ‘%and%’
The % character represents any character sequence. This example restricts the query result to all Authors with a firstName that contains the String ‘and’, like Alex and er or S and ra. You can use an _ instead of % as a single character wildcard. You can also negate the operator with NOT to exclude all Authors with a matching firstName.
The % character represents any character sequence. This example restricts the query result to all Authors with a firstName that contains the String ‘and’, like Alex er or S ra. You can use an _ instead of % as a single character wildcard. You can also negate the operator with NOT to exclude all Authors with a matching firstName. Is null: author.firstName IS NULL
You can negate the operator with NOT to restrict the query result to all Authors who’s firstName IS NOT NULL.
You can negate the operator with NOT to restrict the query result to all Authors who’s firstName IS NOT NULL. In: author.firstName IN (‘John’, ‘Jane’)
Restricts the query result to all Authors with the first name John or Jane.
Operators for collection expressions:
Is empty: author.books IS EMPTY
Restricts the query result to all Authors that don’t have any associated Book entities. You can negate the operator (IS NOT EMPTY) to restrict the query result to all Authors with associated Book entities.
Restricts the query result to all Authors that don’t have any associated Book entities. You can negate the operator (IS NOT EMPTY) to restrict the query result to all Authors with associated Book entities. Size: size(author.books) > 2
Restricts the query result to all Authors who are associated with more than 2 Book entities.
Restricts the query result to all Authors who are associated with more than 2 Book entities. Member of: :myBook member of author.books
Restricts the query result to all Authors who are associated with a specific Book entity.
You can use one or more of the operators to restrict your query result. The following query returns all Author entities with a firstName attribute that contains the String “and” and an id attribute greater or equal 20 and who have written at least 5 books.
SELECT a FROM Author a WHERE a.firstName like ‘%and%’ and a.id >= 20 and size(author.books) >= 5
Projection – The SELECT clause
The projection of your query defines which information you want to retrieve from the database. This part of the query is very different from SQL. In SQL, you specify a set of database columns and functions as your projection. You can do the same in JPQL by selecting a set of entity attributes or functions as scalar values, but you can also define entities or constructor calls as your projection. Hibernate, or any other JPA implementation, maps this information to a set of database columns and function calls to define the projection of the generated SQL statement.
Let’s have a look at the different options. You can use any combination of them in your queries.
Entities
Entities are the most common projection in JPQL queries. Hibernate uses the mapping information of the selected entities to determine the database columns it has to retrieve from the database. It then maps each row of the result set to the selected entities.
SELECT a FROM Author a
It’s comfortable to use entities as your projection. But you should always keep in mind that all entities are managed by the persistence context which creates overhead for read-only use cases. In these situations, it’s better to use scalar values or a constructor reference as a projection.
Scalar values
Scalar value projections are very similar to the projections you know from SQL. Instead of database columns, you select one or more entity attributes or the return value of a function call with your query.
SELECT a.firstName, a.lastName FROM Author a
Constructor references
Constructor references are a good projection for read-only use cases. They’re more comfortable to use than scalar value projections and avoid the overhead of managed entities.
JPQL allows you to define a constructor call in the SELECT clause. You can see an example of it in the following code snippet. You just need to provide the fully qualified class name and specify the constructor parameters of an existing constructor. Similar to the entity projection, Hibernate generates an SQL query which returns the required database columns and uses the constructor reference to instantiate a new object for each record in the result set.
SELECT new org.thoughts.on.java.model.AuthorValue(a.id, a.firstName, a.lastName) FROM Author a
Distinct query results
You probably know SQL’s DISTINCT operator which removes duplicates from a projection. JPQL supports this operator as well.
SELECT DISTINCT a.lastName FROM Author a
Functions
Functions are another powerful feature of JPQL that you probably know from SQL. It allows you to perform basic operations in the WHERE and SELECT clause. You can use the following functions in your query:
upper(String s): transforms String s to upper case
lower(String s): transforms String s to lower case
current_date(): returns the current date of the database
current_time(): returns the current time of the database
current_timestamp(): returns a timestamp of the current date and time of the database
substring(String s, int offset, int length): returns a substring of the given String s
trim(String s): removes leading and trailing whitespaces from the given String s
length(String s): returns the length of the given String s
locate(String search, String s, int offset): returns the position of the String search in s. The search starts at the position offset
abs(Numeric n): returns the absolute value of the given number
sqrt(Numeric n): returns the square root of the given number
mod(Numeric dividend, Numeric divisor): returns the remainder of a division
treat(x as Type): downcasts x to the given Type
size(c): returns the size of a given Collection c
index(orderedCollection): returns the index of the given value in an ordered Collection
Grouping – The GROUP BY and HAVING clause
When you use aggregate functions, like count(), in your SELECT clause, you need to reference all entity attributes that are not part of the function in the GROUP BY clause.
The following code snippet shows an example that uses the aggregate function count() to count how often each last name occurs in the Author table.
SELECT a.lastName, COUNT(a) FROM Author a GROUP BY a.lastName
The HAVING clause is similar to the WHERE clause and allows you to define additional restrictions for your query. The main difference is that the restrictions specified in a HAVING clause are applied to a group and not to a row.
I use it in the following example to select all last names that start with a ‘B’ and count how often each of them occurs in the Author table.
SELECT a.lastName, COUNT(a) AS cnt FROM Author a GROUP BY a.lastName HAVING a.lastName LIKE ‘B%’
Ordering – The ORDER BY clause
You can define the order in which the database shall return your query results with an ORDER BY clause. Its definition in JPQL is similar to SQL. You can provide one or more entity attributes to the ORDER BY clause and specify an ascending (ASC) or a descending (DESC) order.
The following query selects all Author entities from the database in the ascending order of their lastName attributes. All Authors with the same lastName are returned in descending order of their firstName.
SELECT a FROM Author a ORDER BY a.lastName ASC, a.firstName DESC
Subselects
A subselect is a query embedded into another query. It’s a powerful feature you probably know from SQL. Unfortunately, JPQL supports it only in the WHERE clause and not in the SELECT or FROM clause.
Subqueries can return one or multiple records and can use the aliases defined in the outer query. The following example shows a query that uses a subquery to count all Books written by an Author and returns only the Authors who’ve written more than 1 Book.
SELECT a FROM Author a WHERE (SELECT count(b) FROM Book b WHERE a MEMBER OF b.authors ) > 1
Summary
As you’ve seen, the syntax and structure of JPQL are pretty similar to SQL. This makes JPQL easy to learn when you’re already familiar with SQL. But you have to keep in mind that SQL supports a lot of advanced features that you can’t use with JPQL. If you need one or more of them for a specific use case, you should use a native SQL query. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
I was 20 pounds overweight. I was tired all the time. I had stinging back pain. Even though I worked out three days a week, a few hours of spotty exercise couldn't undo the other 10 hours a day I spent hunched over at a laptop.
My body was at the breaking point, and so like many of my desk-chained brethren, I dabbled with popular alternatives. They all failed: standing desks smoked my lower back, dieting was a recipe for yo-yo weight loss, and occasional walking breaks ended up as an ironic trip to the office snack room.
I've come to realize most conventional solutions to office-induced poor health are entirely too pessimistic. They all assume that the best we can do is mildly reduce the inevitable self-destruction of our jobs.
I was convinced this pessimism was misguided; desk jobs don't have to make us fatter, sicker, and duller. It's possible to transform nearly any office into a place that leaves us fitter and more energized than when we stumble in with a morning Starbucks. Here's what I did — and what you can do:
How is this article different from all other articles? This is first in a regular Vox series on better living through technology and science. I, your humble guinea pig, will subject myself to all sorts of experiments to discover what practical tips readers can apply to their lives immediately. What makes this series different from traditional health writing is its emphasis on the techniques of "quantified self": the science of self-improvement. No single study can tell you, exactly, how a diet or exercise regimen will impact your particular body. When it comes to health, we're all individual snowflakes. For instance, within a study that finds that low-carb diets help participants lose weight, some may have lost none at all. Quantified self helps us figure out how to apply research to ourselves, by carefully measuring our progress with available consumer tools. All of the techniques in this post worked for me. If they also work for you, it most certainly won't be the exact same amount, but I will show you how to measure it yourself.
1) I replaced lunch and morning coffee with brief exercise
The body and mind share a love of exercise, which is why when I'm feeling sluggish, I perform a brief but strenuous workout to kick my brain back into gear. Research has consistently shown the fitness nuts exhibit brain wave patterns associated with sustained attention; this is precisely why schools are turning to gym class as the treatment to spacey children who would otherwise be drugged with Adderall into attentive submission.
Now, exercise has helped me overcome drowsiness during the two parts of my day when I used to turn to food: in the morning, and at midday.
In the morning: Instead of standing 20 minutes in line with the early morning drones to shell out $4 for a cup of legal stimulants, I discovered that I could get most of the benefits of caffeine with just 30 seconds of exercise.
Right when I wake up (or anytime I feel sleepy), I jumpstart my heart to about 165 beats per minute with 30 seconds of jumping-jack pushups (a "burpee") or mountain climbers. Immediately, I feel a surge of energy that boosts my cognitive state more than caffeine.
To objectively test my intuition, I compared 30 seconds of exercise to 250 mg of caffeine — the equivalent of a cup of drip coffee — on a series of complex reaction time tests, a common metric for cognitive performance.
Compared to caffeine, my reaction times post-exercise were about double (12 percent vs. six percent over a baseline test). My short-term memory got an even bigger boost (26 percent vs. 16 percent). My own experience jibes with a 2012 meta-analysis that found that high-intensity exercise tended to have the largest impact on cognitive function, compared to lower-intensity exercises.
Most importantly, the research found that exercises that add muscle-building resistance training are the most effective overall. Not only am I making my brain sharper, but my abs more chiseled.
30-second breaks are stellar for an early-morning pickup, but they aren't sufficient to get me through my productivity arch nemesis: the post-lunch afternoon lull.
At lunchtime: Afternoon meals are a productivity ball-and-chain. About an hour after a hearty lunch, I'm a work zombie. Nutritional neuroscientists have come to expect this crash: "consumption of lunch has been most often reported to impair mental performance and negatively alter mood state," wrote Tufts University's Caroline R. Mahoney and her research team in a comprehensive review of food's effect on cognitive performance [PDF].
Scientists don't actually know why a meal makes us drowsy; the current theory hypothesizes that the hormonal response to digesting food (blood glucose) also switches off so-called "orexin" neurons meant to keep us awake during the hunting process. In other words, after we feed, our body thinks it has done its job and wants to spend the remaining energy absorbing the nutrient goodness in sleepy peace.
Lunch made me, literally, slower: my reaction times sank, as did my short-term memory performance
So, instead of wasting my lunch period waiting in line for what is essentially a glorified sleeping pill, I do my afternoon workout. Sweaty exercise gets the blood pumping and I feel refreshed enough to crush the second half of the day, all while surrounded by colleagues that would trade their next of kin for a nap.
But, like all scientific research, the results tend to be mixed. Older research on lunch finds that people who regularly eat a big meal don't experience the same crash. So, I conducted a self-experiment measuring my cognitive prowess two hours after either a nice long run on an empty stomach or a super-healthy lunch from the San Francisco Farmer's Market.
My intuition was confirmed. Compared to eating a sizable portion of salad and and salmon, exercise increased my short-term working memory by seven percent and my complex reaction time test by 13 percent . Lunch made me, literally, slower: my reaction times sank by 12 percent, as did my short-term memory performance (11 percent).
For those who can't leave the office for a run, the scientific seven-minute workout is a great body-weight all-round routine that also leaves me refreshed. It combines a series of body-weight exercises in rapid succession and builds many of the same muscles as a typical gym session.
I still eat lunch, but it tends to be very light. I'll munch on a small salad with loads of dense healthy fats (olive oil) — this keeps me filled and primed for work.
How to do these experiments yourself
Essential technology: I find that I get the most bang for my workout buck if I can feel my heart thumping through my chest. For me, that's about 168 beats per minute, or what is known as my anaerobic threshold, the point at which the body consumes more energy than it can reproduce.
Here's how I use the tech: I strap on an exercise-grade heart rate monitor — any device that's not specifically designed for resting heart-rate only. I used a Polar chest strap, but the upcoming Microsoft Health band, which doesn't require a chest strap, is probably a more convenient solution. Then, I perform some high-intensity exercise until I reach my desired beats per minute.
Once I intuit what it takes to feel my heart thumping in various exercises, I no longer need the heart-rate monitor for short bouts of exercise. For longer workouts, like those that replace my lunch, I nearly always use a heart-rate monitor. It's the only thing that keeps me honest about how hard I need to work.
Measuring results: I want exercise to make me sharper, so I record my mental state before and after each experiment.
The simplest way to measure cognitive focus is with a simple reaction time test. HumanBenchmark.com has super-simple 'red light-green light' game on the front page and only takes about 20 seconds to complete.
For more advanced work, I used the website quantified-mind.com, which has every imaginable psychometric test, from complex reaction times to short-term memory. I designed my own six-minute evaluation system, called the "Ferenstein short" test, which is free to the public.
A heart-rate monitor is the only thing that keeps me honest about how hard I need to work
The simplest way to track progress on a self-experiment is with a smartphone. I type in my pre-test scores on a notepad or to-do list, perform an exercise, and then record my post-test scores, noting the time and day. Your notes should have everything you need to measure the percent improvement.
Pre- and post-tests are key to doing self-experimentation with scientific rigor. Each day, I will have generally better or worse focus, depending on how well I sleep, my level of stress, or a million other factors. I do a pre-test right before I exercise and then perform my post-test about an hour after exercise — or at whatever time of day I usually start to nod off. Doing this right after exercise will give you false results, since your heart rate will still be much higher than usual and the test won't tell you how the treatment lingers.
You'll have to play with the timing, too. For me, the effects of high-intensity exercise only last about 90 minutes; the research suggests that it may not be so effective at all for couch potatoes, whose bodies aren't used to intense workouts.
Self-experimentation requires a bit of intuition to understand your own state of mind and then begin systematic measurement after you suspect a pattern emerging.
2) I started stretching during phone calls
I used to just accept chronic joint pain as an unfortunate fact of modern life, like traffic congestion and Hillary Clinton presidential speculation. It never occurred to me that the inability to touch my toes could be the reason for my achy back. I should have known I wasn't alone: research finds that people with tight hamstrings complain of lower back pain more often, because the body strains torso muscles to make up for the inflexibility.
I never bothered to put much time into stretching because I naively ignored how important it was to both my performance during exercise and being less injury-prone throughout the day.
"Flexibility is the third pillar of fitness, next to cardiovascular conditioning and strength training," said David Geier, the director of sports medicine at the Medical University of South Carolina.
Fortunately, there's a delightful opportunity for stretching in the bureaucratic space-time continuum: conference calls. Audio communication provides the perfect blind spot to perform all the awkward contortions of a mobility routine without interrupting the conversation.
Stretching is intellectually effortless; it occupies the body and leaves the mind free to chime in with an occasional "Uh huh, good idea, Ted. I'll circle back after this call."
For the pros — myofascial release: Some light passive stretching is always a nice way relieve a sore back or add injury-resistant slack to tight muscles. But, the traditional type stretching, known as passive stretching, never seemed to increase my range of motion much. I just used to believe that I wasn't capable of much flexibility.
Then I learned about a more advanced strategy that would radically improve my range of motion and decrease pain: myofascial release, self-administered deep-tissue massage.
Myofascial release ("rolling out") is a common physical therapy technique, which has ballooned into a cottage industry of foam rollers for at-home use. Myofascial release is the equivalent of paying a professional bodyworker to dig their thumb through tightened muscles.
Instead of paying a professional once a week, I strategically roll on a lacrosse ball or spikey foam roller for about 15 minutes a day. I find that myofascial release is the prerequisite to for stretching to be effective, otherwise I can stretch all I want and I don't see much improvement.
A fair bit of warning: myofascial release can hurt. For beginners, it's difficult to distinguish between the productive pain of breaking up scar tissue and the destructive pain of wrongly grinding a ball into your joints. I started myofascial release after a thorough consultation with a professional.
But now I look forward phone calls. Whether it's poor posture, sore feet, or achy shoulders, I use this time to get more limber than Gumby at a circus academy.
How to do these experiments yourself
Essential technology: MobilityWOD is my go-to encyclopedia for stretching and mobility. Depending on what ails you, a medical professional will let you know where you need to work. It's important to keep in mind that the site of pain is not always the source. For me, inflexible legs and hips were destroying my lower back. So, now I work through all of MobilityWODs videos on how to loosen up my legs. Here's an example of one of Kelly Starrett's colorful mobility videos:
His (somewhat technical) video can be boiled down to a few points: anyone can do mobility work/myofascial release on their own. If a site is painful to pressure from a roller or ball, it's a good sign that it's a part of the body that's causing pain and stiffness. Roll on a site for at least two minutes, then check to see if things feel better and if range of motion has increased.
The basic gear you need to do these exercises is pretty inexpensive. I don't mind the pain, so I roll out my muscles with a standard lacrosse ball ($3 on Amazon) and the Rumble Roller ($40). I find rolling on on a tennis ball is less painful, but the progress is slower. There's an entire cottage industry of at-home physical therapy tools, which a professional can advise.
Measuring results: Measuring is the easiest for flexibility, but there's nothing universal. I expect immediate results from myofascial release. If I intend to smash my calves so that I can bend over farther, I pre-test my range of motion by seeing how much farther I can reach beyond my toes. Then, I smash my muscles for the medically advisable amount of time and see if I can reach farther. If I make no progress, I look for another solution or another site that could be the culprit behind my pain and stiffness.
Each of MobilityWOD's videos will give advice on the amount of time and ways to test for improvement on the different muscle sites.
3) I ditched my sitting and standing standing desks for a treadmill
It's pretty much accepted dogma among health professionals that any prolonged posture is a killer for both body and mind. Sitting is associated with fatigue, joint pain, and early death. The current trend sweeping the health community is the standing desk, but there's little evidence they are much better.
Standing desks are a "creative idea, but it's not been scientifically proven," Pennington Biomedical Research Professor, Marc Hamilton, told ABC News. "As of now, there's really no research to show they do any good."
I found standing desks just replaced upper back pain with lower back pain — and my legs were constantly tired. Standing desks also have all nasty side effects of standing retail jobs, such as varicose veins and knee pain.
So, to keep my body moving, I transitioned to a walking desk, a flatbed treadmill attached underneath a standing desk. Walking at an average pace of 1.0 mph, I burned 3.5 calories per minute, compared to 1.2 calories per minute standing, and 1 calorie per minute sitting. Over the course of a morning, I'll burn more than 650 calories, or the equivalent of my entire lunch.
In total, on days when I sit (or travel), I burn roughly 2,400 calories per day, compared to 3,500 when I walk at my desk.
My desk has become the place where I burn the most calories, where I exercise to keep my mind refreshed
Is it hard to walk and think at the same time? No more than walking and talking. In fact, the two studies to test the cognitive impact of treadmill desks find that they increase productivity. Compared to sitting, doctors who walked at 1MPH were significantly more accurate at diagnosing CAT scan images (89 percent vs. 99 percent accuracy).
A second study found that when a treadmill desk was introduced into an office, those who regularly walked while working enjoyed 10 percent higher employer satisfaction ratings.
I initially doubted these results until I began using a treadmill regularly. At first, walking and working was difficult: I could muster only 90 minutes a day. Now, after a year, it's the reverse: I sit only 90 minutes a day.
An important step I had to take to make this happen: I threw out all my chairs. In academic studies, workplaces that introduce walking desks see about 75 minutes per day of use per employee. That's the calorie equivalent of half a bagel.
However, physiologically speaking, humans were not meant to sit much at all. The nasty office temptress that prevented me from walking as much as my mailman was the humble office chair. A brief rest from walking would turn into 2 hours of hunchback lounging.
So, I purged my office of all chairs. Tossed. Every. Single. Chair.
I replaced them with the Japanese Zafu , a two-foot diameter bean bag raised 10 inches off the the ground with no back. Zafus are designed to naturally orient the body into a pristine, upright meditation pose, since leaning back on a raised surface is as uncomfortable as biking on a bumpy road wearing a thong.
With a Zafu, there's no temptation to drift off into the productivity black hole of a slouched position watching YouTube. No I office I have will ever have any chair ever again.
How to do these experiments yourself
Essential technology: When I'm on the road, I obviously can't fold up a treadmill desk into luggage. So, I travel with a laptop harness, the Connect-A-Desk. It's an imperfect, awkward solution that allows me to walk around while working at the same time. I'm often too embarrassed to bring the connect-a-desk outside, but I find it's great for walking around a hotel room.
It also helps to keep a pedometer; when I first started walking out, I walked three to six miles a day, and a pedometer keeps me honest about how much I'm actually moving around. There are only two popular pedometers on the market that can track steps while at a walking desk: the Misfit flash and the Fitbit One.
Wrist-worn activity trackers, like the Jawbone and Fitbit Flex, can't recognize steps while my hands are typing on a keyboard. The Misfit is my favorite because it doesn't need charging, has pretty smartphone integration, and can recognize other types of exercise, should I do them throughout the day. It's also half the cost of the Fitbit.
For sitting, a Zafu runs about $40 on Amazon. I also like the BackJoy floor chair, which swivels to orient the pelvis into an upright position. I don't like stability balls for chairs. The research on their benefits is mixed and its still a chair — and chairs are evil.
Measuring results: The goal here is just to maximize movement. I measure it two different ways.
First, sitting for any extended amount of time for any reason can cause muscle stiffness. The Basis watch has a feature that allows me to track sitting for a specified amount of time. My daily target is 30 minutes. I try to minimize the number of times per day I sit longer than 30 minutes, and Basis will reward me if I haven't sat longer than that amount of time.
Second, my goal for steps and calories burned is simply the maximum I can tolerate. On a monthly basis, I try to exceed my previous goals. Over the last year, I've worked my way up to a comfortable 10 to 12 miles per day, so 10 miles is my current goal with my Misfit app. If my feet hurt or legs hurt the next day, I scale back. And, If I'm trying to lose fat, I'll move my goal up to my upper limit until I get to my desired body fat percentage.
For the pros: crank up the MPH, walk a half-marathon, and get some vaseline: To fight off afternoon drowsiness and fuel the fat burning, I crank up my treadmill to speeds somewhere between two and 3.5 miles per hour. That's about the speed at which movie super villains move through crowds when they don't want to break into a conspicuous run. At an average of 2.5 miles per hour, four hours a day. That's an extra six miles a day.
My record so far is a near full marathon: 18.5 miles walked in a single day, with zero loss in productivity. Now, I typically walk between 10 and 14 miles per day. In addition to great cardio, I burn an extra 1,000 to 2,000 calories a day.
Essential technology: The cognitive benefits are wonderful and it's great to shed fat while working, but there are a few downsides. One, I need running shoes. At more than 2.0 mph, fancy work shoes won't cut it and neither will bare feet.
Additionally, since I'm essentially walking a half-marathon, I have to prep my body for one — that means lubricant or long sports underwear. Without a generous amount of vaseline on my inner thighs. I develop chaff sores the size of genetically enhanced strawberries.
Finally, walking several miles a day can do a number on your feet. If I don't walk correctly, I'm in pain for the next few days. The upcoming Sensoria smart sock can sense how feet strike the ground. I tend to pigeon-toe when I walk, and Sensoria has a built-in robotic coach to let me know when my form is failing.
4)I started going outside to answer email
The body is a nutritional sponge; the mouth is just one sensory organ designed to convert nature into fuel for the body. But, as a desk-chained worker, my body was losing out on one of nature's most powerful ingredients: sunlight.
Skin soaks up ultraviolet light (UVB) and converts it to Vitamin D, an essential nutrient in bone health and for absorbing other nutrients. The CDC estimates that roughly three percent of whites and 30 percent of African Americans are deficient in this essential vitamin. As someone who got little to no sunlight, I wasn't surprised when my WellnessFX blood panel alerted me that I was one of the millions Americans with a D deficiency.
I could take vitamin pills, but a recent panel of respected doctors has issued a stern warning against most popular supplements, so I didn't want a solution to potentially cause a much more dangerous problem.
Then I discovered a ready-made solution to boost my nutrition levels, increase my productivity, and boost cognitive function: sending emails while walking outside.
Just in terms of productivity, emailing on my smartphone forces me to be super efficient. Emails are necessarily kept short and I've learned that I (very) rarely ever need to send a long email. Even better, it's damn near impossible to multi-task on a phone, so there's no temptation to drift off to viral-video land in between messages. The limited functionality of a phone keeps me delightfully on task.
Emailing on my smartphone forces me to be super efficient. Emails are necessarily kept short.
Even better, the signature orange tint of natural light triggers the brain to focus. Orange light is like a natural clock that tells the body it shouldn't prepare for rest. In controlled studies, subjects exposed to artificial orange light boosts performed better on a memory test compared to a control group.
"Light therapy is great but can be replaced/complemented by outside exposures if it's relatively bright, i.e. not gray and dull (and wet)," the studies co-author, Giles Vandewalle, wrote to me in an email.
So, to test the effects, I took a stroll outside during San Francisco's blazing heat wave to see how sun affected my brain after a reading task in the afternoon, when I normally start nodding off.
On simple reaction-time test, a solid measure of drowsiness, I experienced no dip in performance compared to a slight decrease (4 percent) when I walked on a treadmill indoors. Four percent may not sound like a lot, but I experience a 14-percent dip on the same test when I'm extremely tired. So, at least for my short test, getting some sunlight was important for keeping me alert.
How to do these experiments yourself
Essential tech: My absolute favorite smartphone mail application is Mailbox. It's gotten rave reviews from just about every tech outlet for its swiping-centric interface, which allows users to quickly archive and set unanswered emails to return to the inbox. With MailBox, I burn through emails.
Measuring results: The goal here is cognitive enhancement, so either HumanBenchmark.com or quantified-mind.com will work. As with the previous instructions on these sites, I write down my pre- and post-test results in my smartphone, with date and time recorded, so that I can detect the percent difference compared to a baseline.
Now, when I want to drop weight on a new diet, I prefer to be at my desk; it's become the place where I burn the most calories. It's also where I stretch to reduce pain and exercise to keep my mind refreshed all day long.
For most decisions in life, we must make hard choices between difficult trade-offs. But, when it comes to transforming our offices into an oasis of super-fitness, it's pretty much all win-win.
I feel better when I'm walking instead of sitting. I enjoy the feeling of stretching during calls and the rush of energy I feel after 30 seconds of exercise. It's natural for our bodies to move all day. The only thing that has been holding our offices back is pessimism — a pessimism that puts us on a spiraling path toward fatigue, depression, and pain. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
The rise of droids
Andrew McAfee starts his TED2013 talk by making a forecast: “In the world that we’re creating very quickly, we’re going to see more and more things that look like science fiction and fewer and fewer things that look like jobs.”
It’s clear, he says, that big technology-driven changes in employment are coming. For example:
Autonomous cars mean we will need fewer truck drivers.
Hooking Siri up to Watson will mean that we require less customer service.
We’ve already taken R2D2-like robots and set them to lugging goods around warehouses. So we need fewer people to work the shelves.
Now, he acknowledges that people have been predicting that technology will destroy employment for the past 200 years, and they’ve always been wrong. Why is this time different? Well: “In the last few years machines have demonstrated skills they’ve never had before.” There is technology today that can read, write, speak, understand, hear, write and translate like never before. He and Erik Brynjolfsson are calling this “The New Machine Age.”
And McAfee claims this is the best economic news today. It will allow us to continue to keep output up while prices go down and volume and quality explode. He knows this sounds materialistic, but says, “It’s not shallow materialism, it’s abundance… Once the androids start doing our jobs, we don’t have to do them anymore. That frees us from drudgery and toil.”
When he tells his friends in Cambridge, Mass., and Silicon Valley about that, they get very excited and talk about imagining a new society. And we are seeing some of that: “Craftsmen and hobbyists are now Makers, and are responsible for tremendous innovation.” Artists are able to do things they never could before.
What could go wrong?
McAfee points to some challenges:
Economic: Corporate profits have never been higher, but returns to labor have never been lower. This is clearly bad news — bad for labor and for manufacturers. To sell to people you need prosperous middle class, which is vanishing.
Societal: McAfee isn’t worried about robots taking over, but there are deep worries. He illustrates with a tale of two workers.
The first is upper middle class. Call him Ted. He is college educated and works as a manager, doctor, lawyer, engineer, scientist, professor, content producer, etc.
The second is Bill. He didn’t graduate college, and is a blue-collar or low-level white-collar worker.
A couple generations ago, BIll and Ted were the same. They had similar incomes and lives. But there have been massive divergence since then as we injected technology into the economy. And not just in income, but also in marriage stability, likelihood of going to prison, and more.
What his friends in Silicon Valley fail to realize is that they are Ted, and that’s why the future looks bright for them.
What can we do?
In the short term, McAfee says, the standard Econ 101 playbook will work. In the long term, more is needed, possibly some radical moves. For example, instituting a minimum income. Now he knows that might seem very left-wing, but he notes that it’s been championed by “such frothing-at-the-mouth socialists as Friedrich Hayek, Richard Nixon and Milton Freidman.”
There are also problems with education. McAfee went to Montessouri school, where he learned as a kid: “The world is an interesting place, and my job is to go explore it.” But after Montessori, he was sent to a public school. “It was like being sent to the gulag. I felt like the point was to bore me into submission.” Clearly that has to change.
He notes that there are some good things happening: Changes in education, business leaders moving toward Conscious Capitalism, sustained and data-driven efforts to intervene in troubled communities. But he won’t pretend this is enough. “It’s not going to make things better for the unemployed by sending them back to Montessori.”
The good news is that he thinks we are finally getting the diagnosis right. “People are waking up to the fact that we are in a new machine age, and the rules are different now … The plain facts of the machine age are becoming clear to us, and I have every confidence that we’re going to use them to chart a good course into the challenging, abundant economy that we’re creating.”
Andrew McAfee’s talk is now available for viewing. Watch it on TED.com» | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
A fansite called ZeldaForce is currently hard at work on a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, swapping its visual style to suit that of Zelda: A Link to the Past on the SNES.
The project is called 'A Link to the Dream' and is planned to be released on platforms like AmigaOS, Windows, and MacOS in 2020. It's still very much a work in progress, but the project's website has shared several images and videos showing how it's all coming together. And it's looking lovely.
The site has hours and hours' worth of footage showing the project's creators doing their thing; most are spoken entirely in French, but this one below has been presented in English. You can get a good look at the game running here and even check out how it all comes together.
Subscribe to Nintendo Life on
If you're interested in keeping an eye on the project's progress, you can check out the website here. Of course, Nintendo has its very own official rerelease of the game coming this year for the Switch, too - it's definitely not a bad time to be a fan of Link's Awakening.
What do you think? Would you love to get your hands on this SNES-style remake? Let us know your thoughts in the comments. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Future électronique est un chef de file mondial dans la distribution et la commercialisation de semiconducteurs et de composants passifs, d'interconnexion et électromécaniques. L'entreprise exerçe ses activités dans plus de 170 établissements situés dans 42 pays d'Amérique, d'Europe et d'Asie. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
More details of the increasingly rocky relationship between Theresa May and Donald Trump have come to light, on the day the pair are set to meet at the World Economic Forum in Davos.
It has now emerged that Donald Trump claimed in 2017 that parts of London were ‘no-go areas’ because of the numbers of Islamic extremists – with Theresa May forced to jump in and correct him.
The terse exchange reportedly took place during a private dinner when the Prime Minister visited The President in Washington.
Trump is said to have turned to May during the meal and made the claim, according to Bloomberg.
May immediately spoke up to ‘correct him’, claims the PM’s former strategy director Chris Wilkins.
View photos Theresa May stepped in to correct Donald Trump about his views of ‘no-go areas’ in London More
During the meal, the controversial President also told the UK leader that Brexit was a ‘brilliant thing’, and that he hoped the relationship between the two of them would be stronger than that of Thatcher and Reagan.
DONALD TRUMP IN THE WHITE HOUSE – MORE ANALYSIS FROM YAHOO UK:
Donald Trump’s unprecedented first year in the White House in numbers
Trump presidency ‘most unethical in modern history’, report finds
‘Donald Trump is not racist, just confused’ says ex-wife Ivana
From golf trips to Syria: 12 tweets that have come back to haunt Donald Trump
‘I’ll beat Oprah’: Donald Trump says 2020 presidential race against Winfrey would be ‘a lot of fun’
Details about the phone conversations between the two world leaders revealed further tensions, with Trump reportedly dominating the talks and interrupting his UK counterpart, only allowing her to talk for a few seconds before moving on to a new point.
On a more positive note, The President told Mrs May she could be ‘this generation’s Churchill’ after watching the new Gary Oldman film ‘Darkest Hour’.
Figures in the White House and Downing Street both confirmed the remarks.
The new details of the special relationship comes only weeks after it was confirmed that Donald Trump will not attend the opening of the new US Embassy in London next month.
It is claimed that Trump was wary of potential protests meeting his visit – but he instead insisted that he didn’t wish to visit the building as the old location was sold for ‘peanuts’ by the Obama administration.
It was later noted that his reasons are incorrect – as the decision to sell the old US Embassy in Grosvenor Square was actually organised during the final year of George W Bush’s presidency in 2008. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
First, women donated to Planned Parenthood in honor of Mike Pence. Now, they can think of Donald Trump when they get their birth control.
Nurx, a startup that prescribes birth control through an app, will give new users credit toward free birth control when they use the not-so-subtle code "Donald Trump."
The promotion gets users $45 toward birth control provided by the telehealth startup. Of course, many forms of birth control are already free through the Affordable Care Act. But Nurx is getting customers ready for a Trump administration that could undo the provisions that require insurance companies to cover contraception.
"Donald Trump has not indicated whether he wants to keep the birth control mandate, and his cabinet appointments have indicated Trump plans to do away with it," Nurx wrote in a press release. "Vice President-elect Mike Pence has signaled that the Trump administration might repeal the birth control mandate, which he views as 'anti-Christian.' Donald Trump also recently selected Congressman Tom Price to head the Department of Health and Human Services. Price has said in the past that the contraception mandate is 'trampling on religious freedom and religious liberty in this country.'"
For now, Nurx only operates in California, New York, Washington state and Washington, D.C., so new customers will have to live there to take advantage of the pre-inauguration deal. Nurx prescribes birth control — hormonal and non-hormonal — through doctors employed by the startup. The app accepts insurance but will also prescribe contraception to customers without insurance.
The promotion started Dec. 19 and runs until Dec. 25. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
(Flashback) Steven Clark comes home after he's finished his work, he puts his things down and looks around for Madison. "Maddie?" - Steven spoke in curiosity. "Maddie where are you?" - Steven asked again while looking for Madison. "Daddy?" - a young Nick came out of his room. "Nick, where's your mom?" - Steven asked his son. "Mommy upstairs" - Nick replied. "Stay here sweetie" - Steven told his son and kissed his forehead while he went upstairs to look for Madison. Steven went upstairs looking for Madison. "Madison where are you god dammit" - Steven spoke in a loud voice while looking everywhere for Madison. After searching the second floor, he took his phone and tried to call Madison but she wouldn't answer. "God dammit Madison" - Steven exhaled. Then Steven noticed cold air coming from somewhere, he then went after the cold air and found out that the balcony door was open. He approached the balcony door and suddenly there was Madison sitting on a chair. "Maddie" - Steven ran off to his wife. "Maddie are you okay?" - Steven asked but Madison would refuse to speak. "What are you doing here, why aren't you answering me, what's going on?" - Steven wondered.
Madison continued to refuse to talk while looking outside from the balcony. "Madison I need you to speak, please" - Steven wanted her to speak. Madison would still not speak. "This is not your fault, you know that? You didn't make this happen." - Steven confronted his wife. Madison continued to not speak. "Please Madison, you have to be strong. I need you, Nick needs you too. Please don't scare us, talk, please talk" - Steven claimed. "My daughter is dead" - Madison finally spoke in a sad voice. "Honey..." - Steven exhaled. "I couldn't do anything to save her. It's my fault" - Madison felt guilty. "Baby it's not your fault, how can you even accuse yourself like that? You didn't want this to happen. You didn't cause it. Stop blaming yourself. You couldn't control your body." - Steven responded. "I don't know" - Madison replied. "Your unborn child was also my child.. Don't forget that. I'm as hurt as you are. The loss of a child is something I never imagined would happen to me.. now I truly understand what a child means to its parents." - Steven spoke. Madison listened. "But what happened, happened. You can't change it. You cannot drag yourself down like this because of it. It's impossible to live in the past. I know it's hard, because I share that pain too. But you have to move on Maddie, for your sake and for me and for our son." - Steven continued. "I know you wanted a daughter. I am sorry I couldn't give you one." - Madison slightly wept. Steven then hugged Madison. "Don't be sorry. Who says you can't give me more daughters? And I know I said I wanted a daughter but, even if I don't get a daughter, we still have our son. You have given me everything you could Madison." - Steven replied. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
COVID-19: Third tests positive in Tompkins County
ITHACA, N.Y. — The Tompkins County Department of Health has announced a third person has tested positive for COVID-19.
In a press release just after 5 p.m., TCHD officials confirmed that they have stepped up testing efforts. News came earlier on Tuesday that Cayuga Medical Associates has opened a drive-thru screening area, increasing the county's testing capabilities while also diverting those potentially carrying the virus from emergency departments, primary care offices, and urgent care facilities.
YOUR LOCAL HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES NEWS IS MADE POSSIBLE WITH SUPPORT FROM:
The individual has been in isolation since the samples were collected for testing and TCHD public health nurses have begun a contact investigation to determine if there were any additional exposures.
This is a developing story... | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
A presidente Dilma Rousseff vetou integralmente o projeto de lei que reduzia para 6% a alíquota de contribuição previdenciária de patrões e empregados domésticos ao Instituto Nacional do Seguro Social (INSS). A decisão da chefe do Executivo foi publicada na edição desta terça-feira (9) do "Diário Oficial da União".
A proposta vetada por Dilma, de autoria da ex-senadora Serys Slhessarenko (PT-MT), havia sido aprovada em novembro pela Câmara dos Deputados. No entanto, esse mesmo tema também está sendo discutido pela comissão mista do Congresso Nacional encarregada de regulamentar a PEC das Domésticas.
O pagamento do INSS é uma obrigação tanto para patrões quanto para empregados, mas a legislação atual diz que cada lado tem que pagar uma alíquota diferente.
O texto vetado nesta segunda-feira (8) sugeria a diminuição de 12% para 6% do atual percentual pago pelos empregadores para a previdência social dos domésticos. A proposta previa ainda que os empregados, que atualmente recolhem entre 8% e 11%, passassem a contribuir para o INSS uma alíquota fixa de 6%. O projeto também criava uma guia exclusiva para o recolhimento da contribuição previdenciária.
Ao justificar sua decisão ao Congresso Nacional, Dilma alegou que os ministérios da Fazenda e da Previdência Social defenderam o veto em razão de o projeto de lei ter sido protocolado antes da PEC das Domésticas, que foi promulgada em abril de 2013 e apresentada em 2010.
O texto de Serys Slhessarenko foi protocolado no Senado em abril de 2009. No ano seguinte, foi aprovado pelo Senado, mas só foi votado pelos deputados no mês passado.
Segundo a presidente, neste momento, os parlamentares estão regulamentando, "de forma integral e mais adequada", as mudanças nas regras trabalhistas dos empregados domésticos propostas pela emenda constitucional.
Além disso, Dilma observou que a eventual sanção do projeto de lei geraria um impacto negativo anual de R$ 600 milhões nas finanças da União. A chefe do Executivo ressaltou na justificativa do veto que tamanha renúncia fiscal não é "condizente com o momento econômico atual".
PEC das Domésticas
Após aprovar no ano passado a PEC das Domésticas, os congressistas passaram a analisar a regulamentação de trechos da legislação trabalhista que trata dos direitos e deveres dos empregados.
Em novembro, a comissão mista do Congresso Nacional que discute a regulamentação do trabalho doméstico aprovou parecer do senador Romero Jucá (PMDB-RR) que rejeita 58 emendas apresentadas pela Câmara dos Deputados ao projeto de lei.
Entre as sugestões barradas pelo relator estão o fim do banco de horas, o pagamento de adicional de 100% para hora extra no período noturno e a obrigatoriedade de contribuição sindical.
Para virar lei, o projeto de lei que regulamenta a PEC dos empregados domésticos ainda terá de ser submetido à votação no plenário da Câmara e, depois, no do Senado. Se for aprovado pelos parlamentares, o texto ainda terá de ser sancionado pela presidente da República. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
add your own caption
add your own caption
add your own caption
add your own caption
add your own caption
add your own caption
add your own caption
add your own caption
add your own caption
add your own caption
add your own caption
i Made an epic comeback but they didn't understand | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Lunedì 8 ottobre 2018 - 21:05
Perché Google chiude il social Google+
A rischio i dati dei profili di 500.000 utenti
New York, 8 ott. (askanews) – Google chiuderà la versione per i suoi consumatori del social network Google+, dopo aver annunciato che i dati del profilo di centinaia di migliaia di utenti (fino a 500.000) sono stati accessibili agli sviluppatori esterni di app, a causa di un bug presente nei suoi sistemi per oltre due anni, tra il 2015 e il marzo 2018.
La società, in un post sul suo blog, ha dichiarato di aver scoperto e risolto il problema a marzo e che non ci sono prove di un uso non consentito dei dati degli utenti. Secondo un articolo precedentemente pubblicato dal Wall Street Journal, il gruppo avrebbe scelto di non svelare l’accaduto, la scorsa primavera, per timore di attrarre l’attenzione dei regolatori e di danneggiare la propria reputazione. In Borsa il titolo della casa madre di Google, Alphabet Inc., perde l’1,35 per cento.
A24/pca/Int5 | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
En hausse, le budget de la Ville de Montréal franchira en 2016 la barre des 5 milliards pour la première fois de son histoire. Pour couvrir cette croissance des dépenses, les Montréalais verront leur compte de taxes augmenter de 1,9%. Les commerçants seront toutefois un peu plus épargnés.
L'administration Coderre n'a pas réussi à rééditer le coup réalisé pour son budget de 2015 qui affichaient des dépenses en baisse, une première en 30 ans. Les dépenses affichent une croissance de 120 millions (2,4%). Le budget de la Ville de Montréal s'établira ainsi en 2016 à 5 061 millions.
« Mission accomplie : on est en train de changer le bateau de bord. On a changé la culture. On parle de performance organisationnelle, on a respecté la capacité de payer des gens, on est dans un environnement encore plus propice pour l'investissement des entreprises », s'est félicité le maire de Montréal Denis Coderre ce matin lors de la présentation du budget.
L'opposition s'est montrée plus critique, déplorant la hausse des dépenses. «La donnée sur laquelle il faut se concentrer c'est l'augmentation des dépenses. Cette année elle est deux fois plus grande que l'an passé. La Ville de Montréal va augmenter ses dépenses de 2,4% dans le prochain exercice budgétaire, alors que c'était 0,9% l'an passé. Cette augmentation est en haut de l'inflation», a dénoncé Luc Ferrandez, chef de Projet Montréal.
Le conseiller d'opposition Guillaume Lavoie s'inquiète de voir que près de 70% des revenus de la Ville proviennent de la taxe foncière. «La conclusion la plus fondamentale à tirer de ce budget c'est que nous taxons plus que jamais auparavant afin de donner au privé plus de contrats et d'argent que jamais, tout ça alors que l'encre du rapport de la commission Charbonneau n'est pas encore sèche.»
Hausse moins forte pour les commerçants
Les taxes résidentielles augmenteront en moyenne de 1,9 %. La résidence montréalaise moyenne évaluée à 413 000$ recevra ainsi une hausse de taxes de 66$. Le maire a jugé cette augmentation raisonnable considérant que le Conference Board du Canada anticipe une inflation de 2,3% en 2016 pour la région de Montréal.
La hausse variera toutefois par arrondissement. Encore une fois, les résidents du Plateau recevront l'augmentation la plus salée. Elle sera de 3,7%. Cette hausse est en partie attribuable à la hausse de la taxe locale de 0,6%. «Le problème sur le Plateau c'est qu'ils sont dogmatiques. Ils pensent qu'ils peuvent tout changer d'un coup", a déploré le maire Coderre. Selon lui, une hausse aussi forte «n'était pas nécessaire».
À l'inverse, ceux de LaSalle seront les plus épargnés, eux qui verront leur compte augmenter d'à peine 0,2%. Ce résultat s'explique par la décision de l'arrondissement de réduire de 1,4% sa taxe locale.
Les taxes non résidentielles, qui s'appliquent aux commerces et entreprises établies à Montréal, augmenteront de seulement 0,9%. L'Administration dit avoir voulu limiter cette hausse «dans le but de leur donner un coup de pouce aux entreprises montréalaises, d'améliorer la compétitivité de la Ville et de favoriser le développement économique de la métropole».
Alors que le commerce de détail éprouve d'importantes difficultés, Montréal dit être à étudier divers scénarios. La Ville dit étudier «la possibilité d'appliquer des mesures de fiscalité sectorielle» afin d'encourager certains secteurs de l'économie. Sont ciblés les événements sportifs et culturels ainsi que les commerces de proximité.
Les commerçants du Plateau hériteront eux aussi de la hausse de taxe la plus salée, à 2,9%. Au centre-ville, dans Ville-Marie, sera là plus importante, à 1,8%. À l'inverse, ceux de St-Laurent recevront une baisse de taxes de 1,3%.
Réduction des effectifs... mais plus d'employés
Alors que Montréal continue son plan sur 5 ans pour réduire les effectifs, abolissant 214 postes en 2016, le nombre d'employés est paradoxalement en hausse. Il s'établira en effet à 22 361 postes, contre 22 016 l'an dernier. Cette hausse malgré les compressions s'explique par la «régularisation» de 559 postes qui n'apparaissaient pas dans la masse salariale des anciens budgets.
Le plus important effort d'abolition de postes sera effectué par le SPVM. Le corps policier abolira 80 postes, ce qui fera passer ses effectifs à 5517 personnes. Les arrondissements devront eux aussi réduire de beaucoup leur personnel. L'équivalent de 75 postes disparaîtra en 2016. Ville-Marie abolira à elle seule 16 postes.
Les réductions d'effectifs permettent à Montréal de réduire le poids de la masse salariale sur son budget. De 53,1% du budget en 2012, il représentera 46,4% en 2016.
La diminution du coût des régimes de retraite y est pour beaucoup. Montréal prévoit économiser 103,6 millions en 2016 grâce à la Loi sur le partage du coût des régimes de retraite et les meilleurs rendements des caisses. Cette baisse représente une économie de 25% par rapport à 2015.
Le maire du Sud-Ouest et chef de Coalition Montréal, Benoit Dorais, craint les impacts de la réduction d'effectifs dans les arrondissements dû au plan de l'administration Coderre de réduire la masse salariale sur une période de cinq ans (PQMO). «Plus on avance dans la mise en application du PQMO, plus les efforts qu'on demande sont importants dans les arrondissements. C'est paradoxal parce qu'il n'y a jamais eu autant d'argent à investir, mais en même temps si peu de marge de manoeuvre pour le réaliser... En ce moment les carnets sont pleins, on doit reporter, le personnel n'est pas là. On doit aller au privé et une fois qu'on va au privé on a aussi besoin de gens pour surveiller», a-t-il déclaré cet après-midi lors du conseil municipal.Le maire Dorais demande par conséquent la mise en place d'une table de maires pour discuter de cet enjeu.
Augmentation pour la STM, baisse pour le SPVM
En 2016, la Société de transport de Montréal (STM) verra son budget augmenter de 5,1% par rapport à 2015, pour un total de 429,8 millions. La contribution de la Ville de Montréal à l'AMT reste stable à 64 millions.
Le budget attribué à la sécurité publique est cependant en baisse de 14,9 millions, sur un budget total d'un peu de 1 milliard. Le Service de police de la Ville de Montréal fonctionnera avec un budget de 680,5 millions contrairement à 686,6 millions l'an passé. Le budget du corps policier est en baisse malgré le fait que la ville s'attende à voir une nouvelle hausse de 6 millions du temps supplémentaire pour la surveillance des nombreux chantiers. Pour sa part, le Service de sécurité incendie recevra 350,9 millions en 2016, contre 359,7 millions l'an passé.
Encore cette année, Montréal a prévu son budget pour tout près de 200 millions en amendes et contraventions. Soulignons toutefois que les prévisions de la Ville pour 2015, qui étaient similaires, montrent que ces revenus ne sont pas au rendez-vous, la Ville anticipant un manque à gagner de 33 millions à ce chapitre. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Study co-author Thomas Dee, a professor at Stanford University's Graduate School of Education and director of the Stanford CEPA, said there were two motivations behind the study: the rapid growth of these online classrooms and the lack of discussion around online classrooms as social spaces.
The study was able to isolate and observe instructor biases by placing randomized comments of fictional students in the discussion forums of 124 different MOOCs.
Dee said the classes were taught out of many different schools and by professors at some of the leading and most selective universities in the U.S.
The fictional students were randomly assigned names that connoted a specific race and gender.
“Simply attaching a name that connotes a specific race and gender to a discussion forum post changes the likelihood that an instructor will respond to that post,” the study said.
Dee said he was surprised by the magnitude of the effect of the instructor’s biases.
“Admittedly, in very high enrollment classes, instructors can’t engage with every comment. But still, seeing a doubling of the instructor’s engagement rate for the white male students was empirically kind of stunning to me,” he said.
The study failed to find general evidence of bias in responses from other students. They did, however, find posts by white females were more likely to receive a response from white female peers.
Dee said discussion boards in online classes are an important component for classes, where students can interact with their instructors and other classmates.
“There’s quite a bit of literature out there that indicates that student engagement in classrooms is a really potent force,” he said. “The concern here is that if instructors are biased in their engagement with students, it’s resulting in the full learning potential of students not being unlocked.”
The study brought up several potential answers to their findings, including anonymity of students. But Dee said this approach may have unintended consequences for students in removing their social identities in classrooms.
Another solution is the potential to de-bias instructors, through methods like professional development.
“We end up arguing that our results are most consistent with the notion that folks exhibit implicit bias, this is a pretty well-substantiated phenomenon, and there’s a growing literature that suggests there are promising strategies for eliminating implicit bias,” Dee said.
The third option is exploring the design possibilities that are unique to online classrooms. Dee suggested the potential to provide dynamic feedback to instructors that could improve interaction with students in equitable ways or altering the construction of online learning environments themselves.
On this point of design, Dee stressed a note of optimism.
“I think our capacity to control the design of online learning spaces is much greater than in brick and mortar classrooms,” he said.
@emilykdavis1
[email protected] | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
64% of veggies 'unsafe' due to pesticides
A member of Thai-PAN arranges produce at a press conference held yesterday to alert consumers to the widespread use of harmful pesticides. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill)
Over 60% of popular vegetables sold at shopping malls and markets are contaminated with a cocktail of pesticides farmers use to boost yields and ensure year-round sales, a food safety network warned Friday.
The Thailand Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN), a non-governmental organisation, conducted a survey on nine vegetables and six types of fruit in Bangkok and four other provinces in late August.
It found 64% of 13 of the products including pak kana chine (Chinese kale), bai bua bok (pennywort) and cha om (climbing wattle) were not safe to eat as they contained harmful chemicals exceeding the maximum residue limit (MRL).
The group found all of the tested fruit was contaminated while one-third contained very high residues, particularly imported and domestic grapes, pineapples and papayas.
More worrying still, all of the tested produce was contaminated with multiple residues indicating a high usage of chemicals as farmers rely on a "cocktail of pesticides in their farming process", Prokchol Ousap, a coordinator at Thai-PAN, said.
Herbicide paraquat, classified by the US Environmental Protection Agency as available for "restricted use", topped the list of toxic chemicals as it made up 38% of the residues, according to the survey. Others included glyphosate (6%) and atrazine (4%), which are also used as weed killers.
Meanwhile, Biodiversity Sustainable Agriculture Food Sovereignty Action Thailand (BioThai), a group considered an ally of Thai-PAN, is preparing to sue the Department of Agriculture at the Administrative Court, it said.
The group is gathering evidence for a suit as the department granted farmers renewed permits to use paraquat despite reports of it being toxic and putting consumers at risk, said Kingkorn Narindharakul Na Ayudhaya of BioThai.
BioThai and other health advocacy networks will continue to demand the chemical be banned in the farming sector, she said, adding the move needs more support from consumers to gain traction.
Health-conscious consumers can mitigate the risk by avoiding off-season and popular legumes, Ms Kingkorn said.
They can also switch over to seasonal and local products like sai bua (lotus stems), phak wan pa (Melientha suavis Pierre) or bai liang and finger roots, all of which were not contaminated, according to the Thai-PAN survey.
Thai-PAN also surveyed produce sold at five supermarkets and found that even though it was more expensive the levels of contamination were higher than at provincial markets. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
SAN FRANCISCO—Americans across the country voted Tuesday for the right to inhale without going to jail, legalizing recreational marijuana in four states, and medical marijuana in three others.
In California, where medical marijuana is already legal, voters approved recreational pot, a major coup for backers of pot legalization.
The new laws... | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Subscribe to Pocket Gamer on
You could say that one of the things that the Final Fantasy series has lost over the years is its charm. There's a lot of angst bubbling around in the numerical entries nowadays, and a lot of swooning.
But Final Fantasy 9 cranks the charm up to epic proportions. It's the sweetest of the series since its shift to polygons, and this iOS port is no different. You'll laugh again, you'll cry again, and you'll wonder whether an FF game will ever be this sweet again.
That's not to say there aren't problems here. While the sprites have been polished up with new polygons, the backgrounds are still lo-res, and it makes the whole thing look a little dingy.
It doesn't spoil the experience too much (though it does jar often), and the game underneath still stands as the crowning achievement of Square's PSOne-era Final Fantasy titles.
So, has anything changed?
A bit, here and there. Rather than squashing a joypad on the screen like it did with Final Fantasy 7, here Square has actually bothered to port the game to touchscreen.
You're controlling your characters with a floating stick, and context sensitive buttons flash up when you can interact with people or objects. When you're chatting you can swipe outside the text box to choose your response, then tap a button to select.
It all works pretty well, and it's a damn sight better than the confusing mess of buttons you're confronted with when you first load up FF7.
The battles in particular are handled well. Because they're in full 3D, rather than having pre-rendered backdrops like the rest of the game, they look amazing. There are different options for controlling your party, and if flows brilliantly.
The same can't be said for the exploration part of the game. The murky backgrounds sometimes mean you'll stumble across doors rather than walking through them.
I understand the sacrifice - FFIX is already a massive download, and with upgraded backgroounds it'd be even bigger - but when you're paying a premium price, a premium experience all the way through would be nice.
It is. I'll be honest, there's a part of me that thinks this game is the pinnacle of the Final Fantasy series. It gets everything right.
The cast of characters is fresh and interesting, the action is spectacular, and the plot intrigues in all the right ways.
This might not be the perfect version of it, but just the fact you can play one of the finest JRPGs ever created on your phone or tablet is something to be impressed by.
And apart from those few niggles, it works brilliantly. It's funny, it's epic in all the right ways, and the touchscreen controls click most of the time.
It might be expensive, it might be a little clunky here and there, but this is still a wonderful game that deserves to be played by as many people as possible. And this mobile port allows for just that. | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Add this to the long list of grievances Palestinians can lodge against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: A Jordan-based Palestinian rap group is threatening legal action against Netanyahu's right-wing Likud Party for lifting one of their songs for a campaign ad — and linking the musicians to ISIS.
The group, Torabyeh, which describes itself on Tumblr as an "Amman-based alternative arts group ... committed to pioneering a much-needed arts revolution," is furious after Israel's ruling Likud Party released a political advertisement featuring the Torabyeh song "Ghorbah." The since-deleted ad, posted Saturday on Netanyahu's Facebook page, featured actors portraying bearded Islamic State terrorists roaming the Israeli countryside in a Toyota Tundra. The group asks a passing driver in Arab-accented Hebrew, "How do we get to Jerusalem, bro?"
"Take a left," he replies.
On Netanyahu's Facebook page, the none-too-subtle ad was paired with an equally inflammatory description. "This time, choose us or them," the post said. "A government run by Netanyahu or the Left, weak and submissive with Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni," referring to the leaders of the Zionist Union, a center-left political alliance between the Israeli Labor Party and the left-wing Hatnuah Party that advocates for a two-state solution to the Palestinian question.
The rap collective is more than a little angry. In a retaliatory Facebook post, Torabyeh dismissed the ad as propaganda and criticized Israeli political parties of all stripes. "The use of the song in the particular context cannot be considered anything but deliberate propaganda of the Zionist right for the purpose of electoral propaganda and attacking the so-called Zionist 'left wing.' Furthermore, it implicates the Torabyeh group by containing serious accusations of terrorism and association with ISIS which is consequently putting the group's members lives at risk."
"We strongly condemn and reject this ruthless infringement of intellectual property rights and the distortion of the reputation of Torabyeh," the post continues. "What is more, we reject all forms of cooperation with the Zionist enemy (right and left) and the fascist expansionist colonial entity. Torabyeh group will take all necessary legal action against those responsible."
The comments below the post are even less measured: "First they stole your land, your homes, your lives and now they steal your art," "There must be millions around the globe laughing so hard that they're pissing their pants," "Solidarity and best wishes for your prosecution of the thieving zionist war criminal Nutanyahoo."
Upon viewing the music video for "Ghorbah," Torabyeh's strong reaction isn't surprising. The song is a full-throated condemnation of the oppression faced by artists and Palestinians in the region, and a criticism of Israeli settlement and occupation of Palestinian territories: "I just want a place where I can secure my son's rights / I am not a killer but I can commit a crime to protect my rights / For my country my pen is writing for me / I don't want an Israeli soldier to stop me from being buried in my country."
It's part of a larger narrative of what's called "cultural resistance," the use of music, poetry or art as a forum for political dissent free from the Western influence or censorship. The Israeli government has attempted to silence this kind of music before, confiscating cassette taps featuring "propaganda" and preventing radio play of Palestinian music critical of Israeli policy.
Like nearly everything involving Israelis and Palestinians, it's not easy to take sides. Netanyahu's Likud has doubled down on its opposition to Palestinian statehood and support of Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, and Netanyahu has called for the scrapping of a United Nations probe into alleged human-rights violations during last summer's week-long war in Gaza. His party's co-opting of Torabyeh's protest art in a political advertisement to inspire fear and insularity in voters uses the rap collective's own words against them.
But Torabyeh isn't without complications, either. Despite the complicated relationship between more religious political parties and Palestinian rap and hip-hop groups, the very song that the Likud used in its advertisement lauds the actions of Hamas, the political party-cum-militant group whose tunnels (used to smuggle weapons and kidnapped Israeli soldiers) were the declared reason for Israel's actions last summer .
In the U.S., where musicians have been lodging complaints against politicians for the unlicensed use of their music for years, the issue would be one of fair use and royalties, ending in the likely deletion of the video and a token apology. Netanyahu, however, is standing firm: Despite thousands of angry comments, the video remains on his page.
h/t Al-Arabiya | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
The multi-sided conflict in Syria had already been bedeviling policymakers and diplomats for years by the time Russia began launching airstrikes there on Sept. 30, 2015. But did the United States "invite" Russia to pursue this sudden escalation? That’s what New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said during the Republican presidential debate in Las Vegas.
"I'll tell you what reckless is," Christie said during the debate on Dec. 15, 2015. "What’s reckless is is calling Assad a reformer. What reckless is allowing Russia to come into Crimea and Ukraine. What reckless is is inviting Russia into Syria to team with Iran. That is reckless. And the reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people."
This statement includes a lot of charges by Christie. But for this fact-check, we’ll zero in on Christie’s claim that the Obama administration invited Russia into Syria.
Russia’s airstrikes
The situation in Syria is complex, but we’ll start by trying to offer a concise summary.
Syrian rebels -- some considered moderates, some considered extremists -- have been trying for several years to topple Bashar Assad whose family has run the country in authoritarian fashion for decades. The chaos has contributed to the rise of ISIS, which has effectively seized control of portions of Syria, including Raqqa, the city ISIS is using as its "capital."
Most of the world has no love for the Assad government, but Syria has long relied on two countries for support -- Iran and Russia. Russia’s ties to Syria include a leased naval base, which is Russia’s only Mediterranean port and thus a crucial geopolitical asset. Russia has generally supported Assad, but until recently, Russia’s military role in Syria had been fairly low-profile. By contrast, since the ISIS threat became clear, the United States -- along with a coalition of more than 60 countries -- has been taking an active military role in Syria. For the United States and a few other allies, that has meant launching airstrikes against ISIS targets.
The longstanding U.S. position regarding Russia and Syria has been to convince Russia to forgo its support for Assad.
For instance, in a Sept. 11, 2015, town hall at Ft. Meade in Maryland -- about two and a half weeks before Russian airstrikes began -- Obama took note of Russia’s efforts to send military advisers and equipment to Syria.
"That won't change our core strategy, which is to continue to put pressure on ISIL in Iraq and Syria, but we are going to be engaging Russia to let them know that you can't continue to double-down on a strategy that’s doomed to failure," Obama said. "And if they are willing to work with us and the 60-nation coalition that we've put together, then there’s the possibility of a political settlement in which Assad would be transitioned out and a new coalition of moderate, secular and inclusive forces could come together and restore order in the country."
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest echoed that in a press briefing on Sept. 24, less than a week before Russia began its airstrikes. Earnest was asked by a reporter, "Where do we stand in terms of possible U.S.-Russian military cooperation on Syria?"
Earnest responded, "President Obama will make clear once again that Russia doubling down on their support for the Assad regime is a losing bet. The likely consequence of them doing so is only to deepen and expand the ongoing crisis in that country that doesn’t serve the interests of either the Russian people or the American people. President Obama will encourage President Putin to consider constructive contributions to the ongoing counter-(ISIS) effort. There are more than 60 nations that are involved in implementing a strategy to degrade and ultimately destroy ISIL, and we’d like to see the Russians make a constructive contribution to that ongoing effort."
If you squint, it’s possible to see an "invitation" for Russian military intervention in Earnest’s comment. However, the administration has couched this "invitation" in diplomatic terms, focusing on a broad effort to promote a peaceful end to the crisis rather than a desire for Russia to start bombing away.
Moreover, the immediate aftermath of the first airstrikes suggests that the administration was not happy -- at all -- to learn about the escalation to airstrikes ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Shortly after the airstrikes became public, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter called Russia’s move tantamount "to pouring gasoline on the fire." The same day, Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work told members of the House Armed Services Committee that the United States was "alarmed" by the beginning of Russian airstrikes. He called it "an aggressive action by Russia."
Immediately after the Russian airstrikes began, Earnest said the United States was continuing to encourage "constructive" moves by Russia but expressed skepticism about its recent military actions.
"If Russia is willing, we would welcome their constructive contribution to this effort," Earnest said in his Sept. 30 briefing. "The fact that they have not decided to make a constructive contribution to our counter-(ISIS) effort means that Russia is not doing exactly what we would like them to do in Syria, and that’s not unusual in the relationship between our two countries. … Obviously, we would like to see Russia do something different. I’m not trying to suggest to you that this is what we would like to see Russia do."
What the experts say
When we checked with diplomatic and regional experts, they generally agreed with the White House that Christie’s words -- if taken literally -- were inaccurate.
"Russia decided to intervene in Syria on its own. There was no U.S. invitation," said Barnett R. Rubin, director and senior fellow at New York University’s Center on International Cooperation.
"No, Obama did not invite Russia into Syria. Just wrong," said Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution.
Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, agreed.
"It isn't true," Landis said. "The United states tried to oppose Russia moving aircraft and weaponry into Syria. The U.S. government convinced Greece and other countries to close its airspace to Russian planes. Russia flew over Iran and Iraq, which allowed the Russian resupply planes to overfly them. The U.S. could have attacked the Russian planes and ships and did not. I presume Chris Christie is confusing that with an invitation."
The Christie campaign doesn’t contest the idea that Christie’s claim isn’t literally true. Instead, the campaign argues that the administration’s fault was one of omission rather than commission.
"The governor was suggesting that the president's actions or lack thereof invited Putin to fill the vacuum left by a lack of leadership, not that he sent a written invitation," said Mike DuHaime, a senior strategist with the Christie campaign.
At least one expert said DuHaime’s argument has some validity.
"I don’t think Christie meant it to be taken literally," said Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. "Obviously we did not invite Russia in. But what I think he’s very clearly referring to is a weakness that led to Russia coming in. The fact that the administration has had an awful Syria policy has moved beyond a matter of opinion."
The Christie campaign also pointed us to a comment Christie made to CNN’s Jake Tapper on Oct. 8 in which he explains that by the "invitation" he means the cooperation between the United States and Russia on removing chemical weapons from Syria in 2013.
Obama "invited Putin in to broker an agreement with Assad to give up his chemical weapons, which Assad has not done," Christie told Tapper. "Once you invite Putin in for that part of it, you can't then pick and choose given the Obama approach what you do. So he did invite him in, Jake. And it was wrong."
Our ruling
Christie said the Obama administration "invit(ed) Russia into Syria."
We found wide agreement that the statement, if taken literally, is inaccurate. However, another interpretation -- that the Obama administration’s policy failures created a vacuum that Putin filled militarily -- has some validity, experts say. We rate the statement Mostly False.
https://www.sharethefacts.co/share/57ffb42c-34aa-4359-b2ca-90dd626043f3 | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Procter & Gamble revealed Friday afternoon that one of their biggest financial challenges this year will be your disgusting, dirty face. Reanimating the lifeless corpse that is the word "hipster," the consumer company in charge of Colgate, Johnson & Johnson, and Gillette (among others), reported stagnating sales in their typically thriving "grooming market."
P&G's earnings have dropped 15.5 percent since this time last year, but a spokesman for the company says that the drop is not a point of concern. Instead, Jon Moeller, chief financial officer, offers areas for improvement: skin care, shampoo, and grooming. The rise of trendy facial hair, as chronicled here, and the popularity of Movember, a charity movement in November meant to increase awareness of prostate cancer by inexplicably growing mustaches, are the apparent culprits of declining profits.
Moeller claims that the sale of Gillette razors and shaving cream are down, as well as Braun electric razors. But he's not worried.
"While the incidence of facial shaving is somewhat down, the incidence of body shaving is up, and we can take advantage of that and plan to do that as well." Gentlemen, start your razors.
[Photo of Jonny Gomes via AP] | {
"pile_set_name": "OpenWebText2"
} |
Subsets and Splits
No saved queries yet
Save your SQL queries to embed, download, and access them later. Queries will appear here once saved.