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Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is proactive when it comes to finding the potential vulnerabilities that would affect its Model S electric vehicle. The electric car manufacturer’s CEO Elon Musk was spotted at the DEFCON, an annual security conference in Las Vegas. According to Wall Street Journal, Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is attending the conference to find hackers who would be willing to help the company find security flaws in the software that controls its vehicles. Kristin Paget, a computer security researcher popularly known as the “hacker princess,” who is working for Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) said the electric car manufacturer is planning to hire around 20 to 30 hackers from the DEFCON. Paget also said the electric car manufacturer already resolve one security flaw in its vehicles. She described the Tesla vehicle as a “super car” connected to the internet. The company can update its software online. Previous challenge to hack Tesla cars Last month, the Sycan+ 360 conference in Beijing challenged anyone who can successfully hack the system of the Model S and offered a $10,000 reward. Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) welcomed the competition, and requested participants to carryout responsible hacking. He clarified that the company has no involvement in the contest, but it is providing an environment for responsible researcher to discover any possible security flaw. At the time, Musk said Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) expected the hackers to work in good faith, and the company would conduct further analysis to any legitimate vulnerability that would be discovered. Qihoo 360 Technology found ways access the Model S remotely and controlled locks, horns and skylight while the car is running. The Chinese internet security company reported the details of the security risk and solutions to Tesla. Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) demonstrated that it is increasingly concern regarding the security of its software controlling its cars given its presence at the DEFCON. Earlier this month, Security researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek released a report identifying the most hackable available in the market. Miller and Valasek said the top three mosct hackable cars are the 2014 Jeep Cherokee from Chrysler Group, the 2014 Infiniti Q50 from Nissan Motor Co Ltd (ADR) (OTCMKTS:NSANY) (TYO:7201) and the 2015 Cadillac Escalade from General Motors Company (NYSE:GM). In response to the report, Chrysler and Nissan said they are evaluating the claims of the security researchers, and will resolve the issue. The security researchers did not try to hack the vehicles, but they evaluated the remote access technologies in the cars such as WiFi and Bluetooth.
Twenty-four police stations in New Zealand did not solve a single burglary in 2015. Information released by New Zealand police showed only 9.3 per cent of all burglaries in New Zealand in 2015 were solved. Out of the 24 police stations that did not solve any burglaries, Bulls and Russell had the worst resolution rate, with all 32 burglaries that occurred in each of the areas unsolved in 2015. The station that solved the most burglaries was Pleasant Point, with 50 per cent of the burglaries in the area solved. READ MORE: *Meth discovered in baby carriers *Napier home invasion *Ram raid on The Warehouse Waikouaiti solved 44 per cent of the burglaries that occurred. Manawatu area prevention manager Inspector David White said for the Bulls area only 15 of the burglaries were in the township, the rest were rural burglaries. Of the 32 reported, eight were for the theft of motorcycles from rural properties and another eight saw nothing taken. "Without diminishing the sense of loss for any theft, the remainder included petrol from farm tanks, a rabbit, and chainsaws from sheds." The rabbit stolen had been reported earlier by Stuff, and was returned home to the person it was stolen from after being found in a bush near the property. White said there were two officers who worked in the Bulls area. "However, our officers do work across areas and stations where necessary." In 2015, 2072 preventative activities were recorded in the Bulls police area. "These activities include checking people on court bail, stopping cars, hotel visits, foot patrols, and road checkpoints." White said there were several reasons burglaries may go unsolved. "Police follow up on all reports made to us, however, if police have exhausted all evidence, lines of inquiries, potential suspects, witnesses or other information available, it is difficult for staff to investigate these." Any victimisation was of concern to police but White said with the burglaries averaging out in Bulls to around 2.5 reported per month, it was unlikely extra officers were needed. Rangitikei District Mayor Andy Watson said he would be talking to the regional commander after hearing the figures for Bulls burglary rate. "I do find it a bit concerning, I'll have to talk with the regional commander and see if it's resources or if there's any variables we can look [into]." In Taihape, Bulls, Marton and Hunterville security cameras had been installed throughout the town. "I'll have a chat to police about whether there's a crime prevention method we can look at, [maybe] getting information out especially to the rural people about looking after their security." In the Manawatu area Kimbolton and Pongaroa also had a 0 per cent resolution rate for burglaries. Kimbolton had 11 burglaries and Pongaroa 5.
With the transfer window reaching its conclusion we take a collective look at our summer signings. Fresh from his success with Brazil at the Confederations Cup, Paulinho was our first arrival in early July with Belgium international Nacer Chadli, Valencia captain Roberto Soldado and France international Etienne Capoue also arriving before the season got underway. Friday saw a further three additions to our ranks in the form of young internationals Erik Lamela, Christian Eriksen and Vlad Chiriches. “We have been extremely active, conducted our business early and have made some excellent acquisitions in the market to make us stronger this season as well as giving ourselves greater options across the squad,” reflected our Head Coach. “We have added tremendous individual quality and this can only help us to come together as a team even quicker. There is huge belief in what we are looking to create here for the future. "Paulinho is a player we had been chasing for quite some time. He is extremely gifted and versatile, having originally played as a defensive midfielder and now plays a more offensive role. He has an eye for goal and works hard throughout the 90 minutes, which is decisive in the Premier League. "We are looking for Nacer Chadli to play mainly on the wings to give us width but he has also played the creative role behind the striker in the past as well as up front for Belgium so to have someone of his versatility is important to the squad. He had a good season in Holland last year and contributed a lot of goals. "Roberto Soldado's career speaks for itself. He is an outstanding striker with so much Champions League and international experience. He is a goal scorer and has certainly lived up to that reputation in the early stages of this season already. He can only get better as he continues to adapt to his new teammates and the league. "Etienne Capoue has grown rapidly during his time with Toulouse, he is a wonderful footballer that can play in a variety of positions and will strengthen our midfield following on from Tom Huddlestone's departure. He is a player of international quality and has great all-round ability. “Erik Lamela is a young player of great dimensions. He is incredibly highly regarded in his homeland and has been on the radar of Europe's biggest clubs in the past so we are delighted to have him here. He has pace, is a huge threat with the ball at his feet and has a good goalscoring record from his time in Serie A as well as providing a regular supply for his teammates. I am sure he will be able to improve even further in the Premier League. "It was always our intention to strengthen in defence following Steven Caulker's departure. I feel it is important to have four central defenders and Vlad is a great addition in this area. He is solid defensively, a leader and has the quality to bring the ball out from the back, to drive forward and has great build-up play - something that we insist upon with all our centre-backs. "Christian Eriksen is a wonderfully creative player, who is accustomed to playing at a high level in Europe. He showed at Ajax all of his qualities and ability, particularly in terms of flair and creativity with the number of chances and assists he provided to his teammates. He has great ability to pick a pass and is an excellent link-up player. "We can look ahead to the season with a real sense of excitement. These new additions will join with our already strong group of talented players and further enhance the quality and spirit that exists within this squad.” Steven Caulker, Clint Dempsey, Tom Huddlestone, Scott Parker, Gareth Bale, Massimo Luongo and Nathan Byrne all departed the Club over the summer months and we wish them all the best for the future.
#9 HOUSTON (3-0) vs. MCNEESE STATE (2-1) GAME BREAKDOWN HOUSTON â€" No. 9 Houston Baseball will look to move to 4-0 on the year when it welcomes McNeese State to Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park Tuesday. First pitch is slated for 6:30 p.m. The Cougars officially broke into the nation's Top 10 when they were ranked No. 9 by Baseball America, moving up three spots from their preseason ranking of No. 12. PROMOTIONS Tuesday, February 23 â€" 6:30 pm Tumbler Tuesday â€" First 50 fans through the gates get a UH Tumbler FOLLOW ALONG â€" GAMEDAY CENTRAL Listen Live: UHCougars.com/baseradio Watch Live: Houston All-Access w/ a paid subscription LAST AT-BAT The Cougars are coming off an Opening Weekend sweep over Villanova, which saw a combined 27 runs on 33 hits in the three wins. Houston earned a convincing 13-1 victory over the Wildcats to open the 2016 season before recording its first shutout of the year, a 4-0, win in Game 2 Saturday. With a 2-0 series lead and down 2-0 in the first inning of Game 3 on Sunday, the Cougars rallied to win 10-3 for the sweep. The Opening Weekend sweep marked the third straight year Houston has accomplished that feat and fifth time in six seasons under head coach Todd Whitting. As a team, the Cougars hit .306 â€" led by five home runs, five doubles and two triples. Freshman Joe Davis hit a team and conference-leading .556 with four walks on the weekend, followed by sophomore Corey Julks with a .500 average and a team-best six hits in three games. Senior Jacob Campbell showed off his power, belting two of Houston's five home runs, while driving in a team-leading eight RBI vs. Villanova. On the mound, the pitching was equally impressive â€" led by American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Week John King, who tossed 6.0 shutout innings, allowing just one hit and nine strikeouts for his first win as a Cougar. The staff also saw a strong Opening Night performance by Preseason All-American Andrew Lantrip, who went 6.0 innings, allowing two hits with five strikeouts for the win. Sunday's starter freshman Mitch Ullom put together a solid debut, going 5.0 strong innings, allowing just two runs on seven hits with three strikeouts for the win. In relief, sophomore Aaron Fletcher went 3.0 hitless innings with three strikeouts for his first save of 2016. As a staff, the Cougars posted a 1.33 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 27.0 total innings, while holding Villanova to 13 total hits and a .140 weekend average. ABOUT MCNEESE STATE McNeese State is coming off a weekend series win where it won 2-of-3 games over Southern Illinois at home. The Cowboys won 5-2 in Game 1, dropped Game 2, 2-1 and bounced back to win the series with an 8-4 Game 3 victory. Will Fox led the way offensively for McNeese State, hitting .375 with three RBI and three walks for a .545 on-base percentage. Ricky Ramirez also had a great opening weekend with three hits and three runs while senior Connor Crane drove in three runs with two hits, including a homer. The Cowboy pitching staff posted a 2.67 ERA with 26 strikeouts in 27.0 innings, led by starter Ethan Stremmel, who tossed 5.1 shutout innings with five strikeouts. SERIES HISTORY Houston and McNeese State will meet for the 62nd time in program history and for the first of two meetings this season. The Cougars own the all-time record at 48-13 and are 38-8 at home vs. the Cowboys. Houston has won the last seven meetings (since March 16, 2011) between the two programs. The Cougars swept the 2015 two-game series (W, 5-4 at McNeese State; W, 9-2 at home). PROBABLE STARTERS Houston: RHP Marshall Kasowski Houston will hand the ball to junior Marshall Kasowski on Tuesday vs. McNeese State. The right-hander made nine appearances in 2015 with a 1-0 record and a 2.12 ERA. In 17 innings pitched, he fanned 18 hitters. Tuesday will mark his first career start as a Cougar. McNeese State: LHP Austin Sanders Austin Sanders will make his debut for McNeese State after earning a redshirt for the Cowboys in 2015. UP NEXT The Cougars will then remain in the city to compete in the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic next weekend (Feb. 26-28) at Minute Maid Park vs. Texas Tech (Friday â€" 12 pm), Arkansas (Saturday â€" 3:30 pm), and TCU (Sunday â€" 2:30 pm). For tickets to the College Classic: www.astros.com/collegeclassic JOIN THE DUGOUT CLUB Nationally-ranked Houston Baseball would like to encourage those wishing to support the efforts and success of the baseball student-athletes to consider joining the Dugout Club for as low as $25 a month or $300 annually. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFORMATION LEVELS PINCH HITTER For a minimum monthly installment of $25 or a minimum one-time gift of $300, supporters can take advantage of the Pinch Hitter level, which will guarantee an invitation for two to exclusive Dugout Club events and Houston Baseball team apparel. DIAMOND For a minimum monthly installment of $100 or a minimum one-time gift of $1,000, supporters can take advantage of the Diamond level, which will guarantee batting practice passes for two to any home game, invitation for two to exclusive Dugout Club events and Houston Baseball apparel. **Cougar Pride points will be applied accordingly. For more information on joining the Dugout Club, please contact the Houston Baseball office at (713) 743-9396. For more information regarding Cougar Pride, please call (713) 743-GOUH BUY SEASON/ SINGLE-GAME / GROUP TICKETS Houston Baseball will play 32 home games at Cougar Field this upcoming 2016 season and fans can purchase season tickets for as low as $99 online by visiting UHCougars.com/tickets and following the appropriate links or by clicking here. To purchase tickets in person, fans can visit the Athletics Ticket Stadium Office located on the northeast corner of TDECU Stadium, just outside of Gate 1 off Cullen Boulevard. Parking is available in the TDECU Stadium parking garage with the first 30 minutes free of charge. Regular business hours are Monday through Friday, 10 a.m., to 5:30 p.m. Houston Baseball will offer variable pricing on its single-game tickets and group rates. As noted in the table above, variable pricing occurs. For weekday (Tuesday/Wednesday) games, prices range from $5-$7 depending on the choice of seating. Weekend ((Thursday) Friday-Sunday) online pricing will range from $6-$8 per game. GROUP RATES Group rates are also available (as noted in the table). Weekday (Tuesday/Wednesday) and Weekend ((Thursday) Friday-Sunday) pricing occurs. Groups of 10-24 are set at $4-$5 per person, while groups of 25+ are $3-$4 per person. All UH main campus students are admitted FREE to regular-season baseball home games with a valid student ID. 2016 SCHEDULE QUICK HITS OUR CITY • 32 home games; 38 in the city of Houston • First 12 games of the season will be played in the city of Houston • 21 of the first 25 games will be played in the city of Houston • 18 of the first 25 games will be played at Darryl & Lori Schroeder Park OPENING WEEKEND • Houston will host Opening Weekend for the 11th consecutive season • Cougars are 14-1 all-time during Opening Weekend under Todd Whitting COLLEGE CLASSIC • Houston to make 16th straight appearance in Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park • Cougars to face Texas Tech, Arkansas and TCU • Cougars own a 20-25 all-time record in tournament; has earned seven wins over Top 30 teams FIRST-TIME OPPONENTS • Houston has three first-time opponents on the schedule: Villanova, Grand Canyon, George Washington RICE & TEXAS IN SUGAR LAND, TEXAS AT CONSTELLATION FIELD • Houston will meet both Texas (April 12) and Rice (May 17) for non-conference, midweek games at Sugar Land's Constellation Field. NCAA TOURNAMENT COMPETITION • 20 games this season will be played against an NCAA-tournament team from 2015 • Arkansas, TCU, Texas Southern, Rice, Texas A&M, East Carolina, Texas, USF, Tulane STAY CONNECTED Stay up to date with all Houston Baseball news and highlights by following us on Twitter @UHCougarBB or on Facebook at /HoustonCougarBaseball. Fans can also follow head coach Todd Whitting @toddwhitting on Twitter.
Political porn as the sun rises Updated Morning television is the intellectual equivalent of having Burger Rings, smokes and an asbestos bong for breakfast (a big hello Shane Warne if you're reading). My firm belief as a professional in the area of "What I reckon based on no evidence or qualifications whatsoever" is that AM TV turns brains into lumps of ash coloured phlegm that smell like Laurie Oakes' crack. Let's not call it a belief but a hypothesis shall we? And while you're at it you can call me Professor. Political porn's political porn, no matter how it comes. And considering the current poor grade of it, we're all chasing for a decent hit. As a welcome distraction from Gillard verses Abbott (AKA Same Car Different Model verses Similar Features Longer Hair) the promise of a bit of girl on girl action, bit of scratching and hair pulling dragged me from my slumber this morning. My kids thought I must have been going overseas. They'd only ever seen me up pre 8am when I was going on an international flight. Or I was coming home from a night of dirty martinis. So there I was, at 7am on the couch watching Channel Seven's Sunrise strapped in for The Great Debate between Australian Sex Party's Fiona Patten and Family First's Wendy Francis hoping my brain wouldn't break. Apparently the deal with brain synapses is 'where it fires it wires'. I'd be lying if I didn't say I had grave fears of even limited exposure to Sunrise transforming me into a pathologically outraged tabloid reading talkback caller, mouth breathing small minded swinging voter or a chinless, neckless blog troll. Yes I was risking my neural health, for you readers. Because I love you. So the Sex Party verses Family First. The fornicators taking on the fundamentalists. The Whore verses the Madonna. Morning glory indeed. Game on moles. Mel (as in Kochie and Mel) was her usual 'how can you be so cheerful without pharmaceutical assistance' as the grid girl. The opponents were asked to quickly outline their positions (so many double entendres. So little time) in 30 seconds. Sex Party; Civil liberties, no internet filter, same sex marriage, euthanasia, religion out of politics, adult's rights while protecting children. Family First; fighting for G rated outdoor advertising, wanting what's best for Australia, representing mainstream Australia and Australian Families. Pro-filter. Christian values. Do we want to live in a country with no morals, no values, no sense of what's right or wrong? So in the shallow end of the gene pool that is morning television, the least place you'd expect it, during a campaign where journalists are being accused of being hacks and the two leaders appear to be competing in a personality competition, here was a political debate. Candidates saying stuff, believing stuff, disagreeing and answering questions. Polar opposites being polar opposites. Patten's your garden-variety civil libertarian. And Francis your typical fundermentalist. But that was what was so refreshing. As bonkers as I am sure we all think one of the parties is (I'm sure no one is tossing up whether to vote for Family First or the Australian Sex party) there was difference. Debate. I saw something I hadn't seen for a while. Passion. Not spin. Not scripted and controlled, driven by polls and informed by focus groups but a real stouch. Sure, not the best I've ever seen but with the lack of passion in the campaign any spit flying and table thumping is better than none. Patten swung the debate off billboards suggesting something to really protect children; a royal commission into sex abuse in the church. Francis said she'd support a royal commission into sex abuse across the board. Including the sex industry. Patten had to inform Francis that no one in the sex industry had been charged with sex abuse yet thousands of church workers had. Look out, up next, the internet filter. Francis played the 'You're either with us or with the child rapists card." Patten was forced to explain to Francis that child sex abuse is illegal, the Internet will not stop it and that anyone involved in child sex abuse should be prosecuted and sent to jail. Not allowed to continue. Family First's take on same sex marriage? Why change something that's been around forever. That it's not about equality, but "a small minority group", "a lifestyle choice" and marriage is about "what's good for Australia." (sic) According to Francis. "There has to be a line drawn somewhere." No explanation as to why, and clearly the assumption that Family First were the only party with the moral authority to draw the line. Because God said so. Apparently "Marriage is the backbone of Australia." Seriously. So to prove my political hypothesis 'morning television rots your brain', according to the Sunrise viewers, the party that won the debate was Family First. But I would say that. Because if I had my own political party I'd be called 'Protect Choice And Promote Diversity', 'Don't Tell Me What To Do You're Not My Mother' or 'Rack Off With Your Religion Approved Misogyny, Homophobia & Racism.' As I watched the two go head to head, I, like anyone who has ever seen Fiona Patten advocate for the adult sex industry or represent the Australian Sex party wondered what she would look like naked. But I couldn't help thinking Family First's Wendy Francis would go off in the sack. Nothing gets me thinking about sex more than religion. Or sex. You can take the girl out of the Catholic Church but you can't take the Catholic Church out of the girl. A little bit of colour in the campaign. And that color was flesh. Catherine Deveny is a Melbourne-based comedian, writer and mother of small boys. She no longer writes a column for The Age. Topics: religion-and-beliefs, government-and-politics, elections First posted
As the Conservative party divides its time between running the country and tearing itself apart over Europe, Labour has been consumed with a rather different problem. In the past two weeks, it has had to expel two activists for overt racism. That follows the creation of an inquiry into the Labour club at Oxford University, after the co-chair resigned saying the club was riddled with racism. The racism in question is hatred of Jews. I suspect many in Labour and on the wider left dearly wish three things to be true of this problem. That these are just a few bad apples in an otherwise pristine barrel; that these incidents aren’t actually about racism at all but concern only opposition to Israel; and that none of this reflects negatively on Jeremy Corbyn. Start with the bad apples. The cases of Gerry Downing and Vicki Kirby certainly look pretty rotten. The former said it was time to wrestle with the “Jewish Question”, the latter hailed Hitler as a “Zionist God” and tweeted a line about Jews having “big noses”, complete with a “lol”. It’d be so much easier if these were just two rogue cases. But when Alex Chalmers quit his post at Oxford’s Labour club, he said he’d concluded that many had “some kind of problem with Jews”. He cited the case of one club member who organised a group to shout “filthy Zionist” at a Jewish student whenever they saw her. Former Labour MP Tom Harris wrote this week that the party “does indeed have a problem with Jews”. And there is, of course, the word of Jews themselves. They have been warning of this phenomenon for years, lamenting that parts of the left were succumbing to views of Jews drenched in prejudice. I hope many on the left will pause next time Jews raise the alarm about antisemitism But this is the brick wall Jews keep running into: the belief that what Jews are complaining about is not antisemitism at all, but criticism of Israel. Jews hear this often. They’re told the problem arises from their own unpleasant habit of identifying any and all criticism of Israel as anti-Jewish racism. Some go further, alleging that Jews’ real purpose in raising the subject of antisemitism is to stifle criticism of Israel. You can see the appeal of such an argument to those who use it. It means all accusations of antisemitism can be dismissed as mere Israel-boosting propaganda. But Downing and Kirby make that harder. Their explicit targets were Jews. What of those who attack not Jews, but only Zionists? Defined narrowly, that can of course be legitimate. If one wants to criticise the historical movement that sought to re-establish Jewish self-determination in Palestine, Zionism is the right word. But Zionism, as commonly used in angry left rhetoric, is rarely that historically precise. It has blended with another meaning, used as a codeword that bridges from Israel to the wider Jewish world, hinting at the age-old, antisemitic notion of a shadowy, global power, operating behind the scenes. For clarity’s sake, if you want to attack the Israeli government, the 50-year occupation or hawkish ultra-nationalism, then use those terms: they carry much less baggage. To state the obvious, criticism of Israel and Zionism is not necessarily anti-Jewish: that’s why there are so many Jewish critics of Israel, inside and outside the country. But it doesn’t take a professor of logic to know that just because x is not always y, it does not follow that x can never be y. Of course opposition to Israel is not always antisemitic. But that does not mean that it is never and can never be antisemitic. As Downing and Kirby have helpfully illustrated. I hope that, as a result, many on the left will pause next time Jews raise the alarm about antisemitism. I hope they’ll remember that, while most anti-Israel activists are acting in good faith, some are motivated more darkly, while others carelessly express their opposition to Israel in language or imagery that has a melancholy history. It’s time we acknowledged that Oxford’s student left is institutionally antisemitic | Aaron Simons Read more There’s a deeper reason to pause. Many good people on the left want to make things neat and simple by saying that Israel and Zionism have nothing to do with Jews or Judaism. That they can deplore the former even while they protect and show solidarity with the latter. But it’s not quite as easy as that. While many Jews – especially in conversations with each other – condemn Israeli government policy going back many years, they do identify strongly with Israel and its people. A recent survey found that 93% of British Jews said Israel formed some part of their identity. Through ties of family or history, they are bound up with it. When Jews pray they face east – towards Jerusalem. And they have done that for 2,000 years. It’s inconvenient, I know, but that needs to be remembered by those who insist that there’s no connection between Israel and Jews, that it’s perfectly possible to loathe everything about Israel – the world’s only Jewish country – without showing any hostility to Jews. Jews themselves usually don’t see it, or experience it, that way. That doesn’t mean no one should ever criticise Israel, for fear of treading on Jewish sensitivities. Of course it doesn’t. But it does mean that many Jews worry when they see a part of the left whose hatred of Israel is so intense, unmatched by the animus directed at any other state. Labour expels activist described by PM as ‘9/11 sympathiser’ Read more They wonder why the same degree of passion – the same willingness to take to the streets, to tweet night and day – is not stirred by, say, Russia, whose bombing of Syria killed at least 1,700 civilians; or the Assad regime itself, which has taken hundreds of thousands of Arab lives. They ask themselves, what exactly is it about the world’s only Jewish country that convinces its loudest opponents it represents a malignancy greater than any other on the planet? Which brings us to Jeremy Corbyn. No one accuses him of being an antisemite. But many Jews do worry that his past instinct, when faced with potential allies whom he deemed sound on Palestine, was to overlook whatever nastiness they might have uttered about Jews, even when that extended to Holocaust denial or the blood libel – the medieval calumny that Jews baked bread using the blood of gentile children. (To be specific: Corbyn was a long-time backer of a pro-Palestinian group founded by Paul Eisen, attending its 2013 event even after Eisen had outed himself as a Holocaust denier years earlier. Similarly, Corbyn praised Islamist leader Sheikh Raed Salah even though, as a British court confirmed, Salah had deployed the blood libel.) Thanks to Corbyn, the Labour party is expanding, attracting many leftists who would previously have rejected it or been rejected by it. Among those are people with hostile views of Jews. Two of them have been kicked out, but only after they had first been readmitted and once their cases attracted unwelcome external scrutiny. The question for Labour now is whether any of this matters. To those at the top, maybe it doesn’t. But it feels like a painful loss to a small community that once looked to Labour as its natural home – and which is fast reaching the glum conclusion that Labour has become a cold house for Jews.
Image copyright AFP Image caption About 16,000 homes across the North of England were flooded last winter Half of all the money earmarked for new flood defences in England will be spent on protecting London and areas around the Thames, official figures show. Analysis by BBC News has found £1.8bn will be spent on the Thames Estuary over the next century out of a £3.7bn national flood spending programme. About 16,000 homes were flooded across the North of England a year ago. The Environment Agency said it invested money "where it will have the most benefit". The disparity in regional flood defence spending comes as many flood victims remain homeless, 12 months after storms Desmond and Eva devastated parts of Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Areas alongside the Thames in London such as Chiswick were also flooded in February Image copyright PA Image caption The Thames Valley suffered serious flooding in early 2014 The Thames also flooded last year with riverside areas of central London left under water. And the South East of England was badly flooded three winters ago, with rivers including the Thames, the Darent in Kent and the Ash in Surrey all flooding nearby homes. "Nothing can prepare you for the destruction of your home. I had to seek help from my GP for depression," said Roger Pierce, who was flooded in York on Boxing Day. Mr Pierce's home was one of about 400 flooded when the Foss Barrier, a local flood defence, failed. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Parts of York were devastated when the banks of the River Ouse and Fosse burst their banks "I just don't trust the Environment Agency, it talks mainly about improving flood resilience," he said. "I don't want my home to be resilient to flooding, I just want the flood defences in my community to work and stop the water ever causing damage in the first place." The analysis of the flood defence spending was undertaken by BBC Yorkshire. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Carlisle and other communities in Cumbria were also hit by severe flooding a year ago Image copyright PA Image caption The Thames Barrier has been protecting Londoners from flooding since the 1980s It found the Environment Agency and local councils have already committed to spend at least £3.7bn on a variety of flood defence and coastal erosion projects up to and beyond 2021. When further developmental projects are accounted for, £6.1bn worth of new defences are earmarked for construction across England. However whereas the East of England will receive £381 worth of flood defence spending per person, the North West of England will receive just £48 per head of population. Spending on the Thames Estuary alone is expected to total at least £1.8bn, which is four times as much as will be spent on flood defences in the whole of Yorkshire and The Humber. The agency said it had earmarked the Thames Estuary up until 2100 as it required special modelling to understand the impact of flooding on the Thames. A spokesperson for the Environment Agency, the body that spends the most on flood defences in England, said its investment had reached a record level of £2.5bn and it was on target to protect 300,000 homes by the year 2021. "We invest in flood defences where the risk is highest, wherever it is across the country, giving each scheme careful consideration to where it will benefit the most people and property," the spokesperson said. "So we are investing £446m of government funding in Yorkshire to better protect 71,000 homes from flooding and £193m across Cumbria and Lancashire to better protect over 35,000 homes." Professor Dieter Helm, of the University of Oxford, said the Environment Agency should be replaced by a network of newly created flood defence companies that would be accountable at a local level. "Every time we have flood, we throw some more money at the problem and hope it doesn't happen again," he said. "But spending more money isn't the answer so I would split the Environment Agency up, and then stop building on flood plains and maintain our uplands better so we start to ease the flow of water into our rivers." Image caption Professor Dieter Helm believes the current system of building and managing flood defences is unsustainable There is evidence to suggest rivers in parts of England are rising, owing to climate change, the building of new homes and a change in how agricultural land is used. Data seen by the BBC shows the River Ouse in York had an average yearly peak between 1890 and 1900 of 8.5 metres a year. However since 2010 the average peak of the river has been 9.3 metres high. "Last year was the wettest December on record," said Dr Lee Brown from the University of Leeds "The climate models suggest that what we saw last year during Storm Desmond and Eva should become the norm in the future."
The report continued: “Even among borrowers who receive five-year modifications, some will eventually fall behind on their payments and once again face foreclosure. In the final reckoning, the goal itself seems small in comparison to the magnitude of the problem.” The Treasury took issue with the report and said the pace of modifications was picking up. The number of active permanent modifications in March was 227,922, an increase of 35 percent from those in February. An additional 108,212 permanent modifications are awaiting borrower approval. Shaun Donovan, secretary of Housing and Urban Development, said in an interview that those were the important numbers to focus on. “One percent of these loans defaulting is a tiny fraction,” Mr. Donovan said. “Given how stressed these borrowers are, even in the best situation, there will be redefaults. But I don’t think there is any evidence that would cause us to worry at this point.” Julia R. Gordon, senior policy counsel for the Center for Responsible Lending in Washington, said she expected the number of post-modification defaults to continue to rise. Photo “It’s definitely alarming to look at those statistics,” she said. “The current model for modifications doesn’t necessarily produce sustainable results.” While the program is too new to predict its long-term success, the data on previous modification efforts is not encouraging. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Sixty percent of modifications undertaken by banks in late 2008 were in default a year later, according to the latest Mortgage Metrics Report compiled by the Office of Thrift Supervision and the comptroller of the currency. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. Many of these private plans either kept the payments the same or increased them. Inevitably, those mortgages suffered the highest failure rate: about two-thirds of the borrowers defaulted again. Loans for which the payments were decreased by at least 20 percent failed at a slower but still significant rate of about 40 percent. The government program takes a more aggressive approach, lowering the interest rates for all loans. On many loans, terms are also extended or principal payments put off for years. Treasury data shows that the median savings for borrowers receiving permanent modifications is $512 a month. Many borrowers remain deeply indebted, however. They owe not only on the house, but on homeowner association fees, home equity loans, car loans, alimony and credit card interest. Even after modification, $61 out of every $100 earned by the borrower goes to servicing debt, government figures show. For increasing numbers of modification recipients, mortgage relief is apparently not enough to stave off financial collapse. “If you can help 60 percent, and 40 percent have to fall back, is that worthwhile?” asked John Courson, president of the Mortgage Bankers Association. “Clearly for the 60 percent it was, and the 40 percent weren’t going to make it anyway.” The Treasury said on Wednesday that it had always anticipated that some homeowners would not sustain a modification, which was one reason the program had been greatly expanded. New elements focus on allowing distressed homeowners to sell their properties for less than they owe and on shaving the principal owed by borrowers. The notion of cutting principal, however, has already run into some resistance from the big banks, which do not want borrowers to get the idea that their mortgage can be chopped on a whim.
AUSTIN -- Texas isn't shying away from new abortion legislation after suffering a major blow in the Supreme Court this summer. Lawmakers filed multiple bills Monday that aim to further regulate the practice in the state, all of which will be brought up in the legislative session next year. Possibly the most contentious of the bills was proposed by Rep. Matt Schaefer, R-Tyler. House Bill 87 would prohibit women from having abortions after 20 weeks because of a fetal abnormality. Current rules allow abortions to take place after 20 weeks only if the fetus is not viable, if the abortion is necessary to prevent death or serious impairment to the woman or if the fetus has a severe abnormality. Schaefer also proposed a bill that would require abortion facilities to submit monthly, instead of annual, reports to the state on each abortion performed. House Bill 144 states that the report, however, would not identify "by any means an abortion facility, a physician performing the abortion, or a patient." House Bill 201, which was filed by Rep. Byron Cook, R-Corsicana, would write the state's proposed fetal remains rules into law. The rules would essentially require fetal remains, regardless of the period of gestation, to be cremated or buried. Current rules allow for fetal remains to be incinerated or ground until rendered unrecognizable and disposed of in a sanitary landfill. Joint Resolution 9, filed by Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood, proposes a state constitutional amendment that would extend rights of life and liberty to unborn children and prohibit abortion to the extent authorized under federal law. To take effect, the resolution would have to be approved by a two-thirds majority of both chambers and a majority of state voters. Although the bills could place some restrictions on abortions in the state, Texas hasn't introduced major legislation on the issue since House Bill 2 in 2013, which the Supreme Court partially struck down in June. The bill would have forced clinics to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals and to meet hospital-like standards. If the law would have gone into effect, it would have left as few as 10 clinics in the state. By the time of the ruling, half of the abortion clinics in the state had closed.
Chicago's historic Allerton Hotel has been sold to a Paris based hotelier and will be receiving a new name, the Warwick Allerton Hotel. In addition to its new ownership and name, the Allerton's famous Tip Top Tap may be making a comeback. Warwick International, the company who now owns the 443 room Allerton has purchased several other Art Deco-era hotels throughout the country, including the Warwick New York. Allerton's Tip Top Tap was a popular nightlife destination during the jazz age but closed in 1961. The hotel went through a major renovation after it received landmark status in 1999 and its Tip Top Tap was turned into a ballroom. According to Crain's, Warwick is currently mulling over different plans for a Tip Top Tap "renaissance", but has not yet fully committed to the idea of converting the space back to a bar and lounge. With Chicago's hotel boom well underway, reviving the old swanky lounge could be a smart way to compete with nearby amenity-rich hotels. · Will Tip Top Tap lounge make a comeback? [Crain's] · Previous Hotel Boom Town coverage [Curbed Chicago]
And Dennis Banks, the legendary Anishinaabe leader and Native American activist, has died at the age of 80. In 1968, Banks co-founded the American Indian Movement. A year later, he took part in the occupation of Alcatraz Island in California. In 1972, he assisted in AIM’s “Trail of Broken Treaties,” a caravan of numerous activist groups across the United States to Washington, D.C., to call attention to the plight of Native Americans. That same year, AIM took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs building in Washington, D.C. In early 1973, AIM members took over and occupied Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation for 71 days, which some have come to call Wounded Knee II. Speaking with Democracy Now! in 2012, Dennis Banks recounted how he was taken from his family in the 1940s and forced into a boarding school along with thousands of other Native American children. Dennis Banks: “I was taken to a boarding school when I was four years old, and taken away from my mother and my father, my grandparents, who I stayed with most of the time, and just abruptly taken away and then put into the boarding school, 300 miles away from our home. And, you know, the beatings began immediately, the—almost the de-Indianizing program. It was a terrible experience that the American government was experimenting with. And that was trying to destroy the culture and the person, destroy the Indian-ness in him and save the human being, save the—kill an Indian, save the man.” Dennis Banks remained politically active throughout his life. Last winter, he joined protests against construction of the Dakota Access pipeline at the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. Dennis Banks died Sunday night due to complications from heart surgery. He will be laid to rest in his home community of Leech Lake, Minnesota.
This article is about the American political theorist. For the Australian actor, see Ben Barber Benjamin R. Barber (August 2, 1939 – April 24, 2017) was an American political theorist and author, perhaps best known for his 1995 bestseller, Jihad vs. McWorld, and for 2013's If Mayors Ruled the World as well as the classic of democratic theory, 1984's Strong Democracy (revised in 2004). He became a top-level international consultant on participatory democracy as well as an adviser to Bill Clinton, Howard Dean, and Muammar Gaddafi. Personal life [ edit ] Barber was born in New York City in 1939. He was educated at Grinnell College (B.A., 1960) and Harvard University (M.A., 1963; Ph.D., 1966), after earning certificates at Albert Schweitzer College (1959) and the London School of Economics (1957). Barber's father, Philip W. Barber, directed the New York City unit of the Federal Theatre Project, which produced plays including Macbeth and the Living Newspaper. His mother, Doris Frankel, was a playwright and wrote for television.[1] Barber was also active as a playwright, lyricist (libretto for George Quincy's opera Home and the River) and film-maker (The Struggle for Democracy, with Patrick Watson, and Music Inn, with Ben Barenholtz). Barber died on April 24, 2017, after a four-month battle with cancer.[2][3][4] Career [ edit ] Barber was a Senior Research Scholar at The Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society of The Graduate Center, The City University of New York, the President and Founder of the Interdependence Movement, and Walt Whitman Professor of Political Science Emeritus, Rutgers University.[5] In 2001 he joined the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland as Kekst Professor of Civil Society.[6] From 2007[7]–2012, he was a Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos. As a political theorist, Barber argued for a renewed focus on civil society and engaged citizenship as tools for building effective democracy, particularly in the post-Cold War world. His work examined the failure of nation-states to address global problems, and argued that cities and intercity associations are more effectively addressing shared concerns. Barber was a Senior Fellow at the USC Center on Public Diplomacy in 2005–2017. In February 2016, he joined the Fordham University Urban Consortium as its first Distinguished Senior Fellow[8] and announced the inaugural convening of the Global Parliament of Mayors.[9] Barber was an outside adviser to President Bill Clinton and a foreign policy adviser to Howard Dean's 2004 Presidential campaign. He advised political parties and political leaders in the UK, Germany, Austria, Denmark, Finland and Italy on civic education and participatory institutions. Barber met with and worked alongside civil society and government leaders in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, China, and Moammar Gadhafi's Libya.[10][11][12] Meaning and central thesis of Strong Democracy [ edit ] In the 2004 preface to his Strong Democracy, Barber explains the central premise of that book: "Once established strongly in the political and civic realm, democracy can assure sufficient equality and justice to coexist with a variety of economic systems." He goes on to say that his goal in writing that book was not "to replace representative with strong democracy, but to thicken thin democracy with a critical overlay of participatory institutions." Barber went on to propose "a national initiative and referendum act" which would "permit Americans to petition for a legislative referendum either on popular initiatives or on laws passed by Congress." Honors [ edit ] Barber's honors included a knighthood from the French Government (Palmes Academiques/Chevalier) (2001), the Berlin Prize of the American Academy in Berlin (2001) and the John Dewey Award (2003). He was also awarded Guggenheim, Fulbright, and Social Science Research Fellowships,[13] honorary doctorates from Grinnell College, Monmouth University and Connecticut College, and held the chair of American Civilization at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales in Paris.[14] 2016 elections [ edit ] In November 2016, Barber was falsely cited as a "major Hillary donor" and recorded expressing his opinion that black voters who vote for Republicans are voting against their own interests, in a Project Veritas undercover video produced earlier in the year.[15] Project Veritas which now works with the alt-right media outlet "Breitbart News" filmed Barber without his knowledge. Project Veritas has been criticized for misleading audiences, splicing video footage, entrapping people, lying, fraud etc.[16][17] When confronted about his remarks by news station WRAL, Barber responded that the analogy to Sonderkommandos "was an overstatement and not one that I would make in public. I stand by the basic view that people of color – Latinos and African-Americans and others – who are voting for Trump are voting in total disregard of their own long-range interests and in total obliviousness to everything that Trump has said about Latinos, about immigrants, about African-Americans, his own racist record."[18] Barber donated $12,825 to various political campaigns between 2008 and 2016,[18] and he described himself as an experienced fundraiser in his biography.[19] Bibliography [ edit ] References [ edit ] Further reading [ edit ]
There were a few comments a while ago that raised the topic of Thomas Merton’s relationship with Orthodoxy, and TheraP mentioned a review that he had written on Father Alexander Schmemann’s work. I had read the review in Monastic Studies (no. 4, Advent 1966: 105-115) earlier this year, and since reading Father Schmemann’s The Eucharist Sacrament of the Kingdom: Sacrament of the Kingdom, had been wanting to return to it. TheraP drew my attention to the fact that it had also been included in the volume Merton & Hesychasm: The Prayer of the Heart & the Eastern Church (The Fons Vitae Thomas Merton series), and this weekend I have been visiting friends who have this book. The whole book looks fascinating and there are several other essays that I have dipped into and would like to read properly, both by Merton and by people like Metropolitan Kallistos Ware, Canon A.M. Allchin, Rowan Williams and Jim Forest. But I re-read his review of Father Schmemann’s Sacraments and Orthodoxy and of Ultimate Questions. Here are a few extracts: …Sacraments and Orthodoxy, a powerful, articulate and indeed creative essay in sacramental theology which rival Schillebeeckx and in some ways excels him. Less concerned than Schillebeeckx with some of the technical limitations of Catholic sacramental thought, Schmemann can allow himself to go the very root of the subject without having to apologize for his forthrightness or for his lack of interest in trivialities. Let the reader be warned. If he is now predisposed to take a comfortable, perhaps exciting mysterious, excursion into the realm of a very “mystical” and highly “spiritual” religion, the gold-encrusted cult thick with the smoke of incense and populated with a legion of gleaming icons in the sacred gloom, a “liturgy which to be properly performed requires not less than twenty-seven heavy liturgical books,” he may find himself disturbed by Fr. Schmemann’s presentation. Certainly, Sacraments and Orthodoxy will repudiate nothing of the deep theological and contemplative sense of Orthodox faith and worship. But the author is intent on dispelling any illusions about the place of “religion” in the world of today. In fact, one would not suspect from the title of this book, it is one of the strongest and clearest statements of position upon this topic of the Church and the world. (474) …. The heart of Fr. Schmemann’s argument is that the Church’s vocation to worship and witness in the world is a vocation to a completely eucharistic view of all creation, a view which, far from setting aside worship and confining it to a special limited area of cult, sees and celebrates the world itself as “meaningful because it is the sacrament of God’s presence.” “Life itself,” he continues, in terms that would perhaps disconcert those habituated to the strict logical categories of scholastic thought, “is worship.” “We were created as celebrants of the sacrament of life.” Man is regarded by Fr. Schmemann as naturally homo adorans, the high priest of creation, the “priest of the cosmic sacrament” (the material world). Even in his most fallen and alienated state, far from the Church and from the vision of God, man remains hungry for the eucharistic life. He longs, unconsciously, to enter into the sacred banquet, the wedding feast, the celebration of the victory of life over death. But his tragedy is that he is caught in a fallen world which is confused and opaque, which is no longer seen as “sacrament” but accepted as an end in itself. That is to say, it is no longer seen as a gift to be received from God in gladness and returned to Him in praise and celebration. It is accepted on its own terms as an area in which the individual ego engages in a desperate struggle against time to attain some measure of happiness and self-fulfillment before death inevitably ends everything. Even when he seeks a “religious” answer to his predicament in the fallen world, man finds himself struggling to produce “good behavior” to make things come out so that he will have happiness in the world – or, failing that, in the next. Even Christianity sometimes ends up by being a pseudo Christian happiness cult, a judicious combination of ethical tranquilizing and sacramental happy making, plus a dart of art and a splash of political realism (a crusade!). This of course calls for specialists in counselling, men trained to give the right answers, engineers of uplift! “Adam failed to be the priest of the world and because of this failure the world ceased to be the sacrament of divine love and presence and became ‘nature’. And in this ‘natural’ world, religion became an organized transaction with the supernatural and the priest was set apart as the transactor.” It is precisely from this state of affairs that secularism arises: “Clericalism is the father of secularism.” True to the tradition of the Greek Fathers, Fr. Schmemann sees all life as “cosmic liturgy,” and views man as restored by the Incarnation to his place in that liturgy, so that, with Christ and in Christ, he resumes his proper office as high priest in a world that is essentially liturgical and eucharistic. The function of the Church (and of the sacraments) is then to lead all mankind back on a sacred journey to reconciliation with the Father. In the liturgy, the Church calls together all men and invites them to join ranks with her and, in answer to the “tidings of great joy,” to go out in procession to meet the Lord and enter with Him into the wedding banquet which is His Kingdom of joy and love. (477-478) Advertisements
Much like mobile gaming as a whole, the popular MOBA game Vainglory for mobile devices by Super Evil MegaCorp is entering that awkward adolescent age between the awe of childhood, and the gritty reality of adulthood. …I see this influx of player run events as a good thing for the community and the future of the game despite the appearance of over-saturation. Just 4 months after the official launch of the game, a thriving player community has emerged, due to Super Evil Mega Corp’s seemingly unwavering commitment to their fans. And at the center of this growing community of mobile gamers is a burgeoning competitive scene that is hungering for the tools and official backing to compete on a worldwide level. And while undoubtedly a small percentage of the overall user base, the “High ELO” players have fragmented away from the casual player base, focusing on competitive play and the future of the game. This need for competition has lead to a flood of player run tournaments, leagues and organized team matches, with new ones popping up daily. Having been a sponsor of the recently completed Vainglory Championship Series, and now a partner with the VGL at VaingloryLeague.com, I wanted to discuss why I see this influx of player run events as a good thing for the community and the future of the game despite the appearance of over-saturation. True to the MOBAs before it, at the very heart of Vainglory is competition. For pure fun-factor, the game is amazing, however it is the competitive aspect which brings you back, game after game, motivated to improve and learn from your mistakes to outdo the other team. And as you get better and better and rise in ranks the competition thins leaving the highest ranked players (Pinnacle of Awesome / Vainglorious) left wanting. SEMC has gone on record stating that there will be no officially sanctioned tournaments or leagues until at the very least Spectator Mode has been implemented within the game. This has forced the player community to create their own tournaments and leagues in order to scratch that itch of competition. I have seen comments that this saturation of player run events could be a detriment to the future of the competitive game and the “High ELO” player base. Being someone that is actively involved in the organizational side of Vainglory competitive play, I wanted to provide my thoughts on the situation: At the time of writing, there are currently three main events happening: LEV – League of Extraordinary Vainglorians 10 Weeks – 50 Teams compete in a seasonal league structure with top 32 teams advancing to the Tournament of Champions. VGL+NA 3v3 Cup – Vainglory League / North America 4 Weeks – 32 Teams compete in a bracketed tournament with randomized seeding. – North American Servers Only (http://www.vaingloryleague.com/tournament/3on3-cup-na-1/) VGL+EU 3v3 Cup – Vainglory League / Europe 4 Weeks – 16 Teams compete in a bracketed tournament with randomized seeding – European Servers Only (http://www.vaingloryleague.com/tournament/3on3-cup-1/) Each of these events offers something unique and valuable for the competitive player. For the LEV, we’re talking about the first true attempt at a seasonal league within the Vainglory community. With a $1000 in cash prizes and bonus ICE for top placing teams, this is an exciting prospect for the High ELO scene. This structure should provide teams the opportunity to play against the best in the world while gaining valuable knowledge of how to improve their game over the course of the 10-week season. This is a fairly long-term commitment for a game that has only been around twice that (approx. 20 weeks.), however, the opportunity is invaluable. With both the VGL+NA & VGL+EU 3v3 Cups, we’re talking about a traditional style tournament format with 32 regional teams being placed within a randomly seeded bracket. This is a single elimination structure, with losing teams being dropped each round. However, due to the shortened schedule, losing teams can continue to practice and improve for next months cup event. The shortened timeline also allows new players and teams to enter the fray and evaluate their play level within a competitive environment. These tournaments can act as a valuable proving grounds as teams prepare for either an officially sanctioned season One with SEMC, or future LEV or VGL leagues. One other event of note are the Sunny Sunday events being coordinated by the VGL. These 8 team events are spontaneous, 1-day – 2vs2 tournaments that pit teams head to head for a winner takes all event. The Sunny Sunday events are live streamed from beginning to end at twitch.tv/vaingloryleague and offer teams the chance to flex their skills for the glory of the Sunny Sunday. These are fun events focused on the players and teams, and produce the excitement of a full scale tournament, consolidated into a 4-5 hour window. While this large offering of competitive play may feel overwhelming for the currently small base of high-elo players, I believe this offers every skill tier an opportunity to try their hand at competitive play, and will only create a better experience in the long run for the community. With the impending release of spectator mode, and the ability for true 3v3 competitive play, I think we are just scratching the surface of what will be possible within this space. The future is bright for Vainglory and the players that make up this community! Now go play 🙂 ~Vainshame What do you think? Agree or disagree? Let me know in the comments or on twitter @vainshame
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This Raw Cacao Nib Coconut Bites recipe is in my top 5 favorite desserts as it’s so unbelievably delicious, easy and fast to make. Just about 3 minutes of your time. BOOM! Oh my, it’s 6.30 am and I’ve already stuffed my face with a few of these cacao nibs coconut bites and kinda lost my appetite for breakfast. Just looking for some writing inspiration, that’s all. Good morning, by the way. :) Still can’t believe that I’ve become pretty obsessed with coconut and now I’m eating it with everything. I’m having a serious coconut love affair! :)) I use it in my müsli-from-scratch for breakfast and smoothies. So why not incorporating it into my special sweet treats, too?! Do you remember my first experiment called Mini Chocolate Energy Balls that features raw cacao powder and cashew? I was telling you back then that I had to slightly adapt Scott Jurek’s recipe (the famous American ultra-marathoner) as I couldn’t find cacao nibs in the natural food store. Those treats were a lifesaver for me because they have helped me to improve my speed-endurance – I mean the pace at which I can cover substantial distances. To give you an example, last week I ran 15 km in 1h:11mins. It’s my new record. However, I bought cacao nibs the other day, try them again and it turned out a million times better than I could have ever expected. They are seriously more incredible than anything, so I HAD to share them with everybody. Even with my neighbors … and those guys that interviewed me two days ago… And guess what?! They all said: “Can I take another one?” :)))) The coconut just adds the most incredible flavor to the cacao nibs, making each bite so darn delicious. I’d say that the flavors complement each other so perfectly, that both flavors remain subtle, yet still present and sweetish with a slightly buttery texture thanks to the addition of cashew. They literally melt in your mouth! Seriously, there are so many different possibilities with these little bites. For example, you could dress them up by rolling them in a variety of different toppings – crushed walnuts, crushed cashew, cacao powder, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, and so much more – I for one will try them all. Make them this weekend and keep them in the fridge for a few days, just so you always have a delicious healthy treat when in need! 4.5 from 2 reviews Print Raw Cacao Nib Coconut Bites Author: Cook it fit Prep time: 3 mins Total time: 3 mins Serves: 20 These raw bites that feature raw cacao nibs and coconut are the perfect healthy treat you deserve every single day. Not to mention they are raw vegan, dairy-free and sugar-free – and they take up maximum 5 minutes of your time. Ingredients - 1 cup cacao nibs - 1 cup raw crushed cashew - 10 medium dates - 2 tablespoons of shredded coconut (the ones without sugar) - 1 tsp ground cinnamon - ½ tsp red pepper flakes - a pinch of sea salt - 2 tablespoons of coconut oil (warmed to liquid consistency) Instructions Combine all the ingredients except the coconut oil and coconut flakes in a food processor and process for a few minutes until chopped to a fine texture. Transfer the mixture to a mixing bowl. Add the melted coconut oil and stir until well combined. Form into 1-inch round balls and roll them in shredded coconut to slightly cover the entire bite and amp up the cacao nibs flavor. Then place them on waxed paper ideally (baking paper will do just fine too) and refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes, then transfer them to an airtight container. Notes The bites will keep for 2 weeks, refrigerated. Recipe slightly adapted from Scott Jurek. Did you make this recipe? Then please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #cookitfit! Wordpress Recipe Plugin by EasyRecipe 3.3.3070 Have you tried this recipe before? If not, what’s your favorite combo?Be healthy and happy! With love, Cris
The question, then, is whether it is reasonable to believe that people with serious abnormalities in the way they interact with the world can be found running for (and winning) office. However unsettling as this may be, the answer seems to be yes. It's possible for psychopaths to be found anywhere -- including city hall or Washington, D.C. Remember, psychopaths are not delusional or psychotic; in fact, two of the hallmarks of psychopathy are a calculating mind and a seemingly easy charm. In his landmark book on psychopathy, The Mask of Sanity, researcher Hervey Cleckley theorized that some people with the core attributes of psychopathy -- egocentricity, lack of remorse, superficial charm -- could be found in nearly every walk of life and at every level, including politics. Robert Hare, perhaps the leading expert on the disorder and the person who developed the most commonly used test for diagnosing psychopathy, has noted that psychopaths generally have a heightened need for power and prestige -- exactly the type of urges that make politics an attractive calling. There is more at work than just the drive to seek office, though; psychopaths may have some peculiar talents for it, as well. Research has shown that disorder may confer certain advantages that make psychopaths particularly suited to a life on the public stage and able to handle high-pressure situations: psychopaths score low on measures of stress reactivity, anxiety and depression, and high on measures of competitive achievement, positive impressions on first encounters, and fearlessness. Sound like the description of a successful politician and leader? Doubtless, it's easier to see some leaders as psychopaths than it is others. Presumably, no one would dispute the notion that Hitler and Stalin were psychopaths at the extreme end of the spectrum: completely unconstrained by empathy or guilt and willing to say or do anything to accomplish their goals. This, though, reinforces the perception of psychopaths as out-of-control madmen who are evil to the core. Might there be other, more mainstream political leaders who have psychopathic traits but fall closer to the "normal" range? Some have certainly thought so. In 2003, neuropsychologist Paul Brok argued that Prime Minister Tony Blair was a "plausible psychopath" who was ruthlessly ambitious, egocentric, and manipulative. Respected psychologist and researcher David Lykken has written: If we can believe his biographer, Robert Caro [...] Lyndon Johnson exemplified this syndrome. He was relatively fearless, shameless, abusive of his wife and underlings, and willing to do or say almost anything required to attain his ends. In any event, the idea that a psychopath could reach the heights of power is nothing new. Over a century ago, famed American philosopher and psychologist William James said, "When superior intellect and a psychopathic temperament coalesce [...] in the same individual, we have the best possible conditions for the kind of effective genius that gets into the biographical dictionaries." Perhaps, then, that's the key; it's the combination of other talents with certain elements of psychopathy that can make an effective leader. Which brings us back to those currently tossing about the label of psychopath -- ironically, some of them may not be denigrating the candidates as much as they suppose.
Doug Jones spoke to Lexington in Mobile, Alabama, on November 10th. The previous day the Washington Post had published a report alleging that Roy Moore, his Republican rival for an Albama Senate seat, had a history of pursuing and molesting teenage girls. Mr Jones, seated in the office of a friendly law firm and wearing his trademark “Doug Jones: US Senate" white sports shirt, was enjoying a pit-stop between a Veteran’s Day parade and joint appearance before a black crowd with Congressman John Lewis. He seemed a bit warier than a more seasoned politician, but was engaging nonetheless. The Economist: What is at stake in this contest? Doug Jones: I think there is a lot at stake for Alabama. People put it in a broader context but I think for Alabama, in particular as it stands now, Alabama has a choice of either going forward or backwards in my opinion. My campaign has been built from the very beginning even in in the primary on having dialogues not monologues, built on trying to bring people together, to have a unifying voice, reaching across the aisle, because I truly believe that as a state and a country we need to try to bring people together to try to find some common ground. We’ve been talking about that right from the beginning, and that is still what our campaign is about. Now I’ve got issues that I want to do that with, but at the end of the day in order to move any issue forward you have to find common ground with people who might take a different approach. Get our daily newsletter Upgrade your inbox and get our Daily Dispatch and Editor's Picks. What is there to persuade you there are enough people in Alabama who are receptive to that, who don’t want division? I think people are very tired of the gridlock, very tired of the fighting, they see nothing but chaos, nothing but that people cannot get things done. And they are beginning to realise…the healthcare debate that really has been going now since January, I think the healthcare debate has allowed people to focus on issues. Because they see a system that is not working the way it’s supposed to be, some would say it’s broken, but the responses have been more political than they have been caring. They’ve been political, repeal and replace, or they have been, no, we’re not going to do any of that. And so, what they want to see is, look, this is my life, our healthcare is such a fundamental issue for us, we want people to talk to each other, try to get something done that’s going to help everybody. Well, this may be what you and I think, what the pundit class thinks, but another reading of politics in the last couple of years is that, actually, issues don’t matter. I agree with that, but what I’m saying is this health-care debate has to some extent, at least in Alabama, changed that. You’ve seen it in polling, you saw it in Virginia the other night, when the number one thing people voted on was health care. I think that this issue has helped people do what I call a political reset button and start looking at issues and they want to see something done. In Washington, DC right now you’ve got one party that controls the presidency, the House and the Senate. Nothing’s getting done. And it’s not getting done in part because the parties are fighting and will not try to find common ground. So your pitch is a bipartisan pitch? Yes and no. I’m running as a Democrat, because my belief system is more consistent with working-class people and I try to do things to help people and lift all boats. But at the same time I recognise that to get anything done progress has got to be made on both sides of the aisle. You’ve got to find that common ground. Are there any Republicans you wouldn’t work with? In the Senate? No. But at the same time it’s a two-way street, it’s not just me running around and knocking on doors up there and saying, ‘Hey will you work with me?’ I hope that a voice like mine, a Democrat voice from the south, will be able to reach across that aisle and find that common ground and that middle ground. How would it help that you’re from the South? I think it helps because so many of the divisions in this country started in the South. It doesn’t matter what you talk about, politics or whatever. Many of the divisions started in the South decades and decades ago. So when you’ve got someone from the South trying to heal those, and try to to bring people together, people take notice. Give me an example of a particular division? I’m talking about anything. You’re talking about race? I’m talking about race certainly, but I think about any issue that addresses the people of the country, the folks that need health care, that need jobs, I think you don’t necessarily expect that voice to come from the South, a voice that’s going to be right there talking to everyday people, no matter where they are. I think the people of this state have more that unites than divides us. I believe the people of the country do too, but we’ve just got to find it. We’ve got to find it. And right now the reason we’ve had a problem so much is because our politics are defined by issues that divide us. Roy Moore wants to do that, Roy Moore has consistently used divisive issues to try to polarise people. But isn’t that a pretty successful template? It has been, but it hasn’t always been. You know, it has been, but that doesn’t mean it has to be every election. So, you know, we’ll see. It may or may not be for this election cycle, but I can tell you this: We’re getting a hell of a lot of traction in this state. On that float today, in Mobile, one of the most conservative cities in this state, to see the number of people of all races and all ages giving me the thumbs up and saying, "Go for it, I’m voting to you, I’m for you, go for it." You would see we have traction. How much is Roy Moore an advantage for you? I think it is an advantage, I’d be silly to say he wasn’t. The contrast between Roy Moore and myself couldn’t be greater in terms of working with people. My history has been one of reaching across political aisles, but also to try to help all people, treat them with dignity, respect, try to make sure all people are treated equally in the eyes of the law. And that has not been his history. It’s been just the opposite. If you’re not part of that class of people that Roy Moore is OK with, then you’re just a second-class citizen—you don’t have certain rights, your conduct may be considered illegal, all of those issues. He is a divider, and has been a divider. Now he’s got his supporters and I get that and understand that, but I just think that’s not who the people of Alabama are. How can you reassure his supporters that you are not out to take away their religious freedom or their guns, their culture? I don’t know if I can. I think actions have to speak louder than words, so once I get elected I can try to do it. But look, when you talk about their Christian beliefs and stuff, that’s one thing, but when you talk about their culture, I’m not sure what you mean by that. If culture means that you have to put down people, if your culture means that you would discriminate against somebody, that you would not treat anybody in the same way that Christ would do, then I’m not going to protect that. I’m not going to protect discrimination of any sort, in any way, whether it’s race, religion, sex orientation or whatever. So I’m not going to protect that culture if that’s what their culture is. What I’m hoping to see is that if they are truly religious and they are truly Christian in the same way that I am, that my faith is, well, we take care of everybody. I’ve always believed the culture of the South, the heritage of the South, is of people treating people like friends, of neighbours helping neighbours. You know, when a tornado comes through Tuscaloosa or Hackleburg, or you have a hurricane comes up the Gulf Coast, we don’t start running around asking people who they are or who their fathers are. Do you think the Democratic Party has nonetheless been tin-eared or unresponsive to voters’ cultural concerns? I don’t know if they’ve been unresponsive. Again, if their culture is such that it’s a discriminatory culture, if that’s what you mean, if that’s what they do, then I don’t think the Democratic Party or the Republican Party should respond to that Then the trick is to find a way to appeal to that culture without being discriminatory? Either appeal to them or just hopefully once you get elected, you can talk to them and you can say look, I’m not going to infringe on that, if you want to believe what you believe, that’s fine, but let’s talk about your health care, let’s talk about jobs, let’s talk about the economy. You and I may never agree on whether it’s OK to discriminate against Muslims, but let’s talk about your health care. I want your kids to get educated, I want you to have a good job, I want you to have adequate health care. So let’s talk about those issues and let’s find the issues that we can find common ground on. How much of an advantage or disadvantage for you is the Post story? I don’t have a crystal ball, I have no idea. You know, we’re going to stay in our lane. We have these issues which we believe were gathering steam, that we have the wind at our back on anyway. So I don’t have a clue. All that I know is these are very serious issues he has to answer to the people of Alabama on. We’re going to talk about the issues. It’s all about the people of this state. But you are also talking about him… I was talking about him on his issue concerning the moral foundation of law, and on the fact that the people of Alabama elected him twice and on both occasions he was removed from office. I think those are serious, serious issues. And I think the people of Alabama need to understand that. I’ve always said that if you look at his history, it’s all about him and not about the people of the state. I think that that is fair game. This [The Post story] goes beyond that. So we are going to stay in our lane. You’re not going to talk about this? No reason to. He will have to answer to the people of the state, not me. But would you say it frames the choice between you as a moral one? I’m not going to characterise it as that. I’ve never characterised a political race as framing a moral choice. I think you look at everybody’s record and at the facts and you make a decision on what you believe should be in the best interests of the state. Who do I think can best represent me? Who do I think can best represent the people of this state to try to attract jobs and bring in business? Those are the issues. I don’t put that on a moral plane. Somebody else might. Why are you a Democrat? I go way back, I see the Democratic Party in a historical light. I see the Democratic Party of Franklin D. Roosevelt, that brought us out of the Depression and gave us social security. I see it in Harry Truman, I see it in John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon Johnson who gave us Medicaid and Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. I’ve seen the party always for being for folks who are hardworking, trying to keep their families safe, trying to provide for their families, and I think that is traditionally what the party has always been. And do it fairly, and across the board, and not treat people in discriminatory ways. Your grandfather was a coal miner I think? One was a coal miner, a union organiser, the other was a steel worker. So they were Democrats? Yes. And they stuck with the party? My grandad who was the steel worker died in 1969. My dad, who was also a steel worker, has gone both ways. You’ve got to remember that when I was a kid everybody was a Democrat. So it’s fair to say they were Democrats in part because of Roosevelt and because of Truman, but as things started to shift, my Dad would say I’m going to vote for a person not a party. So he always did that, he always split his vote. Have you voted Republican? One time, I voted for Richard Nixon, my very first vote. Oh God, I‘ve regretted it ever since. Would you welcome national Democratic leaders who want to campaign with you? Well, we’re not asking for a whole lot of stuff. You’ve had Joe Biden down here… Well, Joe and I have been friends for a long time, we’ve been friends since my days in law school. He’s always said, "Doug, if you want to do something, let me know." He was funny, he said, "Let me know and I’ll either come and campaign for you or against you, whatever will help you." I wanted him to come down because Joe’s history is also that working-class history. So, we’ll see, today we’ve got Congressman John Lewis coming down, one of my heroes. He’s been a friend since I met him following the church bombing cases. So we’ll have a few things like that coming in. But at the end of the day, it’s all going to be about issues that people in the state care about. You know, that’s what I believe, people are truly setting some reset buttons. Would you welcome Barack Obama if he offered to come? You know, we’re not seeking anybody, haven’t talked to anybody like that. I don’t know. Bill Clinton? I’m not sure. What we want to do is this, we want to run our race, if people fit into that race, then absolutely. Why… Why am I asking the question? I’m asking because I’m interested in whether it’s possible to separate your candidacy from the brand of the Democratic Party which is not strong in Alabama. It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t really matter. Only the people in the media are asking me those questions. There’s nobody in Alabama asking me, "Are you going to bring in so and so? Are you going to stay away from this or that?" The people I’m talking to in Alabama are saying, "What are you going to do for my health care? What are you going to do about this?" They’re not trying to get into my head about the campaign and how we’re going to strategise the campaign. They want to know what we have to say about the issues. There may be people that are specific experts on issues that I might reach out to, to say, "Hey, you’re the expert on this…" But don’t ask me the follow-up, because that just came out, I don’t have anybody in mind. We want to make sure this is an Alabama-based race. We have a national party, we’re a part of the Democratic Party, I understand that and it cuts both ways, because at the end of the day there are still a lot of Democrats in this state. There’s a lot of people in this state fed up with the Republican Party, because if you ask people in this state about the Republican Party. They’ll say, "Which part? The Steve Bannon part or do you mean a more moderate part?" So I don’t think anyone wants to nationalise the race much, because it’s an Alabama race. Just going back to your family briefly, you said your grandfathers were Democrats… I would say they voted Democrat. They were never active politically, they were voters. Sure, but then, your cousins and wider family? Most of them have become Republicans I suppose? Most of them, I would assume. Most everybody voted Republican more than they voted Democrat in the last few years. Do you think that helps you get across the aisle, get in the mind of conservative Republicans? Look, I’m not trying to get in the mind of conservative Republicans, I’m not trying to get in the minds of anybody. I’m running this race based on my personal belief system, it’s what I think is also consistent with what deep down a lot of people in the state also believe. If it reaches people, fine. If it doesn’t reach certain people, what I hope to say is, Look, we’re not going to agree on every issue… That’s the other thing I think: politicians in this country try to be all things to all people, say diff things to different groups in order to try to reach those groups. We’re not doing that. We’re saying, this is our message, and at the end of the day, we’re not going to agree with people on everything. I’m just not going to agree with everyone on every issue. But what I want to do is this, I want to sit down and talk about these issues, and we will find common ground. You mean on health care and jobs? Health care, jobs, education, you name it, we will find common ground. And if we can’t find common ground, let’s just agree to disagree and move on to some other thing that we can find common ground on. I don’t think you have enough public officials or politicians that take that approach and I’m pretty tired of listening to people that tell me it’s their way or the highway. I think that’s a problem with both political parties these days. You say you don’t need everyone to agree with you on everything. It’s in fact pretty striking that you’ve stuck to your guns on some issues, choice say. Was that much of a decision for you? No Why not? It’s poison isn’t it? Campaigning in Alabama as a pro-choice Democrat? No, it’s absolutely not. I absolutely do not believe it is. At the end of the day, my position, which has been consistent with the law for decades is what deep-down most people believe. So I don’t think it is. But regardless—when my wife and I first talked about this race, we said the one thing we did not want to do is move the needle on positions based on polls or whatever. People need to be transparent, people need to be authentic. There’s not enough authenticity in our political leaders these days. And that’s the one thing I’ve always prided myself on being. We can agree to disagree, but what you see is what you get. And I’ll give my point, but what I’m also going to do is say, "We may not be able to agree on that issue, I know you have beliefs on that issues and I respect those beliefs, but let’s talk about something else, let’s move on from that for a minute and let’s talk about your health care." But that’s not all you’re saying is it? Your prosecution of the abysmal Klan case, that is your USP with the black community, so that’s what you’re going to talk about with it… I’m running ads on it in the white community, too. I said the same thing in Fyffe, Alabama, where there were just 350 people up there and only a handful of black folks. I’m proud of that. I’m proud for the state of Alabama that were able to do that, because at the end of the day, it was not Doug Jones who convicted those guys, it was a jury of black and white, young and old, male and female that did the actual convictions. So our messages are the same. There are always local issues. But, by and large, my platform is the same, and the church bombings case is part of it, because for someone to be able to do that 37, 38 years out of the chute, it takes a lot of passion, just hard work and things coming together for you, and I’m proud of that, and I want people to know about that, and I want people to know this too: It was a damn good thing for the state of Alabama that we were able to convict those guys, because I travel all over the country and this is what I hear. It was good for the state and good for business in the state that we could show we were excising some of the demons we’ve had here. Thank you very much. Thank you. I enjoyed it.
NEW YORK/TORONTO (Reuters) - BlackBerry Ltd’s board does not believe a break-up of the Canadian smartphone maker is currently in its best interests, even though Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc and Lenovo Group Ltd, among others, have expressed interest in acquiring parts of the company, according to people familiar with the discussions. A sign is seen at the Blackberry campus in Waterloo, September 23, 2013. REUTERS/Mark Blinch The board rejected proposals from several technology companies for various BlackBerry assets on grounds that a break-up did not serve the interest of all stakeholders, which include employees, customers and suppliers in addition to shareholders, said the sources, who did not want to be identified as the discussions were confidential. Microsoft and Apple had both expressed interest in BlackBerry’s intellectual property and patents, a source briefed on the matter told Reuters. In 2011, the three companies had teamed up with others to buy patents from bankrupt Canadian telecoms company Nortel. BlackBerry had also held discussions with Cisco Systems Inc, Google Inc and Chinese computer maker Lenovo, among others, about selling all, or parts of itself, Reuters previously reported. A BlackBerry spokeswoman declined to comment on the board’s deliberations, and it is not known what specific proposals were rejected by directors during the company’s three-month-long review of strategic options. Microsoft, Apple and the other tech companies have all declined to comment on the matter. BlackBerry stunned investors on Monday by abandoning plans to sell itself, naming a new interim chief executive, and announcing an $1 billion convertible notes issue to a group of investors including its largest shareholder Fairfax Financial Holdings, Canso Investment Counsel, Mackenzie Financial, Markel Corp, Qatar Holding and Brookfield Asset Management. BlackBerry shares fell 16 percent on the news as investors fretted the company may have missed an opportunity to deliver shareholder value. But the board felt the notes issue offered BlackBerry the most near-term certainty and the best chance for a turnaround, said the people familiar with the discussions. Most alternative proposals would have broken up the Waterloo, Ontario-based company, which was not in the best interests of all stakeholders, they added. One of the sources said the board also took into consideration the current cost of the break-up. Winding down some of BlackBerry’s businesses would have created liabilities, including in its commitments with suppliers, and would have weighed on the monetization of the company’s intellectual property, the source said. BlackBerry’s assets range from devices and network assets to software and patents. Some of these assets are so intertwined they could lose value in a company break-up, another source added. The board was also concerned that any deal involving foreign companies would be closely scrutinized by the Canadian government in an extended review process, the sources said, prolonging uncertainty and making it harder for BlackBerry to stem customer losses. Last month, Canada blocked an Egyptian telecommunication entrepreneur’s bid to acquire the Allstream fiber optic network owned by Manitoba Telecom Services, citing unspecified security concerns. The sources stressed the board’s decision not to break up BlackBerry reflected the current situation and did not preclude a future split. But future proposals will likely be measured by a similar yardstick. A landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling in the BCE case in 2008 said a Canadian company’s board needs to consider the interests of all stakeholders, not just shareholders, when it decides on a deal. Stakeholders can include employees, customers, suppliers and the wider community. In 2007, telecoms company BCE Inc agreed to a leveraged buyout that offered its shareholders a substantial premium, but the deal hurt the company’s bond prices, and its debt holders challenged the deal in court. While the deal eventually fell apart for other reasons, the Supreme Court ruled that a company’s board has to take into consideration the interests of all stakeholders and not just its investors, when deciding on the merits of a deal. Towards the end of BlackBerry’s review of strategic alternatives, a consortium comprised of BlackBerry founders Mike Lazaridis and Douglas Fregin, Cerberus Capital Management LP and mobile chip giant Qualcomm had expressed interest in the company. BlackBerry’s board dismissed that proposal as too tentative since it lacked committed financing, sources familiar with the matter said, adding that this does not mean that the board is closed to entertaining proposals in the future.
Hide Transcript Show Transcript WEBVTT ERIN: ON THE CRIME WATCH,HELICOPTERS, EXPLOSIONS MAKINGFOR A NOISY MORNING IN ANDAROUND SANTA CRUZ AS THEDEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITYAND SANTA CRUZ POLICE MOVED INON A VIOLENT SALVADORAN GANG ANDARRESTED TEN PEOPLE.WE GET THE LATEST FROM PHILGOMEZ, WHO IS LIVE IN SANTACRUZ.>> POLICE TELL ME THIS WAS ANOPERATION THAT HAS BEEN IN THEPLANNING STAGES FOR FIVE YEARS.THE TWELVE PEOPLE ARRESTED AREACCUSED OF EXTORTION, DEALINGDRUGS AND MURDER.>> NO, I DID NOT SEE ANYTHING,BECAUSE THERE WAS AN ASSAULTRIFLE POINTED AT MY FACE.>> THIS IS ONE OF 12 POINTSSECURITY SLEPT THROUGH IN APREDAWN RAID.>> WE HEARD A LOT OF BIG BOOMSAND BANGS.>> LAW ENFORCEMENT WEREN'TTAKING ANY RISKS.THEY SWOOPED IN WITH HELICOPTERSAND ARMORED VEHICLES.X WE BELIEVE THIS GANG ISINVOLVED IN SHOOTINGS ANDMURDERS THAT HAVE OCCURREDDIRECTLY IN THE CITY OF SANTACRUZ.>> FEDERAL AT TORIES ENTEREDTHIS HOUSE IN THE BEACH FLATSNEIGHBORHOOD.THEY WERE LOOKING FOR HISSON-IN-LAW WHO NO LONGER LIVESAT THIS ADDRESS BUT HE WAS ASKEDHIS LEGAL STATUS.HE DID NOT WANT HIS IDENTITYREVEALED FOR FEAR OFRETALIATION.>> ONE OF THE OFFICERS SPOKESPANISH.HE GAVE HIM INFORMATION.ONE OF THE OTHER OFFICERS SAIDHE IS ILLEGAL.HE SAID NO, HE IS A RESIDENT.THEY LOOKED AT HIS PAPERS.HE IS A RESIDENT.THEY VERIFIED ALL HISINFORMATION.>> CITY LEADERS TELL ACTION NEWSTHIS INVESTIGATION BEGAN FIVEYEARS AGO, UNDER THE OBAMAADMINISTRATION AND ARE VERYAWARE OF THE COMMUNITY'SCONCERNS.SIMILAR RAIDS WERE GOING ONSIMULANEOUSLY IN OTHER COUNTIESAND ACTIONS IN SANTA CRUZ WERETAKEN TO ENSURE THE PUBLIC WASKEPT SAFE DURING THE ARRESTS>> AGAIN, THERE WAS NOCONNECTION TO IMMIGRATION, NOCONNECTION TO WHAT HAS HAPPENEDIN L.A. AND OTHER CITIES IN THESTATE OF CALIFORNIA.OF COURSE, THE TIMING MAKES THEMLOOK SIMILAR.BUT THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELANDSECURITY SEES THIS GANG AS ATERRORIST ORGANIZATION, AND THATIS WHY THEY ARE INVOLVED.>> AT THE END OF THE DAY, 12PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED.LAW ENFORCEMENT WOULD NOTPROVIDE FURTHER INFORMATIONWHILE THE INVESTIGATIONCONTINUES.>> SANTA CRUZ POLICE POINTED OUTTHAT NO ONE WAS INJURED ANDEVERYONE WHO WAS DETAINED WHOWAS NOT INVOLVED IN CRIMINALACTIVITY HAS BEEN RELEASED. Advertisement Homeland Security raids Santa Cruz, Live Oak homes in gang crackdown Share Shares Copy Link Copy Department of Homeland Security federal agents and Santa Cruz Police Department officers raided homes in Santa Cruz, Live Oak, and Capitola at 4 a.m. Monday. The arrests stemmed from a five-year investigation into an El Salvadoran street gang, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), that has been operating locally, Deputy Santa Cruz Police Chief Dan Flippo said. Between 4 a.m. and 5 a.m., 12 men were arrested and a dozen neighborhoods were raided by SWAT teams. Homeland Security agents used armored vehicles to protect federal agents and police officers while making the high-risk arrests. One witness took a photograph of a black armored vehicle with the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk roller coaster in the background. The vehicle was marked with a Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement logo. "There have been choppers overhead for a couple of hours around midtown to Live Oak. Rumors that it's an early morning ICE raid. This is not what we want in our city," one witness told KSBW. Flippo told KSBW, "Let me be very clear -- this was in no way an immigration raid. We were focusing on a very violent gang that has been preying on our city streets for over a decade." FULL INTERVIEW: Deputy Chief Dan Flippo A nationwide immigration raid was conducted over the weekend in the U.S. by ICE agents, resulting in hundreds of arrests. President Donald Trump claimed credit for the nationwide raids, according to CNN. Flippo said, "I know the timing is a concern to the community. The Santa Cruz Police Department and City of Santa Cruz would not participate in any immigration raid what-so-ever." "Everyone we arrested is going to prison, not deportation," Flippo said. "The Santa Cruz Police Department is extrodinarily aware of the fear that exists in our community regarding immigration raids." READ MORE: Nationwide immigration raids result in hundreds of arrests Last month, the City Council and the County Board of Supervisors re-declared the city and county as "sanctuaries" for illegal immigrants. "This investigation into this very violent gang focused on the shootings, murders, extortion, and sales of both heroin and methamphetamine in our community," Flippo said. Ten of the 12 arrested men were identified Tuesday as: Velarmino Escobar-Ayala, aka Meduza; Tomas Rivera, aka Profugo; Ismael Alvarenga-Rivera, aka Casper; Willfredo Edgardo-Ayala, aka Chino; Jose David Abrego-Galdamez, aka Largo; Melvin Lopez, aka Sharky; Alexander Martinez-Flores, aka Pocar; Gerber Morales, aka Choco; Emilio Escobar-Albarnga, aka Diablo; and Josue Alcedis Escobar-Cerritos, aka Penguino. Residents told KSBW they were startled awake Monday by sounds of "explosions," from flash bang grenades, and propeller sounds from helicopters circling above. "We heard a lot of big booms and bangs," Live Oak resident Daniella Evangelista said. Another resident said, "Explosions (or) gunshots woke me around 4 a.m. I looked outside. SWAT teams with a Bearcat were swarming the complex across from my house. SWAT teams left Corcoran Avenue, then they were swarming a complex with guns drawn on 17th Avenue, between Capitola Road and Rodriguez Street. Whatever is going on seems pretty intense." Flippo said the helicopters served as aerial surveillance in case an armed suspect ran out of a house. "Diversionary devices" were deployed to "distract" men who agents were attempting to apprehend, he said. Firearms were seized from several homes. No injuries resulted from the raids. The 12 suspected gang members were booked into a San Jose jail and were indicted Monday afternoon on federal charges of conspiring to commit extortion by force and conspiring to engage in drug trafficking. The 12 are members of a violent local subset of MS-13, called Santa Cruz Salvatrucha Locos 13, federal officials said. Some are responsible for at least two murders in Santa Cruz, Flippo said. "This investigation was ramped up very recently based on the belief that there was a significant threat to public safety," the Santa Cruz Police Department said. Police are hopeful that the arrests dismantled the gang locally, and planned future acts of violence were thwarted.
Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world The reality of healthcare for LGBT people is something rarely addressed. In their final years, assistance is needed but so often negative experiences come hand in hand with the need for help. For Margaret, she says “being a lesbian made an already traumatic experience worse.” 67-year-old Margaret cared for her partner who suffered with dementia and cancer in her final years. Before her partner’s decline in health, Margaret could be private about her life but when her partner was place in a public ward she felt forced to repeatedly come out. Many healthcare professionals considered her and her partner to be sisters, leading to Margaret feeling like she had to out herself when explaining her role of care. She struggled with the reality that LGBT people aren’t treated the same when it comes to health care. Speaking as Marie Curie released a report into end-of-life care, she said: “In the hospital, they thought we were sisters. I was always aware of the way people might be reacting to the fact that we were lesbians and felt less comfortable in a public ward. “Being lesbian made an already traumatic situation worse. I constantly felt in general like I always had to out myself to explain my role in her care. “I didn’t have any choice who to tell that I was in a lesbian relationship. One of the interesting things was that in hospital –no one ever asked if we were legal partners. And as we had a civil partnership, I was legally her next of kin. “Our life before this, you could be private about who you were, or you could choose who to tell; now the world and their mother knows you’re a lesbian.” 60-year-old Jonathan from Yorkshire looked after his partner when he was diagnosed with bowel cancer. During an carer event at their local hospital, a support worker mistook Jonathan’s partner for his father. Jonathan felt like he had to come out multiple times a day “because most of the world is a heteronormative environment.” After his partner passed away last year Jonathan sought out emotional help but was put off when an advocacy helpline receptionist was nonplussed when she realised Jonathan was gay. He said: “On one occasion during a Carer’s Week event at the hospital we were approached by a support worker who assumed he was my father. He didn’t like that at all. He was a very private man and he would have preferred to have kept things to himself. “I went to one of the bereavement groups at the hospice. It took a lot to get myself there, you can’t guarantee that people are not going to be discriminatory or dismissive. It took a lot to go. I felt I had to come out to the group though. “I got in touch with an advocacy helpline, and the receptionist at the end of the phone was nonplussed when I said that I was gay. She assumed I was calling about my wife. “I was trying to find any possible way of getting help and support but her reaction – well, it put me off in a way. It did make me want to just not pursue that particular avenue.” Jonathan and Margaret are just two of the thousands of people who suffer discrimination in the healthcare system. The Marie Curie study revealed that older LGBT people face difficulty in gaining access to vital health care. Feeling forced to come out to carers is an added daunting pressure that many people in the community feel pushed into. The survey polled 237 people and three-quarters of that sample were not confident that sensitive end-of-life care was being provided to them by heath and social care workers. One in four said they had experienced discrimination from health and social care professionals at some point in their lifetime. Writing for PinkNews, Stuart Andrew MP warned that many older people were effectively forced back in the closet at a traumatic time. QI host and Marie Curie patron Sandi Toksvig said the report raised real issues for the sector. She said: “For many of us who grew up in a time when being LGBT held a heavy stigma and could lead to exclusion, violence, and even arrest, ‘coming out’ to health and social care professionals is not an easy thing. “Trans people in particular can find the prospect of finding a health and social care professional who respects their gender identity particularly daunting. “For this reason, many older – and some younger – LGBT people delay accessing social care services, even when they have a terminal illness and are at their very sickest. “Discrimination has no place in the NHS or social care services, but it is especially unwelcome when someone is at the end of life. This is a time when people should be able to be who they are, with the people that mean the most to them in their life. “Prejudice and discrimination at the end of life have a devastating impact on LGBT people. At its very worst, it means someone will spend their last days feeling isolated, alone, angry and unwelcome. “For those who lose a loved one, not being able to say goodbye in a respectful and peaceful environment can make grief and bereavement that much harder to bear.” She added: “This report and others show that LGBT people still worry about experiencing discrimination from health and social care staff and often do also experience it. “Many health and social care professionals say that they treat everyone the same. This is well-intentioned. However, as this report shows, sometimes for everyone to be equal, differences need to be acknowledged and given space to be celebrated. “There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to make this a reality for all LGBT people at the end of life.” “Everybody, regardless of who they are or their personal circumstances, has a right to high-quality care.” Scott Sinclair, head of public affairs at Marie Curie UK, said: “Learning about the prejudice LGBT people experience as they are dying, when they are at their most vulnerable, is deeply saddening.” He added: “No-one should have to hide who they are at the end of their lives. If LGBT people are not confident about services, or have experienced discrimination from healthcare providers in the past, they may not feel able to be open about themselves and the people who are important to them – factors that are all crucial to dying well.” Hannah Kibirige, head of policy at Stonewall, said: “Often older LGBT people are extremely vulnerable, particular if in care or terminally ill, and so it’s vital that healthcare staff are aware of the experiences they face. “We hope that the findings go on to effect practical and positive change for lesbian, gay, bi and trans people.” If you are concerned about accessing appropriate palliative care for yourself, or a loved one, you can contact Marie Curie’s helpline for free, confidential information and support on 0800 090 2309 (Calls are free from landlines and mobiles)
CLOSE Three former NSA whistle-blowers discuss the Edward Snowden case with USA TODAY reporters Susan Page and Peter Eisler. In a roundtable discussion, a trio of former National Security Agency whistle-blowers tell USA TODAY that Edward Snowden succeeded where they failed. NSA whistle-blowers, from left, Thomas Drake, J. Kirk Wiebe and William Binney. (Photo11: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY) Story Highlights Edward Snowden, 29, an NSA contractor, released a trove of classified information He has been hiding in Hong Kong since the secret government spy program was detailed 3 NSA officials -- also whistle-blowers -- tell USA TODAY Snowden's claims vindicate them When a National Security Agency contractor revealed top-secret details this month on the government's collection of Americans' phone and Internet records, one select group of intelligence veterans breathed a sigh of relief. Thomas Drake, William Binney and J. Kirk Wiebe belong to a select fraternity: the NSA officials who paved the way. For years, the three whistle-blowers had told anyone who would listen that the NSA collects huge swaths of communications data from U.S. citizens. They had spent decades in the top ranks of the agency, designing and managing the very data-collection systems they say have been turned against Americans. When they became convinced that fundamental constitutional rights were being violated, they complained first to their superiors, then to federal investigators, congressional oversight committees and, finally, to the news media. To the intelligence community, the trio are villains who compromised what the government classifies as some of its most secret, crucial and successful initiatives. They have been investigated as criminals and forced to give up careers, reputations and friendships built over a lifetime. Today, they feel vindicated. They say the documents leaked by Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old former NSA contractor who worked as a systems administrator, proves their claims of sweeping government surveillance of millions of Americans not suspected of any wrongdoing. They say those revelations only hint at the programs' reach. On Friday, USA TODAY brought Drake, Binney and Wiebe together for the first time since the story broke to discuss the NSA revelations. With their lawyer, Jesselyn Radack of the Government Accountability Project, they weighed their implications and their repercussions. They disputed the administration's claim of the impact of the disclosures on national security — and President Obama's argument that Congress and the courts are providing effective oversight. And they have warnings for Snowden on what he should expect next. CLOSE Three former NSA whistleblowers discuss what they were able to learn from the leaked document in the Edward Snowden case. Q: Did Edward Snowden do the right thing in going public? William Binney: We tried to stay for the better part of seven years inside the government trying to get the government to recognize the unconstitutional, illegal activity that they were doing and openly admit that and devise certain ways that would be constitutionally and legally acceptable to achieve the ends they were really after. And that just failed totally because no one in Congress or — we couldn't get anybody in the courts, and certainly the Department of Justice and inspector general's office didn't pay any attention to it. And all of the efforts we made just produced no change whatsoever. All it did was continue to get worse and expand. Q: So Snowden did the right thing? Binney: Yes, I think he did. Q: You three wouldn't criticize him for going public from the start? J. Kirk Wiebe: Correct. Binney: In fact, I think he saw and read about what our experience was, and that was part of his decision-making. Wiebe: We failed, yes. Jesselyn Radack: Not only did they go through multiple and all the proper internal channels and they failed, but more than that, it was turned against them. ... The inspector general was the one who gave their names to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution under the Espionage Act. And they were all targets of a federal criminal investigation, and Tom ended up being prosecuted — and it was for blowing the whistle. NSA whistle-blower William Binney. (Photo11: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY) Q: There's a question being debated whether Snowden is a hero or a traitor. Binney: Certainly he performed a really great public service to begin with by exposing these programs and making the government in a sense publicly accountable for what they're doing. At least now they are going to have some kind of open discussion like that. But now he is starting to talk about things like the government hacking into China and all this kind of thing. He is going a little bit too far. I don't think he had access to that program. But somebody talked to him about it, and so he said, from what I have read, anyway, he said that somebody, a reliable source, told him that the U.S. government is hacking into all these countries. But that's not a public service, and now he is going a little beyond public service. So he is transitioning from whistle-blower to a traitor. Thomas Drake: He's an American who has been exposed to some incredible information regarding the deepest secrets of the United States government. And we are seeing the initial outlines and contours of a very systemic, very broad, a Leviathan surveillance state and much of it is in violation of the fundamental basis for our own country — in fact, the very reason we even had our own American Revolution. And the Fourth Amendment for all intents and purposes was revoked after 9/11. ... He is by all definitions a classic whistle-blower and by all definitions he exposed information in the public interest. We're now finally having the debate that we've never had since 9/11. Radack: "Hero or traitor?" was the original question. I don't like these labels, and they are putting people into categories of two extremes, villain or saint. ... By law, he fits the legal definition of a whistle-blower. He is someone who exposed broad waste, abuse and in his case illegality. ... And he also said he was making the disclosures for the public good and because he wanted to have a debate. Q: James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, said Snowden's disclosures caused "huge, grave damage" to the United States. Do you agree? Wiebe: No, I do not. I do not. You know, I've asked people: Do you generally believe there's government authorities collecting information about you on the Net or your phone? "Oh, of course." No one is surprised. There's very little specificity in the slides that he made available (describing the PRISM surveillance program). There is far more specificity in the FISA court order that is bothersome. Q: Did foreign governments, terrorist organizations, get information they didn't have already? Binney: Ever since ... 1997-1998 ... those terrorists have known that we've been monitoring all of these communications all along. So they have already adjusted to the fact that we are doing that. So the fact that it is published in the U.S. news that we're doing that, has no effect on them whatsoever. They have already adjusted to that. Radack: This comes up every time there's a leak. ... In Tom's case, Tom was accused of literally the blood of soldiers would be on his hands because he created damage. I think the exact words were, "When the NSA goes dark, soldiers die." And that had nothing to do with Tom's disclosure at all, but it was part of the fear mongering that generally goes with why we should keep these things secret. Q: What did you learn from the document — the Verizon warrant issued by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court — that Snowden leaked? Drake: It's an extraordinary order. I mean, it's the first time we've publicly seen an actual, secret, surveillance-court order. I don't really want to call it "foreign intelligence" (court) anymore, because I think it's just become a surveillance court, OK? And we are all foreigners now. By virtue of that order, every single phone record that Verizon has is turned over each and every day to NSA. There is no probable cause. There is no indication of any kind of counterterrorism investigation or operation. It's simply: "Give us the data." ... There's really two other factors here in the order that you could get at. One is that the FBI requesting the data. And two, the order directs Verizon to pass all that data to NSA, not the FBI. Binney: What it is really saying is the NSA becomes a processing service for the FBI to use to interrogate information directly. ... The implications are that everybody's privacy is violated, and it can retroactively analyze the activity of anybody in the country back almost 12 years. Now, the other point that is important about that is the serial number of the order: 13-dash-80. That means it's the 80th order of the court in 2013. ... Those orders are issued every quarter, and this is the second quarter, so you have to divide 80 by two and you get 40. The National Security Agency's data center in Bluffdale, Utah. Former NSA employees interviewed by USA TODAY offered insight on the recent leak of documents by Edward Snowden. (Photo11: Rick Bowmer, AP) If you make the assumption that all those orders have to deal with companies and the turnover of material by those companies to the government, then there are at least 40 companies involved in that transfer of information. However, if Verizon, which is Order No. 80, and the first quarter got order No. 1 — then there can be as many as 79 companies involved. So somewhere between 40 and 79 is the number of companies, Internet and telecom companies, that are participating in this data transfer in the NSA. Radack: I consider this to be an unlawful order. While I am glad that we finally have something tangible to look at, this order came from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. They have no jurisdiction to authorize domestic-to-domestic surveillance. Binney: Not surprised, but it's documentation that can't be refuted. Wiebe: It's formal proof of our suspicions. Q: Even given the senior positions that you all were in, you had never actually seen one of these? Drake: They're incredibly secret. It's a very close hold. ... It's a secret court with a secret appeals court. They are just not widely distributed, even in the government. Q: What was your first reaction when you saw it? Binney: Mine was that it's documentary evidence of what we have been saying all along, so they couldn't deny it. Drake: For me, it was material evidence of an institutional crime that we now claim is criminal. Binney: Which is still criminal. Wiebe: It's criminal. NSA whistle-blower Thomas Drake. (Photo11: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY) Q: Thomas Drake, you worked as a contractor for the NSA for about a decade before you went on staff there. Were you surprised that a 29-year-old contractor based in Hawaii was able to get access to the sort of information that he released? Drake: It has nothing to do with being 29. It's just that we are in the Internet age and this is the digital age. So, so much of what we do both in private and in public goes across the Internet. Whether it's the public Internet or whether it's the dark side of the Internet today, it's all affected the same in terms of technology. ... One of the critical roles in the systems is the system administrator. Someone has to maintain it. Someone has to keep it running. Someone has to maintain the contracts. Binney: Part of his job as the system administrator, he was to maintain the system. Keep the databases running. Keep the communications working. Keep the programs that were interrogating them operating. So that meant he was like a super-user. He could go on the network or go into any file or any system and change it or add to it or whatever, just to make sure — because he would be responsible to get it back up and running if, in fact, it failed. So that meant he had access to go in and put anything. That's why he said, I think, "I can even target the president or a judge." If he knew their phone numbers or attributes, he could insert them into the target list which would be distributed worldwide. And then it would be collected, yeah, that's right. As a super-user, he could do that. CLOSE Three former whistle-blowers discuss whether Edward Snowden could tap the president's phone and about what it means to be a "super-user" with USA TODAY reporters Susan Page and Peter Eisler. Shannon Rae Green, Kaveh Rezaei, Steve Elfers, Leslie Smith, Jr., Benjamin Dorger Q: As he said, he could tap the president's phone? Binney: As a super-user and manager of data in the data system, yes, they could go in and change anything. Q: At a Senate hearing in March, Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden asked the director of national intelligence, James Clapper, if there was mass data collection of Americans. He said "no." Was that a lie? Drake: This is incredible dissembling. We're talking about the oversight committee, unable to get a straight answer because if the straight answer was given it would reveal the perfidy that's actually going on inside the secret side of the government. Q: What should Clapper have said? Binney: He should have said, "I can't comment in an open forum." NSA whistle-blower J. Kirk Wiebe. (Photo11: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY) Wiebe: Yeah, that's right. Q: Does Congress provide effective oversight for these programs? Radack: Congress has been a rubber stamp, basically, and the judicial branch has been basically shut down from hearing these lawsuits because every time they do they are told that the people who are challenging these programs either have no standing or (are covered by) the state secrets privilege, and the government says that they can't go forward. So the idea that we have robust checks and balances on this is a myth. Binney: But the way it's set up now, it's a joke. I mean, it can't work the way it is because they have no real way of seeing into what these agencies are doing. They are totally dependent on the agencies briefing them on programs, telling them what they are doing. And as long as the agencies tell them, they will know. If they don't tell them, they don't know. And that's what's been going on here. And the only way they really could correct that is to create billets on these committees and integrate people in these agencies so they can go around every day and watch what is happening and then feed back the truth as to what's going on, instead of the story that they get from the NSA or other agencies. ... Even take the FISA court, for example. The judges signed that order. I mean, I am sure they (the FBI) swore on an affidavit to the judge, "These are the reasons why," but the judge has no foundation to challenge anything that they present to him. What information does the judge have to make a decision against them? I mean, he has absolutely nothing. So that's really not an oversight. Radack: The proof is in the pudding. Last year alone, in 2012, they approved 1,856 applications and they denied none. And that is typical from everything that has happened in previous years. ... I know the government has been asserting that all of this is kosher and legitimate because the FISA court signed off on it. The FISA court is a secret court — operates in secret. There is only one side and has rarely disapproved anything. CLOSE Three former NSA whistle-blowers discuss whether there is effective oversight on intelligence-gathering with USA TODAY reporters Susan Page and Peter Eisler. Shannon Rae Green, Kaveh Rezaei, Steve Elfers, Leslie Smith, Jr., Benjamin Dorger Q: Do you think President Obama fully knows and understands what the NSA is doing? Binney: No. I mean, it's obvious. I mean, the Congress doesn't either. I mean, they are all being told what I call techno-babble ... and they (lawmakers) don't really don't understand what the NSA does and how it operates. Even when they get briefings, they still don't understand. Radack: Even for people in the know, I feel like Congress is being misled. Binney: Bamboozled. Radack: I call it perjury. Q: What should Edward Snowden expect now? Binney: Well, first of all, I think he should expect to be treated just like Bradley Manning (an Army private now being court-martialed for leaking documents to WikiLeaks). The U.S. government gets ahold of him, that's exactly the way he will be treated. Q: He'll be prosecuted? Binney: First tortured, then maybe even rendered and tortured and then incarcerated and then tried and incarcerated or even executed. Wiebe: Now there is another possibility, that a few of the good people on Capitol Hill — the ones who say the threat is much greater than what we thought it was — will step forward and say give this man an honest day's hearing. You know what I mean. Let's get him up here. Ask him to verify, because if he is right — and all pointers are that he was — all he did was point to law-breaking. What is the crime of that? Drake: But see, I am Exhibit No. 1. ...You know, I was charged with 10 felony counts. I was facing 35 years in prison. This is how far the state will go to punish you out of retaliation and reprisal and retribution. ... My life has been changed. It's been turned inside, upside down. I lived on the blunt end of the surveillance bubble. ... When you are faced essentially with the rest of your life in prison, you really begin to understand and appreciate more so than I ever have — in terms of four times I took the oath to support the Constitution — what those rights and freedoms really mean. ... Believe me, they are going to put everything they have got to get him. I think there really is a risk. There is a risk he will eventually be pulled off the street. CLOSE Three former NSA whistle-blowers discuss what Snowden should expect, and what they would say to him with USA TODAY reporters Susan Page and Peter Eisler. Shannon Rae Green, Kaveh Rezaei, Steve Elfers, Leslie Smith, Jr., Benjamin Dorger Q: What do you mean? Drake: Well, fear of rendition. There is going to be a team sent in. Radack: We have already unleashed the full force of the entire executive branch against him and are now doing a worldwide manhunt to bring him in — something more akin to what we would do for Osama bin Laden. And I know for a fact, if we do get him, he would definitely face Espionage Act charges, as other people have who have exposed information of government wrongdoing. And I heard a number of people in Congress (say) he would also be charged with treason. These are obviously the most serious offenses that can be leveled against an American. And the people who so far have faced them and have never intended to harm the U.S. or benefit the foreign nations have always wanted to go public. And they face severe consequences as a defector. That's why I understand why he is seeking asylum. I think he has a valid fear. Wiebe: We are going to find out what kind of country we are, what have we become, what do we want to be. Q: What would you say to him? Binney: I would tell him to steer away from anything that isn't a public service — like talking about the ability of the U.S. government to hack into other countries or other people is not a public service. So that's kind of compromising capabilities and sources and methods, basically. That's getting away from the public service that he did initially. And those would be the acts that people would charge him with as clearly treason. Drake: Well, I feel extraordinary kinship with him, given what I experienced at the hands of the government. And I would just tell him to ensure that he's got a support network that I hope is there for him and that he's got the lawyers necessary across the world who will defend him to the maximum extent possible and that he has a support-structure network in place. I will tell you, when you exit the surveillance-state system, it's a pretty lonely place — because it had its own form of security and your job and family and your social network. And all of a sudden, you are on the outside now in a significant way, and you have that laser beam of the surveillance state turning itself inside out to find and learn everything they can about you. Wiebe: I think your savior in all of this is being able to honestly relate to the principles embedded in the Constitution that are guiding your behavior. That's where really — rubber meets the road, at that point. Radack: I would thank him for taking such a huge personal risk and giving up so much of his life and possibly facing the loss of his life or spending it in jail. Thank him for doing that to try to help our country save it from itself in terms of exposing dark, illegal, unethical, unconstitutional conduct that is being done against millions and millions of people. Drake: I actually salute him. I will say it right here. I actually salute him, given my experience over many, many years both inside and outside the system. Remember, I saw what he saw. I want to re-emphasize that. What he did was a magnificent act of civil disobedience. He's exposing the inner workings of the surveillance state. And it's in the public interest. It truly is. Wiebe: Well, I don't want anyone to think that he had an alternative. No one should (think that). There is no path for intelligence-community whistle-blowers who know wrong is being done. There is none. It's a toss of the coin, and the odds are you are going to be hammered. CLOSE Three former NSA whistle-blowers discuss whether there is a better way to gather intelligence with USA TODAY reporters Susan Page and Peter Eisler. Q: Is there a way to collect this data that is consistent with the Fourth Amendment, the constitutional protection against unreasonable search and seizure? Binney: Two basic principles you have to use. ... One is what I call the two-degree principle. If you have a terrorist talking to somebody in the United States — that's the first degree away from the terrorist. And that could apply to any country in the world. And then the second degree would be who that person in the United States talked to. So that becomes your zone of suspicion. And the other one (principle) is you watch all the jihadi sites on the Web and who's visiting those jihadi sites, who has an interest in the philosophy being expressed there. And then you add those to your zone of suspicion. Everybody else is innocent — I mean, you know, of terrorism, anyway. Wiebe: Until they're somehow connected to this activity. Binney: You pull in all the contents involving (that) zone of suspicion and you throw all the rest of it away. You can keep the attributes of all the communicants in the other parts of the world, the rest of the 7 billion people, right? And you can then encrypt it so that nobody can interrogate that base randomly. That's the way of preventing this kind of random access by a contractor or by the FBI or any other DHS (Department of Homeland Security) or any other department of government. They couldn't go in and find anybody. You couldn't target your next-door neighbor. If you went in with his attributes, they're encrypted. ... So unless they are in the zone of suspicion, you won't see any content on anybody and you won't see any attributes in the clear. ... It's all within our capabilities. Drake: It's been within our capabilities for well over 12 years. Wiebe: Bill and I worked on a government contract for a contractor not too far from here. And when we showed him the concept of how this privacy mechanism that Bill just described to you — the two degrees, the encryption and hiding of identities of innocent people — he said, "Nobody cares about that." I said, "What do you mean?" This man was in a position to know a lot of government people in the contracting and buying of capabilities. He said. "Nobody cares about that." Lawyer Jesselyn Radack, left, with whistle-blowers J. Kirk Wiebe, standing; William Binney, center; and Thomas Drake. (Photo11: H. Darr Beiser, USA TODAY) Drake: This (kind of surveillance) is all unnecessary. It is important to note that the very best of American ingenuity and inventiveness, creativity, had solved the major challenge problem the NSA faced: How do you make sense of vast amounts of data, provide the information you need to protect the nation, while also protecting the fundamental rights that are enshrined in the Constitution? The government in secret decided — willfully and deliberately — that that was no longer necessary after 9/11. So they said, you know what, hey, for the sake of security we are going to draw that line way, way over. And if it means eroding the liberties and freedoms of Americans and others, hey, so be it because that's what's most important. But this was done without the knowledge of the American people. Q: Would it make a difference if contractors weren't used? Wiebe: I don't think so. They are human beings. You know, look at what's going on with the IRS and the Tea Party. You know, there (are) human beings involved. We are all human beings — contractors, NSA government employees. We are all human beings. We undergo clearance checks, background investigations that are extensive and we are all colors, ages and religions. I mean this is part of the American fabric. Binney: But when it comes to these data, the massive data information collecting on U.S. citizens and everything in the world they can, I guess the real problem comes with trust. That's really the issue. The government is asking for us to trust them. It's not just the trust that you have to have in the government. It's the trust you have to have in the government employees, (that) they won't go in the database — they can see if their wife is cheating with the neighbor or something like that. You have to have all the trust of all the contractors who are parts of a contracting company who are looking at maybe other competitive bids or other competitors outside their — in their same area of business. And they might want to use that data for industrial intelligence gathering and use that against other companies in other countries even. So they can even go into a base and do some industrial espionage. So there is a lot of trust all around and the government, most importantly, the government has no way to check anything that those people are doing. Q: So Snowden's ability to access information wasn't an exception? Binney: And they didn't know he was doing (it). ... That's the point, right? ...They should be doing that automatically with code, so the instant when anyone goes into that base with a query that they are not supposed to be doing, they should be flagged immediately and denied access. And that could be done with code. But the government is not doing that. So that's the greatest threat in this whole affair. Wiebe: And the polygraph that is typically given to all people, government employees and contractors, never asks about integrity. Did you give an honest day's work for your pay? Do you feel like you are doing important and proper work? Those things never come up. It's always, "Do you have any association with a terrorist?" Well, everybody can pass those kinds of questions. But, unfortunately, we have a society that is quite willing to cheat. Editor's note: Excerpts have been edited for length and clarity. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/11SlOPv
Guarantee Functions are Total head is not total as it is missing the case for [] and checks that it is total on NonEmpty lists. LH warns you thatis not total as it is missing the case forand checks that it is total onlists. (more...) The input contract propagates to uses of head which are verified by ensuring the arguments are NonEmpty . Keep Pointers Within Bounds LH lets you avoid off-by-one errors that can lead to crashes or buffer overflows. (more...) Dependent contracts let you specify, e.g. that dotProduct requires equal-sized vectors. Avoid Infinite Loops terminate and so warns about the infinite recursion due to the missing case in fib . (more...) LH checks that functionsand so warns about the infinite recursion due to the missing case in Metrics let you check that recursive functions over complex data types terminate. Enforce Correctness Properties ordered, as refinements. LH makes illegal values be unrepresentable. (more...) Write correctness requirements, for example a list is, as refinements. LH makes illegal values be LH automatically points out logic bugs, and proves that functions return correct outputs for all inputs. Prove Laws by Writing Code Specify laws, e.g. that the append function ++ is associative, as Haskell functions. equational proofs that are plain Haskell functions. Induction is simply recursion, and case-splitting is just pattern-matching. Verify laws viathat are plain Haskell functions. Induction is simply recursion, and case-splitting is just pattern-matching. (more...) LiquidHaskell (LH)Haskell's types with logical predicates that let you enforce critical properties at. (Hover on images to animate.)
BP corporate network Find out more about: With over 1000 affiliate companies, BP controls a complex network of corporate entities. OpenOil, in partnership with OpenCorporates, developed a network of BP’s subsidiaries that aims to shed light on the corporate structure of the oil multinational, active in more than 80 jurisdictions and with ownership chains going up to 12 levels deep. Only using public disclosures that BP itself has made, OpenOil and iilab established a prototype tool and methodology that can be used to facilitate investigations into other major corporate players in the extractive industries, available under: data.openoil.net Features Click to check: for every data point in this network, we provide a reference to the source, which in the case of the BP network is always a document pulled from the company’s filings in the UK company register. Right now, our data set includes:
Like the traditional Greek song, in Athens “everything changes and everything stays the same”. Four months after Syriza’s victory, the parties that had governed since the overthrow of the military dictatorship — the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (Pasok) and New Democracy (rightwing) — have been completely discredited. The first radical leftist government since the “mountain government” at the time of the German occupation is very popular. Although the “troika”, hated because of its responsibility for the current economic disaster, is no longer mentioned, its three “institutions” — the European Commission, European Central Bank (ECB) and International Monetary Fund (IMF) — continue their policies. With threats, blackmail and ultimatums, a new “troika” is imposing the same austerity on the government of Alexis Tsipras. With wealth generation down by 25% since 2010 and an unemployment rate of 27% (more than 50% for those under 25), Greece has an unprecedented social and humanitarian crisis. But despite the results of the January elections, which gave Tsipras a clear mandate to end austerity, the European Union continues to treat Greece as a naughty pupil who must be punished by the stern teachers in Brussels, to discourage daydreaming voters in Spain and elsewhere who still believe in the possibility of governments opposed to the German dogma. This situation is like Chile in the 1970s, when US president Richard Nixon was determined to topple Salvador Allende to prevent leftwing contagion in America’s backyard. “Make the economy scream,” said Nixon, and when it did, General Augusto Pinochet took over. The silent coup under way in Greece is using more modern tools, including credit rating agencies, the media and the ECB. Two options will remain for Tsipras’s government: to be strangled financially if it keeps trying to implement its programme, or to renege on its promises and fall, abandoned by its voters. The hope disease ECB president Mario Draghi announced three days before the Greek election that the bank’s intervention programme (the ECB buys €60bn in sovereign bonds issued by eurozone countries each month) would be open to Greece under certain conditions: this was to avoid spreading the Syriza virus, the hope disease, to the rest of Europe. The eurozone’s weak link, which needs help the most, would not get support until it submitted to Brussels. Greeks are hard-headed. They voted for Syriza, compelling the Eurogroup’s president Jeroen Dijsselbloem to call them to order: “The Greek people have to realise that the major problems in the Greek economy have not disappeared and haven’t even changed overnight because of the simple fact that an election took place.” Christine Lagarde, managing director of the IMF, said: “We cannot make special exceptions for specific countries,” while Benoît CÅ“uré, member of the ECB executive board, went further: “Greece has to pay, those are the rules of the European game.” Draghi soon demonstrated that the eurozone knew how to “make the economy scream” too: without any explanation, he shut off the Greek banks’ primary source of funding, which was replaced by Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA), a more costly measure that has to be renewed weekly. The rating agency Moody’s announced that Syriza’s victory “has an adverse effect on [Greece’s] economic growth prospects.” Grexit — Greece’s exit from the eurozone — and a payment default were back on the agenda. Only two days after the elections, Marcel Fratzscher, president of the German Institute for Economic Research (DIW) and former economist at the ECB, said Tsipras was playing a dangerous game: “If people start to believe that he is really serious, you could have massive capital flight and a bank run. You are quickly at a point where a euro exit becomes more possible” — a perfect example of a self-fulfilling prophecy that worsened Greece’s economic plight. Syriza had little room to manoeuvre. Tsipras was elected to renegotiate the terms and conditions attached to the “aid”. But the idea of an exit from the eurozone is not supported by most Greeks, who have been persuaded by the Greek and international media that Grexit would be a disaster. And participation in the single currency strikes other very sensitive chords. Grexit is still taboo Since independence in 1822, Greece has swung between a past as part of the Ottoman empire, and “Europeanisation”. Both its elites and ordinary people have always seen being part of Europe as signifying modernity and an end to underdevelopment. Participation in Europe’s “hard core” was supposed to make this national dream happen. So, during the election campaign, Syriza candidates felt obliged to treat Grexit as taboo. At the heart of the negotiations between Tsipras’s government and the “institutions” are the conditions set by the lenders, the “memorandums” that have forced Athens since 2010 to implement devastating austerity and overtaxation. More than 90% of the lenders’ payments are returned to them directly — sometimes the next day — because they are used to repay the debt. As finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who wants a new agreement with the lenders, said: “Greece has spent the last five years living for the next loan tranche like drug addicts craving the next dose.” Since non-repayment of the debt is equivalent to a “credit event” (a kind of bankruptcy), releasing the dose becomes a very powerful blackmail weapon for the lenders. In theory, since the lenders need repaying, the Greek government has considerable bargaining power, but using this leverage would have prompted the ECB to stop lending to Greek banks, meaning a return to the drachma. It was not surprising then that within three weeks of the Syriza win, the finance ministers of the other 18 eurozone countries sent an ultimatum to Greece — its government must implement the austerity programme it had inherited, or meet its obligations by finding the money elsewhere. The New York Times concluded this was “a prospect that many in the financial markets think would leave Greece little option but to leave the euro.” Four-month truce To escape, the Greek government requested a four-month truce. It did not ask for disbursement of the €7.2bn but hoped that both sides would reach an agreement incorporating measures to develop the economy and resolve the debt problem. It would have been tactless to bring the government down immediately, so the lenders accepted the request. The Greek government thought it could count, at least temporarily, on certain sums. It hoped for €1.2bn from the European Financial Stability Facility’s reserves — a sum not used in the process of recapitalising Greece’s banks — as well as €1.9bn that the ECB had earned on Greek bonds and promised to give back to Athens. In March, the ECB announced that it would not return these earnings; and the Eurogroup ministers decided to transfer this money to Luxembourg, as if they feared the Greeks would steal it. The Tsipras team, inexperienced and not expecting such manoeuvres, assented without demanding any guarantees. In an interview with the TV channel Star, Tsipras admitted that not asking for a written agreement had been an error. The Greek government remained popular despite the concessions it had agreed to — no reversals of the privatisations of the previous government, a postponement of the increase in the minimum wage, and increased value-added tax (VAT). So Germany launched a campaign to discredit the government. Der Spiegel published an article on the “tortured relationship” between Varoufakis and German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble, written by, among others, Nikolaus Blome, recently transferred from Bild, where he was the hero of its campaign in 2010 against the “lazy Greeks.” Schäuble publicly mocked Varoufakis as being “stupidly naïve”, a rare occurrence in the history of the EU and in international diplomacy. Der Spiegel presented Schäuble as a benevolent Sisyphus, sorry that Greece would be condemned to fail and leave the eurozone unless Varoufakis was removed from his post. With capital flight, grim predictions and threats worsening, Dijsselbloem declared in the New York Times that the Eurogroup was considering whether to apply the Cyprus model to Greece, limiting capital flows and reducing deposits. This could only be seen as an unsuccessful attempt to provoke a banking panic. While the ECB and Draghi were further restricting Greek banks’ options for finance, Bild published a pseudo-story about a panic in Athens, misrepresenting a banal scene of pensioners queuing outside a bank on pension day. First German fruits At the end of April, Varoufakis was replaced by his assistant Euclid Tsakalotos for negotiations with the lenders, and said: “The government today faces a new kind of coup, one that is not carried out with tanks, as in 1967, but through banks.” For now, the silent coup has affected only him. But time is on the side of the lenders, who are demanding neoliberal “remedies”. Each has its own obsession. The IMF ideologues insist on the deregulation of the labour market as well as legalisation of mass redundancies, which it promised to the Greek oligarchs who own the banks. The EC (or rather, the German government) demands further low-cost privatisations that may interest German companies. One scandalous example that stands out from the long list is that of 28 buildings sold by the Greek state in 2013 — it still uses them and must pay the new owners €600m in rent over the next 20 years, almost triple their sale price. The Greek government, in a weak position and abandoned by those whom it had hoped would support it, such as France, can’t resolve the country’s main problem: an unsustainable debt. The proposal for an international conference similar to the 1953 event where Germany was forgiven most of its war reparations, opening the way to its economic miracle, has been lost amid threats and ultimatums (including a warning of Greek default this month). Tsipras wants a better agreement, but any deal reached would be a long way from the programme voted for by Greeks. Jyrki Katainen, the EC vice-president, was clear on this the day after the election: “We don’t change our policy according to elections.” So do elections have any meaning when a country which respects its major commitments is allowed no rights to modify its policies? The Greek party Golden Dawn, and its neo-Nazis, have an answer to that, and it may be that they will benefit more from the failure of Tsipras’s government than will Schäuble’s supporters in Athens.
Devante Johnson, left, 22, of Detroit, signs petitions in August to regulate part-time legislators and make recreational marijuana legal for those over 21 in Michigan. On Monday, a group seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in Michigan says it has collected enough signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot but is struggling to pay off the professional firm it hired to gather them. (Photo: Todd McInturf / Detroit News) Lansing — A group seeking to legalize recreational marijuana in Michigan says it has collected enough signatures to qualify for the 2018 ballot but is struggling to pay off the professional firm it hired to gather them. The Coalition to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol had planned to file petitions with the state as early as Tuesday, but National Petition Management of Brighton will not release final signatures from paid circulators until the group settles its debt of roughly $30,000, spokesman Josh Hovey confirmed Monday. The committee is “raising the final funds needed to pay off that bill, and then we’ll be good to go with the state,” he said. Organizers anticipate they will still submit signatures to the Michigan Secretary of State next week, if not sooner, once they secure enough funding to pay National Petition Management, as required by a vendor contract. “I wouldn’t call it a problem,” Hovey said of the cash shortfall. “We need to pay off our final balance to them and then make sure we double check all the signatures before turning them in. If anything, it’s giving us extra time to make sure that work is done and done right.” The pot proposal would regulate commercial marijuana production and retail sales in Michigan. Smoking would not be allowed on public sidewalks. Local communities could decide whether they want to allow marijuana businesses. Retail sales would be taxed at 10 percent, plus sales tax, with the new revenue going to K-12 schools, road repairs and participating cities and counties. As of Thursday, paid circulators had collected 250,288 valid signatures and volunteers had collected another 25,732, campaign outreach coordinator Lisa Satori told advocates Sunday at a board meeting for the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. That’s nearly 10 percent more than the 252,523 signatures the group needs to collect in an initial 180-day window that will start closing Nov. 22. If organizers don’t submit by that sliding deadline, old signatures would become invalid at a rate that could be “terminal to the project,” she said. “So this is not a done deal, guys, and while we should absolutely be celebrating that we got all these signatures in hand, we are now postponing turn-in that was scheduled for Tuesday,” Satori said, according to video from the meeting. Campaign finance records show the committee had $6,297.05 left in the bank as of Oct. 20. The group has raised $606,932 in direct contributions but spent $600,635, including more than $307,000 in payments to National Petition Management. The pot legalization committee has also benefited from nearly $700,000 in “in-kind contributions” from supporters and organizations who donated services, including signature collection. The largest backer is the national Marijuana Policy Project, whose nonprofits have kicked in $342,794 in direct and in-kind contributions. All told, the ballot committee has raised more than $1.3 million and spent the equivalent of $782,828 on signature gathering, said Craig Mauger of the Michigan Campaign Finance Network. Organizers of successful Michigan petition drives often spend $1 million or more to gather signatures, Mauger said. A group called Protecting Michigan Taxpayers, which submitted 380,000 signatures to the state this month, had spent $1 million on paid circulators through Oct. 20. While some law enforcement officials have raised concerns with the marijuana proposal, it has not yet faced any significant organized opposition. A group called the Committee to Keep Pot Out of Neighborhoods and Schools had raised $5,000 through Oct. 20, according to state records. The Michigan Responsibility Council, a marijuana industry trade group, was the lone donor to the opposition committee and did not return a call seeking comment on Monday. The early fundraising struggles could spell trouble for the legalization effort, although organizers say qualifying for the ballot will open up new donor streams. Campaigns in other states have cost millions of dollars. “If this gets on the ballot, I would expect it to potentially be an expensive one,” Mauger said. Satori blamed the group’s recent fundraising crunch on a variety of factors, including “friendly fire” among pro-marijuana groups and uncertainty over new medical pot regulations being developed by the state. Rick Thompson, a board member of MI NORML and the MI Legalize committee that is assisting in the petition drive, said uncertainty over federal enforcement has also “dampened” fundraising efforts. Marijuana remains illegal under federal law. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has hinted at a potential crackdown that would reverse a hands-off policy adopted under former President Barack Obama’s administration. “Some people are really holding their breath waiting for the best opportunity to get into the industry, and as long as Jeff Sessions continues to disrespect the marijuana industry, some folks are going to keep their money in their pockets,” said Thompson, owner of the Michigan Cannabis Business Development group. Still, Thompson predicted success for the ballot issue. “The fact is we’ve got a huge base of support among activists and medical marijuana patients, as well as a national base of support from other players who want Michigan to be successful,” he said. Voters in eight states have approved recreational marijuana laws. Colorado was the first state to implement legalization, with retail sales beginning in 2014. Maine Republican Gov. Paul LePage this month vetoed legislation to regulate and tax the drug despite voters last year approving a legalization measure. Many other states, including Michigan, have legalized marijuana for medical use. [email protected] Read or Share this story: http://detne.ws/2jrdSXl
You used to take pride in how busy you were. Lately, though, you realize it’s not working as you hoped. You’re tired. You’re stressed. And, you aren’t actually that effective. What if the best thing you can do for your career—and life—is to press pause, own your first priority, and set up a smarter way of working? You skipped breakfast. (The extra sleep was worth it.) Some days you grab a rubbery breakfast sandwich from Starbucks. Not today, though. There’s only time for espresso. You scan and respond to email on your bus ride in. You save the ones that require longer responses for when you’re at your desk. Most days you’re through the worst by 10AM. Then it’s one meeting after another. The email doesn’t stop, though. That inbox is newly filled after each meeting. Lunch is quick—only 20 minutes. You sneak in another coffee, and respond to staff questions before your next meeting. By 5:00, when everyone else goes home, your inbox is pretty much empty—but the items in your task list haven’t budged. So, now that the office is quiet, you’ll do some “real work.” By 10:00, you’re home. The kids are asleep, as is your spouse. You re-heat the dinner they (kindly) left out for you. You drink a few glasses of wine, to unwind, and watch a shitty movie. It’s been a tough stretch and you deserve some rest. Truth be told, though, you’ve been busy for a long while. Some days, you wish it’d all just blow up, so you could start over. You can’t lifehack this one The above scenario isn’t some hypothetical situation. In fact, just a few years ago, it was my life. (That’s a story for another time, though.) Busyness is a popular disease many suffer from. The long hours, the mounting stress, and perpetual state of “pursuit mode” is all too common. Part of what makes it so insidious, is that our culture reveres this state. You probably reason that all of your struggle is temporary discomfort, and a means to an end. Is it actually, though? Can you honestly say that your situation has markedly improved (by whichever measure you choose) as a result of your busyness? Often, the opposite is the case. Like a car stuck on ice, stepping on the gas pedal makes the wheels spin harder—but takes you nowhere. If you’re busy in the way I describe, you might just be stuck in a loop. You race from one situation to the next, mostly reacting to whatever is happening. All of this activity makes you feel like you’re doing something—but at the end of the day, you can’t remember what. This leaves you searching for new approaches, tricks, and lifehacks, so you can achieve more. (This often leads you to do a greater number of things that still don’t matter.) Time is the singular measure of life. It’s one of the few things you can not get more of. Knowing how to spend it well is possibly the most important skill you can have. —Scott Berkun In the meanwhile, you’re shortening your life—figuratively and literally. Racing through life means missing out on a lot of experiences. The physical toll on your body robs you of years. All those quick, greasy meals are making you sick. Your lack of exercise puts you at higher risk for heart disease, cancer, and other illnesses. Stress is driving up your cortisol levels, which in time leads to fatigue and insomnia. Meanwhile, you lack sleep—which will kill you faster than a lack of food. You present yourself as a warrior for pushing so hard. In time, though, you’ll break—just like any other mortal. Busy people get good at triage: they deal with acute problems quickly, and then move on. Although this might be necessary, it rarely ever fixes bigger systemic problems. You need perspective, so you can introduce systems that help mitigate such emergencies. But if you expend most of your effort dealing with messes, you won’t have time to put better apparatus in place. This part might sting… You’ll recognize what I say next as true; nevertheless, it’ll seem wrong. This is because your instruments are giving you the wrong information. (More accurately, you’re looking at the wrong instruments.) Films, television, news, and advertising lionize busyness and busy people. I call bullshit, though. I say you’re not busy because you’re getting things done. I say you’re busy because you’re weak. You’re weak when you do things the hard way, instead of inventing more efficient methods. You’re weak when you take on a pile of small, inconsequential tasks, instead of biting into the one that really matters. Most of all, you’re weak because you fail to identify purpose (probably due to FOMO), and instead do all kinds of things that distract you from what’s most important. Frankly, I bet the bulk of what you do when you’re busy is a waste of time. I say this from first hand knowledge. For years, I worked to grow a design studio. During that time, I wrote policies, created manuals, drafted strategies, planned company outings, published books, wrote blog articles, entered award shows, shot-the-shit with staff members, customized our invoices, updated our social media accounts, spoke at conferences, designed stickers to identify specific workstations, and all kinds of other stuff. In retrospect, most of these tasks didn’t matter one little bit. The two things that did? 1) Selling work so we had steady cash flow. 2) Hiring and supporting the very best talent we could find. I failed to do the first, because selling wasn’t fun. This made the latter difficult. In time, I grew tired of the experience, and retooled it entirely. This turned out for the best, but it doesn’t change my point: being busy with the wrong things is foolish. Now, I live with the awareness that I squandered years of my life choosing to be busy. Activity addiction is a real thing. Checking off tasks in your to do list feels good. However, if those tasks aren’t getting you anywhere, they’re like empty calories: they fill up your day, without making you any better for it. So, when you pretend to work (e.g., updating your social media feed) you’re really just lying to everyone: your boss, your family, and yourself. Don’t feel bad about this. You’re certainly not alone. And there’s good reason why you keep doing things that don’t matter: the work that most needs doing is often the hardest, or most intimidating. Maybe you didn’t even need to do it If I haven’t lost you yet (that “you’re weak” part probably didn’t help), you’re probably asking yourself how you got so out of control. You’re not a dummy, and you consider yourself open to better methods. So, how the heck did you end up in this mess? Let me suggest a few possibilities. The first, and most obvious, likelihood is that you attempt to do too many things. This seems easy to fix, but it’s a constant battle. We tend to think that adding more will improve a situation. However, each new thing you agree to do, brings with it a bunch of associated tasks. (For example, committing to a new ad campaign will also involve hiring an agency, meetings to approve creative, proof-reading copy, dealing with invoices, conflict resolution, reviewing reports, and the list goes on.) You can add to this the fact that others invent jobs for you to do, and the challenge in saying “no” to such requests. That said, these aren’t your biggest problems. Nope. The one that really gets you is your messed up values. Most people don’t take the time to define what they want to achieve, and what they stand for. As a result, they don’t know what work they shouldn’t do. Take that ad campaign I refer to. If you know what its purpose is, and it achieves said purpose, all of that work is probably worthwhile. This isn’t the way things tend to happen, though. In actuality, such campaigns often have dubious goals like “generating awareness.” It’s hard to measure the effectiveness of efforts with such vague aims. If you don’t know why you’re doing something, you might be better off by just not doing it. All of this relates to a common narrative that’s bigger than you. It goes back to the Protestant work ethic, which emphasizes that hard work, discipline, and frugality are pivotal to one’s salvation. Most of us dropped the latter two notions, and remixed the first one. Our perverted rework of it is: busy = better. But you and I know there are countless busy people in the world who don’t accomplish anything. Set your number one priority I’m still busy a lot of the time, but this isn’t my default state. To me, this is a reasonable trade off: I’m engaged, and sometimes stretched thin, but I don’t feel out-of-control for long periods. You can achieve the same, but you’ll first need to press pause. This means putting down that which you’re working on and taking some time out. This’ll be hard, but it’s key to breaking this cycle you’re in. Sure, you’ll lose a few days or weeks, but important repairs sometimes require you to shut the engine off. Taking time to think provides an opportunity to recalibrate your values. This is immensely important. A lot of people are busy doing things they hate, to get stuff that they don’t even care about. Here’s an interesting way of looking at this: Would you sell me your life? In this exchange, you get a BMW, a nice house, and $5 million in the bank—but only one year to live. My bet is that you’d turn down this offer. Curiously, though, many trade their healthy years away for the hope of future fortunes (which often don’t materialize). “Man … sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present. The result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.” —The Dalai Lama I say the single most important part of your life is your health. Without it, money is of little significance and you lose the opportunity to be with those you love. For this reason, I suggest you treat your personal health as your single greatest priority. This means eating unprocessed food, mostly derived from plants. It means planning your work around your daily exercise commitment. It means getting a good night’s sleep and minimizing stress. For me, healthy living isn’t a matter of flipping a switch. Instead, it seems like a series of small ongoing decisions that lead to better habits. The way I look at it, you can lose a promotion, a raise, or even your job, and still live a good life. Ignore your health, though, and you might lose everything. Now, we can talk about work So long as you have your health, life can be pretty interesting. For many people it isn’t, though—because they haven’t determined what they care about. Admittedly, this is a tough question. The smorgasbord of life is abundant. Choosing one or two items from it won’t be easy. You’ll want more, which will prevent you from having anything. Or, you’ll be tempted to make the same choices as those around you. Don’t. Your path is yours alone. I’ll write about how to identify purposeful work in future blog posts. I’ll also talk to experts on the topic, on our upcoming podcast: Query. For now, though, let me emphasize the immense energy you can tap by being of service. Some will serve people or humanity, others will serve animals or the environment, yet others will serve discovery or culture. I’m not here to say which is right for you. What I can say (with a fair amount of certainty) is that any form of service will offer you more clarity, presence, and fulfillment than acting in self-interest. There’s more to life than work. There are family, friends, travel, books, sports, dining, and many other wonderful things. The reason I emphasize work is that I believe it affords disproportionate returns. Through it, you can truly contribute to the world around you. It’s also a lens through which you can see and experience the world. If you can identify work you wish to do—and know why you’re doing it—you’ll possess a strength that eludes many. Now, you must apply this sense of purpose to your actions. Knowing what you want to accomplish should help you determine which tasks are most relevant. This will take time and discipline. You need to stop hiding from discomfort and do the hard work. Which tasks matter most? Find out, and act on those. In doing so, you should see greater progress than you did when you were busy doing everything. Setting yourself up for less busy-making No matter how healthy or purposeful you are, tasks quickly pile up. Suddenly, in spite of your pause and realignment, you’ll find yourself fighting the very same challenges you thought you had moved beyond. This isn’t uncommon, nor should it be surprising. Much like making healthier life choices, this is an ongoing pursuit that requires practice. The single best tactic I know, for maintaining clarity, is to reduce noise. By noise, I mean any non-critical signal that competes for your attention. First, turn off email alerts and smartphone notifications. Then, delete all social media apps from your phone. Want to really get work done? Close your desktop email application for several hours at a time. These changes will be hard at first, and you’ll feel compelled to check what’s happening. Stay strong. In time, you’ll form better habits. You might also like to create a Don’t List. These are good for bigger challenges, like knowing what projects to say “yes” or “no” to. I even post mine online, as displaying it publicly seems to make it more real. The big lesson with a Don’t List is to figure out which tasks don’t actually matter that much—and reallocate that time to tasks that do. You might also like to cull your task list from time-to-time, because some things are “nice to dos” and not actually critical. A quick way to identify these is to look at each item and ask how critical it is to helping you fulfill the purpose you set, earlier. If your answer is “not very,” you should nix it. The best way to deal with a great many tasks is to simply not do them. It’s a bit of a cliché, but there’s some merit to the notion of working smarter, not harder. Take time to identify and implement systems that reduce distractions, and lower the burden on your time. Examine repeat requests, and design ways to eliminate or lessen them. In doing so, you multiply your output, and—more importantly—buy yourself time. Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. —Abraham Lincoln I can’t stress the value of time enough. You need to carve out significant blocks of uninterrupted time, during which you can dedicate yourself to substantial tasks. I use this time mostly for “real work.” By this, I mean planning how Officehours should work, designing workflows, or writing things of significance. This time can also be used to imagine possibilities, recharge, or read. Warren Buffet, for example, dedicates 80% of his day to reading—and he seems to get a fair amount done. All these choices define your life In spite of what popular culture might suggest, you aren’t supposed to be a productivity machine. You don’t need to perform superhuman acts, or wow us with your fortitude. No one asked you to, and even if you accomplished such feats, the outcome would pale in comparison to your expectations. In fact, the notion of productivity is somewhat outmoded. A better question might be: “how do I live a good life?” Admittedly, this is a complex question; however, avoidance won’t make it any easier. So, you might read the how it all ends, and use what you find there to inform your decisions. (For many, the answer seems to be found in relevance, time, communication, friendship, and permission to be happy.) You are more than your career and the number on your paycheck. You are more than what you wear, and the car you drive. You are more than your aspirations. You are more than the results of your quarterly performance review. You are the activities you do in your off time. You are the bedtime stories you read your kids. You are the friend who can be relied on. You are the partner who cares for your spouse. You are the community member who always does what’s right. And, yes, work is important. It’s important because it affords you an opportunity to contribute to this ride we’re all on together. Doing so needn’t take your every moment, though—and flailing wildly won’t make you any better at it. Instead, you must identify (worthy) purpose, choose a course of action, and establish good habits. Then repeat. I suggest that the best use of your day is in doing one thing that matters—not a hundred things that don’t.
– February 2015 could be one for the record books in terms of cold weather. Accuweather’s Dean DeVore says the coldest month ever was in January 1977, with an average temperature of just under 13 degrees, and we’ve got a shot at breaking that record. “I’m doing some calculations but I think we are on track here to have the coldest month ever in Detroit, the way things are looking,” said DeVore. “And it’s going to be brutally cold here today.” [Real Time Traffic Information] Dean says another arctic blast is blowing into town late Tuesday –and won’t be leaving until the weekend. AccuWeather Meteorologist Dave Bowers talked about the unfortunate winter weather pattern that’s been persisting. “It’s like an open spigot from like Barrow, Alaska down to the Great Lakes. Meantime, they can’t buy a drop of rain on the west coast for the past month or so,” Bowers said. “It’s been wicked. It really is quite a contrast. The western half of the country is having an extremely warm winter, and here it really is more like the Northwest Territories in our backyard . “We’re running about almost 12 degrees below normal his month.” Monday: Except for a few afternoon clouds , mainly sunny. High 8F. Winds W at 10 to 15 mph. Monday Night: Partly cloudy during the evening followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low -6F. Winds SW at 10 to 20 mph. Tuesday: Gusty winds. Snow showers developing in the afternoon. High 20F. Winds SW at 20 to 30 mph. Chance of snow. Tuesday Night: Snow showers before midnight. Becoming partly cloudy later. Low 16F. Winds WSW at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of snow 40%. Know before you go, and don’t get yourself stuck! Keep it tuned to WWJ Newsradio 950 for the latest forecast during traffic and weather, every 10 minutes on the 8s. See the live, local radar now at this link. Sign up for severe weather text alerts: Text STORM to 95001 For daily weather forecast text alerts: Text FORECAST to 95001
Supporters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) confirmed on Twitter that the extremist group's chief singer and songwriter has been killed in airstrikes in eastern Syria, CBS News' Khaled Wassef reports. The activists said Maher Meshaal, also known as Abu Hajar al-Hadrami, a Saudi National, was killed Saturday in airstrikes south of the city of Al Hasaka. Meshaal is the author of jihadi hymns such as "Saleel al-Sawarem" and "Halomoo Halomoo O' lions of war," which are regularly played as background music in combat and execution videos released by ISIS. According to Mother Jones, "Saleel al-Sawarem" celebrates martyrdom and holy war, with lyrics such as: "The banner has called us, to brighten the path of destiny, to wage war on the enemy, whosoever among us dies, in sacrifice for defense, will enjoy eternity in paradise." Reuters reported that U.S.-led forces conducted 16 air strikes targeting ISIS positions in Syria on Saturday. The bomb and drone attacks were conducted near Al Hasakah, Ar Raqqah, Aleppo and Kobani, according to a statement from the U.S. military.
Chapter 1 The grounds of Beacon were transformed in the half-light; the absence of bustling students combined with the faint glow of lampposts along the main pathways made the unlit areas of Beacon even darker and more foreboding by comparison. Yang often walked back the dorms alone after her private sparring sessions but she could never get used to Beacon as it was in the late evening. As the last one using the gym for the night, she had the responsibility of locking up. Not many students used the gym as late as Yang did who appreciated the privacy it offered, and Yang was always the last one to leave. The reasons for this were twofold; the first being that her days were so busy most of the time between endless classes, hanging out with her friend, team exercises, etc. During the day she rarely had a moment to herself. The other reason was a lot more personal and currently bulging awkwardly in her shorts. "Ah, shit," Yang bit her lip, considering her options. She peeked out of the main gym doors, and confident that nobody was nearby she closed them and turned back toward the locker rooms she had just left. The reason was that working out as she did; sparring against a dummy or a solid punching bag got Yang worked up and excited and when she got into that state then it would become very obvious to any onlookers that Yang was no ordinary girl. Yang entered the unisex locker room and flipped the light switch revealing empty shower stalls, benches and lockers lining the wall. She pushed the door shut behind her and put her duffel bag against it. Yang felt a hot rush that only worsened the awkward straining against her gym shorts and the anticipation was becoming unbearable. "A few minutes," Yang told herself; her voice unusually quiet. "Just a few minutes." She hooked her thumbs under the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head exposing her breasts just barely concealed behind her straining E-cup bra. She fingered the fabric for a moment but decided to leave it on. Fitting those puppies back in was just too much effort to put up with. She kicked her trainers off, followed quickly by her black socks and then there was only one thing left. She slowly inched her shorts off of her ample hips, and down her long legs, almost teasingly though it was only herself she was frustrating. The thin black panties she wore underneath were already drenched with the copious amount of precum flowing steadily from her dick and so they were discarded as well to fall next to the shorts. Yang sat across the corner of the bench closest to the door, legs spread wide and erect dick bobbing up and down hypnotically to match her breathing. Yang managed to pull her eyes up and focused on a full-length mirror on the wall opposite her. Her creamy skin was almost entirely open to view; her golden locks of hair messily falling over her shoulders and her black bra were the only obstructions. Her violet eyes matched her reflections and she felt a hot rush of embarrassment as though she had locked eyes with a naked stranger. The heat intensified the needy yearning in her loins and at last she reached with both hands for the object of her frustration. Her dick was 10 inches long and thick, a perfect male specimen on a perfect female body, she reflected vainly. She had been with boys before plenty of times though they had never gotten as far as discovering her secret. None of them could compare to her own which made her feel oddly happy and disquietly disappointed too. If she was better than everyone around her, then how could she be truly satisfied? She stroked herself slowly; one hand lightly wrapped around the shaft and the other creeping past her balls to reach her wet pussy. Instead of a clit she had an entire set of male genitals; but the rest of her body was anatomically correct. The combined physical stimulation of both her male and female halves was a surefire way to reach overwhelming pleasure. The precum that had been building up steadily since she started her workout was now being used as a lubricant to enhance her masturbation. That was she doing it in a relatively public place like the locker room where her classmates would come to excited her incredibly. Yang moaned softly, and then realizing she was entirely alone, she moaned a little louder. Her hands moved perceptibly faster; well-lubricated fingers moving from head to shaft in smooth motions while her other hand explored the deeper recesses of her pussy. Her panting breaths were loud and ragged; echoing faintly in the tiled room. Feeling the pleasure mounting to a peak, Yang's other hand came up from her pussy to focus on her glistening shaft; working it with both hands for those precious last seconds. Toes curled up, eyes scrunched tightly, Yang came. Hard. For a brilliant moment Yang's body shuddered and her mind was lost to a blinding pleasure. She was utterly unprepared for the sheet of cloth soaked in chloroform to be slapped over her face. Her eyes snapped open. A strangers hand reached from behind her and clamped over her own hands, still mindlessly stroking her own cock. Yang, already tired from her earlier workout and doubly so from her intense masturbation was helpless in the strong grip. Her arms pinned and her head held by the hand pressing the cloth to her face, Yang could only look straight ahead and at the mirror which previously showed only herself. Blackness clouded her vision and for a moment, right before she passed out, Yang could have sworn she was seeing double. Only her doppelganger didn't have golden hair, but black… And then everything went black. Consciousness came almost as quickly as it had fled her, but Yang was slow to rise; her adrenaline long gone. She pushed herself upright and she could see that had been lying done on a bare mattress, completely naked as even her bra had been taken from her. The room was spartan in terms of decoration. A threadbare chair in one corner, a sink, a flimsy looking cupboard and the mattress she was sitting on was the extent of the furniture. The plaster walls were bare and windowless, the floor was polished wood and a naked bulb dangled from the ceiling. Yang couldn't see a light switch in the room. Subconsciously crossing her arms and folding her legs to conceal herself, Yang realized another startling fact. The room didn't have a door. That didn't make any sense. "What the fuck is going on," Yang hissed. Plainly she had been kidnapped but it was unthinkable. Kidnapped? In the middle of Beacon? From an empty room? Just as she was scanning the walls again in case she missed some hidden signs of a concealed door, a flash of crimson light burst into existence in the far corner of the room. Yang threw up her hands to block the light. It dimmed, swirled in place and then seemed to draw back to form a glowing red portal. Through which, stepped the last person Yang expected. "Mom?" Yang gasped in disbelief. The figure was unmistakably the one who had appeared to her a month ago. It had been at the end of her fight with that psychopathic mute, Neo, and Yang had woken up to see a helmeted stranger that had saved her life before disappearing into a crimson portal. The same figure stood before her now, unhelmeted and undeniably her mother. The resemblance to Yang's own face was almost perfect except that her mother had an even paler complexion and startlingly red eyes. On top of that, the mass of black hair and red-black armor she wore matched the descriptions Yang had received from her own father about her mother. "Mom?" Yang repeated hollowly, still unable to believe that the person she had looked for most of her life simply appeared in front of her. "Yes, Yang," Raven sighed, rolling her eyes slightly. "I'm your mother." "Are you rescuing me?" Yang wondered, remembering the last time she saw her mother. Raven's response shocked. She simply laughed. Her own mother was laughing at her while she was sitting there, naked. It was surreal. "Yang, who do you think brought you here? You're in my house." "What? What the fuck is going on?" A dangerous glint came into Raven's red eyes. Without warning the crimson portal behind her slammed shut and vanished. Silently, Raven moved over to the chair and sat down on it, one leg over the air and with her arms folded under her breasts. "You've got a real potty-mouth on you, don't you, Yang? But I'll be fixing that soon enough. I may have been absent from raising you but that doesn't mean you can speak to me in such tones or use such crude language." Yang felt so taken aback that she actually felt calmer than when she had woken up. She was uncomfortably aware of how naked she was and kept herself concealed with her hands as best she could. "Why did you bring me here?" Raven spread her hands to the side and gave a shrug. "Here's the deal honey, Mommy needs a new fucktoy. The last one couldn't keep up with Mommy's needs. Now, I brought you into this world and it's time you paid me back for that. You're going to be my new fucktoy." Yang was speechless. Raven waited her out and finally Yang blurted out, "But, you're my mother! That's incest!" "Doesn't bother me. And the laws have changed in recent years. So long as both participants are above legal age then it's fine." "I won't do it. You can't make me," Yang was still in a detached shock. She couldn't believe that her own mother that she had been seeking for so long was propositioning her like this. Raven gave another shrug with a sly smile, "To be honest, your consent isn't needed at this point. You may have noticed you're in a doorless, windowless room. The only way in or out is through me. I'm a generous person though, I'll give you once chance. I want you to hit me as hard as I can. If you're strong enough, I'll let you go. If not, well, then there are no second chances." Yang gingerly stood up, stepping off the mattress. Gritting her teeth she lowered her hands from breasts and her privates. She couldn't let herself feel embarrassment now. Raven tapped her cheek, still grinning at Yang. "Just one hit-…" Yang's eyes flashed red and she stepped forwards, punching Raven in the face with a right hook on the spot she pointed out. It was a punch fueled with her anger, her confusion and her outrage. It was like punching a brick wall. She couldn't believe the strength of her mother's aura to be unaffected in the slightest by a punch like that. Her mother reached out and grabbed Yang by her arms. She tried to pull away but her mother proved to be as unrelentingly strong as she was tough. She pulled Yang down sharply, bringing her closer and forcing her to her knees. She let go of Yang's arms and simultaneously brought up both of her legs; pinning Yang's arms to her sides with her powerful thighs. With Raven's legs locked together, Yang was held firmly in place. Grabbing Yang by a handful of her beautiful, golden hair, Raven tilted Yang's head back so she could stare into the violet eyes that gazed up at her angrily. "Now that you've thrown away the chance I so generously gave you, let me make the rules clear. After all, you live under my roof; you live under my rules." Still holding Yang's head in place with her left hand, Raven slapped Yang with her right for emphasis. "Rule number one: you will obey me when I give you an order. Toys do not disobey when they are played with, and you. Are. My. Toy." She slapped her again. "Rule number two: you will call me Mistress when you address me, like 'Yes, Mistress' and 'No, Mistress' though I can't think of a single reason why you would ever say 'no' to me." Tears were welling up in the corner of Yang's eyes as Raven slapped her a third time. "Rule number three: you were having a little too much fun when I caught you yesterday. From now on you will only masturbate when I order it; if I order it. Remember at all times; you're a toy for my pleasure. Not your own." Abruptly Raven leaned down to Yang's raised face and kissed her. She mashed their lips together with a raw, lustful desire that Yang was helpless to deny. Her hands, still holding Yang's head in place, inched down to her mouth and gradually pried her jaw open. Raven's tongue darted in; invading her daughter's body and tasting at her saliva. Raven at last relented, watching with amusement as the lines of spit joining their mouths together stretched and then snapped apart. Tears flowed silently down Yang's cheek as she glared at her mother. "Oh Yang," Raven whispered to her daughter. "This is going to be so much fun." Releasing her daughter's head, Raven leaned back and licked her lips. She reached between her legs toward a slowly growing bulge that Yang could not fail to notice being so close to it. "No way," Yang grunted. Raven laughed; a surprisingly girlish sound from her. "No, honey," Raven chuckled. "It's real alright. Where do you think you got yours from?" As Raven finally fished out her tool from the folds of her armored robe, Yang choked back a gasp of shock. Though it was stilly plainly in the process of hardening, it was already bigger than her own cock! Holding it mere inches away from Yang's stunned face, Raven gently stroked it to full length with a sadistic glee. Fully erect it was at least a foot and a half long, veined and with a raw, musky scent of lust. Yang redoubled her efforts to escape but locked in the warm embrace of her mother's thighs, she might as well have been caught in a beartrap. Her escape futile, Yang closed her jaw, lips pressed together hard. "My last fucktoy put up a struggle too," Raven said conversationally, pinching Yang's nose shut with one hand while guiding the bulbous head of her cock to Yang's lips with the other. "She didn't struggle for long." Yang squirmed futilely for almost a minute; sweat beading on her reddening face until when she could last no more and she gasped desperately for air. Raven, enjoying the game, thrust forward with a note of satisfaction; wedging Yang's jaw open. Screaming, eyes flickering red, Yang bit down as hard as she could on the intruder. She had as much success as her punch did earlier. It was like trying to bite into a steel pole. By Raven's moans of pleasure she was probably only stimulating her more! Raven adjusted her position on the edge of the chair slightly, drawing Yang closer till an entire third of her massive cock was enveloped in Yang's bulging mouth and tickling the back of her throat. That was enough for now; training Yang's throat would come in time. Raven absentmindedly reached within the folds of her robe, playing with her own breasts while her cock was parked on the tongue of her daughter. She flicked at her own hard nipple, smiling inanely. Yang, abandoning her struggles for escape, was focused on her struggles for breathing. Every few moments when Raven's cock twitched back an inch, Yang desperately inhaled a needy gasp of air before the entrance to her throat was plugged shut again. Through the haze of sweat and tears, she heard her mother's voice alternating between moans of pleasure and whispering instructions. "The faster you make me cum Yang, the faster I'll be done with you. Help Mommy out. Use your tongue more." Out of options Yang hastily acquiesced her demands. She'd had boyfriends in the past who were always begging her to suck their dicks though of course none of them had possessed such a monstrous tool as her mother. The massaged the subtle creases and bumps of the shaft in her mouth with her tongue; coating it in her saliva which was now mixing with a steady flow of precum entering her mouth directly. Unbearable seconds and minutes flowed by; Yang's jaw was aching and she was drained from relentlessly stimulating the unyielding rod jammed in her mouth. Raven squeezed her legs closer encouragingly as she felt a rush in her heavy balls; a mounting pressure. Finally the moment came; "I'm cumming!" Raven's hands squeezed down on the arm of the chair as she drew Yang closer with her legs; caught between the cock in her mouth and her mother's toned legs, Yang felt her mouth flood with her mother's cum. Her lips wrapped tightly around the shaft made a perfect seal and there was only one direction for all that cum to go. It poured down her throat in one endless rush; hot, thick and sticky but the force of Raven's ejaculation sent it straight into her waiting stomach. Yang lost track of the unbidden, gulps she took, consciousness receding as she struggled to keep up with the flow of cum. "You've really inherited your father's dick-sucking skill," Raven noted with something close to pride. At last her muscled legs relented and sprang apart, depositing a limp Yang to the ground. "Consider that your breakfast. I hope you'll be looking forward to lunch and dinner later~…"
Overwatch’s competitive mode has been in the wild for a few days now, and well, let’s just say that Blizzard should maybe consider changing their name. Related: what do you call a snowstorm, except it’s made entirely of salt? I should preface this by saying that I don’t think Overwatch’s competitive mode is all that bad, for how new and unpolished it is. Some bugs in Skill Rating on certain maps (which have been remedied) aside, the system is functional. Based on wins, losses, the other team’s Skill Rating, and—ever so slightly—your personal performance, you gain points and slowly work your way into a skill bracket that, ideally, should match you against players of equal or slightly greater skill. It’s not perfect. You will inevitably come up against people who are way better than you sometimes, and the leaver penalty system, which punishes the team the leaver was on nearly as much as the leaver themselves, can be incredibly frustrating. The coin flip for attack/defense during sudden death is not super great, and Blizzard is thankfully doing away with it next season. It’s also worth noting that ranking up is a slow, painstaking process while ranking down can happen after a loss or two. That doesn’t feel very good. Unsurprisingly, people on Overwatch’s forums and subreddit are salty as hell about all of these issues. But I think the bigger problem might be that Overwatch is currently not a game designed for this kind of high-stakes competition. It’s a game about teamwork and situational adaptability rather than MLG no-scope-to-indie-nosebone skills with a single hero. It’s a game of good-natured fun with a community that’s wary of the toxicity competitive modes in other games engender. It’s a game that’s about the ecstasy of victory rather than the agony of defeat. Advertisement Overwatch has trained us to expect certain things that don’t gel with a traditional competitive mode. I’m not saying it can’t support a competitive mode. I think it can, and I hope it continues to! I just think competitive mode needs to evolve to be more in line with Overwatch’s identity as both a game and a community. As is, Overwatch’s competitive mode uses the language of other competitive games to describe something different. That, I think, is why people are so mad about it. They’re expecting one thing and getting something else. Let’s start from the top. The Skill Rating system is fundamentally individualistic, or at least, it seems like it should be. The number you get is yours, not your team’s. However, it’s still overwhelmingly dictated by team wins and losses, by the actions of wildcard players who, especially if you’re solo queuing, might be human dumpster creatures who don’t seem to understand that Overwatch is called Overwatch, not Reaper—THERE MUST ALWAYS BE A REAPER AND I WILL BE THAT REAPER UNTIL THE DAY I DIE—And Friends. Advertisement In the context of Overwatch’s design, it makes perfect sense to have rank dictated by team wins, losses, and the Skill Ratings of the opposing team’s members. Imagine if individual skill was a bigger deciding factor. Many players would abandon team cohesion and try to rack up kills or rush the objective. It’d be horrible, topsy turvy chaos, even more so than some matches are now. Cats kissing dogs, tanks ignoring their Mercys, Genjis—fearful and forlorn, but ever dutiful—pushing carts all by themselves. In the heat of the moment, though, the current Skill Rating system isn’t super clearly explained, and it feels fundamentally unfair that shitty players get to have so much influence over your number. Advertisement Another thing that makes competitive mode feel at odds with the rest of the game: matchmaking is entirely dictated by Skill Rating rather than level. That makes sense in the long run, seeing as you can earn a high level in Overwatch simply by doing tons of quick play matches, while Skill Rating is about recent wins and losses in a competitive season. But Overwatch is still a young game, and right now coming up against a team of level 130s when you’re with a bunch of level 50s feels a smidge unfair. You might have the same Skill Rating, but come on, we all know how this is gonna end. Competitive matches are also usually longer than regular Overwatch games. Again, it makes sense; you’re up against people of (theoretically) equal/greater skill who are (hopefully) using teamwork to fight their dang butts off and into tiny, butt-shaped graves. It’s gonna be a knockdown, drag-out battle. So let’s say you win a 40-minute match, only to find that your Skill Rating level bar barely budges. That’s fucking unsatisfying, partially on an intrinsic level, but mostly because Overwatch previously trained us to expect a) short matches and b) big rewards after those short matches. That’s the pace it was designed for. Advertisement Despite what some players want and expect, competitive mode is not meant to be a head-on bull rush to the top. Unlike in regular Overwatch, which is designed to make you feel like a winner no matter what with all its experience points and commendations and medals and loot boxes, losing in competitive mode carries consequences. You’re not gaining experience and leveling up slowly, doggedly over time. You’re either slowly becoming more skilled and moving up a couple precious brackets or losing and falling back down into a bracket that suits your relative skill level. Competitive mode is about consistency, not persistence. I’m not saying Blizzard shouldn’t tweak the system to make it a little less of a bummer, but upping the stakes also means upping the potential for frequent disappointment. That’s just the nature of the beast. Similarly, high-stakes competition and toxicity tend to go hand-in-hand, and Overwatch’s competitive mode already has an ugly toxic stain. Don’t get me wrong: Overwatch is absolutely not bereft of toxic players even in quick play, but it’s a game whose developer and community have at least tried to avoid the pitfalls of other online gaming communities. It’s a game about having fun and being a team player, one that thrives when players feel unafraid to experiment with heroes and strategies. That spirit pervades much of the game, and it shows in the way tense situations unfold. Generally, when somebody goes Full Shitlord, other players are like, “Chill. It’s not actually that big of a deal” or “Hey, losing isn’t the end of the world, especially if you gave it your all for your team.” Advertisement In competitive mode, it is a big deal, and I’ve already watched/listened to some players absolutely go for the throat after matches gone awry. Insults, threats, slurs—you name it. Apparently I’m not alone. To the victor goes the spoils. To the loser goes the spoilsports. Blizzard’s gonna have to police this stuff harder than any company before them if they want to hold on to what makes Overwatch’s community special. They’ve got an uphill battle ahead of them. There’s a tendency for multiplayer game communities to consider competitive the Real mode, while quick play is for scrubs. I worry about what will happen to Overwatch if that mentality takes hold with competitive in its current state. If Blizzard allows all this sewage to seep into the fiber of Overwatch’s identity, it’s gonna be an ugly scene. Advertisement Overwatch is, most of the time, a feel-good team game. Introducing high-stakes competition with a muddled message about the importance of individual skill drags the game into confused, oftentimes negative territory. If Blizzard wants this thing to work, they’re gonna have to figure out a competitive framework that’s true to Overwatch’s spirit, rather than just the spirit of competition.
There’s been a rash of pedestrian accidents lately. When these accidents get reported in the paper or batted around the water cooler, there are often underlying assumptions about blame. The stories typically imply that victim was intoxicated, in the wrong place, young, old, or unhelmeted (for bicyclsits). Because we all drive almost all the time, and we all assume equal responsibility for our automobile system, our kneejerk reaction is to blame the victim. (E.g. the Strib’s recent subheadline: “distraction, inattentiveness blamed for deadly collisions”) This is the wrong approach. We should be blaming the road. Accidents like these are not inevitable. Sure, college students are young and inexperienced. Sure, old people move slowly. But that shouldn’t mean that people deserve to be crushed underneath tires. There is another way. The example of bicycling is a good illustration. The American attitude towards bicycling is fraught with assumptions that bicyclists are responsible for their own fate. “If you ride a bike,” so goes the attitude, “you’re asking for it.” “If you get hit,” people imply, “you kind of deserve it.” While people won’t actually say this (except on Pioneer Press comment threads), this is the subtle undercurrent to how most people talk about accidents. “Well, there’s nothing you can do,” is the implication. “They should have been paying more attention.” In other words, there’s a Darwinism afoot. It’s particularly interesting to me because transportation engineers and road designers have long had a different approach to designing roads. “Forgiveness” is a concept taught in engineering programs. It basically means that, to ensure safety, roads should be designed to allow for people to NOT be on their best behavior. In his wonderful book, Tom Vanderbilt describes the concept of forgiveness as part of his larger chapter on the paradoxes of road safety: The rumble strips are an element of what has been called the “forgiving road.” The idea is that roads should be designed with the thought that people would make a mistake. “When that happens it shouldn’t carry a death sentence,” as John Dawson, the head of the European Road Assessment Programme, explained it to me. “You wouldn’t allow it in a factory, you wouldn’t allow it in the air, you wouldn’t’ allow it with products. We do allow it on the roads.” This concept makes a lot of sense, until you start to consider that designing a forgiving road means designing an unforgiving sidewalk. Forgiving roads typically have wider shoulders, larger turning radii, and fewer conflict points (a.k.a. intersections). That’s all good if you’re behind the wheel, but it has two unforeseen consequences. The first is that it makes life dangerous and unforgiving for people on foot or on bicycles. (E.g., limited access roads with few conflict points transforms pedestrians trying to cross the street into semi-culpable jaywalkers.) The second is that it encourages people to drive even faster. Designing a road with wider lanes and wider shoulders often means people will simply drive faster or eat a burrito or talk on the phone or all of those things simultaneously. Sometimes the more forgiving you become, the more that others will take advantage of you… Thankfully, urban road design has turned a corner, and cities around the country are starting to realize that making roads less forgiving might make them safer for everyone. (The Compelte Streets movement is a great example of this.) Why not forgiveness for cyclists and people on foot? I have been reading a history of US bicycle planning by historian Bruce Epperson. Epperstein tells the story of a long-standing debate between bicycle planners over “vehicular cycling,” a school of thought that emphasizes training, education, and aggressive lane placement. (Basically, the idea here is that cyclists should get good equipment, “take the lane” out in traffic, and signal with their hands a lot. There’s a good argument to be made that this is the safest way to ride in the midst of traffic.) Epperson describes the debate between vehicular cyclists and more pragmatic bicycle planners who emphasize off-street and recreational routes. The history of US bike planning is filled with debates between these two groups. It’s old news, and you can find reams of heated commentary from both sides on the internet. As they say in Italian restaurants in cartoons, “that’s-a spice-y meata-ball!” Say what you will about vehicular cycling, but nobody is going to argue that it’s “forgiving.” For a brief moment in the early 70s, Epperson mentions another approach to bicycling. He calls it the “third stream of egalatarianists.” According to his story, they emerged out of Davis California, around the University campus, advocating an approach to bicycle design organized around the concept of forgiveness. The basic difference is this: Do you design bike lanes with the assumption that all the cyclists will be fast, efficient, well-trained, and “educated” about how to ride in traffic? Or do you design bike lanes for people who will move slowly, dawdle, and are perhaps younger or older or riding in groups? Do you design lanes for people who occasionally fall down? The only place where this egalatarian bicycle planning was fully adopted was around the college campus of Davis California. There, as Epperson describes, planners were “highly experimental”: [They] placed an emphasis on modifying the street system to facilitate utilitarian bicycle trips, often by cyclists of limited ability. … The third-streamers openly advocated policies that specifically targeted the weakest and most vulnerable bicyclists and involuntary users who rode strictly out of need, not choice. Together, these comprised cycling’s lowest common denominator, and for the third stream planners, they formed the yardstick by which to measure success or failure. If high-end recreational cyclists couldn’t live with their solutions, well, there were lots of other sports in the world they could turn to. This approach had a brief moment in the sun in a 1971 congressional report written by the Davis planners. But quickly, the debate over bicycle planning returned its focus to the debate between vehicular and recreational bicyclists. People started focusing on safety equipment and training. People turned away from designs like buffered cycle tracks, which were perceived by traffic engineers as too dangerous. Only now is the UC-Davis approach starting to make a renaissance, as cities across the US are beginning to install DAvis-style protected bike lanes. As a grad student, I literally spend hours on campus each week watching students ride bicycles. I see a lot of supposedly dumb things. People ride the wrong way down one-way streets. People ride on the sidewalk. At least half of the people are listening to music on headphones. People are carrying things on their handlebars. People ride in groups. People ride beat up Wal-Mart Magnas with only one working brake and chains that sound like a bag full of mice. Everyone looks impossibly young. On the other hand, I rarely see an accident. For all the discussion about how to ride properly, people seem to grasp the basic concept. The phrase “just like riding a bike,” is rightly synonymous for something that everyone can do, for skills from childhood that never leave us. Riding a bike isn’t hard. Almost everyone can do it. The truth is, however, that riding a bike in most places is dangerous and unforgiving. Riding in a narrow bike lane in the gutter next to a freeways intersection can get you run over. When you combine thousands of young people on bicycles with unforgiving bike lanes, terrible accidents become foreordained. Faced with this reality, we have a few choices. Either we can “educate” all of the students about proper bicycling techniques, and/or police them out of existence. (Frankly, both these things are impossible.) The alternative is to design bike lanes and paths with students in mind, streets that are designed to be forgiving for drivers, bicyclists, and people on foot. If the majority of the people using a street are using it the “wrong way,” then it’s not the people that are at fault. It’s the street. Instead of calling for more education and enforcement, instead calling for a police crackdown or mandatory bicycle licenses, instead of the plague of “distraction and inattentiveness,” we need streets that will forgive us. We need to design places for how people actually behave, not how we wish they’d behave. We need to start forgiving everyone, no matter how they get around. Share this: Email Facebook Twitter Reddit Tumblr Related Streets.mn is a non-profit and is volunteer run. We rely on your support to keep the servers running. If you value what you read, please consider becoming a member.
Fulton Chairman John Eaves says the GOP's plan to vanquish the Affordable Care Act could "kill Grady," Georgia's largest hospital. If President Donald Trump's and his sycophants' "heartless plan" comes to fruition, Eaves says, the hospital could lose more than $65 million in federal funds each year. In effect, the facility's operating budget could be chopped by 10 percent, meaning Grady would have to cut back on critical services So Eaves, a candidate for Atlanta mayor, wiped the sweat from his brow when U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, cast a vote early this morning to fell the "skinny repeal" proposal, a skeleton of conservative lawmakers' initial plan to ditch and replace the ACA, aka Obamacare. "If the GOP members in the House and Senate would have had their way, President Trump would have ended up signing a bill that would have thrown almost 1 million Georgians, (including residents of Fulton County) off health insurance," says Eaves in a statement. And more uninsured patients, he says, could clog up the Downtown emergency room and "overwhelm Grady's capacity and put the hospital's financial stability at significant risk." Eaves encourages his constituents to dial up Republican U.S. Sens. Johnny Isakson and David Perdue to voice disapproval of their party's plan to kill Obamacare. "We ask that they look at ways they can repair the Affordable Care Act, not repeal it ... because individuals who are part of their constituency are part of Fulton County, and many of them utilize Grady Hospital," Eaves tells a flank of reporters gathered in front of the hospital. Trump seemed dumbfounded that McCain, who had just returned to the Senate after undergoing surgery and learning he has brain cancer, voted against the party grain. The president, of course, tweeted his chagrin and reiterated his yearning to see Obamacare killed sans a substitute.
Preview: The Guild 3 – Guild things come to those who wait Role Play Convention is more than just a popular hub for cosplayers, it’s becoming more and more of a final rehearsal for us to mentally prepare for gamescom. This time, additionally, we got the chance to lay eyes on gameplay material from the alpha of The Guild 3. Places, everyone Europe in the year 1400: The dark middle ages, once dominated by nobles and the clergy, came to an end and a new era begins: the age of free, prospering cities, trading and an open mind-set! One of the goals in the The Guild series is to create a family dynasty which can last for centuries. While the world around you and your dynasty rearranges itself time and time again – all non-player characters (NPCs) make their own decisions –, you have to prove your skills in artisan craftwork and trading, participate in social occasions and perfect your political schemes and malicious intrigues. Starting the game we have to choose our dynasty. Male? Female? Name? Physique? We already know about that. But since The Guild 3 is a mix of strategy, economic simulation and life simulation, we’re allowed to further refine our character. Not just regarding voice, hair or clothes, but also our vocation, and if we wish so, our task. Because the makers of The Guild 3 actively opposed the idea of a campaign, this task bascially becomes our life goal. Become rich, become a famous lady-love, a well-known orator, noble, obtain a mansion or become a sovereign. The dark age told you to go big or go home, base goals are for plebs. To achieve those goals you may choose between taking one of various paths. You can concentrate on economy, take the religious path or completely indulge in roleplaying. The so-called tasks accompany us through the game by giving us quests and are some kind of a mini campaign. Of course you might as well focus enitrely on the sandbox – choosing a task at the beginning of the game is totally optional. Besides your choice of task you may also settle a course for your career choice. For example, you may choose to specialize in craftsmanship, which won’t restrict you later on, since you have the option to specialize in any career you’d like to, thanks to the skill tree. Incorporating a bit of roleplaying, you’re allowed to define the attributes of your first character. This covers strength, agility, charisma, courtesy and cleverness. You really want to bash stuff? Strength might not be amiss. You’re aiming for social goals? Charisma could help you out. To further enhance those attributes, one can find certain artifacts in game, which also fulfill other functions to easen the burden of your task.
A Halifax naturalist says he was "horrified" to discover at least eight hectares of protected park were levelled within the last week. Martin Willison, a retired biology and environmental studies professor from Dalhousie University, believes a wood harvesting machine was used. The area is just behind a strip of trees along Old Sambro Road, which runs right through the 2,095-hectare Long Lake Provincial Park. "If I were to pick a flower here, technically speaking, I would be breaking the law. Yet somebody's come in and they've destroyed many acres of natural forest," said Willison. He says the levelled area was dense with softwood and hardwood, primarily black spruce. He expects it will take about 10 to 20 years for the trees to grow back. "It's utterly careless and it's really very distressing for somebody like me," said Willison. "The damage is devastating to owls and other birds that lost their habitat." "Whoever did this, and whoever authorized it, has to get a very hard knock." The MLA for the area, Brendan Maguire, says the investigation is looking at a private company that trespassed on park land. Willison says better oversight and regulations are needed. "It's a difficult thing to do, the province can't be watching absolutely everywhere — but this kind of thing shouldn't happen," he said. The provincial Environment Department says conservation officers are investigating.
The most interesting part in programming is creating stuff that to you seem like the most awesome stuff but to others seem like “yeah, cool” or “why did you spent your time building this useless thing?”. That might be the reason why many of our pet projects don’t get published/released (all creators denounce their creations). Our maybe that’s not the reason. Whatever. On little tip I am using (that’s generally a good tip regardless of whether you release your new-born software to the public or not) is timing my projects. It sounds a little bit boring (it’s like when you were told to create a skeleton of your essay before you started writing it) but it has two main advantages : Prevents feature-creepism Gives you satisfaction Of course there are many more reasons to time your projects (check joel’s article here) ranging from “knowing your programming skills” to “know how much you can charge when you are freelancing” but from the perspective of programming junkies (“oh, I have a great idea! Let’s do it!”), they don’t have a great influence. I time my pet projects just to be sure I stay on track (and not implementing a 3d engine when I’ve started creating a lisp module - believe me I’ve done it…) and because it gives me a nice approximation of whether this thing is really 30 minutes of work or 3 months. When you’ve done it some times, you become better and you have second thoughs about adding the twitter-clone in your text editor that would be VERY cool and at first it seemed like 1 hour of work but after you put your estimated time-frame you see it’s actually 5 months. But in order for this thing to work, it has to be VERY simple (so you don’t spend 5 months implementing a better system for tracking projects). What I do? Here it goes : Write on paper (or on your favorite editor) what must be done (with some time estimations). You can save your file in your directory of your project (I usually save it with the name .plan) For example: Create J2ME project (5 minutes) Put the nodes (20 minutes) Create prototype algorithm in Python (1 hour) Port it to J2ME (1 hour) Create Splash screen (30 minutes) Git it (5 minutes) Tell the world - twitter/facebook/blog/reddit (10 minutes) You could say “5 minutes for creating a J2ME project?”. Ok, it could be 1 minute but if you put there the directory structure, some files and other stuff it could go up to 3. And these are rough estimates just so you can do your work easily and having fun and NOT trying to beat the clock! Don’t forget this is a pet project that has to be fun :D and now for the second and final step : 2. Time your progress step-by-step ( ooooo babeeeeee ) and click them away from your .plan Yeap, it’s easy! So give it a go and tell me what you think of! I am heading to create an emacs plugin for this :D
A coroner called for tighter controls on selling lethal drugs over the internet after hearing that Isobel Narayan, 16, came across the substance having searched online forums about suicide. Nigel Meadows said he would be writing to the Chief Pharmaceutical officer to see if anything could be done to tighten regulations about access to harmful drugs. He said policing the internet was "virtually impossible" but it was a "matter of public concern" that Isobel was able to get hold of the drug. Isobel, the daughter of a barrister, was found dead by her parents at their home in Didsbury, Manchester, in December 2011. An inquest heard that there was nothing to suggest she was unhappy but a police interrogation of her computer revealed she suffered "misplaced" and "unfathomable" feelings of low self-esteem and worthlessness. She had ordered a drug online and in the months before her death had looked up forums giving guidance on assisted suicide for people with terminal illnesses, Manchester Coroner's Court heard. Isobel wrote a document entitled: "Reasons why I should kill myself or why my life is not worth living", the hearing was told. Her father, Harry Narayan, a barrister and crown court recorder in Manchester, told the inquest his youngest daughter, who had gained top marks at GCSE, was top of her year in physics and studying A-levels with the hope of studying to be a vet like her older sister, Freya. A keen horse-rider she was also on the student council at Xaverian College in Manchester but was "so able", her studies did not really challenge her and she craved more homework to do. There had been a "mini crisis of confidence" the month before she died, he said, but Bell, as he called her, returned to college a week later and got back into the rhythm of student life with everything appearing normal. He said on the night before the tragedy Freya had gone out and he had waited up for her. He said: "I stayed up waiting for Freya to come back in the early hours of the morning. At 1am, I heard Bell cleaning her teeth in the downstairs bathroom. I said, 'Are you all right'? Everything was normal." The inquest heard that around noon, Mrs Nayaran went upstairs to rouse Isobel to see if she wanted a bacon brunch. Mr Narayan added: "Anne went to ask her about a bacon butty and came back down and asked if I could go and see her. She was dead." The parents raced up to her room where Isobel was lying on the top bunk of her bed, which has a desk underneath. He added: "She was lying in her usual sleeping position right arm over her head. I felt her forehead and it was cold. "I remember everything vividly. She had a bucket which I use when I clean the house, there was a bit of liquid in it. There was a Listerine bottle on her top bunk and there was a tumbler on the window sill that had some dried powder on it. "She must've got the bucket some time after I heard her at 1am", she said. Mr Narayan said he had spoken to his daughter about boys, pregnancy and bullying, but there was nothing in her life to suggest she was unhappy or worried. Det Insp Kevin Marriott, from Greater Manchester Police (GMP) who investigated the death, said searches of her computer found she had made inquiries about obtaining the drug and around a month before her death a quantity was posted to her in two packages. The hearing was told that Isobel had gone on forums and discussed “the use of the drugs and quantities and dosages and uses and guidance and sources of advice for those people wishing to harm themselves". There was also a pamphlet available online designed for those with terminal illnesses who want to end their lives. Det Insp Marriott said that while Isobel had low esteem, the “self-deprecating comments” she made in the document "Reasons why I should kill myself" were “totally misplaced”. He added: “It's unfathomable." Ruling that the teenager killed herself, Mr Meadows, the Manchester coroner, said: “There were no indications that she was even contemplating taking her own life. There's no clue or indication that anything was untoward whatsoever." He said it was "inevitable" in such cases loved ones will ask themselves if they could have noticed something wrong, but said there was nothing Isobel’s family should reproach themselves for. He said: "It's a strange time of life for teenagers. There's hormones raging, there's pressures."
An op-ed in The Wall Street Journal by editorial writer Allysia Finley downplayed a labor judge's findings of employer misconduct to accuse California's Agricultural Labor Relations Board of teaming up with the United Farm Workers to "shake down workers" by throwing out the ballots of a decertification vote. Finley ignored several unlawful actions by the employer, Gerawan Farming, claiming that the misconduct "amounted mainly to a 'well-timed' raise." WSJ's Finley Downplays Legal Violations By Employer WSJ's Finley: Employer Interference "Amounted Mainly To A 'Well-Timed' Raise." In an October 2 op-ed, editorial writer Allysia Finley wrote about a recent ruling from California's Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) Administrative Law judge Mark Soble disqualifying an election to end a United Farm Workers union at Gerawan Farming. Finley describes the ruling as the ALRB teaming up with the UFW to "shake down workers" and glosses over the illegal acts of the employer (emphasis added): In the tradition of the Obama administration's pro-union shenanigans with the National Labor Relations Board, California's Agricultural Labor Relations Board (ALRB) has teamed up with the United Farm Workers union to shake down workers at the state's largest tree-fruit grower. Gerawan Farming, a third-generation family farm in Fresno, is trying to fend off the attack. On Sept. 17, ALRB administrative-law judge Mark Soble issued a long-awaited decision on whether to count the Gerawan workers' ballots cast in 2013 to decertify the UFW. Given the ALRB's pro-union bias, Mr. Soble's decision to throw out the ballots, disenfranchising thousands of workers, wasn't surprising. Unlike other California agencies, the ALRB employs in-house administrative-law judges to arbitrate complaints. Still, both management and workers at Gerawan Farming were disappointed. [...] During the summer of 2013, Gerawan workers began collecting signatures to hold a referendum to decertify the union. [...] In September 2013, Gerawan workers submitted roughly 2,000 signatures, well above the 1,300 necessary to hold a referendum. About 2,500 were eligible to cast ballots. But Mr. Shawver claimed that 1,000 of the signatures couldn't be verified. Gerawan workers submitted 1,000 more signatures. Mr. Shawver then used the pretext of pending UFW complaints and illegal employer interference in signature-gathering to block an election. After Gerawan workers protested in Sacramento, the ALRB ordered a secret-ballot election in November 2013. Staffers from the labor board supervised the voting. Nevertheless, the UFW filed numerous complaints contesting the election and preventing a final ballot count. On Sept. 17, Mr. Soble discarded the ballots because of alleged employer interference with the collection of signatures, which he claimed "tainted the entire decertification process." This interference, according to Mr. Soble, amounted mainly to a "well-timed" raise granted to workers by Gerawan, undermining support for the union. [The Wall Street Journal, 10/2/15] Judge Found The Employer Violated The Law In Numerous Ways During Decertification Campaign LA Times: Employer Interfered With Distribution Of Campaign Literature. In a September 18 article, the Los Angeles Times reported the judge found that Gerawan Farming allowed anti-union campaigning, while barring the other side: The judge, Mark Soble, found that Gerawan Farms unduly influenced the 2013 decertification effort by giving preferential treatment to workers organizing the campaign, including introducing them to a funding source. In addition, the judge found, Gerawan Farms allowed pro-decertification workers to distribute literature during the workday but prohibited pro-UFW workers from doing so. "Given that the unlawful conduct tainted the entire decertification process, any election results would not sufficiently reflect th unrestrained free expression of the bargaining-unit members," the judge said in the decision. [Los Angeles Times, 9/18/15] Associated Press: Judge Found $20,000 Unlawfully Given To Decertification Effort, Workers Blocked To Gather Signatures. On September 18, AP reported that a Gerawan Farming employee working against the union was illegally given $20,000 to fight the union, and that farm workers were physically blocked from the worksite to collect signatures against the union: The decision says a Gerawan employee, Silvia Lopez, unlawfully asked for and received $20,000 from a fruit growers association affiliated with Gerawan to fund the anti-union fight. It says that on one day, Lopez physically blocked workers from the farm to collect roughly 1,000 signatures calling for a vote to reject the UFW, and Gerawan unfairly granted Lopez time off work to lead the effort. Gerawan also made a "well-timed" wage increase to win the favor of workers, Administrative Law Judge Mark Soble said, citing evidence he considered to dismiss the petition that sought the vote. "The misconduct created an environment which would have made it impossible for true employee free choice when it came time to vote," Soble's ruling concludes. [Associated Press, 9/18/15] Judge's Ruling Lists Multiple Violations From The Employer. Judge Mark Soble ruled after hearing testimony from over 100 witnesses. The judge found multiple instances of "unlawful assistance" from the employer in the decertification campaign: By providing unlawful assistance to the decertification effort, Gerawan committed unfair labor practices under California Labor Code section 1153. This assistance included allowing work-time signature gathering and granting the petitioner a "virtual sabbatical" to run the decertification campaign. Gerawan also committed unfair labor practices by its enhanced efforts to directly solicit grievances and by making a "well-timed" unilateral wage increase. Petitioner Silvia Lopez solicited and received an unlawful twenty thousand dollars donation from the California Fresh Fruit Association, an association of agricultural employers of which Gerawan was a prominent dues-paying member. Her legal team, specifically attorney Joanna MacMillan, assisted in this transaction. There is powerful circumstantial evidence to suggest that the company knew about this donation beforehand. The Petitioner also violated the rights of other workers by blocking company entrances on September 30, 2013 as a means to collect approximately one thousand signatures from workers that day. Given the totality of these circumstances, and especially in tandem, the unlawful actions of the California Fresh Fruit League, Gerawan Farming, and Petitioner Silvia Lopez make it impossible to know if the signatures collected represent the workers' true sentiments. Similarly, the misconduct created an environment which would have made it impossible for true employee free choice when it came time to vote. As a result of the employer's unlawful support and assistance, I am setting aside the decertification election and dismissing the decertification petition. (Abatti Farms (1981) 7 ALRB No. 36, at page 15) Given that the unlawful conduct tainted the entire decertification process, any election results would not sufficiently reflect the unrestrained free expression of the bargaining unit members. [State Of California, Agricultural Labor Relations Board, September 2015] CORRECTION: A previous version of this post mislabeled the United Farm Workers as the United Food Workers. Media Matters regrets the error.
DURANGO, Colo. (AP) — Environmental groups trying to halt a proposed development near the Wolf Creek Ski Area have filed a federal lawsuit to halt the land swap that would allow construction. The Durango Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1GJcAsB ) that a coalition of conservation groups filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday after the U.S. Forest Service gave the land swap the go-ahead in May. The suit argues that the federal environmental impact analysis was narrow in scope. Forest officials, however, say the swap is their only recourse given legal parameters. The swap would give developer Leavell-McCombs about 200 acres of Rio Grande National Forest land for a road connecting a highway to the proposed development. The federal government would get 178 acres of privately held land. Environmental groups have opposed the land swap due to concerns about wildlife. ——— Information from: Durango Herald, http://www.durangoherald.com
In this year's 'Initial Quality Study' run by US market research institute J.D. Power, the Porsche 911 is rated highest among all nameplates in the overall study and takes top position in its segment for the fifth time in succession. The company's main production plant in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen also comes first in the factory rankings in the Europe/Africa region. In its segment, the newest member of the model range, the Porsche Macan, also takes top spot. The survey was completed by over 80.000 private individuals, and included 245 models from 33 manufacturers. "Thrilled customers are what drives us on," says Oliver Blume, Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG. "All of our staff work with great dedication every day to provide our customers with the very special Porsche quality. It is the result of intensive work that is characterised at every stage and in every area by a love for the perfect sports car." The Macan came top in the 'Premium Sporty SUV' segment With its top place once again, the iconic 911 sports car takes first spot for the fifth time in a row in the 'Midsize Premium Sporty Car' segment. The US customers have thus been attesting since 2012 that this classic vehicle from Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen provides the highest quality. In addition, the Porsche 911 is the model with the least number of complaints of all vehicles taking part in the study. The Macan came top in the 'Compact Premium SUV' segment, thus repeating its success of last year, when it took part for the first time. Based on the results of their study, the US market researchers also produced an assessment of the production sites. In the factory evaluation for Europe/Africa, the main Porsche plant in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen, where as well as the 911 the Boxster and Cayman models are also produced, was ranked in first place. Porsche judges its sports cars by data and KPIs "Every Porsche is proof of our comprehensive quality standard," says Albrecht Reimold, Executive Board Member for Production and Logistics at Porsche AG. "Sportspeople judge themselves in competition by data and KPIs - and that's exactly how Porsche builds its sports cars too. Our employees are aware of this challenge, which is a joy and an incentive at the same." About the study In the 'Initial Quality Study' J.D. Power annually surveys new car customers 90 days after their vehicle has been supplied. In this year's 30th running of the study US new car drivers were surveyed between February and May 2016 on 233 criteria from a range of different categories. Properties and features that the owners are asked about include 'Driving experience' and 'Engine and transmission'. More about the study: jdpower.com. Consumption data Boxster: Combined fuel consumption: 8,4 – 7,9 l/100 km; CO2 emissions: 195 – 183 g/km Cayman: Combined fuel consumption: 8,4 – 7,9 l/100 km; CO2 emissions: 195 – 183 g/km
North American anime distributor Viz Media announced on Thursday that it is partnering with Sentai Filmworks to stream the High School of the Dead television anime series dubbed and uncut on its Neon Alley service starting on Friday at 10:00 p.m. EDT. New episodes will then premiere on Fridays. Madhouse's anime adapts Daisuke Satō and Shoji Sato's zombie horror manga that follows a group of students and a school nurse who try to survive a worldwide plague that has turned people into the living dead. Sentai Filmworks released the series on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in North America in June 2011. Yen Press is releasing the original manga in North America. Neon Alley is also premiering Fate/Zero, Accel World, Lagrange - The Flower of Rin-ne season 2, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan Demon Capital, and Zetman on the service this weekend.
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I went to Las Vegas on Tuesday, and while driving in from the airport, I saw a big neon billboard with a photograph of a young man. It read, “Wanted: Las Vegas Strip Shooting Suspect. Ammar Harris. Call 911 if you see him.” Harris is the 26-year-old ex-convict suspected of spraying gunfire into a Maserati on the Strip last week, resulting in a crash that killed three people. Then, on Wednesday, the Las Vegas Review-Journal published a remarkable story about Harris, based in part on the last two years of his Twitter feed. Harris was a pimp, and proud of it, who posted photographs of stacks of bills—he claimed to be a millionaire—and guns, bragged about his pimping, brutalized women and relished his status as a criminal. He and his girlfriend, who was allegedly in the car during the shooting, are both being sought. But they have so far managed to elude capture. Here is today’s grim sampling of gun violence. A woman who picked up her two young grandsons from child care and was supposed to bring them home so one of them could open his birthday presents instead drove them to a neighboring town and shot and killed them and herself. The bodies of 47-year-old Debra Denison and her grandsons, 2-year-old Alton Perry and 6-month-old Ashton Perry, were found Tuesday night in a parked car in Preston, Conn. Family members said Denison, the boys’ maternal grandmother, had a history of mental health problems. —Journal Gazette A mother of four was shot dead Tuesday morning outside her West Philadelphia home in front of her young son. Jennifer Fitzpatrick, 37, was the victim of domestic violence perpetrated by a “jilted ex-boyfriend,” according to her father. “It’s like a nightmare to me,” he said, adding that he had also lost a son to gun violence. Police had a man in custody. —Philly.com A student at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, S.C., died after a shooting near the campus Wednesday. Anthony Darnell Liddell, 19, a sophomore from Bennettsville, died after the shooting around 7:20 p.m. Tuesday at a residence hall. The search continued Wednesday for the shooter. —USA Today A 17-year-old girl shot herself outside of Grady High School in Atlanta Wednesday morning, prompting the school to go into lockdown mode. The student entered the school clinic with what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound to her left thigh, and was transported to the hospital in stable condition. Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Erroll Davis says the student was shot in the courtyard between the gym and the main building. It’s not clear whether the shooting was accidental or intentional. —Atlanta Blackstar Two people are injured and a suspect is in custody following a shooting in the parking lot of a Mormon temple in Columbus, Ohio, Tuesday afternoon. The shooting took place at about 4:45 p.m. Columbus police said they have a male suspect in custody. Both victims were hospitalized and are in critical but stable condition. —NBC News Two people were shot at a Stockton, Calif., home on Wednesday. Dwight Smith, 25, opened fire at a home just before 10 a.m. Neighbors believe the man was a tenant and shot his landlord and a second victim. The victims were able to speak with officers before being taken to an area hospital. The gunman is at large. —KCRA Jeffrey A. Hulett, 37, is suspected of luring a co-worker out of a Kansas City restaurant last night and shooting him in the back of the head, killing him. Police say Hulett went to the diner Tuesday night for the “sole purpose” of killing Lionel S. Hernandez, 47, a cook, whom Hulett said had “crossed the line.” Hulett did not reveal the specific reasons he was angry with Hernandez. —Kansas City Star Authorities say a taxi driver shot an Alexandria, Va., police officer Wednesday during a traffic stop for a minor offense. The officer suffered life threatening injuries and is in critical condition. The driver of the taxi was apprehended after a chase. —WTVR Grand Junction, Colo., police are investigating after a dispute between a man and his son left the son dead of gunshot wounds. Police say no one has been arrested and they are not looking for any suspects. —9News According to Slate’s gun-death tracker, an estimated 2,332 people have died as a result of gun violence in America since the Newtown massacre on December 14, 2012.
A T-shirt company in Upstate New York is getting a boost thanks to the new "Spider-Man" movie. Tom Holland wears a number of geeky shirts as Peter Parker in "Spider-Man: Homecoming," including one made by Crazy Dog T-Shirts in Rochester. It mocks math problems by showing a triangle with the instruction to "find X"; X is on the hypotenuse, circled in red with an arrow saying "I found it." "We were trying to come up with funny takes for back to school," Crazy Dog T-Shirts CEO Bill Kingston told the Democrat & Chronicle. Kingston said it was chosen by a costume designer for the Marvel film two years ago to fit the web-slinging hero's personality as a high school student. Since the "Spider-Man" reboot was released in theaters three weeks ago, Crazy Dog is seeing increased demand for the shirt through its website, crazydogtshirts.com, and on Amazon. Costume designer Louise Frogley tells Racked that the shirts are meant to show Parker's intelligence and youth. The idea came from director Jon Watts, though she searched the internet herself for the right ones, and then sanded some down or washed them to appear more worn. Other dorky shirts from SnorgTees and NeatoShop, worn by Holland in the movie, include jokes about science ("the physics is theoretical but the fun is real"), telekinesis ("if you believe in telekinesis, please raise my hand") and atoms ("I lost an electron" -- "are you positive?"). The latter also appeared in a pajama top worn by Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) in "Iron Man 3"; Robert Downey Jr. plays a prominent role in the new Spider-Man film as Iron Man and Tony Stark. "We just wanted them because they were silly," Frogley told Racked. "On the film it's like a throwaway thing, [but] actually it was very much thought about." Kingston, whose company employs 40 people, told the D&C that he's not surprised. "Our whole motto is we have that T-shirt that captures your personality perfectly," he told the newspaper. Here it is-the t-shirt only a Math Geek could love worn by Peter Parker in @SpiderManMovie by @CrazyDogTShirts #ROC Hypotenuse anyone? pic.twitter.com/gwEuYs7UKc -- Mary Chao (@marychaostyle) July 26, 2017 While watching Spiderman: Homecoming, @Silvinonono noticed that Peter Parker and I have the same shirt [?] [?] [?] pic.twitter.com/llueKU78rv -- Osmara Vyassali (@Osmaralalala) July 10, 2017
The main Democratic Party led by Mr Bersani and its smaller leftist allies were ahead with between 34.5 and 37 per cent, beating the 29 to 31 per cent for a coalition led by the scandal-tainted former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi . Complicating efforts however were the results in the upper house Senate, showing the centre-Right bloc in the lead with 31.7 per cent, ahead of the centre left on 29 per cent. Mr Grillo's bloc had 25.1 per cent. The poll showed the centre-left and Mr Berlusconi's alliance neck and neck in the Senate race in the key region of Lombardy, with the centre-left ahead in the regions of Sicily and Campania and Mr Berlusconi's bloc well ahead in Veneto. A projection by the SkyTG24 news channel had previously said the left would manage to win a majority in both chambers of parliament, following fears that it would fail to snag a majority in the upper house Senate. The newcomer Five Star Movement led by former-comedian-turned-activist Beppe Grillo, who has channelled growing disenchantment with traditional politicians and rising social discontent, was given around 20 per cent in the exit polls. Polls closed at 3pm (2pm GMT) today, ending two days of voting in an election being closely watched by Italy's eurozone partners as well as international investors trying to decide if they consider the third-largest economy in the Eurozone a good bet. European shares lost their earlier gains on Monday after a projection by Italian TV showed the centre-right party, led by former leader Mr Berlusconi, leading in elections for the Senate vote. The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index, which had been up by around 0.5 percent before the RAI TV projection was published, trimmed those gains to leave the index up by 0.1 percent at 1,166.34 points by 1533 GMT. Italy's benchmark FTSE MIB equity index also pared its earlier gains after RAI published its projection on how the Senate votes were proceeding. "The market didn't want Berlusconi back in the driving seat and the polls are showing the centre-right is coming out a loser. It will be Bersani who decides whether he needs (centrist Prime Minister Mario) Monti or not," said a fund manager at a large Milan investment house. A lacklustre turnout however reflected widespread frustration among voters fed up with austerity cuts and a grinding recession. In the first day of voting on Sunday, turnout was 55 per cent - seven percentage points lower than at the same time in the last elections in 2008. Outgoing prime minister Mario Monti was slated for fourth place according to the exit polls, with only around 10 percent of the vote.
An outbreak of suspicious clown sightings reported across the country has spread to New Jersey, where the state police are warning — but not scaring — people. Authorities say there have been at least four reports of clown sightings in New Jersey, just days after similar reports came out of Pennsylvania. The state police took a lighthearted approach to the reports, providing tips to children who could be frightened easily and saying: "We know that there are a lot of good, hard-working clowns right here in Jersey." "Heck, you might even work with one or two [wink]," state police said on Facebook. "Of course, it's probably their part-time job, unless you all work for a circus." N.J.com reported four incidents — all of which occurred in Phillipsburg, just over the Delaware River from Pennsylvania — prompting police to attempt to reassure fearful residents. "We don't need a society living in fear," Phillipsburg police Capt. Robert Stettner told NJ.com. The publication reported the following incidents: Three clowns allegedly came out of the woods and chased a child at 8 p.m. Sunday in Walters Park. Someone was seen dressed as a clown on Hudson Street at about 5 p.m. on Monday. A jester holding some kind of sword reportedly ran after a child on Shafer Avenue at 7:45 p.m. on Monday. A dark-colored truck was seen driving down Mercer Street with multiple clowns hanging out the window at about 9:30 p.m. on Monday. In Pennsylvania last week, state police in Huntington County filed a report stating a clown sighting is currently under investigation there. The incident involved "unknown actor(s) dressed as a clown." No threats were made, police said, and no description of the clown was provided. Nonetheless, Pennsylvania State Police warned residents, "if you observe an individual dressed as a clown on your property or along county roadways you are encouraged to call State Police." Police in New Jersey provided the following tips: Talk to your kids. Tell them who they can expect to come and get them in an emergency (family member or close friend). When walking to school, there is strength in numbers — walk in a group. Never get into a stranger's car. Keep a safe distance from strangers asking for directions or help. Tell your kids to yell, scream and kick if grabbed by a stranger. Look around, stop looking for Pokemon — be aware of your surroundings. If a stranger claims to be a cop but is not in uniform, kids should find a trusted adult. The New Jersey reports are among a broader rash of odd clown sightings nationwide. Reports of clowns trying to lure children into the woods were recently under investigation in Greenville, South Carolina. Other sightings have been reported in Georgia, Alabama, Kentucky and Maryland. However, authorities believe many of these reports are unsubstantiated, the Washington Post says. Photo: N.J State Police
An Oregon woman claims United Airlines kicked her family off a Portland-bound flight because of her teenage daughter who has autism. Juliette Beegle, 15, was diagnosed with autism just before she turned three, her mother, Donna Beegle, told ABC News. While her daughter has a high IQ, Beegle said, she has a hard time communicating. On Tuesday, Beegle said she, her husband, Juliette, and Juliette's brother boarded a layover flight in Houston on their way home to Portland. Louisiana Dad Looks to Raise Autism Awareness With Blue Nail Polish Woman With Cancer Kicked Off Alaska Airlines Flight Plans to Donate Her Family's Airfare World Autism Awareness Day 2015: Why People Are Wearing Blue Today The family ate dinner in Houston, Beegle said, but Juliette refused to eat. Beegle brought some snacks on board for her because "if her blood sugar lets go, she gets frustrated and antsy. We try to anticipate that and prevent that." After boarding, Beegle said she asked the flight attendant if she had any hot meals. "Juliette refuses room-temp food," Beegle said. "I had no real way to bring hot snacks in my bag." The attendant told her they had a hot sandwich, but the sandwich arrived cold, Beegle said, and Juliette refused to eat it. "I could see [Juliette] getting frustrated," Beegle said, adding that she asked the flight attendant to check on meals available for purchase in first class. "I asked if I can purchase something hot for my daughter and [the first class flight attendant] said no" she said. "I called him back over and I said to him, 'Please, help us out here,'" but he again refused. "He came back again and I said, 'I have a child with special needs, I need to get her something.' And he said, 'I can't do that,'" she explained. "I said, 'How about we wait for her to have a meltdown, she'll be crying and trying to scratch in frustration. I don't want her to get to that point.'" The attendant then brought Juliette rice and jambalaya, Beegle said, and "she ate and she was fine." About 25 minutes later, according to Beegle, an announcement over the loudspeaker said the plane was making an emergency landing because of a passenger with "a behavior issue." Paramedics came on board and asked what was wrong when they found Juliette happily watching a video, Beegle said. "The paramedic said this was an over-reactive flight attendant and started shaking his head, and said 'We have real work to do' and left," she said. "We were still baffled." Police then came to their row, Beegle said. "They see this little teenager sitting there watching a video and they asked if there was an issue, and I said, 'No.'" When the officers started to leave, the captain stepped out of the cockpit and said something to them, Beegle said. They then asked her family to leave, she said. "He said, 'The captain has asked us to ask you to step off the plane.'" Beegle said. "I said, 'She didn't do anything' ... But the captain said he's not comfortable flying on to Portland with [Juliette] on the plane." "It just killed me for her to be treated that way," she said, adding that the passengers around her agreed that Juliette wasn't disrupting anyone. The police apologized, Beegle said. "It was awful," she said. "It was completely uncalled for." Another traveler, Jodi Smith, who was sitting three rows behind Juliette, said she heard the entire conversation with the first-class flight attendant. "He was being totally ridiculous," Smith said. "Then the medics came on, then the police ... They went right straight to Dr. Beegle. You could hear them saying their daughter was perceived as a threat," Smith told ABC News. "I stood up and said, 'Absolutely positively not.' "This was just ridiculous... she was calm, she had done nothing," she said. "I've been on flights where kids have screamed for 4 hours and they've never diverted a flight. "This was the epitome of discrimination," Smith said. "I have never in all my years of flying seen anything like this." Beegle said Juliette has traveled often, saying her daughter has been to London, Paris and 22 states. "We've never experienced anything like that," she said. "It was horrific." Beegle said she filed complaints with the Federal Aviation Administration and United Airlines and received responses from both, agreeing to investigate. She said she is also planning to file a lawsuit against United. Story continues
Launch day started even earlier for Gene Kranz than for Alan Shepard. He left the hotel shortly after midnight, carpooling with MCC RETRO Carl Huss. Huss’ appearance and habits reminded many of his colleagues of a bear and, like a bear coming out hibernation, he was slow to wake up. Kranz enjoyed the early-morning silence and the searchlights in the distance assured him that the countdown was still running. Everything was on schedule when he arrived. Kranz checked out communications on his and Kraft’s console. Kraft greeted him with his usual, “How’s it going, young man?” and Kranz responded with a thumbs-up. Then, Kraft was distracted by some issues with the worldwide data network and Kranz moved on. Kranz described the moment when he heard Shepard had entered his spacecraft as “surreal.” This was the moment they had all waited for since signing up. Then, things started to go south. They sat through five delays and the weather started to foul up. Some of them had to wonder if they were going to face another scrubbed launch. Pencils tapped on desks and, during one delay, Kraft asked Kranz to get him a pint of milk from the lunch wagon to help calm his stomach. Shepard was even less patient and barked, “Why don’t you fix your little problem and light this candle?” And then the most astonishing routine came over the communications loop. “My name? Jose Jimenez. Do you know what it really takes to be an astronaut?” “No, Jose, tell me.” “You should have courage and the right blood pressure and four legs.” “Why four legs, Jose?” “They were going to send a dog. But they decided that would be too cruel.” Now who in the world would be playing a recording of comedian Bill Dana’s cowardly astronaut routine at a time like this? Kranz scrambled to find the cause. If it was coming from anywhere in this room, he was history. But, as it turned out, the launch pad crew were piping it into Shepard’s spacecraft in an attempt to get him to lighten up. It certainly added to the surreal feeling and got grins from a few people in Mission Control. Finally, the countdown resumed and reached zero at 9:34 am Eastern standard time. Kranz was so excited that, when he left his station to go over to the Teletype machine, he forgot to remove his headset. The cord snagged a chair and knocked it over. He picked it up just as Shepard made his thirty-second report. The Freedom 7 reached an apogee of 116 miles and Shepard tested roll, pitch and yaw manuevers as planned. This assured the doctors whom Kranz considered too conservative that humans could function in space. Fifteen minutes after launch, Shepard splashed down and was soon aboard recovery ship USS Lake Champlain. During NASA’s early missions, only Public Relations chief Shorty Powers ever used the phrase “A-OK” during a mission and, years later, Kranz admitted that it was accurate if a little too Hollywood. America was now in the manned space business and, in the wake of this victory, Kennedy set a new goal for NASA in a speech to Congress. “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” Many people in NASA thought the President was too ambitious. Gene Kranz could only think: “Well, let them get on with their great plans. I’m gonna put a man in orbit first.” The second suborbital, Liberty Bell 7 manned by Gus Grissom, was nearly a carbon copy of Freedom 7, though the capsule sank and Grissom nearly drowned. The helicopter crews seemed more worried about retrieving the capsule than rescuing Grissom. Kranz growled to his console, “Forget the capsule, just get Gus.” Grissom barely made it out of there by grabbing a line from one of the helicopters. Then, the Russians forced NASA’s hand with another space spectacular. The next manned flight would be an orbital one. Mercury-Atlas 5 was a successful orbital test featuring a chimp named Enos. By now, the astronauts were sick of the sight of chimps and the cadre of monkeynauts were retired after Enos’ flight. Mercury-Atlas 6, named Friendship 7 by John Glenn, was originally slated for December 19, 1961. The Mission Control Center was beginning to relocate to Houston and, when the first delay came through, Kranz was just as happy to have the extra time to move his wife and three daughters across the country. The launch was set for January 27, 1962 and then scrubbed again due to a faulty tank bulkhead. The next date was February 14, and they were forced to scrub one more time due to weather. John Glenn was actually the coolest of the lot by this point, losing his temper only once when somebody suggested that he could get kicked off his flight for supporting his wife when she didn’t want to see the Vice President. Finally, they settled for February 20, 1962 for a launch date. Kranz had watched enough Atlas rockets blow up to acknowledge that they were gambling with a man’s life this morning. Somebody broke one of the hatch bolts while John Glenn was being inserted into the spacecraft. Luckily, they had spares on hand and they were able to replace it with only a minor delay. Walt Williams kept one eye on the weather while they waited. When the hold was over, Williams started the poll of the controllers, spacecraft and test conductors. With each “Go,” the room became more electrified. Scott Carpenter called from the blockhouse, “Godspeed, John Glenn! Three seconds, two, one, zero!” As the Friendship 7 lifted off, Kranz jotted down some notes that included the time of liftoff in Greenwich time (14:14:39Z) and headed over to the Teletype machine to have the information sent to Bermuda. Alan Shepard, in the CapCom position, relayed the “Go” for seven orbits. Though the flight plan only called for three, the extra orbits would give them some extra time if they couldn’t bring Friendship 7 down as planned. The signal from the spacecraft was relayed from Cape Canaveral to the station in Bermuda, and then on to the Canary Islands. An ex-Marine named Llewellyn was in charge at Canary Islands and stammered a bit as he asked Glenn for the spacecraft status. As Glenn rattled off readings, Kranz couldn’t resist smiling. He wasn’t the only one who was nervous. But there was an overtone of victory, as well, and he resisted the urge to yell, “We’ve got an American in orbit!” NASA had really come a long way since “The Four Inch Flight.” Glenn’s reports could have been mesmerizing if Kranz didn’t have a job to focus on. He reported a spectacular sunrise, and then the glittering “fireflies” surrounding his spacecraft. Those fireflies would turn out to be drops of frozen water from the spacecraft. Kraft was less than impressed when Kranz relayed that to him. “Keep me advised.” The first orbit came to an end with no problems worse than a slight increase of temperature in the cabin. Then, Kraft dropped a bombshell on Kranz: “Shorty Powers has confirmed that the President will make a call at the end of the first orbit. Get with the communications people and make sure everything is set up.” Kranz didn’t like that very much. He felt that it could have been arranged in advance. Kraft only replied, “The President is the boss.” As it turned out, the audio technicians were better informed than he was and had been expecting the call. Alan Shepard told Glenn, “Seven, this is the Cape. The President will be talking to you.” Glenn was as surprised as Kranz had been. “Ah, the President? This is Friendship 7, standing by.” They had trouble patching the President through. The techs gestured to each other for assistance as they stammered out, “Hello, Mister President!” In another part of the room, the man monitoring the spacecraft’s systems got Kranz’s attention. “I don’t know what to make of this, but I’m showing an indication of Segment 51.” This was more serious than the President’s phone call. Segment 51 was the impact bag deploy. If that had somehow come undone, the heat shield was loose and John Glenn would burn up when he reentered the atmosphere. As they tried to track down the indication, the chief audio technician had the unfortunate duty of telling the president, “We’ve gotten pretty busy down here!” The president answered, “Give me a call when you get the chance.” Some of the readouts suggested that the Segment 51 was a false alarm, but they couldn’t be certain. Glenn was troubleshooting some attitude control problems while Mission Control tried to make sense of the data they were getting from the remote sites. Only about half those sites were seeing the Segment 51. Some of the design techs suggested making sure the landing bag switch was off and asking Glenn whether he had heard any banging noises when he maneuvered. Walt Williams and two of the designers joined Chris Kraft at his console and suggested leaving the retropack on during reentry in the hope it would keep the heat shield in place. Kraft was convinced it was a false reading and didn’t like that very much. Williams asked, “If we come in with the retropack attached, what’s the worst that could happen to us?” Kranz could imagine Glenn’s response if he could have heard that question: “What do you mean, ‘us’?” After a little more discussion, it was decided that they would keep an eye on it, but not to tell John Glenn because they didn’t want to worry him. Leaving the retropack on could work, but only if all three retro rockets fired on time. If they didn’t, there was a chance one of the rockets could go off during reentry and kill Glenn. The last orbit was the worst. The controllers had no new data and they were trying to troubleshoot without letting Glenn know that he could be in serious trouble. Glenn figured out that something was up anyway and tried to get them to tell him what it was. When he returned to dry land, he would tell the controllers exactly what he thought of not having all the information available. As it was, Glenn’s response to the retropack plan was pretty tart: “What is the reason for this? Do you have a reason? Over.” Shepard finally told him that they weren’t sure whether the landing bag had deployed. All three retro rockets fired on time and, as Glenn reentered, the Friendship 7 was surrounded by an ion buildup that blocked radio signals. It was a tense wait for the people in Mission Control and those watching the live coverage of the mission. Finally, the spacecraft was spotted by the recovery ship USS Noa. John Glenn was brought on board to the cheers of the Noa‘s crew and got a taste of the nation-wide celebration to come when his route back to Cape Canaveral ended with an impromptu parade through the nearby Cocoa Beach. The telemetry readings of the Segment 51 would turn out to be false. The comrades in Mission Control celebrated with a big bash that night. Mission Control’s transfer to Houston was getting into high gear and Kranz sent out one of Control’s new recruits, Manfred “Dutch” Von Ehrenfried, as a real estate scout. Kranz’s only conditions were that the housing be affordable and that the down payment not be more than $250. The part of Houston that Von Ehrenfried found for them came to be known as Flight Controller Alley. The Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC) was also growing in size, from 750 to 1800 employees in three months. Many of these new people were brand-new graduates from colleges around Texas. A basic training course for flight controllers was set up. The first class of six spent two weeks’ worth of twelve-hour days learning learning Morse code and speed printing. Kranz handed out their flight controllers’ certificates himself, and then the first class went out to the remote sites. A few of the controllers posted in unfriendly territories like Zanzibar had military experience that served them well when they ran across such obstacles as burning roadblocks and hostile natives. Some of the new mission controllers served only one or two missions, decided the responsibility was too much for them, and moved on to other careers. Others didn’t want to relocate from Virginia. Those who stayed had a chance to move up the ladder and be reassigned back to the friendlier Houston. By the end of the Mercury Project, there were only 50 controllers left in Florida. Houston proved to be a friendly host city, even naming their baseball team the “Astros” in honor of the astronauts. Aurora 7 Deke Slayton was slated for the very next orbital mission with Wally Schirra as his backup. Things were going reasonably well until Slayton was making a centrifuge run and the physician detected a minor heart fibrillation. He stopped the run and reported it. Even then, Slayton didn’t expect problems. He had made test flights in the F-105 without any trouble and didn’t expect this to be any more serious. It didn’t turn out that way and Slayton was yanked from the flight. Normally, Wally Schirra would have stepped up to the plate as his backup, but they gave the flight to Scott Carpenter instead. At first, Kranz thought Slayton had been pulled off the flight because he complained too much about the experiments he was supposed to perform on the flight. When he found out the truth, he chalked it up to the fact that if you asked enough experts, you would eventually find one nay-sayer. Slayton took charge of the astronaut corps, an important job that must have felt like a consolation prize. Carpenter swung right into preparations and named his spacecraft the Aurora 7. The flight date was changed to give him more time for training. The Friendship 7 had proven the value of having a man in control of the spacecraft and they hoped to expand on it with Aurora 7. The plan also included observations of the spectacular sunsets and sunrises that John Glenn has reported, as well as Earth and space. Kranz was promoted to assistant flight director, second only to Chris Kraft in the control room. Other changes to the control room personnel included the addition of Llewellyn at the Retro console, responsible for monitoring the firing of the retro rockets just before reentry. Llewellyn would be replacing Carl “Dancing Bear” Huss, who was being moved to the Mission Analysis branch to take charge of designing lunar trajectories for what would become the Apollo Program. The launch went off on May 24, 1962 at 7:45:16 EST. The first orbit looked good, with Scott Carpenter reporting that the temperature in his pressure suit was a little high. Everything else was nominal, the ground controllers at each remote station were on the ball, and Carpenter made the planned external observations. The fireflies, a mystery during John Glenn’s flight, were reported by Carpenter as “capsule emanating,” droplets of water being shed by the skin of his own capsule. Then, things began to go downhill. During the second orbit, Scott Carpenter reported a disagreement between the attitude readouts and what he was seeing out the window. The people on the ground concurred and recommended resetting the gyros. This didn’t help, and Carpenter ended up wasting a lot of fuel trying to correct until they suggested that he simply coast until he was ready to start the reentry sequence. As Aurora 7 went into the final orbit, it became obvious that Carpenter would have to make a manual reentry. The Capcom at the Hawaiian station talked him through the checklist for retrofire. In the meantime, he was still having trouble with the temperature on his pressure suit and, by the end of his third orbit, was starting to show signs of overheating. At one point, Chris Kraft snapped to Gus Grissom at CapCom, “Dammit, Gus, keep him on task. I think he’s delirious.” Though California gave him the countdown for firing the retro-rockets, Carpenter hit the button three seconds too late. He was going to land somewhere past the planned landing area. It was questionable whether he could even get into the proper attitude for reentry and he would have to use the fly-by-wire system to keep his spacecraft from tumbling. Llewellyn resorted to high school geometry to determine that Carpenter was going to land at least 200 miles long. As Carpenter began coming back into the atmosphere and they lost radio contact, all the people in the control room could do was pray. Kranz had only felt this kind of helplessness when he held his wife’s hand during childbirth. Finally, Grissom caught Carpenter’s report that his chute had deployed and replied that they would get Air Rescue personnel to him within an hour. Rescue personnel found an annoyed Carpenter munching on a candy bar. Carpenter was heard to comment, “I didn’t know where I was and they didn’t either.” That made Llewellyn mad. “That SOB is lucky to be alive.” From then on, whenever someone wanted to get Llewellyn to tell the story, all they had to do was repeat the line, “I didn’t know where I was and they didn’t either.” Kranz felt that a combination of a distracted crewman, too many scientific experiments, and ground crew taking too long to remind him of checklists had almost cost them an astronaut. They had gotten lucky, but Kranz wanted to eliminate luck as a factor in future space flights. In any case, Carpenter would go on to participate in Sealab and never flew a space mission again. Wally Schirra’s six-orbit Sigma 7 flight was a success, with Capcom Deke Slayton providing a little comedic relief when he asked Schirra, “Hey Wally, are you a turtle?” Schirra recorded his reply, “You bet your sweet ass I am!” and then came back on the radio with a simple, “Rog.” Mercury was winding up for a grand finale with Gordon Cooper’s day-long flight. Bob Gilruth became director of the Manned Flight Center and began reassigning people to make preparations for Gemini and Apollo. Simulation Supervisor Mel Brooks took charge of training and ran the flight controllers through their paces. Simulated missions were one thing the mission controllers had in common with the astronauts. Brooks would throw every imaginable scenario at them to see how they handled it. One time, the simulation supervisor (SimSup) decided Kraft was depending too much on Kranz and pulled him off. “Kranz had an accident on the way to MCC and is in the hospital,” SimSup told Kraft. Kranz protested, “What are you doing? We have a mission to prepare for!” Kraft was amused. “Looks like you’ve been benched.” Von Ehrenfried filled in as assistant flight director and did fine. Just before Cooper’s flight, he got a local hospital to provide an electrocardiogram of somebody having a heart attack, fed it into the simulation, and stood back and laughed up his sleeve while the physicians tried to figure it out. That taught the physicians that an astronaut might not have time for doctors to argue over the diagnosis. Brooks became notorious for his challenging simulations. Kranz’s family was still growing. Marta gave birth to their fourth child, a boy, and the residents of Flight Controller Alley ganged up on Kranz to send him to her side while she was in labor. He would acknowledge that she was an extraordinary woman for sticking with him when he was spending so many long, stressful hours in the Mission Control Center. In the meantime, the Atlas suffered two failures that needed to be sorted out before Cooper could go up in the Faith 7. The launch was pushed back again when the Atlas booster failed an inspection on the launch pad. The problems were solved and the booster passed a second inspection. The launch date for the final Mercury flight was set for May 15, 1963. Cooper’s mission would last for 34 hours and 22 orbits. To cover it, Mercury Control operated in two shifts for the first time. John Hodge became flight director for the second shift and Kranz was assigned to his team as assistant flight director. Kranz had forgiven Cooper for the wild car ride on his first day of work and liked him for his fun-loving spirit. However, Cooper was not universally popular. A few people were hesitant about his Oklahoman accent, which made him sound like a back-waters country boy, and he nearly got yanked from the mission when he rattled nerves by buzzing the control center in a T-38. The launch went off as planned at 8:04 AM EST. Things went smoothly at first, with Cooper ticking off his experiments on schedule and the shift change occurring on schedule as Faith 7 was progressing along its sixth orbit. Hodge had a different approach to mission control than Kraft did. Kraft was a very hands-on mentor of the young mission controllers and comfortable with his status as team leader. Hodge tried to obtain a consensus before making a decision, was good with people but didn’t seem quite so comfortable with his leadership role. Kranz remembered him as a nice guy. Cooper made some celestial observations and took several pictures of Earth and celestial objects during a quiet period in his schedule, and then set a milestone of his own when he became the first American to sleep in orbit. His heart rate dropped low enough to alarm the physicians, who had CapCom wake him briefly to make certain he was okay. The team fell into a mode of relaxed alertness and kept an eye on things until Kraft’s team came back on duty. During the nineteenth orbit, Cooper’s .05 G indicator came on. This would have meant that he had started reentry, but Cooper believed it was a false reading and disabled the fuses leading to it. This disabled an automatic system that would have been used for retrofire. Cooper would have to fire the retro rockets manually. Kranz made sure the new plans went out to the remote stations and set up backup communications with John Glenn, the capcom on the Coastal Sentry. It may have occurred to the control team that part of the reason Scott Carpenter had landed so far out of the planned recovery area was that he had fired the retros a few seconds late, but that was the biggest concern. While going over the stowage and pre-retro checklists with the Zanzibar CapCom, Cooper reported, “My automatic control system inverter has failed. I’ll have to make a manual reentry.” Zanzibar asked, “Have you tried the standby inverter?” “Roger. It would not start.” They continued with the checklist, and then Cooper made contact with Coastal Sentry: “Oh, my automatic inverter failed along with a few other odds and ends. I will shoot the retros on manual and then reenter manually also. I’m looking to get a lot of experience on this flight.” Glenn’s response was a little sarcastic: “You’re going to get it.” Glenn gave the countdown for the retrofire. Cooper made a nearly flawless reentry and, when complimented on a job well done, drawled in his Oklahoman accent, “Aw, shucks, we aim to please.” The Gemini Project had the goals of developing many of the techniques and technologies needed to get to the Moon. Gemini demonstrated extra-vehicular activity (EVA), rendezvous and docking techniques and man’s ability to function in space for mission durations of up to two weeks. The Gemini Twins On the outside, Gemini looked like a bigger version of the Mercury capsules. On the inside, many of the systems had been streamlined. The interior allowed more space for the “twins,” two astronauts, who would be riding it, but would still be cramped. Gemini would make use of fuel cells and cyrogenics, storable propellants, and a rudimentary computer. The Manned Spacecraft Center was also being redesigned to make use of computers. Digital systems were also being installed at the remote tracking stations and the data network was upgraded to transmit data at 2.4 kilobits per second, which was considered high-speed at the time. A new influx of college graduates were brought in to maintain the new technology and bring the control team up to speed. Kranz had only limited experience with computers and had to scramble to catch up. The residents of Flight Controller Alley spent almost two years preparing for the first Gemini launch and became a close-knit bunch in the process. One of Kranz’s contribution was a mock-up of a Gemini cockpit. He wanted his team to become nearly as familiar with the spacecraft’s controls as the astronauts would be. They would hold blindfold drills in which they reached for each switch until they could almost have flown the thing themselves. The art of flight control was continuing to be refined and the control team spent many hours studying schematics and writing flight procedures and mission rules. Kraft made one change in the job description of the flight director. The description now said: “The flight director may, after analysis of a flight, take any action necessary for mission success.” This cleared up some vague terms in the previous job description and gave the flight director more leeway in directing the missions. Gemini 2 Gemini 1 was a fairly straightforward test of the Titan rocket and mission control did not get involved until it was time to review the data. Gemini 2 would require controller support. Chris Kraft and Gene Kranz went out to Cape Canaveral in what they hoped would be their final trip for a launch. They shared a two-bedroom apartment to stretch the per diem they received from NASA. The goal of the mission was a test of the Titan’s propulsion and guidance system. It would be a simple suborbital shot similar to the first two manned Mercury missions and they deployed two ships downrange to help monitor the mission. Problems developed in the thrusters and seat tests and Kraft dived into the task of insuring that the control team was ready for any contingency. He was still the senior flight director and gave Kranz the authority to do the same with his team. Kranz assured him that he was already on the job. Then, Kranz got his first real test in his new role of flight director when Kraft became practically bedridden with influenza six days before the launch. The job of handling the final simulation, pad tests and pre-launch briefings fell on Kranz’s lap. There was a chance that Kranz would have to step into Kraft’s place for the launch and he was so nervous that he clipped out a Sports Illustrated picture of a woman in a swimsuit for emotional support. Kraft recovered enough to cover the actual launch and Kranz stepped back to his original role of insuring that the control teams and data network were ready. It was one of the few unmanned shots covered by reporters in the control room and Kranz thought it was a bit much for an unmanned suborbital shot that had become nearly routine in the Mercury days. There were so many cameras in the room that a fuse blew, plunging them into darkness. This was where blindfold drills came in handy. Kranz worked by feel and the mission came off reasonably well for the fact that they weren’t really prepared for a power failure in the control center. The Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston adapted its electrical systems so that wouldn’t happen in the future and camera crews were required to provide their own power when covering future space missions. Tug Of War Even though everybody in NASA had the same goal of going to the Moon, there were frequent disagreements about how to get there and who was in charge of what. Mission Control got into a tug-of-war with the astronaut office over who, exactly, was in charge of the remote stations. Since Alan Shepard’s flight, it had become traditional to assign astronauts in the role of Capsule Communicator, the one who would have direct contact with the spacecraft in flight, both in Houston and at the remote sites. Though Deke Slayton had been forced into a purely administrative role after being grounded, he was still an astronaut at heart and believed that only astronauts could handle the time-sensitive decision making and communications involved in the role. His belief was shared by Alan Shepard, who was similarly grounded with a debilitating ear condition and worked closely with Slayton. Most of the astronauts who were actually sent out to those sites felt the same. Mission Control believed otherwise. Kranz, in particular, felt that the astronauts’ proper role at the remote sites was as observers and assistants. Five days before the launch of the first manned Gemini, Astronauts Pete Conrad and Neil Armstrong went out to the remote sites at Carnarvon and Hawaii, respectively. Once Pete Conrad got to Carnarvon, he encountered Dan Hunter, who was in charge of the station. Both were equally strong-willed and it would lead to a showdown that would provide greater clarity of the roles of both Mission Control and the Astronaut Office during the flight. The trouble started while Kranz and Kraft were still in Florida after Gemini 2. Deke Slayton was in town, too, and received word that Conrad and Hunter had gotten into a heated argument over who was in charge. Hunter had threatened to kick Conrad out of the station for butting into his turf and the hapless station crew sent a message asking for clarification about whose orders they should follow. He went straight to the apartment where Kranz and Kraft were staying. They had fallen asleep, but the banging on the door woke them right up. Slayton shouted, “Chris, we got a problem!” Kranz threw on some clothes and, by the time he got out there, Kraft and Slayton were about ready to duke it out. “Dammit, Chris, get your guy under control!” snarled Slayton. Somehow, they kept it to mere words and talked it out until three in the morning. They cut a deal that would work for the short-term. Hunter would be in charge of the station, and Conrad would be in charge of real-time operations during the mission. Kranz had the changes Teletyped out to the remote stations in Carnarval and Hawaii. Hunter didn’t seem to know when to back down and, the day before Gemini 3 was due to launch, gave Kranz a message to relay to Kraft. “This message doesn’t resolve anything. I am going to have it framed and hanged on the wall of my bathroom.” Chris Kraft’s patience was gone. “You have your orders, young man!” If Kraft had his way, Hunter wasn’t going to have much of a future in Mission Control. At the customary party on the evening before the launch, the tension between Kraft, Kranz and Slayton had spread to the rest of the controllers and the astronauts and there was none of the usual mingling. Llewellyn had too much to drink and tried to start a fight with Alan Shepard. Kranz intervened and got him out of there. The Gemini 3 crew, Gus Grissom and John Young, had been unaware of trouble before the party but it wasn’t hard to figure out that something was up. Kranz decided that this was no way to run a mission. The first manned Gemini mission launched on March 23, 1965. Though the official documentation called it Gemini-Titan 3, Gus Grissom had named the spacecraft the Molly Brown. NASA Public Relations hated it but the name was all over the newspapers after the Houston Capcom gave them the send-off, “You’re on your way, Molly Brown!” The mission was a success. After Grissom and Young splashed down, Kraft went to Slayton and cut a deal. The astronauts would be in charge of the spacecraft and Mission Control would be in charge of the mission. Hunter was transferred to the Goddard Space Flight Center and became the Madrid tracking station manager during Apollo. During the post-mission debriefing, Kranz got up on the stage and gave a speech about discipline and control. Thinking back on it years later, Kranz conceded that it was a wonder that more fistfights didn’t break out during the race to the moon. Ready For EVA? While celebrating the success of Gemini 3, Kranz heard through the grapevine that the Russians had scored another space first with an EVA by cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov. It seemed like the U.S. couldn’t score a space first for anything and Chris Kraft seemed distracted when Kranz delivered a report on the Gemini 3 mission to his office. When Kranz finished giving a verbal summary, Kraft walked across his office and closed the door. “I hope you’re ready as a flight director for Gemini 4 because there’s a job I want you to do for me.” Gemini 4 was already a packed four-day mission and NASA chiefs had decided to add an EVA by Ed White. Kraft wanted Kranz to work with the Crew Systems Division on planned altitude chamber tests and put together the mission rules and data packet for America’s first spacewalk. Kraft was pacing. “This is risky, but I think it’s worth a shot at getting a spacewalk on [Gemini 4 mission commander] McDivitt’s mission.” Making the job even more difficult, Ed White knew about the possible EVA before most of Mission Control did. Kranz would have preferred the chance to brief remote site teams before the flight but was told, “No briefings.” The remote site CapComs were given sealed envelopes that would only be opened if given specific instructions from Kranz. They contained only a brief note addressing the EVA, plus a planned rendezvous with the booster after separation. Kranz prepared for his Gemini 4 flight director duties during the day and worked on the EVA at night. The EVA ground team reviewed footage of Leonov’s spacewalk and inspected hardware being developed for White’s EVA with the goal of having everything ready two weeks before the scheduled launch date. In the meantime, Marta had given birth to their fifth child. Their house in Flight Controller Alley had become too small. With Gene Kranz at work most of the time, she had to prepare for a move to Dickinson, Texas, alone. It was her idea to make him a white vest representing his team’s color that he could wear when leading the White Team during a mission. He agreed to give it a try. Gemini-Titan 4 This would be the first mission featuring three shifts in Mission Control. John Hodge’s Blue Team manned the control center until the crew woke up, and then Chris Kraft’s Red Team took over and went through a nearly flawless countdown. They had only one pause to fix a glitch in the erector holding the rocket in a vertical position. Gemini 4 launched at 10:15:59 am on June 3, 1965. When the Titan burned itself out, McDivitt separated the Gemini from the Titan booster on schedule. He turned the Gemini around and accelerated toward the spent booster. A few minutes later, he reported that the booster was moving away from the Gemini in a lower orbit. It was a quick lesson in orbital mechanics. By accelerating toward the Titan, McDivitt had boosted the Gemini into a higher orbit and lost ground speed. To catch the booster, he would have had to drop into a lower orbit and gain ground speed. That was counterintuitive to a pilot used to the idea that he had to accelerate toward the object he wanted to rendezvous with. After another attempt to rendezvous with the booster, Kraft decided that they should give it up. In the meantime, Ed White was preparing for his EVA. This would mean exposing the entire interior of the spacecraft to vacuum. There would be nothing between the astronauts and instant death but their thin space suits and helmets. The team decided to give him an extra orbit to get through his checklist. No one knew what to expect. Deke Slayton had told McDivitt that if White was having problems outside that could endanger both of them, he should simply close the hatch and come home. Nobody really expected him to obey. During the third orbit, Gemini 4 was given the Go to depressurize the spacecraft. While the air in the spacecraft was gradually reduced, McDivitt and White performed final checks on their spacesuits. An inflated pressure suit was like a balloon with a man inside and White had difficulties getting through the hatch. He made it, though, and cavorted around the Gemini with only a thruster gun to manuever. He was obviously having a good time as he made observations on the Earth and space. Twenty minutes sped by fast and both the ground team and McDivitt prompted him to begin thinking about getting back into the spacecraft. McDivitt told him, “Come on, let’s get back in here before it gets dark.” White reacted like a kid told to come in for supper. “It’s the saddest moment of my life.” “Well, you’re going to find it sadder when we have to come down with this whole thing.” “I’m coming.” White came back through the hatch and they wrestled to get the hatch closed. It had lost its flexibility in the cold of space. Mission Control had planned to jettison the now unnecessary EVA gear but decided not to press their luck. With that done, Chris Kraft turned the flight director’s chair over to Gene Kranz. “Young man, it’s yours.” Kranz donned his white vest for the first time to a mixed reaction. Von Ehrenfried rolled his eyes and couldn’t resist needling his boss. “If you’re not careful, they’re going to haul you away and then I’ll be in charge.” The needling didn’t stop there. Kranz suddenly found himself the center of the closed-circuit TV cameras and several controllers commented, “Nice vest, Flight!” The next day, pictures of Kranz in his spiffy white vest were featured in newspapers across the country. There were a few unresolved items and glitches, informally referred to as “funnies”, in Kraft’s logbook. They were minor items and easily resolved, and then Kranz turned his attention to preparing Gemini 4 for drifting flight so the crew could get some sleep. Direct contact with the spacecraft would be sporadic as its orbit took it into areas not covered by the tracking network. Kranz’s team spent most of this quiet time to do a more in-depth analysis of the spacecraft’s systems and orbital trajectory. Llewellyn had taken charge of the flight dynamics team. His team made use of a pneumatic tube system for sending messages to other controllers and computer operators. The aluminum cylinders reminded him of his days as a Marine. He exclaimed to nobody in particular, “I think I am back in the trenches again with my fire control team, surrounded by empty 105 howitzer canisters!” From then on, the Flight Dynamics team was referred to as “The Trench” and it wasn’t long before “The Trench” matchbooks were circulating. In the meantime, Llewellyn’s team was busy working on orbit trajectory propagation. Their job was to keep track of the spacecraft’s orbit and forecast where it would be hours or days in the future. This was critical for planning maneuvers like rendezvous and Gemini 4 was their first real test of their ability to keep track of variables like atmospheric drag. Kranz’s first shift in Mission Control passed uneventfully and he handed the logbook to John Hodge. He hung his white vest on a hook, his thoughts racing ahead to the news conference he now had to face. Though NASA’s public-relations officers were not universally popular and often hated by the astronauts, Gene Kranz thought they really earned their pay when dealing with the press conferences. This press conference did cause one lingering misconception about Kranz. The blurbs about the flight directors in the press release said he looked like a poster boy for the Marines. The press ate that one up and, from then on, Kranz felt like he was forever explaining that he was Air Force, not Marines. He found a place at MCC to sleep until the end of the mission. If he needed an assist to wind down, he could go to the doctors for a double shot of whiskey to put in his coffee. He found out fast that whiskey and coffee were not a good combination. Other controllers didn’t like the idea of relying on drugs to get to sleep and did without. Gemini 4 splashed down on June 27 after a successful mission. Marta was happy that her white vest had gone over so well and Kranz had an idea that she could make a more flashy vest he could wear at the end of a mission to signal his team that they had done a good job. Gemini-Titan 5 Kranz’s team came up with a surprise for him in the form of an American flag he could keep in his office and bring down to Mission Control at the beginning of each mission. It saw its first use on August 21, 1965, at the launch of Gemini-Titan 5, an eight-day mission set to beat Russia’s endurance record and put the U.S. in the lead. The crew was Gordon Cooper and Pete Conrad. Cooper had come up with the slogan “Eight Days or Bust” for the mission. The public relations department didn’t like that very much and suppressed it until after the mission. Conrad had recovered nicely from his spat with Hunter before Gemini 3 and Kranz liked his intensity and honesty. It turned out to be a good match for Gemini 5. The oxygen flow to the fuel cells dropped to alarming levels during the first orbit. Thinking fast, the crew abandoned the planned rendezvous maneuver and powered down equipment. Kraft could have aborted the mission right then, but decided to give it a few more orbits to troubleshoot and see if the oxygen levels began to level out. To be on the safe side, Kraft had recovery teams redeployed to emergency landing areas. The White Team began to move into place to back up Kraft’s Red Team. The fuel cell situation began to stabilize, but it was obvious that they weren’t able to operate at full power and some of the experiments were canceled. Kraft wanted to go for a full day and began preparing for the handover. Kranz expected a normal handover routine in which they would go over any outstanding issues. Kraft was eager to get to the press conference and abruptly put his headset away. Kranz didn’t know if he had a plan. “Chris, what do you want to do?” “You’re the flight director; it’s your shift. Make up your own mind.” Kraft was handing him another test. Gemini 5 was going to fly through a zone of poor coverage in the ground network and Kranz had an important Go/NoGo decision to make. Systems engineer John Aaron had helped design the fuel cells and suggested running a load test. Kranz had the crew power up and then send an oxygen purge through the fuel cell. This would hopefully get rid of excess moisture and impurities in the cell. He timed it so that, if something went wrong, they could run on batteries until they could get to a convenient spot to start reentry. The fuel cell held up to the load test and Kranz watched the oxygen flow to the fuel cell begin to increase gradually. By the time Hodge’s Blue Team took over, they had worked out a plan to power up systems incrementally for the next few days. His team’s handling of the crisis convinced Kranz that he was now a full-fledged flight director and, at the press conference at the end of the shift, he featured Aaron as the real hero for saving the fuel cell. The mission made it almost the full eight days. Kranz was forced to cut it one orbit short during his final shift so the crew wouldn’t fall into a hurricane during reentry. This gave him a perfect opportunity to pull a fast one on Llewellyn. Scott Carpenter had just started his thirty-day Sealab mission and Llewellyn hadn’t forgotten his line, “I didn’t know where I was and they didn’t either.” Kranz recruited FIDO, RETRO and CapCom as co-conspirators and told them that he wanted to convince Llewellyn that the countdown for the retrofire would come from Sealab. Llewellyn came into Mission Control to start his shift and FIDO pretended to be so focused on his job that he didn’t even respond to Llewellyn’s greeting. So he asked RETRO what was going on and RETRO answered, “It’s this dad-blamed test from Sealab. It doesn’t make sense.” Llewellyn got curious and asked Kranz. Kranz had a hard time keeping a straight face as he explained, “We have orders to patch communications through to Sealab so Carpenter can give the countdown for the retrofire. I argued with Kraft about it but he says, ‘Do it!'” Llewellyn was furious and inadvertently pulled Dave Scott into the gotcha by telling him all about the fictional test. Scott blew up and threatened to quit the program if this was the kind of crazy decision he could expect during a mission. Kranz let them both dangle for a few more minutes before explaining that it was all a joke. Kranz had taken up Judo at Llewellyn’s invitation and realized that the evening’s match was going to be an especially rough one. Gemini 5 splashed down with a duration record under their belts and Mission Control began to look ahead to their first attempt at rendezvous and docking. The planned star of the show was an automated spacecraft called Agena. Some of the MCC controllers were less than impressed, especially after one ground test in which faulty software sent every available command to the Agena. If this had happened during an actual mission, they would have been in big trouble. Their disparaging comments would turn out to be accurate. Gemini 6 October 25, 1965 looked like a beautiful morning for the planned double launch. The Agena would go up first to set up the conditions of the rendezvous. Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford waited in their Gemini for the second launch. The Agena launch went smoothly. The Atlas booster separated from the automated spacecraft on schedule and the Agena lit its engine. Then, the data on FIDO’s console stopped updating. They had lost contact with the Agena. The Gemini 6 countdown continued until Range Safety reported debris falling into the ocean. When it became obvious that the Agena had exploded, Kranz’s team decided that there was no point in launching the Gemini and called it a day. That evening’s Judo match gave both Kranz and Llewellyn a chance to vent their frustrations, and then they retreated to the Singing Wheel. This was the controllers’ favorite bar, where they celebrated successes and mourned losses. For a little while, it looked like Gemini 6 wasn’t going to happen. Then, somebody had an inspired idea. Gemini 7 was going to go up before too long. Why not make it the target vehicle for the Gemini 6 rendezvous? Though neither side in the Space Race had mastered rendezvous yet, the Russians had already demonstrated their capacity for running two missions at once. Could the Americans do the same? They were certainly going to find out and Gemini 6 and 7 came to be known collectively as Gemini 7/6. Gemini 7/6 Some people at the Cape weren’t too thrilled with the idea of a dual mission, mostly because it added quite a bit of complexity to their normal work. MSC chief Robert Gilruth was a quick convert and a review by Kranz’s team revealed no problems that they couldn’t solve or work around. The Gemini 7 crew, Frank Borman and Jim Lovell, welcomed the idea. They were up for a two-week mission in a spacecraft that wasn’t very big and the rendezvous would give them a break in the monotony. The plan was to launch Gemini 7 and promptly swing into action to prepare the same pad for the launch of Gemini 6. The pad and the surrounding area would be checked for debris. The pad would be checked for damage, and then the Titan with the Gemini 6 spacecraft on top would be brought out to the pad and inspected. If everything went smoothly, Gemini 6 would launch one week after Gemini 7. Mission deployment began on November 21 and SimSup began running the controllers through their paces. For all his inventive simulations, there was one “gotcha” that he wasn’t responsible for. Somebody got the idea that the man in charge of Hawaii, named Ed Fendell, could fake a heart attack during training. The goal was to see if the backup team were capable of jumping in if something happened to him. During the final dress rehearsal for network simulation, Fendell crumpled in a heap as planned. It was such a convincing act that the rest of the Hawaii team were momentarily distracted. Bucholz plugged into the voice loop to Houston. “Chris, Fendell just had a heart attack!” Kraft probably remembered the time SimSup had told him that Kranz had gotten into an accident on the way to the Center. “Is this your doing, SimSup?” “Not mine, Flight!” Kraft told Hawaii to inform the Houston surgeon of Fendell’s condition and kept his team on task. Bucholz stepped up to the job beautifully. When it was over and Fendell rolled to his feet, a startled but relieved Hawaii team wondered how tell Kraft. Kraft wasn’t very happy but acknowledged the “gotcha.” Bucholz had passed his test and went on to critical ship assignments for the rest of Gemini. Gemini 7 December 4 1965 There wasn’t a single controller who didn’t sympathize with Borman and Lovell. The Gemini spacecraft was so small that they would effectively be confined to their seats for two weeks. If they hadn’t been working in weightless conditions, they would have inevitably developed pressure sores. They wore lightweight suits designed only for use inside the spacecraft. Theoretically, they should have been able to get into those suits in less than twenty minutes, but in reality, it took about an hour. Space food was still so unappetizing that no one who had actually tasted the stuff blamed John Young for smuggling a corned beef sandwich on Gemini 3. Kranz compared it to a camper’s worst nightmare and led efforts to keep the crew’s morale up during the mission. The launch of Gemini 7 went smoothly and the ground team wasted no time. The Titan booster for Gemini 6 was on the pad within two hours. Borman and Lovell successfully rendezvoused with their own booster and flew in formation for a while. Then, they got started on medical experiments. The suits might have been lightweight, but Borman and Lovell had a repeat of Scott Carpenter’s suit heating problems during Aurora 7. When the crew reached Day 3 with little relief, Lovell stripped off his suit. Mission Control wanted to let both of them remove their suits when medical data showed that Lovell was sleeping better, but NASA management refused to allow it. Control even tried playing the media card and told the press that the crew risked overheating in those suits to no avail. Borman and Lovell had to take turns wearing the suits. NASA procedure also called for nearly all communications between the crew and the ground to be available to the press. To allow for limited private communications, Mission Control worked out a workaround code called UHF-6. If either the ground or the crew requested a UHF-6 test, a private loop would be set up with a surgeon in the back room and the surgeon would privately brief the flight director afterwards. The press was typically nosy, however, and Kranz tried to give them a runaround with highly technical jargon about communications and antenna. That failed and he was forced to admit defeat. With the Gemini 6 launch coming up, all the controllers were pulling exhausting double shifts. Llewellyn got himself into trouble when he went home to sleep. When he didn’t show for White Team’s next turn in the control room, Kranz had the previous shift’s RETRO give him a call. Llewellyn raced to work and, without thinking of the possible consequences, drove his car across the lawn and up the stairs. Perhaps he thought he had found the perfect parking place at the building’s main entrance, but security personnel weren’t amused. Lunney and Hodge had his parking pass suspended and told Kranz, “Llewellyn has got to learn a lesson. Having to walk on site will maybe put a dent in his thick skull.” Kranz doubted it and Llewellyn proved him right when he showed up with his own horse the very next day. Whenever Gemini 7 flew into gaps in ground coverage, Kranz drilled his team in the fine art of handling two flights at once. It was a nightmare for the CapComs and the computer people, who had to learn how to switch between the programs for each mission in an instant. One little glitch could bring the computer system down. Early in the morning of December 12, 1965, Kranz’s team was exhausted but ready when they handed things over to Hodge’s Blue Team. Somebody had cancelled the post-shift press conference, leaving him free to return to his quarters at MCC. As a result, he missed seeing how steady astronauts could be when things went wrong but heard all about it later. No Lift-Off The computing team responsible for planning the rendezvous were real heroes for working with calculators and computers that were cutting-edge at the time but only one step up from slide rules. Their numbers indicated that, if Gemini 6 launched at 8:54 a.m. CST on December 12, 1965, they could perform the maneuvers necessary for the rendezvous. Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford were up bright and early on launch day and went through the traditional launch routine that included a “low-residue” breakfast, a medical checkup, and suiting up for the ride. The countdown went smoothly. There were two abort controls that could be activated if there was trouble. One was in Mission Control between booster engineer Charlie Harlan and CapCom C.C. Williams. The other was in the Gemini, located where Wally Schirra could grab and yank it. Harlan had exactly two worries at this point. Nobody particularly liked the Gemini ejection system, so he did not want to call an abort when one wasn’t necessary. Neither did he want to call an abort too late and risk losing a crew in a fireball. The clock reached zero and the engines lit with the usual rumble intense enough to be felt inside the Gemini. Then, everything went quiet. For an instant, Harlan wondered if they were having a repeat of “Kaputnik,” an early American answer to Sputnik that had been lost in a launchpad explosion, with two crewmen inside. Then, he checked his readouts. “No liftoff!” he told the flight director over the communications loop. In the Gemini, nobody would have particularly blamed Wally Schirra if he had activated the ejection system. However, he was cool as a cucumber and realized that it would have been the wrong move. He would comment later that having been through a launch once before helped. He knew what liftoff felt like and knew by the lack of rising G-forces that they were still on the launchpad. He and Stafford kept rattling off numbers. The ground crew moved swiftly through the launch kill procedures. The Titan’s systems detected that launch hadn’t occurred and engines shut down automatically. Inspections revealed that an umbilical had released prematurely and a dust cover also hadn’t been removed. Some people may have thought of “The Four-Inch Flight,” in which a power cord had also caused a premature shutdown by disconnecting early. Once again, they were lucky. The ground crew went through an efficient turnaround and they were ready for the next launch window just three days later. Launch! Gemini 6 had given them so many problems that it was almost a letdown when it finally launched without a hiccup on December 15, 1965. The rendezvous maneuvers went smoothly and Gemini 6 caught up with Gemini 7 six hours after launch. When the White Team took over the control room, they had little time to celebrate but the 6 crew certainly found time for a few jokes. Wally Schirra had brought along signs that read, “Deke Slayton, are you a turtle?” and “Beat Army.” Deke Slayton at the Capcom position recorded his answer and Gemini 7 shot back, “Oh, Wally has a sign. It says ‘Beat Navy.'” Since it was the Christmas season, Gemini 6 couldn’t resist reporting a UFO apparently originating at the North Pole. “It’s a large module being pulled by eight smaller modules, moving rapidly from north to south. There’s a man in a red suit inside.” Wally Schirra played “Jingle Bells” on a harmonica with Tom Stafford accompanying him with a string of bells to the sniggers in Mission Control. Of course, the “UFO” would be driven by Santa Claus. Gemini 6 was a success and came home the next day. At the press conference, the reporters played a gotcha on Gene Kranz by bringing along a bottle of what they claimed was champagne for a toast. It turned out to be Canada Dry ginger ale. Gemini 7 went on to set an American endurance record that would stand until Skylab eight years later. After the success of Gemini 7/6, many of the controllers began to move over to Apollo, draining the Gemini team enough that Mission Control decided to go with a two-shift rotation for Gemini 8. Gemini 8 March 16, 1966 Having only two shifts for a mission was a staffing mistake they never made again. By the time the launch day for Gemini 8 arrived, Kranz and Hodge were both exhausted from planning, training, mission reviews and press conferences. The crew, Neil Armstrong and Dave Scott, were going to rendezvous and dock with an Agena. The Agena control team was made up of novices but was balanced out by an experienced Gemini team. This time, Hodge’s team got both the Agena and the Gemini on their way smoothly. The crew and Mission Control were preparing for final rendezvous maneuvers when the White Team came on duty. Mission Control and the remote sites used timed-tagged stored program commands (SPC) to control the unmanned Agena. Because the Agena spacecraft had given them so many problems, nobody was taking any chances that it might misinterpret a command and go wild. The Agena had an error checking routine that helped controllers verify that the command being put in the onboard computer’s memory was the one they had sent. As a backup, the remote site computers performed an echo check by automatically recording each command as it was converted into radio waves and checking it with the intended command load. If the telemetry from the Agena’s error checking routine failed, controllers could perform a manual check that would take several hours or save time by basing their decisions on the echo check. Gemini 8 was only half an orbit from rendezvousing with the Agena when the CapCom on Rose Knot reported that they had lost the automatic data comparison on the Agena. The Agena systems engineer tried to rerun it, and then began printing out the memory data for the manual check. The echo check looked okay, so Gemini 8 approached the Agena as planned, Rose Knot gave everything one last check, and the controllers gave the Go for docking. The Americans scored their second space first when Armstrong reported, “We’re docked, no noticeable oscillations, very smooth.” Everything seemed to be going well, though CapCom Jim Lovell decided that Armstrong and Scott should be informed of the failed load comparison. A military coup in Zanzibar had forced NASA to move the remote station over to Madagascar and Gemini 8 was making a pass over it when Lovell told them, “If the Agena attitude control system goes wild, just send the command to turn it off and take control of the spacecraft.” Everything looked normal when Gemini 8 flew into a zone of no coverage. When they regained contact, Armstrong and Scott were rolling at a rate of one complete rotation per second. At that rate, they risked blacking out. The roll had started when they were still docked to the Agena and they had undocked, thinking something had gone wrong with the automated spacecraft. As it turned out, one of their own thrusters was stuck open. Armstrong drained the orbital fuel trying to get the Gemini back under control and had to fire the reentry thrusters to stop the roll. They would have to come back home. Hodge’s Blue Team had been on duty for eleven hours and was exhausted, so Hodge asked Kranz to take over. Kranz called in his White Team and contacted recovery forces. Gemini 8 was going to come down in an area not covered by the recovery network. Armstrong wasn’t very happy about having to abort and spend time floating in the western Pacific Ocean but started the reentry procedures. Gemini 8 lasted only ten hours and forty-one minutes but the rookie Agena team got two more days to practice controlling the Agena. Though Gemini 8 had been abortive, NASA had learned some important lessons. Gene Kranz summed it up at the debriefing. “We got our crew home safely and the control teams did a damn fine job under real-time pressure. I know this is going to sound like Monday morning quarterbacking, but the lessons from the mission are how we screwed up in planning and training. “The crew reacted as they were trained, and they reacted wrong because we trained them wrong. We failed to realize that when two spacecraft are docked, they must be considered as one spacecraft, one integrated power system, and a single structure. “The next thing is that many of us did not trust the Agena. Brooks’s team thought it was a great piece of hardware. If we don’t trust a spacecraft, we have to fix it. We were lucky, too damned lucky, and we must never forget this mission’s lessons.” They were all lessons that would serve them well during the Apollo 13 crisis. For the moment, they made the necessary changes and went forward into preparations for Gemini 9. It would be Gene Kranz’s last Gemini mission before he moved over to the Apollo project. The Angry Alligator With John Hodge moving over to Apollo, Gene Kranz was the only one of the original three flight directors left in Gemini. Glynn Lunney and Cliff Charlesworth were promoted to fill the role. Lunney was the youngest flight director and earned a reputation as one of the smartest. Kranz thought of him as his main competitor. Charlesworth had a background in Army ordnance labs and earned the nickname “The Mississipi Gambler” for his laid-back personality. Both had been part of the trajectory team. They had only two months to prepare for Gemini 9 and Kranz was forced to make an unpopular move. He declared that there would be no holidays or vacations. Some of the controllers’ wives were quite annoyed and let him know about it. He stuck to his guns and explained that astronauts’ lives were on the line every time they sat on top of one of those rockets. During a launch, controllers had to be capable of making split-second decisions. Whenever a controller made a mistake in simulations, the worst that would happen was that he would get teased about it at the end of the day. If it happened during a mission, the astronauts might not make it home. The crew for Gemini 9 was Gene Cernan and Tom Stafford. Cernan was one of the few early astronauts who had served a role other than CapCom in Mission Control. He had been a booster tank monitor for the first four Gemini missions and the controllers easily accepted him into their ranks. He did most of the talking for the 9 crew. Stafford was the quiet one of the two and generally kept his opinions to himself. Their first launch attempt on May 17, 1966 was a bust when the curse of the Agena struck again and pieces of it fell into the Atlantic Ocean. So they pulled out a new backup rendezvous vehicle called the augmented target docking adopter (ATDA), the mission was renamed Gemini 9A for the sake of bureaucracy and they scheduled the next launch attempt for June 1. The ATDA launch went well but the controller for this new automated spacecraft reported that it was guzzling fuel and the adapter shroud might not have opened fully. A command shut down the ATDA’s attitude control jets. If the shroud hadn’t opened fully, they might not be able to dock but that was a secondary objective. A failure in the ground support equipment forced them to scrub the Gemini launch for two days. Marta made a special vest with gold and silver brocade over the familiar white for the next launch attempt. It made an impression on visitors on June 3 and Kraft even made a few kidding comments. It may have been a good luck charm. Either way, the launch was successful that day. The crew rendezvoused with the ATDA on the third orbit and confirmed Mission Control’s suspicions about the shroud. It was only partly open and held in place by a band. “It looks like an angry alligator,” reported Stafford. Mission Control sent several rapid maneuver commands in an attempt to jettison the shroud with no luck. In the meantime, the Gemini left the Agena, orbited Earth one more time, and returned for a second rendezvous. A brainstorming session by the ATDA team failed to come up with any workable ideas. Stafford suggested using the nose of the Gemini to nudge the shroud off and Kranz was quick to veto that idea. For the time being, Kranz’s team gave up on trying to get the shroud off. Kranz went home for supper and to get some fresh clothes to bring back to MCC quarters. When he got back, he found out that somebody had come up with an idea of doing an EVA to release the shroud and went down to the ready room to see what he could find out. Some of NASA’s top staffers were there. Kranz considered the plan too risky and had his suspicions about who was behind it. Buzz Aldrin was one of the more loudly opinionated astronauts and had picked up the nickname of “Dr. Rendezvous” for his attempts to assist with rendezvous planning. He was in the middle of explaining how the EVA might be done. Kranz explained to the top players in the room that there was a lot of energy stored up in the shroud’s release mechanism and Cernan would have nothing to latch onto while he worked. Newtonian physics applied while in orbit and just using a screwdriver could send him spinning if he had nothing to hold onto. If that thing came off with Cernan nearby, they stood a chance of losing one astronaut. NASA didn’t need that kind of poor publicity. He was overridden and, even worse, Chris Kraft had done nothing to back him up. Furious, Kranz threatened to quit after the mission was over. Kraft shrugged it off and ordered him to get the job done. However, Kranz still had one trump card. No one could override a flight director when he was directing a mission in real time. If it seemed like Cernan was having any kind of trouble, Kranz would wave him off. Even so, he spent a sleepless night going over possibilities. The safest approach seemed to be taking some medical scissors to the lanyard. Gemini 9 was just completing the third planned rendezvous when the White Team came back on duty. The crew ended up saving Kranz from having to make a choice. They were already exhausted and getting low on fuel. They wanted to save the EVA for the next day. Considering the circumstances, this was the equivalent of canceling it altogether. CapCom looked to Kranz for direction and a relieved Kranz gave him a thumbs-up. “Flight concurs.” Kranz had recently been offered a chance to return to test flight and would likely have done so if they had gone ahead with the plan to release the shroud. He had dodged a bullet. Cernan went on to make the planned EVA. Even without going over to the Agena, it was a surprisingly tough job and he wore himself out just getting to the backpack stowed in a compartment outside the Gemini. He was drenched with sweat and the evaporation fogged up his visor, blinding him. NASA physician Chuck Berry recommended rest breaks that didn’t help much. Cernan didn’t need any prodding to give it up. White’s easy EVA during Gemini 4 had fooled them all. EVA was harder than it looked and it was added to their list of problems to solve before the first moon landing. The problem was in the way the astronauts were being trained and the rocketmeisters in Huntsville, Alabama, solved it with a water tank where astronauts could practice EVA activity. Gemini 9 came home safely and Gene Kranz moved over to Apollo. He missed being a flight director for Gemini 10, 11 and 12 but had plenty of work to do. He found a program full with problems. Apollo 1 For all the problems that the Mercury and Gemini missions had thrown at them, NASA hadn’t yet lost astronauts during a mission. NASA personnel were starting to get overconfident and NASA senior staff had decided to go with a new contractor called North American Aviation to build the Apollo spacecraft. Chris Kraft was already on the project and trying to straighten out the way it was being mismanaged by arrogant NAA employees. It wasn’t going well. The NAA fought them on issues like releasing technical details of the spacecraft and assigning representatives to the control center to help with preparations. They even got into the ongoing debate about the route they would take to the moon. One favorite route was called Earth Orbit Rendezvous (EOR), in which astronauts would rendezvous with a spacecraft already in orbit and land that spacecraft on the moon. Another route was an underdog called Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR), in which a crew of three astronauts would go into lunar orbit, and then two of them would undock in a smaller spacecraft and land it on the moon. NAA took the EOR side, which would give them full control of manufacturing the spacecraft. North American turned out a spacecraft that was so riddled with problems that Gus Grissom hung a lemon on it. Perhaps someone should have taken the hint. The “plugs-out” test scheduled for January 27, 1967, was considered to be low-risk. The crew were in their pressure suits, in a one hundred percent oxygen atmosphere, and locked in with a newly redesigned hatch that would not blow off by accident. The crew were Mercury astronaut Gus Grissom, Gemini 4 Spacewalker Ed White and a rookie astronaut named Roger Chaffee. At 1:00 pm, they were sealed into the spacecraft. Kranz volunteered to lead the MCC team participating in this test and was in his office before sunrise. The Apollo program director had been complaining about the MCC’s readiness and especially their computer systems, so Kraft sent a memo to Kranz telling him to get his systems people to quit their “gold-plating” and justify their requirements. Kranz sent back a quick acknowledgement and went to get the MCC ready. Controllers started to arrive for the test at about 11:00 a.m. They were all sick of the amount of testing by this point and John Hodge griped to Kranz, “I sure hope things go well today. We need to get going on our own work.” Kranz just handed over the logbook, went down to his office to get a little work done, and then knocked off early to beat the rush hour traffic. The crew received their “go” to enter the capsule. Grissom plugged his suit into the oxygen supply and immediately reported a sour smell. Hodge paused the countdown for air sampling and the countdown resumed at 1:25 p.m. Chris Kraft had planned to head up his Red Team for the launch and went down to the MCC for the planned handover. Hodge decided to hang around in case the test dragged on as it had for some of the plugs-in work. Some intermittent communications problem gave Kraft’s team headaches and caused Grissom to growl, “How can we get to the moon if we can’t even talk between two buildings?” They could have called it a day, but decided to give it another hour. Then, shouts from the cockpit sent chills down everybody’s spine. “Fire!” “We’ve got a fire in the cockpit!” “We’ve got a bad fire, get us out! We’re burning up.” Then, somebody screamed and they heard nothing else. Efforts to get them out took several minutes and they found the crew in a heap next to the hatch. They had obviously been trying to undo it but simply couldn’t in time. The Aftermath Gene Kranz had just gotten dressed for a night out with his wife when he got a knock on the door. He thought it was just the baby-sitter, so he called, “Hold on, I’m coming.” He went downstairs and the man at the door was flight controller Jim Hannigan. “They had a fire on the launchpad. They think the crew is dead!” Kranz turned on the TV to see what the reporters had found out so far. It wasn’t much. Chris Kraft had acted quickly to lock down Mission Control so they could investigate. Envisioning explosions and an inferno that consumed the entire pad, he rushed to the Center and had trouble finding a parking space. Every available controller was reporting in to see what they could do to help. The controllers still in the control room were too stunned to say much. Those still capable of focusing were going over data at their stations. Most of the rest were milling around, trying to make sense of the tragedy. “It was gruesome,” was all John Hodge could get out. Chris Kraft was on the phone with Deke Slayton. Slayton described fire spewing out from inside the capsule and molten metal running down the sides. There was nothing more they could do for the crew. They had lost three pilots in the worst way imaginable, in a ground test that shouldn’t have been much of a risk. Most thought it had taken only seconds. It was a harsh reminder of the hazards of space flight. Kranz organized a meeting of his branch and flight control team in a nearby auditorium. At Hodge’s request, he also included the civil servants, Philco controllers and spacecraft contractors. Hodge started the meeting with a briefing that included the information they knew so far. Then, Kranz took the podium. He had gone from shock to anger and wanted to say something that would snap the people out of their own shock. He had not planned a speech, but the words seemed to flow naturally anyway. “Spaceflight will never tolerate carelessness, incapacity and neglect. Somewhere, somehow, we screwed up. It could have been in design, build or test. Whatever it was, we should have caught it. “We were too gung ho about the schedule and we locked out all of the problems we saw in each day of our work. Every element of the program was in trouble and so were we. The simulators were not working, Mission Control was behind in virtually every area, and the flight and test procedures changed Daily. Nothing we did had any shelf life. Not one of us stood up and said, ‘Dammit, stop!’ “I don’t know what Thompson’s committee will find as the cause, but I know what I find. We are the cause! We were not ready! We did not do our job! We were rolling the dice, hoping that things would come together by launch day, when we knew in our hearts it would take a miracle. We were pushing the schedule and betting that the Cape would slip before we did. “From this day forward, Flight Control will be known by two words: ‘Tough and Competent.’ Tough means that we are forever accountable for what we do or what we fail to do. We will never again compromise our responsibilities. Every time we walk into Mission Control we will know what we stand for. “Competent means we will never take anything for granted. We will never be found short in our knowledge and in our skills. Mission Control will be perfect. “When you leave this meeting today you will go to your office and the first thing you will do there is write ‘Tough and Competent’ on your blackboards. It will never be erased. Each day when you enter the room these words will remind you of the price paid by Grissom, White and Chaffee. These words are the price of admission to the ranks of Mission Control.” The official investigation would reveal that the fire had started somewhere near Gus Grissom’s seat. There was some speculation that Grissom could have done something to cause the fire, which the controllers and engineers who were most involved in the project thought was pure nonsense. The fire had started in an area that Grissom couldn’t reach from his seat, even by accident. The Apollo spacecraft went through a redesign process that included a hatch that could be opened in seconds, a reduction in combustible materials in the spacecraft, a change in the cabin’s atmosphere from pure oxygen to a hydrogen-oxygen mix, and insulated wires that couldn’t cause sparks. Though the blame was never pegged on any one person, some of the controllers quit and others suffered breakdowns and were transferred out of Mission Control. Those who remained set their minds to picking up the pieces and swore that they would do whatever it took to honor the Apollo 1 crew’s sacrifice and reach the Moon by the end of the decade. The Apollo Program The Apollo Program was America’s final push in the race to the Moon. It would produce nationally and internationally recognized names like Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, Jim Lovell, Pete Conrad and many more. Apollo Chris Kraft had been promoted to chief of the Flight Operations Directorate and gotten so busy with his new duties that he was no longer an active flight director. Gene Kranz had been promoted to the deputy of the Flight Control Division and decided to only direct the odd-numbered Apollo flights. Though he didn’t realize it at the time, this put him directly in line to be a flight director for the first lunar landing. NASA returned to unmanned tests of the Saturn V rockets and the new Command, Service and Lunar Modules that made up an Apollo spacecraft. Apollo 2 and 3 were skipped and Apollo 4 launched successfully on November 9, 1967. It was an “all-up” test, checking out all three stages of the Saturn rocket and then hurling the empty command module back toward Earth to test the heat shield. It was the idea of George Mueller, who was in charge of the actual manned spaceflight program, and Gene Kranz would give him a lot of the credit for getting to the moon a lot sooner than they would have otherwise. Apollo 5 was a test of the Lunar Module. The walls of the LM were so thin that a good poke with a pencil would have punched a hole right through them. They wouldn’t have worked in an atmosphere and were so ungainly-looking that the astronauts called the training version “flying bedsteads.” It was a good chance to try out a few new controllers who had come on board since Gemini. Kranz would need them. Three days before the launch, LM control engineer got into a traffic accident on his way to work. While he was still able to cover the actual launch, he was unable to move his upper body and could only communicate with the help of fellow controller Bob Carlton. The launch went smoothly, and then they ran into two alarms at once. DPS DELTA V indicated that the thrust hadn’t built up fast enough. They would have to reset the timer. The other one was simply labeled, FORGET IT. This meant that the command to throttle up the engine had not been executed. They extended the mission by an orbit to see if they could still accomplish all their goals. Sending commands went from being a hassle to being a major problem due to poor signal strength. The controllers ended up punching in commands manually. Kranz did not want to lose the test of the LM’s abort system, so he decided to ditch all the other tests if he absolutely had to and focus on that one. The command was sent up and Kranz heard the welcome news from Carlton: “Fire-in-the-hole, abort stage, we are stable!” Their struggles with the commands had done some damage to the LM but they accomplished all the important objectives. Because of their success, newspapers were able to report the happy news: “Apollo Mission A Success, Lunar Program On Track!” Apollo 6 was less than successful due to failed rocket engines. In August 1968, Flight Control Division chief John Hodge was abruptly transferred out to study post-Apollo options, leaving Kranz in charge. Coupled with an accelerating schedule, he would compare it to “juggling grenades.” They were about to get rolling with manned flight again, with Wally Schirra in command of Apollo 7. It would turn into a battle of wills. Apollo 7 October 11-22, 1968 Apollo 7 was to be a simple shakedown of the command and service module. It would also be the first three-man crew with Wally Schirra, Walter Cunningham and Donn Eisele and the first time the American public could watch a live mission through the on-board TV camera. Wally Schirra was not thrilled with the idea. In fact, the normally good-humored Mercury astronaut seemed to have suddenly turned into a grouch. Glynn Lunney oversaw the launch and handed things over to Gene Kranz. Things seemed to be proceeding smoothly so far. Then, Schirra reported that he had developed a cold and taken an Aspirin. Luckily, they had Kleenex on board though Schirra reported that he had to blow pretty hard to clear his nostrils. The flight surgeon recommended a decongestant. His crewmates caught his cold and it did nothing for the mood of any of them. By the third day, Schirra’s bad temper was obvious enough for newspapers to comment, “Captain Awakes Grumpy.” He curtly vetoed the TV show, leaving an embarrassed PR staff to explain that one to the press. He backed down after the fifth day and the crew tried to make up for it by continuing the tradition of Schirra’s humorous signs. Kraft and Slayton broached the subject of keeping their helmets on during reentry and Schirra blew up. As he later put it in a Sudafed commercial, “Have you ever tried sneezing in one of these?” On the one hand, keeping the helmets on would protect them if the cabin depressurized suddenly. On the other, they still had the colds and risked ear blockage and possible hearing loss if they kept the helmets on. It took some doing, but the flight directors did their best to keep their cool with the crew and keep their flight teams on track. Even so, it took its toll and Lunney vented his frustration to Kranz during the last handover, “I have finally had enough of this crew.” Schirra got his way on the helmet issue and his crew made it down on schedule. It was Schirra’s third and last space flight and Eisele and Cunningham never flew in space again. Lunney received a well-deserved medal for his efforts. Kranz never found out why Schirra had been so bad-tempered and, after leaving NASA, Schirra went back to his normal funny self. Apollo 8 December 21-27, 1968 Apollo 8 gave the trajectory people some interesting problems to figure out. Many of them remembered the complexity of rendezvous during Gemini and that was in Earth orbit. Performing a rendezvous with another world 250,000 miles away was a whole different ballpark. While Kranz did not plan to participate in the control room for this mission, he did find opportunity to stop by. Apollo 8 really belonged to Llewellyn and his team in the Trench, along with a fellow named Bill Tindall. Tindall had been brought in to help pull things together after the Apollo 1 fire and Llewellyn’s people sparred with him at first. Tindall won their respect quickly enough and they spent a lot of time debating ideas. Kranz had to fight the urge to jump in and help. This was his first mission as FCD chief and he was understandably keyed up. His team assured him that everything was on schedule and, the evening before the launch, they got a surprise visitor. Charles Lindbergh stopped by to say hello and Kranz chose to interpret it as a good sign. “Lucky Lindy” had been the first to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and it seemed to Kranz like he was silently passing the baton on to the next generation of pioneers. Cliff Charlesworth’s Green Team got the crew on their way at 7:51 EST on December 21. Like many of the Gemini controllers had been, some of the members of his team were fresh out of college and Llewellyn couldn’t resist playing a joke on one of them. One of the youngsters asked about a controller who had visited the coffee station ahead of them. Llewellyn retorted, “Sheeet, man, that’s Captain Refsmmat, the ideal flight controller!” Refsmmat was Trench shorthand for “reference to stable member matrix.” The rookie controller fell for it and “Captain Refsmmat” became the mascot for the Trench. Pretty soon, pictures of Refsmmat were hanging in strategic locations around Mission Control and scribbled on by appreciative members of the team who saw it as a safe place to express their thoughts. Captain Refsmmat stuck around for the rest of Apollo and Skylab. Being an observer was rough on Kranz and he spent a lot of time roaming the halls of Mission Control, plugging his headset in where he could. It was a big relief when the TLI burn that would send Apollo 8 out of Earth orbit and on a path to the Moon came off successfully. Three days later, Apollo 8 would be swinging around to the far side of the moon for the first time. The control room was almost completely silent except for the voice of CapCom Gerry Carr, “You’re Go for lunar orbit insertion.” No one on Earth would know if the lunar orbit insertion (LOI) engine burn was successful until Apollo 8 emerged from the radio blackout that came with being on the far side of the moon. Carr told the crew, “Apollo 8, you’re looking good. … Ten seconds to loss of signal.” Jim Lovell answered, “See you on the other side.” They heard a burst of static. Now came a tense half hour of waiting. The time for the LOI came and went and the controllers took the opportunity for a break. Charlesworth the “Mississippi Gambler” wasn’t as laid back as normal and went out for a couple of cigarettes. There was nothing any of them could do but watch the clock and hope to reacquire the signal on schedule. The minutes dragged on until the clock reached zero. “Flight, we’ve had telemetry reacquisition.” A relieved control team let out a few cheers and went back to reviewing the data. Apollo 8 was in the planned orbit just sixty miles above the surface. The crew described craters that they named in honor of space luminaries like Gilruth, Kraft, Slayton and Low and also honored fallen astronauts Grissom, White, Chaffee, Ted Freeman, Elliot See, C. C. Williams and Charlie Bassett. They took numerous pictures, including this iconic image of the Earth rising over the moon. The crew had been working for almost a full day by this point and Borman decided that the crew should get some rest before the trans-Earth injection burn that would put them on course for the return to Earth. Kranz was observing from one of the consoles in the back of the room when Bill Anders revealed his Christmas Eve surprise. He began reading the Creation story from the Book of Genesis. Kranz, a Catholic, felt chills go down his spine as Jim Lovell and then Frank Borman picked up the story. What could possibly be more appropriate? Borman closed it out with, “And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you – all of you on the planet Earth.” As the crew settled into a route back to Earth, some of the controllers kidded about the possibility of actually hitting the carrier assigned to retrieve the crew during the final reentry phase. The guidance system had improved that much. Luckily, that didn’t happen and the Apollo 8 crew had a successful splashdown on December 27, 1968. Apollo 9 With the successful completion of Apollo 8, Kranz’s team jumped right into preparations for Apollo 9. The mission was meant to test the Lunar Module in Earth orbit and was scheduled to launch in two months. They had gotten behind on preparations and, during one simulation, Gene Kranz proved that not even the flight director was immune to mistakes when he called an abort too late and sim-killed the crew by landing them in a mountainous area of Africa. It was an embarrassing mistake but a good reminder not to get too relaxed during a mission. The mission commander was James McDivitt with Dave Scott as the command module pilot and Russell “Rusty” Schweickart as the lunar module pilot. The crew came up with the names of Gumdrop for the CSM and Spider for the LM. That got chuckles from some of the controllers while PR staff howled in outrage at the undignified names. The entire crew caught colds before the launch date of February 28. Nobody wanted to risk having another sick crew in space, so it was pushed back to March 3, 1969. This was the first actual Apollo launch Kranz would be covering and he had “Stars and Stripes Forever” playing in his head as he donned his white vest. The Saturn V was the most powerful rocket built to date and consumed five and a half million pounds of fuel in just over two and a half minutes. He prayed silently during the final seconds of the countdown. The launch came off smoothly. When they tried to retrieve their LM from the compartment on the Saturn, some of the thrusters weren’t working. The culprit was a switch that had been accidentally bumped. Switch covers would be included in the future. A few hours later, the Spider finally came out of the compartment. For such a fragile spacecraft, the Spider held up well to the repeated firings of the Gumdrop‘s main engine over the next few days. They were just getting ready to power up the Spider for testing when McDivitt sprang an unpleasant surprise on them. Schweickart had been space sick for days and might not be able to perform a planned spacewalk that would have taken him from the lunar module to the command module. The people in Mission Control wished he had reported it sooner. Though the astronauts and NASA medical staff had never gotten along, the flight surgeon could have helped. It certainly didn’t help Scweickart’s reputation or the image of the tough astronaut. Fortunately, he was still able to perform most of the work. Tests of the Spider‘s thrusters and descent engine went well. The next day, Schweickart was feeling well enough to try his EVA. Retrieving some science packets from outside the LM wore him out and they decided to call off the planned transfer to the command module. They were ready for the real test. The LM was in good shape and Dave Scott reported that it looked good on his end, so Kranz gave them the go for separation. The descent propulsion system quickly moved the Spider away from Gumdrop and Scott reported that he could see it to a distance of fifty miles. They kept going out to one hundred miles. The Spider‘s crew now had to reverse course and head back to the Gumdrop. This meant firing the ascent engine as if they were returning from the moon. If it didn’t work, Dave Scott would have to perform the first space rescue and track them down. The Spider successfully flew back to the point where Scott could dock with them again. The highlights of the mission were a success. The LM tests revealed only a few minor issues that were fixed easily enough. The next Apollo was a full-dress rehearsal of the first lunar landing. Apollo 10 Kranz had been overloaded with controlling both the Lunar Module and the Command and Service Module during Apollo 9, so he decided to try the idea of having one flight director for each spacecraft for Apollo 10. One director would work with EECOM and GNC while the other would work with a lunar module team made up of CONTROL, keeping track of guidance, attitude control propulsion and navigation, and TELMU, keeping track of electrical and environmental systems and EVA systems. Lunney and Charlesworth weren’t convinced. The crew of Tom Stafford, Gene Cernan and John Young launched on May 18, 1969. They had named their CSM Charlie Brown and their LM Snoopy. This got the same howls from PR, leading NASA to decide that names for spacecraft would be serious from now on. They were in lunar orbit three days later. As planned, Tom Stafford and Gene Cernan took Snoopy down to within five miles of the lunar surface. They were preparing to go back up when their navigation system went haywire. Hearing a startled exclamation, “Son of a bitch!” from the crew sent adrenaline spikes through the control center. They reported that Snoopy had become a wild dog and they were forced to take manual control to make it up to Charlie Brown. The crew splashed down safely and the concept of having two flight directors proved out well enough to convince Lunney and Charlesworth. The stage was set for the first lunar landing. The Apollo 11 Channel Preparing for Apollo 11 Gene Kranz made Charlesworth the chief flight director for Apollo 11. This meant the leader of the Green Team would be in charge of assigning flight directors for each mission phase. He walked into Kranz’s office and spent a moment looking out the window before turning to Kranz with a smile. “I think it’s time to decide on the Apollo 11 phase assignments. I think I should launch Apollo 11 and do the EVA. Milt Windler will take the entry. This leaves Glynn with the lunar ascent and you with the landing. Is this okay with you?” Kranz agreed and, with that done, Charlesworth left his office. Kranz promptly called home to share the good news with his wife, and then called his staff in. There was no way he could sit still and perhaps they guessed the good news from the way he was pacing around his office. He chose his landing team quickly. Bob Carlton, dubbed “The Silver Fox” for his gray hair, became CONTROL, responsible for LM navigation, control and navigation systems. Among other things, he would be responsible for keeping track of how much fuel remained on the LM. Don Puddy became TELMU, responsible for communications, power and life support systems. He appointed himself leader of the lunar module team. Steve Bales became GUIDO, responsible for guidance systems. He had the black round-rimmed glasses characteristic of his nature as a computer whiz, and had a habit of speaking rapidly. FIDO was a New Yorker named Jay Greene who took on the self-appointed role of coaching Kranz in the trajectory work needed to land on the moon. RETRO was a cocky Trench veteran named Chuck Deiterich. He had a bad habit of giving Flight either too much or too little information, once even giving Kranz some cheek: “You don’t want to hear about that. It’s too technical.” Ed Fendell took on a position that involved consolidating communications between the CSM and LM. It was his idea to use the command module as a communications relay if they couldn’t get a direct connection with the lunar module. His attitude could be abrasive and he didn’t get along well with some of the flight directors. Kranz thought he did fine as long as he was kept on a short leash. Charlie Duke joined the team as Kranz’s CapCom. He integrated with the team so well that Kranz thought that he would have made an excellent flight director. While establishing the mission rules, Bill Tindall livened things up with his Tindallgrams. A typical Tindallgram might read: “There is another thing about powered descent crew procedures that really bugged me. Just call me ‘Aunt Emma’; certainly some smart people may laugh at my concern, but I just feel that the crew should not be diddling around with the computer keyboard during powered descent unless absolutely necessary. They will never hit a wrong button, of course, but if they do, the results can be really lousy.” Many of his Tindallgram ideas were incorporated into the mission rules, including changing the Go/NoGo decisions to Stay/NoStay for actual lunar activity. For his efforts, Bill Tindall became an honorary flight director with Gray as a team color and Kranz invited Tindall to sit beside him for the lunar landing. Training started eight weeks before the planned launch date. They ran through the planned mission for the first couple of days to identify major Go/NoGo points and get a feel for what a “normal” mission with no problems would be. A new SimSup named Dick Koos continued the tradition of imaginative simulation scripts that helped the control team refine procedures and mission rules. Not everything went perfectly. The crew and controllers often trained together and that meant the computer network between the control room and crew simulators needed to stay up and running. When it didn’t, SimSup had to contend with impatient astronauts and controllers while technicians tried to troubleshoot. If things got too bad, Slayton and Kraft could get involved and things tended to snowball when training for subsequent missions got pushed back. Sixteen-hour days were not uncommon. When the computer system did work, they nailed sim after sim until Koos decided that Kranz’s team was beginning to get too overconfident and ratcheted up the pressure. Kranz’s team would remember June 10th as a killer. They nailed the first few scenarios, but they turned out to be just warm-up rounds. On the fourth run, the Trench allowed the LM’s speed to build up too fast, resulting in a crash. On the fifth, a combination of an electrical problem and a primary computer failure killed the crew. The team’s performance went downhill from there. It got so bad that Chris Kraft gave Kranz a call. “I listened to your runs today. Sounds like you had a tough time. What’s going on?” Kranz assured his boss that his team was only having a bad day and would get through it with more training and revisions of the mission rules. Things did improve for a while. A readiness review on June 17 revealed only one issue that sparked a debate that would last until the week before the launch. Chris Kraft brought up the issue of landing data rules. Most controllers had made a bad call based on faulty telemetry data at some point during training. Would they be able to get enough telemetry data to make a decision on landing? Kranz finally solved the issue by adding a mission rule: “The flight director will determine if sufficient data exists to continue the landing.” This would insure that humans would make the final call where computers failed. By July 5, the Apollo 11 crew had deployed to the Cape and the White Team was training with the Apollo 12 crew. They had nailed six tough simulations, boosting their confidence. The 12 prime crew switched places with their backup crew. This would be the final simulation before Launch Day and Kranz’s mind was already on the bits of business he had to take care of before the launch. It turned out to be a mistake. SimSup had “Case Number 26” loaded into the simulation computers and told his men, “OK, gang, let’s see how much they know about program alarms.” The GUIDO, Steve Bales, spotted a 1201 alarm on his readouts. He had to look it up in an index file. “1201-Executive Overflow-No vacant areas.” For some reason, the computer was receiving more data than it could handle and had gone through a restart cycle. Mission rules told him nothing, so he checked with his computer expert. “It’s a BAILOUT alarm. The computer is busier than hell and has run out of time to get all the work done.” Still clueless, he watched the computer go through some more restarts. He had to make up his mind. “Flight, Guidance. Something is wrong with the computer. I’ve got a bunch of computer alarms. Abort the landing, abort!” Kranz passed the abort command along to CapCom and it was executed perfectly. Dick Koos told them, “That was not an abort. You should have continued the landing.” He skewered both Kranz and Bales for the mistake. It was a lousy way to finish the team’s training. Steve Bales was embarrassed and frustrated. He promised Kranz that he would find out what he could and went off to make phone calls to MIT, which had developed the software. By the end of it, they had a new mission rule listing the program alarms that would trigger an abort. Neither 1201 or 1202 were among them. Launch of Apollo 11 Gene Kranz was up before sunrise on July 16, 1969. He was even more psyched this day than he was on most launch days and all his wife could do was pack him a lunch and boot him out the door. Once he was in the control room, he only betrayed his nervousness with the constant clicking of his ballpoint pen and sweaty palms that made pages from the logbook curl up. For all that the other flight directors teased him about it, none of them could deny that they were tense today, as well. Chris Kraft was sitting at the back of the room and kept asking Charlesworth about the status of the countdown. Charlesworth finally threatened to have him kicked out of the control room if he didn’t cool it. This was one of the few times when a flight director could talk back to his boss and Kraft desisted. At first, the launch could have been just another simulation if it wasn’t for the presence of luminaries like Bob Gilruth and the MCC’s in-house PR representative, Jack Riley. Riley kept up a running commentary for the benefit of reporters outside the control room and, when Kranz overheard him saying something about “lunar landing mission,” it sank in. They were finally going the rest of the way and only Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins had better seats than the people in the control room. Charlesworth stayed on duty until after the trans-lunar injection, and then Kranz took over. The crew went into their first sleep cycle during Kranz’s shift and his team only had to keep track of any funnies. He made notes and everything went smoothly for the next few shift rota
Blaine Gabbert ruined my life. If you're also a fan of the Jaguars, he ruined yours too. In 2010, in the first half of the season, the Jaguars were red hot. The running game was nothing to be joked about with the re-emergence of Vince Manuwai and steady play from MJD, who was in his prime. Then, it happened: the team fell apart. Jones-Drew lost a few steps to an injury. The hot David Garrard flamed out and threw a season-ending interception over Jason Hill's head against the Colts. Quarterback remained an issue for the Jaguars. Fans were fed up. Leading up to the 2011 draft, a lot of speculation about the Jaguars taking a QB arose. Rumors circulated. "Dalton seems like a Gene guy" said Vic Ketchman "Kaepernick is a guy with a Vince Young-like skillset" said Gene Smith "Trade for Tim Tebow!" "Ryan Kerrigan is their guy" Me, personally? I wanted Kaepernick or Locker. I wanted a quarterback. I wanted a guy to shut the "they need Tebow!" people up. I wanted a guy who wasn't going to throw an interception to the wide-open Jason Hill. I didn't need Peyton Manning, I just wanted a decent Flacco-level player. Draft day came. The Jaguars traded out of overall 16 to move up to overall 10. Blaine Gabbert! Me, 2011: "It' not so bad. I mean, some figured he'd go to the Panthers #1 overall!" Me, 2014: "M͢ͅY̥̝͉̙ ̰̘̮ͅS̨͎̝Ǫ̜̦U͇̱̼̮̤L͙͈̼̜̻ ̯̙R̡ͅE̮͚̫̟͈̭L̰͕̲̤̻̠͓U̱̯C̳͘T̬͓̣̬̩͓͉̕À̪̗͈N̢̖̬͓̖T͓͈͙͍͎̹͙͞L̡͍͕͔͖Y͕̠͇͝ ̫̩̭ͅF̳̭͙̘͇LA̛̩ͅM̪͔̪E̮̝͖̫̰S̴̫ ͖̲̰̘̤O̷̤̱N̷̖̦͉̟̜̞" Enter Blaine Gabbert Blaine Gabbert SUCKED. Did I mention he ruined my life? I was in my first year of college when he was drafted. My first micro econ test after? I got a D(This was dropped and I ended up making a B in the class but still). Speech class? I almost fell asleep during my first speech. Here's a list of some of the things that happened after Blaine Gabbert entered the NFL: My school performance dropped My grandpa died Community was canceled Kid Cudi regressed I drafted Ray Rice despite his suspension on accident in a fantasy league Mike Mularkey Chris Prosinski The Jaguars in general were really bad How could you be such a horrible person? At least Ben Roethlisberger is a good quarterback. If Blaine Gabbert wasn't running out of the pocket for NO REASON AT ALL, he was throwing a 3 yard checkdown to the fullback on 3rd and 10 like an asshole. After the first year of Gabbert, I was like "well hey, nowhere to go but up from here." NOPE. NOPE. SOMEHOW BLAINE GABBERT REGRESSED EVERY YEAR. One thing that kept us in some games was the fact Blaine Gabbert had consistently low INT totals. That stopped happening. His last year with the Jaguars, Blaine Gabbert threw 1 TD and 7 interceptions. SEVEN. ONE TO SEVEN RATIO. I didn't expect Tom Brady. I just wanted an OK quarterback. Hell, I wanted a top 30 quarterback so we could shut the Tebow-stans up. NOPE. The Jaguars could have signed a football-launching machine and did better. And what's with the ghosts!? Was Blaine actually the little kid from Sixth Sense who could see dead people? Was this the hint we needed to avoid this walking catastrophe? Why did he block most of the fanbase on twitter? WHY IS HE SO BAD? "He just had an impossible situation" GO TO HELL. What did you want the Jaguars to do? Hire ghostbusters? Re-wire his brain? Hypnotize him? Make him into a cyborg and control him with a remote? He had the EXACT SAME problems in college. He ran out of the pocket on a 3-man rush constantly and threw checkdowns to fullbacks there too. Pictured above: The Jaguars properly easing Gabbert into the NFL HE'S GONE HE'S WITH THE 49ERS NOW. AND WE DRAFTED BLAKE BORTLES TO REPLACE HIM. 49ER FANS BETTER HOPE KAEPERNICK STAYS HEALTHY. IF A SPACESHIP CAME OUT OF NOWHERE AND CRASHED INTO KAEPERNICK AND LEFT NOTHING BUT HIS ARM THE 49ERS SHOULD KEEP HIM IN THE GAME OVER BLAINE GABBERT. How did Blaine Gabbert ruin your life? Please post how in the comments below.
Recipe: Bennigan's Broccoli Bites I found this recipe on Food.com and it's a keeper. I try to put all of my notes in red. Broccoli Bites 3 eggs 6 ounces shredded colby cheese 6 ounces shredded monterey jack cheese 1 (16 ounce) boxes frozen chopped broccoli, thawed,drained,and dried ( I used fresh. I just steamed it and cut it very finely and it worked great.) 2 1/2 ounces hormel real bacon bits ( I fried up my own bacon and chopped it into small pieces.) 1/2 ounce diced yellow onions 1 ounce all-purpose flour (For GF, I used brown rice flour) Italian breadcrumbs, as needed (For GF, I used Glutino Crackers, finely crushed) Honey-Mustard Dipping Sauce 3/4 cup sour cream 1/3 cup hellman mayonnaise 1/3 cup Dijon mustard 1/3 cup honey 1 tablespoon lemon juice, plus 1 teaspoon lemon juice Directions Drain thawed broccoli by pressing through a strainer. Dry well with paper towels. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs with a whisk until well-blended. In a large plastic container, place all ingredients except bread crumbs. Add beaten eggs. Stir together with a spatula until thoroughly combined. Refrigerate for 1 hour{This will bind the mixture together}. ( I tried to skip this part and it worked but was very difficult for them to stay together. If you have the time, I would strongly recommend this step.) Meanwhile, make dipping sauce. In a medium bowl, combine sour cream, mayonnaise, and Dijon mustard. With a whisk, blend mixture thoroughly. Slowly pour in honey and lemon juice and continue mixing until smooth. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. Heat about 4 cups of oil in a deep fryer or deep pan at 350°F. Pour bread crumbs into a shallow pan. Remove mixture from fridge and form portions into 1 inch balls and coat well with bread crumbs. Place Broccoli Bites into fry basket or pan. Make sure they do not stick together. Fry one minute, then remove and place on paper-towel lined plate to absorb excess oil. Serve hot with Honey-Mustard Dipping sauce. Note; These are best kept warm so you may want to use a chafing dish or even a slow cooker set on"low" for serving. I started off my "working" career in the restaurant business. My Mom owned a restaurant in a very small town named Kernville in California. You may have heard of the Kern River, it is quite famous for kayakers, the windy road to the valley and it's beautiful drive.I remember starting off washing dishes, then waitressing and then doing a little bit of cooking. I was very young, maybe 9 when I started. We moved and my Mom bought another restaurant, and then another and so on. She always had a key to a restaurant for as long as I could remember.It was definitely a family affair. We all worked there: my Mom, my Sisters, my cousins, my Grandparents...you know the kind of place. One minute we were friends and family and the next you could hear us yelling in the back ground because someone forgot the right toast.We loved it, we tired of it, we worked ourselves to the bone, we loved it some more and then we promised ourselves we would never work in a restaurant again...LOL AND start all over the next day with the same zeal and statements.It's hard work. You never have a holiday off. Yet, this is the only thing you know. You miss it when you are away. You miss the people, our "regulars" became family. We knew everything about them...the good, the bad, the happy and the sad. In many cases, we were there only family. They remembered our birthdays and we never forgot theirs.I love the restaurant business but I know that I never want to own a restaurant. It's just too much work, When I left high school, got married and moved to Austin, TX I needed a part time job. Oh, I tried the office thing...boring! I tried the stay at home thing....boring! YEP, you guessed it...I found a part time job waiting tables and I felt like I had returned home. In a few short years, I was approached to by a manager. I agreed and it was fun while it lasted. I did not have kids then and my hubby was in the military. He was gone a lot and so this kept me very, very busy. Some weeks we worked 80+ hours. It was crazy! It was fun! Bennigan's had a great menu and you may have remember me talking about this before with the Monte Cristo Sandwiches This recipe is one that I found on the internet. Bennigan's used to sell these delicious Broccoli Bites. I tend to dwell on things for years and it never occurred to me until the other day to google for the recipe. I found this posting and had to try them and they were really good. In fact, I made a small batch (to test the recipe) and the next day made a double batch. YUM!My only recommendation is that if you double the recipe, double everything…especially the cheese. If the cheese is off then your bites will be dry and not cheesy. We loved these little morsels of heaven…ENJOY!About This Recipe, from the author (unknown)"If you've ever been to Bennigan's, you may have enjoyed this wonderful appetizer. We go there quite often for them. They're basically a blend of broccoli, cheeses, bacon, and onion, rolled in bread crumbs and deep-fried. They are then dipped in a special honey-mustard sauce. This is a copycat recipe from the website Recipe Goldmine and it's right on the money! They're very easy to make and if you want to WOW your party guests with something deliciously different, by gosh- this'll do it!"Ingredients
LONDON — Anjem Choudary, one of Britain’s best known Islamist activists, was sentenced on Tuesday to five years and six months in prison after having been convicted in July of encouraging support for the Islamic State. Mr. Choudary, 49, had been found guilty of promoting the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, in speeches and messages posted online, which is a crime under Britain’s antiterrorism laws. Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, 33, an associate of Mr. Choudary’s, received the same sentence. Along with Mr. Choudary, Mr. Rahman was convicted on July 28 of having violated British laws after a four-week trial at the Old Bailey, London’s central criminal court. The verdict was not announced until mid-August for legal reasons. Mr. Choudary’s supporters shouted the Arabic phrase “Allahu akbar,” or “God is great,” as he was sent to jail in London.
Seven protesters were arrested outside a Phoenix immigration center after blocking a van that carried Guadalupe García de Rayos, an undocumented mother of two from Mexico who was taken into custody and issued an order of deportation at her regular check-in. (Reuters) Seven people were arrested Wednesday night in Arizona as they attempted to block the deportation of Guadalupe García de Rayos. Rayos, as the New York Times reported, is a citizen of Mexico who has been living in the United States without documentation since 1996. Over that period, she had two children, both American citizens. She was arrested in 2008, the Los Angeles Times reported, after she was found to be working illegally at an amusement park in Mesa, Ariz. In 2013, the Department of Justice issued a removal order for Rayos, but she was allowed to remain in the country with the stipulation that she checked in with the Department of Homeland Security’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement every six months. During that regular visit Wednesday, she was detained, and the government began deportation proceedings. As a van carrying Rayos left the facility, protesters blocked its progress, resulting in the arrests. A protester locked himself to the van carrying Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility Wednesday in Phoenix. (Rob Schumacher/Arizona Republic via Associated Press) This scenario — a parent who’d lived in the country for decades suddenly facing deportation — is one that President Trump’s opponents imagined becoming far more common were he elected. This is both an isolated incident and an example of something that’s happened with regularity over the past several decades. Former president Barack Obama’s proposed protection program announced in November 2014 would probably have protected people in situations like Rayos’s, though, as would his executive order directing ICE to prioritize immigrants with criminal backgrounds. Trump, though, has promised a much wider net. His executive order, signed five days into the job, included a determination that administration policy would be to “remove promptly those individuals whose legal claims to remain in the United States have been lawfully rejected, after any appropriate civil or criminal sanctions have been imposed.” An attorney for Rayos said on a conference call that Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) sought to intervene on her behalf, but the power lies with the executive branch. The Los Angeles Times looked at Trump’s order and estimated that some 8 million people might be subject to deportation under its strictures. We were curious how many might be subject specifically to the scenario Rayos faced: complying with instructions to check in with ICE only to be deported under an outstanding order. #GuadalupeGarcia attorney says @ICEgov has lied to him and he will advise future clients to seek sanctuary in churches. — Julio Ricardo Varela (@julito77) February 9, 2017 As it turns out, that’s a very hard number to estimate, thanks to the murky way in which such orders are issued — and thanks to foot-dragging from the government. Susan Long is co-director of the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at the Syracuse University and a faculty member of the Whitman School in Management. TRAC compiles detailed data on immigration that it has received from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from the government. That includes data on removal orders from immigration court and the actual number of people removed or returned each year. (There’s a distinction between those two things; the former is what we generally think of when we think of deportations.) Those data, for the years available, look like this. What we might expect to see is that the number of orders is larger than the number of removals. After all, we’re considering a situation in which a person with a standing deportation order hadn’t yet been removed. But instead the data indicate far more removals than orders over the past decade or so. (The numbers are calculated by fiscal year, and numbers for 2016 and 2017 are incomplete.) One reason is that the same people can be removed multiple times — but that’s not the main reason. If your assumption is, instead, that this is because ICE removed people under years-old orders, that’s incorrect, according to TRAC’s Long. When I told her I was hoping to figure out how many outstanding orders there were, she laughed. “Increasingly, removal orders bypass the immigration court,” she explained. In a nutshell, that’s why the numbers in the chart above appear to be flipped: Many orders for removal don’t go through immigration court at all; instead they’re being issued through the Department of Homeland Security. “That obviously poses some challenges,” she said with understatement. Determining how many additional orders have been issued requires getting that data from the government, which TRAC has tried to do. “ICE contends — I’m sure it’s false — that they can’t identify the source of the removal orders,” she said of my question about how non-court orders have been issued. As for the grand total of non-court orders? “I’m not sure ICE actually knows, itself,” she said. We’re talking about years of orders that may or may not have been appealed, for example, which can be hard to track down. ICE, in Long’s experience, has little interest in doing so anyway. “It’s taken hundreds of requests and litigation” to get the information they have, she said, noting that they’ve been involved in a long-standing lawsuit against the agency. “Now they’re refusing to release information that would allow you to update this,” she said — an obstruction that began in the last few months of the Obama administration. “They contend that what they released in the past was voluntary and while they don’t contend that these things are exempt [from FOIA], they aren’t providing them.” A call to the Department of Homeland Security was not returned. “It’s really a problem to monitor what’s going on in any sort of comprehensive way, because of the unwillingness of the agency,” Long said. “It isn’t interested in transparency.” As this story was being written, reports emerged that Rayos had been deported. If so, she may be the first of thousands more — though the number of thousands that should go in that sentence is impossible to determine from outside the walls of the U.S. government.
INSIDE OUT in Bellingham: Every Photo on the Roll. By Dave Larson It was the best show I have ever seen. Saturday, April 7th, 1990. The show was scheduled to happen at The Star Club, an all ages venue in downtown Bellingham that occupied a space on Cornwall avenue that had previously housed a dance club called The Vortex. Something went wrong with that location, and a quick substitution had to be made. Bill Baker offered his grandmother’s single car garage as an alternative, and as crazy and unrealistic as that might sound, it ended up being the only option. Ron Guardipee had booked the show, and he said they could do the garage as long as we could find a way to guarantee the bands from out of state $200. We really wanted this show to happen, so four of us put up $50 each with the idea that we would try and find a way to charge people at the show, but the balance owed would come out of what we had put in. It was myself, Val Wonder, Brian Van Kleeck, and Randy Clark who put up the cash. In the end we all ended up paying a little more than everyone else. I can’t remember the exact amount. After this show, I didn’t care. The bands that played that night were EXTREMITY, RESOLUTION, FORCED DOWN, and INSIDE OUT. Bill Baker sang for EXTREMITY. At least one photo of them playing that night exists. You can see it on the page for Bill’s episode of the “I’ve Known You Too Long” podcast if you scroll down into the photos (CLICK HERE). I don’t know who took that picture and I don’t know where the roll of film it came from ended up. There are also black and white pictures from this show. I have some of those physical photographs, but I do not have that roll of film either. I can not remember who shot them. When Bill was done with the EXTREMITY set he grabbed his camera and shot a 36 photo roll of color film over the course of the next three sets. Many of those photos, mostly of INSIDE OUT, have shown up in various ‘zines and on social media over the years. But not all of them. Film developing was expensive, and not all of the photos saw the light of day. So here they all are, in order off the roll: RESOLUTION. The first batch of photos features shots of this post-BROTHERHOOD Seattle Hardcore band featuring Ron Guardipee on vocals and SUNNY DAY REAL ESTATE’s Dan Hoerner on guitar. FORCED DOWN. An amazing San Diego Hardcore band. I was once threatened for wearing one of their shirts. Not because it offended the person, but because they wanted it. They said they had considered jumping me to steal it. I still have the shirt. I bought it at this show. A quick break outside the house: INSIDE OUT. This band featured Zack de la Rocha (HARDSTANCE, RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE) and Vic DiCara (BEYOND, SHELTER, 108). I believe Chris Bratton is playing drums here, and Mark Hayworth on bass. These days we document everything. We have digital cameras at our fingertips at all times. When something incredible happens, it gets recorded, and we all see it in our various feeds. That was not the case back in the days of poor punk kids trying to scrape together whatever they could to make cool things happen. We were just lucky that there was a camera and a guy with a bit of skill at this show. Without that this would just be a story that people would doubt was true, or at least wasn’t as incredible as the handful of people who experienced it have claimed. But it was.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A Saudi official has visited northern Syria with a U.S. envoy to discuss reconstruction of Raqqa, which Kurdish and Arab militias backed by a U.S.-led coalition, captured from Islamic State on Tuesday, an adviser to the militias said. A fighter of Syrian Democratic Forces stands amidst the ruins of buildings near the Clock Square in Raqqa, Syria October 18, 2017. REUTERS/Erik De Castro Saudi Gulf Affairs Minister Thamer al-Sabhan visited the area with Brett McGurk, the U.S. special envoy to the coalition against Islamic State, and met the Raqqa Civil Council said Amed Sido, an adviser to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) alliance. The Saudi Okaz newspaper also reported on Thursday that Sabhan had visited northern Syria and that Riyadh and Washington had discussed the reconstruction of Raqqa. Saudi Arabia is a member of the U.S.-led international coalition against Islamic State, set up in 2014, but no senior officials from Riyadh are known to have visited areas held by coalition allies in Syria. Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry was not immediately available for comment. The SDF’s four-month battle against Islamic State in Raqqa, aided by coalition air strikes, left much of the city in ruins and forced much of its population to flee to camps nearby. International charity Mercy Corps said on Thursday that most of the city was uninhabitable. The SDF and its allies set up the Raqqa Civil Council to run the city after the fighting was over. The international coalition’s 73 members also include European countries, other Arab countries and Turkey. Its work includes supporting stabilization and restoration of public services to areas taken from Islamic State militants. The Saudi officials who visited Raqqa to check the area were there to listen to discussions rather than take part, Sido said, adding that they met a reconstruction committee set up by the council. “They promised that they would contribute in construction in Raqqa in the future,” Sido said. Sido is also an SDF coordinator with the coalition. The main priority for the city’s reconstruction now is clearing landmines and bodies, and working on water and electricity projects, Sido said. While no concrete plans were set in motion, Sido continued, “we consider it a first visit, a first step, that could be the beginning of future relations”.
When the regular season schedule was unveiled, it looked as though the Rams drew a short straw in Week 1 with Andrew Luck and the Colts coming to town. Fast-forward a few months and the Rams actually caught a break by facing Indy in the season opener. Starting center Ryan Kelly has already been ruled out for the game with a foot injury, Andrew Luck isn’t certain to play as he’s still recovering from shoulder surgery and now the Colts will likely be without their top cornerback, Vontae Davis. Head coach Chuck Pagano said on Tuesday that Davis has a “significant” groin injury and will miss multiple weeks. Pagano said Vontae Davis has a "significant'' groin injury and is week to week. Will not require surgery at this time. — Bob Kravitz (@bkravitz) August 29, 2017 With the season opener less than two weeks away, one can assume he won’t be ready by then. That should make the lives of Sammy Watkins, Robert Woods and Tavon Austin much easier to open the season. Needless to say, Sean McVay couldn’t have asked for a more favorable matchup to kick off his head coaching career, assuming these three players are sidelined. Then again, the Browns are probably still a worse team than the Luck-less Colts.
Pakistan on Thursday summoned India’s Deputy High Commissioner J P Singh over alleged “ceasefire violations” by Indian troops along the Line of Control (LoC) which resulted in the killing of two civilians. Director General (South Asia and SAARC) Dr Mohammad Faisal summoned Singh and “condemned the unprovoked ceasefire violations” by the Indian forces, the Foreign Office said. The firing in Phulian sector yesterday killed two persons including a woman and injured three others, it claimed. The Foreign Office said that despite calls for restraint, India continues to indulge in ceasefire violations. “The deliberate targeting of civilians is indeed deplorable and contrary to human dignity and international human rights and humanitarian laws,” it said. Advertising It said Dr Faisal urged the Indian side to respect the 2003 ceasefire arrangement, investigate this and other incidents of ceasefire violations, and instruct the Indian forces to respect the ceasefire in letter and spirit and maintain peace along the LoC and the Working Boundary. He also urged the Indian side to allow the UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) to play its mandated role as per the UN Security Council resolutions. India maintains that UNMOGIP has outlived its utility and is irrelevant after the Simla Agreement and the consequent establishment of the Line of Control. Advertising The Foreign Office also accused India of committing more than 700 ceasefire violations this year which resulted in the killing of 32 Pakistani civilians.
Two new Congressional Bills have just been introduced that will, if passed, END THE FEDERAL PROHIBITION OF MARIJUANA! Bill One: H.R.1227 Ending the Federal Marijuana Prohibition act of 2017 https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1227/ Click here to download the PDF version This bill has bipartisan support and was introduced by republican Rep. Thomas A Garret, Jr of Virginia [R-VA-5]. So far, it has been cosponsored by: Rep. Tulsi Gabbard [D-HI-2] Rep. Scott Taylor [R-VA-2] Rep. Jared Polis [D-CO-2] Rep. Earl Blumenauer [D-OR-3] Rep. Don Young [R-AK-At Large] Rep. Justin Amash [R-MI-3] Official Title as introduced: “To limit the application of Federal laws to the distribution and consumption of marihuana, and for other purposes” Bill two: H.R.975 – Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2017 https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/975 Click here to download the PDF version This bill also has bipartisan support and was introduced by republican Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California [R-CA-48]. So far, it has been cosponsored by: Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9] Rep. Young, Don [R-AK-At Large] Rep. Pocan, Mark [D-WI-2] Rep. Yoho, Ted S. [R-FL-3] Rep. Blumenauer, Earl [D-OR-3] Rep. McClintock, Tom [R-CA-4] Rep. Titus, Dina [D-NV-1] Rep. Hunter, Duncan D. [R-CA-50] Rep. Polis, Jared [D-CO-2] Rep. Amash, Justin [R-MI-3] Rep. Lee, Barbara [D-CA-13] Rep. Massie, Thomas [R-KY-4] Rep. Coffman, Mike [R-CO-6] Rep. Welch, Peter [D-VT-At Large] Official Title as introduced: “To amend the Controlled Substances Act to provide for a new rule regarding the application of the Act to marihuana, and for other purposes.” FANTASTIC! HOW DO I GET INVOLVED? Please contact your representative! Just enter your zip code, click your representatives name and you’ll be taken to their website. All of them have a contact button, click that and let your representative know you want them to support state rights and defend his or her constituents voice. Alternatively, there’s another little known trick, YOU CAN TEXT YOUR ZIP-CODE to 520-200-2223 and it will reply with your representatives names and phone numbers! Phone calls are best, letters next, then e-mails! If you can, please call them! For people who don’t know what to say here’s a quick draft below: “Hello Congress(wo)man [REPRESENTATIVE-NAME-GOES-HERE], I am a constituent in your district and I am writing to ask you to stand up for me and the 59 percent of Americans who support full marijuana legalization, and the 71 percent who believe that states, not the federal government, should set marijuana policy. Cannabis is a job creator and a multi billion dollar industry. Please, this is not a partisan issue, this is a state and democracy issue. We cannot allow the federal government to jail citizens for something they voted to legalize. We can’t ignore the needs of those who haven’t had that opportunity yet or depend on it for medicinal purposes. States are meant to be democracy laboratories and by allowing the federal government to override the will of the people we are destroying the democracy experiment. I urge you to please support H.R. 975 – Respect State Marijuana Laws Act of 2017, and H.R.1227 – Ending Marijuana Prohibition Act of 2017. Thank you for taking the time to listen to one of your constituents and supporters” If you chose to e-mail you can select ‘Health’ ‘Social Issues’ or ‘Other Issues’ as the topic, all should be an option for every congressman. Many of you at times may have thought, how can I help? Well this is one of those ways. This one thing will take you a couple minutes and when you’re old you can tell your grandkids that you helped fight prohibition and you let your voice be heard. PLEASE SHARE THIS POST FAR AND WIDE ACROSS YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS! The more people that become aware of this bill the better chance it has of passing. The main stream media is not picking this up. The citizens of this country must advocate for themselves to do what is right and urge members of congress to get this passed. THANK YOU!
Legislation fueled by populist anger over bad legal cases often becomes the subject of maudlin and mediocre Lifetime movies, but it�s seldom a good idea in real life. Such is the case with Caylee�s Law, a hugely popular push that would make it a federal crime for a parent or guardian not to quickly report the disappearance or death of a child. More than 1 million people have signed a petition on Change.org that would make it a felony if parents fail to report the death of a child within an hour, or fail to report a missing child within 24 hours. The petition is the most successful campaign in the site�s history. Lawmakers in more than a dozen states, backed by voter support, have introduced similar bills. The frenzy, of course, stems from the already notorious verdict in the case of Casey Anthony, who was acquitted in the murder of her 2-year-old daughter and will be released from prison next week, even though a feral cat would make a better mother than she would. Americans were outraged by the verdict and rightly so, but creating a new law as an outlet for that outrage is misguided. But it�s not unusual, even though laws named after dead children are often a bad idea and infamous for having unintended consequences. Consider �Megan�s Law,� which was named for 7-year-old Megan Kanka, who was abducted and killed by a convicted sex offender who had moved in across the street. The well-meaning law mandated that information about sex offenders be made available to the public, and it passed in the wake of fear after that crime. While Nancy Grace claimed that the �devil is dancing� over the Anthony verdict, he�s also lurking in the details of such bills. Studies show that Megan�s Law doesn�t reduce recidivism by sex offenders, although it adds thousands of low-risk offenders to the registries. In August of 2009, The Economist published a critical look at �named� legislation and concluded the following: �[H]arsh laws often do little to protect the innocent. The police complain that having so many petty sex offenders on registries makes it hard to keep track of the truly dangerous ones. Cash that might be spent on treating sex offenders � which sometimes works � is spent on huge indiscriminate registries. Public registers drive serious offenders underground, which makes them harder to track and more likely to re-offend. And registers give parents a false sense of security: Most sex offenders are never even reported, let alone convicted.� But most politicians are less concerned with details than with appearing soft on crime, so few dare to vote against laws named after crime victims, especially dead ones. Yesterday, Worcester County District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr. said he was worried about a �rush to judgment� in regards to Caylee�s Law. Formerly a lawyer in private practice, he raised issues of enforcement and other pertinent questions: Must the parent have knowledge that the child is missing? Should the parent have known? How would the law affect visitation cases in probate court, in which a child isn�t returned on time to a parent? Would it create an unacceptable burden on police? When does the clock start on a missing child? �People�s emotions are running so high right now,� Early said. �Is this a reaction to everyone�s anger and outrage? This bill could be called the �We�re Furious She Got Away With It� law. We have to give this time before rushing something through. We have an awful lot of safeguards with regard to children. We want to vet this carefully. We have to get it right.� Activist Michelle Crowder of Oklahoma is pushing Caylee�s Law, and she admitted that she didn�t consult with any law enforcement professionals before developing it. But she likely watched the Anthony trial, in which it was revealed that the search for little Caylee began after 31 days only after her grandmother � not Casey � called police. �Abandoning a child is illegal. Abuse is illegal,� Crowder told The New York Times. �But not reporting a child missing is somehow OK?� She makes a good point, but so does Early. If Caylee�s Law is an emotional reaction to the little girl�s death, it�s too late to affect the case it was crafted for. The overwhelming majority of parents don�t need a law to compel them to report a missing child. Those who do will likely not be deterred by the threat of a felony, just as men intent on killing their wives or girlfriends aren�t deterred by the threat of a restraining order. �It�s just more bad after bad,� said Early, and he�s right. Despite their best intentions, those seeking the elusive �Justice for Caylee� won�t find it in a federal law, especially one based on emotion rather than reason.
If capitalism is slowly on the outs, as some economists and theorists say it is, should there be a museum to preserve its artifacts? The Museum of Capitalism (MOC), an aspiring institution at the very earliest phase of development, opens its first exhibition this month in a disused warehouse in Oakland, California. Its ambitious goal is to educate future generations about the economic system’s “ideology, history, and legacy,” per its mission statement, in the vein of history museums and so-called museums of conscience. Headed up by the artist duo FICTILIS (Andrea Steves and Timothy Furstnau) and supported by a $215,000 grant from the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, its debut exhibition is to be housed in a temporary space in Oakland’s post-industrial Jack London Square, an area with multiple vacant warehouses. The artist list, totaling a whopping 83, includes members from around the globe. “Fredric Jameson supposedly once said that it’s easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism,” said Steves in a phone interview, “and making capitalism a ‘museum piece’ is partly an effort to help us do just that.” The artists do not purport to be experts on capitalism, and Furstnau said that even experts disagree on the fundamentals. “There are prominent historians, like Wolfgang Streeck, who argue that we are coming out of capitalism, and then McKenzie Wark, who argues that we are now in something worse.” Among the works in the show are Mexican artist Fran Ilich’s Space Bank/Money Museum (2005–2107), consisting of documentation of what the artist calls a functional alternative banking system. There’s also Dread Scott’s Poll Dance (2010), a series of graphs that riff on systems of classifying people by race, class, and gender. Other works address the vicissitudes of financial institutions: Superflex’s Bankrupt Banks (2012) consists of a set of banners with logos of banks that have declared bankruptcy, while Michael Mandiberg addresses the same theme with a set of tomes on economics, its book covers branded with logos of failed banks. And Blake Fall-Conroy’s Police Flags (2009) shows the parallel symbolism between the red, white, and blue police lights and the colors of the US flag. Also present will be a video display organized by Austrian artist Oliver Ressler. The work presents political theorists and economists describing various models for alternative economies. Asked whether an anti-capitalist statement underlies the museum, the artists chose their words carefully. “To even suggest that capitalism may one day end is, in this country at this moment, seen as anti-capitalist,” Furstnau said. “For us, part of historicizing capitalism is to realize its strong appeal and its unique features. You have to realize both its benefits and where it does harm. We hope that visitors from all sides of that question can come away with something useful.” Citing the rhetorical question “What is water?,” Steves pointed out that we are swimming in capitalism, and said that the museum aims to offer enough distance from its structures to evaluate them in the first place. The Museum of Capitalism is the sole recipient of the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation’s exhibition support grant for 2017, which is now in its 19th year and has previously supported brick-and-mortar institutions like the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Contemporary Art Center of New Orleans. It’s the first time the grant has gone to an institution in such a “speculative phase,” as Furstnau characterized it. Heather Pontonio, program officer at the Emily Hall Tremaine Foundation, told artnet News that “It wasn’t difficult for the jury to pick this as the sole project to receive the exhibition grant this year. The jury was confident that this would be one show that would further discourse in contemporary art. In fact, we had never seen a proposal at this caliber.” Though it might at first seem like just an uncommonly ambitious pop-up show, Steves, Furstnau, and Pontonio are confident that the museum will have legs. They’re working on plans for a life beyond Oakland and beyond 2017, with temporary exhibitions in New York and other cities, ideally on the way to its own brick-and-mortar home. So while it may be nearly impossible to envision capitalism’s end, the Museum of Capitalism aims to envision its own beginnings. Follow artnet News on Facebook:
As if Sweden wasn't troubled enough, The Local reports that another Green Party politician, who ignited a storm of controversy after refusing to shake hands with a female reporter on grounds that it violated his Muslim faith, announced on Wednesday that he was quitting politics. This follows the resignation of Sweden's housing minister following a week of mounting controversy over his contacts with Islamic organisations and Turkish ultranationalists. During an interview with a female reporter from the TV4 broadcaster on Tuesday, Yasri Khan placed his hand over his heart instead of shaking her hand in greeting. "People can greet each other in different ways. The most important thing is to show respect by seeing each other, to meet each other… to respect each other," Khan said during an interview with state broadcaster Swedish Radio. Khan, also the general secretary of the organization Swedish Muslims for Peace and Justice, has faced strong criticism from within his party since the incident. "It is unacceptable. You can't have a man in the party who can't greet women in the same way you greet a man. I'm upset," Stina Bergström, a Green Party parliamentarian, told Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet. In interviews with Swedish media, Khan lashed out at his critics and said that the debate, and his fellow Muslim Green Party member Mehmet Kaplan's resignation, had caused him to run out of energy. "In today's political climate, I wonder if politics is right for me, and if I want to be a media circus clown," he told the Nyheter24 news site. Kahn's resignation from the Green Party follows the resignation of another Green Party member - Sweden's housing minister, Turkish-born Mehmet Kaplan... Sweden’s housing minister has resigned following a week of mounting controversy over his contacts with Islamic organisations and Turkish ultranationalists, piling further pressure on the country’s already unpopular minority coalition government. The Social Democrat prime minister, Stefan Lofven, said Turkish-born Mehmet Kaplan, a member of the junior coalition partner Green party and former spokesman for Sweden’s Muslim Council, had submitted his resignation and that he had accepted it. Sweden’s centre-left coalition of Social Democrats and Greens has been severely strained by Europe’s migration crisis, with the arrival of about 160,000 asylum seekers in the country last year forcing Stockholm to impose border controls and tighter rules in a U-turn on decades of generous refugee policies. Kaplan, 44, denied any wrongdoing and said he was stepping down because public and media criticism was making it impossible for him to do his job. He said he opposed “all forms of extremism, whether nationalistic, religious or in any other form” and supported “human rights, democracy and dialogue”. The minister, who was born in Turkey and arrived in Sweden at the age of eight, has come under increasing pressure after local media last week published photos of him at a dinner with Turkish ultranationalists, including the Swedish head of the extremist Grey Wolves organisation, and a former leader of the main Turkish nationalist group in Sweden, who was forced to resign earlier this month after calling on Turks to kill “the Armenian dogs”. The minister was further attacked for his links to a number of Islamic organisations, including the international Millî Görü? movement, that some suspect of promoting religious fundamentalism. Kaplan has acknowledged the ties, but said they “don’t mean I agree with them on everything”. The pressure increased at the weekend when Swedish media published seven-year-old footage of him comparing Israel’s policies towards Palestinians to the Nazis persecution of the Jews. It has not been a good week for the centre-left party, the junior partners of Sweden's ruling coalition. On Tuesday its co-leader and deputy prime minister, Åsa Romson, landed herself in hot water after using the Swedish word for 'accident' (which can also mean 'misfortune') to refer to the September 11th terror attacks.
Israel's army said on Tuesday it had completed preparations for a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip as air raids on sites connected to the militant group Hamas entered their fourth day. "The ground forces are ready," an army spokeswoman said. "The option (of a ground operation) exists. It is possible that we will apply it but for the moment we are only hitting from the air and the sea." Israel on Tuesday rejected any truce with Hamas until Palestinian militants stopped firing rockets into Israel and said its air strikes heralded "long weeks of military action." On the fourth day of the air raids, at least 10 Palestinians were killed, including two sisters aged 10 and 12. Medical officials put Palestinian casualties since Israel launched its attacks on Saturday at 348 dead with more than 800 wounded. A United Nations agency said at least 62 of the dead were civilians. Four Israelis -- three civilians and a soldier -- have been killed by Palestinian rockets since the air strikes began. Israeli media quoted Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as saying the Gaza operation was in "the first of a several stages." The United Nations has called for an immediate truce. But Israeli Interior Minister Meir Sheetrit said "there is no room for a cease-fire" with Hamas until the threat of rocket fire had been removed. "The Israeli army must not stop the operation before breaking the will of the Palestinians, of Hamas, to continue to fire at Israel," he told Israel Radio. Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum has urged Palestinian groups to respond using "all available means" against Israel, including "martyrdom operations," which means suicide bombings. The attacks are deepening divisions among Arab states. On Tuesday the Syrian leadership called on Egypt to break off diplomatic relations with Israel. Daily newspaper Tishreen, which is loyal to the Syrian government, wrote that Egypt "should return to its proper role as an Arab country that faces up to the political battle against Israel on the Palestinian issue." Many Arab countries are accusing Egypt of having agreed to the Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. The issue has proven difficult for Muslims also because the Palestinians themselves are divided. Hamas took over control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007 from the Fatah Party loyal to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. The international community has sought to isolate Hamas and has refused to establish diplomatic relations with the group. Concern about Press Freedom Meanwhile foreign journalists in Israel are petitioning the country's highest court to let them into Gaza to report on the fighting. The ban has been in place for about two months, and has been lifted only occasionially during that time. The petition was submitted on Sunday by the Foreign Press Association, which represents journalists covering Israel, the West Bank and Gaza. The court will hear the petition on Wednesday. Most of the current news footage from Gaza is being supplied by Palestinian journalists working for news agencies and for Arab news channels. Ethan Bronner, correspondent for the New York Times, said Israel was breaching its own principles of press freedom by refusing to let foreign reports into Gaza. "They say they have security concerns -- but they have also made clear that they aren't happy with the reporting by international media," he said. Schlomo Dror, spokesman for the Israeli Defense ministry, recently told the New York Times that he wasn't shedding any tears at the journalists' frustration. Israel had regarded much of the prior reporting from Gaza as unfair, he said. Since Monday journalists can't even get close to the Gaza Strip. An area several kilometers wide around the border has been declared a restricted zone.
MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — The brother of Josh Powell has committed suicide in Minneapolis, according to reports. The Minneapolis Police Department confirmed Michael Powell committed suicide at 2 p.m. Monday by jumping off a parking ramp. Police are not sure at this time what led to Powell's suicide. Powell's brother, Josh Powell, killed himself and his two sons in an explosion in Feb. 2012. Days before the explosion, Powell had been denied custody of the children and ordered to undergo a psychosexual evaluation. He had long been suspected in the disappearance of his wife, Susan Cox Powell, who is still missing. Timeline in Susan Cox Powell case: A more detailed timeline of events can be found here. 2009 Dec. 6 - The last time anyone saw Susan Powell Dec. 7 - The day Susan Powell was reported missing Dec. 9 - Police call disappearance of Susan Powell "suspicious" Dec. 16 - Josh Powell named person of interest 2010 Jan. 9 - Josh Powell packs up West Valley City house Dec. 6 - Josh Powell and his father, Steve, assert that Susan Powell ran away with missing Utah man Steven Koecher, who disappeared in Nevada in December 2009. 2011 Aug. 25 - West Valley Police serve warrant to Steve and Josh Powell Sept. - Steven Powell faces charges of voyeurism and possessing child porn Sept. 23 - Susan's parents file for custody of Powell sons Sept. 27 - Cox family gains temporary custody 2012 Feb 1. - Judge denies Josh Powell custody Feb. 5 - Josh allegedly sends message to lawyer saying goodbye, home explodes shortly after Michael Powell had launched — and subsequently removed — a website in Jan. 2012 claiming investigators had not done a thorough job of screening other family members, and that the Powell children were in danger while in the care of the Cox family. The site included links to documents and news stories about the case and claimed police had bungled the investigation into Susan's disappearance. Kiirsi Hellewell, a good friend of Susan Powell's, on Tuesday expressed her sorrow for what had happened. "I was very sad, first of all that somebody would just throw their life away, and second of all, I feel sorry for Jennifer (Graves, Powell's sister) and her family, and the rest of her siblings," she said. She said she also felt a sense of disappointment, though. "There was another part of me that just thought, 'Oh great, now there's one more chance we might have had to find Susan, and maybe he knew something, and now it's gone,' " she said. Stay with ksl.com, KSL TV and KSL Newsradio for more information as it becomes available. × Related Stories
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Writers, outdoor enthusiasts and leaf-peeping tourists have known for centuries that nature has restorative powers that reduce feelings of stress and promote a sense of tranquility. While numerous studies have affirmed nature's stress-reduction properties, scientists haven't known the specific amount of exposure needed to induce these calming effects. However, a study led by researchers at the University of Illinois is believed to be the first study to describe a dose-response curve derived from exposure to nature. Researcher Bin Jiang and his colleagues found that viewing 3-D videos of residential streets with varying amounts of tree canopy significantly improved participants' physiological and psychological recovery from a stressful experience. "For males, exposure to a six-minute video with moderate tree cover density evoked about three times the stress reduction as watching a video with no trees," said Jiang, a postdoctoral fellow and lecturer at Illinois who conducted the research at the university for his doctoral dissertation in landscape architecture. To induce moderate stress, the study participants - 80 men and 78 women -delivered five-minute impromptu speeches before two interviewers and a video camera. Participants then solved several subtraction problems out loud, without using computing devices, paper or pencil. Afterward, participants were randomly assigned to watch one of 10 panoramic 3-D videos that showed similar neighborhood streets on which the density of tree cover ranged from 2 to 62 percent. Multiple measures were used to assess participants' stress levels and recovery during the experiment, including skin conductance, salivary cortisol levels and self-reports. Skin conductance, which is a measurement of the skin's ability to conduct electricity, is directly related to the amount of sweat present on the skin. The steroid hormone cortisol is released by the adrenal cortex in response to stress. Among the male participants, the researchers found a bell-shaped dose-response curve. As the tree canopy increased from 2 to 24 percent, the men's biomarkers of stress recovery improved proportionally. The men experienced the most stress-recovery benefits when they viewed tree canopy in the 24 to 34 percent range, and stress recovery declined when the percentage of tree cover surpassed 34 percent. While women did not show the same physiological responses in salivary cortisol and skin conductance levels as the men, the researchers' analyses of the self-reports suggested that the women also experienced stress-reduction benefits that increased proportionally with the percentage of tree canopy viewed. Less than half - 41 percent - of male and female participants who watched videos with minimal tree canopy described calming effects in their self-reports. However, when the percentage of tree canopy increased to 36 percent, more than 90 percent of viewers reported feeling calm or relaxed while watching the videos. And all of the participants who viewed videos with the maximum percentage of tree canopy reported feelings of well-being. "We found with the self-reports that participants who watched a video with 62 percent density reduced their stress levels by 60 percent; compared with their counterparts who watched a video with about 2 percent tree cover," Jiang said. "Most studies just give a general comparison between exposure to barren and green urban landscapes," Jiang said. "The range of tree cover density in these videos, the multiple measures used and the dose-response provide solid evidence that urban trees are important to human health." Higher levels of stress have been linked to several of the leading causes of death in the U.S. - such as cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes, some cancers and suicide. "The study suggests that maybe by creating widely dispersed areas within communities you can help reduce the stress people experience on an everyday basis, which contributes to these diseases," said William C. Sullivan, a professor of landscape architecture at the university and one of Jiang's co-authors. "These studies have a bearing on how we design places, from the smallest aspect of a house, such as the number of windows and the orientation of the views, to the design of a neighborhood," Sullivan said. "We have to be vigilant about protecting easy access to natural or green spaces for people and the design of cities. We should have interconnected and widely dispersed green spaces accessible to all inhabitants. And my sense is that when we do that, we'll reap tremendous ecological and human health benefits." A paper about the research was published recently in the journal Environment and Behavior. Co-authors of that paper were Linda Larsen, a senior instructor of English at Illinois; Dongying Li, a doctoral candidate in landscape architecture at Illinois; and Sullivan. A second paper has been accepted for publication in the journal Landscape and Urban Planning. Chun-Yen Chang, the director of the Healthy Landscapes, Healthy People Lab at National Taiwan University, and Sullivan were Jiang's co-authors on that paper. Jiang recently accepted a faculty appointment in landscape architecture at the University of Hong Kong, which he will begin in January 2015.
Summer season introduces new items, critical gameplay changes and a new roamer who will have a major impact on hero compositions & draft strategy. Let’s dig in … LYRA ABILITIES & BREAKDOWN Lyra uses healing and protective magic to turn enemy positions into powerful zones for her allies. Utility and defense items improve her role as a healer, while crystal items provide a devastating-but-fragile mage path. QUICK START: Learn Imperial Sigil (Ability A) first. Upgrade and overdrive it first. Upgrade and overdrive it first. Take Bright Bulwark (Ability B) at level 2 but upgrade it last. Only overdrive situationally. but upgrade it last. Only overdrive situationally. Learn and upgrade Arcane Passage (Ultimate) whenever possible. Principle Arcanum (Heroic Perk) Lyra’s attacks are arcane missiles, dealing crystal damage. If she holds her ground after releasing an attack, she automatically channels and releases a much stronger arcane missile that deals additional crystal damage and briefly slows its target. Each channeled missile consumes energy, but Lyra can continue using these even if she runs out of energy. HEROIC PERK BREAKDOWN: Once the first missile has locked on, the second is guaranteed to land as well, provided Lyra finishes channeling. For basic-attack (on-hit) effects and weapon items, both the first and second arcane missiles are considered basic attacks. Attack speed affects the channeling time, in addition to the time between shots. While the second missile is much stronger, it also puts Lyra’s next attack onto a slightly longer cooldown. The projectile speed on the first missile increases with attack speed. Imperial Sigil (A) Lyra forms a sigil at the target location, revealing surrounding enemies. While this sigil remains active, it heals nearby allied heroes and damages nearby enemy heroes. Lyra can reactivate this ability at any time to detonate the sigil, dealing heavy damage to surrounding enemies while providing a burst of healing and a moderate move speed boost to nearby allies. IMPERIAL SIGIL BREAKDOWN: Lyra’s healing is increased with her bonus health from items. The cooldown won’t begin until the detonation occurs, either manually or after running out. Because heroes consume the sigil, you can reduce the healing from an enemy Lyra by getting near her sigil and draining some damage. Detonate Imperial Sigil beneath allies while moving around the map. Imperial Sigil can be used for vision, but the tradeoff is that it won’t start its cooldown until it’s detonated (manually or after timing out). Bright Bulwark (B) After a brief delay, Lyra releases a pulse of magical energy, damaging and applying a decaying slow to surrounding enemies. The affected area then becomes a walled zone of protection that deals the same damage and slow to enemies attempting to cross its borders. Enemies inside the zone are snared, allowing them to move normally but preventing them from using movement abilities. BRIGHT BULWARK BREAKDOWN: This stops “dash” abilities, including jumps like Joule’s leap. However, it does not stop movement-speed increases like Catherine’s Mercilless Pursuit. The slow is strong enough to noticeably reduce those abilities, though. When an ally pulls/pushes an enemy into the wall, the enemy will stop at the wall rather than go their full distance. You can Reflex Block while snared to buy enough time to dash. Lance can use Gythian Wall on overdrive to do this as well. The slow and damage have a short internal cooldown (1.8 seconds). Don’t stand on top of the wall if you want to avoid getting hit again. Bright Bulwark is incredibly powerful against dash-dependent heroes such as Glaive. In some situations, this can allow you to stand and fight when you would otherwise need to retreat. If it’s not effective enough, consider learning the overdrive. Arcane Passage (C) Lyra blinks to the target location, leaving portals at both the beginning and the end of the blink. Portals last for a few seconds, allowing allied and enemy heroes to move freely between them in both directions. Heroes must wait several seconds before they can re-enter a portal. This cooldown is also applied to enemies when Lyra hits them with the initial pulse of Bright Bulwark. ARCANE PASSAGE BREAKDOWN: Portals are globally visible for both teams. Heroes gain a small boost of speed when exiting portals. Heroes currently dashing or being affected by pulls or knockbacks will not enter a portal. Heroes standing directly on top of a portal when they spawn will not be pulled through until they move off the portal and re-enter. (This is a snipe protection for Adagio and other heroes who have no means of avoiding the effect.) Enemies cannot use portals until 1 second after they’ve formed, but Lyra and her allies can enter immediately. USING LYRA’S PORTALS: Both teams can use portals with no negative effects. Just walk onto them. Portals are typically better for strategic map movement than going directly into an enemy team, unless you have a specific plan or comp for it. If you form a portal far away from enemies and then make the destination portal away from enemies, you can prevent enemies from easily accessing portals. This can make for effective flanks, especially in combination with Bright Bulwark. The initial pulse of Bright Bulwark puts affected enemies on the full portal cooldown. If you need to get away from enemies, use Bright Bulwark first, then immediately portal away. If you need to create a beachhead for your team, you can portal near enemies and use Bright Bulwark, allowing your allies to join you while preventing enemies from escaping. PLAYING AS LYRA Lyra is a powerful healer with a roam primary path. with a roam primary path. Pair her with ranged heroes such as Celeste who like to be on the edge of fights. Lyra’s protective zones will keep them safe on the back line. who like to be on the edge of fights. Lyra’s protective zones will keep them safe on the back line. Or, form comps with slower heroes such as SAW, Phinn & Krul since Lyra can teleport them into the fight from a distance. such as SAW, Phinn & Krul since Lyra can teleport them into the fight from a distance. Lyra’s secondary path is as a crystal mage. If you’d like to try this, she has excellent synergy with Alternating Current because her perk fires two arcane missiles in a row. The perk trades her positioning for power, which can be a dangerous gambit. However, it’s incredibly powerful against fleeing enemies. If you’d like to try this, she has excellent synergy with because her perk fires two arcane missiles in a row. The perk trades her positioning for power, which can be a dangerous gambit. However, it’s powerful against fleeing enemies. When you’re last-hitting, consider staying at maximum attack range. The light and heavy attack will hit at nearly the same time, making it much easier to successfully last-hit. PLAYING VS LYRA Lyra is extremely fragile even with health items due to unusually low armor and shield. even with health items due to unusually low armor and shield. Focus her and burst her down. Build items accordingly. Build items accordingly. Select any heroes who can get to her quickly and take her out. Taka is a great example. Even though he seems susceptible to Bright Bulwark, a sneaky Taka can often get to Lyra faster than the bulwark can go down — especially with X-Retsu. SUMMER GAMEPLAY CHANGES Starting in Summer season, you’ll have much more build freedom and diversity. Let’s look at why … AMBIENT GOLD Ironguard Contract no longer provides a gold bonus. Instead, this is replaced with an always-on mechanic affecting all heroes. Ambient Gold: Whenever anyone kills a minion or monster, a nearby ally within 14 meters earns 75% of the bounty as bonus gold. If two allies are nearby, whichever hero has lower net worth earns the Ambient Gold. In short, roam players are no longer required to buy an Ironguard Contract at the start of every single match, which opens them up to many more itemization choices. There is no requirement to eventually turn that Ironguard Contract into a Warhorn or Contraption, so many more possibilities unfold. This change also means that roamers taking last hits will no longer have a large negative impact on a team’s gold net worth. Instead, they’ll still generate the same amount of gold since there will always be a 100%/75% split to two team members near each other. Additionally, we expect to see many more strategies become viable from the way gold is distributed among team members. Teams may now more strategically decide where to funnel gold when they have multiple heroes reaching item breakpoints. EXPERIENCE & GOLD RANGE Experience and gold range are both set to 14 meters. It is still possible to hyper-level a hero … but your team will be giving up far more to do so. Following closely behind Ambient Gold is the change to experience range. Prior to 1.19, the range where a hero could acquire experience from a kill in the jungle was 5.6, whereas the range where Ironguard Contract granted gold was 14. In addition to being a fairly invisible mechanic, this created a zone where a player could get Ironguard Contract gold while giving up experience — more commonly known as hyper-leveling. This led to situations where a team member could end up significantly under-leveled in favor of rushing an allied hero to a potential level power-spike. While we find the practice of hyper-leveling innovative and tactically interesting, we wanted to make sure that a player was not denied experience simply from the role or hero they chose. As such, in 1.19, we have decided to change experience range to 14, which matches the range of Ambient Gold. This means that if you are in range for Ambient Gold, you will also be in range to share experience. If a team so chooses, they are still able to hyper-level a hero, (which would not be too surprising for the first rotation to hit a level-2 power spike). However, they would be trading that for a potential loss of 75% increase in gold from each monster or minion that is killed. EXPERIENCE DISTRIBUTION With the change to experience and the addition of Ambient Gold, some adjustments to experience distribution were in order. Experience gain when multiple allies are nearby: One: 100% Two: 85/40% Three: 65/30/30% (killer gets the larger amount). GOLD TRICKLE Gold trickle up from 4 to 5 per second. NEW ITEMS COMING IN SUMMER UPDATE 1.19 The other major reason for more build flexibility is more item choice! NEW CONTRACT ITEMS With the introduction of Ambient Gold, Ironguard Contract is no longer a staple item for every roam build. Instead, a few early-game options have been introduced into the OTHER section in the item shop. These can grant a significant amount of power early on, or if you find the need for a small power boost at any given time for a fairly low cost, these new Contract items are fantastic options. However, keep in mind that none of these Contracts upgrades into anything, though they can be sold back for half the purchase cost. IRONGUARD CONTRACT Ironguard is now specifically geared toward coming out of the jungle with a bit more battle readiness and to keep both members of a jungle duo topped off to fend off invasions. While no longer a necessity, Ironguard still makes for a fantastic starting purchase. Passive: When a nearby ally kills a jungle monster, you both heal for 75 health Range: 14m health Range: Cost: 300 gold Protector Contract A much more defensive start, the Protector Contract allows you to protect your teammates — as long as you are close enough to do so. This is a fantastic purchase if you expect heavy aggression coming out from the opposing team or if you plan on team fighting early on. Activate: Grant a 120 health barrier to the nearest ally hero for 2 seconds. 5s cooldown. 2 max charges, 20s per charge. Range: 8m health barrier to the nearest ally hero for seconds. cooldown. max charges, per charge. Cost: 300 gold Dragonblood Contract The Dragonblood Contract supports early aggression and may allow you to dominate early on in a match; however, this initial advantage falls off very quickly. Having a fairly long recharge time and a fixed amount of damage, it is a great tool for early aggression and calculated ganks, but it is a good candidate to replace once mid-game rolls around. Activate: After a brief delay, nearby enemy heroes are marked for 3 seconds. The next basic attack from an ally consumes the mark, slowing by 30% for 2s and dealing 75 bonus crystal damage. 15s cooldown. 2 max charges, 40s per charge. Range: 4m seconds. The next basic attack from an ally consumes the mark, slowing by for and dealing bonus crystal damage. cooldown. max charges, per charge. Cost: 300 gold NEW UTILITY ITEMS & REWORKS Stormguard Banner Stormguard Banner has been reworked to be a strong pickup for heroes who have weak wave/jungle clear abilities and for teams who intend to prioritize objective control over constantly battling the enemy team. However, this does come with the caveat that you will be giving up a significant amount of combat power. Passive: After using an ability, your next 3 basic attacks in the next 6 seconds deal 75 bonus true damage to non-heroes or 20 to heroes. Can only be refreshed once every 6 seconds. basic attacks in the next seconds deal bonus true damage to non-heroes or to heroes. Can only be refreshed once every seconds. +2.5 Energy Recharge Energy Recharge +150 Energy Energy Energy Battery (300) + Recipe (800) = 1100 Stormcrown An upgraded version of the new Stormguard Banner. Deals significant but not overwhelming damage to heroes, but it’s fantastic for quickly taking down objectives. Passive: After using an ability, your next 4 basic attacks in the next 6 seconds deal 140 bonus true damage to non-heroes or 35 to heroes. Can only be refreshed once every 6 seconds. basic attacks in the next seconds deal bonus true damage to non-heroes or to heroes. Can only be refreshed once every seconds. +30% Cooldown Speed Cooldown Speed +5 Energy Recharge Energy Recharge +200 Energy Energy +150 Health Health Stormguard Banner (1100) + Chronograph (800) + Recipe (300) = 2200 Journey Boots Running fast is a lot of fun. Running fast often is even more fun. Passive movement speed up from 0.5 to 0.6 to Cooldown increased from 30 to 60 to Passive: Damaging heroes instantly sets the cooldown to 12 seconds if it is above it. seconds if it is above it. Armor, Shield and Health Regen removed Health down from 300 to 250 War Treads (Warhorn is now a type of Boots) These new boots have replaced Warhorn has a team-wide mobility option. If you ever find yourself in the situation where you need to get your team into or out of a fight quickly, War Treads is a perfect purchase. Activate: Nearby allies Sprint for 2 seconds ( 60s cooldown). seconds ( Passive: +0.4 Movement speed Movement speed Passive: Travel Boots +500 Health Stormguard passive removed Travel Boots (1000) + Dragonheart (650) + Recipe 850) = 2500 Halcyon Chargers A powerful new option for both running down your foes or escaping from a pursuer. Halcyon Chargers should easily be able to get you in or out of danger once. Choose this over Journey boots when prioritizing ability usage from cooldown speed. Activate: Sprint for 3 seconds ( 50s cooldown). seconds ( cooldown). Passive: +0.5 Movement speed Movement speed Passive: Travel Boots +200 Health +15% Cooldown Speed Cooldown Speed +4 Energy Recharge Energy Recharge +250 Energy Energy Travel Boots (1000) + Void Battery (700) + Recipe (600) = 2300 Flare Gun Offering an early game vision option. Pick up a Flare Gun if you plan to constantly track your enemies. Activate: Fire a Flare at target location. ( 18s cooldown). +250 Health Health Oakheart (300) + Recipe (300) = 600 Contraption No longer building out of Stormguard Banner, Contraption now charges a bit faster and offers a bit more defensive power. Cooldown up from 3 to 5 seconds ( 18s per charge) +350 Health Health +35% Cooldown Speed Cooldown Speed +3 Energy Recharge Energy Recharge Health Regen removed Stormguard passive removed New Recipe: Flare Gun (600) + Chronograph (800) + Recipe (700) = 2100 OTHER Kraken is no longer affected by any positive buffs (i.e. Warhorn speed boost and Adagio’s Gift of Fire). Players may no longer walk into the area where the Jungle Shop resides. Tap area of the jungle shop has been decreased to avoid accidental shopping during fights. Flares are no longer globally visible, but brush will not inherently hide them if there’s vision on that area. RELATED ARTICLES This is only a part of the massive Summer improvements coming in Update 1.19. For more previews, check these out:
This month you can investigate a series of crimes as a consultant, look into your boss’s murder, or seek out the truth in a dark and dusty bunker. For roles outside the norm, you can play a damsel rescuing a knight in distress, a dreamer delving into the collective subconscious, or a man seeking to become the champion of facial hair. Alternatively, you can continue two series, one featuring a modern girl dealing with the Greek myths and the other a Victorian gentleman delving into dark secrets. All these await you in this month’s roundup of releases from the freeware scene. The Last Door: Chapter 4 – Ancient Shadows My quest for answers has brought me to the house of another old friend. I believed the experiments in paranormal phenomena he conducted might give me the answers I seek. But my hopes appear dashed as I find the servants missing and my friend in a catatonic state. Perhaps if I follow his work and enact the experiments myself, maybe I will be able to restore him. But the woods are dark, and something violent lurks there in the shadows. Am I working my way to salvation, or damning myself once and for all? This closing chapter to the first season of The Game Kitchen’s series serves up another slice of Victorian horror. The pixelated graphics of the series continue here, with you once again donning the mantle of Jeremiah Devitt. The action once more takes place at night, with dark shadows everywhere. This is especially true of the surrounding woods, which appear almost entirely in silhouette until you can take a light source into them. You will also discover a sinister darkroom and a deep cellar. The characters are faceless as before, though the character of Devitt is still recognisable from previous episodes. The game once again sports a dramatic full orchestral soundtrack, with both recurring tunes and new pieces. Sound effects continue to play an important part in the atmosphere as well, with whistling wind and creaking timbers setting the player’s nerves on edge. Whilst knowledge of the previous chapters is not vital to playing this one, it is highly recommended that you do so. As with its predecessors, this is not a game for the faint-hearted, as this is a well-crafted horror game. Here again the horror is largely conveyed through tone, though there are a couple of effective blatant scares. Documents scattered around the house give you clues to what has happened there, as well as assistance with puzzles. Inventory plays a major role, especially finding a light source to explore the darker areas of the game. You will also need to make some inventive, and occasionally grisly, combinations to achieve your goals. Two characters that have appeared in previous instalments are more fully introduced here, both showing an interest in tracking Devitt’s activities. The game ends on a cliffhanger, but with crowdfunding for the new season’s first episode well on the way to its goal, it seems likely the story will continue. The Last Door: Chapter 4 – Ancient Shadows can be played online or downloaded from the developers’ website. The previous chapters are also available here. Registration is required, but does not come with any further obligation. Fingerbones You find yourself in a dark and dusty room. Light is filtering through the windows, allowing you to make out pieces of furniture. The room has obviously not been cleaned for a long time. Large cobwebs are hanging in the corners. As you explore the room and its surrounding areas, you’ll find notes written by a former inhabitant that gradually reveal that something horrible happened here. Fingerbones is David Szymanski's first attempt at making an adventure game. It is a fairly short and basic adventure, but it is quite well made. The first-person game is rendered in real-time 3D, although the environment is quite bare, with only a few items of furniture scattered about. The graphics are done in dark hues of yellow, grey and brown with fairly blocky textures. The music, which consists of long, dark notes, gets eerier the further you progress. Creepy sounds and dust floating around the rooms add to the atmosphere. The game is somewhat reminiscent of Gone Home, in which you also have to piece the backstory together from documents and other objects scattered about the house. In Fingerbones, you discover more and more evidence of the horrible things that happened in the now-deserted house. The game only has a few puzzles that come up during your investigation, mainly involving getting machinery working and finding passwords for locks. The interface is very simple: you steer yourself using the WASD keys and look around using the mouse. Sometimes a white dot that functions as a cursor appears. When the dot expands you can perform an action by clicking the mouse. There is no inventory and no option to save, but you can exit the game using one of the doors in the room you started in. Fingerbones can be downloaded from itch.io. Bickadoodle In a typical light fantasy setting, a princess waits in a high stone tower for a brave knight to come rescue her. Right on cue, a brave knight appears, ready to serenade this lovely lady. Alas, a dragon seems intent on keeping the couple apart. Clearly not having been told of its normal role in events, it carries the knight off to its mountain lair. It looks like this time it is the princess who must brave perils, overcome mighty obstacles and face the dragon if she is to have her happy ending. Aetheric Games have created a nice little game that puts a twist on the classic tale. The graphics are drawn as if written in a school notebook, complete with the regular ruled lines behind the scenery. The environments themselves are well-drawn and brightly coloured, from the slightly wonky tower home of the princess to a castle fortress perched precariously on a high atoll. By contrast, the characters are stick figures, though with some clothing, such as a farmer’s rustic hat. The characters are minimally animated, moving around with a hopping motion, though their faces are animated while speaking. The soundtrack is a variety of simple tunes, changing from scene to scene along with a range of sound effects. The game is also voiced in a way; speech is conveyed as a series of mumbles conveying the tone, with the meaning shown through pictorial speech bubbles. As befits the setup, this is a lightly humorous game. The knight’s horse is hiding up a tree, the king is bereft of funds, and the local townsfolk think the princess’s pointy hat means she is actually a witch. Left-clicking moves the princess around and interacts with the environment. Right-clicking brings up the inventory. Enticing the knight’s horse down should be an early aim, as the princess is quite slow at moving around on foot. You will distract a farmer so you can vandalise his orchard, take advantage of a free exchange policy for magical potions, and hunt for lost treasure. As well as subverting the damsel in distress setting, the story takes swipes at other genre and game conventions. The king expects the heroine to do everything, including finding the funds for the dragon-killing potion. She also objects if asked to carry too much. Bickadoodle can be downloaded from the developer’s website.
A group of 33 Mexican soldiers is back home after crossing the Donna-Rio Bravo International Bridge in four military Hummers. The soldiers surprised American officials at the bridge around 1:50 p.m. Tuesday. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) spokes man Felix Garza said nobody was injured and the incident ended peacefully. The soldiers spent a little more than three hours on American side of the bridge before being "processed" and being allowed to return home. American officials would not confirm if the soldiers were fully armed but Garza said nobody was injured during the incident. "I can't answer whether or not they were armed or not but I can tell you that they were conducting their work that they do as military and somehow they lost sight of the boundary line and entered U.S. territory," Garza said. Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement agencies responded to the scene to support customs officers. Garza said that customs officers quickly initiated the proper protocols for the situation. "We continue to work with our partners in Mexico," Garza said. "We continue to have a shared responsibility over the security of the border and we maintain constant communication with them." U.S. Immigration & Customs Enforcement officials told Action 4 News that they will continue to investigate the incident. Mexico's Ministry of National Defense (SEDENA) reports that the soldiers "involuntarily" crossed the border. SEDENA officials reported that soldiers had to continue on their path because the only vehicle turnaround was on the American side of the border. Mexico's Ministry of National Defense Released The Following Statement: Reynosa, Tamps July 26, 2011 - The Ministry of National Defense, through its command post at the 8th Military Zone, informs the public that today, military personnel assigned to this area and out on patrol involuntarily crossed the border with the United States of America at the Rio Bravo-Donna International Bridge due to the vehicle turnaround being on the American side. The situation was cleared up with immigration officials in the neighboring nation. The military personnel returned to their national territory to continue their routine activities. Declaracin de la SEDENA: Reynosa, Tamps., a 26 de julio de 2011.- La Secretara de la Defensa Nacional, por conducto de la comandancia de la 8/a. Zona Militar, informa a la opinin pblica que esta fecha, personal militar jurisdiccionado a este mando territorial durante reconocimientos en la zona fronteriza, llev a cabo un cruce involuntario de la frontera con los Estados Unidos de Amrica, por el puente internacional Rio Bravo-Donna, en virtud de que el retorno vehicular se encuentra en el lado norteamericano, situacin que fue aclarada a las autoridades de inmigracin del vecino pas en dicho punto; una vez hecho lo anterior, el personal militar retorn a territorio nacional para continuar con sus actividades rutinarias.
Image caption Double trouble for dinosaurs: Did more than one asteroid or comet strike cause their demise? The dinosaurs were wiped out 65 million years ago by at least two space impacts, rather than a single strike, a new study suggests. Previously, scientists had identified a huge impact crater in the Gulf of Mexico as the event that spelled doom for the dinosaurs. Now evidence for a second impact in Ukraine has been uncovered. This raises the possibility that the Earth may have been bombarded by a whole shower of space rocks. The new findings are published in the journal Geology by a team lead by Professor David Jolley of Aberdeen University, UK. When first proposed in 1980, the idea that an asteroid or comet impact had killed off the dinosaurs proved hugely controversial. Later, the discovery of the Chicxulub Crater in the Gulf of Mexico was hailed as "the smoking gun" that confirmed the theory. Double trouble The discovery of a second impact crater suggests that the dinosaurs were driven to extinction by a "double whammy" rather than a single strike. The Boltysh Crater in Ukraine was first reported in 2002. However, until now it was uncertain exactly how the timing of this event related to the Chicxulub impact. In the current study, scientists examined the "pollen and spores" of fossil plants in the layers of mud that infilled the crater. They found that immediately after the impact, ferns quickly colonised the devastated landscape. Ferns have an amazing ability to bounce back after catastrophe. Layers full of fern spores - dubbed "fern spikes" - are considered to be a good "markers" of past impact events. However, there was an unexpected discovery in store for the scientists. They located a second "fern spike" in a layer one metre above the first, suggesting another later impact event. Professor Simon Kelley of the Open University, UK, who was co-author on the study, said: "We interpret this second layer as the aftermath of the Chicxulub impact." This shows that the Boltysh and Chicxulub impacts did not happen at exactly the same time. They struck several thousand years apart, the length of time between the two "fern spikes". Uncertain cause Professor Kelley continued: "It is quite possible that in the future we will find evidence for more impact events." Rather than being wiped out by a single hit, the researchers think that dinosaurs may have fallen victim to a shower of space rocks raining down over thousands of years. What might have caused this bombardment is highly uncertain. Professor Monica Grady, a meteorite expert at the Open University who was not involved in the current study, said: "One possibility might be the collison of Near Earth Objects." Recently, Nasa launched a program dubbed "Spaceguard". It aims to monitor such Near Earth Objects as an early warning system of possible future collisons.
National Weather Service Raw Text Product Displaying AFOS PIL: AFDOHX Received: 2019-02-26 20:55 UTC 040 FXUS64 KOHX 262055 AFDOHX Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Nashville TN 255 PM CST Tue Feb 26 2019 .DISCUSSION... Today turned out to be quite a nice day with mostly sunny skies...warm and temperatures in the upper 50s to around 60. Tonight will continue to be clear with lows around 40. Another pleasant day tomorrow with highs 60 to 65. The next rain chance will be tomorrow night due to a boundary meandering across the area in the predominant zonal flow. The good news is the QPF amounts will be light with less than a half inch of rain. Scattered pops stick around into the weekend when the next storm system will push the boundary south. There is some elevated CAPE Thursday night/Friday but at this time don/t feel it will be enough to trigger thunderstorms. If there are any rumbles of thunder they would be across Southern Middle TN. The next cold front looks to be an interesting one. Models are beginning to get more consistent with the timing and the general features. A low over the Ontario Providence will move a cold front through the eastern US over the weekend and into next week. This result in scattered pops Friday through the weekend for middle TN. This is a fairly strong cold front for March and winter does not seem to be done with us yet. At this time will go with mainly a mix of rain and snow. There could be some light accumulations of snow...but with it being so warm hopefully this will only occur on the colder grassy and elevated surfaces. && .AVIATION... 18Z TAF DISCUSSION. VFR through the taf period. Light south winds will continue with patchy cirrus clouds through tonight. The approach of a front after 27/14Z will bring slightly increasing SW winds with 5kft cigs. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Nashville 40 65 45 53 39 / 0 10 40 50 30 Clarksville 38 61 40 46 35 / 0 10 30 50 20 Crossville 41 61 44 59 40 / 0 10 40 60 30 Columbia 41 66 46 55 40 / 0 10 50 50 30 Lawrenceburg 42 66 47 57 41 / 0 10 50 50 30 Waverly 40 64 41 48 36 / 0 10 40 40 20 && .OHX WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... NONE. && $$ DISCUSSION......12 AVIATION........13
Get the biggest Manchester United FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Manchester United managers are supposed to enjoy it when City lose. But Louis van Gaal had cause to wince when Christian Eriksen scored Tottenham’s winner at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday. Not because it affected United – the title race hasn’t been any of their concern since well before Christmas. But rather because what Mauricio Pochettino is achieving at White Hart Lane this season means the Dutchman can no longer argue that he needs more time. It’s a well-worn phrase for under-pressure managers. “We need more time”. But how much time is fair? Judging by what Pochettino is doing at Spurs, Van Gaal is running out. The Argentinian was appointed at White Hart Lane in May 2014, two weeks after Van Gaal was confirmed as David Moyes’ successor at United. He took over a team that finished sixth in 2014, a place and five points ahead of United. Last season, he led them to a fifth-place finish and now, halfway through his second season in charge, they’re involved in a credible challenge for Tottenham’s first title since 1961. More impressively, though, at the same time he’s overseen a massive overhaul of the squad and made a profit in the transfer market. Since his appointment, Pochettino has bought 12 players for around £70m and sold 33 for a combined £84m. That’s a turnover of more than 50 players at a profit of nearly £15m. Van Gaal, meanwhile, improved on United’s seventh-place finish in 2014 to finish fourth last season and qualify for the Champions League. But both the 64-year-old and captain Wayne Rooney admitted after the defeat at Sunderland at the weekend it will now be ‘difficult’ to match that this time - let alone build on it. Van Gaal v Pochettino £258m spent by Van Gaal £95m recouped by Van Gaal -£163m Van Gaal net spend £70m spent by Pochettino £84m recouped by Pochettino +£14m Pochettino net spend After taking a year to rebuild, United were supposed to be ready to challenge for the title at this stage of Van Gaal’s reign but it’s not worked out like that. What’s more, the lack of progress is set against a backdrop of questionable decisions in the transfer market. United and Tottenham have seen a similar turnover of players over the last 18 months but Van Gaal has spent £258m and recouped £95m, a loss of £163m compared to Spurs’ profit. Watch: Van Gaal's press conference after Sunderland defeat Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now It would be unfair to judge Van Gaal solely by the progress of one club under one manager. But it does offer some context. There are other factors involved, but what Pochettino has achieved is the type of progress United were hoping for when they appointed Van Gaal - and he’s done it on a smaller budget. Van Gaal may argue that he’s only halfway through a three-year contract and his project still needs more time. Pochettino, it would appear, has had plenty.
Mayor 'would have been attempting to pervert course of justice' had he known of investigation at time of remark in 2010, police authority member claims Boris Johnson would have been "attempting to pervert the course of justice" if he knew police were actively investigating phone hacking when he described fresh allegations as "codswallop", a member of the Metropolitan Police Authority (MPA) has claimed. Jenny Jones, a London assembly member for the Green party, made the claim after the mayor's deputy for policing, Kit Malthouse, revealed he was informed that Scotland Yard was looking into claims made in a New York Times article on 10 September last year, five days before Johnson dismissed the allegations as a "political put-up job" by Labour. The revelation also casts doubt on Johnson's claim, made at a London assembly meeting on 15 September, that he was in "almost continuous conversations" with Malthouse about the phone-hacking allegations "and other matters". The MPA sought to clarify whether the Conservative mayor, who chose to delegate the chairmanship of the MPA to Malthouse 18 months ago, knew an investigation was active when he dismissed the allegations. Malthouse initially claimed that he had received no specific briefings on phone hacking and had no discussions with senior officers about it in September. But he admitted this week that such a briefing had taken place after he "personally" reviewed his diary following a written request from Jones for a full account of what he knew and when. On Tuesday, Malthouse confirmed that John Yates, then Met police assistant commissioner, requested a phone conversation with him on 10 September, in which he reassured him that he was looking at the allegations that had surfaced in the New York Times. Central to the paper's report was the claim that Andy Coulson, David Cameron's then director of communications, had "actively encouraged" a reporter to illegally intercept phone messages when he was the editor of the News of the World. Malthouse said Yates had told him that he was looking at the report and considering whether there was "any new evidence", and that Met officers "may fly to the USA to conduct interviews". Members of the MPA – the body responsible for overseeing Scotland Yard's work – questioned Malthouse about whether he had relayed the briefing about the investigation taking place to Johnson before the mayor made his comments. Malthouse said he "didn't recall" whether he had discussed what Yates had told him with the mayor prior to the 15 September session, adding: "I think it is probably unlikely that we did, but I cannot recall precisely." Jones said it was "inconceivable" that Johnson would not have known this when he dismissed the allegations. She told a meeting at London's City Hall: "If he did know, he was attempting to pervert the course of justice." Malthouse told Jones this was a "strong charge" to make and warned that "[you] might be getting yourself into hot water by saying things like that". He said he believed the mayor had based his views on the briefings and reassurances that had been given in previous discussions, and added: "The mayor is a personality that likes to express himself in particular ways." A spokeswoman for the mayor dismissed Jones's suggestion as "preposterous". The issue of whether or not the information received by Malthouse was passed on to Johnson before he faced the assembly also put the spotlight on the mayor's decision to delegate the chairmanship of the scrutiny body to Malthouse. Joanne McCartney, Labour's lead member on the MPA, said: "The questions about the mayor's role in the police investigation will not go away. "He said when he stood down that he would remain fully accountable for policing, but we still don't know what he knew or what he was told by his deputy before he decided to get involved in a live investigation. "It's not the first time he's done this and, given his actions, I think the government should now think long and hard before pressing ahead with their plans to give him more direct power over London's policing." Yates told Malthouse on the same day that he wrote to the prime minister's chief-of-staff, Ed Llewellyn, offering to "brief" Cameron on the latest phone hacking inquiry, but Llewellyn declined the offer. The assistant commissioner, who quit last week, wrote to Johnson earlier this month to apologise for failings in his briefings about the police's stance on new phone-hacking allegations that emerged after the original 2006-07 investigation. He told him: "I have acknowledged now that, with hindsight and with what we are currently seeing, my decisions would have been different. If this has placed you in a difficult position, then I very much regret this."
Donald Trump sure has a strange way of trying to make clear that he’s disavowing the “birther” conspiracy theories about President Barack Obama’s birthplace. On Friday, Trump gave a press conference in which he said he now believes Obama was born in the US, reversing years of unfounded accusations. He then tried to falsely pin the origin of the conspiracy theory on Hillary Clinton, going so far as to take credit for helping to debunk it. Less noticed was that even during this late and half-hearted acknowledgement, Trump stood right next to — and was even introduced by — a leading advocate of the birther movement: retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney. McInerney isn’t just one of the coterie of former officers who have backed the mogul despite his lack of military service and his continued attacks on the integrity of the nation’s top generals and admirals. Instead, McInerney has spent years publicly arguing that there are “legitimate concerns” about whether Obama was born in the US. He even submitted a court affidavit in support of birther Army Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin, who refused to deploy to Afghanistan because he did not believe Obama was a legitimate president, according to Talking Points Memo. TPM republished the affidavit McInerney wrote, which is worth reading just to get a sense of the depth of the former general’s birtherism: As a practical example from my background I recall commanding forces that were equipped with nuclear weapons. In my command capacity I was responsible that personnel with access to these weapons had an unwavering and absolute confidence in the unified chain of command, because such confidence was absolutely essential-- vital-- in the event the use of those weapons was authorized. I cannot overstate how imperative it is to train such personnel to have confidence in the unified chain of command. Today, because of the widespread and legitimate concerns that the President is constitutionally ineligible to hold office, I fear what would happen should such a crisis occur today. In refusing to obey orders because of his doubts as to their legality, LTC Lakin has acted exactly as proper training dictates. That training mandates that he determine in his own conscience that an order is legal before obeying it...Indeed, he has publicly stated that he "invites" his own court martial, and were I the Convening Authority, I would have acceded to his wishes in that regard. But thus stepping up the bar, LTC Lakin is demonstrating the courage of his convictions and his bravery. That said, it is equally essential that he be allowed access to the evidence that will prove whether he made the correct decision. For the foregoing reasons, it is my opinion that LTC Lakin's request for discovery relating to the President's birth records in Hawaii is absolutely essential to determining not merely his guilt or innocence but to reassuring all military personnel once and for all for this President whether his service as Commander in Chief is Constitutionally proper. He is the one single person in the Chain of Command that the Constitution demands proof of natural born citizenship. This determination is fundamental to our Republic, where civilian control over the military is the rule. According to our Constitution, the Commander in Chief must now, in the face of serious-- and widely held-- concerns that he is ineligible, either voluntarily establish his eligibility by authorizing release of his birth records or this court must authorize their discovery. The invasion of his privacy in these records is utterly trivial compared to the issues at stake here. Our military MUST have confidence their Commander in Chief lawfully holds this office and absent which confidence grievous consequences may ensue. Today, Trump appeared to want to demonstration that he’s putting his birther affiliations behind him. And to do it, he embraced a former officer who put birther conspiracy theories over the military’s sworn duty to uphold the US Constitution and take orders from the nation’s elected leadership. Trump can only hope that McInerney’s political skills are better than his legal ones: Akin was court-martialed by the army and ultimately spent five months imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth.
Get the biggest Manchester United FC stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email Tottenham have made an approach to loan Manchester United left-back Alexander Buttner. The 24-year-old Dutch defender is surplus to requirements at Old Trafford having failed to impress since his arrival there 16 months ago. Spurs, who have Jan Vertonghen injured, are desperate for cover at left-back with Benoit Assou Ekotto at QPR on loan and unwilling to return. Buttner was signed from Vitesse Arnhem in August 2012 for £5million. He has made a total of just 19 appearances in that time, however, including six this season. Spurs are understood to be keen to take him on loan for the rest of the season initially with a view to a permanent deal should he impress. Fulham's Dutch boss Rene Meulensteen has is also keen on a move for his countryman at his former club. Both Premier League outfits are rivalled, however, by Italian clubs Roma and Genoa would are both interested in a similar deal.
Officials at Joint Base Andrews outside Washigton, D.C. lifted a lockdown Thursday after determining that a report of an active shooter on the base was untrue. The confusion was heightened by a planned active shooter drill that had not yet begun and was planned for later in the morning. Someone through a window inside a Malcolm Grow Medical Facility building spotted two individuals – whom the base identified as security personnel – with long guns inspecting the area, a law enforcement source told Fox News. The individual inside the medical building called 911 unaware they were security, the source said. Given the call, first responders had to treat the situation as a real response. The drill had been planned to take place on the opposite side of the base. Officials said in a Facebook post Thursday that there was no shooter and no threat to the base or workers there. "Joint Base Andrews was scheduled to conduct a no-notice active shooter exercise in the late morning on the opposite side of the base," JBA wrote. "However, reports of a real-world active shooter situation at the medical facility were miscommunicated before the exercise was able to begin. There was a misidentification of the security forces emergency services team who were conducting a routine inspection of the medical facility, which caused the distress call to the base defense operations center." JBA is located in Prince George's County, Maryland. The base is located about 15 miles from the White House and is where Air Force One is parked. "Fortunately, this was not a life-threatening situation," Col. Brad Hoagland said in the base statement. "We take all threats seriously and reacted to ensure the security of those on the base." Fox News' Matt Dean, Garrett Tenney, Lucas Tomlinson and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Featured image: The blockade. This is the first time the Awá have initiated a protest of this kind on their own. © Survival International By Survival International Members of Brazil’s Awá tribe have blockaded a railroad owned by Vale mining company in the eastern Amazon. The company has moved to expand the railroad, but the Awá say the expansion will increase the number and size of trains which transport iron ore from the Carajás mine to the port of São Luis – and that this will make it harder for them to hunt for food. Carajás is the world’s largest open pit iron ore mine. To transport the iron ore, trains that are over 3 kilometers in length regularly hurtle through close to Awá territory. The tribe are calling for a meeting with the company and FUNAI, the Brazilian government’s indigenous affairs department, so that their wishes can be heard and their rights respected. On Saturday a large group of Awá families occupied a section of the railroad which runs alongside their land. Following a meeting with Vale representatives yesterday, the Awá agreed to suspend the blockade on condition that the company upholds its agreement to mitigate the impacts on the Indians’ forest. This is the first time that the Awá have blockaded the railroad on their own initiative and reflects their determination to hold Vale to account. In April 2014 Survival’s international campaign succeeded in pushing the Brazilian government to evict illegal loggers and settlers who had destroyed over 30% of their central territory. However, the Awá are still one of the most vulnerable peoples on the planet. Around 100 remain uncontacted and are very vulnerable to diseases brought in by outsiders, to which they have no resistance. Last year fires, possibly started by loggers, ravaged one Awá territory, home to the largest group of uncontacted members of the tribe. Act now to help the Awá Your support is vital if the Awá are to survive. There are many ways you can help.
................ a sponge rubber stunt double ............. .................. for your game controller ............. We've all been there. Anyone who has picked up a video game controller and played a game understands the anger and frustration that comes with it. Gamers are emotional. Video games are meant to bring out your emotions. So occasionally you throw your controller, and break it into a dozen pieces, rendering it useless. Then you have to spend another $30-$50 on a replacement controller that is destined for the same fate. Stop breaking your game controllers! The THROW CONTROL was created for gamers who need to take their anger and frustration out on something other than their expensive controllers. The sleek smooth design is made from firm and durable sponge rubber that can take a beating. The next time you feel like throwing your video game controller, pick up the THROW CONTROL, and take all your stress out on it instead. Throw it, kick it, punch it, stomp on it...whatever it takes to get back in the game without destroying anything.
The federal government has spent almost $65,000 waging a legal fight over home-equity assistance for a military member who lost $88,000 on the sale of his house when he moved for work. The Treasury Board Secretariat provided the figures at the request of the NDP, which asked how much Ottawa has paid out in legal fees in the case involving Maj. Marcus Brauer. The secretariat has so far paid $58,646.26, which includes $25,376 for Brauer's legal fees and disbursements, and $33,270 for the federal government's legal fees. It also spent almost $6,000 for a third party review of the housing market in Alberta that's at the centre of the dispute, making the total expenditure $64,644. Brauer went to court to seek compensation for the $88,000 he lost on the sale of his home after he was posted to another base in 2010 and the military refused to pay his full losses. The Federal Court in Halifax ruled last May that the Treasury Board Secretariat should review its decision to grant him only $15,000 in compensation. The board has not released the results of the review.
Elon Musk's giant lithium ion battery completed by Tesla in SA's Mid North Updated Tesla has completed construction of its giant lithium ion battery, described as the world's most powerful, with testing expected in coming days ahead of a December 1 operation deadline. The array of Tesla Powerpack batteries has been installed alongside French company Neoen's Hornsdale windfarm near Jamestown in South Australia's Mid North region. South Australian taxpayers will spend up to $50 million subsidising the 100-megawatt battery. In return, the SA Government will have access to some of the battery's output to provide stability services to the grid. The Government will also have the right to tap the battery's full output to prevent load shedding blackouts if supply runs low this summer. Load shedding happens when the market operator (AEMO) directs power providers to switch off supply to some customers to protect the grid. The new battery will produce enough energy to power about 30,000 homes for a little over an hour. It was one of several measures announced in Premier Jay Weatherill's $550 million energy plan, prompted by supply shortfalls, soaring prices and concerns over security of the electricity grid. The plan also included a fleet of diesel-powered backup generators, which have already been installed ahead of summer. "The world's largest lithium ion battery will be an important part of our energy mix," Mr Weatherill said. "It sends the clearest message that South Australia will be a leader renewable energy with battery storage. "An enormous amount of work has gone in to delivering this project in such a short time, and I look forward to visiting Jamestown next week to personally thank those who have worked on this project." Mr Weatherill visited the battery site at the end of September with Tesla boss Elon Musk, to mark the halfway point of construction. What will the battery do? The battery is privately owned by Neoen in partnership with Tesla. In normal circumstances, the battery will be charged with power from the nearby Hornsdale windfarm when power is plentiful and cheap. The operators will then have the right to sell some of it back into the grid when the supply-demand balance is tighter and prices are higher. The SA Government will be able to use a portion of the battery's output to provide stability services to the grid. There is a market for these services, but in South Australia there is limited competition. At times when South Australia can't import stability services from across the interconnector to Victoria, the state pays extraordinary prices, which drive up bills for households and businesses. The Government expects the battery to bring new competition to that market. In addition, the Government will have the right to tap the battery's entire output if the state is running low on power and load shedding is imminent. Coupled with the state's newly installed fleet of backup diesel generators, the battery could stop thousands of households unexpectedly losing power for half an hour or so on a hot summer's afternoon. Topics: alternative-energy, wind-energy, environment, electricity-energy-and-utilities, science-and-technology, jamestown-5491, sa, adelaide-5000 First posted
A Falkland Islander votes to remain a UK citizen. The Labour leader faces further controversy over the islands Marcos Brindicci / Reuters One of Jeremy Corbyn’s top aides is understood to have resigned because of internal feuding in the Labour leader’s office. Neale Coleman, head of rebuttal and a former aide to Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson, quit after a row with Seumas Milne, the Labour leader’s media and political adviser. The departure highlights the split in the leader’s office over how left wing the Labour leader should be. A party spokeswoman said it did not comment on staffing issues. Tensions have been rising for weeks. One senior Labour source said Mr Milne had repeatedly briefed against Mr Coleman and wanted him gone. The insider said: “Seumas thinks he’s head of strategy, head of communications, head of policy and chief of staff all in one.” Mr Corbyn…
From now on he’s going to have to do his pontificating. From BEHIND BARS. Possibly. Pope Benedict, Joseph Ratzinger, has scheduled a meeting with Italian President Giorgio Napolitano (above) for Saturday, February 23 to discuss securing protection and immunity from prosecution [for child sex crimes] from the Italian government, according to Italian media sources. Ratzinger’s meeting follows upon the apparent receipt by the Vatican of a diplomatic note from an undisclosed European government on February 4, stating its intention to issue an arrest warrant for Ratzinger, who resigned from his pontificate less than a week later. In response to the February 23 meeting, the International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS), through its field Secretary, Rev. Kevin Annett, has written to President Napolitano, asking him to refrain from assisting Ratzinger in evading justice.
Get the biggest daily stories by email Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Could not subscribe, try again later Invalid Email A man who dressed in a clown outfit and intimidated children outside a school has been given a criminal record. The 18-year-old man was seen outside St Cenydd Comprehensive School in Caerphilly on Friday. He has now been issued a fixed penalty notice and fined £90 for a public order offence, which will go on his criminal record. This unrelated video footage shows a clown spotted in Merthyr: Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now Chief Inspector Paul Staniforth, from Gwent Police, said: “Gwent Police will not tolerate such behaviour and anyone seeking to cause distress and potential harm to anyone will be dealt with. “In this case, not only is this man out of pocket, he will now have a criminal record which will impact his future, including any job opportunities. poll loading Should people who dress up as clowns get a criminal record? 1000+ VOTES SO FAR YES NO Another clown was seen in Caernarfon: Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now “I hope this result sends a strong message to anyone thinking about taking part in this craze, that their five minutes of what they may think is fun really isn’t worth it. “Please be mindful and just think about the impact this is having on the public and police resources, not to mention the consequences for yourself and others.”
President Bush says he was aware that his top aides met in the White House basement to micromanage the application of waterboarding and other widely-condemned interrogation techniques. And he says it was no big deal. "I'm aware our national security team met on this issue. And I approved," Bush told ABC News' Martha Raddatz on Friday. "I don't know what's new about that; I'm not so sure what's so startling about that." It's true that it has been widely assumed and occasionally reported that the CIA's use of brutal interrogation techniques could be traced back to the White House on a general level. But it was most definitely new last week when ABC News reported that a group of Bush's top aides, including Vice President Cheney, took part in meetings where they explicitly discussed and approved -- literally blow by blow -- tactics such as waterboarding. And while Bush has previously defended these tactics -- vaguely, and insisting against all evidence that they did not amount to torture -- he had not, until now, acknowledged that he personally OK'd them beforehand. If you consider what the government did to be torture, which is a crime according to U.S. and international law, Bush's statement shifts his role from being an accessory after the fact to being part of a conspiracy to commit. What Bush Said Here's the transcript of Bush's Friday morning interview with ABC News White House correspondent Martha Raddatz. Raddatz: "ABC News reported this week that your senior national security officials all got together and approved -- including Vice President Cheney -- all got together and approved enhanced interrogation methods, including waterboarding, for detainees." Bush: "You mean back in 2003?" Raddatz: "Are you aware of that? Are you aware of that?" Bush: "Was I aware that we were going to use enhanced --" Raddatz: "That they all met together?" Bush: "Of course. They meet together all the time on --" Raddatz: "And approved that?"
This 1970 Datsun Bluebird SSS Coupe (chassis P510-244933) is the JDM right-hand-drive sibling of the common 510 model, and is notable for its swept c-pillars, SSS exterior trim, and wide rear lamp assembly with sequential turn signals. It was purchased by the current SoCal owner directly from Japan, where it was built by a American serviceman whose attention to detail and quality of work is detailed in the 65 page build thread below. The car has been modified with a SR20 turbo engine and the seller calls the car “flawless, needing nothing, and the cleanest Bluebird anywhere.” It has never been offered publicly for sale before now, and is available in Escondido, California for $40k. Check out the full build thread here on 510realm.com. Exterior details like proper chrome fender mirrors, an NOS JDM grille, and an NOS replacement rear bumper help set this Bluebird apart from many other Datsun builds. Front brakes are from an R32 Skyline and rear brakes are Wilwood units. Troy Ermish coil-overs and TTTuning adjustable front TC rods highlight the suspension build, and set the car down nicely over 16″ Rays TE37 wheels fastened with titanium lug nuts. The dash features the stock dash with the factory radio and clean, fully functioning switch-work. One aftermarket gauge is hidden beneath the dash and the steering wheel is a yellow-stitched Personal unit. An electric power steering system has been added, as seen here in the gallery. Custom made GTS carbon fiber low-back retro bucket seats look very cool, and Sparco 4-point belts were added for both driver and passenger. The Nissan SR20 engine has 45K miles and is all stock apart from a Greddy intake, putting 200 horsepower to the wheels. The engine bay is very clean, and details like the NOS wiper motor and TSR radiator give it a high quality look. The 5-speed transmission feeds power through a modified transmission tunnel to a R200 limited-slip differential. A 5-lug conversion and Porsche 930 CV joints have further fortified the driveline. Click here to email the seller directly if you are interested. Check out the additional photos here in the Flickr album and slide-show below.
CLOSE The Garbage Ball made by Jerry Gallipeau, owner of 585 Rockin Burger Bar in Gates. (September 2016) Carlos Ortiz Buy Photo Inside the Garbage Ball made by Jerry Gallipeau, owner of 585 Rockin Burger Bar. (Photo: CARLOS ORTIZ/@CFORTIZ_DANDC/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER)Buy Photo "The Garbage Ball is here!!! Everything in a plate formed into a ball, coated in Panko and deep fried!! Doesn't get much better!!' It was a single post on Facebook, along with a photograph of a sizable sphere of food, apparently deep fried, topped with a meaty ground beef sauce, a squiggle of an orange condiment and surrounded by a confetti of cheese. The reaction was immediate. More than 2,400 people reacted with a like, love or wow on Facebook. A total of 2,963 people shared it. The post garnered more than 800 comments: Sweet mother of God. ... Why can't we get these in the southern Adirondacks. Lived in Rochester and moved away, missing garbage plates let alone this beautiful creation!!! Omgggggggg when we going. I might have to try this instrument of death. That looks amazeballs. That one Facebook post initially promised a cash cow for the 585 Rockin Burger Bar in Gates. But the feeding frenzy that ensued wound up being as much of a headache as a help. Chef and co-owner of the bar around the corner from Cinemark Tinseltown theater, Jerry Gallipeau enjoys concocting dishes with crazy twists. His pepperoni pizza melt has two pepperoni pizza grilled cheese sandwiches as buns. A chips and dip burger includes house-made onion dip and potato straws. And one of his specials, the mac attack, substitutes mac and cheese patties in for buns. In the past, Gallipeau applied his creative twists to arancini. He started out with traditional versions of the Italian rice balls, which were stuffed with meat, peas and mozzarella cheese, coated with bread crumbs and deep fried. But he also made nontraditional versions, including Buffalo chicken, lobster and Cuban, stuffed with pulled pork and ham and served with a Cuban sauce on top. He also branched out to dessert arancini including peanut butter and jelly, cannoli, banana split, raspberry cream and lemon pie. One day, he had a request for arancini based on a trash plate, so he stuffed the arancini with hamburger, hot sauce and mac salad; his customer was pleased. Buy Photo It took Jerry Gallipeau awhile to figure out the breading process for the Garbage Ball. (Photo: CARLOS ORTIZ/@CFORTIZ_DANDC/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) That got his creative wheels turning. He took the idea a step further, eliminating the rice. In a huge bowl, he combined ground beef, french fries, macaroni salad and shredded cheddar cheese. Getting that concoction to hold together in a ball wasn't an easy process; he equated it to making a snowball out of slush. After several tries, he developed a technique for forming the balls, smearing them with egg, coating them in Panko bread crumbs and repeating the process. The ball consisted of more than two pounds of food, midway in size between a softball and bowling ball, meant for sharing. He topped it with meat-based hot sauce and a squiggle of his Rockin Sauce, kind of a spicy mayo, and surrounded it with shredded cheddar cheese. It was served on a paper-lined tray instead of a plate. Buy Photo The Garbage Balls' transition from the original and time-consuming size, left, to the more manageable softball-sized (OK, it's a bit larger) Garbage Ball, right, made by Jerry Gallipeau, owner of 585 Rockin Burger Bar in Gates. (Photo: CARLOS ORTIZ/@CFORTIZ_DANDC/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) He offered it as a special one night, making each ball to order. It was a hit with customers, but after the time-consuming process of making 30 to order that night, Gallipeau looked around the mess from the process and said, "I'm never going to do that again." That vow lasted for a couple of years until a few weeks ago, when he decided to roll out the garbage ball again. This time, he premade the balls and chilled them, which helped compact the mixture. He figured this would streamline the process enough to make it workable. His son, Jerid, 29, who also works in the family-owned restaurant, snapped a picture and shared it on the restaurant's Facebook page. The reaction was immediate, with many customers coming in for the balls. Buy Photo Garbage Ball in the fryer as Jerry Gallipeau makes it at his restaurant 585 Rockin Burger Bar. (Photo: CARLOS ORTIZ/@CFORTIZ_DANDC/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER) The problem: Only two of the supersized balls could fit into a fryer basket, and the limited output slowed down the kitchen. "It was delaying things quite a bit," Gallipeau said. The next day, the restaurant ran a second Facebook post: Our sincere apologies for the long waits tonight. Our garbage ball special went viral on our post. They are made to order, as well as all of our burgers, so there was a backup because of it. Kudos to our kitchen staff for giving their all in the 200 plus degree kitchen. After that, the garbage balls were downsized to a softball size — still a hefty pound of food — to fit more balls in a fryer basket. To avoid backing up the kitchen on busy weekends, it is now a Wednesday night special, sold until they are gone. They go for $9.95 each. In the meantime, Gallipeau is brainstorming what he'll concoct next. He is currently pondering adding one more ingredient to the garbage balls: hot dogs. NEWSLETTERS Get the Flavors of Rochester newsletter delivered to your inbox We're sorry, but something went wrong An inside look at Rochester's vibrant food scene, including restaurant happenings, local craft beer and Finger Lakes wine. Please try again soon, or contact Customer Service at 1-800-790-9565. Delivery: Thurs Invalid email address Thank you! You're almost signed up for Flavors of Rochester Keep an eye out for an email to confirm your newsletter registration. More newsletters If you go: The 585 Rockin Burger Bar is at 250 Pixley Road in Gates, around the corner from the Cinemark Tinseltown theater. The Garbage Ball is available on Wednesdays and occasionally other days; check the restaurant's Facebook page for updates. [email protected] Read or Share this story: http://on.rocne.ws/2cV1x58
By Lucas Costello David Miller isn’t happy. His subway was delayed, the reasons for the delay, relayed over the subway intercom, unintelligible. And yet, as Toronto lurches toward 2020, it is likely that he will remain the amalgamated City of Toronto’s “Transit Mayor” for the foreseeable future — as the severed limbs of what was once Transit City are dug up and reanimated, discarded for new parts, then dug up and reanimated once again. Ethnic Aisle sat down with him to discuss how an evidence based, interconnected transit plan, became a transit Frankenstein a decade later. [Ethnic Aisle] What is your recollection of the reception of Transit City when it was announced, specifically from those communities that have now been left out of this whole process, such as Jane/Finch, Malvern, and Scarborough, which are now years behind? [Miller] Well, we are years behind. Transit City was announced in March 2007 and the Premier announced full funding for the entire Transit City — not just the first three lines, which were Eglinton, Sheppard and Finch — on June 15, 2007. So as of June 15, 2007 the project went full steam ahead. About a year later he announced funding or we reached an agreement, I can’t remember the exact mechanism, but there was an announcement that Finch, Sheppard, and Eglinton would be the first three lines, and by 2009 the engineering was done sufficiently to allow Sheppard to start. Finch was about to start and Eglinton was well on the way. All three lines got slowed down a bit because Metrolinx was structurally incompetent, they didn’t have the staff to be able to understand [Transit City]. That’s the background for the answer to your question. We were full steam ahead for 2007 with the funding in place, and doing the engineering so that Finch, Sheppard, Eglinton construction could start in 2009 or 2010. In that context we held over 80 public meetings about the Finch and the Sheppard lines. There was overwhelming public support and excitement. In lower income, marginalized, and racialized communities I’d say that was also accompanied with a bit of skepticism “Are you really gonna do it?” Because people have heard so many commitments in the past that haven’t come through. There were a few details that there were concerns about and work was done to address those community concerns. Those consultations included me as well, not in the public meetings, but I did a tour of some of the wards, particularly the Sheppard route, by taking buses from Malvern and talking to people on the bus. So there was very, very strong public support for rapid transit to communities where people took the bus. For example, I rode the Finch bus one morning and main streeted a couple of stops and talked to people. So there’s very strong support in those communities and people I think understand, when they’re stuck on the bus, that rail based rapid transit through a modern network of light rail would make their lives significantly easier. Why do you think the resistance from Councillor Mammoliti’s ward, from the Emery Village BIA, and also the 2010 “transportation plan” from former mayor Rob Ford that stated he would get ten+ subway stations built for $4 billion by 2015, was able to undo the work that you had done so rapidly? Well, I see history slightly differently. First of all, I had several meetings in Councillor Mammoliti’s ward with the business community about Transit City, they were one of the biggest backers of the Finch LRT. If you go back and look you’ll see. It is true that my successor stopped the Sheppard LRT. It’s also true that Council brought back the essence of Transit City because it’s the right thing to do. What you’re seeing is politicians speaking to different constituencies. People who ride the bus everyday, who disproportionately are lower income, racialized, and come from marginalized communities, by and large are delighted with the idea that they could move from a bus to rail based electric transit, whether it’s above ground or below ground. Others, including my successor, are speaking to car drivers. They’re not speaking to transit users whatsoever. Part of the push for subways is, “Bury it, it’s less inconvenient for car drivers.” If you look at most of Transit City, you discover that road capacity doesn’t change. There’s no negative impact on cars whatsoever and because far more people will take transit there’s a positive impact on road capacity — although that’s an argument that you have to take time to make, it’s not intuitive to people. Another part of the problem was Premier Dalton McGuinty. In the narrative of history, he doesn’t get enough blame. Because Finch, Sheppard, and Eglinton were ready to go — we broke ground on Sheppard in 2009, Finch was ready to go in 2010. We could have broken ground and started construction, and Premier McGuinty halted that line. I’ve never understood that decision, I still don’t to this day. But if he had not halted that line, you had Sheppard and Finch under way, and Eglinton about to be under way — and therefore the beginnings of a network of light rail rapid transit in Toronto. It would have been politically impossible for my successor, or anybody else, to halt the progress and stop it, because the Sheppard cancellation alone cost $100M. A mayor doesn’t have authorization to spend $100M, you need council approval. It was improper and unlawful at the time and remains so. Cancelling Finch then, would have likely cost a similar amount of money, and I don’t believe it would have been politically feasible. So, we have to put the blame where it starts, which is with Premier McGuinty’s decision, in the 2010 budget, to defund Finch. That specifically undermined the transit potential for several of the lowest income communities in this city. Because the Finch line ran through Rexdale, Jane and Finch, and was going to connect Humber College into the fabric of the city. It’s a real tragedy. That’s on Premier McGuinty’s shoulders, not on my successor’s or city council. Seeing what has rolled out under the current administration, do you think that Scarborough subway plan will actually happen? No. If by that you mean, “Will it get built?” — no. I’ve lived the political history of transit in this city for over 25 years. I’ve watched, I’ve fought for it, I’ve learned, I’ve listened. I’ve seen all of the best planning, I’ve had access to all of the best information about how to build transit in this city. It is impossible to believe, if you have that background, that what will be a $4 billion subway stop will ever get built. What we will see is more studies, and money spent on it, but you won’t see it be built. Because some government’s going to come to its senses and cancel the project because it makes no economic or transportation sense whatsoever, because it uses up so much of the money. It prevents the building of the rapid transit that is needed, which is the rapid transit that serves low income communities across this city. What you’re saying, with the Scarborough one stop extension, to low income neighbourhoods is, “Stay in the bus”. In fact, what you’re really saying to people is, “get to the back of the bus.” Because you’re saying, “we don’t care. We have this money to spend on transit, that we know could make a significant difference to your lives — which is part of the provincial and city strategy to support people in low income neighbourhoods — but we don’t care because we’re going to use the money to build one subway stop.” It’s that blunt, that direct, and that clear. So what are the future impacts now that we are still at zero, with no new transit in that area? Well, Toronto has to build rapid transit. It needs to build rapid transit that helps the city direct the growth that’s come into the city appropriately. It needs to build rapid transit that serves people from all walks of life. It needs that from a transportation perspective, from an environmental perspective. Which is why it should be rail and electric based, no emissions or close to zero emissions. That rapid transit network will not only address transportation issues, it will address economic issues, so it’s good socially, economically, environmentally, and for transportation. We need that, the city’s not going to thrive without it. The sad thing about what’s happened since Premier McGuinty made that decision, is that... essentially nothing has happened except going backwards and literally throwing away hundreds of millions of dollars — either on cancelled projects or wasted studies. Everybody involved in that should be ashamed. We’ve had the same provincial government that whole time. They know what’s needed, and I think it is incredibly sad that the crassest political consideration, winning a by-election, has caused the potential for the entire transportation network in Toronto to serve people who ride transit the most and need it the most to be pushed aside. I’ve encountered a lot of people who were conflating the Scarborough RT with LRT, which it seemed your successor was able to capitalize on. How do you see these conflations of “fancy streetcars” and so forth being undone? It is true that in Scarborough, there’s a historic concern that they were treated as an experiment by the Bill Davis government. It’s also true that the RT has issues in our climate — it works very well in Vancouver, but it can’t handle snow. So people have legitimate concerns, and they have a historic sense of injustice, absolutely no question about that. It is also true that the light rail plans provide far more people in Scarborough with far better transit. What the one stop subway extension does is make it easier to leave Scarborough and go downtown. What the Sheppard, Scarborough-Malvern, Eglinton, and RT replacement LRT lines do is create a network that, in addition to making it easier for people to go downtown, makes it far easier to get around Scarborough. In fact, the majority of the money of Transit City in some ways would ultimately be spent in Scarborough if the network was built as originally planned. The polls always showed that in Scarborough people wanted a subway, there’s no question about that, but also the exact same polls said that people wanted LRTs. A little bit less, 82% for subways, 72% for LRTs. There is an amazing case to make for the people of Scarborough and I made it — “You have said that you want rapid transit to get around Scarborough, not to just go to downtown Toronto, this LRT network provides you that. It’s modern, efficient, it’s like Europe. You can be proud.” You can sell that case in Scarborough, absolutely, because it provides far more people far better access to transit. Some have chosen not to do that. There’s no doubt in my mind based on the polls, on my own personal experience and winning all of Scarborough in 2006 on this exact platform, that you can make this case and people will get exceptionally excited about it. Are you tired of talking about this yet? How do you feel seeing all of this coming back, the undoing and redoing? When you sit at home and see this, now that you’re not there what are the thoughts that run through your head? I left politics because I felt that I had achieved everything I possibly could, and I’d watched other politicians try to hang on to power for too long because they liked power, and I didn’t want to be that kind of politician. I’m values based, and a big part of what drove me to run for office was building the 21st Century transit that Toronto needs and that the residents deserve. Particularly residents in the lowest income neighbourhoods in this city, who use transit proportionately the most, and deserve it the most: clean, rail-based rapid transit. In that context, I alternate between outrage and bemusement. Because everything that comes out of City Hall and Queen’s Park, you think “I’ve just seen the most ludicrous thing possible,” and then the next day it’s even worse. So I get angry, I get outraged, I get frustrated, I bang my head against the wall — occasionally, literally and then sometimes I laugh. But at the heart of this, I actually do have confidence in Torontonians. Eventually, we are going to force the people we elect to do the right thing, I always put my faith in Torontonians, they never let me down. I think people are going to speak up as this shamble continues to unfold and say, “wait a minute, we want to use money prudently and efficiently. We want a rapid transit network. We want to serve people who need it the most. We want it to be rail- and electric-based.” In a lot of places in this city that means light rail, in a few it means subways, if you’ve got massive populations there. Eventually and hopefully, in the not too distant future people are going to say, “We’ve had enough of this. Build that network.” Does this mean we’ll see a re-match betwee-- No. No. No. No. Note: An earlier version of this interview incorrectly stated the date of Transit City's funding announcement. Ethnic Aisle regrets the error.
Sen. Flake: Concerns need to be addressed before tax reform 7:05 PM ET Thu, 9 March 2017 | 03:24 Mitch McConnell thinks getting tax reform done, along with repealing Obamacare, could take longer than the Trump administration claims. Politico on Thursday asked the Republican Senate majority leader if he thinks tax reform can be completed by August. "I think finishing on tax reform will take longer. But we do have to finish the health-care debate, up or down, win or lose, before we go to taxes," McConnell told Politico. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin previously told CNBC he wanted to see "very significant" tax reform passed by Congress' August recess. Asked Thursday if he could give a more realistic timeline for a tax overhaul, McConnell said, "I don't know. It is complicated." Republicans have started a packed legislative calendar by pushing to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. For both political and procedural reasons, the GOP aims to pass health-care reform first, then turn to tax reform. Later Thursday, White House press secretary Sean Spicer insisted that Trump plans to stick to the schedule the administration detailed previously. "I think we feel confident that we're going to get a lot done, continue to get a lot done this year," he said. Republicans have two chances for a procedure called budget reconciliation, which requires only a Senate majority and can bypass Democratic opposition. McConnell said "we know (Democratic senators are) not going to participate."
" - Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty "I'm thrilled to resign with Team Liquid as a Quake Champions player! I previously thought I would never compete in Quake again, but I am excited to know there will be a lot on the line over the next year in some big tournaments. Can't wait to play both duel and team Quake on LAN regularly and at the highest level I can “I’ve always loved to play onstage, that pretty much answers that *laughs*. I like it a lot. For example, even for myself, I don’t have the time to play fighting games but I do like them, and I know the feeling I get when I watch a stream of Street Fighter or Killer Instinct. I’ve looked and I know how good the players are and I get to watch it at the highest level, I know the feeling of rooting for people and seeing that skill. I know that not just myself but my teammates and opponents help to bring that to a lot of people who love the game. I’m glad that I can showcase that and that people enjoy it.” Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty - I thought the idea made a lot of sense to combine features from previous Quake games. The ultimate abilities are not too strong which also makes sense for a Quake title. Definitely a lot of potential as an esport if the right decisions are made. Shane "rapha" Hendrixson Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty Back in July, we announced that we would be sending a team of four to compete at QuakeCon 2017 , with Shane "rapha" Hendrixson stepping down from Overwatch to commit to Quake full time. As one of the greatest Quake players in history, he was enthused by the franchise's new iteration and wanted to return to his roots. He was joined by Tim "DaHanG" Fogarty, another Quake legend, and the latter managed to reach the semifinals of the Duel event after an unfortunate teamkill in the previous round.Today, we are thrilled to announce that we have re-signed rapha and DaHanG to formalize our commitment to Quake Champions. They will represent Team Liquid in one of the most storied franchises in gaming, and we are eager to see them conquer the sport once again.You will be able to watch them this weekend at DreamHack: Denver as they compete in both Duel and Sacrifice. The winner of Duel will receive $14,000 and automatic qualification for DreamHack Winter 2017. Fortunately, rapha and DaHanG have already been invited to DH Winter, but expect them to put on a show at the National Western Complex.We hope that you'll be able to tune in and cheer for our players. If you're new to Quake and would like to learn more, you can drop in on our Discord and we'll try to guide you as we watch our team together.In the meantime, you can read about rapha's thoughts on the Evolution of Esports. He shares his memories of his illustrious past, his observations of the present, and his expectations for the future.An excerpt from the article:If you'd like to know more about Quake Champions, DaHanG and rapha shared their thoughts on the new game back in August. An excerpt from our interview:
: Have the Rules of Finance Changed? Asl? Demirg -Kunt , Douglas Darrell Evanoff , George G. Kaufman World Scientific , 2011 - 433 pages , 2011 - Business & Economics 0 Reviews The recent global financial crisis has caused massive upheavals worldwide. The papers in this volume analyze whether financial principles seem to have shifted in recent years, and what that may mean for international financial markets and regulation. What ?broke? in the current crisis? Is there no ?playbook? on how to respond to systemic crises? What is the optimal role of the state in dealing with crises? How should asset bubbles be addressed in the future? Do we need a major overhaul of governance in the industry? What means exist to address systemic crises? What reforms are needed? These and related issues are discussed by an impressive list of well-known scholars, policymakers and practitioners, with an emphasis on the implications for public policy. Preview this book »
« Former Prank Presidential Candidate and Part-Time Thumb Egg McMuffin Owes $670,000 For His Very Expensive Vanity Campaign | Main | Media Absolutely Determined to Continue Operating as PR Shop for Clintons, Even If the Only Remaining Clinton is... Chelsea » FBI Used Discredited "Dodgy Dossier" As Part of Its Basis for Securing FISA Warrant Against Trump Hanger-On Carter Page There are two different ways to play this revelation. The first: That, as justification for an intrusive counter-espionage warrant, the FBI had used a dossier which had been commissioned by not one but two political opponents of Trump (first unnamed Republicans, then the Hillary campaign) which used paid and anonymous sources to construct a laughably lurid portrait of Trump. This would tend to discredit the warrant by associating it with the shoddy provenance of a dossier that it was secured with (at least partially). The second: That the fact that this dossier was used as the pretext for a FISA warrant tended to buttress the reliability of the dossier itself. A bootstrapping argument: If the dossier resulted in a rubber-stamp FISA warrant, doesn't that mean the dossier is legit? This framing takes the FISA warrant, taking that warrant as legitimate (signed by a JUDGE!!!!) and associates it with the dossier to improve the very dubious nature of the dossier. Guess which approach the media took, uniformly, almost as if they were taking orders from DNC central? Mollie Hemingway writes about this. After recapping all the ways in which this dossier is just flat-out wrong or deeply misinformed, she talks about the media's curious incuriosity about a major intelligence operation conducted to take out an American presidential candidate: The New York Times also used anonymous sources to report on the U.S. government’s surveillance of Page. The article claims "when [Page] became a foreign policy adviser to the Trump campaign last year and gave a Russia-friendly speech at a prestigious Moscow institute, it soon caught the bureau's attention. That trip last July was a catalyst for the F.B.I. investigation into connections between Russia and President Trump's campaign, according to current and former law enforcement and intelligence officials." If this is true that this was the catalyst, it is concerning. The Times article explains at great length how little a role Page had in the campaign and how far from central he was, to put it mildly. It notes that he worked in Russia and was critical of U.S. foreign policy toward Russia. At no point is anything illegal alleged. To be clear, since many in the media are not clear on this point, it is still legal in this country to be critical of U.S. foreign policy toward another country. Incidentally, if it is illegal to peddle a softer line on Russia, then we have a lot of espionage prosecutions against Democrats and progressive think-tankers and academics to get on top of, stat. Beginning with Mr. Flexibility Barack Obama ("The eighties just called...") and Soviet Union Honeymooner Bernie Sanders. And not ending until you're about 15-20,000 names deep into the Progressive Membership List. ... Until evidence is provided, journalists who care about privacy and abuse of power should be asking tough questions of everyone involved. Despite a nearly year-long campaign of leaks and innuendo to tie Trump to Russia, nothing has been provided to support the claim of collusion. Until and unless any of the people making such claims produce actual evidence of Trump associates having knowledge of Russian actions beforehand, and coordinating the placement and timing of leaks for political effect, the proper focus of journalists should be on the rampant abuse of power in a political opponent being surveilled by his own government.... Again, maybe the U.S. government has every reason to be spying on Carter Page. But if he was spied on for having political views or associates at odds with the Obama administration, that's a problem. Like-minded people favoring a change in U.S. foreign policy should not be illegal. That’s politics, and precisely why elections are held in a free country. Government resources, law enforcement, and surveillance powers simply shouldn’t be put to partisan use. If nothing comes of this nearly year-long investigation into a political campaign, accountability must be demanded. By the way, Carter Page's "connections" to Trump may be even weaker than his alleged "connections" to Russia. Rich Lowry relates this funny bit: Per Business Insider, this is how Page has described to the Senate his role in the campaign, obviously trying to pump it up, none too impressively: "For your information, I have frequently dined in Trump Grill, had lunch in Trump Café, had coffee meetings in the Starbucks at Trump Tower, attended events and spent many hours in campaign headquarters on the fifth floor last year," Page wrote. "As a sister skyscraper in Manhattan, my office at the IBM Building (590 Madison Avenue) is literally connected to the Trump Tower building by an atrium." Wow. He's practically married to Ivanka. Steve Bannon better watch out for this new Strong Horse jockeying for position. Trump's lawyers have sent him two cease-and-desist letters, incidentally. TheDC can also reveal that the Trump team issued a number of cease and desist requests to Page in recent months over concerns that he was misrepresenting his role on the campaign. Which sounds to me like a demand to stop claiming you're some kind of close associate just to boost your career. The history of Carter Page's brief "association" with the Trump campaign is pretty thin -- allegedly an Iowa GOP guy put Carter Page's name in a list of names of potential hires to beef up Trump's foreign policy team. Trump hired him, I guess, but says he never met him. It's not as if these are longstanding ties. When Trump needed warm bodies, a GOP guy (with no ties to Russia himself) offered up Page (among others). Page worked briefly for Trump. Then Trump sent him cease-and-desist letters. Doesn't seem to be a very close association. And as to Page's "association" with Russia -- well, he was invited to give a speech at that Russian school. Is that now criminal? Like I said, if it's criminal, We're gonna need a bigger FISA warrant. In July, he was invited to speak at the graduation ceremony at Moscow's New Economic School, a role often filled by prominent international politicians, including President Barack Obama in 2009. That's from Time, by the way. I like how Time, instead of treating this as exculpatory (Barack Obama spoke there in 2009), instead casts it as incriminating as regards Carter Page, because while you could understand why someone of Barack Obama's stature would be invited, you can't say the same for Page. Strange how something that got no ink at all when Obama did it is now prima facia evidence of espionage for a foreign state. Meanwhile, this piece by George Neumayr at the American Spectator is even more forward-leaning on the Deep State's attempted coup. Confirmed: John Brennan Colluded With Foreign Spies to Defeat Trump GEORGE NEUMAYR April 19, 2017, 12:04 am This is the open scandal that Congress should investigate. An article in the Guardian last week provides more confirmation that John Brennan was the American progenitor of political espionage aimed at defeating Donald Trump. One side did collude with foreign powers to tip the election -- Hillary's. Seeking to retain his position as CIA director under Hillary, Brennan teamed up with British spies and Estonian spies to cripple Trump's candidacy. He used their phony intelligence as a pretext for a multi-agency investigation into Trump, which led the FBI to probe a computer server connected to Trump Tower and gave cover to Susan Rice, among other Hillary supporters, to spy on Trump and his people. John Brennan's CIA operated like a branch office of the Hillary campaign, leaking out mentions of this bogus investigation to the press in the hopes of inflicting maximum political damage on Trump. An official in the intelligence community tells TAS that Brennan's retinue of political radicals didn’t even bother to hide their activism, decorating offices with "Hillary for president cups" and other campaign paraphernalia. A supporter of the American Communist Party at the height of the Cold War, Brennan brought into the CIA a raft of subversives and gave them plum positions from which to gather and leak political espionage on Trump. He bastardized standards so that these left-wing activists could burrow in and take career positions. Under the patina of that phony professionalism, they could then present their politicized judgments as "non-partisan." The Guardian story is written in a style designed to flatter its sources (they are cast as high-minded whistleblowers), but the upshot of it is devastating for them, nonetheless, and explains why all the criminal leaks against Trump first originated in the British press. According to the story, Brennan got his anti-Trump tips primarily from British spies but also Estonian spies and others. The story confirms that the seed of the espionage into Trump was planted by Estonia. The BBC's Paul Wood reported last year that the intelligence agency of an unnamed Baltic State had tipped Brennan off in April 2016 to a conversation purporting to show that the Kremlin was funneling cash into the Trump campaign. Any other CIA director would have disregarded such a flaky tip, recognizing that Estonia was eager to see Trump lose (its officials had bought into Hillary's propaganda that Trump was going to pull out of NATO and leave Baltic countries exposed to Putin). But Brennan opportunistically seized on it, as he later that summer seized on the half-baked intelligence of British spy agencies (also full of officials who wanted to see Trump lose). I can't quote the whole thing so you'll just have to go over to AmSpec for the rest. He digs down into Brennan's past -- Communist Party and all -- and also accuses Brennan of changing the CIA's rules about security risks in order to allow in a lot of his radical buddies who would have been duly stamped 4F security risks under prior rules. posted by Ace at | Access Comments posted by Ace at 01:44 PM Recent Comments Recent Entries Search Polls! Polls! Polls! Frequently Asked Questions The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick Top Top Tens Greatest Hitjobs
…from SouthFront The beginning of interest in post-Cold War information operations can be traced to the UN intervention in Somalia and the Rwanda Genocide. Relatively honest and direct reporting from these war zones meant that the public opinion of Western countries was a factor that had to be considered by the political classes. Hence the complaining at the time about the so-called “CNN Effect” which forced the politicians to send and/or withdraw troops irrespective of what the elites actually wanted to happen at the time. The early methods of influencing the public opinion by manipulating the media, though reasonably effective, were not enough. We have seen their strengths and limitations during both wars against Iraq, in which the bulk of the media was effectively co-opted through the process of frequent press briefings (featuring no shortage of videos showing NATO bombs unerringly falling toward their obviously evil targets) and later by “embedding” the mostly male reporters in military units, which naturally had the dual effect of stroking their egos and adopting the military’s point of view. Still, in spite of all that, it proved impossible to control the narrative, and the public support for the various US and NATO wars collapsed under the pressure of inconvenient news coming even from mainstream media which clearly maintained a degree of independence. But if you fast-forward a decade, to the current wars in Libya, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Ukraine, and others, it is clear that something has changed. There is one dominant narrative that is being pushed by literally every mainstream media source, irrespective of their ostensible ideological bent. No matter where you turn, you read or hear about Assad’s “barrel bombs”, Gaddafi’s “massacres”, or “Russian aggression.” These reports invariably represent a point of view that is not only completely one-sided, but also factually wrong, even on the most basic of issues. How did US and NATO manage to achieve such an amazing discipline within the supposedly free and independent Western media? There are essentially three parts to the answer: state oversight of the media; co-opting individual reporters; disseminating propaganda through covert means. The first two are obvious enough and have long been practiced. Media corporations are just that–corporations, subject to variety of laws and regulations whose enforcement can be used to steer individual outlets toward adopting a desired point of view. Individual reporter’s coin of the realm is “access” to privileged information, which may be granted or withheld depending on their effectiveness as government propagandist. The third, the covert dissemination of propaganda, is new, and that factor likely explains the lack of variation from one media outlet to the next. The media are no longer merely encouraged to toe the official line–they have the stories planted for them to pick up through social media and other unofficial channels. The so-called investigations of the MH17 disaster is a case study, though a fairly crude one due to Ukraine’s crude methods of information warfare. But it is evident that nearly all the “evidence” implicating Russia or the Novorossia insurgents was prepared by Ukrainian secret services, then laundered through social media, before being presented to Western audiences as the truth, the only truth, and nothing but the truth. NATO is conducting similar operations which are harder to identify and counter because they are more sophisticated, better institutionalized, and provided with higher levels of funding. The United Kingdom, for example, maintains the 77th Brigade whose subunits include the Media Operations Group and the shadowy 15th Psychological Operations Group that has been dubbed the “Twitter detachment.” Germany has established the ZOpKomBw, or the Bundeswehr Rapid Communications Center. In the US, information operations against the US population appear to be the responsibility of the intelligence community, which is understandable considering the taboo on US military operations on US territory. As such, they remain largely out of public scrutiny, though their handiwork can be readily seen in the form of unverifiable reports from a variety of war zones, and even placing specially prepared “witnesses” in front of Congressional committees. Even non-NATO countries like Sweden are following suit by establishing their own information operations units intended for waging information war on its own population. At the NATO level, information operations are coordinated by NATO doctrine JP 13-3 Information Operations, with practical applications honed by alliance-wide exercises such as the Multinational Information Operations Experiment (MNIOE). Western voters have been accepting of all these measures because they were sold to them as part of their countries’ counter-terrorism measures. What they failed to take into account is that terrorism is a phenomenon that knows no borders, with the enemy already present among Western societies. Which means that, if counter-terrorist information operations are to be effective, they also have to be aimed at Western publics. In the short-term, information operations may be effective in manufacturing popular support for policies that otherwise no free society would accept. In the longer term, bypassing the public opinion means the elites are now more free than ever to embark on highly dangerous international adventures that will likely backfire and lower even further the already low standing of the elites. Therefore the fact that the so-called “free world” elites increasingly have to resort to such dirty tricks in order to stay in power means that their grasp on power is slowly weakening. ____________
The Guardian’s coverage of the 2004 Madrid train bombings was the first time that I considered the burden shouldered by newspaper picture editors in their vocation to tell the truth. A clutch of UK nationals had opted to airbrush the image of wreckage – and people – blown across the tracks, in the interests of decency. The Guardian desaturated the offending area, blending it into the ballast. In my opinion, only the Independent and the Mirror got it right, printing the unexpurgated image in black and white, allowing them to sidestep accusations of Orwellian manipulation while cushioning their readers from further horrors – the scale of the atrocity was horror enough. The poems in War Reporter take Paul Watson’s memoir, Where War Lives, together with emails, telephone calls and a face-to-face meeting between Paul Watson and Dan O’Brien as their source material. Watson is the war photographer who seared Somalia deep into the international consciousness with his image of Staff Sgt. William Cleveland’s mutilated body dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. Watson’s vocation places him on a knife-edge of ethical judgement and the reader might suppose that, as a man who is prepared to stare unblinking down his viewfinder at barbarity, he will shrink from nothing. However, self-censorhip is in evidence. The poem ‘The War Reporter Paul Watson Attends a Stoning’ took an act of physical endurance to read, and I needed a couple of weeks to recover my equilibrium. Now I’ve read it, I will never be able to predict the trigger which will bring it back to mind. ‘This is victory / for Mohammed. Take heed! you young women / who walk out in the sunlight embracing / young men – take heed! The judges are angry / at what I still regret: Why did you not / take pictures? Because you wanted me to. / Because this time I did not want the world / to see.’ Images are essentially voyeuristic and it is easy to see why even the seasoned war photographer lowered his camera. O’Brien’s poem revisits the horror of the photo not taken, dodged and burned into the mind’s eye like a scar and, by doing this, the reader begins to understand what it might feel like to be haunted. Suddenly, the vodka, the antidepressants and the hallucinations make sense. In ‘The War Reporter Paul Watson on Censorship’ the power of public opinion, and its purse, is felt: ‘Drifting downriver at sunset / with Andrew Stawicki, Polish émigré / photographer who snaps a picture of / boys running naked like a snake along / the river’s bloody spine. That’s going to be / a beautiful picture. They won’t print it. / Why not? The kid’s dick is showing! Open / the door! Open it! This time I frame out everything shameful. Except the woman / slapping the corpse with a flattened tin can.’ The reader would be prepared to accept a snake of naked boys as beautiful, but we’re brought up short as we realise that the Paul Watson character’s not talking about that. We’re in Mogadishu again, looking at the body of Staff Sgt. William Cleveland – beautiful. The disgusting irony of the commercial forces driving the industry is felt through the collection and in ‘The War Reporter Paul Watson and the Poet Make a Plan’ we read that ‘I’ve got to go / to the Philippines where Abu Sayyaf / the neighbourhood Al-Qaeda affiliate / is on the march once more. I’m worried that / my editor, who hates me for reasons / I can’t even begin to imagine, / won’t like it. It’s not the sort of story / that tends to garner those coveted clicks / on the LA Times website. Here’s a link / to a soundbite directly from our paper’s reptilian overlord / Sam Zell: http://gawker.com/ / 5002815/exclusive / -sam-zell-says-fuck-you-to-his-journalist.’ This is a complex collection. As Watson is haunted, so too is O’Brien and the affinity between them suggests that, to O’Brien, Watson is more than mere subject matter. Something in Watson resonates for O’Brien and, over the years, perhaps he is haunted by him. It is difficult to comment on O’Brien’s technique. The poems feel like bricolage, and whether a turn of phrase was crafted by O’Brien, or lifted straight from an email, it’s impossible to tell. Either way, these poems are fresh and loaded with eye-witness testimony. All of this adds up to the most visceral poems that you are likely to read. War Reporter offers the reader a journey into the heart of darkness. Buy War Reporter from CB editions RELATED LINKS
SHARE By of the A bill proposing to strengthen "noncompete" agreements — which limit a departing employee's ability to work for his company's competitors — may force state legislators to choose between two powerful forces: big business and free markets. Under noncompete agreements, employees typically are restricted from performing similar work for a specific period of time within a certain geographical area. Wisconsin is one of the friendlier states toward employees in terms of noncompetes, said Geoff Trotier, an employment lawyer at von Briesen & Roper in Milwaukee. The proposed bill would radically change that, Trotier said. Supporters say the changes would help persuade national companies to relocate in Wisconsin and reduce litigation that stems from uncertainties in the existing law. Opponents call the proposed changes an attack on free markets that would limit the movement of individuals and ideas, and therefore the speed of innovation. One of the bill's main provisions would be to change the current practice of "red penciling," which negates an entire noncompete agreement if a judge finds one clause onerous. A "blue penciling" provision in the bill would allow judges to revise overly broad clauses but keep the rest of the agreement in place. "Blue penciling would either put us on par with or ahead of Illinois in terms of how our judges can look at these restrictive covenants," said Daniel Finerty, an employment lawyer at Lindner & Marsack in Milwaukee. Finerty played a part in drafting the bill, according to Legislative Research Bureau files. Stronger noncompete agreements would help lure more companies from Illinois to Wisconsin, Finerty said. "If Wisconsin's economic development strategy is premised on luring companies from Illinois, that's horrible," said Dane Stangler, vice president for research and policy at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a Kansas City nonprofit focused on entrepreneurship and education. Most of the research about offering incentives to attract companies from out of state shows there are far better uses of public money, and the promised jobs payoff rarely happens, Stangler said. Also, the companies that come tend to be manufacturing companies, which are increasingly capital intensive, not labor intensive, he added. To Stangler, the debate about strong vs. weak noncompete agreements comes down to a simple point: "If your public policy goal is big-company corporate, then maybe strict enforcement of noncompetes is better for you," Stangler said. "But when you're interested in entrepreneurship and economic dynamism, we advocate for nonenforcement or lax enforcement." Many cite California as an example of a state with booming entrepreneurship that does not enforce noncompetes. But Stangler said a better example of their impact is Michigan, where an inadvertent change to the law in 1985 strengthened enforcement of noncompetes. Controlling for the effects of the auto industry decline, researchers found an almost immediate exodus of scientists and engineers from Michigan after the change, Stangler said. Over time, even Michigan companies became disillusioned with noncompete agreements, according to a paper published by researchers at Harvard Business School and the University of North Carolina. "Ultimately...policy planners must decide when the interests of incumbent firms outweigh those of individual careers and possibly regional development," the authors said. Not only do noncompete agreements limit competition, they can inflict what might be thought of as a tax on employees' earning power by drastically limiting their ability to seek higher-paying jobs, said Joe Kirgues, co-founder of gener8tor, a start-up training program, in a recent posting on JSOnline.com's OnRamp blog. "It's not good for all of us if our workers are declared ineligible to compete," Kirgues said. For the companies, however, it is difficult to teach an employee the business, make introductions and share strategies and pricing information, then watch an employee take all of that to a competitor, Trotier said. A former human resources professional, Rep. Mike Rohrkaste (R-Neenah), said he believes companies should be able to ensure there is a reasonable amount of time between an employee's departure and that person's efforts to hurt them competitively. The proposal could help employees, too, because a judge would be able to strike out or temper a clause in a way benefiting the employee, while leaving the rest of the agreement intact, he said. "My bigger objective was to allow a judge to be a judge and make a reasonable decision," said Rohrkaste, one of the bill's co-authors. The bill would also make court attitudes toward noncompete agreements more predictable, Trotier said. "My sense is most companies would be happy to have a little more guidance, which this law provides," he said. The noncompete bill faces an uncertain fate until lawmakers deal with the state budget. Rohrkaste said he is not aware of any efforts to slip the bill's provisions into the budget in the next few weeks. Lobbying for stronger noncompetes are 3M, Independent Insurance Agents of Wisconsin, Professional Insurance Agents of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Broadcasters Association and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce. Lobbying against it are the Wisconsin Realtors Association and Wisconsin State AFL-CIO. Jason Stein of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
Meet Aakash Ranison. This backpacker cyclist has travelled across 80 cities in India, cycled 18,000 kms and hitchhiked for 48,000 kms. Behind the numbers that summarize his journey short is a story of resilience and the nerve to experiment with the rulebook of the world. That is exactly the definition of backpacking. In a world where most of us mired down by the idea of 'spend to live and live to spend', Aakash's story is suggests a possibility to live differently. Aakash's story from the start. As a 14 year old boy living in Indore, Aakash was interested in learning computers. But since his single mother could not afford to send him for computer courses, at the age of 15 he took a job with Tikona, an internet service provider. When most of the children his age were living a sheltered life, the idea of equal opportunity had already begun to stir Aakash's mind. At 15, he started an NGO called The Golden Bird Foundation, an organization that aims to provide education to the underprivileged section of the society. After his Chennai to Bangaluru cycling trip, Aakash decided to shed his surname and instead use his mother's name 'Rani' together with the word 'son'. He renamed himself Aakash Ranison. "I’ve seen more places in reality than in my dreams." Aakash is known as the travelprenuer who explains his journey on his blog. He says, "I use travel to meet new people, talk to them and listen to their experiences. I like exploring the outdoors, admiring nature’s bounty of mountains and waterfalls, the sunshine and the wind. My travel companion is an eco-friendly, energy-efficient cycle. Tough terrains, testing roads, am up for a challenge. As long as it involves life on two wheels." The joy of travelling without money. There are backpackers around the world who have been travelling around the world without money. Aakash has kept his expenses minimal, saved and now he often also gets sponsors for his travel ventures. Another blogger Hitesh Bhatt has been travelling around India with Rs 300 per day. Click here to follow Hitesh on Tripoto. But what makes the idea of budget travel so fascinating is that the practice challenges the norms of the world. It reaffirms your belief in the people, allows you to take chances on the road and see the better side of the world through experiences. Share with us a travel story where you had the best time of your life! Tell us about the people you met, the amazing places you stayed at and about everything you explored.
Fear Drives Wild Trading Ahead Of G-7 Meeting Enlarge this image toggle caption Scott Olson/Getty Images Scott Olson/Getty Images Enlarge this image toggle caption toggle caption Maria R. Bastone/AFP/Getty Ima After a string of firsts for the world's financial markets, it seemed fitting that the week ended with the Dow Jones industrial index making more history: For the first time ever, it traded in a 1,000-point range. The Dow ended the day down 128 points to close at 8,451.19. Investors have been snatching at straws. On Friday a late-day bounce came after the markets convinced themselves that this weekend's Group of Seven meeting will bring some sort of coordinated move to unfreeze the global credit markets. Finance officials from the world's top economic powers emerged from talks Friday with a five-point plan to reverse the credit crisis, vowing "decisive action" and pledging to "use all available tools." Investors are hoping the central banks or perhaps the International Monetary Fund will guarantee interbank lending so that the credit markets can get moving again. Investors around the world have spent the past couple of weeks pinned between frozen credit markets and policymakers struggling to thaw it. They have been selling stocks on the concern that the month-old financial crisis won't just hobble banks and financial institutions but instead will drive the global economy into a deep recession. 'Urgent And Exceptional' "The current situation calls for urgent and exceptional action," the G-7 finance ministers said in a joint statement. They did not provide specifics. "The actions should be taken in ways that protect taxpayers and avoid potentially damaging effects on the countries," the finance officials said. U.S. Set To Buy Bank Stock U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said the Bush administration will proceed with a plan to buy stock in financial institutions — a first since the Great Depression. But he said the purchases would be of nonvoting shares, meaning the government will not take a role in running the companies. "As we develop plans to purchase equity ... we are working to develop a standardized program that is open to a broad array of financial institutions," Paulson said in a statement. Paulson said the government's program would be designed to complement the efforts of banks to raise fresh capital from private sources. Markets Running On Emotions For days now, the markets had been running on emotion. Investors are no longer buying or selling based on fundamentals. Instead, the motivator has been fear: fear of more bank failures, fear of a global recession, and fear that there is nothing that policymakers can do to stop the world economy from slipping into the abyss. Of course, if a grand plan does not come out of this weekend's G-7 meeting or even by Monday, that could take some of the air out of the market. And the roller coaster ride could begin anew. Details On Lehman Brothers Credit Default Swaps Friday afternoon, the financial institutions that provided default insurance on the now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers found out how much they will have to pay to make the buyers whole. At an auction held Friday, the price for Lehman debt was set at 8.625 cents for every dollar. That means that any company that sold swaps tied to Lehman debt will have to pay out the remaining 91.375 cents for every dollar on the contract. The pricing sets up the biggest-ever payout in the $55 trillion credit default market. Because there is no central exchange or system for reporting credit default swap trades, analysts have been fretting over the lack of transparency and uncertainty that these financial instruments inject into the credit markets. Among the many factors holding up lending was the question of just how much credit default swaps will be worth. Now that banks have some clarity on the Lehman swap price, it could give them a better picture of their own financial health — and the health of those they lend to. The downside is that the Lehman credit swap price could add more volatility to the stock market. The theory is that if institutions have been selling stock to raise money in anticipation of settling those swaps, then they might put the money back into the market now that the value of the swap is clearer. Credit Remains Tight Hedge funds, insurance companies and banks buy and sell credit protection as a matter of course. They have used credit default swaps as a hedge to insure a bond against a default or, in some cases, as a bet against a company's ability to pay off its debt. Credit swaps are part of the reason the credit markets are drum tight right now. It is very expensive to borrow money — if you can get it at all — because banks still don't feel confident enough to lend money. The difference between what banks and the Treasury pay to borrow money for three months, the so-called TED spread, proves the point. It widened to 4.62 percentage points on Friday, according to Bloomberg figures. That is the biggest spread since Bloomberg began compiling data in 1984. To give an idea of just how much the financial crisis has affected credit, the TED spread was 1.16 percentage points a month ago. President Bush appeared in the Rose Garden soon after the market opened Friday, seeking to calm investors. He said his administration was working to stem the crisis, but it would take some time for the measures to take hold. "We are a prosperous nation with immense resources and a wide range of tools at our disposal," the president said after providing a list of the measures his administration has already put in place. "We can solve this crisis and we will." Today's sell-off in the stock market isn't about fundamentals — such as corporate earnings and dividends; instead, it is all about emotion. People are selling because they are scared. Typically, when emotion is motivating sales, it means the market is getting close to a bottom. "People are still in panic mode," Art Hogan, a managing director at Jefferies, told CNBC. "The bottom gets put in today. You heard it here: Today is going to be the bottom." Boosting Confidence, Or Rattling Investors? What may be most remarkable is that the weeklong sell-off has happened in spite of a number of high-profile moves aimed at building investor confidence. Early in the week, the Treasury announced that it would give credit markets a boost by buying short-term loans known as commercial paper. Businesses buy commercial paper to help with cash flow — they are like short-term IOUs that allow them to pay for raw materials or for payroll. The Fed went into the market because banks are loath to lend anyone money right now. The move, while welcome, did little to thaw credit markets. On Wednesday, the Fed announced that it was joining with five other central banks around the world to slash key interest rates by a half-percentage point. The thought was that making borrowing cheaper would free up credit. It didn't work. Instead, the rate cuts only seemed to rattle investors more. Investors were torn between viewing the unusual coordinated move as an indication that central banks are prepared to do whatever it takes to prevent a global recession — or as a sign that something even more awful is coming down the pike. Thursday morning, U.S. investors woke to the news that the Treasury Department was considering taking ownership stakes in U.S. banks. NPR reported last week that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was weighing a plan in which the U.S. government would directly inject cash into struggling firms in exchange for an ownership share. The money to do that would be taken from the $700 billion financial rescue package that Congress passed and President Bush signed last week. Many economists have said a cash-injection plan would be a better way to address the financial crisis than just taking distressed assets off banks' books at fire sale prices. "These capital injections are something that Secretary Paulson is actively considering," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino at a press conference Thursday. Is AIG A Harbinger? Among the factors driving the market is an irrational fear of the unknown. Investors are worried that they are only seeing the tip of the iceberg, and that financial institutions are hiding more scary news beneath the surface. That has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. In some ways, insurance giant AIG has become a harbinger of that fear. The New York Fed announced Thursday night that AIG has already burned through $70.3 billion of the $85 billion the Fed lent it just three weeks ago. The rate at which AIG is gobbling up money is part of the reason the Fed decided to extend a second loan of nearly $38 billion to the company this week. The burn rate of cash at AIG has raised the question of just how deep a hole AIG — and other financial institutions — are in. "I think you are going to find that the problems are deeper than the initial estimate," said John Coffee, a securities law expert at Columbia University. "There is always a tendency to underestimate your problems. Once you find the government is in for $85 billion, you may recognize that the government can't stop there. They have got to save you, and it may be another X billion will still be required." The Fed clearly ran into that issue this week when it announced that it would be lending AIG as much as another $37.8 billion. Nick Ashooh, a spokesman for AIG, said that people shouldn't jump to the conclusion that the $85 billion lending facility the Fed gave the company isn't enough. "Actually, under this new program, the hope is it will reduce our need to access the $85 billion facility," he said. "It gives us relief on the cash-flow front, which is what the $85 billion is there to do." Some investors see the second loan as sending a different message. They worry that if the Fed underestimated the scope of AIG's problems, perhaps the government also undershot the mark with its $700 billion bailout package for the financial industry more generally. "I would say the market reaction for the last couple of days shows the market judgment is that the $700 billion may be well short of what is necessary," said Coffee. But it's important to remember that even if the government ends up spending more than $700 billion, it won't necessarily be a dead loss. That money will be going to shore up banks and to buy assets — and those assets will have some value. It just isn't clear right now what exactly that value will be. With additional reporting by The Associated Press.
My name is Jill and I live in Berkeley. I have two kids in BUSD schools, I own a home, I volunteer for the PTA, I work for local businesses, and my politics are liberal. I am (mostly) a typical Berkeley resident. I’m also incredibly frustrated by the fact that people who don’t live here are using our town as their ideological stomping grounds; on twitter the alt-right has told me that they want to start a civil war, and that they want to start it here. Last Thursday, I was at Civic Center Park, across the street from where my oldest child goes to high school. I came out after work to see what was going on, and I ended up spending 2 hours walking amongst “the enemy”: the Trump supporters and Ann Coulter fans who came out for “the fuck ANTIFA rally.” We were all expecting violence but luckily what we ended up with was a completely peaceful assembly. At some point I had decided to start introducing myself to people, to tell them that I live here and that “real Berkeley residents” don’t support violence. I spotted a group of guys that looked scary to me: Beards, leather vests, tattoos, sunglasses, etc. and I approached them and introduced myself. I said “Hi my name is Jill, I live in Berkeley and I want you to know that I’m not your enemy. This is what happens when you guys come here and only Berkeley residents show up. You do your thing and there’s no violence, there’s no pepper spray, there’s no sticks or bricks, there’s just people talking.” I said I’m sure I would disagree with every single thing they believed in, and that they would disagree with me, but that doesn’t mean we’re not allowed to believe it, and that it’s possible to think these opposing thoughts without hurting each other physically. I was terrified, my hands were shaking, and I told them so (because I babble when I’m nervous), and they told me, “You are safe with us.” They were seriously some of the nicest guys I’ve met. One’s name was Ryan, another was Garrett. I don’t remember the name of the man who told me I was safe with him, and I’m sorry that I don’t because I’ll always remember his face. I’m sure that we vehemently disagree on politics, but I’m also sure that he was a really nice person. If he and I could sit down over a beer and talk issues, I know we could teach each other some things. We don’t have to agree, but from our disagreement can come wisdom, and if all we ever do is yell at each other and try to hurt each other physically, nothing good can come from that. We all agreed on that point. And it occurred to me that so much of this political fighting is done on the Internet; on Twitter, on Facebook, in “the comments,” but if we actually meet face-to-face, without helmets or masks, things can be so different. It seems so obvious when I say it, but if all you do is argue with people online, you really have no idea what it’s like when you encounter them in person. Maybe I’ve even argued with these same guys at some point; Ryan or Garrett or the guy whose name I don’t remember (I’m sorry!), it’s entirely possible. If we met on Twitter, would they tell me I was safe with them or would they mock me for being a sensitive liberal snowflake? Would I tell them they were welcome here or would I block them from my Facebook page? It’s possible, even likely, but when we’re standing in front of each other, I can say I’m scared and they can tell me I’m safe. The experience was a wakeup call for me. The anonymity of the Internet makes us mean, but I believe that it is the feeling of powerlessness that leads us to a place where we look for scapegoats and we lash out at others over political issues. If we all feel powerless, doesn’t it make sense that we would do better together? I fully admit to my own bad behavior in this area, but if anything that I have said online would ultimately lead to an actual civil war, I am more than willing to step up and take responsibility for the impact my words have had. I don’t want a civil war; not in my town, not in any town. I don’t know how to make things better but I know that the way we’ve been doing it so far isn’t working. At the end of the day on Thursday, I met a new follower on Twitter who told me “we might not agree politically, but I enjoyed your tweets from Berkeley today.” Is this how it starts? With one small gesture? If so, I’m willing to make it. Are you?
A SECRETIVE BRITISH POLICE INVESTIGATION focusing on journalists working with Edward Snowden’s leaked documents has been designated the code name “Operation Curable,” according to details newly obtained by The Intercept under the U.K.’s Freedom of Information Act. The counterterrorism unit within the London Metropolitan Police’s Specialist Operations division has been conducting the criminal probe for more than two years. The Metropolitan Police first announced it had launched a criminal investigation related to the Snowden documents in August 2013. About four months later, in December 2013, the force’s then-assistant commissioner Cressida Dick acknowledged the investigation was looking at whether reporters at The Guardian had committed criminal offenses for their role in revealing British surveillance operations exposed in the leaked files. Since 2013, few new details about the case have been revealed, with police officials attempting to withhold information about the investigation. Earlier this year, the Metropolitan Police repeatedly refused to disclose the status of the investigation on the grounds that doing so could be “detrimental to national security.” But following an intervention from the authority that enforces the U.K.’s freedom of information laws, the force reversed its position in late July and admitted that the probe remained ongoing. The investigation — Operation Curable, as it’s called — is currently being carried out under the direction of Mark Rowley, the head of the Specialist Operations unit. In the 1990s, Rowley pioneered the development of British police covert surveillance methods as a detective superintendent with the National Criminal Intelligence Service. Recently, Rowley has accused Snowden of undermining the police’s ability to “protect the public and save lives.” He has also asserted that he has no problem monitoring journalists’ communications if he deems it necessary to “chase down criminals.” It is unclear whether the name Operation Curable has any particular meaning. The Metropolitan Police usually chooses code names for its investigations randomly. In 2008, the BBC reported that the names are selected from a list and that the “aim is to choose names that are completely neutral so they will hopefully be totally unrelated to the case.” Top photo: Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley speaks to the media outside New Scotland Yard in central London, January 9, 2014.
Thomas Edward Patrick Brady II. Each name on it’s own is strong. Each of these names belong to one man. The one, Tom Brady. The greatest quarterback the NFL has ever seen. I know, you hate him. And it’s ok, it’s understandable. He is everything you wish you could be: Rich, tall, good-looking, model for a wife and most important, a champion. I’m not here to convince you his body of work is there. I’m here to help. Help you dislodge head from ass and maybe this season — after he serves his suspension — you can catch a few of his games and watch his greatness conduct his team like a beautiful orchestra. Let us start with a little bit of background on the soon to be HOFer. Hailing from San Mateo, CA — Brady grow up a 49er/Joe Montana fan (whom he’s always said is his idol). He lights it up during his junior and senior year of high school then ends up at Michigan. He sits way behind Brian Griese for two-years at seventh on the depth chart. After a battle with rival QB Drew Henson, he finally starts a full season in 1998. The next year the coach goes “Hey, Tom, you were good but not great, we are going to start you in the 1st quarter and then Drew in the 2nd, then at the half I’ll decide who starts.” (Place chip on shoulder). They went 5–0 using this f***ed up system. He eventually prevailed as the starting quarterback after being put into a game down 17-points to Michigan State, nearly pulling out a win, but ultimately losing 34–31. He ended his collegiate career going 20–25 as a starter passing for 5,300 passing yards, 35-TDs and a completion percentage of 62.3. Now we go to the NFL combine. Click this to see Brady’s hilarious combine video. Yeah the GMs, scouts and whoever else saw this weren’t too impressed either. Brady eventually gets drafted No. 199 by the New England Patriots. (Place another chip on the shoulder). The first season he was No. 4 on the depth chart and by the end of the season he became the backup. The following year starter Drew Bledsoe got injured and Brady replaced him, and went on to win his first Super Bowl beating “The Greatest Show on Turf”, the St. Louis Rams (Now the Los Angeles Rams) and his reign of terror has continued ever since. First, let us address the elephant in the room: What I am saying right now is blasphemy for any 49er fan. Maybe even to Tom Brady himself. Joe Montana is, in most eyes, considered the best quarterback — even to those who aren’t San Francisco fans. I won’t bore you with stats so, here’s a picture that sums up the important stuff. I’m sure that didn’t persuade at all. So look harder. Use all the mental fortitude you have, while you are analyzing and processing think of Brady’s offensive help. Montana had the most legendary receiver in the history of the game. No argument. And there was also a running back by the name of Roger Craig. Do you remember the last time Brady had a wide receiver that could blow the top off the defense or a least make the defense play honest? I don’t. He had Randy Moss past his prime. Remember those dark days when Moss was with the bunk-ass Raiders? It was sad. Brady made better for that brief time. The same goes for Amendola, Edelman, Brown, Branch — the list of wide receivers who Brady has made known is stupid. He had Aaron Hernandez, but ol’ boy likes to murder. Gronk is injured at least 4-6 games a season. But those two are just tight ends. Wes Welker was okay, but also not a deep threat and he himself has at least two concussions a game. And not since Kevin Faulk, has the Patriots had a serviceable running back. But the man never complains. He just puts his head down and grinds it out every year. Advantage Tommy. He also holds hella records. And he holds all relevant QB records in the post-season: most division titles (13), most conference wins championships (6), most TDs (56), most yards yada-yada- yada the list goes on. The most important is the four rings. He should have six— weird shit happened and baby Manning got two. Honestly I think the Gods were jealous of Brady and hated Peyton as much as I do. So win-win. “But he cheats! He deflates footballs and his team records other teams practices” Okay, the Patriots cheated. Spygate, that was the team effort. Deflategate, okay that was him and he got way more than he deserves with the 4-game suspension (another chip). They cheated because they’re bored. That’s how good they are. They want to get caught. It’s like people that steal; they get that rush knowing it’s wrong, knowing they might get caught but they want to feel alive. Dominating the league for 15-years gets boring. As for the flat balls. Who gives a shit? That game was over before the half and with properly inflated footballs Brady got his 4th ring. Remember those chips that we placed upon his shoulder? He has them still. The media and the fans that doubt his reign and lordship has just added more. Hell, the commissioner of the league hates on his winning ass. And he will use these chips to win at least two more Lombardi trophies… Wait. Now that I think about it wasn’t His Airness Michael Jeffrey Jordan the same way? Using the feeling of being overlooked as a catalyst for greatness. Being arrogant and in your face on how good they are. Because even though you can’t deny their skills, for some reason you doubt and bet against them anyway. It might not be true, but to them it’s very real. While you sit and doubt and hate on Tom Brady, all he’s w̶o̶r̶r̶i̶e̶d̶ ̶a̶b̶o̶u̶t̶ doing is throwing up W’s. All he does is win. At everything. Even life. We hate because his life is a dream we all wish we can have but we can’t. It’s his, Tom Edward Patrick Brady II. Deal with it. Embrace it. And most of all enjoy his greatness while he still has it.
Reuters Flanked by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Defense Secretary James Mattis, President Donald Trump meets with members of his cabinet Monday at the White House. At a cabinet meeting Monday, President Donald Trump said his announcement that he will end cost-sharing payments to health insurers has effectively ended the landmark legislation of his predecessor: ‘Obamacare is finished, it’s dead, it’s gone. It’s no longer. You shouldn’t even mention it. It’s gone. There is no such thing as Obamacare anymore. It is a concept that couldn’t have worked, in its best days it couldn’t have worked.’ President Trump Trump’s verdict not withstanding, health insurance will indeed still be offered on state exchanges at the next enrollment period. And while health insurers did see their stock prices decline after Trump’s move on Friday, some of them rebounded Monday. Molina Healthcare MOH, +0.16% dropped again, while Centene CNC, -0.36% advanced slightly. Also, there’s a move to reinstate the payments to insurers via legislation. Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said Congress needs to ”step in.”
It’s Back to the Future day, and the Canadian government has decided to get in on the fun. In honor of the pop culture holiday, Canada has released an official recall notice on the DMC-12 model DeLorean, Doc Brown’s famous time traveling vehicle from the 1980s movie series, faulting a problem with the car’s time travel abilities. “On a certain DMC-12 car converted into a time machine, a defect in the flux capacitor could lead to inability to travel through time while travelling at 88 miles per hour (141.6 km/h) and may increase energy consumption beyond 1.21 gigawatts,” the release reads, referencing the speed at which the movies’ DeLorean can travel to the future. “This could have disastrous consequences.” Before you send your own time traveling DeLorean back to the manufacturer, however, make sure to read Canada’s update to the recall: “Correction: Doc Brown will affect repairs.” The Brief Newsletter Sign up to receive the top stories you need to know right now. View Sample Sign Up Now Andrea Moritz, manager of media relations with Ottawa-based Transport Canada which released the recall, said that this isn’t the first time the division has timed a recall or notice with a theme, pointing to Santa Claus news releases. “We always try to have some tweets that are topical and in line with something that’s trending and informative,” she told TIME. “When the team was brainstorming, we thought it would be fun.” The response to the recall has been “overwhelmingly positive,” Moritz said. “People think it’s funny and appreciate that the government has a sense of humor.” Write to Tanya Basu at [email protected].
I watch sports, take care of my kids, go on date nights with my wife, wait in traffic for hours, work long shifts at my job, and waste a lot of time taking naps — not necessarily in that order. I love my life, but when I flip open my laptop I suddenly become a different person. I have multiple online identities, the result of subconsciously trying to be a better version of myself — a better follower of Christ. But these various personalities that I portray among social media sites are fabrications. Here are a few examples why: The single verse I post on Twitter is the only Scripture I read all day — even though my Facebook profile claims that the Bible is one of my favorite books. C.S. Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Donald Miller, and Francine Rivers are also listed, but only to prove my Evangelical IQ. I’m #prayingforSandyHook and #prayingforBoston and #prayingforOklahoma, but I rarely pray. I repost memes about global poverty, loving the poor, reconciliation and promoting peace, but I spend all of my spare time watching Netflix. I “Like” and “Favorite” my friends’ statuses when they talk about their faith and God, but I haven’t had meaningful conversations with them in years. I subscribe to the podcasts of pastors and theologians, but I’m always too busy to implement anything I learn. I carefully select which pictures I post — the ones where I’m constantly smiling and with friends and doing cool things — but my life is filled with many problems, pain, suffering, conflicts, fears, and doubts. I never reveal any of those things. I Tweet inspirational quotes after much personal thought and reflection, but I never filter what I say to my spouse and kids. I spend hours browsing through YouTube and Reddit, but I can barely sit through a 20-minute sermon at church. I share links about Christianity, but I never talk about Jesus in public. I debate theology via Twitter, Facebook, blog feeds, and message boards, but I’m embarrassed to discuss my faith anywhere else — I never evangelize. I use PayPal to donate to Christian charities and mission organizations because I don’t want to leave the comfort of my home — others can do all the hard work. Religious Views: Christian — but not in practice. I’m a #Christian, and my online faith is radically different than the one I live in real life. Hashtag Christianity isn’t necessarily bad, but it can cause self-righteousness and provide a false sense of spirituality. It has the danger of making us believe we’re living out our faith without really doing anything. It forces us to move at the speed of light as we constantly keep up with trending developments, unintentionally creating a spirituality that is superficial and easily distracted. The online version of our faith is often unrealistically clear and concise and clean. If negative comments or links challenge our faith, we can delete them. If people disagree or attack our faith, we can block them. We curate and maintain a false version of ourselves, keeping up with an ideal that is fake and impossible to fulfill. I wish I were half as holy as my online profiles claim I am. In the meantime, I’ll continue being a Cyber Christian, full-time hypocrite, and completely forgiven sinner. #Praying Stephen Mattson has written for Relevant, Red Letter Christians and The Burnside Writer's Collective. He graduated from the Moody Bible Institute and is currently on staff at University of Northwestern – St. Paul, Minn. Follow him on Twitter @mikta. Image: Social media illustration, Qiun / Shutterstock.com
Being publicly-funded gives us a greater chance to continue providing you with high quality content. Please support us! Another year, another New Year’s resolution soon to be forgotten? Resolutions often come with pressure and guilt to succeed on lofty and seemingly impossible goals. That may be why people lose faith in setting New Year’s resolutions and give up altogether. When I was a pediatric nurse, kids quickly taught me the power of small, enjoyable and more easily achievable goals. Here’s an idea to consider: A “New Monday” resolution. Since Monday comes around every seven days, there are weekly opportunities to experience success, and failures seem less disappointing because there’s not an entire year lost before trying again. Additionally, data show that web searches for diet-related topics are highest on Mondays. So why not go with what’s natural? Embrace the motivation that comes with a fresh start at the beginning of each week. Advertisement New Year, New Monday An increasingly popular Monday resolution is Meatless Monday when we take a day off from meat. From pop culture icons like J-Lo, Jay Z and Beyoncé, to political figures like New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, California Rep. Tony Cárdenas, and Florida Rep. Ted Deutch, people all over are decreasing their meat consumption and touting their plant-based diets. The American Heart Association supports diets that emphasize plant-based foods and suggests using “Meatless Mondays as another opportunity to eat a well-balanced diet.” A diet more focused on fruits, vegetables, beans and grains help reduce the risk for and prevalence of cancer, diabetes, obesity, heart disease and more. Participating in Meatless Monday can improve our health, yet the benefits extend beyond that. Far Reaching Benefits The Humane Society of the United States supports Meatless Monday to help institutional food purchasers reduce the number of animals suffering on factory farms. Unfortunately, most farm animals have become reduced to mere cogs in an industrial machine. That’s why The HSUS advocates compassionate eating – or the Three Rs: “reducing” or “replacing” consumption of animal products, and “refining” our diets. We can also reduce our carbon footprint and environmental impact given that the meat, dairy and egg industries are some of the world’s largest contributors of greenhouse gasses. Advertisement Advertisement Meatless Monday isn’t a one-size-fits-all initiative. We can enjoy familiar comfort foods with an interesting twist such as a white zucchini pizza and try fun foods we may not frequently eat, like a special international meal out. Instead of trying for a New Year’s resolution, why not set an easy “New Monday” resolution? Try it for multiple weeks and reap the positive feelings of multiple, more frequent successes. In this age of overstimulation with countless competing attention grabs, success requires focus. Another year gone by doesn’t mean we have to overwhelm ourselves with daunting resolutions. We can make 2015 a big impact year by making a small, fun change one Monday at a time. Advertisement Image source: Stuffed Sage Carnival Squash