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A former animal research facility, outbuildings from the 1850s, and a crater where the Army blew up a mansion will be among the historical drawcards for South Australia's newest national park.
For the next few days the public can visit the site of what will become Glenthorne National Park, a 208-hectare former CSIRO property that will provide the final link in a 1,500ha wildlife corridor from the Adelaide foothills to the sea.
The State Government wants community input regarding the park's future, including revegetation programs, the creation of walking and bike trails, and tours of ruins and research buildings that have been off limits for decades.
"We want people to get in behind these locked gates over the next few days and tell us what their priorities are for this site," Environment Minister David Speirs told ABC Radio Adelaide's Mornings program.
Primate house 'a dark place'
The former CSIRO buildings include a primate house where monkeys were used for research. ( ABC Radio Adelaide: Simon Rose )
Overseeing the transformation is the Environment Department's Michael Garrod, who said the fenced-off research precinct included about 30 buildings that were used from 1949.
"The primate house is a pretty dark place with all these little cells set up," he said of the facility used for testing on animals.
"We worked, I guess, in different ethical times with different ethical standards.
"But the work that was done here was very valuable in terms of animal nutrition and crop production."
Gutted mansion blown up
Glenthorne's first European inhabitant was Thomas Shuldham O'Halloran, the state's first police commissioner, who arrived from Britain in 1838 to establish a farm, including wine grapes.
After the death of O'Halloran and his wife Lady Frances, their sons sold the site to Thomas and Jane Porter, who completed building a mansion there in 1880.
Flinders University landscape archaeologist Pamela Smith said it was a substantial building believed to be modelled on a house called Glenthorne in Devon, England.
The Porter mansion was gutted by fire in 1932. ( Supplied: State Library of South Australia (B 4928) )
"The Army took over Glenthorne in 1913, although they had a presence there from 1910," Dr Smith said.
"This was the remount depot where the horses left South Australia for World War I, and the history of this period represents a major contribution of South Australia to the war effort."
The Army remained at Glenthorne for the next 35 years, but activities there slowed between the World Wars as horses were gradually replaced by motorised vehicles.
"The house wasn't used much so it fell into disrepair, and unfortunately in September 1932 it caught on fire," Dr Smith said.
"The Army couldn't restore it because it was too badly damaged, and it was blown up with explosives.
"All that's left of the mansion is a depression in the ground and a big flat area where it was bulldozed."
There are, however, ruins of O'Halloran's outbuildings, many of which are on the state heritage register.
Ruins from the mid-1800s are reminders of the O'Halloran period. ( Instagram: little_miss_dee )
Government pledges 'no subdivision'
Threatened with subdivision since the CSIRO moved out in 1996, the Government is in the process of taking over the site from its more recent owners, the University of Adelaide, and has promised to return it in full to the community.
"We've had the Friends of Glenthorne fighting tenaciously for about 20 years to ensure that urban sprawl doesn't sweep over this site and we don't end up with a suburb called Glenthorne," Mr Speirs said.
"It's been saved."
Showcasing the site's heritage values and Indigenous history were all future options, Mr Speirs said, along with creating a major nature play site on land currently used for grazing.
"That's one idea that bubbles out of the community, and I think that's likely to get a guernsey — but what other ideas does the community have?"
It also represents a missing link between Happy Valley Reservoir, O'Halloran Hill Recreation Park and Marino Conservation Park, a wildlife corridor into which investment can be made towards rehabilitating the land.
"A lot of the land is already protected under the National Parks and Wildlife Act and is linked informally, but we want to create walking trails that link all this together," Mr Speirs said.
The Glenthorne property will contribute to 1,500 hectares of open parks and land in the region. ( Supplied: SA Government )
A 'wonderful outcome'
Friends of Glenthorne secretary and treasurer Alan Burns said he "almost could not believe" the Government was creating a national park having fought for it for many years.
"We felt we couldn't lose any of it for housing and it had to be preserved for the local area," he said.
"Our group was formed on a constitution that preserved that property and we've stuck to that and this is a wonderful outcome."
Mr Burns said the site included remnant grey box trees that were up to 500 years old and was already an important habitat for birdlife despite being "overcropped and overgrazed".
"It needs a proper habitat restoration program with a lot of it focused on native grasses and small native plants, herbs and daisies and that sort of thing.
"Once you have those established, you're controlling weeds, which saves a lot of money because you're not using labour or herbicides.
"You put down your carpet of native grasses and daisies and then we can put some bigger stuff in."
Mr Speirs said stock grazing would continue to play a role in managing weeds on the site until it was rehabilitated.
The site is open to the public from Friday to Sunday between 12:30pm and 4:30pm, with access off Majors Road at O'Halloran Hill. | {
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Former National Security Council aide Fiona Hill clashed with Republicans during Thursday’s Trump impeachment inquiry hearings after accusing some lawmakers of embracing the “fictional narrative” that only Ukraine -- and not Russia -- interfered in the 2016 elections, igniting a fierce response.
The testy proceedings at the Capitol also included testimony from David Holmes, a U.S. State Department official in Ukraine, who described how he overheard a phone call this summer with President Trump about wanting Ukraine to conduct political investigations.
Holmes testified that he eventually understood that “demand” to be linked to delayed military aid. The White House countered, as it has in prior hearings, that the witnesses did not speak to any direct knowledge on the aid hold-up, while GOP lawmakers dismissed the alleged offense as nothing more than a “thought crime.”
FIONA HILL SAYS SHE WAS GIVEN STEELE DOSSIER JUST BEFORE IT WAS PUBLISHED
But Hill irritated Republicans from the outset Thursday by saying in her opening statement, “Based on questions and statements I have heard, some of you on this committee appear to believe that Russia and its security services did not conduct a campaign against our country—and that perhaps, somehow, for some reason, Ukraine did.”
Throughout the day, Republicans repeatedly addressed her claims. The top Republican on the committee, Rep. Devin Nunes, pushed back by holding up a copy of the GOP-led Intelligence Committee’s 2018 “Report on Russian Active Measures” finding that Russia interfered in the 2016 election.
“What you just said was not true…but you felt the need to put it in your eight-page statement,” Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, told her.
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik said: “Not a single Republican member of this committee has said that Russia did not meddle in the 2016 elections.”
Ohio Rep. Brad Wenstrup told Hill her statement was “false,” saying she was just repeating “Mr. Schiff’s narrative,” referring to the Democratic committee chairman. “That’s where you’ve heard it. We did a whole report on it.”
The transcript of Trump's July 25 call with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky -- a moment at the heart of the impeachment probe -- shows Trump asking for a “favor” in the form of Ukraine providing information about the hacking of the DNC server in 2016. He referenced CrowdStrike, a cyber firm used by the DNC to investigate the attacks.
Hill acknowledged in her testimony that her comments were in reference to those allegations.
“These fictions are harmful even if they are deployed for purely domestic political purposes,” Hill said, also saying "if the president, or anyone else, impedes or subverts the national security of the United States in order to further domestic political or personal interests, that is more than worthy of your attention."
She later, though, acknowledged that reporting from a 2017 Politico story indicated Ukrainian officials sought to "curry favor" with the Clinton campaign. “They bet on the wrong horse … They bet on Hillary Clinton winning the election,” she said, noting some officials disparaged Trump, but drawing a distinction between those issues and Russian meddling.
IMPEACHMENT WITNESS FIONA HILL ONCE OPPOSED SENDING LETHAL AID TO UKRAINE IN FIGHT WITH RUSSIA
Democrats have dismissed the notion that Ukraine played a role in the 2016 race. But Republicans throughout the hearing have repeatedly asked witnesses about a separate Ukraine-related allegation involving Alexandra Chalupa—a former Democratic National Committee consultant who allegedly had meetings during the 2016 campaign with officials at the Ukrainian Embassy in D.C. to discuss incriminating information about Trump campaign figures, as detailed in the Politico story.
"At the same time, certain Ukrainians did work against candidate Trump," Wenstrup said. "Some with the DNC."
Nunes -- the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee -- accused Democrats during the hearing of "improperly redacting [Chalupa's] name from deposition transcripts and refusing to let Americans hear her testimony as a witness in these proceedings."
The Russia probe and the 2016 election were frequently referenced by Nunes in the hearing. Hill acknowledged that she knows Christopher Steele, the author of the infamous dossier of conspiracy theories about Trump, and was shown an early copy of the document.
Referencing the Democrat-funded dossier, Nunes asked both Hill and Holmes if they think it’s appropriate for political parties to send operatives into foreign countries to dig up dirt on their opponents. Both said no.
The testimony came on the last scheduled day -- at this time -- of open impeachment hearings before the Intelligence Committee, which hosted a spree of five hearings spread across three days this week.
The inquiry, at its core, has focused on how Trump pressured Zelensky to announce investigations related to the Bidens, as well as alleged actions taken by Ukraine in the 2016 election, as military aid was withheld.
Holmes, the U.S. State Department official in Ukraine, testified about a Sept. 8 conversation where Bill Taylor, the top diplomat in Ukraine, told him Trump's advisers wanted Zelensky to commit to going on American television to announce an investigation.
“This was a demand that President Zelensky personally commit, on a cable news channel, to a specific investigation of President Trump’s political rival,” Holmes said, adding, “I was shocked the requirement was so specific and concrete.”
The interview never happened, and the aid was eventually released, a fact that Republicans have cited to counter Democrats' allegations.
Speaking to lawmakers, Holmes said he eventually got the "clear impression" that the hold on aid was "likely intended" to prod Ukraine over the desired investigations -- related to former Vice President Joe Biden's role in the ouster of a prosecutor who had been looking into Ukrainian energy company Burisma Holdings where his son Hunter was on the board. Hill said Thursday: "It was clear Burisma was code for the Bidens."
Trump has maintained there was no "quid pro quo," however, and Republicans have panned such witness assertions as speculation.
"These two witnesses, just like the rest, have no personal or direct knowledge regarding why U.S. aid was temporarily withheld," White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham said in a statement.
But Holmes offered a first-hand account all the same of how he overheard a July 26 call between Trump and European Union Ambassador Gordon Sondland where the president asked Sondland whether Zelensky was going to conduct the investigations he wanted.
Holmes said Sondland, who was in Ukraine for meetings, began the call by telling Trump that Zelensky “loves your ass.”
“I then heard President Trump ask, ‘So, he’s gonna do the investigation?’ Ambassador Sondland replied that ‘he’s gonna do it,’ adding that President Zelensky will do ‘anything you ask him to,’” Holmes said.
Holmes explained how he heard the call.
“While Ambassador Sondland’s phone was not on speakerphone, I could hear the president’s voice through the earpiece of the phone,” Holmes said. “The president’s voice was very loud and recognizable, and Ambassador Sondland held the phone away from his ear for a period of time, presumably because of the loud volume.”
Trump, in real-time, tweeted his skepticism.
"I have been watching people making phone calls my entire life. My hearing is, and has been, great," the president tweeted during the hearing. "Never have I been watching a person making a call, which was not on speakerphone, and been able to hear or understand a conversation. I’ve even tried, but to no avail. Try it live!"
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
On Thursday, Holmes also detailed how State Department officials were frustrated with Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani's involvement in Ukraine policy.
"My recollection is that Ambassador Sondland stated, 'Dammit Rudy. Every time Rudy gets involved he goes and f---s everything up.'”
Hill, too, recalled comments from former National Security Adviser John Bolton describing Giuliani as a "hand grenade" and the issues being pursued by Sondland and White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney as a "drug deal" that he wouldn't be a part of.
Holmes also recalled asking Sondland during that lunch if it was true that Trump did not “give a s--t about Ukraine.”
Describing that conversation, he said, “Ambassador Sondland agreed that the president did not ‘give a s--t about Ukraine.’ I asked why not, and Ambassador Sondland stated that the president only cares about ‘big stuff.’ I noted that there was ‘big stuff’ going on in Ukraine, like a war with Russia, and Ambassador Sondland replied that he meant ‘big stuff’ that benefits the president, like the ‘Biden investigation’ that Mr. Giuliani was pushing.”
Hill told House investigators she came to realize Sondland wasn't simply operating outside official diplomatic channels, as she and others suspected, but carrying out instructions from Trump.
"He was being involved in a domestic political errand, and we were being involved in national security foreign policy," she testified, "and those two things had just diverged."
Holmes also testified that he drafted a cable from Taylor, the top diplomat in Ukraine, to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the importance of the security aid, as it was being held up.
Holmes said he didn’t know the reason for the delay, but “by this point, however, my clear impression was that the security assistance hold was likely intended by the president either as an expression of dissatisfaction that the Ukrainians had not yet agreed to the Burisma/Biden investigation or as an effort to increase the pressure on them to do so.”
Asked about testimony from prior witnesses, Hill took issue with how a prior witness claimed she had reservations about the judgment of Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman – another NSC official who testified against Trump this week. Instead, she said she worried that he lacked the political chops to navigate the increasingly heated conflict over the White House's strategy.
"I did not feel that he had the political antennae,” she said.
Opening the hearing on Thursday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said lawmakers in the coming days will “determine what response is appropriate” after the recent testimony.
“It will be up to us to decide, whether those acts are compatible with the office of the presidency,” Schiff said.
Nunes, in his opening remarks, dismissed the accusations, saying, "So how do we have an impeachable offense here when there’s no actual misdeed and no one even claiming to be a victim?"
Nunes said: "The Democrats have tried to solve this dilemma with a simple slogan: 'He got caught!' President Trump, we are to believe, was just about to do something wrong, and getting caught was the only reason he backed down from whatever nefarious thought-crime the Democrats are accusing him of almost committing."
Trump on Thursday railed against the proceedings as a "phony impeachment hoax." He denied putting pressure on Ukraine and tweeted, "I never in my wildest dreams thought my name would in any way be associated with the ugly word, Impeachment!"
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | {
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Access to a street in Cardiff has been blocked off by a resident in protest against parking restrictions.
Moorland Road in Splott in Cardiff was blocked off by resident Vincent Crowley’s van on Monday afternoon, and the father of three said he would remain there until he got a response from Cardiff council .
From 12pm, he had blocked all access to the end of the street closest to the roadworks on Beresford Road bridge, which leads onto Moorland Road and connects Splott and Adamsdown .
He said since the bridge was closed, “vital” parking spaces have been taken away from residents, and there are now not enough spaces to park.
He said that has meant, since the work started in July, the street’s residents have been forced to park on the double yellow lines that go along one side of the road, and have received various fines for doing so.
According to Mr Crowley, a delivery driver, he had received two fines and a neighbour of his had received four in total, which they are in the process of contesting.
He added: “They have taken about 50m of parking spaces away from us by shutting off the top of the street.
'There’s no reason for these double yellow lines to be here'
“That means when everyone is home at about 6pm or 7pm, some of us are now forced to park on double yellow lines because there’s no where else to park. Some have had to park round the corner, a good walk from their homes. And there’s no reason for these double yellow lines to be here.
“We want Cardiff council to suspend the double yellows until the work is finished. We all feel the same on this road and are just asking for a bit of common sense from the council. We put up with the noise, vibrations and pile driving coming from the works site, but we aren’t going to put up with the parking situation any longer.”
The road was closed as Beresford Road Bridge was subject to work to upgrade the railway. The bridge, described by Network Rail as “ageing”, was to be replaced with a new, improved structure to accommodate a new fleet of electric trains.
(Image: Richard Swingler)
'It makes me angry'
Residents have been told by the council and Network Rail the work would be finishing in the spring, but Mr Crowley said: “That’s still three or four months. It makes me angry. It’s not the ticket that makes me angry, more the people behind them.”
On Monday afternoon, his van blocked the road with signs reading: “Forced to park on double yellow lines” and “No more tickets”.
During the first hour of the protest, several cars turned around once they realised the road was blocked, and a works van trying to gain access to the site turned around to drive to the access point on the other side of the bridge.
Mr Crowley added: “I’m not moving and I’m willing to stay here as long as needed. I’ve got tea, coffee and biscuits so could be here for a long time, until I get an answer from the council.”
A spokesman for Cardiff council said: "We will work with local councillors and residents to explain that the double yellow lines are in place on that side of the road for safety reasons and they cannot be moved across to the other side of the road, as it wouldn’t be safe to do so.
"This is why there are railings in place as well to protect pedestrians and the frontage of the properties. Parking is available on the other side of the road from this gentleman’s house."
He added: "Network Rail haven’t received any complaints in relation to the loss of car parking due to the reconstruction of Beresford Road Bridge.
“There were only three tickets issued on this road yesterday, one for parking on a pedestrian crossing and two for parking illegally on double yellow lines.
"Any parking ticket can be appealed and all cases will be dealt with on a case by case basis. If this gentleman is blocking the highway, it is an obstruction and is a police matter." | {
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Quem não gosta de um bom jogo via internet? A Yumerium agora vem trazer para os fãs de games, a oportunidade de ganhar enquanto joga. Neste artigo, explicaremos como funcionará a nova plataforma que promete balançar o mundo dos jogos virtuais.
Muitas pessoas hoje se sentem incapazes de conseguir um emprego tradicional, a viagem muitas vezes exaustiva até o escritório – e em alguns casos, um chefe chato – são elementos que desmotivam jovens que acabam vivendo às custas dos pais e muitas vezes passam o dia jogando sem receber nada em troca de seu tempo investido, agora, com a Yumerium, todo esse panorama pode mudar.
Como vai funcionar a nova plataforma
A plataforma Yumerium será baseada em Blockchain e oferecerá aos jogadores a oportunidade de ganhar dinheiro enquanto fazem aquilo que mais gostam.
A plataforma terá seu próprio token, que tornará possível essa integração monetária entre os players, facilitando, assim, a vida dos desenvolvedores. Os criadores e desenvolvedores dos jogos decidirão quem tem direito a recompensa e o valor da mesma e poderão optar por recompensar quem joga, quem deixa feedbacks online, compartilhando-o em outras plataformas de mídia social, etc. Eles também serão os responsáveis por fazer os depósitos dos tokens aos players.
ICO dos tokens YUMtoken
Como quase todas as startups de Blockchain da atualidade, a Yumerium realizará uma ICO na qual pretende levantar os fundos necessários para dar andamento a seu projeto. Essa ICO será dividida em duas partes: pré-ICO e ICO.
ICO e Pré-ICO
A pré-ICO se iniciou no dia 22 de abril e terminará no dia 13 de maio de 2018. Já a ICO, de fato, começará no dia 13 de maio e terminará no dia 19 do mesmo mês, tendo, portanto, somente 7 dias de duração. A venda total será de 4 semanas – a primeira semana com 30% de bônus, a segunda semana com 20%, um bônus de 10% na terceira semana e um bônus de 5% na semana final. Os tokens serão creditados na carteira de criptomoedas dos investidores 30 dias após o término da ICO. Os recursos da Oferta serão distribuídos da seguinte forma:
50% – Desenvolvimento de jogos nativos de Yumerium
20% – Fundo de marketing e desenvolvimento comunitário
15% – Operação Yumerium
10% – Desenvolvimento e atualização do sistema de Tokens
5% – Legal
Para mais informações sobre a ICO ou mesmo para trocar ideias com a equipe da Yumerium, acesse uma das redes sociais da startup:
Bitcoin Talk
FaceBook
Twitter
Telegram | {
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An 18-year-old University at Buffalo freshman who was involved in a possible hazing incident last week at a college fraternity died Wednesday, university officials said.
The student, Sebastian Serafin-Bazan, from Port Chester, New York, had been on life support since Friday evening.
"Our hearts go out to Sebastian’s family for the devastating heartbreak they are experiencing," UB president Satish Tripathi said in a statement announcing his death.
"As we grieve Sebastian’s passing today and well beyond, it is my hope that each of us pauses to remind ourselves that we can only uphold our humanity by treating each other with dignity, compassion and kindness."
More:University at Buffalo suspends all fraternities and sororities after student critically injured by potential hazing
The report of a possible hazing-related incident last Thursday had prompted Tribathi to suspend all Greek life activities at the university in western New York.
The purported incident occurred at the Sigma Pi house, according to WKBW-TV in Buffalo.
The nature of the alleged hazing was not immediately clear. Police officials told the Buffalo News that Serafin-Bazan was performing exercises from Thursday night into Friday morning when he began to experience physical distress.
The Buffalo Police Department said at the time that it was investigating the matter and that a student had been rushed to the hospital with a "serious medical condition" believed to be the result of "potential hazing."
More: Federal lawsuit filed against Penn State frat in Tim Piazza death
The Buffalo News reported that Serafin-Bazan had no alcohol or drugs in his system but went into cardiac arrest during possible hazing that included forced exercises by fraternity brothers.
Serafin-Bazan had been recently treated for a respiratory ailment, the newspaper said. | {
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Who knows what Trump, in her heart, was feeling as she delivered these remarks. Either she lacks the self-awareness to understand how unseemly it is for second-generation trust funders to patronize people who are eking out a living, or she figures the rabble is too stupid to notice what she’s doing.
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Trump’s grandfather, Fred Trump, made a fortune as a residential real estate developer in the outer boroughs of New York after World War II. He funneled that fortune to her father and his siblings from the time they were children; Donald Trump began receiving $200,000 per year from his dad’s business at the tender age of 3.
In the next generation, it was more of the same. Ivanka and her siblings grew up in baronial luxury in a Midtown tower and on a sprawling Hudson River estate. Prepped at the tony Chapin School and Choate Rosemary Hall, she swanned into the Ivy League before being invited to launch her own jewelry line. She married Jared Kushner, a wealthy mediocrity whose admission to Harvard just happened to follow shortly after his parents pledged $2.5 million to the school.
Inherited wealth is nothing new. But until recently, the daughters and sons of wealth were trained to acknowledge their advantages, not pretend them away. Most Americans, in their hearts, would love to be given one-tenth — one-hundredth! — of the bounty Ivanka Trump has been given. Most Americans, in their hearts, would be delighted to be swaddled at birth in the robes of luxury. And she would know that if she actually traveled the United States, rather than zipping from photo op to vacation resort by private jet and limo.
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Most Americans would happily pluck ripe clumps of money from their family trees, if only it were there. Instead, in their hearts, they pray that their next of kin are solvent when they die. No one needs more unpaid medical bills or another underwater mortgage. These folks care about the American Dream because it’s better than poverty, not because it’s better than Easy Street. And they care about opportunity — enough to understand that Ivy League seats reserved for rich kids mean less room for meritorious strivers.
The average Jane and Joe don’t bust their humps because they prefer work to more refined pursuits. They do it because they must, or (a far superior motivation) because they find in work an opportunity to improve themselves, their families and their world as they define it. The opportunity for improvement is what they truly seek, and neither work for work’s sake, nor life on the government dole, can match that sense of purpose and progress.
But where in today’s politics is a robust, credible voice for optimism? Who’s pointing the way to a society of abundant opportunities for improvement? Not the right-veering Republicans, with their catalogue of resentments. And not the left-listing Democrats, with their litany of grievances. With less than a year before the presidential primaries begin, we have two parties of anger and no party of hope.
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President Trump feeds on anger. But Democrats still have a chance to pivot toward optimism. There’s no reason a campaign to cut carbon emissions must be a burden equivalent to fighting a world war — but that’s the rhetoric of the Green New Deal. It can be an opportunity to lead the next great era of invention.
There’s no reason a campaign to make higher education more affordable must be pitched as a fight against banks and corporations. No reason justice for all must come at the expense of any. The record of human history clearly demonstrates that health, wealth, education and freedom can rise simultaneously. Abundance begets abundance; investments deliver returns; problems cheerfully faced with determination yield unimagined solutions.
The American Dream is about more than just money. That’s why it can’t be addressed with the dreary language of mere economists. Democrats will do well in 2020 if they speak of hope, of the upside of our national life, of the problems we will solve together. That’s the spirit we all inherit and the legacy we must tend.
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Read more from David Von Drehle’s archive. | {
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When US presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders talked about “widespread anti-Muslim mob violence” in Delhi, it had much to do with the international media’s reportage. From 2014, when Narendra Modi took over as PM, to coverage of the recent Delhi riots, the foreign press has gone from cautious optimism to outright portrayal of his regime as one that is turning India into a Hindu nationalist state. The Economist played up “Intolerant India: How Modi is endangering the world’s largest democracy” on a recent cover before the Delhi riots, which most foreign media called a “pogrom”. In its February 26 editorial, The Guardian called it a “Hindu nationalist rampage”, adding that “Modi stoked this fire”. No wonder all this has not gone down well with the government. Author Aatish Taseer had already been stripped of his overseas citizenship of India—less than six months after his Time magazine cover story in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha polls called Modi “India’s Divider...
THIS ARTICLE IS PRICELESS... To read this piece, and more such stories in India's most exciting and exacting magazine, plus get access to our 25-year archives goldmine, please subscribe.
| {
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If you are signed up to testify in one of the “Overflow Public Hearings” on HCPSS redistricting scheduled for October…the schedule has been released:
Monday, October 7, 6 p.m. Families currently zoned for Glenelg HS, Marriotts Ridge HS, Reservoir HS, River Hill HS This hearing is for overflow only from the September 26 hearing. No new registrations are being accepted. October 7 order of testimony
Thursday, October 10, 6 p.m. Families currently zoned for Glenelg HS, Marriotts Ridge HS, Reservoir HS, River Hill HS This hearing is for overflow only from the September 26 hearing. No new registrations are being accepted. October 10 order of testimony
Monday, October 14, 6 p.m. Families currently zoned for Glenelg HS, Marriotts Ridge HS, Reservoir HS, River Hill HS This hearing is for overflow only from the September 26 hearing. No new registrations are being accepted. October 14 order of testimony
Tuesday, October 15, 6 p.m. Families currently zoned for Glenelg HS, Marriotts Ridge HS, Reservoir HS, River Hill HS This hearing is for overflow only from the September 26 hearing. No new registrations are being accepted. October 15 order of testimony
Per the links above…here are the total number of people scheduled to testify on each date:
October 7th: 111 members scheduled to speak
October 10th: 111 members scheduled to speak
October 14th: 90 members scheduled to speak
October 15th: 91 members scheduled to speak
I expect all four evenings to be late ones for the BOE and community members.
ARTICLE UPDATE: I reported this morning on dates of October 15 and 16 and the HCPSS clearly states dates of October 14 and 15…so I am a bit confused as to which dates are 100% correct. Once I have more data I will update the article.
ARTICLE UPDATE: Here is one response I have received so far possibly confirming the dates of October 14th and October 15th:
Scott E | {
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For many years, Ryan Bader (24-5 MMA, 15-5 UFC, 2-0 Bellator) was the understudy to the top tier at 205 pounds in the UFC. Despite his blue-chip wrestling pedigree and destructive power, Bader fell just short when the stakes were highest.
It’s safe to say he’s working on leaving that legacy in the past. Riding a four-fight win streak in which he captured the Bellator light heavyweight championship in June, Bader is now poised as the favorite to win a second title. Although Bellator’s Heavyweight Grand Prix does not truly represent the elite big men in the sport today, winning the tournament as a light heavyweight would be both hilarious and a boost to his resume.
After countless setbacks and disappointments, it’s refreshing to see Ryan Bader with a belt around his waist. Even in the most risque and confusing contexts.
Pokemon + Shake Weight + @ryanbader = Curtain of Distraction. Thanks to #SunDevil4Life Ryan Bader for returning to ASU to be part of the tradition! #SunDevilIntensity pic.twitter.com/RNJediq8iW — Sun Devil Wrestling (@ASUWrestling) February 16, 2018
Some are disappointed to learn Ryan did not choose the obvious, “Master” Bader nickname. However, “Darth” Bader commits to his gimmick, often walking out to the Imperial March, and he has studied the blade.
Despite realizing a world championship, fans still exclude Bader when listing some of the best and most accomplished in the world at the upper weights. This is Fighter of Interest, where underrated fighters from an upcoming event are brought to light.
Bellator 199
Fighter of Interest: Ryan Bader
During his time at Arizona State University, Ryan Bader was an absolute terror in the PAC-10, winning three conference titles. At the national tournament, Bader placed twice to become an All-American. In 2004 Bader took 4th, losing by one point to both two-time world team member JD Bergman and all-time great Damion Hahn. His senior year, Bader defeated the #1 seed to only place 7th in a stacked 197-pound weight class. That year the weight featured future UFC fighters Jake Rosholt (1st), Phil Davis (2nd), and Chris Weidman (6th).
An absolute unit of a man, Bader’s power wrestling style has translated well into MMA. Check out this footage of a recent “warm up” he posted to Instagram.
The ability to quickly change direction and adjust is an essential tool for finishing takedowns. While it may look as though Bader is able to plow straight through on his shots, it’s abruptly cutting an angle that seals the deal.
Running the Gauntlet
After a 7-0 start in MMA, Bader was selected to be apart of The Ultimate Fighter 8, as a member of Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira‘s team. While his credentials were certainly impressive, it’s Bader’s excellent and silly audition tape that really stands out.
The light heavyweight class was rich with potential that season. On his dominant run through the tournament, Bader defeated Kyle Kingsbury, “Filthy” Tom Lawlor, Eliot Marshall, and Vinny Magalhaes in the finale. Only Marshall made it to the final horn.
Stay there. Relax.
Force of Nature
Bader’s first year in the UFC was rock solid. Facing a mixed bag of opponents, the star wrestler did not stumble. Bader bludgeoned the jiu jitsu wizard Magalhaes, before controlling and overpowering journeymen grapplers in Carmelo Marrero and Eric “Red” Schafer.
A 3-0 UFC start and 10-0 overall record warranted a step up in competition. Matchmaker Joe Silva pulled no punches, awarding Bader a bout against a 205 staple in “The Dean of Mean”, Keith Jardine. At the time Jardine was in the mix with the best light heavyweights in the world, to speak to the state of the division. In his last few fights, he held a knockout victory over Forrest Griffin, and decision wins over a red-hot Brandon Vera and one of the greatest light heavyweights of all time, Chuck Liddell. Mixed in were losses to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Wanderlei Silva.
In early 2010, Ryan Bader was in stark contrast to the legends on that list. He was green, competing in his third year as a professional fighter. None of this mattered, as Bader was entirely dominant. Against the awkward and dangerous striker, Bader stayed safe on the outside, using explosive entries to pick his shots and do damage. After outstriking and repeatedly taking Jardine down, Bader turned on the heat in the final round.
It wasn’t the prettiest technique, but fans couldn’t help but marvel at the horsepower and ferocity displayed by a fresh face. This was when Bader truly arrived in the division.
A Steep Learning Curve
The bumps in difficulty did not stop coming. Bader had rolled through each opponent unchallenged, but the stakes were raised in a bout against PRIDE legend Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira, the twin brother of his Ultimate Fighter coach.
Nogueira was riding a seven-fight winning streak, and his once advanced skill-set still posed problems. “Lil Nog” possessed an intimidating mix of boxing fit for the Brazilian national team (allegedly), and a prestigious BJJ black belt lineage. Much of Bader’s punishing top game was stifled by Nogueira’s competence on the mat, it was essentially three rounds of Bader in his guard. Nevertheless, it was a decisive victory in the toughest test of his career.
A rising Jon Jones was next in line. The two met for a title eliminator bout at UFC 126, two bouts removed from what would be a legendary finish between Anderson Silva and Vitor Belfort.
Even then, Jones was working out how to use his length on the feet, and a man among men when it came to grappling exchanges. Ryan made a series of mistakes, at one point pulling half guard using a kimura grip in the clinch. Disadvantaged off his back, Bader eventually conceded to a modified guillotine choke.
In what was supposed to be a confidence and resume builder, disaster struck when Bader faced a pioneer and former champion in Tito Ortiz. Ortiz brought his A-game, stunning Bader with a sneaky right hand. On instinct Bader shot for a leg, giving Ortiz the opportunity to sink in a perfect guillotine in full guard. The bout snapped a four-year winless streak for Ortiz. Fans were merciless, some completely writing Bader off as a contender in the division.
Redemption
Bader bounced back in a huge way in his 2011 matchup with journeyman Jason Brilz. Brilz had fought the best in the sport at light heavyweight, some would argue he deserved the victory over Rogerio Nogueira. Brimming with confidence, Bader rushed in and launched a bomb that put Brilz to sleep, face down on the canvas.
This set up yet another massive opportunity. A fight against “Rampage” Jackson, in Japan. Rampage made his name in PRIDE FC, and the mutual admiration between him and the Japanese fans appeared to ignite a motivating fire. Coming off a title loss to Jon Jones, it was time for some redemption of his own.
For one moment, it appeared “PRIDE Rampage” had returned. Timing a Bader knee against the cage, Jackson underhooked the leg (similar to a Metzger position) and lifted the enormous wrestler into the air. Dropping Bader square on his neck, Rampage flurried with punches, before coming to the disappointing realization his opponent was unphased.
Otherwise, it was a smart performance for Bader. The threat of offensive wrestling left Rampage timid and flat-footed, he was a sitting duck. Hard right hands, explosive takedowns, and smothering top control earned Bader a clear-cut decision victory.
Unfortunately, Bader’s second title run was cut short. He met a former champion and counter-striking karateka in Lyoto Machida. Rushing in with a right hand as usual, Bader was stuck with a short counter straight to the chin. It was his first knockout loss. Taking nearly six months off to recover and evolve, Bader returned.
Revenge of the Sith
Recharged and refocused, Bader’s first victim was the wily veteran Vladimir Matyushenko. An accomplished national champion wrestler for the former Soviet Union, Matyushenko was contending for UFC titles as early as 2001. In spite of his age “The Janitor” still beat the majority of his opposition, only losing to the very best in the division.
It didn’t last long. Bader showed off his squeeze, catching Matyushenko with an interesting guillotine variation from the front headlock position. The leverage Bader was able to create with one leg hooked while Matyushenko was standing is quite impressive.
It’s strange to say Bader’s stock went up after a defeat. At the time of their fight, Glover Teixeira was on a 19-fight win streak, and off to a 4-0 start in the UFC. He was the most avoided man in the division. Teixeira presented a dangerous power hooking game on the feet, competent wrestling and crushing jiu jitsu, with the experience to match. Still a relatively unknown name in the sport, the fight was much too big a risk with little reward. One of the men brave enough to step up was Ryan Bader.
In each of his big setbacks, Bader appeared to have a nervous energy about him, leading to some hasty decision making in the cage. It was no different this time, as the bout started in a chaotic manner. Both men traded advantageous grappling positions, attacked submissions, and landed booming punches.
After appearing to stun Teixeira, Bader rushed in for the kill. Huge looping shots battered the Brazilian, but Glover had ice in his veins. He stayed composed, and saw his opening.
Despite the loss, everyone could see that Bader was on an elite level for the division. He was inches away from finishing one of the best light heavyweights to never win the belt.
Perhaps Ryan felt vindicated as well. He proceeded to rattle off five straight victories, each more impressive than the last. Bader completely manhandled a big, strong veteran grappler in Anthony Perosh. Next, he met former Strikeforce champion Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante. Feijao was a dangerous test, holding victories over “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal and the great Yoel Romero. It was a masterclass from Bader, who tormented Cavalcante with takedowns and relentless, hard knees to the legs and rear-end.
After a rocky start to his pro career, Ovince St. Preux looked to be coming on as a force in the light heavyweight division. Since a narrow defeat to Gegard Mousasi, “OSP” had rattled off five straight, finishing most with variety and style. Unfortunately for the rising prospect, he was not ready for the pace or imposing wrestling style of Ryan Bader.
Bader capped off his win streak with eye-opening decisions over stud wrestlers Rashad Evans and Phil Davis. The former champion Evans was in good form, riding a two-fight winning streak. Occasionally crafty and elusive striking complemented Rashad’s effective wrestling game to give any big man problems. Davis, on the other hand, had developed into a kick-heavy outfighter, an interesting addition to his pedigree as a four-time All-American wrestler and one-time national champion.
In both bouts Bader showed a new wrinkle, he was able to maintain and have success in a kickboxing match at range. The most obvious change was Bader’s jab and long lead hook, which let him hang on the outside while picking away with lead kicks to the legs and body. Once his opponents were sufficiently frustrated, Bader seized the opportunity to run through his signature double leg takedown. “Darth” Bader seemed a new man, and it was time to enter the title conversation once again.
Career Crossroads
Things did not go according to plan against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. The ferocious wrestler turned striker had laid waste to the division. The terrifying counter power puncher had met little resistance until he was befuddled by the champion Daniel Cormier. It appeared Rumble was still vulnerable to fatigue and susceptible to a strong top game on the ground, there was a clear avenue for Bader to exploit these weaknesses.
Bader was wise to want to go to the ground early, but his shot selection was ill-advised. A diving single leg takedown left Bader fully extended underneath Johnson, who easily spun behind. Just like against Jones, Ryan pulled half-guard on a kimura attempt. This allowed Rumble to pass to full mount, where the full weight of his ground and pound rendered Bader unconscious.
Bader did not fight again for nearly seven months. His return came against the human fire hydrant Ilir Latifi. In his youth, Latifi was a standout Greco-Roman competitor, becoming one of the best in Europe under the age of 21. In MMA, he employed his wrestling well, but it was his brick-fisted power (and that picture of him on a horse) that had begun to get the attention of fans.
The pressure of Bader’s newly effective striking kept Latifi on the retreat. Like a younger Ryan Bader, Latifi tried to duck his head and rush forward to get his shots in. Two minutes into the second round, Latifi ducked one time too many.
Light heavyweight wasn’t quite as lively as it had once been, and that’s saying something. There seemed to be a clear top three or four, and the UFC wasn’t entirely interested in giving Bader another crack at them. Instead, he was given what appeared to be a tune-up in the form of a rematch with an older, less impressive Rogerio Nogueira. As in the first bout, Bader was able to secure takedowns and keep Nogueira on his back. However, Bader’s offense flowed freely. In a fashion similar to Khabib Nurmagomedov, Bader was able to trap wrists and rain ground and pound until the referee had seen enough.
The Dark Side
The bout with Nogueira was the last on Bader’s UFC contract. Bellator offered the free agent a six-fight deal, each with a guaranteed full fight purse. That meant eliminating the oft-criticized win bonus. The UFC did not even attempt to match this offer, and Bader crossed over to the dark side and joined Bellator for an immediate title shot.
The reigning champion was his old NCAA and UFC foe, “Mr. Wonderful” Phil Davis. After the loss to Bader, Davis too sought greener and more lucrative pastures with Bellator. Davis dominated his way through a light heavyweight tournament and won the title, beating the likes of Emmanuel Newton, King Mo, and Liam McGeary. Davis was impressive as always with his wrestling and creative submission game, but it seemed his striking had made gains as well.
It was a much more complex affair than their first meeting. Both men had found new levels of comfort in their striking, and had five rounds to execute a gameplan. For Davis, the plan was to stay active kicking from the outside. Phil had success, landing to the legs of Bader, but most notable was his lead kick to the body.
For Bader, it was a more nuanced approach to build on the success of their first match. While Davis threw from a distance, Ryan continued to move out of range, landing his own lead kicks. It took time, but Davis became frustrated with his diminishing success outfighting, and began to take ground.
This is where Bader did his best work. Phil’s pressure opened up an intercepting jab, as well as opportunities for clinch work. Any takedown or clinch entries by Davis were met with stout underhooks, where the compact frame of Bader worked to his advantage. In those positions, Davis was outgunned, to the point where he was tossed aside at times.
The biggest improvement from Bader was his ability to “read” strikes. His eyes were open, when Davis advanced he was able to see strikes coming and avoid or counter. This frustrated Davis, who began to plod forward and stand in front of Bader. That is what truly opened up the full offensive arsenal for Bader, who began to launch hard right hands and barrel forward on takedowns against the more credentialed wrestler.
Haunted by strategic blunders in the past, Ryan Bader put on a cerebral, championship performance. He won the bout with his defense, and showed a level of comfort never before seen.
LAST FIGHT: Def. Linton Vassell via TKO (punches) at 3:58 of Round 2
Bader’s first title defense was set on the campus of Penn State University, the greatest collegiate wrestling program of the last decade. It was a showcase event for wrestling in MMA, featuring PSU alumni Phil Davis and Ed Ruth, along with Minnesota’s four-time All-American Logan Storley.
Bader met the talented and well rounded Linton Vassel. Underrated in his own right, Vassel was on a tear, using his excellent ground game to submit the former champion, Liam McGeary.
However, it was a night for American wrestling. Like his contemporary Phil Davis, Vassel did find success early with his kicks from the outside. A much more planted fighter, Vassel generated power and found a home for several hard body kicks. But because of his flat feet, the takedowns came much more easily for the All-American.
And they continued to be there, as Bader put on a wrestling clinic much to the delight of the Pennsylvania fans.
Bader even threw in a flashy lateral drop for good measure, as Vassel was foolish enough to look for an upper-body move on the champion.
The end came late in the second round. Battered and discouraged, Vassel made half-hearted attempts to return to his feet. His opponent stuck against the cage, Bader employed the folkstyle wrist ride and unleashed a heavy torrent of strikes to abruptly finish the fight.
NEXT FIGHT: vs. “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal at Bellator 199
Bader’s quarterfinal opponent in the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix will be “King Mo” Muhammed Lawal. A standout wrestler at Oklahoma State and then in freestyle, King Mo fell in love with a tricky, power boxing game.
However, at 37 years old, Mo is more vulnerable than ever. Although he has gone 9-2 in the last four years, much of that run was against regional level competition. His notable wins from the past few years are Linton Vassel, former UFC heavyweight Cheick Kongo, and split bouts with Rampage Jackson. Along the way, he was controlled by Phil Davis and suffered a knockout loss to the legendary Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic in Rizin FF.
Mo does not possess any skills Bader has not faced and overcome in the past. He is more of a plodding boxer these days, his wrestling and ferocious ground and pound attack have faded over the years. The “X” factor will be how Bader handles the pressure. However, as the favorite, he often comes out on top. It would not be a surprise to see Bader pick up points from the outside, before luring Mo in line for explosive takedown entries. A logical prediction is Ryan Bader outworks and neutralizes King Mo to a unanimous decision victory.
A semi-final bout against former UFC heavyweight Matt Mitrione holds a much greater threat. At his best, Mitrione has the footwork of a welterweight, landing chopping low kicks and devastating punches. His weakness has always been wrestling and cardio, but it will be interesting to see how the size difference between the two factors in.
You can watch the quarterfinal bout between Ryan Bader and Muhammed Lawal on Saturday, May 12th on the Paramount Network, formerly Spike TV (RIP). Perhaps we will see Bader move one step closer to a historic second championship, and gaining the recognition he has rightfully earned over a long career. | {
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Gatineau transit workers have set Thursday as the day for their third in a series of rotating one-day strikes.
The Société de transport de l'Outaouais (STO) has been locked in a labour dispute with Local 591 of the Syndicat uni du transport, the union representing drivers and mechanics, who have been without a contract since Dec. 31, 2014.
To increase pressure on the transit agency during negotiations, the union began rotating strikes earlier this month.
Drivers and mechanics have pledged to strike one day a week until management agrees to arbitration and the labour dispute is resolved.
Union president Felix Gendron announced Tuesday that March 30 would be the next strike date.
The STO has urged commuters to consider alternatives such as carpooling, car-sharing, walking or telecommuting on strike days.
The last strike caused a severe shortage of parking in downtown Ottawa as people decided to drive to work. | {
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Fr. Sean Sheridan of Franciscan University.
My colleague at The American Spectator, George Neumayr, is author of The Political Pope: How Pope Francis Is Delighting the Liberal Left and Abandoning Conservatives. He has written extensively on the latest scandals of clerical pedophilia, including “The Fall of the Gay Mafia’s Don,” about disgraced Archbishop Donald Wuerl. Neumayr’s latest column is about “diversity and inclusion” (IYKWIMAITYD) at a nominally Catholic university:
Secularized American Catholic universities fail every test of honest advertisement: they are neither Catholic nor American, insofar as they peddle heresies and anti-American ideologies, and they don’t even resemble universities. They are more like glorified PC high schools or left-wing adult learning annexes. They are worse than a waste of time and money; they corrode souls and deform minds. A few of them are academically strong in this or that department, but in general they are ghastly messes — sorry products of the 1967 Land O’ Lakes Statement, a baldly heretical declaration cobbled together by Notre Dame’s Theodore Hesburgh, and incidentally signed and promoted by the pedo-rapist Theodore McCarrick, which called on all Catholic colleges and universities to secularize.
Sadly, Franciscan University of Steubenville, which many Catholics assume is safe from that secularist contagion, is succumbing to it. Both the president of Steubenville University and his COO (who functions as a de facto executive vice president) are “pushing the school to embrace the LGBT agenda,” says an angry parent. Concerned Catholics, including several shocked parents and students, contacted me several months ago about the secularizing mischief of Fr. Sean Sheridan, Steubenville University’s president, and his hand-picked COO William Gorman. They have set up a “Diversity and Inclusion Committee,” which they are using to “undermine the Church’s teachings on human sexuality,” says a concerned Catholic who has witnessed the school’s slide toward secularism over many years. “Sheridan and Gorman want to drive conservatives off campus and bring gay-rights propagandists like Jesuit James Martin on to it.” . . .
Read the rest at The American Spectator. Because I’m a Protestant and don’t ordinarily pay much attention to news about the Catholic Church, I was rather shocked by how far the shadow of suspicion reaches. Knowing nothing about Fr. Sheridan myself, I at first hesitated to put his photo under a “Gay Mafia” headline, but then thought: “Whose fault is it that he has become an object of suspicion?” As Neumayr says, Franciscan University previously had a reputation as a rather conservative school, until Sheridan started this “diversity and inclusion” charade. Everybody now recognizes this as code-speak for “Gayer Than the San Francisco Pride Parade” and, when coupled with the revelations of priestly pedophilia, clerical advocates of this agenda are necessarily suspected of being complicit in the molestation of boys. That’s not my fault, and while I recognize the basic unfairness of guilt-by-association, the current scandals affecting the Catholic clergy are notorious enough that any priest who does not wish to become a suspect would be well advised to keep his distance from “diversity and inclusion.”
The Catholic Church is currently demonstrating O’Sullivan’s First Law: “All organizations that are not actually right-wing will over time become left-wing.” George Neumayr is correct, by the way, about how awful Catholic universities have become, e.g., “Queer Feminism at Marquette University” (Oct. 26, 2016) and “Gender-Neutral at Notre Dame?” (April 5, 2016). The latter post includes this warning:
What we are witnessing in the 21st century is the revival of an ancient heresy, a postmodern version of Gnosticism. The theologian Peter Jones first described this weird phenomenon in his 1992 book The Gnostic Empire Strikes Back: An Old Heresy for the New Age. Jones further explored the neo-Gnostic trend in his 1997 book Spirit Wars: Pagan Revival in Christian America. This steady drift toward syncretism suggests that many Christian “leaders” and institutions are now “giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron” (I Timothy 4:1-3 KJV).
Like I keep saying, people need to wake the hell up.
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If all goes according to tradition, the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks will host the NFL’s season-opening game on Thursday, Sept. 4, 2014. Without a Seattle Mariners home game to disrupt the process, one of the eight teams on Seattle’s 2014 home schedule is expected to visit CenturyLink Field three nights after Labor Day. For The Win breaks down those teams into various categories.
No shot
Oakland Raiders, St. Louis Rams
It says a lot about the toughness of Seattle’s home schedule that there are only two games in this category.
Probably no shot, even though they deserve one
Arizona Cardinals
Only one team has defeated Seattle in Seattle over the past two seasons. So why is there next to no shot that team will get the marquee slot in the opener? Because that team is the Arizona Cardinals.
Please resist the urge, NFL
New York Giants
Despite the presence of a marquee team, no one, especially Eli Manning, wants to see this game happen.
A matchup that would draw huge ratings
Dallas Cowboys
No one would be disappointed if Tony Romo and the Cowboys drew the opening slot, especially not NBC, which would do a huge number for the game. But given Dallas’s role as a playoff also-ran, look for the NFL to seek a more competitive option.
The Super Bowl rematch?
Denver Broncos
Did the Super Blow-out kill interest in a Week 1 rematch? I think so. The last thing the NFL would want from a Thursday opener is people speculating about another blowout in the days leading up to the game. Sending Peyton and the Broncos to Seattle is an intriguing possibility for Week 1, but this game feels like a better fit for a midseason primetime affair.
The best possible game
San Francisco 49ers
It’s the game everyone wants to see — a rematch of the NFC championship and a rivalry that’s getting more heated every time the two teams face off. If it happens, it’d be the best Thursday night matchup in history, even better than the 2011 game that featured the 2010 champion Green Bay Packers hosting the 2009 champion New Orleans Saints. There’s a great shot Seahawks-49ers does happen in Week 1, but here’s why it’s not a lock:
1. The 49ers open their new stadium in 2014. Will the NFL want to showcase the new stadium in Week 1 with either a nationally-televised late-afternoon game on Fox or a Sunday night matchup? Still, San Francisco could go to Seattle to open, then open their home schedule with a nationally televised game in Week 2.
2. NBC is almost certain to get one of the Seahawks-49ers games for its Sunday night package. (The other will air on Fox.) Why waste it in a Thursday game everyone is going to watch anyway?
3. There are other great options on the table.
FTW’s pick for the NFL’s 2014 season-opener
Green Bay Packers at Seattle Seahawks
Any of the last four teams listed would make for a fantastic game, but we like Aaron Rodgers and Green Bay heading to the Pacific Northwest to open the 2014 season. | {
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Oman's oil minister, Mohammed bin Hamad Al Rumhy, has sharply criticised the world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, for not cutting its production amid a slump in oil prices and warned some OPEC countries may soon act unilaterally and cut output.
Speaking at a panel discussion at the Energy Security Conference in Berlin on Thursday, Al Rumhy said: "Saudis, they do not have a God-given right to decide what others are doing in OPEC.
"I think, one of these days, we are going to see OPEC countries like Angola, Nigeria, Gabon, Venezuela, Iran and maybe Iraq, going unilaterally without the Saudis."
The price of Brent crude oil fell from $115 per barrel in June 2014 to below $46 per barrel in January 2015, its lowest level in almost six years due to oversupply and low global demand.
Saudi Arabia has repeatedly refused to make production cuts to trim oversupply in the market.
Al Rumhy said the current situation was not sustainable for oil-export dependent economies.
Criticising Saudi Arabia, he said: "You cannot just dump barrels in the market. Where will it go?
"Most of the strategic reserves of many countries, and we are following this, are almost full. So you cannot keep on producing and increasing production because you have capacity."
He said that countries which were worse hit by the oil price slump may act soon.
“We cannot just wait for good weather, for the sun to shine. We are going to do something about it. And my bet is that we will do something about it," he added.
Oman has been in discussion with Iran - Saudi Arabia's main rival in what have been seen as proxy conflicts in neighbouring Yemen as well as in Syria - to plan the route for a natural gas pipeline to transport Iranian fuel to Oman.
Once a route is decided, the two countries will seek to determine a price for the gas and the construction process.
“We think this gas will see daylight,” said Al Rumhy, in April. “The issue of the pricing of the gas, we agreed that we will leave to the end of the project.”
Iran's economy has been hit by falling oil prices, leading some to speculate that Saudi Arabia has been punishing the Islamic Republic by keeping oil prices low.
However, this has led to the risk of diplomatic fallout with other OPEC producers, which the kingdom overwhelmingly dominates as the largest producer.
"The question is why the Saudis would risk the goodwill of other OPEC members, simultaneously emasculating the organisation and undercutting their ability to use it in the future to serve their interests," wrote Michael Stephens of the Royal United Services Institute.
"It is a game of high-stakes poker and in the long run will cause the Saudis some harm, but that is not where their immediate thoughts lie."
According to Oman's oil and gas ministry, the Sultanate pumped 943,000 barrels a day of crude and condensate last year and is looking to reach 980,000 this year. | {
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With the help of social media, a group of parents has come together as a united front and is demanding that Quebec immediately table a plan to help children with autism.
They call themselves the Autism Coalition of Quebec, and they believe by forming a group, they'll be hard to dismiss.
"It's easy to ignore one person, easy to ignore two," said Tina Chapman, one of the co-founders of the coalition.
"But it's a lot harder to ignore a group of parents who have come together to say, 'We've had enough.'"
Speaking Wednesday at a family home in Baie-D'Urfé, the coalition outlined what it would like to see in a provincial plan.
Included on their list is the following:
A strict time frame to obtain a diagnosis. They said it should take no more than four months. If it takes longer, parents should be able to use the private system and receive funds to offset the cost.
Once diagnosed, children should begin therapy customized to their needs. If no therapist is available from the public system within two months, then funding should be made available to parents to pay for private therapy.
That treatment and support continue regardless of age. Currently, public funding stops once a child starts Kindergarten.
Anna Bisakowski, who is one of the co-founders of the coalition, said that her son, Simon, has benefited from therapy and could be doing much better if he started earlier with the help of the province. (CBC)
Long delays in therapy, age limits
Anna Bisakowski, who is also a co-founder of the coalition, said that with the help of therapy, her 5-year-old son Simon, has gone from nonverbal to speaking. However, she's had to pay out of pocket because he had been stuck for too long on the province's waiting list.
"If I waited for the Quebec government to give me some kind of service, my son would not be talking today," said Bisakowski.
Now, at his age, Simon is no longer eligible to get any help from the province because under Quebec's rules, once children with autism start regular school, they no longer qualify for publicly funded therapy.
Bisakowski said she pays about $2,000 a month for all of Simon's therapies.
A major problem is the delay between diagnosis and getting approved for publicly funded therapy, said the coalition.
They estimate that it can take up to three years, which means that once a child is approved, they sometimes only have months before they no longer qualify.
"We want our kids to grow up and thrive. We want them to be able to be functional. We want them to be able to have jobs," said Bisakowski.
"But they need these therapies now."
Lucie Charlebois, the Quebec minister for public health, said the province's delayed 'autism action plan' is weeks away from being unveiled. (CBC)
Plan needed immediately
The Quebec government was expected to table its "autism action plan" before the end of 2016. Lucie Charlebois, the Quebec minister for public health, said it's a matter of weeks before the plan is unveiled.
As for the parents who have been waiting for it, Charlebois offered up an apology.
"I am so sorry we were not able to make it. Still, we are in February, the delay is two months and I'm working hard on it," she said.
Tina Chapman, who is one of the coalition's co-founders, said that her son, Blake, had less than a year of publicly funded therapy before he became too old to be eligible. (CBC)
The coalition said it does not understand what has taken the province this long.
"Sorry doesn't cut it. My child needs more than sorry. My child needs therapy," said Chapman, whose son Blake recently became too old to receive publicly funded therapy.
"He needs help. Sorry is not going to give me peace of mind and it's not going to help him."
They are hoping other parents will join them to pressure the province to act. | {
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Posted 20 May 2016 - 02:17 PM
Greetings MechWarriors,
The Regional Qualifiers Match Schedule for the MechWarrior Online World Championship 2016 Tournament is now available!
153 Teams will be throwing down the gauntlet for their chance at a piece of the Prize Pool, which has now grown to over $130,000 USD thanks to all the players who have shown their support with the Tournament Supporter Pack.
The first set of Regional Qualifier matches for the Europe and Africa Region are set to start on June 2nd, with The Americas following on June 3rd. Asia and Oceanic Regional Qualifiers are set to start on August 18th!
Check out a complete list of all participating Teams here!
> IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ALL TEAM CAPTAINS! < YOUR TEAM REQUIRES A TAG!
The registration process for your desired Tournament Team Tag is now live! Team Captains must assign a Team Tag prior to June 1st at 10:00 AM PDT / 5:00 PM UTC. Any Team which has not assigned a Tag by that time will be provided with one, derived either from their numeric Team ID or their Team Name.
| {
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Kannada scribe writes on police allegedly insulting Quran, arrested for inciting communal hatred
Imtiyaz Shah Thumbay, who works for Kannada daily Vartha Bharathi, reported on a police raid conducted in the house of SDPI activist Kalandar Shafi.
news Crime
A 24-year-old journalist working for a Kannada daily was arrested on September 7 by the Dakshina Kannada police for allegedly falsifying a newspaper report about police excess and desecration of the Quran during a raid.
Imtiyaz Shah Thumbay covers news for in Dakshina Kannada's Bantwal taluk for Kannada daily Vartha Bharathi. He reported on September 3 about a police raid conducted in the house of SDPI activist Kalandar Shafi. Shafi was accused in the murder of RSS cadre Sharath Madivala.
Sharath’s murder had led to communal clashes in the district. Imtiyaz had mentioned in his report that Kalandar Shafi’s family had alleged that during the raid, the police had desecrated the Quran.
The newspaper had carried photographs of the alleged desecrated holy text, which the family had shared as evidence with the reporter.
On September 7, the Dakshina Kannada police registered a suo motu case against Imtiyaz Thumbay and booked him for provocation with intent to cause riots and promoting enmity, hatred or ill-will between classes.
On Friday, the Judicial First Class Magistrate in Bantwal taluk rejected Imtiyaz’s bail application and remanded him to 15-day judicial custody.
The charge sheet also mentions the chief of Vartha Bharati as a co-accused. However, the police have not arrested anyone apart from Imtiyaz Thumbay.
Imtiyaz’s bail application will be heard on Monday evening by the Mangaluru Magistrate Court, Dakshina Kannada SP Sudheer Kumar Reddy told TNM.
What was in Imtiyaz Thumbay’s news report?
Imtiyaz Thumbay’s news report published on September 3 was about a midnight raid conducted by the Dakshina Kannada Police in the home of Kalandar Shafi.
Kalandar Shafi is a cadre with the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI). He is also one of the accused in the murder of RSS functionary Sharath Madivala, who was brutally stabbed on July 4 and succumbed to his injuries on July 9.
In his report, Imtiyaz wrote that the police conducted a raid on Kalandar’s house on September 2.
According to the report, Imtiyaz spoke to Kalandar’s wife and father-in-law, who accused the police of being disrespectful to the Quran during the raid.
Kalandar’s family members also handed over two photographs to Imtiyaz as evidence of the alleged desecrated Quran.
On September 3, Dakshina Kannada SP Sudheer Kumar Reddy issued a statement and claimed that the newspaper report had been falsified.
“A search team was sent to Kalandar Shafi’s house in Bantwal. The police had a warrant for the search and it was given to a family member before the operation began. During the raid, when one of the officers found a copy of the Quran, he handed it over to one of the family members. Later, when the police left, the Quran was placed among a few of the family’s belongings and photographed in order to create communal tension and hatred between the two communities. This picture went viral and Vartha Bharathi published it,” SP Sudheer Reddy said.
Sudheer Kumar said that the police have collected evidence to prove Imtiyaz’s involvement in a conspiracy to create trouble.
“He (Imtiyaz Thumbay) has been accused of writing a false report and also circulating the photograph of the alleged desecration, which was staged. There was no police excess,” the SP claimed.
However, speaking to the media, Shafi’s wife, Sauda said that the police was lying.
“The police entered our house and ransacked the place. We could not recognise the inside of our house once they were done. One of the officers threw the Quran on the floor. The raid started at 7am and went on till 11am. We are Muslims. We will never disrespect our holy text. We are not criminals but we were treated that way,” Sauda told the media.
Editor-in-Chief of Vartha Bharathi, Abdussalam Puthige, refutes the police’s claim that the report was meant to create communal tension.
“Imtiyaz Thumbay joined Vartha Bharathi in 2012 and was on the desk. He was sent to report in Bantwal in 2016 and has written several stories about police excess and their inability to maintain law and order. The police is just trying to smother the voice of those writing about their incompetence,” Puthige said.
The Editor-in-Chief demanded an independent probe into the case alleging that a police investigation would be biased.
The Dakshina Kannada Working Journalists’ Union, Karnataka Journalists’ Union and the Working Journalists’ Union of Bantwal, on Monday, condemned Imtiyaz’s arrest and submitted memorandums to the police officials to drop all charges against the accused in the case. | {
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Worlds collide, as a selection of estrogen-fuelled heroines from across major SNK titles battle it out in two on two combat. So how does SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy live up to its classic gaming origins?
The story in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy is especially thin on the ground and even for a fighter thats saying a lot. The general gist is that all of our heroines have been kidnapped - taken to a mysterious old mansion - wherein theyre forced to team-up and battle their way through their kidnapped-kin if they want a chance to escape. Its basic and albeit a little creepy, but its a simple premise; one that manages to give reason for the various costumes and situations that the over dozen characters find themselves in.
Growing up, my fighting games of choice were always Tekken and Dead or Alive, mainly due to their sheer popularity at the time, so having never dug my teeth into an SNK fighter - one in the King of Fighters vein anyway - its fair to say I was a little apprehensive. Not knowing any of the characters - well besides Mai Shiranui for, well obvious reasons - or their movesets, I was pleasantly surprised that SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy is very welcoming and easy to pick up for a newcomer like myself. Meaning pretty much anyone regardless of fighting game experience can pick up the controller and find some fun in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy.
At the center of this newb friendly welcoming, is the battle system in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, which is much more basic than your standard fighting game fare. You won't find much in the way of combos, with the majority of commands consisting of a simple punch, kick, grab along with a special move for good measure. Most of the heroines combos can be boiled down to pressing the special attack in conjunction with a directional button - youll find no mad button combos to memorise here. Conversely if youre looking for an in-depth fighter, then SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy definitely isnt the game for you.
There are a few new mechanics mind you that SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy does introduce to separate itself from its fighting game ilk. The first is its tag system; at the start of a match youll select two characters and at any point during a fight you can press ZR (on the Nintendo Switch) to swap with your secondary fighter waiting in the wings. Youll regularly use this to your advantage in combat, with the prime example being to chain attacks or use the 'special' meter which your support character builds whilst in-waiting. Depleting your opponents HP wont win you the fight however. The unique method of victory in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy requires you to lower your opponents health until the bar glows pink, then youll be granted the ability to press L1 to activate a flashy finishing move suffice you have enough of the aforementioned special meter. Last but by no means least in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy you have the option to use items during combat. These are shown in boxes just under your health bar and are activated using the right analogue stick. From items such as walls that block the opponent, springs that send them flying and bombs that cause damage; theres a good variety here that makes use of both offense and defense. But whilst playing through SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy, I honestly didnt find much use for them when playing offline against CPU characters, but Id imagine theyd be very useful online when playing against other people in a more competitive format.
Along with the few new mechanics, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy offers a slew of game modes to play through. Theres the aforementioned Story Mode where you can find out what contrived reason all these different characters are fighting each other for, Survival wherein you and your tag partner face one battle after another until you lose or a standard Versus mode to select a matchup against any team of two you wish. If youre more competitive minded then SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy also includes both local and online multiplayer, but unfortunately as of writing I couldnt find a match to test the online mode - hopefully that changes upon release.
The various characters themselves in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy are well modelled - if a little plastic looking - using what looks like a mild cel-shading technique in parts, but on the larger whole following a far more realistic art style than I would have expected for a game of this type. Whilst the characters look and animate great, its the stages themselves I have a niggle with. Fans have become accustomed to stages including all manner of madness taking place in the background of their fighting arenas, from rowdy spectators or moving objects telling a story of their own, unfortunately thats not the case in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy. Instead youll merely find both tag partners dancing around in the background of what is an otherwise very boring stage. Now this may improve the experience for you if youre a fan of less distractions, but it definitely leaves the battle arenas looking a bit empty and cheap.
In addition to the sparse stages are the character customisation options. Simply put, there isnt a whole lot. As you play through SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy youll unlock three costumes per character - using an in-game currency that you earn - and thats it, really not giving you much of a reason to put in tens of hours and failing to take advantage of a constant unlock addiction' which casts and hooks many a gamer. For a game built on fan service this apparent stinginess is at odds with what I feel should be an celebratory affair, with fans expecting it to be a perfect excuse for their beloved characters to show off the crossover potential. Instead I fear we may see downloadable cosmetics down the line for what should really be in the game day one. Along with costumes, you can also use the in-game currency to purchase accessories like gloves and backpacks that you can pair these with any of the unlocked outfits.
Quite possibly my favorite aspect of SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy though, is its narrator. When skipping through the menu - going over Story, Versus etc - youll be greeted with the corresponding voice line that plays when you click on the specific option. The thing is, is that the narrators voice is so over the top - gravelly and sinister all in one - that its hard to take seriously. Now, like me you may think this is fine - and even a standard in fighting games - for the main menu items like Versus and Survival, but when youre just trying to change the audio options in SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy it begins to sound so ridiculous it had me in stitches every time.
In terms of performance the Nintendo Switch version of SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy runs great both docked and in handheld mode, with no noticeable framerate drops with either choice. But whilst in docked mode, the one thing I did notice was the character models were a bit aliased around the edges, whether that is because the elements on screen are larger and more visible on a bigger display Im not sure, but it was noticeable. I personally preferred playing SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy in handheld mode - or at least had a better experience with the joycons - this was because the Pro controller on the Nintendo Switch - which I tend to use when my Switch is docked - has a single D-pad as opposed to the joycons multi-button directional buttons, making controlling the characters more difficult than it needed to be.
Overall, SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy is a decently fun, if a little basic fighter. By no means will it shock the fighting game world - or contain the depth needed for highly competitive play - but its good fun nevertheless, that appeals to newcomers with its simplified battle system.
Existing fans of the SNK characters Im sure will enjoy the team up combinations, but may be disappointed with the lack of customisation options on offer to keep them playing.
Review copy of SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy provided by the publisher for the Nintendo Switch. | {
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Confounding many people’s expectations, our “We Stand With Palestine” contingent in the Chicago Gay Pride Parade Sunday, June 24th – with its huge 160 sq foot banner, “Israel: STOP killing Palestinians!” – was met with almost universal approval by the approximately 1 million people who lined the four-mile parade route.
With the recent killings of over 100 unarmed protesters by Israeli sharpshooters, including children and clearly identified medics and journalists, and the wounding of over 11,000 others, people in this country are waking up to Israel’s systematic deprivation of Palestinians’ rights.
This list of course does not include Democratic Party politicians like Barack Obama or Dick Durbin, who have opportunistically bewailed the Trump administration’s tearing apart migrant families at the US/Mexico border, but who took no notice of the killing of Palestinian children at the border fence of the Gaza open air prison.
LGBT people in the United States have a particular responsibility to respond to these atrocities. Not only is Israel by far the biggest recipient of U.S. arms exports in the world, but it’s a central theme of Israeli propaganda, aimed at diverting attention from its brutality against Palestinians, that Israel is alleged to be a gay paradise.
But it’s no paradise for LGBT Palestinians, who are generally prohibited from going to Tel Aviv (even though some of their families were expelled from there), and the Israeli secret police has a widespread practice of blackmailing gay Palestinians by threatening to out them unless they turn into informers on their own people.
LGBTs in the United States have won many freedoms that LGBTs in other countries don’t enjoy. But that record of progress in no way excuses the vicious racism of police killings of Black people, theft of Native American lands, separating children of immigrants from their parents, and other racist crimes. Likewise, whatever relative freedoms LGBTs have won in Israel does not excuse that country’s continuing brutal treatment of Palestinians.
To privilege one oppressed group’s freedoms over another is playing a divide-and-conquer game that only bigots can win.
We were proud today to march in solidarity with Palestinians. We helped in a small way to re-water and reaffirm the radical roots of gay liberation in the years following the Stonewall Rebellion, when LGBTs cared not just about their own rights, but opposed the U.S. war in Vietnam and marched in solidarity with women and people of color. We recognized then, as we do now, that the liberation of all oppressed groups is the task of each. | {
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David Beckham and partner Marcelo Claure have moved a step closer to building an MLS stadium in Miami. AP Photo/Lynne Sladky
David Beckham's investment group reached a tentative agreement on Friday to build a stadium for a new MLS franchise next to Marlins Park in Miami.
Mayor Tomas Regalado announced the news after speaking with Beckham's partner, Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure, who told the Miami Herald the proposed stadium would seat 25,000 and be privately financed.
"The time is now... This is the moment of truth," Claure told the newspaper.
Regalado said he will now take the deal to city commissioners for approval to begin formal negotiations.
"This is a milestone," the mayor said. "We have the commitment, the real commitment that we never had before from the Beckham group that they do want to play at the Orange Bowl, that they do want to build this stadium, that they do want to partner with the city of Miami,''
In a statement, Beckham United said a video conference held with Regalado on Friday "was another positive step toward bringing a world-class soccer club to Miami."
"We're excited about sharing our plans with the city, county and community soon,'' the statement added.
The next move would be for Beckham and his partners to present a proposal to the city for construction. Beckham had the right to start an MLS franchise after retiring, and chose Miami upon exercising that right.
MLS officials have long said that expanding to Miami is contingent on securing a financing plan and location for a new stadium, so Friday's development means a key hurdle seems to have been cleared.
MLS granted Beckham ownership rights at a discounted rate after he retired from playing in 2013, but the former England star's hopes of starting a new franchise stalled as he struggled to get approval for a stadium.
Friday's agreement is a concession for Beckham's group, which had long preferred a downtown location but was rebuffed by city officials. Sharing Marlins Park itself was also an option last year.
In May, the group had discussed partnering with the University of Miami to build a stadium that would host both soccer and college football, but the school is not part of the current arrangement.
Because of the recent retirement of president Donna Shalala, UM could not move fast enough to take part in the talks, Rafael de Guzman, an associate of Claure's, told the Sun Sentinel, though Beckham's group remains open to a partnership in the future.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this story. | {
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I want to share songs from the new daft punk album on facebook but none of them are on youtube yet
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Они не позволяют прогнать себя - ни угрозами, ни полицейскими дубинками, ни задержаниями. Десятки тысяч человек вышли на демонстрацию в центре Москвы, требуя справедливых выборов в Мосгордуму, свободу политическим заключенным и отставки президента Путина. Это была крупнейшая акция протеста за последние годы - в разгар сезона отпусков, когда многие россияне предпочитают проводить свободное время на дачах. Российское гражданское общество дает Кремлю отпор.
Миодраг Шорич
На первый взгляд речь идет о сравнительно малозначимых выборах в городской парламент. Но в действительности налицо серьезное недовольство всей верхушкой государственной власти. Это подтверждают и результаты соцопросов, согласно которым доверие россиян к главе государства упало до исторического минимума. Причин тому много: экономика переживает застой, цены растут, коррупция достигла пугающих размеров, миллионы граждан раздражены пенсионной реформой. Все больше россиян испытывают недовольство, однако правительство отказывается допустить политическую альтернативу, даже на местном уровне.
Бесстрашие вселяет в Кремль неуверенность
Всё это побуждает десятки тысяч человек выходить на улицы. Эти люди бесстрашны, и это пугает власть. Она реагирует беспомощно. Вновь и вновь президент и глава его правительства обещают улучшения, больше денег, повышения зарплат. Но в реальности уровень жизни россиян падает на протяжении последних пяти лет. Все знают об этом, замечают это по собственным кошелькам.
Но в итоге речь идет о большем, нежели только материальные интересы. Многие рядовые россияне чувствуют себя обманутыми, считают, что власти больше не понимают их, не замечают и, тем более, не являются их представителями. Это стало очевидным и на вчерашнем митинге. Он прошел на окруженном офисными зданиями и сотрудниками силовых структур участке проспекта Сахарова, вдали от правительственных зданий и от пульсирующей жизни столичного центра. Поэтому часть демонстрантов по окончании официальной акции протеста направилась в сторону президентской администрации в центр города. Там их остановили сотни сотрудников правоохранительных органов, многих задержали.
Вызов для Кремля
Среди демонстрантов было не только много либерально мыслящей молодежи, которая желает больше свободы и демократии по западному образцу, были и пожилые москвичи, державшие флаги с коммунистической символикой. Они тоскуют по советским временам, когда - по их ощущениям - государство заботилось о нуждах населения. Старые коммунисты и молодые демократы - тех и других объединяет убежденность в том, что правительство более не воспринимает их всерьез.
Чем дольше президент Путин остается у власти, тем больше становится дистанция между властью и народом. Кремль будет все чаще привлекать полицию, все сильнее контролировать СМИ, все жестче преследовать инакомыслящих, чтобы удержать власть. Печальные перспективы.
Автор: Миодраг Шорич, обозреватель DW
Комментарий выражает личное мнение автора. Оно может не совпадать с мнением русской редакции и Deutsche Welle в целом.
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Once one of professional wrestling’s biggest stars, the man known as “The Ultimate Warrior,’’ has died, according to news reports and a statement from World Wrestling Entertainment.
Jim Hellwig died Tuesday night after collapsing at an Arizona hotel, Time reported.
He was 54 years old.
No information has been released on the cause of Hellwig’s death.
“The Ultimate Warrior’’ was a high-energy wrestling star during parts of the 1980s and 1990s, often performing (as both friend and foe) with famed wrestler Hulk Hogan.
After an extended time away from the WWE, Hellwig last week was inducted into the company’s Hall of Fame, and appeared at Wrestlemania XXX Sunday in New Orleans.
Here’s a clip from his appearance on the April 7 episode of Monday Night Raw:
Reaction on Twitter came from some of the industry’s biggest names, including Hogan:
RIP WARRIOR. only love. HH — Hulk Hogan (@HulkHogan) April 9, 2014
WWE Chairman and CEO Vince McMahon also expressed sympathy on Twitter:
We are all so sad that the Ultimate Warrior has passed away. Our heart is with his wife Dana and his two daughters. — Vince McMahon (@VinceMcMahon) April 9, 2014
Longtime wrestler and current WWE executive Paul Michael Levesque, who performs in the ring as “Triple H,’’ also shared his thoughts: | {
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Sega announced a “completely new entry” in the Sakura Wars series for unannounced platform(s) at Sega Fes 2018.
The game will be set in the imperial city of Tokyo in Taisho era 1929.
Further information was not announced.
The latest entry in the Sakura Wars series, Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, launched for PlayStation 2 in Japan in 2005. It was released in North America and Europe for both PlayStation 2 and Wii in 2010.
Update 04/15/18 at 10:35 p.m.: Sega has put out the official press release for the new Sakura Wars project, which provides a couple of additional details.
The new Sakura Wars game will be released simultaneously in Japan and Asian regions. More information about the project will be announced during a presentation that will be held at some point in the future. When further details about the project and presentation are available, they will be published on the Sakura Wars official website.
Thanks, Famitsu. | {
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Avec la massification de l’enseignement, de plus en plus de jeunes font des études. Pourtant, il reste difficile pour un enfant issu d’une famille modeste – même en ayant fait des études – d’atteindre un niveau de vie supérieur à celui de ses parents. Comment l’expliquer ? L’origine sociale aurait une influence considérable sur le niveau de vie, plus que l’âge, le sexe ou l’origine migratoire.
À quel point, en France, l’origine sociale influence-t-elle le niveau de vie ? C’est la question que les experts du thinktank France Stratégies, rattaché au gouvernement, se sont posée. Pour ce faire, ils se sont fondés sur un échantillon d’environ 80 000 individus âgés de 27 à 44 ans et ont évalué leur situation de 2011 à 2014.
Et les conclusions de cette étude ne sont pas très encourageantes, même si on s’en doutait : l’origine sociale joue un rôle conséquent sur le niveau de vie (déterminé à partir du revenu, du nombre d’enfants et de la présence d’un conjoint). En clair : quand on vient d’une famille d’ouvriers, on a plus de chance d’être ouvrier que cadre. Certes, ce constat ne date pas d’hier mais cette fois-ci, les chercheurs ont raisonné en termes d’impact de l’origine sociale sur les revenus. Une démarche qui a été rendue possible par la collecte de nombreuses données publiques qui n’existaient pas auparavant.
Voilà ce qui ressort de cette étude : c’est surtout l’origine sociale, plus que l’âge, l’origine migratoire ou le sexe qui exercent une influence sur le niveau de vie. Ainsi, « tout âge, sexe et origine migratoire confondues, l’écart moyen de niveau de vie entre un enfant de cadre et un enfant d’ouvrier non qualifié s’élève à 1 000 euros par mois ». Une différence considérable quand on sait que le niveau de vie médian de la population étudiée est proche de 1 800 euros par mois.
« L’inégalité des chances en France est d’abord une inégalité des chances éducatives »
« Le creusement des inégalités de revenus accuse des inégalités de chances importantes » en particulier pour les plus modestes et les plus aisés, écrivent-ils. C’est pourquoi un enfant de cadre supérieur de la génération étudiée a 4,5 fois plus de chances qu’un enfant d’ouvrier d’appartenir aux 20% les plus aisés. Et près de 20 fois plus de chances d’appartenir aux 1% les plus aisés.
Ce que révèle l’étude, c’est que ce sont surtout les personnes qui perçoivent des revenus soit très modestes, soit très élevés qui sont le plus touchées par l’immobilisme social. En revanche, les enfants d’agriculteurs, d’artisans et de commerçants ont presque autant de chances de faire partie des moins aisés que des plus aisés.
À lire aussi >> Inégalités à l’école : la France (très) à la traîne
>> Même sorties des Grandes écoles, les femmes toujours moins payées que les hommes (mais elles sont recrutées avant d’être diplômées)
>> L’écart salarial entre hommes et femmes coûte 160 000 milliards de dollars
Comment expliquer un tel phénomène ? Les individus ont tendance à se mettre en couple avec des personnes issues du même niveau social qu’eux – c’est ce qu’on appelle l’homogamie sociale – et qui ont aussi le même niveau de diplôme. Et puisque les revenus dépendent du niveau de diplôme du couple, pour les plus modestes, l’ascenseur social ne risque pas de se mettre en marche. « L’inégalité des chances en France est d’abord une inégalité des chances éducatives« , est-il précisé dans le communiqué.
Des chiffres qui entrent en cohérence avec les dernières données de l’OCDE qui explique qu’en France, il faut compter six générations pour que des enfants originaires de familles modestes atteignent le revenu moyen. Une solution ? Une éducation de qualité pour tous tout au long de la scolarité, préconise l’OCDE. Et en particulier pour les enfants issus de familles défavorisées. | {
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A fourth person has died from injuries sustained earlier this month after a car driven by a drunk driving suspect crashed into a crowd during the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas, officials said.
DeAndre Tatum passed away on Thursday as a result of his injuries, the Austin police department confirmed.
Tatum was one of 23 injured a few weeks ago after a a man attempting to evade a DWI checkpoint plowed into a crowd of festival revelers outside the Mohawk nightclub while being pursued by police.
Two people, Jamie West, 27, and Steven Craenmehr, 35, were pronounced dead at the scene. A third victim, Sandy Le, died days later after being in critical condition with head injuries.
The suspect, aspiring rapper Rashad Charjuan Owens, has been charged with capital murder and aggravated assault with a motor vehicle.
Owens remains in jail, with bail set at $3 million.
Times staff writer August Brown contributed to this report.
ALSO:
The VIP treatment at Britney Spears’ Vegas show
Review: Kylie Minogue and Enrique Iglesias sex it up on new albums
Matt Berninger of the National and his brother Tom talk ‘Mistaken for Strangers’
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Montreal band Arcade Fire has republished a blog post on its official website criticizing Conservative Leader Stephen Harper and encouraging Canadians not to vote for his party after briefly taking down the message.
Social media A look at social media reaction to the Arcade Fire's post.
The titled "Hey Canadians!" was removed from the blog Friday evening with no explanation, leaving only an error message, but was restored to the site later on with the addition of a signature, "xo Richard," presumably from band member Richard Parry.
The entry said: "It is about to be voting time. Our current leader has championed some pretty destructive initiatives on everyone's behalf … it’s really important to get out and vote on May 2nd."
The post also contained a link to Elections Canada's instructions for Canadians who want to vote while out of the country, as well as to a photo essay about the oilsands.
"Canada is still a pretty good country, and worth fighting for," the post said.
The Conservatives have not issued a formal response, but at least one candidate took it in stride.
When someone suggested in a tweet that Arcade Fire fan Tony Clement sit down before reading the band's post, Clement answered with lyrics from the band's Modern Man.
Arcade Fire won the album of the year Grammy for The Suburbs in February. | {
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Chester Bennington’s untimely death last Thursday left me more shocked than I could have ever imagined possible. Unlike David Bowie or Prince, no one outside of Chester’s immediate family is likely to rank him as one of the musical greats, but I don’t think I’m the only one that feels like I share a strange familiarity with him.
I was briefly a fan of Linkin Park. Their career defining album, Hybrid Theory, dropped when I was 12 years old and was in the early stages of developing my own tastes and personality. It came into my life before I discovered my true love, punk rock, satiating my embryonic musical sensibilities that were clearly moving in a certain direction. Like most people I abandoned the band when I came to my senses just in time for their disappointing follow-up LP, Meteora. But for anyone old enough to remember those few years at the dawn of the new millennium, it’s impossible to not feel some sort of kinship with Chaz and his band. Because regardless of whether you liked them or not, they towered over the pop cultural landscape like Goliaths. That debut album didn’t only define their careers but that entire mini-era and it will be remembered as one of the key musical works of that particular moment in history. Bennington’s departure feels like losing a very distant cousin.
linkinpark / Instagram
Obviously for his bandmates the sensation must be immeasurably worse and could probably be compared to the amputation of a major limb. For Linkin Park as a band and musical act, the pain is compounded exponentially: more than an amputation it’s a decapitation. Chester Bennington WAS Linkin Park. He was more than its lead vocalist: he was its heart, soul, face and most of its vital organs. Mike Shinoda aside, the rest of the band were utterly anonymous – distant moons orbiting the small Shinoda-shaped planet that sustained itself on the warm rays emitted by Chester Bennington at the center of the Linkin Park solar system. It’s difficult to imagine how the band can possibly go on without him.
If we were to be brutally honest, Linkin Park were completely lost and rudderless even with Chester in the band. Ever since the spectacular success of Hybrid Theory, the band have been desperately scrambling around like junkies trying to hit the same heights of musical stardom with little to show for it. What we need to remember about Linkin Park is that they were never very good, they were simply perfectly suited for that particular flicker in time when they first appeared. Nu-metal, an aberration of popular culture, was having its moment and they created its most accessible work.
m_shinoda / Instagram
Melodic without being too poppy, angsty without being too abrasive (like, say, Korn), Hybrid Theory was a collection of one-hit wonders. It was instinctively synchronised with the popular tastes of the moment, but in hindsight that appears to be more of a product of luck than design. By the time Meteora came out, the zeitgeist had moved on and a consensus had been reached that nu-metal was nothing more than a really terrible joke that a lot of people had mistakenly laughed along with rather than at. It was also the dying breath of a popular culture that had been defined by guitar bands since the arrival of The Beatles. Rock was in decline and hip-hop was in the ascendency, ready to impose its very own hegemony onto the pop charts.
What followed for Linkin Park was a period of musical vagrancy as they reshaped their sound according to whatever was popular at the time. The most explicit examples of this are that bizarre collaboration with JAY-Z and their fourth album, A Thousand Suns, where they strayed into electronica just as America was discovering dance music in the form of EDM. It all felt forced and overwrought and indicative of a band bereft of a clear creative vision. It would seem that Hybrid Theory was a serendipitous accident rather than a stroke of coordinated brilliance.
linkinpark / Instagram
Deep down I think that the band are aware of this: each following album gives the impression that they were overthinking things. You can almost hear them frantically trying to crack their own secret formula that unexpectedly brought them such success. It’s difficult to shake the feeling that they were far more concerned with stardom and adoration than their craft, like an ideologically devoid politician who will say and do anything to get themselves reelected.
It’s quite telling that, years later, once nu metal had become a complete laughing stock, Shinoda tried to shake off the label by claiming that the band had never really identified with it. Cynics will probably dismiss this as a dishonest rebranding exercise, but I’m sure there’s a degree of truth to it: Linkin Park don’t seem like a band that truly identifies with anything aside from pop chart success. Nu metal served its purpose, but once the zeitgeist had moved on they made efforts to do so too. Unfortunately for them, they’ve been desperately off the pace since the early years of the Bush administration.
linkinpark / Instagram
I’ve argued before that the reason why so many musicians end up being one-hit wonders is because all artists have a certain amount of creative fuel, that, like youth, is gone forever once exhausted. All bands have their creative peak, but like 36 year-olds who shirk the dull reality of adulthood, desperately deluding themselves that they’re barely out of their teens, few will admit that that peak is over and will continue to put out substandard work that sullies their own legacy. Linkin Park have been doing this for a while and I think that it might be time to call it quits.
Chester’s demise is an explicit curtain call for an era that ended nearly 15 years ago. Toiling on would not only further desecrate the memory of Hybrid Theory, it would simply be distasteful considering these recent tragic events. I think the best way to honour him would be to retire the Linkin Park name. The rest of the band could continue on under a new moniker with a new singer in the same way that Rage Against the Machine became Audioslave after parting ways with Zack de la Rocha. That’s the best way to preserve what’s left of Chester’s legacy.
For more of our music op-eds, read why DJs will never truly be the new rockstars right here. | {
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Dozens of evangelical leaders have written an open letter urging President Donald Trump to "consistently denounce all forms of racism" and to unequivocally declare the so-called alt-right "evil".
CNN reported Friday that the letter had "been circulating privately among a coalition of pastors" and that its initial signatories "include Southern Baptist Convention President Rev. Steve Gaines, former SBC President Rev. Fred Luter and the Rev. T.D. Jakes, a mentor of Trump's top spiritual adviser, Rev. Paula White."
As of Sunday morning the letter had almost a hundred signatures.
The letter praises Trump for signing a September 14 joint resolution condemning white supremacy and "for your words expressing the profound solidarity of the American people regardless of skin color and ethnic heritage." But, calls for Trump to take those sentiments further by "joining with many other political and religious leaders to proclaim with one voice that the “alt-right” is racist, evil, and antithetical to a well-ordered, peaceful society."
The publication of the letter comes days after controversial far-right, Steve Bannon-backed candidate Roy Moore defeated Trump's candidate in a runoff for the Republican Alabama Senate nomination. Moore has been criticized for controversial statements he has made in the past including that "homosexuality is an inherent evil" and refering to minorities as "reds" and "yellows."
Trump's informal Evangelical Advisory Board had largely stuck with Trump through recent controversies, although Broooklyn mega church pastor A.R. Bernard resigned following the violence in Charlottesville and Trump statements which many saw as not appropriately condemning white supremacy. Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, is the only member of the advisory board thus far to have signed the letter.
Read the full letter below:
OPEN LETTER TO PRESIDENT TRUMP
FROM AMERICAN RELIGIOUS LEADERS:
WE NEED YOU TO SPEAK
Dear President Trump:
The events that took place in Charlottesville, VA on August 12 grieved us. We were deeply troubled by the public display of racism on that day. It reminded us of a time years ago when such brazen displays of bigotry and white supremacy were common and were upheld by political leaders.
We love the United States of America. We have overcome much racial injustice, but we fear that without moral clarity and courageous leadership that consistently denounces all forms of racism, we may lose the ground that we have gained toward the racial unity for which so many of us have fought. Our nation remains divided racially and ideologically. We struggle to stand together to denounce racial inequality and injustice in our country.
Mr. President, you have, on occasion, denounced the KKK and the Neo-Nazis by name. And, on September 14, 2017, you signed a joint resolution condemning white supremacy. With your signature on that important statement, you also said, "No matter the color of our skin or our ethnic heritage, we all live under the same laws, we all salute the same great flag, and we are all made by the same almighty God."
We thank you for signing the resolution and for your words expressing the profound solidarity of the American people regardless of skin color and ethnic heritage. The joint resolution was needed to provide moral clarity that white supremacy and white nationalism are outside of American values—indeed, it is outside human values—and will not be accepted in our country. We are grateful that the resolution addresses your role, Mr. President, to "speak out against hate groups that espouse racism, extremism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism, and White supremacy." Further, we commend your commitment to "use all resources available to the President and the President's Cabinet to address the growing prevalence of those hate groups in the United States."
Now, we respectfully call upon you to respond to the resolution by speaking out against the alt-right movement. This movement has escaped your disapproval. We believe it is important for this movement to be addressed, for at its core it is a white identity movement and the majority of its members are white nationalists or white supremacists. This movement gained public prominence during your candidacy for President of the United States. Supporters of the movement have claimed that you share their vision for our country. These same supporters have sought to use the political and cultural concerns of people of goodwill for their prejudiced political agendas. It concerned many of us when three people associated with the alt-right movement were given jobs in the White House.
Alt-right ideology does not represent constitutional conservatism. The Constitution promotes the dignity and equality of all people. It maintains that we all have the ability to contribute to a just and free society.
The alt-right, however, attributes the uniqueness and achievements of America to the so-called superior capacities and virtues of Anglo-Europeans. American Renaissance editor and alt-right leader Jared Taylor said, "The alt-right accepts that race is a biological fact and that it is a significant aspect of individual and group identity and that any attempt to create a society in which race can be made not to matter will fail." The core of the movement is the protection of white identity. Richard Spencer, a prominent leader in the alt-right movement, desires to transform our country into an ethno-state that serves as a gathering point for all Europeans.
We request upon you to join with many other political and religious leaders to proclaim with one voice that the "alt-right" is racist, evil, and antithetical to a well-ordered, peaceful society.
While addressing a political convention in Illinois in 1858, in a climate and country divided over slavery, Abraham Lincoln quoted Jesus, saying, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." The current and growing racial divide in America must be confronted, or the divided America of which Lincoln spoke will revisit us. We can see the haunting potential of this turn. Ferguson and Charlottesville may be a foreshadowing of things to come. We must set aside our political, ideological and racial differences, particularly on the issue of the alt-right. We cannot be divided and still defeat this new demonic racist force.
Yes, it is time now for Christian churches to come together for the sake of the nation and the Kingdom of God. Recently, two major denominations, which have not always seen eye to eye on social and political issues, have come together on the issue of racial bigotry and injustice. In the aftermath of violence and protests in Charlottesville, leaders of these denominations called white supremacy and the alt-right racist and evil. Jerry Young, President of the National Baptist Convention USA, said white supremacy cannot be dismissed with moral ambivalence. He explains, "There are not two sides when it comes to white supremacy. It is a belief system that is anti-Christian at its core and must be repudiated without confusion." Steve Gaines, President of the Southern Baptist Convention, condemned the alt-right, describing the gathering in Charlottesville as "a gathering of hate, ignorance and bigotry" and stating the ideology violates core Christian beliefs.
These are powerful and strong words coming from the leaders of two historic Baptist Conventions, denouncing the alt-right by name. We also need healing and unifying leadership from our political leaders. President George H.W. Bush and Pastor Edward Victor Hill II modeled this type of leadership for us 25 years ago. They worked together to address the shared pain of the African American community and the nation in the aftermath of the exoneration of the police officers associated with the Rodney King brutality.
Our country desperately needs unifying leadership again. We need you, President Trump, to lead us in such an effort. America needs your voice and your convictions to defeat racist ideologies and movements in every form that they present themselves. America is profoundly fractured and divided. We can envision the change that could emerge if you would provide the moral leadership we so desperately need for racial healing. Our polarized nation could unite around your leadership on this critical issue.
We are praying, and call upon God's people to humble themselves and pray that you would take the bold and moral step to denounce the alt-right. And we pray that we may see the beauty of people from all racial backgrounds dwelling together in unity, from which the blessings flow; and then we may see—God Bless America (Psalm 133:1).
Respectfully,
Initial Signatories:
Dr. Bruce Ashford
Provost
Professor of Theology and Culture
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Wake Forest, NC
Rev. R. Marshall Blalock
Pastor, First Baptist Church
Charleston, SC
Rev. Alan Cross
Executive Director, Community Development Initiatives
Missional Strategist, Montgomery Baptist Association
Montgomery, AL
Dr. Nathan Finn
Dean of the School of Theology and Missions, Union University
Jackson, TN
Rev. Micah Fries
Senior Pastor, Brainerd Baptist Church
Chattanooga, TN
Dr. Steve Gaines
President of the Southern Baptist Convention
Senior Pastor, Bellevue Baptist Church
Cordova, TN
Dr. J. D. Greear
Pastor, The Summit Church
Raleigh-Durham, NC
Bishop T. D. Jakes
Senior Pastor, The Potter’s House
Dallas, TX
Rev. Kenneth Jones
Senior Pastor, Como First Missionary Baptist Church
Fort Worth, TX
Dr. Fred Luter
Pastor, Franklin Avenue Baptist Church
New Orleans, LA
Dr. William Dwight McKissic,
Senior Pastor, Cornerstone Baptist Church
Arlington, TX
Dr. Russell Moore
President, Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission
Nashville, TN
Dr. John Ogeltree
Senior Pastor, First Metropolitan Church
Houston, TX
Dr. R.A. Redwine
Senior Pastor, Soldier Creek Baptist Church
Oklahoma City, OK
Rev. Samuel Rodriguez
President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference
Sacramento, CA
Dr. Manuel Scott, Jr.
National Evangelist for the National Baptist Convention
Los Angeles, CA
Dr. Walter Strickland
Associate Vice President of Kingdom Diversity
Assistant Professor of Systematic and Contextual Theology
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Wake Forest, NC
Mr. Lawrence Ware
Co-Director of the Center for Africana Studies and Diversity Coordinator
Philosophy Department of Oklahoma State University
Stillwater, OK
Dr. Jerry Young
President of National Baptist Convention
Senior Pastor, New Hope Baptist Church
Jackson, MS
Dr. Danny Akin
President
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Wake Forest, NC
Dr. Michael Bell
Senior Pastor, Greater St. Stephens First Church
Fort Worth, TX
Dr. René F. Brown
Pastor, Mount Zion First Baptist Church
Baton Rouge, LA
Mr. Dan Darling
Vice-President of CommunicationEthics and Religious Liberty Commission
Nashville, TN
Dr. Tony Evans
Senior Pastor, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship
President of The Urban Alternative
Dallas, TX
Dr. Robert E. Fowler
Senior Pastor, Victory Missionary Baptist Church
Las Vegas, NV
Rev. James D. Gailliard
Pastor, World Tabernacle Church
President - The Impact Center
Rocky Mount, NC
Dr. Ronnie W. Goines
Founding Pastor, Koinonia Christian Church
Arlington, TX
Dr. Joel Gregory
George W. Truett Endowed Chair in Preaching and Evangelism
George W. Truett Theological Seminary of Baylor University
Waco, TX
Dr. John Jenkins
Pastor, First Baptist Church of Glenarden
Glenarden, MD
Dr. Ed Litton
Senior Pastor, Redemption Church
Mobile, AL
Dr. Rayford E. Malone
Pastor, Greater Beulah Baptist Church
Dothan, AL
Dr. James Merritt
Lead Pastor, Cross Pointe Church
Duluth, GA
Rev. Vance Pitman
Senior Pastor, Hope Church
Las Vegas, NV
Dr. C. J. Rhodes
Pastor, Mt. Helm Baptist Church
Jackson, MS
Dr. Ed Stetzer
Executive Director, Billy Graham Center for Evangelism
Wheaton College
Wheaton, IL
Mr. Jemar Tisby
President, Reformed African American Network
co-host "Pass The Mic" podcast
Phillips County, AR
Dr. Maurice Watson
Senior Pastor, Metropolitan Baptist Church
Largo, MD
Rev. K. Marshall Williams
Pastor, Nazarene Baptist Church
Philadelphia, PA
Dr. Keith S. Whitfield,
Dean of Graduate Studies
Assistant Professor of Theology
Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary
Wake Forest, NC | {
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It’s easy to focus on the internal herbal preparations, like teas, extracts, and syrups, because we are so conditioned to “taking something” – whether that be supplements, OTC medications, or prescriptions – to manage our health. Topical herbalism, though, has many unique preparations that have benefited people for generations. In this post we’ll teach you how to make a poultice using both dried and fresh herbs.
Poultices are probably one of the most often overlooked topical applications of herbs – which is a shame! As we discuss in our online herbal programs, this simple type of preparation can be used as herbal first aid and after care for things like burns, splinters, cuts, and bruises, or they can be used for more chronic health challenges. Poultices can be used on the chest to help the body handle congestion, on joints to soothe injuries or arthritis, and on immune related skin troubles like shingles. Not only are they very simple, they are also versatile.
What Is a Poultice?
Even though the word “poultice” sounds a little odd, a poultice is nothing more than a direct way to apply herbs to the skin. For making a poultice, herbs are usually crushed into a pulp or made into a paste that is spread directly onto the surface of the skin, up to an inch thick, and held in place with gauze or muslin wrapped around the area to keep the poultice from rubbing off. A very basic poultice can even be made with a whole leaf held in place with an adhesive bandage!
By changing the temperature of the poultice, the healing actions can be altered. A warm or hot poultice will help to increase circulation to the area, and a cold poultice can help soothe inflammation. Adding skin tingling, stimulating herbs like ginger is another way to use herbs to help increase circulation to the area.
Benefits of using a poultice over, say, a salve or a cream include the ability to use fresh herbs, which have the fullest amount of the herbs beneficial characteristics; the tendency of poultices to help draw out foreign material from the skin or a wound; prolonged contact so that the beneficial constituents of the herbs can be absorbed by the skin over a longer period of time; and a very simple list of ingredients.
The downside to poultices is that they take a little more time to do their thing and are a bit messier than other topicals, which is why you need to wrap the area or cover with a bandage to keep the poultice in place. But if you apply them before bed and wrap them up well this is no problem at all. Whereas a cream or an oil can be rubbed into the skin and then you can move on to other things, it’s best to do most poultices at night so the herb can work while you sleep.
What Herbs Make Good Poultices?
Although most herbs can be used as a poultice if the situation calls for it, it’s important to remember that if it’s an herb you would not take internally you should not apply it as a poultice either. The herb will still be absorbed into the bloodstream even though it’s being applied topically. So herbs that shouldn’t be used internally while pregnant or because they might interfere with prescriptions or a preexisting condition are still contraindicated as a poultice. A few herbs – like angelica – don’t make good fresh poultices because they can cause contact dermatitis in some people. Make sure to get to know your herbs before you try them as a poultice (a good way to learn about herbs is through The Herbarium plant database), and if you have any known allergies to herbs take that into consideration before you try a poultice.
That being said, there are several herbs that are classics for making poultices and are well known for their safe and versatile natures. These include:
Plantain (leaves)
Chickweed (leaves and stems)
Calendula (flower petals)
Dandelion (leaves)
Burdock (root)
You can learn more about all of these herbs in The Herbarium!
Poultices are very simple to make and they have the shortest ingredients list of any herbal preparation: just the herb! Well – the herb, and a little water if you are using dried herbs. Here’s how to make a poultice using three different methods. Try this easy herbal skill yourself!
How To Make A Poultice With Fresh Herbs
Determine which herbs you would like to use, and estimate how much you will need. The amount of herbs to use depends on the size of the area that needs to be covered, so just give it your best guess.
Take the herbs you have chosen and chop them into small pieces on a cutting board. Transfer the herbs to a mortar and pestle, and crush the chopped herbs until they become a pulp. The end result needn’t be silky smooth – the main thing is to start the juices flowing. As you chop and mash, the herbs will release their natural juices and the leaves will become softer. Herbs may also be chopped using a blender instead of a cutting board and mortar and pestle.
Spread the crushed herbs onto the desired area of the skin. How thick to apply the herbs is up to you, but do make sure that the poultice is applied evenly across the area.
Wrap the area with a layer of gauze or muslin to hold the paste in place. You might even wish to apply a layer of plastic wrap to the outside of the finished poultice, which will help insure that the juices don’t make a mess.
How To Make A Poultice With Dried Herbs
Making a dried herb poultice is even less work than using fresh herbs, because there is less chopping and mashing involved. It’s a tradeoff, though, because fresh herbs are usually stronger than dried and have a more complex make up. Dried herbs will still work well, though, and it’s nice to know you can still make a poultice even when fresh herbs aren’t available.
Take desired dried herbs and combine with just enough hot water to moisten them. For roots, it’s best to use a powdered form. Simply add hot or cold water a little at a time to create a thick paste.
Spread the paste evenly over the desired area.
Wrap with gauze or muslin.
How to Make A Quick Poultice
Sometimes an even easier type of poultice will do the trick: one simple leaf and an adhesive bandage! This type of poultice is great for little cuts or scrapes, splinters, or after care for an insect bite or sting.
Select a leaf from the plant you wish to use. Plantain, mullein, bee balm, or lemon balm are good candidates.
Roll and knead the plant between your fingers so that it is crushed and begins to feel damp.
Smooth the crushed leaf over the affected area and secure it in place with a bandage.
Change for a new leaf in a few hours if desired, or remove with the bandage when it is time to let the area breathe for a bit.
Poultices are a basic part of the herbal tool chest, because they are quick and easy to prepare. Whether they are made using fresh or dried herbs, or even just a simple leaf and a bandage, they are versatile and well worth learning to make. They even make a great stand in for other topicals in a pinch – the next time you run out of your favorite herbal salve, remember poultices!
Essential oils are another well-loved part of our herbal toolkits here at the Herbal Academy of New England, so much so that we just released a new ebook (picture above), The Herbalist’s Toolkit: Essential Oils! Our ebooks are exclusive to our Herbarium members, so if you would like a copy, plus access to an herbal monograph database and articles that aren’t available anywhere else by an impressive lineup of herbalists, come check it out. There’s even a forum where you can talk with other herbal enthusiasts like yourself.
And, if you’re looking for an herbal school to start your herbal journey, we’d love for you to become acquainted with our Online Introductory and Intermediate Herbal Courses. We’re proud of the quality and affordability that we have to offer! | {
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Cardano (ADA) is one of the most competitive cryptocurrencies in the crypto market. The digital currency, which was among the top ten digital currencies in the market, lost its position to Tron (TRX) recently. At the press time, Cardano (ADA) is the 11th largest digital currency by market cap according to CoinMarketCap. Tron (TRX) is currently the 10th largest digital currency by market cap. Tron (TRX) and Cardano (ADA) have been dragging that position for quite some time now. There has been sinusoidal movements between the two digital currencies.
However, there are some bullish Cardano news today that could significantly boost the price of the digital currency. A slight increase in the price of Cardano will help it to regain its position on the list of top ten digital currencies in the market.
Can Cardano (ADA) Outperform and Replace Tron (TRX) Before the Day Ends? – Best Cryptocurrency to Invest in 2019 – Cardano News Today
Cardano (ADA) might outperform and replace Tron (TRX) at the close of the day. At press time, the market cap of Cardano (ADA) is $1.99 billion and the market cap of Tron (TRX) is $2.14 billion. The difference between the market cap of Tron and Cardano is just $0.15 billion. Both Cardano and Tron are down in the red, and an increase of about 5 percent in the price of Cardano (ADA) can help it to reclaim the 10th position.
If Tron (TRX) continues to trade sideways, then it would give space for Cardano (ADA) to climb up the ladder. Can Cardano take over Tron’s position? Will Cardano price recover before the close of today?
Cardano Foundation Joins Force with GDF to accelerate the Adoption of Digital Finance
The recent Cardano news in the industry is a pretty bullish one and it could significantly enhance the price of the digital currency. According to a recent announcement, the Cardano Foundation is now a member of the Global Digital Finance (GDF). Global Digital Finance is an organization that aims to accelerate the adoption of digital finance. For an organization to join Global Digital Finance, the organization has to go through rigorous processes and thorough assessment. The Cardano Foundation has gone through all the required processes and assessments. As a member of the Global Digital Finance body, the foundation will be looking after Stablecoin, Custody, KYC/AML/CTF, Market Integrity, Security Tokens, and Tax Treatments.
Cardano Price Analysis – Cardano Price Prediction – Cryptocurrency News Today – Cardano USD Price – Cryptocurrency Market Update
Earlier last month, about 25 days ago, the price of Cardano (ADA) was around the $0.0838 mark. Nevertheless, the price of Cardano (ADA) has plunged by more than 8 percent since then. However, the digital currency looks poised to retest that level in the short-term, as there are more bullish Cardano news today to boost the price of the digital currency.
Cardano (ADA) is currently supported at the $0.0740 mark. On the upside, the digital currency is facing a strong hurdle at the $0.08 mark. A break over this level will pave the way for more gains towards its previous highs.
Cardano (ADA) Price Today – ADA / USD
Name Price 24H (%) Cardano (ADA) $0.075766 -1.83%
At the time of writing, ADA USD live price is $0.0777 after a decrease of less than one percent over the past twenty-four hours. The current market cap of the digital currency is $1.99 billion with a trading volume of $116.35 million over the past twenty-four hours.
News Source | {
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On this website we have many times written, though not in so many words, that Trump is pretty much an open book. He strolls out in front of the massive crowds at his rallies and has a chat with them. We see little evidence that, for better or worse, he holds much back. The old saying (and on this website we like old sayings) ‘what you see is what you get’, surely applies to The Donald, and there is much to be said for supporting a candidate who is transparent.
Of course it matters what the transparent candidate is standing for. Bernie Sanders might have been a relatively open book, but he stood for a highly dangerous, high-speed, revolutionary agenda.
Almost all politicians in the modern era have been anything but open books, usually concealing much of their agenda and to whom they were really accountable. In a giant, over-populated and highly centralized Nation State, money funds campaigns, and rich groups and individuals call most of the shots. The ordinary people do best when the rich shot-callers are divided among themselves.
In 2008, a very united rich group (the finally-matured Media Class) succeeded in passing off on the American people, a candidate who was a very closed book. What was seen was absolutely not what the people got. The Obama that a majority of the American people voted for, was the invention of a very skilled Hollywood industry. We believe they thought they had a visually-appealing, empty-headed, ambitious actor who had no principles but would read the lying lines placed before him.
Only now, seven years later, we are all discovering that there was more to Obama, and that he was consumed with a hatred for America, and especially White, Christian America. Even now, he conceals himself and it is only his actions that speak louder than his soothing words. He has kept his bargain with the Media Class with his Revolutionary social agenda but his attachment to the Far Left is emerging and so is his personal love of power. He is not about to leave the political scene, no matter who wins the Presidency.
Hillary Clinton is anything but an open book, but fortunately her past and character cannot be hidden, even by a MSM working flat out. The only way they can get her elected is by destroying her opponent, and this they are doing at the expense of the last pretenses of Media objectivity.
And so we come back to The Donald who really is an open book with his weaknesses on display, no secret agenda (we might wish he had a secret, furious Counter-Revolutionary agenda), and no rich string-pullers.
Since his agenda is to make America great again, which means some turning back of the clock, we should be happy. Except that his Nationalism and his Conservatism are not anchored to any ideology and he is ill-prepared for the Counter-Revolution he has found himself leading. Trump appears to have thought that he could fight an election in Revolutionary times in the same way he conducted business, supplemented by a mastery of the technology that teens use to chat to each other.
There is nothing wrong with Trump’s motives, indeed they are lily-white, and his opponent is a crook who will further the disastrous Revolution in exchange for an opportunity to loot the Treasury. But we believe that there is nothing more in Trump’s head than we have already seen. This is not to say he is empty-headed or stupid, for he has achieved much that is real in his life. He will surely make a decent, honest President, if he can avoid assassination. But we could wish he had a better historical perspective, a deeper grasp of the power of the Media Class and its MSM, and more knowledge of the Christianity that has shaped America and which would curb his impulsiveness and nurture the humility that helps correct mistakes.
Nevertheless, warts and all, he loves his country and people in general, he has put his life on the line, he has enormous energy and optimism, he speaks the truth at all times, he is no-ones pawn, his policies are conservative and not Revolutionary, he is sexually normal and he has awakened American Nationalism. All good Americans must support him! | {
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Bill O'Reilly did an interesting thing last night when he reran that footage of Barney Frank castigating that woman carrying an Obama-as-Hitler sign at his town-hall meeting on health care: He completely omitted the fact that the woman who Frank was castigating was in fact a member of the far-right Lyndon Larouche cult.
All O'Reilly could muster was to mention that the woman was "a political activist." But that's like calling a Great White Shark a fish.
No, right-wingers like O'Reilly have been eagerly airbrushing out the existence of right-wing extremists from their worldview for some time now, embodied by their reaction to that DHS bulletin. But it's getting harder and harder to do all the time now.
Because, as we've noted, the far-right extremists are bubbling up everywhere in supposedly mainstream conservative circles these days -- particularly at the tea parties and their associated health-care protests.
Most recently, it turns out that the guys who brought those guns to a health-care forum in Arizona in fact were longtime members of the old Arizona Vipers Militia. These were characters who, prior to their arrests in 1996, had stockpiled close to 2,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate and conducted field training exercises, practiced bomb-making, and trained with illegal automatic weapons.
Now, all the Fox talkers have been in heavy denial about extremists showing up for their tea-party protests, even making a regular joke out of it by asking the protesters they have on their show if they're Klan members and the like.
But it's becoming clearer all the time that, while not everyone at these events is an extremist, the percentages of them keep going up and up. And with them, so does the threat to public safety. | {
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At the end of every year, we’re jealous of Bloomberg’s “Jealousy List,” a collection of stories that staffers wish they had published. We’re so jealous that we’re making monthly lists of our own.
So here are six stories published by other journalists last month that made us envious. Hopefully, our jealousy will lead to your discovery.
By Megan Molteni, Wired
When 23andMe announced a plan to offer its DNA testing services to migrant parents trying to reunite with children taken from them as they crossed the border, my initial thought was to be very, very skeptical. Just a few of the potential issues: technical problems with what the testing can and cannot do, the fact that genetic links aren’t the only things that match kids and their guardians, and ethical and legal issues surrounding genetic data. This article did an excellent job of covering the breadth of the problems with this plan without sensationalizing its dangers.
— Maggie Koerth-Baker, senior science writer
By Stephanie M. Lee, BuzzFeed
This deeply reported profile of CrossFit spokesperson Russell Berger is packed with drama and intrigue. Lee tells the story of Berger’s relentless protection of the CrossFit brand, his fight against rival fitness organizations, and his longstanding crusade against research misconduct and conflicts of interest in science. He was CrossFit’s public face until his bigotry against the LBGTQ community got him fired.
— Christie Aschwanden, lead science writer
By Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein, SB Nation
In the cruel world of sports, sometimes the very strength that propels a team to greatness can turn into a weakness at the worst possible time. This video dives into how the Houston Rockets — who have revolutionized the modern NBA with the sheer number of 3-pointers they take — somehow managed to miss 27 consecutive threes with their season on the line.
— Neil Paine, senior sportswriter
By Henry Hinnefeld, Civis Analytics
I’m only a casual Mario Kart fan, but this article is too fun not to highlight. The author uses a concept called Pareto efficiency, developed by an Italian economist in the early 1900s, to find the optimal combinations of character, kart and tires in the latest iteration of the game. None of it is going to teach me how to drift effectively or not fall off Rainbow Road, but it’s a start.
— Gus Wezerek, visual journalist
By Vox
Vox’s new Netflix series, “Explained,” is intoxicating. In June, I was excited to watch an episode produced by Christine Laskowski, a former FiveThirtyEighter, on why diets fail. Americans apparently try around five diets in the course of a lifetime, according to the series. For women, it’s around seven. But if there’s little science backing fad diets, why do we even try? This episode tackled that question using a smart combination of science-ese, cultural references, data and real human interviews.
— Meena Ganesan, social editor
By Wesley Lowery, Kimbriell Kelly, Ted Mellnik and Steven Rich, The Washington Post
A Washington Post analysis of 52,000 criminal homicides revealed some stark findings: In sections of dozens of U.S. cities, murder is common but arrests are rare. Even as violence has dropped to historic lows, 34 of 50 major cities have a lower homicide arrest rate than they did a decade ago. “Some cities, such as Baltimore and Chicago, solve so few homicides that vast areas stretching for miles experience hundreds of homicides with virtually no arrests,” the authors of this article wrote.
Not only have arrest rates dropped in many cities and neighborhoods, but there’s also a huge variation in homicide arrests rates depending on the race of the victim. The Post examined many of the factors involved, including communities who are afraid to cooperate with police, the role of gangs and fear of retaliation. The net result is communities all over the country where justice is all but out of reach.
— Anna Maria Barry-Jester, lead health writer | {
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At least 21 people were killed and 71 others injured Friday when an explosion occurred in Mexico’s central Hidalgo state at a fuel pipeline that had been illegally tapped, authorities said.
The fatal blast came as President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has sent thousands of troops and police to guard pipelines as part of a major effort to eliminate rampant fuel theft. The president has also accused fuel thieves — known here as huachicoleros — of sabotaging fuel lines in a bid to thwart the government crackdown.
Lopez Obrador rushed to the scene in the early morning hours and said the tragedy would not alter his crackdown on fuel theft.
Images circulating on social media and on television showed horrific scenes of what appeared to be calcified bodies and badly burned victims whose clothes had been seared off at the site of the explosion — a rural zone in the town of Tlahuelilpan, 75 miles north of Mexico City.
Some victims had burns over 40% to 90% of their bodies, officials reported.
2019-01-18: Video of moment of the #Tlahuelilpan explosion as dozens illegally siphoned gasoline from a Pemex pipeline due to gas shortage hysteria currently besieging Mexico and being exploited by #huachicoleros. pic.twitter.com/vwoAJEh3B9 — Malditoperro (@malditoperromx) January 19, 2019
Residents had descended on the rural site about 5 p.m. with containers to collect gasoline gushing from the perforated pipeline, according to cellphone images circulating on Mexican media. The ruptured line burst into flame about 7 p.m., authorities said, as many people were still at the site seeking to collect free fuel.
It was not immediately clear what sparked the explosion. Footage aired on Mexican TV showed people running and screaming for help as flames shot from the ruptured pipeline. Firefighters were still trying to douse the remnants of the fire some five hours later.
In the evening, distraught residents were making the rounds of hospitals, seeking relatives who had been whisked away in ambulances and helicopters.
Fuel theft has been a problem in Mexico for decades but has increased in recent years, authorities say, as drug cartels have moved into the lucrative business. The thieves tap into pipelines, siphon off the fuel and sell it on the black market. The huachicoleros have an extensive network of trucks and storage facilities, a broad distribution system and knowledge of how to tap into high-pressure pipelines. The black-market gasoline is often sold openly on streets and along roadsides.
Aiding the fuel thieves, authorities here say, are corrupt police, local politicians and representatives and contractors of Petroleos Mexicanos, or Pemex, the national energy company. Fuel theft cost Pemex some $3 billion last year, Lopez Obrador said.
In recent weeks, the president has deployed about 10,000 troops and federal police to guard hundreds of miles of vulnerable fuel pipelines, many in remote areas. The government has periodically shut down much of the pipeline system as part of its anti-theft operation, leading to major shortages of gasoline at the pump.
“I greatly lament the grave situation that Tlahuelilpan is suffering,” Lopez Obrador said Friday in a Twitter message.
The president called the problem a “scourge” and vowed to eliminate it. Last year, Pemex detected more than 12,000 illegal perforations of pipelines, authorities said.
The black-market tapping of fuel from pipelines provides a living for many rural communities, where residents have resisted enforcement efforts. Fuel thieves occasionally engage in shootouts with police and military units.
Friday’s explosion is not the first such tragedy in Mexico. In 2010, 29 people in the state of Puebla were killed at an explosion at a pipeline that had also been illegally tapped.
McDonnell is a Times staff writer and Sanchez a special correspondent in The Times’ Mexico City bureau. Special Correspondent Liliana Nieto del Rio in Mexico City also contributed. | {
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It’s that time of the year again: Coppa Italia. Well, actually, it’s just finally time for Milan to enter this year’s competition. Coppa Italia matches have been going on since early August. But since the format favors the biggest teams, we get to sit back and wait while all of the smaller teams eliminate one another. Which is good, because it increases our chances of fulfilling Allegri’s objective for the team this year: Winning the Coppa Italia. He knows it’s his only chance at a trophy, the most likely path for a Europa League spot, and the chance to leave his mark on Milan next year with the fabulous “Coccarda” patch. Milan, meet your destiny.
The first Coppa Italia match was played in 1922, and featured mostly lower division teams. Thus, Vado’s claim to fame is to be listed on the winner’s list along with all of bigger teams. But the tournament was resurrected in the 1935-36 season, with Torino winning that trophy. The competition includes teams from Serie A, Serie B, and Lega Pro Prima & Seconda Division teams (formerly known as Serie C & D) and is Italy’s domestic cup. Napoli are the current reigning champions, as they handed Juventus their only defeat in any competition last year to take the trophy.
The format as it stands today includes a draw with all of the teams before the competition begins, and all games are single elimination knockout games, meaning in the event of a draw, they go to added extra time and then penalties to have a winner to advance. This is except for the semi-final, which is a 2-leg affair, for some reason. (The final used to be 2 legs, too, up until 2008.) The first round is exclusively for the top 36 Lega Pro teams, and the winners of this round join the 22 Serie B teams in the second round. The third round includes the 12 lowest ranked Serie A teams from the prior season. At the end of third round, there are 16 teams left, with the others having been eliminated, so a fourth round is played at this point to narrow the field to 8 teams. It is at this point, in December or January, that the top-ranked 8 teams from Serie A join in, known as the Round of 16.
The tricolore coccarda also traditionally appears on Italian military planes
The Round of 16 is narrowed down to the Quarterfinals and then the Semifinals. The final is typically played in May. The winner of the final wins the trophy, the opportunity to wear the Coccarda patch the following season, and a Europa League spot, too. The winner also faces the league winner in the Super Coppa in August. Once a team wins 10 Coppa titles, they also get to wear a silver star on their uniform indefinitely, like the gold stars worn for 10 league titles. Both Juventus and Roma have won 9 Coppa Italia titles, whereas Milan have only won 5 so far.
The Coppa Italia, or TIM cup, as it is known for its sponsorship, is often not taken seriously, at least not by Serie A title contenders who are also playing in Europe. It is often seen as unimportant, but by default, the strongest teams still end up contending for the title. This year, Allegri has said that winning the Coppa is our objective. This means that either Milan are not planning to take our other competitions seriously, or he views us as a “provincial” side who are not capable of contending in the other competitions. Either way, it is now our destiny. And I can only imagine his press conference when we are knocked out by a Serie B or lower table Serie A team: “We played well, but the result does not reflect what happened on the pitch,” etc. Simply because it is a single elimination tournament, it is strange that we are putting all of our proverbial eggs in one proverbial basket.
The object of our desire this season
Either way, on Thursday we begin the road to our destiny vs. Serie B’s Reggina. There will be a full preview up tomorrow, but if you would like to see the table with all of the results so far as well as our path to our destiny, you can go here . (it can take a few minutes to load, it is a large file.) Let’s hope that with recent results, we will put equal energy into all three competitions, and that the force will be with us. Particularly since we will have to face the winner of Juventus and Cagliari in the quarterfinals. If you'll recall, last year, when we had a stronger team, Juventus eliminated us in the Semi-finals
While I agree that winning the Coppa is a good thing for Milan this year, I wouldn’t mind not embarrassing ourselves in the league or in Europe, either. We have a jersey to honor, and that jersey demands our very best in every match. But another trophy doesn’t hurt, either, and a guaranteed European spot plus a snazzy patch on our kits next year would also be nice. Plus, Hamsik shaved his head last year when they won the Coppa, maybe El Shaarawy will shave his head, too (he’s already promised this if we win the Scudetto.) Milan, meet your Destiny.
This post inspired by the music of The Smiths “Louder Than Bombs” album
Our next match is
Coppa Italia Round of 16
Milan vs. Reggina
Thursday, December 13 • 21:00 CET (3pm EST)
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Paul George joined ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on The Woj Pod and spoke at length about his past, present and future. He dishes on the trade, Russell Westbrook, playing for the Lakers, and even Indiana’s trade offer that would have sent him to Golden State.
Click here for the full 33 minute podcast, or continue on for some notable quotes. Listening to the entire interview is suggested, as it’s a great look into where the 27-year-old swingman’s head is at entering his first season in Oklahoma City.
On being OKC’s “second chance” after losing Kevin Durant:
“From the second I touched down here I got that bit of hope feeling. Of bringing this team a championship. That’s what makes me feel the best about being here, is they’re not looking at me as a Kevin Durant replacement, but a new face of OKC. I’m more than excited, thrilled and honored to be a part of this organization.”
On Westbrook’s potential “Super Max” extension impacting his future:
“Hopefully at the end of this season me and Russ are both on the same page with plans. I’m hopeful to be in the loop with Russ on his decision, as much as he’s in the loop with me on my decision. Hopefully we can come together, and hopefully we’ve built something great that we will want to extend together and play more years here. We’ll let that happen at the end of the season. As of now, we have to go in and build something.”
On the year-long recruiting process:
“Spoil me. I’ve been more than thrilled and been blown away with how much they’ve offered already….with me just being here two days. The fact that anywhere I’ve been or I’ve gone here, it’s been so welcoming. It’s like a ‘what’s mine is yours’ kind of a thing. You can’t replace that anywhere. This has a chance to be home.”
On telling the Pacers he wouldn’t re-sign next summer:
“Who doesn’t want to go home and play in LA? I had that weighing on me, but again — I didn’t want Indiana… for me to just walk and they get nothing. I know how hard it is to attract free agents in Indiana. I wanted to give them a chance to get something for me, to have a great chance in the future with putting a team together. I thought it was the right time to address it.”
On being traded somewhere outside of Los Angeles:
“What I wanted out of this was to win. As I thought about it….the more and more I thought about it, it was ‘Hey I go to a team, we make the conference finals, we make the finals, we have a great coaching staff, a great team assembled, guys committed to winning… Why wouldn’t you want to stick around and be a part of that team or part of that organization?’ That was my take on it. Of course I wanted to come home, of course I wanted to play in LA and play for my hometown…but then a lot of me looked at the situation like, ‘If a team comes in and you absolutely love it, why walk away from it?'”
On the Pacers offering him to Golden State in exchange for Klay Thompson:
“I think that would have been the Chris Paul to LA situation….where they deny that trade. Yeah, I was aware of it. I would’ve looked forward to it. To just being in a good situation and a chance to compete for a championship. But it didn’t happen. It’s still fun to team up with a special talent and have a chance to compete against that team.”
On potentially staying in OKC:
“I’m committed as a Thunder to give them everything I have while I’m here. Again, if it’s special, if it’s meant to be, it will happen. I’ve came to enjoy that this place has a home feel to it. If at the end of the season, that’s where we get to? We’ll get to it. I’m more than fine with it. But again — we’ll address that in the offseason.”
On Kevin Durant:
“Everyone has different perspectives, everyone is different. It was something I have to go through myself. Kevin has been unbelievable for this city. He’s done many things, he’s been great. But whatever went on between he and Russ, that’s their business. It’s not my point to want to know, or want to figure out what happened. It’s pointless. They’re buddies. They’re back good again.”
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For decades, US presidents have used diplomatic pressure and economic sanctions to try and convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear program. While doing so they have also been working at home on a Plan B: defense.
The Pentagon has been developing a nationwide antimissile program since the early 1990s. The aim is to protect American territory – not from established nuclear powers Russia or China, but any smaller Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) arsenals produced by North Korea, or (possibly) Iran.
Now that nascent missile defense faces an important inflection point, as does the overall effort to block Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. Increasingly it seems a matter of when, not if, North Korea will develop the means to target the continental US with a nuclear-tipped ICBM.
That moment might be reached in three to five years, according to current and former US defense officials. And by 2020, North Korea could have as many as 100 nuclear warheads, according to a 2015 Johns Hopkins University report.
At that point, will US missile defense be adequate for its task? Even supporters describe the current system as more of an advanced prototype than a finished product. It might be able to protect against an initial North Korean nuclear capability, but if Pyongyang establishes and maintains serial production of missiles, today’s US defensive capabilities might soon become inadequate.
“We’re not willing to accept a strategic relationship of vulnerability to North Korean missiles, in the way we have, de facto, with Russia and China.... This is important. We have to get this right,” says Thomas Karako, a senior fellow and director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington.
More modest than Reagan's 'Star Wars' dream
The US has been working on various anti-missile programs almost since the dawn of the ICBM age. In terms of funding and prominence, this effort perhaps reached its apogee with President Reagan’s “Star Wars” Strategic Defense Initiative. SDI envisioned a multi-layered system able to target and attack ballistic missiles from launch to warhead descent. Today’s deployed system is not nearly as broad as that dream.
The current US missile defense is aimed instead at shielding the nation from nuclear blackmail or terrorism or threats from a rogue state. (Both China and Russia oppose US defenses, saying it is possible they will destabilize the mutual deterrence that currently exists between big nuclear powers.)
On the list of today’s “rogue states”, North Korea sits at No. 1. The US intelligence community assesses that North Korea is currently in the process of fielding an ICBM capability to strike the American homeland with a nuclear warhead. Such a system hasn’t been tested, nor is it clear whether any North Korean ballistic missiles of shorter range have yet been tipped with nuclear warheads.
After all, this is rocket science, meaning very difficult – as Pyongyang’s many failed missile tests show.
Defenses from Hawaii
The first line of US ballistic missile defense is a global network of sea-, land-, and space-based sensors to detect and track any launch against American targets.
These range from an ocean-going X-Band radar at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, to early-warning radars strung across Alaska, Greenland, Britain, and other northern spots, and SPY-1 radars on Navy Aegis missile defense ships at sea. Data is fed to a central fire control system at Schriever Air Force Base in Colorado Springs.
Since 2004, the US has deployed rocket interceptors at Ft. Greeley, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Currently there are 36; that number is scheduled to rise to 44 by the end of 2017.
The three-stage interceptors are intended to target missile warheads in the middle of their ballistic course from launch to target. They carry “kill vehicle” warheads of their own, which separate from the launcher and maneuver towards the coasting nuclear warheads. An upgraded Redesigned Kill Vehicle is in the works. Testing won’t begin for a few years; deployment is currently scheduled for 2020.
Testing record: 9 of 17 attempts successful
The US has some mobile defense assets that can augment this basic system. The Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) is a rapidly deployable battery of interceptor missiles designed to shoot down short- or medium-range ballistic missiles in the final stages of its flight. It is intended to protect defined areas, such as cities or military forces, as opposed to entire countries. The US and South Korea have recently set up a THAAD system on a former golf course in South Korea.
The Navy’s Aegis cruisers and destroyers also carry interceptor missiles that are designed to give them the ability to defend regions against short and medium-range missile attack. The Aegis defense has the advantage of easy mobility – but the number of ships is limited, and they sometimes have other missions to fulfill.
Is this integrated system effective? After all, in essence it is attempting to hit a bullet with a bullet – not an easy thing to do. Since 1997, the payload has destroyed its target in nine of 17 full-blown intercept tests, or just over 50 percent of the time.
Some scientists harshly criticize the US missile defense program, saying that interceptors could be easily spoofed.
The ground-based defense system “is not on a credible path to achieving an operationally useful capability,” charged the Union of Concerned Scientists in a 2016 report on the effort.
But officials of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency and other proponents say the system is a capable one that is being refined to meet a threat which itself is still developing. They say its testing record should be seen in that light.
A Congressional Research Service report on the system drawn up in late 2016 attempts to strike a balance between these points of view.
“Although the [ground-based missile defense] system is praised by senior military leaders and is generally viewed in successful terms, it does have a somewhat mixed flight test record,” writes CRS analyst Steven Hildreth.
Alaskan senator pushes for more robust missile defense
Meanwhile, North Korea grinds ahead with its military programs. That is the military and political reality facing the US, note defense proponents. Holding a nuclear threat over the United States seems a core goal of Kim Jung-Un's worldview. Is that a situation the US can endure?
“Each of the last four administrations has looked at the North Korean threat and said this is not the sort of thing in which we can live, in a state of vulnerability,” says Dr. Karako of CSIS, a principal author of a new “Missile Defense 2020” report that urges devoting more money and effort to outpacing the ballistic missile threat.
Among other recommendations, the CSIS study urges fielding upward of 80 ground-based interceptors by 2020, and completing readiness efforts studying a possible East Coast deployment site.
Some lawmakers are already on board. Alaska, closer to North Korea than the lower 48 states, could be an early target for attack. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R) of Alaska says that in his view the US needs to significantly step up its missile defense system. But “nobody’s talking about that,” he said in a Monitor interview last week.
The senator, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, says he hopes to soon introduce a bipartisan bill to significantly boost America’s ability to shoot down rogue missiles from North Korea or Iran.
Senator Sullivan proposes 28 more interceptors, as well as requiring the military to study having up to 100 interceptors distributed across the country.
Should North Korea successfully develop a nuclear-tipped ballistic missile, “the pressure on the president will be enormous to do something ‘militarily,’ ” says Sullivan. But if the US has a system that can, with 99.9 percent certainty, shoot down rogue missiles, with the expectation of “massive” US retaliation, then Kim Jong-un will have to “think really hard” about that, the senator says.
“Having a robust missile defense will give the president more options and breathing room,” Sullivan contends.
Cyber sabotage?
But here’s something the Pentagon doesn’t talk about: ramping up investments in interceptor rockets might not be the only US option to blunt North Korean missile development. Secret cyberattacks to disrupt Pyongyang’s missile tests might be an option as well.
In February, The New York Times reported that the Trump administration planned to continue work on an Obama-era program that charged the Pentagon with developing hacking tools to disable or misdirect launched North Korean missiles. That capability, if confirmed, could give the Defense Department a Digital Age tool to deal with the rogue state.
“[Missiles] have to be linked to a network and to a computer. That’s your entry point,” says James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and a former rapporteur for United Nations cybersecurity talks in 2015. “Breaking into somebody’s weapons systems and trying to interfere with their operations, that’s just part of warfare now.”
Indeed, the US appeared to have expanded its visibility into North Korean computer networks even before the damaging Sony Pictures hack that leaked private emails and the unreleased film The Interview in 2014, which the FBI attributed to Pyongyang’s hackers.
Classified documents disclosed to the press in 2015 indicated that the National Security Agency, with help from US allies in Asia, penetrated into North Korean networks, including devices and systems used by the country’s top hacking teams and spies. The Defense Department could also target North Korea's suspected suppliers, such as Iran, with digital attacks.
But while the Pentagon and other military agencies may be using cyberattacks to probe digitally connected weapons networks, it’s not clear that it has been the driving factor in Pyongyang’s recent spike in failed missile launches.
Even for elite hackers, targeting North Korea's missile program would be particularly complex. Unlike the Stuxnet computer worm – widely believed to have been developed by the US and Israel – that targeted Iran's central nuclear enrichment facility, a digital attack against North Korea's missile program would have to target multiple test sites and mobile batteries that Pyongyang uses to fire missiles.
“Missiles tend to blow up anyway just given how hard rocket science is,” says Adam Segal, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “To do it seconds or minutes after the launch would suggest a kind of pervasiveness in the networks and an all-seeing ability that would be very expensive and very difficult to maintain.”
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Even optimists about using hacking tools against North Korea's missile program see as one piece of a broader solution – not a silver bullet.
"The question is always probability," says CSIS's Mr. Lewis. "If they shot 100 missiles, you could probably disable some of them. You probably couldn't disable all of them." | {
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Congestion Pricing Can Help Save Working NYC Families $2,300 Per Year
Without congestion pricing, fare hikes will hit New York’s many transit-using families hard. Image: Ed Yourdon via Flickr
Without bold action from legislators to fund transit, middle-class New York families will have to spend $2,300 more per year
to get around the city even as the quality of the service they’re
paying for declines, according to a new analysis released today by John Petro of the Drum Major Institute.
The choice for policymakers, Petro writes, should be clear: Congestion pricing could raise $420 million in new annual revenue, enough to close most of the MTA’s current budget deficit and spare working New Yorkers the brunt of painful fare hikes and service cuts.
DMI is a progressive think-tank based in New York City with an explicit focus on middle class issues. Today’s report puts the economic and equity impacts of congestion pricing front and center. If the MTA tries to balance its budget with only service cuts and fare hikes, Petro estimates that a transit-dependent family of four will be forced to spend an additional $2,300 a year to get around the city.
Fully 55 percent of New Yorkers commute to work via transit. In contrast, only five percent commute into the CBD by car, and they are disproportionately affluent [PDF]. "One of the most frustrating arguments against congestion pricing is that it would disproportionately hit the middle class," said Petro. "It’s frustrating because it’s so plainly untrue." The DMI report makes a strong case for why congestion pricing is exactly the kind of policy that supports New York’s middle class.
What’s more, Petro argues, congestion pricing would be the most fiscally and environmentally responsible way to fund the MTA. Congestion pricing wouldn’t force the MTA to raid its capital budget just to keep buses and trains running and would also take 100,000 cars off the road, improving bus service for millions and reducing both greenhouse gas emissions and asthma-causing air pollution.
The MTA needs to balance its budget, one way or the other. Congestion pricing offers a fiscally sustainable and socially equitable revenue stream with major environmental benefits. That said, Petro’s numbers show that the MTA’s $783 million deficit — caused principally by declining revenues and shrinking government funding — can’t be closed solely with the $420 million that Mayor Bloomberg’s 2007 congestion pricing plan was projected to raise per year.
The details of the plan could be tweaked, however. "Some form of congestion pricing could be created to raise enough revenue to close the gap, if that’s what the goal is," Petro said. If Albany gets its act together, could congestion pricing be passed quickly enough to avert the current crisis? Petro believes it’s possible, although to get the money in time for this budget cycle, he says the MTA will have to take out an expensive short-term loan.
That’s a small price to pay when the alternative is to collect $2,300 more in fares from every transit-riding family of four in New York City. "If another source of revenue is not found, that is what we’re looking at," said Petro. | {
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A bodhrán being played at the Fleadh in Derry.
By Steven McCaffery
THE peace process is in crisis, power-sharing isn’t working, the Assembly is doomed, it’s been a deeply depressing summer: just some of the things you won’t have heard in Derry over recent days.
For while the smoke of riots hung over Belfast and as the DUP did a U-turn on plans to redevelop the Maze prison in a deepening row with Sinn Féin, the city of Derry/Londonderry was enjoying one of the best weeks of its modern history.
Official figures confirmed that close to half a million people poured into stroke-city for Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann – the annual pilgrimage of the Irish traditional music scene which drew to a close last night.
It is the first time in its 60 year history that the iconic event has come north of the Irish border and for that reason alone it was always going to be a big occasion.
But its importance to the wider political picture is that this quintessentially Irish celebration of identity and tradition was conducted under the banner of UK City of Culture and with the symbolic inclusion of members of the unionist community.
The headquarters of the loyalist Apprentice Boys was one of the venues, loyalist flute bands were included on the programme of events, and the Police Service of Northern Ireland pipe band was there.
And there was a huge Sottish contingent – nothing new for the Fleadh with its worldwide Celtic connections, but nevertheless providing another bridge to unionism’s Ulster-Scots tradition.
Derry has had a difficult past, including the violence of the Troubles and a history of clashes over parades, while the Protestant community has also regularly cited concerns over its place in the city.
But there is no doubt that efforts have been made to build relationships and life in Derry has got a lot better.
Just before the week-long Fleadh kicked off, thousands of Apprentice Boys took part in their biggest annual parade, which passed off without incident in the city.
Governor of the Apprentice Boys Jim Brownlee said that over the years people have learned to work together on issues such as parading and that dialogue has brought positive changes.
Lessons can be learned from Derry-Londonderry, even though there are no simple or easy answers to the problems facing the peace process.
The last 12 months in Northern Ireland have been pock-marked by persistent rioting, paramilitary violence and political upheaval over flags, parades and the legacy of the Troubles.
The Detail revealed here how the US government harboured fears for the peace process and in a significant move has now asked Vice President Joe Biden to monitor developments.
The outside world will be watching closely in the autumn when Stormont parties enter negotiations on dealing with their continuing divisions – though securing agreement when politicians have one eye on next year’s elections will be a tall order.
The Fleadh appeared to be a million miles from such concerns. It was on a huge scale – something which sadly will be entirely lost on those in Northern Ireland who did not attend it, or who did not see the nightly live coverage broadcast by Irish-language TV channel TG4.
The morning-after-the-night-before it’s important not to get carried away – but nevertheless the Fleadh’s success and the sharp contrast with simultaneous events elsewhere in Northern Ireland give the event some political significance.
There is a broad theory that in 1998 the Good Friday Agreement provided a political framework for the unionist and nationalist blocs to operate within, but that the current tensions relate to the two traditions jostling over the identity and culture of the emerging new society.
The Fleadh is an Irish event and will inevitably have a greater appeal to nationalists. But perhaps unionists, suspicious at the calls for the increased expression of Irish cultural identity in Northern Ireland, can glimpse how that can sit side-by-side with loyalist traditions without eroding British identity.
Perhaps it is even possible to say that such a huge cultural event makes it a little harder for dissident republicans opposed to the peace process and who have been prominent in Derry to claim that nothing is changing for nationalists.
The Fleadh may well prove to be little more than a positive blip in a year otherwise coloured by acrimony.
But there will be lots of discussion about why Derry is broadly dealing better with cultural tensions than other areas – it is at least showing what is possible and providing an example to learn from.
Recent figures show that the Catholic and Protestant populations are balancing-out in Northern Ireland which, regardless of the failings of politics, provides its own dynamic towards the ultimate emergence of a shared future.
These are times that demand a live-and-let-live attitude. Flexibility is called for. Dialogue is required.
The message of the Fleadh is simple: we need a change of tune. | {
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Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is on course to become the oldest person in history to hold the speaker's gavel now that she has secured a deal to give her at least two more years as the top House of Representatives leader.
Pelosi, now 78, will be almost 81 at the close of the 116th Congress, which ends on Jan. 3, 2021. That will make her nearly a year older than legendary Speaker Sam Rayburn, D-Texas, who died in office less than two months shy of his 80th birthday.
Pelosi will turn 80 on March 26, 2020, a little more than a year into her new speaker's term. She will achieve the milestone of oldest ever speaker on Feb. 7, 2020 — beating Rayburn's record. Pelosi will also be the first speaker since Rayburn to hold nonconsecutive terms.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is already the oldest Senate majority leader in history. He will turn 77 in February and has no plans to retire or agree to term limits. The oldest holder of the position prior to him was Sen. Mike Mansfield, D-Mont., who was 73 when he left office in 1977.
Pelosi, who entered Congress in 1987, already holds the record as the first and only woman to serve as House speaker. Her age and longevity in leadership has attracted criticism from younger members who say the top leadership team excludes fresh faces and ideas.
Her deputy, incoming Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland, is nine months older than Pelosi. He’ll be 81 at the close of the next Congress. Incoming Majority Whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina is two months younger than Pelosi.
Two records will be established when Pelosi is sworn in: She and McConnell will bring the combined ages of the leaders of the two houses of Congress to 154 years; and the combined age of the three top Democrats in the House will be 236 years and seven months.
By the end of their terms in 2020, the combined age of the Democratic leadership trio will be over 243 years — one year older than the United States is now. Pelosi and Hoyer first met when they were congressional summer interns together in 1963.
Congressional leaders will be serving with the oldest person first elected president. Donald Trump, 72, will be 78 if he is reelected and serves out two full terms — which would make him the oldest ever president, after Ronald Reagan, who was 77 when he left the White House.
Among the Democrats clamoring for someone different at the top is Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, who just turned 40, and Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York, 53.
They are among a group of insurgents who have argued the top leadership has been in power too long, depriving newer members a chance to advance.
Moulton was instrumental in securing a deal with Pelosi that would limit her to at most two more terms as speaker. Pelosi can only hang on to the gavel beyond the upcoming Congress if she can secure two-thirds majority support from her caucus.
If she pulls it off and wins an additional term, Pelosi would not surrender the speaker’s gavel until age 82 and nine months.
The term-limit proposal would apply to all top leaders and faces a February vote by the full Democratic caucus. But Pelosi said she will adhere to the limits whether the caucus votes for the rule change or not.
“I feel very comfortable about what they are proposing and it’s very responsible to do that, whether it passes or not,” Pelosi said Thursday.
Congress is one of the few places where ageism hasn’t pushed people out of top positions. In the Senate, Republican Strom Thurmond served as president pro tempore at the age of 98 and a half, although he required significant assistance from aides.
Current President Pro Tempore Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, is retiring at the end of the year at age 84 and nine months. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., 85, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee was just elected to another six-year term.
The Judiciary Committee’s chairman, who will run the Finance Committee next year, is Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who is three months younger than Feinstein.
In January, the youngest member of Congress will be freshman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 29, who backs Pelosi for speaker but has already shown she’s ready to challenge the leadership by protesting in Pelosi’s office with green advocacy groups. | {
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On Media Blog Archives Select Date… December, 2015 November, 2015 October, 2015 September, 2015 August, 2015 July, 2015 June, 2015 May, 2015 April, 2015 March, 2015 February, 2015 January, 2015
Getty Gwen Ifill dead at age 61
Gwen Ifill, the longtime PBS news anchor who had served as a co-host of the "PBS NewsHour" and as moderator of “Washington Week,” has died after a battle with cancer, PBS has confirmed. She was 61.
“It is with extremely heavy hearts that we must share that our dear friend and beloved colleague Gwen Ifill passed away this afternoon following several months of cancer treatment,” PBS NewsHour said in a statement on Monday. “She was surrounded by loving family and many friends whom we ask that you keep in your thoughts and prayers.”
"I am very sad to tell you that our dear friend and beloved colleague Gwen Ifill passed away today in hospice care in Washington," WETA President and CEO Sharon Percy Rockefeller wrote in an email to staff at the public TV station Monday. "I spent an hour with her this morning and she was resting comfortably, surrounded by loving family and friends ... Earlier today, I conveyed to Gwen the devoted love and affection of all of us at WETA/NewsHour. Let us hold Gwen and her family even closer now in our hearts and prayers."
Ifill had been absent from PBS’s election coverage last week because of ongoing health issues. She also took a leave of absence in May to address those issues.
"Gwen was a standard bearer for courage, fairness and integrity in an industry going through seismic change. She was a mentor to so many across the industry and her professionalism was respected across the political spectrum. She was a journalist's journalist and set an example for all around her," said PBS NewsHour Executive Producer Sara Just in a statement.
"So many people in the audience felt that they knew and adored her. She had a tremendous combination of warmth and authority. She was stopped on the street routinely by people who just wanted to give her a hug and considered her a friend after years of seeing her on TV. We will forever miss her terribly."
On Wednesday, Ifill was to receive the 2016 John Chancellor Award from Columbia University. A spokesperson for the university did not immediately have a comment.
Ifill, who was born in New York City, graduated from Simmons College, a women’s college located in Boston, in 1977, before beginning her career at the Boston Herald-American. She held reporting positions at the Baltimore Evening Sun, The Washington Post, The New York Times and NBC before becoming a moderator of PBS’s “Washington Week in Review” in 1999.
Ifill's first book, “The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama,” was released on the day of President Barack Obama’s first inauguration. One of the most visible African-American female broadcast journalists, she received more than 20 honorary doctorates, had been honored by the Peabody Awards, the Radio and Television News Directors Association, Harvard's Joan Shorenstein Center and the National Association of Black Journalists among others. She also served on the boards of the News Literacy Project, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and was a fellow with the American Academy of Sciences.
Ifill’s acclaimed career was also marked by the obstacles she overcame as a black woman in the news business. As an intern at the Boston Herald-American, a staffer left a note that included a racial epithet telling her to “go home”; Ifill would go on to be the only black moderator and the only woman moderating the 2004 vice presidential debate between Dick Cheney and John Edwards, and then the 2008 vice presidential debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. Ifill also moderated a primary debate between Sen. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton last year.
View Obama remembers Gwen Ifill Obama remembers Gwen Ifill on Monday.
She faced accusations of bias for not appearing excited about Palin’s speech at the Republican National Convention in 2008, and for her book about Obama, charges that PBS rejected. She once recalled to The Washington Post that a journalist asked her whether she was “in the tank” for Obama, presumably because of her race. “I’m still capable of looking at his pros and cons in a political sense,” Ifill said at the time. “No one’s ever assumed a white reporter can’t cover a white candidate.”
Ifill was outspoken about the barriers she broke through and was aware of her influence on young viewers.
"When I was a little girl watching programs like this — because that's the kind of nerdy family we were — I would look up and not see anyone who looked like me in any way," she said in a 2013 interview with The New York Times, after she and Judy Woodruff were named the first female co-anchors of NewsHour. "No women. No people of color. I'm very keen about the fact that a little girl now, watching the news, when they see me and Judy sitting side by side, it will occur to them that that's perfectly normal — that it won't seem like any big breakthrough at all.”
Ifill served on the board of the Harvard Institute of Politics and the University of Maryland’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism. She was also a board member of the Committee to Protect Journalists and the Museum of Television and Radio.
“She was a newspaper reporter through and through,” said an emotional NBC News correspondent Pete Williams as he reported on Ifill’s death on MSNBC. “She had so many rewards and awards in her office you could barely see out the window. She was one of the most successful women in journalism.”
"Gwen was a friend of ours," President Obama said at a Monday afternoon news conference. "She was an extraordinary journalist. She always kept faith with the fundamental responsibilities of her profession, asking tough questions, holding people in power accountable and defending a strong and free press that makes our democracy work. I always appreciated Gwen’s reporting, even when I was at the receiving end of one of her tough and thorough interviews. Whether she reported from a convention floor or from the field, whether she sat at the debate moderator’s table or at the anchor’s deck, she not only informed today’s citizens but she also inspired tomorrow’s journalists. She was an especially powerful role model for young women and girls who admired her integrity, tenacity and intellect and for whom she blazed a trail as one-half of the first all-female anchor team on network news. Gwen did her country a great service. Michelle and I join her family and her colleagues and everybody else who loved her in remembering her fondly today."
“We can’t expect the world to get better by itself. We have to create something we can leave the next generation,” Ifill told the Washingtonian after being named its “2015 Washingtonian of the Year.”
Hadas Gold is a reporter at Politico. | {
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Das Wort "Seitenwahl" ist ab sofort veraltet: Das sind die elf wichtigsten Regeländerungen zur neuen Saison - von Abstoß bis Zeitspiel.
Ab dem 1. Juni gelten weltweit modifizierte Fußballregeln. Das International Football Association Board (IFAB), das allein berechtigt ist, Anpassungen vorzunehmen, will mit den diesjährigen Neuerungen das Spiel "noch attraktiver und fairer" machen. Ob das gelingen wird? Ein Streifzug durch die wichtigsten geänderten Regeltexte.
Ein Spieler, der ausgewechselt wird, muss das Spielfeld über die nächste Begrenzungslinie verlassen
Damit der Ausgewechselte "keine Zeit schinden kann", wie das IFAB erklärt, muss er wie schon bei Verletzungen üblich das Spielfeld dort verlassen, wo es am schnellsten geht - es sei denn, er liegt auf einer Trage oder muss um seine Sicherheit fürchten. Das Abklatschen mit dem Einwechselspieler fällt also künftig im Normalfall aus.
Auch Trainer und Teamoffizielle können Gelb und Rot sehen
Weil entsprechende Tests erfolgreich verlaufen seien, können künftig Teamoffizielle auf oder vor der Bank "bei unsportlichem Betragen" ermahnt, verwarnt (Gelb) oder auf die Tribüne verwiesen (Rot) werden. Kann der Täter nicht eruiert werden, sieht stellvertretend der Cheftrainer die Karte.
Das Team, das den Münzwurf gewinnt, darf wählen, ob es anstößt
Die Kapitäne können sich entweder für eine Seite oder für den Anstoß entscheiden. Weil der Anstoß durch jüngste Regelanpassungen "dynamischer" geworden sei, würden sie oft Letzteres wählen, erklärt das IFAB. Die Seitenwahl gewinnen? Dieser Ausdruck ist 2019/20 nicht mehr korrekt.
Ein Schiedsrichterball erfolgt mit einem Spieler des Teams, das zuletzt in Ballbesitz war
"Damit soll der Vorteil, der vor der Unterbrechung bestand, wiederhergestellt werden", schreibt das IFAB. Bisher durften theoretisch beliebig viele Spieler um den Schiedsrichterball kämpfen, jetzt müssen abgesehen vom ausführenden Spieler alle anderen mindestens vier Meter Abstand halten.
Verändert der Schiedsrichter mit einer Ballberührung den Spielverlauf, gibt es Schiedsrichterball
Der Schiedsrichter ist künftig nicht mehr Luft: Wenn nach einer Ballberührung eines Offiziellen der Ball ins Tor geht, der Ballbesitz wechselt oder ein Angriff lanciert wird, wird die Partie unterbrochen.
Misslingt dem Torwart bei einem Rückpass der Klärungsversuch mit dem Fuß, darf er den Ball danach in die Hand nehmen
Das IFAB erklärt dazu: Sobald der Keeper "den Ball eindeutig spielt oder zu spielen versucht, darf er den Ball nach einem missglückten Klärungsversuch in die Hand nehmen, ohne dadurch ein Vergehen zu begehen, da eindeutig keine Absicht bestand, den Ball in die Hand zu nehmen".
Freistöße dürfen auch dann schnell ausgeführt werden, wenn der Referee noch Karten zeigen will
Der Schiedsrichter kann also in Zukunft Gelbe und Rote Karten auch erst bei der nächsten Spielunterbrechung zeigen, wenn die Mannschaft den fälligen Freistoß schnell ausführt und so zu einer Torchance kommt. "Es wäre unfair, diesen Angriff zu unterbinden", findet das IFAB. Allerdings ist eine schnelle Ausführung untersagt, wenn der Schiedsrichter bereits "mit dem Verfahren für die Disziplinarmaßnahme" begonnen hat.
Bei Abstößen und Freistößen im eigenen Strafraum muss der Ball den Strafraum nicht verlassen
Entscheidend ist nur noch, dass der Ball mit dem Fuß gespielt wurde und sich eindeutig bewegt. Tests hätten gezeigt, dass das Spiel dadurch "schneller und flüssiger wird", so das IFAB. Weiterhin müssen sämtliche Gegner dabei außerhalb des Strafraums bleiben und einen Abstand von mindestens 9,15 Meter einhalten.
Angreifende Spieler dürfen bei Freistößen nicht in der Mauer stehen
Wenn die Mauer aus drei oder mehr Spielern besteht, müssen die Akteure der angreifenden Mannschaft mindestens einen Meter Abstand zur Mauer einhalten - sonst gibt es einen indirekten Freistoß. Das soll Unruhe und Zeitschinderei eindämmen. Außerdem, meint das IFAB gar, verstoße das bisherige Verhalten "gegen das Wesen des Fußballs und schadet dem Ansehen der Sportart".
Torhüter müssen sich bei Elfmetern nur mit einem Fuß auf oder über der Linie befinden
Bisher hieß es lediglich, der Torwart müsse "auf der Torlinie zwischen den Pfosten bleiben, bis der Ball getreten wurde". Das hat das IFAB nun angepasst, die Regel wurde ohnehin ständig ungestraft missachtet. Künftig reicht es, wenn mindestens ein Teil seines Fußes auf oder über der Linie ist. Dies sei "zweckmäßiger und einfacher zu erkennen". Und: "Da der Spieler den Anlauf verzögern kann, ist es vertretbar, dass der Torhüter in Erwartung des Schusses einen Schritt machen darf."
Hand-Tore zählen nie - und auch unabsichtliche Handspiele können strafbar sein
Die umfassendste Regeländerung betrifft dieses Jahr das Handspiel. Neu ist zunächst: Wird ein Treffer mit Hand oder Arm erzielt, ist dieser prinzipiell irregulär. Es reicht sogar schon, wenn der Spieler mit Hand oder Arm in Ballbesitz kommt und sich so "einen klaren Vorteil verschafft", etwa zu einer Torchance kommt - ganz egal, ob das Handspiel absichtlich erfolgte oder nicht.
Absichtliche Handspiele bleiben strafbar. Unabhängig von der Absicht liegt nun aber "in der Regel" auch dann ein Vergehen vor, wenn der Spieler seine Körperfläche unnatürlich vergrößert oder wenn sich der Arm über der Schulter befindet und vom Ball touchiert wird. Das gilt auch, wenn der Ball aus kurzer Distanz kommt. Legitim ist es derweil, sich beim Fallen mit der Hand abzustützen, hier soll entsprechend kein Handspiel (mehr) gepfiffen werden. Und auch wenn der Ball vom eigenen Körper oder vom Körper eines beliebigen anderen Spielers, der sich in der Nähe befindet, an Hand oder Arm springt, sollen die Referees ab sofort nicht mehr pfeifen (wenn eben nicht auch die Körperfläche unnatürlich vergrößert oder der Arm über der Schulter ist). Der Ballkontakt sei in diesen Situationen schließlich "oft unvermeidbar", so das IFAB.
Die neuen Formulierungen sollen den Ermessensspielraum des Referees bei Handspielen einschränken. Ob sie aber auch die endlosen Diskussionen einschränken, wird sich erst noch zeigen.
Hier finden Sie die neue Handspielregel im Wortlaut... | {
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Canadian Solar Inc., together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells solar ingots, wafers, cells, modules, and other solar power products primarily under the Canadian Solar brand name. The company operates through two segments, Module and System Solutions, and Energy. Its products include various solar modules that are used in residential, commercial, and industrial solar power generation systems. The company also provides specialty solar products consisting of Andes Solar Home System, an off-grid solar system that provides an economical source of electricity to homes and communities without access to grid; and Maple Solar System, a clean energy solution for families, as well as solar system kits, which are a ready-to-install packages that consist inverters, racking systems, and other accessories. In addition, it develops, builds, and sells solar power projects; performs engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) work for solar power projects; and offers operation and maintenance services that include inspection, repair, and replacement of plant equipment, site management, and administrative support services. Further, the company generates and sells electricity through its solar plants with an aggregate capacity of approximately 1,211.1 megawatts. Canadian Solar Inc. offers its products to distributors, system integrators, project developers, and installers/EPC companies. The company has operations in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia, and Asia. Canadian Solar Inc. was founded in 2001 and is based in Guelph, Canada.
Read More | {
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Ubisoft has revealed how many copies it wants to sell of both Watch Dogs and The Crew
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Speaking during an investor conference call , the company spoke at length about its hopes for the delayed games For the hack-centric Watch Dogs, Ubisoft is predicting sales of 6.2 million units. While this is fairly high, the strong pre-order numbers referenced this morning suggest that the company believes this to be a realistic goal.When it comes to The Crew, the developer has more modest expectations of 2.5 million units. This is supposedly due to the title having "a more limited potential" due to the fact it's a racing game, as well as the fact it's only coming to PS4, Xbox One and PC, compared to Watch Dogs multiplatform sweep.For other details from the investor call, check out this morning's post about Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Rayman Legends both underperforming in terms of sales figures
Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Junior Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter | {
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WHAT if we told you the Big Bang was a myth?
That's right. Everything we know about the universe may be wrong.
Cosmologists have speculated that the universe was created after a star collapsed into a black hole - a theory that helps to explain why it seems to be expanding in all directions.
The Big Bang theory suggests that the universe was created from a single point in the universe but despite years of research, nobody yet knows what triggered the eruption.
It also fails to explain why the Universe has an "almost completely uniform temperature."
"There does not seem to have been enough time since the birth of the cosmos for it to have reached temperature equilibrium," researchers explain in the scientific journal, Nature.
Astrophysicists from the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada have released a paper discussing a previous theory out of Germany that posited that the universe is a three-dimensional "membrane" floating through a four-dimensional "bulk universe".
A bulk universe is a very complicated concept out of string theory that puts forward the idea that space is a plane of infinite dimensions through which other planes of infinite dimensions float.
The team claimed that if the "bulk universe" contained four dimensional stars, some of them could collapse and cause black holes in the same way that stars in our universe do - they turn in supernovae, ejecting their outerlayers while their inner layers collapse into the black hole.
Black holes in our universe are spherical in shape and possess some kind of "membrane" that keep them that way. These "membranes" are known as "event horizons". Anything that passes through this event horizon is done for, because the gravitational pull is so great it makes escape impossible. In our universe only a two dimensional object is capable of becoming an event horizon within a black hole, Nature explained. Whereas in a bulk universe, the event horizon of a four dimensional black hole would have to be three dimensional, known as a "hypersphere".
Confused yet? We don't blame you.
In a nutshell this means that a star floating through a multidimensional plane got sucked into a black hole, half of it got swallowed up and the other half that survived spawned the creation of the universe.
The fact that our universe is expanding in all directions could be a sign simply of cosmic expansion, rather than as the origin of the universe itself, the researchers suggest.
"Astronomers measured that expansion and extrapolated back that the Universe must have begun with a Big Bang - but that is just a mirage," said team member Niayesh Afshordi.
However, the theory has some holes. (Get it, holes?)
So far it doesn't entirely answer how the expansion of the universe occurred.
The European Space Agency recorded slight fluctuations in the temperature of the universe and found that the cosmos contained imprints of radiation that matched predictions made in the Big Bang theory. Obviously this creates a discrepancy in the astrophysicists' research.
The scientists say they're going back to the drawing board to adjust their model.
Stay tuned. Everything we may know about the universe may be wrong. | {
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This article is an excerpt from “Digital Gold: How Bitcoin Can Become a Mainstream Investment,” included in the Q4 2015 issue of the Finance Magnates Quarterly Industry Report.
Recent advances in the way we invest in bitcoin have had a profound effect in contributing to the newfound stability. Until recently, bitcoin trading has been conducted solely in unregulated marketplaces. This meant that price manipulation, “pumps & dumps”, flash crashes and a variety of irrational behavior could take place, unpoliced and unimpeded. There were no assurances as to whether reported trades were conducted by real people, if the exchange was merely trading with itself, or if they ever happened at all.
This changed significantly in 2015. The introduction of virtual currency regulations i.e. the “BitLicense” in New York State has changed the way Bitcoin businesses can operate in the world’s financial capital. The regulations are highly controversial; they be loosely viewed as separating between the large, well-capitalized Bitcoin companies, some of which welcomed the regulations, and small startups, many of which opposed them.
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Interestingly, only one Bitcoin company- Circle Internet Financial- has secured a BitLicense to date. Two bitcoin exchanges, itBit and Gemini, have exempted themselves from the regulations by securing trust charters, allowing them to operate as licensed financial institutions in all 50 states. Both exchanges target institutional clients, who may have been waiting on the sidelines of the Bitcoin race till now, with their venues.
Ryder Taff, Portfolio Manager at Ridgeland, Massachusetts-based New Perspectives, believes that the development of regulated bitcoin trading for institutions and the increasing stability are no coincidence.
Suggested articles ForexTB Set to Launch New Innovative Trading PlatformGo to article >>
“Institutional market participants will likely be more conservative, and behave in such a way to keep the price more stable. Institutions value stability and predictability and will bring that to the market. As much as bitcoin enthusiasts like to talk about putting the power in the hands of individuals, institutions will bring a lot of experience and resources to the bitcoin market. While innovative ideas do come from individuals, large organizations are the ones with the capability to implement new ideas,” he told Finance Magnates.
He suggested that the involvement of institutions in trading, at least for now, would be relegated to activities carrying a minimal level of risk. “Much of the institutional activity in bitcoin will likely be low risk market making activity for the time being (again, contributing to stability),” he said.
itBit, originally based in Singapore, moved to New York specifically to come under the umbrella of regulation, which it was preparing for well before BitLicense rules were even drafted. It brought on board a number of former regulatory officials and invested heavily in becoming compliant with whatever regulatory framework would emerge.
Gemini was founded by Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, early bitcoin investors better known for the legal spat with Mark Zuckerberg over intellectual property rights to Facebook. They hired top security and regulatory talent to build a New York-based bitcoin exchange geared toward conventional investors. “Everyday we are onboarding more and more traditional financial institutions who are only willing and able to work with regulated bitcoin exchanges,” Cameron told Finance Magnates. “The ‘institutionalization’ of bitcoin trading is most definitely happening as we speak.”
The Winklevoss twins previously applied to launch an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that would track bitcoin’s value as traded on various bitcoin exchanges. The ETF would be listed on Nasdaq under the symbol COIN. However, the product has been pending approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for over two years.
This article is an excerpt from an analysis included in the Q4 2015 issue of the Finance Magnates Quarterly Industry Report. To get the full article and other research products, contact our sales team at: [email protected] | {
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Chaining multiple installers with the Desktop App Converter
09/11/2017
8 minutes to read
In this article
One of the key requirements of an app package deployed from the Store is that it must be self-contained: the application must run without asking to the user to manually install a set of libraries, a framework or a runtime. If this requirement is easy to satisfy with a regular UWP application, since they fully rely on the Universal Windows Platform that ships with Windows 10, it isn’t necessarily the case when it comes to desktop applications packaged with the Desktop Bridge. These applications, in fact, can be developed using also non-Microsoft technologies, like Java or Electron, or rely on a specific version of a library (like a specific version of DirectX or of the Visual Studio C++ runtime), which aren’t built-in in the operating system.
To solve this problem, usually traditional desktop installers include in the setup process of the application also the installer of the dependency or they trigger a remote download and a separate installation process. However, a Desktop Bridge application can’t use this approach: all the dependencies and required files should be included in the package and installed when the user downloads the app from the Store. The application can’t trigger, when it starts, the execution of a separate installer.
However, in many cases, these frameworks or libraries can’t simply be included as standalone inside the package, because the application looks for them in system folders like Windows, System32, Program Files, etc. To solve this scenario, the Desktop Bridge supports the concept of Virtual File System. Inside a package you can create a folder called VFS, which contains multiple folders that maps the various system folders, by following the naming schema described in the documentation at https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/uwp/porting/desktop-to-uwp-behind-the-scenes#file-system
System location Redirected location under [Package/VFS] Valid on architectures FOLDERID_SystemX86 SystemX86 x86, amd64 FOLDERID_System SystemX64 amd64 FOLDERID_ProgramFilesX86 ProgramFilesX86 x86, amd6 FOLDERID_ProgramFilesX64 ProgramFilesX64 amd64 FOLDERID_ProgramFilesCommonX86 ProgramFilesCommonX86 x86, amd64 FOLDERID_ProgramFilesCommonX64 ProgramFilesCommonX64 amd64 FOLDERID_Windows Windows x86, amd64 FOLDERID_ProgramData Common AppData x86, amd64 FOLDERID_System\catroot AppVSystem32Catroot x86, amd64 FOLDERID_System\catroot2 AppVSystem32Catroot2 x86, amd64 FOLDERID_System\drivers\etc AppVSystem32DriversEtc x86, amd64 FOLDERID_System\driverstore AppVSystem32Driverstore x86, amd64 FOLDERID_System\logfiles AppVSystem32Logfiles x86, amd64 FOLDERID_System\spool AppVSystem32Spool x86, amd64
Whenever the user will launch your application, Windows will look for the dependencies in the VFS folder first. This approach helps also to solve the problem known as “DLL Hell”, which is very frequent in the desktop world. The term refers to the fact that you may have installed on your computer multiple applications that depends by the same framework or set of libraries. Since they are installed system-wide, all the applications will use the same one. However, this can cause issues if you have, for example, Application A which requires Framework X 1.0, while Application B requires Framework X 2.0. The more recent version can contain, in fact, breaking changes that could lead to Application A to stop working properly or to have issues we aren’t aware of, because we have never tested our application against it.
Thanks to the Virtual File System, each application will leverage its own specific version of the framework or the libraries. This way, if we install an application that requires a more recent version, it won’t break the already installed ones, since they will continue to leverage the libraries embedded in the package and not the system-wide version.
The easiest way to create the proper VFS structure required by the application is to use the Desktop App Converter. As you’ll probably know, this tool runs the traditional desktop installer of your application inside a container, it detects all the changes performed by the setup process (file system, registry keys, etc.) and exports the result into a Universal Windows Package. One of the changes detected by the tool are exactly dependencies: in these cases, the correct VFS infrastructure is automatically recreated inside the package, allowing the application to leverage it in the right way so that it doesn’t require a system-wide version installed on the user’s computer.
However, not all the desktop installers support this feature: there are many scenarios where the user is asked to manually install a dependency before starting the application. For these scenario, there’s an easy solution: chain multiple installers using a single batch file and then use it as a starting point of the Desktop App Converter.
Let’s see a real example!
Creating the batch file
As a sample for this scenario, I’m going to simulate that my application has a dependency from the Visual C++ runtime, specifically from version 10.0. Why using such an old version? If you are a regular reader of this blog, you’ll probably know that Visual C++ libraries are distributed by Microsoft also as Store packages. As such, as we have learned in another post, if your application has a dependency from them, you can simply declare it in the manifest file, like in the following sample:
<Dependencies> <TargetDeviceFamily Name="Windows.Desktop" MinVersion="10.0.14393.0" MaxVersionTested="10.0.15063.0" /> <PackageDependency Name="Microsoft.VCLibs.110.00.UWPDesktop" MinVersion="11.0.24217.0" Publisher="CN=Microsoft Corporation, O=Microsoft Corporation, L=Redmond, S=Washington, C=US" /> <PackageDependency Name="Microsoft.VCLibs.140.00.UWPDesktop" MinVersion="14.0.24217.0" Publisher="CN=Microsoft Corporation, O=Microsoft Corporation, L=Redmond, S=Washington, C=US" /> </Dependencies>
This way, when the user installs the application from the Store, if he doesn’t have the Visual C++ libraries on his machine, Windows will take care of automatically downloading them too. However, the Store offers three versions of the library: 11.0, 12.0 and 14.0. As you can see, 10.0 isn’t supported and, as such, we need to use another approach to include it. This approach is exactly using the VFS folder. However, in a real scenario I faced working with a customer, we didn’t have an installer as a starting point, so the first tentative we did was to manually recreate the VFS folder and copy the dependencies from my Windows installation. However, it wasn’t an easy task: we haven’t been able to find a comprehensive list of all the DLLs copied by the Visual C++ runtime installer and the exact location where they are placed. As such, we were stuck in getting an error every the application was launched.
Thanks to a suggestion from Adam Braden from the Dev Platform team, we’ve been able to find a workaround that allowed us to move on and get the packaged application up & running: chain installers. The Desktop App Converter, in fact, doesn’t support just regular installers like a MSI file, but you can pass as –Installer parameter also a batch file. The tool will simply execute all the commands inside the file and then will export the changes. As such, I’ve first downloaded a simple free application (7-zip), in order to have a real setup process that could be executed inside the container, and then I’ve created a batch file that takes care of installing first the application and then VC++ runtime. Here is how the batch files look like:
msiexec /i "7z1701-x64.msi" /quiet /qn /norestart vcredist_x86.exe /q /norestart
As you can see, it’s simply a plain text file (which you’ll need to save with the .bat extension) that invokes the two installations, one after the other. The only difference compared to when we use the Desktop App Converter directly on a MSI installer is that, in this case, we have to manually specify the parameters which are required to perform a silent installation ( /quiet /qn /norestart). Since the DAC will receive, as input, a batch file and not a MSI one, it won’t be able to apply automatically these parameters.
Now that you have created the batch file, you simply need to run the Desktop App Converter as usual. The only difference is that the –Installer parameter will point to the batch file and not to a traditional setup, like in the following sample:
DesktopAppConverter -Installer "C:\Users\mpagani\Desktop\VCRedist\setup.bat" -Destination "C:\VCRedist-AppX" -PackageName "VCRedist" -Publisher "CN=mpagani" -Version "1.0.0.0" -Verbose
The DAC will run as usual: the only difference will happen under the hood. After spinning up the container, in fact, the tool will execute the batch file inside it, which will trigger the two installations, one after the other. Only when both of them are completed, the container will be stopped and the tool will export all the changes that have been applied, which will be a merge of the 7-Zip and the VC++ runtime installations. If you open the VFS folder stored inside the PackageFiles folder, which is created in the path that you have set in the –Destination parameter, you will see that our batch worked: the root of the package will contain the 7-zip application’s files, but also a VFS entry with two subfolders that map the system folders where the VC++ runtime has been installed (in this case, ProgramFilesCommonX86 which maps the system folder C:\Program Files (x86) and SystemX86, which maps the system folder C:\Windows\System32).
Thanks to this approach, I’ve been able to understand that, under the hood, the VC++ runtime installs more DLLs in the system than the ones I was trying to manually copy at the beginning of the process. After converting the batch file, it was easy to solve the problem: I just copied the whole content of the VFS folder inside the package of the developer I was working with and the application, this time, started to work as expected.
Wrapping up
In this post I used a “fake” setup combined with the dependency I needed (the VC++ 10 runtime) because I had a different scenario, but of course this approach works fine also when you have an installer you need to convert, but it has some dependencies which are expected to be manually downloaded from the user and, as such, they aren’t included as part of the setup process. Just create a batch that installs the dependency first and then the real application and pass it as –Installer parameter of the Desktop App Converter: if everything works as expected, you will end up with a completely self-contained version of the application. Remember, in these scenarios, to always make sure to:
Read the license of the framework / library / runtime to understand if you are allowed to perform this kind of repackaging and distribution. Keep the framework / library / runtime up-to-date, especially when vendors release security updates, which are critical to keep the application safe. This is a general rule that applies to every application that uses a 3rd party component. Every time a new update is released, you should incorporate it in the VFS folder of the package and test your application, to make sure that everything continues to work as expected. Then, submit the new package with the updated framework on the Dev Center or distribute it using an enterprise tool, so that every user of your application will automatically get it.
Happy conversion! | {
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Economical Japanese cars have had an epochal relationship with India, but Suzuki’s latest foray into what is one of the world’s fastest growing economies is even cheaper, and a lot tastier. The auto major is teaming up with Japan’s leading egg manufacturer, ISE Foods, to bring the latter’s protein-packed offerings to India’s billion-plus consumers. Globally, ISE’s chickens lay about 20 million eggs a day. The company has been in business for over 100 years and has major operations in the U.S., China and ASEAN countries. And it is now counting on its chickens hatching in India.
The Suzuki-ISE venture in India has recently signed memoranda of agreement to begin operating two poultry farms, the smaller one in Surat, Gujarat, and the larger 1.2 million-strong chicken farm in Siddipet, Telangana. Operations should begin in a few months.
Takashi Shimada, who is assisting ISE’s entry into India, says the potential for growth is huge. In India, about one egg per week is consumed per capita, compared to one egg per day, per capita in Japan. The company isn’t worried about the reputation of Indians as egg-shunning vegetarians. Its research shows that in States like Andhra Pradesh, over 98% of people are non-vegetarian and even in Gujarat, a traditional bastion of the egg-averse, about 40% of residents will happily eat an omelet on offer. That’s a lot of eggs given that Gujarat’s 62 million people are equal to about 50% of Japan’s entire population.
ISE’s egg production process is amongst the most hygienic in the world, almost fully automated — right from the laying of eggs to their collection and eventual sorting. The chickens are completely antibiotic-free and the eggs are transported from the farms to the factories within 24 hours.
In India, antibiotics are widely used in the poultry sector as growth promoters, even though this practice is illegal in many parts of the world. Salmonella poisoning through eggs is also rampant, a bacterial infection that ISE claims to have eliminated by ensuring that its eggs are maintained at low temperatures, even during the crucial distribution stage.
The Japanese certainly love eggs, and like with many food items, it is common to eat them raw, freshly broken over a bowl of hot rice, or in soup, an indication of how much confidence the public has in egg safety. But Japan’s love affair with eggs is relatively new, dating to the Edo period (1603-1867), before which eggs were used primarily for medicinal purposes or as sacred offerings. Diets change with economic development, and ISE believes that a major shift in India’s food consumption patterns is in the offing, equivalent to the boom years in post-Second World War Japan.
Converting eggs to art
ISE’s Tokyo office is decorated not only with rows of model egg cartons, but also priceless works of oval-shaped art. The company’s chairman, Hikonobu Ise, is in fact one of Japan’s leading collectors of art and antiquities, with a published biography titled Selling Eggs to Buy Picassos.
Whether or not Mr. Ise acquires some Indian art is a development the art world will be keeping an eye out for. In the meantime, ISE has diversified into the sporting world, with an agreement to supply premium eggs for free to the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy until the Tokyo Olympic Games in 2020. “We love P.V. Sindhu here,” said Mr. Shimada.
In India, ISE hopes to get the eggs rolling with an initial output of four billion a year, priced at the higher end, for hygiene-conscious city slickers. A bit of Japan on the breakfast table seems imminent.
Pallavi Aiyar is an author and journalist based in Tokyo | {
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(This post was written after the author visited Jeju Loveland was originally published in 2010. Now it has been updated for accuracy and content in 2017).
Attention: Before you start scrolling down to 24 of the best photographs of Jeju Loveland in Korea, be warned… If you’re under 18, in the office (NSFW), classroom or next to your great Auntie who’s a bit conservative, come back later! If you’re easily offended or have a weak heart, also click away for good.
In our opinion, none of the images from the Jeju Loveland or the sex museum are distasteful or disgusting in any way. Most of them are fun and lively, probably suitable for younger than 18, after all its only what they get taught about in school right? Anyway, warning over, don’t say we didn’t tell you!
Quick & helpful facts before visiting:
Loveland is on an island in South Korea and involves a short flight from the mainland.
Round trip flights from Seoul are around $100.
After that, it’s only a 10-minute drive from the Jeju Island airport.
Entry is less than $10.
A full walk around the park can be completed in under an hour.
The park opening time is from 9 am to 12 pm.
Loveland is open all year round.
Entry is only permitted to people over 20 NOT 18.
There are a recreation and play area just outside for kids to wait and perhaps adults take in turns in the park, depending on the age of the children.
The parks telephone number: +82-64-712-6988.
Have you visited an erotic theme park?
Jeju Loveland is an outdoor erotic sculpture park on Jeju Island. Jeju Island was already a popular destination for honeymooners, being the southernmost and therefore the warmest region in South Korea even before this park was built. The park is focused on the theme of sex and featuring sculptures representing (mostly) humans in various sexual positions.
This sex park is a bit of an anomaly in the Korean culture. Koreans seem conservative and almost restrained sexually. This is the case in public, of course, what people do in their own homes with the lights off is probably similar around the world!
Loveland on Jeju Island is touted as the only sexual theme park in Korea, although I can’t think of any other’s in the world. They’ve managed to pull it off though, it’s fun, arty, cultural and just erotic enough to be a great honeymoon destination. (Don’t think that you can get fruity among the sculptures and that no-one would notice, that is prohibited!)
The history of Jeju Loveland:
The entire park is designed around a lake that contains a statue of two pairs of upside-down legs entangled around each other. Loveland started way back in 2002, when 20 artists, graduates of Hongik University in Seoul, started creating what would form to be Korea’s only sexual theme park.
In total, 140 different sculptures and works of art were created, ranging from the huge outdoor statues to the small display cabinets in the sex museum section.
The idea behind the project was to highlight “the natural beauty of sexuality” and “break the traditional taboos surrounding sex”. We think that they did a pretty good job indeed.
It has elements such as large phallus statues and hands-on exhibits such as a “masturbation-cycle.” Sensual sculptures adorn the borders of the lake, ranging from two fully-dressed lovers who are leaning over and kissing discreetly, to a collection of descriptive sexual positions seemingly based on cultures around the world.
Interesting fun facts about South Korea:
In the 1970s the police used to go around in the street measuring the ladies skirts to make sure they were long enough!
Online porn is banned in S.Korea. Not making it, viewing it!
After the Korean war, citizens weren’t allowed to travel overseas, until 1988!
Other things to do in Jeju Loveland:
Inside the park there’s: | {
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For some states, the results weren't pretty. A full 50% of Illinoisians said they'd like to skedaddle, while similar percentages claimed the same in Connecticut and Maryland. Forty-three percent of Nevadans said the same. Rhode Islanders, New Jerseyans, New Yorkers and folks from Massachusetts and Louisiana also polled at least 40%. Mississippians clocked in at 39%.
But... Don't overstate the results. The states that scored best still had a 23% dissatisfaction rate. To some extent, the results reflect the natural mobility of a fluid, growing population. Furthermore, very few people actually said they were likely to move. (In Nevada, Illinois and Arizona, almost 1 in 5 people were planning to get out in the next year.) Nationally, just 6% of respondents said that they were extremely or very likely to move.
More data: Because this is Gallup, they did us the courtesy of sorting out why people want to move. For the most part, it's for work or business-related concerns, perhaps indicating a weak local economy, but family and friends come in at a close second. One major outlier is New York, where 1 in 5 people who said they were planning to move cited cost of living as their primary complaint. (Numbeo.com reports the average price of a mid-range restaurant meal for two is $80, while utilities for a 915-square foot apartment average $153.36.)
Illinois, apparently, has depressing weather and location. And nearly a full 50% of South Carolinians and Mississippians had to move for work reasons, maybe indicating a lack of steady work. Meanwhile, a small number of people find taxes hard to stomach in New York, Illinois and Maryland.
Image Credit (all above): Gallup
Do the results match up to what other polls about states say? To some extent, yes, actually. Here's how the 2013 Gallup/Healthways Well-Being Index ranks states according to their overall quality of life:
Image Credit: Healthways
Of the top five states of people who want to move (Illinois, Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada and Rhode Island), only one, Maryland, ranked above the third quintile. And of the states which reported the fewest residents looking to get out (Montana, Hawaii, Maine, Oregon and New Hampshire), three were in the top quintile, one was in the second, and one, Oregon, was in the third.
Wide stretches of the South rank in the bottom quintile, but just two (Mississippi and Louisiana) were in the top 10 states with outbound populations. Who knows why — perhaps Southern populations don't have the resources or desire to move.
And for what it's worth, Montana is sounding like a great place to live on both metrics. | {
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“Gender fraud” — when people misrepresent their birth gender to potential sexual mates — likewise remains a gray area. Sean O’Neill was convicted of gender fraud in Colorado in 1996, and five people have been convicted in the United Kingdom since 2012.
While there are laws to protect against “catfishing,” or online impersonation, they typically focus on identity theft for financial gain or fraud, said Brad Shear, a lawyer in Bethesda, Md., who specializes in sexual privacy and cybersecurity law.
But what happens when there’s no financial gain? That depends on where you live. In some states, “If you pretend to be a particular person such as Tom Brady and the other person is relying on that claim to consent to sex, that may be deemed a sexual assault,” said Mr. Shear.
In Iowa in April 2015, Michael Kelso-Christy, who was 23 at the time, created a fake Facebook account under the name of a man who had attended his high school. He messaged several women under this name, and one woman actually met him at her home, where she was waiting for him blindfolded, per his request. They had sex, and he left. Soon after, his Facebook account disappeared and he stopped messaging her. That’s when the woman realized he was an impostor, and called the police.
After an appeal by Mr. Kelso-Christy, Chief Justice Mark Cady ultimately ruled in the woman’s favor, noting that Mr. Kelso-Christy had denied her the “‘freedom of choice’ that breathes life into our sexual abuse statutes.” He was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
But the law remains fuzzy in many locales.
Some worry that legislating deception is a slippery slope, because where do you draw the line? Is it deception if a woman dates two men concurrently and they don’t know about each other? Or what if you inject Botox into your crow’s feet and say you are younger than you are, or say “I love you” in order to have sex, but don’t mean it? In 2014, a sexual assault by fraud bill was introduced in New Jersey after a woman was impregnated by a man who falsely claimed to be a British spy. The bill went nowhere.
In February 2018, Donald Ward was acquitted in the Indiana case and his record expunged. Kirk Freeman, his lawyer, argued that lying and deceit didn’t count as rape. In January of this year, legislators introduced two bills that added a definition of deception to Indiana’s rape law, and also defined any sexual activity as rape if there was no consent. Neither bill was heard. | {
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A woman in southern India may have just set a mother of a record by giving birth to twins in her 70s.
Mangayamma Yaramati ― whose age has been reported as both 73 and 74 ― gave birth on Thursday to two little girls who were conceived via in vitro fertilization, according to news outlets.
Doctors delivered the girls via Caesarean section in what was the culmination of Yaramati’s 57-year marriage to her husband Sitarama Rajarao, who is in his 80s.
“We tried many times and saw numerous doctors, so this is the happiest time of my life,” she told the BBC.
The twins were conceived through IVF, with Rajarao’s sperm fertilizing a donor egg because Yaramati had experienced menopause, doctors told the Hindustan Times.
But it wasn’t a smooth experience by any means. A day after Yarameti gave birth, Rajarao suffered a stroke and was still being treated in the hospital.
Sankkayala Uma Shankar, the doctor who delivered the babies, told The Washington Post that Yarameti had a birth certificate that said she is 74.
Those involved in the delivery claim this makes Yarameti the world’s oldest mother, but the newspaper pointed out that her age was not immediately verifiable.
If Yarameti’s age can be proven, she would become the oldest woman to give birth, according to Guinness World Records, beating out Barcelona’s Maria del Carmen Bousada Lara, who gave birth to twin boys in September 2006 at the age of 66 years and 358 days. However, the BBC noted that another woman thought to be in her 70s gave birth to a boy in India in 2016.
But even if the births don’t set a world record, they’ve definitely started a controversy in India’s medical community, with some experts opposed to IVF for someone of Yaramati’s age. | {
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Britain is doubling its support to help developing countries reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and help people adapt to the impacts of climate change.
The government’s Green Climate Fund (GCF) supports projects to protect and preserve natural habitats in the developing world, including in the Amazon where wildfires are destroying large areas of the forest.
The Department for International Development and Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) have pledged to contribute £1.44bn to the GCF over the next four years.
Existing GCF projects are estimated to help around 300 million people cope with the effects of climate change and reduce the equivalent of 1.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide.
That’s equivalent to taking around 300 million cars off the road over a year or every plane out of the sky for 18 months.
The World Bank estimates 100 million people are at risk of being pushed into poverty by 2030 if action isn’t taken to tackle climate change.
Business and Energy Secretary Andrea Leadsom said: “I am delighted that the UK is leading the world in a fight against climate change. Having committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050, we have a responsibility to help other countries do the same.
“The Green Climate Fund has supported millions of people in developing countries deal with the impacts of a changing climate. I’m really proud to announce that we are doubling our contribution to work with other nations to tackle this global issue.”
More than 40 countries are currently funding projects through the GCF, many alongside the private sector. | {
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Members of Congress on Thursday were almost compelled to relive House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s marathon floor speech from the night before, over a procedural glitch.
This played out when the House was taking an otherwise routine vote to approve the “Journal,” or the record of the prior day’s proceedings.
But on Thursday, a number of Republicans voted against approving the record – because they didn’t want to approve the eight-hour, record-breaking speech by Pelosi in which she railed against budget talks that didn’t include a firm commitment to address ‘dreamers,’ young illegal immigrants who came to the U.S. as children.
The GOP objections to the Journal, though, could have caused a problem – the House can’t move on to other business without approving that log.
Failure to approve the Journal would have triggered a vote to, in turn, require the entire document – including Pelosi’s eight-hour presentation in full – to be read aloud in the chamber.
Doing so could have, in turn, sidelined vital votes on a budget plan to avert a looming government shutdown.
But cooler heads prevailed on the House floor. The House voted to approve the Journal 208-194, with two members voting present. A total of 96 Republicans and 98 Democrats voted nay. | {
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wifi signal doesnt reach the bathroom neither does cell signal | {
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The following changes are in the “1.36.0.7-rc1” CS:GO Beta depot.
[GAMEPLAY]
– Updated version of de_dust2 added.
– Improved de_nuke bot navigation.
[AUDIO]
– Unique jump landing sounds for all major surfaces.
– Unique sounds for picking up weapons, grenades and ammo.
– Unique bullet impact sounds for vehicles and barrels.
– re-balanced music kit volume to be more in-line with the overall game volume.
– Improved resolution and quality of HRTF algorithm. | {
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It’s another steamy day on the outskirts of Houston, Texas. The temperatures are hovering just above 90˚ F, and my car’s air conditioning is struggling to keep up. The engine, probably laboring under the strain of the AC compressor, is groaning loudly as I hurtle down a backroad past cattle ranches and cotton fields. I’m on my way to see a promising first step in what might be our best hope for reversing climate change—not just reducing our carbon emissions, but removing CO 2 from the atmosphere. Suburban Houston is perhaps the least likely place to kick off the carbon-negative revolution. Sprawling over hundreds of square miles of south Texas’s coastal plains, the metropolitan region is bound together by cheap gas and massive ten-lane expressways flanked by three-lane access roads that feed strip mall after strip mall, each less distinguishable than the last, their parking lots brimming with full-size trucks and SUVs. But soon, over the long horizon, under a hazy, cotton-candy sky, the near future resolves itself. Rising beneath the four towering smoke stacks of W.A. Parish—the nation’s largest fossil fuel plant—is a more modest tangle of beams and pipes known as Petra Nova. When finished, NRG’s newest five-acre chemistry kit will draw a portion of the exhaust from Unit 8, a 610-megawatt coal-fired electric generator, remove 90% of its carbon dioxide, compress the greenhouse gas, and send it to be stored in an oilfield some 80 miles to the southwest. Unit 8 at NRG's W.A. Parish plant will soon be hooked up to a carbon capture system. Petra Nova will capture 1.6 million tons of CO 2 annually, and by itself, it’s not going to do much to alleviate climate change. But the technology it uses could someday—soon perhaps—transform the dirtiest coal power plants into terraforming machines that could rein in today’s runaway CO 2 levels. In other words, by the end of this century, this coal plant, or one very much like it, could be saving the planet. But can we build enough of them in time?
Capturing Carbon The road to the Petra Nova field office is lined with imposing steel cubes and half-finished metal frames. Cherry pickers hoist workers to dizzying heights as portable generators and compressors thrum below. I park my car and step out into the sweltering sun where I’m greeted by John Ragan, president of both NRG’s Gulf Coast region and the company’s Carbon360 business group. Ragan is a veteran of the Gulf Coast oil and gas industry, and even in his crisp white shirt and pressed slacks he seems perfectly comfortable in the heat, humidity, and organized chaos that define Southern construction sites. After a brief chat inside the mercifully air conditioned field office, we head out for a tour of the plant with Ragan, Jim Tharp, senior director at NRG overseeing construction here, and Dave Knox, senior director of communications for the company. Coal-fired power plants may seem imposingly complex from the roadside, but they’re surprisingly simple. Pulverized coal is fed into the boiler and burned, turning water into steam which powers a turbine that turns a generator. Even the pollution control equipment is straightforward. In one chamber, giant bags—similar to those in a vacuum cleaner—trap particulates from the exhaust gas. In another, limestone slurry is mixed with the exhaust to react with sulfur dioxide, which produces gypsum.
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Carbon capture systems are just as simple. At Petra Nova, exhaust gas flows into a 320-foot-tall tower packed with a dense thicket of metal that’s drenched in an amine solution. The CO 2 reacts with water and the NH 2 of the amine to produce bicarbonate (HCO 3 – ). The solution is then pumped to a 180-foot-tall regenerator—delivered from Korea last week in one piece—which heats up the amine to release the CO 2 . The gas is then compressed and injected underground into an oil field to push out more crude. (When the goal isn’t oil production, it’s stored in deep saline aquifers.) Work on Petra Nova started in 2009 after the company was awarded a $167 million grant from the Department of Energy, a little more than 10% of the demonstration plant’s estimated $1 billion price tag. “That really gave us the momentum to move forward,” Ragan says. That momentum would soon be tested. In the early days of the Obama administration, when Democrats still controlled the House of Representatives and had a simple majority in the Senate, it was a foregone conclusion that CO 2 emissions would be regulated in some fashion, most likely through a cap-and-trade program where utilities and other polluters could swap or buy emissions permits to stay under a legally mandated cap. A bill was introduced in the House, but it never made it to the Senate floor.
“A large part of what’s holding carbon capture and storage back is around the carbon price.”
“When we started planning this, everyone assumed there would eventually be a price on carbon. Then there wasn’t,” Ragan says. “Our CEO David Crane told us to figure out how to make this work without a price on carbon.” John Ward, managing director of Vivid Economics, a London-based consultancy, says that the lack of a price on carbon has scuttled a lot of similar projects. “A large part of what’s holding carbon capture and storage back is around the carbon price,” he says. For the technology to succeed, he adds, the price needs to be “sufficiently strong and reliable to make really quite significant capital investments.” For NRG, the trick was finding someone willing to pay for the excess CO 2 . This being Texas, there was a nearby oilfield that could use the gas to squeeze more crude from the rock. The partnership will make Petra Nova profitable, but burning the extra oil it helps extract will counter the climate benefit of the CO 2 it stores. The Petra Nova demonstration plant, then, represents something of a hedge. For now, without regulatory or economic incentives to capture the carbon simply for storage, the project doesn’t make financial sense for NRG. But Ragan believes that’s likely to change. “We’re going to live in a carbon constrained world,” he says. “We have to do something with our existing coal power plants.” From Neutral to Negative There is something else that power companies can do with their existing coal power plants, and that’s burn biomass. While burning coal releases CO 2 inhaled by plants millions of years ago, burning fresh biomass captures CO 2 that’s circulating today. The idea isn’t new—power companies have been burning biomass for more than 20 years. Currently, there’s about 16.1 GW of biomass generating capacity in the U.S., or about 1.4% of the total . Some of that is burned in pure biomass plants, the rest in so-called co-fired plants that mix biomass with fossil fuels. From a climate perspective, biomass energy is appealing because it burns plants, which suck CO 2 out of the atmosphere as a part of everyday life. We don’t need to build specialized structures to capture CO 2 —we can let plants do it for us. Wood pellets are frequently used as sources of biomass for power plants. When done right, burning biomass is almost carbon neutral, where the amount of CO 2 it emits is balanced by the CO 2 plants absorb. The caveat is that the biomass has to be appropriately harvested or grown, with a focus on organic waste and quick-growing plants. Slow-growing hardwoods and old growth forests are definitely out of the question. “If you cut down a 100 year old rainforest, then it could take up to 400 years to pay back that debt, to make up for all that biomass that was standing perfectly happy in the Amazon,” says Daniel Kammen, director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Biomass harvested for energy also has to be replaced with new plantings—if not, then burning biomass is worse than coal. It’s tempting to think of biomass as an easy fix—that we could switch the grid from fossil fuels to biomass—but it would place enormous demands on both human ingenuity and life on Earth. “We would need something like a quarter of all the net primary production, the total plant growth on the Earth’s surface,” says Chris Field, director of the Carnegie Institution’s Department of Global Ecology. “That’s completely unrealistic.” “But what’s a meaningful level?” he continues. “Would a meaningful level be at one, two, five percent of the global energy system? I think the answer is that we’re looking at a 21 st century energy system that’s likely to have lots and lots of components so that contributions of a few percent will be meaningful. There’s every reason to think that biomass should be considered at that kind of scale.” Even utilizing 5% of all plant growth—about 12.3 gigatons, an amount approaching the productivity of the world’s farms—won’t do much to tamp down carbon emissions. In fact, biomass is not quite carbon neutral because it still has to be harvested and hauled before it’s combusted, and right now, both require fossil fuels. On balance, burning biomass still releases CO 2 , just less than burning coal. But the good news is that biomass power plants, just like their coal cousins, release their CO 2 in conveniently concentrated streams of hot gas. And as projects like Petra Nova and others are demonstrating, we know how to capture and store CO 2 from those emissions. So to start removing CO 2 from the atmosphere—and possibly begin reversing climate change—all we have to do is combine them. “The innovation is putting the two together,” Kammen says. Best of Both Worlds Scrubbing CO 2 from power plant emissions is based on old technology. The amine-based process used at Petra Nova and other carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) plants has been around for for a long time. “It was patented in the 1930s,” says Howard Herzog, a senior research engineer at MIT’s Energy Initiative. “The process has improved since then, but the fundamentals are basically the same. You’ve got something that’s been around 80 years and developed. A lot of the issues have been worked out.” The idea to combine bioenergy with CCS had emerged early in the 1990s, and the original goal was to make coal power stations carbon neutral. A little later in the decade, other scientists started exploring how to remove CO 2 directly from the atmosphere. It wasn’t until 2001, when Kenneth Möllersten, an engineer with the Swedish Energy Agency, and Jinyue Yan, a professor at the Swedish Royal Institute of Technology, put two and two together . Rather than push the limits of chemistry to capture CO 2 from the open air, they realized that we could let trees, grasses, and other plants do the hard work. All we’d need to do is collect and burn them, capture the CO 2 , and find somewhere to store it for a long, long time. Burying the CO 2 from power plants deep underground has some inherent benefits. Unlike forests, which are also excellent long-term carbon sinks, stored CO 2 can’t easily be rereleased. Once buried, it isn’t likely to surface for thousands, perhaps millions, of years. Today, we have no way of guaranteeing that a forest will be left standing for that long. Plus, all plants eventually die and decay, releasing their carbon. Bioenergy with CCS is a best-of-both-worlds approach. With it, we can take advantage of plants’ natural ability to capture CO 2 and then use a proven technology to lock those emissions away.
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“Neither piece of what we’re talking about, individually, is technically hard,” Kammen says. “But then when you start looking at it as a system, then it gets interesting.” Searching for Supplies Recently, Kammen and a handful of his students decided to see if, by 2050, they could reduce carbon emissions by 145% below 1990s levels for a chunk of North America known as the Western Interconnection—the regional power grid that supplies the Western U.S., the Canadian provinces of Alberta and British Columbia, and a chunk of Baja California in Mexico. Essentially, they would be transforming a region from one that produced CO 2 pollution into one that would remove it from the atmosphere. They started their simulation by replacing nearly all fossil fuel power sources with renewables, including wind, solar, hydro, and geothermal. Then they ramped up biomass energy with CCS, also known as BECCS, to provide an always-on source of power that also removed CO 2 from the atmosphere. By 2050, they were using nearly all available biomass supplies, which included everything from trash to orchard waste and wood from fast growing trees.
“The future of bioenergy depends on how much we’re able to increase agricultural yields in years ahead.”
Biomass energy’s insatiable demand for combustible material is usually where it hits a roadblock. There’s only so much biomass to go around, and collecting and trucking it to various power plants will require entirely new supply chains that don’t currently exist. “It becomes increasingly expensive to supply large quantities of biomass as opposed to smaller quantities,” says Ed Rubin, a professor of engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University. “Most biomass facilities are relatively small—an order of magnitude or sometimes two orders of magnitude smaller than a typical coal fired plan. It’s a supply issue.” The current cost of supplying biomass is what’s kept NRG from co-firing any of their 19 coal plants with biomass. “We have explored biomass options at a number of plants across our fleet,” says Knox, the senior director of communications. “The problem we have encountered is getting a guaranteed and consistent supply that is close enough to the plant that you do not add to your carbon footprint through carbon-intensive trucking of the biomass.” There’s also the danger that if BECCS is a runaway success it will start eating into food supplies. “We’re going to have to feed 9–10 billion people by 2050,” says Pete Smith, a professor of plant and soil science at the University of Aberdeen. “People are asking, is this the best use of land when we’ve got all these additional mouths to feed?” Still, there are sources of biomass that can be used responsibly. “The clearest pool of biomass that’s available is waste products in agriculture and forestry,” says Field, the Carnegie Institution director. “That’s hundreds of millions of tons. It’s not a trivial quantity, but it’s not enough to dominate energy system. Whether there’s more biomass available really depends on one thing, critically: how much we’re able to increase agricultural yields in years ahead.” Kammen’s study lists a variety of biomass options that wouldn’t eat into the food supply, from municipal waste to sawdust and dead corn stalks. At its most aggressive, the simulation also relies on wood and switchgrass grown specifically for BECCS, but those represent only a little more than 10% of the total biomass energy. The post-harvest remains of corn stalks, known as corn stover, is a potential source of biomass. Still, to roll out BECCS on a wide scale, the demands for land could be massive, especially if only dedicated crops were used. “This would be on an order of magnitude of several hundred megahectares of land,” says Sabine Fuss, head of sustainable resource management and global change at Mercator Research Institute on Global Commons and Climate Change in Berlin. A paper published this week by Smith, Fuss, and others suggests that relying on dedicated crops —no municipal, agricultural, or forestry waste—would consume between 320–970 megahectares of land. Currently, there are about 1,600 megahectares , or about 4 billion acres, of land under cultivation. Then there’s the issue of transporting the resulting CO 2 to a storage location. “We need an infrastructure in place to do that,” Smith says. “That’s probably an infrastructure on the size that we currently use to move gas and oil.” Those are big hurdles, but none of the experts I spoke with saw them as insurmountable. “This is something that we could, in limited amounts, do yesterday.” Kammen says. “We’re already doing all of it, just not in a coordinated way.” Key Piece of the Puzzle NRG expects their Petra Nova carbon capture project to be operational sometime next year, which means it will have taken about six years to move from planning to completion. In terms of large capital projects based on new technology, that’s relatively quick, and as more are built, we’ll probably get faster at it. But can we build them quickly enough? Nearly everyone I spoke with said the optimal time to to deploy BECCS was yesterday. Realistically, though, Petra Nova’s timeline seems about right. “It’s probably instructive to look backwards a bit before you look forward to see how quickly other kinds of technologies have been deployed absent a true wartime footing,” Rubin says. New natural gas power plants, he says, take about three to four years to build, while new coal plants take about eight to ten. The International Energy Agency estimates that about $4 trillion will have to be spent building CCS facilities between now and 2050. That may seem like a vast sum, but consider that countries around the world currently subsidize fossil fuels at more than quadruple that amount, or about $490 billion every year. If that figure holds constant for the next 35 years, we’ll have spent $17 trillion of public money supporting oil and gas. (They receive the vast amount of subsidies—coal only gets about $3 billion per year.) We may not have to build entirely new power plants, either, but just add CCS to existing ones. Here again, the Petra Nova retrofit can be instructive. “One way you could ease into a BECCS environment is looking at coal fired power plants and beginning to increase the fraction of biomass you burn in those,” Field says. Many coal plants can already burn small amounts of biomass with few if any modifications. “If you’re cofiring those with biomass, that provides a possibility of a carbon negative component of a system that you can scale in in a very gradual way so you’re beginning to make a difference right away. You could think about having thousands of power plants that are running 5–10% biomass in a way that really begins to change the equation and doesn’t require building any new power plants.” But, Kammen is quick to caution, “we’re not going to solve the climate story with BECCS.” Pete Smith agrees, seeing “BECCS, rather than a magic bullet, being another piece—and maybe another significant piece—of a jigsaw of future possibilities.” We’ll still have to move most of our power supply to renewables like wind and solar, but BECCS seems too promising to overlook. “The big upside of BECCS is that you have something which solar, wind, and geothermal can’t get you, and that is an ability to make up for our past emissions and draw carbon numbers down,” Kammen says. “We’re so far above a reasonable trajectory that we’re going to need carbon negative.” | {
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A recent Mississippi police shooting has huge question marks all over it, involving three non-working body cameras, a cop’s stolen gun and an unauthorized ride-along passenger. Everything in this story screams lies and coverup.
A handgun reported stolen from a Columbus police officer’s home this summer was discovered “within arm’s reach” of a man fatally shot by police two weeks ago, according to the Columbus Police Department.
The three officers involved in the shooting were wearing body cameras but they weren’t activated, according to CPD Public Information Officer Raymond Hackler.
The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is conducting an investigation. The release of the sequence of events that ended with the fatal shooting of 33-year-old Ricky Ball came from the Columbus Police Department.
At 10:08 p.m. on Oct. 16, a police cruiser — occupied by three officers and an unauthorized ride-along passenger — attempted to pull over a vehicle at 22nd Street North and 15th Avenue North, according to the release. The release did not cite the reason for the attempted stop.
The release identified the officers as Canyon Boykin, Johnny Branch and Yolanda Young. The three officers have been placed on leave, pending the results of MBI’s investigation.
The three officers were “equipped with body cameras,” Hackler said, but the cameras had not yet been activated. One camera did “record events,” however, “approximately 30 seconds after the shooting.”
The driver of the vehicle was identified as Shannon Brewer. When Brewer stopped the vehicle, Ball, who was the lone passenger in the vehicle, “jumped out of the car and attempted to flee,” Hackler said in the release.
According to the release, “Officers attempted to arrest Ball which resulted in gunfire. Specifics surrounding why Ball was shot are still being investigated by the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation.”
After the shooting, Hackler said officers “lost sight of Mr. Ball.”
Officers called for backup and searched abandoned houses in the area in an attempt to find Ball. A K9 unit was also called to the scene.
At approximately 10:30 p.m., Ball was found by officers between two houses on 14th Avenue North, a block and a half away from the stopped vehicle, Hackler said.
Ball was transported to Baptist Memorial Hospital-Golden Triangle. He was pronounced dead at 11:12 p.m., Lowndes County Coroner Greg Merchant has said he was shot once in the upper body and once in the lower body.
A Taurus 9mm handgun was found “within arm’s reach” of Ball when he was discovered by officers, Hackler said. Suspected drugs were also found near Ball, the release said.
The handgun was reported stolen from a CPD officer’s home on Aug. 5 along with a Glock .40, the officer’s service weapon.
The August burglary was the second burglary in a year at the officer’s home. In September 2014, five firearms, two televisions and an Xbox were reported stolen from the home. CPD is actively searching for the suspect, Arthur Danagelo Davidson. | {
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Wilson Ramos will either sign elsewhere this offseason or likely not produce at the rate he’s currently producing next year. Daniel Murphy has evolved into a monstrous hitter, but it strains credulity to believe he’ll remain perhaps the greatest offensive force in the National League, an annual MVP candidate. Jayson Werth, currently defying his age in the middle of the 30-game on-base streak, will have one more year to defy next year. This has the makings of a special season in the middle of a sensational but ultimately unfulfilling run of Washington baseball.
The Post’s Barry Svrluga reported last week that the Nationals considered Trea Turner, Lucas Giolito, Victor Robles and Reynaldo Lopez untouchable in a Chapman deal. Turner already has proven too valuable to the current roster to consider moving. The other three? Every year since they became a threat, the Nationals have mostly kept their prospect powder dry. Now is the time to be open-minded about changing course.
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Many baseball people believe the price the Cubs paid to land Chapman – headlined by top-shelf shortstop prospect Gleyber Torres – will make it prohibitive for teams to part with the resources necessary to land Andrew Miller or Wade Davis, both of whom, unlike Chapman, have an extra year of contractual control. Both pitchers, especially Davis, may simply be unavailable.
The Nationals should make a serious push, anyway. It would be an important boost for the Nationals clubhouse, which surely felt frustration when the Cubs – a team the Nationals have jockeyed with all season for the best record in the National League – added Chapman instead of them. Manager Dusty Baker openly called it a disappointment. Another person familiar with the Nationals’ clubhouse called it a “total letdown.”
Acquiring a star provides an undeniable jolt. The Mets rode the energy and production Yoenis Cespedes injected last season to the World Series. As part of the rationale for acquiring Chapman, Epstein said, “We believe in this team.” Rizzo surely believes in his team, too. It’s his turn to show it.
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This discussion comes with two perennial caveats. No. 1: You can’t simply scream, “Go get Miller!” and call it a failure if it doesn’t happen without knowing the precise nature of talks. We don’t know if the Yankees ceased discussions after asking for, say, Turner, and probably won’t know details until after the deadline. No. 2: Nationals ownership has prevented Rizzo from adding payroll midseason, which in the past has hamstrung his deadline efforts.
Still, it is fair to wonder whether the Nationals cling too tightly to their best prospects.
The Nationals vaulted into their current cycle of success, in part, by turning four prospects, headlined by A.J. Cole and Derek Norris, into Gio Gonzalez in a trade with the Oakland A’s during the winter entering 2012, the season in which they asserted themselves as a force.
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Since that move, the Nationals have had 11 players who ranked among Baseball America’s top 100 prospects: Bryce Harper, Anthony Rendon, Lucas Giolito, Brian Goodwin, Michael Taylor, Lopez, Robles, Erick Fedde, Turner, Joe Ross and Cole, whom they re-acquired. They have traded none of them. Obviously no one’s trading Harper or Rendon, but in other cases, the Nationals could have sold high or afforded to part ways.
The most highly-regarded prospect the Nationals have traded since the Gonzalez blockbuster is probably Robbie Ray, whom Baseball America ranked as Washington’s fifth-best prospect entering 2014, when the Nationals shipped him, Ian Krol and Steve Lombardozzi to Detroit for Doug Fister. In three seasons, Ray is 11-25 with a 4.44 ERA and a 94 ERA+. He’s a just-below-league-average lefty starter at age 24.
Rizzo, admirably, has swung shrewd trades while keeping the Nationals’ top prospects. He turned Steven Souza into Ross and Turner, which retains the appearance of alchemy. The Fister trade was hailed instantly as a steal and proved to be.
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The Nationals are in position to win their third division title in five seasons, and in the two years they fell short, they still managed at least 83 wins and came within shouting distance of a wild card. There are plenty of questions for the near future, but given the complexion of their roster, it’s fair to assume the Nationals will contend again next season. A six-year window of annual contention is not something to take for granted or overlook.
But then the Nationals have never truly gone for it, either. In 2014, they resisted the temptation to significantly bolster their bullpen or add a lineup-changing bat, settling on replacing injured Ryan Zimmerman with Asdrubal Cabrera and adding Matt Thornton in an August deal. Both players were solid, and Thornton helped in 2015, too. But in the 2014 National League Division Series, their offense wilted, and their bullpen blew two games.
The Nationals can afford to be less stingy with prospects further away from the majors. No sane analysis would advocate trading Turner, who has become instantly vital to this major league team. Those further away from the majors, though, should be considered.
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Robles, for example, is 19 years old and playing at Class A Potomac, probably setting him up to arrive in the majors by late 2018. By the time Robles reaches the majors, the Nationals will have had two cycles to draft, sign and develop outfielders, a couple years to find another Robles. Evaluators believe Robles is special, and it could be painful if he becomes a star in some other team’s uniform. But that doesn’t make him irreplaceable. Prospects are hard to find, but they’re also a renewable resource.
Rizzo prides himself on maintaining the long view while contending in the present. The outlook has helped the Nationals stay relevant for an extended period. It’s an important balance, but it is a balance. While more mistakes are made in worrying too much on the present, it’s possible to focus too intently on the future, too. | {
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Uncomfortable Situation Seal
fianc 's parents get done eating at the same time
father says "that's the second time we finished together today" | {
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Former Bush administration Attorney General Michael Mukasey joins ABC's Martha Raddatz on 'This Week' to discuss the wiretapping accusations made by President Trump on Twitter on Saturday morning:
I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 4, 2017
MICHAEL MUKASEY, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, I don't do tweets.
RADDATZ: You heard about them.
MUKASEY: Yeah, I hear about them, but I don't do tweets and for good reason. It's not the' ideal medium in which to get an idea across.
This is the difference between being correct and being right. I think the president was not correct certainly in saying that President Obama ordered a tap on a server in Trump Tower. However, I think he's right in that there was surveillance and that it was conducted at the behest of the attorney -- of the Justice Department through the FISA court.
RADDATZ: And what do you base that on?
MUKASEY: I base that on news reports that you mentioned in the last spot. I also base it on kind of inadvertent blurting out by Adam Schiff that his committee wants to talk to the counterintelligence agents at the FBI who were involved in this. Now, what that means is this is part not of a criminal investigation, but of an intelligence gathering investigation.
The FBI has got two functions. They investigate crimes and they gather intelligence. They started gathering intelligence in '08 based on guidelines that we put in place.
They tried to get – apparently tried to get a wiretap based on their criminal investigation function in June. That was turned down. They then tried to get, and got, an order permitting them to conduct electronic surveillance in October. This is October of 2016.
So that's when, apparently, that's when...
RADDATZ: And again you're basing this on news reports as well.
MUKASEY: And on, and on, Adam Schiff.
RADDATZ: And on Adam Schiff. If a wiretap did exist, it would have to have been approved by a FISA court based on real evidence. So, if there was a wiretap, does that mean there were suspicious things going on between the Trump administration and the Russians?
MUKASEY: It means there were some basis to believe that somebody in Trump Tower may have been acting as an agent of the Russians, for whatever purpose, not necessarily the election, but for some purpose.
And the FBI keeps track of people who act as agents of foreign governments. They keep track of people who act as agents of the Chinese, the Russians, the Israelis, everybody.
RADDATZ: Some of the evidence may have been gleaned from classified means. Is there any way to verify these claims in the press or Trump's claims so the American people can really understand what's going on here?
MUKASEY: The only way to verify, whether there was a -- whether there was electronic surveillance is to disclose the warrant and to disclose the fruits of it. And that should not be done even in a political storm as hot as this one.
"This is the difference between being correct and being right," Mukasey said about Trump's accusation of Obama. "I think the president was not correct certainly in saying that President Obama ordered a tap on a server in Trump Tower. However, I think he is right in that there was surveillance, and that it was conducted at the behest of the... Justice Department through the FISA court."President Obama's Justice Department made two requests in June and October of 2016 to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISA) to monitor communications involving Donald Trump and several advisers. Because the first was denied, the second was narrower and focused on a computer server in Trump Tower suspected of transmitting links to Russian banks."It means there were some basis to believe that somebody in Trump Tower may have been acting as an agent of the Russians, for whatever purpose, not necessarily the election, but for some purpose. And the FBI keeps track of people who act as agents of foreign governments," he said. "They keep track of people who act as agents of the Chinese, the Russians, the Israelis, everybody."Transcript courtesy of ABC: | {
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Roger Stone, the right-wing provocateur and longtime associate of President Trump, was convicted on Friday of lying to Congress and witness tampering related to his efforts to feed the Trump campaign inside information about WikiLeaks in 2016.
Jurors convicted Stone on all seven counts of obstruction, making false statements and witness tampering. They deliberated for more than eight hours over two days, following a weeklong trial.
Stone and his lawyers made no comment as they left the courthouse and entered a pair of SUVs amid a swarm of camera crews and reporters.
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The verdict marks another high-profile victory for former special counsel Robert Mueller, whose legal team alleged that Stone had tried to conceal from Congress his contacts with the Trump campaign and people he believed were feeding him inside information about WikiLeaks during the 2016 campaign.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the D.C. District Court, an Obama appointee, denied the government’s request that Stone be held in jail until his sentencing on Feb. 6, but ordered him to continue to abide by his gag order prohibiting him from using social media or otherwise making public statements about his case.
Stone faces the possibility of prison time. The witness tampering charge alone carries a maximum possible prison sentence of 20 years, though Stone, a first-time offender, would likely get a far lighter punishment.
President Trump Donald John TrumpFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. Former Pence aide: White House staffers discussed Trump refusing to leave office Progressive group buys domain name of Trump's No. 1 Supreme Court pick MORE came to his longtime adviser’s defense on Twitter Friday, using the opportunity to bring up grievances against his various political adversaries.
“So they now convict Roger Stone Roger Jason StoneFederal prosecutor speaks out, says Barr 'has brought shame' on Justice Dept. The agony of justice Our Constitution is under attack by Attorney General William Barr MORE of lying and want to jail him for many years to come,” the president wrote. “Well, what about Crooked Hillary, Comey, Strzok, Page, McCabe, Brennan, Clapper, Shifty Schiff, Ohr & Nellie, Steele & all of the others, including even Mueller himself? Didn’t they lie? A double standard like never seen before in the history of our Country?”
Meanwhile, Democrats seized on the verdict as further evidence that illegal conduct is rampant within the president's inner circle.
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“The jury’s decision is a victory for truth and sends a powerful and timely message to President Trump and all House and Senate witnesses—past, present, and future—that lying to Congress, witness tampering, and obstruction of Congress are crimes and those who commit crimes do so at their own peril," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer Chuck SchumerPelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' 3 reasons why Biden is misreading the politics of court packing Cruz blocks amended resolution honoring Ginsburg over language about her dying wish MORE (D-N.Y.) said in a statement.
During the trial, the jury heard testimony from two of Trump’s most senior aides from the campaign: Stephen Bannon, who served as the campaign’s chief executive before briefly advising the president in the White House, and Richard Gates, the former deputy campaign manager who reached a plea agreement with Mueller over various banking and financial fraud charges.
Prosecutors alleged that Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee in a September 2017 deposition when he told lawmakers that he had no records of communications with his intermediary with WikiLeaks or with the Trump campaign about WikiLeaks. Stone was also accused of lying about the identity of his intermediary.
“The evidence in this case will show that Roger Stone lied to the House Intelligence Committee because the truth looked bad — the truth looked bad for the Trump campaign and the truth looked bad for Donald Trump,” Aaron Zelinsky, a federal prosecutor, said at the beginning of the trial last week.
Both Gates and Bannon testified that the campaign had considered Stone to be its link to WikiLeaks, which in the latter half of 2016 released troves of emails stolen from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman.
Gates also told the jury that he had been in a car with Trump in late July 2016 — shortly after WikiLeaks released its batch of hacked DNC emails — when he overheard a call between the candidate and Stone. After Trump hung up, Gates said that he "indicated that more information would be coming” from WikiLeaks.
Stone was also convicted of lying to Congress about the identity of his go-between with WikiLeaks. He told lawmakers that it was Randy Credico, a comedian and radio host who’s interviewed WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange Julian Paul AssangePsychiatrist says Assange told him he was hearing imaginary voices, music Assange extradition hearing delayed over coronavirus concerns The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald discusses U.S. case against Assange MORE, but the prosecutors alleged that was a lie in order to protect the InfoWars-affiliated conspiracy theorist Jerome Corsi.
Evidence presented by prosecutors shows that Stone repeatedly pressured Credico not to cooperate with the House committee’s investigation. Credico ultimately decided to assert his Fifth Amendment rights after the panel issued him a subpoena.
Credico said on the stand that Stone’s influence played a role in that decision. The jury saw emails and text messages between the two showing Stone hurling invective at Credico, who was urging his friend to correct his testimony.
“You are a rat,” Stone wrote to him in April 2018. “A stoolie. You backstab your friends-run your mouth my lawyers are dying Rip you to shreds.”
“I am so ready,” Stone added. “Let’s get it on. Prepare to die, c--ksucker."
Stone’s legal team argued that the self-described trickster was not trying to deceive Congress but that he believed the WikiLeaks controversy did not fit the House Intelligence Committee’s parameters of its investigation into Russia’s efforts to influence the election.
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His lawyers also argued that there was nothing improper in the Trump campaign seeking out information about a rival.
"In fact, so much of this case deals with that question that you need to ask: So what?" Bruce Rogow, a member of the defense team, told the jury.
Stone's legal team did not call any witnesses and rested their case after playing an hourlong audio tape of his testimony before the House Intelligence Committee.
Stone's case became a spectacle for the political world.
Jackson imposed a gag order earlier this year because Stone would frequently criticize her in remarks to reporters and on social media. She expanded the gag order to include a blanket ban on the use of any social media platforms after he posted a picture of her with a crosshair next to her face.
Because of the gag order, Stone was uncharacteristically quiet throughout the trial, and he opted against testifying in his own defense. Still, jurors saw evidence of his reputation for outlandish behavior through evidence and testimony from associates.
The trial was also a magnet for other right-wing personalities. Among those making frequent appearances at the courthouse were Milo Yiannopoulous, the former Breitbart pundit; Jacob Wohl, known for pushing outlandish stories about high-profile Democrats and the lawyer and activist Larry Klayman.
--Updated at 1:55 p.m. | {
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for HEALTH PLANS & PARTNERS
"What we're trying to do is make sure patients get the best possible care and the most cost-effective care. And diabetes is a great example. If you get people engaged, and they take care of themselves, they lead better lives, they have many fewer symptoms, they feel better about themselves, and they cost their insurance company a lot less. And that's a wonderful set of circumstances to have in one place." | {
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Opinion: The Doctor And 'The Boy In The Bubble'
Enlarge this image toggle caption Bettmann/Bettmann Archive Bettmann/Bettmann Archive
As 12-year-old David Vetter was about to die at Texas Children's Hospital in 1984, he gave a last wink to his doctor, William T. Shearer. His wife told us Dr. Shearer carried that moment through the rest of his life.
Dr. Shearer, a professor of pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine, died this week at the age of 81.
David Vetter had been born with severe combined immunodeficiency, a rare disease that could have made it fatal for him to be touched, held, kissed by his parents or even take a breath of fresh air.
Doctors devised a sterile clear plastic pouch to keep David alive until medical science could come up with ... something else.
David Vetter became "The Boy in the Bubble." As he grew, it was a joy to see occasional photos of him smiling, playing, and so manifestly alive.
It was also heartbreaking to see a smiling little boy who had to live in a bubble, and wonder how long he could, or even should, live that way.
NASA engineers constructed a spacesuit for David when he was 6 that enabled him to walk around his family's house and even play catch with his sister, Katherine. But psychologists who worked with him said David was growing bitter about the way he had to live in a bubble.
"We all knew the day would come when a decision would have to be made: in or out," Dr. Shearer recollected for a New York Times video in 2015.
When David was 12, Dr. Shearer and his team used a new technique for a bone marrow transplant from his sister. But there turned out to be a dormant virus in Katherine's marrow; the transplant didn't work. For the first time since he was born, David was freed from his bubble, to be kissed by his mother, to feel the air of the world on his face and to die with that last wink.
Dr. Shearer never really let go of David Vetter. He used lessons from his care to guide him as he focused on the new epidemic of HIV/AIDS in children. And today, early screening means many children can have a bone marrow transplant before they're even born.
"What we learned from David is a textbook," he told the Houston Chronicle last year. "A textbook that he wrote with his life, and that we are still learning from."
Lynn des Prez, Dr. Shearer' wife, told us this week that they only traveled to medical conferences and that he worked seven days a week. But he also had three marriages and six children, five of whom were adopted. And, she says, he kept David Vetter's wink in his heart.
"I like to think," she told us, "that he has a friend up there, to show him around." | {
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安全保障関連法案をめぐる与野党の対立が激化した中で、ドサクサ紛れの法改正が強行された。9月11日、国会で可決された「改正労働者派遣法」は施行が同月30日、わずか3週間足らずで周知期間も置かないまま強行されることになった。国民からの意見を募るパブリックコメント（意見公募制度）は、たった3日間で締め切りだった。
同法最大の眼目は、ソフトウェア開発や秘書、書籍編集など一部専門業務で最長3年までとなっていた派遣期間の制限を撤廃し、同じ部署で働ける期間を3年に制限することで3年ごとに派遣労働者を入れ替えながら継続的に雇用することができるというもの。勤務3年を過ぎた派遣社員に対しては、直接雇用を派遣先に依頼することなどを義務づけているが、派遣先に、これに応じる義務はないという。
これを厚生労働省は「派遣労働者の正社員への道を開くもの」とし、経団連会長も「経済界としては歓迎」と喜んだが、当の労働者側からは「3年ごとに派遣労働者を入れ替えれば、何年でも同じ業務を任せることができるし、依頼の義務付けも、しょせんは依頼のみで、断られたら終わり」と抜け道の指摘があった。
民主党の山井和則衆院議員も「若者が正社員になりにくくなり、一生派遣という若者が増える」と格差社会への危惧を示し、ほかからも「見方を変えれば大改悪」という声すら上がっていた。
同法はこれまで2度廃案になっていたところ、昨年3月に改正案が再提出されたものだが、安保問題による審議の遅れなどを理由に、可決からわずか19日間で施行されることになってしまった。
同法の是非はともかく、その施行までの経過がいかに不自然なものであったかは厚労省の動きに見てとれた。厚労省は同法のパブリックコメントを可決から4日後の15日に始めたが、なんと受付期間は17日に締め切り。わずか3日間だけの意見募集というのは、あまりに乱暴な話。これについて、労働法に詳しいジャーナリストはこう憤る。
「行政手続法39条3項で、意見提出期間は30日以上と定められているんですよ。例外規定はあるものの、これはひどすぎます。厚労省は、安保問題で国会が荒れている中、メディアの関心が薄いタイミングを狙ったとしか思えないのです」 | {
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Update 04/28/2020: Hubs Cloud AWS is now live!
In the spirit of the Secret Tesla Motors Master Plan, this article is about our master plan behind Hubs and Spoke at Mozilla.
We predict that the 3D ‘metaverse’ will grow out of a similar set of pre-conditions as the World Wide Web.
By understanding the pre-conditions that led to the success of the WWW, and noting what was missing from those pre-conditions, we’ve tried to predict what the first global scale 3D metaverse will look like. Hubs and Spoke are our early attempts to get us there in a way we think will best serve humanity. We are designing them to ensure they grow, adapt, and last forever, much like the Internet and the web.
Why did the web win?
The web was the first successful globally distributed, decentralized multimedia networked document platform. The key ingredients were several new technologies atop the Internet stack:
URLs, which uniquely identified and allowed retrieval of resources
HTML which enabled semi-structured, but forgiving, multimedia document creation with links
HTTP which allowed the resolution + retrieval of HTML documents
Free-to-distribute, easy-to-run web servers
Free web browser clients for displaying and traversing HTML documents
Neutral, profit-agnostic governance and actors shepherding its development
What the web wasn’t
The web was opinionated.
It excluded lots of stuff similar projects didn’t, like:
Bi-directional linking
Unified user identity between sites
Transactions and commerce
Dynamic, programmable documents
Even three decades later, of the list above, only programmable documents have become part of the web itself. Clearly, none of these features were necessary for the web to succeed. And of course, projects similar to the web that tried to include them all failed, perhaps in part due to the inclusion of what ended up being superfluous features.
So, if you’re trying to make something that will grow as big as the web, it is important to think about what to exclude as much as what to include.
Super-networks, and the metaverse
The web was a small set of protocols and software that led to explosive network growth by being layered on top of the Internet.
Similarly, we think the metaverse will be a small set of protocols and software that will lead to explosive network growth by being layered onto the web.
Nobody today would consider building a metaverse that is not part of the Internet. However, many metaverse projects are being built that are not part of the web. Why?
Will the first global metaverse be part of the web, or not?
The document systems that predated the web which didn’t leverage the Internet all failed. We think that metaverse systems not built on top of the web will fail as well. The reason:
The collective endowment of an exponentially growing, decentralized, global super-network will always vastly exceed anything that can be created without it.
For the web, this super-network was the Internet. For the metaverse, the super-network will be both the web and the Internet.
Both the web and Internet are growing exponentially, similar to the growth of the universe, and each represent a beginning of infinity. They will grow exponentially forever, and are anti-fragile. Each of them bequeath an ever-growing, immense endowment of value to all things that are embedded within them.
The endowment of the Internet is connectivity to all of humanity’s computers. The endowment of the web is its content, culture, and the browser. By being built into the web, the metaverse will inherit all of these exponentially growing resources automatically, forever.
So, metaverses embedded in the web will have much greater endowments, more reach, and will outlast all those that are embedded only within the Internet.
The web’s medium, and why it stuck
The web created a new medium at the right level of sophistication and expression. It was a way to create, view, and link hypermedia documents. It was higher level than the plain text Internet content networks of the time, but lower level than a full interactive, programmable multimedia platform.
The web gave people hyper-leverage, but within tight constraints. Anyone could join the network and quickly create rich content due to the simplicity and forgiveness of HTML. Writing HTML is not like programming: browsers ensure that you can make lots of mistakes, and the page will still work.
If the web at birth was too difficult to create content for, and closer to the web of today, it would have never worked. Imagine if using Javascript was necessary to create the first web pages. Only programmers would have been able to create them. The web would have failed.
Conversely, if the web was limited to plain text files, it would have never had the reach it did. The rich typography and multimedia of HTML was what made the web a new medium with global reach. The richness of pages on the web led to an explosion of knowledge-sharing, creative expression, and innovation.
With the web, a school teacher could independently publish a web site about Roman history, instantly accessible and valuable to all seeking such knowledge. If the web chose a medium that was too simplistic, or was too difficult to create content with, this would have not been possible.
Companies such as Yahoo! and Google created discovery tools connected to the spark of the web. That such tools would emerge and create billion-dollar companies was unpredictable but inevitable. The reach of the web itself was inherent at its birth due to its design. Once a page joined the network, all of humanity, now and in the future, could benefit from it.
The brilliance behind the design of the web was threefold:
Leverage the exponentially growing endowment of the super-network, the Internet,
By creating minimal protocols and software on top of it,
In order to create a hyper-leveraged medium forgiving to newcomers but vastly richer than its predecessors
What the web tells us about the metaverse
If the web’s history guides us, we can predict some things about the first global metaverse:
It will be embedded in a super-network and leverage that network’s exponentially growing endowment
It will introduce a medium with optimal sophistication, forgiving to newcomers to create in but still richer than prior media with global reach
It will be simple for newcomers to join the network and contribute
It will not be overloaded with unnecessary features
The minimum-viable metaverse
So, what medium is the right one to spawn a metaverse with global reach? This is another way of asking: what new hyper-leverage will the metaverse’s newcomers get that they can’t get today?
If you can answer this, build the system that provides that hyper-leverage, and embed it in the largest growing super-network (the web + Internet), and you’ve created the metaverse that will inevitably become as big as the web.
For the web, here are examples of what were not part of the hyper-leverage users had at the outset, but which the web eventually grew to include:
Interactive applications or games
Real time voice and video communication
Collaborative content creation
New business models and commerce
Online community and co-presence
The web was simple: globally addressable hypermedia documents with links. The medium of the web had global reach. The fact it could not do these other things at its birth did not prevent its success. It had the right medium with the right sophistication, and leveraged the super-network of the Internet. Those were the only necessary pre-conditions for its success.
It has evolved to enable much, much, more, but if it had tried too much at its birth it would have been hard for anyone to contribute to it, and would have failed.
So, what things may not be needed for the metaverse to reach global scale? It’s hard to say, but here are some potential examples of what we think the metaverse is likely to grow into, not start out as:
Large 3D worlds
Collaborative editing, building, sculpting
Rich games and 3D applications
A global marketplace and economy for virtual goods
A home to a universal identity
A place to live out your “second life”
So, what do we think would be needed to include in the metaverse to get to global reach?
The lynchpin for the web-emergent metaverse
We are on the cusp of a radical shift in the way society values physical co-presence with others. Recent research has shown VR devices are, today, competitive with face-to-face interaction in delivering social presence. This capability is unprecedented. The telecommunications revolution connected the world in many ways, but despite tools like messaging and video conferencing, it has so far completely failed at delivering remote social presence on par with face-to-face. However, with VR and AR, that final frontier is about to be breached.
Social presence and shared spatial awareness without physical proximity would be as transformative a shift in society as the Internet and web. As such, we think that the fundamental thing the first metaverse with global reach will enable is that those on the network can instantly experience social presence and shared spatial awareness in a mixed media environment with any other humans on the network.
Publishing a page on the web allowed your document to be leveraged by being connected to a web of documents accessible around the world. Similarly, publishing an addressable, mixed-media, networked 3D space will enable social presence and shared spatial awareness with any human on Earth around any conceivable content or context at any time.
It’s this hyper-leverage that could yield something of global reach.
As such, it minimally needs:
Real time, avatar based communication (voice + body language)
Dynamic mixed media in 3D space
Virtual environments
Addressable places
The ability to join the network independently
Additionally, like the web, it must have:
Free, accessible, easy-to-use tools and software
Neutral, profit-agnostic governance and actors
We think that those trying to seed the metaverse should not build anything beyond this, since it will not add to reach, and will undermine adoption since it will be more complex than others that avoid adding superfluous features and functionality.
Finally, it should also be embedded in the super-network of the web, not just the Internet, to maximize its long-term endowment.
The web today can support the metaverse
The web provides solid footing for each of the needs above:
Real time, avatar based communication: browser platform (WebRTC/WebGL/WebXR)
Dynamic mixed media in 3D space: browser platform, web content and standards (glTF, video, etc)
Virtual environments: browser platform (WebGL/WebXR)
Addressable places: URLs
Beyond that, the following things are needed:
A free, easy to use tool for creating 3D content and avatars
An easy to use ‘browser’ for participating in mixed media spaces
An easy and cheap to run server to join the network independently
This is exactly what we’ve been aiming for with Hubs + Spoke.
It remains to be seen if Hubs and Spoke will have global reach, but the plan outlined next seems like a good one for any project with similar aims to consider.
The Master Plan
For Hubs and Spoke, it seems we are close to being able to see if these assumptions, combined with our execution, will lead us to a system with global reach.
Here’s what our plan has been from the beginning:
Create an easy-to-use avatar communication tool for mixed media, globally addressable spaces
Create easy-to-use tools for creating 3D environments and avatars
Build it to run in the browser, and embrace the culture of the web
Open source all the code
Make it cheap and easy for anyone to run their own decentralized server
We have deliberately not included:
Dynamic scripting and rich applications
Large, continuous open world ‘land’
Collaborative editing tools or world building
Transactions or e-commerce
Though we fully expect these additional things to emerge, they seem unnecessary to deliver remote social presence and shared spatial awareness in mixed media environments. And so, given that those are the only things we see as the key ingredients to get to global reach, we have left everything else out.
The last piece we’ll be sharing soon: Hubs Cloud. Hubs Cloud will allow people to run their own server. And it will be cheap and easy to do so. You can be up and running in a few clicks. In our early pilots, we’ve had teachers, doctors, and 3D artists stand up fully scalable, self-hosted servers on AWS who had no prior experience setting up their own servers. Modern tools have made it possible for us to make it vastly easier to deploy your own server than the early web servers.
The early web would have not worked if not for the creation of cheap, easy to run web servers. By decentralizing the web, it ensured that people could create content based upon their own interests and needs from the bottom-up, and share it with the world.
Similarly, the early metaverse will not work without the creation of cheap, easy to run servers that allow people to privately meet in a contextual mixed media environments. Decentralized servers will ensure this new medium can independently grow and evolve to meet the diverse needs of people around the world.
And enabling that is what Hubs Cloud is all about, and the future we’re trying to create with it. It’s the last part of the master plan, and we can’t wait to share it with you. | {
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The Bible remains a fixture in American culture and lifestyle according to the “State of the Bible” report, an annual poll conducted by the Barna Group, a California-based research organization, and the American Bible Society.
“The results show that, despite shifting cultural trends, Americans still read the Word, and it remains a powerful, transformative tool in their life. These and other snapshots are included in our list of top seven findings from this year’s State of the Bible report,” the survey said.
Overall, half of Americans are “Bible users” — they read it, pray with it or consider biblical content through online or recorded forms. The survey found that Bible use has remained relatively consistent since 2011.
“Two-thirds of Americans express at least some curiosity to know more about what the Bible says. A similar number of adults (63 percent) are interested in knowing more about who Jesus Christ is,” the survey said. “Just over half of adults who used the Bible in the past week (53 percent) say they give a lot of thought to how it might apply to their lives.”
Similar numbers say that reading the Bible boosts their own spiritual growth, as well as their inclination to “show more loving behaviors to others.’
Overall, six in 10 U.S. adults (58 percent) believe that the message of the Bible has “transformed their life,” with majorities of Bible users saying their time with the holy texts increases their sense of connection with God and their curiosity about God.
City dwellers (53 percent) and small town or rural (49 percent) residents report higher use of the Bible than suburbanites. In the South, 55 percent report regular use; the numbers are 42 percent in the Northeast and 44 percent in the West.
Baby Boomers (51 percent) are most likely to consult the Bible, followed by senior citizens (48 percent) and Millennials (47 percent).
The traditional printed word of the Bible remains the favorite, the survey found.
“The appeal of a print version of the Bible remains high at almost nine in 10 who prefer it (89 percent). Little has changed in the preference for a physical copy of the scriptures in the last eight years since tracking began,” the research said.
Technology is a factor, however.
“More than half of users now search for Bible content on the internet (57 percent) or a smartphone , and another 42 percent use a Bible app on their phones. More than one-third listen via podcast or audio version of the Bible,” the survey said.
The Barna/American Bible Society poll of 2,040 U.S. adults was conducted Jan. 4-18, and released Wednesday.
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Raising the US minimum wage to $15 an American dream
New York, Seattle, California: in the battle over the US minimum wage, cities and states are taking their own initiative, making regional advances toward the goal of a $15 an hour floor.
Some cities have voted through spectacular increases, making the dream of better pay a reality for hundreds of thousands of employees in a country where the federal minimum wage level has remained unchanged at $7.25 an hour since 2009.
Opinions about the need for an increase are split along party lines.
Union and fast food workers play drums during a demonstration in support of a proposal to raise the California minimum wage to $15 by 2022 ©Justin Sullivan (Getty Images/AFP/File)
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders both support an increase, differing only on the scale and timing of such a move.
The former secretary of state calls for a smaller, slower raise while the Vermont senator wants the minimum doubled.
With rare exceptions such as Mitt Romney, the presidential nominee in 2012, Republicans have generally resisted calls for an increase, citing potential job losses.
Republican control of Congress over the past five years has ensured that the federal level remained unchanged.
It's now a third below the minimum wage in France, Belgium and other wealthy European countries, taking into account the relative purchasing power in those countries, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says.
Like many other progressive causes in a country polarized between left and right, action is taking place at the state and municipal levels.
Minimum wages in 29 states and the capital Washington have surpassed the federal level. New York has instituted $9 an hour and California, $10. Major companies in Seattle have paid $13 an hour since January 1. In New York City, fast food employees earn at least $10.50.
A total of 18 states have voluntarily increased their minimum wages since 2013, some after holding referenda on the issue, according to the White House.
A new wave is expected in 2016.
The most significant change is brewing in California, the most populous US state, where local officials have recently agreed to progressively reach $15 an hour by 2023, a target large companies will hit even earlier.
More than a third of California's workforce would benefit from wage increases, according to a study from Berkeley University.
Clinton hailed the plan on Monday, tweeting a "big win for workers."
Sanders parried, also on Twitter. "But here’s the difference," he said. "I support a $15 federal minimum wage. @HillaryClinton does not."
Her proposal calls for raising the federal level from $7.25 to $12.
- Regional Differences -
A sudden minimum wage increase would be felt differently in various regions.
In the relatively poor South, the cost of living is far lower than on the country's wealthy coasts.
Doubling restaurant employees' salaries in Mississippi would have greater effect than in San Francisco, where salaries are already higher.
New York's high cost of living also makes raising the current minimum wage more urgent there.
"You're going to have higher legislated minimum wages in urban areas versus rural areas, Northeast and California versus the deep South," Jacob Kirkegaard of Washington's Peterson Institute said.
He believes those variations will only grow.
Unions and activists are pushing for a nationwide increase nevertheless.
In real value, the federal minimum wage has fallen to around a third of its peak level in 1968.
"The $7.25 minimum wage is only about $15,000 a year for a worker, and that's not enough to support a family anywhere in the country," said Laura Huizar of the National Employment Law Project.
The government sets the poverty line for a family of three at $20,160.
It's an issue that is almost never raised in the Republican primary campaign.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz has come out against any minimum wage increase.
Ohio Governor John Kasich flirted with a "reasonable" increase in September before changing tack during a debate earlier this month.
"Well, well, wait a minute, first of all, I didn't say I was for an increase in the federal minimum wage," he said in response to a question in apparent alarm.
"If states want to do it, they ought to sit down with businesspeople and the lawmakers and figure out what will work."
Donald Trump said in November that wages were "too high," which was hurting American competitiveness.
That changed after Republicans began taking President Barack Obama to task over wage stagnation.
Trump corrected himself in December: "Wages in our country are too low."
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton, pictured, and Bernie Sanders both support an increase in the minimum wage, differing only on the scale and timing of such a move ©Jewel Samad (AFP)
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said in November that wages were "too high," which was hurting American competitiveness ©Jim Watson (AFP/File) | {
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Author(s):Several
Abu Dhabi Company Formation in TwoFour54 Free Zone
Introduction
TwoFour54 free zone is located in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Being the capital of the UAE, Abu Dhabi is highly relevant and a significant business hub within the nation. However, when one thinks of the UAE, Abu Dhabi is often not the first place to come to mind. Instead, Dubai is often viewed as the business center not only within the region, though beyond that, it is a global landmark. However, within the country, Abu Dhabi holds vast importance as it is the wealthiest of the Emirates.
Abu Dhabi, being the capital, also houses numerous government entities and essential offices within the city. In fact, all federal government offices are there. The World Bank, as of 2018, voted Abu Dhabi the No. 1 in the Arab world for ease of doing business. On top of this, the infrastructure of the city is highly advanced, and this compliments many companies and their activities.
Beyond the business advantages of setting up a company within Abu Dhabi, the city itself allows for high living standards and has been voted the safest city in the world and also one of the happiest of cities in the world.
Dubai may be the face of the country, though this creates a highly competitive environment which certainly won’t help newly arising entities. Abu Dhabi on the other hand, while by no means empty or uncompetitive will have the advantage of being so large, making up 87% of the country’s total land area. The population, however, is not equivalent to this land mass size, as fewer people are living in Abu Dhabi than in Dubai.
Of course, any location within the UAE would be useful from a global standpoint due to the country's geographical location. Being optimally placed at something of a crossroad between the east and west, access to the worldwide market, especially when one looks at the airports and other such infrastructure is a significant draw.
There are a few free zones within Abu Dhabi, and one of the most popular is TwoFour54. This free zone prides itself on its low set up costs and optimal central location. Company formation is relatively simple and is as follows.
TwoFour54 Free Zone
The free zone location is quite central in the Emirate, with good access to critical official offices and sites. With the free zone having arisen in 2008, it is highly technologically in tune, and from an infrastructural point of view, it provides the best infrastructure, ease of doing business, and simplified procedures.
All free zones have some form of specialization and TwoFour54 is no different. They cater to media entities, and this makes TwoFour54 the most significant media free zone authority in Abu Dhabi. Some of the biggest names found in the industry call TwoFour54 their home, and this should stand as a great testament to the quality of their infrastructure and work ethic.
The Media Zone Authority – Abu Dhabi, regulates the more official matters of the free zone such as the licensing processes and regulatory development. It is their responsibility to ensure the 2030 economic vision of Abu Dhabi becomes a reality, at least as far as they can help to achieve it from their end.
The first thing that requires consideration when setting up a company within the free zone is just what type of company the individual wishes to form. There are a few types that are available and mentioned, and these are as follows:
Free Zone Limited Liability Company (FZ-LLC): This involves the incorporation of a legal entity in the media zone;
Branch: This could either be a branch of an Abu Dhabi mainland entity or an object incorporated in another jurisdiction (foreign or UAE);
Sole Proprietor (Freelancer): This allows for an individual to work in their capacity as a media professional.
There are many incentives and draws to set up within TwoFour54. Some of these include:
100% foreign ownership of the company;
0% import tariffs;
100% exemption from corporate and personal income tax;
Access to Abu Dhabi Film Commission’s 30% cash rebate on production spend.
The process is time efficient and also cost efficient with no minimum required for visas, and office spaces available at better rates than can be found anywhere else and provide media entities with all of the facilities that they could desire.
The Requirements
Investors considering business setup in Abu Dhabi TwoFour54 Free Zone must be aware of below matters which require consideration. The table following shows some of the most critical factors:
Types of Setup Number of Activities Number of Employee Visa License Fees (AED) Registration Fee (one time) (AED) Office Space (AED) FZ-LLC Up to 5 (up for approval) N/A Starting from 50,000 per annum Branch Up to 5 (up for approval) N/A Starting from 50,000 per annum Serviced Desk 2 2 30,000 per annum plus 2,500 security deposit Hot Desk 1 2 25,000 per annum Emirati Entrepreneur & Khalifa Fund 1 2 Virtual Freelancer Up to 3 (up for approval) 1 6 months: 2,250
12 months: 4,500 N/A Virtual (Free access to hot desk)
Is this the Right Free Zone for you?
TwoFour54 has now been around for ten years, and as such, it has plenty of experience; this should provide comfort to any who may wish to open a new company or branch of a company there. At the same time, the costs of setting up such as requirements and office space are very reasonable, and the facilities provided are top of the range.
The location of the free zone is optimal within Abu Dhabi, and there is also the matter of personal life outside of work. If the allure of Dubai is what draws one to the UAE, TwoFour54 may not be able to appease you. However, Abu Dhabi is still a bustling location and provides an excellent opportunity to set up a company. Get in touch with our team of lawyers in Abu Dhabi to learn more about this free zone, its regulations and the procedures. | {
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(CNN) Melania Trump announced Monday afternoon that she will go to Africa in October for her first major solo trip since becoming first lady.
"This will be my first time traveling to Africa and I am excited to educate myself on the issues facing children throughout the continent, while also learning about its rich culture and history," the first lady said in a statement. "We are a global society and I believe it is through open dialogue and the exchanging of ideas that we have a real opportunity to learn from one another."
The Associated Press was first to report her travel plans.
In January, CNN reported that President Donald Trump , at a closed-door meeting at the White House, bemoaned the influx of immigrants from what he deemed "s---hole countries" in Africa, according to sources.
The first lady's trip to Africa -- where she plans to visit several countries, to be announced in coming weeks -- will take place more than a year after her first solo international trip, which was to Toronto. Last September she attended the Invictus Games there, an athletic event hosted by Britain's Prince Harry.
Read More | {
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Aus der Sozialpsychologie wissen wir, dass neben dem Motiv der sozialen Harmonie – nichts fürchten wir so sehr wie die Ablehnung durch das Kollektiv, dem wir uns zugehörig fühlen – die Angst vor dem Fremden und Neuen, ja vor Veränderung an sich, eine der stärksten Triebkräfte darstellt. Mit diesem anthropologisch tief sitzenden Konventionalismus waren traditionale Gesellschaften über lange Zeit gut eingerichtet. Problematisch wird dieses Muster erst in der Moderne, die als neue Kardinaltugenden Veränderungsbereitschaft und Anpassungsfähigkeit an wechselnde Lagen verlangt.
In einer dramatisch beschleunigten Entwicklung teilen sich „moderne“ Gesellschaften mehr und mehr in Modernisierungsgewinner und -verlierer, dadurch werden Ängste in einer völlig neuen Dimension wirksam. Entscheidend ist dabei eher das Angst-Gefühl als die konkrete Lage der Menschen. Genau dies bezeichnet das angesichts des neuen Populismus beschriebene Syndrom des „Abgehängtseins“ – genauer: des „Sich-Abgehängt-Fühlens“.
Die massive Kränkung durch kulturelle Zurücksetzung und faktische Deklassierung im neoliberalen Wettbewerb artikuliert sich in den Stimmen neuer populistischer Führer, die den solchermaßen „Abgehängten“ versprechen, den erlittenen Souveränitätsverlust durch eine Generalattacke auf das korrupte „System“ zu kompensieren. Treibstoff des wutgeleiteten populistischen Angriffs auf die Demokratie, der sich selbst als basisdemokratisch begreift, ist die Angst vor einer dreifachen Deklassierung ökonomischer, sozialer und politischer Art. Zum ersten Mal als ein Grundphänomen kapitalistischer Entwicklung analysiert wurde sie Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts von Karl Marx – als er den von Abstiegsängsten und -bedrohungen gezeichneten Kleinbürger als emblematische Figur der europäischen Sozialgeschichte beschrieb.[1]
Dieser Kleinbürger ist quasi der Prototyp des vom ökonomischen Fortschritt „Abgehängten“, der sein Wirtschaftsmodell des kleinen Selbstständigen durch die kapitalistische Polarisierung zur Disposition gestellt sieht. In ruhigen Zeiten, die sein Überleben nicht grundsätzlich gefährden, zeigt er sich vor allem als ressentimentgeladener „Spießer“, der aggressiv beleidigt Tradition und Ordnung gegenüber der modernen Welt behauptet, die in rasanten Umstürzen die Entwertung aller Werte und die Pulverisierung der ständischen Ordnung betreibt. Der Kleinbürger sieht sich in diesem Wandel als Mann des Volkes und der Mitte, des Zentrums und gesellschaftlichen Ausgleichs, als Garant einer sozialen Statik und Balance, die seit der Auflösung des Ancien Régime in Gefahr geraten ist. Dabei ist vor allem der Mitte-Topos ein verlässlicher Marker kleinbürgerlicher Ideologie, die sich leitmotivisch im Beschwören des Mittelstands als Hort der Stabilität und Garant sittlicher Ordnung äußert und sich vom soziologischen Obskurantismus eines Othmar Spann oder der antimodernen Ästhetik Hans Sedlmayers bis in die akademischen Debatten einer auf Aristoteles zurückgehenden Rhetorik der ausgleichenden Mitte erstreckt.[2]
Das in ganz Europa anzutreffende und in der Nachfolge von Marx immer wieder genussvoll kränkend von oben herab ironisierte kleinbürgerliche Syndrom aus „Spießer-Ideologie“ (Hermann Glaser) und querverstrebtem Antimodernismus, Antiliberalismus, Antikapitalismus, Antiintellektualismus und Xenophobie (oft in der giftigen Mischung des Antisemitismus) ist ein Standard-Feindbild linksliberaler Gesellschafts- und Ideologiekritik. Über seine Parallelphänomene in allen Weltteilen hat es universalen Charakter angenommen und ist als von kultureller Stigmatisierung und ökonomischer Abstiegsangst geleiteter „kleinbürgerlicher“ Sozialcharakter schon lange nicht mehr einfach aus dem kapitalistischen Grundwiderspruch zu erklären.[3]
Bereits in den 1920er Jahren wurden die altbekannten kleinbürgerlichen Angst- und Regressionsphänomene von den Soziologen Emil Grünberg, Theodor Geiger und Siegfried Kracauer auch bei einer neuen, rasch wachsenden, nicht mehr selbstständigen unteren Mittelklasse – den Angestellten – diagnostiziert. Spätestens seit diesem Moment ist die Kleinbürger-Analyse von ihrem allein klassentheoretischen Begründungsschema (die alte Mittelklasse auf dem Weg zum Untergang in einem kommenden bipolaren Klassensystem, das nur noch Proletariat und Bourgeoisie kennt) zu trennen. Der Begriff „Kleinbürger“, besser der Begriff des „Kleinbürgerlichen“, bezeichnet folglich nicht die Zugehörigkeit zu einer Schicht oder Klasse, sondern eine bestimmte, in Mittellagen der Industriegesellschaften besonders häufig anzutreffende Angst-Disposition mit entsprechenden ressentimentgeladenen Reaktionsformen. Der Kleinbürger unserer Tage ist somit der Angstbürger in allen Schichten und Milieus.
Und die Angst- und Zerstörungseffekte des modernen Kapitalismus wirken mindestens so verlässlich wie seine Aufstiegs- und Wohlstandserfolge. Über die Generationen seit Marx wird der Kapitalismus immer wieder neue, durchaus erfolgreiche Mittelschichten mit ganz unterschiedlichem sozialökonomischem Profil hervorbringen. Genauso wird er aber auch immer wieder große soziale Gruppen und Schichten aus ihren hergebrachten Verhältnissen werfen, sie mit Untergang bedrohen oder diesen herbeiführen. Daher verlangt es auch keine Phantasie, um die aktuelle Welle des autoritär-nationalistischen Populismus von den USA bis Ungarn als insofern „kleinbürgerliche“ Bewegung zu begreifen, wie hier Abstiegsängste und Entfremdungsgefühle in einer als bedrohlich empfundenen ökonomischen und kulturellen, von den Risiken und Herausforderungen des globalen Kapitalismus geprägten Moderne von opportunistischen Machtstrategen instrumentalisiert werden.
Abschottung statt Aufklärung: Einfache Erklärungen für eine komplexe Wirklichkeit
Wenn es zutrifft, dass Angst diffus und unverstanden ist, so verwundert es nicht, dass Lösungen im Konkreten und Verstehbaren gesucht werden. Abstraktion und Theorie sind dem kleinbürgerlichen Denken dagegen fremd, sie sind das als intellektualistisch beargwöhnte analytische Verfahren der gebildeten Eliten oder des Establishments, dem zu folgen nicht immer leicht fällt und dem man daher besonders gerne Manipulations- und Verschleierungsabsichten unterstellt. Konkretismus ist das dem modernen, „kalten“ Rationalismus entgegengesetzte Erkenntniswerkzeug, das der kleinbürgerlichen, sich immer wieder auf den „gesunden Menschenverstand“ berufenden Weltsicht entspricht, die sich auf „Handfestes“ und einfache Tatsachen bezieht. Obwohl diese systematisch unterkomplexe Strategie an einer tatsächlich abstrakten und gewissermaßen hinter den Dingen und unter der Oberfläche liegenden Wirklichkeit sachlich eigentlich scheitern müsste, wird sie das de facto im kleinbürgerlichen Selbstbewusstsein kaum tun, denn ihre Funktion ist nicht Erklärung und Erkenntnisgewinn, sondern Abschottung und Selbstbestätigung.
Die konkretistische Weltsicht findet ihr klassisches Feindbild im Intellektuellen und ein dauerndes Betätigungsfeld im Konstruieren von Verschwörungstheorien, heutzutage zum Beispiel über die planvolle Unterminierung unserer Kultur durch eine dschihadistisch „organisierte Invasion“ islamischer Migrationsströme nach Europa.[4] Dieses konkretistische Ausblenden komplexer Ursachen und Nebenwirkungen der großen Wanderungsbewegungen gründet in einer Überforderungsfrustration, die durch ein stimmig geschlossenes Weltbild zwar kurzfristig entlastet, langfristig aber nicht gelöst werden kann, sondern beinahe zwangsläufig zu noch einmal gesteigerter Wut führen muss. In solchen angstgeleiteten Selbsterhitzungszyklen kann sich das kleinbürgerliche Bewusstsein unter Krisenbedingungen aufladen und zugleich mit einem massiven Gerechtigkeitsempfinden verbinden – ein Vorgang der Selbstermächtigung und des vermeintlichen Souveränitätsgewinns mit erheblicher emotionaler Entlastungswirkung, die die Dynamik autoritär-populistischer Bewegungen stärkt. Kein Wunder, dass auch in den Biographien der Anführer dieser Bewegungen, von Hitler bis Berlusconi, von Erdog˘an bis Putin, bei allen Unterschieden sehr oft ein Element des sich erfolgreich durchsetzenden Außenseiters erkennbar ist, mit dem sich die Gefolgschaft identifizieren kann. Vom Gefreiten zum „Führer und Reichskanzler“, „vom Istanbuler Hafenviertel in den Präsidentenpalast“: In solchen Erzählungen werden die Revanchephantasien des im eigenen Dasein Gekränkten befreiend nacherlebt. Und selbst einem Millionärssohn wie Donald Trump werden sein Maulheldentum, sein rüpelhafter Stil und sein Mut zu Lüge und Beleidigung als Ausweis von Authentizität und unkorrumpierbarer Anti-Establishment-Haltung abgenommen. Nicht selten wird daraus die zwar paradoxe, aber kaum sachlicher Argumentation zugängliche Machtoption einer „Opposition von oben“, wie sie auf harmloser Stufe äußerst erfolgreich auch von den Spitzen der bayerischen CSU seit Franz Josef Strauß wahrgenommen wird.
Der Angstbürger wird zum Wutbürger
Die im deutschen Begriff „Bürger“ neben der Klassenbezeichnung (französisch „bourgeois“) enthaltene Bedeutung des Staatsbürgers (französisch „citoyen“) führt zum Konzept einer „bürgerlichen Gesellschaft“, die durch die Teilhabe freier und gleichberechtigter Staatsbürger definiert ist. Schon die Ideologiekritik des 19. Jahrhunderts hat diese Definition am impliziten Widerspruch zwischen diesem Anspruch und einer Wirklichkeit gemessen, in der die vollen Rechte und Chancen nur einer privilegierten Oberklasse, eben der Bourgeoisie, zustanden, während die unteren, ökonomisch unterprivilegierten Klassen und Schichten, darunter das alte Kleinbürgertum, davon ausgeschlossen waren.
In der heutigen globalisierten Welt ist die vormals nationalstaatlich organisierte „bürgerliche“ Gesellschaft vielerorts zu einer „welt-bürgerlichen“ geworden, die die volle Teilhabe an ihrem ökonomischen, aber auch symbolisch-kulturellen Erfolg einer privilegierten Gruppe kosmopolitischer „Weltbürger“ vorbehält. Entsprechend lautet die politische Preisfrage, vor allem an eine aufgeklärte Linke, wie umgekehrt symbolische und materielle Anerkennung systematisch neu und gerecht verteilt werden können, das heißt eben gerade nicht nur an die neue Schicht kosmopolitischer Globalisierungsgewinner.
Die ursprünglich im unteren Mittelstand der älteren Industriegesellschaften modellierte Verherrlichung der eigenen Borniertheit, geboren aus Angst und sozialer Ohnmacht, ist derweil in den modernen postindustriellen Gesellschaften in nahezu alle gesellschaftlichen Lagen und Milieus diffundiert – als mentaler Stressverarbeitungsmodus und aggressives Reaktionsmuster. Auch hier begegnen wir heute dem bekannten „kleinbürgerlichen“ Phänomen eines jähen Umschlags: Aus dem apathischen Angstbürger wird im Handumdrehen ein autoritärer Wutbürger, dessen Feindbild exakt jene, die globalisierte Welt verkörpernde kosmopolitische Elite ist, die ihm tatsächlich oder vermeintlich seinen fairen Teil am Kuchen verweigert.
»Keiner hört uns«
Diese Wutbürger verortet der Soziologe Heinz Bude für Deutschland in drei angstgeprägten „Stimmungsmilieus, die rund ein Drittel der Bevölkerung ausmachen“: bei den „Selbstgerechten mit ihrer Abwehrhaltung“, den „Verbitterten mit ihrem Degradierungserleben“, und den „Übergangenen mit ihren alltäglichen Überlebenskämpfen“.[5] Diese in vielen Ländern vorzufindenden Gruppen verbindet das Gefühl, „nicht gehört zu werden“. Es ist gewachsen aus der Erfahrung von Einfluss-, Anerkennungs- und Geltungsverlust im Vergleich zu anderen vorgeblich oder tatsächlich chancenreicheren Bevölkerungsteilen.
Diese Disposition ist der Auslöser einer typischen, leicht zu stimulierenden gekränkten Empfindlichkeit, wie sich besonders plastisch anhand der Reaktion auf eine neue „Political Correctness“ erweist. Rücksichtnahme auf Genderfragen (besonders das als Bevormundung empfundene „Mainstreaming“), auf die Rechte von sexuellen Minderheiten („gegen das gesunde Volksempfinden!“) oder die Rechte anderer, vor allem zugewanderter Minoritäten erscheinen aus dieser Perspektive als unfaire Bevorzugung. Wie kann es sein, so fragt sich der sein Gefühl des Zurückgesetztseins verabsolutierende „Kleinbürger“, dass sich muslimische Flüchtlinge einfach in der Warteschlange staatlicher Zuwendungen nach vorne drängeln? Und sollen denn Fahrrad fahrende Vegetarier und schwule Großstadthipster dem braven Heteromann mit Führerschein und täglicher Schnitzelration seinen „ganz normalen“ Lebensstil streitig machen dürfen?[6]
Allem Anschein nach basieren solche Ängste auf einem Syndrom der Ich-Schwäche. Je größer mein kulturelles Repertoire und mein Erfahrungshorizont sind, desto souveräner kann ich mit kultureller Differenz und uneinheitlichen, in sich widersprüchlichen Situationen umgehen; je geringer sie ausfallen, desto patziger und beleidigter die Reaktion. Aus dieser einfachen, aber hoch wirksamen Mechanik erklärt sich auch das auffällige Stadt-Land-Gefälle in der Affinität zu national-populistischen Bewegungen – und ganz besonders auch der Erfolg dieser Bewegungen, Ideen und Phänomene im postkommunistischen Mittelosten und Osten Europas, Ostdeutschland inklusive.[7]
Mittelosteuropa – Residuum des Kleinbürgerlichen
Die Renaissance bzw. das Überwintern eines überproportional starken kleinbürgerlichen Elements in den politischen Kulturen Mittelosteuropas erklärt sich nicht nur durch den Mangel an Weltläufigkeit und kosmopolitischer Bildung, sondern vor allem auch aus der besonderen Erfahrung einer „sekundären Deklassierung“, die sich aus der Geschichte dieser Region ergibt. Waren schon seit langer Zeit die kulturellen Orientierungsgeber Europas die reichen, früh nationalstaatlich entwickelten Länder des Westens (man denke an den jahrhundertealten kulturellen Minderwertigkeitskomplex der Deutschen gegenüber Frankreich), so hat sich diese Schieflage in den Generationen der Kriegs- und Nachkriegszeit noch einmal verstärkt. Während sich im Westen, schließlich sogar auch im Westen Deutschlands, unter den Bedingungen lange währender Friedens- und Wohlstandszeiten sukzessive offene Gesellschaften und kosmopolitische Lebensstile herausbilden konnten, war der kommunistische Osten davon weitgehend ausgeschlossen. Dort konnte ein autoritär-paternalistisches System, dem die kleinen Reste bürgerlicher Kultur aus der Zwischenkriegszeit etwa in Tschechien oder Polen kaum etwas entgegenzusetzen hatten, weitgehend bruchlos an vormoderne Monokulturen und einen grassierenden Untertanengeist anknüpfen. Dies gilt, auch wenn in einzelnen Ländern, etwa Polen und Ungarn, mehr Spielräume existierten als in anderen, cum grano salis für den gesamten sowjetischen Einflussbereich bis 1989.
Man war zweitklassig, zumindest in seinen Möglichkeiten, und man wusste es. In der DDR war man sich dessen besonders deutlich bewusst, denn durch die Teilung des Landes war sie in einen kontinuierlichen, durch Westpakete, Westbesuche, Westfernsehen und Intershop organisierten Direktvergleich mit dem reichen Bruder gezwungen. Daraus speiste sich eine permanente Demütigung mit langfristiger Wirkung. Als dann der West-Traum 1989 in Erfüllung zu gehen schien und in Deutschland noch größere Erwartungen weckte (direkter Klassenaufstieg mit D-Mark, EU, Nato und „blühenden Landschaften“) als in den anderen postkommunistischen Ländern, dauerte es nicht lange, bis durch die Frustration nochmaliger, sekundärer Deklassierung aus naiver Bewunderung des Westens vielerorts radikale Ablehnung wurde.
Denn rasch zeigte sich, dass man weiterhin zweitklassig war – ökonomisch im Wettbewerb mit der Westwirtschaft hoffnungslos unterlegen und zur Abwicklung verurteilt, sozial auf die zynisch-instrumentelle Kommunikationsweise und die typischen „Skills“, die Attribute des westlichen Erfolgsmenschen, unvorbereitet, kulturell im Weltwissen und wichtigen Qualifikationen (Englischkenntnisse!) geschlagen. Die in Sonntagsreden sensibler Beobachter immer wieder geäußerte Aufforderung, man müsse einander nun „seine Geschichten erzählen“, hatte schon bald einen zynischen Klang in den Ohren derer, die täglich erfahren mussten, dass beinahe alles, was sie anzubieten hatten, auf taube Ohren stieß. In Wirklichkeit kam es genau zum Gegenteil, nämlich zu einer systematischen, in vielen Einzelerfahrungen akkumulierten, rasanten Abwertung von Millionen von Biographien, deren Anerkennungsgrad dahinschmolz wie der Kurs der alten Ostmark.
Mit der Inneneinrichtung der zuvor lange abgeschotteten, „kommoden“ DDR-Diktatur hatte die westlich-kapitalistische Offensive leichtes Spiel, in der Terminologie von Jürgen Habermas ein klassischer Fall von Kolonisierung der Lebenswelt durch systemische Imperative und seine Medien Geld und Macht: „The winner takes it all“. Mit der politischen Kultur ging es hingegen nicht so einfach. Wenn es nämlich der Anspruch war, den Osten nach 1989 nicht nur in den bundesrepublikanischen Staat, sondern auch in eine liberale Wertegemeinschaft zu integrieren, so ist dieses Projekt, zurückhaltend ausgedrückt, vorerst nur als teilweise geglückt zu bezeichnen. Offensichtlich schlagen die Hypotheken aus dem autoritären Erbe zweier Diktaturen (wie unter anderem die auffälligen Wählerwanderungen zwischen der Linken und der AfD illustrieren) und den Kränkungen durch die „Kolonisierung“ stärker und langfristiger zu Buche als vorausgesehen.[8]
Kein guter Nährboden für offene Gesellschaften
Dabei bedeutet der Fall der DDR im Vergleich zu anderen postkommunistischen Ländern lediglich eine besonders krasse Zuspitzung, verursacht durch die Komplettübernahme des einen und die Komplettnegation des anderen Systems.[9] Entscheidend aber ist in unserem Zusammenhang, dass Phänomene der sekundären Deklassierung und des Anerkennungsverlusts alle sogenannten Transformationsländer erfassten und dort über lange Jahre wirksam waren, wenn auch in unterschiedlichem Ausmaß. Nicht selten haben sie sich, wie etwa in Polen, mit älteren Traumata amalgamiert und sind bis heute virulent: nicht nur bei den unmittelbar Betroffenen, manche sprechen von den „verlorenen“ Jahrgängen, sondern auch bei ihren Nachkommen, die je nach Ausgangslage wenig Anschluss an den kapitalistischen Erfolgszug und umso mehr Erfahrungen des „Abgehängtseins“ erlebt haben (beispielsweise in weiter strukturschwachen, ländlichen Regionen oder bildungsfernen Schichten).
Die Dynamik dieser Frustration lässt sich exemplarisch an den seit den 1990er Jahren eingewanderten Russlanddeutschen studieren. Die aktuellen nationalistisch-xenophoben Töne aus diesem Milieu sind ein Lehrbeispiel dafür, wie mangelnder sozialer Erfolg und Ausgrenzungserfahrungen die noch sehr nahe und konkrete Erinnerung des eigenen Migrantenschicksals auszulöschen bzw. in aggressive Impulse gegenüber weiteren Neuankömmlingen umzupolen vermögen.[10] Gleiches gilt für die im russlanddeutschen Umfeld neuerdings gepflegte Putin-Verehrung, eine auffällige „Identifikation mit dem Angreifer“ (Anna Freud), aus dessen Machtsphäre man noch vor kurzem erst, koste es, was es wolle, geflohen ist. Zum Feind wird nun ein liberaler Rechtsstaat, der Bürgerrechte egalitär auslegt und die Menschen unterschiedslos dem kapitalistischen Erfolgsprinzip ausliefert.
Kein guter Nährboden für die Herausbildung offener Gesellschaften und viel Nahrung für wutbürgerlich-regressive Ressentiments, die aus den neuen und alten „Abgehängten des Ostens“ eine Reservearmee der Ohnmächtigen im Modus der Entrüstung machen, so wie seinerzeit die „Abgehängten“ im Deutschland der Weimarer Zeit, aber auch die „Abgehängten“ in den Industriegebieten Englands und Wales unserer Tage oder diejenigen im deindustrialisierten „Rust Belt“ der Vereinigten Staaten. Ihnen allen steht als Zukunftsperspektive im Moment nicht viel mehr vor Augen als das zynische Angebot einer die letzten Arbeitsplätze gefährdenden Digitalisierung („Industrie 4.0“).
Die Angst vor neuerlicher Deklassierung
Wenn Angst, wie zu Beginn gesagt, vor allem Veränderungsangst ist, so lässt sich aus dieser Verheißung nur die Aussicht auf eine weitere Verschärfung der Lage ableiten, zumal ein zentrales Element dieser Angst die Wahrnehmung einer dramatischen Beschleunigung ist. Die Zukunfts- und Verlustängste der betroffenen Schichten sind vor allem auch die Ängste vor einem anonym und rasend schnell angreifenden Wandel, dem sie sich chancenlos gegenübersehen.
Hier betreffen die Ängste wieder sehr reale und dramatische Prozesse der kapitalistischen Globalisierung, die langfristig – mit wahrscheinlich nur geringen Unterschieden zwischen West und Ost – keine grundsätzlich positiven Prognosen zulassen. In sämtlichen alten Industrieländern sind die Chancen auf Wohlstand und Stabilität für eine hinreichende Zahl von Angehörigen der Mittelschichten bedroht, was eine Krise des wachstumsökonomischen Verteilungsmodells zur Folge hat. Auf diese Weise gerät der entscheidende Befriedungs- und Legitimations-Mechanismus demokratischer Gesellschaften, nämlich durch Wohlstand, ins Stottern, und ihr demokratischer Kernbestand tritt in seiner ganzen Fragilität zutage.
Dieser desillusionierende Vorgang ist derzeit besonders plastisch in Mittelosteuropa zu besichtigen, wo offensichtlich weite Teile der Bevölkerung bereit sind, genau jenen freiheitlich-demokratischen Konsens zu kündigen, der im Überschwang der Ereignisse nach 1989 als Hauptgewinn gefeiert wurde, und umstandslos ins autoritär-nationalistische Muster wechseln. Der nach der Wende in den östlichen EU-Beitrittsländern (inklusive Ostdeutschland) vorgenommene Versuch, eine posttotalitäre Liberalisierung durch Institutionen und Verfassungen sowie durch die Generierung ökonomischen Aufschwungs zu wiederholen, wie er in der deutschen Westrepublik nach 1949 (mit Marshallplan und reeducation) zum Erfolg führte, muss vor diesem Hintergrund als in großen Teilen gescheitert bezeichnet werden. Am vielerorts verfehlten demokratischen Substanzaufbau erweist sich ein offenbar weitgehend unterschätztes Beharrungsvermögen des traditionell illiberal-autoritären Milieus (abgesehen von den im Vergleich zur Bundesrepublik instabileren Rahmenbedingungen der Globalisierungskrisen und einem vergleichsweise kürzeren Zeitraum). Zu befürchten ist, dass, von heute aus gesehen, das Freiheitspathos der Bürgerrechtsbewegungen nicht viel mehr als intellektueller Zuckerguss auf eher einfachen materiellen Motiven war. Mit anderen Worten: Auf dem Weg zu neuen „bürgerlichen“ Demokratien gibt es zunächst ein Wiedersehen mit dem alten Kleinbürger.[11]
Der Bruch der liberalen Versprechen
Die neue Deklassierungsangst, die den nationalpopulistischen Bewegungen und Regimen, der Visegrad-Länder ihre Dynamik verleiht, entstammt ganz wesentlich einer Frustration, die mit gutem Grund dem tatsächlich noch nicht so lange gefestigten parlamentarisch-demokratischem „System“ Zynismus und Nichteinhaltung der eigenen Regeln vorhalten kann. Da ist zunächst einmal eine grundsätzliche Verletzung von Fairness-Geboten, wenn sich, lange bevor die Mittelschichten dieser Länder auch nur in die Nähe der Standards derjenigen kommen, mit denen sie sich zu Recht vergleichen, hier längst eine blendend ausgestattete Klasse der Großverdiener und Oligarchen gebildet hat, denen der Normalbürger bei der Zelebrierung ihres ostentativ inszenierten Reichtums zuschauen darf. Auch hier regiert ein Gefühl unabgegoltener Demütigung aus sekundärer Deklassierung: zum zweiten Mal abgewiesen, zum zweiten Mal abgehängt – ein perfektes Wachstumsmilieu für heimatlosen Antikapitalismus und „postkompetitive Verbitterungsstörungen“ (Bude).
Die in Leistungsgesellschaften durch die unterschiedlichen Talente und Fähigkeiten der Menschen erzeugte soziale Ungleichheit lässt sich langfristig nur durch eine hinreichende Fairness des Wettbewerbs rechtfertigen, vor allem durch die Gleichheit der Ausgangschancen. Für alle liberalen Gesellschaften gilt, dass das alte Märchen „Vom Tellerwäscher zum Millionär“ einen minimalen Wahrheitsgehalt nicht verlieren darf, um die Energie und den Aufstiegsenthusiasmus der vielen, die diesen Traum träumen, nicht zu lähmen.
Nun scheint aber gerade in Mittelosteuropa, wo die Freiheits- und Wohlstandsversprechen der 1990er Jahre noch im Ohr klingen, schon einige Jahre nach Eröffnung des kapitalistischen Spiels die Hoffnung auf kontinuierlich wachsenden „Wohlstand für alle“ durch die europäische Integration zu schwinden. Weil die Mittelklassen in den OECD-Ländern insgesamt nicht mehr wachsen und die EU-Agenda seit Anfang der 2000er Jahre auf neoliberale Deregulierung und Abbau des Sozialstaats umgestellt wurde, gerät die Legitimation des gesamten Verfahrens in Gefahr. Aus Enttäuschung wird rasch Zynismus, die konkretistischen Erklärungs- und Verschwörungsszenarien der Populisten haben Konjunktur.
Die Masseneinwanderung als Schock
Zudem bieten die jüngsten Ereignisse einer in Mittelosteuropa schockiert wahrgenommenen Masseneinwanderung aus dem nahöstlich-islamischen Kulturraum einen idealen Anlass für veränderungsängstliche Projektionen, deren man sich seit der Eskalation der Ereignisse im Sommer 2015 ausführlich und mit breitem Echo bedient. Damit steht alles bereit, was der Kleinbürger braucht, um seine Angst in eine wunschgemäß einfache und nachvollziehbare Geschichte zu transformieren: ein großer Feind, dem alles zuzutrauen ist (die salafistisch-dschihadistische Verschwörung zur Zerstörung des Abendlandes), ein nützlicher Idiot, gegenüber dem man zudem immer noch leicht alte Ängste revitalisieren kann (die Deutschen und Frau Merkel, die aus zweifelhaften Motiven ihrer historischen Traumatisierung und moralisierender Arroganz ihre kosmopolitischen Spinnereien durchsetzen wollen), und die Gemeinschaft redlicher Bürger, denen auf diesem Wege Ruhe und Ordnung sowie die Aussicht auf den verdienten Wohlstandszuwachs streitig gemacht werden soll.
Und das Schönste dabei ist: Es sind gar keine Muslime da! In keinem Land Mittelosteuropas (außer kurzfristig in Ungarn, dem Deutschland und Österreich seine Migranten freundlicherweise abnahmen) gab und gibt es irgendwelche nennenswerte islamisch-nahöstliche Einwanderung. Dies steht aber der politisch-medialen Dauererregung, wie sie den mittelosteuropäischen Diskurs seit vielen Monaten dominiert, keineswegs entgegen, sondern scheint umgekehrt geradezu Voraussetzung derselben zu sein. Allein die Vorstellung, irgendwann könnten irgendwelche Muslime (gleich Terroristen und Schmarotzer) ihre Länder betreten, löst hier offenbar so tiefsitzende Ängste aus, dass eine Diskussion über sachliche Implikationen wie Migrationsursachen und Menschenrechte aussichtslos erscheint.
Dabei lässt sich als typischer Mechanismus eine Antizipationskette beschreiben, die dazu führt, dass die heftigste Abwehr von Migranten aus fremden Kulturkreisen weit mehr der als Bedrohung wahrgenommenen Ankündigung ihrer Ankunft gilt als ihrer faktischen Anwesenheit. Dies führt gerade in den bislang von Migration kaum berührten Gegenden Mittelosteuropas zu den heftigsten xenophoben Regungen allein aufgrund von Befürchtungen, während Menschen, die schon in zweiter Generation mit Einwandererfamilien in friedlicher Nachbarschaft leben, auf solche Entwicklungen in vielen Fällen eher gelassen reagieren.
Hingegen zeigt die Geschichte, wie weit die kleinbürgerliche Wut gegen eine als nihilistische Provokation empfundene globale Kultur der Differenz führen kann. Das identitäre Festhalten am eigentlich Nicht-Festhaltbaren kann, wie aus dem deutschen Beispiel bekannt, bis zum Genozid führen. Der faschistische Impuls der Auslöschung entspringt der Angst vor der Differenz: „Alle sollen so sein wie ich, wer nicht, muss weg“, heißt die Botschaft der rassistischen Antisemiten. Ein kurzer Blick in die digitalen Hasswelten des autoritär-populistischen Milieus belehrt uns über das Ausmaß der heutigen Bedrohung, die aus den Rachegelüsten der Verbitterten spricht, die sich hier äußern. Aus Angstbürgern werden Mäkel- und Wutbürger, werden Hass- und Revanche-Bürger. Und sie meinen es ernst.
Geschichte ist nicht fair, das erfährt man im Osten und Mittelosten Europas gerade einmal wieder. Und das gilt auch für den Kapitalismus, von dem man sich hier nach 1989 den Aufstieg erwartete, der aber in Gestalt seiner Globalisierungseffekte nicht nur die Anwendung unseres Modells auf die arme Welt bedeutet, sondern auch die Ankunft der Probleme der armen Peripherie in unseren Städten. Der Stress, so viel ist klar, wird nicht abnehmen in einem Zeitalter, in dem sich schon übermorgen zehn bis elf Milliarden Bewohner des Planeten die knappen Ressourcen für ein halbwegs anständiges Leben teilen müssen.
Die Konsequenzen sind nicht schwer auszumalen, auch für den Kleinbürger nicht, der sich angstgeleitet auf die Bekämpfung der von ihm identifizierten Verursacher dieser Zukunft verlegt – den einwandernden Fremden. Die Geschichte Europas hält hierfür das Beispiel des antisemitischen Klischees vom ewig wandernden, identitätslosen Juden bereit. Dieses Bild aber ist nichts anderes als die konkretistische Verwechslung mit dem tiefer gehenden Prozess der Auflösung der ständischen traditionellen Gesellschaft im Säurebad des kapitalistischen Fortschritts. Je mehr dadurch die alte Welt in Gefahr geriet, desto mehr wurden hierfür die Juden mit ihrer aus der Erfahrung der Heimatlosigkeit gewonnenen Adaptions- und Lernfähigkeit stellvertretend als Verursacher haftbar gemacht. Im gleichen projektiven Verfahren wird diese geradezu klassische Figur heute auf die Flüchtlinge und Migranten aus dem globalen Süden angewandt, die als Verursacher der Globalisierungskrise denunziert werden, deren eigentliche Opfer sie doch sind.
So ist aus dem demokratisch-emanzipatorischen Ruf „Wir sind das Volk!“ von 1989 ein populistisch-ausgrenzendes „Wir sind das Volk!“ der Pegida-Chöre von 2017 geworden. Hier zeigt sich, dass die aus Angst entstehende Wut in Krisenzeiten ihr destruktives Potential, das in prosperierenden Phasen nur geschlummert hat, jederzeit wieder aktivieren kann. Kurzum: Mit dem Kleinbürger in Ost und West ist weiterhin zu rechnen. | {
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Faith in Punjab seems to have an intrusive presence. Most of Punjab’s Muslims wear their faith on their sleeve in an ostentatious display of what is perceived to be piety.
Badgered by the religious ideology of the state, it’s not good enough for the pious to be pious.
The significance of being pious is greatly diminished if piety doesn’t come up as a marketable commodity and thus is incapable of fetching social capital for the pious.
In Punjab the sacred is not sacred as long as its public appearance doesn’t have an aura of sacredness. That means appearing other than what you are or more than what you are in a society that depends as much on what it’s not as what it is.
What we are is an extremely paradoxical phenomenon because of the fact that our culture and faith are rooted in different types of soil.
Our culture, ancient and complex, sprouted from our own rich soil while our new faith adopted after the arrival of the Arabs and Turks had its origins in the sandy deserts of Middle East.
Our culture despite all its sophistication is a historical product of appallingly rigid caste-based hierarchies which predetermine one’s role and profession regardless of their ability and aptitude.
All this was result of insoluble conflict between the Indus valley people aka Dravidians and incoming Aryans way back in time.
The sturdy nomadic Aryans in a long- drawn-out tussle overwhelmed the less aggressive urbanised Dravidians.
That the victorious Aryans could in no way wipe out the Dravidians resulted in a realisation that the victors and the vanquished had to coexist in this land of plenty.
But the coexistence required a social mechanism through which all the interests of ascendant Aryans could permanently be safeguarded.
The newly acquired power led them to firmly believe in their ethnic superiority and colour consciousness. They were fair-complexioned while their foes, the people they subjugated, were dark-skinned.
The initial notion of caste vividly expresses sense of colour which is self-evident from the phrase Varna Dharma. Varna (Varn/in Punjabi letter r is dropped and is pronounced as Van) means colour.
The vanquished were placed at the bottom of the caste hierarchies and required to adopt professions deemed unfit for the Aryans.
Not that all the Dravidians were pushed down into low castes.
Class did play a role. Upper class Dravidians were given the choice to become part of the Aryan fold after fulfilling certain conditions which included ritual offerings, hefty gifts for priestly class and above all acceptance of the new socio-economic order based on iron-clad segregation, i.e. caste system.
This was a historical necessity: nomadic Aryan elite wasn’t equipped with intellectual tools to run a state spread over vast swathes with large multiple urban centres.
Their collective memory and historical experience reflected lack of knowledge of state craft due to the nature of their primitive social life.
The poorest of the poor among the Aryans forced by circumstances got merged with low castes, even with the outcastes, the untouchables.
Hence it’s not unusual to come across fair skinned Dalits and dark-skinned Brahmins in the subcontinent.
The thrust of the caste system has been on exclusion, segregation and tight social compartmentalisation.
Each caste has its role and profession defined. Intermingling which is natural consequence of social interaction has been the greatest threat to the system.
A related notion of pollution was developed to tackle the threat that could erode the entire edifice. Notion of pollution is all encompassing.
It deals with everything that is there between upper and lower castes. It strictly forbids sharing of food between upper and lower castes and any kind of physical contact.
Touch of an outcaste or low-caste person can pollute anything and everything meant for upper castes.
Islamic faith that Punjabis started embracing from the eighth century onwards recognises tribal identity but has no concept of caste.
It also advocates, without fully abolishing slavery, the notion of human equality. It stresses value of sharing and inclusive activities among the members of Muslim community.
It has much in common with other Abrahamic religions that preceded it; Judaism and Christianity.
How the Punjabi Muslims (not all) can afford not to share food or water with Christians or avoid physical touch with them while Islam allows marriages between Muslims and Christians/Jews is surprising.
The ugly and inhuman practice of declaring poor Christians pariahs and treating them accordingly has its roots in culture.
We saw its recent demonstration in the district Vehari where a poor Christian student from a so-called low caste was allegedly disgraced by his shameless teacher on the first day of his class and a few days later was beaten to death by his class fellows for using their glass to drink water.
The poor Christians who are disgraced, humiliated, beaten for a negligible offence, mostly for no offence at all, are descendants of the Raj era converts from the low castes or from the strata outside the castes.
Their conversion was driven by their legitimate human desire to be accepted and treated with respect as individuals and social beings.
But more they change the more they remain the same in terms of social worth. Muslim Punjabis treat them as scum though it’s upper castes and classes which create filth.
Their filthy mess is cleared by this segment of unfortunate poor Christians.
Punjabi Muslims simply put their faith aside that rejects caste system when it comes to exploiting caste biases to their advantage.
The irony isn’t lost on the ones who know a bit of history; forefathers of the most of these Punjabis themselves being from the lower castes suffered similar indignities before their conversion some centuries ago.
After the conversion in a typical show of ‘slaves assuming the role of their master’ they started aping the upper castes. What it proves is simply this; changing faith is easier than fighting against the force of cultural habits.
So what is needed is a campaign aimed at cultural transformation spearheaded by some visionary like Guru Nanak who debunked the myth of caste superiority by identifying himself with low castes and outcastes: “I am the lowliest of the lowly (Neechi haun utt neech)”.
[email protected]
Published in Dawn, September 15th, 2017 | {
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Näin hallitus muuttaisi tieliikennelakia 17 § Ajoneuvon kuljettajaa koskevat yleiset vaatimukset Ajoneuvoa ei saa ajaa se, jolta sairauden, vian, vamman, väsymyksen tai päihtymyksen vuoksi taikka muusta vastaavasta syystä puuttuu siihen tarvittavat edellytykset. 183 § Ajon estäminen päihtymyksen vuoksi Jos nautitun alkoholin toteamiseksi tehtävässä kokeessa moottorikäyttöisen ajoneuvon tai raitiovaunun kuljettajan havaitaan nauttineen alkoholia, mutta kokeen tuloksen perusteella ei ole todennäköisiä syitä epäillä hänen syyllistyneen rattijuopumukseen, poliisimies, rajavartiomies ja tullimies voivat kieltää ja tarvittaessa estää häntä kuljettamasta moottorikäyttöistä ajoneuvoa tai raitiovaunua, kunnes hänen elimistössään ei enää ole havaittavaa määrää alkoholia.
Yle kertoi tiistaina hallituksen ehdotuksesta tieliikennelain uudistamiseksi. Ehdotuksen mukaan poliisi voisi käyttää nykylakia enemmän harkintaa ajajan pysäyttämiseen.
Vaikka alkoholia olisi juotu alle rangaistavuuden rajan, virkavalta kiinnittäisi aiempaa tarkemmin huomiota esimerkiksi ajajan pupillien kokoon, puheen sammaltamiseen, väsymystilaan, heilahtelevaan ajotapaan sekä aiempiin merkintöihin. Pikkumaistissa ajaminen yhdistettynä kuljettajan kokemattomuuteen ja jäljellä olevaan pitkään matkaan voisi myös johtaa nykyistä useammin reissun keskeyttämiseen.
Rikos- ja prosessioikeuden professori Matti Tolvanen Itä-Suomen yliopistosta pitää lakiehdotusta ongelmallisena ajajan oikeusturvan kannalta. Tolvanen on ollut keskiviikkona 2. toukokuuta eduskunnan lakivaliokunnan kuultavana asiasta.
– En ymmärrä lainkaan, miksi tällaista ajetaan lakiin. Säännösluonnos on erittäin epämääräinen, kun siinä kytketään poliisin puuttumiskynnys alkoholin vaikutuksen alaisena ajamiseen vain yleisesti todeten. Toinen poliisipartio voi päästää autoilijan jatkamaan ajoa 0,2 promillen tilassa ja toinen partio taas ei.
Tolvanen ei ole kuullut, että missään päin maapalloa olisi moista lakiuudistusta vireillä.
Rikos- ja prosessioikeuden professori Matti Tolvanen Itä-Suomen yliopiston Joensuun kampukselta. Jouni Immonen / Yle
Jäädäänkö odottamaan pariksi tunniksi tienposkeen?
Moottoriajoneuvon kuljettaja syyllistyy rattijuopumukseen (siirryt toiseen palveluun), jos hänen veressään on alkoholia vähintään 0,5 promillea tai litrassa uloshengitysilmaa vähintään 0,22 milligrammaa. Poliisi käyttää tien päällä päihteiden käytön valvonnassa alkometrejä seulontalaitteina.
Mikäli seulontalaite osoittaa, että on syytä epäillä kuljettajan syyllistyneen rattijuopumukseen, hänet viedään joko poliisilaitokselle tarkkuusalkometrillä tehtävään jatkotutkimukseen tai terveyskeskukseen verikokeeseen. Jos puhalluskoe osoittaa nollaa, mutta kuljettaja on tunnistettavissa päihteiden käyttäjäksi, hänet viedään lääkärin tutkittavaksi.
Lakiuudistus merkitsisi aiempaa enemmän harkinnanvaraa poliisille, mikä tarkoittaisi professori Matti Tolvasen mielestä merkittävää lisätyötä virkavallalle. Se taas olisi pois esimerkiksi henkirikosten selvittämisestä.
– Jos poliisi käyttää pikkumaistissa ajamista syynä pysäyttämiseen, poliisin velvollisuus olisi jäädä tarkkailemaan alkoholin poistumista kuljettajan elimistöstä. Jäätäisiinkö sitä sitten tienposkeen odottamaan pariksi tunniksi? Ei poliisilla ole siihen aikaa tai resursseja.
Esimerkiksi 0,2 promillea tuottaa vain teoreettisen liikenneturvallisuusriskin. Matti Tolvanen
Lakiehdotukseen kielteisesti suhtautuva Tolvanen ei myöskään alentaisi rattijuopumuksen rangaistavuuden alarajaa 0,5 promillesta.
– Poliisin pitäisi saada keskittyä koviin ylinopeuksiin ja siihen, että ajetaan yli 0,5 promillen humalassa. Esimerkiksi 0,2 promillea tuottaa vain teoreettisen liikenneturvallisuusriskin.
Tulkinnanvaraiset matkan keskeyttämiset voisivat johtaa nykyistä useammin riitatilanteisiin. Jos pikkumaistissa ajaja olisi tyytymätön poliisin tekemään pikapäätökseen, olisi hänellä mahdollisuus tehdä kantelu joko poliisihallitukseen tai oikeusasiamiehelle. | {
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Sweden faces a protracted period of political uncertainty after an election that left the two main parliamentary groupings tied but well short of a majority, and the far-right Sweden Democrats claiming they had 'won' despite making more modest gains than expected | {
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Once upon a time, a brave little Cutie was born on the blockchain. It was a one-of-kind and free-spirited creature that brought a little bit of love and art to the money-minded world of crypto. The creature liked adventures and believed that people become responsible, forever, for what they have tamed.
True ownership, extended gameplay, passion for the art, and fair value of the assets are the key principles of the philosophy behind Blockchain Cuties, a game that rocked the crypto space a few years ago.
Lumi Collect: A New Home for Cuties
Around the same time, the Lumi Wallet team was working on building a new type of wallet that could accommodate those non-fungible tokens, which is what Blockchain Cuties technically are. So we believe that it was a match made in crypto heaven.
Nowadays, all the Lumi Collect users are familiar with Cuties. Last September we celebrated the launch of our new wallet for crypto collectibles and blockchain gaming by holding a huge Blockchain Cuties giveaway.
Although we hate to brag, Cuties loved their new Lumi home! The simple yet colorful and much-needed wallet served as secure storage for ERC721 tokens. Besides, Cuties looked even more beautiful in Lumi. That was the beginning of our long-term and firm friendship.
Blockchain Cuties Development
Back in the days, not everyone knew what NFTs were, but claimed their giveaway cuties anyway. FOMO or not, they were right. These days, crypto gaming is an independent industry with many fans and diverse communities. And a lot more new developments are yet to come!
In this short – well, almost a year – period of time, Lumi Collect has added support for various crypto games and allowed for the execution of Ethereum transactions directly in the app. You can go on vacation and take your Cuties with you on your mobile, without interrupting their adventure spree.
And what about Blockchain Cuties themselves? They’ve been busy too. Apart from releasing hundreds of wonderful species, they’ve expanded their blockchain presence and added EOS and TRON support.
Recently, the team has announced the release of their very own ERC20 token CUTE. And guess what? At the same time, Lumi Wallet, our main product and crypto wallet for coins and tokens, added an in-app browser that allows you to play with your Cuties and send them on adventures as well!
CUTE coin in Lumi Wallet
We didn’t have to think twice and decided to add CUTE support to Lumi Wallet straight away. And now our users can enjoy both: safely storing their CUTE and fighting the raid boss in our dapp browser in order to get some more!
But if your Cutie is not strong enough yet to fight the beast, you can buy the coin with a credit card or trade your crypto coins for it on HitBTC. But don’t forget to transfer it to Lumi Wallet so that you will be the only one who has access to your CUTE assets.
And after that, you’ve got two scenarios. Firstly, you can buy yourself more Cuties or some awesome gear with your CUTE. Secondly, you may choose to hold on to it and lay the groundwork for your future accomplishments in Cutieland.
No matter what you ‘re after, Lumi Wallet will keep your funds secure!
Giveaway Rules
We’ve decided that there’s no better way to celebrate our friendship and new horizons than to hold another giveaway.
CUTE tokens or Cuties, which one do you lust after more? Alright, that’s a tough one, so we won’t make you choose!
There are two events you need to check out.
Event Number One: Free Cuties
We’re giving away 20 Cuties and the event will last from 26/07 until 9/08.
Join Gleam here and go through the following steps:
Follow Lumi and Cuties on Twitter
Download the Lumi Wallet app
Provide your email and ETH address
Tweet anything with #CUTEcoin ❤️ #LumiWallet
Event Number Two: Free CUTE coins
We’re giving away 200 CUTE coins to 5 lucky winners and the event will last from 02/08 until 09/08.
Join Gleam here and go through the following steps:
Follow Lumi and Cuties on Twitter
Download the Lumi Wallet app
Provide your email and ETH address
Like and share all our tweets until the end of the giveaway
The winners of the giveaways will be chosen randomly and we’ll announce them on 12/08.
Make sure to follow Lumi Wallet on Twitter, Facebook, Telegram or Reddit for more giveaways, crypto knowledge, and news. | {
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En los últimos meses se ha ido expandiendo la actualización de Android 4.2.2 para HTC One a diferentes países. Primeramente en países asiáticos y poco a poco en diferentes países europeos. Por fin, desde el día de hoy podemos descargar la última versión del sistema operativo de Google en uno de sus mejores terminales.
Como vemos, la famosa fragmentación de Android cada vez se combate más. Los tiempos de espera no son tan desesperantes como eran al principio, aunque están bastante lejos de ser satisfactorios. Un producto de la calidad de HTC One debería ser lanzado al mercado con la última versión, sin demoras.
Novedades importantes
Daydream es la función que permite a tu dispositivo mostrar un salvapantallas interactivo cuando está cargando o en un dock. Al igual que con los widgets, las aplicaciones pueden crear sus propias versiones para Daydream.
Si no has reemplazado el launcher de serie, una de las características únicas del HTC One es BlinkFeed , una especie de Flipboard en tu homescreen. Con la última actualización es posible mostrar fotos de Instagram, al igual que antes sucedía con Twitter y Facebook.
El porcentaje de la carga de la batería ahora puede activarse para que se muestre en la barra superior.
Podemos incluir widgets en la pantalla de bloqueo . Muy útil para acceder a mucha información sin necesidad de desbloquear nuestro terminal.
Renovada barra de notificaciones , donde poder acceder de manera rápida a ajustes sin necesidad de widgets. Es una de las novedades más importantes que trajo Android 4.2.2.
Elimina la barra que reemplazaba al "botón opción". El HTC One al tener dos botones, en muchas aplicaciones aparecía una barra negra en la parte inferior que ejercía de "botón opción", ahora puedes eliminar esa incómoda barra negra y acceder a los ajustes desde el botón Home.
La llegada de Android 4.2.2 para HTC One es una muy buena noticia para todos sus usuarios, puede descargarse vía OTA y os recomiendo que la hagáis para poder disfrutar de todas las novedades y mejor experiencia. Esperemos que las actualizaciones empiecen hacer honor a su nombre y salgan en fecha, no casi un año después de su lanzamiento. | {
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Group’s founder formerly headed firm bankrolling Beck, Hannity projects
WASHINGTON — The seniors group American Seniors Association (ASA) describes itself as a conservative alternative to the AARP and has attracted notable press coverage this year for its opposition to health care reform. A Raw Story investigation, however, reveals that the group has a massive web of affiliations to right-wing activists, think tanks, politicians, media and executives — signaling ideological motivations than extend well beyond serving the interests of seniors.
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ASA extensively linked to Tea-Partiers and right-wing movements
ASA was originally founded in 2005 under the name National Association for Seniors Concerns (NASCON) by former NAPA Auto Parts executive Jerry Barton, who made an initial investment of $500,000. The group is listed as a coalition member of the Internet Freedom Coalition, a group that opposes “net neutrality” and has received at least tens of thousands in funding from the conservative think tank Institute for Liberty.
The group’s ties to the right-wing Tea Party movement are evident as the Institute for Liberty has officially co-sponsored some of its activities, as well as those of Glenn Beck’s so-called 9/12 Project, both of which have organized anti-health-reform rallies comprising deeply offensive Holocaust imagery. Members of the Institute for Liberty have also hosted Tea Party events.
ASA has been endorsed by a flurry of Tea Party organizations across the country — including the Santa Clarita Tea Party, the Mount Vernon WA Tea Party Patriots, the New Jersey Tea Party Coalition, and the United American Tea Party.
These loyalties, along with the group’s posturing and its leaders’ activities prior to its founding, suggest that ASA is co-opting the sympathies of seniors — a very organized constituency that votes in large numbers — to advance a much broader right-wing agenda.
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ASA has on numerous occasions echoed conservative claims about the health reform bill that have been widely debunked, including that it will encourage euthanasia and materially cut Medicare benefits.
Sponsor of Glenn Beck, heavily promoted by Fox News
The ASA, which was described by its founder as having 40,000 members nationwide this August — but which was also described on its website until recently as “representing hundreds of thousands of members” — remains dwarfed by the AARP’s mammoth roster of 40 million members.
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But Fox News has touted ASA’s opposition to health reform legislation, repeatedly billing ASA as a burgeoning political force and serious threat to the AARP and offering the group considerable attention and air-time.
In August, FoxNews.com published two very similar stories in a span of eight days. On August 10, they ran a story headlined: “AARP Faces Backlash From Seniors Over Health Care Reform Stance.” A week later, on August 18, they published a similar story favorable to ASA called: “AARP, Losing Members Over Health Care, Faces Challenge From Grassroots Senior Advocacy Group.”
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AARP allegedly lost at least ten thousand members after endorsing the House health care reform bill — but this hardly puts a dent in its total membership.
Both articles quoted Stuart Barton, Jerry Barton’s son and President of ASA since its founding in 2007. Barton heavily criticized health reform and slammed AARP for supporting it. Fox News also invited Stuart Barton on the air to discuss his group’s opposition to the bill.
Following Fox’s coverage, CBS News published a story in August saying that “up to 60,000 people” have quit AARP as a result of its support for health reform, and “many are switching to the American Seniors Association.” The CBS story led to controversy, as several blogs — including Media Matters, Dissenting Juice and Think Progress — disputed its characterization of ASA as a serious competitor to AARP. The New York Times did not present ASA as such.
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The Bartons’ other connections to Fox News raise additional questions regarding conflict-of-interest.
Jerry Barton’s former organization NAPA Auto Parts currently sponsors Fox News’ Glenn Beck program. NAPA is the chief sponsor of Beck’s “The Christmas Sweater” film (which, as Raw Story reported, failed badly to attract viewers in major metropolitan areas). The automotive parts company has also aided Beck’s 9/12 Project.
Links to GOP & conservative figures
ASA’s founder, Jerry Barton, has notable connections to Republican politicians.
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“Barton is a longtime supporter of conservatives and their causes,” reported Brian McNicoll of the right-leaning think tank Heritage Foundation for TownHall.com in 2005. “He served as finance chairman for one of Mitch McConnell’s Senate campaigns. He has worked with John Linder, Johnny Isaacson and Saxby Chambliss.” (Linder is a Republican Congressman from Georgia, and the latter two are Georgia’s Republican senators.)
Beyond ASA’s professional ties, Barton is part of an extensive network of partners and affiliates in the conservative establishment.
Barton’s launching in 2005 of what was then known as NASCON was assisted by his former neighbor and right-wing radio talk-show host Neal Boortz. Boortz has written for the conservative websites NewsMax, WorldNetDaily and TownHall, and is known for a flurry of accusations about left-leaning policies that have gotten under the skin of liberals. Boortz has since called himself “a charter member” of Barton’s group, describing it as the “conservative counterpart to the leftist AARP,” which “doesn’t always look for the big-government solution to every issue facing older Americans.”
Soon after its launch, NASCON was hailed by numerous other prominent conservatives, including Sean Hannity of Fox News, Steve Forbes of Forbes Magazine and Drew Bond of TownHall.
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Another associate of Barton’s is Phil Kent, a noted conservative figure who was described by the National Journal as Barton’s “spokesman” in 2005 and has been listed as a media contact for ASA as early as 2005 and as recently as December 2009.
Kent’s own website says he was the press secretary in 1981-1982 for segregationist Republican Strom Thurmond and has written several books attacking liberalism. He has also served as president of groups that have opposed affirmative action and favored stronger immigration controls.
ASA has waged other right-wing campaigns in the past
ASA’s stated purpose includes activism in four categories: 1) Medicare reform, 2) Social Security reform, 3) Illegal aliens and 4) Tax reform. Their stances on these issues do not stray from boilerplate conservative ideology favored by GOP leaders and the Tea Party movement. In 2007, ASA (along with many other conservative groups) waged a campaign to defeat legislation that would have granted undocumented workers a pathway to citizenship. Its founder Barton also supported the 2005 effort to privatize Social Security.
With another ideologically divisive issue — health care reform — on the table, ASA has returned to the spotlight. The organization strongly opposes Democrats’ healthcare bill, portraying it as a threat to the elderly. Fox News has extensively covered ASA’s interest in health reform, portraying it as a threat to the exponentially larger AARP.
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Health reform and AstroTurf groups
The ASA’s pattern of behavior suggests that its motives go beyond simply creating a successful alternative to the AARP. The group’s actions and affiliations reveal deeper intentions, which appear to be bolstering right-wing ideology and the conservative movement. The “About Us” section on the group’s website reads:
We are driven by a uniquely American philosophy that starts with the understanding that government doesn’t tax and regulate “things.” It taxes and regulates “people.” Individuals like you and me… At American Seniors Association, we don’t just take the government’s side like some other associations. We are not some big liberal bureaucracy here to try to scare you into going along with Big Government all the time or telling you what to think.
ASA isn’t the first organization that has presented itself as a conservative alternative to the AARP, while actually being invested in promoting right-wing corporate causes with little connection to seniors’ interests. A very similar group, the United Seniors Association, gained notoriety in 2002 by serving as a front for the pharmaceutical industry and also lending its support to Bush administration energy policies and a telecommunications issue important to AT&T.
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Throughout this year’s health reform debate, various members of the media have exposed similar “Astroturf” groups like FreedomWorks and Conservatives for Patients’ Rights, which, like ASA, say they’re standing up for regular people but in reality are organized by a narrow and influential group of elites.
Questions about finances
The financial status of ASA also raises questions; the group appears to be run on a shoestring.
When ASA was incorporated in May 2007, the paperwork was handled by a lawfirm, Robertson & Gable, LLC, which specializes in discount incorporations. From then until last spring, the group’s address was 4555 Mansell Road, Suite 300, Alpharetta, GA 30022, which is a “virtual office” with no physical presence. The address that now appears on ASA’s website is 3700 Mansell Road, Suite 220, which also appears to be a virtual office.
Aside from maintaining a website and an 800 number for prospective members, it is not clear what ASA spends money on in its nominal purpose as a seniors’ organization or how much of its budget is actually devoted to its political activities.
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Some of these questions might be answered by the federal tax form, known as Form 990, which ASA is required to file as a non-profit organization. However, a search at the Foundation Center does not turn up a filing for either 2007 or 2008. A current listing for the American Seniors Association at the South Carolina Secretary of State’s website — which provides summary totals of expenses and revenues for non-profits doing business in the state — has only blank spaces where the dollar amounts should appear, suggesting that there may, in fact, have been no such filings.
ASA’s main number led to an automatic voice-mail, and the group did not return multiple requests for comment by Raw Story.
Additional research by Ron Brynaert and Muriel Kane | {
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US politicians love invoking the tragedy of 9/11 to justify just about everything under the sun. Just not the stuff that really matters.
It’s been used to justify the Iraq War, despite Iraq having absolutely nothing to do with the 2001 attacks on New York, Washington, DC and rural Pennsylvania. It’s been used to justify a total shredding of the US Constitution and rights to privacy and against unlawful search and seizure. It’s been used to justify the torture of people kidnapped off of the streets of foreign countries and held without charge. It’s been used to justify the drone bombings of weddings in Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
What it is no longer being invoked for, however, is the guarantee of health benefits for those first responders and rescue workers who ran to the World Trade Center buildings and rescued the injured, then spent months pouring through the rubble.
The air at Ground Zero was declared safe to breathe by Bush Administration EPA chairwoman and former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman. It was not. Around 3,700 survivors and first responders at the site of the 9/11 attacks have been diagnosed with cancer, according the CDC’s Worth Trade Center Health Program reports. The reports found that multiple chemical carcinogens were released as a result of the towers’ collapse. Many people have died from 9/11 that did not die on September 11, 2001.
72,000 people enrolled in the World Trade Center health program now have to be notified that they may not receive care beyond September 2016 because the program they’ve relied on will have to start to shut down, Centers for Disease Control Director Tom Frieden said in a letter to the US Senate.
The Zadroga Act, named in honor of NYPD detective and first responder James Zadroga after he died working rescue cleanup at Ground Zero, became law in 2010. Proponents of the law made up a surprising coalition including Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart and NYC Patrolmens’ Benefit Association Union leader Patrick Lynch, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Representatives Carolyn Maloney (D) and Peter King (R), amongst many others.
Also set to expire on Saturday is the $2.75 billion Victims Compensation Fund. If not renewed, anyone diagnosed with 9/11-linked cancers or illnesses after that date will not be eligible for financial assistance.
Critics have lambasted the Boehner-led Congress as the most obstructionist in US government history. The US Senate not yet submitted a bill to extend Zadroga or make it permanent. | {
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Про це повідомляє «Інтерфакс-Україна».
Для оскарження рішення ПАРЄ необхідні голоси 30 членів асамблеї з 5 країн, цю кількість набрали, тому російська делегація поки не отримає усіх прав — вона не зможе голосувати по тим питанням, що стосуються її повноважень.
Нагадаємо, члени ПАРЄ проголосували за повернення російської делегації до асамблеї. 25 червня російську делегацію «запросили до роботи» в ПАРЄ.
Представники Франції, Італії, Іспанії, Португалії, Норвегії, Австрії, Словаччини, Туреччини, Ісландії, Кіпру та Азербайджану в повному складі підтримали повернення Росії до ПАРЄ.
Українська делегація допускає призупинення участі в ПАРЄ через повернення Росії.
Парламентська асамблея Ради Європи наклала на Росію санкції у квітні 2014 року через анексію Криму та війну на Донбасі, таким чином позбавивши росіян права голосу. Через це російська делегація припинила участь у роботі ПАРЄ. Також Росія не платить внески до Ради Європи з червня 2017 року. | {
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Desert Eagle, .50AE Combo Caliber Package
Model .50 A.E. .44 Magnum Type Gas-operated, rotating bolt, Semi-Auto Gas-operated, rotating bolt, Semi-Auto Caliber .50 A.E. .44 Magnum Barrel Length 6" / 152mm 6" / 152mm Overall Length 10.75" / 27.3cm 10.75" / 27.3cm Bore Diameter 0.495" / 12.6mm 0.429" / 10.2mm Height 6.25" / 15.9cm 6.25" / 15.9cm Slide Width 1.25" / 32mm 1.25" / 32mm Construction High quality carbon steel barrel,
frame and slide with full weaver
style accessory rail High quality carbon steel barrel,
frame and slide with full weaver
style accessory rail Finish Black Oxide Black Oxide Trigger Single action, 4lb pull Single action, 4lb pull Trigger Reach 2.75" / 70mm 2.75" / 70mm Sight Radius 8.5" / 215mm 8.5" / 215mm Weight (empty mag) 4lbs 5.8oz 4lbs 6.6oz Mag Capacity 7 rounds 8 rounds
.50 AE Mark XIX, 6-Inch Barrel, Black, Made in Israel, Ships with 6" .44 Magnum Black Barrel and .44 Magnum MagazineThe Desert Eagle Mark XIX, Model Number DE50WB6, features a .50 AE caliber with a 6” barrel, overall length of 10.75”, a slide width of 1.25” and a height of 6.25”. The steel-framed pistol is manufactured in Israel. It has a black oxide finish with a black barrel, and a combat-type fixed sight.The new combo caliber package includes a .44 Magnum caliber barrel in a black finish and a .44 Magnum magazine. This is the first time that Magnum Research has offered a combo caliber package featuring the .50 AE and the .44 Magnum calibers in one gun case. | {
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durée de la vidéo: 00 min 13 Les images juste aprés l'accident de Mont-de-Marsan
Selon le Procureur de la République, le motard roulait sans casque et sur une moto non homologuée. Et quand un policier municipal a voulu l'interpeller, il aurait roulé sur le trottoir.Plusieurs témoins affirment l'avoir vu jeter,Est-ce ce qui a fait chuter la moto ou le jeune motard a-t-il glissé seul ? Il est trop tôt pour le dire.Après l'accident, la moto a pris feu. Elle a été transférée au CHU de Pellegrin à Bordeaux où l'équipe médicale l'a placée dans un coma artificiel.Dans le quartier Peyrouat dont est originaire le motard, i y avait de l'émotion et de la colère., propriétaire d'un restaurant marocain dans Mont-de-Marsan,Mais selon son avocat, Maitre Dutin, cette "famille honorable" veut connaître les circonstances de l'accident. "Si leur enfant a effectivement commis une infraction au code de la route, il est normal qu'il soit interpellé mais peut-être pas dans ces conditions. "Des caméras de surveillance auraient filmé la scène. Maitre Dutin a demandé au Procureur de la République de les saisir.Le policier municipal, qui bénéficie de la présomption d'innocence, a été mis à disposition. | {
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FERGUSON, Missouri (April 30, 2016)–Starbucks opened its first store today in Ferguson, Missouri, as part of a national outreach program to provide jobs to locals, create opportunities for the youth and revitalize the community in low to medium-income “diverse” communities.
The Seattle-based coffee chain will open at least 14 additional stores throughout the country by 2018 as part of this initiative, including in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens, New York, and the Englewood neighborhood on Chicago‘s South Side. MORE | {
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National police reform advocates have called for a state investigation into the fatal police shooting of Jerame Reid, a 36-year-old black man who was confronted by two officers – one white and one black – during an initially routine traffic stop.
“Local officials should not handle incidents such as this,” Rev Al Sharpton said in a statement on Thursday, echoing similar calls from local leaders to give the investigation to the state attorney general.
On Wednesday, the South Jersey Times obtained and published footage from the dashboard camera of a Bridgeton, New Jersey, police patrol car. Protesters took to the streets on Wednesday night.
The video shows officers approaching a black Jaguar around 9.20pm. Police pulled over the driver for rolling through a stop sign, and approached the car from the passenger’s side while asking for the driver’s license.
Less than two minutes later, the video shows officers shooting and killing Reid, after Bridgeton officer Braheme Days says he sees a handgun in the glove compartment.
“I’m gonna shoot you!” and “You’re gonna be fucking dead!” Days is shown saying repeatedly, as Reid tells the officer he is not “reaching” for the gun. Days shoots Reid as he exits the car. Reid appears to have his hands up. Days uses Reid’s name during the incident, despite not obtaining any identifying information from the passenger. Local reports state that Days had arrested Reid in the summer of 2014.
“It’s been very, very tense since the video,” said Walter Hudson Sr, the leader of the National Awareness Alliance, a group organizing the community of Bridgeton following the incident. “The video itself is alarming.”
In this frame grab from an officer’s dashboard camera taken 30 December 2014, police officers Braheme Days and Roger Worley stand near a car they pulled over in Bridgeton. Photograph: AP
Little information has been released by the city or prosecutor’s office, even as the town has come under increased scrutiny following the video’s release.
“Because a grand jury presentation must be considered, the [Cumberland County] prosecutor’s office must be circumscribed in its release of information,” said first assistant prosecutor Harold B Shapiro, who is investigating the case. Shapiro took over after the county prosecutor, Jennifer Webb-McRae, recused herself because, she said, she knew Days from “the community”.
According to New Jersey law, a grand jury must be held unless the “undisputed facts” show the use of force was justified. Shapiro has not responded to a Guardian call for comment, and secretaries have directed calls to the city. A call to the Bridgeton mayor’s office was not returned, and the city administrator asked all requests for information be made through state open records laws.
Activists have questioned the impartiality of the investigation into Reid’s case. To this point, the prosecutor’s office has led the investigation, but has released all public information through the city of Bridgeton.
Hudson said the shooting has frightened members of the Bridgeton community, a small, working class, majority black and Latino city of about 25,000.
“They’re scared, they’re scared,” said Hudson, who is based in Penns Grove, New Jersey. “For one, they want change. But on the other side they’ve been so degraded or harassed, they feel if they step up, they feel there will be retaliation when this dies down.”
The city of Bridgeton sits at the state’s southern tip, about an hour’s drive south from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Only about 61% of the people who live in the city have graduated high school, about 27% below New Jersey’s average, and residents earn about $13,000 each on average, $22,700 less than the average New Jersey resident.
Video that appears to be further footage of the shooting’s aftermath emerged online on Thursday. The video, uploaded to YouTube on the date of the incident, seems to show paramedics briefly attempting to resuscitate Reid as another man is led away from the scene in handcuffs.
“Now they’re trying to bring that man back to life – he got shot for no fucking reason,” one onlooker can be heard saying.
The body is then placed on a stretcher and taken into an ambulance. The Guardian has contacted the user who uploaded the footage but has not received a reply.
The case simmered for three weeks until the release of the dashboard camera video, which happened only after a formal request by the South Jersey Times.
New Jersey’s southern region medical examiner is conducting an autopsy of Reid’s body, but it appears unlikely that the medical examiner’s office will release the report before a grand jury is convened. | {
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Updated, Saturday, 1:52 p.m. |
Thousands of Turkish women have taken part in a Twitter campaign to voice outrage at men who invade their space by spreading their legs while sitting next to them on buses and trains.
“Stop spreading your legs. Don’t occupy my space,” reads the campaign slogan, which was started by the Istanbul Feminist Collective and reverberated on the social network as women shared their experiences that related to the violation of personal space on public transit.
So many messages with the Turkish tags #bacaklarinitopla, “Stop Spreading Your Legs,” or #yerimisgaletme, “Don’t Occupy My Space,” appeared on Twitter that the campaign made it onto the network’s global list of trending topics.
Tugce Sarigul, a member of the collective, explained that the group started the campaign with an image taken on the New York City subway because it was the most striking example of the situation they found online. “This is after all a problem all over the world, and we wanted to use an image that explicitly relayed the point and would leave an impression,” she told The Lede.
Many of the tweets posted called for an end to harassment and included photographs to support their claims of widespread inappropriate behavior.
Bugun basima gelen tam da #bacaginitopla #yerimiisgaletme oldu yayilmayin davar gibi arkadaslar. //t.co/ktsfMz6Tb2 — Nevâ (@mrvsvk) 15 Apr 14
Hulya Unaldi, a nurse traveling on one of Istanbul’s public buses on Friday, told The Lede: “Any woman who steps foot on public transport is at risk of sexual harassment. If you stand up you could get groped and if you sit you are subjected to a male’s leg pushing up against you.”
“Everyone knows this problem exists, but no one has had the courage to speak up about it publicly,” she added.
The feminist collective behind the campaign is encouraging women to print out the slogans and wear them as stickers while on board public transit.
“When a woman is put in this situation, it is intimidating to warn the man because she doesn’t know what kind of reaction she will receive,” Tugce Sarigul, a member of the collective, told the website Bianet.
In 2012, the Islamist-rooted Saadet Party began a campaign to establish a network of pink metro buses that would cater solely to women, but the Istanbul municipality never realized the project. In response to the recent campaign, many men have tweeted in favor of segregated transportation for women, which led to a Twitter backlash.
Campaign: Men! Stop spreading your legs on me on public transportation. Respond: Why don’t you take pink buses? For “protection” #Turkey — Zeynep Erdim (@zeynep_erdim) 18 Apr 14
“We don’t want a pink metro bus. Learn how to sit,” one woman tweeted back.
The campaign has received some support from men, although the majority of tweets have been from women. “It’s only natural that men need more legroom, and I’m sure not everyone spreads their legs to harass women,” Erdem Topcu said as he disembarked from an Istanbul bus. “I do respect the campaign, though. We should be more aware.” | {
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I actually bought this for PS3 first and I loved it. Then our nephews, who are typically hooked on FPS games, saw me playing it and are now playing FIFA Street every time they visit. So of course I picked it up for their Xbox so they could practice more. Being able to create custom matches where you're playing 2 - 2 w/or w/out goalies or 5 - 5 is great. Looking forward to unlocking all the playing venues! | {
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Food It’s time to start eating roadkill Salvaging meat in Alaska is commonplace. Can it catch on in the Lower 48?
Joshua Corbett
My mother texts me four photos of a dead moose the week I leave Alaska. It is freshly hit. The pebbled pink brains fanning across the pavement have not yet grayed in the brisk autumn air. The animal will not go to waste. For the past 50 years, Alaska has been the only state where virtually every piece of large roadkill is eaten.
Every year, between 600 and 800 moose are killed in Alaska by cars, leaving up to 250,000 pounds of organic, free-range meat on the road. State troopers who respond to these collisions keep a list of charities and families who have agreed to drive to the scene of an accident at any time, in any weather, to haul away and butcher the body.
During a recent trip to Fairbanks, my hometown, I asked locals why Alaska’s roadkill program has been so successful for so long. “It goes back to the traditions of Alaskans: We’re really good at using our resources,” Alaska State Trooper David Lorring told me. Everyone I talked to — biologists, law enforcement, hunters and roadkill harvesters — agreed: It would be embarrassing to waste the meat. In the past few years, a handful of states, including Washington, Oregon and Montana, have started to adopt the attitude that Alaskans have always had toward eating roadkill. A loosening of class stigma and the questionable ethics and economics of leaving dinner to rot by the side of the road have driven acceptance of the practice in the Lower 48.
The trooper in my mother’s photo will have no trouble finding someone to take the moose. It’s still daylight, and 200 pounds of good meat are sitting by the side of the road in Anchorage, the state’s largest city. The trooper may even wait until the salvagers arrive. Otherwise, someone driving by may grab the moose first.
Michael Jansma
ALASKA’S GEOGRAPHY, DEMOGRAPHICS and can-do spirit make it uniquely fit for salvaging roadkill. It is far from the contiguous 48 states, and shipping food can be prohibitively expensive. When Alaska became a state in 1959, it was branded as a loosely governed last frontier where practical know-how and self-reliance were highly valued. Salvaging large roadkill is nothing if not practical. One moose — 300 pounds of meat — is dinner for a year. And if the internal organs have ruptured and tainted the meat, or troopers can’t determine the cause of death, then they call dogsledders or trappers. “We have plenty of people willing to take a rotten, nasty moose,” Lorring told me, to use as dog food or bear bait. But roadkill rarely goes bad, wildlife biologist Jeff Selinger told me. People are quick to report large game collisions, and the cold climate limits wildlife diseases that can make meat unfit to eat.
Many Alaskans view animal processing and hunting as commonplace skills, like planting a garden or raising chickens. In a given year, one in four Alaskans hunts, and between the hunting seasons for moose, bear and caribou, some type of big game is available every day of the year. For those new to hunting, it’s easy to join a trip an acquaintance is organizing without having the know-how to plan the logistics alone, and friends often have equipment available to share.
Joanna Young, a geoscientist and educator, experienced that openness when she moved to Alaska eight years ago to study at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Growing up in the suburbs outside of Toronto, she had no experience farming or butchering, and was a vegan when she moved. “Fast forward to three weeks ago: I am out in the middle of the night, covered in blood, using a battery powered saw to saw through a moose leg. The Joanna of 10 years ago would have never expected this,” Young told me in October, describing her experience salvaging a roadkill moose. “It was surreal.”
Young’s moose was a year or two old, and had been struck in Salcha, an unincorporated town 50 miles from her cabin. It was small enough that Young and two of her friends could drag it to a flat spot to field dress it. Parts of its hindquarters were unsalvageable — it had been hit from behind — but the organs hadn’t ruptured, leaving most of the meat unspoiled. A friend who hunted regularly showed Young how to skin the animal, remove the guts without puncturing the bladder or intestines, and quarter the body. Within an hour, the group was driving back to Fairbanks with 100 pounds of meat in their game bags. “Compared to other moose, that is on the low end of the spectrum,” Young said. “But it was high quality, incredible, free-range meat, so we still consider it a big windfall.”
The attitude toward apprenticeship in Alaska aided Young’s conversion to meat-eater. “There is no stigma around wanting to be a new learner,” she said. “People are really motivated to do things themselves, learn things themselves, build their own structures, get their own food, live their own way.”
Courtesy Joanna Young
IN MANY AREAS OUTSIDE OF ALASKA, it’s hard to imagine how non-hunters would easily learn to kill or process large animals. There are many obstacles: knowledge of anatomy, tracking and marksmanship; the need to travel to remote locations and take time off work; required permits and specialized equipment to haul, process and store the meat. There are also social barriers. Hunting and salvaging roadkill are often associated with rural people and places, which are seen as conservative and working class. Many people have decided that the cost of hunting is not worth the benefit and shed the skill entirely.
State-wide bans on salvaging roadkill began in the 1950s, when one in 10 people in the Lower 48 hunted; today, it’s only one in 20. When California made picking up roadkill illegal in 1957, the law was supposed to prevent people from poaching by intentionally smashing into deer with their vehicles. Oregon, Washington and Texas passed similar laws. My mother grew up in Oregon during the ban. When food was tight, her father illegally killed deer — with a gun. Like many people, she laughed at the idea of using an expensive car to capture her dinner.
Forty years later, states began repealing their bans, partly to reduce the workload of state-funded highway cleaning crews. Tennessee was one of the earliest to do so. As a State Senator, Tim Burchett received national attention when he proposed a bill to let Tennessee residents collect and eat roadkill without a tag in 1999. His prediction that “everyone’s going to make us look like a bunch of hayseed rednecks” was right. A Knoxville News Sentinel headline read “Grease the skillet, Ma! New bill will make road kill legal eatin’,” and a New York Times reporter covering the ridicule revealed his own prejudice when he wrote, “As if a state law were preventing anyone from scraping a happy meal off the asphalt. As if anyone would even dream of it.”
The reporter was wrong: Within the last decade, more than five states have lifted or loosened their roadkill restrictions, making eating roadkill legal in more states than not. Today, thousands of people apply for salvage permits each year.
To understand roadkill’s rebranding, it’s helpful to look at how the lobster shifted from trash to treasure within a single generation. Until the late 1800s, lobsters were seen as a low-class food in the United States. The animal’s abundance was responsible for its status; so many lobsters washed up on the beaches of Plymouth that they formed stacks a foot or two deep.
It took the decimation of the lobster population and the discovery of a new type of customer to elevate the animal to epicurean treat. In the 1860s, the expanded railroad system and the rise of iceboxes let seafood dealers bring lobsters to inlanders, who were unfamiliar with the animal’s reputation. Glenn Jones, an oceanographer who poured over thousands of restaurant menus from the 19th century, found that by the 1880s, lobsters had shifted from a cheap salad topping to an expensive entrée.
Today, when I visit Alaska, I usually bring wild, frozen salmon back with me for friends. My family catches sockeye on the Kenai Peninsula, in a place Russian colonizers settled over 150 years ago. In their records, the Russians worried that settlers would get sick of all that salmon; apparently the food, just like New England’s lobsters, wasn’t highly regarded in the 1850s. But overfishing, the environmental dangers of farmed salmon, and new customers in the Lower 48 eventually transformed wild salmon into a luxury.
Likewise, the image of a roadkill salvager has changed as concerns about environmental waste, factory farming and the health risks of conventional meat have grown. State Sen. Larry Jent of Montana went so far as to call it a “sin” to waste meat that could be salvaged. Even PETA, the world’s largest animal rights organization, argues for eating roadkill. On some corners of the internet, the stereotyped hillbilly eating roadkill has been replaced by an environmentally and food conscientious middle-class urbanite.
It’s clear that the ethos of eating roadkill in the Lower 48 is changing. When Washington legalized it in 2016 and Oregon followed suit the next year, there was not the same outbreak of embarrassment and ridicule as when Tennessee had loosened restrictions nearly 20 years earlier. Maybe we’re finally learning how to value resources that are so plentiful they seem almost free. And maybe we’re learning the lesson more quickly then we did with lobster and salmon. Over a recent lunch with my roommates, I suggested bringing some roadkill moose back to Brooklyn after my next trip to Alaska. One stopped lamenting the spoiled food she’d just tossed from our fridge, while the other paused over her plate of pricey, grass-fed beef. Neither had hunted or eaten wild game before, but both were excited at the idea. “Roadkill,” one said, nodding. “That’s the truest free-range.”
Ella Jacobson, an Alaskan transplant to New York, is a freelance journalist and writer. For her latest writing, follow her on twitter:
Follow @_ellajacobson
Email High Country News at [email protected] or submit a letter to the editor. | {
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Nearly 800,000 refugees in Africa have had their food rations slashed due to a lack of global aid funding, threatening to push many to the brink of starvation, the UN has said.
The cuts of up to 60% are "threatening to worsen already unacceptable levels of acute malnutrition, stunting and anaemia, particularly in children", the UN's World Food Programme and refugee agency, UNHCR, said.
The heads of the two agencies were in Geneva this week to make an urgent appeal to governments for more funds to help feed Africa's refugees. "It is unacceptable in today's world of plenty for refugees to face chronic hunger," said the UNHCR chief, António Guterres.
The WFP will need $186m (£108m) by the end of the year to restore full rations and prevent cuts, while UNHCR said it needed another $39m to fund the nutritional support it provides to vulnerable refugees across the continent.
"Many refugees in Africa depend on WFP food to stay alive and are now suffering because of a shortage of funding," the organisation's executive director, Ertharin Cousin, said.
Refugees hit by ration reductions were desperately looking for ways to put food on the table, with the crisis pushing increasing numbers of children to quit school to seek work and prompting families to marry off their girls at a younger age.
"Survival sex" prostitution by women and girls trying to raise money for food was also a growing concern, the agencies said.
The funding crisis has forced the WFP to cut rations for a third of the 2.4 million refugees it helps feed in 22 African countries, with more than half of the 800,000 affected seeing rations slashed by at least 50%.
The situation was most dire for the 300,000 refugees in Chad – mainly from Sudan's Darfur region and the Central African Republic – whose rations had been cut by as much as 60%, the statement said.
In many cases, refugees were left with rations of just 850 calories per day, compared with the recommended 2,100 calories adults should consume to remain healthy.
"Desperately hungry refugees continue to cross daily into southern Chad from the strife-torn Central African Republic, only to find that hunger does not stop at the border," the WFP and UNHCR said.
It cited the case of 24-year-old Habiba who walked with her four children for three months through the Central African bush to escape the violence ravaging the country, often going days without food and water.
Habiba – who gave birth to her youngest daughter along the way but who became so weak, starved and dehydrated she could not breastfeed – crossed into Chad, only to discover that UNHCR's Dosseye border camp had run out of supplementary food for pregnant and nursing mothers, the agencies said.
The situation was not much better for some 150,000 refugees in the Central African Republic or in South Sudan, where supplies had also been cut by at least half, while another 338,000 refugees in Liberia, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Ghana, Mauritania and Uganda had seen their rations dwindle.
In addition, a series of unexpected, temporary ration reductions, sometimes owing to insecurity, had hit camps in several countries since early 2013, including Kenya, Ethiopia, Congo-Brazzaville, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Cameroon.
"The number of crises around the world is far outpacing the level of funding for humanitarian operations, and vulnerable refugees in critical operations are falling through the cracks," Guterres said.
He warned that even small cuts to rations could spell disaster for already undernourished people, with the impact, especially on children, "immediate and often irreversible". | {
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Reloading!
Here's an idea, we take humanized ponies, we give them deadly weapons, we put them in the Left 4 Dead universe. Now, how cool is that.Technically, it isn't really LeftDead because we now have 6 characters, but killing off two of the main cast isn't exactly a very popular idea. That, and you can actually think up interesting gameplay mechanics by using these six characters, emphasizing even more that one needs to cooperate with the other players to get through the game. After all, friendshipsurvival. It goes a little something like this:Little warning though; these descriptions are laden with Left 4 Dead terminology. Still, they should make sense to the non-initiated.is the de facto leader of the group and being a powerful magician, she's a deadly character in the hands of a skilled player. Twilight has a special melee attack that recharges over time. Once fully charged, Twilight can use her powerful telekinesis to levitate and throw the same objects the tank is able to manipulate, except with greater accuracy. However, this is at the expense of her overall physical ability; being such aher running speed is much lower, jumps only as high as necessary for the game and has average aim and slightly longer reload times when handling weapons. Twilight is a character that needs a bit of cover, but becomes a valuable ally when faced with big hordes or special infected, especially when fighting a tank.is the muscle of the group, specialized for fighting infected at close range. Obviously prefers a shotgun when controlled by a bot, a weapon equally suited for close encounters. Applejack's melee attacks are very powerful, capable to shoving away hordes with ease and with little fatigue. Applejack is also the only character that will actually punch and kill a singled out common infected, which makes her more ammo-efficient. Her overall physical abilities are slightly higher than most characters, but it's at the expense of her handling of non-shotgun weapons, making her a very poor character for long-distance attacks.is the answer to Applejack's shortcomings. Rarity's job is to keep infected far, far away and prefers the sniper rifle, a precision weapon for a woman as sophisticated as she is. Also, being a "unicorn", she's the only character that can detect and pick up items from a long distance, making her a very convenient character for getting items that would normally require a nasty detour, particularly when it comes to health items. It almost goes without saying that the dainty lady isn't exactly the fastest and strongest of the bunch, although slightly more fit than Twilight. You do not want to have her fight a horde on her own, give her breathing room to do her job. Also, her high accuracy with the sniper rifle or the hunting rifle is nowhere to be seen with the shotguns, which she handles slowly and clumsily. She handles the other guns a bit better, but it's still below average.is the rusher's wet dream. Rainbow Dash is all about speed and, well, speed. Rainbow's running speed is well above that of the others and prefers the M16 assault rifle; quick and easy. Rainbow Dash is the only character that can outrun the Witch and an excellent character to troll the crap out of the slow Tank, making her a great distraction for Twilight's telekinesis. Her speed and agility goes at the expense of brute force and weapon accuracy; she aims like shit and can become troublesome when caught in the horde. Also, because of her speed, she becomes more vulnerable to sneaky special infected preying on lone wolves.is the everywoman of the group without any particular special abilities like the other characters, which in turn makes her a valuable asset to the group, since she can work with just about anyone. Pinkie is of average strength, speed and doesn't show a particular advantage or handicap when handling weapons. Pinkie is there to assist the character that needs it at the moment, whether it is covering Twilight as she's levitating a car, or helping AJ shove away a horde. As a bonus, since she's an engineerin' "earth pony", her favorite melee weapon is the chain saw, which she can run about 50% more efficient than her team mates, making her a true killing machine when equipped with one. Also, she's the Ellis of the group as she will tell random "Keith" stories at the most inappropriate of times.is arguably the toughest character to mold into the Left 4 Dead franchise for rather obvious reasons. It's almost unthinkable to have a character like her in a situation as cynical as a zombie apocalypse. But she still got her close friends, reason enough to survive this mess.Playing as Fluttershy means that you play a support role, as you play a relatively fragile woman who used to be afraid of her own shadow. Being a "pegasus", you are less affected by gravity and able to jump higher and further than the other characters, making you invaluable to retrieve characters that are behind points of no return. Also, years of taking care of sick animals are paying off as she is very quick at helping up incapacitated teammates and healing them. This could mean the difference between life and death.Generally speaking, Fluttershy has about the same characteristics as Pinkie Pie, physically. Her major drawback is that her handling of guns comes with an above average recoil, which makes burst-firing crucial for remaining accuracy, but this does reduce her kill rate. Also, as we all know, Fluttershy isn't exactly known for speaking loudly, which makes it easy for your teammates not to notice when you yell "".And that pretty much covers it. Oh yea, and there's the campaign poster that I drew, you may have noticed it. It was a nice experiment with the coloring and the overall composition of it all. And it was a nice excuse to do a bit of Rule of Cool.Also, commenting with proposed in-game lines is highly encouraged. Constructive criticism is appreciated, too, of course. | {
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Michael Koehler came out to LA to visit high school friend Dan Gargan and to capture the LA Galaxy vs. Manchester United match at the Rose Bowl.
The specific piece follows LA Galaxy defender Dan Gargan as he awakes to the California sun and prepares to play Manchester United. The photo essay is a series of black and white images that unfold over the course of one player’s day and capture the experience of one player and of the 86,000 plus people who saw the Galaxy and Manchester United face off.
michaelmkoehler.com | {
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India will celebrate the 73rd Independence Day on August 15, 2019. The diverse nation claimed its independence from the British Raj in 1947, after years of struggle. Along with Prime Minister’s speech on Red Fort on August 15, Independence also marks hoisting of the national flag, also known as the tricolor or tiranga.
While most of the houses and offices hoist national flag to celebrate the liberty of the nation, there are certain rules and regulations to keep in mind while hoisting the tiranga. In fact, the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India has a Flag Code of India which is meant to preserve the integrity and respect for the tricolour.
1. The national flag of India is ideally made of hand-spun and hand-woven wool, cotton, and silk or khadi fabric. It is always rectangular in shape and the ratio of its length to height is 3:2.
2. When the Flag is flown, it should occupy the position of honour. The Flag should be positioned with the saffron band on top and the green band at the bottom.
3. Where it’s customary to hoist the Flag on a building, it will be flown on all days, including Sundays and public holidays. The flag will be hoisted from sunrise to sunset, irrespective of weather conditions.
4. Tiranga should not be in a disheveled condition. It shouldn’t be torn, damaged or disrespected in any manner.
5. The Flag should never be stuffed with sweets, flowers or confetti while unfurling.
6. The tricolour should never be hoisted at half pole. Once hoisted, one should keep in mind that the flag should never touch the ground or trail in water.
7. The national flag should be hoisted at a fast pace but lowered slowly. It is to be noted that while hoisting and lowering the Flag, bugle sound should play.
8. While the flag is being hoisted, everyone should face it. People should stand in attention and sing the national anthem.
9. No other flag should fly higher than the Indian flag or placed side-by-side.
10. The Flag should be taken down in the evening and should be folded and kept in a wooden box.
Keywords: National Flag, Independence Day 2019, 73rd Independence Day, Tiranga, Red Fort, British Raj | {
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(CNN) This year, 56 million sockeye salmon swam hundreds of miles from the ocean toward the rivers and streams of the Bristol Bay watershed in southwest Alaska.
Many that escaped fishermen and bears leapt over waterfalls and used a mysterious combination of the Earth's magnetic field and their own sensory memories to locate the exact streams where they were born -- and then spawned, made gravel nests for their young, and died.
"It seems like a heroic -- and perhaps tragic -- life cycle," said Thomas Quinn, a professor at the University of Washington who has been studying fish in Bristol Bay for 30 years.
The salmon's incredible migration also sustains people: Nearly half of the world's sockeye catch comes from this one region, which is one of the last, great salmon fisheries on Earth. The returning salmon and other ecological resources create some 14,000 full- and part-time jobs, generate about $480 million annually -- and support 4,000-year-old Alaska Native cultures.
Now, however, Quinn and others fear this cycle could be strained if not broken.
For more than 15 years, Northern Dynasty Minerals, a Canadian mining company, has sought to build a gold and copper mine in Bristol Bay. And this spring, the Trump administration took swift action to make that prospect more likely.
Environmental Protection Agency head Scott Pruitt met on May 1 with the CEO of the Pebble Limited Partnership, a subsidiary of the mining company, CNN reported on September 22 based on interviews and government emails. Little more than an hour later, according to internal emails, the administrator directed his staff to reverse Obama-era protections for Bristol Bay, which had been created after years of scientific review. Based on that work, the previous administration had aimed to pre-emptively veto certain mining activities in the ecologically important region.
Pebble still would have to apply for permits before building a mine in Bristol Bay. Two public hearings will be held in Alaska on the topic this week. And the public has until October 17 to comment on Pruitt's proposed policy reversal before it could be finalized.
'Complete loss of fish habitat...'
Driftnet fishing for sockeye salmon along the Nushagak River.
Among the critics likely to contact the agency are representatives from Alaska Native communities in Bristol Bay, as well as scientists like Quinn, who has dedicated his professional life to researching the area.
"This is the jewel in the crown of America's fisheries resources, this salmon," Quinn told CNN. "If you don't think this is worth saving, what is? If you don't think that (a gold and copper mine) is going to constitute a threat, what would? To me, if you don't draw a line in the sand here, there's none to be drawn anywhere. You're saying that no resource, no matter how valuable, is off-limits to development -- no matter how obviously deleterious."
Quinn's concerns are based on his years researching the bay, which were incorporated into a 2014 EPA report on Bristol Bay under the Obama administration. The report, which also was based on Pebble's filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, estimated the total mine site could be larger than Manhattan and nearly as deep as the Grand Canyon.
Such a mine "would result in complete loss of fish habitat due to elimination, dewatering, and fragmentation of streams, wetlands, and other aquatic resources" in some areas of the bay watershed, the EPA found after three years of peer-reviewed research. In particular, the EPA estimated 22 miles of streams and more than 6 square miles of wetlands and other habitats that are important to salmon and other fish would be lost to a large-scale mine.
"All of these losses would be irreversible," the agency said.
'This is exactly the worst place you could imagine building a mine'
Based on that science, the agency made a rare call: In 2014, the EPA proposed pre-emptively vetoing certain mining activities in Bristol Bay because of the ecological risks. It did so under a rarely used provision of the Clean Water Act, Section 404(c).
Pruitt's EPA, however, contends Pebble should be allowed to submit permit applications before the merits of its project are judged. "EPA's review will be based on the whole record, all the science and an actual proposal from the company," EPA spokeswoman Liz Bowman told CNN.
Pebble plans to file permit applications in December, said Tom Collier, the company's CEO. The mine proposal will be much smaller than the EPA expected, he said, and not ecologically damaging. In a recent presentation before Alaska's Resource Development Council, which was posted on the company's website, Collier indicated Pebble hopes to develop a mine that would cover 5.4 square miles, with the total mine site occupying 12.7 square miles. The mine would be developed in a "safe, environmentally responsible manner," the company said.
Wood Tikchik State Park, Alaska.
Some researchers, however, maintain the company's approach is shortsighted at best.
"Under the Obama administration, people were willing to say, 'Look, it's very clear, this is exactly the worst place you could imagine building a mine of that kind," said Ray Hilborn, a professor in the School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences at the University of Washington. "It's not just that you have the most valuable salmon fishery in the world, it's the nature of the habitat there. The reason it's such a productive salmon place is, it's basically this giant gravel bed. But that also means it's almost impossible to contain water. It's just a giant sponge. The idea you could store highly toxic waste (from a mine) forever behind a dam is just ridiculous."
"I'm sure once a proposal is put on the table, geologists will be able to say, look, it's a no-brainer, you can't contain this stuff forever," he said.
'It is a lot more cost-effective not to screw up a salmon run'
Healthy watersheds like Bristol Bay were once much more common.
Most have been severely degraded or ruined, said David R. Montgomery, a professor of geomorphology at the University of Washington and author of "King of Fish: The Thousand-Year Run of Salmon." The Atlantic and Pacific coasts of the United States once had sizable salmon runs, he said. What remains, mostly in the Pacific, is a faint memory of what once was, he said, thanks largely to dams, urbanization, habitat loss and industrial activities like mining.
Source: "Atlas of Pacific Salmon," 2005
The "poster child" for this inefficiency is the Columbia River system in the Pacific Northwest, he said, which has 18 major dams, making it much more difficult for salmon to migrate.
"It is a lot more cost-effective not to screw up a salmon run in the first place. There's no question about that," Montgomery said. "We've spent an awful lot on the Columbia relative to what we have to show for it."
It's unclear exactly what percentage of Alaskans would support mining in Bristol Bay. But in a 2014 statewide ballot, two-thirds of voters chose to give the Alaska legislature power to approve or veto large-scale mining projects in the area if the projects threaten fisheries.
Some Alaskans do support the Pebble project because of the economic jolt it could bring. The EPA's 2014 assessment says the mine would employ more than 1,000 people during its lifespan, and more than 2,000 people during the shorter construction phase. The mine would be expected to create $300 billion to $500 billion in revenue over the life of the project, the EPA estimated.
Initially, Thomas Tilden, a Bristol Bay commercial fisherman and first chief of the Curyung Tribal Council, in the Bristol Bay area, was impressed by these arguments, too.
Tilden says he's not anti-development. His father was a gold miner from California. But after the mine was first proposed, he said, he started touring mines that had been shut down.
He saw pools of toxic water, massive piles of waste-rock. At one mine in Nevada, he said, he was told to cover his shoes for fear he would track dust laden with heavy metals home -- and "not to have any contact with that dust with our eyes, not to touch any of the water."
Could Bristol Bay turn into a similar wasteland? He decided he didn't want to find out.
'It will be the end of the line for these traditional salmon cultures'
Sockeye salmon find their way from the ocean to their natal stream.
In 2010, Tilden was one of several local indigenous leaders who sent a letter to the EPA asking the agency to study the bay and consider protecting it from a mine.
In doing so, he said, he thought of the cultural value of the salmon, including the first salmon ritual. In that informal ceremony, the first salmon to wriggle upstream to a village are caught and given to elders as a sign of gratitude -- both to the elder, who has kept village traditions alive, and to the salmon, which have returned to feed the people.
"If you've ever seen the face of an elder receiving the first salmon -- the happiness, the glow that they have, is just really heart-moving," he said. "It's tremendous."
Indigenous people have subsisted on wild salmon in Bristol Bay for 4,000 years, said Alan Boraas, an anthropology professor at Kenai Peninsula College who conducted dozens of interviews with tribal elders as part of the 2014 EPA assessment.
If there are other people left like that in the world, he hasn't been able to find them.
Source: Scottish Natural Heritage
"If we don't make some good decisions, it will be the end of the line for these traditional salmon cultures," he said. "I believe this is the most significant environmental issue in the United States today. (The development of Pebble) would establish a precedent that I believe would absolutely extinguish the traditional salmon cultures and force them into modernity."
Some villages, Boraas said, practice a baptismal ceremony in Bristol Bay's waters. Instead of baptizing people in the river, however, they baptize the water itself.
"In human terms, baptism is to remove original sin. In this case, baptism of the water is to remove human-caused pollution -- to make the water pure for the salmon to return."
For now, millions of salmon still return every year.
But Tilden and others worry: How long will that continue?
CNN's Drew Griffin contributed to this report.
Salmon video courtesy Jason Ching | {
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AI might not seem to have a huge personal impact if your most frequent brush with machine-learning algorithms is through Facebook’s news feed or Google’s search rankings. But at the Data for Black Lives conference last weekend, technologists, legal experts, and community activists snapped things into perspective with a discussion of America’s criminal justice system. There, an algorithm can determine the trajectory of your life.
The US imprisons more people than any other country in the world. At the end of 2016, nearly 2.2 million adults were being held in prisons or jails, and an additional 4.5 million were in other correctional facilities. Put another way, 1 in 38 adult Americans was under some form of correctional supervision. The nightmarishness of this situation is one of the few issues that unite politicians on both sides of the aisle.
Under immense pressure to reduce prison numbers without risking a rise in crime, courtrooms across the US have turned to automated tools in attempts to shuffle defendants through the legal system as efficiently and safely as possible. This is where the AI part of our story begins.
Police departments use predictive algorithms to strategize about where to send their ranks. Law enforcement agencies use face recognition systems to help identify suspects. These practices have garnered well-deserved scrutiny for whether they in fact improve safety or simply perpetuate existing inequities. Researchers and civil rights advocates, for example, have repeatedly demonstrated that face recognition systems can fail spectacularly, particularly for dark-skinned individuals—even mistaking members of Congress for convicted criminals.
But the most controversial tool by far comes after police have made an arrest. Say hello to criminal risk assessment algorithms.
Risk assessment tools are designed to do one thing: take in the details of a defendant’s profile and spit out a recidivism score—a single number estimating the likelihood that he or she will reoffend. A judge then factors that score into a myriad of decisions that can determine what type of rehabilitation services particular defendants should receive, whether they should be held in jail before trial, and how severe their sentences should be. A low score paves the way for a kinder fate. A high score does precisely the opposite.
The logic for using such algorithmic tools is that if you can accurately predict criminal behavior, you can allocate resources accordingly, whether for rehabilitation or for prison sentences. In theory, it also reduces any bias influencing the process, because judges are making decisions on the basis of data-driven recommendations and not their gut.
You may have already spotted the problem. Modern-day risk assessment tools are often driven by algorithms trained on historical crime data.
As we’ve covered before, machine-learning algorithms use statistics to find patterns in data. So if you feed it historical crime data, it will pick out the patterns associated with crime. But those patterns are statistical correlations—nowhere near the same as causations. If an algorithm found, for example, that low income was correlated with high recidivism, it would leave you none the wiser about whether low income actually caused crime. But this is precisely what risk assessment tools do: they turn correlative insights into causal scoring mechanisms.
Now populations that have historically been disproportionately targeted by law enforcement—especially low-income and minority communities—are at risk of being slapped with high recidivism scores. As a result, the algorithm could amplify and perpetuate embedded biases and generate even more bias-tainted data to feed a vicious cycle. Because most risk assessment algorithms are proprietary, it’s also impossible to interrogate their decisions or hold them accountable.
The debate over these tools is still raging on. Last July, more than 100 civil rights and community-based organizations, including the ACLU and the NAACP, signed a statement urging against the use of risk assessment. At the same time, more and more jurisdictions and states, including California, have turned to them in a hail-Mary effort to fix their overburdened jails and prisons.
Data-driven risk assessment is a way to sanitize and legitimize oppressive systems, Marbre Stahly-Butts, executive director of Law for Black Lives, said onstage at the conference, which was hosted at the MIT Media Lab. It is a way to draw attention away from the actual problems affecting low-income and minority communities, like defunded schools and inadequate access to health care.
“We are not risks,” she said. “We are needs.”
This story originally appeared in our AI newsletter The Algorithm. To have it directly delivered to your inbox, subscribe here for free. | {
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Mercury mining has skyrocketed in the last five years, according to a new UN report, despite efforts to reduce supply.
Last week, the first Minamata Convention on Mercury conference was held in Geneva, where countries reaffirmed their commitments to curbing production.
The Minamata Convention is intended to safeguard public health and the environment by gradually reducing the demand for the poisonous metal, which should largely be phased out by 2020, with a number of exceptions and derogations attached.
But a new report by the United Nations has warned that mercury mining has increased significantly, despite the Convention coming into force in summer 2017.
Much of the world’s mercury production is used in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM), where the metal is added to gold-containing ore in order to extract the precious metal. ASGM is also the world’s number one source of mercury pollution.
The UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Global Mercury Supply, Trade and Demand report revealed that Kenya, where UNEP is based, and South Africa are the main supply hubs for mercury used in ASGM, which is commonplace in east and central Africa.
Mercury's time is up as international treaty comes into force The Minamata Convention on Mercury, an international treaty that bans the manufacture and trade in mercury products after 2020, entered into force on 16 August, four years after it was first signed. EURACTIV’s partner Der Tagesspiegel reports.
Under the Convention, countries are obligated to monitor and reduce the trade in mercury but the signatories currently do not have reliable information about trade with their neighbours and within their regions.
For example, the UNEP report showed that “Kenya did not register any exports during 2010-15 period”, but it also added that data from the gold fields of Tanzania, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of Congo shows that their mercury mainly came from Nairobi.
Elena Lymberidi-Settimo, project manager of the Zero Mercury Campaign at the European Environmental Bureau, said: “Informal trade is difficult to track, and therefore does not appear in the official trade statistics. With timely reporting, parties can better understand mercury flows in order to better enforce trade restrictions in the Convention.”
EU agrees to compulsory checks on conflict mineral imports After lengthy negotiations, the European institutions have agreed to establish compulsory checks on the supply chain of conflict minerals from 2021. EURACTIV France reports.
Signing parties to the Convention are also bound to phase out existing mercury mines and prevent new operations from opening. But a global shortage at the beginning of the decade and recent shocks to the market have led to price spikes and new mines opening in Mexico and Indonesia.
Satish Sinha, associate director at Toxics Link in India, said: “The emergence over the past five years of new small-scale producers of mercury in Mexico and Indonesia has made a difficult situation worse. Between these two countries alone, around 1,000 tonnes are produced annually.”
UNEP’s report admitted that it may be difficult to phase out mining activities of this nature and disrupt the social structure that grows up around them when local communities become accustomed to the economic benefits they bring.
At the first sitting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention, which started on 24 September, the international community pledged once again to tackle mercury trade and production.
Curbing mercury production is essential to protecting human health because of the significant health risks posed by exposure to the metal.
EU auditors to assess anti-pollution efforts by testing Brussels air The European Court of Auditors is to embark on a comprehensive review of the European Union’s efforts to curb air pollution, the main environmental cause of premature deaths in the EU.
The dangers were first confirmed in the late 1960s when Minamata disease was discovered in the small Japanese fishing village of the same name. Thousands of children have since been born with various forms of disabilities after their mothers ate fish that had ingested mercury pollution from a nearby factory.
One of the victims, Shinobu Sakamoto, 61, spoke at the meeting, 45 years after travelling to Stockholm to share the plight of her community with the Conference on the Human Environment. That summit in 1972 is seen as the first real stepping stone that led to the signing of the Convention in 2013.
During an eight-minute speech, Sakamoto told the delegates: “Please do not allow pollution to occur. Please protect women and children. Let’s (eradicate mercury pollution) together.”
The European Union is responsible for 4.5% of global mercury emissions, while its citizens are most at risk from eating tuna, which can be heavily polluted by mercury. Mercury is also commonly used in dentistry, where it is used to bind together fillings.
UNEP’s report did reveal that the amount of chlor-alkali residual mercury, used in various industrial processes, available on the market has reduced significantly since 2011, largely due to export bans. In the EU, that has taken an estimated 650 tonnes of the material off the market. | {
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Susan heads the agency’s health care, nonprofit, crisis and food issues practices. With more 25 years in PR, she is known nationally for her expertise in media relations and crisis management. She has provided counsel for many high-profile clients, including the DA in the Michael Jackson molestation case. An accredited 30-year member of Public Relations Society of America, Tellem was honored with the LA Chapter’s Joseph Roos Community Service Award and was recognized by the Century City Chamber of Commerce as a “Woman of Achievement.” She served as an adjunct professor at Pepperdine University after an 11 year stint as a member of UCLA’s extension faculty. Tellem is a voting member of the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. She is a public safety advocate working as a Los Angeles Police Department Reserve Officer Specialist (retired); serving on the management team with the Malibu Community Emergency Response Team (CERT); and serving four years as a City of Malibu Public Safety Commissioner. | {
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Victoria Law is a writer, photographer, and mother. She is the author of Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles Of Incarcerated Women (PM Press, 2012) and co-editor of Don’t Leave Your Friends Behind: Concrete Ways to Support Families in Social Justice Movements and Communities (PM Press, 2012).
Joey L. Mogul, Andrea J. Ritchie, and Kay Whitlock, Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States (Boston: Beacon Press, 2011), 240 pages, $27.95, hardcover.
In 1513, en route to Panama, Spanish conquistador Vasco Nunez de Balboa ordered forty Quaraca men to be ripped apart by his hunting dogs. Their offense? Being “dressed as women” and having sexual relations with each other. The homophobia and transphobia behind Balboa’s actions are far from arcane relics of the past, and violence against LGBTQ people continues to this day, both legally sanctioned and in the streets.
In 2008, Duanna Johnson, a black transgender woman, was arrested for a prostitution-related offense in Memphis. At the jail, she was brutally beaten by a police officer. Her beating was caught on videotape, leading to the firing of two officers. Johnson filed a civil suit against the police department but, less than six months later, was found shot in the head a few blocks from her house. This was the third killing of a black transgender woman in Memphis in 2008 alone, and her murder remains unsolved.
Queer (In)Justice examines the violence that LGBTQ people face regularly, from attacks on the street to institutionalized violence from police and prisons. The three authors are long-time advocates and attorneys who work directly with people impacted by incarceration. Joey L. Mogul, a partner at Chicago’s People’s Law Office and Director of the Civil Rights Clinic at DePaul University, has advocated for LGBTQ people ensnared in the criminal legal system. Andrea Ritchie is a police misconduct attorney, organizer, and coordinator of Streetwise and Safe, a New York City organization focused on gender, race, sexuality, and poverty-based policing and criminalization of LGBTQ youth of color. Kay Whitlock has worked for almost forty years to build bridges between LGBTQ struggles and movements fighting for racial, gender, economic, and environmental justice. Together, they center race, class, and gender/gender nonconformity in analyzing the myriad ways in which LGBTQ people have been policed, prosecuted, and punished from colonial times to the present day.
Criminalizing archetypes of LGBTQ people routinely inform policing, judgment, punishment, responses to violence against queers, and perceptions of queer people in general. These archetypes include: the perception of queers as mentally unstable, the assertion that LGBTQ are constantly trying to “lure” heterosexuals into gender transgression, and the misleading notion that violence is an inherent part of queers’ personality. According to these archetypes, serial killers John Wayne Gacy, Jeffrey Dahmer, and Aileen Wuornos killed because they were gay. “Of course,” the authors say, “no such equivalence is suggested in the case of white heterosexual men who kill.” Thus, heterosexual murderers like Ted Bundy and Gary Ridgway are not seen as being driven by an innate, heterosexual murderous nature.
Race, class, and/or gender non-conformity are used by these archetypes to heighten fears, as demonstrated by the media frenzy against the New Jersey Four in 2006. Seven young black lesbians were accosted by Dwayne Buckle; when they refused his advances, he threatened to “fuck them straight,” choked them, ripped hair from their scalps, and spat on them. The women defended themselves and were assisted by two male onlookers. During the struggle, Buckle was stabbed. The women were arrested and charged with attempted murder by the police. That they were black, working class, and gender nonconforming made the women ideal targets for both the media and the prosecution who framed them as a “lesbian wolf pack.” Police refused to credit their statements, those of other witnesses, and ultimately the testimony of Buckle himself (who said that the two unknown men were the ones responsible for stabbing him). Three of the seven accepted plea bargains; the remaining four women received sentences ranging from three-and-a-half to eleven years in prison.
The policing and prison systems are, of course, not the only source of anti-gay violence. The authors note, “While the use of these archetypal narratives by the machinery of the state is often grotesque, their chronic, low-grade presence in daily conversation about crime, safety and justice for queer people is no less deadly.” For the New Jersey Four, what should have been a fun night out in the West Village became fraught with violence from both an individual stranger on the street as well as the police and prison system.
Queer (In)Justice acknowledges that deep-seated prejudices and fears of queer people cannot be dismantled via hate crime legislation. The authors say that “many of the individuals who engage in such violence are encouraged to do so by mainstream society through promotion of laws, practices, generally accepted prejudices, and religious views,” and they note that homophobic and transphobic violence generally increases during highly visible, right-wing political attacks. For example, in 2007, as the state’s attorney general was concluding a three-year campaign against domestic partnership, Michigan saw the largest increase (207%) in anti-LGBTQ violence reported to the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (a national network of organizations that provide services to and advocate on behalf of queer people). Even hate-crime legislation, while allowing for enhanced criminal penalties, does nothing to dismantle the anti-gay politicking and preaching that encourages violence.
But even if queer people and communities recognize the policing and prison systems as perpetrators of violence, how can they keep safe? Noting that “there are no easy, one-size-fits-all answers to the question of how best to move forward—and no single vision of what change could ultimately look like,” the book offers examples of community organizing against homophobic- and transphobic-rooted violence that do not rely on further policing or punishment-based legislation.
In San Francisco, Community United Against Violence and the Bay Area Police Watch Project partnered to form TransAction. This group not only organizes against police abuse of trans people, but also builds an analysis of the policing of gender and sexual nonconformity among anti-police brutality activists who do not normally work around queer issues. They have also allied with communities of color struggling against race-based policing.
In Chicago’s Uptown, Queer to the Left (Q2L)—a multiracial, grassroots group of LGBTQ people—joined neighborhood groups campaigning against increasing police misconduct that accompanied the gentrification of the neighborhood. Highlighting and countering the systemic changes in zoning laws, lending patterns, and housing markets that force existing residents out, they advocate for building low-income housing in the area. They also challenge calls for intensified policing of youth of color in the area by the more affluent incoming residents, both queer and straight.
Queer (In)Justice is an important book both for LGBTQ people and their allies, as well as activists organizing against policing and prisons. It fills the gap in existing literature about how and why the police and prison systems repress LGBTQ people, particularly those further marginalized by race, class, and/or gender nonconformity. By tracing the history of how LGBTQ people have been criminalized and punished up to current-day policing and imprisonment policies, it also adds queer voices and experiences to the discussions and existing literature about policing and prisons. (Two more-recent books have further developed this: Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison-Industrial Complex, edited by Eric Stanley and Nat Smith; and Normal Life: Administrative Violence, Critical Trans Politics and the Limits of Law, by Dean Spade, founder of the Sylvia Rivera Law Project).
Recognizing the intersection between these two issues is crucial to moving both struggles forward. Queer (In)Justice is not only an educational text, but a call to arms. As the authors state in the introduction: “Ultimately, regardless of our intentions, all of us are accountable for the roles we play in reinforcing or dismantling the violence endemic to policing and punishment systems. This book is an invitation—not only to LGBT people but to all people concerned about social and economic justice—to accept that responsibility.” | {
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“What we are measuring as productivity gains may in fact be changes in trade,” said William Alterman, assistant commissioner for international prices at the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The federal agencies that compile the nation’s statistics increasingly acknowledge that they lack the detailed data needed to calculate the impact of imported goods and services as imports rise from an insignificant 5 percent of all economic activity 35 years ago to more than 12 percent today, not counting petroleum. As a result, many imports are valued as if they were made in the United States and therefore higher in price than their imported counterparts.
The problem is particularly acute in manufacturing. Imported components constitute an ever greater share of the computers, autos, appliances and other finished merchandise that roll off assembly lines in the United States and an ever greater share of all of the nation’s imports.
But the statistical system is not yet up to the task of sorting out which components are made here, which are made overseas and the resulting impact on employment. As Lori G. Kletzer, an economist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, put it, “We don’t know what jobs have been offshored.”
The same holds for services. An accounting firm in New York with 50 employees outsources some of its functions to less expensive accountants in India: the paperwork on an income tax return, for example. That work comes back to New York by computer transmission and is billed at New York rates, as if it were value added in this country.
Grappling with these blind spots, nearly all of the 80 experts at the conference, which was sponsored by the Upjohn Institute and the National Academy of Public Administration, agreed that the statistics now published tend to overstate the strength of the economy. That view was shared by those who attended from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Federal Reserve, all big players in measuring economic performance.
The stated goal, among those at the conference, is to repair the statistics, but that requires several years, lots of money (from Congress) to gather more information about what companies are doing, and whole new procedures for measuring imports. Much of the conference was devoted to an analysis of the gap between existing data and reality, and ways to close that gap. | {
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A Swiss robotics company has created a viral video of a ballet-like battle between katana-wielding machines. The demonstration shows the precision of the robots at a time the company is investing in artificial intelligence.
The orange robotic arms each hold their own traditional Japanese sword, and match each other move for move, like mechanical versions of the Dread Pirate Roberts and Inigo Montoya. Of course, with only one arm, neither bot is left-handed (or right-handed, for that matter).
“If you are expecting to see an epic duel where one robot hacks another to death, well, that does not happen here (obviously, these machines are rather expensive),” From Quarks to Stars noted. “Ultimately, the fight looks a little more like a dance.”
The precision of the robots is what their maker, ABB Robotics, is known for, according to the Nerdist. The company’s predecessors introduced Europe to many of the cutting-edge technologies of the 20th Century, including steam turbines, transformer stations and industrial robots. The two companies merged into ABB in 1988, with its first robotic innovation coming with 1998’s FlexPicker, a delta robot uniquely designed for the picking and packing industry.
The demonstration bots show the exactitude for which ABB’s industrial robots are known.
“Precision is precision when you’re dealing with robots, whether it’s keeping sword points in contact or sorting food for mass distribution,” Nerdist reported. “Just as long as ABB’s robots don’t decide to turn their katanas on humans we’ll probably be OK.”
Others welcomed the precision with which our new robot overlords could kill us.
“You could arm your robots with boring old firearms, or you could train your robots to FIGHT WITH KATANAS,” io9 noted. “If the robot uprising happens, at least we'll be able to admire their precise swordplay ballet before they run us through.”
And the robot uprising could happen with ABB’s investment in Vicarious, an artificial intelligence research company. At the beginning of November, the Swiss company’s venture capital unit contributed $12 million in the San Francisco-based start-up. Vicarious says its algorithms are aimed at achieving “human-level intelligence in vision, language, and motor control,” and it has been focusing first on visual perception, VentureBeat reported.
“This partnership is a perfect fit. ABB is a pioneer in the robotics industry, with a global installed base of more 250,000 industrial robots to improve productivity, quality and worker safety, while Vicarious has positioned itself to do the same for AI,” said Girish Nadkarni, Head of ABB Technology Ventures, in a press release.
Vicarious is aiming to develop human-level intelligence in vision, language and motor control for robots, Reuters reported. Nadkarni said this would help ABB to develop robots able to recognize objects and their attributes.
"That would be a significant step up for any form of automation or machine learning," he said.
ABB’s demonstration robots have learned quite a bit, including playing snooker and balancing Fanta cans. And, of course, battling with katanas. But some of the video’s viewers still wished for something more epic.
“I just wish they were not only arms, but humanoid robots fighting — giant humanoid robots,” Omar Kardoudi of Gizmodo Australia wrote of the duel.
For now, ABB's fully programmable Lego robot will have to suffice. | {
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What a week. Every day we see a new city, police station, college, government agency, or company being affected by a ransomware attack. To make matters worse, they are getting hit with targeted ransomware that asks for a hefty price to get a decryptor.
This week we also saw the first real analysis of the MegaCortex Ransomware when a sample was found by MalwareHunterTeam. Along with this sample, though, came a wave of attacks that affected many organizations.
All I can say is: Backup, backup, backup! If you have working backups, ransomware is ineffective and you can shrug it off. Make sure your backups work and that you have a good policy in place.
Contributors and those who provided new ransomware information and stories this week include: @malwrhunterteam, @malwareforme, @fwosar, @hexwaxwing, @LawrenceAbrams, @BleepinComputer, @jorntvdw, @FourOctets, @DanielGallagher, @Seifreed, @struppigel, @PolarToffee, @demonslay335, @VK_Intel, @coveware, @FBI, @CrowdStrike, @PortSwigger, @emsisoft, @avast_antivirus, @petrovic082, @M_Shahpasandi, @serghei, @Ionut_Ilascu, @pushecx, and @GrujaRS.
July 13th 2019
Emsisoft released a decryptor for imS00rry Ransomware.
Petrovic found a new ransomware called SkyStars.
Amigo-A found a new Matrix Ransomware variant that appends the .[[email protected]] extension and drops a ransom note named #_#ReadMe#_#.rtf.
July 14th 2019
Another public administration in the U.S. surrenders cybercriminal demands as La Porte County, Indiana, pays $130,000 to recover data on computer systems impacted by ransomware.
Jakub Kroustek found a new Dharma Ransomware variant that appends the .1BTC extension to encrypted files.
July 15th 2019
Malware researchers have discovered a new file-encrypting malware they dubbed DoppelPaymer that has been making victims since at least mid-June, asking hundreds of thousands of US dollars in ransom.
July 16th 2019
The average payment demand following a ransomware attack has almost doubled in the second quarter of the year and victims have Ryuk and Sodinokibi to blame.
In an FBI Flash Alert, the FBI has released the master decryption keys for the Gandcrab Ransomware versions 4, 5, 5.0.4, 5.1, and 5.2. Using these keys, any individual or organization can create and release their very own GandCrab decryptor.
Michael Gillespie found a new variants of the STOP DJvu Ransomware that append the .budak or .herad extension to encrypted files.
M. Shahpasandi found a new variant of the Cry36/Nemesis Ransomware that appends the .id_**********_.YOUR_LAST_CHANCE extension to encrypted file names.
Libraries across Onondaga County continue to deal with service issues caused by a cyber attack discovered last Friday.
July 17th 2019
Some ransomware authors get the cryptography right, but make web security mistakes that leave their command and control (C2) infrastructure vulnerable to attacks.
Michael Gillespie found a new variant of the STOP DJvu Ransomware that appends the .berosuce extension to encrypted files.
Michael Gillespie updated his STOP DJvu Ransomware decryptor to support the offline keys for the .godes, .budak, .heran, and .berosuce extensions.
Karsten Hahn reported that a spam wave targeting Germany was distributing the Sodinokibi Ransomware.
Tampa-based community radio station WMNF 88.5-FM is stepping up cybersecurity after its computer systems were hobbled by ransom-seeking hackers last month.
GrujaRS found a new variant of the Phobos ransomware that appends the .id[XXXXXX-2224].[[email protected]].actor extension and drops a ransom note named info.txt.
GrujaRS found a new variant of the Ouroboros Ransomware that appends the .[id=xxxxxxx][[email protected]].limbo extension and drops a ransom note named Read-Me-Now.txt.
July 18th 2019
Avast Software has released their own decryptor for the GandCrab Ransomware.
Michael Gillespie found new variants of the STOP DJvu Ransomware that appends the .gusau, .vusad, .madek, or .gehad extensions to encrypted files.
Michael Gillespie updated his STOP DJvu Ransomware decryptor to support the offline keys for the .gehad extensions.
City officials said the attack disrupted the town’s information technology systems. They first received reports of the disruption Thursday morning and have determined it is the Ryuk ransomware virus.
July 19th 2019
A sample of the ransomware called MegaCortex that is known to target the enterprise in targeted attacks has been found and analyzed. In this article, we will provide a brief look at the MegaCortex Ransomware and how it encrypts a computer.
A flurry of ransomware attacks has been reported this week affecting entities in US states of Georgia, New York, Tennessee, and Florida.
Cloud computing provider iNSYNQ experienced a ransomware attack which forced the company to shut down some of its servers to contain the malware infection from spreading and affecting more customer data.
Lawrenceville police confirmed the FBI and private security experts have been called in to help with the cyberattack that has hijacked the department’s body camera file footage and other department files. It is also the same ransomware that attacked Henry County police, sources say.
GrujaRS found a new variant of the Maoloa Ransomware that appends .Persephone666 extension to encrypted files.
That's it for this week! Hope everyone has a nice weekend! | {
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Chris I am sorry you felt attacked, maybe I am a complete idiot, by I didn't see mean spirited comments. If you felt I was one of them, I absolutely apologize, as hurting your feelings was not my intention. My general feeling was not that people here have hostility towards your being transgender, but I may be mistaken. I think that just like you feel it's unfair for you to be left out of the competitions, female competitors think it would be unfair to them if you did compete. Considering the amount of time and effort that goes into preparing for a competition, you can hardly blame them for feeling strongly about it.On the other hand, there is something I'd like to say to you. I am quite sure you have encountered all sorts of hate, discrimination, and meanness in your life due to your choice. I understand and sympathize. But one thing I noticed of people who have been subjected to a lot of this is that they start to expect it. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but I get the impression that, no matter how much we say that it's about the fairness of competition, you will still continue to think it's because we don't accept transgender people. I have mentioned to you the example of the heavyweight boxer wanting to fight a featherweight. Are we against heavyweight boxers? Do we hate them, or make fun of them, discriminate them, or fear them? No! And even hinting at that is, frankly, offensive to those of us who make it a point to be as open minded and accepting as possible in their lives. See it from our point of view: what if a black bodybuilder on steroids wanted to compete against natural bodybuilders, and when he wasn't allowed, he said "oh you don't let me because I am black and you are a bunch of racists!" Wow, really? Now, I am sure the black guy has been discriminated against due to his race for his whole life, but hard as it may be to believe, this time, it has nothing to do with his race!!! Is it so hard for you to believe that this time, it has nothing to do with you being transgender? | {
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Disabled Barbie Doll
“Break what breaks you.” “Against the pressure to be normal.” “For the right to be disabled or sick.” So reads this ingeniously-designed sticker, affixed to a wall, in Oranienplatz, in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district.
Photographed on May Day, 2010, the sticker, fresh off of someone’s home printer, was entirely in keeping with the day’s labor-oriented festivities. That is, if you regard the rights of disabled people to be concomitant with the rights of labor.
As an artist, I was most taken by the choice of Barbie, and her recasting as crippled, in this context. Disabled is beautiful, I thought, or at least memorable, in a Cindy Sherman sort of way. The sticker’s design is also very much in keeping with those of anarchist, and otherwise anti-capitalist adhesives, which Berlin is famous for, and which we’re extremely fond of showcasing here, in Souciant.
To change the subject matter, from such time-honored themes as police brutality, and burning SUVs, was a huge relief, as there are other, equally significant struggles for leftists to highlight. As street art, it’s just as relevant as designer political murals, by internationally recognized gallery punks, like Banksy. Sticker art receives less attention, I fear, simply because it’s smaller. Not in my world.
Translation from the German by Charlie Bertsch. Photograph courtesy of Joel Schalit. | {
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