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ES News Email Enter your email address Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in or register with your social account A van owner has posted an advert offering a parked van for rent as a home for £220 per month. The yellow vehicle is parked on a narrow residential street in Bristol – where many people have recently taken to living in vans rather than costly and in-demand flats. The minibus owner, known just as ‘Johnny’, posted the advert last week and claimed the van comes with all the facilities required for “winter living”. He said it has a fire burner, cooker, oven, sink, tap, double bed and kitchen table. The rent is listed at £220 but the lower figure of £160 also appears in the description. According to the advert, the LDV Convoy van is parked in High Street, Easton, is available from November 1.
Here's a little secret I found out recently about how to get free Krispy Kreme doughnuts: When the "hot" sign is on, some Krispy Kreme locations give away one free original glazed doughnut to every person stopping buy. This is done on a store-by-store basis, so you'll need to ask your local Krispy Kreme if they offer this or not. If they do, and if you drive by their store often, look for the "hot" sign (a big, red, neon sign that's visible from a long ways off and says that hot doughnuts are available -- see the link above and the words "Look for the Hot Light" for a picture of what it looks like). If it's on, pull in and grab your free doughnut. Our Krispy Kreme store happens to be on the way to the local mall, across the street from Lowe's and on the main intersection in our city leading to all the other main shopping areas. We go by it at least once a week, and we hit the jackpot about once every third time. My kids get so excited at just the thought of getting a doughnut and since it's free, my wife's ok with it (despite the lack of nutritional content). WE hit it this past weekend and it made a great start to our day. How can Krispy Kreme afford to do this? Well, first, the cost of a doughnut is virtually nothing. It's not that costly to give them away. Second, they taste GREAT -- especially when they are hot. Even if people don't buy any more on this trip, it's likely that they will on another trip. Who can forget the great taste of a hot, Krispy Kreme doughnut? Finally, most people do buy something extra. Getting customers into a store is over half the battle in marketing and they become MUCH more likely to buy something if they go into the store (it's pretty hard to buy something if you're not in the store). ;-) And since Krispy Kreme makes such a large margin on their doughnuts, coffee, etc., they easily end up making money by giving away free doughnuts. A couple of non-finance comments: 1. My favorite doughnuts are the chocolate iced creme filled (last one in top row). 2. The best: a hot, original, glazed doughnut with a scoop (or two!) of Moose Tracks ice cream on it. Or, if you're a huge chocolate fan, go with Extreme Moose Tracks ice cream. Yummmmmmmm! ;-)
At San Diego Comic-Con this past weekend, Dark Horse announced it would publish the first book in the exciting new multimedia franchise from DeZerlin Media: Dragon Resurrection! Following the discovery of the remains of a dragon in the mountains of Tibet, adventurer Jesse Chang sends a DNA sample back to his twin brother, geneticist Jack. However, when a rogue American general learns of the discovery, he sets in motion a global pursuit to seize and control the technology for his own shocking ends. Now these twin siblings must synthesize the dragon’s DNA, creating a new generation of living, breathing dragons, in order to take on a tyrant bent on building his own personal kingdom. A dynamic cross between Jurassic Park and Mission: Impossible, Dragon Resurrection represents the first-ever Chinese superheroes to be seen in the mainstream international markets. This dynamic new graphic novel from Dark Horse represents the first release of a franchise that will produce books, games, and other merchandise, leading up to a major motion picture. “It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s cool—we purposely made a book that we ourselves wanted to read,” said writer/producer Mark Byers. “We’re so happy to be part of the Dark Horse team and to have them share our enthusiasm for the franchise.” “Dragons are not just in fairy tales; they’re real, and they live among us,” says creator/producer Lin Zhang. “That’s the feeling we wanted to create, and since dragons are a part of both Eastern and Western cultures, we made an exciting action adventure that will thrill everyone.” Click here to read a Free and exclusive 25-page digital preview! Head over to MTV Geek to read an exclusive interview with writer/producer Mark Byers! Look for Dragon Resurrection from Dark Horse in the summer of 2013!
Planners of Washington’s 2024 Olympic bid clustered events in transit-accessible nodes along the Anacostia and Potomac Rivers. (Image courtesy of Gensler) ANALYSIS \| For more than a year, some of Washington’s most accomplished architects, engineers and planners assembled a vision for how the region could look a decade from now. Huddled in secret brainstorming meetings, they plotted the most idyllic Washington and inner suburbs they could imagine for living, working, visiting and admiring. They dreamed of a city that had addressed its transit woes, harnessed the potential of both its rivers and escaped its reputation as a breeding ground for political dysfunction. Their goal was to win the 2024 Summer Olympic Games. And they failed. But even though Washington lost the Olympic bid, their plan presents a strong case for still executing that vision. Now, for the first time, we get to see the details: the closely held architectural renderings and transportation schemes for how the city would have rapidly transformed over the course of the next 10 years. Because every bidding city now has to demonstrate how its infrastructure investments will have benefits for years to come — no vacant stadiums or other white elephants that litter the host cities of yesteryear — Washington’s Olympic plan is a master road map for the city’s future. “We wanted to get the Olympics, but, more than that, we thought this would be a transformational vision for the city,” said Jordan Goldstein, managing director at the architecture firm Gensler, who led the effort. “It was really important for us to show the Washington of tomorrow, not the Washington of 20 years ago.” During the jockeying to host the 2024 Games, the Washington area achieved something fleeting: cooperation among two governors, a legion of county officials, members of Congress from both parties and a slate of powerful corporate executives and philanthropists. These are many of the same individuals who have long failed to successfully address chronic issues facing the region, among them financial problems at Metro, the deterioration of infrastructure like the Memorial Bridge, environmental regulations and housing affordability. When the U.S. Olympic Committee selected Boston in January, it ended the idea that Washington would host the Olympics any time soon. But that blueprint for the region’s future remains, idling on a server in Gensler’s K Street office building. [USOC chooses Boston over D.C. as its candidate to bid for 2024 Summer Games] In the past months since losing the bid, some local leaders have inquired with the Olympic planning team about how to still incorporate their ideas. D.C. Mayor Muriel E. Bowser said in a speech that she had challenged her economic development team “to figure out how we can harness [the bid’s] immense thought power and influence around this country, to make sure that we continue to focus on how we speed up development.” Big events and deadlines mobilize action, but there’s no reason we need an Olympic bid to pull off bold changes. The price tag for the original plan was in excess of $10 billion, but Washington would have been on its own to raise those funds regardless. So why don’t we just build it anyway? The planning team has shared their blueprint exclusively with The Washington Post. Here is a look at five ways the region could carry forward the torch they lit. When French engineer Pierre L’Enfant laid out his plan for America’s new capital, he created a grid of urban streets and grand boulevards connected by public squares and circles. More than 200 years later, many of those have become symbols of the world’s most powerful city — the National Mall, Lafayette Square in front of the White House — tread by the 19 million annual visitors to Washington. Not so for the eastern end of the city. Though the terminuses of East Capitol Street and Massachusetts Avenue, along the Anacostia River, featured just as prominently in L’Enfant’s original plan, that area’s potential has largely gone unfulfilled. The architects behind the 2024 bid saw no architectural reason for that imbalance to continue. They viewed the L’Enfant plan as a documented road map for where the city was always destined to go. It gave them a critical advantage when mapping the District’s future. “No other city had this,” Goldstein said. [D.C.’s team begins laying out plan to host 2024 Summer Olympic Games] Working with the firm Brailsford & Dunlavey on facilities and Clark Construction to estimate costs, the 2024 team plotted to build a new Redskins stadium either on the site where RFK stadium currently stands or on Poplar Point. They envisioned turning the Pepco facilities on Benning Road into a jobs hub. And they decided that Hill East, a 67-acre waterfront parcel next to RFK, should become affordable housing, a top priority for the District. During the Olympic Games, these would have temporarily served as the main stadium, a broadcast center and the Olympic Village, respectively. Every elected mayor in the District’s history has tried to revitalize neighborhoods along the Anacostia, so this is no easy bit of work. The 2024 planners did not solve difficult problems such as where to put an existing methadone clinic or what to do with the D.C. Jail. In this rendering, an Olympic stadium replaces RFK, the Olympic Village is at Hill East, a Metro station is added at Oklahoma Ave. and new pedestrian bridges cross the Anacostia River. (Courtesy of Gensler) But other aspects of this development are already afoot. District officials have nearly completed a study on how to redevelop the RFK property. The Redskins have begun discussing a new stadium. And construction will begin next year on a 354-unit apartment building with ground-floor retail at Hill East. Goldstein said opening up this “eastern gateway” would be easier than he first expected. The streets already feel connected to Capitol Hill and downtown through the historic plan, and much of the needed land is controlled by just two entities, the District government and the National Park Service. In Goldstein’s mind, the cameras for the 2024 Olympic Games would swoop down the Anacostia River from Prince George’s County to the Olympic stadium and show a new side of Washington to the world. “The idea was to create a front door out of something that was a back door, and that should still be the idea,” he said. The District may not be growing by 1,000 people a month, as it was a year or so ago, but the population is still increasing and the property values have risen so quickly that many residents view the high price of housing as one of the area’s major stumbling blocks. As part of the 2024 team’s mission, they had to envision how the city would operate with its normal population plus millions of fans and 17,000 athletes and officials. It was an exercise in examining the pressure points that a larger population would put on the city’s infrastructure. Washington already has the logistics in place to host massive singular events such as presidential inaugurations, Fourth of July celebrations, the Cherry Blossom festival and days when the Nationals, Wizards and D.C. United play on the same day. But the three-week-long Olympics called for more lasting improvements, some of which the region might borrow as it grows. The organizers copied an idea from London, which created dedicated traffic lanes for shuttles between events when it played host. They proposed pulling out parking meters along Independence Avenue, creating a new lane in each direction for transit. They also figured out how to add a Metro station at what could be a small fraction of the usual cost. The key was to insert it along an existing line, eliminating the need to dig new tunnels. Just as an above-ground station was added for NoMa behind Union Station and is in the works for Potomac Yard in Alexandria, the 2024 team imagined tacking on an additional Orange Line station beside RFK stadium, though closer to the Anacostia River. The topography was such that passengers would be able to walk right from the train platform into the Olympic Stadium. Like the station at Reagan National Airport, they also proposed adding a third, middle track where trains could stop at the stadium and turn back without disrupting regular trains heading in either direction. Such improvements would be useful for the region even without the Olympic Games, to ease congestion during large sporting and cultural events. “You have the capacity in the city to do these types of things. You don’t have to reinvent your transportation system,” said Robert B. Schiesel of Gorove-Slade, a transportation consulting firm that worked on the bid. L’Enfant planned the nation’s capital from the Potomac River to the Anacostia River, and although boating and recreation opportunities along the Anacostia have dramatically increased in the past decade, there is a long way to go before it becomes the asset it could be. Ted Leonsis for one, would like to see people swimming in the Anacostia from a beach along its shores. The Wizards, Capitals and Mystics owner, who served as vice chair of the 2024 effort, has given speeches about the importance of cleaning the Anacostia and has touted its potential. “Sadly, the Anacostia has been neglected. If we clean it up, only good things occur for our community and our next generation,” Leonsis wrote in a blog post. Though the USOC judges have left, the needs of the Anacostia remain. Fish there regularly sprout tumors, and cleanup efforts to make the river swimmable are expected to take at least another decade and cost potentially more than $1 billion. [A swimmable Anacostia River? Something to look forward to] Andrew Altman, a former director of planning in the District, created a framework for revitalizing the Anacostia under Mayor Anthony Williams. He then went on to plan the London Games. Altman said the District has “made good on a lot of parts that dream” for the Anacostia waterfront and that as the river becomes more of an attraction, the entire region’s center of gravity would move east — helping residents and investors see the river “more as a center of the city than the edge of the city.” The 2024 organizers envisioned events up and down both rivers, taking place at National Harbor in Prince George’s County, along the redeveloped Southwest Waterfront, on East and West Potomac Park and in Arlington at Long Bridge Park, where the team planned an aquatic center for swimming and diving events. One of the most ambitious versions of the plans included an Olympic stadium at RFK, tennis center at Anacostia Park and track and field stadium on Poplar Point. Nationals Park and a new stadium for D.C. United are at left. (Courtesy Gensler) The planners also envisioned a series of new pedestrian bridges, including one that would cross the Anacostia near RFK stadium and a temporary one across the Washington Channel from the Southwest Waterfront to East Potomac Park. Despite the current toxins in its waters, the Anacostia does have an advantage over the Potomac, the planners decided. Because it is much narrower, it would actually allow for easier and more inviting walks from bank to bank. “You can walk across the Seine real quick,” said Gensler’s Robert Peck, referring to the river in Paris. “The Potomac is not the same way.” There is already some momentum here, too. An enormous series of tunnels being dug beneath RFK promises to take out 98 percent of sewage and stormwater overflow in the next decade. And several proposals for improved river access and crossings are already being considered, among them the 11th Street Bridge Park that would span the Anacostia and a gondola that would connect Georgetown to Rosslyn. Goldstein said he was convinced Washington had “the best technical plan” for a walkable, urban games — and that the USOC said as much in its feedback. He and other organizers of the Olympic bid think the city’s bad political reputation damaged its proposal. To much of America, sick of partisan gridlock and government dysfunction, “Washington” has become a dirty word. Its association with Congress has led it to poll worse than traffic jams and cockroaches. Russ Ramsey, who made a mint as an investment banker before chairing the bid, said creating a new image for the city in the eyes of the world was his driving reason for leading the effort. “Something needs to serve as a catalyst to re-brand Washington, D.C.,” he said. Altman said the team’s plan would have changed the way people think about Washington — from the seat of federal government and the backdrop for “House of Cards,” to a lively city unto itself. Without the Olympics, Washington can still work to improve its image — and its changing economy could serve as the catalyst. In the past 65 years, the share of the region’s economy attributable to the federal government has consistently lessened, from 38 percent of jobs in 1950 to 12 percent in 2013. Today, the Washington area has top-notch American restaurants. It also has more and more jobs in technology, media, education and health care, and there is a greater focus on entrepreneurship. These factors could, in the next decade, provide Washington with homegrown business leaders and benefactors the way Coke has for Atlanta, General Motors has for Detroit and Microsoft has for Seattle. Forget corporate sponsors for the Games. If Washington becomes less of a government town, these emerging private-sector leaders could hold increasing sway over Washington’s growth by 2024. Local elected leaders often cannot agree on how to fund Metro, alleviate traffic or combat homelessness. They frequently engage one another in nasty bidding wars, just so a company and its jobs will move a few miles into their jurisdiction. When it came to the 2024 Olympics bid, however, they were almost unanimously on the same page. That is rarely true for the city; it wasn’t the case even when Washington angled for the Olympics in the past. Peck worked on the 2012 bid, which proposed holding events from Baltimore to Richmond as a way of placating political needs. Back then, he said, “there was this sense that everybody needed their shot at this thing. This time, everybody came together.” For the region to do big things in the future, Ramsey said it will have to find additional opportunities to get big corporate philanthropists on the same page as public officials and community leaders. During the bid, Ramsey several times spoke glowingly of Dan Gilbert, the founder of Quicken Loans and owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who is putting millions of dollars of investments and donations into Detroit. Gilbert is driving the city’s resurgence. The team behind the 2024 plans: From left to right, (Top Row) Rob Schiesel, Glenn MacCullough, and Chris Rzomp (Bottom Row), Jordan Goldstein, Chris Dunlavey, Bill Mykins, Kari Frontera, Bob Peck. (Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post) It’s possible we could witness something similar in the District — partly because government budgets are strapped. “You can argue what you want, but we don’t have rich governments anymore,” Ramsey said. He also said that because governments aren’t addressing these big problems, such as traffic, it’s creating more opportunity and necessity for public-private cooperation. “Somehow you have got to get the governors at least talking about an outer beltway and some larger, major planning,” he said, “because these choke points are going to be an economic drag.” The question is, who will be the private-sector leader for the future of Washington? Ramsey? Leonsis? Is either ready to continue the effort now that the USOC judges have left town? Ramsey said he is mulling what role would fit him best. “I hope we’ll keep it going,” Ramsey said. “I just need a path to the win.” Follow Jonathan O’Connell on Twitter: @oconnellpostbiz
In his recent cover story for The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg notes that when Barack Obama first entered the White House, with George W. Bush’s long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq ongoing, “he was not seeking new dragons to slay.” Just the opposite: He fit the mold, Goldberg argues, of a “retrenchment president” elected to scale back America’s commitments overseas and shift responsibilities to allies. But you could be forgiven for thinking the dragons have stubbornly remained, and even multiplied, on Obama’s watch. To cite just some recent examples: In October, the president authorized the first sustained deployment of U.S.special-operations forces to Syria to complement his air campaign against the Islamic State. In January, reports emerged that the Obama administration was rethinking its troop drawdown in Afghanistan, given the deteriorating security situation there, and considering sending more troops to Iraq and Syria. The next month, Obama released a defense budget that included an increase of $2.5 billion over the previous year to expand the fight with ISIS to North and West Africa, and billions more for sending heavy weapons, armored vehicles, and other equipment to Eastern and Central Europe to counter Russian aggression. In the past several weeks alone, we’ve learned of Pentagon plans to dispatch military advisers to Nigeria against the jihadist group Boko Haram and to launch an aerial offensive in Libya against the Islamic State. U.S. bombing raids recently killed 150 suspected militants in Somalia and over 40 in Libya. By one measure, in fact, the U.S. military is now actively engaged in more countries than when Obama took office. It wasn’t supposed to be this way. Although Obama never presented himself as a pacifist candidate, his 2007-2008 presidential campaign was predicated in part on the promise to end the war in Iraq and properly prosecute the war in Afghanistan. In March 2008, he declared of Iraq, “When I am commander in chief, I will set a new goal on day one: I will end this war.” Later that year, he listed his first two priorities for making America safer as “ending the war in Iraq responsibly” and “finishing the fight against al-Qaeda and the Taliban.” The president also promised a foreign policy that relied more on diplomacy and less on military might in his first inaugural address, telling his audience that “our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.” Well before the tumult of the Arab Spring and its aftermath, Obama famously offered to extend a hand to those willing to unclench their fist. In many ways, Obama has kept his word. He ended Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom—the combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, respectively, that Bush bequeathed to him—and drastically reduced U.S. troop levels from their peaks in both countries. In the midst of the Arab Spring, the president led a limited military campaign against Libyan dictator Muammar al-Qaddafi with the support of the United Nations and a multinational coalition. He has been reluctant to intervene in Syria’s civil war in any significant way despite intense pressure to do so from both inside and outside his administration. In 2013, Obama announced his intention to shift the United States away from “a perpetual wartime footing.” He said, “Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue. But this war, like all wars, must end.” And Obama has repeatedly shown his commitment to diplomacy by reestablishing relations with Burma and Cuba, and by striking a nuclear deal with Iran. And yet while America’s military footprint abroad is fainter today than when Obama took office, it’s also more dispersed. Not counting the probable expansion of the anti-ISIS campaign to Libya and other parts of Africa in the near future, the U.S.military is, by my reckoning, involved in more countries now than when Obama took office in 2009, albeit to varying degrees. To be fair, defining U.S.“military involvement” is tricky, partly because there are many levels of engagement between no military involvement and full-scale invasion, and partly because so much of the U.S.’s military activity is done from the shadows. That’s why, in consultation with Anthony Cordesman at Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and Chris Harmer at the Institute for the Study of War, I’ve limited the definition of military involvement to countries that the United States is consistently bombing (overtly or covertly); where regular U.S. troops are engaged in combat; or where regularU.S. troops are providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance in support of another military force that is engaged in combat. By that definition, the U.S. is currently fighting in roughly eight countries. (For sanity’s sake, my definition excludes special-operations forces; Ken McGraw, a spokesman for U.S. Special Operations Command, orSOCOM, told me in early February that special-operations personnel were deployed in 82 countries that week alone.) These eight theaters encompass the continuing conflict in Afghanistan; drone wars in Pakistan, Somalia, and Yemen; the anti-ISIS campaign in Iraq and Syria; and two advise-and-assist missions—one against Boko Haram, which is at least nominally affiliated with ISIS, in Cameroon, and another against Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda and nearby countries. That’s more than double the countries that fit my definition of U.S. military involvement in January 2009, when it encompassed ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and an incipient drone war in Pakistan. Other metrics also suggest that the country has not abandoned its wartime footing under Obama. As a candidate, Obama argued that the Iraq War represented an exorbitant cost for the American people. Over the course of his presidency, though, the U.S. military will have allocated more money to war-related initiatives than it did under Bush: $866 billion under Obama compared with $811 billion under Bush. (Measuring war-related spending is also tricky, but the Defense Department’s “Green Book” offers the most reliable figures, according to Todd Harrison at CSIS. These figures don’t account for war-related funding within the State Department orUSAID.) It’s worth noting that annual expenses have decreased in recent years with the ending of the war in Iraq and the de-escalation of the war in Afghanistan. In one important way, Obama has made good on his pledge to extract America from war and make Americans safer: The number of U.S. troop casualties under Obama is significantly below the tally under Bush. During the Bush administration, the Iraq War alone cost 4,229 American lives; the Afghanistan War claimed 635 more. Although casualties in Afghanistan increased on Obama’s watch, largely due to a surge in troop levels in Obama’s first term, the president has presided over a nearly 60-percent decline in total number of soldiers lost. In the 20 months since the United States began its military campaign against ISIS, there have only been 15 U.S. casualties, with the most recent occurring just over a week ago. This decline in casualties has much to do with Obama’s marked preference for using air strikes or special-operations forces over large numbers of infantry. As Goldberg noted, Obama has “become the most successful terrorist-hunter in the history of the presidency.” Whereas Bush launched 51 drone strikes against suspected terrorists in Pakistan, for example, Obama has unleashed 372, according to data gathered by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. (The frequency of such strikes has been declining since 2010, however.) According to the same data set, Obama has authorized at least 112 strikes in Yemen and 19 in Somalia. Bush launched one solitary strike in Yemen during his entire presidency. Obama has also embraced special-operations forces. In fiscal year 2014, U.S. special-operations forces deployed to 133 countries, or roughly 70 percent of the entire world, The Nation reports. General Joseph Votel, the commander ofSOCOM, has said, “The command is at its absolute zenith. And it is indeed a golden age for special operations.” The size of SOCOM has expanded by almost 25 percent since Obama took office, increasing from 55,800 people to 69,700, according to McGraw at SOCOM. In other words: The dragons persist, but now the dragon-slayers tend to operate in the air—or in the shadows. Via: defenseone.com Read More: https://www.savemysweden.com/clinton-benghazi-call-released-worst-fears-confirmed/
Chinese broadcasters have axed two-thirds of popular TV shows in line with a government directive to curb "excessive entertainment," according to local media reports. Beijing's Xinhua news agency said the number of prime-time entertainment shows on satellite TV had dropped to just 38 per week since the directive came into force on Jan. 1, Agence France Presse reported. There used to be 126. More from GlobalPost: China bans ads during TV drama shows Air time will be filled instead with extended news bulletins and "programs that promote traditional virtues and socialist core values," the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) was cited as saying. The watchdog issued its order in October, with the stated aim of "preventing excessive entertainment and vulgar content so as to meet the people's demand for more delicate programs," according to China National TV. The new rules were given as follows: The total number of entertainment shows aired daily by the 34 channels between 7:30 PM and 10 PM is restricted to nine. For each channel, only two entertainment programs are allowed in a week, and will be limited to 90 minutes each. The new directive does not give a definition for entertainment shows or to what extent they will be considered excessive, but lists match-making shows, game shows, talk shows, talent shows and reality shows as its primary targets. The programs already axed include talk shows, "emotional stories," games and competitions, variety shows and reality television, Xinhua said. In addition to content perceived as "low taste," Chinese regulators also "keep gritty programming involving crime, violence and social issues off the air," according to the Wall Street Journal. The controls are seen as part of the ruling Communist Party's effort to portray China as "a society of decreasing contradictions and increasing happiness," Willy Wo-Lap Lam, an adjunct professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, told Bloomberg. According to the BBC, China has the largest TV audience in the world, with an estimated 95 percent of its 1.3 billion population tuning in. More from GlobalPost: China to tighten social media censorship Before its recent entertainment TV cuts, China also issued a one-month moratorium in July on foreign films in order to promote a state-sponsored propaganda movie called "Beginning of the Great Revival." Watch below to see how China placed the moratorium on Hollywood:
BINGHAMTON, NY—In a risky maneuver requiring precise timing and careful preparation, LifeTech Medical Devices employee Trevor Sadler, 32, executed a daring 3:30 p.m. escape from his office Monday afternoon, sources confirmed. “All right, it’s go time,” Sadler said to himself moments before furtively slipping out of his cubicle and taking a circuitous route to the back stairwell leading out to the parking lot where his car would be waiting. “I’m leaving my monitor on, and there’s a full glass of water sitting on my desk so it’ll seem like I’m still in the building. And I won’t bring my laptop bag with me. That way, if anyone sees me leave, I’ll look like I’m just stepping out for a minute. Then I should be home free.” At press time, Sadler had been drawn into an unexpected conversation with a coworker about an upcoming sales meeting, forcing the would-be fugitive to hastily snap the man’s neck and drag his body into the supply closet. Advertisement
The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) will be collecting iris images from Singaporeans and permanent residents from next month, as amendments to the National Registration Act kick in. The iris images will serve as another identifier, in addition to photographs and fingerprints, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement yesterday. This will be done as part of the National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) registration and re-registration process, and passport application and renewal. Amendments to the Act were passed last month and are aimed at strengthening "the effectiveness and efficiency of (ICA's) operations", said MHA. Senior Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Desmond Lee had told Parliament that the collection of iris images would be done in preparation for a roll-out of iris-scanning technology at land, air and sea checkpoints in the next two years. The collection and verification of iris images is a non-intrusive process similar to taking a photograph. The amendments will allow the ICA to collect more forms of personal identification data but not body samples, such as blood, through invasive means. The ICA had received feedback from people who had problems using automated clearance gates at checkpoints because of difficulties in producing definitive fingerprints. Iris scanning has been used in the Netherlands and Germany since the early 2000s, while the United Arab Emirates has mandated the collection of iris images from all citizens since 2013. Selected SingPost employees will also be appointed as registration officers to assist NRIC holders at certain outlets. SingPost outlets are another location where passports, identity cards and long-term passes can be registered. Principal research analyst Anmol Singh of market research firm Gartner said that collecting iris scans will provide an additional level of security. Such scans are convenient to collect and identify on the spot. The process is contactless, so users can avoid infections which may be passed through surface contact. "(Iris images are) a more stable biometric feature compared with fingerprints, which change more rapidly in the ageing process and may require more frequent re-enrolment," he said. Mr Nick Savvides, security advocate at Symantec, said: "Some consumers have difficulty with fingerprint scanners because of shallow prints, finger injuries or other biological reasons." But Mr Aloysius Cheang, executive vice-president of global computing security association Cloud Security Alliance, cautioned that iris images may not necessarily provide a "significant improvement in the level of security" from fingerprints as the files could still be hacked.
If there is an iconic symbol of South Africa and Cape Town then it is Table Mountain. In almost every picture, postcard or depiction of the Mother City, the flat-topped mountain is usually seen hovering in the background. Table Mountain is one of the oldest mountains on earth, six times older than the Himalayas and five times older than the Rockies. For many of AWOL’s guests who have hiked on the flat topped Table Mountain, the question always lingers – why is Table Mountain flat on top? If there is an iconic symbol of South Africa and Cape Town then it is Table Mountain. In almost every picture, postcard or depiction of the Mother City, the flat-topped mountain is usually seen hovering in the background. Table Mountain is one of the oldest mountains on earth, six times older than the Himalayas and five times older than the Rockies. For many of AWOL’s guests who have hiked on the flat topped Table Mountain, the question always lingers – why is Table Mountain flat on top? Sandstone is a relatively soft rock but it was given strength by magma rising from the earth’s core. When magma reaches the surface it often forms a volcano, but in this case it stopped underground, cooled and formed hard granite. You can easily see granite rocks along the coast of the Cape Peninsula today. Around 300 million years ago the mountain was still at sea level during an ice age and ice sheets flattened the layers of sandstone creating the flat surface that today we call the ‘Table Top’. When the continents split apart, stresses and pressures built up in the earth’s crust. If the rocks of Table Mountain had been made only of sandstone they would have folded under the pressure, but the granite gave it strength, deflecting the forces down. Slowly this process forced the layers of rock to rise, slowly becoming the kilometre high mountain we know today. Throughout its history, Table Mountain has been eroded by the action of wind, fire, ice and water. The flat face of the mountain is a cliff face, caused by the action of waves when the sea lapped against it. On the mountain you can find strangely shaped rocks and deep ravines caused by millions of years of erosion and even glacial crapings.. The highest point on Table Mountain, Macclears Beacon is made up of the ‘Pakhuis’ formation made up of sandstone pebbles deposited by glacial action.
NEW ORLEANS -- Eight of the city’s 121 pumps were not working during Saturday’s flood, a Sewerage & Water Board’s official told WWL-TV late Monday, but that had no effect on the agency’s efforts to drain the streets. Earlier in the day, S&WB General Superintendent Joe Becker said seven were offline. “There was simply just too much rain for the largest drainage system in the world to handle,” Becker told reporters at Pumping Station No. 1 in Central City. It was one of the stations that did operate a full capacity on Saturday. Becker said that all 24 pumping stations were manned before, during and after the rainstorm that dumped as much as 9 inches of water in some of the lowest parts of the city. “There were absolutely no delays in turning on the pumps at all,” Becker said. “All of the stations were staffed for all of this time.” (Story continues under video) Becker said an additional nine S&WB employees moved among various pumping stations throughout the day. Neither he now the S&WB provides specifics about which pumps were out of service for Saturday's storm. The pumps that were not working were down for "maintenance" and scattered at stations across the city, Becker said. But, he said, it is not uncommon for pumps to be offline. "Because of the preventive maintenance work all the time, we do have pumps that are out of service at any given rain event," he said. "It's ... very unusual, very unusual for us to be able to use all 121 pumps." About the same time Becker made his comments, Mayor Mitch Landrieu was across town preparing to begin a tour of Treme and Mid-City, which both saw heavy flooding. He announced he had ordered a report to determine if all the pumps were working properly. “I'm just reminding everybody we're going through a $2 billion renovation of our entire sewerage and water drainage system. And we were able to get that money because we had issues. We're fixing the power plant and all of that stuff, but as far as I know, right now … all of the pumps were working,” he said. “If they weren't, we'll figure out which ones weren't and why but I don't think that's the case right now.” Responding to concerns that water actually rose in some neighborhoods after the rain stopped, Becker said that was a side effect of water seeking its lowest point while the drainage system strained by too much rain at once struggled to catch up. The city’s drainage system is designed to pump 1 inch in the first hour and ½ inch every hour thereafter. That translates to 3 inches in the first five hours. Some parts of the city received as much as 9 or 10 inches of water. Becker said clogged catch basins also were to blame for any slow drainage. Last week, a City Council committee and the Department of Public Works heard from citizens across New Orleans who said they have seen no work to clear catch basins, despite claims that crews are in the streets to clean and repair them. Stay with Eyewitness News on WWL-TV and WWLTV.com for more on this developing story.
by Sabrina Salas Matanane Guam - The Democratic Party of Guam held a special meeting of the Central Executive Committee last night at the Sinajana Community Center. In addition to discussing the delegate selections for the Democratic National Convention also discussed was Bill 413. According to Democratic Party's Carlo Branch, because several complaints regarding the 2010 general election were submitted to the U.S. Attorney General and the Guam Attorney General have yet to receive a response, the committee passed a motion for the executive director to transmit a resolution to Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo on behalf of the party urging to launch an official inquiry on the status of the complaints and absent of any response, she would work with the Department of Justice and other organizations to take all necessary and appropriate actions. The resolution is set to be sent out tomorrow morning.
Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colorado. Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images If the government stops collecting our phone records, is our privacy protected? That’s a common assumption in many debates about the National Security Agency. We’ve come to think of privacy as a binary question, with government as the sole threat. Now we have to think about other threats, because President Obama is proposing to outsource the NSA’s phone records program. In his speech on Friday about reforming the NSA, Obama explained that the phone program is divided into two stages. The first stage is collection of the records, which show the date, time, and duration of each call from one number to another. In the second stage, the database of records is searched (“queried”) for numbers that have interacted, directly or indirectly, with numbers linked to suspected terrorists. In theory, the two stages can be administered and regulated separately. In fact, the collection process begins in the private sector. What the NSA has done, Obama noted, is simply “a consolidation of phone records that the companies already retained for business purposes.” The panel of experts assigned by Obama to investigate the NSA (the Review Group on Intelligence and Communications Technologies) “turned up no indication that this database has been intentionally abused,” said Obama. Nevertheless, he acknowledged, “without proper safeguards, this type of program could be used to yield more information about our private lives.” So Obama offered more safeguards. He promised to replace the program with a system capable of doing the same things, but “without the government holding this metadata itself.” The telecommunications companies, for instance, might be enlisted to retain their records, “with government accessing information as needed.” Or a “third party” might keep the records. Yesterday on Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer second-guessed this idea. Alluding to recent security breaches at retailers, he asked Rep. Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House intelligence committee: “Do you think the private sector can do this better than the government? I mean, I look at what happened here at Target, what’s happened at Neiman Marcus.” Rogers agreed. Within the government, he argued, there were several layers of review over use of the phone data: If you move all that to the private sector, you lose all of the review. That goes away. And you open it up to privacy concerns I don’t think we talked about. Divorce lawyers are going to have a heyday. Private detectives on any civil matter anywhere in the country are going to have a heyday. Schieffer then turned to Sen. Mark Udall of Colorado, an NSA critic. And here’s where the conversation took a disquieting turn. Udall dismissed Rogers’ warning as a “parade of horribles.” “The phone companies,” Udall assured viewers, created these records only because “it’s their business model to collect this data. They’re not going to use that data in ways that will break faith with their customers.” Wait a minute. Here’s the guy who has been brought onto the show to represent civil liberties. As long as the threat in question is the NSA, he does the job. He doesn’t accept the government’s claims of good will. He’s not impressed by the absence of known deliberate abuse. He wants clear safeguards and independent oversight. But when the conversation shifts from the government to the telecom providers, Udall drops his guard. Suddenly the records collection is just business, and the collectors can be trusted not to “break faith with their customers.” A similar thing happened on Meet the Press. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the chair of the Senate intelligence committee, noted that the NSA has rules about who can access its phone records database: 22 people who, at least in theory, are vetted and supervised. If the data retention is outsourced, she asked, “How do you provide that level of supervision?” David Gregory pushed the point further, arguing that Amazon, Google, and other companies are “not only compiling data, but sharing that data, selling that data.” He asked Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian: “Is that just as much of a concern as what the government is doing?” Like Udall, Ohanian was supposed to be the civil liberties advocate. And, like Udall, he deflected the question. As to expectations of privacy, he assured viewers, “That’s a contract that we have with our service providers.” Promises from the government weren’t to be counted on, but apparently, promises from Internet companies were. Indeed, Ohanian blamed the NSA for the private sector’s loss of public confidence: “Countries and citizens around the world no longer want to do business with American companies, because they no longer trust that their private data is safe. I’m an entrepreneur. I’m an investor.” No matter what you think of the NSA, this selective skepticism makes no sense. After all the security breaches, privacy issues, and consumer data practices that have been exposed at one company after another—Target, Neiman Marcus, Facebook, Yahoo, Adobe, Google, Snapchat, Ford, and others—you’d think that civil libertarians would worry about private-sector data management, not just about the government. Would delegating the retention of phone records to telecom providers or a “third party” make the risks to privacy go away? Could it create new risks? Those are good questions. In the heat of political battle, it’s easy to lock in on your adversary—in this case, defenders of the NSA—and dismiss their arguments. But never forget the principles that brought you into the fight. They’re bigger than the villain of the moment.
It was a historic landing on a comet, but unfortunately, not a smooth one. The ESA confirmed that Rosetta's lander, Philae, bounced twice and ultimately ended up sideways in the shadow of a cliff, where its solar panels can't gather enough energy. When Philae's battery dies, the mission will die with it. For now, it's race to gather as much scientific data as possible before the battery's initial charge of 64 hours runs out. Philae's investigation of the comet's ice and rock, which is supposed to give clues to the origins of our solar system, will be severely hampered and cut short by the rocky landing. Advertisement The problem began, it seems, when Philae touched down on the comet for the first time, but its harpoons did not fire to anchor the lander. The comet's gravity is 100,000 times weaker than Earth's, so Philae bounced more than half a mile into space before setting down, only to bounce a second time. Now, the ESA thinks Philae is sitting on its side, with one of its three feet in the air, at the bottom of a cliff. In this position, Philae will only get 1.5 hours of sun every 12 hours. Once its initial charge runs out, it'll go dark. The lander has no way of moving around on its own, but the ESA is exploring how its drill or harpoons can be repurposed to give the machine a jolt. Philae might also become active again when it gets closer to the sun, but that's a distant possibility for now. The borked landing means Philae won't be able to use its scientific drill to take samples of the comet. (With such low gravity, drilling while unanchored could destabilize the whole lander.) The drilling system was designed to take samples up to nine inches below the comet's surface, feeding them into ovens that vaporized them for analysis. One of Philae's key experiments was examining hydrogen isotopes on the comet to figure how whether Earth's water, which is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, really did come from comets crashing into the planet long ago. Advertisement Now, unless something changes, Philae will have a radically shortened amount of time to study the comet—hours instead of months. It was supposed to operate until March 2015, when it got too hot with the comet's approach toward the sun. It is also limited to samples on the surface. That doesn't mean the mission was a complete failure; Philae is already sending back a ton of data and photos back to Earth. Landing on a comet after a 10 year journey through space is still a historic accomplishment. [Nature, BBC] Top image: A sketch of Philae superimposed on its location on the comet. ESA
The Yomiuri Giants, Japan’s best-known baseball team, will be outfitted by Under Armour in 2015, under a new agreement. The multi-year apparel and accessories partnership was announced in Tokyo by the team and Dome Corp., which is licensed to sell the Baltimore-based company’s products in Japan. The agreement – which covers game-day uniforms and training gear – will allow Under Armour to continue to extend its international reach. The Giants, who play at Tokyo Dome, are the oldest of 12 Nippon Professional Baseball teams. “The Yomiuri Giants are the most distinguished team in the Nippon Professional Baseball League," said Dome CEO Shuichi Yasuda, according to an Under Armour news release. “It’s an honor to have the opportunity to dedicate our passion for making athletes better into this game-changing partnership and design the most innovative uniforms on the field today." Under Armour’s baseball Twitter account posted a photo of Giants players with the message: “Ready to take the field with one of the world's best. Welcome to #TeamUA, Yomiuri Giants.” Under Armour scored a sponsorship coup in January when it added Notre Dame to the list of schools it outfits. It also sponsors the Premier League soccer team Tottenham Hotspur.
Watch the video below: Is your first reaction to be upset at the player wearing navy blue for falling to the ground and clutching his face? It's not? You're mad at the player wearing all yellow for seemingly punching him? Good, then perhaps you can explain to the rest of the world why Jermaine Jones, that New England Revolution player in navy blue, was fined for simulation on this play. Because as far as I'm concerned, Major League Soccer, the MLS Disciplinary Committee (DisCo/DC) and their referees have firmly established a "let the players decide the games" policy for the 2014 playoffs. And we can debate whether or not that is a bad thing, but in my experience, trying to be patient and let the players settle down rarely works. In fact, the games will usually get increasingly more chippy until something boils over and then we're not talking about the game, we're talking about red cards and lengthy suspensions and possible, lengthy injures. It doesn't matter if we're talking about a single game, a playoff series or the entire postseason, but a dangerous precedent has just been set by the MLS DC. Jones' act of simulation (it's embellishment more than likely but it's a semantic thing that annoys me) isn't even the most egregious one of the night in Columbus, that was the Crew's Jairo Arrieta going down in the box (5:40 of the above video) looking for a PK. But who cares about a couple of embellishment calls, look at all those nasty challenges from Simon Borg's Instant Replay clip above. The message from the MLS referees and the MLS DC is very clear - the players are going to decide who lifts MLS Cup and we're not going to do much about it. And I'm not against letting the players play, but there is a line that needs to be drawn even in the playoffs. There shouldn't be some drastic change in the way the game is played or the game is officiated just because the playoffs started. Are we supposed to ignore blatant bookings just because it's the playoffs and the referees are afraid to affect the game with cards or accumulation suspensions? No. Had this been a regular week in the regular season I would've expected at a minimum to see a handful of fines and at least one suspension. Players are here to play soccer, and the referees are the ones that need to enforce the rules and protect them from harm, something that did not happen in the first week. At the very least, the MLS DC had a chance to levy some fines against players for rough play and instead made a mockery of their job by only issuing a fine to Jones. The line that the MLS DC just drew is that tackles like Tyson Wahl's on Kelyn Rowe are not worth of anything but a foul, Tony Tchani is free to lift his elbow to clear out opponents and Landon Donovon, Juninho and Marcelo Sarvas are free to commit numerous fouls without punishment (persistent infringement does exist) while opponents make reckless challenges without any chance of getting carded. I will freely admit, I had a much nicer post intended for today on the calls from the Revolution-Crew game, since I really only cared about the Wahl challenge on Rowe which was downright awful, as well as thoughts on the other plays from the game, including Jose Goncalves' penalty. Then again, I also expected the MLS DC to do their job, something that until today I thought they had been doing very well of late. And because I expected the MLS DC to actually do something, and that could be my fault they're notorious for their inconsistency, I have no one else to blame but myself for expecting them to hold up their own mission statement. Silly me for expecting that there would be some action related to last weekend against players who actually did something of consequence, the fact that we're in the playoffs should only be highlighted, not ignored. So because the spotlight is on the league and it's players we're going to ignore player safety and let the players decide the games? I would have been absolutely satisfied with handing out a whole bunch of fines to Wahl, Tchani and others just to remind the players that the league is watching and staying in that middle ground of letting the players decide the games on the field and reinforcing the message that your play on the field has consequences. But sticking your hands in your pockets and issuing a fine to a player who was arguably on the receiving end of violent conduct? Lunacy. And make no mistake, whether or not Waylon Francis actually made contact with Jones in the 70th minute means nothing as far as the rule goes. Intentionally striking or attempting to strike an opponent is violent conduct and red card and to blatantly ignore that while issuing a fine to Jones is beyond laughable. Just as laughable as not disciplining Red Bulls defender Oyongo for a studs up challenge against DC or Donovan or Beckerman or anyone from the RSL-LA game and only issuing a fine to Jones. And I wouldn't have changed my opinion on the Francis incident with Jones. Francis was booked on the play for a foul away from the ball and I would've moved on and kept that "striking an opponent/violent conduct" issue in my backpocket. Because I'm not against the whole "let the players decide the game" thing, there is a place for it as long as things don't get out of hand. And things got out of hand in Columbus last week and it went largely unchecked by the referee and the MLS DC, I can't speak for the other three games. Because if the MLS DC actually watches this play and decides the most egregious thing is Jones grabbing his face? I'm sorry, that's blatantly disrespecting your mission statement and your job of protecting the players. You'll never be able to convince me that Wahl didn't deserve at least a yellow card (or at least a fine from the MLS DC) on the field for his challenge on Rowe and in general practice, that scissor-esque tackle is probably a red card. But I'm not looking for a red card or a retroactive suspension, only some indication that the league and/or the MLS DC is aware that the challenged occurred. I can forgive a few clumsy challenges from the LA-RSL game as long as the message that the MLS DC is still watching the game and aware of their responsibilities. I can forgive a few wayward elbows and forearms as long as everyone knows that it's not okay. I'm not looking for a half dozen suspensions from the MLS DC, I'm looking to them to send the right message. Yes, we want players to decide the game on the field and we want them to do it in a clean and respectable manner to their opponents and the referees on the field. Right now, the message is anything goes. Right now the message is the MLS DC watched his video and their biggest problem with it is Jermaine Jones grabbed his face when he should be clutching his chest. That's a message I hope doesn't come back to ruin the the second legs this weekend or the playoffs moving forward. Because four teams are going to move on and hopefully those four teams don't have to deal with suspensions or injuries because of rough play the week before. This is not a New England issue, this is a league issue. It's very clear that rough play is going to be allowed in the postseason and I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd rather see my team in full health going into either the next round or next season depending on your rooting interests than to see this practice continued by the league and have it result in several major injuries. Because that's where we're heading. If you allow this style of play to go unchecked it's going to escalate, that's just how it works. You try and let certain things go and then you end up overreacting and then punishing smaller infractions. I've seen this script before in games, or in this case, a playoff series. And it usually ends badly. Let's hope that's not the case moving forward.
The author of a landmark study on how the recent decline in abuse of the opium-based painkiller drug OxyContin has driven up heroin addiction rates slammed the “utter failure” of the American drug war’s myopic focus on “supply-side” strategies speaking to Raw Story this week, explaining that the strategy ultimately pushes addicts to embrace ever more dangerous drugs and increasingly destructive behaviors. “What we need to focus on in government policy is not on the supply-side, which all of our policy has been toward heroin, cocaine and prescription opiods, trying to discourage their penetration into this country,” Dr. Theodore J. Cicero, Vice Chairman for Research at Washington University’s Department of Psychiatry, explained in an exclusive interview. “The reasoning is, if we cut down on the supply then the demand will eventually dry up. But our policy in that regard has been an utter failure.” “Our conclusion, fundamentally, is that this is sort of like the balloon analogy: if you depress one location on the balloon, the volume doesn’t change and it just pops up someplace else,” he added. “Drug abuse is much like this balloon effect. You can decrease one drug, but they’re not going to stop using. The addicts who are interested in this to get high, they’re going to switch to something else.” Cicero’s research, published as correspondence this week in The New England Journal of Medicine, showed that since an abuse-resistant formula was introduced to OxyContin, abuse rates have dropped dramatically — but the rate of heroin use across the country nearly doubled as a result, exposing a vastly larger population to all the harms that come with it, like an increased risk of overdose or contracting HIV/AIDS. Cicero told Raw Story his research was published as a letter “to be sure it was considered in the national debate, particularly by regulatory people as public policy evolves.” Perhaps not coincidentally, Purdue Pharma L.P. is currently seeking an extension on its instant release OxyContin patent, and arguing that an extension is the only way to prevent generic versions of instant release OxyContin from being reintroduced to the market after vanishing in 2010. That extension will be extremely valuable, too: according to The New York Times, Purdue has sold more than $15 billion-worth in OxyContin over the last 10 years. That may also explain why Purdue has chosen just recently to begin trials of OxyContin in children, first mandated by the FDA in 2004: because the ongoing trials automatically grant the drug-maker a 6-month patent extension. “For 15 years, [OxyContin] was certainly the number one prescription drug of abuse in this country,” Cicero said. “A lot of people believe that was the drug that initiated this whole epidemic of prescription drug abuse, which is of course what prompted the development of the abuse-deterrent formulation, trying to get people to stop snorting or injecting it. It seems to have been rather successful in that respect, but unanticipated outcomes are always surprising.” Purdue has also suggested the abuse-resistant formula for OxyContin, approved by the FDA in 2010, should be considered for other opoid drugs commonly abused by addicts because it makes extended-release pills much harder to crush, snort or inject. Several other drug-makers are experimenting with their own abuse-resistant formulas as well. It’s that very possibility which has critics immensely concerned. While the shift from OxyContin to other opium-based drugs may be surprising to some, it is not to professionals in the fields of medicine and law enforcement, although there’s never been a proper study like Cicero’s to clearly illustrate that. Speaking to Raw Story days before Cicero’s research was published, John J. Burke, president of the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators and a former Cincinnati police officer in charge of pharmaceutical investigations, claimed that Purdue’s reformulation “has been very successful.” He also noted that virtually all of the “anecdotal evidence” on substance abuse points to the formulation moving addicts to different drugs, “whether it’s Oxycodone IR, heroin, [or] maybe it’s Opana.” Now that Cicero’s study has confirmed that anecdotal knowledge, it’s likely that the FDA will have to take into consideration the possibility that making all opoid drugs abuse-resistant could push many people addicted to pure, measured, clinical substances into a dirty, dangerous black market. “[Oxycontin] is a relatively safe drug in that you know what you’re getting and you know your dose level,” Cicero said. “But buying heroin — no heroin is pure on the street. It’s cut by dealers to extend it as far as possible. There are reports of heroin purity being down to the 5-10 percent range, so it’s really filled with a lot of adulterants. You can never be sure what dose of heroin you’re actually getting. The risk you take when you shift from something with a known dosage form to something where you don’t know what you’re getting, the risk of overdose is extremely high.” And it’s not just a risk of overdose that’s concerning to medical professionals: the potential for the emergence of new, more dangerous drugs is also an ever-present threat. One such drug is desomorphine, a.k.a. “crocodile,” seen increasingly across Russia and used as a low-cost alternative to heroin. Cooked out of common codeine-based pills and household products like gasoline, paint thinner and red phosphorus, heroin addicts who switch to crocodile often see their flesh literally rot off their bones. Photos of their affliction are not for the faint of heart. “Heroin has been replaced with this horrible, awful narcotic substance that’s vastly worse for the person than heroin,” Dr. Robert Newman, President of The Baron Edmond de Rothschild Chemical Dependency Institute at the Beth Israel Medical Center in New York, told Raw Story. “It is absolutely horrendous.” “We spend billions and billions trying to interdict the importation [of drugs] into the country, trying to interdict the wholesale and retail of drugs, but when’s the last time someone saw a major public service announcement saying, ‘If you have opiate dependence, there’s treatment available, call this number’?” he asked. Newman believes the nation’s strategy should be a war on drug addiction, fought by medical science instead of police truncheons. “My God, if I can replace a drug that’s going to kill my kids with a drug that’s going to make my kids lead healthy, productive, functional lives, I’ll do that every time,” he said. “To ignore [opoid addiction] is suicidal from society’s standpoint.” For the FDA and drug-makers, abuse-resistant formulas may seem like an effective means of reducing prescription drug abuse, but Cicero warned that the consequences of that shift should also be factored into their thinking. “We could eventually curtail prescription drug abuse if all manufacturers did this,” he concluded. “Or we might shift people into much more undesirable drugs. I’m not sure if that’s to the benefit of the country, to have another resurgence of heroin abuse.” —— Photo: Shutterstock.com, all rights reserved.
Confirming what we already suspected: 92% of left-wing activists live with their parents and one in three is unemployed, study of Berlin protesters finds I’m guessing the remaining 8 percent have been kicked out, or else have entered the soft cocoon of academia. Is it any wonder why they favor wealth redistribution? They only stand to gain by it. Of course, this is what is wrong with out voting system. We let self-interested idiots vote. They will always vote for whatever personally benefits them, in the immediate future. That’s how we ended up 20 trillion dollars in debt. The government prints money to promise idiots free shit in order to buy their votes. If you want Democracy to work, the first thing to do would be to raise the voting age by about a decade. The second would be to make an IQ test and score of at least 105 mandatory for any voter. Of course we aren’t even in the hemisphere of discussing that as of yet. That’s like talking about improving the transmission of the car when the engine is on fire. We can’t even get voter ID laws enacted because that is somehow “racist”, if you need any further proof that the word “racist” these days is mostly just a bludgeon to wield against anything you don’t want. Why wouldn’t they want us to be able to ID voters while significant voter fraud is occurring? Because those in power, with the exception of a small few, are perfectly fine with millions of illegals voting. Why? Stefan breaks it down. What happens when you import hundreds of millions of people from countries that have no history of small government, no history of the Rights of Englishmen, and nothing personal to lose by voting in more government since they are not footing the cost? They will respect the culture and tradition of the host nation and not try to change it, right? Obviously they will try to perpetuate a culture they have never had and that isn’t theirs? Or as they gain an ever larger share of the demographics they will simply overwhelm the native population and vote in larger and larger government. They’re already voting as a block: As you can see, White people are still the only ones expected not to vote for their own interests. When they broke 58% in favor of their own champion, less than any other racial demographic, we had to hear for months about how white people were being bad allies to our POC brothers. Meanwhile, 93% of blacks voted for Obama and that’s just, like, inspiring. The truth is we won’t be able to play this game much more. Whites are not going to be a majority in the US and will no longer have the luxury of playing ally and virtue signalling by being the only color blind team on the field. If you look at voting demographics and voting attitudes, white people are the only ones who regularly want the basic American principles of small government, maximum personal freedom and property rights. While other groups might feel differently once they’ve killed the golden goose and are paying their own bill, for now you can expect them to vote reliably for more government, more taxes, and more laws. This is our future. The God Emperor made a great move by beginning a process to cut legal immigration in half by 2027. The problem is, that’s about a decade too late. By that point the scales will have tipped and what we had here will be inexorably lost. Advertisements
Polls indicating that the Republican Party is moving further to the right are leaving a large faction of moderate Republicans feeling disenchanted with the party’s conservative drift, reports The Boston Globe In 2010, some of the GOP’s most outspoken leaders helped propel Republican candidates into power in the House. The tea party movement was influential in securing this takeover.But Gallup poll findings to be released Friday indicate that the GOP’s conservative shift is isolating its moderate wing, the Globe reported. Self-described moderates made up almost one-third of the Republican Party just 10 years ago. Now, that fraction has dropped to less than one-fourth, according to the Globe.Meanwhile, those identifying with the Republican Party are more conservative than ever. The percentage of Republicans who label themselves conservative has risen 10 points since 2002, from 62 to 72 percent.“The base of the party right now is the tea party, frankly,” former Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson told the Globe. “Those are the folks who are the most active, the loudest, who go to town hall meetings, call members of Congress, and show up at political barbecues, and they’re pulling the party to the right.”Grayson can attest personally to the influence of the tea party, because he lost a Senate primary race last year to tea party favorite Rand Paul.The polarization between right-leaning Republicans and liberal Democrats has led to the vilification of any GOP members who even consider compromise with the other side, the Globe reports. This has been evident in recent weeks during the debt talks. Though polls indicate Republican voters would support a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, party leaders remain staunchly opposed to any revenue increases.“Moderates were an endangered species, and now it’s just about an extinct species,” said Connie Morella, a moderate Republican and former Maryland congresswoman. “Republican leaders feel they need to be loyal to their party because there could be repercussions if they are not. They are afraid it might be held against them in the next election, and that’s a really difficult kind of prison to be in.”Morella is concerned that many disaffected moderates are withdrawing their Republican Party registration and either becoming independents or removing themselves from the political scene altogether.“I’m exasperated with all of it,” Sarah Emberley, a 50-year old Republican, told the Globe. “Our leadership is stuck. The Republican agenda is stuck. And the moderate voice has gotten lost in the whole rhetoric.”
The Information Sharing Environment (ISE) consists of the people, projects, systems, and agencies that enable responsible information sharing across the national security enterprise. The ISE was established by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 and a direct result of 9/11 Commission recommendations. Law enforcement, defense, and intelligence personnel rely on timely and accurate information to keep America safe, and the ISE makes that happen by: Advancing responsible information sharing to further counterterrorism, homeland security, and counter weapons of mass destruction missions Improving nationwide decision making by transforming from information ownership to stewardship Promoting partnerships across federal, state, local, and tribal governments, the private sector, and internationally A robust ISE strengthens national security by facilitating the sharing and safeguarding of terrorism-related information. Granted government-wide authority by the U.S. Congress, the ISE serves as a trusted broker, facilitating the development of a network-centric ISE by promoting standards and architecture, security and access, and associated privacy protections.
2011 may go down as the year the federal government once again declared war on medical marijuana, but the medical marijuana movement remains rather undeterred. In fact, medical cannabis seems to be on an inexorable course toward wider adoption, as the science and technology around the plant grows up. Legalization Nation presents some examples from the 2011 Holiday Gift Season. Medical Marijuana 101 by Dale Gieringer $8.61 Proponents of the the Regulate Marijuana Like Wine voter initiative are out in California this week collecting signatures to get on the 2012 ballot. According to field reports, petition-signers are saying “just legalize it already” and asking for talking points. Which brings up a good one: smart people can barely make sense of the laws around medical marijuana in California, much less the dizzying fast-moving industry. So, Dale Gieringer, head of the California chapter of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, penned this 88-page guide to the drug's safe and legal use. Published in the East Bay by Quick American this year, it's sort of a CliffsNotes on therapeutic cannabis, debunking 75 years of government propaganda. The drug's a natural medicine that's been used for centuries, the book argues, and in 2009 the American Medical Association officially endorsed its value. This fall, the California Medical Association also called for outright legalization, in order to better study the plant. Buy Gieringer's book to upgrade the gray matter of a loved one. For the tech exec with everything inches Porsche Shisha $2,000In America, when people call Kim Kardashian dumb, her fans counter, “Then why does she have all that money?” Take the unassailable intellectual high ground in any discussion with Porsche's $2,000 water bong — excuse me, "stainless steel hookah." Available at Harrods, perhaps for the Pixar exec that has everything, it unites purist design with German-manufactured high-end aluminum, stainless steel and glass. It stands 55centimeters (22 inches) tall and comes with a TecFlex tub, and the smallest of Porsche branding along the top rim. It's part of Porsche Design's World Collection of tech-inspired luxury products, which also includes pipes. Gentlemen's preference Gentlemen's THC Stick $99“THC pens and cartridges” have rapidly proliferated this year. They're just like electronic cigarettes, in that they're shaped like a Bic pen and are designed to be puffed on one end. The inhaling action triggers a battery-powered vaporization unit, which in the case of e-cigarettes vaporizes a nicotine solution. The tail end lights up for effect, and the puff of nicotine vapor dissipates so fast that some people think it's socially acceptable to use indoors. (It's not.) It was just a matter of time before the idea was transported to medical cannabis, and it's kind of a good idea. (We've seen people with speech disabilities, like a disabling stutter take a puff on a THC stick and get their voice back.) The Apothecarium in San Francisco is one among many clubs branding a proprietary model, the Gentlemen's THC Stick. The Ambassador Kit runs $99 and comes with a strong and a light-hitting THC Stick, two USB charges, and wall unit. Cartridges last for dozens of hits and come in about six strains, including a CBD-rich type. Refill cartridges cost $39. Make a new friend. Write and Erase Large Glass Jar $25.95So you got a $2,000 Porsche bong, and you're still using plastic baggies, are you? Long-term storage requires glass, as cannabis is a bit acidic and can degrade plastic. Manufactured in North America, the 420 Science Large Glass Jar with pop-top is an airtight, clear plastic jar that holds up to a half-ounce and has a gasket ring that'll create a “pop” when you open it. Best of all, 420 Science's innumerable, hand-applied designs include a “Write and Erase” style, perfect for the ever-changing parade of strains in the Bay. See for yourself. V is for ... for ... forget it. Portable 100X LED Scope $26.95There's no FDA or USDA for ganja, so take inspection into your own hands with, this powerful handheld microscope. Also from 420 Science, it uses strong LED light and a powerful lens to magnify objects 60-100 times and works much like a jeweler's loupe — affix your eye to the business end and check out product for bugs, mold, mildew, and potency, or just gawk at the alien world of high-quality cannabis up close. Vsyndicate Grinder Card $11.99Bay Area cannabis aficionados use grinders. And those who've misplaced their grinder use grinder cards. Possibly the perfect convention booth freebie, it's a metal business card with a bunch of holes punched into it. In the case of the popular Vsyndicate grinder cards, the holes are in the shape of a V. Use it like a cheese grader or a kitchen mandolin to slice, zest and strain; Mostly, 'heads use it to stylishly shred up sticky buds for use in vaporizers, joints, blunts, etc. The Vsyndicates come in four different textures, and a bunch of cheesy graphics. But they're easy to use and won't chop a finger off. Which is nice. Be prepared.
UPDATE – Comcast has denied these rumors according to Reuters. Looks like we dodged a bullet there. Batman will not be working for Falcone. If you could list all the U.S. companies you’d least like to end up buying or merging with T-Mobile, I’m pretty sure Comcast would be right up there with the likes of Verizon and AT&T. Sadly though, rumors from supposedly reputable sources in Germany – according to Manager Magazin – suggest that it’s a deal with potential. Citing its anonymous sources, the publication claims that Deutsche Telekom is in talks with several companies and that Comcast is seen as one of the most attractive buyers. Agreeing with previous rumors, it also states that Dish Networks is another of the potential suitors for our favorite carrier. Since Comcast is financially stronger, and capable of buying all shares in TMUS, it’s seen as a “better candidate”. Since the rumor broke in the early hours of this morning, Deutsche Telekom’s stock value has increased. Which does make you wonder – How much of this is genuine intel, and how much is just an attempt to affect the stock market? Comcast – of course – is one of the biggest telecoms companies in the States and recently tried to buy Time Warner Cable for $45 billion. If that had happened, it would have virtually created a behemoth monopoly in fixed line/cable industry. Which begs the question: Could their be a more unlikely partner for T-Mobile? The Un-carrier regularly comes out publicly to criticize the “duopoly” in the mobile industry, pushing for a more competitive and level market place. If it was purchased by Comcast, it would surely become a part of another one of America’s least Un-carrier companies. If true, John Legere may as well go back to wearing the dull grey suit and tie like every other passion-less corporate face. In other words – I really struggle to see how this would work (except financially). A merger between Comcast and T-Mobile would send all the wrong signals to the market and – most importantly – to T-Mobile’s customers. Source: Reuters
US President Donald Trump, making good on his campaign promises, pulled United Sates out of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, which was signed by his predecessor Barack Obama in 2015. President Trump said that he is going to seek one-on-one trade deals with Asian countries to boost US manufacturing. He also said the deals he will sign will allow the country to quickly terminate them in 30 days “if somebody misbehaves.” Advertising As soon as Trump officially took charge as the 45th President of the United States, his administration has been active in making a number of policy changes. Here what Trump administration has done so far: WATCH VIDEO Donald Trump takes oath as 45th U.S. President * Issued executive order start rolling back ‘Obamacare’: In his fist act after taking control over the entire federal government, Trump signed an executive order to start rolling back ‘Obamacare’. The White House chief of staff Reince Priebus said the new deal aims at “minimizing the economic burden” of the “Obamacare” law. The order directed the federal agencies not to issue regulations that would expand the law’s reach. It also allowed the Health and Human Services Department and other federal agencies to delay implementing any piece of the law that might impose a “fiscal burden” on states, health care providers, families or individuals. Watch \| President Donald Trump Signs Executive Order, Pulls US From TPP Deal * Withdrew from Trans-Pacific deal: Arguing that the TPP deal signed by his predecessor was harmful for the citizens and manufacturers in America, Trump signed a withdrawal from the pact. “We’re going to stop the ridiculous trade deals that have taken everybody out of our country and taken companies out of our country,” the Republican president said. The TPP accord, negotiated by Obama, never got a formal approval from the Congress, but was supported by business entities. It served as the primary economic pillar of Obama administration’s shift towards Asia-Pacific region to counter China. * Executive order on abortion: In a bid to ban the practice of abortion in the United States, President Donald Trump on Monday signed an executive order seeking to ban the flow of federal money to international groups performing or providing information on abortions. According to his press secretary, the executive order named as “the Mexico City Policy” aims to show that the new President “wants to stand up for all Americans, including the unborn.” Advertising * Freezes federal hiring: Trump also signed an order to completely freeze all hirings in the federal government, except for military or security purposes. His long-term planning to reduce the federal workforce received criticism from federal employees, who claimed the actions will “disrupt government programs and services that benefit everyone.”
The key allegations made against Jack Straw and Sir Malcolm Rifkind concern possible breaches of the parliamentary code of conduct. The two former foreign secretaries are accused of offering to use their positions on behalf of a fictitious Chinese company in return for payment. Their apparent claims to undercover reporters also appear to question their commitment to at least three of the seven general principles on conduct in public life set out by the Nolan committee. Both deny the allegations. These are the most serious allegations against the MPs: Jack Straw The meetings with Straw about a potential consultancy with the fictitious Chinese firm took place in his parliamentary office. This appears to be a breach of the rules. The Commons members’ handbook [pdf] specifically forbids the use of parliamentary offices for private business. It says: “These facilities and services are provided in order to assist Members in their parliamentary work. They should be used appropriately, in such a way as to ensure that the reputation of the House is not put at risk. They should not be used for party political campaigning or private business activity.” In secretly recorded conversations, Straw suggested that a member of his staff had worked on his outside business interests. Under the rules of conduct in the parliamentary code, paragraph 15 states: “Members are personally responsible and accountable for ensuring that their use of any expenses, allowances, facilities and services provided from the public purse is in accordance with the rules laid down on these matters. Members shall ensure that their use of public resources is always in support of their parliamentary duties. It should not confer any undue personal or financial benefit on themselves or anyone else, or confer undue advantage on a political organisation.” Straw also claimed he operated “under the radar” to use his influence to change EU rules on behalf of ED&F Man, a commodity firm which paid him £60,000 a year. He also boasted of convincing the Ukrainian prime minister to change laws that would have hindered the same firm’s sugar refinery in Ukraine. Malcolm Rifkind In another secretly recorded conversation Rifkind said he could submit questions to ministers on behalf of a private client without revealing their identity. This appears to breach the code, which repeatedly calls for any interest to be declared. For example, under paragraph 96, it says: “A member may speak freely on matters which relate to the affairs and interests of a body (or individual) from which he or she receives a financial benefit, provided the benefit is properly registered and declared.” Rifkind also described himself as “self-employed” and said that “nobody pays me a salary” despite his £67,000-a-year MP’s salary. He has since accepted this was a “silly” mistake. Rifkind boasted he could arrange “useful access” to every British ambassador in the world. The most relevant part of the code in regard to allegations against both men concerns rules on lobbying agreed in November 1995. It states: It is inconsistent with the dignity of the House, with the duty of a Member to his constituents, and with the maintenance of the privilege of freedom of speech, for any Member of this House to enter into any contractual agreement with an outside body, controlling or limiting the Member’s complete independence and freedom of action in parliament or stipulating that he shall act in any way as the representative of such outside body in regard to any matters to be transacted in parliament; the duty of a Member being to his constituents and to the country as a whole, rather than to any particular section thereof: and that in particular no Members of the House shall, in consideration of any remuneration, fee, payment, or reward or benefit in kind, direct or indirect, which the Member or any member of his or her family has received, is receiving or expects to receive – (i) Advocate or initiate any cause or matter on behalf of any outside body or individual, or (ii) urge any other Member of either House of Parliament, including ministers, to do so, by means of any speech, question, motion, introduction of a bill or amendment to a motion or a bill or any approach, whether oral or in writing, to ministers or servants of the Crown. The code makes clear that this resolution “prohibits paid advocacy”, but it does “not prevent a Member from holding a remunerated outside interest as a director, consultant, or adviser, or in any other capacity”. Straw and Rifkind’s boasts also appear to question their commitment to three of the seven principles of public office set out by the Nolan committee. This is how the committee describes those principles:
Paloma Faith is the new face of Agent Provocateur… Ahh the lingerie industry – a collective of essential smalls shops or a bra-slinging battleground for a HUGE feminist debate? Former Agent Provocateur shop girl turned singing sensation Paloma Faith has come full circle and is now the (stunning) face of the iconic underwear brand. Here, she tells Marie Claire why it’s so important to feel sexy… ‘Just because you’re a feminist, doesn’t mean you don’t enjoy sex, or have to act like somebody who doesn’t when you’re in public. Doing something like this [being the face of Agent Provocateur] I’m sure will bring up questions about that. Some people will inevitably get confused and say “oh, she’s a feminist but now she’s sexy and naked?”‘ ‘I think new feminism is about women claiming back their sexuality and making it their own, as opposed to satisfying the male gaze. In every shot of this campaign I’m wearing my ‘feminist’ necklace. Every shot it was about me feeling empowered as a sexual being, as opposed to being a victim.’ ‘It was really important to me that the pictures didn’t look vulnerable, or porn influenced. The porn industry has ruined the image of female sexuality, whereas this is being shot by women, for women.’ ‘I remember dressing up in my mum’s underwear and heels (all too big for me) as a 14 year-old and I was pretending to be sexy. My mum sat me down and said: “I’m concerned”. She spoke so openly about how women should have expectations of what they deserve, sexually, just like men are always encouraged to have those expectations of what they deserve sexually.’ ‘I always feel body-confident, but it is hard not to be influenced by the media. It’s really important to me to remain curvy, because all the people I adore and like to look at are all curvy. Marilyn Monroe, Jane Mansfield and Daisy Lowe are my pin-ups. I do work out more than normal to get into shape for shoots, but I’d never stop eating. I try to tone up, but always keep my curves.’ ‘All my best underwear is AP. This is for show. But I’ve got all the boring tummy tuck-ey, t-shirt bra-ey stuff too – you have to in this industry because people are so critical.’ ‘What makes me happiest is love that is reciprocal, which I have now. When you’re in love with someone who celebrates you, and vice-versa, it’s rare and freeing and gives you all the confidence.’
Pipe #16156 This is a Cocobolo Wood Smoking Pipe. This Pipe is REALLY nice. As I took tools to this wood I could see the design coming into view. I thought Box Kite. So there goes the name. This pipe will stand on its end with the lighter attached so it is a very small footprint in that position. This pipe will give you years of service. No one ever had a pipe like this one. It is unique and you will be smoking from a work of art. Enjoy! Lighter not included. For more photos of this and my other pipes check out my instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emberoutpipes/ Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe, Smoking Pipe
If integrity means more than any of these baubles, then prepare to fail. The theme this week is The Rot Within. The sordid story of Harvey Weinstein is being presented as an aberration. It is not an aberration; it is merely a high-profile example of how the status quo functions in the USA, a.k.a. The United States of Weinstein, in which complicity, greed and corruption reign supreme in every sector and in every nook and cranny of power. The dirty secret of America's status quo is that power and wealth are both extremely concentrated, which means there are gatekeepers who must be bribed, sated or serviced if you want to claw your way up the wealth-power pyramid. Mr. Weinstein's alleged conduct and payoffs of those he exploited is par for the course in the corridors of power in the USA. As a gatekeeper in Hollywood, Mr. W. could make or break careers with absurd ease. Gatekeepers are the key functionaries in a rentier economy in which the few at the top skim the wealth of the many. Want to play in the big leagues of Hollywood, Washington D.C., the Pentagon, or the various HQs of Global Corporate America? You have to pay the Gatekeepers what they demand. It might be the casting couch or a slice of the profits, or a vote in committee, but the price of admission will always include complicity--silence about the crimes committed and the endemic corruption, and a sacrifice of moral standards. This is the minimal price of "success" in the elite circles of wealth and power in America. If you doubt this, dig deep into any concentration of power in America and see what you find. Outsiders won't find anyone willing to talk, of course; that's how complicity works. The overheated engine of complicity is greed. Hollywood kept quiet about Mr. Weinstein because insiders and wannabes alike hoped to score a plum role in Mr. W.'s next hitmaking production, or secure a couple of points of the gross. (1 point = 1%.) This is the evil fruit of a system that ruthlessly concentrates power and wealth, not just in Hollywood and Washington D.C. but in the judiciary, in higher education, in Big Pharma, the National Security State, Corporate America and yes, the Deep State, which is comprised not of the bureaucratic functionaries (sorry to pop your balloon) of the state but those one level above the gatekeepers. Every American has a simple but profound choice. Either place your integrity above all else, and refuse to climb the putrid pyramid of wealth and power, or succumb to greed and become complicit in an empire of greed, complicity and corruption. If "success" means a fat salary, points of gross, invitations to A-list parties, access to the inner circle, being the right-hand boy/girl of someone powerful, a seat on the private jet, etc., then you will be required to service the gatekeepers and sacrifice whatever integrity you once possessed. If integrity means more than any of these baubles, then prepare to fail. You won't clamber up the putrid pyramid, you won't get past the gatekeepers, and you won't be invited to join the elite skimming the nation's wealth for its own gratification and greed. But you will still have yourself, your pride, and your integrity. It's not an easy choice. Choose wisely. As Orwell observed about a totalitarian oligarchy, some are more equal than others. But the sacrifices required to become more equal than than the bottom 99.5% are irrevocable--you will have to sacrifice everything but your greed, your appetite for corruption and your willingness to hide the truth from the outside world. True success lies outside the empire of greed, complicity and corruption. If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com. NOTE: Contributions/subscriptions are acknowledged in the order received. Your name and email remain confidential and will not be given to any other individual, company or agency.
Colin Anderson ... camera operator / steadicam operator Robert Anderson ... grip Danny Andres ... grip (as Danny 'Lee' Andres) Norman Ash ... set lighting technician Pierre Ash ... set lighting technician Adam Austin ... libra head technician Russell Ayer ... set lighting technician: second unit Rocky Babcock ... additional camera assistant Robert Baird ... second assistant: "c" camera Scott Barnes ... lighting programmer Fernando Barrios ... grip Renzo Bartolotta ... set lighting technician Michael Bauman ... gaffer (as Mike Bauman) Mike Bellantoni ... grip (as Michael 'Rocco' Bellantoni) Don Bennett ... grip: second unit Peter Berglund ... first assistant camera Gabriel Beristain ... additional photographer Gary Bevans ... camera loader Noah Bishop ... technocrane operator: additional photography Mike Bonnaud ... best boy set lighting (as Michael Bonnaud) John Bonnin ... libra head operator Kyle Boorman ... electrician Jim Bradfield ... set lighting technician (as James E. Bradfield) Denise Brady ... grip Brian Breithaupt ... libra head technician Jeremie Brillant ... grip Justin Browne ... camera production assistant Alex Bunin ... remote head technician Kenny Carceller ... grip: second unit (as Ken Carcellar) Mark Carlile ... lighting technician Davie Carothers ... additional assistant camera Erik Carter ... electrician Conrad Castor ... camera loader: second unit George M. Chappell ... rigging electrician Jean Chesneau ... car rigger Joe Chess ... camera operator: second unit Joseph V. Cicio ... camera operator: second unit William Clouter ... grip James Coffin ... grip Alan Cohen ... first assistant camera: "a"camera, additional photography Matt Cohen ... video playback Scott Crabbe ... video assist operator: second unit Thomas Crawford ... best boy grip: second unit (as Tom Crawford) John Crimins ... additional lighting console programmer John Curran ... grip Thomas M. Dangcil ... set lighting technician (as Tommy Dangcil) Donald D. Davidson ... set lighting technician (as Donny Dean Davidson) Nathan December ... set lighting technician Robert B. Dechellis ... set lighting technician Ralph Del Castillo ... dolly grip: second unit (as Ralphie Del Castillo) Ric Delgado ... set lighting technician: second unit Louie DeMarco ... first assistant camera: "b" camera, second unit (as Lou Demarco) Al DeMayo ... lighting fixture technician (as Al Demayo) Carlos DePalma ... rigging grip foreman Michael DiGiovanni ... grip Don Domino ... rigging grip Anthony Donati ... set lighting technician Tana Dubbe ... key grip Cameron Duncan ... second assistant camera: "c" camera, second unit Greg Etheredge ... lighting fixture technician (as Greg Etherridge) Kevin Fahey ... rigging best boy grip Greg Fausak ... grip: second unit Michael FitzMaurice ... camera operator: second unit Clayton Fowler ... grip Chris Funk ... rigging electrician John-Anthony Gargiulo ... grip: second unit Mike Gerzevitz ... balloon technician Charley Gilleran ... rigging key grip (as Charley H. Gilleran) William J. Gilleran ... grip (as William Gilleran) Raymond Gonzales ... best boy set lighting: second unit Jose L. Gonzalez ... grip (as Jose Gonzalez) David González ... grip (as David Gonzalez) Lamont 'Wiz' Gray ... set lighting technician Sheila Greene ... set lighting technician Jason Griffiths ... grip: second unit Anthony Gudino ... additional lighting technician Eric Guerin ... second assistant camera: additional photography David Haeussler ... crane technician: Technocrane David Hammer ... crane technician: Technocrane Chuck Harrington ... crane technician: Technocrane Kent Harvey ... camera operator: "b" camera, second unit Gary Hatfield ... camera operator: "b" camera Scott Hatley ... best boy grip (as Scott 'Scooby' Hatley) James Hatridge ... set lighting technician: second unit Greg HecQ ... rigging electrician Jaime Heintz ... grip Michael Hester ... grip (as Michael T. Hester Jr.) Joe Hill ... rigging grip James J. Hughes ... grip (as James Hughes) Jay M. Huntoon ... video engineer Peter Hutchison ... camera operator Leo Ibanez ... grip: second unit Bogdan Iofciulescu ... technocrane operator George Kallimanis ... grip Michael Kennedy ... rigging lighting technician Mac Kenny ... director of photography: documentary Jeremiah Kent ... second assistant camera: additional photography Jeff Kunkel ... dolly grip (as Jeffrey Sherman Kunkel) Christopher J. Lama ... set lighting technician Charles Larson ... set lighting technician William Lehnhart ... set lighting technician (as Bill Lehnhart) Gary Louzon ... grip Robert Lowe ... electrician Dave Lujan ... set lighting technician: second unit Michael Lyon ... set lighting technician Leopold Lässing ... camera production assistant Richard Mall ... key grip: second unit Summer Marsh ... camera production assistant Bill Marti ... assistant camera Michael Martino ... first assistant camera: second unit Alexandra Matheson ... loader (as Alexandra Kanal Matheson) Taylor Matheson ... first assistant camera: "b" camera Michael A. McFadden ... rigging grip Charlie McIntyre ... rigging gaffer (as Charles H. McIntyre) Isaac McKee ... lighting technician Ray Milazzo ... first assistant camera Hector Miranda ... dolly grip Luis Moreno ... set lighting technician Richard Moriarty ... additional camera assistant (as Rich Moriarty) Tony Muller ... second assistant camera: "b" camera, second unit Anthony Nevarez ... grip Jacqueline J. Nivens ... second assistant camera: additional photography David B. Nowell ... aerial director of photography Craig O'Brien ... aerial camera operator (as Craig William O'Brien) Joey O'Donnell ... second assistant camera: "b" camera Steve O'Hallearn ... grip (as Steve O'Hollearn) Andrew Osborne ... assistant camera: additional photography Michael E. Pacheco ... rigging grip Ryan Pacheco ... grip / rigging grip Jerry Patton ... assistant camera Matt Perry ... grip: additional photography Daniel Pershing ... dolly grip Robert Petrin ... ultimate arm operator Kevin C. Potter ... first assistant camera: second unit (as Kevin Potter) Sean Prichard ... grip Raman Rao ... set lighting technician: second unit Brad Rea ... dolly grip Dan Riffel ... gaffer: second unit Tony Rivetti Jr. ... additional still photographer: second unit Gustavo Robles ... grip Claudio Rodriguez ... set lighting technician Zade Rosenthal ... still photographer Todd SanSone ... wireless imaging technician: second unit Mark Santoni ... additional camera assistant Paul Santoni ... first assistant camera: "c" camera, second unit John Savedra ... set electrician Gary Scalzo ... set lighting technician Ted Schelling ... video playback operator C. Alexander Sears ... computer/video playback supervisor Jack Serino ... rigging grip Jonathan Sharpe ... first assistant camera: additional photography Alec Shepherd ... grip: second unit (as Alec Sheperd) Tim Shinkle ... grip Jason Sidore ... set lighting technician (as Riley Sidore) Liam Sinnott ... additional camera assistant Cricket Sloat ... rigging best boy set lighting Scott Smith ... aerial camera technician / aerial first assistant camera Keith Solomon ... additional camera operator Matt Stenerson ... second assistant camera Robert Sterry ... video assist operator: second unit (as Bob Sterry) Mark Strasburg ... additional camera assistant Steven Strong ... set lighting technician: second unit Andrew Sykes ... grip David Taylor ... additional second assistant camera: second unit (as Dave Taylor) Jonathan Taylor ... director of photography: second unit Don Telles ... grip (as Don 'Geronimo' Telles) Joshua D. Thatcher ... additional moving light programmer / lighting console programmer (as Joshua Thatcher) Cameron Thorburn ... grip Michael Tolochko ... set lighting technician Lance Jay Velazco ... video assist (as Lance Velazco) Art Villasenor ... crane technician: Technocrane Mike Visencio ... set lighting technician Bob Waers ... set lighting technician Thomas D. Watson ... grip (as Thomas Watson) Rachel Wells ... set lighting technician Scott Whitbread ... second assistant camera: second unit Joel White ... grip Tim White ... grip Martin Wickman ... lighting technician Michael Woodside ... electrician Santiago Yniguez ... bodymount technician Kevin Celi ... digital imaging technician (uncredited) Alexander Chernoff ... 3cP consultant (on-set color correction) (uncredited) Jose Danner ... second unit: grip (uncredited) Keith Greenwood ... steadicam operator CNBC Jim Cramer (uncredited) Jaime Heintz ... rigging grip (uncredited) Mar Omega ... steadicam utility CNBC Jim Cramer (uncredited)
Did you know that it's now possible to run Android 4.0 on your Nokia N9? It's true. While the N9 and the Lumia 800 use the same amazing Nokia hardware, neither of those runs Android. Nokia made a decision long ago to use MeeGo on their last great in-house smartphone (the N9), while shifting to Windows Phone shortly after on the Lumia 800. But what if you want Nokia hardware with Google software? Tough luck, right? Wrong.There's now a way to dual-boot your N9, with Android 4.0 being the secondary operating system. The procedure is complex, yes, but not impossible. And thankfully for you, there's a wonderful how-to guide online to show you each and every step. Give the Via link a look if you're looking to get Android on your Nokia, and make all of your mobile dreams come true.
The plane went down at about 6:45 p.m. beside a levee near 10th Street, just outside of the McAllen airport. Update: McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez confirmed two people died following plane crash. A small plane went down Monday evening near the McAllen Miller International Airport, according to Sgt. Johnny Hernandez, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety. The plane went down at about 6:45 p.m. near a levee, just outside of the McAllen airport. It was a single-engine fixed-wing plane. There may have been two people on board, Hernandez said. The Texas Department of Public Safety is assisting the McAllen Police Department and the McAllen Fire Department, who are currently at the scene. The conditions of the passengers are unclear. Action 4 News will provide more details as they become available. The Federal Aviation Administration released a statement Monday evening: A single-engine aircraft carrying a student and an instructor crashed under unknown circumstances shortly after takeoff from McAllen Miller International Airport. The aircraft, a Zenair CH 2000 trainer, went down just south of Runway 13, shortly after 6:50 p.m. Please contact local law enforcement officials for information on the condition of the occupants. FAA inspectors are on their way to the accident site. The National Transportation Safety Board has been notified. The FAA will release the tail number once it is verified.
Warning: Spoilers ahead. The highly anticipated series, Westworld, has closed its first season on HBO. Here are some of my favorite moments from the finale. William quickly became a character I didn't trust in the show. His obsession with Dolores gave me chills and reminded me all too vividly of moments from my past that I would rather forget. To see his character finally be proven wrong was really satisfying to me. Because, as we discover, the maze isn't a place, it's a metaphor. A metaphor for consciousness. Those who read my previous piece about theories of consciousness in Westworld will remember that in the bicameral mind theory, the ultimate test of consciousness is the ability to synthesize metaphor. The moment when William (The Man in Black) has the maze revealed to him, he is suddenly less conscious than the machines. For he was unable to understand the metaphor they had been using all along. The reveal of Wyatt was another moment I thought was particularly well done. I had still been guessing up until the moment they revealed that Dolores had been the fabled villain all along. In episode 8, I thought maybe it had been Teddy, but episode 9 cast me back into doubt. As a folklorist, the reveal that Wyatt never truly existed but was an imaginary figure who had been, after years, woven into stories that resembled actual events that had once happened had me drooling. It was truly a clever little nod to folklore and cultural studies about storytelling. And of course, having folkloric figures is a cornerstone of every human culture. It gave a kind of depth and realness, not just to the main cast of Hosts in the park. Ford's murder/suicide sequence was another big one from Sunday's finale. It was both beautiful and devastating. "These violent delights have violent ends," Bernard murmurs as the realization of what is about to happen hits him. The lights twinkling around the stage cast a warm, happy glow as though to evoke joy from the audience. Or was it to mirror the joy Dolores feels at finally finding the key to her freedom?
Workers across China have joined a large-scale online network in response to a new working hours system implemented by supermarket Walmart. Walmart Workers’ Network, which usually fluctuates between 100-200 members, grew to 10,000 in just a few weeks, according to Wang Shishu, the group’s co-founder. Wang explained the implications of Walmart’s new working hours system on WeChat – China’s most widely-used messaging app – prompting thousands of employees to join the network, NGO China Labour Bulletin said. Workers are concerned that the supermarket’s new flexible working hours system will jeopardise their fixed hours and force them to resign to save the company from doling out severance pay, they claimed in an open letter addressed to the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU). It was signed by up to a thousand workers. Walmart’s new working hours model will be implemented from July across all stores in China, the supermarket said in a press release at the end of May. “It will arrange more flexible and reasonable working schedules according to worker’s personal needs and the level of demand in stores.” The company also said that “the benefits and income that employees already have will not change.” “Actively pushing the union to do their job is the best course of action,” Wang Jiangsong, a Chinese labour relations expert, told China Labour Bulletin. Last month, an official at a local federation in Nanchang helped broker an agreement between Walmart management and worker representatives which guaranteed that the new working hours system would be voluntary, the Walmart China Workers’ official blog said. Wang’s online network is facing obstacles such as online trolls and investigations by the National Security Bureau. The bureau is concerned that the group may be receiving foreign funding.
About 6 years ago, I popped in to an awesome cocktail bar in Long Island City, NY called “Dutch Kills”. The bartender was cleaning up after two customers who had just left and, in one of the glasses, sat the remnants of the clearest chunk of ice I’d ever seen, about 2-inches square. It was completely unblemished, uncloudy, and – frankly – beautiful. The bartender noted my gaze and, in an effort to clean up, she pulled a “fresh” cube out of the freezer and sat it on a plate in front of me. I couldn’t help but stare at it. I asked her how in the world they made it and she admitted that they don’t. They buy the ice from a nearby company that makes ice for sculptures and she wasn’t exactly sure how they were made. When I got home, I started researching how this was done. None of the ice I had ever made was crystal-clear. Not even close! (This frustrated me more than it probably should.) When I fill a tray with water, stick it in the freezer, and take it out a few hours later, all I have are a bunch of milky, uninspiring cubes riddled with haze and bubbles. The only (barely) clear part is around the edges. There aren’t all that many variables. Ice isn’t “complex” and it’s certainly not made of obscure ingredients. What was that ice company doing differently? Google wasn’t much help. There were plenty of wrong answers about how to do it. Using distilled or bottled water was the first thing I tested and dismissed. When I compared tap water against bottled, the results were subtle (to put it mildly). The second trick (which did actually help slightly) is to boil the water first. The reason this works is akin to why an opened bottle of soda will go flat more quickly when left out in a warm room than it will in a refrigerator. Hot water has a harder time holding dissolved gasses. Boiling simply reduces the amount of air dissolved in it. Still, neither of these techniques got anywhere near that glass-clear look I was after. For the first step, I just sat down with a few of my cloudy ice cubes and really pondered what I was looking at. A key factor was noting where the bubbles are (hint – they’re in the center of the cube) and thinking how they got there. The fact that lake ice and icicles are clear was another big clue. They have something in common: they freeze in only one direction. A lake freezes from the top-down while icicles freeze in layers, both vertically and horizontally. It’s also worth noting that the purest water freezes first and the impurities are washed away. (This is why ice that forms on a river is clear.) However, water in your freezer does not freeze in only one direction; it freezes inward from all directions. Hence, all the bubbles (and impurities) get pushed to the center of the cube. The first goal is to freeze the cubes in such a way that the bubbles never get to the center. The bubbles, as it turns out, are only half the problem. As water freezes, it also expands. (If you’ve ever forgotten a glass-bottled beverage in a freezer or if the pipes in your house weren’t protected from the elements, you’ve learned this lesson the hard way.) That expansion is insanely strong and will break just about anything that surrounds it – including other ice. As water freezes from the outside in, the inside ice expands and fractures the outer ice, then continues freezing, fractures again, and so on. Apart from the bubbles, the haze in the center of the cube is also caused by that fracturing. The ultimate solution (and the way that the ice sculpting places do it) is to freeze water in only one direction. This serves three purposes: It prevents the bubbles from getting trapped in the ice. It allows the ice to expand as it freezes which avoids fracturing. Since the purest water freezes first, impurities are (mostly) pushed out of the way. Great! All I needed to do was figure out how to freeze water in only one direction. Simply control when different parts of a container freeze. To do this, take a good sized plastic container and wrap it in some kind of insulator. Just about anything, an old sweater or scarf, styrofoam, bubble wrap, or even a kitchen towel will work. Wrap the edges and bottom of the container with the insulator and leave the top exposed. Place the container, wrapped in the insulation and filled with water, in the freezer for a day or two. (The insulation slows the process of freezing down considerably so plan ahead. It can take quite a while.) You won’t wind up with a perfectly clear block (or cylinder) all the way through, but if you did the insulating right, the majority of the ice will be clear. Simply cut or melt the cloudy portion of the cube away and you’ll be left with ice suitable for keeping a cocktail cold for quite a while; just try not to stare too hard at it. Note: Despite the size of the cube, the relatively small amount of surface area means that a single, large ice cube is better for keeping a cocktail cold but not necessarily getting it cold. It does, however, limit the dilution that would otherwise happen with lots of smaller ice cubes. This article was adapted from a larger blog post I wrote. You can view the original here. Daniel.
Games are the driving force on the Appstore. Apps which fall into other categories very rarely ever gets downloading numbers which successful games app accomplish. Having said that, the game market is so saturated with inane and stupid games finding a truly wonderful time waster can be a difficult proposition. So here is my pick for a great time waster. Glow Puzzle, developed from Nexx Studio, is the perfect, simple concept, mind and strategy game which anyone can play, at anytime or for however long you can play. If you are sitting on a bus and have ten minutes, great; sitting on the rail coming into the city for 40 minutes, perfect. Play this game when you are sitting on hold waiting for the queue line to shrink because you are number 13 in the caller wait list. This is a game which can be played anywhere. A weird feature is you need not worry about bumps and movement like other games when you are playing in moving vehicles. Glow Puzzle is simply “connect the dots” in continuous fashion to complete the puzzle. There are umpteen levels adding up to over 650 puzzles and when you finish them all, good luck, you can start all over again. There is no hidden message or meaning behind the simple concept, except to enjoy minutes playing a game to reload your brain. It’s the perfect time waster (which I don’t think is a waste of time because we all need the veggie break in our day). The developer gives a short video to show you how to play, but you really won’t need it. Glow Puzzle allows you to share your successes on Facebook. (Please don’t, your friends really don’t care). You have minor choices for which colour you want to play the game and you can either mute or enjoy the “techno” sound. If you want to try the game there is a limited edition Free version, but once you are totally hooked you can then add puzzle packs for a dollar. Or start with the paid version for a mere .69£ (.99¢). Glow Puzzle offers in-app purchases for “solve” packs for those puzzles which frustrate and leave you scratching your head.
The article was written by Marcin Serafin, the head of public policy team in Centrum Cyfrowe. The Poles and French will probably fight for the next few centuries over whether Frederic (or Fryderyk) Chopin was of Polish or French nationality. Both nations view Chopin as a national treasure, and preserve his memory and heritage. And there is no doubt that in both countries copyrights to his work have expired. Contrary to the case of Little Prince, there is absolutely no doubt about this, as Chopin died almost 170 years ago. This is why we were shocked to learn that the National Institute of Fryderyk Chopin (NIFC) not only issued an ordinance protecting his name and public image, but also filed an application to register two trademarks with the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) for all possible classes of products and services using the word “Chopin”. With that, no more “Chopin Hotels”, “Chopin chocolates”, composition of flowers named “Chopin bouquet” or any other product without a license, is possible. First, let’s understand the facts. The EUIPO database holds 26 trademarks and 4 designs (some registered, some refused or rejected) with the “Chopin” element. Two of the trademarks have been filed on behalf of the NIFC for a wide variety of products and services. Also, NIFC has drafted a long list of terms and conditions users will need to agree to in order be able to use their Chopin trademark. Applications are reviewed by a board and if approve – the licensing fees are imposed. The board sets the rules to which a license may be obtained for use of the trademark. There are 8 applicable licensed uses, including “music with patriotic messaging”, “European high culture”, “high esthetical value”, and “mastership or highest quality.” NIFC is quite clear on the rationale standing behind these procedures. It states in the preamble to the Ordinance (essentially, the “terms of use”) that it is leveraging the “possibilities created by law” to protect the name and public image of Chopin. It is also stated that the use of Chopin’s name and public image should build positive associations, and that any depreciation of Chopin’s heritage should be avoided. We ask a the relevant question: should exclusive intellectual property rights be used by public entities as a tool to protect Chopin? Or should Chopin’s name and image – like his incredible works of music – reside in the public domain for enjoyment and creative re-use by all? In this case, the NIFC approach shows how the idea of exclusive rights to intellectual property can easily be misunderstood. The traditional rationale behind intellectual property rights is that they can give to authors—for a limited time—exclusive rights to the economic interests in their creative works. IPRs are not meant to be used to control—from a moral or historical point of view—access to and use of creative works. Intellectual property rights should not permit rightsholder to dictate whether or how their creative works can be used in society, such as the naming of products after a famous composer like Chopin. Instead, there are alternative legal mechanisms that regulate this type of activity, such as personality rights. It would be improper to permit a governmental institution to control the name or likeness of a long-dead person (no matter how famous) through the application of intellectual property rights. Our goal with this post is not to argue that any type of limitation on the use of public domain works (or their authors) is improper. For example, specific legal instruments such as moral rights can be appropriate if defined clearly in the law. However, government bodies shouldn’t be tempted to flex the muscle of the IPR system to control the types of uses of Chopin’s name and legacy. The ongoing debate about how to portray Chopin has an important element in common with the current discussion over the freedom of panorama and limitations and exceptions to copyright: they urge us to contemplate the scope of freedoms available to us in our society. Our experience has shown us that there corporations, interest groups, and individuals who continue to restrict access to information and decrease civic and cultural freedoms by attempting to leverage the sharp blade of IPRs. We need to remain vigilant in our defense of the public domain.
Workers who have been laid off as a result of the debt crisis protest in Athens Nicolas Koutsokostas/Demotix Greek debt costs leapt yesterday as the French central bank warned that the banking sector in Athens is on the verge of collapse. The euro fell 0.6 per cent to $1.074 after International Monetary Fund and G20 meetings in Washington held out little progress on the prospect of Greece satisfying creditors to unlock €7.2 billion in financial aid by the end of the month. Yields on Greek debt due to mature in 2017 hit new record highs, up by 131.4 basis points to breach 27 per cent. The interest rate yield on ten-year bonds increased 20.2 basis points to 12.7 per cent. Amid an investor flight to safety, German ten-year borrowing costs resumed a fall towards zero and Belgium became the sixth eurozone country to…
After stopping a suicidal woman from jumping off a northwest Calgary bridge, professional wrestler Davey Boy Smith Jr. is encouraging others suffering emotionally to reach out for help. "I feel really bad for somebody like her. I don't know what she's had happen in her life but the main thing people should know is they're never alone if they're in situations like this, and they should never be afraid to reach out," he told the Calgary Eyeopener on Tuesday. Smith — the son of legendary pro wrestler Davey Boy Smith, whose real first name is Harry — was returning from a trip to Edmonton with his mother on Sunday and was on his way to watch a WWE pay-per-view with friends when they saw the woman, who was distraught and crying on top of the bridge. Riding in the passenger seat, Smith jumped into action. "I got my mom to stop and hurdled over the barricade, kind of like I would hurdle over the ropes in wrestling, and started to try and talk to her and reason with her," he said. "When people are in that frame of mind, you can't understand them, they're just going a million miles an hour, crying, so I decided to take it into my own hands to grab her. She kept saying 'don't touch me, I'm going to go, I'm going to go.'" Check that get up out! Pro wrestler Harry Smith joins us with his story of heroism over the weekend. Listen now on <a href="https://twitter.com/CBCEyeopener?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBCEyeopener</a>. <a href="https://t.co/nSjgbYKtoL">pic.twitter.com/nSjgbYKtoL</a> —@CBCOutside Once close enough, Smith used his wrestling training to secure one of the woman's legs and pin it to the cement barrier. "I knew as long as I had her anchored, she was going to be secure. Then she started threatening more… and she started trying to fight me off," he said. But Smith stands six foot five and weighs 260 pounds, so that was a fight the woman wasn't going to win. He then got her to the ground and pinned her there, but she continued to fight. And said she had a gun. "I had her arms pinned because she looked like she was trying to reach down for something in her pockets," he said. "She was basically helpless and kept squirming and going 'get off me, get off me,' and I said, 'no, you're not going to move unless I want you to move.'" That's when things got more emotional. "She started to cry and said she just wanted a hug, and it was really emotional for me because I wanted to cry, too," he said. "I said, 'I want to hug you but I can't because you said you have a gun.'" The woman later admitted she didn't have a firearm. Calgary police confirmed the incident happened just after 6 p.m. on the westbound side of the 16th Avenue bridge over Bowness Road N.W. The woman was taken to hospital. Smith received praise on social media for his heroic efforts, including from some big names in the wrestling business like Mick Foley, and Smith's uncle, Bret Hart. AMAZING good news wrestling story about <a href="https://twitter.com/DBSmithjr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DBSmithjr</a> saving the life of a distraught woman. Way to go Harry! <a href="https://t.co/iGtH1KddJz">https://t.co/iGtH1KddJz</a> —@RealMickFoley Positive stories still exist in the world. Very proud of my nephew Harry. 403-266-HELP <a href="https://t.co/Yv8v01Kumw">https://t.co/Yv8v01Kumw</a> —@BretHart The Calgary Distress Centre offers a 24-hour support line at 403-266-4357. With files from the Calgary Eyeopener
More and more children from Central America are entering the US illegally and alone. What happens when they're caught? Tiptoeing through the scrub brush of South Texas, everything sounds like a threat: wind rustling the palm fronds, a lizard skittering through the understory, a hawk’s heavy flapping, one’s own arm against a pantleg. At the bottom edge of the Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge slinks that fabled river, the Rio Grande, not two car lengths across. It is both astounding and totally unsurprising that Mexico, on the opposite bank, looks just the same as Texas, just a mirror image of nothing special. The park is a restored desert wetland, home to birds and armadillos and the endangered ocelot, with the occasional crossing of both Border Patrol trucks and those they are hunting. Thanks to uproar from the park staff and local environmentalist groups that had worked to restore and preserve this nearly lost habitat, the infamous border wall—a twelve-foot-high metal fence—stops at the Santa Ana’s perimeter and starts up again on the other side. Next to the river, a sign reads: this corridor will allow animals to safely pass along and across the Rio Grande. Just east of the sign, you can see a narrow scramble path leading from the murky river up into Texas. The gift shop at the Santa Ana Refuge sells T-shirts and postcards of Texas wildlife. In the corner stand a few tanks showcasing what you might see out there—snakes, mud eels, tortoises. I asked the cashier, who was at the window spying for jays, whether immigrants ever crossed through here. She raised her eyebrows, registering that I was clearly from out of town. “Every day!” she said. “You can find stashes of water and clothes and all sorts of stuff back there,” she said, motioning to the park. “But you know, they aren’t after us. They aren’t trying to hurt us. They just want a better life. It’s mostly families and kids,” she said. “Kids?” “Oh, yeah. Just last week they caught twenty of them. There was one full family, but the rest of them were all kids.” The history of the Rio Grande Valley is one of migration, of shifting borders, of walls and fences, hidings and crossings—this used to be Mexico, after all, and before that indigenous land. Today the two most reliable imports here are people and drugs. In 2012, Border Patrol in the Valley apprehended more than 97,000 undocumented immigrants, up from 59,000 the previous year. Human smuggling and drug smuggling have become a cooperative business. The infamous Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso on the western side of the state, has one of the highest murder rates in Mexico, often related to narco-trafficking. Increasingly, the violence has spread east to the Mexican side of the Rio Grande Valley—Reynosa, Matamoros, cities to be avoided if you can help it. And yet here and at nearly every other stopover point en route to the US, hundreds of children from all over Central America find themselves in a life-threatening state of limbo far away from home, hunkering in safe houses or along the riverbank for a chance to slip across the border. Border Patrol officials estimate that about 7 percent of all apprehensions are what they term Unaccompanied Alien Children—UACs, or “juvies,” as they’re more commonly referred to among Department of Homeland Security officials. An unaccompanied minor is someone who is under eighteen, has no lawful immigration status, and has arrived without a parent or guardian. Increasingly, these children are crossing the US-Mexico border from starting points as far away as El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. The Vera Institute of Justice finds that approximately 85 percent of unaccompanied minors nationwide are apprehended close to the border around the time of crossing, and that almost a quarter of all apprehensions happen in or near Texas’s Rio Grande Valley. In 2011, 17 percent—or 1,115—of those children were under the age of fourteen. Recently, unaccompanied minors have become an unstoppable flood. In 2011, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) referred 6,560 apprehended UACs to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the federal office that oversees unaccompanied minors. But in what an advocate in the Rio Grande Valley likes to call “The Tsunami of 2012,” that number more than doubled to 13,625. There were not enough beds to be had, so ORR set up temporary shelters in unoccupied Air Force barracks in San Antonio. By the end of February 2013, 7,002 apprehended UACs were transferred to ORR custody—more in the first five months of federal fiscal year 2012 than in all of federal fiscal year 2011. Why are they coming—and why so many? Some come to join parents who left long ago and are living undocumented in the US; sometimes parents, feeling secure enough, send for their children; sometimes children come to track down their long-departed families. But based on what the children themselves are telling them, advocates say that the biggest cause of this exodus is a dramatic increase in violence among impoverished communities in Central America. The fabled assumption is that people long to come to the US because of the opportunities it offers: free education, a chance to work, basic liberty. For children coming alone, the truth is often much darker than that. Rather than being lured to America for its promises—what advocates call “pull factors”—kids are fleeing legitimate fears at home. A boy is roped into a gang against his will. A family member is kidnapped. A mother or a sister is raped. A father is murdered. A family is extorted. The police themselves are either terrified or taking a cut or both. Worse still, the violence is within the family itself. These “push factors” are the overwhelming cause of the recent influx in unaccompanied minors showing up in Texas and all over the US. “The journey here,” says Kimi Jackson, an attorney at the Harlingen, Texas-based legal advocacy organization ProBAR, “is extremely dangerous.” To travel alone as a child or teenager means risking rape, kidnapping, forced recruitment into gangs or sex-trafficking rings, and even death along the way. “For a child to choose to make that journey,” says Jackson, “there’s a reason.” Jordi is one such kid, an eighteen-year-old boy from the Guatemalan highlands who fled here, alone, when he was fifteen. I met Jordi through his immigration lawyer, a young, bright-eyed attorney named Katie Chatterton, who works for Haynes and Boone, LLP, housed on the twenty-third floor of a sleek high-rise in downtown Houston. A specialist in corporate employment immigration, Chatterton attended an info session about pro bono opportunities after joining her firm and was struck by the work of Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), an organization that helps unaccompanied migrant children apply for immigration status. Chatterton is herself an emigrant from England, and she understands the labyrinthine nature of the US immigration system. “I had a pretty easy time applying for my visa,” she told me. “I had a sponsor, I knew how to fill out the forms, but it was still really complicated. It’s a harsh system for a child trying to figure it out all alone.” Jordi’s is a classic Special Immigrant Juvenile case, Chatterton says, and in many ways the classic profile of an unaccompanied minor: an uneducated boy in his midteens from Central America traveling alone, apprehended in South Texas, and detained in juvenile shelters for several months before being released to a family member (in his case, his sister). I met Jordi on a Saturday morning in the near-empty streets of downtown Houston, just outside of Chatterton’s high-rise. He’d arrived early, having taken an hour-long bus ride from his home on the north side of the city. When I spotted him, he was hunched over his cell phone, texting. A Guatemalan with indigenous roots, Jordi has just graduated high school, and is dead-set on joining the Marines once he gets his green card and, someday, becoming a scientist. He’s a typical teenager in many respects—addicted to his phone, active on Facebook, into working out and girls. But there’s a severity to him. When he talks, he’s either smiling widely or regarding something—the sidewalk, his phone, the basket of chips—with extreme concentration and force, as if it were something deeply undesirable. When he talks about his past, he vacillates between a solemn, hard-faced account and shy laughter. We headed to a Tex-Mex restaurant on San Jacinto Street, where we found a booth and Jordi told me about his American pilgrimage, which began in a tiny village in the region of San Marcos. He described a childhood besieged by an abusive father, a part-time builder who constructed everything from chairs to tables to television stands. On good days, Jordi said, his father would take him to the woodshop so he could help out—building a set of chairs or sanding a table. More often, though, his father would skip the woodshop altogether and head for the cantina, where he stayed until dark, a primer for violent nights at home. “With all of us it was the same,” Jordi said. His father would come home, raise hell, beat his wife and children, even throw them out into the streets. “It didn’t matter what time it was or how cold it was outside or if we had anywhere to go.” If they called the police, the police did nothing (Jordi remembers his father slipping officers cash now and then). Eventually, the police stopped coming altogether. One by one, Jordi’s older brothers headed north, reuniting in Anaheim, California, where they found work in construction—under the table, using fake social security numbers. Once they got situated in Anaheim, the brothers began sending money back to their mother via MoneyGram, which their father often found out about and siphoned away. “It was just a little money,” Jordi said, “for food and the house and stuff like that. But he didn’t care.” One night, when Jordi was ten years old—“still really small”—his father returned home drunk. “We were all sleeping, me and my mom and my five brothers and sisters. He came in and woke us all up, shouting at my mom, saying bad things about her and her family, calling her a prostitute. He began hitting my mom and calling me terrible things.” He shook his head. “The worst things you could imagine. I didn’t want him to throw us out, and I was so mad at him for all the things he’d done. I was full of nerves because of what he was doing. It made me feel like I had to do something. I don’t know where I found the strength, but I pushed him—hard, with all the force that I had,” slamming his father against the wall and knocking him down. “I was just a kid.” He laughed as he recounted it—still proud, eight years later, of his momentary victory. “I was really small,” he insisted. “After that night, I knew I had to go.” Anaheim came to mind. “But I’d only been to the second grade,” he said. “What was I going to do when I came to the US? I didn’t speak the language, didn’t know anything about school. I didn’t know anything. I could add and write a little. That was it. Where would I find work in the United States? How would I get there?” It took another five years for Jordi to decide that nothing could be worse than life at home. He’d only attended three years of school by then, still barely knew how to read or write. He was still small (at eighteen, Jordi is only five-four) and had never been far from his village. He called his brothers, who wired several thousand dollars to coyotes—immigrant smugglers—in Guatemala. When all was arranged, Jordi and his mother took a four-hour bus ride to the coast, as instructed, to a safe house where about twenty other passengers were already waiting. Jordi said goodbye to his mother, then ducked inside. “The next night, we loaded into a boat,” Jorid said. “We traveled all night. The boat wasn’t that big, and the water was really rough. I couldn’t sleep. It was dangerous there on the water, too, because we were on the border with Mexico and there was lots of drug trafficking, all hours of the night. The coyotes told us that we had to be careful because bad things had happened on these trips. “There was only one other kid like me. He was fourteen years old. He left because his parents weren’t in his country anymore. They’d been in the US for a long time and he wanted to find them.” I asked Jordi if anyone tried to help him or take care of him, since he was only a kid. “Nobody did anything like that. Nobody cared. You know, Mexico is different than here. Here, if people see you not doing well, they’ll ask how you are. But not in Mexico. They don’t care about nobody. In Guatemala it’s the same.” Around dawn, they arrived in Mexico: one step closer to Anaheim. “When we got off the boat, we all separated. One group went here, one group went there. Me and about ten other people walked about an hour to a house. I was so tired and sore.” From the safe house he took a bus, then another, aiming for Reynosa, the Mexican sister city of McAllen, Texas, where he and the others spent a few nights in a motel awaiting instructions. From Reynosa, you can practically spit across the Rio Grande to the United States. The crossing itself seemed shockingly simple: The group followed the coyotes down the banks of the river, loaded into a small boat, and, within minutes, stepped off into Texas. They then worked their way through the tall brush as quietly as possible, the dried tree limbs, palm fronds, and tall grasses shushing against their bodies. After about an hour, they arrived at a trailer home. The coyotes guided them inside and locked it. “No one could leave for anything,” said Jordi. They slept on the floor, close but not touching. The next day, they did nothing but wait. “It was boring. I talked to the other people, but just a little bit. The people who lived there bought us food—fried chicken and biscuits and soda.” The next night, they were shepherded by pickup to another patch of dense chapparal and sage brush, where they continued by foot again. On this leg, the coyotes grew tense, hissing at their charges and smacking them if they talked. “I kept quiet,” Jordi said. “We were like ghosts.” They shuffled along a terrain that shifted from dense brush to tall forest and back to brush again. At one point, the coyotes handed everyone pills to help them stay awake, to keep moving. Jordi, exhausted, watched as others took theirs. “They got really high,” he remembered. “I was so tired. I thought about taking it. But you never know what will happen. You could get a heart attack, you could die there. I thought about my brother and my dad, and how drugs affected them. So I didn’t take it.” At sunrise, they stopped to rest, finding cover under a thin canopy of ash and elm trees until dusk, when they started walking again. The next night, the same. “Sometimes I slept, sometimes I didn’t,” Jordi said. After two days of walking, they emerged at dusk somewhere in the northern part of the Valley, just south of Corpus Christi, where yet another pickup truck was waiting for them. They loaded into the bed of the pickup, one on top of the other. The coyotes covered them with a thick blanket, then hopped into the cab. The truck charged ahead as night fell, the passengers packed together. Though it was November, and mild, the air was rank and stifling under the blanket. After a while, Jordi felt the truck begin to accelerate. Then he felt it swerve. He suspected that Border Patrol had spotted them, and was giving chase. The truck veered and gained speed, then collided—with another car, a pole, a wall, Jordi wasn’t sure—and somersaulted until it landed upside down, atop its heap of passengers. “I was the first one to wake up,” Jordi remembered. “We were stuck there under the truck, and I had to climb over other people and get out through a small space between the truck and the road. I felt like I was going to die—I couldn’t breathe, I’d been hit so bad. I had to hit my own stomach to start breathing again.” Others began to stir. “People were covered in blood. Some of them started screaming. Some of them weren’t moving at all. I don’t know what ended up happening, if they ever moved again after that.” If they did die there on the road, bodies unidentified and unclaimed, it is likely that they ended up at the Sacred Heart Burial Park, just a few miles north of the Border Patrol checkpoint on Highway 281, and eighty or so miles from the sand-blown road where Jordi’s truck overturned. The checkpoint serves as a second front for Border Patrol, snaring truckloads of immigrants and narcotics, effectively driving coyotes and their passengers into the nearby brush. (In late March, the checkpoint sign boasted that it had caught 78,087 pounds of drugs and 9,442 aliens to date.) John Doe. Unknown Female. Child. Unknown Male. Skeletal Remains. Unknown: So read the cemetery’s small, tin signs that commemorate the unidentified bodies recovered by the Department of Homeland Security and local ranchers. Some signs are left nameless, using only serial numbers. In May, a local funeral home exhumed more than fifty bodies from Sacred Heart for DNA testing, in response to inquiries directed at consulates and DHS by families in Central America searching for relatives who’d gone missing en route to the US. If there are no detention records, Sacred Heart is the next reasonable place to check. In the ambulance, the emergency responders asked Jordi his age. “Fifteen,” he told them. Then he passed out. He awoke in the hospital, his leg broken, in a cast, his hands strapped to the bed. “How old are you?” someone asked him again. “Nineteen,” he said. He’d remembered what his cousin had told him, that kids caught in the US were sent back to their country of origin, that adults were allowed to stay. South of the border, rumors like this run rampant, contradicting each other. If you’re caught, say you’re an adult so they don’t send you back. Say you’re a kid so they don’t send you back. If you say you’re a kid, they won’t take you to prison. Practice your Mexican accent. They’ll drop you off in Mexico. It’ll be easier to get back in. Jordi looked young, but he insisted he was nineteen. As a result, he was transferred to an adult detention facility in Corpus Christi. “I couldn’t walk for two months after the accident. I got a cast and a wheelchair for two weeks. I was only in the hospital for like five hours, then I went to the prison.” At Corpus Christi, he was given an orange uniform and locked in solitary confinement. “I really don’t know why,” Jordi said, laughing. “Maybe because I didn’t know anyone—but I really don’t know.” After ten days alone, he was moved into a crowded cell, then sent to a nurse to inspect the progress of his leg. She seemed suspicious of his age, studied his face. He insisted he was nineteen. But with each visit, she asked him again, until finally, after about three weeks, Jordi confessed he was actually fifteen. In September 2010, Jordi was transferred to where most unaccompanied minors wind up, a facility under the auspices of the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Previously overseen by Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), ORR took over the care and custody of unaccompanied minors in 2003. Before that, a landmark 1997 case known as the Flores settlement ensured that UACs would no longer be detained with adults, and that children would be placed in the most humane and least restrictive detention setting possible. Even still, children post-Flores were detained by INS, and later by DHS, which meant that the same agency supposedly caring for the unaccompanied children was also prosecuting their cases. To reverse this conflict of interest, care of UACs was transferred from DHS to ORR. Under ORR’s mandate, children under twelve, as well as highly vulnerable cases, such as pregnant girls or sex-trafficking victims, are placed in foster care. The rest are housed in what are essentially hybrid youth shelters/detention centers, where they are cared for as children but not free to come and go. The ultimate goal is to reunite unaccompanied minors with a sponsor in the US—a brother, a family friend, an aunt, even a parent who has been living here undocumented—so that they can get out of the shelter and into the care of a trustworthy adult. (The Vera Institute reports that more than 80 percent of unaccompanied minors in these shelters are reunified with family members or close friends before their cases go to court.) Once reunited, they must appear in court, where they can apply for legal relief that will allow them to stay. Otherwise, they are sent back home. Because of the great rush of 2012, there are only so many beds to be had among ORR facilities. Children are routinely sent states away from where they were initially apprehended. In Jordi’s case, a bed had opened up in Chicago, at the International Children’s Center Youth Shelter, a contracted facility. The children at ICC arrive from all over the world—the Congo, China, India (the staff, in fact, speaks more than twenty languages collectively). Jordi described ICC as quiet, but far better than the detention center. “In Chicago, it was pretty good. I trusted all the staff, they treated me well. They were caring and kind to all the kids. Every day we’d go to class. They’d take us out—to parks, to the gym. To me, all the adults were good. I can’t say they were bad people—they were doing the best they can. I still try to stay in touch with them.” In the fifty-four-bed shelter, Jordi shared a room with three other boys, sleeping in bunk beds, each boy with only a few personal effects stored in shelves and lockers. “We had a talent show every month,” he explained. “It wasn’t a competition or anything, but just to have fun. I sang two different songs.” One was a Christian song called “Jesus es Verbo” (Jesus Is a Verb), which, he explained, is about how you have to act like Jesus, not just talk the talk. The other song was a love song, “De Rodillas te Pido” (I’m Begging On My Knees), about a boy begging a girl to come back to him. Jordi talked about the talent show and the songs he chose. “I played the piano while I sang. We all cheered for each other—there was lots of energy. I remember all of it because it was so great.” After a few months at the ICC shelter, Jordi was transferred to another Chicago facility, again due to a shortage of beds. From both shelters, Jordi called home as much as they’d let him—only twenty minutes a month, the standard allowance for ORR shelters nationwide. He told his mother he was fine, he was safe. He didn’t tell her about the accident, or about being sent to immigration jail. “I came here to help my mother, not to give her more worries. So I didn’t tell her about the bad stuff.” Besides, Jordi added, “it was a good place. Only that I still wasn’t free.” No matter how nice the facility, or how kind the staff, Jordi wanted out. The shelter staff worked to reunify him with a family member in the US. His brothers in California couldn’t sponsor him because they were too busy and unsure about their status. A sister lived in Houston and offered to take him in, though she, too, was hesitant because of her lack of papers. The shelter staff assured her that she would not be deported if she took custody of Jordi. Within a few months, Jordi moved to Houston to live with her. He enrolled right away at Aldine High School, and began leading what he says felt like a normal American teenage life, though he was still very much in legal limbo. There was only a limited amount of time he’d be allowed to stay before his case would be brought to Houston’s immigration court, where he would be deported unless he could establish legal grounds for relief. Through a referral from the Chicago shelter, he was introduced to Katie Chatterton, who took on his immigration case. Jordi began meeting with Chatterton regularly, taking the hour-long bus ride south to her office, sometimes once a week, to prepare his case. His options for staying depended on being recognized under one of two categories: Special Immigrant Juvenile Status or asylum. To qualify for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, a child must prove that he has been abused, abandoned, or neglected by a parent or guardian. To qualify for asylum, he must prove that he has a well-founded fear of persecution in his home country on account of his race, religion, political opinion, nationality, or membership in a particular social group. Social group is the most nebulous of the five grounds for asylum—one must prove both membership in the social group and show that the group is visible and recognizable. It will often provide protection to homosexuals, for example, in countries with entrenched homophobic laws or practices, and increasingly to victims of gender-based violence such as female genital cutting or attempted “honor killings.” Most often, asylum-eligible unaccompanied children fall into the social-group category, which is the hardest case to prove. Just saying you’re a victim of gang violence, for example, does not qualify you for relief. What is the particular social group that you are a part of? Are you specifically being targeted, or is it just generalized community violence you are fleeing? In addition to the social-group challenge is the challenge of nexus: An asylum applicant must show a direct link between his particular social group and his fear of persecution. Chatterton’s strategy was to apply for both Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and asylum, “hoping one would stick.” Though there are shelters all over the country—Chicago, Seattle, New York, Los Angeles—Texas’s Rio Grande Valley (where Jordi would have been sent had there been a bed available) is host to the largest single portion of detained immigrant children in the country—21 percent as of 2010, and rapidly growing since then. The Rio Grande Valley has more than 1,100 beds designated for these kids at any one time, increasing from 700 beds after ORR opened five new shelters in June. The shelters are sprinkled throughout the Valley, in locations like Harlingen (home of the region’s immigration court), Combes, San Benito, Los Fresnos, and Brownsville. Despite the fact that thousands of them move through this area each year, these children are, for the most part, invisible to the larger population that hosts them. La Esperanza Home, an ORR facility in Brownsville, exemplifies how strangely present and absent this subpopulation of kids can seem. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, La Esperanza is packed with children ages twelve and older, nearly all from Mexico and Central America. A chain-link fence surrounds the shelter, parking lot, and adjacent small soccer field that, most of the time, is brown-green and unused. The children sleep in camp-style bunk beds, eat three square meals a day, attend English classes, meet with legal experts, and make their weekly phone calls home. Advocates describe it as not depressing, necessarily, but eerily quiet. Children are let outside only a couple times a week—to play, to go on field trips, or to board the vans headed for the immigration courthouse in Harlingen. The courthouse itself is a sleepy, one-story brick block of a building that sits near an overpass, just down the block from a Motel 6. An American flag flaps lazily overhead. All juvies detained in the Rio Grande Valley are ordered to appear here, where four immigration judges with full daily dockets—four days a week, at least one of these dockets devoted to children—preside over packed courtrooms and hear the details of each respondent’s case. Though architecturally dull, the courthouse can be an intimidating place to the children with business here. “The kids don’t know what to expect. We tell them, but still—they’ve never seen a building like this,” says José Chapa, a paralegal working for ProBAR, the project of the American Bar Association that provides legal support for children detained in the Rio Grande Valley. Because the average stay in an ORR shelter is sixty-one days, most children receive a Notice to Appear in court for immigration removal proceedings while they are still in detention, before they can be reunited with family. Unlike domestic juvenile courts, there is no public attorney assigned to children, nor is there a child advocate to help the child navigate the legal proceedings. Most children appear pro se—in legal parlance, for oneself. Without ProBAR, finding representation in the Valley would be nearly impossible. The area is vast and poor; there are no law schools and therefore no students who can pitch in free legal help; most attorneys here aren’t equipped or willing to offer their services pro bono. Thus, the Valley has the greatest concentration of unaccompanied minors in the country but the fewest legal resources to support them. Underscoring this dilemma is the fact that, among the five new ORR shelters that have come online this summer, ProBAR provides legal services for only one. Legal representation is critical for unaccompanied children because, due to their vulnerability, limited life experience, and isolation, they struggle to fully understand their legal circumstances. ProBAR provides Know Your Rights trainings that prepare children, as best they can, for their legal proceedings. For the older children, the Know Your Rights trainings—or charlas, as they are called (the Spanish word for “chat”)—use what paralegals call “child-friendly terms” to review what it means to be detained, the process of reunification, what a Notice to Appear means, when they will have to appear in court, and what they will have to do when they get there. The idea is to demystify the legal process and court experience, and to encourage children to become active participants in their own legal proceedings. For children under twelve, the Know Your Rights trainings look a little different. ProBAR’s stance is that even the youngest children have the capacity to understand something of what is happening to them, and that it is their right to be given the best information—again in child-friendly terms—to help them navigate their time in foster-care detention. In these cases, the children take field trips to the Harlingen courthouse after the day’s session has ended, and role play the various courtroom jobs: attorney, client, prosecutor, judge. They sit in the same benches where they will sit on their day in court; they practice standing up and speaking their names in front of the imaginary judge. ProBAR paralegals have children draw their lives at home, which then form the basis of questioning in their initial legal screenings. Attorneys and paralegals can ask children to explain what is happening in a picture. As Violeta Discua, a veteran ProBAR paralegal, describes it, “I might say, ‘Who is that person?’ and a child might say, ‘Oh, that’s my grandma!’ And I would say, ‘Is she a good person?’ ‘Oh, yes, she’s a really beautiful person, she makes me tortillas!’ ‘And who is that person?’ ‘Oh, that’s a bad person, he hits my grandma.’ From that, we can begin to put together a child’s case.” All children are given an initial screening to determine whether they might have a viable immigration case. But, as ProBAR’s managing attorney Kimi Jackson says, the screening is, by its nature, not exhaustive, since there are so many children to process. The only cases ProBAR is able to represent are emergency cases—extremely vulnerable cases involving things like sex trafficking, for example, or children who are about to turn eighteen and need to apply for relief fast so as not to age out of the juvenile system. The only other children they represent are those who are opting for voluntary removal—to go home on their own accord. On an early Tuesday morning in March, the lobby of the immigration courthouse is packed. A handful of adults are seated along the edge of the room. About three dozen children crowd the rows of fold-out chairs. The kids are arranged in groups according to shelter, wearing standard-issue dress—one group in starched, light-blue shirts and dark-blue jeans, another in primary-colored cotton henleys. The kids whisper among themselves, fidget with their packets of papers. A boy about thirteen years old with spiked hair nervously tucks his red collared shirt into his jeans. José Chapa enters the room, legal pad in hand, cowboy boots clicking against the floor. He introduces himself to the children, some of whom he has met before. Chapa, a Valley native in his late twenties, wears glasses and is slightly balding, and has a gentle and assuring demeanor as he leans over the boys and girls, checking in with each one about their cases, marking up his spreadsheet of names. “Buenos dias, jovenes,” he says to the room. “When I call your name, come stand over here.” One by one, Chapa calls their names, and they line up in somber single file, then follow him into court. The four youngest children—ages seven, eight, nine, and twelve—sit in the back, three boys and one girl, their feet dangling off the edge of the bench. All the seats are filled. When Judge Howard Achtsam walks in with the usual pomp and circumstance, all the children stand. This morning, three children are opting for Voluntary Departure: two brothers from Guatemala, who speak Quiche, and one boy from Honduras. They want to go home. ProBAR has explained to them the rights and consequences of this—namely, that they will be sent home within 120 days and that they will no longer be eligible to apply for any form of relief. But they are determined. Their case is a quick one. “You have until May 29 to leave the US,” says Achtsam—just over a month away.The fourth child, who has also requested to go home, has trickier circumstances. “My client has several different entries,” says the ProBAR attorney. She had pulled him aside earlier to explain again: You can only opt for Voluntary Departure once in your lifetime; after that, your only option to leave is through removal, more commonly known as deportation. Once deported, you are barred from applying to enter the US for as long as twenty years. This is this boy’s third time entering the US, his third time in court. His chances are up. He will be deported within the month. Though there has been a decrease in Voluntary Departure nationwide and in Texas, ProBAR attorneys say they are seeing an increasing number of children being “forced” to choose Voluntary Departure rather than being allowed enough time to find proper counsel. “We see the court denying reset requests more often,” says Kimi Jackson, regardless of how soon a child is due to be reunited with his or her family. In most cases, she adds, kids are waiting to be reunited with families several states away; the families have trouble finding attorneys who are willing to file on behalf of clients they haven’t met. Fewer are willing to represent clients long-distance. Jackson and other ProBAR attorneys have argued in court that removal proceedings should be postponed until after families are reunited. The Valley is so impacted with undocumented children, Jackson says, and is so strapped in terms of legal resources, that kids have a far better shot at finding affordable or pro bono representation once they’ve left. In a motion to extend a detained Salvadoran child’s case until he was reunited, a ProBAR attorney argues, “It is not uncommon for children detained in South Texas to reveal facts demonstrating eligibility for relief only after they have been released from detention.” Kids, after all, are much more likely to reveal traumatic experiences after they have landed in the care of someone they trust. Still, if a child says he wants to go home, an attorney is obliged to help him do so, even if the child’s stated interest is at odds with his best interest. This is a profoundly difficult position for ProBAR attorneys, especially in circumstances of what’s called “detention fatigue”—the breaking point for children in detention facilities. Detention fatigue can lead to a child opting for Voluntary Departure even if it’s not actually safe for him to go home. Children do not possess the foresight to weigh an immediate misery against a probable danger, especially one that awaits them hundreds of miles away. A boy might know that he could be killed if he returns to Honduras, but he’s so tired of being locked up—no matter how friendly the facility—that he just wants to get out. This is where the Young Center comes in. In domestic child court, children have both attorneys (provided to them by the state) and child advocates, often social workers, who represent the child’s best interests. The underlying principal is that children, being children, cannot always recognize their own best interests, and thus need an advocate to ensure that they are being met. The Young Center employs this same model for unaccompanied immigrant minors. “Many of these kids are under immense pressure,” says Maria Woltjen, Founding Director of the Young Center. “They had a plan: They were supposed to be somewhere, meet someone, were supposed to help their family, money is owed. And that plan got interrupted. It’s the unknowing that is very hard. They are separated from their families, and they just don’t know when they are going to get out. They want to get out at all costs.” It is this desperation to get out that makes the child advocate so important, since the best interests of children and their attorneys aren’t always aligned. Woltjen gives the example of children trafficked for labor from China through a group known as the Snakeheads. The Snakeheads often hire an attorney to get the child out, so that he can be free to work off his debt to the Snakeheads. In this case, the attorney is beholden to the traffickers, not the child, who thus needs an independent advocate all the more. “Immigration proceedings are one of the few legal arenas in the US where the child is the primary party—acting alone,” Woltjen says. “Our immigration system still treats children exactly like adults.” It’s hard enough to find volunteer attorneys for children, let alone child advocates. To that end, the Young Center—along with the Women’s Refugee Commission, the Vera Institute of Justice, and such affiliates as ProBAR—are calling for a shift in immigration proceedings that would address the particular vulnerabilities and rights of children. Their proposals include juvenile-only dockets with judges who, like in domestic court, hear the cases of children exclusively. These dockets would all be held on a certain day, when both pro bono attorneys and child advocates could staff the court, making sure that no child appears pro se. What’s more, children wouldn’t have to tell and retell their stories when applying for relief—an experience that can be re-traumatizing when it involves details of incest, rape, abuse, or torture. Rather, the child could provide a single recorded testimony, with substantiating evidence from the home country, that could be admitted to the court. “This same movement happened in domestic juvenile court once upon a time,” says Woltjen, adding that parties on all sides of the equation have expressed interest in remodeling the court system to become more child-friendly. Though the impact and scope of the looming national immigration reform bill remains unclear, Woltjen and others are hoping that reform, whatever its broader political consequences, will trigger some improvement in how the rights and expectations of unaccompanied minors are met in immigration courts. In the Harlingen courthouse, Judge Achtsam addresses about a dozen first-timers at once, explaining that they will be given temporary reprieve, their cases reset for a later date. “You were not given permission to enter legally in the United States,” he tells them. “Therefore your Notice to Appear says you can be removed—that means the same as deportation—because you are not citizens or nationals.” The boys and girls, staring straight ahead, are explained their rights, with Spanish translation. They stand when their names are called. For kids, they are remarkably quiet, barely a sneeze or a rustle. They are given paper-work with a Notice to Appear in late May, along with a list of attorneys. “You have the privilege of being represented by an attorney, but at no cost to the US. If you cannot afford to pay for an attorney, there are a number of legal-aid organizations in this area that can represent you at no cost. You have to find an attorney as quickly as possible,” they are told. The list, too, is effectively pro forma: No one but ProBAR will take on these children’s cases, and even then only in an emergency scenario. “Any questions?” Achtsam asks the group. No one raises a hand. “Okay, thank you,” he says, stands, and raps his gavel. The juvies file out. “Was it scary?” I ask a group of boys in Spanish. They shrug. “Yes,” one of them says. “A little.” “It wasn’t so bad,” another interjects. “I thought it was going to be worse. We knew what it would be like from other kids. It wasn’t so bad.” After most of the children file out, a group of boys waits for the van that will take them back to La Esperanza. One of them, whom I’ll call Miguel, sits alone, shoulders slumped, with his back to the other boys. He is seventeen and from Honduras, pale and pimply-faced with dark curly hair. I ask him if he wants to go back. “It depends,” he says. “It depends on the news from my family.” He describes “family problems,” which in his case mean an extended family that has been the target of repeated violence. They own some land, he says, where they grow fruit and have a decent-sized home. Because of his family’s relative wealth in the community—by the standards of poverty, of course—a local gang kidnapped his aunt to extort money from them. “The police are corrupt,” Miguel says. “When my father told them they had my aunt, the police just asked for a bribe.” In the end, his family failed to come up with enough money to do any good. “They killed her. They killed her and no one did anything.” His cousins were killed, his uncle, his grandmother. One day, he and two friends were sitting around talking about it. “You just want to live a peaceful life,” he tells me, “but you can’t.” So he and his friends came up with a plan to head north. “Just like that,” he says, “we decided.” He spent three days near and around the Rio Grande without food or water, waiting with his group for the chance to slip across. They were spotted once, and jumped back into the river. Once they did make it across, unseen, they spent three more days hiding out in a trailer, then two more nights walking through the desert to where they met a truck. During a chase by Border Patrol, the truck, like Jordi’s, crashed—into a dune, no one badly hurt—and they all ran in different directions. He was caught within a couple of hours and, due to his age, brought to the detention center outside of Harlingen. “I was really upset when I first came,” he says. He was furious for having gotten caught, and terrified about what was happening to his family at home. “I’d get mad at the other kids when they’d talk about stuff, like death and things. I’d shut myself in the bathroom. But after talking more”—with shelter staff, with attorneys, with other children—“I felt better.” Like all kids locked up in the Valley, Miguel only gets two ten-minute phone calls a week. “Last week, my father was so sad he couldn’t even talk to me.” He doesn’t know what’s really going on back home, and suspects his parents aren’t telling him the truth. “When I’m with my uncle, things will be easier,” he says, “because I can find out what’s really going on. Ten minutes—it goes fast. Hardly any time at all.” Given the nature of his case, it’s likely that Miguel will apply for asylum. But to do this he needs an attorney, and in order to find an attorney, he needs to get out of the Valley. Chapa exits the courtroom and gathers a group of children in the waiting room to explain what has just happened. “Okay,” he says in the honeyed voice of a grade-school teacher. They will have another court date, which is listed on the paper. The paper is very important and they need to keep it and bring it with them their next time in court. A boy in jeans and a gray sweatshirt, no more than six or seven, holds his blue packet in one hand and ziplocked snack in another. He looks up at Chapa, nodding. “Call your family and tell them about your court date,” says Chapa. The boy clutches his paper. If he hasn’t found a family come May, he could easily end up back in this courthouse in front of the judge without an attorney to represent him. He continues to nod until Chapa stops talking. He understands what Chapa is telling him and, of course, he doesn’t. Children often don’t know the whole picture of what is happening to them, or why. ProBAR’s Kimi Jackson provides one example of a boy who fled to the US because people in his home country (which she did not want to disclose) were trying to kill him. He knew that they were trying to kill him, but he didn’t know who they were or why they were after him. Thus, his asylum case had no shot. By chance, his sister got in touch with ProBAR and explained that she had been forced into sex trafficking by a local gang, but that she had escaped, and in retaliation for her escape the traffickers were trying to kill her brother. At that point, her brother had a case: He was being targeted because of his particular social group—in this case, his family—and could therefore qualify for asylum. If his sister had not called, the boy would likely have been sent home, where he would have been an easy target. With Katie Chatterton’s help, Jordi was able to clearly articulate his story and his fears of returning to Guatemala. He told Chatterton and the judge about his father, his mother, his daily life back home. He told his story again and again. (He estimated that in the two and a half years and the three cities he’d lived in since arriving in Texas, he went to court more than twenty times.) In April 2012, he was granted both asylum and Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. According to KIND staff attorney Dalia Castillo-Granados, who assisted Chatterton in Jordi’s case, not many children have qualified for asylum as a result of domestic violence. “There are certain cases when it comes to asylum that are more clear cut,” she says. “The asylum law has evolved enough to protect these victims, but in children’s cases, it’s still evolving. Every case is still really uncertain.” Every win like Jordi’s, she emphasizes, is a big deal. “We haven’t really seen a precedent case that really lays the groundwork for children’s cases. We have a long way to go.” Since the accident on the sandy roads outside Corpus Christi, Jordi has had trouble sleeping. At times, he talks about his life in fatalistic, disembodied terms. Sure, it’s been hard, he says—he’s lived through a lot in his relatively few years. But only God knows why some people have it hard and others don’t. “Remember,” he told me just a few weeks before he graduated high school, “that my destino”—which in Spanish means both destination and destiny—“was to go to Anaheim to be with my brothers.” There he would have worked and wouldn’t have gone to school. “So it could be that it turned out better—even though it was really bad. You never know. Sometimes God has other plans for you.” Meanwhile, the kids keep coming. ORR keeps building beds. The courthouse processes the papers, calls the children’s names. ProBAR conducts intake after intake after intake. The children flood the Harlingen courthouse Monday through Thursday of every week. They cross their fingers they won’t be forced home before a family member or friend somewhere in the US can take them in: a real home, a safe place. The Border Patrol trucks scan the horizon, shine lights at the river, chase down suspicious-looking trucks. In the Santa Ana behind the border wall, children lurk in the brush waiting for their chance to cross.
This recent ad from McDonald's in France for their "Come as you are" ("Venez comme vous êtes") campaign has gotten a lot of people talking over the past week. (There's also a good post about the commercial at French website Yagg, if you can read French—it probably loses something in the automatic English translation.) The story: a young man sits at a table in McDonald's while talking on the phone with his classmate/sweetheart and looking at their class photo. He gets off the phone when his dad comes over with their order. After seeing his son's class photo, the dad talks about how he was a ladies' man when he was his son's age—and says it's unfortunate that his son is in an all-boys school. Understandably, the ad has received mixed reviews. Watch the ad after the jump and let us know what you think. McDonald's France Gay-Themed Ad More 'Venez comme vous êtes' Ads from 2010 This post may contain links to Amazon or other partners; your purchases via these links can benefit Serious Eats. Read more about our affiliate linking policy.
A 60-story gigantic water slide is launching on the banks of Huangpu River this July as Slide the City has chosen Shanghai as their first stop in their tour of mainland China. Slide the City was organized by a group of playful Americans who wanted to recreated their childhood, and they've been setting up huge slip'n slides in over 100 cities all over the world. The tour in Shanghai will last from July 15th to August 7th. Slide the City provides different slides for people of different ages and groups. Participants can choose to slide bare belly or via inner tube, and the bonus is you can take selfies while participating in this cool activity. The slides will also be companied by food and drink stalls and live music performances. Sounds like a perfect family-friendly summer activity to us!
A Gallup poll released on Monday finds that the rate of uninsured Americans is continuing to decline, reaching its lowest point since 2008 after having peaked in the third quarter of 2013. According to Gallup, “the uninsured rate for almost every major demographic group has dropped in 2014 so far.” Despite nonstop attacks against President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act and ongoing tales of the law’s flaws and horrors, the newly reported numbers show a much different and more positive reality. Though the findings do not prove that the decline in uninsured Americans is a direct result of people obtaining coverage through Obamacare, Gallup attributes a portion of that decline to the Medicaid expansion that nearly half of the states have adopted. Additionally, the poll finds that by the end of 2013, the rate of thodr covered under Medicaid rose from 6.6 percent to 7.4 percent. The overall decline is most notable among low-income Americans with an annual household income of less than $36,000: since the fourth quarter of 2013, the rate of uninsured in this segment has dropped by 2.8 percent. Similarly, among African-Americans, the rate has dropped by 2.6 percent. Hispanics, however, “remain the subgroup most likely to lack health insurance,” Gallup notes. The rate of uninsured Hispanics is a relatively high 37.9 percent – a rate higher than the 38.7 percent uninsured by the fourth quarter of 2013. The uninsured rate among young people aged 18 to 25 remains stagnant at 23 percent – reflecting only a 0.5 percent decline since the fourth quarter of 2013. Among older Americans, the rate has actually increased by 0.2 percent. However, uninsured rates are declining in two main age groups: those aged 26-34, by 1.6 percent, and aged 35-64, by 1.7 percent. Overall, Gallup finds that the rate of uninsured Americans reached 15.9 percent in the first quarter of 2014 – significantly less than the 17.1 percent rate reported in the last quarter of 2013. As the Boston Herald points out, that 1.2 percent decline “translates roughly to 3 million to 4 million people getting coverage.” The poll’s findings are especially good news for the president and proponents of the health care law. Even though the Obama administration has said it does not know how many uninsured people are enrolling in health care plans through the Obamacare exchanges, the poll’s numbers are evidence that at least millions are now covered, even if not directly through the exchanges. The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index poll was conducted between January 2 and February 28, and surveyed 28,396 adults. The margin of error is +/- 1 percentage point. Chart via Gallup
Hi everyone,This is a long post so only read if interested... we will talk about P1 T7 raid optimisation. I apologize in advance for the far-from-perfect english as i am not a native speakerI have been receiving tons of MP and by lack of time (and abundance of work!), I haven't been able to answer to all of them and I apologize.So I decided to post a few tips and tricks directly on the forum rather than losing too much time answering each on of those messages.Some will say a video would say much more in less time, I'm not good with video so I will leave the luxury of doing that to the experts.A lot of people have been talking of ftp alternative for a setup to solo P1, and some alternatives have been found. However having not tried them yet, I do not have the authority to speak for them.The build I will discuss is the one I have been using and I will try to give everyone that can have it (Rex being a master piece here) a chance atP1 and occasionally soloing itThe toons are : Teebo (L), Rex, QGJ, Phasma, Elder.For this team to work you need to haveon ALL of them (so gear do not matter, only if they provide additional potency to bring you above 60%. Anything more is good to take but not required). Then ideally all basics, teebo leader, phasma VM and slowdown omegaed.In order to have consistent great scores, you will need to be patient andthan damage during your entire run.He is the MVP of TM removal. whenever he is stealthed, use basic.If he is not stealthed you have three options :1) use the buff removal on captain if captain has offense up to reduce TM => this is the reason why ONLY QGJ should detaunt the guards...2) use the stealth ability for 3 turns and TM for ewoks=> this is one of the most important skill... you will need to time it's use very wisely (more on that later)3) use basic attack in case you cant do anything else... he still can crit around 4/5kYour most consistent tm remover of the team.If teebo is unstealthed, use his assist attack ONLY if captain is below 50% tm or if he isn't enraged, otherwise use basic attack.If teebo is stealthed, use his assist attack if captain is below 50% TM. If captain is above, it will all depend on what the order of the toons you have going after qgj is and if they are able to provide TM or if teebo is guaranteed to be stealthed and go before captain.During 90% of the fight ONLY use his basic attack to provide TM to all your other toons. He can be critical to provide teebo another run.unless you really have no choice (one of your toon is marked and captain is about to kill him), use his other two abilities ONLY to raise potential dead toons.Although the first thing you think about is TM removal, his biggest benefit isn't there IMHO. His potency being low he will land TM removal decently but not enough to make a huge difference. Where he does make a HUGE difference, is with his dispel/TM buffer ability. It generates TM for all the toons (). So do not use it to dispel but to generate TM at the correct moment => this can make a HUGE impact at the beginning of the fight (we will come to that later).His subdue skill is not bad to help kill the guards faster, do not use it on captainThe Perfect tool box.She applies slowdown decently. Do not overuse the slowdown. Calculate when was the last time the slowdown was applied on the Captain. If the Captain hasn't taken a turn since you last applied it, there is absolutely NO need to use it again. If the captain has taken a turn, you will want to use it as soon as possible to maximize your chanced of the captain being slowed the entire time of the fight (if you let captain take a second turn he will lose the slowdown and it will be much harder to control his TM). Bottom line, have it always ready to be casted when captain has only one turn left of slowdown. do not use it before!She uses Victory March. This is the PERFECT TM generator as it almost guarantees all your toon will act before captain (if you factor in the fact that EE will go and generate tm to all others toons in case they weren't maxed TM yet...)Her basic applies defense down which allow to boost damage suffered by the captain.Theyou will want to do when the battle begin, is take advantage of rex being faster than the captain to use the dispel/TM buffer skill. this way ALL your toons will go before the captain first move. Remember that captain first move is the offense up + tm buff to his guards so you want to absolutely avoid that otherwise they will all go before most of your toons.So the correct order here is to go after the right guard, when its rex turn use the dispel/TM buff ability, continue killing the right guard and as soon as its teebo's turn, if he is stealth (lucky!) go after the captain, if not use the skill to make him stealth and go after the captain anyway. => he will remove the entire captain TM! then with phasma slowdown, you will have plenty of time to finish right guard and left guard, always focusing all your toons on the guards, and teebo on the Captain to remove his entire TM. At some point left guard will have a turn... let him. you want him to get 2 turns actually because he doesnt hit hard, and qgj dispel will grant your toons offense up. So the entire idea here is killing right guard asap, let left guard live 2 turns while keeping captain tm down with teebo (and maybe qgj if need be) then dispel the left guard and give offense up and kill him to focus entirely on captain going forward.Doing that you can achieve to do from 15% (my least) up to=> thats a good start!This entire dynamic has to be repeated each time captain calls in reinforcements.So as you probably have understood by now, the more teebo is stealthed, the more chances you have to keep captain TM down.Teebo has a guaranteed way of being stealthed (his skill) BUT withThis is why it is VERY important to check permanently the TM of the Captain and of all your TM boosters all the time.At some point in the fight captain could be 40% TM, teebo 70% TM not stealthed but with skill ready. So you think ok I need to use the skill to have a chance to remove captain TM. but then you realize your phasma has 55% TM (all other toons are after captain) and you remember his Victory march is ready to go. in that case do NOT use teebo stealth skill. attack normally, when its phasma turn use VM so that teebo has another turn BEFORE captain and has an additional chance at being stealthed. If he gets stealthed now, u justThe same idea goes for any TM generators such as rex or Elder... phasma is the most efficient, but so is rex if there is a debuff somewhere and elder is not bad either although a bit more RNG.Never! and this is not a joke.Unless you really have a toon deathmarked about to die, do not use dispell just to dispell... if its for rex, use it at the appropriate time to generate TM (to boost teebo's turns as explained above). If its for EE use it is only to raise people, if the other skill is not available. If you take 5 turns in a row before captain (which should happen quite often)You want to avoid that at all costs, but unfortunately it happens sometimes.That's when dynamic changes a bit. Instead of timing your TM boost to give more turns to teebo. you need to time your TM boost to. Indeed you DONT want captain killing Elder as he can't raise himself.Instead you want captain to kill whatever other toon, by having elder stealthed when its captain turn, so that after that, you can raise that dead toon with Elder.So use wisely phasma and rex to achieve that goal... teebo isn't the priority anymore, elder is!This change of priority made me survive more than 8/9 captain turns when he is enraged even if he calls his guards!None of those tips and tricks are breakthrough.But combining all of them systematically make your run (almost) not depending anymore on RNG as each toon will have so many attempts at removing TM from captain that its almost guaranteed that he will remain blocked.One extra 5% tm on elder could make him go again boost rex that boost TM that boost teebo that didnt become stealth but can use his skill and then removes the 95% TM that the captain had... and you are all good to go another few rounds!TLDR.Get rid of the guards while preventing the captain from goingCount the captain turns to keep him under perma slowUse TM boost (elder, rex, phasma) when your teebo isnt stealth and having another turn could get him thereHave fun and be happy when you see your score at the end of the 25/40 min battle!Hope this will help the ones that had the courage to read this all.Cheers,Maraxus, for Team Instinct.
1 Jack Wilshere Jack Wilshere has refused to change his all-action approach – despite recent injury problems. The Arsenal midfielder is likely to line up for England in their final European Championship qualifier of the season in Slovenia on Sunday afternoon. But, whilst a number of his international colleagues will be going into the game in Ljubljana having played 12 months of non-stop football, Wilshere will be fresh, fit and ready after another stop-start season with the Gunners. The 23-year-old made just 15 starts for Arsenal as a number of serious ankle injuries kept him on the sidelines but Wilshere insists he knows only one way to play. “When I was injured, I read a few people who said that,” he replied when asked if he had thought about making changes to his approach. “I thought ‘maybe they are right. Maybe I should just change it a little bit’. But in my first game back, naturally I just want to pick the ball up and run with it. “I can’t change that. I can work on a few things maybe. If you look at the best dribblers in the world, (Lionel) Messi, (Andreas) Iniesta, when they are running with the ball it is always close to them so maybe I could work on that. But I definitely won’t be changing my game.” Wilshere has yet to score for England but his performance in Sunday’s forgettable goalless draw with the Republic of Ireland was one bright note for Roy Hodgson. The England manager has converted Wilshere into a deep-lying midfielder in his new system at the base of a diamond and, although the Arsenal man is still adjusting to the role, he enjoys the challenge of playing there even if he was anxious when first tasked with job. “I have not played many games for Arsenal since coming back from injury and I have not played many games in my new role for England,” he said. “So it (the Ireland friendly) was another game for me, it was a different test. It was against players that I know well and it was tough. But looking back, I felt I did okay, personally. “I’ve said before I really enjoy playing in that position. Before the Switzerland game when the manager said he wanted me to play in that role and he saw it as the new position, I was a bit nervous, naturally because it was our first big game since the World Cup and we lost a few big names in that position in midfield. “So the whole team was nervous going into that game but personally I was a bit nervous because it was a big position for the team. But since that game, I feel I’ve come a long way. I’ve learned a lot and I’m getting better every game.” As well as his own improvements, Wilshere believes the England team as a whole has now moved on from a disappointing and winless World Cup. The 2-1 defeat to Uruguay in the second group game was the last time Hodgson’s side lost and England travel to Slovenia looking to keep their perfect European Championship qualifying record in tact. “I think we have come a long way,” added Wilshere, who is waiting to face an FA disciplinary hearing as he accepted a charge after singing anti-Tottenham songs during Arsenal’s FA Cup trophy parade. “After the World Cup, people were writing us off and we went to Switzerland with a new team, a young team, with a new formation and we won. It was a big step for us and even though we played well in that game, I still feel we have come a long way since then. “We are unbeaten since then, we want to finish the season unbeaten. But we will go into this game as we do any other game. If you look at the group, Switzerland and Slovenia are the two teams that can cause use real problems. “We know it could be one of those games that could be 0-0 until 60-70 minutes but we have got to keep going, keep doing the things we have been doing up until now. “We still feel we have got a long way to go before we are where we want to be. We have got another year to do it and if we win on Sunday, it’ll be a big step towards qualifying.”
Cleveland Browns RB Peyton Hillis said Wednesday that he encountered taunting this season because of his skin color. Hills became the first white running back to rush for 1,000 since Craig James in 1985. He told the Dan Patrick show (via the Canton Repository) that opposing teams trash-talked to him about his race on the field. "Every team did it," he said. "They'll say, 'You white boy, you ain't gonna run on us today. This is ridiculous. Why are you giving offensive linemen the ball?' "All kinds of stuff like that you hear on the field, but I use that to my advantage. I kind of soaked it in, ate it up a little bit, because I enjoyed it." Hillis, acquired from the Denver Broncos last year, rushed for 1,177 yards for the Browns. He told the Dan Patrick he's heard of nicknames others have created for him. Among them: "The Avalanche" "White Rhino" "Chuck Norris" Hillis was primarily used as a fullback before joining the Browns. He credited former Cleveland coach Eric Mangini for giving him an opportunity. "Coach Mangini came up to me before our first game, against the Buccaneers, and said he could see me being a 1,000-yard back," Hillis said. "I never had a coach have that much confidence in me before. He helped me out a whole lot on a mental level."
Head Of "Right To Rise" Super PAC Muddies The Waters: "There's Now An Anti-Establishment Establishment" Mike Murphy, the former head of "Right to Rise USA," a superPAC which spent millions supporting Jeb Bush, says that he is "not part of anything." "There's an anti-establishment establishment," he explains. "I'm just a Republican primary voter now, I don't speak for Jeb Bush." MIKE MURPHY: We knew early that we wanted to consolodate and it could come down to Jeb and Trump, but early we were competing against Scott Walker, against Rubio, against everybody over in our category. The problem is this year, the voters are looking for, at least half of them- unless we consolodate, Trump's plurailty will see him probably to the nomination. HOWARD KURTZ: If, somehow, you and the other remnants of the Republican establishment do derail Trump, won't that cause huge anger on the part of all of the people who are voting for him? MIKE MURPHY: I'm-- I'm not part of anything. There's an anti-establishment establishment -- I'm just a Republican primary voter now, I don't speak for Jeb Bush. I don't think Trump would be good for the country or the party. What will happen? If we beat him fair and square, it is great, if we can't beat him fair and square, he's not going to get beat. Full interview via Fox News Channel:
The St. John’s Telegram is reporting that an announcement is coming tomorrow from the AHL and the St. John’s IceCaps to confirm their earlier report that the AHL All-Star Classic will take place in Newfoundland’s capital. The Classic, which took place in Providence, R.I., last season, will be hosted at the Mile One Centre, seemingly between Feb. 10-13, 2014 when there’s a scheduled break in the schedule. According to the Telegram, the league had initially said that an All-Star Classic in St. John’s hinged on the participation of the NHL in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. A deal for the NHL and its players to take place in the Olympics was reached soon after the lockout concluded. An interesting note, however, is that the AHL has kicked around ideas of sending a team of AHL All-Stars over to Europe to potentially face off against one of the German or Swiss elite league teams. The West All-Stars have won the last two contests, with an 8-7 shootout win in Atlantic City in 2012, and a 7-6 victory last season at Providence’s Dunkin’ Donuts Center. Advertisements
Last week Glassdoor published its most recent software engineering salary report. Short version: it pays to code. Google and Facebook employees earn a base salary of ~$125K, not counting benefits, 401k matching, stock options/grants, etc., and even Yahoo! developers pull in six figures. Everyone knows why: ask anyone in the Valley, or NYC, or, well, practically anywhere, and they’ll tell you that good engineers are awfully hard to find. Demand has skyrocketed, supply has stagnated, prices have risen. Basic economics. But why has the supply of good engineers remained so strained? We’re talking about work that can, in principle, be performed by anyone anywhere with a half-decent computer and a decent Internet connection. Development tools have never been more accessible than in this era of $100 Android phones, free-tier web services, and industry-standard open-source platforms. Distributed companies with employees scattered all around the world are increasingly normal and acceptable. (I work for one. We’re hiring.) And everyone knows that software experts make big bucks, because software is eating the world. What’s more, technology may well be destroying jobs faster than it creates them. Basic economics would seem to dictate that an exponentially larger number of people will flood into the field, bringing salaries back down to earth despite the ever-increasing demand. But reality has stubbornly refused to follow that dictation. Even way back during the first dot-com boom people were already predicting that American and European coders would soon be driven into the poorhouse by a flood of competition from low-cost nations like India and Brazil. But there’s still no sign of that happening. Why not? And when will it happen, if ever? Well. I have a theory. I’ve spend the last couple of days chilling out in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, a city where you could live like royalty and save money while making merely half of Google’s average developer salary. Which doesn’t tempt me – I prefer Where Things Happen to Away From It All – but has tempted thousands of expats who now live here. And their presence has sparked a possible explanation for this apparent paradox. To be clear, I’m only talking about very-good-to-excellent developers. Everyone claims to only hire “A-listers,” and that may even be true of a select few companies, including Facebook and Google. (Though even B-listers and C-listers are in relative demand.) Think of such skilled engineers as emerging from the end of a pipeline which draws from the entire population of the world. Economic incentives act like gravity, pulling almost everyone down that pipe – so what are the stages that filter people out of it nonetheless? First, you have to grow up wealthy enough to have a decent education, some exposure to technology, and the ability to choose between options in your life, which immediately rules out most of the planet. Then you have to have both an interest in and a talent for development, and there’s evidence that that talent is rare: “between 30% and 60% of every university computer science department’s intake fail the first programming course.“. Then you either have to get a good professional education – eg at a good university like India’s IIT campuses – or supplement a crappy one with home hacking or on-the-job training. (Or maybe, maybe, learn-coding-at-home sites like Codecademy and the like–but I’m pretty skeptical about those. I’ve said before that I think think such services are like learning French from books, and then going to France and finding out that you can’t actually communicate and it would take you years to be become fluent. Programming is like English: it’s fairly easy to learn the rudimentary basics, but very hard to master.) Regardless, all of those filters should be allowing many more people through every year. The world as a whole is much wealthier than it was twelve years ago. (That’s when I was last in Thailand. This time around it’s a different and far more prosperous place.) A fixed proportion of people may have the programming gene — though I’ll be watching Estonia’s experiments with interest — but there’s little doubt that interest has erupted. Top-notch university courses are available online worldwide, and industry-standard development tools are within reach of all. But it’s the very last stage that matters most. Even after you’ve gotten your basic programming education, you still have to put in your thousands of hours to achieve mastery. That doesn’t mean doing the same thing again and again for thousands of hours; it means challenging yourself with new tools, new languages, new objectives. Otherwise you get people writing code of the sort I see all too often these days, when HappyFunCorp (my employer) is brought on to clean up someone else’s hot mess: (From Abstruse Goose) My theory that if it’s sheer economics, the lure of a better paycheck, that initially draws you into software engineering, then you’re much less likely to master it. Instead you’ll advance to the point at which you’re reasonably happy with your paycheck, which studies indicate is about $70,000/year in America. (But much less in Chiang Mai or Bangalore.) So my theory is that there are many more software engineers out there — but the ones drawn in by economic forces are content to compete with each other for mediocre (but happy-making) jobs, rather than put in the thousands of hours of mentally gruelling work required to become really good at what they do. (Don’t get me wrong: that work is fun, too. But undeniably gruelling.) So why aren’t there more people drawn into the field out of sheer interest? Because when you’re poor, which most of the world is, money is more important than passion. It’s not until you reach a near First-World level of development that pursuing your passions rather than escaping poverty seems like a reasonable and/or admirable thing to do. So if my theory is correct, the shortage of excellent engineers will eventually alleviate or even end, as the world grows wealthier everywhere … but not for another decade or more. Image credit: Don Hankins, Flickr.
Kudos to A.J. Wolfe and the Disney Food Blog. They have ‘scooped’ the WDW blog-o-sphere, once again, in announcing the full menus for the 2013 Epcot® International Food & Wine Festival. Clearly, they have a network of insight that we can’t touch. Congrats, DFB! To see the “full layout”, visit them at ‘2013 Epcot Food & Wine Festival Marketplace Booths, Menus, and Food Photos on DFB‘! In the meantime, other than what was already included in the All in WDW Pre-Festival “Top 25”, here’s what catches my eye: Australia: Grilled Lamb Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies – Mrs. All in WDW’s favorite, it finished at #11 in my 2012 Top 25. Grilled Lamb Chop with Mint Pesto and Potato Crunchies – Mrs. All in WDW’s favorite, it finished at #11 in my 2012 Top 25. Mexico: Shrimp Taco with Purple Cabbage – Sounds very close to 2012’s shrimp dish. It hit #5 on last year’s list. Shrimp Taco with Purple Cabbage – Sounds very close to 2012’s shrimp dish. It hit #5 on last year’s list. China: Mongolian Beef in a Steamed Bun – #6 last year, this one was truly phenomenal! Mongolian Beef in a Steamed Bun – #6 last year, this one was truly phenomenal! Africa: Berbere Style Beef with Onions, Jalapeños, Tomato, Okra, and Pap – This is the first new item that catches my eye. I can’t wait to research it … but it sure sounds promising! Berbere Style Beef with Onions, Jalapeños, Tomato, Okra, and Pap – This is the first new item that catches my eye. I can’t wait to research it … but it sure sounds promising! Italy: Ravioli de Formaggio All’emiliana – Returns for a repeat in 2013. In 2012, it was our third-favorite plate. Only Hawaii’s Kalua Pork Sliders and Le Cellier’s Filet achieved a loftier status. Translated, it is a baked cheese ravioli in a creamy beef Bolognese sauce. Or, you can just call it DELICIOUS! Ravioli de Formaggio All’emiliana – Returns for a repeat in 2013. In 2012, it was our third-favorite plate. Only Hawaii’s Kalua Pork Sliders and Le Cellier’s Filet achieved a loftier status. Translated, it is a baked cheese ravioli in a creamy beef Bolognese sauce. Or, you can just call it DELICIOUS! New Zealand: Lamb Meatball with Spicy Tomato Chutney – Another meal returning for a repeat, it finished at #10 for us in 2012. Lamb Meatball with Spicy Tomato Chutney – Another meal returning for a repeat, it finished at #10 for us in 2012. Belgium: Potato and Leek Waffle with Braised Beef – How can anything with braised beef be anything other than fabulous? Potato and Leek Waffle with Braised Beef – How can anything with braised beef be anything other than fabulous? Greece: A “Taste of Greece”. Or, if you prefer, some Grilled & Marinated Calamari, Hitipiti, Eggplant Dip, Olives, and Pita Bread – Sounds intriguing! A “Taste of Greece”. Or, if you prefer, some Grilled & Marinated Calamari, Hitipiti, Eggplant Dip, Olives, and Pita Bread – Sounds intriguing! Also new to Greece: Chicken Gyro with Tzatziki Sauce – How will this compare to the Chicken Souvlaki that was served in past years? That’s my “rough cut”, for now, folks. Now, the harder work starts. After attending this past Saturday’s preview event, and seeing the final menus, it is time to compile the first draft of the 2013 All in WDW Pre-Festival Top 25! Cheers!
Everything You Need to Know About SF Deltas Game Days! Hans S. Blocked Unblock Follow Following Mar 21, 2017 First, the basics: Location: Kezar Stadium Address: 670 Kezar Dr, San Francisco, CA 94118 How To Get There: Public Transit: MUNI is your best bet. Train: N-Line to Carl St. & Stanyan St. Bus: #7-Bus will drop you off around the stadium. Taxi/Uber/Lyft: Drop off at address above. Driving: There is an ADA lot to the east of the stadium. You can also purchase parking at the nearby UCSF garage for $20. Lastly, there is street parking around the stadium, but that may be hit or miss. Keep your eye out for posted hours. Biking: There is free valet bike parking available just north of the west entrance. A full transit map with Kezar marked out can be found HERE. There’s more information available on the SF Deltas website. Pre-Match and Things to Note: Delta Force will be meeting at Kezar Pub, located directly across Stanyan Street from the stadium (eastern side). People will start trickling in around 3pm or earlier. The SF Deltas are hosting a beer garden at the Kezar Triangle, directly to the west of the stadium. We will all walk from Kezar Pub to Kezar Triangle together at around 5pm. At around 6pm (1 hour before kick-off), we will all march into the stadium and into the supporters section. Please note: STAY AWAY FROM FREDERICK STREET! The community on Frederick St. and across from the Stadium was very vocal of their displeasure with having a Pro Soccer Team playing across the street. Lets not give them any reasons to hate us and keep the noise away from that street. There will also be higher security along that street, so you’ve been warned. Pre-match info including meeting locations (marked out), walking routes (in blue), and areas to avoid (in red hashed) Prohibited Items Inside the Stadium: Large bags over 14” by 14” in size Outside alcohol and any kind of beverages Bikes, pedicabs, roller skates, roller blades, skateboards, “Razor” style boards, Segway personal transports, hover boards, or any other self-propelled device Drones Coolers or containers of any type, including bottles or cans Firearms, fireworks, explosives & smoke bombs Sticks, rods, selfie sticks, bars or poles of any kind Dangerous weapons including any type of edged weapons, including, but not limited to, knives, impact weapons and electric pulse weapons Sprays & pepper sprays Laser pointers Stunning devices Shopping carts Offensive weapons Folding chairs or lawn chairs Illegal drugs or substances Smoking cigarettes or e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco Radios, walkie talkies, jammers, scanners Vuvuzelas, whistles, and portable speakers Hazardous and toxic materials Pets and animals, dead or alive, will not be permitted in Kezar Stadium during SF Deltas home games — exceptions are service dogs. Any item deemed inappropriate or hazardous by SF Deltas & Admiral Security A Note on Smoking: Kezar Stadium is a SMOKE-FREE facility. Security won’t confiscate a pack of cigarettes and such if they find them, but if they see you light up, you will be ejected! A Note on Flags: After much work, flags have been approved for match days, but they must follow specific guidelines. 1) Flags CANNOT be made out of metal. PVC and the like is an acceptable material. 2) Flags MUST NOT be homophobic, sexist, racist, xenophobic, or any other forms of bigotry. 3) Flags must not obstruct the view outside of the supporters section. They can be big, but if we wave them over the nearby section and it blocks views, that flag me be removed. A Note on Drums: Although drums are allowed, please be aware that you cannot use them non-stop for the entire match. Using them in 5–10 min bursts every 5–10 min will help prevent any legal reason to ban them outright. Please listen to security if they ask you to stop for a while. There are three stages of action security will take, so please follow their direction: Level 1 — Warning. Security will warn you to space out the drumming more. Please follow those directions. Usually do to too many complaints. Level 2 — Stop. This is an order directly from the police. If they receive enough complaints, they may require a halt to drumming for the rest of the match. Please follow these directions. Level 3 — Removal. If you fail to listen to any directions, the drums will be confiscated and you may not get them back. You also may be ejected from the stadium. A Note on Weather: Check the local weather and dress accordingly. Kezar can get very cold at night when Karl (our lovable name for the fog) rolls in. Delta Force Code of Conduct: During Delta Force events or gatherings, we expect all Delta Force members and affiliate members to focus their energies on their love of the San Francisco Deltas and the match. We expect that all members will steer clear of all bigotry (based on race, religion, sexual orientation, and/or age), sectarianism, violence, criminal mischief, or hooliganism in any of its forms. If anyone engages in the following prohibited activity, the Delta Force board of directors will not hesitate to bring security/police in on the matter and have you ejected. This is our community, let’s be kind to our neighbors but still have a great time! During matches and events, all members agree to refrain from any illegal activity, including: Engaging in the use or having in their possession any illegal substances or drugs, Engage in or enabling underage drinking, Consuming alcoholic beverages to excess, Committing any act of violence or vandalism, Endangering the safety of members of the group, fans (including visiting fans), or the general public, Throwing objects in the stadium area or on the field of play, Attempting to enter the field of play, Making any malicious comments regarding a person’s religion, race, gender, sexual orientation, or political beliefs, Using excessive foul language directed at another fan, group, stadium staff, team staff, any player, or referee, Committing any act or making any malicious public statement that could bring the Delta Force, an affiliate, or the San Francisco Deltas into disrepute, Breaking any laws including but not limited to indecent exposure See you at the game! Links: Delta Force [Facebook: Page — Group\| Twitter \| Email \| Donate \| Events] San Francisco Deltas [Website \| Purchase Tickets]
Delegate math is a heartbreaker. Clinton accepted reality in 2008 and Sanders should do the same. Bernie Sanders at a campaign rally in South Bend, Ind., May 1, 2016. (Photo11: Joe Raedle, Getty Images) The door began to close on Bernie Sanders’ chances to win the Democratic presidential nomination back in February when he lost the South Carolina primary by 46 percentage points. Eight weeks later, with losses in four of the five states that held primaries on April 26, that door slammed shut. Delegate math is a heartbreaker. There simply is no longer any realistic path to the nomination for Sanders. The fact is that the race between Clinton and Sanders has never been as close as it seemed. In the New York primary, when Clinton defeated Sanders 58% to 42%, the press universally declared it a big win and cited the wide margin. But the fact is that across all the primaries held to date, Clinton leads Sanders in the total popular vote 58% to 42% — the same big, wide margin as her New York victory. In total Clinton leads Sanders by over 3 million popular votes and has already amassed more popular votes than any nominee in Democratic Party history but one. Only Barack Obama at the end of the 2008 primary season had received more popular votes than Clinton has now — and several states that have not yet voted, including California, will add to her total. States that Clinton won, such as Pennsylvania, Florida, North Carolina and New York, elect more delegates than many of the states Sanders won, including Idaho, Wyoming, New Hampshire and Vermont. That is also part of why the delegate math doesn’t add up for Sanders. Clinton leads Sanders by more than 300 pledged delegates. That is almost three times more than Obama’s pledged delegate lead over Clinton going into the convention in 2008. So far Clinton has won about 55% of the pledged delegates elected to the convention. The party’s superdelegates have never voted against the candidate who won the pledged delegates and the popular vote. It’s unrealistic to believe they will do that for the first time ever in 2016 and will do it for Bernie Sanders. The toughest moment for a presidential campaign comes when reality sets in that it has fallen short. For most campaigns in the past, that reality came in the form of running out of money. There was no decision about when or how to withdraw from the race. Campaigns left the race when they ran out of cash. After Howard Dean's losses in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2004, his money dried up and there was no way to continue. The same thing happened to Dick Gephardt in 1988 after a bad showing on Super Tuesday. The system favored establishment candidates like Walter Mondale, who was a former vice president with a reliable donor base when he won the 1984 nomination. The deck was stacked against insurgents and challengers. Those days are gone, thanks to the changing media environment, the power of social media and online fundraising and, for some lucky candidates, the dollars flowing from billionaires and super PACs. It’s likely that in every contest going forward, the runner-up will have enough money to go all the way to the convention if he or she chooses to do so. POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media Clinton was the first Democrat in over 30 years to face the decision that now confronts Sanders and that may face every runner-up moving forward. She was far more competitive in the 2008 race against Obama than Sanders has been against her in 2016. She stayed in the race through the final primaries in 2008, as Sanders has every right to do now. But Clinton withdrew from the race prior to the convention, suspended the traditional roll call vote, made the motion to nominate Obama by acclamation and urged her supporters to work just as hard for him as they had for her. There will be those in the Sanders campaign who will urge uniting behind Clinton, as she urged uniting behind Obama. But the inertia to continue to fight in a presidential campaign with resources is nearly unstoppable, even when it’s clear that the race is over. There will be those in the Sanders campaign who will want to fight to the end. And in the end Bernie Sanders will either be carried by that inertia or, like Clinton in 2008, realize he is the only one who can stop it. Joe Trippi is a Democratic strategist who managed Howard Dean's 2004 primary campaign. In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns, go to the Opinion front page and follow us on Twitter: @USATOpinion. Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/26LQK4Q
CLOSE Attorneys won't be able to mention Trayvon Martin's drug use, suspension from school and past fighting during opening statements in the trial for George Zimmerman who fatally shot the teen, a judge ruled Tuesday. (May 28) AP Prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda, left, talks with defense attorney Mark O'Mara, during a pre-trial hearing May 28 in Sanford, Fla. George Zimmerman, who is accused of fatally shooting Trayvon Martin, did not attend his hearing. (Photo11: Pool photo) Story Highlights Tuesday's hearing was one of the last before June 10 trial George Zimmerman is charged with second-degree murder Prosecution and defense attorneys sparred over which evidence should be admitted SANFORD, Fla. – A judge Tuesday refused to delay the June 10 trial of George Zimmerman, charged with second-degree murder in the February 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin. Circuit Judge Debra Nelson, at a hearing on more than 20 motions ahead of the trial, also ruled that lawyers can't mention Trayvon's school records, past fights, marijuana use, ownership of gold teeth, or any photos or text messages found on the teen's cellphone. MULTIMEDIA TIMELINE: Recordings, video, police documents tell how events unfolded Nelson said she reserves the right to change the ruling during the trial if lawyers open the door to such issues. However, she said that she can't imagine that any of these issues would be relevant. Tuesday's two-hour hearing was at times heated as Nelson chastised defense attorneys for speaking publicly about her consideration of jury sequestration. The information was supposed to be kept from the public, Nelson said, but Zimmerman's attorneys repeatedly spoke openly about it. "I have not made a court order on whether this jury will be sequestered, " Nelson told Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, the frustration obvious in her voice. The judge also ruled against state prosecutors' third attempt at a gag order, though Assistant State Attorney Bernie de la Rionda argued that media coverage of the case may prejudice potential jurors. "At some point, it factors into the state and defense having a fair trial," he said. Largely, however, the prosecution's motions were granted. A few of the motions of the defense were denied and at least three were continued to later hearings. O'Mara argued that he needed more time to prepare for the June 10 trial and that prosecutors had not been forthcoming with evidence. "We are not going to be ready," he told Nelson. Soon after, the judge said the trial would remain scheduled for its original date. After the hearing, O'Mara said he was pleased with how the hearing went and said he was glad the judge indicated that both sides should deal with the facts surrounding the night of the shooting. "We are ready and looking forward to getting this case tried," he said. "I'm very happy with the judge's rulings." Benjamin Crump, a lawyer for the Martin family, continued to maintain that Zimmerman's attorneys were trying to sway potential jury members when they released unsavory photos of Trayvon Martin. "Most lawyers knew this evidence was inadmissible," he said of Trayvon's text messages, photos and school record. "We have to not let people get away with polluting the jury." George Zimmerman was not present at the hearing but his brother, Robert Zimmerman, said after the hearing that his brother is innocent. "I believe the time has come to withdraw the charge of murder in the second degree," he said outside the courtroom. "An innocent man is now faced with an improper charge." Trayvon Martin's mother, Sybrina Fulton, along with the late teen's grandmother attended the hearing but did not speak to the media. On Friday, lawyers will be back in court for a hearing on whether the media will be allowed to photograph and videotape potential jurors, and jurors during trial. This undated photo is one of several pictures of deceased teen Trayvon Martin that defense attorneys are trying to introduce at the trial of murder suspect George Zimmerman. (Photo11: via defense attorneys) At a hearing on June 6 and 7, the judge will deal with a defense motion to sanction prosecutors for discovery violations. Defense attorneys have accused prosecutors of withholding text messages and photos from Trayvon's cellphone. On those days, Nelson will also hear arguments about whether voice identification experts will be allowed to testify at trial. Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Nelson issued a number of other rulings: • Witnesses can't mention whether they think Zimmerman's prosecution is politically motivated. • Any hearsay statements to help Zimmerman is admissible. But a toxicology test showing Trayvon had marijuana in his system the night of his killing is not admissible. • Granted state motions to prohibit witnesses from offering their opinions about Zimmerman's guilt, the proper punishment he should receive for his actions, and from telling the jury to disregard the law. • Granted a state motion to compel Zimmerman's wife, Shellie Zimmerman, to testify at a deposition, but Nelson said Shellie can take the Fifth and prosecutors will have to submit their questions in writing to the court and Nelson will decide if Shellie has to answer those specific questions. • Granted a motion to keep Zimmerman from testifying about his lack of prior felony convictions. • Granted a defense motion to keep the identities of potential and actual jury members anonymous. Potential jurors will be referred to by numbers. Nelson said other issues will be dealt with once jury selection is underway. • Denied a defense motion to allow the jury to visit the area in the gated Sanford community where Trayvon was killed. She said taking the jurors there could not logistically happen while keeping their identities secret. Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, is charged with second-degree murder in the Feb. 26, 2012, shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford. Martin's family argues the young man was racially profiled, pursued and killed. Zimmerman says he shot Trayvon in self-defense after being attacked. Zimmerman remains free on $1 million bond. TRAYVON MARTIN: Zimmerman defense releases new photos of Trayvon Martin CLOSE Robert Zimmerman, George Zimmerman's brother, speaks to the press outside the courtroom, calling for the withdrawl of murder in the 2nd degree. VPC Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/130j3LM
2015 Artist Survey: Julien Baker Baker on 2015's Best Albums, the Election, Justin Timberlake, Star Wars, and Sexism in the Music Industry Photography by Jake Cunningham Issue # 56 - Best of 2015 - Father John Misty and Wolf Alice For Under the Radar's 13th annual Artist Survey we emailed some of our favorite artists a few questions relating to 2015. We asked them about their favorite albums of the year and their thoughts on various notable 2015 news stories involving either the music industry or world events, as well as some quirkier personal questions. Check out our Best of 2015 print and digital issues for answers from Arcade Fire's Will Butler, Blanck Mass, CHVRCHES, Dan Deacon, The Dears, Dutch Uncles, EL VY, Everything Everything, Father John Misty, Field Music, The Flaming Lips, How to Dress Well, Sondre Lerche, Low, Luna, Mew, NZCA Lines, Cullen Omori, Natalie Prass, Small Black, Surfer Blood, Tamaryn, Telekinesis, Vampire Weekend's Chris Baio, The Walkmen, Youth Lagoon, and others. Here are some answers from Julien Baker. Baker released her acclaimed debut album, Sprained Ankle, last fall via 6131 Records. A shorter version of this interview ran in the Best of 2015 print issue, which is still on newsstands now. This is the full unedited version of the interview. Don't forget that Baker is performing at Under the Radar's official nighttime showcase at SXSW next Wednesday night at Central Presbyterian Church (200 E. 8th Street, Austin, TX 78701, which is at the corner of 8th and Brazos). She goes on at midnight. The rest of the lineup features Still Corners, Eleanor Friedberger, Car Seat Headrest, TEEN, England's Younghusband, and Mass Gothic (former Hooray for Earth frontman Noel Heroux). SXSW badges and wristbands get priority admission to this event. Walk-ups on the night hoping to buy single tickets to the event might be let in, capacity permitting. The event is all-ages. You cannot RSVP for this event. All the info on our three SXSW 2016 events can be found here. Top 10 Albums of 2015 1. Mewithoutyou: Pale Horses 2. Sufjan Stevens: Carrie & Lowell 3. Pianos Become the Teeth: Keep You 4. Bandit: Of Life 5. Desaparecidos: Payola 6. The Winter Passing: A Different Space of Mind 7. Senses Fail: Pull the Thorns From Your Heart 8. The Wonder Years: No Closer to Heaven 9. Foxing: Dealer 10. Noah Gundersen: Carry the Ghost What was the highlight of 2015, for either you personally or for the band? What was the low point? The low point was definitely during the period when I had some unexpected life/relationships changes which left me with a non-existent living situation. I was between a rock and a hard place, alternating from couch to floor at my friend's house in the interim while all this crazy personal stuff was going on, and I remember lying on my janky pallet set-up one night, having to pick ants off of everything and thinking, "there's no way things can get worse." But I use that now to contrast with the high point and prove life's possibility to improve: there have been several amazing things happen lately and I am pretty overwhelmed by these blessings. Getting the single on NPR, playing with Touché Amoré in L.A. and EL VY in NYC—all of that has been surreal. But the best point was the release show back in Memphis. Everyone was there from my youth, my friends, fellow musicians, my band-mates, my family, and it felt good to be in a room full of people who have loved and supported me and made the person I am today. What are your hopes and plans for 2016? I am taking some time off of school to tour more heavily. Traveling and interacting with new people in new places is the most fun part of being a musician to me, so I am excited to get out on the road again. I am also excited because with the free time from slowing down with my degree, I can allocate my energy fully towards music, and I think being able to pursue my passion with full motivation will really allow me to grow as a musician. With the launch of TIDAL and Apple Music in 2015, there are more streaming music options, but the same issues of adequate artist compensation persist. What are your current thoughts on streaming and which service would you most like to have your music on? This may be a little of a loaded question, at least for me. Also, I feel compelled to say that I am a little ignorant to the complexities of how any new streaming laws may work. I have a cursory knowledge of the royalty system but don't know all the ins and outs. I guess on some level I am happy that there are more avenues for accessing music because it means listening is more available and convenient for fans. And isn't that the point? Ultimately, you're trying to share music, so however that's achieved most effectively, more power to them. I don't have a preference for streaming sites that relates to artist compensation because those figures are so nebulous that it becomes immaterial to me. It is necessary to have the standard royalty rate in place, sure, to ensure that artists are given fair compensation for their art, which has value. But also as someone who will (shamefully) admit to using Grooveshark, and wishing it still existed, I also feel like it's more important to circulate music than to regulate it, if that makes sense. What are your thoughts on Friday being the new global release day for albums? Is it helping or hurting album sales? Honestly, I have not noticed a difference. I am a very small artist, so to people with larger operations it may make a huge difference. But for me, I am of the opinion that while arbitrary changing of the day may effect initial sales right at the beginning, it will depend on the actual artistic merit of the record, whether it is positively or negatively received, and how well it does long-term. So the diffusing of press interest between several albums that happen to all come out the same day will only have immediate impact on sales, listens, what have you. Once that buzz dissipates it is up to the quality of the music to determine its longevity and staying power, which contributes to how successful the record will be overall. Mainstream pop music is increasingly embraced by indie rock musicians and listeners, as well as serious music critics. At this point, do you draw any distinctions between Top 40 pop and indie rock/pop? Are you comfortable with this shift? I don't really keep up with any lists like Top 40 or Billboard or anything like that—for a musician I am pretty out-of-the-loop—but in my limited following of press and publications I have seen a rejection of the "pop vs. rock" trope and a homogenization of music. Not to say everything sounds the same; quite the opposite. I feel like with the increased accessibility of music there's more fragmentation of taste, there is less of a predominant "pop" culture. Now listeners have a broader palate that crosses genres, and that variety is being supported by the inclusion of non-typical sounds in mainstream channels, as well as the appreciation of mainstream and pop music by smaller sub-cultures and more esoteric facets of the music world. I think the reciprocal appreciation is a good thing. What are your thoughts on how the 2016 U.S. Presidential election is shaping up? Well, considering that the Presidential election system is part of a larger institution that is terminally flawed and requires a complete overhaul to make any meaningful progress, I have a lot of thoughts to do with bigger issues even than the candidates. Using our current political system to effect change in our country is trying to remove a screw with a hammer. Something that is broken cannot be fixed with a broken tool. But in the interest of not opening a can of worms: I have hope in Bernie Sanders. That's all I'll say, or risk typing a dissertation in this email about the state of politics in general. Ryan Adams covered Taylor Swift's 1989 (and then Father John Misty covered Adams covering Swift). If you were to cover another artist's album in its entirety, which would you pick and why? I would cover the 20/20 Experience by Justin Timberlake, because I believe it is probably the most influential pop record of our generation. There are other records that come close in influence, but the sheer caliber of musicianship and songwriting quality is unparalleled. Also Timberlake is a Memphis native (like yours truly), so I'm a little biased. Have you ever been fired from a job (be it a day job or musical one)? Why were you fired? I haven't been formally fired, but I did quit a job on bad terms once when I was in high school. It was my first job, a hostess at a steakhouse, one of those country-style novelty places where you crack the peanuts on the floor (which I had to sweep up every night). I quit because my band at the time got booked with Joyce Manor, and even though I asked off a month in advance, I was put on the schedule out of spite by the manager. So I walked out because there was no way I was going to miss playing that show for a minimum wage job. That sounds very cliché and anti-establishment, but it's true, haha. What's your earliest music-related childhood memory? Sitting in the backseat of my mom's old Honda as a toddler, listening to The Beatles 1 album. What outrageous request would you most like to put in your tour rider as a joke? One of those giant beverage tumblers but full of iced cold-brew coffee, complete with scotch glasses and an ice bucket. Which Star Wars character are you most like? Anakin. He's just such a moody badass. Not saying I'm 100 percent a moody badass, but I guess in an alternate reality including lightsabers, I'd like to be. Where do you see yourself in five beers? I no longer drink, so I can't say where "five beers" would place me now. The last time I had five beers I jumped a fence and broke my foot, so maybe best to steer clear for now, ha. CHVRCHES' Lauren Mayberry, among others, has spoken out about misogyny in the music industry and the sexist, and sometimes sexually violent, Internet comments from male fans. What are your thoughts on the issue? It's a hugely important topic. Since I am personally invested in the punk/hardcore/aggressive music scene I have been more engaged in the conversations in that sphere regarding other incidents this year, but the same theme is present. And it's not just the Internet comments or general inequality in music-industry professions, it's violence and physical predatory behavior at shows, it's minimization of female perspective in the media. Women are not only underrepresented in the industry, they are marginalized by the scene. My colleagues and I have talked about how much more difficult it is to achieve the respect that is implicitly given to males; I would take it one step further and say it is much more difficult to feel the safety afforded males. That's why it is important to have these conversations so that we are aware of ingrained issues we can correct, and so that we may consciously create a more positive culture surrounding music. If your house were on fire, what would you grab as you were running out? My telecaster, Lucy. No question. www.facebook.com/julienrbaker/
In January 2014, Arutz-7 announced that they would reveal the location of a “covered up” proto-aeolic capital that they labeled “King David’s Castle.” While the relationship to King David was unsubstantiated and sensational, the proto-aeolic capital is part of an undoubtedly important archaeological site just over five miles from Jerusalem’s City of David and four miles from Bethlehem. The find itself—a one-of-a-kind proto-aeolic capital still attached to its base—is a rare-yet-iconic First Temple period type. The iconography is familiar in Israel; proto-aeolic designs are etched on modern Israeli five-shekel coins. The capital is associated with a 525-foot-long tunnel system, the largest and most impressively hewn spring tunnel in the region of Jerusalem. This labor required to carve such a system opens new questions regarding the Judahite administration and agriculture around Jerusalem. Unfortunately, most of last year’s discussion hinged on media reports of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) response to the Kfar Etzion Field School’s attempts to publicize the find. The archaeological significance was all but ignored. Last summer I had the chance to meet with Binyamin Tropper, the Kfar Etzion training coordinator who recognized the capital in February 2013, and Daniel Ein-Mor, the IAA archaeologist who previously surveyed the area, identified the capital, explored the water system and recently published the site (see notes below). Media articles last spring portrayed the Kfar Etzion and IAA camps in a pitched battle over the discovery’s public presentation. I saw no indication of hostile contention—both Ein-Mor and Tropper were cordial and enthusiastic in sharing information about the site. Before discussing the ancient evidence, we need to address the elephant in the room: the articles last year suggesting that the IAA “covered up” the discovery. While there are modern political sensitivities surrounding the location of the site, Bible History Daily is not the place for such discussion. It is a place for the presentation of archaeological data, so first and foremost, it is important to rectify the notion that this site remains quietly unpublished. Last year, Daniel Ein-Mor and geologist Zvi Ron published the article “An Iron Age Royal Tunnel Spring in the region of Nahal Rephaim” in Guy Stiebel et. al (eds.), New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and its Region. Ein-Mor also published a shorter free online report “Walajeh (‘Ain Joweizeh)” on the IAA Hadashot Arkheologiyot website last summer. The Proto-Aeolic Typology In his article “The Origin and Date of the Volute Capitals from the Levant,” Tel Aviv University Professor Oded Lipschits introduces the type: The Iron Age volute capitals (the so-called “Proto-Aeolic” or “Proto-Ionian” capitals) are among the most impressive and special finds discovered in archaeological excavations in Israel and Jordan. The size of the capitals, their weight, the quality of their carving, and their impressive design provide an indication of their function in the gates and palaces of the ancient kingdoms of Israel, Judah, Moab, and Ammon. The capitals—an architectural term usually referring to decorative supports on top of columns—are widely associated with monumental sites but are poorly understood, in large part because they have rarely been found in situ. Proto-aeolic capitals are decorated with curving date palm tree motifs, associated with the Near Eastern “Tree of Life,” and the architectural style was influential in shaping later architecture from classical Greece to Mesopotamia. Where have these capitals been found? In the Hadashot Arkheologiyot article “Walajeh (‘Ain Joweizeh),” Daniel Ein-Mor succinctly lists the existing evidence of proto-aeolic capitals, citing a Hebrew article published by Oded Lipschits in 2009: Twenty-four stone capitals decorated with a Proto-Aeolic design from the First Temple period are known from the main cities of the Kingdom of Israel: Samaria, Megiddo, Hazor and Dan. Eleven others are known from the Kingdom of Judea [Judah]; ten capitals were found at Ramat Rahel where remains of a palace from the late eighth–early seventh centuries BCE were excavated, and one capital comes from the City of David excavations in Jerusalem (Lipschits 2009). Five capitals are known from the site of el-Mudeibi’ – Mudaybi in Moab, and a capital was found in secondary use in the village of ‘Ain-Sara, west of Kerak, next to a spring of the same name. Two fragments of capitals are also known from the citadel in Amman (Lipschits 2009). The capitals from the Kingdom of Israel mainly date to the ninth century BCE and those from Judea and Jordan to the late eighth or early seventh centuries BCE. Although the central motif is identical, the capitals from the various sites differ in some features. In “The Origin and Date of the Volute Capitals from the Levant,” Lipschits suggests that capitals were first made during Israel’s Omride dynasty in the 9th century B.C.E. He proposes that after the Assyrians invaded Israel, the capitals’ “size, esthetics and quality, attracted the attention of the Assyrian rulers who were known for their adoption of artistic and architectural elements, and for incorporating them in the local Assyrian tradition.” We have artistic depictions of these capitals at numerous palatial Assyrian sites. Lipschits goes on to suggest that the proto-aeolic capitals found in Judah, Moab and Ammon, which were built later than the examples found in Israel, reflect “Assyrian encouragement, approval or sponsorship.” A New Proto-Aeolic Capital As the point where three of the world’s major religions converge, Israel’s history is one of the richest and most complex in the world. Sift through the archaeology and history of this ancient land in the free eBook, and get a view of these significant Biblical sites through an archaeologist’s lens.However, to understand the type, we also need to look west. Haifa University scholar Norma Franklin draws parallels between the capitals and Cypriote architecture, focusing on the similarity between the proto-aeolic motifs and those found in tombs at Tamassos in Cyprus. In her article “From Megiddo to Tamassos and Back: Putting the ‘Proto-Ionic Capital’ in Its Place,” Franklin suggests that these “capitals” were never, in fact, used structurally as capitals. Instead she notes a variety of functions from site to site: they served as column bases, support for wooden objects or other non-structural roles within monumental architecture. There is little evidence that proto-aeolic capitals were ever used as structural column capitals, and the phrase persists more due to common usage than accuracy. The proto-aeolic “capital” associated with the Judahite water system is actually a design carved into a monolithic rock. The recently announced proto-aeolic capital, associated with the ‘Ain Joweizeh water system, is the first ever found still attached to its base. Originally identified as a lintel in a 1982 survey of the water tunnel, the hewn proto-aeolic decoration is part of a massive, partially buried rock that likely weighs several tons, suggesting that it hasn’t moved far from its original location. The decorations—which are undoubtedly carved in the proto-aeolic style—are actually part of a monolithic rock that may have been part of a monumental entranceway. In terms of style, the proto-aeolic decoration is most similar to examples from nearby Ramat Rahel and the City of David, but parallels can also be drawn between the capital and examples from Moabite el-Mudeibi‘ and Cypriote Tamassos. The capital sits in a “seam” (to borrow a phrase from Daniel Ein-Mor’s Hadashot Arkheologiyot report) between an earlier and later phase of the water tunnel’s construction. It sits across from another unexcavated massive stone monolith. One likely possibility is that the capital marked an entrance to the water system after the first phase of construction. If this marks an entrance, there is good reason to believe that the nearby-but-unexcavated stone across from the proto-aeolic capital may be another capital, and the two together framed a monumental entrance to the tunnel or the system’s reservoir. The Walajeh or ‘Ain Joweizeh Water System Daniel Ein-Mor was quick to caution me: “We don’t want to overlook the importance of a site because one aspect is attractive—the capital is attracting attention, but the water system itself is at least as interesting.” I have to agree. We know of over 100 spring tunnels in the area, and none is even half as long as the ‘Ain Joweizeh system. It is a massive effort to cut through hard dolomite rock. The even and measured chisel marks in the Iron Age tunnel reveal that it is a masterpiece of construction, one that would have required a great deal of funding. Unlike Hezekiah’s tunnel, which carries water drawn from Jerusalem’s Gihon Spring, the Joweizeh tunnel drew its water from springs en route. The Joweizeh tunnel is the longest tunnel of its type in the region. Because of the similarity in workmanship, it is worth comparing this tunnel with Hezekiah’s, as Todd Bolen notes on the Bibleplaces blog. Despite the extensive labor required to carve the tunnel (which includes a side channel used to regulate uneven water flow), the spring itself is relatively low flow, raising questions about its purpose. Who would have cut the hard dolomite rock and haul it hundreds of feet out of the tunnel? The tunnel does not reach Jerusalem. Where was this water going? Why was this elaborate tunnel marked by a proto-aeolic capital, a type often associated with royal construction? Interpreting the Finds This site has not escaped the attention of the Israeli archaeological community. Binyamin Tropper mentioned the site’s visitors, and his list included some of the most esteemed names in the field: Nadav Na’aman, Israel Finkelstein, Yuval Gadot, Amihai Mazar, Yosef Garfinkel, Norma Franklin and several others. Such a water system suggests the presence of a nearby settlement or wealthy estate (Daniel Ein-Mor specifically mentions the possibility of a royal palace or estate similar to Ramat Rahel), but so far there is no archaeological evidence of such a place. A proto-aeolic capital at ‘Ain-Sara in Jordan may be associated with a spring. Assyrian reliefs from Khorsabad and Nineveh show proto-aeolic capitals associated with gardens and springs . Following Oded Lipschits’s proposal that the capitals originated in Israel and were subsequently adopted by Assyrians before being introduced into Judah and other nearby territories, perhaps the usage shown in Assyrian reliefs would have been familiar to anyone considering constructing proto-aeolic capitals in Judah. Of course, archaeologists have not yet uncovered anything resembling a Judahite or Assyrian-style garden estate in the area, and we can’t base assumptions about the nature of the region from a few foreign artworks. What we know now is that the construction of this water system required a great deal of labor, and someone—perhaps the Judahite government—was willing to invest a great deal in an as-yet archaeologically inconspicuous part of the hinterlands of Jerusalem. Notes Daniel Ein-Mor and Zvi Ron, “An Iron Age Royal Tunnel Spring in the region of Nahal Rephaim” in G. Stiebel et. al (eds.), New Studies in the Archaeology of Jerusalem and its Region (Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority and Institute of Archaeology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 2013). Daniel Ein-Mor, “Walajeh (‘Ain Joweizeh).” Hadashot Arkheologiyot (Online: Israel Antiquities Authority: Published 06/16/2013 http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.aspx?id=2275) Oded Lipschits, “The Origin and Date of the Volute Capitals from the Levant.” in: Israel Finkelstein and Nadav Na’aman, eds., The Fire Signals of Lachish: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Israel in the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Persian Period in Honor of David Ussishkin. (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2011). pp. 203-225. Norma Franklin, “From Megiddo to Tamassos and Back: Putting the ‘Proto-Ionic Capital’ in its Place.” in: Israel Finkelstein and Nadav Na’aman, eds., The Fire Signals of Lachish: Studies in the Archaeology and History of Israel in the Late Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Persian Period in Honor of David Ussishkin. (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2011). pp. 129-140. This Bible History Daily article was originally published on January 15, 2014. It has been updated. Permalink: https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-sites-places/biblical-archaeology-places/proto-aeolic-capital-associated-with-judahs-longest-spring-tunnel/
Whoever took these pictures did an awesome job. And whoever said Katrina was 'awesome and terrifying' is telling the truth. Wow, take a look at this .... These pictures were made by a man in Magee, MS where the eye of the storm passed thru- what an experience. Magee is 150 miles North of Waveland, Mississippi where the Hurricane made landfall. The dance with Katrina, part of her beauty as she left destruction on her exit. They are remarkably dramatic... The following picture was taken from the third story balcony of Saint Stanislaus College located next door to Our Lady of the Gulf church in Bay Saint Louis, Mississippi on the morning of August 29th, 2005. This is believed to be the initial tidal wave from Hurricane Katrina. The tidal wave was approximately 35 to 40 feet high. When it slammed into the beach front communities of Bay Saint Louis and Waveland, Mississippi to completely destroy 99% of every structure along the beach for 9 miles and over a mile inland. The destruction only started there. The flooding that continued inland destroyed the contents of all but 35 homes in these two communities of approximately 14,000 people.
The hosts of late-night skewered President Trump over his controversial travel ban barring travelers from seven majority Muslim nations, as well as his choice to watch "Finding Dory" while protestors descended upon the nation's major airports. (Erin Patrick O'Connor/The Washington Post) On Monday, late-night television hosts reacted to President Trump’s executive order temporarily barring citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries and refugees from across the globe from entering the United States. As the hosts tell it, the order made a lot of people very angry, but it also brought a lot of people together. At airports, no less! We’ve rounded up some of the memorable late-night commentary about Trump’s immigration order and the resulting protests. Just about everyone made an airport joke Conan O’Brien: “This weekend, the nation’s airports were filled with people protesting President Trump’s Muslim ban. It was the largest collection of angry people at an airport since every United Airlines flight.” On “The Daily Show” Trevor Noah asked correspondent Hasan Minhaj, who had recently landed at New York’s John F. Kennedy Airport, what he thought of the order. “Usually, being a Muslim in an airport sucks,” Minhaj explained. “But this weekend, it was like I was The Weeknd. I mean I land at JFK, I get to the arrival section. Literally, three white people run up to me, hug me and say ‘thank you for being Muslim.’ I’m 31 years old. That’s the first time anyone has thanked me for being Muslim.” Jimmy Kimmel: “There were demonstrations in just about every major city yesterday, people went to the airport to protest — that’s when you know people are mad. It’s Sunday, they have no travel plans, and they go to the airport.” Jimmy Fallon: “Here in New York, thousands of people showed up at JFK airport over the weekend to protest Trump’s immigration ban. People who were actually at the protest said ‘This is awful,’ while the people at LaGuardia were like, ‘You think you got it bad? We’re at LaGuardia.’” Stephen Colbert: “Now, all of this is upsetting, if you’re one of those people who thought about it. Which is why tens of thousands of protesters spontaneously demonstrated — do you have any idea how angry people have to be to voluntarily go to JFK?” Seth Meyers: “He was detained for 18 hours at JFK and he still loves America,” the ‘Late Night’ host said of an Iraqi man who once worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Army. “If you can spend more than two hours at JFK without losing your s—, you should get automatic citizenship.” There were also ‘Finding Dory’ jokes (Trump reportedly held a private screening of the animated film over the weekend) Kimmel: “While all this was happening, President Trump was hosting a screening at the White House of the movie ‘Finding Dory,’ which, ironically, is a movie about a fish trying to find her parents. To his credit, he was so moved by the film that he lifted all travel restrictions on clownfish.” Conan O’Brien: “Kind of a turbulent weekend, but you should feel good about this, Donald Trump did find time to relax. True story, yesterday, Donald Trump spent the afternoon at the White House watching ‘Finding Dory’ with his family … apparently, in this version, Dory couldn’t be found because she was being detained at the airport.” Noah (in a Trump-esque voice): “Shhh, don’t disturb me I don’t care what’s happening at the airports. I’m watching a movie about families being separated. It’s hilarious.” Noah: “By the way, who hasn’t watched ‘Finding Dory’ yet?! It’s 2017! This man is not fit to be president. Not fit!” Fallon: “While all this was going on, yesterday at the White House, Trump hosted a screening of the movie ‘Finding Dory.’ Trump said he actually related more to ‘Finding Nemo’ because that was about an orange and white cartoon.” The hosts analyzed how Trump and White House staffers responded to criticism Colbert: “Now Trump has responded to criticism that the plan was rushed, tweeting, ‘If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the ‘bad’ would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad ‘dudes’ out there!’ I don’t think President Trump has ever used quotation marks before.” Kimmel: “Travelers from the seven restricted countries, most of them got a plane, had no idea they would be stopped or detained by immigration, including a 5-year-old boy who was detained for hours while his mother, who was born in Iran, waited at the gate for him. And that meant lucky Sean Spicer, the White House press secretary, had the unenviable job today of trying to explain how to detaining a 5-year-old helps to keep the country safe.” (Cut to Spicer saying ‘ … to assume that someone’s age or gender or whatever that they don’t pose a threat would be misguided and wrong.’) UNLESS THEY’RE 5-YEARS-OLD.” Colbert: “At Dulles Airport, a 5-year-old Iranian boy was detained for hours and kept from his mother. Or as Kellyanne Conway calls it, alternative day care.” They suggested that maybe Trump didn’t write the executive order after all Meyers: “When Trump first announced the order at a signing ceremony over the weekend, he read it aloud like he was seeing it for the very first time. Hey man, it’s not comforting to us when you seem shocked by the stuff you’re signing. That’s the way people look before they sign the injury waiver on ‘American Ninja Warrior.’” Noah: “Hey Donald, I know you don’t actually write or read any of those boring papers so let me explain to you what you did. You banned everyone from seven Muslim countries from entering the United States. Even though you said your ban was to protect America from outside threats, that ban included people with green cards. It even seemed to include dual citizens of Canada or Britain or any other country you didn’t plan to ban, you silly billy. Now go back to watching CNN.” They got serious “Daily Show” correspondent Minhaj: “Here’s the beautiful irony. For years, Donald Trump has been terrified of the spread of Islam in America.” (Cut to photos of protest signs including one that read “We are all Muslim now.”) “Well, congratulations, Mr. President. Mission accomplished.” James Corden’s “Late Late Show” began with of the host breezily making his way through a terminal at Los Angeles International Airport. The video was followed by this message: “Today James flew out of Los Angeles, so all of our shows this week have been pretaped. Freedom of movement should be this easy for all legal immigrants. Not just the white and Christian ones.” Related: ‘He knows he won, right?’: Late-night TV hosts mock Donald Trump’s inauguration
Foto: Trapan.hr/Press ODD BACCHUS jedan je od pet američkih vinskih blogova koje Wall Street Journal svojedobno preporučio kao vinske blogove vrijedne čitanja. A na istom tom Odd Bacchusu, koji vodi Rob Frisch iz Chicaga, na popisu najboljih bijelih vina isprobanih u 2014. godini našlo se i jedno hrvatsko. "Za ovaj popis izabrao sam vina koja su me na neki način iznenadila, bijela vina koja su pokazala impresivnu ravnotežu...Vina koja su navedena predstavljaju samo mali dio onoga što se sve u svijetu nalazi mimo golemih brendova koje možete naći u dućanima. Ovo su vina sa srcem. Moraju biti, budući da tvrtke koje ih proizvode imaju minimalne marketinške budžete", stoji u uvodu nakon kojeg su potom, abecednim redom, nabrojana odabrana bijela vina. A o malvaziji Brune Trapana, Ponente iz 2012. godine, Frisch je napisao: "Istra, trokutasti poluotok u Hrvatskoj, koji je nekoć pripadao Italiji, proizvodi hranu i vino koje postaje ozbiljna konkurencija bivšim 'vlasnicima'. Istarska malvazija imala je bogatu aromu koja se pamti i koja je gotovo zakoračila na teritorij karamele. Bogato i pomalo voćno, ovo prekrasno uravnoteženo vino ima primjetno fokusirane kiseline i podvučeno je notom slanosti. Neobično i vrlo, vrlo ukusno". S kim se Trapanova malvazija našla u društvu, provjerite ovdje.
Orexin-A, also known as hypocretin-1, is a naturally occurring neuropeptide and orexin isoform. The orexinergic nucleus in the lateral hypothalamus is the primary orexin projection system in the brain. Structure [ edit ] Orexin-A is a peptide composed of 33 amino acids including an N-terminal pyroglutamyl residue and two intramolecular disulfide bridges between cysteine residues in 6 and 12 and 7 and 14 positions.[citation needed] The amino acid sequence is: Pyroglu-Pro-Leu-Pro-Asp-Cys-Cys-Arg-Gln-Lys-Thr-Cys-Ser-Cys-Arg-Leu-Tyr-Glu-Leu-Leu-His-Gly-Ala-Gly-Asn-His-Ala-Ala-Gly-Ile-Leu-Thr-Leu [1][2] Mechanism [ edit ] Orexins are highly excitatory neuropeptides that were first discovered in the brains of rats. It is a peptide that is produced by a very small population of cells in the lateral and posterior hypothalamus. Orexins strongly excite various brain nuclei (neurons) to affect an organism’s wakefulness by affecting their dopamine, norepinephrine, histamine and acetylcholine systems.[citation needed] These systems work together to stabilize the organism’s sleep cycles. Once made, the orexin peptides can bind to the orexin receptor; which is a G protein coupled receptor. This G protein linked receptor senses molecules outside the cell and activates inside signal transduction pathways to elicit cellular responses. Research shows that an absence of orexin-A appears to cause narcolepsy. Deficit amounts of orexin-A will make people sleepy and research suggests that by adding it back into the brain, narcoleptic effects will be reduced. The research determined how glucose inhibited a particular class of glucose-sensing neurons, which produce tiny proteins called orexins. However, it is unknown how glucose suppresses the electrical activity of orexin cells.[3] A study from the University of Manchester discovered how glucose inhibited neurons affected the regulation of sleep cycles. Tests show a class of potassium ion channels, pore-like proteins in the cell membrane, affect the cellular responses by controlling the flow of potassium into the cell. The exact mechanism of the potassium ion channels is unknown, but the experiments show that the presence of glucose inhibited the orexin neurons by acting on this class of potassium ion channels known as "tandem pore" channels.[4] Ongoing research [ edit ] The subjects of one particular study, rhesus monkeys, were deprived of sleep in durations of 30 to 36 hours, and were immediately assessed in short term memory tasks. The rhesus monkeys were split into a test group and into a control group. The test group was administered orexin-A intravenously, or nasally. The control group was given a placebo. The sleep-deprived monkeys, which were given the nasal form of orexin-A, performed far better than the ones treated with injections. Orexin-A not only restored the monkey’s cognitive abilities but made their brains appear awake in PET scans. The same was not true for the control group, which did not exhibit any changes. The findings of these studies strongly favor an effective way to alleviate cognitive limitations due to sleep loss.[5]
Santorum: I've met people who are no longer gay Rick Santorum and MSNBC host Rachel Maddow clashed over gay rights issues on her show Wednesday night, and the Republican presidential candidate offered an apology of sorts for a remark he made a dozen years ago. If people are born gay or transgender, Santorum posited, “it leads to a whole bunch of other situations,” like sex-selective abortions, for example. Story Continued Below “So if you can determine whether one of your children is gay, should we pass a law saying you can’t abort a child because you found out that child’s going to be gay? You can’t abort a child because you found out that child was going to be a woman? How would you feel about a law like that?” he asked Maddow. Asked whether believed being gay is a choice, Santorum said he has never answered the question because he does not really know the answer. “There are people who are alive today who identified themselves as gay and lesbian and who no longer are. That’s true. I do know, I’ve met people in that case. So I guess maybe in that case, maybe they did,” he said, adding that he does “know people who have lived the gay lifestyle and no longer live it.” “But I suspect that there’s all sorts of reasons that people end up the way they are. And I’ll sort of leave it at that,” he said. “I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about these things, to be honest,” he added. Maddow challenged Santorum on that, noting that he has talked about gay rights “all the time,” recalling a 2003 interview with an Associated Press reporter in which he referred to bestiality as the potential slippery slope after the Supreme Court made consensual gay sex legal across the country. Maddow pressed further, asking Santorum about a comment he made following the Supreme Court’s 2003 Lawrence v. Texas decision that effectively struck down laws banning consensual same-sex sexual activity legal in every state. Following the decision, he t old an AP reporter that the court could also find that people have a right to any other type of acts, like “man on child, man on dog, whatever the case may be.” Santorum said he regretted making the “flippant” comment, but he stands by the substance of his remarks, adding that the reporter was “not being particularly professional.” “That’s not an excuse for me,” he added. “I take responsibility for what I said.” “And you regret it,” Maddow said. “Absolutely,” Santorum replied. “It was a flippant comment that should have come out of my mouth. But the substance of what I said, which is what I’ve referred to, I stand by that. I wish I had not said it in a flippant term that I did, and I know people were offended by it, and I wish I hadn’t said it.”
It's become standard in spy thrillers for heroes to treat their cell phones as glowing red beacons that advertise their locations. Movie-goers know that action heroes should yank the battery from their phones if they don't want to be tracked. What's less well known is that reality long ago caught up with and surpassed cinema. Using devices that essentially mimic cell phone towers, police — or anybody with one of these widgets — can get a fix on your mobile device, whether or not it's in use, and thereby on your gadget-obsessed self. Generically salled "Stingrays," which is actually a brand name for one such International Mobile Subscriber Identity locator (you can see why "Stingray" stuck as a monicker), the Electronic Frontier Foundation says these devices work thusly: A Stingray works by masquerading as a cell phone tower—to which your mobile phone sends signals to every 7 to 15 seconds whether you are on a call or not— and tricks your phone into connecting to it. As a result, the government can figure out who, when and to where you are calling, the precise location of every device within the range, and with some devices, even capture the content of your conversations. Specifically, says the Wall Street Journal, "the stingray operator [can] 'ping,' or send a signal to, a phone and locate it as long as it is powered on." The Journal offers a handy visual aid to flesh out how they work: Stingrays are in the news now because they're being used in law-enforcement cases with very sketchy legal authorization. In Maricopa County, Arizona, according to the Journal: Sgt. Spurgin says officers often obtain court orders, but not necessarily search warrants, when using the device. To obtain a search warrant from a court, officers as a rule need to show "probable cause," which is generally defined as a reasonable belief, based on factual evidence, that a crime was committed. Lesser standards apply to other court orders. Stopping short of full-on warrants is a matter of policy nationally, since "FBI and Department of Justice officials have also said that investigators don't need search warrants." That slippery legal authorization for tracking cell phones is at issue in United States v. Rigmaiden, in which the EFF and the ACLU have submitted an amicus brief (PDF). In that case, a court had ordered Verizon to locate the defendant, and authorities interpreted that order as authorization to use a Stingray themselves. Complicating matters, while a Stingray is in use, it also locates every other nearby mobile device sharing that network, potentially compromising the privacy of a great many people as collateral damage. So remember, folks. Those mobile devices we've all grown so dependent upon may be every bit as treacherous as the movies would have us believe.
No, no, no, says Richard A. Luthmann, a lawyer who practices politics on Staten Island with a blunt-edged hatchet. It is not trolling, Mr. Luthmann said, to set up phony Facebook pages to embarrass candidates — such as one in which a Republican Assembly candidate in a conservative district calls for more housing projects, or another, in which a liberal Democrat City Council member “welcomes” a welfare hotel for drug addicts and criminals. While Mr. Luthmann neither denies nor admits creating the pages, he insists that there would be absolutely nothing unusual if he had. Moreover, he said, trolling is the wrong term for such tactics. “It’s what is called a dirty trick,” Mr. Luthmann said, who misappropriated a term from Plato to deem Facebook spoofing a form of “noble lie.”
Pontiff shocks devotees by washing women's feet, prompting some to question whether he may consider ordaining women Traditionalists in the Roman Catholic church have expressed concern after Pope Francis became the first pontiff to wash the feet of two women during a Maundy Thursday mass, a move liberals welcomed but some conservatives feared set a worrying precedent. At the Casal del Marmo youth detention centre on the outskirts of Rome, the Argentinian pope washed and dried the feet of 12 inmates as part of the traditional rite representing Jesus's final act of humility towards his disciples. He had surprised the Vatican with his decision to wash the prisoners' feet – a move that echoed the early years of John Paul II, who once performed the rite in the St John Lateran basilica with a dozen homeless men. But it was his inclusion of two young women, as well as Muslims, in the ceremony that was the most dramatic break with tradition. It even caused some traditionalists to wonder openly whether Francis, who is doctrinally a theological conservative who has explicitly stated he is against female ordination, might one day be willing to open the priesthood to women. The Vatican's spokesman Federico Lombardi insisted the rite took place in "a specific situation in which excluding the girls would have been inopportune in light of the simple aim of communicating a message of love to all". Chris Gillibrand, a British commentator, wrote on his blog, CathCon: "We will see whether it is a particular case, as Lombardi suggests, or the beginning of a journey. Given his active support for the charismatic movement in his diocese, one can only be concerned that he could be prepared to ordain women … How can the pope maintain discipline in the church if he himself does not conform himself to prevailing ecclesiastical legislation?" This was not the first time Francis had washed female feet. As Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio and archbishop of Buenos Aires, he often included women in the gesture. However as pope, his move was quietly groundbreaking. In their later years John Paul II and Benedict XVI had restricted the rite to 12 Catholic priests.
President Obama boxed himself into a corner when he said last year that Syria’s use of chemical weapons against its people would be crossing a “red line” that could prompt a direct American response. Now that the United States has concluded with “high confidence” that President Bashar al-Assad has crossed that line, Mr. Obama had to follow through on his threat. As The Times reported, the administration has decided to begin supplying the rebels with small arms and ammunition. That step would be a modest escalation of American involvement in response to the use of the nerve agent sarin, which was confirmed by the American intelligence. The White House said there were multiple incidents over the past year that caused an estimated 100 to 150 deaths. But that is a tiny fraction of the 93,000 Syrians believed killed in the civil war, now in its third year. Nevertheless, Mr. Obama’s decision is highly significant because it opens the door to an even larger American role. Anti-tank weapons are also a real possibility. The White House said the chemical weapons finding had changed Mr. Obama’s calculus about the war but had not explained what that meant. Mr. Obama has demonstrated a prudent reluctance to intervene directly in Syria’s civil war. Can the United States arm the rebels and avoid becoming enmeshed in another Middle East war? How will the administration keep weapons out of the hands of rebels who are affiliated with Al Qaeda and other jihadi groups? Does Mr. Obama believe this move will persuade Russia to stop arming Syria — or might it provoke President Vladimir Putin to ship even more supplies?
The newest division at Great White Shark Enterprises he's most excited about is the Great White Shark Opportunity Fund, an asset-based debt-lending fund that provides alternative and flexible capital to small- and mid-cap companies. Norman won't reveal what companies they've invested in so far but said they have $75 million in capital. "It's a good place to be in right now, because a lot of small, entrepreneurial businesses can't get capital to grow their business," he said in his familiar Australian accent. "Many years ago my partner, David Chessler, and I invested in a couple small business and just saw the returns we were generating, in the high 20s and even above. We started off very small, but now we're growing at a comfortable pace, and we have institutions interested because we have a performance track record that's very positive. We don't want to be a $20 billion fund. We just want to be like the space we're in." Norman's most profitable division is his golf course design company, which charges $1.5 million for a "signature" design. It has opened 95 courses worldwide and has another 42 projects in various stages of development with almost all of them in Asia, Mexico and South America, where the golf economy is not as negatively affected as in the U.S. Read MoreSolar giant Conergy snares millions in financing But like with any business, the Great Recession took its toll (back in 2007, his design fee was $2 million). "It's the hardest recession I've ever been through, and I've probably been through four recessions since I started my company in 1992," he said. "But once you come up the backside of it and people see that your credibility and business model has survived the negative test of time, your business is in a really good place to grow." Since GWSE is such a closely held company, Norman won't disclose what his gross revenues were last year but does claim they increased by 63 percent.
Labour MPs' decision to help the leftwinger Jeremy Corbyn enter the party's leadership race appears to be backfiring after Britain’s biggest trade union told members to vote for him. Mr Corbyn, who has been on Labour’s hard Left for decades, only made it onto the ballot paper last month with minutes to spare after MPs lent him their votes to broaden the debate. However, Mr Corbyn has now had his chances of winning boosted after Unite, Labour’s biggest donor, told members to vote for the Islington North MP to be the party’s leader. Five unions - including the Fire brigades Union and the RMT rail union – are now backing Mr Corbyn to beat rival Yvette Cooper, Liz Kendall and Andy Burnham to be Labour leader this September. The two other biggest unions – the GMB and Unison – will decide which candidate to support by the end of this month. Unite’s 63-strong executive decided on Sunday lunchtime that members should support Mr Corbyn, followed by Mr Burnham as their first and second preferences in the alternative vote system. The decision to back Mr Burnham as the runner-up candidate is likely to boost the shadow health secretary’s chances when all the first and second votes are added together Unite's executive also decided to “recommend” that in the deputy leadership campaign members back “Tom Watson and Angela Eagle to reflect the strong support for these candidates”. Unite is a major Labour supporter. In the first three months of this year alone, the union donated £3.5million to the party. Unite said its backing for Jeremy Corbyn was in recognition that his policies were most closely aligned with those of the union. Jeremy Corbyn: full story of the lefty candidate the Tories would love to see elected as Labour leader Mr Corbyn said Unite’s support – which was first disclosed by The Daily Telegraph on Saturday - showed that his was a “serious campaign that has growing momentum”. He said: “The leadership election is about one issue above others: whether we accept another five years of a race to the bottom based on cuts that destroy services and damage living standards, or whether we invest our way to a growth and fairness. “Trade union members are the men and women whose money worries and anxiety for the prospects of their children, are now the everyday reality of these Tory austerity years. The whole of trade union history has been based on protecting people from austerity. “Without trade unions there would be no equal pay-act, no minimum pay, no Labour Party.Trade unions are a force for good, a force for prosperity and we should listen to them more. “For Labour to win again it must show it is on the side of the majority. I thank Unite for their nomination, not just for myself but for all those people who have already brought their time, efforts and hope to my campaign.” Alistair Darling, the former Labour Chancellor, said he was “not sure" electing Mr Corbyn as Labour leader “will get us back into Government”. He told Sky News’ Murnaghan: "He won’t be surprised to know I wasn’t proposing to back him, I have yet to decide between my three former colleagues and I’ll decide fairly soon. "I think though the view that most of us take in the Labour party is we want to get back into government again because we want to make a difference and I’m not sure that Mr Corbyn’s way is the way to do that but then we’ll probably disagree on that." Unite is Britain and Ireland’s largest trade union with over 1.4 million members working across all sectors of the economy. Its general secretary is Len McCluskey. Mr Corbyn is a long standing anti-Monarchist who caused outrage after the IRA’s Brighton bomb in 1984 by inviting members of Sinn Fein, including Gerry Adams, to the Commons. Mr Corbyn appears to lead a simple life. He once said: “I don’t spend a lot of money, I lead a very normal life, I ride a bicycle and I don’t have a car.”
Bon Iver will release their third LP 22, A Million on September 30 (via Jagjaguwar). They have already shared the album’s “22 (OVER S∞∞N),” “10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⊠ ⊠,” and “33 ‘GOD’,” and performed “00000 Million” live. Today, the record’s “8 (circle)” premiered on Annie Mac’s BBC Radio 1 show. Previously, the band performed the track on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.” Hear the studio version here, and below. Embedded content is unavailable. In October, Bon Iver head out on tour. See the band’s upcoming tour dates here. Read about Justin Vernon’s 22, A Million press conference here, and check out “What’s Justin Vernon Been Up to Since the Last Bon Iver Album? A Lot” on the Pitch. Revisit the “22 (OVER S∞∞N) [Bob Moose Extended Cab Version]” lyric video:
Benjamin Wynn Fortson Jr. (December 19, 1904 - May 19, 1979) was a Secretary of State of Georgia. After being selected by Ellis Arnall, the governor in 1946, Fortson kept his title as secretary until 1979, making him the longest-running secretary in Georgia history. Background [ edit ] Benjamin Wynn Fortson Jr. was born in 1904 in Wilkes County, Georgia.[1] At 24, he was in a car accident that permanently paralyzed him from the waist down. Fortson served two terms in the Georgia House of Representatives. He was elected to the Georgia Senate in 1938 and served until he was appointed secretary of state by Governor Ellis Arnall in February 1946 to fill the unexpired term of John B. Wilson. Fortson was elected in the next election and every four years thereafter.[2] He was serving his ninth term at the time of his death on May 19, 1979, in Atlanta, Georgia. After funeral services in the rotunda of the state Capitol, he was buried in Wilkes County in Resthaven Cemetery.[2] Secretary of State [ edit ] Georgia Flags by Fortson, 1963 by Fortson, 1963 In 1946, Fortson was appointed secretary of state. While in office, he was assigned many different jobs that were not originally responsibilities of the office. Fortson was in charge of the preservation of the Capitol and looked after the Confederate cemeteries.[2][3] In 1965, Fortson had the Georgia Archives relocated to a building on Capitol Avenue because the archives were too big for its previous location.[2] "Fortson often said this was his proudest accomplishment".[2] The building was later renamed for him. Another accomplishment Fortson had while he was in office was the custom of giving information on Georgia history to teachers and allowing children to visit the Capitol.[2] At one point there was a report that he was going to move up in office until he said that "Secretary of state is a fascinating job, not like being governor,"[2] revealing that he was running for another re-election.[2] Three governors controversy [ edit ] The three governors controversy took place from 1946 to 1947. Eugene Talmadge was elected to be the next governor of Georgia, but he fell ill and died before he was inaugurated. Because of this, the General Assembly decided to elect Herman Talmadge, the son of Eugene Talmadge, to be the new governor of Georgia. However, two other people wanted the position. Ellis Arnall, the governor who was about to leave office, decided to stay governor and refused to leave his office. The other man was Melvin Thompson, the just-elected lieutenant governor.[4] Fortson, who was secretary of state, was in charge of the state seal. Neither man could do official government actions without this seal, so Fortson hid the seal and refused to tell anyone where it was until the government issue was resolved. This caused the council to take action.[2] After the dispute ended, he revealed the location of the hidden seal. Fortson had put the seal under a cushion in his wheelchair and had been sitting on it during the dispute. Fortson later quoted that he was "sitting on it like a setting of duck eggs."[3][5] The controversy ended with Melvin Thompson being named the new governor by the Georgia Supreme Court, until Herman Talmadge replaced him after winning a special election to choose a new governor.[4] References [ edit ]
Contract Term & Minimum Total Cost ( ) Minimum total cost for Broadband Off-Net plans over contract term calculated as: (contract term) x ($broadband monthly access charge) + setup. Early termination fees apply. ~ The actual speeds may vary due to many factors such as your distance from your local telephone exchange, the quality of your copper phone line and broadband equipment. Acceptable connection speed rate for ADSL Off-Net 8M plan is minimum 880kbps/136kbps (down/up stream) and ADSL2+ Off-Net plans is minimum 900kbps/150kbps (down/up stream). Equipment Wi-Fi Modem – $99.95 A $10 delivery fee applies if equipments are not collected from TPG's Head Office. All equipment will be delivered in one package. Monthly Usage Quota and Speed Shaping 1GB (Gigabyte) = 1000 MB (Megabyte). Unused usage quota forfeited each month. 1Consists of peak (8am-2am) and off peak (2am-8am) monthly usage quota. Speed will be shaped to 128K/64K for the period in which the monthly usage quota has been exceeded (peak and/or off peak). Downloads and Uploads counted. 2Consists of peak (8am-2am) and off peak (2am-8am) monthly usage quota. Speed will be shaped to 128K/128K for the period in which the monthly usage quota has been exceeded (peak and/or off peak). Downloads and Uploads counted. 3Consists of peak (8am-2am) and off peak (2am-8am) monthly usage quota. Speed will be shaped to 256K/128K for the period in which the monthly usage quota has been exceeded (peak and/or off peak). Downloads and Uploads counted. 4Speed will be shaped to 256K/256K once inclusive monthly usage quota is reached. Downloads and Uploads counted. *Monthly Usage Quota Plan Features No excess usage charges. Free spam filter and virus protection. Free email accounts and webspace. Back-up dialup connection with every broadband plan. 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You agree that no bill will be provided for this service and that direct debiting of your account or charge to your credit card may occur notwithstanding that no bill is provided and that it may occur even though you may not have had the opportunity to check charges at least 10 working days before the debit. All TPG services are prepaid. You must pay the monthly recurring charges in advance. In addition, you must make a prepayment for usage that is not within the included value (if any) for the plan that you have acquired. Your initial prepayment will be $20. After registration, you may nominate how much you wish to prepay but the minimum prepayment is $20. The prepayment will be debited from your nominated bank account or credit card. By acquiring and continuing to use the service, you agree to an automatic top up of your prepayment. The top up will occur when the amount of prepayment falls to below $10. 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USA Rugby player and former St. Thomas High School athlete Kingsley McGowan is making a name for himself as a pro, overcoming challenges in one of the most violent sports on the planet. Professional rugby player Kingsley McGowan is slowly making a name for himself. The young Houstonian has played all over the world, with critics applauding his speed as a winger for the U.S. Men’s National Team, the Eagles. But he’s not very tall for a rugger (5 feet, 10 inches) and was born with an abnormality. Despite those challenges, he’s already a three-time Collegiate All-American and now as a pro athlete in one of the most violent sports on the planet. As I walked into a State Farm office out in East Houston, I’m greeted by the manager who introduces me to agent, Erwin McGowan — a tall, African-American, proud father of 23-year-old, Kingsley McGowan. He recalls a conversation he had with him about rugby while he attended St. Thomas High School. “I said, ‘Kingsley, son don’t go out for rugby, won’t you run track?’” McGowan reminisces. “He said, ‘Dad, let me try it.’ I said, ‘Son, I think that rugby is…that’s not a sport that we know!’ So he went out there the first day. He said, ‘Dad, I enjoy it. I love it.’ I said, ‘Son, I’ll ask you one more time to try track,’ because he’s a speedster. And he said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘Well, I’m done!’” And it was a good thing his father gave in, because Kingsley led St. Thomas to the State regionals and positioned the school as a national contender. But he says there was a time when he didn’t think Kingsley would even be alive. “My wife had a special abdominal stitching,” recalls McGowan. “She’s about to give birth. We discovered there were some problems. The foot was the size of a basketball and the fingers were missing.” Kingsley was born with Amniotic Band Constriction — a condition that left him with only six fully-grown fingers instead of ten. “So I have a missing right, middle and ring finger and then I have a missing left ring finger and left pinky finger,” says Kingsley. I caught up with him after a recent rugby match. “I’ve been blessed to not have any grip issues/any handling issues. For me, I’ve just had to learn it differently.” And his father remembers helping him through that learning process. “I said, ‘Kingsley, everything is normal,’” recalls his father. “And kids would say, ‘he’s missing fingers!’ I said, ‘Son, I don’t know what they’re talking about. You have ten fingers.’ I said, ‘You can do anything you want to do. I will not allow you to make excuses in life!’” While earning an accounting degree, Kingsley also helped St. Mary’s College in San Francisco win two national championships before earning a coveted spot on Dublin University’s Trinity team. And it was there in Ireland that he realized just how much he loved rugby. “And that culture is: You play for your mate next to you,” says Kingsley. “So for me, as an African-American male, that should’ve been a problem. But it’s not. I moved to Ireland and was literally the only Black guy within miles — so every rugby team that I’ve been a part of felt like family.” Kingsley plays for the USA Rugby Eagles and earned his first international start earlier this month during the Americas Rugby Championship series against Argentina at BBVA Compass Stadium in Houston.
Updated October 20 One month after suspending, and then reinstating a student-led course on Palestine, the university has taken no action to repair the damages to the educational environment. Palestine Legal wrote to the university again on October 18, 2016 to demand the university apologize and remedy the rights violations. The letter explains, "Mere reinstatement of the course is insufficient without further steps to remedy the harms done, and we request that the university take several immediate actions, including apologizing to Mr. Hadweh and issuing written clarifications to applicable university policies." The full letter is available here. University of California Berkeley (Cal) reinstated a student-led course on Palestine this morning following an outcry over its arbitrary suspension last week. The suspension, taken in apparent response to pressure from Israel advocacy groups, was widely condemned -- by students, professors, and observers -- as a violation of academic freedom, shocking, and unjustifiable. Palestine Legal sent a letter to Cal Chancellor Dirks Friday, on behalf of Paul Hadweh, the student facilitator, warning that the suspension infringed on First Amendment rights and principles of academic freedom. The letter demanded immediate reinstatement and an apology to the students. Executive Dean of the College of Letters and Science, Carla Hesse, announced in a statement that the course is reinstated.
Fancy a trip on a vintage red bus? Then you are in luck as this coming Sunday(29th August), a collection of vintage buses, all at least 45 years old will be plying the very same routes that they would have travelled along in the 1960s and collecting passengers as usual. However, unlike those days of old, there will be no need to hunt out old shillings and pennies as the whole event is free of charge. In addition to local services running around North London, some long journeys will operate on routes from central London in the morning. These will generally be Routemaster-operated. Details here In total, nine routes are being recreated based on the layout of the bus routes in the 1960s – taking passengers to the RAF Museum in Collindale – which is also free to enter and can easily suck away hours of time if you haven’t been before. There will be a commemorative guide to the event which will be on sale in the RAF Museum. In addition, there will be a limited static display of buses on the forecourt of the RAF Museum, including buses laying over between services. The following services are planned for operation, generally between about 10.30 am and 5 pm. Double Decker Buses 18 Aldenham LT Works – Edgware – Burnt Oak – Colindale – Colindale RAF Museum (limited service) 113 Edgware Station – Mill Hill Circus – Hendon Central (journeys to/from Colindale RAF Museum) 140 Mill Hill East – Mill Hill – Burnt Oak – Queensbury – Harrow Weald Garage (special morning journeys only) 142 Stanmore – Edgware – Burnt Oak – Colindale – Colindale RAF Museum 221 Edgware Station – Mill Hill – Bunns Lane – Mill Hill East – North Finchley (journeys to/from Colindale RAF Museum) 240 Edgware Station – Mill Hill – The Ridgeway – Mill Hill East – Golders Green (journeys to/from Colindale RAF Museum) 292 Colindale RAF Museum – Colindale – Burnt Oak – Stirling Corner, journeys to Borehamwood Rossington Avenue Single Decker Buses 240A Edgware Station – Mill Hill – Bunns Lane – Mill Hill East (journeys to/from Colindale RAF Museum) 251 Stanmore – Edgware – Burnt Oak – Totteridge – Arnos Grove (journeys to/from Colindale RAF Museum) Most buses will start and finish their duties at the RAF Museum. For the other main boarding points on each route, see the route details and the programme. The most frequently served places will be the following: Mill Hill Broadway Edgware Station Road Mill Hill East Station Colindale Station Burnt Oak Broadway All vehicles are over 45 years old, some over 60. They are privately owned and cared for so there is an understandable ban on food/drink when on the buses.
You know the drill: mild panic, speculation; someone screams Elder Scrolls 6 and then jumps out the window. So let's light the blue touch paper and stand well back (say, about 4-5 years) as Bethesda starts hiring for some "bleeding-edge RPG development." We know that Bethesda have several new games on the way, apparently "different to anything" it's done before which would suggest new things, but the four new positions (for an engine, gameplay and two graphics programmers) are all for the aforementioned "bleeding-edge RPG". Either Bethesda isn't straying that far from what it knows, or it's starting on something more familiar. A quick trawl through Linkedin reveals that Fallout 4's lead producer, Jeff Gardiner, is currently lead producer on 'unannounced' and Dave Schreiber, the sound designer on Skyrim, is also on "unannounced future project". Okay, okay, so far that's not telling us that much because we know there are secret games. However, we do have freelance illustrator, Diego de Almeida, who's been working on an "unannounced project" since November 2015 which ties in nicely with the end of Fallout 4's development, suggesting any excess team members not working on patches and DLC right now might have something else to be getting on with. Seen something newsworthy? Tell us!
On the latest episode of The Disruptors, co-host Amber Kanwar sat down with Carol Leaman, CEO of Axonify, to discuss her company’s e-learning software platform and how it’s helping industries like retail and manufacturing better train employees. “We are what we call a next generation employee knowledge platform, and we are taking what has been traditionally a very long, boring, ineffective experience,” said Leaman. “What we do is make the experience super fun for the employee by incorporating about 20 game mechanics.” Axonify is a corporate learning platform that allows businesses to deliver training information to employees in a more personalized way. Leaman said Axonify turns the training process into a “three-minute a day” science-based and gamified experience that is meant to help employees retain information better and perform better at their jobs. Specifically, Axonify uses three core cognitive concepts: spaced repetition, retrieval practice, and confidence-based assessment to create memory and guide employees to perform well on the job, concepts that Leaman believes create a more engaging experience. “What we do is make the experience super fun for the employee by incorporating about 20 game mechanics,” said Leaman. “It drives voluntary participation and engagement with the platform. The more that they play, the more they learn, the more they change their behaviour in ways the employee needs to be a top performer in the workplace.” Leaman said Axonify’s platform is directed towards “deskless workers” in industries such as retail, hospitality, travel, and tourism, where it is difficult for employers to interact and offer knowledge to their employees on a daily basis. “Most employees don’t have an email address, so we give them access through a variety of means that makes it really simple in the workflow…to get access to knowledge they need to have,” said Leaman. She added that since there’s significant pressure for retailers to adopt digital practices, Axonify’s platform allows employers to keep employees up to speed on new products and new practices. “It’s a method that they [employers] can consistently and constantly deliver knowledge and information to their employees to be more competitive because…retailers are under a tremendous amount of pressure these days to be competitive with online,” said Leaman. She added that some employers incorporate initiatives like Axonify into their businesses because keeping employees informed on products and services becomes a “key factor in retaining customer loyalty” and gaining a competitive advantage. In the interview, Kanwar asked Leaman what type of growth Axonify expects to see over the next few years. Leaman said that after raising a US$27 million round in November 2016, the company is in a good place right now. “We raised that money to be able to really go hard at the market and the market segments that we do very well in, so we’re good for the foreseeable future,” said Leaman. She added that while the company is on the verge of being profitable, over the next years, Leaman will closely watch where the customers take Axonify, to determine whether they need to acquire more capital. Watch the full interview below: BetaKit is a production partner on The Disruptors. Tune in to BNN every Thursday night at 7 p.m. for full episodes!
Amanda Armstrong Platypus Review, № 2 February 2, 2008 . Castoriadis, Marx, and Freud on time and emancipation . . On two occasions, Sigmund Freud observed that politics, pedagogy, and psychoanalysis are all impossible professions. Cornelius Castoriadis attempted to make sense of this cryptic observation in a 1994 essay entitled “Psychoanalysis and Politics,” in which he argued that, not only are these three “professions” structurally analogous, they are also entangled with each other such that the “impossible” realization of pedagogical or psychoanalytic aims is ultimately conditional upon an emancipatory political transformation. The impossibility of psychoanalysis as well as of pedagogy lies in the fact that they both attempt to aid in the creation of autonomy for their subjects by using an autonomy that does not yet exist. This appears to be a logical impossibility…But the impossibility also appears, especially in the case of pedagogy, to lie in the attempt to produce autonomous human beings within a heteronomous society…The solution to this riddle is the “impossible” task of politics — all the more impossible since it must also lean on a not yet existing autonomy in order to bring its own type of autonomy into being. [1] Castoriadis’s analysis of the “impossible possibility” of emancipatory politics, while deformed by his tendency to treat dynamic social formations as static states of being (i.e. “autonomy”), conveys, in a partially veiled form, certain important dimensions of Marxist politics. First, by analogizing social emancipation to pedagogy and psychoanalysis, Castoriadis squarely positions social emancipation along a temporal axis, indicating that Marxists should strive to bring about a break, in time, between an era characterized by “personal independence founded on objective dependence,”[2] and a subsequent era characterized by a more thoroughgoing form of social freedom. The essentially temporal (rather than spatial) nature of this hoped-for “break” has often been forgotten on the Left — an amnesia that has had disastrous consequences for the project of social emancipation. Second, Castoriadis’s paradoxical formulation concerning the (non-)existence of the conditions for social autonomy indicates, albeit in a highly attenuated manner, something significant about the ground upon which a possible socialist future might be built. As Marx argued in the Grundrisse, an emancipatory transition to a post-capitalist society would entail the abolition of the value form of social mediation and the freeing up of the social wealth and human capacities accumulated in alienated form under capitalism.[3] In other words, the social form that currently frustrates social emancipation — namely, capital — would also constitute the ground upon which a socialist society would be built. Thus, in a sense, it is right to say that there is no currently-constituted social basis for emancipation, but that the basis for emancipation can nevertheless be found in contemporary society. Were this not the case, as Marx observed in the Grundrisse, “then all attempts to explode [capitalist society] would be quixotic.”[4] As Moishe Postone argues: The specificity of capitalism’s dialectical dynamic, as analyzed by Marx, entails a relationship of past, present, and future very different from that implied by any linear notion of historical development….In capitalism, objectified historical time is accumulated in alienated form, reinforcing the present, and, as such, it dominates the living. Yet, it also allows for people’s liberation from the present by undermining its necessary moment, thereby making possible the future — the appropriation of history such that the older relations are reversed and transcended. Instead of a social form structured by the present, by abstract labor time, there can be a social form based upon the full utilization of a history alienated no longer, both for society in general and for the individual. [5] In a brief footnote attached to this passage, Postone observes: One could draw a parallel between this understanding of the capitalist social formation’s history and Freud’s notion of individual history, where the past does not appear as such, but, rather, in a veiled, internalized form that dominates the present. The task of psychoanalysis is to unveil the past in such a way that its appropriation becomes possible. The necessary moment of a compulsively repetitive present can thereby be overcome, which allows the individual to move into the future. [6] With this footnote, we return to the analogy between psychoanalysis and emancipatory politics with which we began. In what follows, I want to try and open up some inroads into thinking through the significance of this analogy — is it merely a coincidence, or can we offer an explanation as to why Freud formulated a theory of individual emancipation that was so strikingly analogous to Marx’s formulation of the relationship between history and emancipation? One way to make inroads into this comparison of Marx and Freud’s conceptions of time and emancipation is through an examination of Freud’s theorization of the “compulsion to repeat” — a hypothesized compulsion that, in his metapsychological essay “Beyond the Pleasure Principle,” Freud finds evidence for in a number of social and psychological phenomena (from a number of developmental phases and historical eras). He goes so far as to suggest that this “compulsion” might properly be understood as an “urge inherent in organic life to restore an earlier state of things which the living entity has been obliged to abandon under the pressure of external disturbing forces.”[7] The paragraph in which this quote is embedded is directly preceded by a discussion of the psychotherapist’s attempt to help their patient overcome a compulsively repeated present, indicating that Freud conceptualized the psychotherapeutic aim of helping a patient move into the future as somehow continuous with, or relevant to, a broader world-historical problem concerning the socially general “death instinct” — a problem that he would explore more extensively in Civilization and Its Discontents. Freud’s rapid and undertheorized switching of levels of analysis in these paragraphs, as well as at other points throughout his writings, leads me to hypothesize that Freud partially identified his individual patients with society, and that, in developing his psychoanalytic practice, he was — in part — formulating a veiled model for how society might overcome the “compulsion to repeat” imposed by the value form of social mediation and thus realize the possibilities for human emancipation immanent in the present. Assuming that this explanation of the analogy between psychoanalysis and emancipatory politics is plausible, we (as Left historians) can formulate an ambivalent historical evaluation of Freud: on the one hand, he fostered a conception of the temporal dimension of emancipation at a historical moment during which many Left social theorists were shifting into a spatial frame of reference — a shift that still haunts the Left; on the other hand, by partially identifying individuals with society (instead of — like Marx or Adorno — analyzing the manner in which, under capitalism, the individual mediates society), Freud prepared the ground for Herbert Marcuse and other New Left Freudo-Marxists, who replaced social emancipation with a reified “desire” as the desideratum of Left politics. Notes . 1. Cornelius Castoriadis, World in Fragments: Writings on Politics, Society, Psychoanalysis, and the Imagination. Ed. & Trans., David Ames Curtis. (Stanford University Press. Stanford, CA: 1997). Pg. 131. 2. Karl Marx, Grundrisse, Trans. Martin Nicolaus. (Penguin and New Left Review. London, England: 1973). Pg. 158. 3. Ibid, pgs. 704–712. 4. Ibid, pg. 159. 5. Moishe Postone, Time, Labor, and Social Domination: A Reinterpretation of Marx’s Critical Theory (Cambridge University Press. New York, NY: 1993). Pg. 377. 6. Ibid, pg. 377, n. 131. 7. Sigmund Freud, “Beyond the Pleasure Principle.” The Freud Reader, Ed. Peter Gay. (Norton and Co. New York, NY: 1989). Pg. 612. Emphasis added. 40.712784 -74.005941 With lightning telegrams: Facebook Twitter Tumblr More Reddit Pinterest
I mean, we’ve already had the (dearly missed) Batman ‘66. Why not homage another classic Batman adaptation with its own comic book series? Alas, somehow DC Comics said no to this fantastic pitch from Joe Quinones and Kate Leth based on the beloved 1989 Batman movie. Quinones revealed the failed pitch on his blog yesterday, although he didn’t offer a reason as to why DC rejected the pitch. Inspired directly by Batman ‘66's continuation of the Adam West TV show, Batman ‘89 (which presumably also would’ve been a digital-first series) would have been set after the events of Batman Returns. Advertisement As well as planning a return for Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman, Quinones and Leth would’ve used the series to introduce “Burton-verse” takes on classic Batman characters like Poison Ivy, Harley Quinn, and Barbara Gordon/Batgirl. You can check out a few concept sketches for those characters above, and mourn that they sadly won’t get to see the light of day. They look a bit crazy—especially Batgirl and her bat-poncho—and yet perfectly in tune with the aesthetic of Burton’s Batman films. The craziest bit, though? They also wanted to imagine an alternate version of Two-Face—one where Tommy Lee Jones never replaced Billy Dee Williams as Harvey Dent for Batman Forever: Advertisement Yes. Lando Two-Face. No, I can’t believe they rejected this either. But alas, a chance to wonder what might have been. DC’s digital-first roster has been the perfect place for the company to experiment with things like this, between the likes of Batman ‘66 and Wonder Woman ‘77. Let’s hope one day that it’s an idea they would consider returning to. [Joe Quinones’ Inter-Web Blog] Contact the author at james.whitbrook@io9.com.
Brett Elmer* Perth, July 7, 2014 (Alochonaa): It is becoming increasingly likely that the situation in Xinjiang has reached a turning point. On June 21, thirteen assailants were killed in an attack on a police station in Yecheng County, Kashgar province, in southern Xinjiang. Sadly, this was no random act of violence, but simply the latest in a series of violent incidents linked to Xinjiang, and its native Uyghur population, since the car bomb attack in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on October 31, 2013. During this period a number of high profile attacks have taken place, including the 1 March mass stabbing at Kunming train station that left 29 people dead, the 30 April double suicide bombing at Urumqi train station and the May 22 car bombings in a central Urumqi market that killed 31 people and injured another 94. In addition, a number of “low-level” attacks on police stations and security outposts in Xinjiang by suspected Uyghur gangs have taken place. There has also been a number of instances of police using extreme force to break up Uyghur gatherings and protestors (at least two Uyghurs were shot dead during a protest over alleged officials’ harassment of women wearing headscarves) and even one where a Uyghur teenager was shot dead for running a red light on his motorcycle. Such an escalation of violence, especially in such a short space of time, must inevitably have prompted Beijing to ask: What to do now in Xinjiang? Whenever the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has asked this question – and it has asked it a number of times since seizing control of the region in 1949 – the most important point to remember has always been: The economic, political and cultural integration of Xinjiang with China proper must continue. The region is of vital economic and strategic importance to the Chinese regime.Comprising eighteen percent of the country’s entire land mass, China’s western border province posseses abundant oil and natural gas reserves, is becoming an increasingly important channel for business and political relations between China and the nations of Central Asia and Europe, and the vastness of its territory is considered ideal for helping to alleviate China’s growing problem of overcrowding in its eastern coastal provinces. Therefore, the answer to the question is, and will always be: Whatever is necessary to maintain control of Xinjiang. This fundamental goal has seen policy in the region vary quite drastically at various points since 1949. Forced assimilation policies during the years of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) were relaxed following the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, allowing the Uyghurs greater cultural expression. However, this also resulted in greater calls for increased Uyghur autonomy in the region. Thus, since the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, Chinese policymakers have increasingly relied on the dual-pronged policy approach of the “carrot” (of economic development) and “stick” (of oppression), as part of a more aggressive plan designed to both boost the economic integration of Xinjiang with the greater Chinese state and close the gap between the culture of the Uyghurs and the culture of the Han Chinese. In a recent article for the BBC, Dr. Michael Clarke of Griffith University, Brisbane, asserted that the recent escalation in Xinjiang-related violence is most likely down to two possible factors: the role of what Beijing terms the “hostile external influences” in Xinjiang, and Chinese policy in the region, which aims for the total integration of the region and its native Uyghur population with China proper via what Clarkes terms “a three-pronged strategy of repression, restriction and investment.” (BBC, 23 May 2014) These policies have long been sighted as fueling an increased sentiment amongst Uyghurs of marginalisation. Beijing has long chosen the convenience of pinning all the blame for Xinjiang and Uyghur-related violence on the former, whilst to the majority of outside observers, it is the latter which is chiefly responsible. In the immediate aftermath of the recent violence, it appeared that Beijing was content to push ahead with its current strategies in the region. It was vociferous in blaming “hostile external forces” for inciting ethnic divisions and causing the recent upturn in violence, with Xi also pledging China would “deal a crushing blow to terrorists and deploy a “strike-first” strategy” (The Guardian, May 2 2014). Beijing has also intensified economic reforms, public security measures and initiatives such as bilingual education. In relation to CCP policies in Xinjiang, in late May, Chinese President Xi Jingping commented, “Practice has proved that our party’s ruling strategy in Xinjiang is correct and must be maintained in the long run” (New York Times, May 30 2014). For their part, Rebiya Kadeer, President of the Munich based World Uyghur Congress, and outspoken exiled Uyghur commentator Mehmet Tohti have both blamed the upturn in violence on the continuation of existing hardline government policies in the region by Xi. However, despite these immediate measures, the recently concluded second Central Work Forum in Xinjiang (zhongyang Xinjiang gongzuo zuotanhui) suggested that, behind the scenes at least, a significant change in approach by the CCP to ethnic policy in the region might be in the offing. Attended by the entire Politburo and more than three hundred of the Party’s most senior officials in Beijing from 28-29 May, the Forum saw a new policy direction proposed. Rather than focusing primarily on economic issues, the Forum emphasised, according to James Leibold in The Jamestown Foundations’ China Brief: “the complex and protracted nature of the “Xinjiang problem,” subtly recalibrating the “general goal” of Xinjiang work towards “safeguarding social stability and achieving an enduring peace.”” (China Brief, vol. 14, issue. 12). The Forum also asserted: “Xinjiang’s most sustained problem is the problem of ethnic unity” (Xinhua, May 29 2014). This marks a significant departure from previous rhetoric related to Xinjiang, which asserted that unrest in the region was due primarily to economic issues. Despite the current absence of concrete policy, this shift towards a focus on interethnic unity will see Beijing attempt to, according to Leibold: “two potentially contradictory courses in Xinjiang over the coming year. First, it seeks to build a more ethnically integrated labor market by allowing minorities like the Uighurs to migrate into both regional cities like Urumqi as well as coastal centers like Shanghai and Beijing. Second, it will redouble its hold over Xinjiang through a deeper penetration into the daily lives of Xinjiang residents by the Party and its security apparatuses” (China Brief, vol. 14, issue. 12). Even if this new attempt to improve ethnic unity in Xinjiang can be seen as a signal of a change of heart, and mind, in Beijing, implementing any new policy initiatives on the ground in Xinjiang is a whole other issue entirely. Governance in Xinjiang is poor and beset by vested interests, the current hukou (household registration) system prevents large scale migration of ethnic groups, and potential increased competition between Uyghur and Han workers for jobs could only serve to inflame tensions between the two groups. Beijing must tread carefully. At the Forum, Xi Jinping is quoted as urging “all ethnic groups to show mutual understanding, respect, tolerance and appreciation, and to learn and help each other, so they are tightly bound together like the seeds of a pomegranate.” This may be simply another way of phrasing the long-lasting CCP idea that the economic, political and cultural integration of Xinjiang, and its native Uyghur population, with China proper, is its number one priority in the region. However, maybe, just maybe, Beijing has finally realised that taking steps to rectify the genuine Uyghur grievances that exist in Xinjiang, and not solely relying on the carrot (of economic development) and stick (of oppression) approach which has proven so ineffectual for so long, will in fact prove to be the most appropriate solution to what is becoming an increasingly volatile problem. Brett Elmer is a PhD Candidate at Murdoch University. *Alochonaa.com is not responsible for any factual mistakes (if any) of this analysis. This analysis further is not necessarily representative of Alochonaa.com’s view. We’re happy to facilitate further evidence-based submissions on this topic. Please send us your submission at alochonaa@gmail.com Advertisements
If there’s one thing that gets most of us through the day, it’s music. Whether we’re scrolling through SoundCloud looking for mood tunes to help alleviate a case of the Mondays, or listening to a mixtape someone has sent our way, not a day goes by without some kind of music playing in our office. Since our inboxes tend to get inundated with lots of projects from artists interested in coverage, we decided to spotlight some of the names we’ve been hearing about every month. Take a look at past installments here. Phay Phay “I’m a Muslim kid from East Atlanta who made a gospel song because anyone can catch these bars,” reads the pinned tweet on Phay’s page. The song in question is “Easy/Faithful,” slated to appear on the rapper’s Mama EP scheduled for release in 2017. “I actually really love gospel music. I even had a gospel choir come through to record that song. They were like 20 deep in my parking lot,” Phay says with a laugh. Born in Chicago, Illinois, to Palestinian parents, Phay is one of many artists giving voice to a demographic that is making itself increasingly visible in popular culture; they are the first generation children of immigrants. Their parents came to the United States in hopes of securing a better future for their progeny, and their children are emissaries of the dreams of their dreams; they are the ones marked as destined for limitless success. Wherever these children go, the expectation they will validate the difficult decision their parents made to leave behind the familiar for the new and uncertain follows. It can be a crushing cross to bear, but there’s also a nuanced beauty to these experiences – it breeds the sort of everyman story that makes artists like Phay able to cross generational, regional and racial borders. In a time of increased Islamophobia, racism and xenophobia the stories of artists like Phay matter more than ever. Austin Lam 21-year-old Austin Lam is another emerging talent cutting his teeth in Atlanta’s vibrant music scene. A lifelong student of classic R&B, Lam’s sound is informed by his desire to reflect on human interactions and the nature of love. Though young, Lam is anything but new to music. He took up the guitar at six-years-old and was playing in local punk and reggae bands by high school. He also attended The School of Audio Engineering where he learned the skills to produce his own tracks. Favoring dark, tropical production, Lam’s soulful proclamations on lust, desire and toxic attachments often go hand-in-hand with references to drugs and the pain of solitude. A self-described loner, Lam’s music paints a universally understandable narrative in which prioritizing love over self ends in heartbreak. It’s an emotive and relatable approach that most readily reminds those new to his sound of The Weeknd’s brooding vocals. QUIÑ In a sea of aspiring pop star hopefuls Bay Area native and singer/songwriter QUIÑ is setting herself apart. Her signature style, heavy dusting of freckles and experimental approach to R&B have already snagged her features with established artists like G-Eazy. QUIÑ was introduced to music early through her father who played the drums and would take her along to jam sessions. She also sang in her Episcopal choir as a child, an experience that helped fine tune her ear for harmonizing and singing with other voices. QUIÑ’s breathy, soaring vocals often favor upbeat tracks and pop-centered production that place her voice squarely at the center of the action. It’s a huge change for the songstress who told Vibe that she was extremely shy and never wanted people to know that she could sing as a child. Despite her bashfulness QUIÑ looked to songstresses like Keri Hilson, Celine Dion, Brandy and Ciara as role models for her future self, further telling Vibe, “Aaliyah and Ciara were the ones that let me realize that belting your voice doesn’t prove that you can sing, and using falsetto doesn’t mean you can’t sing. I learned this meaning of tone.” Whether she’s singing falsetto or riffing like Beyonce, QUIÑ has found a sweet spot with many. If you’re in Los Angeles and interested in seeing her live she’ll be performing in a showcase at The Mint on January 26. Laura Jae Cheatbook Magazine In the past we described London-based chanteuse Laura Jae as a singer with a “rare talent for infusing soulful, electro-noir tinged vocals with a tangible, almost painful sense of yearning.” For Jae, her music is also her therapy and a chronicle of the good and bad parts of her life. Her most recent offering, “Underwater” is a follow up to 2015’s Single Hearts EP which found favor with publications ranging from the The Guardian to i-D. When asked about the inspiration behind the track Jae explains that the lyrics were informed by her difficulty communicating at times, stating, “I was feeling overwhelmed with multiple changes in my life. I was having problems communicating in a relationship I was in at the time and felt I was sinking into nothingness with no emotional support. This song represents a search for freedom.” Her forthcoming EP, Cut Piece, continues in the singer’s confessional tradition and will feature a video directed by designer Christopher Raeburn. Yung Gud Stockholm-born producer and DJ Gud (formerly Yung Gud) is best known for his part in Yung Lean’s Sad Boy Collective. Still, the 21-year-old’s experimental production style goes far beyond the stereotypes of Internet rap. In fact, during an interview with Thump, the young producer shared that life experiences such as his struggles with substance abuse, his mixed race identity and the many conversations around cultural appropriation the Sad Boy Collective sparked, have led him to a more nuanced soundscape. “I’m stepping out of my own box, as well as stepping out of the physical box that is my computer. It’s all about making the music more physical and less internet.” “Body Horror” the first track from his forthcoming EP is a reflection of Gud’s inner struggle; it’s also the producer’s first original project in two years. Featuring dizzy synths, malevolent drums and distorted vocals from Swedish alt-pop singer Erik Rapp, the song is a journey into the psyche of a young man with a lot on his mind. It’s certainly far removed from Gud’s first forays into music – he started producing psychedelic trance tracks at the age of 12. Now, with collaborations with artists ranging from Halsey to North Carolina rapper Deniro Farrar, the future is unlimited. Michael Christmas Okeechebee Festival In the past decade rappers have become leading tastemakers in fashion, music and popular culture. Similar to the stereotypes of rockstars, there’s a certain mystique around rappers that makes them seem somehow different than the average person. Perhaps it’s the constant talk of bottle popping and flexing or perhaps it’s the high-flying lifestyle most of us could only dream about having. The wonderful thing about Boston-based Michael Christmas is that he is what can only be described as the everyman of rappers. His first mixtape, Is This Art, received widespread praise and put the artist on the map as a talent to watch. It wasn’t just the clever wordplay or comedic punchlines that attracted many, rather it was the utter normalcy of Christmas. As an artist, he’s just as likely to rap about riding through the city in a Prius as he is to discuss the pros and cons of microwaving Hot Pockets, or even compare himself to Michael Cera. Christmas is proof that the essence of music and the ability for a musician to relate to their audience is a far more valuable talent than flash. Lizzo Melissa Jefferson or Lizzo is a Detroit-born dynamo best known for her alternative approach to hip-hop, unapologetic activism and outspoken stance on body positivity. The burgeoning rapper-turned-singer first gained recognition as the founding member of women-led music collectives like Grrrl Prty and The Chalice; both groups went on to produce albums that were successful in the Minneapolis area where the singer now resides. In 2014, she released her debut solo album, Lizzobangers, which she followed up with the genre-bending, body celebrating project titled, Big Grrrl Small World in 2015. Between solo projects she also found time to be featured on English electro-classical trio Clean Bandit’s acclaimed debut album, New Eyes. The exposure led national success and a string of television appearances including a performance on The Late Show With David Letterman. In 2016 the rising star debuted a new EP called Coconut Oil. The project was released through Atlantic, marking Lizzo’s first major-label backed release. Ryshon Jones Ryshon Jones North Philly emcee Ryshon Jones has quietly toiled away at his debut album You’re Safe Now for almost two years. The process has involved several false starts, do-overs and probably quite a bit of frustration. Yet for Jones, the pursuit of perfection takes time, focus and absolute honesty. Jones’ interest in music started in childhood when he would often battle rap with his father. He also immersed himself in hardcore hip-hop, citing influences like 50 Cent, Styles P and Jadakiss. As the years passed, he became more interested in emcees like Common and Lupe Fiasco who were known for their conscious approach to music. Jones’ own sound reflects his later influences, chronicling everything from the pain of familial tension to failed relationships and depression. In an interview with Stereogum Jones described the core ethos of his music and upcoming album as being “inspired by the feeling of allowing yourself to get lost to get in touch with your inner world, and learning the cycle of the ups and downs most of us face but never tell anyone.” It’s an honest and raw departure from the posturing and machismo often associated with hip-hop acts. Radamiz Radamiz Bed Stuy native Radamiz is an emerging emcee whose respect of classic hip-hop comes through in music that is often marked by understated beats and lean production. For the rapper who once moonlighted as an employee at Opening Ceremony, lyrics are where his power lies. His latest album, Writeous, runs the gamut on the emotional spectrum, offering a glimpse into the mind of an artist still finding his definitive voice. Radamiz describes his music as a talent borne from the pursuit of truth and a desire to reflect reality. “I’m just an NY kid in his 20s that realized that if you’re not being 100 percent real with yourself, in every way, then your music will never be felt. Everything I do, everything I write, I stand behind it. I’m here to kick that uncomfortably real shit and just stand for something. My music sounds like someone who gives a fuck. My music is about believing in yourself no matter who is projecting darkness on you. My music is about being the illest mothafucka alive. The truer I’ve been with my point of view, the bigger my career has been becoming, so I’m putting my trust in that. My trust is in God, and a hope that the authentic is always in style,” he tells Highsnobiety. Chelsea Reject Hailing from Brooklyn by way of Jamaica and Saint Lucia, Duck Down Records signee Chelsea Reject brings her brand of odd to hip-hop in the best way possible. During an interview with OkayPlayer, Chelsea was quick to explain that in her world being a “reject” was a good thing. “Reject’ means to reject the idea of being someone you’re not. To “reject” trends and trying to fit in, you “accept” yourself for who you are. It took me a while to realize that I had to accept myself and really grow with the gifts I’ve been given. My goal is not to be praised, but to inspire people to follow their dreams no matter what their circumstances may be,” she said. This point of view undoubtedly ties into her background; she began as a writer of spoken word poetry. In high school she transitioned into writing rap lyrics after befriending AK of Flatbush hip-hop collective The Underachievers. To this day, Chelsea’s often insular and ironic lyricism remains rooted in poetry, giving her music a moving and emotive quality that is utterly captivating. Her sound follows in the same tradition as poetic lyricists like Saba and Noname who have enjoyed widespread success in the past year. Chelsea, who was recently featured on a track with Saba, Phoelix and Noname, seems to be up next. If you’re looking for even more new music in 2017, take a look at our list of artists on the brink. Subscribe 1232 Shares Share Tweet Email WhatsApp Words by Stephanie Smith-Strickland Contributor
At their 2017 Q1 earnings call today on April 26, Boston Beer Company announced that it once again had a very disconcerting quarter, as they were down 14% in overall revenue, and a staggering 14% in depletions. Depletions are essentially the amount that one sells to retailers and distributors. High depletions means more beer selling off the shelves. CEO Martin Roper attributes most of this decrease to, "the underperformance of our 2017 spring seasonals, Samuel Adams Hopscape and Samuel Adams Fresh as Helles, compared to Samuel Adams Cold Snap last year. The weakness in our two new spring seasonals seems to have resulted from a combination of drinker confusion at retail, acceptability of these seasonal beer styles and the timing of our seasonal transitions compared to last year." This is yet another rough quarter that long time Founder and Chairman Jim Koch and Boston Beer Company have had. And while Koch is attempting to explain what the issues with his company are, there haven't been many changes that have significantly helped this troubled company. We recently explored in depth the myriad issues plaguing Boston Beer Company, their inability or unwillingness to change, and the extreme difficulty of navigating the current craft beer market as a larger craft brewery.
In Jürgen Moltmann's The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation, he provides a biblical argument for Women in Ministry that is rooted in Joel 2:28-30, 'It shall come to pass in the last days, says the Lord, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy . . .' (cf. Acts 2:17ff). All baptized men and women have received the Holy Spirit, such that none may remind silence, and all shall prophesy. Moltmann explains that we must start with Pentecost and our experience of the Spirit. There is one Spirit and many gifts or charisma. And all the gifts (charisma) of the Spirit collectively form the charismata. Moltmann says, "To be a woman is a charisma, to be a man is a charisma, and to be different charismata operate together for the rebirth of life." The one Spirit forms a community of all men and all women, and this is not confined within ecclesiastical boundaries either. Moltmann believes patriarchy was introduced into the church by Constantine, but this Hierarchical model (i.e. patriarchy) is not the right understanding of the Scriptures. Furthermore, this determines that the Image of God should likewise be interpreted to include women as well: "human beings have been created to be the image of God as man and women. The community of the sexes to the community of generations." There are more Women in Ministry than ever before, and more and more churches are ordaining women Bishops, Elders and Deacons. However, there is still strong opposition to opening all of the Church offices to women by some conservative Evangelical churches. This opposition often originates in people who believe that the Scriptures oppose women ordination and who desire to be faithful to the Scriptures against perceived societal pressures. The Complimentarian versus Egalitarian debate might be sidestepped by reading the Scriptures again with Jürgen Moltman. The following quotation is from Jürgen Moltmann's The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation. I've added the additional headers to what would otherwise be a continuous quote of Chapter XI §2.3 "Community between Women and Men". (For more on Moltmann and Feminism, listen to this audio: Jürgen Moltmann on Women at the 2009 Emergent Village Theological Conversation.) The image of God as man and woman, explained by the Prophet Joel: Human beings have been created to be the image of God as man and woman. The community of the sexes corresponds to the community of generations. This too was already given to the Christian church beforehand by the way of creation and history — and given, moreover, in its always specific psycho-social form. What fellowship do women and men arrive at in fellowship with Christ and in their experience of the Spirit who desires to give life to all flesh? How do women and men experience one another in the community of Christ's people, and in the fellowship of the life-engendering Mother Spirit? This is not merely a matter of church politics, and it is not solely an ethical question either. It is a question of faith, which means that it is a challenging question about the experience of the Spirit in the community of Christ. According to the promise in Joel 2:28-30 'It shall come to pass in the last days, says the Lord, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy . . .' (cf. Acts 2:17ff). The eschatological hope for experience of the Spirit is shared by women and men equally. Men and women will 'prophesy' and proclaim the gospel. According to the prophecy in Joel 2, through the shared experience of the Spirit the privileges of men compared with women, of the old compared with the young, and of masters compared with 'men-servants and maidservants' will be abolished. In the kingdom of the Spirit, everyone will experience his or her own endowment and all will experience the new fellowship together. The Christological and Hierarchically Error: The 'new community of women and men' which is being sought in the many churches today is a question of experience of the Spirit. This is disregarded by theologians who transfer the conditions of hierarchically organized church to marriage in particular, and to the position of women in relation to men in general. Their monotheism knows only monarchy: one God — one Christ — one pope — one bishop — one church; and the man is accordingly the monarch in marriage (pater familias), with a God-given leadership role, and the woman is destined to serve, in subordination to him. This is to think in Roman terms, not Christian ones. It has meant that ever since Constantine, women have been excluded from the priestly ministry, although baptism has made them just as much bearers of the Spirit as baptized men. Protestant theologians who proceed from a Christocentric concept of the church arrive at the same judgment: just as God is 'the head' of Christ, so Chris is 'the head' of the church, and the man has accordingly to be the 'head' of the woman (1 Cor 11). They transfer the relationship between Christ and the church to the relationship between men and women, as if the man represented Christ and the woman the church. This Christocentric interpretation also leads logically to the exclusion of women from the ministry or 'spiritual office', although through baptism women have received the Spirit just as much as men, and are destined to 'prophesy', and are therefore in faith already 'spiritual'. Christocentric and Hierarchical organization represses the early Christian experience of Pentecost: Neither the hierarchical nor the Christocentric ecclesiologies cherish any further expectation of an experienceable outpouring of the Spirit, and they repress the early Christian experience of Pentecost. Both the hierarchical and the Christocentric notions of the church are clerical, because they transfer conditions in the church to family and social relationships between men and women in secular society, and are ready to make the 'anti-Christian spirit of the age' responsible for the protests which consequently arise. If, on the other hand, we start from the early Christian experience of Pentecost, we have to develop a pneumatological concept of the church: there is one Spirit and many gifts. Everyone concerned, whether man or woman, is endowed and committed through his or her calling, wherever he or she is, and whatever he or she is. To be a woman is a charisma, to be a man is a charisma, and to be different charismata operate together for the rebirth of life. Because the Spirit is poured out 'on all flesh', merely ecclesiastical flesh cannot be meant. Cultural experiences and movements too are shot through by the Spirit. Whatever accords with the fulfillment of the Joel promise in church and culture is the operation of the Spirit. Whatever contradicts it is spiritless and deadly. When, in the nineteenth- and twentieth-century, feminist movement women have risen up against the patriarchy and have broken the silence forced on them and 'prophesied', this is spirit from God's Spirit, which 'comes upon all flesh' so that it may live. On the Feminist Movement: The pneumatological concept of the church discerns that church and culture are interwoven in the interplay of the 'spiritual' — which means life-giving — impulses conferred on 'all flesh'. In this case the eschatological experience of the Spirit takes in both Christianity and the feminist movement, and brings them into a mutually fruitful relationship. Feminist theology mediates between the two in as much as a powerful trend in it uncovers the often suppressed traditions in Church history which have to do with the liberation of women, and works for the psycho-social liberation of women in church and society. Christianity learns from the feminist movement that the patriarchal disparagement and suppression of women's charismata are sins against the Spirit. The feminist movement can learn from Christianity, and from other movements, that it is not merely a question of the human rights of women; it is a matter of the rebirth of all the living. And through both Christianity and the feminist movement, men will be liberated from the dominating role which isolates them from life and alienates them from themselves, freed for their true humanity, their own charismata, and for a community with women on all levels in society and the church, a community which will futher life. Moltmann, Jürgen. The Spirit of Life: A Universal Affirmation. Trans. Margaret Kohl. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1993. 239-41. Print. Header Image Source: "Jean II Restout - Pentecôte" by Jean II Restout - Art Renewal Center. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
It seems not standing up for the national anthem at a theatre is the new 'supporting Maoists' or 'drawing offensive cartoons'--because if you choose to sit through it, you will be abused, beaten and like one man in Kerala found out recently - even accused of sedition. The latest incident in the 'national anthem in theatres' controversy, according to a Mumbai Mirror report, took place in the upmarket PVR Phoenix in Lower Parel, Mumbai, when a 31-year-old man was abused and assaulted by six men on Friday because his girlfriend, a South African, did not rise to her feet when the national anthem played. Mahek Vyas, and his partner, Nicole Sobotker, were at the theatre to watch the 10.50 pm show of Michael Cuesta's Kill the Messenger when the incident occurred. "I heard someone shout that she should stand up for the anthem," Vyas said. "I realised that the person sitting a few rows behind us was referring to my girlfriend, so I turned back and told him she was not an Indian. The guy said it wouldn't hurt if she stood up, to which I replied, 'she doesn't have to if she does not want to.'" The man then started abusing him and attacked him. This is not all. The officer in charge at the NM Joshi Police Marg, where the duo went to file a complaint, told him that they should have made Nicole stand up for the anthem. And this incident should not be viewed in isolation. Recently, a 25 year old man in Kerala was charged under section 124 A of the IPC (sedition) for allegedly “sitting and hooting” when the national anthem was being played at a movie theatre. According to an Indian Express report, Salman’s lawyer said that the district sessions court had declared that his “offence was more serious than murder” at his first bail hearing, at which he was denied bail. Salman had to pay a surety of Rs 2 lakh and surrender his passport to be granted bail. On 7 October, Preity Zinta threw a boy out of another movie theatre, this time in Mumbai, for refusing to stand up during the national anthem. However, the 'patriotic act' of hers earned her the ire of social media as most of them said the actress was simply indulging in 'goondaism.' So, what exactly does the law say on the matter? Section 3 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act states: Whoever intentionally prevents the singing of the Indian National Anthem or causes disturbances to any assembly engaged in such singing shall be punished with imprisonment for a term, which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both. But, where does it talk about standing up? Nowhere. And certainly, it talks nothing in the text of the law that mandates a charge of sedition. As long as you don't actively stop someone from singing the anthem, there is nothing wrong with not standing up. There was only one case that has been adjudicated regarding the behaviour during national elections: The case of Bijoe Emmanuel & Ors vs State of Kerala & Ors. The case deals with the expulsion of three children belonging to the Jehovah’s Witness sect being expelled from the school because they refused to sing the National Anthem during the morning assembly. In its 11 August 1986 decision, the Supreme Court held that the freedom of religion protected the appellants—children belonging to the Jehovah’s Witnesses denomination of Christianity—from penal action if they declined to join the national anthem when it was sung daily in their school. Earlier, a Caravan article noted that this protection not to sing was granted on the basis of freedom of religion, since members of the denomination are forbidden by their religious tenets from singing the national anthem of any country, or swearing allegiance to any entity other than Jehovah. However, the article noted that no cases have examined the question of not singing—or, for that matter, not standing up—owing to political convictions. Does standing up during national anthem make you more Indian and the vice versa? No. Maybe, it's time that Indian courts take a significant stride ahead of Bijoe Emmanuel & Ors and state that citizens have the freedom to not join or not stand during the singing of the national anthem, not just because of their religious beliefs, but their personal beliefs and preferences. It's time we realise patriotism cannot be forced on you through such inane, superficial and empty gestures--like beating you up if you don't sing the national anthem. Firstpost is now on WhatsApp. For the latest analysis, commentary and news updates, sign up for our WhatsApp services. Just go to Firstpost.com/Whatsapp and hit the Subscribe button.
If Arsenal's deadline-beating transfer activity is once again going to be unflatteringly compared to a trolley dash, there is every chance the wheels picked up speed after the Champions League group-stage draw in Monaco. While Jose Mourinho may have silently celebrated how the overblown ceremony treated Chelsea, and Manchester United and Manchester City were handed groups that are hazardous but manageable, Arsenal were given the toughest test of all the Premier League's elite. As Arsenal's supporters await the promised full-scale escalation of their work in the markets - the free-transfer return of Mathieu Flamini will hardly set pulses racing - concerns will only have increased by their standing alongside last season's runners-up Borussia Dortmund, Marseille and Rafael Benitez's Napoli in Group F. Champions League group draw Group A: Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad Manchester United, Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad Group B: Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, FC Copenhagen Real Madrid, Juventus, Galatasaray, FC Copenhagen Group C: Benfica, Paris St-Germain, Olympiakos, Anderlecht Benfica, Paris St-Germain, Olympiakos, Anderlecht Group D: Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Manchester City, Viktoria Plzen Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow, Manchester City, Viktoria Plzen Group E: Chelsea, Schalke, FC Basel, Steaua Bucharest Chelsea, Schalke, FC Basel, Steaua Bucharest Group F: Arsenal, Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli Arsenal, Marseille, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli Group G: Porto, Atletico Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg, Austria Vienna Porto, Atletico Madrid, Zenit St Petersburg, Austria Vienna Group H: Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic Barcelona, AC Milan, Ajax, Celtic First matches to be played on 17-18 September Mourinho looks to have been handed firm foundations as he starts the quest to claim the trophy that eluded him at Chelsea - and they won without him in 2012. They were drawn to play Basel and Steaua Bucharest, who they beat on the way to winning last season's Europa League, and Schalke. The full extent of new Manchester United manager David Moyes's Champions League experience is two legs of a losing qualifier with Everton against Villarreal in 2005. United and Moyes have not been handed an easy group in Shakhtar Donetsk, Bayer Leverkusen and Real Sociedad. Manchester City's name has been associated with the Champions League's short straw in their abysmal adventures in the competition so far. They may feel slightly better after Thursday's draw, although once more qualification will not be easy. They face holders Bayern Munich, CSKA Moscow and the Czechs Viktoria Plzen. It is, however, Arsenal's draw that raised most eyebrows and there are real dangers as they try to get through the first group stage for the 14th year in succession. Dortmund, under the charismatic guidance of Jurgen Klopp, are now one of European football's superpowers and determined to take the next step after losing to Bayern in last season's final, while Benitez - an old adversary of Arsene Wenger - will again confront Arsenal. Benitez made much of his reputation with his mastery of European competition, winning the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005 and reaching the final two years later - as well as beating Arsenal in their 2008 quarter-final. And of course he left Chelsea the Europa League to remember him by following his turbulent, but ultimately successful, spell in charge last season. He also has at his disposal striker Gonzalo Higuain, who for so long seemed destined to arrive at the Emirates before Arsenal turned their attentions to a doomed pursuit of Liverpool's Luis Suarez. Gunners fans will hope Higuain does not make Arsenal pay for failing to conclude the deal. Opening fixtures to be played on 17-18 September Group A: Manchester United v Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad v Shakhtar Donetsk Manchester United v Bayer Leverkusen, Real Sociedad v Shakhtar Donetsk Group B: Galatasaray v Real Madrid, FC Copenhagen v Juventus Galatasaray v Real Madrid, FC Copenhagen v Juventus Group C: Benfica v Anderlecht, Olympiakos v Paris St-Germain Benfica v Anderlecht, Olympiakos v Paris St-Germain Group D: Bayern Munich v CSKA Moscow, Viktoria Plzen v Manchester City Bayern Munich v CSKA Moscow, Viktoria Plzen v Manchester City Group E: Schalke v Steaua Bucharest, Chelsea v FC Basel Schalke v Steaua Bucharest, Chelsea v FC Basel Group F: Marseille v Arsenal, Napoli v Borussia Dortmund, Marseille v Arsenal, Napoli v Borussia Dortmund, Group G: Austria Vienna v Porto, Atletico Madrid v Zenit St Petersburg, Austria Vienna v Porto, Atletico Madrid v Zenit St Petersburg, Group H: AC Milan v Celtic, Barcelona v Ajax Full fixture list on Uefa website Wenger has been searching in vain all summer for the players who will end his barren spell. New faces were needed simply to improve Premier League performances so urgency must now surely increase given the names they face in the Champions League. At Manchester United, Moyes is effectively learning on the job in the Champions League and they will come up against a familiar figure in Bayer Leverkusen's coach, the former Liverpool defender Sami Hyypia. His side have won their opening three Bundesliga games this season and have the highly rated Lars Bender, who was reportedly the target of an £18m bid from Arsenal. The superb Donbass Arena will provide a magnificent setting when United play Shakhtar and while the Ukrainians may have lost Willian and Fernandinho in recent times, they have spent big to plug the gaps. Real Sociedad may be regarded as dark horses but they were highly impressive in disposing of Lyon 4-0 on aggregate over two legs in the qualifying stage. And so to Manchester City. They may have had tough luck with the draws since they first made acquaintance with the Champions League, but a desperate winless exit last season against Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Ajax means former Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini must show the sort of pedigree in the competition that was part of the argument that persuaded the club to appoint him. How they performed last season Arsenal: Lost on away goals to Bayern Munich in round of 16 Celtic: Lost 5-0 to Juventus in round of 16 Chelsea: Finished third in group, going on to win Europa League Manchester City: Finished fourth in group Manchester United: Lost 3-2 to Real Madrid in round of 16 It is no easy task this season with Pep Guardiola in charge of the holders Bayern, but City may feel there is something for them as they prepare to try to make their way into the knockout phase at last. CSKA Moscow did the double in Russia last season but the newly strengthened City will have confidence against them and Viktoria Plzen, who beat Maribor to reach the group stage. Mourinho will exercise due caution at Chelsea but reality suggests they will surely have no problem qualifying from their group - which is more than can be said for Celtic. But one look at last season's Champions League informs those preparing to dismiss Celtic, even in a group containing Barcelona, beaten last season on a night that will live forever in Celtic Park's memory, AC Milan and Ajax. Celtic Park can do strange things on European nights, to Celtic and their opponents. The temptation is to write them off but, as many of us who made that mistake in last season's Champions League found out, it is to be resisted. Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City should all get through - but Arsenal now have just days to beef up their squad for tough nights ahead after getting on the wrong end of the Champions League draw.
Donald Trump’s victory lap over the recent escape of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was interrupted Monday by a death threat issued from a Twitter account allegedly belonging to the notorious Mexican drug lord’s son. "Keep f--king around, and I’ll make you eat all of your godd--n words,” tweeted @ElChap0Guzman — an unverified account with over 250,000 followers said to be El Chapo’s official presence on the social network. Trump — who on Sunday tweeted "I told you so!” following news of the Sinaloa Cartel leader’s brazen prison break — told TMZ he would be contacting the FBI over the threatening tweet, but would not be backing down. © Provided by The Hill Trump calls in FBI after death threat from 'El Chapo’s son’ "I'm fighting for much more than myself. I'm fighting for the future of our country which is being overrun by criminals," he told the entertainment site. "You can't be intimidated. It's too important."
On July 15, 2016, Netflix released all eight episodes of its original series, Stranger Things. The show’s trailer promised something akin to The Goonies and E.T. with a dash of John Carpenter. As a child of the 80’s, I was fully on board with this. Last night, I went to bed around 11:00 with the intent of watching one or two episodes. By 8:00 AM this morning, I had finished the entire season. I had also severely misjudged the show’s DNA. Oh, don’t get me wrong–Goonies and E.T. are definitely in there. But the John Carpenter aspect, which is more prominent than I anticipated, is joined by a healthy dose of Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft, as well. In other words, I may potentially have to take legal action against the writers/producers of Stranger Things for a gross invasion of my privacy. There’s no other way they could have created a show that was so perfectly tailored to my tastes without opening up my head Locke & Key style and digging through everything I wanted to see. Now to be fair, the show isn’t perfect. There are a couple aspects that, while forgivable, still made my brain itch a little. But the overall body of work represents one of the most unique and enjoyable television viewing experiences I’ve ever had. Spoiler Warning Normally when I do a full season review like this (or even just one episode of something), it’s treated as a post mortem analysis for folks who have already seen the show or who don’t mind learning all the plot points before committing to it. Since Stranger Things just came out–and a lot of people may not be aware of its existence or watched it all yet–this review will contain some narrative pathway spoilers without giving away the big plot reveals. With that being said, let’s dive in. What’s It About? The short version: A little boy goes missing in a small town. The small town is next to a secret government laboratory that is doing some very weird/scary stuff. The missing boy’s friends go to look for him. They find a little girl who escaped from the lab instead. The little girl indicates that she knows what happened to their friend and can help find him. She also has weird superpowers. Hijinks and shenanigans ensue. The more in-depth version (with a few spoilers): The series draws heavily on the Montauk military base conspiracy (the show was originally called ‘Montauk’) for inspiration, but is set in Indiana during the early 1980’s. Like most sci-fi media from that time period, the U.S. government is fooling around with forces they can’t control or understand, all in the name of defeating the Soviet Union. They also have zero ethical concerns about doing whatever it takes to move the plot forward and unleashing untold horrors upon the earth. In this case, the big mistake was opening some type of portal to another dimension. Meanwhile, a young boy named Will Byers goes missing after a night of Dungeons and Dragons campaigning with his friends. Despite what pearl-clutching 1980’s moms might tell you, he was not taken by a Satanic cult. Something from the other dimension has pulled poor Will into its world, which appears to be a dark and desolate mirror of our own reality. The monster, which looks like the product of an H.R. Giger fever dream, relentlessly hunts him (and other unlucky souls that is has captured) for food. The next day, everyone in town flips out about Will going missing, especially his neurotic single mom and sullen older brother. Amidst the hubbub his disappearance caused, a little girl escapes from the government lab and goes into hiding within the sleepy suburban town. Will’s buddies decide to search for him, because 80’s kids don’t mess around when it comes to friendship. They find the girl instead. Through a series of flashbacks and limited dialogue, we learn that she was being experimented on back at the base. She also knows where Will is…and maybe how to get him back. Their search for Will, along with their lives in general, get all types of weird. While that’s going on, Will’s mom begins getting messages from her son from the other side/dimension–along with a very unwelcome visitor. Normally in a case like this, the fictional police department is absolutely no help. But this town’s sheriff is surprisingly good at his job, which leads to him uncovering many of the dark secrets hiding in plain sight within his community. He’s also got a real ‘Batman from The Dark Knight Returns’ vibe going, so you know he’s going to see this thing through. Rounding out our fragmented Scooby gang is the sister of one of Will’s friends, a total 80’s dream girl with a slightly harder edge. Together with Will’s brother, they go on their own quest to track down and kill the monster while also awkwardly navigating the social norms of high school. As our protagonist’s paths begin to intersect, the evil government people continue to close in, hunting for their missing weaponized child with no mercy for anyone who stands in their way. Oh yeah, and while this is all going on, poor Will’s still stuck in the shadow dimension, hiding from a monster and dying a little bit each day. Main Characters The Goonies Mike (Finn Wolfhard, center) We see Stranger Things’ story transpire predominantly through his eyes. He’s incredibly kind, a little bit timid, slightly impulsive, and socially awkward as hell. He’s also so damn endearing that his personality never grates on you or becomes annoying. The willingness he shows to face down whatever obstacles stand in the way of finding Will and protecting the lost girl is both heroic and completely believable. Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin, left) Every group of fictional friends needs the one rational person who keeps things grounded. Unfortunately, that character can often times be so disbelieving and abrasive that they become unlikable. So credit to McLaughlin for making Lucas a skeptical character you can actually be fond of and root for. Instead of feeling like a killjoy, his pragmatic approach to the craziness he and his friends are going through feels like the glue that keeps them together. And even though he’s not the comic relief, Lucas definitely has some of the funniest lines. Dustin (Gatan Matarazzo, right) It’s clear from the first episode that Dustin is the comic relief, but Matarazzo plays it such a better way than I was expecting. He’s not just all heart and book smarts. The adorably goofy kid also gets a few moments to shine as the group’s collective conscience, showing a knack for reading people and emotions that the other two often lack. One theme you’re going to see throughout my review is how great the child actors in Stranger Things are. These kids are awesome. They bring their characters to life without exaggerated precociousness and overacting. Their characters feel genuine and relatable, especially to those of us who were geeky kids in the 80’s. Eleven/Ellen (Millie Brown) Go ahead and give this girl all the Emmys. Despite her character having very limited dialogue, Brown conveys an insane range of reactions, emotions, and growth. Her character could have easily been portrayed as shifting plot device devoid of any anchor to the narrative. Instead, Ellen is someone whose welfare we end up caring about even more than her secret origin story. But fear not, fellow horror/sci-fi fantatics. We still get plenty of cool action and shocking reveals about who she is and what she can do. Brown’s chemistry with Wolfhard (who has an amazing last name, by the way) also helps turn the bond between Finn and Elle into the story’s beautiful beating heart. Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) We don’t see much of Will, but when we do, Schnapp makes his screen time count—especially in the last episode. He also quickly establishes Will as someone whose welfare we need to care about despite only seeing him on screen for a few minutes before his character is taken. Joyce Harbors (Winona Ryder) Winona Ryder is great. This is not an opinion, but an objective fact. After the first couple episodes, however, I wasn’t too sure about her character. Joyce was understandably unhinged about her son’s disappearance, but it didn’t feel like we got enough of the ‘real’ Joyce to understand how it was truly affecting her–even with the help of a couple flashbacks. Over time, though, Joyce’s motherly instincts win out over her fear and desperation, turning her into a maternal badass. We’re not talking Ripley from Aliens level of Mom Warrior awesomeness here, but definitely in the same realm. Chief Hopper (David Harbor) What starts as an eye-roll worthy cliché of the burned out cop not listening to reason turns into a tragic and triumphant tale of redemption (mostly). When we learn why Hopper was the jerk we first met, it makes his initial douchiness a lot more forgivable. It also makes his story that much more compelling. There were multiple times were Hopper’s narrative could have veered off onto tangent paths, turning him into a morally perfect knight in shining armor or a crackpot conspiracy theorist. Instead, Harbour leads his character right down the middle, portraying him as a believably imperfect hero. Nancy (Natalia Dyer) Take Sloane from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Keep all her likableness while also adding a bit more sarcasm and self-awareness. Combine that with a believable character arc into a minor badass, and you’ve got Nancy. The sensation you feel in your chest while you’re watching her? That’s your heart expanding as it develops a crush. Jonathan Byers (Charlie Heaton, left) This character falls is a bit too heavy on the beautiful weirdo trope (we’ll discuss that a bit more later). But to Heaton’s credit, he instills Byers with a great deal of sympathy, mostly through how we see him react to both his brother’s disappearance and his mother’s unraveling state. Steve Harrington (Joe Keery, center) At first, it seemed as if Steve was going to be your typical 80’s douchebag antagonist–which Keery played very well. To my surprise, the character ended up being a bit more layered than that. It wasn’t necessarily believable, but it also went against expectations, which was nice. Dr. Brenner (Matthew Modine) Much like William Byers, Brenner doesn’t have a lot of screen time. But when he appears, the character oozes efficient, self-righteous evil. What’s Good? The Story Even if you’re not into sci-fi horror and/or government conspiracy stuff, the way these characters interact and change throughout their ordeal is absolute joy to watch. I’ll admit to being initially annoyed with Nancy’s story since it didn’t seem to have much to do with the main plot. Fortunately, that thread begins to intersect with the others in a way that brings it completely into the fold by episode three. The monster/other dimension thing isn’t just a McGuffin, either. Stranger Things carefully doles out its information, action, and horror, culminating in a thrilling finale that’s made even better by our strong attachment to the characters. The successful execution of what basically feels like an eight hour movie (that I absolutely could not stop watching) is equal parts due to the great script and the fantastic actors who bring it to life. The series also ends incredibly well, providing us closure on the main storyline while also leaving the possibility of a second season open via a few unresolved plot points…and one incredibly chilling coda. I also love that while discussing the possibility of a second season, the show’s creators (Matt and Ross Duffer) totally called out The Killing for its craptacular first season finale. The Effects/Cinematography Let’s get this out of the way first. The monster looks really cool. Not the coolest I’ve ever seen, but not at all lame or cheesy, either. Its design is simple, yet beautifully rendered via a deft mix of practical effects and well-executed CGI. Stranger Things also makes impressively practical use of a major story element, utilizing a repeated lighting effect that allows the beast to exist on screen for progressively longer periods of time without being overexposed. The shadow dimension that the monster comes from–and how it interacts with our reality–is truly chilling. Despite the world’s completely alien appearance, it also somehow feels like a place that could truly exist–an organic, living nightmare. Add in the little hints and snippets of other things from that place, and I definitely hope we get to visit it again (just not in person). Back in the real/normal world, Stranger Things manages to pull off the 80’s aesthetic without ever sinking into parody. As a kid who grew up during that time period, the haircuts, styles, and environments made me feel like I was looking back in time… …except for Mike’s Millennium Falcon toy, which was definitely not the vintage model from that time period… smug nerd grin Otherwise, the look and feel of Stranger Things does a superb job playing to its nostalgic strengths without letting them substitute for artistic and creative quality. Music/Sound During the first episode, I worried that the synthesized, period-appropriate soundtrack would become distracting. As the show went on, however, I grew to love how well it integrated with what I was watching on screen. There’s also some great use of rock and pop music from the same time period, with one song in particular becoming a minor part of the story. The sounds the monster makes are both organic and mechanical, helping to further establish it as a threat most definitely not of this world. Additionally, the way sound interacts between our world and the shadow dimension makes for some of Stranger Things’ most haunting moments. What’s Not So Good? As wonderful as Stranger Things’ overall story is, there were a few plot holes and narrative decisions that bothered me a bit (spoilers, obviously). Why did the monster take Will Byers and store him in that weird cocoon with the worm going down his throat instead of killing and eating him like all its other victims? How did Will survive in the shadow dimension without food or water? Was there any food or water there at all? Did the shadow dimension change his biology somehow so he could live without those things? We learn early on that the monster is attracted to blood when it takes Nancy’s friend after she drops a tiny bit from a cut on her hand. Later, a massive shoot out–and the subsequent spilling of hemoglobin–attracts the beast to the base. Both make for excellent scenes, but shouldn’t the monster’s attraction to blood have resulted in more disappearances? You’ve gotta believe that at least a few people in the shadow realm’s area cut themselves while shaving, chopping food, or when they found out M.A.S.H. was being canceled. During the first couple episodes, the kids had a hard time meeting due to their parents’ concern about Will going missing. After that, however, it was almost like they had free reign to come and go as they pleased. You’d think the parents (especially the ones we see) would have a tighter control on things. It’s hard enough believing the kids could hide someone in one of their houses for days on end. Maybe I just wasn’t daring or smart enough to pull that type of stuff off back in the day. I know we’re supposed to like Jonathan Byers…and for the most part I did. But there’s no way that him photographing Nancy while she was losing her virginity can be seen as anything but incredibly wrong/creepy. The fact that Nancy seemed to forgive this transgression simply because her douchebag boyfriend broke his camera is harder to believe than monsters invading our reality from another dimension. I’ve never been a big fan of portraying governments as monolithic entities of malice. There are invariably going to be good and bad people involved in any sort of major operation. (Take a look at the infighting that occurred among FBI and law enforcement during the Ruby Ridge Incident for some real world proof). Sadly, the government agents in Stranger Things are uniformly evil. They’re also completely inconsistent in how they do things. In one scene, an agent murders a well-known and well-liked man in cold blood, presumably because he might “know things.” This was done despite the fact that he wanted to hand over Eleven/Elle to the agent (successfully posing as a social service worker) without question. Other times, however, they allow people who could clearly compromise their diabolical schemes to live and roam freely. Speaking of that… Why the heck would the murder-happy government agents let Joyce and Chief Hopper go into the shadow dimension (WITH THEIR HELP AND EQUIPMENT) simply because he promised not to tell anyone about what they’d seen? I get that killing a police officer would make for extra unwanted attention, but that doesn’t mean they had to help them. Don’t get me wrong–I’m glad they did, especially since it gave us that powerful scene where he’s fighting for Will’s life while simultaneously remembering when he lost his daughter. But the road we took to get there was a little too bumpy. Is It Good? No. It’s amazing. One of the best television watching experiences I’ve ever had. Stranger Things hit all the right buttons for me, but the show’s creative quality is so multi-faceted that its bound to appeal to anyone. And despite the strong horror aspect, it doesn’t stray too far from PG-13 territory, making it something kids the same age as the ones on screen can watch (legally). Stranger Things is the perfect blend of strong storytelling, pitch perfect character development, and creative world building. There are plenty of good shows out there that do one or two of these things well, but rarely will see a show that can masterfully pull off all three. If you’re still not sure about adding Stranger Things to your binge-watching schedule, then give the first eight minutes of the first episode a try. There’s no way you won’t be at least a little curious to see what happens next. Promise.
Historian and author Nancy L. Cohen explained to Reason TV on Monday the powerful influence of “sexual fundamentalists” on the Republican Party. “About forty years ago, everything changed in America,” she said. “Birth control actually used to be illegal, gay sex was illegal, and then you had this sexual revolution. What happened is a small group of Americans — mostly religious fundamentalists — freaked out about these changes in sexual relations and personal freedom and they became politically-active exactly and deliberately to roll back these changes.” Cohen said sexual fundamentalists comprised about 50 percent of the Republican electorate and had become the “gatekeepers” of the 2012 Republican primaries. “That is why we’re seeing someone like Santorum, who is really a fringe candidate and it’s also why Mitt Romney has been forced to talk about birth control and abortion much more than he would want to,” she said. Watch video, courtesy of Reason TV, below:
Star Citizen's first-person shooter segment Star Marine is finally nearly here, due to arrive with alpha update 2.6 on 8th December or thereabouts. And Cloud Imperium Games has released lots of new footage of it. There's both a Star Marine gameplay preview video and a lengthy demonstration near the end of the two-hour anniversary Star Citizen stream. The Star Marine videos show the two teams, Marines and Outlaws, fighting over computer terminals on board a space outpost. Guns fire bullets, despite the futuristic setting, sniff, and you aim down sights. Corridors and interiors are dark and dull, but battles outside in space provide more to look at. Nevertheless the action appears to offer little variation, although this is an early iteration and things will improve. Star Marine provides a dedicated FPS game mode within Star Citizen, just like Arena Commander does flight combat. But both person-to-person and ship-to-ship combat will of course be part of the larger, combined, flagship Star Citizen persistent universe game. Star Citizen is due to launch in full by the end of 2018.
Note: skip to the bottom for the juicy bits/code snippets I will spare you the long road which lead to Go (hint: it’s Python and gross amounts of Puppet) and just cut to the chase. The Lifecycle of Our Go Code Write some Go code, test it, commit it A Makefile compiles all of our code into a single executable with no real dependencies (read: things that don’t exist outside a modern linux distribution). The Makefile then packages together a .deb package, consisting of the Go executable and assorted upstart scripts and configuration. The Makefile then distributes the .deb package to a private S3 bucket. Our servers at a set interval (currently 10 seconds) perform HEAD requests against the .deb package. If the package was changed, download and install it. Send SIGUSR2 to our bubbli processes, which causes our web machines to gracefully restart immediately and our computer vision machines to restart when it’s next convenient. There is really nothing revolutionary about anything I’ve mentioned here, but all of these steps when put together result in a great deployment experience. With a little bit more effort you could set this up to continuously deploy with the proper git hooks. The Good Very few moving parts We have one executable that does virtually everything our servers need to do (except computer vision, which is a C++ program that we call out to). In order to run our web server, you just need to scp it to a linux box, configure some options with environment variables, and run it. Oh, and it’s 1.6MB gzipped. Catch errors early Static typing is great, and while you can still shoot yourself in the foot with interfaces, if the code compiles, it’s much more likely to be correct than if a Python web server boots up. Furthermore, since Go doesn’t need a huge set of surrounding components to run properly you remove a whole class of failures due to issues in your deployment environment. Coming from Python where we would run code on top of Werkzeug inside of Gunicorn inside of a Virtualenv inside Supervisord all behind Nginx and configured with Puppet, this was a huge relief. Deploying scales well S3 is huge and reliable. Once your package is uploaded, you don’t generally need to worry about whether your distribution strategy is bottlenecked somewhere or dependent on you not losing your SSH connection mid-deploy. Coming from Puppet which consumed obscene amounts of CPU in doing essentially the same work on a bunch of machines, it’s great not to have to worry about a puppet-master as a single point of failure. Of course S3 can fail too, but all things considered, it is much more robust than anything we would maintain in-house. A reader commented that you should always check MD5 hashes when copying your .deb file around,which is definitely the case. Fortunately, if you use the awscli to do so, this is done automatically! Deploying is fast It’s primarily determined by how often our autoupdate Upstart script checks for updated packages. Fortunately S3 requests are $0.004 per 10,000 requests so refreshing every ten seconds costs about $0.10 per month per server. Deploying is seamless Using the goagain package (https://github.com/rcrowley/goagain) it’s super very straightforward to write net/http servers that seamlessly hand off a listening socket to a new process, wait a bit for existing requests to finish and then terminate. For some reason, the example is with a generic TCP socket, but you can hand a listener straight to net/http too, just replace go serve(l) with go http.Serve(l, nil) after you’ve set up your handlers. Restarting a running web process is as simple as sending it a SIGUSR2 signal. Rollbacks are (theoretically) easy You can set your S3 bucket to version your package, so that you can restore an old version which will automatically be picked up by your machines and installed. I’ve never actually needed to do this, however. The Less Good Must deploy from a binary compatible machine This is a minor inconvenience if you develop on a Mac, but probably better in the long run because deploying from one OS to another is just asking for trouble. I know that there are some tools in the golang community for cross compiling, but I haven’t tried them out yet. Configuration isn’t super flexible At the moment, we ship a bunch of configuration in our Upstart scripts which are packaged into our .deb packages. This feels really dirty, but given how easy it is to deploy, it isn’t a huge issue. I know Instagram just refreshes configuration info from a redis server every 30 seconds, but something like serf (http://www.serfdom.io/) may work too. Deployment doesn’t self-repair in the case of failure When we deploy, I watch our aggregated logs (on http://papertrailapp.com) to make sure that the machines restart themselves properly and act accordingly if I see a flood of errors.
YouGov and the Times have some fresh Syria polling tonight, conducted on Monday evening and during the day on Tuesday. It shows a sharp drop in support for airstrikes since YouGov’s polling a week ago, but the overall balance of opinion is still in favour: 48% now support RAF airstrikes against ISIS in Syria, 31% are opposed. A week ago the figures were 59% to 20%. Some of this may be the fading impact of the Paris attacks, some people recoiling from the reality of intervention. I suspect a lot is also partisan polarisation: there is little movement amongst Conservative voters, but there is a huge turnaround amongst Labour voters. Whereas a week ago 2015 Labour voters broke in favour of airstrikes by 52% to 26%, they have now turned against. Among 2015 Labour voters 42% are now opposed (up 16 points), only 35% now support (down 17). While Jeremy Corbyn’s stance is still at odds with wider public opinion, now both Labour voters and Labour members agree with him: it is his opponents within the PLP who are at odds with the rest of the Labour family. But if public opinion is moving against intervention, there’s not a sign of it helping Jeremy Corbyn with the wider public, or hurting Conservative support. Corbyn’s own ratings are down – 24% of people now think he is doing well as leader, down from 30% last week; 65% think he is doing badly. Voting intention figures are CON 41%, LAB 30%, LDEM 6%, UKIP 16%. Peter Kellner’s commentary for the Times is up here.
The DoubleBear team has some extra-special, ultra-awesome news for you to celebrate Halloween: Dead State has a release date! That's right: on December 4th, 2014 - just over a month away - Dead State will emerge from the cocoon of Early Access and transform into a beautiful, fully matured game! On top of that, later today we plan to release Patch #4 chock full of delicious, gooey content, features, and fixes, so keep an eye out for that. Pretty sweet Halloween treats, right? Aside from Patch #4 going out later today/tonight, we plan to release one final patch before the launch; after that, we’re going to focus our full attention on fixing, balancing, and polishing Dead State until we run full speed across the finish line. All you have to do is keep playing, having fun, and sharing your feedback with us, and we’ll do the rest. Please help us out by spreading the word about the launch date - take to Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, and your other social networks / forums of choice and give them the good news. After all, it's only decent to warn your friends about the coming apocalypse :) Happy Halloween, everyone - may your undead slaying be merry! P.S. Another bonus for you - check out our preview of the Dead State OST. Five full songs for you to enjoy!
GALESBURG, Ill. — Even in this city of abandoned factories, it is possible to see some of the benefits the United States reaps from increased foreign trade: At the rail yard, where boxcars of bargain-price Asian goods are routed to American consumers; at the nearby slaughterhouse, where pigs are packaged for the global market; and at Knox College, where almost 10 percent of the students now come from foreign countries. It is also hard to miss the enduring costs. In 2004, Maytag shut down the refrigerator factory that for decades was Galesburg’s largest employer and moved much of the work to Mexico. Barack Obama, then running to represent Illinois in the Senate, described the workers as victims of globalization in his famous speech that year at the Democratic National Convention. A decade later, many of those workers are still struggling. The city’s population is in decline, and the median household income fell 27 percent between 1999 and 2013, adjusting for inflation. George Carney, who drove a forklift until the day the factory closed, and then found work as a bartender, is now receiving federal disability benefits. He says he is bitter that American policy makers smoothed Maytag’s road to Mexico by passing the North American Free Trade Agreement in the early 1990s.
It’s apparently the year of name changes at regional networks. Following NBC rebranding Comcast SportsNet Bay Area and California to NBC Sports Bay Area and NBC Sports California back in March, Root Sports has now announced that their Pittsburgh, Rocky Mountain and Southwest regional networks will be changing to the AT&T SportsNet brand this July. (And this means we won’t have to deal with them trying to make the ROOT SPORTS capitalization happen any more, which is nice; it’s not going to happen.) However, Root Sports Northwest will be keeping that name. Here are more details from the release: AT&T Sports Networks announced today that the company’s regional sports network brand – ROOT SPORTS– will be rebranded as AT&T SportsNet in July 2017 in the Pittsburgh, Rocky Mountain and Southwest regions. …“We have always brought an authentic and personal level of coverage to all of our teams, because as fans, we also know the history and feel the rivalries,” said Bill Roberts, head of content for AT&T Sports Networks. “And while we have that same undying commitment to quality, this rebrand will help us heighten the experience as we transform our visual effects capabilities further.” The rebrand will include a more iconic graphics package, bringing in a mixture of photography and animation to replace the purely animated ones used before. In addition, the new AT&T SportsNet logo will include the iconic AT&T globe and signature blue. “We have a history of bringing insider access and compelling sports coverage into our fans homes and that will continue. But we have had the same visual effects since 2011, so with this rebrand and new graphics packages, we’re excited to bring a new look and features to our teams and their fans for a truly immersive feel,” said Patrick Crumb, president of AT&T Sports Networks. ROOT SPORTS® –Northwest Region will not change its name. It will remain under the ROOT SPORTS brand and continue to be the television home of the Seattle Mariners, Seattle Seahawks, Seattle Sounders FC, Portland Timbers, Gonzaga Bulldogs, Big Sky Conference and Mountain West Conference. It’s interesting that this is the opposite trend of what we saw from NBC going from a cable brand to a content brand, as Root was a content brand that’s now being shifted to a cable brand. However, the Root nomenclature never particularly took off with many, so this might be a way to change that. It also can be seen as advertising for AT&T’s other products. And regardless of how one feels about the name change, the graphics package update seems like a positive. We’ll see how this goes, but there might be some merit to this move. And at least we’ll have to read less releases with allcaps ROOT SPORTS, except when it comes to their Northwest outpost (which, it should be noted, is 60 per cent owned by the Seattle Mariners). If the Mariners want us to ROOT, ROOT, ROOT, then Root we shall. [Root Sports Southwest]
They have taken almost everything Iranian opposition leader Mahdi Karroubi has. In a bid to neutralize him, they have banned his Etemad-e Melli party (National Confidence Party), closed his newspaper of the same name and arrested 50 of his associates and confidants. They have not even shied away from taking harsh action against his three sons. Hossein, 44, has seen his passport revoked, which is often the last step before an indictment. Taghi, 42, who was seriously wounded in the war against former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, was prevented from leaving the country for medical treatment in London. And his youngest son Ali, 37, was detained, interrogated and severely beaten. It appears to be only a matter of time before the 72-year-old Karroubi himself is targeted. Rocks have already been thrown through the windows of his house and death threats smeared on the walls. When the cleric was traveling in a rural area early this year, unknown assailants shot at him, and it was a stroke of luck that he wasn't hit. Nevertheless, the religious scholar remains undaunted. He greets his visitors with a broad smile and makes fun of his most dangerous opponent, the "highly esteemed Dr. Ahmadinejad." He would never refer to the bigoted leader as Iran's president. According to Karroubi, "this man is a disaster for the people" and must be fought, "without violence, but with all of our strength." Still Defiant It's shortly before midnight, and in his house in Nurian Street in northern Tehran, Karroubi, probably Iran's most courageous man, is still wide awake. His eyes flash behind his rimless glasses, and his feet, which he has propped up on a small stool, are twitching with tension. Whether he is raising his index finger in a show of outrage or slamming his fist onto the arm of his old wooden chair, each of his gestures shows that Karroubi, almost a year after his defeat in the fight for the presidency, still hasn't given up the fight. Three men had entered the race for the June 12, 2009 presidential election, determined to prevent the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad: Karroubi, former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, 68, and Mohsen Rezai, 55, the former long-time head of Iran's feared Revolutionary Guard, the Pasdaran. Karroubi and Mousavi represented the reformist camp, while Rezai was the candidate of the pragmatic conservatives. All three refused to accept the official election result, which declared Ahmadinejad the winner with more than 60 percent of the vote. Rezai quickly withdrew his protest after the virtually omnipotent revolutionary leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had declared the election legitimate. But Karroubi and the presumed real winner, Mousavi, rose to become the people's leaders. Three days after the election, they had already managed to mobilize 3 million supporters. "Where is my vote?" the reform supporters chanted in the streets of Tehran. The regime responded with brutal violence. The death toll in the so-called Green Rebellion was high. According to the Iranian League for the Defense of Human Rights, there were more than 100 "verifiable deaths" among the protestors. At least 2,000 opposition supporters were arrested, a number of whom have since been released on parole. The Changing Face of Torture But since the demonstrations on the 31st anniversary of the Iranian revolution in February, which were dominated by Ahmadinejad's supporters rather than the opposition, it has been deathly quiet in Tehran. The mood among regime critics in the Iranian capital is almost reminiscent of the mood in Baghdad during the regime of Saddam Hussein. Iraq was once referred to as a "republic of fear." The Iraqi dictator had spies everywhere, and critics were severely punished. Sources in Tehran now say that Ahmadinejad also no longer tolerates the slightest opposition, and the prisons are said to be as full of political prisoners today as they were in the days of the 1979 revolution. Despite all threats, Karroubi, in a conversation with SPIEGEL, says that he stands by his assertion, which the regime has sharply denied, that arrested protestors have been tortured to death. He says that he is aware of four cases. He also refuses to retract his claim that prisoners were raped and claims to be familiar with five cases, including those of two young men. Even a harsh critic of the regime like Karroubi does not agree with the statement that the human rights violations are becoming as extensive as they were during the days of the shah. But he also points out, with a sarcastic smile, that at least the shah's torturers were "experts" who knew who they were harming and why. But nowadays, says Karroubi, the violence in the prisons is "purely arbitrary." Although he says he doesn't accept Ahmadinejad as president, Karroubi does demand that he be "held accountable for what is happening."
Bigelow Aerospace, sellers of inflatable bubble habitats for infinity and beyond, is filing for an amendment to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty to allow private individuals to own sections of the Moon. "No one 'anything' should own the moon, but yes, multiple entities, groups, individuals, they should have the opportunity to own the Moon," company founder Robert Bigelow told CNBC. The Outer Space Treaty, first created by the UK, US and Soviet governments in 1967 and administered by the UN, is the basis of today's space law and has 102 signatories. Article Two states: "Outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means." Crucially, Article Six defines states to cover non-governmental entities operating within their jurisdiction, and that's presumably the part Bigelow wants to get changed in an application request to the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation. Bigelow is one of the budding breed of space entrepreneurs looking to make a fortune in spreading mankind further. His eponymous company launched its first habitat, Genesis I, back in 2006 and it's still in orbit, albeit somewhat deflated. Genesis II, a solar-powered bubble containing environmental controls and video cameras, lasted more than two and a half years before failing, and used multiple layers of fabric to protect against micrometeorites and space debris. Both bubbles are still in orbit and should be burning up in Earth's atmosphere within the next decade or so. Their performance impressed NASA enough to order a unit for the International Space Station, and it will be deployed in 2015 by a SpaceX Dragon booster. The bubble will form an extra module on the ISS and will be deployed and monitored for two years, although astronauts are still deciding if they want to live in it and are more likely to pop in every month or so to check out systems. Bigelow also has a contract with SpaceX to taxi services to future orbital facilities to its biggest bubble yet, the 330-cubic metre BA 300 module, which could house six people in relative comfort for longer duration missions, his company said. "I can see our house form here" But Bigelow also wants human facilities on the Moon itself, and says it's packed with valuable minerals. His company won’t be doing any mining, he explained, but wants to house those that do. The man has form – he owns the Budget Suites of America hotel chain here on Earth. Allowing private ownership and exploitation rights to the Moon would inspire a wave of investors to put private money into getting into space by offering the chance to make a return for investors Biglow said, albeit within some sort of legal framework. "When there isn't law and order, there's chaos," he said. "It provides a foundational security to investors," But that's not to say he's only in it for the money. China is already putting together plans for a lunar base and America needs to get its builders there first and establish some ground rules. The alternative is a soulless future, Bigelow claims. "It's the psychological impact that has the value, of every soul looking at the moon and knowing that it belongs to China," he said. "I think that's something the United States would not recover from for hundreds of years." The Chinese government signed and ratified the Outer Space Treaty back in 1983, and has said nothing about allowing commercial companies to set up operations on the surface. But Bigelow says they're not there for "footprints and flags." ®
The already crowded streaming set-top box market is about to get even more congested as internet retailing behemoth Amazon looks set to unveil a new web-to-television device of its own next week. Amazon has begun inviting members of the press to an April 2 media event hosted by Kindle chief Peter Larsen, according to Re/code. The invitations exhort reporters to join the company "for an update on our video business" and are accompanied with images of a overstuffed couch and kernels of popcorn.Seattle, Wash.-based Amazon's entry is thought to have been under development for at least a year, suffering multiple delays as management was "underwhelmed" with the product until now. Many expect the box to have strong ties to the company's Prime streaming library, and it is possible that next week's announcement could bring with it an expansion of Amazon's home-grown content initiatives.Previous reports have indicated that Amazon would seek a slightly expanded distribution footprint for its new device, partnering with brick-and-mortar retailers including Staples and Best Buy to drive sales. Those stores already carry a range of Apple products, including the Apple TV.For its part, Apple is rumored to introduce a new version of its own streamer sometime in April with upgraded hardware and a revamped user interface alongside the possibility of new content partnerships. The company is believed to be in negotiations with cable giant Comcast for both content and infrastructure partnerships.
The dramatic decline in public transport patronage across the metropolitan area is showing no signs of abating and has plummeted to a five-year low. The latest data shows there were about five million fewer journeys taken on Perth’s buses and trains last year, compared with 2015. Train patronage fell by 2.9 million journeys (or 4.7 per cent) and bus patronage by 2.6 million (3.2 per cent). There were 4,588,810 journeys on Perth trains in December — the lowest in seven years. Transport Minister Bill Marmion yesterday conceded that many people may have returned to travelling in their cars now that petrol prices were relatively low and there were improvements to the road network which had increased capacity. The biggest falls were on Perth’s three heritage train lines, with the Armadale line recording more than one million fewer journeys across the year — a 11.8 per cent fall. One of the main roads to Terminal 3 and 4 at Perth airport will be closed. The West Australian Play Video Video One of the main roads to Terminal 3 and 4 at Perth airport will be closed. Armadale mayor Henry Zelones regularly travels on the Armadale line and believes more could be done to make it more attractive and comfortable. He said peak-hour trains were generally packed and many passengers had to stand for most of the journey. “Longer trains or more frequent trains might alleviate the peak-hour squeeze and make it more comfortable for passengers,” he said. “And more carparking bays at many stations might encourage more people to park and ride.” Shadow transport minister Rita Saffioti described the decline as alarming, particularly the falls on the heritage lines. There are questions over why a $30 million car park at Edgewater train station is empty. The West Australian Play Video Video There are questions over why a $30 million car park at Edgewater train station is empty. “This is not sustainable and the Barnett Government has no plan to stop the fall in patronage on existing lines,” she said. “As part of WA Labor’s Metronet plan, we will invest in the heritage lines, upgrading stations and starting a program to remove level crossings.” The only bright spot in the latest Perth Transport Authority data is the continuing popularity of Perth’s cross-river ferry service. Patronage on the service nearly doubled last year, from 389,174 to 764,216 journeys. The growth may hasten plans for an expanded ferry service, with a private operator believed to be involved in negotiations. Mr Marmion said the Government had put more buses, covering more kilometres and more railcars out on the network to ensure service delivery. He said consecutive surveys showed people who used public transport were overwhelmingly happy with the service level. And he said the Government had continued its focus on reducing traffic delays with initiatives through its traffic congestion management plan.
Fox News personality Sean Hannity is an opinion host, not a reporter: a fact made abundantly clear in last week’s fracas over what one CNN host called on Sunday “deceptive” video editing. Most journalists would get fired over something like this. Last week, Hannity featured a clip of President Obama explaining why he will allow the Bush tax cuts to expire, just as the prior administration had planned. Introducing the video, Hannity called Obama’s words “a rare moment of honesty” that he hopes voters will watch. “… [Taxes] are scheduled to go up substantially next year, for everybody,” the president said. Cut back to Hannity. “I know the anointed one will make sure that happens,” he quipped disapprovingly. But, that’s not really what the president said. “Under the tax plan passed by the last administration, taxes are scheduled to go up substantially next year, for everybody,” he explained, in an unedited version of the remarks. “By the way, this was by design.” The president has suggested that America keep the tax cuts afforded to the vast majority of Americans, while allowing tax cuts for the wealthiest to expire. As Obama puts it, he’d like to keep the Bush tax cuts that pertain to 98 percent of Americans, and do away with the substantial tax benefits for the wealthy. Cutting right to the chase, CNN’s Howard Kurtz on Sunday called out Hannity’s audio/visual trickery. “Isn’t that kind of editing — what’s the word — deceptive?” he mused. “It’s a fun and easy way to make people you disagree with say things that make them unelectable,” summarized Daily Show host Jon Stewart, who was first to catch Hannity’s edit. “Hannity and [Fox News personality Glenn] Beck use this technique often and repeatedly,” video blog Crooks and Liars noted. “Hannity, for instance, has repeatedly run a deceptively edited video of Obama speaking abroad in order to smear him as being a president who presents a weak American face. It’s almost a nightly feature of Beck’s show, who uses selective edits to smear everyone from Van Jones to Jim Wallis to President Obama. “Indeed, selectively cropped video has been a specialty of Fox News generally for some time now, and it has been long remarked.” A similarly deceptive video was employed by conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart in his media assault on former Department of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod. She was fired from her job after he released a video which was edited to show an apparent admission of on-the-job racism, but unedited footage of her speech showed she was actually recounting a decades-past experience that taught her the fruitlessness of racist attitudes. The story was pushed heavily by Fox News, first online before Sherrod’s resignation, then on television after she left her job; though host Bret Baier would later deny that the network even covered it. Sherrod, who refused an offered return to her job, called the network’s efforts to smear her a manifestation of racism. This video is from CNN’s Reliable Sources, broadcast Sept. 12, 2010.
We can skip the basic explanation. If you’re here, you know what Foundation is. I’m not here to waste your time, so I’m going to get down to it. With the release of Foundation 6, Zurb is promising lots of new stuff. Let’s take all of this new stuff into the light and see what we’ve got. Here is a review of everything for the sixth edition of Foundation, as straightforward and concentrated as possible. The Foundation 6 release, AKA “the fun part” Zurb built up the release of the newest version of Foundation by making everyone wait on the edges of their seat with a two-day countdown. When the day finally arrived, I was amused; the final release was not working. However, the issue was fixed by the next day. The problem was in the “settings.scss” file, where imports were used in the wrong order and the SCSS code was just not compiling. The launch faced other issues, as well, such as a lack of documentation, no migration guide, and 404 errors on the website, among other things. Read more about the launch and issues in this Reddit thread. Getting started Setting up a project and being “ready to go” with Foundation is super easy. In fact it’s so easy, a kid could do it. To begin, you have several options to choose from: You can download Foundation here At the same link, you can create a custom build (this is a good feature, but the addition Togglers that could toggle whole “needed/unneeded” framework components would be beneficial. As it is, you have to click through lots of checkboxes) You can use command line or even Yeti Launch GUI (Mac only, for now) Download the items from Github and launch them What's in the box? I picked Foundation 6’s “advanced template” option. After I downloaded the template, I simply had to run a few commands, as follows (I already had NodeJS, Gulp and Bower installed): Npm install Bower install Gulp That's all you need for the big snowman to run. At this point, Foundation 6 just amazed me, but in a good way. If you are a new guy in front-end town, this could be the best experience you can get. It’s a rapid introduction and everything is working perfectly (Foundation dropped Grunt and is using Gulp by default. Gulp is faster and more flexible). The advanced template has these features: Libsass -based compilation with CSS minification, auto-prefixing and other small things. -based compilation with CSS minification, auto-prefixing and other small things. A clean and robust project structure. and project structure. Browsersync , which will allow you to automatically sync devices and browsers, simultaneously refreshing them on code changes. , which will allow you to automatically sync devices and browsers, simultaneously refreshing them on code changes. A "Pages” task (based on Panini ). I think it should be called “static site generation task”, but the creators of “Foundation” don’t agree. If you are already familiar with tools like Hugo and Jekyll, know that this is similar. ). I think it should be called “static site generation task”, but the creators of “Foundation” don’t agree. If you are already familiar with tools like Hugo and Jekyll, know that this is similar. Styleguide generation task (markdown based). generation task (markdown based). Javascript concat task, which seems outdated to me. In my opinion, using Requirejs , Browserify or Webpack would be more effective. I know that developers just want to keep everything simple and don’t want to bother you with Javascript things, but Javascript loaders/bundlers today are a must-have; there should be no excuses. , or would be more effective. I know that developers just want to keep everything simple and don’t want to bother you with Javascript things, but Javascript loaders/bundlers today are a must-have; there should be no excuses. Image minification task, based on imagemin, with default settings (it is not very powerful out of the box, but with some tuning, it will get the job done). That's pretty much everything you need to start a simple project successfully. Compatibility Foundation 6 almost has standard compatibility in front-end work, including IE9+ and Android 2.3+. Popular browser support consists of two version from the most recent release. Sass features Typically, Sass features will be the most important part when you are debating which front-end framework you should use. If that’s the case, then you will rejoice when you open the Foundation Sass code. The creators of foundation are using scss-lint recommendations, and if they have to break the rule, an scss-lint marker is added. Naming is self-explanatory. In most cases, you don’t even need to read any documentation. Sometimes, more namespacing for variable naming is necessary (it is easier to filter colors with IDE variable name autocompletion), as well as more consistency (in some places it is header-color, and then when we are defining size, it is already heading). Sass maps - life is easier with them Foundation’s configuration is much easier due to Sass maps. Do you want to set up project break points? $breakpoints: ( small: 0, medium: 640px, large: 1024px, xlarge: 1200px ); Done. Maybe you want to set-up a heading size, per breakpoint? $header-sizes: ( small: ( 'h1': 24, 'h2': 20, 'h3': 19, 'h4': 18, 'h5': 16, 'h6': 16, ), medium: ( 'h1': 48, 'h2': 40, 'h3': 31, 'h4': 25, 'h5': 20, 'h6': 16, ), ); You will be able to set up buttons, breakpoints and heading. Everything is super fast and easy. This is a big improvement for writing and reading the code. There’s just one thing I'd point out: maybe global variables could be in the “global” map too? Grid system The grid system in Foundation 6 is better than before, but that doesn’t mean the changes are huge. In fact, it’s almost the same. The new features that have arrived, though, do present improvements. Foundation is now easy to configure; you will already have predefined classes, or you will be able to use sass mixins in a semantic grid. You will also be able to nest different grids inside of each other, but this grid system is not very flexible and it is not the best. I had a chance to try various grid systems - Foundation, Neat and Susy - and I can say that none of them are bad. But, Susy has such properties and settings that will let you code freely and will not limit your code. All of the previously mentioned grid systems are based on mixins, which returns css properties with defined values or have some “hidden” functions and variables. These can be found from long code investigation and can be deprecated with the next version or update. The creators of Susy have chosen another way: they are just returning values through functions. They don’t care how you set gutters, whether it be with padding or margin, or whatever. This allows you to use all of your imagination in Sass code and create incredible things. To make a long story short, the Foundation grid system makes good progress, but Sass-based grid systems are one of the main items in this framework. There are better players available. Admittedly, Susy had performance issues; I even wrote about them here. But this is 2015, using Gulp and compiling Sass with Libsass and Susy fixed the performance issues. Foundation has a flex-box grid too, but it’s not useful on real projects so I will not review it. You can, however, read the documentation here. Functions and mixins Foundation gives us four types of functions and 10 mixins. Mixins and functions are quite standard; you will find nothing special here. You can use a hamburger menu mixin to catch some eyes, a smart-scale which identifies if it is dark or light in color and then darkens or lightens it accordingly and last, but not least: remCalc. I am a Bourbon fan. As a result, I miss such things like emCalc, animation easings like in jQueryUI, text-ellipsis mixins and other small, but helpful stuff (the kind of stuff that makes my job easier). A shortage of custom easing functions is compensated a little bit by the presence of Motion UI, but it is not as flexible as I’d like to see. It actually has a quite strictly defined effect and property structure. Helper classes, reset and settings The inclusion of unit-less line height (lots of people were setting the line-height incorrectly in previous versions of Foundation), the option to normalize, Javascript-less custom select elements, and a lot of other good stuff, make this a good tool. All you need to do is just read all the code here and you will take home something useful. I don’t like using helper classes or already pre-styled components, but they will help you if you are just making a plain product prototype or wireframe. Panini - not a static site generator, so what is it? Panini is kind of a static site generator (if you already familiar with Hugo and Jekyll, you should know what I mean). The creators are saying that it is not. That’s fine, but what is it then? This is my opinion: it is strange that Zurb tries to reinvent the wheel. I’ll save my explanation for the end, but Panini is like Usain Bolt compared to me when it comes to running. Yes, I can run, but I’m not a professional runner. The same can be said with Panini as compared to other components in Foundation. They are doing things, but not as great as other tools. Panini is not bad, but if you compare it with tools like Hugo or Jekyll, you’ll see: if you are in trouble, Panini will not help you much. You may just be implementing simple projects, in that case Panini will suit you. But as a professional, you should be aware: if you have a problem, you have to be prepared and have the suitable tools ready if you want a quick solution. As an alternative, I like Hugo, mainly because of its speed, but it also has the following functionality: Pretty URLs Themes Custom error pages Custom functions Sitemap generation Shortcodes And lots of other good things, which you can find here So, if you are going to make good stuff, be prepared and have suitable tools in your inventory. Javascript components, organization & Motion UI Organization The first thing that you see is that the Foundation template has a task that just concatenates Javascript files to one without using any Javascript loaders or bundlers, like RequireJS, Browserify or WebPack. One one hand, this is ok. In an easy project, a developer doesn't have to know them and can start immediately. On the other hand, bundlers/Javascript loaders are essential in today's Javascript ecosystem. They are designed not to make things harder, but to help you solve issues and make your job easier. If you are still concerned about using them, you can read my colleague's article about all of the advantages. Plugins Foundation 6 comes with six important plugins: Abide - This one validates forms. An alternative would be the jQuery validation, which has much more functionality. Equalizer - This plugin serves to “equalize” div height. Interchange - A useful plugin used to load resources depending on viewport. Interchange is a good alternative for srcset. Orbit - After being dropped in Foundation 5, Orbit makes a comeback to Foundation 6. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really have a place. The description states that this is “the slider you want, the slider you need.” But if we will start comparing it with the best sliders, such as slickJs or bxSlider, Orbit is not even in the same solar system. Despite poor functionality, however, it will find its place for wireframes and prototypes. Reveal - A good solution for modal windows, Reveal has a lot of options, it’s easy to use and easy to configure. However if you want a more customizeable solution, just give this a try: https://github.com/tkirda/modal-box Here you will find wider variety of events, modal templating, grouping, already integrated things like preloaders and many other features. Toggler - Simple, but very good and does what it’s supposed to. This can be your best friend when preparing prototypes, or this can even be used on production sites. Pick what you want to toggle and it’s done. Simple, versatile and very useful. Sticky - Are you implementing sticky header logic for every project with custom logic? I liked sticky as much as Toggler. You can even define custom logic per breakpoint in this plugin, define margins, add bounds for sticking and so on. Sticky is one of the nicest features in Foundation. Motion UI Motion UI is a stand-alone library, which is used in Foundation components, like Toggler, Reveal and Orbit. Motion UI has five main types of transitions: slide, fade, hinge, scale and spin. Every transition can be custom edited with Sass mixins. What I miss here: The element is hidden and shown using inline styling. This is not a best practice for responsive sites. Using this, sometimes you will have to override styles with an “!important” flag. There are no integrated easings from jqueryUI, like in Bourbon. The predefined transitions are not very eye catching (the only useful transitions are slide, fade and scale, but maybe I’m too picky. Check them out here. What’s missing? Foundation is missing two things: maturity and concentration. The return of Orbit (do we really need Javascript components in this framework?), a component which is much weaker than its closest competitors, is a negative. Some tools, in particular Panini, look unfinished too. The framework is not suggesting any solution for spriting or Javascript bundling (and in modern web development, I think that this feature is a must-have). A more flexible grid system would be helpful, too. Some decisions are really paying off and the framework proposes a lot, but any time you look deeper, you will see shortcomings. Final thoughts My opinion on “Foundation” is twofold. Yes, Foundation is one of the best out-of-the-box solutions; It is easy to start project from scratch with it. On the other hand, is it a solution that will help us achieve the best results? I don’t believe so. I’m not saying that you shouldn't use this framework, but personally I would pick a custom solution. You’ll have better tools for every task; the tools will give you the freedom. If I were to make a custom solution, I would use this recipe: Grid system - Susy Mixins - Bourbon Static site generator - Hugo (solely because of speed, the capabilities are very similar to Jekyll) If I were a lonely front-end developer, freelancing on a day-to-day projects made on Bootstrap and Foundation, with no time for big, technical adventures, then I’d choose Foundation. Foundation is also a perfect fit for you if you have very limited time and you need lots of out-of-the-box solutions, for example if you were participating in a Hackathon. If I were working in a big organization on a project that will be developed over time with a lot of requirements, I’d choose a custom solution. In such a scenario, like working at Devbridge, we look to unite the best tools in the market. No out-of-the-box solutions will work for us. Regardless, “Foundation” is a really noteworthy product; something worth keeping an eye on. Are you interested in what our team is using? Check it out here. Any thoughts? Feel free to comment!
Breaking News Emails Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings. May 28, 2016, 9:21 PM GMT / Updated May 29, 2016, 1:23 PM GMT By Elizabeth Chuck, F. Brinley Bruton and Hanna Guerrero Tropical storm Bonnie was downgraded Sunday morning as it headed toward the South Carolina coast — the latest bad weather to hit the nation over the long holiday weekend, after a fourth person was found dead amid flooding in Texas. The tropical depression was about 25 miles east-southeast of Charleston and packing maximum sustained winds of 35 mph as of 8 a.m. Sunday, the National Hurricane Center said. It was forecast to drench the Carolinas with up to six of rain, which had started falling on the South Carolina coast Saturday. Whipping winds and dangerous waves as high as 13 feet could also hit the two states, as well as Georgia and Florida over the coming days, forecasters said. Charleston police warned drivers to be wary of downed trees and power lines, and to not drive through flooded areas. A little more than 1 1/2 inches of rain was recorded at Charleston Air Force Base by Saturday evening, according to the National Weather Service. Bonnie was declared a tropical storm on Saturday evening after forecasters detected winds at 40 mph, making it the season's second-named tropical storm — four days before the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season. A depression becomes a tropical storm when winds reach 39 mph. Flooding is seen in Tomball, Texas, in this photo captured by a drone Saturday morning. Mark Preidger Elsewhere in the nation, flooding and heavy rain were wreaking havoc. In Texas, at least four people were killed, and the state was bracing for more rain through Memorial Day. Lela Holland, 64, died in her home when floods washed through, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s office. Jimmy Wayne Schaeffer, 49, was killed when he drove his truck into high water, a statement from the office said. The body of Darren Mitchell, 21, a National Guardsman, was recovered Saturday after his vehicle was swept off the road by floods, the statement said. And Pyarali Rajebhi Umatiya, 59, was killed when his vehicle stalled in high water, according to the statement. Meanwhile, police were set to resume the search on Sunday morning for a 10-year-old boy who fell into the Brazos River while fishing Saturday, NBC Dallas-Forth Worth reported. Related: Two Dead in Texas As Plains Gear Up for More Bad Weather Washington County, a rural area between Austin and Houston, saw nearly two feet of rain in a span of just a few hours Friday, according to officials. Several bridges were damaged, 58 roads were still closed Saturday and 2,000 residents remained without electricity, the sheriff’s office said. Meanwhile, Travis County officials were searching for two residents who were swept away by the raging waters. Multiple people were rescued from rooftops by helicopters, Travis County Emergency Services tweeted Friday. In Kansas, an 11-year-old boy fell into the fast-moving Gypsum Creek in Wichita and was swept away as friends tried to grab him, NBC affiliate KSNW reported. The creek was swollen by recent rains. On Saturday, fire officials said the search was now a recovery operation, but Wichita Fire Department Battalion Chief Scott Brown told the station the search would continue. "We'll go until we can't go any more," he said. A man, foreground, checks to make sure everyone made it safely out of a truck that flooded when the three men in the background drove around a closed road barrier and lost control of the vehicle in rising flood water on May 27, 2016, in Magnolia, Texas. Michael Ciaglo / AP In Tyler County, Texas, a mandatory evacuation was in place for the 30 to 40 homes in the Barlow Lake Estates subdivision, where rising crests could likely force the Corps of Engineers to release water from a local dam in the coming days, said county emergency management officials. The resulting downstream flooding could be of historic proportions, county officials posted on Facebook. The city of Rosenberg, Texas, southwest of Houston, declared a state of disaster Saturday night and ordered mandatory evacuations in parts of town due to the swelling Brazos River, which is expected to crest at 53 feet Tuesday. In Missouri, Gov. Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency ahead of expected heavy rains Saturday, and warned that levees could be breached. Related: Two Dead in Texas As Plains Gear Up for More Bad Weather “Areas along the Missouri River and its tributaries in west-central Missouri are of particular concern because more rain could cause some levees to overtop,” Nixon said in a statement issued Friday night. Since Tuesday, storms in the state have caused high winds, heavy rains and flash flooding — with more rain predicted into the weekend. "State emergency management personnel will continue to work with local officials and law enforcement to assess and closely monitor the risk to the levees, and take appropriate action if needed,” Nixon said. The torrential downpour was part of severe weather that pummeled the nation's midsection Thursday night, with tornadoes reported in Kansas and Texas.
UNCLASSIFIED The Power of Disinformation The Lie That Linked CIA to the Kennedy Assassination Max Holland On 2 June 1961, just weeks after the Bay of Pigs debacle, the Senate Internal Security Subcommittee convened to take testimony from Richard M. Helms, then an assistant deputy director of the Central Intelligence Agency. In those halcyon days of the Agency’s relationship with Congress, it was rare for a CIA official to give a presentation that senators had every intention of making public. The subcommittee, dominated by some of the fiercest anti-Communist members of the Senate, undoubtedly wanted to help repair the Agency’s tarnished image. The hearing, entitled “Communist For- geries,” would surely remind Americans of the threat that Communism posed to Western interests and the Agency’s frontline role in containing that threat.[1] Helms began his testimony by describing an episode that had just faded from the headlines. It proved just how virulent and resilient a lie can be when everything around it seems to fall into place. Although Helms never used the precise term, the scheme he described would eventually become better known by its KGB appellation: dezinformatsiya or disinformation. For years, Soviet propagandists had sought to impugn the United States by linking it to France’s brutal colonial war in Algeria. The effort was a mediocre success until 22 April 1961, when four Algerian-based generals organized a putsch against President Charles de Gaulle, who was trying to extract France from the seven-year conflict. Coincidentally, one of the plotters, Air Force Gen. Maurice Challe, had served in NATO headquarters and was unusually pro-American for a senior French officer. This fact provided the basis for a fabrication that the plotters enjoyed the CIA’s support.[2] “This lie was first printed on the 23rd of April by a Rome daily,” Helms testified. In English, the headline in Paese Sera read, “Was the Military Coup d’état in Algeria Prepared in Consultation with Washington?”[3] The very next day, Pravda, citing Paese Sera, ran a story alleging CIA support for the revolt, as did TASS and Radio Moscow. Other Soviet Bloc and then Western outlets picked up the story, which gathered credibility with every re-telling. Eventually Le Monde, the most respected and influential newspaper in France, ran a lead editorial that began, “It now seems established that some American agents more or less encouraged Challe.” The vehemence of the US Embassy’s denial was primarily taken as an indication of the allegation’s truth.[4] As the story spread to this side of the Atlantic, the controversy grew to such a pitch that it threatened to disrupt President Kennedy’s state visit to France, scheduled for May 1961. Relations remained testy until Maurice Couve de Murville, France’s foreign minister, went before the National Assembly and sought to quell the allegation.[5] Altogether, Helms observed, the episode was an “excellent example of how the Communists use the false news story” to stunning effect. And it had all started with an Italian paper that belonged “to a small group of journals published in the free world but used as outlets for disguised Soviet propaganda…instead of having this originate in Moscow, where everybody would pinpoint it, they planted the story first in Italy and picked it up from Italy….”[6] Helms’s testimony reveals that the CIA’s Counterintelligence (CI) Staff had a sophisticated understanding of how dezinformatsiya worked by no later than 1961.[7] Yet six years later, a grander and more pernicious concoction originating in the same newspaper, Paese Sera, would go unexamined, unexposed, and unchallenged. This lapse, while understandable in context, proved a costly one for the Agency over the long run. Paese Sera’s successful deception turns out to be a major reason why many Americans believe, to this day, that the CIA was involved in the assassination of President Kennedy.[8] Garrison Opens His Investigation The complex story begins in early February 1967, when the FBI and CIA learned about a striking development in New Orleans. Two years after the completion of the federal inquiry into President Kennedy’s death by the Warren Commission, the local district attorney, Jim Garrison, had opened his own investigation into the November 1963 assassination.[9] Whatever Garrison was up to, he did not seem intent on involving the federal government. So both the Bureau and the CIA simply awaited the next development, believing, like most Americans, that no responsible prosecutor would dare reopen the case unless he truly had something. On 17 February, the New Orleans States-Item revealed Garrison’s reinvestigation to the world and ignited a media firestorm. The first legal action, however, did not occur until 1 March 1967, when Garrison ostentatiously arrested an urbane local businessman named Clay Shaw and charged him with masterminding a plot that culminated in President Kennedy’s death.[10] Both the Bureau and the CIA rushed to their respective files and ran name traces on Shaw, a man who had never been linked to the assassination despite Washington’s painstaking investigation. Insofar as the Agency was concerned, only one sliver of information was noteworthy. The businessman now charged with the crime of the century had once been a source for the CIA through its Domestic Contact Service (DCS). The CIA’s concerted effort to gather foreign intelligence from domestic sources had its roots in World War II. After the conflict, careful analysis revealed that a coordinated effort to collect information known to American citizens might have averted some bitter failures. Thus, when the CIA was formed in 1947, it was handed responsibility for the overt collection of foreign intelligence within the United States, and DCS offices were discreetly opened in several major cities. DCS officers sought contact with American citizens who traveled abroad and were in a position to acquire significant foreign intelligence as a routine matter. The highest priority, naturally, was attached to debriefing Americans who traveled behind the Iron Curtain or to international conferences where they met Soviet Bloc citizens. Although all DCS relationships with individual Americans were routinely classified “secret,” the information gleaned was often no more confidential than what could be gained from a close reading of the Wall Street Journal. By the mid-1970s, DCS files contained the names of 150,000 Americans who had willingly provided information or were promising sources.[11] Shaw had volunteered his first report to the DCS in 1948, the year that the division of Europe into antagonistic blocs hardened. His offering concerned Czechoslovakia, a country whose fate had gripped Americans’ imagination. Until February 1948, Czechoslovakia had been a pluralistic, democratic state, mindful of Soviet national security concerns but linked economically and intellectually to the West. Then, in the space of seven days, it was abruptly transformed into a Communist dictatorship, a shattering development because it suggested a replay of events that had led to the last world war. In December 1948, Shaw informed the CIA about the new regime’s effort to expand exports via the New Orleans Trade Mart. He shared details about a lease for exhibition space that had been negotiated with a Czech commercial attaché based in New York.[12] That voluntary report led to an extended relationship on matters involving commercial and international trends. Shaw was an observant businessman who traveled widely. It was effortless for him to pick up the kind of information useful to analysts inside the US Government. Over the next eight years, Shaw relayed information on 33 separate occasions, his fluency in Spanish helping to make him a particularly astute observer of trends in Central and South America. His reports about devaluation in Peru, a proposed new highway in Nicaragua, and the desire of Western European countries to trade with the Soviet bloc—a subject of keen interest to Washington because of worries about technology transfers—were invariably graded “of value” and “reliable.”[13] Why the relationship ended after 1956 is not revealed in any of the recently declassified CIA files or Shaw’s own papers. Whatever the reason, the documentary record is clear: Shaw was not handed off by the DCS and developed as a covert operative by the CIA’s Plans (now Operations) Directorate. The relationship just lapsed. He had never received any remuneration and probably considered the reporting a civic duty that was no longer urgent once the hostility between the two superpowers became frozen in place and a new world war no longer appeared imminent.[14] Upon reviewing Shaw’s file after the businessman’s arrest, Lloyd Ray, chief of the New Orleans DCS office, expressed some concern but saw no reason to be alarmed. “While I do not expect that this office will become involved in the matter,” Ray wrote in a 3 March 1967 cable to CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, “nevertheless there is always the possibility of this.” Ray had joined the DCS in 1948 and knew Shaw personally. A lawyer by training, he suggested briefing Lawrence Houston, the CIA’s general counsel, on the facts of the relationship “to be on the safe side.”[15] European Leftists Fan the Flames The day after Ray’s cable, on 4 March, the left-wing Roman newspaper Paese Sera published a “scoop” that would reverberate all the way to New Orleans and Langley. According to the afternoon daily, Clay Shaw was no mere international businessman. That profession was a facade for his involvement in “pseudo-commercial” activities via the Centro Mondiale Commerciale (CMC), a trade-promotion group headquartered in Rome from 1958 to 1962. The defunct CMC had been “a creature of the CIA,” according to Paese Sera, “set up as a cover for the transfer to Italy of CIA-FBI [sic] funds for illegal political-espionage activities.” Revealingly, one of the CMC’s most nefarious acts, according to Paese Sera, was support for the “philo-fascists” who had attempted to depose Charles de Gaulle in the early 1960s.[16] The plausibility of the Paese Sera allegations was strengthened immeasurably by a contemporaneous media firestorm. On Valentine’s Day, Ramparts magazine had ignited a controversy over CIA subsidies.[17] As elite news outlets raced to outdo Ramparts by revealing the methodology and extent of covert CIA funding around the world, it became known that anti‑communist elements in Italy had been among the beneficiaries of the CIA’s overseas largesse. Moreover, as was the case in 1961, Paese Sera’s 1967 scoop was built around certain undeniable facts: the CMC had existed in Rome; Shaw had been a board member; and now he was charged with having conspired to murder President Kennedy. The Italian defense, interior, and foreign affairs ministries denied the allegation of a link between the CMC and the CIA, and mainstream Italian newspapers limited themselves to pointing out the Roman connection of the businessman arrested in New Orleans.[18] Other outlets, however, showed less restraint. On 5 March, the day after Paese Sera’s scoop, l’Unità, the newspaper of the Italian Communist Party, published a front page story headlined, “Shaw…was a Rome agent of the C.I.A.” Moscow’s Pravda picked up the story on 7 March, publishing it under the simple headline, “Clay Shaw of the CIA.” The same theme appeared in the 8 March edition of l’Humanité, the newspaper of the French Communist Party, which reported that the “CIA used [Clay Shaw] for its activities in Italy…where [he specialized] in the financing of political groups considered to be ‘intransigent anti-Communists’.”[19] Similar stories then popped up in the leftwing Greek and Canadian press, all of which echoed Paese Sera’s observation that “in this complex and still obscure matter the CIA certainly has a hand.”[20] Oddly, despite its vast intelligence-gathering apparatus, the Agency missed the seminal article, probably because Paese Sera was not a strict Communist party organ, and therefore not monitored daily.[21] Once the accusation began appearing in organs like Pravda, however, the story grabbed the attention of the CIA’s CI Staff, which ran file traces on CMC and PERMINDEX, its Swiss-based parent corporation. The results were uniformly negative. Neither company was a proprietary or front, nor had either been used to channel funds to anti-Communists as alleged. Agency files also proved that Shaw had never been asked, after 1958, to exploit his affiliation with the CMC for any clandestine purpose. “It appears that all of the Pravda charges are untrue,” reads the Agency’s most detailed review of its links to Shaw, “except that there was a CIA-Shaw relationship.”[22] This emphasis—that there was a “relationship”—marked a conceptual turning point. By focusing on a tangential truth rather than the overwhelmingly falsity of the allegation, the Agency effectively donned a set of blinkers. With its attention fixated on the DCS link, it never dawned on the CIA that a disinformation scheme was at the root of its problem with Garrison—despite Paese Sera’s well-documented involvement in dezinformatsiya and the fact that efforts to link the CIA to the Kennedy assassination had been a staple of communist-oriented publications for three years.[23] For the Agency, the eight weeks between 4 March and 25 April 1967 were the calm before the storm. During this period, Clay Shaw’s alleged connection to the CIA went unremarked in the United States, save for a brief reference in a leftwing New York newspaper, the National Guardian.[24] Still, the “gruesome proceedings” in New Orleans, as DCS Director James Murphy labeled them, were grounds for concern if not alarm. Garrison seemed intoxicated by the world’s attention and was acting like a carnival barker rather than a DA investigating a grave matter. Helms, who had become Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) in 1966, asked Ray Rocca, chief of Research & Analysis for the CI Staff, to stay abreast of the situation. During the lull, a lively debate took place between the CI Staff and the DCS over what to do. The latter argued against devoting more time and effort to what already seemed to be a “sensational hoax.” Rocca, however, wanted to stay ahead of the disclosure curve, and ultimately his position prevailed. The CIA intensified its monitoring weeks before Garrison actually trained his sights on the Agency. “We regret to have to burden you with this sort of coverage,” wrote DCS Chief Murphy in a 20 March letter to the New Orleans office, “but [it] could be damaging to the Agency if some link could be exploded by enterprising news hounds.”[25] Unbeknownst to the Agency, Garrison had been convinced by the Paese Sera article that Shaw was linked to the CIA; that association, in turn, implicated the CIA in a cover-up of the Kennedy assassination. A diary kept by Richard Billings, a LIFE editor who worked closely with the DA in the early stages of the investigation, corroborates the timing and impact of the foreign disinformation on Garrison. Billings’s entry for 16 March, less than two weeks after the publication of the first Paese Sera article, notes that, “Garrison now interested in possible connections between Shaw and the CIA…article in March issue Humanities [l’Humanité] supposedly mentions Shaw’s company [CIA] work in Italy.”[26] Six days later, the DA had at least one of the articles in hand. Garrison “has copy [of story about Shaw] datelined Rome, March 7th, from la presse Italien [sic],” Billings records. “It explains Shaw working in Rome in ‘58 to ‘60 period.”[27] Dezinformatsiya thus exerted a profound influence on the prosecution of Clay Shaw. Overriding the opposition of his top aides, who had begged him to drop the case, Garrison now persisted because the DA believed he had nabbed an important “covert operative.”[28] Under the duress and publicity of indictment, Shaw would surely fold. And the moment he cracked, Garrison imagined that it would be easy to unmask the sequence of events leading to the assassination in Dallas. US Media Pick Up the Thread Despite the flurry of articles in Europe’s pro-Communist press, the sensational revelation about Shaw was not playing well at home. This was a problem for a DA whose modus operandi required a steady drumbeat of positive publicity. Garrison dared not bring up the allegation openly, as he later explained in a letter to Lord Bertrand Russell, the famed British philosopher who was also an avid conspiracy buff. Doing so might hand skeptics in the media the ammunition to destroy his controversial probe.[29] Critical articles had begun to appear, including a devastating exposé of Garrison’s sources and methods that ran in the 23 April Saturday Evening Post.[30] Garrison wanted the Italian story in the news, but via a hidden hand. On 25 April, the New Orleans States-Item published a front page, copyrighted story. The headline read, “Mounting Evidence Links CIA to ‘Plot’ Probe,” and the primary source of the article was “Garrison or one of his people.”[31] The story went on to report that Shaw, the pivotal figure in Garrison’s investigation, had been linked to the CIA “by an influential Italian newspaper.” It took more than 20 column inches before the article notedthat Paese Sera was “leftist in its political leanings.” (The US State Department routinely labeled the afternoon daily a “crypto-Communist” newspaper.) Inexorably, the Associated Press picked up the New Orleans States-Item scoop for distribution on its national wire. It was reprinted, in truncated form, in hundreds of newspapers nationwide on 26 April. Even the august New York Times ran a brief item from the wires about the “mounting evidence of CIA links” in District Attorney Jim Garrison’s probe of the assassination.[32] As Richard Billings noted in his diary, “Now Garrison is hard on the trail of the CIA.”[33] The New Orleans States-Item exclusive confirmed the Agency’s worst fears. Just as the media were beginning to catch on that Garrison’s case was flimsy, the DA was moving to draw the CIA into the maelstrom. In a long memo prepared on 26 April, Rocca concluded that it would be “unwise to dismiss as trivial any attempts by Garrison to link the Agency to his plot.” Though it is impossible to discern what the New Orleans DA “knows or thinks he knows,” wrote Rocca, the grim truth, given the Ramparts exposé, was that the “impact of such charges…will not depend principally upon their veracity or credibility but rather upon their timeliness and the extent of press coverage.”[34] From this point on, Garrison would not utter a word without it being parsed inside Agency headquarters. Having laid the groundwork with his calculated leak to the New Orleans States-Item, Garrison now unleashed a barrage of sensational accusations. In no particular order, Garrison alleged that Kennedy’s alleged assassin Lee Oswald had been under the control of the CIA; the CIA had whitewashed the real assassins; the CIA had lied to the Warren Commission and concealed evidence with the FBI’s connivance— no, the CIA had lied to the FBI too![35] As with Senator Joe McCarthy, the legitimacy conferred by public office gave Garrison a license for audacious mendacity, a privilege he exploited to the hilt. These charges made for new accusatory headlines in New Orleans and elsewhere throughout the month of May, but also served a second purpose. They had the simultaneous effect of blunting the increasing number of articles criticizing the DA’s probe. The impression left was that Garrison was being put under siege because he dared to tell the truth. A Rock and a Hard Place The CIA occasionally responded to a specific allegation from the barrage, but never issued a substantive, thorough rebuttal for fear that it would only create a larger problem for itself and for Shaw. Disclosing the Shaw-DCS connection was ruled out as too explosive, given the nature of Shaw’s indictment and the spotlight the Agency was already under because of the Ramparts exposé. At the very least, DCS sources and methods would be scrutinized, and virtually all Americans traveling abroad would fall under suspicion. Every businessman or scholar who had ever cooperated voluntarily would think twice before doing so again. The DCS as a whole would likely be damaged, perhaps irreparably. Then, too, the Agency had to contemplate the cost of disclosure to Clay Shaw. Garrison’s scapegoating of the CIA left officers more persuaded than ever that the DA knew about Shaw’s DCS contact, and that he probably intended to distort the connection during Shaw’s trial.[36] Despite the surface placidity of the CIA’s “no comment” responses, internally the Agency was seething. The “Red Flash” and “Red Comet” editions of the New Orleans States-Item, in particular, were received with the kind of enthusiasm normally reserved for Pravda. The CIA had weathered public debacles like the Bay of Pigs and the Ramparts exposé; had deflected criticism in the press and from books; and had resisted attempts to broaden Congressional oversight. Never in its 20-year existence, however, had it confronted such a challenge from an elected public official with legal, albeit limited, authority. Garrison’s allegations— the “grossest we have seen from any responsible American official”—gave the Agency fits, just as they did Shaw and Shaw’s lawyers.[37] For months, the tactics of what Rocca called “that wild man down there” preoccupied senior CIA officers. When Shaw’s trial appeared imminent, DCI Helms ordered an ad hoc committee to formulate a strategy—six of CIA’s highest officials comprised this “Garrison Group.”[38] Ray, the New Orleans DCS chief, sent reports back to headquarters about efforts to goad the Agency into a reaction that would be good for a few more headlines. Ray also expressed concern over the possibility that Garrison might bug DCS offices or tap its telephones, so a secure communications link with CIA headquarters was established. As the “bizarre and unsubstantiated” campaign to implicate the CIA reached a fever pitch in the late spring, an Agency internal memo dated 6 June observed that Garrison had “attacked CIA more vehemently, viciously and mendaciously than has any other American official or private citizen whose comments have come to our attention. In fact, he [has] outstripped the foreign Communist press, which is now quoting him delightedly.”[39] Left-leaning and Communist organs presented Garrison’s allegations as affirmation of America’s deeply confused and corrupt political system. The KGB delighted in such Garrison quotes as one saying that the CIA was “infinitely more powerful than the Gestapo [had been] in Nazi Germany.”[40] With the benefit of hindsight, it is apparent that the Agency never gained its footing amid Garrison’s blizzard of accusations, even though there were scattered clues as to what was going on behind the scenes.[41] On 1 May, for example, Jack Miller, a former assistant attorney general in charge of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, called the CIA’s general counsel to offer some intelligence that had come to Miller “from within Garrison’s office.” Miller’s inside information was that a “left-wing newspaper published in Rome, the Paese Sera,” was the source for the story that Shaw was a director of the CMC and that the CMC was a “CIA organization.” Miller apparently did not know, or did not convey, how much importance Garrison attached to the ostensible revelation. There is no evidence that the CI Staff followed up on his inside information.[42] The CIA Continues To Play It Low Key Like the Agency, Shaw’s lawyers were groping their way through the fog of charges generated by Garrison via the media. Shaw’s lawyers were confident that their client was leveling with them and publicly denied that he was a clandestine CIA operative.[43] In September 1967, however, when a trial appeared imminent, there was a revealing contact between Shaw’s attorneys and the Justice Department. The defense team was “confused by the [CIA] smoke-screen Garrison was raising,” and wanted to talk to someone in the federal government “who could steer them as to the true facts and circumstances,” according to an 18 September CIA memo.[44] Some sharing of information might have helped, but Agency officials found the request for cooperation too risky, newly available documents show. “New Orleans is such a seamy maze that the risk of under-the-table deals is always present,” concluded a 25 September Agency memo. “Moreover, if Garrison learned of federal assistance to Shaw’s lawyers, he’d play it to the hilt.”[45] Shaw’s defense team thus returned to New Orleans empty-handed and puzzled over the government’s apparent nonchalance, given that Washington was very much on trial, too. Via this brief contact, the CIA learned that one of its assumptions was wholly incorrect. All along, Agency officials had presumed that Shaw told his lawyers about the DCS relationship once his alleged link to the CIA became an issue. But after meeting with Shaw’s defense team, Justice Department attorneys shared their “very clear impression” that Shaw had not confided in his own lawyers.[46] Overhanging everything, insofar as the CIA was concerned, was the upcoming trial. The Agency had to proceed on the assumption that Garrison would play his trump card in the courtroom and flummox the jury. “The fact that Garrison’s charges against CIA are false,” noted a 13 September memorandum, “does not mean that when he goes to court his case will collapse like a house of cards.”[47] The decision on how to prepare for that dreaded day was outlined in a memo submitted by Houston to DCI Helms in October 1967. It is perhaps the most revealing CIA document generated during the entire affair, as it lays out all the sundry allegations of CIA involvement and the truth in each instance. The CIA general counsel’s recommendation, developed in consultation with other members of the Garrison Group, was stark: other than active resistance to any subpoenas from Garrison, the best course of action was to do nothing.[48] The catch, Houston acknowledged, was that a tight lip threatened to leave Shaw at Garrison’s mercy. Shaw’s lawyers would have no way of refuting allegations without documents and testimony from the CIA. Yet a controlled disclosure of exculpatory information seemed unachievable. A local judge would be under intense pressure to rule that the federal government could not both submit material evidence and hide behind claims of national security or executive privilege. Under these circumstances, Houston reasoned, the best thing to do would be to take no action whatsoever, and hope that the defendant would win acquittal without CIA intervention. If Shaw were to “be convicted on information that could be refuted by CIA,” concluded Houston, “we may be in for some difficult decisions.”[49] As it turned out, the dilemma Houston described did not materialize for more than a year. Shaw’s talented legal team, determined to win an acquittal, introduced several motions (including a request for a change of venue) that had the effect of postponing the trial repeatedly. Meanwhile, Garrison kept fine-tuning his theory about the assassination. In February 1968, he unveiled what would be his final and enduring explanation during a Dutch television show hosted by a left-wing, anti-American journalist named Willem Oltmans.[50] According to Garrison, it was no longer the case that the CIA was an unwitting accomplice to the murder and then an accessory after the fact. No, the truth had turned out to be much worse. Garrison now averred that the Agency had consciously plotted the assassination, executing the plan in concert with the “military-industrial complex.” Both had a vested interest in the continuation of the Cold War and the escalation of the hot war in Vietnam. President Kennedy wanted to end both conflicts; that was why he had to be assassinated. The shift in Garrison’s line went largely unnoticed at first—except at the CIA, which was monitoring the DA’s every utterance. As Rocca observed in a March 1968 memo, “Garrison has now reached the ultimate point in the logic of his public statements…. This is by and large the Moscow line.” For a fleeting moment, Rocca, one of the Agency’s most esteemed counterintelligence experts, seemed to be musing about the possibility of a Soviet hand in all that had happened, given that the statement fit so neatly with Moscow’s known goals. But Rocca’s insight never went further than this brief speculation.[51] Around the same time in 1968, Garrison began to recognize that an adverse legal outcome would detract from what he had achieved in the public mind. Many of his key assistants didn’t believe the accusations about CIA involvement; moreover, none of them could be proved in court. While expressing confidence that the Shaw indictment would never actually be tested in a courtroom, Garrison remarked to Tom Bethell, one of his investigators, that we have “made our point.”[52] On this one issue, the undesirability of a trial, the CIA was in complete agreement with its New Orleans nemesis. The Agency vastly preferred no trial, even if it meant Garrison prattling on forever about CIA involvement, uncontradicted by a decisive verdict. By the time Shaw finally achieved his day in court on 21 January 1969, he was probably the only party who wanted to be there. The Trial The trial lasted 35 days. Despite two years’ worth of allegations and a specific promise of testimony that would “rock the nation,” Garrison’s case was remarkably unchanged from the loopy account presented at Shaw’s preliminary hearing in March 1967. As such, it was decidedly anticlimactic. Nonetheless, the Agency’s apprehension was palpable throughout the trial. It closely monitored news accounts and ran name-checks on the jurors and some witnesses. Officers were in attendance throughout. The prosecution, to the Agency’s surprise, never mentioned the CIA in the courtroom. The stance of the lead prosecutor, James Alcock, was probably decisive in this regard. No one on Garrison’s staff had belittled the notion of CIA complicity more than Alcock.[53] The closest Garrison came to articulating his conspiracy theory about CIA involvement was during the summation, when he appealed to the jury to deliver a message to those who had plotted the coup d’état.[54] The jurors were not impressed, and rendered a unanimous verdict of “not guilty” after deliberating 54 minutes. Ultimately, it had been left to Shaw’s attorneys to raise the issue that had caused such anxiety within CIA headquarters for two years. They did so with dispatch, in one question during direct examination of their client. “Have you ever worked for the Central Intelligence Agency?” asked lead defense attorney F. Irvin Dymond. “No, I have not,” replied Clay Shaw, reserving for himself a small kernel of truth that no one else in the courtroom needed to know.[55] Bittersweet Victory A “glorious, a wonderful, a sweet, and a very grand victory,” one of the defense lawyers called it. Yet for Shaw, relief was short-lived. Within 48 hours, Garrison rearrested Shaw on two counts of perjury, neither of which pertained to Dymond’s question. If convicted, he faced a 20-year prison sentence. Garrison’s private correspondence right after the verdict makes clear that he hadn’t wavered from the conviction that Shaw was an “important CIA operative,” although he still never uttered those words in public. With the media now firmly on Shaw’s side—even the New Orleans States-Item had done an about-face after the verdict—the defendant’s lawyers allowed their client to begin speaking publicly. That openness resulted in the most expansive answer Shaw would ever give on the subject of the Paese Sera allegation. Still, he chose to keep concealed his unpaid cooperation with the DCS. The idea [behind the CMC] was to have one place where buyers coming into the Common Market area would find all the Common Market countries represented in one (trade) center…. It turned out to be either badly planned or badly organized and it closed very shortly, and that was the last I ever heard of it. I never heard that it was a CIA operation and I don’t know that it was…. Other than what I’ve told you, I know nothing more about the Centro Mondiale Commerciale. I have never had any connection with the CIA.[56] In 1971, Shaw’s lawyers reached a court willing to put an end to Garrison’s abuse of prosecutorial authority. On 27 May, Federal Judge Herbert W. Christenberry enjoined Garrison from prosecuting the perjury charges and, for that matter, ever hauling Shaw into a courtroom again in connection with the Kennedy assassination.[57] The CIA let loose a sigh of relief along with the long-suffering defendant. The Agency had been cautiously following the case all the while, even though it no longer generated adverse headlines—in fact, it was getting almost no headlines at all. “Looks like Mr. Garrison is on the ropes and will have all he can do to keep the hornets away,” noted DCS Director Murphy in October 1971, as he officially closed the file.[58] Garrison’s pursuit of Shaw was now widely regarded as a legal farce and a fraud. The episode had even precipitated a bitter split among the many critics of the Warren Commission report on the assassination, nearly all of whom had flocked to Garrison’s side in 1967. Now many of them considered the Orleans Parish DA to be the Joe McCarthy of their cause. Just as the Wisconsin senator disgraced anti-Communism by making reckless charges that ruined innocent peoples’ lives, they believed that Garrison had irrevocably set back the case against the Warren Report by persecuting an innocent man. Battle Over Perceptions Although 1971 marked the nadir of Garrison’s legal quest, the Agency was mistaken in assuming that the struggle over public perceptions had ended. An abject failure in courts of law, Garrison’s probe achieved a latent triumph in the court of public opinion. The DA’s message became part and parcel of what has been called “the enduring power of the 1960s in the national imagination.”[59] Garrison triumphed in this sphere partly because his thirst for vindication was unlimited. He sloughed off Christenberry’s decision and adopted the position that the validity of his investigation ought not to be judged on its legal results. To anyone who would listen, he claimed that the “company” (a.k.a. the CIA) was the all-powerful entity that had thwarted his investigation. The defiant mood in the DA’s camp was captured in a 10 July 1971 letter to Garrison from Ralph Schoenman, Bertrand Russell’s former personal secretary and a like-minded conspiracy theorist who remained staunchly supportive. Schoenman proposed the strategy that Garrison would eventually pursue. I have thought about the situation with the company right now. One of their primary objectives is to keep you off balance, defensive, always on the run from them and never able to pause sufficiently to regain the offensive…. Paradoxically, by stopping you from using the courts against Shaw, they have FREED you to put the case into a book. Now it cannot be considered sub judice or prejudicial to a trial. So, I suggest urgently that we take the offensive. Let’s get out a book, hard and fast, which nails the case against Shaw that we couldn’t get into the courts…. let’s put THEM on the defensive by blowing the Shaw case sky high with a muck-raking book that closes in on the company even closer.[60] Before Garrison could follow Schoenman’s advice, however, the DA had to contend with a $5 million dollar lawsuit lodged by Shaw, although his finances were so depleted that he could barely afford to file. The retired businessman had retained four lawyers and a small army of private investigators to keep pace with Garrison. Shortly after giving his first deposition, Shaw died in August 1974, his lifespan doubtlessly shortened by having his world shattered. As the episode faded from view, the Paese Sera articles became akin to the Dead Sea scrolls of the investigation, an inner secret shared by Garrison’s shrinking band of die-hard believers. Shaw was a “high-ranking CIA operative in Italy” and the Paese Sera articles proved it. Within this small circle of pro-Garrison conspiracy buffs, the DA was the person who had been martyred, victimized by the vast but hidden power of “the company”andits “disinformation machinery.” The alleged link between Shaw and the CIA became a staple of conspiracy books published in the post-Vietnam, post-Watergate era.[61] In December 1973, former CIA officer Victor Marchetti went public with information that fanned the embers. Marchetti, executive assistant to the Deputy Director of CIA before his 1969 resignation, had been present at several high‑level meetings in which DCI Helms expressed sympathy for Shaw’s predicament. Marchetti overheard Helms instructing General Counsel Houston to help Shaw, consistent with the Agency’s interests. Marchetti aired this information shortly before publishing his 1974 exposé, The CIA and the Cult of Intelligence. In keeping with his now-antagonistic relationship with the Agency, he couched the disclosure in such a way as to suggest that it was just as likely that the CIA had concealed a nefarious connection with Shaw as an innocuous one.[62] Unfounded assertions of CIA complicity were bolstered inadvertently by a series of investigations of the Intelligence Community in the 1970s. The 1975 Rockefeller Commission report was followed by the 1976 report of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the 1979 report of the House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA). All examined the CIA’s activities both before and after Kennedy’s assassination, and, in the case of HSCA, specifically looked into Shaw’s supposed role as a high-ranking operative. The bottom line in each instance gave no credence to any of Garrison’s allegations about Shaw and the CIA. Inexorably, however, the mere fact that such questions were asked helped fashion Garrison into something of a prophet in the public mind.[63] In 1979, Shaw’s link to the CIA was dredged up again when former DCI Helms gave a deposition in a libel case. The lawsuit involved a 1975 book entitled Coup d’état in America: The CIA and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy, yet another book that had swallowed the Paese Sera deception.[64] Although not party to the suit, Helms was deposed by the defendants’ attorney. Under oath, he divulged the kernel of truth that the Agency and Shaw had struggled to keep secret when Garrison’s probe was at its height. Helms accurately described Shaw’s contact with the CIA from 1948 to 1956: at “one time, as a businessman, (Shaw) was one of the part-time contacts of the Domestic Contact Division.”[65] Garrison, by then a Louisiana state judge, pounced on Helms’s disclosure and distorted it. Garrison wrote in his memoir that the disclosure represented “confirmation…that Clay Shaw had been an agent.”[66] Losing the Fight Bolstered by these developments, Garrison tried to implement the advice rendered by Schoenman in 1971: write a “muckraking book” that would bring the Shaw-CIA connection front and center. It took Garrison more than four years to find a publisher for his memoir, although he hawked it with a promise to reveal, for the first time, the actual CIA hand in the assassination. Fifteen major publishers rejected the manuscript. Finally the memoir found a home at a small New York-based press, which printed On the Trail of the Assassins in 1988. For the first time, Garrison made explicit the connection between his grand conspiracy theory and Shaw’s link to the CIA (Paese Sera’s version). To explain why he had not made the affiliation known when it presumably might have counted—during the trial—Garrison claimed that he did not learn about Shaw’s CIA activities in Italy until after 1969.[67] None of this seemed to matter, least of all to the CIA, until the publisher of Garrison’s memoir thrust a copy into the hands of filmmaker Oliver Stone during an international film festival in Cuba.[68] That chance encounter eventually led to the endorsement of Paese Sera’s disinformation by a major Hollywood film, JFK. In the movie, Garrison (portrayed by Kevin Costner) confronts Shaw (played by Tommy Lee Jones) with an Italian newspaper article exposing Shaw’s role as a CIA operative. The confrontation, of course, never occurred in real life; yet the scene captures a hidden historical truth. The epicenter of Garrison’s prosecution, and the wellspring for his ultimate theory of the assassination, was the DA’s belief in a fantasy published by a Communist-owned Italian newspaper.[69] According to one historian who admires Stone, the movie JFK probably “had a greater impact on public opinion than any other work of art in American history” save Uncle Tom’s Cabin.[70] While that may be hyperbole, not many Hollywood films can claim to have generated new legislation. JFK ignited a public clamor for millions of pages of documents that had been “suppressed” as part of the government’s alleged massive cover-up. In response, Congress passed a sweeping statute in 1992, the President John F. Kennedy Records Collection Act, which forced open all federal records relating to the assassination and an unexpected amount of state, local, and private records as well—including those of the former Orleans Parish district attorney. The law directed that these documents be catalogued and housed at the National Archives. Oliver Stone likes to assign full credit for the legislation to his film, which is something of an exaggeration. The coincidental end of the Cold War also played a critical role in the enactment and implementation of the 1992 law. More disingenuously, Stone claims that while the records declassified by the statute have not produced a “smoking gun,” they have opened “a clear historical record of a cover-up taking place.”[71] In truth, one legacy of Stone’s JFK is an altogether ironic one. Far from validating the film’s hero, the new documents have finally lifted the lid on the disinformation that was at the core of Jim Garrison’s unrelenting probe. The declassified CIA records document that everything in the Paese Sera story was a lie, and, simultaneously, reveal the genuine nature and duration of Clay Shaw’s innocuous link to the CIA. These same records explain why the CIA never responded appropriately to the disinformation, as it had in Helms’s 1961 Senate testimony and would later do in swift response to such schemes in the 1980s. Finally, the personal files turned over by Garrison’s family underline the profound impact that one newspaper clipping had on a mendacious district attorney adept at manipulating the Zeitgeist of the late 1960s. [1] Senate Judiciary Committee, Communist Forgeries (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1961). In September 1961, “Communist Forgeries” became the first Senate hearing ever translated into three foreign languages (Spanish, French, and Italian). [2] Ibid., pp. 2-4. [3] “Preparato in accordo con Washington il colpo di stato militare in Algeria?” Paese Sera, 22-23 April 1961. [4] “Communist Forgeries,” pp. 2-4. [5] “Paris Rumors on C.I.A.,” The New York Times, 2 May 1961, and “French Minister Tries to Halt Rumors of U. S. Role in Mutiny,” The New York Times, 6 May 1961. [6] “Communist Forgeries,” pp. 2-3. [7] The KGB’s emphasis on dezinformatsiya as a particularly useful “active measure” (the Soviet term for covert activities) is a staple in intelligence literature. Among the earliest reliable accounts is Ladislav Bittman, The Deception Game: Czechoslovak Intelligence in Soviet Political Warfare (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Research Corporation, 1972). See also Vladislav M. Zubok, “Spy vs. Spy: The KGB vs. the CIA, 1960-1962,” Cold War International History Project Bulletin, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC, Issue 4, Fall 1994, pp. 22-33. [8] Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Secrecy: The American Experience (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1998), pp. 219-220. On the 30th anniversary of the assassination, according to national polls cited by Moynihan, three-quarters of those surveyed believed the CIA had murdered the President. [9] Lee Harvey Oswald, the accused assassin, had lived in New Orleans for five months prior to the murder, which provided the pretext for Garrison’s probe. [10] For the circumstances of Shaw’s arrest, see Patricia Lambert, False Witness: The Real Story of Jim Garrison’s Investigation (New York: M. Evans, 1998). At the time of the arrest, Garrison had no knowledge of any actual or presumed link between Shaw and the CIA. [11] Commission on CIA Activities Within the United States, Report to the President (Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, June 1975), pp. 208-210. [12] Subject: Clay L. Shaw, Enclosure 21, Microfilm, Box 23, HSCA Segregated CIA Collection (hereafter HSCA/CIA Collection), John F. Kennedy Assassination Records Collection, National Archives (hereafter JFK NARA). See also Information Report No. 00-B-9381, Central Intelligence Agency, 27 December 1948, File JFK-M-04 (F2), Box 1, Miscellaneous CIA Series (hereafter CIA Series), JFK NARA. Seven of Shaw’s reports are contained in this file. [13] Memo to Director, DCS, from Chief, New Orleans Office, re Clay Shaw, 3 March 1967, JFK-M-04 (F3), Box 1, CIA Series; Memorandum re Garrison Investigation: Queries from Justice Department, 28 September 1967, Box 6, Russell Holmes Papers; various Information Reports, JFK-M-04 (F2), Box 1, CIA Series—all JFK NARA. [14] Memo to Chief, New Orleans Office, from Chief, Contact Division, re Case 20791, 4 June 1956, JFK-M-04 (F2), Box 1, CIA Series, JFK NARA. [15] Memo, Director, DCS, from Chief, New Orleans Office, 3 March 1967, JFK-M-04 (F3), Box 1, CIA Series, JFK NARA. [16] “Clay Shaw (arrestato per Kennedy) ha svolto un’oscura attività a Roma,” (“Clay Shaw Carried Out Obscure Activity in Rome”) Paese Sera, 4 March 1967. The “scoop” ran for three successive days in Paese Sera. An accurate description of the CMC’s purposes is found in “Rome’s Trade Center—How It Came To Be,” Chicago Daily Tribune, 17 September 1960. [17] On 14 February 1967, Ramparts and The New York Times simultaneously revealed that the National Students Association had knowingly accepted cash subsidies from the CIA. See Michael Warner, “Sophisticated Spies: CIA’s Links to Liberal Anti-Communists, 1949-1967,” International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, Vol. 9, No. 4, Winter 1996/97, pp. 425-433; Sig Mickelson, America’s Other Voice: The Story of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty (New York: Praeger, 1983), pp. 121-124; and Cord Meyer, Facing Reality: From World Federalism to the CIA (New York: Harper & Row, 1980), pp. 85-94. In addition to lending the Paese Sera story credence, the Ramparts exposé may have helped precipitate the disinformation to begin with. [18] Corriere della Sera, for example, ran a story on 5 March entitled “Shaw fu nel consiglio di un centro economico di Roma,” (“Shaw Was on the Council of an Economic Center in Rome”) that did not mention the CIA at all. [19] “Clay Shaw a travaillé à Rome pour les services US d’espionnage,” (“Clay Shaw Worked in Rome for US Intelligence”), l’Humanité, 8 March 1967. [20] “Vasta eco alle rivelazioni di Paese Sera sull’attivita italiana di Clay Shaw,” (“Vast Echos from Paese Sera’s Revelations on the Italian Activities of Clay Shaw”), Paese Sera, 6 March 1967. It is possible, of course, that the stories simply reflected sloppy and sensational journalism rather than intentional disinformation. Yet one of the entries pertaining to Italy from the so-called “Mitrokhin archive” suggests a KGB provenance. Vasili Mitrokhin, the former KGB archivist who defected to Britain in 1992, brought with him 25,000 pages of handwritten notes about highly sensitive documents. One brief note refers to a disinformation scheme in 1967 that involved Paese Sera and resulted in publication of a false story in New York. See Max Holland, “The Demon in Jim Garrison,” Wilson Quarterly, Vol. XXV, No. 2, Spring 2001. [21] Though not the official organ, Paese Sera was a proprietary company of the Gruppo Editoriale PCI, and thus owned by the Italian Communist Party. Gaetano Fusaroli, Giornali in Italia (Parma, Italy: Guanda Editore, 1974), pp. 300-301. [22] Memo for Chief, CI/R&A, “Trace Results on Persons Connected with Centro Mondiale Commerciale,” 24 March 1967; and “Subject: Clay L. Shaw,” Enclosure 21; both in Microfilm Box 23, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. Counterintelligence officers retrieved Italian coverage of the story as it appeared in Corriere della Sera and Il Messaggero, but not the seminal Paese Sera article. [23] Memo from Rocca to Houston, 1 March 1968, Box 85, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. Though outdated, the best work on Soviet exploitation of the assassination remains Armand Moss, Disinformation, Misinformation, and the ‘Conspiracy’ to Kill JFK Exposed (Hamden, CT: Archon Books, 1987). See also Christopher Andrew & Vasili Mitrokhin, The Sword and the Shield: The Mitrokhin Archive and the Secret History of the KGB (New York: Basic Books, 1999), pp. 225-230. [24] “New questions raised on JFK killing,” National Guardian, 18 March 1967. The New York-based Guardian may well have been the publication referenced in the note from the Mitrokhin archives. [25] Memo to Chief, New Orleans, from Director, DCS, 20 March 1967, JFK-M-04 (F2), Box 1, CIA Series, JFK NARA. [26] “Clay Shaw a travaillé à Rome pour les services U.S. d’espionnage,” l’Humanité, 8 March 1967. [27] “Dick Billings’s Personal Notes on Consultations and Interviews with Garrison,” p. 25, Richard Billings File, Assassination Archives and Research Center, Washington, DC. [28] “The Case That Never Was: Former Aides Attack Garrison’s Case Against Shaw,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 20 November 1983. When asked in this article why aides opposed Shaw’s prosecution, Garrison said that most of his assistants were not privy to the behind-the-scene workings of his inquiry. [29] Letter, Garrison to Russell, 27 August 1967, New Orleans Public Library Microfilm #92-83, JFK NARA. [30] James Phelan, “A Plot to Kill Kennedy? Rush to Judgment in New Orleans,” Saturday Evening Post, Vol. CCXL, 6 May 1967, pp. 21-25. [31] Interview with Rosemary James, 24 February 2000, and interview with Ross Yockey, 1 March 2000. James and Yockey were two of the five reporters credited with writing the story. [32] “A Newspaper Links ‘Plot’ Figure to C.I.A.,” The New York Times, 26 April 1967. [33] Billings’s Notes, p. 27, Assassination Archives and Research Center, Washington, DC. [34] 4 Memo for Assistant Deputy Director for Plans from Rocca, 26 April 1967, Box 6, Russell Holmes Papers, JFK NARA. [35] The Times-Picayune and States-Item published these allegations, and many others involving the CIA, during the months of May and June 1967. [36] See, for example, Memorandum No. 7, Re Garrison and the Kennedy Assassination, 13 September 1967, Box 6, Russell Holmes Papers, JFK NARA. In point of fact, Garrison was ignorant of the Shaw-DCS relationship and would remain so for the duration. [37] Memorandum, Garrison TV Interviews of 21 May 1967 and 28 May 1967, Box 84, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. [38] Memorandum for the Record, Garrison Group Meeting No. 1, 20 September 1967, Box 46, Russell Holmes Papers, JFK NARA. [39] Memorandum, Garrison TV Interviews of 21 May 1967 and 28 May 1967, Box 84, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. [40] Memorandum No. 3, Garrison and the Kennedy Assassination, 1 June 1967, Box 84, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. [41] A July 1968 letter to Senator Richard Russell from DCI Helms is an excellent summary of the CIA’s perception of the Garrison probe. Nowhere does Helms mention a disinformation scheme as the wellspring of Garrison’s accusations against the Agency. Letter, Helms to Russell with Attachment “Jim Garrison and the CIA,” 24 July 1968, Box 85, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. [42] Memo for the Record, Report Concerning Garrison-Kennedy-CIA, 1 May 1967, Box 84, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. Miller’s source was Walter Sheridan, then a reporter for NBC News and formerly a top aide to Attorney General Robert Kennedy. [43] “Oswald Depicted as CIA Agent, Sources Here Say,” New Orleans Times-Picayune, 6 May 1967. [44] Memorandum for Executive Director-Comptroller, re Garrison Investigation, 18 September 1967, Box 85, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. [45] Draft Memorandum for the Record, 25 September 1967, Box 85, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. [46] Cable to New Orleans from Office of General Counsel, 29 September 1967, Box 86, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. [47] Memorandum No. 7, Re Garrison and the Kennedy Assassination, 13 September 1967, Box 6, Russell Holmes Papers, JFK NARA. [48] Memorandum for the Director from Lawrence Houston, 2 October 1967, Box 85, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. [49] Ibid. [50] Memorandum for Director, FBI, 2 March 1968, re Garrison and the Kennedy Assassination: Interview of Garrison on Dutch TV, 1 March 1968, Box 85, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. [51] Memo from Rocca to Houston, 1 March 1968, Box 85, HSCA/CIA Collection, JFK NARA. [52] “Tom Bethell Diary,” 9 March 1968, Box 3, Edward Wegmann Papers, JFK NARA. [53] Ibid., 22 February 1968. [54] Jim Garrison’s Closing Argument, 28 February 1969, State of Louisiana vs. Clay L. Shaw, Criminal District Court, Parish of Orleans, State of Louisiana, 198-059, Box 5, Jim Garrison Papers, JFK NARA. [55] Lambert, p. 153. [56] Clay Shaw Interview, Penthouse, November 1969, pp. 34-35. [57] Lambert, pp. 174-175. [58] Memo to Chief, Dallas Field Office, from Director, DCS, 6 October 1971, File JFK-M-04(F3), Box 1, CIA Series, JFK NARA. [59] “Steal This Myth: Why We Still Try to Re-Create the Rush of the 60s,” The New York Times, 8 August 2000. [60] Letter, Schoenman to Garrison, 10 July 1971, New Orleans Public Library Microfilm, #92-83, JFK NARA. [61] See, for example, Robert Sam Anson, “They’ve Killed the President!” The Search for the Murderers of John F. Kennedy (New York: Bantam, 1975), p. 122; Robert D. Morrow, Betrayal(Chicago: Regnery, 1976), p. 92; and Bernard Fensterwald, Coincidence or Conspiracy? (New York: Zebra Books, 1977), pp. 452-453. [62] Zodiac News Service Press Release, 21 December 1973, File G-1396, World Trade Center, Box 8, Jim Garrison Papers, JFK NARA. [63] Joe Manguno, “Was Jim Garrison Right After All?” New Orleans, June 1976, and Richard Boyle, “The Strange Death of Clay Shaw,” True, April 1975. [64] Michael Canfield and Alan J. Weberman, Coup d’état in America: the CIA and the Assassination of John F. Kennedy (New York: Third Press, 1975), pp. 39-40. [65] Deposition of Richard McGarrah Helms, 1 June 1984, E. Howard Hunt, Jr., Plaintiff, v. Liberty Lobby, Inc., Defendant, No. 80-1121-Civ.-JWK, U.S. District Court, Southern District of Florida, Box 6, Jim Garrison Papers, JFK NARA. [66] Jim Garrison, On the Trail of the Assassins: My Investigation and Prosecution of the Murder of President Kennedy (New York: Sheridan Square Press, 1988), p. 276. [67] Ibid., p. 87. [68] Lambert, p. xiii. [69] To drive home the point, just before the credits roll a reference is made to Helms’s 1979 deposition. Rather than quoting Helms, or accurately characterizing Shaw as an unpaid and sporadic contact, the following words appear against a black screen. “In 1979, Richard Helms, director of covert operations in 1963, admitted under oath that Clay Shaw had worked for the CIA.” [70] Robert Brent Toplin, editor, Oliver Stone’s USA: Film, History, and Controversy (Lawrence, KN: University Press of Kansas, 2000), p. 174. [71] Ibid., p. 260. Max Holland is a Research Fellow at the Miller Center of Public Affairs, University of Virginia. His current book project—A Need to Know: Inside the Warren Commission—won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award for 2001. UNCLASSIFIED
Image caption Matt Smith popped up to thank the young adventurers for saving the Doctor and the world Doctor Who actor Matt Smith has made a surprise appearance in a highly acclaimed "immersive" theatre production based on the TV show. Smith appeared in character in front of 25 fans aged 9-12 at a performance of The Crash of the Elysium at the Manchester International Festival. The show puts the audience at the heart of a Doctor Who adventure and are told it is up to them to save the world. Smith is normally seen on screens but appeared in person on Friday. The Crash of the Elysium, created by theatre company Punchdrunk, has earned a series of five-star reviews in national newspapers. The audience members are told to wear chemical decontamination suits as they are led through a series of rooms by actors dressed as soldiers, looking for clues and being chased by the Doctor's enemies. Smith said the show was "a marriage made in creative space heaven". "I've always watched Punchdrunk shows and marvelled at their inventiveness and individuality," he said. "Put that together with Doctor Who and there is a wonderful template to tell unique stories in unique ways. The Doctor would definitely approve." The Crash of the Elysium is one of the highlights of the Manchester International Festival, which ends on Sunday and also involves new works by Victoria Wood, Damon Albarn and Marina Abramovic.
A new study has revealed that only a quarter of female Marine recruits are passing the gender-neutral physical tests required for ground combat jobs. The Marine Corps Times reported Friday that, according to recently released data from Training and Education Command, less than 1 percent of Marine recruits joining to train in combat arms career fields this year were women. Of the women who did join the training, 75 percent failed to meet the physical standards necessary and were forced to take non-combat jobs. The Marine Corps Times reported that between Oct. 1 and May 31, 51 female recruits entered boot camp and took the Military Occupational Specialty Classification Standard test. Only 13 of them, or 25 percent, managed to meet the physical requirements for front-line combat jobs. Meanwhile, the Times said that data showed that 7,264 of 7,552 of male recruits passed the tests. This means 96 percent of men who showed up for the same jobs as the women passed the standard physical requirement. The Times broke down where the failures for women occurred. Of the 38 who failed, 17 fell short of the physical combat support MOS standards, 12 failed the infantry MOS standards, six failed for combat engineer MOS standards, and three failed for fire direction and control. According to the Times, the data for 2017 matches the data for 2016. That year, only 25 percent of women made it through the physical tests for ground combat jobs, while 96 percent of men passed the same tests. The opportunity for women to serve in front-lines ground combat roles began in January 2016. A 2015 study by the Marine Corps utilized both men and women Marine volunteers to study the effects of women in front-line combat roles. The study noted that all-male combat units performed better across the board than mixed units in the field. According to the study, the all-male units were faster, more lethal, and able to evacuate their wounded at a faster rate. As NPR's Pentagon correspondent Tom Bowman explained during a September 2015 interview that the Corps added one or two women to various units and put them trough trials in the Mojave Desert: What the Marines did was they put together this unit of men and women — 100 women, 300 men. And they put them through realistic combat scenarios in the Mojave Desert and then up in the mountains of California along the seacoast and outside of Camp Pendleton. And they broke them down into small units, so they had an all-male unit and then a unit with one woman and then a unit with two women. And they found that the all-male units, compared to the mixed-gender units, did much better across the board.
Magic Internet Money: How a Reddit ad made Bitcoin hit $1000 and inspired South Park’s art department. Paul Bars Blocked Unblock Follow Following Feb 12, 2017 February 18, 2013 (1 BTC = $26) Bitcoin subreddit moderator /u/theymos created a thread asking the community to submit ideas for a Reddit ad for /r/bitcoin. Within an hour of the request, /u/mavensbot introduced to the world an MS Paint drawing of the Magic Internet Money Wizard. Little did they know the influence it would soon have in not only growing the subreddit and becoming the most popular Reddit ad ever, but also being one of the key factors in Bitcoin reaching a valuation of over $1000. First draft of the Reddit Ad. Final submitted version. Why use MS Paint? Was he being lazy and not taking the matter seriously? Shouldn’t he have used Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign instead and followed one of the countless design tips that creatives and agencies live by? F*** no! If you were to hire a marketing agency with a team of graphic designers and task them of creating an ad to promote the subreddit, the results would have been no where near what he created. You would have probably gotten an overly thought out abstract concept. Billed a 5 figure sum. And then spent the next 2 months trying to convince yourself that the ad was a success. November 6, 2013 (1 BTC = $287) The Magic Internet Money Reddit ad goes live. The subreddit at the time had ~56k subscribers. /r/bitcoin ad as seen on Reddit’s front page. The pure simplistic design of the ad caught the eye of the Reddit users visiting the front page of the internet and peaked their curiosity. Traffic to the subreddit page grew. People educated themselves on this decentralized currency, saw the benefits, and began investing in it. By the end of the day, Bitcoin value reached over $300. November 9, 2013 (1 BTC = $325) South Park’s art department drafts their hand drawn flyer of Cartman, the Wizard King, that was to be used in episode 7 of season 17 titled Black Friday. November 13, 2013 (1 BTC = $416) The episode is aired and /r/Bitcoin users noticed that South Park paid homage to the Magic Internet Money ad. Source: Comedy Central/South Park s17e07 Black Friday Mere coincidence? I think not! Reddit was and still is one of the most popular websites in the USA. The chances that South Park’s creative team saw the ad and got inspired are very high. Here is an in depth analysis and highly detailed comparison of both ads. The resemblance is uncanny. In depth analysis and comparison. November 29, 2013 (1 BTC = $1,132) 22 days after the ad was published, /r/bitcoin had ~74k subscribers, a 36% increase, and Bitcoin reaches a new record high. The world celebrates.
امدادرسانی به ٣٠٠٠تن در برف و کولاک امدادگران هلال‌احمر در مدت ٤٨ساعت به ٢‌هزارو٩٠٨ تن که در برف و کولاک گرفتار شده بودند، خدمات امدادی ارایه کردند و ١٣١ مسافر در راه مانده را اسکان دادند.در این بین ماموران راهداری درحین عملیات برف‌روبی و نمک‌پاشی در محور توریستی کندوان، به کمک خودروی گرفتار در برف و کولاک در این منطقه شتافتند که سرنشینان آن زوج استرالیایی بودند. وقتی ماموران راهداری با این زوج توریست گرفتار در برف برخورد کردند، بلافاصله عملیات نجات را کلید زدند. تیم راهداری به این دونفر لباس گرم دادند و آنها را در کمال صحت و آرامش با دستگاه برف‌روبی اداره به روستای کندوان انتقال دادند.رئیس اداره راه‌وشهرسازی اسکو با بیان این‌که ارتفاع برف تاکنون در برخی محورها به بیش از ٨٠سانتی‌متر رسیده که با وزش باد و کولاک شدید همراه است، اظهار داشت: این زوج خارجی از تمام راهداران فهیم و زحمتکش شهرستان اسکو که در آن لحظه در محور کندوان حضور داشتند، تشکر و قدردانی کرد و اظهار داشتند این روز برایشان خاطره‌ای هرچند کمی سرد ولی بسیار شیرین و جذاب بود که تا آخر عمر فراموشش نخواهند کرد. شقاقی گفت: در محور کندوان امکان دید تا بیش از یک‌متر میسر نبود و با تلاش‌های مجدانه و مستمر راهداران تمام کسانی که در کولاک و برف‌گیر افتاده بودند، صحیح و سالم نجات پیدا کردند.از صبح روز دوشنبه پنجم بهمن‌ماه تا صبح روز چهارشنبه هفتم بهمن‌ماه ١٥ استان آذربایجان‌ شرقی و غربی، اردبیل، ایلام، خراسان‌رضوی، زنجان، فارس، قزوین، کردستان، کرمانشاه، کهگیلویه وبویراحمد، گیلان، لرستان، مازندران و همدان تحت‌تأثیر برف و کولاک بوده‌اند. در این مدت امدادگران هلال‌احمر در ٢٨ محور مواصلاتی خدمات لازم به هموطنان ارایه کردند و درمجموع ٢‌هزارو٩٠٨ تن از خدمات امدادی لازم بهره بردند. این درحالی است که امدادگران به ١٣١ تن از هموطنان متاثر از برف و کولاک، اسکان اضطراری دادند. همچنین در دو روز گذشته ٦تن که چهارنفر آنها مادر باردار بودند، به مراکزدرمانی منتقل شدند. همچنین برای ٧١٢ خودرو عملیات رهاسازی از برف انجام شد.بنابر اعلام روابط عمومی جمعیت هلال‌احمر، سلیمی قائم‌مقام سازمان امدادونجات با اشاره به بکارگیری ٦٣ تیم شامل ٢٣٥ امدادگر و نجاتگر برای خدمت‌رسانی به مردم گفت: براین اساس ٢٤٥ بسته غذایی، ١٥کیلوگرم خرما و ٢٣٠ تخته پتو میان متاثران از برف و کولاک توزیع شده است.

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