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Best. Match. EVER!
The yarn is exactly what I would've picked out myself (with brands I've never tried, too!); and oh my gosh, the goodies! Winnie definitely went above and beyond the call of duty with this 'mission'. ;)
I got some chocolate and I was just thinking about how I need chocolate earlier today. Perfect.
I got some Star Trek stitch markers; Kirk and Spock! My first Star Trek love was the Original Series. Perfect.
I got some Earl Grey Tea. I just ran out, and I do love the Next Generation as well! Perfect.
I got two amazing cards, one with an official-looking Star Trek transmission, and one with lovely flowers and a butterfly and a sweet handwritten note. Perfect, and thoughtful to boot!
I am incredibly impressed and my face hurts from smiling so much! :D |
Also, my friend and yours Chip Zdarsky asked people on Twitter what to draw the other day, and I said "Draw Superman flexing and showing off his tattoos", and then Dustin Harbin suggested Chip draw me flexing and showing off MY Superman tattoos and anyway LONG STORY SHORT you can buy this particularly evocative picture of me on eBay to support This American Life. AND Chip will even draw in a fourth tattoo of your choosing! Whotta deal!
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One year ago today: it is a word that is very handy if you are in the alien movies and a friend of yours has an alien pop out of his chest. you won't struggle for words in that situation anymore.
– Ryan |
Even in the most basic scenario you can picture, where the logic of an application’s core is boiled down to just pulling in a few records from the database, bringing some domain objects to life, and then dumping them to the screen through an API of some basic rendering mechanism, there’s always an ongoing transaction behind the scenes whose most expensive facet often gets blurred beneath the appealing outward influence of the user interface.
If you think this through, you’ll notice that the crux of the matter is the transaction lies not surprisingly in the heap of database trips, even though they can be largely mitigated by a clever caching strategy. In relatively small applications, where there are just a few basic domain objects involved in each transaction, and where the hike to the database is just for retrieving data most of the time, a simple caching system dropped into the appropriate place certainly can help get things sorted out with efficiency.
While sad but true, reality is a ruthless creature always shouting at us radically different things than the sweet ones we’d rather hear instead. In most cases, because of the intrinsic, unavoidable mutability of domain objects (with a few scarce exceptions when the dependencies of domain classes are modelled around the concept of immutable Value Objects), chances are that some objects will need to be modified across multiple requests, and even new ones will be put in memory in response to some user-related event.
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In short, this means that even dummy CRUD applications that don’t encapsulate extensive chunks of additional business logic can quickly become bloated and generate a lot of overhead under the hood when it comes to performing multiple database writes. What if they reach a point where it’s necessary to handle a huge number of domain objects, which must be persisted and removed in sync, without compromising what us programming plebs loosely call data integrity?
Let’s be honest with ourselves (at least once). Neither all the lofty data source architectural patterns that we could just pick up along the way, nor that cool new approach we might have figured out overnight, can tackle satisfactorily something as predictable and mundane as writing out and removing multiple sets of data from storage. In light of this, should we just give up and call the issue pretty much a lost cause?
Admittedly the question is rhetorical. In fact, it’s feasible to wrap collections of domain objects inside a fairly flexible business transactional model and just perform several database writes/deletes in one go, therefore avoiding having to break down the process into more atomic and expensive database calls, which always lead to the session-per-operation antipattern. Moreover, this transaction-based mechanism rests on the academic formalities of a design pattern commonly known as Unit of Work (UOW), and its implementation in several popular enterprise-level packages, such as Hibernate, is quite prolific and prosperous.
On the flip side, PHP is, for obvious reasons, still elusive at having a variety of UOWs running in production, excepting in a few well-trusted libraries like Doctrine and RedBeanPHP, which use the pattern’s forces at disparate levels in order to process and coordinate operations on entities. Despite this, it would be certainly pretty educational to take a closer look at the benefits a UOW provides, that way you can see if they are something that may meet your requirements.
Registering Domain Objects with a Unit of Work
In his book Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture, Martin Fowler discusses two mainstream approaches that can be followed when it comes to implementing a UOW: the first makes the UOW directly responsible for registering or queuing domain objects for insertion, update, or deletion, and the second shifts this responsibility over to the domain objects themselves.
In this case, since I’d like to have the domain model only encapsulating my business logic and remain agnostic about any form of persistence that may exist further down in other layers, I’m going to just stick to the commandments of the first option. In either case, you’re free to pick the approach you feel will fit the bill the best.
A lightweight implementation of a UOW might look like this:
<?php namespace ModelRepository; use ModelEntityInterface; interface UnitOfWorkInterface { public function fetchById($id); public function registerNew(EntityInterface $entity); public function registerClean(EntityInterface $entity); public function registerDirty(EntityInterface $entity); public function registerDeleted(EntityInterface $entity); public function commit(); public function rollback(); public function clear(); }
<?php namespace ModelRepository; use MapperDataMapperInterface, LibraryStorageObjectStorageInterface, ModelEntityInterface; class UnitOfWork implements UnitOfWorkInterface { const STATE_NEW = "NEW"; const STATE_CLEAN = "CLEAN"; const STATE_DIRTY = "DIRTY"; const STATE_REMOVED = "REMOVED"; protected $dataMapper; protected $storage; public function __construct(DataMapperInterface $dataMapper, ObjectStorageInterface $storage) { $this->dataMapper = $dataMapper; $this->storage = $storage; } public function getDataMapper() { return $this->dataMapper; } public function getObjectStorage() { return $this->storage; } public function fetchById($id) { $entity = $this->dataMapper->fetchById($id); $this->registerClean($entity); return $entity; } public function registerNew(EntityInterface $entity) { $this->registerEntity($entity, self::STATE_NEW); return $this; } public function registerClean(EntityInterface $entity) { $this->registerEntity($entity, self::STATE_CLEAN); return $this; } public function registerDirty(EntityInterface $entity) { $this->registerEntity($entity, self::STATE_DIRTY); return $this; } public function registerDeleted(EntityInterface $entity) { $this->registerEntity($entity, self::STATE_REMOVED); return $this; } protected function registerEntity($entity, $state = self::STATE_CLEAN) { $this->storage->attach($entity, $state); } public function commit() { foreach ($this->storage as $entity) { switch ($this->storage[$entity]) { case self::STATE_NEW: case self::STATE_DIRTY: $this->dataMapper->save($entity); break; case self::STATE_REMOVED: $this->dataMapper->delete($entity); } } $this->clear(); } public function rollback() { // your custom rollback implementation goes here } public function clear() { $this->storage->clear(); return $this; } }
It should be clear to see that a UOW is nothing but plain, in-memory object storage which keeps track of which domain objects should be scheduled for insertion, update, and removal. In short, the convention could be boiled down to something along these lines: domain objects that need to be added to the storage will be registered “NEW”; those being updated will be marked “DIRTY”; the ones flagged “REMOVED” will be… yep, dropped from the database. In addition, any object registered “CLEAN” will be kept frozen and safe in memory until the client code explicitly requests to modify its associated state.
Of course, the method that performs these persistence-related operations in just one single transaction is commit() , which exploits the functionality of an still undefined data mapper to get access to the persistence layer. It would be even easier for you to understand the UOW’s inner workings if I show you the implementation of the collaborators injected in its constructor, so here’s the components that compose the object storage module:
<?php namespace LibraryStorage; interface ObjectStorageInterface extends Countable, Iterator, ArrayAccess { public function attach($object, $data = null); public function detach($object); public function clear(); }
<?php namespace LibraryStorage; class ObjectStorage extends SplObjectStorage implements ObjectStorageInterface { public function clear() { $tempStorage = clone $this; $this->addAll($tempStorage); $this->removeAll($tempStorage); $tempStorage = null; } }
In this case in particular, I decided to use a slightly-customized implementation of the SplObjectStorage class for registering domain objects without much fuss along with their related states with the UOW, even though pretty much the same can be also achieved using plain arrays. Again, it’s up to you to have the domain objects registered by using the method that best accommodates your needs.
With the custom ObjectStorage class in place, let’s take a look at the implementation of the aforementioned data mapper:
<?php namespace Mapper; use ModelEntityInterface; interface DataMapperInterface { public function fetchById($id); public function fetchAll(array $conditions = array()); public function insert(EntityInterface $entity); public function update(EntityInterface $entity); public function save(EntityInterface $entity); public function delete(EntityInterface $entity); }
<?php namespace Mapper; use LibraryDatabaseDatabaseAdapterInterface, ModelCollectionEntityCollectionInterface, ModelEntityInterface; abstract class AbstractDataMapper implements DataMapperInterface { protected $adapter; protected $collection; protected $entityTable; public function __construct(DatabaseAdapterInterface $adapter, EntityCollectionInterface $collection, $entityTable = null) { $this->adapter = $adapter; $this->collection = $collection; if ($entityTable !== null) { $this->setEntityTable($entityTable); } } public function setEntityTable($entityTable) { if (!is_string($table) || empty($entityTable)) { throw new InvalidArgumentException( "The entity table is invalid."); } $this->entityTable = $entityTable; return $this; } public function fetchById($id) { $this->adapter->select($this->entityTable, array("id" => $id)); if (!$row = $this->adapter->fetch()) { return null; } return $this->loadEntity($row); } public function fetchAll(array $conditions = array()) { $this->adapter->select($this->entityTable, $conditions); $rows = $this->adapter->fetchAll(); return $this->loadEntityCollection($rows); } public function insert(EntityInterface $entity) { return $this->adapter->insert($this->entityTable, $entity->toArray()); } public function update(EntityInterface $entity) { return $this->adapter->update($this->entityTable, $entity->toArray(), "id = $entity->id"); } public function save(EntityInterface $entity) { return !isset($entity->id) ? $this->adapter->insert($this->entityTable, $entity->toArray()) : $this->adapter->update($this->entityTable, $entity->toArray(), "id = $entity->id"); } public function delete(EntityInterface $entity) { return $this->adapter->delete($this->entityTable, "id = $entity->id"); } protected function loadEntityCollection(array $rows) { $this->collection->clear(); foreach ($rows as $row) { $this->collection[] = $this->loadEntity($row); } return $this->collection; } abstract protected function loadEntity(array $row); }
The AbstractDataMapper puts behind a pretty standard API the bulk of logic required for pulling domain objects in and out of the database. To make things even easier, it’d be also nice to derivate a refined implementation of it, that way we could easily test the UOW with a few sample user objects. Here’s how this extra mapping subclass looks:
<?php namespace Mapper; use ModelUser; class UserMapper extends AbstractDataMapper { protected $entityTable = "users"; protected function loadEntity(array $row) { return new User(array( "id" => $row["id"], "name" => $row["name"], "email" => $row["email"], "role" => $row["role"])); } }
At this point we just could put our hands on the UOW and see if its transactional schema delivers what it promises. But before we do, first off we really should drop at least a few domain objects in memory. That way, we can get them neatly registered with the UOW. So let’s now define a primitive Domain Model which will be charged with supplying the objects in question.
Defining a basic Domain Model
Frankly speaking, there are several ways to implement a functional Domain Model (most likely there exists one per developer living and breathing out there). Since in this case I want the process to be both painless and short, the model I’ll be using for testing the UOW will be composed just of a prototypical entity class, along with a derivative, which will be charged with spawning basic users objects:
<?php namespace Model; interface EntityInterface { public function setField($name, $value); public function getField($name); public function fieldExists($name); public function removeField($name); public function toArray(); }
<?php namespace Model; abstract class AbstractEntity implements EntityInterface { protected $fields = array(); protected $allowedFields = array(); public function __construct(array $fields = array()) { if (!empty($fields)) { foreach ($fields as $name => $value) { $this->$name = $value; } } } public function setField($name, $value) { return $this->__set($name, $value); } public function getField($name) { return $this->__get($name); } public function fieldExists($name) { return $this->__isset($name); } public function removeField($name) { return $this->__unset($name); } public function toArray() { return $this->fields; } public function __set($name, $value) { $this->checkAllowedFields($name); $mutator = "set" . ucfirst(strtolower($name)); if (method_exists($this, $mutator) && is_callable(array($this, $mutator))) { $this->$mutator($value); } else { $this->fields[$name] = $value; } return $this; } public function __get($name) { $this->checkAllowedFields($name); $accessor = "get" . ucfirst($name); if (method_exists($this, $accessor) && is_callable(array($this, $accessor))) { return $this->$accessor(); } if (!$this->__isset($name)) { throw new InvalidArgumentException( "The field '$name' has not been set for this entity yet."); } return $this->fields[$name]; } public function __isset($name) { $this->checkAllowedFields($name); return isset($this->fields[$name]); } public function __unset($name) { $this->checkAllowedFields($name); if (!$this->__isset($name)) { throw new InvalidArgumentException( "The field "$name" has not been set for this entity yet."); } unset($this->fields[$name]); return $this; } protected function checkAllowedFields($field) { if (!in_array($field, $this->allowedFields)) { throw new InvalidArgumentException( "The requested operation on the field '$field' is not allowed for this entity."); } } }
<?php namespace Model; class User extends AbstractEntity { const ADMINISTRATOR_ROLE = "Administrator"; const GUEST_ROLE = "Guest"; protected $allowedFields = array("id", "name", "email", "role"); public function setId($id) { if (isset($this->fields["id"])) { throw new BadMethodCallException( "The ID for this user has been set already."); } if (!is_int($id) || $id < 1) { throw new InvalidArgumentException( "The user ID is invalid."); } $this->fields["id"] = $id; return $this; } public function setName($name) { if (strlen($name) < 2 || strlen($name) > 30) { throw new InvalidArgumentException( "The user name is invalid."); } $this->fields["name"] = htmlspecialchars(trim($name), ENT_QUOTES); return $this; } public function setEmail($email) { if (!filter_var($email, FILTER_VALIDATE_EMAIL)) { throw new InvalidArgumentException( "The user email is invalid."); } $this->fields["email"] = $email; return $this; } public function setRole($role) { if ($role !== self::ADMINISTRATOR_ROLE && $role !== self::GUEST_ROLE) { throw new InvalidArgumentException( "The user role is invalid."); } $this->fields["role"] = $role; return $this; } }
While the implementations of the AbstractEntity and User classes might look complex at first glance, I assure this is just a fuzzy impression. In fact, the former is a skeletal wrapper for some typical PHP magic methods, while the latter encapsulates some straightforward mutators, in order to assign the appropriate values to the fields of generic user objects.
With these domain classes already doing their business in relaxed insulation, let’s now do the last building block of the model. In reality, this is an optional class which can be skipped over if the situation warrants, and its responsibility is just to wrap collections of entities. Its implementation is as following:
<?php namespace ModelCollection; use ModelEntityInterface; interface EntityCollectionInterface extends Countable, ArrayAccess, IteratorAggregate { public function add(EntityInterface $entity); public function remove(EntityInterface $entity); public function get($key); public function exists($key); public function clear(); public function toArray(); }
<?php namespace ModelCollection; use ModelEntityInterface; class EntityCollection implements EntityCollectionInterface { protected $entities = array(); public function __construct(array $entities = array()) { if (!empty($entities)) { $this->entities = $entities; } } public function add(EntityInterface $entity) { $this->offsetSet($entity); } public function remove(EntityInterface $entity) { $this->offsetUnset($entity); } public function get($key) { $this->offsetGet($key); } public function exists($key) { return $this->offsetExists($key); } public function clear() { $this->entities = array(); } public function toArray() { return $this->entities; } public function count() { return count($this->entities); } public function offsetSet($key, $entity) { if (!$entity instanceof EntityInterface) { throw new InvalidArgumentException( "Could not add the entity to the collection."); } if (!isset($key)) { $this->entities[] = $entity; } else { $this->entities[$key] = $entity; } } public function offsetUnset($key) { if ($key instanceof EntityInterface) { $this->entities = array_filter($this->entities, function ($v) use ($key) { return $v !== $key; }); } else if (isset($this->entities[$key])) { unset($this->entities[$key]); } } public function offsetGet($key) { if (isset($this->entities[$key])) { return $this->entities[$key]; } } public function offsetExists($key) { return $key instanceof EntityInterface ? array_search($key, $this->entities) : isset($this->entities[$key]); } public function getIterator() { return new ArrayIterator($this->entities); } }
At this point we’ve managed to create a primitive domain model, which certainly we can use for engendering user objects without a major hassle. In doing do, we have a real chance to see if the UOW is actually the functional component it seems to be when it comes to persisting multiple entities in the database as one single transaction.
Putting the UOW Under Test
If you’ve reached this point of the article, you probably feel like you’re being pulled in opposite directions, wondering if all of the hard up front work required in writing a bunch of interfaces and classes was really worth it. In fact, it was. Moreover, if you’re still skeptical, make sure check the following code snippet, which shows how to put the UOW to work in sweet synchrony with some naïve user objects:
<?php require_once __DIR__ . "/Library/Loader/Autoloader.php"; $autoloader = new Autoloader; $autoloader->register(); $adapter = new PdoAdapter("mysql:dbname=test", "myfancyusername", "myhardtoguesspassword"); $unitOfWork = new UnitOfWork(new UserMapper($adapter, new EntityCollection), new ObjectStorage); $user1 = new User(array("name" => "John Doe", "email" => "[email protected]")); $unitOfWork->registerNew($user1); $user2 = $unitOfWork->fetchById(1); $user2->name = "Joe"; $unitOfWork->registerDirty($user2); $user3 = $unitOfWork->fetchById(2); $unitOfWork->registerDeleted($user3); $user4 = $unitOfWork->fetchById(3); $user4->name = "Julie"; $unitOfWork->commit();
Leaving aside some irrelevant details, such as assuming there’s effectively a PDO adapter living somewhere, the driving logic of the earlier script should be fairly easy to assimilate. Simply put, it shows off how to get things rolling with the UOW, which drags in some user objects from the database and queues them for insertion, update, and deletion by using the corresponding registering methods. At the end of the process, commit() just loops internally over the registered objects and performs the proper operations all in one go.
While in a standard implementation a UOW does expose the typical set of registering methods that we’d expect to see, its formal definition doesn’t provide any kind of finder. In this case, however, I decided intentionally to implement a generic one so you can see more clearly how to pull in objects from storage and in turn register them with the UOW without struggling with the oddities of a standalone, closer-to-the domain structure, such as a Repository or even an overkill Service.
Closing Thoughts
Now that you’ve peeked behind the curtain at a UOW and learned how to implement a naïve one from scratch, let your wild side show and tweak it at your will.
Keep in mind though that while there are benefits with the pattern, it’s far from being a panacea that will solve all of the issues associated with massive accesses to the persistence layer. In enterprise-level applications that must perform expensive database writes across several places, though, a UOW provides an effective, transactional-like approach that reduces the underlying overhead, hence becoming a solid, multifaceted solution when properly coupled to a caching mechanism.
Image via Zhukov Oleg / Shutterstock |
The first scrimmage of Oregon's preseason camp was marred by "a lot of penalties," coach Willie Taggart said, but he considered it "a good scrimmage we all can learn from."
The scrimmage, held Saturday and featuring officials, capped the first two weeks of preseason camp, and was followed by a team barbecue in north Eugene.
"I saw some good things and bad things," Taggart told reporters Monday in Eugene. "With it being the first scrimmage you expect some penalties. We had a lot of penalties. I thought overall it was a good scrimmage. I thought it was a good scrimmage we all can learn from."
"... Again those penalties just drive you crazy. I was also excited how we bounced back from those penalties. We didn't let it just kill us. Some of those penalties could be drive-stopping penalties but our guys stayed focused and was able to bounce back and make plays afterward, so I thought that was a good thing."
Oregon averaged 8.2 penalties per game last season, the 126th-highest average in the 128-team Football Bowl Subdivision. Oregon also ranked 126th by racking up 75.8 yards tied to penalties per game. Taggart's South Florida team averaged 6.4 penalties per game last season, ranking 79th, and 58.7 yards from them, which ranked 89th.
"Today we're going to go back and watch that film some more and learn from a lot of our mistakes and also learn from some of the good things we did be cause we did some good things, as well," Taggart said.
Here are today's links: |
By Brandon Turbeville
As the Syrian crisis enters its sixth year, the Donald Trump administration is looking more and more like the Obama administration every day. With the Trump regime refusing to open useful dialogue with Russia regarding Syria, its obvious anti-Iran and pro-Israel positioning, and support for a very questionable “safe zone” plan for Syria, the odds of a rational U.S. policy in regards to Syria has lower and lower odds of existence as time progresses.
Yet, despite the fact that the Trump administration is apparently poised to continue the Obama regime’s proxy war of aggression against the people of Syria, an example of seamless transition, it should also be remembered that the plan to destroy Syria did not begin with Obama but with the Bush administration.
Even now, as the world awaits the continuation of the Syrian war through a Democratic and Republican administration, the genesis of that war goes back to the Republican Bush administration, demonstrating that there is indeed an overarching agenda and an overarching infrastructure of an oligarchical deep state intent on moving forward regardless of which party is seemingly in power.
As journalist Seymour Hersh wrote in his article, “The Redirection,”
To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has cooperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.
“Extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam” who are “hostile to America and sympathetic to al-Qaeda” are the definition of the so-called “rebels” turned loose on Syria in 2011. Likewise, the fact that both Iran and Hezbollah, who are natural enemies of al-Qaeda and such radical Sunni groups, are involved in the battle against ISIS and other related terrorist organizations in Syria proves the accuracy of the article on another level.
Hersh also wrote,
The new American policy, in its broad outlines, has been discussed publicly. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that there is “a new strategic alignment in the Middle East,” separating “reformers” and “extremists”; she pointed to the Sunni states as centers of moderation, and said that Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah were “on the other side of that divide.” (Syria’s Sunni majority is dominated by the Alawi sect.) Iran and Syria, she said, “have made their choice and their choice is to destabilize.” Some of the core tactics of the redirection are not public, however. The clandestine operations have been kept secret, in some cases, by leaving the execution or the funding to the Saudis, or by finding other ways to work around the normal congressional appropriations process, current and former officials close to the Administration said. . . . . . . This time, the U.S. government consultant told me, Bandar and other Saudis have assured the White House that “they will keep a very close eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was ‘We’ve created this movement, and we can control it.’ It’s not that we don’t want the Salafis to throw bombs; it’s who they throw them at—Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.” . . . . . . Fourth, the Saudi government, with Washington’s approval, would provide funds and logistical aid to weaken the government of President Bashir Assad, of Syria. The Israelis believe that putting such pressure on the Assad government will make it more conciliatory and open to negotiations. Syria is a major conduit of arms to Hezbollah. . . . . . . . . . . . The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, a branch of a radical Sunni movement founded in Egypt in 1928, engaged in more than a decade of violent opposition to the regime of Hafez Assad, Bashir’s father. In 1982, the Brotherhood took control of the city of Hama; Assad bombarded the city for a week, killing between six thousand and twenty thousand people. Membership in the Brotherhood is punishable by death in Syria. The Brotherhood is also an avowed enemy of the U.S. and of Israel. Nevertheless, Jumblatt said, “We told Cheney that the basic link between Iran and Lebanon is Syria—and to weaken Iran you need to open the door to effective Syrian opposition.” . . . . . There is evidence that the Administration’s redirection strategy has already benefitted the Brotherhood. The Syrian National Salvation Front is a coalition of opposition groups whose principal members are a faction led by Abdul Halim Khaddam, a former Syrian Vice-President who defected in 2005, and the Brotherhood. A former high-ranking C.I.A. officer told me, “The Americans have provided both political and financial support. The Saudis are taking the lead with financial support, but there is American involvement.” He said that Khaddam, who now lives in Paris, was getting money from Saudi Arabia, with the knowledge of the White House. (In 2005, a delegation of the Front’s members met with officials from the National Security Council, according to press reports.) A former White House official told me that the Saudis had provided members of the Front with travel documents.
Hersh also spoke with Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, leader of the Shi’ite Lebanese militia, Hezbollah. In relation to the Western strategy against Syria, he reported,
Nasrallah said he believed that America also wanted to bring about the partition of Lebanon and of Syria. In Syria, he said, the result would be to push the country “into chaos and internal battles like in Iraq.” In Lebanon, “There will be a Sunni state, an Alawi state, a Christian state, and a Druze state.” But, he said, “I do not know if there will be a Shiite state.” Nasrallah told me that he suspected that one aim of the Israeli bombing of Lebanon last summer was “the destruction of Shiite areas and the displacement of Shiites from Lebanon. The idea was to have the Shiites of Lebanon and Syria flee to southern Iraq,” which is dominated by Shiites. “I am not sure, but I smell this,” he told me. Partition would leave Israel surrounded by “small tranquil states,” he said. “I can assure you that the Saudi kingdom will also be divided, and the issue will reach to North African states. There will be small ethnic and confessional states,” he said. “In other words, Israel will be the most important and the strongest state in a region that has been partitioned into ethnic and confessional states that are in agreement with each other. This is the new Middle East.”
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Yet, while even the connections between the plans to destroy Syria and the Bush administration are generally unknown, what is even less well-known is the fact that there existed a plan to destroy Syria as far back as 1983.
Documents contained in the U.S. National Archives and drawn up by the CIA reveal a plan to destroy the Syrian government going back decades. One such document entitled, “Bringing Real Muscle To Bear In Syria,” written by CIA officer Graham Fuller, is particularly illuminating. In this document, Fuller wrote,
Syria at present has a hammerlock on US interests both in Lebanon and in the Gulf — through closure of Iraq’s pipeline thereby threatening Iraqi internationalization of the [Iran-Iraq] war. The US should consider sharply escalating the pressures against Assad [Sr.] through covertly orchestrating simultaneous military threats against Syria from three border states hostile to Syria: Iraq, Israel and Turkey.
Even as far back as 1983, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s father, Hafez Assad, was viewed as a gadfly to the plans of Western imperialists seeking to weaken both the Iraqis and the Iranians and extend hegemony over the Middle East and Persia. The document shows that Assad and hence Syria represented a resistance to Western imperialism, a threat to Israel, and that Assad himself was well aware of the game the United States, Israel, and other members of the Western imperialist coalition were trying to play against him. The report reads,
Syria continues to maintain a hammerlock on two key U.S. interests in the Middle East: — Syrian refusal to withdraw its troops from Lebanon ensures Israeli occupation in the south; — Syrian closure of the Iraqi pipeline has been a key factor in bringing Iraq to its financial knees, impelling it towards dangerous internationalization of the war in the Gulf Diplomatic initiatives to date have had little effect on Assad who has so far correctly calculated the play of forces in the area and concluded that they are only weakly arrayed against him. If the U.S. is to rein in Syria’s spoiling role, it can only do so through exertion of real muscle which will pose a vital threat to Assad’s position and power.
The author then presents a plan that sounds eerily similar to those now being discussed publicly by Western and specifically American corporate-financier think tanks and private non-governmental organizations who unofficially craft American policy. Fuller writes,
The US should consider sharply escalating the pressures against Assad [Sr.] through covertly orchestrating simultaneous military threats against Syria from three border states hostile to Syria: Iraq, Israel and Turkey. Iraq, perceived to be increasingly desperate in the Gulf war, would undertake limited military (air) operations against Syria with the sole goal of opening the pipeline. Although opening war on a second front against Syria poses considerable risk to Iraq, Syria would also face a two-front war since it is already heavily engaged in the Bekaa, on the Golan and in maintaining control over a hostile and restive population inside Syria. Israel would simultaneously raise tensions along Syria’s Lebanon front without actually going to war. Turkey, angered by Syrian support to Armenian terrorism, to Iraqi Kurds on Turkey’s Kurdish border areas and to Turkish terrorists operating out of northern Syria, has often considered launching unilateral military operations against terrorist camps in northern Syria. Virtually all Arab states would have sympathy for Iraq. Faced with three belligerent fronts, Assad would probably be forced to abandon his policy of closure of the pipeline. Such a concession would relieve the economic pressure on Iraq, and perhaps force Iran to reconsider bringing the war to an end. It would be a sharpening blow to Syria’s prestige and could effect the equation of forces in Lebanon. |
WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister John Key, who won praise for his economic stewardship after the global financial crisis, unexpectedly announced his resignation on Monday after eight years in power, backing his finance minister to take the helm.
Bill English, deputy prime minister and finance minister, said he would likely decide overnight whether to stand for the leadership of the ruling center-right National Party at a special December 12 caucus meeting.
Key, a popular former foreign exchange dealer who grew up in state housing, is part-way through a third, three-year term that has been marked by political stability and economic reform.
He told reporters he would stay in parliament long enough for his party to avoid a by-election for his seat. National elections are not expected until late 2017.
“It leaves the Cabinet and caucus plenty of time to settle in with a new Prime Minister before heading into election year with a proud record of strong economic management,” Key told reporters in Wellington.
“I am hugely confident that National can and will win the next election.”
Key said he would vote for English if he stood for party leader and prime minister at the December 12 caucus meeting.
“I’ll be talking to caucus and family today and tonight,” English told reporters. “I wouldn’t stand if there wasn’t strong caucus support for me standing.”
English, a political veteran who previously worked on the family farm and as a Treasury Department policy analyst, would likely continue with many of Key’s core policies, analysts said.
Steven Joyce, who has held a variety of senior cabinet positions since joining the parliament in 2008, is seen as another potential candidate, while Judith Collins, the minister for police and corrections, told local media she would not rule out running.
“We expect New Zealand’s very strong institutions to lead to a smooth transition and policy continuity,” ratings agency Moody’s said in a statement, adding there were no implications for New Zealand’s Aaa credit rating.
The New Zealand dollar fell around a fifth of a U.S. cent on the news and was last trading around $0.71 NZD=D4.
“One issue to be mindful of is that we’ve had political stability in New Zealand now for a number of years,” said Philip Borkin, a senior economist at ANZ. “That may not change significantly but it does add a little bit of uncertainty to the political environment that we’re used to.”
New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key waves to photographers during the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Summit in Lima, Peru, November 20, 2016. REUTERS/Mariana Bazo/File photo
“SAY IT AIN’T SO, BRO”
Key, a multi-millionaire who worked at banks including Merrill Lynch, won office for the Nationals in 2008, ending the nine-year rule of Labour’s Helen Clark. English briefly served as leader of the National Party previously, trying and failing to unseat Clark in 2002.
Together Key and English won praise for their stewardship of the NZ$240 billion ($170 billion) economy in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and two devastating earthquakes near Christchurch.
In October, New Zealand reported its second straight budget surplus, helped by an economy growing at 3.6 percent in the second quarter.
Key steps down with his party in a dominant position in New Zealand’s German-style mixed member proportional representation parliament.
A Roy Morgan poll last week showed support for the National Party up 1.5 percent to 49.5 percent, clearly ahead of the Labour/Greens alliance, at 37.5 percent support.
“I sent him one very short message ‘Say it ain’t so bro’,” Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told reporters in Melbourne.
“John Key is one of the most outstanding national leaders in the world today...He is somebody that all of us, right around the world, leaders in countries large and small, draw inspiration from.”
Key has been dubbed “Teflon John” for avoiding lasting damage from a series of controversies which include repeatedly pulling the ponytail of a waitress, his handling of the arrest of accused internet piracy kingpin Kim Dotcom and his backing of a failed referendum to change the New Zealand flag.
Slideshow (4 Images)
“As a top trader he knows you sell stocks when they are at their highs, not lows,” Bryce Edwards, lecturer in politics at the University of Otago, told Reuters. “So he’s managed to leave politics on a high note and will go down in history as a popular politician.”
Asked if he had any regrets, Key said that not securing the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal was a major one, but it was time to call it quits for his wife Bronagh.
“Ten years at the top is a long time, it is a lot of lonely nights for Bronagh. I really feel I owe it to family to come home.”
($1 = 1.4112 New Zealand dollars) |
Gluten-free products are proliferating like mad, and now merit whole aisles in upscale grocery stores. More and more of my friends and acquaintances are dropping gluten out of their diets and saying how much better they feel. They sleep better, feel more energetic and lose weight. They make such a compelling case for gluten-free life that I end up wondering, when I’m bloated and my pants don’t fit, whether I should consider dropping gluten myself.
There are two well-established conditions that require people to avoid gluten. Celiac disease, an immune response to gluten that produces severe inflammation of the small intestine, afflicts about 0.75 percent of the population. A wheat allergy, sometimes called baker’s asthma, affects about 0.4 percent of the population and is usually characterized by symptoms like breathing problems and a runny nose.
But gluten sensitivity in people who don’t have celiac disease or a wheat allergy is fuzzier. Some websites suggest that 18 million people are sensitive to gluten. Most patients complain of stomach problems and gas. Some add in fatigue, brain fog and depressed mood. There are no confirmed tests for the condition. Many people who say they are gluten sensitive never receive a test for celiac disease, wheat allergy or other sensitivities. They cut out gluten and they feel better. This is often the case for people with irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, a condition characterized by stomach pain, bloating, gas and diarrhea or constipation.
In 2011, Jessica Biesiekierski and colleagues at Monash University in Victoria, Australia, confirmed what is now known as non-celiac gluten intolerance in patients with IBS. In a study of 34 patients published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology, the authors showed that gluten, added to a previously gluten-free diet, caused gastrointestinal distress and fatigue in 68 percent of patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
But now, in results published May 6 in Gastroenterology, the same group of researchers shows that gluten had no effect in IBS patients who claimed they had non-celiac gluten sensitivity. The results seem to contradict the group’s earlier work. But the science may simply be a bit more complex than previously thought: People with irritable bowel syndrome may indeed feel better on a gluten-free diet — but gluten might not have been the culprit.
The researchers tested three different diets, controlled by handing out frozen meals to the 37 patients, all of whom had irritable bowel syndrome. The study was designed as a cross-over, so all patients got a week on each test diet (high gluten, low gluten or no gluten) with two weeks in between. The end of the study was a three-day repeat, where each patient got three days of gluten and another three days without. While there were some upset stomachs, no symptoms could be directly attributed to the gluten in the patients’ diets. Instead, the results suggested a nocebo effect: If you think your stomach will be upset, you probably will have tummy trouble, no matter what diet you’re on.
Some might say that this study’s results mean that gluten sensitivity in general is “bogus.” But the study authors propose that something else entirely is to blame for gastrointestinal distress in IBS patients. Instead of gluten, look to fermentable short chain carbohydrates, called FODMAPs. These molecules are in wheat, barley and rye, as well as other foods including apples, cabbage and beans.
FODMAPs are always going to cause some trouble. They aren’t absorbed well in the small intestine, and when they hit the large intestine, they get fermented by bacteria. That fermentation process is what gives us bean farts and cabbage gas. But while the burrito bloat will happen to everyone, study coauthor Peter Gibson, a gastroenterologist at Monash University, hypothesizes that people with IBS are more sensitive to the gastrointestinal stretching produced by FODMAPs, resulting in more pain and symptoms. Since cutting out gluten also tends to cut out some FODMAPs, he says, people with IBS may well assume that gluten was the culprit.
In the new study, the test diet was also carefully designed to be low in FODMAPs. Gibson’s laboratory also reported in the Sept. 26 Gastroenterology that 30 IBS patients cut their gastrointestinal symptoms in half when they spent 21 days on a diet low in FODMAPs.
Gibson has written a book promoting a low FODMAP diet, but more research is needed before the next diet craze takes hold. Other studies have shown positive effects of gluten-free diets in IBS patients. Some patients who self-identify as gluten-sensitive could well have other diagnoses that have not been ruled out, including FODMAP sensitivity, sensitivity to fructose or sensitivity to other proteins in wheat.
Maureen Leonard, a pediatric gastroenterologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, is particularly concerned that a gluten-free diet may not, in fact, be any lower in FODMAPs. “Many foods that are naturally gluten free such as fruits, vegetables and beans are quite high in FODMAPS,” she says. “In patients we see with true gluten sensitivity, gluten or wheat is the culprit causing the gastrointestinal distress.” She also has worries about the patient selection for the new study and the group’s earlier work. The patients were all self-selected as being sensitive to gluten. “Non-celiac gluten sensitivity can be defined as follows: individuals without celiac disease whose symptoms improve on a gluten-free diet after ruling out other conditions,” Leonard says. Because the patients’ symptoms were not necessarily controlled on a gluten-free diet at the start of the study, “the subjects in these studies do not meet these criteria.”
But Reiner Ullrich, an immunologist at Charite University Medicine in Berlin, Germany, says that Gibson lab studies are useful “as pilot studies in need of confirmation. We should consider FODMAP content when examining the gluten-free diet.” But he is also concerned that the studies tested the diets for only a few weeks (at most) at a time. Ullrich would like to see the diets tested for at least eight weeks. “I fear there is no shortcut to establish dietary or drug effect in IBS,” he notes.
And targeting FODMAPs doesn’t mean that gluten sensitivity is off the table. “The story is ongoing,” Gibson says, “we produced a piece of evidence to say that gluten is being overly blamed, but we have patients who we still believe have non-celiac gluten sensitivity.” It’s also important to remember that the study was in people with IBS. Many of the people who give up gluten have never been diagnosed with IBS, and whether they are gluten sensitive or not remains up in the air.
And of course, wheat is made of much more than gluten. Peter Green, a gastroenterologist at Columbia University Medical Center in New York, N.Y., says that while FODMAPs and gluten may indeed play a role, there could be other proteins in wheat that cause discomfort in some patients. “People with IBS are a very heterogeneous population,” he explains. “It’s a complex issue, and this study adds to the confusion.” But Green also notes the most important thing is that patient symptoms are not being ignored. “People are doing research on it,” he says. “We are trying to work it out.” |
Now that Helen Hitler Thomas has been forcibly retired, more video of the interview miraculously has become available for viewing:
Here’s the “appalling” transcript:
Q: Any advice for these young people over here for starting out in the press corps? Thomas: Go for it. You’ll never be unhappy. You’ll always keep people informed, you’ll always keep learning. The greatest thing of the profession is you’ll never stop learning. Q: Today they are covering the Jewish Heritage Month. Thomas: … and meet the President. A: Any comments on Israel? We’re asking everyone today, any comments on.. Thomas: Tell them to get the hell out of Palestine. Q: Oooh. Any better comments? Thomas: Remember, these people are occupied, and it’s their land. It’s not German and it’s not Poland. Q: So where should they go, what should they do? Thomas: They can go home. Q: Where is home? Thomas: Poland. Germany. Q: So you are saying Jews should go back to Poland? Thomas: And America and everywhere else. Why push people out who have lived their for centuries? See? Q: Now, are you familiar with the history of that region and what took place? Thomas: Very much. I’m of Arab background. {It goes on for a little while with friendly banter about languages they both speak with words I can not even begin to spell.} Q: Thank you. Thomas: All the best to you (directed at the Jewish students). Go for it- go for journalism, you’ll never regret it.
Clearly, this woman is evil beyond words. The way she smiled at those Jewish kids while giving them friendly advice to enter careers in journalism so they can have fulfilling lives of learning and accomplishment when secretly, I have been assured by liberals and others, what she really wants is to transport them back to the gas ovens of the Holocaust (for the morons- see the update).
You guys got played. And by this jackass, running around doing Mexican impressions in his spare time. Does anyone still want to try to pretend she was suggesting people be time-warped back to Auschwitz? Or that her pleasantly offering advice to Jewish students was horrifying anti-Semitism at work? Anyone?
On the upside, no one is talking about the unpleasantness with the flotilla anymore.
*** Update ***
For the folks with comprehension problems, the sarcasm employed regarding her chatting with the students is directed at the foolish notion she was implying folks should head off to the ovens, not to deflect from what I have repeatedly stated were her idiotic and obnoxious remarks. There seems to be some desire in every one of these pile-ons to turn stupid remarks by someone into something altogether unforgivable. I’m reminded of the time I spent days arguing that no, Republican Bill Bennett wasn’t actually suggesting that all black babies be aborted in order to lower the crime rate.
Grow up. What Thomas said was stupid enough. She’s lost her job. There is no reason to pretend she was implying people should be sent off to Nazi Germany or Poland and be exterminated. Quit making things up and impugning those who aren’t into playing your games. I think (again, as I have stated repeatedly), the state of Israel and her citizens have every right to exist. I don’t think, however, that criticism of policies of the state of Israel are somehow verboten. |
By Ng Yi Shu
Tired of uncles nagging you and the government in Hong Lim Park?
Several young Singaporeans decided to get together and organise a community picnic at the Asian Civilisations Museum yesterday.
Calling the event “more than a miracle”, Stand Up for Our Singapore (Stand Up) volunteers, dressed in red, helped to set up the various booths around the lawn and explain what the event was about to the public.
About 400 people attended the event. Participants interacted with a mutual stranger with the aid of conversational prompts such as ‘Share an act of kindness that a stranger did for you that touched you a lot.”
So what’s the event about?
“What we’re about is about showing that there are alternative ways to expressing our concern for Singapore,” said organiser Wally Tham, who works as a director at Big Red Button.“We explore themes of how Singapore can be great… how Singapore can be resilient.”
The movement has had different themes throughout its various editions – but it is generally premised upon spreading an alternative response of positivity and goodwill to Singapore through its events.
This is the movement’s fourth edition. Stand Up organised three events previously – on National Day 2012, when volunteers gave out flyers exhorting graciousness on public transport; on Christmas Day 2012, where messages of appreciation was sent out by the public to bus drivers, and on Labour Day 2013, when a community picnic was held at Hong Lim Park.
The organisers – (clockwise from top) Wally Tham (center, holding camera), Tong Yee, Wu Xinyan and Scott Lai (center)
[quipbox float=”right” boxcolor=”000000″ boxhead=”How much does it cost to organise such an event?”]
The organisers received nearly no official funding, except for the first edition, where the National Youth Council supported the movement with a $3,000 Young ChangeMakers grant. That was not enough to cover the costs however; Stand Up’s events have usually incurred an average cost of around $9,000 – $12,000.
[/quipbox]
Said Wally Tham, “(The organisers) see ourselves as very much embedded in Singapore… and when we see sentiment moving this other way, where folks are just angry and folks are being mean, and it almost becomes the only mode of emotion, we feel we have to stand up and say ‘No! There is another way… this is not the only perspective on this matter.’”
The theme this year is gratitude – gratitude to people in service to Singapore. “The event today is our effort to acknowledge the people we have never met, but are simply grateful for anyway,” the organisers wrote in a letter given out to all participants.
“I think… the narrative of gratitude that’s a very important thing to have other people hear… whether it spreads or whether people believe it or not I’m not really sure… but I do know that it’s a very valuable message,” Tong Yee said.
Messages of gratitude to various people of different occupations hang from one side of the lawn.
The organisers added that they intend to have similar events in the heartlands.
On why the organisers chose the slogan ‘More than a Miracle’, Tong said, “we just felt that the Singapore Miracle story has served its purpose… beyond the miracle, the next generation needs another narrative. ‘More than a Miracle’ is about what happens internally (within us) – what we do to continue our sustainability.’
The organisers and participants have different views about what a new narrative for Singapore should be. Heidi Mah, a volunteer, said that she would want people to step out of their own box and express their love for their country. “We are now more stable, (yet) people are getting more discouraged… and I feel that amongst us all there are people who trust and truly love the nation,” she says.
Wu Xinyan, one of the organisers, said that she would stand for the diversities that Singapore represents. “We have several cultures all melding into one, and that makes us distinctly special – and I think that’s something worth celebrating.”
Photos by Ng Yi Shu
Find Mothership.SG on Facebook and Twitter. |
A U.S. Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon refuels over Afghanistan in November. (Photo: Staff Sergeant Sean Martin/USAF)
Little peace, and our strength is ebbing: A report from the Reagan National Defense Forum.
This past weekend marked the annual Reagan National Defense Forum, held at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. It was the first Forum since the Republicans took control of the White House and both houses of Congress. In the past, the Forum has facilitated vibrant discussion among leaders in the national-security community, and this year was no different. The panels and speakers included a bipartisan mix of administration, congressional, analytical, and retired military leaders. Virtually every panel offered a headline worthy of comment. Insights ranged from Representative Mike Gallagher’s allusion to Halford Mackinder’s early-20th-century World Island theory to General John Hyten’s new thought that there is no “war in space. There is only war, and space is one of the domains in which it will be fought.”
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One of the themes that emerged throughout the day was that there is very little peace in the world. Former secretary of defense and CIA director Leon Panetta observed that he had never seen so many flash points in the world at the same time. Various speakers called out Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and, more broadly, radical Islamic terrorism as threats to the peace and security of the United States. Retired General Jack Keane bluntly stated that China was trying to dominate its region without firing a shot, and Lieutenant General H. R. McMaster, the current national-security adviser to President Trump, candidly called out North Korea, with its investments in intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear warheads, as a clear and present danger to the United States.
McMaster’s luncheon address was arguably the high point of the day, with national news channels breaking into their regular schedule to cover it. The general offered hints as to the contents of the Trump administration’s much-anticipated national-security strategy. In a clear swipe at the Obama administration’s “lead from behind” approach, McMaster stated that President Trump and his team were focused on “recovering the strategic initiative.” He alluded to actions that could be taken in the diplomatic, economic, and military arenas. McMaster, who has a Ph.D. and a reputation for incisive thought, suggested that the new national-security strategy would seek to balance strategic ends with the nation’s ways and means rather than simply present the banal bumper stickers that have constituted recent strategies of both Republican and Democrat administrations.
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Space emerged as a major topic of conversation. At a panel that included General Hyten, Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson, and Mike Rogers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee Strategic Forces Subcommittee, there was a vigorous debate between Wilson and Rogers, with Hyten stuck uncomfortably between them. Rogers asserted that space is being rapidly militarized, with competitor nations making huge investments in attempts to catch up to and overtake the United States in a domain it has long dominated, and that the Air Force, as a bureaucratic entity, was stifling the evolution of the nation’s space forces. Wilson pushed back vigorously, stating that the Air Force was manned by a superb cadre of space professionals and that the service had dramatically increased its budgetary investments in space. Rogers said that the Air Force needed to create within itself a Space Corps, which would be analogous to the Marine Corps within the Department of the Navy. Such a corps would have independence in the development of its budget, forces, operations, and strategy. Hyten inserted himself carefully into the conversation, all the while highlighting that space was already a domain in which a strong competition between great powers was occurring. The space conversation, though lively, was ultimately a debate without a conclusion.
Budgets and force readiness were the dual themes that ran throughout the day. Everyone, except Representative Adam Smith (D., Calif.), bemoaned Congress’s inability to overturn the 2011 Budget Control Act. Secretary of the Navy Richard Spencer observed that the nearly endless string of continuing resolutions that has characterized the post–Budget Control Act era had cost the Navy and Marine Corps over $4 billion in stop-and-start expenses. Despite a broad consensus among attendees, it was clear that internal disputes with “fiscal hawks” who viewed rising deficits as significant national-security threats in and of themselves were going to block any Republican attempts to do away with the Budget Control Act in the near future. There was a palpable sense of frustration in the room, especially among the Republican members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees. Despite having a Republican president who wants a larger military, and majorities in the House and the Senate, there was no real sense of energy or forward movement on strengthening the nation’s defense.
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Force readiness was the other bogeyman in the room, with speakers from McMaster to former Obama appointee Kathleen Hicks highlighting the need to invest in readiness and modernization. Readiness and modernization, the latter in the form of investments in new “offsetting” capabilities, seem to represent the major hurdles that the Department of Defense needs to clear before it can begin to grow the force. Both seem to suggest false choices, as no real dollar amount has been advanced to answer the question of how much it would cost to achieve high “readiness,” and investments in modernization can coexist with investments in growing the force by following a traditional acquisition strategy consisting of a “high-low” mix. The desire by some to pursue only those high-end capabilities that are viewed as essential to winning the next great-power war carries with it the potential to diminish the day-to-day force that is critical to preserving the peace.
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In the end, this year’s Reagan National Defense Forum highlighted the fact that the new administration, despite some irregularities in its strategic messaging, is attempting to reverse the passive strategic course of the past and to chart once again a more assertive role both both here on earth and out in space. However, problems within the legislative budgetary process are threatening to hamper these efforts and could further erode the United States’ position on the global stage. Lastly, there was a general sense of ennui throughout the Forum, a persistent intrusion of the overused boilerplate answers to longstanding problems in various panels, and few conversations containing innovative ideas or an energetic sense of forward motion. Actors within the defense community, and even within the Republican party itself, still seem pitted against each other. At the end of the day, as I stood next to Ronald Reagan’s grave while the sun set behind the western foothills he loved, I came away with the sense that somehow the nation’s defense community was beset by challenges and had accepted just standing still. Reagan would not be pleased.
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The Presidency of Theodore Roosevelt began on September 14, 1901, when Theodore Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States upon the assassination and death of President William McKinley, and ended on March 4, 1909. Roosevelt had been the Vice President of the United States for only 194 days when he succeeded to the presidency. A Republican, he ran for and won a full four-year term as president in 1904, easily defeating Democratic nominee Alton B. Parker. After the Republican victory in the 1908 presidential election, Roosevelt was succeeded by his protégé and chosen successor, William Howard Taft.
A Progressive reformer, Roosevelt earned a reputation as a "trust buster" through his regulatory reforms and anti-trust prosecutions. His presidency saw the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act, which established the Food and Drug Administration to regulate food safety, and the Hepburn Act, which increased the regulatory power of the Interstate Commerce Commission. Roosevelt took care, however, to show that he did not disagree with trusts and capitalism in principle, but was only against monopolistic practices. His "Square Deal" included regulation of railroad rates and pure foods and drugs; he saw it as a fair deal for both the average citizen and the businessmen. Sympathetic to both business and labor, Roosevelt avoided labor strife, most notably negotiating a settlement to the great Coal Strike of 1902. His great love was nature and he vigorously promoted the conservation movement, emphasizing efficient use of natural resources. He dramatically expanded the system of national parks and national forests. After 1906, he moved to the left, attacking big business and anti-labor decisions of the courts.
In foreign affairs, Roosevelt sought to uphold the Monroe Doctrine and establish the United States as a strong naval power. He inherited the colonial empire acquired in the Spanish–American War; while he ended the U.S. military presence in Cuba, he committed to a long-term occupation of the Philippines. Much of his foreign policy focused on the threats posed by Japan in the Pacific Ocean and Germany in the Caribbean Sea. Seeking to avoid the presence of European empires in the Western Hemisphere, Roosevelt mediated the Venezuela Crisis and declared the Roosevelt Corollary, in which the U.S. promised to uphold legitimate European claims on Latin American countries. Roosevelt also mediated the Russo-Japanese War, for which he won the Nobel Prize. He pursued closer relations with Great Britain, allowing for the beginning of the construction of the Panama Canal, which increased U.S. security and trade opportunities.
Historian Thomas Bailey, who generally disagreed with Roosevelt's policies, nevertheless concluded, "Roosevelt was a great personality, a great activist, a great preacher of the moralities, a great controversialist, a great showman. He dominated his era as he dominated conversations...the masses loved him; he proved to be a great popular idol and a great vote getter."[1] His image stands alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln on Mount Rushmore. Although Roosevelt has been criticized by some for his perceived imperialist stance, he is often ranked by historians among the top-five greatest U.S. Presidents of all time.[2][3]
Accession [ edit ]
Roosevelt's Inauguration
Roosevelt served as assistant secretary of the navy and governor of New York before winning election as William McKinley's running mate in the 1900 presidential election. Roosevelt became president following the assassination of McKinley by anarchist Leon Czolgosz in Buffalo, New York; Czolgosz shot McKinley on September 6, 1901, and McKinley died on September 14. Roosevelt was sworn into office on the day of McKinley's death at the Ansley Wilcox House in Buffalo. John R. Hazel, U.S. District Judge for the Western District of New York, administered the oath of office.[4] Being just a few weeks short of his 43rd birthday, Roosevelt became the youngest president in U.S. history, a distinction he still retains.[5]
When asked whether he was ready to take the oath, Roosevelt answered,[6]
I will take the oath. And in this hour of deep and terrible national bereavement, I wish to state that it shall be my aim to continue, absolutely without variance, the policy of President McKinley, for the peace and honor of our beloved country.
Roosevelt would later state that he came into office without any particular domestic policy goals. He broadly adhered to most Republican positions on economic issues, with the partial exception of the protective tariff. Roosevelt had stronger views on the particulars of his foreign policy, as he wanted the United States to assert itself as a great power in international relations.
Administration [ edit ]
Cabinet [ edit ]
Anxious to ensure a smooth transition, Roosevelt convinced the members of McKinley's cabinet, most notably Secretary of State John Hay and Secretary of the Treasury Lyman J. Gage, to remain in office after McKinley's death.[8] Another holdover from McKinley's cabinet, Secretary of War Elihu Root, had been a Roosevelt confidante for years, and he continued to serve as President Roosevelt's close ally.[9] Attorney General Philander C. Knox, who McKinley had appointed in early 1901, also emerged as a powerful force within the Roosevelt administration.[10] McKinley's personal secretary, George B. Cortelyou, remained in place under Roosevelt. Once Congress began its session in December 1901, Roosevelt replaced Gage with L. M. Shaw and appointed Henry C. Payne as Postmaster General, earning the approval of powerful Senators William B. Allison and John Coit Spooner.[12] He also replaced his former boss, Secretary of the Navy John D. Long, with Congressman William H. Moody.[a] In 1903, Roosevelt named Cortelyou as the first head of the Department of Commerce and Labor, and William Loeb Jr. became Roosevelt's secretary.
Root returned to the private sector in 1904 and was replaced by William Howard Taft, who had previously served as the governor-general of the Philippines.[15] Knox accepted appointment to the Senate in 1904, and was replaced by William Moody, who in turn was succeeded as attorney general by Charles Joseph Bonaparte in 2906. After Hay's death in 1905, Roosevelt convinced Root to return to the Cabinet as secretary of state, and Root remained in office until the final days of Roosevelt's tenure.[16] In 1907, Roosevelt replaced Shaw with Cortelyou, while James R. Garfield became the new secretary of the interior.
Press corps [ edit ]
Building on McKinley's effective use of the press, Roosevelt made the White House the center of news every day, providing interviews and photo opportunities. Noticing the White House reporters huddled outside in the rain one day, he gave them their own room inside, effectively inventing the presidential press briefing.[18] The grateful press, with unprecedented access to the White House, rewarded Roosevelt with ample coverage, rendered the more possible by Roosevelt's practice of screening out reporters he didn't like.[18]
Judicial appointments [ edit ]
Roosevelt appointed three associate justices of the Supreme Court.[19] Roosevelt's first appointment, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. had served as chief justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court since 1899 and had earned notoriety within legal circles for his moral skepticism and deference to elected officials. Confirmed in December 1902, Holmes served on the Supreme Court until 1932.[20] Roosevelt's second appointment, former Secretary of State William R. Day, became a reliable vote for Roosevelt's anti-trust prosecutions and remained on the court from 1903 to 1922.[21] In 1906, after considering Democratic appellate judge Horace Harmon Lurton for a Supreme Court vacancy, Roosevelt instead appointed Attorney General William Moody.[22] Moody served on the court until health problems forced his retirement in 1910.
Roosevelt also appointed 71 other federal judges: 18 to the United States Courts of Appeals, and 53 to the United States district courts.
Domestic policy [ edit ]
Progressivism [ edit ]
Determined to create what he called a "Square Deal" between business and labor, Roosevelt pushed several pieces of progressive legislation through Congress. Progressivism was among the most powerful political forces of the day, and Roosevelt was its most articulate spokesperson. Progressivism had dual aspects. First, progressivism promoted use of science, engineering, technology, and social sciences to address the nation's problems, and identify ways to eliminate waste and inefficiency and promote modernization.[23] Those promoting progressivism also campaigned against corruption among political machines, labor unions, and trusts of new, large corporations, which emerged at the turn of the century.[24] In describing Roosevelt's priorities and characteristics as president, historian G. Warren Chessman noted Roosevelt's
insistence upon the public responsibility of large corporations; publicity as a first remedy for trusts; regulation of railroad rates; mediation of the conflict of capital and labor; conservation of natural resources; and protection of the less fortunate members of society.[25]
Trust busting and regulation [ edit ]
In the late-nineteenth century, several large businesses, including Standard Oil, had either bought their rivals or had established business arrangements that effectively stifled competition. Many companies followed the model of Standard Oil, which organized itself as a trust in which several component corporations were controlled by one board of directors. While Congress had passed the 1890 Sherman Antitrust Act to provide some federal regulation of trusts, the Supreme Court had limited the power of the act in the case of United States v. E. C. Knight Co..[26] By 1902, the 100 largest corporations held control of 40 percent of industrial capital in the United States. Roosevelt did not oppose all trusts, but sought to regulate trusts that he believed harmed the public, which he labeled as "bad trusts."
First term [ edit ]
Upon taking office, Roosevelt proposed federal regulations of trusts. As the states had not prevented the growth of what he viewed as harmful trusts, Roosevelt advocated the creation of Cabinet department designed to regulate corporations engaged in interstate commerce. He also favored amending the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887, which had failed to prevent the consolidation of railroads. In February 1902, the Justice Department announced that it would file an antitrust suit against the Northern Securities Company, a railroad holding company that had been formed in 1901 by J. P. Morgan, James J. Hill, and E. H. Harriman. As the Justice Department lacked an anti-trust division, Attorney General Knox, a former corporate lawyer, personally led the suit. While the case was working its way through court, Knox filed another case against the "Beef Trust," which had become unpopular due to rising meat prices. Combined with his earlier rhetoric, the suits signaled Roosevelt's resolve to strengthen the federal regulation of trusts.
After the 1902 elections, Roosevelt called for a ban on railroad rebates to large industrial concerns, as well as for the creation of a Bureau of Corporations to study and report on monopolistic practices.[32] To pass his anti-trust package through Congress, Roosevelt appealed directly to the people, casting the legislation as a blow against the malevolent power of Standard Oil. Roosevelt's campaign proved successful, and he won congressional approval of the creation of the Department of Commerce and Labor, which included the Bureau of Corporations.[33] The Bureau of Corporations was designed to monitor and report on anti-competitive practices; Roosevelt believed that large companies would be less likely to engage in anti-competitive practices if such practices were publicized. At Knox's request, Congress also authorized the creation of the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice. Roosevelt also won passage of the Elkins Act, which restricted the granting of railroad rebates.
In March 1904, the Supreme Court ruled for the government in the case of Northern Securities Co. v. United States. According to historian Michael McGerr, the case represented the federal government's first victorious prosecution of a "single, tightly integrated interstate corporation."[35] The following year, the administration won another major victory in Swift and Company v. United States, which broke up the Beef Trust. The evidence at trial demonstrated that, prior to 1902, the "Big Six" leading meatpackers had engaged in a conspiracy to fix prices and divide the market for livestock and meat in their quest for higher prices and higher profits. They blacklisted competitors who failed to go along, used false bids, and accepted rebates from the railroads. After they were hit with federal injunctions in 1902, the Big Six had merged into one company, allowing them to continue to control the trade internally. Speaking for the unanimous court, Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. held that interstate commerce included actions that were part of the chain where the chain was clearly interstate in character. In this case, the chain ran from farm to retail store and crossed many state lines.[36]
Second term [ edit ]
Following his re-election, Roosevelt sought to quickly enact a bold legislative agenda, focusing especially on legislation that would build upon the regulatory accomplishments of his first term. Events during his first term had convinced Roosevelt that legislation enacting additional federal regulation of interstate commerce was necessary, as the states were incapable of regulating large trusts that operated across state lines and the overworked Department of Justice was unable to provide an adequate check on monopolistic practices through anti-trust cases alone. Roused by reports in McClure's Magazine, many Americans joined Roosevelt in calling for an enhancement to the Elkins Act, which had done relatively little to restrict the granting of railroad rebates.[38] Roosevelt also sought to strengthen the powers of the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), which had been created in 1887 to regulate railroads. Roosevelt's call for regulatory legislation, published in his 1905 message to Congress, encountered strong opposition from business interests and conservative congressmen.[39]
When Congress reconvened in late 1905, Roosevelt asked Senator Jonathan P. Dolliver of Iowa to introduce a bill that would incorporate Roosevelt's railroad regulatory proposals, and set about mobilizing public and congressional support for the bill. The bill was also taken up in the House, where it became known as the Hepburn Bill, named after Congressman William Peters Hepburn.[40] While the bill passed the House with relative ease, the Senate, dominated by conservative Republicans like Nelson Aldrich, posed a greater challenge.[41] Seeking to defeat reform efforts, Aldrich arranged it so that Democrat Benjamin Tillman, a Southern senator who Roosevelt despised, was left in charge of the bill. Because railroad regulation was widely popular, opponents of the Hepburn Bill focused on the role of courts in reviewing the ICC's rate-setting. Roosevelt and progressives wanted to limit judicial review to issues of procedural fairness, while conservatives favored "broad review" that would allow judges to determine whether the rates themselves were fair.
After Roosevelt and Tillman were unable to assemble a bipartisan majority behind a bill that restricted judicial review, Roosevelt accepted an amendment written by Senator Allison that contained vague language allowing for court review of the ICC's rate-setting power. With the inclusion of the Allison amendment, the Senate passed the Hepburn Bill in a 71-to-3 vote. After both houses of Congress passed a uniform law, Roosevelt signed the Hepburn Act into law on June 29, 1906. In addition to rate-setting, the Hepburn Act also granted the ICC regulatory power over pipeline fees, storage contracts, and several other aspects of railroad operations.[45] Though some conservatives believed that the Allison amendment had granted broad review powers to the courts, a subsequent Supreme Court case limited judicial power to review the ICC's rate-setting powers.
In response to public clamor largely arising from the popularity of Upton Sinclair's novel, The Jungle, Roosevelt also pushed Congress to enact food safety regulations. Opposition to a meat inspection bill was strongest in the House, due to the presence of conservative Speaker of the House Joseph Gurney Cannon and allies of the meatpacking industry. Roosevelt and Cannon agreed to a compromise bill that became the Meat Inspection Act of 1906. Congress simultaneously passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, which received strong support in both the House and the Senate. Collectively, the laws provided for the labeling of foods and drugs and the inspection of livestock, and mandated sanitary conditions at meatpacking plants.[48]
Seeking to bolster anti-trust regulations, Roosevelt and his allies introduced a bill to enhance the Sherman Act in 1908, but it was defeated in Congress. In the aftermath of a series of scandals involving major insurance companies, Roosevelt sought to establish a National Bureau of Insurance to provide federal regulation, but this proposal was also defeated.[50] Roosevelt continued to launch anti-trust suits in his second term, and a suit against Standard Oil in 1906 would lead to that company's break-up in 1911.[51] In addition to the anti-trust suits and major regulatory reform efforts, the Roosevelt administration also won the cooperation of many large trusts, who consented to regulation by the Bureau of Corporations. Among the companies that voluntarily agreed to regulation was U.S. Steel, which avoided an antitrust suit by allowing the Bureau of Corporations to investigate its operations.[53]
Conservation [ edit ]
A political cartoon describing Roosevelt as "a practical forester"
Roosevelt was a prominent conservationist, putting the issue high on the national agenda.[54] Roosevelt's conservation efforts were aimed not just at environment protection, but also at ensuring that society as a whole, rather than just select individuals or companies, benefited from the country's natural resources.[55] His key adviser and subordinate on environmental matters was Gifford Pinchot, the head of the Bureau of Forestry. Roosevelt increased Pinchot's power over environmental issues by transferring control over national forests from the Department of the Interior to the Bureau of Forestry, which was part of the Agriculture Department. Pinchot's agency was renamed to the United States Forest Service, and Pinchot presided over the implementation of assertive conservationist policies in national forests.
Roosevelt encouraged the Newlands Reclamation Act of 1902, which promoted federal construction of dams to irrigate small farms and placed 230 million acres (360,000 mi² or 930,000 km²) under federal protection. In 1906, Congress passed the Antiquities Act, granting the president the power to create national monuments in federal lands. Roosevelt set aside more federal land, national parks, and nature preserves than all of his predecessors combined.[57][58] Roosevelt established the Inland Waterways Commission to coordinate construction of water projects for both conservation and transportation purposes, and in 1908 he hosted the Conference of Governors to boost support for conservation.[b] After the conference, Roosevelt established the National Conservation Commission to take an inventory of the nation's natural resources.[60]
Roosevelt's policies faced opposition from both environmental activists like John Muir and opponents of conservation like Senator Henry M. Teller of Colorado.[61] While Muir, the founder of the Sierra Club, wanted nature preserved for the sake of pure beauty, Roosevelt subscribed to Pinchot's formulation, "to make the forest produce the largest amount of whatever crop or service will be most useful, and keep on producing it for generation after generation of men and trees." [62] Teller and other opponents of conservation, meanwhile, believed that conservation would prevent the economic development of the West and feared the centralization of power in Washington. The backlash to Roosevelt's ambitious policies prevented further conservation efforts in the final years of Roosevelt's presidency and would later contribute to the Pinchot–Ballinger controversy during the Taft administration.[63]
Labor relations [ edit ]
"The Washington Schoolmaster," An editorial cartoon about the Coal strike of 1902, by Charles Lederer
Roosevelt was generally reluctant to involve himself in labor-management disputes, but he believed that presidential intervention was justified when such disputes threatened the public interest.[64] Labor union membership had doubled in the five years preceding Roosevelt's inauguration, and at the time of his accession, Roosevelt saw labor unrest as the greatest potential threat facing the nation. Yet he also sympathized with many laborers due to the harsh conditions that many faced.[65] Resisting the more extensive reforms proposed by labor leaders such as Samuel Gompers of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), Roosevelt established the open shop as the official policy civil service employees.[66]
In 1899, the United Mine Workers (UMW) had expanded its influence from bituminous coal mines to anthracite coal mines. The UMW organized an anthracite coal strike in May 1902, seeking an eight-hour day and pay increases. Hoping to reach a negotiated solution with the help of Mark Hanna's National Civic Federation, UMW president John Mitchell prevented bituminous coal miners from launching a sympathy strike. The mine owners, who wanted to crush the UMW, refused to negotiate, and the strike continued. In the ensuing months, the price of coal increased from five dollars per ton to above fifteen dollars per ton. Seeking to help the two parties arrive at a solution, Roosevelt hosted the UMW leaders and mine operators at the White House in October 1902, but the mine owners refused to negotiate. Through the efforts of Roosevelt, Root, and J.P. Morgan, the mine operators agreed to the establishment of a presidential commission to propose a solution to the strike. In March 1903, the commission mandated pay increases and a reduction in the work day from ten hours to nine hours. At the insistence of the mine owners, the UMW was not granted official recognition as the representative of the miners.[67]
Roosevelt refrained from major interventions in labor disputes after 1902, but state and federal courts increasingly became involved, issuing injunctions to prevent labor actions.[68] Tensions were particularly high in Colorado, where the Western Federation of Miners led a series of strikes that became part of a struggle known as the Colorado Labor Wars. Roosevelt did not intervene in the Colorado Labor Wars, but Governor James Hamilton Peabody dispatched the Colorado National Guard to crush the strikes. In 1905, radical union leaders like Mary Harris Jones and Eugene V. Debs established the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), which criticized the conciliatory policies of the AFL.[69]
Civil rights [ edit ]
Although Roosevelt did some work improving race relations, he, like most leaders of the Progressive Era, lacked initiative on most racial issues. Booker T. Washington, the most important black leader of the day, was the first African American to be invited to dinner at the White House, dining there on October 16, 1901.[70] Washington, who had emerged as an important adviser to Republican politicians in the 1890s, favored accommodation with the Jim Crow laws that instituted racial segregation.[71] News of the dinner reached the press two days later, and public outcry from whites was so strong, especially from the Southern states, that Roosevelt never repeated the experiment.[70] Nonetheless, Roosevelt continued to consult Washington regarding appointments and shunned the "lily-white" Southern Republicans who favored excluding blacks from office.[citation needed]
After the dinner with Washington, Roosevelt continued to speak out against lynchings, but did little to advance the cause of African-American civil rights.[72] In 1906, he approved the dishonorable discharges of three companies of black soldiers who all refused his direct order to testify regarding their actions during a violent episode in Brownsville, Texas, known as the Brownsville Raid. Roosevelt was widely criticized by contemporary newspapers for the discharges, and Senator Joseph B. Foraker won passage of a congressional resolution directing the administration to turn over all documents related to the case.[73] The controversy hung over the remainder of his presidency, although the Senate eventually concluded that the dismissals had been justified.[74]
Panic of 1907 [ edit ]
In 1907, Roosevelt faced the greatest domestic economic crisis since the Panic of 1893. The U.S. stock market entered a slump in early 1907, and many in the financial markets blamed Roosevelt's regulatory policies for the decline in stock prices.[75] Lacking a strong central central banking system, the government was unable to coordinate response to the economic downturn. The slump reached a full-blown panic in October 1907, when two investors failed to take over United Copper. Working with Secretary of the Treasury Cortelyou, financier J.P. Morgan organized a group of businessmen to avert a crash by pledging their own money. Roosevelt aided Morgan's intervention by allowing U.S. Steel to acquire the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company despite anti-trust concerns, and by authorizing Cortelyou to raise bonds and commit federal funds to the banks.[77] Roosevelt's reputation in Wall Street fell to new lows following the panic, but the president remained broadly popular.[78] In the aftermath of the panic, most congressional leaders agreed on the need to reform the nation's financial system. With the support of Roosevelt, Senator Aldrich introduced a bill to allow National Banks to issue emergency currency, but his proposal was defeated by Democrats and progressive Republicans who believed that it was overly favorable to Wall Street. Congress instead passed the Aldrich–Vreeland Act, which created the National Monetary Commission to study the nation's banking system; the commission's recommendations would later form the basis of the Federal Reserve System.
Tariffs [ edit ]
Many Republicans viewed the tariff as the key plank of their economic policy in the aftermath of the Panic of 1893. The tariff protected domestic manufacturing against foreign competition, and was also a major source of government funding, constituting over one-third of federal revenue in 1901. McKinley had been a committed protectionist, and the Dingley Tariff of 1897 represented a major increase in tariff rates. McKinley also negotiated bilateral reciprocity treaties with France, Argentina, and other countries in an attempt to expand foreign trade while still keeping overall tariff rates high. Unlike McKinley and other nineteenth-century Republican presidents, Roosevelt had never been a strong advocate of the protective tariff, nor did he place a high emphasis on tariffs in general. When Roosevelt took office, McKinley's reciprocity treaties were pending before the Senate, and many assumed that they would be ratified despite the opposition of Aldrich and other conservatives. After conferring with Aldrich, Roosevelt decided not to push Senate ratification of the treaties in order to avoid an intra-party conflict. He did, however, successfully pressure Congress to ratify reciprocal tariff treaties with the Philippines and, after overcoming domestic sugar interests, with Cuba.
The issue of the tariff lay dormant throughout Roosevelt's first term, but it continued to be an important campaign topic for both parties. Proponents of tariff reduction asked Roosevelt to call a special session of Congress to address the issue in early 1905, but Roosevelt was only willing to issue a cautious endorsement of a cut in tariff rates, and no further action was taken on the tariff during Roosevelt's tenure. In the first decade of the 20th century, the country experienced a period of sustained inflation for the first time since the early 1870s, and Democrats and other free trade advocates blamed rising prices on high tariff rates. Tariff reduction became an increasingly important national issue, and Congress would pass a major tariff law in 1909, shortly after Roosevelt left office.
Radical shift, 1907–09 [ edit ]
In his waning days in office, Roosevelt proposed numerous reforms
Growing popular outrage at corporate scandals, along with reporting of journalists like Lincoln Steffens and Ida Tarbell, contributed to a split in the Republican Party between conservatives like Aldrich and progressives like Albert B. Cummins and Robert M. La Follette. Roosevelt did not fully embrace the left wing of his party, but he adopted many of their proposals. In his last two years in office, Roosevelt abandoned his cautious approach toward big business, lambasting his conservative critics and calling on Congress to enact a series of radical new laws.[91] Roosevelt sought to replace the 19th-century laissez-faire economic environment with a new economic model which included a larger regulatory role for the federal government. He believed that 19th-century entrepreneurs had risked their fortunes on innovations and new businesses, and that these capitalists had been rightly rewarded. By contrast, he believed that 20th-century capitalists risked little but nonetheless reaped huge and unjust, economic rewards. Without a redistribution of wealth away from the upper class, Roosevelt feared that the country would turn to radicalism or fall to revolution.[92]
In January 1908, Roosevelt sent a special message to Congress, calling for the restoration of an employer's liability law, which had recently been struck down by the Supreme Court due to its application to intrastate corporations.[93] He also called for a national incorporation law (all corporations had state charters, which varied greatly state by state), a federal income tax and inheritance tax (both targeted at the rich), limits on the use of court injunctions against labor unions during strikes (injunctions were a powerful weapon that mostly helped business), an eight-hour work day for federal employees, a postal savings system (to provide competition for local banks), and legislation barring corporations from contributing to political campaigns.[94]
Roosevelt's increasingly radical stance proved popular in the Midwest and Pacific Coast, and among farmers, teachers, clergymen, clerical workers and some proprietors, but appeared as divisive and unnecessary to eastern Republicans, corporate executives, lawyers, party workers, and many members of Congress.[96] Populist Democrats such as William Jennings Bryan expressed admiration for Roosevelt's message, and one Southern newspaper called for Roosevelt to run as a Democrat in 1908, with Bryan as his running mate.[97] Despite the public support offered by Democratic congressional leaders like John Sharp Williams, Roosevelt never seriously considered leaving the Republican Party during his presidency. Roosevelt's move to the left was supported by some congressional Republicans and many in the public, but conservative Republicans such as Senator Nelson Aldrich and Speaker Joseph Gurney Cannon remained in control of Congress.[99] These Republican leaders blocked the more ambitious aspects of Roosevelt's agenda,[100] though Roosevelt won passage of a new Federal Employers Liability Act and other laws, such as a restriction of child labor in Washington, D.C.[99]
States admitted [ edit ]
One new state, Oklahoma, was admitted to the Union while Roosevelt was in office. Oklahoma, which was formed out of Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory, became the 46th state on November 16, 1907. Congress had established the Indian Territory after several Native American tribes had been relocated to the area following the passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Congress had created Oklahoma Territory in 1890 out of a portion of Indian Territory, opening up the region to settlement by whites.[101] Native American leaders in the Indian Territory sought to create the State of Sequoyah, but their efforts were defeated in Congress. At Roosevelt's suggestion, Indian Territory and Oklahoma Territory were combined to form one state under the Oklahoma Enabling Act. The act also contained provisions encouraging New Mexico Territory and Arizona Territory to begin the process of gaining admission as states.[citation needed]
Foreign policy [ edit ]
Great power politics [ edit ]
Victory in the Spanish–American War had made the United States a power in both the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, and Roosevelt was determined to continue the expansion of U.S. influence. Reflecting this view, Roosevelt stated in 1905, "We have become a great nation, forced by the face of its greatness into relations with the other nations of the earth, and we must behave as beseems a people with such responsibilities." Roosevelt believed that the United States had a duty to uphold a balance of power in international relations and seek to reduce tensions among the great powers. He was also adamant in upholding the Monroe Doctrine, the American policy of opposing European colonialism in the Western Hemisphere. Roosevelt viewed the German Empire as the biggest potential threat to the United States, and he feared that the Germans would attempt to establish a base in the Caribbean Sea. Given this fear, Roosevelt pursued closer relations with Britain, a rival of Germany, and responded skeptically to German Kaiser Wilhelm II's efforts to curry favor with the United States. Roosevelt also attempted to expand U.S. influence in East Asia and the Pacific, where the Empire of Japan and the Russian Empire exercised considerable authority. One important aspect of Roosevelt's strategy in East Asia was the Open Door Policy, which called for keeping China open to trade from all countries.
Aftermath of the Spanish–American War [ edit ]
The United States and its colonial possessions when Roosevelt entered office
Philippines [ edit ]
Roosevelt inherited a country torn by debate over the territories acquired in the Spanish–American War. Roosevelt believed that Cuba should be quickly granted independence and that Puerto Rico should remain a semi-autonomous possession under the terms of the Foraker Act. He wanted U.S. forces to remain in the Philippines to establish a stable, democratic government, even in the face of an insurrection led by Emilio Aguinaldo. Roosevelt feared that a quick U.S. withdrawal would lead to instability in the Philippines or an intervention by a major power such as Germany or Japan.[107]
The Filipino insurrection largely ended with the capture of Miguel Malvar in 1902.[108] In remote Southern areas, the Muslim Moros resisted American rule in an ongoing conflict known as the Moro Rebellion,[109] but elsewhere the insurgents came to accept American rule. Roosevelt continued the McKinley policies of removing the Catholic friars (with compensation to the Pope), upgrading the infrastructure, introducing public health programs, and launching a program of economic and social modernization. The enthusiasm shown in 1898-99 for colonies cooled off, and Roosevelt saw the islands as "our heel of Achilles." He told Taft in 1907, "I should be glad to see the islands made independent, with perhaps some kind of international guarantee for the preservation of order, or with some warning on our part that if they did not keep order we would have to interfere again."[110] By then the president and his foreign policy advisers turned away from Asian issues to concentrate on Latin America, and Roosevelt redirected Philippine policy to prepare the islands to become the first Western colony in Asia to achieve self-government.[111] Though most Filipino leaders favored independence, some minority groups, especially the Chinese who controlled much of local business, wanted to stay under American rule indefinitely.[112]
The Philippines was a major target for the progressive reformers. A report to Secretary of War Taft provided a summary of what the American civil administration had achieved. It included, in addition to the rapid building of a public school system based on English teaching:
steel and concrete wharves at the newly renovated Port of Manila; dredging the River Pasig,; streamlining of the Insular Government; accurate, intelligible accounting; the construction of a telegraph and cable communications network; the establishment of a postal savings bank; large-scale road-and bridge-building; impartial and incorrupt policing; well-financed civil engineering; the conservation of old Spanish architecture; large public parks; a bidding process for the right to build railways; Corporation law; and a coastal and geological survey.[113]
Cuba [ edit ]
While the Philippines would remain under U.S. control until 1946, Cuba gained independence in 1902.[114] The Platt Amendment, passed during the final year of McKinley's tenure, made Cuba a de facto protectorate of the United States.[115] Roosevelt won congressional approval for a reciprocity agreement with Cuba in December 1902, thereby lowering tariffs on trade between the two countries.[116] In 1906, an insurrection erupted against Cuban President Tomás Estrada Palma due to the latter's alleged electoral fraud. Both Estrada Palma and his liberal opponents called for an intervention by the U.S., but Roosevelt was reluctant to intervene.[117] When Estrada Palma and his Cabinet resigned, Secretary of War Taft declared that the U.S. would intervene under the terms of the Platt Amendment, beginning the Second Occupation of Cuba.[118] U.S. forces restored peace to the island, and the occupation ceased shortly before the end of Roosevelt's presidency.[119]
Puerto Rico [ edit ]
Puerto Rico had been something of an afterthought during the Spanish–American War, but it assumed importance due to its strategic position in the Caribbean Sea. The island provided an ideal naval base for defense of the Panama Canal, and it also served as an economic and political link to the rest of Latin America. Prevailing racist attitudes made Puerto Rican statehood unlikely, so the U.S. carved out a new political status for the island. The Foraker Act and subsequent Supreme Court cases established Puerto Rico as the first unincorporated territory, meaning that the United States Constitution would not fully apply to Puerto Rico. Though the U.S. imposed tariffs on most Puerto Rican imports, it also invested in the island's infrastructure and education system. Nationalist sentiment remained strong on the island and Puerto Ricans continued to primarily speak Spanish rather than English.[120]
Military reforms [ edit ]
A political cartoonists' commentary on Roosevelt's "big stick" policy
Roosevelt placed an emphasis on expanding and reforming the United States military. The United States Army, with 39,000 men in 1890, was the smallest and least powerful army of any major power in the late 19th century. By contrast, France's army consisted of 542,000 soldiers.[122] The Spanish–American War had been fought mostly by temporary volunteers and state national guard units, and it demonstrated that more effective control over the department and bureaus was necessary.[123] Roosevelt gave strong support to the reforms proposed by Secretary of War Elihu Root, who wanted a uniformed chief of staff as general manager and a European-style general staff for planning. Overcoming opposition from General Nelson A. Miles, the Commanding General of the United States Army, Root succeeded in enlarging West Point and establishing the U.S. Army War College as well as the general staff. Root also changed the procedures for promotions, organized schools for the special branches of the service, devised the principle of rotating officers from staff to line,[124] and increased the Army's connections to the National Guard.
Upon taking office, Roosevelt made naval expansion a priority, and his tenure saw an increase in the number of ships, officers, and enlisted men in the Navy. With the publication of The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660–1783 in 1890, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan had been immediately hailed as an outstanding naval theorist by the leaders of Europe. Roosevelt paid very close attention to Mahan's emphasis that only a nation with a powerful fleet could dominate the world's oceans, exert its diplomacy to the fullest, and defend its own borders.[126][127] By 1904, the United States had the fifth largest navy in the world, and by 1907, it had the third largest. Roosevelt sent what he dubbed the "Great White Fleet" around the globe in 1908–1909 to make sure all the naval powers understood the United States was now a major player. Though Roosevelt's fleet did not match the overall strength of the British fleet, it became the dominant naval force in the Western Hemisphere.[128][129][130]
Rapprochement with Great Britain [ edit ]
Varying claims in Southeast Alaska before arbitration in 1903.
The Great Rapprochement between Britain and the United States had begun with British support of the United States during the Spanish–American War, and it continued as Britain withdrew its fleet from the Caribbean in favor of focusing on the rising German naval threat. Roosevelt sought a continuation of close relations with Britain in order to ensure peaceful, shared hegemony over the Western hemisphere. With the British acceptance of the Monroe Doctrine and American acceptance of the British control of Canada, only two potential major issues remained between the U.S. and Britain: the Alaska boundary dispute and construction of a canal across Central America. Under McKinley, Secretary of State Hay had negotiated the Hay–Pauncefote Treaty, in which the British consented to U.S. construction of the canal. Roosevelt won Senate ratification of the treaty in December 1901.[132]
The boundary between Alaska and Canada had become an issue in the late 1890s due to the Klondike Gold Rush, as American and Canadian prospectors in Yukon and Alaska competed for gold claims. A treaty on the border between Alaska and Canada had been reached by Britain and Russia in the 1825 Treaty of Saint Petersburg, and the United States had assumed Russian claims on the region through the 1867 Alaska Purchase. The United States argued that the treaty had given Alaska sovereignty over disputed territories which included the gold rush boom towns of Dyea and Skagway. The Venezuela Crisis briefly threatened to disrupt peaceful negotiations over the border, but conciliatory actions by the British during the crisis helped defuse any possibility of broader hostilities. In January 1903, the U.S. and Britain reached the Hay–Herbert Treaty, which would empower a six-member tribunal, composed of American, British, and Canadian delegates, to set the border between Alaska and Canada. With the help of Senator Henry Cabot Lodge, Roosevelt won the Senate's consent to the Hay–Herbert Treaty in February 1903. The tribunal consisted of three American delegates, two Canadian delegates, and Lord Alverstone, the lone delegate from Britain itself. Alverstone joined with the three American delegates in accepting most American claims, and the tribunal announced its decision in October 1903. The outcome of the tribunal strengthened relations between the United States and Britain, though many Canadians were outraged by the tribunal's decision.
Venezuela Crisis and Roosevelt Corollary [ edit ]
In December 1902, an Anglo-German blockade of Venezuela began an incident known as the Venezuelan Crisis. The blockade originated due to money owed by Venezuela to European creditors. Both powers assured the U.S. that they were not interested in conquering Venezuela, and Roosevelt sympathized with the European creditors, but he became suspicious that Germany would demand territorial indemnification from Venezuela. Roosevelt and Hay feared that even an allegedly temporary occupation could lead to a permanent German military presence in the Western Hemisphere. As the blockade began, Roosevelt mobilized the U.S. fleet under the command of Admiral George Dewey.[137] Roosevelt threatened to destroy the German fleet unless the Germans agreed to arbitration regarding the Venezuelan debt, and Germany chose arbitration rather than war.[138] Through American arbitration, Venezuela reached a settlement with Germany and Britain in February 1903.
Though Roosevelt would not tolerate European territorial ambitions in Latin America, he also believed that Latin American countries should pay the debts they owed to European credits.[140] In late 1904, Roosevelt announced his Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine. It stated that the U.S. would intervene in the finances of unstable Caribbean and Central American countries if they defaulted on their debts to European creditors and, in effect, guarantee their debts, making it unnecessary for European powers to intervene to collect unpaid debts. Roosevelt's pronouncement was especially meant as a warning to Germany, and had the result of promoting peace in the region, as the Germans decided to not intervene directly in Venezuela and in other countries.[141]
A crisis in the Dominican Republic became the first test case for the Roosevelt Corollary. Deeply in debt, the nation struggled to repay its European creditors. Fearing another intervention by Germany and Britain, Roosevelt reached an agreement with Dominican President Carlos Felipe Morales to take temporary control of the Dominican economy, much as the U.S. had done on a permanent basis in Puerto Rico. The U.S. took control of the Dominican customs house, brought in economists such as Jacob Hollander to restructure the economy, and ensured a steady flow of revenue to the Dominican Republic's foreign creditors. The intervention stabilized the political and economic situation in the Dominican Republic, and the U.S. role on the island would serve as a model for Taft's dollar diplomacy in the years after Roosevelt left office.[142]
Panama Canal [ edit ]
Roosevelt regarded the Panama Canal as one of his greatest achievements
Roosevelt at the controls of a steam shovel excavating Culebra Cut for the Panama Canal, 1906
Roosevelt sought the creation of a canal through Central America which would link the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. Most members of Congress preferred that the canal cross through Nicaragua, which was eager to reach an agreement, but Roosevelt preferred the isthmus of Panama, under the loose control of Colombia. Colombia had been engulfed in a civil war since 1898, and a previous attempt to build a canal across Panama had failed under the leadership of Ferdinand de Lesseps. A presidential commission appointed by McKinley had recommended the construction of the canal across Nicaragua, but it noted that a canal across Panama could prove less expensive and might be completed more quickly.[143] Roosevelt and most of his advisers favored the Panama Canal, as they believed that war with a European power, possibly Germany, could soon break out over the Monroe Doctrine and the U.S. fleet would remain divided between the two oceans until the canal was completed.[144] After a long debate, Congress passed the Spooner Act of 1902, which granted Roosevelt $170 million to build the Panama Canal.[145] Following the passage of the Spooner Act, the Roosevelt administration began negotiations with the Colombian government regarding the construction of a canal through Panama.[144]
The U.S. and Colombia signed the Hay–Herrán Treaty in January 1903, granting the U.S. a lease across the isthmus of Panama.[144] The Colombian Senate refused to ratify the treaty, and attached amendments calling for more money from the U.S. and greater Colombian control over the canal zone.[146] Panamanian rebel leaders, long eager to break off from Colombia, appealed to the United States for military aid.[147] Roosevelt saw the leader of Columbia, José Manuel Marroquín, as a corrupt and irresponsible autocrat, and he believed that the Colombians had acted in bad faith by reaching and then rejecting the treaty. After an insurrection broke out in Panama, Roosevelt dispatched the USS Nashville to prevent the Colombian government from landing soldiers in Panama, and Colombia was unable to re-establish control over the province.[149] Shortly after Panama declared its independence in November 1903, the U.S. recognized Panama as an independent nation and began negotiations regarding construction of the canal. According to Roosevelt biographer Edmund Morris, most other Latin American nations welcomed the prospect of the new canal in hopes of increased economic activity, but anti-imperialists in the U.S. raged against Roosevelt's aid to the Panamanian separatists.[150]
Secretary of State Hay and French diplomat Philippe-Jean Bunau-Varilla, who represented the Panamanian government, quickly negotiated the Hay–Bunau-Varilla Treaty. Signed on November 18, 1903, it established the Panama Canal Zone—over which the United States would exercise sovereignty—and insured the construction of an Atlantic to Pacific ship canal across the Isthmus of Panama. Panama sold the Canal Zone (consisting of the Panama Canal and an area generally extending five miles (8.0 km) on each side of the centerline) to the United States for $10 million and a steadily increasing yearly sum.[151] In February 1904, Roosevelt won Senate ratification of the treaty in a 66-to-14 vote.[152] The Isthmian Canal Commission, supervised by Secretary of War Taft, was established to govern the zone and oversee the construction of the canal.[153] Roosevelt appointed George Whitefield Davis as the first governor of the Panama Canal Zone and John Findley Wallace as the Chief Engineer of the canal project. When Wallace resigned in 1905, Roosevelt appointed John Frank Stevens, who built a railroad in the canal zone and initiated the construction of a lock canal. Stevens was replaced in 1907 by George Washington Goethals, who saw construction through to its completion.[155] Roosevelt traveled to Panama in November 1906 to inspect progress on the canal, becoming the first sitting president to travel outside of the United States.[156]
East Asia [ edit ]
Russo-Japanese War [ edit ]
Russia had occupied the Chinese region of Manchuria in the aftermath of the 1900 Boxer Rebellion, and the United States, Japan, and Britain all sought the end of its military presence in the region. Russia agreed to withdrawal its forces in 1902, but it reneged on this promise and sought to expand its influence in Manchuria to the detriment of the other powers. Roosevelt was unwilling to consider using the military to intervene in the far-flung region, but Japan prepared for war against Russia in order to remove it from Manchuria. When the Russo-Japanese War broke out in February 1904, Roosevelt sympathized with the Japanese but sought to act as a mediator in the conflict. He hoped to uphold the Open Door policy in China and prevent either country from emerging as the dominant power in East Asia. Throughout 1904, both Japan and Russia expected to win the war, but the Japanese gained a decisive advantage after capturing the Russian naval base at Port Arthur in January 1905. In mid-1905, Roosevelt persuaded the parties to meet in a peace conference in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, starting on August 5. His persistent and effective mediation led to the signing of the Treaty of Portsmouth on September 5, ending the war. For his efforts, Roosevelt was awarded the 1906 Nobel Peace Prize.[161] The Treaty of Portsmouth resulted in the removal of Russian troops from Manchuria, and it gave Japan control of Korea and the southern half of Sakhalin Island.
Relations with Japan [ edit ]
Roosevelt saw Japan as the rising power in Asia, in terms of military strength and economic modernization. He viewed Korea as a backward nation and did not object to Japan's attempt to gain control over Korea. With the withdrawal of the American legation from Seoul and the refusal of the Secretary of State to receive a Korean protest mission, the Americans signaled they would not intervene militarily to stop Japan's planned takeover of Korea.[163] In mid-1905, Taft and Japanese Prime Minister Katsura Tarō jointly produced the Taft–Katsura agreement. During the discussion, Japan stated that it had no interest in the Philippines, while the U.S. stated that it considered Korea to be part of the Japanese sphere of influence.[164]
Vituperative anti-Japanese sentiment among Americans, especially on the West Coast, soured relations during the latter half of Roosevelt's term.[165] In 1906, the San Francisco Board of Education caused a diplomatic incident by ordering the segregation of all schoolchildren in the city.[166] The Roosevelt administration did not want to anger Japan by passing legislation to bar Japanese immigration to the U.S., as had previously been done for Chinese immigration. Instead the two countries, led by Secretary of State Elihu Root and Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Tadasu, reached the informal Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907. The agreement banned emigration of Japanese laborers to the U.S. and Hawaii, while also ending the segregation order of the San Francisco School Board, which had humiliated and angered the Japanese. The agreements remained in effect until the passage of the Immigration Act of 1924, in which Congress forbade all immigration from Japan.[167][168] Despite the agreement, tensions with Japan would continue to simmer due to the treatment of Japanese immigrants by local governments in the United States. Roosevelt never feared imminent war with the Japanese during his tenure, but the friction with Japan encouraged further naval build-up and an increased focus on the security of the American position in the Pacific.[169]
Algeciras Conference [ edit ]
In 1906, at the request of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Roosevelt convinced France to attend the Algeciras Conference as part of an effort to resolve the First Moroccan Crisis. After signing the Entente Cordiale with Britain, France had sought to assert its dominance over Morocco, and a crisis had begun after Germany protested this move. By asking Roosevelt to convene an international conference on Morocco, Kaiser Wilhelm II sought to test the new Anglo-British alliance, check French expansion, and potentially draw the United States into an alliance against France and Britain. Senator Augustus Octavius Bacon protested U.S. involvement in European affairs, but Secretary of State Root and administration allies like Senator Lodge helped defeat Bacon's resolution condemning U.S. participation in the Algeciras Conference. The conference was held in the city of Algeciras, Spain, and 13 nations attended. The key issue was control of the police forces in the Moroccan cities, and Germany, with a weak diplomatic delegation, found itself in a decided minority. Hoping to avoid an expansion of German power in North Africa, Roosevelt secretly supported France, and he cooperated closely with the French ambassador. An agreement among the powers, reached on April 7, 1906, slightly reduced French influence by reaffirming the independence of the Sultan of Morocco and the economic independence and freedom of operations of all European powers within the country. Germany gained nothing of importance but was mollified and stopped threatening war.[172]
Elections [ edit ]
Election of 1904 [ edit ]
1904 electoral college results
Before and during his presidency, Roosevelt built up a strong following within the Republican Party, but his re-nomination in 1904 was far from certain at the end of 1901. Many expected Senator Mark Hanna, a confidante of former President McKinley, to win the party's 1904 presidential nomination.[174] Support for Hanna was especially strong among conservative businessmen who opposed many of Roosevelt's policies,[175] though Hanna lacked his own national organization, and even in his home state he was opposed by influential Senator Joseph Foraker. Hanna and another prominent party leader, Matthew Quay of Pennsylvania, both died in 1904. Other potential rivals for the 1904 Republican presidential nomination, including Leslie Shaw and Charles W. Fairbanks, failed to galvanize support for their candidacies. At the 1904 Republican National Convention, Roosevelt secured his own nomination, but his preferred vice-presidential running mate, Robert R. Hitt, was not nominated. Senator Fairbanks, a favorite of conservatives, gained the vice-presidential nomination.
The Democratic Party's presidential nominee in 1904 was Alton B. Parker, the chief judge of the New York Court of Appeals. Democratic leaders hoped that Parker, whose political positions were largely unknown, would be able unify the populist followers of William Jennings Bryan with the conservative supporters of former President Grover Cleveland. Parker was unable to unite the party, and many Democrats supported Roosevelt.[179] Democrats alleged that the Republican campaign extorted large contributions from corporations, but these allegations had little impact on the election. As Parker moved his party in a conservative direction, Republicans performed well among progressives and centrists. Roosevelt won 56% of the popular vote while Parker received 38% of the popular; Roosevelt also won the electoral vote 336 to 140. Roosevelt's victory made him first president to be elected to a full term of his own after having succeeded to the presidency upon the death of a predecessor. His popular vote margin of 18.8% was the largest margin in U.S. history until the 1920 presidential election. On election night, as it became clear that he had won in a landslide, Roosevelt pledged not to run for a third term.
Election of 1908 and transition [ edit ]
Republican William Howard Taft defeated Democrat William Jennings Bryan in the 1908 election
Roosevelt had mixed feelings about a third term, as he enjoyed being president and was still relatively youthful, but felt that a limited number of terms provided a check against dictatorship. Roosevelt ultimately decided to stick to his 1904 pledge not to run for a third term, and he threw his support behind a successor so as to avoid a potential pro-Roosevelt delegate stampede at the 1908 Republican National Convention. Roosevelt personally favored Secretary of State Elihu Root, but Root's ill health made him an unsuitable candidate. New York Governor Charles Evans Hughes loomed as potentially strong candidate and shared Roosevelt's progressivism, but Roosevelt disliked him and considered him to be too independent. Instead, Roosevelt settled on his Secretary of War, William Howard Taft, who had ably served under Presidents Harrison, McKinley, and Roosevelt in various positions. Roosevelt and Taft had been friends since 1890, and Taft had consistently supported President Roosevelt's policies. Many conservatives wanted to re-take leadership of the party from the progressive Roosevelt. Senator Joseph Foraker, who like Taft was from Ohio, briefly emerged as the main conservative candidate for the GOP nomination.[186] However, Taft defeated Foraker's attempt to win control of the Ohio Republican Party, and entered the convention as the strong favorite over Foraker, Hughes, and Senator Philander Knox.[187]
At the 1908 Republican convention, many chanted for "four years more" of a Roosevelt presidency, but Taft won the nomination after Roosevelt's close friend, Henry Cabot Lodge, made it clear that Roosevelt was not interested in a third term. In a speech accepting the Republican nomination, Taft promised to continue the policies of Roosevelt, but as the campaign progressed he minimized his reliance on Roosevelt, and did not ask the president to publicly campaign for him.[189] The Democrats nominated William Jennings Bryan, who had been the party's presidential candidate in 1896 and 1900. Bryan, a populist Democrat widely regarded as a strong speaker, thought that Taft was a weak candidate and hoped that the public would tire of the Republican leadership the country had experienced since the 1896 election.[190] The platforms of the two parties differed little: both called for anti-trust actions, railroad and labor regulations, and a revision of the tariff.[191] As election day approached, it became clear that Taft would retain the loyalty of Republican voters and win a wide victory over Bryan, who had failed to find a winning issue on which to campaign. Taft won 321 of the 483 electoral votes and 51.6% of the popular vote. Republicans also retained control of both houses of Congress. Roosevelt regarded the victory of his chosen successor as a vindication of his policies and presidency.[192] As he left office, Roosevelt was widely regarded as the most powerful and influential president since Abraham Lincoln.[193] Taft's decision to retain few members of Roosevelt's Cabinet alienated Roosevelt, although Roosevelt continued support his successor throughout the transition period.[194]
Historical reputation [ edit ]
Roosevelt in Pennsylvania on 26 October 1914
Roosevelt was popular as he left office, and he remained a major world figure until his death in 1919. His own contemporaries viewed his presidency as influential; former Senator William E. Chandler wrote in January 1909 that Roosevelt "changed the course of American politics. We can never go back to where we were under Hanna." After his death, Roosevelt was overshadowed by other figures, but the interest of historians and the American public in Roosevelt was reinvigorated after World War II. Historian John Morton Blum's 1954 book, The Republican Roosevelt, advanced the thesis that Roosevelt had been the first truly modern president, and many historians have argued that Roosevelt's presidency served as a model to subsequent presidents.
Historian Lewis L. Gould summarizes the consensus view of historians, stating that Roosevelt was "a strong, effective executive whose policies foreshadowed the welfare state." Gould also writes, "if Roosevelt fell short of the first rank of president, he qualified for that ambivalent rating of 'near great,' conferred upon him in the polls that historians take with each other. A 2018 poll of the American Political Science Association ranked Roosevelt as the fourth greatest president in history, after George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.[198]
Roosevelt is a hero to modern liberals for his proposals in 1907–12 that presaged the modern welfare state of the New Deal Era, and put the environment on the national agenda. Conservatives admire his "big stick" diplomacy and commitment to military values. Dalton says, "Today he is heralded as the architect of the modern presidency, as a world leader who boldly reshaped the office to meet the needs of the new century and redefined America's place in the world." However, the New Left has criticized him for his interventionist and imperialist approach to nations he considered "uncivilized". Conservatives reject his vision of the welfare state and emphasis on the superiority of government over private action.[200][201]
Notes [ edit ]
^ Roosevelt had served under Long as the Assistant Secretary of the Navy from 1897 to 1898. ^ The Conference of Governors was the first time in United States history that the governors of the various states assembled as a group.
References [ edit ]
Works cited [ edit ] |
Salvatore Cambria (left) and Eric Onyango said they bought a $1 million winning Powerball ticket in New Jersey, and threw it in the garbage when they read the wrong winning numbers. (Credit: CBS 2)
Remember the New Jersey man who made headlines after winning the jackpot in the Lottery last year
As it happens, it turns out there were a couple of men who claim they were winners too, but threw their ticket away.
The men have now filed a lawsuit against the New Jersey Lottery, CBS 2’s Hazel Sanchez reported.
Erick Onyango and Salvatore Cambria, both of Suffern, Rockland County, claim they had a million-dollar lottery ticket in their hands, but they threw it away.
“I was very upset — Mad, angry, hurt — everything. I’m like, this is my ticket out of here,” Cambria said.
The two friends bought three Powerball tickets from a Mahwah, New Jersey 7-Eleven last year.
Onyango said he checked the winning numbers on his phone 15 minutes after the drawing and was convinced they didn’t have a winner.
“I’m like this, this, this while he’s checking and, like, ‘Oh, no. It’s not the one,'” Onyango said.
“I crumpled it up, put it inside of an empty cigarette pack, and put it in my garbage can,” said Cambria.
But it turned out the numbers Onyango was reading were from the previous Powerball drawing.
Days later, when Onyango said he realized he bought a winning ticket that matched five numbers and was worth $1 million, the ticket was already buried in a garbage dump, Sanchez reported.
Glady Gannon said she’s confident she sold the winning ticket to Onyango.
“I remember that night he was in here and I sold it to him — three individual tickets on the Powerball,” Gannon said.
The two men said the serial numbers on the tickets they kept prove they bought the winning ticket.
“There’s two serial numbers per ticket — 89, 90. The third ticket is 93 and 94. So the middle ticket, 91 and 92, is gone,” Cambria said.
The pair is suing the New Jersey Lottery Commission for their winnings, arguing they never would have thrown away the ticket if the correct numbers were posted online.
The commission could not comment on the pending lawsuit.
But other lottery players told Sanchez they think the men are out of luck.
“You threw away the lottery ticket. You’re not getting it,” one person said.
“He should’ve confirmed the data before he threw the ticket out,” another weighed in.
All in all, it was a painful lesson for Onyango and Cambria, who said before they toss another ticket, they’ll stop and ask, as a sign in the store reads, “Are you throwing away a million dollars?”
Check Out These Other Stories From CBSNewYork.com: |
One day a few years ago I passed a street teeming with panhandlers, begging for change. And it made me wonder what causes people to stop for beggars and what causes them to walk on by. So I hung out for a while, engaging in a bit of discreet peoplewatching. Many people passed the beggars without giving anything, but there were a few who stopped. What was it that separated those who paused and gave money from those who didn’t? And what separated the more successful beggars from those who were less successful? Was it something specific about their situation, or their presentation? Was it the beggar’s strategy?
To look into this question, I called on Daniel Berger Jones, an acting student at Boston University who had just finished hiking around Europe. Not having shaved in months and already looking pretty scruffy, he was ready for the job (plus as part of his training to be an actor I figured it would be good for him to learn how to beg for money – at the time he did not see that particular benefit). So I found a street corner and placed him there to take on the panhandling trade. I asked Daniel to try a few different approaches to begging and to keep track of the approaches that made him more or less money. (Of course, after the experiment was over we donated all the money that he made to charity). The general setup was what we call a 2×2 design: When people walked by, Daniel would either be sitting down (the passive approach) or standing up (the active approach) and he would either look them in the eyes or not. So there were times when he was 1) sitting down and looking people in the eyes, 2) sitting down and not looking people in the eyes, 3) standing up and looking people in the eyes, or 4) standing up and not looking people in the eyes.
Daniel got to work, scrounging for money. He stayed on his corner for a while, trying the different approaches. And it turned out that both his position and his eye contact did, in fact, make a difference. He made more money when he was standing and when he looked people in the eyes. It seemed that the most lucrative strategy was to put in more effort, to get people to notice him, and to look them in the eyes so that they could not pretend to not see him.
Interestingly, while the eye contact approach was working in general, it was clear that some of the passersby had a counterstrategy: they were actively shifting their gaze in what seemed to be an attempt to pretend that he wasn’t there. They simply acted as if there was a dark hole in front of them rather than a person, and they were quite successful at averting their gaze.
At some point, something very interesting happened. There was another beggar on the street – a professional beggar – who approached young Daniel and said, “Look kid, you don’t know what you’re doing. Let me teach you.” And so he did. This beggar took our concept of effort and human contact to the next level, walking right up to people and offering his hand up for them to shake. With this dramatic gesture, people had a very hard time refusing him or pretending that they did not seen him. Apparently, the social forces of a handshake are simply too strong and too deeply engrained to resist – and many people gave in and shook his hand. Of course, once they shook his hand, they would also look him in the eyes; the beggar succeeded at breaking the social barrier and was able to get many people to give him money. Once he became a real flesh and blood person with eyes, a smile and needs, people gave in and opened their wallets. When the beggar left his new pupil, he felt so sorry for poor Daniel –and his panhandling ineptitude– that he actually gave him some money. Of course Daniel tried to refuse, but the beggar insisted.
I think there are two main lessons here. The first is to realize how much of our lives are structured by social norms. We do what we think is right, and if someone gives us a hand, there’s a good chance we will shake it, make eye contact, and act very differently than we would otherwise.
The second lesson is to confront the tendency to avert our eyes when we know that someone is in need. We realize that if we face the problem, we’ll feel compelled to do something about it, and so we avoid looking and thereby avoid the temptation to give in and help. We know that if we stop for a beggar on the street, we will have a very hard time refusing his plea for help, so we try hard to ignore the hardship in front of us: we want to see, hear, and speak no evil. And if we can pretend that it isn’t there, we can trick ourselves into believing –at least for that moment– that it doesn’t exist. The good news is that, while it is difficult to stop ignoring the sad things, if we actively chose to pay attention there is a good chance that we will take an action and help a person in need. |
BOGOTA — The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the guerilla group known as the FARC, chose a military hardliner as its new commander this week, in what could be a blow to a peaceful resolution to Colombia’s conflict.
It could also spell the beginning of the end for the FARC.
Rodrigo Loño Echeverry, 52, known as Timochenko, was chosen after the death this weekend of the group’s commander, Alfonso Cano, who was killed in a government bombardment.
Read more: Cocaine crackdown
The government, who has been fighting the FARC for decades, called Cano’s death a serious blow to the group. Cano was a charismatic leader who skillfully united factions of the FARC who disagreed on whether to pursue a military or political strategy in dealing with the government.
At issue is the tentative discussions about negotiations that Cano allegedly had begun with the government before his death, and what some analysts believed was a rare chance for peace. Colombian officials have since said they would be willing to continue negotiations with the FARC if the group acted in good faith. Most analysts say that the government would also need to show that it is willing to implement some economic reforms the group had demanded in the past.
It’s still unclear whether Timochenko, who analysts believe may be hiding in neighboring Venezuela, has interest in pursuing that path, or remaining at war. But his background suggests that he’s likely to continue a militaristic approach.
Read more: 'Blood roses' in Colombia
Timochenko is one of the FARC’s longest running commanders. A medical student when he joined the rebels in 1982, he has studied politics and warfare in the Soviet Union and Cuba. Since then, he has risen to lead the head of the group’s intelligence operations.
Colombia's attorney general has issued 117 arrest warrants for Timochenko on charges of kidnapping, murder, rebellion and terrorism. The United States has offered $5 million for information leading to his capture.
The FARC has been battling the government since the 1960s, when it was founded to fight for the rights of Colombia’s poor. Since then, however, it has strayed from its original ideology, working with drug-traffickers to fund its operations, kidnapping civilians and launching violent attacks against the government. The shift has also sapped public support for the FARC.
Since 2008, the Colombian military has intensified its military campaign against the group. So far, it has killed four out of seven top leaders. Yet the government hasn’t been able to eradicate the rebels.
Miguel Ortiga, a researcher at the Foundation for Ideas Towards Peace, said that that Timochenko was less likely to negotiate than his predecessor. He also would have less of an ability to unite the group.
That could lead the FARC to splinter into smaller groups who might align with criminal gangs, raising the potential for clashes between these rivals and creating a greater threat to civilians.
"This is very dangerous for Colombia in the long term," Ortiga said. "The criminal groups have better weapons and training. This, mixed with a desire to fight the government and lack of leadership, could be a bomb."
It would also almost certainly render negotiations moot. Either way, buoyed by Cano’s death, the government seems little interested in discussions now.
“Think about it,” said President Juan Manuel Santos, in a public address to Timochenko. “You have been defeated politically, more than 95 percent of the population rejects the FARC. Your military is increasingly weak.
“The use of weapons and the path of violence will not lead to any win for you. Timochenko needs to reflect, or he will suffer the same fate as Alfonso Cano.”
Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras has already announced that Timochenko has become the state government's top target.
“We know what is the next government's objective: to capture Timochenko. If he is the new FARC leader, they have showed us our next goal,” he said. |
Gov. Larry Hogan weighed into the health care fray again Wednesday, signing a bipartisan letter to Senate leaders that opposes the so-called “skinny repeal” plan emerging as a potentially viable option to dismantle Obamacare.
“Congress should be working to make health insurance more affordable while stabilizing the health insurance market,” Hogan and nine other governors wrote in the letter.
The state leaders, who could be blamed for rate hikes caused by congressional action, said the skinny repeal would “accelerate health plans leaving the individual market, increase premiums, and result in fewer Americans having access to coverage.”
Senate leaders are considering a pared down repeal that would eliminate unpopular provisions of the 2010 Obamacare law, such as the requirement that all Americans carry some level of insurance or face a tax penalty. But that provision underpins the entire Obamacare system – making another measure, guaranteed coverage for people with preexisting conditions, possible.
Without a requirement for healthy people to carry insurance, the system breaks down because no one would purchase coverage until they became sick. The Congressional Budget Office estimated Wednesday that as many as 16 million people could lose their coverage under that arrangement.
Republican leaders are hopeful a skinny repeal could garner majority support in the Senate so that the chamber could bring something into a conference committee. That would allow Senate and House leaders to begin negotiations on a final bill.
But the governors dismissed that idea.
“Instead, we ask senators to work with governors on solutions to problems we can all agree on: fixing our unstable insurance markets,” they wrote. “The next best step is for senators and governors of both parties to come together to work to improve our health care system.”
The letter marks the second time in as many weeks Hogan and other Republican governors have openly questioned the strategy embraced by their party’s leaders in Washington. After months of avoiding questions of national policy, Hogan has become increasingly vocal on health care.
Last week Hogan and other governors wrote a letter opposing the so-called repeal-and-delay strategy that would have unwound the Affordable Care Act now and then held off on a replacement.
Wednesday’s letter was also signed by the Democratic governors of Colorado, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Montana and Louisiana and the Republican governors of Nevada, Massachusetts, Ohio and Vermont.
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Michelle Lynch has a suitcase full of disturbing stories to tell about accused child molester and former minuteman leader Chris Simcox.
Some are really creepy, especially in hindsight.
Simcox had "tons" of little girls in his apartment playing with his two young daughters, according to Lynch, who lived in the same apartment building in an upper-middle-class complex near the border of Scottsdale and Phoenix.
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"I remember six girls, [my daughter] being one of them walking to my house with Chris," she recalled during a recent sit-down at a Phoenix coffee shop. "They were all in princess clothing."
Lynch didn't know then that Simcox was the onetime face of the minuteman movement or that he had been accused of domestic violence and the molestation of his now-adult daughter when she was 14. She knew nothing of his public life.
Instead, she saw a single parent, like herself, who seemed deeply involved in the lives of his kids.
He was home-schooling his two daughters, who, like Lynch's daughter, were under age 10. And though he was never specific, he made it seem as if he was in law enforcement, work that he did not want to discuss.
Another time, Simcox came to her apartment, his two kids in tow. Neither she nor her daughter were home. Her 14-year-old son answered the door.
"Chris handed him a very large bag of Skittles," Lynch said. "I think it was a pound bag, and he says, 'Give this to [your sister] for being a good girl.'"
Lynch didn't think much of it. She had no reason to. Simcox had gained her trust, as he had the trust of other parents in the apartment complex. And the kids visited each others' apartments all the time.
But once her daughter revealed to her how Simcox had told her "secrets" and showed her explicit movies while molesting her, she remembered the Skittles.
"For him to walk up to my door with his two daughters and to hand my son candy, the candy he was giving to my daughter for her participation," she said, her voice filled with disgust, "that's a sick individual. He honestly doesn't care. He's very cocky."
So cocky that he may reject the sweet deal he's been offered by the Maricopa County Attorney's Office: 10 years, with his five class-2 felony counts of child molestation and sexual conduct with a minor busted down to attempted child molestation, and the class-4 felony charge for showing porn to a child wiped away.
Lynch's daughter is not Simcox's only alleged victim. The ex-kindergarten teacher and Republican politician also is charged with molesting one of his own children, inserting his finger into her vagina while both of his girls were showering together.
(Note: Lynch does not know Simcox's ex-wife Alena. Allegations concerning Simcox's daughter came up after the investigation began.)
And there was a third victim cited in the probable-cause statement, another little girl in the complex, who in a forensic interview conducted at the nonprofit anti-child abuse center Childhelp, told an investigator that Simcox had bribed her with candy to see her panties and her genitals. He allegedly had shown this girl "sexy" pictures on his computer, but apparently not pornographic ones.
Charges related to that girl have been dropped.
I initially approached Lynch at a court hearing that I reported on, one in which prosecutor Yigael Cohen told the judge he would make a plea offer.
Cohen didn't reveal the specifics in public, but Lynch was informed and broke down sobbing outside the courtroom. She didn't want to talk then.
Since that day, her sorrow has turned to rage. Her daughter has nightmares about what happened at Simcox's apartment and fears Simcox's returning to hurt her. She told her mother that she was molested every time she went to play with Simcox's kids.
The young girl is getting counseling, but the entire family has been affected. Lynch herself is wracked with guilt and horror. Before Simcox was arrested (it took one month from the initial report to another agency 'til Phoenix cops put Simcox in cuffs), the family lived in fear. One time, she caught her son sleeping with a knife.
At a recent meeting in Cohen's office, Lynch expressed distress. The felonies involving Simcox's alleged sexual conduct with his daughter hypothetically could land Simcox in prison for life. The other charges could bring decades in stir.
But with the plea deal, Simcox could be out in 81/2 years, as Arizona's cons have to serve 85 percent of a sentence before getting released. He would be 60 years old then and certainly capable of victimizing again.
Cohen assured Lynch he knew best, that he'd worked sex crimes for the past eight years. The plea deal was a "legal fiction," to ensure that Simcox did not walk and that he did not have to put her daughter or Simcox's daughters on the stand.
It was "an appropriate plea," Cohen told her, with all the sensitivity of Bashar al-Assad.
Plus, the MCAO never offers a plea deal on all counts: "That's just the way it is," he tutted.
Lynch told him that she didn't care about his eight years of experience, because she would have to spend the next eight years, and then some, making sure her daughter doesn't become a statistic.
What about when Simcox gets out? He would be on lifetime probation, promised Cohen, monitored by a GPS device and not allowed near children. If he slipped, he could be back in prison for another long stint.
"Essentially, the prosecutor is saying [that once he gets out], they'll just wait 'til he does it again," Lynch said, infuriated. "Then they'll give him more time. Meanwhile, they're creating more victims."
So far, County Attorney Bill Montgomery's office has declined to answer questions about the Simcox case, or the apparent conflict with Montgomery's having been a minuteman supporter. Montgomery reportedly even went on patrol with the minutemen at one time.
Though I requested the police report on this case shortly after Simcox was arrested on June 19, I still was waiting for a copy as this column went to press.
There are too many unanswered questions about the Simcox case. One is, why wasn't Simcox's computer seized? After all, Simcox used it in the alleged commission of a crime, showing porn to Lynch's daughter.
But Lynch has been told by both Phoenix police and by Cohen that no one ever attempted to get a search warrant for the computer.
Cohen's explanation for this?
"That police had no reason to," Lynch said. "That he was watching adult porn, and that's not illegal."
Both cops and other law enforcement folk I know tell me that they could have applied for the warrant and a judge probably would have granted it.
If they happened to find child porn on the computer, each image could mean a minimum of 10 years in stir. With more charges stacked against him, Simcox probably would have been willing to accept a harsher sentence.
"Who knows what else was on that computer?" said Lynch. "I don't know if he was videotaping them as they were watching [porn]. Nobody knows."
The computer is gone now. Someone went to the apartment weeks after Simcox was arrested and took away most of his belongings, Lynch explained.
Lynch, an Air Force vet who now teaches at a local charter school, is no milquetoast. She believes Simcox's ties to Montgomery and other power players in Arizona may be why the MCAO wants the case to go away, and she knows that Cohen and his colleagues are annoyed with her.
"They should be," she said, fire in her eyes. "Because I'm only going to be more annoying. This is my daughter we're talking about." |
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2016 gave us remasters of old games, computers that were made to look old, industry trends that we wish were things of the past, and an old name that suddenly feels fresher than ever.
Best Remaster
Day of the Tentacle Remastered
In a year dominated by "remasters" that consisted of minor graphical touch-ups to games that it feels like we just got through playing, Day of the Tentacle Remastered stands out as a loving and actually necessary restoration of a revered old classic. This is a game from an era when 256-color VGA graphics and digital speech were only starting to become the norm, so needless to say, the original production values don't hold up particularly well these days. Also, people love Day of the Tentacle. Those two factors make this a remaster whose time has come, and it's all the better because Double Fine dove into musty, decades-old archives of source material like original voice recordings and concept art to recreate the elements of the game at a level of quality that should stand the test of time. They even documented that process on YouTube, something we'd love to see other developers do more of.
Throw in requisite bonus features like developer commentary, the ability to seamlessly switch between old and new graphics, and a revamped interface that works great on a controller and lets you expand the playable area to full screen, and this is a textbook case of a remaster done right. As the video game business continues to see demand for updates to old favorites, we could do with fewer "HD remasters" of games that were already HD in the first place, and more labors of love like this restoration of one of LucasArts' most popular old adventure games.
Runners-up: Odin Sphere Leifthrasir, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
Best Fake Computer
Hackmud's fake computer is so good that you'll need to know how to write JavaScript on a real computer if you want to truly get deep. This multiplayer hacking game is little more than a terminal window and a four-hour tutorial that tells you the basics of what you're doing. But once you're thrust into the actual multiplayer end of Hackmud, you're on your own... or you could always make the mistake of trusting another player. Did that player just send you a script that's going to help you become a better hacker, like they said it would? Or will running it simply siphon off all of your currency and send it to the hacker, leaving you broke and broken? There are ways for you to find out, but we're not going to tell you here. That'd spoil the fun.
Runners-up: Event[0], Quadrilateral Cowboy
PLEASE STOP
Shipping Unfinished Games on Disc
Buying a game today is a lot different than it was a decade ago. With the assumption that players will have access to the internet we've seen welcomed patches that include bug fixes, UI tweaks, some rebalancing here and there. "Wait for the patch" has become a fairly common refrain for the first week of release. This year, though, it has felt like more games have taken release to mean initial release, with the final release forthcoming, if ever.
No Man's Sky released and then months later had a major content patch that added a whole host of new and improved features. Final Fantasy XV is promising some narrative updates with cutscenes to fill some story gaps. While live development used to be the realm of MMOs and online-only games, it is settling in throughout the industry. It's not necessarily a bad thing on its own, as we all should have a better game in the end. It only becomes a problem when you put the onus on the consumer to shoulder the burden of receiving those updates.
Data caps, poor internet speeds, and limited connectivity are all realities for some players. There's a difference between having internet access and being able to easily get that 30GB patch onto your system. Buying and inserting a disc only to have to download the entire game in order to play it is a hassle at the very least and impossible in some cases. It feels like we're a bit caught in a half-step between physical media and digital, without a proper offline solution for the former. The assumption that all players have access to or are able to pay for the infrastructure to get a proper version of the game they already paid for is unfair. There is a good use case for patches, and being able to make updates to a game, but don't abuse that system to ship something you know will be fixed or better in a few months.
Runners-up: The Return of Bad PC Ports, Not Providing Early Review Copies
Best Surprise
Before release, numerous elements of the new Doom were reason for concern. It was coming from the ashes of a scrapped Call of Duty clone. Its multiplayer beta failed to impress. Review copies weren't sent out early to press outlets. Any one of these things could have been seen as red flags, and the combination of them didn't bode well for Doom's resurrection. No one could have expected what we wound up getting, which is one of the best first-person shooter campaigns of all time. It managed to retain the mood of classic Doom while adding a surprisingly self-aware sense of humor and an excellent glory kill system. Multiplayer didn't take the world by storm by any means, but we were all too distracted by the shockingly good campaign to care.
Runners-up: Stardew Valley, Hitman |
Authorities recovered 11 kilos of suspected shabu from a stronghold of the Maute group in Marawi City during a clearing operation, the military said on Monday.
Troops of Alfa Company led by First Lieutenant Emerson Tapang of the Army’s 49th Infantry Battalion found the shabu and four high-powered firearms in a former Maute position at 6 p.m. on Sunday, Joint Task Force Marawi Brig. Gen. Rolando Bautista said in a statement.
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Later, soldiers engaged Maute members in a firefight.
“Soldiers spotted men clad in black emerging from a cluster of houses that prompted troops to maneuver. The terrorists put up a fight but fled while carrying items taken from one of the houses,” Bautista said.
Authorities estimate the value of recovered shabu at around P110 million to P250 million.
The recovered drugs were turned over to Joint Task Group Haribon and will be transferred to the appropriate government agency, Bautista said.
Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Carlito Galvez said the recovered illegal drugs was the biggest haul from the Maute group so far.
During the first and second weeks of the fighting, soldiers also found smaller but numerous packets of shabu from places used by the terrorists.
CBB/rga
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President Trump has had a busy first week in office, displaying the anarchic grandiosity, callousness, and ineptitude of which he seems uniquely capable. He is every inch what we knew him to be: a malignant Chauncey Gardiner. And now our institutions have begun to shudder at his whim. The fact that atheists like me can’t find the time to worry about the religious crackpots he has brought with him into power is a measure of how bad the man is. Christian fundamentalism has become the least of our concerns. Our democracy has been engulfed by a hurricane of lies.
Many readers have asked me to comment on the president’s executive order suspending immigration from certain Muslim-majority countries. I believe I’ve stated my positions on the relevant topics fairly clearly. But perhaps a brief summary is in order.
1. I did everything I could to make the case against Trump prior to the election (while many of the liberals now attacking me for enabling his “Islamophobia” actively undermined the candidacy of Hillary Clinton, even in the final days of the campaign).
2. I think Trump’s “Muslim ban” is a terrible policy. Not only is it unethical with respect to the plight of refugees, it is bound to be ineffective in stopping the spread of Islamism. As many have pointed out, it is also internally inconsistent: It doesn’t include Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, or Lebanon, any of which has been a more fertile source of jihadist terrorism than several of the countries Trump named.
3. However, most of what is being said in opposition to Trump’s order is thoroughly contaminated by identity politics and liberal delusion. The Left seems determined to empower the Right by continuing to lie about the problem of Islamism. As David Frum recently wrote, “When liberals insist that only fascists will defend borders, then voters will hire fascists to do the job liberals won’t do.” I have been saying as much for more than a decade—and am vilified by my fellow liberals whenever I do.
What we need, above all, is a new center to our politics—one that defends secularism, science, and free speech against their enemies on both the Left and the Right.
4. It is perfectly possible—and increasingly necessary—to speak about the ideological roots of Islamism and jihadism, and even about the unique need for reform within mainstream Islam itself, without lapsing into bigotry or disregarding the suffering of refugees. Indeed, when one understands the problem for what it is, one realizes that secular Muslims, liberal Muslims, and former Muslims are among the most desirable allies to have in the West—and, indeed, such people are the primary victims of Islamist intolerance and jihadist terror in Muslim-majority countries.
5. If liberals who refuse to speak honestly on these topics continue to march with Islamists, denigrate free speech, and oppose the work of the real reformers in the Muslim community, they will only further provoke and empower Trump. And Trump, in turn, will empower Islamists the world over by threatening the civil liberties of all Muslims within his reach.
6. The next acts of jihadist terrorism to take place on American soil will most likely be met with terrifyingly blunt (and even illegal) countermeasures by the Trump administration. If all that liberals can do in response is continue to lie about the causes of terrorism and lock arms with Islamists, we have some very rough times ahead.
7. If you are listening to obscurantists like Linda Sarsour, Dalia Mogahed, Reza Aslan, and representatives of CAIR, and denigrating true secularists and reformers like Maajid Nawaz, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Raheel Raza, and Sarah Haider, you are part of the problem.
Nothing that I have said or written about Islam, the war on terror, or even “profiling”[1] stands in contradiction to these points.
What we need, above all, is a new center to our politics—one that defends secularism, science, and free speech against their enemies on both the Left and the Right. And now we each must choose between supporting that civilizing project and joining in the chaos to come.
Addendum 1/30/17
The following interview was recorded several months before the 2016 presidential election: |
More than one million people have played Elite: Dangerous at one point or another. Despite this achievement that surpasses any space sim in history, very few people have actually seen or heard of the best that the game has to offer.
Like other space sims, Elite: Dangerous is challenging and often times cumbersome. Most of its content is never explained in-game, and instead a large majority of veterans gained their knowledge through experimentation and/or by posting questions on places like Reddit. But not everyone puts in the time nor effort to experience the game's potential, and as such their understanding of what it offers is limited to the small gallery of options available from the start.
At this point I have 53 confirmed hours played in Elite: Dangerous using virtual reality, which is well below what most of the active community has accumulated, but a large enough number that I feel like I've become acquainted with the game.
There are a lot of ways to spend time and progress in Elite: Dangerous, one of the most coveted of which is exploration. Although I had succeeded at things like bounty hunting, trading, and missions during my first 53 hours, I had no exploration experience.
I recently felt inspired to change that with the arrival of the v2.3 patch. So, last week I packed my bags, threw on my Oculus Rift, and set off into outer space, unknowing of what awaited in the cosmos.
Travel Preparations
My journey began with investing most of my savings into a ship and outfitting. After arriving at a space hub with large quantity of vehicles in-stock, I put down 564,000 credits on a Diamondback Scout. This particular ship excels at exploration with a default jump range of 11.35 light years, high maneuverability, and four utility mounts to equip with essentials like the fuel scoop.
I would spend almost the entirety of the rest of my savings on equipment. I upgraded virtually every facet of the ship, including its power distributor, thrusters, and I even put down more than one million credits on an advanced discovery scanner, allowing me to acquire data from scanning star systems which I could then sell for income.
As an enthusiast of astronomy, opening up the galaxy map is always delightful. Elite: Dangerous' world replicates that of our own Milky Way with incredible accuracy; you can visit Earth if you want to, Alpha Centauri A, Polaris, among other notable stars known by even the most inexperienced space enthusiast. In-fact, there are over 100 billion star systems to visit in the game, around 160,000 of which are directly inspired by real life. If you're the first person to visit one you can forever lay claim to it, etching your name onto its profile for as long as Elite: Dangerous has online game servers.
After some deep thought, I soon found myself dead-set on visiting a nebula. I had heard that the hot, colorful gases of these giant wonders are a sight to behold, and wanted to see one for myself.
After a few minutes of staring at the galaxy map, I set my trajectory for a class A star within the Lupus Dark Region B.
The Journey Begins
Within 20 minutes I had crossed the boundary of inhabited space, an incredibly small portion of the galaxy that had been populated by human beings. As I would come to know, this would mean that places to dock for fuel and goods would leave with me. I was out in the wild blue yonder all on my own.
Travel takes an incredibly long time in Elite: Dangerous. I outfitted my Diamondback Scout with some of the best equipment available specialized in long distance hyperspace travel. Even then, my maximum jump distance was only 17.1 light years. Although that's far enough to travel roughly four times the distance of the nearest star to our Solar System, the Milky Way is 100,000 light years in diameter.
In my case, I needed to travel 464 light years before I would reach Lupus Dark Region B. That's over 27 hyperspace jumps, each of which require manual jump input; there is no autopilot available like in EVE Online.
Also Read: The Famous Elite: Dangerous Alien Encounter
The further I ventured from inhabited space, the more I was amazed by the scope of the game. I could visibly see the variance in each star and its systems as I hopped from system to system. Some systems had two stars in a tidal lock (bound to each other like the Moon to the Earth), and others had a plethora of gas giants with rings circling them. Some systems didn't even have planets, which made me feel almost like the star was lonely, floating out in space for eternity—or at least until Andromeda collides with our Milky Way in four billion years.
This variation is a great thing for making money. Since I had a discovery scanner equipped, I was able to scan systems for data. Rarer objects are worth a lot more money when scanned, so in cases where monotony began to set in, I was entertained at the thought of visiting distinct locations worth tens of thousands of credits. This is something I would do with all of the more than 60 systems I would visit, providing a monetary benefit to my time investment.
Beautiful Sights
I made an effort to veer off the optimized path and visit some sights along the way. My first stop was a neutron star, which are some of the most dense and powerful stellar objects in existence. These are formed when stars with 10 to 29 solar masses have their core collapse, melting their protons and electrons resulting in an incredibly dense neutron-dominated mass. These are so dense that a portion of one the size of a city equates to roughly 1.4 the mass of the sun. Or put more simply, one teaspoon of neutron star material has 900 times the mass of the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Neutron stars are small in comparison to the average star, but remarkably bright. While I haven't seen one in real life using a telescope, I stared at one through my Oculus Rift and was nearly blinded; its ultra violet+ light produced a blueish white hue that dazzled before its dark background. It was almost like seeing a massive energy-laden diamond in outer space.
As beautiful as it was, I was more impressed by how Elite: Dangerous maps each star. Instead of using a static sky box in the background, all stars within your proximity are visible precisely where they are located in relation to your current location. As I flowed from system to system, I could see the location of stars shift, and occasionally caught a glimpse of stars with incredible colors like dark red class M stars and even blue type O stars (which have an effective temperature of over 30,000 Kelvin).
At one point during my journey I hoped I would cross paths with a black hole, but a part of me was terrified by what that would be like. I think I've watched too many Neil deGrasse Tyson documentaries at this point to not respect the power of black holes. The truth is that most of the black holes known in our galaxy are near the galactic core, and although I was traveling for multiple hours, I wasn't even coming close to the proximity of that location. Maybe someday.
Crisis Scenario
Long distance travel in Elite: Dangerous does require some work beyond hyperspace travel. Fuel is consumed during each jump, to a point where I had to fill up every 5 to 10 minutes. With no space ports nearby, I had to rely on my fuel scoop. This entailed flying around stars while managing my velocity, trajectory, and heat; if I got too close, I would be ripped out of supercruise and be exposed to the incredible energy of the star (a risky proposition when near higher temperature stars). If I was too far, my fuel gained per minute wasn't optimized so I was effectively adding transit time to my travels.
For the exploration fiend of Elite: Dangerous, heat is a primary concern. It is technically possible to be interdicted by another ship and therefore be open to the possibility of a battle related death, but that's incredibly rare within the context of deep space travel. Attentively refueling during mental fatigue is the most common cause of death among explorers.
I made the mistake of getting too close to a star on several occasions, losing a small portion of my hull in the process. In one particular case I came too close to a class B star (11,000 to 25,000 kelvin temperature) and was stopped dead in my tracks with a 30 second frame shift drive cooldown. Seconds felt like minutes as I scrambled to manage the situation. Thermals were rising at a rate I had never seen before. A fire burst from my control panel, and the subsequent smoke fogged my glass shielding.
Also Read: Elite: Dangerous Is The Game No Man's Sky Aspires To Be
As my hull took damage I was thankfully quick to turn off unnecessary components. These included my shields (useless against radiation), weapons, and life support, each of which produce heat of their own, contributing to the problems I was experiencing. My heart raced as I flipped the switches, and aimed my trajectory for the escape vector. It was at this moment that I felt like an Apollo astronaut; nobody was there to save me but myself, and I was in a dire situation that could result in (virtual) death.
By the time I was able to enter supercruise and escape the wrath of the star's energy, I had lost more than 30% of my hull. This meant that I was more susceptible to further damage during my travels, and therefore needed to be far more careful with future fuel scoops. Nonetheless, I made the decision to press on after re-initiating my components.
The Nebula
I was soon rewarded with the best sight of my journey. As I approached Lupus Dark Region B, I could see the dark, blood red nebula drape the sky in the distance. It became bigger as I approached, eventually taking up nearly half of the visible sky.
I made an effort to land on a planet at my destination. It was a red, rocky planet not too dissimilar from Mars, devoid of vegetation or water. Landing was quite the experience, as there was a discomforting feeling I had when touching down on an alien world, unknowing of how it would handle my reception. Although it was unfamiliar to me, it paid no mind in me sharing a few minutes of coexistence.
I ended up drive around in my SRV buggy doing power slides while gathering materials and admiring the incredible beauty that surrounded me. Although the system map stated that someone had been here before, the dirt that I drove on was pristine. No other player had ever landed on the planet at the location where I visited, and that's amazing when you think about it.
It was an incredibly odd feeling being in such a remote location. With billions of stars, there was an infinitesimal chance that any of the thousand of players online were anywhere near me. If I needed help, I was on my own, and the sight I was seeing was my own.
I was glad that I set my destination for a nebula, as it was prettier than I had imagined. This alien world was one vastly different than my home in the Orion Arm.
Coming Home
At this point I had spent more than four hours traveling through the cosmos. Part of me missed being around fellow human beings, having access to a dock and repairs. With that, I decided to head home.
On my way back I took an alternate route, visiting some new stars and scanning them in the process. Though, there was a sense of winding down that came with my final hour of travel. I was no longer heading into a place far beyond, and instead was putting in time to travel to a place I had been before. I'd be lying if I said I didn't consider the thought of self-destruction to instantly travel back to inhabited space, but I knew that would be costly.
I eventually arrived back at LHS 3447, and docked my wounded ship at the Dalton Gateway. My first order of business was making sure I got credit for my exploration scans. I was happy to learn that I earned 1.1 million credits for my efforts, much of which came from my scans of celestial bodies like the neutron star.
As I logged out, I considered that at some point I should travel to the galactic core where star density is incredible, the stakes are even higher , and the sights are so far beyond anything I'd seen before that many players consider it worth the dozens of hours of transit. But for now I was happy with being 1.1 million credits richer, and knowing that I had embraced exploration in Elite: Dangerous for my first time. I think I might be hooked.
Before I go, here are a few quick tips for you if you plan to go on an adventure of your own:
Bring the best discovery scanner you can afford.
Earthlike planets are highly valuable for scans. Skip metal planets and those without an atmosphere.
Gas giants tend to be too far from the star to be worth scanning due to the requirements for travel time.
Lupus Dark Region is roughly 1 hour and 45 minutes out from the center of inhabited space.
Don't forget to bring a fuel scoop and equip your ship with a heat shield.
Learn how to hyperspace jump as quickly as possible to reduce transit time.
Be careful if you go AFK as you could be interdicted.
Maximum jump distance is very important. Invest in components to improve this value as high as possible.
If you've been considering a VR headset and have money for one, it's highly recommended as it greatly improves immersion.
Godspeed. |
Let’s be real. Many of us drink coffee every morning of the week, so it’s not like we need one of those arbitrary national holidays reminding us to celebrate the caffeinated beverage. But, hey, any excuse to drink a cup, right?
National Coffee Day is Sept. 29, when a handful of local coffee shops are commemorating our favorite beverage with drink specials. And if none of those places strike your fancy, we’ve got many other suggestions for where to go for your espresso needs (see below!).
The coffee shop to visit on Friday is East Austin’s tiny Fleet Coffee, which has joined a nationwide effort started by coffee publication Sprudge to raise money for good causes in honor of National Coffee Day. The Night of 1,000 Pours — which actually runs all day at Fleet starting at 7 a.m. — will raise money for the Houston Food Bank, in need of donations following the devastation of Hurricane Harvey.
Fleet will donate 20 percent of its sales for the day to the Houston Food Bank. Plus, the coffee shop has some pretty sweet raffle items from local breweries, restaurants and other coffee shops that you can try and win. The items include gift cards and swag from Micklethwait Craft Meats, Nickel City, Suerte, Unit-D Pizzeria and Veracruz All-Natural.
Cuvee Coffee Bar is another place to visit on Friday. The East Sixth Street shop will have a National Coffee Day Blowout with activities all day starting when Cuvee opens at 6:30 a.m. The highlights include two hours of adult water coloring and a race that will determine who can shotgun cans of Cuvee’s Black & Blue Nitro Cold Brew the fastest.
One other Austin spot celebrating National Coffee Day is Stonehouse Coffee and Bar, which is offering $1 drip coffee and buy-one-get-one-free espresso drinks. (If you’re a teacher, you’ll be extra lucky at this South Lamar coffee shop.)
If you’d prefer a cup in the comfort of your own home, an Austin-based coffee subscription service called Atlas Coffee Club has just the National Coffee Day deal. Get your first bag free if you sign up for the service by using the code “AtlasCoffeeDay17” at checkout. Atlas takes coffee addicts on a caffeinated world tour each month, and it’s a worthy purchase.
But geez, Austin has a lot of coffee shops.
What if you want beer with your coffee? We’ve got this roundup of 10 local places where you can get both kinds of brew.
We also offer several guides to local coffee shops depending upon what part of town you want to find a cup of joe. Best Austin coffee shops near North Lamar Boulevard? Near Burnet Road? Near South First Street? Coffee lover Michael Barnes has broken it all down for us.
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Chameleon Cold-Brew expands with line of whole-bean coffeeGreater Goods Coffee Roasters adds tasting room in Dripping SpringsAustin among top 10 ‘cities for coffee fanatics’ |
Recently by Ron Paul: Americans Deserve a Transparent Fed
Statement before the Foreign Affairs Committee, United States House of Representatives, December 10, 2009
Mr. Speaker thank you for holding these important hearings on US policy in Afghanistan. I would like to welcome the witnesses, Ambassador Karl W. Eikenberry and General Stanley A. McChrystal, and thank them for appearing before this Committee.
I have serious concerns, however, about the president’s decision to add some 30,000 troops and an as yet undisclosed number of civilian personnel to escalate our Afghan operation. This surge will bring US troop levels to approximately those of the Soviets when they occupied Afghanistan with disastrous result back in the 1980s. I fear the US military occupation of Afghanistan may end up similarly unsuccessful.
In late 1986 Soviet armed forces commander, Marshal Sergei Akhromeev, told then-Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, "Military actions in Afghanistan will soon be seven years old. There is no single piece of land in this country which has not been occupied by a Soviet soldier. Nonetheless, the majority of the territory remains in the hands of rebels. Soon Gorbachev began the Soviet withdrawal from its Afghan misadventure. Thousands were dead on both sides, yet the occupation failed to produce a stable national Afghan government.
Eight years into our own war in Afghanistan the Soviet commander’s words ring eerily familiar. Part of the problem stems from a fundamental misunderstanding of the situation. It is our presence as occupiers that feeds the insurgency. As would be the case if we were invaded and occupied, diverse groups have put aside their disagreements to unify against foreign occupation. Adding more US troops will only assist those who recruit fighters to attack our soldiers and who use the US occupation to convince villages to side with the Taliban.
The Revolution: A Mani... Ron Paul Best Price: $1.27 Buy New $5.00 (as of 07:50 EST - Details) Proponents of the president’s Afghanistan escalation cite the successful surge in Iraq as evidence that this second surge will have similar results. I fear they might be correct about the similar result, but I dispute the success propaganda about Iraq. In fact, the violence in Iraq only temporarily subsided with the completion of the ethnic cleansing of Shi’ites from Sunni neighborhoods and vice versa — and all neighborhoods of Christians. Those Sunni fighters who remained were easily turned against the foreign al-Qaeda presence when offered US money and weapons. We are increasingly seeing this success breaking down: sectarian violence is flaring up and this time the various groups are better armed with US-provided weapons. Similarly, the insurgents paid by the US to stop their attacks are increasingly restive now that the Iraqi government is no longer paying bribes on a regular basis. So I am skeptical about reports on the success of the Iraqi surge. If you like this site, please help keep it going and growing.
Likewise, we are told that we have to win in Afghanistan so that al-Qaeda cannot use Afghan territory to plan further attacks against the US. We need to remember that the attack on the United States on September 11, 2001 was, according to the 9/11 Commission Report, largely planned in the United States (and Germany) by terrorists who were in our country legally. According to the logic of those who endorse military action against Afghanistan because al-Qaeda was physically present, one could argue in favor of US airstrikes against several US states and Germany! It makes no sense. The Taliban allowed al-Qaeda to remain in Afghanistan because both had been engaged, with US assistance, in the insurgency against the Soviet occupation.
Nevertheless, the president’s National Security Advisor, Gen. James Jones, USMC (Ret.), said in a recent interview that less than 100 al-Qaeda remain in Afghanistan and that the chance they would reconstitute a significant presence there was slim. Are we to believe that 30,000 more troops are needed to defeat 100 al-Qaeda fighters? I fear that there will be increasing pressure for the US to invade Pakistan, to where many Taliban and al-Qaeda have escaped. Already CIA drone attacks on Pakistan have destabilized that country and have killed scores of innocents, producing strong anti-American feelings and calls for revenge. I do not see how that contributes to our national security.
A Foreign Policy of Fr... Ron Paul Best Price: $0.25 Buy New $6.00 (as of 03:50 EST - Details) The president’s top advisor for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, said recently, I would say this about defining success in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the simplest sense, the Supreme Court test for another issue, we’ll know it when we see it. That does not inspire much confidence.
Supporters of this surge argue that we must train an Afghan national army to take over and strengthen the rule and authority of Kabul. But experts have noted that the ranks of the Afghan national army are increasingly being filled by the Tajik minority at the expense of the Pashtun plurality. US diplomat Matthew Hoh, who resigned as Senior Civilian Representative for the U.S. Government in Zabul Province, noted in his resignation letter that he fail[s] to see the value or the worth in continued U.S. casualties or expenditures of resources in support of the Afghan government in what is, truly, a 35-year-old civil war. Mr. Hoh went on to write that [L]ike the Soviets, we continue to secure and bolster a failing state, while encouraging an ideology and system of government unknown and unwanted by [the Afghan] people.
I have always opposed nation-building as unconstitutional and ineffective. Afghanistan is no different. Without a real strategy in Afghanistan, without a vision of what victory will look like, we are left with the empty rhetoric of the last administration that when the Afghan people stand up, the US will stand down. I am afraid the only solution to the Afghanistan quagmire is a rapid and complete US withdrawal from that country and the region. We cannot afford to maintain this empire and our occupation of these foreign lands is not making us any safer. It is time to leave Afghanistan.
See the Ron Paul File
December 12, 2009
The Best of Ron Paul |
Here we go again 😉 The new infographic takes into consideration the feedback we’ve had from the forums, pod casts and Reddit. Thanks again to everyone who assisted in making this possible.
Reddit Update:
Below the graphic is a bit of history surrounding this effort with a breakdown what we learned while doing this project. I apologize for the size for the 2.8 MB size of the PNG.
A Little History about the Infamous Infographic – Version One
The original infographic was released shortly after Delta Rising for Star Trek Online by Cryptic Studios. The goal of the infographic was to provide a ‘sum total’ of the costs for upgrading the most common builds for current players. It was limited to a single starship, it ignored the ground elements, and it offered a somewhat fuzzy interpretation of a cash value to achieve the upgrade from XII to XIV.
The original Infographic was controversial. For many it lacked accuracy; it lacked citation and sources. For others they felt it was unreasonable and presented in a negative way during a time when Cryptic was struggling to get a handle on player reactions. And for even more people, the infographic didn’t seem to go far enough.
Cryptic reacted to the communities concerns by making changes that impacted the original infographics’ data, primarily in the availability of R&D materials and the actual costs associated with R&D. Player familiarity with R&D and now secondary sources of information (spreadsheets and calculators produced separately from our efforts) became available to revisit the initial results.
Lastly market conditions as to costs and availability have stabilized on the last 2 weeks as players have become acclimatized to the changes.
What did we get right?
The initial costs remain unchanged, only the number of items upgraded has increased to reflect a full cruiser and ground equipment.CaptainGecko joked about the $83 cost associated with buying everything you needed. In truth the total is closer to $100 – but – you can do it without paying money if you don’t mind grinding for an extended period of time. Our estimates for a single toon is 69 days @ 4 hours per day.
The initial costs remain unchanged, only the number of items upgraded has increased to reflect a full cruiser and ground equipment.CaptainGecko joked about the $83 cost associated with buying everything you needed. In truth the total is closer to $100 – but – you can do it without paying money if you don’t mind grinding for an extended period of time. Our estimates for a single toon is 69 days @ 4 hours per day. What did we miss?
Understanding the impact of R&D, and how it’s actually cheaper and easier than we first thought. I’ll be dedicating a full post to crafting sometime in the next few weeks.
Understanding the impact of R&D, and how it’s actually cheaper and easier than we first thought. I’ll be dedicating a full post to crafting sometime in the next few weeks. What did we get wrong?
It was more expensive to upgrade than we had experienced; there is a 50% cost difference between upgrading very rare and reputation gear.The tone in which the graphic was extremely adversarial which was due primarily to the frustrations we all experiencing.
It was more expensive to upgrade than we had experienced; there is a 50% cost difference between upgrading very rare and reputation gear.The tone in which the graphic was extremely adversarial which was due primarily to the frustrations we all experiencing. What did we learn?
A lot. So much in fact we’re working on an Upgraders’ Quick Reference Sheet to help first time R&D players
What the Infographic doesn’t consider: Captains’ Runabout – Fighter – Shuttle, Quality options with upgrades, what upgrade options are ’the best’, the costs associated with leveling one toon from 1 to 50, and the variability with the RNG and availability or cost of acquiring R&D duty officers.
It doesn’t even try to take the Specialization process into consideration. That may come as a later project after the Command Specialization is released.
We also understand that everything regarding costs is in a constant state of flux. Cryptic has made changes, and will continue to make changes as it see fit. The rumored addition of Omega particle elements is one area we left out for lack of better knowledge.
As with the last infographic, if there is anything you feel we’ve gotten wrong, misspelled or provided poor attribution for, please let us know in the comments below. |
Jim Jones and The Jonestown Massacre
On this Podcast we take a look at the largest cult killings of modern times and the man who made it happen, Jim Jones and The Jonestown Massacre. Born out of the socialist movement of 1960’s America this religious group soon gave way to conspiratorial prophecies and revolutionary societal change. The group was started and helmed by doomsday pastor Jim Jones and he took them from Indiana to California to Guyana, picking up admirers like Jane Fonda and Harvey Milk along the way. But it would all in in a tragedy that claimed the lives of over 900 people. We look at an event so shocking that it remains the definitive description of a modern religious cult and has managed to coin it’s own phrase in pop culture:
“Don’t drink the Kool-aid!”
The People’s Temple
From the very beginning Jim Jones led a troubled and unconventional life. One where he was educated in important and useful lessons on the topics of segregation, disenfranchisement, fear of nuclear war and mistrust of governments. It was these lessons that would lead him to become the leader of the People’s Temple and would inform the sermons that garnered him unflinching support. And he would use this support to live out his own personal fantasies and sadistic nature. His desire for power only bettered by his cruel methods of control. We cover the life and mind of the charismatic chief of this group of allegedly brain washed Americans and the forces of corruption and control that both protected and projected the church they called The People’s Temple.
The CIA, Guyana and the kool aid
But as political pressure and journalistic investigation threatened to tear the group apart they would make their ominous move to Guyana. And with the terrible tragedy that ensued the conspiracy theories began. Talk of MK Ultra techniques of mind control and programming. CIA connections in the Jonestown site and the personnel surrounding the hierarchy of the church. The talk of a staged event or ‘psy-op’ all part of long held nefarious scheme. We discuss dead congressmen and dead babies, all the mayhem, madness and mind control and some heavy CIA connections and coincidences to boot as we cover all the theories surronding Jim Jones and the Jonestown Massacre. |
Condominium residents across Metro Vancouver are struggling to comply with the new ban on putting food scraps in the garbage, according to one spokesperson.
New rules requiring apartments and businesses separate all food waste for composting went into effect on Jan.1.
But the head of the Condominium Home Owners Association of B.C. Tony Gioventu said there is a lack of receptacles for individual condo owners, and a lack of instructions.
"It's been a little confusing for people because one of the challenges is municipalities. Each deal with waste management and waste disposal in organics differently," said Gioventu.
That is why Gioventu is calling for all cities to roll out a coordinated plan for condos across Metro Vancouver with a public education campaign.
He says it's important condo owners get instructions on where to get composting bins and what should go in them.
"Where do we get our kitchen waste containers? We seem to have a little bit of a shortage of them in the industry right now ... We're looking at literally several hundred thousand kitchen receptacles so people can manage their organic waste," said Gioventu.
No surcharges in 2015
Paul Henderson, the solid waste manager for Metro Vancouver, said it's up to each municipality to deal with how the waste ban is implemented.
He says condo owners should contact their own strata council or municipal government for more information.
In the meantime, he said there is plenty of time for condo strata boards to get their programs up and running before surcharges are levied for organics found in garbage.
"It won't happen until next year or potentially even the following year. so there is lots of time for getting those systems in place at the multifamily level," said Henderson.
On mobile? Watch Metro Vancouver's explanation of the organic waste ban. |
The Devils completed their coaching staff today, naming former Lighting assistant Adam Oates to the same position with the organization.
Oates will fall under the role of “offensive assistant” that new coach John MacLean spoke about during his introductory press conference. With the Lightning, Oates helped improve the power play, something the Devils desperately need to improve.
General manager Lou Lamoriello had nothing but praise for the assistant coach.
“Throughout his career, Adam was without question one of the top playmaking centers, particularly on the power play, and was considered one of the top face-off players in the game,” Lamoriello said in a statement released by the team. “These attributes bring a different dimension to our coaching staff and both John and I are delighted that Adam is joining our organization.”
Oates, 47, played in 1,337 NHL games, registering 341 goals and 1,079 assists for 1,420 points and 415 penalty minutes. The former center played for Detroit, St. Louis (where he was teammates with Scott Stevens in 1990-91), Boston, Washington, Philadelphia, Anaheim and Edmonton. Oates played in five NHL All-Star games, and reached the 100 point mark on four occasions. He ranks sixth all-time in assists. Oates retired from playing on April 3, 2004, and took his first NHL assistant job last season with the Lightning.
Oates joins Larry Robinson and Chris Terreri on MacLean’s staff.
***************
I think Oates could do well with the Devils this season. Clearly, the power play needs help. If he can do something to get solid production night in and night out, then I’ll be happy. Too many times over the past few years we’ve watched the Devils look really sharp with the man advantage on night and unorganized the next. The team needs stability, and it seems Oates can bring this to the organization.
I also think his influence will be good for the young centers on this team, especially a guy like Travis Zajac. We all saw Zajac take a step forward last season, and Oates may be able to continue to improve Zajac’s overall play. Oates’ assist numbers are stellar, and I’m sure he can help Zajac to develop better on-ice vision and playmaking skills. While Zajac is one of the better centers in the league, I’m sure he’ll benefit from some time with Oates.
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In 2008 and 2009, we suffered the worst recession since the Great Depression. And now we're experiencing the weakest recovery in modern history. Here we are in the third year of an economic expansion, and we're barely back where we started. And by some measures, most importantly unemployment, we have failed to get back where we started.
To make matters worse, with the crisis in Europe and a slowdown in China, some people worry that another recession might be looming for next year, especially if we fall off the proverbial fiscal cliff of increased taxes and an end to government economic stimulus.
So let's go back to basics. What would Keyes do?
John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946) was the most influential economist of the 20th century. His ideas were adopted by Franklin D. Roosevelt to battle the Depression. Most economists, even many Republicans, credit Roosevelt and Keynesian economics with putting Americans back to work in the 1930s, helping the U.S. climb out of economic disaster, and setting the stage for the post-war economic boom. By 1971, President Richard Nixon admitted, “We’re all Keynesians now.”
Keynes theorized that during recessions, the public gets frightened and holds back on spending, resulting in more layoffs, which in turn produces less spending in a vicious circle of economic decline. The way to break the cycle, said Keynes, is to pump government spending into the economy by building roads and bridges and other public works. FDR even hired unemployed writers for a Federal Writers’ Project, traveling the country to produce guidebooks on states and cities.
Keynes overturned classical economic theory which said that free markets produce full employment. Keynes argued that aggregate demand determines the level of economic activity. If demand falls short, it leads to recession and high unemployment. Keynesian economics fell out of favor under President Reagan, but George Bush brought back Keynes in the 2000s, ramping up spending in order to pump up aggregate demand, and President Obama has tried to follow suit, with limited success.
So what would Keynes do in 2012? Let’s speculate:
1. Clearly, he would advise the federal government to invest in infrastructure, building roads and bridges, improving the electric grid, reinvigorating the space program, and developing alternative energy. Remember, it was FDR who built the alternative energy infrastructure of his day, from the Grand Coulee Dam to the Tennessee Valley Authority.
2. Keynes introduced the concept of price stickiness, which means that workers resist lowering their wages in the face of falling demand for labor. Keynes was undeniably liberal, yet he would certainly comprehend the current fiscal problems of cities and states, burdened with past promises of unaffordable pay packages for their workers. He would probably not support the draconian measures of officials like Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker to take away worker rights. But he probably would support less drastic cutbacks taking place in states like New York and California, where politicians are pushing to balance budgets in the face of lower economic conditions.
3. Keynes said if money saved exceeds the amount being invested, then unemployment will rise. Think of all the money hoarded on corporate balance sheets. Google alone is sitting on almost $50 billion in cash. Microsoft has almost $60 billion. He might well be in favor of lowering taxes on funds that American businesses hold overseas so they would bring the money home. And he would certainly support tax breaks and other incentives for corporations to build new factories and ramp up research and development.
4. Keynes felt that countries should not run large trade surpluses or deficits. He would likely be in favor of lowering the value of the dollar to boost American exports, give our multinational corporations a competitive edge, and reduce the U.S. trade deficit.
5. Finally, Keynes argued that World War II should be paid for with higher taxation. To the extent that higher taxation would not reduce demand—and there’s little evidence that modestly higher taxes on incomes above $250,000 would reduce aggregate demand, because these are the people who are hoarding "too much" cash—he would be in favor of increasing taxes on super-rich, and maybe even the near-rich, to help pay for our military ventures, finance infrastructure investment, and narrow the budget deficit.
Tom Sightings is a former publishing executive who was eased into early retirement in his mid-50s. He lives in the New York area and blogs at Sightings at 60, where he covers health, finance, retirement, and other concerns of baby boomers who realize that somehow they have grown up. |
Another pandemic scam is being orchestrated by the corrupt CDC, the World Health Organization and big pharma . . .via the mainstream propaganda machine!
SAY NO TO AN EBOLA VACCINE!
Over the past few decades the Center for Disease Control (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and their partners at big pharma have attempted many times to get a ‘pandemic’ off the ground that would include forced vaccinations.
Over the past year, they have succeeded in convincing hospitals and clinics to require their employees take an unnecessary and risky flu shot as a condition of their continued employment. This was a huge and very profitable coup for big pharma. [Employee opt out info.]
Never underestimate the power of big pharma when it comes to influencing policies in America. The only lobbying interests with more clout are AIPAC and the banking industry.
If the American people continue to believe the dog and pony shows that play out in the main stream media, they will find themselves duped into accepting a dangerous vaccine that is NOT WARRANTED as safe or effective by the drug company that produces it.
Drug companies have been granted immunity from any and all damages their vaccine products cause. [Supreme Court: Bruesewicz vs Wyeth]
So who will insure that an ebola vaccine is safe or effective and who will insure that it won’t do more harm than good? NO ONE!
While there are many good people accepting paychecks from the CDC or the public health industry, they have been intentionally misled by those that control these institutions. As they may also be required to accept an unsafe ebola vaccine – or else – they will be well served by understanding a few FACTS about the CDC . . . and ebola.
The CDC is a for-profit corporation listed on Dun and Bradstreet The CDC promotes vaccines with full awareness that the vaccine manufacturers are immune from all liability should their products cause harm, or even death. [Bruesewitz v. Wyeth (2011)] The CDC owns a patent on the Ebola virus, which would include patent rights on a vaccine [1] The CDC, the WHO and the media are currently broadcasting fake ebola pandemic news and statistics [2] as they did during the fake swine flu pandemic in 2009. [3] The CDC knowingly deceives both health practitioners and the public about the dangers of vaccines, such as information that was buried after their Simpsonwood conference in 2000 [4] and other information exposed by CDC whistleblowers like Dr David Lewis [5] The CDC produces propaganda campaigns using a ‘playbook’ [6] The CDC wastes millions of dollars in ‘perks’, revealed by a congressional committee [7] The CDC hires unscrupulous researchers to create bogus studies, such as Dr Poul Thorsen [8] The CDC does not serve the public, but implements political agendas and policies on behalf of those that control the White House [9] The CDC offers financial bounties to state public health entities and even has employees working in their offices [10] The CDC ignores congressional reports and/or hearings, such as the Burton Report of 2003 [11] The CDC actively discredits/destroys reputable researchers, such as Dr Andrew Wakefield [12] The CDC hires private think-tank corporations, such as RAND, to produce phony “consensus” science reports [13] [14] The CDC has a long and nasty relationship with the CIA [15]
Don’t fall for the Ebola Scare. Take your vitamin C, gets lots of sun (vitamin D), eat healthy, sleep well, follow the 10 step pandemic psyop by reading: Ebola – same game – same playbook, and help neutralize this nefarious scam by exposing it.
Above all . . . don’t accept a dangerous and toxic ebola vaccine (and the liability that goes with it) that is not warranted by the manufacturer as either safe or effective!!
Half-page brochure of this page
ENDNOTES:
[1] http://www.naturalnews.com/046290_Ebola_patent_vaccines_profit_motive.html
[2] Information/proof at TruthSector.com; http://truthsector.wordpress.com/category/ebola/
[3] Former WHO employee and editor of Global Reseach.CA exposes the WHO: http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-h1n1-swine-flu-pandemic-manipulating-the-data-to-justify-a-worldwide-public-health-emergency/14901
[4] Exposé by Robert Kennedy, Jr; http://www.globalresearch.ca/vaccinations-deadly-immunity/14510
[5] See book Science for Sale by CDC whistleblower Dr David Lewis
[6] See research from Dr Sherri Tenpenny’s book Fowl; http://parentsagainstmandatoryvaccines.wikispaces.com/EBOLA++-+same+game+-+same+playbook
[7] See “CDC Off Center” report by Senate Subcommittee on Federal Financial Management; http://proliberty.com/observer/20070609.htm
[8] Exposé by Robert Kennedy, Jr; http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-f-kennedy-jr/central-figure-in-cdc-vac_b_494303.html
[9] Interview with CDC whistle-blower Dr David Lewis; http://www.thelibertybeacon.com/2014/06/24/the-shocking-truth-epacdc-whistleblowers-story-tlb-recorded-interview-included/
[10] Exposé by pharmacist Kristine Severyn; Profits not science motivate vaccine mandates
[11] The 2003 Burton Report; http://vaccines.procon.org/sourcefiles/Burton_Report.pdf
[12] Interview with CDC whistle-blower Dr David Lewis; http://www.thelibertybeacon.com/2014/06/24/the-shocking-truth-epacdc-whistleblowers-story-tlb-recorded-interview-included/
[13] http://www.nvic.org/NVIC-Vaccine-News/August-2014/DHHS-Funded-RAND-Corp–Study–An-Inside-Job.aspx
[14] See: Expert ‘consensus’ reports are scientific mumbo jumbo
[15] See: The CDC and the CIA: a close and sick relationship
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Korean Eximbank’s team conducting feasibility study for the first purpose built IT park in Islamabad, called on the Minister of State for IT Mrs. Anusha Rehman Khan here in Islamabad today and shared in detail the salient features, models and proposed designs along with other technical aspects for the building of first IT park in Pakistan.
Minister of State for IT Mrs. Anusha Rehman, Federal Secretary IT Mr. Rizwan Bashir Khan and senior officials from Ministry of IT and PSEB had a very fruitful discussion with the Korean experts regarding different aspects of feasibility study report. The 13 members’ Korean team was lead by Dr. Yim Deok Soon and Prof. Park Hung Kook.
Minister of IT welcomed the Korean delegation to MoIT and shared with them ministry’s vision to provide good infrastructure to the IT industry to leverage the full potential of Pakistan’s IT talent. She said that IT park will provide a whole ecosystem including affordable space to IT companies along with power, bandwidth, and linkages between industry and academia. IT park in Islamabad will be followed by two more parks at Lahore and Karachi subsequently.
Minister said that Pakistan has abundant IT talent and IT parks would be a good way of leveraging that talent to boost Pakistan’s IT exports which have already grown over 40% since last year. She appreciated the passion and spirit of Korean team and their constant support in IT park project and hoped that the IT Park would further augment the long lasting and strong relationship between Pakistan and Korea.
Minister requested the Korean team to fast track its efforts and submit their final report by next week so that they could enter in the implementation phase of the project at the earliest. She urged all stakeholders to collectively work to achieve the milestones. |
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi army will need the Kurds’ help to retake Mosul, the largest city under the control of Islamic State with the planned offensive expected to be very challenging in a region home to rival religious and ethnic groups, an Iraqi minister said. Mosul, 400 km (250 miles) north of Baghdad, has been designated by the government as the next target for Iraq’s armed forces after they retook the western city of Ramadi, the first major success of the U.S.-trained force that initially fled in the face of Islamic State’s advance 18 months ago.
Volunteers to fight the Islamic State, from different Iraqi factions including Kurdish and Yazidis, train at a camping area near Kurdish security points on Bashiqa mountain, around 15km Northeast of the Islamic State held city of Mosul, March 7, 2015. REUTERS/Asmaa Waguih
Retaking the mostly Sunni city of Mosul would be hard as the local and regional players in northern Iraq have diverging agendas. The region is a mosaic of different ethnic and religious groups lying between Turkey, Syria and Iraqi Kurdistan.
It would effectively mark the end of the caliphate proclaimed by Islamic State in adjacent Sunni areas of Iraq and Syria, Iraq’s Finance Minister Hoshiyar Zebari told Reuters in an interview.
“Mosul needs good planning, preparations, commitment from all the key players,” Zebari, a Kurd, said on Monday in Baghdad. “Peshmerga is a major force; you cannot do Mosul without Peshmerga,” he said, referring to the armed forces of Iraqi Kurdistan, an autonomous northern region close to Mosul.
Kurdish forces have positions east, north and west of Mosul while Iraqi security forces backed by Shi’ite militias have positions in Baiji, south of Mosul.
The city had a population of two million before it fell to the militants in June 2014, in the first stage of their sweeping advance through northern and western Iraq.The battle of Mosul would be “very, very challenging”, Zebari said. “It will not be an easy operation, for some time they have been strengthening themselves, but it’s doable.”Given the extent of the area that needs to be secured around Mosul during the attack, the army may also need to draw on local Sunni forces and possibly the Shi’ite Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) in support roles, he said. The PMF, known in Arabic as Hashid Shaabi, is a loosely knit coalition of mostly Iran-backed Shi’ite militias set up to fight Islamic State. The government sidelined the PMF in the Ramadi battle to ensure air support from the U.S. which is reluctant to be seen fighting on the same side as the Iranian-backed militias.
“Mosul is different from Ramadi,” U.S. Army Colonel Steve Warren, spokesman for the Baghdad-based anti-IS coalition told reporters on a video conference on Tuesday.
“It’s a big, big, big city and it’s going to take a lot of effort. It’s going to take more training. It’s going to take more equipment, and it’s going to take patience.”
‘FINAL BLOW’
Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said on Monday that Islamic State would be defeated in 2016 with the army planning to move on Mosul. “We are coming to liberate Mosul and it will be the fatal and final blow to Daesh,” he said in speech praising the army’s “victory” in Ramadi. “It’s there (Mosul) where Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared his caliphate,” Zebari said, referring to the group’s leader. “It is literally their capital.”
The Iraqi Kurdish president, Massoud Barzani, discussed plans for the liberation of Mosul with Lieutenant General Tom Beckett, Britain’s senior defense adviser, in September, according to Kurdish TV Rudaw.
Peshmerga forces, backed by US air strikes, in November dislodged Islamic State from Sinjar, a town west of Mosul that is home to Iraq’s Yazidi minority who suffered at the hands of Islamic State when it overran the area in August 2014.
Barzani said at the time the capture of Sinjar “would have a big impact on liberating Mosul,” as the Yazidi town lies on the road to Raqqa, Islamic State’s stronghold on Syrian territory.
Arab Sunnis and Shi’ites are concerned that the Kurds could use the battle as a mean to expand the territory under their control, said Wathiq al-Hashimi, chairman of the Iraqi Group for Strategic Studies, a think-tank in Baghdad.
The Kurds are concerned that the Shi’ites would use their presence to bolster the influence of the central government in Baghdad, he said.
“The Peshmerga’s involvement will be inevitable but could further complicate the battle in Mosul if not enough guarantees have been taken from the regional leadership that they will not use it to expand their territories,” said Hashimi. |
In 1999, Mark Nokes of Wallsall, England was incredibly excited about the imminent release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Like the rest of us, Mark had no idea just how terrible that movie would be...but that didn't stop him from legally changing his name to Darth Vader
His wife, Suzanne, also took her husband's last name of Vader because...well, seriously, who wouldn't do that? If you're going to be married to the Dark Lord, you might as well receive all the benefits that come along with it. Can you imagine being called up for dinner reservations...or for your turn at the DMV?
But I digress...this all leads us to 13 years later, when a rogue Jedi named Ikbale Hare (c'mon, that even sounds like a Mon Calamari name) became convinced that Mr. Vader was using the dark side of the force to seduce his own wife, Kelly Campbell (definitely a human).
The two men began fighting, but before any light sabers could be unsheathed, Mrs. Vader stepped in the middle of the two to try and stop a physical altercation from occurring. Unfortunately for her, Ikbale had already committed himself to throwing a punch...which landed squarely on Mrs. Vader's face.
"Heavens to Betsy!"
The resulting melee was recorded in what may be one of the most incredible sounding police reports of all time. One excerpt, which was reprinted in the Birmingham Mail , reads in part:
"There was a scuffle involving the two men and Mrs Vader tried to get between them... The defendant struck her but, there is evidence that, in fact, he had been trying to hit Darth Vader. Hare then picked up a brick and he threw sand into the face of Darth Vader, whose wife was so worried about him getting further involved in the dispute that she locked him in their house."
Hare ran off and hid for two days before being caught and arrested. He was charged with (and pleaded guilty to) possessing a bladed article (knife, not a light saber), assault, and disorderly behavior.
He will be required to complete 200 hours of community service and be placed under strict supervision for 18 months.
Considering whose wife he punched, I'd say Mr. Hare got off pretty light.
Just ask the late Admiral Ozzel what
happens when Mr. Vader dispenses justice himself. |
History Edit
In 1914, Senator Robert La Follette Sr. and Representative John M. Nelson, both of Wisconsin, promoted the inclusion in the legislative, executive, and judicial appropriations act of a provision directing the establishment of a special reference unit within the Library of Congress.[5] Building upon a concept developed by the New York State Library in 1890, and the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Library in 1901, they were motivated by Progressive era ideas about the importance of the acquisition of knowledge for an informed and independent legislature.[4] The move also reflected the expanding role of the librarian and the professionalization of the profession.[4] The new department was charged with responding to congressional requests for information.[4] The legislation authorized the Librarian of Congress, Herbert Putnam, to “employ competent persons to prepare such indexes, digests, and compilations of laws as may be required for Congress and other official use...” (The intent behind the creation of the agency can be derived from U.S. Senate, Committee on the Library, Legislative Drafting Bureau and Reference Division, 62d Cong., 3d sess., 1913, S. Rept.1271.) Renamed the Legislative Reference Service and given a permanent authorization with the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946,[6] it assisted Congress primarily by providing facts and publications and by transmitting research and analysis done largely by other government agencies, private organizations, and individual scholars.[4] The Library of Congress, the home of CRS, had experimented during the 1940s with unrestricted publication Public Affairs Bulletins, which were produced by staff of the Legislative Reference Service, and devoted to various public policy issues. They were promoted by Archibald MacLeish, the Librarian of Congress, and, among other topics, addressed timely policy issues, such as American national defense. About 100 Public Affairs Bulletins were generated[7] before congressional appropriators ended their production in 1951.[8] The renaming under the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1970 reflected the service's changing mission:[4] This legislation directed CRS to devote more of its efforts and increased resources to doing research and analysis that assists Congress in direct support of the legislative process.[9] When the Congressional Research Service Review was launched in 1980, it continued for a little more than a decade before congressional appropriators, once again, invoked fiscal closure. The Review, which was published ten times a year and available to the public by subscription, offered original analytical articles, summaries highlighting CRS research products, and other kinds of assistance to the congressional community.[7] As inquiries increased from 400,000 questions per year in 1980 to 598,000 in 2000, CRS sought to prepare itself for future challenges, initiating an organizational realignment in 1999. The realignment, which has required extensive relocation of staff and the design of more efficient workstations, was intended to promote improved communication within CRS and increase the service's ability to focus on legislative deliberations of Congress by applying its multidisciplinary expertise to public policy issues in user-friendly, accessible formats when Congress needs assistance.[10]
Mission Edit
CRS offers Congress research and analysis on all current and emerging issues of national policy.[4] CRS offers timely and confidential assistance to all Members and committees that request it, limited only by CRS’s resources and the requirements for balance, nonpartisanship and accuracy.[4] CRS makes no legislative or other policy recommendations to Congress; its responsibility is to ensure that Members of the House and Senate have available the best possible information and analysis on which to base the policy decisions the American people have elected them to make.[4] In all its work, CRS analysts are governed by requirements for confidentiality, timeliness, accuracy, objectivity, balance, and nonpartisanship. CRS services are not limited to those that relate directly to enacting new laws. For example, CRS attempts to assess emerging issues and developing problems so that it will be prepared to assist the Congress if and when it becomes necessary. Although it rarely conducts field research, CRS assists committees in other aspects of their study and oversight responsibilities. In addition, it offers numerous courses, including legal research seminars and institutes on the legislative process, the budget processes, and the work of district and state staff. At the beginning of each Congress, CRS also provides an orientation seminar for new Members.[4] CRS does not conduct research on sitting Members or living former Members of Congress, unless granted specific permission by that Member or if that Member is nominated by the President for another office.[4]
Organization Edit
CRS is now divided into six interdisciplinary research divisions, each of which is further divided into subject specialist sections. The six divisions are: American Law; Domestic Social Policy; Foreign Affairs, Defense and Trade; Government and Finance; Knowledge Services; and Resources, Science and Industry.[11] The six research divisions are supported in their work by five “infrastructure” offices: Finance and Administration, Information Management and Technology, Counselor to the Director, Congressional Information and Publishing, and Workforce Management and Development.[12]
Overview of services Edit
Responses to Congressional requests take the form of reports, memoranda, customized briefings, seminars, videotaped presentations, information obtained from automated databases, and consultations in person and by telephone.[4] CRS "supports the Members, committees, and leaders of the House and Senate at all stages of the legislative process":[4] Ideas for legislation. A 2008 CRS report details how the service can assist legislators in evaluating the need for legislation: At the preliminary stage, members may ask CRS to provide background information and analysis on issues and events so they can better understand the existing situation and then assess whether there is a problem requiring a legislative remedy. This assistance may be a summary and explanation of the scientific evidence on a technically complex matter, for example, or it may be a collection of newspaper and journal articles discussing an issue from different perspectives, or a comparative analysis of several explanations that have been offered to account for a generally recognized problem. CRS also identifies national and international experts with whom Members and staff may consult about whatever issues concern them and sponsors programs at which Members meet with experts to discuss issues of broad interest to Congress.[4] Analyzing a bill. The same 2008 report also clarifies the various ways in which the service further supports the work of legislators once a bill has been introduced: If a Member decides to introduce a bill, CRS analysts can assist the legislator in clarifying the purposes of the bill, identifying issues it may address, defining alternative ways for dealing with them, evaluating the possible advantages and disadvantages of each alternative, developing information and arguments to support the bill, and anticipating possible criticisms of the bill and responses to them. Although CRS does not draft bills, resolutions, and amendments, its analysts may join staff consulting with the professional draftsman within each chamber’s Office of the Legislative Counsel as they translate the Member’s policy decisions into formal legislative language. Members and committees also can request CRS to help them assess and compare legislative proposals, including competing bills introduced by Members and proposals presented by executive branch officials, private citizens and organizations. CRS can assess the intent, scope, and limits, of the various proposals.[4] The report goes on: During committee and floor consideration, CRS can assist Representatives and Senators in several different ways, in addition to providing background information to assist Members in understanding the issues a bill addresses. CRS attorneys can help clarify legal effects the bill may have. CRS policy analysts can work with Members in deciding whether to propose amendments and then in making certain that their amendments are designed and phrased to achieve the desired results. CRS also can help Members prepare for the debate by providing data and other information that they can use to support the positions they have decided to take.[4] Hearings . When a subcommittee selects a bill (or several bills on the same subject) for serious attention, it usually begins by conducting public hearings on one or more days at which executive branch officials, other Members of Congress, representatives of private organizations, and even individual citizens present their views on the bill’s merits. CRS analysts can assist in this process by providing background information and reports, presenting a preliminary briefing to Members or staff, identifying potential witnesses, and suggesting questions that Members may consider asking the witnesses.
. When a subcommittee selects a bill (or several bills on the same subject) for serious attention, it usually begins by conducting public hearings on one or more days at which executive branch officials, other Members of Congress, representatives of private organizations, and even individual citizens present their views on the bill’s merits. CRS analysts can assist in this process by providing background information and reports, presenting a preliminary briefing to Members or staff, identifying potential witnesses, and suggesting questions that Members may consider asking the witnesses. Subcommittee or committee votes . After the hearings on a bill, the subcommittee or committee meets to debate and vote on amendments to it. If requested, CRS staff may attend these meetings to serve as a nonpartisan source of expert information available to all Members. If the subcommittee and then the full committee conclude that new legislation is needed, they report a bill to the House or Senate for all its Members to consider. The committee also submits a written report that explains the background for its decision, analyzes the purposes and effects of each major provision of the bill, and includes other information, such as predictions about the cost of implementing it, that help other Members decide whether they should support the bill. CRS specialists may assist the committee’s staff in preparing some sections of this report, although cost estimates are developed by the Congressional Budget Office.
. After the hearings on a bill, the subcommittee or committee meets to debate and vote on amendments to it. If requested, CRS staff may attend these meetings to serve as a nonpartisan source of expert information available to all Members. If the subcommittee and then the full committee conclude that new legislation is needed, they report a bill to the House or Senate for all its Members to consider. The committee also submits a written report that explains the background for its decision, analyzes the purposes and effects of each major provision of the bill, and includes other information, such as predictions about the cost of implementing it, that help other Members decide whether they should support the bill. CRS specialists may assist the committee’s staff in preparing some sections of this report, although cost estimates are developed by the Congressional Budget Office. Parliamentary procedure . CRS staff can clarify the legislative procedures of the House and Senate, assisting Members and staff in understanding the effects of these procedures and how Members can use the procedures to promote their own legislative goals.
. CRS staff can clarify the legislative procedures of the House and Senate, assisting Members and staff in understanding the effects of these procedures and how Members can use the procedures to promote their own legislative goals. Conference committees. CRS analysts can contribute to this last stage of the legislative process by helping identify the issues to be resolved, by clarifying and comparing the positions of the two houses on each issue, and by identifying different ways in which the legislative disagreements could be resolved. CRS also performs several functions that support Congressional and public understanding of the legislative process and other issues. Bill Summaries . Since 1935 the Legislative Analysis and Information Section (formerly "Bill Digest") of CRS has had statutory responsibility for preparation of authoritative, objective, nonpartisan summaries of introduced public bills and resolutions and maintenance of historical legislative information. Detailed revised summaries are written to reflect changes made in the course of the legislative process. This CRS office also prepares titles, bill relationships, subject terms, and Congressional Record citations for debates, full texts of measures, and Member introductory remarks. The bill summaries are released to the public via THOMAS, the Library of Congress's online database. [13]
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See also Edit |
The ratings for last night’s Supergirl premiere were, fittingly, very super.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the series set “a fall new series record of 14 million viewers and a 3.2 rating among adults 18–49.” Supergirl was the second-highest-rated series on TV last night, following The Big Bang Theory.
TV Guide’s Michael Schneider writes that, of the series’ teen viewers, more were male than female:
Interesting stat: #Supergirl did better with male teens (1.7) than female teens (1.4). Either way, No. 1 b’cast show with teens (1.6) Monday — Michael Schneider (@franklinavenue) October 27, 2015
Although it remains to be seen if Supergirl‘s ratings will continue to soar up, up, and away as the series progresses, the excitement over the premiere, despite (or perhaps because?) of the pilot leak back in May, seems to me to indicate an appetite for more female-focused shows like this one.
It’s worth noting that the Jaimie Alexander-starring Blindspot, another lady-led genre show, is also one of the highest-rated series of the fall.
—Please make note of The Mary Sue’s general comment policy.—
Do you follow The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, & Google +? |
Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn, two high-spirited muralists from Baltimore known for their bold, geometric style, are well on their way to completing a new commission on the side of the 710 Main Theatre.
I caught up with the pair this morning as they were putting down the mural's first layer:
Unterhalter and Truhn arrived last week to start the mural and have spent the last several nights sketching out its basic contours with help from video artist and projection pro Keith Harrington (also known as Projex). They're about a third finished with the piece, which will look something like this when it's complete:
And here's an image of the artists' rendering as if viewed straight-on:
The project is part of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery's public art program, a collaboration with Erie County and the City of Buffalo.
Stay tuned for more about the mural and the artists throughout the day.
Email: [email protected] |
KABUL (Reuters) - Millions of Afghans turned out for a second time on Saturday to elect a successor to President Hamid Karzai on Saturday, a decisive test of the country’s ambitions to transfer power democratically for the first time in its tumultuous history.
Most foreign troops will leave by the end of 2014, and whoever takes over from Karzai will inherit a troubled country plagued by an assertive Taliban insurgency and an economy crippled by corruption and the weak rule of law.
The run-off pitted former anti-Taliban fighter Abdullah Abdullah against ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani after neither secured the 50 percent majority needed to win outright in the first round on April 5.
Violence spiked on the day as militants launched hundreds of attacks with rockets, explosives and gunfire, leaving at least 20 civilians dead, along with a further 11 police and 15 army personnel, the interior ministry said.
But clashes did not deter millions of voters from turning out and feared high-profile attacks did not materialize. Instead, voting ended at 4 p.m. (1130 GMT) with a palpable sense of relief, at least in the Afghan capital.
“I’m from this country so I am never afraid of threats,” said Lajiullah Azizi, a hospital worker who voted in western Kabul just minutes after a small bomb exploded at his polling station. “I hope this election will bring peace.”
Officials immediately began counting ballots, although Afghanistan’s difficult terrain, where ballot boxes have to hauled by donkey from some of its remotest corners, means preliminary results will not be known until July 2.
Karzai, standing down after 12 years in power marked by increasingly sour relations with the West, is certain to retain a hand in politics but has been tight-lipped about his plans.
“Today Afghanistan takes a step towards stability, development and peace. Come out and determine your destiny,” Karzai, clad in his trademark green Afghan robe, said after casting his ballot.
Karzai’s relationship with the West has deteriorated sharply over his refusal to sign a security pact with the United States allowing a small contingent of U.S. forces to remain in the country beyond 2014. Both Abdullah and Ghani have promised to sign it promptly.
Twelve million voters were eligible to cast ballots at 6,365 polling centers across Afghanistan, from windswept deserts on the Iranian border to the rugged Hindu Kush mountains.
Despite the outbreaks of violence, voters defied threats and long queues snaked out of polling centers in urban areas soon after voting began at 7 a.m.
Turnout was more than seven million, election commission chief Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani said, roughly the same as in the first round of voting in April.
The turnout was so high that some 333 voting centers ran out of ballot papers, sparking minor protests by disgruntled voters. The election commission said additional materials were later distributed and calm was restored.
“Security is a concern but the people of Afghanistan have defied security threats so far,” Abdullah said.
Further afield, the picture looked less rosy, however, with voters in provinces such as Wardak refusing to come out to vote.
“Maybe it’s because in the second round people have lost belief in the election,” said Masuma, a school teacher in Wardak. “The reason is fraud, they think that their vote is useless.” [Full Story}
RISKY STAND-OFF
Afghan President Hamid Karzai shows his card before voting in the presidential election in Kabul June 14, 2014. REUTERS/Mohammad Ismail
The election has been fraught with accusations of fraud by both candidates and many fear a close outcome will make it less likely the loser will accept defeat, possibly dragging Afghanistan into a risky, protracted stand-off over the vote.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged the concerns by saying that now the voting was finished, the work of the Afghan electoral authorities was paramount.
“It is essential that the process of tallying votes, adjudicating complaints, and finalizing the results be transparent and accountable and that the candidates and other stakeholders work with the electoral commissions and respect their conclusions,” he said in a statement.
Both candidates have complained repeatedly that electoral organizers are incompetent and biased.
Late on Saturday, Abdullah again raised the issue, questioning the turnout figures provided by the electoral commission, saying he doubted they had been as high as reported.
Officials are concerned by the prospect of a close outcome that could, in the worst-case scenario, propel the country back into war along ethnic lines.
“We ask everyone to prevent and discourage people from fraud and vote-rigging so that we can have a transparent, free and fair election,” Ghani said after casting his vote in west Kabul.
The United Nations has urged candidates not to attack the organizers, to safeguard the process.
“There’s a short-term gain only in trying to undermine or bully the institutions at the expense of their legitimacy,” said United Nations deputy chief in Afghanistan Nicholas Haysom.
“It’s going to be the legitimacy of the elections which will give legitimacy to the new head.”
Slideshow (5 Images)
Abdullah polled 14 percentage points ahead of Ghani in the first round with 45 percent of the vote, but Ghani, who is ethnic Pashtun, stands to gain a portion of the Pashtun vote that was splintered in the first round.
Pashtuns are Afghanistan’s biggest ethnic group, making up about 45 percent of the population. While Abdullah is partly Pashtun, he is identified more with the ethnic Tajik minority.
The chance of an equal split between candidates is hard to gauge because there are few reliable polls. ACSOR research center, asking respondents to choose between Abdullah and Ghani, predicted a 50:50 split before the first round. |
Image Slideshow From Ref 1 / with permission of NMHM, Silver Spring, MD From Ref 1 / with permission of NMHM, Silver Spring, MD From Ref 1 / with permission of NMHM, Silver Spring, MD
Albert Einstein is considered to be one of the most intelligent people that ever lived, so researchers are naturally curious about what made his brain tick.
Photographs taken shortly after his death, but never before analysed in detail, have now revealed that Einstein’s brain had several unusual features, providing tantalizing clues about the neural basis of his extraordinary mental abilities1.
While doing Einstein's autopsy, the pathologist Thomas Harvey removed the physicist's brain and preserved it in formalin. He then took dozens of black and white photographs of it before it was cut up into 240 blocks. He then took tissue samples from each block, mounted them onto microscope slides and distributed the slides to some of the world’s best neuropathologists.
The autopsy revealed that Einstein’s brain was smaller than average and subsequent analyses showed all the changes that normally occur with ageing. Nothing more was analysed, however. Harvey stored the brain fragments in a formalin-filled jar in a cider box kept under a beer cooler in his office. Decades later, several researchers asked Harvey for some samples, and noticed some unusual features when analysing them.
A study done in 1985 showed that two parts of his brain contained an unusually large number of non-neuronal cells called glia for every neuron2. And one published more than a decade later showed that the parietal lobe lacks a furrow and a structure called the operculum3. The missing furrow may have enhanced the connections in this region, which is thought to be involved in visuo-spatial functions and mathematical skills such as arithmetic.
Photo opportunity
Now, anthropologist Dean Falk of Florida State University in Tallahassee and her colleagues have obtained 12 of Harvey’s original photographs from the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland, analysed them and compared the patterns of convoluted ridges and furrows with those of 85 brains described in other studies.
Many of the photographs were taken from unusual angles, and show structures that were not visible in photographs that have been analysed previously. The analysis is published today in the journal Brain1.
AFP/Getty Images
The most striking observation, says Falk, was “the complexity and pattern of convolutions on certain parts of Einstein's cerebral cortex”, especially in the prefrontal cortex, and also parietal lobes and visual cortex.
The prefrontal cortex is important for the kind of abstract thinking that Einstein would have needed for his famous thought experiments on the nature of space and time, such as imagining riding alongside a beam of light. The unusually complex pattern of convolutions there probably gave the region and unusually large surface area, which may have contributed to his remarkable abilities.
Falk and her colleagues also noticed an unusual feature in the right somatosensory cortex, which receives sensory information from the body. In this part of Einstein’s brain, the region corresponding to the left hand is expanded, and the researchers suggest that this may have contributed to his accomplished violin playing.
According to Sandra Witelson, a behavioural neuroscientist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, who discovered that the parietal operculum is missing from Einstein’s brain, the study’s biggest contribution may be in encouraging further studies. “It makes clear the location and accessibility of photographs and slides of Einstein's brain,” she says. “This may serve as an incentive for other investigations of Einstein's brain, and ultimately of any consequences of its anatomical variations.” |
One of the important steps of computing point addition over elliptic curves is a division of two polynomials. When working in $GF(2^n)$ we don't have large enough powers to actually do a division, so we compute the inverse of the denominator and then multiply. This is usually done using Euclid's method, but if squaring and multiplying are fast we can take advantage of these operations and compute the multiplicative inverse in just a few steps.
The first time I ran across this method it really confused me. The process itself does not depend on normal basis math, it just looks like it. Using normal basis to compute the squares means you only need a barrel shifter, so for the field sizes mentioned in the "One Cycle Polynomial Math" blog, this method is ideal for either FPGA or embedded implementations.
We start off with a polynomial $\alpha$ in a field $GF(2^n)$ which means $$\alpha = \sum_{i=0}^{i=n-1}c_i\beta^{2^i}=\sum_{i=0}^{i=n-1}d_i\beta^i$$ where $c_i$ and $d_i$ have values $0$ or $1$. We want to find its inverse $\alpha^{-1}$. Using Fermat's Little Theorem we can write $\alpha^{-1} = \alpha^{2^n - 2}$. The first step is to break this down by noticing that $$\alpha^{2^n-2} = (\alpha^{2^{n-1}-1})^2$$ From here, things get a little more complicated.
What we are going to do is build a chain of terms all of the form $\alpha^{2^k-1}$. The final term in the chain will be $\alpha^{2^{n-1}-1}$ so we just need to square this result to have our inverse. The chain will start with $\alpha^{2^1-1}=\alpha$.
Since we are going to do an addition chain, the next form to look at is is $\alpha^{2^{k+j}-1}$. Let's expand this: $$\begin{array}{c}\alpha^{2^{k+j}-1}=\alpha^{2^{k+j}-2^j+2^j-1}\\ =\alpha^{2^{k+j}-2^j}\cdot \alpha^{2^j-1}\\ =(\alpha^{2^k-1})^{2^j}\cdot \alpha^{2^j-1}\end{array}$$ So if we have the forms $\alpha^{2^k-1}$ and $\alpha^{2^j-1}$ we can get the form $\alpha^{2^{k+j}-1}$ by squaring the form $\alpha^{2^k-1}$ $j$ times.
A special version of this is when $k = j$. Putting $k+k=2k$ into the above we find $\alpha^{2^{2k}-1}=(\alpha^{2^k-1})^{2^k}\cdot \alpha^{2^k-1}$ So now we have the tools to build an addition chain.
There are many ways to create a chain of sums. The simplest is to look at the binary representation of a number, use the $2k$ form for each bit position, and add the terms with the bits set. As a concrete example, let's look at $n=106$. The first step is to subtract $1$ so we start with $105$. In binary $105 = 1101001$. The most significant bit is $2^6$ so the first 6 terms in the chain are $1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64$. The bit position for 2^5 is set so we add the form for $32$ to get $96$, the bit for position $2^3$ is set so we add form $8$ to get $104$, and then the last bit is set so we add the term for $1$ to get $105$. The first term is just $\alpha$. Let's call the first term $\gamma_0$. We use the doubling form 6 times and get the following
$\gamma_0$ $\alpha^{2^1-1}$ $\gamma_1=\gamma_0^2 \cdot \gamma_0$ $\alpha^{2^2-1}$ $\gamma_2=\gamma_1^{2^2}\cdot \gamma_1$ $\alpha^{2^4-1}$ $\gamma_3=\gamma_2^{2^4}\cdot\gamma_2$ $\alpha^{2^8-1}$ $\gamma_4=\gamma_3^{2^8}\cdot\gamma_3$
$\alpha^{2^{16}-1}$ $\gamma_5=\gamma_4^{2^{16}}\cdot\gamma_4$ $\alpha^{2^{32}-1}$ $\gamma_6=\gamma_5^{2^{32}}\cdot\gamma_5$ $\alpha^{2^{64}-1}$
Now we can begin the summation part of the chain. Bit 6 and bit 5 are set in the binary representation of 105 so we start with $\gamma_7=\gamma_6^{2^{32}}\cdot \gamma_5=\alpha^{2^{96}-1}$. Bit 3 is the next bit set so $\gamma_8=\gamma_7^{2^8}\cdot \gamma_3 = \alpha^{2^{104}-1}$. Finally the last bit is set so we have $\gamma_9=\gamma_8^2\cdot \gamma_0=\alpha^{2^{105}-1}$.
Our final step is to compute the square of $\gamma_9\colon \gamma_9^2=(\alpha^{2^{105}-1})^2=\alpha^{2^{106}-2}=\alpha^{-1}$.
The thing that confused me the most about this algorithm was the number of times to square the first term. It depends on the second term. We can see this from the derivation of the $j+k$ form when we add and subtract the second term's $2j$ value. We could have just as easily added and subtracted $2k$, but then $k$ would be the second term.
Another thing that confused me is the arbitrariness of the addition chain. A completely valid result can be derived using the sequence $1, 2, 3, 6, 12, 13, 26, 52, 104, 105$. This method "walks" down the bit pattern. It takes the same number of steps as the doubling first and adding terms. It might take some experimentation to determine which method (or something else entirely) is better for a particular application.
When implemented using normal basis representation, the squaring operations can be performed in a single cycle using a barrel shifter. If implemented in a field size which allows the type 1 normal basis, then the multiplies can be also be done very quickly. Thus, for the right field size, computing an inverse using the above algorithm can be done in very few clock cycles compared with standard implementations which can take 100's of clocks. |
ROME — The Italian authorities on Wednesday arrested the mayor of Venice and more than 30 others in a political corruption case linked to the city’s multibillion dollar flood-protection project. The arrests came only weeks after investigators revealed an embarrassing corruption scandal involving projects for next year’s Milan Expo.
Mayor Giorgio Orsoni of Venice was placed under house arrest on Wednesday morning on charges that he misused public funds from a project to build underwater barriers to protect the ancient city. Investigators also arrested a number of other elected officials in the Venice region and were seeking the arrest of a member of the lower house of Parliament.
Corruption scandals are not uncommon in Italy, but the latest arrests in Venice and Milan involve prestige projects in regions where governance is usually considered more trustworthy. Prosecutors on Wednesday accused Mr. Orsoni of directing public money for “political purposes.” Investigators also are examining whether politicians accepted about 25 million euros, more than $34 million, in bribes in exchange for awarding contracts on the flood-protection project.
In a televised news conference, Carlo Nordio, one of the prosecutors in the case, said local businessmen and politicians had established a sophisticated system to divert money for bribes, including slush fund accounts in Switzerland and San Marino. He said businessmen used inflated bills and false consulting contracts to generate payments from public funds that were then diverted to politicians as bribes. |
Yang lounged on the couch with a damp towel covering her bathing suit which chilled her skin underneath. Sage and Sun were sitting in chairs across from her, also in their bathing suits, wrapped in towels and drinking beers. They had just come from the hot tub outside. Tubbing after a long day of walking around the city seemed like an awesome way to finish off the day. Add a few glasses of wine and some beers to the mix and now all three of them were relaxed and buzzed. The warm night air blew gently through the open window and smelled of honeysuckle, which grew like a weed in the yard. Yang knew that soon the dampness on her skin from the hot tub would turn to the dampness of the sweat caused by the exceptionally hot evening. Being wrapped in a heavy towel didn't help.
Sun and Sage had been friends since long before Yang and Sun started dating. Sage lived a few hours away, so they only saw each other a few times a year, but Yang instantly liked him the first time they met. She and Sage had become close friends very fast and grew closer with passing time. She and Sun looked forward to visiting with Sage every chance that came up. It made Sun happy that his best friend and his girlfriend liked each other so much.
One of their favorite things to do together was to roam the city neighborhood around them. They ate and drank and joked and laughed for hours as they made the rounds through the bars and restaurants surrounding their home.
Sage's visit this time was going the same as always. The wine they drank in the tub, and the beers they drank most of the day lowered everyone's inhibitions, and conversation had drifted to the subject of pornographic movies. Sun had been talking to Sage about a particularly funny scene in one of the pornos that he had in his collection (it was her collection too). Some parody of Astro Walk where the makeup on the green woman came off as she was getting banged by Captain Verk or some other officer. Against her better judgment, Yang let Sun put the video in to show Sage. It wasn't meant to be sexy; it was a funny scene. Sun fast forwarded through a scene with two crew members banging, typical stuff, and Sun and Sage made jokes and sounds that were supposed to be the sounds of the sex on high speed. The wine made them laugh hysterically and Yang giggled a little too.
Then Sun stopped on the scene he wanted. The one with the hot, green alien chick. He spent time going into great detail about how the makeup looked at the beginning of the scene, even going so far as to stand right next to the TV and point at places he knew the makeup would rub off. It was good innocent fun.
Sun sat back down when the couple on the TV started getting busy. The green alien girl started blowing Captain Virk, but he seemed awkward with his hands. He didn't touch her anywhere. Sun and Sage commented and laughed about it. Then he was licking her pussy which didn't have green makeup on the lips, but it got right up to them. Jokes and laughter kept coming, but Yang was starting to get a little uncomfortable with watching a porno with her boyfriend and his friend. Not because she didn't like dirty movies, but because they aroused her, and Sage was in the mix "cock-blocking" her.
As the scene went on, the jokes came a little slower. Every once in a while, one of the guys would point out where you could see the makeup smeared and flesh showing underneath, but they had fallen into sort of a drunken and lusty interest in the movie. Yang looked at Sage, who was slouching low in his stuffed chair. He had his towel on still, but his hand was resting on his crotch, probably on his cock. He gripped it absent mindedly every once in a while as he stared at the TV. Sun wasn't touching his cock, but she could see that he had an erection.
Yang had seen this movie a couple times with Sun, and she had to admit that the green alien scene was one of her favorites. The girl in the scene had really nice tits that hung just right so that you could tell they were real, and Captain Kirk had a really ripped stomach and no tattoos or piercings. Just the way she liked her porn stars. She kind of wished that Sage wasn't there so she could strip off her damp bathing suit and cool off. She was starting to get hot from the air temperature and the stuff going on in the movie.
She stood up. This was not how she wanted to spend her evening. She had walked around the city all day with the two boys as they yakked and joked and drank beers every chance they could. They walked for hours before coming home to the tub. Her feet hurt. She was good friends with Sage by now and very comfortable around him, not comfortable enough to just sit and watch pornos though. So she went to the bathroom to rinse off the chlorine from the tub.
The hot water felt good on her skin. She let it stream over her for just a minute and then used soap to wash off all the tub chemicals. Then she turned the temperature on the water down until it felt cold, enjoying the sensation of the cool water flowing over her and making her nipples hard. After a moment or two, she turned the water off and stepped out to grab a new towel to wrap around her. The cool shower didn't do much to diminish her buzz. All told, she was gone from the living room for no more than 10 minutes. She grabbed some lotion for her skin and tired feet and went back out wearing just the towel.
The guys were still glued to the TV, but it was a new scene.
"Hey, baby," Sun said, glancing at her quickly. "Almost done."
Two men were having their dicks sucked by a woman who was not in a uniform. Yang remembered that this was some girl who had been in suspended animation or something and that she just went right to fucking as soon as she woke up. Storyline be damned, Yang knew that getting the sex on tape was more important. Sage and Sun were both slouched now, glassy eyed from the booze and the sex on screen. She got a good look at them and could tell they both had hard-ons. She all day boozing had lowered her inhibitions enough that she didn't feel uncomfortable sitting there with them like that. In fact it was turning her on just a little.
She plopped back down on the couch, wrapped only in a towel. Her plan was to apply some moisturizer and then go put on some pajamas. She was comfortable enough with Sage to sit in just the towel. The boys sort of snapped out of their dreamy stupor and made an effort to make a couple of jokes again for her benefit, but they didn't turn the movie off and didn't stop looking at the screen. Yang sighed and started rubbing the vanilla scented lotion on her arms and shoulders. She was utilitarian in her technique. There was nothing intentionally sexy or provocative about how she was applying the lotion, but she caught the boys glancing at her furtively. She didn't think much of it.
After she applied the lotion to her arms, she dropped her head back, held the lotion on her stomach with both hands and just sighed deeply.
"What's wrong?" Sun asked, tearing his eyes from the screen for a minute while the girl there was getting a cock in her mouth and one in her pussy.
"My feet are killing me," Yang said. "Do you think that before we go to sleep, you could rub them for me? PLEASSSSEEE."
"Yeah, sure. Whatever," he answered absently as he stood up to go to the kitchen for a beer for him and Sage.
"I'll do it if you want," Sage said. It wasn't an odd offer. Sage had rubbed her feet before on one of his visits. He said it loud, too, like he was saying it to Yang and Sun.
"Really, man? That's nice of you. Thanks." Sun answered for Yang.
Yang thought about it for about a millisecond, which was probably not long enough, before she said sincerely, "Thanks Sage. I really appreciate it." Then sarcastically she added, "after you guys dragging me around with you today, my dogs are barking." Sage stood up to come over and sit at her feet. As he did, his eyes went back to the TV. Yang could see his erection under his towel, and for another millisecond thought that maybe she should just rub her own feet, but her love of having her feet rubbed, and her need to have them rubbed right now had her pushing cautious thoughts away in favor of immediate gratification.
Sage sat down on the floor and Yang turned so that she could give him a foot. He took the left one and squirted a bit of the lotion on it, then began rubbing it hard at her heel and working his way up to her toes. She moaned loudly in approval. He was looking back and forth between the TV and Yang's foot as he worked from heel to toe, over and over. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back. Sage lifted her foot to work behind her heel, and, in her relaxed state, her knee fell to the left a little, spreading her legs unintentionally. Since she had only thought for a couple of milliseconds about his offer to rub her feet, she didn't take into account that she only wore a fluffy bath towel and nothing else. She didn't think about anything after he started rubbing her feet, so she had no idea that she had just spread her legs enough that if he took a look, Sage would be able to see under the towel to her shaved pussy. It wasn't completely spread yet, but it was visible now.
Sage enthusiastically kept up his rub of her feet. She didn't hear Sun come back in, but she knew he was there when he took her other foot in his hands and started rubbing it from heel to toe like he always did. "Oh wow!" She said when Sun started on her other foot. "This is really nice of you guys. I feel like a princess." The sound of the sex on the screen continued while they rubbed her feet and she sat with her head back and her eyes closed. She really was in heaven and was only thinking about how good it felt to have her feet rubbed. The booze and the late hour contributed to her empty brain and lack of thought. Almost any other time, she probably would have recognized that this was not a good plan.
Sun lifted her foot to work a different angle on it, and her right knee fell lazily to the side like her left had earlier. Now her pussy was pretty much wide spread, barely covered by the towel, which had slipped up when her legs came apart. Still she didn't notice, or notice enough to care. The guys were doing a fantastic job on her feet and she expected it to end any second, like it always did when Sun got bored with rubbing her without any promise of sex in return.
But then one of the boys stopped, which she was expecting, but she heard more lotion being pumped out of the bottle. "Oh," she thought, "still more for me. Awesome." And then the lotion was being rubbed on her feet again, but it was a lot of lotion and there wasn't a lot of pressure on her feet. Before she knew what was happening, the hands were spreading the lotion up over her calf and shins towards her knee. Her head shot up and her eyes opened. She looked down and saw Sun staring at her crotch and rubbing her leg. Sage was also staring at her crotch. When she jerked, they both looked away quickly, and then looked at each other, and then looked at her face, and then looked away again. Her legs went back together and she moved the towel back down over her privates. "Enjoy the show, perverts?" She said.
They looked at each other, then back at her. "Uh, yeah," they both answered. Sun resumed rubbing her leg and Sage gathered more lotion in his hand and started in on her other leg, firmly rubbing from her from her ankle to her knee. She had to admit that it felt pretty good.
"Look, your skin just seemed really dry, and I'm trying to be a nice guy here," Sun lied. "I mean if you want me to stop and let your skin dry out like an old lady's, no problem." The whole time he talked, he and Sage did not stop rubbing her legs. Sarcastically he said, "I'm just thinking about you, babe."
Yang was no prude and she didn't really care that the boys had seen her pussy. Big deal. The lotion did feel good, and she had to admit that she really did kind of feel like a princess, maybe the slutty Egyptian princess in the Cleopatra porn that they had in their collection, but a princess still. She liked Sage and felt comfortable with him. He was Sun's best friend after all, had been for 20 years. So if they wanted to get their jollies by rubbing her feet and legs, whatever. That was about all the thought she put into it, which probably wasn't really enough.
She bunched the towel up more between her legs and held it there with her hands and then went back into her pose, head back, legs slightly spread, and enjoyed the attention.
"Kill joy," Sun teased her.
"I don't want you ass clowns to get any ideas."
They eagerly resumed helping her with her dry skin. They rubbed from her ankles to her knees and then from her knees to the edge of the towel. They used a lot of lotion and firm pressure to knead her quads and inner thighs. Her grip relaxed on the towel in her crotch, but she kept her hands there. Then Sun put up the leg he was working and rested her heel on his shoulder. This spread her a little more and made it harder to hold the towel. He resumed rubbing and focused on her taught hamstring. Seconds later, Sage made the same move. With both her feet off the floor like this, she slouched down a little more on the couch. The slouching movement caused the towel to loosen a little but it stayed in place.
The guys were rubbing her thighs as high as they could now, their hands almost coming in contact with hers as she covered her pussy. Her head was spinning with the effects of the booze and the heady pleasure she was getting from having this kind of attention on her. The sounds of the porno in the background added fuel to her fire too. She had been taking furtive glances at the screen every once in a while to see the hot action there.
Sun's hands were now staying mostly on her upper thighs rubbing around the inside and outside of her legs and doggedly rubbing against the barrier of her hands. Sage wasn't quite as aggressive or brave, but he was working his hands up to the area only a fraction of an inch lower than Sun was. Yang felt flushed and nervous and excited. The massage she was getting really felt good, and it was relaxing, and she had a buzz on that was making her less inhibited than normal.
Gradually, her hands moved as they gave way to Sun's persistence, and before she knew it, he was spreading the lotion up over her hip bone and then down over her pelvis and rubbing the thick, smooth, creamy lotion down the side of her pussy. She fought the urge to spread her legs wide like she would if they were alone. The towel slipped up so that her shaved pubic area was exposed. Apparently Sage took this as a cue that it was OK to move his motions up a little farther too and he began mirroring Sun's hands on the other hip bone and the other side of her pussy. They both had to lean in a little to reach all the way up above her hips and the motion of them doing that made her knees bend slightly, which opened her legs more and made more space around her pussy.
"Very nice," breathed Sun. "Does that feel good?" Yang could feel his hot breath and smell the alcohol in it.
"Mmmmmm..." Is all that Yang could manage.
"This is all just for you. We don't want you to get dry," he teased her.
"Yeah...Mmmmmmm...Right." Was her response again.
Yang was basically in over her head and she knew it. She didn't relish the idea of these guys clumsily pawing around at her pussy, but she didn't want them to stop the massage either. She wasn't sure what the end game was going to be because she couldn't think much past the pleasure she was feeling or the excitement she felt about two men treating her to a great rubdown. Still, she felt like she might be losing control of the situation. Their hands were starting to get more bold and fingers were brushing against her clit and rubbing down the slit of her pussy lips, which wasn't unpleasant, but she was sure she didn't want their fingers fighting over getting inside her.
She lifted her legs off their shoulders, which caused her to slump down more and caused the towel to ride up and get a little tangled. She continued her slide until she moved onto the floor. As she came off the edge of the couch, the towel undid itself and stayed behind, freeing her luscious, soft, full tits, bouncing free and revealing her completely. She moved so that she could lay on her back in front of the surprised men. The sneaky part was that even though the change in position resulted in her being totally naked, it also allowed her to put her legs back together. She laid down with her arms out to the sides and said "I think my boobs are pretty dry too," and then closed her eyes. 'That should give me some breathing room,' she thought.
She heard the lotion being dispensed and then there were creamy, slick hands rubbing both her pillowy tits gently but firmly. To their credit, the boys didn't just focus on her boobs, but spread lotion on her shoulders and down her arms. Sage even spent some time rubbing her hand and massaging her fingers. She thought that was really nice and attentive, but when he released her cream covered hand, it fell into his lap on top of his boner, which was covered only by the thin layer of his bathing suit. He continued as if she weren't touching his dick and rubbed up her arm, over her shoulder and down to her tit again. She didn't move her hand in any way. She could feel his hard cock, and felt she had to make a decision. She periodically opened her eyes to check out the guys as they rubbed her. Neither one was looking at the TV any more even though the sound was still loud enough to hear over the sounds of their own pleasures. Her two attendants stared only at her now.
This attention was awesome. She didn't remember feeling so good in a long, long time. But she didn't know how far she should go with this. "I'm an idiot," she thought. "Where did I think this was going? These two guys are going to keep going until they get to shoot their loads, end of story." She knew she had to either shut it down right now, or just let them keep going to the inevitable end, which would be her with either a bunch of cum inside her or on her. The repercussions of all of this, how it would be in the morning (or more precisely about 15 seconds after her boyfriend had an orgasm and started thinking with his big head) were not foremost on her mind as she lay there with two men eagerly and efficiently helping her fight the dry skin that can come from spending time in a chlorinated hot tub.
Sun kissed her passionately on the mouth. She always liked kissing him and it melted her inhibitions even more. Her decision making process started to change. Now she was thinking that if she started playing with Sage's cock-for which she was becoming eager- Sun might get jealous because she chose his friend first. But if she turned to play with Sun's cock, that would present her backside to Sage and for sure he would start to fuck her, which, at this point, she pretty much knew was going to happen, but she was still operating on the premise that she could control all this.
"Um, maybe you guys have some dry skin too," she said teasingly. The boys stopped, looked at each other, then jumped up and whisked off their bathing suits in a flurry. Their stiff cocks stood out straight once they were released from the bindings of their trunks. She thought about throwing the lotion bottle to Sun and saying "knock yourselves out," but refrained. Once again, she had maybe a little breathing room to think about her choices. As the men went back to work rubbing her whole body from head to toe, paying special attention to her funzones, she put some lotion in one hand, rubbed it into the other hand and took a cock in each hand to stroke them back and forth. She marveled at how hard they were and how good it felt to be rubbing lotion over the firm contours of two dicks. Fingers were, indeed, finding their way into her pussy now, and it wasn't as bad as she thought. They were gentle and sensitive but persistent, and she had been unconsciously spreading her legs. Soon they each had a finger inside her as she writhed on the floor.
The men were still rubbing her attentively, but she could tell that if she kept up her creamy hand jobs, she would end up with cum all over her, and she'd probably have two passed out men next to her, and she could give up hope of anything close to an orgasm unless she took care of it herself. So she made a decision and sat up, surprising the men a little. She turned towards Sage and pushed him gently down so that he could lay on his back. She rolled over and knee-walked up between his legs, then bent over, letting her hands glide up his muscular thighs as she moved into position to wrap his cock with her ample, soft tits. His cock was hard and slick from the greasy hand job she had been giving him, and her tits were plenty creamy from the attention the boys had already given her. She slid up and down over his pelvis trapping his cock between her tits and his belly.
Things started moving really fast after that. Sage was bucking up into her tits. She watched the spongy tip of his cock pop out and then back into the valley of her cleavage. And Sun moved into position behind her to slide his steel-hard dick into her creamy, smooth, hot pussy. He slid the head of his dick up and down her ass crack and between her pussy lips to get her ready. When he finally directed the head of his dick into her pussy, she was moving her boobs backwards on Sage's cock and ended up pushing her pussy over Sun's member until it was plunged all the way inside her. She let out a little gasp, and then a grunt as Sun pulled out and then rammed back into her.
"Oh I made a good choice," she thought as she was being rocked from behind by Sun. She thought for sure, based on the pace that Sage was bucking into her tits, that he was going to come any minute and paint her chest with his white goo, but he just kept going and going. Sun was grunting and pumping into her furiously, and she could feel the tingling of her own orgasm building with each pump of his hard dick inside her.
After several short minutes of being pounded by Sun, he yelled "OH MY FUCKING GOD!" as he rammed into her hard enough to make her struggle to keep from falling off his dick. He firmly held her hips to keep her in that position as he came, pumping sperm into her like a fire hose. She could actually feel the cum shooting out of his cock inside her. She knew his mode of operation and knew that if it was just the two of them, her chances of getting release were now down to zero. And she had gone through a lot so far to just go to bed frustrated, so, thinking quickly, and faced with an option she had never had before, she lurched forward off of Sun's softening cock and moved to straddle Sage's still hard and useful tool. With a foot on either side of Sage's hips, she impaled herself on him and went to work pumping her cum dripping pussy up and down on him. She was so close that she could almost be there. She began playing with her clit as she rode him desperately, only slightly amazed that he hadn't shot his load yet.
Finally, the waves of an orgasm crashed over her and she sat down hard on Sage while she quivered and her pussy pulsed on the still hard cock inside her. "Holy crap," she stuttered. Her orgasm began to subside and she could think again. She wanted to climb off Sage and get his dick out of her, but before she could move, he sat up and pushed her down on her back. As she fell back, she looked up to see Sun still there. He hadn't rolled over and gone to sleep yet. In fact, he was stroking his semi-hard cock while he watched.
Sage climbed on top of her between her legs and, without using his hands, pushed his cock back into her messy pussy. He put first one of her legs, then the other over his shoulders to open her up more to him. She didn't fight or resist at all. She had hers and was sure that Sage would be done very soon. He pounded into her for a minute or so and then stopped and pulled out his cock. With one hand he moved the head of his still rock hard dick until it was pressing firmly against her asshole.
Yang had felt a finger or two in her ass at times and found it pleasurable, but she had only tried anal sex once and it was a disaster. The guy had been pretty big and went right for her ass after some really cursory foreplay. It hurt bad and she swore that was it. By the time she thought to protest and started to tense up, the head of his cock was in her ass and moving slowly further. She was amazed that it didn't hurt like before. It was slipping in quite easily due to Sage's well lubed cock. She was taking all this in and analyzing it and was surprised that Sage had easily snuck almost all of his cock into her asshole, and he started pumping in and out slowly. To her surprise, she wasn't hating it. In fact, she was liking it and started pumping back into him. She was grunting with the effort and force of him fucking her like this, but she liked it. When she looked up, Sun was still there, and his cock had come back to be almost as hard as it was a few minutes ago.
Yang was amazed that she liked this so much. She felt like maybe she had been missing out for all those years since that first bad experience. Sage was really working up to a fast pace, sliding his dick into her from tip to balls without reprieve. Suddenly, she pushed him back by pushing her legs towards him and pushing on his chest with her hands.
"Oh! I'm so sorry. I'm sorry. Was I hurting you? I didn't want to hurt you. It felt so good. I'm so sorry," Sage stammered. He had sat up on his knees with his dick pointing out in front of him, and Yang was sitting up towards him now that he was out of her ass and not on top of her. She pushed him down onto his back, turned around to face Sun and straddled Sage again. This time, she lowered herself down until her asshole swallowed his dick all the way down. Then she rolled back putting her hands behind her for support and putting her feet on Sage's thighs. She looked up at Sun with a smile on her face. She knew he could see his friend's dick going up into her ass. Her legs were spread wide, and he was staring right at it. He couldn't miss it.
"Stop playing with yourself and get busy," she said playfully. Honestly, she thought he might go down on her while she fucked Sage with her asshole. That was stupid thinking. Instead, Sun moved in and pushed his hard-again tool into her pussy, filling her like she had never been filled before and making her gasp in surprise. He immediately started pumping into her and Sage pushed into her ass from underneath her. She just sat there on top of him trying to keep both dicks inside her.
The room filled with grunts and moans and the smell of sweaty bodies mixed with the come and sex juices and vanilla of the lotion. It was a powerful scene and Yang was in the middle of it, surprisingly very happy to be there. She could feel another orgasm pulsing through her pussy around Sun's cock. He thrust hard into her and started shooting another load on top of his first one. Sage said "I'm fucking cumming," between clenched teeth and she could feel his cock start to throb in her ass.
It seemed like the three of them came for hours like that, but after only a minute or two, Sun fell off to one side of her. Yang climbed off Sage's slightly softer cock and rolled in between the two men, draping an arm and a leg over Sun. Sage gently put his hand on her hip and patted her. Sun wrapped one arm around her and kissed the top of her head. The soundtrack of the porno on the TV was the only sound in the room besides their heavy breathing.
Sage got up and walked into the kitchen. A second later he returned with three cold beers, drinking one already. Yang could see his soft but still large cock swinging as he walked. Cum hung off of it in a gooey string still, but he didn't bother to do anything about it. Yang and Sun sat up and took the beers he offered, drinking eagerly. She polished off half of hers before lowering the can from her lips. Sage looked lustily at her naked body.
"You guys done?" He asked. In the pause before either Yang or Sun said anything, he went on "I mean we're here and I don't think anyone hated that, so..."
Yang thought for about another millisecond while she absently stared at Sage's cock. She figured she was the one in control here. Whatever direction she went, the guys would follow along without complaint or regrets (at least until they sobered up). She was completely satisfied already, but was also excited by the new ground they had just moved into, so while some slut on the TV cried out in fake moans of fake pleasure while two guys with abnormally large cocks rammed into her pussy and ass, Yang made the decision for their small group. She rose up, reached out and took Sage's cock in her hand. She rubbed the hanging stream of cum from the tip and wiped that hand on one of her tits and then pulled him down to the ground. He barely had his beer set on the floor before she was climbing on top of him and kissing him passionately, rubbing his glistening cock between their bodies, awakening it to a useful state again.
Sun drank from his beer for one last gulp and moved behind her so he could fondle and squeeze her slick tits and play with her clit as she writhed on top of his friend. She could feel his hard dick pressed against her back.
Yang didn't even realize she had gone to sleep until she woke up on the floor where she was when they had all finally collapsed. She didn't know how much time had passed. It was still dark out. The TV was off, and she was covered with one of the blankets they kept on the couch. Sage snored softly on the couch without a blanket. Her pussy was tender, and she felt sticky between her legs and ass crack, and she knew she had crusty cum on her tits and, her hair was a disaster, and her jaw was a little sore. The room smelled strongly of vanilla and sex.
Sun reappeared, walking into the living room with a glass of ice water. Suddenly, Yang was really thirsty and grateful that Sun brought some water. She heard sizzling in the kitchen and the fragrant smell of sausage wafted to her. The smell of the cooking sausage made her realize she was ravenously hungry.
He handed her the water. While she was gulping it down, he cupped one of her tits in his hand and said, "Your skin is really, really soft."
She said "I know. Thanks," and lifted the blanket for him to climb in with her. |
What is to be done? That question is being asked with increasing urgency about the British political system. Can we go on any longer with our dysfunctional, discredited, dishonourable arrangements? Or, to put the challenge in more practical terms, how can we use the next few months to bring about such a profound change at the forthcoming general election that there can be a fresh start? The scandalous exploitation by Members of Parliament of the expenses system, while it is far from the most serious deficiency of our system of government, has had the perverse benefit of making people very angry.
For fierce disgust is a necessary condition for carrying through substantial improvements in the way we are governed. The last time this happened was in the winter of 1978-79, when public sector workers went out on strike for weeks. Uncollected mountains of rubbish were piled high in the cities, army vehicles replaced ambulances and bodies remained unburied. At the subsequent general election, the untried Margaret Thatcher, proposing real change, swept Labour out of power for 18 years. Substitute MPs' expenses for the "winter of discontent" and you see that today's political conditions closely resemble those of 30 years ago.
However, to understand how far the rot in government has spread, note what Lord Malloch-Brown said last week when he resigned after a short spell as a Foreign Office minister. Gordon Brown's government was more "chaotic" than many administrations in the developing world, he said. Everything was cobbled together at the last minute and no one took the time to plan ahead.
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It was no better when Tony Blair was Prime Minister. In one of the entries in his diary, recounting his days working at 10 Downing Street, Lance Price comments: "Tony Blair's political note to everybody today (14 May 2000) was quite funny. They never seem to produce any real action because of [No 10's] ludicrous lack of an effective command structure and absence of discipline. He has obviously spotted this and says, 'I don't write them for fun'."
Or go back to John Major's government. Writing about the BSE crisis in cattle, Sir Richard Packer, who was a senior civil servant at the time, wrote: "Ministers collectively panicked. None of these established conventions were followed In the absence of standard procedures, disorder and confusion abounded." Indeed, our last three prime ministers, John Major, Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, have been masters of dysfunction.
The unnecessary deaths of our soldiers in Afghanistan because of shortcomings in their equipment flow directly from the pervasive chaos that penetrates much of government. Which brings up the first question for those of us who want a big change: would a government led by David Cameron be any better? I wouldn't bank on it for a variety of reasons. Like Tony Blair before him, Mr Cameron would enter Downing Street when his party had been in opposition for a lengthy period. He would be subject to the same strong temptation to put securing a second term as the overriding priority. If so, Mr Cameron might easily find himself driven to allowing presentation to dictate policy as Mr Blair was. We would again, for instance, have government by gesture.
As before, the announcement of new legislation would be chiefly designed to serve public relations purposes, with little consideration given to the detailed contents of the Bills placed before Parliament. The MP Chris Mullin wrote in his diary for May 2003: "Today we nodded through Blunkett's plan for ratcheting up life sentences and doubling (from seven to 14 days) the length of time that terrorist suspects can be held without trial. Both of these measures have only appeared in the last 10 days, so there has been no previous opportunity for discussion."
Mr Brown is an equally awful example. First, he thinks up the vote-winning headline he would like to see, then he conjures up a policy that would produce the desired result. After that, he watches with dismay as numerous objections to the desired policy are voiced and finally he makes a U-turn. Would Mr Cameron finally be so different once he got under way? Fears that Mr Cameron in office would be more or less the same as before, with a different voice, are causing many people to echo the title of Lenin's famous pamphlet and ask themselves: "What is to be done?" In a useful posting on the openDemocracy website, Anthony Barnett describes seven suggestions that are being actively discussed as ways of delivering change. I list them here.
1. Take a single issue like electoral reform and demand a referendum on it at the same time as the election, as the key issue that will open up change. This is the approach of "Vote for Change".
2. Generate basic pledges for change that are then taken to all candidates to create a reforming Parliament.
3. Meet, deliberate, hold a convention, decide, influence, elect and hold to account, starting with 1,000 meetings in pubs or living rooms around the UK, or as part of discussions in existing networks. This is the original "Real Change" proposal.
4. Get Parliament to pass an Act empowering a citizen's deliberative convention to decide on a set of major reforms. A Bill to do this has been written by "Unlock Democracy".
5. Launch a campaign to "Take back our Parliament". This would focus on how it represents us (proportionality, open primaries), its honesty (transparency), defending our liberties (independence) and its funding (no corruption).
6. Bring about a network of independent candidates committed to implementing a reform agenda.
7. Organise an online force for change on the lines of MoveOn in the US. This is the approach adopted by the campaign group 38 Degrees.
It would be interesting to know what readers think of this list. Faced with such a choice of dishes, I would prefer to take something from most of them. I would cheerfully join a campaign to take back our Parliament. It has been at the centre of the nation's life for 600 to 700 years and it is only through Parliament that legitimate change can be achieved, so that is where I would start. British government can be reformed only from the inside, not the outside.
To do this, I would take up the suggestion that a network of independent candidates committed to implementing a reform agenda should be created. Their aim would have to be the incredibly ambitious one of forming the next government. I hope that such a force, if it could be formed, would commit itself to cleaning up our system of government within the life of a single Parliament and then withdraw. It wouldn't be possible to keep the traditional parties at bay for much longer than that.
I would also borrow from MoveOn its mastery of the internet for political purposes. And to establish what such a reform programme should comprise, I would go with the "Real Change" proposal and have the 1,000 meetings around the country. In his pamphlet, Lenin called for the formation of a new party. That, too, is what a lot of people are thinking about, though in my mind it would be strictly temporary – its task would be to make our political system fit for the 21st century. Job done, its representatives would return to ordinary life.
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The moon's crust was apparently active far more recently than previously believed, scientists say.
These new findings raise questions about how the moon formed and evolved, researchers said.
Although the Earth's crust is still shifting, driven by the churning semimolten rock underneath it, researchers had thought the moon had cooled off much too long ago to still have any such tectonic activity. For instance, the youngest known tectonic features on the lunar landscape until now — small cliffs in the lunar highlands resulting from wrinkling of the surface as the moon's interior cooled and shrunk — are thought to be less than 1 billion years old, although by how much is uncertain.
Now, images collected by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter hints the moon has probably seen tectonic activity within the last 50 million years.
In these photos, researchers spotted a dozen or so narrow, trenchlike features known as graben in the lunar highlands and in the dark plains of volcanic rock known as the mare basalts. Graben are essentially troughs with two faults or cracks in the surface on either side of them. They are thought to have formed as the lunar crust was stretched. [10 Coolest Moon Discoveries]
"Overall on the moon, you have this contracting, shrinking environment, but in some places, apparently there's this stretching extension of the crust," said study lead author Thomas Watters, a planetary scientist at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
The graben the scientists detected, which reach up to about 1,640 feet (500 meters) wide and 1.1 miles (1.8 kilometers) long, appear relatively pristine. This suggests they formed recently — otherwise, they would be marred more often by craters from meteor impacts over time.
"We think they're less than 50 million years old, but they could be 10 million years old, could be 1 million years old, could have happened 40 years ago," Watters told SPACE.com. "The intriguing picture that's emerging of the moon is that there is recent geological activity going on."
Moonquakes detected by seismic sensors installed during the Apollo missions support the notion of recent activity on the moon, researchers added. All in all, the moon's interior may still be hot.
"The moon may not only have been tectonically active recently, but may still be tectonically active today," Watters said.
Models of how the moon cooled over time suggest it was totally molten after its formation, and that it should now be contracting as it cools, forcing the surface to wrinkle. However, if this was true, such compression would have suppressed the creation of graben — these ditches typically form when the crust stretches, not crinkles.
Instead, these findings suggest the moon was not completely molten after it was formed. If this were the case, the moon would not contract strongly enough to suppress the emergence of graben.
"Currently, a popular idea for how the moon formed is that it was completely molten in the beginning— after a Mars-size object hit Earth very early in its history, the debris cloud from the surviving material formed the moon," Watters said. "This may lend support to alternative scenarios that the moon was not completely molten when it formed, that only part of it was, forming a magma ocean."
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Future research can look for more graben in Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photos once the satellite finishes imaging the moon, Watters said. He and his colleagues detailed their findings online Feb. 19 in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter@Spacedotcom and on Facebook. |
Image caption Archaeologists from Somerset County Council excavated the jar and coins
One of the largest ever finds of Roman coins in Britain has been made by a man using a metal detector.
The hoard of more than 52,000 coins dating from the 3rd Century AD was found buried in a field near Frome in Somerset.
The coins were found in a huge jar just over a foot (30cm) below the surface by Dave Crisp, from Devizes in Wiltshire.
"I have made many finds over the years, but this is my first major coin hoard," he said.
After his metal detector gave a "funny signal", Mr Crisp says he dug down 14in before he found what had caused it.
"I put my hand in, pulled out a bit of clay and there was a little Radial, a little bronze Roman coin. Very, very small, about the size of my fingernail."
Mr Crisp reported the find to the authorities, allowing archaeologists to excavate the site.
Offering to gods
Since the discovery in late April, experts from the Portable Antiquities Scheme at the British Museum have been working through the find.
The coins were all contained in a single clay pot. Although it only measured 18in (45cm) across, the coins were packed inside and would have weighed an estimated 160kg (350lb).
"I don't believe myself that this is a hoard of coins intended for recovery," says Sam Moorhead from the Portable Antiquities Scheme.
"I think what you could see is a community of people who are actually making offerings and they are each pouring in their own contribution to a communal ritual votive offering to the gods."
It is estimated the coins were worth about four years' pay for a legionary soldier.
"Because Mr Crisp resisted the temptation to dig up the coins, it has allowed archaeologists from Somerset County Council to carefully excavate the pot and its contents," said Anna Booth, local finds liaison officer.
Somerset County Council Heritage Service now hope the coroner will declare the find as treasure. That would allow the Museum of Somerset to acquire the coins at market value with the reward shared by Mr Crisp and the land owner.
The story of the excavation will be told in a new BBC Two archaeology series, Digging for Britain, presented by Dr Alice Roberts and made by 360production, to be broadcast in August. |
My Secret Santa is pretty much amazing. The gift arrived about a month late but that was more than made up for. I received a Canon lens coffee mug...I LOVE COFFEE and I moderate r/ThisMug, which I'm sure is why all of the gifts were mugs. I also received a Pantone 376 mug. This one struck me as the most unusual, I can't imagine the amount of Googleing or just plain luck that this was the color chosen. When I was in high school I opened a computer repair shop and this is the exact Pantone color of my logo. I later managed a printing company, Moxicopy.com, I used the same Pantone color when recreating that logo. When Santa packed every thing up, two mugs were broken so they threw in $50.00.... unbelievable! I would have been happy with 1 coffee mug, even if it was late. THANK YOU ELODIN! |
Underwater volcanoes erupt throughout the world, but in the southern Gulf of Mexico, they churn out something unusual: cold asphalt instead of hot lava. First discovered in 2003, these natural oil seeps at the bottom of the ocean provide a home and fuel for marine life.
The highly diverse ecosystems that spring up around asphalt volcanoes do something else: sequester carbon. Federal laws protect deep-sea ecosystems on the U.S. side of the Gulf of Mexico, but on the Mexico side, no such protections exist. Because these sites occupy an area that is open to energy exploration and development, a multinational team of researchers has suggested that it is time to consider the best model to conserve them.
Pavement Under the Sea
Natural asphalt is a sticky, viscous form of oil. When microorganisms degrade oil from reservoirs below the seabed, they leave asphalt behind as a waste product.
A team of German, U.S., and Mexican researchers discovered asphalt volcanoes at the Campeche Knolls in the southern Gulf of Mexico during an expedition in 2003. The researchers named the original site, covering more than a square kilometer in area, Chapopote, the Aztec word for tar.
They found that as the asphalt seeped out of the seabed, it hardened and solidified in the cold water. Few processes add hard surfaces to the deep ocean, according to Ian MacDonald, a biological oceanographer at Florida State University in Gainesville and one of the researchers who discovered Chapopote.
Most organisms that survive in the depths do so by burrowing under layers of the ocean bottom’s sediments, MacDonald said, but asphalts provide a hard surface on which species such as ice worms and some types of mussels can grow. In addition, the seeps provide the starting materials for chemosynthesis—the process by which organisms use energy from inorganic chemical reactions to make their food.
The German government funded return trips in 2006 and again in 2015 to further explore the asphalts and characterize the diverse fauna that inhabit them. MacDonald presented the results of the 2015 expedition at the 2016 Ocean Sciences Meeting in New Orleans.
Slow Ooze, Harboring Hydrates
When the team first discovered the asphalt volcanoes, they found that the asphalt looked strikingly similar to lava flows on land—asphalt flows change size, they get wrinkly, they fold over each other, MacDonald said. They speculated that the asphalt was released quickly in bursts, but when they returned in 2015, a closer look at the asphalt eliminated that possibility.
By creating a photo mosaic of the main asphalt flow and examining its shape and how the asphalt had weathered over time, they realized that the asphalt oozed slowly out of the seabed, rather than erupting in a quick spurt.
“The asphalts come out very slowly—tectonically slowly,” MacDonald said.
Unexpectedly, the research team found large mounds of gas hydrates—clusters of ice with methane trapped inside—on or near the volcanoes. They also found massive aggregations of chemosynthetic tube worms tens of meters long colonizing the hydrate mounds. Some of the tube worms may be hundreds of years old, they noted.
Gas hydrates would normally dissolve quickly in seawater because the concentration of methane in the sea is so low, but the researchers suspect the tube worms help to stabilize the hydrate mounds.
“The tube worms are creating a blanket that essentially sequesters the gas hydrate and stops it from dissolving into the seawater,” MacDonald explained.
Interocean Connectivity
Chemosynthetic communities proliferate around hydrocarbon seeps in many areas along the equator, from the Gulf of Mexico to West Africa’s Atlantic coast and even in the eastern Pacific. Before the Isthmus of Panama closed off the Atlantic from the Pacific, these waters were joined.
“We think that, at some point, all of these communities were connected, and we still see a genetic relationship in some of the crustaceans between these sites.” “We think that, at some point, all of these communities were connected, and we still see a genetic relationship in some of the crustaceans between these sites,” said Elva Escobar, an aquatic ecologist at the National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City and a member of the research team. The group is now studying how the organisms’ larval stages go from one place to the other and is gathering Pacific specimens to compare with those from the other side of the isthmus.
The asphalt ecosystem is an incredibly diverse community that is still understudied, according to Escobar. “We know very little about how these communities grow, how they are structured, how they change in time, and how they interact with the gas hydrates,” she said.
Chapopote could provide a model for studying and conserving other chemosynthetic communities in the deep sea, she said. It “provides a natural laboratory that allows us to see the diversity of the processes occurring below the asphalt, within the asphalt, and at the asphalt-water interface,” she added.
Hazards for Oil and Gas Extraction
Mexico recently announced the first energy production lease sales in their ultradeep offshore waters, but the extensive asphalt pavements and gas hydrate mounds at those depths pose hazards for drilling operations, according to the researchers.
If oil and gas companies encounter asphalts while drilling, it’s important to know whether the asphalt they hit is above or below the seafloor, MacDonald noted.
“That will tell you whether the asphalt that you’re seeing is likely to be expansive and extensive, so you hit it in many places with your drill bit, or it’s still in the subbottom, where it might be a potential resource,” he said.
Conservation Prospects
Escobar, who serves on the Legal and Technical Commission of the International Seabed Authority, said that to conserve both the seeps and the species they host, researchers need to better understand how far the asphalts extend and how they change in space and time.
The Mexican government is increasing the extent of marine protected areas off its coasts, Escobar said, and should also ensure that these unique ecosystems are included within those zones. According to MacDonald, informing both the Mexican public and the international community about the importance of these ecosystems might help protect them.
“I think the international public should be engaged to recognize yet again an example of the diversity, beauty, and complexity of deep sea environments,” he said.
—Lauren Lipuma, Contributing Writer
Citation: Lipuma, L. (2016), Asphalt volcanoes erupt in slow motion, Eos, 97, doi:10.1029/2016EO048095. Published on 15 March 2016. |
Gauri Lankesh
The RSS has demanded that the govt track down the perpetrators and ensure justice.
The cold-blooded murder of veteran journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru on Tuesday has shocked and angered the country. An outspoken critic of right-wing politics, the senior editor was killed right as she was entering her residence on Tuesday night, by three assailants who fired several bullets at her at point blank range.
The killing has been condemned by people from across the board, including by Karnataka leaders of the BJP and the RSS, who also hit out at the Siddaramaiah-led government.
Union Minister for Statistics and Programme Implementation and senior Karnataka leader Sadananda Gowda called for an impartial probe in the case.
I strongly condemn the murder of Journalist Gauri Lankesh. Let Police conduct impartial enquiry on the murder. — Sadananda Gowda (@DVSBJP) September 5, 2017
His Cabinet colleague, Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, meanwhile condemned attacks on journalists.
Terrible news from Bengaluru about the heinous murder of Gauri Lankesh. I condemn all acts of violence against journalists. — Rajyavardhan Rathore (@Ra_THORe) September 5, 2017
The party’s state President Yeddyurappa, though, condemned the law and order situation in Karnataka, taking the opportunity to attack the Congress government in the state.
Shocked to hear the murder of #GowriLankesh strongly condemn this inhuman barbaric murder. Law &Order in the state has compleately collapsed — B.S. Yeddyurappa (@BSYBJP) September 5, 2017
On Tuesday night, the RSS Karnataka unit released a statement condemning Gauri’s killing. “RSS strongly condemns the killing of senior editor, writer and columnist Gauri Lankesh. We pray that God grants her family the strength to withstand the loss. We demand that the government rapidly tracks down the perpetrators and ensures justice,” the statement read. |
The MMA world is one where Lord Chaos reigns supreme and Saturday afternoon before UFC 213 saw the mystical one's hand at work.The sport's passionate fan base was shaken up to learn of UFC women's bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes being forced out of her championship tilt with Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 213 due to illness.FloCombat confirmed the initial reports, then received word from sources close to the situation that Nunes experienced difficulty regaining weight after a difficult cut down to the bantamweight limit.Yet, while the jeers and disappointment hit social media platforms, there came a stir from the back, as UFC President Dana White announced women's strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk had offered to step up and take the fight in Nunes' absence."Joanna Champion" later doubled down on the notion with a social media post of her own, which served to spawn a heroic narrative of how the scrappy Polish champion was doing her damndest to step up and save the day.[instagram url="https://www.instagram.com/p/BWTEG3AF8rM/?taken-by=joannajedrzejczyk&hl=en" hide_caption="0"][tweet url="https://twitter.com/Patrick_Wyman/status/883778114467135488" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"][tweet url="https://twitter.com/BitaNick/status/883770386198007808" hide_media="0" hide_thread="1"]The notion was awesome and easy to buy into. A dominant champion only in Las Vegas to do promotional work decides to strap on the gloves and fight up two weight classes against a woman who already owns three victories over her outside the UFC.That's storybook sports fantasy shit right there folks. In fact...that's all it is--fantasy.The tweets by White and Jedrzejczyk Saturday afternoon with the clock ticking down gave us a glimpse of the promotional game operating at its slickest. There were myriadreasons why the Nevada State Athletic Commission would never allow the strawweight champion to step in on less than 24 hours notice, but those were details that didn't seem to stick with most fight fans.Furthermore, FloCombat confirmed with NSAC Chief Bob Bennett the UFC never even attempted to get a bout between Jedrzejczyk and Shevchenko pushed through. They knew plenty well this wouldn't happen, but throwing out the social media bits they did served a greater purpose in the larger game.In the entire lemons-to-lemonade scenario, pushing the Jedrzejczyk-stepping-up narrative only served to further the gangster reputation the Polish fighter has earned with fists, blood, elbows, knees and sweat.Furthermore, there's no doubt in this writer's mind Jedrzejczyk could have very well been serious about agreeing to fight Shevchenko, but there was no way that bout was taking place on Saturday night in Las Vegas, and it's hard to imagine the women's 115-pound champion wasn't aware of that fact.But she played the game, and why not? There is no downside to this for "Joanna Violence" and the move could very well set up a pivotal showdown down the road if she makes the jump to the 125-pound weight class the UFC has been rumored to open in the coming year.Pushing the "save the day" narrative only helps to further her mystique, and that should absolutely be applauded.And for fans who jumped on the excitement of the moment they hoped would unfold...it's good on your part as well. Fight fans pay money, tune in, operate on Twitter to watch, love and stay connected to the fight game. No one can blame the eager masses for wanting some flatout badassery when a dumptruck of bad news was dropped moments before.It's the passion that makes fight fans special. And to that, I say never relent.That said, watching those who should damn well know better push a fake story is troublesome.MMAFighting.com's Marc Raimondi put out a tweet from NSAC killing that idea, just as our own Elias Cepeda got quotes from Mr. Bennett echoing the same notion, but new headlines kicked up, and more tweets fired out crediting Joanna Jedrzejczyk for attempting to save the day.And for this I'll once again quote NSAC's Bob Bennett, "The UFC did not request a replacement for Nunes."There you go. That's a look behind the Wizard's curtain. The great game continues.Play on. |
Clinton Calls for Ban on Bullets That Pierce Body Armor : Gun control: The President, speaking in Chicago, cites those who have managed to circumvent laws barring 'cop killer' ammunition.
The President's campaign-like appearance came at a time when he is talking about anti-crime issues to strengthen his hold on the political middle and to preempt the attempts of his GOP presidential rivals. This month, in a striking break with tradition, the White House is spending $2.4 million to televise two campaign-style advertisements that emphasize Clinton's anti-crime credentials to audiences in California and other key electoral states.
But "if a bullet can rip through a bulletproof vest like a knife through hot butter, then it ought to be history," Clinton said. "We should ban it."
Standing on ground recently stained with the blood of fallen police officers, Clinton told an audience in the Austin neighborhood that "clever people" have figured out ways to make powerful ammunition that circumvents current laws to ban "cop killer" handgun ammunition.
CHICAGO — Seeking to enhance his claim to law-and-order issues, President Clinton traveled Friday to gang-scarred west Chicago to demand a ban on any handgun ammunition able to pierce bulletproof vests or other body armor.
Clinton appeared behind a brown-brick police precinct headquarters, only steps from the spot where a rookie policeman was killed March 5 in a gun battle with a teen-age gang.
Officer Daniel Doffyn, wearing a bulletproof vest and trying to apprehend one gang member, was hit repeatedly in the neck by bullets from another teen-ager's TEC-9 assault weapon. Another officer was badly wounded in the same shootout.
No manufacturer is now producing the kind of handgun ammunition that the law is designed to prohibit, officials acknowledged. But they asserted that history suggests there is every reason to believe manufacturers eventually will make such ammunition unless Congress acts to prevent it.
Current laws on "cop killer" bullets outlaw ammunition made of certain materials or having other specifications. But federal officials said that such "specification standards" are not sufficient, now that manufacturers are finding ways to make ammunition from other, more commonly found materials. As a result, they said, new standards, based on bullet performance, are needed.
"We're trying to think ahead," said Ronald K. Noble, Treasury undersecretary for enforcement, noting that manufacturers already have tried to find loopholes in the law banning "cop killer" ammunition by varying the design of their products.
Legislation drafted by the Clinton Administration calls on the Treasury secretary to try to develop performance standards that would ban any ammunition capable of piercing body armor.
Gun-control opponents are likely to fight the effort. They have argued that it will not be possible to develop standards that are uniform and clear.
A National Rifle Assn. spokesman said that there is no need to supplement the ban on "cop killer" bullets that has been in effect since 1986. Tom Wyld said that the ban "works flawlessly" and noted that FBI reports indicate no police officer has been killed since 1986 with a bullet capable of piercing protective armor.
Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) sought in June to amend the then-pending anti-terrorism legislation to extend the ban on armor-piercing ammunition to cover any product that could pierce body armor. His amendment initially passed a House Judiciary subcommittee on a 16-14 vote but stalled when two GOP members switched their position.
*
Clinton also faces challenges from congressional Republicans to the 1994 ban on certain assault weapons that he backed and to his plans to have the federal government help fund the hiring of 100,000 additional police officers across the nation. |
Two further points to make.
By Tim Colwill on September 9, 2014 at 1:17 pm
I posted this article following two weeks in which high-profile female developers and critics were subjected to violent threats from an angry minority of gamers. These types of threats are not welcome on games.on.net, and while passionately argued, the position outlined in the article was a straightforward extension of our acceptable use policy.
I’d like to thank those of you who have expressed their support for the article and for my stand. Today, however, there are two points I would like to address.
Firstly, I made the decision to disable comments on the article in question. This is not in keeping with the policies of iiNet, or of games.on.net, and indeed it was the first time in five years of writing for the site that I have disabled comments on an article.
In my judgement as editor, I believed that the comments would quickly devolve into argument. Seeing such arguments on our site does nothing but hurt our image and turn away visitors. I was anxious to avoid this, and I was also anxious to avoid accusations of posting “flamebait”, of simply posting a controversial article simply to benefit from the traffic that comes from visitors having an intense argument.
Nevertheless, I recognise that public debate and engagement is welcomed by both iiNet and games.on.net, and I apologise for closing comments on this article. We will be reviewing our commenting policy in the coming days and weeks to ensure that we can maintain the levels of debate and engagement you expect, while working hard to stand up for the equality and decency we believe is so important in gaming.
Secondly, my conduct on my Twitter account has always been passionate and personal, and uses a level of language that breaches iiNet social media policy, and has no place in a professional environment. I apologise for my conduct on Twitter, and to any readers of games.on.net or iiNet Group customers who have taken offence at that conduct.
In the interest of transparency and accountability, I will be posting our complete editorial policy in the coming days.
Thanks again to all of our readers and customers for your overwhelming support.
Tim Colwill
Editor-in-Chief
games.on.net |
Mauricio Pellegrino has been overseeing Saints' penultimate training session today as preparation steps up for the Brighton clash, before speaking about the availability of his squad this afternoon.
The manager confirmed that summer signing Mario Lemina has been ruled out of the weekend's Premier League action, following an ankle injury sustained in training, with no time frame put on his return.
The rest of the squad has been given a clean bill of health, while Pellegrino is also considering the inclusion of young forward Sofiane Boufal after his match-winning contribution against West Brom.
"Mario Lemina is injured this week," the boss began. "He is the only player we'll lose this week."
"Sofiane is one possibility from the start, in the last two or three games he is playing well, even from the bench.
"I am happy with that, I want to improve the competition in the squad. Sofiane is a young lad and this action can give him more confidence to be better." |
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Oil prices plummeted Friday, erasing the previous session's spike, as the dollar strengthened and investors worried that a decline in demand will spread outside the United States.
U.S. crude for October delivery dropped $6.59 to settle at $114.59 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
The drop in oil was the largest single-day slide in dollar terms since Jan. 17, 1991, when oil fell by $10.56. On that day, President George H.W. Bush withdrew oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve ahead of the first Gulf War.
But in 1991, oil was trading at just $32 a barrel, so the more than $10 slide in dollar terms represented a record 33% drop. Oil fell 5.4% Tuesday, which does not even crack the top 50 price declines in percentage terms.
Oil's second-largest slide on Friday comes a day after the second-largest gain on record. Crude futures soared $5.62 a barrel Thursday to rise above $121 a barrel.
"We're trending towards a lot of oil price volatility on the direction of the dollar," said Peter Beutel, an oil analyst with Cameron Hanover. "There are huge amounts of money involved, and the large moves have been based primarily on dollar strength."
Dollar rebounds: The dollar rose after a key measurement showed British economic growth stalled in the second quarter.
The U.K.'s gross domestic product between April and June showed zero growth, the country's statistics office reported Friday.
The economic weakness in Britain signaled that falling demand for oil due to high fuel prices could spread to Europe, according to Kyle Cooper, director of research with IAF Advisors in Houston.
"Fewer trucks delivering packages, fewer people going to work ... There's a very strong correlation between GDP growth and oil usage," said Cooper.
The U.K. report follows other reports this week showing weakness in the euro zone and Japanese economies, putting U.S. investment - and the dollar - in a more favorable light.
A stronger dollar makes crude more expensive for foreign investors, because crude futures are traded in U.S. currency. Rising dollar values also pull investor money out of oil, since many use crude and other commodities as a hedge against inflation.
Georgia-Russia: Oil rose Thursday on tensions between NATO and Russia over the nation's occupation of Georgia. Georgia contains several vital pipeline links that carry crude oil and natural gas between Europe and Asia.
But those tensions appeared to ease Friday.
"There was the potential for some type of action across the Georgian border and we just haven't seen anything," said Neal Dingmann, senior energy analyst with Dahlman Rose & Co.
Also easing supply worries, a BP-led consortium prepared to resume oil flow through the region's Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, a major oil link between Turkey and the Caspian Sea.
"We're still integrity testing," said BP spokesman Toby Odone, "We expect it will be back in normal operation next week."
U.S. gasoline demand: Falling demand for petroleum-based fuels in the United States has been the main force behind oil's fall from a record high of $147.27 in mid-July.
Demand for gasoline last week was about 9.5 million barrels a day, or 1.6% lower than it was last year, according to an Energy Department inventory report released Wednesday.
Drivers were also spending less time on the road in June, according to a second report from the Transportation Department last week.
Drivers will even cut back over the Labor Day weekend, according to a projection from motorist group AAA. The number of travelers avoiding cars and air travel, and using buses, trains, or other transportation will increase by 12.5% this year, AAA said.
National gasoline prices are down more than 42 cents a gallon from the record high set last month, according to the AAA's daily survey of service stations, falling below $3.70 a gallon. |
Bryan Bravo, 19, is shown on a stretcher after he broke into a Santa Ana home on Friday, Sept. 4, 2015.
Two home invasion suspects chose the wrong house to target. The homeowner, who is trained in martial arts, turned the tables on the criminals, even shooting one of them.The incident took place at Erickson Dumaual's home in the 2500 block of West Manly Avenue around 4 a.m. Friday.Dumaual said two burglars came into his bedroom through an open sliding door, pointed a gun at his head and demanded money."Fifty-fifty, it was a struggle. I didn't know whether I was going to die," Dumaual said.Wanting to protect his sister and his 14-year-old nephew in the house, Dumaual took action."I saw the gunman turn his head, I attacked. I went for the gun. I have training in Krav Maga, so it didn't scare me at all," Dumaual said.Dumaual pushed the gunman against a window, shattered the glass, and then took the fight outside.After fending off both men, he took the gun. One suspect ran, but the one who lost the gun wanted to keep fighting."He never fired a shot on me, but I took that gun and he was going for that gun again, so I had to defend myself," Dumaual said.He shot the suspect in the leg, when the man tried to run. Dumaual pushed him into the pool and told him to stay put. When the suspect jumped out of the pool, Dumaual shot him again."He wanted to run," Dumaual said. He said the suspect kept saying, "I'm sorry," and tried to flee."No, you're staying right here buddy. So I tried to subdue him even more," he said.Officers arrived and took 19-year-old Bryan Bravo into custody. Dumaual's nephew took a photo of him on a stretcher.Police say the two suspects might have robbed someone earlier in the morning."The description matches. They were on a bike. Our victim was walking down the street, had a backpack, cellphone and money," Cpl. Anthony Bertagna said about that incident.As for Dumaual, he escaped with a few scratches and a cut on his foot from stepping on glass. He said these men picked the wrong house."He deserved it. He deserved every bit of it. I'd do it again if it happened again," he said.Police said Bravo is a known gang member with a long criminal history. He is expected to survive.If you have any information on the second suspect, you're urged to call Santa Ana police. |
The Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ have the same setup process, which in itself isn't too far removed from what you'd encounter on a brand new Galaxy S6. Things have changed slightly, however, and Samsung has even added a couple steps to an already quite long setup process. We're going to show you all of the high points of setting up a Note 5 or S6 edge, and make sure that you get your new phone started the right way.
Wifi connection and End User License Agreement
Things kick off pretty easily — select the language for your phone, and turn on accessibility features from the first screen if you need them. Then you'll choose a Wifi network and sign into that — even if you have an active SIM in your phone, we recommend getting Wifi connected for when the phone starts syncing data in the later stages of setup. And then it wouldn't be a phone setup without a licensing agreement. Samsung pops up a basic EULA about the terms of using its software. By default the phone has a box checked to send diagnostic data about the phone back to Samsung for analysis — you can uncheck this if you don't wish to send that data. Tap Next to move on to more interesting things.
'Tap & Go' and your Google Account
Now that you have Wifi connected, this is where you can start really making the phone your own. Google introduced a new feature in Android 5.0 Lollipop called "Tap & Go" that lets you simply place a new phone back-to-back with your old Android phone and transfer your account information to the new phone via NFC and Bluetooth. That feature is the next thing you'll be greeted with, and it's a great way to switch to your new phone if you are coming from another Android. This will copy over the Google Account credentials from the old phone to the new one so you don't have to enter them manually. Depending on the security level of your account you may need to enter a password, but it's far easier than doing everything manually. Plus, it just feels kind of futuristic. If you're not coming from another Android phone or don't have your old phone available anymore, simply touch Skip and move on to the standard Google Account setup. You'll enter your primary Google Account (as in the one you use for Google Play and Gmail) name and password, as well as a two-step authentication code if you've turned that on for your account. If you have more than one Google account, enter the primary one you use for your data here, and you can always add additional accounts (Google or otherwise) in the phone settings later.
Restore your apps and agree to Google's services
Once your Google Account is entered, we go to another screen that's new for Lollipop devices. Google now lets you choose to restore apps and data from a specific device you have had connected to your Google Account, rather than just the most recent one. Tap the drop-down for "Restore from this backup" and select the phone you want to restore from — it's generally still hit-or-miss on which parts of the system will be restored, but expect things like Wifi network settings, sync options and wallpapers to make the jump. You can also select to restore the apps (but not app data) from that backup — choose "Also include" to select which apps (or no apps at all) to restore from that phone. If you'd prefer to start fresh with your new device — which is often advisable to avoid issues — you can instead choose "Set up as new device" from the top drop-down menu and select "Next." After you choose your restore options, it will then encourage you to set up a screen lock on your phone. It's a good idea to have one and if you have the time, you should set it up. Otherwise, you can (and should) add one later in the phone settings. You'll then face a screen where you now have to confirm you're aware of another licensing agreement and Google's service policies. The boxes for backing up your information privately to Google's servers is checked automatically, as is the box to use Google's location services — both generally make your phone experience better, and you can choose at any time to turn either one off if you change your mind.
Samsung Account and sync
Now it's Samsung's turn to get in on the account game — the next steps involve getting signed in to (or signed up for) your Samsung Account. If you've ever had a Samsung phone or tablet before you likely have a Samsung Account, which is used for syncing data in apps like S Health, Milk Music and the Galaxy Apps store. If you have the account, sign in with your user name and password here. If you don't have an account, we recommend just signing up for one here so it's out of the way and already into the phone for the times when you use Samsung's apps. The nice thing is that Samsung now lets you associate your Samsung Account with a Google Account, so you can use one set of credentials for both — little reason not to do it. And look, more licensing agreements! After signing into your Samsung Account, you'll be faced with more terms, conditions, policies and agreements. You can read through the terms with each link and select them as you go, or just tap the "I agree to all" option and get on with setup. After doing that, you'll be prompted to choose to back up your data now a second time to Samsung's servers. Chances are you won't need this if you're going with Google's backup service, and you really should choose to just do one or the other — our recommendation is that Google's the better way to go here.
Set wake-up command and scan fingerprint
The final two steps aren't really necessary for the function of your phone, but if you have the time it's good to just do them while they're in front of you. S Voice on the Galaxy Note 5 and S6 edge+ has a wake-up command option that lets you get the phone's attention and give it commands without ever touching the phone, and on this screen you can set that up. You choose the phrase — or you can go with "Hi Galaxy" as it suggests — and repeat it multiple times so that the phone knows how you'll be addressing it. Next is fingerprint scanning, which the phone can use to lock your phone simply but securely, and also use for authenticating in apps that support the sensor. The process is pretty simple — just follow the on-screen prompts to put a finger on the home button multiple times at varying angles to get a full scan of the finger. You only get to register one finger at first, but you can always go into the security settings of the phone to add more fingerprints, which you'll definitely want to do.
Choose to enable Easy Mode and KNOX
The last step to finish your setup is choosing whether you want to enable Easy Mode, and if you want to learn more about the KNOX security platform. Chances are Easy Mode isn't right for you if you're reading Android Central, as it really simplifies the home screen and phone experience, but if you're helping a less-experienced user get started with their phone this may be a good choice. KNOX is on the opposite end of the spectrum, as it helps lock down your sensitive data tight and separate it out from the rest of the phone so it's under an extra layer of security. You can learn about KNOX and see if it's right for you — chances are unless you're being required by a company to use it, you may find it overkill.
A few odds and ends to remember
There you go, you're onto the home screen and ready to enjoy your phone! If you're coming to the Note 5 or S6 edge+ from another Android, you may also notice a few different apps missing here. Because of changes in Google's agreements with smartphone makers you won't find apps like Play Newsstand, Play Movies, Google Keep or Google+ pre-installed anymore. Those apps haven't gone anywhere, and are still freely available in the Play Store — just open up that app and download any Google apps you're used to having but weren't installed by default. The same goes for some of Samsung's apps, which may need to be installed or updated right out of the box when you get your phone. Assuming you signed into your Samsung Account during setup, open up the Galaxy Apps store and download (or update) what you need there. And that's it! You're now ready to roll with your new Galaxy Note 5 or Galaxy S6 edge+. |
Image copyright Reuters Image caption The attackers targeted a busy bus stop and a food kiosk in Eastleigh
Six people have been killed in explosions in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, officials say.
Several people were wounded in the attack, which took place in the Eastleigh suburb of the city.
More than 200 people were arrested in Eastleigh following the explosions, a police spokeswoman said.
Eastleigh is known as "Little Mogadishu" because of its large Somali population.
Although no group said it was behind the latest attack, many are blaming it on the Somali militant group al-Shabab.
Four members of the group were behind the four-day siege at a shopping centre in Nairobi last September, in which 67 people died.
'Grenades'
Eyewitnesses said devices appeared to have been thrown towards a bus stop and a food kiosk as people made their way home for the evening.
Kenya's Standard newspaper said that the twin blasts went off some 50m (165ft) apart on 11th Street, and some of those caught up in the attack had serious injuries.
Image copyright bbc
"We suspect it is a grenade," a local police officer told the AFP news agency.
Eastleigh has seen several recent grenade attacks, including one in December last year that killed four people.
The BBC's Caroline Karobia in the capital, Nairobi, says the 200 arrests do not come as a surprise - the police tend to carry out mass arrests after such attacks and charge people with petty offences like loitering, she says.
A week ago, more than 100 people were arrested following an attack on a church near the coastal city of Mombasa.
Unidentified gunmen entered the church, killing six people.
Kenya's government has ordered all Somali refugees living in towns to move into designated camps in a bid to end the attacks.
Interior Minister Joseph Ole Lenku said the directive had been issued because of the "emergency security challenges" facing Kenya. A refugee group condemned the decision as illegal.
Image copyright Reuters Image caption Nairobi has seen several attacks in recent months despite increased security efforts
Kenya has several thousand troops in Somalia, helping the UN-backed government tackle al-Shabab, who are linked to al-Qaeda.
President Uhuru Kenyatta has said Kenya's tourism sector is "on its knees" because of the threat from Islamist militants.
Mr Kenyatta met ethnic Somali leaders last week to ask for their help in identifying people they thought may be behind recent attacks in the capital.
"We all have a responsibility to bring this to an end," Mr Kenyatta said. |
Editor's Note: Xiaolin Zheng is one of National Geographic's 2014 Emerging Explorers, part of a program that honors tomorrow's visionaries—those making discoveries, making a difference, and inspiring people to care about the planet.
The catalyst for Xiaolin Zheng's groundbreaking work in solar energy began with an offhand comment her father made years ago at her parents' apartment, a 13-story complex in the northeast China city of Anshan.
“In China, the rooftops of many buildings are packed with solar energy devices,” says Zheng. “One day my father mentioned how great it would be if a building’s entire surface could be used for solar power, not just the roof, but also walls and windows.”
An invention from Zheng's research team at Stanford University might someday make that possible. They have created a type of solar cell that is thin, flexible, and adhesive—a solar sticker, in effect, that could help power everything from buildings to airplanes.
“By making solar cells extremely thin and flexible, they can be used in all kinds of new ways," says Zheng, an associate professor at Stanford and recipient of the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. "I hope our discovery will dramatically expand the affordable, practical, widespread application of solar power.”
In 2010, a decade after her father’s initial comment, Zheng read a research paper that triggered the idea again. It described an experiment in which the nanomaterial graphene was grown on a layer of nickel atop a silicon wafer. When submerged in water, the nickel separated from the surface, along with the graphene.
“It sounded unbelievable, like a magic trick,” she recalls, “But they had achieved very reliable results.” What if, she wondered, the same principle could be used to yield a thinner, more flexible solar cell that could peel off, attach to adhesive, and stick to virtually any surface?
Because conventional thin-film solar cells are manufactured on glass or silicon wafers, they are rigid, heavy, and quite limited in how and where they can be used. Plastic or paper would be far more flexible, but it cannot withstand the high temperatures and chemicals required for fabrication.
“Our new technique lets us treat the solar cells like a pizza,” explains Zheng. “When you bake pizza, you use a metal pan that can tolerate high temperatures. But when it’s time to distribute the pizza economically, it’s placed in a paper box."
Working with her students, Zheng set out to fabricate solar cells on a silicone or glass surface as usual, but she inserted a metallic layer between the cell and the surface. After some trial and error, the team was finally able to peel away the metallic layer from the surface after soaking the whole structure in water for just a few seconds.
The result was an active solar cell that is only a couple of microns thick—about one-tenth the thickness of plastic wrap, Zheng says. "It’s extremely flexible, so it can be attached to any surface—the back of a mobile phone, a skylight, a wall, a curved column.”
The skinny, bendable cells can produce the same amount of electricity as rigid ones, and they offer cost benefits as well, according to Zheng. “The silicon wafers come through the process clean and shiny,” she says. “So just like a pizza pan, they can be used again and again, which translates to savings.” And because the solar stickers are lighter than conventional panels, they will be easier and less expensive to install.
The stickers might be able to reduce manufacturing costs too, Zheng says. In traditional solar-cell production, the foundation materials account for 25 percent of the cost. The new method will enable that base layer to be removed or replaced with a cheaper material. For example, the windows of a building provide a ready-made base layer, so all that’s needed is the solar cell itself. A cell that could simply be peeled and applied enables that economical shortcut.
Zheng predicts peel-and-stick solar cells could one day paper the sides of buildings, cover sidewalks to light walkways, energize home security systems, and help power solar cars or planes. Along with industrial uses, she envisions being able to stop at your corner store to pick up a pack of solar cells the way you buy batteries today.
To help realize those large-scale applications, Zheng's team wants to test the technology with more efficient cells than the ones used for the initial breakthrough.
"Our cells will also need to be larger, expanding from their current one-square centimeter size to a square foot or even square meter," Zheng says. New equipment will be needed, too, for the peel-off process that the researchers conducted by hand in the lab.
Her research group is also looking into how solar energy could be used to split water atoms, producing hydrogen and providing a potentially cheaper, more efficient way to fuel everything from transportation to home heating.
“As scientists,” she says, “I feel it is profoundly important to use our work to improve the world. For the future of our environment, we need to advance renewable energy rather than heavily relying on fossil fuels to meet growing demand. Solar power has always been my favorite because sunshine is so clean, abundant, and has fewer limitations on where it can be used.”
Exactly how her solar-sticker idea will evolve from a nanoscience lab to the real world is not yet known. Now that the technology has been tested and proven, however, it's a testament to value in pursuing a seemingly outlandish notion.
“Everyone has crazy ideas about some discovery that could change the world,” Zheng says. "Those ‘what if’ questions are always in the back of your mind. You also always keep your eye on the latest emerging technologies. When those two worlds happen to connect, it’s great.” |
LONDON, Oct. 21 -- British atheists announced Tuesday a high-profile advertising campaign to put posters on London buses that say: "There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
By Tuesday night, as many as 3,400 donors had given about $80,000 on a Web site set up to take contributions to fund the ads. The money arrived along with messages that ranged from witty to nasty, summed up by one from a donor who gave 25 pounds ($42): "Hoorah for the non-believers!"
"We wanted it to be a positive message," said Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the British Humanist Association, which plans to advertise on buses starting in January. "It's about telling people that it's okay if you don't believe in God. If it raises a smile, too, good."
While the vast majority of Britons identify themselves as Christians, only a small percentage attend services regularly. Atheism is far more popular, and socially and politically accepted, in Britain than in the United States.
Many people who do not believe in God call themselves humanists or secularists. The British Parliament has an active and growing group of legislators who describe themselves as humanists.
One of the world's most outspoken and provocative advocates of atheism, Oxford University Prof. Richard Dawkins, best-selling author of "The God Delusion," is a member of the humanist association and pledged to personally match donations up to 5,500 pounds (about $9,300), Stinson said.
"This campaign to put alternative slogans on London buses will make people think -- and thinking is anathema to religion," Dawkins is quoted as saying on the Web site.
The Church of England issued a statement Tuesday defending the humanists' right to express their views but disagreeing with their message. "Christian belief is not about worrying or not enjoying life," it said. "Quite the opposite: our faith liberates us to put this life into a proper perspective. Seven in ten people in this country describe themselves as Christian and know the joy that faith can bring."
In an interview, Stinson said the initial goal was to raise 5,500 pounds, enough to put advertising on the sides of 30 of London's extra-long "bendy buses" for four weeks. But the Web site was swamped with donors.
One person pledged 10 pounds and left the comment, "Spread the word, and consign this superstitious nonsense to the dustbin of history! America, are you listening?"
Another donated 5 pounds and said, "Marvelous. Sorry it's just a fiver -- I'm between jobs at the moment."
Stinson said she was surprised by the outpouring: "It says something about the very loud voice that religion has in our society. People want something to balance that off." The campaign's unexpected success could mean it will be expanded to include posters inside buses or in the London subway.
A spokesman for Transport for London, which operates city buses, said buses have carried ads for religious groups, but never ads promoting atheism. He said the humanists had not yet formally submitted an ad request.
The ads are "not intended as an attack" on anyone's faith, Stinson said. In her view, they do not encourage people to become atheists, but rather are meant to offer support to "people who already do not believe in God."
The idea for an atheist ad campaign first surfaced in June, as a suggestion by television comedy writer and journalist Ariane Sherine in a column in the online version of the Guardian newspaper. Sherine noted that ads running on the London buses at the time directed people to a Web site that declared that those who do not believe in God will spend "all eternity in torment in hell."
The humanist association agreed to take on the project. The bus ads are designed to tell atheists that they will not burn forever in the "lake of fire" described on the religious Web site, Stinson said. "It's about reassurance." |
New Ebola Vaccine Has '100 Percent' Effectiveness In Early Results
Enlarge this image toggle caption Sean Hawkey/Sean Hawkey Sean Hawkey/Sean Hawkey
In a development that could change the way the deadly Ebola disease is fought, researchers have announced promising results of a new vaccine's trial in Guinea, one of several countries affected by a historic outbreak in West Africa.
"The estimated vaccine efficacy was 100 percent," a team of researchers say.
The trial was called Ebola ça Suffit — French for "Ebola that's enough." Funded by the World Health Organization and other groups, it started in April and ended on July 20, relying on participants who consented to be part of the trial. The more than 20 researchers who took part published their findings in The Lancet medical journal on Friday.
"The current data basically tells us that the vaccine works to protect people against Ebola," says Dr. Bertrand Draguez, medical director of Médecins Sans Frontières, which took part in the research along with WHO and authorities in Guinea.
Draguez and other experts are heartened by the new results — but they also warn that as testing expands, the effectiveness rate of the vaccine will likely fall below 100 percent. The trial used the "ring vaccination" method, in which all suspected contacts receive treatment. No placebos were administered.
"Even if the sample size is quite small and more research and analysis is needed," Draguez says, "the enormity of the public health emergency should lead us to continue using this vaccine right now to protect those who might get exposed to the disease: contacts of infected patients and front-line workers."
The trial vaccine, formally called rVSV-ZEBOV but more commonly known as VSV-EBOV, was supplied by the pharmaceutical firm Merck Sharp & Dohme. The drug was initially developed by Canada's Public Health Agency and was tested as early as 2011.
To conduct the Guinea trial, researchers used newly confirmed Ebola cases to identify clusters of people with whom the patients had contact. On a random basis, those clusters then received the vaccine either immediately or after a 21-day delay.
"In the immediate vaccination group, there were no cases of Ebola virus disease with symptom onset at least 10 days after randomization," the researchers say, "whereas in the delayed vaccination group there were 16 cases of Ebola virus disease from seven clusters, showing a vaccine efficacy of 100 percent."
Researchers say that for both groups — those who got the vaccine immediately and those who received it after a delay — no new Ebola cases were diagnosed starting at six days after vaccination.
The randomization phase of the trial was stopped this week, WHO says, "to allow for all people at risk to receive the vaccine immediately." It will also now include younger people than the adults involved in the trial.
toggle caption Sean Hawkey/Sean Hawkey
The first person to receive the trial vaccine in Guinea was Mohamed Soumah, 27. He tells WHO:
"It wasn't easy. People in the village said that the injection was to kill me. I was afraid. I was the first one to be injected, the very first, here in my village on 23 March 2015. I've been monitored for 3 months and I've had no problems. The last follow-up, 84 days after the vaccination, was all clear."
The vaccine is administered via a shot to the upper arm. The researchers who ran the trial say their results suggest a single injection is highly effective, and that protection against Ebola can be established quickly. They're also still analyzing possible adverse reactions to the drug.
The interim findings on the Guinea trial are the latest to bolster the belief that VSV-EBOV could be the drug Ebola-fighters have been waiting for. Earlier this year, it showed positive results in clinical trials at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
A Walter Reed release about that study explained how the drug is derived:
"VSV-EBOV is based in part on a genetically engineered version of vesicular stomatitis virus, which primarily affects rodents, cattle, swine and horses. Human VSV infections are rare and mild. In the VSV-EBOV investigational vaccine, the gene for the outer protein of VSV replaces the same gene segment of the Zaire Ebola virus species."
Researchers in the Guinea trial say the number of new clusters of potential patients is falling, because the rate of new diagnoses in the country has dropped. The next immediate step, they say, is to continue the trial and vaccinate more people. Last Friday, Guinea's government and medical ethics groups approved that plan. |
World Electioneering Entertainment 2016: 1,000 Years of Energy Independence and the Greatest Con Ever? [part 1/3]
As probably anyone will attest, the greatest spectacle of the past year – if not of the past eon – has been none other than the United States presidential election, something that I now like to refer to as World Electioneering Entertainment (WEE). Because to properly understand this election (and its nascent title) requires, I believe, an understanding of the WWE – World Wrestling Entertainment. I've personally never had a liking for any of that wrestling stuff, but I am nonetheless intimately familiar with it all thanks to an old high school friend of mine – who goes by the nom de plume of Jason Sensation, but whom I knew as Jay – who has been a wrestler and impersonator in the WWE and other wrestling federations for nearly 20 years now. Follow along with this and the next two posts and – partially in thanks to my exposure to my old friend's antics and the mechanics of the WWE that he often explained to me – you'll see why I've come to the conclusion that this United States presidential election – WEE 2016 – might very well be the greatest con that any of us have ever beared witness to.
But before I get to the significance of the WWE to the WEE, a partial recap of the three presidential debates – and in particular their mention of energy – is required in order to provide some backdrop for understanding their correlation. I didn't actually watch the debates myself but rather listened to them (because I gave up making and watching film and television 10 years or so ago), which in a strange twist of events actually made a significant difference.
While moderator Chris Wallace stated in the third debate that "there is almost no issue that separates the two of you more than the issue of immigration", there is on the other hand probably no issue that more strongly bridges the two candidates – to go along with Bernie Sanders, Gary Johnson and Jill Stein – than the issue of energy. The first debate didn't cover much ground here, Hillary Clinton stating that
We can deploy a half a billion more solar panels. We can have enough clean energy to power every home. We can build a new modern electric grid.
Skipping over my doubts regarding the possibility of all that (which I've already repeatedly written of), Donald Trump then stated that "I'm a great believer in all forms of energy".
Bravo?
Jumping over to the third debate, it was stated by Clinton that "I do want us to have an electric grid, energy system that crosses borders." Although I won't examine this in detail, it's worth remembering that it was a highly integrated energy grid that in 2003 enabled a software bug and some unpruned foliage to allow for a two-day (for some a seven-day) blackout on the eastern seaboard that left 55 million people in a mad scramble over what to do with all of their melting ice cream. (If you think I'm being a bit unfair, it's worth remembering what was broadly learned from the blackout: absolutely nothing.)
(photo by Brendan Loy)
Switching over to the second debate, it was here that a question directly related to energy was (surprisingly?) asked by a fellow named Ken Bone.
What steps will your energy policy take to meet our energy needs, while at the same time remaining environmentally friendly and minimizing job loss for fossil power plant workers?
Roughly translated, his question was "How can we have it all?" Or rather, How can we have an increasing energy supply that doesn't pollute and which won't cause much job loss in the fossil fuel power plants that emit pollution?
In response, and in short, it was stated by Trump that "There is a thing called clean coal. Coal will last for 1,000 years in this country". Clinton then stated that "we are now for the first time ever energy-independent". Both statements are patently incorrect, but since neither candidate disagreed with the other's statements on this I figure that we might as well lump both replies together and presume that what both Trump and Clinton believe in is 1,000 years of energy independence. Bi-partisan consensus!
1,000 years of energy independence for everybody! (photo by Gage Skidmore)
For the record, and as Alice Friedmann relayed in her book When Trucks Stop Running, global coal supplies may have hit their energetic peak back in 2011, while the United States' peak in tonnage of coal will probably occur sometime between now and 2050. In regards to Clinton's statement about "energy independence", up until WWII or so the United States was in fact the world's overwhelming swing producer when it came to oil supplies and actually produced more oil than the entire world combined (why do you think the allies won WWII?). That was energy independence. But seeing how the United States currently produces about 9 million barrels of oil a day and consumes about 20 million barrels a day, perhaps it's believed somewhere in the back of Clinton's mind that Canada and Saudi Arabia are the 51st and 52nd states (which sometimes wouldn't be hard to believe).
Having cleared that up, did the media call out either candidate on their highly erroneous statements? Well...
In an interview with the New York Times, the questioner (sacrificial lamb?) that made the query on energy, Ken Bone, did turn out to be rather proud of himself: "I'm just glad I was able to spark the energy debate a little bit". Yes, well, so much debate occurred that Bone appeared on various news programs, talk shows, and even did an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on the website Reddit. In an interview with CNN,
CNN's Carol Costello read him a tweet arguing that he had become a meme because of a combination of "33% confidence, 33% calming demeanor, 33% hugability, 1% power stache."
So thanks to Bone's power stache the United States now has enough energy to – wait, what? Power stache? Meme? Those aren't even anagrams for energy. What's going on here?
Alright, well, it turns out that had of I watched the second debate and not merely listened to it I would have noticed that Bone was wearing a bright red sweater, a sweater which caused a sensation across the Internet and got Bone booked on various television programs. Along with
Kenneth Bone quickly bec[oming] a shorthand for all that is right about American democracy: mutual respect, caring about the issues, and the truly unifying power of a pun on the word "bone"
a Halloween costume was crafted in Bone's likeness, Bone was, of course, offered a porn contract, to go along with all the rest that comes with that 15 minutes of fame thing. Following that, and upon doing the AMA on Reddit in which he used his regular user account and not a throwaway account, much of Bone's dirty laundry was laid bare for all to see via his comment history. I won't dignify any of that gossip by rehashing it here, but it did seem important enough that rather than call out Trump and Clinton on their "misstatements" about energy supplies, the media dutifully relayed the fact that the "Bonezone" had had a vasectomy some years ago. Gripping stuff I tell you.
Anyway, this is where we get back to the macro spectacle of the WEE.
Donald Trump shaves the head of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, held by Stone Cold & assisted by Bobby Lashley, WM 2007. pic.twitter.com/W6oQW7Zlvf — phases pictures (@picturephase) September 29, 2016
Donald Trump shaves the head of WWE Chairman Vince McMahon, held by Stone Cold & assisted by Bobby Lashley, WM 2007. pic.twitter.com/W6oQW7Zlvf — phases pictures (@picturephase) September 29, 2016
As was explained to me many years ago by my old friend of WWE notoriety, there are essentially two characters in wrestling: the hero/heroine, known as the "babyface" (or "face" for short), and the villain, known as the "heel". The "face" persona is the empathic figure that aims to garner the respect and sympathy of the audience; they are likeable and honest and are determined to overcome the overwhelming odds placed before them. The "heel" on the other hand is the unethical figure that will lie and cheat and do whatever it takes to win the match (and/or the money, the girl/guy, the power, etc.); they readily antagonize the fans and even their peers, and have a habitual streak of playing the victim. Furthermore, the "heel" never accepts the loss of a match due to an ingrained perception that a grandiose conspiracy is relentlessly working against them. On top of all that, and regardless if you're the "face" or the "heel", what matters the most in the WWE is that you get attention, and any attention is good attention (meaning it doesn't matter if the audience loves you or hates you, but that you garner a strong reaction).
In other words, and in case it isn't obvious enough, Trump's behaviour couldn't possibly fit any closer to the script and blueprint laid out for a WWE "heel": insult and deny, feign conspiracy, rinse and repeat. But while there is probably no greater student of World Wrestling Entertainment, and no person that has more shrewdly adapted it to politics than the incomparable and indomitable Donald Trump, I don't mean to imply that Trump is merely using the WWE playbook to run his campaign and ultimately win the election. No. What I mean to suggest is that Donald Trump may very well be playing out the part of a character, just as much as any run-of-the-mill wrestler does in the WWE and just as my old (wrestling) friend repeatedly did in public, the only ones in on Jay's gags and the characters he constantly acted out being his friends and the random person that recognized Jay from television and the various public events he partook in.
"Battle of the Billionaires" Donald Trump shaves the head of WWE owner and billionaire Vince McMahon April 1, 2007 pic.twitter.com/tix2qPw7Na — Gary Lee (@garyibe007) September 6, 2016
"Battle of the Billionaires" Donald Trump shaves the head of WWE owner and billionaire Vince McMahon April 1, 2007 pic.twitter.com/tix2qPw7Na — Gary Lee (@garyibe007) September 6, 2016
For starters, Trump's history with the WWE goes back to at least the late-1980s (when the WWE was known as the WWF – the World Wrestling Federation) when a casino of his in Atlantic City hosted two of the greatest events in WWE's history – Wrestlemanias IV and V. Along with being a business associate and friend of WWE's owner Vince McMahon, Trump performed in Wrestlemania 23 in a match dubbed "The Battle of the Billionaires" (otherwise known as the "hair versus hair" match) where he ended up shaving the head of a subdued McMahon. Six years later Trump was inducted into the WWE hall of fame.
Donald Trump being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013 (photo by Rick Foster)
I won't delve too much into Trump's antics in this post (as I'll save that for the Trump post coming up next week), but suffice to say that Trump is a media savvy political performance artist like none other and is quite possibly playing out one of the greatest roles any of us have ever seen.
Here's something relevant that Jay mentioned to me and other friends way back when and which I was able to find quoted on a website:
There was a couple of times I was doing some home shopping gigs in Canada with WWE – and this was prior to my parody as Owen [Hart] – and Triple H was at one of the shows and he came up and asked me to dress up like Bret [Hart] and make fun of him. I really didn't wanna do it, he was my favorite guy and everything. Triple H had to sit down and explain the business to me, telling me, "You can be a fan, you're not offending him, this is a job. You're getting an opportunity, you can still impersonate him for us and it can be in dedication to him even though you're making fun of him, it's just part of the gimmick."
@4CR_Billy To be fair, Melania wasn't the first to copy an idol. #Trump is clearly running as "Mr. McMahon." pic.twitter.com/y5Qzb1cjIK — LeMar McLean (@MarzMediaUS) July 29, 2016
@4CR_Billy To be fair, Melania wasn't the first to copy an idol. #Trump is clearly running as "Mr. McMahon." pic.twitter.com/y5Qzb1cjIK — LeMar McLean (@MarzMediaUS) July 29, 2016
If we can parallel that with Donald Trump, should we be so naïve as to believe that when Trump shaved off Vince McMahon's hair that he did so out of spite, or might it make more sense to realize that "it's just part of the gimmick"? Likewise, might it not be just as naïve to believe that Trump has been sincere when he's called Clinton "crooked Hillary" or even a "nasty woman" in the third debate? And how about "Little Rubio", "Lyin' Ted", "low energy" Jeb Bush, "Miss Piggie", and on and on and on? Are any of those to be taken seriously, or might it be possible that they're part of a ruse where they're also "just part of the gimmick", one where the "feud" between Trump and Clinton is entirely made up? And if it is just part of some "gimmick" (the purpose of which I'll touch on in a moment), might it then be possible that by lashing out at and/or incessantly commenting on and intellectualizing Trump's antics that our entire media, journalists, and all the rest of us observers have taken the place of the ravenous WWE audience member, giving not just Trump, but also the WEE, the attention and legitimacy sought after?
Because it's not just the WWE that follows the matrix of "any attention is good attention", but also the media in general. As Les Moonves, CEO and executive chairman of CBS, put it last year,
It [Trump's campaign] may not be good for America, but it's damn good for CBS... Man, who would have expected the ride we're all having right now?... The money's rolling in and this is fun. I've never seen anything like this, and this is going to be a very good year for us. Sorry. It's a terrible thing to say. But, bring it on, Donald. Keep going.
There's no doubt that Trump is well aware of this and doesn't need one bit of reminding. As he put it himself two years before he even announced his candidacy,
I'm going to get in and all the polls are going to go crazy. I'm going to suck all the oxygen out of the room. I know how to work the media in a way that they will never take the lights off of me.
And that's not the bombast of some mere pretender. It's the truth being parlayed by possibly the greatest student of the WWE, one who has taken the WWE's mechanics and applied them to the biggest arena in the entire world – the ring of the United States federal election.
The Hollywood Walk of Shame
Jumping on the bandwagon, such things as the television show The Simpsons like to portray themselves as having warned us of a Trump presidency years ago. But on top of that being a bunch of self-indulgent nonsense, the only thing that mini-spectacles like The Simpsons have done is lay down some very useful groundwork for enabling the showmanship of Donald Trumps, thanks to its contribution to the creation of a complacent and apathetic people that is highly malleable to this "age of irony" of ours.
As was put by one of the several apologists over at Salon,
Humor is one of the primary ways that oppressed, weak, and marginalized people speak back to Power. The serf mocks the king. The worker laughs at the boss or factory owner. The slave derides and makes fun of the master. The child goofs on the adult.
Oddly enough, Jay played the character "McDonald Dump" last week at a wrestling event in Toronto. I don't think for a second that Jay's a fan of Trump's, but much like the media and the chattering classes – and whether he realizes it or not – Jay's playing right into the hands of what I see as being the Trump and WEE ploy (Tweet via Twitter)
True enough. As I hope this blog shows, I rather like humor (as well as humour). But while making light of the foibles of life is one thing, mockery is something else entirely – one where politics turns into theatre. While the various clowns and clownettes of late-night television pride themselves for eviscerating Trump, and while their audiences gleefully lap it all up, said clowns have accomplished absolutely nothing save for supplying Trump and the WEE with the attention and reaction they seek and require in order to legitimize what I believe to be the charade of WEE 2016.
As Barack Obama's former chief speechwriter Tweeted back in February, "if Trump is the nominee, I actually think we should fund a SuperPAC that hires professional comedians to take him down with funny ads." But as the late media-theorist Marshall McLuhan put it several years ago, "The clown is really the emperor's PR man". Otherwise put, the very modus operandi of the mocking satirist is to feed into and legitimize the roasted.
Jon Stewart To Appear At WWE SummerSlam 2016 https://t.co/3ObCdGjLED pic.twitter.com/lzQq0g93eU — Wrestling Central (@wrestlingcent) August 16, 2016
Jon Stewart To Appear At WWE SummerSlam 2016 https://t.co/3ObCdGjLED pic.twitter.com/lzQq0g93eU — Wrestling Central (@wrestlingcent) August 16, 2016
Think I'm exaggerating? Then take a look at the greatest eviscerating clown currently alive, Jon Stewart, "the most trusted name in fake news". While Stewart likes to play the role of the responsible observer that uses his razor-sharp with to take down those on high, in an infamous interview on CNN's Crosstalk he fired back at – cut off – criticism of of his actions by pointing out that "The show that leads into me is puppets making crank phone calls! What is wrong with you?" Or in other words, we're supposed to take Stewart seriously while not, well, taking him serisouly at all.
Jon Stewart and Mick Foley (of the WWE) at the Rally to Perpetuate Insanity (photo by Cliff)
As if all that weren't enough, while it's well known that Stewart recently gave up the helm of his critically acclaimed 16-year stint as host of The Daily Show, it's not quite as well known who one of his recent employers has been. In case you need me to spell it out for you, yes, Jon Stewart has in fact been working for none other than the WWE, hosting and even wrestling in its RAW and Summer Slam events for the past couple of years. Still no word though on when Stewart and his foil will be meeting in the ring so that Stewart the clown can shave off the mane of his fellow showman, Donald Trump the emperor.
As I recently read, it's not possible to name the greatest con ever pulled off because the greatest con that ever existed was the one that nobody ever realized was actually a con. With that in mind, might it be possible that Trump is actually playing out the role of the greatest "heel" that the WWE, and now the WEE, has ever seen? If so, what I can't help but ponder over is whether or not the purpose of "the gimmick" is to create a fog of distraction over the most important issue of the day that in a strange twist of events got superseded by a red sweater, talk of a vasectomy, and, shall we say, something that the "Bonezone" "liked". In other words, inane gossip took center stage over the topic of energy supplies. Or more specifically, peaking energy supplies.
Jon Stewart Is The Best Guest-Host In WWE History @ http://t.co/4L7xRXIElo pic.twitter.com/zc8aQRBr9f — WrestleNewz.com (@wrestlenewz) August 26, 2015
Jon Stewart Is The Best Guest-Host In WWE History @ http://t.co/4L7xRXIElo pic.twitter.com/zc8aQRBr9f — WrestleNewz.com (@wrestlenewz) August 26, 2015
Moreover, I don't think we should expect this "feud" – this distraction – to end anytime soon. As Trump stated at the end of the third debate in response to whether he'd concede the election were he to lose, "What I'm saying is that I will tell you at the time. I'll keep you in suspense, okay?" As I'll explain further in the next post, were Trump to win the election the "feud" would essentially come to an end. But were he to lose the election, what I see as being a faux feud would be allowed to continue, thus allowing for the citizenry-cum-audience to remain properly distracted from slightly more important things like the collapse of industrial civilization.
None of this is to say though that real people won't be affected in real ways by Trump's antics. Although what's going on in the ring of the WEE may be roughly staged – I imagine that Trump is taking the lead while Clinton has the simple job of playing herself in return – at many points in the future many real people in the stands of the WEE may be incited to riot, and many real people may, to say the least, get hurt.
Alongside that, it's been postulated by John Michael Greer that upon the protracted collapse of industrial civilization the United States may see the rise of a Fred Halliot (that is an anagram). Which is, I'd say, entirely possible. But as stated by another late media-theorist, Neil Postman, in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business,
[Aldous Huxley] believed that it is far more likely that the Western democracies will dance and dream themselves into oblivion than march into it, single file and manacled. Huxley grasped, as Orwell did not, that it is not necessary to conceal anything from a public insensible to contradiction and narcoticized by technological diversions. Although Huxley did not specify that television would be our main line to the drug, he would have no difficulty accepting Robert MacNeil's observation that "Television is the soma of Aldous Huxley's Brave New World." Big Brother turns out to be Howdy Doody.
In other words, so long as the citizenry is kept placated and gullible with its soma, what reason is there for how, or why, a Fred Halliot might emerge? However, once the lights start to go out – meaning once the televisions and movie theatres start going dark, and people start losing access to their soma – then all bets are summarily off.
Furthermore, although I think Greer is spot on with his explanation of why so many voters are gravitating towards Trump, I'm not so sure about his interpretation regarding Trump's motivations. I'll hash out those motivations a bit more in the next two posts, starting with one on Donald Trump, followed by one on the candidate who I think wasn't so much bound to be the winner of the WEE so much as she wasn't bound to be the loser – Hillary Clinton.
Having made a comparison between Donald Trump and my old friend Jay, out of fairness I'd like to add that besides being students of the WWE they are nothing alike. While Trump slurs virtually everybody he comes across, and whether they are part of a character or not, his words are given as his honest opinion of which there is no excuse for. On the other hand, the only slurs Jay ever doled out (that wasn't behind closed doors) were either upon himself or some light ribbing upon close friends.
Let's get ready to rumble!!!! |
United States Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said the old question was whether the sport would make it in America.
"If you'd said to me 20 years ago to bet your kids' college tuition on the growth of the game, on professional soccer, I wouldn't have said yes," Gulati said.
Those days, he told an audience of nearly 360 people, are over.
"Now, most of you in the room have kids who played, or kids who still play, or you played the game when you were a child," he said.
Gulati discussed topics ranging from the growth of the game in America to women's soccer salaries during a Jacksonville Sports Council Speaker Series luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Jacksonville Riverfront on Wednesday afternoon.
The third-term U.S. Soccer president also fielded questions from the audience that touched on several hot topics in American soccer.
� Of approximately 60 men's professional teams in the U.S., he said the number of teams that are "cash positive" can be counted on "maybe two hands and one foot."
� He said that "demand is insufficient" for women's professional soccer salaries to increase without more fan support.
� Though encouraging would-be NFL or NBA stars to pursue soccer at an early age could help the U.S. team, Gulati said effects may be limited because of the increased athleticism among today's elite foreign players: "They're cornerbacks, but with skill at their feet."
� He expressed some skepticism about proposals to implement European-style promotion and relegation, saying the ensuing legal battles "would eventually end up with nine people in robes in Washington."
Though soccer hasn't reached the NFL or Major League Baseball level in the United States, Gulati said it's making an impact.
"In a country with 320 million people, you don't have to be the NFL to be relevant," he said.
Gulati formerly worked as deputy commissioner of Major League Soccer. He also serves as a senior lecturer in the Columbia University economics department.
His speech marked one highlight in a busy 10-day span for Jacksonville soccer.
Also Wednesday, the United States men's national team departed training camp in Jacksonville for a complex journey to St. Vincent and the Grenadines, where they will play a Friday World Cup qualifier in the capital of Kingstown.
The team is set to return Saturday, then train for two more days before Tuesday's match against Trinidad and Tobago at EverBank Field.
Gulati expressed some concern with the estimated ticket sales of 16,000 thus far, well below the regional record crowds in the city for games in 2012 and 2014.
"We're not going to have the sort of attendance we had for the Nigeria game, for the Scotland game," he said. "It's a little bit of a concern, but hopefully it'll pick up in the next few days."
Still, he's optimistic about the city's future as a destination for U.S. Soccer.
"We'll be back in Jacksonville, I can assure you of that," Gulati said. |
Mid-4, #Phillies trail Toronto 8-0. But this happened earlier…so that was cool. pic.twitter.com/nUlnFVr9JE — Phillies (@Phillies) June 17, 2016
OK this guy is a wizard, but I don’t understand how someone can be so cool, so calm when a ball is coming at them and they’re holding a child. When I’m holding my son I turn into a protective cacoon, absorbing every glancing blow from a passerby or rogue wall. I move around like we’re on a moon bounce, turning life’s edges into soft ripples. It’s similar to the move I used in my post-collegiate years, The Tuck and Tumble – not a sex move, not even close – where I would curl my beer-carrying hand and allow my shoulder or elbow to absorb all blows in a crowded bar, creating a steadicam effect with the beer, to minimize or reduce spillage. That’s how I hold my son, only it’s a full-body protective shield. So if there was a foul ball coming at us, I’d tuck him under my seat, stand up proudly and scream wildly, while one-handing the ball like Tanaka in Major League II…
… or probably just turn my back and take a devastating kidney shot.
Anyway, credit to this guy. So cool under pressure. |
By Eric M. Johnson
SEATTLE (Reuters) - A white Seattle officer should be fired for biased and improper policing after she arrested an elderly black man using a golf club as a cane during a walk last summer, the director of a police watchdog group said on Tuesday.
The Office of Professional Accountability found Seattle patrol officer Cynthia Whitlatch engaged in biased policing, among other policy violations, when she arrested William Wingate, now 70, last July, the group's civilian director Pierce Murphy said.
"After careful review and consideration of all the evidence, I recommended that the Chief of Police sustain the allegations and end the involved officer's employment," said Murphy.
The recommendations come after a U.S. District Court approved new de-escalation policies for the Seattle police department, which has been under federal monitoring for excessive force.
They also follow the deaths of several black men at the hands of white police officers in cities across the United States, which have fueled street protests critical of the police's use of force.
In Seattle, Wingate sued the city and the arresting officer, seeking about $750,000 in damages for racial discrimination, violation of his civil rights and "substantial humiliation, mental and emotional distress." The case is pending.
Wingate, a military veteran who requires a cane to walk, was using the golf club as a crutch, according to court papers. His arrest sparked protests. Charges against Wingate were dropped after his arrest and the police department has apologized.
The lawsuit says Whitlatch lied when she alleged he swung the golf club at her. Nowhere in a roughly seven-minute police dashboard camera video can he be seen swinging the club.
A police officer familiar with the ongoing investigation declined to discuss the matter in detail but said Whitlatch was notified on Monday she faces possible termination.
Whitlatch, who was placed on paid administrative leave following the arrest, will have the opportunity to present her case next month to Chief Kathleen O'Toole, who will make a final decision on the course of discipline, Murphy said.
Murphy said the investigation did not specifically include a Facebook message she appeared to post after the incident in which Whitlach described black paranoia over white people being "out to get them."
The department has since implemented "a fairly clear and strong policy" barring officers from making comments on social media that are detrimental to the agency's values, Murphy said.
(Reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by Lisa Lambert in Washington) |
With training camp set to open in less than a month, Fury FC GM and Head Coach Paul Dalglish made another important addition to his squad with the signing of defender Ramon Martin Del Campo, pending league and federation approval.
Del Campo, a versatile player that can play as a centre back or an outside back, comes to Ottawa after spending last season on loan with Puerto Rico FC in the NASL. In 2016, the 23-year-old featured in 16 Fall season games. He played 90 minutes in every game, picked up two assists, earned one Team of the Week nomination and won the Play of the Week on one occasion.
“Ramon is a hardworking, aggressive defender that has an endless desire to win the ball back,” said Fury FC GM and Head Coach Paul Dalglish who is currently in California for the MLS Combine on scouting duties. “He’s another player that has that ruthless desire to win and his profile suits the type of players that I want to work with. We bring in players that will help us entertain with hearth this season.” |
Train traffic is again moving this morning after a 13-car derailment near Peers, west of Edmonton early Sunday morning.
Patrick Waldron, a spokesperson for CN Rail, said the train derailed around 1 a.m. MT Sunday near Peers in Yellowhead County, about 180 kilometres west of Edmonton.
Waldron said the 137-car train was en route from Prince George to Edmonton when it derailed.
One of the derailed cars is a dangerous goods tanker carrying sulphur dioxide. The other 12 cars were loaded with lumber.
The dangerous goods car is upright and not leaking, said Waldron, who added there are no environmental concerns or threats to the public at this time.
Fire officials from Yellowhead County have been in touch with CN and have assessed the crash site, but firefighters were not needed.
CN Rail crews are on the scene.
The cause of the derailment remains under investigation; however, the Transportation Safety Board said it will not be sending investigators.
Nearby residents first thoughts were of Gainford
Sunday's incident occurred along the same tracks as the 13-car derailment near Gainford only two weeks ago. The two derailments occurred about 90 kilometres apart.
The TSB is still investigating the cause of that crash, which forced about 100 people from their homes for several days while crews worked to put out flames on two cars containing liquefied petroleum gas.
Theresa Lytle, who works in Peers, told CBC’s Laura Osman her first reaction to the derailment was bafflement.
“Really? So soon after the one at Gainford?” she said.
Lytle said she was relieved to realize the derailed cars were primarily lumber, unlike the petroleum gas and crude oil that complicated the situation in Gainford.
But she did say the derailment gave her pause for how the community would have been impacted should the incident have been more serious.
“I was kind of wondering with the one at Gainford if it would happen here, with the houses being so close to the railroad.”
Resident Erville Lennon echoed Lytle’s concerns, saying his first thought was concern for the people and environment near the derailment.
“You wonder what’s going on: are they maintaining their tracks or not maintaining their tracks for that to happen that quickly?”
Yellowhead County Mayor Gerald Soroka said Sunday's derailment did not impact his faith in CN. (Doug Steele/CBC)
Yellowhead County Mayor Gerald Soroka said he’s aware the community got off relatively easy.
“We only had a few issues arise from it," he said. "There was no loss of life, we didn’t have to shut down any major highways, we didn’t have to have our fire departments involved in this – so there were some benefits.”
And while he said the crash will likely spur CN to look more closely into their operations and day-to-day maintenance, he said he’s not too worried about future trains crossing through the county.
“I do put a lot of trust and faith in CN,” he said. “I feel they’ve done a very good job keeping the train on the rails. I believe it’s always going to be a concern but hopefully it doesn’t ever happen – a derailment such as the one that happened in Quebec, for instance.”
Call to action
Greenpeace spokesman Mike Hudema spoke out Sunday afternoon about the recent string of derailments.
"This is another derailment that we're dealing with in a province that has already seen its fair share of derailments in the recent months. There really is a lot that we need to be doing to improve rail safety that is not being done."
Hudema suggested Ottawa conduct an independent review of petrochemical transportation across the country. He said the public should also be told about the dangers associated with hazardous materials moving through their communities.
"It's time that the federal government actually steps up and does its job." |
Appearance and function match the final product, but is made with different manufacturing methods.
Looks like the final product, but is not functional.
Demonstrates the functionality of the final product, but looks different.
A prototype is a preliminary model of something. Projects that offer physical products need to show backers documentation of a working prototype. This gallery features photos, videos, and other visual documentation that will give backers a sense of what’s been accomplished so far and what’s left to do. Though the development process can vary for each project, these are the stages we typically see:
These photos and videos provide a detailed look at this project’s development.
About
Final minutes!
We didn't reach our funding goal, but we are continuing work on future products and launches.
Follow us on our other social media sites to keep getting updates about our latest developments.
JuiceBox Zero Website: http://juiceboxzero.com/ JuiceBox Zero Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juiceboxzero/ JuiceBox Zero Twitter: https://twitter.com/getjuiceboxzero JuiceBox Zero Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/getjuiceboxzero/
A big thank you to everyone involved!
The JuiceBox Zero is the only battery solution on the market built especially for Raspberry Pi Zero that requires no code. It is the easiest way to make your Pi Zero or Zero W instantly portable, and works right out of the box!
FEATURES
ON/OFF Switch
4 Status Indicator LEDs
Pi Zero Camera Mount
Micro USB Power Input
JuiceBox Zero works right out of the box. But with one additional line of Python, you can poll a GPIO pin for low battery status so you can trigger a safe shutdown of your Pi Zero.
Small, mobile cameras are one of the most common applications for portable Pi Zero devices. For that reason, the JuiceBox Zero was designed with a camera mount built right into the board!
YOU NEED
JuiceBox Zero
Raspberry Pi Zero or Zero W
Header Connection
JST-Compatible Single-cell Lithium-Ion Battery
THE STORY
While searching for a mobile battery solution for my Raspberry Pi 3, I found several well-made boards that were still a bit too cumbersome to set up. When the Pi Zero was released, I instantly saw the potential its tiny form factor provided for truly mobile inventions. But to be truly mobile, it can’t be tethered to a power source. Just imagine how useless an iPhone would be if it had to be plugged into the wall!
So I took matters into my own hands to create a truly portable battery solution that is both plug ‘n play and matches the Raspberry Pi Zero’s tiny footprint. The PowerBoost 1000c by Adafruit provided a stable baseline to start from — then I shrank it down and added a handful of my own improvements.
I’m excited about it, and can’t wait to see what you do you now that you can cut your Pi Zero loose.
— Sam |
Did CM Punk change the landscape of WWE? Feb 06, 2014
Many people have voiced their opinions on the self-proclaimed ‘best in the world’ walking out of WWE last week.
Whether you think CM Punk was right or wrong to leave in the manner he did, one thing is undeniable: he changed the business.
Historically, Vince McMahon maintained the policy that bigger guys get championships. However, post-Attitude Era, that mindset softened somewhat, as we saw guys like Rey Mysterio hold the belt.
Nonetheless, you still had to look like a champion… until CM Punk came along.
Punk walked into the WWE in 2005 covered in tattoos, with facial piercings and long hair. He didn’t look like a champion; he looked like a tramp. The company took one look at him and made a decision that he would never be a top superstar. Punk himself admitted in his Best in the World documentary that he didn’t think he would be part of WWE for long.
In spite of this, Punk proved that he had the skills in the ring and his big breakthrough came when he showed WWE that he could work as a heel.
The Straight Edge Society made him one of the most hated heels in the company, and following contract negotiations in 2011, Punk proved himself to be the best superstar on the mic when he delivered one of the greatest promos in WWE history.
The Chicago-born grappler took WWE’s popularity through the roof with his trademark pipebombs leading up to Money In The Bank 2011, where he finally beat ‘the man’ – John Cena – for the WWE Championship, and went on to become the longest-reigning WWE Champion of the modern era (and the sixth longest of all time), with a 434 day run.
Only the returning Dwayne ‘The Rock” Johnson could knock Punk off his perch, which he did at last year’s Royal Rumble.
Punk managed to change WWE’s point-of-view that only good-looking, muscle-bound superstars could hold the title. He walked in as a Punk kid and became the champion without ever changing his character or beliefs; he became WWE and World champion his way, broke down barriers at every interval and showed the company that they should never judge a book by its cover.
There are stories circulating about how selfish Punk has been by leaving without notice or putting anyone over, but I feel he is justified in his actions. Daniel Bryan has the WWE universe behind him every match and is part of a storyline where those in charge are keeping him from the title. Punk went through the same thing in real life behind the scenes. He was kept away from the title trail for most of last year, and put into an endless feud with Paul Heyman, but he still turned out great performances.
He went to every event and stole the show, but WWE never gave him his WrestleMania main event.
If he was to hang on and leave in July when his contract expires, then he wouldn’t be able to make this kind of point, by leaving out of principle prior to April’s WrestleMania. Of course, by leaving now, he still won’t get his main event (or that fat Mania payday), but in doing so he has made an impact. He has highlighted WWE’s reliance on past superstars and made the world aware that the talent feel the same way as the fans.
I feel like Punk has done all he can in WWE to smash through those glass ceilings or reach those brass rings, and he felt that his job was done. And whether people will admit it or not, Punk has changed the landscape of the biggest wrestling company in the world.
Other wrestlers now know that they don’t need to look a certain way; they don’t need to behave a certain way; and they can make a career for themselves on their own terms.
With Punk gone, there will be a gap that needs to be filled. Hopefully his long-time comrade Daniel Bryan can step up and be ‘the man’ in his absence.
Related Posts Why the Royal Rumble is better than WrestleMania Most wrestling fans consider WrestleMania to be the best pay-per-view of the year, but the Royal Rumble will always be my favorite. Ever since I discovered a VHS tape of the 1992 Royal Rumble at my local video store as a child, I’ve been fascinated by the event. While the title matches on the card […]
Review: Baywatch I used to be a huge fan of the original TV series of Baywatch (1989 – 1999), fantasising about running (in slo-mo, of course) along a golden sand beach in a skin-tight orangey red one piece, my long locks flowing like silk behind me. So when the invite came through for the 2017 movie reboot […]
TNA has a new UK TV deal Good news for wrestling fans – TNA will be back on UK TV from April 21. The wrestling promotion has signed a deal with Freeview channel Spike to broadcast IMPACT episodes and pay-per-views in the UK. The company’s former home, Challenge TV, which used to air the weekly IMPACT show on Sunday nights, dropped TNA in January. […] |
While you were sleeping last night, Anonymous hacked into the U.S. State Department’s website, reportedly in the name of fallen comrades Aaron Swartz and recently arrested members of LulzSec. Personal data – including names, email addresses and phone numbers of hundreds of State Department staffers – were leaked online to the ZeroBin website.
The group also allegedly hit the investment firm George K. Baum and Company, which has ties to Stratfor, the private intelligence service that worked with the CIA (another former target of the group).
In that attack, Anonymous also published the account data and transaction information of the bank’s users. The OpLastResort Twitter account says attacks are payback for the death of Aaron Swartz. “This tragedy is basis for reform of computer crime laws and the overzealous prosecutors,” they write on the group’s Twitter bio.
But in an ironic twist, “Operation Last Resort” may have very unintended consequences.
Domino Effect
Will this attack finally wake up the U.S. government to the threat of online attackers? Last night’s hack might galvanize lawmakers to support the CISPA bill and introduce even harsher Internet laws. And that kind of overreaction could cause more damage than the attacks themselves.
This latest attack comes on the heels of Anonymous defacing sites owned by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the United States Sentencing Commission, and the Federal Reserve. Anonymous also tried but failed to hit the broadcast of the State of the Union speech last week.
So the wheels for enacting draconian laws may already be in motion. Anonymous, which champions Internet freedom, may have just pushed the Web down a dark shaft.
Worse yet, Anonymous also claims to possess “warheads,” codes to unlock encrypted files said to contain sensitive government data, allegedly obtained during the Jan. 25 hack of the U.S. Sentencing Commission site.
Under President Obama’s new cyberlaw mandate, these actions are cyber threats, punishable by severe action. How far is the government willing to go? And what will be the ultimate effect on our civil liberties?
Image courtesy of Shutterstock. |
Joe Scarborough on MSNBC. MSNBC Joe Scarborough on Wednesday cautioned President-elect Donald Trump against picking close advisers with little foreign policy experience for top administration posts.
The "Morning Joe" host said that Trump should pick "very boring, very middle-of-the-road" officials to serve in foreign-facing administration posts such as secretary of defense, secretary of state, and director of the National Security Agency.
"You don't get rookies for that. You don't get ideologues for that," Scarborough said.
Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani and former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton are both rumored to be potential picks for secretary of state — options that Scarborough warned would set off a media firestorm and damage relationships abroad.
"Abroad, you can't lurch to a John Bolton," Scarborough said.
"You think the Steve Bannon appointment got negative press? You think that's bad? Pick Rudy Giuliani as your secretary of state or John Bolton as your secretary of state, and watch everything melt down internationally."
Scarborough specifically singled out Giuliani, citing a New York Times article detailing large payments Giuliani took from the Qatari government as well as a group on the state department's terror watch list.
"After the Hillary Clinton debacle on paid speeches and foreign interests, how could Rudy Giuliani ever be secretary of state?" Scarborough said.
"Is [Trump] going to call him 'Crooked Rudy' now?"
Watch the clip below, via MSNBC: |
Ever since it was announced that Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) would be bringing virtual reality (VR) to the PlayStation 4 back in March 2014, fans have speculated on what first-party franchises could offer their support to the tech. Many would like to see platformers such as Ratchet and Clank or Jak and Daxter make the transition to the PlayStation VR head-mounted display (HMD), as it’s called, while others picture driving simulators such as Gran Turismo as the perfect companion for the device. It seems that SCE Head of Worldwide Studios Shuhei Yoshida agrees with the latter.
“Many trial tests we’ve been doing, some genres just work fine,” Yoshida said when the popular racing franchise was brought up in an interview with Eurogamer released earlier this week. “One of those genres is racing games. So when Gran Turismo comes out on PS4, I’d like to see it support PlayStation VR, yeah.” Gran Turismo would presumably arrive on PlayStation 4 as Gran Turismo 7, but such a title is set to be announced. The series has come to every PlayStation platform with the exception of the PlayStation Vita, so it’s not hard to imagine it showing up later down the line.
Back when PlayStation VR was first revealed – then known as Project Morpheus – Yoshida confirmed that SCE-owned Evolution Studios had also tested support for its own racing simulator, DriveClub. Ultimately the team decided against its inclusion, but perhaps possible support for the Gran Turismo series could go some way to making up for that. As it stands, SCE is yet to announce that any of its classic IP will support VR in the future, though has announced entirely new ones such as RIGS: Mechanised Combat League from Guerrilla Cambridge.
VRFocus will continue to follow PlayStation VR closely, reporting back with the latest updates to the title. |
What is it about Hollywood elites who jump on their soapboxes proclaiming to be saviors of America, but then do everything imaginable to undermine the core principles of its founding?
Take Hollywood’s anti-gun glitterati for example. Between making personal fortunes from glorifying guns in their movies and living exuberant lifestyles that includes armed security, one would think they would support their fellow Americans right to self-defense. Nope.
We’ve all heard of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his scandalous anti-gun program Everytown For Gun Safety. Now, Academy Award-winning actress Julianne Moore has recently launched her own gun control group called Everytown Creative Council, which, not surprisingly, falls under the auspices of Bloomberg’s organization. To help her, she has recruited fellow celebrities Meg Ryan, Amy Schumer, Jennifer Lawrence, Reese Witherspoon, Kevin Bacon, Kristen Bell, Jessica Chastain, J.J.Abrams, and others to join in her un-American assault on the Second Amendment.
In a Huffington Post blog, Moore had the audacity to write:
“We are actors and artists, but we are Americans first. … We respect the Second Amendment but keeping dangerous weapons out of the hands of convicted criminals, terrorists, domestic abusers, stalkers and dangerous people isn’t anti-gun; it’s pro-common sense.”
“We know that more than 90 percent of Americans support common-sense reforms that are proven to save lives. What not enough people know and what the gun lobby doesn’t want more of us to know is that a large majority of gun owners support these reforms too.”
This is a level of propaganda we would expect from the pompous pigs in George Orwell’s 1945 classic novel Animal Farm. All people are equal, but some people (the elites who like to make the rules) are more equal than others.
First, Moore attempts to establish herself and her fellow creative comrades as “Americans First,” which is nothing more than a stealthy ruse that acts as a preemptive strike against our reasoning and constitutional understanding of the Second Amendment. Next, she attempts to instill fear by listing all the bad guys who could potentially get their hands on “dangerous weapons.” Apparently, she has never read the FBI’s yearly published Uniform Crime Report. If she did, she would know that the most used lethal weapon of all is not a gun, but rather a bludgeoning instrument, primarily the fist.
Moreover, who does she mean when she loosely uses the terms “terrorists” and “dangerous people?” NRA members? Tea Party supporters? Christians? As if this is not enough, she also cleverly uses nicer sounding words like “pro-common sense” instead of “anti-gun,” even though gun control proponents like Bloomberg and his gang believe confiscation is the best exercise of common sense. Finally, Moore throws out some made-up statistics without citing where they came from in hopes that a few suckers will take the bait, hook, line, and sinker. It appears Moore is so consumed with mindless emotionalism that she feels there is no need to do research.
Like Bloomberg’s group, Moore’s primary goal is to secure stronger background checks, as if criminals actually care about background checks. Clearly, this hasn’t stopped her bad guys from having it their way in gun-free zones. Even California’s uber strict gun control laws haven’t prevented such crimes. Case in point, the recent San Bernardino terrorist attack. This is precisely why many of us believe we need to be responsible for our own self-defense. This includes women, the fastest growing demographic purchasing firearms today. Instead of cowering with their children in a closet, these women are now preparing themselves to fight back. Why such a proactive stance? It’s is about real life and death, not a Hollywood movie!
Still, it’s Moore’s latest promotional stunt with her fellow creative comrades that truly takes the cake. It’s a video — a selfie of sorts. It features Moore and other celebrities offering a message that is as repetitive as it is boring. It goes like this: “We can end gun violence.” Apparently, this is the best the so-called “creative community” can come up with. Their big surprise comes at the very end when President Obama reprises his old cliché, “When we come together, Americans can do anything.” Yawn.
As you can see, while Washington and Hollywood anti-gun glitterati exalt themselves making bogus public service announcements, real American’s are taking constitutionally lawful action to protect themselves, their loved ones, and their communities.
Frankly, Americans are sick and tired of elitists making two sets of rules — one set for themselves and another for everyone else. A prime example of this is the recent Golden Globe Awards where Hollywood’s crème de la crème benefited from the largest presence of heavily armed security in the show’s history. This is why Virginia state senator Charles Carrico is currently proposing a new law that would deny armed security to elected officials who oppose American citizen’s right to keep and bear arms. To me, this is one of the best examples of a common sense gun law. Perhaps this new standard of unarmed equality should also apply to busybody Hollywood celebrities.
By Kimberly Bloom Jackson |
One week after launching his one-man protest at Amazon headquarters in Seattle, former Amazon employee Kivin Varghese is still at it, trying to bring attention to his allegations of unethical and deceptive business practices at the company.
Today he will be trying a new tactic, handing out a new letter to employees calling on the company to augment its 14 leadership principles with new points addressing 1) employee treatment 2) business ethics and 3) environmental responsibility.
On the first point, the letter (PDF) takes the unusual step of urging Amazon employees not to work so hard. Writes Varghese in the letter …
1) Life is short, enjoy it – don’t give it all to Amazon. Leave work at a reasonable hour, don’t work nights and weekends. 2) If you’ve got more work on your plate than you can do, the company should hire more people, not drive you like a slave to get it done. 3) Don’t kill yourselves to keep the ship running. Slow down. Amazon will be fine.
Oh, boy. Questioning the company’s business ethics is one thing, but urging employees to be less productive? It will be interesting to see how Amazon reacts.
Varghese says via email that he has so far successfully resisted efforts by Amazon security to move his protest, and notes that he has been getting an “unbelievably positive response talking to hundreds of employees over the past several days.”
Varghese is involved in a protracted legal battle with the company, which has declined to comment on his protest. |
Video
A stringent project designed to curb alcohol-related crime in the US state of South Dakota is to be used as a model for a project in the UK.
The "24/7 Sobriety Program" forces problem drinkers to take - and pay for - twice-daily breath tests to prove they are sober.
The tests can be used as a sentence after a conviction, or a condition of bail, after an alcohol-related crime. They can also be imposed upon parents as a condition of having children returned to a household in families with a history of alcohol abuse.
Failure of a test usually means an instant short spell in jail, and it is hoped that such a dramatic sentence will shock people out of re-offending - thereby reducing long-term prison numbers and cutting off alcohol-related crime at the source.
The Greater London Authority is working on a pilot of the project meaning compulsory sobriety would be used as a sentencing tool for magistrates and judges as an alternative to custody.
The BBC's Catrin Nye travelled to South Dakota to see what the programme looks like there. |
Yesterday I reported on an article in The Daily Caller that turned reality on its head by claiming that the EPA’s attempt to avoid hiring 230,000 new employees to administer greenhouse gas (GHG) emission permits was actually the EPA planning to hire those employees. As I pointed out, the article had enough major errors that it needed either significant corrections or a full retraction.
Today the executive editor of The Daily Caller, David Martosko, attempted to justify the original article in an editorial. However, Martosko’s failed defense of an indefensible article means that The Daily Caller now has two articles that are so filled with errors and misrepresentations that they should be corrected or retracted entirely.
Martosko correctly wrote that the effects of the EPA’s greenhouse gas regulations was more than the EPA expected. He also correctly wrote that the EPA wrote a tailoring rule that would be implemented in phases so that the impacts to the regulated entities could be minimized. He also correctly wrote that there is a federal court case pending about whether or not the EPA’s tailoring rule is legal with respect to the Clean Air Act. Unfortunately, everything else that Martosko wrote about the EPA’s tailoring rule, the illusionary 230,000 new EPA jobs, and the pending court case is either wrong or missing critical information.
Martosko wrote that the EPA would have to hire another 230,000 employees in order to regulate 6.1 million GHG emitters. Martosko neglected to mention that the EPA presented this as a choice in their court filing – either radically increase the size and budget of the EPA or deal with a permitting process that would lengthen from 6-10 months today to approximately 10 years, but within the EPA’s current budget and workforce.
Martosko wrote that the EPA “was in court to ask a court for permission” to implement the phased-in tailoring rule, and that the court case was “presumably the only way the EPA can avoid the $21 billion hiring spree….” This is simply false. As I mentioned yesterday, the EPA was challenged in federal court by multiple states’ Attorneys General and a host of industry groups. It’s those states and industry groups who are demanding that the EPA regulate according to a strict interpretation of the Clean Air Act, and it’s this strict interpretation that would force the EPA to hire more workers or lengthen the permitting process. So it’s not the EPA who is asking permission of the court, it’s the states’ Attorneys General who are challenging the EPA’s authority under the Clean Air Act.
Martosko wrote that the EPA’s tailoring rule “doesn’t seem to comply with the Clean Air Act” because the Act “doesn’t allow the government to pick and choose” who to regulate. This may well be true, but Martosko can’t know that – there’s a court case pending in the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (#10-1073) that will decide this very question. Either Martosko has some unique portal to the future, or he’s prejudging the results of a federal lawsuit.
Martosko wrote that the EPA may find itself in an “all-or-nothing scenario” where it has to hire more regulators and the taxpayers have to pay the bill. Martosko has to know that he’s wrong about this too. As I mentioned above, the EPA could choose to extend the permitting process instead of hiring new workers. Or the EPA could hire some workers and not extend the permitting process quite as much. But there’s always another option – ask Congress for relief from the strict rules of the Clean Air Act. As I pointed out yesterday, this is one of the two likely reasons that industry wants the EPA to strictly enforce GHG emissions at the legal limit set out in the Clean Air Act – to force the EPA to ask a skeptical Congress for changes to the Clean Air Act, which would open up the entire Act to revision by a regulation-unfriendly Congress.
Martosko wrote that the EPA is “committed to regulating everyone – at the full $21 billion cost – at some point down the road.” While true to some extent, Martosko neglects to mention a critical point made by the EPA in their court brief – the EPA expects to learn enough about how to regulate smaller emitters during the phase-in process that the EPA will not need to spend that much money, hire that many people, and/or add that much time to the permitting process. Which is a point that Martosko, and Boyle in his original article on Monday, would have known if they had, in fact, written a story that was, as Martosko claimed, “well reported, carefully sourced, and solidly written.” One out of three isn’t so bad, I guess.
Today, Martosko committed the same sins of omission and uttered the same objectively false claims that Boyle did in the original article on Monday. As a result The Daily Caller now has a credibility problem that is twice as large as it was – two articles that require major corrections or retractions instead of just one.
The Daily Caller has an opportunity to show both its readers and its critics that it has journalistic integrity by correcting or retracting both articles. Or not. |
The European Union and Armenia are close to concluding negotiations on a new agreement to deepen their political and economic ties, a senior EU diplomat said on Tuesday.
Piotr Switalski, the head of the EU Delegation in Armenia, told RFE/RL’s Armenian service (Azatutyun.am) that the two sides will hold another round of talks in Yerevan later this week. “These are the final moments of the negotiations,” he said.
The planned accord will serve as a substitute for an Association Agreement negotiated by Armenian and EU officials in the summer of 2013. President Serzh Sarkisian precluded its signing with his unexpected decision in September 2013 to seek Armenia’s accession a Russian-led alliance of ex-Soviet states.
The framework deal is expected to contain the main political and some economic provisions of the cancelled Association Agreement. But it will have no free trade-related component due to Armenia’s membership in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
Switalski would not be drawn on possible dates for the signing of the new deal reflecting Yerevan’s desire to forge closer links with the West even after the 2013 U-turn. The diplomat did note, though, that an Armenian deputy foreign minister “was not far from the truth” when he said recently that it will likely be signed in the first quarter of this year.
Switalski said the two sides only need to agree on “several issues” relating to the Armenia-EU cooperation framework. He declined to disclose those issues, saying only that some of them will require a “political decision.”
Asked which side needs to make such a decision, he said: “It’s a process of mutual give and take. Nobody is talking about unilateral concessions.”
Sarkisian reaffirmed his government’s commitment to deepen ties with the EU when he met with the EU’s commissioner for European neighborhood policy, Johannes Hahn, in Yerevan in November.
According to Armenian government data, the EU accounted for almost 24 percent of Armenia’s foreign trade in January-November 2016, making the 28-nation bloc the country’s second most important trading partner after Russia. |
SQL injection is a type of security exploit/vulnerability in which the attacker submits a SQL code to a Web form input box exposing the back-end database to gain access to resources or make changes to data. SQL injection allows an attacker to create, read, update, alter or delete data stored in the back-end database. A SQL injection attack can occur when a web application utilizes user-supplied data without proper validation or encoding as part of a command or query.
Typically, on a Web form for user authentication, when a user enters their name and password into the text boxes provided for them, those values are inserted into a SELECT query as it is. If the values entered are found as expected, the user is allowed access; if they aren't found, access is denied. However, most Web forms have no mechanisms in place to block input other than names and passwords. Unless such precautions are taken, an attacker can use the input boxes to send their own request to the database, which could allow them to download the entire database or interact with it in other illicit ways.
More than 20 percent of all web vulnerabilities being attributed to SQL injection, this is the second most common software vulnerability, as due to it anyone can get access to the database of your system. Therefore, having the ability to find and prevent SQL injection should be top of mind for web developers and security personnel. In general, a SQL injection attack exploits a web application that does not properly validate or encode user-supplied input and then uses that input as part of a query or command against a back-end database.
If your web application has a form asking for a user id. Then a hacker may write any user id "number or 1=1" if you have not done proper validation before using the input then this may compromise your database security. Hacker may also use a complete query like for the above example hacker may write "# or 1=1; Select * from users ; --" if this query executes then whole of your users information can be displayed and remaining of your query will be commented to avoid errors.
According to security experts, the reason that SQL injection and many other exploits, such as cross-site scripting, are possible is that security is not sufficiently emphasized in development. To protect the integrity of Web sites and applications, experts recommend simple precautions during development such as controlling the types and numbers of characters accepted by input boxes.
Prevention
You can prevent SQL injection if you adopt an input validation technique in which user input is authenticated against a set of defined rules for length, type and syntax and also against business rules. Most of the languages provide support for prevention of sql injection by the use of prepared statements/queries which checks the parameters to be used in the query for sql injection. Use strongly typed parameterized query APIs with placeholder substitution markers, even when calling stored procedures. Show care when using stored procedures since they are generally safe from injection. However, be careful as they can be injectable (such as via the use of exec() or concatenating arguments within the stored procedure). |
The holiday season is one of the hardest times for vegetarians and while Thanksgiving is approaching, my heart is filling with more sadness. More than 46 million turkeys are massacred for Thanksgiving each year with most of them being boiled alive, not to mention the chickens, pigs, cows, and lambs. I wonder, how can people steal the lives from those who deserve to live, no matter how tiny or big they are?
Although I am a partial vegan – I refuse to eat meat – I do keep transitioning into a vegan world and do keep inspiring others to do the same. The holiday season is a real challenge to me. With all the family members, relatives and friends being huge meat lovers, finding something to eat other than meat on a festive table is impossible.
I’m sure I’m not alone, so the only way out here is to cook our own meals that will be safe and tasty for us – full and partial vegetarians. Try out the following vegan Thanksgiving recipes and who knows maybe you will make someone go vegan as well. That’s exactly what I’m going to do this year.
1. Ribollita – Tuscan White Bean Soup
This one is a perfect alternative to a traditional turkey soup. The soup is jam-packed with nutrients and absolutely versatile. Get the full recipe here.
2. Sweet Potato Galette with Caramelized Shallots
It can be both a main dish and a side dish or quick Thanksgiving appetizer, you name it. The only thing is, I skip the goat cheese and use less salt in this recipe. And the downside is, the sweet potato galette takes about 2 hours to make, but trust me, that time is worth it. Check out the recipe here.
3. Stuffed Butternut Squash with Farro, Chickpeas, and Kale
No one will leave your house feeling hungry this holiday season. Get the recipe here.
4. Pumpkin, Butternut Squash, and Gorgonzola Bread Pudding
Since I’m lactose intolerant, I’m going to use a plant-based milk while making the pudding. Get the recipe here.
More: 10 Vegan-Friendly High Protein Foods
5. Vegan Green Bean Casserole
Even if you are bad at cooking, you will not fail to make this gluten-free and vegan casserole. Check out the recipe here.
6. Vegan Roasted Garlic and Herb Dinner Rolls
The step by step instructions with pictures will help you make these dinner rolls with little to no efforts at all. Look for the recipe here.
7. Pumpkin and Cheesy Baked Potato Casserole
No Thanksgiving dinner is complete without pumpkin and baked potatoes. Combine these two ingredients in one super yummy festive meal. Find the recipe here.
8. Roasted Cauliflower Risotto with Truffle Oil
Easy to make and quick to eat, what else do you need for your Thanksgiving table? Get the recipe here.
9. Tofurkey
Trick everyone into thinking they are eating actual turkey. Check out the recipe here.
More: 9 Foods to Strengthen Your Immune System
10. Lentil Shepard’s Pie
This one is as tasty as a meat version. I would say it is even more delicious. Plus, it is easy to make. Get the full recipe here.
There you have it – some of the tastiest vegan Thanksgiving recipes that you can confidently use for Christmas as well. Whether you eat meat or no, just try them out. Let’s stop promoting an animal abuse together. They deserve to live just like we do! So, what are your favorite vegan Thanksgiving recipes out there? |
Scottish Transgender Alliance has filed a petition with the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service urging them to work with trans equality groups
Thousands have signed a petition demanding Scotland’s courts not jail people if they do not tell their sex partners they are trans.
The Scottish Transgender Alliance asked people to sign a petition asking the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) to urgently work with equality groups.
It comes after Chris Wilson, 25, pled guilty in court after he was accused of failing to tell two girls his gender history and real age.
He will be trialed this Friday (5 April), where he will likely face jail. Wilson is already on the sex offender’s register for life.
Over 2,400 people signed the petition, addressing their concern trans people could risk imprisonment for not telling their sexual partners their gender history.
Writing to the Lord Advocate, the STA said: ‘We consider it essential that trans people’s right to privacy about their gender history be upheld in all areas of their lives.
‘They must not be placed in fear of imprisonment simply for non-disclosure of their gender reassignment status to a sexual partner.’
Last month, Wilson admitted to having sex with a 15-year-old girl who said she was 16, after telling her he was 16 when he was really 22.
He also admitted to kissing and cuddling another girl who was also 15 at the time, and also lied about his age.
Despite the ages, it is believed due to the ‘obtaining sexual intimacy by fraud’ charge, Wilson was only convicted on the basis he had lied about his gender history.
Nathan Gale, development worker at the STA, said: ‘There are other factors involved in this case, the two young women involved were only 15, but in bringing these particular charges the message the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service has sent to trans people is, we will criminalize you if you fail to disclose your gender history to sexual partners.
‘Or put more bluntly, when it comes to sex you have no right to privacy.
‘I sincerely hope that on receiving this petition COPFS will understand the seriousness of trans people’s fears and respond to our call for COPFS to take urgent steps to address them.’
If you would like to read more about the case, check out Nathan Gale’s comment piece for Gay Star News here. |
Last month, two Flagstaff businessmen traveled to Washington, D.C., to show their support for the proposed Greater Grand Canyon National Heritage Monument. “We went to Washington because usually it is the environmentalists who support this sort of thing. We wanted to show support from the business community,” said Robin Prema, owner of Speedi Car Wash, Super8 Motel on Old Route 66 and other properties around Flagstaff. “This is a different voice.”
Prema traveled with Ash Patel, CEO of Southwest Hospitality Management. Patel owns many hospitality businesses around Arizona, including the Flagstaff Holiday Inn Express. He is currently working on the new Hampton Inn and Suites and Fairfield Inn and Suites development on Country Club Drive.
“Our children are asking us to be more responsible and preserve natural areas for the citizens of the United States and the citizens of the world. The world has changed since I first came to Flagstaff in 1991. Uranium mining does no good. I don’t think there should be any uranium mining near the Grand Canyon,” explained Patel. “We need to protect not just the park, but around the park. What happens around the park, affects the park.”
“The Grand Canyon feeds the Northern Arizona economy. It is important to leave the Grand Canyon in its natural form rather than change it into a concrete jungle,” added Prema. Although the duo visited with lawmakers and administrators as person citizens, “We went with the support of the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) and the Flagstaff Lodging and Restaurant Association (FLRA),” explained Patel, a past Chairman of the Board of AAHOA.
Other business leaders are not in support of the proposed national monument. Stewart McDaniel, vice president of government affairs, Greater Flagstaff Chamber of Commerce points to two over-arching problems with the proposed 1.7 million-acre monument: losing state revenue and losing access to lands. “We can’t get tax money from federally-owned lands and we can’t control how the lands are used. In this proposed national monument, ranching and other actions will not be allowed. Ranchers are some of our best caretakers,” McDaniel said.
“We’re very thankful for the solid leadership of Congressman Paul Gosar, whose focus defeated Raul Grijalva’s Grand Canyon National Monument proposal, an enormous public land grab with huge consequences,” said Julie Pastrick, CEO of the Greater Flagstaff Chamber. The proposed monument is the size of the state of Delaware. President Obama could designate the area a national monument under the Antiquities Act.
In mid-July, Gosar defeated Grijalva’s amendment that would have removed a Gosar-sponsored provision that prohibits funding to make a presidential declaration of a national monument where there is significant local opposition. A recent poll found that 71.6 percent of Arizonans are opposed to the proposed administrative designation of 1.7 million acres in Northern Arizona as a National Monument. The poll was conducted by Coleman Dahm and Associates for Americans for Responsible Recreational Access.
Americans for Responsible Recreational Access Executive Director Larry Smith said in a press release, “This new poll underscores what we really already knew – the people of Arizona want to protect public lands, but they want to have a meaningful say in how the lands are protected. Unilateral action by the administration takes away their voice and creates resentment. The administration should listen to the people and work collaboratively with them to manage these lands instead of imposing draconian restrictions to appease a narrow group of interests.”
Yet, proponents of the designation turn to another poll that says Arizonans are in favor of the monument. In a blog post on the Grand Canyon Trust website, Roger Clark, Grand Canyon Program Director states, “Eighty percent of 500 voters surveyed support the establishment of the Greater Grand Canyon National Heritage Monument. More than eight times as many voters strongly support the monument [58 percent] as strongly oppose it [7 percent].” The poll was conducted by Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates in January 2016.
“Eighty percent of Arizona people support the proposed National Monument. If that is the case, why aren’t the politicians behind it?” asked Prema, who is also the interim president of Flagstaff Lodging and Restaurant Association (FLRA).
Gosar explained in a press release: “This proposed 1.7 million acre land grab would undermine the Four Forest Restoration Initiative Program and make Arizona more vulnerable to wildfires. Attorneys have testified that this proposed monument could tie up future surface water use and future groundwater use. The proposed monument also includes 64,000 acres of Arizona State Trust lands and almost 28,000 acres of private land.”
Opponents also call attention to the fact that National Monument designations under the Antiquities Act typically have significant consequences that negatively affect grazing rights, water rights, wildfire prevention, and other land management activities. These declarations also result in restrictive land-use regulations and also impact hunting, fishing, Off Highway Vehicles (OHV) and other recreational activities.
“The state government can manage our lands better than the federal government,” argued McDaniel, citing the recent toxic waste spill at the hands of the Environmental Protection Agency into Western rivers, including the Animas River in Colorado.
The Arizona Chamber Foundation also came out against the proposed monument, stating, “Given the disappointing mismanagement of important western issues, it is clear that Washington, on its own, is not the best steward of Arizona’s land and natural resources. But should the monument designation proceed, the Department of Interior – based in Washington – would obtain exclusive control of the area within the monument designation.”
“This is not a partisan issue, it is a citizen issue,” said proponent Patel. The Flagstaff Lodging and Restaurant Association has supported the proposed monument for some time. A letter from then Chairman Ruben Abeyta informed its members earlier this year: “A monument designation will shift focus from extraction of uranium and timber to protecting cultural, recreational and wildlife values. It creates an expectation on the local and national level for better protection of public lands around the Grand Canyon.”
“We’re hoping that when the president looks at the options that are on his desk, that the Grand Canyon would be at the top of his list,” concluded Patel. FBN
By Stacey Wittig, FBN |
January 27 is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, and this year an ad-hoc German collective called Laut Gegen Nazis (Loud Against Nazis) staged an intriguing protest against the Nazi Party of Germany, or the National Democratic Party of Germany, as they style themselves (Nationaldemokratische Partei Deutschlands, NPD), by using the innocuous tools of Facebook to call attention to the damnable persistence of Nazi ideology in Germany.
Laut Gegen Nazis called it a “Like Attack”—they encouraged liberal opponents of fascist ideas to flood the NPD’s Facebook page by “liking” it and also by posting, as a comment, a link to a liberal-friendly image such as “Rassismus tötet!” (Racism kills!) or a rainbow version of the Nazi logo. In addition users were urged to adopt one of those very same images as their personal icons for the day (as they would obviously be seen on the NPD’s page itself).
The slogan for the day was “Wir überfremden die NPD!”—which clever phrase requires a bit of unpacking. The German word überfremden is not a common one; it appears to be a bit of neo-Nazi jargon, and it means to be overrun by foreigners—such sentiments are surely discernable enough in the U.S. and U.K. as well. The genius of the slogan lies in the fact that Laut Gegen Nazis was proposing to do just that to the NPD’s Facebook page—overrun it with outside elements.
As the Das Kraftfuttermischwerk blog pointed out, the project had the distinct drawback of having to oblige users, however briefly, to “like” such an odious entity as the NPD in order to function. But a sizable number of people appeared not to mind that particular taint, anyway.
In the end, the NPD admins presumably had to work a little harder to maintain their page (it appears that many of the comments were scrubbed, although as of this writing—1/29—a few more recent comments could be seen on NPD’s website), and who knows how many minds, if any, were changed. But it remains a pretty clever implementation of social media to land a collective political point.
Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Foil Facebook’s facial recognition using sneaky World War I ‘razzle dazzle’ tactics |
Title: Study on Clinician and Researcher Perspectives on Self-Injury
Directed by: Alexander Chapman, PhD
Assistant Professor
Simon Fraser University
Department of Psychology
RCB5246, 8888 University Drive
Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6
PH 778-782-6932, FAX 778-782-3427
http://www.sfu.ca/psyc/faculty/chapman
http://www.dbtvancouver.com/
Location: Online questionnaire. Link provided after initial email communication.
Description: I am currently conducting a study examining clinician and researcher perspectives on self-injury. Specifically, I am interested in examining the factors which may prevent an individual from engaging in self-injury over a period of days, weeks or months. I am also interested in how clinicians conceptualize self-injury, and what kinds of treatment strategies they use to address this behaviour. As a clinician, you have an important role to play in understanding barriers to self-injury, and I would welcome your participation in this study.
Commitment: Participants will be asked to fill out a brief set of online questionnaires which ask about your clinical training and education, background and experience dealing with self-injury, and how clients you have seen have been able to refrain from engaging in self-injury. These questionnaires should take no more than 30 minutes of your time. Participation is voluntary and confidential. |
Coming on the heels of Valve’s announcement yesterday sources at NVIDIA have told the intrepid reporters at VRFocus that they will be announce their own VR, which might “possibly be named Titan VR.” For those at home keeping track that means we will have Oculus showing off the Rift, Sony showing off the Morpheus, Valve showing off the Steam VR, Razer showing off the OSVR, countless people showing off different iterations of mobile phone VR headsets, and now NVIDIA… yeah it’s sufficed to say VR will definitely be having a strong (wait for it…) ‘presence’ this year at GDC.
According to the report the only other details that we know now are that the team behind the project is the same one behind NVIDIA’s SHIELD tablet.
Earlier this month, the NVIDIA team sent out invites to an event on March 3rd that promised to show something that was “more than 5 years in the making” and that what they plan to show will “redefine the future of gaming.” This is most likely when we will get our first glance at the new HMD.
UploadVR will be in attendance at the NVIDIA event, and will be bringing you in the moment updates on Twitter. We will monitor this story as developments continue to come in. |
This is Spilling the Beans , where plugged-in baristas give us the lowdown on where to go, what to do, and what to eat (and drink) in their hometown.
Paul Haworth , director of coffee production at Cartel Coffee Lab in Arizona, has been working in the coffee industry “since last century,” starting in high school when he got a job at a coffee cart in Tuscon. His boss had flown over a roaster from Italy to teach them how to handle beans, and Haworth hasn’t turned back since. He met Cartel’s co-founder, Jason Silberschlag , in high school too. Now, many years later, Haworth knows everything about carne asada fries, tiki bars, and art farms—and it’s all in Phoenix and Tempe. When you get tired of the Grand Canyon, here are his picks.
Where should I stay?
I’d recommend the Clarendon . It’s a great little boutique hotel that’s very modern and affordable. I’d also say stay in an Airbnb in the Maple Ash Farmer Wilson area of Tempe that’s right next to ASU and our roastery. There’s a lot of culture there because the community is a mix of students and professors.
Courtesy of Matt's Big Breakfast
Where should I grab breakfast?
If you’re in Tempe, Essence Bakery . It’s a traditional French bakery with the most ridiculous scrambled eggs I’ve ever had in my life. There are two locations, but the original is in Tempe. In South Tempe, there’s also a place called Crêpe Bar , with an amazingly talented chef, savory and sweet crepes, and great coffee. If you’re in central Phoenix, I’d recommend Matt's Big Breakfast . It’s a lot of food, but it’s just delicious. You’ll never be hungry afterward. Get the breakfast potatoes.
Courtesy of FourTillFour
Where should I go for a great cup of coffee?
I’d definitely say Cartel , because I buy the coffee and obviously believe in it. Crêpe Bar also has a great coffee program; they use beans from Heart in Portland. I’d also recommend a place called Four Till Four in Scottsdale; it’s a Four Barrel account so you can get a little bit of San Francisco in this valley. Most people are multiroasters here but the other local roaster, besides us, is Press Coffee .
Where to go to see great art?
Check out Roosevelt Row . It was a bunch of houses that were turned into art galleries. There are a couple of coffee shops and restaurants there too. It has a crunchy feel to it, and it’s not really polished yet, but that’s where you can really get a feel for the local art scene.
Best food market to eat your way around?
This technically isn’t in Phoenix, but if you can drive 40 minutes, go to Barnone . There’s a guy named Joe Johnston and the farm he grew up on doesn’t exist as a farm anymore, but he’s converted it into an urbanized version of a farm. People call it Agritopia . They sell what grows there in their own marketplace, and they’ve turned the old barn into a makers’ space. He provides equipment and people make stuff there. One end has a wood-fired pizza oven. There’s a letterpress shop. And a brewery has a presence there. I think it’s one of the coolest things in the valley.
Courtesy of Pizzicletta
Hottest new restaurants?
Definitely check out Chris Bianco’s restaurants. He’s a local celebrity here. Pizzeria Bianco is still my personal favorite, but people really love Tratto , which is his newest one that serves house-made pasta. Another one I’d recommend is FnB in Scottsdale. The level of hospitality and the things they do with vegetables—really creative. I also love Virtù , for its cocktail program and its food. If you want to go to a destination restaurant, and you’re going to the Grand Canyon anyway, we go to Pizzicletta , a small place that’s honestly maybe even better than Pizzeria Bianco. We’ll drive all the way up there just for the pizza and make a day out of it.
Old-school Phoenix restaurant institution?
It’s pretty random, but there is a New York hot dog company called Ted's Hot Dogs that serves amazing charcoal-fired hot dogs. One of the family members moved from New York to here and they use the same charcoal and stuff they use in New York. It’s been here since the mid-1900s and it’s a gem. Another one that’s great for lunch is Cornish Pasty , which is what it sounds like. It makes British pot pies called pasties—folded pastries filled with savory ingredients. If anybody is just in Tempe for the day, go here.
Best breweries in town?
There are so many now. The one that has the best breadth and the most interesting offerings is Arizona Wilderness , which is technically in Gilbert and a little bit of a drive. Otherwise, I would’ve recommended Four Peaks , which has always been a Tempe point of pride but was recently purchased by a much larger company. I also really like Wren House , which is in a home that was built in the 1920s.
Courtesy of UnderTow
Where to get a great cocktail?
The hottest place in Phoenix is this tiki bar that’s underground below a café-restaurant called Sip Coffee & Beer House that’s actually a in a refurbished garage. It’s called UnderTow , and it’s blown up. Their cocktail program is honestly the best in town, but you have to make a reservation through an app, and it’s a little busy, and you don’t want to go on the weekends. I end up drinking at Crudo a lot. It’s an awesome restaurant that does a lot of raw Italian food, but their drinks menu has the classics plus a cocktail menu that’s rewritten seasonally. I trust the bartenders there. Rum Bar , which is attached to a restaurant called Breadfruit, has any rum you can imagine.
Courtesy of Valley Bar
Where to see live music?
There is a new-ish place in central Phoenix called Valley Bar that’s a hip venue with a decent cocktail program. There’s also the Crescent Ballroom , which is owned by the same person, and hosts the best acts that come through here.
Best places to get into trouble for the night?
Go to Mill Avenue, the main thoroughfare of Tempe, which is right on the border of the university. It has a reputation for being really crazy. Pretty much the whole street is bars and shenanigans—but also lots of college kids. So, if you want something more low-key, a good place to meet people (and not dance) is Casey Moore’s Oyster House , which is actually a bar. It has this weird cult following, and it’s THE place where people go.
Alex Lau
Where to eat when the party is over?
The breakfast burrito at Los Favoritos , or their carne asada fries. Otherwise, people would probably go to In-N-Out for burgers.
Daytrip?
It depends on the time of year, because in the summer you’d have to drive pretty far to be able to deal with the temperature. This time of year, it’s beautiful hiking weather. You could drive to the Superstition Mountains and be at the trailhead in about 45 minutes. There’s also cool local folklore about the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine. This guy supposedly had a goldmine and no one knew where it was but supposedly the mine is still out there somewhere. There are people who still spend a lot of time looking for it. Then there’s South Mountain, which is actually the largest municipal park in the country, and Camelback mountain in the Scottsdale area.
In case you got hungry reading about pizza: |
Two-time BJJ world champion, two-time ADCC champion, and UFC and Pride veteran Fabricio Werdum shocked the world when he choked out Fedor Emelianenko in 2010. Now he'll challenge Alistair Overeem for the Strikeforce title in the first round of their heavyweight tournament.
He talked to Tatame about the fight:
Technically, your side of the key is stronger, is where the favorites are. Why do you think that Strikeforce matched the fights this way?
I believe they did it that way so that they can sell many pay-per-view subscriptions on the semifinals and on the finale. They're betting I'll beat Overeem and that Fedor beats Big Foot, because they know everybody wants that rematch. So, they want to guarantee a good semifinal so that they sell it out and they're betting on it. Who doesn't want to watch a rematch like this one?
...
Both Kharitoov and Arlovski has beaten you. Do you think about fighting them again?
What I think about is a rematch with Fedor. I wouldn't like to give Overeem this rematch, I'm just fighting because the event matched this fight. To Fedor I'll give this rematch happily, because I like him and he deserves this rematch. But first I have to think about how I'll beat Overeem so that rematch can happen.
It says a great deal about the lack of legitimacy the Strikeforce heavyweight belt has that Werdum doesn't even care that he'll be the champ going into the second round of the tournament if he beats Overeem.
The genius of the Strikeforce tournament is it's allowing them to book the fights that they should have been booking anyway. Werdum beat Fedor and earned the title shot against Overeem -- whether he wants it or not.
Fedor was so dominant for so long that he deserves a shot at the title after only one win.
Antonio Silva will certainly deserve a title if he beats Fedor.
As for the weaker side of the bracket, if Josh Barnett, Andrei Arlovski, Sergei Kharitonov, or Brett Rogers picks up two wins, they'll be a credible challenger -- especially by Strikeforce standards. |
The first commercial for the [email protected] television anime series aired in Japan on Friday.
The story follows a hikikomori (shut-in) named Sasami Tsukuyomi (voiced by Kana Asumi) who is unmotivated about even changing clothes or eating. Her brother Kamiomi (Houchu Ohtsuka) takes care of her, even though she despises his slave-like nature. Sasami spends her days viewing the outside world via a "Brother Surveillance Tool" on her computer. In the outside world, the three beautiful Yagami sisters (played by Chiwa Saito, Kana Hanazawa, and Ai Nonaka) and Sasami's brother are in the middle of relationships worthy of a romantic comedy.
Akiyuki Shinbo is teaming up again with his Madoka Magica and Bakemonogatari studio SHAFT to make the television anime of Akira's [email protected] light novel series. Katsuhiko Takayama (And Yet the Town Moves, Love, Election & Chocolate ) is in charge of the scripts, and Hiroki Harada (Romeo × Juliet, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal) is designing the characters.
The series will premiere on the TBS and BS-TBS channels in Japan on January 10. |
Jon Stewart showed considerable restraint this week when he welcomed Melody Barnes, President Obama’s chief of domestic policy, on The Daily Show and she spoke about the administration’s education reforms in a way that revealed how out of touch the White House is on the subject.
Stewart asked Barnes, who is leaving her post as director of Obama’s Domestic Policy Council at the end of the year, what she was most proud of. She singled out the administration’s education policies, both K-12 and higher education, though Stewart steered the converation to the former.
When Barnes said that “we are turning schools around” and that the multi-billion-dollar Race to the Top competition is a paradigm shift away from the “cookie cutter approach” to education than the prescriptive No Child Left Behind, Stewart was clearly not buying it.
Said Stewart:
“The biggest complaint I hear from teachers, and by teachers I mean my mom... A) Why did you wear that shirt? and B) the teaching to the test. This idea that this Race to the Top, No Child Left Behind, these benchmarks that have been given from Washington have caused schools to focus entirely on whatever benchmark or requirement they need to get funding, and it has removed from education the, I guess what you’d call it, the educating.”
The crowd laughs. It’s clear Stewart isn’t a Race to the Top fan.
Barnes, noting that her mother was a teacher too, quickly responds:
“That’s what we’re trying to turn around. No Child Left Behind had that cookie cutter one-size-fits-all approach to education. And instead what we’ve done through Race to the Top, and most recently because Congress wouldn’t move on reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act and turning it around, we’ve used our flexibility in the executive branch to say, ‘You’ve got some relief if you are going to put in place some smart reforms from those mandates from No Child Left Behind so there’s more flexiblity, there’s more innovation, there’s more creativity so teachers can in fact teach.”
At that point, Stewart might have lowered a hammer on her if she had been, say, Jim Cramer, the former hedge fund manager turned television personality who Stewart took apart in 2009 for Cramer’s financial commentary while the economy was melting down.
After all, Race to the Top — a competition that has states vie for federal funds by promising to implement reforms championed by the Education Department — does, in fact, extend NCLB’s obsession with standardized testing. How? By requiring that teacher evaluation be in part measured by the scores students get on these exams. There is no concrete evidence that any of the Race to the Top reforms actually improve student achievement, but when has education policy paid attention to research?
But Stewart lets Barnes off easy, perhaps recognizing there was no point in a frontal assault. Instead, he said:
“So your feedback... The feedback I’m getting is that Race to the Top has intensified the issue, not alleviated it, but I guess the people I talk to don’t work in the White House.”
Barnes proceeded to chastize him as if she were a kindergarten teacher talking to a 5-year-old. She said, “Now, now, now.”
He let her persist in defending Race to the Top, saying that in states that have won money in the competition, teachers and principals and parents and community leaders have all come together to “focus on plans to help reform education.”
I’m not sure to what states she was referring, as the initial rounds of Race to the Top money included nothing about parent or teacher involvement in reform plans, and many public school teachers are strongly opposed to linking their evaluations to student test scores.
Stewart tried yet again, saying, “I’ve always found with education that individuals are the ones that make the enormous difference. And the more that you are able to empower a great teacher, a great principal, a great superintendent, that can make enormous diferences. How do we empower the individuals to have the authority and responsibility to make those changes and not tie them to arbitrary objective realities or goals?”
And they kept talking until, apparently, Stewart realized it was hopeless.
He suggested that schools raise money by renting out rooms at night: “Brothels.”
Barnes said the only thing that made much sense: “Not the brothel plan.”
The takeaway? Administration officials either are oblivious to the opposition to their education policies — which is significant enough that the host of a news satire television show knows about it — or they are willfully ignoring it.
Either way, we’ve got a problem.
Follow The Answer Sheet every day by bookmarking http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet. And for admissions advice, college news and links to campus papers, please check out our Higher Education page. Bookmark it! |
My early days as a DJ back in the 1980s were some of my favorite times in my career, because I got to play all styles of music from Italo disco to house and from new wave to reggae. I tied them all together with my trusty Roland 808 drum machine. This was the beginning of electronic dance music as we know it today. But I had one big problem — I was super shy. I couldn’t even look at the crowd! All I did was look at the turntables and the mixer.
I recall when I was the resident DJ at The Playground in Chicago — where I played for 1,500 kids every Friday and Saturday — reaching a point where I had the most amazing revelation. As I was going through all the technical aspects of DJing, I had no idea that a lot of girls would just stand in front of the DJ booth and stare at me. When I finally looked up, I realized that I had absolutely nothing to be shy about. Girls love DJs. From that moment on I stood tall in my skills and embraced the attention that a DJ commands.
I remember playing MayDay in Berlin, Germany for the first time back in 2000. I closed it out following Jeff Mills, Carl Cox, Marusha and WestBam. Talk about being scared. Not because each one my peers is an amazing, legendary DJ, but because they all played fast, hard techno! Now I play a very diverse cross section of styles of electronic dance music, but never hard techno. As a matter of fact, WestBam — one of the founders of Mayday — was very adamant that he wanted me to play whatever I felt.
ART of the DJ live in Arcata, California in May, 2014
Well, going from 145 BPM to 125 BPM is a huge jump for any style, but I was up for the challenge. As I played my first track and watched the ecstasy-induced crowd go from a frenzy to a cool groove, my spirit relaxed. The process took about five minutes, but as I looked at WestBam and saw him nod “I told you so,” it was the most amazing feeling. Further proof that all styles of music are universal. It was definitely one of my most memorable sets of all time.
In 2010 I started incorporating live visual elements into my sets to enhance the experience. I remember the first time I utilized the Roland Visual Sampler system and ran my documentary “The Real Story” at King King in Los Angeles. The crowd was fascinated because I was DJing, but the visuals were telling my story at the same time. They didn’t know whether to dance or to watch. Having that kind of control over a crowd is stimulating, to say the least.
The 2014 Chosen Few DJs event — the largest 100% pure house music celebration in the world, boasting over 50,000 in attendance — was my favorite by far. My performance utilized my own edits of house favorites and new tracks blended together. I even had a hype (wo)man in my homie, the incomparable, beautiful, talented and sexy LisaRaye! |
Tennessee redshirt freshman defensive lineman Andrew Butcher’s football career is over.
The Alpharetta (Ga.) native announced via Twitter on Monday evening that he has opted to take a medical exemption, meaning he will remain on scholarship at UT, but will no longer play football.
Zone not found or deactivated.Zone id : 5
Butcher’s college career comes to an end before it truly got a chance to get started.
Ranked as a three-star defensive end coming out of Alpharetta High Schooll, the Clemson legacy prospect enrolled early in 2015 and participated in spring practice that season. But an offseason surgery put him behind for the 2015 season, forcing him to take a redshirt.
And while he bulked up and was able to return to practice later in 2016 as a defensive tackle, Butcher never saw the field for the Vols despite a rash of injuries and attrition at the position. His Twitter statement on Monday indicates that four surgeries, which included two major operations on one knee, were simply too much to overcome physically.
Butcher will no longer count against the 85-man scholarship limit for UT. |
Not surprisingly, the news comes from Massachusetts, where Daniel Booth filed a joint motion for costs and stay of proceedings, and for protective order in Guava v. John Doe (MAD 12-cv-11880 ). Basically, this document, besides asking what its title implies, describes the very same instance of Prenda’s douchebaggery that I wrote about in the last Guava update , but does so using more details and a much better language.
I do not want to write a full-blown post and analyze this document. Firstly, so many events have been happening lately on the troll battleground: if I dive in the details of each of them, I will have to spend 24/7 on this issues, which is less than desirable during the holidays season. And secondly, documents written by Dan and Jason are always well articulated and, as a rule, do not require additional comments.
If you don’t know anything about Guava/Arte de Oaxaca scams (derived from the Lightspeed’s fraudulent lawsuit) and want to fully understand both the subject and the beauty of the following document, you should familiarize yourself with the history of these lawsuit abuses.
John Steele, during his drunken outbreak of rage thought he vindicated only Erin Russell and her clients. It never crossed this narcissistic moron’s mind that Erin also might be a local representative for someone else. In this case, “someone else” happened to be Booth Sweet, whose attorneys are several leagues above Massachusetts Prenda’s counsel Daniel Ruggiero, so I pity the poor scumbag: he will feel a lot of heat soon (he is currently being confronted by superior attorneys in several states). His masters, criminal masterminds from now being abandoned ship Prenda, are not in much better situation. Readers of this blog know this.
Coverage
TechDirt: Prenda’s Latest Bag Of Tricks: Getting Info On IP Addresses By Any Means Necessary by Mike Masnick.
Followup |
As a valued friend of the GIANTS you can access 4 x FREE tickets to the GWS GIANTS match at Spotless Stadium this Saturday in Sydney Olympic Park.
The match details are below:
WHEN MATCH TIME Saturday, 30 April GWS GIANTS v Hawthorn 4.35pm
To register for your tickets simply follow the steps below and see you at the game!
1. To redeem your FREE family pass within general admission, CLICK HERE
2. Login to your existing GIANTS account or register for a new account. Note, you must create an account before entering the promo code password at step 4.
3. Select “Find Tickets” next to your match
4. Type the password “NEVERSURRENDER” when prompted to enter a promo code (no spaces, all capitals)
5. Select your number of tickets (max 4 per person) and click “continue”
6. Review your order and click “add to cart”
7. If you already have a GIANTS account, simply log in using your email and password. Otherwise click on “create an account” and enter in the details requested
8. Select your delivery option (TicketFast Tickets only) and click “Checkout”
9. Agree with the terms of use and select “submit order”
10. Select “Print tickets” and scan in at the gate on game day
For any questions, please contact [email protected] or call 1300 GIANTS (1300 442 687) during business hours only. Tickets are strictly subject to capacity so get in early to avoid missing out.
See you at the game! |
The Campaign for North Africa Designer(s) Richard Berg Publisher(s) Simulation Publications, Inc. Publication date 1978 Genre(s) Military simulation Players 2-10 Playing time Up to ≈1,500 hours Synonym(s) CNA
The Campaign for North Africa (generally referred to as CNA by wargamers), is an unprecedentedly detailed military simulation game of the North African Campaign of World War II.[1] It was designed by Richard Berg and published by Simulations Publications, Inc. in 1978.
Complexity [ edit ]
Though some fans of war simulation games appreciate detail, The Campaign for North Africa offered more detail than any board wargame before or since, leading to the ambivalent reaction with which the game is regarded. Even gamers who were initially fascinated with the idea of an extremely detailed war game might have been chagrined when they opened the box to discover 1,800 counters, maps large enough to cover several tables, and a three-volume rulebook of considerable weight and density. The rules cover logistics in extreme detail, far more so than the combat simulation. It is recommended that each side be played by a five-person team, including a Commander-In-Chief and four subordinate commanders, making a total of ten players needed for a game, although it can be played with the usual two. According to SPI, a complete game can run over 1,500 hours. However, the logistics of keeping a ten-person group together for fifteen hundred hours of gaming was a feat beyond even most hardcore wargamers, and completed full games of The Campaign for North Africa are rare.
Legacy [ edit ]
Although The Campaign for North Africa is playable only with great difficulty in terms of time, the game is prized by collectors and has been praised by some players, who consider it something of the "ultimate paper war game". A commonly cited example of its level of detail (and one noted in SPI's advertising) noted is the fact that the game's Italian troops required additional water supplies so that they could prepare pasta. The game represents a brief evolutionary step between the relative simplicity of most paper war games of its time, and the dawn of the era of computer war games, where complexity and depth need not come at the expense of playability.
Due to the game's collectability and legendary status, it has long been considered a candidate for possible reissue. Decision Games expressed a desire to do so, promising "the unplayable monster made playable", which suggests that the game would be considerably revamped instead of simply reprinted. The December 2007 flyer allows a prospective purchaser to commit to buying the game if and when it is published.
Latest developments [ edit ]
The original game has received an extensive rules review, which nevertheless retains the unique and detailed game systems. Apart from a variety of minor fixes, a series of deeper changes have been made to "fix" the oft-criticised air game rules. An extensive spreadsheet system, backed by custom programming has been developed in association with the update. This "playable" version is hosted at the CNA Play Group.
In the sitcom The Big Bang Theory, the game is played in "The Neonatal Nomenclature" (S11/Ep1-2018) when character Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons) offers to stay with Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz (Melissa Rauch) while waiting for her go into labor. |
At the memorial for Nelson Mandela, President Barack Obama eulogized the fallen leader:
Like Gandhi, he would lead a resistance movement – a movement that at its start held little prospect of success. Like [Martin Luther] King, he would give potent voice to the claims of the oppressed.
Listening in the crowd sat Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's second deputy prime minister. Apparently the words were lost on the government His Royal Highness was representing (though it's questionable he even relayed the message), because within the next week, a Saudi judge sentenced democratic activist Omar al-Saeed to 4 years in prison and 300 lashes. His crime: calling for a constitutional monarchy (a government that would likely outlaw such cruel and unusual punishment).
Omar al-Saeed Photo: Twitter
Saeed is a member of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (Acpra), an organization documenting human rights abuses and calling for democratic reform. He is its fourth member to be sentenced to prison this year. In March, co-founders Mohammad Fahad al-Qahtani (who I have met in the past, and previously wrote about) and Abdullah al-Hamid were sentenced to prison terms of 10 and 5 years on charges such as "breaking allegiance with the ruler" and running an unlicensed political organization – despite repeated attempts to obtain a license.
Not surprisingly, there has been no strong public statement from the Obama administration regarding Saeed's sentencing. Following the conviction and sentencing of Qahtani and Hamid, the strongest language came from the obscure United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. It took a direct question at a press briefing to prompt a canned statement from the State department, claiming "concern" at the arrests and sentences, and asserting that the US makes "strong representations for human rights activists" wherever our diplomats are.
It is also of little surprise that American media hasn't pressed Obama administration officials on this latest persecution, and the clear signal the sentence sends that those "strong representations" fell on deliberately deaf ears. After all, there is much to be distracted by in the region: the Iranian nuclear deal, the continuing bloody war in Syria, and the escalating conflict in Egypt. All of these strategically concern Saudi Arabia and its level of influence – briefings at State in the days following Saeed's sentencing touched on issues such as Saudi-US cooperation in the Middle East peace process, and the Geneva II conference over Syria, with no mention of the quashing of nascent civil society.
But what is particularly galling about the lack of public pressure on the Saudi government for their continued crackdown on Acpra and other democratic activists is that it is indicative of a broader flight from the lofty pro-democracy rhetoric of the Obama White House at the beginning of the Arab Spring.
With Syria, the Obama administration seemed interested principally in retributive strikes against the Assad regime for using chemical weapons simply because it crossed an imaginary "red line" and because it violated an "international norm", regardless of what the effect would be on the revolution's non-extremist anti-Assad forces and movements – likely the only (yet swiftly fading) hope for democratization.
The United States government chose not to label the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi as a military coup in Egypt – and then only reduced military aid (which is required by law should a military government overthrow a democratically elected leader) in the face of massive and violent repression where, quite literally, "the whole world was watching". Secretary of State John Kerry then said this aid reduction was not a form of "punishment" in his November visit to Cairo. Now the state department had to issue a statement on 23 December, condemning the recent crackdown by Egypt's military government on peaceful demonstrators and activists – a sign that once again, trust in authoritarian regimes to be the stewards of inclusive democratic transitions will result in failure.
Of course, there are strategic rationalizations for supporting the military government of Sisi in Egypt, or Saudi Arabia, despite human rights abuses. The US is set to sell $10.8bn in military weapons, including standoff land attack missiles and anti-ship harpoon missiles capable of being fired from US-made F-15s and F-16s to Saudi and the UAE – the latter just sentenced an American citizen to a year in prison for making a satirical video about Emirati youth.
These countries are important players, and must interact with the many moving parts of US foreign policy. But this was also the argument behind support for the apartheid government of South Africa – where strategic interests took precedence over addressing clear injustice.
It's clear that half-hearted condemnations have little effect on human rights abuses. The governments of countries like Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt can't afford to truly forswear US support (even if they make public displays of frustration). The US and other allies should demand an end to the suppression of democratic activism and civil society – and back it up with real threats of withdrawal of support.
Supporters of democracy should not be afraid to name, shame, and directly confront tyranny wherever it is seen. Whether it is in Russia or China, or perpetrated under the guise of "national security" by the United States or the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Those that deem oppression a strategic necessity or its elimination an impossibility almost always end up on the "wrong side of history". |
Though the concept of savory chopped meat wrapped in dough exists in every cuisine, in one way or another — fried, baked or boiled — the British have proudly claimed sausage rolls as their own. Or so says my friend Caroline, an expat Briton who considers herself an expert in such things. (I am always asking her for the English point of view, and she is not shy.)
What is she cooking for the holidays? I asked. Sausage rolls, she said, tons of them. For Caroline, it’s no bother at all to throw together a bit of puff pastry and a batch of sausage meat; she doesn’t even have to measure ingredients, so accustomed is she to the routine.
And it is fairly simple. Form the sausage filling into a long log shape and wrap it with dough, slice into pieces, brush with egg wash and bake till golden. |
The European Commission on Wednesday (21 March) said Cyprus itself was responsible for the most unpopular detail of its bailout.
Following the Cypriot parliament's rejection of the €10 billion bailout, the commission said it was Nicosia that wanted to apply a levy on all savers - including the least well off - when the terms of the deal were being discussed.
It is this element that sparked Cypriots to queue to take money out of their accounts and led to fears of a bank run that could spread to other vulnerable periphery euro countries.
"The commission made it clear ... that an alternative solution respecting the financing parameters would be acceptable, preferably without a levy on deposits below €100.000. The Cypriot authorities did not accept such an alternative scenario."
It said it is now up to Cyprus to find "alternative solutions” to raise the €5.8 billion that its creditors want from the island itself.
In Berlin, the German government was busy outing Cyprus' role too.
"The way the levy is structured was not something the Eurogroup or the German government imposed on Cyprus, it was a decision by the Cypriot government. They did not want to have depositors above €100,000 pay too much," government spokesperson Steffen Seibert said Wednesday.
It follows several comments by finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble that Cyprus was keen to maintain its business model as a low tax, financial centre.
During the bailout discussions on Friday, Cypriot leader Nicos Anastasiades baulked at taxing larger deposit holders, including many wealthy Russians, at anything higher than 10 percent.
The end solution was to tax all savers: a compulsory levy of 6.75 percent on deposits under €100,000 and a 9.9 percent tariff on savings over €100,000.
A last minute tweak to exempt those with less than €20,000 savings was not enough to avoid the entire bailout package being voted down.
The events mark an extraordinary few days of blame and counterblame as individual EU politicians refuse to accept accountability for the original package.
Meanwhile the decision-making trail, despite the commission’s statement putting the blame at Nicosia's door, remains muddy.
According to one EU source, the commission sided with Cyprus when Nicosia refused to accept an original German proposal called a "bail-in," in which only the two largest banks - Laiki and Bank of Cyprus - would have been "considerably restructured," meaning losses for depositors and bondholders alike.
But under that proposal, depositors under €100,000 would not have been hit.
“We don’t really understand why the commission opposed this,” the source said.
The same source also indicated the commission was in agreement with Cyprus when it suggested taxing all savers with a one-off levy in all Cypriot banks.
The commission, for its part, said that not all “elements” of the bailout correspond to its “proposals and preferences.”
But it added that it was not EU economics commissioner Olli Rehn’s “responsibility to start putting down reservations when everyone else is in agreement.”
Meanwhile, German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle told press in Berlin on Wednesday that there is no point in blaming "one person, one institution or one country" for the levy.
He added: "But I already said at the weekend that I am sceptical about the involvement of small savers because it can hit the wrong people."
For now, the status of the bailout is in limbo.
It is unclear when Cypriot banks will re-open and how long the European Central Bank will keep up an emergency-lending scheme for Laiki and the Bank of Cyprus in the absence of a bailout deal. The absolute deadline for a revised bailout is 3 June, when €1.42 billion in government bonds falls due. |
Armor Your VR Machine Prepare yourself well to enjoy the impressive world of Virtual Reality. Before that, you have to make sure everything is qualified, including hardware, software and drivers. Motherboard is the key to connect every critical components and ASRock's VR Ready motherboards are definitely the one you're looking for. The premium qualify is assured by rigorous testing during development. The sturdy components and rock-slid performance makes you completely immersive in the VR scenario. Users can be assured to experience VR enjoyments without any compatibility problems.
Triple Monitor
Digi Power
ELNA Audio Caps
A-Tuning
Live Update & APP Shop
Graphics, graphics and even more graphics! You've demanded for more eye candy, so this motherboard supports Triple Monitor. You may choose up to three display interfaces from the rear i/o to connect monitors and use them simultaneously without installing another graphics card.*Supported with A-Series APUs only.Unlike traditional motherboards that use analog power, this motherboard uses a next generation digital PWM (Pulse-Width Modulation) design, which provides CPU Vcore voltage more efficiently and smoothly, so that the stability and lifespan of the motherboard is greatly enhanced.Who says high quality audio is only available on high-end motherboards? ASRock applied ELNA audio capacitors on mainstream and entry-level motherboards! Compared with traditional solid caps, the leakage current of ELNA audio caps is merely 3uA. This is the key to reduce noise level significantly and satisfy even the pickiest audiophiles.A-Tuning is ASRock's multi purpose software suite with a new interface, more new features and improved utilities.ASRock Live Update & APP Shop is designed for your convenience. We provide various apps and support software for users to download. You can also easily optimize your system and keep your motherboard up to date with ASRock Live Update & APP Shop.The specification is subject to change without notice in advance. The brand and product names are trademarks of their respective companies. Any configuration other than original product specification is not guaranteed.The above user interface picture is a sample for reference. The actual user interface may vary with the updated software version. |
Nathan Baker’s own goal against Reading had even his own team-mates perplexed (Picture: Getty Images)
Manchester United do it, regularly. Bradford did it, memorably. Even German fifth-tier side SV Rodinghausen have managed it, recently. But Stoke are the only side not to in the best part of eight months.
What am I talking about? Scoring against Aston Villa, of course.
The stats are pretty sobering, not to mention damning. No clean sheets in 2013. No clean sheets in any of the last THIRTY-THREE matches Villa’s first-team have played, be it league (22), cup (five) or friendly (six). A sorry run that stretches back to December 8 last year – when Villa and Stoke played out a goalless draw that was every bit as much fun as it sounds.
It’s a pretty embarrassing state of affairs if you’re a Villa fan (perhaps more so if you’re Kenwyne Jones or Jonathan Walters). And the leak hasn’t really been plugged, based on the evidence of pre-season.
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They have conceded in all of their friendlies thus far, against the aforementioned SV Rodinghausen (a side at an equivalent level to Solihull Moors), two German second tier sides, plus Luton, Wycombe and Crewe.
Sure, results of friendlies mean very little – it’s all about building up match fitness, establishing patterns of play and integrating new arrivals into the squad. Performance 1, results 0. And the constant rotating of personnel in warm-up matches makes the odd defensive mix-up inevitable.
Pre-season goals conceded just add weight to the view that Villa, with their callow defence, start each match 1-0 down.
Villa leaked goals regularly from corners last season, notably in the Capital One Cup semi-final against Bradford (Picture: Getty Images)
Taken in isolation, these pre-season goals could be viewed as aberrations. But instead they just add weight to the view that Villa, with their callow defence, start each match 1-0 down.
Poor judgment blighted the inexperienced Villa defence last season.
Witness the regular corner kick fiascos or Ciaran Clark’s naivety against Manchester City in March. But sometimes it was just sheer bad luck that prevented clean sheets – own goals by Ashley Westwood, Nathan Baker and Fabian Delph stopped Villa from shutting out West Ham, Reading and Fulham.
New signing Jores Okore, highly-rated by all who saw him play for Nordsjaelland in the Champions League last season, should add quality to the spine, and Antonio Luna’s arrival adds further competition to Villa’s busy left-back slot (but more of that in a later blog).
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However, Okore suffered a hamstring injury in the match against Rodinghausen and has been in treatment ever since. Without him, it may be back to the same Lowton-Vlaar-Baker-Bennett quartet which, while individually talented, seems prone to an error or two.
With Christian Benteke, Gabby Agbonlahor, Andi Weimann and Nicklas Helenius in attack next season, Villa will have goals in abundance. But if some of the basic mistakes of last season are repeated, we’ll need at least two to win matches. |
Nonprofits in Arkansas will no longer benefit from the sales and use tax refund provided by the Nonprofit Incentive Act of 2005. Senate Bill 160, which was signed into law last week, repeals the Act, effective 90 days after the end of the 2017 legislative session.
The Nonprofit Incentive Act was created as an incentive to draw nonprofits to the state. The text of the Act notes, “In situations in which a nonprofit organization is considering whether to locate its operations in Arkansas, it is important to have an inducement to help the nonprofit organization decide to locate to Arkansas.”
However, bill sponsor Sen. David Wallace told the Senate that the incentives had never been used because nonprofits would “rather stay in Washington, D.C.” Wallace was asked by the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to sponsor a bill to eliminate the program. Additional information about the incentive is available in the text of SB 160.
Changes in product taxability, exemptions, and sales and use tax rates make it challenging for businesses to manage sales and use tax. Tax automation software facilitates sales and use tax compliance in all states. Learn more.
Photo credit. |
This post was contributed by a community member.
On this date two years ago, Gov. Maggie Hassan signed HB 573, making New Hampshire the last state in New England to approve a medical marijuana law. Unfortunately, so far this law has failed to benefit patients in any way, and it still is not clear when it will finally begin to do so.
Nearly a year ago, I published this commentary on New Hampshire's medical marijuana law at Fosters Daily Democrat. Sadly, very little has changed in the last year, so the following statements remain entirely accurate:
"Patients who have been waiting desperately for legal protection have yet to experience any actual compassion from the executive branch." "The challenges facing patients are compounded dramatically by the fact that New Hampshire still maintains such harsh penalties for simple marijuana possession… the penalty for possessing even a tiny amount of marijuana in New Hampshire is up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $2000." "As a result of these delays, today many NH patients are forced to continue using dangerous and addictive drugs such as OxyContin rather than being able to benefit from the use of a safer alternative."
The human consequences of this policy failure have been substantial. Some, including well-known patient-advocate Clayton Holton, have passed away while waiting for the law to take effect. Others, such as Ron Mitchell, have had no choice but to leave their families behind and move to another state in search of relief.
Patients received some good news in late May when the Department of Health and Human Services finally selected three applicants to move forward with their plans to operate four dispensaries in the state. However, the state cannot guarantee that these four dispensaries will be able to open and begin serving patients in a timely fashion. And, since the success of the program depends entirely on the success of these three dispensary applicants, patients are still left with more questions than answers with regard to the program's future.
If you're interested in learning more about why this law has not yet fulfilled its purpose, I hope you will take time to read the Marijuana Policy Project's new two-year retrospective on New Hampshire's "Therapeutic Use of Cannabis" program. Titled "Confusion, Delays, and Continued Arrests," it includes the most recent updates, analyzes why the law is not yet effective for patients, and makes recommendations for improving the law and policy moving forward.
Additionally, for those who may continue to doubt the efficacy of cannabis for therapeutic use, I hope you will take time to familiarize yourself with research published last year by the Journal of the American Medical Association, which found that "Medical cannabis laws are associated with significantly lower state-level opioid overdose mortality rates."
It simply makes no sense to continue denying patients legal protection if their medical providers believe they could benefit from using cannabis instead of relying solely on prescription drugs such as OxyContin. But in New Hampshire, that is still exactly what is happening.
In one particularly high-profile case, Thomas Orkney, a 58-year-old Navy veteran suffering with a traumatic brain injury, was arrested by Lebanon police and charged with a misdemeanor for possessing less than one-half ounce of cannabis in his apartment. This man was charged with a crime despite the fact that he showed police his medical marijuana certificate from another state and told them he had obtained the cannabis from a state-legal dispensary.
Mr. Orkney's arrest plainly contradicted the assurances legislators have continually received from the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police. "We're not arresting patients in their homes," the association's president, Enfield Chief Richard Crate, told the Associated Press in 2013.
Even if Mr. Orkney had not been a patient, his possession of cannabis would not have even been considered a criminal offense in any other New England state. All other New England states have decriminalized simple possession in addition to implementing effective medical marijuana laws.
Sadly, the question I posed at the end of the Fosters editorial last year still seems appropriate:
"Is this really supposed to be somebody's idea of compassion?"
Matt Simon is the New England Political Director of the Marijuana Policy Project. |
David Graham, a writer at The Atlantic, thinks it might not be a good idea to annoy your fellow Thanksgiving guests with discussions about politics. However, this year he is making an exception and is urging his fellow liberals to attempt reeducating the "unenlightened" Thanksgiving guests with a plethora of leftist talking points. Why? Because of President Donald Trump.
Here is Graham making the case for risking the ruination of your Thanksgiving dinner by injecting liberal politics into the conversations in Go Ahead, Talk Politics at Thanksgiving:
<<< Please support MRC's NewsBusters team with a tax-deductible contribution today. >>>
Of all the Thanksgiving anxieties—bad traffic, overcooked turkey, undercooked turkey, the aunt who tries to get creative with some gourmet cranberry relish when all you want is the familiar canned variety, dammit, her increasingly intoxicated and querulous husband, and so on—no fear seems to equal that of getting sucked into a political conversation. ...This hasn’t stopped some people from urging others to do it—most notably Barack Obama, who encouraged people to talk about health insurance at Thanksgiving 2013. No wonder Obamacare was so unpopular for so long. This year, however, here’s my (probably bad) advice: Go ahead, argue about politics.
Really? What changed your mind? Why, David, is this Thanksgiving different than all other Thanksgivings?
There are two primary reasons to just dive in. First, President Trump’s ability to grab the spotlight and inject himself into so many facets of life makes trying to avoid politics practically futile these days. I’m a political journalist and spend all my time talking, reporting, and writing about politics, so I am not especially representative, but I also live far outside the Beltway in North Carolina. I am astonished at how often conversations with “civilians” outside of politics and journalism drift inexorably toward politics, followed by an awkward silence as everyone realizes the discussion has gone there. Besides, what else are you going to talk about? The weather? That’s going to be a climate-change debate in no time at all.
Of course! Trump's fault. And can we refer to the New York Times column by Benjamin Y. Fong that blames capitalism for climate change? The same capitalism that made it possible for almost every family in America to have a Thanksgiving turkey on their table.
Second, the stakes are higher this year. That isn’t to say that politics doesn’t affect our lives deeply all the time—if I felt it didn’t, I wouldn’t waste my time covering it—but the matters that the last year or two have brought into the arena are central to the nation’s identity: the role of racism in American society, the fate of longstanding norms about how the U.S. functions, the appropriate role for our country in global affairs, what rule of law means, and nuclear war, for pete’s sake. These are more important than the details of health-care legislation, marginal tax rates, or any number of the mundane topics that might have caused friction at previous years’ family feasts. If the things I’m talking about here are more likely to cause screaming matches, that’s because they’re so important.
Oh yes, how well I remember the children at the kiddies table last year getting into a food fight arguing over marginal tax rates. A familiar Thanksgiving topic going back to the days of the Pilgrims.
Only by talking to relatives can you find out whether they hold dubious political positions (read: ones you disagree with, but also ones that are factually incorrect), and thus try to convince them to adopt your position. How to do that? Politifact offers a fact-sheet for easy reference, but frankly you’re probably better off just setting your own pants on fire.
Liar! Liar! Pants on fire! As for relying on Politifact, right now their Thanksgiving recommendation is to stick to such "facts" that Trump is merely the lucky beneficiary of "economic tailwinds" and that Hillary Clinton knew nothing about anything nefarious in the Uranium One deal. Got that, Sergeant Schultz? She knew nothing...NOTHING!
Political scientists have also found that people are more likely to change their political views based on personal interactions—especially personal interactions that are focused on issues, rather than arrayed along partisan battle lines.
So does that mean we should bring some extra MAGA hats to the Thanksgiving meal to give to one or more of the guests in case they get Red Pilled?
So go ahead, take on your grandma’s outdated views. Go ahead, get into it with your smug, know-it-all nephew. Go ahead, explain to your cousin who read an online explainer that the issue is more complicated than it appears. The country’s fate depends on it.
"Alexa, please talk to my annoying Thanksgiving guest so I don't have to listen to his drivel." |
As mentioned in my introductory post, it takes quite a bit of work to make my audio-reactive cigar box “tick.” The mechanical assembly comes in another post, but this is all about how it was programmed and wired. If you’d like to just skip to the Arduino code, it’s listed here. In case you forgot or missed it, here’s the video of this cigar box in action:
As for how everything works, keep reading, and I’ll try to explain what is going on in a bit more detail.
Microphone Input
Getting a correct signal from a microphone breakout is a bit more complicated than one might think; Instead of just measuring the voltage, you have to define a sample size as shown in this Adafruit post. I actually used something from Sparkfun, but I think they work very similarly.
One thing that I’m told would have helped my results, would be to put the servo motor on a separate signal while combining grounds. The servo draws a lot of power from everything, causing the microphone breakout to be thrown off at times. At least that’s my understanding. Also, if you’re using an Arduino, you’ll need to make sure to hook the supply voltage to the “AREF” pin as well to give it a voltage to compare it to.
Servo Control
The servo is hooked to PWM pin 5 as well as the + and – of the batteries. The code is written so that it varies how high it lifts to lid (2 positions now). It would likely be possible to make it directly proportional to the lid, but I haven’t tried this yet. If you’re going to do this, I used, and would recommend my servo-connecting header “component.” This little device makes connecting a standard to a servo wire to a breadboard quite easy.
LED Strip Control
There is some good tutorial material on Adafruit, and you can certainly check out my code to see what is going on there. The cool thing about these strips is that you can control all the LEDs in them with two wires, not including the +5VDC and and GND cable. Also, to change the number of LEDs under control, you just change the code and cut the strip. It’s a really cool device that I hope to play with more.
Wiring
Wiring for this project is provided through a small breadboard (this one – Amazon), and a lot of hookup wire. Even though there are some wires that could be run into the Auduino directly (LED strip signal wires for instance) running it into the breadboard first, then into the processor seems to keep things clean. This is especially important since the lid jumping up and down definitely has a tendency to pull the wires out.
Along with this, I plugged the servo into the breadboard using a technique outlined here. This double-ended header really makes it easy to remove or plug it in without too much hassle. All in all, I was quite pleased with how the wiring turned out.
Thanks for reading, if you’d like to see how everything was put together mechanically, check out this post. |
Square Enix today released new World of Final Fantasy screenshots featuring the heroes Reynn and Lann as a mysterious woman named Enna Kros guides them into the world of Grymoire. Along the way, the siblings encounter notable characters, locations and monsters that will be familiar to Final Fantasy fans, including the legendary Lightning from Final Fantasy XIII and the town of Cornelia from the original Final Fantasy.
The new images showcase Mirages, powerful creatures that can turn the tide of any battle to aid Reynn and Lann. Players can take advantage of the game’s unique stacking mechanic to increase attack power and HP and unlock special abilities. Among the iconic Mirages are Shiva, Ramuh, Ifrit and Cerberus, ready to wipe out all enemies that oppose the duo. World of Final Fantasy also introduces train travel with the Cactuar Conductor for Reynn and Lann to journey across Grymoire. |
DAVAO CITY, Philippines — Residents who are 18 or younger are not allowed on the street without an adult between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Liquor cannot be sold after 1 a.m. Smoking is banned throughout the city, except in a few designated areas.
A party town? Maybe not, but many people who live here in Davao City, where President-elect Rodrigo Duterte has been the mayor for most of the past two decades, say that’s not the point.
They believe that Mr. Duterte, who will begin his term on June 30, has brought safety and calm to a city that is surrounded by areas where violence is rife.
At Magsaysay Park along the waterfront, children roller-skate at an outdoor rink near stands where brightly colored pomelo, mangosteen and other tropical fruits are sold. Young couples sit on shaded benches, giggling and holding hands. |
In 20 short days, the beaches will open on Bachelor in Paradise, a tropical halfway house for Bachelor/Bachelorette rejects still looking for love despite getting the boot on their respective show. As per usual, this season's ensemble is a carefully calibrated mix of veterans (Clare, whose Native American name is "Talks With Raccoons"), randoms (wait, who is Dan again?), recent castoffs (Jared and his patchy beard), professional drama queens (Ashley I.), and comic relief (Ashley S., aka "Onion Girl"). Together they will descend on the town of Sayulita, located in Vallarta-Nayarit, Mexico, for weeks of flirting, fighting, forming alliances, occasionally fornicating, and generally jockeying to be the final couple standing. Click through this slideshow to meet all of this season's players (and read their hilariously earnest "official" bios), and then join us back here every week for Bachelor in Paradise recaps and host Chris Harrison's blog. After all, it's the summer — doesn't your brain need a vacation?
Bachelor in Paradise premieres Sunday, Aug. 2 at 8 p.m. on ABC. |
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