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Update to Visual Studio 2017 Release Candidate
Visual Studio
January 27th, 2017
Today we have another update to Visual Studio 2017 Release Candidate. Some of you may have noticed that yesterday we posted an RC update, but took it down because of a setup issue. The issue is now fixed so please give it a try. To try out the newest version, you can either click on the link above or click on the notification within Visual Studio.
Take a look at the Visual Studio 2017 Release Notes and Known Issues for the full list of what’s available in this update, but here’s a summary:
The .NET Core and ASP.NET Core workload is no longer in preview. We have fixed several bugs and improved usability of .NET Core and ASP.NET Core Tooling.
Team Explorer connect experience is now improved to make it easier to find the projects and repos to which you want to connect.
The Advanced Save option is back due to popular demand.
Multiple installation-related issues are now fixed in this update, including hangs. We’ve also added a retry button when installation fails, disambiguated Visual Studio installs in the Start menu, and added support for creating a layout for offline install.
Apart from these improvements you’ll notice that we’ve removed the Data Science and Python Development workloads. As we’ve been closing on the VS release, some of the components weren’t going to meet all the release requirements, such as translation to non-English languages. They’ll re-appear soon as separate downloads. F# is still available in the .NET Desktop and .NET Web development workloads.
Please try this latest update and share your feedback. For problems, let us know via the Report a Problem option in the upper right corner of the VS title bar. Track your feedback on the developer community portal. For suggestions, let us know through UserVoice. | {
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liquor ban
Karnataka Drunkards’ Association
liquor addicts
Bangalore
liquor business
Group that claims to have 5,000 members wants govt to understand that liquor is part of the food cultureAscontinues till May 3, a hitherto unknown association ---- has taken shape on social media, demanding the state government to put an end to it. The association is also saying that if the government cannot lift the ban completely, they should at least provide liquor to the public through rationing. The Karnataka drunkards’ Association, which claims to have 5,000 members through various social media groups, says they are not promotingbut wants the government to understand that liquor is part of the food culture.Speaking toMirror, association president Arun Kumar said, “People generally laugh at us when we say we are part of the liquor association. It is not right asis legal in this country. When you have an excise minister, then we also have a right to form a group to put in our demands, which are quite simple. We need people to understand that liquor is part of the food culture and a sudden halt in liquor sales will not only hurt the economy but also the health of many people. So, we request the government to lift the ban on liquor sales, at least partially.”Kumar added that they have already contacted the excise department and have requested to lift the ban. “Ever since the liquor ban has been imposed, there have been numerous thefts in liquor stores. There were also multiple reports that people are going after illicit liquor. This unhealthy trend is not only making the government lose money, but people may lose their lives as well. So, we have suggested the government go for rationing of liquor. For example, if we can fix a quota as to how much one can buy liquor, then we can manage the situation better.”He also cited examples of overpriced liquor being sold. Shivamogga police on Saturday had filed cases against two people for selling liquor during the lockdown phase. During a raid, police said the duo was selling whiskey worth Rs 90 for Rs 1,000. Sources said with a complete prohibition on liquor during lockdown, there is a great demand for it in the black market.Kumar said the association is in vogue for the last four years. He also claimed that the association will promote social distancing among people whenever the liquor shops are opened so that they can ensure that all the safety measures prescribed for the Covid-19 pandemic can be adhered to. | {
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BROOKFIELD, Wis. (AP) — Multiple people were wounded in a shooting near a suburban Milwaukee shopping mall on Sunday, and deputies were still looking for the gunman.
Brookfield police told WTMJ-AM the shooting happened about 11 a.m. Sunday at a spa across the street from the Brookfield Square Mall. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported the mall was locked down.
Calls to police from The Associated Press rang to the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department. A woman who answered the phone there said deputies were looking for an active shooter but did not provide any other information.
Beth Strohbusch, a spokeswoman for Froedtert Memorial Hospital, said four shooting victims were taken there, and three more were expected. She said none of the four already received were in critical condition.
WISN-TV reported police were asking people in the mall's parking lot to clear out, because they had set up operations there.
Tactical teams were on the scene, along with at least 20 fire, ambulance and police vehicles. A medical helicopter was on the ground.
The shooting took place less than a mile from where seven people were killed and four wounded on March 12, 2005, when a gunman opened fire at a Living Church of God service held at a hotel. | {
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BY: Marc McMahon
Have you ever felt like you’re all alone and nobody cares and maybe you should just disappear and die? Like there is never going to come a time in your life when things are ok and are going to stay that way forever. When you can wake up in the mornings without that empty, gnawing feeling in your gut that tells you something is not right but you can’t for the life of you figure out what. When you no longer feel cracked like an egg in its container as it is slammed into something more than it can handle, contents barely being held inside. If so I just want you to know your not alone, sometimes I feel that way too.
Sometimes I feel like I am never going to get this recovery thing long-term and that I am always at some point going to fall prey to the demon of relapse. I say all of that so you know if you are feeling that way to that you’re not alone, not by a long shot. I say all of that because I have learned often times how we feel is not necessarily the way that it is more like our perspective sometimes gets skewed from the negative emotions we are feeling from the last poor decision we may have made, take my relapse for instance. But I must say this, I have learned or am learning that no matter how bleak I may think my future looks, that there is always hope. No matter how dark my world gets hope is always shining its ray of sunshine and love down towards us.
That if we stand firm and hold our ground eventually our outlook will change and hope and love will shine through. Sometimes we can do this on our own simply by giving ourselves time to process the events that sadden us and sometimes it takes someone we look up to or who supports us to show us that it is there. Either way despite how we may feel hope is always alive! Even when we can’t feel it, see it, or touch it, it is there and will always be there just waiting for us to welcome it in, back home to our hearts, where it belongs.
We were not created and born on this earth to live a defeated life, as a matter of fact, the good book says “I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future!” That is a promise my Higher Power gives to me and that I cling to for refuge at times. There is something to be said for hoping for the best even though you may be experiencing the worse time you have ever had in your life.
For keeping your chin up and pressing forward despite getting kicked in the jaw occasionally by life and its circumstances. For having enough hope to get back up off the ground and say I am not finished yet and try again.To show the disease of addiction that you are a fighter, a soldier who is willing to do whatever is necessary to stay clean. Someone who is learning they are actually worth something and that maybe they deserve happiness too. To show others and to prove to yourself that you are capable of change and that all the pain you have been through in the past was not for nothing. To one day be able to stand on the other side of darkness and look in the light no longer regretting the past. Taking the pain that your demons meant to kill you and using it to hopefully help heal somebody else.
That is where I find my peace today as it pertains to my addiction. I find it in helping others whether in face to face conversation or chatting over the computer, or via an article such as this one I am writing for my website here. Somehow through being as transparent as I humanly can be and by sharing all of me, the good, bad, and the ugly. I have been able to come to terms with much of the suffering that my addiction caused.
Helping Others Helps Me
It’s even helped me overcome the self-hate I had for so many years. It has helped me come to terms with the hate of self I had over the number of people I hurt while in my addiction and that was huge. Those are the feelings that almost killed me, the ones I tried taking my life over. The ones that helped keep me in active addiction for the better part of 20 years. The ones that told me the world would be better off without me and at least this way I would not be able to hurt another person again.
Those were some very dark days. The 3 darkest days I have ever had. And you want to know what all that darkness in my life back then had to teach me? It taught me Hope is Alive, that no matter how far down the scale I had gone I am capable of getting back up and doing it again. That if I do not lose faith, work hard, and stay honest with myself and others I can not only get back up and do well. But get back up and do better than I did before and possibly become better than I have ever been in my life.
Then it taught me if I can do this, anybody can. I have been trying to share that message and this story of hope with others as often as possible for the past three and a half years. It has not only become crucial to my recovery, but it has also become something that I love to do as well. Thank you all for taking the time to read my ramble and I hope you all have an amazing day. Stay blessed my friends.
About The Author: Marc is a 50-year-old Author, Speaker, and Soldier in a war to loosen the grasp that Substance Abuse has on our society. He is a Father, Son, and friend to all those seeking refuge from this incorrigible disease. Marc resides in the beautiful Pacific Northwest where he enjoys, writing, hiking, and kicking the disease of addiction in the teeth, every chance he gets. As Marc always likes to say, “be blessed, my friends!”
44.059912 -123.017935 | {
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Pedro Sánchez, entre Carolina Schmidt y António Guterres, en la foto de familia de la Cumbre del Clima. Foto: Álvaro García | Vídeo: ATLAS
Con llamamientos a actuar de forma urgente y ambiciosa para frenar el calentamiento global ha arrancado este lunes la Cumbre del Clima (COP25) que se celebra en Madrid. "El mundo nos está mirando. Es tiempo de actuar", ha dicho durante su discurso inaugural la ministra de Medio Ambiente de Chile, Carolina Schmidt Zaldívar, que preside este encuentro aunque su país renunció a albergarlo como sede debido a las protestas sociales. En un contexto de falta de liderazgo internacional en la lucha contra la crisis climática, y con la ausencia de figuras destacadas de los principales emisores -China, Estados Unidos e India-, el presidente del Gobierno español en funciones, Pedro Sánchez, ha hecho un llamamiento a que, "en un tiempo marcado por el silencio de algunos países", Europa, "que lideró la revolución industrial", sea "quien lidere la descarbonización", "por elemental justicia histórica". "Nadie puede sustraerse por su cuenta a ese desafío. No hay muro que proteja a ningún país, por muy poderoso que sea", ha añadido Sánchez, que también ha apelado a la ciencia para arremeter contra los negacionistas del cambio climático: "Hoy, por fortuna, solo un puñado de fanáticos niegan la evidencia", ha asegurado.
Efectivamente, durante el acto inaugural, la evidencia científica sobre los efectos del cambio climático ha estado muy presente. "Nuestra evaluación indica que los impactos del calentamiento son mucho más graves de lo que pensábamos antes", ha afirmado Hoesung Lee, presidente del IPCC, el panel internacional de expertos que asesoran a la ONU. "Si seguimos por el camino actual, corremos el peligro de que aumente la temperatura y esto tendrá un efecto y unas consecuencias terribles sobre la humanidad y amenazará nuestra existencia", ha advertido. Lee ha sido crítico: "No estamos haciendo suficiente. Ni nos acercamos a lo que sería suficiente para dominar esta situación".
"Hay que ir más lejos. Y sobre todo hacer las cosas más rápido. O ponemos un punto de inflexión o no dejaremos el punto de no retorno", ha dicho Sánchez. El presidente del Gobierno ha asegurado que España "va a incrementar el ritmo de reducción de emisiones" a través de "un pacto verde coherente con los objetivos previstos por la Unión Europea. En esta línea, la presidenta de la Comisión Europea, Ursula von der Leyen, ha asegurado que "el Green Deal europeo supondrá una reducción de emisiones, mejoras de la calidad de vida y creación de empleos". "Necesitamos invertir en innovación, en tecnologías verdes, y para ello necesitamos un plan europeo de inversiones con un billón de euros para los próximos 10 años", ha dicho la alemana. "El mes que viene vamos a hacer una propuesta, la primera ley europea de transición hacia la neutralidad climática para que esto se convierta en irreversible", ha anunciado.
El secretario general de la ONU, António Guterres, ha reclamado a los principales países emisores de gases contaminantes "la ambición política que pide la gente": "Hacer menos será una traición al conjunto de la familia humana y de las generaciones venideras". Sánchez ha subrayado que "la batalla contra el cambio climático requiere pasar de las palabras a los hechos".
El principal objetivo del Acuerdo de París, firmado en 2015, es que el aumento de la temperatura media del planeta no supere los dos grados centígrados respecto a los niveles preindustriales, y en la medida de lo posible que no rebase los 1,5. Ese es el límite que establece la ciencia para evitar los efectos más catastróficos de un calentamiento que ya no se puede revertir. Los estudios científicos advierten de que los países no están ni mucho menos bien encaminados para cumplir las metas de París: deben multiplicar por cinco sus planes de recorte para lograr la meta de 1,5 grados y por tres para los dos grados.
"Los datos más recientes de la meteorología mundial han revelado que hemos llegado a límites impensables. Nos hemos pasado y muchísimo", ha dicho Guterres. "¿Queremos que nos recuerden como la generación que fue como un avestruz mientras ardía el planeta?", ha insistido, antes de desgranar los efectos catastróficos de los que advierten los científicos. "Los últimos cinco años han sido los más calientes que se hayan documentado, hay desastres climáticos más extremos, huracanes, sequías, inundaciones, incendios, se derriten los casquetes polares y el permafrost. La Antártida se reduce tres veces más rápido de lo previsto", ha dicho. "Tres informes importantes del IPCC nos confirman que estamos destruyendo los sistemas que nos mantienen con vida. Las plantas que queman carbón siguen construyéndose. O le ponemos fin o los esfuerzos contra el cambio climático están destinados al fracaso", ha urgido.
"Estamos contemplando un ascenso de las temperaturas de 3,4 a 3,9 grados de aquí a final de siglo. La única alternativa es una acción rápida por parte de todos los países", ha continuado el secretario general de la ONU. "Una economía verde no nos debe amilanar, es una oportunidad que puede ayudarnos a conseguir todos los objetivos de desarrollo sostenible. Pero nos frustra el ritmo tan lento de los cambios. Por eso les ruego que aumenten su ambición y su sentido de urgencia". Guterres ha hecho un llamamiento a que en esta cumbre, que se celebra en Madrid hasta el día 13, se consiga resolver uno de los flecos pendientes en las negociaciones para desarrollar el Acuerdo de París, el artículo 6. Este artículo hace referencia a los intercambios de derechos o unidades de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero entre países, y también es el único de todo el acuerdo que hace referencia al sector privado, ya que abre la puerta a que las empresas puedan adquirirlos. "Es imprescindible ponerle precio al carbono si queremos evitar un cambio climático galopante", ha recordado Guterres. | {
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(CNN) In response to violent protests over the fate of a Confederate statue in Charlottesville, Virginia earlier this year, a 244-year-old Episcopal church in Alexandria is planning to move a set of plaques honoring former parishioners Robert E. Lee and George Washington.
The plaques were hung on either side of the altar inside the church in 1870, shortly after Lee's death. There had been discussions about relocating the plaques in the past, for reasons that include their lack of religious purpose.
"After the events in Charlottesville, those conversations came more to the forefront, they became more intense," said Noelle York-Simmons, the Rector of Christ Church, a small colonial parish that was founded in 1773. "It became clear to the Vestry -- the governing body of the Church -- that we needed to take these conversations more seriously."
Because the plaques were installed as a pair, they're being removed as a pair as well.
Emily Bryan, Senior Warden of Christ Church, spoke to congregants about the decision to remove and relocate the plaques. In a copy of her speech obtained by CNN, Bryan told parishioners that "the plaques in our sanctuary make some in our presence feel unsafe or unwelcome" but Bryan also added that the plaques "will stay very prominently be displayed, in a place that will better tell our history."
Read More | {
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50 Gorgeous Girls With Hideous Faces
Before we held an ugly face challenge, we had no idea how many pretty girls were part of the BuzzFeed community... or how ugly they could truly be. Y'all are the best. | {
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GLENDALE, AZ — A Silver Alert has been activated for a 14-year-old girl with autism who has been reported missing.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety says Alicia Navarro was last seen on foot near 45th Avenue and Rose Lane on Sunday.
The Silver Alert was activated late Monday morning.
She is 4 feet, 5 inches tall, 95 pounds and has braces.
Glendale police say she may be wearing the sweatshirt in the above photo, whitewashed denim overall skirt, black and white sneakers, and may be carrying a silver Apple MacBook.
Anyone with information is asked to call 623-930-3000.
Stay with ABC15 for updates on this developing story. | {
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On July 2nd, 2015, William Tyler, sidestepping I-65, drove his new-to-him Toyota south from his home in Nashville, down Hillsboro Pike and Highways 106 and 431, through Franklin, Lewisburg, Fayetteville, Hazel Green, and Meridianville, to downtown Huntsville, Alabama.
William, a guy who embodies everything that is good and authentic about Music City in the same way that Brown’s Diner does, then took up his Huntsville audience on a road trip–over to Vietnam, through the mountains outside Chattanooga, and inside a cathedral “for all faiths”, meeting a couple of girls and nodding to the Grateful Dead along the way–never taking the Interstate. It was a nice trip, and Willy T is a great traveling partner. words / recording p chesnut
William Tyler :: Live – Huntsville, Alabama / July 2015
setlist / notes after the jump. . .
We Can’t Go Home Again
The Terrace of the Leper King
A Portrait of Sarah
Missionary Ridge
Highway Anxiety
Tears and Saints
Notes: vocal, di box, guitar mic, and amp mixed down to one mono track. | {
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North Korea 'ready for sacred war' with the South Published duration 23 December 2010
media caption Invited dignitaries watched the live exercises along with the South Korean president
North Korea is ready for a "sacred war of justice" using a nuclear deterrent, its armed forces minister has said.
Kim Yong-chun accused South Korea of making preparations for war by holding live-fire exercises near the border.
The drills are one of the largest in South Korea's history, and come a month after North Korea shelled a Southern island killing four people.
The US state department condemned the North's latest comments as returning to its "old belligerent tricks".
"We need constructive actions, not heated rhetoric," said spokesman Philip Crowley on his Twitter page , without specifying any actions.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak has promised immediate retaliation to any further Northern attack.
The BBC's John Sudworth says people on the Korean peninsula are used to fiery rhetoric from Pyongyang, but as the tension escalates, the danger is that one side will feel forced to act on its threats.
'Military provocation'
The South Korean army acknowledged that the drill was aimed to display its firepower.
Although the South has conducted 47 military drills this year, this is the largest winter live-fire exercise ever conducted on land.
The North earlier branded Seoul's exercises "warmongering" but until now had not threatened the South with any retaliation.
During a meeting in the North Korean capital, Mr Kim, quoted by Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency, accused the South of preparing for a new Korean War.
"The South Korean puppet forces perpetrated such grave military provocation as renewing their shelling against the DPRK [North Korea] during their recent exercises for a war of aggression in the West Sea [Yellow Sea] of Korea," he said.
"This indicates that the enemy's scenario for aggression aimed at the start of another Korean War, has reached the phase of its implementation."
"The revolutionary armed forces of the DPRK are getting fully prepared to launch a sacred war of justice of Korean style based on the nuclear deterrent at anytime necessary to cope with the enemies' actions deliberately pushing the situation to the brink of a war," he added.
Despite possessing enough plutonium to create a bomb, the North is not thought to have succeeded in building a nuclear weapon.
Both China and Russia have called on the South to defuse tensions and US officials too are privately expressing their concern about Seoul's new, more aggressive stance.
South Korea and the US had already been conducting large-scale military exercises, following the apparent torpedoing of a South Korean warship by the North on 26 March, which killed 46 south Korean sailors.
Efforts to redirect the Korean issue back to the negotiating table have been unsuccessful.
China and the North say it is time to return to the six-nation talks about North Korea's nuclear programmes.
But the US, South Korea and Japan have said they will not return to such talks, which have previously involved rewards for the North if it cuts back on nuclear development. | {
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My horror editorial yesterday was greeted with two requests: One, to stop being such a Negative Nancy, and two, to write out what makes a great horror movie.
I think I can cater to both. Every horror movie I’ve ever loved really has five things in common that they’ve at least tried.
Step 1: Making Us Care
Good horror movies are, at root, good interpersonal dramas. When this goes wrong, it’s called Twenty Minutes With Jerks, but when it goes right, it can take just a minute to set something up and pay off through the whole movie. The Descent is a good example: It opens with a husband and wife having a tense, unpleasant argument that anybody who’s been in a relationship will recognize instantly, and then something goes horribly wrong. It’s the linchpin of much of the plot, that sadness and regret our protagonist is feeling, and it makes the rest of the movie just that much more tense.
Step 2: Remember That Horror and Humor Sit Fairly Close Together
There’s nothing wrong with a horror movie being funny. Videodrome is full of puns, even in the middle of some of its bloodiest sequences, and opens with a hilarious meeting where three men argue the merits of a Skinemax movie from Japan. The original Nightmare on Elm Street has Nancy tuck her mother in with a bottle of vodka.
This both works for a filmmaker and against them: Both humor and horror are about crossing lines and getting a visceral reaction, so it’s pretty easy to aim for one and hit the other. But properly mixed, it can keep audiences going and make both the humor and the horror more intensely. The Evil Dead is absolutely hilarious in places, but your knuckles go white when Ash has to go into that basement.
Step 3: Horror Movies Can Be About More Than Splat
I’ve talked about this before, but the great thing about horror movies is how flexible they are as metaphors for the practical things we’re scared about. The Fly is a much different movie for those who’ve lost somebody they love to cancer. Larry Fessenden’s Habit turns vampires into a musing on addiction, and Fessenden’s horror movies in general are about more than the monster. The Exorcist is as much a movie about doubt and self-recrimination as it is about demonic possession. | {
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Michael Hickey/Getty Images
It is nearly impossible to imagine an artist and their work without also framing those ideas around where they come from. With this in mind, when I think of Kid Cudi, I also think of Cleveland, Ohio, in all of its beauty and its moods. I think of how, in winter, a heavy chill drifts in from Lake Erie and sits over the city, sometimes for months, making the outside world a burden. During bad Ohio winters, the ones where pipes burst and thick snow pushes its weight down on power lines, people stay inside unless they have no other choice. There’s a silence in these types of winters that allows for grand, creative moments that come to life later, during warmer months, adding to the vibrancy and brilliance of a city like Cleveland. But it is also hard to shake the isolation, the feeling of loneliness that can creep into the architecture of living. For the past two winters, I’ve driven into Ohio from the north, cutting through Kid Cudi’s old stomping grounds. Abandoned factories still blow clouds of white smoke from their rooftops. I have, in many ways, always found myself rooting for Kid Cudi. Beyond the fact that we share the same home state, he embodies so many parts of it. Even his failures, like last year’s sprawling and confusing Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven, feel triumphant, in that through the work, we learn about what he has had to survive in order to create it. If I, as a consumer of art, create a structure where I choose not to separate an artist’s flaws from the art they create, I am saying that I also must value an artist who leans into a raw and open vulnerability through their art, even if I think it to be occasionally messy. This, after all, is what so many of us say that we want.
The hip-hop song that details and unravels the inner demons of the artist is seen as brave, sometimes a cause for celebration. There is an entire history of songs outlining the complexities of mental health, and the impact mental health has on the creator. Kid Cudi, in a 2012 interview, said that the 1991 Geto Boys’ “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” was his favorite song in the world. The song is on the Geto Boys album We Can’t Be Stopped, an album that, on the cover, shows members Scarface and Willie D on each side of a hospital bed holding Bushwick Bill, a graphic wound on his face as he recovered from a gunshot he took to his eye. It is a striking and startling album cover – the group’s management took Bushwick Bill directly out of his hospital room to take the photo, Bill’s eyepatch and IV drip removed. Bushwick Bill wanted to die. Before the album’s release, he insisted that his girlfriend kill him, and as they wrestled over a gun, it went off and shot him in the eye. He lived, of course, his destiny instead determined by doctors, loved ones, the music itself. “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” is one of the most fascinating Top 30 rap hits of all time. Each member is at the brink of sanity, with a muddy Isaac Hayes sample rubbing up against a dark guitar. Almost without a doubt, Scarface’s first verse in the song is the one that has held up as his most memorable over the years. But at the end, Bushwick Bill delivers a brief and haunting verse about imagining a man who he’d seen in a dream, following him on Halloween night. He and his crew wrestle the man to the ground and Bill begins punching his face, blood flying back up at him. Eventually, Bill’s crew vanishes. The man who they were fighting vanishes. Bill realizes that it isn’t even Halloween night as his knuckles bleed from punching the concrete where he believed all of his demons to be.
What I think about most, there, is how so many listeners of hip-hop value the song as a stand-alone statement, but not the album cover; not the messaging of the album, or the fact that “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” was the only single the Geto Boys pushed out from it. I often find myself thinking about performative realness. I may, for example, talk loose and easy about how I’ve battled anxiety for years, how I rarely have moments where I’m not anxious. But I’ll press it underneath a joke, or inside of a story with something relatable hanging to it, like an awkward trip to the supermarket with a silly ending. I might, like the Geto Boys, have a moment where I make the story more real, but still add enough distance to it for everyone to feel “moved,” but not confronted with anything. Hip-hop is no different from many other forms of art and celebrity in that it rewards the performance of realness, though it doesn’t always know what to do when it is confronted with an actual life committed to living that level of realness. Kid Cudi, since 2008, has been looking for peace and not finding it. This struggle is there, in his songs, stretched bare and uncomfortable: “Listen good / I don’t have nobody / But what I might feel are the sounds of sanity / Hoping what I hear / Loops itself continuously / Then I won’t be afraid.”
We are a nation obsessed with proof. We want to see the body in all of its living and dying, see the flaws before we can feel anything for them. I feel this, even more, about black people. I see this in myself, knowing that it, at times, has both held me back and kept me safe. Black people talk about how other black people don’t talk enough about mental illness, and I both understand this and understand the difficulty in coming from a skeptical lineage. Perhaps it has to do with coming from ancestors who believed some emotion was good, but too much emotion was weakness in a country that already believed you to be less. All of these things echoed back to me when, last week, Kid Cudi released a statement via Facebook status about checking himself into therapy for depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts. The statement was apologetic, riddled with both the jarring honesty he’s delivered in his music and also regret. He had chased peace for as long as he could, and the road led to nothing. The long, emotional message ended with: “I really am sorry. I’ll be back, stronger, better. Reborn. I feel like shit, I feel so ashamed. Im sorry.” I felt a strong wave of sadness for all of the people that we have known who are fighting and losing and still fighting and apologizing the whole time for what they cannot control. Depression, anxiety, grief — so many of these battles seem invisible because they aren’t always worn outside of our bodies. Mental illness is not always public and open violence, but it is sometimes a battle in private to stop that violence from manifesting itself publicly.
The hard thing about empathy is that it costs nothing and yet, in many cases, requires us to reach into difficult places. There is a public performance in this as well. Why say “I understand this, and feel for you” when there is a joke to be made, one that people on the internet might share and laugh at? The work is in not needing to see every facet of a person’s struggle to believe it exists. When the beat is stripped away, when the words don’t rhyme, when we can’t marvel at an MC spinning a brilliant and haunting story, how do we make room for the plain and honest demons? I urge everyone toward empathy, even myself, even for that which seems invisible but is not. To discuss practices of self-care as an abstract thing feels good, but when someone at the edge of all they can take chooses to run into the arms of self-care that may, literally, keep them alive, that also has to be celebrated. The concrete is just as vital and needed as whatever discussions take place in the abstract.
I have a friend from Cleveland who moved south years ago. She told me once that when winter comes, she can still feel the city’s cold in her bones, like it built itself up over all of those years and never left. I don’t know of the storm that is in Kid Cudi’s heart, but I hope it clears a path to something better soon. Despite what we are told, or what we say in the mirror while alone in our rooms, we can still fight whatever fight we need to in order to keep ourselves alive. | {
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My Moon Bunny? I didn’t think she would stay. I didn’t expect it, not really. I thought she’d go slipping off into the night in the same ethereal, mysterious way that she appeared.
That isn’t what happened.
The owner of the house next door, who rents it out, came by to mow down the lawn. He found Moon Bunny there. He asked if she was ours and if we wanted to keep her. Of course we did. I told him I’d buy her a hutch today.
No, he wasn’t having it. He had already called somebody to come by with a cage, to take the rabbit to his house where it has pine trees to run through. Pine trees? That’s our rabbit. That’s our bunny. We feed her and love her and hold her. She’s my sign that the world is good, that there’s still some magic here, still something left.
I begged for our rabbit. They put it into a cage and put the cage in the back of their vehicle.
My daughters and I were crying. My disabled son didn’t understand what was going on. My very sweet, very patient husband was trying to explain that we all loved the rabbit, we’d been taking care of it, that it was our pet.
“No it isn’t. It’s on my property. It’s mine.”
When they went to close the trunk, I grabbed the cage. I shouldn’t have, I know. But I didn’t know what else to do.
I begged him.
“Please give us our bunny! Please don’t take our bunny!”
He grabbed my wrists and told my husband to control his wife, that he was going to call the police.
Things were escalating fast. I’m ashamed of my role in that. I couldn’t keep myself together. This bunny, she’s more than just a rabbit. She was magic. She was hope that life still has good things in store. She came when I needed her, when I was so broken that I was barely able to function.
I told somebody a few weeks ago that I’m good at pretending everything is okay. I’ve always done it. The day of my daughter’s death anniversary, I went to the World Horror Con after party. A frickin’ PARTY. Hours before I was crying in bed with my daughter’s blanket, but I washed my face and went. And look, I even looked happy.
Because it’s a party, right? Because nobody wants a sad girl at a party. Because Spin and Twirl, Spin and Twirl. Did I fool you? Did you think I was happy? If so, then good. I did my job. Because I was not happy. I was heartbroken.
This rabbit. This stupid, white, out-of-the-blue rabbit. She appeared when I was drowning in loss. When I needed some sort of a sign that I was a good person, that there were things to hope for, that somebody loved me along the way. She was magical. That was taken from me. Now she’s just an animal that a stranger put in a cage. He degraded her. He degraded all of us.
There’s a meanness to the world that keeps being forced into my face. I try to look past it. I strive to see the beauty. I search for the divine, the inspirational, for the things that will get me and my children by. Tonight? I don’t see it. My children witnessed ugliness today, and it makes my heart sink to think that I can’t protect them from it. That I can’t protect myself.
I don’t want to be hard. I don’t want to be that person. But I can’t take any more loss. I just can’t. No more disappointment in people. I’ve hit my threshold for a while. I’m too fragile for you, World. You’re…mean. Just too mean.
I do have some good news. A book signing and a presentation. I’ll share it soon, when things look brighter. For now, I’m going to swing on my swing outside. Yesterday I held a precious white rabbit in my lap while I do so. Tonight my hands and lap and heart will be horrifyingly empty. | {
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this is interesting, to me she looks as if she's a tortured character and is only using this darkness to lash out at those she feels she was betrayed by, corrupting them in the process, she takes over all the princesses and with them out of the picture she's free to reign over Equestria, so this time around it's up to ponies like Big Mac and Shining to find out what's going on with their sisters and over throw this devious Mare | {
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Twee derde tot 80 procent van de corona-patiënten die op de intensive care liggen, hebben overgewicht. Dat zei Diederik Gommers, voorzitter van de Nederlandse Vereniging voor Intensive Care (NVIC), vrijdag in het tv-programma Jinek.
In dezelfde uitzending schetste zijn collega, hoofd intensive care van het UMCG in Groningen Peter van der Voort, de situatie rondom achttien ic-patiënten die daar worden behandeld. Hem was opgevallen dat de patiënten vrijwel allemaal hetzelfde postuur hadden en lijden aan adipositas, ofwel zwaarlijvigheid. Volgens Gommers is dat dus een vrij algemeen beeld in Nederland.
Wat de reden precies is, is niet onderzocht. Maar volgens Gommers kan het ermee te maken hebben dat mensen met overgewicht ook vaker dan gemiddeld suikerziekte hebben en daarmee kwetsbaar zijn voor het virus. Ook zou een zware borstkas het ademen kunnen bemoeilijken. | {
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Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted to her brother Rahul Gandhi on his move to resign
Highlights Rahul Gandhi announced his resignation in a public letter
He called for a "radical transformation" in the Congress
"Deepest respect for your decision," Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted today
A day after Rahul Gandhi announced his resignation as Congress president in a public letter owning responsibility for the party's national election defeat, his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra tweeted: "Few have the courage that you do".
Rahul Gandhi, 49, posted a long letter on Wednesday making public a decision he had conveyed to Congress leaders last month and asserting that he had resigned as "accountability is critical" for the future growth of the Congress.
"Few have the courage that you do @rahulgandhi. Deepest respect for your decision," wrote Priyanka Gandhi, who is two years younger to her brother and a Congress leader.
Few have the courage that you do @rahulgandhi. Deepest respect for your decision. https://t.co/dh5JMSB63P - Priyanka Gandhi Vadra (@priyankagandhi) July 4, 2019
In his letter, Rahul Gandhi had said: "It is a habit in India that the powerful cling to power, no one sacrifices power. But we will not defeat our opponents without sacrificing the desire for power and fighting a deeper ideological battle."
Calling for "radical transformation" in the Congress, he added: "Rebuilding the party requires hard decisions and numerous people will have to be made accountable for the failure of 2019. It would be unjust to hold others accountable but ignore my own responsibility as president of the party."
His words indicated he was determined to relinquish his family's hold on the Congress, which has been mostly headed by generations of leaders from the Nehru-Gandhi family in its 133-year-old history. "Most of my colleagues suggested that I nominate the next Congress president. While it is important for someone new to lead the party, it would not be correct for me to select that person," wrote Rahul Gandhi.
Rahul Gandhi, who took over the top post from his mother Sonia Gandhi in 2017, had first told party leaders about his decision to quit at a meeting of the Congress Working Committee on May 25, just days after the second straight election rout for the party compared to a spectacular haul for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP.
Priyanka Gandhi as well as Sonia Gandhi had supported him; Priyanka Gandhi, who joined politics in January as Congress general secretary, had even questioned how strongly other leaders had supported her brother's campaign.
The Congress chief's defeat in his traditional constituency of Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, which reduced the party to just one in the 80-seat state, also cut deep. Rahul Gandhi made it to parliament only because of his win in the second constituency he contested this time, Kerala's Wayanad. Priyanka Gandhi had campaigned in Amethi while her brother focused on rallies in other parts of the country.
As the Congress stares at the task of choosing a new leader, several leaders have urged Rahul Gandhi to reconsider his decision, insisting that he would always be their chief. | {
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Photo cred - Dana
Montreal boasts the largest number of restaurants per capita in Canada and second highest in North America. We also lead the nation in the average of full-service dining experiences on a monthly basis. There’s no denying Montrealers love their restos. But for every dining experience we have, we forget there's a whole behind the scenes world unto itself that made it possible.
This would be the service industry. And just like in the iconic movie Waiting, for every 10 friendly and respectful customers there is one that makes you want to punch face. Not to mention the day-to-day realities of working in this business.
These are just a few of the struggles of working in the service industry in Montreal.
1. The Inverted Shift Work
Get used to working every manner of event from Grandprix to the Habs playoffs season - literally anything exciting that’s happening in the city you can guarantee you'll be watching through the tired eyes of a server who only went to bed at 6am. And forget your friends who work 9-5 and party Thursday - Saturday. In the industry you’re ready to rage Sunday -Tuesday. But that’s okay, you’ll make new friends. You’ll have to. Because the only people out besides people working the bar scene, are creepy uncle Bob & co. who’ve been on a pretty steady bender since 1999.
2. The Hatred Against Humanity
Full disclosure, working in the service industry will make you grow to hate all people eventually. Not forever, just brief spurts of hate. A spurt here, an assault charge there. Totally normal. It’s a mixture of the stressful atmosphere, long hours, and requirement to indulge the whims of every single person no matter how ridiculous. You want ice cubes with no bubbles in them? No problem. You didn't know that burger had meat in it? I'll have the chef whip you up something less confusing.
Also the tips. They’re like a nightly rating system of how you measure as a person. And on those nights when you worked 9 hours straight without even so much as a bathroom break, smiled so much your cheeks hurt, and made barely enough money to cover your Uber ride home, it's normal that seeds of hate against humanity are planted deep within your soul.
3. The Tourists
In Montreal people working in the service industry make less than minimum wage and tip out, which means they pay a percentage of their sales to the restaurant and its employees. If you don’t tip then your meal is costing them. And I get it, it’s a cultural thing, they don’t tip in your country. But learn the rules of the road buddy! We don’t come to your country and try to impart our Montreal habits on you. We don’t encourage you to respect each other’s differences, have lots of sex, smoke like it's going out of style, and party like The Rolling Stones circa 1970. Well, maybe sometimes…often…okay WE DO WHAT WE WANT. Regardless, tip or get off the pot.
4. The People That Make Stupid Jokes
No you cannot sit in the smoking section.
5. The Endless Bachelor Parties
They walk in off of Crescent with their blow up sex dolls, and the groom who has the traditional ball and chain around his ankle. They’re in town from one of the Eastern states, and yes somewhat charming when, you know, they aren’t being belligerent and obscene. “Where should we go tonight” is your cue to tell them exactly how far away the nearest strip joint is. Do you have eyes sir? Please just go outside and open them and you will find the strip club. In some ways they're the ideal customers; they joke around, they order simple meat and fry dishes, and they tip well. God bless America. It’s only the ass smack that you can complain about as a server, and really, so long as you’re not carrying a tray full of drinks, what’s the harm? Just kidding! Touch me and I will crack you in the jaw.
No, Bachelorettes you weren’t forgotten. It’s pretty hard not to remember the group of ten drunken ladies in their neon green leotard outfits and blackout bridezilla. No need to shriek, your slippery nipple shots are on the way.
6. The Families
We get it. You’ve spent all week cooped up in the house with these animals you call children and want to show society what a happy functioning family you are. But you are in public now. If that pickled alien you keep referring to as a baby cries one more while you sit there like it’s the most normal sound in the world I will go full Rambo on you. And stop ordering things that aren’t on the menu. No we do not have a child’s portion of the New York steak!
7. The Water Sippers
This is the dinner rush, we are in the juice and although your ability to digest that glass of water particle by particle is somewhat impressive, we are here to flip tables. Let’s go Let’s go Let’s go!
8. The Small Tippers
It’s almost better not to tip than to give the waitress who has slaved over you for the past two hours while managing a section of eight other tables the dollar you found in your back pocket. That small tip says “I realize tipping is a thing I’m supposed to do, but you’re just not worth the standard 15%.” It’s degrading. If the service was bad, that’s one thing. But unless you're so poor that you had to switch your toothpaste for a mint flavored herb you stole from your neighbours garden then IT’S STILL NOT AN EXCUSE. If you can’t afford tipping, you can’t afford going to a restaurant/bar. C'est tout.
And if you're using a Groupon, your tip is not based on the cost of your meal after the discount. If you buy a pair of shoes on sale you don’t take just one shoe, do you?
9. The I Don’t Want To Be Rude But [insert rude comment here]
We don’t want you to be rude either. So please just end your comment there. If we forgot something, or you would like to ask us for something, just do so in a kind and respectful way.
10. The People You Almost Murdered
Dammit. You said you didn’t want any tomatoes. You failed to mention this was a deadly allergy. Now you are dead. Are you happy now? | {
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My prayers go out to the family & friends of Cynthia Phillipson. It's a very somber day at CCHS. pic.twitter.com/qTYSQANUPM — Sara Yingling (@SYinglingWTRF) November 3, 2014
Practices for basketball season are just getting underway, but the first tragic fatality connected with the sport has already struck.
As reported by the Steubenville Herald-Star and Ohio Fox affiliate WTOV, Steubenville Catholic Central student athlete Cynthia Phillipson collapsed during a team workout and was rushed to a hospital in Pittsburgh. She never recovered and was pronounced dead on Sunday night.
Students and staff held a candlelight vigil for Phillipson on Sunday evening at the school. According to the Herald-Star, more than 250 people were in attendance just outside the Catholic Central main entrance, all reflecting on the freshman and her life as part of the community.
“The girls have been talking about Cynthia and praying for her since she was taken to the hospital last week,” Catholic Central girls basketball coach Jess Looman told the Herald-Sun. “We said a Hail Mary and then gathered in our team huddle to dedicate our thoughts to Cynthia.”
Added Bishop John King Mussio Junior High School Principal Theresa Danaher, who was in charge of the school Cynthia attended for the prior three years:
“Cynthia was in the Crusader marching band and was a Royalette this year. She was always smiling and always happy. And she was liked by everyone who met her. She could light up a room with her smile.”
The outpouring of grief over Phillipson’s loss was also felt on social media, where friends reflected on a life lost far too soon.
god gained a beautiful angel tonight 💛💙 prayers to the phillipson family and friends!You will be missed by many Cynthia #CynthiaStrong — Kaitlyn Whitaker (@whit_kaitlyn24) November 3, 2014
RIP Cynthia Phillipson💔 just last week I was playing volleyball with you & our sisters. I know my siblings will miss you very much. — Khloé DiBiase (@kdbz2) November 3, 2014
R.I.P Cynthia 🙏 I'll never understand why God takes people from us at such a young age. May peace be granted on the Phillipson family. — Brittney Ann (@briiittneyyyy) November 3, 2014 | {
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Please do not share the details of this article openly on social media and spoil Star Wars: The Mandalorian for those that want to remain spoiler-free. These are very general spoilers but let’s respect other fans’ wishes and not spoil those that do not appreciate spoilers. What follows will be considered a spoiler to some so as always, be cool! Guard your language like a Gamorrean.
If you remember back to our first ever report on Star Wars: The Mandalorian, I was being told that the production was going to be using some cutting-edge technology to bring the cost of rendering real-time visual effects down exponentially, allowing for a TV show to do things only done on film. The savings would allow for a TV budget, and to not have to wait for the shots to be fully rendered. In other words, the Mando crew knows what they’re getting in real time in a lot of ways and it would be dirt cheap in comparison.
On past episodes we had hinted that the studio space being used for The Mandalorian was extremely close to the production of Avatar 2. It isn’t uncommon to see “Huckleberry” (aka The Mandalorian) crew members eating lunch with “Coral” (aka Avatar 2) crew members. Apparently a lot of the same technology is being used between Cameron’s production and this one. This technology is being used for one of the main cast members already announced, who is playing a CGI character, and this allows for the production to make a digital mold of the actor’s face and render his work in real time for the alien creature he’s playing in the series.
Ursa Wren in Star Wars Rebels
The most interesting thing sources have noted is that the technology being used has been seen using Sabine Wren’s helmet from Star Wars Rebels. Is Sabine Wren in The Mandalorian? We don’t know. But apparently her helmet is. Is Gina Carano playing Sabin Wren? Right now if I had to guess I would think she could be playing the Mando clan leader we heard about and maybe she wears Sabine’s helmet or maybe that owl-shaped helmet is more common for Mando women than Star Wars Rebels let on (which I believe did show the style of Sabine’s helmet on different Mando women). I think the more conservative angle is its the same style of helmet but with Dave Filoni’s involvement and the work he’s done on the mythic Mando culture, history, and heritage, it is possible we could see her in the series.
So we can confirm the helmet is in the series. We can’t confirm the helmet belongs to Sabine. Gina Carano can kind of look like Sabine if she started working out. I believe Carano is an Italian name and I always thought Sabine’s character was Asian. So understand I don’t know if the woman clan leader in the series is Sabine and we aren’t even 100% sure that Carano is that character at this time. We just know they are rendering her helmet in real time for the series according to MSW sources.
For a time we thought maybe the helmet was simply a placeholder object but sources have seen the helmet. A “Coral” (aka Avatar 2) source visiting the set confirmed the Sabine helmet was being light checked (which we’ve seen them do with the Mando’s helmet at the set location a few times). Our connection on Avatar 2 isn’t a Star Wars fan at the level of watching the animated Star Wars stories so it was a general confirmation of the helmet’s existence in the series based off having seen products and just knowing the series existed.
So there you have it. In a surprising turn of events, while digging on who one of the actors in The Mandalorian was playing, we uncovered Sabine or at least her helmet design is in The Mandalorian thanks to James Cameron’s Avatar 2.
One Final Reminder
We don’t know if Sabine Wren is in the series. Keep your hopes tempered as there’s still elements to this story that have yet to unfold. She might be based on the design. But that conjecture is like saying Boba Fett might be in the series because his helmet is kind of in the series too. We have these disparate elements that paint a picture but offer no confirmation other than the existence of the prop itself and it is being rendered digitally in real time while they shoot the series. Issues of ethnicity and the consideration of past ethnic implications complicate the analysis (to Star Wars Rebels’ credit it was never really clear what ethnicity any of the cast was in human Earth terms). We know there’s a female Mando clan leader. We know there’s the helmet. We know Carano is in the series. Do these things connect? That’s the ongoing mystery for now. Let us see how it all develops from here.
The image above is from TheRogueRebels.com. Here is a look at the epilogue of Star Wars Rebels done by a costumer that is extremely good: | {
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Toronto Wolfpack forwards Cory Paterson and Richard Whiting have announced their retirement from rugby league.
"It's been a dream come true to play the sport I love professionally for the last 13 years but it's time for me to hang the boots up," Paterson, a 31-year-old Australian, wrote in a social media post.
"It's been a fun ride," he added.
The Wolfpack confirmed Whiting's retirement via their own social media feed.
The Toronto season ended Oct. 7 in a 4-2 loss to London Broncos in the Super League promotion showdown known as the Million Pound Game. The Wolfpack, rugby's first transatlantic team, won promotion to England's second-tier Betfred Championship after winning League 1 in their inaugural 2017 season.
Congratulations to the <a href="https://twitter.com/LondonBroncosRL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@LondonBroncosRL</a> who have earned promotion to the 2019 <a href="https://twitter.com/SuperLeague?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SuperLeague</a>. Wishing you all the best next year! 🏉 <a href="https://t.co/VIAvWOmqLq">pic.twitter.com/VIAvWOmqLq</a> —@TOwolfpack
Watch Wolfpack miss Super League promotion:
The Toronto Wolfpack will not be headed to Super League after a 4-2 loss to the London Broncos. 3:40
The 33-year-old Whiting was one of Toronto's original players, signing on in November 2016.
At six foot four and 222 pounds, Whiting extends like a deck chair when he gets off the turf — hence the nickname Stilts. And he was a hard man — the padding he wore to protect an arm injury this season grew in size as the campaign wore on.
Whiting endured more than his share of injuries during his playing career, suffering a double break of the leg in 2008 after returning from a lengthy absence due to an arm injury.
He began his career as a teenager in 2003 with his hometown Featherstone Rovers before moving to Hull FC where he scored 78 tries in more than 250 appearances. The former England international spent 12 seasons at Hull FC, famous for playing every position.
He eventually left for Leigh Centurions before taking a leap of faith and joining the Wolfpack.
Both players were fan favourites with the Wolfpack, gregarious types who were not afraid to put their body on the line.
Tall, tattooed and bald, Paterson was easy to spot, although hard to tell apart from fellow Aussie forward Jack Buchanan at a distance. With the ball in hand near the goal-line, the hard-running Paterson was difficult to stop.
From Australia to England to Toronto
Paterson joined the Wolfpack for the 2018 season after playing in Australia and England. He made his National Rugby League debut in Australia for Newcastle Knights in 2007 and went on to play for North Queensland Cowboys and Wests Tigers, as well as stints in England for Hull Kingston Rovers, Salford Red Devils and Leigh Centurions.
Wolfpack coach Paul Rowley had signed him at Leigh.
Paterson, whose father has Aboriginal ties, also represented the Indigenous All Stars on three occasions.
The Aussie's resume includes boxing and acting in addition to rugby league. Earlier in his career, a 21-year-old Paterson showcased his kicking skills for the NFL's Oakland Raiders and Arizona Cardinals.
"You could say I've had a bit of an adventurous career, mate," said Paterson upon joining Toronto.
Paterson has studied acting and his resume includes a role in the crime drama "The Dark Return of Time." He won both pro boxing bouts as a heavyweight, saying he did it to challenge himself as an athlete.
In the past, Paterson talked openly about battling depression. In 2010, Billy Slater apologized after Paterson reacted angrily during an NRL match when the Australia and Melbourne Storm star fullback reportedly told him to "Go and have a cry in your room."
In 2011, Paterson made headlines Down Under when, after converting to Islam, he became just the second player in NRL history to tackle the holy month of Ramadan. | {
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Four charged after £300,000 drugs haul Published duration 6 January 2016
Four men have been charged after police recovered drugs worth about £300,000 in West Lothian.
Officers stopped two men aged 24 and 38 in Bathgate on Tuesday afternoon and found about 5kg of cannabis along with £12,000.
A search was then carried out at a property in the town and a further £10,000 was seized.
Police also searched an address in Linlithgow and found 34kg of cannabis and a quantity of cocaine.
Two men, aged 27 and 34, have also been arrested in connection with the investigation.
All four men are expected to appear at Livingston Sheriff Court this week.
Ch Insp Stevie Dolan, of Police Scotland, said: "This has been a sizeable seizure of harmful substances before they could make their way on to the streets of West Lothian and will undoubtedly disrupt the cash flow of organised crime groups operating in the region.
"I want to make it clear that the distribution and production of drugs, along with other forms of serious and organised crime, will not be tolerated and we will continue to use all resources at our disposal to identify those involved and remove them from our communities." | {
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Adding to many comments which the political consultancy class would no doubt advise against, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump recently cited a similarity between himself and Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders. From The Washington Times:
“I was watching [Sanders] and he talked about trade and he was talking about how we’re getting ripped off left and right on trade, and I [said], you know, I think I can take that paragraph and just use it in my speeches,” Mr. Trump said Monday via phone on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “It’s what I’m saying — it’s one of my big things.”
Both Mr. Trump, who has been leading recent polls on the 2016 GOP presidential field, and Mr. Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist who is contending for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, have come out against the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade deal being negotiated between the United States and 11 other countries including Japan, Australia and Canada.
“We’re getting killed by China, we’re getting killed — now here’s the difference between Bernie Sanders and myself: I negotiate. I will make great deals with China; he can’t do that,” Mr. Trump said. “In other words, he’s incapable of doing that. But he knows the problem, at least. He’s not going to be able to anything about it, but he does know the problem, and if you look at his words on trade and my words on trade, man — I was just looking at it yesterday, actually. I said, that’s pretty close, you know, so in terms of that, we’re very close.” | {
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The disappointing results of clinical trials will no longer be able to languish unpublished, thanks to rules released on September 16 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The long-awaited changes to the HHS clinical-trial disclosure laws require, for the first time, that researchers report the design and results of all clinical trials and empowers the government to enforce penalties for those that do not comply. The NIH rules apply only to work done through agency grants, and include stricter reporting requirements for phase I trials. If institutions don’t follow the rules, the NIH could withdraw their funding.
“I think a lot of major universities just miss the point that if you do an experiment on a person and get consent, you really have the obligation to make the results known,” says Robert Califf, head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). “This is fundamentally an ethical issue.”
Both sets of rules are intended to crack down on the large number of clinical trials that are conducted but never reported. They go into effect on January 18, and researchers will have 90 days to comply.
Ambiguity
Under a 2007 law, researchers conducting trials with human subjects had to register their study with an HHS website called ClinicalTrials.gov before they started their work. The site, which has more than 225,000 entries, is the largest such repository in the world. At the time, researchers had to include information about their methods and results, but there were so many exceptions and loopholes—such as trials that obtained FDA approval for their therapies could register after the fact — the law was hard to enforce.
That ambiguity allowed researchers to avoid reporting all their trials, particularly those that returned negative results. A 2014 analysis found that 4 years after 400 randomly selected trials finished, 30% of them hadn't published their results.
Most trials that fail in the early stages are never published at all, says Christopher Gill, a health researcher at Boston University in Massachusetts. This can bias the literature and obscure important information on whether an experimental therapy is harmful. “From the perspective of consumers and science, failures are as important as successes,” Gill says.
A new day
Under the new rule, trials must be registered on ClinicalTrials.gov within 21 days of enrolling their first patient — researchers can no longer wait for the results of their trails to report their data. “That’s a huge breakthrough,” says Kay Dickersin, director of the Center for Clinical Trials and Evidence Synthesis at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland.
The NIH’s companion rule includes a requirement that NIH-funded researchers register phase I trials: these typically include small numbers of healthy volunteers and test a therapy’s safety instead of its efficacy. They also include trials that do not involve a FDA-regulated product, such as behavioural interventions.
Other changes include requirements that scientists report details on how they plan to conduct their trials, outline the statistics they will use to analyse the results and reveal any changes that they make to the protocol over the course of the study.
This should help to address a problem known as ‘p-hacking’, in which researchers analyse their data in multiple ways and report only the method that returns positive results. Researchers will also now be required to report the race and ethnicity of participants.
The final HHS rules will give regulators a greater ability to enforce existing regulations, because many studies of drugs that are eventually licensed are still not reported, says bioethicist Jennifer Miller of New York University’s Langone Medical Center. Her analysis of all drugs sponsored by large pharma companies, and approved by the FDA in 2012, showed that almost half had undergone phase II or III trials that were never reported. “You need a clear law so you can have clear compliance,” she says, and expects that the new rule will go a long way towards achieving this.
“I’m really happy about a whole lot of things made clear now almost 10 years after [the FDAAA],” Dickersin says. “We had to wait a while but this is great.”
This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on September 16, 2016. | {
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The father of CIA contract security officer Tyrone Woods, one of the four Americans killed in the Sept. 11, 2012 attacks on American facilities in Benghazi, Libya, told Breitbart News that former national security adviser Susan Rice should answer questions about her handling of intelligence reports while being wired to a lie detector.
“I am an attorney, and every attorney, the jury instructions we always give: ‘If a witness has been proven false in part of their testimony, then all of their testimony is presumed to be less truthful,” said Charles Woods, who became one of the most vocal family members of the four men. “That is the situation we have with Susan Rice.”
Besides Tyrone Woods, the other men were: Ambassador Christopher Stevens, State Department computer and communications specialist Sean Smith, and CIA contract security officer Glen Doherty. Both Woods and Doherty were Navy SEAL veterans killed by the same mortar shell in the last of the attacks.
Woods said Rice lied to the American people five times on the Sunday after the Benghazi attacks, when she told viewers watching five different news programs the attack was triggered by a video on YouTube that depicted the Prophet Mohammad in a negative light.
“Two weeks ago, she said she did not know anything about the unmasking of Michael Flynn,” the former administrative law judge said.
“We have a pattern of not being truthful,” he said. “I makes me wonder why she wasn’t fired several years ago, when it was proven she lied to the American public those five times. Why wasn’t she fired? The only conclusion I can reach is that she worked for an organization whose values were based on deceiving the America people.”
Instead of being fired, Rice was rewarded, because she shared the values of the people she worked for and worked with, Woods said.
In January 2016, Woods challenged former secretary of state Hillary Clinton to take a lie detector test regarding the claims that she did not tell Woods and other Benghazi family members that the attacks were sparked because of an offensive video. Woods also volunteered to take a lie detector test himself. “Perhaps Susan Rice should take a lie detector test, as well?” he asked.
Woods said he has first-hand experience with the government, starting with a phone call with his son while Tyrone was still on active-duty in the Navy. “Do I believe that I am monitored? Yes,” he said.
During the conversation, the SEAL told his father that the government monitors all phone calls and if certain keywords are used in the conversation, the government flags the conversation for follow-up, he said.
Woods said when he attended the 2014 Conservative Political Action Conference he encountered another confirmation that the government was tracking him.
The attorney said he was going to give interviews at CPAC’s “Radio Row,” and in between interviews, he would call his wife to reflect and to pray with her.
After an interview with NRA Radio, Woods noticed that his contact list in his phone was smaller than it used to be, he said. “Every one of the media people, whether it had been Hannity or Fox News or whatever, all of those contacts had been scrubbed and then, all of the contacts that I have made with congressmen and senators–every one of those had been scrubbed.”
That night, Woods said he attended an event with a number of members of the intelligence community. “I mentioned what happened to my phone to a guy there from the CIA and he brought it over to a couple of whistle blowers at the same event. He said, ‘Have them look at your phone and tell them what happened.'”
Both men examined the phone and confirmed to Woods that someone from government had deleted his media and Capitol Hill contacts, he said.
One of the men told Woods: “It would have been very easy for someone to erase all of your contacts, but they wanted to give you a message that ‘We are listening to you. We are watching you and there are certain people, namely, media and congressmen and senators, that we don’t want you talking to anymore.” | {
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'A message from ISIS to the US': Islamist militants tweet gruesome images of dead American soldiers and vow to blow up embassies as terrorist convoy is wiped out in SECOND round of airstrikes
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT: Militants who support the terror group ISIS tweeted threats to America on Friday after Barack Obama began airstrikes in Iraq
Some warn of car bombs at embassies while others taunt US military personnel with death threats
A handful of biting retorts have mocked the ham-fisted attempt to use social media as a tool of war
Tweets coincided with first U.S. airstrikes authorized by Obama to protect American staff and relief efforts
Food and water supplies have been airdropped to 50,000 refugees trapped on mountain
ISIS have been accused of taking hundreds of women hostage
Supporters of the ISIS terror group tweeted thousands of messages on Friday bearing the hashtag #AmessagefromISIStoUS featuring gruesome photos and threats to U.S. soldiers and citizens after American airstrikes took out terrorist targets in Iraq for the first time.
Some tweeted photos depict dead U.S. Army soldiers, U.S. marines hung from bridges in Fallujah , decapitated men, human heads on spikes, and the twin towers in flames on September 11, 2001.
'This is a message for every American citizen,' read one message sent with the hashtag. 'You are the target of every Muslim in the world wherever you are.'
Scroll down for video
Obama's decision Friday morning to launch strikes against ISIS artillery positions set off ISIS backers and triggered online propaganda 'We will make a barbecue party on you': Some of the threats came in broken English from accounts that mostly tweet in Arabic
'US citizens will be a target for ISIS,' another reads, 'because of American airstrike[s] on Iraq.'
Another warned that ISIS is 'ready to cut your heads Dear Americans O sons of bitches. Come quickly.'
That tweet also carried a second hashtag: #WarOnWhites. Others featured taunting captions to pictures of soldiers previously wounded or killed in Iraq, reminding Us commanders what happened last time there was a full scale invasion.
The tweets came on the day the U.S. unleashed its first airstrikes in northern Iraq against ISIS, amid a worsening humanitarian crisis.
Two airdrops of food and water supplies were also flown in to about 50,000 refugees who took shelter on a barren mountain after being ordered by ISIS to convert or face death.
The extremists have taken hundreds of women from a religious minority captive, according to an Iraqi official, and thousands of other civilians have in fear.
The latest Twitter blitz in an extension of ISIS's propaganda push on social media that the terror group has used throughout their campaign to spread fear and intimidate the world.
Over the last few months the medium has been used to post graphic pictures of beheadings, mass killings and boastful messages from fighters who have come from Western countries.
Holy war: 'You are the target of every Muslim in the world wherever you are'
Casualties memorialized online: ISIS has turned to Twitter as a propaganda tool
Embassy threats: A State Department official told MailOnline that a single bombing could change global perceptions and win President Obama new levels of scorn for launching airstrikes
The new messages highlight the possible consequences of President Barack Obama's decision to authorize military airstrikes against the Islamist group, which are partially armed with munitions left behind when he pulled American troops out of Iraq at the end of 2011.
'All it would take is one attack on a diplomatic facility to rally more online strutting,' a State Department official told MailOnline on condition of anonymity, 'and lots of people will blame the president for antagonizing people who already want to kill Americans.'
But it is yet to be seen how powerful ISIS is to carry out terror outrages beyond the territories under its control.
Obama ran for office in part on a platform of ending America's armed conflicts in the Middle East; Friday morning's airstrikes marked his first openly declared hostilities in the region – in this case, against a self-declared but unrecognized 'Islamic state.'
Gone in a cloud of smoke: A dust cloud rises where the first U.S. bomb struck ISIS artillery being towed by a truck outside Erbil
The U.S. government will likely brush off the tweeted messages even though they could prove embarrassing to the Obama administration.
The official said: 'No one in the U.S. with any social media savvy takes this kind of posturing seriously, but in some parts of the world it will have an effect.'
Indeed, a relative handful of Americans fired back online at the Islamist tweeters, mocking them for turning a life-or-death fight into a matter of bits and bytes.
'All the bloody images, tough words and pics of knuckle draggers with bushy beards are not scary,' one California man tweeted. 'Just pitiful.'
After ISIS cheerleaders sent a tweet threatening to take over 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, another user likened the promise to a lockdown incident on Friday caused by a small child who wriggled through the White House's outer perimeter fence.
'Threatening to enter white house?' he asked. 'How? Like this toddler?'
The same man, pretending to be an ISIS radical, joked that 'we will raise our hands when your unmanned drones come. Until then please bear with our threat tweets. Thank you.'
But ISIS's taunting kept coming, hitting the 10,000-tweet mark by the time it was 5pm in Washington.
Some Americans pushed back on Friday
'These people aer SCREAMING Please make an example of me,' came a mocking reply to ISIS
Not likely: One joking observer mocked the ISIS hashtag as a subversive project of Israeli intelligence
One, which included a poignant photo of a soldier saluting a cargo plane full of American flag-draped caskets, said Obama's military action would mean 'more and more American widows and orphans.'
Another, paired with a photo montage of dead and maimed U.S. military personnel, said only: 'We miss you in iraq US Troops :)'
American airstrikes began Friday, and many of America's allies backed the U.S. intervention, pledging urgent steps to assist the legions of refugees and displaced people.
Those in jeopardy included thousands of members of the Yazidi religious minority whose plight - trapped on a mountaintop by the militants - prompted the U.S. to airdrop crates of food and water to them.
The extremists' 'campaign of terror against the innocent, including the Yazidi and Christian minorities, and its grotesque and targeted acts of violence bear all the warning signs and hallmarks of genocide,' U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said. 'For anyone who needed a wake-up call, this is it.'
Drama: The two American warplanes dropped 500lb laser-guided bombs on an Islamic State artillery position Near Irbil in a bid to halt the ISIS horde sweeping the country and save thousands of innocent lives
Split: There are three main religious groups in Iraq: Shia Arabs, the country's majority, Sunni Arabs and Kurds, who are religiously Sunni but divided by their ethnicity. The is also a minority of Christians scattered across northern Iraq
A spokesman for Iraq's human rights ministry said hundreds of Yazidi women had been seized by the militants. Kamil Amin, citing reports from the victims' families, said some of the women were being held in schools in Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul.
'We think that the terrorists by now consider them slaves and they have vicious plans for them,' Amin told The Associated Press.
'We think that these women are going to be used in demeaning ways by those terrorists to satisfy their animalistic urges in a way that contradicts all the human and Islamic values.'
For the U.S. military, which withdrew its forces from Iraq in late 2011 after more than eight years of war, the re-engagement began when two FA-18 jets dropped 500lb bombs on a piece of artillery and the truck towing it.
The Pentagon said the militants were using the artillery to shell Kurdish forces defending Erbil, the capital of Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, and home to a U.S. consulate and about three dozen U.S. military trainers.
Innocent: Yazidi Iraqis on Mount Sinjar carry the limp bodies of children as they flee ISIS. Up to 50,000 terrified Yazidis - half of them children - have sought refuge from the bloodshed in the barren mountain range
Fleeing: Officials said tens of thousands of Iraqis, mainly Yazidi and Christian families, living in Iraq's Sinjar district bordering Syria were desperately trying to escape the country for fear of massacres by the militants
Safe for now: Iraqi Christians who fled the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30km east of the northern province of Nineveh, rest after arriving at the Saint-Joseph church in Erbil
Later Friday, the U.S. launched a second round of airstrikes near Erbil, U.S. officials said. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the strikes publicly, said unmanned aircraft hit a mortar and four Navy FA-18 fighter jets destroyed a seven-vehicle convoy.
The U.S. State Department warned U.S. citizens against all but essential travel to Iraq, and said those in the country were at high risk for kidnapping and terrorist violence.
Expanding from their stronghold of Mosul, the militants have captured a string of towns and Iraq's largest hydroelectric dam and reservoir in recent weeks. Ethnic and religious minorities, fearing persecution and slaughter, have fled as their towns fell.
Aid: Pallets of bottled water are loaded into a USAF C-17 in readiness for an humanitarian airdrop in Iraq
Relief efforts: Members of the 5th Special Forces Group prepare the parachute rigging for the food and water supplies
Supplies: Bottles of water are loaded on to pallets as part of the humanitarian mission
Welcome: Water and food, pictured on board a C-17, are being delivered to refugees trapped on a mountain
Many had taken refuge in the Khazer Camp, set up near Erbil, but it was empty Friday as nearby fighting prompted families to flee once again.
Some made their way by car or on foot to Erbil; others were unaccounted for amid the sea of fleeing people. According to the U.N., more than 500,000 people have been displaced by the violence in Iraq since June, bringing the total this year to more than one million.
In Erbil, hundreds of uprooted men crowded the streets of a Christian-dominated neighborhood, expressing relief at the news of U.S. airstrikes.
Not enough: Villagers say food delivered by the Iraqi army by helicopters is insufficient and people are beginning to die of starvation and thirst in the extreme heat
Safe for now: Displaced people, who fled from the violence in the province of Nineveh, arrive at Sulaimaniya province in Kurdistan
Long journey: Children sleep in the back of a truck which took them from the fighting to the safety of Kurdistan
Nazar, one man lingering outside a bare-bones building-turned-shelter, fled his mainly Christian town of Hamdaniya on Wednesday, when their home began to shudder from the blast of nearby mortar fire.
'We want a solution,' said Nazar, who spoke on condition he be identified only by his first name, fearing his family's safety. 'We don't want to flee our homes and jobs like this. What is our future?'
In contrast to Washington's decision to invade Iraq more than a decade ago, both the airdrop and the authorization of military action against the Islamic State group were widely welcomed by Iraqi and Kurdish officials fearful of the militants' advance.
'We thank Barack Obama,' said Khalid Jamal Alber, from the Religious Affairs Ministry in the Kurdish government.
In his announcement Thursday night, Obama had identified protecting the Yazidis and defending Americans as the two objectives for the airstrikes.
But on Friday, his spokesman, Josh Earnest, said the U.S. was also prepared to use military force to assist Iraqi forces and the Kurds' peshmerga militia.
While Iraq's military has proven unable in many cases to thwart the Islamic State force's capture of key cities, Earnest called the peshmerga a 'capable fighting force' that had shown an ability to regroup effectively.
At a checkpoint about 23 miles from Erbil, Kurdish militiamen vowed fierce resistance to any further Islamic State advances, but they also remarked on the ferocity of their foe.
Stretched: The Kurdish peshmerga fighters have fought tirelessly to defend their northern heartland, but are becoming stretched
Battle ready: Peshmerga Kurds show of their readiness to fight ISIS on streets of Kurdish capital Erbil
Captain Ziyran Mahmoud, 28, said Islamic State fighters wore suicide belts as they advanced in armored vehicles and would detonate them - killing soldiers from both sides - if Kurdish fighters came too close.
'They are ready to blow themselves up and die,' Mahmoud said. 'But the peshmerga aren't afraid. We are also ready to die for our homeland.'
The Islamic State group captured Mosul in June, and then launched a blitz toward the south, sweeping over Sunni-majority towns almost to the capital, Baghdad. It already holds large parts of western Iraq, as well as swaths of neighboring Syria.
Iraqi government forces crumbled in the face of the assault but have since been able to prevent the militants from advancing into Shiite-majority areas. In the north, the Kurds have been the main line of defense against the radicals, but their fighters are stretched over a long front trying to fend them off.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, traveling in India, said if Islamic militants threaten U.S. interests in Iraq or the thousands of refugees in the mountains, the U.S. military has enough intelligence to clearly single out the attackers and launch effective airstrikes.
He also said more than 60 of the 72 bundles of food and water airdropped on to the mountain reached the people stranded there.
A second airdrop of food supplies was made to the thousands of trapped refugees on Friday.
Two Navy jets accompanied three aircraft making the drop, as 72 bundles of supplies were flown in.
Scared: ISIS have been particularly ruthless in their treatment of Iraqi Christians. Thousands have fled since ISIS seized Qaraqush, Iraq's largest Christian town
The chief spokesman for the Pentagon, Rear Admiral John Kirby, said the packages contained more than 28,000 meals and more than 1,500 gallons of water.
At the White House, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes met members of the Iraqi Yazidi community and 'noted that the United States will act, carefully and responsibly, to prevent a potential act of genocide,' Deputy NSC spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said.
Rhodes 'emphasized that the United States will continue to pursue a strategy that empowers Iraqis to confront this crisis, including by providing urgent assistance to Iraqi government and Kurdish forces,' Meehan said.
The International Rescue Committee said it was providing emergency medical care for up to 4,000 dehydrated Yazidis, mostly women and children, who survived without food or water for up to six days hiding in the Sinjar mountains before fleeing to a refugee camp in Syria, where a civil war is raging.
Officials in Britain, Germany and elsewhere pledged financial aid to support humanitarian efforts in Iraq, and several top European officials supported Obama's decision to intervene with airstrikes.
British Prime Minister David Cameron expressed special concern for the Yazidis trapped on Mount Sinjar.
'They fear slaughter if they descend back down the slopes but face starvation and dehydration if they remain on the mountain,' Cameron said.
'The world must help them in their hour of desperate need.'
One Yazidi man, who identified himself as Mikey Hassan, said he, his two brothers and their families fled into the Sinjar mountains and then escaped to the Kurdish city of Dohuk after two days by shooting their way past the militants.
Hassan, in a telephone interview with the AP, said he and his family went about 17 hours without food before getting some bread. Details of his account could not be independently corroborated.
Yazidis belong to ancient religion seen by the Islamic State group as heretical. The group also sees Shiite Muslims as apostates, and has demanded Christians either convert to Islam or pay a special tax.
Pope Francis also was engaged, sending an envoy to Iraq to show solidarity with Christians who have been forced from their homes. There also was a papal plea on Twitter: 'Please take a moment to pray for all those who have been forced from their homes in Iraq.'
In response to the fighting, Lufthansa, Turkish Airlines and other carriers canceled flights to and from Erbil. | {
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When the Nugents realized their home was contaminated, they said they filed an insurance claim with Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance. Their claim was denied, they said, because of an exclusion for environmental pollution.
The company declined to comment on the Nugents’ policy or claim, citing client privacy.
The Nugents have now filed suit against Joshua Argue, his ex-wife Jelisa Argue, his real estate agent Lori Argue, who is also his mother, and her company, Carpenter Realtors. The Nugents are claiming breach of contract and fraud.
On the sellers’ disclosure statement, the "no" box is checked next to the question: “Have there been or are there any hazardous conditions on the property?”
“They knew that at the time we were bringing in an 8-month-old and two little girls, and sat there and just lied,” Chris Nugent said.
America Tonight was unable to reach any of the Argues, but Carpenter Realtors President David Caveness gave this statement:
“The agent was aware her son had a substance-abuse problem. Our agent has assured us she had absolutely no prior knowledge of her son's alleged manufacture of meth within the subject property. As she has stated to us, if she had known meth was being manufactured in the property, she would never have allowed her grandchildren to live in that home.”
State Police arrested Joshua Argue in February for an alleged role in a stolen car parts ring.
Held of Crisis Cleaning and Crawford of the Indiana State Police both recommend testing for meth before buying a home.
Held said once the decontamination is complete at the Nugents’ house and the walls primed with a special sealer and painted, the family will have nothing to worry about. The Nugents say they’re not sure if they’ll ever have peace of mind in the home.
Most of all, the Nugents say they’re hoping to avoid bankruptcy so they can put the ordeal behind them.
“I want my life back," Jenny Nugent said. "I want my kids’ life back.” | {
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday announced it would roll back Obama-era regulations on how coal-fired power plants dispose of waste laden with arsenic, lead and mercury.
The Trump administration's proposals weaken rules dealing with the residue from burning coal, known as coal ash, as well as the residue rinsed off of filters installed on smoke stacks. Both are often mixed with water and stored in giant pits that could leach into groundwater or be released directly into local waterways.
The rollbacks, which were spurred by a court decision ordering EPA to overhaul the use of unlined ponds, target 2015 Obama administration rules that required power plants to invest in wastewater treatment technology and monitoring of coal ash ponds, measures they estimated would stop some 1.4 billion pounds of coal ash from entering rivers and streams.
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Companies will now have more time to leave coal ash sitting in storage ponds and power plants could petition to keep large ponds open for up to eight more years, until 2028.
The proposals are the latest attempt by the Trump administration to prop up the coal industry, which has been losing ground to renewables and natural gas.
The EPA said the new rules “support the Trump Administration’s commitment to responsible, reasonable regulations by taking a commonsense approach, which also protects public health and the environment.”
Environmental groups have already threatened to sue over the proposal, which now faces a 60-day comment period.
Betsy Southerland, a former director of the EPA’s Office of Science and Technology in the Office of Water who helped develop the 2015 rule, said the latest proposals give broad exceptions and extensions that will increase the likelihood of contaminating nearby water.
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“The 2015 rule being replaced today documented that coal fired power plants discharge over 1 billion pounds of pollutants every year into 4,000 miles of rivers, contaminating the drinking water and fisheries of 2.7 million people,” she said.
She also took issue with the EPA assumption that many companies would voluntarily install additional pollution controls.
And while the latest proposal keeps the monitoring process, Southerland said that will be of little comfort to communities who live near waste ponds that may now stay open years longer than expected.
“These things are leaking like crazy into ground water or busting into rivers,” she said. “The people living around these plants are just screwed.”
Coal ash can be highly dangerous. A spill of the waste near Kingston, Tenn. in 2008 sent more than 1 billion gallons pouring out into the town. A decade later, 200 workers who helped clean up the spill sued, arguing the exposure led to brain, lung, and skin cancer along with other illnesses.
Increasingly strong storms threaten more spills as the open ponds become overwhelmed by rainwater and send the sludge beyond the confines of the pond.
But it doesn’t take a major storm to leave those communities at risk. The Environmental Integrity Project, which reviewed monitoring data from the ponds, found that 91 percent of U.S. coal-fired power plants were contaminating groundwater.
“This rule by the Trump administration puts millions of people’s drinking water in jeopardy, streams, rivers and even private wells are in the crosshairs of this pollution and when tragedy strikes from a flood, hurricane or a breach from a unlined coal ash pit or pond everyday citizens are left with contaminated water,” said Mustafa Ali, a former head of environmental justice at the EPA who noted that most of the 6 million people that live within three miles of a coal-fired power plant are disproportionately people of color and lower income communities.
Power plants were slated to comply with the Obama-era rule in 2018, but in 2017 then EPA head Scott Pruitt Edward (Scott) Scott PruittJuan Williams: Swamp creature at the White House Science protections must be enforceable Conspicuous by their absence from the Republican Convention MORE delayed its implementation, leading environmentalists argue the changes could have severe impacts on drinking water
“Keeping industrial sludge and foul wastewater from coal plants out of our drinking water supplies shouldn’t be something that should be up for debate, but Donald 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 and Scott Pruitt just made it one,” the Sierra Club wrote when the rule was first proposed, describing it as “unconscionable from a public health - and common sense - perspective.”
--This report was updated at 12:33 p.m. | {
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Say what you want about Flash Sentry (and people do), but could you resist being close to Twilight Sparkle, when she's looking as cute as this?Honestly, this is super cute, and I really love how you've done Twilight especially. | {
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Today’s gambling preview looks at the projected total yardage over/unders of quarterback Dak Prescott, running back Ezekiel Elliott, and wide receiver Amari Cooper.
There’s a bevy of prop bets out for the upcoming NFL season, with these courtesy of My Bookie. With that in mind, it’s time to see if there’s any value amongst the Dallas Cowboys and their newest incarnation of triplets.
Dak Prescott: 3,875.5 yards (-115 over, -125 under)
Bettors to this point are of the belief that Prescott will fail to reach that milestone this year. But are they right?
Through the first three seasons of Prescott’s career he has done a number of things extremely well. His volume, however, has always been on the lower side. Whether that’s due to a conservative run-first game plan or because Prescott isn’t capable of airing it out on a regular basis is certainly up for debate. To date, Prescott has only eclipsed the yardage total required for the over once, when he threw for 3,885 yards last season. An average Prescott season comes out to a mere 3,495.5 which would fall well short of the mark.
At first glance it would seem to be a big ask for Prescott to make those who bet the over a happy group, but there’s a couple of things to consider here. The first is the impact that Amari Cooper had on the Dallas passing attack last season. Prior to his arrival, Prescott was on pace for a dismal 3,239 yards. After Cooper stepped onto the field, his pace over a full season jumped to 4,388 yards. And while he has only thrown for enough yards to hit this season’s projected over/under once, Prescott was well on pace to do it in his rookie campaign before sitting a meaningless Week 17 bout with the Philadelphia Eagles.
One of the defining traits of the Cowboys quarterback to this point has been his durability, starting every game in his career (though he was pulled early in the aforementioned Eagles Week 17 game). A word of caution for the most optimistic fans who will take the over: If Prescott misses time to injury or if the Cowboys are winning enough games to rest him before the playoffs, hitting the over will be a tall task.
The Verdict: Take the over. Not only is it better value, but with Prescott and Cooper having a full offseason together, Prescott’s incredible durability and perhaps a more aggressive game plan from Kellen Moore, Prescott’s first 4,000 yard passing season is on the horizon.
Continue for Elliott and Cooper…
Gallery 2019 Dallas Cowboys preseason schedule: Time, dates, opponents View 11 photos View 11 photos
Ezekiel Elliott: 1,380.5 yards (-130 over, -110 under)
Elliott has hit the over on this in two out of three seasons. The exception is the 2017 season in which Elliott missed six games due to suspension. In fact, Elliott has never played a complete 16-game season so far in his career, though it isn’t an issue of durability. The two games he missed (not due to suspension) was to rest as Dallas had locked up a playoff spot in both 2016 and 2018.
Throughout his career, Elliott has averaged 101.2 rushing yards per game, though it has decreased an average of 4.367 yards every year. Most of that is due to a massive drop off between 2016 and 2017, which seems an unlikely rate to continue. However, in a worst case scenario of Elliott dropping to around 90 yards per game, off to around 90 yards per game, he would be in danger of not hitting the required 1,381 yards without playing a full 16 game slate.
Elliott has avoided suspension from the Las Vegas kerfuffle at EDC earlier this offseason but rumors swirl about his contract situation. At this point there should be no real concern of him sitting out games. The issue comes down to this: Will the Cowboys lean on Elliott as heavily as they have in his first three seasons? And if so, is Elliott capable of shouldering the ridiculous workload without missing time? While all signs point to yes, any injury or even the slightest drop off in his play puts the over in serious danger.
The Verdict: Despite the pending return of center Travis Frederick and hopes of improved offensive line play, the price to pay to take the over is too high given the risks outlined above. Bet neither. The money is better spent on him leading the league in rushing than it is paying a premium on hitting this particular over.
Continue for Cooper…
Gallery 2019 Dallas Cowboys preseason schedule: Time, dates, opponents View 11 photos View 11 photos
Amari Cooper: 1,100.5 yards. (-130 over, -110 under)
Cooper is the truest wild card of the bunch. He has had 1,100 yards once in his young career. That came in 2016, his second year in the league with the Oakland Raiders. If Cooper wants to be paid as one of the league’s best, this is a number he needs to clear with ease.
What Cooper did or didn’t do with the Raiders is almost irrelevant at this point except to show the rejuvenation he experienced with the Cowboys after being traded mid-season. In the six games Cooper played with the Raiders he averaged a lowly 46.7 yards per game, which would pace to only 747 for the entire season. In his nine games with the Cowboys, Cooper nearly doubled his average to 80.6 yards per game leaving him on pace for 1,289 yards for a full season.
The question around Cooper is consistency. In four of his six games with the Raiders he had less than 20 yards. In four of the nine games with the Cowboys he had less than 40. His monstrous performances more than made up for the difference in Dallas last year, but he would need to average 69 yards a contest to hit the over. Will a full offseason with Dak Prescott and the Cowboys offense make him a more consistent player?
The Verdict: Entering a contract year, Cooper has millions of reasons he needs to perform at a high level week in and week out. Even with a couple hiccups along the way Cooper has proven he has the big game potential to make up for his off-weeks. Despite the premium it costs, take the over.
Gallery 2019 Dallas Cowboys preseason schedule: Time, dates, opponents View 11 photos View 11 photos Gallery Cowboys 10 best offensive weapons in 2019 View 20 photos View 20 photos
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George Takei tweeted Rosie's new avatar next to a picture of Steve Bannon saying "Oh, a thousand times, yes. If there is a God, please let this happen." Photo: Twitter/@GeorgeTakei
George Takei tweeted Rosie's new avatar next to a picture of Steve Bannon saying "Oh, a thousand times, yes. If there is a God, please let this happen." Photo: Twitter/@GeorgeTakei
Rosie O’Donnell changed her Twitter avatar to a mash-up of her face on a photo of Steve Bannon, suggesting that the actress and former talk show host might play the Trump advisor on Saturday Night Live.
Earlier this week, an unnamed donor told Politico said that Donald Trump was upset by Melissa McCarthy’s portrayal of press secretary Sean Spicer because she’s a woman. “Trump doesn’t like his people to look weak,” the source said.
This sparked interest in more women portraying members of the Trump Administration, with a fan asking O’Donnell if she’d do a send-up of Steve Bannon, the Breitbart founder who now serves on the National Security Council. O’Donnell responded positively.
@calvininsf – i am here to serve – alec has trump – melissa has spice – i would need a few days to prepare – so if called – i will be ready — ROSIE (@Rosie) February 7, 2017
But on Tuesday O’Donnell said that it was “just a funny idea.”
@2020fight – no – that’s an alternate fact – someone tweeted it as an idea – after Melissa was so brilliant … just a funny idea #truth — ROSIE (@Rosie) February 7, 2017
So far, Bannon has been portrayed as the Grim Reaper on SNL. | {
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Demonstrators in Washington refuse to comply after National Park Service orders the camp to be cleared on hygiene grounds
Occupy demonstrators in Washington DC have chosen to stand their ground in the face of newly-enforced anti-camping regulations – but protesters worry the authorities could move in at any moment.
The National Park Service in Washington announced it would enforce existing anti-camping rules – which bar demonstrators from holding camping gear, bedding and cooking supplies – at two parks that have served as a home to Occupy DC protesters since the fall. In response, demonstrators have turned the central feature of McPherson Square, a statue of General James B McPherson, into a makeshift tent, and have refused to comply with the orders.
The regulations have largely gone unenforced since the occupation of McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza began in October, but from noon on Monday, the NPS said that would no longer be the case. Critics of the protest camps cite health concerns and an alleged rat infestation as grounds to remove the demonstrators, but some see the sudden vigour to enforce the regulations as a pretext for eviction. Legba Carrefour of Occupy DC described the renewed enforcement of the anti-camping rules as "death by a thousand bureaucratic cuts."
By noon, the confrontation that many expected had not come, and a standoff began. Protesters in McPherson Square had draped a so-called "tent of dreams" over the statue and people quickly gathered inside.
Protester Caty McClure said there were "at least 50" people gathered inside the giant tent. A speaker explained that the tent represents the protesters' dreams of a America where corporations could not guide the democratic process, and where housing existed for all. Gathered around the statue the protesters chanted: "Let us sleep so we can dream." Protesters have surrounded the statue with smaller personal tents.
The plan, McClure explained, is for some protesters to hold a "sleep-in", while others stage a "sleep strike." McClure said NPS authorities had not moved in the protesters. "They're holding off for now," she said. McClure said she believed the "insane amount of media" at the park was keeping officials at bay.
McClure said she hoped the media would stick around. "Once they leave, the police are probably gonna roll in.'
National Lawyers Guild observer and attorney Ann Wilcox agreed that the heavy media presence at the park seemed to have discouraged any effort to crack down on the protesters.
"I don't think the police really want to move in with so much media," Wilcox said. "They might not even enforce it until tonight [Monday night] or tomorrow [Tuesday]."
Wilcox estimated there were "a couple thousand" people gathered at McPherson Square. At Freedom Plaza, she said a "skeleton crew" of about "40 or 50" protesters remained. Demonstrators at Freedom Plaza have a permit allowing for their protest, though they are still subject to the same anti-camping rules and have received the same notification from the NSP. In attempt to hold on to the permit, Wilcox explained, many protesters had cleared their belongings from the plaza.
The two occupations have consistently differed in their tactics, with the encampment at McPherson Square tending to be more provocative.
"It's a totally different approach," Wilcox said. | {
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243 people including doctors, nurses, pharmacy owners and patient recruiters are charged over $712 million Medicare fraud, allegedly the biggest criminal healthcare case in the country's history.
WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — US authorities charged 243 people for allegedly participating in a $712 million Medicare fraud, the largest criminal healthcare case in US history, US Attorney General Loretta Lynch announced during a press conference on Thursday.
“This is the largest takedown in the strike force’s eight year history,” Lynch said. “It is the largest criminal health takedown in the history of the Department of Justice and it adds to an already remarkable record of enforcement.”
The US Attorney’s Office said the 243 people charged are spread across 17 federal districts across the United States.
Lynch noted 46 of the suspects are medical professionals, including doctors and nurses, but also home health care providers, pharmacy owners and patient recruiters.
National Medicare Fraud Takedown Results in Charges Against 243 Individuals http://t.co/C19K5V3Gkg pic.twitter.com/03WgGaZQzV — Justice Department (@TheJusticeDept) 18 июня 2015
They were accused of crimes ranging from conspiracy to commit health care fraud to wire fraud and money laundering, Lynch added.
She explained some of the suspects billed Medicare for equipment they did not provide to patients, for care that was not needed and for services that were not rendered.
In one instance, owners of mental health facilities in Miami, Florida received tens of millions in reimbursements for intensive psychotherapy sessions, while they only moved patients from one location to another, Lynch said.
Lynch was joined at the press conference by Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Jim Comey, Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General Daniel Levinson, and other officials. | {
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Für vier israelische Kinder und Jugendliche aus finanziell schwachen Familien erfüllte sich ein Traum: Dank Spenden des Borussia-Dortmund-Fanklubs Israelische Borussen konnten die jungen BVB-Fans aus Haifa nach Dortmund reisen und ihren Verein live im Stadion erleben. Doch der Traum nahm auf der Rückreise Anfang April ein böses Ende.
Auf dem Weg zum Amsterdamer Flughafen zeigte die Gruppe beim Einsteigen in einen Fernbus der Firma Flixbus ihre Fahrkarten. „Als die Busfahrer unsere israelischen Pässe sahen, wurden sie sofort aggressiv und haben uns erniedrigt“, erzählt Reiseleiter Itamar Eli WELT. Kurz darauf habe ein Busfahrer den Israelis verboten, Essen mit auf die Fahrt zu nehmen. Und zwar im Gegensatz zu allen anderen Fahrgästen, von denen viele Speisen mitgenommen hätten.
„Ich habe die Situation als beängstigend erlebt. Umso mehr, weil ich Jude bin“, sagt Eli. Die Kinder seien teilweise verängstigt gewesen, der Jüngste habe zu weinen angefangen. Ein Einzelfall?
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Nach Angaben der Recherche- und Informationsstelle Antisemitismus (Rias) nicht. Sie erfasst mithilfe eines niedrigschwelligen Meldesystems antisemitische Vorfälle. „Die Schilderungen der israelischen Reisegruppe passen zu einem Vorfallsmuster, das wir häufiger beobachten“, sagt Rias-Mitarbeiter Daniel Poensgen. „Israelbezogenen Antisemitismus als eine Erscheinungsform des Antisemitismus erfassen wir bei sehr vielen Vorfällen.“
Exklusiv für Abonnenten Sprayer-Szene Die mysteriösen Davidsterne von Berlin
Israelis seien auch betroffen „von subtilen Diskriminierungen, bei denen sich die Täter nicht offen antisemitisch äußern“, so Poensgen weiter. Rias erfasste in Berlin 2018 zahlreiche Fälle, bei denen Israelis von Antisemitismus betroffen waren.
So beleidigten drei junge arabische Männer im Juni vergangenen Jahres eine Gruppe von Jugendlichen antisemitisch und schlugen sie, weil sie das israelische Lied „Tel Aviv“ von Omer Adam abspielten. Im gleichen Monat wurde ein Mann nachts in der S-Bahn nach seiner Herkunft gefragt, da er aufgrund eines Gesprächs über Gaza hellhörig geworden war. Als er sagte, dass er aus Israel komme, wurde er angepöbelt und ins Gesicht gespuckt. Im November wurde einem Israeli auf einem Couchsurfing-Portal die Übernachtung verweigert: Der Gastgeber beherberge grundsätzlich keine Juden und suche zwar neue Freunde aus der ganzen Welt – aber nicht aus Israel.
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Einen Monat später wurde eine Hebräisch sprechende Reisegruppe während einer Führung von einem Verkäufer unvermittelt angeschrien, dass Israelis Nazis seien. Und im Januar 2019 wurde eine Frau in einem Bus von einem Mann plötzlich zu Boden geworfen und an den Haaren gezogen - sie hatte zuvor auf Hebräisch mit ihrer Mutter telefoniert.
Nach Rias-Informationen reagierte niemand im Bus. Selbst an der Gedenkstätte am Ort des islamistischen Anschlags am Breitscheidplatz wurden innerhalb eines Jahres sieben Mal eine israelische Flagge sowie das Foto des israelischen Terroropfers Dalia Elyakim entfernt. Der israelische Restaurantbesitzer Yorai Feinberg wird immer wieder telefonisch und per Mail beleidigt und bedroht.
Exklusiv für Abonnenten Antisemitismus Nein, Herr Steinmeier, so bekämpft man Judenhass nicht
Eine genaue Fallzahl kann Rias nicht nennen. Es wäre jedoch verharmlosend, hier von Einzelfällen zu sprechen. Die Sozialanthropologin Dani Kranz hat ein repräsentatives Forschungsprojekt zur Emigration aus Israel nach Deutschland geleitet, an dem 804 israelische Juden teilnahmen. Kranz sagt: „20 Prozent aller Israelis berichteten von antisemitischen Erfahrungen in Deutschland. Die meisten dieser Erfahrungen hatten einen Bezug zu Israel.“
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Auch deutsche Juden sind von israelbezogenem Antisemitismus betroffen, beispielsweise wenn sie für Handlungen der israelischen Regierung verantwortlich gemacht werden.
Einer im Dezember 2018 veröffentlichten europaweiten Studie der Agentur der Europäischen Union für Grundrechte zufolge ist dies 85 Prozent der in Deutschland lebenden Juden schon passiert. 63 Prozent haben demnach schon einmal von Nichtjuden gehört, dass sich Israel gegenüber den Palästinensern wie die Nationalsozialisten gegenüber den Juden verhalte; 38 Prozent haben schon einmal gehört, dass eine Welt ohne Israel ein besserer Ort sei. Und auch Personen, die sich mit israelischen Symbolen im öffentlichen Raum bewegen, werden immer wieder beleidigt oder gar angegriffen.
Im Fall der Reisegruppe um Itamar Eli waren diese israelischen Symbole hebräische Schriftzeichen und das Wappen Israels, die auf den Pässen prangen. „Ich wollte unser Essen im Gepäck verstauen, doch einer der Busfahrer herrschte mich plötzlich an, dass wir das wegschmeißen müssten. Er war sehr aggressiv und wütend“, erzählt Eli.
Salzborn kritisiert Anstieg von Judenhass an Schulen Die Zahl der antisemitischen Vorfälle ist in Berlin im vergangenen Jahr um 14 Prozent gestiegen. Das geht aus dem Rias-Jahresbericht hervor. Antisemitismusforscher Samuel Salzborn sieht eine ähnliche Entwicklung an Schulen in ganz Deutschland. Quelle: WELT
„Damit du dich völlig wohlfühlst und entspannt reist, darfst du in unseren grünen Bussen auch essen und trinken“, heißt es auf der Website des Busunternehmens. Der andere Fahrer habe so getan, als ob er kein Englisch verstünde, obwohl er sich kurz zuvor mit anderen Touristen auf Englisch unterhalten habe. Eli wandte sich noch während der Fahrt an Fanklubleiter Adam Lahav. Lahav bestätigt die Darstellung. „Er war entsetzt, hat mir eine verzweifelte Nachricht geschrieben und mich gefragt, was sie tun sollen“, sagt er WELT. „Das ist sehr traurig, dass so etwas passieren kann. Die Gruppe hatte so ein tolles Wochenende bei uns – und dann endet das mit dieser Demütigung.“
Flixbus holte auf WELT-Anfrage eine Stellungnahme der Fahrer ein. Diese behaupten, dass der israelischen Gruppe das Essen verweigert worden sei, da sie Fast Food mitgebracht hätten.
Eli widerspricht dieser Darstellung: Viele andere Fahrgäste hätten stark riechende Speisen mitbringen können. „Die für uns eingesetzten Fahrer kommen aus vielen verschiedenen Ländern und haben unterschiedliche kulturelle Hintergründe. Wir bedauern, sollte es aufgrund der Sprachdifferenzen zu Verständigungsschwierigkeiten gekommen sein“, teilt ein Unternehmenssprecher mit. „Wir nehmen Hinweise auf Diskriminierung jeder Art sehr ernst und befördern Menschen unabhängig von Herkunft, Religion, Geschlecht oder sexueller Orientierung.“ Die israelische Reisegruppe dürfte gegensätzlicher Meinung sein.
Hinweis der Redaktion: Infolge dieses Artikels hat Flixbus WELT eine Stellungnahme geschickt. In dieser heißt es: „Wir bitten um Verständnis dafür, dass es aufgrund unterschiedlicher Beschreibungen der Situation im Nachgang schwierig ist nachzuvollziehen, was genau passiert ist. Flixbus ist ausdrücklich gegen jede Form der Diskriminierung, und wir erwarten von unseren Fahrern, dass sie unsere Werte im tagtäglichen Umgang mit Fahrgästen leben. Im Sinne eines besseren Miteinanders befassen wir uns daher nun noch intensiver damit, wie wir für mehr Toleranz auf unseren Reisen sorgen können. In der Zwischenzeit bitten wir Fahrgäste, die Situationen beobachten, in denen Fahrgäste oder Fahrer diskriminiert werden, sich direkt an uns zu wenden, damit wir dem nachgehen können.“
Lesen Sie auch Meinung Deutschlands Umgang mit Israel Im Gedenken Riesen. Im Handeln Zwerge | {
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You need to poop before class? Best I can do is a wet fart
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Google's Failure and the Worrisome Rise of the Alt-Rights Influence on Online Media
I have chosen to write this article anonymously in lieu of recent attacks towards feminists/progressives on social media. Before going any further, I also want to issue a small trigger warning for people, particularly women who may have been victims of online harassment in the past.
As a silent observer of the gaming scene since the right wing fanaticism over Gamergate, I've been quite disappointed to see how this industry has evolved. Beyond the proliferation of clearly misogynistic imagery in triple A titles like Grand Theft Auto, the online community as a whole has become increasingly belligerent and violent towards women. It has been particularly bad for women of colour like Leslie Jones, who recently was attacked by popular figures in the realm of social media and gaming like Milo Yiannopoulos and PewDiePie. In a day and age where simply being black can be a death sentence, it seems like being a woman of colour will earn you double the scorn from the online trolls and alt - right fanatics.
Rewind to a few weeks ago, there was a game released on the Google Play store for Android called BitBashed: Clinton vs Trump, the first free, online multiplayer, mobile fighting game for android themed around Star Wars and the 2016 U.S. presidential election, featuring playable characters like Trump, Hillary Clinton and the controversial Milo Yiannopoulos. The game itself allows players to match against Trump/Milo supporters, Hillary supporters, Bernie supporters, etc, in one on one match-ups where the objective is to "kill" your opponent with laser swords. Before each match however, each player has a 15 to 20 second window to "trash talk" against the person they matched against, typically someone from the opposite side of the political spectrum.
-----------------------------------Promotional video from the app's Google Play page-------------------------------------------
This quickly devolved into a platform which members of the alt right used to chastise feminists and progressives, reverting back to their tired tactics of racist Harambe and Pepe jokes, sexism, homophobia, and everything in-between. After being introduced to the game for the first time, It didn't take long for me to see the negative direction that the developers were taking by allowing a certain group users to continue using their game as a conduit to spew hate speech. The game soon received multiple reports by users and Google proceeded to take it down.
---------------------------Screenshot from the game's Google Play page as it stands now--------------------------------
Now fast forward to today, Google has allowed the developers at Beyond Dreams Apps to re-upload the game onto the Google Play Store. Apparently, the developers along with supporters of the game lobbied and petitioned via an email campaign to allow it back on. Even now, one can jump into the game and be immediately hit with a barrage of blind, sexist Milo supporters talking of "spanking" Hillary.
--------------------------------------------------------Screenshot taken in-game--------------------------------------------------------------
I reached out to one of the developers and inquired if they were at all concerned that their game was being used by the less-friendly elements of society as a medium to spew hate speech. They had the following to say,
The game was designed to give everyone, regardless of their political beliefs, a place to engage with people on the opposite end of the spectrum in a fun and light-hearted way. We aren't liable for the things a small fraction of people may choose to say. And of course, we as part of a diverse company do not support racism, sexism, or harassment of any kind.
As the game attempts to regain its player base, I'm once again left shaking my head at the decisions by large companies to appease these people. Gone are the days where women and minorities could log on to their favorite websites or online games and feel safe or welcomed. Instead, we have a proliferation of anti-feminist YouTube personalities like Blaire White, Sargon of Akkad, and The Amazing Atheist that do nothing more than regurgitate far right talking points. It's time that liberals and progressives alike started waking up to this growing encroachment of far right nationalism that has already dug its claws into many popular websites.
The rise of authoritarians like Donald Trump has emboldened many of these people to leave the shadows they were previously bound to, and an unregulated internet gives this band of internet thugs carte blanche to say and do as they please. It's time that politicians and the normal people of society wake up and realize that we're in the middle of a war, whether you realize it or not. It's time that more action is taken in order to ensure a cleaner and safer internet for everyone.
Regards,
- A proud feminist and concerned citizen
Edit: Comments closed due to excessive harassment | {
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Experimenter’s Kit for Developers and Makers to hack together your own smart environment: 4 FizzJelly units with Internal Temperature Sensor, Open Source Development Kit, 4 Battery Holder power packs & select any 10 sensors from the following list: Ext Temperature, Moisture, Door Contacts, Push Button, Relay Board and Vibration, plus downloadable FizzJelly card for the holiday season.
(Free shipping in UK, £18 Worldwide)
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The pursuit of relief help could take the Angels to the Pacific Rim, with General Manager Jerry Dipoto confirming on Thursday that there is a mutual interest between the team and free-agent closer Kyuji Fujikawa.
“There’s an attraction there for the player and for us,” Dipoto said of Fujikawa, who has expressed a desire to play on the West Coast. “I’ve seen him pitch quite a bit through the years. I have a lot of information on him, and he’s been on the world landscape, pitching in the World Baseball Classic.”
Fujikawa, 32, has been Japan’s top reliever for the past five or six years, going 3-3 with a 1.24 earned-run average and 41 saves in 56 games for the Hanshin Tigers last season. The right-hander mixes his fastball, which he throws in the 93-mph range, with a split-fingered fastball and slider.
Because Fujikawa, who pitched for Japan’s WBC team in 2006 and 2009, has played 10 years in Japan, major league teams do not have to go through the often expensive posting system to acquire him.
Dipoto said he spent 25 to 30 days a year scouting in Japan when he worked for the Arizona Diamondbacks from 2006 to 2011 and is very familiar with Fujikawa.
“I’ve seen him pitch against major league hitters on a world stage,” Dipoto said. “His talent is not a question.”
The Angels also added some bullpen depth Thursday by signing minor league free agent Mitch Stetter, a 31-year-old left-hander who appeared in 132 games for the Milwaukee Brewers from 2007 to 2011, going 8-2 with a 4.08 ERA.
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Dan Haren disputes reports that ‘medical issues’ doomed Cubs trade | {
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Here are some of the best books about Spitfires and the pilots that flew them during the Second World War. The majority of books are available, many printed in recent years and on Kindle. However, some printed years ago are in this era of small digital print runs and Kindle are not widely available at a normal price now. For example Bob Doe, who was joint third at shooting the highest number of Luftwaffe planes down, had a book published in 1989 but it is only available as a hardback from that time, and costs £145. Another example is Nine Lives by New Zealand pilot Alan Deere. Although available as a paperback, it is not available as a Kindle book. Hopefully this poor situation will be rectified soon, so all books are widely available at standard prices, because if they were they would have very good sales, as do the other WWII fighter pilot books. They are too important to be out of print or not in a digital format.
Spitfire Haynes Aircraft Manual
Hayne's started out producing manuals about all types of cars, but have since branched out to cover a range of subjects, even hen keeping! So it makes perfect sense that they should produce a manual in their classic format all about one of the most loved and iconic feats of engineering Britain has ever produced; the Supermarine Spitfire. This is the sort of book anyone interested in engineering, WWII, design, cars and planes will love for their birthday or Christmas, and it is a timeless book that will never be outdated.
Although the vast majority of people reading it do so simply out of pleasure, it is actually a precise guide that can be used to help restore a Spitfire, and Haynes worked alongside the RAF to ensure accuracy.
Hermann Goering who said the Luftwaffe could do with some Spitfires would have no doubt loved to have had a good read of this, if he was still alive today! Available on Amazon HERE
First Light
Geoffrey Wellum was only 18 at the start of the war, and became the youngest Spitfire pilot in 92 Squadron during the Battle of Britain. His book is now one of the great classics of WWII memoirs, with a first hand account of taking part in dog fights with the Luftwaffe in the summer of 1940. Available on Amazon HERE
A Willingness to Die: Memories from Fighter Command
The WWII memoirs of Brian Kingcome, who was acting Commanding Officer for 92 Squadron, stationed at Biggin Hill during the Battle of Britain. He took part in 60 operations during the battle and then flew his Spitfire in battles over North Africa, Malta and Yugoslavia. By the end of the war he had been awarded the DFC & bar, and D.S.O. He left the RAF in 1954 and wrote this book shortly before his death in 1994. The book is not just about the Battle of Britain but his whole lifetime of experiences. Available on Amazon HERE
One of the Few - A Triumphant Story of Combat in the Battle of Britain
Born in Winnipeg, Canada, Johnny Kent became the youngest ever licensed pilot in Canada at age 17. He joined the RAF in 1935 and during the Battle of Britain was Flight Commander of 303 Squadron, a Polish squadron based at RAF Northolt. The book covers his whole aviation career, including being a test pilot after the war. Available on Amazon HERE
Ten Fighter Boys
This book was first published in 1942, right in the middle of WWII. It contains the personal accounts from ten young RAF Spitfire fighter pilots from 66 Squadron, that was based at a number of frontline fighter stations during the Battle of Britain. Sadly, in the time between writing for the book and its publication five of the pilots had been killed in battle. This modern version of the book has a foreword by Jimmy Corbin, one of the pilots who lived into old age. Available on Amazon HERE
Spitfire on My Tail: A View from the Other Side
This book is written from a unique perspective. A one that isn't a comfortable one; being chased by a Spitfire that is trying to shoot you out the sky! Ulrich Steinhilper was a Luftwaffe pilot during the Battle of Britain and the book is about the battle seen from the opposing side. Available on Amazon HERE
The Last Enemy
The Last Enemy was written by fighter pilot Richard Hillary and was published during the war, in 1942. During the Battle of Britain he was terribly burned and became one of McIndoe's Guinea Pigs, and pioneering plastic surgery was used to reconstruct his hands and face. He recovered and began to fly again. Sadly he was killed after a crashing during a training exercise. Available on Amazon HERE
Tom Neil fought valiantly in a Hurricane during the Battle of Britain, and wrote about his experiences in a book called 'Gun Button to Fire; A Hurricane Pilot's Dramatic Story of the Battle of Britain.' Available on Amazon HERE . A few years after the Battle of Britain he was still fighting in air battles. This sequel book is about his unique experiences after D-Day flying alongside Americans in an unmarked, stripped down 'Silver' Spitfire. Available on Amazon HERE
This is an exact reproduction of the Air Ministry publication that was produced for pilots of the Spitfire. Available on Amazon HERE | {
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Check out our new site Makeup Addiction
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In a letter to May last month, Burnham recommended some of the vaguer definitions in the bill be clarified, and criticised the relative ease at which many public authorities could justify using certain powers. He also called for an independent assessment of "bulk powers," which allow security and intelligence agencies to collect data, intercept communications and hack equipment on a grand scale (rather than taking a more targeted approach). If you think of a specific dataset like a day's browsing history as a water droplet, bulk powers are like turning on a tap.
These bulk powers have been a contentious point since the Investigatory Powers Bill was first drafted. Some members of the joint committee appointed to scrutinise the legislation early on questioned whether they were ever appropriate, or even legal. Subsequently, the Home Office published an operational case for bulk powers -- a document that provides specific use cases for the powers to justify their inclusion.
As the BBC reports, it's this operational case that will be examined by none other than David Anderson QC, a trusted independent reviewer of terrorism legislation. He will deliver his views sometime in the summer, when the bill is expected to have progressed from the House of Commons to be debated further in the House of Lords. No doubt Theresa May is hoping that only minor amendments are suggested, as the UK government would like the bill passed into law by the end of the year, when the emergency Data Retention and Investigatory Powers Act expires.
Burnham has called the concession "extremely encouraging," stating it was "the right thing to do and something which will build trust in this process." It's clear Theresa May has much more to do to win Labour over, however, with Burnham also saying: | {
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Sir Keir went into this year’s online-only Labour Conference promising to fly the flag of patriotism and win back the former red wall. Guido can reveal Sir Keir’s decades-long arguments against even the most rudimentary immigration controls, arguing in the 80s that “whether implemented by the Tories or Labour”, “it is not a question of numbers, it’s a question of racism”. Will new Tory voters be able to trust Sir Keir’s Labour after this?
Writing a review of Immigration Law and Practice for a 1988 edition of Socialist Lawyer magazine, Starmer claimed there is a “racist undercurrent” which “permeates all immigration law”, making the extreme claims while reviewing an academic book on immigration law and concluding Britain is “not very civilised at all” with a “racist and sexist” set of laws.
Sir Keir wholeheartedly agreed with a claim that the “mark of a good immigration book is that it leaves the reader smouldering with anger” and that the book had indeed left him smouldering.
Sir Keir hasn’t abandoned his far-left utopianism, this year having written to ‘Labour for Free Movement‘ saying he will “always” argue in favour of immigration, and wants a “radical” change of our immigration system. Speaking to Times Radio just yesterday, the Labour Leader confessed he would open the UK’s borders to anyone wanting to live here: “family members should be able to live together”, and the UK “couldn’t function” without free movement of people who want to work here; claiming there’s “much more consensus than people appreciate”. Guido reckons Starmer will have a hard time selling no controls on immigration to the Blue Wall… | {
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Scientists are to send two spacecraft to knock an asteroid off course, as part of a practice for what they would do if a rock was threatening the future of humanity.
The joint US-European Aida (Asteroid Impact & Deflection Assessment) mission will send a small spacecraft to crash into the egg-shaped rock, known as Didymoon. That asteroid doesn’t pose any threat to us — and is far too small to do so — but the mission will be important test for whether our plans would work if we do eventually come at risk of civilisation being wiped out by a space rock.
The missions are set to be launched in October 2020. They are expected to reach Didymoon by May 2022.
Nasa will send one craft in a mission known as Double Asteroid Redirection Test (Dart) mission. It will fire a probe to smack into the rock and see if it can throw it off course.
As well as the nudging probe, scientists will send another spacecraft — the European Space Agency’s Asteroid Impact Mission (Aim). That will fly around Didymoon watching for the effect of the Dart mission, as well as measuring the asteroid’s mass and density and putting a small lander on the asteroid itself to look at its insides.
"To protect Earth from potentially hazardous impacts, we need to understand asteroids much better - what they are made of, their structure, origins and how they respond to collisions,” said Dr Patrick Michel, lead investigator for the European Space Agency half of the mission.
"Aida will be the first mission to study an asteroid binary system, as well as the first to test whether we can deflect an asteroid through an impact with a spacecraft. The European part of the mission... will study the structure of Didymoon and the orbit and rotation of the binary system, providing clues to its origin and evolution.
"Asteroids represent different stages in the rocky road to planetary formation, so offer fascinating snapshots into the solar system's history." | {
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In what appears to be more evidence that we are living in a computer simulation that has finally gone off the rails, the Internal Revenue Service has awarded a multi-million dollar contract to Equifax, the least-trusted credit reporting agency in the entire world, so that it can verify taxpayers’ identities.
On September 30 — the last day of the 2017 fiscal year — a contract worth $7.3 million was awarded to the agency that exposed the sensitive data of 143 million Americans this summer. The contract was posted Tuesday on the Federal Business Opportunities website. According to the IRS notice:
This action was to establish an order for third party data services from Equifax to verify taxpayer identity and to assist in ongoing identity verification and validations needs of the Service.
The contract has been awarded so that the IRS doesn’t experience a lapse in identity checks while it resolves a dispute with its previous contractor.
In case you’ve been living under a rock, it was discovered in September that from May to July, a breach to Equifax’s cybersecurity exposed the highly sensitive data of of the company’s American, Canadian, and British consumers. The information included people’s names, birthdays, driver’s license numbers, credit card numbers, and Social Security numbers, providing a treasure trove for identity thieves.
In the midst of being awarded large sums of money in government contracts, executives at Equifax are also being investigated by the the Department of Justice. Joseph Loughran, Rodolfo Ploder, and John Gamble sold about $1.8 million in company shares after the breach was discovered, but before it was publicly announced. | {
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IMPD: 1 critically injured in accidental shooting on the east side
IMPD: 1 critically injured in accidental shooting on the east side
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — One man is in critical condition after an accidental shooting early Saturday morning on the east side, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said.
Police say a man accidentally shot himself at a home on Garden Grace Drive near South German Road just before 4 a.m.
Witnesses of the shooting started to drive the man to the hospital when EMS met them near Post Road and Washington. That’s about one mile away from the home where the man accidentally shot himself.
The male victim was taken to Eskanazi Hospital in critical condition.
No other details have been released at this time. | {
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Incubatoare pentru bebeluşi mutate cu tractorul de la Salubritate. Directorul spitalului: „Remorca a fost dezinfectată“
Conducerea Spitalului Municipal Fălticeni îşi doreşte atât de mult ca totul să fie gata pentru vizita ministrului Sănătăţii, Florian Bodog, programată pentru vineri, 19 mai 2017, încât nu a mai ţinut seama de reguli şi protocoale. Aşa se face că incubatoarele pentru nou – născuţii prematur au fost transportate de la vechea maternitate la cea nouă cu o maşină de la Serviciul de Salubritate din cadrul Primăriei Fălticeni.
Ministrul Sănătăţii, Florian Bodog, şi-a confirmat prezenţa la marea inaugurare, programată pentru vineri dimineaţă, iar la Fălticeni a început zarva, managerul unităţii spitaliceşti, Vlad Murariu, motivând că nu a găsit o altă maşină pentru a transporta aparatura.
„Am mutat nişte aparatură de la vechea maternitate la cea nouă şi pentru că nu am găsit nicio maşină, am solicitat ajutorul la Primărie şi am primit acel tractor. Vreau să subliniez că acea remorcă a fost spălată şi dezinfectată”, a explicat managerul Vlad Murariu.
O scuză similară a găsit şi primarul Cătălin Coman, care a menţionat că i s-a solicitat un mijloc de transport pentru mutarea mobilierului, iar tractorul respectiv, cu care angajaţii de la salubritate cară mobilierul stradal şi echipamentele necesare la curăţenia oraşului, a fost mijlocul de transport perfect pentru a muta incubatoarele pentru nou – născuţi.
Mai trebuie menţionat că personalul medical nu s-a obosit nici măcar să ambaleze corespunzător aparatura medicală pentru a scădea astfel riscul de contaminare şi nici nu a considerat necesar să supravegheze transportul.
Conducerea Direcţiei de Sănătate Publică s-a autosesizat în legătură cu această situaţie şi a deschis o anchetă. Trei reprezentanţi din cadrul DSP Suceava s-au deplasat la Maternitatea Fălticeni, unde au încheiat un proces verbal, urmând că în cursul zilei de mâine, după ce toată aparatura va fi montată, să revină la Fălticeni pentru a recolta probe de pe suprafeţe şi de pe aparatura medicală. În cazul în care rezultatele analizelor de laborator vor fi neconforme, Maternitatea Fălticeni nu va primi undă verde pentru a-şi începe activitatea în casă nouă.
Maternitatea a fost mutată într-o şcoală pentru a face loc unui supermarket
Maternitatea din oraşul sucevean Fălticeni trece printr-o situaţie mai puţin obişnuită. Medicii, asistentele şi personalul auxiliar al secţiei ce aparţine de Spitalul municipal Fălticeni trebuie să se mute cu arme şi bagaje într-o altă clădire, ce aparţine unui liceu din localitate, pentru a face loc unui supermarket.
S-a ajuns în această situaţie după ce ani de zile, autorităţile locale au stat nepăsătoare şi au aşteptat ca problemele apărute să se rezolve de la sine. Dacă noul spital din Fălticeni, ce a fost început în urmă cu mai bine de 25 de ani, nu a fost terminat până în prezent, mai marii urbei fălticenene au aşteptat până în ultima clipă ca să găsească o soluţie ca maternitatea din localitate să funcţioneze în continuare.
Clădirea în care secţia de Maternitate a Spitalului municipal Fălticeni, cu cele două secţii de Neonatologie şi Obstretică – Ginecologie, îşi desfăşoară activitatea a fost retrocedată, în anul 2008, Fundaţiei Caritatea, împreună cu terenul aferent, de 3.853 de metri pătraţi, însă cu obligaţia ca destinaţia medicală să fie păstrată timp de cinci ani de zile. În tot acest timp, Primăria Fălticeni a achitat lunar o chirie în valoare de 2.500 de lei.
Începând cu anul 2013, Fundaţia Caritatea a făcut presiuni ca spaţiul retrocedat să fie eliberat, însă văzând că se bat cu morile de vânt, reprezentanţii acesteia au vândut imobilul, vechi de 120 de ani, în care funcţionează Maternitatea Fălticeni lanţului de magazine Penny Market. În aceste condiţii, Primăria Fălticeni a trebuit să găsească rapid o soluţie pentru ca maternitatea să nu ajungă în stradă.
Deşi situaţia pare desprinsă dintr-un banc, maternitatea se va muta într-o şcoală pentru a face loc unui supermarket. Presiunea anului electoral a făcut ca cei de la Primărie să găsească o soluţie pentru reamplasarea maternităţii din Fălticeni. Astfel, s-a ajuns la propunerea de modernizare a unei clădiri ce aparţine Colegiului „Vasile Lovinescu” din Fălticeni, în care să funcţioneze cele secţii ale Maternităţii Fălticeni.
Alte ştiri pe această temă:
Maternitatea din Fălticeni va fi rasă din temelii pentru a face loc unui supermarket
Maternitatea din Fălticeni va fi mutată într-o şcoală pentru a face loc unui supermarket
De 12 milioane de lei este nevoie pentru ca un spital început în urmă cu aproape trei decenii să fie terminat | {
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The former Web developer bought the domain name PeriodsAreNotAnInsult.com and whipped up a basic HTML website as a means of encouraging people to tweet to Trump about their period. The website, which boasts a glittery red logo, offers templated tweets for people who are on their period, people who are expecting to get their period, and people who don’t get a period but still want to support the cause. Days later, Gordon’s own menstrual cycle may have ended, but the heavy flow of period tweets shows no sign of slowing down.
Some women around the world don't have supplies for when they're on their Trump. Donate here: http://t.co/grOcoXXcVo #periodsarenotaninsult — Robby/FatGirlvsWorld (@FatGirlvsWorld) August 11, 2015
uterus-having ppl already experience the pain/discomfort of menstruation. we don't need to be shamed/insulted 4 it. #periodsarenotaninsult — ur mom (@jvliadenise) August 10, 2015
The U.S. should be an advocate for global women's rights but @realDonaldTrump is uncomfortable about female biology #periodsarenotaninsult — Cora Kilgour (@corajane6) August 11, 2015
@realDonaldTrump thought you should know I'm on my period. Whoa, and still completely myself and functioning. #periodsarenotaninsult — Mallory C. Brown (@MalloryCBrown) August 8, 2015
Why we need feminism: because #periodsarenotaninsult should NOT be trending and men should not degrade a woman's natural bodily functions — Maria Pitsoulakis (@mariaaapits) August 11, 2015
“The whole purpose of the page is to be super inclusive and let anyone participate, because I’m really pro people, not gendering periods,” Gordon said, suggesting that periods aren’t just a women’s issue. As the project has evolved, she’s begun soliciting stories from people who have received insulting comments like “You must be on your period” to show that these kinds of stereotypes are far more common than Trump might let on.
The Republican presidential candidate did some damage control over the weekend after coming under fire for his remarks about Kelly at the Republican primary debate. “I’m very much into the whole thing of helping people and helping women. Women’s health issues are such a big thing to me,” he said on CBS’ Face the Nation. The comment raised eyebrows coming from a man who recently characterized breast-feeding as “disgusting” and referred to Planned Parenthood as an “abortion factory.”
But Gordon sees a silver lining in Trump’s polarizing remarks. “He sparked this whole thing, which is hilarious, and I want to thank him for letting us have a conversation about periods on social media,” she said. She hopes Trump and Kelly are just the starting point for a broader discussion about the social stigmas associated with menstruation. “I’m really hoping that it can transcend him and that people can use this hashtag to reconnect. With any issue, the more we talk about it, the less awkward people will feel [in] public about it.” | {
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Neck's Best Thing
October 5, 2016
click me for the comic secret words | {
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“I give the president a lot of credit for moving the economy in a positive direction that’s benefiting a large amount of Americans.”
BET founder Robert Johnson, America’s first African-American billionaire, had some harsh words for the Democratic Party and praise for President Donald Trump:
“The party in my opinion, for me personally, has moved too far to the left,” Johnson, the founder of cable network BET and RLJ Companies business network, told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble Tuesday. “And for that reason, I don’t have a particular candidate (I’m supporting) in the party at this time,” he said. “I think at the end of the day, if a Democrat is going to beat Trump, then that person, he or she, will have to move to the center and you can’t wait too long to do that.”
Johnson supported Hillary, but has since shown admiration over some of Trump’s policies, especially the economy:
“I think the economy is doing great, and it’s reaching populations that heretofore had very bad problems in terms of jobs and employments and the opportunities that come with employment … so African-American unemployment is at its lowest level, ” Johnson said. Johnson became the country’s first African-American billionaire after selling Black Entertainment Television in 2001, according to Forbes. “I give the president a lot of credit for moving the economy in a positive direction that’s benefiting a large amount of Americans,” he said. “I think the tax cuts clearly helped stimulate the economy. I think business people have more confidence in the way the economy is going.” Despite the U.S. dispute with China over trade, Johnson said that “overall, if you look at the U.S. economy … you got to give the president an A+ for that.”
Johnson basically repeated what he told CNBC in April 2018 when he reminded people that Trump’s economy put black people back to work. He said at the time:
“When you look at that [January report], you have to say something is going right,” said Johnson, a Democrat and founder and chairman of The RLJ Cos. “You have to take encouragement from what’s happening in the labor force and the job market,” Johnson told “Squawk Box. ” “When you look at African-American unemployment, … you’ve never had African-American unemployment this low and the spread between African-Americans and whites narrowing.”
If you look at the jobs reports since then, which I have covered, the unemployment rate among black men has remained low and dipped lower most months.
Johnson told CNBC he doesn’t like Trump’s brash personality, but he offered a dose of reality to those who hate Trump:
“A lot of people are not going to like that style,” he said, “but when he says he’s going to try to do something economically, you have to give him credit for taking some specific steps to do that.” “At the end of the day, the American people are looking for someone who can deliver economically and deliver on opportunities,” he said.
BINGO.
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Vacant Land is one of the most overlooked and misunderstood real estate investments in the world.
Most real estate investors completely fail to recognize the superior benefits that come with owning land in its raw form.
It’s unfortunate because the simplicity and stability that comes with owning the right piece of land (purchased at the right price) can far outweigh the myriad of problems that are certain to come up with any other type of real estate.
While I firmly believe that vacant land is one of the best places you can put your money, there is another side of the story that needs to be carefully considered.
As an experienced land investor, I’ve learned (sometimes the hard way) that there are a number of things that need to be evaluated before purchasing a parcel of vacant land.
Land Can Be Deceptively Complicated
On the surface, it seems like such a simple creature – but there can be A LOT of potential problems lurking beneath the surface of any piece of land. I wouldn’t necessarily say all these issues are common, but the fact is – any one of these things could potentially be a deal killer if not addressed properly. When you take it all into consideration, it adds up to a sizable list of things that ought to be investigated as part of your due diligence process.
Don’t get me wrong, land is a rock-solid investment. It’s just a matter of knowing what to watch out for, and under what circumstances you should re-adjust your offer price (or walk away from the deal altogether).
RELATED: The Land Flipping Lifecycle
1. What is the Zoning on the Property?
First and foremost, it is vitally important to understand what a property can be used for, and what the highest and best use of the property is. With a simple phone call to your local planning & zoning department, most offices can give you the answer to this question in a matter of seconds.
Once you know the zoning classification (e.g. – residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, etc.), ask them to give you some examples of what type of property would be allowed under your subject property’s zoning. They may even give you some ideas that you hadn’t previously thought of.
Once you understand the most ideal use for the land you’re looking at, you can quickly determine whether it will fit your needs (or the needs of those you intend to sell the property to in the future).
Bonus: Get a FREE copy of the INVESTOR HACKS ebook when you subscribe! Free Subscriber Toolbox Want to learn about the tools I’ve used to make over $40,000 per deal? Get immediate access to videos, guides, downloads, and more resources for real estate investing domination. Sign up below for free and get access forever.
2. What is the Topography of the Property?
Especially when I’m buying vacant land out-of-state, my first line of business is to understand the topography of the property. There are many, many places around the world that have unpredictable elevations, cliffs, mountains, valleys, ravines, and more. In many cases, the topography of the land can have a huge impact on the build-ability of a property.
For the same reasons you can’t build a house on a 90-degree cliff, you should be doing some preliminary research to find out where your property is located, and what the terrain of the land is.
One of the best ways to do this is by using Google Earth (which is free) and the topography map from Earth Point (which is also free). With Google Earth, you can search for your property (using the address or coordinates) and zoom in using your mouse buttons and the control/command and shift keys on your keyboard. This will allow you to tilt the earth so you can see precisely where all the hills and valleys are in your area.
As you can see, this combination of software can give you a crucial perspective on what type of property you’re considering. And if you want even more clarity on where the parcel lines of your property are, be sure to check out Parlay as another helpful resource.
3. What is the Annual Cost of Property Taxes?
If you intend to hold onto a property for any length of time, beware of a super high tax bill relative to the actual value of the property. I haven’t run across this issue very often, but for various reasons, there are some properties that have some ridiculously high taxes in proportion to the property’s actual value (for example, if a $10,000 property has an annual tax bill of $2,000, THIS IS TOO HIGH). In my experience, I’ve found that a reasonable annual tax bill usually falls in the range of 1% – 4% of the property’s full market value.
Whatever the situation, make sure you’re aware of this cost because it will be your obligation to pay it for as long as you own the property.
4. What Public Utilities are Available? (Water, Sewer, Electric, Gas, Phone)
If a property doesn’t have access to one or more of these common public utilities, the property (for all intents and purposes) may not be the most ideal candidate for building a home or other improvements.
After all, who would want to build a house where they can’t flush the toilet or get access to clean water?
Granted, there are alternatives that can be sought if the owner is willing to pay the price (septic systems, well water, solar energy, propane tanks, etc), but if these obstacles exist, you’ll want to know about these before you buy.
If a property isn’t an ideal fit for building, it could lose a massive portion of its usability, marketability, and value. Since most people buy land with the intent building on it, you will definitely want to know about anything that could get in the way of this objective.
5. What are the Required Building Setbacks?
Once you understand the dimensions of the parcel you’re evaluating, call the local planning department and ask them what the designated building setbacks are for the property (building setback requirements are very common, and are imposed as a way of giving order and consistency to the buildings in any given area).
When you take these setbacks and regulations into account (relative to the size of the parcel), ask yourself, is there still enough room to build something worthwhile here, or does is this property basically useless?
I’ve come across several properties that were too small to build anything because of the size of the property in relation to the required setbacks. Similar to the utility issue mentioned above, if a property isn’t buildable or has severely limited uses, it will lose a massive portion of its value.
6. Does the Property Have Any Usage Restrictions?
Most of the vacant land you’ll encounter will have SOME kind of usage restrictions in place (there’s a reason you’ll never see a 100-acre pig farm next to a 100 story skyscraper, or a massive shopping mall next to a landfill… it just doesn’t make sense).
Every municipality in America has a plan (even if it’s a vague one) for how they want different sections of their land to be used, regardless of who owns it. As such, you should always expect your property to come with some reasonable limitations on what it can be used for.
If the property is part of a Home Owner’s Association (HOA) it will most likely have even more restrictions in place to help maintain the “quality” and formality of their neighborhood. The idea is to keep any bizarre behavior OUT of the neighborhood (e.g. – cars in the front yard, lawns nobody takes care of, houses that look out-of-place, etc).
Usage restrictions aren’t necessarily a bad thing – they usually make sense on some level. They’re designed to help maintain order and support the value of each property in the subdivision. On the same coin… if you aren’t aware of these restrictions before you purchase, they can also create some conflict with the plans you had in mind for the property.
This isn’t common for most land investors (because most people have no intention of using their property for purposes that don’t jive with their surroundings), but even so – you should always make sure you understand what the rules are BEFORE you buy a parcel of vacant land. This will help you avoid owning a property that requires maintenance you don’t want to do, or that can’t be used for your intended purpose.
7. Is the Property Located in a Flood Zone?
In some parts of the country, parcels of land are vacant because they are literally underwater. In other areas, there may be properties near bodies of water that are at high risk of flooding.
In either case, if a property is located in a flood zone – you’ll want to know about this BEFORE you buy because when a property is in a flood zone, it can be extremely expensive to insure.
Land located near a body of water can be extremely valuable, but this close proximity can also create a number of potential issues… so be sure you understand the ramifications of your particular location.
Want to check and see if your property is located in a flood zone? One quick way to verify is to check the FEMA flood maps in your area. You can do this by visiting FEMA.gov and following the instructions in the video above. You can also try FloodTools.com for another user-friendly way to find the same information.
8. Does the Soil Percolate (aka – “Perk”) or have Access to a Nearby Sewer System?
If you’re planning to build a “dwelling” of any kind on your parcel of land, there is one issue that may seem insignificant at first glance, but it has the potential to make or break a land deal. It’s called a “Perc Test” – and if you’re dropping some serious coin on land in a rural area, this is an issue you’ll want to be sure about before you sink your money into it.
A Perc Test (also known as “Perk Test”, and more formally known as a “Percolation Test“), is a soil evaluation that tests the rate at which water drains through the soil. If a property doesn’t have easy access to the local sewer system, a perc test is required to determine whether a septic system (the alternative to a sewer) can be installed on the property.
If a property doesn’t pass this test, you could have a very difficult time building any type of dwelling on the property, so unless you’re able to tap into the municipal sewer system (which will negate this issue altogether), be sure to give the county health department a call and ask them what is required to install a septic system (or connect to the local sewer) in your area. For a detailed overview of how a perc test works and how to verify the status of this issue, check out this blog post.
9. Does the Property Have Road Access?
Believe it or not, there are thousands of properties all over the country that have no road access. They are surrounded on all sides by other privately owned properties, and since there is no way to access the property without trespassing over someone else’s land, the property is essentially useless.
In a sense, these properties might as well be on the moon, because nobody can legally get to them!
This issue can be overcome if you’re able to obtain a legal easement to the property from one of the surrounding neighbors, so you can travel through their property to your own. In most cases, a neighbor shouldn’t be expected to do this for free, you’ll have to give them a reason to help you (usually in the form of money).
Again, this isn’t an impossible issue to overcome, but it is definitely something you’ll want to be aware of before you purchase.
Landlocked properties aren’t always a deal-breaker (sometimes they can be a great opportunity if you’re able to resolve the easement issue), you just need to be aware of the problem ahead of time, so you can adjust your offer WAY lower to account for the limited usability (or just walk away from the deal altogether).
10. What is the Size and Shape of the Parcel?
I’ve seen a number of properties that are virtually useless due to their size and shape. I remember on one occasion, I came across a parcel of land that was 5 feet wide and 900 feet long. I’ve also seen properties that were 10 feet by 10 feet.
If you see a parcel of land with an odd shape, use your common sense. If you can’t think of any legitimate uses for a property with its given dimensions – you’ll probably want to pass on it.
You can find the size, shape, location, and dimensions pretty quickly if your county has a free GIS mapping system online.
You can also use a service like Parlay (which requires a paid subscription) and Google Earth (which is free) to find a parcel map of your property. Here’s how it works:
Of course, none of these GIS mapping systems are perfect. The only way to be 100% certain about the size and shape of a property is to order a land survey, but if you’re looking for a faster, cheaper way to get a basic idea that is usually reliable enough, these online mapping solutions can be very useful.
11. Does the Property Have Access to Water?
There are a lot of properties in the world that don’t have access to a municipal water supply (i.e. – city water). This isn’t necessarily a problem, but it does mean someone will have to drill a well in order to access a clean water source beneath the surface. There are a few ways to determine whether or not you’ll be able to do this but in most cases, if there are other buildings in the near vicinity (e.g. – homes or other dwellings built next door), this is usually a good indication that you won’t have any problems accessing water either.
If you’re looking at a vacant lot in the middle of the desert or near the top of a mountain with nothing around for miles, you will probably want to verify with a professional that water will be accessible if/when you need it (and if your only option is to have it hauled in by truck, you’ll want to get an idea for how much this will cost on an ongoing basis).
12. Are there Wetlands on the Property?
Wetlands can present some tricky situations for landowners.
Throughout most of the U.S., there are federal and state laws that prohibit landowners from developing or using their land in any way that will adversely affect wetland areas (which renders most wetland areas unusable). This is why it’s important to identify the presence of wetlands BEFORE closing the deal.
Ultimately – the only way to be 100% confident about the presence of wetlands is to enlist the help of a wetlands consultant and/or have the appropriate government agents conduct a wetland identification and delineation on-site.
The problem is, this is a lot to ask – especially when the transaction needs to close quickly.
If you want to identify any obvious red flags without leaving your computer, it is possible to do some reconnaissance-level research and get a more educated look at the wetland situation on your subject property. I’ll explain one method in this video…
You can get started with the Wetlands Mapper, or you can download the KML file and view this same Wetlands Data on Google Earth.
Now, since the wetlands mapper doesn’t always provide the most accurate measurement in all areas, another tool you can use to assess the situation is the NRCS Web Soil Survey, which is compiled by the UC Davis Soil Resource Lab. I’ll show you how it works in this video…
You can download this SoilWeb KML file by visiting the Google Earth Library.
Keep in mind, using the Wetlands Mapper and/or the Web Soil Survey is NOT the same thing as hiring a wetlands consultant and/or having the USACE do a delineation on your property (so realize, there are no guarantees with this approach). However, if you’re just looking for an educated guess, both of these online tools can be used as a starting point.
13. What About Junk, Tires, Rubble, Oil, or Other Contaminants on the Property?
On a few occasions, I’ve discovered that what I thought was a piece of vacant land, was actually a makeshift landfill. If you’re going to buy a piece of land, make sure that all you’re getting is LAND (and if anything else is coming along with the deal, make sure it’s something you actually want).
These kinds of messes can be very expensive to clean up, and as a way to avoid any unwanted surprises on this front, it’s always a good idea to actually see the property you’re purchasing.
If you’re purchasing the property from a long distance and it simply isn’t feasible to see the property yourself, there are a few ways you can find a local set of eyes to find the property and get some pictures for you.
Option A
Contact a company like WeGoLook, which offers some very convenient and cost-effective ways to verify what the property looks like BEFORE you buy.
If you’re interested in learning more about how WeGoLook works, be sure to check out the full review I did on their service in this blog post.
Note: In my experience, WeGoLook tends to have trouble finding properties that aren’t clearly marked and don’t have a physical mailing address. As such, they aren’t always the best fit for vacant land inspections… but they could be a helpful resource in some cases.
Option B
Find a local photographer (i.e. – anyone with a cell phone camera) who can travel to the property and get pictures for you. You can do this by posting a job ad on Craigslist under the nearest city name > gigs > creative gigs.
Depending on how far they have to drive, and how many pictures you need, usually $50 – $100 is sufficient for this kind of work.
Option C
You can also try to contact a few local real estate agents in the area and ask them if they wouldn’t mind driving by the property and snapping a few pictures when they have a chance. Most agents are regularly in the field anyway, and it isn’t a huge ask for them to swing by your property and get some pictures (especially if you show an interest in using them for your future listings and/or paying them a few bucks for their trouble).
However you decide to get a look at the property – make sure you are 100% clear about where the property is located, and communicate this thoroughly to the person getting pictures (send them parcel maps, directions, even a video if you need to).
14. What Were the Previous Uses of the Property?
Most states have environmental laws that pertain to commercially zoned property (i.e. – properties zoned “Residential” generally aren’t held to these standards). If you’re considering a vacant lot zoned for commercial development, make sure you’re not inheriting any environmental contamination with the property.
For most commercial properties, the best way to do this is by ordering a “Phase I Environmental Report” (many banks will automatically require this because it affects their collateral). This report will identify if there are any “Recognized Environmental Concerns” (RECs) on the property that you need to worry about. If you neglect to do any environmental due diligence, the liability for any existing environmental contamination on the property could ultimately fall on your shoulders – making it very difficult and expensive to sell the property in the future.
Another way to get a quick look at what has been going on (and around) the property in question is to look at the historical satellite imagery of the property with a tool like Google Earth.
Here’s a quick look at how it works…
As you can see, it’s not necessarily the most comprehensive or scientific way to review a property’s history – but it’s quick, easy, and it doesn’t cost anything – which makes it a pretty good place to start.
15. What Do the Surrounding Properties Look Like?
The properties next door can have some MAJOR implications for the value and “sale-ability” of a parcel of land (e.g. – Think about it, would you rather live next to Yosemite National Park or a Landfill?). For understandable reasons, most people care a great deal about who and what they live next to, so be sure to get a good idea for what the surrounding properties look like (hint: this is another potential area where a service like WeGoLook can help).
Is this a desirable area? Is it the type of place where you (or anyone else) would want to live? If the surrounding properties have any obvious issues that are beyond your control, you’ll want to think very carefully about what this means for the property’s value and whether or not you want to own it.
For a quick tutorial on how to very quickly find out what the adjoining properties look like next to the parcel you’re researching, this video explains one way to do it:
These are the questions I ask myself before I buy any piece of vacant land. This isn’t intended to be an all-inclusive list of EVERY possible issue you could ever encounter, but I’d say it covers about 95% of the potential concerns you ought to be aware of. Most of these issues come up very infrequently, but they are very important things to consider nonetheless. Remember, you don’t need to be afraid of buying vacant land. You just need to be informed.
Don’t Be The “Greater Fool”
The trick with vacant land is to understand why it’s vacant in the first place. I’ve run across quite a few vacant lots that seemed attractive at first glance, but eventually, I discovered the reason nobody was using them was that you CAN’T use them. If one (or more) of the issues above are prohibiting someone from putting a property to good use, believe me – you don’t want to find out after you already own it.
When some people look at the prospect of owning land, they get wrapped up in the dream of property ownership. The idea of owning a large tract of property can seem very appealing, even if it is of no practical use to them. This kind of trap is especially easy for people to fall into with land because it’s a low maintenance property and doesn’t seem complicated (even though there are a lot of factors to consider).
MANY people buy into the dream of property ownership – even if the investment makes absolutely no sense from a financial standpoint. If you don’t believe me, check out this guy who sells land on the moon:
Unfortunately, many parcels of land are sold to “the greater fool”. When people don’t do their homework and think things through, they can get hurt.
Don’t be the greater fool. Always be sure you have done a reasonable amount of research and don’t take on a property until you thoroughly understand what you are getting into. | {
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Happy Valentine's Day, allkpop readers!
Whether you celebrate this holiday or not, it's likely that at one point or another, you've entertained the idea of being taken out on a Valentine's Day date.
But if you could spend cupid's holiday with one of the many sexy and talented K-Pop stars, who would you choose?
The female staff at�6Theory have come up with a list of the top 10 perfect Hallyu Valentines. Take a look at the list below (in no particular order) and let us know what you think!
2PM's Nichkhun
Nichkhun has a shy boy smile and a sweet charm, but he's also got a beastly body. Themember�made thousands of girls swoon when he courted'son's ''. Undoubtedly, he's one of the top candidates for a romantic Valentine's Day date.----
Leessang's Gary
Gary's thoughtful and affectionate behavior towards his '' partner,, has made him into every woman's ideal boyfriend.----
Super Junior's Choi Siwon
Not only is he tall, handsome, religious, and talented, Choi Siwon's wholesome charm makes him the kind of guy you can wake up to every morning.----
B2ST's Lee Kikwang
...Just because he's incredibly adorable, good-looking and his smile is to die for.----
Yoo Jae Suk
He may not be your first choice, but as one of the kindest and most generous guys in the industry, Yoo Jae Suk is sure to be the perfect gentleman for any gal on Valentine's Day. Also, have you seen these photos?----
2AM's Jo Kwon
Every girl dreams of being serenaded by a suave gent on Valentine's Day, and who better to put on a spell-binding performance than the prince of ballads himself?----
Lee Seung Gi
He's only got eyes formember, and you can never go wrong with a one-woman kind of man.----
Super Junior's Leeteuk
Judging from his on-air relationship with, Leeteuk seems like the kind of guy who can prepare a Valentine's Day full surprises for his special lady.---
Block B's Zico
With his perfect blend of aegyo and gritty swag, Zico's the dream 'younger man' for many noona fans out there.----
Big Bang's T.O.P
...Need we say more?Did your favorite male make the list? Tell us who your Valentine's pick would be! | {
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Queen Colman, slumming it as Sophie on Peep Show. Photo: Channel Four
Between her extraordinarily horny Queen Anne portrayal in The Favourite and being cast as the new Queen Elizabeth in The Crown, there’s a fair chance you hadn’t heard much about Olivia Colman until her zenith moment finally arrived last year. But now Colman seems to be everywhere as she gloriously embraces being in awards-season campaign mode — that is, when she’s not busy on a Netflix set, blessing us with new photos of the flinty Windsor clan.
Despite these big-budget royal dramas, though, Colman has mostly made her career out of appearing in popular British TV comedies over the past decade, all of which stand in juxtaposition to the refined palace elegance she’s been exuding of late. With this Sunday’s Oscars just around the corner — Colman boasts a Best Actress nomination thanks to to her excellent turn in The Favourite — it’s time you got better acquainted with her pre-monarchy work. Here are all of her comedies currently available to stream.
Peep Show
David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s long-running series is one of the most seminal British comedies of all time, thanks to its “peeping” point-of-view filming style and the chaotic, cringeworthy misadventures shared by our leading bros. However, Colman’s delightfully unlikable supporting character was often the linchpin to the show’s best moments, with the unusual ways she romances both men — one of whom she may actually end up loving. You’ll enjoy watching her, but you definitely don’t want to be working alongside her. Where to stream: Amazon Prime, Hulu
That Mitchell and Webb Look
Airing on British airwaves at the same time as Peep Show, this silly Mitchell and Webb sketch series frequently featured Colman, who thrived in a role that mirrored Carol Cleveland’s prevalence in Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The sketches she appeared in varied wildly in tone, but they were all steeped in the idea of parodying pop culture, whether that meant being a game-show contestant, sports commentator, or old-timey television broadcaster. That’s Numberwang, baby! Where to stream: Netflix
Green Wing
A show set in a hospital but refusing to mention anything remotely related to medicine, Green Wing is a part-absurd, part-surrealist comedy that mostly cares about its employees’ personal lives. (It could double as a soap opera at times, truly.) Colman is one of the beleaguered ladies working in the human resources department, but you’d barely know it, as 99.9 percent of the time she’s complaining about her annoying children and dope of a husband — if she remembers their existence at all. Where to stream: Netflix, Amazon Prime
Rev.
After getting a promotion and moving away from a snoozy countryside parish, a priest (noted babe and sex thimble Tom Hollander) and his wife have to quickly adjust to their new life in a rowdy London neighborhood. Colman, despite being relegated to what could be a banal wife role, elevates it with great aplomb, mostly because her character doesn’t really care about the whole “religion” thing — she loves and is a great support system to her husband, but she’d rather be burning the midnight oil at her law office than praying and eating communion crackers. Relatable much? Where to stream: Amazon Prime
Twenty-Twelve
Capitalizing on the lead-up to London hosting the 2012 Summer Olympics, Twenty-Twelve is an office mockumentary that manages to explore just about every potential PR nightmare the Olympics could’ve faced, absurdity be damned. Colman plays the endearingly incompetent, lovestruck assistant to the overworked head commissioner tasked with organizing the Games (Downton Abbey’s Hugh Bonneville), who seems to enjoy her job despite her lack of, well, common sense. Go sports! Where to stream: Amazon Prime
Flowers
As the only black comedy on this list, Flowers follows a dysfunctional family — and despite sitcom clichés, there’s not as much “fun” in this “dysfunction” as there is stress and anxiety — whose steady stream of Prozac barely masks their feelings of inadequacy and exasperation for each other. Colman, who portrays the fam’s wine-guzzling matriarch, manages a daytime escape thanks to her job as a music teacher, but when she returns home, it’s straight back to wondering why the hell her 25-year-old twins are still living with her. Where to stream: Netflix
Fleabag
Even if you’re not a British comedy connoisseur, there’s still a good chance you heard rumblings of Colman’s name when the U.S. first caught wind of Fleabag two years ago. The superb series from Phoebe Waller-Bridge finds Colman playing the insufferable — and very well-dressed! — godmother to Waller-Bridge’s character. We don’t want to spoil the fun of what happens when she saunters into a scene, so just know that (1) she loves slapping people, and (2) she might come and steal your man. “You know when you’re telling someone about a relative, and it’s really hard to describe how quite vile they really are?” Colman told us about her role at the time. “And people are like, Oh c’mon, they’re not that bad, it can’t possibly be that bad. Oh, yes it is!” Where to stream: Amazon Prime | {
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Following the big reveal of Persona 5’s Joker in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Atlus invited over creator Masahiro Sakurai for a special video interview to talk about Persona.
The interview starts out with Sakurai being asked about his very first Persona game, which was Revelations: Persona. He goes on to talk about it going further back with the Megami Tensei games, but also says the current stylish Persona started with Persona 3 and onward, which he has also played.
Sakurai shared his thoughts on first seeing Persona 5 saying Persona 4’s theme was yellow so it had some color going on but with Persona 5 being red it felt plain at first, but he was amazed to see how its style came together. He also complimented its stylish UI and menu, and said that he truly respects its in-depth story and the way you can go on playing it forever.
When asked about his favorite character, he says he likes all of them. However, there’s one character in particular that he wasn’t able to fully bond with in his playthrough, and it was Yusuke Kitagawa (Sakurai: Sorry, Sugita-san!) Since Sakurai was busy with Smash Bros. he was only able to put in enough time for one playthrough, so he wanted to max out the confidants to make it count.
In order to avoid spoilers, he doesn’t use guides of any kind and prefers to carefully progress through events. However, the story ended about three months earlier than he expected, so it made it impossible to max out Yusuke during his run.
Sakurai’s favorite part about Persona games is how they’re “easy yet troublesome.” For example things go nicely when you can hit enemy weaknesses, but you’ll find yourself in a pinch if you’re not able to. As for Persona music, he says he purchases the soundtracks and always listens to them. For Persona 5’s acid jazz battle theme, Sakurai says it isn’t fitting for a battle theme, and if it were Smash Bros. it definitely wouldn’t be a battle theme, yet to have the sense to still push that is something Sakurai finds quite remarkable.
Lastly, Sakurai is asked to share his thoughts on Atlus games, to which he jokingly responds by saying it’d make him happy if they could be completed in about half the amount of time. When playing Atlus games, Sakurai says that he usually has to make the commitment to put in about twice the amount of time of a normal game. Not just the Persona series but Etrian Odyssey as well. Persona Q2, which he recently started playing, is another one that falls under that category.
Finally, head to the 7:48 mark for an exclusive video. Sakurai explains that this is the Japanese version of The Game Awards trailer, which actually was a different one from the official upload that followed.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is available on Nintendo Switch. Persona 5 is available on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3. | {
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What Akin said was 'indefensible,' Rove told POLITICO. | AP Photos | AP Photos Rove predicts historic loss for Akin
TAMPA, Fla.— Karl Rove on Monday predicted Rep. Todd Akin will lose by the widest margin of any Republican candidate in modern history if he remains in his Missouri Senate race against Sen. Claire McCaskill.
“What he said was indefensible and the way he handled it made it worse,” Rove told POLITICO’s Mike Allen at the first POLITICO Playbook Breakfast at the Republican National Convention.
( Also on POLITICO: Rove dings Joe Biden, President Obama on charity)
“This is a program that he taped and obviously he saw nothing wrong with it in his tape,” Rove said, pointing out that Akin didn’t respond to the taped interview until two days later.
Rove said Akin has no option other than getting out of the race.
“I know Todd. He’s a good man. He has a good heart,” Rove said. “But he said a real stupid, indefensible thing from which there’s no recovery. And if he really cares about the values of conservatism and pro-life, then he will not go down in defeat with the biggest loss of any Republican candidate for Senate in the modern history.”
( Also on POLITICO: Poll: Akin support drops)
This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 10:40 a.m. on August 27, 2012. | {
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Miamisburg (Ohio) High five-star offensive tackle Josh Myers has committed to Ohio State, his coach tells 247Sports.
The nation's No. 1 offensive tackle and No. 3 prospect in the class-of-2017 according to 247Sports, Myers chose the in-state Buckeyes over offers from Alabama, Florida, Michigan, Notre Dame and Tennessee among others.
Myers knew he was going to commit on his way to campus Sunday. He'd been to Ohio State several times including most recently for the win over the Wolverines.
"I think my mind was probably made up for sure after the Ohio State-Michigan game," Myers said. "That was what did it in for me. That was a great experience. I thought I connected with that coaching staff after the game and I felt in my heart it was the right place for me.
Myers is the fourth commit for Ohio State in 2017, as the Buckeyes class ranks No. 1 according to 247Sports very early in the process. Myers joins the No. 14 ranked player in cornerback Shaun Wade, the nation's No. 17 player in athlete Bruce Judson and the country's No. 48 player in quarterback Danny Clark.
"There's a lot of things," Myers said. "For starters they're a great team, it's close to home, their coaching staff treated me so well and I thought I really, really connected with Coach (Ed) Warinner the o-line coach at Ohio State. I can't pinpoint what it is but something felt right about it."
The 6-foot-6, 290-pound Myers was excited to tell coach Urban Meyer and the staff in person.
"It was awesome and really emotional," Myers said. "It was great to get it off my chest and say I finally want to be a Buckeye." | {
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Being an accountant for a professional athlete must be a thankless task — well, apart from all the money they must make from their multimillionaire clients. Let’s clarify: in the spending-lots-of-time-doing-math department, it must be a thankless task. That’s obviously not much of a consolation for professional athletes when that tax bill when it comes rolling in but that is, of course, part of the deal.
Forbes crunched the numbers ahead of Sunday’s Super Bowl and calculated how much Cam Newton would have to pay of his bonus money regardless of how the game turns out in California, which boasts some of the highest tax rates in the nation (This exact issue even prompted a comment from Golfer Phil Mickelson about it in 2013).
According to Forbes:
Win on Sunday, and Newton will pay California a total of $159,560 in taxes in 2016. Lose, and he will pay $159,200, based on an income reduction of $51,000.
It continues: | {
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Fast-forward to this week and I'm laying eyes on it again, but in a different setting entirely. Instead of attempting to recapture my youth at my parent's house, I'm in London meeting Steve Wilcox, founder of Elite Systems, whose company has recreated Sir Clive Sinclair's 5 million-selling retro personal computer for the tablet age.
The key word here is "recreated." In fact, that's its name: the Recreated Sinclair ZX Spectrum. If you've laid eyes on a ZX Spectrum before, you'd (like me) be hard-pressed to notice a difference between the old model and its newer counterpart. It features the same rubber keys, fonts and even sports faux air vents on the back to match its predecessor.
The Making
Despite its popularity in the past, recreating the ZX Spectrum hasn't been easy. In 1986, Sinclair sold his loss-making computer business, along with all its rights and inventions, to Sir Alan Sugar's Amstrad for £5 million ($7.4 million today). Then, over a decade later, Sky bought Amstrad for £125 million ($253 million at the time), which meant it became the new owner of Sinclair's intellectual property. In the transition period, many of the old Spectrum designs were lost, including the original wooden models on which the ZX Spectrum was based. Wilcox and his team ended up buying a handful of machines on eBay and 3D scanning them in order to accurately mimic the design.
You might wonder what differences there are between the Recreated Sinclair ZX Spectrum and the original. Well, for starters, the new model doesn't do any processing -- it's simply a Bluetooth keyboard. For Elite Systems, it's the culmination of 20 years of experience in the game industry, which have taken it from creating its own games for the ZX Spectrum to porting some of the console's biggest titles from yesteryear over to modern devices like the iPad. "Many of the original games were designed to fully utilize the ZX's controllers," says Wilcox. "On-screen controls can only do so much and we knew we could do better."
It's taken roughly four years for Elite Systems to get to this point. Earlier this year, the company raised £63,000 on Kickstarter to fund the tooling required to manufacture the Recreated Sinclair ZX Spectrum. Elite teamed up with Ceratech, a bespoke keyboard maker known for its work in the medical field, to create the keyboard, although it will actually be made in China. In order to imitate and sell the Recreated Sinclair ZX Spectrum in the UK, Elite acquired a license to the Sinclair brand and designs from Sky and will pay a royalty for each unit sold (Sky's lawyers also had a say in its name).
Playing
As it's essentially a Bluetooth (3.0) keyboard, the Recreated Sinclair Spectrum works on nearly any platform. In my test, I paired it with an iPad Air and then mirrored its screen on an Apple TV. However, you can also pair it with any Android or Windows tablet and use devices like the Chromecast to throw games like Manic Miner up on your big-screen TV.
With no embeddable games, the keyboard relies upon existing iOS and Android apps. Elite bundles a free app that launches with a short soundbite of the Spectrum loading sound and offers a number of free games, including exclusive rights to Chuckie Egg, and access to Sinclair BASIC. Other games can be unlocked via 79p ($1) in-app purchases. During my demo, I led Hen-House Harry through a number of levels and the gameplay was exactly like I remember it, as was the tactile feel of the rubberized keyboard. You don't realize just how much you missed those 8-bit soundtracks and super-simple graphics.
Elite's history of porting old ZX Spectrum games over to newer platforms landed it in trouble, however. Last year, it was criticized for not sharing royalty payments with license holders, which led the company to pull a number of games from the App Store and vow to rectify the situation. Wilcox says developers can now have their old games developed for tablets and keep 100 percent of the royalties. It has also opened its platform so that those who already have apps on the App Store can now include support for the Recreated Sinclair ZX Spectrum with a few lines of code.
Why The Sudden Interest?
If you've been keeping track of ZX Spectrum revivals, you'll know there's also another retro console in town: the Sinclair ZX Spectrum Vega. Created by Retro Computers, this all-in-one controller and console is styled like the original, but features only a d-pad and five directional keys. Unlike its rival, it needs to be plugged directly into a TV, but it does host its own games. Both interpretations have their own merits, but one key difference is that the Vega has been backed by Sinclair Research, the company that Sinclair didn't sell to Amstrad/Sky.
It appears that Elite Systems and Retro Computers both started work on their consoles at around the same time -- nearly four years ago. Wilcox tells me that he reached out to Retro Computers over a possible collaboration, where support for the Recreated ZX Spectrum could be baked into the Vega, but nothing ever materialized.
Given the age of the original, the Recreated ZX Spectrum isn't likely to register in the minds of the modern console gamer. More like their parents. "One member of our team remembers playing it and he is in his early 30s. That's the sort of age group we expect," says Wilcox. At £100 (around $150), the hardware certainly isn't cheap, but it's already available to pre-order via Zavvi, iWoot and The Hut -- for those who've already decided they want one. Price-wise, it goes toe to toe with the Vega, but it does have the added benefit of working with any iPad or Android app that supports a keyboard.
Even when I factor in how I felt when I first held the keyboard and played games I enjoyed during my childhood, I'm left wondering if my thirst for nostalgia is enough to justify the cost. However, with 800 backers on Elite's earlier Kickstarter, some have already let their money do the talking ahead of the keyboard's launch later this spring. | {
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Concourse is a pipelined-based continuous integration system created specifically for Cloud Foundry. Easy to scale and run, Concourse is built on a few components, all written in Go.
Providing a command-line interface to Concourse, the Fly tool allows for resolving a number of tasks. For instance, one is able to connect to a shell in the build’s container or upload new pipeline configuration into a running Concourse. | {
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Some of these reactions to the column, "Holocaust vs. comfort women," were sent by email and others are from Facebook postings left at the end of the column. We edited these letters to allow more of them to be published. Also we decided not to reveal the last names of those making the contributions. For those who want to participate in the discussion, go to http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/opinion/2017/06/667―230509.html. ― ED.
Let's not embrace ‘get even with'
The case you make is noted. Commiseration is in order.
However, it seems that all concerned (past and present) have thrown the word "forgiveness" out of their vocabulary.
Furthermore, all countries have committed and suffered shameful history, atrocities, misdeeds and tragedies. All people have been victims at one point in history.
I don't say forget about the past, however, I do not embrace "getting even with."
When responsible countries and governments do not do what they ought to do to correct their treatment (and all it entails) of citizens during colonization or war, etc., then, it is the duty and obligation of the mistreated people's government to compensate and assuage their citizen victims.
Constructing memorial statues I do support very much, however, erecting them in front of the offices of a diplomatic residence is simply wrong and has led to only more friction.
I feel that it is governments that continue the strife between nations. Most countries' citizens harbor no ill-feeling toward other peoples. And, yes, the newer generations have no interest in the past; they wish to move forward.
For example, I have no wish to fight the Civil War again. I'm an old Southern Rebel at heart; I don't much care for most Yankees, but I will not get in their face about the past events. Besides, if we were not there on the spot at the time, then you can best bet that provided stories from both sides have been embellished or left out a fact or two.
William
We did suffer like Korea
Indonesia, Southeast Asia. I would like to offer some views after reading your article titled 'Holocaust vs. comfort women' yesterday.
I assume you already know about Japan's colonization of Indonesia soil in the 1940s. We had comfort women or "jugun-ianfu."
I think Indonesians would have the same opinion as yours. The Holocaust was a tragedy but the comfort woman phenomenon was as well. Both were abuse of humanity.
And about education, I think we should raise our awareness about history too, and see it as clearly as possible, as the way it is. To make the future as it should be.
I do not say that Indonesian government is like a saint, we go through our difficult times, too, after declaring independence.
My ancestors had avoided being as comfort women since they lived in the mountains, but my great grandpa still did "romusha" or hard labor.
In my opinion, I forgive what Japan's military did, but I never forget about it. Not because I am could not fully forgive but because I would take it as a reminder. So, we should never allow the same thing to happen again in the future.
Anyway, I should praise you for writing on such a sensitive theme.
Viny
It's numbers ― 6 mil. vs. 200,000
It is about numbers, it is also about intent and it is about what happened. If you think all bad things are the same simply because they are bad, you're wrong. Systematically rounding up people for the sole intent of killing them and wiping their "race" out is the absolute worst thing human beings have ever done.. The Mongols raped one quarter of the women on the planet but that wasn't the worst thing they did. Killing 50 million people was. Being killed is worse than being forced to have sex. Killing 600,000 is a lot worse than 200,000 being raped. Are they both bad? Yes.
Jason
East Asian brothel culture
One egregious problem with equating the Koreans' status as victims of the Japanese with the Jews vs. Germany is that millions on Koreans participated in the colonial project, including in the dark act of procuring the comfort women. It also overlooks the context that selling daughters into prostitution was very common practice in traditional East Asian societies.
Japanese denial of this and other war crimes is a very serious issue, but Mr. Oh does his own cause a great disservice by this continued poorly articulated false equivalence.
Christopher
Harping on comfort women ad nauseum
This op-ed piece does not reflect the majority opinion of most educated Koreans and is at best self-righteously hypocritical, anti-Semitic, if not totally distorted. This individual's inflammatory rhetoric, specifically that "We [Korea] will make peace with Japan, when you [Arabs] make your peace with Israel" is patently ridiculous as it belies the fact that Korea is not currently, nor has it been lately (for the past 500 years or so), in an actual state of war with Japan, as Japan has NOT been our foe for quite some time now.
Also, to keep on harping on the "Comfort Women" issue and Japan's complicity, ad nauseum, is totally hypocritical recognizing the fact that successive regimes from Park Chung-hee, to as recently as the late 1990s, implemented, maintain and upheld a similar system of providing "Comfort Women" ― i.e., legal prostitution in organized brothels ― catering specifically to U.S. troops based in Korea. This system of regulated prostitution catering to U.S. servicemen in various shanty towns and villages adjacent to USFK bases worked hand-in-hand with the Korean government for decades, with concomitant VD checks, medical exams for prostitutes in a system of de facto indentured servitude that would make the Imperial Japanese Army, circa 1944, blush.
The writer doesn't get to lambast an entire nation and put foreign relations with an important economic ally in peril. The fact is that with only a handful of surviving comfort women left over from the occupation era, the rest of the world has ― not surprisingly ― moved on. Instead of harping on those things that cannot be changed, we need to bring attention to the sins and misdeeds of our own government, whose complicity in creating Korea's own cold-war era Comfort Women system has been totally neglected by the Korean government as the victims of that era continue to wither away in obscurity and poverty.
Julie
Holocaust is exaggerated
The Holocaust (6 million were gassed in the camps of the Germans) story is not true. First, the 6 million figure is not true: an Auschwitz memorial plaque revised the 4 million killed down to 1 million killed (and this is still not correct), and the gassing story is not true either.
The only gassing that took place in the camps was to kill the lice that caused typhus. Gassing was a life-saving measure, not a homicidal one.
After release, former camp inmates passed around stories initially that they were executed with electric machines. Other stories passed around were prisoners were executed by brain-bashing machines (operated by pedals), by being thrown into lime pits to be killed by acid and dissolved, by masturbation machines and even by atomic devices. Then they said they were executed by gassings that took place in shower rooms.
This story, unlike the others, took hold and came to be widely quoted, and evolved into the familiar Holocaust story that we know today. However, none of the shower rooms in the camps show Prussian blue (cyanide residues), which would have to be present for the gassing stories to be true.
The only places where Prussian blue staining shows up is in small fumigation cubicles that contained clothing racks where the clothes and other personal belongings of prisoners were treated with cyanide gas to kill lice that caused typhus, a major killer of people in the first half of the 20th century (and earlier). Another name for typhus is "jail fever" and "camp fever". The use of cyanide gas as a disinfectant to fumigate clothes and personal belongings was the standard treatment for kill lice and prevent typhus epidemics in Europe at that time.
Yvette
No tolerance for divisive religions
I have zero sympathy for Jews, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the rest of these hate-filled religions, who have rained down upon humanity unending wars and suffering. Let's not forget Hitler only capitalized on long-simmering resentment caused by Jewish hegemony in the economic condition from WWI and earlier. Hitler was not a one-time event.
Carlos
Korea is not currently at war, cold or otherwise with Japan, whereas Israel is currently committing atrocities in the Middle East. Israel does not equal all Jews, by the way. It's possible to be Jewish, not Israeli and still be appalled at what is happening there. If you published this article in a Western country, any Western country, you would be out of a job by the end of the day.
You start off describing what I assume to be a Westerner's opinion, segue into what people in The Middle East think and then start talking about how Westerners need to be educated about Korean suffering. The world is aware of the Holocaust. The world is also aware of comfort women, Unit 731, the Armenian genocide, Pol Pot's Killing Fields, Stalin's purges and all the other sickening, terrible things that have happened in our recent history. We do not denigrate the victims of atrocities in order to push our own agendas. We do not treat remembrance as a commodity. We do not try to depreciate victims of the Holocaust in order to inflate the suffering of Koreans under Japan.
Matthew
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Som GP berättat i dag satsar nu kommunen 32 miljoner, med visst stöd från EU, på projektet Stadslandet som ska skapa gröna jobb, ekologisk turism och strategier för mer närproducerade livsmedel i nordöstra Göteborg. Bland annat ska man skapa testmiljöer och "nav" där man ska testa sätt att göra Göteborg mer koldioxidsnålt.
Exakt vad som ska testas är inte fastslaget, men i förstudien som projektet baseras på, presenterar kommunen flera förslag och visioner på hur det ska gå till. Bland annat föreslås satsningar på odlingar, betesdjur och klimatsmarta minitransporter. Man vill också ta tillvara kunskaper hos utrikesfödda som tidigare jobbat med exempelvis odling och djurhållning. Något som fått många läsare att reagera.
"Välmenad rasism"
– Göteborgs kommun praktiserar någon slags välmenad rasism. Herregud! skriver en kvinna.
– Snälla, snälla, säg att detta är ett skämt! skriver GP-läsaren Peter.
– Var detta årets aprilskämt som råkades publiceras något för tidigt? Denna staden slutar då aldrig att chocka sina invånare, skriver läsaren Daniel.
Flera läsare positiva
– Använd pengarna till vettiga bostäder, utbildning och riktiga jobb! Vem vill tillbaka i utvecklingen?? kommenterar en kritisk läsare på GP:s Facebook-sida.
En annan läsare svarar:
– Det här är framåt i utvecklingen - matturism och matkvalitet över kvantitet är växande näringar. Gröna näringar är i tiden.
– Här skapas affärsverksamheter och jobb samt möjligheten för människor att mötas kring meningsfulla aktiviteter. Vad är problemet? skriver en annan.
M: "Helt bakvänt"
En som dock är kritisk och reagerar kraftfullt är kommunalrådet Jonas Ransgård (M).
– Man sliter sitt hår. Näringslivet skriker efter kompetens men Göteborg satsar på det här? säger Jonas Ransgård.
Han tycker att tanken med att försöka skapa jobb utifrån att vissa utrikesfödda jobbat med exempelvis odling i sina hemländer är fel utgångspunkt.
– Naturligtvis ska man kolla vad folk kan när de kommer till Sverige. Men vitsen måste väl vara att rusta människor för jobb som finns och som efterfrågas, snarare än att försöka skapa efterfrågan på sådant folk kan. Det är helt bakvänt, säger Jonas Ransgård.
MP: "Ett jättebra projekt"
Kommunalrådet Ulf Kamne (MP) håller dock inte med Ransgård.
– Det där är att tänka kortsiktigt. Inriktningen på Stadslandet är jättebra. Vi måste tänka längre och utveckla gröna näringar. Vi står inför klimatförändringar och måste säkra matförsörjningen på lång sikt, säger Ulf Kamne och tillägger:
– Sen kan det finnas skäl att skärpa upp detta. Men EU lämnade 13 miljoner i stöd, så helt under isen kan det här inte vara.
Han håller heller inte med kritiker som kallat visionerna och projektet för rasistiskt och "kolonialt".
– Om människor uppfattar det så är det väldigt illa men självklart finns inga sådana värderingar bakom. Tvärtom handlar det om motsatsen, att ge utrymme för mångfald och att satsa nytt i områden där det finns resurser av både människor och mark, säger Kamne och tillägger:
– Det är ingen som tvingas att delta. Det här är inte som Fas 3 och att folk måste in i detta. Tvärtom träffar jag flera som är överlyckliga över detta, säger Ulf Kamne (MP).
Vill du veta mer om hur GP arbetar med kvalitetsjournalistik? Läs våra etiska regler här. | {
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Pamela Anderson gushed about rumored beau Julian Assange on her website
She called him 'quite sexy' and said he has 'tremendous strength and stamina'
The actress has visited Assange six times in the past five months
Pamela Anderson, 49, looked sensational as she visited cloistered WikiLeaks founder on Thursday
Pamela Anderson has all but made her relationship with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange official with her sensual note titled 'My Julian.'
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The former Baywatch star wrote on Pamela Anderson Foundation website: 'Julian Assange is the most intelligent, interesting, and informed man in existence. Yes- I think he's quite sexy. He has tremendous strength and stamina- though vulnerable.'
She also wrote that his intentions were good and that the 2010 rape allegations are untrue. The 45-year-old Australian national has been living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London to avoid extradition since June 2012.
Anderson said she is now advocating for men who were falsely accused of rape.
She ended the note on her blog praising the work of whistle blowers, saying they make the world a safer place.
Anderson signed the note with 'love' writing: 'Thank you to my heroes at Wikileaks,and of course - I will always stand by My Julian ... Love, Pamela.'
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Pamela Anderson called Julian Assange 'quite sexy' is a heartfelt blog post on her website
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Generous: In a pattern of generous gift giving, she had visited the fugitive last December with a bag full of upscale groceries from Whole Foods
In February, the 49-year-old actress also did not refute rumors when asked on Loose Women if she was dating the hacker.
She said: 'Since then I feel a genuine closeness to Julian. I have had more stimulating conversation with this man than all my ex-husbands and lovers combined.'
'Our intentions were not to become romantic, but to join forces.'
'The rumors are flattering. I think I might have what it takes to be an effective First Lady.'
Pamela Anderson has visited Julian Assange at the Ecuadorean Embassy in London six times in the past five months, igniting rumors that they are in item.
The former Playboy pin-up, who appeared on Strictly Come Dancing over Christmas, was first spotted at his official residence in September 2014.
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Their initial meeting was set up for Anderson to try to persuade Assange to back her new foundation, which supports women who are victims of sexual abuse. | {
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Finally has a great idea for karma-whoring on cake day completely forgets to log in on the computer on his cake day
207 shares | {
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NASA's Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) is headed towards Earth. But don't fear, it's still unlikely anyone will be hit.
The space agency now says the U.S. is back as a possible "landing site" for the satellite. As it gets closer to impact, NASA now says the 6.5-ton behemoth will fall to earth sometime Friday or Saturday ET.
"The satellite orientation or configuration apparently has changed, and that is now slowing its descent," NASA says, explaining why the space agency's prediction the satellite would fall to Earth Wednesday has been revised, and why the U.S. is now back in the running as a possible, albeit unlikely target.
The agency still can't pinpoint exactly when the spacecraft will reenter the atmosphere, writing on its website, "It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any certainty, but predictions will become more refined in the next 12 to 18 hours."
Should we be afraid? In a word, no. Even though NASA says about a half a ton's worth of spacecraft pieces — that's about 26 hunks of space junk — will fall to earth, it says most (if not all) of the debris will probably land in an ocean. If you want to know the odds of your own survival, Orbital Debris and Meteoroid Consultant Don Kessler calculated the chances of any one person being hit by any of that debris is less than one in 10 trillion.
But that's not stopping people from creating some humorous tweets: | {
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Thüringens Datenschutzbeauftragter Lutz Hasse hat mit Verweis auf ein Gerichtsurteil davor gewarnt, Whatsapp privat zu nutzen. 99 Prozent seiner deutschen Nutzer verhielten sich "deliktisch", wenn sie den Dienst nutzen, sagte Hasse am Mittwoch bei der Vorstellung seiner Tätigkeitsberichte für 2016 und 2017. Denn wer Whatsapp nutze, erlaube dem Dienst, alle Kontaktdaten seines Smartphones auszulesen. Diese Zustimmung dürfe jemand Whatsapp aber nur geben, wenn alle Menschen, die im Adressbuch des Nutzers stehen, dem zugestimmt hätten.
Da es solche vollständigen Einwilligungen aber in der Realität praktisch nie gebe, sei die Nutzung des Dienstes in der Regel rechtswidrig, sagte Hasse. Diese Sicht von Datenschützern habe 2017 auch das Amtsgericht Bad Hersfeld in einem Urteil bestätigt. "Diese Entscheidung betrifft alleine Privatleute", sagte Hasse.
Whatsapp-Einsatz an Schulen unzulässig
Gleichzeitig stellte der Landesdatenschutzbeauftragte klar, dass aus seiner Sicht der Einsatz von WhatsApp an Thüringer Schulen unzulässig ist. Die über WhatsApp gesendeten Daten würden in die USA übertragen, was nach den Thüringer Landesgesetzen für Daten aus dem Schulbereich nicht zulässig sei.
Insgesamt haben sich nach Angaben von Hasse zuletzt deutlich mehr Menschen als in der Vergangenheit an ihn gewandt. Habe es 2016 noch etwa 8400 Eingaben gegeben, seien es 2017 schon mehr als 12.100 gewesen. Woher dieser Anstieg kommt, wisse er nicht genau, sagte Hasse. Tatsache sei aber, dass sich vermehrt Privatpersonen, aber auch Behörden und Unternehmen an ihn wendeten, weil sie Fragen zur europäischen Datenschutzgrundverordnung hätten. Dieses Regelwerk gilt ab Mai 2018 – größtenteils als unmittelbares Recht auch in Deutschland, das nur noch in Teilen durch weitere Bundes- oder Landesgesetze umgesetzt werden muss. (axk) | {
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A scheme set up to give vulnerable people access to justice following Tory legal aid cuts has helped just eight children, it was revealed today.
The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) was forced reveal just a handful of under 18s have been given support under their exceptional case funding scheme.
The fund was introduced to soften the impact of huge cuts to legal aid introduced by Tory Justice Secretary Chris Grayling .
But new official figures show just how much the scheme is failing.
It comes after the High court ruled the scheme was 'unlawful'.
Mr Justice Collins said the application procedure was "far too complex" and the rigid merits test was "wholly unsatisfactory."
(Image: PA)
The MoJ revealed that of the 89 applications for help under the scheme from under 18s, just eight had been granted.
Lord Bach, Labour's Shadow Minister for Legal Aid said: “These figures make clear the impact that the Government’s cuts to legal aid have had on some of the most vulnerable children in our society.
“It is shocking that we should leave thousands of children to fend for themselves over an issue as important as whether or not they are allowed to remain in the country.
“This shows yet again the gulf between the Government’s empty rhetoric and the reality of its policies. Ministers now need to get a grip, starting with an immediate review of their legal aid reforms.” | {
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Like many stereotypical tech reporters, I exercise after a sedentary day by giving my fingers a good console controller work out and don’t pay much attention to sports. But after several people insisted this video is a must-watch, I must confess that I’ve changed my tune and am happy to support my country’s track and field athletes.
Here is Australian hurdler Michelle Jenneke and her unique — and suddenly viral — warm-up process. I’ll let the video do the rest of the talking.
Michelle Jenneke from Losse Veter on Vimeo.
Via Cosby Sweaters.
Read next: World's first Android Jelly Bean carrier rollout halted due to emergency call problem | {
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British woman, 65, 'threw spear at officials' as she was arrested for allegedly running Philippines 'House of Horrors' where children as young as six months suffered abuse
Lillian May Thomson, 65, facing charges of illegal detention and direct assault on government officials
One child found tied to a chair in a locked room in house near Subic Bay
Another child said to be a six-month-old boy found severely malnourished
Three girls, all aged seven, were alleged to have been sexually abused
A British woman is being held behind bars in the Philippines accused of running a ‘House of Horrors’ in which young children were allegedly held prisoner and sexually abused.
Police and child care workers named the woman as 65-year-old Lillian May Thomson, who was found with an expired U.S. passport, and said she was charged with child abuse involving at least five young children.
One of the youngsters was found tied to a chair in a locked room in a house near Subic Bay, 75 miles north west of Manila, where the U.S. once had a huge naval base.
Police and child care workers named the woman as 65-year-old Lillian May Thomson (centre, wearing green) and said she was charged with child abuse involving at least five young children
Another child was said to be a six-month-old boy who was found severely malnourished, while three girls, all aged seven, were alleged to have been sexually abused.
The shocking case is being described by social workers as one of the worst recorded instances of child abuse they have seen.
Father Shay Cullen, an Irish priest who runs the Preda Foundation, a shelter for abused children in nearby Olongapo City, said Thomson is facing serious charges of illegal detention and direct assault on government officials.
She was also expected to be charged with child trafficking.
Father Cullen claimed that when child care workers and police raided Thomson’s house she picked up a spear and threw it at them.
According to the Manila-based Inquirer newspaper, police found the children in Thomson’s home after a tip off.
Father Cullen said he and social workers from Preda had been told of possible maltreatment and sexual abuse of children after foreigners were seen coming and going to Thomson’s house.
‘One of the children, aged just six months, was found severely malnourished,’ Father Cullen told the Inquirer newspaper by phone.
Father Cullen claimed that when child care workers and police raided Thomson's house she picked up a spear and threw it at them
Three girls, all aged seven, and a five year old boy were among those rescued. One of the girls was tied to a chair with plastic handcuffs when police raided the property.
Police said the children are now in a safe house, but medical examinations have allegedly revealed that the three girls had been sexually abused.
‘Thomson resisted arrest and became agitated, angry and used invectives against the arresting officers,’ said Father Cullen.
Father Cullen told the Daily Mail last night: ‘We believe this was nothing short of being a brothel in which those forced to serve foreign adults were children.’
He said investigations were still continuing because the work of finding out from the children what had happened to them had to be carried out with gentleness due to their young ages.
‘But we have been able to establish from the girls that they and a young boy were filmed naked for a camera, so we suspect this was for use on the internet for the pleasure of paedophiles,’ said Father Cullen, who has been in the Philippines for 45 years.
‘As each hour goes by that we talk to the children, the worse the details that they are able to tell us become.
‘We have learned, for example, that the young girls were taken to parties in Barretto, a red light district nearby, by this woman, although we have yet to find out from them what happened at those parties.
‘I have to say I suspect the worse. This is an hour by hour investigation and we continue to be shocked by what we are hearing.
‘The house was in a filthy dilapidated state and it must have been hell for those young children to be kept there, wondering who was going to come in the door next.’
Father Cullen said Thomson had today been charged with Serious Illegal Detention of five children aged from six months to seven years. She has also been charged with assaulting government officials with a spear.
Thompson has two passports, said father Cullen - a British passport showing that she is from Dunfermline, Scotland, and an expired U.S. passport.
When child protection officers arrived at the house, Thomson allegedly refused to let them in but then she started swearing at them before throwing a spear which grazed the arm of one of the social workers, Rosemarie Hebron.
Father Cullen told the Mail that social workers from his Preda Foundation, of which he is the President, run an official children’s home in the area - ‘a beautiful place by a river and surrounded by hills’ - and it was they who learned of the alleged horrors being perpetrated in the run-down house.
‘Even if there were no allegations of sexual abuse of the children, Thomson is in the wrong because you cannot keep children without an official licence.'
Official medical certificates alleging that the girls had been sexually abused have been prepared and will be presented when Thomson appears at the Olongapo City Regional Trial Court, said Father Cullen.
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Metal Gear Scanlon: V - Part 24
It wasn't Dan! It wasn't Drew! It was the Man on Fire! Or probably Huey.
Drew Scanlon attempts to go on as many sneaking missions as he can find.
Mar. 23 2016
Cast: Drew, Dan
Posted by: Jason | {
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Police are looking for Julio Acevedo, 44, in connection with a Williamsburg car crash that left a young couple dead early on March 3, 2013. View Full Caption NYPD
WILLIAMSBURG — The hit-and-run driver wanted for the death of a couple killed in a Williamsburg car crash — as well as the death of their premature baby — is a convicted killer who was nabbed for drunken driving during a road rage incident just two weeks ago, sources said.
Julio Acevedo, 44, of Brooklyn, was allegedly behind the wheel of the BMW that fatally plowed into the cab carrying Raizy and Nachman Glauber, both 21, early Sunday as they rushed to a hospital for delivery pains, police sources said.
Acevedo had been arrested for drunken driving and released without bail just two weeks earlier, after he got into a road rage incident with a taxi driver at 3:15 am. Feb. 17 in Brooklyn, according to sources and court documents.
The taxi driver called 911 and Acevedo was arrested with a blood alcohol level of .13, far above the legal level, according to sources and court documents. He told police he had had two beers at a baby shower at Sugar Hill Club, court documents show.
In that incident, Acevedo was driving a 1997 BMW 501 with Pennsylvania plates near 411 Lafayette Ave. when cops stopped him for driving erratically, according to the criminal complaint.
He was arraigned the following day and released without bail, court records show. It was not immediately clear whether his license was revoked following the arrest.
But he was allegedly back behind the wheel Sunday, when he plowed a borrowed BMW into a Toyota Camry livery cab headed northbound on Kent Avenue, the NYPD said. He fled the scene on foot, witnesses said.
"I saw the driver through the window. He was trying to get the key out. I told him, 'Get the hell out of the vehicle. It could explode.' I told him to sit on the curb," said a witness, who identified himself only as Asher, 31, who said he saw Acevedo behind the wheel after Sunday's crash.
Asher said Acevedo was limping and looked shaken up. He briefly sat down on the curb but disappeared when a crowd came, Asher said.
Emergency workers rushed Raizy Glauber, who was reportedly seven months pregnant, to Bellevue Hospital, where her baby boy was delivered prematurely, and then died a day later, police said. She was declared dead on arrival at the hospital, cops said.
Her husband, Nachman Glauber, was declared dead on arrival at Beth Israel Hospital.
There will be no service for the child, whose burial was scheduled for Monday, Abraham said.
The cab driver, Pedro Nunez 32, was released from the hospital Sunday evening, according to a statement from the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers.
Nunez was licensed to drive a cab through the Taxi & Limousine Commission, but the vehicle he was driving was not licensed as a livery car, a TLC spokesman said.
"An application to license the vehicle to be used as a livery had been submitted by the driver in late February and was being processed, but it was not yet finalized," a TLC spokesman said.
Police sources said the crash SUV is officially registered to Takia Walker, 29, of the Bronx. Walker told authorities she had leased the vehicle to another man who let Acevedo use it at the time of the incident. Police detained Walker Monday expecting to book her for insurance fraud, but a spokesman for the Bronx's District Attorney said they had deferred prosecution on these charges pending further investigation.
Acevedo, who lives in the Farragut Houses, has a long rap sheet, including a 1987 shooting in Brooklyn for which he was convicted on manslaughter charges and a 1997 robbery in the Bronx, police sources said.
The New York Post reported that the 1987 shooting killed Kelvin Martin, a Brooklyn thug known as "50 Cent" who was the inspiration for rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson's name.
The man who let Acevedo use the car told investigators he used it as part of a business in which he offered short-term use of his vehicles for drivers without credit or insurance, sources said.
Acevedo's mother told the Daily News that he would turn himself in on Monday, but that didn't happen.
Police sources said it would be difficult to determine whether Acevedo had been drinking at the time of the crash because so much time has passed since the crash. Some of the possible charges Acevedo could face would be speeding and leaving the scene of an accident. Investigators are trying to trace his final locations before the crash, police sources said.
A $5,000 reward was offered for information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of the individuals in the BMW sedan who fled the scene, from Brooklyn Councilmen Stephen Levin, who represents parts of Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope and Greenpoint, and David G. Greenfield, who represents Midwood, Borough Park, and Bensonhurst.
“All of New York is suffering along with the Glauber and Silberstein families and everyone is impacted by this horrific tragedy," said Greenfield.
"We must do everything we can to help the NYPD track down the individuals who caused this incident and then made the cowardly decision to flee the scene instead of trying to help the victims.”
Family members mourned the death of the young couple, who were members of the Satmar Orthodox Jewish community.
"Whoever did not go through this cannot even contemplate what this is to lose a sister and her husband and more at once so suddenly," Joseph Silberstein, older brother of Raizy Glauber, told DNAinfo.com New York.
But despite his shock at the tragic accident, Silberstein said that some events were out of their control. "This was God's will. We accept it. We have nothing to add," he said.
"This was His will. This is what He wanted. This is what He did. And we accept His decree." | {
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Melanie Thernstrom has written a superb book based on a historical, philosophical, and scientific review of pain: The Pain Chronicles: Cures, Myths, Mysteries, Prayers, Diaries, Brain Scans, Healing, and the Science of Suffering . Herself a victim of chronic pain, she brings a personal perspective to the subject and also includes informative vignettes of doctors and patients she encountered at the many pain clinics she visited in her investigations. She shows that medical treatment of pain is suboptimal because most doctors have not yet incorporated recent scientific discoveries into their thinking, discoveries indicating that chronic pain is a disease in its own right, a state of pathological pain sensitivity.
Chronic pain often outlives its original causes, worsens over time, and takes on a puzzling life of its own… there is increasing evidence that over time, untreated pain eventually rewrites the central nervous system, causing pathological changes to the brain and spinal cord, and that these in turn cause greater pain. Even more disturbingly, recent evidence suggests that prolonged pain actually damages parts of the brain, including those involved in cognition.
Sometimes the original problem creates new ones as the patient distorts posture and avoids exercise in an attempt to reduce the pain. In chronic pain, the protective mechanism of avoidance becomes maladaptive. Muscles atrophy from disuse and new sources of pain develop. Jerome Groopman, MD, in The Anatomy of Hope, told how he conquered years of chronic back pain by realizing that his pain was not a warning to avoid further damage but a false message that he could refuse to listen to; with exercise and physical therapy he rebuilt his muscles and became pain-free.
Dr. John Sarno believes that chronic musculoskeletal pain is a manifestation of “tension myositis syndrome” due to repressed negative emotions. He recommends renouncing all treatments, accepting that pain is only in the mind, and resuming normal activities. I don’t accept his psychosomatic premise, but there is a grain of truth in his method. If patients can re-frame their thinking and resume normal activities despite the pain, they are more likely to improve than if they maintain the self-image of a sick, disabled victim.
Distraction is effective in removing the awareness of pain. Thernstrom tells us that as she got better,
I wasn’t aware of being in pain all the time, but whenever I thought about whether I had pain, I always did. There were pain-free moments owing to my being preoccupied — happily or unhappily — with something else, but I was never able to “catch” a pain-free moment and enjoy it, which meant that, in some sense, I was always in pain.
Pain perception in the brain involves two different pain systems: one of pain perception and one of pain modulation. Acute injuries always hurt more later as the modulation effects diminish and the brain releases neurotransmitters into the spinal cord that amplify incoming signals and augment pain. This serves the adaptive purpose of enabling flight at first and then enforcing rest. It is possible to induce complete analgesia in humans and animals by electrically stimulating pain-modulating areas of the brain. Various cognitive and affective states activate the two systems, especially attention and expectation. Simply asking patients to think about their pain activates the pain-perception circuits. Anticipation of a placebo effect causes the pain-modulating release of endorphins in the brain.
One medication requires the placebo effect for all of its effectiveness. An intriguing 1995 clinical trial proved an analgesic called proglumide to be a more effective pain reliever than a placebo when both groups were told they were being given an exciting new painkiller. But then subjects were slipped proglumide without their knowledge, thus ensuring they had no placebo effect, they felt no relief at all. None.
It turns out proglumide enhances the endorphin response by blocking cholecystokinin receptors. Thernstrom speculates that drugs could be designed to enhance or create a placebo effect. Hmm… what would medical ethicists have to say about that? For that matter, how can a treatment still be called a placebo if it is shown to have the effect of producing endorphins in the brain?
Opioids relieve pain, but they are both under-used and over-used. If acute pain were better controlled, fewer patients would develop chronic pain. On the other hand, many chronic pain patients develop opioid-induced hyperalgesia, where their body becomes more sensitive to pain stimuli or even ordinary stimuli; they develop pain in parts of their bodies remote from the original injury site.
Caution is required. Relieving pain sometimes causes harm. A phase 3 study of tanezumab was recently halted by the FDA. Although the drug relieved the pain of osteoarthritis, it also resulted in more joint failure, presumably because there was more wear and tear on the joints when pain was absent.
The Pain Chronicles is a fascinating glimpse into the world of pain sufferers as well as a good overview of our current scientific knowledge. It suggests avenues of investigation that may vastly improve our management of pain. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about any aspect of the pain experience and the science. | {
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The bright yellow emergency call box outside the film and theatre school at York University is like a beacon for students in trouble
Except on this freezing March night, an “out of order” sign wrapped around the phone tower renders it useless.
It could be a symbol for safety measures adopted by York in efforts to stop the violence that, in spite of studies, reports and endless meetings, has continued since at least 2000. It brings the kind of publicity that an institution entrusted with the lives of 55,000 young people doesn’t want.
The latest incident occurred Mar. 6 at 10:45 p.m. when a man fired a gun in the student centre’s food court, wounding two young women. Neither of them sustained life-threatening injuries and police laid multiple charges the next day, but the sight of police tape in a student hub was frightening.
Again, recurring violence raises doubts about safety at York, particularly its sprawling Keele campus in north Toronto.
“We are always trying to do more to improve campus safety,” York spokesperson Janice Walls said in an email to the Star. “Gun violence is part of a systemic problem in the GTA and beyond, but we are very disturbed that this would occur on our campus.”
It’s impossible to draw comparisons with other schools because there’s no uniformly collected data on incidents of violence but, as some students observe, crime is hardly exclusive to York University.
Gun crime is atypical for York with its long history of sexual assaults on or near the Keele campus and attacks that include the 2011 beating death of a student from China in her nearby apartment.
In recent interviews at the student centre, foreign students are aghast at the thought of telling their parents about the gunman, while Sharon Vello, from Toronto, says her mother called her five times the day after the shootings to urge her not to go to school.
With a laugh, Vello tosses off: “Of course I did .”
The more easily answered question is whether students are frightened. Based on anecdotal evidence, some are scared, more so since the shootings, and those that aren’t say they’re reassured by a series of measures adopted by the school. They include emergency phones to security officials (76 staffers with plans to hire six more over the next six months) and a voluntary code that includes never walking alone at night.
Such reliance on safety measures emphasizes the importance for the university to keep its side of the bargain by ensuring the system functions smoothly and that emergency phones actually work. Walls says they are checked weekly.
“It scares me,” says Lisa Kurosawa, 22, of the recent violence, prefacing her remark by saying she’s from Japan, “a really peaceful country” where there aren’t guns.
“There were a lot of surprises. . . I thought Canada was peaceful.”
In contrast, Vello says she feels “absolutely safe” because she takes advantage of such programs as goSAFE, in which students or faculty members can contact people to escort them around campus.
There’s certainly no lack of attention on campus and at student associations. There’s a safety committee , with representatives from the administration, students and others, including the Toronto Police Service and the Canadian Union of Public Employees. It reports to university president Mamdouh Shoukri.
The Canadian Federation of Students devotes time to the study of violence against women. Vanessa Hunt, deputy chair and York alumna, stresses in an interview that sexism, misogyny and racism all play roles in sexual assault cases. The federation created the “No Means No” campaign almost 20 years ago to help empower women.
However, no matter how diligently York works on safety issues, emailed comments from Walls show it’s often a game of catch-up. There are always recommendations. After the university commissioned a third-party safety audit in 2009, a report two years later listed 101 recommendations . “The university is working diligently to implement these,” said a statement on York’s website.
Perhaps it’s not so much catch-up as fine tuning, but Walls cites several areas where work is still being done. Some raise questions about whether officials missed the forest for the trees.
She lauds York Security Services, noting the number of security officials in their grey uniforms has increased by 25 per cent in two years and adds: “We are also in the process of restructuring our security shifts to provide more optimal presence of security staff on campus.”
Walls wrote that dedicated security staffers have been posted in the food court from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. for two weeks following the shootings “until needs can be re-evaluated.”
Over the same re-evaluation period, she said there will also be two more Toronto Police Service officers patrolling campus. Toronto police established a “community response team about six months ago of six or so officers who are dedicated to York and the immediate adjacent neighbourhood,” according to Walls. The team patrols and responds to calls on campus.
“York Security officials work closely with Toronto Police Service officers on a regular basis,” wrote Walls, “and there is regular police presence on York’s campus.”
In a letter posted online after the shootings, York president Shoukri said there were discussions with the student centre about increasing the number of security cameras on site. Wrote Shoukri: “The safety and security of the York University community are paramount.”
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His letter noted that university officials are part of the police investigation into the shootings, a point reiterated by Walls to the Star. She said Shoukri planned to meet with police “to conduct a full debrief of the incident and to discuss and provide joint recommendations to improve campus safety and security.”
Such close and ongoing involvement of Toronto police on campus creates its own problems.
In an open letter in November 2012, a student committee on community, accessibility and equity (ACE), said “solving problems by a partnership with the police” was not the answer. It’s given officers the right to “stop and question black male students on campus without lawful cause.”
A month earlier in 2012, the university reported that four incidents that “qualify as sexual assault under the criminal code” had occurred since that July.
The open letter criticized York’s decision to email a report to all students and faculty following each incident, describing what happened, the likelihood of reoccurrence and a description of the suspect. The committee called the security bulletins “vague . . . with incredibly problematic descriptions that can be applied to any black male.”
As a result, York University amended the security reports to remove suspect descriptions that didn’t provide sufficient, specific information, but “only served to describe a large segment of a racialized community.”
In interviews with the Star, students reflect these tensions. Some believe that crime at the Keele campus is exacerbated by its location in the Jane/Finch neighbourhood where there’s been a high incidence of gun and gang violence, as well as youth homicides .
Vello argues just the opposite, that the perception that the university must be influenced by neighbourhood problems makes students adopt skewed beliefs. She says “the issue of crime on campus is given more attention because York is located near Jane and Finch. You don’t hear the same kind of thing about U of T, for example.”
It’s true that gun violence has been a problem in the northwest Jane/Finch neighbourhood, but community organizers who work with youth in the area often criticize what they see as a tendency in the media to report crimes without examining root causes such as poverty.
Nevertheless, students arriving at the Keele campus with its huge empty spaces aren’t particularly concerned about sociological analysis when they don’t feel safe. The Keele campus covers 185 hectares and dwarfs the smaller, midtown Glendon campus of 33 hectares that for the most part escapes negative publicity of crime on campus.
“I don’t feel as safe as I did before the shootings,” says Preethu Kaduppil, at the student centre. She lives on campus and uses programs such as goSAFE, but says the practice of leaving room doors unlocked in residence has changed over the last week or so.
Perhaps, though, it’s unrealistic to think that such a carefree mindset can exist at any big city university in the 21st century. It may be, too, that a food court in the student centre must have a high security presence, including the latest in video surveillance.
The next step, which would undoubtedly be a gigantic hassle for a busy university, could be airport-style screening in which students, faculty members and their bags are checked upon entering every building, including the student centre with its food court. | {
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Hillary Clinton said Thursday on Capitol Hill that the epidemic of “fake news” represents a “danger” that must be “addressed quickly.”
“Let me just mention briefly one threat in particular that should concern all Americans,” Clinton said at an event honoring outgoing Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. “Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike — especially those who serve in our Congress.”
Clinton said it was now clear the “epidemic of malicious fake news and false propaganda” could have “real-world consequences.”
“This isn’t about politics or partisanship,” she said. “Lives are at risk. Live of ordinary people just trying to go about their days to do their jobs, contribute to their communities.”
Clinton continued: “It’s a danger that must be addressed and addressed quickly. Bipartisan legislation is making its way through Congress to boost the government’s response to foreign propaganda and Silicon Valley is starting to grapple with the challenge and threat of fake news.”
The former Democratic presidential nominee’s comments came just days after police said an armed man showed up to a Washington, DC, pizzeria after he read online that it was tied to a child sex ring linked to the Clintons.
Since Clinton lost the election last month, some observers, particularly in the media, have suggested so-called “fake news” could have swayed certain voters who cast their ballots for President-elect Donald Trump.
Google recently removed its “in the news” section at the top of its desktop search website after it accidentally promoted a fake news item about the final election vote totals.
Clinton’s speech on Thursday was the second public appearance she has made since conceding the election to Trump. | {
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Johannesburg - Black First, Land First (BLF) leader Andile Mnxgxitama and a small band of BLF members disrupted a discussion on state capture in Braamfontein, Johannesburg on Thursday night.
The event, which was organised by investigative journalism outfit amaBhungane, was scheduled to start at 18:30, but Mngxitama and his associates started disrupting the event while amaBhungane journalist Sam Sole was doing the introductions.
Mngxitama and about four of his BLF associates pushed members of the audience around, jumped on chairs and shouted anti white monopoly capital phrases.
The comes after the SA National Editors Forum (Sanef) won a court interdict against BLF and Mngxitama at the High Court in Johannesburg preventing members from intimidating, assaulting, and going to journalists' homes.
This is a developing story. More to follow. | {
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For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.
Former Mexican President Felipe Calderón, who led a controversial military crackdown on drug cartels, is moving to the United States to take an academic fellowship with Harvard University. But protesters, both Mexican and American, say that given Calderón’s political past, he shouldn’t be offered this prestigious position or even allowed to work here.
“It’s a total disgrace to the families of Mexican citizens who lost their lives because of the drug war,” says John Randolph, who worked for the US Border Patrol for 26 years before retiring, and has posted a petition on Change.org asking Harvard to rescind Calderón’s fellowship.
Randolph’s petition, which has received more than 6,700 signatures, cites evidence similar to that presented in a 2009 Mother Jones article on the drug war by investigative journalist Charles Bowden. In his story, Bowden details how after taking power in 2006, Calderón failed to protect persecuted journalists and used the Mexican Army (and over a billion dollars in American aid money) to fight the drug cartels, a strategy that has resulted in more than 60,000 deaths and the disappearance of thousands.
“I can’t help but think of the Mexican people who have tried to legitimately gain asylum in the United States because of the drug war—and have been turned down,” says Randolph. “How can Calderón waltz in and work for Harvard?”
Eduardo Cortés Rivadeneyra, who runs a construction business in Puebla, Mexico, has started a similar petition (in Spanish). He tells Mother Jones that he felt “insulted” when he heard the news of Calderón’s appointment at Harvard’s Kennedy School. “I assure you that thousands of Mexicans don’t want Calderón to teach in the US or anywhere else,” he says.
According to a statement by Harvard Kennedy School dean David Ellwood, “President Calderón is a distinguished alumnus of the Kennedy School and is known for his efforts in Mexico to improve the economy, expand and protect public health, address the drug problem, and engage with other world leaders around shared goals.” During Calderón’s fellowship, students will have the opportunity to ask him “difficult questions on important policy issues,” according to Ellwood’s statement. Harvard Kennedy School spokesperson Molly Lanzarotta points out that the inaugural fellowship, which is designed for retiring world leaders, is a one-year position, “not a faculty teaching appointment.”
Harvard isn’t the first university to try to get the former Mexican president onto its campus. In 2012, Calderón was in talks with the University of Texas at Austin. Once news got out that Calderón was meeting with the university president, students and other community members staged a protest on campus, disrupting a meeting of top Mexican government officials. Ultimately, Calderón never had any follow-up discussions with the university or job offers, according to Gary Susswein, a spokesman for the university. Susswein adds that the decision-making process took place “independent of any protests.”
Angelica Ortiz Garza, who doesn’t have any connection with the university but started an online petition against Calderón’s nomination at UT Austin, believes the protests “definitely had an impact on their decision.” But unlike UT Austin, she notes, Harvard is “far from the border” and Calderón’s time there as a student carries a lot of weight.
“So many tragedies occurred while he was in power, people are poorer, the country is in big debt, and there is a lot of corruption,” Garza says. “Unfortunately this has been always the case in Mexico, presidents usually leave the country to work or live in a better place.” | {
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Fans can choose three from a ballot of 10 Phillies alumni with first place votes worth five points, second worth three points and third worth one point. The top five in points from fan voting will be placed on a ballot for the Wall of Fame Selection Committee, which will pick the 2017 inductee. | {
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Informacja o tym, że Andrzej Duda zaprosił Mateusza Morawieckiego na spotkanie pojawiła się na Twitterze Kancelarii Prezydenta. "W związku z decyzją Prezydent Warszawy Hanny Gronkiewicz-Waltz, która nie wyraziła zgody na Marsz Niepodległości 11 listopada, Prezydent RP Andrzej Duda zaprosił na konsultacje Premiera RP" - ogłoszono.
REKLAMA
Spotkanie Duda - Morawiecki w związku z decyzją o Marszu Niepodległości
Niedługo po godzinie 16.00 spotkanie się rozpoczęło, o czym poinformował na Twitterze urzędnik Kancelarii Marcin Kędryna, który wrzucił krótki film z premierem Morawieckim w Pałacu, udającym się na rozmowy.
O czym konkretnie rozmawiali prezydent i premier? Przed Pałacem Prezydenckim odbył się briefing prasowy ministra Błażeja Spychalskiego.
- Ustalono, że zgodnie z propozycjami środowisk kombatanckich zostanie zorganizowany wspólny biało-czerwony marsz - przekazał Spychalski. - Zapraszamy Polaków i Polki - dodał. Powiedział też, że będzie to uroczystość państwowa.
- Marsz będzie miał charakter uroczystości państwowych, w związku z tym wszystkie inne marsze, które ewentualnie mogłyby przebiegać tą samą trasą nie mogą mieć miejsca - ogłosił rzecznik prezydenta.
Na pytania dziennikarzy odpowiedział, że marsz ma przebiegać tą samą trasą jak zakazany Marsz Niepodległości. Spychalski zaprosił "wszystkie środowiska" do udziału w państwowym marszu 11 listopada.
Spychalski dodał, że marsz będzie miał patronat prezydenta Andrzeja Dudy.
Zakaz dla Marszu Niepodległości
Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz ogłosiła dziś po południu, że zakazuje Marszu Niepodległości. - Warszawa dość już się wycierpiała przez agresywny nacjonalizm - powiedziała i przyznała, że decyzję dotyczącą marszu 11 listopada konsultowała z Rafałem Trzaskowskim. Organizatorzy zapowiedzieli złożenie do sądu odwołania od decyzji prezydent. | {
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IELTS Training in Abu Dhabi
The IELTS is the most popular English language proficiency test for students who wish to go abroad for higher education. This exam tests you in 4 sections which are Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening. Generally, band 7 is considered very good for students as it would help you get a good university. At Al Manal Training Center, we can easily help you achieve band 7 and even band 8 if you put good amount of efforts and attend our classes regularly without fail. IELTS Training in Abu Dhabi.
Understanding IELTS Course
Firstly, understanding IELTS completely will let you to easily crack the exam and get a score of 7 and above. During our course, we will let you know each and every detail about the 4 modules of IELTS test i.e. Reading, Writing, Speaking, and Listening.
Test format
Listening:
In the listening test, you will discover the format of the test and improve learning strategies to assist you deal with the various types of tasks.
Topics covered:
Understanding the Listening test format
Get a grip of the listening task types
Getting acquainted with listening skills and strategies
Texts on different topics
Things to anticipate on day of the test
What you achieve:
Learn how to enhance the test performance.
Tackling various kinds of tasks.
Enhance your confidence and be fully prepared.
Reading:
Our reading training helps you get focus on the types of text you must read and build strategies to assist you deal with the varied types of tasks such as true or false, multiple choice, etc.
Topics covered:
Getting a hold of the IELTS Reading test format
Understanding Reading strategies
Different task types in IELTS Reading
Grip on Vocabulary
Things to expect on the day of the test
What you achieve:
Explore IELTS Reading test completely and understand the various kinds of text that you must read.
Build strategies that will help you deal with various kinds of tasks.
Get complete understanding of individual sections such as multiple choice, matching paragraphs, short-answer questions, skimming and scanning, etc.
Writing:
In our writing training, we will let you explore the format of the test so that you can quickly answer the questions. This is one of the very important sections in IELTS.
Topics covered:
The IELTS Academic Writing test format.
Academic Writing types of tasks.
Assessment criteria
Checking an academic essay
Graphs and charts
Things to expect on the day of the test.
What you achieve:
Develop strategies for each task in Academic writing.
Learn the language required to easily answer the first task.
Apply tips and techniques that you will learn at Al Manal Training Institute to check and answer the academic essays in task two.
Speaking:
We will help you learn the 4 important criteria that will be utilized to evaluate your spoken English. Our experts have a lot of tips and tricks that will enhance your English language in the shortest time possible and build enough confidence in you.
Topics covered:
Complete understanding of the IELTS Speaking test format.
Giving a talk.
Get a hold of the assessment criteria.
Building enough confidence to crack the text.
Things to expect on the day of the test.
What you achieve:
Explore all the 3 parts of IELTS speaking and understand the 4 criteria that examiner uses to assess your skills in Speaking.
Learn techniques from our professors to enhance your speaking and succeed in easily attempting the test.
Learn how to discuss with the examiner professionally.
So, these are the essential things that you will learn in the IELTS 4 formats. These are just for your understanding. There are a lot more topics that will be covered and a lot more things that you will achieve after completing each of the sections, which are Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking.
Takeaway:
Al Manal Training Center is providing the best IELTS Coaching in Abu Dhabi for interested candidates who wish to go abroad for their higher studies or work abroad. So, join our training center today and get trained by our experts who have decades of expertise in the teaching field. We assure you that our training will offer enough tips and techniques to help you crack IELTS with the best band and make your dreams of pursuing higher education come true. To reach us today, you can give us a call on 0545069695 and our experts will see to it that you ensure continued success in the future.
Quick Links:
FAQs
Why are there two versions of IELTS test?
IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training are the 2 versions of IELTS test.
When can I take IELTS test?
There are total 48 fixed dates in a year and maximum of up to 4 times a month.
Can I change the test date of my speaking test?
No. Speaking test is generated by the system automatically. So, you cannot reschedule the speaking test.
What is the accent that is heard in the Listening and Speaking tests?
A variety of English assents are utilized in IELTS Listening and Speaking tests.
Should I write with a pencil?
For IELTS Reading and Listening sections, pencil is typically recommended.
Is writing in Capital letters allowed?
Yes, you are allowed to use capital letters in the IELTS test. | {
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Demogorgon Pact Demogorgon is the Prince of Demons, the ruler of the inifinite layers of the Abyss. Driven mad by the two personalities that constantly tear him in different directions, pacts with Demogorgon are rare but can be quite a boon for a mortal who manages to secure one. Demogorgon Expanded Spell List Spell Level Spells 1st detect magic, tasha's hideous laughter 2nd enlarge/reduce, magic mouth 3rd slow, water breathing 4th confusion, grasping vine 5th geas, telekinesis Two Heads At 1st level, your pact with the Prince of Demons grants you a portion of his bifrucated nature. A small tumor appears on the side of your neck, occasionally manifesting a single eye and ear when you will it to. You have advantage on saving throws against being blinded, deafened, stunned, and knocked unconcious. Additionally, the tumor will keep watch while you are asleep, allowing you to remain fully alert to your surrounding while resting. Roiling Insanity At 6th level, you can expose your enemies to the unbridled madness your patron constantly experiences. As an action, you can direct your tumor's eye towards a creature you can see within 60 feet. That creature makes a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, it take 3d6 psychic damage and is stunned until the end of its next turn. You can use this ability once per short rest. Duality While you do not share in your patron's war with himself, the Prince of Demons shares his insights on living as one part of a whole being. At 10th level, when you cast a spell with a range of self, you split the effects with an ally within five feet of you. If you do so, that creature also gains the effects of the spell, though the duration of the spell is halved. You regain use of this ability during a short rest. Abyssal Intervention Demorgon is the ruler of the abyss, and has dominion over its forces and power. Starting at 14th level, you can entreat your patron's aid in particularly dire circumstances. As an action, you can roll a percentile die. If you roll a number equal to or lower than your warlock level, Demogorgon intervenes. The DM chooses the nature of the intervention; the effect of any warlock spell would be appropriate. If Demogorgon intervenes, you can't use this feature again for 7 days. Otherwise, you can use it again after you finish a Long Rest. Your patron does not take kindly being called unneccesarrily. If you succeed in your intervention and Demogorgon does not believe his aid was absolutely vital, he may turn his ire towards you and your allies. The DM decides when such action is appropriate. At 20th level, your plea automatically succeeds, however you still need to wait a week between usages.
Orcus Pact Orcus is the Prince of Undeath. A frequent source of cult following, those that beg power from him gain a fragment of his dominion of necromantic energies. Demogorgon Expanded Spell List Spell Level Spells 1st protection from evil and good, ray of sickness 2nd blindness/deafness, gentle repose 3rd feign death, speak with dead 4th death ward, locate creature 5th antilife shell, cloudkill Death Pact Orcus does not suffer the living for long, and you are no exception. At 1st level, you have surrended your mortal body to Orcus in exchange for power. You are an undead in addition to your other racial types. You are immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition. In addition, if damage reduces you to 0 hit points, you must make a Constitution saving throw with a DC of 5+the damage taken, unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit. On a success, you drop to 1 hit point instead. Shambling Servants At 6th level, Orcus himself shares his observations on undeath with you, enabling you to raise the dead and command them to do you bidding. Once per long rest, you can cast Animate Dead, raising a number of dead less than or equal to your Charisma modifier. Each undead you have control over gains temporary hit points equal to your warlock level whenever they are initially raised or when you reassert control over them. Visage of the Blood Lord At 10th level, you can channel a vision of your demonic patron. Once per short rest, you channel necrotic energy into a 20 ft. sphere around you for 1 minute. Any hostile creatures that start their turn in the sphere take 2d8 necrotic damage and have disadvantage on death saving throws. Any non-undead humanoid that dies in the area raises as a zombie under your control. Any zombies raised by this ability die when the effect ends. Undead Scion At 14th level, you can raise a powerful creature to serve as an undead ally. Over the course of a long rest, you can reanimate the body of a creature of CR 3 or less. It has the same statistics it did when it was living, though it is undead in addition to its other creature types. You do not need to reuse this feature to maintain control over the creature. You may only have one creature raised with this ability at a time. Should you raise another creature with this ability while you have an existing servant, the existing servant remains animated though you lose control over it when the ritual completes.
Juiblex Pact Juiblex Expanded Spell List Spell Level Spells 1st create or destroy water, sanctuary 2nd enthrall, web 3rd meld into stone, slow 4th black tentacles, polymorph 5th passwall, telepathic Bond Amorphous At 1st level, your pact with the Faceless Lord substantially changes your physiollogy, your body reforming to more resemble the slimes that Juiblex controls. You can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. Additionally you can make yourself appear 1 foots shorter or taller than your true height, though your equipment does not change to fit your new dimensions. Instead of food or water, you can digest any organic matter. Two pounds of organic matter are enough to sustain you for a day. Corrosive Touch At 6th level, a thin film of caustic acid covers your entire body. Whenever a creature hits you with a melee attack, it must make a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d10 acid damage. This damage increases to 2d10 at level 11, and 3d10 at level 18. No Discernable Anatomy At 10th level, a your form is so amorphous that you no longer need worry about being affected by many effects. Any critical hit against you becomes a normal hit, and take no additional damage from the Rogue's sneak attack feature. You are immune to poison damage, the poisoned condition, paralysis, and the stunned condition. You are also resistant to slashing damage. However, you are no longer affected by potions of any kind. Summon Ooze At 14th level, you can entreat your patron to send one of the oozes it commands to (hopefull) aid you. Once per long rest, you can summon 2d4 Gray Oozes, 1d4 Gelatinous Cubes, or 1 Black Pudding in any number of unoccupied spaces within 60 feet of you. Any creatures summoned by this ability are not under your control and will attack the creature nearest it. Your DM has the statistics for these creatures.
Graz'zt Pact Graz'zt Expanded Spell List Spell Level Spells 1st command, fog cloud 2nd alter self, detect thoughts 3rd bestow curse, slow 4th confusion, greater invisibility 5th dominate person, modify memory Charming Persona At 1st level, your pact with the Dark Prince grants you a sliver of the demon lord's charismatic essence. You add half your proficiency bonus, rounded down, to any Charisma check that you do not already add your proficiency bonus to. You also add charm person to your list of spells known. This does not count against your number of spells known. Sneak Attack At 6th level, you learn from your patron how to take advantage of the openings your opponents present. Once per turn, when you hit with a weapon attack or the eldritch blast cantrip targetting only a single creature, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to the creature you hit if you have advantage on the Attack roll. You don't need advantage on the Attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn't Incapacitated, and you don't have disadvantage on the Attack roll. This damage increases to 2d6 at 10th level, 3d6 at 14th level, and 4d6 at 18th level. Jaunt At 10th level, you learn how to open small doorways to the Abyss and emerge from the journey. As a bonus action you can teleport to an unoccupied space within 30 feet of you. Each time you use this feature, you take 1d4 psychic damage as the brief horrors you glimpse in the journey take their toll on your mind. Each time you use it again before finishing a sh, the damage increases by another 1d4 due to the prolonged exposure. Loving Stare At 14th level, you can attempt to invoke your patron's endless charm to further manipulate the hearts of those around you. As an action, you can expend a spell slot and attempt to charm a humanoid creature you can see within 30 feet of you. If you are of a species and gender the creature would normally attracted to, they regard you as their true love while they are Charmed. This effect lasts for two hours. The creature also has disadvantage on saving throws against any other Enchantment spells you cast on it while it is charmed.
The Crossroads Warlock Patron Everyone has a dream. Some realize theirs easily, while others find it impossibly out of their grasp. All are equal at the Crossroads however, and you have found your way there. No one is quite sure what it, or they, are, but the Crossroads is the patron of lost souls who yearn for some person, object, or goal more than anything in the world. Most remember their trip to the Crossroads as a dream or vision, but afterwards find themselves with new abilities they could never have dreamt of. However these gifts do not come without a cost, and the Crossroads are never far away when it needs it's debts repaid. The Crossroads Expanded Spell List Spell Level Spells 1st compelled duel, hunter's mark 2nd find steed, scorching ray 3rd lightning bolt, wall of sand 4th faithful hound, hallucinatory terrain 5th insect plague, seeming Your Most Fervent Dream At 1st level, you make a deal with the spirit of the crossroads to fulfill a lifelong dream. You gain proficiency in a skill, language, or tool of your choice. In addition, whenever you make a check with the proficiency granted by this ability, you may use your Charisma modifier instead of the stated ability. Road Warrior At 1st level, your travels to The Crossroads have hardened you into a potent instrument of death. Your newfound fortitude is represented by Grit Points. You have a number of Grit Points equal to your Charisma modifier. You regain all spent Grit Points after finishing a short or long rest. In addtion, you regain a Grit Point whenever you get a critical hit with a spell attack roll. You also regain a point whenever you reduce a creature to 0 hit points. At 1st level you can spend 1 Grit Point to gain advantage on a spell attack roll. Sudden Recollection At 6th level, the Crossroads can reveal a path to success where others would falter. When you roll a saving throw, you can use you reaction and spend 1 grit point. You gain a bonus to the saving throw equal to your proficiency modifier if you are not already proficient in the save. You can use this ability after you see the total, but it must be before the DM announces the results. All Roads Lead Back At 10th level, you gain a more fundamental understanding of the Crossroads and its true nature. You can perfectly recall any path you have traveled, and you are immune to the maze spell. You also gain a bonus to your initiative rolls equal to your proficiency modifier. As a reaction to being targeted by a ranged attack, you can attempt to confuse the target and redirect his aggression. The attacker must make a Wisdom saving throw against your warlock spell save DC. On a failed save, you may choose another creature you can see with 30 feet of you as the new target. The creature compares the original attack roll against the new target's AC. If it meets or beats it, the new target takes damage as normal. You regain use of this ability after finishing a short or long rest. Wanted: Dead or Alive At 14th level, you can push the tides of fate to one extreme or another. As an action, you can choose a creature within 60 feet of you and choose "Dead or Alive". Dead: For the next 24 hours, you have advantage on attack rolls against that creature. Any damage you deal to the marked creature ignores any resistances and immunities it may have, and your attack rolls ignore any benefits the creature would recieve from 1/2 or 3/4 cover. Alive: For the next 24 hours, the chosen creature is under the effect of a sanctuary spell that does not end if the creature attacks an enemy. The creature regains maximum possible hit points from any healing. If the creature would drop below 1 hit point, it instead drops to 0 hit points and this ability ends. You regain use of this ability when you finish a long rest. | {
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Time and time again, we hear the term. How did they pull that off? They came back again? They’ve made another final? All these questions often answered by one phrase, NiP Magic.
Which, really, isn’t much of an answer at all. What IS NiP magic? When used by fans it’s a fun term to explain the extraordinary skill our team has. However, too many times it seems to be used to throw away our teams incredible achievements. Used by those who counted us out to explain why they were wrong, without admitting that they have missed the fundamental things that makes this team so great. So, I’m going to do my best to explain it.
The most obvious part of the so called magic is the fact that Ninjas in Pyjamas has a roster filled to the brim with individual talent. Each and every one of the five players has the ability to be absolute animals in the game. GeT_RiGhT is known to many as a God, he can and will pull of some indescribable solo efforts, bringing whole teams to their knees. f0rest and friberg can decimate defences with an entry frag, or bring the enemies assault to a halt with perfect timing, positioning and execution. Allu, the new guy, already showing in his short time here that he can bring a whole five man team down with his awp, adding to this he can also take a step back from the awp when needed and hold crucial parts of the map. Finally Xizt, whether you look at his ability to top frag like the best of them, or the often overlooked leadership qualities he brings every single game, it is clear that he is an integral part of the team. Remember, form is temporary, class is permanent.
The next part is the teamwork, while many will open the scoreboard and look solely at the kills, counterstrike is a game that requires five players, and the five we have fit together perfectly. Whilst this is currently still a point that is being worked on due to roster changes, a team must understand each other well and move like a well oiled machine in order to pull off the greatest of results. Whilst Xizt must be mentioned again for his ability to organise and instruct the team, every single one of the boys is responsible for their input and dedication to following what they have been told will be the best plan.
The final and equally important part of this so called magic, is the personality and mentality the team has. Together on and off the game the five are good friends. Their jokes, character and attitude towards the game bounce off one and other and is crucial to keeping the team functioning. Whether ten rounds ahead or ten rounds behind, they always know they are still in the game. Until there is a sixteen on the scoreboard, the game is not over and should be treated like any other, one round at a time. Their composure does not crack, their faith in their own ability never fades and this allows them to always be in the game. No matter how many times you tell them they are not capable, that they are not amongst the best, they will prove you wrong time and time again reaching final after final. They never blame each other or project any anger, instead they hold each other up and keep the team firmly together throughout.
So, tell me. Do you believe in magic?
By Robert Gooderson | {
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Canada's national housing agency poured cold water on the notion that foreign money is driving up Canada's condo market, arguing in a paper Tuesday that foreigners own no more than 2.4 per cent of all the rental condos in Canada.
As part of its mandate to monitor Canada's housing market, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation publishes a report twice a year looking at details of local rental markets across the country. The report is tabulated in April and October every year, and for the first time the October report published Tuesday looked at how many foreigners are buying what are known as "purpose-built rental housing units" — which essentially means a residential property designed to earn investment income from being rented out.
The answer? Not many.
Based on extensive interviews and site visits with owners, managers, or building superintendents of about 20,000 buildings with at least three or more units across the country, here's the CMHC's estimate of many foreigners own condo units in Canada's 11 biggest census metropolitan areas:
Victoria: 1.1 per cent,
Vancouver: 2.3 per cent,
Calgary: 0.2 per cent,
Edmonton: 0.1 per cent,
Saskatoon: 0.3 per cent,
Regina: 0.1 per cent,
Winnipeg: 0.1 per cent,
Toronto: 2.4 per cent,
Ottawa: 0.7 per cent,
Montreal: 1.5 per cent and
Quebec: 0.6 per cent.
The report should surprise anyone who believes the many local narratives that foreigners are the driving force pushing condo prices much higher than their fundamentals would otherwise indicate.
The CMHC does concede that foreign condo ownership is higher in downtown cores. The rate for the Montreal area as a whole may be 1.5 per cent, but it jumps to 6.9 per cent on Nun's Island, CMHC says.
Similarly, in downtown Toronto the rate is 4.3 per cent, compared with 2.4 per cent for the census metropolitan area as a whole. And Vancouver’s Burrard Peninsula has a foreign investor ownership rate of 5.8 per cent, compared with 2.3 per cent for the area as a whole.
Rents getting pricier
The report contains some other details on the health of Canada's rental market, beyond the influence of foreign money
"Between October 2013 and October 2014," the CMHC says, "in the largest centres the number of purpose-built rental units rose by 2.7 per cent or 42,711 units."
"This increase in supply outpaced the approximate 39,900 increase in units occupied. Accordingly, the national vacancy rate rose" to 2.8 per cent, the housing agency says.
But there was wide variance in the numbers from city to city. Vacancy rates for condominium apartments ranged from a high of 3.4 per cent in Montreal to a low of 0.7 per cent in Vancouver.
Rents also ticked higher, on average. Across the country, the average rental rate for a two-bedroom apartment increased 2.5 per cent. That's higher than the 2.4 per cent inflation rate seen in the same period for the economy as a whole.
Across the country, the average rent was $941 per month. "Average monthly rents for two-bedroom apartments in new and existing structures were highest in Calgary ($1,322), Vancouver ($1,311) and Toronto ($1,251)," the CMHC says. "Rents were the lowest in Trois Rivières ($568), Saguenay ($595) and Sherbrooke ($604)."
Condo rental rates are, in general, a little higher, because condos tend to have modern amenities. Rental prices for two-bedroom condominium apartments were highest in Toronto ($1,818) and lowest in Quebec ($1,070).
The gap between rents in apartment buildings versus comparable condominium units was highest in Toronto, at $567, and Montreal, at $405 a month. | {
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Viable, highly effective technologies have been developed to tackle environmental challenges, including the release of pollutants – such as oxides of sulphur (SOx) and nitrogen (NOx) – and particulate and trace elements, such as mercury.
Steps are taken in modern mining operations to minimise impacts on all aspects of the environment. By carefully pre-planning projects, implementing pollution control measures, monitoring the effects of mining and rehabilitating mined areas, the coal industry minimises the impact of its activities on the neighbouring community, the immediate environment and on long-term land capability.
The energy sector, like all industrial processes, is water intensive. Steps are taken to minimise water impacts from coal mining and technologies are available and continue to be developed to reduce coal's water footprint. | {
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An artist’s reconstruction of what the giant bird Dromornis would look like. Genyornis would be similar but slightly smaller. Credit: Peter Trusler, Author provided
Australia is renowned for once being home to a group of gigantic birds known as the mihirungs. These birds are distantly related to waterfowl and included the impressive Dromornis stirtoni, the largest bird ever known on the planet at about 450kg in weight.
They were around about eight million years ago and the last surviving relative lived into the last 100,000 years in what is termed the Pleistocene. This was Genyornis newtoni, and at 250kg it was still a massive bird, some six times the weight of an emu. It is listed among the megafauna that went extinct after human arrival.
Fossil eggshell has been found eroding from sand dunes in widespread localities across Australia. And in the early 1980s, one particular kind – about as thick as that of emu – was noticed to differ from that of emu. It was believed to be Genyornis shell.
Thereafter, Genyornis shell became the subject of extensive research by US geologist Professor Gifford Miller and his colleagues. In a series of influential papers, they showed both emu and Genyornis shells were common 300,000 to 100,000 years ago.
But simultaneously, across the breadth of Australia, Genyornis shell suddenly disappeared from the record between 50,000 and 45,000 years ago, while emu shell persisted in the record to the present.
An artist’s impression of Genyornis newtoni. Credit: Anne Musser, Australian Museum
The extinction of Genyornis became the most well-dated megafaunal extinction in Australia, and one of the best dated in the world.
Size matters
But the discovery of egg shell from a single egg that was expertly reconstructed by Natalie Schroeder in the South Australian Museum hinted at a problem in this story.
What was thought to be a Genyornis egg actually measures only 126mm by 97mm, about the same size as an emu egg. It is thus three to four times smaller than would be predicted for the bird Genyornis. Even the smallest moa lays a larger egg, and the similar-sized giant moa, Dinornis robustus, laid eggs hugely larger (240mm by 178mm).
The image shows two eggs, with the new fossil of the kind until now thought to be from Genyornis beside an emu egg. It also shows the leg bones (femora) of a Genyornis compared to that of an emu. The huge disparity in size of the femora reflects the much larger size of the Genyornis bird compared to an emu. Therefore the egg, which until now has been attributed to Genyornis, which is only of similar volume to that of an emu, is far smaller than expected. Credit: Trevor H Worthy and Warren Handley, Author provided
Our team examined the structure of the so-called Genyornis eggshell and compared it to a range of other fowl, as well as fossil eggshell millions of years old that had to derive from other mihirung species.
In a paper, published this month in Quaternary Science Reviews, we show that the putative Genyornis shell differs markedly from older Mihirung shell and was similar to that of land fowl known as megapodes.
Megapodes are a unique group of birds that all employ external heat to incubate their eggs. They are called mound-builders, as many species build mounds, some of them very large, measuring more than ten metres wide and three-to-five metres high. In these, composting vegetation provides the heat to incubate the eggs (ectothermic incubation). Others megapodes use warm soil in volcanic landscapes or warm sands in sand dunes.
In Australia, the brush turkey (above) is well known in eastern regions for its nuisance value in gardens. In the more arid interior, the malleefowl is another member of this group. Both are among Australia's largest birds at between two and two-and-a-half kilograms in weight.
A typical brush turkey on its mound. Credit: Flickr/Doug Beckers, CC BY-SA
But both are small compared to some little known extinct forms. There are two named species in the genus Progura that probably reach five-to-six kilograms.
Australia's Progura species lacked the specialised digging adaptation of the smaller megapodes, but they still had to achieve ectothermic incubation – and what better place for this than the extensive sand dunes across much of the country.
Not the extinct big bird we thought it was
We believe the eggshell long attributed to Genyornis is, in fact, the missing shell from these extinct giant megapodes. This neatly explains why shell is very abundant in sand dunes.
The implications of this new identity for the egg shell are huge. The most well-known extinction event in Australia is no longer the case. All such inferences on the extinction of the megafaunal mihirung bird now apply to giant (but not really megafaunal) megapodes.
Genyornis bones are rare in the fossil record, except in two sites (Lake Callabonna, in northern South Australia, and Cuddie Springs in central northern New South Wales) and when and why it went extinct is now the new problem to address.
The relatively large eggs of megapodes and the fact that they buried their eggs has meant that across their entire former distribution (Melanesia, Polynesia and Australia), many species became extinct due to hunting and egg harvesting.
That the largest megapodes known should have gone extinct relatively quickly after human arrival is not unexpected. Just how many did is being addressed by ongoing research, as several new species have been detected by researchers in our group at Flinders University. It seems we lost a whole radiation of these giant birds.
Explore further Egg hunt to find Ice Age parents
This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing scaled back its plan to convert northern cities to cleaner fuel this winter after provinces warned of gas shortages, residents struggled to keep warm and reports of freezing classrooms deepened concerns about a heating crisis.
Workers install gas pipes along the walls of residential houses in the village of Heqiaoxiang outside of Baoding, Hebei province, China, December 5, 2017. REUTERS/Thomas Peter
The deceleration is the first admission from the central government that its effort to switch households and factories in the country’s smoggiest cities away from coal to gas or electric heating may have been implemented too quickly, and without the critical infrastructure and domestic output to meet the resulting surge in demand.
China’s Ministry of Environment has told northern regions that have not converted to gas or electric heating they may burn coal or other fuels instead, financial magazine Caixin reported.
Caixin cited regulatory sources who confirmed to the publication that official orders were issued in a document.
“It is not wrong for Beijing to push the coal-to-gas switch, but the process was a bit too fast and outpaced the market’s capacity,” said Xu Bo, a researcher with CNPC’s Research Institute of Economics and Technology.
Suspending the project that stretches across 28 northern cities may have a limited impact as more than 4 million homes have already installed gas-fired radiators, while tens of thousands of factories have ripped out coal-fuelled boilers.
The extra consumption since the winter heating season started in mid-November has already triggered a surge in domestic gas prices to record highs and forced companies to take unprecedented, costly steps to ensure supplies.
Chinese LNG prices have surged over the past month, hitting record highs last week above 8,000 yuan ($1,210) per tonne, according to market.yeslng.com, an unregulated online exchange for domestic supplies of the fuel.
The government’s retreat is a blow to a years-long push to wean China from coal, its favorite fuel, to help clear the nation’s smoggy skies, which have become a hot-button issue.
Slideshow ( 5 images )
Beijing is under increasing social and economic pressure to deal with the chronic hazardous air that blankets the north and threatens people’s health.
RESORTING TO COAL
For now, concerns about keeping the world’s most populous nation from freezing have taken precedence.
In Heqiaoxiang, a village outside of Baoding in Hebei province about 150 km southwest of the nation’s capital, the project to convert homes to gas is running behind schedule, with many residences still without new gas-fired boilers.
With temperatures falling well below zero Celsius at night, Me Li told Reuters on Thursday he has resorted to using coal again and switched his old boilers back on.
“I hate coal boilers, but I have no other choice,” he said, after buying four tonnes of coal from a friend.
“Others in the village are not so lucky. They don’t know where to buy coal and are living in the cold.”
On Thursday, the official English language newspaper China Daily said the Ministry of Education demanded “immediate” action to ensure classrooms are warm enough after local media reported students were showing symptoms of frostbite due to delays in heating supplies in Hebei province.
Heating to some rural schools in Hebei’s Quyang county has been delayed, forcing classes outside into the sun’s warmth, the China Youth Daily reported.
Cities that have already switched to gas should ensure steady supplies and stable prices of gas and electricity, the environment ministry said in its document, according to Caixin.
Still, state oil and gas producer China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) [CNPET.UL] joined a chorus of warnings across the industry on Thursday warning of shortages if the winter is extremely cold.
Wood Mackenzie estimates heating needs alone will add 10 billion cubic meters (bcm) to China’s gas demand, the equivalent of Vietnam’s annual consumption. China is expected to use a record of about 230 bcm this year.
“It will take time to improve the infrastructure, so I think the gas shortage problem in China will remain in future years, but should not be as bad if we learn from the lesson,” said CNPC researcher Xu. | {
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Via the Chris Stigall Show and WPHT in Philadelphia. Two weeks ago, this wouldn’t have been worth posting; Attkisson herself, I suspect, wouldn’t have mentioned it publicly. Even if she’s right about something fishy going on, there are other plausible culprits besides the U.S. government when it comes to reporters’ computers being infiltrated. Two weeks later, though, knowing now that the DOJ was willing to order a dragnet of AP reporters’ phone records and actually read James Rosen’s e-mails, there’s no way around the obvious suspicion. If the feds were willing to monitor Rosen and the AP in the name of cracking down on leakers, why wouldn’t they monitor the one reporter from non-Fox big media who’s done more digging on Fast and Furious and Benghazi than anyone else?
Attkisson told Laura Ingraham in October 2011 that a White House official had screamed and cursed at her for her reporting. The DOJ wasn’t happy either:
I’m certainly not the one to make the case for DOJ and White House about what I’m doing wrong. They will tell you that I’m the only reporter–as they told me–that is not reasonable. They say the Washington Post is reasonable, the LA Times is reasonable, the New York Times is reasonable, I’m the only one who thinks this is a story, and they think I’m unfair and biased by pursuing it.
Which government sources were aiding and abetting this “unreasonable” reporter? There was one obvious way to find out. Any comment, DOJ?
Here’s the clip. The full Stigall podcast can be found here. Obvious exit question: Whether Attkisson was monitored or not, it can’t be just the AP and Rosen whom the feds have snooped on in four years. How many other reporters? | {
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Transcript for Tyler Perry raises reward in missing persons case to $200,000
I was none of us had to be here in this moment. Detectable New York see you back here who has been who has been. Great if the help but just one of every rather know that their offices in the college scouting report prepared for help. The great privilege. Living a life that is afforded me would be very very poor. Have friends who have gotten in trouble. May make mistakes small mistakes ended up spending many many years in jail prison because there were poor black did have. The right representation. Or someone to fight for them. So standing where I'm standing now in the middle of coming from being poor in that situation. To being a man who's been very blessed to do very well and seeing my other friends now. A lot of them wore not after American people when their children get in trouble they can pick up the phone call judge. They call a lawyer they could call several people to give them help put some of the same crime sometimes it works so there's it's clear. Disconnect between cultures and between class and I completely understand that but no matter who you walk. For your core race this has got to probably. This has got to you are decent human kind person would but so I don't know how you can sit. And not be upset that these two people. Black white Mexican W matter what would be put in the back of a sheriff's that we thought someone we are supposed to trust. Put in the car and then they disappear and haven't been seen in fourteen years I don't know. Anyone who that would not movement messages have a heart soul. So my my hope here my prayers in all of this. Here and trying to help or is just get the answers. And get the justice that she deserves that that terrorists his children deserve the Santos family deserve so. My hope is that when I first offer the 100000 dollar reward Afghan for information we have not gotten believe robbery that. Reports of 200000 dollars for information. Are. Accident. We believe to be cooperative list which was he called. I've really got the head in his poignant to work it out. We've got to see that this Jeff suggested it that if there pretty tasteful way. He deserves to get. Because he took much. I don't like that. It got to keep our fighting. For the very audience thank you.
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A total of 20 Democratic candidates will take to the debate stage in Miami this week — 10 each on Wednesday and Thursday evening.
But most of the focus will be on the top five candidates in the polls who have broken away from the rest of the pack.
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What does each of them need to do?
Former Vice President Joe Biden Joe BidenPelosi slams Trump executive order on pre-existing conditions: It 'isn't worth the paper it's signed on' Hillicon Valley: Subpoenas for Facebook, Google and Twitter on the cards | Wray rebuffs mail-in voting conspiracies | Reps. raise mass surveillance concerns Fox News poll: Biden ahead of Trump in Nevada, Pennsylvania and Ohio MORE
One of Biden’s most important objectives is, politically speaking, to abide by the Hippocratic oath: “First, do no harm.”
The former vice president has raised doubts about his standing as the front-runner with a couple of serious stumbles recently. If he were to misspeak or otherwise incite another controversy when he hits the debate stage on Thursday, it would be a huge problem.
Conversely, if he puts in a solid performance, that will quieten some of the concern.
Biden will almost certainly face questions about the two furors that have recently dogged his candidacy: his earlier support for the anti-abortion Hyde Amendment, which he has now reversed; and his praise for the affability of two Southern segregationists of an earlier era, the late Sens. James Eastland (D-Miss.) and Herman Talmadge (D-Ga.).
Biden faces at least two other challenges. One is whether he can counterpunch effectively if he is criticized by his rivals. It has been seven years since Biden was last in a high-profile debate — his vice presidential clash with Republican Paul Ryan Paul Davis RyanKenosha will be a good bellwether in 2020 At indoor rally, Pence says election runs through Wisconsin Juan Williams: Breaking down the debates MORE in 2012 — and the time-lag could leave him rusty.
The other task he faces is proving that he has a real vision for the nation’s future. At 76, and having been on the national political scene since the early 1970s, Biden needs to demonstrate that he is not yesterday’s man.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth WarrenHillicon Valley: Subpoenas for Facebook, Google and Twitter on the cards | Wray rebuffs mail-in voting conspiracies | Reps. raise mass surveillance concerns On The Money: Anxious Democrats push for vote on COVID-19 aid | Pelosi, Mnuchin ready to restart talks | Weekly jobless claims increase | Senate treads close to shutdown deadline Democratic senators ask inspector general to investigate IRS use of location tracking service MORE (D-Mass.)
Warren is the candidate with momentum, rising in the polls and — in a couple of recent national surveys — supplanting Sen. Bernie Sanders Bernie SandersThe Hill's Campaign Report: Trump faces backlash after not committing to peaceful transition of power Bernie Sanders: 'This is an election between Donald Trump and democracy' The Hill's 12:30 Report: Trump stokes fears over November election outcome MORE (I-Vt.) to take second place behind Biden.
Clearly, Warren will be hoping to keep that momentum going with a strong performance. She, famously, has specific plans for a whole host of issues. On Tuesday, she released a new one on election security.
The Massachusetts senator is in an odd spot in the debates, however. The draw to determine who would debate on which night left her the sole member of the top five debating on the first night, Wednesday.
That introduces several unpredictable dynamics.
Will Warren gain in stature because she will be the focus of attention on Wednesday, or will she be forced onto the defensive if rivals — perhaps Sen. Cory Booker Cory Anthony Booker3 reasons why Biden is misreading the politics of court packing Bipartisan praise pours in after Ginsburg's death DHS opens probe into allegations at Georgia ICE facility MORE (D-N.J.) or former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) — attack her, hoping to make a mark?
Similarly, she will have to judge to what extent — if at all — she should jab at top-tier rivals like Sanders and Biden, who won’t be present on the same stage and will have 24 hours to formulate a response.
The luck of the draw matters. Right now, no one knows whether it will turn out to favor or disfavor Warren.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
In polling averages, Sanders is still clinging onto second place over Warren. But his support has been basically stagnant to date and he needs to breathe new excitement into his candidacy in Miami.
Sanders is at least bringing new ideas.
On Monday, he announced a plan to eliminate all student debt — an aggregate sum currently estimated at $1.6 trillion. Sanders says this could be paid for with new taxes on Wall Street.
The proposal helps the Vermont Independent emphasize that he is to the left of Warren, his main rival for the votes of progressive Democrats. Warren proposed her own plan in April which, though ambitious, did not go nearly as far as Sanders’s.
More broadly, Sanders needs to reinvigorate his argument as to why he should be the nominee. His tendency to emphasize that he was first with ideas that other candidates have now adopted can make it seem as if he is hearkening back to 2016 rather than looking toward the future.
Sen. Kamala Harris Kamala HarrisHundreds of lawyers from nation's oldest African American sorority join effort to fight voter suppression Biden picks up endorsement from progressive climate group 350 Action 3 reasons why Biden is misreading the politics of court packing MORE (D-Calif.)
Harris, perhaps more than any other major candidate, needs some kind of big moment on Thursday.
The California senator received positive reviews for a successful campaign launch in Oakland back in January and she scores well enough in polls to be considered a top-tier candidate.
At the same time, she has remained firmly outside the top three. She has also faced criticism for cautious, fence-sitting answers. And, in a field where the other top-tier candidates can be clearly divided into progressives (Sanders and Warren) and centrists (Biden and South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg Pete ButtigiegBillionaire who donated to Trump in 2016 donates to Biden The Hill's Morning Report - Sponsored by Facebook - GOP closes ranks to fill SCOTUS vacancy by November Buttigieg stands in as Pence for Harris's debate practice MORE), Harris’s ideological identity remains cloudy.
She could put that right on Thursday night. A former California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney, she is a skilled debater.
The question is whether she can provide a rationale for her candidacy that vaults her closer to the top of the field.
South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D)
Buttigieg was an earlier flavor of the month during the media blitz that coincided with the launch of his campaign in April.
The 37-year-old mayor is an impressive television performer, which propelled him upwards in the polls — for a while.
Buttigieg, though, needs to find some way during the debates to connect with non-white voters.
His support so far depends heavily on upscale whites.
Frustrations among African Americans in his city burst into view at a Sunday town hall event after the fatal police shooting of Eric Logan, 54, a black man. Buttigieg was subject to passionate criticism, which didn’t do his presidential hopes any good.
Buttigieg needs to use all his considerable powers of communication and persuasion to steady his candidacy. | {
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Государственная дума РФ в пятницу, 24 июня, ужесточила ряд законов, приняв поправки из так называемого "пакета Яровой". Изменения в законодательство предусматривают введение статей о недоносительстве за некоторые преступления, а также за склонение, вербовку или иное вовлечение в организацию массовых беспорядков. Кроме того, вводится понятие международный терроризм.
Помимо этого "пакет Яровой" включает в себя снижение возраста уголовной ответственности за терроризм - отныне по этой статье могут привлекать граждан с 14 лет. Ужесточается также и контроль за личной перепиской, что налагает на операторов связи обязательство хранить сообщения пользователей в течение полугода. Некоторые положения из "пакета Яровой" перед вторым и третьим чтениями были удалены, в том числе предложение лишать гражданства РФ лиц, к примеру, за работу в международных организациях, где Россия не представлена.
Правозащитники раскритиковали ужесточение законодательства. "Пакет Яровой" был принят в последний день работы 6-й Государственной думы.
Смотрите также: | {
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Three of the U.S. military's newest recruits reported for duty this week at the Army Test and Evaluation Command. These troops are different from normal soldiers in several ways—for starters, each has six feet. And they are robots designed to look and move like cockroaches. Aside from those details, the Army is hoping its new Boston Robotics RHex bots will soon join grunts in Afghanistan.
RHex furthers the U.S. military's ongoing efforts to deploy aerial drones and land robots to assist troops in the field. Weighing 13.5 kilograms, the camera-equipped RHex is designed to be carried in a backpack until it is needed to provide reconnaissance in rough terrain areas such as rocky inclines, riverbanks, mud and loose sandy soil. A fully charged robot can operate via remote control for six hours at a distance of up to 600 meters from its controller.
The key to RHex's mobility is the shape of its feet, which resemble apostrophes and swing in circles, slapping the ground to propel the bot forward (see video). The feet can also serve as paddles in water. RHex moves much like a similar, four-legged robot developed a few years ago by a team of Georgia Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, and University of Pennsylvania researchers.
The Army Rapid Equipping Force plans to deliver four RHex robots for testing in Afghanistan once safety evaluations are completed stateside. These bots could be joined shortly by nine Boston Dynamics so-called Sand Flea reconnaissance robots, expected to undergo similar tests later this year. Sand Flea is a four-wheel, five-kilogram dynamo that drives like a remote-control car on flat surfaces but can jump as high as nine meters to overcome obstacles (see video). The robot, which can pop up about 25 times on a single charge, uses gyro stabilization to stay level while airborne both to provide clear recon from its onboard camera and to ensure a smooth landing. Earlier versions of Sand Flea were developed by Sandia National Laboratories with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Army's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO).
Boston Dynamics has several other robots in the works for the military, including its Legged Squad Support System (LS3) and a fleet-footed newcomer called Cheetah that can run nearly 30 kilometers per hour, breaking the 21 kph land speed record for legged robots set in 1989 at the Leg Laboratory, part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab.
Like its namesake in the animal kingdom, the mechanized Cheetah increases its stride and running speed by flexing and un-flexing its metallic spine on every step. The Cheetah is confined to a laboratory treadmill for now because it is connected to a hydraulic pump for power and tethered to a boomlike device overhead to keep it running in the center of the mill. Boston Dynamics designed the treadmill to move at speeds up to more than 80 kph—child's play for a real cheetah, which can run upward of 120 kph, faster than any other land animal.
It is too early to tell exactly when Cheetah, (or Sand Flea and RHex, for that matter) might see action alongside troops and how it will be utilized, but one idea is to use it as a robotic scout that can move swiftly through rougher terrain than today's wheeled or tracked robots.
DARPA, sponsoring Boston Dynamics's Cheetah work through its Maximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program, hopes to see a free-running prototype by the end of the year.
Right now Cheetah is more of a basic research project than a program with a specific mission, says Boston Dynamics founder Marc Raibert. "The emphasis is on getting fundamental results that could have broad impact in advancing robotics," he adds. "Indeed, work on the Cheetah robot has already forced us to rethink how a back works in locomotion to increase running speed, and to create better models for the measurement and exchange of momentum in legged locomotion." | {
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Oklahoma government leaks millions of data files Watch Now
Researchers have disclosed the existence of a server exposed to the public which not only contained terabytes of confidential government data but information relating to FBI investigations.
According to UpGuard cybersecurity researchers Greg Pollock and Chris Vickery, the open storage server belonged to the Oklahoma Department of Securities (ODS), a US government department which deals with securities cases and complaints.
The database was found through the Shodan search engine which registered the system as publicly accessible on 30 November 2018. The UpGuard team stumbled across the database on 7 December and notified the department a day later after verifying what they were working with,
To ODS' credit, the department removed public access to the server on the same day.
"The data was exposed via an unsecured rsync service at an IP address registered to the Oklahoma Office of Management and Enterprise Services (OMES), allowing any user from any IP address to download all the files stored on the server," the researchers say.
Update 18.47 GMT: An Office of Management and Enterprise Services spokesperson told ZDNet:
"All state IP addresses, and many city and county addresses, are registered to OMES, but the agency has no visibility into the computer systems at the Oklahoma Department of Securities. For the past eight years the state has been working to consolidate all IT infrastructure under OMES and ODS had the option to consolidate its systems voluntarily and they did not."
In order to examine the security breach, the team was able to download the server's contents. The oldest records dated back to 1986 and the most recent was timestamped in 2016. In total, three terabytes of information representing millions of files. Contents ranged from personal data to system credentials and internal communication records.
See also: Cryptopia cryptocurrency exchange pulled offline due to security breach
"The amount, and reach, of administrative and staff credentials represents a significant impact to the Oklahoma Department of Securities' network integrity," the researchers say.
The data was stored in various formats. Email inbox storage backups represented a significant proportion of the leaked data, as well as virtual machine backups of ODS machines.
The stored information also included spreadsheets of IT credentials for accounts with Thawte, Symantec Protection Suite, Tivoli, and others; a BlueExpress database of account details for third parties submitting security filings; credentials required for remote access to ODS workstations; training documents; email histories, and files relating to ODS investigations.
TechRepublic: Smart building security flaws leave schools, hospitals at risk
Speaking to Forbes, Vickery added that there was a treasure trove of data relating to FBI cases. These files contained archives of enforcement actions dating back seven years including bank transaction histories, emails back-and-forth between those involved in cases, and copies of letters from subjects involved in investigations conducted by the FBI.
In a statement, the ODS confirmed there had been an "inadvertent exposure of information during installation of a firewall," and after the exposure was discovered it was "immediately secured."
CNET: Sen. Marco Rubio is latest lawmaker to propose federal privacy law
"A forensic team is currently conducting an analysis to determine the type and number of data files that may have been exposed and who may have accessed them," the department added. "The ODS is also exploring remedial actions and notifications for anyone whose information may have been exposed."
This incident might encourage ODS to take cybersecurity more seriously in the future. According to UpGuard metrics, the organization's web domain has the worst risk of breach score of all websites on the ok.gov domain.
Previous and related coverage | {
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The transgender daughter of Rob Cohen is claiming she was sexually assaulted by her film director father as a two-year-old.
Cohen's eldest child, who was born Kyle Cohen and is now named Valkyrie Weather, made the accusations in a public Facebook post on Thursday.
'When I was very young, Rob used my body for his own sexual gratification. My mother witnessed one of the assaults when I was between two and two and a half years old, and has since confirmed what she saw. This fact has cost me more than I could ever convey here,' she wrote.
Valkyrie Weather, a transgender 32-year-old woman who was born Kyle Cohen, is speaking out about the alleged incident
Valkyrie Weather posted the allegations about her father (pictured above with Valkyrie, then Kyle) on a public Facebook page
Weather went on to accuse her father of raping 'at least one other woman, in her sleep' and said he had told her the story as 'an anecdote'.
Weather wrote how her father would take her in her early teens, before her transition, to see sex workers in Thailand and The Czech Republic.
She said that she has been inspired to speak out 'thanks to the '#metoo movement' and because of therapy and support from loved ones.
'While Rob will in all likelihood escape criminal justice, I demand that my story be heard. I am not seeking financial restitution, nor do I have a career to promote. My greatest hope is that others who have been hurt by Rob Cohen feel that they are able to come forward as well.'
Cohen's eldest child, who was born Kyle Cohen and is now named Valkyrie Weather, made the accusations in a public Facebook post on Thursday
Rob Cohen is a father of four who has directed numerous films including The Fast and the Furious, xXx and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
From back left, Fast and Furious star Michelle Rodriguez, Cohen, Jordana Brewster. Bottom left the late Paul Walker and Vin Diesel (bottom right)
Both Weather and her mother, Cohen's first wife, Diana Mitzner, spoke to The Hollywood Reporter and Weather made further allegations against her father.
'Mostly what I remembered was the pain, the memory of the place and time, just being there, in the bath' — and that 'it was so painful that I couldn't verbalize it for a long time,' Weather told THR.
She added that her mother had disclosed what had happened to Weather as a child when she was transitioning.
In a separate interview Mitzner claimed she witnessed the alleged assault against her daughter.
Weather, who works in a vintage clothing store in Savannah, Georgia, admitted what Mitzner had told her about Cohen had put strain on the relationship between mother and daughter.
Cohen (center) on the red carpet with stars of The Fast and the Furious Vin Diesel (above left) and Paul Walker (above right)
Vin Diesel (above left) with Cohen (above right) in 2003
Vin Diesel, (far left) Asia Argento, (left) Cohen (center) and Samuel L. Jackson (right) at the premiere of 'xXx' at the Village Theater in Westwood on August 5, 2002
'You saw this and you did nothing?' Weather said to her mother. 'I called her every name and I broke off contact and I didn't talk to her again for a long time. We have recently taken steps to bridge that.'
Weather said she had contacted her father who sent her an email. 'He basically said that my mother was psychotic and likened her to the Son of Sam killer in terms of the depth of her psychosis,' Weather said.
She also spoke about the challenges of transitioning and how she dissected 'every childhood moment ... it stirs up a lot of old resentments and bitterness and lost opportunities,' she said.
In a statement to THR, Cohen, a father of four, responded to the claim from Weather calling it categorically untrue, describing it as extremely painful and that his 'beloved child has accused me of the most awful thing imaginable.'
Cohen, seen here with race cars from The Fast and the Furious, has denied the allegations calling them 'categorically untrue'
He went on to say Weather wasn't telling the truth and said he hoped she would come to realize it was both 'untrue and unimaginable ... no matter what anyone says or tries to convince her was the case when she was a child.
'When Valkyrie's (Kyle at the time) mom and I were getting divorced, she accused me during the custody court proceedings of many things, including a similar accusation to this one. After a very long trial, the court appointed psychiatrist awarded me full custody, in spite of these false accusations,' Cohen said.
'Subsequently, my ex-wife appealed, and after another lengthy trial, I was awarded full custody once again. At this point Kyle was about 14 years old, and when asked about his preference on which parent to live with, he chose me,' the statement read.
'Recently, my child chose to live her life authentically and transition to the woman she is today. When she wrote me about it, I told her that she has my continued love and support, as well as how beautiful and brave I think she is,' Cohen continued.
Weather wrote how her father would take her in her early teens, before her transition, to see sex workers in Thailand and The Czech Republic
He also denied his daughter's allegations that he had raped another woman.
'I may have not been a perfect husband. I am, as all of us are, a person and a parent who has made mistakes along the way, but never ever would I harm any of my children, or any child for that matter,' Cohen, who has been married a number of times, added.
Cohen, who's 69, has directed numerous films, including The Fast and the Furious Film, xXx, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, The Running Man and Bird on a Wire. | {
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More than half of the Palestinians support a third intifada against Israel, according to a public opinion poll published on Monday.The poll, which was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Public Opinion, also found that 48 percent of respondents would like to see Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas quit.The poll, conducted between November 12 and 18, covered some 1,000 Palestinians.About 50% of respondents said that the current wave of violence paves the way for a third intifada.Thirty-two percent described that violence as an intifada.Forty-two percent of respondents support an armed intifada, as opposed to 30% who want it to be “peaceful.” Another 29% said they were completely opposed to any intifada against Israel.More than half of the respondents said that they were in favor of a third intifada – an increase of 20 percentage points from a previous poll conducted by the same center.A large majority of 62% of respondents said they were opposed to the resumption of peace talks with Israel.Fifty-nine percent of respondents were unhappy with Abbas’s performance, while only 30% expressed satisfaction with him. Previous polls had shown that more than half of the Palestinians were satisfied with the way Abbas was running their affairs. | {
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The Hidden Strength of #GamerGate & Gamers
I'm watching Anti's go back and forth on their so-called high and mighty pedestal. Yet all I SEE is a bunch of people on a throne of shit. I see other sexual preference, gender identities, minorities, men, women and more expressing their OWN MINDS and thoughts. Real people.
I'm curious, Antis. How is your excommunication/banishment behaviors against the marginalized ANY DIFFERENT than parental disownment?
Child: "Mom, Dad, I'm gay."
Parents: "YOU DON'T BELIEVE WHAT WE BELIEVE, YOU'RE NOT MY KID, STAY AWAY."
Marginalized: "I think ethics are really important."
Antis: "YOU DON'T BELIEVE WHAT WE BELIEVE, STAY AWAY. YOU SUPPORT HARASSMENT!"
You see how that works?
That's what sickens me most of all. You never wanted TRUE equality; You wanted POWER. Power you don't deserve, because you're irresponsible. And a word to the wise: Historically, "let them eat cake" has NEVER WORKED OUT.
I spoke on this months ago; this could have ended way back when, within a week's time. YOU could have ended it. Pride cometh before a fall. The longer this goes on, the further people dig and look for answers. Things you likely DON'T want people to find out. They'll find it.
Something I mentioned earlier: Historically, the biggest changes tend to occur when enough people are pissed off at the SAME TIME. GG is exactly that; ENOUGH PISSED OFF PEOPLE at once. They're going to go the distance. Big game releases & holidays haven't slowed them.
What you have here is a SIGNIFICANT happening in this time and age. It's uncanny, even. You have this HUGE group of people, who pretty much disagree on a TON of stuff. But they all turned and saw this MESSED UP THING happening. All of us are rather different, yet we each turned and said, "This thing happening over there? That's FUCKED UP." That's an amazing MIRACLE.
You have communities, many of which traditionally have DESPISED each other, drop their fights and grudges for something bigger than they. You have people with wildly different political beliefs, be it libertarian, republican or democrat, ceasing their arguments to stop YOU.
A rose with any other name smells just as sweet; Shit, by any other name still smells awful. You can try and hide your bullshit under the false pretense of "equality", where your equality is "some more equal than others."
If anything, this situation actually DID create a microbubble of TRUE EQUALITY; content of character and WORTH OF IDEAS matters to us. This situation created something where you've got people standing next to each other, fighting for each other's freedom to be whom they are.
You created a situation where people said, "Enough is enough." You became the very monsters you claimed to fight against. You, dear Antis, stared into the fucking abyss for too goddamn long. YOU are the one that PEOPLE ARE AFRAID OF.
You seem to have this false impression, antis, that you're going to turn out to be the 'glorious leaders'. Couldn't be more mistaken. We did not come this far, becoming civilized and critical people, to watch people like YOU tear it all down. People WILL remember what you've done, and the horrors you decided to bring with you. THE. INTERNET. DOES. NOT. FORGET.
Every single day that passes, the foundation of your tower crumbles a little more. This is our marathon, and we can ENDURE LONGER THAN YOU. There's a reason that so many are impressed with #gamergate's tenacity & staying power; they are gamers, they are TRAINED to last.
Gamers INTENTIONALLY put themselves under hardship & high pressure situations. It's simulated toughness, fortitude, and resilience training. #gamergate matters because this is one time where ALL that mental training is being applied in the real world. You see, these folks have taken losses and defeats. But the difference between them and you? Loss INVIGORATES them. You just crumble.
I am reminded by something that Raph Koster said, even though he's very critical of gamergate. Nevertheless, his words are true. He put forth the notion that game 'exploiters' are potentially some of your most valuable and smartest players in your game. Why are they important? Because they will learn the rules, and they set out to break them in any way they can. They are survivors. That very type of person, the exploiter? That's why we're all HERE. We're not the biggest or fastest animals. But we're the most clever.
Congrats. You picked a fight with the group that is PROVEN to produce or even CREATE exploiters; the ones who survive through cleverness. Gamers are the people who will tear down your whole defenses while you're left wondering what the hell just happened. You picked a fight with some of the smartest, most clever, most CRITICAL thinkers on the planet. GOOD LUCK WITH THAT. The people who survive and thrive are the ones that say, "Why did I mess up? How can I improve? How can I WIN?" THAT is a gamer.
This is why you have many interested in gamergate whom aren't even gamers; they're seeing something they didn't even know existed prior. You know what they saw? They saw a group of oddly tough people WHO DON'T PUT UP WITH BULLSHIT. Ones who WILL act. Ones who go the distance.
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Presidente defendeu indicação de Augusto Aras para a PGR. Crédito: Antonio Cruz/Agência Brasil
O presidente Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) se incomodou nesta quinta-feira (5) com as críticas à escolha do subprocurador-geral Augusto Aras para o comando da Procuradoria-Geral da República (PGR) e fez um apelo para que simpatizantes do governo apaguem comentários feitos nas redes sociais contra ele.
Em live semanal, ele afirmou que 20% dos comentários feitos na transmissão online foram contra o indicado para substituir a procuradora-geral da República, Raquel Dodge, entre eles de que "acabou a esperança" dos eleitores na atual gestão.
"Eu peço a vocês. No Facebook, você fez um comentário pesado, retira, dá uma chance para mim. Você acha que eu quero colocar alguém lá para atrapalhar a vida de vocês? Não quero", disse.
O presidente afirmou que sofreria ataques por qualquer nome que indicasse e ressaltou que deve lealdade ao povo, mas que ela não pode ser "cega". Ele pediu que continuem dando voto de confiança ao seu governo e parem de "metralhar a gente".
"Peço a vocês um voto de confiança. Se lá na frente não satisfizer, paciência, A gente assume o erro", disse. "Dá uma chance a mim. Você que votou em mim, continue dando voto de confiança, não queira apenas metralhar a gente", observou.
Bolsonaro disse que Aras tem "posição serena" e sinalizou que ele é afinado a ele em temas como meio ambiente, defendendo a atividade do agronegócio, e direitos de grupos minoritários, como a comunidade LGBT.
"O compromisso que ele tem conosco e com o Brasil é bem claro. Não basta apenas ter alguém que combata a corrupção. Tem também de ser sensível a outras questões", disse.
Mais cedo, a apoiadores na frente do Palácio da Alvorada, Bolsonaro comparou a escolha de Aras a um "casamento".
"Outros nomes também apareceram. Eu tinha um universo ali de poucos para escolher. Eu acho que dei sorte, acho que escolhi o melhor, que estou fazendo um bom casamento. Na frente do padre que é o Senado, para aprovar o nome dele", afirmou.
DIVÓRCIO
O presidente ponderou, no entanto, que, caso seja aprovado pelo Senado, Aras não deve obediência ao Palácio do Planalto e pode "se divorciar" do Poder Executivo, já que, segundo ele, o subprocurador-geral não deve satisfação a Bolsonaro.
"A partir da aprovação no Senado, se ele quiser, a partir daquele momento, pode se declarar divorciado de mim. Ele não deve satisfação a mim, deve à sociedade", afirmou. "Eu quero do futuro procurador-geral alguém que tenha a bandeira do Brasil em uma mão e a Constituição Federal na outra mão", acrescentou.
Ainda para os apoiadores na frente do Alvorada, Bolsonaro citou pressão recebida pela indicação de outros nomes à PGR, como a recondução de Raquel Dodge ao posto ou a do chefe da força-tarefa da Lava Jato, Deltan Dallagnol. O presidente rechaçou ambas.
Na live semanal, Bolsonaro disse que o apresentador e dono do SBT, Silvio Santos, e o bispo e dono da Record, Edir Macedo, comparecerão ao camarote do presidente no desfile de Sete de Setembro na Esplanada dos Ministérios, em Brasília.
O presidente já havia escolhido Aras desde o final de junho. Ele optou, no entanto, por segurar o anúncio para arrefecer as críticas ao subprocurador-geral, sobretudo dentro de seu próprio partido, o PSL, que o acusavam de ter afinidade com a esquerda.
No período, Bolsonaro enviou interlocutores ao Congresso Nacional para falar individualmente com líderes de frentes parlamentares na tentativa de diminuir a resistência a uma indicação de Aras.
Nesta quinta, antes do anúncio oficial, o presidente consultou sobre a escolha representantes das bancadas evangélica, do agronegócio e da segurança pública, consideradas os pilares de seu governo. | {
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Ministry Safe Video: They Claimed to Be Victim-centric and Would NEVER Sue a Church Because They Don’t Tear Down Churches.
Jupiter Marble-NASA
“If you see oppression of the poor, and justice and righteousness trampled in a country, do not be astounded.” –King Solomon
Special thanks to Wade Mullen whose tweets, found at the end of this post, called my attention to this video made in 2018 at Dallas Theological Seminary.
This eye opening discussion will be helpful for those who want to better understand the role of Ministry Safe as seen through their own words.
Dr. Jay Sedwick, chair of the Educational Ministries and Leadership Department, talks with Mr. Gregory Love and Mrs. Kimberlee Norris, visiting faculty members and founders of MinistrySafe, address abuse prevention within ministry, recognizing how the Gospel has not changed, but the environment in which we deliver both the message and protection have changed dramatically.
Sadly, comments were disabled for this video. I would imagine they would have been interesting.
We don’t sue churches. Call one of those billboard lawyers instead.
Early in the video, Love/Norris were quite clear that they will not sue churches. Love claimed he would find it difficult to tell Jesus that he gave back 10% of his gain from suing a church. It appears to say that he feels he is robbing God by suing the church.
I found this statement irritating. It could be interpreted that he was claiming a *righteous* response as opposed to those who might decide to sue a church for egregious actions that allowed abuse to be covered up, etc.
Later in the video Norris/Love once again state they will not sue churches. They claim that there are lots and lots of lawyers out there who would love to sue churches. (Naughty lawyers.) I think they called them those lawyers on billboards. Are they saying that those are icky lawyers unlike the ever-righteous Norris/Love?
We do not tear churches down. Are they referring to those awful victims who sue these churches?
Note how Norris/Love characterize those victims who do sue, Those people are *tearing down the church.” Instead, Norris/Love claim to be called to mend and build up the church, not to tear it down. Imagine that you are a victim. What does this statement say to you? Maybe “We of Norris/Love are righteous and biblical and the rest of you who sue are trying to tear down God’s church.” Heap on the guilt, folks.
Norris claimed that most people don’t want to sue their churches.
She claimed that statute of limitations in most states are getting longer and longer and may even eventually be abolished.I concur with this observation. However the next remarks bothered me.
She claimed that entities get sued by plaintiffs lawyers only when they are worth suing. I interpret this to mean that only churches with money get sued. Most churches these days have insurances policies and I know of some poor churches which were sued. I covered a couple on this blog.
She claimed that most people really don’t want to sue their churches because they love their churches. Does that mean that people who end up suing their church don’t love their church?
Victims usually sue when they are treated poorly when the bring their abuse to the attention of the church. I agree with this.
Sedwick at Dallas Theological Seminary appeared to be doing an ad for the services of Ministry Safe and managed to prove that they represent the corporations not the victims.
He stated that he believed that Ministry Safe (Norris/Love) are the premier organization of its kind in the nation. He claimed that they are o*on top of this like no one I know.* He mentioned that they represented the US Olympic Committee, US Youth Soccer Association, National Insurances, and childcare organizations. Note that none of these are victims. These are corporate and not for profit entities.
Sedwick overlooks an important aspect of Ministry Safe. Is DTS teaching up and coming pastors that it is more important to protect the church from lawsuits as opposed to protect and compensate abused children when something occurs? Seems so to me but I”m no fancy lawyer.
Ministry Safe wants people to bring their anger to the church and to let the church be the balm.
Norris/Love observed that our culture is becoming angrier and angrier. I wonder why? As more and more reports of sexual abuse in churches become part of the public record, I would suspect that more expressions of anger towards the church would become commonplace. Is this a bad thing or a normal response to the abuse of children. I get really angry when kids are sexually abused. I would think they would as well…
They claim that the church develops a bunker mentality. Instead Norris/Love contend that churches should say something like “We welcome this anger and we want to be the balm.” Why should people go to the church to be a balm? Where are the actual examples of this in some of the cases that Ministry Safe represented? Would anyone go to Highpoint Memphis to get *the balm?” Good night! This is nonsense, in may opinion…
Norris claims that their perspective is unequivocally victim-centric and I deeply disagree.
They may have a different definition of what constitutes victim-centric but their actions do not prove this to be the case. One merely needs to read Attorneys Boz Tchividjian and Mitch Little Help a Sex Abuse Victim in Her Quest to Hold Matt Chandler and The Village Church Accountable
Victim-centric groups do not respond like Ministry Safe.
-The church would not let the mom meet with Ministry Safe because they represent the church!!! Folks, remember this. They are not there for the victims.
-Ministry Safe says they are not there to counsel and they (catch this)“generally” advise the church to remove a person accused of sex abuse while they are being investigated. Repeat: I believe that this group doesn’t care about your kids. They care about protecting the church. This is why I refused to speak with them when they called me during the Jules Woodson situation.
Kimberlee Norris will take pastors to the wood shed but will not sue them.
Norris claims that she does take pastors to the wood shed which apparently is a righteous way to handle churches which mishandle abuse. She calls herself a fairly aggressive as a female attorney. The private woodshed out in the backyard sounds really, really scary to me….Does she cut switches and swat their bottoms? Whoops-abuse….so no.
I find several areas with which I agree with Ministry Safe.
They believe that churches have a hard time saying that they are sorry when they have due something wrong.
They believe that policies and procedures in churches should take into account grooming behavior.
Churches should not investigate what they should and should not report to the authorities.
Wade Mullen’s tweets: | {
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Posted on May 22, 2012
CNN's Cooper, Obama Campaign Clash Over Taking Money From Private Equity While Bashing Romney
Ben LaBolt, an Obama campaign spokesman, can't answer questions about why President Obama will take money from private equity firms while at the same time bash Mitt Romney for his association with Bain Capital. Key parts of the segment are transcribed below.
Anderson Cooper, CNN: Ben, how can President Obama attack Mitt Romney on his time in a private equity at Bain highlighting only times when Bain cost company jobs and at the same time hold high priced fundraisers with the head of another private equity firm who's done work with Bain, the Blackstone Group, or hire people who've worked in other private equity firms in his own administration?
BEN LABOLT, OBAMA CAMPAIGN PRESS SECRETARY: Well, you know, Mitt Romney hasn't been -- he hasn't been forthright with the American people about what he did during his tenures as corporate buyout specialist and what his goals were. He's been campaigning across the country telling people that he was a job creator. But he's never been able to substantiate a number of jobs that were created. That's because he -- his partners have admitted that the goal was wealth creation for themselves.
COOPER: Private equity is about wealth creation for investors. And I know that's not what he's saying, but that's what it is about. But I don't know understand why it's OK for the president's private equity supporters to bankrupt companies and put people out of work but it's not OK for Mitt Romney's equity firm to do that?
LABOLT: The president had support from business leaders across industries who agree with his vision of building an economy that's built to last. Where hard work and responsibility are rewarded. Where everybody from main street to Wall Street plays --
COOPER: But you said yourself that's not what private equity --
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: You yourself said that's not what private equity is about, and yet the president is accepting money from private equity firms. Isn't that hypocritical.
LABOLT: Who believe -- who believe that the right thing to do was put in place those protections to ensure that we never have a financial crisis like we did in 2008, and that middle class families across the country are not held hostage by risky financial deals.
Governor Romney would take a very different approach. He would repeal those protections. The fact is --
COOPER: OK. But you're not -- you're not answering any of the question. I mean I'm trying to figure out what is difference between Bain and Governor Romney's experience at private equity and the experience of private equity firms that the president is taking money from.
LABOLT: Well, here are the facts, Anderson. Governor Romney has based his candidacy for the oval office on his tenure as a corporate buyout specialist. He said that that's the economic record that we should evaluate. That that's the type of philosophy, economic philosophy he would bring into the oval office.
And we took a look at the record. We took a look at the fact that he loaded up companies with debt across the country. This case of Ampad plant in Marion, Indiana, 250 workers lost their jobs. Romney and his partners came in. They loaded the company up with debt. Laid off all of the workers, forced them to reapply for their jobs. Security guards bolted the doors. They went through the --
COOPER: I get it. People were laid off.
COOPER: That's what he said in the 35-second edited ad version that you tweeted out. But in the longer version and in his original comments that's what he said. I mean isn't -- do you -- or do you deny that you're engaging in any kind of personal attacks on Mitt Romney? Or is that -- or is it OK to do that? I'm not saying it's not.
LABOLT: Governor Romney believes that any discussion of his record is automatically negative campaigning which I think tells you something about his record. He's put this forward as his economic record. We'll talk about the president's economic record. We were losing 750,000 jobs a month when he came into office. Businesses have created more than 4.2 million. Private sector jobs, manufacturing was in decline. It's resurgent. The auto industry was on the brink. GM is the number one automaker in the world again. We'll talk about the president's record and we'll talk about Governor Romney's record.
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A row has broken out between parents and a multi-denominational primary school in Dublin over the school's decision to bring in the Catholic marriage agency ACCORD to deliver sex education to Fifth and Sixth Class children.
A number of parents at Castleknock Educate Together kept their children at home from school yesterday because they did not wish them to take part in the day-long course.
Parent Susan Broe told RTÉ News that her daughter was one of eight children in her Fifth Class who stayed at home from school yesterday as a result. "I'm shocked and annoyed", she said. "It's completely against the ethos of Educate Together".
A number of parents said that the school told pupils who were not going to attend the talk that they should stay at home from school on the day.
Tony McCrossan, who also has a daughter in Fifth Class in the school, said: "we got a consent form in the schoolbag and I saw it was from ACCORD. I was shocked to find out on Tuesday that she would be forced to take a day off."
Mr McCrossan said the family had sent their children to a multi-denominational school "to get away from this kind of thing".
One parent who chose to send her child into school to attend the course told RTÉ News that she "wasn't overjoyed".
This mother, who did not wish to be identified, said: "I think it's odd. I think it's a complete contradiction to have ACCORD in. But the school did say that there was no mention of religion".
Castleknock Educate Together school has not responded to a query from RTÉ News.
The school's patron Educate Together has said it wanted to stress that the contracting of external agencies by a school was a matter for the school board of management.
It said, however, that it expected all of its schools to deliver the full Relationships and Sexuality curriculum without reference to any religious-based biases.
It said it did not have the authority to require schools to deliver the RSE programme in a specific way.
It said if parents had a complaint this could only be dealt with by the school's board of management.
The Department of Education is currently undertaking what it has called a major review of the Relationships and Sexuality curriculum at both primary and second level.
The review comes on foot of a recommendation from the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment.
The Department of Education review covers not just the content of the curriculum but also how it is delivered, and the role played by "external providers".
Announcing the review last April, Minister for Education Richard Bruton said there also needed to be more effective communication between schools and parents regarding the teaching of RSE in schools. | {
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Federal funding has long supported the goal of increased beef cattle efficiency. Today, the U.S. produces more beef from fewer cattle due to the ability to get more meat from each animal. Average cattle slaughter weight has increased more than 330 pounds over the past 40 years. While the benefits of this increase in efficiency are well documented, unintended adverse consequences have been less well understood. This article aims to identify and quantify one of these adverse effects. With larger cattle have come larger steaks. In response, many retailers have begun offering thinner cuts to combat high total package prices. But, do consumers prefer larger, thinner steaks or smaller, thicker steaks? Using data from a nationwide survey, this article estimates consumer willingness to pay for beef steak dimensions to draw insights into the consumer welfare changes that have resulted from increasing steak sizes. Results imply that most consumers prefer thicker to thinner cuts steaks and that smaller surface areas are preferred to larger ones. Our estimates suggest that increases in welfare due to larger carcasses, say from lower prices and more ground beef, must offset an $8.6 billion annual loss in consumer welfare resulting from changing steak size. | {
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We’ve seen 3D printed replicas of the famous Daft Punk helmets before, but these versions by user David Posh are extremely impressive, and they come with the matching gloves.
When we spoke to Posh he told us how he went about creating these prints, starting with existing files which even have an Instructables guide.
From here some custom work needed to be done with the additions of the LED light rings for the Thomas helmet and these ear cup inserts for the Guy-Manuel one.
After 120 hours of printing, the helmets were finished with a lot of Bondo, sanding, and paint. The all important lighting systems were achieved with an Adafruit Feather and an Arduino Nano. See this gif on Posh’s Twitter account for the full effect.
Aside from the fancy suits, something else was needed to complete the look, and that is the gloves.
These are also a custom design and consist of multiple sections glued to regular gloves purchased from Amazon.
At only 15 minutes to design in Fusion 360 these are subtle additions that really made the costume stand out and they were a much quicker build when compared to the helmets.
With Halloween happening tomorrow night we think this is the most impressive maker project we’ve seen for it so far. | {
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The first Xbox Live Arcade promotion of 2011 will begin next month with the release of the Contra-esque Hard Corps Uprising on Feb. 16. Hard Corps will then be followed up by four more titles, each under the banner of "Arcade House Party," a brand-spanking new promotion that Microsoft made a lot of noise about at its CES press conference yesterday afternoon.
And there's a good reason: one of the games following Hard Corps' release will be PopCap Games' uber-addictive Bejeweled Blitz. Ubisoft's Beyond Good & Evil HD will also see a release under this window, as well as the long-rumored console release of Torchlight, Runic Games' fantastic dungeon-crawler. That's right--I said Torchlight.
Runic hit the ground running with the game's announcement, wanting to get ahead of any negative speculation about the upcoming port of the PC game. In a recent forum post, Runic boss Travis Baldtree confirms that the XBLA version's controls and UI have been reworked. Baldtree says that you'll now have direct analog-stick control of your character, while combat will feel similar to games like Dark Alliance or Champions of Norrath.
== TEASER ==Even though all skills and "pretty much everything from the PC" will make it over to the XBLA version, some mechanics-- such as skills, spells, and item-mapping--have been altered for ease of use on a controller, Baldtree says. Secondary weapon sets, on the other hand, have been completely stripped because Runic discovered that there wasn't a good way to include that mechanic.Expect some new-new stuff, too. On top of three new armor sets, a new "Chakawary" pet, and some new random quests, Torchlight for XBLA will be using some "goodies" from Torchlight II , including better loading times, better animation blends, and improved auto-mapping.Lastly, Arcade House Party will also see the release of Full House Poker . Hard Corps is the only game with a solid date thus far, but I'd imagine that more release information is coming soon.You can check out the Runic forum thread for a bit more information about the forthcoming port, and Scrawl for some supposed XBLA screenshots . The respective wiki pages for all the other releases should have anything you're looking for. | {
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SOLAI, Kenya (Reuters) - A dam on a Kenyan commercial farm that burst this week, killing at least 45 people, was built illegally, the water resource regulator said on Friday, as police opened an initial investigation into the disaster.
The minister in charge of water also ordered other dams on the property to be drained immediately.
The earthen dam on the farm, which grew roses for export to Europe, burst on Wednesday night after heavy rains, sending a wall of water roaring down a hillside and obliterating everything in its path. Another 40 people are reported missing.
The disaster is likely to put a spotlight on the regulation of Kenya’s cut-flower industry, which has grown dramatically in the last two decades to become one of its biggest foreign exchange earners and a major source of jobs.
One in three of all roses sold in Europe comes from Kenya and more than 100,000 people work in flower farms, many of which lie in the fertile Rift Valley.
Elizabeth Luvonga, a spokeswoman for the Water Resources Management Authority, which oversees private dams, said other reservoirs on Patel’s Farm in Solai, 190 km (120 miles) northwest of Nairobi, also lacked the necessary documents and were illegal.
Water and Sanitation Minister Simon Chelugui said the burst dam and others on the property did not meet regulations, and that the Water Resources Authority had been pursuing the owner to make them compliant. He ordered all the others to be drained as a precaution.
Chelugui added that a team would inspect dams countrywide.
Vinoj Jayakumar, general manager of the 3,500-acre farm, blamed the collapse on torrential rain and denied that the dam had been defective or lacked the necessary approvals.
“How can they say it is illegal?” he told Reuters. “It was not built today or yesterday. It was built 20 years back.”
Amid domestic reports that the dam had not passed government engineering checks, the chief prosecutor ordered police to open an immediate investigation and report back within a fortnight.
SAVED BY TREE
Sacks of rice arrived on lorries on Friday to provide for hundreds of families whose livelihoods had been swept away.
Military officers prepare to drain water from an adjacent dam after another dam burst its walls, overrunning nearby homes, in Solai town near Nakuru, Kenya May 11, 2018. REUTERS/Jackson Njehia
In the village health center, distraught doctor Veronica Achoka recounted the suffering of the community.
“Yesterday was rescue and evacuation all day. The water swept people 10 km downhill. Many bodies were found that far away. There’s so much property destruction,” she said.
At the hospital in the nearby town of Bahati, dozens were being treated for injuries ranging from fractures to internal bleeding, she said.
Further away in the provincial town of Nakuru, Isaac Mwaniki had to identify his wife at the mortuary.
“I think the water’s force and soil is what got her,” he said. Rescuers managed to save his daughter after the water subsided. “She had hung onto a tree and was tired but, thank God, she is okay,” Mwaniki said.
After a severe drought last year, two months of heavy rain have affected nearly a million people in Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia and Uganda. Bridges have been swept away and roads turned into rivers of mud.
More than 150 people have been killed and 300,000 displaced in Kenya, where the damage runs into millions of dollars.
“We all breathed a sigh of relief when the rainy season started strong in early March,” said Lane Bunkers of Catholic Relief Services. “But now - two months later - we are seeing the consequences of the drought-ravaged land’s inability to absorb all the rain.” | {
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UCLA assistant coach Rex Peters is dealing with his worst nightmare with his 16-year-old son battling an extremely rare disease. But for guys like him, baseball serves as therapy.
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UCLA’s Peters Coaching For Love Of A Son
LOS ANGELES — Coaching college baseball at UCLA has never been so important to Bruins hitting coach Rex Peters, now in his fourth season with the program.
Peters is about as unassuming as they come. He’s not overly vocal, he’s California cool and laid back, but he’s a terrific coach who’s helped the Bruins win a national title, with a chance to add a second to his resume this season. But infinitely more important than anything on the baseball diamond, the word “courage” couldn’t be a better way to describe this coach turned super-dad over the past few months.
As each day passes and the Bruins get closer to playing for a potential berth in the College World Series, most people did not know what was constantly cascading through Peters’ head. But spot Peters at the ballpark and you’ll see a subtle “JP” written in black ink on the corner of his hat. Rex Peters isn’t just coaching for the UCLA Bruins. He’s courageously coaching through the toughest ordeal of his life, and those initials remind him of his 16-year-old son Jake Peters, and are a therapeutic but constant reminder about an extremely trying day in mid-December of last year.
This is Jake’s story.
For all intents and purposes, Monday, Dec. 15, 2014, was looking to be like any other day for Jake Peters, and dad Rex. The Christmas holiday was nearing, excitement was in the air, and there was a general sense of cheer around the Peters household.
The mood would change as the day progressed. Jake Peters would go to school for the day, then he’d head to baseball practice. As Jake arrived home, Rex was there to greet him, with the Bruins in the offseason and home life being a bit more manageable than usual. Jake, showing absolutely no signs of being sick, went upstairs to change and get prepared for dinner.
Jake Peters continues to battle Nueromyelitis Optica.
Everything changed 20 minutes later.
Tingling and numbness escalated throughout Jake’s body. Then, there was troubled, labored, breathing. Something just wasn’t right, and Rex’s fatherly instincts immediately kicked in.
“He was having trouble breathing, so I kind of told him to put his hands over his head and slow things down a bit,” Rex Peters said. “It just wasn’t getting any better. We were really worried. So, we took him to the emergency room, and he started getting unusual tightness in his neck, arms, all over, and just started to get weak. He couldn’t move his arms at that point.
“A few hours later, he went from no signs to all signs,” he continued. “He went from completely normal to being completely flat on his back, unable to move anything. That all progressed within four to six hours.”
[pull_quote_right]”Everyone is different on getting movements back with this disease. The hope is that the swelling will dwindle and his nerves will start reconnecting, thus getting all of his movements back. The doctors think it could take a year or two for him to recover. And even with that, nothing is a guarantee.”[/pull_quote_right]
As a parent myself, I can only imagine the thoughts racing through Rex Peters’ head. Of all things in life, no matter what happens to yourself, you want anything other than your child being sick, in the hospital, unable to move, and with a cloud of uncertainty surrounding the illness. It’s a feeling you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy, but it was one that Peters quickly had to come to grips with, take a step back, and analyze for what it was.
Doctors initially were dumbfounded as to what was causing a multitude of issues with Jake Peters. Was it cancer? Was it a tumor? Was it meningitis of some sort? Doctors ruled out all of those things, making it a waiting game to figure out the full diagnosis.
It took a few days, but Jake, Rex and the rest of the family finally received a full diagnosis. Test results showed that something was attacking his spinal cord and optic nerve, and a spinal tap ruled out any form of meningitis. MRI results showed lesions on Jake’s spinal cord, and the optic nerve (behind the eye) was very inflamed.
Even several months later, doctors are still only 95 percent sure, but the diagnosis was Nueromyelitis Optica. NMO, as it is called by the medical profession, is defined as: “a rare relapsing autoimmune disorder that preferentially causes inflammation in the optic nerve and spinal cord. The disorder is most prevalent in children as young as 3 years old, and adults as old as 90 years old.”
The severity of the attacks from NMO, according to the Transverse Myelitis Association, are worse than Multiple Sclerosis, and 70 percent of patients with the disorder have relapses after their initial symptoms. The disorder is very rare, and there’s currently no cure, which explains why Jake continues to be hospitalized several months later, while he also needs help breathing through a ventilator.
“They treat this thing with a lot of different things,” Rex Peters said. “They do plasma exchanges where they take out the blood, clean it, and put it back in. He went through six days of plasma treatment therapy, which produced limited results. And he’s even undergone five chemotherapy treatments in an attempt to kill the antibodies that are attacking his spine. His process started with steroid treatments to try to reduce swelling in his spine, but that, too, produced few results.”
The prognosis on Jake Peters moving forward is a big hunk of uncertainty. Common sense suggests that with rigorous treatments, the 16-year-old will continue to get better and eventually be well enough to get out of the hospital. However, even recently, chemotherapy helped reduce swelling in some vertebrae, but then inflamed it in other areas, specifically the C 2-6 vertebrae. Jake still has no feeling from the waist down, though he can shrug his shoulders at times, and does have pronation and supination with his left wrist, with very little movement in his right wrist.
“We just have no idea on a time frame right now. He can swallow and his eyesight is 100 percent. But he’s dealing with a disorder where his own body is attacking his own body,” Rex Peters said. “He’s fully aware, but until his spine swelling goes down enough to be able to breathe, he has to stay in the hospital.
“Everyone is different on getting movements back with this disease,” he continued. “The hope is that the swelling will dwindle and his nerves will start reconnecting, thus getting all of his movements back. The doctors think it could take a year or two for him to recover. And even with that, nothing is a guarantee.”
Permanent disabilities in the future or not, perspective is Rex Peters’ best friend.
Healthbridge Children’s Hospital in Orange, Calif., has become Rex Peters’ second home the past few months.
A lot has changed for the UCLA assistant coach. He’s no longer recruiting for the Bruins, and head coach John Savage was more than willing to take that workload off his hands. Instead of recruiting before or after practice, Peters, most days, spends the time he has taking care of his son down in Orange County.
Rex Peters has found a new lease on life after dealing with Jake’s disorder.
Practice or game finishes at a reasonable hour? You’ll see Peters quickly whisk away in his car, head to the hospital, then leave the next day around noon just in time to make the Bruins’ practices or games. Fortunately for everyone involved, Jake has progressed enough to where Rex doesn’t have to spend each night in the hospital, and he can still make all the road trips with the program. But Rex has added a new job responsibility on top of coach and father — caretaker.
“You know, Jake is doing pretty good. But I still try to spend as much time as I possibly can with him. John has been tremendous to our family. He understands my situation and he’s giving me a lot of time to be with my kid,” he said. “With that said, it’s still tough. It’s tough because Jake needs me, he needs the help. And my wife, too, sometimes travels for work. We’ve had to rely on a lot of family members to help us out, but it’s not easy.
“But … sometimes going on the road helps,” he said. “You also get to get some sleep.”
We talk about baseball meaning so much to all of us from a wins and losses standpoint. The Bruins are ranked No. 3 in the latest D1Baseball Top 25, and you know what, that’s fine and dandy. But for Peters, baseball is so much more than that. It’s therapeutic for him, and unlike the situation the Jake, it’s something he has total control of. In the end, it helps bring everything into perspective.
“Everyone thinks these games are important, and they are, but they aren’t life and death. They really aren’t,” he said, pausing for a moment. “The big thing for me is just appreciating the little things in life. The simplest things. I never thought I’d be helping brush my teenager’s teeth, giving him a bath, and things like that. Those are the things we take for granted, and we shouldn’t. You should have an appreciation for everything in life.”
Rex Peters has dealt and continues to deal with a parent’s worst nightmare. But thanks to an ultra-courageous son, and baseball, he’s persevered. | {
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