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In the first episode of this series I explored the Singleton pattern and why it sucks. In this episode, I take aim at the Template Method pattern.
To refresh your memory, the Template Method pattern is when you encapsulate the outline of an algorithm or lifecycle in an abstract class, but define certain specific steps as abstract methods. This class then forms a “template” that others can subclass, only supplying the details that are different.
So, you might have a template class and subclasses like this:
public abstract class ConnectionPool { ... // Public API public Connection obtain() { ... } public void release(Connection conn) { ... } // template methods protected abstract Connection createConnection(); protected abstract boolean isAlive(Connection connection); protected abstract void closeConnection(Connection connection); }
In this API, the ConnectionPool has public methods for users to obtain and release connections as they use them. The ConnectionPool maintains a pool of connections, but creates, closes, and verifies the health of the Connections via the template methods. Framework users would subclass ConnectionPool and add logic to create connections in a system-specific way.
Why is Template Method Evil?
Communicates intent poorly – The template method pattern is often used as part of the effective API in some mini-framework where the framework user is expected to subclass the template class. My experience has been that it is difficult to communicate that usage intent to users of the framework. Often the template class has some non-private methods that are exposed for use by the framework but are not intended to be used by the framework user, some that are intended to be overridden, and some that are both. Also, you may need to say whether the super’s version of the method can, should, or must be called. Communicating all that clearly is impossible in an API of any complexity. Difficult to compose functionality – When inheritance is used as the way to add new functionality, it becomes impossible to add functionality in more than one axis at the same time without defining more and more classes. So, say you have a ConnectionPool and you start by having an OracleConnectionPool and DB2ConnectionPool and so on. But then you also need the ability to create XAConnections sometimes. So you then need to create OracleXAConnectionPool and DB2XAConnectionPool and so on. The per-DB pools share some functionality and the XA pools share functionality but can’t inherit from both. This typically leads to a lot of duplication and an explosion in implementations. Difficult to comprehend program flow – In my experience it takes very few levels of template methods and inheritance to make debugging or understand the sequence of method calls difficult (as few as 2 or 3). When template methods are really pushed (lots of abstract methods at multiple levels), it can become painful to debug this kind of a system. Difficult to maintain – Having maintained a couple chunks of code that made extensive use of the template method, it can be challenging. This kind of system can rapidly become fragile. Changes at any one level can disturb operation above or below that level in the template methods. There is often a feeling of unpredictability when adding new functionality as it difficult to predict how behavior will change in all cases. You often also tend to build finer and finer tweaks by splitting the algorithmic parts of the template class and inserting more layers, thus exacerbating the problem.
What’s the alternative?
Usually, the best way to address the addition of functionality in orthogonal domains under a template class is to define an interface for each kind of functionality and inject an instance for each. Typically these interfaces are factories and strategies. You can then mix and match each piece separately and also insert interceptors to handle functionality like logging, pooling, caching, etc. This lets you assemble a particular instance of the main class with exactly the mixture of pluggable elements to satisfy your needs. In general, I find this to be easier to understand, more flexible, and more maintainable.
For the example above, you might instead change this to:
public class ConnectionPool { private ConnectionFactory connFactory; public ConnectionPool(ConnectionFactory factory, EvictionPolicy policy, ...) { // store subcomponent instances } // Public API is the same, template methods are gone } // Move template methods into a pluggable factory public interface ConnectionFactory { Connection createConnection(); boolean isAlive(Connection connection); void closeConnection(Connection connection); } | {
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The distraught man, who has not seen his son for three years, said the boy (pictured) was 'brainwashed' by his mother, Sally Jones
The father of a young boy taken to Syria by his British mother has spoken of his shock at seeing a video which apparently shows his son executing a captured prisoner.
The distraught man, who has not seen his son for three years, said the boy was 'brainwashed' by his mother, Sally Jones, after being taken by her to join Islamic State.
The 47-year-old mother of two, from Chatham, Kent, was declared one of the world's most wanted terrorists by the UN after she fled to Syria with her youngest son JoJo, then aged 10, in 2013.
Now the father believes it may be his son in a chilling propaganda video released on Friday showing five boys murdering a group of captured Kurdish fighters.
Last night the man, who has asked not to be named to protect his safety, said: 'He was brilliant, just a normal boy – always chasing bugs, going down the park. I have had to block it out. It's been hard, we just have to carry on. It's disgusting he's been brainwashed.'
Jones gave birth to JoJo in Kent in 2004 but split from his father shortly afterwards. She then converted to Islam.
A friend of the father said: 'Sally would send him texts that were disgusting. She would threaten to take JoJo to Islamic rallies and leave him there. It was awful.'
Jones gave birth to JoJo (second right holding weapon) in Kent in 2004 but split from his father shortly afterwards. She then converted to Islam
After their split, Jones married an Islamic radical 25 years her junior, changed JoJo's name to Hamza, and the three of them fled to Syria.
In the latest sickening nine-minute Islamic State video, the boy is called Abu Abdullah al-Britani. Al-Britani is a nom-de-guerre often used by terrorists from Britain.
The other children are captioned as being from Egypt, Kurdistan, Tunisia and Uzbekistan.
Wearing military fatigues and black bandanas, the boys point their handguns in the air before aiming them at the back of the heads of the captured hostages and firing.
The friend of the father added: 'He was a happy boy, loving, caring, sensitive and a pleasure to be around. I'm angry at Sally for taking an innocent child who doesn't know right or wrong. Children can be easily manipulated.
'He's an innocent party and I want to know what makes a mother put her child in such a dangerous position.' According to the Quilliam Foundation anti-extremist organisation there are about 50 British-born children living in areas under IS control, although very few of them are believed to be white.
Jihadi bride Sally Jones, pictured here in December 2004, fled the UK in 2014 along with her son JoJo, pictured here just days after his birth, where the pair converted to Islam
After their split, Jones (pictured) married an Islamic radical 25 years her junior, changed JoJo's name to Hamza, and the three of them fled to Syria
Jones played guitar in an all-girl rock band called Krunch in her 20s and had a boy, Jonathan, in her 30s.
But according to neighbours, after the boy's father committed suicide, Jones moved into a two-bedroom terraced council house in Chatham, Kent. Neighbours said she had a series of transient relationships and became addicted to drugs.
In 2013, she married Junaid Hussain, an Islamic radical and hacker 25 years her junior, and they took JoJo with them to Syria. He was killed in a US drone strike last year.
In the months that followed, she posted chilling threats on social networking sites and posed for photos with an AK-47, dressed in black with her face veiled.
Using the pseudonym Umm Hussain al-Britani, she said she wanted to behead Christians with a 'blunt knife' and praised Osama Bin Laden.
The Foreign Office said it was aware of the video but was unable to comment further. | {
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Maggie Michael, Associated Press
CAIRO -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced he is handing his powers over to his vice president, Omar Suleiman, and ordered constitutional amendments Thursday. But the move means he retains his title of president and ensures regime control over the reform process, falling short of protester demands.
Protesters in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, hoping he would announce his resignation outright, reacted in fury and disbelief.
Many watched in stunned silence to his speech, slapping their hands to their foreheads in anger and shock, some crying or waving their shoes in the air in a sign of contempt. After he finished, they resumed their chants of "Leave! Leave! Leave!" The crowd in the square had swelled to several hundred thousand in anticipation of the nighttime address.
Related stories
President Obama calls for 'genuine' transition in Egypt. (
Mubarak to Egypt: Drop dead (
Transcript of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's television address (
Protesters erupt in anger after Mubarak signals he will not resign (
Video: Anger swells in Cairo following Mubarak speech (
"I have seen that it is required to delegate the powers and authorities of the president to the vice president, as dictated in the constitution," Mubarak said near the end of a 15-minute address on state TV. The article is used to transfer powers if the president is unable to carry out his duties "due to any temporary obstacle" and does not mean his resignation.
He said he would stay in the country and that he is "adamant to continue to shoulder my responsibility to protect the constitution and safeguard the interests of the people ... until power is handed over to those elected in September by the people in free and fair elections in which all the guarantees of transparencies will be secured."
Mubarak said that the demands of protesters for democracy are just and legitimate, but he adhered tightly to a framework for reform that Suleiman drew up and that protesters have roundly rejected, fearing it will mean only cosmetic change.
He said he had requested the amendment of five articles of the constitution to loosen the now restrictive conditions on who can run for president, to restore judicial supervision of elections, and to impose term limits on the presidency.
He also annulled a constitutional article that gives the president the right to order a military trial for civilians accused of terrorism. He said that step would "clear the way" for eventually scrapping a hated emergency law that gives police virtually unlimited powers of arrest, but with a major caveat — "once security and stability are restored." | {
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Daiya Foods announced yesterday the addition of new premium dairy-free salad dressings to its lineup of products. Available in Blue Cheeze, Homestyle Ranch, and Creamy Caesar, the Canada-based company will first unveil the new products—along with a new Meatless Pepperoni Style Pizza—at the Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, CA in mid-March. “Consumers are increasingly mindful of their dietary habits and the environment, and the demand for plant-based foods that taste great is on the rise,” Michael Lynch, Daiya vice president of marketing, says. “Our newest dairy-, gluten- and soy-free foods … will satisfy any cravings, whether you’re dairy-intolerant, allergic, vegan, or simply living a healthier lifestyle.”
Please support independent vegan media and get the very best in news, recipes, travel, beauty, products, and more.
Subscribe now to the world’s #1 plant-based magazine! Subscribe | {
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While some of his Centennial High School classmates earn extra cash by working minimum wage jobs making sandwiches, flipping burgers or frothing up Grande Lattes at Starbucks, Marco Farfan plays soccer for the Portland Timbers.
That's right. Marco Farfan - high school student/professional athlete.
As the youngest-ever player to sign with the Timbers, Farfan has followed an unusual path. He made the leap this year from the Timbers youth academy team, signing a contract with the professional club worth $53,000 per year.
But while his life has changed dramatically over the last eight months, the 18-year-old is quick to downplay his achievement. That might be because he doesn't quite grasp how unusual his experience is.
"It took me about a month to get used to it, but now I'm just focused on working hard, so I can get better down the road," Farfan said. "I'm 18 right now, but that's not going to last forever. I have to have the right mindset that I can go out there every day and compete."
* * *
Farfan grew up in a modest home on the border of Southeast Portland and Gresham dreaming of one day becoming a professional soccer player. But neither he nor his family imagined that he would make it to the pro level before earning his college diploma - let alone before finishing high school.
His father, Roberto, who spent his own childhood in Mexico surrounded by an intense soccer-crazed culture, made sure to teach all three of his children about his beloved sport. Games from Liga MX, Mexico's top pro league, could often be heard blaring from the television in the family's home.
It was Marco's older brother, also named Roberto, who was the first to show real talent for the game. The younger Roberto played for Oregon State University and the Timbers U23 team and the family would make long drives to Corvallis on weekends to watch Roberto play. It was while watching those games that Marco fell in love with the sport.
By the age of five, Marco was spending sunny days in the yard with his close-knit extended family using extra pairs of shoes as goal posts to play pick-up games. His mother, Marisela, still keeps a box of photos for each of her three children and Marco's box is full of smiling childhood pictures of him with a soccer ball.
"It just runs in the family," Farfan said. "My dad and my brother introduced me to soccer when I was around five-years-old. I just liked it from the start."
By the time he was in middle school, Farfan had joined the Eastside Timbers, one of the best club teams for top youth soccer players in Oregon. When he reached high school, he made the decision, like many of his soccer-obsessed peers, to try out for the varsity team. He lettered as a freshman.
But everything changed for Farfan as a sophomore.
He left behind varsity soccer to join the Timbers U-16 Academy Team. Afternoons playing video games with friends were soon replaced with regimented workouts at the Timbers practice facility in Beaverton.
"I do think a lot of it is mental," Farfan's brother, Roberto, said. "He's a lot more mature than I was at that age and that's helping him a lot."
Last year, the Timbers made the decision to give Farfan an initial opportunity with their lower division team, T2. Despite understandably feeling nervous in his first weeks playing alongside pro players, Farfan exceeded expectations.
Still, his family was caught off guard when the Timbers offered Marco a contract in October. There are currently 10 other American players Farfan's age or younger competing in MLS and the league has a history of signing high school-age players, most prominently Freddy Adu, who joined MLS at the age of 14 in 2002. But Farfan is the first academy product and youngest-ever player to turn pro with the Timbers.
"It was a surprise for me to see how far he has gone," said Marco's father, Roberto, through a translator. "But slowly we are getting accustomed to it. Clearly, there is more that he has to accomplish. Nothing has been won as of yet. He knows that he has to work daily and be humble and keep his feet firmly placed on the ground."
* * *
On a recent Tuesday afternoon, Farfan tossed his backpack into the backseat of the car he borrows from his dad and anxiously checked his watch. It was 12:30 p.m.
He had spent the last few hours fiercely going toe-to-toe on the field with his Timbers teammates, some of whom are more than a decade older than he is, and hadn't realized how late practice was running. He would have just enough time to make the 45-minute drive from the Timbers training facility to Centennial and slip into his English class before the bell.
"Sometimes I forget that he's going to school on top of the soccer and having to commute back and forth and compartmentalize everything," Timbers coach Caleb Porter said. "That's not easy. It shows his maturity. He has a great head on his shoulders and that's a big reason why he is able to do what he's doing."
While his daily routine can be hectic, Farfan never considered sacrificing his education for professional soccer.
Roberto and Marisela always emphasized the importance of earning an education to their three children and, while the walls in the family living room are devoid of photos displaying Farfan competing for the Timbers, there are prominent spots for the diplomas of his two siblings. Farfan plans to soon add his high school diploma to the wall before beginning to work toward earning a college degree - likely in marketing - through an online program with Southern New Hampshire University, the official education sponsor of MLS.
Still, Farfan had to work with Centennial to make his dual life as a professional athlete and high school student possible. The school generally requires students to take at least four classes, but administrators waived that requirement for Farfan, who was on track to have the minimum number of credits to graduate if he took just one class this spring. They allowed him to pick an afternoon timeslot, so he could come to school after practice.
"Obviously, my parents and I wanted me to keep going to school because soccer isn't going to last forever," Farfan said. "After soccer, I really want to already have my degree and be able to find a job."
When he reached the parking lot at Centennial on that recent Tuesday, students were rushing to class, and no one seemed to take notice of the pro soccer player walking into the school.
A humble and quiet person by nature, Farfan didn't tell any of his friends when he signed with the Timbers. But the news, of course, slipped out through social media. His friends had a hard time believing it was real. Some of his fellow classmates gawked in the hallway. And others suddenly tried to befriend the new pro athlete.
But the novelty of having a pro athlete at Centennial has worn off over time.
In his English class - a difficult college-level course - Farfan pulled up a chair next to two friends and grabbed his laptop to work on his final project, a paper and PowerPoint on strengthening gun control. Every so often, his friends would make a joke and the three teenagers would try to suppress laughter. The topic of soccer hardly came up.
"I think there's kind of some teasing that goes on, but it's good-natured," Centennial English instructor Beth Lifson said. "He's pretty well-loved because of his demeanor. He's humble and he's laser-focused on his goals."
Still, Farfan is no longer a normal teen.
Even though he resides in the same house where he has lived with his parents since he was six, he rarely has time for outings with friends. He's missed group get-togethers and Centennial basketball and football games. He was asked to prom last year but had to say no because he had a game with T2. He didn't ask anyone and no one asked him this year because everyone already knew he'd be at a Timbers game.
While he sometimes misses the ability to have those casual outings with friends - instead of days structured from morning until night - Farfan says he has no regrets. As long as he is playing soccer, he's happy. But his family admits that the transition has been challenging.
"To run from home to practice and then school, to go to bed early and wake up early to go to training, is not easy," said his father. "It's difficult for him traveling and spending two or three days away from home and missing classes that he needs to make up. But he is doing it."
* * *
On April 2, Farfan walked onto the field at Providence Park with the rest of the Timbers starting lineup ahead of a game against the New England Revolution.
As he heard the cheers from the crowd and the chants from the Timbers Army, he could feel his palms getting sweaty. In that moment, his youth betrayed him and he was overwhelmed by the experience of playing for the hometown team.
"We would always get season tickets to go watch the team and just looking at the Timbers Army and the fans, I would just think to myself that it would be crazy to be down there playing," Farfan said. "I was actually pretty nervous. I've never been in an atmosphere that big."
But Farfan didn't look like an overwhelmed high schooler once the game began. It was clear he belonged.
"He doesn't play like an 18-year-old," Porter said. "I think he has really shown his maturity this year in playing well when he has played, working hard in training every day, managing the school and still staying humble."
Despite his youth and a lifestyle that is unlike that of any other player on the roster, Farfan has yet to feel out of place in a pro soccer environment. The defender has already made four starts this season and even earned a spot on the MLS Team of the Week in April.
He has quickly bonded with his teammates as well - particularly the fellow Spanish speakers. The group recently made the mistake of sitting in the bar area of the Cheesecake Factory in Seattle when they went to dinner on the road, before realizing that Farfan wasn't allowed in the over-21 section.
"We still know he's a young kid, but nobody thinks about it anymore," Timbers forward Fanendo Adi said. "He knows that he's in the team and he has to be up for it."
On Friday, Farfan will walk to the podium and proudly accept his high school diploma alongside his fellow Centennial classmates at the Portland Expo Center. The next day, as his friends begin their summer vacation, he will be in uniform with the Timbers at Providence Park for a game against FC Dallas.
It won't be a conventional weekend for an 18-year-old. But he's earned his spot on both stages.
-- Jamie Goldberg | [email protected]
503-853-3761 | @jamiebgoldberg | {
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48 years in jail sought for bus drivers who ‘raped hearing-impaired woman’ in Istanbul
ISTANBUL
An Istanbul prosecutor has demanded 27 and 21 years for two intercity bus drivers over charges of raping a hearing impaired young woman and deprivation of liberty, Habertürk reported on Feb. 23.
The 20-year-old woman, who has 40-percent hearing loss, was sexually assaulted by one bus driver, while the other driver prevented her from leaving the bus in the Bayrampaşa district of Istanbul in December 2016.
In the trial, the prosecutor demanded 27 years for the driver who was accused of raping her, and 21 years for the other driver, who was accused of taking part in the sexual assault.
The two drivers, who are 45- and 37-years-old, allegedly saw the young woman on a roadside, and told her they could take her to the metro.
After she got on the bus, one of the drivers sexually assaulted the young woman, and hit her head with a vacuum bottle when she resisted.
Meanwhile, the other driver locked the doors, preventing her from leaving the bus, and laughed at them.
After the incident, the young woman immediately notified a security official in the metro and said she was raped.
In her testimony, she also claimed that the suspects stole 400 Turkish Liras from her bag.
“I trusted them when they said they could take me to Beşiktaş. After I got on the bus, one of the drivers attacked me, hit my head with a bottle and raped me,” she said.
“He said ‘I’ll kill you if you scream.’ Meanwhile, the other driver was laughing at us,” she added. | {
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Manchester City, once again, left their fans craving more. This was another performance to frustrate their supporters – the most expensively assembled team in English football lacking the wit to break down an obdurate Birmingham side – and the crowd's dissatisfaction manifested itself in the first show of open hostility against manager Roberto Mancini in his 11 months in the job.
The dissent was loud and prolonged, even vicious at times. Mancini's decision to replace a striker, Carlos Tevez, with a defensive midfielder, Gareth Barry, five minutes from the end was particularly contentious, prompting an enraged chant of "What the fuck is going on?" The song in support of Craig Bellamy, loaned to Cardiff City after falling out with Mancini, told another story, as did the boos at the final whistle and the angry shouts directed towards the Italian around the dugout.
To give them their due, Mancini's team subjected their opponents to concerted pressure in the second half, but it was still a flat and uninspiring performance, and the lack of penetration was alarming considering the immense amount of money that has gone into this team. The closest they came to a goal was when Steve Carr cleared James Milner's shot off the line a minute into the second half, but, that apart, this was a performance that compounded the growing suspicion English football's richest spenders are not playing with the adventure expected of a club that began the season promising a serious tilt at the championship.
"I'm as frustrated as anyone," an animated Mancini said afterwards. "I wanted to win, I didn't want a draw. We had 17 chances in the second half. OK, the first half we played slowly, but the players are not robots – they have been playing every three days and they are tired."
Explaining the withdrawal of Tevez, he added: "Carlos has had a little injury for two to three weeks and I thought it would help us create chances by putting on Barry. We have had a problem all season and it is that if Carlos does not score we haven't another player who can score a goal."
This was an unusually pugnacious Mancini and he reacted indignantly when he was asked whether he felt under pressure. "What pressure? You say I'm under pressure – I'm not under pressure. We are fourth; we have some problems and we must improve, but what pressure? Because the supporters say: 'Oh, we should put on two strikers'? If you want us to entertain I could put on three strikers. Do you think that would help? Or do you think the side would lose balance?
"All supporters think like this, in England and Italy. But if they think that I should put on four strikers and we would score four goals ... no, that's not the way football is. If football was like that, I would put on 10 strikers." Whether that argument will appease the supporters is a matter for debate.
The criticisms of Mancini being too negative accelerated after the 0-0 draw with Manchester United last Wednesday, but at least on that occasion they were confronted by a side challenging for the Premier League. Birmingham have not won away from home since March and had fallen to 17th in the table going into this match, a point off the relegation places.
Tevez was aggrieved five minutes before the break when he turned the ball past Ben Foster only for the referee, Mike Jones, to rule he had used his arm, which brought the Argentinian a yellow card in the process. Birmingham, however, had their own complaints in the first half and their manager, Alex McLeish, argued that his side should have been awarded a penalty when Liam Ridgewell went to ground, claiming Adam Johnson had clipped his heels.
Johnson, the subject of criticisms from Mancini over perceived behavioural flaws, foraged without success and it was noticeable, too, that Milner ran straight down the tunnel when he was substituted.
Another memory that will linger was keeper Joe Hart's frustration, more than once, when he looked to take a quick throw and found no team-mates showing for the ball.
There was audible dissent shortly before the interval when Jérôme Boateng played a pass back to Vincent Kompany rather than going forward and, although McLeish described the second half as "a bit scary", the volume was turned up another notch against the home side at the final whistle.
THE FANS' PLAYER RATINGS AND VERDICT
ROBERT O'BRIEN, Observer reader They played well but we were really bad. We found it easy enough to get into their box but we've become too predictable, and opponents are well aware of Carlos Tevez's threat now. And in the background we've got a battle of wills between the players and Roberto Mancini that resulted in him subbing Tevez just to make the point that he's the boss. It's important that Mancini wins that battle. Birmingham defended well and thwarted us but never looked like scoring. It's hard to tell if the players are lethargic or are being told to play like that. James Milner still hasn't had a decent game for us since his arrival.
The fan's player ratings Hart 6; Boateng 6, K Touré 6, Kompany 6, Kolarov 6 (Zabaleta 81 5); De Jong 7, Y Touré 5; A Johnson 5, Silva 7, Milner 7 (Santa Cruz 66 5); Tevez 6 (Barry 83 6)
JOHN PRICE, Observer reader An away point at City will do us nicely. The highlight of the day was probably hearing their brilliantly short-memoried fans winding themselves up and booing Mancini for being negative. But that still shouldn't overshadow some great performances in our side: defensively we totally stifled anything they had, Lee Bowyer was as good as he's ever been for us, and Stephen Carr and Ben Foster stood out too. Zigic wasn't brilliant – he's lacking mobility, but I still think he'll develop into a great asset for us. But maybe the most encouraging thing was the team spirit: we never stopped running.
The fan's player ratings Foster 9; Carr 9, Johnson 8, Dann 8, Ridgewell 8; Larsson 7, Ferguson 7, Fahey 9; Gardner 7 (Bowyer 49 9); Zigic 6 (Hleb 65 6) Jerome 8,
To take part in the Fans' Verdict, email [email protected] | {
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Banking has an image problem. And with the next generation of consumers wondering if banks really matter, the only solution is much-needed innovation.
Having lived through the Great Recession during their formative years, the so-called Millennials view the industry as the old guard—irrelevant, out of touch, and in desperate need of a shakeup.
A three-year study by Viacom’s brand consulting division Scratch revealed that those born between 1981 and 2000 overwhelmingly believe banks have the highest risk of disruption—likely from outside the industry.
All top four banks were among the ten least favorite brands of the 10,000 respondents. Over two-thirds think that in five years, the way they access money and pay for things will be totally different and a third predict we won’t need banks at all. There’s also little faith that the incumbents have the wherewithal to evolve. Over half are counting on tech startups to overhaul the system.
“I don’t see a difference between my bank and all the others,” said one respondent of the over 200 interviewed. Consequently, 71 percent would rather go to the dentist than hear what their bank has to say.
Such an aggressive stance isn’t particularly surprising. While banks have been slow to transition into the digital age, in part due to a complex web of regulations and cumbersome legacy platforms, Millennials have been equally slow to accumulate wealth, thanks to a stuttering economy, and are generally skeptical of the system after the crash of 2008.
As such, it’s never been more pressing for banks to invest in the future. Moreover, the adoption of digital technologies is the key to restoring profitability and shaping new business models, argues a recent industry report by Accenture:
Most mainstream banks simply aren’t using technology smartly enough to deliver the transformation they need. At the same time, some of their pioneering peers have recognized that every business is now (or should be) a digital business, and they are starting to position themselves as digital winners.
The benefits are obvious, concludes the report. Faster and smarter payments allow for better operational efficiency, freeing up valuable working capital and reducing business cycle risks. More accessible and cost-effective distribution platforms create opportunities for new customers and new markets, including the 2.5 billion that remain unbanked. And innovative new products and services open up new revenue streams, like online gaming and micropayments.
So if Millennials think banks are boring and out of style, they’re missing the bigger picture. While the sector has been slow to adopt new technologies, the current players still have the resources, infrastructure, and perhaps most importantly, the experience to strategically position themselves in our digital future. What’s clear is the increasing need for real change and the growing opportunity for potential first-movers. | {
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Mike Williams Reviews Editor, USgamer Monday 17th June 2013 Share this article Share
Hitman: Absolution developer IO Interactive has announced cuts totaling nearly half of its current staff, as the studio refocuses on the Hitman series. A Square Enix Europe spokesperson told GamesIndustry International that all other projects in development at IO have been canceled to begin work on another Hitman title. Production director Hannes Seifert has also been named as the new studio head.
"We are making significant changes at IO Interactive as we align our business against a changing and challenging market. Hannes Seifert, formerly Production Director for 3 years at the studio, will take over the position of Studio Head at IO," said the spokesperson in a statement.
"The studio will focus resolutely on the future vision for the Hitman franchise and is in pre-production on a new AAA Hitman project. However we have taken the difficult decision to cancel other studio projects and initiatives at IO and reduce the workforce in this studio, which will impact almost half of the employees currently at IO, as we make internal adjustments to face the challenges of today's market."
"For those affected, we are extremely grateful for the hard work which they have contributed, and where it's possible and appropriate to relocate staff to open positions at other studios within the group, we will try to do so," the statement continued. "We are also reaching out to other companies for outplacement opportunities. We sincerely wish them well in their future careers. If you are part of a company that is looking for additional development talent, please contact us directly at [email protected]"
GamesIndustry International hopes those affected by the layoffs find new employment soon.
If you have jobs news to share or a new hire you want to shout about, please contact us on [email protected] | {
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Honestly, this made my Christmas. I already have 7 dollars worth of coins in the R2-D2 Bank, the calendar filled through February, the drybag filled with a first-aid kit (w/ the whistle inside), and the lanyard having my work keys on it. Thank you so, so much! | {
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E‐Verify is the federal government’s attempt to create an electronic national identification system. It is capable of checking government databases to verify information—often including a photo—on every U.S. resident. Right now, the system monitors only employment and is only mandatory in some states, ostensibly to deter illegal immigration, but nothing would prevent lawmakers from expanding E‐Verify to monitor identity or legal status in any other domain and restrict access based on other criteria they want.
Numerous federal, state, and local laws already require people to identify themselves or prove their immigration status, and lawmakers continue to propose many additional laws. The more areas that E‐Verify is used to monitor, the more it will create a digital record of Americans’ lives—a record that lawmakers can draw upon to add further requirements for access to jobs, health care, banks, gun sales, housing, and much else.
Once E‐Verify becomes fully mandatory for employment nationwide, proponents will seek to use it to enforce other laws. In 2015, the GOP‐controlled House Judiciary Committee even voted down an amendment to a mandatory E‐Verify bill that would have banned using E‐Verify for purposes other than employment. This is a harbinger that the E‐Verify system, if mandated federally, could be used to monitor much more than just American’s employment choices. Congress would need only make a few tweaks to the system to make it serviceable for other goals beyond jobs.
Here are a few likely targets:
1. Gun sales: The Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act (18 U.S. Code § 922(d)(5) and (g)(5)) explicitly makes it unlawful for:
any person to sell or otherwise dispose of any firearm or ammunition to any person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that such person … who, being an alien— (A) is illegally or unlawfully in the United States; or (B) except as provided in subsection (y)(2), has been admitted to the United States under a nonimmigrant visa.
Unlike the criminal background check system for guns which destroys the electronic record of the sale daily, E‐Verify maintains records for 10 years. Once E‐Verify screens gun purchases, the federal government would have a full electronic registry of all gun purchases. To do this, a future Congress would only need to enact a statute requiring the Department of Homeland Security to make the system available to verify legal status information (rather than just employment authorization) for gun sales.
2. Transportation: Section 274 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 U.S.C. 1324(a)(1)(A)(ii)) criminalizes anyone who “knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that an alien has come to, entered, or remains in the United States in violation of law, transports, or moves or attempts to transport or move such alien within the United States.” While courts have not enforced this requirement against routine transportation activities, requiring airlines, buses, trains, or other transportation businesses to use E‐Verify would be a logical (while burdensome) means to enforce this provision.
3. Driver’s licenses: Section 202(c)(2) REAL ID Act of 2005 requires that states verify that the applicant has some form of legal status. State IDs not meeting this requirement will not be valid for any federal purposes, including air travel. In addition, 38 states separately ban illegal immigrants from receiving driver’s licenses and even those who do permit driver’s licenses specifically identify the license as not valid for federal identification purposes.
4. Bank accounts: Federal law doesn’t require banks to verify someone’s immigration status to open an account, but the USA Patriot Act does require them to “verify the identity of each customer, to the extent reasonable and practicable, within a reasonable time before or after account opening” and “making and maintaining a record of all information obtained relating to customer identity and verification.” Again, E‐Verify already purports to verify identity before confirming someone’s employment authorization, so this use would be a fairly straightforward application of the E‐Verify system.
5. Apartment rentals: Though courts prevented their implementation on the grounds that federal law “preempted” them, the state of Alabama as well as the cities of Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Fremont, Nebraska, and Farmers Branch, Texas enacted laws that would have made it explicitly illegal for landlords to rent to illegal immigrants. Tennessee is currently considering a similar state‐wide statute. Congress has already enacted a statute (8 U.S.C. 1324(a)(1)(iii)) that criminalizes anyone who “attempts to conceal, harbor, or shield from detection, [an illegal] alien in any place, including any building.” However, courts have interpreted this narrowly to require more than simply renting an apartment, but a future Congress would simply need to clarify that someone who failed to use E‐Verify to verify legal status would be guilty of harboring.
6. Access to certain buildings: The Legal Workforce Act, which House Republicans have repeatedly passed out of the Judiciary Committee, would authorize owners or operators of “critical infrastructure” to use E‐Verify “to the extent the Secretary determines that such use will assist in the protection of the critical infrastructure.” Federal law defines critical infrastructure to include “systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security…”
Ultimately, E‐Verify doesn’t identify illegal immigrants very well at all, and its errors already harmed hundreds of thousands of legal workers attempting to obtain jobs. But the problem with E‐Verify is more fundamental. It is the first‐step toward a permission‐slip society. Creating the infrastructure that is capable of not only monitoring but instantly restricting access to all manner of private activities will hand the government power to control the lives of Americans in ways otherwise unimaginable.
Once E‐Verify use becomes ubiquitous, the federal government (and perhaps state and local governments as well) would have the power to shut down people’s lives overnight for almost any reason. A flip of switch could stop their access to jobs, housing, bank accounts, driver’s licenses, and transportation. No free society should stand for such control. | {
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Jennifer Burke used to prize her breasts as her best feature. But it wasn’t until she had a double mastectomy that she found herself performing a burlesque striptease in front of an enthusiastic New York City crowd.
Pink Light Burlesque, a free program for breast cancer survivors, helps women reclaim and celebrate their bodies — to the delight of an audience. “I felt so empowered,” Burke says of her performance. “We are survivors and we want to celebrate that by overcoming the very thing that scares us — taking our clothes off in public!”
Burke was first diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer that attacks the lymph nodes, at the tender age of 19. “I was really angry. I hated life,” recalls Burke, now 42. “The only thing I knew about the disease was that a distant relative had died from it, and that really scared me.”
Five years later, after successful treatment with mantle field radiation therapy, doctors found another occurrence of Hodgkin’s lymphoma — this time, in her groin. They hadn’t treated her pelvis with the first round of radiation treatment for fear of affecting her fertility.
Burke beat her cancer for a second time with chemotherapy. She began to exercise frequently and eat healthier. But 16 years later, Burke found a lump in her breast during a routine self-exam. “It turns out that all the radiation treatment I received as a teenager for Hodgkin’s was the cause of my newly found breast cancer,” Burke says. “I felt like the rug was being pulled out from underneath me.”
According to the National Cancer Institute, survivors of Hodgkin’s disease have three times the risk of developing another cancer than do people who have not been diagnosed with the disease. Overall, the risk of a second cancer is more than 20% in the first 20 years after treatment, and the risk is highest when patients are treated with mantle field radiation.
“This is why I wanted to be part of the first Pink Light Burlesque show,” says Burke, who still has Stage 1 cancer, but is forgoing further treatment due to financial concerns and a reluctance to undergo hormonal therapy. “I wanted to bring awareness not only to breast cancer, but to the fact that there are thousands of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer as secondary cancer caused by radiation treatments they received earlier in life.”
More information on Pink Light Burlesque’s free program for breast cancer patients can be found at PinkLightBurlesque.com. | {
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Senior Western Command officials inform that these security reviews and procurements are being made after directions were received from the Ministry of Defence in wake of recent attacks. Senior Western Command officials inform that these security reviews and procurements are being made after directions were received from the Ministry of Defence in wake of recent attacks.
In a bid to bolster its surveillance capabilities around important installations in the backdrop of the Pathankot airbase terror attack, the Western Command Headquarters has begun the process to purchase nine hand-held Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs).
It is learnt that the command headquarters has already floated the tenders to purchase the hand-held UAVs.
Sources in Western Command headquarters also informed that a command-level conference was held recently in which issues pertaining to purchase of security equipment for various military installations under the Western Command were discussed.
Among the list of equipment that would be purchased in the days to come are full-body truck scanners, thermal imaging cameras and boom barriers that are needed to secure the perimeter areas and the entrance of the military stations.
Giving details of the hand-held UAVs, a senior official said these fall under the category of mini-UAVs and have a ceiling of around 1000 metres above the ground level. “These UAVs are also known as man-pack UAVs in military parlance as they can be carried by patrolling soldiers in their backpacks and can be launched at short notice in case they suspect the presence of some intruders in a specific area,” the official said.
These hand-held UAVS will be fitted with high resolution cameras, including infra-red, for night surveillance. Weighing less than 10 kg, they will transmit real time data and video to recording devices installed in a centralised control room.
The full-body truck scanners will be capable of scanning standard cargo trucks loaded with goods, including driver’s cabin, without unloading and unpacking the cargo to detect if restricted items like arms and ammunition — or even intruders — are being transported inside military installations hidden in any cavities in the truck’s frame.
Senior Western Command officials inform that these security reviews and procurements are being made after directions were received from the Ministry of Defence, through the Army Headquarters, that a security review of all military installations must be undertaken in order to prevent an attack of the kind which took place in Pathankot.
📣 The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines
For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App. | {
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No matter what kind of system an autonomous car uses to provide motive power to its wheels, what it really runs on is data, and lots of it. In fact, the more data we can offer to an autonomous vehicle, the better it will be able to see the world around it.
A self-driving car is continuously being fed GPS data and images from its many cameras and sensors, but one thing that it has trouble finding currently is reliable information on road surface conditions and weather. Bosch wants to change that.
Bosch has partnered with a company called Foreca to deliver hyperlocal weather information to autonomous cars via the cloud and eventually to use sensor data from the vehicles themselves to augment the information available in said cloud.
Enlarge Image Bosch
"Wet roads, snow, ice -- with our predictive road-condition services, we alert to hazards before critical situations can develop. We are helped here by the weather data provided by our partner Foreca. This means an automated vehicle will know exactly where it can drive autonomously, and how," says the Bosch management board member Dr. Dirk Hoheisel.
For example, if a self-driving car is driving along a two-lane road and encounters a patch of localized ice in the shade of some trees, this car could detect that it had a stability control intervention, compare that with weather data, and communicate this information to Bosch's cloud. The other cars in the network would then be aware of the hazardous road condition and reroute to avoid it or turn control over to a human driver.
Bosch plans to roll out its road-weather system by 2020, well before we expect to see self-driving cars on the road in significant numbers, especially given that the initial market for this tech seems to be Europe. | {
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It was the English indie rock band verses nature as the skies opened up, but if anything, that was just an invitation to party harder.
Glass Animals fans got more than a little wet during the band’s July 2017 show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Rain fell so hard that the band had to take an extended break between songs so the venue crew could do damage control, and it seems like a miracle that their equipment worked at all.
But if you've ever been to a live Glass Animals show, then you know it would take more than some rain to stop Dave Bayley, Drew MacFarlane, Edmund Irwin-Singer and Joe Seaward, who are stupendous performers on any given day. Billboard is exclusively premiering the rain-drenched video for "The Other Side of Paradise" from the band's soaked set today (May 31).
Singer Bayley still can’t believe they were able to pull it off. For one thing, when he arrived at the word "thunder” in the bridge of the song, it actually thundered.
Who planned that?
“Um, God? I don't know,” Bayley tells Billboard, laughing. “It was so weird. The strangest thing that's ever happened. Part of me wanted to burst out laughing.”
The band was concerned when they heard bad weather might be on the books, as they’d been looking forward to playing Red Rocks for ages (“It’s an iconic place”). The band was told they’d be given 20 minutes warning and pulled off if it got too dangerous, and with that promise, they took the stage.
“About two songs in, I can see some of the people in the crowd looking concerned and putting on ponchos,” Bayley says. “All of a sudden, these golfball-sized raindrops start pouring down. Everything is instantly soaked. It was dripping into the lights and coming through the roof, somehow, even though the local people said it was totally impossible for that to happen!”
Bayley describes how the water came down the mountain, going down the staircases into the amphitheatre: “It felt like the apocalypse. It was pretty full-on.”
Still, the band’s performance is flawlessly captured, and if it weren’t for the visibly pouring rain in the video, you wouldn’t know that anything was amiss with the band’s gear. But Bayley says otherwise: “Some of it was definitely broken. I remember pulling one of our MPC pads out after the show backstage, and pouring water out of it. Like, half a cup of water. Some of the keyboards were just... it was good stuff.”
Watch the impressive performance below, and check out the rest of our Q&A with Bayley.
You have a few tour dates coming up with Beck this summer -- how's that feel?
Total lotto. To do Madison Square Garden with him is totally bonkers. He's a legendary artist who's managed to keep his sound evolving for so many years. We're lucky to be on the bill, squeezed under him. It'll be wicked.
You have other headlining dates as well. Do you plan to change up the show at all from your previous tours?
We're bringing out a similar set design and everything. We're keeping the pineapple. But we're mainly playing places we haven't played in a long time, like Florida.
I feel like the aesthetic of your most recent album How to Be a Human Being is so Florida.
Yes! There are loads of mentions of Florida. We talk about Pensacola [on "Take a Slice"], which I've got a funny infatuation with. I have a weird infatuation with Florida in general. I find Miami to be an interesting place. I just built a new studio and I can set the lighting to be really Miami, kind of pink and blue. It's full of palm trees and kind of feels like Florida.
About half of the songs on the album have videos, but what about tracks like “Mama’s Gun,” “Poplar Street” and “Other Side of Paradise?” Any plans for visuals?
We have ideas for them and stuff, but we're signed to a really tiny label in England... and we got away with a lot [of videos]. There's no Katy Perry on the label or anything to fund us, no Beyoncé. I think they've had enough of us making videos and they want us to make a new album. [Laughs]
Same. Are you working on next album yet?
Not yet. There are always ideas floating around, and some of us are doing other writing and production projects outside of the band, for other people. We'll get to it at some point!
You said on Instagram that when you were in Cambodia, you "nearly died driving over a bridge that was essentially just a single plank of wood." Can you elaborate on that?
Oh, yeah. [Laughs] I've got a photo on that bridge somewhere. It was quite a mad trip. We were on these motorbikes and picked up these two hitchhiking children in the middle of nowhere, in the woods. They wanted us to drive them home, which is what I gathered, they were maybe 8 and 9. They waved us down and got on the back of our bikes and pointed where to go. They made us take this turn down a not-very-main road, basically a walking path in the rainforest, and there was a bridge that was just one piece of wood. They were like, "It's fine, go!" We did it and we survived, somehow.
The kid on the back of my bike also had a slingshot and was shooting monkeys in the trees and some other people going past on motorbikes -- shooting rocks at them! Cheeky dudes.
Now, not to be creepy, but your schedule looks a little blank after this summer. What are your plans?
There might be a little more touring happening. Possibly. We need some new music. It's about time. I'm not sure when it's going to happen, but starting in the fall seems like a decent time.
I'll be spinning this record on repeat until then, and probably after, and possibly until I die.
[Laughs] I'm glad you like it that much, but you should branch out a little as well.
Finally, are you still against pigeons?
Uh, yeah. I hate pigeons. In general, I don't have a problem with birds, but I heard some disgusting stories about pigeons that cemented my hatred for them.
Well, now you have to share.
Okay, so, have you ever seen a pigeon that has one foot? In England, they mainly just have one foot left and it's really sad. But apparently, the reason they lose their feet is because they accidentally poop on their own leg and it rots their foot away. Isn't that so gross? It's so awful.
Catch Glass Animals on tour. | {
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From a nutritional perspective, marijuana should be included in the list of superfoods along with spinach, kale, and broccoli.
Normally, it’s dried and cured marijuana that is consumed. But have you ever thought of consuming raw cannabis? Its taste? Its benefits?
Many research experiments have already demonstrated the health benefits of marijuana, but very few speak about the health benefits of raw cannabis. From a nutritional perspective, marijuana should be included in the list of superfoods along with spinach, kale, and broccoli.
Dr. William Courtney, MD, a member of International Cannabinoid Research Society, the International Association of Cannabis as Medicine, and the Society of Clinical Cannabis and the American Academy of Cannabinoid Medicine, says that he doesn’t want to refer to marijuana as a medicine, but as a dietary essential.
Here are Dr. Courtney’s reasons, why raw cannabis is good:
One can make the best use of the therapeutic properties of marijuana, through ingestion.
Raw cannabis activates the brain’s cannabinoid system, more effectively, which in turn, triggers the release of antioxidants. These antioxidants will effectively get rid of the damaged cells in the body, and this is something that dried cannabis, can do.
Raw cannabis consumption makes the cells in the body, more efficient.
Raw Cannabis Consumption: A Better Step Towards Health
Loaded with proteins, minerals, vitamins, fibers, and antioxidants, raw cannabis is rich in digestible globular proteins, and the balanced proportions of essential amino acids (the amino acids that cannot be synthesized in our body). Raw marijuana has an ideal ratio of omega-3 fatty acids and omega-6 fatty acids, with antioxidant properties. Antioxidants are very much important for the overall well-being, as these preserve health, boost the immune system, reduce the risk of heart diseases, address diabetes complications, and most importantly, lower the risk of cancer development.
RELATED: 5 Reasons Why You Need To Start Eating Raw Cannabis
During the normal drying and curing process of marijuana, the chlorophyll pigment from the herb is lost; however, it is this component that has loads of dietary benefits. Chlorophyll has the ability to rejuvenate the body, at the cellular level. With its structure similar to that of hemoglobin, chlorophyll has plenty of benefits such as it prevents DNA damage, promotes overall cleansing or detoxification within the body, encourages healing, treats inflammation, improves the iron content absorption, etc.
And, when you consume raw marijuana, you will not be consuming THC or CBD; instead, you will be consuming the acid forms of these components- Cannabidolic Acid (CBD-A) and Tetrahydrocannabonolic Acid (THC-A). Just like other components of raw cannabis, CBD-A and THC-A are also very good antioxidants. Recent research experiments show that these components can be powerful healers of serious medical condition, like cancer. In latest study conducted at Hiroshima International University, and published in 2017 January, the researchers discovered a possible way through which, CBD-A inhibits the COX-2 enzyme in aggressive breast cancer tumors. The study further talks about CBD-A’s ability to inhibit a proto-oncogene, c-Fos, which is an element involved in the cancer metastasis.On the other hand, THC-A is known to be neuroprotective, antispasmodic, and an excellent pain-reliever.
Raw Cannabis will also hold most of its terpenes. Terpenes not only decide the aroma and taste of the buds but also have their own medicinal properties, such as anti-fungal, antibacterial and anticancer properties.
RELATED: Looks Like Raw Marijuana Leaves Are The Next Superfood
The cleansing properties of raw cannabis, cannot be emphasized enough. Like any other raw herb, cannabis is also rich in fibers and foliates. Toxic accumulation in the body may happen for different reasons; it might be either due to your poor diet habits, or your body’s inability to fight against the free-radicals. In either condition, your body will need fiber content, which kicks out the toxic substances, from your body.
To make the best use of all the above-said benefits, you should be using the raw leaves and buds from live cannabis plants.
Best Methods To Consume Raw Marijuana
Smoothies : Weeds are usually bitter, so, mixing it up with other fruits or veggies, can make it taste, better.
: Weeds are usually bitter, so, mixing it up with other fruits or veggies, can make it taste, better. Salad: Just the chopped fresh marijuana and some dressing, can make a delicious salad.
Just the chopped fresh marijuana and some dressing, can make a delicious salad. Juicing: Fresh marijuana with some spices, if you wish, can make your morning, a refreshing one.
Stephen Charbonneau is the owner of Stone-Tool-Seed and is a firm believer in the herbal use and an advocate for recreational marijuana. He and his wife of over forty years live on a farm and believe in organic farming and cultural practices that are eco-friendly and safe for people. | {
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The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has asked the government to amend the Citizenship Act, to provide Indian citizenship to a large number of refugees from Bangladesh, both before and after its formation.
It is said there had been a consensus in Parliament when the National Democratic Alliance was in power at the Centre.
In a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, CPI(M) General Secretary, Prakash Karat, has drawn attention towards “the citizenship problems of the large number of refugees from erstwhile East Bengal, and then even after the formation of Bangladesh, who had to flee their country in particular historic circumstances on which they had no control”.
He said their situation was “different from those who have come to India due to economic reasons”.
Reminding Dr. Singh of his speech in Parliament when he was the Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha during the NDA government that had brought the Citizenship Amendment Bill 2003, Mr. Karat quoted: “With regard to the treatment of refugees after the partition of our country, the minorities, in countries like Bangladesh, have faced persecution, and it is our moral duty that, if circumstances force people, these unfortunate people, to seek refuge in our country, the approach to granting citizenship to these unfortunate persons should be more liberal.”
Mr. Karat also quoted then Deputy Prime Minister L. K. Advani as saying “I am fully in agreement with the views expressed by the Leader of the Opposition.”
Mr. Karat said the issue of amending the Citizenship Act was still pending even after a decade, and, in the meanwhile, “the insecurity felt by the refugees is heightened”, as in the ongoing drive for Aadhar ID cards they were “excluded and considered illegal migrants facing the constant threat of deportation”.
Pointing out that lakhs of families, a majority of them from scheduled caste communities, were affected, he asked the Prime Minister to take urgent steps to amend the law, and bring relief to these unfortunate families living across India. | {
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Ah Tories. Interesting specimens aren't they? Admittedly I'm not a fan, but I must say I appreciate their efforts to make life easier for leftwingers such as myself. Some days we don't even have to get out of bed to make them look bad.
Last Friday was one of those days. If you haven't heard yet (and if you haven't, seriously: where have you been?), one Andrew Mitchell – chief whip, multimillionaire, and former merchant banker – allegedly informed two police officers that they were "fucking plebs" who "best learn their place". After initially denying using "'any of the words that have been reported", he has since admitted swearing, though still argues that he didn't use the word "pleb". At a time of exceptional tragedy for the police, the kindest thing you can say about the chief whip is that he is not burdened with a keen sense of appropriate timing.
As often with such "gaffes", as they are euphemistically called, the public response is more instructive than the allegations themselves. So it was interesting to note the reaction to the story from the leftwing Twitterati, which was to side a little uncomfortably with the police in the way that one might reluctantly defend the actions of a drunken family member. Having to choose between Tories and the police force is never going to be easy for the left, but it did make me wonder what the reaction might have been had Mitchell been accused of making racist comments towards a black officer. Would our condemnation have been begrudging then? Probably not.
See, the sad thing about this whole affair is that, in a way, Mitchell has already won. He may have been accused of making ugly, class-based slurs, but thanks to the tireless propaganda of his party, he's more likely to be portrayed as rude rather than bigoted.
Years after John Major's "classless society" and Thatcher's declaration that "there are only individuals", the role of class has been airbrushed out of our interactions so successfully that a privileged man can sneer at two working people and avoid any real analysis of his actions.
The press has already transformed Mitchell's transgression from one of class-based bigotry to one of colourful language – describing his rant primarily as "foul-mouthed" and "rude", as though that's all there is to it.
The same day he unleashed his tirade, the actress Sheridan Smith gave an interview to Radio 4's Today programme about her appearance as the lead in Hedda Gabler. She has in the past described herself as a "scrubber" from Doncaster, condemned to play "chavs and slappers". It's a strange quirk of a society where class snobbery is so entrenched that the victims of discrimination end up applying it themselves, either as an attempt to distance themselves from a negative stereotype, or because they have internalised the discrimination so much that it is accepted as the natural order of things, rather than something that should be challenged and changed.
Without an acknowledgement that class-based discrimination is unacceptable, the MPs who are cutting wages, jobs and services will be allowed to peddle the myths that blame impoverished people for their own difficult circumstances.
The day before the Mitchell story broke, Tory MP Damian Collins was accused of telling young unemployed people they should busk to make money if they can't get paid jobs. That the economy might not quite be able to accommodate a million buskers doesn't matter as long as the idea that unemployment is the result of the laziness of the underclass persists.
So when a member of the moneyed elite is accused of calling ordinary people "plebs", we should perhaps respond by calling a spade a spade. Class-based bigotry is not OK. We shouldn't stand for it. | {
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We are hosting a $500 LAN at The Cave Fairfax on August 26 featuring StarCraft Remastered!
REGISTER: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30E084BA8A82EA1F85-psistormcup4
Depending on total number of players, we will do group stage OR swiss format, into playoffs.
Facebook Event: https://t.co/nWUITuwbLW | {
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In summary “Make-up money” is what it’s called in Sacramento—the contributions that flow to newly-elected officials from interest groups that backed a losing candidate during the campaign. It’s a completely legal way of saying, in political terms, “Let’s kiss and make up.”
Days after Tim Grayson won election to the Assembly, a Sacramento lobbyist greeted him at a reception with sheepish congratulations. Her client had supported his opponent during the campaign, the lobbyist explained, but now that he’d won, she told him she wanted to move past the election and forge a good working relationship. Oh and by the way, did he need any money to cover costs from the campaign?
“Make-up money” is what it’s called in Sacramento—the contributions that flow to newly-elected officials from interest groups that backed a losing candidate during the campaign. It’s a completely legal way of saying, in political terms, “Let’s kiss and make up.”
Grayson has not taken advantage of the offer; campaign statements to date show no contributions to the Concord Democrat from clients of the lobbyist who introduced herself in November. But conversations like theirs occur in the months after an election, as interest groups shift from betting on a winner during the campaign to lobbying those who won a seat in the Capitol.
“The best way to make amends, fortunately or unfortunately, is a contribution,” said GOP political consultant Mike Madrid. “It’s not uncommon to have a strategy where somebody spent six figures against (a candidate) with approval to write them a check to rebuild the relationship” if that candidate ends up the winner.
In other words: make-up money is built into the budget for interest groups that spend big on politics. Those groups had a lot at stake in the 2016 legislative races because it marked the last time for the next eight years that a significant number of Assembly seats were vacant. A review of campaign finance reports from last year’s most contentious races shows plenty of make-up money in the mix. It came from trade associations, corporate interests and labor unions.
Some examples:
In the race for a Malibu-area state Senate seat, the dentists’ trade association spent nearly $50,000 opposing Democrat Henry Stern. After he won, the dentists gave him $4,200.
In the race for a San Jose-based Assembly seat, the Realtors association spent more than $483,000 attacking Democrat Ash Kalra. After he won—and landed a spot on the Assembly’s Housing and Community Development Committee—the Realtors group gave Kalra $8,500.
Realtors made another losing bet in the Democrat-on-Democrat race for a Glendale-area Assembly seat, spending nearly $253,000 to support Ardy Kassakhian. After his opponent, Laura Friedman, won, the Realtors group wrote her a check for $6,800.
Friedman said she met with the Realtors after the election—just as she met with many other interest groups—for a version of the “let’s move on and have a good relationship” conversation. The money, she said, doesn’t impact how she’ll vote on their issues.
“I don’t feel like I’m holding a grudge, but I’m certainly not going to not work with them, not take their meetings or not take in their perspectives,” Friedman said. “My goal is to represent my constituents and my conscience.”
The dentists and Realtors associations are among the biggest spenders in legislative races, pouring millions into recent election cycles. Both groups declined requests for interviews. The dental association provided a statement saying its political action committee “puts a great deal of consideration” into choosing which candidates it supports.
Interest groups that spend smaller sums of political money have done some flip-flops, too:
In the race for a Palo Alto-area Assembly seat, two local labor unions—one for firefighters, another for school support staff—that gave to the losing candidate have since written $5,000 checks to the winner, Democrat Marc Berman.
PG&E and the pharmaceutical industry association both donated to the campaigns of the losing candidate for a Salinas-area Assembly seat. Weeks after the election, the businesses wrote checks to the winner, Democrat Anna Caballero.
In October, the prison guards union gave $4,200 to Grayson’s opponent in the race for his Assembly seat. Two months later, the union wrote a check for that amount to Grayson.
Grayson, who previously worked as the chaplain for the Concord Police Department, said his relationship with the prison guards union stems from his own career in law enforcement—not from the money they donated.
For interest groups he doesn’t really know, Grayson said he finds offers of “make-up money” awkward. He said he never followed up to seek a donation from the lobbyist who introduced herself at the post-election reception. “My first desire is to meet and have a conversation in which they can get to know me, who I am, what I am and how I am,” he said. “What they choose to do after that, that’s their business.”
There is nothing illegal about giving “make-up money” to a politician, said Jessica Levinson, a law professor who is president of the Los Angeles Ethics Commission. Political contributions break the law only when they involve a direct exchange of money for governmental action.
But, she said, giving money to the winner of an election—after backing an opponent—shows that donors are looking to curry favor with whomever has the power to make decisions.
“It brings into stark relief what we all know, which is that people give money to get something,” Levinson said. “You’re not expressing support; you’re buying access and influence.” | {
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Billionaires from across the nation met at an exclusive supper club just before taking their demand for more federal scrutiny to Washington. Five top Onion executives joined in the White House lawn protest.
WASHINGTON, DC—In impassioned testimony before the U.S. Congress yesterday, a delegation of 30 billionaires demanded more federal scrutiny over their high-powered business dealings and vast capital assets.
“As the nation’s ultra-elite overclass, we billionaires have for years enjoyed nearly unlimited economic privileges,” said J. Wellington Finch, 84, a Florida shipbuilding magnate. “In addition to millions in questionable federal tax write-offs, we have been the beneficiaries of cushy tax-deferred annuities, oversized retirement funds and shady overseas investments routinely overlooked by the IRS and SEC. We are here today to stand up and finally say, ‘Enough!’”
Before the hearing, the billionaires protested and camped out on the front lawn of the White House bearing exquisite pewter-wrought placards with beautifully detailed gold-inlay lettering reading such slogans as “Stop the Insanity” and “We Demand Justice.”
Yet after one billionaire protester was thought to have damaged the fine fabric of his yachting jacket by sitting on the wet grass, the protestors abandoned the lawn and continued their protest by purchasing and developing all the land surrounding the White House, erecting lavish Vegas-style resorts with Caribbean decor. Teams of shouters then shouted protests such as “Hey, ho, free rides for billionaires have got to go” from atop the resorts’ jade-hewn mezzanines.
The billionaires, meanwhile, enjoyed full-body mineral-oil massages and erotic mud baths in the comfort of their palacial suites.
“Fair is fair!” cried Texas oil baron James Hersfers-Hunt IV at the congressional hearing. His hand-sewn Chinese silk slippers were shielded from the Senate floor by several layers of the finest linen towels flown in that morning from India. (He described the floor as “germ ladened.”) “We control 30% of the nation’s wealth, while comprising .00000001% of the population. That’s outrageous. We must be stopped.”
The oil magnate’s tirade was stopped short by a minor cough, which was quickly suppressed through the administration of powdered rhino horn, a remedy imported from poachers at great expense from East Africa.
Hersfers-Hunt’s sentiments were echoed not only by the other billionaires, but also by a throng of paid lobbyists who massed outside and faithfully repeated his every word.
“The billionaires are sick of having the power to buy and sell people as if they were a mere commodity,” lobbyist Greg Hunjjlers said. “I am being paid over $2,500 an hour to say this.”
Most congressmen were quick to agree with the billionaires’ demand for more scrutiny.
“We value our billionaire consituents,” Sen. Gene McCready (R-ND) said. “Whenever they want something, Rolls Royces, private jets, concubines and mansions start turning up at our doorsteps. We’ve learned that it is pointless to resist such extraordinary bribery.” | {
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Citigroup and Goldman Sachs have performed the very first equity swap over the Ethereum blockchain.
Citigroup and Goldman Reach a Milestone
Such a swap involves one party making a payment to the other in exchange for a return asset. The process is undergoing a period of testing in which an additional 13 organizations will take part. The swap also ensures that each party to engage will have access to the same data, ensuring there are no issues across the board and lessening the chances for error.
Greg Schvey, the 33-year-old founder of Axoni – who’s technology is being utilized to ensure the swaps go well – commented in a statement:
When there is a break, and it could be something as silly as keying the wrong payment dates and accruing interest differently, each party has to go back into their data sets and spend hours or days digging through huge chunks of data, and now we can show you that instantly and in a way that both parties have full visibility into… The ability to have synchronous, peer-to-peer processing of data between institutions and have databases natively speaking to each other is just a huge first step toward the future that I think a lot of people have been looking for in capital markets infrastructure, and for these huge firms that we’re working with – and then I’d argue for probably most of the world – this is a pretty substantial advancement toward that path.
Under normal circumstances, swaps of these nature typically require weeks, if not months to complete. This is because large companies – such as Citigroup and Goldman Sachs – require large teams to ensure each step is correct and thoroughly done, as one slight misstep could set the entire process in reverse. This new technology removes any need for “excessive monitorization.”
Schvey continued to say:
If you look at most of the large dealers, they’ll have hundreds of people in their confirmations group and reconciliations group. These are massive operational teams, spending a huge amount of their time just figuring out where things went wrong.
Getting Rid of Excess Baggage
Puneet Singhvi – Citigroup’s head of finance market infrastructure and blockchain – added to these words, expressing what the new process is designed to replace and how things become simplified when transferring equity or other assets:
What you’re really replacing is phone calls, Excel spreadsheets, emails, etc. If you have disputes, the sooner and constantly concerned you are, the less risk you have from an operational and financial perspective.
The only problem is that according to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA), the data that’s housed on blockchains is not appropriately labeled, and thus it’s unclear what regulations apply to it. The organization is now working with blockchain startup R3 to develop a clear and common set of rules that can be applied to such swaps in the future. | {
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Tem sido praticamente uma unanimidade o apoio da esquerda brasileira ao terrorismo da República Islâmica do Irã, em relação aos inúmeros ataques bélicos que faz às bases militares dos Estados Unidos no Iraque.
Enquanto isso acontece, jamais me deparei com algum trabalho dos grandes institutos de pesquisa do Brasil (Ibope, Datafolha, etc.), sempre tão “solícitos” em tudo que possa lhes trazer algum retorno, sobre qual a “ideologia política” que mais oferece atrativos à comunidade LGTB, às lésbicas, gays, bissexuais, travestis, transexuais, transgêneros.
Mas a “olho nu”, dá logo para perceber que esse tipo de “personalidade” geralmente tem nítida preferência pela esquerda. Nem imagino quais seriam as razões, que melhor poderiam ser esclarecidas pelos psicólogos sociais ou sexólogos. E que deveriam desvendar a seguinte questão: qual a relação das preferências e práticas sexuais com as ideologias políticas? Por que a esquerda sempre atrai mais a comunidade LGTB?
Fica então muito difícil explicar as razões pelas quais a esquerda brasileira, com expressiva participação da comunidade LGTB, toma partido a favor do terrorismo islâmico, patrocinado pelas autoridades e militares terroristas do Irã, nas recentes investidas contra as forças americanas no Iraque, desde o momento em que, sabidamente, as autoridades do Irã “justificam” a execução, por enforcamento, dos homossexuais que, nas palavras de Mohammed Javad Zarif, Ministro das Relações Exteriores do Irã, “para resguardar a moral é legítimo executar homossexuais”. | {
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Sean Cummings Irish Pub set to resurface on N. May | {
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Did I Just Find The Perfect Laptop? | {
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ZURICH, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Switzerland’s lifting of some economic sanctions against Iran on Thursday should allow Swiss-based companies to take advantage if the U.S. and European Union eliminate their own trade curbs.
The Swiss government, acting after a July 14 deal between Tehran and six big powers to curb Iran’s nuclear programme, officially lifted a ban on trading precious metals with Iranian state bodies. It also eased requirements to report trade in Iranian petrochemical products and the transport of Iranian crude oil and petroleum products.
While unlikely to have more than immediate symbolic impact, the steps could help Swiss companies aiming to do more business with Iran to respond quickly if and when the U.S. and Europe remove their own sanctions.
The sanctions lifted on Thursday had already been suspended by Switzerland since January 2014, but Swiss companies remain subject to the U.S. and EU restrictions.
“The latest move means that when they are eventually lifted, Swiss companies will be able to act immediately,” said Olivier Jakob, oil analyst at the Petromatrix consultancy in Zug, Switzerland.
“It puts Swiss companies and companies based here in the starting blocks.”
The commodities sector is important to the Swiss economy, comprising 500 companies that contribute 20 billion Swiss francs ($20.5 billion), or 3.5 percent, of gross domestic product.
Trading houses including Glencore Plc, Trafigura Beheer BV and Vitol Group employ between 10,000 and 12,000 staff.
Traders did not expect an immediate payoff since transactions are done in dollars and financed by banks that are unlikely to participate in Iranian trades so long as U.S. and EU sanctions remain.
“I don’t think anyone would like to risk bypassing world sanctions by going through the Swiss,” one trader said.
The government said its move was aimed at promoting “a broad political and economic exchange with Iran” but would monitor the nuclear deal, should problems arise.
The deal Iran struck last month with China, Russia, the United States, Germany, France and Britain aims to rein in Iran’s nuclear programme in return for relief from U.N., EU and U.S. sanctions that have hurt the Islamic republic’s economy. ($1 = 0.9749 Swiss francs) (Reporting by John Miller and Michael Shields in Zurich and by Dmitry Zhdannikov, Ron Bousso and Christopher Johnson in London; Editing by Keith Weir) | {
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Bill Scher is a contributing editor to Politico Magazine, and co-host of the Bloggingheads.tv show “The DMZ.”
Many of us political scribes are sizing up the meaning of President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office with long essays about foreign policy evolutions or executive orders or presidential temperament. But I thought: What better way to mark the milestone than with a good old-fashioned ranking—a list, from best to worst, smooth to chaotic, squeaky clean to scandalous, of all the president’s days in the White House so far? So, I developed a highly subjective objective points system and began to count.
Here’s my methodology: Trump starts each day with a score of 50, then earns or loses points depending on the day’s events. For every substantive bill he signs or executive branch action, he gets 2 points. If an executive action is blocked in court, he loses 10 points. For partial judicial blocks or follow-up rulings, Trump loses 2 points. But when major legislation intended to fulfill a campaign pledge gets derailed, which only happened with health care, the penalty is stiff: 20 points.
For a major military or diplomatic success or failure, give or take 5. Make it 2 for minor developments abroad. If Trump nominates someone for a key post requiring Senate confirmation, give him a point, and another if the person gets confirmed. (Five points for confirming a Supreme Court justice. That’s big league.) But lose five when a nominee withdraws. Every Sean Spicer gaffe is a loss of 1 point. Trump gets 2 points for leading a rally or for independent pro-Trump rallies. He loses 2 points for major anti-Trump rallies.
Deduct 10 points for major scandal developments, 2 for minor ones. Grant 10 points for every time a pundit declares, “Trump became president of the United States today.” Take away 5 points for embarrassing, leak-filled “palace intrigue” stories, and 3 points for breakout anti-Trump “Saturday Night Live” sketches. Give Trump 2 points when he gets in a game of golf, and 1 point for days he stays off Twitter. A point is added or subtracted for every percentage point of movement in the day’s Gallup tracking poll of Trump’s job approval. Miscellaneous events are scored arbitrarily.
Finally, divide by 10. You’ll get a score for the day ranging from 1 to 10, with 10 being the best. Herewith, from the impressive to the humiliating, are Trump’s first 100 days, ranked:
TRUMP’S 10 BEST DAYS
#1. February 28 – The Speech
Score: 7.7
On this day, Trump behaved like a normal president. In his prime-time address to the joint session of Congress, he called for “all citizens to embrace this renewal of the American spirit” and said, “The time for trivial fights is behind us.” The speech’s emotional climax came when he honored the memory of fallen Navy Seal William “Ryan” Owens, telling his tearful widow, “We will never forget Ryan.” Liberal CNN pundit Van Jones declared, “He became president of the United States in that moment, period.” The drama of the moment washed away weeks of questions about the botched raid in Yemen that took Ryan’s life. And for a fleeting moment, Trump’s polarizing agenda felt a little less polarizing, as the country thought that maybe the blustery Trump had left behind his combative tendencies. On this day, Trump did not tweet.
#2. April 7 – The Strike
Score: 6.6
For the second time, a CNN commentator made the post-inauguration declaration, “Donald Trump became president of the United States.” No, Fareed Zakaria didn’t say it just because Trump fired off some missiles, but because he did it in the name of upholding an international agreement against the use of chemical weapons. Beyond the strike, the day had other hallmarks of a White House interested in governing. Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch was confirmed. Trump’s Mar-a-Largo summit with the Chinese president wrapped without diplomatic incident. Trump reportedly told his warring aides Jared Kushner and Steve Bannon to “work this out” because, according to the New York Times, “Mr. Trump said he recognized that the continuing state of drama was unsustainable.”
#3. April 3 – The Handshake
Score: 5.8
April 3 featured Trump’s handshake with Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. By warmly welcoming Egypt’s strongman president to the White House, Trump was achieving a key nationalist foreign policy goal: deprioritizing human rights in favor of transactional alliances that serve the narrow national interest. He delivered for social conservatives by cutting off support for the United Nations Population Fund, which provides contraception and other family planning services to women around the world. Trump also signed three bills that scrapped Obama-era regulations regarding hunting on federal land in Alaska, workplace safety record-keeping and internet privacy. On the other side of the ledger, Buzzfeed reported that former Trump adviser Carter Page “met with and passed documents to a Russian intelligence operative in New York City in 2013.” And the Washington Post uncovered that “The United Arab Emirates arranged a secret meeting in January between Blackwater founder Erik Prince and a Russian close to President Vladimir Putin as part of an apparent effort to establish a back-channel line of communication between Moscow and President-elect Donald Trump.”
#4 (tie). March 14 – Manipulating Maddow
Score: 5.7
Rachel Maddow took to the airwaves armed with Trump’s 2005 tax return, which had been mailed anonymously to journalist and tax expert David Cay Johnston. Coming a day after the Congressional Budget Office leveled a devastating blow to the House Republican bill to replace Obamacare, the tax story briefly diverted attention away from negative stories about health care reform and showed nothing scandalous. Trump also had a chummy meeting with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, afterward heralding “a historic turning point in bilateral relation of the two countries.” Salman even went so far as to defend the travel ban, which did not target his country. The statement showed Trump successfully reorienting America’s foreign policy priorities and alliances, for better or worse.
#4 (tie). April 10 – Trump Basks
Score: 5.7
Three days after the Syrian strike, Trump was rewarded with a CBS poll showing 57 percent of Americans supported the decision. He also savored the swearing-in ceremony of Justice Gorsuch. And he engaged in one of his favorite presidential pastimes: taking credit for corporate investments planned before the election. On this day, it was Toyota’s $1.33 billion investment in a Kentucky factory. But a worrisome development clouded the day. The Los Angeles Times reported that an official with Afghanistan’s intelligence agency said Russia has been providing the Taliban with money, weapons and “strategic advice”—a blow to Trump’s hope that Putin would be a partner in combating terrorism.
#6. March 6 – Squeezing ISIS in Raqqa
Score: 5.6
This day was best-known for the Republican introduction of the American Health Care Act, a revised “travel ban” executive order and press secretary Sean Spicer’s painful attempts to explain Trump’s accusation that Obama wiretapped him. But perhaps the most important event was that, according to the New York Times, “American-backed militia fighters in Syria … severed the last remaining access for supply deliveries to Raqqa”—the “de facto capital” of ISIS—“and may have eliminated an escape route for Islamic State fighters.”
#7 (tie). January 24 – Turn on the Spigot
Score: 5.5
Early points on the board: Trump signed executive orders that reversed Obama’s procedural blocks of the Dakota Access Pipeline and Keystone XL pipeline. Now, the Dakota Access Pipeline is expected to be in service next month, though the Keystone application has yet to overcome the Nebraska Public Service Commission.
#7 (tie). April 13 – Trump Bombs the S—t Out of ISIS
Score: 5.5
The GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb—or the “mother of all bombs”—was successfully dropped on an ISIS tunnel complex in eastern Afghanistan, killing around 100 militants with no reports of civilian casualties. Trump also signed legislation that makes it easier for states to refuse Planned Parenthood funding, and scraps an attempt by Obama to help cities and counties create retirement savings programs for private-sector workers. But a POLITICO dispatch this day also warned Trump that his base was unhappy that Bannon appeared to be sidelined. And Carter Page continued his series of unhelpful interviews, telling ABC News that during a visit to Russia, discussion of easing sanctions “may have come up in a conversation. … We'll see what comes out in this FISA transcript.”
#7 (tie). April 24 – Timber!
Score: 5.5
Trump got real on trade, as the Commerce Department announced plans to impose a tariff on Canadian softwood lumber. Sonny Perdue was confirmed as agriculture secretary. And Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee complained about the pace of its investigation into Russia’s election interference.
#10. April 9 – Twitter Diplomacy
Score: 5.4
Trump had a quiet Sunday in the aftermath of his missile strike in Syria, getting in some golf at Mar-a-Lago. But a tweet furthered his desire to strengthen America’s alliance with Egypt. After an ISIS bombing of two Coptic churches, Trump praised the Egyptian leader: “I have great confidence that President el-Sisi will handle the situation properly.”
***
TRUMP’S 10 WORST DAYS
#99. February 9, 2017 – Flynn Pinned
Score: 2.4
On no day was the White House under siege on more fronts than this fateful Thursday. National Security Adviser Michael Flynn tacitly acknowledged to the Washington Post that he had discussed sanctions with the Russian ambassador to the United States before Trump was inaugurated, one day after flatly denying the allegations. Meanwhile, a unanimous three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit of Appeals upheld a lower court’s restraining order blocking the “travel ban.” Trump angrily tweeted “SEE YOU IN COURT” but later submitted to the decision. Back in the White House briefing room, Counselor Kellyanne Conway exhorted Americans to “go buy Ivanka’s stuff” days after Nordstrom announced it was dropping her line of branded productions. House Oversight Committee Chair Jason Chaffetz immediately declared Conway “wrong, wrong, wrong” and signed a bipartisan letter to the Office of Government Ethics requesting “recommendations for disciplinary action, if warranted.” To cap the awful day, Reuters broke the news that an internal Department of Homeland Security report had pegged the cost of a border wall at $21.6 billion, nearly double what the Trump campaign estimated and a poor omen for the proposal’s prospects in Congress.
#98. March 24, 2017 – Obamacare Wins
Score: 2.7
Facing certain defeat at the hands of his own party, House Speaker Paul Ryan canceled a planned vote on legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare. The Pentagon launched an investigation into a series of recent strikes in Iraq and Syria alleged to have caused the deaths of nearly 300 civilians. Trump’s environmental deregulatory agenda collided with the California Air Resources Board. The panel voted to stick to the agreement, forged with the Obama White House, to double vehicle fuel efficiency by 2025 in defiance of Trump’s move earlier in month to reconsider the standards. But, Trump also gained 2 points in the Gallup tracking poll.
#97. March 20 – The Comey Double-Whammy
Score: 3.3
During his testimony to the House Intelligence Committee, FBI Director James Comey confirmed that the bureau was actively investigating whether the Trump presidential campaign colluded with the Russian government. And he debunked Trump’s wild claim that Obama had ordered a wiretap on Trump Tower phones. Meanwhile, a Ukrainian member of Parliament released documents suggesting former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort had tried to hide payments from the pro-Russian Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych. Trump applied a balm to his woes that evening with a rally in Louisville before thousands of adoring fans. He was also buoyed by the smooth beginning of the Gorsuch confirmation hearings.
#96. February 10 – Shinzo Feels Our Pain
Score: 3.4
Democrats pushed for Flynn’s ouster one day after his tacit admission. Trump played dumb, telling reporters on Air Force One, “I don’t know about that. I haven’t seen it. What report is that? I haven’t seen that. I’ll look into that.” Meanwhile, POLITICO published a leak-stuffed report citing “aides and allies” who said Trump was “increasingly frustrated with the challenges of running the massive federal bureaucracy,” that “his mood has careened between surprise and anger” and “the transition from overseeing a family business to running the country has been tough on him.” Trump was also skewered in social media for his awkward, protracted handshake with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe who, in his facial expression, seemed to channel the world’s incredulity. On the upside: Tom Price was confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services.
#95. February 3 - Travel Ban Banned
Score: 3.6
Trump suffered his first major judicial defeat when a Republican-appointed district court judge in Seattle issued a nationwide restraining order throttling implementation of his travel ban. Earlier in the day, Trump continued to befuddle voters with his obsession over his replacement host for “The Apprentice.” “Yes, Arnold Schwarzenegger did a really bad job as Governor of California and even worse on the Apprentice,” tweeted Trump, “but at least he tried hard!" And he lost his nominee for secretary of the Army, Vincent Viola, who withdrew after having difficulty resolving conflicts of interest with his business assets. Trump did flex some foreign policy muscle, slapping Iran with sanctions in response to a ballistic missile test. "Iran is playing with fire,” Trump added on Twitter, “they don't appreciate how ‘kind’ President Obama was to them. Not me!"
#93 (tie). March 30 – New Mess With Nunes
Score: 3.7
Eight days after House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes undercut Comey’s testimony and claimed to have evidence that “the intelligence community incidentally collected information about U.S. citizens involved in the Trump transition,” the New York Times reported that the information was fed to Nunes by two White House officials. Nunes then circled back to the White House to brief the president, instead of vetting the information in bipartisan fashion with his committee—setting off a rash of complaints. Meanwhile, Trump seethed about the previous week’s Obamacare repeal failure, tweeting out a threat to the far-right freedom caucus: “The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they don't get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!” And the Environmental Protection Agency embarrassed Trump by leading a news release meant to tout an executive order with the statement, “President Trump has chosen to recklessly bury his head in the sand.” The EPA apologized for “mistakenly” sending an “internal draft.” Finally, White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh resigned. The move was portrayed as voluntary, but days later, CNN reported “people who know Walsh said … it was doubtful she left of her own volition … and [it] reflects poorly on [chief of staff Reince] Priebus' ability to protect his hires, or himself.”
#93 (tie), April 6 – Nunes Recuses
Score: 3.7
Days of Democratic pressure got to Nunes, as he recused himself from leading the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation. The New York Times reported that the CIA told senior lawmakers last summer that “it had information indicating that Russia was working to help elect Donald J. Trump president.” The Times raised the prospect that Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner, who “did not mention dozens of contacts with foreign leaders or officials in recent months,” may be ensnared by the probe. CNN reported there is “paranoia and unrest among top staff” with “rival factions” led by Kushner and “alt-right” leader Bannon, who had been removed from the National Security Council the day before. The Daily Beast headlined “Steve Bannon Calls Jared Kushner a ‘Cuck’ and ‘Globalist’ Behind His Back.” POLITICO revealed the infighting seeps throughout the bureaucracy, “paralyzing federal agencies, which have been hamstrung by slow hiring, disorganization and an overall lack of direction.” But the Senate delivered Trump a present: deploying the nuclear option and cueing up Gorsuch’s confirmation. And Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived at Mar-a-Lago without diplomatic incident.
#92. March 2 – Sessions Recuses
Score: 3.8
Attorney General Jeff Sessions tried to quell a firestorm about his contacts with Russians during the campaign by recusing himself from any investigation involving the 2016 campaign. But former Trump campaign aide Carter Page added to the fire, recounting on MSNBC that "I’m not going to deny that I talked with [Russian Ambassador to the U.S. Sergei Kislyak].” And the New York Times found that Kushner and Kislyak had a meeting that included Flynn during the transition. The effort to craft an Obamacare repeal bill was mocked by Sentor Rand Paul, who dubbed it “Obamacare-lite.” He then went on a public hunt for the draft, reacting to a Bloomberg story that “the document is being treated a bit like a top-secret surveillance intercept” by House negotiators. Things were a little better in the Senate, which confirmed Ben Carson and Rick Perry to the departments of Housing & Urban Development and Energy, respectively. And Trump’s Transportation Department delighted the airline industry by suspending the process for creating a rule that would have increased transparency in airline passenger fees.
#89 (tie). February 2 – Pray for Arnold, Ivanka and the Bowling Green Massacre Victims
Score: 3.9
Trump roiled the National Prayer Breakfast by going on an extended rant about “Apprentice” host Schwarzenegger: “I want to just pray for Arnold ... for those ratings.” Trump would soon have a new focus for his enmity: Nordstrom, which on this day dropped the sale of his daughter’s product line after poor sales. Conway became a laughingstock when, during an MSNBC town hall she defended the travel ban by claiming Iraqi refugees “were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre,” even though no Bowling Green Massacre ever occurred. Trump attracted plenty of mockery of his own when the content of his belligerent phone call with the Australian prime minister was leaked. He called a refugee agreement between the two countries “the worst deal ever” and the phone call “the worst call by far.” According to the Washington Post report published a few days later, Trump also “boasted about the magnitude of his Electoral College win.”
#89 (tie). February 13 – Out Like Flynn
Score: 3.9
Hours after Conway insisted, “General Flynn does enjoy the full confidence of the president,” Flynn resigned, taking blame for “inadvertently brief[ing] the Vice President Elect and others with incomplete information regarding my phone calls with the Russian Ambassador.” However, Trump ended the day with more staff than the day before, as Steven Mnuchin and David Shulkin were confirmed to lead the departments of Treasury and Veterans Affairs, respectively. Trump also pulled off a warm meeting with his ideological opposite, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, temporarily quelling fears of a trade war between the two countries. Trump also struck a blow in the drug war by imposing sanctions on Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami, who was described by Bloomberg as “one of the most-senior government leaders of any country” targeted “under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.” The White House received a letter from the Office of Government Ethics saying Conway should be disciplined for hawking Ivanka Trump’s product line. She wasn’t.
#89 (tie). February 1 – “Almost Everything That Could Go Wrong Did”
Score: 3.9
The New York Times delved into the botched Yemen raid, concluding, “almost everything that could go wrong did.” A Reuters dispatch captured complaints of Trump’s decision-making process from anonymous “military officials” who said Trump “approved his first covert counterterrorism operation without sufficient intelligence, ground support or adequate backup preparations.” Trump opined on Fredrick Douglass during a Black History Month event, calling him “an example of somebody who’s done an amazing job and he’s being recognized more and more, I noticed.” A leaked transcript of a call with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto suggested Trump threatened military action: “You have a bunch of bad hombres down there ... I just might send [our military] down to take care of it." (The White House and the Mexican government disputed the characterization that Trump was threatening.)
***
THE NOT-SO-BAD DAYS
Trump had 24 days with a score between 5.1 and 5.3.
Tied for #11 (Score: 5.3)
January 23: Trump junked the Trans-Pacific Partnership and stopped funding for international family planning services that offer or promote abortions. His CIA director was confirmed. And he complained to members of Congress about nonexistent illegal votes for Hillary Clinton.
January 25: Trump signed executive orders that launched his crackdown on illegal immigration and construction of the southern border wall. He also approved the fateful counterterrorism raid in Yemen.
February 18: Trump held a rally in Melbourne, Florida, and played golf. He confused everyone by wrongly suggesting a terrorist attack happened the previous night in Sweden.
February 22: The Education and Justice departments jointly revoked Obama’s policy supporting transgender students’ ability to use the school bathroom of their choice.
March 27: Trump signed four bills erasing Obama-era rules, including one that would have required federal contractors to disclose labor law violations.
April 12: Trump gleefully recounted on Fox Business Network how he told the Chinese government about the Syrian strike over chocolate cake. He also ditched a campaign pledge to label China a currency manipulator.
April 21: Trump met with the charity worker his administration helped free from an Egyptian prison. But the House Intelligence Committee, without Nunes at the helm, invited former Acting Attorney General Sally Yates to testify about the Russian investigation.
April 28: The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with Trump’s EPA and suspended the case over Obama’s landmark climate regulations. Trump also repealed Obama’s ban on Arctic Ocean drilling by executive order.
Tied for #19 (Score: 5.2)
January 20: Inauguration Day! With riots!
February 25: Trump ate a well-done steak with ketchup at his Washington hotel with Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Nigel Farage and Florida Gov. Rick Scott.
February 27: Wilbur Ross was confirmed as commerce secretary, and the Justice Department partially abandoned a legal challenge to the Texas voter ID law.
March 9: After portions of the health care bill cleared House committees, Trump tweeted, “Despite what you hear in the press, healthcare is coming along great. We are talking to many groups and it will end in a beautiful picture!” (It did not.)
March 25: The day after the health-care defeat, pro-Trump rallies were held in several cities, and Trump played golf at Virginia’s Trump National. But the New York Times’ Maureen Dowd penned an open letter: “You, Donald, are getting a reputation as a sucker. And worse, a sucker who is a tool of the D.C. establishment.”
April 1: Trump promoted a survey by the National Association of Manufacturers, which found “Manufacturers’ Optimism at 20-Year High.” The New York Times reported that Flynn did not include payments from Russia on his financial disclosure forms.
April 4: The Syrian government killed dozens with chemical weapons in rebel-held Idlib province, an action that Trump swiftly condemned. The deputy secretary for homeland security was confirmed and an assistant secretary of the Treasury was nominated.
April 8: Chinese state media praised President Xi’s summit meeting with Trump. Bannon and Kushner met to reduce tensions. Trump golfed, and tweeted about why he didn’t bomb Syrian airbase runways.
April 14: Trump was surely happy with the “failing” New York Times, which reported, “Many Supporters Are Unfazed by His Reversals.” And he got in some golf at Trump International. But a judge ruled municipalities can sue the federal government over Trump’s executive order targeting so-called “sanctuary cities.”
April 15: Trump didn’t let the Tax Day march get in the way of golf. Plus, North Korea’s missile test failed, possibly due to a U.S. cyberattack.
April 16: Trump defended China on Twitter: “Why would I call China a currency manipulator when they are working with us on the North Korean problem? We will see what happens.” And he got defensive about Tax Day marchers: “Someone should look into who paid for the small organized rallies yesterday. The election is over."
April 20: Trump learned that the Egyptian-American charity worker would be freed from prison. But Homeland Security’s inspector general warned that the department is too understaffed to carry out Trump’s immigration crackdown.
Tied for #31 (Score: 5.1)
February 19: Trump played golf and clarified that last evening’s reference to Sweden was not about a terrorist attack, but a Fox News segment.
March 22: During a Time interview, Trump giddily cited information released by Nunes (later revealed to have initially come from the White House) giving credence to Trump’s claims of being wiretapped by Obama. (The resulting Time cover: “Is Truth Dead?”)
March 23: As his health-care bill neared a scheduled House vote, Trump met with truckers and got to play with a steering wheel.
March 28: Trump signed a wide-ranging environmental executive order that rescinded several Obama-era initiatives regarding climate change. He also lashed out at the Freedom Caucus for rejecting his health care bill: “The Republican House Freedom Caucus was able to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”
***
THE JUST AVERAGE DAYS
Trump had six days in which the needle did not move. This is not to say they were dull.
Tied for #35 (Score: 5.0)
January 31: Neil Gorsuch was nominated for the Supreme Court, and Elaine Chao was confirmed as transportation secretary. Spicer famously explained why Trump referred to a travel “ban” while denying it was a ban at all: “He’s using the words that the media is using.”
February 20: H.R. McMaster was appointed national security adviser, replacing Flynn. The Swedish prime minister scolded, “We must all take responsibility for using facts correctly and verifying any information that we spread.”
February 24: Trump spoke at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference and attacked the FBI for leaks. Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection solicited proposals from contractors regarding building the wall.
March 12: Senator Rand Paul warned Trump: “We’re not going to vote for” the House health care bill.
March 19: A game of golf compensated for a 3-point drop in the Gallup tracking poll.
April 5: Bannon was booted off the National Security Council. Trump baselessly accused Obama’s national security adviser, Susan Rice, of a crime. Trump declared that Syria crossed “many, many lines.”
***
THE NOT-SO-GOOD DAYS
Trump had 48 days with a score between 4.0 and 4.9.
Tied for #41 (Score: 4.9)
January 27: Trump signed the travel ban. British Prime Minister Theresa May was welcomed to the White House, though her name was misspelled on the official schedule.
February 8: Jeff Sessions was confirmed as attorney general, and Trump attacked Nordstrom.
February 17: Trump delivered a well-received speech at a Boeing factory in South Carolina, while Senator John McCain delivered a speech in Munich widely interpreted as critical of Trump. Scott Pruitt was confirmed to lead the EPA.
February 21: Trump condemned the spate of threats to Jewish community centers, after being criticized for his silence. Trump derided the “so-called angry crowds” who flooded Republican town halls.
March 8: A day of reaching out. Trump met with two House Democrats about prescription drug prices and had dinner with Ted Cruz and his family. Senator Mark Warner and some colleagues visited the CIA as part of their Russia investigation.
March 29: Trump hit his lowest level in the Gallup tracking poll, 35 percent. The EPA ignored its science advisers and rejected a proposed ban on chlorpyrifos in pesticides.
April 17: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin conceded tax reform won’t be done by August. But the White House Easter Egg Roll was not a disaster.
April 22: Trump awarded a Purple Heart at Walter Reed Medical Center, while tens of thousands attended March for Science protests.
April 26: Trump agreed to renegotiate NAFTA after flirting with terminating it, announced a thinly detailed tax reform plan, agreed to continue Affordable Care Act subsidies and did not start World War III after briefing the entire Senate on North Korea.
April 27: Trump removed Obama-era caps on troop levels in Syria and Iraq. The House again delayed a vote on Obamacare repeal.
Tied for #51 (Score: 4.8)
February 12: POLITICO reported that Trump was “complaining to friends and allies about some of his most senior aides,” but that did not get in the way of golf at Trump International.
March 3: Trump defended Sessions in a tweetstorm after the attorney general recused himself from the Russia investigation.
March 10: The Associated Press reported, “Trump transition knew Flynn might register as foreign agent.”
April 2: White House aides mistakenly told reporters that Kushner arrived in Iraq before he actually did, creating a potential security risk. Trump played golf with Senator Rand Paul at Virginia’s Trump National.
Tied for #55 (Score: 4.7)
January 26: Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto canceled his White House visit to protest the border wall executive order, but the mayor of Miami dropped “sanctuary city” status.
February 7: Betsy DeVos was confirmed as education secretary. Senator McCain criticized the Yemen mission: “I would not describe any operation that results in the loss of American life as a success.”
March 7: Conservatives and moderates in the House Republican caucus recoiled at the unveiled health care bill.
April 18: An aircraft carrier said to be headed toward North Korea was actually headed toward the Indian Ocean. Democrat Jon Ossoff nearly won 50 percent in the first round of the special election in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District, the former district of Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price.
April 23: Trump tried on Twitter to explain why he’s asking taxpayers for border wall money: “Eventually, but at a later date so we can get started early, Mexico will be paying, in some form, for the badly needed border wall.”
Tied for #60 (Score: 4.6)
January 22: Kellyanne Conway coined the term “alternative facts.”
January 30: Acting Attorney General Sally Yates refused to defend the travel ban and was quickly fired. The New York Times editorial board criticized “President Bannon,” irking Trump.
February 6: The speaker of the British Parliament refused to let Trump address his chamber in an upcoming visit due to “our opposition to racism and to sexism.”
February 11: Trump was briefed on North Korea in the middle of Mar-a-Lago. And he hit two golf courses with the Japanese prime minister. A “Saturday Night Live” sketch channeled the mood of blue America: “I want one day without a CNN alert that scares the hell out of me.”
March 11: Longtime Trump associate Roger Stone admitted to having an exchange with Russian hacker Guccifer 2.0.
March 18: The Washington Post reported, “Inside Trump’s White House, New York moderates spark infighting and suspicion.” Trump played golf at Trump International.
March 31: Trump signed legislation negating an Obama-rule that sought to limit states’ ability to require drug testing for receipt of unemployment benefits.
April 25: A district court partially blocked Trump’s immigration executive order, preventing Justice and Homeland Security from cutting off funds to sanctuary cities.
Tied for #68 (Score: 4.5)
January 29: Navy SeAL William “Ryan” Owens was killed in the botched Yemen raid.
February 16: Trump held a boisterous news conference in which he insisted, “I see stories of chaos. It’s the exact opposite. This administration is running like a fine-tuned machine. ... There’s zero chaos.”
March 26: Trump held meetings at Trump National in Virginia for an hour but likely did not golf. (Photos show him watching golf on TV.) Trump vented on Twitter about his health-care defeat: “Democrats are smiling in D.C. that the Freedom Caucus, with the help of Club For Growth and Heritage, have saved Planned Parenthood & Ocare!”
April 19: Sarah Palin, Kid Rock and Ted Nugent visited the White House.
Tied for #72 (Score: 4.4)
February 4: After Bill O’Reilly told Trump that Vladimir Putin is a “killer,” Trump retorted, “You think our country’s so innocent?” Melissa McCarthy debuted her impression of Sean Spicer. Trump played golf at Trump International.
March 1: The Washington Post uncovered that “Sessions met with Russian envoy twice last year, encounters he later did not disclose.”
March 5: POLITICO reported, “There’s a real frustration among many — including from the president — that things aren’t going as smoothly as one had hoped.”
March 16: While the Senate Intelligence Committee debunked Trump’s wiretap claim, Spicer doubled down and suggested British spies were involved. Budget director Mick Mulvaney argued for cutting funds for Meals on Wheels.
March 17: Trump refused to shake German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s hand. (He later said he did not hear her invitation to shake.)
April 11: Spicer apologized after saying Hitler did not use chemical weapons. A drone killed 18 allied Syrian rebels in what the Washington Post deems, “the worst friendly fire incident of the war against the Islamic State."
Tied for #78 (Score: 4.3)
January 21: Trump’s first full day as president was dominated by the Women’s March, while Trump inflated the size of his inaugural crowd while addressing the CIA, and Spicer insisted the crowd was actually the largest ever, “Period.”
February 5: The White House bristled at the New York Times’ depiction of a White House in disarray: “Aides confer in the dark because they cannot figure out how to operate the light switches in the Cabinet room,” and Trump watches “television in his bathrobe …. offering a bitter play-by-play of critics like CNN’s Don Lemon.” Earlier in the day, Trump played golf.
February 14: The New York Times and CNN exposed “repeated” and “constant” contacts between top Trump campaign advisers and Russian spies.
February 26: The father of the Navy SEAL killed in Yemen ripped Trump in a Miami Herald interview: “I told them I don’t want to meet the president. ... Why at this time did there have to be this stupid mission when it wasn’t even barely a week into his administration? ... Don’t hide behind my son’s death to prevent an investigation.”
#82 (Score: 4.2)
January 28: Travel ban protesters swarmed airports while a judge partially, and forebodingly, blocked the executive order.
Tied for #83 (Score: 4.1)
February 23: CNN reported that “the FBI rejected a recent White House request to publicly knock down media reports about communications between Donald Trump's associates and Russians. ... Such a request from the White House is a violation of procedures that limit communications with the FBI on pending investigations.”
March 13: The Congressional Budget Office estimated that 24 million fewer people would have coverage under the House Republican health care bill.
March 21: Trump half-jokingly threatened Freedom Caucus leader Rep. Mark Meadows: “I’m gonna come after you, but I know I won’t have to, because I know you'll vote ‘yes,’” on the Obamacare repeal bill. Freedom Caucus members would later cite the exchange as a reason the bill failed.
Tied for #86 (Score: 4.0)
February 15: The Wall Street Journal learned that “U.S. intelligence officials have withheld sensitive intelligence from President Donald Trump because they are concerned it could be leaked or compromised.” Labor Secretary nominee Andy Puzder withdrew.
March 4: Trump woke up, accused President Barack Obama of wiretapping his phones without any evidence, claimed Arnold Schwarzenegger got “fired by his bad (pathetic) ratings, not by me,” then hit some golf balls at Trump International.
March 15: The second attempt at a travel ban was stymied again by a federal district court judge. POLITICO reported that White House staffers work in “an environment of fear that has hamstrung the routine functioning of the executive branch.”
Research assistance was provided by Lakshmi Varanasi. | {
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One of the difficulties inherent in machine learning techniques is that the most accurate algorithms refuse to tell a story: we can discuss the confusion matrix, testing and training data, accuracy and the like, but it’s often hard to explain in simple terms what’s really going on.
Practically speaking this isn’t a big issue from an engineering perspective, but in a general political sense it is- highly accurate machine are often considered creepy, especially when it’s not apparent how it figured something out.
A simple case of this is part of speech tagging – you can read a book on how it works, and see the output, but it’s really hard to figure out whether something is “good” and develop an intuition for the personality of the algorithms. To that end, I’ve experimented with comparing the output of two taggers on common pieces of text, below.
The first tagger is the POS tagger included in NLTK (Python). This is presented in some detail in “Natural Language Processing with Python” (read my review), which has lots of motivating examples for natural language processing around NLTK, a natural language processing library maintained by the authors. The second toolkit is the Stanford NLP tagger (Java). Conveniently, these each use a simlar set of text.
For the first example, we’ll take a simple sentence and compare the output of the two products. In this case, you can see the formatting is quite different, but the tags are the same.
nltk.pos_tag(nltk.word_tokenize( """This Court has jurisdiction to consider the merits of the case."""")) [('This', 'DT'), ('Court', 'NNP'), ('has', 'VBZ'), ('jurisdiction', 'NN'), ('to', 'TO'), ('consider', 'VB'), ('the', 'DT'), ('merits', 'NNS'), ('of', 'IN'), ('the', 'DT'), ('case', 'NN'), ('.', '.')] This_DT Court_NNP has_VBZ jurisdiction_NN to_TO consider_VB the_DT merits_NNS of_IN the_DT case_NN ._.
For reference, there are quite a few possible tags in a POS tagger, far more than what you learn in high school English class – this helps later processes form more accurate results. Here are examples, from the Penn TreeBank documentation-
CC - Coordinating conjunction CD - Cardinal number DT - Determiner EX - Existential there FW - Foreign word IN - Preposition or subordinating conjunction JJ - Adjective JJR - Adjective, comparative JJS - Adjective, superlative LS - List item marker MD - Modal NN - Noun, singular or mass NNS - Noun, plural NNP - Proper noun, singular NNPS - Proper noun, plural PDT - Predeterminer POS - Possessive ending PRP - Personal pronoun PRP$ - Possessive pronoun (prolog version PRP-S) RB - Adverb RBR - Adverb, comparative RBS - Adverb, superlative RP - Particle SYM - Symbol TO - to UH - Interjection VB - Verb, base form VBD - Verb, past tense VBG - Verb, gerund or present participle VBN - Verb, past participle VBP - Verb, non-3rd person singular present VBZ - Verb, 3rd person singular present WDT - Wh-determiner WP - Wh-pronoun WP$ - Possessive wh-pronoun (prolog version WP-S) WRB - Wh-adverb
The following are some more involved examples, rendered side by side. I’ve edited the output to facilitate comparison. NLTK is on the left; Stanford NLP on the right.
For the first example, I’ve chosen a sonnet, which is surprisingly similar between the two tools.
nltk.pos_tag(nltk.word_tokenize(""" Can my love excuse the slow offence, Of my dull bearer, when from thee I speed, From where thou art, why should I haste me thence? Till I return of posting is no need. """))
Can: NNP Can: MD my: PRP$ my: PRP$ love: NN love: NN excuse: NN excuse: NN the: DT the: DT slow: JJ slow: JJ offence: NN offence: NN ,: , ,: , Of: IN Of: IN my: PRP$ my: PRP$ dull: NN dull: JJ bearer: NN bearer: NN ,: , ,: , when: WRB when: WRB from: IN from: IN thee: NN thee: NN I: PRP I: PRP speed: VBP speed: VBP ,: , ,: , From: NNP From: IN where: WRB where: WRB thou: PRP thou: JJ art: VBP art: NN ,: , ,: , why: WRB why: WRB should: MD should: MD I: PRP I: PRP haste: VB haste: NN me: PRP me: PRP thence: NN thence: VB ?: . ?: . Till: NNP Till: IN I: PRP I: PRP return: VBP return: VBP of: IN of: IN posting: VBG posting: VBG is: VBZ is: VBZ no: DT no: DT need: NN need: NN .: . .: .
For a second example, I’ve chosen a very wordy example from a recent Supreme Court case. The reason this type of text is interesting is that it is a common type of thing one might want to analyze, and it has entity names in it. For such a short sentence, there is very little deviation – it makes me wonder if these aren’t two versions of the same code/model.
nltk.pos_tag(nltk.word_tokenize("""Roy Koontz, Sr., whose estate is represented here by petitioner, sought permits to develop a section of his property from respondent St. Johns River Water Management District (District), which, consistent with Florida law, requires permit applicants wishing to build on wetlands to offset the resulting environmental damage."""))
Roy: NNP Roy: NNP Koontz: NNP Koontz: NNP ,: , ,: , Sr.: NNP Sr.: NNP ,: , ,: , whose: WP$ whose: WP$ estate: NN estate: NN is: VBZ is: VBZ represented: VBN represented: VBN here: RB here: RB by: IN by: IN petitioner: NN petitioner: NN ,: , ,: , sought: VBD sought: VBD permits: NNS permits: NNS to: TO to: TO develop: VB develop: VB a: DT a: DT section: NN section: NN of: IN of: IN his: PRP$ his: PRP$ property: NN property: NN from: IN from: IN respondent: NN respondent: NN St.: NNP St.: NNP Johns: NNP Johns: NNP River: NNP River: NNP Water: NNP Water: NNP Management: NNP Management: NNP District: NNP District: NNP (: NNP -LRB-: -LRB- District: NNP District: NNP ): NNP -RRB-: -RRB- ,: , ,: , which: WDT which: WDT ,: , ,: , consistent: VBD consistent: JJ with: IN with: IN Florida: NNP Florida: NNP law: NN law: NN ,: , ,: , requires: VBZ requires: VBZ permit: NN permit: NN applicants: NNS applicants: NNS wishing: VBG wishing: VBG to: TO to: TO build: VB build: VB on: IN on: IN wetlands: NNS wetlands: NNS to: TO to: TO offset: VB offset: VB the: DT the: DT resulting: VBG resulting: VBG environmental: JJ environmental: JJ damage: NN damage: NN .: .’ .: .
Now, for a really interesting example: gibberish made to look like English. For this test, we’re going to use Lewis Carroll’s Jabberwocky:
nltk.pos_tag(nltk.word_tokenize(""" Twas bryllyg, and ye slythy toves Did gyre and gymble in ye wabe: All mimsy were ye borogoves; And ye mome raths outgrabe. """))
At last, we have something where the output varies. One obvious lesson from this is that these algorithms are more than happy to guess to improve accuracy, even where they have no idea what’s going on, a similar strategy to multiple choice tests. It may be prudent to develop a class of algorithms which lose points for consistently guessing wildly incorrectly (similar to the scoring method used on the SATs).
Twas: NNP Twas: NNP bryllyg: NN bryllyg: NN ,: , ,: , and: CC and: CC ye: VB ye: NN slythy: JJ slythy: NN toves: NNS toves: VBZ Did: NNP Did: VBD gyre: NN gyre: NN and: CC and: CC gymble: JJ gymble: NN in: IN in: IN ye: NN ye: JJ wabe: NN wabe: NN :: : :: : All: DT All: DT mimsy: NN mimsy: NN were: VBD were: VBD ye: NN ye: JJ borogoves: NNS borogoves: NNS ;: : ;: : And: CC And: CC ye: NN ye: VB mome: NN mome: FW raths: NNS raths: FW outgrabe: VBP outgrabe: FW .: . .: .
For a final sample, we have a commonly cited section of Winnie the Pooh: while completely decipherable as English, it’s excruciatingly long. It may be worth noting that while this is verbose for modern tastes, many legal documents are written in the form of a single long sentence, separated by conjunctions (whereas a, whereas b, …) – this also bears strong resemblance to the writings of Victor Hugo:
In after-years [Piglet] liked to think that he had been in Very Great Danger during the Terrible Flood, but the only danger he had really been in was in the last half-hour of his imprisonment, when Owl, who had just flown up, sat on a branch of his tree to comfort him, and told him a very long story about an aunt who had once laid a seagull’s egg by mistake, and the story went on and on, rather like this sentence, until Piglet who was listening out of his window without much hope, went to sleep quietly and naturally, slipping slowly out of the window towards the water until he was only hanging on by his toes, at which moment luckily, a sudden loud squawk from Owl, which was really part of the story, being what his aunt said, woke Piglet up and just gave him time to jerk himself back into safety and say, “How interesting, and did she?” when-well, you can imagine his joy when at last he saw the good ship, The Brain of Pooh (Captain, C. Robin; 1st Mate, P. Bear) coming over the sea to rescue him.
It’s worth noting here that the two processes tokenize these slightly differently – one handles a set of unicode characters more gracefully, and the other inserts extra token breaks. | {
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Spray Paint and Marker on wood
Billie Joe Armstrong is a musician, singer, and songwriter best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the band Green Day. He is also a guitarist and vocalist for the Pinhead Gunpowder and provides lead vocals for Green Day's side projects Foxboro Hot Tubs and The Network. | {
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The durable veteran Wizards center is entering the final year of a five-year $60 million contract and still has plenty left in the tank.
Marcin Gortat has been the Wizards’ starting center for each of the last five seasons. He has remained very consistent, both in terms of his production and durability. The Polish Machine is also likely to be traded this summer, according to Ben Standig of The Sports Capitol (link requires subscription).
There are many reasons why trading Gortat makes sense. He is entering the fifth year of a $60 million contract he signed in 2014 and can consistently produce. Gortat may be 34 years old, but he is arguably the Wizards player who is in the best physical shape. Another reason why Gortat may be moved is so Ian Mahinmi can start regularly, even if he is terribly foul prone. Or perhaps the Wizards are eyeing a center with the 15th pick in the draft, if they don’t trade it.
But Gortat may also be traded because of off-the-court issues. Last February and March, John Wall sat out due to a knee procedure, allowing Tomas Satoransky to start at the point guard position. The Wizards quickly won their first few games, prompting this tweet by Gortat on February 2:
That was followed by a Twitter response by Wall where he “LOL’ed.” Though that tweet was deleted, Wall said on a SportsCenter 6 episode that he was shocked Gortat would put the tweet out because he was the most “spoon-fed” player ever.
Regardless of “whose side” you’re on regarding this topic, Wall is the Wizards’ franchise player. He is getting a four-year supermax extension starting in the 2019-20 season. He won’t be the player who leaves.
The Wizards have limited cap flexibility and the supporting cast around the “Big Three” of Wall, Bradley Beal, and Otto Porter is quite old. Washington needs to find younger frontcourt talent now while their trio is still in its prime. Therefore, it should not be a surprise to see Gortat traded to another team, whether this week during the NBA Draft, or next month when free agency kicks into high gear. | {
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Jesse Kelly, an Iraq War veteran and former GOP congressional candidate, has been banned from Twitter for unspecified reasons, sparking outrage from conservatives.
Kelly, a former Marine who ran two failed campaigns for Congress in Arizona, in 2010 and 2012, currently hosts a talk radio program in Houston. It is not clear which of his recent tweets prompted the ban.
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According to Twitter's "range of enforcement options" page, Kelly should have been provided an explanation from Twitter around what policy he may have violated.
"When we permanently suspend an account, we notify people that they have been suspended for abuse violations, and explain which policy or policies they have violated and which content was in violation," according to Twitter.
The blowback to the ban was swift, with many conservatives demanding an explanation from Twitter.
Oh Hell No!
If Twitter shut down Jesse Kelly we may have to march on Silicon Valley https://t.co/RcDPZwKn7W — Jim Hanson (@Uncle_Jimbo) November 25, 2018
.@JesseKellyDC just shared this with me.
He’s permanently banned with no explanation. He broke no rules.
This madness has to stop. pic.twitter.com/zvwgSLg1Ri — Sean Parnell (@SeanParnellUSA) November 26, 2018
If this is all @TwitterSupport has told @JesseKellyDC, then @twitter is in violation of it's own rules. When an account is permanently suspended, Twitter promises to "explain which policy or policies they have violated and which content was in violation."https://t.co/IrtIF8iKnd pic.twitter.com/MjpxiJ5zBN — Jeryl Bier (@JerylBier) November 26, 2018
Jesse Kelly just showed me the final verdict:
twitter has permanently banned him.
His account is gone and will not be restored, according to Twitter support.
No warnings, no appeals
They’ve ghosted him. — Buck Sexton (@BuckSexton) November 26, 2018
BREAKING: A Twitter spokesperson told me they were going to look into why Jesse Kelly's account was suspended.
Their official response: "We have nothing to share on this account." — Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) November 26, 2018
I think that people on the Right who are cheering, or snarking with approval, over the banning of Jesse Kelly are engaging in deeply shortsighted behavior, and that the people who got him banned would just as soon put them up against the wall in a heartbeat too. — Jeff B. (@EsotericCD) November 26, 2018
The ppl who decided to ban Jesse Kelly and the ppl who are cheering his ban are not only unfair, tyrannical, and lame, they are also pitifully humorless. — Rebeccah Heinrichs (@RLHeinrichs) November 26, 2018
Conservabros who defended tech censorship see the world differently now that Jesse Kelly has been suspended. — Mike Cernovich (@Cernovich) November 25, 2018
What the hell is this? Twitter is a complete joke. Just be honest and admit you’re a corporate, in-kind donation to the Progressive movement and stop pretending you’re a social media “platform.” pic.twitter.com/t667s0DMz7 — Dan Bongino (@dbongino) November 26, 2018
Jesse Kelly is a funny guy and a combat vet Marine, a man very dedicated to his country, his family, and his bit. What Twitter has done marks a new low for the platform. — Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) November 26, 2018
Kelly, 37, predicted back in August that he would eventually be banned from Twitter.
“They just knew [Alex] Jones was the weak member of the herd. They could pick him off as a test run,” wrote Kelly in The Federalist. “Next they’re coming for you.”
The ban comes four days after far-right activist and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer was banned from Twitter after her criticism of Rep.-elect Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress.
Twitter declined to comment on Kelly's ban, citing privacy and security reasons.
Updated at 8:17 a.m. | {
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A newly-identified sketch of Leonardo da Vinci is to go on public display for the first time at Buckingham Palace.
The drawing of a bearded man is believed to be one of only two surviving portraits made during the artist’s life time.
Martin Clayton, head of prints and drawings at the Royal Collection, uncovered the image while examining papers stored in Windsor Castle.
He identified it as a study of Leonardo made by an unidentified assistant shortly before the artist’s death, aged 67, in 1519.
The only other contemporary portrait was made at around the same time by Leonardo’s pupil Francesco Melzi, the expert said.
Another drawing in Turin is widely believed to be a “self-portrait” of the Italian master but Mr Clayton and other experts have questioned the claim.
Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies Show all 5 1 /5 Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies Early sketches of Leonardo Da Vinci's painting The Last Supper PA Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies Studies of hands for Adoration of the Magi by Leonardo Da Vinci PA Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies Studies of the fetus in the womb by Leonardi Da Vinci PA Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies A drawing that has recently been confirmed as a portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci PA Early sketches of The Last Supper and other Da Vinci studies The only other known contemporary portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci, by his student Francesco Melzi PA
“If you compare this sketch with Francesco Melzi’s portrait of Leonardo, you can see strong indications that this too is a depiction of the artist,” said Mr Clayton.
“The elegant straight nose, the line of the beard rising diagonally up the cheek to the ear, a ringlet falling from the moustache at the corner of the mouth, and the long wavy hair are all exactly as Melzi showed them in his portrait.
“Alongside Melzi’s portrait, this is the only other contemporary likeness of Leonardo.”
Mr Clayton said Leonardo was aged around 65 in the sketch and appeared “a little melancholy and world-weary”.
“He knew that he was dying,” the expert added. ”A paralysis had struck his right arm, he could no longer paint – he could still draw – and he knew that his body was failing.”
He added: “Leonardo was renowned for his well-kept and luxuriant beard, at a time when relatively few men were bearded – though the beard was rapidly coming into fashion at this time.”
The portrait appears on a double-sided sheet of paper bearing Leonardo’s detailed studies of a horse’s leg for an equestrian monument.
Art historian Kenneth Clark suggested that it was ”just conceivable” that the portrait was of da Vinci when he compiled a scholarly catalogue of the drawings in the collection in 1968.
But the Royal Collection Trust said the suggestion went no further and it has only been positively identified during Mr Clayton’s research.
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It will be displayed alongside 200 drawings by the artist in an exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery from 24 May.
Other highlights include Leonardo’s studies for The Adoration of the Magi painting and The Last Supper.
In November a selection of 80 drawings will move to the Queen’s Gallery in Edinburgh for the largest exhibition of da Vinci’s works shown in Scotland. | {
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Вьетнам не позволит размещать на своей территории военные базы иностранным государствам, заявил представитель вьетнамского МИДа Ле Хай Бинь.
«Политика Вьетнама заключается в том, чтобы не объединяться с кем-либо против третьей страны. Мы так же не позволим другим государствам размещать во Вьетнаме свои военные базы», – приводит его слова Reuters.
Минобороны РФ в начале октября заявило о работе над возвращением военных баз в те страны, в которых они были у СССР. Во Вьетнаме, а также на Кубе, у России были базы, оставшиеся с советских времен, до 2002 года, затем их закрыли.
Пресс-секретарь президента РФ Дмитрий Песков объяснил возможность вернуть базы на Кубе и во Вьетнаме национальными интересами России. По словам Пескова, «последние два года внесли вообще в международные дела и в режим международной безопасности существенные коррективы».
Подписывайтесь на канал Руфабулы в Telegram, чтобы оперативно получать наши новости, статьи и мнения. | {
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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's financial watchdog said it would not publish the full report into Royal Bank of Scotland Group's RBS.L treatment of small businesses, but instead sent a copy of the report to lawmakers on Friday.
The cross-party Treasury Select Committee had given the Financial Conduct Authority a deadline of Friday to either publish the report, which details RBS’s much-criticised treatment of small business customers, or provide a copy to the committee of politicians.
The committee responded said it would meet next Tuesday to decide whether to publish the report under parliamentary privilege.
The report details how RBS, which is still 71 percent owned by taxpayers following its bailout during the 2008-9 financial crisis, prioritised profit over nursing troubled business customers back to financial health.
RBS has admitted some wrongdoing but denies the most serious allegations against it - namely that it pushed firms into bankruptcy to pick up their assets on the cheap.
The scandal has weighed on RBS’s attempts to reform its image a decade on from the financial crisis. The bank will report its full-year results next week.
The FCA said it could not publish the full report, which has been widely leaked anyway, because it could not obtain consent from all those mentioned throughout. | {
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People can die from simply giving up on life, a study has found.
Senior research fellow John Leach said “give-up-itis” is a genuine medical condition and can kill in just three weeks without help.
The disorder usually occurs after a person suffers severe trauma and feels there is no escape.
Leach said victims believe the “only rational outcome” is death.
He listed the stages as social withdrawal, lack of motivation and pain response, apathy and also psychogenic death — which he described as “disintegration of the person.”
Leach, from Portsmouth University in England, went on: “Psychogenic death is real. It isn’t suicide and isn’t linked to depression.”
He said losing the will to live could stem from a malfunction in brain circuitry that governs behavior.
Leach added: “Motivation is essential for coping with life and if that fails apathy is almost inevitable.”
“Reversing a give-up-itis slide to death tends to come when a survivor finds or recovers a sense of choice, of having some control — accompanied by licking their wounds and taking a renewed interest in life.”
Leach’s findings were published in Science Direct. | {
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Happy New Year everyone! PlayStation Store is back at it, kicking off 2020 with a two-week long Games Under $20 sale.
Starting tomorrow, cruise around Los Santos in one of PS Blog’s Top 10 Games of the Decade – GTA V, grab your proton pack but don’t cross the streams in Ghostbusters: The Video Game Remastered, or head off to the far reaches of an ever-evolving solar system in Outer Wilds.
Peep the full lineup below, then head over to PS Store tomorrow morning. Games Under $20 ends February 5 at 8 am PT – so don’t wait too long. Hindsight is 20/20. | {
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If Mark Ramprakash had taken to the Test arena as he later took to the dance floor then anyone assessing his 25-year playing career would happily follow in the footsteps of television judges Len Goodman, Bruno Tonioli and Co by awarding a perfect ten.
But as we are talking strictly cricket, on the day "Ramps" is set to announce his retirement, the jury is likely to agonise long and hard before declaring itself unable to deliver a unanimous verdict.
For the uninitiated, Ramprakash swept aside all rivals to win the 2006 edition of the popular British television programme Strictly Come Dancing, earning himself a host of new admirers in the process. He had seemed a most unlikely recruit for a competition that invites those taking part to fall flat on their faces (literally), but by all accounts, people who know their sambas from their salsas said the then 37-year-old was a star turn from the very first rehearsal.
Some 15 years earlier, most of us who saw Ramprakash make his Test debut - against West Indies in Leeds - thought precisely the same thing. True, the Headingley were no more substantial than a brace of 27s but the poise he showed at the crease (against a fiery attack containing Curtly Ambrose, Patrick Patterson, Malcolm Marshall and Courtney Walsh) convinced a majority of onlookers that we were witnessing the start of something big.
In fact, we were witnessing the beginning of something pretty much unfathomable. Technically and physically, the boy from Bushey, Hertfordshire, had everything and more that was needed to make a huge impression at the highest level. And yet, when England discarded him for the umpteenth and final time after a personally dire tour of New Zealand in 2002, his record reeked of under-achievement: an average of 27 across 52 Tests with just two centuries.
Given stats like that, it may seem curious he played as much as he did. But four coaches (Keith Fletcher, Ray Illingworth, David Lloyd and Duncan Fletcher) and four captains (Graham Gooch, Mike Atherton, Alec Stewart and Nasser Hussain) all hoped they might be the one for whom Ramps would bloom, thereby converting consistently excellent county form into a mountain of Test runs.
Statistics seldom tell the whole story, of course, and while Ramprakash's overall figures for England make sorry reading, it must be remembered that in 12 Tests against Australia - Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and the rest - he averaged a far from shabby 42. On top of that, one of his two hundreds was scored against the then all-conquering Aussies (at The Oval, in 2001).
But to seize on those last couple of facts while trying to gloss over the others would be an exercise in straw-clutching: as an international cricketer, Ramprakash achieved only a fraction of what should have been. Just look at his domestic achievements, first for Middlesex and then Surrey. He registered 1000 or more first-class runs for a season on 20 occasions, went beyond 2000 three times, and in 2006, when many an unofficial selector wanted him recalled by England, his Championship average for Surrey was a staggering 105.28.
That is special; very special. And there is more: his first-class average closes at 53.14 and he hangs up his bat, a couple of months short of his 43rd birthday, with 114 centuries in the bag. We could talk about his limited-overs performances, too, but enough of figures.
We should celebrate Ramprakash's achievements and agree with former England captain Michael Vaughan when he says that the man in question is "the best technician the English game has had in the past 20 years".
But, sooner or later, we have to return to the subject of why a player with so much going for him produced so little where it matters most of all - on the Test match stage. And that is where members of the jury are likely to disagree.
"As well as the most technically accomplished player of his generation, Ramprakash was also the most intense. Sublime technique came with something more restricting"
Some will lay a fair proportion of the blame at the feet of various selectors, coaches and supremos who chopped and changed the England team throughout the 1990s, meaning that players like Ramprakash and Graeme Hick - that other obviously unfulfilled talent who made his debut at precisely the same time - seldom felt secure in the side. It is strange to recall that Ramprakash was dropped for, among others, the likes of Chris Adams and Darren Maddy in the days when consistency of selection was hard to find.
Others may point out that Ramprakash had more than enough chances to shine and simply did not have what it takes temperamentally to cope with pressure at the highest level. For sure, he beat himself up unmercifully after a failure. By way of just one example, this observer well remembers seeing our subject skipping long and hard under a ferocious sun in South Africa as if to punish himself for a soft dismissal. Dressing-room tantrums were also commonplace as he forever searched for perfection. As well as the most technically accomplished player of his generation, he must also have been the most intense. Sublime technique came with something more restricting.
But perhaps, as is often the case, the truth lies somewhere in between; maybe Ramprakash was just around at the wrong time, internationally speaking. England were a poor Test outfit for most of the 1990s, and while the likes of Gooch and Atherton managed to flourish in the face of so much adversity, an intense character like Ramprakash became simply too desperate to succeed and too worried about looking over his shoulder.
You play the cards you are dealt and Ramprakash could and should have used his hand a lot better. But if he were now 22, rather than 42, and a new member of this current England set-up, where the team is everything and competition for places is accepted as a force for good rather than feared, then we might be looking today at a champion Test batsman in the making. And to hell with the dancing. | {
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news, local-news,
The Bordertown Gun Club held its annual Two Day shoot over the weekend of the October 20 – 21. Over the two days shooters travelled from as far afield as Adelaide, Mount Gambier, Wilkawatt, Warracknabeal, Patchewollock and Mildura; other areas represented included Monarto, Lake Albert, Kingston, Horsham, Dimboola, Jeparit, Naracoorte and Lucindale. The traps were set up quite early on the Saturday morning to be ready for practice to begin at 9.30. At this time conditions were reasonably calm with a slight frontal breeze but as the day progressed the wind became quite gusty and the flight of targets quite variable and challenging for shooters. Forty three shooters gathered to compete in the first day’s three events. 1st Event: 40 Target Double Barrel Championship: Kindly sponsored by Spartan Global; suppliers of cartridges and the club’s targets. Surprisingly only two possibles, Ash Hawker and Bob Crane with Molly Bretag, Darren Beyer, Martin Collumb, Chris Barnes, Bob Andrews, Ash Bolwell, Gavin Height, Kevin Mules and Steve Chambers all on 39/40. The resulting shoot off for second in AA finally saw Darren Beyer triumph over Molly Bretag after a further 55 targets. Overall and AA Grade: Ash Hawker 43/43, Darren Beyer 94/95 A Grade: Bob Crane 42/43, Steve Chambers 39/40 B Grade: Chris Barnes 39/40, Brian Jarrett 38/40 C Grade: Leah Ferguson 35/40, Bruce Papst 34/40 Best Junior: Daniel Peel 36/40. Best Lady: Molly Bretag 39/40 Best Veteran: Bob Andrews 39/40 2nd Event: 30 Target Single Barrel Championship: Kindly sponsored by AG-N- ELEC, Bordertown Bob Andrews shot the only possible from Martin Collumb 29/30 and Daniel Peel, Wayne Hawker and Gavin Height all 28/30 Overall and AA Grade: Bob Andrews 30/30, Martin Collumb 29/30 A Grade: Daniel Peel 28/30, Steve Chambers, Lisa Hawker 27/30 B Grade: Mark Tyson 26/30, Bob Atkinson 31/36 C Grade: Leah Ferguson 25/30, Danielle Smith 24/31 Best Junior: Zoe Hawker 25/30 Best Lady: Heather Ryan 24/30 Best Veteran: Bob Crane 26/30 3rd Event: 30 Target Pointscore Championship: Kindly sponsored by Horsham Wool, The Nelson family, Kaniva Ross Collumb and Greg Kessegian dropped only 1 point each, Bob Andrews down 2 points and Russell Black, Gavin Height, Ash Hawker and Kevin Mules all 3 points down. Overall and AA Grade: Greg Kessegian 107/108, Ross Collumb 106/108 A Grade: Russell Black 87/90, Andrew Ryan, Lisa Hawker 86/90 B Grade: Mark Tyson 84/90, Brian Jarrett 80/90 C Grade: Justin Bell 77/90, Bruce Papst 72/90 Best Junior: Daniel Peel 82/90 Best Lady: Molly Bretag 85/90 Best Veteran: Kevin Mules 87/90 At the end of Day One, leaders on points toward the Two Day High Gun award were Bob Andrews on 157 from Martin Collumb, Ash Bolwell, Gavin Height and Greg Kessegian all on 154. Last event of the day was the drawing of the monster raffle, kindly sponsored by local businesses in Bordertown and Kaniva. To complete the day, shooters and friends enjoyed an excellent evening meal prepared by Jum Lume and the club’s women supporters. Day two started out quite cold but without Saturday’s frontal breeze and remained relatively calm for the whole day ; excellent shooting conditions. Most of Saturday’s shooters returned to continue and additional visitors saw forty six shooters in total for the second day. 1st Event: 50 Target State Continental Single Barrel Championship: Kindly sponsored by the Bordertown Pharmacy Bob Andrews’ great shooting continued with the only possible 50/50, next best Wayne Hawker and Steve Chambers 47/50 followed by Martin Collumb, Warren Linder and Don Pratt 46/50 Overall and AA Grade: Bob Andrews 50/50, Wayne Hawker 60/63 A Grade: Steve Chambers 47/50, Lisa Hawker 50/55 B Grade: Bryan Peter 44/50, Bob Atkinson 40/50 C Grade: Leah Ferguson 45/50, Justin Bell 40/50 Best Junior: Kane Hawker 33/50 Best Lady: Zoe Hawker 39/50 Best Veteran: Bob Crane 45/50 2nd Event: 50 Target Double Barrel Championship: Kindly sponsored by Tatiara Trucks and Trailers, Bordertown Released from the pressure of single barrel, there were nine possibles; Robert Crane, Wayne Sanders, Bob Andrews, Peter Rundle, Ash Bolwell, Ash Hawker, Warren Linder, Don Pratt and Cameron Browne. Michael Raper, Peter Mellington, Ross Collumb, Ron Batson, John Hawker, Gavin Height and Lisa Hawker all 49/50. In the shoot off to decide Overall and AA first and second, Wayne Sanders and Cameron Browne decided to share the honours after 70 targets; 120/120. Overall and AA Grade: Wayne Sanders and Cameron Browne 120/120 A Grade: Bob Crane 50/50, Lisa Hawker, Ron Batson 49/50 B Grade: Kane Hawker 48/50, Bob Atkinson 47/50 C Grade: Justin Bell 46/50, Leah Ferguson 44/50 Best Junior: Zoe Hawker 46/50 Best Lady: Lisa Hawker 49/50 Best Veteran: Peter Rundle 50/50 Sponsors of Ladies, Junior and Veterans trophies for both second day events were Christine and Peter Noske Two Day High Guns: Overall High Gun was kindly sponsored by the Bendigo Bank; The Keith and Districts Community Bank and won by Bob Andrews 257/260 Graded High Guns: Kindly sponsored by J & A Shooting Supplies, Horsham AA winner, Ash Bolwell 249/260 A winner, Bob Crane 246/260 B winner, Mark Tyson 237/260 C winner, Justin Bell 219/260 Ladies High Gun winner: Lisa Hawker 243/260 Junior High Gun winner: Leah Ferguson 218/260 Veterans High Gun winner: Steve Chambers 238/260 Ladies, Junior and Veterans High Gun awards sponsored by Malcolm McGrice Overall and Grade sashes for both days kindly sponsored by Lower Murray Grit Blasting; John, Ruth and Molly Bretag Cartridges for other prizes were kindly donated by Allan Jones, Daniel Morgan, Bev and John Hawker Thank You to all those who assisted with the catering, the running the office or in any way to the smooth running of the shoot. As a small club with few active members the assistance of visiting shooters is much appreciated. For more photos check out Bordertown Gun Club on Facebook. The club’s next shoot will be held on Sunday 25th Nov with two 50 target championships; Continental and Double Barrel. Usual 11.30 am practice and 12 noon start. Practice available 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month from 4 pm.
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Asia Indonesian Cafe’s Nazi-Kitsch Theme Sparks Uncomfortable Questions
A Bandung restaurant’s adoption of a Nazi theme sparks debate on Indonesians’ seemingly relaxed attitude to offensive symbols.
BANDUNG/JAKARTA — A Bandung restaurant’s adoption of a Nazi theme has sparked debate on Indonesians’ seemingly relaxed attitude to offensive symbols, with sources of blame ranging from ignorance of history to a cultural tradition of jokes.
Soldatenkaffee has adorned its walls with Nazi-related memorabilia, including a large photograph of Adolf Hitler and a flag with the swastika symbol.
The waiters at the cafe dress in uniforms similar to those worn by officers of the Schutzstaffel (SS), the Nazi paramilitary. And in a nod to a classic Indonesian fried rice, the menu offers “Nazi goreng.”
Henry Mulyana, owner of Soldatenkaffee, said his decor had attracted many curious customers, both local and foreign, since the cafe’s opening in April 2011.
“I realized that displaying the Nazi symbol was going to spark some controversy, but I decided to go for it because I don’t feel I’m violating any laws,” Henry told the Jakarta Globe over the weekend.
“Controversy will always exist, depending on from what side we’re looking. The way I see it, the Nazis didn’t commit slaughter. War is crime, so there will always be acts of murder in a war.
“Even during the Dutch colonization of Indonesia, many Indonesians were killed. This is also the case with Americans and their bombing of Hiroshima. Why are the Nazis seen as bad guys while those belligerent nations are not?”
Denying Nazi Responsibility
Henry claimed there was no proof the Nazis were responsible for the Holocaust, the genocide of about 6 million Jews during World War II. He also denied idolizing Hitler or the Nazi ideology.
“The only reason why I put up Hitler’s picture is because it completes the theme I’ve set for my business,” Henry said.
“I’m not personally familiar with the [Nazi] ideology, but even if I am, I don’t think I’d find it completely disagreeable. For example, communism in Indonesia was prohibited, but it’s flourishing in China. Maybe it’s just a matter of politics.”
Many Internet users have heavily criticized the restaurant’s choice of theme.
“A genocide has never been or would ever be a good joke, not even a source of giggles,” wrote a user in an online thread on a forum for expatriates living in Indonesia.
Despite the near-global recognition of the horror of the Holocaust, in Indonesia symbols associated with the event have been used in marketing, often with producers and consumers ignorant of the historical origins.
Some factory outlet stores and small clothing shops in Indonesia sell shirts with the swastika symbol.
School Silence
Danang, a 20-something office worker in Central Jakarta, said that during his time as a school student he was not taught about racial conflicts in Indonesia or abroad.
“I don’t remember having learned anything in the classroom about interracial or interethnic relations in Indonesia,” Danang told the Jakarta Globe.
“We barely ever mention the fact that there is tension between different racial groups or religious groups during civics class or history class. Controversial issues like the riots of May 1998 and the Trisakti tragedy never came up. If it did, it was only mentioned in passing,” he said, referring to the violent events during the downfall of former strongman President Suharto.
“Teachers might bring it up in university if you major in political science, but my secondary school teachers definitely didn’t bring it up.”
Even though Indonesia consists of more than 300 ethnic groups speaking more than 700 languages, few of the nation’s more than 240 million people receive formal education about race relations.
Few schools in Indonesia teach the world history curriculum, contributing to ignorance on sensitive racial matters.
Jokes and Stereotypes
Many Indonesians only encounter racial matters through stereotypes and jokes.
“Growing up, my parents used to use ethnic stereotypes around my siblings and me. Some of them were pretty funny, even though they were often borderline racist,” said Yudi, a marketing manager at a multinational firm in Jakarta.
“Every time my sister was taking her leisurely time in the bathroom, we would retort, ‘She’s only like a Solo princess when she’s getting ready, but don’t you dare disturb her, because she’ll turn into a Flores thug!’”
Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono, a professor of psychology at University of Indonesia, said the use of humor to discuss controversial topics was a positive trait.
“The usage of humor actually shows maturity. The conflict of racism definitely exists, but it is latent. So it’s often disguised as humor,” Sarlito said.
“In psychology, we call this phenomenon sublimation, which is something potentially threatening that is packaged as another form that is more acceptable. Another example is the conversion of one’s aggressive tendencies into a form of self-defense.”
Indonesians’ casual and jesting manner when talking about race can result in a tendency to disregard an inappropriate reference to the Nazis as a light-hearted joke.
Ugly Tradition
With topics such as the conflict between Sunni and Shiite Muslims in East Java’s Madura Island dominating the news, it might seem that religious violence is more prominent than racial insensitivity.
But Sarlito said this was not the case.
The academic said racism existed in Indonesia before religious sectarianism. In Indonesia, one of the earliest large-scale conflicts was the slaughter of thousands of Chinese in Batavia, now Jakarta, in 1740.
Other interethnic clashes include the bloody Sampit conflict in 2001 between the native Dayak people and migrant Madurans in Central Kalimantan.
That many people still shrug off the use of the Nazis’ notoriety as a marketing tool suggests that racial and ethnic insensitivity remains ingrained in Indonesian culture.
Sarlito said a key way to change attitudes is for people to become more aware of history and society, both at home and abroad.
“If we want to increase sensitivity on racial issues, Indonesia needs to look back at history more often, keep reinforcing our Pancasila values and be aware of ideologies and values that can harm the unity of this nation.”
Ignorance of history is also apparent on the homefront. Many Indonesians are oblivious to the bloodshed that afflicted the nation during anti-communist violence in the 1960s, where more than a million people were reportedly killed but few perpetrators were brought to justice. | {
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Marc Elrich is considered by many to be the front-runner in the Montgomery County Executive’s race. Greater Greater Washington has endorsed George Leventhal, but we know that many activists we agree with but for whom housing is not their top issue are supporting Marc Elrich. We wanted to explain why we believe he would be a dangerous choice for County Executive.
Elrich has built a base composed of social progressives and labor unions that support policies like a higher minimum wage, along with neighborhood activists who oppose changes like new housing in their communities. Often those groups are not in conflict, but we also often hear neighborhood activists who want to help the less fortunate but not if it means fitting the less fortunate into their own neighborhoods.
Much of the coverage of a more urbanist bent has focused on Elrich’s bombastic statements, like calling a proposed plan for Long Branch “ethnic cleansing” or calling rain gardens “pits of death.” His ability to concoct memorable phrases is admirable and effective, though the way he employs them to occlude the benefits of proposals, such as environmental sustainability, is less praiseworthy. However, this isn’t the most important information for voters to understand about Elrich.
Members of our Elections Committee spent an hour talking with Elrich, during which he clearly laid out his thoughts about the county’s future. It’s apparent from the conversation that Elrich is highly intelligent and thoughtful. He has a more detailed understanding of many policy areas than the average politician. We believe he's genuine in his desire to help the people of Montgomery County.
Elrich has many admirable positions, but…
Elrich has a long record of service, in many ways quite positive. He was one of the earliest champions of Bus Rapid Transit in the county. He's said he'd like to impose parking caps and/or employ other policies to make parking not simply free and abundant, recognizing the costs it brings by encouraging and subsidizing car trips.
He spoke compellingly about the need to close the achievement gap, saying in our interview, “We integrated schools over fifty years ago, but we have the same gap we've ever had.” He is committed to reducing displacement of tenants in low-income areas and increasing affordable housing, both very worthy goals which the county should prioritize highly. He has pushed for the county to consider racial equity in all its actions.
However, his views on land use and housing are also wrong. His philosophy, if it dominated county planning, would choke off opportunities for younger singles and families to find homes and jobs in the county, or for the county's finances to remain strong amid nationwide demographic and economic change. We admire his progressive philosophy and empathy for “have nots,” but on planning, his policies only will serve those who currently have the homes and jobs they want in Montgomery County.
Elrichism, in a nutshell
Elrich calls himself a supporter of smart growth, the philosophy that new growth should be concentrated in the core of the region and near transit corridors. We support a smart growth philosophy, but Elrich's version of it isn't in line with the usual way people use the term.
He would generally curtail construction of new homes and offices in the vast majority of Montgomery County. He talks about allowing some growth within a half-mile radius of Metro stations or a quarter-mile of future BRT, and in most cases disallow it elsewhere. Within these half- and quarter-mile circles, too, Elrich isn't enthusiastic about allowing new apartment buildings near single-family homes, allowing homeowners in single-family areas to create duplexes, or permitting accessory apartments in basements or garages.
Broadly, Elrich isn't convinced Montgomery County needs to add many new homes or residents, or jobs. Many people with jobs in Bethesda or DC are now living in Frederick County and other outlying areas and driving through Montgomery to get to work. We asked Elrich what he’d do for these folks, and his answer was, “I prefer to put jobs in Frederick.” He’d encourage the growth of both households and jobs to happen there, and in Prince George’s County, and elsewhere.
And to the extent Montgomery County is forecast to grow, Elrich says there are some developments that have already gone through the approval process and are in the pipeline but still as yet unbuilt. Therefore, he said, “there's no panic” about the need to find places for new people or jobs.
Just go to Frederick?
We don't share Elrich's lack of concern about the county's growth. Many people who want to be part of the county can’t afford to. For instance, 38% of the demand for rental housing comes from households making below half of area median income, but only 19% of housing is affordable at that level. And good luck buying a home if you're at 50% of the area median; even for couples making $100,000, the county's median, only 15% of houses for sale are an option, and most of them are not in the areas near transit or top schools.
Elrich talked repeatedly about wanting millennials to be able to start families and find homes in the county, but didn’t address the fact that so many of them can’t afford to because those houses have grown too expensive.
“Just go to Frederick” is not a satisfactory answer either for the individual or for the county as a whole. If people live in Frederick but work near or inside the Beltway, they have to suffer very long commutes instead of spending time with family. As for jobs, it's unrealistic to scatter jobs broadly around the region. Many couples hold two jobs and when lower-paying jobs are involved, more than two. Even if one job is in Frederick County, the other(s) likely are not, consuming time and adding to pollution. Also, people can’t just move every time they switch jobs.
Further, since most people are willing to commute about 30 minutes, a new job in Frederick will mean more sprawl farther out toward Hagerstown, Harper's Ferry, WV, or Gettysburg, PA.
Residential location of workers employed in Bethesda/NIH, 2009. Image by MWCOG.
Elrich repeatedly referred to the Council of Governments' growth forecasts, which apportion new residents and jobs to all of the area counties based on the unbuilt potential in that county's zoning and a variety of other factors. He framed talk of allowing more people or jobs into Montgomery County as “grabbing” growth away from other counties.
While a regional mindset is admirable, the degree to which the region grows in the center versus at the edges is a major question with profound effects for commute times and the environment. Elrich seems largely uninterested in that, or still sees Montgomery County as an outer suburb rather than a home to major job centers in the region's core.
Finally, despite the way COG does its modeling, attracting economic activity is no zero-sum game; the county is not just competing with nearby cities and counties but the rest of the nation and world for new employers. And Montgomery County, with excellent schools, jobs, and quality of life, is a great place to welcome new residents and jobs.
Elrich calls it “grabbing” if Montgomery County allowed more new homes in desirable areas, but one could equally say it's “pushing” that growth today with restrictive rules that drive the COG forecast to predict fewer new people in the county and more in a place like Frederick, no matter what those people actually want. (See this article about a similar debate in DC for a deeper discussion of the way the COG forecast is used to make circular arguments like this one.)
Only add homes in 3% of the county?
A smart growth policy does recommend focusing new growth around transit stations and in commercial corridors. However, Elrich's definition is far more limited. For instance, he voted against the White Flint 2 sector plan, which plans for land around Montrose Parkway and Rockville Pike, because many of the parcels, he argues, are not within a half mile of a Metro station. “I put a circle around [the Metro station],” he said, and the land being studied was not inside the circle.
He would ideally set a growth boundary around “Bethesda, Silver Spring, probably Germantown, Wheaton, and a half mile along the Red Line, for example.” He argued that in Germantown, the fact that development was allowed on the edges impeded the downtown from becoming a “concentrated business district.”
That’s an extraordinarily narrow and unrealistic version of smart growth. Montgomery County is 507 square miles. A half mile radius circle around each of the 11 Metro stations covers 8.6 square miles, or just 1.7% of the county’s land.
Nine more non-Metro Purple Line stations gets another 1.4% of the land if the circle is a half mile and just 0.35% more if it’s a quarter mile, so 2.0-3.1% total.
By comparison, Arlington touts its smart growth approach of concentrating new homes and jobs around Metro corridors that make up about 10% of the county’s area. Plus, Arlington is also planning for ways to provide homes for more people on its other corridors like Columbia Pike and Lee Highway, has worked to allow accessory apartments in other areas, and otherwise is accommodating people’s living needs around the entire county.
To be sure, a smart growth policy wouldn't recommend allowing development in all parts of the county. Montgomery County has a 145-square-mile agricultural reserve, a widely-praised model for protecting natural and agricultural land. But Elrich isn't proposing just protecting existing forests and fields; the land in White Flint 2 was primarily strip mall or warehouse commercial space.
If Montgomery County built the entire initially-proposed 81-mile, 115-station BRT network (which is uncertain) and put quarter-mile circles around each of those, you get to about 7% of land, including places like White Flint 2. Then a “circle” policy might make sense — if Elrich supported actually using the space in those circles for more homes and jobs.
Not so much growth in the circles either?
But within these half- and quarter-mile circles, Elrich isn’t so enthusiastic about many kinds of changes. For instance, he opposed an amendment to the Bethesda Sector Plan which would have given density bonuses for building more affordable housing on properties near the edge of the Bethesda downtown core.
When asked in the interview, Elrich argued that these sites already have housing on them, some of which is “market-rate affordable” (though in Bethesda, maybe not all that affordable) and he wanted to push for more of the new housing to happen on the commercial land. Plus, Bethesda has a 4 million square foot cap, and that particular amendment wouldn’t have changed the cap.
But, some of the properties in question were within a half mile, or even less. And in our interview, he didn't show support for about increasing the cap either. Nor was he interested in expanding the Bethesda urban core area. Or allowing even duplexes where only detached houses are allowed today. He wasn’t a fan of accessory apartments, either.
Elrich said, “I need people to be able to get married (or not get married) and have kids and be able to move into houses. They are not living in apartments in Montgomery County, and developers aren't building any two-, three-, four-bedroom apartments. So there's no family housing being built.”
Let’s assume Elrich just meant in Bethesda, because he knows Montgomery County has added many new townhouses all around the county. And three- and four-bedroom apartments certainly exist and are possible, even if Bethesda isn’t adding them right now.
When asked if he’d support more housing if there were a requirement to add family-sized units, Elrich pivoted to saying there’s no room in the schools and it’s been hard to find new school sites. (The schools do have an expansion plan including reopening a former high school not far away, and one urbanist critique of MCPS has been that it requires far more suburban format schools than many cities with densities like downcounty Montgomery use for theirs.)
Indeed, school capacity is one challenge, as is transportation. That’s why Montgomery County charges new development with high impact taxes for both (though there’s significant criticism of these among experts). Sprawl development has its own, severe costs to the environment, and people living in Frederick County driving to jobs in Bethesda add to traffic in a way Montgomery County can’t tax, versus living near Bethesda even if they do drive.
More than that, this shift to schools made it seem like there’s probably no significant way of adding new homes that’d be okay with Elrich. He seems to be saying, in effect, that Montgomery County should have places for people to live, especially millennials with kids, but only add new homes right near Metro, and then not in buildings that are very tall, not anywhere there are single-family homes, not one-bedroom apartments because they are too small for families, not new three-bedrooms either because there isn’t room in the schools, and not, and not, and not.
Pipeline map by Montgomery County.
There's plenty of growth already allowed?
Elrich argued that there is already a measure of new development in what's called the “pipeline,” of projects which have received approvals but haven't yet been built.
There's no panic. Montgomery County has — I might get this number wrong but — had 28,000 units in the pipeline that hadn't been built. So if there's a demand, there's no government regulation preventing those units from being built. There's units in Bethesda that are in the pipeline to be built. There's 28 million square feet of office space in a pipeline waiting to be built. So I'm not in a crisis where I don't have a place to put people and people can't pull building permits.
This is a misunderstanding of the way the development process works. Some of the unbuilt pipeline is simply what's moving from one stage to the next (which takes time), but it also includes large-scale developments which market conditions don't actually support building and often wouldn't be a good idea anyway.
For instance, Rock Spring Centre is a 2012 plan to build a large complex of offices and a movie theater with a small amount of residential in the Rock Spring area. Right now, employers like Marriott are moving out of that area in favor of areas nearer transit (Bethesda, in Marriott's case). So to say that there's plenty of stuff in the “pipeline” isn't really correct, when something like Rock Spring Centre isn't going to happen as designed. It's irrelevant whether it's got permits or not.
Plus, it's not within one of Elrich's “circles” anyway and would fall outside his proposed growth boundary (unless a proposed BRT line goes there). Elrich first argued that the county has plenty of space to develop, then said he doesn't want it in all of those places and instead inside the circles, but then put so many restrictions on the circles themselves to allow very little change even there.
\ No Vacancy by Thomas Hawk licensed under Creative Commons.
No room for new people in Montgomery County?
One could have the attitude that actually, you’d just as soon not add many more people to the county. Elrich doesn't explicitly say this is his view, though he comes close; for instance, he complained that “the last senior housing project, the Bonifant, has many tenants who were not county residents prior to moving in.”
The consequence of his approach would be a society with nearly no upward (or westward) mobility. Bethesda, Rockville/Gaithersburg, and Silver Spring are major regional job centers. If we say, “sorry, these are full,” then the consequence is that these millennials who “get married (or don’t get married) and have kids” will have to wait for their parents to die before they can live in Montgomery County; or maybe they’ll buy a house and displace a lower-income family.
It will be impossible to reduce the achievement gap between wealthy, mostly white western schools and lower-performing, more minority eastern ones without creating opportunities to move to the western side. The achievement gap is caused by segregation, reports have found, and it’s getting worse. The country eliminated legal segregation in housing and schools, but then used zoning to re-segregate communities.
Montgomery County is growing more diverse, which is great, but many of the newer residents are less affluent than the county used to be. This creates a potential challenge for keeping the tax base strong to pay for all the services Elrich supports. He had a few ideas for cutting costs, like working the unions to look at ways to streamline county government employment in a collaborative way, which might pay off or might not.
A newly-released economic development plan lists many good ideas, some small like faster broadband and fostering nightlife, some big like expanding pre-K and, as already discussed, BRT. Many are good ideas, but do not address the county's fundamental structural challenges of whether to allow more people access to the county's opportunity or shut the doors.
Elrich is rightly really concerned about racial equity, but putting a “no vacancy” sign on Montgomery County would be a disaster for racial equity. Maybe his rent control ideas for the county could keep some of the county’s current renters there (it’s unclear, but maybe), but it's not a progressive value to want public policy that only about people who already live here and not those who want to come here.
We appreciate Marc Elrich’s 30-year record of public service, his commitment to equity, and many of his policies that don’t relate to housing and growth. But his approach to land use would overwhelm any other strides he might make on racial equity and the achievement gap.
That's why we urge voters, including progressives concerned about equity, to vote for a different candidate in the June 26 primary, whether that's GGWash's choice, George Leventhal, or one of the other contenders. For more thoughts on Montgomery County's election, check out all of GGWash's primary endorsements. | {
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TONY JONES: Good evening and welcome to Q&A. I'm Tony Jones and answering your questions tonight: philosopher and author Raimond Gaita; the head of the Australian Christian Lobby, Jim Wallace; former NSW Premier, Kristina Keneally; atheist, rationalist and video blogger, Cristina Rad; and conservative commentator and historian, Gerard Henderson. Please welcome our panel.
Okay. Q&A is live from 9:35 Eastern time and its simulcast on News 24, News Radio and the Australia Network. Go to our website to send in questions and join the Twitter conversation using the hash tag that just appeared on your screen. Well, our first question comes from Gordon Hinds.
WHY BELIEVE?
GORDON HINDS: Judaism, Christianity and Islam all share a common thread of lineage. They just disagree on the details, such as who really is a true prophet, how many commandments they have. Given their origins are from illiterate goat and sheep herders some slaves and a tradesman, all of whom suffered no education, bad diets, hallucinations, and chronic dehydration, why on earth would anyone in their right mind place any importance on these bizarre thoughts?
TONY JONES: Kristina Keneally, let's start with you?
KRISTINA KENEALLY: I thought this was about politics.
TONY JONES: It sounds an awful like the NSW Labor Party, I do admit.
(AUDIENCE GROANS AND LAUGHS)
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Gerard, do you want to take that?
GERARD HENDERSON: It doesn't sound like the NSW Labor Party to me, but there you go. Do you want me to...
KRISTINA KENEALLY: No. No.
GERARD HENDERSON: I'm happy to.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Serious, I'm happy...
TONY JONES: There are very few of them who suffer from chronic dehydration for example. Kristina, let's go with the actual question.
GERARD HENDERSON: Or herd goats, yes.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: No, more seriously, thank you for your question, I think. You make a valid point that all of those traditions spring from similar sources. Recently at mass this weekend, the parish priest was preaching and making the point that he doesn't believe that God plays favourites. I don't believe that either. And I do think there's truth in all of those various religious traditions that you've outlined. Now, whether you should believe it or not, whether or not you accept that or not, whether or not you see validity in the scriptures and the text that come from those religion traditions, that's for you to judge. Now, the people on this panel tonight all have very different views. I actually think your question is a bit cheeky.
TONY JONES: I think it might have been meant to be. Let me ask you this: do you ever question the miracles or the sort of dream like prophecies that you find in the Bible?
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Oh, look, you know, I studied theology at graduate school. One of my favourites is Hildegard of Bingen and, you know, it's hard to believe that Hildegard actually experienced all the things that she wrote about or, in fact, that she experienced them and understood them in the way she has presented them. You know, I don't necessarily think that you have to believe everything that's been written in the cannon of Christian tradition and about people's mystical experiences is 100% true to be able to find meaning in them.
JIM WALLACE: But I think, implicit, Tony, if I could say - implicit in the question there is that perhaps it's only those who are a little bit, you know, loose in the mind who would believe this, you know. But the reality is we've got a lot of very bright people who believe this. We've got professors of mathematics at Oxford. You know, we've got previous Deputy Prime Ministers of Australia. You know, we have a huge number of people, including a lot of scientists, who believe this and 19% of the country go to church once a month. So I think, you know, there's a lot of people believe this and to them it is real and I can tell you, as a person who believes it, that if you have taken Christ into your life, it is real, you know.
TONY JONES: Rai Gaita.
RAIMOND GAITA: Well, this is the first time I've heard it said that someone shouldn't be believed because they're dehydrated. I've heard more or less the opposite a few times but. I am not religious but I have, for a lot of my life, taken seriously that some of the things I believe most deeply and are most important to me have their origins in religious thoughts and I have written extensively in my own work about what I have sometimes called the inalienable preciousness of all human beings and I don't mean by that to exclude other kinds of beings but let's just keep in human beings. And there have been secular versions of that and one of the greatest of them has come from the philosopher Immanuel Kant. My own feeling is that the secular versions have failed. That doesn't make me religious but it does makes me take seriously the fact these sorts of thoughts grew up in a tradition where people were inspired by the examples of Saints who responded to human beings as people had never before, to the most radical evil doers and still insisting that evil though may be and foul though their characters may be even to match their deeds, they were owed - in fact, this is how Kant put it - unconditional respect. And in my own life, it has mattered enormously to me an experience I had as a student working in a psychiatric hospital, where a nun - and, again, it doesn't matter to me that she was a nun - responded to people who were radically afflicted, who had been in that hospital for over 30 years, who had nothing to live for as far as people like I was concerned - it was the time of the beautiful people in the 60s - responded to them without a trace of condescension and that I found wondrous. And, so, as I say it hasn't made me religious but made me take seriously the religious tradition.
TONY JONES: Let's hear from Cristina, an atheist. Well, you probably have sympathy with some of the views in the question.
CRISTINA RAD: Oh, I have to speak now?
TONY JONES: Yes, you do.
CRISTINA RAD: Well, I think it's because along with the evolution of our brain and consciousness, we also developed, well, imagination and because we are curious beings and we are explorers, we tried to reason the world out and tried to find answers and we didn't have them. We didn't have science. So we saw lightning. We didn't see that atmospheric discharge of electricity. We had to put something behind it and so we put a God behind it and we also needed some excuses to kill some people and put the women in their places and I think that was it.
TONY JONES: Gerard Henderson?
GERARD HENDERSON: Well, going back to the question, I think the question it just an example of what I call sneering secularism. If you are going to ask that kind of question, you've got to confront someone like Barack Obama or Cherie Blair, for example, contemporary Christians, and tell them they're flaming idiots. Well, I don't think they are. You don't have to be a practising Christian or a practising Jew or a practising Muslim to understand that these three religious traditions have a great intellectual power, great historical antecedents and deserve to be respected and it's very each to tell everyone they're a blooming idiot but I don't think it's very clever and I certainly don't think it has any depth.
TONY JONES: Very briefly, Gerard, the question at the end referred to bizarre thoughts and I suppose I just want to ask you as a modern Christian rationalist whether you believe in miracles?
GERARD HENDERSON: Well, who's a modern Christian rationalist?
TONY JONES: Well, I'm assuming you are.
GERARD HENDERSON: I've only been on this show once and I said I was an agnostic, which is what I am, but, I mean, if you're talking about bizarre views, have a look at the Green movement. Once upon a time, when people said, "The end of the world is nigh," they were figures of fun. They were all Christians walking around in odd clothing. Now, people who walk around in odd clothing and say "The end of the world is nigh," vote Green and often work at the ABC or somewhere else. It seems to me that anyone who thinks the world is going to end within the next six months or six years or 60 years or 600 years, is pretty bizarre to me and they're not religious at all.
TONY JONES: Okay, let's go to the next question. It's from Zachary Nicholson.
RELIGION AND GOOD WORKS
ZACHARY NICHOLSON: A university study concludes that religious people are more generous, more altruistic and more involved in civic life than their secular counterparts. They are more likely to give blood, money to a homeless person, financial aid to their family or friends, a seat to a stranger and to spend time with someone who is a bit down. If religion contributes so positively to society, why then are we so quick to distance it from politics and don't want it influencing our policies and society in general?
TONY JONES: Let's hear from Jim Wallace first on that.
JIM WALLACE: Well, of course, I can only agree with your statement. I think the contribution of Christianity and of Christian people, you've quoted there, I think, or referred to a study that's just been done in the last couple of weeks, but it's also reinforced - that idea is also reinforced by people, even very prominent atheists such as Matthew Paris, who, in visiting Africa and looking at the work of Christian missions down there, said that it wasn't just what the missions did in the terms of bringing aid, but it was the fact they brought a spiritual dimension which helped the people there break out of a group think that otherwise had seized and controlled and limited Africa and its ability to go on and prosper. So I think that, you know, we don't only have to look at the past to say that we have a great contribution of faith. It doesn't mean that atheist people can't be good people but I think there is very real evidence that faith works, that faith influences people positively and it has influenced society positively on the whole.
TONY JONES: Jim, the thrust of the argument appeared to be that religious people deserve a bigger role in politics and in making policy because essentially they are nicer.
JIM WALLACE: Yeah, no I don't believe they deserve a better role. I think what's been said was that they shouldn't be excluded and I'd agree with that absolutely. I think there is a view around the place that Christians shouldn't be able to influence politics; that this separation of church and State is supposed to keep the church out. It's not. It's supposed to keep the State from interfering with the church. And so I think that just as all constituencies in a participative democracy should be participating that the church should be too and I think on the whole that that participation is for good.
TONY JONES: Cristina Rad, atheists were referred to there as occasionally being good people. What do you think about that?
CRISTINA RAD: Well, I tend to be sceptical about the study. I would like to know what was the sample size or it, who conducted it, who came up with the conclusions because I have noticed a lot of this kind of thing in the press where, you know, studies show and that's about it. That's about all the information they give and a lot of times the studies are, well, dubious to say the least. I saw things like, you know, studies show that black people have a lower IQ and I have been arguing with these people who call themselves racial realists and they conduct the studies in very dubious manners and they publish the results and, well, this is the truth. I don't think so.
JIM WALLACE: Tony, can I just say that, Cristina, that's not the case on this one. This has been done by a man whose been described as, I think, one of the greatest academics in the world, Putman, I think his name is, and I think it's Harvard University. So it's quite a comprehensive study, you know, and one that we can rely on.
CRISTINA RAD: And that was done in the United States and what was the sample size of it?
JIM WALLACE: Well, he's an atheist, I might say, this fellow.
CRISTINA RAD: Good for him.
GERARD HENDERSON: Can I make a comment about Cristina's atheism because I very much respect it because Cristina's atheism, she's opposed - I mean it's very easy to be opposed to Christianity. That's easy. It's easy to be opposed to Judaism. It's not easy to be opposed to Islam and your criticism of atheism is - your criticism of religion is completely consistent and in this country there are few people like you. They won't get stuck into Islam, for some reason, because they feel it's a minority or maybe because they feel scared or whatever. But you do it and I think your position is intellectually very consistent and there is nothing wrong with the tradition that you espouse. People might disagree with it but the atheist tradition it is a reasonable tradition.
TONY JONES: Do you want to explain that? I mean have you been taken out of context? Is Gerard right about what he's saying?
CRISTINA RAD: Well, I want to say that I'm not against religion because I just hate religion. In general, when I criticise something it is the consequences religion has in society. You know things like homophobia and stuff like that, so that is my problem because many people justify these bigoted views basically with religion.
TONY JONES: Let's go to the other Kristina.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Look, I have to agree with a lot of what Jim has said here. This idea that the church that there is no official religion in Australia, that there's a separation of church and State often gets translated into that means you can't bring a religious view in the public square. I think one of the most interesting contributions on this point in recent years is Tony Blair, who makes the very strong argument that religion in many ways would be more important in how the world develops over the next generation because people are increasingly bringing religion into the public square. And if you look at particularly the United States, we see that. If you look at what's happening in this country, you see that and I don't think it's something we should fear. People bring their judgments, they bring their life experiences, they bring the books they've read, their family experiences and their religion to the judgments that they make. It has a proper role in - it doesn't deserve a privileged role but it deserves a role.
CRISTINA RAD: What about Scientology, should that be brought into that?
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Well, look, a contest of ideas. People can make a judgment whether or not they want to be Scientologists. If Scientologists want to make arguments for tax breaks, let them go for it. You know...
TONY JONES: Well, they've already made the argument and they've actually won that argument.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: That's right.
TONY JONES: And they're getting tax breaks, despite the fact that they believe in a creature from outer space.
CRISTINA RAD: But you're basically saying that this is what's going on, so that means that this is how things are supposed to be and I don't see a reason why personal beliefs should be brought into things like politics?
KRISTINA KENEALLY: How is politics conducted in any other way except by people bringing their personal beliefs into it? You bring your beliefs into it.
TONY JONES: Let's hear from Rai Gaita. The question actually brings up what you were talking about earlier when you talked about that nun. It raises the issue of, I guess, who would take up the slack in charities, for example, in these areas if there was no religion?
RAIMOND GAITA: Yeah, well, that's a fair question but it is no reason for believing in God. I mean, one might end up being bereft of certain things. In fact, it is not that I doubt this particular study.
TONY JONES: But it might be an argument in favour of belief.
RAIMOND GAITA: No. No, it's not. Look, you can't believe in a metaphysical entity like a God because, as a matter of fact, in a particular society, I mean, who knows how we judge this across the board, people are doing good works, and so on, more than people who don't believe in a God. That's not a reason to believe in God. I think that's important. But the more important question is what role religion ought to have in politics and I think one role it ought not to have is in the formulation of laws, if the formulation of those laws are based on faith or scripture because I think people can't live under laws to which they can't consent and I couldn't consent to live under a law that was based on faith or scripture. But when people object to, let's say, Catholics - it's usually against Catholics but it can be against Jews and Christians and others - having an influence, let's say, on an abortion debate or whatever it is - mostly those Catholics and other Christians and other religious people would claim - that it might be right or might be wrong - that the views they have are, as it were, independently accessible to reason, that they're not based - let's say that there is a particular view on abortion or the nature of sexuality. I am sure most Christians would say that the views they press in public are available to reason independently of faith and scripture. Then there's going to be an argument about whether that's true or not but that would be the view and to the extent that it is true. And I think mostly, actually, when I hear religious people arguing - people I know to be religious arguing a particular moral case in politics and I know that, as a matter of fact, it's also the church that believes it, I don't necessarily think that it's only because of the church that they're arguing that. I assess the arguments as they come.
TONY JONES: Let's hear from Jim Wallace on this. To some degree, your organisation is precisely set up to influence politics.
JIM WALLACE: No, exactly right but exactly Ray said, I mean, our objective is not to bring into politics a disproportion or privileged position. We have views which are formed on a faith but everybody has views formed on something. You know, everybody's world view is formed on some belief system. You might not call it a religious belief system and it may not be a religious belief system but it's a belief system and you form views and opinions and values which you legitimately bring into that public debate. Now, we only seek to do exactly that, because we believe that a Christian view is a positive thing for society, that the values that are formed by that are positive for society, then we feel both a responsibility and a right to bring those views in.
TONY JONES: All right. We're going to move on but we have a few people who have got their hands up and make it a comment, if you can, because we've got quite a few issues we need to go through.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Quick question for Jim Wallace, who I know very little about but was introduced as being from the Australian Christian Lobby which you were talking about. My question and as Tony may make it a comment, it relates to why I guess a God who is omnipotent, in fact omniscient, requires the use of a lobbyist to represent his views in Canberra or Sussex, who can create natural disasters at his whim?
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Did you register God on the Liberal member's register?
JIM WALLACE: No, I failed.
TONY JONES: Look, I will take that as a comment because we're going to come back. There's a lot more to talk about. We got quite a few questions. It's a very good comment. You're watching Q&A, where you ask the questions. Our next question comes from Shereen D'Souza.
ASYLUM SEEKERS
SHEREEN D'SOUZA: In May, the UN human rights Commissioner said policies of locking up asylum seekers had cast a shadow over Australia's human rights record and recently the High Court rejected the Government's Malaysia solution. What are the panel's views on the crisis of refugees and asylum seekers looking for a decent life in Australia?
TONY JONES: Okay, let's start with Kristina Keneally.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Well, I think we as a Labor Party have ceded the ground on asylum seekers and this debate to the conservatives for too long. We have allowed to be debate on the "We'll determine who comes to this country and in the manner in which they come and we'll stop the boats." We have bought into that. I am very distressed that we're likely to end up with a solution of onshore processing, which I support, but that we have gotten there by the route by which we have gotten there. I find it extraordinary that we have gone through the High Court challenge and now this legislation that most likely won't get through the Parliament, yet we are talking about 6,000 desperate people who have a legal right to apply for asylum in this country. Some 84% of them are found to be genuine refugees. I believe Australia is big enough culturally, economically, socially, geographically, to be able to officially process these applications and to welcome these people into our country. Now, you know, someone asked a question earlier about Christianity in the public square. You know, I believe that as a Christian, I believe it as someone who migrated to this country and I believe it as a politician and an Australian.
TONY JONES: So let me ask you this, because you've talked publicly about the primacy of conscience and I think you just referred to it there in a sense.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Yes.
TONY JONES: My question to you is: Is the Labor Party, in your view, losing its conscience and losing its way on this issue?
KRISTINA KENEALLY: As I said, I think over the last decade we have ceded way too much ground in the public debate on this. We haven't allowed ourselves to put forward the arguments on a compassionate ground or on a decency ground or on a human rights ground as to what we are as a nation and what we want to be. That's my first problem. My other problem with it, if we are going to talk about as a Labor Party interested in the rights of working people, if we are going to talk about illegal immigrants or illegal arrivals in this country, let's talk about the 50,000 visa over stayers that any day are in Australia.
TONY JONES: Okay, but I've got to ask you this, because you know the debate is raging at the moment. Julia Gillard was just in trying to convince Tony Abbott to change the Migration Act to strip out the human rights protections within the Act. Are you disturbed by that in particular?
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Well, I think the Prime Minister has to try and go to the Parliament and I support her in this for two reasons. One, we are in this absurd situation almost where the High Court has overturned the expressed will of the Parliament. I mean, whether you agree or not with offshore processing, both parties are currently arguing for a form of offshore processing and, indeed, we have had offshore processing as part of our system for years. We now have a situation where the High Court has made that illegal and both the government and the alternate government can't get their policy through. So, yes, I think they do need to deal with it legislatively but, longer term I think we need to drag the ground back to where we want to have the debate.
TONY JONES: This question of taking out the human rights protections from the Act, which a lot of the lest - I know you are not from the left of the Labor Party - but a lot of the left of the Labor Party are very disturbed by this. Are you disturbed by it equally?
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Well, I have concerns about it. I think we need to have a broader discussion. Personally I think we're going to end up in a situation the only card left to play is onshore processing and saying we can't do anything else because Tony Abbott won't let us. What disturbs me is how we got to that point. I think it would be really good if we got to that outcome, it disturbs me, though, the way we got there.
TONY JONES: Jim Wallace, let's hear from you on this.
JIM WALLACE: Yeah, this is an extremely fraught issue and I think that one thing we tend to lose track of in the refugee debate is that our refugee intake is meant to be addressed to those who are in the most need. You know, that might be need for protection, in fear of their lives, or it might be in need through famine or whatever. I get concerned, I must say, when people say to me that the people we're accepting at the moment through the boat trade, or coming in by boat, that they settle in so well because they're people who are obviously entrepreneurial and so therefore they come in here and they settle well and we don't have a great burden on - they don't create a great burden for us. But our refugee intake is about addressing need, you know, and I would love to see it going out and addressing the need in refugee camps, bringing people who are really in danger, you know, in fear of their lives. I know I have represented the case for a number of people currently in camps in India who need to be, under threat of their lives even in India from people chasing them from Afghanistan. Now, I would like to see our refugee the intake actually addressing the needs of those people. Now, unfortunately, I think that does mean that you might need, and probably do need, to actually stop or break, as the Prime Minister says, the business model of the criminals in Indonesia so that we can address the need, real need.
TONY JONES: All right, we've got quite a few questions to get through. We'll keep the answers a bit short. Rai?
RAIMOND GAITA: Well, as I understand it, the High Court had to make a decision on law and that seems to get - I mean and insisted that that was the case, that it wasn't a decision on policy. Of course, it has policy consequences but that's another matter and it was a decision on law based on certain kinds of treaty obligations, which it seems to me are very important to honour. Because if, as it were, the world is genuinely to be a community of nations, it will be so only to the extent that it's serious about international law and nations regard themselves as answerable to it. Can I just make a - by way of an anecdote, support what Kristina was saying about the Labor Party having collapsed on this. I remember at the time when Beazley decided, in fact, to more or less capitulate to Howard on this matter. I was in the country writing a book and I had discussions in the pub and people would say things like, "Well, you know, you can't have these people jumping queues and we've got to protect our borders", et cetera, et cetera, and then I would say, okay, but "Do we have to keep children behind razor wire for five years?" And what was really interesting is that they say, "Oh, yeah. But" and then I say, "No. No. Let's stick to this point".
TONY JONES: Yes, Rai, but that's what you said...
RAIMOND GAITA: No. No. Hang on let me finish. I just want to finish the story, okay? And then eventually, after many buts and many shufflings, they would say, "No, we don't have to be so cruel," and so on and I felt at that stage very strongly that, in fact, Beazley hadn't trusted the Australian people.
TONY JONES: Gerard Henderson.
GERARD HENDERSON: Well, I would say that Ray's conversation took place ten years too late. I mean Kristina talks about the Labor tradition. Mandatory detention for unauthorised arrivals by boat or plane was introduced by Paul Keating, which is about 10 years before the conversation Ray had in the hotel up in central Victoria somewhere. I am very sympathetic to asylum seekers, my wife has done a lot of work in this area. I have worked in Government, I have worked in Opposition, I have worked in the public service and I know how difficult this problem is for both the Howard Government, the Rudd Government and now the Gillard Government, so I'm sympathetic to people like Chris Bowen. There is a real problem. When you talk about asylum seekers coming by boat, bear in mind that we know at least 400 have drowned and if they keep coming by boat, they'll keep drowning, a percentage of them, probably a high percentage of them. Far too high, in any event. So it's not an easy issue and the High Court's intervention was surprising to many people and I'm not sure that the High Court has ruled out Nauru but as I read the High Court, I think five judges might go with Nauru but we don't know. But all I'm saying is it's very easy to come up with simple solutions. It's not easy to implement them.
TONY JONES: So very briefly Gerard...
RAIMOND GAITA: Well, can I just say...
TONY JONES: ...and a very short answer on this if you wouldn't mind but just to get your impressions on what's happened today, Tony Abbott twice rejected amendments to change the Migration Act to make it possible for the Minister to have that judgment as to who to send where. Did he do the right thing or is it political?
GERARD HENDERSON: Well, I think Tony Abbott believes in Nauru as a solution among some other factors. That happens to be his belief. He might be right or wrong, that's what he believes in. There is opposition within both the left of the Labor Party and a large part of the Coalition to Malaysia for good or bad reasons. I mean I am not all that hostile to the Government's policy. I think it's terribly difficult but I think Tony Abbott has done what he believes he ought to do and he is in the Opposition.
TONY JONES: Okay. It's time to move along. You're watching Q&A. The next question comes from John Moxon.
JOHN MOXON: I was actually hoping there would have been some debate by now about euthanasia. My question goes to the issue that there is more to the debate about euthanasia than I want to decide how and when I die versus God alone who should decide that. So as a person whose level of disability is often used as a supposedly legitimate and understandable reason to allow someone to be euthanised, I just wonder when we will see a truly comprehensive debate about euthanasia, one that includes a genuine opportunity for people who live productively with serious disability to speak against euthanasia.
TONY JONES: Cristina Rad, can I start with you? The issue of euthanasia, it's often conflated with religion. Do you have a position on it.
CRISTINA RAD: Yeah, this is what I meant when I talked about bringing religion into politics and in general when you make decisions about the society you live in. I see absolutely no justification for this. I think it is inhumane to let people suffer when they genuinely wish to die. There was a case in Romania actually two years ago. There was a young man from my city. I think it was Hepatic cirrhosis he had, if I'm not mistaken, and he actually sent to a letter to the President and asked to be euthanised. Basically begged for it. All his organs were destroyed. He was living in constant agony. He could not commit suicide because he was under constant watch and, of course, he was refuse and he died four months later in horrible pain. I see, like I said, absolutely no justification for this other than religion
TONY JONES: Let's just go back quickly to our questioner, John. I mean you talked about you're wanting a truly comprehensive euthanasia debate in your original question that I saw. I mean we've had terminally ill people on this program saying they want the right to die, do you sympathise with them?
EUTHANASIA
JOHN MOXON: Yes, I do. Of course, I do. I mean, these are people who are in obvious pain, be it through physical pain or mental pain. Physical pain generally, certainly the palliative care doctors tell us "We can manage that" and, yes, that management of pain may, in fact, reduce the life span of the person from months maybe to weeks or whatever. I mean, I don't have a problem with that because we're relieving, if you like, the suffering. What I've got a problem with is legislation like is currently before the South Australian Parliament, which will enable a doctor to kill somebody on the judgment of the doctor alone that the person's life is not worth living and I ask myself how would I feel if I end up in South Australia, had a stroke and some doctor said "Oh, well, he's already a quadriplegic, let's just kill him because his life wouldn't be worth living."
TONY JONES: Let's hear from Kristina first on this.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: It's an incredibly hard issue to have a debate about because it does bring in questions of when life, you know, ends, what is quality of life. It brings in people's religious and moral views. I have real concerns about euthanasia, not based on religious views but based on my experiences as a legislator. And as the example you've given, it is an incredibly difficult to codify. It is an incredibly difficult thing for government to put rules around and you are dealing with people who could be in extreme pain. You are dealing with people who may have different levels of capacity. They may have ceded their decision making to others. There may be a whole range of other motivations going on in the decision. And as a piece of public policy, it is really difficult and I've seen many legislators and people who have come to the debate, perhaps sympathetic to the view that we should legalise euthanasia but looking at all the difficulties around it. I haven't yet particularly seen a Government that's cracked it as to how you would actually legislate or codify for it.
TONY JONES: I'll bring in the rest of our panel. Yes, I do want to - John, can I just ask you just a quick question and feel free to comment as you were going to anyway, I think, beyond that. Do you believe people should have the right to say for themselves whether they should be euthanised, whether it's their time and choose for themselves?
JOHN MOXON: Do I think a 15 year old lad who's depressed should be allowed to be euthanised because he is depressed and feels he needs to commit suicide or someone 25 or 35 with no obvious disability other than their depression? My answer is no. What we need to do with people in those situations is find ways to support them We don't want to go down the track as, in fact, has happened, I believe, in America, where a 25 year old woman who was a ballerina got arthritis in her toes and went to a doctor and asked to be euthanised, killed, and she was. The doctor said "Well, I didn't really want to do it but she was asking me to." Now, you know, to me that's - not because it's America, Kristina, sorry.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: I'm not American.
JOHN MOXON: But to me that is a symptom of what I call a sick society. There is something wrong with a society that can't see that that woman is in pain. Yes, she wants to be a ballerina. No, she can't be but surely there is a way to I mean, I wanted to be all sorts of things and I can't be because I broke my neck. But, you know, you just have to learn that, well, there are some things you can't do, the same as everybody in the audience here has got things they can't do that they'd like to.
TONY JONES: Okay.
JOHN MOXON And, tough, that's life.
TONY JONES: All right. Cristina wanted to come back in here.
CRISTINA RAD: Well, the debate was not even about trivial issues such as arthritis in your foot. Maybe it wasn't trivial for her because it was her career but we are talking - at least we can talk about things like terminal illnesses and there is a solution if doctors may make that decision for people who are, let's say, incapacitated. There are solutions to that. We can come up with something, for instance like a donor - we have a donor card and we can decide if we want to donate our organs. We can home something like that, a contract where we stipulate in what circumstances we would like to be euthanised. For instance, if I am paralysed I would want to be euthanised. I would not want to live my life paralysed and that should be my decision to make.
JOHN MOXON: Can I respond to that?
TONY JONES: Yes, you can respond to that.
JOHN MOXON: That's exactly what I said four years before I broke my neck. They are my precise words "If I have an accident and my neck is broken and I will be dependent on other people, et cetera, et cetera, I would rather not survive that accident because no one could live like that". They are the exact words that I spoke four years before it happened to me. When it happened, that wasn't my view at all.
CRISTINA RAD: Yes, but that's your personal stance.
TONY JONES: Okay. All right.
JOHN MOXON: And I'm suggesting it would be yours too, Cristina.
TONY JONES: Let's hear from the rest of the panel and I'll start at that end with a philosophical point of view.
RAIMOND GAITA: Well, look, it is difficult. I mean there are two issues. One is the moral issue and the other is the legal issue. I mean, I know that there are certain circumstances in which I would rather die and there are circumstances, I think, in which I then would kill myself if I could and part of the euthanasia debate is about the fact that sometimes I can't and what then. And I think at this point it gets really difficult because I know when this debate started - I can't remember 15 or 20 years ago here, people at least claimed that it was a dilemma what to do. But if it was really a dilemma, then it is very hard to ask somebody to actually help you to die or to kill you, because if you really think it's a dilemma, then you don't know how they will feel in five years' time. Because, by definition, a dilemma is something you could go this way or that way on. And so I would be enormously loath to ask anybody, I mean even someone I really love like my wife, to do it even though I would desperately want to die. And I'm certainly reluctant - it makes me very uneasy that we so readily think that doctors should do it. Now, I think we think that too easily. I am resistant to its legalisation because of slippery slopes of sort. And it's really important to remember about slippery slopes that they don't occur in cultural vacuums. They occur in certain kinds of society with certain beliefs about life and so on and to go to your starting point here, we now live in a society where I do find it hair raising that people believe - sorry, what I find hair raising is the judgments that people make about lives that are not worth living, which was your point and that is the society in which we might worry about slippery slopes.
TONY JONES: I think we've covered quite a range of views on this topic and although I'm sure the other panellists would like to get in , I'm going to move on. You are watching Q&A. Remember, you can send your web or video questions to our website. The address is on the screen to find out how to do that. Our next question is a video. It comes from Josh Thomas in Melbourne.
CHRISTIANS & GAYS
JOSH THOMAS: Hello Tony. I would like to talk to Jim Wallace about gays. Why is it they listen to the part of the Bible that says it is abomination for a man to lie with another man but you ignore the part of the Bible that says it's an abomination to mix crops in the same field? Why are you so passionately anti-homosexuality but you are fairly quiet on the issue of biodynamic farming? Also, it's widely understood that gays have no choice about being gay. I can tell you from personal experience it's impossible for me to feel sexual desire or romantic attraction to a girl. We know young homosexuals have a hard time coming to terms with being homosexual and studies have shown that they're far more likely to experience depression, eating disorders, drug and alcohol abuse, homelessness - that's right, homelessness - and they're ultimately far more likely to attempt and occasionally achieve suicide. I am interested to find out if Jim is concerned about the role the Australian Christian Lobby is playing in empowering homophobia, which could be contributing to the mental illnesses of young gay people.
TONY JONES: It's like having another panellist.
JIM WALLACE: There's about three issues there and, let me say, first of all, that, you know, when people refer to what's said in the Old Testament, you've got to remember that we are Christians and that we look at the old testament through the prism of Christ, okay, because Christ has meant to complete the old testament. So we don't look at these issues of stoning people for sin. That's not the way Christians look at the world and I am not aware of any that do.
TONY JONES: What's the view of Christ on homosexuality then?
JIM WALLACE: Yeah, well, Christ was silent on it but there is certainly - Christ was silent on it.
TONY JONES: That's pretty significant, isn't it?
JIM WALLACE: No. No. It's not. No. No. We've got 64 books in the Bible and we've certainly got a whole gospel and we had long period of consultation to decide what would go into the Bible and Christians believe...
TONY JONES: Well, I don't think we did, per se.
JIM WALLACE: No. No, certainly. But those who were closer to the theological issues at the time did and the reality is that we have a gospel and, certainly, in the gospels homosexuality is seen as a sin. Now, let me say, though, that all people are loved by God. Nobody is less of a man or worse for any particular sin than anyone else. I'm no better than anyone else and, in fact, I'm as bad as everyone else before God. So it is not the intention of the homosexual lobby to try and create homophobia. I hate that word because we don't. Our agendas, when we go out...
TONY JONES: I think you just referred to...
KRISTINA KENEALLY: You just referred to yourself as a homosexual lobby.
TONY JONES: I think accidentally referred to yourself as the homosexual lobby.
JIM WALLACE: I don't want to encourage people. I don't want to encourage people.
TONY JONES: A chance - a chance to correct yourself.
JIM WALLACE: I don't want to encourage people I'm going to be out supporting gay marriage. But my objection to large parts of the gay agenda is that I think this agenda has gone too far. When we now have this agenda driven to the point, which I believe is a selfish point, where we have a single man able to acquire a child, a baby, through surrogacy, then I am saying this has gone too far. When we decide that a child in New South Wales here should have its father's - biological father's name erased from a birth certificate to satisfy the demand of two lesbians who don't even live with each other anymore, then this has gone too far. We are creating biological myth and ...
TONY JONES: Jim, I'm going to interrupt you there because we've got a few hands up in the audience and we do need to hear from the other panellists. We'll go to this gentleman here.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Jim, you have hit the nail on the head, mate, when you said the theological issues of the time. It's thousands of years ago, mate. Move on.
TONY JONES: Okay, and...
JIM WALLACE: Well...
TONY JONES: Also hang on a sec, Jim, there's another questioner
JIM WALLACE: Can I just say, Tony...
TONY JONES: There's another questioner right up the back - yes, you can, but I'm taking that one as a comment.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Can you tell me what passages actually refers to exactly homosexuality because I don't think that actually says that in the Bible.
JIM WALLACE: Well, Romans 13 certainly talks about the fact that people gave up natural relationships to then take up relationships with people of the same sex. So, you know...
TONY JONES: Jim, I'm going to interrupt you here, Jim, because just to jump in for Josh Thomas, who is not here, but just to pick up the point that he made there that he's got no choice in his sexuality.
JIM WALLACE: Yeah. Yeah.
TONY JONES: It's impossible for him to feel sexual desire or romantic attraction to a girl, he says. Do you accept that?
JIM WALLACE: Yes, I do. Look, I accept it in the sense that I have a number of friends who are same sex attracted. I understand the strength of that attraction and their dilemma. I understand that. But that doesn't mean that we create the sort of biological myths that I mentioned before. It doesn't mean we erase a biological father off a birth certificate of a 10 year old child. It doesn't mean we allow a single man to have a child.
TONY JONES: Okay. All right. That's the ground we covered before.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Okay.
TONY JONES: Kristina Keneally.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: I'm going to take a slightly different view of what the gospel says.
JIM WALLACE: That's good.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Yes, I agree with you, Jesus' preaching is about replacing, you know, the old law with the new. His new commandment was to love one another as I have loved you, that there is no greater gift than to lay down your life for another person. Now, when you have two people of the same sex in a mutually giving, respecting relationship, how is that not characterised in the way that Jesus taught us to love one another? And when you have two people in a same sex relationship who choose to foster a child or choose to adopt a child and the giving of themselves to that child, how is that not living out what Jesus taught us to do, which is to love one another as he has loved us and to lay down our lives for one another? Now, this whole argument about homosexual orientation, homosexual activity, frankly drives me spare. I mean the Catholic Church's teaching on this is quite confused, in my view. It says it's okay to be homosexual orientation as long as you don't act on it. I honestly cannot get my mind around it.
JIM WALLACE: But, Kristina, can I take your very point and that is Christ also stood a child up, you know, in front of everybody and said, "These are the most precious in my kingdom" or words to that effect.
TONY JONES: Yes, okay.
JIM WALLACE: Now, the reality is we should be making sure public policy addresses the needs and the rights of the child, not adults.
TONY JONES: Okay, briefly, I'm going to hear from the...
KRISTINA KENEALLY: But, no, I'm sorry, there are desperate children - there are desperate children who cannot live, for a variety of reasons, with their own parents. We are desperately short of foster parents. Sometimes the only people who step up and take that child that Jesus held up and said the first of my kingdom, sometime the only people that take them are homosexual couples and until very recently in New South Wales we denied those children the right to be adopted by the only parents they'd ever known and who had loved them unconditionally. I find that a remarkable situation and I can't see...
TONY JONES: And, incidentally, deny those parents the right to be married.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Absolutely.
TONY JONES: Have you ever had this conversation with Julia Gillard?
KRISTINA KENEALLY: Well, you know, can I just come to a point here, you know, and this sort of goes to something you said earlier about bringing the personal views into it. You know, we have an atheist Prime Minister, a Catholic Leader of the Opposition and yet they seem to have the same view about gay marriage. They have come to the same point that it's marriage is between a man and a woman. You know, I'm Catholic. I don't agree with either of them and, yeah, I've got to say, you know, let's have the debate about gay marriage. Let's bring it on.
CRISTINA RAD: What I don't understand what is this notion of a gay agenda, because you talk as if gay people want to conquer the world and turn everybody gay and make everyone wear pink or something, when the only agenda I see is that we want to have the same rights as straight people?
JIM WALLACE: I have identified the agendas. The agendas including wanting to be able to adopt children. The agendas...
CRISTINA RAD: The same as straight people.
JIM WALLACE: No. Yeah, no. No.
CRISTINA RAD: Yes. Yes.
JIM WALLACE: But there are agendas. There are agendas there. Agendas...
TONY JONES: Okay, I'm just going to interrupt there. We actually have a question that sort of goes to this issue and I'm going to take it and then I'll let you continue with the discussion. It comes from Alex Greenwich.
GAY MARRIAGE AND KIDS
ALEX GREENWICH: If having married parents is in the best interests of a child, shouldn't the Marriage Act stop denying the children of same sex couples the right to married parents?
TONY JONES: Gerard Henderson, you wanted to get in before.
GERARD HENDERSON: That question was so clever I didn't understand it actually. But if you go back to what Josh was saying originally, I mean no one stopped Josh behaving any way he wants to behave. I mean there are no rules to prevent his behaviour.
CRISTINA RAD: Except he can't get married.
GERARD HENDERSON: But the point is that the Prime Minister, before the last election, and the Opposition Leader said they did not agree with same sex marriage. Between them the parties they led got around 90% of the vote or certainly 80% of the vote and it's very easy for an audience like this to ridicule people who have traditional views on marriage but I don't ridicule them. I think they stand for something substantial and I don't know where this debate is going to go but it's pretty easy to sit in an audience like this and just laugh at people who disagree with you. But...
TONY JONES: What do you personally think, Gerard? Do you think gay people should have the right to be married, because really that was at the heart of the question?
GERARD HENDERSON: Well, they have a right...
TONY JONES: A set of parents gay and a set of parents straight, according to that questioner, still gives a child the security of two parents.
GERARD HENDERSON: Well, they have a right to same sex unions in virtually all the legislations in Australia. I wouldn't go to marriage at this stage, because I think there's too much opposition. I think it's far too early and I don't really think it's necessary. No, I'm a conservative. I acknowledge that. But I also respect people who hold this position. I don't think that people who lead the Christian churches and, if you want to talk about same sex marriage and if you want to laugh at people who are opposed to same sex marriage, go out to the Muslim community and laugh at them.
CRISTINA RAD: We do.
GERARD HENDERSON: Well, you do, yeah. Yeah, you do. I tell you what but the last atheist on this program, Catherine Deveney, said that she would never criticise the Muslim community. She is too busy criticising the Catholic Church. You do but your colleagues don't.
TONY JONES: I would deny that she was the last atheist on this program. Let's go to this questioner down the front.
GERARD HENDERSON: She was the last flagging it.
TONY JONES: Okay.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Just two comments. First, every child deserves a mother and a father because men and women bring different things to the parenting role. And that seems something that most of us grew up with, knowing our mum and our dad and if we've been through that experience we know. But, secondly, in the UK, Christians have been banned from adopting - at least one Christian couple - because they held traditional views on relationships, particularly about homosexuality and that decision was appealed and they lost. To say that this isn't agenda that impacts other people, I think it's just factually wrong. In Canada, in some of the States in the north east of the United States, in the UK, it does.
TONY JONES: Okay, I'm going to ...
JIM WALLACE: Can I just...
TONY JONES: Well, very briefly.
JIM WALLACE: Can I say very quickly that in answer to your question up there, that the finding of the research wasn't that children do best with two parents, it was they do best with the biological mother and father married, you know.
TONY JONES: All right. I'm going to move on and, Rai, you'll get a chance to answer because we have a video question to you. It's from Jay Gillieatt and Bronte Richardson in North Curl Curl in New South Wales and I suspect you might be able to answer it in the context of this question.
ROMULUS AND THE HSC
JAY GILLIEATT & BRONTE RICHARDSON: In a little over four weeks, Year 12 students like us around NSW will be gambling our futures on writing a thorough essay discussing your text Romulus, My Father.
BRONTE RICHARDON: What do you think Romulus, your father, would think of the thousands of essays written by HSC students analysing his life?
STUDENTS: Thank you.
TONY JONES: So, Raimond, I think you can reflect not only on your book but on the whole idea of parenthood.
RAIMOND GAITA: It's a lovely question and to tell you the truth I don't know. I mean obviously he'd be very bemused but I've often thought just generally what he would think of the book and I have no idea at all. I don't think he'd much like it actually, but that's another matter. I really wanted to say something about the gay issue.
TONY JONES: No, well, you can. You can. I mean, I just thought we were talking about parenting and I thought that might give you a chance to discuss that as well. You came from a very complicated parent situation.
RAIMOND GAITA: Okay, but there are two issues about the gay thing. One is the kind of functional sociological thing, you know, what's best for kids and that's an empirical question and it's complicated? But the reason people are against gay marriage is not for the empirical reasons. They are against it, I think, because they find homosexual relations distasteful. Because if you ask the question why is it that people are agreed to various civil contracts and so on but stop at marriage, I think it's because they think gay sex can't go deep enough to be celebrated by marriage and, well...
GERARD HENDERSON: Well, that's easy to say but they may just have a particular view of marriage and many religions, including the Islam religion, there are traditional views of marriage and it's very easy to dismiss them as a some kind of phobia but they just may believe in marriage between man and woman, which is what Julia Gillard said. What's wrong with that?
RAIMOND GAITA: Okay. But the question is....
TONY JONES: She believes so strongly she didn't get married.
RAIMOND GAITA: The question is why and one of the things I thought we were in agreement on before is that scripture isn't going to determine our laws...
GERARD HENDERSON: Well, it doesn't.
RAIMOND GAITA: ...so what Romans says is rather irrelevant, it seems to me, to our law.
GERARD HENDERSON: Well, I haven't quoted Roman tonight. I have not one Roman.
JIM WALLACE: I was asked to.
RAIMOND GAITA: But sexuality is so fundamental to our sense of what it is to be human. I mean, the old thing about birth and death and so on and it seems to me to deny - gays don't want this it's not a matter of liberalism, right, because liberalism says, look, as long as you're not harming anybody else, that's okay, but that's consistent with finding it disgusting. They say you do disgusting thing, as long as it doesn't. What they want is a recognition of the dignity of their sexuality and that is being denied to them. And given how fundamental sexuality is to our sense of what it is to be human, it is not an exaggeration to say, I think, that it's a denial of their full humanity.
TONY JONES: You've actually equated this to - briefly, because I want to hear from Jim and the other panellists, but you have equated this to racism.
RAIMOND GAITA: Well, I think - look, I think are parallels because I think it's true that one of the interesting things about a certain kind of racism is the incapacity to see depth in the inner lives of the racially denigrated people, right? I think this happened - I've argued this happened in the case of the stolen children where a fellow, Isdell, notoriously said when was ask does it bother him to take children away from their parents he said "No, because no matter how much they wailed, et cetera, they soon forget their offspring".
GERARD HENDERSON: But it's very easy to classify anyone you disagree with as racist. I mean, that's pretty easy to do.
CRISTINA RAD: But there's a good analogy to be made.
RAIMOND GAITA: I'm not classifying them as racist.
GERARD HENDERSON: You are. You're saying they're racist.
TONY JONES: Well, hang on, let's hear from Cristina on this.
CRISTINA RAD: There's a good analogy to be made. I mean not too long ago there was a law that prohibited marriage between a black man and a white woman and the other way around but for the same reasons. There were the same arguments: what about the children?
JIM WALLACE: I don't think it is same reasons. I mean as someone who is a Christian, you know, is anti racism and I think Christian have been at the forefront with Wilberforce, with Martin Luther King against racism but the reality is that marriage is between a man and a woman and it doesn't matter how good...
CRISTINA RAD: It's the reality because you make it.
JIM WALLACE: No, wait. It doesn't matter how good - it doesn't matter how good two lesbians may be as parents, they cannot be a mother and a father to a child.
CRISTINA RAD: What about single parents?
JIM WALLACE: Sorry?
CRISTINA RAD: Single parents?
JIM WALLACE: Yeah, I know. No, of course we have all sorts of situations that result in less than perfect situations but as society....
(AUDIENCE GROAN)
JIM WALLACE: Well, if anyone looks at the stats, you'll find that very few people who end up as single parents set out to end up as single parents. But the reality is that a child does best with its mother and father, that two lesbians, no matter how good a parents they are, cannot provide a mother and a father to a child.
TONY JONES: Okay, we are literally out of time. We can have a final word to Kristina Keneally.
KRISTINA KENEALLY: I'd just say on this subject I'd just say all political parties make the argument that family is the basic well, I don't know about the Greens but certainly Labor and Liberal make the argument that the family is the basic building block of society and we all know all the studies show that married families have a whole range of benefits. They live longer, they, you know, have all the - they make more money et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. A whole bunch of studies back that up. They why, if we want to privilege marriage and we want to privilege families as the way that our society should be built, why, why, why don't we grant all families the right to be married?
TONY JONES: Okay. Sorry, we are out of time. In fact we're over time so please thank our panel Raimond Gaita, Jim Wallace, Kristina Keneally, Cristina Rad and Gerard Henderson. Okay, we'll be back next week for another lively Q&A with Federal Independent Rob Oakeshott, the Minister for Mental Health Mark Butler, recently retired Liberal Senator Helen Coonan, actor William McInnes and conservative commentator Janet Albrechtsen. Until next week, good night. | {
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What can science say about morality? Traditionally, the distinction between good and evil has been the terrain of philosophy and of religion. But in recent years, scientists have begun to explore the complex subject of morality, with surprising results. Might morality serve an evolutionary purpose? Is it even unique to humans?
Molly Crockett is an American neuroscientist best known for her work on morality, altruism and decision-making. She is Associate Professor of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford and is currently working on how harm aversion affects our decision-making processes. She spoke to the IAI about how neuroscience is changing the way we think about morality.
Could you outline your thesis on morality – what forms does it take and what evidence is there to show that certain elements of morality are actually instinctive?
It’s clear from research on both humans and animals that we have a very deeply rooted aversion to harming others, and this aversion to harming others infuses our moral judgment and also our moral behaviour. There has been work showing that even very small infants dislike puppet characters who harm other puppet characters. We see what looks like harm aversion in non-human animals, such as primates and rats. These suggest that the sense of harm aversion is very deeply ingrained, so could possibly be innate. Because we share it with other animals, it doesn’t seem unique to humans.
We have done some work recently which shows that people will, on average, spend more money to prevent a stranger from being harmed by electric shock than to prevent themselves from receiving pain. This study cannot say anything about whether harm aversion is innate or unique to humans, but we have shown a very striking level of altruism in the lab when it comes to making decisions about harm.
In terms of morality being instinctive, surely you cannot know if an action is moral until you reason whether it’s good or not?
There are different perspectives on this. Certainly some philosophical perspectives argue that truth is arrived at through reason. But given that we see the building blocks of morality, things like empathy and harm aversion, in babies and animals which clearly don’t have the ability to engage in sophisticated reasoning, then surely morality depends on more than just reason.
A recent study claimed to find an evolutionary basis for selflessness because it plays a part in human cooperation, suggesting that there is a form of self-interest in any act of selflessness. Do you believe in altruism for its own sake?
I’d say it’s still an open question. There’s some really nice work by David Rand and colleagues where they actually looked at the transcripts of people who won the Carnegie Medal for heroism – these are people that risked their lives to save someone else. If you talk to these people, it looks like the thought process behind those decisions was really minimal: they didn’t really think about it in terms of the potential benefits to themselves; they just did it. That suggests that selfish motives, if they’re there, would likely not be conscious. Even though it’s true that a lot of people will behave altruistically for the sake of their own reputation, we know that people sometimes will give anonymously, that they will help others even when no one is watching. Whether that implies a certain level of selfishness in the sense that they behave altruistically because it just feels good to them, well, I suppose that’s a valid point but kind of a pointless argument. There’s a really nice piece by Jamil Zaki written on edge.org about this very issue – at a certain level, any behavior is going to be motivated and people do the things that they want to do. So you could boil down to the level that there’s no such thing as altruism, because I get some personal satisfaction from helping someone else. It just seems to me to be an unproductive argument.
If everyone has a different concept of good and evil, how do we go about testing the instinctive nature of morality?
One way to test instinct is to look at cross-species comparisons between humans and non-humans, and to study the development of babies – that’s all work that's being done at the moment. You can also look at how much time people take to make moral decisions, and you can make the argument that if people react quicker this is a more instinctive response than if people are slower. There’s some nice work, again from David Rand, suggesting that cooperation is intuitive and instinctual because people are more likely to cooperate if you force them to make a decision quickly. But our recent work actually showed that people who take longer to decide take the moral decision. I think it depends on the specifics of the choice involved, and more research needs to be done to tease out these mechanisms.
What are the limits of neuroscience in studying morality, selflessness and altruism, and how does an interdisciplinary approach help us find answers?
Neuroscientists who study the neurobiology of altruism are interested in very different questions than psychologists who study altruism: Neuroscientists are primarily interested in the brain and how it makes decisions. That is really potentially valuable information if you are trying, for example, to develop brain-based treatments for disorders like psychopathy, which is traditionally associated with very low levels of altruism. The limits come from the fact that our understanding of the brain currently is still very poor, and a lot of the work on morality hasn’t necessarily tested very high-level questions, because morality is such a complex phenomenon. It’s going to be quite some time before this high-level theoretical work bridges with lower-level descriptions of how the brain functions at the circuit level. This will have to happen if we are to build a complete picture of the neurobiology of morality.
How does your work combine neuroscience with philosophy?
We’ve taken a really interdisciplinary approach: we collaborate regularly with philosophers who bring a unique perspective to the study of morality in the lab. They can suggest approaches that are based in centuries of thought in moral philosophy. We also bring methods from neuroscience and behavioural economics to try and create quantitative measures of how much people care about avoiding harm to others versus themselves. We’re excited about these methods because we hope that they will provide a link between behavior and the brain.
How would you convince someone who is skeptical that evolution plays a part in morality?
I think they’re not mutually exclusive – of course morality is cultural. If you accept that behavior comes from the brain, then you have to acknowledge the importance of the brain in producing any kind of behavior – whether it be moral or immoral.
Image credit: Jeroen Kransen | {
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A study by entomologists from Bulgaria and Russia provides new interesting information on the life habits and the distribution of the giant water bug Lethocerus patruelis, including a unique footage of bizarre hunting practices of this species.
The giant water bug Lethocerus patruelis is the largest European true bug and the largest European water insect. Lethocerus patruelis is a member of the family Belostomatidae (known as electric light bugs, toe biters), the subfamily Lethocerinae.
The adults of Lethocerus patruelis measure up to 8 cm in length, and the largest representatives of the same family are even bigger – up to almost 12 cm.
Lethocerus patruelis occurs in numerous countries including Turkey, Balkan Peninsula countries, Israel, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.
These bugs are fierce predators which stalk, capture and feed on aquatic crustaceans, fish and amphibians. When they strike, they inject strong digestive saliva, sucking out the liquefied remains to feed. Their bite is considered one of the most painful that can be ever inflicted by any insect but it is of no medical significance.
Dr Snejana Grozeva from the Institute of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Research in Sofia, Bulgaria, with colleagues studied the karyotype and meiosis in Lethocerus patruelis males. Their findings appear in the open-access journal ZooKeys.
They also had the unique chance to record on video the vicious hunting practice of Lethocerus patruelis.
In the recorded material, a giant water bug larva uses the stems of a water plant to stalk and ambush its unsuspicious pray. The larva can be seen storming from its cover and catching and injecting saliva into a small fish.
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Bibliographic information: Grozeva S et al. 2013. Sex chromosome pre-reduction in male meiosis of Lethocerus patruelis (Stål, 1854) (Heteroptera, Belostomatidae) with some notes on the distribution of the species. ZooKeys 319: 119; doi: 10.3897/zookeys.319.4384 | {
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Uncategorized
Flo Rida hit a new “Low” when he was arrested for drunk driving in Miami Beach on Thursday morning (June 9).
The 31-year-old rapper, born Tramar Dillard, was driving his $1.7 million red-and-black Bugatti Veyron following a birthday party when police observed him swerving in his lane, reports TMZ. He was subsequently pulled over around 3:30 a.m. and given a sobriety test after cops detected alcohol on his breath.
He failed to perform a walk the line test, saying, “Officer, I can’t do this. I don’t feel I can walk a straight line. I had a few drinks. Let’s try another test.” He later tried to persuade the cop that he could make it home and bystanders even offered him a ride.
Upon learning that he had a suspended license, he was arrested and booked on suspicion of DUI after his blood alcohol level registered at .185—more than twice the legal limit. | {
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Monday, May 11, 2015
In Friday's post, I cited to a case that directly contradicted one of the findings of the Baltimore City Circuit Court in denying the petition for postconviction relief brought by Adnan Syed. Adnan, of course, has claimed, that his trial counsel was ineffective based upon failure to contact potential alibi witness Asia McClain, who has claimed that she saw Adnan at the Woodlawn Public Library until 2:40 P.M. on January 13, 1999, the same day on which the prosecution claimed that Hae Min Lee was killed at Best Buy by 2:36 P.M.
In rejecting Adnan's petition, the Circuit Court noted that Adnan's attorney might have chosen not to contact Asia because Asia's story about seeing Adnan at the library until 2:40 P.M. on January 13, 1999 contradicted Adnan's "own stated alibi that he remained on the school campus from 2:15 p.m. to 3:30 p.m." (page 11). In response, I discussed Lawrence v. Armontrout, 900 F.2d 127 (8th Cir. 1990), a case cited with approval by both the Fourth Circuit and the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland (the same court handling Adnan's appeal). You can read that post to see why this finding by the Circuit Court fails to hold water.
That still, however, leaves the other two reasons why the Circuit Court denied Adnan's petition: (1) Adnan failed to prove that Asia was a concrete alibi witness because her letters failed to state the time when she saw Adnan on January 13, 1999; and (2) "trial counsel could have reasonably concluded that [Asia] was offering to lie in order to help petitioner avoid conviction." (pages 11-12).
I now feel like I've found an analogous case that refutes both of these conclusions: Montgomery v. Petersen, 846 F.2d 407 (7th Cir. 1988).
Petersen was cited with approval in In re Parris W., 770 A.2d 202 (Md. 2001), and Griffin v. Warden, Maryland Correctional Adjustment Center, 970 F.2d 1355 (4th Cir. 1992), the key ineffective assistance/alibi witness cases decided by the Court of Appeals of Maryland and the Fourth Circuit. It was also cited extensively by Adnan's attorney in his Brief of Appellant. Before reading the case closely, however, I didn't quite realize the importance of the case.
In Petersen, Carl Montgomery was charged with burglaries committed in Moultrie County and Macon County, Illinois on September 9, 1983. Carl was convicted of the Moultrie Country burglary in large part based upon the testimony of his half brother and alleged accomplice, Wayne (Butch) Montgomery. Butch pleaded guilty to the Moultrie County burglary and testified that "he did not expect to gain any favoritism based on his testimony in the present case."
Butch testified that he met Carl in Beardstown, Illinois between 8:30 and 9:00 A.M. on September 9th and discussed a possible burglary in Arcola, Illinois in front of his wife, Mary Lou. Mary Lou also testified at trial and confirmed that she heard Butch and Carl discuss this possible burglary. According to Butch, however, Carl and he scrapped their initial plan and instead burglarized homes in Moultrie County and Macon County.
Butch testified that, after spending the entire day together, Carl and he returned to Carl's home in Springfield between 8:30 and 9:00 P.M. that same day, whereupon Carl called John Mardis and Orville Bartells, whom Carl thought might be able to "move" the items they had stolen. These calls were proven at trial through Carl's phone records, which showed calls to Mardis's home at 9:33 and 9:50 P.M. as well as a call to Bartells's residence at 9:43 P.M. Butch testified that Carl and he did in fact leave to go to Orville's house at 10:00 P.M.
Butch's testimony about arriving at Carl's home between 8:30 and 9:00 P.M. was corroborated by the testimony of Carl's brother and the girlfriend of Carl's brother, both of whom recalled Carl and Butch arriving at Carl's home between 8:30 and 9:00 P.M. on September 9th. On the other hand, Butch's testimony about September 9th was contradicted by 12 alibi witnesses whom defense counsel presented at trial. Each of these witnesses was a close friend or relative to Carl, and each testified to seeing Carl in Springfield at some point during the day on September 9th. In particular, Carl's wife testified that Carl's brother and the girlfriend of Carl's brother were thinking of September 10th instead of September 9th.
After Carl was convicted of the Moultrie County burglary, his wife and mother-in-law followed up on a receipt that Carl's trial counsel had failed to investigate. The receipt was for the purchase of a bicycle at Sears on September 9, 1983; as far as I can tell, the receipt didn't list a time of purchase. The receipt also didn't list the sales clerk's name, but it did list his employee code. Here's the testimony of Carl's attorney about the receipt:
"I was given just a receipt. I wasn't given a name so I didn't know who to interview until I found out who the witness was. But at that point, I simply didn't believe the defendant so I didn't think it happened."
Conversely, Carl's wife and mother-in-law did track down this sales clerk, who told them he had a specific recollection of selling Carl the bicycle at 1:15 or 1:30 P.M. on September 9, 1983 because it was the only bicycle he sold that day. The sales clerk gave testimony to this effect at Carl's trial for the Macon County burglary, and Carl was found "not guilty" of that crime.
Carl thereafter appealed his conviction for the Moultrie County burglary, claiming that he received the ineffective assistance of counsel based upon his trial attorney's failure to investigate and interview the sales clerk. After being unsuccessful at the state court level, Carl was given relief by the United States District Court for the Central District of Illinois. This decision was later affirmed by the Seventh Circuit, in the opinion cited by the Court of Appeals of Maryland and the Fourth Circuit.
The first question that the Seventh Circuit had to answer was whether trial counsel's decision not to investigate and interview the sales clerk was unreasonable. The Seventh Circuit answered this question in the affirmative, finding that
it is important to keep in mind that trial counsel's failure to investigate the Sears receipt was not, by counsel's own admission, a strategic decision. Rather, he testified that his failure was due to "inadvertence" as well as the fact that he "simply didn't believe" the petitioner. In Strickland, the Supreme Court noted that information supplied by the defendant is a prime source of the factual bedrock upon which counsel must rely in making strategic choices.
The Seventh Circuit then noted that this principle from Strickland has been applied by courts from across the country, including the Seventh Circuit in its prior opinion in United States ex rel. Cosey v. Wolff. It then cited the following language from Wolff, adding the emphases included in the quotation:
Cosey's entire defense at trial rested on discrediting the state's main witness—the victim. The five proffered witnesses would not only have corroborated Cosey's story and further impeached the victim's version, but, as the state conceded in oral argument, if the witnesses were believed, their testimony alone would have entirely exculpated Cosey. Without interviewing and investigating such promising witnesses, Cosey's attorney had no reason to believe they would not be valuable in securing Cosey's release. Although three of the witnesses had an apparent reason to be biased in Cosey's favor, that alone is insufficient cause to automatically reject them. Moreover, two of the proffered witnesses had no apparent reason for bias. There was no strategy involved here, only negligence.
Given this language, the Seventh Circuit was easily able to conclude that Carl's trial counsel acted unreasonably in failing to interview and investigate the Sears sales clerk. One key point for the court was that the sales clerk "was the only disinterested witness in the case. All twelve of the other defense witnesses were either close friends or relatives of the petitioner."
This factor strongly supported a finding a unreasonableness despite two factors that worked against Carl: (1) defense counsel did produce 12 alibi witnesses; and (2) defense counsel did not have the name or address of the sales clerk. With regard to this latter point, the Seventh Circuit concluded as follows:
Nor can we say that defense counsel's conclusory statement that he did not believe his client was an adequate basis for ignoring such an important lead. Indeed, if counsel had taken the few steps necessary to identify and interview the Sears clerk, he may well have formed a more favorable view of his client's veracity.
The second question that the Seventh Circuit had to answer was whether trial counsel's decision not to investigate and interview the sales clerk was prejudicial, i.e., whether interviewing and investigating the clerk would have created the reasonable probability of a different outcome at trial. Again, the court was easily able to conclude that Carl established prejudice. Initially, the court noted that the sales clerk "directly contradicted the state's chief witness, who testified that he and the petitioner were together outside of Springfield from 9:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m. that day."
Next, the sales clerk "provided the petitioner with an unbiased alibi defense. As such, it did not merely raise doubts about the petitioner's guilt; if believed by the jury, it would have directly exonerated him of the crime." Additionally,
where the evidence of the petitioner's guilt is overwhelming. Rather, the state's case depended on the relative credibility of Wayne Montgomery and the petitioner. Because the verdict against the petitioner rested primarily on the testimony of the confessed accomplice, it is "'more likely to have been affected by errors than one with overwhelming record support.'"
Finally, the Seventh Circuit found Carl's acquittal for the Macon County burglary to be persuasive evidence of the importance of the testimony by the Sears sales clerk.
Petersen is so interesting because it resembles Adnan's case in so many ways. Of course, some of the facts in Adnan's case are less favorable than the facts in Petersen, but other facts in his case seem more favorable. Let's do a comparison:
•Both convictions were largely based upon the testimony of alleged accomplices and corroborating call records.* The accomplice in Petersen pleaded guilty to the primary offense, seemingly got no benefit for testifying against the defendant, and, as far as I can tell, never changed his story or admitted to lying. The accomplice in Adnan's case pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact, got no prison time, and admitted to lying and changing his story multiple times. The accomplices in both cases described evening phone calls (regarding the "moving" of stolen goods and the burying of the body) that were incriminatory. Your belief about how much stronger the call evidence was in Adnan's case likely depends on how much stock you put in cell tower pings. •Both alleged accomplices were corroborated to a certain extent. Jenn and "Cathy" both lacked direct knowledge of the murder/burial of Hae Min Lee, and their statements alternately meshed and clashed with Jay's testimony. The testimony by Carl's brother and the girlfriend of his brother meshed with Butch's story, and Butch's wife also claimed that she directly heard Butch and Carl planning a burglary (albeit a different burglary). It's also possible that witnesses in both cases had the wrong day. •Like Carl's attorney, Adnan's attorney did (if we believe the alibi notice) investigate a number of alibi witnesses, all of whom were close friends and family. Like Carl's attorney, Adnan's attorney seemingly failed to investigate and interview the one unbiased alibi witness available. Unlike Carl's attorney, Adnan's attorney had the name and contact information for this alibi witness. •Both Carl and Adnan only interacted with their alibi witnesses for relatively short periods of time (10-20 minutes with Asia; the length of time it took to purchase the bicycle with the clerk). Both alibi witnesses were also asked to recall the timing of the interactions months later when they were tracked down by friends/family. •Carl's attorney presented a stronger defense with more alibi witnesses. This is kind of a double edged sword. On the one hand, you might conclude that the case against Carl was weaker; on the other, you might conclude that (as the State argued) the number of alibi witnesses presented by Carl's attorney meant that an additional alibi witness was merely cumulative and less important. The exoneration of Carl for the Macon County burglary was also strong persuasive evidence of prejudice.** •Besides inadvertence, the reason given by Carl's attorney for failing to investigate and interview the Sears sales clerk was disbelief of Carl. Disbelief was also the apparent basis for the two hypothetical strategic reasons that Adnan's trial attorney might not have contacted Asia McClain.
This last point takes me to the point of this post. Here was the Circuit's Court's entire discussion of the aforementioned two possible "strategic" reasons Adnan's trial attorney might have failed to contact Asia McClain:
[T]he Court finds
Let's start with the court's argument that Asia's letters "did not state the exact time during which the counter took place." My response: So what? As noted by the Seventh Circuit in Petersen and the Supreme Court in Strickland, "information supplied by the defendant is a prime source of the factual bedrock upon which counsel must rely in making strategic choices."
The Asia letters don't state times, but we know from notes taken by Adnan's attorney
and her clerk
that Adnan assigned times for the encounter in the library. Therefore, according to defense counsel's prime source of information -- Adnan himself -- the encounter took place at a time or at some point during a time frame that was exceedingly relevant to the case.
Frankly, I find it kind of bizarre that the court focused on the fact that Asia's letters didn't state an exact time for the encounter. In the vast majority of cases, the defendant will simply tell an attorney about a prospective alibi witness, and the attorney will have no independent corroboration by the alibi witness. Conversely, in Adnan's case, Adnan's attorney had Adnan's assigned times for seeing Asia in the library and Asia's letters about seeing Adnan in the library on January 13th...as well as Asia's phone number. All that defense counsel needed to do was have someone on her team call Asia to see whether Asia saw Adnan at some point between 2:15 and 3:15 P.M.
This can be contrasted with Petersen, where defense counsel merely had a receipt that didn't list the sales clerk's name or contact information. Additionally, the receipt apparently didn't list a time of purchase or purchaser information. Simply put, this receipt was much less "concrete" than Asia. Indeed, I would imagine that the information that Adnan's attorney had about Asia was a lot more concrete than the initial information that most attorneys have about prospective alibi witnesses.
This, of course, leads into the second argument made by the Circuit Court, which is that Adnan's attorney could have concluded that Asia was offering to lie...with Adnan feeding her the lie. In other words, Asia offered to account for some of Adnan's unaccountable time between 2:15 and 8:00 and wondered about whether the "situation" could have been avoided if she stayed with him longer at the library. In turn, the notes by Adnan's attorney and her clerk suggest...well, I don't know what they suggest; they're notes. Does the attorney note suggest that Adnan told his attorney that he saw Asia (1) from 2:15-3:15; (2) for some period of time between 2:15 and 3:15; or (3) at some point between the end of school and the start of track practice? And does the clerk's note suggest that Adnan told the clerk that he saw Asia (1) at 3:00; (2) up until 3:00; (3) at around 3:00; or (4) as Adnan testified, prior to 3:00, which is when Adnan left the library, after Asia had already left with her boyfriend?
I don't know, but I read the Circuit Court's conclusion as follows: Adnan's attorney could have concluded that (1) Asia was offering Adnan an alibi blank check between 2:15 and 8:00; and (2) Adnan sought to cash that check by claiming that Asia would have seen him up to 3:00 or 3:15. As such, she could have made the "strategic" reason not to contact Asia. Now, I personally disagree with this reading of Asia's letters, but that's not the point.
The point is that the Seventh Circuit in Petersen said that disbelief of a client is not a reason to refrain from contacting an alibi witness. Indeed, the Seventh Circuit found that failing to contact a prospective alibi witness based upon disbelief is not strategy at all. Take another look at the court's italicized citation to Wolff:
Without interviewing and investigating such promising witnesses, Cosey's attorney had no reason to believe they would not be valuable in securing Cosey's release.
That's pretty much the exact same language used by the Fourth Circuit in Griffin, the opinion addressing a case handled by the same courts handling Adnan's trial/appeal. The same logic applies here. Just as in Petersen, contacting Asia could have led Adnan's attorney to disbelieve Asia's alibi, but it also could have caused her to trust it more.
Again, I don't know exactly what Adnan told his attorney about when he saw Asia, but I do know what Asia has said: she saw him for 10-20 minutes, until about 2:40 P.M. (first affidavit; second affidavit). I think the shortish duration of the encounter described by Asia bolsters her credibility, but that's not really the point. The point is that Adnan's defense attorney couldn't have written Asia off without first investigating and interviewing her to determine whether she was being honest and accurate. Without such investigating and interviewing, Adnan's attorney acted unreasonably. Because the State's case was built on accomplice testimony that was weaker than the accomplice testimony in Petersen, and because Asia's alibi contradicted the State's timeline, this error was prejudicial.
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*According to the Baltimore City Circuit Court, "The State's case rested largely on the testimony of [Jay] and the corroborating cell phone records."
**Of course, an argument could be made that the favorable "polling" of jurors after Adnan's first trial (noted by the State in its Brief (page 3)) shows the tenuousness of the prosecution's case against Adnan. Of course, that was merely informal "polling," and it was done before the State had presented its full case; that said, it was also done before the defense had presented any of its case.
-CM
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/evidenceprof/2015/05/in-fridays-post-i-cited-to-a-case-that-directly-contradicted-one-of-the-findings-of-thebaltimore-city-circuit-court-in-denyi.html | {
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Derivatives trader Llewellyn Connolly lives in Bond Street in Manhattan with his wife.
But that's not what the Harvard grad told New York City.
According to the Daily News (via DB), he told the city he was single and living in London so he could avoid paying high taxes here.
Connolly worked for Lehman Brothers and Goldman Sachs before becomeing an MD at insurance giant Swiss Re.
He plead guilty on Wednesday to two felonies that allowed him to dodge $1 million in income taxes, and has already paid $2.6 million in back taxes and penalties to avoid spending time in jail.
He was also ordered to do 300 hours of community service. His lawyer said he'll volunteer to tutor former inmates.
What happened is that Connolly had already filed his 2005 and 2006 tax returns as a singleton living in the UK. And just after auditors concluded a challenge to those returns, he filed his 2007 return, claiming the same living situation. So of course, auditors investigated him again.
This time around, he went too far.
According to the Daily News,
Connolly gave auditors phony credit card receipts for nights spent in the Gramercy Hotel and other hotels in Manhattan... Auditors also got a bogus moving van bill suggesting he had shipped his household furnishings to Virginia, prosecutors said.
Connolly was featured in the Harvard Business School's Alumni magazine just this month (via Gothamist), pictured in Alaska where he was snowboarding with a friend.
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A fisherman prepares his boat near an oil storage tank in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Monday, May 13, 2019. Saudi Arabia said Monday two of its oil tankers were sabotaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates near Fujairah in attacks that caused "significant damage" to the vessels, one of them as it was en route to pick up Saudi oil to take to the United States. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
A fisherman prepares his boat near an oil storage tank in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, Monday, May 13, 2019. Saudi Arabia said Monday two of its oil tankers were sabotaged off the coast of the United Arab Emirates near Fujairah in attacks that caused "significant damage" to the vessels, one of them as it was en route to pick up Saudi oil to take to the United States. (AP Photo/Jon Gambrell)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The Latest on alleged sabotage of ships off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (all times local):
6:15 p.m.
The owners of a Norwegian-flagged oil tanker say their vessel sustained a hole in its hull from “an unknown object” while off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, amid what Gulf officials describe as sabotage targeting ships there.
Thome Ship Management said in a statement Monday that the MT Andrea Victory was still off the coast of Fujairah and was “not in any danger of sinking.”
It said the rear section of the ship was hit by the object on Sunday.
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It added its sailors were supporting local authorities and were conducting a full inspection of the vessel.
Saudi Arabia said earlier Monday that two of its oil tankers also were targeted in “sabotage operations” off the UAE coast, with one of them as it was en route to pick up Saudi oil to take to the United States.
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12:45 p.m.
The head of the Arab League has condemned attacks that targeted vessels off the coast of the United Arab Emirates the previous day, including two Saudi oil tankers, as “criminal acts.”
Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said in a statement on Monday that these acts are a “serious violation of the freedom and integrity of trade and maritime transport routes.”
He says the Arab League stands by the UAE and Saudi Arabia “in all measures taken to safeguard their security and interests.”
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11:40 a.m.
Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry is condemning “acts of sabotage” that targeted two of its oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman near the coast of the United Arab Emirates.
A ministry statement published on the state-run Saudi Press Agency on Monday, said “this criminal act poses a serious threat to the security and safety of maritime traffic, which reflects negatively on regional and international peace and security.”
It added that Saudi Arabia stands alongside the UAE “in all measures taken to safeguard its security and interests.” The kingdom says the unspecified act of sabotage did not lead to any casualties or oil spill.
Earlier, SPA also quoted the Saudi minister of energy, Khalid Al-Falih, as saying the attack on Sunday aims to undermine the freedom of maritime navigation, and the “security of oil supplies to consumers all over the world.”
He also emphasized the “joint responsibility of the international community to protect” the safety of maritime navigation and the security of oil tankers.
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9:10 a.m.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry is calling for clarification about what happened with two Saudi oil tankers that the kingdom said were targeted in a “sabotage attack” off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.
Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Monday expressed concerns over the incident that affected the oil tankers and said there should be more information about what exactly happened.
He says the security of shipping and maritime transport in the region is of paramount importance.
The state-run IRNA news agency also quoted Mousavi on Monday as cautioning against any “conspiracy orchestrated by ill-wishers” and “adventurism by foreigners” to undermine the region’s stability and security.
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7:30 a.m.
Saudi Arabia’s energy minister says two Saudi oil tankers were targeted in a “sabotage attack” off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and sustained “significant damage.”
Khalid Al-Falih made the comments in a statement carried early Monday by the state-run Saudi Press Agency.
He said the two tankers were targeted off the coast of Fujairah.
He said one tanker was en route to the kingdom to be loaded with Saudi crude oil to send to the United States.
He did not identify the tankers.
He said: “Fortunately, the attack didn’t lead to any casualties or oil spill; however, it caused significant damage to the structures of the two vessels.”
The UAE on Sunday said an alleged sabotage attack targeted four boats, without elaborating or naming suspects.
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7 a.m.
The U.S. has issued a new alert to maritime traffic over alleged “acts of sabotage” of ships off the coast of the United Arab Emirates amid heightened regional tensions between American and Iran.
The U.S. Maritime Administration, which stressing the incidents had not been confirmed, warned shippers early Monday to exercise caution when traveling past Fujairah, a port city on the eastern edge of the United Arab Emirates on the Gulf of Oman.
It gave coordinates of the alleged sabotage, putting it just north of Fujairah.
The UAE on Sunday said the sabotage targeted four boats, without elaborating or naming suspects. It came just hours after Iranian and Lebanese media outlets aired false reports of explosions at the nearby Emirati port in Fujairah, which bunkers and ships oil. | {
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The Sydney Swans have made the difficult decision to not renew Alex Johnson’s contract for the 2019 season.
Johnson made an extraordinary effort to return to playing this year after 2136 days on the sideline following a series of knee injuries.
In his second game back against Melbourne in Round 21, Johnson ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee and subsequently underwent a sixth knee reconstruction.
Facing another extended stint on the sideline, the difficult decision was made to delist the 2012 premiership player, who played 47 senior games for the Swans. While the Club discussed the possibility of a non-playing role next year, Johnson is keen to explore other opportunities.
Swans coach John Longmire praised Johnson for the impact he had in red and white.
“Alex has been an incredible servant of our club. He has shown unbelievable resilience and he’s a much-admired player among his teammates, coaches, staff and wider AFL community,” Longmire said.
“Alex’s perseverance and strength is among the best I’ve seen in the game and it was a real credit to him that he was able to fight his way back to playing after so many setbacks.
“This was an incredibly difficult decision to make but the reality is he faced another extended stint on the sideline. We explored the possibility of Alex staying involved with the Club in a non-playing capacity, but he’s keen to explore other opportunities.
“We thank Alex for the invaluable contribution he made to our club and the impact he had on so many of us and wish him all the very best for the future.”
Johnson says it’s with mixed emotions his time at Sydney has come to an end.
“I would like to thank the Sydney Swans Football Club for the opportunities they have given me over the past eight years,” Johnson said.
“I have made life-long friends and lived out my childhood dream of playing AFL, including the premiership in 2012.
“Although it has been a very difficult last six years I will be forever grateful that the Club stuck by me and gave me every opportunity to get back and play at the highest level.
“While I am disappointed with the decision the Club has made, my passion still remains to play football at the highest level.” | {
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Members of Parliament will debate a motion to condemn Islamophobia and track incidents of hate crime against Muslims in the House of Commons next week.
Motion 103 was tabled by Mississauga, Ont., Liberal backbencher Iqra Khalid last fall, but will be discussed in the aftermath of last month's mass shooting at a Quebec City mosque. It calls on government to "condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination."
The text of the motion also asks the government to:
Recognize the need to quell the increasing public climate of hate and fear.
Request the heritage committee study how the government could develop a government-wide approach to reducing or eliminating systemic racism and religious discrimination, including Islamophobia.
Collect data to contextualize hate crime reports and to conduct needs assessments for impacted communities and present findings within 240 calendar days.
The motion, scheduled for one hour of debate on Wednesday, has generated a backlash online, with petitions garnering thousands of signatures opposing the motion.
Some critics have mischaracterized M-103 as a "bill" or a "law" rather than an non-binding motion.
Some have warned that Canada is moving towards criminalizing Islamophobia or even to the implementation of Islamic law, called Shariah, in Canada.
Khalid declined requests for an interview from CBC News.
When she tabled the motion on Dec. 5, 2016, she described her experience as a "young, brown, Muslim, Canadian woman."
"When I moved to Canada in the 1990s, a young girl trying to make this nation my home, some kids in school would yell as they pushed me, 'Go home, you Muslim' — but I was home. I am among thousands of Muslims who have been victimized because of hate and fear," she said.
"I am a proud Canadian among hundreds and thousands of others who will not tolerate hate based on religion or skin colour. I rise today with my fellow Canadians to reject and condemn Islamophobia."
E-petition condemning Islamophobia
On the same day Khalid tabled her motion, an e-petition with nearly 70,000 signatures was tabled that called on the House of Commons to join the signatories in recognizing that "extremist individuals do not represent the religion of Islam, and in condemning all forms of Islamophobia."
Barbara Kay, a columnist for the National Post and contributor to The Rebel Media, said she worries about M-103's potential impact on freedom of expression and special protections for a single religious group.
"There are a lot of countries in Europe where criticism of Islam, even if not entrenched in law as a hate crime, are being interpreted by police and law enforcement, social workers — the whole spectrum of the state apparatus. They have been internalized by those within the public service as wrong, and if not criminal then absolutely morally wrong, and therefore Muslims are a group that must be protected from this very offensive speech," she said in an interview with CBC.
Kay said anti-hate speech laws have traditionally targeted human beings, not ideas. She questioned the need to single out Islamophobia, and argued there are more hate crimes against Jews than Muslims in Canada.
Hate crimes in Canada
According to Statistics Canada, in 2013 there were 326 police-reported hate crimes motivated by hatred of a religion or religious group, about 28 per cent of all hate crimes.
Those targeting Jewish populations were the most frequently reported, accounting for 56 per cent of religious hate crimes in 2013, according to the most recent data available. There were 181 hate-motivated crimes targeting the Jewish religion reported by police in 2013, compared to 65 crimes motivated by hatred against the Muslim religion.
In her report and a video for The Rebel website, Kay said blasphemy laws conceived according to Shariah law could creep into Canada.
She said that could have a chilling effect on free speech and ultimately mean some of her columns could be deemed Islamophobic and subject to penalties.
"I'm worried. All Canadians should be worried," she wrote.
Trudeau: Balancing fundamental rights
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked about M-103 during a town hall meeting in Yellowknife Friday, with a participant questioning how the motion squares with Trudeau's claim to be a feminist. The questioner said by referencing Islamaphobia, M-103 risks silencing voices critical of oppressive practices rooted in Sharia law.
In a seven-minute response, Trudeau said fundamental rights and freedoms are enshrined in Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, but that individual rights must be balanced with others in our society. Determining the parameters is an ongoing discussion in a dynamic, successful society like ours, he said.
Trudeau said the motion aims to address the fact there is a community that is "particularly vulnerable these days to intolerance and discrimination."
"You're not allowed to call 'Fire!' in a crowded movie theatre and call that free speech," Trudeau said.
"That endangers our community. And as we saw 10 days ago in Quebec City, there are other things that can endanger our communities. And we need to stand strongly and firmly against that."
Push for broader discussion
B.C. Conservative MP Dianne Watts said she supports the motion but wants a broader discussion about how to end any act of hate or discrimination based on race or religion.
"We just look at what happened at the mosque in Quebec and it's such a horrible thing to have happen in Canada because that's not who we are, that's not what we're about and we have to do everything we possibly can as legislators and as a community to make sure it doesn't happen again," she said.
On Wednesday, Muslim leaders from across the country issued a letter urging all levels of government to take steps to combat Islamophobia. The letter urged support for M-103 and for Parliament to declare Jan. 29, the date of the shooting that killed six Muslim worshippers, a National Day of Remembrance and Action on Islamophobia.
Amira Elghawaby, communications director for the National Council of Canadian Muslims, says what happened in Quebec City was a wake-up call for the nation. (CBC)
"Now is the time to take meaningful steps forward in order to combat Islamophobia collectively. In so doing, we honour not only the memory of those whose lives were lost and their families, friends and communities, we also honour and uphold the values of multiculturalism, respect and diversity enshrined in our cherished Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms," reads the letter signed by 74 Canadian Muslim organizations, individuals and community groups.
Amira Elghawaby, a spokeswoman for the National Council of Canadian Muslims, called for action now.
"What happened in Quebec City was a wake-up call for the entire nation, that leaving hatred to fester in our communities can lead to the loss of life and the destruction of peoples' communities, and also the shooter himself succumbed to his hatred and acted out on the ignorance, the misinformation and the fear that he had," she said. | {
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Tampons, Jaffa Cakes, and razors: we pay no VAT on some of these items
Jaffa Cakes and shop-bought pitta bread are zero-rated, but VAT on razor blades is at the standard 20% rate. VAT on tampons is at a reduced rate of 5%, the minimum it can be under current EU rules.
"Jaffa Cakes are zero-rated. I am not a fan of Jaffa Cakes—let it be known that if I am offered a Jaffa Cake, I will refuse. I do not consider them to be essential to my life; I can give or take them. I recognise that razors are zero-rated, and judging by many Conservative Members the opportunity to shave every day is a human right. They are cleanly shaven, and I am sure they would be concerned to be charged a higher rate of VAT. Pitta bread is zero-rated—we can probably all agree that that is a necessity. What is the kebab without a good pitta bread around it? It is a necessity." Stella Creasy MP, 26 October 2015
A number of MPs have called for an end to the "tampon tax", arguing that tampons and other sanitary products are essential items and so VAT shouldn't have to be paid on them.
Currently they're subject to a VAT rate of 5%, reduced from the standard rate of 20%.
No VAT is paid on cakes, on the other hand. After no small amount of controversy it's been determined that Jaffa Cakes count as cakes, despite having "characteristics of both cakes and biscuits", and so we don't need to pay VAT on them.
Razor blades, on the other hand, are taxed at the standard 20% rate. We've also asked HM Revenue & Customs, who confirmed that. We've asked Ms Creasy's office to comment.
And in the case of pitta bread, it's complicated. If you buy it at the supermarket you pay no VAT, as with other bread. But if it's part of a hot take-away meal (wrapped around a kebab for instance) it'll be taxed at 20%.
EU rules mean that VAT rates can't be lowered below 5%. Categories of products that were already taxed below this rate prior to 1991—like cakes and bread—can continue to be taxed at that lower rate (0%, in practice).
The government says that all 28 EU countries would have to agree to any changes to the rules. The authorisation for the EU to make rules on this at all comes from an article of the EU treaties that requires them to be passed "unanimously". | {
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Newell Coach has created the 2020 Newell Coach p50 1675, a luxurious $2 million recreational vehicle.
The company has a longstanding partnership with Porsche Design, which collaborated with Newell on the motor home's body design, according to Newell.
There is a dinette, kitchen, bedroom, and living area with three beds in the recreational vehicle.
Visit BusinessInsider.com for more stories.
Newell Coach has created the 2020 Newell Coach p50 1675, a $2 million home on wheels.
The company has been crafting motor homes for half a century, and the p50 was created to honor the company's 50th anniversary. Newell also has a longstanding partnership with Porsche Design, which collaborated with Newell on the body style of the motor home.
The RV seller makes its own body and chassis for the home, and each vehicle is built to order, allowing the interior and layout to be completely customizable.
The vehicle is "custom-designed and custom-engineered for the customer," Karl Blade, the president of Newell Coach, said in a statement.
The maker said there was a focus on "intuitive controls and consistent performance" throughout the home, which is made of "luxurious materials." Newell builds are typically 45 feet long, weigh 60,000 pounds, and are 600 square feet, according to the company.
Most of its customers are self-made entrepreneurs that have experience with RVs, according to Newell.
Keep scrolling to see this opulent home on wheels: | {
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SXSW 2019 ARTISTS TO WATCH
SXSW is approaching fast and Highlark Magazine is gearing up to head out to the music festival filled week again this year. With an extensive artist exhibition roster; we decided to narrow down the lengthy list and ask our staff who they’re excited to see on the list this year. Here’s some talent they’re referring and some 10 second reasons why:
[ + ] Aries
“Aries, who began as a YouTube personality, now sings, writes, and produces his own music. He brings life and a modern twist to rap and hip hop culture in the music he recently released in 2018.” – SAGE
[ + ] The Nude Party
“The Nude Party doesn’t just make sixties-reminiscent psychedelic rock. By some stroke of luck, science, or magic, they seem to produce the sound organically, keeping it relevant with all of the catchiness, danceability, and youthful spirit of the greats. I did not believe that anyone could cover The Velvet Underground and do them justice until I saw The Nude Party do it, and they’ve had my heart ever since.” – SAM
[ + ] Abhi The Nomad
“There are aritsts who make songs and artists who make music – Abhi is the latter. Now, he may not be everyone’s cup fo tea but he certainly has a defined identity and drive in his music. His bravado alone will guarantee a performance that will be worth witnessing.” – ZACH
[ + ] Elder Island
“This Bristol based trio offers a sound that is that finds harmony between being soulful and dance. Katy Sargent’s rich and decadent vocals offer a soulful tone that spills atop multilayered synths, beats and melodic broodings.” – BRIAN
[ + ] Bedouine
“Azniv Korkejian’s smooth, sixties-folky, almost-country sound makes for a most comforting blend. I could wrap myself in those soft vocals, warm as a blanket, glinting as a starry night.” – SAM
[ + ] Lucky Daye
“One of the few times I become incredibly thankful for music app created playlists. I stumbled across one of his song’s on a recommendation and immediately ran through his entire catalog. His voice is incredibly soothing over magically mellowed tracks.” – JEANETTE
[ + ] Jarryd James
“After showings from artists such as Woodes in 2016 and Mallrat in 2017, the ever-consistent Australians present a strong front at SX this year with Jarryd James. His soulful voice and emotive lyrics get me every time, but rather than a calculated feel–sweet music generated specifically to make you feel something–James’ sound feels really genuine.” – ALLI
[ + ] City of the Sun
“They have a super unique and memorable sound, influenced by several genres, including post-rock, gypsy jazz, flamenco, and indie rock. Their amazing stage presence and passion for performing makes them a geniune band to see. ” – ERIN
[ + ] Katzu Oso
“Electronic melodies, underlying trap beats and a whole lot of love infused lyrics have everyone crushing on the new rising artist of DIY Bedroom Pop. Easy listening done right, his tracks will have you mesmerized in a heartbeat.”– JEANETTE
[ + ] Alice Phoebe Lou
“This Berlin-based singer-songwriter has such a sweet voice while singing lyrics so real it’s almost heartbreaking. ” – NICOLE
[ + ] Surfbort
“Surfbort is a punk band, but they’re a fun, positive, inclusive, friendship-loving punk band with a sense of humor and a penchant for honesty. Freaks welcome.” – SAM
[ + ] Late Night Laggers
“It’s almost impossible to encapsulate the experience they create without attending their events for yourself. The notorious DJ collective began with throwing backyard house parties to becoming one of the most influential staples in Los Angeles and World music. Always ten steps ahead of the trend, you want to catch their set to hear the next best artists & DJs in global music.”– JEANETTE
[ + ] Wyclef Jean
“A wave of nostalgia swept over me upon seeing Wyclef Jean on the list of SX performances. I distinctly remember screaming “Sweetest Girl (Dollar Bill)” while driving to school with my older brothers back in 2007. Honestly didn’t know he was still making music, so seeing that plus the fact that he’ll perform live will be really interesting.” – ALLI
[ + ] Beshken
“Beshken hails from LA, having originally trained as a jazz guitarist but later became interesed in dance music while DJing house parties and clubs. He’s now based in Brooklyn and offers a blend of electronic music, jazz, and indie rock.” – BRIAN
[ + ] Pink Sweat$
“Without a doubt, one of the next big stars of melodic R&B. ‘Honesty’ was one of the first tracks I came across for the artist and I haven’t been able to stop listening to his soulful croons since.”– JEANETTE
[ + ] Yung Lean
“An artist that rose from the shadows of Sweden, Yung Lean became an overnight sensation in 2010 at the young age of 16. With 3 mixtapes and 3 studio albums under his belt since then Yung Lean has caught the attention of listeners worldwide with his metaphorical lyrics and melodic beats. A man of uniqueness, creativity, and artistry there is no one in the industry like him. ” – JOSH
[ + ] Omar Apollo
“Very much like his music, Omar Apollo emanates a sexy and laidback vibe. ” – NICOLE
[ + ] Illiterate Light
“It’s almost impossible to believe that such full, eclectic sound can be created from the fusion of just two members. The familiarity of classic indie rock is met with hazy, experimental bliss in all of the best ways.”– JEANETTE
[ + ] White Denim
“White Denim brings so many other great flavors to rock n’ roll. They are experts at creating catchy, melodic tunes that are completely out of this world. With a dash of funk and a whole lot of attitude, they always draw a crowd.” – JORDAN
[ + ] The Strumbellas
“The Canadian six-piece reminds me of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros or Grouplove. Their hit tunes “Spirits” and “We Don’t Know” exemplify their indie shout-sing feelgood sound. Should be a good showing from them at an indie-filled fest like SX.” – ALLI
[ + ] Her’s
“Their music finds the perfect intersection of 80s synth wave pop and indie alternative. Whether you’re in need of an unwind, background study music or a playlist ready to make you fall in love, their tunes never seem to fail.”– JEANETTE
[ + ] Ivy Sole
” “This something old and something new” is what Ivy Sole declares on her song “The Vow” and it couldn’t be more of a perfect description of her artistry. There’s a comforting nostalgia to her beats and rhymes but it never feels dated or like a desperate attempt to sound vintage. It’s honest, refined, and confident. Expect live instrumentation to back her poetic punch.” – ZACH
[ + ] The Mystery Lights
“The Mystery Lights have an undeniably infectious energy about them onstage. They make damn-good psychedelic garage rock, and they’re having a great time and want you to have a great time too.” – SAM
[ + ] BEA1991
“Soft spoken and dreamy vocals often laid over upbeat tracks. Feel good vibe- empowering, even.” – NICOLE
[ + ] Combo Chimbita
“Bring your dancing shoes for this one. Their Latin based sounds are layered with psychedelic rock and electronic rhythms to create “Tropical Futurism.” Watching them live gives you a sense of traveling through Latin America, the Carribean and Africa via the vibrancy that their music so enchantingly exudes.”– JEANETTE
[ + ] Luke Laird
“Luke Laird is one of the most prolific country/pop songwriters in the nation. “The numbers are staggering: 23 Billboard No. 1 hits, two Billboard No. 1 singles as a producer, 38 radio singles––24 of which have hit the Top 5––and more than 100 album cuts fill his catalog. ” Luke is a very humble professional who can easily be considered one of Nashville’s finest.” – JORDAN
[ + ] Agrupación Cariño
“A band that achieves the rare task of sounding phenominal on record and even better live. The live instrumentation is so crisp and precise, you can’t help but admire the mass talent involved in this group. ” – ZACH
[ + ] Kirin J. Callinan
“Drawing from a range of genres and influences, Kirin’s style is vast and unpredictable. Sometimes dark. Sometimes poppy. Lots of attitude. Always interesting.” – SAM
[ + ] Joe Armon-Jones
“Jones adds so much flavor to the modern Jazz movement. He adds to his core of Jazz with the sounds of Reggae, Trance, and House music, and there’s never a dull moment in his compositions. ” – SAIF
[ + ] Native Sun
“A most frenetic garage rock outfit from Brooklyn, Native Sun is great to listen to in your headphones, but if you can catch them live, that’s a party you don’t want to miss.” – SAM
[ + ] Jared & the Mill
“These guys are visiting from Phoenix, AZ and making absolute waves in their home state. They play with folky/country vibes and I can definitely see this year’s SXSW being their final launchpad into a bigger platform. See them before you can’t afford to!” – ALLISON
[ + ] DJ Hella Yella
“This guy is Austin, TX royalty and it’d be hard to find someone who doesn’t know who he is around here. If you’re looking for a blend of old-school beats with today’s top 40, he’ll keep you partying all night long.” – ALLISON
[ + ] Quiet Company
“Another Austin local band that is so popular around here, I forget they’re not famous everywhere. I had the pleasure of seeing FUN. perform some 7am SXSW shows right before their hit album, Some Nights, came out. Quiet Company is in line to do the same. They’re a great alternative rock bank that’ll be fun whether you’re looking to sit around and chill or get up close and dance. Either way, they sound like Austin and you’ll love them!” – ALLISON | {
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when I use the ladies toilet and someone is in there already - I hide in the cubical until they leave before I come out so I don't have to make awkward small talk
Check out all our blank memes | {
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2013-11-28 01:25 , edited 2013-12-02 21:59 by ikjadoon
Start -> type in "Problem Reports" -> click "View All Problem Reports"
CURRENT AVERAGE (64 players):
I want to find out how many times the average person is crashing (one month post-launch). To make it more scientific, do it like this:Screenshot the BF4 bit (I JUST NEED THE #) and upload it somewhere; imgur.com [imgur.com] is an easy site to host it on. So, you'll get a picture like this: http://i.imgur.com/iG5k0tg.png [i.imgur.com]Please help if you can. It won't be perfect (doesn't take into account ANY of the bugs), but it will be something!!! :D1 hour and 32 minutes between crashes.DATA:69 crashes in 127 hours6 crashes in 38 hours23 crashes in 59 hours10 crashes in 25.5 hours34 crashes in 69.5 hours19 crashes in 41.75 hours14 crashes in 79.25 hours56 crashes in 75 hours29 crashes in 55 hours238 crashes in 80 hours30 crashes in 121 hours26 crashes in 59.25 hours84 crashes in 111 hours35 crashes in 51 hours43 crashes in 60 hours34 crashes in 100 hours97 crashes in 148 hours25 crashes in 44 hours34 crashes in 77 hours36 crashes in 122 hours43 crashes in 226 hours16 crashes in 54 hours40 crashes in 52 hours27 crashes in 52 hours30 crashes in 30 hours24 crashes in 4 hours (current record holder - crashes every 10 minutes!)26 crashes in 38 hours46 crashes in 116 hours34 crashes in 53 hours32 crashes in 102 hours103 crashes in 77 hours6 crashes in 31 hours57 crashes in 79 hours16 crashes in 55 hours60 crashes in 46 hours0 crashes in 7 hours83 crashes in 128 hours45 crashes in 67 hours3 crashes in 63 hours79 crashes in 246 hours46 crashes in 26 hours0 crashes in 7 hours55 crashes in 48 hours84 crashes in 110 hours42 crashes in 62 hours96 crashes in 81 hours0 crashes in 71 hours4 crashes in 44 hours18 crashes in 66 hours20 crashes in 79 hours0 crashes in 14 hours37 crashes in 87 hours2 crashes in 18 hours87 crashes in 192 hours0 crashes in 24 hours82 crashes in 145 hours78 crashes in 81 hours84 crashes in 132 hours89 crashes in 90 hours36 crashes in 71 hours11 crashes in 55 hours72 crashes in 150 hours32 crashes in 21 hours40 crashes in 106 hours | {
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After more than 100 years of trying, Indiana has its first national park.
On Friday, President Donald Trump signed an omnibus spending bill that, among many measures, included changing the name from Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore to Indiana Dunes National Park.
The change was part of a several-hundred-page appropriations bill that also included funding for the controversial border wall pushed by the president.
"This action provides our shoreline with the recognition it deserves, and I hope further builds momentum to improve open and public access to all of our region’s environmental wonders,” U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, a Democrat representing Indiana's 1st District, said in a statement.
Travel guide:These are the best national parks to visit in winter
'Parks and Rec':These two 2020 presidential candidates have both appeared on cult classic set in Indiana
The name change doesn't necessarily come with extra funding or protection for the area, but it will help raise the Dunes' profile, said Bruce Rowe, public information officer for the Indiana Dunes.
"We’re absolutely elated," Rowe said. "We have this incredible natural resource that not that many people know about. This can get us some recognition for that natural resource."
Before the name change, the Indiana Dunes Lakeshore was one of 418 "national park units." Now it is part of an elite group of 61 parks across the country that Americans make lifelong commitments to visit.
National Parks Service officials in Washington, D.C., previously opposed such a renaming, but Rowe said he and his colleagues in Indiana were celebrating the change.
The area is made up of about 15,000 acres of woodlands, prairies, savannas, bogs, wetlands and the titular dunes. Its beaches run along about 15 miles of the Lake Michigan shoreline.
"This designation is long overdue and will be a significant benefit to northwest Indiana and ... the entire Midwest region," said Dustin Ritchea, promotions director for Indiana Dunes Tourism.
The Indiana Dunes received 3.6 million visitors last year, and combined with the Indiana Dunes State Park, the destination ranks just below Yellowstone National Park for visitors, Ritchea said. It also brings $476 million to Porter County each year.
"The power and visibility of the national park classification could result in visitors, and thereby boost northwest Indiana’s economy," Sen. Todd Young said. "It’s also a source of great pride, and it should be to all Hoosiers as well."
Efforts to make the area a national park date back to 1916, when Stephen Mather, the first director of the National Park Service, began advocating for the creation of the "Sand Dunes National Park," Rowe said.
Those efforts, while widely supported, were derailed by the start of World War I. Indiana Dunes State Park was established in 1926. In 1966, it gained protection from the National Park Service when it was designated as a national lakeshore, which gave it the same protections as a national park, but not the fame.
Since then, there have been repeated efforts by lawmakers and organizations like Save the Dunes to make the Dunes a national park. Most recently, Visclosky introduced a bill in 2017 that would effect the change.
Government shutdown:Joshua Tree National Park could take 300 years to recover from government shutdown damage
More:Whiteout conditions in California close Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks
Then-Sen. Joe Donnelly introduced similar legislation into the Senate that same year. Visclosky's legislation passed out of the U.S. House but died in a Senate subcommittee in August.
Visclosky and Republican Sens. Young and Mike Braun introduced identical legislation in January. The provision was ultimately tacked onto a House appropriations bill.
The Indiana Dunes are considered one of the most biodiverse areas in North America, with more plant and animal species than the entire state of Hawaii, Ritchea said. It's also considered the birthplace of ecology as the subject of research by botanist Henry C. Cowles.
With this designation, Indiana joins 27 other states that have national parks within their borders.
More:10 great UNESCO World Heritage Sites in North America
More:New petition to sell Montana to Canada for $1 trillion to pay off US debt
Follow Emily Hopkins on Twitter: @_thetextfiles. | {
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Katy ISD stadium bond issue falls
The Nov. 5 bond election in the Katy Independent School District included a 14,000-seat stadium. The Nov. 5 bond election in the Katy Independent School District included a 14,000-seat stadium. Photo: Katy Independent School District Photo: Katy Independent School District Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Katy ISD stadium bond issue falls 1 / 3 Back to Gallery
Katy ISD voters turned down the district's request to pay for a new stadium, agriculture facility and science center.
School district officials reported that 54 percent voted against the measure, with a vote of 9,011 against, and 7,458 for the bond issue..
"This defeat shows that this Katy ISD administration and school board have become institutionally arrogant," said George Scott, an education advocate and bond critic. "They lost sight of the fact that people in the community are dedicated to public education but also care about spending money wisely. This was simply the worst structured bond I have seen in my entire professional career."
"My goal was to present a package that didn't raise our taxes and that goal was accomplished," said John Eberlan, who was on the bond committee. "We wanted to produce a bond package that reflected the goals of the entire community."
No tax increase was planned with the $99 million bond issue, which also included $25 million proposition to expand the Gerald D. Young Agricultural Sciences Center and a $4.5 million proposition for a science, technology, engineering and math.
The 14,000-seat stadium would have been built just north of the existing Rhodes Stadium, and provide a second venue for varsity football and soccer games.
Students and parents involved in the district's agriculture program pushed for the $25 million agriculture facility to benefit the 3,000 students who participate in the programs. STEM center
The STEM center was to have been built on two acres west of the Miller Career and Technology Center at 1734 Katyland Drive, will support existing programs such as robotics and introduce new projects.
Debate about the stadium and proposed bond debt was intense in the weeks leading up to the bond issue.
Members of the Katy LiberTea, a local anti-tax group that opposed the bond election, said they are concerned about the district's debt, while the school district says that shouldn't be a worry because it's in good financial shape.
Katy ISD spokesman Steve Stanford said before the election that the district has not contemplated a future tax hike.
Stanford said a steady increase in property values has increased revenues without the need to increase taxes for the past seven years.
The debt is directly related to growth, he said, and the district has held bond elections because people are moving to Katy in droves because of the school district.
"Since 1994, the district has grown from 25,500 pupils to more than 66,500 in 2013, adding 20 elementary schools, eight junior highs and four high schools during that time," Stanford said. | {
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A former police negotiator says police should be commended for saving the young girls taken hostage in Tauranga, but would have liked to get everyone out safely.
The police shot a man dead after he was holed up for 15 hours holding two young girls - aged four and six - hostage with a machete.
His partner managed to escape just after midnight and called 111 from a neighbour's house after being threatened with a knife.
With the help of police an 11-year-old managed to escape, but the siege went on with the two young children until after 3pm when police entered and shot the man.
Today a waiata could be heard as a hearse arrived to remove the man's body from the house in the presence of family members.
Last night, the four and six-year-old were released from hospital to whānau unharmed, the Bay of Plenty District Health Board confirmed.
Police said there was no other option but to shoot the man, and former police negotiator Lance Burdett agrees.
"The first [consideration] is 'how can we get everyone out safely?', and then we'll work back from there. They'll be trying to touch base to talk with the person, to deescalate the situation and come to a peaceful conclusion, and that's what the main aim is," Mr Burdett said.
"[Shooting people is] not something that police do indiscriminately. Police officers don't go to work to shoot people - they go to work to keep people safe.
"From the little I know about this - is it a successful outcome? Probably not, because we try to get people out as safely as possible. But looking at the whole outcome, it's the best that could be hoped as it was an intense situation."
Photo: Supplied
Police said the man was armed with a large machete, and only responded occasionally to their attempts to communicate with him.
Mr Burdett said at nearly 15 hours into the standoff, something must have happened for police to enter the house after 3pm.
"As long as they're still communicating with the person, often there's no rush. But we do come to a point where we've talked around in circles.
"But I think more so, and not knowing the intimate details of what's taken place, that something has been said or some action has been taken, which has basically forced police's hand having to do something."
The man's partner said he threatened her wife a knife, which triggered the police call and response.
Photo: Supplied
Domestic violence going unreported
White Ribbon manager Rob McCann said far often than not, domestic violence went unreported and didn't make it out into the public.
"Every day there are women and children being hurt throughout the country that no one hears about. Only approximately 20 percent of family violence is actually reported.
"There is a huge chunk of violence occurring in our communities that no one is talking about or reporting to the police. We have to change that."
Photo: RNZ
Psychologist Sara Chatwin said this event would have a significant impact on everyone involved, especially the children, and said the family should by now have support services helping them.
Ms Chatwin said children often didn't know how to process or rationalise such a serious and confusing event.
"They might be withdrawn, non-talkative, or in some cases, they're very manic. They can show the extreme ends of the continuum in terms of behaviours because they're trying desperately to make sense of a situation that just doesn't make sense."
Four investigations will take place into the incident.
There will be a criminal investigation by police, one around police policy and procedure, an Independent Police Conduct Authority report, and one from the coroner. | {
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President Donald Trump dismissed Wednesday reports that leaders at the United Nations laughed at him during his speech at the General Assembly.
“That’s fake news, and it was covered that way,” Trump replied to a reporter who asked him why the leaders were laughing.
Leaders of the United Nations laughed when Trump bragged that he might be accomplishing more in his first two years as president than anyone in the history of the United States.
“They weren’t laughing at me. They were laughing with me. We had fun,” Trump said.
Trump said that the leaders in the assembly “aren’t big into clapping” during the speeches.
“People had a good time with me, we were doing it together,” Trump said. “We had a good time. They respect what I’ve done.” | {
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Police in Grosse Pointe Woods say they are looking for a man who attempted to abduct a boy riding his bike Wednesday night, and have released a sketch to help with tips.
The attempt took place about 8 p.m. on Roslyn at Marter, north of Vernier, police said.
A man in his 30s was driving a black Cadillac Escalade and cut off the boy on his bike. The man jumped out of the SUV and tried to grab the 13 year old by his arm, police said.
When the attempt failed and the boy took off, the suspect chased him.
The Escalade was last seen headed eastbound on Roslyn.
Police said other details of the suspect include that he was wearing an orange ball cap with black letters, a navy-blue shirt, blue jeans and black shoes.
Anyone with information, or who knows of or sees a vehicle and/or suspect(s) matching the description, is asked to contact police at (313) 343-2410, or 9-1-1, if there appears to be imminent danger. | {
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Excerpted from Self Knowledge, T.W. Shannon, 1913.
… no pen can portray, no rhetoric can describe and no imagination can conceive her fearful dreams, her fevered memories and her agonies of remorse.
Why most girls go wrong. — In my talk on a young woman’s ethics, I endeavored to give you such information and advice, regarding your association with young men, as would safeguard your character. Few girls have been as well informed by their mothers in these matters as they should have been. As a result of ignorance, many girls, even out of our best homes, annually fall. Were all girls taught by their mothers along this important line and could they see the tragic consequence of going wrong, it is evident that very few young women would ever go astray.
Few women go wrong from choice. — It should be said, in justice to fallen women, that but few would have gone wrong, had it not been for the seductive wiles of designing men. Man is woman’s natural protector. Women naturally trust men, and look to them for protection. The young man who lives a pure life, maintained by noble, pure ideas, is a safe guardian of a young woman’s virtue. Unfortunately such young men are the exceptions and not the rule. Most young men receive their first lessons in matters of sex from ignorant, sinful men. From their early teens their highest ideas of manhood involve the ruin of some girl. The training that most boys and young men receive leads naturally to these perverted ideas. As a result of this false training the natural feelings of being a friend, a champion, a protector of a girl’s honor and virtue are gradually transformed into the sentiments of a libertine. Such young men are found in all grades of society. They cultivate the acquaintance of innocent, unsuspecting girls, make love to them, win their confidence and affections, set dates for early marriage, then practice their seductive methods with vows of marriage oft repeated, pluck the lily of virtue and leave their victims to suffer endless remorse, while they gloat over their successes, go unwhipped and lose no social prestige.
“They did not know how hate can burn In hearts once changed from soft to stern”
If motherhood does not expose her sin. — If this betrayal does not result in her becoming a mother, and her betrayer does not expose her sin to the public, her problems will be much more easily solved. But, even if she is so fortunate as to escape motherhood and her betrayer does not boast to others of what he has done, yet no pen can portray, no rhetoric can describe and no imagination can conceive her fearful dreams, her fevered memories and her agonies of remorse.
If motherhood does expose her sin. — The gravest problems arise where the girl is to become a mother. To shield herself and to save her family from disgrace, her first thought will be to use some means to rid herself of the unborn life. In this awful hour of conscious guilt, mental bewilderment and soul agony the girl would gladly welcome death in any form rather than face the inevitable exposure that awaits her. God only knows how many girls commit suicide and how many mysterious deaths might be explained by this cause. Where they succeed in destroying the unwelcome life, physical health is often wrecked. But suppose that death or ill health does not follow, what must be the effects on the mind and soul that follow this cold-blooded act of willful prenatal murder.
If her lover refuses marriage, she should confess to her mother. — It is not to be wondered at that so many girls, when deceived in a love affair, rather than face unforgiving parents, a cold and heartless world, a social condition that excuses in man what is an unpardonable sin in woman, choose a life of immorality in a house of shame. This unkindness, this injustice, this down-right cruelty toward woman is a relic of savagery that clings on to civilization with a tenacity that even Christianity has thus far failed to eradicate. Until the truth of a “White life for two” frees us from this monster of injustice, what should the wronged girl do? To commit suicide, to murder her unborn child, to run away from home and give herself over to an immoral life only adds greater sins to the one already committed. Poor, weak, ignorant, confiding girl, her lot is now a hard one. If there were anything remotely akin to manhood in her betrayer, he would now do the only thing he can do that is right — marry her. If he refuses, then she should at once go to her parents and make the most humiliating confession a human being can make. It may require more effort to do this than to try to solve the problem in any other way, but usually this is best. Sometimes the parents will pity and forgive, sometimes they will cast her out. The last should never be true. Could the parents only realize how much of her fall was due to their lack of proper education, how much was due to passion they may have bequeathed her, they would not cast her out from home at such a time.
Homes for the unfortunate girls. — Her parents, brothers and sisters have social rights that must be respected. For her to remain at home during her sickness would attract unnecessary attention to the event and subject innocent members of the family to needless humiliation due to the ridicule and scorn of the neighbors. There are homes in all our large cities for the unfortunate girl where she can spend a few months before and after the birth of her child. Should the child be still-born, or die soon after birth, by going away from home, she and her family may be shielded from the curiosity and scorn of the friends and neighbors.
She should be true to her child. — New problems arise if her child lives. Most young illegitimate mothers give their children over to some “Home Finders Institution.” Circumstances may sometimes justify, or seem to justify, this disposition of the child. The child is bone of her bone, blood of her blood, life of her life. She is largely responsible for bringing the innocent, helpless child into the world; she should not add to her personal sin and to her sin against the child by deserting and leaving it to the cold mercies of a selfish, unsympathetic world. If her parents sympathize with and forgive her, they will most likely have her return to their home with the child. The women of the community will circulate the scandal on her return until they wear all the reports thread-bare. But the girl must make up her mind to face this, live an ideal life and endure the sneers until she lives it down. This will be a severe trial, but she will have a chance to show the world what a beautiful life a wronged woman can live when given a half chance.
If driven from home. — If her parents drive her from home, her experience becomes the bitterest known to a human being. But she should not despair. He who said to the woman, “caught in the act,” “go and sin no more” is ever ready to help bear her burdens and speak to her the same words of forgiveness and cheer. In all large cities there are “Homes for the Friendless,” where friendless girls may go without charge until after they recover from confinement.
A real living incident. — I will tell you a real, living incident which is only one among many of the human tragedies, with shifting variations, occurring annually in nearly every community, enacted upon the dramatic stage of modern society’s double standard of morals. A young lady of twenty-four years, a teacher in a city high school, during a revival became deeply concerned about her spiritual interests. After seeking Christ for some four days, she said to her spiritual adviser: “I am in great trouble. I can’t get to God in the condition I am in. Since the death of my father and only brother, you are the only person to whom I have felt that I could confide matters of such a personal and delicate nature as I feel compelled to relate to you. Since I came to your city four years ago, I have assumed the title of ‘Mrs,’ allowing widowhood to be inferred. I have never been married. I am wearing the name of the man, who by every possible moral right should have married me and been a true husband to me. I am a mother and my little girl of six summers is wearing the name of her father, which civil law says she has no right to wear. My mother, sisters, relatives and former friends all are under the impression that I am divorced.
“If I become a Christian, I want to unite with the church. If I give the name I am now wearing to be placed on the church register, I shall be living and practicing a lie. If I give my maiden name, I shall expose my mistake, bring disgrace upon my family, brand my child with illegitimacy, and lose my position as a teacher, whereby I make my living, support my child and am able to live a pure life. What must I do?”
The person to whom she related this story was greatly perplexed for an answer. Though a godly man, a minister, the double standard of morals had so biased his thinking that he was not prepared to give her a fair and just answer.
Hoping that additional light might help him out of his dilemma, he asked her to tell him what led to her fall.
She replied, “After the death of father and brother, our bread winners and protectors, mother, sisters and I made our living by keeping student boarders from a church college. One of our boarders, a young law student, made love to me, won my affections and complete confidence. We were engaged to be married on the day of his graduation. Only a few months before this event he asked for privileges that belonged only to the married. I was perfectly shocked and dazed. I resented the request as an insult. He insisted that he meant no offense, that he considered that we loved and trusted each other as much as we possibly could after we were married. He insisted that we were as truly one as if we were married, that the mere legal phase was only a custom and had no moral significance and that it was very common for the engaged to enjoy this privilege. After many days of entreaty, promise of marriage oft repeated, and loving caresses, I made the profound mistake of my life.
“Some weeks before the commencement, I discovered that I was to be a mother. I pleaded with him for immediate marriage. He insisted that marriage would interfere seriously with his examination work and that he was to begin his legal profession in a distant state and that marriage could be safely delayed until commencement. On the gay day of his graduation he suggested that he had our future home in a distant state rented and furnished awaiting our arrival. He suggested that marriage there would be rather romantic. I accepted the idea. We arrived in the town, on a late night train, where he was to practice law. A hackman conveyed us to our new home. I found it as he had described it. We spent the night as husband and wife. The next morning he suggested that we had thoughtlessly made a very serious mistake, that to get married there would ruin me socially and him in his profession. He suggested a plan that appeared wise to me, viz.: after a few weeks to take a train to some distant state and there be married. Later he suggested that we had better wait until the baby was born. Not until the child was two years old did I ever doubt his purpose of marriage.
“One day a doubt took possession of me. I grew desperate in my determination. On his return home, I faced him and demanded immediate marriage, refusing to live with him longer unless he took immediate steps to correct the mistakes of the past. I pleaded for the rights of his child, for my rights. Once more he renewed his fidelity and promised to arrange immediately his business so we could make the trip in a week or ten days. Meanwhile he secretly dissolved partnership, disposed of almost all his property, took a midnight train, without a good-by kiss, and left for parts unknown.
“I sold off our furniture, wrote mother that husband and I had disagreed and had separated, that I would send her my little girl and would help support the family by teaching.”
The minister’s mistake. — Then she said to the minister, “I never meant to be a sinner, I am living a pure life. What must I do?” The minister advised her to confess to the church what she had done and said that he would plead with the church to forgive and stand by her. If this woman had followed the minister’s advice she would have lost her position as a teacher, she would have lost her social standing, she would not have been given a sympathetic and loving welcome into the church, she would have brought disgrace upon her home and placed society’s stigma of illegitimacy upon her child. The minister would not have demanded a similar confession from the man who was far more guilty than she. That conscientious minister would insist upon restitution’s being made for stolen property, as a condition of divine forgiveness, but a libertine may pluck the lily of purity from a maiden’s brow, and rob his child of sacred birth, allow mother and child to die in poverty, their grocer’s and doctor’s bills to go unpaid, the public to bury them in the potter’s field, while he revels in luxury and enjoys social distinction, and no restitution is required in his case, as a condition of divine favor, membership in the church, or a triumphant entrance into endless bliss.
Blinded by the double standard. — She could not meet the minister’s condition. He was conscientious and could not make what to him would have been a compromise with sin. Not fully appreciating that moral law is higher than civil law; that what is sometimes civilly wrong is morally right; that centuries of submission to the double standard of morals has so biased the public mind that even the best of society are incapable of always giving the wronged girl a square deal; she at last postponed her decision for the Christ. The meeting closed, later the school closed and then she left the city and her whereabouts became unknown to the minister.
Was she scarlet or was she white. — You will observe that this girl is not to be classed in character with the girls who purposely give themselves to a life of shame. This girl never meant to be bad. She over-loved and over-trusted the man to whom she was engaged. She had no father or brother to advise and protect her. She was not informed as to the seductive wiles of the libertine. Hers was a profound mistake.
Suppose that her chum across the street had made the same mistake and her lover had kept his promise of marriage, would her chum’s sin have been less than hers? Certainly not. Of the two women and their children, the first deserves more sympathy, mercy and love.
She and her child had a moral right to his name. — When the world’s purity movement shall have relegated the double standard of morals back to the dark ages of savagery where it originated, and shall have established in the hearts of men the Christ standard, the “single standard,” a “white life for two,” then civil law will be made to harmonize with the moral law and the wronged girl and her child will be given the legal right to the name of the man who ought to be to them a husband and father, with all the legal rights of support and a division of his property at his death.
Her deceiver was under absolute moral obligation to give them his legal name. Then she and her child had an absolute moral right to wear his name.
Is it ever right for a wronged woman to choose the title Mrs.? — If to avoid the scorn, sneers and jeers of an unChrist-like social condition, and as an aid in securing honorable employment while she supports her child and struggles to live a pure life, who would dare blame a wronged girl, if she would choose to call herself “Mrs.,” and let widowhood be inferred? If a wronged girl becomes a mother, if she is turned away from her home, if she desires to be a true mother to her own child, she will find it impossible to find honorable employment as a single girl with a baby and to avoid immoral solicitations from vicious men, unless she assumes the title of “Mrs.”
When she will find it necessary to tell her child. — When her child is old enough to understand and appreciate her misfortune, she will find it necessary to make an explanation to her child. This will be a very difficult thing to do. But if she has been a true mother, she will not lose the confidence and love of her child.
Tell her story to her lover. — If an opportunity of marriage comes, she should tell her story to her lover. If he is noble, and his love for her is genuine, and her character is all he believes it to be, he will likely forgive and marry her. If her mistake is publicly known, or she is a mother, her lover will very likely find it out, and it will be easier to forgive before marriage than after.
When not necessary to confess the wrong. — If her sin has not been made public and she has not been a mother, I would not advise that she make confession to her lover. Men who have been even more guilty do not confess their sins. She will, all her life, shed many bitter tears and suffer many heart agonies because of her mistake. These sad experiences may make her all the more patient, kind and loving.
I have told you these sad, sad tragedies that come to many girls who over-love and over-trust, that you may more perfectly sympathize with and help the erring ones and be safeguarded against the wiles of men. | {
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Since I started having my own flock of chickens, I was surprised from the number of eggs my chickens produced and I have never intended to sell any of them and I am not intending to do so ever.
So when the eggs started piling up I did a little research on how to keep my eggs fresh after having them for some time. I believe that many of our readers have similar problems so that is why I proposed to my friends at the typesofchicken.com team to do this article.
So without any further introductions to the article here are a few steps on how to keep your eggs fresh.
1. Don’t wash your eggs immediately
Once you have removed the eggs from your chicken coop, don’t wash them.
Store them wherever you are storing them regularly and wash them only before using them.
This is important because the egg shells have a natural barrier on top of them which prevents any bacteria from going in and keeps the eggs fresh.
So remember to wash them only before you decide to peel the shells off – speaking of egg shells, make sure to check out one of our previous articles about 10 amazing uses of egg shells.
2. How to keep your eggs clean if you cannot wash them immediately
I know that many wash their eggs because of the leftover feces on them and fresh eggs can be dirty sometimes.
But there is a simple solution to this problem also, keep your nesting box clean. Keeping your nesting box clean is easy and simple once you get used to it.
Cleaning your chicken coop, in general, should be a habit for any chicken keeper.
If you want to know a natural and easy way to clean your coop make sure you check out how to clean your chicken coop the natural way.
via Flickr
3. If by any chance the egg is too dirty for storing without washing
I am aware that sometimes you have no other choice than washing the egg – wash it.
But make sure that you either use it immediately or store it your refrigerator.
Your eggs will stay safe to eat at room temperature for about 2 weeks, while in your refrigerator they can stay safe to eat up to 3 months.
I don’t like refrigerating my eggs because I think that it can affect the taste and no matter what people say the freshness is not the same.
To make sure that your eggs are safe to eat and can stay safe at a room temperature the best thing is to vaccinate your chickens regularly and feed them properly to get the best eggs.
4. How to check if your egg is good
Get a glass of water and put the egg into it, if it drops to the bottom your egg is fresh and safe to eat.
An older egg (2 or 3 weeks old) will most likely not drop to the bottom but it still won`t float, that egg is also safe to eat but it will not have the same freshness as the ones that drop to the bottom.
Don’t eat the eggs that float on the water they are not safe at all.
5. How to store the eggs properly
This is easy and simple – keep the eggs at a room temperature and when you are storing them make sure that the pointy end of the egg is at the bottom.
The air sack on the blunt egg will keep moisture from being lost and therefore they will have their freshness for a longer time. Also, try covering the eggs after storing them, it will make a big difference for the odor that they will have before using. | {
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Article content
No speed traps for Edmonton, city officials promised Wednesday.
Where drivers are speeding because they’re unclear about the speed required, officials will first post more speed limit signs and digital speed reading devices before they turn to photo radar. They’ve already added nine new 50 kilometre per hour signs along 82 Avenue and 101 Avenue at high speed locations.
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.
tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or More 50 km/h speed-limit signs added after Edmonton drivers complain of too many tickets Back to video
“It seems to have made a big difference already,” said Coun. Ben Henderson, who had been fighting to get additional speed limit signs installed after residents complained they were getting unfair tickets.
Photo radar “should really be the last resort,” he said.
Henderson brought the issue to transportation committee after getting complaints about two key locations where the speed limit was 50 kilometres per hour. Both looked like speed traps because a high percentage of drivers were coming off of 60 kilometre per hour roads and didn’t realize they were going too fast. Drivers were getting ticketed rather than educated. | {
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The pressure of an all-powerful totalitarian state creates an emotional tension in its citizens that determines their acts. When people are divided into "loyalists" and "criminals" a premium is placed on every type of conformist, coward, and hireling; whereas among the "criminals" one finds a singularly high percentage of people who are direct, sincere, and true to themselves-Czesław Miłosz | {
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Being a maid of honor is a role not to be taken lightly – it’s crucial to incorporate the big stuff, like how much you’ve valued the bride’s friendship over the years, how happy you are that she’s met someone to spend her life with, and most importantly, how fast your podcast following has grown over the past one to three months due to its unique blend of witty commentary and substantial information. If you’re looking to get that message to over 80 people this wedding day, here are some creative ways to plug your podcast in your maid of honor speech.
Use a simile.
Plenty of wedding speech givers slip a hackneyed simile into their spiel, like “love is a river, and you two are floating upon it.” But you could say something like, “I hope your marriage is like my podcast, a hilarious labor of love that is available on Apple Podcasts and hopefully on Spotify soon.” The newlyweds might be confused by that last bit, but hopefully they’ll just blame it on your nerves!
Tell a funny anecdote.
Try incorporating a funny story about the bride into your speech. Whether it’s a silly story from your childhood or a wacky drunken incident from college, everyone will enjoy a little trip down memory lane. Make sure to add that you have even more stories from the bride’s life, some of which are not wedding appropriate, available to premium listeners of your podcast only, the link to which is available on the business cards you’ll be passing out after the cake is cut. Seamless!
Produce a wedding-related episode.
So maybe your podcast is mainly focused on ranking episodes Law and Order: SVU. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t deviate from your norm to incorporate this specific wedding into your pod! You’ve gotta have breadth if you want to build an audience, and your maid of honor speech is the perfect opportunity to do so! Mention the special edition episode you made just for your friend’s nuptials right before you propose a toast, and you’ll up your engagement in no time (no pun intended)!
Be unashamed.
Let’s be real, you’re gonna plug your podcast just about any way you can, so you might as well be unabashed about it! Skip the niceties and just let them know that you’ve been working really hard for months on this podcast that’s exclusively about Love Island Season 5, but while it is very specific, it is also very relatable to every person in this barn right now. And if they don’t want to listen, that’s fine, just please rate and review right after this speech. Leave a moment of silence so everyone can pull out their phones. Way to use your platform productively!
Try any of these creative tips if you want to plug your podcast in your bridesmaid speech. It’s not every day that you get up to 100 listeners at a time, so go ahead and make your best friend’s special day all about you! | {
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Deep learning is one of the fastest-growing segments of the machine learning or artificial intelligence field and a key area of innovation in computing. With researchers creating new deep learning algorithms and industries producing and collecting unprecedented amounts of data, computational capability is the key to unlocking insights from data.
In the pursuit of continuing innovation and adopting deep learning for our own goals, NVIDIA engineers built a deep learning machine that fits under your desk—DIGITS DevBox.
Please note that we are sold out of our inventory of the DIGITS DevBox, and no new systems are being built
To learn more about the latest Deep Learning System that fits under your desk, checkout NVIDIA DGX Station | {
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Firefighters in British Columbia, Canada, lose control of their hose as it is sucked into the sky by high winds near a fire whirl. Fire officials say the whirlwind phenomenon, caused when heat from the fire and high ground temperatures combine to create uplift, differs from a tornado | {
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What happens if I perform array-like operations on an object
implementing __toArray() from this RFC?
For example:
$obj["foo"] = 42;
or:
$bar = $obj["foo"];
(Imagine these examples are perhaps within a loop iterating a collection
of objects)
Which operations do and do not work? As they'd be operating on a new
from-cast array, I assume they would not be able to effect the original
object (properties), but is this what people expect?
What I'm trying to get at here is: Does this RFC create opportunities
for bugs arising because objects are accidentally treated as arrays and
users would no longer receive any kind of warning or error from such
code when they would have in the past?
(Aside: Could this get even more interesting where a loop involving
references being (ab)used is involved? Experienced developers know you
should avoid references, but many newer developers use them - either
through misunderstanding the language or copying others and not actually
understanding what they're doing. While, anecdotally from helping others
in various channels, this occurs less than it did in the PHP 5 era, it
does still occur.)
If so, I believe this is obviously bad. If not, I believe this is also
bad because the above example do not work as someone (particularly newer
users) might expect. The language is creating something which sometimes,
maybe, acts like an array, but not always.
The other problem I have with this type of magic on objects is that
people don't usually mean "to array", they mean "to array for specific
purpose" - eg. "to array for database record" or "to array for API
output". Using a magic method for this obfuscates the purpose of the
returned array and could lead to problems, such as accidental data
leakage, from cross-usage.
AllenJB | {
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Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
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I recently decided that I am going to pay for as many things as is practicable using only two-dollar bills. I will now attempt to explain my purely symbolic gesture and the reactions I have received so far.
A few weeks ago I determined that I should be doing something to express my dissatisfaction with current monetary policy, and get people interested in the topic. Inflation was my main concern. I tossed around a few ideas of how to get others interested. I needed to do something dramatic enough to get attention, and interesting, or eccentric, enough to prompt people to educate themselves about monetary policy and price inflation. But how could I both express my discontent and get people to learn that the Fed's printing of trillions is disastrous?
My first idea was to pay for everything with one-dollar bills. Theoretically, this was to alert people to the declining value of the dollar; after all, it takes a surprisingly large stack of ones to pay for most purchases now. I quickly rejected this idea for obvious reasons. Ones are ubiquitous and it is not particularly unusual for people to pay with them. My next crazy idea was to pay with pennies. Clearly, this was an even worse idea than paying with dollar bills. It would definitely get attention, but who wants to carry around a giant — and very heavy — bag full of pennies?
My next plan was to refuse to accept ten-dollar bills. After all, Hamilton is on the ten and his mercantilist policies are largely responsible for the current American version of neomercantilism. But who the heck cares if I don't want tens? Plenty of people don't want tens for various reasons and I certainly don't want to have to give everyone a long boring speech as to why I won't take their tens in order to make my point. No, I needed something that wouldn't require a captive audience or a long explanation.
Then it dawned on me. Why not pay with two-dollar bills? After all, Thomas Jefferson is featured on the two, and as all Jeffersonians and Austrians know, Jefferson had a deep hatred of central banks and inflation. (Not to mention that his vice president shot and killed Hamilton.) What's more, two-dollar bills are something of an oddity.
The front of the bill is the oldest design still in production. The reverse features Trumbull's Declaration of Independence. The two-dollar bill serves my purpose well because, as Austrian economists have taught us, price inflation is the result of the Federal Reserve printing money. The two is rarely printed, making only about one percent of all notes! One series was printed in 1976 to commemorate the bicentennial, another series was printed in 2003, and the last series in 2006. The two is perfect: it is not widely circulated and most people regard it as something of a curiosity. As of 2007, there were only about $1.5 billion worth of two-dollar bills in circulation, and many of those have been hoarded away.
My mind was made up. The two-dollar bill was the perfect way to spread my message without being intrusive or a mere annoyance. Paying this way is just odd enough to get people to say "why twos?" Furthermore, twos are easy enough to use so that paying with them is not a major burden. The symbolism of Jefferson being on the least-printed Federal Reserve note in existence further sweetened the deal. So it was time to put my plan into action.
Obviously, the first step in paying for as many things as practicable with two-dollar bills was obtaining said bills. I headed down to my local Wachovia, where I do my banking. When I asked the teller for two-dollar bills, I received the expected (and desired) look of utter bewilderment. She then scrounged around, asking all the other tellers for any twos that they had. She took a quick trip to the back in her quest to satisfy my strange request. She did the best she could, returning with only $18 worth. Then the efficacy of my plan was confirmed, as she asked the question that I most wanted to hear.
After counting them out for me she said "Why do you want twos?"
I was thrilled, but I never showed my inner delight. I replied "I just prefer them."
After all, this article had not yet been written and I knew that she didn't want to hear a long rant about inflation and the Federal Reserve. Nor did I want to give such a lecture. As I prepared to leave the bank, the ever-helpful teller said she would start saving twos for me.
Later that week, I purchased a copy of Meltdown by Tom Woods at the Mises bookstore. As I shelled out the two-dollar bills, our librarian said, "You are going to pay me in twos?" Perfect. It was working better than I could have hoped! I just told him that they had my favorite president on them. After all, the Mises librarian already knows about the Fed and inflation.
The next week, when I went back to my bank to cash a check, I once again requested two-dollar bills. There was a different teller, and once again I was delighted to receive a bewildered look. Once again there was a scramble to find enough twos to satisfy my strange request. Alas, there were none in the entire bank! After profuse apologies, she informed me that they would be getting some twos in very soon. Then she asked the question that I was so anxious to hear again. I replied the same way as to the previous teller.
Now I am able to pay with twos just about everywhere I go. I do discriminate, so to speak; I try to save my twos for small local businesses. My thinking is that these places are more likely to recirculate them throughout the small college town where I live — and are more likely to inquire about my eccentric payment method. Once this article runs, when I am asked why I am requesting or paying with so many two-dollar bills, I will be able to say, "If you google 'why pay with two-dollar bills,' you will find out exactly why."
The true point of this experiment is to encourage people to educate themselves about our current inflationist monetary policy. My hope is that my readers will begin to request two-dollar bills from their banks and direct people to this article. There is no need to brow beat a captive audience with economic mumbo jumbo, just say, "Google 'why pay with two-dollar bills.'" If they are curious enough, it will lead them to use the wonderful resources available at Mises.org to shake off the heavy chains of complacency that facilitate this stealthy crime.
If you found this article because someone has been paying you with two-dollar bills, then I thank you for your interest. I strongly suggest you read some of the fantastic articles available at Mises.org. There are also numerous books available for free download. There are even audio versions of books and articles for free download. What could be easier? One of the best ways to get started is to watch this amazing free documentary: Money, Banking, and the Federal Reserve. In the current state of the economy, with the Federal Reserve printing trillions of dollars, and the government bailing out everyone in sight, it is more important than ever to be well informed. Mises.org can help. | {
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The Low Expectation Guide to Clunker Gun Restoration
(Some Minor Gun Restoration Advice) Neither Guns and Shooting Online nor the author assume any liability for accidents, injury, hurt feelings, disappointment, anger, or befuddlement from the use or misuse of this information! By Randy D. Smith
A few dollars invested in some simple materials and hard work can turn an old clunker into a respectable looking firearm. I like to work with old rifles and shotguns. I enjoy many of them for their unique styling and for some it is just for the curiosity of seeing what it is like to use them. I like to purchase rough old firearms and try to restore them as much as possible. Some of my early attempts were disasters and a few of my later jobs have been successful. Some of these guns I have kept. Most I have sold. I have even turned a nice profit on a couple of them, but mostly minor gun restoration is a labor of love and a pleasant winter hobby. Little more should be expected from it. I want to share a few tips with you that I have learned the hard way. Beginning with the Right Gun An alternative title for this section would be, "have low expectations and you won’t be too disappointed." I believe that one of the best guns for a beginner to try to restore is a simple, single shot, break action shotgun. There are thousands of them on the used gun market and they have very little monetary or collector value. If you mess up (and you probably will), you have not lost much. Choose a gun that is still sound with a solid action, reliable trigger, properly functioning hammer and a solid stock. Look for a gun that is cosmetically poor but mechanically sound. Do not bite off more than you can chew. A lot of these guns belong in the scrap heap and parts bin anyway. Better guns that I’ve enjoyed working with are older .30-30 bolt action Stevens, Springfield and Savage (Model 340) carbines, old .22 rifles, early pump action Mossberg and Remington shotguns, already sporterized WWI and WWII bolt action military rifles and a few old double barrel shotguns. I look for rifles and shotguns with good bores, sound mechanics and perhaps a few missing insignificant parts such as magazines, trigger guards, sights and butt pads. I steer away from any guns that have problems with chambering or shooting rounds, bad bores, Damascus or twist barrels, unknown calibers, or broken stocks that cannot be easily replaced. If I shoot or sell a restored gun, I want it to be safe. Most dealers will advise that any old rifle or shotgun should be examined by a competent gunsmith before it is fired. That is excellent advice and it should be followed. It is also advice that is largely ignored. Competent gunsmiths are rare and good ones are usually overworked and behind schedule. However, if you notice anything unusual or suspicious about an older gun’s mechanics, back away from it until/unless it can be examined by an expert. Do not send your time and money down a rat hole and, I might add, a dangerous rat hole to boot! Another critical element of any old military rifle is that you must be absolutely sure of the caliber and proper cartridge for it. Many of these rifles have been converted to other rounds and the new calibration should be plainly marked on the barrel. If it is not, do not shoot it. Any time you suspect or are unsure of the caliber of an old gun, you absolutely MUST have it checked to authenticate the proper cartridge. This is often done by careful measurements and sometimes by slugging the barrel and it takes an expert to properly read a slug or know what a calibration measurement means. It is for this reason that I stick to common calibers with an easy to verify history. I like .22, .30-30, 8X57mm Mauser, .30-06 and a few other common calibers for minor restoration work. I am not a gunsmith; I am a hobbyist. There is a big difference between the two. Hopefully, you realize that this article is dealing strictly with minor cosmetic restoration and repair. I limit myself to surface work and do not deal with mechanical repair. Cost Versus Expectations Before you read on, I have one other proviso for your consideration. Very seldom will you get away with an investment of less than $300 (2008 price) in any restoration project. A recent example of mine: I bought a Remington Model 74 Sportsman .30-06 in rough condition with "see through" scope mounts and a 4x Tasco scope in fair condition for $180. Not a bad price for a mechanically sound clunker. I then spent $14 for a new front sight (with shipping from Brownell’s) and $62 with shipping for a Ram Line synthetic replacement stock from Midway USA. I proceeded to use less than $10 worth of chemicals and supplies to restore it. When I was finished, I felt I had a decent project outcome for around $270. I am not happy with the scope and a new, low priced 4-power scope can be had in several brands for around $45 with shipping. That puts the total project at $301. A new synthetic stock Mossberg 100ATR in .30-06 can be had for around $335 and with that same scope and steel rings, the whole rig will cost you around $385. You get a new gun with a new guarantee and, I know from experience because I own several, it will deliver excellent hunting accuracy. The Mossberg won’t be very pretty, but then neither is my restored Model 74. They are functional hunting rifles. On the other hand, a new up scale sporter rifle will run at least $600 and probably closer to $700. If you love old guns, as I do, and like tinkering with them, the choice is easy. If you want a showpiece that will last a lifetime, spend the money for the upscale rifle and/or the professional restoration of a family heirloom. (If you are serious about the latter, contact Rocky Hays, our Gunsmithing Editor--see the banner at the bottom of this page. -Ed.) Cold Bluing Cold bluing is an inexpensive way of dressing up the worn bluing of an older gun. Cold bluing is effective only on guns of normal carbon steel. Professional hot bluing jobs are expensive and generally are not cost effective for a clunker gun. What do I mean by that statement? If I have a three or four hundred dollar used rifle with a bad or neglected finish, I would invest a hundred dollars in a good, professional blue job. If I had a Ruger #1, a collectable Husqvarna, or any rifle with potentially above average value, I would not cold blue it other than for minor spot bluing. No matter how hard you try, you cannot recreate the rich, blue/black color of a professional bluing job. Cold blues create a thin, metallic look or a dull black finish and it is very difficult to keep the finish even over large surface areas. The real value of cold bluing is to touch up small, worn spots. Alternatively, you can take an older gun of little value and improve its appearance. There is also no reason to spend a hundred dollars bluing a gun that will not bring at least twice that amount, unless it simply has sentimental value. With that said, I have cold blued old guns and enjoyed satisfactory results. (Remember the low expectations statement I made earlier!) I have turned two hundred dollar guns into three hundred dollar guns with cold blue, but before I had experimented and developed a procedure, I have also turned one hundred dollar guns into one hundred dollar guns and a bad finish into a poor one. This is why you should experiment with a gun of little value. You need a few basic supplies before beginning a cold blue job. You need: Latex or rubber gloves. After you begin the process, you must not touch any part of the metalwork with bare fingers. The oils in your fingers will affect the bluing.
A good supply of cotton balls and cue tips. Buy plenty. They are inexpensive and none should ever be used more than once.
A large bottle of fingernail polish remover (pure acetone is the best). I have a three-year-old bottle, use it liberally, and still have plenty for future projects.
A box of 000 steel wool.
Your chemicals – rust and bluing remover, a bottle of cold blue.
Gun oils – I like a good grade of regular gun oil and I like to use Ballistol oil for certain jobs (more about this later). Make sure the gun is unloaded and remove the stock. Do not do this with the stock left on. You will be sorry. There are rust and blue removers. These are harsh chemicals and you need to follow instructions. Once you go down this road, work the metal until as much old bluing is removed as possible. Anywhere you have old bluing spots, they will show up in the reblued finish. I use steel wool and/or fine grit sand paper. I work these areas briskly. The other route is to remove a much of the rust as possible using Ballistol oil and steel wool without totally stripping off the old blue. I don’t know what is in Ballistol oil, but it is the best oil that I have used for this purpose. Allow the oil to work on the rust and repeat the process until you have removed as much surface rust as you feel you can. You will not get all of it and there will be some scarring in places. Wipe all metalwork with acetone to remove as much oil residue as possible (I wear my rubber gloves from this point on). I use cotton balls and exchange them often. At this point, you may want to heat the metal. In the summer, I like to set the gun out in the sun for a while. I have also placed guns in an oven set on "warm" for a while. Heat seems to open the pores of the metal and it takes the bluing much better. If you are just spot bluing, use a swab that is similar in size to the damaged area. I like cue tips or even toothpicks for this. Do not get carried away with removing large areas of blue around minor scratches or dings. Try to keep bluing attempts limited to the size of the damage. Apply the solution as evenly as possible and with only one pass. I wipe the solution on slowly trying to keep the area flooded with chemical. After the tough-up bluing is applied, I immediately work the fresh chemical with steel wool to even it out and prevent a mottling effect in the finish. I repeat this step of applying bluing and immediately working the chemical with steel wool several times, always using fresh cotton balls and fresh bits of steel wool. I prefer to work for a dark black dull finish on bluing jobs and it takes several coats. The darker it gets the less effect each coat has, but each coat has an effect and you can gain some additional darkening. Normally I put on at least seven coats. If after several coats of bluing there are spots that just refuse to darken, start over by sanding the area with fine sandpaper of 320 or 400-grit. Sand as small an area as possible. When I have a level of bluing that I can live with, I apply a good grade of gun oil to the metal and allow it to season for at least twelve hours. I do not use Ballistol oil for this. I’ve seen it literally remove my bluing. Notice that I do not use water to wash off the chemical. I prefer leaving the oil on without washing off the chemical. During that twelve hour period I will remove the oil with cotton balls at least three times and replace it with fresh oil. I am washing the chemical with oil. Most people do not do this step, but I do and I believe it makes a big difference in the richness of the color. Stock Work Most of the time I replace a badly worn stock with a new one. Most of them have length of pulls that are too short for me, anyway. I prefer using synthetic stocks, but good replacement wood stocks are available. How much you sand and finish a stock is completely up to you. I have used Boyd's replacement stocks and been quite satisfied with virtual inlet level stocks for replacement duty. I’ve also been satisfied with a number of Bell and Carlson Carbelite, Hogue, Ram-Line and Choate stocks on various guns. The main piece of advice I have to mounting any replacement stock is to remove parts of the inside of the stock as much as possible and the outside of the stock as little as possible. Sand, file or cut the inside of the stock to achieve the proper fit. With every stock I’ve used the outside dimensions were accurate and it only took a little interior work to make a proper fit. Any time I enlarged an outside surface opening for a magazine, trigger guard or tang, I regretted it because it was the wrong place. I should have done it internally and I did not have a satisfactory exterior fit when I was finished. Go slowly and carefully. If you do not have the patience to do this, pay to have it fitted by someone who knows what they are doing. Only Beginner’s Level This is only beginner’s level restoration. I am not a craftsman or a gunsmith, I am a hobbyist. However, I have restored several rifles and shotguns and turned a profit on a few of them. The main lessons I want to close with are: choose a gun that is easy to restore and worth restoring; take your time and do not get impatient; expect to make mistakes; work your restoration in stages so that failures are not too costly. If you do and you love old guns, you may enjoy an interesting hobby and produce some decent results. | {
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Un adolescent de 15 ans est décédé après avoir été poignardé, ce vendredi en fin de matinée, lors d'un cours d'EPS aux Lilas (Seine-Saint-Denis).
Trois collégiens, tous nés en 2004, ont été placés en garde à vue, soupçonnés d'être les auteurs des coups de couteau reçus par la victime, scolarisée à Aubervilliers, également en Seine-Saint-Denis.
Selon une source proche du dossier, l'agression, qui ressemble à un « conflit entre quartiers », a eu lieu « dans un cadre scolaire », au stade municipal Jean-Jaurès, où se tenaient des cours d'EPS à la fois pour les élèves du collège Pierre-et-Marie-Curie - où étaient scolarisés les trois jeunes en garde à vue - et les élèves du lycée voisin de Paul-Robert.
Contexte de bandes rivales
La victime se serait interposée au cours d'un « conflit entre deux individus de deux groupes opposés » et n'était pas la cible, a ajouté une autre source.
Le jeune était en arrêt cardio-respiratoire à l'arrivée des secours qui ne sont pas parvenus à le réanimer après l'agression qui a eu lieu en fin de matinée. Il ne s'était pas présenté en classe vendredi matin. Son autopsie aura lieu samedi.
Un premier mineur, blessé au visage par un coup de couteau, a été interpellé sur les lieux de l'agression et placé en garde à vue. Puis deux autres mineurs ont été arrêtés également aux Lilas, avant d'être eux aussi placés en garde à vue, soupçonnés d'être les coauteurs.
Il s'agit, selon cette source proche de l'enquête, du « contexte habituel des rivalités locales ». L'enquête a été confiée à la police judiciaire de Seine-Saint-Denis.
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Le recteur de l'Académie de Créteil qui s'est rendu sur les lieux vendredi après-midi a réagi dans un tweet : « J'apprends avec beaucoup de tristesse le décès d'un lycéen de notre académie qui fait suite à un affrontement survenu ce matin sur une installation sportive aux Lilas. Toutes mes pensées vont à sa famille et à ses proches à qui j'adresse mes plus sincères condoléances ».
Il y a un an, presque jour pour jour, le 13 octobre 2018, un collégien de 13 ans avait été tué dans une rixe entre jeunes des Lilas et de Bagnolet, du Pré-Saint-Gervais et de Romainville, armés de bâtons, de barres de fer et d'un pistolet de paintball. | {
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Isis allegedly boiled seven of its soldiers alive
Isis has allegedly boiled seven of its soldiers alive after they fled an Iraq battlefield.
The men, who had their hands and legs bound, were thrown into a large pot of water, according to local media.
The fighters were reportedly among 19 men who were executed for leaving a battle in the al-Shuhada region.
‘The ISIS terrorists executed 19 of its elements who fled from the latest battles against the security forces in the neighborhoods of al-Shuhada and al-Nassaf in Central Fallujah,’ an anonymous source said, according to American Herald Tribune.
They added: ‘This came after the issuance of death sentence against them by ISIL court.’
MORE: Microsoft recruiter sends most cringeworthy invite ever
MORE: Student died after ‘drinking 30 shots of vodka’ and stumbling into river
MORE: Shocking injuries of new mum beaten by boyfriend in front of baby daughter | {
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In a judgment today the High Court has joined Digital Rights Ireland as an amicus curiae in the legal challenge being brought by Max Schrems against the Data Protection Commissioner regarding data transfers to the United States, which will enable DRI to take part in the case before the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
The role of an amicus curiae – Latin for “friend of the court” – is to assist the court in determining an issue before it, particularly where the amicus has some special expertise in the area. The High Court held that the case brought by Mr. Schrems – which challenges the legality of data transfers to the United States in light of the Snowden revelations and the PRISM programme – was one of “significant international importance” and that the “expertise of DRI in all matters concerning the internet, the information society and data protection does not appear to be in doubt”. Consequently the High Court accepted our application and held that DRI should be granted amicus status in order to assist the ECJ in deciding the “difficult and troubling questions” presented by Mr. Schrems’ case.
The next step in the case will be the filing of written submissions followed by a hearing before the ECJ in Luxembourg.
The documents in the case are available on the Data Protection Commissioner’s website.
Background to the case (Irish Times). | {
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Easterners and people who’ve never been east of La Cienega Boulevard sometimes say the 238-year-old city of Los Angeles doesn’t have history. That’s dopey for a lot of reasons, but it’s a tempting accusation in part because of the way fires, floods, earthquakes, and uprisings have forced the city to remake itself again and again. The Los Angeles basin was a seasonal wetland beset by tectonic forces, annually cleansed by hot wind and fire and overtopped by a smoggy inversion layer long before the Spaniards moved in on the Tongva. It’s burning again today, as is local tradition. No wonder novelists and moviemakers always blow up the town in Act Three.
Maybe one reason people gloss all that history is that LA talks so much about its own future. Here we are in November 2019, and real time has finally caught up with the timeline of one of the city’s ur-texts, the movie Blade Runner, released in 1982 but set this month and this year. Angelenos have been waiting for this. It’s like how freeway signs tell you your exit is coming way, way in advance.
I’m as suspicious as you are, I’m sure, of trying to twist science into a metaphor, but I’m going to do it anyway. Relativity says that space and time are related to the speed of light, and gravity is a side effect of mass. So massive objects like stars create gravity by denting space-time, so much so they’ll bend light right around themselves. Set that star spinning, and its local time frame will stick a little bit, like a wake. That’s called rotational frame-dragging—a massive object carries its past and future with it while it spins forward. My point is Los Angeles drags its own frame. The reason people say it doesn’t have any history is that its timeline gets pulled along, not entirely consensually, as the city bumbles into the future. The future is always present.
And here we are—in a present that happens in a future promised by the past. Have a look around, time travelers. Blade Runner got a lot right; it got a lot wrong. Maybe don’t ask a 1980s sci-fi movie that bumbled into its own brilliance for specific predictions and retrodictions. It wasn’t even really trying to be about the future, was it? The look was Shinjuku and the feel was Mike Davis’ City of Quartz, a megalopolis dominated by Haves tricking Have-Nots into shooting each other. Harrison Ford’s Rick Deckard was one in a long line of LA shamuses tripped up by wealth and beauty, from Marlowe and Gittes to Rawlins and Bosch. Forget it, Deck—it’s Chinatown.
You want an accounting, not a whodunnit but a what-got-dun? Blade Runner got the computerized parking meters right, and the talking streetlights. (“Cross now … cross now … don’t walk … don’t walk.”) Robot Metrokabs? So close. Streetside newsstands carrying an array of glossy magazines? Yeah, about that. Face-recognizing polygraphs? Check your phone’s forward-facing camera. We enhance digital photographs, and we have voice-controlled gadgets in our kitchens. Billionaires promise a life off-world of excitement and adventure, but we don’t even have billboard dirigibles, much less reliable rockets. Artificial intelligences indeed do our bidding (and sometimes rebel), but none of them look like Rutger Hauer (unless—oh, sorry, that’s just a deepfake). It doesn’t take torrential rain to wash away their memories like tears, or even several shots from a Steyr Pflager Katsumata Series-D blaster. You just forget to pay the AWS bill and poof. This isn’t called execution. It’s called retirement. | {
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Originally Posted by Avarem Originally Posted by
Definitely listening on RNG. We want enough to keep it exciting to hunt for that perfect gem without feeling like it is forever out of reach.
Empowered Stellar gems in the next build will no long roll with only one stat, and three stats isn't incredibly rare compared to two.
For what it's worth whenever you roll a new stat or a random upgrade the range is 'min' to 'min times 2'. Those break points stop at level 15 (which we've made it easier to level up to, to see how good your gem was) and by the time you hit max level on the strongest gems it's more of a tie-breaker than it is an essential amount of power rank. Think of it more as something to chase if you really want that extra edge, rather than necessary (the total amount of power rank now available, last time I ran the numbers, is well over 18k). | {
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Film's writer Bob Gale would have supervised series, now dropped due to rights issues
Manga artist Yuusuke Murata (One Punch Man, Eyeshield 21) reported on Twitter this weekend that his manga adaptation of the 1985 American science-fiction film Back to the Future has been cancelled. Murata explained that the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Web site's editors did all they could, but they could not resolve the rights issues for several elements that would have appeared in the manga.
Murata also posted images from part of his uncompleted draft:
He previously posted a rough draft for the above image of Marty McFly, Emmett Brown, and the dog Einstein with the DeLorean time machine, along with his rendition of a "monster truck DeLorean":
Murata announced the manga at the Ready Player One film "celebration event" in Tokyo in February. The Back to the Future film's screenwriter Bob Gale would have supervised the manga, which would have include story content not seen in the film. They had planned to publish the first compiled book volume on April 20. Although Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Web described the manga as based on the 1985 film, the preview illustration also featured characters from the film's two sequels:
Robert Zemeckis directed the film, which follows Marty McFly, a high school student living in Hill Valley, California in 1985. During an interupted experiment with his scientist mentor Emmett Brown, Marty travels back in time 30 years ago to 1955. After he meets his future father and mother, he must restore the past and return to the future.
Viz Media released all 37 volumes of Murata and Riichirou Inagaki's Eyeshield 21 manga in North America. The manga inspired a 145-episode television anime series in 2005-2008, and Sentai Filmworks released the series on home video in 2010-2011. Crunchyroll is streaming the series online.
After Eyeshield 21, Murata and web manga creator ONE launched the ongoing One-Punch Man manga on Shueisha's free "Tonari no Young Jump" website in 2012. The series is a remake of ONE's original web manga of the same name. Viz Media is releasing the series digitally in its Weekly Shonen Jump manga anthology, and is also releasing the series in print. The manga also inspired a television anime which Viz Media streamed as it aired in Japan. The anime's staff announced a second television season which will premiere next April.
Source: Yuusuke Murata's Twitter account | {
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Barapasaurus tagorsi Brian Franczak
BARAPASAURUS (bah-RAP-ah-SORE-us)
Period: Late Triassic
Order, Suborder, Family: Saurischia, Sauropodomorpha, Cetiosauridae
Location: Asia (India)
Length: 49 1/2 feet (15 meters)
Named for a word meaning "big leg" in a local dialect in central India, Barapasaurus is the oldest known sauropod dinosaur. Early Jurassic sauropods are rare. The sauropods may have evolved from a prosauropod ancestor. Barapasaurus proves that even the earliest sauropods were giants.
Barapasaurus lived at the same time as the last prosauropod dinosaurs. In some ways, Barapasaurus was similar to the prosauropods, but in other ways, it was quite advanced. But its vertebrae, pelvis, and large size prove it belongs to the sauropods. Barapasaurus was almost as large as Diplodocus (a Late Jurassic sauropod of North America). Barapasaurus was probably a plant-eater, using its long neck to gather leaves from treetops.
The only mounted dinosaur skeleton in India, where dinosaurs are rare, is Barapasaurus. The skeleton includes mostly leg bones and vertebrae. The skull was not found, but several teeth were found near the skeleton. The teeth were spoon-shaped; these may have been the front teeth that were used for cropping vegetation. The chewing teeth were likely larger and flattened for cutting or crushing food.
Relatives of Barapasaurus include Cetiosaurus from northern Africa and England, Patagosaurus and Volkheimeria from southern South America, Amygdalodon from Argentina, Lapparentosaurus from Madagascar, and possibly Rhoetosaurus from Australia. Descendants of Barapasaurus and its relatives dominated the Jurassic world. | {
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Republicans are usually eager to trumpet their support for the troops and the war against terror. So why aren’t they condemning the Florida pastor who plans to lead his congregation in a Quran-burning bonfire on Sept. 11?
Gen. David Petraeus, U.S. commander in Afghanistan, issued a statement on Sept. 6, warning that the pastor’s action “could endanger our troops,” feed the Taliban’s propaganda machine, and “undermine the effort to accomplish the critical [war] mission.”
Advance word of the burning has already sparked anti-American protests in Kabul, with more scheduled soon. Actual images of burning Qurans, Petraeus said, “would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan—and around the world—to inflame public opinion and incite violence,” much like the photos of torture at Abu Ghraib.
So where is John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who brandishes his war-hero credentials at every opportunity and, in the past, has rushed to condemn anyone who dares criticize Gen. Petraeus? Where is the second-ranking Republican, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who also sits on the Foreign Relations Committee? Where is Saxby Chambliss, who loudly supports big-ticket weapons systems in the name of national security (and the jobs they sustain in his home state of Georgia) but has thus far said nothing to support our troops on this front?
The pastor who lit this conflagration—Terry Jones, head of the 50-member (yes, 50-member) Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla.—is quoted in today’s Wall Street Journal as saying, “We understand the general’s concerns. We are sure that his concerns are legitimate.” But, he went on, “We must send a clear message to the radical element of Islam. We will no longer be controlled and dominated by their fears and threats.”
And so, to send this message, Jones and his pathetic flock plan to burn the book regarded as holy by 1.5 billion Muslims, only a tiny percentage of whom sympathize with this “radical element,” though no doubt his protest will boost those ranks at least a little.
It is appalling enough that a growing number of Americans, caught up in the pre-election backlash against mosques and Muslims generally, seem unaware that U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are fighting not only against Muslims but also alongside them, and on behalf of governments led by Muslim parties. (Do they imagine, in their warped pictures of a holy war against Islam, that Nuri al-Maliki and Hamid Karzai are Christians?)
But U.S. senators know better (most of them anyway). So where are they? Whose side are they on? With the exception of Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, who appeared on Fox News to defend the right of American Muslims to build an Islamic community center two blocks from the World Trade Center site (on the conservative principle that owners of private property should be able to do as they please), elected Republicans—and, to be fair, most elected Democrats as well—have ducked and run.
In September 2007, the Senate voted 72-25 to condemn the anti-war group MoveOn.org for running a full-page newspaper ad that denounced Gen. Petraeus, then the U.S. commander in Iraq, as “General Betray Us.”
If the senators want to show their genuine support for Petraeus (and not just indulge in an easy political stunt), they should denounce Terry Jones for endangering the troops and providing aid and comfort to the enemy—and, better still, send federal marshals to Gainesville, Fla., to help the local fire chief (who has ordered Jones not to burn the books) maintain public safety.
Become a fan of Slate on Facebook. Follow Slate and the Slate Foreign Desk on Twitter. | {
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By Robert Romano
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) made big news on Nov. 20 when he announced on Fox News in an interview with Sean Hannity that the Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz would be releasing his report on Dec. 9 on FBI and Justice Department surveillance of the Trump campaign in 2016 under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), with Horowitz set to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Dec. 11.
The Horowitz report should cover how false allegations made by the intelligence agencies and the Justice Department that President Donald Trump and his campaign were Russian agents managed to get approved four times by the nation’s most top secret federal court without the claims ever being verified.
On Sept. 25, Justice Department spokesperson Kerri Kupec confirmed the investigation into the counterintelligence probe of the Trump campaign, “A Department of Justice team led by U.S. Attorney John Durham is separately exploring the extent to which a number of countries, including Ukraine, played a role in the counterintelligence investigation directed at the Trump campaign during the 2016 election.”
The worst possible outcome of the FISA abuse scandal would be that no laws were broken, and thus there won’t be any criminal accountability. Because it would mean the law designed to prevent this sort of abuse is toothless.
But laws were broken. And now we know that in October that the investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham has been expanded into a criminal probe and a grand, and now CNN has reported on Nov. 21 that there is at least one criminal referral coming from the Horowitz report: “An FBI official is under criminal investigation after allegedly altering a document related to 2016 surveillance of a Trump campaign adviser, several people briefed on the matter told CNN… The finding is expected to be part of Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s review of the FBI’s effort to obtain warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Carter Page, a former Trump campaign aide.”
This is not really a surprise, though.
We already know from the Oct. 2016 application to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court that the government relied on the DNC and Clinton campaign-funded dossier from Fusion GPS and British spy Christopher Steele in order to spy on the Trump campaign. This gave the Obama administration, the incumbent party, unprecedented access to the Trump campaign and the GOP, the opposition party, in an election year, including access to emails, phone calls, text messages and other documents.
This was the same dossier that FBI Director James Comey had testified in Jan. 2017 as being “salacious and unverified.”
The last renewal, at least as we can see in the FOIA response, came in June 2017, after Special Counsel Robert Mueller had been appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.
The Steele dossier pinned the alleged Russian intelligence hack of the DNC and John Podesta emails, which were published on Wikileaks, on the Trump campaign. Steele alleged his source had said “there was a well-developed conspiracy of co-operation” between then-candidate Donald Trump and Russia.
Steele elaborated, stating in July 2016, “This was managed on the TRUMP side by the Republican candidate’s campaign manager, Paul MANAFORT, who was using foreign policy advisor, Carter PAGE, and others as intermediaries. The two sides had a mutual interest in defeating Democratic presidential candidate Hillary CLINTON, whom President PUTIN apparently both hated and feared… Inter alia, Source E, acknowledged that the Russian regime had been behind the recent leak of embarrassing e-mail messages, emanating from the Democratic National Committee (DNC), to the WikiLeaks platform. The reason for using WikiLeaks was ‘plausible deniability’ and the operation had been conducted with the full knowledge and support of TRUMP and senior members of his campaign team.”
But after Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s exhaustive investigation and the publication of the Special Counsel’s final report to the Attorney General, the charges could not be proven. Per Mueller, “the Office did not find evidence likely to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Campaign officials such as Paul Manafort, George Papadopoulos, and Carter Page acted as agents of the Russian government — or at its direction, control or request — during the relevant time period.” As for Cohen, per Mueller, “Cohen had never traveled to Prague…”
To wit, Mueller stated, “the evidence was not sufficient to charge that any member of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with representatives of the Russian government to interfere in the 2016 election.”
Meaning it was all made up by someone.
Raising the stakes, Congress is presently considering reauthorizing FISA as a part of the omnibus appropriations bill at the end of the year. Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning stated that FISA renewal should be pushed off until March: “A longer time window will also give Congress an opportunity to review the findings of the Justice Department on Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act abuses that occurred in the 2016 elections, when the Trump campaign, the opposition party, was placed under surveillance by the Obama administration in an election year, and give time to put in place real reforms so that political spying never happens again. We have to make sure we get this right, and rushing to reauthorize FISA would be foolish when we’re still waiting on these findings.”
Steele had his own doubts, including that the information he gathered might have been Russian disinformation. In court testimony, Steele said “all material contained this risk” of being disinformation. Further, Steele didn’t go to Russia himself, and was said to have relied on a network to relay information, stating that the allegations needed to be “further corroborated and verified.”
Steele said his sources were Russian, but they were not named: Source A was a “former top Russian intelligence officer”; Source B was a “senior Russian Foreign Ministry figure”; Source C was a “senior Russian financial official”; Source D was a “close associate of Trump” (golden showers source); Source E was an “ethnic Russian close associate” of Trump (golden showers source); Source F was a “female staffer of the hotel”; and source G was a “senior Kremlin official”.
The New York Times’ Scott Shane, Adam Goldman and Matthew Rosenberg reported on April 20 that in Jan. 2017 the FBI interviewed one of the main sources for the dossier and came away with “misgivings about its reliability [that] arose not long after the document became public” in Jan. 2017.
Per the Times report: “By January 2017, F.B.I. agents had tracked down and interviewed one of Mr. Steele’s main sources, a Russian speaker from a former Soviet republic who had spent time in the West, according to a Justice Department document and three people familiar with the events, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. After questioning him about where he’d gotten his information, they suspected he might have added his own interpretations to reports passed on by his sources, one of the people said. For the F.B.I., that made it harder to decide what to trust.”
The FBI appeared to discount the possibility of the dossier being Russian disinformation, per the Times report: “F.B.I. agents considered whether Russia had polluted the stream of intelligence, but did not give it much credence, according to the former official.”
So, if Steele’s sources were not senior Russian officials, as he alleged, then who were they? Also, who was the “Russian speaker from a former Soviet republic who had spent time in the West”? The FBI knew who it was. And the reliability of those sources should most certainly be covered by Horowitz.
Were there sources in Ukraine? That’s what U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes thinks. In questioning U.S. Ambassador to the European Union Gordon Sondland on Oct. 17, Nunes asked, “Were you aware that the origins of the Steele dossier were from Ukraine, many of the origins in the original Steele dossier were from Ukraine, the politicians within Ukraine?”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff actually interrupted Nunes and would not allow that characterization: “I would posit that this is the ranking member’s view. We cannot accept that as an actual or factual representation.”
Nunes went on to note that “in the Steele dossier itself it does source information from Ukraine.” That included allegations against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and supposed “kickbacks”.
Another question the Horowitz report might cover is whether the Steele Dossier was used in the Jan. 6, 2017 intelligence assessment by then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper that stated the DNC and John Podesta hacks had been perpetrated by Russia, and the emails put on Wikileaks, in order to help President Trump win the elections.
The intelligence assessment stated, “We assess Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign in 2016 aimed at the US presidential election. Russia’s goals were to undermine public faith in the US democratic process, denigrate Secretary Clinton, and harm her electability and potential presidency. We further assess Putin and the Russian Government developed a clear preference for President-elect Trump… We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump’s election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him.”
Critically, the version of the assessment that was given to former President Barack Obama and then-President-Elect Trump on Jan. 5, 2017 also reportedly included some of the allegations leveled by former British spy Christopher Steele in his infamous dossier, paid for by the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee, that Trump was a Russian agent.
A Jan. 20, 2017 email that former National Security Advisor Susan Rice sent to herself on the day Trump was inaugurated about a Jan. 5, 2017 meeting in the Oval Office, detailed the White House’s interaction with that assessment, in which Rice wrote, “On January 5, following a briefing by IC leadership on Russian hacking during the 2016 Presidential election, President Obama had a brief follow-on conversation with FBI Director Jim Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the Oval Office. Vice President Biden and I were also present.”
According to Rice, former President Barack Obama wanted to make certain that the investigation, which was about to be carried over to the Trump administration, would be done “by the book.” Per Rice’s email to herself, “President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities ‘by the book’. The President stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective. He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book. From a national security perspective, however, President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia.”
The email continued, “The President asked [then-FBI Director James] Comey to inform him if anything changes in the next few weeks that should affect how we share classified information with the incoming team. Comey said he would.”
The email was uncovered from the National Archives by then-Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and the current Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Feb. 12, 2018, who wrote a letter to Rice.
Note that it was Comey’s job to brief then-President-elect Trump on the assessment, and that it was Comey who lied to President Trump after he was inaugurated repeatedly about the extent of the investigation. Comey assured Trump he wasn’t under investigation, and that was a lie. That’s why Comey was fired.
As for the assessment, the publication of that report was arguably the original sin of the Obama administration, as it set the stage publicly for an investigation of the President of the United States, newly sworn in, on allegations he was really a Manchurian candidate. This put the American people through what would be another two-and-a-half years of a national nightmare that absolutely undermined President Trump’s ability to do his job — and probably future presidents who think they have their own ideas to implement, especially in areas of foreign policy.
Trump, with Flynn as his campaign advisor, ran on the idea of calming tensions between the U.S. and Russia. What the intelligence community did with that assessment, and the Justice Department with its investigations into false charges he and Flynn were Russian agents, was to undermine the pursuit of that policy even though under Article II of the Constitution, the executive power is vested in the President. He sets the foreign policy. Not alphabet soup intel agencies.
What this essentially undermined is the cornerstone of a republican government: the peaceful transfer of power after elections. It was arguably an act of war. How do we put the genie back in the bottle?
Sometimes revolutions are born out of necessity. Rome never had a republic until the first Brutus slayed the last Roman king, and it was the king’s tyrannical rule that gave cause to do so. Afterward, Brutus made the people of Rome swear an oath they would never again suffer a tyrant. More than two millennia later, it was the tyranny of the British Parliament and King George that gave rise to the American Revolution.
Eventually, the weak Articles of Confederation gave rise to the Federal Constitution with the separation of powers, including a strong executive, which was supposed to prevent or at least mitigate this sort of thing from happening, with essentially two or more executive branches seeking primacy. It was a coup.
And now, after this ordeal, the Constitution hangs by a thread. Attorney General William Barr can rescue it, but he must act skillfully and wisely. And quickly. We cannot assume President Trump will be reelected in 2020, meaning the window of opportunity is now to hold those who abused their spying powers accountable. Or else this will happen again.
Robert Romano is the Vice President of Public Policy at Americans for Limited Government. | {
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Sombra has always been one of Overwatch's more niche picks in professional play. We saw some experimental strategies at big tournaments in the months following her release, but she was eventually relegated to Volskaya and Anubis duties thanks to the near proximity of mega health packs. That's changed quite a bit now in Overwatch League thanks to a couple of significant changes to her abilities. Though she doesn't gain ultimate charge nearly as fast, she's able to deal more damage and has a faster, more punishing hack.
Let's take a look at some of the specifics and see what the pros have to say about Talon's hacker.
When you can expect to see Sombra
Since Sombra can be used so fluidly in this meta, you really shouldn't be surprised when teams bring her out on any map. Volskaya is still a very Sombra-friendly map because of its setup with mega health packs, but we've also seen her quite a bit on Blizzard World as well. Dae-min "Daemin" Kim from the Shanghai Dragons says that apart from maps that favor Pharmercy play, the Sombra pick is always on the table.
Since her buffs, even teams that rarely used Sombra have brought her out quite a bit. According to data shared on the Overwatch League stream, the Boston Uprising went from 8 percent Sombra usage last stage to almost 25 percent in stage three. She has a lot of utility now, and the Tracer-Sombra battery is stronger than ever before.
She does quite a bit more damage
When it comes to damage output, Sombra was never one of the heavy hitters. Though she still isn't exactly on Tracer's level, her DPS has seen a boost thanks to reduced spread on her primary attack. According to the Overwatch League site , the difference in Sombra's offensive output between stages two and three has been significant. Across the board, she has gone from 3.99 to 4.99 final blows per 10 minutes, and from 4,770 to 5,689 hero damage per 10 minutes.
The best way to think about this is that Sombra is more efficient at initiating fights and countering enemy dives. Winston and D.Va need to be a bit more cautious now that Sombra can put a dent in them after engaging. She can also pick off supports who find themselves out of position more easily.
Though her damage is more scary, it isn't what's giving so many Overwatch League pros issues.
Her new hack is incredibly strong
The most significant change to Sombra's hack is that it's down to .65 seconds from .8 seconds. It also interacts differently with a few heroes, but the speed at which she can disable someone is brutal. Again, divers and tanks tend to be on the receiving end of Sombra's wrath more than others.
"Whenever there is Sombra in the game, there is not much that tanks can do," says Chan-hyung "Fissure" Baek, main tank for the Los Angeles Gladiators. "The only thing I can do is try to dodge bullets as much as possible. It's mostly the team that has to do something else while I'm hacked, because I can't do anything."
As Fissure points out, the only thing tanks can really do against Sombra is try to stay alive. Breaking line of sight something you might also see pro players attempt, but it's much more difficult than it sounds. Coming up with solutions to Sombra can be tricky, but it isn't impossible.
Counters to Sombra
One of Sombra's other recent changes gives a two-second delay on her hack if it's interrupted by damage. Though hard counters to Sombra might be slim, some Overwatch League players think this is one weakness to exploit if you want to get her out of your hair.
"You want the entire team to be on their toes and ready to interrupt her hack so she is forced to recall back," says Lucas "NotE" Meissner, flex tank for the Boston Uprising. "Then the whole team pushes forward and punishes Sombra's team since she can't help them at that point.”
Junjie "Xushu" Liu from the Shanghai Dragons has a more traditional approach.
"Start the team fight after Sombra farms energy and translocates back," says Xushu."Or go for Sombra if you can find which health pack she is translocating back to."
Joona "Fragi" Laine, main tank for the Philadelphia Fusion, has been one of the most popular tank players in the professional Overwatch scene since his days with Ninjas in Pyjamas. He says that you "need to play more tightly against Sombra because of her ultimate and her hack." Fragi elaborated that this goes for both your front and backlines since Sombra can go after either.
Some casters have suggested that Junkrat traps and left-click spam can also be effective if your guessing game is on point.
Usually the term "OP" is subjective at both the casual and professional levels of competitive games. Whenever it's a topic of discussion for heroes in Overwatch, feelings are usually very mixed.
"Yes, Sombra is too powerful in this meta," says Daemin from the Dragons. "D.Va and Zenyatta are must picks of this meta, but Sombra's right-click and ultimate are great counters to these two."
NotE, on the other hand, just feels that she's more annoying now, but not overpowered, a feeling echoed by Fragi. Yeong-jun "ArK" Hong, support for the New York Excelsior, actually thinks her attack upgrade is more troubling than her improved hack, which is "just a very little change."
No matter how you look at her, Sombra is a much more viable pick these days. She's great at initiating dives, she's great at countering dives, and she can scare people off with her newly improved weapon. As pro players get more comfortable with using and dealing with Sombra, we'll definitely continue seeing strategies and compositions evolve through the next couple of stages of Overwatch League | {
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The canning, processing, preserving, freezing, drying, marketing, storing, packing for shipment or distribution of: (1) Agricultural produce; (2) Meat and fish products; and (3) Perishable foods.
As you'll notice, the statute does not contain a comma before the word "or" and that small distinction (the lack of an "Oxford comma" or "serial comma") forms the basis for this entire dispute.
The company argues that its driver’s are clearly involved in the the “distribution of” its merchandise, which is considered to be a “perishable food” under the statute. Therefore, the company argues, they are exempt from receiving overtime pay. The drivers, on the other hand, argue that the lack of a comma in the statute before “or” requires that the statute should be read to only apply to those employees involved in the “packing” of perishable foods, whether for “distribution” or “shipment.” Therefore, the drivers argue, they are not covered by the exemption and are entitled to receive overtime pay.
A federal district court judge previously ruled in favor of the company after finding that the statute unambiguously intends to include employees involved in just the “distribution” of “perishable goods.”
However, the appellate court found that such a reading of the statute was inappropriate because the lack of a comma led to ambiguity as to the meaning of “packing for shipment or distribution.” Therefore, the appellate court found in favor of the drivers because Maine law requires the court to resolve any ambiguity in statutory interpretation in favor of a more liberal meaning that would extend the coverage of overtime pay to more employees. | {
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Michigan resident Leon Walker faces a peculiar predicament: he's been charged with a felony for secretly checking out his wife's email account.
Using his wife's password, Walker accessed her Gmail account and learned she allegedly was having an affair, according to thisarticle in the Detroit Free Press.
State prosecutors in Michigan have... | {
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On May 9, 2017, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this image of a tropical depression off Central America. Later that day, the storm became Tropical Storm Adrian. The storm was not very well organized, as evidenced by its amorphous appearance. Despite warmer-than-average ocean surface temperatures, wind shear would keep the storm from strengthening into a hurricane.
But it wasn’t the storm’s strength that was worth noting; it was its timing. Adrian earned the title of “earliest tropical storm to form in the East Pacific” since reliable records began in 1970. It takes the top spot from Tropical Storm Alma, which formed on May 12, 1990. Read more about Adrian on the Weather Underground Category 6 blog here and here.
Tags: tropical storms | {
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Written by Shannon Vavra
Although the 2020 presidential race has become more crowded in recent weeks, Mick Baccio — the chief information security officer for Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg’s campaign — isn’t concerned.
Baccio may be the only person on the South Bend, Indiana, mayor’s staff that isn’t worried about former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden or any of the other candidates. For him, the competition is foreign adversaries trying to hack into Buttigieg’s campaign infrastructure.
“I don’t do politics. I’m just learning how the caucus works,” Baccio said during remarks at CYBERWARCON, a cybersecurity conference held Thursday in Arlington, Virginia. “I don’t care if it’s left or right, I care if it’s Russian or Iranian [intrusions]. That’s who I really [care about], that’s the competitor.”
His ultimate goal is making sure Buttigieg’s campaign doesn’t fall victim to the same intrusions that Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign or the Democratic National Committee suffered during the 2016 campaign at the hands of Russian-linked APT groups.
“I’m in charge of rolling out the [cybersecurity] program, the vision for it, and what we’re going to do to make sure 2016 doesn’t happen again on this campaign,” Baccio said.
The prominence of Buttigieg’s campaign just got a little bigger in the last several days as he has shot to the top of the latest polls in Iowa and New Hampshire. A rise in Buttigeg’s stature will make his campaign a prime target among adversaries who may seek to interfere in the 2020 election.
Cyber-hygiene, money, and deception
Baccio told Thursday’s crowd that he also makes sure that Buttigieg’s campaign staff is mindful of their cyber-hygiene, including recommending use of encrypted chat applications like Signal. That’s no simple task since Buttigieg’s operation is heavy on mobile operations and spans the country from California to South Carolina.
“My big thing is updating the culture,” he said. “I’m putting something on a place where it’s never ever been before, and we’re moving at 100 miles per hour.”
In addition to having teams devoted to campaign leadership — including Buttigieg, his husband, and the traveling team — Baccio also oversees several other distinct security teams, focused on security for several Buttigieg campaign teams: policy, finance, investment, and data.
But Baccio is abundantly aware that his budget requests may not be met with enthusiasm as the campaign attempts to secure the Democratic nomination for Buttigieg.
“Every dollar we spend on cybersecurity is a dollar we don’t spend on ads in New Hampshire or Iowa,” Baccio said. “I’ve got to convince [the campaign] that I’m telling [them] the right thing to do and it’s going to be cheap, scalable, and secure.”
But it’s not just about basics like two-factor authentication and use of encryption — Baccio and his team are also worried about deception in politics; in particular, deepfakes or videos that may imitate Buttigieg and spread disinformation about his campaign or policy goals.
“If there is that doctored video, we have that vision to kind of combat it,” Baccio said. “One of the problems we’re trying to get in front of is we keep [Buttigieg] in front of a camera pretty much all of his waking hours.”
And although he sees his role as distinct from politics, gamesmanship at times comes into play. Baccio is keeping tabs on spoofed websites that may appear to be a URL connected with a Buttigieg campaign site, but actually redirect to sites affiliated with other candidates, including ones that allow visitors to donate to President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. In all, there are 525 spoofed Buttigieg domains that could trick voters, according to Baccio.
Generally as CISO, however, Baccio is not focused on influence operations or voting machine security. But whatever his angle may be, Baccio pointed out even with a crowded candidate field, he is still the only full-time CISO employed by a campaign.
“Security is something we can do together,” Baccio said. “We’re all going to make mistakes. All you can do is encourage to report it, get in front of it, and just do the right thing.” | {
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Climate Evangelism: The Priestess Oreskes warns of the Evil Fox!
Naomi Oreskes visited Curtin University in Perth last week. Blessed are those who came to bear witness to the true prophecies! Dr Roberto Soria from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research, was there at what he so aptly describes as an evangelistic event. His dry satirical report of that day follows, a very enjoyable read for those who have been at the receiving end of similar sermons. Frankly, I can’t think of a better way to absorb the Oreskes message. Enjoy! — Jo
The Parable of Oreskes is epic!
Guest Post Dr Roberto Soria
The glorious banquet is coming to an end. For 150 years hundreds of millions of guests have eaten to their hearts’ content at the Banquet of Gaia. But now, the Son of Man has arrived to deliver the bill. The diners are in shock. Some begin to deny that this is their bill. Others deny that there even is a bill. Still others deny that they partook of the meal, or suggest that they simply ignore the waiter. But there is no way out. The bill is due now, it is time to pay, or we shall be cast into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping, floods, droughts, acid rain, ozone holes and gnashing of teeth.
“…a chap with a CSIRO badge intervened with the zeal of an evangelic preacher … trying to save me.”
This was the gist of the legend with which The High Priestess Naomi Oreskes, bishop in the holy church of global warming, chose to start her sermon at Curtin University’s Sustainability Policy Institute last Thursday. She had just flown to Perth from the US to warn us against the use of fossil fuels, and to sell her book. As John 1:5 says, “the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not”. Rev Oreskes’s book is trying to explain why, precisely, the darkness does not comprehend the Truth of catastrophic anthropogenic climate change (CAGW).
The answer is simple: the forces of evil are at work, day and night, to suppress the Truth, and she is trying to expose all that. The Devil, in this case, is a complex conglomerate of tobacco and fossil fuel industries, run by all-powerful, rich white males, driving Western capitalist economies. They are responsible for the continued existence of Sin in the City of Man. There is no greater Sin, no worse thoughtcrime in the CAGW church than for a scientist to deny or even doubt or discuss the truth of CAGW itself. There are different types of sinners, Rev Oreskes explained, perhaps destined for different circles of hell. There are scientists directly paid by the Devil. Others who are driven by visceral ideological anti-communism. Others (mostly white, old, male) who participated in the Manhattan project and think they are still fighting the cold war. Others who are simply compulsive liars. Others who still think the earth is flat or continents do not move. Others who have such a bloated ego to believe that their own rational judgement can trump the revealed consensus Truth. And others who are sad, lonely weirdos who are just trying to attract attention because nobody talks to them. Hate the sin, love the sinners, Christian theologians say; but the impression left on me by Rev. Oreskes’s acerbic, humourless sermon, delivered in a whiny American twang, is that she hates the sin and hates the sinners even more.
America is, as always, the big Satan, because of its individualism, its “cowboy spirit”, difficult to overcome because it is enshrined in the Constitution. America is where the Devil lives. In the Bible, the Devil manifests itself as a Serpent, tempting humans to Sin. In Medieval culture, the Devil often appeared as a Black Goat. In Rev. Oreskes’s theology, the Devil is mainly represented by the Fox. There is nothing that the evil Fox cannot do to corrupt humankind and bring it away from the Truth, not just in the US but also in Australia. Crushing the head of the Fox appears to be one of the holy priestess’s main obsessions, her “badge of honour”, as she described it.
To be fair, not all of the US is doomed, yet: pockets of New England can still be saved, and above all California, whose “viable economy” should be “a model for other states and nations”. At this point, a treehugger-looking chap in the audience, who had even brought a guitar with him, interjected to say that Australia is not as bad as the US, because, he explained with mellow voice, we are still connected to the land, even though the evil work of the Fox has been detected here, too. Peace, man, that was appreciated.
Apart from California, Europe was the only glimmer of hope, Rev. Oreskes pointed out. The European Union as the New Jerusalem. In particular: France, where “people are not afraid of collective action”; Spain, with its successful solar programme, which on a good day already produces 50% of total power; Germany, with its wind and solar farms and “3/4 million green jobs, more than in the car industry”. And of course the ambitious wind plans in the UK, helping to build Jerusalem in England’s green and pleasant land. For the rest of the world, there is some hope, too: Zero Carbon Australia, with no coal use, no coal export, no fossil-fuel cars, and hundreds of thousands of new green jobs, is already achievable by 2020, if only we had faith even as small as a mustard seed. Wind plus solar and wind plus biofuel can power the Third World.
Alas, Rev Oreskes’s evangelical service ended with a tinge of sadness. Despite knowing the Truth, the AGW faithful still have not managed “to bring the masses along”, as a member of the audience put it in despair. The problem is that the church of AGW preaches the apocalypse but cannot guarantee salvation. There is no City of God, no afterlife for the faithful: we may all be doomed to hellfire, saints and sinners, if the church does not triumph here on Earth, by crushing the sinners in this life. And there is little time left.
Luckily, a more positive note was offered by another Curtin Sustainability professor, Deacon Laura Stocker, who delivered a sermon to the same congregation before the main act. She had just implemented one of Julia Gillard’s bright ideas: the citizens’ assembly. Reading from her First Letter to the Mandurahns, Deacon Stocker described how she hand-picked dozens of pensioners and housewives, divided them into tables and put them in a room for a day, showed them videos of world-wide weather catastrophes due to AGW, invited them to list and discuss all possible horrific consequences that will befall Mandurah when (not if) the sea level suddenly rises by 1m. At the end of this course, she questioned the participants again and found that they had been “better educated”, that they now “supported strong Government intervention against climate change” and “did not trust market forces”. Success. Finally, she took the results of this re-education course to the Mayor of Mandurah, as a “supporting tool for climate action”. As a result, the City of Mandurah has now been converted to the true Faith. What happened if a table remained skeptic, a troublemaker in the audience asked. Well, Deacon Stoker replied, we had “roving experts” who would stop at any recalcitrant table and re-explain them the science, for as long as necessary, until they accepted the facts. Are there any actual direct measurements of how much the sea level is rising in Mandurah, asked another troublemaker. Of course there are real measurements: it will rise 1m by 2100, she replied, as per CSIRO projections (“Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed”, John 20:29). A fair-skinned Aboriginal academic in the audience pointed out that there are beaches near Mandurah where his indigenous ancestors had walked in the past, that are now under water. This seemed a rather trivial statement to me (my whitefella ancestors used to walk between England and France), but Deacon Stocker found it “profoundly moving”, a sobering thought of tremendous cultural significance; she must have struggled hard to suppress her tears. But that was a day for rejoicing, not for tears. For Mandurah may be a small place, but ce n’est qu’un debut: similar publicly-funded initiatives must be repeated in every Australian town and city, until the masses come along to the Truth. Meanwhile, we can only hope, pray, and keep the funding going.
I put a question in the forum that day at Curtin, which Oreskes dismissed as ignorant and irrelevant, and a chap with a CSIRO badge intervened with the zeal of an evangelic preacher, reached over to me, with fiery eyes and an exalted voice, trying to make me see the error of my ways, my irresponsible and ignorant opinion before it’s too late. I don’t blame him, he was just trying to SAVE me, while I still have time, because tomorrow may be too late. Again, in typical evangelical style, he said that he would provide me with some reading that will open my mind and make me see the truth. If there was an approved exorcism rite for climate skeptics, I am sure he would tried it on me on the spot.
I have received an email from him. He is still trying to save me. [I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons, who need no repentance--Luke 15:7]. He was the typical member of the audience at the Curtin Sustainability Dept. He was telling me that the signs of CO2-induced catastrophic climate change are all around me every day, so plain to see (heatwaves-snow-nosnow-droughts-floods-tornadoes-hurricanes-greenlandmelting-sealevelrise-itsworsethanwethought…). But then again, I have been to many evangelicals gatherings where the people were seeing the direct intervention of God in each and every trivial event of their lives. Is it raining? it was God’s decision to make me stay at home today and read the Bible; is it sunny? it was God’s plan to make me walk out on a pilgrimage to the church. Those people were really seeing the hand of God everywhere, in the same way the CSIRO chap sees the hand of CO2 everywhere, and no rational argument will convince them otherwise.
Thanks to Roberto
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Other posts by Dr Soria
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“Não se pode comparar a situação de Espanha com Portugal. São realidades distintas. É um problema que cabe aos espanhóis resolver, não nos cabe a nós dar conselhos”, disse Jerónimo de Sousa aos jornalistas, depois de assistir à peça “Ratsódia”, no Teatro-Estúdio António Assunção, em Almada, distrito de Setúbal, para assinalar o dia da criança.
Em Portugal, o PCP é um dos partidos que, com o Bloco de Esquerda e “Os Verdes”, têm um acordo parlamentar de apoio ao Governo minoritário do PS, chefiado por António Costa.
O parlamento espanhol aprovou hoje por 180 votos a favor e 169 contra a moção de censura que afastou o Governo de direita liderado por Mariano Rajoy e, ao mesmo tempo, investiu Pedro Sánchez, líder do Partido Socialista Operário Espanhol (PSOE).
Apesar de apenas ter 84 dos 350 deputados do parlamento espanhol, o PSOE conseguiu reunir o apoio de um total de 180 membros da assembleia, incluindo os Unidos Podemos, de extrema-esquerda, e vários partidos de menor dimensão regionalistas, nacionalistas e separatistas. | {
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By Michael Scott Halloween Fright Night turned into a Fight Night on Birmingham’s Broad Street as a group of men fought eachother whilst a woman pleaded for them to stop. One man wearing a T-shirt took a blow to the head and fell to the ground before getting back to his feet as his […]Credit: CatersNews | {
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SAN FRANCISCO (NYTIMES) — Facebook has been fighting for months the perception that it did not do enough to protect people’s privacy. On Thursday (June 7), the company said it had again failed to keep the information of millions of users private.
As many as 14 million Facebook users who thought they were creating private posts last month that only a small group of friends could see were, in fact, making public posts that anyone could view.
Facebook blamed a software bug for the problem. The company did not say how it had found the bug, or how it knew the problem was limited to 14 million people.
In a statement, Facebook said the bug affected users from May 18 to May 22, while the company was testing a new feature. By May 27, the company had changed the affected posts from a public setting back to a private one.
“We’d like to apologize for this mistake,” Erin Egan, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, said in a statement. “We have fixed this issue, and starting today we are letting everyone affected know and are asking them to review any posts they made during that time.”
In the last few months, Facebook executives have repeatedly been forced to apologise to users for failing to protect their privacy.
In March, The New York Times reported that the data of over 87 million people had been collected by Cambridge Analytica, a political firm with ties to the Trump campaign.
This week, The Times reported that Facebook had given cellphone makers, including Apple, Samsung and the Chinese firm Huawei, access to data on Facebook users and their friends. Members of Congress are now questioning Facebook and other tech companies about their relationship to Huawei.
Trust in Facebook has fallen by 66 per cent as a result of news stories in recent months, according to a survey by the Ponemon Institute, an independent research firm specialising in privacy and data protection.
Norman Sadeh, co-director of Carnegie Mellon University’s Privacy Engineering Program, said that although Facebook survived temporary losses of trust from the public in the past, the recent scandals appeared to be taking their toll on the social media company.
In response to the problems, the company has added a number of new privacy controls, as well as a centralized page for privacy and security settings. Sadeh said the new settings were still confusing.
One of Facebook’s key privacy features is that it lets people decide an audience for their posts. Someone can, for example, share a post with only a limited group of family and friends, or decide to make a post public so that anyone, including people not logged on to Facebook, can see it.
It was unclear if users could have done anything to their settings to prevent being affected by the bug the company revealed on Thursday.
Until Facebook and other companies improve their approach to privacy and develop settings that are easier to use and more aligned with what users want, “people should probably refrain from sharing too much sensitive information with these platforms,” Sadeh said. | {
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Allows the app to view information about network connections such as which networks exist and are connected.Allows the app to view information about Wi-Fi networking, such as whether Wi-Fi is enabled and name of connected Wi-Fi devices.Allows the app to take pictures and videos with the camera. This permission allows the app to use the camera at any time without your confirmation.Allows the app to change the state of network connectivity.Allows the app to connect to and disconnect from Wi-Fi access points and to make changes to device configuration for Wi-Fi networks.Allows the app to expand or collapse the status bar.Allows access to the list of accounts in the Accounts Service.Allows the app to get the list of accounts known by the phone. This may include any accounts created by applications you have installed.Allows the app to create network sockets and use custom network protocols. The browser and other applications provide means to send data to the internet, so this permission is not required to send data to the internet.Allows the app to modify global audio settings such as volume and which speaker is used for output.Provides access to device usage history and statistics. Usage data is aggregated into time intervals: days, weeks, months, and years.Allows the app to read the contents of your SD card.Allows the app to read from the system's various log files. This allows it to discover general information about what you are doing with the phone, potentially including personal or private information.Allows read only access to phone state, including the phone number of the device, current cellular network information, the status of any ongoing calls, and a list of any PhoneAccounts registered on the device.Allows the app to have itself started as soon as the system has finished booting. This can make it take longer to start the phone and allow the app to slow down the overall phone by always running.Allows the app to record audio with the microphone. This permission allows the app to record audio at any time without your confirmation.Allows the app to draw on top of other applications or parts of the user interface. They may interfere with your use of the interface in any application, or change what you think you are seeing in other applications.Allows the app to request authentication tokens.Allows the app to control the vibrator.Allows the app to prevent the phone from going to sleep.Allows the app to write to the SD card.In-app Billing on Google Play provides a straightforward, simple interface for sending In-app Billing requests and managing In-app Billing transactions using Google Play.Allows apps to accept cloud to device messages sent by the app's service. Using this service will incur data usage. Malicious apps could cause excess data usage. | {
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth WarrenHarris joins women's voter mobilization event also featuring Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda Judd Gregg: The Kamala threat — the Californiaization of America GOP set to release controversial Biden report MORE’s (D-Mass.) presidential campaign announced Tuesday that it had hit its campaign fundraising goal for the first quarter of 2019 but declined to reveal how much money it had actually hauled in since her December announcement.
“We’re still crunching all the numbers, but we can already tell you that we hit our fundraising goal for Sunday’s deadline. With zero fundraisers with wealthy donors behind closed doors, zero support from PACs of any kind, and zero contributions from federal lobbyists,” Warren Campaign Manager Roger Lau said in a statement to supporters.
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The campaign’s email follows a message to supporters Sunday that it was seeking 35,000 new contributions by midnight, the Federal Election Commission reporting deadline.
“[W]e also know that if we hit our goal of 35,000 new donations by midnight tonight, we’ll have the resources we need to keep powering our movement,” the campaign said in the request. “That’s how we’ll make sure the Democratic primary is squarely focused on rebuilding the middle class, ending corruption in Washington, saving our democracy, and addressing the root causes of the rigged system that led to Donald Trump Donald John TrumpOmar fires back at Trump over rally remarks: 'This is my country' Pelosi: Trump hurrying to fill SCOTUS seat so he can repeal ObamaCare Trump mocks Biden appearance, mask use ahead of first debate MORE being in the White House.”
The Warren campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about how much money it raised and how many people donated.
Though the Massachusetts Democrat has been one of the party’s higher-profile senators since she defeated a Republican incumbent in 2012, Warren has struggled to gain traction in a crowded primary race in which several of the frontrunners are appealing to the party’s progressive wing.
Warren has sought to differentiate herself from other candidates by putting the nitty-gritty details of her policies at the forefront. While other candidates have also joined her in shunning donations from PACs, she went a step further and cut her campaign off from wealthy individual donors, a move that Axios reported led to the resignation of her campaign’s finance director.
Her email Tuesday comes the same day as other 2020 Democrats announced impressive fundraising hauls.
South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg Pete ButtigiegButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Hillicon Valley: FBI, DHS warn that foreign hackers will likely spread disinformation around election results | Social media platforms put muscle into National Voter Registration Day | Trump to meet with Republican state officials on tech liability shield Facebook takes down Chinese network targeting Philippines, Southeast Asia and the US MORE announced Monday his campaign, which is still technically in the exploratory phase, raised $7 million in the first quarter, capitalizing on a surge of recent attention for a politician who was virtually unknown two months ago.
Sen. Kamala Harris Kamala HarrisButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice First presidential debate to cover coronavirus, Supreme Court Harris joins women's voter mobilization event also featuring Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda MORE (Calif.) also announced her campaign raised $12 million in the first quarter of 2019 from more than 218,000 individual contributions, while Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersButtigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice Bernie Sanders warns of 'nightmare scenario' if Trump refuses election results Harris joins women's voter mobilization event also featuring Pelosi, Gloria Steinem, Jane Fonda MORE (I-Vt.) announced a staggering $18.2 million haul. | {
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CALGARY—After months of consultation over a proposed mobile supervised drug consumption site in southeast Calgary, one community organization is seeking legal representation to oppose the facility opening in their neighbourhood.
HIV Community Link met with residents in the fall to discuss a mobile supervised consumption site proposed to operate on a set schedule between the East Village, which borders downtown Calgary’s eastside, and Southview, which lies just east of Inglewood and the Bow River, with International Ave. S.E. running along its north side.
Members of the Southview Community Association have long pushed back against this idea, arguing the facility would be more useful somewhere else. On Tuesday night, members met for a special general meeting where they voted to allocate funding toward legal representation to formally oppose the facility opening its doors.
Speaking for the group, resident Jean Darius said his organization isn’t opposed to these facilities, but argued Southview doesn’t have a large enough drug problem to warrant this site opening there. He argued it would be more useful in communities with higher rates of recorded overdoses.
“We keep coming back to this point where (HIV Community Link representatives) don’t live in our community, so why are they insisting on putting this in our community?” Darius said.
The proposed site would be the second official supervised consumption facility in Calgary. The first opened in January at the Sheldon M. Chumir Centre. These are legally sanctioned centres providing a supervised place for people to consume drugs. But this has upset Calgarians who don’t want a centre like this in their backyard.
Darius said the group will first hire a lawyer to prepare a letter to the Alberta’s health minister arguing HIV Community Link hasn’t completed proper consultation with the neighbourhood, the proposed location isn’t reasonably justified to hold the site, and the need for this facility isn’t based on information applicable to Southview.
Read more:
Proposed safe consumption site faces backlash at public meeting in Southview
Calgary’s safe-consumption site sees huge rise in visits
“The idea that there is a problem in Southview and we need to have this in Southview, that really aggravates some of our residents. Because they’re showing right there they’re not listening to what we’re saying,” Darius said.
But HIV Community Link hasn’t yet finalized a location for the facility. The organization’s executive director, Leslie Hill, said the Calgary-East area has been hit particularly hard by the overdose crisis, with the second-highest reported rate of overdoses of any local geographic area in Alberta.
“Our mandate is to implement a supervised consumption service that will be effective in saving as many lives as possible,” Hill said in a written statement.
“To date, we have met with approximately 300 individuals in Calgary-East, as well as working with the relevant community associations to understand their perspectives.”
Hill said that once a location is finalized, HIV Community Link will work with residents and businesses in the area to address any issues that could arise and ensure the service is safe and successful.
HIV Community Link said it already meets monthly with representatives from Alberta Health Services, the City of Calgary, the Calgary Police Service, the University of Calgary, and more, on a Calgary Coalition on Supervised Consumption.
The proposed spot in Southview is near the Sunrise Community Link centre, which provides support for people experiencing poverty or other forms of adversity in their lives.
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Darius said his community group wants to make that area more lively, and that this proposed site would be counterproductive to that goal. He added that the proposed location on the west side of Southview is too far from neighbourhoods that have more recorded overdoses, such as Forest Lawn and Forest Heights.
“Our opposition isn’t against the idea of helping those in need, but it’s against putting it in the community of Southview because the problem doesn’t exist,” Darius said.
Katrina Milaney, a University of Calgary professor, was a principle investigator on research projects in central and southern Alberta that informed the program models for supervised consumption sites in Calgary and Medicine Hat. She said the lack of visibility for these drug problems can impact the perception about how big the issue really is in specific communities.
“I think the reason people think that it’s not an issue in their community is because people are overdosing in their home,” Milaney said. “Just because you don’t see it on the street, doesn’t mean it’s not happening in their community.”
The opposition toward the facility has been so vocal in Southview that Calgary-East MLA Robyn Luff said she’s received more letters, phone calls and emails about it than any other issue during in her term in office.
“I’m a general supporter of supervised consumption, I think it’s a really important public health policy. But I can say without reservation that most of the people who live in Southview don’t feel that the location is the right location,” Luff said.
“There is no doubt that there is a need in east Calgary for these kinds of services, but if you look at a heat map of where most overdoses are happening, they’re not happening in Southview, they’re happening further east.”
But Milaney pointed out that supervised consumption sites are an evidence-based success story in other communities. And in Calgary so far, the current downtown site in the Sheldon M. Chumir Centre hasn’t had a negative effect on that community.
“People tend to make assumptions that having services like this in your community will increase crime and increase debris in their neighbourhood, and that’s simply not true,” Milaney said.
“What we see with supervised consumption sites is, particularly now that we have the Sheldon Chumir, there hasn’t been a dramatic change to happen to that community in a negative way.”
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With same-sex marriage now legal across the country, the question has surfaced about whether religious-affiliated schools will accommodate gay or lesbian students, staff and faculty who are married.
So far, three Christian higher education institutions — Hope College, Belmont University and Baylor University — have responded to the Supreme Court ruling with policy changes.
Hope College in Holland, Michigan, announced this week that it would extend spousal benefits to same-sex married couples, according to the Holland Sentinel.
"In employment policy and practice, Hope College has always followed the state's legal definition of marriage," school president, John Knapp, wrote in a statement. "Spouses are eligible for benefits, so long as their marriage is legally recognized the state of Michigan."
The private, Christian college is affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, which has never supported same-sex marriage, according to statements on its website.
In addition to Hope, Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, will also be offering benefits to "all legally married couples," according to Christianity Today. This decision has come after the 2011 move adding sexual orientation to the university's nondiscrimination policy.
Same-sex couples will be receiving more than just employment benefits.
The University of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's extended health care and other benefits to same-sex couples last year, after gay marriage was legalized in Indiana, according to the Daily Herald.
"Notre Dame is a Catholic university and endorses a Catholic view of marriage. However, it will follow the relevant civil law and begin to implement this change immediately," the university emailed to employees.
And on Tuesday, Baylor University — the world's largest Baptist university — dropped a ban on "homosexual acts" in its sexual conduct policy, according to the Houston Chronicle.
While before, Baylor's policy said homosexual acts were a misuse of "God's gift," it now says the university "will be guided by the biblical understanding that human sexuality is a gift from God and that physical sexual intimacy is to be expressed in the context of marital fidelity."
Other Christian colleges, however, will not be changing their policies, Christianity Today reported. These institutions include Fuller Seminary, Eastern Mennonite University, Gordon College, Westmont College, Wheaton College, Azusa Pacific University and Messiah College.
Email: [email protected] Twitter: @MassarahMikati | {
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A new study finds that the ground underneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet region is rebounding, or rising, at an extraordinarily rapid rate.
Why this matters: Previous research has shown that enough ice has already melted in this region to trigger a potentially irreversible melt of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which would sharply increase sea levels worldwide. Now, though, scientists may have identified a new brake on this runaway train.
[Get more stories like this by signing up for our weekly science newsletter, Axios Science.]
As the ice melts, there is less weight being placed on the bedrock below. This is causing the ground level to rise through a process known as glacial isostatic adjustment, or rebound. (Such a process is still underway in parts of North America from the end of the last ice age.)
If the underlying bedrock rises fast enough, it could halt the loss of ice from this region, the study, out today in the journal Science, finds.
New measurements found that the ground under the rapidly melting Amundsen Sea Embayment of West Antarctica is rising at the astonishingly rapid rate of 41 millimeters, or more than 4 cm, per year.
If this trend increases as the study projects, then the grounding line, which is the spot where the marine-based ice shelf of the Pine Island Glacier meets bedrock, will have risen by 8 meters, or 26.2 feet, in 100 years, according to an Ohio State University press release.
The study utilized ground-based GPS sensors as well as satellites that measure subtle changes in gravitational fields.
Terry Wilson, a co-author of the study and professor emeritus at Ohio State, told Axios that the rebound rate measured at the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is the fastest ever measured at any ice sheet on the planet.
What this means: The rapid uplift rate — determined using ground-based GPS instruments — means that there's a greater chance that certain so-called "pinning points" underneath the ice that could catch hold of a moving ice floe and keep it in place. The authors of the study say the rapid response of the Earth's surface to the ice melt indicates the ground deep underneath that part of Antarctica is hotter and more fluid (or less viscous) than presumed, and therefore has a more rapid response rate.
Wilson says that if greenhouse gas emissions continue unabated, the rising ground level underneath West Antarctica won't be sufficient to stop it from melting. However, under moderate emissions scenarios, it would, based on early computer model simulations.
What they're saying: Researchers who were not involved in the new study are treating it with cautious optimism, saying more research is needed before concluding this is truly good news.
"The ice-flow community will use these, and other, new data to make better projections. I believe that as these new model experiments are conducted, the data from this new paper will prove to be important but not dominant, and that human decisions about our energy system are still the most important influence on future sea-level rise. But, in coming years, the estimates of sea level rise will be more accurate because of this work."
— Richard Alley, a geoscientist at Penn State University.
Robert DeConto, an ice sheet researcher at the University of Massachusetts, whose work has pointed to the dangers of losing the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, says he doesn't see the new results as a game-changer — at least not yet.
"I remain optimistic, but currently, Antarctica’s greatest contribution to sea level rise is coming from the very region in Antarctica where this process should be helping slow things down," he said. "... I’m not sure our low lying coastlines can wait for the Earth’s soft interior to save the day, no matter how viscous it might be."
And Natalya Gomez of McGill University, who is working to incorporate the rising bedrock into computer models of how ice sheets will respond to global warming, told Axios that the new study reinforces the consensus view that our decisions in the next few decades will prove pivotal to the fate of Antarctic ice.
"In my view, with insight from the modeling I have done, this feedback will play a more important role in slowing or stopping ice sheet retreat in this region in a low-end warming scenario, but less so in a high-end scenario — with enough warming in Antarctica, this region will retreat and lead to substantial sea level rise.”
— Natalya Gomez, McGill University
Go deeper:
Get more stories like this by signing up for our weekly science newsletter, Axios Science. | {
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Knows you have to shower Goes into the bathroom to shit right before
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Girl cuddling with you affectionately says, "You smell like guy" "Thanks, you too"
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Archaeologists approach the Thom Dab temple in the Siem Reap region. Credit:Nick Moir An expedition of Australian and French archaeologists using GPS co-ordinates gathered from the instrument's data uncovered five previously unrecorded temples and evidence of ancient canals, dykes and roads. The Saturday Age recorded the discoveries by joining the expedition as it pushed through landmine-strewn jungle, swollen rivers and bogs on a mountain called Phnom Kulen, 40 kilometres north of Angkor Wat in north-western Cambodia. French-born archaeologist Jean-Baptiste Chevance, director of the London-based Archaeology and Development Foundation, a co-leader of the expedition, said it was known from ancient scriptures that the great warrior Jayavarman II had a mountain capital ''but we didn't know how all the dots fitted, exactly how it all came together''. ''We now know from the new data the city was connected by roads, canals and dykes,'' he said.
Mahendraparvata existed 350 years before Angkor Wat, the Hindu temple that has captivated interest across the world and attracts more than 2 million people a year. The lidar technology effectively peeled away the jungle canopy by using billions of laser impulses, allowing archaeologists the first glimpse of structures that were in perfect squares, completing a map of the city that years of painstaking ground research had been unable to achieve. The archaeologists were amazed to see that 36 previously recorded ruins scattered across the mountain were linked by a network of gridded roads, dykes, ponds and temples that were divided into regular city blocks. Over a period of years Dr Chevance and his staff had crossed ancient roads and passed by ancient structures they suspected were there but could not see because they were hidden by jungle and earth. The discovery will prompt scientific excavation of the area's most significant sites by archaeologists seeking to discover what life was like for a civilisation about which virtually nothing is known, including why it was abandoned to the forest.
It also will allow archaeologists and historians to learn more about the evolution of Angkor, the enormous political and religious empire that dominated most of south-east Asia for 600 years. The director of the University of Sydney's centre in Cambodia, Damian Evans, who was another leader of the expedition, said there may be implications for modern society. Loading ''We see from the imagery that the landscape was completely devoid of vegetation,'' Dr Evans said. ''One theory we are looking at is that the severe environmental impact of deforestation and the dependence on water management led to the demise of the civilisation … perhaps it became too successful to the point of becoming unmanageable.'' | {
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１２月１９日、英国防省は、２週間前に就役したばかりの英史上最大の空母「クイーン・エリザベス」で浸水が見つかり、修理の必要が生じたと明らかにした。写真は６月撮影（２０１７年 ロイター/Russell Cheyne）
［ロンドン １９日 ロイター］ - 英国防省は１９日、エリザベス女王が出席する式典を経て２週間前に就役したばかりの英史上最大の空母「クイーン・エリザベス」で浸水が見つかり、修理の必要が生じたと明らかにした。
「クイーン・エリザベス」は、建造費３１億ポンド（約４６８８億円）を投じて完成した全長２８０メートル、排水量６万５０００トンの最新鋭空母。試験航海中スクリューのシャフトからの浸水が発見された。
海軍の広報担当者は「ポーツマス（軍港）入港中に修理を行う予定。航海の再開は可能であり、試験航海プログラムに影響はない」と述べた。
英紙サンによると、浸水量は毎時２００リットルで、修理には数百万ポンドを要するとみられている。同紙は、修理費用は建造を受け持った企業連合に負担が求められるだろうと伝えた。 | {
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walkingalongsidetracks.jpg
Amtrak's Lake Shore Limited pulled into Cleveland three hours late on Sept. 29th, and was delayed another five hours before departing. Amtrak said Tuesday it's appointing a transportation panel to figure out solutions to congestion in Chicago that it says ripples out to create chronic delays on east-west corridors nationwide.
(All Aboard Ohio)
CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Amtrak said Tuesday it's stepping up efforts to relieve rail traffic gridlock in Chicago, the effects of which it described as radiating out nationwide.
Amtrak specifically cited delays of four hours or more between Chicago and Cleveland that it said have become a near daily experience.
Just last month, passengers on the Lake Shore Limited out of Chicago arrived in Cleveland 3½ hours late, then were hung up for another five hours before leaving town, causing one passenger to describe the Amtrak schedule as more of a "wish list" than a timetable.
"The unprecedented level of rail congestion is causing major delays for Amtrak passengers and freight shipments, which are damaging to the U.S. economy," Amtrak said in announcing that it's appointed a panel of rail and transportation leaders to study how to ease the congestion.
Gridlock in Chicago is causing major delays throughout the United States because it's the hub of the U.S. rail network and the key gateway between eastbound and westbound rail traffic.
Among the causes Amtrak cited:
• Rising demand on the East Coast for more intermodal freight and crude oil shipments that originate west of Chicago
• Underinvestment in critical rail infrastructure
• Short-term construction projects that create temporary bottlenecks
Amtrak said the Chicago Gateway Initiative panel will identify and evaluate track and station investments and operating changes that will improve both Amtrak's performance and that of freight rail service. The goal is to ramp up construction of rail infrastructure, while minimizing disruptions and delays. A final report on recommendations is expected in May.
"The action by Amtrak is outstanding," said Grace Gallucci, who heads Greater Cleveland's biggest transportation planning agency, the Northeast Ohio Areawide Coordinating Agency. "They are taking a leadership role in solving the problem, the resolution of which will impact both passenger and freight rail service in a positive way."
Chronic train delays in the corridor skirting Lake Erie prompted NOACA to form an alliance this year with metropolitan planning groups in Toledo and Erie County to dig for solutions.
Ken Sislak, vice chairman of the advocacy group All Aboard Ohio, said in an email that he hopes the Amtrak panel "will look at the results of 50 years of disinvestment in railroad infrastructure (line abandonments, ripping out 4-track lines and converting them to 2-track lines, merger mania etc.)."
The federal agency that oversees railroads, two weeks ago, asked Norfolk Southern Railway to explain how it plans to improve the tardy performance of Amtrak passenger trains on its tracks.
Of particular concern to the Surface Transportation Board is service on the two lines that run through Cleveland, the Lake Shore Limited from Chicago to New York City and the Capitol Limited from Chicago to Washington, D.C.
NOACA members met Tuesday with representatives of the Ohio Department of Transportation in a bid to persuade ODOT to release $938,000 that Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur secured in 2010 for rail planning. There was no immediate word on the outcome.
ODOT has said the money was initially earmarked for another rail project, so rail proponents and ODOT must agree on details of the revised scope of study.
Members of the Amtrak panel are former U.S. Rep. Jack Quinn, a past chairman of the U.S. House Railroads Subcommittee; Linda Morgan, former chair of the Surface Transportation Board; and Tom Carper, Amtrak board member and past chairman. The freight railroads that operate in Chicago and other stakeholders will be invited to participate and have a role in recommending solutions, Amtrak said. | {
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The Supreme Court Monday decided once again to stay out of the legal battle over whether some states are too restrictive in issuing permits to carry a handgun outside the home.
The justices without comment turned down a request to review whether New Jersey’s law requiring “justifiable need” to get a handgun permit infringes on Second Amendment rights.
The court has not accepted a major gun case since its twin decisions that found there is a right to gun ownership in the home and that it applies to both federal and state government attempts at gun control.
All states allow handguns to be carried outside the home, but some are more restrictive than others. Gun-rights supporters said New Jersey’s law, similar to ones in Maryland, New York and elsewhere, make it nearly impossible for anyone who is not a member of law enforcement to get such a permit.
A panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit upheld the law, saying the legislature’s decision was a “presumptively lawful, long-standing regulation and therefore does not burden conduct within the scope of the Second Amendment’s guarantee.”
The issue is still being debated in lower courts, however.
Earlier this year, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in San Francisco said San Diego County had infringed on constitutional rights by the way it enforced California’s law requiring “good cause” to obtain a concealed-weapons permit.
The New Jersey case was Drake v. Jerejian. | {
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