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Former French ambassador Boris Boillon (pictured) was arrested on July 31 at Paris’s Gare du Nord station, it emerged on Friday, as he attempted to board a train to Brussels with more than 350,000 euros in cash. ADVERTISING Read more Former French ambassador Boris Boillon was arrested on July 31 at Paris’s Gare du Nord station, as he attempted to board a train to Brussels carrying more than 350,000 euros in cash, it emerged on Friday. It seems like a spectacular fall from grace for a man who enjoyed such an illustrious political career. Fluent in Arabic, he served as his country’s ambassador in both Iraq and Tunisia. Former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi referred to him as “my son,” and ex-French president Nicolas Sarkozy, for whom he worked as an advisor, affectionately called him “my little Arab”. Boillon was stopped by customs as part of a routine check, according to the French investigative website Mediapart, which broke the story. When asked if he had any currency on him, the ex-diplomat said nothing about the hundreds of thousands of euros in his bag. A major faux-pas considering that French law requires all people entering or leaving the country to declare any sum of money equal to or exceeding the amount of 10,000 euros. Boillon’s bag was subsequently searched, and lo and behold, it was stuffed with envelopes of cash. A simple explanation? The 43-year-old said that the cash was payment for past consulting work, which he claims nets him around 500,000 euros per year. “It’s money that I made this year in Iraq from the services I provide to Iraqi companies,” Boillon said, according to an excerpt of his testimony obtained by Mediapart. “Because Iraq lacks a developed banking system, these companies wired me the cash to Paris.” Although Boillon lives in an affluent suburb of Brussels, his offices are based in Paris. As to why he was travelling without a passport, Boillon explained that he had simply forgot his ID papers at home. “I had come to Paris that morning, just for the day because I wasn’t comfortable with the money stashed away in my office, and another part buried next to my cellar. I wanted to take care of the situation as soon as possible,” Boillon explained. An investigation into the incident has since been opened. It remains to be seen, however, if French customs will believe Boillon’s simple explanation.
Speech The World Economy and Australia Glenn Stevens Governor Address to The American Australian Association luncheon, hosted by Goldman Sachs New York, USA – Thank you to the American Australian Association for affording me the opportunity to speak again in New York. Thank you also to Goldman Sachs for hosting the event. The World Economy There are about as many indicators of the world economy as there are people studying it. My remarks will be fairly high-level, and since we have just had the IMF meetings, it seems appropriate to begin with the picture they present. The Fund's latest publication estimates that output in the world economy grew by 3.4 per cent in 2014 (Graph 1). This is a bit shy of the long-run average of 3.7 per cent, and actually fractionally above the previous estimate in October. The projections are for a slight pick-up in 2015 and around average growth in 2016. These figures are broadly in line with the private sector consensus. Most of the recent growth has come from the emerging world. As a group, the emerging world grew by 4½ per cent in 2014. China grew by about 7½ per cent, more or less as the authorities intended. It will probably grow by a little less in 2015; the IMF is saying below 7 per cent. But given its size now, China growing at 6–7 per cent would still be a major contributor to global growth. Indeed, the current projections have China contributing about the same growth in global output in 2015 and 2016 as it did in recent years. Meanwhile, growth looks to have picked up in India but softened in some other emerging markets. Graph 1 In the major advanced economies, in contrast, growth has generally been below previous averages for quite a number of years. It has taken longer to recover than we had all hoped. There are, happily, some signs of improvement at present. Growth is slowly recovering in the euro area and has resumed in Japan. In the United States, notwithstanding some recent softer numbers, the economy looks to have pretty reasonable momentum. So it would appear that we are heading in the right direction. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean the legacy of the 2008 crisis is yet behind us. From the vantage point of most central banks, the world could hardly, in some respects, look more unusual. Policy rates in the major advanced jurisdictions have been near zero for six years now. In fact, official deposit rates in the euro area and some other European countries are now negative. As it turns out, the ‘zero lower bound’ wasn't actually at zero. Central bank balance sheets in the three large currency areas have expanded by a total of about US$5½ trillion since 2007, and the ECB and Bank of Japan will add, between them, about another US$2½ trillion to that over the next couple of years. That central banks have had to take such extraordinary measures speaks both to the severity of the crisis that these countries faced and the limited capacity of other policies to support growth. History tells us that recovering from a financial crisis is an especially long and painful process, and more so if other countries are in the same boat. The direct effect of this unprecedented monetary easing has been to lower whole yield curves to extraordinarily low levels, and that process is continuing. The most pronounced effects can be seen in Europe. If one were to invest in German government debt for any duration short of nine years, one would be paying the German government to take one's money. The same can be said for Swiss government debt. Even some corporate debt in Europe has traded at negative yields. It seems likely that these European developments are also affecting long-term interest rates in the United States. These ultra-easy monetary policies have helped along the process of balance sheet repair, bringing households and businesses closer to the point where they can start to spend and hire and invest again. And, it has to be observed, it has made fiscal constraints on governments much less binding than they would otherwise have been. Lower interest rates also increase the value of assets that can be used as collateral. Banks' willingness to supply credit is affected by their balance sheet's strength, of course, but it seems to be improving even in Europe at present. For larger businesses with access to capital markets, borrowing terms have probably never been more favourable. Such policies are, then, working through the channels available to them to support demand. But these channels are financial in nature. They don't directly create demand in the way that, for example, government fiscal actions do. They work on the incentives for private savers, borrowers and investors to alter their financial behaviour and, it is hoped in time, their spending behaviour. A striking feature of the global economy, according to World Bank and OECD data, is the low rate of capital investment spending by businesses. In fact, the rate of investment to GDP seems to have had a downward trend for a long time. One potential explanation is that there is a dearth of profitable investment opportunities. But another feature that catches one's eye is that, post-crisis, the earnings yield on listed companies seems to have remained where it has historically been for a long time, even as the return on safe assets has collapsed to be close to zero (Graph 2). This seems to imply that the equity risk premium observed ex post has risen even as the risk-free rate has fallen and by about an offsetting amount. Perhaps this is partly explained by more sense of risk attached to future earnings, and/or a lower expected growth rate of future earnings. Graph 2 Or it might be explained simply by stickiness in the sorts of ‘hurdle rates’ that decision makers expect investments to clear. I cannot speak about US corporates, but this would seem to be consistent with the observation that we tend to hear from Australian liaison contacts that the hurdle rates of return that boards of directors apply to investment propositions have not shifted, despite the exceptionally low returns available on low-risk assets. The possibility that, de facto, the risk premium being required by those who make decisions about real capital investment has risen by the same amount that the riskless rates affected by central banks have fallen may help to explain why we observe a pick-up in financial risk-taking, but considerably less effect, so far, on ‘real economy’ risk-taking. Potential Vulnerabilities Whether this is best seen as a temporary increase in risk aversion, a genuine dearth of investment opportunities, evidence of monetary policy ‘pushing on a string’, a portent of secular stagnation, or just unusually long lags in the effects of policy, will probably be debated for some time yet. I don't pretend to know what that debate may conclude. In the meantime, we have to think about some of the vulnerabilities that may be associated with the build-up of financial risk-taking. This is one of the responsibilities of the Financial Stability Board, particularly (though not only) through its Standing Committee on Assessment of Vulnerabilities. Two factors stand out at present as potentially combining to heighten fragility at some point. The first arises from the sheer extent and longevity of the search for yield. As I have noted, compensation in financial instruments for various risks is very skinny indeed. Investors in the long-term debt of most sovereigns in the major countries are receiving very little – if any – compensation for inflation and only minimal compensation for term. Some model-based decompositions of bond yields suggest that term premia on US long-term debt and some sovereign debt in the euro area are actually negative. Compensation for credit risk is also narrow in many debt markets. Moreover, because the search for yield is a global phenomenon, considerable amounts of capital have flowed across borders. There is some evidence to suggest that as emerging country bond markets have developed, particularly in Asia, more issuers have been able to raise funds in their local currencies. This leaves the foreign exchange risk associated with the capital flows more with the investor rather than a local bank or corporate, which is a good development. Nonetheless, we don't have full visibility of those risks and there has been a notable build-up of debt overall in some emerging markets. The other factor of importance is a set of structural changes in capital markets, where there are two key features worth noting. One is the expanding role of asset managers. The search for yield, and the general tendency since the crisis for some intermediation activity to migrate to the non-bank sector, has resulted in large inflows to asset managers since the crisis. Yet liquidity – the ability to shift significant quantities of assets in a short period without large price movements – has probably declined, which is the second of the structural changes worth noting. Certainly the willingness of banks and others to act as market-makers in the way they did in the past will have diminished considerably. Now, of course, to some extent this is a result of the changes to financial regulation which have aimed to improve the robustness of the financial system. We should be clear that it was intended that the cost of liquidity provision in markets be more fully borne by investors. Liquidity was under-priced prior to the crisis. Nonetheless, the question is whether end-investors truly appreciate that the availability of liquidity in the system has declined. Good asset managers have sufficient liquidity holdings to meet redemptions that may occur over any short time period and will also offer appropriate redemption terms and so pose only limited risks to the broader financial system. But the cost of holding the most liquid assets in a world of very low returns overall may pressure some asset managers to hold less genuine liquidity than they might otherwise. Meanwhile, the amount of client funds being managed is much larger than it was and we don't know how all those investors will behave in a more stressed environment, should one eventuate. A key concern the official sector has is that investors may be assuming a degree of liquidity that will not actually be available in a more stressed situation. Putting all that together, we find a world where the banking system is much safer, but in capital markets some valuations are stretched, credit spreads are compressed, there has been significant cross-border capital flow and liquidity may be less available than investors are assuming. That raises the risk that a sell-off, were it to occur, could be abrupt. What might trigger such an event? The usual trigger people have in mind is a rise in US interest rates. The US economy now looks strong enough for the Federal Reserve to consider increasing its policy rate later in the year. In itself, this should be welcomed. And it will have been very well telegraphed. Understandably, the Fed is proceeding with the utmost caution. But it will also have been over nine years since the Fed previously raised interest rates. Some market participants won't have lived through a Fed tightening cycle before. Hence, it would not be surprising to see some bumps along this road. A second trigger could come from slower growth in emerging markets. Growth has already weakened in some economies, several of which have been bruised by falling commodity prices. Capital that flowed into emerging markets could flow out again, perhaps when interest rates begin to rise in the United States. That would probably occur alongside an appreciating US dollar. So the distribution of credit risk and foreign currency risk will be of considerable importance. One can easily see why investors could become less forgiving of borrowers on a shaky footing, be they corporates or sovereigns. A complicating factor here is that the rise in US interest rates looks set to occur while the central banks of Japan and Europe are continuing an aggressive easing of monetary policy via balance sheet measures. The combined Japanese and European ‘QE’ will be very substantial. The extent to which such funds will flow across borders will depend on which sorts of investors are ‘displaced’ from their sovereign debt holdings and what their risk appetites are. To the extent that funds do flow across borders, the proportions in which they flow to emerging markets, as opposed to the United States, will also be important. So there is a fair bit that we don't know, but need to learn, about this environment. It will be important for the officials thinking about these and other risks to continue an effective dialogue with private market participants over the period ahead. Australia These major global trends have certainly affected financial and economic conditions in Australia. We see the effects of the search for yield all around us. Short and long-term interest rates are at record lows, but are still attractive to some international investors. Foreign capital has been attracted not just to debt instruments but to physical assets. The demand for commercial property has been particularly strong and meant that prices have risen even as rental income has softened and the outlook for construction seems reasonably subdued. That raises some risks, which we discussed in our recent Financial Stability Review . We also noted the attention being given by APRA (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority) and ASIC (Australian Securities and Investments Commission) to risks in the housing market. APRA has announced benchmarks for a few aspects of banks' housing lending standards and both APRA and the Reserve Bank will be monitoring the effects of these measures carefully; at this stage, it is still too early to judge them. We can only say that over the past few months, the rate of growth of credit for housing has not picked up further. Overall, we think the Australian financial system is resilient to a range of potential shocks, be they from home or abroad. Banks' capital positions are sound and are being strengthened over time. They have little exposure to those economies that are under acute stress at present. Measures of asset quality – admittedly backward-looking ones – have been improving. But it is developments in the ‘real’ sector of the economy that, right at the minute, seem more in focus. The economy is continuing to adjust to the largest terms of trade episode it has faced in 150 years. As part of that adjustment, there has been a major expansion in the capital stock employed in the resources and energy sector, accomplished by exceptionally high rates of investment. These are now falling back quickly, exerting a major dampening effect on demand. There has been a major cycle in the exchange rate, which is still under way. There has been considerable change to the structure of the economy. This all happened as the major economies encountered the biggest financial crisis in several generations, with its very long-lasting after effects, and which also had an impact on Australian attitudes to spending and leverage. To say there have been some pretty powerful, and disparate, forces at work is something of an understatement, even for a central banker. At present, while growth in Australia's group of trading partners is about average, and is higher than the rate of growth for the world economy as a whole, the nature of that growth is shifting. The growth in Chinese demand for iron ore, for example, has weakened at the same time that supply has been greatly increased, much of it from Australia. Iron ore prices are therefore falling and contributing to a fall in Australia's terms of trade. As the terms of trade fall, and national income grows more slowly than it would have otherwise, adjustment is occurring in several ways: Incomes of those directly exposed to the resources sector, be it as employees, owners or service providers, are reduced. Nominal wages generally are lower than otherwise. The Australian dollar has declined and will very likely fall further yet, over time. This is one of the main ways that the lower national income is ‘transmitted’ to the population: purchasing power over foreign goods and services is reduced. At the same time, Australians receive some price incentives to substitute towards domestically produced goods and services. And the purchasing power of foreigners over the value added by Australian labour and capital is higher than otherwise. Saving by households, which rose when the terms of trade rose, is tending to decline as the terms of trade fall. This is a natural response to lower income growth and is being reinforced by easier monetary policy, which has reduced the return on safe financial assets. That said, the fact that many households already carry a considerable debt burden means that the extent to which they will be prepared to reduce saving to fund consumption may be less than it once was. More on this in a moment. As part of the same adjustment, government saving is increasing more slowly (more accurately, government dis-saving is lessening more slowly) than otherwise. This is more or less automatic to the extent that lower commodity prices directly reduce state and federal government revenues. More generally, the more reluctant households are to lower their saving and increase their spending the harder the government may find it to increase its saving. Macroeconomic policy is supporting the adjustment. On the fiscal front, the government has little choice but to accept the slower path of deficit reduction over the near term. But over the longer term, hard thinking still needs to occur about the persistent gap we are likely to see (under current policy settings) between the government's permanent income via taxes and its permanent spending on the provision of good and services. In the case of monetary policy, the Reserve Bank has been offering support to demand, consistent with its mandate as expressed by the medium-term inflation target. Relevant considerations of late include the fact that output is below conventional estimates of ‘potential’, aggregate demand still seems on the soft side as resources investment falls sharply, and unemployment is elevated and above most estimates of ‘natural rates’ or ‘NAIRUs’. And inflation is forecast to be consistent with the 2–3 per cent target. So interest rates should be quite accommodative and the question of whether they should be reduced further has to be on the table. What complicates the situation is that these are not the only pertinent facts. A good deal of the effect of easier monetary policy comes via the housing sector – through higher prices, which increase perceived wealth and encourage higher construction, through higher spending on durables associated with new dwellings, and so on. These are not the only channels but, according to research, together they account for quite a bit of the direct effects of easier monetary policy. And they do appear to be working, thus far. Housing starts will reach high levels this year and wealth effects do appear to be helping consumption, which is rising faster than income. But household leverage starts from a high level, having risen a great deal in the 1990s and early 2000s. The extent to which further increases in leverage should be encouraged is not easily answered, but nor can it be conveniently side-stepped. Even if we chose to ignore it, monetary policy's ability to support demand by inducing households to bring forward spending that would otherwise be done in future might well turn out to be weaker than it used to be. For a start, households already did a lot of that in the past and, in any event, future income growth itself looks lower than it did a few years ago. Then there are dwelling prices, which, at a national level, have already risen considerably from their previous lows, at a time when income growth has been slowing. Popular commentary is, in my opinion, too focused on Sydney prices and pays too little attention to the more disparate trends among the other 80 per cent of Australia. That said, it is hard to escape the conclusion that Sydney prices – up by a third since 2012 – look rather exuberant. Credit conditions are only one of several factors at work here. But credit conditions are very easy. So while the conduct of monetary policy can't allow these financial considerations to dominate the ‘real economy’ ones completely, nor can it simply ignore them. A balance has to be found. To this point, the balance that the Reserve Bank Board has struck has seen the policy rate held at what would once have been seen as extraordinarily low levels for quite a while now. The Board has, moreover, clearly signalled a willingness to lower it even further, should that be helpful in securing sustainable economic growth. The Board has been proceeding with a degree of caution that is appropriate in the circumstances. It also has, I would say, a realistic assessment of how much monetary policy can be expected to achieve in supporting the adjustment the economy needs to make. Any help in boosting sustainable growth from other policies would, of course, be welcome. In particular, things that could credibly be seen as lifting prospects for future income, and increasing confidence in those prospects, would give easy monetary policy a good deal more traction. In fact, that point generalises to the rest of the world. Across much of the world, too much weight is being put on monetary policy to try to achieve what it can't: a durable and sustainable increase in growth, in an environment where private leverage is already rather high or even too high. Monetary policy alone won't deliver that. This is probably a moment to recall the commitments we all made in the G20 meetings in Australia last year, as we agreed on the goal of an additional rise in global GDP of 2 per cent over five years. Those commitments were not actually about monetary policy; they were about other policies. It will be important this year, after one of the five years has passed, to see whether we are all making good on our various promises. More generally, actions which promote entrepreneurship, innovation, adaptation and skill-building, that reward ‘real’ risk-taking, while providing a stable macroeconomic environment and a well-functioning financial system, will best support our future wellbeing. Thank you.
A couple of months ago, I cited the example of upgraded Abrams tanks being shoved down the Pentagon’s throat by certain members of Congress because tank production = jobs back in the district. I followed that up with some historical background on congressional Pentagon pork-barreling that is discussed in former Reagan budget director David Stockman’s new book. Yesterday, a Wall Street Journal article on congressional resistance to reprioritizing military spending provided a new example: The battle over the Global Hawk is emblematic of the difficulty the Pentagon faces in trying to reduce its inventory while shifting its focus from the ground war in Afghanistan to emerging threats elsewhere. The Defense Department has sought to ground the fleet of 18 Global Hawk Block 30 drones, which has been used to conduct surveillance from Afghanistan to Libya. The Air Force says its piloted U-2 planes have better surveillance equipment for the job—and that ending the Global Hawk program can save $2.5 billion over the next four years. Lawmakers have not only rejected the Pentagon plans, but set aside $443 million to compel the Air Force to buy three more Global Hawks. On Tuesday, the Air Force said it is moving ahead with buying the drones even though it doesn’t want them. Northrop can rely on bipartisan support. The planes are built in the district represented by Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R., Calif.), who heads the Armed Services Committee, which will consider a plan to keep Global Hawk running through 2016.
Social game maker Zynga is rolling out the first major expansion for its uber-popular FarmVille game, which debuted back in June 2009 and has been played by hundreds of millions of Facebook users. We reported last month that Farmville was preparing the expansion, called FarmVille English Countryside, and it finally started rolling out to fans tonight. (At least I received my first invitations from friends tonight). Zynga typically rolls out its new games slowly to make sure everything is working right before it begins heavily promoting the game. This expansion is the biggest single change that Zynga has made to FarmVille. If Zynga gets this right, it could return FarmVille to its glory as the game with the biggest and most profitable audience in the world. The Facebook game is not exactly a sequel, as it uses the same Facebook application as the original FarmVille. It will allow fans to create a parallel farm alongside their existing one. But the new farm is entirely immersed in pretty English country landscapes and themes. After I accepted my invite, I landed in a farm that was in need of repair. As soon as I restored some crops, I was asked to send passports to my friends so they could join as well. Then I was asked to customize my farmer (and was given an opportunity to purchase a variety of clothes with Facebook Credits). Then I returned to fixing up my farm. The more I send messages to friends, the faster I can fix the farm and move on to the English Countryside expansion. Zynga certainly knows how to make its games spread like lightning. A central character to the expansion, “The Duke,” has given me some missions, such as writing post cards to friends. (The game crashed once while I was sending cards). I’m looking forward to meeting some English sheep. If there’s a big deal in this game expansion, it’s the sheep. Yes, while the original FarmVille lets you breed horses, in this game, you will be able to breed sheep. You can combine sheep of different colors and you’ll never guess what the resulting color will be for the baby lambs. Todd Arnold, general manager of FarmVille, told me in an earlier interview that this is an “innovative feature” of the game. I call it a mini-game. For most hardcore gamers, such puffery in the form of breeding sheep is what they hate about FarmVille, which drew considerable criticism as a farming simulation because it didn’t have much game play. But casual players loved it, and the game hit a peak of 83 million players in March, 2010. FarmVille is one of the most successful games in history, surpassed only by Zynga’s CityVille, which got as large as 100 million players. Mark Pincus, chief executive of Zynga, owes his billionaire status to the success of FarmVille. FarmVille became the talk of the industry because it proved that traditional game companies that focused on hardcore gamers weren’t thinking big enough; it took a scrappy startup like Zynga to imagine and create FarmVille and market the hell out of it to a receptive audience of older women. (Although maybe “imagine” isn’t the right word, since the inspiration for the game came from earlier games such as Farm Town, Chinese farm games that came before that, and the original farm game, Harvest Moon on the Nintendo DS). FarmVille has been in a steady decline as Zynga focused on launching other games such as FrontierVille and CityVille. The game now has 47 million monthly active users and 13 million daily active users. The decline was so steep that writer Peter Yared insisted that Zynga had better launch FarmVille 2. In FarmVille English Countryside, Zynga has added more story and more game play to address not the critics, Arnold said, but feedback from fans who wanted more things to do than raise crops. At the beginning of the new expansion, you meet the Duke, who flies in on an airship with a British flag on it. You have to repair the Duke’s airship and then his farm. Then you have to invite some Facebook friends to a bon voyage party (yes, that’s Zynga’s not-so-subtle way to make the game viral). After that, you can fly in his airship to England. There, you can start farming your own plot with all-new crops, equipment, buildings and decorations based on an English theme. But Arnold said that the good thing about FarmVille English Countryside is that it does not force fans of the current game to start over. All of your FarmVille coins and cash, your gift box, farm size and your level of achievement can transfer over to the English Countryside game. (I can see that my coins and my achievement level are updated). The missions and quests are similar to the story-based play that you can pursue in FrontierVille and CityVille. In this case, the Duke periodically shows up to give you a task to do. Zynga is promoting FarmVille English Countryside with its own fan page. The FarmVille fan page has more than 30 million “likes” on Facebook. But the English Countryside fan page already has 2.1 million “likes” with little promotion. Arnold thinks the new game will be popular because many players needed a second farm to express themselves. The company tested a number of concepts for a theme, and the English Countryside theme rated the highest. Zynga won’t say how many of its 1,700 employees worked on the game or how long it took, as it considers that a corporate secret. The FarmVille studio in San Francisco worked on it; Manuel Bronstein Bendayan was senior director of product on the title. The team is blazing a new trail with FarmVille and had many discussions about when to launch an expansion. Clearly, though, as users defect to CityVille, FarmVille needed its makeover. “The initial idea was to give people a fresh start with their farm,” Arnold said. “We wanted to take it further than that, adding characters, story and more guided game play.” But the team wanted to preserve the free form, open-ended game play that made FarmVille so popular from the beginning. Just about every week, the team adds new features to FarmVille to keep users interested, and it will do the same for the English Countryside. And of course there was the sheep-breeding innovation. A farm hand character named Angus shows you how to do it. You can pick a ram and a ewe and then hope for the best while you wait to see what color combination results. You can speed the process along by offering the sheep a “love potion,” which is an opportunity for Zynga to sell you a virtual good. So far, there is no advertising built into the English Countryside expansion. Another feature that Zynga added was a progress map that shows where you are in the different levels of the game. Now you can see exactly which friends are at the same level as you are and where you have to level up next. You can also help your friends get to the next level.
There is a psychological trick that police interrogators use (or, at least, that police interrogators on some TV shows use), known as the “Good-Cop/Bad-Cop” strategy — for those of you who are either unfamiliar or who could use a reminder, here’s the gist of it. One of the cops plays the bad guy, making strong accusations, threats, or even displaying a willingness to break the law by physically abusing the unfortunate detainee. The other cop comes in afterward, playing a sympathetic role, saying things like, “you gotta help me help you,” and sometimes even protecting the poor fellow from the bad cop. Either because of the trust established by the good cop’s display of sympathy or out of fear of the bad cop’s abuse, the person will crack and reveal whatever information they wanted or confess to whatever crime, believing the good cop is on their side, trying to help them. But the reality is that both cops work for the same institution and both cops are after the same thing: your compliance. essentially bullying their support out of them. The USA’s two-party system seems to be a monstrous, collective execution of the same psychological tactic and it is designed for the same purpose that interrogators developed their good-cop/bad-cop strategy — to obtain your cooperation. As a millennial, I watched the same dynamic play out in 2012 for all the disappointed Ron Paul supporters: they were allowed to exert an ultimately pointless effort to garner the support of the conservative Republican party — but when the establishment got its way, the media, pundits, and influential conservatives held up the sensationalized image of Barack Obama as the scary, mean, socialist/Muslim/Kenyan dictator (AKA the “bad-cop”) to scare the more independently-leaning Paul-supporters into accepting the deal that was offered to them by the Romney campaign (the “good-cop”), An eerily similar situation seems to be approaching as the DNC is bent on pushing HilClint as their candidate-of-choice in the coming 2016 election — while a very sizable portion of its voters prefer the endearingly-grumpy, anti-establishment Bernie Sanders. If Clinton gains the nomination, Sanders-supporters will be widely bullied by the media, influential leftists, and indeed, their own peers, into supporting a candidate that they never wanted to support. The same is true on the conservative right — while Trump certainly has a lot of momentum, a large portion of conservatives dislike him, preferring a more reasonable John Kasich or a less-crazy Marco Rubio. But rest assured that, if Trump gains the nomination (which looks frighteningly likely), all but a few of the moderate or more independently-minded conservatives will face the same bullying as they will on the left — except this time, it will be with the terrifying, liberal visage of Clinton (or God-willing, Sanders) that they are bullied and it will be with the lesser-of-two-evils on the right with which they are tempted. So — why am I telling you all of this? Certainly, many of you already understand this and this article could, and perhaps should* end — right now — as just another frustrated and hopeless tirade, among a thousand others just like it, this election-season. We could leave it at that. Wouldn’t that be nice, in a mediocre sort of way? Alas, I must persist — I must ask: when are we going to put a stop to this tiringly manipulative state of affairs? When are we going to create a viable alternative to the madness? When will we say no? Will we ever? I would suggest that — though this is rough and I know I’m going to be crucified by people from both sides of the aisle –I would suggest that it has to start somewhere. The worst may simply have to happen for at least an election cycle (if not two or three!). It may be painful and terrible things might happen for a while but if we don’t, then this is going to go on forever — or at least until this country completely falls apart and probably fucks up a good part of the rest of the world in the process. If we don’t start voting with our reason and with our hearts — if we continue to vote out of fear — then we deserve to have the second-most-evil country in the world, run by the second-worst leaders.
EVENT: La Tomatina is a festival held on a Wednesday towards the end of August in the town of Buñol in the Valencia region in Spain. Tens of thousands of participants come from all over the world to fight in a harmless battle where more than one hundred metric tons of over-ripe tomatoes are thrown in the streets. Many trucks haul the bounty of tomatoes into the center of the town, Plaza del Pueblo. The tomatoes come from Extremadura, where they are less expensive. The signal for the beginning of the fight is firing of the cannon, and the chaos begins. Once it begins, the battle is generally every man for himself. Those who partake in this event are strongly encouraged to wear protective safety goggles and gloves. In addition, they must squish the tomatoes before throwing for safety precautions. Another rule is that no one is allowed to bring into this fight anything that may provoke someone into a more serious brawl, such as a glass bottle. It is highly frowned upon to tear someone else’s clothing. Somewhere between an hour and two hours, the fighting ends and the cannon is fired once more to signal the end. At this point no more tomatoes can be thrown. The cleaning process involves the use of fire trucks to spray down the streets, with water provided from a Roman aqueduct. People find water to wash themselves, most likely at the Buñol River.
About the author (NewsTarget) At the same time that our Surgeon General has declared we have an epidemic of obesity, our government is using our tax dollars to cater to special interests and to subsidize the very foods that are making us fat. Thanks to lobbying, Congress chooses to subsidize foods that we're supposed to eat less of.Take a look at these numbers which tell how the percentage of federal food subsidies spending is allocated:* Meat/Dairy - 73.8 percent* Grains - 13.2 percent* Sugar/Oil/Starch/Alcohol - 10.7 percent* Nuts/Legumes - 1.9 percent* Vegetables/Fruits - 0.4 percentJust 2.3 percent of subsidies go to nuts, legumes, fruits and vegetables while 84.5% goes to meat, dairy, sugar, oil, starch and alcohol. Is it any wonder that a salad often costs you more than a Big Mac?The average 18-year-old today is 15 pounds heavier than the average 18 year-old in the late 1970s. The average woman in her 60s is 20 pounds heavier than in the late 1970s and the average 60s man is 25 pounds heavier.With the exceptions of cookies, unhealthful foods have gotten a lot cheaper relative to everything else in the economy. Sodas are 33 percent cheaper than they were in 1978. Butter is 29 percent cheaper and beer is 15 percent cheaper.Fish, by contrast, is 2 percent more expensive. Vegetables are 41 percent more expensive. Fruits are 46 percent more expensive. The price of oranges has more than doubled. In 1978 a bag of oranges cost the same as one big bottle of soda. Today that bag costs the same as three big bottles of soda.Of course, there are surely other reasons why unhealthful foods are cheaper than healthful ones, but whatever the causes, healthful foods have gotten much more expensive relative to unhealthful ones.A University of Washington study determined that a dollar buys 1200 calories of cookies or chips but only 250 calories of carrots. For example, a package of Twinkies costs less than a bag of carrots. Compared to carrots Twinkies are highly complicated. Like most processed foods, they are basically an arrangement of carbohydrates and fats from corn, soybeans and wheat - three of the five crops the farm bill supports to the tune of $25 billion a year. (Rice and cotton are the others.)For the last several decades, U.S. agricultural policy has been designed in such a way as to promote the overproduction of these five commodities, especially corn and soy. Soy, corn and wheat are also three of the most genetically modified crops in existence.How is it that a pair of synthetic cream-filled pseudo-cakes cost less than a bag of carrots? Look no farther than the farm bill. Despite an early pledge to cut Big Ag subsidies , Obama caved to special interests and the bill as written provides billions of dollars in subsidies, much of which goes to huge agribusinesses producing feed crops, such as corn and soy, which are then fed to animals. By funding these crops, the government supports the production of meat and dairy products - the same products which contribute to our growing rates of obesity and chronic disease.The farm bill also sets the rules for the American food system and governs what children are fed in schools, as well as what foods assistance programs can distribute. As currently written, the farm bill offers a lot more support to Twinkies than carrots.Our tax dollars are also used to purchase surplus foods like cheese, milk, pork and beef for distribution to food assistance programs - including school lunches. The government is not required to purchase nutritious foods.Sources included:Tony Isaacs, is a natural health author, advocate and researcher who hosts The Best Years in Life website for those who wish to avoid prescription drugs and mainstream managed illness and live longer, healthier and happier lives naturally. Mr. Isaacs is the author of books and articles about natural health, longevity and beating cancer including " Cancer's Natural Enemy " and is working on a major book project due to be published later this year. He is also a contributing author for the worldwide advocacy group " S.A N.E.Vax. Inc " which endeavors to uncover the truth about HPV vaccine dangers.Mr. Isaacs is currently residing in scenic East Texas and frequently commutes to the even more scenic Texas hill country near Austin and San Antonio to give lectures and health seminars. He also hosts the CureZone " Ask Tony Isaacs - featuring Luella May " forum as well as the Yahoo Health Group " Oleander Soup " and he serves as a consultant to the " Utopia Silver Supplement Company ".
The US Federal Communications Commission's two Republican members told ISPs yesterday that they will get to work on gutting net neutrality rules "as soon as possible." FCC Republicans Ajit Pai and Michael O'Rielly sent a letter to five lobby groups representing wireless carriers and small ISPs; while the letter is mostly about plans to extend an exemption for small providers from certain disclosure requirements, the commissioners also said they will tackle the entire net neutrality order shortly after President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on January 20. "[W]e will seek to revisit [the disclosure] requirements, and the Title II Net Neutrality proceeding more broadly, as soon as possible," they wrote, referring to the order that imposed net neutrality rules and reclassified ISPs as common carriers under Title II of the Communications Act. Pai and O'Rielly noted that they "dissented from the Commission's February 2015 Net Neutrality decision, including the Order's imposition of unnecessary and unjustified burdens on providers." Pai and O'Rielly will have a 2-1 Republican majority on the FCC after the departure of Democratic Chairman Tom Wheeler on January 20. Pai previously said that the Title II net neutrality order's "days are numbered" under Trump, while O'Rielly said he intends to "undo harmful policies" such as the Title II reclassification. The net neutrality order gave ISPs with 100,000 or fewer subscribers a temporary exemption from enhanced transparency requirements that force operators to provide more information about the plans they offer and their network performance. ISPs can comply with the rules by adopting "nutrition labels" that give consumers details about prices (including hidden fees tacked onto the base price), data caps, overage charges, speed, latency, packet loss, and so on. The exemption for small providers lapsed on December 15 after the FCC couldn't agree on a deal to extend it. Pai and O'Rielly tried to convince fellow commissioners to extend the exemption for small providers and apply it to any ISP with up to 250,000 subscribers. To make things more complicated, the enhanced transparency rules haven't yet taken effect for ISPs of any size because that portion of the net neutrality order required an additional review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act. The OMB finally approved the new requirements last week, and they are now set to take effect on January 17. "We want to assure you and your members that we would not support any adverse actions against small business providers for supposed non-compliance with the 'enhanced transparency' rules after that date [January 17]," Pai and O'Rielly wrote. That means small ISPs won't have to worry about complying even when the rules are technically in effect. More broadly, the Title II net neutrality order prohibits ISPs from blocking or throttling traffic or giving priority to Web services in exchange for payment. The order also set up a complaint process to prevent "unjust" or "unreasonable" pricing and practices. The threat of complaints to the FCC helped put an end to several disputes between ISPs and other network operators over network interconnection payments; this in turn improved Internet service quality for many subscribers. All of that is in jeopardy with the Pai/O'Rielly promise to undo the entire Title II net neutrality order. The process could take months, even if they get started right away, because of requirements to seek public comment. The Republican-controlled Congress could act more quickly, since Trump has opposed net neutrality rules and isn't likely to veto a bill overturning the Title II order. When either the FCC or Congress do act, the biggest question will be whether the net neutrality regime is replaced with a weaker set of rules or scrapped entirely.
An Oregon school district has discussed reversing its ban on rap music on buses after allegations of racism. The Oregonian reported Wednesday that Portland Public Schools had ordered its bus drivers to stop playing hip-hop music after it deemed rap “inappropriate.” Teri Brady, the senior director of transportation in the district, sent a memo to bus drivers in March ordering them to stop playing “religious, rap music or talk show programs.” The only acceptable music to play was pop, country and jazz, according to The Oregonian. The paper reported that a parent, Colleen Ryan-Onken, obtained a copy of the directive and began to send it around to parents this month. Parents’ outrage over the memo forced the district to walk back on their order. "We regret the way this was communicated. Our intent is to limit student exposure to religious teachings, profanity and violent lyrics," Portland Public Schools spokeswoman Courtney Westling said in a statement. “The transportation department will be revising its guidance to bus drivers shortly to be more inclusive of different genres of music." According to The Oregonian, Westling said the district had received numerous complaints over the type of music that was being played on buses. However, Ryan-Onken wasn’t having any of it and slammed the district over the order. "I think it's overtly racist and leaves out two of our major communities in our music choices," she said. Ryan-Onken told the paper that hip-hop was deemed inappropriate, but Latin-type music wasn’t addressed. "When you outlaw a kind of music that is very indicative of the modern culture of one group of people you're basically saying that they're not welcome," Ryan-Onken said. "Those of us in the district, living in diverse communities in Portland, understand the racial equity stuff going on is entirely for the cameras. There is no real meat behind it." She also insisted that the directive couldn’t have been about the swearing because radio stations edit it that out and she added that country music could be just as offensive as rap music. The Oregonian noted that Portland, a predominantly white city, has struggled in its relationship with the music genre. In 2006, Portland police wondered if rap concerts were the cause of shootings, The Portland Mercury reported. Eight years later, police were reviewed after a rap concert was cut short. Click for more from The Oregonian. Click for more from Fox 12 Oregon.
Uber and Lyft are moving closer to being able to legally pick up passengers at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The Port of Seattle Commission will meet today to discuss the latest updates to its ground transportation policies, which could very well include new rules for on-demand ride-hailing companies like Uber and Lyft. As detailed in this staff briefing, the Port will go over three separate recommendations made by a consultant, all of which include creating a one-year pilot program for transportation network companies (TNC) to be a “prearranged option on the third floor of the garage.” Lyft and uberX (Uber’s cheapest service that uses everyday drivers and their private vehicles) are allowed to drop off passengers at the airport, but can’t pick up riders because of existing taxi regulations that only allow Yellow Cab to pick up arriving travelers. (Uber’s luxury services, UberBlack and UberSUV, use commercially-licensed drivers and are allowed to pick up at Sea-Tac). However, the Port’s exclusive 5-year contract with Yellow Cab expires this October and the Port is weighing its options: either renew another contract, or create a new open system that would allow for competition. The arrival of services like Uber and Lyft may effect supply-and-demand for taxis — that’s why the Port is studying how to regulate the TNCs while also determining how to handle the taxi companies as Yellow Cab’s contract expires. Under its existing 5-year contract, Yellow Cab pays Sea-Tac a $3.67 million minimum annual guarantee or 13 percent of its gross revenues from airport pickups. LeighFisher, the consultant hired by the Port, said the Port should ditch its single exclusive contract in two of its three recommendations. Of the 15 airports it analyzed as part of its research, the consultant only found one other (Baltimore) that had an exclusive contract with just one taxi company. Deciding which taxi contracts to sign and how to incorporate TNC pickups into its ground transportation policies is a big deal for the Port. Last year, there were more than 2.3 million total pick-ups at Sea-Tac, which generated more than $8 million in revenue paid by transportation providers to the Port. As far as taxi pickups specifically, the Port said that there were 815,000 pickups from the airport in 2014, up 10 percent from the year prior. LeighFisher found that four airports with TNC policies already in place typically charge Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar between $2.15 to $3.85 per trip. It also noted that San Francisco International Airport expects to generate around $7 million in fees paid by TNC’s, and that “peer airports found mixed impacts of the TNCs on airport taxicab operations.” The Port last met in May to discuss potential TNC laws at the airport. While the Commission agreed that the TNCs should be regulated, its members wanted more time to analyze the implications of a TNC framework and the opportunity for other stakeholders to give input. “Major areas of consideration with the inclusion of TNCs into the Airport’s [ground transportation] system include access fees, operating areas, vehicle staging areas, activity tracking and reporting, vehicle operator proof of insurance, vehicle standards, and background checks as determined by applicable regulatory agencies, such as King County and/or Washington State Department of Licensing,” Port of Seattle CEO Ted Fick wrote in today’s meeting memo. Port of Seattle staff is expected to make a recommendation to the Commission later this month. As we reported last month, Uber in the meantime is partnering with fully-licensed for-hire companies in Seattle who are making their drivers available to pick up uberX passengers that call for a ride on Uber’s app. Previously, it was impossible to hail an uberX ride from Sea-Tac due to a geo-fence put in place by Uber. Uber also rolled out a higher-end service called UberSELECT in Seattle last month, with airport pickups allowed. We’ve reached out to Uber for comment in regard to the new recommendations and will update this post when we hear back. Update: Here’s Uber’s statement: “Thousands of people land in Seattle every year, and they want a range of different options for the next leg of their journey. The upcoming discussion is an important first step to enable popular services like Uber and Lyft to serve the airport and the Seattle area.” Lyft, meanwhile, allows customers to hail a ride from Sea-Tac despite the existing regulations. While its app notes that “SEA Airport Prohibits Pickups,” I was still able to request a ride from the arrivals terminal today. As we detailed in July, this creates problems for drivers, some of whom are being given citations from Port officials. Here’s a statement from Lyft today: “We’re encouraged by continued conversations about expanding transportation options at SEA-TAC and appreciate the collaborative efforts of Managing Director Mark Reis and his staff. We’re optimistic that we’ll find a way forward, and that SEA-TAC will join airports across the country who are seeing increased revenues and higher traveler satisfaction after welcoming Lyft to their properties.” As the New York Times highlighted in May, Uber and other competitors are trying to ink deals with airports across the country to allow pickups. The Times reported how some TNC drivers park in a nearby lot or hide their company decals to avoid detection while picking up passengers at airports with existing regulations. If you drop a pin just outside of Sea-Tac on Uber’s app, you’ll notice several available uberX cars. “Airport staff at all of the peer airports except YVR reported that TNCs are operating in their area, although most are doing so without the airports’ approval,” LeighFisher noted in its report. A handful of other airports around the country have approved uberX and Lyft pickups, including San Francisco International, Dallas Fort-Worth International, Nashville International, and most recently, Los Angeles International.
If you like these guys, build one and enter Traykar the swift's 'Mixel Racer contest' For more inspiration and all around laughs check out My Series 1 Mixel Matchbox Cars Flexers: Professor Tenta-drool The professor is a high performance mustache burning machine, 0-17mph in less than 3 minutes, thank goodness for his orange ink flinging 'tail-pipe' he can ensure his chances at placing high on the podium. The professor was fun to build, all that orange is so much fun to play with, all the tentacles are just so much fun to greeble with :-) Frosticons: The Crystal Geyser With a core temperature of -87 degrees inside the frosty engines of 'The Crystal Geyser' no one can get to close without losing a tire to frostbite. An extra rocket-pop is stored inside the ultra-cooled crystal just in case the sun comes out. I HAD to use those blue space helmets, i mean come on, they are the best, throwing me right back to the 80's. I was really pleased with how the construction of the car body came out on this guy. The Fang Gang: The Moose Tooth The moose tooth is a native of Mt. Katahdin in the northern territories of Maine, generally cruising around at a cool 5,200 feet on the knifes edge, so when he gets down to sea level for the Matchbox races he flies like a.....flying squirrel. He really is alot lighter than he looks, and with a fang pumping 953 moose-power engine, this guy screams. I wanted to make a roadster/hot-rod style matchbox car this time around, i opted for the larger wheels in the rear to give him that raked look. Enjoy!
Photo credit: ADOC / Montgomery Police Back in 1997 Montgomery, Alabama Police Officer Anderson Gordon was suiting up to serve and protect putting his life at risk like all Police Officers do every day in the line of duty. Unfortunately for Officer Gordon that day two decades ago would be the last time he ever wore the badge to serve and protect his community. 40 year old Torrey Twane McNabb approached Officer Gordon inside of his patrol car at the scene traffic accident after McNabb wrecked into several cars while fleeing a bail bondsman who was attempting to detain him for other felony charges; before he shot Officer Gordon five times in cold blood, taking his life. McNabb went to trial after the crime and was easily convicted; and the Jury and Judge agreed that he must be put to death for his actions killing a Police Officer. For nearly two decades McNabb and his entourage of high profile attorneys have done everything in their power attempting to either reverse the death penalty or receive stays of execution trying to seek out a new trial All attempts were however unsuccessful in trying to stop the execution of McNabb, despite being one of several inmates in an ongoing lawsuit challenging the humaneness of the state’s lethal injection procedure. The plaintiffs have argued that the sedative midazolam does not reliably render a person unconscious before subsequent drugs stop their lungs and heart. They point to an execution last December during which an Alabama inmate coughed and heaved for the first 13 minutes of the procedure. A lawyer for McNabb has argued that it would be wrong to carry out the execution while proceedings continue in McNabb’s lawsuit. The American Civil Liberties Union and the South Poverty Law Center both tried to state that the death penalty is somehow a cruel and unusual punishment, sparking heated debate in the state for many years; but in the end for this evil and cold blooded cop killer justice took the correct side and confirmed he would indeed be put to death, in a far more merciful fashion that Officer Gordon was.as McNabb stole his life from his family and friends for ever. The U.S. Supreme Court temporarily delayed the execution for several hours to consider McNabb’s request for a stay, but ruled that the execution could go forward, and after 9 PM the execution process began. “Mom, sis, look at my eyes. I got no tears. I am unafraid. To the state of Alabama, I hate you, I hate you motherfuckers, I hate you,” McNabb said in his final statement. McNabb defiantly waved his clenched middle fingers in the air during the entire process, saying profanities about the Police and Alabama until the very end. He stared down the witnesses, although he couldn't see them through the tinted glass; as if he wanted to intimidate the family of the officer showing zero remorse for his heinous crime. Gordon's family released their own statement shortly after McNabb was officially declared dead Thursday night. "Over 20 years ago we lost a companion, a father a brother and a friend who only wanted to make a difference in his community. Brother, who we affectionately called him, worked to make a difference in his community until his life was taken from him," the statement read in part. "Though this has been a difficult day for the Gordon family, we also continue to pray for the family of Torrey McNabb." Now Torrey McNabb is in hell, where he belongs with all cop killers and may he forever burn in the lake of fire. Source: http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2017/10/no_remorse_but_curse_words_and.html#incart_m-rpt-2 —<i>[email protected]</i> <i>On Twitter:</i> <a href="https://www.twitter.com/IWillRedPillYou">@IWillRedPillYou</a> Tips? Info? Send me a message!
With the presidential election two months away, a Kansas law requiring voters to show proof of citizenship remains in legal limbo. Late last month, Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach asked a U.S. appeals court to reinstate a provision of a law requiring Kansans to prove their citizenship when registering to vote while obtaining driver’s licenses. Kobach, a conservative crusader in a movement in Republican-led states to toughen voting laws, wants the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a ruling by a federal judge in May. The judge’s decision temporarily restored voting rights to about 18,000 individuals who, as of the ruling, had registered to vote at motor vehicle offices without providing citizenship paperwork. Kobach estimates that 18,000 will swell by November to about 50,000 potential voters who haven’t proven citizenship, so the appeals court decision will determine the fate of their votes. He views the Kansas law as a guard against illegal immigrants voting. “There is a huge potential for aliens’ votes to swing a close election,” Kobach told The Daily Signal in a phone interview. “Even if it’s just a handful of votes, it’s still a huge injustice. Every time an alien votes, it effectively cancels out a vote of a U.S. citizen.” “We have law-breaking when it comes to elections, and solving the problem is not difficult,” @KansasSOS says. Since 2013, Kansas has required voters to provide proof of citizenship when voting—whether they are applying at a motor vehicle office or elsewhere in the state—by showing birth certificates, passports, or naturalization papers. Kansas is one of four states—the others are Alabama, Arizona and Georgia—to have adopted laws requiring proof of citizenship during voter registration. >>>After Voter ID Defeats, Lessons From Indiana’s Law That ‘Has Stood Test of Time’ In February, the American Civil Liberties Union filed suit on behalf of the League of Women Voters and individual Kansans who said they were left off the voter rolls after registering at the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. The ACLU lawsuit specifically targets the issue of Kansas’ requiring proof of citizenship from those registering to vote at the DMV. The plaintiffs argue that the Kansas law violates the National Voter Registration Act of 1993, particularly a provision that requires states to offer people the opportunity to register to vote when they get a driver’s license. That section says that those who register to vote in this way can be asked only for “minimal information,” allowing them to simply affirm that they are citizens—under the threat of perjury if they lie. The federal law does not require registrants to bring more documentation than they would need to get a driver’s license. Kobach says that motor vehicle clerks sometimes accidently offer noncitizens the option to register to vote. He argues that federal law doesn’t expressly bar states from asking for documentation proving citizenship for people registering to vote at the DMV. “If a state wants to ask for proof of citizenship, nothing in the law prevents it,” Kobach said. “The absurdity of the legal argument that the ACLU is advancing is this notion that Congress intended to present a special privilege for people registering to vote at the DMV that other people don’t get to enjoy.” But the ACLU counters that, under the Kansas proof of citizenship law, people who register to vote at the DMV are not always told that they have to provide additional paperwork to get on the voter rolls. These people only learn later on—after they thought they had registered successfully—that they actually were blocked from voting. Critics also note that Kansas identified to the court only three cases of noncitizens who voted between 2003 and the implementation of the law in 2013. “We do not have proof of fraud in Kansas,” Marge Ahrens, co-president of the League of Women Voters of Kansas, told The Daily Signal in a phone interview, adding: We do not have illegal persons who want to vote. It’s the last thing illegal people would want to do. I do think it appeals to our sense of fear, but we just can’t find the evidence to support these laws. Like other opponents of tougher voter identification laws, Ahrens contends that such requirements disenfranchise poor citizens who may not have the money or means to obtain documentation easily. The League of Women Voters generally focuses its voter registration efforts on people 60 years or older. Ahrens says the elderly encounter similar challenges in trying to meet the requirements of Kansas’ proof of citizenship law. “Older people can be stymied just by the idea of trying to pull together documents that may or may not exist,” Ahrens said. “Under this law, the complexity of the voting process has become so difficult that we really cannot do our work in a way that is effective.” In response to these concerns, Kobach notes that Kansas eases the registration process by allowing voters to fax, email, or text a copy of their birth certificate to the DMV. Kobach said he expects a decision from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals before the Nov. 8 presidential election. Even if a decision comes close to the election, he says, his state has contingency plans no matter the ruling. Voters subject to U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson’s May 17 ruling—those who registered at the DMV since 2013 but haven’t provided proof of citizenship—will vote with provisional ballots and whether they’re counted won’t be decided until after Election Day. While he acknowledged a wave of recent court rulings against voter identification laws in the states, Kobach said he intends to continue his push for stronger legal provisions, and will appeal to the Supreme Court if he loses. “This about the rule of law,” Kobach said. “We have law-breaking when it comes to elections, and solving the problem is not difficult.”
On Wednesday, we discussed news that AT&T had begun sending takedown notices to users whom the RIAA has accused of illegally downloading copyrighted works. Cox and Comcast are both cooperating with the RIAA in that regard as well. However, while Cox seems willing to shut off service in the case of repeat offenders, Comcast denied that it was considering a similar penalty, and AT&T said they'll flat out refuse to terminate service on the RIAA's word alone ; it will take a court order. They seem satisfied with the effect letters have had on inhibiting such downloads: "'It's a standard part of everybody's terms of service,' [AT&T senior executive vice president Jim Cicconi] said. 'If somebody is engaging in illegal activity, it basically gives us the right to do it ... We're not a finder of fact and under no circumstances would we ever suspend or terminate service based on an allegation from a third party. We're just simply reminding people that they can't engage in illegal activity.' Cicconi said the company began testing this kind of 'forward noticing' late last year and even experimented with sending certified letters. Cicconi said the notices worked. The company saw very few repeat offenders."
The indefinite ceasefire between representatives from Israel and Palestine announced Tuesday brought an immediate relief from the Israeli military operation dubbed Operation Protective Edge. However, it raised many questions regarding the future for the Gaza Strip following the 50-day assault that left roughly 2,200 people, over 95 percent Palestinians, dead. "Unless long-term solutions are found to ensure economic growth and sustainable development in Gaza, frequent military escalations will only continue, increasing insecurity for Israelis and Palestinians alike," said international aid organization Oxfam in a report published Wednesday. The report, Cease Failure: Rethinking seven years of failed policies in Gaza (pdf), lists a number of recommendations that, according to Oxfam, must be immediately implemented to ensure a just and lasting peace. Among those actions, the group says that Israel must "permanently lift its restrictions on Palestinian development and allow freedom of movement," including the re-establishment of permanent and open connections through the Erez and Rafah crossings. Oxfam warns that this moment may be the "last opportunity to implement lasting solutions." The terms of the current ceasefire, brokered by Egypt, are similar to those following the 2012 conflict, which many believe was a missed opportunity to implement more lasting, structural changes. Israel has agreed to ease some of the restrictions on border crossings ("something it does intermittently anyway," the Associated Press notes), and increase access for Gaza fisherman in the Mediterranean to 12 nautical miles by the end of the year. Hamas' other demands—which include opening an airport and seaport, prisoner releases, salaries for civil servants and the opening of the Rafah crossing to Egypt—are to be discussed in a month's time, as is Israel's demand for Gaza to become a demilitarized zone. Regarding those long-term issues, AP notes that "little is likely to be resolved anytime soon." In a blog post published on Wednesday, Middle East historian Juan Cole notes: "If the Palestinian side really does get the things it is asking for [...] then the struggle will have been a big win for them." Following the ceasefire announcement, there were reports of celebrations across Gaza. However, as Gaza writer Omar Ghraieb told Ali Abunimah, co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, “I do not feel in a rejoicing mood, only glad that no more people and children will die.” “So many people got injured, houses got bombed, towers got leveled and life got deformed,” Ghraieb continued. “I would rather just watch closely what awaits Gaza.” SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT Help Keep Common Dreams Alive Our progressive news model only survives if those informed and inspired by this work support our efforts The latest attack on Gaza has resulted in a total of 2,127 Palestinian lives lost, 85 percent of which were civilians including 504 children. On Tuesday, the Telegraph published a list compiled the Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights of the names and ages of each of the children killed in the Israeli military operation. More than 17,200 homes have been completely destroyed or severely damaged in the Strip, leaving roughly 100,000 people homeless as a result of the fighting. According to the Oxfam report, vital civilian infrastructure has been badly damaged, including 33 health facilities 13 and 230 schools, 14 as well as water pipelines, sewage treatment facilities and water desalination plants. The destruction of Gaza's only power plant has further exacerbated the pre-existing energy crisis. Total damage to basic infrastructure in Gaza has been estimated by the Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister at $6bn . The report adds that the "devastating impact of more than seven years of the Israeli government's blockade of Gaza" has made both the population and infrastructure all the more vulnerable. On Wednesday, the United Nations confirmed that they were able to deliver food to Gaza through the Rafa crossing for the first time since 2007. In the short-term, groups such as Oxfam are calling for Israel to permit the flow of humanitarian aid and rebuilding materials into the Gaza strip not "contingent upon political developments or demands." But, advocates say, lasting peace will require a much more dramatic structural and psychological shift in the Middle East. "A ceasefire is not enough. Rebuilding Gaza is not enough. Even ending the siege would not be enough," Abunimah wrote Tuesday. "We have to say never again. Never again must Israel be allowed to massacre Palestinians as it has in Gaza in 2006, 2008-2009, 2012 and 2014 – the years since it decided to turn Gaza into a giant open-air prison." Echoing that sentiment, Cole writes: "Until Israelis come to terms with the Catastrophe (Nakba) that they have inflicted on generations of Palestinians, who have been left more or less homeless and in a kind of vast concentration camp, they cannot really make peace."
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Update (Oct 27, 2010 @ 20:12): A fix for this vulnerability has been released for Firefox and Thunderbird users. Firefox 3.6.12 and 3.5.15 security updates now available Thunderbird 3.1.6 and 3.0.10 security updates now available Issue: Mozilla is aware of a critical vulnerability affecting Firefox 3.5 and Firefox 3.6 users. We have received reports from several security research firms that exploit code leveraging this vulnerability has been detected in the wild. Impact to users: Users who visited an infected site could have been affected by the malware through the vulnerability. The trojan was initially reported as live on the Nobel Peace Prize site, and that specific site is now being blocked by Firefox’s built-in malware protection. However, the exploit code could still be live on other websites. Status: We have diagnosed the issue and are currently developing a fix, which will be pushed out to Firefox users as soon as the fix has been properly tested. In the meantime, users can protect themselves by doing either of the following: Disabling JavaScript in Firefox Using the NoScript Add-on Credit: Morten Kråkvik of Telenor SOC — Brandon Sterne Man-in-the-middle
I’m building a new cloud product that quickly processes large amounts of scientific data. Our largest customer dataset so far is about 3,000 tables, each 40 to 80 MB and totaling 150 GB, which we aim to process in 10 seconds or less. Each table can be processed independently, so we parallelize heavily to reach this goal — our deployment uses 1000 vCPUs or more as needed. The tricky part is rapidly reading that much data into memory. Right now about 80% of the computation time is spent reading data, and that leads to the focus of this three-part post: cloud storage performance. As part of solving this problem, I evaluated a few different approaches: object storage, database-backed storage and attached storage, each of which I’ll be detailing in separate posts. Midway through writing this, Google happened to released their multi-cloud PerfKitBenchmarker. As far as I can find, this post is also the first set of published results from PerfKitBenchmarker. Part 1: Object Storage Obligatory notice: Benchmarks are application-specific and vary based on network load, neighboring VM activity, the month in which you were born and phase of the moon. When reading this, consider if these benchmarks are relevant to your application and understand that these results may not be reflective of what you will experience. Object storage (Amazon AWS Simple Storage Service (S3), Google Cloud Storage (GCS), Microsoft Azure Storage) provides a simple PUT/GET/HEAD/LIST interface for storing any sort of data too large to put into a database. It is appealing because it is cheap, provides safety through redundancy and scales automatically to serve many concurrent requests. The downsides are the latency (in part from establishing a new HTTP connection for every file) and the throughput being limited by the network throughput and availability. downloads I looked at two key metrics: time to first byte (TTFB) to measure latency, and throughput (Figure 1), when downloading files from a VM hosted by the same vendor in the same region. In these plots, the percentile (or quantile) is on the x axis, and the metric is on the y (note the log scale), so you can see the typical response (median, 0.5) as well as the best and worst case behaviors. ms GCS S3 Azure 50th 38.2 10.6 10.7 90th 51.9 14.7 16.7 99th 129.8 125.0 44.5 99.9th 238.0 432.1 106.3 MB/s GCS S3 Azure 50th 122.3 73.3 27.0 90th 106.9 59.1 23.6 99th 67.1 47.0 20.1 Figure 1. Time to first byte (left) and single-stream API throughput (right) for downloads. X axis (p) is percentile/quantile, i.e. median is 0.5. Results obtained via the PerfKitBenchmarker object_storage_service benchmark. Time to first byte tests were run 1000 times. Download throughput tests were run 100 times with objects ranging from 16 KB to 32 MB. All benchmarks used standard storage class buckets. VM and bucket locations: GCE us-central1-a/US; AWS us-east-1a/us-east-1; Azure East US/East US. Azure and AWS S3 gave essentially the same latency, whereas GCS averaged more than three times higher latency. However, Google provided approximately 4x the throughput of Azure and approximately 2x the throughput of S3. Thus, GCS should finish downloading sooner than Azure for files larger than ~1 MB and sooner than S3 for files larger than 5 MB. (Emphasis on finish downloading. If your application can handle streaming input and is processing the data slower than the data is being downloaded, then S3 and Azure will perform better for any file size.) See that unnaturally flat right-tail on AWS S3 at 91 MB/s (732 Mbps)? I bet that’s the maximum throughput enforced by AWS. network throughput caps are problematic Network throughput is core to these benchmarks, and thus VM type must be considered when designing an architecture. Above I’m showing results from VM types that have sufficient network bandwidth to accurately measure storage throughput as opposed to VM throughput. I’ll go into network throughput in detail in a future post, but for now looking at Figure 2 you can see that for GCE and Azure a 1 vCPU machine provides sufficient throughput, whereas AWS EC2 requires a much larger machine — an 8 vCPU c4.2xlarge would have sufficed, but I used a 16 vCPU c4.4xlarge. Few EC2 instance types have sufficient network throughput to make S3’s throughput the bottleneck if you were to download one file per vCPU (i.e. divide network bandwidth by vCPU count, which is a crude but useful view; Figure 2-right). Google Compute Engine on the other hand has much higher network throughput such that most machine types have more bandwidth than GCS, even despite GCS having higher throughput than S3. Azure’s low throughput is accommodated by most of their instance types as well. Figure 2. Measured intra-datacenter network throughput for varying VM types, total (left) and normalized by CPU count (right). Showing mean and standard deviation. Throughput was measured for 60 seconds using iperf. All tests were repeated two to six times. Shared-core machines were considered to have one vCPU when normalizing by CPU count. GCE tests were run in us-central1-a, except n1-standard-32 which was run in us-central1-b. AWS tests were run in us-east-1a. Azure tests were run in East US. See also [1] and [2]. To be thorough, I did run the storage benchmarks on 16 vCPU instances from GCE (n1-standard-16) and Azure (D5_v2), and a 1 vCPU instance from AWS (m3.medium). Interestingly, the smaller VMs from Google and Microsoft had slightly higher storage throughput than the larger VMs (not shown), possibly because of how VMs are distributed on shared hardware. AWS’s m3.medium was tightly capped at 32.5 MB/s. GCS multi-region buckets rock The GCS results in Figure 1 are for a US “multi-region” bucket. S3 has no multi-region buckets; S3 buckets are actually equivalent to GCS regional buckets. In contrast, multi-region buckets allow access from that set of regions without data transfer charges or duplication costs. (AWS charges $0.02 per GB for accessing a bucket from another region.) This is ideal if you have data processing servers in multiple regions. The throughput from both (…all two!) US data centers is excellent (Figure 3). I can't find anything useful in the terms of service, but I suspect multi-region buckets are more fault-tolerant as well. Figure 3. Download throughput from all seven zones accessing a US multi-region bucket. (Data from Figures 4-right and 5-right.) The docs in the above link suggest that a regional bucket will provide lower latency and higher throughput than a multi-region bucket, so I also tested a us-central1 regional bucket from all four us-central1 compute engine zones (Figure 4), and a GCS us-east1 regional bucket from all three us-east1 zones (Figure 5), to see if we can get even faster throughput or improve GCS’s poor latency. Figure 4. Benchmarks for accessing a US multi-region bucket (solid) or a us-central1 regional bucket (dashed) from the four us-central1 zones. Figure 5. Benchmarks for accessing a US multi-region bucket (solid) or a us-east1 regional bucket (dashed) from the four us-east1 zones. With regional buckets, latency somehow increased. Median throughput was either the same or slightly higher with regional buckets, although the tails were typically worse. Odd. uploads For my application I don’t depend on fast uploads, but I’m including some of the benchmark results here for completeness (Figure 6). Similar to downloads, Google had higher latency but faster throughput, Microsoft had the lowest latency and lowest throughput, and AWS was in the middle for both. ms GCS S3 Azure 50th 106.2 16.2 8.3 90th 161.7 36.8 13.2 99th 311.4 274.8 35.6 99.9th 408.2 645.2 236.3 MB/s GCS S3 Azure 50th 59.3 23.7 20.5 90th 49.3 20.3 17.2 99th 22.1 6.1 15.6 Figure 6. Time to first byte (left) and single-stream API throughput (right) for uploads. object storage handles concurrency well Finally, Google’s gsutil includes a perfdiag command, and because it’s built on boto it can actually be used for both GCS and S3. This tool includes the ability to read or write multiple objects at once, which adds some new information to the story (Table 3). This shows that these platforms scale well to serve concurrent requests at the scale that we would be using them. Concurrency GCS S3 Read (MB/s) Write (MB/S) Read (MB/s) Write (MB/S) 1 113 34 61 20 5 480 156 306 87 10 641 284 520 128 20 845 588 603 141 Table 3. Throughput from gsutil perfdiag. Number of replicates: 20. File size: 32 MB. Concurrency: how many objects were read or written at once. conclusions Amazon and Azure provide the lowest latency, while Google provides the highest throughput, for both uploads and downloads. This means that AWS and Azure excel for smaller files, while GCE excels for larger files, and this highlights the importance of benchmarking with data that are comparable in size to what your application uses. The substantial limitations on AWS EC2 network throughput must be taken into consideration when designing high-speed data processing systems. Google's unique multi-region buckets keep costs down when working with data from multiple datacenters in the same region (e.g. continent). Object storage scales automatically to provide high aggregate throughput. Finally, note that I’m only showing data from API access (which is the exact same boto code for AWS and Google), and I have unsurprisingly observed substantial differences in performance from different clients (the vendor-specific CLIs, node.js API package, cURL’ing URLs, etc.). Stay tuned for parts two and three on data storage, and future posts on other cloud performance metrics.
Since early childhood, I wanted to be a writer. I wrote exuberant stories about vampires, hidden treasure, and animals. Over the years, teachers, friends, and relatives read my stories, smiled, and encouraged me. They told me I wrote well, and so I should write more. By adolescence, writing was not just something I wanted to do. It was a sacred calling. It became even more serious after high school graduation. Writing was no longer a childish game. It meant teeth grinding discipline and sacrifice. I was ready to slap my idle activities on the altar of my artistic aspirations. With the intensity of a pilgrim, I marshaled my energies and earnestly began to plan. I was a brilliant planner. I delivered impassioned motivational speeches to myself. Each time I did, my heart raced and my excitement mounted, as I imagined myself caught in the ecstatic blaze of inspiration, my fingers scintillating with power at each stroke of a pen. However, with all my ambitious planning, I had a big problem: I rarely ever wrote. I wrote mainly when I had to for a grade. When I did write, I was praised, and I was grateful that someone had finally forced me to do something that I wanted to do. I did have scattered episodes of exhilarating inspiration, and I would hurry to my notebook and scribble down my thoughts. At those moments, I remembered why I wanted to be a writer. But in general, writing had changed for me since childhood. So much pressure. Such a lofty undertaking. So many expectations. Writing felt too important, too sacred, to even begin. I felt as if my entire life was on the line each time I took up a pen. At the same time, I was uncomfortably conscious of the monstrous gap between my plans and actions. I thought that I must need more powerful motivational speeches or a greater awareness of what was at stake. I listed the potential benefits: happy creative life-style, money, office in a quaint house on a solitary beach-side mountaintop, world-wide acclaim as a genius. Then I listed all the terrible consequences of not writing: wasted potential, dissatisfaction with life, the disappointment I would have in myself if I let laziness stand in the way of my creative goals. When this strategy failed to make me prolific, I was led to an unsettling conclusion: I must have poor character. Poor character meant that I was unable to do for myself what a teacher did: to threaten punishment if I failed to write and offer a tempting reward – like a good grade – if I obeyed. I wanted to create an internal Writing Monster to enforce discipline: a teacher with claws, perhaps, that would live inside my brain and give me cookies when I wrote well or grimace and swipe at me when I failed to write. I tried recreating at home the ordered discipline of a classroom. I set a goal of four hours and gave myself severely short breaks. I heaped guilt on myself when I cheated, my only leverage, the emotional equivalent a bad grade. These efforts never worked. This amazed me because threats and rewards had done wonders in so many other areas in my life, such as maintaining a straight A average in college. Until I figured out how to motivate myself, I had to do something. I desperately wanted to write. Therefore, I did something I should have done long ago. I took a deep breath to prepare myself for a long, arduous creative journey – and bought a stack of books about writing. Reading books about writing was wonderful because I felt as if I was moving toward my goal of being a writer – without having to write. The visions of success they inspired felt almost as good as the real thing. Within those books, I sought the elusive magic called “creative flow.” Most of them urged reading more classical literature, so I did. Every time I finished a new classic, I felt a surge of accomplishment and knew I was a better writer already. I was absorbing, as if by osmosis, the genius of Dickens, Twain, and Dostoyevsky. I congratulated myself and wondered how many classics I had to read before they conferred Real Writerdom. Actual writing still hurt. An army of imaginary critics peered over my shoulder and berated me. I could hardly write a sentence without thinking it was bad, and not only bad, but a grotesque and repellent reflection of my innermost being. There were still unexpected moments when inspiration seized me, but I never could summon them at will. Most of the time, writing depressed me. A medical diagnosis of bipolar disorder following a manic burst of creativity confirmed that my mood crashes were not imaginary. My doctor prescribed stabilizing medication, and my mood flat-lined. Creativity shriveled. I slept and ate in a daze. I turned to my books about writing for inspiration, but some of them made me feel worse. In a few, the advice was, “If you always have trouble making yourself write, then you probably don’t want to write. You just like the idea of being a writer. If writing is painful for you, abandon it and leave it to us, the “real writers.” I drew back. Ouch. Because of many remarks like these, I started avoiding instructional material on writing. It was true that I had trouble making myself write, but there had definitely been times when I had loved doing it. Now I had to ask: What if I didn’t want to write anymore? What if all this time I had been deluding myself about something so basic to how I saw myself? The question of wanting began to obsess me. When was the last time I had wanted to write? I thought of my childhood vampire and animal stories. The fun. The adventure. The possibility. They all seemed so far away. Guilt, not joy, seemed to be the only thread left connecting me to my former passion. Lacking joy, I used force. I constantly fought myself. I gritted my teeth. I ordered my fingers to move. Blind will vied against some resistant, and substantial, part of who I was. It was like walking against a spiky wall. During one particularly painful writing day, I rebelled. This was a different kind of rebellion than the kind I was used to, that pushed against my writing. I rebelled against what writing had become. I rebelled against the army of critics that lived in my head. I rebelled against pleasing. I rebelled, too, against the idea that I should write. I did not want to write because I should. I wanted to want to write again. And to only write for that reason. If I could not achieve that, I was going to let it go. If I wrote, I wanted to write only what made me happy. I wanted to give up “discipline.” I wanted to get back to the freedom I had enjoyed in childhood. No one had ever forced me, in third grade, to write a vampire story. I changed how I worked. Instead of hourly time targets, I made a modest new goal: to write a sentence a day. I had read this advice somewhere, or at least a version of it. The idea was that you could trick yourself into prolific writing with tiny goals. Past attempts at this had failed because, after a couple of times of it working, I would always have the thought, “Liar! You are just saying to write a sentence. You really intend to write for hours. You’re mean! Time for mutiny!” The “tricking yourself” advice made no sense. How could I trick myself if I knew everything I was thinking? So this time, I modified my approach. To let myself know it was really okay to stop, I would really quit after a sentence now and then. This method ended my resistance and, as a bonus, left me unfulfilled and wanting to write more. As long as I had written my one sentence, I congratulated myself. Each day I took a new step toward writing a novel: a sentence, an outline, a question. I discovered that, during those moments, the spark I had missed arose; I was enjoying writing again. Almost every time, I wrote more than I had planned. A memory. An intriguing hook. An idea to explore. I was silly and reckless. I wrote only what excited me, and however I wanted. I, and not an “inner teacher,” decided how long; I could write a minute or four hours. As days passed, all the “shoulds” fell away. The wanting I had craved, and remembered from childhood, took their place. My notebooks became full. I stopped fighting myself. Which selfhad I been fighting? The part I needed most: the creative, crayon-brandishing child standing guilty by a marked wall – the side that resists being controlled, that refuses to eat slimy okra, that yearns to write most when it should be doing something else. Many well meaning people had told me I should write. I had embraced the idea. But nothing, it turned out, had riled my rebellious side to mutiny as the word “should.”Writing went best when it was forbidden, a sneaky tryst with words at night as I curled up with a pen, defying sleep. The reward-and-punishment motivation model had worked in school, but in doing creative work for myself, it worked against me. I had to unlearn my school conditioning. Many critics of how writing is taught in school blame a lopsided emphasis on grammar as a seed of creative block. But the harm of school for me was not grammar rules, but the belief that anything worth doing requires force. The educational system is built on the assumption that students will do anything to get out of doing work. Whether this assumption is true is open to debate, but in any case, it reduces emphasis on the intrinsic rewards of an activity, whether it is learning or creating a story. Slapping a “should” onto anything sets the energetic, creative side against it. My path to focusing and being fully engaged in writing was to get the “rebel” on my side. I wrote when I should be doing other things, at night when I should be sleeping, or when I should be cleaning. I wrote what I saw as true, even if it defied everything I had been taught. As a result, when I write now, all of me is writing. This does not mean writing is always easy. Sometimes, especially during the final revision stages, it is exceedingly difficult and painstaking, and when it is over, I feel exhausted. But because I love writing and enjoy it, I am willing to do whatever it takes to get it to where it needs to be. I spent many years thinking I had to learn military self-domination to write regularly, but unlearning it was what I really needed for a creative spring to begin. It seemed counter-intuitive and wrong to lose the mindset of “discipline,” but I found that only after letting it go could I enjoy the fun of creating and begin my best work.
Bank bailouts in the Eurozone, like bank bailouts elsewhere, have made owners of otherwise worthless bank debt whole through a circuitous process where, in the end, taxpayers transferred their money to investors. Even in Greece, investors were coddled. Even Proton Bank that had siphoned off $1 billion in a scheme of fraud, embezzlement, and money laundering was bailed out at taxpayer expense [European Bailout Fund For Greek Money Laundering And Fraud]. By contrast, private-sector holders of Greek government debt, such as hedge funds who’d bought this crap for cents on the euro, got ugly haircuts of over 70%. Public-sector holders, like the ECB, got off scot-free. It wasn't fair. But fairness had nothing to do with it. These were bailouts! That’s how it was done. Until now. SNS Reaal, fourth largest bank and insurance group in the Netherlands, cratering under a huge load of rotting real-estate loans, was bailed out on February 1, after already having been bailed out in 2008, and nationalized with a €10-billion package. A collapse and bankruptcy “would have unacceptably large and undesirable consequences,” explained Dutch Finance Minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, confirming that bank bailouts would be the norm in the Eurozone. Only question: to what extent would taxpayers be sacrificed? In the SNS bailout, all depositors were made whole. But stockholders were wiped out. And so were holders of junior debt! Tremors went through the system. Stories surfaced of individual holders, such as artists, who’d lost their savings because they’d bought these crappy bank bonds that had been touted as safe. Alas, that junior debt would have been worthless anyway in a bankruptcy, retorted Dijsselbloem and stuck to his semi-hard line—semi-hard because holders of senior debt and covered bonds were still bailed out by taxpayers. On Monday, the Dutch Council of State blessed that procedure and thus set an example for the rest of the Eurozone: when a bank is bailed out and nationalized, owners of its debt can lose their entire capital. The unwritten government guarantee on bank debt is off. Read More...
A number of high schools in Gaza have punished female students for refusing to wear traditional Islamic headscarves, Huffington Post Arabic reported on Wednesday. According to the report, despite the fact that the Palestinian education ministry has issued no official directive banning unveiled students from school, at the start of the new school year individual principals have shamed and even expelled students for refusing to wear the traditional headgear. “I was happy to begin the new school year, and was preparing for the first day of school like any other student,” said Marah Nashwan, an 11th grader at the Ahmad Shawqi girls high school in Gaza city. “When I entered the school, I was surprised to encounter three teachers asking about my veil. I told them that I do not wear one.” Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition by email and never miss our top stories Free Sign Up Nashwan was taken to the office of the principal, who threatened to ban her from school as long as she does not wear a veil. Her father, Karem, told The Huffington Post that his daughter was suspended from school for three days, only to find upon her return that she was moved to a different school. Karem Nashwan complained about the “discriminatory” decision to the Independent Commission for Human Rights. Society in Gaza, controlled by terror group Hamas since the summer of 2007, is generally more traditional than that of the West Bank. In 2009, Human Rights Watch accused Hamas of issuing “unofficial orders” to schools to turn away students who do not conform to the Islamic dress code. Female students were being told they must wear the long traditional gown known as jilbab, as well as the traditional headscarf, known as hijab. Hamas has also imposed its modesty standards elsewhere in society, banning the display of lingerie in shop windows and forbidding women to smoke water pipes in public places. According to a Reuters report in 2010, the Islamic organization has also tried, unsuccessfully, to force female lawyers in court to wear the headscarf. Samer Mousa, a legal adviser for the Gaza-based human rights group al-Dameer, said he had no doubt that it was individual schools rather than the government which were behind the new headscarf imposition. The move, he noted, has been implemented only in public schools, not in private schools or those run by the UN agency UNRWA. “The director general of the education ministry in Gaza informed us that … the ministry respects the rights of the students, and especially the Christian ones,” he told The Times of Israel in a phone interview from Gaza. “In reality, there are many schools where this does not take place.” “Hamas had many opportunities to impose its will on society if it wanted to,” he said. “No one can oppose it.” Mousa said that students are sometimes punished in schools where the principal is particularly religious. In some cases, the school — trying to win a government prize for adherence to school uniform — singles out female students who refuse to cover their hair. In one school, a headmistress told Mousa she was merely trying to impose equality between rich students, who can care for their hair, and poor ones, whose families cannot even afford shampoo. “All these reasons cannot justify partisan decisions by certain principals to prevent students from entering school,” Mousa said. In some cases, he added, student were singled out in front of their colleagues and told they should be ashamed for dressing immodestly. “It’s emotional harassment,” Mousa said. “Once I’ve even heard of a girl whose principal asked her: ‘Are you a Christian?’ This is dangerous discrimination. In Gaza we don’t discriminate on the basis of religion.”
Risks for US Persons Traveling to Combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant Page Count: 4 pages Date: July 30, 2015 Restriction: For Official Use Only Originating Organization: Department of Homeland Security, Federal Bureau of Investigation, National Counterterrorism Center File Type: pdf File Size: 196,941 bytes File Hash (SHA-256): 3D2D025BA6FEB81AAEA92E9F2446F64E6EE3BC8891ABFE4E626B7AF3CCD9EAD2 (U//FOUO) This Joint Intelligence Bulletin highlights the potential risks for US persons traveling to Syria or Iraq to combat the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) or expressing online a desire to do so. The FBI, DHS, and NCTC remain concerned that US persons traveling to combat ISIL are at risk of being killed, wounded, or captured. Further, ISIL members or supporters could attempt disingenuously to identify and target US persons so as to harm them before or upon their arrival in Syria or Iraq. The State Department has issued travel warnings for both Iraq and Syria and the US Government does not support US persons traveling overseas to combat ISIL. … (U//FOUO) Emerging Trend of US Persons Traveling to Combat ISIL (U//FOUO) A number of US persons have traveled to Syria or Iraq of their own volition to combat ISIL over the past year, according to media interviews granted by these individuals. This underscores a recent broader trend of Westerners mostly joining Kurdish forces and likely motivated by ISIL’s indiscriminate killing of civilians, aid workers, and journalists, as well as a desire to protect civilians, among other reasons. Many of the identified US persons do not appear to have ethnic or family ties to Syria or Iraq and some are veterans of the US military. We assess the trend of US persons traveling to Syria and Iraq to combat ISIL will continue given the group’s ongoing atrocities, the publicity that US anti-ISIL fighters have received, the perception among some US persons that regional groups confronting ISIL need their help, and the prevalence of social media tools to facilitate communication and travel with anti-ISIL groups in the region. » (U//FOUO) Some of these US persons claim to have used social media sites to connect with Kurdish or Iraqi Christian forces fighting ISIL and gain travel guidance and facilitation, according to press reporting. » (U//FOUO) US persons have conducted media interviews to publicize their involvement with Kurdish forces combating ISIL and inspire other Westerners to combat ISIL. » (U//FOUO) Several of the US persons stated in media interviews they had sustained injuries in combat against ISIL, though we are not able to verify claims of direct engagement with ISIL. (U//FOUO) Threats to US Persons Traveling to Combat ISIL (U//FOUO) The death in June of a US person while fighting with Kurdish forces against ISIL—believed to be the first US person killed fighting ISIL—underscores the risks of traveling to join anti-ISIL groups. Individuals who do so also put themselves at risk of dying in accidents or being captured in combat. ISIL almost certainly would seek to use captured US persons in its messaging videos, as it has done with captive Western journalists, aid workers, and coalition military personnel. » (U//FOUO) A 36-year-old US person died on 3 June while fighting ISIL near Kobani, Syria, according to press reporting. He allegedly traveled to join Kurdish forces in February. » (U//FOUO) An Australian man died in late June after stepping on a landmine in Syria while fighting with Kurdish forces against ISIL, according to press reporting. (U//FOUO) ISIL members and supporters could seek to identify, recruit, and target US persons desiring to travel to combat ISIL, given many of these individuals use social media to contact anti-ISIL groups to express their travel desires. We assess ISIL supporters could hide their affiliation during the online recruitment process in an attempt to harm anti-ISIL individuals upon their arrival to Iraq or Syria. » (U//FOUO) While all aspiring anti-ISIL travelers could be targeted by ISIL, both overseas and in the United States, those with former US military affiliations may be more desirable targets for ISIL, particularly in light of ISIL’s September 2014 call for attacks against members of the military, law enforcement, and government personnel; a message the group continues to emphasize. » (U//FOUO) In November 2014, the FBI received reporting indicating individuals located overseas are spotting and assessing like-minded individuals in the United States who are willing and capable of conducting attacks against current and former US-based members of the US military. (U//FOUO) Online Presence Makes Anti-ISIL Fighters Potentially Vulnerable to Social Engineering (U//FOUO) Violent extremist hackers have commonly used various forms of social engineering to obtain information about their adversaries. The purpose of their social engineering is typically to acquire further information about specific individuals or groups, to include their current location. We assess ISIL supporters could use these techniques against US persons who express on social media a desire to travel to join anti-ISIL groups. » (U//FOUO) The most common method of social engineering has been to use spear-phishing e-mails enticing victims to click on a malicious attachment or link. » (U//FOUO) In late November 2014, a Syrian civil rights group received a malicious e-mail claiming to be from Canadian activists and enticing the recipient to access and download images purporting to be of ISIL strongholds. The link contained malware intended to collect the victim’s IP address and other system information to determine a victim’s physical location. (U) Outlook (U//FOUO) The FBI, DHS, and NCTC urge vigilance and advise individuals who express anti-ISIL sentiment publicly—current and former military members in particular—to review their online social media accounts for any information that might serve to attract the attention of violent extremists, and to exercise operational security in their interactions online. Travel to Syria or Iraq puts individuals at heightened risk of kidnapping, bodily harm, or death. Travelers, regardless of their intent or motivation, should be aware of the limited consular access in Syria and Iraq, the potential to inadvertently violate US or Iraqi law, and the increased likelihood of being targeted by violent extremist groups, including but not limited to ISIL. Share this:
According to a new Morning Joe/Marist poll, Americans overwhelmingly favor the Democratic approach to managing the economy and toughening gun laws. The poll finds that 64 percent believe that creating jobs should be Congress and President Obama’s top priority, while just 33 percent agree with the Republican position that reducing the federal budget deficit is paramount. Furthermore, when asked how they believe the deficit should be reduced, 42 percent agree with President Obama’s position that we should both cut spending and increase revenues, while 35 percent believe that we should primarily increase revenues, and just 17 percent agree with House Republicans that deficit reduction should come mostly through spending cuts. Although Republicans have repeatedly asserted that new tax revenue should be off the table as a result of the fiscal cliff deal that raised taxes on family income above $450,000, the American public does not agree. Just 18 percent say that the January tax increase makes them less likely to support reducing the deficit by limiting tax deductions on high income, while 22 percent say it makes them more likely, while 56 percent say it makes no difference to their opinion. Despite Americans’ sharp disapproval of the GOP’s policy proposals, President Obama only leads the GOP 44 to 40 percent on the question of who has a better approach to dealing with the deficit. This result helps to explain Democrats’ determination to tie Republicans to the specifics of Paul Ryan’s budget plan, which would drastically reduce spending while providing tax cuts to wealthy Americans. The poll also found that Americans back stronger gun safety regulations. Although some pundits have speculated that the voters are losing interest in the issue as the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting recedes further from the headlines, the Morning Joe/Marist poll finds that support for new regulations is almost unchanged from Marist’s previous polls. Legislation that would require background checks for private gun sales and gun shows is supported by 87 percent, while just 12 percent oppose it. Additionally, 59 percent support legislation that would ban the sale of assault weapons, with 37 percent opposing it. Overall, 60 percent believe that gun laws should be more strict, while 33 percent say they should be kept as they are now, and 5 percent say they should be made more lenient. Notably, there is a huge partisan split on this question; 83 percent of Democrats support tougher regulations, compared to just 37 percent of Republicans. So as long as the House majority is held by Republicans from overwhelming Republican districts, passing any meaningful new gun laws through the lower chamber will be an uphill battle. The full results of the poll can be seen here. AP Photo/Charles Dharapak
IFD: 75-year-old man falls asleep while smoking, dies in east side fire Copyright by WISH - All rights reserved IFD says a 75-year-old man died in a house fire Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015. (WISH Photo) [ + - ] Video Staff Reports - INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) -- A 75-year-old man died in a house fire Sunday evening on the east side, according to the Indianapolis Fire Department. Copyright by WISH - All rights reserved This photo shows cigarettes inside the home of a man who died in a house fire Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015. (IFD Photo) Copyright by WISH - All rights reserved This photo shows cigarettes inside the home of a man who died in a house fire Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015. (IFD Photo) Firefighters were called to the 900 block of North Linwood Avenue around 6:35 p.m. An IFD official said the man, who was on oxygen, fell asleep while smoking, and his bedding is believed to have caught fire. A neighbor heard a loud noise likely caused by the oxygen canister discharging, IFD says. He died of smoke inhalation, according to IFD. There were no working smoke alarms in the home. Neighbors told firefighters that they had warned the man about the dangers of smoking while using oxygen. The home is a duplex, and the displaced residents plan to stay with neighbors for the night. The man has not yet been identified. IFD says this is the third person to die in a fire this year. Copyright by WISH - All rights reserved This photo shows the bed of a man who died in a house fire Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015. (IFD Photo) Copyright by WISH - All rights reserved This photo shows the bed of a man who died in a house fire Sunday, Dec. 6, 2015. (IFD Photo) If you need a smoke alarm, you're asked to call the IFD Smoke Alarm Hotline at 327-6093.
The Vividus – a £100,000 bed fit for a king (or queen) – looks set to give you the most sublime sleep you’ve ever had. Here’s why… Last week, Swedish expert bed makers, Hästens, unveiled their latest luxury creation to the world. The £100,000 Vividus is made by specially selected artisans, using only the finest materials. Each bed takes over 320 hours to create and a meticulous eye for detail is essential. Family-run Hästens have been creating their iconic, celebrity-loved beds since 1852 and used expertise acquired over 6 generations to create the Vividus. There was no time limit, no budget and no restriction on materials. Each part of the bed was carefully considered – from the hand-sewn layers of horsehair and cotton, to the redwood pine bed frame from north Sweden. Plus, anyone who purchases the Vividus can expect to receive a bed that’s completely customised for their needs. The Vividus has been finished with Hästens’ patented blue checkered print. It’s not only a promise of luxury but in Sweden, is more recognisable than the country’s own flag. Jan-Erik Leander, Master Craftsman of the Vividus, says: “Vividus is a unique project for craftsmen, enabling them to work daily with techniques that have been practised and developed for more than 160 years. To be part of a team making the world’s best bed is a prestigious assignment that few people are privileged to be a part of.” He adds: “It is a bed made without compromises in materials, time or craftsmanship. We cherish each bed from start to finish like a part of our own family. I believe that is what gives Vividus a soul and character of its own.” By Leanne Kelsall Hästens Vividus – Where and How? The Vividus is available to buy online at www.hastens.com or in the Fitzrovia and Chelsea stores. Prices start at £100,000. Hästens Fitzrovia 66-68 Margaret Street, London W1W 8SR Hästens Chelsea 115, Fulham road, London, SW3 6RL
Christian Laettner knows exactly how Michael Morgan was feeling when the Cowboys utility was brought in to the Queensland team for Game One of the 2015 Holden State of Origin Series. Already blessed to be playing and training alongside Johnathan Thurston on a daily basis in Townsville, Morgan admits he was awestruck to now be in a team that contained Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater. Laettner knows what he means. When USA Basketball assembled the greatest roster of talent ever seen arguably on any sporting team in history for the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, US colleges' reigning NCAA Player of the Year also earned selection. Magic, Larry and Michael. Barkley, Pippen and Ewing. And Laettner. "I was the luckiest person in the world," Laettner said on the 20-year anniversary of the Dream Team's gold medal-winning performance. "To go from the top of the college game and go right to the best of the best in the NBA was just an unbelievable experience for me and an unbelievable feeling. "It helped me with how hard I had to work and how dedicated I had to be." For just the second time in his relatively young career Morgan is again surrounded by Queensland's 'Fab Four', the returns of Billy Slater and Johnathan Thurston rounding out a quartet that has won 10 of the 14 Origin matches in which they have all played together. Game Two of the 2015 series was the last time the four lined up alongside each other and with Thurston already announcing that this is his last season in the representative arena each game together could be their last. Which is why Morgan has spent as much of the past week in Queensland camp absorbing all the rugby league lessons they have to impart, studying at the feet of geniuses so that in time he can carry forward their legacy. "You want to be your own player but I'd be silly not to try pick up some of their traits and the things that they do and the way conduct themselves, the things they say or the way they look at a game," Morgan told NRL.com. "That's what I try to do while I'm here, soak up as much of that sort of stuff as I can and try and put that into my game. "Coming through my teenage years was when this team was going through their very good run of Origin wins and like I anyone else in Queensland I was a huge fan of them. "Obviously I knew 'JT' but the other three guys came up and introduced themselves, made me feel welcome, even though I spent the week in awe of them. "They'll work on their individual game a lot longer than other players but they're also more than happy to help other players first and then go and do their thing. "When you see them do all those kinds of things you understand why they've been so good for so long and you understand what it takes." When Thurston suffered a calf injury in Round 6 everyone looked to Morgan to take control of the Cowboys, a role he is not yet completely comfortable with. Sensing that a player who has spent the majority of his career as a running five-eighth/fullback could use some direction with regards to game management, Cronk approached Morgan during the Test in Canberra to offer his thoughts on the types of things he could incorporate into his game. The subsequent shoulder injury that sidelined Thurston for a further month allowed Morgan to put those particular lessons into practice and guide North Queensland to wins over the Bulldogs and Titans along with a narrow defeat to the Sharks. "He came up to me and started the conversation with me," Morgan said of his talk with Cronk. "That's the kind of guys they are. They're happy to help someone's game as well and I'm grateful for it. "The year I had at fullback it was always a sweeping role and [I'd] probably done that a lot as a five-eighth as well so a part of my game that has had to improve is the ball-playing side and Cooper gave me a few tips on that. "I came back from that camp with a bit more confidence within that role. After that camp was the first week I had more on the ball, similar to what 'Johno' does. Obviously not to his level but that role within the side and I was confident going in to do that. "I spoke to 'Greeny' (Cowboys coach Paul Green) that week and said that I was comfortable doing that while Johno was out and used what Cooper spoke to me about." Still just 25 years of age and playing in his seventh Origin game on Wednesday night, Morgan knows the opportunities to mine some of the game's best rugby league minds will be few and far between but had one final plea: "They will be gone; hopefully they don't all go at once." ‌ Blues' hitman Frizell switches focus to Thurston Former Blue labels Fifita the best yet Cooper content to ride Thurston's coattails Napa's simple advice to Origin debutants Fifita front of mind for new-look Maroons ‌
By Kenneth P. Doyle The Supreme Court has been asked formally to review a challenge to restrictions on “soft money” contributions to political parties—the last remaining major element of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law passed in 2002. The filing of a “jurisdictional statement” appealing to the high court had been expected since a lower court ruling last fall, which rejected the soft money challenge launched by the Republican Party of Louisiana. The party committee sued the Federal Election Commission, the agency that enforces restrictions on campaign money to national, state and local parties. The McCain-Feingold law—formally known as the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act, or BCRA—requires party committees to use FEC-regulated “hard money” for activities affecting federal elections. Hard money includes only limited contributions and no corporate or union money for these activities. The new appeal—announced Jan. 6 but not yet docketed by the Supreme Court—gives the court an opportunity to scrap or uphold the restrictions on political party funding that have been in place for nearly 15 years. The case is being considered under streamlined procedures for constitutional challenges to campaign finance laws, meaning that the Supreme Court must issue some type of ruling on the merits, though there’s no guarantee of an oral argument or written opinion. Parties and Super PACs James Bopp, Jr., the lead counsel for the Louisiana Republican Party and two local GOP party committees challenging the soft money restrictions, said in a statement that the case is about equalizing the fundraising power of parties and super political action committees—non-party campaign spending groups that have risen to prominence since passage of the McCain-Feingold law and recent court decisions rolling back limits on independent political spending. “While super-PACs may receive unrestricted funds to do independent activities, political parties are severely limited in their participation by funding restrictions,” Bopp said in a statement announcing the Supreme Court appeal. “Fairness and the First Amendment require that political parties be liberated from the ‘soft money’ restrictions on their independent activities so they can effectively participate in our political system by resuming their traditional voter-mobilization activities.” Bopp, of The Bopp Law Firm in Terre Haute, Ind., has spearheaded numerous challenges of campaign finance laws nationwide. His latest appeal to the Supreme Court seeks to overturn the November ruling on the soft money challenge by a special three-judge panel of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ( Republican Party of La. v. FEC, D.D.C., No. 15-cv-1241, 11/7/16). Lower Court Upheld Soft Money Limits The lower court ruling, which was written by U.S. Circuit Judge Sri Srinivasan, said courts have upheld soft money restrictions of the McCain-Feingold law in a series of cases going back to the 2003 Supreme Court ruling in McConnell v. FEC. The campaign finance law was passed in 2002 and is named for its primary sponsors, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and former Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.). “We are not the first court to consider First Amendment challenges to BCRA’s limits on state and local political parties’ use of soft-money donations,” Srinivasan wrote in a 20-page opinion. “We see no salient distinction between the First Amendment claims rejected in those cases and the challenge presented here.” Srinivasan’s decision was joined by the other members of the court panel: U.S. District Judges Christopher Cooper and Tanya Chutkan. The ruling upheld BCRA provisions that set a $10,000 “hard money” annual limit per contributor on the amount a state party committee can raise for activities that could impact a federal election. Party-Candidate Links Bopp has argued that the Supreme Court’s McConnell ruling upholding BCRA has been undermined by more recent Supreme Court cases, including the 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. FEC and the 2014 ruling in McCutcheon v. FEC. The Citizens United ruling rolled back BCRA restrictions on campaign spending by corporations, while McCutcheon struck aggregate limits campaign contributions by an individual. The decisions left in place limits the direct campaign contributions to candidates and political parties, but Bopp has contended that the logic of these recent cases argues for rolling back funding restrictions on parties, as well. Srinivasan’s ruling for the lower court said that even if some campaign money, such as contributions to super PACs and other independent groups, presents no potential for quid pro quo corruption, contributions to political parties still have that potential. That is because of the close links between candidates and parties cited in the Supreme Court’s McConnell decision, which remain a concern, the ruling said. Lawyers for the FEC defended the BCRA’s soft money provisions before the lower court, emphasizing that the previous court rulings upholding the law were based on an extensive record of apparent corruption of the legislative process due to the influence of large soft money contributions to political party committees. Such concerns have continued, the FEC contended, citing a recent indictment of Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), in part for allegedly trading official favors for a contribution to New Jersey’s state Democratic Party. While the FEC defended the law in the lower court, the task of defending the BCRA soft money restrictions before the Supreme Court in the coming months will fall to U.S. Solicitor General’s Office, an arm of the Justice Department. How DOJ handles this case under the administration of President-elect Donald Trump could provide an early indication of whether the new administration is prepared to uphold and enforce campaign finance restrictions, which many Republicans have criticized in the past. To contact the reporter on this story: Kenneth P. Doyle in Washington at kdoyle@bna.com To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Hendrie at phendrie@bna.com Copyright © 2017 The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Update: 4:20 p.m. A local pup was reunited with its family this morning after a successful rescue mission at the Arboretum. Skye, a golden retriever, was pulled from the sinkhole by a team of firefighters from the Alpha Fire Company. They used a rope and pulley system, according to a video published by Penn State on Instagram. A missing dog story has a happy ending at the Penn State Arboretum. Watch a video of the rescue. @PennStateOPP pic.twitter.com/3h56USeUzo — Penn State (@penn_state) February 17, 2016 “A missing dog story has a happy ending. Skye, a golden retriever missing since Monday, was rescued from a sinkhole at the Arboretum at #PennState this morning,” the Instagram caption read. “This gives us all the feels. Thanks to everyone involved in the rescue.” The Penn State account credited the Office of Physical Plant for the video. The sinkhole was approximately 15-feet deep and required a fire fighter to enter the hole and help push Skye up, according to a video published by the Alpha Fire Company on its Facebook page. It is unknown how long the dog was in the sinkhole or if it sustained any injuries from the fall, though Skye’s wagging tail when it broke the surface may signal that Skye was quite happy to be freed.
Former Germany international, Berti Vogts has said Lukas Podolski needs to work more on his game especially the defensive aspect. The former Nigeria coach has once criticised the Arsenal striker during his spell at Cologne. Vogts concerns about the player were his attitude and lack of professionalism. Speaking recently, Vogts thinks Podolski will develop fully at his new club. Vogts also spoke about the Semi-final exit of the Germany national team at Euro 2012. On Euro 2012 “It is always the defence that gets criticized. But the defence starts with Podolski. When he loses the ball he must start running back once in a while” From Cologne to Arsenal “I am happy Podolski has left Cologne. He had too many friends in the city. He got praised as a great runner if he ever got back to defend three times in a game. He got an easy ride and he believed in his own publicity. “But now he has a coach at arsenal in Arsene Wenger who will make him work hard in training as well as matches. If Podolski fails to train properly twice or three times he won’t get games. That is the way to develop him into a true professional. Arsenal manager, Arsene Wenger believes his man has matured a lot considering all Podolski has gone through in his career. Arsene Wenger on Podolski’s unimpressive spell at Bayern Munich “I think sometimes when a player goes to a big club early, there are other players there they cannot take their place from. Maybe he was not ready and completely matured. I don’t know. Now he his ready. Between that period and now he has 50 or 69 caps for germany and a World Cup and European Championship behind him.” Lukas Podolski has three goals in seven appearances to his name for Arsenal. [Source: IBTimes] Advertisements
President Trump signed an executive order on Friday that purports to bar for at least 90 days almost all permanent immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries, including Syria and Iraq, and asserts the power to extend the ban indefinitely. But the order is illegal. More than 50 years ago, Congress outlawed such discrimination against immigrants based on national origin. That decision came after a long and shameful history in this country of barring immigrants based on where they came from. Starting in the late 19th century, laws excluded all Chinese, almost all Japanese, then all Asians in the so-called Asiatic Barred Zone. Finally, in 1924, Congress created a comprehensive “national-origins system,” skewing immigration quotas to benefit Western Europeans and to exclude most Eastern Europeans, almost all Asians, and Africans. Mr. Trump appears to want to reinstate a new type of Asiatic Barred Zone by executive order, but there is just one problem: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 banned all discrimination against immigrants on the basis of national origin, replacing the old prejudicial system and giving each country an equal shot at the quotas. In signing the new law, President Lyndon B. Johnson said that “the harsh injustice” of the national-origins quota system had been “abolished.” Nonetheless, Mr. Trump asserts that he still has the power to discriminate, pointing to a 1952 law that allows the president the ability to “suspend the entry” of “any class of aliens” that he finds are detrimental to the interest of the United States. But the president ignores the fact that Congress then restricted this power in 1965, stating plainly that no person could be “discriminated against in the issuance of an immigrant visa because of the person’s race, sex, nationality, place of birth or place of residence.” The only exceptions are those provided for by Congress (such as the preference for Cuban asylum seekers). When Congress passed the 1965 law, it wished to protect not just immigrants, but also American citizens, who should have the right to sponsor their family members or to marry a foreign-born spouse without being subject to pointless discrimination. Mr. Trump may want to revive discrimination based on national origin by asserting a distinction between “the issuance of a visa” and the “entry” of the immigrant. But this is nonsense. Immigrants cannot legally be issued a visa if they are barred from entry. Thus, all orders under the 1952 law apply equally to entry and visa issuance, as his executive order acknowledges. Note that the discrimination ban applies only to immigrants. Legally speaking, immigrants are those who are given permanent United States residency. By contrast, temporary visitors like guest workers, students and tourists, as well as refugees, could still be barred. The 1965 law does not ban discrimination based on religion — which was Mr. Trump’s original proposal. While presidents have used their power dozens of times to keep out certain groups of foreigners under the 1952 law, no president has ever barred an entire nationality of immigrants without exception. In the most commonly cited case, President Jimmy Carter barred certain Iranians during the 1980 hostage crisis, but the targets were mainly students, tourists and temporary visitors. Even then, the policy had many humanitarian exceptions. Immigrants continued to be admitted in 1980. While courts rarely interfere in immigration matters, they have affirmed the discrimination ban. In the 1990s, for example, the government created a policy that required Vietnamese who had fled to Hong Kong to return to Vietnam if they wanted to apply for United States immigrant visas, while it allowed applicants from other countries to apply for visas wherever they wanted. A federal appeals court blocked the policy. The government in that case did not even bother arguing that the 1952 law permitted discrimination. The court rejected its defense that a “rational link” with a temporary foreign policy measure could justify ignoring the law — an argument the Trump administration is sure to make. The court wrote, “We cannot rewrite a statutory provision which by its own terms provides no exceptions or qualifications.” To resolve this case, Congress amended the law in 1996 to state that “procedures” and “locations” for processing immigration applications cannot count as discrimination. While there is plenty of room for executive mischief there, the amendment made clear that Congress still wanted the discrimination ban to hold some force. A blanket immigration prohibition on a nationality by the president would still be illegal. Even if courts do find wiggle room here, discretion can be taken too far. If Mr. Trump can legally ban an entire region of the world, he would render Congress’s vision of unbiased legal immigration a dead letter. An appeals court stopped President Barack Obama’s executive actions to spare millions of undocumented immigrants from deportations for the similar reason that he was circumventing Congress. Some discretion? Sure. Discretion to rewrite the law? Not in America’s constitutional system.
The US Military’s suicide rate grew a startling 15 percent in 2012. The Pentagon, which has put great effort into lowering military suicide rates, has acknowledged that battle casualties are no longer the primary reason for soldiers’ deaths. Modern US warfare is Internet-centric and relies heavily on drones and robots, which has helped bring combat losses to historic lows; suicide now accounts for more deaths of US soldiers than battlefield conflict. The official website of the US Department of Defense has published preliminary reports of at least 177 potential active-duty suicides and 126 potential non-active-duty suicides in 2012. The report reveals a marked surge in suicides since 2011, when 165 confirmed active-duty and 118 non-active-duty suicides were registered. In all, 349 servicemembers in all branches of the US Military committed suicide in 2012, up 15 percent from 301 suicides in the military in 2011, AP reported, citing a Pentagon source. The number of US Military suicides in 2012 exceeded the total combat fatalities in Afghanistan in 2012, which the AP calculated at 295 deaths. Reports on US military suicides have revealed that the US Army, the largest body within the US military (around 562,000 personnel), has the highest number and rate of military suicides: Over 32 per 100,000 troops. The US Marines Corps (over 202,000 personnel) was second with nearly 24 suicides per 100,000 troops. The US Navy (around 323,000 personnel) and US Air Force (around 330,000 personnel) have practically identical suicide rates of 18 per 100,000 troops. US military suicide rate 2012 US Army – 182 suicides US Marines Corps – 48 suicides US Navy – 60 suicides US Air Force – 59 suicides The average suicide rate in the US military – 24 suicides per 100,000 soldiers – is lower than the civilian suicide rate for men aged 17 to 60 – 25 suicides per 100,000 in 2010. The latest US military suicide statistics for 2011 suggest that a suicidal soldier is usually an unmarried white man under the age of 25, recently enlisted and with less than a college education. Around 60 percent of military suicides are committed with firearms, though in most cases the guns are personally owned, not military-issued. The Pentagon has instated several measures in a bid to curb the rising number of suicides. For example, soldiers and their family members can receive professional psychological help from the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, where “trained consultants are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.” The US Army sponsors research into medications to prevent suicides, such as a nasal spray that eliminates suicidal thoughts. But despite these breakthroughs, the problem has continued to grow. David Rudd, a military suicide researcher and dean of the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Utah, told AP that he is not optimistic about further anti-suicide developments. “Actually, we may continue to see increases,” Rudd explained, adding that Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans commit suicides because of PTSD, depression, alcohol and substance abuse, while those not deployed take their lives because of problems with relationships, finances or the law. The suicide rate among veterans vastly exceeds that of active-duty troops. According to estimates last year by the US Department of Veterans’ Affairs, a US military veteran commits suicide every 80 minutes – totaling 18 veterans a day. In 2010, the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America nonprofit reported that veterans account for 20 percent of the 30,000 annual US suicides, though only 1 percent of Americans have served in the military. “Despite the increased efforts, the increased attention, the trends continue to move in a troubling and tragic direction,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta acknowledged at a joint suicide prevention conference between the Pentagon and Department of Veterans’ Affairs in June 2012.
The recent Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) report, How Fair is Britain?, has elicited a flurry of criticism from those who regard egalitarian commitment as a misguided, if not sinister, political approach. In his Telegraph blog, for example, the impressively rightwing Ed West thunders against the EHRC and "equality of outcome" which, as every Telegraph journalist knows, is a Bad Thing and, anyway, "impossible". In this newspaper, Julian Glover informs the left that it should give up on the ideal of equality since it is "undesirable". In the Independent, Dominic Lawson asserts that demands for equality and fairness are motivated by "envy" and, as such, should be dismissed. All these objections draw on the familiar anti-egalitarian arguments regularly deployed by the right. Many egalitarians might be tempted to shrug them off as the usual arguments from the usual suspects. But, for me, there is something deeply irritating about them. It's not just that I disagree – it's that these arguments are founded on caricature. All of these commentators assume that when the left talks about equality it means absolute equality of everything. This is a common assumption among those hostile to egalitarianism: that the left want everyone to be exactly the same. No serious political theorist, however, has ever argued for such a self-evidently absurd position. Marx certainly didn't. Indeed, Marx's summary of the principles that we would/should obtain under communism – "from each according to his ability, to each according to his need" – implies, precisely, significant inequalities in the distribution of social goods and also rests on the assumption that abilities are unequally distributed, too. Indeed, one of the things that Marx is trying to show is that for a rough "equality of condition" to be obtained, inequalities between individuals are necessary – since we all require and desire different things in different proportions in order to flourish. To treat people as if they are exactly the same is, in fact, to treat them unequally. Equality for the left is a complex concept, which bears little resemblance to the caricatures drawn by the right. Martin O'Neill brings out something of equality's complexity and usefully draws our attention to the distinction between two conceptions of equality often conflated by the right – equality of opportunity and equality of outcome. The former focuses on the equalisation of opportunity for those with the requisite capacities or abilities to obtain a particular advantaged social position – it focuses on the elimination of arbitrary discrimination in the process of selection for such positions and, by definition, justifies certain inequalities of outcome. This, by the way, is what Glover appears to favour – he's not actually against equality per se, but against a certain (caricatured) version of equality (of outcome). In fact, it's hard, today, to find anyone who is really against equality. The political dispute in relation to equality is not between egalitarians and anti-egalitarians. It's a struggle over the definition of the principle of equality: what is to be equalised, between whom equality should be obtained and where the limits should be drawn. Commitment to the notion of equality is deeply embedded in the fabric of modern politics. Along with liberty, equality was one of the two key principles that drove forward the various 17th- and 18th-century revolutions (English, French and American) that inaugurated the liberal world. The modern liberal and capitalist order, then, has revolutionary beginnings (something that, as Terry Eagleton points out, liberals today find acutely embarrassing and try not to mention), but with the establishment and gradual consolidation of capitalism and liberalism, the tenor of liberal ideology shifted from one of radical optimism to one of "moderate", "realism" and scepticism towards grand projects of social change. As the philosopher Étienne Balibar has argued, however, (see also Alex Callinicos), liberalism's revolutionary ideals retain an inherently subversive nature. Balibar argues that the universalism of core liberal principles – equality and liberty – imbues them with a radical logic that tends to come into conflict with the structural foundations of bourgeois society. The bourgeois revolutionaries overthrew the ancien régime in the name of freedom and equality for all – and though these ideals were "packed with tacit or explicit clauses excluding women, the poor, slaves and many other groups from its ambit" (Callinicos, Equality), the universalism of these ideals had a tendency to breach these morally arbitrary, power-determined limiting clauses. Groups who were excluded from the realm of liberal equality and freedom (slaves, women, workers) could draw on the stated or implicit universalism of these liberal principles and demand inclusion. Each rectification of injustice drew attention to further forms of injustice so that the extension of liberty and equality moved forward in a rolling, cumulative progression. For socialists, the next stage in this process of extension is a struggle for economic and class equality. Inequalities of wealth and economic power entail, after all, inequalities in political power. Why doesn't the ambit of democracy – equal liberty amongst citizens to exert control over social processes – extend into the economic sphere? Doesn't equality (and liberty), socialists ask, require economic democracy? This, however, would be incompatible with capitalism. Beyond a certain point, then, the dialectic of struggle for the extension of liberal ideals of liberty and equality becomes a definitely socialist struggle. One can see something of this tendency of liberal ideals to go beyond themselves in the way in which equality of opportunity, on close inspection, slides into equality of outcome. Equality of opportunity requires that each individual has an equal starting point in competition for particular social goods – outcomes reflect ability and effort. The problem is that outcomes are also starting points. A child's starting point, for example, might be to be born into an affluent family – but this is the outcome of the parents having successfully made use of their opportunities. This suggests that if we really think it's important to equalise opportunities we need to equalise outcomes too. We need, also, to question what counts as morally arbitrary criteria in the equality of opportunity view. There is no logical reason, in terms of justice, why if it's wrong to discriminate against people on the grounds of race or gender, it's not also wrong to discriminate on the grounds of ability or intelligence. Does an intelligent individual deserve higher rewards simply because they are bright? Why? Surely, they have no control over this any more than they have over their sex or skin colour. This doesn't mean that ability ought to be irrelevant in allocation of jobs – nobody wants to be treated by a brain-damaged brain surgeon. It does, however, suggest that there is no good reason why higher rewards should be distributed on the basis of these criteria. The logic of liberal thinking on equality and justice always points towards equality of condition and, since it is difficult to see how such radical equality is compatible with capitalist relations of power, the logic of liberal thinking points beyond itself, towards socialism. This, by the way, is something in relation to which liberal political philosophers expend an extraordinary amount of effort pretending not to have noticed. • Ed Rooksby posts on Cif as RedMutley
The small town of Arcore, near Milan, is where the 'bunga-bunga' prime minister owns his enormous villa Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s hometown has introduced an official register for its same-sex couples. The small town of Arcore, near Milan, northern Italy, is where Berlusconi lives most of the year. In the sprawling villa, surrounded by enormous grounds, he allegedly organized his ‘bunga-bunga’ parties. The register was voted in by the left-wing majority of the council, but the mayor, Rosalba Colombo, refused to intervene or comment. During the debate, gay lawyer and left-wing politician Paolo Oddi said: ‘I have to thank the town of Arcore. I’ve been living in a same-sex couple for the last 20 years and I know what gay couples want and need.’ Oddi is already officially registered with Milan’s same-sex couples’ book with his partner, famous journalist Paolo Hutter. The new register, which has validity only in Arcore, will introduce some rights including access to local benefits, like council houses and family support allowance. Commentators highlighted that the hometown of a former prime minister, who has never approved a pro-gay law, is now among the most tolerant cities in the country. And Facebook jokers suggested Berlusconi may now organize another bunga-bunga party to toast the happy couples involved in the first registrations. Same-sex couples’ registers have been approved in recent years in several Italian cities.
Packers rookie punter Peter Mortell, right, who played at Minnesota, on friend Sam Foltz of Nebraska: "Even though Sam was younger than me, I looked up to him and he made me a better person." Photo courtesy of Peter Mortell GREEN BAY, Wis. -- The group chat will forever remain in Peter Mortell's iPhone messages. Not only can he not delete it -- just as he cannot stop referring to Mike Sadler and Sam Foltz in the present tense, struggling to accept that they are really gone -- he cannot stop adding to the conversation. "They might not respond," the Green Bay Packers rookie punter said Tuesday, "but I know they're reading it." Sadler and Foltz were killed in a one-car crash just outside of Milwaukee on Saturday night, when authorities say their vehicle skidded off a rain-slicked road and struck a tree. Just a few days earlier, the five punting pals -- Mortell from Minnesota, Sadler from Michigan State, Foltz from Nebraska, Riley Dixon from Syracuse and Drew Meyer from Wisconsin -- were rapid-firing texts at one another, cracking jokes and making plans for their annual Wisconsin reunion at the Kohl's kicking camps. Sadler, Foltz and Meyer were in; Dixon, a rookie with the Denver Broncos, was out. Mortell was the lone undecided, mindful that Packers players were reporting to training camp at 6 a.m. Monday but also knowing he was only a 2½-hour drive away. "They asked me if I was going to come down," Mortell said, his eyes red. "And I said, 'I don’t think I’m going to make it this weekend, guys.'" The quintet had grown especially close in recent years -- through fall college football seasons, winter workouts, spring practices, summer camps. And the group message -- started nearly two years ago -- had served as something of a digital oral history of their friendship. "Even though we only saw each other face-to-face a couple times a year, when we’d play each other or at this camp," Meyer said, "we had a special bond." That bond grew stronger each offseason as they attended and worked the camp while bunking together at Meyer’s family’s home -- an upgrade from the sweltering UW-Whitewater dorms where the other college players stayed. It was a spur-of-the-moment idea that quickly became a tradition. "That first year, it was more, 'Guys, I’m going home. Does anyone want to come with me? We have air conditioning,'" Meyer recalled with a chuckle, before his voice trailed off. "It was a unique group of guys." After spending the evening at the home of one of the camp counselors, playing games and catching up, Sadler, Foltz and LSU kicker Colby Delahoussaye were en route to Meyer’s home late Saturday night when Sadler lost control of his black Mercedes on a notoriously dangerous curve. Sadler and Foltz died at the scene; Delahoussaye, who was in the back seat, escaped with burns and lacerations. 'I knew exactly what had happened' Former Michigan State punter Mike Sadler, shown at a kicking camp, had a positive impact on Packers rookie punter Peter Mortell: "Mike taught me how to keep an even head and have fun with the game," Mortell said. Photo courtesy Kohls Kicking Camps Meyer, who left after the others and took a different route with Nebraska kicker Drew Brown, knew something was wrong when he arrived at his family’s home before Sadler, Foltz and Delahoussaye. When Meyer’s calls to their cellphones went unanswered, he and Brown immediately headed for Beaver Lake Road, with Meyer fearing the worst. When they saw police lights and the road barricaded off, Meyer knew. "I knew exactly what had happened -- that they had missed that turn -- before we even talked to the officers," Meyer said. Even after Meyer explained who he was and that his friends were in the vehicle, sheriffs on the scene refused to give him any details -- "Can we just ask if they’re alive?" Meyer said he asked one deputy, who did not answer him -- except to say that Delahoussaye had been able to call 911 and was en route to the hospital. It wasn’t until the next morning, after a sleepless night, that Meyer learned Sadler and Foltz were dead. Meyer, in turn, called Mortell, barely able to speak. The what-ifs that followed have haunted Mortell ever since. "I think I would have gone if training camp didn’t start on Monday," said Mortell, who shared a room with Foltz the past couple of years. Then, a pause. "I would have definitely stayed at Drew’s house. "It hurts, because you think of maybe what wouldn’t have happened if you did go. If one variable is different." Then, another pause, at the thought of the alternative. "Or," Mortell said, "I’m in the car." Meyer, meanwhile, was doing the same. "Should I have insisted they follow me instead of letting them pull out first while I backed out and turned my car around? Should I have called sooner to make sure they were going the right way on the GPS?" Meyer said. "There are plenty of questions we can ask ourselves. But God had a plan." Fond memories The cathartic stream of memories just kept coming Tuesday night. Mortell had just finished with the Packers' special-teams meetings inside Lambeau Field and was headed for the dorms at St. Norbert College; Meyer had driven back to Madison to visit his college roommates' new place and play pingpong. Neither distraction had taken their minds off their loss. Both questioned whether they should be sharing their grief publicly, but both reached the same conclusion: Foltz and Sadler were such remarkable people, they owed it to them to share them with others. Plus, they had too many good stories. Like the time the Wisconsin coaches couldn’t find Meyer at the start of pregame warm-ups because he was still in the locker room getting his uniform on -- because of Foltz. "I was almost late, because I’d spent too much time talking to him on the field beforehand," Meyer recalled. Or the time Mortell’s Gophers rallied in the fourth quarter to beat Foltz's Huskers, and Foltz bee-lined for Mortell after the game ended, seemingly oblivious to the outcome. "He told me he loved me, and asked if we could take a picture -- in which he's grinning ear to ear," Mortell said. "Who does that after a heartbreaking loss? That's the guy Sam was. Even though Sam was younger than me, I looked up to him and he made me a better person." Or the time Foltz picked up a Nebraska first down on a fake punt and Meyer’s Wisconsin teammates’ heads all turned when they heard their own punter cheering on the bench. "I got excited when Sam picked up the first down and ran one of our guys over. And guys were looking at me like, 'What are you getting excited about?'" Meyer said. "Hey, it was my best friend." Or the night after one camp a couple of years back when Mortell unexpectedly turned casual dinner conversation into a thorough dissection of the pooch punt. "We’re all sitting down, and the next thing you know, we’re all putting down our plates and passing a football around, showing how we hold the ball, the angle we make contact ..." Meyer said. Or all the times Sadler, who was set to leave for Stanford Law School next month, would self-deprecatingly discuss his brief NFL career. "After I signed with Green Bay, he called me and joked, 'If you make it past lunch, you'll have been in the NFL longer than I ever was. I'm so proud of you,'" Mortell said. "I'll never forget that." Added Meyer: "Mike was very proud of his two-day career with the Buccaneers." 'I can feel them' On Tuesday, Mortell did his best to focus on football, to earn the NFL career that Sadler so wanted him to have. Packers rookie punter Peter Mortell inscribed Mike Sadler's and Sam Foltz's jersey numbers on his cleats, a small way to acknowledge that he might not even be at an NFL camp without them. Photo Courtesy of Peter Mortell Before heading out to the first training camp practice as a Packer -- where his competition with incumbent punter Tim Masthay began immediately, with the first of many head-to-head punting periods -- Mortell grabbed a marker and inscribed Sadler's and Foltz’s jersey numbers on his cleats, a small way to acknowledge that he might not even be in this position without them. Especially Sadler, who had been an unofficial older brother to the rest of the punters in their group. Last summer, Sadler, who’d already finished his eligibility at Michigan State, drove up to Green Bay with Mortell after the Kohl's camp ended. Sadler basically moved in with Mortell’s parents, spending a week helping Mortell prep for his senior year. Then, once the season started, Mortell took each practice punt and screen-shared the video of it with Sadler, who scoured each kick for areas for improvement. "People who aren't part of the 'specialist world' of college football don't understand the icons these two guys were -- not only in the Big Ten but around the country," Mortell said. "Mike had a very decorated career at Michigan State, and Sam was destined for the NFL -- but you wouldn't know it by talking to them. They never liked talking about themselves and were always so willing to listen. "One thing I'll never forget about Mike was how willing he was to help. He gave me so much advice and always helped me get out of slumps that specialists sometimes find themselves in. Mike taught me how to keep an even head and have fun with the game. He taught me about the importance of memories and how at the end of the day that's all we'll have left. "You know, we all got to know each other over these camps, and then as the football season went on, we’d always checked in on each other and we tried to make each other better. Those two were so successful, and while they made me better, I think that made them better. We had a pretty good dynamic. "I know they’re not here with us physically, but I can feel them. I know they’re with me."
SANTA MONICA (CBSLA.com) — Some of Los Angeles’ most popular restaurants are being accused of price-fixing in a class-action lawsuit filed Tuesday. The suit alleges the owner of Rustic Canyon in Santa Monica started the discussions over a year ago with the owners of seven other L.A. restaurants to add a three percent surcharge to bills, money that they say helps pay for their employees’ healthcare. But the suit claims the owners of Animal, AOC, The Hungry Cat, Lucques, Mélisse, Rustic Canyon, Son of a Gun, and Trois Mec conspired to raise their prices together, violating antitrust laws. The San Francisco attorney, who represents a lead LA-based plaintiff, a customer upset by the charge, spoke to CBS2 via Skype. “Under California law, competitors cannot get together and agree to increase the prices of the goods or services,” said Daniel Sterrett, an attorney. The complaint alleges Josiah Citrin, a chef and co-owner of Mélisse, wrote an email that said in part: “We decided it would be a good thing to do it as a group … usually when lots of people do things it’s easier to make change.” Sterrett says he doesn’t dispute the money goes to employee’s healthcare, but adds: “At the end of the day, a 3 percent increase is a 3 percent increase. We’re not here to harm employees. We just want accountability here for these restaurants to be honest with their patrons.” Patrons CBS2 spoke with said they don’t mind. “I’m OK with it as long as you are aware of the fact that that’s gonna be charged, and they’re upfront about it,” said one patron. Other customers say they appreciate the restaurants’ actions. “I think it’s a great service that they do for their employees,” said another patron. A representative from Son of a Gun and Animal say they don’t charge that extra 3 percent, but the plaintiff’s attorney says they are still at fault because he claims they encourage other restaurants to do so. Other restaurant representatives either could not comment on the allegations or didn’t return CBS2’s calls.
Jeremy Corbyn said that the murder of Alan Henning at the hands of Jihadi John is "the price we pay for war and jingoism" just a day after aid worker's death, The Daily Telegraph can disclose. The Labour leader said that Mr Henning’s execution by Isil terrorists was “the price of intervention” and “the price of war”. The disclosure comes after Mr Corbyn this week attempted to oppose David Cameron’s attempts to extend the British bombing campaign against Isil into Syria. Mr Corbyn was defied by 66 of his ministers and MPs , who backed the Government. British Tonado bombers began targeted strikes just hours later on Thursday morning. The Labour leader angered MPs by stating that the Paris terror attacks were a result of France’s military intervention against Isil. He also said that any British bombing campaign in Syria will leave Britain vulnerable to terror attacks. The night before the vote, Mr Cameron described Mr Corbyn and his closest allies as “a bunch of terrorist sympathisers”. The Labour leader then demanded a formal apology from the Prime Minister. However, now a video has emerged in which Mr Corbyn speaks at a rally about the murder of Mr Henning, a taxi driver and aid worker, who was murdered by Jihadi John – also known as Mohammed Emwazi. Mr Corbyn, who was speaking at a Stop The War rally, said: “I am pleased that we started with a period of silence for Alan Henning and all those others that have died in this appalling conflict. “Because we have to remember them and remember that the price of war, the price of intervention, the price of jingoism is somebody else's son and somebody else's daughter either being killed or being killed by somebody else.” The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil)had the previous day released a video of Jihadi John executing Mr Henning. Also speaking at the rally was Seumas Milne, a former Guardian columnist who is now Mr Corbyn’s director of communications. “The horrific killing of the hostage Alan Henning in revenge for the British decision to bomb Iraq is a reminder if any were needed that another war in Iraq or Syria won't stop terror,” he said. “It will only spread terror. The group that calls itself the Islamic State is the ultimate blowback from the invasion of Iraq a decade ago. Isil is the Frankenstein product of the War on Terror, it is the direct product of aggression, occupation, divide and rule sectarianism and support of dictatorship by the United States, Britain and their allies.” Mr Corbyn was in November criticised after he said that it appeared Londoner Mohammed Emwazi, who is believed to have been killed in an American drone strike, had been “held to account” for his crimes but it would have been “far better” if he had been arrested and charged. Mr Corbyn previously sparked controversy by suggesting it was a "tragedy" that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden had been "assassinated" rather than being brought before the courts. Speaking to Press TV following bin Laden's death in 2011, Mr Corbyn – then a backbench MP – said there appeared to have been no attempt to arrest the al-Qaida leader and put him on trial, adding: "This was an assassination attempt, and is yet another tragedy, upon a tragedy, upon a tragedy. The World Trade Centre was a tragedy, the attack on Afghanistan was a tragedy, the war in Iraq was a tragedy."
But they were united in believing that the nation's electoral system is deeply flawed, especially since it does not crown as the winner the person who wins the popular vote. They see the 2000 presidential election as providing a once-in-a-generation impetus to rally people to change the system. ''It's rare that a new issue comes forward and catalyzes people,'' said John Cavanagh, director of the Institute for Policy Studies, one of the groups that sponsored Friday's daylong talkathon on Capitol Hill. Others included the Nation Institute and the Center for Voting and Democracy. ''It's the issue that will bring together the black caucus and liberals, whites, Democrats and Hispanics in a longstanding reform effort,'' Mr. Cavanagh said. Through the Internet, a coalition called the Pro-Democracy Campaign has already drawn up a 10-point ''Voters' Bill of Rights.'' Now in its fourth draft, it calls for: Abolishing the Electoral College. Allowing voter registration up to and on Election Day. So-called instant runoff voting, which would allow voters to rank their choice of candidates in order of preference. If no candidate received more than 50 percent of the vote, the votes of those who had not picked one of the top two contenders would be automatically recast for their second or third choice. Proportional representation. This would eliminate the winner-take-all awarding of representatives and electoral votes. Overhaul of the campaign finance system. Extension of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which is to expire in 2007, and strengthening of the Justice Department's voting rights enforcement division. Newsletter Sign Up Continue reading the main story Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up You will receive emails containing news content , updates and promotions from The New York Times. You may opt-out at any time. You agree to receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times's products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. View all New York Times newsletters. Restoration of voting rights for ex-felons who have served their time. Easier access to ballots and debates by minority-party candidates. Independent election administrators. Statehood for the District of Columbia. There was much disagreement even among the liberals here as to the merit of these items, with especially deep divisions over the value of instant runoff voting and proportional representation. Not everyone agreed that all these ideas should be lumped together, because some, like statehood for the District of Columbia, have never appealed to Republicans and are likely only to alienate them further. Advertisement Continue reading the main story That of course is the main problem with such sweeping election changes. Republicans fear that such change will only increase Democratic voting and do not support it, having so far backed only a modest proposal in Congress co-sponsored by Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, and Senator Robert G. Torricelli, Democrat of New Jersey. That bill would create an election commission to study local voting procedures and approve grants to the states of less than $100 million to modernize voting equipment. Innocuous as this might sound, it was viewed skeptically by some here. Todd Cox, a lawyer with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which recently filed a class-action suit against Florida election officials on behalf of black voters, warned that Republican attempts to ''fix'' voting problems could only exacerbate discriminatory practices. ''We need to figure out a way to get electoral reform without jeopardizing what protections we already have,'' he said. ''In this political environment, I think it might be dangerous to do that; it might be dangerous to have a discussion in Congress or in this city about the efficacy of the Voting Rights Act.'' But there was not much in this gathering to warm the hearts of Republicans. Featured were some of the most liberal members of Congress, including Democratic Representatives Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio and Cynthia A. McKinney of Georgia and Bernard Sanders, an independent from Vermont. Also on hand was Senator Paul Wellstone, Democrat of Minnesota, who pointed to the election problems to justify his decision to break his pledge to serve only two terms. ''There is a lot of indignation about what happened in Florida,'' he told the group. ''You can't walk away from this.'' And there was nothing but praise for the Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of the most visible spokesmen for election reform, who acknowledged earlier this week that he had fathered a child out of wedlock and was curtailing his public activities. ''I have been proud to stand with him,'' Representative Jan Schakowsky, Democrat of Illinois, said. ''I long for his voice to be heard again.'' Recognizing that no big-name Republicans had joined their cause, some here suggested trying to recruit prominent Republicans who are former felons, like Charles W. Colson of Watergate fame, to advocate that ex-felons should be allowed to vote. A more ruthless approach was also offered: prosecute Republican administrators of elections using the federal racketeering laws that have been used successfully against anti-abortionists, making the officials financially responsible for damages caused by unfair elections. ''Out of adversity we must seize this moment,'' said Ron Daniels, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, based in New York. Even if his listeners did not agree that Mr. Bush was an illegitimate president, he said, they should nonetheless believe that ''all this madness is not indeed what we would like to see and profess to believe in in terms of democracy.''
On November 30th, voters in Switzerland will head to the polls to vote in a referendum on gold. On the ballot is a measure to prohibit the Swiss National Bank (SNB) from further gold sales, to repatriate Swiss-owned gold to Switzerland, and to mandate that gold make up at least 20 percent of the SNB’s assets. Arising from popular sentiment similar to movements in the United States, Germany, and the Netherlands, this referendum is an attempt to bring more oversight and accountability to the SNB, Switzerland’s central bank. The Swiss referendum is driven by an undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the conduct not only of Swiss monetary policy, but also of Swiss banking policy. Switzerland may be a small nation, but it is a nation proud of its independence and its history of standing up to tyranny. The famous legend of William Tell embodies the essence of the Swiss national character. But no tyrannical regime in history has bullied Switzerland as much as the United States government has in recent years. The Swiss tradition of bank secrecy is legendary. The reality, however, is that Swiss bank secrecy is dead. Countries such as the United States have been unwilling to keep government spending in check, but they are running out of ways to fund that spending. Further taxation of their populations is politically difficult, massive issuance of government debt has saturated bond markets, and so the easy target is smaller countries such as Switzerland which have gained the reputation of being “tax havens.” Remember that tax haven is just a term for a country that allows people to keep more of their own money than the US or EU does, and doesn’t attempt to plunder either its citizens or its foreign account-holders. But the past several years have seen a concerted attempt by the US and EU to crack down on these smaller countries, using their enormous financial clout to compel them to hand over account details so that they can extract more tax revenue. The US has used its court system to extort money from Switzerland, fining the US subsidiaries of Swiss banks for allegedly sheltering US taxpayers and allowing them to keep their accounts and earnings hidden from US tax authorities. EU countries such as Germany have even gone so far as to purchase account information stolen from Swiss banks by unscrupulous bank employees. And with the recent implementation of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), Swiss banks will now be forced to divulge to the IRS all the information they have about customers liable to pay US taxes. On the monetary policy front, the SNB sold about 60 percent of Switzerland’s gold reserves during the 2000s. The SNB has also in recent years established a currency peg, with 1.2 Swiss francs equal to one euro. The peg’s effects have already manifested themselves in the form of a growing real estate bubble, as housing prices have risen dangerously. Given the action by the European Central Bank (ECB) to engage in further quantitative easing, the SNB’s continuance of this dangerous and foolhardy policy means that it will continue tying its monetary policy to that of the EU and be forced to import more inflation into Switzerland. Just like the US and the EU, Switzerland at the federal level is ruled by a group of elites who are more concerned with their own status, well-being, and international reputation than with the good of the country. The gold referendum, if it is successful, will be a slap in the face to those elites. The Swiss people appreciate the work their forefathers put into building up large gold reserves, a respected currency, and a strong, independent banking system. They do not want to see centuries of struggle squandered by a central bank. The results of the November referendum may be a bellwether, indicating just how strong popular movements can be in establishing central bank accountability and returning gold to a monetary role.
His Son Was Fired As a Scout Counselor for Torturing a Dog to Death On Day Three of Mike Huckabee’s Lie-apalooza Tour this week, in an interview with hate-group radio host Bryan Fischer, Huckabee said this: At age 18, Huckabee’s son David was fired by the Scouts as a camp counselor after he and another counselor captured a stray dog, hanged him by the neck, slit his throat and stoned him to death. HUCKABEE: “…I do think [Pres. Obama] has a different worldview and I think it’s, in part, molded out of a very different experience. Most of us grew up going to Boy Scout meetings and, you know, our communities were filled with Rotary Clubs, not madrassas.” Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist preacher, former governor of Arkansas and Fox News host, first got himself into rhetorical trouble on Monday when, on another right-wing radio show, he opined that Obama’s worldview had been warped by having grown up in Kenya under the influence of his paternal grandfather, who, according to Huckabee, had been involved in the Mau Mau Revolt against the British in the 1950s. As evidence of how Obama’s worldview had been distorted by his Mau Mau revolutionary grandfather, Huckabee cited the president’s decision early in his term to return to the British Embassy a bust of Winston Churchillthat had been on loan in the Oval Office. Churchill was Britain’s prime minister during the revolt. Except for the fact that Obama returned the Churchill piece — which he replaced with a bust of Abraham Lincoln — all of that was a lie. Obama was in his late twenties when he first stepped foot in Kenya. He met his paternal grandfather for the first time and only time then. There is no evidence his grandfather was involved in the uprising, other than a less-than-reliable recollection of it decades later by his then-87-year-old widowed third wife. In reality, Obama’s worldview was shaped by his maternal grandfather, Stanley Dunham, a Kansan who served with Patton in World War II and who was the president’s primary father figure growing up in Honolulu. And Obama did spend part of his childhood overseas. His family moved to Indonesia, where his mother, an anthropologist, was doing research, when he was five years old. He returned to Honolulu five years later. On Tuesday, in an attempt to walk back his lies, Huckabee released a statement insisting that, on Monday, he’d meant to say “Indonesia” every time he said “Kenya” when he said this: HUCKABEE: [If] you think about it, his perspective as growing up in Kenya with a Kenyan father and grandfather, their view of the Mau Mau Revolution in Kenya is very different than ours because he probably grew up hearing that the British were a bunch of imperialists who persecuted his grandfather. (Emphasis added.) For the record, the Mau Mau Revolt occurred in Kenya, then British East Africa, not Indonesia — and, like the Mau Maus, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the rest of America’s revolutionaries also viewed the British as “a bunch of imperialists” who persecuted colonials. It was the next day that, in a fit of exasperation, Huckabee said, “Most of us grew up going to Boy Scout meetings and, you know, our communities were filled with Rotary Clubs, not madrassas.” Leaving aside the fact that both the Scouts and Rotary are international organizations with longstanding branches in Indonesia (and that there at least three Islamic centers in Little Rock, Ark., where Huckabee lived when he was governor), Huckabee opened a can of worms when he brought the Scouts into his attempts to smear Pres. Obama. As Trish reported here in December 2007, during the 2008 presidential primaries, it came out that, at age 18, Huckabee’s son David had been fired by the Scouts as a camp counselor after he and another counselor captured a stray dog, hanged him by the neck, slit his throat and stoned him to death. The elder Huckabee, who was governor of Arkansas at the time, later fired a local prosecutor who had investigated the matter with the aim of filing animal cruelty charges against David Huckabee and the other boy. In the end, other than being fired by the Boy Scouts, the boys were never held accountable for killing the helpless dog. Since Mike Huckabee has chosen to spend the week smearing the president’s family by criticizing his upbringing and the way it purportedly shaped his worldview, someone should ask him who warped his own son into the kind of person who would commit such a heinous and gruesome act — was it David Huckabee’s bigoted Southern Baptist preacher father, the Boy Scouts of America — or both?
the story. platonic solid is the story of two young people in a failed heterosexual relationship. our characters go on to pursue their own lives, despite the heartbreak. in doing so, they are able to realize their true identities; both he and she are gay. their failed relationship was not for lack of love. rather, it was for the simple fact that maintaining a relationship with and being in love with the opposite sex was never a real possibility. they were hiding behind their true identities in the comfort and similarity they offered each other. parker and madison find that they were always "soul mates," just not in the traditional sense of the word. the message. this film strives to re-define the term "soul mate," and offer a fresh perspective on the difficulties of coming out - to oneself and to the world. as society becomes more comfortable with accepting the gay culture, it still remains a struggle for many to understand it. is it nature or nurture? are you born with it or is it a choice? being gay is something that people come to terms with at many different points in their lives. this, however, does not take away from its validity. this story sheds light on the fact that sometimes environmental factors can inhibit people from being comfortable with their true identities. "cultural norms" can cloud one's vision of who they really are, cause individuals to suppress their true selves, and affect the comfort level of those struggling to come out. the music. music helps set the tone of a film. we are fortunate to be working with daniel deblanke and sarah ellquist of the band, ROBOTANISTS. they will be composing original music for the film, as well as performing live music as their band in a concert scene. watch this ROBOTANISTS music video "wait a minute here" to get a look and feel for these two amazing musicians. for more from daniel deblanke: http://www.deblanke.com/ the locations. sage vegan bistro - echo park, ca bar lubitsch - west hollywood, ca a local boutique (t.b.a.) - echo park, ca a juice bar (t.b.a.) - los feliz, ca why we need your help. making a film costs money. yes, even an independent short film. this is where you, the people in our community, come in. where will your money be going? a 7-day shoot: cinematographer. lighting. camera. sound. music. wardrobe. food. the team. sarah b. downey - director sarah b. downey is a los angeles based filmmaker. downey strives to make passion projects come to life, and she has been a lifetime supporter of gay rights. her last project, which she wrote and directed, the undercard, was accepted into the female eye film festival in toronto, canada. melinda stephan - writer, creator, "madison" melinda stephan was born and raised in milwaukee, WI. after a brief stint in new york city as a media investment banker and film financier, she soon realized she was destined for a career in front of the camera, as a storyteller. stephan can currently be seen in the film festival circuit in the short film the undercard, and in AFI's thesis film pyro & klepto, as pyro. she also appeared this season on criminal minds, and recently starred in and produced the original parody web series, law & order: silver lake unit. alex klein - "parker" alex klein was born and raised in walnut creek, ca. he received his b.a. in theatre from uc berkeley. klein recently appeared as the recurring character, lukas the german bully, in NBC's community. he also is the lead in the recently released feature, limbus, currently playing in new york and los angeles. nadine crocker - "cameron" nadine crocker was born in nashville, TN and raised in the small town of fresno, CA. knowing she was destined for more than just an ordinary life, crocker dropped everything and moved to los angeles at the young age of 17. recently, you may have seen her as lindsay silver on no ordinary family, as charlotte rosenberg on castle, or as lexi on 10 things i hate about you. she also stars in the indie feature, geezas, that is currently making it's film festival run. michael miller - "taylor" michael miller was born in baltimore, MD and raised in boise, ID. he attended UCLA's school of dramatic arts. miller has an accomplished theatre background, has modeled for several designers, including calvin klein, and is now making his mark in film.
Phil Anselmo may have just quit Down. The aftermath of Phil Anselmo's actions at the Dimebash a few weeks ago, where he shouted "white power" at the top of his lungs and gave the Nazi salute, has reached a new level. After being called out by Machine Head's Robb Flynn, among others in the metal community, Anselmo posted a video apology. But that wasn't enough for one Dutch festival, which kicked his band Down off the bill and specifically stated that Anselmo isn't welcome there. This seems to have seriously affected Anselmo, as he just posted another apology letter where he suggests to his band Down, to move on without him… To all this will concern, Every citizen in this entire world has the unalienable right to live with dignity and respect without hate or oppression. And I mean this, with all of my crushed, yet, guilty heart. It’s common knowledge that we can choose to either learn from our mistakes, or continue on a path of insensitivity and destruction. I am utterly responsible for the mistakes I have made, and can only give you my word to no longer do them in the present, through ACTION, not just mere words. My band mates are now experiencing the consequences of my behavior, and I now publicly apologize to them as well. Never in my entire lifetime would I drag them down with me, and I’ve privately suggested to them that they move on without me. My biggest obstacle(s) are the over-indulging in the booze and blurting out spiteful, ignorant reductions of the human spirit itself. I will address these issues, head-on. I’m repulsed by my own actions, and the self-loathing I’m going through right now is justified by the hurt I’ve caused. I realize we live in a society where apologies are NOT accepted easily, yet long for a day when they can be, but I also understand if I’m shunned till I hit the dirt. From the bottom of my heart, and with all sincerity, I once again am truly sorry for the pain I have caused. With truth, love, hope & respect- Philip H. Anselmo
Boy meets girl. Boy throws girl off the roof of a mansion into a pool during a Hustler shoot. Girl threatens to sue boy and said porn mag for injuries sustained during fall. Boy’s lawyer issues response to girl. Response goes viral. In this case, the boy in question is Dan Bilzerian, pro poker player, son of a multimillionaire Wall Street banker, Instagram playboy king. He made headlines last month after he threw porn star and model Janice Griffith off a roof into a pool during a photo shoot, breaking her foot in the process. After Griffith threatened to sue Bilzerian for $85,000 to cover the cost of the work she missed as a result of her injury, Bilzerian’s lawyer issued the following response, which his client posted on Facebook. Here it is, via Total Frat Move. (Bilzerian’s camp confirms it’s legit.) bilzerianletter H/T Total Frat Move \| Photo via Dan Bilzerian/Instagram
Good news for the Storj community! STORJ tokens are being listed on Poloniex for trading. You can begin depositing STORJ tokens to the Poloniex exchange this evening, October 26, around 11:00 pm EDT (3:00 UTC). If you still hold any old, deprecated SJCX Counterparty tokens on Poloniex, you will need to immediately convert them to the new STORJ ERC20 tokens on a 1:1 basis using the Storj conversion app before trading them on the Poloniex exchange. After conversion, users can then re-deposit the newly converted STORJ tokens back to their new Poloniex STORJ deposit address or send them to another ERC20-compatible wallet. Users should migrate any old SJCX tokens still held on Poloniex to the new STORJ token ahead of Poloniex’s SJCX delisting, which will happen in the next few weeks. To convert tokens from SJCX to STORJ, take the following steps. You can also use our Storj token conversion guide for reference, which includes more detailed instructions with screenshots: 1. Navigate to https://storj.io/conversion. 2. Enter the required information: your email address and, if you plan to send your new STORJ tokens to a wallet for holding them long-term, an ERC20-compatible wallet address such as MEW, parity or mist (please choose the latest stable release) or, if you are planning to immediately trade your new STORJ tokens again on the Poloniex exchange, you will need to enter your new Poloniex STORJ deposit address. Do NOT use the Poloniex ETH deposit address! You can find the new STORJ deposit address on your Poloniex account page by clicking on “Balances” and selecting “Deposits & Withdrawals” from the drop-down menu, searching for “STORJ” and then clicking on “Deposit” to the right to display the STORJ deposit address which you must enter under “Ethereum Address in the converter app. Note that you need to be careful to search for the “STORJ” and not the “SJCX” deposit address, both of these tokens will still be available on Poloniex so be careful not to enter the wrong address here on the converter app! With the above info, the converter app will generate a SJCX deposit address which will be needed for the next step. 3. Next, go back to search for “SJCX” on the same “Deposits & Withdrawals” page you were on before in your Poloniex account to find your SJCX withdrawal address. Click on “Withdraw” to the right to display the correct withdrawal address. Fill in the resulting SJCX withdraw form to send your entire SJCX token balance to the SJCX deposit address generated by the converter app in step 2 above. Note that Poloniex will deduct 3 SJCX from your SJCX balance as they will need to cover the BTC miners fee necessary to send the SJCX transaction. 4. Wait for your SJCX withdrawal to confirm on the blockchain. You should monitor your Poloniex account to ensure that the withdrawal goes from “Pending” to “Complete” state by checking your withdrawal history page. If you notice after a few hours that the withdrawal is still showing as “Pending” or displays some error, you must file a support ticket with Poloniex Freshdesk and ask them to please resend your SJCX withdrawal. Only once your SJCX withdrawal transaction was fully confirmed will the converter app proceed to initiate the sending transaction of your new STORJ tokens to your personal ERC20 compatible wallet or new Poloniex STORJ token deposit address (depending on which you specified in step 2). This process (assuming there was no delay in the withdrawal from Poloniex) may take up to 72 hours and you will be notified by email when it is completed. If you run into trouble or are unsure how to proceed, please email the Storj team at support@storj.io or contact us on our Rocket Chat for interactive support.
No Comments Honda Canada Gives Away 2016 Civic at Toronto Blue Jays Game Toronto fans who went to Sunday’s game were treated to a thrilling experience, as the Blue Jays rallied in the ninth to beat the rival New York Yankees with a walk-off RBI single from the bat of Edward Encarnación. But for three lucky fans in attendance, that wasn’t even the most exciting part of the day, thanks to the generosity of Honda. As part of “Fan Appreciation Weekend” at Rogers Centre, the manufacturer gave away a trio of its products to select fans, including two lawnmowers and one brand new, Canadian-built 2016 Honda Civic EX coupe. Buying a New Car? Find out if leasing is right for you Liana Bacon of Sudbury, Ontario and Janice Javier of Toronto, Ontario each took home a Honda lawnmower, while Torontonian Matthew Lax was the lucky fan who wound up with a free Civic. “Fan Appreciation Weekend is about connecting the players with the fans. At Honda, we also understand the importance of connecting our brand with our customers and we do this by offering Canadians quality products and exceptional customer service,” said Barry Holt, the CFO and senior vice president of corporate shared services for Honda Canada Inc. “The Blue Jays are Canada’s baseball team and the Honda Civic is Canada’s car, so we’re very proud to partner with the Jays throughout such an exciting season.” Honda Canada has been a sponsor of the Toronto Blue Jays since the team was established in 1977. This season, it has given away $125,000 worth of Honda automobiles and power equipment to fans at Rogers Centre, including a Honda lawnmower at every single one of the team’s 81 home games. Kind of ironic that so many lawnmowers have been given away at a stadium that features artificial grass… Related info: Research the Honda automobile lineup
This is a maxim from Fred Brooks’ The Mythical Man-Month. These days I’m thinking it’s the single most important lesson there is about software. It’s been brought rudely home to me by my recent work on mod_atom, whose design is terribly simple; but I still got the first cut wrong in important ways. What I Got Wrong · mod_atom is about as simple as an AtomPub server can be; all the entries and feeds and collections are backed one-for-one by ordinary flat files, with entries scattered across a YYYY/MM/DD tree, just like here at ongoing. I had two URI/filesystem hierarchies, rooted at atom/ and pub/ , to separate the resources that exist for AtomPub, like Service Documents and Media Link Entries, from those that are there to be read, like feeds and HTML pages; the goal was to make access control easy. How could that be wrong? What happened was, I went back, after a few months of ignoring mod_atom, to build in Meta-pubs, so you can do CRUD on whole publications, not just individual entries and media files. This ended up touching most pieces of the system, and I realized that a couple of the core ideas were leading me into all sorts of tangled-code complexity; in particular the double directory structure. So I rewrote it with one filesystem tree routed at pub/ , backing two URI spaces which were identical except for being rooted at pub/ and atom/ . The mod_atom code forces all PUT and POST and DELETE requests to go through the atom/ subtree. This allowed me to slash literally hundreds of lines of code. There was another design error, just as obvious in retrospect; its cleanup also allowed subtracting severe gnarl and great big chunks of code. Programmers experience soaring joy when they can rip through code deleting functions and declarations, screens-full into the bit bucket, with the steady drumbeat of tests-fail-then-pass. So maybe I didn’t build one to throw away, but I built one that needed major amputations out of the box. And Your Point Is? · This is by most standards a simple system; at the moment, excluding various XML- and HTML-munging libraries, less than six thousand lines of code. I’m an experienced programmer, have written hundreds of thousands of lines of C code, know the internals of httpd pretty well, and understand AtomPub as well as anyone in the world. I’m not a truly great developer (I know this is true because I’ve worked with some) but I’m not a moron either (worked with some of them too) so if I’m going to make this kind of misstep, a whole lot of other people will too. And let me make a strong statement: I’m not sure there’s anyone living, including your five favorite programming heroes, who could tell you, without writing the code, whether one or two directory trees were going to work out better for this problem. Given that, what hope is there for waterfall development? Or for any approach that doesn’t leave space for going back and building things right once you’ve learned what “right” is by building things once? Well, none. But You Already Knew That · Probably true. But you know what, how about we all agree, all of us who write about writing software, to write about this once every year or so. Because there’s this terrible glaring conflict between what sensible managers want and what sensible programmers know. Managers, good managers, want a plan; they want to lock in design constraints so that work can be dealt out and progress tracked and promises kept. Programmers, good programmers, know that they’re not smart enough to get the core design choices right until they’ve built something that works. The various techniques and disciplines gathered around the banner of “agile” are on balance more honest at facing up to this unavoidable tension. But there’s still lots more work to be done. And the most important thing is, we all have to remind ourselves, all the time, that we’re not smart enough to get anything important right the first time. Exceptions? · Yes, of course. If you’ve just written three driver-scheduling systems or foreign-exchange systems in a row, you’ll probably go into the fourth with a pretty good grasp of what’s important. And those kinds of systems matter. But the interesting software is by definition the stuff that isn’t the fourth iteration of anything. Perhaps it’s best to close with Brooks’ quote in full:
Job losses 'likely' after review finds Coalition's NBN plan to cost billions more Updated Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull says job losses are "likely" at the NBN Co after a review of the Government's broadband plan found it will be billions of dollars more expensive than the Coalition had promised. The strategic review revelations come as it is confirmed that current Vodafone Australia boss Bill Morrow will start as the new chief executive of the NBN Co next year. The review, conducted by the NBN Co, states the Government's proposed fibre-to-the-node-based network would require around $12 billion more than estimated in the Coalition's April 2013 policy. Speaking after the analysis was unveiled, Mr Turnbull said jobs would have to be cut following downgrades to the company’s profit forecasts. "I think the report makes it very clear that the size of the organisation was established to cater for a business that had much higher revenues and a much higher rate of deployment," he said. "I think it is reasonable to assume from that, given that this document is one that has been approved by the board, that some right sizing is likely to occur. These are all matters for the management." The Drum: The inconvenient truth for the Coalition's NBN The Government now faces an uphill struggle to deliver a functionally limited NBN that will already be outdated by the time it is complete, The Government now faces an uphill struggle to deliver a functionally limited NBN that will already be outdated by the time it is complete, writes technology journalist David Braue. Mr Turnbull said his policy assumed NBN Co was doing better than it actually was. "We assumed they would be able to meet their forecasts a year earlier than has been assumed in the study," Mr Turnbull said. The minister added the Government would not pay any extra to the NBN Co. The original figures were announced under Labor and NBN Co chairman Ziggy Switkowski has criticised the way they were calculated. "The original corporate plan underestimated the costs, overestimated what are the real world experiences of revenues and what households are prepared to pay," he said. In Parliament, Labor's spokesman Jason Clare questioned the independence of the document, because one of NBN Co's executives, J B Rousselot, co-owns a boat with Mr Turnbull. But Mr Turnbull shut down questions about the boat, saying: "If you think that's a big deal, I'm sorry, let's move on." He says Mr Rousselot is doing an outstanding job. Policy promises 'very unlikely to be achieved' The Coalition's policy promised to give most Australians the option to connect to a 25 megabit per second network by 2016, but the review found that was extremely unrealistic. It found less than half of the country would have access to those speeds by 2016. The Coalition's policy also promised to have 50mbps available by 2019 and the review supports this, with 91 per cent of premises expected to have access to those speeds. The report also found Labor's fibre-to-the-home approach would cost an extra $29 billion in capital expenditure and take an extra three years to rollout. The review found the current corporate plan had "blind faith" in the achievability of the targets. "The independent assessment concluded that ... it is extremely optimistic and very unlikely to be achieved," the report said. It also canvassed a scenario looking at the cheapest possible fibre to the home option, which was still assumed to be $20 billion more expensive. Mr Turnbull told 7.30 the Coalition's election commitments were issued with "a very clear caveat". He said the NBN's forecasts had become "increasingly unbelievable" during the Labor government's term. "We certainly didn't trust their numbers but we didn't have any other numbers to rely on," he said. "The fact is that the NBN Co is a much bigger mess than even we had thought it is. "We've got to have a new era, and the new era is one of telling the truth ... where the people who work at the NBN will not have to feel that they have got to say whatever the Minister wants to hear." New NBN Co chief Bill Morrow says role will be challenging Speaking to the ABC, incoming NBN Co chief Mr Morrow said it was too early for him to say if the current NBN targets could be met. "I've not had a chance to meet with the employees, to look at the detailed plans, to interface with all of the third party suppliers and partners," he said. "I have no idea at this point. I've not seen any of the details." Mr Morrow says he is confident that politics will not get in the way of the rollout. "It's so important to the country that naturally there's going to be a lot of strong opinions on this," he said. "I trust that Malcolm Turnbull, along with Ziggy as the chairman of the board, are looking to bring together all of the thoughts, all of the perspectives to be sure that we set out on a trajectory that's the right one." He says he took on the job because of its financial and political challenges. "I look at any assignment, any endeavour - it's not what it is today it's what you can do with it," he said. "So all of those challenges are real and they're very serious." Meanwhile, the Government has appointed former OECD economist and outspoken national broadband network critic Henry Ergas to its panel of experts for the NBN cost benefit analysis. Professor Ergas joins former Victorian treasury secretary Michael Vertigan, Australian Industry Group director Alison Deans and regulatory expert Tony Shaw. The review will report to government within six months and investigate the value of increased broadband speeds. Topics: information-and-communication, business-economics-and-finance, federal-government, government-and-politics, australia First posted
At the Weekly Standard, Peter Boyer has published a piece based on an interview with Linda Tripp, i.e. the woman who convinced Monica Lewinsky to save the blue dress. Tripp was long ago branded the villain of the Lewinsky scandal, and the recent flood of stories reassessing Clinton’s legacy in light of his sexual behavior strikes her as too little, too late: “It’s a day late, and it’s a dollar short,” says Linda Tripp, who, 20 years ago, was thrust into the center of the sex scandal that led to Clinton’s impeachment. It was Tripp who revealed the president’s sexual relationship with a 21-year-old White House intern and, for her troubles, was painted as the villain of the sordid episode. Tripp has a quiet life in Northern Virginia horse country, avoiding the public attention that was so unwelcome in the late 1990s. But the unending flow of headlines about the bad behavior of powerful men, she says, “is forcing me to relive a lot of it.” She’s unconvinced by recent calls in the press for Clinton’s deeds to be reconsidered in a more critical light. “They have nothing to lose, and this is now permissible,” she says. “The fact that the Clintons are dead in the water gives [the media] tacit approval to act like human beings. . . . It’s disingenuous.”… “What information do they have at their fingertips today that they didn’t have 20 years ago?” Tripp asks. “What information has changed?” What has changed? Answer: A Republican accused of similar misbehavior is now in the White House. The attack the left needs to use now is one they can’t really unleash without admitting their own hypocricy. So they are now, awkwardly admitting they were wrong. It costs them very little to do so at this point since Hillary lost the election. But they still don’t care about what Bill did, not really. Tripp says she always felt like a mother figure to Monica Lewinsky and when she realized the 22-year-old was acting like a rock groupie and being taken advantage of by President Clinton, she felt she had to say something. Tripp hasn’t spoken to Lewinsky in years but says she understands why Lewinsky is committed to the idea she was the president’s girlfriend: Tripp says she has not spoken to Lewinsky in all these years but understands why she felt as she did. “Monica absolutely had to be seen, not just to others, but also to herself, as a bona fide girlfriend,” Tripp says. “She could not be seen as an orifice or a party to a situation where you call in someone for servicing and send them on their merry way.” But that is what happened. As Boyer points out, Lewinsky and Clinton, “had six sexual encounters before they shared any meaningful conversation.” Clinton treated a very junior staffer as an in-house hooker and the left blamed Linda Tripp, Ken Starr, and the vast right-wing conspiracy. It was all a colossal effort at misdirection and it worked. As recently as August, Amazon studios had announced plans for a movie called “Linda and Monica.” At the time, Tripp said she didn’t care who played her but quipped, “They should check John Goodman’s availability.” In the late 90s, John Goodman played Tripp on SNL in skits mocking her appearance. But since August, the head of Amazon studios, Roy Price, quit his job after being suspended over a sexual harassment allegation. On top of that, we’ve now had about two weeks of public reassessments of Bill Clinton. All that to say, Amazon may need to do a page-one rewrite on their “Linda and Monica” project. They should start the revision with this simple premise: Bill Clinton was a lying creep.
The beauty of a 25-man roster is that it gives you some flexibility, yet also leads to some critical decisions. It used to be that teams would carry only 10 or even nine pitchers. That made sense back when pitchers both batted (increasing the need for pinch-hitters) and pitched longer in games (decreasing the need for relievers). Then the pendulum swung to having 12 pitchers on the roster, maybe even 13 occasionally. There are some necessities (backup catcher) but teams have the ability to make interesting decisions when it’s time to allocate those spots. Of course, baseball tends to be a copycat sport. That’s not true in every respect, but in many. So teams are pretty standardized in their roster construction. Until someone breaks the mold. In the mid-1980s, closers like Dan Quisenberry were expected to work multiple innings, and would often enter the game with runners on base and well before the ninth inning. In the early 1990s, Oakland manager Tony LaRussa changed that by having his fantastic closer, Dennis Eckersley, enter games pretty much only at the start of the ninth. When the A’s went to three straight World Series, the one-inning closer became the fad. Now it’s standard. Part of me wonders if the Royals, who have made it to two straight World Series in part by zigging where other teams zag, have found another way to confound baseball. I also wonder if this will be a trend, or something that only applies to the Royals and a few other teams. As you probably know, earlier this week, the team chose to keep Terrance Gore on the roster over Reymond Fuentes when Jarrod Dyson returned to action. He didn’t get a lot of time to show it, but Fuentes appears to be at least a capable backup outfielder. Meanwhile, Gore is a career .245/347/.278 hitter. In the minor leagues. But this isn’t about what Gore can’t do. Certainly, letting Fuentes stay sharp with regular playing time at Omaha is a factor. It’s a reasonable decision, and I wouldn’t be shocked to see him back in the majors this season. But from a pure numbers perspective, one might wonder if keeping Gore is the correct move. Can a team afford to carry a position player who is no threat with a bat? The thing is, properly deployed, Gore can be a tremendous weapon with his speed. Our own Clark Fosler wrote about the value of a full season of Gore back at the beginning of April, when Gore made the Opening Day roster. I agree with Clark, but I’d like to see the Royals use Gore even more than he suggested. As we all know, even a very good Royals team like this one is unlikely to score runs in the ways traditionally favored by sabermetrics. They’ll hit some home runs, but not a lot. They’ll draw a few walks, but prefer to put the ball in play. They’d rather let their good base running (not just steals, but aggressively and successfully taking extra bases) win the day. As a consequence of those strategies, the Royals play a lot of close games; games where one run can be huge. So why not use Gore a lot? Obviously Ned Yost would have to pick his spots, but seeing as how Gore is essentially a runner in scoring position anytime he is put in the game, why not use him often? I would be willing to use him to run not just for Salvador Perez and Kendrys Morales, but just about any regular except Dyson, Lorenzo Cain, and Alcides Escobar. The first one because he’s a track star in his own right, and the last two because of their defensive importance. Yes, the Royals have important defenders all over the place, but in the late innings the impact of losing one is probably less, as there are fewer chances for a subpar replacement to be exposed (and really, the Royals’ bench players aren’t bad defensively either). But here’s where roster construction comes in. With Morales as the DH, the team does not really have a backup first baseman on the bench. So what if they dropped one of their 12 pitchers and added that backup? I would submit that there’s already not enough innings for Dillon Gee and Chien-Ming Wang. This is not a knock on those guys, but I think Gore could be more valuable than either if he’s used frequently. And then I wonder, if the Royals used Gore like that, and proved to be successful, would other major league teams follow suit? Of course, once upon a time, the Oakland A’s had a designated pinch-runner on their roster. The Herb Washington experiment lasted two seasons; Washington appeared in 105 games combined in 1974 and 1975, never had a plate appearance, and stole 31 bases in 48 attempts (a ratio that Gore can rightfully laugh at; he’s nine-for-nine as a Royal and 207-for-226 as a minor leaguer). For years that’s been viewed as just another crazy Charlie Finley stunt, but if the Royals proved it could be a smart strategy, would teams adopt it? I tend to think no, because the Royals have a unique set of circumstances. They play 81 games in a big ballpark, which tends to suppress home runs but encourage other base hits. Throw in the 10 or so games they play in Comerica Park, the 10 or so they play in Target Field, and that’s a lot of games on spacious fields. A team like Boston, playing 81 games at Fenway Park, 10 or so more in Yankee Stadium, 10 or so more in Camden Yards, might understandably prefer a power bat on the bench. Also, the Royals are one of a dwindling number of teams who use a full-time DH; teams without one might be more reluctant to use a roster spot on a guy who will never start at DH. And of course, there is the simple fact that there’s no world-class speedster tree; guys who run like Gore are scarce, and even if you find one, he needs to have at least some baseball instincts. I think it would be cool if more teams had a designated speedster on their roster. But on the other hand, I’m pretty happy the Royals are doing their own thing. It’s one more thing that seems to give them an advantage. Photo credit: John Rieger, USA Today Sports
A three-month crackdown on drug dealers has resulted in the arrest of 30 suspected drug dealers, including 10 foreigners, some claiming to be students or refugees, according to reports this morning in Chinese media and The Global Times. Police sources say the dealers were selling marijuana, methamphetamines and MDMA, mostly in Sanlitun and also in Dongba, an area outside the fifth ring several kilometers northeast of Chaoyang Park. In one series of raids detailed in Chinese here, reporters accompanying the police on busts held between May 22 to May 25 tell of addicts being used as lures, as well as foreigners being busted in taxis in front of Sanlitun hotels, in front of nearby subway exits and on the grounds of the Taikoo Li mall. Some of the arrested involved high-speed, on-foot chases through the late-night streets of the capital city's nightlife epicenter. Users are being targeted too, with Chinese reports saying nine drug buyers were among those arrested. The dealers will face the same penalties as local citizens, the report notes. China's drug laws are notoriously strict, and dealing over 50 grams of methamphetamines can earn a suspect the death penalty. The bust comes as welcome news to the vast majority of foreign residents of the city who choose to live within the letter of the law. Foreign drug dealers who seem to operate with abandon in certain areas of Sanlitun have been both an embarrassment and a downright hassle to foreign residents, whom the dealers often strike up friendly conversations with as an intro to offering drugs for sale. Beijing police are seeking tips from citizens witnessing drug dealing. Tips can be sent via WeChat to “北京禁毒”; via Weibo at @平安北京 or by calling the police hotline at 110. Photo: CFP via Global Times
I rarely see this mentioned so I wonder if people just don’t realize what a national travesty Mt. Rushmore is. The Black Hills is sacred land to the Oglala Lakota tribe. The Oglala Lakota used to own that land through a treaty with the U.S. I mean, it was their land pre-white-colonization, but then the US started to colonize it and later gave the Black Hills back to them through the Treaty of 1868. Once gold was found on the land, however, prospectors migrated and set up shop in the 1870s. The government took back the Black Hills land, because of the gold. In 1927, Mount Rushmore was constructed into the hills. In simple terms: the colonizers stole the Oglala Lakota’s land, “gave” it back, found out it had capitalistic value, took it again, and then carved their own leader’s crinkley-ass white fucking faces into the mountains that were considered to be sacred, like do you realize how fucking MONSTROUS that is????
North Carolina NAACP President William Barber was removed from a flight in Washington, D.C., Friday night after he was deemed a “disruptive passenger” by an American Airlines pilot. Barber (pictured) wrote in a statement that he had boarded the plane and was sitting in the two seats he had purchased when he overheard a man sitting behind him talking loudly. Barber says after he asked a flight attended to ask the man to lower his voice, that’s when the altercation started. “But as she left, I heard him saying distasteful and disparaging things about me,” Barber said in the statement. “He had problems with ‘those people’ and he spoke harshly about my need for ‘two seats,’ among other subjects.” Barber says he purchased two seat because of a physical disability, the same ailment that caused him to stand up instead of simply turning his head to confront the passenger behind him. “I asked him why he was saying such things, and I said he did not know me, my condition, and I added I would pray for him,” Barber said. The police were called and Barber was escorted off the plane. “Virtually all the police officers and American employees were gracious to me. Some were openly troubled by the decision to force me to spend another night away from home,” Barber said. The longtime head of the North Carolina NAACP also noted that he has instructed his legal counsel to investigate why he was asked to be removed from the plane. “I chose to abide by the request without challenge and to address later the issues, interpretations around what precipitated it, as well as my response and my treatment,” Barber said. “I have turned this over to my counsel who have advised me, as is protocol, to speak with them first before any other statements are made. My prayer as always is fairness.” The American Airlines flight eventually departed 45 minutes late. Last January, it was Barber’s North Carolina chapter of the NAACP that urged voters in that state’s primary to head to the polls and vote even if they didn’t have the required photo ID. Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson
Saturday was a day of wonder and portents, of omens and miracles, at least for the Labour party. First off there was the second coming of JC, which was rapidly followed by Kezia Dugdale’s miraculous conversion on the road to a press release. Kezia’s now so autonomous that she’s autonomous from things that she said just five minutes previously. Even things that she got written down. The great Parliamentary Labour Party coup ended up being so successful that its intended victim Jeremy Corbyn ended up being re-elected by an even larger margin than he was the first time round. And that was despite the assorted machinations the plotters had engaged in in order to deprive likely Jezzamites of the right to vote. There’s Labour and its respect for democracy for you. And now the big boys and girls of politics, the people who kept telling Scotland’s indy movement that politics ought to be left to the professionals, have shot themselves in the foot and hoist themselves by their own I’m Voting Owen placards. But at least they did it professionally. Jeremy Corbyn is now unassailable as party leader, at least for the membership. He’s still not capable of leading the Parliamentary Privilege Party, which is the party that most Labour members who get elected to Westminster automatically gravitate to. He promises a new politics, a different politics, a politics of change – although not where Scotland is concerned. The problem is that most of his MPs are quite happy with the way things are, thank you very much, and they’re not inclined to change their ways just because the membership says so. The muttering, the back-stabbing, and the undermining will continue, and the PLP will do all they can to ensure that Jeremy Corbyn remains unelectable while claiming that the reason they’re undermining him is because he’s unelectable. And all the while the Tories will run roughshod over our civil rights and take us out of the EU into a dystopian future of Bake Offs and Strictly and Olympic medallists because watching the telly is all that will be left to us. The day after the Jezzaclysm the Labour right has been reduced to trying to make political capital out of the fact that Jezza’s left hand man Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell said something unkind about a former Tory cabinet minister who built a career out of tipping disabled people out of their wheelchairs and kicking their crutches away. They prefer to attack one of their own over a question of tone and inappropriate verbal imagery that might cause mild upset to a rich and powerful and well connected Conservative, instead of attacking Tories who cause actual physical and mental distress to the vulnerable. Perhaps if they devoted just 10% of the energy and enthusiasm they display for attacking their party colleagues to attacking the Tories, then the Labour party just might be electable after all. You’d think that would be clear. It’s not clear or consistent whether Kezia Dugdale thinks that Labour is electable, although Kezia is a model of consistency and clarity. She’s consistent in her ability to hold mutually contradictory ideas simultaneously. That’s what makes her leadership material. Jezza both is and is not capable of winning another election. The Labour party in Scotland both is and is not totally autonomous. Kezia wants elections to Labour’s UK shadow cabinet but not to her own Scottish shadow cabinet. Labour is both listening to the people of Scotland while simultaneously sticking its collective fingers in its ears and going lalalalalaSNPBad. There’s no inconsistency there and Kezia is absolutely clear about that. The one thing that it’s clearly and consistently impossible for a Labour politician to admit to is the fact that they might have changed their minds. She once said that it wasn’t inconceivable that she could support independence if Scotland was taken out of the EU against its will but now claims there’s no reason for another indyref. Kezia wants us to accept that when she changes her mind she’s actually being totally consistent. It’s not Kezia who’s changed her mind, we’ve just changed our understanding of what she said. She clearly and consistently pointed all this out to Gordon Brewer in an interview on the Scottish Politics Show on Sunday morning, where she expressed her disbelief that Gordon couldn’t understand what it was that Kezia clearly and consistently couldn’t understand while she pointed out that up is down, black is white, and James Kelly MSP is witty and engaging. It was like watching one of those cringe making YouTube videos where a skateboarder attempts to skate down a railing on a long flight of stairs only to land heavily on his bollocks, and then fall flat on his face writhing in agony, whereupon a wee dug pees on him and some guy steals his skateboard. Kezia would describe that as a consistently successful manoeuvre and then offer him a place in the shadow cabinet as her spokesperson on policy presentation and negotiating stairways. Anyway, she continued, deciding to wade on through the quicksand rather than extricate herself from it, Jeremy said that after his reelection he wanted to wipe the slate clean, and that magically makes everything I’ve ever said up until this point disappear. So there. This is perfectly clear and consistent Gordon, and I’m not sure what your difficulty is. Whatever it is, it’s entirely your own fault, and not mine. I hope I’ve made that clear. Oh look, there’s a skateboarder with bruised bollocks who has just been elected to the National Executive Committee. He’s got a video on YouTube. Kezia is also consistently clear in her view that no one is allowed to point out that she’s not always consistently clear, because doing so is abuse. Anyway, she is correct in one vital point. Kezia claimed that Jeremy Corbyn can’t unite Labour, and it’s perfectly true to say that he can’t unite all of Kezia’s contradictions. Not even the original JC is capable of that, walking on water and feeding the five thousand with a tin of sardines and a pan loaf from Asda is a breeze in comparison to making sense of what Kezia says. Her chances of raising Labour in Scotland from the dead however, are as near zero as makes no difference. Kezia is a miracle maker, let’s watch her make Labour disappear. If you’d like me and the dug to come and give a talk to your local group, email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com Audio version of this blog article, courtesy of Sarah Mackie @lumi_1984 https://soundcloud.com/occamshaver/wee-ginger-dug-25th-sept-2016 Donate to the Dug This blog relies on your support and donations to keep going – I need to make a living, and have bills to pay. Clicking the donate button will allow you to make a payment directly to my Paypal account. You do not need a Paypal account yourself to make a donation. You can donate as little, or as much, as you want. Many thanks. If you’d like to make a donation but don’t wish to use Paypal or have problems using the Paypal button, please email me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com for details of alternative methods of donation. I’m now taking advance orders for Volumes 3 and 4 of the Collected Yaps. For the special price of £21 for both volumes plus £4 P&P you can get signed copies of the new books if you order before publication, scheduled for mid-July. Covering the immediate aftermath of the independence referendum until the Yes campaign’s destruction of the Labour party in the 2015 General Election, it’s a snarling chronicle of Scottish history. To reserve your copies, just send an email to weegingerbook@yahoo.com giving your name and your postal address and how many copies you wish to order. You can also order signed copies of all four volumes for the special price of £40 plus £4 P&P. Signed copies of the Collected Yaps of the Wee Ginger Dug volumes 1 and 2 are available by emailing me at weegingerbook@yahoo.com. Price just £21.90 the pair plus P&P. Copies of Barking Up the Right Tree are available from my publisher Vagabond Voices at http://vagabondvoices.co.uk/?page_id=1993 price just £7.95 plus P&P. The E-book of Barking Up the Right Tree is available for Kindle for just £4. Click here to purchase.
Note from Wololo: This tutorial was initially published by /Talk member reprep, as part of our monthly tutorial contest. Reprep won the best PSP tutorial prize (a $10 PSN Code) for his entry. You can find the original post here. Do you still use your PSP for video playback? If yes, continue below to make best use of it. I generally use my PSP Go for watching anime and it is great at that. PSP has a hardware decoder for h264/AVC video which is the same video codec used in Blurays and most digital broadcasting. It delivers high quality video at low bitrates and generally much better than competitors. For audio it uses AAC (Advanced Audio Codec) which is again one of the best audio codecs out there and most content providers use it for high quality audio at low bitrates. As x264 (free h264/AVC encoder and generally considered as the best) is still advancing, we now have the chance to use much better video at low bitrates for our PSPs. I will use HandBrake front-end which is available on PC/MAC/LINUX for this tutorial, but you can use any x264 front-end or even use command line interface. First get HandBrake here: https://handbrake.fr After installing, on main screen, go to Options>Import to import the psp Preset I uploaded here: https://www.sendspace.com/file/w12ju4 Go to Tools>Options>Output Files>Default Path to choose the output directory. You can use your “PSP’s memory card drive letter”/VIDEO folder if your memory card is plugged to your PC. Or you can just copy the contents to your PSP later. After that, you can just drag and drop the file you want to encode into HandBrake, click Start, you are ready to go. Your encode will be at 480×272 if your source has higher resolution than that. If not, its width and height will be rounded to the nearest multiple of 16 for compatibility reasons. If you want to do batch encoding, choose Source>Folder to choose the directory of your source files. After that choose Add to Queue >Add All and then start the queue. That is all, after your encoding is done, just copy the content and enjoy your videos. Continue to read if you want further info. Explanations, Tricks, ETC. Video If you want to have more control over the settings, let me explain them. I made the video settings so that you will have very high quality encodes at relatively large size and a long time. If you want, you can lower the video quality and both save space and reduce encoding time. At the Video tab, there is Quality Section. I chose 18 which is nearly identical to the source. You can choose up to 21-22 without much lowering picture quality and have lower file sizes. I don’t recommend higher values as they will make the picture much worse. Other than that, at the Advanced tab, you can choose Hexagon (Default) for Motion Est Method for faster encodes, also you can reduce Subpixel Motion Est from my default 11 to 7 to drastically decrease encoding time. Both will have a negative impact on quality. Also you can choose lower Maximum B Frame values especially if your source files aren’t cartoon/anime. 3-4 should be fine. Audio If your source file has AAC audio, you can choose “AAC Passthru” codec at Audio Tab. This will save you the hassle of converting audio and give you high quality audio. If not, you should choose a AAC codec to convert audio. AAC (CoreAudio) is your best option, but unfortunately it is only available to MAC users. If you are on PC or Linux choose AAC (FDK). If you care about high audio quality choose 160 kbps, if not you can go as low as 96 kbps. Subtitle Unfortunately PSP doesn’t support soft-subs. It means you have to hard-code subtitles into your video if you want them. Go to Subtitles tab, choose the subtitle in your source and tick the burn-in box to hardcode them. You can also import a .srt file if you choose Import SRT option. Miscellaneous PSP can decode resolutions which both height and width are divisible by 16. Also both height and width should be smaller than 480×272. You got some exceptions for that though. PSP can also play 640×480, 720×480 and 720×576 values. With Tv-Out PSP can output 720×480 video at full resolution. So if you want to have your encodes playable with your other devices too or you use Tv-Out, you can choose one of the resolutions above. Best of the Best There are a few more things for increasing video quality, be warned, these will most possibly only aid your OCD. As i have already said, PSP can play 720×576 video. As the PSP screen has 480×272 resolution, you shouldn’t see any benefit from resolutions above this. But no, in fact you do see benefit, even though it is not much. PSP converts YV12 colorspace to RGB before outputting to LCD. PSP isn’t very good at that conversion and higher resolution input will help the PSP do better conversion. So you can encode at 720×576. The quality increase will not be much but file size increase will be a lot. You can also try increasing Motion Est Method and Motion Est Range, though encode will be much slower and your gain will be minimal. Unfortunately you can’t enable Weighted P-frames, Pyramidal B-frames and 8×8 Transform. Also you can’t use more than 3 Reference Frames. PSP won’t play the video if you do. You can always try other settings and read about x264 encoder properties.
UPDATE: Danielle and Alexander Meitiv have been cleared of child neglect in one of two cases for which they have been investigated. Ten-year-old Rafi Meitiv and his 6-year-old sister, Dvora, are not unfamiliar to Silver Spring law enforcement. In a span of five months, the siblings have been picked up twice by police for walking home from their local Maryland park without adult supervision. Although the kids’ parents, Danielle and Alexander, are now under investigation by the Montgomery County Child Protective Sevices (CPS), the Meitivs have turned allegations of neglect into a stand about their parenting technique, and poured fuel on to the fire of America’s already overheated parenting wars. Essentially, keeping an eye on their kids at all times runs counter to the Meitivs’ beliefs—a practice commonly referred to as free-range, or slow parenting. They’ve said they will sue the police and CPS for infringing on their right to parent as they wish, which is using a technique that encourages children to be more independent by allowing them to go to the park alone, make their own way to and from school, or leaving them at home by themselves for short periods. Free-range parenting is the opposite of helicopter parenting, which involves near constant monitoring of a child’s activities, and the Meitivs have garnered support from parents who think kids need less supervision to thrive. Vocativ spoke to three parents about why they believe free-range is the way to go. Leonore Skenazy, mother of two, New Yorker: Lenore Skenazy with her husband, Joe, and sons, Morry and Izzy. Izzy, right, was the subway joyrider. Lenore Skenazy In 2008, the parenting style made headlines over the actions of Lenore Skenazy, who says she’s “fighting the belief that our children are in constant danger from creeps, kidnapping, germs, grades, flashers, frustration, failure, baby snatchers, bugs, bullies, men, sleepovers and/or the perils of a non-organic grape.” Skenazy allowed her then-9-year-old son to find his way home on the New York subway. He made it back to their apartment in one piece and Skenazy, a writer, blogged about the experience. Within days she found herself on the wrong end of a nationwide parenting scandal—earning the label of “America’s worst mom”—and parlayed her infamy into a book and subsequent reality show. “We’ve become brainwashed into believing our kids are in constant danger, and once you believe that it changes everything. It changes the way we parent. It changes what we’re allowed to do. It changes childhood,” she says. “The reason the Meitiv kids were picked up is because somebody saw them in the park and thought, Oh my god, children outside, they’re in danger! It’s all based on that basic assumption. Ironically, we’re living in the safest time in human history.” This isn’t to say Skenazy is anti-safety (“If you have a baby and invite me to a baby shower, the gift I bring is a fire extinguisher”), and she describes herself as a natural worrier. But she also says free-range parenting is about keeping things in perspective. And Skenazy is ready with a cautionary tale. She cites one woman who left her three kids in the car while she picked up the dry-cleaning, and was greeted by two police cars and a fire truck when she returned. She was so spooked by the experience that she made sure to take her kids out of the car from that day on. Unfortunately, one of her children ended up being hit by a car in the parking lot. “Literally more children die being run over or hit by cars in parking lots than die waiting in cars,” Skenazy says. “Somehow, if you inconvenience yourself—even if it makes no sense, even if it endangers your kid—you have proven you are a good parent. But if you ever choose convenience, if you ever take your eyes off your kids, you are a bad parent. We’ve come to believe that in our bones.” Nancy McDermott, mother of two, upstate New York: Nancy McDermott has been practicing free-range parenting for the past four years. She lives with her husband and two sons in upstate New York and wants her kids, 10 and 12, to develop an age-appropriate sense of autonomy. However, she admits that there is often pushback—even from her own children. “I would love for my kids to do more, but they are actually somewhat afraid because they have absorbed the idea that things aren’t safe,” she says. “They are so much less competent than I was at their ages. I regularly went to the store, rode my bike across town or out into the country and walked home from school. They are only just starting to do some of these things—but I find I have to suggest them. Their worlds are so much smaller than my husband and mine were.” It also extends beyond the home. McDermott says that in addition to the idea that children need constant supervision, parents have been “reduced to a necessary evil” who also require policing. She notes school policies that enable teachers to go through lunch boxes, weed out unhealthy items and send notes home reprimanding parents for nutrition choices. Or the contracts they make her sign so that she’s aware of her responsibilities as a parent, such as checking homework. “Imagine if I sent a note like that to a teacher?” she says. Mollie Kaye, mother of four, British Columbia: Mollie Kaye’s children also share the occasional frustration with being free-range kids. Kaye and her husband live in British Columbia with their two boys, 14 and 12, and two girls, 10 and 8. Instead of being driven to baseball or softball, like most of their friends, they have to take their bikes, which doesn’t always go down well. “They don’t like it when it’s uncomfortable; it can be socially awkward to be the only kid to be riding his bike to baseball practice,” she says of a recent run-in with her oldest son. “He says, ‘What are we, poor?’ He thinks it looks bad.” Despite this, she perseveres. She noticed she had a more relaxed parenting style when her first son was a toddler; she’d let him fall over in the playground and not make a big deal of it—much to the horror of some other parents. But she started consciously practicing free-range parenting when she got divorced from her first husband and saw an immediate difference. It involved letting her kids play in the backyard unsupervised, or allowing her then-5-year-old to walk up the street to a friend’s house. She says they began demonstrating a self-reliance that mirrored her own experience growing up in central Ohio in the 1970s. “It’s a bit sad for me that there has to be a movement. That we have to call this out and say we’re doing a free-range kids thing—it seems a bit self-conscious and ridiculous. I’m grateful to Lenore for putting it out there and drawing attention to it. But I’m still mourning the fact it has to be like this, to justify allowing certain freedoms for kids,” she says, adding, “And the Meitivs, thank god for them. I hope that they will be sacrificial lambs for this cause. I hope they won’t back down…This has to get so bad before it’ll get better, I guess. Somebody’s got to stand up.”
Security and Prosperity for Canadians Published on January 18, 2017 Since the beginning of this leadership race, I have proposed several policies with the general goal of reducing the size of the federal government and focusing its interventions on its core functions. Everyone understands what it means to have a smaller government when it comes to economic policy. But what about foreign policy? The principles are actually the same. We can have a foreign policy that is based on the perspectives and interests of politicians, bureaucrats, international NGOs and special interest groups. A foreign policy that tries to attain unrealistic goals, that focuses on image and marketing, that ineffectively intervenes everywhere, and is frankly a waste of taxpayers’ money. Or we can have a foreign policy entirely focused on the core goals of protecting the security and prosperity of Canadians, a policy where no resources are wasted on symbolic gestures that have no effect on the life of the average Canadian. As Canada’s former Foreign Affairs Minister, I witnessed first-hand how the international relations establishment has a set of priorities that are very different from those of ordinary Canadians. They care about attending global conferences in trendy cities and getting photographed in the company of important foreign leaders. They worry about prestige and glamour, about Canada’s presence on the international scene even if that simply means having a tiny influence on events in parts of the world where we have almost no interest. Whether it’s a bunch of bureaucrats discussing how to spend billions of dollars to kick-starting Canada’s economy; or a bunch of bureaucrats discussing how to spend billions of dollars on international organizations and development aid in other countries; it’s all the same. They are mostly furthering their own interests and wasting a lot of taxpayers’ money. The Trudeau government’s foreign policy is a perfect example of this type of policy disconnected from the interests of Canadians. It is based on the same principles as its economic policy: The more the government intervenes, the more money it spends, the more structures and programs it creates, the more publicity it gets, the better it is. The Liberals claim that since their election, “Canada is back” on the international scene. You bet it is! Just like it’s back in the economic sphere with its $30-billion deficit! Only a month after his election in November 2015, Justin Trudeau announced that Canada would contribute $2.65 billion over the next five years to help developing countries tackle climate change. This government is not only going to make us poorer by burdening our economy with a carbon tax and costlier regulations. It’s going to make us even poorer by sending billions of dollars to other countries for the same purpose. That’s in addition to billions of dollars every year in development assistance that Canadian taxpayers are sending to various countries, a budget that the Liberals have promised to increase. On security issues, the Trudeau government decided last year to scale down our military involvement with our allies against the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Yet, fighting radical Islamic terrorists is directly linked to the security of Canadians. Meanwhile, the government announced last summer that it would send 600 Canadian troops and spend half a billion dollars on a peacekeeping mission in Africa. Canada has no strategic interest in that region. The conflicts there have no impact on our security. And it’s not even clear that there is any peace to keep, but the Liberals are trying to avoid this debate. There is no reason to waste that money and to risk the lives of Canadian soldiers. No reason, except, from the point of the view of the Trudeau government, showing the foreign affairs establishment of other countries that “Canada is back” and lobbying for a seat at the United Nations Security Council. For the Liberals, it’s more important to show off on the international stage than to protect the security and prosperity of Canadians. We learned two weeks ago that senior foreign affairs bureaucrats even held a meeting to discuss how to use the Prime Minister’s image and his personal appeal to sell the world on the merits of the country’s return to UN peacekeeping missions. This is not a foreign policy based on the interests of Canadians; this is the low politics of selfie diplomacy! As Prime Minister, I will ensure our country’s foreign policy will be refocused on the security and prosperity of Canadians. First, my government will continue to work closely with our allies to ensure peace and security, especially against radical Islamic terrorism. We will only get involved in foreign conflicts when we have a clear strategic interest in doing so and when the security of Canadians is directly impacted. We are not going to try and please the foreign affairs establishment and the United Nations, a dysfunctional organisation which for years has disproportionately focused its activities on condemning Israel as if it were the source of most conflicts in the world. Last year for example, the UN General Assembly adopted 20 resolutions targeting Israel, while passing one each about the human rights situation in North Korea, Syria, and Iran. Second, my government’s foreign policy will be focused on liberalizing trade with as many countries and regions of the world as possible. This is not only the best way to ensure our prosperity, but also to help other countries develop and get richer, and to ensure a more peaceful world. Third, my government will review the $5 billion that Canada spends every year on international assistance programs. Our refocused international assistance will centre on core humanitarian efforts to fight global health crises and respond to emergencies such as major conflicts and natural disasters. Canada has to show solidarity and do its part to help when populations are dying and suffering in countries that don’t have the means to save them. However, every year, we spend billions of dollars funding job training, farming technology, infrastructure building and various other programs to help develop other countries’ economies. We will phase out this development aid, for which there is no moral or economic efficiency argument. Some First Nations communities in Canada have levels of poverty and basic services comparable to those of third world countries. There are low-income families in our country that pay taxes on their modest earnings. Instead of sending billions of dollars to other countries, we should use that money to cut taxes or help Canadians in need, here in Canada. The case for development aid is extremely weak. Hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of poverty in the world in the past few decades. However, there is no evidence that this was brought about by development aid. Countries such as China, India, Vietnam and many others that are fast growing out of poverty did so because they got rid of their communist and socialist economic policies. They got richer because they adopted free-market policies, liberalized trade and private property rights, even if only imperfectly. There is a direct link between the level of economic freedom and the level of development. This has been demonstrated without any doubt by various studies, including the economic freedom index of the Fraser Institute and the Heritage Foundation. Countries that remain poor are those where governments are still crushing private initiative. Until they liberalize their economy and free their citizens, no amount of development aid will make a difference. On the contrary, it creates a cycle of dependency and often helps these governments stay in power. Big government doesn’t solve problems, it creates problems. This is true in foreign policy as it is true in economic policy. Under my leadership, Canada is not going to follow the received wisdom of the international relations establishment. We are not going to send our soldiers to dangerous places where we have no strategic interests just to please the international bureaucracy at the United Nations. We are not going to waste taxpayers’ money on development aid just because other countries do it. The role of government is to protect its citizens and to allow them to flourish and prosper. This is going to be the focus of our action when I am Prime Minister. Thank you.
PS4 and PS Vita Touhou Project lineup confirmed Pretty up your Vita with custom themes while waiting for the actual games. Mediascape, the Japanese company behind efforts to bring Touhou Project fan games to Sony platforms, has confirmed the platforms for the initial set of games it announced in September, with developer Cubetype’s Genso Rondo newly joining the lineup. Here’s the list with all of the known details as of yet. Available now, however, are two Touhou Project themes for purchase from the Japanese PlayStation Store for 432 yen each. The first, pictured above, is the start of a future series of seasonal themes set in the world of Gensokyo, the setting of the Touhou Project series. This initial set is the winter batch, with other seasons arriving throughout the coming year. Featuring eight background images, it also includes custom icons and background music. The list of background image artists for this winter set is as follows: Ichiyou Moka Kibi Satou Kyou Satomura Shinno Takana Hitoshi Mizuki Icons, meanwhile, are by Akaneya and the music is by Rin. The second theme is based on Genso Rondo. It has 11 background images, as well as custom icons and music, too. Release dates for the four games remain forthcoming. Thanks, Games Talk.
This article is over 3 years old Family had claimed Solomon Guggenheim Foundation was not respecting Peggy Guggenheim’s wish that her Venice art collection remained intact A French court has thrown out a legal action by relatives of the art collector Peggy Guggenheim to have her Italian collection, which includes works by Picasso, Miró, Matisse and Dalí, restored to its original appearance and purpose. The court case, known as Guggenheim v Guggenheim, pitted two of the celebrated collector’s grandsons against another branch of the family represented by the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation. The French family had claimed the US foundation was not respecting Guggenheim’s wishes regarding her collection of contemporary masters displayed in a magnificent 18th-century palace on Venice’s Grand Canal. Peggy Guggenheim, who died 36 years ago, inherited her fortune from her father, Benjamin, a metal magnate who died in the Titanic disaster. She used the fortune to amass an impressive collection of contemporary art. Before she died she handed over the Palazzo Vernier dei Leoni, where the 326 masterpieces were displayed, to the New York-based Solomon Guggenheim Foundation then run by her cousin Harry Guggenheim. Her grandson Sandro Rumney, who was born in Italy but lives in France, and his half-brother Nicolas Hélion, along with their five children, brought a legal action in France claiming the foundation had gone against Guggenheim’s wish that the collection should remain intact. Why Peggy Guggenheim's heirs should keep their hands off her collection Read more They complained that works from other collections were now on display at the palazzo and that this had diluted their grandmother’s work, intended to be left as a legacy of her passion for art. Three other grandchildren and a great-grandchild had supported the foundation, which described the allegations from the French branch of the family as baseless. Rumney and the other plaintiffs were ordered by the court to pay the foundation €30,000 (£22,000) in legal fees.
With polls suggesting Alberta could be on the way to its first minority government, all political party leaders switched their promise machines into high gear Tuesday. In Calgary, Tory Premier Jim Prentice promised to reverse his unpopular plan to reduce the charitable tax credit while Wildrose Leader Brian Jean pledged two hours of free parking at hospitals. In Edmonton, NDP Leader Rachel Notley vowed to help create 3,000 jobs for students this summer by restoring the Summer Temporary Employment Program, eliminated by the PCs in 2013. And Liberal Leader David Swann promised to expand home care, invest in health-care capital projects, primary care and chronic disease management, and focus on disease prevention and cutting waste. The flurry of promises on the campaign trail comes in advance of Thursday’s leaders’ debate in Edmonton which has grown in importance with a Mainstreet Technologies poll showing the Wildrose, NDP and PCs within 10 percentage points in popular support. It had the Wildrose with 35 per cent support among decided voters, with the NDP at 31 per cent and the PCs at 25 per cent. Eric Grenier, who operates the poll-tracking website ThreeHundredEight.com, said if the numbers remain the same on May 5 there will definitely be a minority government in Alberta for the first time in its 110-year history. “It is completely uncharted territory for Alberta and I don’t think anyone has really thought about how these parties would actually work together,” he said. “With the floor-crossing between the Wildrose and the Tories, it’s hard to imagine them wanting to work together and it is hard to imagine either of those two parties working with the NDP.” Veteran political analyst David Taras of Mount Royal University said much can change in the next two weeks of the campaign, but voters’ psychology is shifting with “people saying, what is wrong with a minority government?” “It’s bizarre. It’s the Star Trek election — we’ve never gone here before,” said Taras, who believes Thursday’s debate is critical for all the parties. “Nothing is for granted now. There are possibilities.” Prentice sidestepped the question of a minority government on Tuesday, saying it’s premature to think about it midway through the campaign and he is focused on winning a 13th PC majority. “I trust in the judgment of Albertans and I am campaigning to be a majority government to to provide the stability that this province needs at this point in time,” he said. In Edmonton, NDP Leader Rachel Notley said she would be willing to work with any other party to form a coalition government. “It would be absolutely irresponsible to not open the door to thoughtful discussions with all other parties that are elected after the election,” she said. “That assembly reflects the will of the voters.” Notley said her goal will be to make government work for Albertans. “You hope that you don’t get into a minority government position where everybody is grandstanding for the sake of the next election, and all governance stops,” she said. Liberal Leader David Swann said previously he would welcome a minority government. Wildrose Leader Brian Jean said he won’t co-operate with the Tories. “The only way the Prentice PCs will be able to pass their budget with its record tax increases is with the support of the NDP,” he said. “Wildrose will not be voting to increase taxes on Albertans.” Taras said there are several possible combinations to form a minority government, but he worries the three largest parties may end up dominating a single region each — Edmonton, Calgary and the rest of the province — creating tensions between them. “That’s very divisive,” he added. “In any given situation, you could have two major regions outside the government.” But Stephen Carter, campaign manager for Alison Redford’s PC leadership run, predicted the Tories will ally with the Wildrose to pass their budget if they wind up with less than 44 seats in the 87-seat assembly. “It will enable Wildrose to be the dominant force in the government, to push for cuts, to push for tax cuts, to cut health-care spending, to cut education spending, to rein in a government that has lost control, quote, unquote,” Carter said. “That is where Jim Prentice would prefer to live, over living on the other side with the NDP.” But Carter said it all could unravel in six months as both the Wildrose and NDP may use the time to demonstrate to Albertans they aren’t extreme — as Prentice has alleged — and take another shot at power. “In the long term, it would be very good for Alberta to have democracy returned,” said Carter, who worked briefly as Redford’s chief of staff after she became premier, as well as with former Wildrose leader Danielle Smith. “If we ever put a government in for 30 or 40 years, we should just put our heads in the door and slam it as hard as we can.” With files from James Wood and Chris Varcoe, Calgary Herald, and Karen Kleiss, Edmonton Journal dhenton@calgaryherald.com
As much as Henry Cejudo would like to talk about his fight at UFC 185 against Chris Cariaso, the subject of his weight cut seems to be the only subject anyone wants to address. Then again, Cejudo really can’t blame anyone for the constant questions. The former Olympic gold medalist has struggled rather publicly with his cuts to get down to 125-pounds from snafus that happened when he was still competing on the regional scene all the way to his debut in the UFC, which was cancelled when he was unable to shed the final pounds to get to the flyweight limit. Article continues below ... Following his debut fight disaster, Cejudo was told either go to bantamweight or leave the UFC. He chose the former and won his bantamweight debut against Dustin Kimura before declaring a move back down to 125-pounds for this fight. Just 24-hours away from hitting the scale, Cejudo tells FOX Sports that everything is on track and he knows a very big weight will be lifted off his shoulder if the scale on Friday reads anything at 126-pounds or less. That s–t’s funny. When’s the cut off? I might do that. That’s kind of crazy — Henry Cejudo on betting sites taking wagers on him making weight "Everything’s going good as planned. We’re hitting the weights as planned," Cejudo said. "I’m just excited to weigh in tomorrow and make the weight." The question about Cejudo making weight this Friday has become such a popular topic of conversation that online gambling site 5Dimes made a prop bet on whether or not the former Olympian would make weight on Friday. The odds are at about 2-to-1 in Cejudo’s favor that he will make weight, but betting on the alternative could yield some solid cash for those that don’t believe he’s ready for a run at flyweight. Cejudo couldn’t help but smile and even let out a scream when the subject of wagering on his weight cut came up. If nothing else, Cejudo knows people are watching and obviously care. "That s–t’s funny. When’s the cut off? I might do that. That’s kind of crazy," Cejudo said. "I think that’s funny. It’s clever. Social media and all that other stuff, it’s interesting. It’s funny, but it does make me nervous." Cejudo has put everything into his move down to flyweight for this fight because he knows another miss on Friday could mean the end of his chances to even compete at 125-pounds in the UFC. As frustrating as it is to have so many questions about a weight cut with a top 10 opponent standing in front of him, Cejudo knows it’s part of the job and he can’t blame anyone but himself for the curiosity everyone seems to have about whether or not he’ll make the flyweight limit when he hits the scale. "I understand completely," Cejudo said. "I think everybody in the UFC has missed weight, but I get a lot of pressure for it. I get it, I understand it."
I've already been told by a State legislator that unless I can raise a cool $1 million that the national Party won't give me the time of day. But I don't have any plans to raise that kind of campaign money - it's not the kind of campaign I intend to run. I'm going old school, running a ground game at the precinct level. I'll be investing early campaign donations in a campaign website and my first Field Organizer. I've got a website developer ready to go, and I'm using a member of the Daily Kos community, brainwrap, the guy who has done such great work here on PPACA signups but whose dayjob is as a web developer. I've got my first Field Organizer ready to come work for me, a student at the University of Washington at Seattle who is a PoliSci major. I've been speaking with a couple of nationally known political advisors, and some Daily Kos members who've already agreed to volunteer for the campaign on work from Campaign speeches and Position Papers to Voiceovers for ads for internet, radio and television. I've got a local photographer to do campaign event photos and video. I've got a temporary Treasurer, but I'm still looking for a permanent Treasurer and a Campaign manager. If you know anyone who might be interested in either position PLEASE have them contact me, you can DKosmail message me and I'll provide a telephone number they can reach me at! My goal is to organize our 3rd District precincts this summer and fall, doing PCO training and getting neighbors talking to neighbors about the coming primary election next spring, although not yet set it's likely our primary will be in May, 2016. So I've got about ten months to raise funds, attend County Party meetings in the seven counties of the 3rd District and get the word out to the voters that I am in this race and I want to become their Representative to Congress. This is my first campaign graphic and it says pretty much what my campaign is going to be about: What the people of my District need, like the people in most Districts across America today, is more decent paying jobs. I'm going to be working to help bring them here. Wind turbine and solar cell and solar film and energy storage manufacturers, which could make the north end of the Willamette Valley a hub for 21st century clean energy production. I'm also highly motivated to help protect our region's natural resources, ensuring future generations are able to enjoy them just as my family always has, from reservoir lakes to state and national parks and forests. From the mountains to the oceans to the rivers, we need to keep our land and water clean and accessible to all. I've spent nearly 12 years here at Daily Kos ranting and railing about everything wrong with our political system, but after today, I'm going to be working towards becoming a member of the United States Congress so that instead of ranting here, I can do it from the Floor of the US House of Representatives. If you'd like to help me get started on this journey, please send me any size donation to my paypal account by clicking the link and sending to the email address listed here: angelamarx4congress@gmail.com F.E.C. required donor identifying data If you send a donation, please send an email to the same address angelamarx4congress@gmail.com and note you donated via Paypal. You need to list: The amount of your donation Your name Your mailing address Your occupation Your employer That it is a primary election donation That it is your own money you have donated DISCLOSURE: This campaign will NOT sell or share any donor email data to anyone or any organization now or in the future. As soon as I've received enough in donations ($5,000) the website will go up and I'll be able to hire that 1st Field Organizer! Once that goal has been reached and the campaign website goes live, further donations for the campaign will be done via Act Blue. So I'm asking the Daily Kos community here for seed money to start me on my way. Like , I will not be accepting super-PAC money now or in the future. I'd rather win on donations from real people in the smaller range than end up owing my soul to some faceless corporate donors. It takes money to win an election in our modern America, and I promise to use the donations you send to me to good use. The last thing I'll ask is that you spread the word among your groups - please ask everyone you know here at Daily Kos who lives in the 3rd District of SW Washington to follow my new Daily Kos Account Angela Marx so that they'll see when the website goes live. Because once it does, I'll be asking for something a lot more precious than your dollars ... I'll be asking for volunteers to come join my Precinct Walkers and help me do something to confound the mainstream Democratic Party - win a US House District by neighbors talking to neighbors instead of spending a million dollars on television advertising. I'm so excited to begin this adventure and I'll keep the Daily Kos community posted on all campaign news and activities. Please let me know what you think of the graphic in the comments! Before I forget, Meteor Blades, you can go ahead and send me that donation now, I'm finally ready to accept it! I've been admonished to describe where the 3rd District is, so... You can see this map on it's original Daily Kos diary Washington Redistricting. The 3rd District is the bright purple section in the bottom left (SW) corner of the map. It includes: Clark, Cowlitz, Klickitat, Lewis, Pacific, Skamania and Wahkiakum counties and a small strip across the southern border of Thurston county on the northern edge of the District.
America Could End Homelessness in One Year by Doing This If America really cared about solving the problem of homelessness among it’s citizenry, here’s an idea that would work. Oh- and that opening line references the fact that as far back as 2011 empty houses in America outnumbered homeless families by five times, according to Amnesty International. Anyway, let’s say the problem with homeless people in America was a result of not enough housing. Then, this idea would work. Did you know that you can make houses out of plastic bottles? By filling them with sand, and molding them together with mud or cement, the walls created are actually bullet proof, fire proof, and will maintain an comfortable indoor temperature of 64 degrees in the summer time. And it’s not like there is any shortage on used plastic bottles out there. Here are some statistics from treehugger.com: “The United States uses 129.6 Million plastic bottles per day which is 47.3 Billion plastic bottles per year. About 80% of those plastic bottles end up in a landfill!” To build a two bedroom, 1200 square foot home, it takes about 14,000 bottles. The United States throws away enough plastic bottles to build 9257 of these 2 bedroom houses per day! That’s just over 3.35 million homes, the same number of homeless people in America. Many people in third world countries have taken up building homes out of plastic bottles, from Africa to Asia. Perhaps the trend will catch on in America and all of those bottles will stop ending up in the landfills. Wouldn’t they be better off housing the homeless? Kinda like all those empty houses scattered all over the country? Follow The Free Patriot contributor and Iraq War veteran Kevin E Lake on Facebook. Credits: freepatriot.org. Where this was originally featured.
Save your power ballads until Monday and head to Karaoke World (185 Elizabeth Street, city, karaokeworld.net.au, 9267 5011) and get an hour for free when you book for two hours or more. Just get in before 9pm. For a modern twist on the cheap pub steak, buy a drink and pay $5 for a stir-fry from the in-house Thai Lanna restaurant at Bar Broadway (2 Broadway, Broadway, barbroadway.com.au, 9211 2321). The plates aren't enormous but the quality is excellent and there are vegetarian options - something a steak just can't match. They may not come wrapped in paper and with a beach backdrop but the generous serve of fish and chips for $7 at the Lord Roberts Hotel (corner of Riley and Stanley streets, East Sydney, lordrobertshotel.com.au, 9331 1326) is hard to top. Value-add with happy hour between 4-6pm, with $3.50 local schooners and $4 wine. In one of the best theatre deals around, snare $15 rush tickets to 7pm performances at Griffin Theatre Company at SBW Stables Theatre (10 Nimrod Street, Kings Cross, griffintheatre.com.au, 8019 0292). It's a saving of about $30; simply turn up an hour before the show to try for the cheap seats. With the arrival of the cold comes the best excuse to spend time in the cosy, fireplace-filled Porterhouse Irish Pub (233 Riley Street, Surry Hills, porterhouse.com.au, 9211 4454). Get on the cider bandwagon and enjoy $5 pints of Bulmers all day. Line the stomach with dinner and get 20 per cent off your meal - then put the savings towards another pint. Tuesday An oldie but a goodie, grab a beer, a famed laksa and show at the Old Fitzroy Theatre (129 Dowling Street, Woolloomooloo, oldfitzroy.com.au, 9356 3848) for $29 ($40 other days). There's a lot to love about the refurbished Norfolk Hotel (305 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills, thenorfolk.co, 9699 3177). Follow the 4-6pm happy hours in the kitsch Mexican bar with incredible $3 soft-shell tacos all night. Entertain another dimension at Dendy Opera Quays (2 East Circular Quay, dendy.com.au, 9247 3800) with all 3D films included in the $10.50 bargain ticket price. Make the most of two-for-one cocktails at the Arthouse Hotel (275 Pitt Street, city, thearthousehotel.com.au, 9284 1200), served up in the Gallery Bar between 5-8pm. With the George Street Cinemas five minutes' walk away, catch an $11 flick afterwards. Pull up a cushion in Govinda's movie room (112 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst, govindas.com.au, 9380 5155) and watch the 7.30pm or 9.30pm recent film for $10. Live it up at the Ritz Cinema (45 St Pauls Street, Randwick, ritzcinema.com.au, 9399 5722) with $8 tickets to any session. Enjoy an old-school cheap movie night at the only place of its kind in Sydney, Greater Union Blacktown Drive-in (Cricketers Arms Road, Blacktown, eventcinemas.com.au, 9622 0202). You get two flicks for $10 and don't have to leave the comfort of your car. The Hornsby Odeon Cinema (155 Pacific Highway, Hornsby, hornsbyodeoncinema.com.au, 9476 3777) is a bargain, with all sessions just $7 (3D $10). Wednesday Enjoy a flick with a difference every fortnight at the Marginalised Movies night at Mu Meson (corner of Parramatta Road and Trafalgar Street, Annandale, 9517 2010, mumeson.org). For $10 you can catch entertaining, bizarre films pulled from their huge cult and classic cinema library, such as The Night of the Hunter on June 15 and 1988 sci-fi classic Out of Time on June 29. Entry at 7.30pm for an 8pm start. Head to Art After Hours between 5-9pm at the Art Gallery of NSW (Art Gallery Road, The Domain, artgallery.nsw.gov.au, 1800 679 278) for exhibitions, talks, films and even live music - all free. University Art Gallery and the Macleay and Nicholson museums (University of Sydney, Camperdown, sydney.edu.au) host lunchtime talks most Wednesdays. At one of the best spots for free, live bands, the Macquarie Hotel (42 Wentworth Avenue, Surry Hills, macquariehotel.com, 8262 8888) has World Music Wednesdays from 8.30pm till late. No better way to conquer hump day than a barbecue at World Square Pub (680 George Street, city, worldsquarepub.com.au, 8272 2400) plus a 4-7pm special of $3 local beers and $5 basic spirits. Indie-oriented bands that may be playing ticketed shows on the weekend often play free at the Beach Road Hotel (71 Beach Road, Bondi Beach, beachroadbondi.com.au, 9130 7247). The venue recently played host to Cabins and Wolf & Cub, plus internationals such as Scotland's Frightened Rabbit. Check out jazz and blues at 505 (280 Cleveland Street, Surry Hills, venue505.com) from 7.30pm, with midweek gigs just $10, $5 cheaper than Thursday to Saturday. Thursday Immerse yourself in the enchanted-forest beer garden at The Rose Hotel (corner of Cleveland and Shepherd streets, Chippendale, therosehotel.com.au, 9318 1133) for two-for-one cocktails from 6-8pm. Find the humour in savings at The Laugh Garage Comedy Club (corner Elizabeth and Park streets, city, thelaughgarage.com, 9264 1161). Shows are $15 when booked online or $18 at the door - $10 less than weekend gigs. Think you can bowl all night? Head to Strike Bowling (Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park, strikebowlingbar.com.au, 1300 787 453) and enjoy unlimited tenpin, karaoke and pool for $20, from 5pm. Spend lunchtime at the Metcalfe Auditorium in the grand State Library (Macquarie Street, city, sl.nsw.gov.au, 9273 1414) and see a free documentary or film at 12.10pm. On June 23, watch documentaries including Jimmy Little's Gentle Journey. Could it be Sydney's cheapest beer? Charlie Chans (631-635 George Street, city, charliechans.com.au, 9281 4299) is pouring $2.50 local ales from 6-7pm. Head upstairs at the Beach Road Hotel for $10 pizza and Peroni beer between 6-9pm. Try roast lamb with provencale vegetables, or pepperoni and roast pork with onion, chilli and rocket. Friday It's game on at the end of the working week, courtesy of Friday Night Lunacy at Luna Park (1 Olympic Drive, Milsons Point, lunaparksydney.com, 9033 7676). Thrill-seekers can enjoy unlimited rides after 5pm for just $30. That includes the adrenalin-packed rides and the more laid-back attractions such as the Ferris wheel. Be spoilt for choice with up to six bands spread across a few levels at indie-rock-oriented night Mum at the World Bar (24 Bayswater Road, Kings Cross, www.theworldbar.com, 9357 7700) and it's just $10 before 10pm. The Shakespeare Hotel (200 Devonshire Street, Surry Hills, 9319 6883) has a happy hour worth taking an early mark for. Get $2.90 beers and $3.50 spirits from 3-6pm, plus one of the best pub feeds around, at $12.50 for gigantic mains. It's hard to find a good margarita this far south of the Mexican border but the Norfolk Hotel mixes up excellent $10 ones (and $5 tequila shots) from 6-8pm. The Wharf Sessions at Sydney Theatre Co (Pier 4, Hickson Road, Walsh Bay, 9250 1777, sydneytheatre.com.au) offer some stellar live music for free. Cloud Control and Bridezilla have been part of this free monthly event, which happens at 10pm. Jazz songstress Ali Hughes plays June 24. Start the weekend with $5 Coronas and champagne cocktails at the generous 5-9pm happy hours at Verandah Bar (55-65 Elizabeth Street, city, verandah.com.au, 9239 5888). Grab a leather couch or a cosy hall table at one of Newtown's best bars, Corridor (153a King Street, Newtown, corridorbar.com.au, 0422 873 879), to enjoy $9 fruit mojitos, 5-7pm. Served tall and with a generous helping of white rum, you'll be happy long after the hours. Saturday It looks like an island paradise and the prices are as much of a dream in the Polynesian-grunge setting of Freaky Tiki (174 King Street, Newtown, 9517 3051). Get $3.50 local schooners (including cider) from 4-7pm and $5 dumplings from noon-7pm. The Lansdowne Hotel (corner of City Road and Broadway, thelansdowne.com.au, 8218 2333) is one of the last spots for free, live indie rock, where you can expect everything from punk rock to electro-pop from 8pm. Join a tour and talk relating to current exhibitions at Museum of Contemporary Art (140 George Street, The Rocks, mca.com.au, 9245 2400). On most Saturdays, it's free and bookings aren't necessary. Students can get the jump on cheap tickets to 2pm shows at Belvoir Street Theatre (25 Belvoir Street, Surry Hills, belvoir.com.au, 9699 3444) for just $27, about half the normal price. Catch Chekhov's classic The Seagull until July 17. Cheap tickets are limited and up for grabs from 9.30am. The only thing better than discounted drinks is when those drinks come with delicious food. Happy hour at MUMU Grill (70 Alexander Street, Crows Nest, mumugrill.com.au, 9460 6877) from 5.30-6.30pm includes free tapas, which will go down well with a $5 beer or wine or a $10 cocktail. Sunday Soothe a Sunday brain with $10 Bloody Marys in the wonderful astro-turf patio at Darlo Bar (306 Liverpool Street, Darlinghurst, darlobar.com.au, 9331 3672). Skip the end of MasterChef and head down to Campbells Cove to catch Vivid's final few FireDance flame shows. There are five shows a night from 7pm, each featuring 40 flame projectors using the same technology used in Sydney's New Year's Eve spectaculars (www.vividsydney.com). Kick off your shoes and hit the green for a round of barefoot bowls at Paddington Bowling Club (2 Quarry Street, Paddington, paddobowls.com.au, 9363 1150). It's $12 a person (instead of $20 weekdays). There are three bowling sessions - 11am-2pm, 2-5pm, 5-8pm - and instructors are on hand to help novices. You can see a free film in the theatrette at 2pm on the first Sunday of each month at gallery White Rabbit (30 Balfour Street, Chippendale, whiterabbitcollection.org, 8399 2867), which houses one of the world's largest collections of contemporary Chinese art. Expect everything from kung-fu flicks to traditional romances; see The Joy Luck Club on July 3. There's also a tranquil teahouse and handmade dumplings. Gallery entry is free. Loading Take advantage of the family Sunday Fun Day bus/train/ferry unlimited travel ticket (adult $2.50) and head to the Maritime Museum (2 Murray Street, Darling Harbour, anmm.gov.au, 9298 3777). It's the final month of Jeff Carter's photographic exhibition. From Wednesday, see images from Captain Robert Falcon Scott's final voyage to explore Antarctica in 1910. Museum entry is free and it's open between 9.30am-5pm. Trade the couch for the Town Hall Hotel (corner of Montague and Darling streets, Balmain, townhallhotel.com.au, 9818 8950) and watch NRL games on the big screen with $3 local schooners and $4 wines from 1-6pm. Sip $9 cocktails in the Balcony Bar from 1-10pm.
When police officers, scientists and doctors launched an investigation into the scourge of counterfeit medicines in South East Asia, they were shocked to find that nearly half of the anti-malarials that they seized were fakes. Even more alarming was the discovery that many of the blister packs presumed to contain life-saving tablets were tainted with safrole, a carcinogenic compound used to make the illicit party drug ecstasy. The presence of safrole underscored the link between bogus pharmaceuticals and criminal syndicates, which flourish in a legal grey zone that rewards counterfeiters with high profits at low risk. P. Bronstein/Getty “For a criminal interested in making money, it’s less dangerous to traffic in counterfeits than to traffic in illegal drugs,” says Susanne Keitel, director of the European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare (EDQM) in Strasbourg, France. That is because, although counterfeits endanger patients, diminish public faith in essential care and hamper economic growth, their deliberate manufacture is classified not as criminal activity, but as patent infringement. That may now change, as cross-border collaborations try to criminalize counterfeit drugs and coordinate global enforcement. Public-health authorities welcome the development, but say that years of inattention have turned the problem into a crisis. Fatal consequences In a week-long raid last year, the international police agency INTERPOL, based in Lyons, France, confiscated 2.4 million pills in dozens of countries. However, seized contraband provides only a crude indicator of the trade's true scope. The global counterfeit drug economy has been valued at US$75 billion a year, and is projected to grow by up to 13% annually. Danny Lee-Frost, head of operations at the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency in London, says that in developed countries, border agencies intercept most illicit trade before it reaches markets. But poorer nations lack equivalent protection. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that in developing economies, nearly one-third of drugs are either fakes or substandard. Paul Newton, a doctor of infectious disease from Oxford University, working in Vientiane, Laos, says that regulating drug quality “requires political will, scientific expertise and solid data” — all of which are scarce in countries ravaged by poverty and infectious diseases. “Fake anti-malarials cause more harm than fake Rolexes.” But the most formidable barrier has been the lack of consensus on how to classify counterfeits. Efforts to establish a universal definition are caught in a tug of war between safeguarding public health and protecting intellectual property. Bryan Liang, a physician and lawyer at the California Western School of Law in San Diego and vice-president of the Partnership for Safe Medicines, argues that prevailing definitions “prioritize private interests at the expense of health” by treating fake drugs mainly as an intellectual-property issue. The medical community insists that counterfeit medicines should not be placed in the same penal class as other imitation goods. “The main people affected are patients and their families, not pharmaceutical companies and their traders,” says Newton. “Fake antimalarials cause more harm than fake Rolexes. They should be treated differently.” Criminalizing counterfeits Last October, the Council of Europe invited countries to become signatories of the MEDICRIME Convention, the first international treaty to establish counterfeit medicines as a criminal threat. So far, 15 countries have signed on. Although none has yet ratified the document, Keitel is “absolutely confident” that it will become law in the signatory countries. The legal department of the EDQM, which oversees the convention, anticipates that the treaty will be fully ratified by the end of 2013. In late 2011, US policy-makers made a similar move, introducing the Counterfeit Drug Penalty Enhancement Act, which distinguishes fake drugs from other sham goods and increases the prison sentences and fines associated with prosecution for their manufacture and trade. The act is now under deliberation in Congress. Furthermore, the WHO is set to propose a mechanism for harmonizing global enforcement in May, at the World Health Assembly in Geneva, Switzerland. The scheme will exclude trade and intellectual-property considerations and focus solely on counterfeits as a humanitarian crime. But even with new definitions in place, limited resources and inadequate infrastructure may continue to impede quality assurance. “Most emerging-market countries don’t have the capacity to regulate drug quality,” says Liang. Detection and enforcement To improve enforcement, researchers are developing new ways to detect fakes. For example, the pharmaceutical company Merck, based in Darmstadt, Germany, has sponsored the Global Pharma Health Fund Minilab, which can assess the quality of 57 different compounds. According to Merck, nearly 500 kits have been distributed in 80 countries. However, independent assessments suggest that although the kit provides quick and relatively cheap results, it detects a fake only if the product is grossly substandard. Harparkash Kaur, a chemist at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, and her colleagues at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia, are developing an assay to gauge the level of the active ingredient artemisinin in antimalarial medicines. They plan soon to make it available as a field kit simple enough for a lay person to use and interpret. But poverty and profit remain at the heart of the problem. Newton says that as long as money can be made off vulnerable people, counterfeiters will persist. “Part of the solution is to make drugs more affordable and more accessible,” he says. Increasing drug availability, adds Newton, will reduce counterfeiters’ profit margins and protect global health.
Introduction It is the beginning of 2017 which can mean only one thing. It is time to look back at the top 10 Linux distributions of 2016 in order to analyse their suitability for the everyday Linux user. I have been writing this guide for a few years now as you can see here: The idea of this guide isn’t to pitch one distribution against another and the list is not my personal choice of the best distributions from 2015. The list is the top 10 distributions as found on Distrowatch. The point of this guide is to look at each of the top 10 distributions and to highlight how suitable the distribution is for the everyday Linux user. There is a set criteria I use to determine how suitable a Linux distro is for the average person which is as follows: Must be easy to install Must have an intuitive desktop environment Must be easy to use Must have a standard and fairly complete set of applications installed Must have a decent package manager for installing other applications Must be ready to use straight away The list is ordered in the same way they are on Distrowatch. Linux Mint I have no doubt in my mind that Linux Mint is the most suitable distribution for the Everyday Linux User and I would recommend this over any other distribution. It is no surprise therefore that Linux Mint is also the number 1 distribution on Distrowatch. The installer for Linux Mint is very straight forward although the installer now no longer includes multimedia codecs by default. This detracts in a very small way from the “must be ready to use straight away” category but the fact that the welcome screen includes an option for installing 3rd party software makes this a very minor point. In all honesty the trade off is that the web page is now slightly less confusing because there are less options to choose from. If you wish to try out Linux Mint you can follow this guide: How to install Linux Mint alongside Windows 10 After you have installed Linux Mint you can use the welcome screen to install multimedia codecs and additional drivers for your graphics card and other devices. The Cinnamon desktop environment is not only pleasing on the eye, it is also very straight forward to use. If you know how to click a menu button they you can easily find the application you are looking for. As a drop in Linux distribution for Windows users it is perfect. Linux Mint comes with all the applications a standard user needs to get started including the LibreOffice office suite, the GIMP image editor, an image viewer, the Banshee audio player, VLC media player and Thunderbird email client. There are all sorts of other tools installed as well. There is also a fairly intuitive graphical software installer and it works well. Steam, Dropbox and Skype are all available from the graphical installer. Linux Mint works with all the hardware devices I have tried including an Epson WF2630 printer, a WD MyCloud NAS drive, an Android phone and Sony Walkman. The current version of Mint is the long term support release and there is no better time to use Linux Mint than at the start of an LTS release. Click here for a full review of Linux Mint Debian Debian has been around for absolutely ever and it is has often been the base distribution for other easier to use distributions. For the Everyday Linux User I would say that there are easier starting points and I would also say that you would need a really good reason to want to use Debian over Linux Mint or Ubuntu. I always get battered for this in the comments section but just trying to find a version of Debian to download is a skill. My last review was in June of 2015 but even if I look today the website is the same archaic monolith of links. The above image shows the front page of the Debian website. In the top right corner there is a link called “Download Debian 8.6”. However this is a network installation option and if you want to try a live version of Debian first then this isn’t the option you require. There is a grid of links on the front page and in the 2nd column there is a section called “Getting Debian”. Under this heading you will see a link called “CD/USB ISO images”. When you click on the “CD/USB ISO Images” link you are taken to a page like the one above. Another set of links. There are options for downloading with Jigdo, downloading with BitTorrent or downloading via HTTP/FTP. Clicking on the “download via HTTP” takes you to yet another page. This time called “Live install images”. You can choose between Bittorrent or http and you can choose 64 bit or 32 bit. Finally you get to the point where you can download an ISO but there are so many files to choose from. In my opinion the website should be changed to provide a simply download option. Choose your architecture, choose your desktop environment, choose your download method, choose between 32-bit and 64-bit. 4 drop downs and a a download button. That is all that is required. The Debian installer is also a bit overcooked. To be fair Debian isn’t just for the new user and so there are many options as a new user you wouldn’t care about and probably don’t know the correct answer to. After you have installed Debian you will find that it is generally as easy to use as Linux Mint or Ubuntu. The software that comes pre-installed is determined by you at the point of installation so you can have as little or as much as you like. For installing applications there is Synaptic which is a decent if somewhat basic package manager. (Click here for a guide to Synaptic). In my opinion Debian is fine for the Everyday Linux User once you get past the website and the installer. You also get a choice of many different desktop environments at the installation stage. Click here for a list of the best desktop environments and if you don’t know what a desktop environment check out this guide. Ubuntu If you are thinking of trying Linux and you haven’t heard of Ubuntu then the question has to be asked “where have you been?”. Ubuntu is possibly the most well known Linux distribution of them all. 2016 saw the release of the latest LTS release and generally speaking it is the same Ubuntu we have come to love over the years although it isn’t perfect. Installing Ubuntu is very straight forward and the installer has been made even easier for the latest releases. As Linux Mint have chosen not to include the multimedia codecs as part of the default install it has put Ubuntu back on a level playing field. You can install the multimedia codecs as part of the installation within Ubuntu. It is worth noting that you should connect to the internet before the installation as this is no longer provided as an option. Click here for a guide to installing Ubuntu alongside Windows 10. Ubuntu comes with a decent set of applications as standard including the LibreOffice office suite, Rhythmbox audio player, Totem media player and Thunderbird email client. The big let down with Ubuntu is the graphical software manager. It doesn’t include options you would expect to see such as Steam. The Software Centre may have been replaced with something new but for me it isn’t any better. Hardware support is very good. I could connect to the printer, MyCloud device and other devices with the minimum of fuss. From a usability point of view it all depends on how well you get on with Unity. I like the Unity desktop environment and find it very intuitive. The use of keyboard shortcuts is a great time saver and having elements such as audio, video and photos integrated into the dashboard display is brilliant. I would definitely recommend Ubuntu to the Everyday Linux User but with the caveat that you may hit some issues along the way. The community is very good however and you can usually find simple instructions for resolving issues. Click here for a review of Ubuntu 16.04 openSUSE I haven’t reviewed openSUSE since April 2015. The point of this list isn’t to review each operating system but to express how suitable they are for the everyday Linux user. openSUSE is definitely suitable for the average person except that the installer isn’t the easiest that I have ever used. It is possible that it has changed in the past 18 months so I will update the guide if that is the case. There are 2 versions of openSUSE available. Tumbleweed is a rolling release version which means you can install it once and it will continually update so that you always have the latest and best version available. The other version is openSUSE leap which is released in regular cycles. The website for openSUSE now lists 2 download options. You can go for the full whammy of 4.7 gigabytes or you can download a network installer which will let you choose the packages you install as you go along (much like Debian). The main thing I have found about openSUSE over the years is that it is very stable and once you get it set up with the software you need it is a great distribution. There are some things that make it not quite as easy to use as say Linux Mint such as the fact you need to find use 1 click installs to install multimedia codecs and Flash. I definitely need to revisit openSUSE and I intend to do that within the next week or so. I would recommend giving openSUSE a go if you are looking for an alternative to Ubuntu and Linux Mint. Manjaro I can’t give enough praise to the developers of Manjaro. This is an absolutely superby Linux distribution. I am not usually a big fan of the KDE desktop but the Manjaro implementation is brilliant. For those of you unaware, Manjaro is based on Arch Linux which in the past has been for the more experienced and technical computer users. Manjaro has basically made Arch available to the masses. The installer for Manjaro is very straight forward to use. It is every bit as simple as the Linux Mint installer. There is a decent set of software which gets pre-installed with Manjaro including the Cantata audio player, Steam, Kdenlive video editor, LibreOffice office suite, KMail mail client, Digikam photo management and the VLC media player. There are a number of other applications but these are the main highlights. The version of Manjaro I tried included Octopi as the graphical installer and it is perfectly functional for installing applications. If you are brave enough then I definitely recommend this to the Everyday Linux User. The performance is great and you get instant access to the Arch User Repository which means you can download and install a huge array of applications and packages. Click here for a review of Manjaro Fedora Another review I need to work on in the next couple of weeks is for Fedora. The last review was in March of 2015. In Fedora years that is a century. Fedora is very much about the here and now. It is a distribution which isn’t afraid to try new things out and the fact that it uses Wayland by default instead of X shows how far it is willing to go. Wayland is a replacement windowing system for X which has been around since the beginning of time. Fedora is generally very easy to install and the Anaconda installer is every bit as good as the Ubuntu or Mint installers. The vanilla version of Fedora comes with the GNOME desktop and so you can expect a decent set of applications such as the Evolution mail client, LibreOffice office suite, Rhythmbox audio player and Shotwell photo manager. Installing applications is performed via the GNOME Package Installer and it works very well. Fedora is a community distribution so you have to include other repositories in order to install proprietary applications such as Chrome and Steam. It isn’t difficult but worth considering. Performance due to Wayland makes Fedora great but there may be a trade off with stability which is what I found last time I used Fedora. Definitely worth a go as an Everyday Linux User but won’t be everybody’s first port of call. Zorin Zorin has had a makeover for the latest release (version 12). The desktop environment is undoubtedly GNOME but implemented in a slightly different way to other distributions. To be honest Zorin looks better than it has ever done and it feel like a really grown up operating system now rather than a stepping stone for disgruntled Windows users fed up with Windows 8. Installation is a breeze. You do need to use a piece of software called Etcher however to create the USB drive in the first place. The user interface looks crisp and clean. It blends the traditional feel that Linux Mint provides using Cinnamon with the modern interface of the GNOME desktop. You basically therefore get the best of both worlds. There is a plethora of applications installed by default including the Chromium web browser, Geary email client, GNOME photo manager, weather app, maps, GIMP image editor, LibreOffice office suite, Rhythmbox audio player, Totem video player and for those of you who still want Windows programs WINE and PlayOnLinux are both installed. For the Everyday Linux User I rate this as highly as Linux Mint. Give it a go. Click here for a review of Zorin Elementary OS I last looked at Elementary in August 2015. I will be reviewing the latest version shortly. The thing to say about Elementary is that it is pixel perfect. It is definitely a distribution aimed at the Everyday Linux User and everything has been carefully constructed to provide the usability that the average person would require. Elementary is based on Ubuntu so the installer is straight forward. Click here for a guide to dual booting Elementary with Windows. As you can see from the images the menu is very MAC like but you will also appreciate how simple it is to use. There is a docking panel at the bottom with launchers for commonly used applications. There is a basic set of applications which come pre-installed with Elementary although they tend to be lightweight in nature. You can always use the software manager to install new software. Elementary is definitely worth a go especially if you use your computer for basic tasks such as browsing the web, sending emails and looking at photos etc. CentOS I last reviewed CentOS in September 2015 but it is still at version 7 so therefore still relevant. CentOS is a community distribution based on Red Hat Linux. Think of CentOS as being a stable version of Fedora. Where Fedora is everything that is cutting edge, CentOS is everything that is stable. The installation of CentOS is straight forward and achieved using the Anaconda installer. The default desktop is the GNOME. The applications that come with CentOS are the LibreOffice office suite, Evolution mail client, Rhythmbox audio player, Shotwell photo manager and FireFox web browser. There are many other applications but these are the key ones. Installing software is performed using the GNOME package manager and as with Fedora you need to add extra repositories to get to the good stuff. Hardware works perfectly and I was able to connect to the WD MyCloud storage and print using the Epson WF2630 printer. If you want a stable Linux distribution and an alternative to a Ubuntu based distribution then CentOS is 100% worth a try. Arch Linux Finally there is Arch. This isn’t a distribution for the Everyday Linux User. If you want to get your hands dirty and learn for yourself how things work and how to get the most out of your operating system then be prepared to install Arch, read manuals and probably be slightly frustrated at times. Arch Linux is by all accounts a very good distribution. A large number of people will testify to this fact. it isn’t for me. It is not aimed at me and it is not aimed at the Everyday Linux User. If you want to try Arch as an Everyday Linux User give Manjaro a try. Summary It is worth noting that the 2 distributions that fell out of the top 10 in 2016 were Android x86 and Mageia. Oddly enough Mageia is probably better than it has ever been yet now it has fallen down the list a little bit to number 12. Android x86 is a hobby project. I suspect people have given it a go but it isn’t something that works overly well on a desktop or laptop computer. You definitely need a touch screen. Thankyou for reading and bookmark the site because the next few weeks will be loaded with distribution reviews.
Wisdom Of The Crowds? Online Effort Seeks To Raise Funds For Greece Enlarge this image toggle caption Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Updated at 12:14 p.m. ET Only 1,599,888,909 euros to go. A crowd-funding effort to raise the 1.6 billion euros (about $1.8 billion) Greece needs to make a loan payment to the International Monetary Fund has so far raised 111,091 euros ($124,569) from 7,275 donors. The organizer of the effort on IndieGogo says the European Union's 503 million people need to chip in just over 3 euros each ($3.37). "That's about the same as half a pint in London. Or everyone in the EU just having a Feta and Olive salad for lunch," the organizer writes. "So come on, order a Feta and Olive salad, maybe wash it down with an Ouzo or glass of Assyrtiko greek wine and let's sort this s --- - out." Here's more: "Pledge €3 and get a postcard sent from Greece of Alex Tsipras, the Greek Prime Minister. We'll get them made and posted in Greece and give a boost to some local printers and post offices. "Pledge €6 and get a greek Feta and Olive salad "Pledge €10 and get a small bottle of Ouzo sent to you "Pledge €25 and get a bottle of Greek wine" The effort also offers a Greek food basket for 160 euros (about $180), a Greek holiday for two for 5,000 euros (about $5,616) and "gratitude from citizens of Europe and particularly from the Greek people" for 1 million euros ($1.12 million). The effort's organizer is Thom Feeney, 29, who works in a shoe shop in London. He insists the effort isn't a joke. He says: "I can understand why people might take it as a joke, but Crowdfunding can really help because it's just a case of getting on and doing it. I was fed up of the Greek crisis going round in circles, while politicians are dithering, this is affecting real people. While all the posturing is going on, then it's easy for the politicians to forget that. I just thought, sod it, I'll have a crack." Those donating money have seven days to make the goal. If they don't, they get a refund. Feeney says he believes Europeans are generous enough to save Greece: "Europeans are pretty generous on the whole, maybe Ms [German Chancellor Angela Merkel] and Mr [British Prime Minister David] Cameron are the exception. There are 500 million people in the EU and actually, it wouldn't cost each person much to just sort it out ourselves. I'm confident the people of Europe will get this campaign and some time soon we'll all be raising a glass of Ouzo and having a bloody great big celebration." Feeney tells NPR's Jackie Northam that he woke up today to "1,200 emails and 30 friend requests from Greek women. "And this day's gone even crazier from there." Of course, the 1.6 billion euros Greece must repay the IMF by 5 p.m. ET today is just a tiny fraction of what the country owes. The Council on Foreign Relations estimates that Greece owes the IMF, one of its many creditors, $26 billion. And this Wall Street Journal interactive explains what Greece owes its creditors and when. Greece faces a possible exit from the eurozone, the bloc of countries that use the euro, if it defaults on its loan to the IMF.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2016 — Election 2016 is not just a choice between the Republican and Democratic nominees. It is also a critical inflection point compelling, as few U.S. elections have, a decision between freedom and slavery. Election 2016 is really a choice between domestic peace and civil war. Standing on the brink of America’s second Civil War Slavery is an abomination. It converts humans into property and forces them into captivity, robbing them of their sovereignty and dignity. Slavery is an ancient institution. Hebrew slaves built Egyptian temples; African slaves harvested New World tobacco and sugar. Ottoman Sultans enslaved European boys to serve in their army and their court. Slavery is ubiquitous. Globally, 30 million people are “property.” Africans and Asians labor as agricultural slaves. Chinese peasants are smuggled into the West as indentured laborers. Yazidi girls in Iraq and Syria are sold and raped by ISIS fighters. Human traffickers trade in the flesh of children worldwide. But morality evolves. Ragusa—now the city of Dubrovnik, Croatia—was the first republic to prohibit slavery on this date in 1416. Mauritania was the last, in 2007. Today, slavery is, like piracy, genocide, and terrorism, universally outlawed. Freedom is the antithesis of slavery. Freedom is the absence of force. It gives one choice: One’s body, mind, time, and toil are one’s own. Absolute slavery and total freedom exist only in theory. All governments use force to promote various ends. The Cato Human Freedom Index rates 190-plus nations on relative freedoms of speech, religion, assembly, travel, economic opportunity, and safety. Finland and North Korea are the most and least free nations on the index. Between these extremes, most of the world’s people enjoy some autonomy, even if they are constrained by states or other agents. Yet freedom is dynamic; whatever freedom people possesses can be given away gradually or stolen in an instant. As President Ronald Reagan admonished, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction … It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for [our children] to do the same.” History bears him out. Despite the preachers of non-violent resistance, only force and the threat of force ever made and kept anyone free. Western Europe was liberated from Nazi Germany and Kuwait from Iraq by violence. Israel, South Korea, and Taiwan are free because their citizens and allies kill and die to resist enslavement. Freedom can be destroyed from within. In the last hundred years, 150 million people of the wrong ethnicity, religion, class, or ideology were enslaved and snuffed by Nazi, Soviet, and Maoist dictatorships. They were butchered on killing fields, in gulags, and in death camps. Only the ghosts of murdered Armenians, Jews, Soviets, Chinese, Cambodians, Bosnians, Rwandans, Sudanese, and Middle Eastern Christians remain, mute witnesses to slaughter. Those who do not defend their fragile freedom from foreign conquerors or domestic tyrants forfeit it and become slaves—or worse. To prove this proposition, contrast Croatia—the modern nation that incorporates the first republic to outlaw slavery—with the U.S., for two centuries the world’s beacon of freedom. Croatians were vassals for 1,000 years under Hungarian, Venetian, Ottoman, French, Austrian, and Italian rule. No sooner did they regain independence during World War II than Marshal Tito imported communism from the Soviet Union to imprison them within Serb-dominated Yugoslavia. Despite Tito’s guarantee of free healthcare, education, and employment, Yugoslav medical care was poor, education was propaganda, and the command economy yielded poverty. The Communist Party barred non-members from professions and schools while obliterating freedoms of speech, assembly, and worship. Continue reading →
Campbell Soup CEO Denise Morrison’s bet on healthy foods is continuing to drag down the soup maker. On Friday, the Big Food maker posted disappointing fiscal second-quarter quarterly sales, as results were again hurt by the company’s Campbell Fresh division. Sales for that business tumbled 8% to $260 million due to lower sales of carrots, Bolthouse Farms refrigerated beverages, and Garden Fresh Gourmet. Campbell Soup had previously warned that the business was facing challenges but had hoped sales for the current fiscal year would return to growth. Morrison said Campbell now expects sales for the fresher foods unit will decline for the year. “Let’s be real, I’m not satisfied with our overall sales performance in the quarter,” Morrison told analysts during a conference call. “Our performance over the last year in fresh has been disappointing.” Total sales slipped 1% to $2.17 billion, worse than Wall Street’s projection of $2.22 billion. Wall Street investors sent shares about 6% lower on Friday. Campbell’s Fresh division was built by Morrison as a way to compete in the consumer-driven trend to eat more healthier and fresh foods. Morrison claims that 80% of consumers say they are trying to eat healthier, so she and others believe it is important to get more products on the perimeter of the grocery store where fresher foods are stocked. Campbell and many other Big Food makers traditionally have stocked foods in the center of the store, where the company’s soups, Goldfish and Prego brands are found. The company bulked up on fresh foods via acquisitions, including the company’s $1.55 billion takeover for healthy juice maker Bolthouse Farms in 2012 and the $231 million deal for Garden Fresh Gourmet in 2015. The soup maker bought those brands to boost sales, but both are posting sales declines. Bolthouse Farms has been stung by some capacity constraints. Garden Fresh Gourmet, meanwhile, was a Midwestern brand and Campbell had acquired it with the hope it could expand the brand nationally. But Morrison explained that Campbell didn’t differentiate recipes to meet the taste profiles that consumers wanted in other regions of the country. As a result, Garden Fresh failed to be an attractive brand to those newer customers. She promised that new recipes and new packaging for the Garden Fresh brand would be better received. The problems Campbell has reported with some of the newer brands it has acquired points to the challenges that Big Food manufacturers face when they acquire smaller, fast-growing startup brands with the hope that a big boost in distribution and marketing can result in stellar growth. It isn’t always that simple: Sometimes there are issues with the packaging, the recipes, or even issues with management and culture when Big Food tries to incorporate a startup founder and their team into the fold. Campbell is trying to address this by reshuffling the management team of Campbell Fresh to be a mix of legacy Bolthouse Farms employees and some in-house talent from Campbell. The division is now being led by Campbell insider Ed Carolan, who took the helm last year. Campbell’s carrot business has also been problematic. There were quality issues last year and more recently, Campbell’s carrot harvesting in California has been hurt by poor weather conditions in California. “Fresh food is more perishable and therefore more fragile,” Morrison said. “There is no roof over the carrot fields. The business has been much more volatile than expected.” She added that more work needed to be done to correct how Campbell sources carrots. Despite all the woes, Morrison told investors Campbell would remain committed to the category and also future potential acquisitions within that space.
The toughest person on skates for the Anaheim Ducks home opener was a 17-year-old girl named Katie Hawley. Hawley, battling cancer for the third time since her first diagnosis at just 9 years old, skated out on the Honda Center ice arm-in-arm with Corey Perry and her favorite player, Rickard Rakell. She was named the "21st Duck" and received a loud ovation from the opening night crowd. Hawley has had over a dozen surgeries, 30 radiation treatments, two dozen rounds of chemo and 40 blood transfusions. It was the third diagnosis that really had Hawley down. "When I got it the third time, I told my parents I was done. I didn't want to fight anymore," she said, in an earlier video interview before finding out she would be honored at the Ducks opener. But she found her inspiration in other kids that were in similar situations. And that's when she got a special video message from Rakell. Later, the Ducks forward visited her at The Jesse Reese Foundation, where she volunteers. Hawley was invited to Tuesday's practice and skated around with Rakell and some other players. On Thursday night, she was escorted to center ice to join the rest of the team for a truly special moment to begin the new season.
Tinder, the free mobile dating app, has made millions of hook-ups--now it’s out to make millions of dollars. Sean Rad, Tinder’s CEO and cofounder, announced during the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Philadelphia, that the two-year-old company (which currently has no revenue model) will launch a premium service in early November that will offer paying users more match-making powers. Rad wouldn’t give me specifics but hinted that one of the new features will focus on travel and could help Tinder move into markets beyond dating. Currently location based, Tinder lets you swipe though an endless stream of photos of people looking to meet up -- but only the city you’re currently in. The new premium service will likely let users break away from location limits and expand their Tinder reach. “We are adding features users have been begging us for,” said Rad. “They will offer so much value we think users are willing to pay for them." Rad says there will be no changes to the current, free Tinder app. Tinder has been growing like crazy. Rad won’t comment on user numbers but did say that people now swipe through 1.2 billion Tinder profiles a day -- that’s billion with a "B." He also says that each day Tinder makes more than 15 million matches. By moving to a free-ium model, Rad is attempting to maintain Tinder's growth, keep current users happy and start making money from all those swipes. "We had to get our product and growth right first,” says Rad. "Revenue has always been on the road map.” It's definitely been on Barry Diller's map. The billionaire founder of IAC owns a controlling stake in Tinder. This June Greg Blatt, the head of IAC's Match division predicted Tinder could earn $75 million in 2015. Rad's new premium features are likely the first in a series of monetization moves to help Tinder get to that number.
While cancer patients have traditionally been advised to reduce their physical activity during treatment; recent research shows that exercise can slow down cancer. How this works is not fully understood. But we all know that exercise improves physical fitness and boosts immunity. Studies have also led to the conclusion that physical activity helps in recovery from cancer. So, if you or a loved one has been diagnosed with cancer, don’t slow down. Talk to your doctor or healthcare provider. Ask for advice about exercising during and after treatment. In this discussion, we look at types of exercise and possible ways how exercise can slow down cancer. Exercise Reduces Mortality Rate of Cancer Survivors A 2013 research study involving mice, found that mice that exercised on a treadmill for one hour daily for five days a week over a period of 32 weeks had a significantly lower risk of liver cancer compared to their sedentary counterparts. Another study indicates that shedding a mere 5 percent of body weight increases survival rate of breast cancer patients by 20 percent. And yet another study at Yale University, involving 5000 people with breast cancer; found that three hours of brisk walking per week reduced mortality rate by 46 percent. Many other studies have come up with similar findings. And yet, even without these cancer-focused studies, it is well known that regular physical exercise helps keep the body healthy. It sharpens the mind, reduces stress, and helps you sleep better. How Does Exercise Improve Health? Health benefits of exercise are not limited to certain conditions. When cancer patients and cancer survivors exercise regularly, they set themselves up for the following health benefits: Reduction of stress, anxiety and risk of depression Prevention of constipation Higher energy levels Reduced fatigue Improved heart health Better blood circulation Lower risk of blood clots Improves flow of lymph fluids which strengthens the immune system Better quality and quantity of sleep Increases production of endorphins; feel-good hormones associated with fighting disease Improved appetite Stronger, healthier bones Healthy weight management Improved balance and posture Reduced dependence on others Better self-esteem and self-worth Increased musculoskeletal strength Better quality of life Reduced nausea How to Exercise During and After Treatment Physical exercise helps during and after cancer treatment. Some therapists advise patients to start exercising as soon as possible following cancer diagnosis and commencement of treatment. Your ability and intensity depends on whether or not you were physically active prior to the diagnosis. If you have been exercising hard, you may need to slow down a bit. Those who begin exercising during or following treatment, need to start with gentle exercises and to build up the intensity and duration of exercise as your body adjusts. As you commence exercise to help in your recuperation, it helps to consult your doctor and a physical therapist for any suggestions and guidance. This is even more important for elderly persons and those suffering, or with a risk of suffering from conditions such as heart disease, osteoporosis and arthritis. Fight cancer with this ingredient. How Much Exercise Should You Do? The idea of exercising is to keep your body fit. To achieve this, you need to indulge in regular physical activity. More than 20 studies have found that the risk of cancer recurrence is lower for survivors who maintain a physically active lifestyle. These studies have been carried out on people with different cancers, including ovarian, prostate, breast and colorectal. The American Cancer Society says that cancer survivors benefit more by doing the following: Exercising regularly Exercising for 2 ½ hours or more per week Continues with, or settles back to normal daily activities as soon as possible following cancer diagnosis Adopts challenging strength training as part of the exercise program for two days or more per week Types of Exercise to Slow Down Cancer There are many types of exercise to choose from including the following: Riding a bicycle Walking Scrubbing your bathroom Cleaning your car Jumping rope Dancing Stationary bike riding Climbing stairs Mowing your lawn Wearing a pedometer helps you track your physical activity level so that you can steadily increase it How to Exercise to Aid Recovery from Cancer Here’s how you can maintain a regular exercise routine: Decide what exercises you will be doing Draw up a routine Exercise regularly Exercise outdoors when possible so you enjoy the fresh air Include resting intervals in your exercise routine Drink 8 glasses of water or more per day Choose exercises that you enjoy doing Have fun exercising Set goals – short-term and long-term Vary your exercise types Keep track of your exercises using a pedometer or a chart Ask your doctor for pain control medications when necessary Reward yourself when you reach exercise targets Ask for help when you need it Enlist your friends in your exercises Avoid Exercise In case of the following: Anemia Anemia Low white blood cell count If you have mineral (electrolyte) imbalance especially due to vomiting and diarrhea If you have pain, nausea or vomiting Avoid water exercises in case you have an inserted feeding tube or catheter Avoid exposure to the sun, of skin undergoing radiation Avoid extreme exercises during treatment and immediately after treatment Consult your doctor in case of injury, sudden weight gain, swelling, bleeding, shortness of breath after minimal exercise or similar Nutrition to Help In Recovery from Cancer Besides physical activity, many studies have found that cancer survivors, like those recovering from other ailments, can benefit from healthy nutrition. Healthy nutrition for cancer survivors should include assorted vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grain. Here I answer some questions about breast cancer In case you are overweight or obese, reducing intake of carbohydrate food and drinks will help you shed some weight. Research indicates that being obese or overweight increases the risk of getting some cancers. It also increases the risk of cancer recurrence. For those who are underweight following treatment of cancers of the lungs, digestive tract or other abdominal cancers, nutrition can be used to regain healthy body weight.
Yeah, what I meant is I don't think they should go with say an episode X, continuing the main saga if Rey is not a Skywalker or Ben dies and not redeemed. It should end with IX in that scenario. Now if Rey is a Skywalker and they have a creative way and good story to continue, then by all means continue with 10 an onwards. If no more Skywalkers I would be in favor of a new Trilogy telling the story of the Old Republic. That would be very interesting to me. But for time being a have found myself more excited and looking forward to more the stand alone stories than ep 8 & 9. I wasn't crazy about TFA. I thought it was decent, but the more I think about it, the more disappointment I see and this missed opportunities. I don't like the way a lot of characters were handled etc. I did enjoy Rogue more. Click to expand...
Recently Acid celebrated it’s 3rd birthday and the official opening of the new workshop/skate ramp with a party and a lot of skating. Unfortunately I caught the plague and spent most of the party trying not to die so I didn’t get to do a lot of skating myself, but I catch some of the action. Things get triply in the Acid shed. Pre-Party Divi runs. The Acid workshop is a short drive from The Divi, one of the Waikato’s premium downhill tuns. So of course everyone had to get some runs in before the party started. Looking Through The Trees Acid riders Crunchie and Troy rounding the last corners with Devon and Ryan and some onlookers. Gloomy Raglan Surf Some pretty good surf spots not too far away either. Fresh Acid A rack full of freshly finished Acid boards greets you as you enter the shed. Wall Hangers Ant’s collection of boards with rad shapes and dope graphics on the wall beside the ramp. A Light in The Dark It’s dark and the party has started. Ryan plays in the ramp while Danny and Clive exchange lies. The Acid press has transformed into the Acid bar. Tombstone Rock Sometime in the night the menacing tombstone extension was brought out. Guided Tour The day after the party had I recovered a bit and Ant took me on a tour of the workshop. In need of a Sweep Ant sorts through the templates in the cutting bay while a Fallout awaits it’s final touches. The Boss-Man Himself Lethered Up And Doing Runs It was a great weekend and I had a good time despite illness. Big thanks to Antony Leggett for your wonderful hospitality and all of the work you do for the skateboarding community. I hope to be back soon.
TREASURER Curtis Pitt has flown to Townsville today to announce the State Government’s new stadium comittment of an additional $40 million. Flanked by local MPs Scott Stewart, Coralee O’Rourke and Aaron Harper, Mr Pitt was also joined by Mayor Jenny Hill, Cowboys CEO Greg Tonner and Cowboys co-captain Johnathan Thurston. Mr Pitt said Townsville’s economy had been struggling with the resources downturn, with the collapse of Queensland Nickel providing extra incentive to see the project underway. “We think (for Townsville) this is the most important thing we can do as a government right now and that’s why we’ve allocated this additional funding.” PREVIOUSLY TOWNSVILLE’s marathon quest for a CBD football stadium will today take a massive step forward with the State Government, the Cowboys and the NRL pledging a further $50 million towards the city-defining project. Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt will join Cowboys co-captain Johnathan Thurston and local state ALP MPs in Townsville to announce the crucial breakthrough. Under the new funding plan, the State Government will increase its contribution to $140 million. The Cowboys will contribute $10 million by taking out a loan and paying upfront 10 years rent for their use of the arena. The NRL will help underwrite the commitment by agreeing to fund interest payments on the loan. Read the full text of this story in today’s Townsville Bulletin or in our digital print edition: http://bit.ly/1SaG1Gq
FEBRUARY 26--The Internal Revenue Service has hit Robert De Niro with a $6.4 million tax lien, according to records filed this month. In a notice sent to New York City’s Department of Finance, the IRS reports that the 71-year-old De Niro owes the whopping bill in connection with his personal 1040 filing for 2013. The federal tax lien reports that the two-time Academy Award winner owes the IRS $6,410,449.20, and that the hefty assessment was lodged against De Niro three months ago. The February 3 lien lists De Niro’s residence as a Tribeca condominium that was developed by the actor and his real estate partners. According to the IRS, the agency will file a lien against a taxpayer’s property when “you neglect or fail to pay a tax debt. The lien protects the government’s interest in all your property, including real estate, personal property and financial assets.” An IRS lien also serves as a warning to other creditors that Uncle Sam has a legal right to your property. The dunning of De Niro was discovered by some intrepid researchers whose business involves the review of mountains of federal tax liens (and who plan on posting the notable ones at FamousTaxLiens.com). (2 pages) 2/26 UPDATE: In a statement this afternoon, De Niro spokesperson Stan Rosenfeld said that IRS delinquency notices had been “sent to an old address,” and that once the actor learned of the seven-figure tax lien, “he had a check for the full amount hand delivered to the IRS this morning.”
I apologize for not having this up yesterday. I have mid-terms this week and for those of you who went to college or university, you know how painful those are. As compensation I’ll be giving you guys 2 posts today so make sure you come back. Now onto the game. I know I’ve been giving the Hawks a lot of crap lately but quite frankly, they deserved it. And I’m a guy that’s pretty blunt about saying what needs to be said. At the same time, I’ll give credit where credit is due and the Hawks played a really solid game against the Blues on Saturday night. It was a complete road effort that once again showed what the Hawks can do when their willing to outwork their opposition. What was really good about this game is how the Hawks got progressively better as the game unfolded. They were okay in the first, better in the second and great in the third. Moreover the Hawks responded to the Blues in a positive way opposed to falling into their trap and getting lured away from their gameplan. Instead they matched the Blues intensity and physicality and used their superior talent to eventually win the game. I’m going to keep this post brief so I can get to work on the afternoon post. Some quick points: – The win in St. Louis means the Hawks are 5-1-1 in the second of back to back games this year. – Marian Hossa possesses that rare and unique ability to take a game over. Very few players in the league can dominate at both ends of the ice like he can and while we’ve seen very little of it since he came to Chicago, we’re seeing it in full force now. We’re witnessing the best hockey Hossa’s played since he’s been a Hawk and its very, very fun to watch. – In my last post I called for Niklas Hjalmarsson to be traded. And while I stick by this assessment, he needs more games like this to repair what is a bad reputation with this fanbase. He was solid on Saturday. – Ray Emery needs to get more starts. He was really sharp tonight and considering how less-than-stellar Corey Crawford has been, it might not be a bad idea to go to the backup for a couple games and give Crawford a break to sort out whatever problems he’s having. A lot of teams have done that this season. – I’m not one to ever complain about officiating, but those refs sucked. – The Hawks’ powerplay has jumped from 30th all the way to 11th. The way they’ve been trending with the man-advantage, they should end up with a top five powerplay by seasons end. – The penalty kill looked a lot better. The Hawks did a good job of not allowing easy entry into the zone, pressuring the puck carrier and getting in shooting lanes. They need to do more of this. They’ve been averaging almost a powerplay goal against per game over the last few weeks. Very difficult to win like that. This game was a huge improvement over some of the lackadaisical efforts the Hawks have given the last few weeks. Jesse Rogers made an interesting point over at ESPN Chicago that the pattern emerging with the Hawks is that they’re getting up to play tougher conference opponents, but throwing away points against lesser opponents with poor efforts. That was one of their problems last year and it needs to be addressed. The Hawks will try to get some payback against the Coyotes at 7pm CT tonight. I’ll be back later this afternoon with a “Hawk Thought” and tomorrow with some post-game comments. Please join us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter @Blackhawk_Up
The Hall of Fame has generated a perfunctory, and expected, explanation for the decision to not give Ken Stabler’s family a gold jacket and a ring. To get the jacket and the ring, the enshrinee must be still alive. “[E]very living Hall of Fame member receives a Hall of Fame Gold Jacket and a Hall of Fame Ring of Excellence to wear as symbols of his personal Hall of Fame achievement,” the Hall of Fame said in a statement provided to Deadspin. “The Hall of Fame has never presented either of these two personal items posthumously. The Hall of Fame does present to the family of a posthumously elected Hall of Famer, the Gold Hall of Fame Crest that is featured on the Hall of Fame Gold Jacket. This is done during Enshrinement Week at the Hall of Fame Gold Jacket Dinner when the other Class members are presented their Gold Jackets.” While the statement explains why Stabler’s family didn’t get a jacket and a ring, it’s not an acceptable explanation. All members should get a gold jacket and a ring. And please don’t give me the “we don’t want family members to fight over the items” excuse. The estate laws resolve those issues, and those same estate laws will apply to the gold jacket and ring actually issued to a living Hall of Famer and not repossessed when he passes. It’s surprising the policy previously hasn’t come under scrutiny, and Stabler’s family deserves credit for shining a light on the ill-advised loophole. If “Football is Family” is anything other than an overpriced marketing slogan (oh wait, it is), the family of every member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame should be able to treat the gold jacket and ring as football family heirlooms. So make it happen, Roger Goodell; you’re on the Hall of Fame’s Board of Trustees. So are Browns owner Jimmy Haslam, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, Bears owner George McCaskey, Steelers owner Dan Rooney, Washington owner Daniel Snyder, and 49ers owner Denise DeBartolo York. Maybe each of them should be asked the simple and direct question of why they don’t insist that all member of the Hall of Fame receive the jacket and ring, regardless of whether they are alive when inducted. With Stabler’s Raiders playing in prime time on Sunday night, here’s hoping this issue quickly builds steam until the policy is permanently changed.
According to multiple major league sources, the Boston Red Sox are prepared to make a move to trade for Washington Nationals right-hander Jordan Zimmermann. The Nationals have been talking to many teams for weeks about a possible trade for the 28-year-old impending free agent. Zimmermann is considered as one of the best right-handed starters in all of baseball. Arguably the best right-handed starter, is now his new teammate in the Nation’s Capital, at least for now. The Nats recently made the move to sign Max Scherzer to a lucrative 7-year, $210 million deal. While this may signal they are in a win-now approach, they have six great starting pitching options and one is likely to be dealt. Jordan Zimmermann is the most likely candidate as he will command a contract very similar to that of Scherzer, and it is unlikely that Washington can afford to pay both Scherzer with Zimmermann, not to mention young starter Stephen Strasburg as well as the rest of their team. Zimmermann, even for one-year, would bring a very strong return. That’s where the Red Sox come in. They re-stacked their lineup and as it is currently constructed, they are amongst the top in baseball. They have been “in” on many front-end rotation options, but haven’t been able to land one after losing Jon Lester to the Windy City. From what I have heard, Red Sox execs really like Jordan Zimmermann and have been waiting all off-season for the chance to land him as their new Ace. Boston has prepared a strong trade proposal for the Nationals that they feel would be worthy of Zimmermann. He ended his 2014 campaign with a no-hitter in the regular season and 8 2/3 shutout postseason innings before being pulled. Zimmermann finished with a 14-5 record with a staggering 2.66 ERA and 182 punch outs. Zimmermann has a career 57-40 record with a 3.24 ERA and 739 K’s. Some of the players mentioned have been: 1B/OF Allen Craig, SP Joe Kelly, 3B prospect Garin Cecchini, SP Matt Barnes, OF Jackie Bradley Jr. and several others. Craig is coming off a disappointing ’14, but has shown in the past the ability to drive in runs and hit, not to mention he is in team control through 2018. Joe Kelly has shown great potential and is a major-league ready starter. Garin Cecchini and Matt Barnes are two of the top Red Sox prospects who have had limited major league experience, but their potential is limitless. As for Jackie Bradley Jr., he struggled from the plate, but patrols center field unlike anyone else. The Nationals have come out and said they are not looking to move Zimmermann, but they are still discussing trade possibilities with several teams, the leader of the pack being Boston. The Red Sox would also like to hammer out an extension, but it’s unclear whether the Nats would grant them a negotiation period prior to the trade being finalized if a deal can be agreed upon. For now, we wait and see how everything unfolds, but the Red Sox are prepared to make a strong push for Jordan Zimmermann and that process is already underway.
AngularJS provides a great way to make single page applications. When creating single page applications, routing will be very important. We want our navigation to feel like a normal site and still not have our site refresh. We've already gone through Angular routing using the normal ngRoute method. Today we'll be looking at routing using UI-Router. Overview What is AngularUI Router? The UI-Router is a routing framework for AngularJS built by the AngularUI team. It provides a different approach than ngRoute in that it changes your application views based on state of the application and not just the route URL. States vs URL Route With this approach, your views and routes aren't tied down to the site URL. This way, you can change the parts of your site using your routing even if the URL does not change. When using ngRoute, you'd have to use ngInclude or other methods and this could get confusing. Now that all of your states, routing, and views are handled in your one .config() , this would help when using a top-down view of your application. Sample Application Let's do something similar to the other routing tutorial we made. Let's create a Home and About page. Setup Let's get our application started. We will need a few files: - index.html // will hold the main template for our app - app.js // our angular code - partial-about.html // about page code - partial-home.html // home page code - partial-home-list.html // injected into the home page - table-data.html // re-usable table that we can place anywhere With our application structure figured out, let's fill out some files. <!-- index.html --> <!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <!-- CSS (load bootstrap) --> <link rel="stylesheet" href="//netdna.bootstrapcdn.com/bootstrap/3.1.1/css/bootstrap.min.css"> <style> .navbar { border-radius:0; } </style> <!-- JS (load angular, ui-router, and our custom js file) --> <script src="http://code.angularjs.org/1.2.13/angular.js"></script> <script src="//cdnjs.cloudflare.com/ajax/libs/angular-ui-router/0.2.8/angular-ui-router.min.js"></script> <script src="app.js"></script> </head> <!-- apply our angular app to our site --> <body ng-app="routerApp"> <!-- NAVIGATION --> <nav class="navbar navbar-inverse" role="navigation"> <div class="navbar-header"> <a class="navbar-brand" ui-sref="#">AngularUI Router</a> </div> <ul class="nav navbar-nav"> <li><a ui-sref="home">Home</a></li> <li><a ui-sref="about">About</a></li> </ul> </nav> <!-- MAIN CONTENT --> <div class="container"> <!-- THIS IS WHERE WE WILL INJECT OUR CONTENT ============================== --> <div ui-view></div> </div> </body> </html> There's our HTML file. We will use Bootstrap to help with our styling. Notice that we also load up ui-router in addition to loading Angular. UI Router is separate from the Angular core, just like ngRoute is separate. When creating a link with UI-Router, you will use ui-sref . The href will be generated from this and you want this to point to a certain state of your application. These are created in your app.js . We also use <div ui-view></div> instead of ngRoute's <div ng-view></div> . Let's start up our Angular application now in app.js . // app.js var routerApp = angular.module('routerApp', ['ui.router']); routerApp.config(function($stateProvider, $urlRouterProvider) { $urlRouterProvider.otherwise('/home'); $stateProvider // HOME STATES AND NESTED VIEWS ======================================== .state('home', { url: '/home', templateUrl: 'partial-home.html' }) // ABOUT PAGE AND MULTIPLE NAMED VIEWS ================================= .state('about', { // we'll get to this in a bit }); }); Now we have created the routerApp that we already applied to our body in the index.html file. Here we have a .state() for home and for about. In home, we are using the template file partial-home.html . Let's fill out our partial-home.html page so we can actually see information. <!-- partial-home.html --> <div class="jumbotron text-center"> <h1>The Homey Page</h1> <p>This page demonstrates <span class="text-danger">nested</span> views.</p> </div> Now we have our site! It doesn't do much, but we have it. With the boring normal stuff out of the way, let's get to see why UI-Router has some pretty cool features. Nested Views Home Page Let's look at how we can nest views. We'll add two buttons to our home page and from there, we will want to show off different information based on what is clicked. We're going to add our buttons to partial-home.html and then go into our Angular file and see how we can change it to add nested views. <!-- partial-home.html --> <div class="jumbotron text-center"> <h1>The Homey Page</h1> <p>This page demonstrates <span class="text-danger">nested</span> views.</p> <a ui-sref=".list" class="btn btn-primary">List</a> <a ui-sref=".paragraph" class="btn btn-danger">Paragraph</a> </div> <div ui-view></div> When linking to a nested view, we are going to use dot denotation: ui-sref=".list" and ui-sref=".paragraph" . These will be defined in our Angular file and once we set it up there, we will inject into our new <div ui-view></div> . In our app.js file, let's create those nested states. // app.js ... $stateProvider // HOME STATES AND NESTED VIEWS ======================================== .state('home', { url: '/home', templateUrl: 'partial-home.html' }) // nested list with custom controller .state('home.list', { url: '/list', templateUrl: 'partial-home-list.html', controller: function($scope) { $scope.dogs = ['Bernese', 'Husky', 'Goldendoodle']; } }) // nested list with just some random string data .state('home.paragraph', { url: '/paragraph', template: 'I could sure use a drink right now.' }) ... Now the ui-sref we defined in home.html are linked to an actual state. With home.list and home.paragraph created, those links will now take the template provided and inject it into ui-view . Last thing we need to do for the home page is define the partial-home-list.html file. We have also passed in a controller with a list of dogs that we will use in the template file. <!-- partial-home-list.html --> <ul> <li ng-repeat="dog in dogs">{{ dog }}</li> </ul> Now when we click List, it will inject our list of dogs into the template. Or if we click Paragraph, it will inject the string we gave. You can see how easy it is to change different parts of our application based on the state. We didn't have to do any sort of work with ngInclude, ngShow, ngHide, or ngIf. This keeps our view files cleaner since all the work is in our app.js . Let's move on and see how we can have multiple views at once. Multiple Views About Page Having multiple views in your application can be very powerful. Maybe you have a sidebar on your site that has things like Popular Posts, Recent Posts, Users, or whatever. These can all be separated out and injected into our template. Each will have its own controller and template file so our app stays clean. Having our application modular like this also lets us reuse data in different templates. For our About page, let's make two columns and have each have its own data. We will handle the view first and then look at how we can do this using UI-Router. <!-- partial-about.html --> <div class="jumbotron text-center"> <h1>The About Page</h1> <p>This page demonstrates <span class="text-danger">multiple</span> and <span class="text-danger">named</span> views.</p> </div> <div class="row"> <!-- COLUMN ONE NAMED VIEW --> <div class="col-sm-6"> <div ui-view="columnOne"></div> </div> <!-- COLUMN TWO NAMED VIEW --> <div class="col-sm-6"> <div ui-view="columnTwo"></div> </div> </div> There we have multiple views. One is named columnOne and the other is columnTwo . Why would somebody use this approach? That's a good question. Are we creating an application that is too modularized and that could get confusing? Taken from the official UI-Router docs, here is a solid example of why you would have multiple named views. In their example, they show off different parts of an application. Each part has its own data, so having each with its own controllers and template files makes building something like this easy. Now that our view is all created, let's look at how we can apply template files and controllers to each view. We'll go back to our app.js . // app.js ... .state('about', { url: '/about', views: { // the main template will be placed here (relatively named) '': { templateUrl: 'partial-about.html' }, // the child views will be defined here (absolutely named) 'columnOne@about': { template: 'Look I am a column!' }, // for column two, we'll define a separate controller 'columnTwo@about': { templateUrl: 'table-data.html', controller: 'scotchController' } } }); }); // closes $routerApp.config() // let's define the scotch controller that we call up in the about state routerApp.controller('scotchController', function($scope) { $scope.message = 'test'; $scope.scotches = [ { name: 'Macallan 12', price: 50 }, { name: 'Chivas Regal Royal Salute', price: 10000 }, { name: 'Glenfiddich 1937', price: 20000 } ]; }); ... Just like that, our About page is ready to go. Now it may be confusing how we nested everything in the views for the about state. Why not define a templateUrl for the main page and then define the columns in a nested view object? The reason for this gives us a really great tool. Relative vs Absolute Naming UI-Router assigns every view to an absolute name. The structure for this is viewName@stateName . Since our main ui-view inside our about state, we gave it a blank name. The other two views because columnOne@about and columnTwo@about . Having the naming scheme this way let's us define multiple views inside a single state. The docs explain this concept very well and I'd encourage taking a look at their examples. Extremely powerful tools there. Conclusion This is an overview of the great tool that is UI-Router. The things you can do with it are incredible and when you look at your application as states instead of going the ngRoute option, Angular applications can easily be created to be modular and extensible.
WASHINGTON, D.C. \| Mary Lou Dickerson had seen enough. After wrenching cuts to Washington’s state drug and alcohol treatment programs, Dickerson, a Democratic representative, introduced a bill this year to sell marijuana in state liquor stores — and tax it. Dickerson is an unlikely crusader for marijuana legalization. A 63-year-old grandmother who doesn’t use it, she says money was the only reason for proposing her controversial bill. “According to the state’s own estimates, it would bring in an additional $300 million per biennium,” she says. “I dedicated (in the bill) a great deal of the proceeds from the tax on marijuana to treatment.” The proposal died in committee, but Dickerson, who chairs the House Human Services Committee, expects to reintroduce it. Other advocates in almost two dozen states have been making similar efforts to loosen marijuana laws. This has been a bumper year for marijuana legislation, according to state policy observers. Crushing state budget deficits gave advocates in California, Washington, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New York and elsewhere an opening to pitch marijuana as a new source of tax revenue. At the same time, the Obama administration gave users and distributors some breathing room by signaling in October that it would scale back on prosecuting them as long as they comply with state law. Eighteen states discussed medical marijuana through legislation or citizen initiatives this year. Most visibly, California election officials announced on March 24 that this year’s ballot would include a question to allow local governments to legalize and tax marijuana, casting a spotlight on the state that first legalized medical marijuana in 1996. While most state legislative efforts are likely to fail, a victory in California could encourage other states to follow suit just as they did when California approved medical marijuana. A 2009 poll found 56 percent of California voters support outright legalization. Estimates from California’s Board of Equalization peg the amount the state could raise from marijuana legalization at $1.4 billion. But those projections rest on shaky assumptions that the state could keep track of growers and that distributors would accurately disclose their sales, if at all. And since marijuana is still illegal under federal law, it’s unclear how the Obama administration would ultimately react to more permissive state marijuana laws. Officials have struggled for years with the legal questions posed by state and federal marijuana laws that appear to be in conflict. “The more people talk about marijuana laws the more people come to the conclusion that they’ve completely failed, so we’re definitely optimistic here,” said Aaron Smith, California policy director for the Marijuana Policy Project. Meanwhile, opponents of legalization in California are gearing up for their own campaign, knowing that the rest of the country will be watching. “We have a lot of pressure on us,” says Aimee Hendle, statewide coordinator of Californians for Drug Free Youth. She sees marijuana advocates as opportunists exploiting the state’s financial distress. “They are seeing the vulnerability of the citizens of California with the state of our state,” she says. Arizona is also going this route for new tax revenue. Senators there have already approved levying the state sales tax on medical marijuana, even though voters won’t weigh in on medical marijuana until this November’s ballot. In Nevada, marijuana advocates are busy collecting signatures to place a legalization measure on the state’s 2012 ballot. Rather than leaving the question of legalization up to local governments, as California’s initiative does, Nevada’s proposal would legalize and tax marijuana statewide. Nevada voters have already approved medical marijuana. David Schwartz, campaign manager for Nevadans for Sensible Drug Laws, will be watching his counterparts in California. “If they win, it will be a stark event in the long battle to end marijuana prohibitions in this country,” he says. In South Dakota, Emmet Reistroffer is also among those following the news from California. Last year, he took time off from the University of South Dakota to gather signatures for a medical marijuana ballot initiative. It was a home-grown effort, drawing 40 volunteers, almost no national attention and no funding from major marijuana policy groups. Reistroffer, a Sioux Falls 20-year-old, took a part-time job at a local bar to make ends meet. While he says he doesn’t necessarily support outright legalization, he wants to make marijuana accessible for patients like his mother, who suffers from lupus and rheumatoid arthritis. She has used marijuana in the past, he says. “While I was growing up I had friends in DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education),” he says. I’ve always looked at it very differently. I’ve always seen this injustice and felt obligated to do something about it.” Reistroffer plans to spend his summer trying to convince voters at county fairs. In 2006, voters turned down a medical marijuana measure on a close vote, the only state that has ever done so. If the measure passes this year, it will mark a significant shift in South Dakota’s attitude toward marijuana, he says. But states shouldn’t count on a revenue bonanza from marijuana since distributors still risk federal prosecution by emerging from the shadows, according to Robert Mikos, a Vanderbilt University law professor. Ideally, the thousands of small-scale marijuana farm operations would consolidate into larger groups that would be easy for states to tax, but the federal ban makes that unlikely, he says. “If you get too big, you attract the attention of the federal government. If you’re a mom-and-pop marijuana distributor in California right now, you have almost no concern about the federal ban,” Mikos says. Also, states would have to keep track of growers who have paid taxes. “That’s a goldmine of information for the federal government,” Mikos says. “If California requires marijuana distributors to keep records of all their sales the federal government could sweep in, take that information and use it to prosecute these people.” In October, the Justice Department released a memo indicating it would back off from prosecuting medical marijuana users who are complying with state law, but the memo did not say the department would tolerate outright legalization in states, opening up more legal ambiguities. “The federal government will continue to try to combat recreational marijuana so California is kind of getting ahead of itself,” Mikos says. But Hendle and other opponents of legalization will also keep up their fight. “Even if you say it’s only for people over the age of 21, that’s what they say about alcohol and look at all the underage drinking that we have,” she says. “We’re now going to make this a larger problem.” A HISTORY OF MARIJUANA LAWS 1972 A commission led by former Pennsylvania governor Raymond Shafer recommends to President Richard Nixon that marijuana be decriminalized. 1973 Oregon decriminalizes possession of less than 1 ounce of marijuana. 1975 Colorado decriminalizes possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana. Ohio decriminalizes possession of 100 grams or less of marijuana. 1976 California decriminalizes possession of 28.5 grams or less of marijuana. Maine decriminalizes possession of 1.25 ounces or less of marijuana. Minnesota decriminalizes possession of 42.5 grams or less of marijuana. 1977 Mississippi decriminalizes possession of 30 grams or less of marijuana. New York decriminalizes possession of 25 grams or less of marijuana. North Carolina decriminalizes possession of half an ounce or less of marijuana. 1978 Nebraska decriminalizes possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana. 1981 Ronald Reagan becomes president. His administration would take a tough stand against drugs, discouraging states from softening their marijuana policies. 1996 California legalizes medical marijuana. 1998 Oregon legalizes medical marijuana. Washington legalizes medical marijuana. 1999 Alaska legalizes medical marijuana. Maine legalizes medical marijuana. 2000 Hawaii legalizes medical marijuana. 2001 Colorado legalizes medical marijuana. Nevada legalizes medical marijuana and decriminalizes possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana. 2003 Maryland establishes a defendant’s medical condition as an affirmative defense in marijuana prosecutions. 2004 Montana legalizes medical marijuana. Vermont legalizes medical marijuana. 2005 The U.S. Supreme Court finds that the federal government could take steps prohibiting cultivation and distribution of marijuana despite state laws allowing medical marijuana in Gonzales v. Raich. The ruling reinforces the federal government’s supremacy over states in this area. 2006 Rhode Island legalizes medical marijuana. 2007 New Mexico legalizes medical marijuana. 2008 Massachusetts decriminalizes possession of 1 ounce or less of marijuana. Michigan legalizes medical marijuana. 2009 The U.S. Department of Justice signals it will not aggressively prosecute suppliers or users of marijuana if they are complying with state medical marijuana laws. Passed but not implemented Washington, D.C., has passed a law legalizing medical marijuana. New Jersey has passed a law legalizing medical marijuana. Source: The National Conference of State Legislatures, the Marijuana Policy Project and the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
For a patient looking to see a doctor for any given medical procedure, costs often vary wildly based on the facility or physician. Take non-surgical repair for a broken ankle. For a 26-year-old female insured by Cigna who chooses a top-rated orthopedic surgeon in Washington, D.C., such a procedure costs $1,729. But if she chooses another top-rated orthopedic surgeon in nearby College Park, Maryland, the procedure costs $1,199. That’s according to a company called Amino, which mines data from billions of health insurance claims from the private and public sectors. Amino then gives patients access to information on the cost of various procedures and how much experience doctors nationwide have in those procedures. And in the age of rising deductibles and out-of-pocket costs for health care, this Silicon Valley-based company is working to put more of such information in the hands of patients. An alumnus of Zillow, a real estate company that provides data on the housing market, Amino CEO David Vivero decided to start the company in 2013 based on what he personally had gone through in searching for a new insurance plan. Because Vivero has a pre-existing condition, he realized he probably would have trouble finding a good insurance plan and a good doctor. “I realized just having the consumer experience that health care had offered me was really frustrating,” Vivero says in an interview with The Daily Signal. “So I decided to build Amino to solve that.” The company provides consumers with access to specifics about procedures, doctors, and costs generated by its massive database of health insurance claims from government and private-sector partners. Users head to its website, Amino.com, and click through five screens—procedure, gender, age, location, and insurer, which is optional—before they’re presented with results for doctors based on quality and prices for more than 90 procedures. Need a chest X-ray in the Arlington, Virginia, area? For a 26-year-old female enrolled with UnitedHealthcare, the nation’s largest insurance provider, the procedure will cost $662 at Virginia Hospital Center, the top-billed facility. Need to repair a broken ankle in the Sarasota, Florida, region? For a 48-year-old male insured by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida, the procedure will cost $2,029 to see the top-rated doctor for fixing a broken ankle. The website doesn’t have any ads or sponsorships, and because of this, Vivero says, he hopes Amino can offer “truth” to health care consumers. “By committing to not taking advertisements or allowing for providers of care to bid up, we can promise the results are data-driven for consumers,” he says. Vivero says he believes that having access to this information helps consumers make more informed choices about their health care: Transparency can really change markets. Having an empowered consumer was really something that would really create both a competent set of choices, and also solve problems for insurance plans and providers who are now dealing with the realities of this emerging consumer class in health care. And as deductibles on health care plans have continued to rise, leaving consumers to pay more out of their own pockets, more companies see a market for showing patients the costs of medical procedures. “When people pay their own way, they’ll start to shop and demand prices,” Twila Brase, president of the consumer group Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, tells The Daily Signal. “Lots of people wanted to force doctors to be transparent about their prices, but it didn’t matter until people pay their bills.” When it first launched, Amino provided users with information on the quality of doctors featured on the site. In October 2015, the company introduced a service allowing users to tap into its database of doctors nationwide to determine which they like based on how much experience doctors have with specific conditions and the insurance accepted. It also allows users to book an appointment. And last year, the health care company unveiled its cost estimates, allowing patients to find the costs of 49 different services or procedures and estimate what they may have to pay based on their insurer. Today, Amino provides cost estimates for more than 90 procedures. “They’ve been able to finally compare and understand the prices that are available for them, which is a huge opportunity for the average consumer,” Vivero says of users. ‘The Pioneers’ As of 2015, health care spending in the United States reached $3.2 trillion, according to the federal government, and health insurance data has been used by others in the industry to build actuarial models and combat fraud. But Vivero says his company is the first to marry access to that data with patients’ desire for transparency. “As it relates to using this data to empower consumers to feel informed and confident in their health care choices, we feel we’re the pioneers,” Vivero says. The company is one of several ushering in a new era of transparency in health care, fueled by higher deductibles and the increased amount patients pay out of their own pockets. “As deductibles rise in health care, more and more decisions become the sole financial responsibility of that head of household or that individual insured member,” Vivero says. “As a result of that, the information appetite that people have has grown substantially.” According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, the size of deductibles increased 12 percent in 2016 for consumers in the group market. For employers with fewer than 200 employees, 65 percent of workers are in high-deductible plans, with the average deductible totaling $2,000. In the individual market, deductibles have continued to rise as well. According to an Avalere study of plans sold on Obamacare’s exchanges, combined deductibles—which include medical and drug deductibles—for silver-level plans jumped 20 percent from 2016 to 2017. In 2016, for example, the average combined deductible for a silver-level plan was $3,075. In 2017, that rose to $3,703. Though many patients began noticing a rise in deductibles after implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the Kaiser Family Foundation notes that this trend began before Obamacare was signed into law. Still, as consumers move toward health insurance plans with lower premiums in exchange for higher deductibles, they tend to desire more information on health care services. “Private-sector companies see an opening because people are now forced to pay cash to meet their deductibles,” Brase, of the Citizens’ Council for Health Freedom, says. “[Obamacare] has returned a cost-consciousness to a fair amount of people.” Brase and her organization advocate a cash-based system of health care, where patients don’t have to rely on insurers to pay their bills. Removing insurers from the equation allows patients to negotiate prices directly with providers, she says. But those with insurance, Brase says, are becoming more aware of the impact medical procedures will have on their pocketbooks: Transparency is really important because it moves us back to true sensitivity about prices. Because of Obamacare, it forced people into paying for their own bills, [and] they then naturally gravitated toward transparency. They started asking for prices, shopped around, and went on the internet. Brase warns that in today’s system of health care, it’s difficult to know what the “true cost” of any given procedure is, since insurance companies negotiate prices directly with providers. That means that even within the same hospital or medical facility, costs may vary. But the push for more transparency in the health care industry can help get patients closer to solving that puzzle, Brase says. “It brings us closer to the true cost,” she says. “It also brings the prices down because then there’s competition between the posted costs.” ‘Nuanced Choices’ Vivero says he has heard from many Amino users who use his company’s website for different purposes. Some report that Amino helped save “tens of thousands of dollars,” he says. Other consumers praise the company for helping to avoid misdiagnoses, since they were able to find experienced doctors to get a second opinion. And others changed their habits of health care consumption based on the information Amino provided. “Being able to see that information up front is incredibly empowering,” Vivero says of consumers, adding: What they do with that is either to choose a physician, or sometimes they budget differently. Or they might decide to get that procedure done in one calendar year versus another. But at the very least, you have the information you need to make that informed choice. To provide patients with cost estimates, Amino partnered with more than a dozen companies across the health care supply chain—health IT companies, payment processors, insurers—to compile data on patients’ health insurance claims. That gave the company access to a trove of insurance information from the private sector. Then, in 2014, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services—the federal agency that also oversees Obamacare—named Amino a “qualified entity,” making it the first for-profit company to receive the designation. As a qualified entity, the company received claims data from Medicare Parts A, B, and D. Amino removed all identifying information from the data it received and, with the claims, built a database with information on which doctors take which insurers, how much different procedures cost, and how much consumers will pay. Vivero says his company now has data from more than 9 billion health insurance claims, and Amino users can book appointments online with more than 900,000 doctors and facilities. The company recently added Amino Plus, a service for insurance companies or employers that gives members access to additional information on their insurance plans, including plan documents, network data, and the current status of their deductibles and out-of-pocket maximum fees. “The effect of that is to drive even greater use of in-network services so that … the consumer gets fewer surprise bills and so the employer gets fewer surprise bills and out-of-network charges,” Vivero says. In March, Amino released a study with Ipsos, a market research company, exploring Americans’ attitudes about health care costs. The study found that 63 percent of Americans said that receiving a medical bill they can’t afford is worse than or as bad as being diagnosed with a serious illness. Additionally, 55 percent said they received a medical bill they couldn’t afford, and 1 in 5 said they avoid high medical bills by avoiding the doctor. Vivero says Amino’s mission is to help patients make more informed decisions that save money. “We hope to give them the information they need to make smart choices that in the long run are better for their wallets and better for their health,” he says.
You might soon require an Aadhaar card for continuing to use your existing home broadband connection or for getting a new connection. Telecom regulator TRAI has recommended the DoT to make it mandatory for all licensed ISPs in India to verify their users via Aadhaar ekYC as opposed to eKYC done via driving licenses, rental agreements, etc. TRAI recommendations come after ISPAI (Internet Service Providers Association Of India), a lobbying body consisting of India’s ISPs wrote a letter to it requesting Aadhaar-based verification of broadband subscribers to weed out fake users. Note that in January, TRAI recommended DoT to implement Aadhaar-based verification for SIM cards. Following these recommendations, DoT made it mandatory for all telecom operators to ensure that their subscribers link mobile numbers to Aadhaar number within a year. However, these recommendations were not applicable to broadband service providers like ACT, YOU Broadband, etc. ISPAI wants Aadhaar to help reduces fines imposed on service providers ISPAI, in its letter to TRAI, said that Aadhaar eKYC can help cut down ‘crores’ of penalties imposed on service providers for failing to meet subscriber verification norms. The lobbying group added that around “40% of applicants in rural areas (estimate) are unable to provide appropriate documentation to obtain a telecom service”, compared to 20% in urban areas. This has affected a section of Indian population since they lack proper documentation, ISPAI said. Apart from this, the lobby group said that Aadhaar eKYC can be targeted mainly at those users with ‘poor documents’ or ‘No documents’. It, however, does not make any mention about how to treat existing subscribers who are already verified without an Aadhaar. ISPAI also suggested two other use cases for telecom companies involving Aaadhaar (apart from eKYC): –Aadhar authentication as a bundled service: Telecom companies can bundle connectivity services (voice, data) along with authentication services and offer it as a unique service to other companies looking to verify their user base, ISPAI suggested. E.g. Airtel can securely connect with UIDAI servers and provide authentication solutions to ‘Company A’ which is into online food delivery. ‘Company A’ can verify its registered users using Aaadhaar authentication. –Aadhaar-enabled apps: ISPAI also said that operators can “leverage their existing network of retailers to create new markets and revenue streams” using Aadhaar-enabled apps. E.g. Offline retailer A who re-sells Operator B’s SIM cards/recharge packs can be additionally used a retail touch point. The Retailer A equipped with an Aadhaar authentication terminal additionally can re-sell all electronic services attached to Aadhaar. Basically, ISPAI wants more online services (food delivery, payments, shopping etc.) to be bought under Aadhaar. Download: –TRAI recommendation letter to DoT (Dated May 16th 2017) –ISPAI letter to TRAI (Dated March 28th 2017)
The maneki-neko (Japanese: 招き猫, literally "beckoning cat") is a common Japanese figurine (lucky charm, talisman) which is often believed to bring good luck to the owner. In modern times, they are usually made of ceramic or plastic. The figurine depicts a cat (traditionally a calico Japanese Bobtail) beckoning with an upright paw, and is usually displayed in—often at the entrance of—shops, restaurants, pachinko parlors, and other businesses. Some of the sculptures are electric or battery-powered and have a slow-moving paw beckoning. Maneki-neko comes in different colors, styles and degrees of ornateness. Common colors are white, black, gold and sometimes red. In addition to ceramic figurines, maneki-neko can be found as keychains, piggy banks, air fresheners, house-plant pots, and miscellaneous ornaments, as well as large statues. It is also sometimes incorrectly called the "Chinese lucky cat" because of its popularity among Chinese merchants. The less common variant of two arms raised at the same time. Common features [ edit ] Gesture [ edit ] To some Westerners (Italians and Spaniards are notable exceptions) it may seem as if the maneki-neko is waving rather than beckoning.[1][2] This is due to the difference in gestures and body language recognized by some Westerners and the Japanese. The Japanese beckoning gesture is made by holding up the hand, palm down, and repeatedly folding the fingers down and back, thus the cat's appearance. Some maneki-neko made specifically for some Western markets will have the cat's paw facing upwards, in a beckoning gesture that is more familiar to most Westerners.[3] Maneki-neko can be found with either the right or left paw raised (and sometimes both). The significance of the right and left raised paw differs with time and place.[4] According to a general rule of thumb, statue with the left paw raised is meant to be displayed in drinking establishments, while the one with the right paw for all other places of business; another interpretation is that right is for home and left for business.[4] Some maneki-neko feature battery- or solar-powered moving arms endlessly engaged in the beckoning gesture. A happy orange maneki-neko with a collar and bib ringing a bell. Maneki-neko with motorized arm beckons customers to buy lottery tickets in Tokyo, Japan with motorized arm beckons customers to buy lottery tickets in Tokyo, Japan Composition [ edit ] Antique examples of maneki-neko may be made of carved wood, stone and metal, handmade porcelain or cast iron.[4] Origins [ edit ] A wooden mold for a Maneki-Neko and Okiagari-Koboshi Daruma figure from the Edo Period, 18th century. Brooklyn Museum History [ edit ] It is commonly believed that Maneki-neko originated in Tokyo (then named Edo), while some insist it was Kyoto.[4] Maneki-neko first appeared during the later part of the Edo period in Japan.[4] The earliest records of Maneki-neko appear in the Bukō nenpyō's (a chronology of Edo) entry dated 1852. Utagawa Hiroshige's ukiyo-e "Joruri-machi Hanka no zu," painted also in 1852, depicts the Marushime-neko, a variation of Maneki-neko, being sold at Senso temple, Tokyo. In 1876, during the Meiji era, it was mentioned in a newspaper article, and there is evidence that kimono-clad maneki-neko were distributed at a shrine in Osaka during this time. A 1902 advertisement for maneki-neko indicates that by the turn of the century they were popular.[5] Beyond this the exact origins of maneki-neko are uncertain, though several folktales offer explanations. Others have noted the similarities between the maneki-neko's gesture and that of a cat washing its face. There is a Japanese belief that a cat washing its face means a visitor will soon arrive. This belief may in turn be related to an even older Chinese proverb that states that if a cat washes its face, it will rain. Thus, it is possible a belief arose that a figure of a cat washing its face would bring in customers. In his Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang, China's Tang Dynasty author Duan Chengshi (803?–863) wrote: "If a cat raises its paw over the ears and washes its face, then patrons will come". Folktales [ edit ] Maneki-neko is the subject of a number of folktales. Here are some of the most popular, explaining the cat's origins: The stray cat and the shop: The operator of an impoverished shop (or inn, tavern, temple, etc.) takes in a starving, stray cat despite barely having enough to feed himself. In gratitude, the cat sits in the front of the store beckoning customers, thus bringing prosperity as a reward to the charitable proprietor. Ever after, the "beckoning cat" has been a symbol of good luck for small business owners.[4] In popular culture [ edit ] Chinese maneki-neko with a moving arm, which is electrically-powered by batteries Modern Japanese folklore suggests that keeping a talisman of good fortune, such as the maneki-neko, in bedrooms and places of study will bring about favorable results and life successes. Because of its popularity in Chinese communities (including Chinatowns in the United States)[4] the maneki-neko is frequently mistaken for being Chinese in origin rather than Japanese, and is incorrectly referred to as a "Chinese lucky cat" [4] or jīnmāo ("golden cat"). This cat is also prevalent in China domestically, and is usually referred to as the followings: simplified Chinese: 招财猫; traditional Chinese: 招財貓; pinyin: zhāocáimāo. The Pokémon named Meowth is based upon the maneki-neko.[6][dubious – discuss] Unlike traditional Maneki-neko who hold the Koban coin, Meowth has the coin projected from its forehead. Meowth can fire this coin as a projectile weapon with its signature move Payday. Netta performed her song "Toy" in front of two walls full of maneki-neko at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. She won the competition after collecting 529 points at the final.[7] See also [ edit ] Notes [ edit ] References [ edit ] Dale-Green, Patricia, The Cult of the Cat (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1963). ISBN 978-0517175002 (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1963). ISBN 978-0517175002 Daniels, Inge Maria, 2003. Scooping, raking, beckoning luck: luck, agency and the interdependence of people and things in Japan. Royal Anthropological Institute 9 (4), 619–638. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2003.00166.x (4), 619–638. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9655.2003.00166.x Masuda, Koh, Kenkyusha's New Japanese-English Dictionary (Kenkyusha Limited, Tokyo, 1991). (Kenkyusha Limited, Tokyo, 1991). Wellman, Laurel, Lucky Cat: He Brings You Good Luck (Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 2004). ISBN 0-8118-4121-9.
Next Game: EASTERN MICHIGAN 3/3/2017 \| 3:00 PM ACC Network Extra 1450 WXVW LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Powered by a season-high four home runs, the No. 6 Louisville baseball team remained unbeaten with Wednesday afternoon's 20-2 victory over visiting Morehead State at Jim Patterson Stadium. The Cardinals improved to 8-0 overall extending their longest unbeaten streak to open a season since winning each of the first 13 games in 2010. The 20 runs were the most for Louisville since a 21-4 win over SIU Edwardsville on Feb. 19, 2016. Wednesday's win was the Cardinals' 17th straight victory against Morehead State (5-4) while also marking the 24th consecutive regular season win at home and the 16th straight win in midweek games. Four different Louisville players homered on Wednesday, highlighted by the first career home runs for seniors Colin Lyman and Michael Bollmer . Lyman was 3-for-5 overall, including a three-run homer to cap a five-run fifth inning, while junior Colby Fitch had a two-run homer in the sixth inning and was 3-for-4 in the game with a career-high four RBI. Junior Drew Ellis added his first career grand slam in a seven-run seventh inning, while Bollmer came off the bench for a pinch-hit, three-run home run in the eighth inning. Junior Brendan McKay finished with his seventh multi-hit game this season with Wednesday's 3-for-3 performance with two RBI, one run scored and one walk. Through eight games, McKay has a .667 batting average (16-for-24) with three home runs, 13 RBI, seven walks, .714 on-base percentage and 1.083 slugging percentage. Senior Logan Taylor added two hits for his fifth multi-hit game of the season while also walking twice, driving in a run and scoring a career-high four runs. Taylor is second on the team in hitting with a .484 batting average. On the mound, senior righthander Jake Sparger worked 1.2 innings of shutout relief for the win to improve to 2-0 on the season. Junior lefty Rabon Martin , freshman lefthander Adam Elliott and junior righty Chandler Dale contributed one scoreless inning of relief each, while sophomore righthander Bryan Hoeing allowed two runs on five hits in 4.1 innings for a no-decision in the starting role. The Cardinals faced their first deficit of the 2017 season Wednesday after Morehead State gained a 1-0 lead in the top of the third on a RBI single by Niko Hulsizer to score Braxton Morris. Louisville answered in the bottom of the inning when McKay delivered a two-out, two-run single to right field to score Taylor and Fitch for the 2-1 lead. After the Eagles evened the score at 2-2 in the top of the fifth on a RBI groundout off the bat of Ryan Kent, the Cardinals regained command for good with a five-run frame in the bottom of the inning. Fitch pushed Louisville back ahead with a RBI double to right center to plate Taylor before scoring later in the inning on a RBI sacrifice fly from Ellis. Lyman followed Ellis by sending a 3-2 offering from David Calderon over the right field wall for a three-run homer. The advantage for the home side moved to 9-2 in the sixth inning when Fitch followed an infield single from Taylor by crushing a 1-0 pitch over the right field wall for his second home run of the season. An inning later, the Cardinals doubled their lead by scoring seven runs on just three hits in the seventh. Following back-to-back bases loaded walks by Taylor and Fitch and a RBI single by sophomore Devin Mann , Ellis connected for the grand slam sending a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left center. Louisville closed the scoring with four runs in the eighth inning on a RBI single by freshman Logan Wyatt and a three-run homer to right field by Bollmer. Up next, No. 6 will conclude its eight-game homestand at Jim Patterson Stadium with a weekend series against Eastern Michigan, which begins Friday at 3 p.m., ET. Fans can follow Louisville baseball on Twitter (@UofLBaseball) at http://twitter.com/uoflbaseball and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ulbaseball.
[Haskell-cafe] ANN: "Real World Haskell", now shipping Good evening - John Goerzen, Don Stewart and I are delighted to announce the availability of our book, "Real World Haskell". It is 710 pages long, and published by O'Reilly Media. This is the first book to comprehensively cover modern Haskell programming. From an introduction to functional programming, it focuses on teaching through many worked examples. We discuss the "awkward squad" of I/O, concurrency, and exceptions. We cover network programming, databases, and system hacking. We motivate and work with monoids, applicative functors, monads, and monad transformers. We show you how to debug code, and how to ship well-tested software. Better yet, the book is available under a Creative Commons license, so you can read as much of it as you please before you buy: http://book.realworldhaskell.org/ We developed this book with the enthusiastic and voluble support of the Haskell community, and we are proud to share our work in a fashion that will help newcomers to our field. And best of all, if you order now (at least in North America), you can have a copy of the book in your hands in a matter of days. Thank you from all of us to our friends in the Haskell world who have been so generous with their feedback and kind words!
Our nation’s schools have always been responsible for providing a safe educational environment for our children. Today, technology in the classroom is making our schools face challenges meeting that responsibility. But some believe schools must choose between privacy and technology. This is a false choice. Parents, schools, students, and lawmakers can have both – it’s just a matter of crafting the right policy. ADVERTISEMENT There is no debate that when schools use online services for educational purposes, those services should not use student data for targeted advertising. In fact, 200 companies have signed the Student Privacy Pledge promising exactly that. While we all agree on the objectives, it’s been hard to develop legislation that protects student privacy while maximizing educational effectiveness and encouraging innovation. This fall, we saw the introduction of the Student Privacy Protection Act (SPPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives. The goal is to update the forty-year-old Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) to better address the needs of 21st century students. But in an attempt to protect student privacy, the SPPA overreaches with proposals that inhibit educational technology innovation and discourage businesses from making services available to students. This is not the first time a privacy bill created unintended consequences that take technology out of the classroom and diminish the benefits of learning tools. Recently, Louisiana passed a law so restrictive that schools can’t post football players’ names on a big screen during the game. Schools can’t announce honor roll students over the public address system or report sports results in the local newspapers. One superintendent even worried about publishing the school’s yearbook since the law prohibits schools from displaying names and photos without parental consent. Louisiana is not alone. States across the country, with the greatest of intentions, are proposing and passing legislation that will hinder, not help students. Usually these bills take a blunt approach to protecting student privacy through overly broad approaches to limiting student data. But broad legislation breeds unintended consequences. Broad bans on marketing products and services could stop reading programs from recommending books, or math programs from suggesting supplementary lessons. These bans could even stop schools from enrolling students in scholarship programs and prevent parents from giving their child’s information to a tutor. But, it doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t have to lock our children away from the world to protect them. We are at a crossroads and cannot miss this opportunity to create a national standard for 21st century education. Such a standard can both protect students and provide clear guidance to enable online services to operate and encourage new investment in the ed-tech space. This standard can set fixed parameters for how the data can be used to improve the effectiveness of ed-tech products and measure student success. There is a national understanding of the value technology can provide in a child’s education -- just different suggested paths to realize that value. We have a tremendous opportunity to improve how we teach our children. But as we move forward, any legislation that restricts education must do so with a scalpel and not a sledgehammer. Szabo is policy counsel for NetChoice, a trade association working to make the Internet more accessible and ubiquitous. NetChoice members include AOL, Facebook, Google and Yahoo.
Fox News anchor Bret Baier blasted the White House's decision Friday to exclude several news organizations from covering spokesman Sean Spicer’s question-and-answer session. Baier said the White House press gaggle "should be opened to all" credentialed organizations, pointing to treatment of his network during the Obama administration. "Some at CNN & NYT stood w/FOX News when the Obama admin attacked us & tried 2 exclude us-a WH gaggle should be open to all credentialed orgs," Baier tweeted. Some at CNN & NYT stood w/FOX News when the Obama admin attacked us & tried 2 exclude us-a WH gaggle should be open to all credentialed orgs https://t.co/8Vjcs0KCPR — Bret Baier (@BretBaier) February 24, 2017 ADVERTISEMENT CNN also released a statement blasting the White House's tactics Friday, calling it "an unacceptable development by the Trump White House." Spicer's off-camera “gaggle” with the press took place inside his West Wing office, not in the traditional James S. Brady Press Briefing Room. Multiple outlets were barred from the gaggle, including CNN and The New York Times, which President Trump regularly attacks. Other organizations not allowed into the meeting included Politico, The Hill, BuzzFeed, the Daily Mail, BBC, the Los Angeles Times and the New York Daily News. Several right-leaning outlets were allowed into the gaggle, including Breitbart, The Washington Times and One America News Network. A number of major news organizations were also allowed in, including Fox, ABC, CBS, NBC, Reuters and Bloomberg. — Jordan Fabian contributed.
Ronald Reagan said the most destructive thing to the American people that a president could say on his inaugural address---1/20/81. Reagan: In this present crisis Government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem. That statement caused fear and anger in Americans and painted a big fat target on the backs of the government so that he could attack it and so would the American people. Good government is crucial in restoring this country to prosperity and as we have all witnessed, conservatism has indeed unleashed its destructive influence over every part of our society. Obama's response is right on... Obama insisted that only government could “break the vicious cycles that are crippling our economy,” prevent “the catastrophic failure of financial institutions,” restart the flow of credit and restore the regulations needed to prevent such a crisis in the future. This is government's role. When Reagan said that government was the problem, he made them the bogeyman instead of the life raft. When we have a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, government should be there to rescue us, but with conservatives in control, people were left stranded to fend for themselves. As much as I get ticked off with all this bipartisan talk, Obama understands that government can be the agent of hope in this time of crisis and thus will be reversing Reagan's anti-government mantra.
I will do everything in my power to drive, build and pursue progress and change Tim Draper Blocked Unblock Follow Following Nov 4, 2017 I wrote a book and will be releasing the the first few chapters on Medium in the coming weeks. The first half of the book centers around what I call “The Startup Hero’s Pledge”. You can read chapter one here. This is chapter two. The Bitcoin Story The first time I ran into the concept of virtual currency was when I was talking to a wealthy Korean industrialist in 2004. He said that a new massively multiplayer video game (MMOPG) was taking Seoul by storm. Something like 40% of the population was playing it. The game was called, “Lineage.” He went on to say that he was really into playing the game and that he actually hired someone to play his avatar for him while he was at work so he wouldn’t lose his virtual strength while he was away from the game. He then told me that it was his son’s birthday, and he asked for a $40 sword. I wondered why he was telling me that, and I politely said, “Oh? What kind of a sword?” He said, “It is really just a picture of a sword and he can use it when he plays in the video game.” I was shocked. “He wants you to pay for pixels on the screen?” “Yes. The sword has powers and it will help him in gameplay.” Then I got excited. People would pay for virtual products! This revelation was an epiphany for me. It got me thinking that there was an amazing business in virtual currency coming. There were many efforts. FarmVille was a fun game that allowed people to buy and trade with virtual gold. People paid real fiat currency to buy more virtual gold. There evolved a market outside of the game for virtual gold. Some people would earn lots of it in the game and others would buy it from them to advance in the game. Something potentially important was beginning. My search for the universal virtual currency was afoot. But it wasn’t until about 2011 when I discovered bitcoin. Bitcoin was a new currency. One that could be used to store value, and pay for anything, not just for advancement in a video game. It was a little retro in that it was set up as marketplace where “miners” would have to “dig” for bitcoin. They would do it by solving complex algorithms with their computers. Miners got their computers to run simulations that could help them mine bitcoins faster. Once found, they could be stored in a “wallet” and then spent as needed. There was a decreasing number of bitcoins made available to be mined each year, so it was likely that the price of a bitcoin would increase in value as fewer bitcoins were mined and usage increased. The system was set up so that only 21 million bitcoins would be ever created, so people would not have to worry about their bitcoin losing value due to “overprinting,” a practice that many governments have engaged in that lowers their currencies’ values and causing inflation. In fact, as bitcoins spread, and their usage increased, it was likely that the currency would become more valuable. It felt like it was funny money for a while. But people started actually accepting bitcoin instead of dollars. Legend has it that one of the key bitcoin programmers ordered a pizza and didn’t have cash to pay the delivery guy. He offered him bitcoin and within about three months, the pizza delivery guy became a millionaire. Another person sold a house for bitcoin. My son Adam started an accelerator called Boost.VC. He decided to completely dedicate the accelerator to bitcoin companies (and the blockchain technologies that went with it). He was the first investor in Coinbase, which would go on to dominate the retail use of bitcoin. He also brought together about 40 companies over two sessions or “tribes” all dedicated to working with, innovating around, mining and trading bitcoin. Joel Yarmon first introduced me to bitcoin when he brought in Peter Vincennes and his company Coinlab to pitch us. Coinlab would become a bitcoin focused innovator and miner. It seemed a little out there, but I liked it and we made a small investment in the company. Then I asked Peter if I could buy $250,000 worth of bitcoin. The price was around $6 per bitcoin. He bought some and stored them in Mt.Gox, the largest (at that time) bitcoin exchange. He said he would take some money and buy an ASIC, a high-speed mining chip from Butterfly Labs to get us even cheaper bitcoin. Then two things happened that made what should have been about 40,000 bitcoins disappear. First, the mining chip was delayed. Rather than shipping it to Peter as ordered, Butterfly Labs used the chip to mine bitcoins for themselves. They mined bitcoins for months before shipping the chips to Peter, and during that time, more bitcoin miners entered the field, so it became rarer for any individual miner to find bitcoin. By the time Peter received the ASIC chips, we had lost our window of opportunity. And if all this mining competition weren’t enough, Peter stored the bitcoin he did mine in a wallet controlled by Mt. Gox, and Mt. Gox “lost” our bitcoin. Ironically, my interest in bitcoin accelerated when I heard that someone associated with Mt.Gox had absconded with about $460 million worth of bitcoin, including some of the bitcoin Peter had stored for me. Initially, I was furious. I actually believed that that kind of a theft would wipe this novel currency out completely. After all, who would want to hold a currency that people on the inside could just steal. But the price of bitcoin only dropped about 20% on the news and the currency continued to be traded on other exchanges. I was flabbergasted. But I was also fascinated. I realized that the demand for this new digital currency was so strong that even a huge theft would not keep bitcoin from creating a new way for us to transact, store and move money. Society needed bitcoin so much that it was willing to tolerate major failures and frauds as long as they could have this frictionless currency. After all, since the financial crisis, people were losing their confidence in government or “fiat” currencies. They needed something to trade that was not tied to any government. This was clearly a big sea change, and as an agent for societal improvement and change, I intended to help support and drive it forward. I became well aware of how important bitcoin would be as a new and potentially transformative currency and asset. I backed a number of the Boost.vc bitcoin companies, and as I was discovering more and more uses, an enormous opportunity arose. There were a number of nefarious uses of bitcoin. One of the most notorious of these was the Silk Road, a group that allowed people to buy and sell anything from drugs and arms to hired assassins. And while people originally believed bitcoin use could not be traced, the opposite was true. Since every bitcoin has a unique path associated with it, bitcoins that are stolen or used for illegal products and services can be easily traced. So eventually I expect, all the crypto criminals will be caught. And many have already been caught. So, while I was lamenting the fact that I had lost all that bitcoin, something happened that gave me another shot at getting involved in the bitcoin opportunity. The US Marshall’s office confiscated the bitcoins owned by the Silk Road, and almost 40000 bitcoins were put up for auction. I looked at this as an opportunity to rebuy the bitcoins I lost. There were 31 bidders that came to the table, and the auction was a silent bid for nine blocks of 4000 bitcoins each. Most of the discussions among the bidders were about how much of a discount from market prices the large blocks of bitcoins would sell for. The market price then was $618 per bitcoin. At the last minute, I decided to bid higher than market price. I bid $632. I won all nine blocks! After the inevitable buyer’s remorse that happens when you know you have paid a higher price than anyone else was willing to pay, I thought about how I could best drive a positive use for these bitcoins with a tainted past. I decided that I would use them to support the proliferation of bitcoin through emerging country marketplaces where people didn’t have confidence in their own currencies. In many countries, that lack of confidence was due to the practice of governments printing extra money for themselves, which corruption floods the market and decreases the money’s value. The people are often then riddled with inflation and mistrust. To make matters worse, people who don’t have much money are not “bankable.” Banks lose money on people who don’t have enough to make all the paperwork worthwhile. Banking regulations set up to protect the little guy have actually kept the little guy from participating in the economy — almost guaranteeing that he will remain “the little guy.” These people are the “unbanked,” and there are billions of them. Bitcoin might be the solution for these people! Avish Bhama, one Boost entrepreneur with a company called Mirror helped me figure out a good plan to spread the currency to emerging country markets. The idea was to allow people from developing nations the ability to invest in anything (even to go short against their own currency) by using bitcoin as the “rails,” the conduit for the trades. We held a big press conference together laying out our plans, but since then, the plan has been changed several times. In any case, our ideas gave a lift to the general attitude toward bitcoin, and the price and confidence in bitcoin was boosted. Bitcoin itself has been a godsend to the unbanked, providing an economic system for people who are shunned by the currently overregulated banks. Before I did anything with the bitcoins, I had to accept delivery of the coins from the US Marshall’s office. Avish helped me make sure we could get the bitcoin into a safe wallet, and I also brought in Leif Jurvetson, my partner’s son, who was a 14-year old bitcoin expert. Leif is a big bitcoin proponent, so I invited him in to discuss the security we would be using, and he was with me when I discussed the transfer with the US Marshall’s office. He was actually quite helpful in figuring out the best way to secure the bitcoin. When the transfer happened, there was some hold up. We were already one-half hour into what was normally a ten-minute approval cycle. We were getting a little anxious, and then we got a report of a .0007 bitcoin coming into the wallet. We all thought we had been hacked! Eventually, the full transfer came in and the authenticators recognized the transfer on the blockchain. All was well with the world. We said, “Thank you,” to the Marshall’s office team, and hung up. I learned later that Leif had sent the .0007 bitcoin to thank me for inviting him into the big meeting. Great kid! Now that I had the bitcoins, I worked with Avish on his company, called Mirror, because he would set up the bitcoin to “mirror” the trades that happened in various exchanges. Mirror later decided to change its business model, but companies I backed later — Bitpesa in Africa, Bitpagos in Latin America and CoinHako in Southeast Asia took hold of the idea and made the emerging world their marketplace. The obvious uses for bitcoin are 1) having a currency that is accepted everywhere without any government friction or interference, 2) a stored value solution that doesn’t require a holder to keep a room full of metals and art, and 3) a frictionless currency that can move automatically based on a contract without the usual drag that comes from regulations that need to be interpreted by a lawyer or an accountant. But there are many other uses. A bitcoin wallet can also be used as an escrow for a contract in transition, as a redistribution of an estate, or as a transfer agent to distribute payments, dividends or shares of stock. And we are only scratching the surface. The technology behind bitcoin is called the blockchain. The blockchain, also has some amazing potential. The blockchain can be thought of as a giant ledger, keeping track of money, data, inventory, contracts, etc. “Smart” contracts can be designed such that they anticipate eventualities and automatically distribute appropriately. And corporates can use the blockchain to automatically pay employees their wages and benefits, pay shareholders their dividends, and pay noteholders their interest and principal payments, all with precise accuracy and automated accounting. Furthermore, companies can use the blockchain to pay their suppliers and receive money from their customers, handling lay away payment plans and warranties without friction or human influence. The blockchain can manage three-way transfers with ease, and eventually will handle retail transactions without the need for credit or debit cards. Insurance companies can use it to manage their claims and automate collections. Real Estate escrows and titles can all be done quickly and easily between buyer and seller. Drugs and food can be authenticated by blockchain to guarantee their origins. And the US Government can manage social security, welfare, Medicare, worker’s comp, disability and all their data verification of citizens and businesses with bitcoin and the blockchain, since blockchain is the perfect government service employee. It is honest, incorruptible, secure, and fair. Bitcoin and its underlying technology, the blockchain are changes that allow us to progress. But change is difficult for those people who don’t have the spark of a Startup Hero in their eyes, and many industries will have to go through fundamental changes to adapt to the advent of this new way of thinking. People will have to learn that the bank, being the trusted third party for centuries will soon be replaced by computers that now monitor their holdings through the blockchain. Banking will be simpler, safer and easier than relying on people to do the monotonous work in some bricks and mortar facility. Over time, people may see as I see, that the money they hold at Coinbase is safer than the money they hold at Wells Fargo. Still, the luddites will say that they like to know there is something behind their money like gold or the full faith and confidence of the federal government. Well, the gold standard is no more and in the financial meltdown, that full faith was seriously in jeopardy, and computers are less likely to steal their money. What the luddites might want to consider is that their money is flying around in the internet already in the current system, and putting it on the blockchain only makes it safer and the blockchain banker doesn’t take as much as it flies by. This new digital currency deserves to live and thrive. It has the ability to create a new market unfettered by government politics. The currency can move across borders like gold, but be more frictionless than a bank wire. The reduction in friction (and increase in liquidity) will set the platform for a more prosperous and wealthy world. Still bitcoin is going through growing pains. Over the next 18 months after I won the auction, there were many other incidents of theft and illegal use that brought fear into the bitcoin marketplace, so the value of my coins went down. The Silk Road bitcoins I bought dropped in value to just below $200 each. Fortunately for me and for our global society as a whole, confidence has returned and the price of the bitcoin has recovered as the market continues to expand and stabilize and as more uses for bitcoin are discovered. I believe that this volatility will be looked back on as speedbumps in the road to us getting a globally distributed, liquid and fair economy. A society’s wealth is driven in part by its ability to trade freely. Bitcoin, because it is so liquid and so flexible can create a wealthier world. It is interesting to note that countries, now recognizing that they are in competition with one another, are trying to make sure they win the bitcoin economy. The smartest of these are either allowing bitcoin to prosper or recognize that they need a light touch in regulating bitcoin to attract all the creativity, money and startups that are flooding into the field. There are many parallels between bitcoin now and the internet in 1994. In 1994, the internet was just for hobbyists and hackers. I remember when I first used the Internet, the only things I could do were to buy diamonds and try to break into NORAD. There were very few uses. It took many years for the internet to become mainstream, but when it did, it transformed industries. HTTP was the first real working protocol so people standardized on it even though there were more elegant solutions, just as people today are frustrated with the limitations of bitcoin, but have made it a standard because of all the network effects around the early winner. The US was wise to leave the internet unregulated and free because all the internet entrepreneurs created startups in the US and the economy around the internet blossomed. Keeping its regulatory hands light should help innovators stay in the US. At this writing, the CFTB and the SEC are both taking a wait-and-see attitude as they approach the burgeoning virtual market. The SEC did claim that one new crypto vehicle, the DAO was a security, but they are open to allowing other forms to be clear of securities laws. Some countries have been early innovators and beneficiaries of the blockchain industry. Singapore and Switzerland have set guidelines for people to create competing crypto-commodities. Both individuals and companies can create commodity offerings or ICO’s (Initial Coin Offerings) that can have a mission attached to them. I believe that losing the bitcoin economy would be akin to losing the internet, so countries should make sure they are well positioned to compete for the bitcoin entrepreneurs of the world. Bitcoin is here to stay, and the countries that are the most open to it will be the biggest beneficiaries. The US won big by allowing the Internet to grow unimpeded, and the Silicon Valley thrived. I would hope our new leaders would recognize the potential for bitcoin to similarly drive economic growth and prosperity. More barriers in society create more friction, and more corruption. Fewer regulations make societies freer and wealthier with more jobs. More liquidity creates a wealthy society, less liquidity creates more poverty. When one country overregulates its banks or drives an inflationary or failing hopeless economy, the bitcoin economy flourishes. In some ways, bitcoin is a check on bad governance. The long-term vision for bitcoin is to give the world economic emancipation. Banks will have to adapt their services as the need for trusted third parties and financial middlemen are eclipsed by a trusted crowd of blockchain monitors. The blockchain being a perfect ledger may change the accountant’s role to one of advisor, and smart contracts may change what it means to be a corporate lawyer. People will not need to hoard gold or hard currency since bitcoin is a far more convenient source for stored value. Governments may recognize that their fiat currencies are inferior to virtual currencies, and will have to allow more financial freedom to their citizens or risk losing those citizens. Taxing authorities and welfare service providers may be replaced by blockchain tax redistribution engines and welfare insurance wallets. The potential if bitcoin is only limited by the imaginations of the entrepreneurs who work to drive this new virtual economy. To monitor and keep it honest, I believe that the community of users will ultimately self-regulate, possibly eclipsing or obviating the need for the various governments of the world to regulate the crypto world. “The bitcoin revolution is coming. It is here to bank the unbanked, to democratize economic opportunity and to reevaluate governance. I expect that it will change everything from the banks and the financial system to healthcare, to democracy. even to government. DAO’s and ICO’s A new form of fundraising is happening around the blockchain architecture. People discovered that the blockchain could be used to raise funds for projects and startups. In effect, people found that they could create their own currencies using bitcoin as a model. These would be known as decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO’s). The first of these DAO Maker, had an inauspicious beginning. The company used ethereum (a decentralized currency built using the bitcoin blockchain) as its platform. A hacker figured out that when money was moving from one entity to another, they could siphon off ethereum collected from the sale of the tokens. The hacker managed to steal 3.6 million ethereum (at the time valued around $72 million), the price of ethereum dropped from $20 to about $13, and DAO offerings came to an abrupt end. But then more people saw potential in these offerings. The DAO Maker offering had raised $100 million, and entrepreneurs saw potential there. After all, DAO’s (and ICOs as they became known), could raise private money for a project relatively easily without sharing equity and with little friction from any government organization. The tokens purchased could be immediately marketable, and the price would fluctuate as the value of the underlying asset grew. Any project could be funded by a DAO offering, and any startup could raise their money by simply initiating their own currency. In fact, it wouldn’t be limited to startups. Anyone could set up an ICO. Imagine the societal change and the frictionless market, the wealth and the jobs that could be created if everyone could raise their own money and have their labor valued through a fresh currency. As of this writing, Draper Associates has funded three ICOs. Bancor has the potential to transform marketplaces for projects and startups. Tezos has the potential to change how we govern ourselves globally, and Credo can be the vehicle we all use to put a value on email attention. The Bitcoin/Blockchain/ICO technology is transformative. The changes that we will all encounter are only limited by people’s imaginations. We humans have the opportunity to progress far beyond what any of us have ever imagined. By decentralizing economic power, these tokens can open the economic world up to anyone anywhere with an idea and the willingness to put in the work to spread their idea and their token to the world. And, as a Startup Hero, you will do everything in your power to pursue progress and change, so you can look at bitcoin as one of the current vehicles available to you to drive progress and change, move society forward, and drive your industry now that you have an awareness of these breakthroughs. A note on the potential of Bitcoin Bitcoin could be as important to our world as credit cards or paper money. When money velocity is increased due to reduced friction in the economy, a society becomes wealthier. Bitcoin reduces a significant amount of friction in the economy. People no longer have to pay a “trusted third party” or a bank to make a transaction occur. With all the fraud and hacking of the banks, bitcoin may accelerate as a currency even faster than it would have without these external threats. Almost anything you now use your bank for, you can use bitcoin for. The immediate applications are sending money overseas, paying for products and services, making micropayments to people who need to be paid for their services (e.g. residuals for actors or cameramen), Overseas employee wages, payments by the unbanked, etc. Longer term, any contract will be better served by being fixed on the blockchain. The blockchain allows any contract that revolves around an event (like a company sale, a dividend, a royalty distribution, a death, the outcome of a game, etc.) where cash or stock or something of value needs to be distributed or paid out, can be agreed to, executed and disbursed without a lawyer or an accountant, since the trusted third party is all of society, not a series of written documents, a regulated accounting firm and a bricks and mortar bank. Bitcoin’s blockchain is technology that is open and transparent, distributed, frictionless and secure. This technology may be at least as transformative as the internet has been. While the Internet transformed music, communications, information, entertainment and transportation, bitcoin and its blockchain may allow governments to be virtual, banks to be unnecessary, ownership to be ironclad, insurance to be frictionless, and people to know who owns what. ICOs have the potential to open up new highways of human creativity. Imagine services that bank the unbanked, insure the uninsurable, and give liquidity to markets that until now were illiquid. ICOs may be as big a breakthrough for economic progress as interest was for lenders or stock was for investors. I can imagine societal transformations that were only dreamt of before decentralized autonomous tokens. I expect to see a renaissance of breakthroughs in everything from finance to healthcare, from data to distribution, and from infrastructure to government. Quexercises on Progress and Change
The population of Pakistan threatens to cross 190 million by July 2012, and women stand to make up roughly 47% of that number. The whole country is in a vulnerable situation, held hostage between its western allies waging war on its turf, and trigger-happy extremists who demand the foreign invaders leave them alone. But while they attempt a three-person tango, there are more pressing problems on the ground. According to the United Nations Development Programme, 22.6% of the population lives below the international poverty line, lation lives below the international poverty line, on less than $1.25 PPP per day. These may have been the conditions in Pakistan since before 2001, but there has been no chance of improvement since then. Security of person, equality in dignity and a few other "inalienable" rights that the UN declared all humans should have irrespective of sex are for the privileged few in Pakistan; and even then, mostly for men. The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan recently published its annual report, State of Human Rights in 2011. Let's just take a quick look at how women fared in the country. About 120,000 pregnant women were left without adequate nourishment and sanitary conditions after the devastating floods in 2010. About 8.2 million women are reportedly employed as unregistered domestic help, without the cover of even the flimsiest of labour laws. There were 943 women (93 minors) reportedly killed over family honour – often for wanting to marry someone of their own choice – with many of these crimes perpetrated by their brothers, fathers, husbands or relatives of their husbands. There were 38 documented cases of acid attacks on women, 47 were set on fire and nine suffered disfiguring amputation as punishment. There were 396 rape and murders reported. None of these figures account for the thousands of women who were strangled into silence by the horrors that follow an admission, or whom the police were unwilling to help, brushing it off as "a family matter". Worse yet, also missing from the figures were the silent majority who were raised to accept the physical or psychological abuse, as part of the compromise women make to be the dutiful wives and daughters who glue society together. It's the underprivileged, illiterate women struggling to make ends meet who are the brave ones; they step into a man's world every day, at risk of being sexually harassed on their daily travels, in overcrowded buses or at work. Anything that allows these women to provide for the many children they are forced to have, or to save to educate their little boys and girls, they will do. They work 12 hour days as undocumented domestic help, often working for Cinderella's stepmother; think less Disney and more Brothers Grimm. For rural women, it's the fields, where they can be trapped in bonded labour or work for a pittance and some produce. A landmark domestic violence bill, introduced in 2009 to protect women and children, is facing serious opposition in its passage through parliament from those who argue that it promotes western values and has been backed by western funding. According to a former senator, passing this bill on a divided vote in parliament will potentially disrupt another delicate balance: reaching political consensus on the restoration of the Nato supply lines through Pakistan – another strike on non-participants by the war against terror. Somewhat surprisingly for outsiders looking in, these struggling women belong to the same country where a woman was twice voted prime minister and currently the youngest member of the cabinet of Pakistan is the female foreign minister – a position roughly parallel to secretary of state for the US. The argument that religious extremes have oppressed Pakistani women isn't a neat preface to these hair-raising horrors. Pakistan's relationship with its women is rooted in a patriarchal feudal system feeding the country since before it was born. It's an archaic system that has produced the men who run the country, negotiate domestic and foreign policy and penned sexist laws that made it easier for women to slide through the cracks. A lack of accessible education doesn't help either. It's not just one problem. It's living in a system that hasn't been built to accommodate the second sex. It's the buzz words surrounding Pakistan: war, terrorism, extremism, 9/11. They drown out the plight of the millions who truly need a voice. • This article was commissioned following a suggestion made in a You Tell Us thread. If there's a subject you'd like to see covered by Comment is free, please visit the You Tell Us page
Personal Details Male 6’3” 230 lbs Butterfly A-B level hockey Usage time: 6 Skates Price: Demo set Retail: $600 Break Angle: CCM/Reebok 600 Tee: Double fang tee Webbing: Standard nylon Weight: 1116 grams, 2.46 lbs Glove History: Warrior Messiah M3 Catcher, Smith 6000 Retro Catcher, Reebok Larceny Pro, Simmons 997, CCM EFlex Pro Return Practice Palm, Vaughn 5500, Bauer Reactor 6000 Bryzgalov Pro Return Practice Palm, CCM Eflex 3 Review Category Overview: Initial Impressions Do they feel high quality? Are they light or heavy? Does anything stand out? Fit Do the glove fit true to size? Is their adjustabilty with straps? Comfort How the materials feel? Are there any hard points that create discomfort? Weight Looking at the actual weight and balance of the glove Break Angle What it is labelled as? How it compares to competitors? Scored based on my preference ? Thumb Angle How is the rake of the thumb angle? Does the thumb cause rebounds or push pucks into the pocket? Does the thumb close snuggly with the break angle? Closing Ability Is there any interference in the palm when closing the glove? How easy is the glove to close out of the box? Does the glove break in easy? Seal on the Ice How does the glove seal on the ice and hold onto pucks? Duability Early signs of wear Materials or padding breaking down Worrisome design or places to keep an eye on Protection Looking at the protective levels Not including built in knee pads Peformance Is there any issues when playing? Does the balance help stop and catch pucks? Is it easy to cover pucks? Intangibles Adding features when ordering Noteable customer service Bonus straps or accessories This glove was part of a demo set I got from a local store. It is a bone stock retail glove. Initial Thoughts: Besides the Speed Skin the CCM Eflex 3 catching glove feels fairly similar to the previous iterations of this glove line. The glove did go through some make up changes that according to CCM were done through feedback given by Carey Price. You can feel a slight difference between the CCM Eflex 2 and this CCM Eflex 3 glove. But if you liked the previous CCM 600 break gloves I feel the transition to the Eflex 3 will be an easy one. Just like the rest of the Eflex 3 line the catching glove feels very no-frills with no unique features or tech besides the Speed Skin. It also feels pretty thin in regards to a pro level glove. Fit: There are 2 velcro straps that go across the fingers and the back of the hand. Then there is an adjustable nylon strap that can be pulled through backhand cover so you can adjust it on the ice. CCM still includes the pinky and thumb loops on the Eflex 3 catching glove, which is a huge bonus for me. I like the tight feeling of the thumb and pinky loops and like to tighten them during the game. For me the more traditional style of finger construction in the CCM Eflex 3 is better fitting for me compared to the more bare style in gloves like Bauer 1X, Brians GN3tik and Passau. The sure grip liner was comfortable and does a good job of being textured enough to keep my hand from sliding around. It is grippier than nash and holds my hand in tighter. With 3 adjustable straps and pinkie and thumb loops the CCM Eflex 3 can be adjusted to fit my hand nicely. 10/10 Comfort: The CCM Eflex 3 glove feels decent on your hands, but the updated internals do feel a bit squared off and less rounded making the glove feel less comfortable than the Eflex 1 I had before. I am curious if a thicker palm (pro or practice) would change how the break feels in your hands. The sure grip is comfortable and better for grip than nash but is less comfortable. The backhand straps had nice padding on the backhand straps where they don’t create pressure points. Again there is nothing special about the CCM Eflex 3 in terms of materials to make this glove extremely comfortable. 7/10 Weight: This is the first catching glove I have ever weight, and since I don’t have the weight of other modern models it is hard to compare it strictly with number values. I can say that the CCM Eflex 3 doesn’t feel exceptionally lightweight or heavy, just like the pads the catching glove feels like a more classic piece of equipment. The glove felt well balanced and felt lighter than my Bauer Reactor 6000 Pro Return. The weight of the CCM Eflex 3 glove helped with an active catching glove without feeling exceptionally light weight. 7/10 Break Angle: The CCM 600 break is simply put my favourite glove to date, and I try to match this break with gloves I look to purchase. It feels to me like a more refined Vaughn 5500 break and CCM did update the internals of this glove and slightly adjust the break on the CCM Eflex 3 600. Personally I prefer the older break angle of the CCM 600 break that was on my Eflex glove. While this break angle wasn’t bad or awkward, it just wasn’t as comfortable as the older models to me. 8.5/10 Thumb Angle: The thumb slopes into the pocket at an aggressive angle, it is far from a pancake design and should help angle pucks into the pocket. Closing Ability: This CCM Eflex 3 catching glove features a game ready palm, so it should close very easily right off the shelf, which it does fairly well. The glove still requires some break in to make sure the fingertips and thumb close tightly and the glove snaps shut. But the glove was easy to close without having much use. 9/10 Seal on the Ice: Again since I didn’t get a chance to use this glove in a game, I cannot really comment on this besides showing the glove laying flat on a table. Durability: I used this glove even less than I used the pads, so I can’t really comment on durability of the CCM Eflex 3 catching glove. I can say there was some material splitting on the tee of the glove and the famous CCM heel of the palm wear was also visible on this glove. While these issues were not huge, it does make me worry if the new material on the tee (the tee is made up of a different material than Speed Skin) and Speed Skin can actually hold up with constant rubbing. Protection: Protection in my catching gloves is a very important feature for me, I need my hands for my career and breaking them playing hockey is simply not an option. I also want to be confident I won’t feel pain when playing, and less protective gloves can make me hesitate reaching out for a hard slapshot. This should be evident in my glove history with the practice palms, so using a game ready retail glove was something I was curious to try. It seems that every release manufacturers will advertise more protection in the palm while still being able to close easily, CCM is no different with the Eflex 3 catching glove by advertising D3O foam in the palm. After using this glove once I can confidently say the D3O foam and game ready padding is not adequate enough for decent level adult players. The only time I did use the glove was against okay shooters, and after I got them to shoot as hard as possible into my glove while ensuring the puck hit straight on the palm I knew I couldn’t use this glove in one of my league games with players who can really shoot the puck. Simply put I wouldn’t trust this glove to protect my hand from injury in my higher level of adult league and unless you are under 14 years old, I wouldn’t recommend this glove in its stock retail form with a game ready palm. The CCM Eflex 3 catching glove isn’t protective enough for any decent level of shooters who are above 12 years old. 3/10 Performance: Since the game ready palm is very flimsy and soft on the CCM Eflex 3 catching with it was considerably easier than with my practice palm glove. But because I didn’t get a chance to use it in an actual game I don’t feel comfortable rating the CCM Eflex 3 catching gloves performance. Intangibles: Just like the pads, the CCM Eflex 3 catching glove is a pretty bare bones and the Speed Skin isn’t really benefitial on the glove compared to the pads. The velcro attachment on the outside of the glove was done well to ensure the hard portion of velcro will not snag and rub against your chest proector and jersey on the inside of the glove. I appreciate how CCM does allow you to order the glove in the with many different options including wrist strap material (leather or webbing), palm size (intermediate or regular), palm protective level (game ready, pro, or practice), cuff and thumb options (600 one piece, 600 two piece, 590 one piece, 580 one piece), and glove tee options (double straight tee, single straight tee, single straight tee + 1 inch, single offset tee, single offset tee + 1 inch). This amount of customization is nice to see compared to Bauer and should be applauded. 9/10 Conclusion: It is clear to me CCM is aiming for the instant satisfaction of a glove that is broken in off the shelf with the game ready palm. But because of this I do not believe the CCM Eflex 3 catching glove is suitable to any decent level players over the age of 12. I wouldn’t trust the CCM Eflex catching glove with protecting my hand in my higher level adult. The wear signs aren’t very promising so far, but the protection is the biggest issue. If I were to order this glove I’d order it with at least a pro palm, but as it stands as a retail product with a game ready palm I simply cannot recommend the CCM Eflex 3 catching glove. 4/10 While I also hate to promote my other things, it has become evident to me it is important to get a viewer base that will help me continue doing reviews like this (I can’t afford to always buy new equipment!). So please check out my twitter @mattsave1 and follow me there (I post a lot of contests so I make it easier to win free stuff!) as well as my Instagram@hockeyreviewsca and subscribe to me on YouTube Advertisements
I woke up this weekend to the extremely welcome news that the State of Connecticut has legalized gay marriage, joining Massachusetts and California as the only three U.S. states with full marriage equality for gay and lesbian couples. Although seven other states have civil unions or domestic partnership laws, as did Connecticut before this ruling, the state supreme court held that this was not enough. I used to believe that civil unions were an acceptable compromise, but I don’t believe that anymore. The Connecticut ruling cited the same argument that persuaded me: drawing a legal distinction between civil unions and marriage is the same reasoning as the “separate but equal” argument that was once used to justify racial segregation. The concept of marriage has existed for millennia, but the concept of civil unions has not. By barring gay couples from the former, the state is advancing an unsubtle claim that they are somehow different, not worthy of the same recognition as straight couples. This is the same attitude and reasoning that perpetuates discrimination in the first place. With its enlightened ruling, the Connecticut Supreme Court has recognized the obvious truth that the partnerships of gay couples are no different from the partnerships of straight couples, and deserve nothing less when it comes to legal rights. Way to go, Connecticut! The religious right must be aware that the tide is turning against them on this issue. Polls have found increasing tolerance and support for gay marriage, which ensures that rulings like these are just the leading edge of many more to come. It’s very plausible that America will have full marriage equality, at least in law, within a generation. Anti-gay bigots may be able to slow the tide of change, but they cannot stop it. That said, one such effort is underway in California. Bigots of the religious right have successfully placed a measure, Proposition 8, on the ballot this fall. If it passes, this measure would overturn that state’s supreme court decision and make gay marriage illegal – an astonishing blast of raw hatred that would tear apart the thousands of marriages already obtained by gay couples in the state. For the sake of marriage equality, and for the rights of all Americans, not just gay Americans, to direct their lives free from religious tyranny, this measure must be defeated. Although most polls have found that Californians are opposed to Prop 8 by a slim majority, recent polling has detected a worrying uptick in support. Much of this can be blamed on the Mormon church, whose members are pouring millions of dollars into the state to outlaw gay marriage. If their efforts help pass Prop 8, it wouldn’t be the first time the Mormons have successfully impeded moral progress. From Under the Banner of Heaven: Over the years, the Mormon leadership has made numerous pronouncements about the “dangers” of the feminist movement and has excommunicated several outspoken feminists. But perhaps the greatest rift between Mormon general authorities and advocates for women’s rights occurred when the LDS Church actively and very effectively mobilized Mormons to vote as a bloc against ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment… Most political analysts believe that had the LDS Church not taken such an aggressive position against the ERA, it would have been easily ratified by the required thirty-eight states, and would now be part of the U.S. Constitution. (p.25) Of course, more traditional Christians have joined the Mormons in their campaign of hate. A suitable example can be found at the Evangelical Outpost , which cites a video by the right-wing Family Research Council encouraging its members to vote for Proposition 8. The video purports to be documentation of the grave harm done in Massachusetts by the legalization of gay marriage. I was curious, since I’ve heard many religious right polemics against gay marriage, but never an explanation of what bad effects they fear would result if it were to be legalized. The video features a Christian couple in Massachusetts who were upset that their elementary-school-age son was taught about gays and gay marriage. I watched the whole thing, waiting for them to explain how this would lead to greater harm, but there was no follow-up. In their eyes, that was the harm: that their son was merely made aware of the existence of gay couples. Evidently, they want to preserve their right to keep their children ignorant of ways of life other than their own. How dare the public schools teach our kids tolerance, was their message, when we want to teach them to fear and hate! Were there people who raised the same complaint after interracial marriage was legalized, that teaching about the existence of such a thing interferes with their parental right to teach their children racism? Bigots like the Mormon leadership and the Family Research Council hide their hatred behind a smiling mask or dress it up with hollow slogans about “family values”. But disguise it however they will, they cannot conceal its fundamental ugliness. What they want is not the freedom to lead their own lives as they see fit, but the power to reach into the lives of others to oppress, tyrannize, and enforce their own narrow and archaic views. Gay and lesbian couples are human beings and deserve the same rights as anyone else: the right to live in peace, to raise families, to pledge their devotion and spend their lives with the people they love. They deserve those rights, and it is up to us to protect them. If we win the vote in California – if marriage equality is affirmed not just by the courts, but by popular acclaim – this will be a crushing blow to the anti-gay bigots and will delegitimize their cause as no other development could. This November, much is at stake. Will you join in the fight to liberate human freedom from the prejudices of the past?
0 of 9 Charlie Riedel/Associated Press It’s easy to forget sometimes, what with all the turmoil the coaching staff has gone through, but the San Francisco 49ers are a very talented team. ESPN’s Jeff Saturday called them the best team that didn’t make the Super Bowl, while Pro Football Focus said that even the injury-plagued 2014 49ers were only six above-average players away from making the game. That doesn’t include NaVorro Bowman or players who missed half the season, like Patrick Willis or Aldon Smith. Just based on talent, the 49ers should be considered contenders going forward. They are not, of course, as good as either of the two Super Bowl teams. Both the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots boast more talented rosters than the 49ers, and both performed better in 2014 than the 49ers. There are no underdogs in this year’s Super Bowl—it’s a matchup between the two best teams of the year, and it looks to be a doozy. However, just because they are better teams doesn’t mean that they are perfect. If they were allowed to raid the 49ers roster for reinforcements leading up to Sunday’s game, each team would come away with several players who would be upgrades to the starting lineups. I combed through the rosters for all three teams to highlight areas where the 49ers have a leg up on the two Super Bowl squads entering the big game. Consider it a bit of a morale boost after a highly uninspiring coaching search. A couple ground rules: These had to be players who could realistically play in the Super Bowl. That is, both Bowman and Willis would be upgrades to almost any team in the NFL normally, but due to injuries, neither would precisely be in shape to take the field on Sunday. I also tried to stick to each team’s specific philosophy. That is to say, while Bruce Miller is one of the best fullbacks in the game, neither of these teams really uses a fullback all that often, instead opting for three-receiver sets in Seattle and two tight end sets in New England as the base offenses. Thus, Miller wouldn’t be a significant upgrade for either team without a shift in offensive strategy. With no further ado: the Super Bowl-caliber players on San Francisco’s 2014 roster.
It doesn't take much to get the Eminem rumor mill churning, and the rapper did just that on Tuesday (Mar. 30) with a mysterious post on his Twitter account. "Some big news is coming. Soon." read the simple message. Eminem's tweet has re-ignited speculation about "Relapse 2," the follow-up to the Detroit MC's comeback album "Relapse" and one of the most anticipated releases of 2010. Initially slated for release by the end of 2009, "Relapse 2" was postponed after Eminem's studio sessions led to a shift in creative direction. "I got back in with [Dr.] Dre and then a few more producers, including Just Blaze, and went in a completely different direction which made me start from scratch," Eminem explained at the time. "The new tracks started to sound very different than the tracks I originally intended to be on 'Relapse 2,' but I still want the other stuff to be heard." "Relapse: Refill," a reissue with bonus material, was subsequently released in December. Together with "Relapse," it has sold 1,891,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Video: Lil Wayne & Eminem 'Drop the World' In an interview with AOL's the BoomBox two weeks ago, Just Blaze indicated that "Relapse 2" was near completion, saying, "I'm out in Detroit and we're wrapping that ['Relapse 2'] up now." Other leaked tidbits about the album came last year courtesy of Em's friend and producer the Alchemist, who told AllHipHop.com that the album sounds like "the most psychotic s---s I've ever heard," and DJ Whoo Kid, a member of Eminem's D-12 crew, who told MTV that "the crazy, lyrical, maniacal Eminem is back. Maniac!"
Updated at 11:30 p.m. EST, Dec. 13, 2007 A large triple bombing killed or wounded scores of people in the southern city of Amarah. Meanwhile a smaller blast in Baghdad left over a dozen casualties there. Overall, 59 Iraqis were killed and 177 more were wounded in the latest violence. No Coalition deaths were reported. At least 28 people were killed and another 150 were wounded during a triple car bombing in Amarah. Although small arms attacks against civilians have been increasing in recent weeks throughout Maysan province, the news of a triple bombing in Amarah stunned Iraq this morning. The area had been relatively peaceful since the British handed over control to Iraqi forces in April. British forces promise that an expected handover of neighboring Basra province will go on schedule this Sunday despite the bombing. The casualty figures were downgraded on Thursday from 41 killed; confusion following the blasts were the cause of misinformation. In Baghdad, a booby-trapped car in the al-Ghadeer neighborhood left five dead and 13 injured. In Doura, gunmen injured a policeman. Three employees were wounded during an armed attack in al-Tobchi. Mortas in al-Ganat injured three more people. Also, five dumped bodies were recovered. A roadside bomb killed one person and wounded two others in Kirkuk. Two Sunni tribal council members were found dead in Latifiya. In Saidiya, gunmen killed a headmaster and teacher at a school. The children had already finished the school for the day when the attack occurred. U.S. forces killed 14 suspects and detained 12 others during operations in northern and central Iraq. Iraqi forces killed one suspect and arrested six more in Baghdad; two Iraqi officers were killed and five more were wounded during security operations. Compiled by Margaret Griffis Read more by Margaret Griffis
You’ve probably seen it—the nasty brown-stained teeth when your dog smiles, pants or yawns. Perhaps this isn’t the topic of conversation you’d bring up at the dinner table, but it’s one that pet parents shouldn’t avoid. Tartar buildup on your dog’s teeth can lead to serious health problems. It doesn’t take long to form and it gets right to work. It’s your job, as a pet owner, to take care of your dog’s dental health, which means taking care of tartar before it becomes a problem. The Problem with Tartar Who would think that tartar could be such a problem? But the thing with tartar is it doesn’t start out that way. In fact, it starts its journey on your dog’s teeth as plaque, which begins to form hours after a dog eats. As plaque combines with the salts found in dog saliva, it builds up and hardens, which is when it turns into tartar. And tartar is like a welcoming sign to dental problems and gum disease—opening the door to pain, illness and a host of expensive medical bills. Why You Need To Worry Tartar on our teeth poses the same problems as it does in a dog’s mouth. Nasty bacteria start to grow, and it’s only a matter of time before it wreaks havoc. Dental problems, such as gingivitis, periodontal disease, abscesses or lost teeth, are causalities of tartar’s reign of terror. Not only that, but it can lead to some seriously rank dog breath! But teeth aren’t the only thing you have to worry about. As tartar builds up along the gum line, it pushes the gums away from the teeth. This exposes the roots of the teeth, which are no longer covered by enamel. Because the roots are no longer protected, it leaves them open to sensitivities, causing your dog pain and discomfort. Tartar also likes to explore—after hanging out in your pooch’s mouth, it’ll explore your dog’s body. Bacteria hitch a ride in the bloodstream and make its way to organs such as the heart, liver and kidneys. And you know that the outcome will never be good in a situation like this! What You Can Do About Tartar Don’t let tartar get the upper hand in your dog’s mouth. There are things you can do to get rid of it or minimize its presence, many of which you can do at home: Brush your dog’s teeth on a daily or weekly basis. Give your dog dental treats and toys to chew on. Get the real deal—real, raw bones help scrape off soft plaque deposits on dog teeth. Vets offer professional cleaning and scaling for your dog’s teeth. Costs will depend on the severity of plaque and tartar buildup, so try one of the above methods to keep it at bay. While you’re brushing your dog’s teeth, keep an eye out for the warning signs of gum disease. These include bad breath, a brownish crust of tartar around the gum line, red and swollen gums, and pain (flinching) or bleeding when you touch his gums or mouth. Besides practicing dog dental care at home, have your vet perform a dental check during your annual visit. It’s usually done free of charge, and your vet will be able to assess and recommend if any additional care needs to be taken to stop the buildup of tartar.
About This Game Features: Outwit and defeat a criminal brain! Explore lush environments on your quest for the truth A thrilling story that will lead you through sewers, a mental hospital, and into a bizarre alternative world. Devious puzzles, clever mini games and highly detailed hidden object scenes Bonus Chapter – Destroy the crime syndicate that masterminded the plan Track down a missing scientist as you explore the place where reality meets illusion.Over many years, Private investigator Alex Hunter had worked on dozens of cases involving murder, theft, bribery and fraud; and nothing fazed him. Until, a young lady came to his house asking him to help find her father, the renowned scientist, Professor Patterson. The professor had vanished from his house, without a trace, over a month ago. The police were called in but they were unable to find any clues. Coincidentally, neighbors reported having bizarre visions and suddenly finding themselves in strange places. Hunter took the case, thinking it would be a piece of cake…Take on the role of Alex Hunter and investigate this mysterious disappearance. When you discover that the Professor’s experiments delved into the secret workings of the brain and mind control, the case takes a whole new twist. It’s up to you to follow the trail of clues and find out who has taken Professor Patterson, and intends to use his knowledge for evil purposes. Find the place where reality meets illusion! You will need to go head to head against a demented mind; a mind armed with the power to control yours!
SALT LAKE CITY — An overwhelming majority of Utah's young adults ages 17-24 are ineligible for military service because they are overweight, have a criminal history or can't pass the test, according to a new report. The Council for America hosted a panel discussion Tuesday at the state Capitol to detail why so many young adults in the state are not "citizen ready," or readily equipped to take on the challenges of adult life. A citizen readiness index shows Utah is among the more than three-fourths of states in the country that earned a C grade or worse based on the number of young adults who missed the mark. "The ambivalence we sometimes see out there needs to change," said Utah Gov. Gary Hebert, who gave closing remarks at the event. Council for America is made up of 9,000 members that include law enforcement leaders, retired admirals and generals, business leaders, pastors and prominent coaches and athletes. Their report shows: • About 72 percent of 17- to 24-year-olds in Utah cannot qualify for military service due to problems with obesity, education, drug abuse or crime — on par with national numbers • Among 16- to 24-year-olds in Utah, 11 percent are not employed and not in school • Twelve out of every 100 17- to 24-year-olds in Utah have been arrested The council, along with panelists, emphasized the need to strengthen families and provide young parents with the tools and support they need to help their child grow into a productive and happy member of society. They also pointed to the need to provide quality, early childhood education at the outset so children are on a path toward learning. "Families make a difference," said Lane Beattie, president and CEO of the Salt Lake Chamber. "You change one of these children you change generations." The panel and council pushed for continued funding for the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program, which provides home-based services for at-risk parents. In 2015, federal grants fueled 4,900 home visits to more than 550 Utah families in 10 counties. Salt Lake City Police Chief Mike Brown said his officers see the heartbreaking circumstances of children caught up in abuse, neglect or domestic violence among their parents on a daily basis. He recalled as one young boy was taken to a shelter for temporary housing, the single-most worrisome thing to the child was not if there were food or toys available, but if the doors had locks. "He said, 'I don't want to get dead tonight,'" Brown recounted. Retired Brigadier General Larry V. Lunt said young adults are increasingly becoming ineligible for military service because they don't meet basic standards. "It's unbelievable to me that we have that percentage of young people who can't get into the military because they lack" basic education skills, Lunt said. "The military has always been the great (socio-economic) equalizer," he said, turning a blind eye to a young adult's status in life. "The drill sergeant doesn't care how much your dad makes," he said. The panelists stressed that more needs to be done with early childhood education to prepare children for success in school. Brown said society, either way, will help at-risk children get a footing in their early years or spend dollars years down the road to cope with the consequences of a young adult who is unprepared and ill-equipped for daily life.
The Advanced Warefare Center, AWC, continues to provide the ability for soldiers to acquire perks from other classes but the process is highly changed in Long War 2. Every soldier now has an AWC skills tree, which will feature 3 offensive, 3 defensive, and 7 pistol perks. The pistol perks are always the same 7 though their order of unlock is random, the three offensive and defensive skills are a random subset from other classes. Soldiers may train all 13 perks with enough time and must train in a pod at the AWC, they will not be awarded perks by ranking up. The AWC is also used as the infirmary and can be staffed with a scientist to speed up healing +50% on all difficulties except rookie (+100%). Learn officer and AWC bonus abilities in half the time. Attack any enemy within movement range with your sword. Deals +1 damage for every 4 tiles between your starting position and the target. Attack any enemy within movement range with your sword. Deals +1 damage for every 4 tiles between your starting position and the target. All sword attacks deal +1 extra damage and have +10 Aim. Your melee attacks against biological enemies ignore their armor, have a +15 critical chance, and do +2 critical damage. Your explosives can destroy many cover objects. Gain +10 aim and +10 defense when 7 or more tiles distance from any ally. You may throw or launch grenades two additional tiles. Confers +10 aim and +10 defense against targets at a lower elevation. Gain +5 critical chance for each enemy you can see, up to a maximum of 30. Special shot with a bonus to hit that does little damage but forces target to change position if it hits and gives a penalty to defense and dodge. Unleash a hail of bullets that is guaranteed to hit your target, but uses a lot of ammunition. Your grenades' area of effect is increased by one tile. Launching or throwing grenades, using heavy weapons or using the Gauntlet's Rocket Launcher with your first action will not end your turn. Taking a standard shot with your primary weapon as your first action no longer ends your turn. Gain +10 aim and +10 crit for successive shots at the same enemy unit. You do one additional point of base damage when using guns. After taking a standard shot with your primary weapon with your first action, you may take an additional non-movement action. Confers +10 aim and +10 critical chance against targets at half or less of their original hit points. Missed shots with your primary weapon have an additional roll to become a graze. Gain +1 damage on critical hits for every two enemies you can see, up to a maximum of +8. Gain +1 damage on critical hits for every two enemies you can see, up to a maximum of +8. Take a highly accurate shot with +30 bonus to hit but for half damage and -30 crit. Uses 2 ammo. Special Shot: Fire three shots at a target in a single attack. Requires both actions and all shots have aim penalties. Four-turn cooldown. Launching or throwing grenades, using heavy weapons or using the Gauntlet's Rocket Launcher with your first action will not end your turn. Special shot with a bonus to hit that does little damage but forces target to change position if it hits and gives a penalty to defense and dodge. Once per turn, gain an additional action after taking a standard shot at a flanked or exposed target with your primary weapon. You do one additional point of base damage when using guns. Take a special shot with +30 bonus to critical chance and 33% bonus critical damage. Three-turn cooldown. Your grenades' area of effect is increased by one tile. Your grenades now pierce up to 2 points of armor and shred one additional point of armor. Holotarget your enemy to grant an aim bonus to all attacks on this target by you and your allies for the remainder of the turn. Special shot that does half damage but reduces target mobility for the following two turns. Cone-based attack with primary weapon. You may throw or launch grenades two additional tiles. Unleash a hail of bullets that is guaranteed to hit your target, but uses a lot of ammunition. While concealed, gain +50 bonus aim and +50 bonus critical hit chance when attacking enemies. Take a shot with an aim penalty of -10. If you hit the target, you take another shot on the target automatically. Your grenades and standard rockets can inflict critical damage (50% chance for +2 damage). A Rupture shot has a large bonus to crit chance and ensures that the target takes an additional +3 damage from all attacks in the future. Take an action after dashing. Missed shots with your primary weapon have an additional roll to become a graze. Gain +10 aim and +10 crit for successive shots at the same enemy unit. Fire twice in a row at an enemy. Each shot suffers an Aim penalty of -15. There is no cooldown on this ability. Gain +5 critical chance for each enemy you can see, up to a maximum of 30. Confers +30 critical chance against adjacent targets. The bonus declines with distance from the target. You do two additional points of base damage and one point of additional crit damage with your primary weapon. Take a highly accurate shot with +30 bonus to hit but for half damage and -30 crit. Uses 2 ammo. Killing an enemy at a lower elevation with your primary weapon costs only a single action, and does not end your turn. Also grants a long-range accuracy bonus for sniper rifles. Special shot against most enemies who have taken any damage: Any critical hit kills them, but regular hits do half damage. Requires two actions and has a 4-turn cooldown. If you did not move last turn, gain +10 Aim and +10 Critical chance. A powerful chained shot ability. For every kill made with your primary weapon, your actions will be refunded but your damage and crit chance will be reduced for every subsequent attack. Take a shot with a small aim penalty for a significant damage boost. Confers +10 aim and +10 critical chance against targets at half or less of their original hit points. When targeted by enemy fire, automatically fire back with your pistol once per turn. Firing your pistol with your first action no longer ends your turn. Once per mission, fire a pistol shot that cannot miss. Fire your pistol at a target. This attack does not cost an action. Fire once at every visible enemy with your pistol. Fire the pistol three times at the same target. Take a reaction shot with your pistol against any enemy that moves or attacks within 8 tiles and a wide cone of fire. Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Damn Good Ground Confers +10 aim and +10 defense against targets at a lower elevation. Cool Under Pressure You gain +10 Aim on Overwatch and other reaction shots, and they can critically hit. Tradecraft This soldier has significantly reduced infiltration times while on missions. Ever Vigilant If you spend all of your actions on moves, you are granted an automatic overwatch shot at the end of the turn. Low Profile Makes partial cover count as full. Shadowstep This soldier does not trigger overwatch or reaction fire. Deep Cover If you did not attack this turn, hunker down automatically. Covert Enemies have 25% smaller detection range against you. Lightning Reflexes Reaction fire shots against you have a significantly decreased chance to hit. The bonus goes down with each additional reaction shot you face. Lone Wolf Gain +10 aim and +10 defense when 7 or more tiles distance from any ally. Evasive Start each mission with 100 bonus dodge. The bonus is removed after you take damage for the first time. Implacable If you score one or more kills on your turn, you are granted a single bonus move. Infighter Gain 25 dodge against attacks within four tiles. Suppression Fire a barrage that pins down a target, grants reaction fire against it if it moves, restricts the use of many abilities, and imposes a -25 penalty to the target's aim. Tactical Sense Gain 3 defense for each enemy you can see, up to a maximum of 15 defense. Covering Fire Overwatch shots can now be triggered by any enemy action, not just movement. Targets of overwatch shots receive -10 aim for the rest of the turn whether or not the shot was triggered because of this ability. Resilience Enemy attacks against you suffer a -50 penalty to critical hit chances. Untouchable If you score a kill during your turn, the next attack against you during the enemy turn will miss. Will to Survive Enemy damage is reduced by 1 when in cover and attacked through that cover. Also grants 5 will. Fortify Activate to grant +20 defense until the beginning of the next turn. Does not cost an action. Has a 5-turn cooldown. Kill Zone Take a reaction shot against any enemy that moves or attacks within a cone of fire. Smoker Grants one free smoke grenade item to your inventory. Formidable Your gear includes an extra layer of protection, granting two extra points of Ablative HP and 50% less damage from explosive attacks. Close Combat Specialist During enemy turns, fire a free reaction shot with your primary weapon at any visible enemy within four tiles who moves or fires. Will not trigger if soldier is concealed. Flashbanger Grants 1 free flashbang item to your inventory. Phantom When the squad is revealed, this soldier remains concealed. Sentinel When in overwatch, you may take two reaction shots. Ghostwalker Activate this ability to reduce enemy detection range against you by 25% for the rest of your turn as well as the following turn. Four-turn cooldown. Hard Target Gain 3 dodge per enemy you can see, up to a maximum of +30. Rapid Reaction When in overwatch, each shot you hit with grants another reaction fire shot, up to a maximum of three shots. Each enemy can only be the target of one shot. Guardian With every successful Overwatch shot, there is a 50% chance that another shot will be taken. Field Medic Equipped medikits have 2 extra charges. Combat Fitness Gain 4 aim, 1 mobility, 2 HP, 4 will, and 4 dodge. Aim Hunker Down now confers +20 Aim to the first shot on the following turn. Ghostwalker Activate this ability to reduce enemy detection range against you by 25% for the rest of your turn as well as the following turn. Four-turn cooldown. Phantom When the squad is revealed, this soldier remains concealed. Suppression Fire a barrage that pins down a target, grants reaction fire against it if it moves, restricts the use of many abilities, and imposes a -25 penalty to the target's aim. Guardian With every successful Overwatch shot, there is a 50% chance that another shot will be taken. Formidable Your gear includes an extra layer of protection, granting two extra points of Ablative HP and 50% less damage from explosive attacks. Fortify Activate to grant +20 defense until the beginning of the next turn. Does not cost an action. Has a 5-turn cooldown. Ever Vigilant If you spend all of your actions on moves, you are granted an automatic overwatch shot at the end of the turn. Hard Target Gain 3 dodge per enemy you can see, up to a maximum of +30. Low Profile Makes partial cover count as full. Deep Cover If you did not attack this turn, hunker down automatically. Cool Under Pressure You gain +10 Aim on Overwatch and other reaction shots, and they can critically hit. Covert Enemies have 25% smaller detection range against you. Aim Hunker Down now confers +20 Aim to the first shot on the following turn. Rapid Deployment Activate this ability before throwing or launching a support grenade, and the throw will not cost an action. Resilience Enemy attacks against you suffer a -50 penalty to critical hit chances. Shadowstep This soldier does not trigger overwatch or reaction fire. Whirlwind If you hit with a melee attack during your turn, gain a bonus move. Quick Study Learn officer and AWC bonus abilities in half the time. Rapid Deployment Activate this ability before throwing or launching a support grenade, and the throw will not cost an action. Infighter Gain 25 dodge against attacks within four tiles. Will to Survive Enemy damage is reduced by 1 when in cover and attacked through that cover. Also grants 5 will. Bladestorm Free sword attacks on any enemies that enter or attack from melee range.
Deadly Manila resort blaze no doubt a 'Daesh attack’, expert tells Arab News JEDDAH: A masked gunman set fire to a gaming room at a casino in the Philippine capital on Friday, igniting a toxic blaze that killed 37 people. Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Philippine government insisted it was not terror-related. The victims suffocated inside one of the main gambling venues of the upscale Resorts World Manila, while dozens of other people were injured in a panicked crush to escape, police said. The gunman committed suicide by setting himself on fire about five hours after storming the casino with an M4 assault rifle and a bottle of petrol that he used to start the fire, police chief Ronald Dela Rosa said. Dela Rosa and other police officials said the assailant was not carrying out a terrorist attack as he did not shoot anyone. They said it appeared to be a bizarre robbery attempt by a “deranged” man. “This is not an act of terror. There is no element of violence, threat or intimidation that leads to terrorism,” Dela Rosa told reporters. Baker Atyani, a veteran journalist who has covered militant groups in the Philippines for two decades, said this was undoubtedly “a Daesh attack,” adding that it had issued an official statement claiming responsibility. “They even named the attacker as Abul Kheir Al-Arkhebieli,” he told Arab News on Friday. “His aim was to inflict maximum damage and take as many lives as he could.” The fact that he was able to kill 37 people indicates that he succeeded in his goal, said Atyani, adding that he would not classify the attack as an isolated incident. “This was a well-planned, well-executed operation in the heart of the Philippine capital,” he said. “If you see the CCTV footage and the images from the resort, it’s very clear that this man was heavily armed and well-equipped. He wasn’t some angry man with a gun who just barged into the hotel. This was a well-planned attack that was meant to cause maximum damage to human lives, and it did.” This means Daesh has the wherewithal and a huge network of foot soldiers to move fast in Philippine cities and carry out such deadly attacks, Atyani said. “Before they were only confined to the south. No more.” Local police chief Tomas Apolinario told AFP that 37 people died from inhaling smoke from a fire that spread quickly because of flammable carpet on the gaming room floors. Four of the victims were from Taiwan, according to the Taiwanese government. The gunman initially disappeared into the chaos of smoke and running people, leading to a five-hour manhunt in the complex, which also includes a hotel and shops, said Dela Rosa. He added that the assailant, who appeared to be a foreigner because he spoke English and looked Caucasian, was found just before dawn in a hotel room, having committed suicide. “He lay down on the bed, covered himself with a thick blanket, apparently poured petrol on the blanket and burned himself,” Dela Rosa said. Daesh’s Aamaq news agency carried a brief message in Arabic on Telegram, which said: “Daesh fighters carried out the attack in Manila in the Philippines on Thursday.” In a later statement posted on Telegram from one of Daesh’s regular and authenticated accounts, the group provided the gunman’s nom de guerre and boasted of killing and injuring nearly 100 Christians during the rampage. But Philippine officials were adamant it was not terror-related, and was the work of an individual. “This particular situation in Manila is not related in any way to a terrorist attack,” presidential spokesman Ernesto Abella told reporters. Dela Rosa said the man, acting alone, walked into one of the gaming rooms and fired the rifle at a large television screen, then poured gasoline onto a gambling table and set it alight. Atyani said Daesh militants — who have their back to the wall in the southern city of Marawi, where Philippine security forces have been pounding their positions and hideouts for the last 11 days — have tried to open another front to ease the pressure on them in Marawi. “In Marawi, the security forces have almost succeeded in flushing out the militants, and they now seem to have dispersed into the jungles,” he said. The Marawi operation was launched to capture Isnilon Totoni Hapilon, who has been named by the Daesh leadership in Raqqa, Syria, as its emir in the Philippines. “He seems to have escaped from Marawi and is believed to be in Mindanao,” said Atyani. “The attack in Manila can be seen, from the perspective of Daesh, as revenge for the Marawi operation.” On why the Philippine government is refusing to acknowledge the presence of Daesh in the country, Atyani said there is an element of denial. “Even during the early days of the operation in Marawi, they said there was no Daesh in the Philippines,” he said. “They have to admit now that Daesh is there in their midst.” The other reason for Daesh to carry out this attack in Manila was to frighten tourists away and hurt the Philippine economy, he added. “If the government officially accepts the presence of Daesh, then tourists will think twice before coming to the Philippines,” he said. “An attack in the heart of Manila on a resort is bad news for the tourism industry.” — With input from AFP
Dr. Bruce Aylward, who began coordinating the Ebola response for the World Health Organization on Oct. 1, reported that although a lot of international workers were reaching cities in the region, yawning gaps remained at the district level, with very little coordination. He said he spent his first week in the region figuring out what each of the 45 affected districts in the three countries needed. He said that responders were trying to build a campaign against Ebola in weeks — in contrast to another ambitious push, the global effort to eradicate polio, which he said took a decade and 7,000 workers. He said he aimed to have a full inventory of each district’s capacities and systems for logistics and transfer of information within 60 days. He told the meeting that his goal was to ensure that 70 percent of burials were safe and 70 percent of Ebola cases were isolated within 60 days. He set those goals because, as he put it, “I want people really scared every day.” In a reminder of the pressing needs, Doctors Without Borders announced on Thursday that the number of Ebola cases in Conakry, Guinea’s capital, had suddenly spiked. The aid group said in a news release that there had been 22 new patients admitted to the Ebola management center at Donka on Monday alone, and that the center is now exceeding capacity. Stephane Hauser, the group’s field coordinator at Donka, noted that cases had increased steadily since August and that there were new transmission chains “whose origins we don’t know at the moment.”

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